101992 lines
7.3 MiB
101992 lines
7.3 MiB
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="US-ASCII"?>
|
|
<!DOCTYPE ThML PUBLIC
|
|
"-//CCEL/DTD Theological Markup Language//EN"
|
|
"http://www.ccel.org/dtd/ThML10.dtd">
|
|
<!--
|
|
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xml"
|
|
href="http://www.ccel.org/ss/thml.html.xsl" ?>
|
|
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl"
|
|
href="http://www.ccel.org/ss/thml.html.xsl" ?>
|
|
-->
|
|
|
|
<!-- Copyright Christian Classics Ethereal Library -->
|
|
<ThML>
|
|
<ThML.head>
|
|
<generalInfo>
|
|
<description>Matthew Henry's <i>Commentary on the Whole
|
|
Bible</i> is well-known and well-loved. His commentary is
|
|
aimed primarily at explanation and edification, as opposed to textual
|
|
research. Comprehensive, this commentary provides instruction and
|
|
encouragement throughout. Each volume of the commentary comes with its
|
|
own introduction, helpfully situating it for the reader. Although
|
|
written in an older style, Matthew Henry's <i>Commentary on the Whole
|
|
Bible</i>
|
|
is worth studying and is useful for pastors, theologians, and students
|
|
of the Bible.<br/><br/>Tim Perrine<br/>CCEL Staff Writer </description>
|
|
<pubHistory/>
|
|
<comments>Unabridged and carefully proofed.</comments>
|
|
</generalInfo>
|
|
|
|
<printSourceInfo>
|
|
<published>Originally published 1706-1721. This version may be from the Revell edition.</published>
|
|
</printSourceInfo>
|
|
|
|
<electronicEdInfo>
|
|
<publisherID>ccel</publisherID>
|
|
<authorID>henry</authorID>
|
|
<bookID>mhc1</bookID>
|
|
<version/>
|
|
<series/>
|
|
|
|
<DC>
|
|
<DC.Title>Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume I (Genesis to Deuteronomy)</DC.Title>
|
|
<DC.Creator sub="Author" scheme="short-form">Matthew Henry</DC.Creator>
|
|
<DC.Creator sub="Author" scheme="file-as">Henry, Matthew</DC.Creator>
|
|
<DC.Publisher>Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library</DC.Publisher>
|
|
<DC.Subject scheme="LCCN">BS490.H4</DC.Subject>
|
|
<DC.Subject scheme="lcsh1">The Bible</DC.Subject>
|
|
<DC.Subject scheme="lcsh2">Works about the Bible</DC.Subject>
|
|
<DC.Subject scheme="ccel">All; Bible; Classic; Proofed; </DC.Subject>
|
|
<DC.Date sub="Created">2000-07-09</DC.Date>
|
|
<DC.Type>Text.Commentary</DC.Type>
|
|
<DC.Format scheme="IMT">text/html</DC.Format>
|
|
<DC.Identifier scheme="URL">/ccel/henry/mhc1.html</DC.Identifier>
|
|
<DC.Source>Logos, Inc.</DC.Source>
|
|
<DC.Source scheme="URL">http://www.logos.com</DC.Source>
|
|
<DC.Language>en</DC.Language>
|
|
<DC.Rights>Public domain. May be copied and distributed freely.</DC.Rights>
|
|
<DC.Contributor sub="Editor">Ernie Stefanik</DC.Contributor>
|
|
</DC>
|
|
|
|
</electronicEdInfo>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<style type="text/css">
|
|
.indent { text-indent:0.3in }
|
|
.smallcaps { font-variant:small-caps }
|
|
.passage { font-weight:bold; font-color:red }
|
|
.intro { text-indent:0.3in }
|
|
.Center { text-align:center; text-indent:0in }
|
|
h1 { text-align:center }
|
|
h2 { text-align:center }
|
|
h3 { text-align:center }
|
|
h4 { text-align:center }
|
|
h5 { text-align:center }
|
|
</style>
|
|
|
|
<style type="text/xcss">
|
|
<selector class="indent">
|
|
<property name="text-indent" value="0.3in"/>
|
|
</selector>
|
|
<selector class="smallcaps">
|
|
<property name="font-variant" value="small-caps"/>
|
|
</selector>
|
|
<selector class="passage">
|
|
<property name="font-weight" value="bold"/>
|
|
<property name="font-color" value="red"/>
|
|
</selector>
|
|
<selector class="intro">
|
|
<property name="text-indent" value="0.3in"/>
|
|
</selector>
|
|
<selector class="Center">
|
|
<property name="text-align" value="center"/>
|
|
<property name="text-indent" value="0in"/>
|
|
</selector>
|
|
<selector element="h1">
|
|
<property name="text-align" value="center"/>
|
|
</selector>
|
|
<selector element="h2">
|
|
<property name="text-align" value="center"/>
|
|
</selector>
|
|
<selector element="h3">
|
|
<property name="text-align" value="center"/>
|
|
</selector>
|
|
<selector element="h4">
|
|
<property name="text-align" value="center"/>
|
|
</selector>
|
|
<selector element="h5">
|
|
<property name="text-align" value="center"/>
|
|
</selector>
|
|
</style>
|
|
|
|
|
|
</ThML.head>
|
|
<ThML.body>
|
|
|
|
<div1 title="Title Page" n="i" progress="0.02%" prev="toc" next="ii" id="i">
|
|
<h2 id="i-p0.1">Matthew Henry's</h2>
|
|
<h1 id="i-p0.2">Commentary on the Whole Bible</h1>
|
|
<h4 id="i-p0.3">Unabridged</h4>
|
|
<p id="i-p1"> </p>
|
|
<h3 id="i-p1.1">Volume I</h3>
|
|
<h2 id="i-p1.2">Genesis to Deuteronomy</h2>
|
|
</div1>
|
|
|
|
<div1 title="Preface: Genesis to Deuteronomy" n="i" progress="0.02%" prev="i" next="Gen" id="ii">
|
|
<hr/>
|
|
<div class="Center" id="ii-p0.2">
|
|
<h3 id="ii-p0.3">P R E F A C E.</h3>
|
|
<h4 id="ii-p0.4">Genesis to Deuteronomy</h4>
|
|
|
|
<hr style="width:100pt"/>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="ii-p1"><span class="smallcaps" id="ii-p1.1">Though</span> it is
|
|
most my concern, that I be able to give a good account to God and
|
|
my own conscience, yet, perhaps, it will be expected that I give
|
|
the world also some account of this bold undertaking; which I shall
|
|
endeavour to do with all plainness, and as one who believes, that
|
|
if men must be reckoned with in the great day, for every vain and
|
|
idle word they speak, much more for every vain and idle line they
|
|
write. And it may be of use, in the first place, to lay down those
|
|
great and sacred principles which I go upon, and am governed by, in
|
|
this endeavour to explain and improve these portions of holy writ;
|
|
which endeavour I humbly offer to the service of those (and to
|
|
those only I expect it will be acceptable) who agree with me in
|
|
these six principles:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="ii-p2">I. That <i>religion is the one thing
|
|
useful;</i> and to know, and love, and fear God our Maker, and in
|
|
all the instances both of devout affection, and of good
|
|
conversation, to <i>keep his commandments,</i> (<scripRef passage="Ec 12:13" id="ii-p2.1" parsed="|Eccl|12|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.12.13">Eccles. 12. 13</scripRef>) is, without doubt, <i>the
|
|
whole of man;</i> it is all in all to him. This the wisest of men,
|
|
after a close and copious argument in his <i>Ecclesiastes,</i> lays
|
|
down as the conclusion of his whole matter (the <i>Quod erat
|
|
demonstrandum</i> of his whole discourse); and therefore I may be
|
|
allowed to lay it down as a <i>postulatum,</i> and the foundation
|
|
of this whole matter. It is necessary to mankind in general, that
|
|
there should be religion in the world, absolutely necessary for the
|
|
preservation of the honour of the human nature, and no less so for
|
|
the preservation of the order of human societies. It is necessary
|
|
to each of us in particular, that we be religious; we cannot
|
|
otherwise answer the end of our creation, obtain the favour of our
|
|
Creator, make ourselves easy now, or happy for ever. A man that is
|
|
endued with the powers of reason, by which he is capable of
|
|
knowing, serving, glorifying, and enjoying his Maker, and yet
|
|
<i>lives without God in the world,</i> is certainly the most
|
|
despicable and the most miserable animal under the sun.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="ii-p3">II. That <i>divine revelation is necessary
|
|
to true religion,</i> to the being and support of it. That faith
|
|
without which <i>it is impossible to please God,</i> cannot come to
|
|
any perfection by seeing the works of God, but it must come by
|
|
<i>hearing the word of God,</i> <scripRef passage="Ro 10:17" id="ii-p3.1" parsed="|Rom|10|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.10.17">Rom.
|
|
10. 17</scripRef>. The rational soul, since it received that fatal
|
|
shock by the fall, cannot have or maintain that just regard to the
|
|
great author of its being, that observance of him, and expectation
|
|
from him, which are both its duty and felicity, without some
|
|
supernatural discovery made by himself of himself, and of his mind
|
|
and will. Natural light, no doubt, is of excellent use, as far as
|
|
it goes; but it is necessary that there be a divine revelation, to
|
|
rectify its mistakes, and make up its deficiencies, to help us out
|
|
where the light of nature leaves us quite at a loss, especially in
|
|
the way and method of man's recovery from his lapsed state, and his
|
|
restoration to his Maker's favour; which he cannot but be conscious
|
|
to himself of the loss of, finding, by sad experience, his own
|
|
present state to be sinful and miserable. Our own reason shows us
|
|
the wound, but nothing short of a divine revelation can discover to
|
|
us a remedy to be confided in. The case and character of those
|
|
nations of the earth which had no other guide in their devotions
|
|
than that of natural light, with some remains of the divine
|
|
institution of sacrifices received by tradition from their fathers,
|
|
plainly show how necessary divine revelation is to the subsistence
|
|
of religion; for those that had not the word of God, soon lost God
|
|
himself, became vain in their imaginations concerning him, and
|
|
prodigiously vile and absurd in their worships and divinations. It
|
|
is true, the Jews, who had the benefit of divine revelation, lapsed
|
|
sometimes into idolatry, and admitted very gross corruptions; yet,
|
|
with the help of the law and the prophets, they recovered and
|
|
reformed: whereas the best and most admired philosophy of the
|
|
heathen could never do any thing toward the cure of the vulgar
|
|
idolatry, or so much as offered to remove any of those barbarous
|
|
and ridiculous rites of their religion, which were the scandal and
|
|
reproach of the human nature. Let men therefore pretend what they
|
|
will, deists are, or will be, atheists; and those that, under
|
|
colour of admiring the oracles of reason, set aside as useless the
|
|
oracles of God, undermine the foundations of all religion, and do
|
|
what they can to cut off all communication between man and his
|
|
Maker, and to set that noble creature on a level with the beasts
|
|
that perish.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="ii-p4">III. That <i>divine revelation is not now
|
|
to be found nor expected any where but in the scriptures of the Old
|
|
and New Testament;</i> and there it is. It is true, there were
|
|
religion and divine revelation before there was any written word;
|
|
but to argue from thence, that the scriptures are not now
|
|
necessary, is as absurd as it would be to argue that the world
|
|
might do well enough without the sun, because in the creation the
|
|
world had light three days before the sun was made. Divine
|
|
revelations, when first given, were confirmed by visions, miracles,
|
|
and prophecy; but they were to be transmitted to distant regions
|
|
and future ages, with their proofs and evidences, by writing, the
|
|
surest way of conveyance, and by which the knowledge of other
|
|
memorable things is preserved and propagated. We have reason to
|
|
think that even the ten commandments, though spoken with such
|
|
solemnity at Mount Sinai, would have been, long before this, lost
|
|
and forgotten, if they had been handed down by tradition only, and
|
|
never had been put in writing: it is that which is written, that
|
|
remains. The scripture indeed is not compiled as a methodical
|
|
system or body of divinity, <i>secundum artem—according to the
|
|
rules of art,</i> but several ways of writing, (histories, laws,
|
|
prophecies, songs, epistles, and even proverbs,) at several times,
|
|
and by several hands, as Infinite Wisdom saw fit. The end is
|
|
effectually obtained; such things are plainly supposed and taken
|
|
for granted, and such things are expressly revealed and made known,
|
|
as, being all put together, sufficiently inform us of all the
|
|
truths and laws of the holy religion we are to believe, and be
|
|
governed by. That <i>all scripture is given by inspiration of
|
|
God,</i> (<scripRef passage="2Ti 3:16" id="ii-p4.1" parsed="|2Tim|3|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Tim.3.16">2 Tim. 3. 16.</scripRef>)
|
|
and that <i>holy men spake and wrote as they were moved by the Holy
|
|
Ghost,</i> (<scripRef passage="2Pe 1:21" id="ii-p4.2" parsed="|2Pet|1|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.1.21">2 Pet. 1. 21.</scripRef>)
|
|
we are sure; but who dare pretend to describe that inspiration?
|
|
None <i>knows the way of the Spirit,</i> nor how the thoughts were
|
|
formed in the heart of him that was inspired, any more than we know
|
|
the way of the soul into the body, or <i>how the bones are formed
|
|
in the womb or her that is with child,</i> <scripRef passage="Ec 11:5" id="ii-p4.3" parsed="|Eccl|11|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.11.5">Eccles. 11. 5</scripRef>. But we may be sure that the
|
|
blessed Spirit did not only habitually prepare and qualify the
|
|
penmen of scripture for that service, and put it into their hearts
|
|
to write, but did likewise assist their understandings and memories
|
|
in recording those things which they themselves had the knowledge
|
|
of, and effectually secure them from error and mistake; and what
|
|
they could not know but by revelation, (as for instance, <scripRef passage="Ge 1:1-31" id="ii-p4.4" parsed="|Gen|1|1|1|31" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.1-Gen.1.31">Gen. 1.</scripRef> and <scripRef passage="Joh 1:1-18" id="ii-p4.5" parsed="|John|1|1|1|18" osisRef="Bible:John.1.1-John.1.18">John 1.</scripRef>) the same blessed Spirit gave them
|
|
clear and satisfactory information of. And no doubt, as far as was
|
|
necessary to the end designed, they were directed by the Spirit,
|
|
even in the language and expression; for there were <i>words which
|
|
the Holy Ghost taught;</i> (<scripRef passage="1Co 2:13" id="ii-p4.6" parsed="|1Cor|2|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.2.13">1 Cor. ii.
|
|
13</scripRef>) and God saith to the prophet, <i>Thou shalt speak
|
|
with my words,</i> <scripRef passage="Eze 3:4" id="ii-p4.7" parsed="|Ezek|3|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.3.4">Ezek. iii.
|
|
4</scripRef>. However, it is not material to us, who drew up the
|
|
statute, nor what liberty he took in using his own words: when it
|
|
is ratified, it is become the legislator's act, and binds the
|
|
subject to observe the true intent and meaning of it. The scripture
|
|
proves its divine authority and original both to the wise and to
|
|
the unwise. Even to the unwise and least thinking part of mankind,
|
|
it is abundantly proved by the many incontestable miracles wrought
|
|
by Moses and the prophets, Christ and his apostles, for the
|
|
confirmation of its truths and laws: it would be an intolerable
|
|
reproach to eternal Truth, to suppose this divine seal affixed to a
|
|
lie. Beside this, to the more wise and thinking, to the more
|
|
considerate and contemplative it recommends itself by those innate
|
|
excellences which are self-evident characteristics of its divine
|
|
original. If we look carefully, we shall soon be aware of God's
|
|
image and superscription upon it. A mind rightly disposed by a
|
|
humble, sincere subjection to its Maker, will easily discover the
|
|
image of God's wisdom in the awful depth of its mysteries; the
|
|
image of his sovereignty in the commanding majesty of its style;
|
|
the image of his unity in the wonderful harmony and symmetry of all
|
|
its parts; the image of his holiness in the unspotted purity of its
|
|
precepts; and the image of his goodness in the manifest tendency of
|
|
the whole to the welfare and happiness of mankind in both worlds;
|
|
in short, it is a work that fathers itself. And as atheists, so
|
|
deists, notwithstanding their vain-glorious pretensions to reason,
|
|
as if wisdom must die with them, run themselves upon the grossest
|
|
and most dishonourable absurdities imaginable; for, if the
|
|
scriptures be not the word of God, then there is no divine
|
|
revelation now in the world, no discovery at all of God's mind
|
|
concerning our duty and happiness: so that, let a man be ever so
|
|
desirous and solicitous to do his Maker's will, he must, without
|
|
remedy, perish in the ignorance of it, since there is no book but
|
|
this that will undertake to tell him what it is, a consequence
|
|
which can by no means be reconciled to the idea we have of the
|
|
divine goodness. And (which is no less an absurdity), if the
|
|
scriptures be not really a divine revelation, they are certainly as
|
|
great a cheat as ever was put upon the world: but we have no reason
|
|
to think them so; for bad men would never write so good a book, nor
|
|
would Satan have so little subtlety as to help to cast out Satan;
|
|
and good men would never do so wicked a thing as to counterfeit the
|
|
broad seal of heaven and affix it to a patent of their own framing,
|
|
though in itself ever so just. No, <i>there are not the words of
|
|
him that hath a devil.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="ii-p5">IV. That the <i>scriptures of the Old and
|
|
New Testament were purposely designed for our learning.</i> They
|
|
might have been a divine revelation to those into whose hands they
|
|
were first put, and yet we, at this distance, have been no way
|
|
concerned in them; but it is certain that they were intended to be
|
|
of universal and perpetual use and obligation to all persons, in
|
|
all places and all ages, that have the knowledge of them, even unto
|
|
us <i>upon whom the ends of the world have come.</i> See <scripRef passage="Ro 15:4" id="ii-p5.1" parsed="|Rom|15|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.15.4">Rom. 15. 4</scripRef>. Though we are not under
|
|
the law as a covenant of innocency (for then, being guilty, we
|
|
should unavoidable perish under its curse), yet it is not therefore
|
|
an antiquated statute, but a standing declaration of the will of
|
|
God concerning good and evil, sin and duty, and its claim to
|
|
obedience is in as full force and virtue as ever: and <i>unto us is
|
|
the gospel</i> of the ceremonial law <i>preached, as well as unto
|
|
those</i> to whom it was first delivered, and much more plainly,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Heb 4:2" id="ii-p5.2" parsed="|Heb|4|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.4.2">Heb. 4. 2</scripRef>. The histories of
|
|
the Old Testament were written for our admonition and direction
|
|
(<scripRef passage="1Co 10:11" id="ii-p5.3" parsed="|1Cor|10|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.10.11">1 Cor. 10. 11</scripRef>), and not
|
|
barely for the information and entertainment of the curious. The
|
|
prophets, though long since dead, prophesy again by their writings,
|
|
<i>before peoples and nations</i> (<scripRef passage="Re 10:11" id="ii-p5.4" parsed="|Rev|10|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.10.11">Rev. 10. 11</scripRef>), and Solomon's exhortation
|
|
speaketh unto us as unto sons. The subject of the holy scripture is
|
|
universal and perpetual, and therefore of common concern. It is
|
|
intended, 1. To revive the universal and perpetual law of nature,
|
|
the very remains of which (or ruins rather) in natural conscience,
|
|
give us hints that we must look somewhere else for a fairer copy.
|
|
2. To reveal the universal and perpetual law of grace, which God's
|
|
common beneficence to the children of men, such as puts them into a
|
|
better state than that of devils, gives us some ground to expect.
|
|
The divine authority likewise, which in this book commands our
|
|
belief and obedience, is universal and perpetual, and knows no
|
|
limits, either of time or place; it follows, therefore, that every
|
|
nation and every age to which these sacred writings are transmitted
|
|
are bound to receive them with the same veneration and pious regard
|
|
that they commanded at their first entrance. Though God hath, in
|
|
these last days, <i>spoken to us by his Son,</i> yet we are not
|
|
therefore to think that what he spoke <i>at sundry times and in
|
|
divers manners to the fathers</i> (<scripRef passage="Heb 1:1" id="ii-p5.5" parsed="|Heb|1|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.1.1">Heb.
|
|
1. 1</scripRef>) is of no use to us, or that the Old Testament is
|
|
an almanac out of date; no, we are <i>built upon the foundation of
|
|
the prophets,</i> as well as of <i>the apostles, Christ himself
|
|
being the corner-stone</i> (<scripRef passage="Eph 2:20" id="ii-p5.6" parsed="|Eph|2|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eph.2.20">Eph. 2.
|
|
20</scripRef>), in whom both these sides of this blessed building
|
|
meet and are united: they were those ancient records of the Jewish
|
|
church which Christ and his apostles so oft referred to, so oft
|
|
appealed to, and commanded us to search and to take heed to. The
|
|
preachers of the gospel, like Jehoshaphat's judges, wherever they
|
|
went, had this book of the law with them, and found it a great
|
|
advantage to them to speak to those <i>that knew the law,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ro 7:1" id="ii-p5.7" parsed="|Rom|7|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.7.1">Rom. 7. 1</scripRef>. That celebrated
|
|
translation of the Old Testament in the Greek tongue by the
|
|
Seventy, between 200 and 300 years before the birth of Christ, was
|
|
to the nations a happy preparative for the entertainment of the
|
|
gospel, by spreading the knowledge of the law; for as the New
|
|
Testament expounds and completes the Old, and thereby makes it more
|
|
serviceable to us now than it was to the Jewish church, so the Old
|
|
Testament confirms and illustrates the New, and shows us Jesus
|
|
Christ the same yesterday that he is to-day and will be for
|
|
ever.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="ii-p6">V. That <i>the holy scriptures were not
|
|
only designed for our learning, but are the settled standing rule
|
|
of our faith and practice,</i> by which we must be governed now and
|
|
judged shortly: it is not only a book of general use (so the
|
|
writings of good and wise men may be), but it is of sovereign and
|
|
commanding authority, the statute-book of God's kingdom, which our
|
|
oath of allegiance to him, as our supreme Lord, binds us to the
|
|
observance of. <i>Whether we will hear or whether we will
|
|
forbear,</i> we must be told that this is the oracle we are to
|
|
consult and to be determined by, the touchstone we are to appeal to
|
|
and try doctrines by, the rule we are to have an eye to, by which
|
|
we must in every thing order our affections and conversations, and
|
|
from which we must always take our measures. This is the
|
|
<i>testimony,</i> this is the <i>law</i> which is bound up and
|
|
sealed among the disciples, that word according to which if we do
|
|
not speak, it is because <i>there is no light in us,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 8:16,20" id="ii-p6.1" parsed="|Isa|8|16|0|0;|Isa|8|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.8.16 Bible:Isa.8.20">Isa. 16. 16, 20</scripRef>. The making of
|
|
the <i>light within</i> our rule, which by nature is darkness, and
|
|
by grace is but a copy of, and conformable to, the written work, is
|
|
setting the judge above the law; and the making of the traditions
|
|
of the church rivals with the scriptures is no better: it is making
|
|
the clock, which every one concerned puts backward or forward at
|
|
pleasure, to correct the sun, that faithful measurer of time and
|
|
days. These are absurdities which, being once granted, thousands
|
|
follow, as we see by sad experience.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="ii-p7">VI. That therefore <i>it is the duty of all
|
|
Christians diligently to search the scriptures, and it is the
|
|
office of ministers to guide and assist them therein.</i> How
|
|
useful soever this book of books is in itself, it will be of no use
|
|
to us if we do not acquaint ourselves with it, by reading it daily,
|
|
and meditating upon it, that we may understand the mind of God in
|
|
it, and may apply what we understand to ourselves for our
|
|
direction, rebuke, and comfort, as there is occasion. It is the
|
|
character of the holy and happy man that <i>his delight is in the
|
|
law of the Lord;</i> and, as an evidence thereof, he converses with
|
|
it as his constant companion, and advises with it as his most wise
|
|
and trusty counsellor, for <i>in that law doth he meditate day and
|
|
night,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 1:2" id="ii-p7.1" parsed="|Ps|1|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.1.2">Ps. 1. 2</scripRef>. It
|
|
concerns us to be ready in the scriptures, and to make ourselves so
|
|
by constant reading and careful observation, and especially by
|
|
earnest prayer to God for the promised gift of the Holy Ghost,
|
|
whose office it is to <i>bring things to our remembrance</i> which
|
|
Christ hath said to us (<scripRef passage="Joh 14:26" id="ii-p7.2" parsed="|John|14|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.14.26">John 14.
|
|
26.</scripRef>) that thus we may have some good word or other at
|
|
hand for our use in our addresses to God and in our converse with
|
|
men, in our resistance of Satan and in communing with our own
|
|
hearts, and may be able, with the good householder, to bring out of
|
|
this treasury <i>things new and old,</i> for the entertainment and
|
|
edification both of ourselves and others. If any thing will <i>make
|
|
a man of God perfect</i> in this world, will complete both a
|
|
Christian and a minister, and <i>thoroughly furnish him for every
|
|
good work,</i> it must be this. <scripRef passage="2Ti 3:17" id="ii-p7.3" parsed="|2Tim|3|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Tim.3.17">2 Tim.
|
|
3. 17</scripRef>. It concerns us also to be <i>mighty in the
|
|
scriptures,</i> as Apollos was (<scripRef passage="Ac 18:24" id="ii-p7.4" parsed="|Acts|18|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.18.24">Acts
|
|
18. 24.</scripRef>), that is, to be thoroughly acquainted with
|
|
the true intent and meaning of them, that we may understand what we
|
|
read, and may not misinterpret or misapply it, but by the conduct
|
|
of the blessed Spirit may be <i>led into all truth</i> (<scripRef passage="Joh 16:13" id="ii-p7.5" parsed="|John|16|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.16.13">John 16. 13.</scripRef>), and may hold it fast
|
|
<i>in faith and love,</i> and put every part of scripture to that
|
|
use for which it was intended. The letter, either of law or gospel,
|
|
profits little without the Spirit. The ministers of Christ are
|
|
herein ministers to the Spirit for the good of the church; their
|
|
business is to open and apply the scriptures; thence they must
|
|
fetch their knowledge, thence their doctrines, devotions,
|
|
directions, and admonitions, and thence their very language and
|
|
expression. Expounding the scriptures was the most usual way of
|
|
preaching in the first and purest ages of the church. What have the
|
|
Levites to do but to teach Jacob the law (<scripRef passage="De 33:10" id="ii-p7.6" parsed="|Deut|33|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.10">Deut. 33. 10.</scripRef>); not only to read it, but
|
|
to <i>give the sense, and cause them to understand the reading?</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ne 8:8" id="ii-p7.7" parsed="|Neh|8|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Neh.8.8">Neh. 8. 8.</scripRef>. <i>How shall
|
|
they do this except some man guide them?</i> <scripRef passage="Ac 8:31" id="ii-p7.8" parsed="|Acts|8|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.8.31">Acts 8. 31</scripRef>. As ministers would hardly be
|
|
believed without Bibles to back them, so Bibles would hardly be
|
|
understood without ministers to explain them; but if, having both,
|
|
we perish in ignorance and unbelief, our blood will be upon our own
|
|
head.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="ii-p8">Being fully persuaded therefore of these
|
|
things, I conclude that whatever help is offered to good Christians
|
|
in searching the scriptures is real service done to the glory of
|
|
God, and to the interests of his kingdom among men; and it is this
|
|
that hath drawn me into this undertaking, which I have gone about
|
|
in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling (<scripRef passage="1Co 2:3" id="ii-p8.1" parsed="|1Cor|2|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.2.3">1 Cor. 2. 3.</scripRef>), lest I should be found
|
|
exercising myself in things to high for me, and so laudable an
|
|
undertaking should suffer damage by an unskillful management. If any
|
|
desire to know how so mean and obscure a person as I am, who in
|
|
learning, judgment, felicity of expression, and all advantages for
|
|
such a service, am <i>less than the least</i> of all my Master's
|
|
servants, came to venture upon so great a work, I can give no other
|
|
account of it than this: It has long been my practice, what little
|
|
time I had to spare in my study from the constant preparations for
|
|
the pulpit, to spend it in drawing up expositions upon some parts
|
|
of the New Testament, not so much for my own use as purely for my
|
|
entertainment, because I knew not now to employ my thoughts and
|
|
time more to my satisfaction. <i>Trahit sua quemque voluptas—Every
|
|
man that studies hath some beloved study, which is his delight
|
|
above any other;</i> and this is mine. It is that learning which it
|
|
was my happiness from a child to be trained up in, by my ever
|
|
honoured father, whose memory must always be very dear and precious
|
|
to me: he often reminded me that a good textuary is a good divine;
|
|
and that I should read other books with this in my eye, that I
|
|
might be the better able to understand and apply the scripture.
|
|
While I was thus employing myself came out Mr. Burkitt's
|
|
Exposition, of the Gospels first, and afterwards of the Act and the
|
|
Epistles, which met with very good acceptance among serious people,
|
|
and no doubt, by the blessing of God, will continue to do great
|
|
service to the church. Soon after he had finished that work, it
|
|
pleased God to call him to his rest, upon which I was urged, by
|
|
some of my friends, and was myself inclined, to attempt the like
|
|
upon the Old Testament, in the strength of the grace of Christ.
|
|
This upon the <i>Pentateuch</i> is humbly offered as a specimen; if
|
|
it find favour, and be found any way useful, it is my present
|
|
purpose, in dependence upon divine aids, to go on, so long as God
|
|
shall continue my life and health, and as my other work will
|
|
permit. Many helps, I know, we have of this kind in our own
|
|
language, which we have a great deal of reason to value, and to be
|
|
very thankful to God for: but the scripture is a subject that can
|
|
never be exhausted. <i>Semper habet aliquid relegentibus—However
|
|
frequently we read it, we shall always meet with something new.</i>
|
|
When David had amassed a vast treasure for the building of the
|
|
temple, yet saith he to Solomon, <i>Thou mayest add thereto,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Ch 22:14" id="ii-p8.2" parsed="|1Chr|22|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Chr.22.14">1 Chron. 22. 14</scripRef>. Such a
|
|
treasure is scripture-knowledge; it is still capable of increase,
|
|
till we all come to the perfect man. The scripture is a field or
|
|
vineyard which finds work for variety of hands, and about which may
|
|
be employed a great <i>diversity of gifts and operations,</i> but
|
|
all from <i>the same Spirit</i> (<scripRef passage="1Co 12:4,6" id="ii-p8.3" parsed="|1Cor|12|4|0|0;|1Cor|12|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.12.4 Bible:1Cor.12.6">1
|
|
Cor. 12. 4, 6.</scripRef>) and for the glory of <i>the same
|
|
Lord.</i> The learned in the languages and in ancient usages have
|
|
been very serviceable to the church (the blessed occupant of this
|
|
field), by their curious and elaborate searches into its various
|
|
products, their anatomies of its plants, and the entertaining
|
|
lectures they have read upon them. The philology of the critics has
|
|
been of much more advantage to religion, and lent more light to
|
|
sacred truth, than the philosophy of the school-divines. The
|
|
learned also in the arts of war have done great service in
|
|
defending this garden of the Lord against the violent attacks of
|
|
the powers of darkness, successfully pleading the cause of the
|
|
sacred writings against the spiteful cavils of atheists, deists,
|
|
and the profane scoffers of these latter days. Such as these stand
|
|
in the posts of honour, and their praise is in all the churches:
|
|
yet the labours of the vine-dressers and the husbandmen (<scripRef passage="2Ki 25:12" id="ii-p8.4" parsed="|2Kgs|25|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.25.12">2 Kings 25. 12.</scripRef>), though they are
|
|
the poor of the land who till this ground, and gather in the fruits
|
|
of it, are no less necessary in their place, and beneficial to the
|
|
household of God, that out of these precious fruits every one may
|
|
have his <i>portion of meat in due season.</i> These are the
|
|
labours to which, according to my ability, I have here set my hand.
|
|
And as the plain and practical expositors would not, for a world,
|
|
say of the learned critics, <i>There is no need of them;</i> so, it
|
|
is hoped, those eyes and heads will not say to the hands and feet,
|
|
<i>There is no need of you,</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 12:21" id="ii-p8.5" parsed="|1Cor|12|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.12.21">1
|
|
Cor. 12. 21</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="ii-p9">The learned have of late received very
|
|
great advantage in their searches into this part of holy writ, and
|
|
the books that follow (and still hope for more), by the excellent
|
|
and most valuable labours of that great and good man bishop
|
|
<i>Patrick,</i> whom, for vast reading, solid judgment, and a most
|
|
happy application to these best of studies, even in his advanced
|
|
years and honours, succeeding ages no doubt will rank among the
|
|
first three of commentators, and bless God for him. Mr.
|
|
<i>Pool's</i> English Annotations (which, having had so many
|
|
impressions, we may suppose, have got into most hands) are of
|
|
admirable use, especially for the explaining of scripture-phrases,
|
|
opening the sense, referring to parallel scriptures, and the
|
|
clearing of difficulties that occur. I have therefore all along
|
|
been brief upon that which is there most largely discussed, and
|
|
have industriously declined, as much as I could, what is to be
|
|
found there; for I would not <i>actum agere—do what is done;</i>
|
|
nor (if I may be allowed to borrow the apostle's words) <i>boast of
|
|
things made ready to our hand,</i> <scripRef passage="2Co 10:16" id="ii-p9.1" parsed="|2Cor|10|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.10.16">2
|
|
Cor. 10. 16</scripRef>. These and other annotations which are
|
|
referred to the particular words and clauses they are designed to
|
|
explain are most easy to be consulted upon occasion; but the
|
|
exposition which (like this) is put into a continued discourse,
|
|
digested under proper heads, is much more easy and ready to be read
|
|
through for one's own or others' instruction. And, I think, the
|
|
observing of the connection of each chapter (if there be occasion)
|
|
with that which goes before, and the general scope of it, with the
|
|
thread of the history or discourse, and the collecting of the
|
|
several parts of it, to be seen at one view, will contribute very
|
|
much to the understanding of it, and will give the mind abundant
|
|
satisfaction in the general intention, though there may be here and
|
|
there a difficult word or expression which the best critics cannot
|
|
easily account for. This, therefore, I have here attempted. But we
|
|
are concerned not only to understand what we read, but to improve
|
|
it to some good purpose, and, in order thereunto, to be affected
|
|
with it, and to receive the impressions of it. The word of God is
|
|
designed to be not only a <i>light to our eyes,</i> the
|
|
entertaining subject of our contemplation, but a <i>light to our
|
|
feet</i> and a <i>lamp to our paths</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 119:105" id="ii-p9.2" parsed="|Ps|119|105|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119.105">Ps. 119. 105.</scripRef>), to direct us in the way of
|
|
our duty, and to prevent our turning aside into any by-way: we must
|
|
therefore, in searching the scriptures, enquire, not only <i>What
|
|
is this?</i> but, <i>What is this to us?</i> What use may we make
|
|
of it? How may we accommodate it to some of the purposes of that
|
|
divine and heavenly life which, by the grace of God, we are
|
|
resolved to live? Enquiries of this kind I have here aimed to
|
|
answer. When the stone is rolled from the well's mouth by a
|
|
critical explication of the text, still there are those who would
|
|
both drink themselves and water their flocks? but they complain
|
|
that the <i>well is deep,</i> and <i>they have nothing to draw
|
|
with;</i> how then shall they <i>come by this living water?</i>
|
|
Some such may, perhaps, find a bucket here, or water drawn to their
|
|
hands; and pleased enough shall I be with this office of the
|
|
Gibeonites, to <i>draw water for the congregation of the Lord</i>
|
|
out of these wells of salvation.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="ii-p10">That which I aim at in the exposition is to
|
|
give what I thought the genuine sense, and to make it as plain as I
|
|
could to ordinary capacities, not troubling my readers with the
|
|
different sentiments of expositors, which would have been to
|
|
transcribe Mr. <i>Pool's</i> Latin Synopsis, where this is done
|
|
abundantly to our satisfaction and advantage. As to the practical
|
|
observations, I have not obliged myself to raise doctrines out of
|
|
every verse or paragraph, but only have endeavoured to mix with the
|
|
exposition such hints or remarks as I thought profitable <i>for
|
|
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
|
|
righteousness,</i> aiming in all to promote practical godliness,
|
|
and carefully avoiding matters of doubtful disputation and strifes
|
|
of words. It is only the prevalency of the power of religion in the
|
|
hearts and lives of Christians that will redress our grievances,
|
|
and turn our wilderness into a fruitful field. And since our Lord
|
|
Jesus Christ is the true <i>treasure hidden in the field</i> of the
|
|
Old Testament, and was the <i>Lamb slain from the foundation of the
|
|
world,</i> I have been careful to observe what Moses wrote of him,
|
|
to which he himself oft appealed. In the writings of the prophets
|
|
we meet with more of the plain and express promises of the Messiah,
|
|
and the grace of the gospel; but here, in the books of Moses, we
|
|
find more of the types, both real and personal figures of him that
|
|
was to come—shadows, of which the substance is Christ, <scripRef passage="Ro 5:14" id="ii-p10.1" parsed="|Rom|5|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.5.14">Rom. 5. 14</scripRef>. Those to whom <i>to live
|
|
is Christ</i> will find in these that which is very instructive and
|
|
affecting, and which will give great assistance to their faith, and
|
|
love, and holy joy. This, in a particular manner, we search the
|
|
scriptures for—to find what they testify of Christ and eternal
|
|
life, <scripRef passage="Joh 5:39" id="ii-p10.2" parsed="|John|5|39|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.5.39">John 5. 39</scripRef>. Nor is it
|
|
any objection against the application of the ceremonial
|
|
institutions to Christ and his grace that those to whom they were
|
|
given could not discern this sense or use of them; but it is rather
|
|
a reason why we should be very thankful that the veil which was
|
|
upon their minds in the reading of the Old Testament is <i>done
|
|
away in Christ,</i> <scripRef passage="2Co 3:13,14,18" id="ii-p10.3" parsed="|2Cor|3|13|3|14;|2Cor|3|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.3.13-2Cor.3.14 Bible:2Cor.3.18">2 Cor. 3.
|
|
13, 14, 18</scripRef>. Though they then <i>could not stedfastly
|
|
look to the end of that which is abolished,</i> it does not
|
|
therefore follow but that we who are happily furnished with a key
|
|
to these mysteries may in them, <i>as in a glass, behold the glory
|
|
of the Lord Jesus.</i> And yet, perhaps, the pious Jews saw more of
|
|
the gospel in their ritual than we think they did; they had at
|
|
least a general expectation of <i>good things to come,</i> by faith
|
|
in the promises made to the fathers, as we have of the happiness of
|
|
heaven, though they could not of that world to come, any more than
|
|
we can of this, form any distinct or certain idea. Our conceptions
|
|
of the future state, perhaps, are as dark and confused, as short of
|
|
the truth and as wide from it, as theirs then were of the kingdom
|
|
of the Messiah: but God requires faith only according to the
|
|
revelation he gives. They then were accountable for no more light
|
|
than they had; and we now are accountable for that greater light
|
|
which we have in the gospel, by the help of which we may find much
|
|
more of Christ in the Old Testament than they could. If any think
|
|
our observations sometimes take rise from that which to them seems
|
|
too minute, let them remember that maxim of the Rabbin, <i>Non est
|
|
in lege vel una litera à quâ non pendent magni montes—The law
|
|
contains not a letter but what bears the weight of mountains.</i>
|
|
We are sure there is not an idle word in the Bible. I would desire
|
|
the reader not only to read the text entire, before he reads the
|
|
exposition, but, as the several verses are referred to in the
|
|
exposition, to cast his eye upon them again, and then he will the
|
|
better understand what he reads. And, if he have leisure, he will
|
|
find it of use to him to turn to the scriptures which are sometimes
|
|
only referred to for brevity's sake, comparing spiritual things
|
|
with spiritual.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="ii-p11">It is the declared purpose of the Eternal
|
|
Mind, in all the operations both of providence and grace, to
|
|
<i>magnify the law and to make it honourable</i> (<scripRef passage="Isa 42:21" id="ii-p11.1" parsed="|Isa|42|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.42.21">Isa. 42. 21</scripRef>), nay to <i>magnify
|
|
his word above all his name</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 138:2" id="ii-p11.2" parsed="|Ps|138|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.138.2">Ps.
|
|
138. 2.</scripRef>), so that when we pray, <i>Father, glorify
|
|
thy name,</i> we mean this, among other things, Father, magnify the
|
|
holy Scriptures; and to that prayer, made in faith, we may be sure
|
|
of that answer which was given to our blessed Saviour when he
|
|
prayed it, with particular respect to the fulfilling of the
|
|
scriptures in his own sufferings, <i>I have both glorified it, and
|
|
I will glorify it yet again,</i> <scripRef passage="Joh 12:28" id="ii-p11.3" parsed="|John|12|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.12.28">John
|
|
xii. 28</scripRef>. To this great design I humbly desire to be some
|
|
way serviceable, in the strength of that grace by which I am what I
|
|
am, hoping that what may help to make the reading of the scripture
|
|
more easy, pleasant, and profitable, will be graciously accepted by
|
|
him that smiled on the widow's two mites cast into the treasury, as
|
|
an intention to magnify it and make it honourable; and if I can but
|
|
gain that point, in any measure, with some, I shall think my
|
|
endeavours abundantly recompensed, however, by others, I and my
|
|
performances may be vilified and made contemptible.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="ii-p12">I have now nothing more to add than to
|
|
recommend myself to the prayers of my friends, and them to the
|
|
grace of the Lord Jesus; and so rest an unworthy dependent upon
|
|
that grace, and, through that, an expectant of the <i>glory to be
|
|
revealed.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<table width="100%" id="ii-p12.1">
|
|
<tr id="ii-p12.2">
|
|
<td align="right" id="ii-p12.3">M. H.      </td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
|
|
<tr id="ii-p12.4">
|
|
<td id="ii-p12.5">            <i>Chester,</i><br/>
|
|
      <i>October 2, 1706.</i></td>
|
|
</tr>
|
|
</table>
|
|
|
|
</div1>
|
|
|
|
<div1 title="Genesis" n="i" progress="0.67%" prev="ii" next="Gen.i" id="Gen">
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Introduction" n="i" progress="0.67%" prev="Gen" next="Gen.ii" id="Gen.i">
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.i-p0.1">Genesis</h2>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<hr/>
|
|
|
|
<pb n="1" id="Gen.i-Page_1"/>
|
|
|
|
<div class="Center" id="Gen.i-p0.3">
|
|
<p id="Gen.i-p1"><b>AN</b></p>
|
|
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.i-p1.1">EXPOSITION,</h3>
|
|
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.i-p1.2">W I T H   P R A C T I C A L   O B S E
|
|
R V A T I O N S,</h4>
|
|
|
|
<h5 id="Gen.i-p1.3">OF THE FIRST BOOK OF MOSES, CALLED</h5>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.i-p1.4">G E N E S I S.</h2>
|
|
|
|
<hr style="width:2in"/>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.i-p2"><span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.i-p2.1">We</span> have now
|
|
before us the holy Bible, or <i>book,</i> for so <i>bible</i>
|
|
signifies. We call it <i>the book,</i> by way of eminency; for it
|
|
is incomparably the best book that ever was written, the book of
|
|
books, shining like the sun in the firmament of learning, other
|
|
valuable and useful books, like the moon and stars, borrowing their
|
|
light from it. We call it the holy book, because it was written by
|
|
holy men, and indited by the Holy Ghost; it is perfectly pure from
|
|
all falsehood and corrupt intention; and the manifest tendency of
|
|
it is to promote holiness among men. The great things of God's law
|
|
and gospel are here <i>written</i> to us, that they might be
|
|
reduced to a greater certainty, might spread further, remain
|
|
longer, and be transmitted to distant places and ages more pure and
|
|
entire than possibly they could be by report and tradition: and we
|
|
shall have a great deal to answer for if these things which belong
|
|
to our peace, being thus committed to us in black and white, be
|
|
neglected by us as a strange and foreign thing, <scripRef passage="Hos 8:12" id="Gen.i-p2.2" parsed="|Hos|8|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.12">Hos. viii. 12</scripRef>. The scriptures, or writings of
|
|
the several inspired penmen, from Moses down to St. John, in which
|
|
divine light, like that of the morning, shone gradually (the sacred
|
|
canon being now completed), are all put together in this blessed
|
|
Bible, which, thanks be to God, we have in our hands, and they make
|
|
as perfect a day as we are to expect on this side of heaven. Every
|
|
part was good, but all together very good. This is the <i>light
|
|
that shines in a dark place</i> (<scripRef passage="2Pe 1:19" id="Gen.i-p2.3" parsed="|2Pet|1|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.1.19">2
|
|
Pet. i. 19</scripRef>), and a dark place indeed the world would be
|
|
without the Bible.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.i-p3">We have before us that part of the Bible
|
|
which we call the <i>Old Testament,</i> containing the acts and
|
|
monuments of the church from the creation almost to the coming of
|
|
Christ in the flesh, which was about four thousand years—the
|
|
truths then revealed, the laws then enacted, the devotions then
|
|
paid, the prophecies then given, and the events which concerned
|
|
that distinguished body, so far as God saw fit to preserve to us
|
|
the knowledge of them. This is called a <i>testament,</i> or
|
|
<i>covenant</i> (<b><i>Diatheke</i></b>), because it was a settled
|
|
declaration of the <i>will</i> of God concerning man in a federal
|
|
way, and had its force from the designed death of the great
|
|
testator, <i>the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Re 13:8" id="Gen.i-p3.1" parsed="|Rev|13|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.13.8">Rev. xiii. 8</scripRef>.) It is called
|
|
the <i>Old Testament,</i> with relation to the <i>New,</i> which
|
|
does not cancel and supersede it, but crown and perfect it, by the
|
|
bringing in of that better hope which was typified and foretold in
|
|
it; the Old Testament still remains glorious, though the New far
|
|
exceeds in glory, (<scripRef passage="2Co 3:9" id="Gen.i-p3.2" parsed="|2Cor|3|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.3.9">2 Cor. iii.
|
|
9</scripRef>.)</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.i-p4">We have before us that part of the Old
|
|
Testament which we call the <i>Pentateuch,</i> or five books of
|
|
Moses, that servant of the Lord who excelled all the other
|
|
prophets, and typified the great prophet. In our Saviour's
|
|
distribution of the books of the Old Testament into the <i>law,</i>
|
|
the <i>prophets,</i> and the <i>psalms,</i> or <i>Hagiographa,</i>
|
|
these are the <i>law;</i> for they contain not only the laws given
|
|
to Israel, in the last four, but the laws given to Adam, to Noah,
|
|
and to Abraham, in the first. These five books were, for aught we
|
|
know, the first that ever were written; for we have not the least
|
|
mention of any <i>writing</i> in all the book of Genesis, nor till
|
|
God bade Moses write (<scripRef passage="Ex 17:14" id="Gen.i-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|17|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.14">Exod. xvii.
|
|
14</scripRef>); and some think Moses himself never learned to write
|
|
till God set him his copy in the writing of the Ten Commandments
|
|
upon the tables of stone. However, we are sure these books are the
|
|
most ancient writings now extant, and therefore best able to give
|
|
us a satisfactory account of the most ancient things.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.i-p5">We have before us the first and longest of
|
|
those five books, which we call <i>Genesis,</i> written, some
|
|
think, when Moses was in Midian, for the instruction and comfort of
|
|
his suffering brethren in Egypt: I rather think he wrote it in the
|
|
wilderness, after he had been in the mount with God, where,
|
|
probably, he received full and particular instructions for the
|
|
writing of it. And, as he framed the tabernacle, so he did the more
|
|
excellent and durable fabric of this book, exactly according to the
|
|
pattern shown him in the mount, into which it is better to resolve
|
|
the certainty of the things herein contained than into any
|
|
tradition which possibly might be handed down from Adam to
|
|
Methuselah, from him to Shem, from him to Abraham, and so to the
|
|
family of Jacob. <i>Genesis</i> is a name borrowed from the Greek.
|
|
It signifies the <i>original,</i> or <i>generation:</i> fitly is
|
|
this book so called, for it is a history of originals—the creation
|
|
of the world, the entrance of sin and death into it, the invention
|
|
of arts, the rise of nations, and especially the planting of the
|
|
church, and the state of it in its early days. It is also a history
|
|
of generations—the generations of Adam, Noah, Abraham, &c.,
|
|
not endless, but useful genealogies. The beginning of the New
|
|
Testament is called <i>Genesis</i> too (<scripRef passage="Mt 1:1" id="Gen.i-p5.1" parsed="|Matt|1|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.1.1">Matt. i. 1</scripRef>,) <b><i>Biblos geneseos,</i></b> the
|
|
book of the <i>genesis,</i> or <i>generation,</i> of Jesus Christ.
|
|
Blessed be God for that book which shows us our remedy, as this
|
|
opens our wound. Lord, open our eyes, that we may see the wondrous
|
|
things both of thy law and gospel!</p>
|
|
|
|
</div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter I" n="ii" progress="0.78%" prev="Gen.i" next="Gen.iii" id="Gen.ii">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="2" id="Gen.ii-Page_2"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.ii-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.ii-p0.2">CHAP. I.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.ii-p1">The foundation of all religion being laid in our
|
|
relation to God as our Creator, it was fit that the book of divine
|
|
revelations which was intended to be the guide, support, and rule,
|
|
of religion in the world, should begin, as it does, with a plain
|
|
and full account of the creation of the world—in answer to that
|
|
first enquiry of a good conscience, "Where is God my Maker?"
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Job 35:10" id="Gen.ii-p1.1" parsed="|Job|35|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.35.10">Job xxxv. 10</scripRef>). Concerning
|
|
this the pagan philosophers wretchedly blundered, and became vain
|
|
in their imaginations, some asserting the world's eternity and
|
|
self-existence, others ascribing it to a fortuitous concourse of
|
|
atoms: thus "the world by wisdom knew not God," but took a great
|
|
deal of pains to lose him. The holy scripture therefore, designing
|
|
by revealed religion to maintain and improve natural religion, to
|
|
repair the decays of it and supply the defects of it, since the
|
|
fall, for the reviving of the precepts of the law of nature, lays
|
|
down, at first, this principle of the unclouded light of nature,
|
|
That this world was, in the beginning of time, created by a Being
|
|
of infinite wisdom and power, who was himself before all time and
|
|
all worlds. The entrance into God's word gives this light,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 119:130" id="Gen.ii-p1.2" parsed="|Ps|119|130|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119.130">Ps. cxix. 130.</scripRef>. The
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 1:1" id="Gen.ii-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|1|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.1">first verse</scripRef> of the Bible
|
|
gives us a surer and better, a more satisfying and useful,
|
|
knowledge of the origin of the universe, than all the volumes of
|
|
the philosophers. The lively faith of humble Christians understands
|
|
this matter better than the elevated fancy of the greatest wits,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Heb 11:3" id="Gen.ii-p1.4" parsed="|Heb|11|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.3">Heb. xi. 3</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.ii-p2">We have three things in this chapter:—I. A
|
|
general idea given us of the work of creation <scripRef passage="Ge 1:1,2" id="Gen.ii-p2.1" parsed="|Gen|1|1|1|2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.1-Gen.1.2">ver. 1, 2</scripRef>. II. A particular account of the
|
|
several days' work, registered, as in a journal, distinctly and in
|
|
order. The creation of the light the first day, <scripRef passage="Ge 1:3-5" id="Gen.ii-p2.2" parsed="|Gen|1|3|1|5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.3-Gen.1.5">ver. 3-5</scripRef>; of the firmament the second day,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 1:6-8" id="Gen.ii-p2.3" parsed="|Gen|1|6|1|8" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.6-Gen.1.8">ver. 6-8</scripRef>; of the sea, the
|
|
earth, and its fruits, the third day, <scripRef passage="Ge 1:9-13" id="Gen.ii-p2.4" parsed="|Gen|1|9|1|13" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.9-Gen.1.13">ver. 9-13</scripRef>; of the lights of heaven the
|
|
fourth day, <scripRef passage="Ge 1:14-19" id="Gen.ii-p2.5" parsed="|Gen|1|14|1|19" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.14-Gen.1.19">ver. 14-19</scripRef>;
|
|
of the fish and fowl the fifth day, <scripRef passage="Ge 1:20-23" id="Gen.ii-p2.6" parsed="|Gen|1|20|1|23" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.20-Gen.1.23">ver. 20-23</scripRef>; of the beasts, <scripRef passage="Ge 1:24,25" id="Gen.ii-p2.7" parsed="|Gen|1|24|1|25" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.24-Gen.1.25">ver. 24, 25</scripRef>; of man, <scripRef passage="Ge 1:26-28" id="Gen.ii-p2.8" parsed="|Gen|1|26|1|28" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.26-Gen.1.28">ver. 26-28</scripRef>; and of food for both
|
|
the sixth day, <scripRef passage="Ge 1:29,30" id="Gen.ii-p2.9" parsed="|Gen|1|29|1|30" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.29-Gen.1.30">ver. 29,
|
|
30</scripRef>. III. The review and approbation of the whole work,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 1:31" id="Gen.ii-p2.10" parsed="|Gen|1|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.31">ver. 31</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 1" id="Gen.ii-p2.11" parsed="|Gen|1|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 1:1-2" id="Gen.ii-p2.12" parsed="|Gen|1|1|1|2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.1-Gen.1.2"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.1.1-Gen.1.2">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.ii-p2.13">The Creation. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.ii-p2.14">b. c.</span> 4004.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.ii-p3">1 In the beginning God created the heaven and
|
|
the earth.   2 And the earth was without form, and void; and
|
|
darkness <i>was</i> upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of
|
|
God moved upon the face of the waters.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p4">In these verses we have the work of
|
|
creation in its epitome and in its embryo.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p5">I. In its epitome, <scripRef passage="Ge 1:1" id="Gen.ii-p5.1" parsed="|Gen|1|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>, where we find, to our comfort, the
|
|
first article of our creed, that <i>God the Father Almighty is the
|
|
Maker of heaven and earth,</i> and as such we believe in him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p6">1. Observe, in this verse, four
|
|
things:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p7">(1.) The effect produced—<i>the heaven and
|
|
the earth,</i> that is, the world, including the whole frame and
|
|
furniture of the universe, the <i>world and all things therein,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ac 17:24" id="Gen.ii-p7.1" parsed="|Acts|17|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.17.24">Acts xvii. 24</scripRef>. The world is
|
|
a great house, consisting of upper and lower stories, the structure
|
|
stately and magnificent, uniform and convenient, and every room
|
|
well and wisely furnished. It is the visible part of the creation
|
|
that Moses here designs to account for; therefore he mentions not
|
|
the creation of angels. But as the earth has not only its surface
|
|
adorned with grass and flowers, but also its bowels enriched with
|
|
metals and precious stones (which partake more of its solid nature
|
|
and more valuable, though the creation of them is not mentioned
|
|
here), so the heavens are not only beautified to our eyes with
|
|
glorious lamps which garnish its outside, of whose creation we here
|
|
read, but they are within replenished with glorious beings, out of
|
|
our sight, more celestial, and more surpassing them in worth and
|
|
excellency than the gold or sapphires surpass the lilies of the
|
|
field. In the visible world it is easy to observe, [1.] Great
|
|
variety, several sorts of beings vastly differing in their nature
|
|
and constitution from each other. <i>Lord, how manifold are thy
|
|
works,</i> and all good! [2.] Great beauty. The azure sky and
|
|
verdant earth are charming to the eye of the curious spectator,
|
|
much more the ornaments of both. How transcendent then must the
|
|
beauty of the Creator be! [3.] Great exactness and accuracy. To
|
|
those that, with the help of microscopes, narrowly look into the
|
|
works of nature, they appear far more fine than any of the works of
|
|
art. [4.] Great power. It is not a lump of dead and inactive
|
|
matter, but there is virtue, more or less, in every creature: the
|
|
earth itself has a magnetic power. [5.] Great order, a mutual
|
|
dependence of beings, an exact harmony of motions, and an admirable
|
|
chain and connection of causes. [6.] Great mystery. There are
|
|
phenomena in nature which cannot be solved, secrets which cannot be
|
|
fathomed nor accounted for. But from what we see of heaven and
|
|
earth we may easily enough infer the eternal power and Godhead of
|
|
the great Creator, and may furnish ourselves with abundant matter
|
|
for his praises. And let our make and place, as men, remind us of
|
|
our duty as Christians, which is always to keep heaven in our eye
|
|
and the earth under our feet.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p8">(2.) The author and cause of this great
|
|
work—GOD. The Hebrew word is <i>Elohim,</i> which bespeaks, [1.]
|
|
The power of God the Creator. <i>El</i> signifies <i>the strong
|
|
God;</i> and what less than almighty strength could bring all
|
|
things out of nothing? [2.] The plurality of persons in the
|
|
Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. This plural name of God, in
|
|
Hebrew, which speaks of him as many though he is one, was to the
|
|
Gentiles perhaps a savour of death unto death, hardening them in
|
|
their idolatry; but it is to us a savour of life unto life,
|
|
confirming our faith in the doctrine of the Trinity, which, though
|
|
but darkly intimated in the Old Testament, is clearly revealed in
|
|
the New. The Son of God, the eternal Word and Wisdom of the Father,
|
|
was with him when he made the world (<scripRef passage="Pr 8:30" id="Gen.ii-p8.1" parsed="|Prov|8|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.8.30">Prov. viii. 30</scripRef>), nay, we are often told that
|
|
the world was made by him, and nothing made without him, <scripRef passage="Joh 1:3,10,Eph 3:9,Col 1:16,Heb 1:2" id="Gen.ii-p8.2" parsed="|John|1|3|0|0;|John|1|10|0|0;|Eph|3|9|0|0;|Col|1|16|0|0;|Heb|1|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.1.3 Bible:John.1.10 Bible:Eph.3.9 Bible:Col.1.16 Bible:Heb.1.2">John i. 3, 10; Eph.
|
|
iii. 9; Col. i. 16; Heb. 1. 2</scripRef>. O what high thoughts
|
|
should this form in our minds of that great God whom we draw nigh
|
|
to in religious worship, and that great Mediator in whose name we
|
|
draw nigh!</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p9">(3.) The manner in which this work was
|
|
effected: <i>God created it,</i> that is, made it out of nothing.
|
|
There was not any pre-existent matter out of which the world was
|
|
produced. The fish and fowl were indeed produced out of the waters
|
|
and the beasts and man out of the earth; but that earth and those
|
|
waters were made out of nothing. By the ordinary power of nature,
|
|
it is impossible that any thing should be made out of nothing; no
|
|
artificer can work, unless he has something to work on. But by the
|
|
almighty power of God it is not only possible that something should
|
|
be made of nothing (the God of nature is not subject to the laws of
|
|
nature), but in the creation it is impossible it should be
|
|
|
|
<pb n="3" id="Gen.ii-Page_3"/>
|
|
|
|
otherwise, for nothing is more injurious to the honour
|
|
of the Eternal Mind than the supposition of eternal matter. Thus
|
|
the excellency of the power is of God and all the glory is to
|
|
him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p10">(4.) When this work was produced: <i>In the
|
|
beginning,</i> that is, in the beginning of time, when that clock
|
|
was first set a going: time began with the production of those
|
|
beings that are measured by time. Before the beginning of time
|
|
there was none but that Infinite Being that inhabits eternity.
|
|
Should we ask why God made the world no sooner, we should but
|
|
darken counsel by words without knowledge; for how could there be
|
|
sooner or later in eternity? And he did make it in the beginning of
|
|
time, according to his eternal counsels before all time. The Jewish
|
|
Rabbies have a saying, that there were seven things which God
|
|
created before the world, by which they only mean to express the
|
|
excellency of these things:—The law, repentance, paradise, hell,
|
|
the throne of glory, the house of the sanctuary, and the name of
|
|
the Messiah. But to us it is enough to say, <i>In the beginning was
|
|
the Word,</i> <scripRef passage="Joh 1:1" id="Gen.ii-p10.1" parsed="|John|1|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.1.1">John i. 1</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p11">2. Let us learn hence, (1.) That atheism is
|
|
folly, and atheists are the greatest fools in nature; for they see
|
|
there is a world that could not make itself, and yet they will not
|
|
own there is a God that made it. Doubtless, they are without
|
|
excuse, but the god of this world has blinded their minds. (2.)
|
|
That God is sovereign Lord of all by an incontestable right. If he
|
|
is the Creator, no doubt he is the owner and possessor of heaven
|
|
and earth. (3.) That with God all things are possible, and
|
|
therefore happy are the people that have him for their God, and
|
|
whose help and hope stand in his name, <scripRef passage="Ps 121:2,124:8" id="Gen.ii-p11.1" parsed="|Ps|121|2|0|0;|Ps|124|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.121.2 Bible:Ps.124.8">Ps. cxxi. 2; cxxiv. 8</scripRef>. (4.) That the
|
|
God we serve is worthy of, and yet is exalted far above, all
|
|
blessing and praise, <scripRef passage="Ne 9:5,6" id="Gen.ii-p11.2" parsed="|Neh|9|5|9|6" osisRef="Bible:Neh.9.5-Neh.9.6">Neh. ix. 5,
|
|
6</scripRef>. If he made the world, he needs not our services, nor
|
|
can be benefited by them (<scripRef passage="Ac 17:24,25" id="Gen.ii-p11.3" parsed="|Acts|17|24|17|25" osisRef="Bible:Acts.17.24-Acts.17.25">Acts
|
|
xvii. 24, 25</scripRef>), and yet he justly requires them, and
|
|
deserves our praise, <scripRef passage="Re 4:11" id="Gen.ii-p11.4" parsed="|Rev|4|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.4.11">Rev. iv.
|
|
11</scripRef>. If all is of him, all must be to him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p12">II. Here is the work of creation in its
|
|
embryo, <scripRef passage="Ge 1:2" id="Gen.ii-p12.1" parsed="|Gen|1|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>, where we
|
|
have an account of the first matter and the first mover.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p13">1. A chaos was the first matter. It is here
|
|
called the earth (though the earth, properly taken, was not made
|
|
till the third day <scripRef passage="Ge 1:10" id="Gen.ii-p13.1" parsed="|Gen|1|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.10"><i>v.</i>
|
|
10</scripRef>), because it did most resemble that which afterwards
|
|
was called <i>earth,</i> mere earth, destitute of its ornaments,
|
|
such a heavy unwieldy mass was it; it is also called <i>the
|
|
deep,</i> both for its vastness and because the waters which were
|
|
afterwards separated from the earth were now mixed with it. This
|
|
immense mass of matter was it out of which all bodies, even the
|
|
firmament and visible heavens themselves, were afterwards produced
|
|
by the power of the Eternal Word. The Creator could have made his
|
|
work perfect at first, but by this gradual proceeding he would show
|
|
what is, ordinarily, the method of his providence and grace.
|
|
Observe the description of this chaos. (1.) There was nothing in it
|
|
desirable to be seen, for it was <i>without form and void. Tohu</i>
|
|
and <i>Bohu, confusion</i> and <i>emptiness;</i> so these words are
|
|
rendered, <scripRef passage="Isa 34:11" id="Gen.ii-p13.2" parsed="|Isa|34|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.11">Isa. xxxiv. 11</scripRef>.
|
|
It was shapeless, it was useless, it was without inhabitants,
|
|
without ornaments, the shadow or rough draught of things to come,
|
|
<i>and not the image of the things,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 10:1" id="Gen.ii-p13.3" parsed="|Heb|10|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.10.1">Heb. x. 1</scripRef>. The earth is almost reduced to the
|
|
same condition again by the sin of man, under which the creation
|
|
groans. See <scripRef passage="Jer 4:23" id="Gen.ii-p13.4" parsed="|Jer|4|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.4.23">Jer. iv. 23</scripRef>,
|
|
<i>I beheld the earth, and lo it was without form, and void.</i> To
|
|
those who have their hearts in heaven this lower world, in
|
|
comparison with that upper, still appears to be nothing but
|
|
confusion and emptiness. There is no true beauty to be seen, no
|
|
satisfying fulness to be enjoyed, in this earth, but in God only.
|
|
(2.) If there had been any thing desirable to be seen, yet there
|
|
was no light to see it by; for <i>darkness,</i> thick darkness,
|
|
<i>was upon the face of the deep.</i> God did not create this
|
|
darkness (as he is said to create the darkness of affliction,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 45:7" id="Gen.ii-p13.5" parsed="|Isa|45|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.45.7">Isa. xlv. 7</scripRef>), for it was
|
|
only the want of light, which yet could not be said to be wanted
|
|
till something was made that might be seen by it; nor needs the
|
|
want of it be much complained of, when there was nothing to be seen
|
|
but confusion and emptiness. If the work of grace in the soul is a
|
|
new creation, this chaos represents the state of an unregenerate
|
|
graceless soul: <i>there</i> is disorder, confusion, and every evil
|
|
work; it is empty of all good, for it is without God; it is dark,
|
|
it is darkness itself. This is our condition by nature, till
|
|
almighty grace effects a blessed change.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p14">2. The Spirit of God was the first mover:
|
|
He <i>moved upon the face of the waters.</i> When we consider the
|
|
earth without form and void, methinks it is like the valley full of
|
|
dead and dry bones. Can these live? Can this confused mass of
|
|
matter be formed into a beautiful world? Yes, if a spirit of life
|
|
from God enter into it, <scripRef passage="Eze 37:9" id="Gen.ii-p14.1" parsed="|Ezek|37|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.37.9">Ezek. xxxvii.
|
|
9</scripRef>. Now there is hope concerning this thing; for the
|
|
Spirit of God begins to work, and, if he work, who or what shall
|
|
hinder? God is said to make the world by his Spirit, <scripRef passage="Ps 33:6,Job 26:13" id="Gen.ii-p14.2" parsed="|Ps|33|6|0|0;|Job|26|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.33.6 Bible:Job.26.13">Ps. xxxiii. 6; Job xxvi. 13</scripRef>;
|
|
and by the same mighty worker the new creation is effected. He
|
|
moved upon the face of the deep, as Elijah stretched himself upon
|
|
the dead child,—as the <i>hen gathers her chickens under her
|
|
wings,</i> and hovers over them, to warm and cherish them,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mt 23:37" id="Gen.ii-p14.3" parsed="|Matt|23|37|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.37">Matt. xxiii. 37</scripRef>,—as the
|
|
eagle stirs up her nest, and <i>flutters</i> over her young (it is
|
|
the same word that is here used), <scripRef passage="De 32:11" id="Gen.ii-p14.4" parsed="|Deut|32|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.11">Deut. xxxii. 11</scripRef>. Learn hence, That God is not
|
|
only the author of all being, but the fountain of life and spring
|
|
of motion. Dead matter would be for ever dead if he did not quicken
|
|
it. And this makes it credible to us that God should raise the
|
|
dead. That power which brought such a world as this out of
|
|
confusion, emptiness, and darkness,
|
|
|
|
<pb n="4" id="Gen.ii-Page_4"/>
|
|
|
|
at the
|
|
beginning of time, can, at the end of time, bring our vile bodies
|
|
out of the grave, though it is <i>a land of darkness as darkness
|
|
itself, and without any order</i> (<scripRef passage="Job 10:22" id="Gen.ii-p14.5" parsed="|Job|10|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.10.22">Job x. 22</scripRef>), and can make them glorious
|
|
bodies.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 1:3-5" id="Gen.ii-p14.6" parsed="|Gen|1|3|1|5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.3-Gen.1.5"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.1.3-Gen.1.5">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.ii-p14.7">The Creation. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.ii-p14.8">b. c.</span> 4004.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.ii-p15">3 And God said, Let there be light: and there
|
|
was light.   4 And God saw the light, that <i>it was</i> good:
|
|
and God divided the light from the darkness.   5 And God
|
|
called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the
|
|
evening and the morning were the first day.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p16">We have here a further account of the first
|
|
day's work, in which observe, 1. That the first of all visible
|
|
beings which God created was light; not that by it he himself might
|
|
see to work (for the darkness and light are both alike to him), but
|
|
that by it we might see his works and his glory in them, and might
|
|
work our works while it is day. The works of Satan and his servants
|
|
are works of darkness; but he that doeth truth, and doeth good,
|
|
cometh to the light, and coveteth it, <i>that his deeds may be made
|
|
manifest,</i> <scripRef passage="Joh 3:21" id="Gen.ii-p16.1" parsed="|John|3|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.3.21">John iii. 21</scripRef>.
|
|
Light is the great beauty and blessing of the universe. Like the
|
|
first-born, it does, of all visible beings, most resemble its great
|
|
Parent in purity and power, brightness and beneficence; it is of
|
|
great affinity with a spirit, and is next to it; though by it we
|
|
see other things, and are sure that it is, yet we know not its
|
|
nature, nor can describe what it is, or <i>by what way the light is
|
|
parted,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 38:19,24" id="Gen.ii-p16.2" parsed="|Job|38|19|0|0;|Job|38|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.19 Bible:Job.38.24">Job xxxviii. 19,
|
|
24</scripRef>. By the sight of it let us be led to, and assisted
|
|
in, the believing contemplation of him who is light, infinite and
|
|
eternal light (<scripRef passage="1Jo 1:5" id="Gen.ii-p16.3" parsed="|1John|1|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.5">1 John i. 5</scripRef>),
|
|
and the <i>Father of lights</i> (<scripRef passage="Jam 1:17" id="Gen.ii-p16.4" parsed="|Jas|1|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jas.1.17">Jam.
|
|
i. 17</scripRef>), and who dwells in inaccessible light, <scripRef passage="1Ti 6:16" id="Gen.ii-p16.5" parsed="|1Tim|6|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.6.16">1 Tim. vi. 16</scripRef>. In the new creation,
|
|
the first thing wrought in the soul is <i>light:</i> the blessed
|
|
Spirit captives the will and affections by enlightening the
|
|
understanding, so coming into the heart by the door, like the good
|
|
shepherd whose own the sheep are, while sin and Satan, like thieves
|
|
and robbers, climb up some other way. Those that by sin were
|
|
darkness by grace become light in the world. 2. That the light was
|
|
made by the word of God's power. He said, <i>Let there be
|
|
light;</i> he willed and appointed it, and it was done immediately:
|
|
<i>there was light,</i> such a copy as exactly answered the
|
|
original idea in the Eternal Mind. O the power of the word of God!
|
|
<i>He spoke, and it was done,</i> done really, effectually, and for
|
|
perpetuity, not in show only, and to serve a present turn, for
|
|
<i>he commanded, and it stood fast:</i> with him it was <i>dictum,
|
|
factum—a word, and a world.</i> The world of God (that is, his
|
|
will and the good pleasure of it) is quick and powerful. Christ is
|
|
the Word, the essential eternal Word, and by him the light was
|
|
produced, for <i>in him was light, and he is the true light, the
|
|
light of the world,</i> <scripRef passage="Joh 1:9,9:5" id="Gen.ii-p16.6" parsed="|John|1|9|0|0;|John|9|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.1.9 Bible:John.9.5">John i. 9;
|
|
ix. 5.</scripRef>. The divine light which shines in sanctified
|
|
souls is wrought by the power of God, the power of his word and of
|
|
the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, opening the understanding,
|
|
scattering the mists of ignorance and mistake, and giving the
|
|
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ, as at first,
|
|
<i>God commanded the light to shine out of darkness,</i> <scripRef passage="2Co 4:6" id="Gen.ii-p16.7" parsed="|2Cor|4|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.4.6">2 Cor. iv. 6</scripRef>. Darkness would have been
|
|
perpetually upon the face of fallen man if the Son of God had not
|
|
<i>come, and given us an understanding,</i> <scripRef passage="1Jo 5:20" id="Gen.ii-p16.8" parsed="|1John|5|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.5.20">1 John v. 20</scripRef>. 3. That the light which God
|
|
willed, when it was produced, he approved of: <i>God saw the light
|
|
that it was good.</i> It was exactly as he designed it, and it was
|
|
fit to answer the end for which he designed it. It was useful and
|
|
profitable; the world, which now is a palace, would have been a
|
|
dungeon without it. It was amiable and pleasant. <i>Truly the light
|
|
is sweet</i> (<scripRef passage="Ec 11:7" id="Gen.ii-p16.9" parsed="|Eccl|11|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.11.7">Eccl. xi. 7</scripRef>);
|
|
<i>it rejoiceth the heart,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 15:30" id="Gen.ii-p16.10" parsed="|Prov|15|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.15.30">Prov.
|
|
xv. 30</scripRef>. What God commands he will approve and graciously
|
|
accept; he will be well pleased with the work of his own hands.
|
|
That is good indeed which is so in the sight of God, for he sees
|
|
not as man sees. If the light is good, how good is he that is the
|
|
fountain of light, from whom we receive it, and to whom we owe all
|
|
praise for it and all the services we do by it! 4. That God
|
|
<i>divided the light from the darkness,</i> so put them asunder as
|
|
that they could never be joined together, or reconciled; for
|
|
<i>what fellowship has light with darkness?</i> <scripRef passage="2Co 6:14" id="Gen.ii-p16.11" parsed="|2Cor|6|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.6.14">2 Cor. vi. 14</scripRef>. And yet he divided time
|
|
between them, the day for light and the night for darkness, in a
|
|
constant and regular succession to each other. Though the darkness
|
|
was now scattered by the light, yet it was not condemned to a
|
|
perpetual banishment, but takes its turn with the light, and has
|
|
its place, because it has its use; for, as the light of the morning
|
|
befriends the business of the day, so the shadows of the evening
|
|
befriend the repose of the night, and draw the curtains about us,
|
|
that we may sleep the better. See <scripRef passage="Job 7:2" id="Gen.ii-p16.12" parsed="|Job|7|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.2">Job
|
|
vii. 2</scripRef>. God has thus divided time between light and
|
|
darkness, because he would daily remind us that this is a world of
|
|
mixtures and changes. In heaven there is perfect and perpetual
|
|
light, and no darkness at all; in hell, utter darkness, and no
|
|
gleam of light. In that world between these two there is a great
|
|
gulf fixed; but, in this world, they are counterchanged, and we
|
|
pass daily from one to another, that we may learn to expect the
|
|
like vicissitudes in the providence of God, peace and trouble, joy
|
|
and sorrow, and may set the one over-against the other,
|
|
accommodating ourselves to both as we do to the light and darkness,
|
|
bidding both welcome, and making the best of both. 5. That God
|
|
divided them from each other by distinguishing names: <i>He called
|
|
the light day, and the darkness he called night.</i> He gave them
|
|
names, as the Lord of both; for <i>the day is
|
|
|
|
<pb n="5" id="Gen.ii-Page_5"/>
|
|
|
|
his, the night also is his,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 74:16" id="Gen.ii-p16.13" parsed="|Ps|74|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.74.16">Ps.
|
|
lxxiv. 16</scripRef>. He is the Lord of time, and will be so, till
|
|
day and night shall come to an end, and the stream of time be
|
|
swallowed up in the ocean of eternity. Let us acknowledge God in
|
|
the constant succession of day and night, and consecrate both to
|
|
his honour, by working for him every day and resting in him every
|
|
night, and meditating in his law day and night. 6. That this was
|
|
the first day's work, and a good day's work it was. <i>The evening
|
|
and the morning were the first day.</i> The darkness of the evening
|
|
was before the light of the morning, that it might serve for a foil
|
|
to it, to set it off, and make it shine the brighter. This was not
|
|
only the first day of the world, but the first day of the week. I
|
|
observe it to the honour of that day, because the new world began
|
|
on the first day of the week likewise, in the resurrection of
|
|
Christ, as the light of the world, early in the morning. In him the
|
|
day-spring from on high has visited the world; and happy are we,
|
|
for ever happy, if that <i>day-star arise in our hearts.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 1:6-8" id="Gen.ii-p16.14" parsed="|Gen|1|6|1|8" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.6-Gen.1.8"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.1.6-Gen.1.8">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.ii-p16.15">The Creation. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.ii-p16.16">b. c.</span> 4004.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.ii-p17">6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the
|
|
midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
|
|
  7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which
|
|
<i>were</i> under the firmament from the waters which <i>were</i>
|
|
above the firmament: and it was so.   8 And God called the
|
|
firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second
|
|
day.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p18">We have here an account of the second day's
|
|
work, the creation of the firmament, in which observe, 1. The
|
|
command of God concerning it: <i>Let there be a firmament,</i> an
|
|
<i>expansion,</i> so the Hebrew word signifies, like a sheet
|
|
spread, or a curtain drawn out. This includes all that is visible
|
|
above the earth, between it and the third heavens: the air, its
|
|
higher, middle, and lower, regions—the celestial globe, and all
|
|
the spheres and orbs of light above: it reaches as high as the
|
|
place where the stars are fixed, for that is called here the
|
|
<i>firmament of heaven</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 1:14,15" id="Gen.ii-p18.1" parsed="|Gen|1|14|1|15" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.14-Gen.1.15"><i>v.</i> 14, 15</scripRef>), and as low as the place
|
|
where the birds fly, for that also is called the <i>firmament of
|
|
heaven,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 1:20" id="Gen.ii-p18.2" parsed="|Gen|1|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>.
|
|
When God had made the light, he appointed the air to be the
|
|
receptacle and vehicle of its beams, and to be as a medium of
|
|
communication between the invisible and the visible world; for,
|
|
though between heaven and earth there is an inconceivable distance,
|
|
yet there is not an impassable gulf, as there is between heaven and
|
|
hell. This firmament is not a wall of partition, but a way of
|
|
intercourse. See <scripRef passage="Job 26:7,37:18,Ps 104:3,Am 9:6" id="Gen.ii-p18.3" parsed="|Job|26|7|0|0;|Job|37|18|0|0;|Ps|104|3|0|0;|Amos|9|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.26.7 Bible:Job.37.18 Bible:Ps.104.3 Bible:Amos.9.6">Job xxvi. 7; xxxvii. 18; Ps. civ.
|
|
3; Amos ix. 6</scripRef>. 2. The creation of it. Lest it should
|
|
seem as if God had only commanded it to be done, and someone else
|
|
had done it, he adds, <i>And God made the firmament.</i> What God
|
|
requires of us he himself works in us, or it is not done. He that
|
|
commands faith, holiness, and love, creates them by the power of
|
|
his grace going along with his word, that he may have all the
|
|
praise. <i>Lord, give what thou commandest, and then command what
|
|
thou pleasest.</i> The firmament is said to be <i>the work of God's
|
|
fingers,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 8:3" id="Gen.ii-p18.4" parsed="|Ps|8|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.8.3">Ps. viii. 3</scripRef>.
|
|
Though the vastness of its extent declares it to be the work of his
|
|
arm stretched out, yet the admirable fineness of its constitution
|
|
shows that it is a curious piece of art, the work of his fingers.
|
|
3. The use and design of it—to <i>divide the waters from the
|
|
waters,</i> that is, to distinguish between the waters that are
|
|
wrapped up in the clouds and those that cover the sea, the waters
|
|
in the air and those in the earth. See the difference between these
|
|
two carefully observed, <scripRef passage="De 11:10,11" id="Gen.ii-p18.5" parsed="|Deut|11|10|11|11" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.10-Deut.11.11">Deut. xi.
|
|
10, 11</scripRef>, where Canaan is upon this account preferred to
|
|
Egypt, that Egypt was moistened and made fruitful with the waters
|
|
that are under the firmament, but Canaan with waters from above,
|
|
out of the firmament, even the dew of heaven, which tarrieth not
|
|
<i>for the sons of men,</i> <scripRef passage="Mic 5:7" id="Gen.ii-p18.6" parsed="|Mic|5|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mic.5.7">Mic. v.
|
|
7</scripRef>. God has, in the firmament of his power, chambers,
|
|
store-chambers, whence he <i>watereth the earth,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 104:13,Ps 65:9,10" id="Gen.ii-p18.7" parsed="|Ps|104|13|0|0;|Ps|65|9|65|10" osisRef="Bible:Ps.104.13 Bible:Ps.65.9-Ps.65.10">Ps. civ. 13; lxv. 9, 10</scripRef>.
|
|
He has also <i>treasures, or magazines, of snow and hail, which he
|
|
hath reserved against the day of battle and war,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 38:22,23" id="Gen.ii-p18.8" parsed="|Job|38|22|38|23" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.22-Job.38.23">Job xxxviii. 22, 23</scripRef>. O what a
|
|
great God is he who has thus provided for the comfort of all that
|
|
serve him and the confusion of all that hate him! It is good having
|
|
him our friend, and bad having him our enemy. 4. The naming of it:
|
|
<i>He called the firmament heaven.</i> It is the visible heaven,
|
|
the pavement of the holy city; above the firmament God is said to
|
|
have his throne (<scripRef passage="Eze 1:26" id="Gen.ii-p18.9" parsed="|Ezek|1|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.1.26">Ezek. i.
|
|
26</scripRef>), for he has prepared it in the heavens; the heavens
|
|
therefore are said to rule, <scripRef passage="Da 4:26" id="Gen.ii-p18.10" parsed="|Dan|4|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.4.26">Dan. iv.
|
|
26</scripRef>. <i>Is not God in the height of heaven?</i> <scripRef passage="Job 22:12" id="Gen.ii-p18.11" parsed="|Job|22|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.22.12">Job xxii. 12</scripRef>. Yes, he is, and we
|
|
should be led by the contemplation of the heavens that are in our
|
|
eye to consider <i>our Father who is in heaven.</i> The height of
|
|
the heavens should remind us of God's supremacy and the infinite
|
|
distance there is between us and him; the brightness of the heavens
|
|
and their purity should remind us of his glory, and majesty, and
|
|
perfect holiness; the vastness of the heavens, their encompassing
|
|
of the earth, and the influence they have upon it, should remind us
|
|
of his immensity and universal providence.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 1:9-13" id="Gen.ii-p18.12" parsed="|Gen|1|9|1|13" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.9-Gen.1.13"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.1.9-Gen.1.13">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.ii-p18.13">The Creation. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.ii-p18.14">b. c.</span> 4004.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.ii-p19">9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven
|
|
be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry <i>land</i>
|
|
appear: and it was so.   10 And God called the dry <i>land</i>
|
|
Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and
|
|
God saw that <i>it was</i> good.   11 And God said, Let the
|
|
|
|
<pb n="6" id="Gen.ii-Page_6"/>
|
|
|
|
earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed,
|
|
<i>and</i> the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed
|
|
<i>is</i> in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.   12 And
|
|
the earth brought forth grass, <i>and</i> herb yielding seed after
|
|
his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed <i>was</i> in
|
|
itself, after his kind: and God saw that <i>it was</i> good.  
|
|
13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p20">The third day's work is related in these
|
|
verses—the forming of the sea and the dry land, and the making of
|
|
the earth fruitful. Hitherto the power of the Creator had been
|
|
exerted and employed about the upper part of the visible word; the
|
|
light of heaven was kindled, and the firmament of heaven fixed: but
|
|
now he descends to this lower world, the earth, which was designed
|
|
for the children of men, designed both for their habitation and for
|
|
their maintenance; and here we have an account of the fitting of it
|
|
for both, and building of their house and the spreading of their
|
|
table. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p21">I. How the earth was prepared to be a
|
|
habitation for man, by the gathering of the waters together, and
|
|
the making of the dry land to appear. Thus, instead of the
|
|
confusion which there was (<scripRef passage="Ge 1:2" id="Gen.ii-p21.1" parsed="|Gen|1|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.2"><i>v.</i>
|
|
2</scripRef>) when earth and water were mixed in one great mass,
|
|
behold, now, there is order, by such a separation as rendered them
|
|
both useful. God said, <i>Let it be so, and it was so;</i> no
|
|
sooner said than done. 1. The waters which had covered the earth
|
|
were ordered to retire, and to gather into one place, namely, those
|
|
hollows which were fitted and appointed for their reception and
|
|
rest. The waters, thus cleared, thus collected, and thus lodged, in
|
|
their proper place, he called <i>seas.</i> Though they are many, in
|
|
distant regions, and washing several shores, yet, either above
|
|
ground or under ground, they have communication with each other,
|
|
and so they are one, and the common receptacle of waters, into
|
|
which all the rivers flow, <scripRef passage="Ec 1:7" id="Gen.ii-p21.2" parsed="|Eccl|1|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.1.7">Eccl. i.
|
|
7</scripRef>. Waters and seas often, in scripture, signify troubles
|
|
and afflictions, <scripRef passage="Ps 42:7,69:2,14,15" id="Gen.ii-p21.3" parsed="|Ps|42|7|0|0;|Ps|69|2|0|0;|Ps|69|14|0|0;|Ps|69|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.42.7 Bible:Ps.69.2 Bible:Ps.69.14 Bible:Ps.69.15">Ps. xlii.
|
|
7; lxix. 2, 14, 15</scripRef>. God's own people are not exempted
|
|
from these in this world; but it is their comfort that they are
|
|
only waters under the heaven (there are none in heaven), and that
|
|
they are all in the place that God has appointed them and within
|
|
the bounds that he has set for them. How the waters were gathered
|
|
together at first, and how they are still bound and limited by the
|
|
same Almighty had that first confined them, are elegantly
|
|
described, <scripRef passage="Ps 104:6-9" id="Gen.ii-p21.4" parsed="|Ps|104|6|104|9" osisRef="Bible:Ps.104.6-Ps.104.9">Ps. civ. 6-9</scripRef>,
|
|
and are there mentioned as matter of praise. <i>Those that go down
|
|
to the sea in ships</i> ought to acknowledge daily the wisdom,
|
|
power, and goodness, of the Creator, in making the great waters
|
|
serviceable to man for trade and commerce; and <i>those that tarry
|
|
at home</i> must own themselves indebted to him that keeps the sea
|
|
with bars and doors in its decreed place, and stays its proud
|
|
waves, <scripRef passage="Job 38:10,11" id="Gen.ii-p21.5" parsed="|Job|38|10|38|11" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.10-Job.38.11">Job xxxviii. 10,
|
|
11</scripRef>. 2. The dry land was made to appear, and emerge out
|
|
of the waters, and was called <i>earth,</i> and <i>given to the
|
|
children of men.</i> The earth, it seems, was in being before; but
|
|
it was of no use, because it was under water. Thus many of God's
|
|
gifts are received in vain, because they are buried; make them to
|
|
appear, and they become serviceable. We who, to this day, enjoy the
|
|
benefit of the dry land (though, since this, it was once deluged,
|
|
and dried again) must own ourselves tenants to, and dependents
|
|
upon, that God whose <i>hands formed the dry land,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 95:5,Jon 1:9" id="Gen.ii-p21.6" parsed="|Ps|95|5|0|0;|Jonah|1|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.95.5 Bible:Jonah.1.9">Ps. xcv. 5; Jonah i. 9</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p22">II. How the earth was furnished for the
|
|
maintenance and support of man, <scripRef passage="Ge 1:11,12" id="Gen.ii-p22.1" parsed="|Gen|1|11|1|12" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.11-Gen.1.12"><i>v.</i> 11, 12</scripRef>. Present provision was now
|
|
made, by the immediate products of the upstart earth, which, in
|
|
obedience to God's command, was no sooner made than it became
|
|
fruitful, and brought forth grass for the cattle and herb for the
|
|
service of man. Provision was likewise made for time to come, by
|
|
the perpetuating of the several kinds of vegetables, which are
|
|
numerous, various, and all curious, and every one <i>having its
|
|
seed in itself after its kind,</i> that, during the continuance of
|
|
man upon the earth, food might be fetched out of the earth for his
|
|
use and benefit. <i>Lord, what is man, that he is thus visited and
|
|
regarded</i>—that such care should be taken, and such provision
|
|
made, for the support and preservation of those guilty and
|
|
obnoxious lives which have been a thousand times forfeited! Observe
|
|
here, 1. That not only the earth is the Lord's, but <i>the fulness
|
|
thereof,</i> and he is the rightful owner and sovereign disposer,
|
|
not only of it, but of all its furniture. The earth was
|
|
<i>emptiness</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 1:2" id="Gen.ii-p22.2" parsed="|Gen|1|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.2"><i>v.</i>
|
|
2</scripRef>), but now, by a word's speaking, it has become full of
|
|
God's riches, and his they are still—<i>his corn and his wine, his
|
|
wool and his flax,</i> <scripRef passage="Ho 2:9" id="Gen.ii-p22.3" parsed="|Hos|2|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.2.9">Hos. ii.
|
|
9</scripRef>. Though the use of them is allowed to us, the property
|
|
still remains in him, and to his service and honour they must be
|
|
used. 2. That common providence is a continued creation, and in it
|
|
<i>our Father worketh hitherto.</i> The earth still remains under
|
|
the efficacy of this command, to bring forth grass, and herbs, and
|
|
its annual products; and though, being according to the common
|
|
course of nature, these are not standing miracles, yet they are
|
|
standing instances of the unwearied power and unexhausted goodness
|
|
of the world's great Maker and Master. 3. That though God,
|
|
ordinarily, makes use of the agency of second causes, according to
|
|
their nature, yet he neither needs them nor is tied to them; for,
|
|
though the precious fruits of the earth are usually brought forth
|
|
by the influences of the sun and moon (<scripRef passage="De 33:14" id="Gen.ii-p22.4" parsed="|Deut|33|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.14">Deut. xxxiii. 14</scripRef>), yet here we find the earth
|
|
bearing a great abundance
|
|
|
|
<pb n="7" id="Gen.ii-Page_7"/>
|
|
|
|
of fruit, probable
|
|
ripe fruit, before the sun and moon were made. 4. That it is good
|
|
to provide things necessary before we have occasion to use them:
|
|
before the beasts and man were made, here were grass and herbs
|
|
prepared for them. God thus dealt wisely and graciously with man;
|
|
let not man then be foolish and unwise for himself. 5. That God
|
|
must have the glory of all the benefit we receive from the products
|
|
of the earth, either for food or physic. It is he that <i>hears the
|
|
heavens when they hear the earth,</i> <scripRef passage="Hos 2:21,22" id="Gen.ii-p22.5" parsed="|Hos|2|21|2|22" osisRef="Bible:Hos.2.21-Hos.2.22">Hos. ii. 21, 22</scripRef>. And if we have, through
|
|
grace, an interest in him who is the fountain, when the streams are
|
|
dried up and the <i>fig-tree doth not blossom</i> we may rejoice in
|
|
him.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 1:14-19" id="Gen.ii-p22.6" parsed="|Gen|1|14|1|19" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.14-Gen.1.19"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.1.14-Gen.1.19">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.ii-p22.7">The Creation. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.ii-p22.8">b. c.</span> 4004.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.ii-p23">14 And God said, Let there be lights in the
|
|
firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let
|
|
them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:  
|
|
15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to
|
|
give light upon the earth: and it was so.   16 And God made
|
|
two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser
|
|
light to rule the night: <i>he made</i> the stars also.   17
|
|
And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon
|
|
the earth,   18 And to rule over the day and over the night,
|
|
and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that <i>it
|
|
was</i> good.   19 And the evening and the morning were the
|
|
fourth day.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p24">This is the history of the fourth day's
|
|
work, the creating of the sun, moon, and stars, which are here
|
|
accounted for, not as they are in themselves and in their own
|
|
nature, to satisfy the curious, but as they are in relation to this
|
|
earth, to which they serve as lights; and this is enough to furnish
|
|
us with matter for praise and thanksgiving. Holy Job mentions this
|
|
as an instance of the glorious power of God, that <i>by the Spirit
|
|
he hath garnished the heavens</i> (<scripRef passage="Job 26:13" id="Gen.ii-p24.1" parsed="|Job|26|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.26.13">Job xxvi. 13</scripRef>); and here we have an account
|
|
of that garniture which is not only so much the beauty of the upper
|
|
world, but so much the blessing of this lower; for though heaven is
|
|
high, yet has it respect to this earth, and therefore should have
|
|
respect from it. Of the creation of the lights of heaven we have an
|
|
account,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p25">I. In general, <scripRef passage="Ge 1:14,15" id="Gen.ii-p25.1" parsed="|Gen|1|14|1|15" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.14-Gen.1.15"><i>v.</i> 14, 15</scripRef>, where we have 1. The
|
|
command given concerning them: <i>Let there be lights in the
|
|
firmament of heaven.</i> God had said, <i>Let there be light</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 1:3" id="Gen.ii-p25.2" parsed="|Gen|1|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), and there was
|
|
light; but this was, as it were, a chaos of light, scattered and
|
|
confused: now it was collected and modelled, and made into several
|
|
luminaries, and so rendered both more glorious and more
|
|
serviceable. God is the God of order, and not of confusion; and, as
|
|
he is light, so he is the Father and former of lights. Those lights
|
|
were to be <i>in the firmament of heaven,</i> that vast expanse
|
|
which encloses the earth, and is conspicuous to all; for <i>no man,
|
|
when he has lighted a candle, puts it under a bushel, but on a
|
|
candlestick</i> (<scripRef passage="Lu 8:16" id="Gen.ii-p25.3" parsed="|Luke|8|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.8.16">Luke viii.
|
|
16</scripRef>), and a stately golden candlestick the firmament of
|
|
heaven is, from which these candles give light <i>to all that are
|
|
in the house.</i> The firmament itself is spoken of as having a
|
|
brightness of its own (<scripRef passage="Da 12:3" id="Gen.ii-p25.4" parsed="|Dan|12|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.12.3">Dan. xii.
|
|
3</scripRef>), but this was not sufficient to give light to the
|
|
earth; and perhaps for this reason it is not expressly said of the
|
|
second day's work, in which the firmament was made, that it was
|
|
good, because, till it was adorned with these lights on the fourth
|
|
day, it had not become serviceable to man. 2. The use they were
|
|
intended to be of to this earth. (1.) They must be for the
|
|
distinction of times, of day and night, summer and winter, which
|
|
are interchanged by the motion of the sun, whose rising makes day,
|
|
his setting night, his approach towards our tropic summer, his
|
|
recess to the other winter: and thus, <i>under the sun,</i> there
|
|
is <i>a season to every purpose,</i> <scripRef passage="Ec 3:11" id="Gen.ii-p25.5" parsed="|Eccl|3|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.3.11">Eccl. iii. 1</scripRef>. (2.) They must be for the
|
|
direction of actions. They are for signs of the change of weather,
|
|
that the husbandman may order his affairs with discretion,
|
|
foreseeing, by the face of the sky, when second causes have begun
|
|
to work, whether it will be fair or foul, <scripRef passage="Mt 16:2,3" id="Gen.ii-p25.6" parsed="|Matt|16|2|16|3" osisRef="Bible:Matt.16.2-Matt.16.3">Matt. xvi. 2, 3</scripRef>. They do also <i>give light
|
|
upon the earth,</i> that we may <i>walk</i> (<scripRef passage="Joh 11:9" id="Gen.ii-p25.7" parsed="|John|11|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.11.9">John xi. 9</scripRef>), and <i>work</i> (<scripRef passage="Joh 9:4" id="Gen.ii-p25.8" parsed="|John|9|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.9.4">John ix. 4</scripRef>). according as the duty of
|
|
every day requires. The lights of heaven do not shine for
|
|
themselves, nor for the world of spirits above, who need them not;
|
|
but they shine for us, for our pleasure and advantage. Lord, what
|
|
is man, that he should be thus regarded! <scripRef passage="Ps 8:3,4" id="Gen.ii-p25.9" parsed="|Ps|8|3|8|4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.8.3-Ps.8.4">Ps. viii. 3, 4</scripRef>. How ungrateful and
|
|
inexcusable are we, if, when God has set up these lights for us to
|
|
work by, we sleep, or play, or trifle away the time of business,
|
|
and neglect the great work we were sent into the world about! The
|
|
lights of heaven are made to serve us, and they do it faithfully,
|
|
and shine in their season, without fail: but we are set as lights
|
|
in this world to serve God; and do we in like manner answer the end
|
|
of our creation? No, we do not, our light does not shine before God
|
|
as his lights shine before us, <scripRef passage="Mt 5:14" id="Gen.ii-p25.10" parsed="|Matt|5|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.5.14">Matt. v.
|
|
14</scripRef>. We burn our Master's candles, but do not mind our
|
|
Master's work.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p26">II. In particular, <scripRef passage="Ge 1:16-18" id="Gen.ii-p26.1" parsed="|Gen|1|16|1|18" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.16-Gen.1.18"><i>v.</i> 16-18</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p27">1. Observe, The lights of heaven are the
|
|
sun, moon, and stars; and all these are the work of God's hands.
|
|
(1.) The sun is the greatest light of all, more than a million
|
|
times greater than the earth, and the most glorious and useful of
|
|
all the lamps of heaven, a noble instance of the Creator's wisdom,
|
|
power, and goodness, and an invaluable blessing to the creatures of
|
|
this lower world. Let us learn from
|
|
|
|
<pb n="8" id="Gen.ii-Page_8"/>
|
|
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 19:1-6" id="Gen.ii-p27.1" parsed="|Ps|19|1|19|6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.19.1-Ps.19.6">Ps. xix. 1-6</scripRef> how to give unto God
|
|
the glory due unto his name, as the Maker of the sun. (2.) The moon
|
|
is a less light, and yet is here reckoned one of the greater
|
|
lights, because though, in regard to its magnitude and borrowed
|
|
light, it is inferior to many of the stars, yet, by virtue of its
|
|
office, as ruler of the night, and in respect of its usefulness to
|
|
the earth, it is more excellent than they. Those are most valuable
|
|
that are most serviceable; and those are the greater lights, not
|
|
that have the best gifts, but that humbly and faithfully do the
|
|
most good with them. <i>Whosoever will be great among you, let him
|
|
be your minister,</i> <scripRef passage="Mt 20:26" id="Gen.ii-p27.2" parsed="|Matt|20|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.20.26">Matt. xx.
|
|
26</scripRef>. (3.) <i>He made the stars also,</i> which are here
|
|
spoken of as they appear to vulgar eyes, without distinguishing
|
|
between the planets and the fixed stars, or accounting for their
|
|
number, nature, place, magnitude, motions, or influences; for the
|
|
scriptures were written, not to gratify our curiosity and make us
|
|
astronomers, but to lead us to God, and make us saints. Now these
|
|
lights are said to <i>rule</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 1:16,18" id="Gen.ii-p27.3" parsed="|Gen|1|16|0|0;|Gen|1|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.16 Bible:Gen.1.18"><i>v.</i> 16, 18</scripRef>); not that they have a
|
|
supreme dominion, as God has, but they are deputy-governors, rulers
|
|
under him. Here the less light, the moon, is said to rule <i>the
|
|
night;</i> but in <scripRef passage="Ps 136:9" id="Gen.ii-p27.4" parsed="|Ps|136|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.136.9">Ps. cxxxvi.
|
|
9</scripRef> the stars are mentioned as sharers in that government;
|
|
<i>The moon and stars to rule by night.</i> No more is meant than
|
|
that they <i>give light,</i> <scripRef passage="Jer 31:35" id="Gen.ii-p27.5" parsed="|Jer|31|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.31.35">Jer.
|
|
xxxi. 35</scripRef>. The best and most honourable way of ruling is
|
|
by giving light and doing good: those command respect that live a
|
|
useful life, and so shine as lights.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p28">2. Learn from all this, (1.) The sin and
|
|
folly of that ancient idolatry, the worshipping of the sun, moon,
|
|
and stars, which, some think, took rise, or countenance at least,
|
|
from some broken traditions in the patriarchal age concerning the
|
|
rule and dominion of the lights of heaven. But the account here
|
|
given of them plainly shows that they are both God's creatures and
|
|
man's servants; and therefore it is both a great affront to God and
|
|
a great reproach to ourselves to make deities of them and give them
|
|
divine honours. See <scripRef passage="De 4:19" id="Gen.ii-p28.1" parsed="|Deut|4|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.19">Deut. iv.
|
|
19</scripRef>. (2.) The duty and wisdom of daily worshipping that
|
|
God who made all these things, and made them to be that to us which
|
|
they are. The revolutions of the day and night oblige us to offer
|
|
the solemn sacrifice of prayer and praise every morning and
|
|
evening.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 1:20-23" id="Gen.ii-p28.2" parsed="|Gen|1|20|1|23" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.20-Gen.1.23"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.1.20-Gen.1.23">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.ii-p28.3">The Creation. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.ii-p28.4">b. c.</span> 4004.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.ii-p29">20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth
|
|
abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl <i>that</i>
|
|
may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.   21
|
|
And God created great whales, and every living creature that
|
|
moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their
|
|
kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that <i>it
|
|
was</i> good.   22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful,
|
|
and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl
|
|
multiply in the earth.   23 And the evening and the morning
|
|
were the fifth day.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p30">Each day, hitherto, has produced very noble
|
|
and excellent beings, which we can never sufficiently admire; but
|
|
we do not read of the creation of any living creature till the
|
|
fifth day, of which these verses give us an account. The work of
|
|
creation not only proceeded gradually from one thing to another,
|
|
but rose and advanced gradually from that which was less excellent
|
|
to that which was more so, teaching us to press towards perfection
|
|
and endeavour that our last works may be our best works. It was on
|
|
the fifth day that the fish and fowl were created, and both out of
|
|
the waters. Though there is one kind of flesh of fishes, and
|
|
another of birds, yet they were made together, and both out of the
|
|
waters; for the power of the first Cause can produce very different
|
|
effects from the same second causes. Observe, 1. The making of the
|
|
fish and fowl, at first, <scripRef passage="Ge 1:20,21" id="Gen.ii-p30.1" parsed="|Gen|1|20|1|21" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.20-Gen.1.21"><i>v.</i>
|
|
20, 21</scripRef>. God commanded them to be produced. He said,
|
|
<i>Let the waters bring forth abundantly;</i> not as if the waters
|
|
had any productive power of their own, but, "Let them be brought
|
|
into being, the fish in the waters and the fowl out of them." This
|
|
command he himself executed: <i>God created great whales,</i>
|
|
&c. Insects, which perhaps are as various and as numerous as
|
|
any species of animals, and their structure as curious, were part
|
|
of this day's work, some of them being allied to the fish and
|
|
others to the fowl. Mr. Boyle (I remember) says he admires the
|
|
Creator's wisdom and power as much in an ant as in an elephant.
|
|
Notice is here taken of the various sorts of fish and fowl, each
|
|
after their kind, and of the great numbers of both that were
|
|
produced, for the waters brought forth abundantly; and particular
|
|
mention if made of great whales, the largest of fishes, whose bulk
|
|
and strength, exceeding that of any other animal, are remarkable
|
|
proofs of the power and greatness of the Creator. The express
|
|
notice here taken of the whale, above all the rest, seems
|
|
sufficient to determine what animal is meant by the Leviathan,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Job 41:1" id="Gen.ii-p30.2" parsed="|Job|41|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.41.1">Job xli. :1</scripRef>. The curious
|
|
formation of the bodies of animals, their different sizes, shapes,
|
|
and natures, with the admirable powers of the sensitive life with
|
|
which they are endued, when duly considered, serve, not only to
|
|
silence and shame the objections of atheists and infidels, but to
|
|
raise high thoughts and high praises of God in pious and devout
|
|
souls, <scripRef passage="Ps 104:25" id="Gen.ii-p30.3" parsed="|Ps|104|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.104.25">Ps. civ. 25</scripRef>,
|
|
&c. 2. The blessing of them, in order to their continuance.
|
|
Life is a wasting thing. Its strength is not the strength of
|
|
stones. It is a candle that will burn out, if it be not first blown
|
|
out; and therefore the wise Creator not only made the individuals,
|
|
but provided
|
|
|
|
<pb n="9" id="Gen.ii-Page_9"/>
|
|
|
|
for the propagation of the
|
|
several kinds; <i>God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and
|
|
multiply,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 1:22" id="Gen.ii-p30.4" parsed="|Gen|1|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>.
|
|
God will bless his own works, and not forsake them; and <i>what he
|
|
does shall be for a perpetuity,</i> <scripRef passage="Ec 3:14" id="Gen.ii-p30.5" parsed="|Eccl|3|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.3.14">Eccl. iii. 14</scripRef>. The power of God's providence
|
|
preserves all things, as at first his creating power produced them.
|
|
Fruitfulness is the effect of God's blessing and must be ascribed
|
|
to it; the multiplying of the fish and fowl, from year to year, is
|
|
still the fruit of this blessing. Well, let us give to God the
|
|
glory of the continuance of these creatures to this day for the
|
|
benefit of man. See <scripRef passage="Job 12:7,9" id="Gen.ii-p30.6" parsed="|Job|12|7|0|0;|Job|12|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.12.7 Bible:Job.12.9">Job xii. 7,
|
|
9</scripRef>. It is a pity that fishing and fowling, recreations
|
|
innocent in themselves, should ever be abused to divert any from
|
|
God and their duty, while they are capable of being improved to
|
|
lead us to the contemplation of the wisdom, power, and goodness, of
|
|
him that made all these things, and to engage us to stand in awe of
|
|
him, as the fish and fowl do of us.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 1:24-25" id="Gen.ii-p30.7" parsed="|Gen|1|24|1|25" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.24-Gen.1.25"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.1.24-Gen.1.25">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.ii-p30.8">The Creation. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.ii-p30.9">b. c.</span> 4004.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.ii-p31">24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the
|
|
living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and
|
|
beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.   25 And God
|
|
made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their
|
|
kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind:
|
|
and God saw that <i>it was</i> good.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p32">We have here the first part of the sixth
|
|
day's work. The sea was, the day before, replenished with its fish,
|
|
and the air with its fowl; and this day were made the beasts of the
|
|
earth, the cattle, and the creeping things that pertain to the
|
|
earth. Here, as before, 1. <i>The Lord gave the word;</i> he said,
|
|
<i>Let the earth bring forth,</i> not as if the earth had any such
|
|
prolific virtue as to produce these animals, or as if God resigned
|
|
his creating power to it; but, "Let these creatures now come into
|
|
being upon the earth, and out of it, in their respective kinds,
|
|
conformable to the ideas of them in the divine counsels concerning
|
|
their creation." 2. He also did the work; he made them all after
|
|
their kind, not only of divers shapes, but of divers natures,
|
|
manners, food, and fashions—some to be tame about the house,
|
|
others to be wild in the fields—some living upon grass and herbs,
|
|
others upon flesh—some harmless, and others ravenous—some bold,
|
|
and others timorous—some for man's service, and not his
|
|
sustenance, as the horse—others for his sustenance, and not his
|
|
service, as the sheep—others for both, as the ox—and some for
|
|
neither, as the wild beasts. In all this appears the manifold
|
|
wisdom of the Creator.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 1:26-28" id="Gen.ii-p32.1" parsed="|Gen|1|26|1|28" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.26-Gen.1.28"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.1.26-Gen.1.28">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.ii-p32.2">The Creation. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.ii-p32.3">b. c.</span> 4004.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.ii-p33">26 And God said, Let us make man in our image,
|
|
after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the
|
|
sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over
|
|
all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the
|
|
earth.   27 So God created man in his <i>own</i> image, in the
|
|
image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
|
|
  28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be
|
|
fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and
|
|
have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the
|
|
air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p34">We have here the second part of the sixth
|
|
day's work, the creation of man, which we are, in a special manner,
|
|
concerned to take notice of, that we may know ourselves.
|
|
Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p35">I. That man was made last of all the
|
|
creatures, that it might not be suspected that he had been, any
|
|
way, a helper to God in the creation of the world: that question
|
|
must be for ever humbling and mortifying to him, <i>Where wast
|
|
thou,</i> or any of thy kind, <i>when I laid the foundations of the
|
|
earth?</i> <scripRef passage="Job 38:4" id="Gen.ii-p35.1" parsed="|Job|38|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.4">Job xxxviii. 4</scripRef>.
|
|
Yet it was both an honour and a favour to him that he was made
|
|
last: an honour, for the method of the creation was to advance from
|
|
that which was less perfect to that which was more so; and a
|
|
favour, for it was not fit he should be lodged in the palace
|
|
designed for him till it was completely fitted up and furnished for
|
|
his reception. Man, as soon as he was made, had the whole visible
|
|
creation before him, both to contemplate and to take the comfort
|
|
of. Man was made the same day that the beasts were, because his
|
|
body was made of the same earth with theirs; and, while he is in
|
|
the body, he inhabits the same earth with them. God forbid that by
|
|
indulging the body and the desires of it we should make ourselves
|
|
like the beasts that perish!</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p36">II. That man's creation was a more signal
|
|
and immediate act of divine wisdom and power than that of the other
|
|
creatures. The narrative of it is introduced with something of
|
|
solemnity, and a manifest distinction from the rest. Hitherto, it
|
|
had been said, "Let there be light," and "Let there be a
|
|
firmament," and "Let the earth, or waters, bring forth" such a
|
|
thing; but now the word of command is turned into a word of
|
|
consultation, "<i>Let us make man,</i> for whose sake the rest of
|
|
the creatures were made: this is a work we must take into our own
|
|
hands." In the former he speaks as one having authority, in this as
|
|
one having affection; for his <i>delights were with the sons of
|
|
men,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 8:31" id="Gen.ii-p36.1" parsed="|Prov|8|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.8.31">Prov. viii. 31</scripRef>. It
|
|
should seem as if this were the work which he longed to be at; as
|
|
if he had said, "Having at last settled the preliminaries, let us
|
|
now apply ourselves to the business, <i>Let us make man.</i>" Man
|
|
was to be a creature different from all that had been
|
|
|
|
<pb n="10" id="Gen.ii-Page_10"/>
|
|
|
|
hitherto made. Flesh and spirit, heaven and earth,
|
|
must be put together in him, and he must be allied to both worlds.
|
|
And therefore God himself not only undertakes to make him, but is
|
|
pleased so to express himself as if he called a council to consider
|
|
of the making of him: <i>Let us make man.</i> The three persons of
|
|
the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, consult about it and
|
|
concur in it, because man, when he was made, was to be dedicated
|
|
and devoted to Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Into that great name we
|
|
are, with good reason, baptized, for to that great name we owe our
|
|
being. Let him rule man who said, <i>Let us make man.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p37">III. That man was made in God's image and
|
|
after his likeness, two words to express the same thing and making
|
|
each other the more expressive; <i>image</i> and <i>likeness</i>
|
|
denote the likest image, the nearest resemblance of any of the
|
|
visible creatures. Man was not made in the likeness of any creature
|
|
that went before him, but in the likeness of his Creator; yet still
|
|
between God and man there is an infinite distance. Christ only is
|
|
the <i>express</i> image of God's person, as the Son of his Father,
|
|
having the same nature. It is only some of God's honour that is put
|
|
upon man, who is God's image only as the shadow in the glass, or
|
|
the king's impress upon the coin. God's image upon man consists in
|
|
these three things:—1. In his nature and constitution, not those
|
|
of his body (for God has not a body), but those of his soul. This
|
|
honour indeed God has put upon the body of man, that the Word was
|
|
made flesh, the Son of God was clothed with a body like ours and
|
|
will shortly clothe ours with a glory like that of his. And this we
|
|
may safely say, That he by whom God made the worlds, not only the
|
|
great world, but man the little world, formed the human body, at
|
|
the first, according to the platform he designed for himself in the
|
|
fulness of time. But it is the soul, the great soul, of man, that
|
|
does especially bear God's image. The soul is a spirit, an
|
|
intelligent immortal spirit, an influencing active spirit, herein
|
|
resembling God, the Father of Spirits, and the soul of the world.
|
|
<i>The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord.</i> The soul of
|
|
man, considered in its three noble faculties, understanding, will,
|
|
and active power, is perhaps the brightest clearest looking-glass
|
|
in nature, wherein to see God. 2. In his place and authority:
|
|
<i>Let us make man in our image, and let him have dominion.</i> As
|
|
he has the government of the inferior creatures, he is, as it were,
|
|
God's representative, or viceroy, upon earth; they are not capable
|
|
of fearing and serving God, therefore God has appointed them to
|
|
fear and serve man. Yet his government of himself by the freedom of
|
|
his will has in it more of God's image than his government of the
|
|
creatures. 3. In his purity and rectitude. God's image upon man
|
|
consists in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, <scripRef passage="Eph 4:24,Col 3:10" id="Gen.ii-p37.1" parsed="|Eph|4|24|0|0;|Col|3|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eph.4.24 Bible:Col.3.10">Eph. iv. 24; Col. iii. 10</scripRef>.
|
|
He was upright, <scripRef passage="Ec 7:29" id="Gen.ii-p37.2" parsed="|Eccl|7|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.7.29">Eccl. vii.
|
|
29</scripRef>. He had an habitual conformity of all his natural
|
|
powers to the whole will of God. His understanding saw divine
|
|
things clearly and truly, and there were no errors nor mistakes in
|
|
his knowledge. His will complied readily and universally with the
|
|
will of God, without reluctancy or resistance. His affections were
|
|
all regular, and he had no inordinate appetites or passions. His
|
|
thoughts were easily brought and fixed to the best subjects, and
|
|
there was no vanity nor ungovernableness in them. All the inferior
|
|
powers were subject to the dictates and directions of the superior,
|
|
without any mutiny or rebellion. Thus holy, thus happy, were our
|
|
first parents, in having the image of God upon them. And this
|
|
honour, put upon man at first, is a good reason why we should not
|
|
speak ill one of another (<scripRef passage="Jam 3:9" id="Gen.ii-p37.3" parsed="|Jas|3|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jas.3.9">Jam. iii.
|
|
9</scripRef>), nor do ill one to another (<scripRef passage="Ge 9:6" id="Gen.ii-p37.4" parsed="|Gen|9|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.6">Gen. ix. 6</scripRef>), and a good reason why we should
|
|
not debase ourselves to the service of sin, and why we should
|
|
devote ourselves to God's service. But how art thou fallen, O son
|
|
of the morning! How is this image of God upon man defaced! How
|
|
small are the remains of it, and how great the ruins of it! The
|
|
Lord renew it upon our souls by his sanctifying grace!</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p38">IV. That man was made male and female, and
|
|
blessed with the blessing of fruitfulness and increase. God said,
|
|
<i>Let us make man,</i> and immediately it follows, <i>So God
|
|
created man;</i> he performed what he resolved. With us saying and
|
|
doing are two things; but they are not so with God. He created him
|
|
male and female, Adam and Eve—Adam first, out of earth, and Eve
|
|
out of his side, <scripRef passage="Ge 2:21-23" id="Gen.ii-p38.1" parsed="|Gen|2|21|2|23" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.21-Gen.2.23"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
ii</scripRef>. It should seem that of the rest of the creatures God
|
|
made many couples, but of man <i>did not he make one?</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Mal 2:15" id="Gen.ii-p38.2" parsed="|Mal|2|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mal.2.15">Mal. ii. 15</scripRef>), though he
|
|
had the residue of the Spirit, whence Christ gathers an argument
|
|
against divorce, <scripRef passage="Mt 19:4,5" id="Gen.ii-p38.3" parsed="|Matt|19|4|19|5" osisRef="Bible:Matt.19.4-Matt.19.5">Matt. xix. 4,
|
|
5</scripRef>. Our first father, Adam, was confined to one wife;
|
|
and, if he had put her away, there was no other for him to marry,
|
|
which plainly intimated that the bond of marriage was not to be
|
|
dissolved at pleasure. Angels were not made male and female, for
|
|
they were not to propagate their kind (<scripRef passage="Lu 20:34-36" id="Gen.ii-p38.4" parsed="|Luke|20|34|20|36" osisRef="Bible:Luke.20.34-Luke.20.36">Luke xx. 34-36</scripRef>); but man was made so, that
|
|
the nature might be propagated and the race continued. Fires and
|
|
candles, the luminaries of this lower world, because they waste,
|
|
and go out, have a power to light more; but it is not so with the
|
|
lights of heaven: stars do not kindle stars. God made but one male
|
|
and one female, that all the nations of men might know themselves
|
|
to be made of one blood, descendants from one common stock, and
|
|
might thereby be induced to love one another. God, having made them
|
|
capable of transmitting the nature they had received, said to them,
|
|
<i>Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.</i> Here he
|
|
gave them, 1. A large inheritance: <i>Replenish the earth;</i> it
|
|
is this that is bestowed upon the children of men.
|
|
|
|
<pb n="11" id="Gen.ii-Page_11"/>
|
|
|
|
They were made <i>to dwell upon the face of all the
|
|
earth,</i> <scripRef passage="Ac 17:26" id="Gen.ii-p38.5" parsed="|Acts|17|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.17.26">Acts xvii. 26</scripRef>.
|
|
This is the place in which God has set man to be the servant of his
|
|
providence in the government of the inferior creatures, and, as it
|
|
were, the intelligence of this orb; to be the receiver of God's
|
|
bounty, which other creatures live upon, but do not know it; to be
|
|
likewise the collector of his praises in this lower world, and to
|
|
pay them into the exchequer above (<scripRef passage="Ps 145:10" id="Gen.ii-p38.6" parsed="|Ps|145|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.145.10">Ps. cxlv. 10</scripRef>); and, lastly, to be a
|
|
probationer for a better state. 2. A numerous lasting family, to
|
|
enjoy this inheritance, pronouncing a blessing upon them, in virtue
|
|
of which their posterity should extend to the utmost corners of the
|
|
earth and continue to the utmost period of time. Fruitfulness and
|
|
increase depend upon the blessing of God: Obed-edom had eight sons,
|
|
<i>for God blessed him,</i> <scripRef passage="1Ch 26:5" id="Gen.ii-p38.7" parsed="|1Chr|26|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Chr.26.5">1 Chron.
|
|
xxvi. 5</scripRef>. It is owing to this blessing, which God
|
|
commanded at first, that the race of mankind is still in being, and
|
|
that as <i>one generation passeth away another cometh.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p39">V. That God gave to man, when he had made
|
|
him, a dominion over the inferior creatures, <i>over the fish of
|
|
the sea and over the fowl of the air.</i> Though man provides for
|
|
neither, he has power over both, much more <i>over every living
|
|
thing that moveth upon the earth,</i> which are more under his care
|
|
and within his reach. God designed hereby to put an honour upon
|
|
man, that he might find himself the more strongly obliged to bring
|
|
honour to his Maker. This dominion is very much diminished and lost
|
|
by the fall; yet God's providence continues so much of it to the
|
|
children of men as is necessary to the safety and support of their
|
|
lives, and God's grace has given to the saints a new and better
|
|
title to the creature than that which was forfeited by sin; for all
|
|
is ours if we are Christ's, <scripRef passage="1Co 3:22" id="Gen.ii-p39.1" parsed="|1Cor|3|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.3.22">1 Cor.
|
|
iii. 22</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 1:29-30" id="Gen.ii-p39.2" parsed="|Gen|1|29|1|30" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.29-Gen.1.30"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.1.29-Gen.1.30">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.ii-p39.3">The Creation. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.ii-p39.4">b. c.</span> 4004.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.ii-p40">29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every
|
|
herb bearing seed, which <i>is</i> upon the face of all the earth,
|
|
and every tree, in the which <i>is</i> the fruit of a tree yielding
|
|
seed; to you it shall be for meat.   30 And to every beast of
|
|
the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that
|
|
creepeth upon the earth, wherein <i>there is</i> life, <i>I have
|
|
given</i> every green herb for meat: and it was so.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p41">We have here the third part of the sixth
|
|
day's work, which was not any new creation, but a gracious
|
|
provision of food for all flesh, <scripRef passage="Ps 136:25" id="Gen.ii-p41.1" parsed="|Ps|136|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.136.25">Ps.
|
|
cxxxvi. 25</scripRef>. He that made man and beast thus took care to
|
|
preserve both, <scripRef passage="Ps 36:6" id="Gen.ii-p41.2" parsed="|Ps|36|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.36.6">Ps. xxxvi. 6</scripRef>.
|
|
Here is,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p42">I. Food provided for man, <scripRef passage="Ge 1:29" id="Gen.ii-p42.1" parsed="|Gen|1|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>. Herbs and fruits must be
|
|
his meat, including corn and all the products of the earth; these
|
|
were allowed him, but (it should seem) not flesh, till after the
|
|
flood, <scripRef passage="Ge 9:3" id="Gen.ii-p42.2" parsed="|Gen|9|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.3"><i>ch.</i> ix. 3</scripRef>. And
|
|
before the earth was deluged, much more before it was cursed for
|
|
man's sake, its fruits, no doubt, were more pleasing to the taste
|
|
and more strengthening and nourishing to the body than marrow and
|
|
fatness, and all the portion of the king's meat, are now. See here,
|
|
1. That which should make us humble. As we were made out of the
|
|
earth, so we are maintained out of it. Once indeed men did eat
|
|
angels' food, bread from heaven; but they died (<scripRef passage="Joh 6:49" id="Gen.ii-p42.3" parsed="|John|6|49|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.6.49">John vi. 49</scripRef>); it was to them but as food out
|
|
of the earth, <scripRef passage="Ps 104:14" id="Gen.ii-p42.4" parsed="|Ps|104|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.104.14">Ps. civ. 14</scripRef>.
|
|
There is meat that endures to everlasting life; the Lord evermore
|
|
give us this. 2. That which should make us thankful. The Lord is
|
|
for the body; from him we receive all the supports and comforts of
|
|
this life, and to him we must give thanks. He gives us all things
|
|
richly to enjoy, not only for necessity, but plenty, dainties, and
|
|
varieties, for ornament and delight. How much are we indebted! How
|
|
careful should we be, as we live upon God's bounty, to live to his
|
|
glory! 3. That which should make us temperate and content with our
|
|
lot. Though Adam had dominion given him over fish and fowl, yet God
|
|
confined him, in his food, to herbs and fruits; and he never
|
|
complained of it. Though afterwards he coveted forbidden fruit, for
|
|
the sake of the wisdom and knowledge he promised himself from it,
|
|
yet we never read that he coveted forbidden flesh. If God give us
|
|
food for our lives, let us not, with murmuring Israel, ask food for
|
|
our lusts, <scripRef passage="Ps 78:18" id="Gen.ii-p42.5" parsed="|Ps|78|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.78.18">Ps. lxxviii. 18</scripRef>;
|
|
see <scripRef passage="Da 1:15" id="Gen.ii-p42.6" parsed="|Dan|1|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.1.15">Dan. i. 15</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p43">II. Food provided for the beasts, <scripRef passage="Ge 1:30" id="Gen.ii-p43.1" parsed="|Gen|1|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>. <i>Doth God take care
|
|
for oxen?</i> Yes, certainly, he provides food convenient for them,
|
|
and not for oxen only, which were used in his sacrifices and man's
|
|
service, but even the young lions and the young ravens are the care
|
|
of his providence; they ask and have their meat from God. Let us
|
|
give to God the glory of his bounty to the inferior creatures, that
|
|
all are fed, as it were, at his table, every day. He is a great
|
|
housekeeper, a very rich and bountiful one, that satisfies the
|
|
desire of every living thing. Let this encourage God's people to
|
|
cast their care upon him, and not to be solicitous respecting what
|
|
they shall eat and what they shall drink. He that provided for Adam
|
|
without his care, and still provides for all the creatures without
|
|
their care, will not let those that trust him want any good thing,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mt 6:26" id="Gen.ii-p43.2" parsed="|Matt|6|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.6.26">Matt. vi. 26</scripRef>. He that feeds
|
|
his birds will not starve his babes.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 1:31" id="Gen.ii-p43.3" parsed="|Gen|1|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.31"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.1.31">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.ii-p43.4">The Creation. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.ii-p43.5">b. c.</span> 4004.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.ii-p44">31 And God saw every thing that he had made,
|
|
and, behold, <i>it was</i> very good. And the evening and the
|
|
morning were the sixth day.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p45">We have here the approbation and conclusion
|
|
of the whole work of creation. As for God, his work is perfect; and
|
|
if he begin he will also make an end, in providence and grace, as
|
|
well as here in creation. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<pb n="12" id="Gen.ii-Page_12"/>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p46">I. The review God took of his work: He
|
|
<i>saw every thing that he had made.</i> So he does still; all the
|
|
works of his hands are under his eye. He that made all sees all; he
|
|
that made us sees us, <scripRef passage="Ps 139:1-16" id="Gen.ii-p46.1" parsed="|Ps|139|1|139|16" osisRef="Bible:Ps.139.1-Ps.139.16">Ps. cxxxix.
|
|
1-16</scripRef>. Omniscience cannot be separated from omnipotence.
|
|
<i>Known unto God are all his works,</i> <scripRef passage="Ac 15:18" id="Gen.ii-p46.2" parsed="|Acts|15|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.15.18">Acts xv. 18</scripRef>. But this was the Eternal Mind's
|
|
solemn reflection upon the copies of its own wisdom and the
|
|
products of its own power. God has hereby set us an example of
|
|
reviewing our works. Having given us a power of reflection, he
|
|
expects we should use that power, see our way (<scripRef passage="Jer 2:23" id="Gen.ii-p46.3" parsed="|Jer|2|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.2.23">Jer. ii. 23</scripRef>), and think of it, <scripRef passage="Ps 119:59" id="Gen.ii-p46.4" parsed="|Ps|119|59|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119.59">Ps. cxix. 59</scripRef>. When we have finished
|
|
a day's work, and are entering upon the rest of the night, we
|
|
should commune with our own hearts about what we have been doing
|
|
that day; so likewise when we have finished a week's work, and are
|
|
entering upon the sabbath-rest, we should thus prepare to meet our
|
|
God; and when we are finishing our life's work, and are entering
|
|
upon our rest in the grave, that is a time to bring to remembrance,
|
|
that we may die repenting, and so take leave of it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p47">II. The complacency God took in his work.
|
|
When we come to review our works we find, to our shame, that much
|
|
has been very bad; but, when God reviewed his, all was very good.
|
|
He did not pronounce it good till he had seen it so, to teach us
|
|
not to answer a matter before we hear it. The work of creation was
|
|
a very good work. All that God made was well-made, and there was no
|
|
flaw nor defect in it. 1. It was good. Good, for it is all
|
|
agreeable to the mind of the Creator, just as he would have it to
|
|
be; when the transcript came to be compared with the great
|
|
original, it was found to be exact, no errata in it, not one
|
|
misplaced stroke. Good, for it answers the end of its creation, and
|
|
is fit for the purpose for which it was designed. Good, for it is
|
|
serviceable to man, whom God had appointed lord of the visible
|
|
creation. Good, for it is all for God's glory; there is that in the
|
|
whole visible creation which is a demonstration of God's being and
|
|
perfections, and which tends to beget, in the soul of man, a
|
|
religious regard to him and veneration of him. 2. It was very good.
|
|
Of each day's work (except the second) it was said that it was
|
|
good, but now, it is very good. For, (1.) Now man was made, who was
|
|
the chief of the ways of God, who was designed to be the visible
|
|
image of the Creator's glory and the mouth of the creation in his
|
|
praises. (2.) Now all was made; every part was good, but all
|
|
together very good. The glory and goodness, the beauty and harmony,
|
|
of God's works, both of providence and grace, as this of creation,
|
|
will best appear when they are perfected. When the top-stone is
|
|
brought forth we shall cry, <i>Grace, grace, unto it,</i> <scripRef passage="Zec 4:7" id="Gen.ii-p47.1" parsed="|Zech|4|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zech.4.7">Zech. iv. 7</scripRef>. Therefore judge nothing
|
|
before the time.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ii-p48">III. The time when this work was concluded:
|
|
<i>The evening and the morning were the sixth day;</i> so that in
|
|
six days God made the world. We are not to think but that God could
|
|
have made the world in an instant. He said that, <i>Let there be
|
|
light, and there was light,</i> could have said, "Let there be a
|
|
world," and there would have been a world, <i>in a moment, in the
|
|
twinkling of an eye,</i> as at the resurrection, <scripRef passage="1Co 15:52" id="Gen.ii-p48.1" parsed="|1Cor|15|52|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.15.52">1 Cor. xv. 52</scripRef>. But he did it in six days,
|
|
that he might show himself a free-agent, doing his own work both in
|
|
his own way and in his own time,—that his wisdom, power, and
|
|
goodness, might appear to us, and be meditated upon by us, the more
|
|
distinctly,—and that he might set us an example of working six
|
|
days and resting the seventh; it is therefore made the reason of
|
|
the fourth commandment. So much would the sabbath conduce to the
|
|
keeping up of religion in the world that God had an eye to it in
|
|
the timing of his creation. And now, as God reviewed his work, let
|
|
us review our meditations upon it, and we shall find them very lame
|
|
and defective, and our praises low and flat; let us therefore stir
|
|
up ourselves, and all that is within us, to <i>worship him that
|
|
made the heaven, earth, and sea, and the fountains of waters,</i>
|
|
according to the tenor of the everlasting gospel, which is
|
|
preached to every nation, <scripRef passage="Re 14:6,7" id="Gen.ii-p48.2" parsed="|Rev|14|6|14|7" osisRef="Bible:Rev.14.6-Rev.14.7">Rev. xiv.
|
|
6, 7</scripRef>. All his works, in all places of his dominion, do
|
|
bless him; and, therefore, <i>bless thou the Lord, O my
|
|
soul!</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter II" n="iii" progress="2.05%" prev="Gen.ii" next="Gen.iv" id="Gen.iii">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="12" id="Gen.iii-Page_12"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.iii-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.iii-p0.2">CHAP. II.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.iii-p1">This chapter is an appendix to the history of the
|
|
creation, more particularly explaining and enlarging upon that part
|
|
of the history which relates immediately to man, the favourite of
|
|
this lower world. We have in it, I. The institution and
|
|
sanctification of the sabbath, which was made for man, to further
|
|
his holiness and comfort (<scripRef passage="Ge 2:1-3" id="Gen.iii-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|2|1|2|3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.1-Gen.2.3">ver.
|
|
1-3</scripRef>). II. A more particular account of man's creation,
|
|
as the centre and summary of the whole work (<scripRef passage="Ge 2:1-7" id="Gen.iii-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|2|1|2|7" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.1-Gen.2.7">ver. 1-7</scripRef>). III. A description of the garden
|
|
of Eden, and the placing of man in it under the obligations of a
|
|
law and covenant (<scripRef passage="Ge 2:8-17" id="Gen.iii-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|2|8|2|17" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.8-Gen.2.17">ver.
|
|
8-17</scripRef>). IV. The creation of the woman, her marriage to
|
|
the man, and the institution of the ordinance of marriage
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 2:18-25" id="Gen.iii-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|2|18|2|25" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.18-Gen.2.25">ver. 18</scripRef>, &c.).</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 2" id="Gen.iii-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|2|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 2:1-3" id="Gen.iii-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|2|1|2|3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.1-Gen.2.3"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.2.1-Gen.2.3">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.iii-p1.7">The Creation. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p1.8">b. c.</span> 4004.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.iii-p2">1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished,
|
|
and all the host of them.   2 And on the seventh day God ended
|
|
his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from
|
|
all his work which he had made.   3 And God blessed the
|
|
seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested
|
|
from all his work which God created and made.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p3">We have here, I. The settlement of the
|
|
kingdom of nature, in God's resting from the work of creation,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 2:1,2" id="Gen.iii-p3.1" parsed="|Gen|2|1|2|2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.1-Gen.2.2"><i>v.</i> 1, 2</scripRef>. Here
|
|
observe, 1. The creatures made both in heaven and earth are the
|
|
<i>hosts</i> or <i>armies</i> of them, which denotes them to be
|
|
numerous, but marshalled, disciplined, and under command. How great
|
|
is the sum of them! And yet every one knows and keeps his place.
|
|
God uses them as his hosts for the defence of his people and the
|
|
destruction of his enemies; for he is the Lord of hosts, of all
|
|
these hosts, <scripRef passage="Da 4:35" id="Gen.iii-p3.2" parsed="|Dan|4|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.4.35">Dan. iv. 35</scripRef>. 2.
|
|
The heavens and the earth are finished pieces, and so are all the
|
|
creatures in them. So perfect is God's work that
|
|
|
|
<pb n="13" id="Gen.iii-Page_13"/>
|
|
|
|
nothing can be added to it nor taken from it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ec 3:14" id="Gen.iii-p3.3" parsed="|Eccl|3|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.3.14">Eccl. iii. 14</scripRef>. God that
|
|
began to build showed himself well able to finish. 3. After the end
|
|
of the first six days God ceased from all works of creation. He has
|
|
so ended his work as that though, in his providence, he worketh
|
|
hitherto (<scripRef passage="Joh 5:17" id="Gen.iii-p3.4" parsed="|John|5|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.5.17">John v. 17</scripRef>),
|
|
preserving and governing all the creatures, and particularly
|
|
forming the spirit of man within him, yet he does not make any new
|
|
species of creatures. In miracles, he has controlled and overruled
|
|
nature, but never changed its settled course, nor repealed nor
|
|
added to any of its establishments. 4. The eternal God, though
|
|
infinitely happy in the enjoyment of himself, yet took a
|
|
satisfaction in the work of his own hands. He did not rest, as one
|
|
weary, but as one well-pleased with the instances of his own
|
|
goodness and the manifestations of his own glory.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p4">II. The commencement of the kingdom of
|
|
grace, in the sanctification of the sabbath day, <scripRef passage="Ge 2:3" id="Gen.iii-p4.1" parsed="|Gen|2|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. He rested on that day, and took a
|
|
complacency in his creatures, and then sanctified it, and appointed
|
|
us, on that day, to rest and take a complacency in the Creator; and
|
|
his rest is, in the fourth commandment, made a reason for ours,
|
|
after six days' labour. Observe, 1. The solemn observance of one
|
|
day in seven, as a day of holy rest and holy work, to God's honour,
|
|
is the indispensable duty of all those to whom God has revealed his
|
|
holy sabbaths. 2. The way of sabbath-sanctification is the good old
|
|
way, <scripRef passage="Jer 6:16" id="Gen.iii-p4.2" parsed="|Jer|6|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.6.16">Jer. vi. 16</scripRef>. Sabbaths
|
|
are as ancient as the world; and I see no reason to doubt that the
|
|
sabbath, being now instituted in innocency, was religiously
|
|
observed by the people of God throughout the patriarchal age. 3.
|
|
The sabbath of the Lord is truly honourable, and we have reason to
|
|
honour it—honour it for the sake of its antiquity, its great
|
|
Author, the sanctification of the first sabbath by the holy God
|
|
himself, and by our first parents in innocency, in obedience to
|
|
him. 4. The sabbath day is a blessed day, for God blessed it, and
|
|
that which he blesses is blessed indeed. God has put an honour upon
|
|
it, has appointed us, on that day, to bless him, and has promised,
|
|
on that day, to meet us and bless us. 5. The sabbath day is a holy
|
|
day, for God has sanctified it. He has separated and distinguished
|
|
it from the rest of the days of the week, and he has consecrated it
|
|
and set it apart to himself and his own service and honour. Though
|
|
it is commonly taken for granted that the Christian sabbath we
|
|
observe, reckoning from the creation, is not the seventh but the
|
|
first day of the week, yet being a seventh day, and we in it,
|
|
celebrating the rest of God the Son, and the finishing of the work
|
|
of our redemption, we may and ought to act faith upon this original
|
|
institution of the sabbath day, and to commemorate the work of
|
|
creation, to the honour of the great Creator, who is therefore
|
|
worthy to receive, on that day, blessing, and honour, and praise,
|
|
from all religious assemblies.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 2:4-7" id="Gen.iii-p4.3" parsed="|Gen|2|4|2|7" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.4-Gen.2.7"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.2.4-Gen.2.7">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.iii-p4.4">The Creation. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p4.5">b. c.</span> 4004.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.iii-p5">4 These <i>are</i> the generations of the
|
|
heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p5.1">Lord</span> God made the earth and the
|
|
heavens,   5 And every plant of the field before it was in the
|
|
earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p5.2">Lord</span> God had not caused it to rain upon
|
|
the earth, and <i>there was</i> not a man to till the ground.
|
|
  6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the
|
|
whole face of the ground.   7 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p5.3">Lord</span> God formed man <i>of</i> the dust of the
|
|
ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man
|
|
became a living soul.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p6">In these verses, I. Here is a name given to
|
|
the Creator which we have not yet met with, and that is
|
|
<i>Jehovah</i>—the LORD, in capital letters, which are constantly
|
|
used in our English translation to intimate that in the original it
|
|
is <i>Jehovah.</i> All along, in the first chapter, he was called
|
|
<i>Elohim—a God of power;</i> but now <i>Jehovah Elohim—a God of
|
|
power and perfection,</i> a finishing God. As we find him known by
|
|
his name Jehovah when he appeared to perform what he had promised
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 6:3" id="Gen.iii-p6.1" parsed="|Exod|6|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.3">Exod. vi. 3</scripRef>), so now we have
|
|
him known by that name, when he had perfected what he had begun.
|
|
<i>Jehovah</i> is that great and incommunicable name of God which
|
|
denotes his having his being of himself, and his giving being to
|
|
all things; fitly therefore is he called by that name now that
|
|
heaven and earth are finished.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p7">II. Further notice taken of the production
|
|
of plants and herbs, because they were made and appointed to be
|
|
food for man, <scripRef passage="Ge 2:5,6" id="Gen.iii-p7.1" parsed="|Gen|2|5|2|6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.5-Gen.2.6"><i>v.</i> 5,
|
|
6</scripRef>. Here observe, 1. The earth did not bring forth its
|
|
fruits of itself, by any innate virtue of its own but purely by the
|
|
almighty power of God, which formed every plant and every herb
|
|
before it grew in the earth. Thus grace in the soul, that plant of
|
|
renown, grows not of itself in nature's soil, but is the work of
|
|
God's own hands. 2. Rain also is the gift of God; it came not till
|
|
<i>the Lord God caused it to rain.</i> If rain be wanted, it is God
|
|
that withholds it; if rain come plentifully in its season, it is
|
|
God that sends it; if it come in a distinguishing way, it is God
|
|
that <i>causeth it to rain upon one city and not upon another,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Am 4:7" id="Gen.iii-p7.2" parsed="|Amos|4|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Amos.4.7">Amos iv. 7</scripRef>. 3. Though God,
|
|
ordinarily, works by means, yet he is not tied to them, but when he
|
|
pleases he can do his own work without them. As the plants were
|
|
produced before the sun was made, so they were before there was
|
|
either rain to water the earth or man to till it. Therefore though
|
|
we must not tempt God in the neglect of means, yet we must trust
|
|
God in the want of means. 4. Some way or other God will take care
|
|
to water the plants that are of his
|
|
|
|
<pb n="14" id="Gen.iii-Page_14"/>
|
|
|
|
own
|
|
planting. Though as yet there was no rain, God made a mist
|
|
equivalent to a shower, and with it <i>watered the whole face of
|
|
the ground.</i> Thus he chose to fulfil his purpose by the weakest
|
|
means, <i>that the excellency of the power might be of God.</i>
|
|
Divine grace descends like a mist, or silent dew, and waters the
|
|
church without noise, <scripRef passage="De 32:2" id="Gen.iii-p7.3" parsed="|Deut|32|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.2">Deut. xxxii.
|
|
2</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p8">III. A more particular account of the
|
|
creation of man, <scripRef passage="Ge 2:7" id="Gen.iii-p8.1" parsed="|Gen|2|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>.
|
|
Man is a little world, consisting of heaven and earth, soul and
|
|
body. Now here we have an account of the origin of both and the
|
|
putting of both together: let us seriously consider it, and say, to
|
|
our Creator's praise, We are <i>fearfully and wonderfully made,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 139:14" id="Gen.iii-p8.2" parsed="|Ps|139|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.139.14">Ps. cxxxix. 14</scripRef>. Elihu, in
|
|
the patriarchal age, refers to this history when he says (<scripRef passage="Job 33:6" id="Gen.iii-p8.3" parsed="|Job|33|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.33.6">Job xxxiii. 6</scripRef>), <i>I also am formed
|
|
out of the clay,</i> and (<scripRef passage="Job 33:4" id="Gen.iii-p8.4" parsed="|Job|33|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.33.4"><i>v.</i>
|
|
4</scripRef>), <i>The breath of the Almighty hath given me
|
|
life,</i> and (<scripRef passage="Job 32:8" id="Gen.iii-p8.5" parsed="|Job|32|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.32.8"><i>ch.</i> xxxii.
|
|
8</scripRef>), <i>There is a spirit in man.</i> Observe then,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p9">1. The mean origin, and yet the curious
|
|
structure, of the body of man. (1.) The matter was despicable. He
|
|
was made <i>of the dust of the ground,</i> a very unlikely thing to
|
|
make a man of; but the same infinite power that made the world of
|
|
nothing made man, its master-piece, of next to nothing. He was made
|
|
of the dust, the small dust, such as is upon the surface of the
|
|
earth. Probably, not dry dust, but dust moistened with the mist
|
|
that went up, <scripRef passage="Ge 2:6" id="Gen.iii-p9.1" parsed="|Gen|2|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. He
|
|
was not made of gold-dust, powder of pearl, or diamond dust, but
|
|
common dust, dust of the ground. Hence he is said to be of the
|
|
earth, <b><i>choikos</i></b>—<i>dusty,</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 15:47" id="Gen.iii-p9.2" parsed="|1Cor|15|47|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.15.47">1 Cor. xv. 47</scripRef>. And we also are of the earth,
|
|
for we are his offspring, and of the same mould. So near an
|
|
affinity is there between the earth and our earthly parents that
|
|
our mother's womb, out of which we were born, is called <i>the
|
|
earth</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 139:15" id="Gen.iii-p9.3" parsed="|Ps|139|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.139.15">Ps. cxxxix.
|
|
15</scripRef>), and the earth, in which we must be buried, is
|
|
called our <i>mother's womb,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 1:21" id="Gen.iii-p9.4" parsed="|Job|1|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.1.21">Job
|
|
i. 21</scripRef>. Our foundation is in the earth, <scripRef passage="Job 4:19" id="Gen.iii-p9.5" parsed="|Job|4|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.4.19">Job iv. 19</scripRef>. Our fabric is earthly,
|
|
and the fashioning of it like that of an earthen vessel, <scripRef passage="Job 10:9" id="Gen.iii-p9.6" parsed="|Job|10|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.10.9">Job x. 9</scripRef>. Our food is out of the
|
|
earth, <scripRef passage="Job 28:5" id="Gen.iii-p9.7" parsed="|Job|28|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.28.5">Job xxviii. 5</scripRef>. Our
|
|
familiarity is with the earth, <scripRef passage="Job 17:14" id="Gen.iii-p9.8" parsed="|Job|17|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.17.14">Job
|
|
xvii. 14</scripRef>. Our fathers are in the earth, and our own
|
|
final tendency is to it; and what have we then to be proud of? (2.)
|
|
Yet the Maker was great, and the make fine. The Lord God, the great
|
|
fountain of being and power, formed man. Of the other creatures it
|
|
is said that they were <i>created</i> and <i>made;</i> but of man
|
|
that he was <i>formed,</i> which denotes a gradual process in the
|
|
work with great accuracy and exactness. To express the creation of
|
|
this new thing, he takes a new word, a word (some think) borrowed
|
|
from the potter's forming his vessel upon the wheel; for we are the
|
|
clay, and God the potter, <scripRef passage="Isa 64:8" id="Gen.iii-p9.9" parsed="|Isa|64|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.64.8">Isa. lxiv.
|
|
8</scripRef>. The body of man is curiously wrought, <scripRef passage="Ps 139:15,16" id="Gen.iii-p9.10" parsed="|Ps|139|15|139|16" osisRef="Bible:Ps.139.15-Ps.139.16">Ps. cxxxix. 15, 16</scripRef>. <i>Materiam
|
|
superabat opus—The workmanship exceeded the materials.</i> Let us
|
|
present our bodies to God as living sacrifices (<scripRef passage="Ro 12:1" id="Gen.iii-p9.11" parsed="|Rom|12|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.12.1">Rom. xii. 1</scripRef>), as living temples (<scripRef passage="1Co 6:19" id="Gen.iii-p9.12" parsed="|1Cor|6|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.6.19">1 Cor. vi. 19</scripRef>), and then these vile
|
|
bodies shall shortly be new-formed like Christ's glorious body,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Php 3:21" id="Gen.iii-p9.13" parsed="|Phil|3|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Phil.3.21">Phil. iii. 21</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p10">2. The high origin and the admirable
|
|
serviceableness of the soul of man. (1.) It takes its rise from the
|
|
breath of heaven, and is produced by it. It was not made of the
|
|
earth, as the body was; it is a pity then that it should cleave to
|
|
the earth, and mind earthly things. It came immediately from God;
|
|
he gave it to be put into the body (<scripRef passage="Ec 12:7" id="Gen.iii-p10.1" parsed="|Eccl|12|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.12.7">Eccl. xii. 7</scripRef>), as afterwards he gave the
|
|
tables of stone of his own writing to be put into the ark, and the
|
|
<i>urim</i> of his own framing to be put into the breast-plate.
|
|
Hence God is not only the former but the Father of spirits. Let the
|
|
soul which God has breathed into us breathe after him; and let it
|
|
be for him, since it is from him. Into his hands let us commit our
|
|
spirits, for from his hands we had them. (2.) It takes its lodging
|
|
in a house of clay, and is the life and support of it. It is by it
|
|
that man is a living soul, that is, a living man; for the soul is
|
|
the man. The body would be a worthless, useless, loathsome carcase,
|
|
if the soul did not animate it. To God that gave us these souls we
|
|
must shortly give an account of them, how we have employed them,
|
|
used them, proportioned them, and disposed of them; and if then it
|
|
be found that we have lost them, though it were to gain the world,
|
|
we shall be undone for ever. Since the extraction of the soul is so
|
|
noble, and its nature and faculties are so excellent, let us not be
|
|
of those fools that despise their own souls, by preferring their
|
|
bodies before them, <scripRef passage="Pr 15:32" id="Gen.iii-p10.2" parsed="|Prov|15|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.15.32">Prov. xv.
|
|
32</scripRef>. When our Lord Jesus anointed the blind man's eyes
|
|
with clay perhaps he intimated that it was he who at first formed
|
|
man out of the clay; and when he <i>breathed on his disciples,
|
|
saying, Receive you the Holy Ghost,</i> he intimated that it was he
|
|
who at first breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life. He
|
|
that made the soul is alone able to new-make it.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 2:8-15" id="Gen.iii-p10.3" parsed="|Gen|2|8|2|15" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.8-Gen.2.15"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.2.8-Gen.2.15">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.iii-p10.4">The Garden of Eden. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p10.5">b. c.</span> 4004.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.iii-p11">8 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p11.1">Lord</span>
|
|
God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man
|
|
whom he had formed.   9 And out of the ground made the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p11.2">Lord</span> God to grow every tree that is
|
|
pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in
|
|
the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and
|
|
evil.   10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden;
|
|
and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.  
|
|
11 The name of the first <i>is</i> Pison: that <i>is</i> it which
|
|
compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where <i>there is</i> gold;
|
|
  12 And the gold of that land <i>is</i> good; there <i>is</i>
|
|
bdellium and the onyx stone.   13 And the name of the second
|
|
river <i>is</i> Gihon: the same <i>is</i> it that compasseth the
|
|
whole land of Ethiopia.   14 And the name of the third river
|
|
<i>is</i> Hiddekel: that <i>is</i> it which goeth toward the east
|
|
of Assyria. And the fourth river <i>is</i> Euphrates.   15 And
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p11.3">Lord</span> God took the man, and put
|
|
him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p12">Man consisting of body and soul, a body
|
|
made out of the earth and a rational immortal soul the breath of
|
|
heaven, we have, in these verses, the provision that was made for
|
|
the happiness of both; he that made him took care to make him
|
|
happy, if he could but have kept himself so and known when he was
|
|
well off. That part of man by which he is allied to the world of
|
|
sense was made happy; for he was put in the paradise of God: that
|
|
part by which he is allied to the world of spirits was well
|
|
provided for; for he was taken into covenant with God. Lord, what
|
|
is man that he should be thus dignified—man that is a worm! Here
|
|
we have,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p13">I. A description of the garden of Eden,
|
|
which was intended for the mansion and demesne of this great lord,
|
|
the palace of this prince. The inspired penman, in this history,
|
|
writing for the Jews first, and calculating his narratives for the
|
|
infant state of the church, describes things by their outward
|
|
sensible appearances, and leaves us, by further discoveries of the
|
|
divine light, to be led into the understanding of the mysteries
|
|
couched under them. Spiritual things were strong meat, which they
|
|
could not yet bear; but he writes to them as unto carnal, <scripRef passage="1Co 3:1" id="Gen.iii-p13.1" parsed="|1Cor|3|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.3.1">1 Cor. iii. 1</scripRef>. Therefore he does not
|
|
so much insist upon the happiness of Adam's mind as upon that of
|
|
his outward state. The Mosaic history, as well as the Mosaic law,
|
|
has rather the patterns of heavenly things than the heavenly things
|
|
themselves, <scripRef passage="Heb 9:23" id="Gen.iii-p13.2" parsed="|Heb|9|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.9.23">Heb. ix. 23</scripRef>.
|
|
Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p14">1. The place appointed for Adam's residence
|
|
was a garden; not an ivory house nor a palace overlaid with gold,
|
|
but a garden, furnished and adorned by nature, not by art. What
|
|
little reason have men to be proud of stately and magnificent
|
|
buildings, when it was the happiness of man in innocency that he
|
|
needed none! As clothes came in with sin, so did houses. The heaven
|
|
was the roof of Adam's house, and never was any roof so curiously
|
|
ceiled and painted. The earth was his floor, and never was any
|
|
floor so richly inlaid. The shadow of the trees was his retirement;
|
|
under them were his dining-rooms, his lodging-rooms, and never were
|
|
any rooms so finely hung as these: Solomon's, in all their glory,
|
|
were not arrayed like them. The better we can accommodate ourselves
|
|
to plain things, and the less we indulge ourselves with those
|
|
artificial delights which have been invented to gratify men's pride
|
|
and luxury, the nearer we approach to a state of innocency. Nature
|
|
is content with a little and that which is most natural, grace with
|
|
less, but lust with nothing.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p15">2. The contrivance and furniture of this
|
|
garden were the immediate work of God's wisdom and power. The Lord
|
|
God planted this garden, that is, he <i>had</i> planted it—upon
|
|
the third day, when the fruits of the earth were made. We may well
|
|
suppose to have been the most accomplished place for pleasure and
|
|
delight that ever the sun saw, when the all-sufficient God himself
|
|
designed it to be the present happiness of his beloved creature,
|
|
man, in innocency, and a type and a figure of the happiness of the
|
|
chosen remnant in glory. No delights can be agreeable nor
|
|
satisfying to a soul but those that God himself has provided and
|
|
appointed for it; no true paradise, but of God's planting. The
|
|
light of our own fires, and the sparks of our own kindling, will
|
|
soon leave us in the dark, <scripRef passage="Isa 50:11" id="Gen.iii-p15.1" parsed="|Isa|50|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.50.11">Isa. l.
|
|
11</scripRef>. The whole earth was now a paradise compared with
|
|
what it is since the fall and since the flood; the finest gardens
|
|
in the world are a wilderness compared with what the whole face of
|
|
the ground was before it was cursed for man's sake: yet that was
|
|
not enough; God planted a garden for Adam. God's chosen ones shall
|
|
have distinguishing favours shown them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p16">3. The situation of this garden was
|
|
extremely sweet. It was in <i>Eden,</i> which signifies
|
|
<i>delight</i> and <i>pleasure.</i> The place is here particularly
|
|
pointed out by such marks and bounds as were sufficient, I suppose,
|
|
when Moses wrote, to specify the place to those who knew that
|
|
country; but now, it seems, the curious cannot satisfy themselves
|
|
concerning it. Let it be our care to make sure a place in the
|
|
heavenly paradise, and then we need not perplex ourselves with a
|
|
search after the place of the earthly paradise. It is certain that,
|
|
wherever it was, it had all desirable conveniences, and (which
|
|
never any house nor garden on earth was) without any inconvenience.
|
|
Beautiful for situation, the joy and the glory of the whole earth,
|
|
was this garden: doubtless it was earth in its highest
|
|
perfection.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p17">4. The trees with which this garden was
|
|
planted. (1.) It had all the best and choicest trees in common with
|
|
the rest of the ground. It was beautiful and adorned with every
|
|
tree that, for its height or breadth, its make or colour, its leaf
|
|
or flower, was pleasant to the sight and charmed the eye; it was
|
|
replenished and enriched with every tree that yielded fruit
|
|
grateful to the taste and useful to the body, and so good for food.
|
|
God, as a tender Father, consulted not only Adam's profit, but his
|
|
pleasure; for there is a pleasure consistent with innocency, nay,
|
|
there is a true and transcendent pleasure in innocency. God
|
|
delights in the prosperity of his servants,
|
|
|
|
<pb n="16" id="Gen.iii-Page_16"/>
|
|
|
|
and would have them easy; it is owing to themselves if they be
|
|
uneasy. When Providence puts us into an Eden of plenty and
|
|
pleasure, we ought to <i>serve him with joyfulness and gladness of
|
|
heart,</i> in the abundance of the good things he gives us. But,
|
|
(2.) It had two extraordinary trees peculiar to itself; on earth
|
|
there were not their like. [1.] There was the <i>tree of life in
|
|
the midst of the garden,</i> which was not so much a memorandum to
|
|
him of the fountain and author of his life, nor perhaps any natural
|
|
means to preserve or prolong life; but it was chiefly intended to
|
|
be a sign and seal to Adam, assuring him of the continuance of life
|
|
and happiness, even to immortality and everlasting bliss, through
|
|
the grace and favour of his Maker, upon condition of his
|
|
perseverance in this state of innocency and obedience. Of this he
|
|
might eat and live. Christ is now to us the tree of life (<scripRef passage="Re 2:7,22:2" id="Gen.iii-p17.1" parsed="|Rev|2|7|0|0;|Rev|22|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.2.7 Bible:Rev.22.2">Rev. ii. 7; xxii. 2</scripRef>), and the
|
|
<i>bread of life,</i> <scripRef passage="Joh 6:48,53" id="Gen.iii-p17.2" parsed="|John|6|48|0|0;|John|6|53|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.6.48 Bible:John.6.53">John vi. 48,
|
|
53</scripRef>. [2.] There was <i>the tree of the knowledge of good
|
|
and evil,</i> so called, not because it had any virtue in it to
|
|
beget or increase useful knowledge (surely then it would not have
|
|
been forbidden), but, <i>First,</i> Because there was an express
|
|
positive revelation of the will of God concerning this tree, so
|
|
that by it he might know moral good and evil. What is good? It is
|
|
good not to eat of this tree. What is evil? It is evil to eat of
|
|
this tree. The distinction between all other moral good and evil
|
|
was written in the heart of man by nature; but this, which resulted
|
|
from a positive law, was written upon this tree. <i>Secondly,</i>
|
|
Because, in the event, it proved to give Adam an experimental
|
|
knowledge of good by the loss of it and of evil by the sense of it.
|
|
As the covenant of grace has in it, not only <i>Believe and be
|
|
saved,</i> but also, <i>Believe not and be damned</i> (<scripRef passage="Mk 16:16" id="Gen.iii-p17.3" parsed="|Mark|16|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mark.16.16">Mark xvi. 16</scripRef>), so the covenant of
|
|
innocency had in it, not only "Do this and live," which was sealed
|
|
and confirmed by the tree of life, but, "Fail and die," which Adam
|
|
was assured of by this other tree: "Touch it at your peril;" so
|
|
that, in these two trees, God set before him <i>good and evil, the
|
|
blessing and the curse,</i> <scripRef passage="De 30:19" id="Gen.iii-p17.4" parsed="|Deut|30|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.19">Deut. xxx.
|
|
19</scripRef>. These two trees were as two sacraments.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p18">5. The rivers with which this garden was
|
|
watered, <scripRef passage="Ge 2:10-14" id="Gen.iii-p18.1" parsed="|Gen|2|10|2|14" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.10-Gen.2.14"><i>v.</i> 10-14</scripRef>.
|
|
These four rivers (or one river branched into four streams)
|
|
contributed much both to the pleasantness and the fruitfulness of
|
|
this garden. The land of Sodom is said to be <i>well watered every
|
|
where, as the garden of the Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 13:10" id="Gen.iii-p18.2" parsed="|Gen|13|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.10"><i>ch.</i> xiii. 10</scripRef>. Observe, That which God
|
|
plants he will take care to keep watered. The trees of
|
|
righteousness are set by the rivers, <scripRef passage="Ps 1:3" id="Gen.iii-p18.3" parsed="|Ps|1|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.1.3">Ps.
|
|
i. 3</scripRef>. In the heavenly paradise there is a river
|
|
infinitely surpassing these; for it is a river of the water of
|
|
life, not coming out of Eden, as this, but proceeding out of the
|
|
throne of God and of the Lamb (<scripRef passage="Rev 22:1" id="Gen.iii-p18.4" parsed="|Rev|22|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.22.1">Rev.
|
|
xxii. 1</scripRef>), a river that <i>makes glad the city of our
|
|
God,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 46:4" id="Gen.iii-p18.5" parsed="|Ps|46|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.46.4">Ps. xlvi. 4</scripRef>.
|
|
Hiddekel and Euphrates are rivers of Babylon, which we read of
|
|
elsewhere. By these the captive Jews sat down and <i>wept, when
|
|
they remembered Sion</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 137:1" id="Gen.iii-p18.6" parsed="|Ps|137|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.137.1">Ps. cxxxvii.
|
|
1</scripRef>); but methinks they had much more reason to weep (and
|
|
so have we) at the remembrance of Eden. Adam's paradise was their
|
|
prison; such wretched work has sin made. Of the land of Havilah it
|
|
is said (<scripRef passage="Ge 2:12" id="Gen.iii-p18.7" parsed="|Gen|2|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>),
|
|
<i>The gold of that land is good,</i> and <i>there is bdellium and
|
|
the onyx-stone:</i> surely this is mentioned that the wealth of
|
|
which the land of Havilah boasted might be as foil to that which
|
|
was the glory of the land of Eden. Havilah had gold, and spices,
|
|
and precious stones; but Eden had that which was infinitely better,
|
|
the tree of life, and communion with God. So we may say of the
|
|
Africans and Indians: "They have the gold, but we have the gospel.
|
|
The gold of their land is good, but the riches of ours are
|
|
infinitely better."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p19">II. The placing of man in this paradise of
|
|
delight, <scripRef passage="Ge 2:15" id="Gen.iii-p19.1" parsed="|Gen|2|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>, where
|
|
observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p20">1. How God put him in possession of it:
|
|
<i>The Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of
|
|
Eden;</i> so <scripRef passage="Ge 2:8,15" id="Gen.iii-p20.1" parsed="|Gen|2|8|0|0;|Gen|2|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.8 Bible:Gen.2.15"><i>v.</i> 8,
|
|
15</scripRef>. Note here, (1.) Man was made <i>out</i> of paradise;
|
|
for, after God had formed him, he put him into the garden: he was
|
|
made of common clay, not of paradise-dust. He lived out of Eden
|
|
before he lived in it, that he might see that all the comforts of
|
|
his paradise-state were owing to God's free grace. He could not
|
|
plead a tenant-right to the garden, for he was not born upon the
|
|
premises, nor had any thing but what he received; all boasting was
|
|
hereby for ever excluded. (2.) The same God that was the author of
|
|
his being was the author of his bliss; the same hand that made him
|
|
a living soul planted the tree of life for him, and settled him by
|
|
it. He that made us is alone able to make us happy; he that is the
|
|
former of our bodies and the Father of our spirits, he, and none
|
|
but he, can effectually provide for the felicity of both. (3.) It
|
|
adds much to the comfort of any condition if we have plainly seen
|
|
God going before us and putting us into it. If we have not forced
|
|
providence, but followed it, and taken the hints of direction it
|
|
has given us, we may hope to find a paradise where otherwise we
|
|
could not have expected it. See <scripRef passage="Ps 47:4" id="Gen.iii-p20.2" parsed="|Ps|47|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.47.4">Ps.
|
|
xlvii. 4</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p21">2. How God appointed him business and
|
|
employment. He put him there, not like Leviathan into the waters,
|
|
to play therein, but to dress the garden and to keep it. Paradise
|
|
itself was not a place of exemption from work. Note, here, (1.) We
|
|
were none of us sent into the world to be idle. He that made us
|
|
these souls and bodies has given us something to work with; and he
|
|
that gave us this earth for our habitation has made us something to
|
|
work on. If a high extraction, or a great estate, or a large
|
|
dominion, or perfect innocency, or a genius for pure contemplation,
|
|
or a small family, could have given a man a writ of ease, Adam
|
|
would not have been set to work; but he that gave us
|
|
|
|
<pb n="17" id="Gen.iii-Page_17"/>
|
|
|
|
being has given us business, to serve him and our
|
|
generation, and to work out our salvation: if we do not mind our
|
|
business, we are unworthy of our being and maintenance. (2.)
|
|
Secular employments will very well consist with a state of
|
|
innocency and a life of communion with God. The sons and heirs of
|
|
heaven, while they are here in this world, have something to do
|
|
about this earth, which must have its share of their time and
|
|
thoughts; and, if they do it with an eye to God, they are as truly
|
|
serving him in it as when they are upon their knees. (3.) The
|
|
husbandman's calling is an ancient and honourable calling; it was
|
|
needful even in paradise. The garden of Eden, though it needed not
|
|
to be weeded (for thorns and thistles were not yet a nuisance), yet
|
|
must be dressed and kept. Nature, even in its primitive state, left
|
|
room for the improvements of art and industry. It was a calling fit
|
|
for a state of innocency, making provision for life, not for lust,
|
|
and giving man an opportunity of admiring the Creator and
|
|
acknowledging his providence: while his hands were about his trees,
|
|
his heart might be with his God. (4.) There is a true pleasure in
|
|
the business which God calls us to, and employs us in. Adam's work
|
|
was so far from being an allay that it was an addition to the
|
|
pleasures of paradise; he could not have been happy if he had been
|
|
idle: it is still a law, He that will not work has no right to eat,
|
|
<scripRef passage="2Th 3:10,Pr 27:23" id="Gen.iii-p21.1" parsed="|2Thess|3|10|0|0;|Prov|27|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Thess.3.10 Bible:Prov.27.23">2 Thess. iii. 10; Prov.
|
|
xxvii. 23</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p22">III. The command which God gave to man in
|
|
innocency, and the covenant he then took him into. Hitherto we have
|
|
seen God as man's powerful Creator and his bountiful Benefactor;
|
|
now he appears as his Ruler and Lawgiver. God put him into the
|
|
garden of Eden, not to live there as he might list, but to be under
|
|
government. As we are not allowed to be idle in this world, and to
|
|
do nothing, so we are not allowed to be wilful, and do what we
|
|
please. When God had given man a dominion over the creatures, he
|
|
would let him know that still he himself was under the government
|
|
of his Creator.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 2:16-17" id="Gen.iii-p22.1" parsed="|Gen|2|16|2|17" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.16-Gen.2.17"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.2.16-Gen.2.17">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.iii-p22.2">The Tree of Knowledge
|
|
Prohibited. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p22.3">b. c.</span> 4004.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.iii-p23">16 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p23.1">Lord</span>
|
|
God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou
|
|
mayest freely eat:   17 But of the tree of the knowledge of
|
|
good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou
|
|
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p24">Observe here, I. God's authority over man,
|
|
as a creature that had reason and freedom of will. The Lord God
|
|
commanded the man, who stood now as a public person, the father and
|
|
representative of all mankind, to receive law, as he had lately
|
|
received a nature, for himself and all his. God commanded all the
|
|
creatures, according to their capacity; the settled course of
|
|
nature is a law, <scripRef passage="Ps 148:6,Ps 104:9" id="Gen.iii-p24.1" parsed="|Ps|148|6|0|0;|Ps|104|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.148.6 Bible:Ps.104.9">Ps. cxlviii.
|
|
6; civ. 9</scripRef>. The brute-creatures have their respective
|
|
instincts; but man was made capable of performing reasonable
|
|
service, and therefore received, not only the command of a Creator,
|
|
but the command of a Prince and Master. Though Adam was a very
|
|
great man, a very good man, and a very happy man, yet the Lord God
|
|
commanded him; and the command was no disparagement to his
|
|
greatness, no reproach to his goodness, nor any diminution at all
|
|
to his happiness. Let us acknowledge God's right to rule us, and
|
|
our own obligations to be ruled by him; and never allow any will of
|
|
our own in contradiction to, or competition with, the holy will of
|
|
God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p25">II. The particular act of this authority,
|
|
in prescribing to him what he should do, and upon what terms he
|
|
should stand with his Creator. Here is,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p26">1. A confirmation of his present happiness
|
|
to him, in that grant, <i>Of every tree in the garden thou mayest
|
|
freely eat.</i> This was not only an allowance of liberty to him,
|
|
in taking the delicious fruits of paradise, as a recompence for his
|
|
care and pains in dressing and keeping it (<scripRef passage="1Co 9:7,10" id="Gen.iii-p26.1" parsed="|1Cor|9|7|0|0;|1Cor|9|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.9.7 Bible:1Cor.9.10">1 Cor. ix. 7, 10</scripRef>), but it was, withal, an
|
|
assurance of life to him, immortal life, upon his obedience. For
|
|
the tree of life being put <i>in the midst of the garden</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 2:9" id="Gen.iii-p26.2" parsed="|Gen|2|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>), as the heart
|
|
and soul of it, doubtless God had an eye to that especially in this
|
|
grant; and therefore when, upon his revolt, this grant is recalled,
|
|
no notice is taken of any tree of the garden as prohibited to him,
|
|
except the tree of life (<scripRef passage="Ge 3:22" id="Gen.iii-p26.3" parsed="|Gen|3|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.22"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
iii. 22</scripRef>), of which it is there said he might have eaten
|
|
and <i>lived for ever,</i> that is, never died, nor ever lost his
|
|
happiness. "Continue holy as thou art, in conformity to thy
|
|
Creator's will, and thou shalt continue happy as thou art in the
|
|
enjoyment of thy Creator's favour, either in this paradise or in a
|
|
better." Thus, upon condition of perfect personal and perpetual
|
|
obedience, Adam was sure of paradise to himself and his heirs for
|
|
ever.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p27">2. A trial of his obedience, upon pain of
|
|
the forfeiture of all his happiness: "<i>But of the</i> other tree
|
|
which stood very near the tree of life (for they are both said to
|
|
be <i>in the midst of the garden</i>), and which was called the
|
|
<i>tree of knowledge, in the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt
|
|
surely die;</i>" as if he had said, "Know, Adam, that thou art now
|
|
upon thy good behaviour, thou art put into paradise upon trial; be
|
|
observant, be obedient, and thou art made for ever; otherwise thou
|
|
wilt be as miserable as now thou art happy." Here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p28">(1.) Adam is threatened with death in case
|
|
of disobedience: <i>Dying thou shalt die,</i> denoting a sure and
|
|
dreadful sentence, as, in the former part of this covenant,
|
|
<i>eating thou shalt eat,</i> denotes a free and full grant.
|
|
Observe [1.] Even Adam, in innocency, was awed with a threatening;
|
|
fear is one of the handles of the soul, by which it is taken hold
|
|
of and held. If he then needed this hedge,
|
|
|
|
<pb n="18" id="Gen.iii-Page_18"/>
|
|
|
|
much more do we now. [2.] The penalty threatened is death: <i>Thou
|
|
shalt die,</i> that is, "Thou shalt be debarred from the tree of
|
|
life, and all the good that is signified by it, all the happiness
|
|
thou hast, either in possession or prospect; and thou shalt become
|
|
liable to death, and all the miseries that preface it and attend
|
|
it." [3.] This was threatened as the immediate consequence of sin:
|
|
<i>In the day thou eatest, thou shalt die,</i> that is, "Thou shalt
|
|
become mortal and capable of dying; the grant of immortality shall
|
|
be recalled, and that defence shall depart from thee. Thou shalt
|
|
become obnoxious to death, like a condemned malefactor that is dead
|
|
in the law" (only, because Adam was to be the root of mankind, he
|
|
was reprieved); "nay, the harbingers and forerunners of death shall
|
|
immediately seize thee, and thy life, thenceforward, shall be a
|
|
dying life: and this, <i>surely;</i> it is a settled rule, <i>the
|
|
soul that sinneth, it shall die.</i>"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p29">(2.) Adam is tried with a positive law, not
|
|
to eat of the fruit <i>of the tree of knowledge.</i> Now it was
|
|
very proper to make trial of his obedience by such a command as
|
|
this, [1.] Because the reason of it is fetched purely from the will
|
|
of the Law-maker. Adam had in his nature an aversion to that which
|
|
was evil in itself, and therefore he is tried in a thing which was
|
|
evil only because it was forbidden; and, being in a small thing, it
|
|
was the more fit to prove his obedience by. [2.] Because the
|
|
restraint of it is laid upon the desires of the flesh and of the
|
|
mind, which, in the corrupt nature of man, are the two great
|
|
fountains of sin. This prohibition checked both his appetite
|
|
towards sensitive delights and his ambitions of curious knowledge,
|
|
that his body might be ruled by his soul and his soul by his
|
|
God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p30">Thus easy, thus happy, was man in a state
|
|
of innocency, having all that heart could wish to make him so. How
|
|
good was God to him! How many favours did he load him with! How
|
|
easy were the laws he gave him! How kind the covenant he made with
|
|
him! Yet man, being in honour, understood not his own interest, but
|
|
soon <i>became as the beasts that perish.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 2:18-20" id="Gen.iii-p30.1" parsed="|Gen|2|18|2|20" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.18-Gen.2.20"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.2.18-Gen.2.20">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.iii-p30.2">Adam's Dominion. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p30.3">b. c.</span> 4004.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.iii-p31">18 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p31.1">Lord</span>
|
|
God said, <i>It is</i> not good that the man should be alone; I
|
|
will make him an help meet for him.   19 And out of the ground
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p31.2">Lord</span> God formed every beast of
|
|
the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought <i>them</i> unto
|
|
Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called
|
|
every living creature, that <i>was</i> the name thereof.   20
|
|
And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and
|
|
to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an
|
|
help meet for him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p32">Here we have, I. An instance of the
|
|
Creator's care of man and his fatherly concern for his comfort,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 2:18" id="Gen.iii-p32.1" parsed="|Gen|2|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. Though God had
|
|
let him know that he was a subject, by giving him a command,
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 2:16,17" id="Gen.iii-p32.2" parsed="|Gen|2|16|2|17" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.16-Gen.2.17"><i>v.</i> 16, 17</scripRef>), yet
|
|
here he lets him know also, for his encouragement in his obedience,
|
|
that he was a friend, and a favourite, and one whose satisfaction
|
|
he was tender of. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p33">1. How God graciously pitied his solitude:
|
|
<i>It is not good that man, this man, should be alone.</i> Though
|
|
there was an upper world of angels and a lower world of brutes, and
|
|
he between them, yet there being none of the same nature and rank
|
|
of beings with himself, none that he could converse familiarly
|
|
with, he might be truly said to be <i>alone.</i> Now he that made
|
|
him knew both him and what was good for him, better than he did
|
|
himself, and he said, "It is not good that he should continue thus
|
|
alone." (1.) It is not for his comfort; for man is a sociable
|
|
creature. It is a pleasure to him to exchange knowledge and
|
|
affection with those of his own kind, to inform and to be informed,
|
|
to love and to be beloved. What God here says of the first man
|
|
Solomon says of all men (<scripRef passage="Ec 4:9,10" id="Gen.iii-p33.1" parsed="|Eccl|4|9|4|10" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.4.9-Eccl.4.10">Eccl. iv.
|
|
9</scripRef>, &c.), that <i>two are better than one,</i> and
|
|
<i>woe to him that is alone.</i> If there were but one man in the
|
|
world, what a melancholy man must he needs be! Perfect solitude
|
|
would turn a paradise into a desert, and a palace into a dungeon.
|
|
Those therefore are foolish who are selfish and would be placed
|
|
alone in the earth. (2.) It is not for the increase and continuance
|
|
of his kind. God could have made a world of men at first, to
|
|
replenish the earth, as he replenished heaven with a world of
|
|
angels: but the place would have been too strait for the designed
|
|
number of men to live together at once; therefore God saw fit to
|
|
make up that number by a succession of generations, which, as God
|
|
had formed man, must be from two, and those male and female; one
|
|
will be ever one.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p34">2. How God graciously resolved to provide
|
|
society for him. The result of this reasoning concerning him was
|
|
this kind resolution, <i>I will make a help-meet for him;</i> a
|
|
help <i>like</i> him (so some read it), one of the same nature and
|
|
the same rank of beings; a help <i>near</i> him (so others), one to
|
|
cohabit with him, and to be always at hand; a help <i>before</i>
|
|
him (so others), one that he should look upon with pleasure and
|
|
delight. Note hence, (1.) In our best state in this world we have
|
|
need of one another's help; for we are members one of another, and
|
|
<i>the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Co 12:21" id="Gen.iii-p34.1" parsed="|1Cor|12|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.12.21">1 Cor. xii. 21</scripRef>. We must
|
|
therefore be glad to receive help from others, and give help to
|
|
others, as there is occasion. (2.) It is God only who perfectly
|
|
knows our wants, and is perfectly able to
|
|
|
|
<pb n="19" id="Gen.iii-Page_19"/>
|
|
|
|
supply them all, <scripRef passage="Php 4:19" id="Gen.iii-p34.2" parsed="|Phil|4|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Phil.4.19">Phil. iv.
|
|
19</scripRef>. In him alone our help is, and from him are all our
|
|
helpers. (3.) A suitable wife is a help-meet, and is from the Lord.
|
|
The relation is then likely to be comfortable when meetness directs
|
|
and determines the choice, and mutual helpfulness is the constant
|
|
care and endeavour, <scripRef passage="1Co 7:33,34" id="Gen.iii-p34.3" parsed="|1Cor|7|33|7|34" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.7.33-1Cor.7.34">1 Cor. vii. 33,
|
|
34</scripRef>. (4.) Family-society, if it is agreeable, is a
|
|
redress sufficient for the grievance of solitude. He that has a
|
|
good God, a good heart, and a good wife, to converse with, and yet
|
|
complains he wants conversation, would not have been easy and
|
|
content in paradise; for Adam himself had no more: yet, even before
|
|
Eve was created, we do not find that he complained of being alone,
|
|
knowing that he <i>was not alone, for the Father was with him.</i>
|
|
Those that are most satisfied in God and his favour are in the best
|
|
way, and in the best frame, to receive the good things of this
|
|
life, and shall be sure of them, as far as Infinite Wisdom sees
|
|
good.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p35">II. An instance of the creatures'
|
|
subjection to man, and his dominion over them (<scripRef passage="Ge 2:19,20" id="Gen.iii-p35.1" parsed="|Gen|2|19|2|20" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.19-Gen.2.20"><i>v.</i> 19, 20</scripRef>): <i>Every beast of the
|
|
field and every fowl of the air God brought to Adam,</i> either by
|
|
the ministry of angels, or by a special instinct, directing them to
|
|
come to man as their master, teaching the ox betimes to know his
|
|
owner. Thus God gave man livery and seisin of the fair estate he
|
|
had granted him, and put him in possession of his dominion over the
|
|
creatures. God brought them to him, that he might name them, and so
|
|
might give, 1. A proof of his knowledge, as a creature endued with
|
|
the faculties both of reason and speech, and so <i>taught more than
|
|
the beasts of the earth and made wiser than the fowls of
|
|
heaven,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 35:11" id="Gen.iii-p35.2" parsed="|Job|35|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.35.11">Job xxxv. 11</scripRef>.
|
|
And, 2. A proof of his power. It is an act of authority to impose
|
|
names (<scripRef passage="Da 1:7" id="Gen.iii-p35.3" parsed="|Dan|1|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.1.7">Dan. i. 7</scripRef>), and of
|
|
subjection to receive them. The inferior creatures did now, as it
|
|
were, do homage to their prince at his inauguration, and swear
|
|
fealty and allegiance to him. If Adam had continued faithful to his
|
|
God, we may suppose the creatures themselves would so well have
|
|
known and remembered the names Adam now gave them as to have come
|
|
at his call, at any time, and answered to their names. God gave
|
|
names to the day and night, to the firmament, to the earth, and to
|
|
the sea; and he <i>calleth the stars by their names,</i> to show
|
|
that he is the supreme Lord of these. But he gave Adam leave to
|
|
name the beasts and fowls, as their subordinate lord; for, having
|
|
made him in his own image, he thus put some of his honour upon
|
|
him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p36">III. An instance of the creatures'
|
|
insufficiency to be a happiness for man: <i>But</i> (among them
|
|
all) <i>for Adam there was not found a help meet for him.</i> Some
|
|
make these to be the words of Adam himself; observing all the
|
|
creatures come to him by couples to be named, he thus intimates his
|
|
desire to his Maker:—"Lord, these have all helps meet for them;
|
|
but what shall I do? Here is never a one for me." It is rather
|
|
God's judgment upon the review. He brought them all together, to
|
|
see if there were ever a suitable match for Adam in any of the
|
|
numerous families of the inferior creatures; but there was none.
|
|
Observe here, 1. The dignity and excellency of the human nature. On
|
|
earth there was not its like, nor its peer to be found among all
|
|
visible creatures; they were all looked over, but it could not be
|
|
matched among them all. 2. The vanity of this world and the things
|
|
of it; put them all together, and they will not make a help-meet
|
|
for man. They will not suit the nature of his soul, nor supply its
|
|
needs, nor satisfy its just desires, nor run parallel with its
|
|
never failing duration. God creates a new thing to be a help-meet
|
|
for man—not so much the woman as the seed of the woman.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 2:21-25" id="Gen.iii-p36.1" parsed="|Gen|2|21|2|25" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.21-Gen.2.25"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.2.21-Gen.2.25">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.iii-p36.2">The Formation of Eve; Marriage
|
|
Instituted. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p36.3">b. c.</span> 4004.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.iii-p37">21 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p37.1">Lord</span>
|
|
God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he
|
|
took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
|
|
  22 And the rib, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iii-p37.2">Lord</span> God had taken from man, made he a woman,
|
|
and brought her unto the man.   23 And Adam said, This
|
|
<i>is</i> now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be
|
|
called Woman, because she was taken out of <scripRef passage="Man. 24" id="Gen.iii-p37.3" parsed="|PrMan|1|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:PrMan.1.24">Man.   24</scripRef> Therefore
|
|
shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto
|
|
his wife: and they shall be one flesh.   25 And they were both
|
|
naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p38">Here we have, I. The making of the woman,
|
|
to be a help-meet for Adam. This was done upon the sixth day, as
|
|
was also the placing of Adam in paradise, though it is here
|
|
mentioned after an account of the seventh day's rest; but what was
|
|
said in general (<scripRef passage="Ge 1:27" id="Gen.iii-p38.1" parsed="|Gen|1|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.27"><i>ch.</i> i.
|
|
27</scripRef>), that God made man male and female, is more
|
|
distinctly related here. Observe, 1. That Adam was first formed,
|
|
then Eve (<scripRef passage="1Ti 2:13" id="Gen.iii-p38.2" parsed="|1Tim|2|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.2.13">1 Tim. ii. 13</scripRef>),
|
|
and she was made of the man, and for the man (<scripRef passage="1Co 11:8,9" id="Gen.iii-p38.3" parsed="|1Cor|11|8|11|9" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.11.8-1Cor.11.9">1 Cor. xi. 8, 9</scripRef>), all which are urged there
|
|
as reasons for the humility, modesty, silence, and submissiveness,
|
|
of that sex in general, and particularly the subjection and
|
|
reverence which wives owe to their own husbands. Yet man being made
|
|
last of the creatures, as the best and most excellent of all, Eve's
|
|
being made after Adam, and out of him, puts an honour upon that
|
|
sex, as the glory of the man, <scripRef passage="1Co 11:7" id="Gen.iii-p38.4" parsed="|1Cor|11|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.11.7">1 Cor.
|
|
xi. 7</scripRef>. If man is the head, she is the crown, a crown to
|
|
her husband, the crown of the visible creation. The man was dust
|
|
refined, but the woman was dust double-refined, one remove further
|
|
from the earth. 2. That Adam slept while his wife was in making,
|
|
that no room might be left to imagine that he had herein
|
|
<i>directed
|
|
|
|
<pb n="20" id="Gen.iii-Page_20"/>
|
|
|
|
the Spirit of the Lord, or been
|
|
his counsellor,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 40:13" id="Gen.iii-p38.5" parsed="|Isa|40|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.40.13">Isa. xl.
|
|
13</scripRef>. He had been made sensible of his want of a meet
|
|
help; but, God having undertaken to provide him one, he does not
|
|
afflict himself with any care about it, but lies down and sleeps
|
|
sweetly, as one that had cast all his care on God, with a cheerful
|
|
resignation of himself and all his affairs to his Maker's will and
|
|
wisdom. Jehovah-jireh, let the Lord provide when and whom he
|
|
pleases. If we graciously rest in God, God will graciously work for
|
|
us and work all for good. 3. That <i>God caused a sleep to fall on
|
|
Adam,</i> and made it a deep sleep, that so the opening of his side
|
|
might be no grievance to him; while he knows no sin, God will take
|
|
care he shall feel no pain. When God, by his providence, does that
|
|
to his people which is grievous to flesh and blood, he not only
|
|
consults their happiness in the issue, but by his grace he can so
|
|
quiet and compose their spirits as to make them easy under the
|
|
sharpest operations. 4. That the woman was <i>made of a rib out of
|
|
the side of Adam;</i> not made out of his head to rule over him,
|
|
nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side
|
|
to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his
|
|
heart to be beloved. Adam lost a rib, and without any diminution to
|
|
his strength or comeliness (for, doubtless, the flesh was closed
|
|
without a scar); but in lieu thereof he had a help meet for him,
|
|
which abundantly made up his loss: what God takes away from his
|
|
people he will, one way or other, restore with advantage. In this
|
|
(as in many other things) Adam was a figure of him that was to
|
|
come; for out of the side of Christ, the second Adam, his spouse
|
|
the church was formed, when he slept the sleep, the deep sleep, of
|
|
death upon the cross, in order to which his side was opened, and
|
|
there came out blood and water, blood to purchase his church and
|
|
water to purify it to himself. See <scripRef passage="Eph 5:25,26" id="Gen.iii-p38.6" parsed="|Eph|5|25|5|26" osisRef="Bible:Eph.5.25-Eph.5.26">Eph. v. 25, 26</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p39">II. The marriage of the woman to Adam.
|
|
Marriage is honourable, but this surely was the most honourable
|
|
marriage that ever was, in which God himself had all along an
|
|
immediate hand. Marriages (they say) are made in heaven: we are
|
|
sure this was, for the man, the woman, the match, were all God's
|
|
own work; he, by his power, made them <i>both,</i> and now, by his
|
|
ordinance, made them <i>one.</i> This was a marriage made in
|
|
perfect innocency, and so was never any marriage since, 1. God, as
|
|
<i>her</i> Father, brought the woman to the man, as his second
|
|
self, and a help-meet for him. When he had made her, he did not
|
|
leave her to her own disposal; no, she was his child, and she must
|
|
not marry without his consent. Those are likely to settle to their
|
|
comfort who by faith and prayer, and a humble dependence upon
|
|
providence, put themselves under a divine conduct. That wife that
|
|
is of God's making by special grace, and of God's bringing by
|
|
special providence, is likely to prove a help-meet for a man. 2.
|
|
From God, as <i>his</i> Father, Adam received her (<scripRef passage="Ge 2:23" id="Gen.iii-p39.1" parsed="|Gen|2|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>): "<i>This is now bone of
|
|
my bone.</i> Now I have what I wanted, and which all the creatures
|
|
could not furnish me with, a help meet for me." God's gifts to us
|
|
are to be received with a humble thankful acknowledgment of his
|
|
wisdom in suiting them to us, and his favour in bestowing them on
|
|
us. Probably it was revealed to Adam in a vision, when he was
|
|
asleep, that this lovely creature, now presented to him, was a
|
|
piece of himself, and was to be his companion and the wife of his
|
|
covenant. Hence some have fetched an argument to prove that
|
|
glorified saints in the heavenly paradise shall know one another.
|
|
Further, in token of his acceptance of her, he gave her a name, not
|
|
peculiar to her, but common to her sex: <i>She shall be called
|
|
woman, Isha,</i> a <i>she-man,</i> differing from man in sex only,
|
|
not in nature—made of man, and joined to man.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p40">III. The institution of the ordinance of
|
|
marriage, and the settling of the law of it, <scripRef passage="Ge 2:24" id="Gen.iii-p40.1" parsed="|Gen|2|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. The sabbath and marriage were
|
|
two ordinances instituted in innocency, the former for the
|
|
preservation of the church, the latter for the preservation of the
|
|
world of mankind. It appears (by <scripRef passage="Mt 19:4,5" id="Gen.iii-p40.2" parsed="|Matt|19|4|19|5" osisRef="Bible:Matt.19.4-Matt.19.5">Matt. xix. 4, 5</scripRef>) that it was God himself who
|
|
said here, "A man must leave all his relations, to cleave to his
|
|
wife;" but whether he spoke it by Moses, the penman, or by Adam
|
|
(who spoke, <scripRef passage="Ge 2:23" id="Gen.iii-p40.3" parsed="|Gen|2|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>),
|
|
is uncertain. It should seem, they are the words of Adam, in God's
|
|
name, laying down this law to all his posterity. 1. See here how
|
|
great the virtue of a divine ordinance is; the bonds of it are
|
|
stronger even than those of nature. To whom can we be more firmly
|
|
bound than the fathers that begat us and the mothers that bore us?
|
|
Yet the son must quit them, to be joined to his wife, and the
|
|
daughter forget them, to cleave to her husband, <scripRef passage="Ps 45:10,11" id="Gen.iii-p40.4" parsed="|Ps|45|10|45|11" osisRef="Bible:Ps.45.10-Ps.45.11">Ps. xlv. 10, 11</scripRef>. 2. See how necessary it
|
|
is that children should take their parents' consent along with them
|
|
in their marriage, and how unjust those are to their parents, as
|
|
well as undutiful, who marry without it; for they rob them of their
|
|
right to them, and interest in them, and alienate it to another,
|
|
fraudulently and unnaturally. 3. See what need there is both of
|
|
prudence and prayer in the choice of this relation, which is so
|
|
near and so lasting. That had need be well done which is to be done
|
|
for life. 4. See how firm the bond of marriage is, not to be
|
|
divided and weakened by having many wives (<scripRef passage="Mal 2:15" id="Gen.iii-p40.5" parsed="|Mal|2|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mal.2.15">Mal. ii. 15</scripRef>) nor to be broken or cut off by
|
|
divorce, for any cause but fornication, or voluntary desertion. 5.
|
|
See how dear the affection ought to be between husband and wife,
|
|
such as there is to our own bodies, <scripRef passage="Eph 5:28" id="Gen.iii-p40.6" parsed="|Eph|5|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eph.5.28">Eph. v. 28</scripRef>. These two are one flesh; let them
|
|
then be one soul.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iii-p41">IV. An evidence of the purity and innocency
|
|
of that state wherein our first parents
|
|
|
|
<pb n="21" id="Gen.iii-Page_21"/>
|
|
|
|
were
|
|
created, <scripRef passage="Ge 2:25" id="Gen.iii-p41.1" parsed="|Gen|2|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>. They
|
|
were both naked. They needed no clothes for defense against cold
|
|
nor heat, for neither could be injurious to them. They needed none
|
|
for ornament. Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of
|
|
these. Nay, they needed none for decency; they were naked, and had
|
|
no reason to be ashamed. <i>They knew not what shame was,</i> so
|
|
the Chaldee reads it. Blushing is now the colour of virtue, but it
|
|
was not then the colour of innocency. Those that had no sin in
|
|
their conscience might well have no shame in their faces, though
|
|
they had no clothes to their backs.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter III" n="iv" progress="3.01%" prev="Gen.iii" next="Gen.v" id="Gen.iv">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="21" id="Gen.iv-Page_21"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.iv-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.iv-p0.2">CHAP. III.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.iv-p1">The story of this chapter is perhaps as sad a
|
|
story (all things considered) as any we have in all the Bible. In
|
|
the foregoing chapters we have had the pleasant view of the
|
|
holiness and happiness of our first parents, the grace and favour
|
|
of God, and the peace and beauty of the whole creation, all good,
|
|
very good; but here the scene is altered. We have here an account
|
|
of the sin and misery of our first parents, the wrath and curse of
|
|
God against them, the peace of the creation disturbed, and its
|
|
beauty stained and sullied, all bad, very bad. "How has the gold
|
|
become dim, and the most fine gold changed!" O that our hearts were
|
|
deeply affected with this record! For we are all nearly concerned
|
|
in it; let it not be to us as a tale that is told. The general
|
|
contents of this chapter we have (<scripRef passage="Ro 5:12" id="Gen.iv-p1.1" parsed="|Rom|5|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.5.12">Rom.
|
|
v. 12</scripRef>), "By one man sin entered into the world, and
|
|
death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have
|
|
sinned." More particularly, we have here, I. The innocent tempted,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 3:1-5" id="Gen.iv-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|3|1|3|5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.1-Gen.3.5">ver. 1-5</scripRef>. II. The tempted
|
|
transgressing, <scripRef passage="Ge 3:6-8" id="Gen.iv-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|3|6|3|8" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.6-Gen.3.8">ver. 6-8</scripRef>.
|
|
III. The transgressors arraigned, <scripRef passage="Ge 3:9,10" id="Gen.iv-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|3|9|3|10" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.9-Gen.3.10">ver. 9, 10</scripRef>. IV. Upon their arraignment,
|
|
convicted, <scripRef passage="Ge 3:11-13" id="Gen.iv-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|3|11|3|13" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.11-Gen.3.13">ver. 11-13</scripRef>. V.
|
|
Upon their conviction, sentenced, <scripRef passage="Ge 3:14-19" id="Gen.iv-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|3|14|3|19" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.14-Gen.3.19">ver. 14-19</scripRef>. VI. After sentence, reprieved,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 3:20,21" id="Gen.iv-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|3|20|3|21" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.20-Gen.3.21">ver. 20, 21</scripRef>. VII.
|
|
Notwithstanding their reprieve, execution in part done, <scripRef passage="Ge 3:22-24" id="Gen.iv-p1.8" parsed="|Gen|3|22|3|24" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.22-Gen.3.24">ver. 22-24</scripRef>. And, were it not for
|
|
the gracious intimations here given of redemption by the promised
|
|
seed, they, and all their degenerate guilty race, would have been
|
|
left to endless despair.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 3" id="Gen.iv-p1.9" parsed="|Gen|3|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 3:1-5" id="Gen.iv-p1.10" parsed="|Gen|3|1|3|5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.1-Gen.3.5"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.3.1-Gen.3.5">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.iv-p1.11">The Tempter's Subtlety; The Tempter's
|
|
Importunity (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iv-p1.12">b. c.</span> 4004.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.iv-p2">1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast
|
|
of the field which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iv-p2.1">Lord</span> God had
|
|
made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not
|
|
eat of every tree of the garden?   2 And the woman said unto
|
|
the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
|
|
  3 But of the fruit of the tree which <i>is</i> in the midst
|
|
of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall
|
|
ye touch it, lest ye die.   4 And the serpent said unto the
|
|
woman, Ye shall not surely die:   5 For God doth know that in
|
|
the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye
|
|
shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p3">We have here an account of the temptation
|
|
with which Satan assaulted our first parents, to draw them into
|
|
sin, and which proved fatal to them. Here observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p4">I. The tempter, and that was the devil, in
|
|
the shape and likeness of a serpent.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p5">1. It is certain it was the devil that
|
|
beguiled Eve. The devil and Satan is the old serpent (<scripRef passage="Re 12:9" id="Gen.iv-p5.1" parsed="|Rev|12|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.12.9">Rev. xii. 9</scripRef>), a malignant spirit, by
|
|
creation an angel of light and an immediate attendant upon God's
|
|
throne, but by sin become an apostate from his first state and a
|
|
rebel against God's crown and dignity. Multitudes of the angels
|
|
fell; but this that attacked our first parents was surely the
|
|
prince of the devils, the ring-leader in the rebellion: no sooner
|
|
was he a sinner than he was a Satan, no sooner a traitor than a
|
|
tempter, as one enraged against God and his glory and envious of
|
|
man and his happiness. He knew he could not destroy man but by
|
|
debauching him. Balaam could not curse Israel, but he could tempt
|
|
Israel, <scripRef passage="Re 2:14" id="Gen.iv-p5.2" parsed="|Rev|2|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.2.14">Rev. ii. 14</scripRef>. The
|
|
game therefore which Satan had to play was to draw our first
|
|
parents to sin, and so to separate between them and their God. Thus
|
|
the devil was, from the beginning, a murderer, and the great
|
|
mischief-maker. The whole race of mankind had here, as it were, but
|
|
one neck, and at that Satan struck. The adversary and enemy is that
|
|
wicked one.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p6">2. It was the devil in the likeness of a
|
|
serpent. Whether it was only the visible shape and appearance of a
|
|
serpent (as some think those were of which we read, <scripRef passage="Ex 7:12" id="Gen.iv-p6.1" parsed="|Exod|7|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.7.12">Exod. vii. 12</scripRef>), or whether it was a
|
|
real living serpent, actuated and possessed by the devil, is not
|
|
certain: by God's permission it might be either. The devil chose to
|
|
act his part in a serpent, (1.) Because it is a specious creature,
|
|
has a spotted dappled skin, and then went erect. Perhaps it was a
|
|
flying serpent, which seemed to come from on high as a messenger
|
|
from the upper world, one of the seraphim; for the fiery serpents
|
|
were flying, <scripRef passage="Isa 14:29" id="Gen.iv-p6.2" parsed="|Isa|14|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.29">Isa. xiv. 29</scripRef>.
|
|
Many a dangerous temptation comes to us in gay fine colours that
|
|
are but skin-deep, and seems to come from above; for Satan can seem
|
|
an angel of light. And, (2.) Because it is a subtle creature; this
|
|
is here taken notice of. Many instances are given of the subtlety
|
|
of the serpent, both to do mischief and to secure himself in it
|
|
when it is done. We are directed to be wise as serpents. But this
|
|
serpent, as actuated by the devil, was no doubt more subtle than
|
|
any other; for the devil, though he has lost the sanctity, retains
|
|
the sagacity of an angel, and is wise to do evil. He knew of more
|
|
advantage by making use of the serpent than we are aware of.
|
|
Observe, There is not any thing by which the devil serves himself
|
|
and his own interest more than by unsanctified subtlety. What Eve
|
|
thought of this serpent speaking to her we are not likely to tell,
|
|
when I believe she herself did not know what to think of it. At
|
|
first, perhaps, she supposed it might be a good angel, and yet,
|
|
afterwards, she might suspect something amiss. It is remarkable
|
|
that the Gentile idolaters did many of them worship the devil in
|
|
the shape and form of a serpent, thereby avowing their adherence to
|
|
that apostate spirit, and wearing his colours.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p7">II. The person tempted was the woman, now
|
|
alone, and at a distance from her husband, but near the forbidden
|
|
tree. It was the devil's subtlety, 1. To assault the weaker vessel
|
|
with his temptations. Though perfect in her kind, yet we may
|
|
suppose her
|
|
|
|
<pb n="22" id="Gen.iv-Page_22"/>
|
|
|
|
inferior to Adam in knowledge,
|
|
and strength, and presence of mind. Some think Eve received the
|
|
command, not immediately from God, but at second hand by her
|
|
husband, and therefore might the more easily be persuaded to
|
|
discredit it. 2. It was his policy to enter into discourse with her
|
|
when she was alone. Had she kept close to the side out of which she
|
|
was lately taken, she would not have been so much exposed. There
|
|
are many temptations, to which solitude gives great advantage; but
|
|
the communion of saints contributes much to their strength and
|
|
safety. 3. He took advantage by finding her near the forbidden
|
|
tree, and probably gazing upon the fruit of it, only to satisfy her
|
|
curiosity. Those that would not eat the forbidden fruit must not
|
|
come near the forbidden tree. <i>Avoid it, pass not by it,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Pr 4:15" id="Gen.iv-p7.1" parsed="|Prov|4|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.4.15">Prov. iv. 15</scripRef>. 4. Satan
|
|
tempted Eve, that by her he might tempt Adam; so he tempted Job by
|
|
his wife, and Christ by Peter. It is his policy to send temptations
|
|
by unsuspected hands, and theirs that have most interest in us and
|
|
influence upon us.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p8">III. The temptation itself, and the
|
|
artificial management of it. We are often, in scripture, told of
|
|
our danger by the temptations of Satan, his <i>devices</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="2Co 2:11" id="Gen.iv-p8.1" parsed="|2Cor|2|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.2.11">2 Cor. ii. 11</scripRef>), his
|
|
<i>depths</i> (<scripRef passage="Re 2:24" id="Gen.iv-p8.2" parsed="|Rev|2|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.2.24">Rev. ii. 24</scripRef>),
|
|
his <i>wiles,</i> <scripRef passage="Eph 6:11" id="Gen.iv-p8.3" parsed="|Eph|6|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eph.6.11">Eph. vi.
|
|
11</scripRef>. The greatest instances we have of them are in his
|
|
tempting of the two Adams, here, and <scripRef passage="Mt 4:1-11" id="Gen.iv-p8.4" parsed="|Matt|4|1|4|11" osisRef="Bible:Matt.4.1-Matt.4.11">Matt. iv</scripRef>. In this he prevailed, but in that
|
|
he was baffled. What he spoke <i>to</i> them, of whom he had no
|
|
hold by any corruption in them, he speaks <i>in</i> us by our own
|
|
deceitful hearts and their carnal reasonings; this makes his
|
|
assaults on us less discernible, but not less dangerous. That which
|
|
the devil aimed at was to persuade Eve to cut forbidden fruit; and,
|
|
to do this, he took the same method that he does still. He
|
|
questioned whether it was a sin or no, <scripRef passage="Ge 3:1" id="Gen.iv-p8.5" parsed="|Gen|3|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. He denied that there was any
|
|
danger in it, <scripRef passage="Ge 3:4" id="Gen.iv-p8.6" parsed="|Gen|3|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. He
|
|
suggested much advantage by it, <scripRef passage="Ge 3:5" id="Gen.iv-p8.7" parsed="|Gen|3|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. And these are his common
|
|
topics.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p9">1. He questioned whether it was a sin or no
|
|
to eat of this tree, and whether really the fruit of it was
|
|
forbidden. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p10">(1.) <i>He said to the woman, Yea, hath God
|
|
said, You shall not eat?</i> The first word intimated something
|
|
said before, introducing this, and with which it is connected,
|
|
perhaps some discourse Eve had with herself, which Satan took hold
|
|
of, and grafted this question upon. In the chain of thoughts one
|
|
thing strangely brings in another, and perhaps something bad at
|
|
last. Observe here, [1.] He does not discover his design at first,
|
|
but puts a question which seemed innocent: "I hear a piece of news,
|
|
pray is it true? has God forbidden you to eat of this tree?" Thus
|
|
he would begin a discourse, and draw her into a parley. Those that
|
|
would be safe have need to be suspicious, and shy of talking with
|
|
the tempter. [2.] He quotes the command fallaciously, as if it were
|
|
a prohibition, not only of that tree, but of all. God had said,
|
|
<i>Of every tree you may eat, except one.</i> He, by aggravating
|
|
the exception, endeavours to invalidate the concession: <i>Hath God
|
|
said, You shall not eat of every tree?</i> The divine law cannot be
|
|
reproached unless it be first misrepresented. [3.] He seems to
|
|
speak it tauntingly, upbraiding the woman with her shyness of
|
|
meddling with that tree; as if he had said, "You are so nice and
|
|
cautious, and so very precise, because God has said, You shall not
|
|
eat." The devil, as he is a liar, so he is a scoffer, from the
|
|
beginning: and the scoffers of the last days are his children. [4.]
|
|
That which he aimed at in the first onset was to take off her sense
|
|
of the obligation of the command. "Surely you are mistaken, it
|
|
cannot be that God should tie you out from this tree; he would not
|
|
do so unreasonable a thing." See here, That it is the subtlety of
|
|
Satan to blemish the reputation of the divine law as uncertain or
|
|
unreasonable, and so to draw people to sin; and that it is
|
|
therefore our wisdom to keep up a a firm belief of, and a high
|
|
respect for, the command of God. Has God said, "You shall not lie,
|
|
nor take his name in vain, nor be drunk," &c.? "Yes, I am sure
|
|
he has, and it is well said, and by his grace I will abide by it,
|
|
whatever the tempter suggests to the contrary."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p11">(2.) In answer to this question the woman
|
|
gives him a plain and full account of the law they were under,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 3:2,3" id="Gen.iv-p11.1" parsed="|Gen|3|2|3|3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.2-Gen.3.3"><i>v.</i> 2, 3</scripRef>. Here
|
|
observe, [1.] It was her weakness to enter into discourse with the
|
|
serpent. She might have perceived by his question that he had no
|
|
good design, and should therefore have started back with a <i>Get
|
|
thee behind me, Satan, thou art an offence to me.</i> But her
|
|
curiosity, and perhaps her surprise, to hear a serpent speak, led
|
|
her into further talk with him. Note, it is a dangerous thing to
|
|
treat with a temptation, which ought at first to be rejected with
|
|
disdain and abhorrence. The garrison that sounds a parley is not
|
|
far from being surrendered. Those that would be kept from harm must
|
|
keep out of harm's way. See <scripRef passage="Pr 14:7,19:27" id="Gen.iv-p11.2" parsed="|Prov|14|7|0|0;|Prov|19|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.14.7 Bible:Prov.19.27">Prov.
|
|
xiv. 7; xix. 27</scripRef>. [2.] It was her wisdom to take notice
|
|
of the liberty God had granted them, in answer to his sly
|
|
insinuation, as if God has put them into paradise only to tantalize
|
|
them with the sight of fair but forbidden fruits. "Yea," says she,
|
|
"we may eat of the fruit of the trees, thanks to our Maker, we have
|
|
plenty and variety enough allowed us." Note, to prevent our being
|
|
uneasy at the restraints of religion, it is good often to take a
|
|
view of the liberties and comforts of it. [3.] It was an instance
|
|
of her resolution that she adhered to the command, and faithfully
|
|
repeated it, as of unquestionable certainty: "<i>God hath said,</i>
|
|
I am confident he hath said it, You shall not eat of the fruit of
|
|
this tree;" and that which she adds, <i>Neither shall you touch
|
|
it,</i> seems to have been with a good intention, not (as some
|
|
think) tacitly to reflect upon the command as too strict (<i>Touch
|
|
not, taste not and handle not</i>), but to make a fence
|
|
|
|
<pb n="23" id="Gen.iv-Page_23"/>
|
|
|
|
about it: "We must not eat, therefore we will not
|
|
touch. It is forbidden in the highest degree, and the authority of
|
|
the prohibition is sacred to us." [4.] She seems a little to waver
|
|
about the threatening, and is not so particular and faithful in the
|
|
repetition of that as of the precept. God has said, <i>In the day
|
|
thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die;</i> all she makes of
|
|
that is, <i>Lest you die.</i> Note, wavering faith and wavering
|
|
resolutions give great advantage to the tempter.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p12">2. He denies that there was any danger in
|
|
it, insisting that, though it might be the transgressing of a
|
|
precept, yet it would not be the incurring of a penalty: <i>You
|
|
shall not surely die,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 3:4" id="Gen.iv-p12.1" parsed="|Gen|3|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.4"><i>v.</i>
|
|
4</scripRef>. "You shall not <i>dying die,</i>" so the word is, in
|
|
direct contradiction to what God had said. Either, (1.) "It is not
|
|
certain that you shall die," so some. "It is not so sure as you are
|
|
made to believe it is." Thus Satan endeavours to shake that which
|
|
he cannot overthrow, and invalidates the force of divine
|
|
threatenings by questioning the certainty of them; and, when once
|
|
it is supposed possible that there may be falsehood or fallacy in
|
|
any word of God, a door is then opened to downright infidelity.
|
|
Satan teaches men first to doubt and then to deny; he makes them
|
|
sceptics first, and so by degrees makes them atheists. Or, (2.) "It
|
|
is certain you shall not die," so others. He avers his
|
|
contradiction with the same phrase of assurance that God had used
|
|
in ratifying the threatening. He began to call the precept in
|
|
question (<scripRef passage="Ge 3:1" id="Gen.iv-p12.2" parsed="|Gen|3|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>), but,
|
|
finding that the woman adhered to that, he quitted that battery,
|
|
and made his second onset upon the threatening, where he perceived
|
|
her to waver; for he is quick to spy all advantages, and to attack
|
|
the wall where it is weakest: <i>You shall not surely die.</i> This
|
|
was a lie, a downright lie; for, [1.] It was contrary to the word
|
|
of God, which we are sure is true. See <scripRef passage="1Jo 2:21,27" id="Gen.iv-p12.3" parsed="|1John|2|21|0|0;|1John|2|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.2.21 Bible:1John.2.27">1 John ii. 21, 27</scripRef>. It was such a lie as
|
|
gave the lie to God himself. [2.] It was contrary to his own
|
|
knowledge. When he told them there was no danger in disobedience
|
|
and rebellion he said that which he knew, by woeful experience, to
|
|
be false. He had broken the law of his creation, and had found, to
|
|
his cost, that he could not prosper in it; and yet he tells our
|
|
first parents they shall not die. He concealed his own misery, that
|
|
he might draw them into the like: thus he still deceives sinners
|
|
into their own ruin. He tells them that, though they sin, they
|
|
shall not die; and gains credit rather than God, who tells them,
|
|
<i>The wages of sin is death.</i> Note, hope of impunity is a great
|
|
support to all iniquity, and impenitency in it. <i>I shall have
|
|
peace, though I walk in the imagination of my heart,</i> <scripRef passage="De 29:19" id="Gen.iv-p12.4" parsed="|Deut|29|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.19">Deut. xxix. 19</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p13">3. He promises them advantage by it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 3:5" id="Gen.iv-p13.1" parsed="|Gen|3|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. Here he follows
|
|
his blow, and it was a blow at the root, a fatal blow to the tree
|
|
we are branches of. He not only would undertake that they should be
|
|
no losers by it, thus binding himself to save them from harm; but
|
|
(if they would be such fools as to venture upon the security of one
|
|
that had himself become a bankrupt) he undertakes they shall be
|
|
gainers by it, unspeakable gainers. He could not have persuaded
|
|
them to run the hazard of ruining themselves if he had not
|
|
suggested to them a great probability of bettering themselves.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p14">(1.) He insinuates to them the great
|
|
improvements they would make by eating of this fruit. And he suits
|
|
the temptation to the pure state they were now in, proposing to
|
|
them, not any carnal pleasures or gratifications, but intellectual
|
|
delights and satisfactions. These were the baits with which he
|
|
covered his hook. [1.] "<i>Your eyes shall be opened;</i> you shall
|
|
have much more of the power and pleasure of contemplation than now
|
|
you have; you shall fetch a larger compass in your intellectual
|
|
views, and see further into things than now you do." He speaks as
|
|
if now they were but dim-sighted, and short-sighted, in comparison
|
|
of what they would be then. [2.] "<i>You shall be as gods,</i> as
|
|
<i>Elohim,</i> mighty gods; not only omniscient, but omnipotent
|
|
too;" or, "You shall be as God himself, equal to him, rivals with
|
|
him; you shall be sovereigns and no longer subjects,
|
|
self-sufficient and no longer dependent." A most absurd suggestion!
|
|
As if it were possible for creatures of yesterday to be like their
|
|
Creator that was from eternity. [3.] "You shall know <i>good and
|
|
evil,</i> that is, every thing that is desirable to be known." To
|
|
support this part of the temptation, he abuses the name given to
|
|
this tree: it was intended to teach the practical knowledge of good
|
|
and evil, that is, of duty and disobedience; and it would prove the
|
|
experimental knowledge of good and evil, that is, of happiness and
|
|
misery. In these senses, the name of the tree was a warning to them
|
|
not to eat of it; but he perverts the sense of it, and wrests it to
|
|
their destruction, as if this tree would give them a speculative
|
|
notional knowledge of the natures, kinds, and originals, of good
|
|
and evil. And, [4.] All this presently: "<i>In the day you eat
|
|
thereof</i> you will find a sudden and immediate change for the
|
|
better." Now in all these insinuations he aims to beget in them,
|
|
<i>First,</i> Discontent with their present state, as if it were
|
|
not so good as it might be, and should be. Note, no condition will
|
|
of itself bring contentment, unless the mind be brought to it. Adam
|
|
was not easy, no, not in paradise, nor the angels in their first
|
|
state, <scripRef passage="Jude 1:6" id="Gen.iv-p14.1" parsed="|Jude|1|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jude.1.6">Jude 6</scripRef>.
|
|
<i>Secondly,</i> Ambition of preferment, as if they were fit to be
|
|
gods. Satan had ruined himself by desiring to be like the Most High
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Isa 14:14" id="Gen.iv-p14.2" parsed="|Isa|14|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.14">Isa. xiv. 14</scripRef>), and
|
|
therefore seeks to infect our first parents with the same desire,
|
|
that he might ruin them too.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p15">(2.) He insinuates to them that God had no
|
|
good design upon them, in forbidding them this fruit: "<i>For God
|
|
doth know</i> how much it will advance you; and therefore, in envy
|
|
and ill-will to you, he hath forbidden
|
|
|
|
<pb n="24" id="Gen.iv-Page_24"/>
|
|
|
|
it:"
|
|
as if he durst not let them eat of that tree because then they
|
|
would know their own strength, and would not continue in an
|
|
inferior state, but be able to cope with him; or as if he grudged
|
|
them the honour and happiness to which their eating of that tree
|
|
would prefer them. Now, [1.] This was a great affront to God, and
|
|
the highest indignity that could be done him, a reproach to his
|
|
power, as if he feared his creatures, and much more a reproach to
|
|
his goodness, as if he hated the work of his own hands and would
|
|
not have those whom he has made to be made happy. Shall the best of
|
|
men think it strange to be misrepresented and evil spoken of, when
|
|
God himself is so? Satan, as he is the accuser of the brethren
|
|
before God, so he accuses God before the brethren; thus he sows
|
|
discord, and is the father of those that do so. [2.] It was a most
|
|
dangerous snare to our first parents, as it tended to alienate
|
|
their affections from God, and so to withdraw them from their
|
|
allegiance to him. Thus still the devil draws people into his
|
|
interest by suggesting to them hard thoughts of God, and false
|
|
hopes of benefit and advantage by sin. Let us therefore, in
|
|
opposition to him, always think well of God as the best good, and
|
|
think ill of sin as the worst of evils: thus let us resist the
|
|
devil, and he will flee from us.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 3:6-8" id="Gen.iv-p15.1" parsed="|Gen|3|6|3|8" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.6-Gen.3.8"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.3.6-Gen.3.8">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.iv-p15.2">The Fall of Man. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iv-p15.3">b. c.</span> 4004.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.iv-p16">6 And when the woman saw that the tree
|
|
<i>was</i> good for food, and that it <i>was</i> pleasant to the
|
|
eyes, and a tree to be desired to make <i>one</i> wise, she took of
|
|
the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with
|
|
her; and he did eat.   7 And the eyes of them both were
|
|
opened, and they knew that they <i>were</i> naked; and they sewed
|
|
fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.   8 And they
|
|
heard the voice of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iv-p16.1">Lord</span> God
|
|
walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife
|
|
hid themselves from the presence of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iv-p16.2">Lord</span> God amongst the trees of the garden.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p17">Here we see what Eve's parley with the
|
|
tempter ended in. Satan, at length, gains his point, and the
|
|
strong-hold is taken by his wiles. God tried the obedience of our
|
|
first parents by forbidding them the tree of knowledge, and Satan
|
|
does, as it were, join issue with God, and in that very thing
|
|
undertakes to seduce them into a transgression; and here we find
|
|
how he prevailed, God permitting it for wise and holy ends.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p18">I. We have here the inducements that moved
|
|
them to transgress. The woman, being deceived by the tempter's
|
|
artful management, was ringleader in the transgression, <scripRef passage="1Ti 2:14" id="Gen.iv-p18.1" parsed="|1Tim|2|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.2.14">1 Tim. ii. 14</scripRef>. She was first in the
|
|
fault; and it was the result of her consideration, or rather her
|
|
inconsideration. 1. She saw no harm in this tree, more than in any
|
|
of the rest. It was said of all the rest of the fruit-trees with
|
|
which the garden of Eden was planted that they were <i>pleasant to
|
|
the sight, and good for food,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 2:9" id="Gen.iv-p18.2" parsed="|Gen|2|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.9"><i>ch.</i> ii. 9</scripRef>. Now, in her eye, this was
|
|
like all the rest. It seemed as good for food as any of them, and
|
|
she saw nothing in the colour of its fruit that threatened death or
|
|
danger; it was as pleasant to the sight as any of them, and
|
|
therefore, "What hurt could it do them? Why should this be
|
|
forbidden them rather than any of the rest?" Note, when there is
|
|
thought to be no more harm in forbidden fruit than in other fruit
|
|
sin lies at the door, and Satan soon carries the day. Nay, perhaps
|
|
it seemed to her to be better for food, more grateful to the taste,
|
|
and more nourishing to the body, than any of the rest, and to her
|
|
eye it was more pleasant than any. We are often betrayed into
|
|
snares by an inordinate desire to have our senses gratified. Or, if
|
|
it had nothing in it more inviting than the rest, yet it was the
|
|
more coveted because it was prohibited. Whether it was so in her or
|
|
not, we find that in us (that is, in our flesh, in our corrupt
|
|
nature) there dwells a strange spirit of contradiction. <i>Nitimur
|
|
in vetitum—We desire what is prohibited.</i> 2. She imagined more
|
|
virtue in this tree than in any of the rest, that it was a tree not
|
|
only not to be dreaded, but <i>to be desired to make one wise,</i>
|
|
and therein excelling all the rest of the trees. This she
|
|
<i>saw,</i> that is, she perceived and understood it by what the
|
|
devil had said to her; and some think that she saw the serpent eat
|
|
of that tree, and that he told her he thereby had gained the
|
|
faculties of speech and reason, whence she inferred its power to
|
|
make one wise, and was persuaded to think, "If it made a brute
|
|
creature rational, why might it not make a rational creature
|
|
divine?" See here how the desire of unnecessary knowledge, under
|
|
the mistaken notion of wisdom, proves hurtful and destructive to
|
|
many. Our first parents, who knew so much, did not know this—that
|
|
they knew enough. Christ is a tree to be desired to make one wise,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Col 2:3,1Co 1:30" id="Gen.iv-p18.3" parsed="|Col|2|3|0|0;|1Cor|1|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Col.2.3 Bible:1Cor.1.30">Col. ii. 3; 1 Cor. i.
|
|
30</scripRef>. Let us, by faith, feed upon him, that we may be wise
|
|
to salvation. In the heavenly paradise, the tree of knowledge will
|
|
not be a forbidden tree; for there we shall know as we are known.
|
|
Let us therefore long to be there, and, in the meantime, not
|
|
exercise ourselves in things too high or too deep for us, nor covet
|
|
to be wise above what is written.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p19">II. The steps of the transgression, not
|
|
steps upward, but downward towards the pit—steps that take hold on
|
|
hell. 1. She <i>saw.</i> She should have turned away her eyes from
|
|
beholding vanity; but she enters into temptation, by looking with
|
|
pleasure on the forbidden fruit. Observe, A great deal of
|
|
|
|
<pb n="25" id="Gen.iv-Page_25"/>
|
|
|
|
sin comes in at the eyes. At these windows Satan
|
|
throws in those fiery darts which pierce and poison the heart. The
|
|
eye affects the heart with guilt as well as grief. Let us
|
|
therefore, with holy Job, make a covenant with our eyes, not to
|
|
look on that which we are in danger of lusting after, <scripRef passage="Pr 23:31,Mt 5:28" id="Gen.iv-p19.1" parsed="|Prov|23|31|0|0;|Matt|5|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.23.31 Bible:Matt.5.28">Prov. xxiii. 31; Matt. v. 28</scripRef>.
|
|
Let the fear of God be always to us for a covering of the eyes,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 20:16" id="Gen.iv-p19.2" parsed="|Gen|20|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.16"><i>ch.</i> xx. 16</scripRef>. 2.
|
|
<i>She took.</i> It was her own act and deed. The devil did not
|
|
take it, and put it into her mouth, whether she would or no; but
|
|
she herself took it. Satan may tempt, but he cannot force; may
|
|
persuade us to cast ourselves down, but he cannot cast us down,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mt 4:6" id="Gen.iv-p19.3" parsed="|Matt|4|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.4.6">Matt. iv. 6</scripRef>. Eve's taking was
|
|
stealing, like Achan's taking the accursed thing, taking that to
|
|
which she had no right. Surely she took it with a trembling hand.
|
|
3. She <i>did eat.</i> Perhaps she did not intend, when she looked,
|
|
to take, nor, when she took, to eat; but this was the result. Note,
|
|
the way of sin is downhill; a man cannot stop himself when he will.
|
|
The beginning of it is as the breaking forth of water, to which it
|
|
is hard to say, "Hitherto thou shalt come and no further."
|
|
Therefore it is our wisdom to suppress the first emotions of sin,
|
|
and to leave it off before it be meddled with. <i>Obsta
|
|
principiis—Nip mischief in the bud.</i> 4. She <i>gave also to her
|
|
husband with her.</i> It is probable that he was not with her when
|
|
she was tempted (surely, if he had, he would have interposed to
|
|
prevent the sin), but came to her when she had eaten, and was
|
|
prevailed upon by her to eat likewise; for it is easier to learn
|
|
that which is bad than to teach that which is good. She gave it to
|
|
him, persuading him with the same arguments that the serpent had
|
|
used with her, adding this to all the rest, that she herself had
|
|
eaten of it, and found it so far from being deadly that it was
|
|
extremely pleasant and grateful. <i>Stolen waters are sweet.</i>
|
|
She gave it to him, under colour of kindness—she would not eat
|
|
these delicious morsels alone; but really it was the greatest
|
|
unkindness she could do him. Or perhaps she gave it to him that, if
|
|
it should prove hurtful, he might share with her in the misery,
|
|
which indeed looks strangely unkind, and yet may, without
|
|
difficulty, be supposed to enter into the heart of one that had
|
|
eaten forbidden fruit. Note, those that have themselves done ill
|
|
are commonly willing to draw in others to do the same. As was the
|
|
devil, so was Eve, no sooner a sinner than a tempter. 5. <i>He did
|
|
eat,</i> overcome by his wife's importunity. It is needless to ask,
|
|
"What would have been the consequence if Eve only had
|
|
transgressed?" The wisdom of God, we are sure, would have decided
|
|
the difficulty, according to equity; but, alas! the case was not
|
|
so; Adam also did eat. "And what great harm if he did?" say the
|
|
corrupt and carnal reasonings of a vain mind. What harm! Why, this
|
|
act involved disbelief of God's word, together with confidence in
|
|
the devil's, discontent with his present state, pride in his own
|
|
merits, and ambition of the honour which comes not from God, envy
|
|
at God's perfections, and indulgence of the appetites of the body.
|
|
In neglecting the tree of life of which he was allowed to eat, and
|
|
eating of the tree of knowledge which was forbidden, he plainly
|
|
showed a contempt of the favours God had bestowed on him, and a
|
|
preference given to those God did not see fit for him. He would be
|
|
both his own carver and his own master, would have what he pleased
|
|
and do what he pleased: his sin was, in one word,
|
|
<i>disobedience</i> (<scripRef passage="Ro 5:19" id="Gen.iv-p19.4" parsed="|Rom|5|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.5.19">Rom. v.
|
|
19</scripRef>), disobedience to a plain, easy, and express command,
|
|
which probably he knew to be a command of trial. He sinned against
|
|
great knowledge, against many mercies, against light and love, the
|
|
clearest light and the dearest love that ever sinner sinned
|
|
against. He had no corrupt nature within him to betray him; but had
|
|
a freedom of will, not enslaved, and was in his full strength, not
|
|
weakened or impaired. He turned aside quickly. Some think he fell
|
|
the very day on which he was made; but I see not how to reconcile
|
|
this with God's pronouncing all <i>very good</i> in the close of
|
|
the day. Others suppose he fell on the sabbath day: the better day
|
|
the worse deed. However, it is certain that he kept his integrity
|
|
but a very little while: being in honour, he continued not. But the
|
|
greatest aggravation of his sin was that he involved all his
|
|
posterity in sin and ruin by it. God having told him that his race
|
|
should replenish the earth, surely he could not but know that he
|
|
stood as a public person, and that his disobedience would be fatal
|
|
to all his seed; and, if so, it was certainly both the greatest
|
|
treachery and the greatest cruelty that ever was. The human nature
|
|
being lodged entirely in our first parents, henceforward it could
|
|
not but be transmitted from them under an attainder of guilt, a
|
|
stain of dishonour, and an hereditary disease of sin and
|
|
corruption. And can we say, then, that Adam's sin had but little
|
|
harm in it?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p20">III. The ultimate consequences of the
|
|
transgression. Shame and fear seized the criminals, <i>ipso
|
|
facto—in the fact itself;</i> these came into the world along with
|
|
sin, and still attend it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p21">1. Shame seized them unseen, <scripRef passage="Ge 3:7" id="Gen.iv-p21.1" parsed="|Gen|3|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>, where observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p22">(1.) The strong convictions they fell
|
|
under, in their own bosoms: <i>The eyes of them both were
|
|
opened.</i> It is not meant of the eyes of the body; these were
|
|
open before, as appears by this, that the sin came in at them.
|
|
Jonathan's eyes were enlightened by eating forbidden fruit
|
|
(<scripRef passage="1Sa 14:27" id="Gen.iv-p22.1" parsed="|1Sam|14|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.14.27">1 Sam. xiv. 27</scripRef>), that is,
|
|
he was refreshed and revived by it; but theirs were not so. Nor is
|
|
it meant of any advances made hereby in true knowledge; but the
|
|
eyes of their consciences were opened, their hearts smote them for
|
|
what they had done. Now,
|
|
|
|
<pb n="26" id="Gen.iv-Page_26"/>
|
|
|
|
when it was too
|
|
late, they saw the folly of eating forbidden fruit. They saw the
|
|
happiness they had fallen from, and the misery they had fallen
|
|
into. They saw a loving God provoked, his grace and favour
|
|
forfeited, his likeness and image lost, dominion over the creatures
|
|
gone. They saw their natures corrupted and depraved, and felt a
|
|
disorder in their own spirits of which they had never before been
|
|
conscious. They saw a law in their members warring against the law
|
|
of their minds, and captivating them both to sin and wrath. They
|
|
saw, as Balaam, when <i>his eyes were opened</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 22:31" id="Gen.iv-p22.2" parsed="|Num|22|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.31">Num. xxii. 31</scripRef>), the angel of the Lord
|
|
standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand; and perhaps
|
|
they saw the serpent that had abused them insulting over them. The
|
|
text tells us that they saw <i>that they were naked,</i> that is,
|
|
[1.] That they were stripped, deprived of all the honours and joys
|
|
of their paradise-state, and exposed to all the miseries that might
|
|
justly be expected from an angry God. They were disarmed; their
|
|
defence had departed from them. [2.] That they were shamed, for
|
|
ever shamed, before God and angels. They saw themselves disrobed of
|
|
all their ornaments and ensigns of honour, degraded from their
|
|
dignity and disgraced in the highest degree, laid open to the
|
|
contempt and reproach of heaven, and earth, and their own
|
|
consciences. Now see here, <i>First,</i> What a dishonour and
|
|
disquietment sin is; it makes mischief wherever it is admitted,
|
|
sets men against themselves disturbs their peace, and destroys all
|
|
their comforts. Sooner or later, it will have shame, either the
|
|
shame of true repentance, which ends in glory, or that shame and
|
|
everlasting contempt to which the wicked shall rise at the great
|
|
day. Sin is a reproach to any people. <i>Secondly,</i> What
|
|
deceiver Satan is. He told our first parents, when he tempted them,
|
|
that their eyes should be opened; and so they were, but not as they
|
|
understood it; they were opened to their shame and grief, not to
|
|
their honour nor advantage. Therefore, when he speaks fair, believe
|
|
him not. The most malicious mischievous liars often excuse
|
|
themselves with this, that they only equivocate; but God will not
|
|
so excuse them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p23">(2.) The sorry shift they made to palliate
|
|
these convictions, and to arm themselves against them: <i>They
|
|
sewed,</i> or platted, <i>fig-leaves together;</i> and to cover, at
|
|
least, part of their shame from one another, they <i>made
|
|
themselves aprons.</i> See here what is commonly the folly of those
|
|
that have sinned. [1.] That they are more solicitous to save their
|
|
credit before men than to obtain their pardon from God; they are
|
|
backward to confess their sin, and very desirous to conceal it, as
|
|
much as may be. <i>I have sinned, yet honour me.</i> [2.] That the
|
|
excuses men make, to cover and extenuate their sins, are vain and
|
|
frivolous. Like the aprons of fig-leaves, they make the matter
|
|
never the better, but the worse; the shame, thus hidden, becomes
|
|
the more shameful. Yet thus we are all apt to <i>cover our
|
|
transgressions as Adam,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 31:33" id="Gen.iv-p23.1" parsed="|Job|31|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.31.33">Job xxxi.
|
|
33</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p24">2. Fear seized them immediately upon their
|
|
eating the forbidden fruit, <scripRef passage="Ge 3:8" id="Gen.iv-p24.1" parsed="|Gen|3|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.8"><i>v.</i>
|
|
8</scripRef>. Observe here, (1.) What was the cause and occasion of
|
|
their fear: They <i>heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the
|
|
garden in the cool of the day.</i> It was the approach of the Judge
|
|
that put them into a fright; and yet he came in such a manner as
|
|
made it formidable only to guilty consciences. It is supposed that
|
|
he came in a human shape, and that he who judged the world now was
|
|
the same that shall judge the world at the last day, even <i>that
|
|
man whom God has ordained.</i> He appeared to them now (it should
|
|
seem) in no other similitude than that in which they had seen him
|
|
when he put them into paradise; for he came to convince and humble
|
|
them, not to amaze and terrify them. He came into the garden, not
|
|
descending immediately from heaven in their view, as afterwards on
|
|
Mount Sinai (making either thick darkness his pavilion or the
|
|
flaming fire his chariot), but he came into the garden, as one that
|
|
was still willing to be familiar with them. He came walking, not
|
|
running, not riding upon the wings of the wind, but walking
|
|
deliberately, as one slow to anger, teaching us, when we are ever
|
|
so much provoked, not to be hot nor hasty, but to speak and act
|
|
considerately and not rashly. He came in the cool of the day, not
|
|
in the night, when all fears are doubly fearful, nor in the heat of
|
|
day, for he came not in the heat of his anger. <i>Fury is not in
|
|
him,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 27:4" id="Gen.iv-p24.2" parsed="|Isa|27|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.27.4">Isa. xxvii. 4</scripRef>. Nor
|
|
did he come suddenly upon them; but they heard his voice at some
|
|
distance, giving them notice of his coming, and probably it was a
|
|
still small voice, like that in which he came to enquire after
|
|
Elijah. Some think they heard him discoursing with himself
|
|
concerning the sin of Adam, and the judgment now to be passed upon
|
|
him, perhaps as he did concerning Israel, <scripRef passage="Ho 11:8,9" id="Gen.iv-p24.3" parsed="|Hos|11|8|11|9" osisRef="Bible:Hos.11.8-Hos.11.9">Hos. xi. 8, 9</scripRef>. <i>How shall I give thee
|
|
up?</i> Or, rather, they heard him calling for them, and coming
|
|
towards them. (2.) What was the effect and evidence of their fear:
|
|
<i>They hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God</i>—a sad
|
|
change! Before they had sinned, if they had heard the voice of the
|
|
Lord God coming towards them, they would have run to meet him, and
|
|
with a humble joy welcomed his gracious visits. But, now that it
|
|
was otherwise, God had become a terror to them, and then no marvel
|
|
that they had become a terror to themselves, and were full of
|
|
confusion. Their own consciences accused them, and set their sin
|
|
before them in its proper colours. Their fig-leaves failed them,
|
|
and would do them no service. God had come forth against them as an
|
|
enemy, and the whole creation was at war with them; and as yet they
|
|
knew not of any mediator between them and an angry God, so that
|
|
nothing remained but a
|
|
|
|
<pb n="27" id="Gen.iv-Page_27"/>
|
|
|
|
certain fearful
|
|
looking for of judgment. In this fright they hid themselves among
|
|
the bushes; having offended, they fled for the same. Knowing
|
|
themselves guilty, they durst not stand a trial, but absconded, and
|
|
fled from justice. See here, [1.] The falsehood of the tempter, and
|
|
the frauds and fallacies of his temptations. He promised them they
|
|
should be safe, but now they cannot so much as think themselves so;
|
|
he said they should not die, and yet now they are forced to fly for
|
|
their lives; he promised them they should be advanced, but they see
|
|
themselves a based—never did they seem so little as now; he
|
|
promised them they should be knowing, but they see themselves at a
|
|
loss, and know not so much as where to hide themselves; he promised
|
|
them they should be as gods, great, and bold, and daring, but they
|
|
are as criminals discovered, trembling, pale, and anxious to
|
|
escape: they would not be subjects, and so they are prisoners. [2.]
|
|
The folly of sinners, to think it either possible or desirable to
|
|
hide themselves from God: can they conceal themselves from the
|
|
Father of lights? <scripRef passage="Ps 139:7-13" id="Gen.iv-p24.4" parsed="|Ps|139|7|139|13" osisRef="Bible:Ps.139.7-Ps.139.13">Ps. cxxxix.
|
|
7</scripRef>, &c.; <scripRef passage="Jer 23:24" id="Gen.iv-p24.5" parsed="|Jer|23|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.23.24">Jer. xxiii.
|
|
24</scripRef>. Will they withdraw themselves from the fountain of
|
|
life, who alone can give help and happiness? <scripRef passage="Jon 2:8" id="Gen.iv-p24.6" parsed="|Jonah|2|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.2.8">Jon. ii. 8</scripRef>. [3.] The fear that attends sin.
|
|
All that amazing fear of God's appearances, the accusations of
|
|
conscience, the approaches of trouble, the assaults of inferior
|
|
creatures, and the arrests of death, which is common among men, is
|
|
the effect of sin. Adam and Eve, who were partners in the sin, were
|
|
sharers in the shame and fear that attended it; and though hand
|
|
joined in hand (hands so lately joined in marriage), yet could they
|
|
not animate nor fortify one another: miserable comforters they had
|
|
become to each other!</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 3:9-10" id="Gen.iv-p24.7" parsed="|Gen|3|9|3|10" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.9-Gen.3.10"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.3.9-Gen.3.10">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.iv-p25">9 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iv-p25.1">Lord</span>
|
|
God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where <i>art</i> thou?
|
|
  10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was
|
|
afraid, because I <i>was</i> naked; and I hid myself.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p26">We have here the arraignment of these
|
|
deserters before the righteous Judge of heaven and earth, who,
|
|
though he is not tied to observe formalities, yet proceeds against
|
|
them with all possible fairness, that he may be justified when he
|
|
speaks. Observe here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p27">I. The startling question with which God
|
|
pursued Adam and arrested him: <i>Where art thou?</i> Not as if God
|
|
did not know where he was; but thus he would enter the process
|
|
against him. "Come, where is this foolish man?" Some make it a
|
|
bemoaning question: "Poor Adam, what has become of thee?" "<i>Alas
|
|
for thee!</i>" (so some read it) "<i>How art thou fallen, Lucifer,
|
|
son of the morning!</i> Thou that wast my friend and favourite,
|
|
whom I had done so much for, and would have done so much more for;
|
|
hast thou now forsaken me, and ruined thyself? Has it come to
|
|
this?" It is rather an upbraiding question, in order to his
|
|
conviction and humiliation: <i>Where art thou?</i> Not, In what
|
|
<i>place?</i> but, In what <i>condition?</i> "Is this all thou hast
|
|
gotten by eating forbidden fruit? Thou that wouldest vie with me,
|
|
dost thou now fly from me?" Note, 1. Those who by sin have gone
|
|
astray from God should seriously consider where they are; they are
|
|
afar off from all good, in the midst of their enemies, in bondage
|
|
to Satan, and in the high road to utter ruin. This enquiry after
|
|
Adam may be looked upon as a gracious pursuit, in kindness to him,
|
|
and in order to his recovery. If God had not called to him, to
|
|
reclaim him, his condition would have been as desperate as that of
|
|
fallen angels; this lost sheep would have wandered endlessly, if
|
|
the good Shepherd had not sought after him, to bring him back, and,
|
|
in order to that, reminded him where he was, where he should not
|
|
be, and where he could not be either happy or easy. Note, 2. If
|
|
sinners will but consider where they are, they will not rest till
|
|
they return to God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p28">II. The trembling answer which Adam gave to
|
|
this question: <i>I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was
|
|
afraid,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 3:10" id="Gen.iv-p28.1" parsed="|Gen|3|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. He
|
|
does not own his guilt, and yet in effect confesses it by owning
|
|
his shame and fear; but it is the common fault and folly of those
|
|
that have done an ill thing, when they are questioned about it, to
|
|
acknowledge no more than what is so manifest that they cannot deny
|
|
it. Adam was afraid, because he was naked; not only unarmed, and
|
|
therefore afraid to contend with God, but unclothed, and therefore
|
|
afraid so much as to appear before him. We have reason to be afraid
|
|
of approaching to God if we be not clothed and fenced with the
|
|
righteousness of Christ, for nothing but this will be armour of
|
|
proof and cover the shame of our nakedness. Let us therefore <i>put
|
|
on the Lord Jesus Christ,</i> and then draw near with humble
|
|
boldness.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 3:11-13" id="Gen.iv-p28.2" parsed="|Gen|3|11|3|13" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.11-Gen.3.13"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.3.11-Gen.3.13">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.iv-p29">11 And he said, Who told thee that thou
|
|
<i>wast</i> naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded
|
|
thee that thou shouldest not eat?   12 And the man said, The
|
|
woman whom thou gavest <i>to be</i> with me, she gave me of the
|
|
tree, and I did eat.   13 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iv-p29.1">Lord</span> God said unto the woman, What <i>is</i>
|
|
this <i>that</i> thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent
|
|
beguiled me, and I did eat.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p30">We have here the offenders found guilty by
|
|
their own confession, and yet endeavouring to excuse and extenuate
|
|
their fault. They could not confess and justify what they had done,
|
|
but they confess and palliate it. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p31">I. How their confession was extorted from
|
|
|
|
<pb n="28" id="Gen.iv-Page_28"/>
|
|
|
|
them. God put it to the man: <i>Who told thee
|
|
that thou wast naked?</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 3:11" id="Gen.iv-p31.1" parsed="|Gen|3|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.11"><i>v.</i>
|
|
11</scripRef>. "How camest thou to be sensible of thy nakedness as
|
|
thy shame?" <i>Hast thou eaten of the forbidden tree?</i> Note,
|
|
though God knows all our sins, yet he will know them from us, and
|
|
requires from us an ingenuous confession of them; not that he may
|
|
be informed, but that we may be humbled. In this examination, God
|
|
reminds him of the command he had given him: "I commanded thee not
|
|
to eat of it, I thy Maker, I thy Master, I thy benefactor; I
|
|
commanded thee to the contrary." Sin appears most plain and most
|
|
sinful in the glass of the commandment, therefore God here sets it
|
|
before Adam; and in it we should see our faces. The question put to
|
|
the woman was, <i>What is this that thou hast done?</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 3:13" id="Gen.iv-p31.2" parsed="|Gen|3|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. "Wilt thou also own thy
|
|
fault, and make confession of it? And wilt thou see what an evil
|
|
thing it was?" Note, it concerns those who have eaten forbidden
|
|
fruit themselves, and especially those who have enticed others to
|
|
eat it likewise, seriously to consider what they have done. In
|
|
eating forbidden fruit, we have offended a great and gracious God,
|
|
broken a just and righteous law, violated a sacred and most solemn
|
|
covenant, and wronged our own precious souls by forfeiting God's
|
|
favour and exposing ourselves to his wrath and curse: in enticing
|
|
others to eat of it, we do the devil's work, make ourselves guilty
|
|
of other men's sins, and accessory to their ruin. <i>What is this
|
|
that we have done?</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p32">II. How their crime was extenuated by them
|
|
in their confession. It was to no purpose to plead <i>not
|
|
guilty.</i> The show of their countenances testified against them;
|
|
therefore they become their own accusers: "<i>I did eat,</i>" says
|
|
the man, "And so did I," says the woman; for when God judges he
|
|
will overcome. But these do not look like penitent confessions; for
|
|
instead of aggravating the sin, and taking shame to themselves,
|
|
they excuse the sin, and lay the shame and blame on others. 1. Adam
|
|
lays all the blame upon his wife. "She gave me of the tree, and
|
|
pressed me to eat of it, which I did, only to oblige her"—a
|
|
frivolous excuse. He ought to have taught her, not to have been
|
|
taught by her; and it was no hard matter to determine which of the
|
|
two he must be ruled by, his God or his wife. Learn, hence, never
|
|
to be brought to sin by that which will not bring us off in the
|
|
judgment; let not that bear us up in the commission which will not
|
|
bear us out in the trial; let us therefore never be overcome by
|
|
importunity to act against our consciences, nor ever displease God,
|
|
to please the best friend we have in the world. But this is not the
|
|
worst of it. He not only lays the blame upon his wife, but
|
|
expresses it so as tacitly to reflect on God himself: "It is the
|
|
woman whom thou gavest me, and gavest to be with me as my
|
|
companion, my guide, and my acquaintance; she gave me of the tree,
|
|
else I had not eaten of it." Thus he insinuates that God was
|
|
accessory to his sin: he gave him the woman, and she gave him the
|
|
fruit; so that he seemed to have it at but one remove from God's
|
|
own hand. Note, there is a strange proneness in those that are
|
|
tempted to say that they are tempted of God, as if our abusing
|
|
God's gifts would excuse our violation of God's laws. God gives us
|
|
riches, honours, and relations, that we may serve him cheerfully in
|
|
the enjoyment of them; but, if we take occasion from them to sin
|
|
against him, instead of blaming Providence for putting us into such
|
|
a condition, we must blame ourselves for perverting the gracious
|
|
designs of Providence therein. 2. Eve lays all the blame upon the
|
|
serpent: <i>The serpent beguiled me.</i> Sin is a brat that nobody
|
|
is willing to own, a sign that it is a scandalous thing. Those that
|
|
are willing enough to take the pleasure and profit of sin are
|
|
backward enough to take the blame and shame of it. "The serpent,
|
|
that subtle creature of thy making, which thou didst permit to come
|
|
into paradise to us, he beguiled me," or <i>made me to err;</i> for
|
|
our sins are our errors. Learn hence, (1.) That Satan's temptations
|
|
are all beguilings, his arguments are all fallacies, his
|
|
allurements are all cheats; when he speaks fair, believe him not.
|
|
Sin deceives us, and, by deceiving, cheats us. It is by the
|
|
<i>deceitfulness of sin</i> that the heart is hardened. See
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ro 7:11,Heb 3:13" id="Gen.iv-p32.1" parsed="|Rom|7|11|0|0;|Heb|3|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.7.11 Bible:Heb.3.13">Rom. vii. 11; Heb. iii.
|
|
13</scripRef>. (2.) That though Satan's subtlety drew us into sin,
|
|
yet it will not justify us in sin: though he is the tempter, we are
|
|
the sinners; and indeed it is our own lust that draws us aside and
|
|
entices us, <scripRef passage="Jam 1:14" id="Gen.iv-p32.2" parsed="|Jas|1|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jas.1.14">Jam. i. 14</scripRef>. Let
|
|
it not therefore lessen our sorrow and humiliation for sin that we
|
|
are beguiled into it; but rather let it increase our
|
|
self-indignation that we should suffer ourselves to be beguiled by
|
|
a known cheat and a sworn enemy. Well, this is all the prisoners at
|
|
the bar have to say why sentence should not be passed and execution
|
|
awarded, according to law; and this <i>all</i> is next to nothing,
|
|
in some respects worse than nothing.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 3:14-15" id="Gen.iv-p32.3" parsed="|Gen|3|14|3|15" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.14-Gen.3.15"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.3.14-Gen.3.15">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.iv-p32.4">Sentence Passed on the Serpent; Intimation
|
|
of Messiah. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iv-p32.5">b. c.</span> 4004.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.iv-p33">14 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iv-p33.1">Lord</span>
|
|
God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou
|
|
<i>art</i> cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the
|
|
field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all
|
|
the days of thy life:   15 And I will put enmity between thee
|
|
and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise
|
|
thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p34">The prisoners being found guilty by their
|
|
own confession, besides the personal and infallible knowledge of
|
|
the Judge, and nothing material being offered in arrest of
|
|
judgment,
|
|
|
|
<pb n="29" id="Gen.iv-Page_29"/>
|
|
|
|
God immediately proceeds to pass
|
|
sentence; and, in these verses, he begins (where the sin began)
|
|
with the serpent. God did not examine the serpent, nor ask him what
|
|
he had done nor why he did it; but immediately sentenced him, 1.
|
|
Because he was already convicted of rebellion against God, and his
|
|
malice and wickedness were notorious, not found by secret search,
|
|
but openly avowed and declared as Sodom's. 2. Because he was to be
|
|
for ever excluded from all hope of pardon; and why should any thing
|
|
be said to convince and humble him who was to find no place for
|
|
repentance? His wound was not searched, because it was not to be
|
|
cured. Some think the condition of the fallen angels was not
|
|
declared desperate and helpless, until now that they had seduced
|
|
man into the rebellion.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p35">I. The sentence passed upon the tempter may
|
|
be considered as lighting upon the serpent, the brute-creature
|
|
which Satan made use of which was, as the rest, made for the
|
|
service of man, but was now abused to his hurt. Therefore, to
|
|
testify a displeasure against sin, and a jealousy for the injured
|
|
honour of Adam and Eve, God fastens a curse and reproach upon the
|
|
serpent, and makes it to groan, being burdened. See <scripRef passage="Ro 8:20" id="Gen.iv-p35.1" parsed="|Rom|8|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.8.20">Rom. viii. 20</scripRef>. The devil's instruments
|
|
must share in the devil's punishments. Thus the bodies of the
|
|
wicked, though only instruments of unrighteousness, shall partake
|
|
of everlasting torments with the soul, the principal agent. Even
|
|
the ox that killed a man must be stoned, <scripRef passage="Ex 21:28,29" id="Gen.iv-p35.2" parsed="|Exod|21|28|21|29" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.28-Exod.21.29">Exod. xxi. 28, 29</scripRef>. See here how God hates
|
|
sin, and especially how much displeased he is with those who entice
|
|
others into sin. It is a perpetual brand upon Jeroboam's name
|
|
<i>that he made Israel to sin.</i> Now, 1. The serpent is here laid
|
|
under the curse of God: <i>Thou art cursed above all cattle.</i>
|
|
Even the creeping things, when God made them, were blessed of him
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 1:22" id="Gen.iv-p35.3" parsed="|Gen|1|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.22"><i>ch.</i> i. 22</scripRef>), but sin
|
|
turned the blessing into a curse. <i>The serpent was more subtle
|
|
than any beast of the field</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 3:1" id="Gen.iv-p35.4" parsed="|Gen|3|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>), and here, <i>cursed above every
|
|
beast of the field.</i> Unsanctified subtlety often proves a great
|
|
curse to a man; and the more crafty men are to do evil the more
|
|
mischief they do, and, consequently, they shall receive the greater
|
|
damnation. Subtle tempters are the most accursed creatures under
|
|
the sun. 2. He is here laid under man's reproach and enmity. (1.)
|
|
He is to be for ever looked upon as a vile and despicable creature,
|
|
and a proper object of scorn and contempt: "<i>Upon thy belly thou
|
|
shalt go,</i> no longer upon feet, or half erect, but thou shalt
|
|
crawl along, thy belly cleaving to the earth," an expression of a
|
|
very abject miserable condition, <scripRef passage="Ps 44:25" id="Gen.iv-p35.5" parsed="|Ps|44|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.44.25">Ps.
|
|
xliv. 25</scripRef>; "and thou shalt not avoid eating dust with thy
|
|
meat." His crime was that he tempted Eve to eat that which she
|
|
should not; his punishment was that he was necessitated to eat that
|
|
which he would not: <i>Dust thou shalt eat.</i> This denotes not
|
|
only a base and despicable condition, but a mean and pitiful
|
|
spirit; it is said of those whose courage has departed from them
|
|
that they <i>lick the dust like a serpent,</i> <scripRef passage="Mic 7:17" id="Gen.iv-p35.6" parsed="|Mic|7|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mic.7.17">Mic. vii. 17</scripRef>. How sad it is that the
|
|
serpent's curse should be the covetous worldling's choice, whose
|
|
character it is that he <i>pants after the dust of the earth!</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Am 2:7" id="Gen.iv-p35.7" parsed="|Amos|2|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Amos.2.7">Amos ii. 7</scripRef>. These choose
|
|
their own delusions, and so shall their doom be. (2.) He is to be
|
|
for ever looked upon as a venomous noxious creature, and a proper
|
|
object of hatred and detestation: <i>I will put enmity between thee
|
|
and the woman.</i> The inferior creatures being made for man, it
|
|
was a curse upon any of them to be turned against man and man
|
|
against them; and this is part of the serpent's curse. The serpent
|
|
is hurtful to man, and often bruises his heel, because it can reach
|
|
no higher; nay, notice is taken of his biting the horses' heels,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 49:17" id="Gen.iv-p35.8" parsed="|Gen|49|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.17"><i>ch.</i> xlix. 17</scripRef>. But
|
|
man is victorious over the serpent, and bruises his head, that is,
|
|
gives him a mortal wound, aiming to destroy the whole generation of
|
|
vipers. It is the effect of this curse upon the serpent that,
|
|
though that creature is subtle and very dangerous, yet it prevails
|
|
not (as it would if God gave it commission) to the destruction of
|
|
mankind. This sentence pronounced upon the serpent is much
|
|
fortified by that promise of God to his people, <i>Thou shalt tread
|
|
upon the lion and the adder</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 91:13" id="Gen.iv-p35.9" parsed="|Ps|91|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.91.13">Ps.
|
|
xci. 13</scripRef>), and that of Christ to his disciples, <i>They
|
|
shall take up serpents</i> (<scripRef passage="Mk 16:18" id="Gen.iv-p35.10" parsed="|Mark|16|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mark.16.18">Mark xvi.
|
|
18</scripRef>), witness Paul, who was unhurt by the viper that
|
|
fastened upon his hand. Observe here, The serpent and the woman had
|
|
just now been very familiar and friendly in discourse about the
|
|
forbidden fruit, and a wonderful agreement there was between them;
|
|
but here they are irreconcilably set at variance. Note, sinful
|
|
friendships justly end in mortal feuds: those that unite in
|
|
wickedness will not unite long.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p36">II. This sentence may be considered as
|
|
levelled at the devil, who only made use of the serpent as his
|
|
vehicle in this appearance, but was himself the principal agent. He
|
|
that spoke through the serpent's mouth is here struck at through
|
|
the serpent's side, and is principally intended in the sentence,
|
|
which, like the pillar of cloud and fire, has a dark side towards
|
|
the devil and a bright side towards our first parents and their
|
|
seed. Great things are contained in these words.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p37">1. A perpetual reproach is here fastened
|
|
upon that great enemy both to God and man. Under the cover of the
|
|
serpent, he is here sentenced to be, (1.) Degraded and accursed of
|
|
God. It is supposed that the sin which turned angels into devils
|
|
was pride, which is here justly punished by a great variety of
|
|
mortifications couched under the mean circumstances of a serpent
|
|
crawling on his belly and licking the dust. <i>How art thou fallen,
|
|
O Lucifer!</i> He that would be above God, and would head a
|
|
rebellion
|
|
|
|
<pb n="30" id="Gen.iv-Page_30"/>
|
|
|
|
against him, is justly exposed here
|
|
to contempt and lies to be trodden on; a man's pride will bring him
|
|
low, and God will humble those that will not humble themselves.
|
|
(2.) Detested and abhorred of all mankind. Even those that are
|
|
really seduced into his interest yet profess a hatred and
|
|
abhorrence of him; and all that are born of God make it their
|
|
constant care to keep themselves, that this wicked one touch them
|
|
not, <scripRef passage="1Jo 5:18" id="Gen.iv-p37.1" parsed="|1John|5|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.5.18">1 John v. 18</scripRef>. He is
|
|
here condemned to a state of war and irreconcilable enmity. (3.)
|
|
Destroyed and ruined at last by <i>the great Redeemer,</i>
|
|
signified by the breaking of his head. His subtle politics shall
|
|
all be baffled, his usurped power shall be entirely crushed, and he
|
|
shall be for ever a captive to the injured honour of divine
|
|
sovereignty. By being told of this now he was tormented before the
|
|
time.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p38">2. A perpetual quarrel is here commenced
|
|
between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the devil among men;
|
|
war is proclaimed between the seed of the woman and the seed of the
|
|
serpent. That war in heaven between Michael and the dragon began
|
|
now, <scripRef passage="Re 12:7" id="Gen.iv-p38.1" parsed="|Rev|12|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.12.7">Rev. xii. 7</scripRef>. It is the
|
|
fruit of this enmity, (1.) That there is a continual conflict
|
|
between grace and corruption in the hearts of God's people. Satan,
|
|
by their corruptions, assaults them, buffets them, sifts them, and
|
|
seeks to devour them; they, by the exercise of their graces, resist
|
|
him, wrestle with him, quench his fiery darts, force him to flee
|
|
from them. Heaven and hell can never be reconciled, nor light and
|
|
darkness; no more can Satan and a sanctified soul, for these are
|
|
contrary the one to the other. (2.) That there is likewise a
|
|
continual struggle between the wicked and the godly in this world.
|
|
Those that love God account those their enemies that hate him,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 139:21,22" id="Gen.iv-p38.2" parsed="|Ps|139|21|139|22" osisRef="Bible:Ps.139.21-Ps.139.22">Ps. cxxxix. 21, 22</scripRef>. And
|
|
all the rage and malice of persecutors against the people of God
|
|
are the fruit of this enmity, which will continue while there is a
|
|
godly man on this side heaven, and a wicked man on this side hell.
|
|
<i>Marvel not therefore if the world hate you,</i> <scripRef passage="1Jo 3:13" id="Gen.iv-p38.3" parsed="|1John|3|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.3.13">1 John iii. 13</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p39">3. A gracious promise is here made of
|
|
Christ, as the deliverer of fallen man from the power of Satan.
|
|
Though what was said was addressed to the serpent, yet it was said
|
|
in the hearing of our first parents, who, doubtless, took the hints
|
|
of grace here given them, and saw a door of hope opened to them,
|
|
else the following sentence upon themselves would have overwhelmed
|
|
them. Here was the dawning of the gospel day. No sooner was the
|
|
wound given than the remedy was provided and revealed. Here, <i>in
|
|
the head of the book,</i> as the word is (<scripRef passage="Heb 10:7" id="Gen.iv-p39.1" parsed="|Heb|10|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.10.7">Heb. x. 7</scripRef>), in the beginning of the Bible, it
|
|
is written of Christ, that he should <i>do the will of God.</i> By
|
|
faith in this promise, we have reason to think, our first parents,
|
|
and the patriarchs before the flood, were justified and saved and
|
|
to this promise, and the benefit of it, instantly serving God day
|
|
and night, they hoped to come. Notice is here given them of three
|
|
things concerning Christ:—(1.) His incarnation, that he should be
|
|
<i>the seed of the woman,</i> the seed of <i>that</i> woman;
|
|
therefore his genealogy (<scripRef passage="Lu 3:1-38" id="Gen.iv-p39.2" parsed="|Luke|3|1|3|38" osisRef="Bible:Luke.3.1-Luke.3.38">Luke
|
|
iii.</scripRef>) goes so high as to show him to be the son of Adam,
|
|
but God does the woman the honour to call him rather her seed,
|
|
because she it was whom the devil had beguiled, and on whom Adam
|
|
had laid the blame; herein God magnifies his grace, in that, though
|
|
the woman was first in the transgression, yet she shall be saved
|
|
<i>by</i> child-bearing (as some read it), that is, by the promised
|
|
seed who shall descend from her, <scripRef passage="1Ti 2:15" id="Gen.iv-p39.3" parsed="|1Tim|2|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.2.15">1
|
|
Tim. ii. 15</scripRef>. He was likewise to be the seed of a woman
|
|
only, of a virgin, that he might not be tainted with the corruption
|
|
of our nature; he was sent forth, <i>made of a woman</i> (<scripRef passage="Ga 4:4" id="Gen.iv-p39.4" parsed="|Gal|4|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.4.4">Gal. iv. 4</scripRef>), that this promise might be
|
|
fulfilled. It is a great encouragement to sinners that their
|
|
Saviour <i>is the seed of the woman, bone of our bone,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Heb 2:11,14" id="Gen.iv-p39.5" parsed="|Heb|2|11|0|0;|Heb|2|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.2.11 Bible:Heb.2.14">Heb. ii. 11, 14</scripRef>. Man is
|
|
therefore sinful and unclean, because he is <i>born of a woman</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Job 25:4" id="Gen.iv-p39.6" parsed="|Job|25|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.25.4">Job xxv. 4</scripRef>), and therefore
|
|
<i>his days are full of trouble,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 14:1" id="Gen.iv-p39.7" parsed="|Job|14|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.14.1">Job xiv. 1</scripRef>. But the seed of the woman was
|
|
made sin and a curse for us, so saving us from both. (2.) His
|
|
sufferings and death, pointed at in Satan's <i>bruising his
|
|
heel,</i> that is, his human nature. Satan tempted Christ in the
|
|
wilderness, to draw him into sin; and some think it was Satan that
|
|
terrified Christ in his agony, to drive him to despair. It was the
|
|
devil that put it into the heart of Judas to betray Christ, of
|
|
Peter to deny him, of the chief priests to prosecute him, of the
|
|
false witnesses to accuse him, and of Pilate to condemn him, aiming
|
|
in all this, by destroying the Saviour, to ruin the salvation; but,
|
|
on the contrary, it was by death that Christ <i>destroyed him that
|
|
had the power of death,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 2:14" id="Gen.iv-p39.8" parsed="|Heb|2|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.2.14">Heb. ii.
|
|
14</scripRef>. Christ's heel was bruised when his feet were pierced
|
|
and nailed to the cross, and Christ's sufferings are continued in
|
|
the sufferings of the saints for his name. The devil tempts them,
|
|
casts them into prison, persecutes and slays them, and so bruises
|
|
the heel of Christ, who is afflicted in their afflictions. But,
|
|
while the heel is bruised on earth, it is well that the head is
|
|
safe in heaven. (3.) His victory over Satan thereby. Satan had now
|
|
trampled upon the woman, and insulted over her; but the seed of the
|
|
woman should be raised up in the fulness of time to avenge her
|
|
quarrel, and to trample upon him, to spoil him, to lead him
|
|
captive, and to <i>triumph over him,</i> <scripRef passage="Col 2:15" id="Gen.iv-p39.9" parsed="|Col|2|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Col.2.15">Col. ii. 15</scripRef>. <i>He shall bruise his head,</i>
|
|
that is, he shall destroy all his politics and all his powers, and
|
|
give a total overthrow to his kingdom and interest. Christ baffled
|
|
Satan's temptations, rescued souls out of his hands, cast him out
|
|
of the bodies of people, dispossessed the strong man armed, and
|
|
divided his spoil: by his death, he gave a fatal and
|
|
|
|
<pb n="31" id="Gen.iv-Page_31"/>
|
|
|
|
incurable blow to the devil's kingdom, a wound to the
|
|
head of this beast, that can never be healed. As his gospel gets
|
|
ground, <i>Satan falls</i> (<scripRef passage="Lu 10:18" id="Gen.iv-p39.10" parsed="|Luke|10|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.10.18">Luke x.
|
|
18</scripRef>) and is <i>bound,</i> <scripRef passage="Re 20:2" id="Gen.iv-p39.11" parsed="|Rev|20|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.20.2">Rev. xx. 2</scripRef>. By his grace, he treads Satan
|
|
under his people's feet (<scripRef passage="Ro 16:20" id="Gen.iv-p39.12" parsed="|Rom|16|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.16.20">Rom. xvi.
|
|
20</scripRef>) and will shortly cast him into the lake of fire,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Re 20:10" id="Gen.iv-p39.13" parsed="|Rev|20|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.20.10">Rev. xx. 10</scripRef>. And the
|
|
devil's perpetual overthrow will be the complete and everlasting
|
|
joy and glory of the chosen remnant.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 3:16" id="Gen.iv-p39.14" parsed="|Gen|3|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.16"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.3.16">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.iv-p39.15">Sentence Passed on Eve. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iv-p39.16">b. c.</span> 4004.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.iv-p40">16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly
|
|
multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring
|
|
forth children; and thy desire <i>shall be</i> to thy husband, and
|
|
he shall rule over thee.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p41">We have here the sentence passed upon the
|
|
woman for her sin. Two things she is condemned to: a state of
|
|
sorrow, and a state of subjection, proper punishments of a sin in
|
|
which she had gratified her pleasure and her pride.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p42">I. She is here put into a state of sorrow,
|
|
one particular of which only is specified, that in bringing forth
|
|
children; but it includes all those impressions of grief and fear
|
|
which the mind of that tender sex is most apt to receive, and all
|
|
the common calamities which they are liable to. Note, sin brought
|
|
sorrow into the world; it was this that made the world a vale of
|
|
tears, brought showers of trouble upon our heads, and opened
|
|
springs of sorrows in our hearts, and so deluged the world: had we
|
|
known no guilt, we should have known no grief. The pains of
|
|
child-bearing, which are great to a proverb, a scripture proverb,
|
|
are the effect of sin; every pang and every groan of the travailing
|
|
woman speak aloud the fatal consequences of sin: this comes of
|
|
eating forbidden fruit. Observe, 1. The sorrows are here said to be
|
|
multiplied, <i>greatly multiplied.</i> All the sorrows of this
|
|
present time are so; many are the calamities which human life is
|
|
liable to, of various kinds, and often repeated, the clouds
|
|
returning after the rain, and no marvel that our sorrows are
|
|
multiplied when our sins are: both are innumerable evils. The
|
|
sorrows of child-bearing are multiplied; for they include, not only
|
|
the travailing throes, but the indispositions before (it is sorrow
|
|
from the conception), and the nursing toils and vexations after;
|
|
and after all, if the children prove wicked and foolish, they are,
|
|
more than ever, the heaviness of her that bore them. Thus are the
|
|
sorrows multiplied; as one grief is over, another succeeds in this
|
|
world. 2. It is God that multiplies our sorrows: <i>I will do
|
|
it.</i> God, as a righteous Judge, does it, which ought to silence
|
|
us under all our sorrows; as many as they are, we have deserved
|
|
them all, and more: nay, God, as a tender Father, does it for our
|
|
necessary correction, that we may be humbled for sin, and weaned
|
|
from the world by all our sorrows; and the good we get by them,
|
|
with the comfort we have under them, will abundantly balance our
|
|
sorrows, how greatly soever they are multiplied.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p43">II. She is here put into a state of
|
|
subjection. The whole sex, which by creation was equal with man,
|
|
is, for sin, made inferior, and forbidden to <i>usurp
|
|
authority,</i> <scripRef passage="1Ti 2:11,12" id="Gen.iv-p43.1" parsed="|1Tim|2|11|2|12" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.2.11-1Tim.2.12">1 Tim. ii. 11,
|
|
12</scripRef>. The wife particularly is hereby put under the
|
|
dominion of her husband, and is not <i>sui juris—at her own
|
|
disposal,</i> of which see an instance in that law, <scripRef passage="Nu 30:6-8" id="Gen.iv-p43.2" parsed="|Num|30|6|30|8" osisRef="Bible:Num.30.6-Num.30.8">Num. xxx. 6-8</scripRef>, where the husband is
|
|
empowered, if he please, to disannul the vows made by the wife.
|
|
This sentence amounts only to that command, <i>Wives, be in
|
|
subjection to your own husbands;</i> but the entrance of sin has
|
|
made that duty a punishment, which otherwise it would not have
|
|
been. If man had not sinned, he would always have ruled with wisdom
|
|
and love; and, if the woman had not sinned, she would always have
|
|
obeyed with humility and meekness; and then the dominion would have
|
|
been no grievance: but our own sin and folly make our yoke heavy.
|
|
If Eve had not eaten forbidden fruit herself, and tempted her
|
|
husband to eat it, she would never have complained of her
|
|
subjection; therefore it ought never to be complained of, though
|
|
harsh; but sin must be complained of, that made it so. Those wives
|
|
who not only despise and disobey their husbands, but domineer over
|
|
them, do not consider that they not only violate a divine law, but
|
|
thwart a divine sentence.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p44">III. Observe here how mercy is mixed with
|
|
wrath in this sentence. The woman shall have sorrow, but it shall
|
|
be in bringing forth children, and the sorrow shall be <i>forgotten
|
|
for joy that a child is born,</i> <scripRef passage="Joh 16:21" id="Gen.iv-p44.1" parsed="|John|16|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.16.21">John xvi. 21</scripRef>. She shall be subject, but it
|
|
shall be to her own husband that loves her, not to a stranger, or
|
|
an enemy: the sentence was not a curse, to bring her to ruin, but a
|
|
chastisement, to bring her to repentance. It was well that enmity
|
|
was not put between the man and the woman, as there was between the
|
|
serpent and the woman.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 3:17-19" id="Gen.iv-p44.2" parsed="|Gen|3|17|3|19" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.17-Gen.3.19"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.3.17-Gen.3.19">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.iv-p44.3">Sentence Passed on Adam; Consequences of the
|
|
Fall. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iv-p44.4">b. c.</span> 4004.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.iv-p45">17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast
|
|
hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree,
|
|
of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed
|
|
<i>is</i> the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat
|
|
<i>of</i> it all the days of thy life;   18 Thorns also and
|
|
thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb
|
|
of the field;   19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat
|
|
bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou
|
|
taken: for dust thou <i>art,</i> and unto dust shalt thou
|
|
return.</p>
|
|
|
|
<pb n="32" id="Gen.iv-Page_32"/>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p46">We have here the sentence passed upon Adam,
|
|
which is prefaced with a recital of his crime: <i>Because thou hast
|
|
hearkened to the voice of thy wife,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 3:17" id="Gen.iv-p46.1" parsed="|Gen|3|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. He excused the fault, by laying
|
|
it on his wife: <i>She gave it me.</i> But God does not admit the
|
|
excuse. She could but tempt him, she could not force him; though it
|
|
was her fault to persuade him to eat, it was his fault to hearken
|
|
to her. Thus men's frivolous pleas will, in the day of God's
|
|
judgment, not only be overruled, but turned against them, and made
|
|
the grounds of their sentence. <i>Out of thine own mouth will I
|
|
judge thee.</i> Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p47">I. God put marks of his displeasure on Adam
|
|
in three instances:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p48">1. His habitation is, by this sentence,
|
|
cursed: <i>Cursed is the ground for thy sake;</i> and the effect of
|
|
that curse is, <i>Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth unto
|
|
thee.</i> It is here intimated that his habitation should be
|
|
changed; he should no longer dwell in a distinguished, blessed,
|
|
paradise, but should be removed to common ground, and that cursed.
|
|
The ground, or earth, is here put for the whole visible creation,
|
|
which, by the sin of man, is made subject to vanity, the several
|
|
parts of it being not so serviceable to man's comfort and happiness
|
|
as they were designed to be when they were made, and would have
|
|
been if he had not sinned. God gave the earth to the children of
|
|
men, designing it to be a comfortable dwelling to them. But sin has
|
|
altered the property of it. It is now cursed for man's sin; that
|
|
is, it is a dishonourable habitation, it bespeaks man mean, that
|
|
his foundation is in the dust; it is a dry and barren habitation,
|
|
its spontaneous productions are now weeds and briers, something
|
|
nauseous or noxious; what good fruits it produces must be extorted
|
|
from it by the ingenuity and industry of man. Fruitfulness was its
|
|
blessing, for man's service (<scripRef passage="Ge 1:11,29" id="Gen.iv-p48.1" parsed="|Gen|1|11|0|0;|Gen|1|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.11 Bible:Gen.1.29"><i>ch.</i> i. 11, 29</scripRef>), and now barrenness
|
|
was its curse, for man's punishment. It is not what it was in the
|
|
day it was created. Sin turned a fruitful land into barrenness; and
|
|
man, having become as the wild ass's colt, has the wild ass's lot,
|
|
<i>the wilderness for his habitation,</i> and the <i>barren land
|
|
his dwelling,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 39:6,Ps 68:6" id="Gen.iv-p48.2" parsed="|Job|39|6|0|0;|Ps|68|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.39.6 Bible:Ps.68.6">Job xxxix.
|
|
6; Ps. lxviii. 6</scripRef>. Had not this curse been in part
|
|
removed, for aught I know, the earth would have been for ever
|
|
barren, and never produced any thing but thorns and thistles. The
|
|
ground is <i>cursed,</i> that is, doomed to destruction at the end
|
|
of time, when the earth, and <i>all the works that are therein,
|
|
shall be burnt up</i> for the sin of man, the measure of whose
|
|
iniquity will then be full, <scripRef passage="2Pe 3:7,10" id="Gen.iv-p48.3" parsed="|2Pet|3|7|0|0;|2Pet|3|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.3.7 Bible:2Pet.3.10">2 Pet.
|
|
iii. 7, 10</scripRef>. But observe a mixture of mercy in this
|
|
sentence. (1.) Adam himself is not cursed, as the serpent was
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 3:14" id="Gen.iv-p48.4" parsed="|Gen|3|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>), but only the
|
|
ground for his sake. God had blessings in him, even the holy seed:
|
|
<i>Destroy it not, for that blessing is in it,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 65:8" id="Gen.iv-p48.5" parsed="|Isa|65|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.8">Isa. lxv. 8</scripRef>. And he had blessings in
|
|
store for him; therefore he is not directly and immediately cursed,
|
|
but, as it were, at second hand. (2.) He is yet above ground. The
|
|
earth does not open and swallow him up; only it is not what it was:
|
|
as he continues alive, notwithstanding his degeneracy from his
|
|
primitive purity and rectitude, so the earth continues to be his
|
|
habitation, notwithstanding its degeneracy from its primitive
|
|
beauty and fruitfulness. (3.) This curse upon the earth, which cut
|
|
off all expectations of a happiness in things below, might direct
|
|
and quicken him to look for bliss and satisfaction only in things
|
|
above.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p49">2. His employments and enjoyments are all
|
|
embittered to him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p50">(1.) His business shall henceforth become a
|
|
toil to him, and he shall go on with it <i>in the sweat of his
|
|
face,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 3:19" id="Gen.iv-p50.1" parsed="|Gen|3|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. His
|
|
business, before he sinned, was a constant pleasure to him, the
|
|
garden was then dressed without any uneasy labour, and kept without
|
|
any uneasy care; but now his labour shall be a weariness and shall
|
|
waste his body; his care shall be a torment and shall afflict his
|
|
mind. The curse upon the ground which made it barren, and produced
|
|
thorns and thistles, made his employment about it much more
|
|
difficult and toilsome. If Adam had not sinned, he had not sweated.
|
|
Observe here, [1.] That labour is our duty, which we must
|
|
faithfully perform; we are bound to work, not as creatures only,
|
|
but as criminals; it is part of our sentence, which idleness
|
|
daringly defies. [2.] That uneasiness and weariness with labour are
|
|
our just punishment, which we must patiently submit to, and not
|
|
complain of, since they are less than our iniquity deserves. Let
|
|
not us, by inordinate care and labour, make our punishment heavier
|
|
than God has made it; but rather study to lighten our burden, and
|
|
wipe off our sweat, by eyeing Providence in all and expecting rest
|
|
shortly.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p51">(2.) His food shall henceforth become (in
|
|
comparison with what it had been) unpleasant to him. [1.] The
|
|
matter of his food is changed; he must now eat the herb of the
|
|
field, and must no longer be feasted with the delicacies of the
|
|
garden of Eden. Having by sin made himself like the beasts that
|
|
perish, he is justly turned to be a fellow-commoner with them, and
|
|
to <i>eat grass as oxen, till he know that the heavens do rule.</i>
|
|
[2.] There is a change in the manner of his eating it: <i>In
|
|
sorrow</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 3:17" id="Gen.iv-p51.1" parsed="|Gen|3|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>).
|
|
and <i>in the sweat of his face</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 3:19" id="Gen.iv-p51.2" parsed="|Gen|3|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>) he must eat of it. Adam could
|
|
not but eat in sorrow all the days of his life, remembering the
|
|
forbidden fruit he had eaten, and the guilt and shame he had
|
|
contracted by it. Observe, <i>First,</i> That human life is exposed
|
|
to many miseries and calamities, which very much embitter the poor
|
|
remains of its pleasures and delights. Some never eat with pleasure
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Job 21:25" id="Gen.iv-p51.3" parsed="|Job|21|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.25">Job xxi. 25</scripRef>), through
|
|
sickness or melancholy; all, even the best, have cause to eat with
|
|
sorrow for sin; and all, even the happiest in this world, have some
|
|
allays to their joy: troops of diseases, disasters, and deaths, in
|
|
various shapes, entered
|
|
|
|
<pb n="33" id="Gen.iv-Page_33"/>
|
|
|
|
the world with sin,
|
|
and still ravage it. <i>Secondly,</i> That the righteousness of God
|
|
is to be acknowledged in all the sad consequences of sin.
|
|
<i>Wherefore then should a living man complain?</i> Yet, in this
|
|
part of the sentence, there is also a mixture of mercy. He shall
|
|
sweat, but his toil shall make his rest the more welcome when he
|
|
returns to his earth, as to his bed; he shall grieve, but he shall
|
|
not starve; he shall have sorrow, but in that sorrow he shall eat
|
|
bread, which shall strengthen his heart under his sorrows. He is
|
|
not sentenced to eat dust as the serpent, only to eat the herb of
|
|
the field.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p52">3. His life also is but short. Considering
|
|
how full of trouble his days are, it is in favour to him that they
|
|
are few; yet death being dreadful to nature (yea, even though life
|
|
be unpleasant) <i>that</i> concludes the sentence. "Thou shalt
|
|
<i>return to the ground out of which thou wast taken;</i> thy body,
|
|
that part of thee which was taken out of the ground, shall return
|
|
to it again; for <i>dust thou art.</i>" This points either to the
|
|
first original of his body; it was made <i>of the dust,</i> nay it
|
|
was <i>made dust,</i> and was still so; so that there needed no
|
|
more than to recall the grant of immortality, and to withdraw the
|
|
power which was put forth to support it, and then he would, of
|
|
course, <i>return to dust.</i> Or to the present corruption and
|
|
degeneracy of his mind: <i>Dust thou art,</i> that is, "Thy
|
|
precious soul is now lost and buried in the dust of the body and
|
|
the mire of the flesh; it was made spiritual and heavenly, but it
|
|
has become carnal and earthly." His doom is therefore read: "<i>To
|
|
dust thou shalt return.</i> Thy body shall be forsaken by thy soul,
|
|
and become itself a lump of dust; and then it shall be lodged in
|
|
the grave, the proper place for it, and mingle itself with the dust
|
|
of the earth," <i>our dust,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 104:29" id="Gen.iv-p52.1" parsed="|Ps|104|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.104.29">Ps.
|
|
civ. 29</scripRef>. <i>Earth to earth, dust to dust.</i> Observe
|
|
here, (1.) That man is a mean frail creature, <i>little</i> as
|
|
dust, the small dust of the balance—<i>light</i> as dust,
|
|
altogether lighter than vanity—<i>weak</i> as dust, and of no
|
|
consistency. Our strength is not the strength of stones; he that
|
|
made us considers it, and <i>remembers that we are dust,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 103:14" id="Gen.iv-p52.2" parsed="|Ps|103|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.103.14">Ps. ciii. 14</scripRef>. Man is
|
|
indeed the <i>chief part of the dust of the world</i> (<scripRef passage="Pr 8:26" id="Gen.iv-p52.3" parsed="|Prov|8|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.8.26">Prov. viii. 26</scripRef>), but still he is dust.
|
|
(2.) That he is a mortal dying creature, and hastening to the
|
|
grave. Dust may be raised, for a time, into a little cloud, and may
|
|
seem considerable while it is held up by the wind that raised it;
|
|
but, when the force of that is spent, it falls again, and returns
|
|
to the earth out of which it was raised. Such a thing is man; a
|
|
great man is but a great mass of dust, and must return to his
|
|
earth. (3.) That sin brought death into the world. If Adam had not
|
|
sinned, he would not have died, <scripRef passage="Ro 5:12" id="Gen.iv-p52.4" parsed="|Rom|5|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.5.12">Rom. v.
|
|
12</scripRef>. God entrusted Adam with a spark of immortality,
|
|
which he, by a patient continuance in well-doing, might have blown
|
|
up into an everlasting flame; but he foolishly blew it out by
|
|
wilful sin: and now death is <i>the wages of sin, and sin is the
|
|
sting of death.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p53">II. We must not go off from this sentence
|
|
upon our first parents, which we are all so nearly concerned in,
|
|
and feel from, to this day, till we have considered two
|
|
things:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p54">1. How fitly the sad consequences of sin
|
|
upon the soul of Adam and his sinful race were represented and
|
|
figured out by this sentence, and perhaps were more intended in it
|
|
than we are aware of. Though that misery only is mentioned which
|
|
affected the body, yet that was a pattern of spiritual miseries,
|
|
the curse that entered into the soul. (1.) The pains of a woman in
|
|
travail represent the terrors and pangs of a guilty conscience,
|
|
awakened to a sense of sin; from the conception of lust, these
|
|
sorrows are greatly multiplied, and, sooner or later, will come
|
|
upon the sinner like pain upon a woman in travail, which cannot be
|
|
avoided. (2.) The state of subjection to which the woman was
|
|
reduced represents that loss of spiritual liberty and freedom of
|
|
will which is the effect of sin. The dominion of sin in the soul is
|
|
compared to that of a husband (<scripRef passage="Ro 7:1-5" id="Gen.iv-p54.1" parsed="|Rom|7|1|7|5" osisRef="Bible:Rom.7.1-Rom.7.5">Rom.
|
|
vii. 1-5</scripRef>), the sinner's desire is towards it, for he is
|
|
fond of his slavery, and it rules over him. (3.) The curse of
|
|
barrenness which was brought upon the earth, and its produce of
|
|
briars and thorns, are a fit representation of the barrenness of a
|
|
corrupt and sinful soul in that which is good and its fruitfulness
|
|
in evil. It is all overgrown with thorns, and nettles cover the
|
|
face of it; and therefore it is <i>nigh unto cursing,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 6:8" id="Gen.iv-p54.2" parsed="|Heb|6|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.6.8">Heb. vi. 8</scripRef>. (4.) The toil and sweat
|
|
bespeak the difficulty which, through the infirmity of the flesh,
|
|
man labours under, in the service of God and the work of religion,
|
|
so hard has it now become to <i>enter into the kingdom of
|
|
heaven.</i> Blessed be God, it is not impossible. (5.) The
|
|
embittering of his food to him bespeaks the soul's want of the
|
|
comfort of God's favour, which is life, and the bread of life. (6.)
|
|
The soul, like the body, returns to the dust of this world; its
|
|
tendency is that way; it has an earthy taint, <scripRef passage="Joh 3:31" id="Gen.iv-p54.3" parsed="|John|3|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.3.31">John iii. 31</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p55">2. How admirably the satisfaction our Lord
|
|
Jesus made by his death and sufferings answered to the sentence
|
|
here passed upon our first parents. (1.) Did travailing pains come
|
|
in with sin? We read of the <i>travail of Christ's soul</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Isa 53:11" id="Gen.iv-p55.1" parsed="|Isa|53|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.53.11">Isa. liii. 11</scripRef>); and the
|
|
pains of death he was held by are called <b><i>odinai</i></b>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ac 2:24" id="Gen.iv-p55.2" parsed="|Acts|2|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.2.24">Acts ii. 24</scripRef>), <i>the pains
|
|
of a woman in travail.</i> (2.) Did subjection come in with sin?
|
|
Christ was made under the law, <scripRef passage="Ga 4:4" id="Gen.iv-p55.3" parsed="|Gal|4|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.4.4">Gal. iv.
|
|
4</scripRef>. (3.) Did the curse come in with sin? Christ was made
|
|
a curse for us, died a cursed death, <scripRef passage="Ga 3:13" id="Gen.iv-p55.4" parsed="|Gal|3|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.3.13">Gal. iii. 13</scripRef>. (4.) Did thorns come in with
|
|
sin? He was crowned with thorns for us. (5.) Did sweat come in with
|
|
sin? He for us did sweat as it were great drops of blood. (6.) Did
|
|
sorrow come in with sin? He was a man of sorrows, his soul was, in
|
|
his agony, exceedingly sorrowful. (7.) Did death come in with sin?
|
|
He became obedient unto death. Thus
|
|
|
|
<pb n="34" id="Gen.iv-Page_34"/>
|
|
|
|
is the
|
|
plaster as wide as the wound. Blessed be God for Jesus Christ!</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 3:20" id="Gen.iv-p55.5" parsed="|Gen|3|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.20"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.3.20">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.iv-p56">20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because
|
|
she was the mother of all living.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p57">God having named the man, and called him
|
|
<i>Adam,</i> which signifies <i>red earth,</i> Adam, in further
|
|
token of dominion, named the woman, and called her <i>Eve,</i> that
|
|
is, <i>life.</i> Adam bears the name of the dying body, Eve that of
|
|
the living soul. The reason of the name is here given (some think,
|
|
by Moses the historian, others, by Adam himself): <i>Because she
|
|
was</i> (that is, was to be) <i>the mother of all living.</i> He
|
|
had before called her <i>Ishah—woman,</i> as a wife; here he calls
|
|
her <i>Evah—life,</i> as a mother. Now, 1. If this was done by
|
|
divine direction, it was an instance of God's favour, and, like the
|
|
new naming of Abraham and Sarah, it was a seal of the covenant, and
|
|
an assurance to them that, notwithstanding their sin and his
|
|
displeasure against them for it, he had not reversed that blessing
|
|
wherewith he had blessed them: <i>Be fruitful and multiply.</i> It
|
|
was likewise a confirmation of the promise now made, that the seed
|
|
of the woman, of this woman, should break the serpent's head. 2. If
|
|
Adam did it of himself, it was an instance of his faith in the word
|
|
of God. Doubtless it was not done, as some have suspected, in
|
|
contempt or defiance of the curse, but rather in a humble
|
|
confidence and dependence upon the blessing. (1.) The blessing of a
|
|
reprieve, admiring the patience of God, that he should spare such
|
|
sinners to be the parents of all living, and that he did not
|
|
immediately shut up those fountains of the human life and nature,
|
|
because they could send forth no other than polluted, poisoned,
|
|
streams. (2.) The blessing of a Redeemer, the promised seed, to
|
|
whom Adam had an eye, in calling his wife <i>Eve—life;</i> for he
|
|
should be the life of all the living, and in him all the families
|
|
of the earth should be blessed, in hope of which he thus
|
|
triumphs.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 3:21" id="Gen.iv-p57.1" parsed="|Gen|3|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.21"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.3.21">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.iv-p58">21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iv-p58.1">Lord</span> God make coats of skins, and clothed
|
|
them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p59">We have here a further instance of God's
|
|
care concerning our first parents, notwithstanding their sin.
|
|
Though he corrects his disobedient children, and put them under the
|
|
marks of his displeasure, yet he does not disinherit them, but,
|
|
like a tender father, provides the herb of the field for their food
|
|
and <i>coats of skins</i> for their clothing. Thus the father
|
|
provided for the returning prodigal, <scripRef passage="Lu 15:22" id="Gen.iv-p59.1" parsed="|Luke|15|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.15.22">Luke xv. 22, 23</scripRef>. If the Lord had been pleased
|
|
to kill them, he would not have done this for them. Observe, 1.
|
|
That clothes came in with sin. We should have had no occasion for
|
|
them, either for defence or decency, if sin had not made us naked,
|
|
to our shame. Little reason therefore we have to be proud of our
|
|
clothes, which are but the badges of our poverty and infamy. 2.
|
|
That when God made clothes for our first parents he made them warm
|
|
and strong, but coarse and very plain: not robes of scarlet, but
|
|
coats of skin. Their clothes were made, not of silk and satin, but
|
|
plain skins; not trimmed, nor embroidered, none of the ornaments
|
|
which the daughters of Sion afterwards invented, and prided
|
|
themselves in. Let the poor, that are meanly clad, learn hence not
|
|
to complain: having food and a covering, let them be content; they
|
|
are as well done to as Adam and Eve were. And let the rich, that
|
|
are finely clad, learn hence not to make the putting on of apparel
|
|
their adorning, <scripRef passage="1Pe 3:3" id="Gen.iv-p59.2" parsed="|1Pet|3|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.3.3">1 Pet. iii.
|
|
3</scripRef>. 3. That God is to be acknowledged with thankfulness,
|
|
not only in giving us food, but in giving us clothes also,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 28:20" id="Gen.iv-p59.3" parsed="|Gen|28|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.20"><i>ch.</i> xxviii. 20</scripRef>. The
|
|
wool and the flax are his, as well as <i>the corn and the wine,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ho 2:9" id="Gen.iv-p59.4" parsed="|Hos|2|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.2.9">Hos. ii. 9</scripRef>. 4. These coats of
|
|
skin had a significancy. The beasts whose skins they were must be
|
|
slain, slain before their eyes, to show them what death is, and (as
|
|
it is <scripRef passage="Ec 3:18" id="Gen.iv-p59.5" parsed="|Eccl|3|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.3.18">Eccl. iii. 18</scripRef>) that
|
|
they may see that they themselves were beasts, mortal and dying. It
|
|
is supposed that they were slain, not for food, but for sacrifice,
|
|
to typify the great sacrifice, which, in the latter end of the
|
|
world, should be offered once for all. Thus the first thing that
|
|
died was a sacrifice, or Christ in a figure, who is therefore said
|
|
to be the <i>Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.</i> These
|
|
sacrifices were divided between God and man, in token of
|
|
reconciliation: the flesh was offered to God, a whole
|
|
burnt-offering; the skins were given to man for clothing,
|
|
signifying that, Jesus Christ having offered himself to God a
|
|
sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour, we are to clothe ourselves
|
|
with his righteousness as with a garment, that the shame of our
|
|
nakedness may not appear. Adam and Eve made for themselves aprons
|
|
of fig-leaves, a covering too narrow for them to <i>wrap themselves
|
|
in,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 28:20" id="Gen.iv-p59.6" parsed="|Isa|28|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.28.20">Isa. xxviii. 20</scripRef>.
|
|
Such are all the rags of our own righteousness. But God made them
|
|
coats of skins; large, and strong, and durable, and fit for them;
|
|
such is the righteousness of Christ. Therefore <i>put on the Lord
|
|
Jesus Christ.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 3:22-24" id="Gen.iv-p59.7" parsed="|Gen|3|22|3|24" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.22-Gen.3.24"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.3.22-Gen.3.24">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.iv-p59.8">Adam and Eve Expelled from
|
|
Eden. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iv-p59.9">b. c.</span> 4004.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.iv-p60">22 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iv-p60.1">Lord</span>
|
|
God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and
|
|
evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the
|
|
tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:   23 Therefore the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.iv-p60.2">Lord</span> God sent him forth from the
|
|
garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.  
|
|
24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden
|
|
of Eden cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to
|
|
keep the way of the tree of life.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p61">Sentence being passed upon the offenders,
|
|
|
|
<pb n="35" id="Gen.iv-Page_35"/>
|
|
|
|
we have here execution, in part, done upon
|
|
them immediately. Observe here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p62">I. How they were justly disgraced and
|
|
shamed before God and the holy angels, by the ironical upbraiding
|
|
of them with the issue of their enterprise: "<i>Behold, the man has
|
|
become as one of us, to know good and evil!</i> A goodly god he
|
|
makes! Does he not? See what he has got, what preferments, what
|
|
advantages, by eating forbidden fruit!" This was said to awaken and
|
|
humble them, and to bring them to a sense of their sin and folly,
|
|
and to repentance for it, that, seeing themselves thus wretchedly
|
|
deceived by following the devil's counsel, they might henceforth
|
|
pursue the happiness God should offer in the way he should
|
|
prescribe. God thus <i>fills their faces with shame, that they may
|
|
seek his name,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 83:16" id="Gen.iv-p62.1" parsed="|Ps|83|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.83.16">Ps. lxxxiii.
|
|
16</scripRef>. He puts them to this confusion, in order to their
|
|
conversion. True penitents will thus upbraid themselves: "What
|
|
fruit have I now by sin? <scripRef passage="Ro 6:21" id="Gen.iv-p62.2" parsed="|Rom|6|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.21">Rom. vi.
|
|
21</scripRef>. Have I gained what I foolishly promised myself in a
|
|
sinful way? No, no, it never proved what it pretended to, but the
|
|
contrary."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p63">II. How they were justly discarded, and
|
|
shut out of paradise, which was a part of the sentence implied in
|
|
that, <i>Thou shalt eat the herb of the field.</i> Here we
|
|
have,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p64">1. The reason God gave why he shut man out
|
|
of paradise; not only because he had put forth his hand, and taken
|
|
of the tree of knowledge, which was his sin, but lest he should
|
|
again put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life (now
|
|
forbidden him by the divine sentence, as before the tree of
|
|
knowledge was forbidden by the law), and should dare to eat of that
|
|
tree, and so profane a divine sacrament and defy a divine sentence,
|
|
and yet flatter himself with a conceit that thereby he should live
|
|
forever. Observe, (1.) There is a foolish proneness in those that
|
|
have rendered themselves unworthy of the substance of Christian
|
|
privileges to catch at the signs and shadows of them. Many that
|
|
like not the terms of the covenant, yet, for their reputation's
|
|
sake, are fond of the seals of it. (2.) It is not only justice, but
|
|
kindness, to such, to be denied them; for, by usurping that to
|
|
which they have no title, they affront God and make their sin the
|
|
more heinous, and by building their hopes upon a wrong foundation
|
|
they render their conversion the more difficult and their ruin the
|
|
more deplorable.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p65">2. The method God took, in giving him this
|
|
bill of divorce, and expelling and excluding him from this garden
|
|
of pleasure. He turned him out, and kept him out.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p66">(1.) He turned him out, from the garden to
|
|
the common. This is twice mentioned: <i>He sent him forth</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 3:23" id="Gen.iv-p66.1" parsed="|Gen|3|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>), and then
|
|
<i>he drove him out,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 3:24" id="Gen.iv-p66.2" parsed="|Gen|3|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.24"><i>v.</i>
|
|
24</scripRef>. God bade him go out, told him that that was no place
|
|
for him, he should no longer occupy and enjoy that garden; but he
|
|
liked the place too well to be willing to part with it, and
|
|
therefore God <i>drove him out,</i> made him go out, whether he
|
|
would or no. This signified the exclusion of him, and all his
|
|
guilty race, from that communion with God which was the bliss and
|
|
glory of paradise. The tokens of God's favour to him and his
|
|
delight in the sons of men, which he had in his innocent estate,
|
|
were now suspended; the communications of his grace were withheld,
|
|
and Adam became weak, and like other men, as Samson when the
|
|
<i>Spirit of the Lord had departed from him.</i> His acquaintance
|
|
with God was lessened and lost, and that correspondence which had
|
|
been settled between man and his Maker was interrupted and broken
|
|
off. He was driven out, as one unworthy of this honour and
|
|
incapable of this service. Thus he and all mankind, by the fall,
|
|
forfeited and lost communion with God. But whither did he send him
|
|
when he turned him out of Eden? He might justly have chased him out
|
|
of the world (<scripRef passage="Job 18:18" id="Gen.iv-p66.3" parsed="|Job|18|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.18">Job xviii.
|
|
18</scripRef>), but he only chased him out of the garden. He might
|
|
justly have cast him down to hell, as he did the angels that sinned
|
|
when he shut them out from the heavenly paradise, <scripRef passage="2Pe 2:4" id="Gen.iv-p66.4" parsed="|2Pet|2|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.2.4">2 Pet. ii. 4</scripRef>. But man was only sent to
|
|
till the ground out of which he was taken. He was sent to a place
|
|
of toil, not to a place of torment. He was sent to the ground, not
|
|
to the grave,—to the work-house, not to the dungeon, not to the
|
|
prison-house,—to hold the plough, not to drag the chain. His
|
|
tilling the ground would be recompensed by his eating of its
|
|
fruits; and his converse with the earth whence he was taken was
|
|
improvable to good purposes, to keep him humble, and to remind him
|
|
of his latter end. Observe, then, that though our first parents
|
|
were excluded from the privileges of their state of innocency, yet
|
|
they were not abandoned to despair, God's thoughts of love
|
|
designing them for a second state of probation upon new terms.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.iv-p67">(2.) He kept him out, and forbade him all
|
|
hopes of a re-entry; for he <i>placed at the east of the garden of
|
|
Eden</i> a detachment of <i>cherubim,</i> God's hosts, armed with a
|
|
dreadful and irresistible power, represented by flaming swords
|
|
which turned every way, on that side the garden which lay next to
|
|
the place whither Adam was sent, to keep the way that led to the
|
|
tree of life, so that he could neither steal nor force an entry;
|
|
for who can make a pass against an angel on his guard or gain a
|
|
pass made good by such force? Now this intimated to Adam, [1.] That
|
|
God was displeased with him. Though he had mercy in store for him,
|
|
yet at present he was angry with him, was turned to be his enemy
|
|
and fought against him, for here was a sword drawn (<scripRef passage="Nu 22:23" id="Gen.iv-p67.1" parsed="|Num|22|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.23">Num. xxii. 23</scripRef>); and he was to him a
|
|
consuming fire, for it was a flaming sword. [2.] That the angels
|
|
were at war with him; no peace with the heavenly hosts, while he
|
|
was in rebellion against their Lord and ours. [3.] That the way to
|
|
the tree of life was shut up, namely, that way which, at first, he
|
|
was put into, the way of spotless innocency. It
|
|
|
|
<pb n="36" id="Gen.iv-Page_36"/>
|
|
|
|
is not said that the cherubim were set to keep him
|
|
and his for ever from the tree of life (thanks be to God, there is
|
|
a paradise set before us, and a tree of life in the midst of it,
|
|
which we rejoice in the hopes of); but they were set to keep that
|
|
way of the tree of life which hitherto they had been in; that is,
|
|
it was henceforward in vain for him and his to expect
|
|
righteousness, life, and happiness, by virtue of the first
|
|
covenant, for it was irreparably broken, and could never be
|
|
pleaded, nor any benefit taken by it. The command of that covenant
|
|
being broken, the curse of it is in full force; it leaves no room
|
|
for repentance, but we are all undone if we be judged by that
|
|
covenant. God revealed this to Adam, not to drive him to despair,
|
|
but to oblige and quicken him to look for life and happiness in the
|
|
promised seed, by whom the flaming sword is removed. God and his
|
|
angels are reconciled to us, and a new and living way into the
|
|
holiest is consecrated and laid open for us.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter IV" n="v" progress="4.78%" prev="Gen.iv" next="Gen.vi" id="Gen.v">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="36" id="Gen.v-Page_36"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.v-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.v-p0.2">CHAP. IV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.v-p1">In this chapter we have both the world and the
|
|
church in a family, in a little family, in Adam's family, and a
|
|
specimen given of the character and state of both in after-ages,
|
|
nay, in all ages, to the end of time. As all mankind were
|
|
represented in Adam, so that great distinction of mankind into
|
|
saints and sinners, godly and wicked, the children of God and the
|
|
children of the wicked one, was here represented in Cain and Abel,
|
|
and an early instance is given of the enmity which was lately put
|
|
between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. We have
|
|
here, I. The birth, names, and callings, of Cain and Abel,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 4:1,2" id="Gen.v-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|4|1|4|2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.1-Gen.4.2">ver. 1, 2</scripRef>. II. Their
|
|
religion, and different success in it, <scripRef passage="Ge 4:3,4" id="Gen.v-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|4|3|4|4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.3-Gen.4.4">ver. 3, 4</scripRef>, and part of <scripRef passage="Ge 4:5" id="Gen.v-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|4|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.5">ver. 5</scripRef>. III. Cain's anger at God and the
|
|
reproof of him for that anger, <scripRef passage="Ge 4:5-7" id="Gen.v-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|4|5|4|7" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.5-Gen.4.7">ver.
|
|
5-7</scripRef>. IV. Cain's murder of his brother, and the process
|
|
against him for that murder. The murder committed, <scripRef passage="Ge 4:8" id="Gen.v-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|4|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.8">ver. 8</scripRef>. The proceedings against him. 1.
|
|
His arraignment, <scripRef passage="Ge 4:9" id="Gen.v-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|4|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.9">ver. 9</scripRef>,
|
|
former part. 2. His plea, <scripRef passage="Ge 4:9" id="Gen.v-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|4|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.9">ver.
|
|
9</scripRef>, latter part. 3. His conviction, <scripRef passage="Ge 4:10" id="Gen.v-p1.8" parsed="|Gen|4|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.10">ver. 10</scripRef>. 4. The sentence passed upon him,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 4:11,12" id="Gen.v-p1.9" parsed="|Gen|4|11|4|12" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.11-Gen.4.12">ver. 11, 12</scripRef>. 5. His
|
|
complaint against the sentence, <scripRef passage="Ge 4:13,14" id="Gen.v-p1.10" parsed="|Gen|4|13|4|14" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.13-Gen.4.14">ver.
|
|
13, 14</scripRef>. 6. The ratification of the sentence, <scripRef passage="Ge 4:15" id="Gen.v-p1.11" parsed="|Gen|4|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.15">ver. 15</scripRef>. 7. The execution of the
|
|
sentence, <scripRef passage="Ge 4:15,16" id="Gen.v-p1.12" parsed="|Gen|4|15|4|16" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.15-Gen.4.16">ver. 15, 16</scripRef>. V.
|
|
The family and posterity of Cain, <scripRef passage="Ge 4:17-24" id="Gen.v-p1.13" parsed="|Gen|4|17|4|24" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.17-Gen.4.24">ver. 17-24</scripRef>. VI. The birth of another son
|
|
and grandson of Adam, <scripRef passage="Ge 4:25,26" id="Gen.v-p1.14" parsed="|Gen|4|25|4|26" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.25-Gen.4.26">ver. 25,
|
|
26</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 4" id="Gen.v-p1.15" parsed="|Gen|4|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 4:1-2" id="Gen.v-p1.16" parsed="|Gen|4|1|4|2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.1-Gen.4.2"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.4.1-Gen.4.2">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.v-p1.17">Cain and Abel. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.v-p1.18">b. c.</span> 3875.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.v-p2">1 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived,
|
|
and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.v-p2.1">Lord</span>.   2 And she again bare his brother
|
|
Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the
|
|
ground.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p3">Adam and Eve had many sons and daughters,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 5:4" id="Gen.v-p3.1" parsed="|Gen|5|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5.4"><i>ch.</i> v. 4</scripRef>. But Cain and
|
|
Abel seem to have been the two eldest. Some think they were twins,
|
|
and, as Esau and Jacob, the elder hated and the younger loved.
|
|
Though God had cast our first parents out of paradise, he did not
|
|
write them childless; but, to show that he had other blessings in
|
|
store for them, he preserved to them the benefit of that first
|
|
blessing of increase. Though they were sinners, nay, though they
|
|
felt the humiliation and sorrow of penitents, they did not write
|
|
themselves comfortless, having the promise of a Saviour to support
|
|
themselves with. We have here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p4">I. The names of their two sons. 1.
|
|
<i>Cain</i> signifies <i>possession;</i> for Eve, when she bore
|
|
him, said with joy, and thankfulness, and great expectation, <i>I
|
|
have gotten a man from the</i> <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.v-p4.1">Lord</span>.
|
|
Observe, Children are God's gifts, and he must be acknowledged in
|
|
the building up of our families. It doubles and sanctifies our
|
|
comfort in them when we see them coming to us from the hand of God,
|
|
who will not forsake the works and gifts of his own hand. Though
|
|
Eve bore him with the sorrows that were the consequence of sin, yet
|
|
she did not lose the sense of the mercy in her pains. Comforts,
|
|
though alloyed, are more than we deserve; and therefore our
|
|
complaints must not drown our thanksgivings. Many suppose that Eve
|
|
had a conceit that this son was the promised seed, and that
|
|
therefore she thus triumphed in him, as her words may be read, <i>I
|
|
have gotten a man, the</i> <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.v-p4.2">Lord</span>,
|
|
God-man. If so, she was wretchedly mistaken, as Samuel, when he
|
|
said, <i>Surely the</i> <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.v-p4.3">Lord</span>'s
|
|
<i>anointed is before me,</i> <scripRef passage="1Sa 16:6" id="Gen.v-p4.4" parsed="|1Sam|16|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.16.6">1 Sam.
|
|
xvi. 6</scripRef>. When children are born, who can foresee what
|
|
they will prove? He that was thought to be <i>a man, the</i> <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.v-p4.5">Lord</span>, or at least a man from the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.v-p4.6">Lord</span>, and for his service as priest of the
|
|
family, became an enemy to the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.v-p4.7">Lord</span>.
|
|
The less we expect from creatures, the more tolerable will
|
|
disappointments be. 2. <i>Abel</i> signifies <i>vanity.</i> When
|
|
she thought she had obtained the promised seed in Cain, she was so
|
|
taken up with that possession that another son was as vanity to
|
|
her. To those who have an interest in Christ, and make him their
|
|
all, other things are as nothing at all. It intimates likewise that
|
|
the longer we live in this world the more we may see of the vanity
|
|
of it. What, at first, we are fond of, as a possession, afterwards
|
|
we see cause to be dead to, as a trifle. The name given to this son
|
|
is put upon the whole race, <scripRef passage="Ps 39:5" id="Gen.v-p4.8" parsed="|Ps|39|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.39.5">Ps. xxxix.
|
|
5</scripRef>. Every man is at his best estate <i>Abel—vanity.</i>
|
|
Let us labour to see both ourselves and others so. <i>Childhood and
|
|
youth are vanity.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p5">II. The employments of Cain and Abel.
|
|
Observe, 1. They both had a calling. Though they were heirs
|
|
apparent to the world, their birth noble and their possessions
|
|
large, yet they were not brought up in idleness. God gave their
|
|
father a calling, even in innocency, and he gave them one. Note, it
|
|
is the will of God that we should every one of us have something to
|
|
do in this world. Parents ought to bring up their children to
|
|
business. "Give them a Bible and a calling (said good Mr. Dod), and
|
|
God be with them." 2. Their employments were different, that they
|
|
might trade and exchange with one another, as there was occasion.
|
|
The members of the body politic have need one of another, and
|
|
mutual love is helped by mutual commerce. 3. Their employments
|
|
belonged to the husbandman's calling, their father's profession—a
|
|
needful calling, for <i>the king himself is served of the
|
|
field,</i> but a laborious calling, which required constant care
|
|
and attendance. It is now looked upon as a mean calling; the
|
|
<i>poor of the land</i> serve for <i>vine-dressers and
|
|
husbandmen,</i> <scripRef passage="Jer 52:16" id="Gen.v-p5.1" parsed="|Jer|52|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.52.16">Jer. lii.
|
|
16</scripRef>. But the calling was far from being a dishonour to
|
|
them; rather, they were an
|
|
|
|
<pb n="37" id="Gen.v-Page_37"/>
|
|
|
|
honour to it. 4.
|
|
It should seem, by the order of the story, that Abel, though the
|
|
younger brother, yet entered first into his calling, and probably
|
|
his example drew in Cain. 5. Abel chose that employment which most
|
|
befriended contemplation and devotion, for to these a pastoral life
|
|
has been looked upon as being peculiarly favourable. Moses and
|
|
David kept sheep, and in their solitudes conversed with God. Note,
|
|
that calling or condition of life is best for us, and to be chosen
|
|
by us, which is best for our souls, that which least exposes us to
|
|
sin and gives us most opportunity of serving and enjoying God.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 4:3-5" id="Gen.v-p5.2" parsed="|Gen|4|3|4|5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.3-Gen.4.5"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.4.3-Gen.4.5">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.v-p6">3 And in process of time it came to pass, that
|
|
Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.v-p6.1">Lord</span>.   4 And Abel, he also brought
|
|
of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.v-p6.2">Lord</span> had respect unto Abel and to
|
|
his offering:   5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not
|
|
respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p7">Here we have, I. The devotions of Cain and
|
|
Abel. <i>In process of time,</i> when they had made some
|
|
improvement in their respective callings (Heb. <i>At the end of
|
|
days,</i> either at the end of the year, when they kept their feast
|
|
of in-gathering or perhaps an annual fast in remembrance of the
|
|
fall, or at the end of the days of the week, the seventh day, which
|
|
was the sabbath)—at some set time, Cain and Abel brought to Adam,
|
|
as the priest of the family, each of them <i>an offering to the
|
|
Lord,</i> for the doing of which we have reason to think there was
|
|
a divine appointment given to Adam, as a token of God's favour to
|
|
him and his thoughts of love towards him and his, notwithstanding
|
|
their apostasy. God would thus try Adam's faith in the promise and
|
|
his obedience to the remedial law; he would thus settle a
|
|
correspondence again between heaven and earth, and give <i>shadows
|
|
of good things to come.</i> Observe here, 1. That the religious
|
|
worship of God is no novel invention, but an ancient institution.
|
|
It is that which was <i>from the beginning</i> (<scripRef passage="1Jo 1:1" id="Gen.v-p7.1" parsed="|1John|1|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.1">1 John i. 1</scripRef>); it is the <i>good old way,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Jer 6:16" id="Gen.v-p7.2" parsed="|Jer|6|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.6.16">Jer. vi. 16</scripRef>. The city of
|
|
our God is indeed that joyous city whose antiquity is of ancient
|
|
days, <scripRef passage="Isa 23:7" id="Gen.v-p7.3" parsed="|Isa|23|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.23.7">Isa. xxiii. 7</scripRef>. Truth
|
|
got the start of error, and piety of profaneness. 2. That is a good
|
|
thing for children to be well taught when they are young, and
|
|
trained up betimes in religious services, that when they come to be
|
|
capable of acting for themselves they may, of their own accord,
|
|
<i>bring an offering to God.</i> In this <i>nurture of the Lord</i>
|
|
parents must bring up their children, <scripRef passage="Ge 18:19,Eph 6:4" id="Gen.v-p7.4" parsed="|Gen|18|19|0|0;|Eph|6|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.19 Bible:Eph.6.4"><i>ch.</i> xviii. 19; Eph. vi. 4</scripRef>. 3.
|
|
That we should every one of us honour God with what we have,
|
|
according as he has prospered us. According as their employments
|
|
and possessions were, so they brought their offering. See <scripRef passage="1Co 16:1,2" id="Gen.v-p7.5" parsed="|1Cor|16|1|16|2" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.16.1-1Cor.16.2">1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2</scripRef>. <i>Our
|
|
merchandize and our hire,</i> whatever they are, must be
|
|
<i>holiness to the Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 23:18" id="Gen.v-p7.6" parsed="|Isa|23|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.23.18">Isa.
|
|
xxiii. 18</scripRef>. He must have his dues of it in works of piety
|
|
and charity, the support of religion and the relief of the poor.
|
|
Thus we must now bring our offering with an upright heart; <i>and
|
|
with such sacrifices God is well pleased.</i> 4. That hypocrites
|
|
and evil doers may be found going as far as the best of God's
|
|
people in the external services of religion. Cain brought an
|
|
offering with Abel; nay, Cain's offering is mentioned first, as if
|
|
he were the more forward of the two. A hypocrite may possibly hear
|
|
as many sermons, say as many prayers, and give as much alms, as a
|
|
good Christian, and yet, for want of sincerity, come short of
|
|
acceptance with God. The Pharisee and the publican went to the
|
|
temple to pray, <scripRef passage="Lu 18:10" id="Gen.v-p7.7" parsed="|Luke|18|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.18.10">Luke xviii.
|
|
10</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p8">II. The different success of their
|
|
devotions. That which is to be aimed at in all acts of religion is
|
|
God's acceptance: we speed well if we attain this, but in vain do
|
|
we worship if we miss of it, <scripRef passage="2Co 5:9" id="Gen.v-p8.1" parsed="|2Cor|5|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.5.9">2 Cor. v.
|
|
9</scripRef>. Perhaps, to a stander-by, the sacrifices of Cain and
|
|
Abel would have seemed both alike good. Adam accepted them both,
|
|
but God, <i>who sees not as man sees,</i> did not. God had
|
|
<i>respect to Abel and to his offering,</i> and showed his
|
|
acceptance of it, probably by fire from heaven; but to <i>Cain and
|
|
his offering he had not respect.</i> We are sure there was a good
|
|
reason for this difference; the Governor of the world, though an
|
|
absolute sovereign, does not act arbitrarily in dispensing his
|
|
smiles and frowns.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p9">1. There was a difference in the characters
|
|
of the persons offering. Cain was a wicked man, led a bad life,
|
|
under the reigning power of the world and the flesh; and therefore
|
|
his sacrifice was an <i>abomination to the Lord</i> (<scripRef passage="Pr 15:8" id="Gen.v-p9.1" parsed="|Prov|15|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.15.8">Prov. xv. 8</scripRef>); <i>a vain oblation,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 1:13" id="Gen.v-p9.2" parsed="|Isa|1|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.13">Isa. i. 13</scripRef>. God had no
|
|
respect to Cain himself, and therefore no respect to his offering,
|
|
as the manner of the expression intimates. But Abel was a righteous
|
|
man; he is called <i>righteous Abel</i> (<scripRef passage="Mt 23:35" id="Gen.v-p9.3" parsed="|Matt|23|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.35">Matt. xxiii. 35</scripRef>); his heart was upright and
|
|
his life was pious; he was one of those whom God's countenance
|
|
beholds (<scripRef passage="Ps 11:7" id="Gen.v-p9.4" parsed="|Ps|11|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.11.7">Ps. xi. 7</scripRef>) and
|
|
whose prayer is therefore his delight, <scripRef passage="Pr 15:8" id="Gen.v-p9.5" parsed="|Prov|15|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.15.8">Prov. xv. 8</scripRef>. God had respect to him as a holy
|
|
man, and therefore to his offering as a holy offering. The tree
|
|
must be good, else the fruit cannot be pleasing to the
|
|
heart-searching God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p10">2. There was a difference in the offerings
|
|
they brought. It is expressly said (<scripRef passage="Heb 11:4" id="Gen.v-p10.1" parsed="|Heb|11|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.4">Heb. xi. 4</scripRef>), Abel's was a <i>more excellent
|
|
sacrifice</i> than Cain's: either, (1.) In the nature of it. Cain's
|
|
was only a sacrifice of acknowledgment offered to the Creator; the
|
|
meat-offerings of the fruit of the ground were no more, and, for
|
|
aught I know, they might be offered in innocency. But Abel brought
|
|
a sacrifice
|
|
|
|
<pb n="38" id="Gen.v-Page_38"/>
|
|
|
|
of atonement, the blood whereof
|
|
was shed in order to remission, thereby owning himself a sinner,
|
|
deprecating God's wrath, and imploring his favour in a Mediator.
|
|
Or, (2.) In the qualities of the offering. Cain brought <i>of the
|
|
fruit of the ground,</i> any thing that came next to hand, what he
|
|
had not occasion for himself or what was not marketable. But Abel
|
|
was curious in the choice of his offering: not the lame, nor the
|
|
lean, nor the refuse, but the <i>firstlings of the flock</i>—the
|
|
best he had, <i>and the fat thereof</i>—the best of those best.
|
|
Hence the Hebrew doctors give it for a general rule that every
|
|
thing that is for the name of the good God must be the goodliest
|
|
and best. It is fit that he who is the first and best should have
|
|
the first and best of our time, strength, and service.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p11">3. The great difference was this, that Abel
|
|
offered in faith, and Cain did not. There was a difference in the
|
|
principle upon which they went. Abel offered with an eye to God's
|
|
will as his rule, and God's glory as his end, and in dependence
|
|
upon the promise of a Redeemer; but Cain did what he did only for
|
|
company's sake, or to save his credit, not in faith, and so it
|
|
turned into sin to him. Abel was a penitent believer, like the
|
|
publican that went away justified: Cain was unhumbled; his
|
|
confidence was within himself; he was like the Pharisee who
|
|
glorified himself, but was not so much as justified before God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p12">III. Cain's displeasure at the difference
|
|
God made between his sacrifice and Abel's. Cain was very wroth,
|
|
which presently appeared in his very looks, for his countenance
|
|
fell, which bespeaks not so much his grief and discontent as his
|
|
malice and rage. His sullen churlish countenance, and a down-look,
|
|
betrayed his passionate resentments: he carried ill-nature in his
|
|
face, and <i>the show of his countenance witnessed against him.</i>
|
|
This anger bespeaks, 1. His enmity to God, and the indignation he
|
|
had conceived against him for making such a difference between his
|
|
offering and his brother's. He should have been angry at himself
|
|
for his own infidelity and hypocrisy, by which he had forfeited
|
|
God's acceptance; and his countenance should have fallen in
|
|
repentance and holy shame, as the publican's, who <i>would not lift
|
|
up so much as his eyes to heaven,</i> <scripRef passage="Lu 18:13" id="Gen.v-p12.1" parsed="|Luke|18|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.18.13">Luke xviii. 13</scripRef>. But, instead of this, he
|
|
flies out against God, as if he were partial and unfair in
|
|
distributing his smiles and frowns, and as if he had done him a
|
|
deal of wrong. Note, it is a certain sign of an unhumbled heart to
|
|
quarrel with those rebukes which we have, by our own sin, brought
|
|
upon ourselves. <i>The foolishness of man perverteth his way,</i>
|
|
and then, to make bad worse, <i>his heart fretteth against the
|
|
Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 19:3" id="Gen.v-p12.2" parsed="|Prov|19|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.19.3">Prov. xix. 3</scripRef>. 2.
|
|
His envy of his brother, who had the honour to be publicly owned.
|
|
Though his brother had no thought of having any slur put upon him,
|
|
nor did now insult over him to provoke him, yet he conceived a
|
|
hatred of him as an enemy, or, which is equivalent, a rival. Note,
|
|
(1.) It is common for those who have rendered themselves unworthy
|
|
of God's favour by their presumptuous sins to have indignation
|
|
against those who are dignified and distinguished by it. The
|
|
Pharisees walked in this way of Cain, when they <i>neither entered
|
|
into the kingdom of God themselves</i> nor <i>suffered those that
|
|
were entering to go in,</i> <scripRef passage="Lu 11:52" id="Gen.v-p12.3" parsed="|Luke|11|52|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.11.52">Luke xi.
|
|
52</scripRef>. Their eye is evil, because their master's eye and
|
|
the eye of their fellow-servants are good. (2.) Envy is a sin that
|
|
commonly carries with it both its own discovery, in the paleness of
|
|
the looks, and its own punishment, in the rottenness of the
|
|
bones.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 4:6-7" id="Gen.v-p12.4" parsed="|Gen|4|6|4|7" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.6-Gen.4.7"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.4.6-Gen.4.7">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.v-p13">6 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.v-p13.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance
|
|
fallen?   7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?
|
|
and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee
|
|
<i>shall be</i> his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p14">God is here reasoning with Cain, to
|
|
convince him of the sin and folly of his anger and discontent, and
|
|
to bring him into a good temper again, that further mischief might
|
|
be prevented. It is an instance of God's patience and condescending
|
|
goodness that he would deal thus tenderly with so bad a man, in so
|
|
bad an affair. <i>He is not willing that any should perish, but
|
|
that all should come to repentance.</i> Thus the father of the
|
|
prodigal argued the case with the elder son (<scripRef passage="Lu 15:28-32" id="Gen.v-p14.1" parsed="|Luke|15|28|15|32" osisRef="Bible:Luke.15.28-Luke.15.32">Luke xv. 28</scripRef>, &c.), and God with those
|
|
Israelites who said, <i>The way of the Lord is not equal,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Eze 18:25" id="Gen.v-p14.2" parsed="|Ezek|18|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.18.25">Ezek. xviii. 25</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p15">I. God puts Cain himself upon enquiring
|
|
into the cause of his discontent, and considering whether it were
|
|
indeed a just cause: <i>Why is thy countenance fallen?</i> Observe,
|
|
1. That God takes notice of all our sinful passions and
|
|
discontents. There is not an angry look, an envious look, nor a
|
|
fretful look, that escapes his observing eye. 2. That most of our
|
|
sinful heats and disquietudes would soon vanish before a strict and
|
|
impartial enquiry into the cause of them. "<i>Why am I wroth?</i>
|
|
Is there a real cause, a just cause, a proportionable cause for
|
|
it? Why am I so soon angry? Why so very angry, and so
|
|
implacable?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p16">II. To reduce Cain to his right mind again,
|
|
it is here made evident to him,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p17">1. That he had no reason to be angry at
|
|
God, for that he had proceeded according to the settled and
|
|
invariable rules of government suited to a state of probation. He
|
|
sets before men life and death, the blessing and the curse, and
|
|
then <i>renders to them according to their works,</i> and
|
|
differences them according as they difference themselves—so shall
|
|
their doom be. The rules are just, and therefore his ways,
|
|
according to those rules, must needs be equal, and he will be
|
|
justified when he speaks.</p>
|
|
|
|
<pb n="39" id="Gen.v-Page_39"/>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p18">(1.) God sets before Cain life and a
|
|
blessing: "<i>If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?</i>
|
|
No doubt thou shalt, nay, thou knowest thou shalt;" either, [1.]
|
|
"If thou hadst done well, as thy brother did, thou shouldst have
|
|
been accepted, as he was." <i>God is no respecter of persons,</i>
|
|
hates nothing that he had made, denies his favour to none but those
|
|
who have forfeited it, and is an enemy to none but those who by sin
|
|
have made him their enemy: so that if we come short of acceptance
|
|
with him we must thank ourselves, the fault is wholly our own; if
|
|
we had done our duty, we should not have missed of his mercy. This
|
|
will justify God in the destruction of sinners, and will aggravate
|
|
their ruin; there is not a damned sinner in hell, but, if he had
|
|
done well, as he might have done, had been a glorious saint in
|
|
heaven. Every mouth will shortly be stopped with this. Or, [2.] "If
|
|
now thou do well, if thou repent of thy sin, reform thy heart and
|
|
life, and bring thy sacrifice in a better manner, if thou not only
|
|
do that which is good but do it well, thou shalt yet be accepted,
|
|
thy sin shall be pardoned, thy comfort and honour restored, and all
|
|
shall be well." See here the effect of a Mediator's interposal
|
|
between God and man; we do not stand upon the footing of the first
|
|
covenant, which left no room for repentance, but God had come upon
|
|
new terms with us. Though we have offended, if we repent and
|
|
return, we shall find mercy. See how early the gospel was preached,
|
|
and the benefit of it here offered even to one of the chief of
|
|
sinners.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p19">(2.) He sets before him death and a curse:
|
|
But <i>if not well,</i> that is, "Seeing thou didst not do well,
|
|
didst not offer in faith and in a right manner, <i>sin lies at the
|
|
door,</i>" that is, "sin was imputed to thee, and thou wast frowned
|
|
upon and rejected as a sinner. So high a charge had not been laid
|
|
at thy door, if thou hadst not brought it upon thyself, by not
|
|
doing well." Or, as it is commonly taken, "If now thou wilt not do
|
|
well, if thou persist in this wrath, and, instead of humbling
|
|
thyself before God, harden thyself against him, <i>sin lies at the
|
|
door,</i>" that is, [1.] Further sin. "Now that anger is in thy
|
|
heart, murder is at the door." The way of sin is down-hill, and men
|
|
go from bad to worse. Those who do not sacrifice well, but are
|
|
careless and remiss in their devotion to God, expose themselves to
|
|
the worst temptations; and perhaps the most scandalous sin lies at
|
|
the door. Those who do not keep God's ordinances are in danger of
|
|
committing all abominations, <scripRef passage="Le 18:30" id="Gen.v-p19.1" parsed="|Lev|18|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.30">Lev.
|
|
xviii. 30</scripRef>. Or, [2.] The punishment of sin. So near akin
|
|
are sin and punishment that the same word in Hebrew signifies both.
|
|
If sin be harboured in the house, the curse waits at the door, like
|
|
a bailiff, ready to arrest the sinner whenever he looks out. It
|
|
lies as if it slept, but it lies at the door where it will be soon
|
|
awaked, and then it will appear that the damnation slumbered not.
|
|
Sin will <i>find thee out,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 32:23" id="Gen.v-p19.2" parsed="|Num|32|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.23">Num.
|
|
xxxii. 23</scripRef>. Yet some choose to understand this also as an
|
|
intimation of mercy. "If thou doest not well, <i>sin</i> (that is,
|
|
<i>the sin-offering</i>), lies at the door, and thou mayest take
|
|
the benefit of it." The same word signifies <i>sin</i> and <i>a
|
|
sacrifice for sin.</i> "Though thou hast not done well, yet do not
|
|
despair; the remedy is at hand; the propitiation is not far to
|
|
seek; lay hold on it, and the iniquity of thy holy things shall be
|
|
forgiven thee." Christ, the great sin-offering, is said to <i>stand
|
|
at the door,</i> <scripRef passage="Re 3:20" id="Gen.v-p19.3" parsed="|Rev|3|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.3.20">Rev. iii.
|
|
20</scripRef>. And those well deserve to perish in their sins that
|
|
will not go to the door for an interest in the sin-offering. All
|
|
this considered, Cain had no reason to be angry at God, but at
|
|
himself only.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p20">2. That he had no reason to be angry at his
|
|
brother: "<i>Unto thee shall be his desire,</i> he shall continue
|
|
his respect to thee as an elder brother, and thou, as the
|
|
first-born, shalt rule over him as much as ever." God's acceptance
|
|
of Abel's offering did not transfer the birth-right to him (which
|
|
Cain was jealous of), nor put upon him that excellency of dignity
|
|
and of power which is said to belong to it, <scripRef passage="Ge 49:3" id="Gen.v-p20.1" parsed="|Gen|49|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.3"><i>ch.</i> xlix. 3</scripRef>. God did not so intend it;
|
|
Abel did not so interpret it; there was no danger of its being
|
|
improved to Cain's prejudice; why then should he be so much
|
|
exasperated? Observe here, (1.) That the difference which God's
|
|
grace makes does not alter the distinctions which God's providence
|
|
makes, but preserves them, and obliges us to do the duty which
|
|
results from them: believing servants must be obedient to
|
|
unbelieving masters. Dominion is not founded in grace, nor will
|
|
religion warrant disloyalty or disrespect in any relation. (2.)
|
|
That the jealousies which civil powers have sometimes conceived of
|
|
the true worshippers of God as dangerous to their government,
|
|
enemies to Cæsar, and hurtful to kings and provinces (on which
|
|
suspicion persecutors have grounded their rage against them) are
|
|
very unjust and unreasonable. Whatever may be the case with some
|
|
who call themselves Christians, it is certain that <i>Christians
|
|
indeed</i> are the best subjects, and the quiet in the land; their
|
|
desire is towards their governors, and these shall rule over
|
|
them.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 4:8" id="Gen.v-p20.2" parsed="|Gen|4|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.8"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.4.8">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.v-p21">8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it
|
|
came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up
|
|
against Abel his brother, and slew him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p22">We have here the progress of Cain's anger,
|
|
and the issue of it in Abel's murder, which may be considered two
|
|
ways:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p23">I. As Cain's sin; and a scarlet, crimson,
|
|
sin it was, a sin of the first magnitude, a sin against the light
|
|
and law of nature, and which the consciences even of bad men have
|
|
startled at. See in it, 1. The sad effects of sin's entrance into
|
|
the world and into the
|
|
|
|
<pb n="40" id="Gen.v-Page_40"/>
|
|
|
|
hearts of men. See
|
|
what a root of bitterness the corrupt nature is, which bears this
|
|
gall and wormwood. Adam's eating forbidden fruit seemed but a
|
|
little sin, but it opened the door to the greatest. 2. A fruit of
|
|
the enmity which is in the seed of the serpent against the seed of
|
|
the woman. As Abel leads the van in the <i>noble army of
|
|
martyrs</i> (<scripRef passage="Mt 23:35" id="Gen.v-p23.1" parsed="|Matt|23|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.35">Matt. xxiii.
|
|
35</scripRef>), so Cain stands in the front of the ignoble army of
|
|
persecutors, <scripRef passage="Jude 1:11" id="Gen.v-p23.2" parsed="|Jude|1|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jude.1.11">Jude 11</scripRef>. So
|
|
early did he that was after the flesh <i>persecute him that was
|
|
after the Spirit; and so it is now,</i> more or less (<scripRef passage="Ga 4:29" id="Gen.v-p23.3" parsed="|Gal|4|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.4.29">Gal. iv. 29</scripRef>), and so it will be till
|
|
the war shall end in the eternal salvation of all the saints and
|
|
the eternal perdition of all that hate them. 3. See also what comes
|
|
of <i>envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness;</i> if they
|
|
be indulged and cherished in the soul, they are in danger of
|
|
involving men in the horrid guilt of murder itself. Rash anger is
|
|
heart-murder, <scripRef passage="Mt 5:21,22" id="Gen.v-p23.4" parsed="|Matt|5|21|5|22" osisRef="Bible:Matt.5.21-Matt.5.22">Matt. v. 21,
|
|
22</scripRef>. Much more is malice so; he that hates his brother is
|
|
already a murderer before God; and, if God leave him to himself, he
|
|
wants nothing but an opportunity to render him a murderer before
|
|
the world. Many were the aggravations of Cain's sin. (1.) It was
|
|
his brother, his own brother, that he murdered, his own mother's
|
|
son (<scripRef passage="Ps 50:20" id="Gen.v-p23.5" parsed="|Ps|50|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.50.20">Ps. l. 20</scripRef>), whom he
|
|
ought to have loved, his younger brother, whom he ought to have
|
|
protected. (2.) He was a good brother, one who had never done him
|
|
any wrong, nor given him the least provocation in word or deed, but
|
|
one whose desire had been always towards him, and who had been, in
|
|
all instances, dutiful and respectful to him. (3.) He had fair
|
|
warning given him, before, of this. God himself had told him what
|
|
would come of it, yet he persisted in his barbarous design. (4.) It
|
|
should seem that he covered it with a show of friendship and
|
|
kindness: <i>He talked with Abel his brother,</i> freely and
|
|
familiarly, lest Abel should suspect danger, and keep out of his
|
|
reach. Thus Joab kissed Abner, and then killed him. Thus Absalom
|
|
feasted his brother Amnon and then killed him. According to the
|
|
Septuagint [a Greek version of the Old Testament, supposed to have
|
|
been translated by seventy-two Jews, at the desire of Ptolemy
|
|
Philadelphus, above 200 years before Christ], Cain said to Abel,
|
|
<i>Let us go into the field;</i> if so, we are sure Abel did not
|
|
understand it (according to the modern sense) as a challenge, else
|
|
he would not have accepted it, but as a brotherly invitation to go
|
|
together to their work. The Chaldee paraphrast adds that Cain, when
|
|
they were in discourse in the field, maintained that there was no
|
|
judgment to come, no future state, no rewards and punishments in
|
|
the other world, and that when Abel spoke in defence of the truth
|
|
Cain took that occasion to fall upon him. However, (5.) That which
|
|
the scripture tells us was the reason why he slew him was a
|
|
sufficient aggravation of the murder; it was <i>because his own
|
|
works were evil and his brother's righteous,</i> so that herein he
|
|
showed himself to be <i>of that wicked one</i> (<scripRef passage="1Jo 3:12" id="Gen.v-p23.6" parsed="|1John|3|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.3.12">1 John iii. 12</scripRef>), a <i>child of the devil,</i>
|
|
as being <i>an enemy to all righteousness,</i> even in his own
|
|
brother, and, in this, employed immediately by the destroyer. Nay,
|
|
(6.) In killing his brother, he directly struck at God himself; for
|
|
God's accepting Abel was the provocation pretended, and for this
|
|
very reason he hated Abel, because God loved him. (7.) The murder
|
|
of Abel was the more inhuman because there were now so few men in
|
|
the world to replenish it. The life of a man is precious at any
|
|
time; but it was in a special manner precious now, and could ill be
|
|
spared.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p24">II. As Abel's suffering. Death reigned ever
|
|
since Adam sinned, but we read not of any taken captive by him till
|
|
now; and now, 1. The first that dies is a saint, one that was
|
|
accepted and beloved of God, to show that, though the promised seed
|
|
was so far to destroy him that had the power of death as to save
|
|
believers from its sting, yet still they should be exposed to its
|
|
stroke. The first that went to the grave went to heaven. God would
|
|
secure to himself the first-fruits, the first-born to the dead,
|
|
that first opened the womb into another world. Let this take off
|
|
the terror of death, that it was betimes the lot of God's chosen,
|
|
which alters the property of it. Nay, 2. The first that dies is a
|
|
martyr, and dies for his religion; and of such it may more truly be
|
|
said than of soldiers that they die on the bed of honour. Abel's
|
|
death has not only no curse in it, but it has a crown in it; so
|
|
admirably well is the property of death altered that it is not only
|
|
rendered innocent and inoffensive to those that die in Christ, but
|
|
honourable and glorious to those that die for him. Let us not think
|
|
it strange concerning the fiery trial, nor shrink if we be called
|
|
to resist unto blood; for we know there is a crown of life for all
|
|
that are faithful unto death.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 4:9-12" id="Gen.v-p24.1" parsed="|Gen|4|9|4|12" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.9-Gen.4.12"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.4.9-Gen.4.12">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.v-p24.2">Cain's Punishment. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.v-p24.3">b. c.</span> 3875.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.v-p25">9 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.v-p25.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto Cain, Where <i>is</i> Abel thy brother? And he said, I
|
|
know not: <i>Am</i> I my brother's keeper?   10 And he said,
|
|
What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto
|
|
me from the ground.   11 And now <i>art</i> thou cursed from
|
|
the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's
|
|
blood from thy hand;   12 When thou tillest the ground, it
|
|
shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a
|
|
vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p26">We have here a full account of the trial
|
|
and condemnation of the first murderer. Civil courts of judicature
|
|
not being yet erected for this purpose, as they were afterwards
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 9:6" id="Gen.v-p26.1" parsed="|Gen|9|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.6"><i>ch.</i> ix. 6</scripRef>), God
|
|
himself sits Judge; for he is the God to whom vengeance belongs,
|
|
and who
|
|
|
|
<pb n="41" id="Gen.v-Page_41"/>
|
|
|
|
will be sure to make inquisition for
|
|
blood, especially the blood of saints. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p27">I. The arraignment of Cain: <i>The Lord
|
|
said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother?</i> Some think Cain was
|
|
thus examined the next sabbath after the murder was committed, when
|
|
<i>the sons of God came,</i> as usual, <i>to present themselves
|
|
before the Lord,</i> in a religious assembly, and Abel was missing,
|
|
whose place did not use to be empty; for the God of heaven takes
|
|
notice who is present at and who is absent from public ordinances.
|
|
Cain is asked, not only because there is just cause to suspect him,
|
|
he having discovered a malice against Abel and having been last
|
|
with him, but because God knew him to be guilty; yet he asks him,
|
|
that he may draw from him a confession of his crime, for those who
|
|
would be justified before God must accuse themselves, and the
|
|
penitent will do so.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p28">II. Cain's plea: he pleads <i>not
|
|
guilty,</i> and adds rebellion to his sin. For, 1. He endeavours to
|
|
cover a deliberate murder with a deliberate lie: <i>I know not.</i>
|
|
He knew well enough what had become of Abel, and yet had the
|
|
impudence to deny it. Thus, in Cain, the devil was both a murderer
|
|
and a liar from the beginning. See how sinners' minds are blinded,
|
|
and their hearts hardened by the deceitfulness of sin: those are
|
|
strangely blind that think it possible to conceal their sins from a
|
|
God that sees all, and those are strangely hard that think it
|
|
desirable to conceal them from a God who pardons those only that
|
|
confess. 2. He impudently charges his Judge with folly and
|
|
injustice, in putting this question to him: <i>Am I my brother's
|
|
keeper?</i> He should have humbled himself, and have said, <i>Am
|
|
not I my brother's murderer?</i> But he flies in the face of God
|
|
himself, as if he had asked him an impertinent question, to which
|
|
he was no way obliged to give an answer: "<i>Am I my brother's
|
|
keeper?</i> Surely he is old enough to take care of himself, nor
|
|
did I ever take any charge of him." Some think he reflects on God
|
|
and his providence, as if he had said, "Art not thou his keeper? If
|
|
he be missing, on thee be the blame, and not on me, who never
|
|
undertook to keep him." Note, a charitable concern for our
|
|
brethren, as their keepers, is a great duty, which is strictly
|
|
required of us, but is generally neglected by us. Those who are
|
|
unconcerned in the affairs of their brethren, and take no care,
|
|
when they have opportunity, to prevent their hurt in their bodies,
|
|
goods, or good name, especially in their souls, do, in effect,
|
|
speak Cain's language. See <scripRef passage="Le 19:17,Php 2:4" id="Gen.v-p28.1" parsed="|Lev|19|17|0|0;|Phil|2|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.17 Bible:Phil.2.4">Lev. xix. 17; Phil. ii. 4</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p29">III. The conviction of Cain, <scripRef passage="Ge 4:10" id="Gen.v-p29.1" parsed="|Gen|4|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. God gave no direct
|
|
answer to his question, but rejected his plea as false and
|
|
frivolous: "<i>What hast thou done?</i> Thou makest a light matter
|
|
of it; but hast thou considered what an evil thing it is, how deep
|
|
the stain, how heavy the burden, of this guilt is? Thou thinkest to
|
|
conceal it, but it is to no purpose, the evidence against thee is
|
|
clear and incontestable: <i>The voice of thy brother's blood
|
|
cries.</i>" He speaks as if the blood itself were both witness and
|
|
prosecutor, because God's own knowledge testified against him and
|
|
God's own justice demanded satisfaction. Observe here, 1. Murder is
|
|
a crying sin, none more so. Blood calls for blood, the blood of the
|
|
murdered for the blood of the murderer; it cries in the dying words
|
|
of Zechariah (<scripRef passage="2Ch 24:22" id="Gen.v-p29.2" parsed="|2Chr|24|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.24.22">2 Chron. xxiv.
|
|
22</scripRef>), <i>The Lord look upon it and require it;</i> or in
|
|
those of the souls under the altar (<scripRef passage="Re 6:10" id="Gen.v-p29.3" parsed="|Rev|6|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.6.10">Rev. vi. 10</scripRef>), <i>How long, Lord, holy, and
|
|
true?</i> The patient sufferers cried for pardon (<i>Father,
|
|
forgive them</i>), but their blood cries for vengeance. Though they
|
|
hold their peace, their blood has a loud and constant cry, to which
|
|
the ear of the righteous God is always open. 2. The blood is said
|
|
to cry from the ground, the earth, which is said <i>to open her
|
|
mouth to receive his brother's blood from his hand,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 4:11" id="Gen.v-p29.4" parsed="|Gen|4|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. The earth did, as it
|
|
were, blush to see her own face stained with such blood, and
|
|
therefore opened her mouth to hide that which she could not hinder.
|
|
When the heaven revealed Cain's iniquity, the earth also rose up
|
|
against him (<scripRef passage="Job 20:27" id="Gen.v-p29.5" parsed="|Job|20|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.27">Job xx. 27</scripRef>),
|
|
and groaned on being thus made <i>subject to vanity,</i> <scripRef passage="Ro 8:20,22" id="Gen.v-p29.6" parsed="|Rom|8|20|0|0;|Rom|8|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.8.20 Bible:Rom.8.22">Rom. viii. 20, 22</scripRef>. Cain, it is
|
|
likely, buried the blood and the body, to conceal his crime; but
|
|
"murder will out." He did not bury them so deep but the cry of them
|
|
reached heaven. 3. In the original the word is plural, thy
|
|
brother's <i>bloods,</i> not only his blood, but the blood of all
|
|
those that might have descended from him; or the blood of all the
|
|
seed of the woman, who should, in like manner, seal the truth with
|
|
their blood. Christ puts all on one score (<scripRef passage="Mt 23:35" id="Gen.v-p29.7" parsed="|Matt|23|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.35">Matt. xxiii. 35</scripRef>); or because account was kept
|
|
of every drop of blood shed. How well is it for us that the blood
|
|
of Christ speaks better things than that of Abel! <scripRef passage="Heb 12:24" id="Gen.v-p29.8" parsed="|Heb|12|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.24">Heb. xii. 24</scripRef>. Abel's blood cried for
|
|
vengeance, Christ's blood cries for pardon.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p30">IV. The sentence passed upon Cain: <i>And
|
|
now art thou cursed from the earth,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 4:11" id="Gen.v-p30.1" parsed="|Gen|4|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. Observe here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p31">1. He is cursed, separated to all evil,
|
|
laid under the wrath of God, as it is revealed from heaven against
|
|
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, <scripRef passage="Ro 1:18" id="Gen.v-p31.1" parsed="|Rom|1|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.1.18">Rom. i. 18</scripRef>. Who knows the extent and weight of
|
|
a divine curse, how far it reaches, how deep it pierces? God's
|
|
pronouncing a man cursed makes him so; for those whom he curses are
|
|
cursed indeed. The curse for Adam's disobedience terminated on the
|
|
ground: <i>Cursed is the ground for thy sake;</i> but that for
|
|
Cain's rebellion fell immediately upon himself: <i>Thou art
|
|
cursed;</i> for God had mercy in store for Adam, but none for Cain.
|
|
We have all deserved this curse, and it is only in Christ that
|
|
believers are saved from it and inherit the blessing, <scripRef passage="Ga 3:10,13" id="Gen.v-p31.2" parsed="|Gal|3|10|0|0;|Gal|3|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.3.10 Bible:Gal.3.13">Gal. iii. 10, 13</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p32">2. He is cursed from the earth. Thence the
|
|
cry came up to God, thence the curse
|
|
|
|
<pb n="42" id="Gen.v-Page_42"/>
|
|
|
|
came up
|
|
to Cain. God could have taken vengeance by an immediate stroke from
|
|
heaven, by the sword of an angel, or by a thunderbolt; but he chose
|
|
to make the earth the avenger of blood, to continue him upon the
|
|
earth, and not immediately to cut him off, and yet to make even
|
|
this his curse. The earth is always near us, we cannot fly from it;
|
|
so that, if this is made the executioner of divine wrath, our
|
|
punishment is unavoidable: it is sin, that is, the punishment of
|
|
sin, lying at the door. Cain found his punishment where he chose
|
|
his portion and set his heart. Two things we expect from the earth,
|
|
and by this curse both are denied to Cain and taken from him:
|
|
<i>sustenance</i> and <i>settlement.</i> (1.) Sustenance out of the
|
|
earth is here withheld from him. It is a curse upon him in his
|
|
enjoyments, and particularly in his calling: <i>When thou tillest
|
|
the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee its
|
|
strength.</i> Note, every creature is to us what God makes it, a
|
|
comfort or a cross, a blessing or a curse. If the earth yield not
|
|
her strength to us, we must therein acknowledge God's
|
|
righteousness; for we have not yielded our strength to him. The
|
|
ground was cursed before to Adam, but it was now doubly cursed to
|
|
Cain. That part of it which fell to his share, and of which he had
|
|
the occupation, was made unfruitful and uncomfortable to him by the
|
|
blood of Abel. Note, the wickedness of the wicked brings a curse
|
|
upon all they do and all they have (<scripRef passage="De 28:15-68" id="Gen.v-p32.1" parsed="|Deut|28|15|28|68" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.15-Deut.28.68">Deut. xxviii. 15</scripRef>, &c.), and this curse
|
|
embitters all they have and disappoints them in all they do. (2.)
|
|
Settlement on the earth is here denied him: <i>A fugitive and a
|
|
vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.</i> By this he was condemned,
|
|
[1.] To perpetual disgrace and reproach among men. It should be
|
|
ever looked upon as a scandalous thing to harbour him, converse
|
|
with him, or show him any countenance. And justly was a man that
|
|
had divested himself of all humanity abhorred and abandoned by all
|
|
mankind, and made infamous. [2.] To perpetual disquietude and
|
|
horror in his own mind. His own guilty conscience should haunt him
|
|
wherever he went, and make him <i>Magormissabib,</i> a <i>terror
|
|
round about.</i> What rest can those find, what settlement, that
|
|
carry their own disturbance with them in their bosoms wherever they
|
|
go? Those must needs be fugitives that are thus tossed. There is
|
|
not a more restless fugitive upon earth than he that is continually
|
|
pursued by his own guilt, nor a viler vagabond than he that is at
|
|
the beck of his own lusts.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p33">This was the sentence passed upon Cain; and
|
|
even in this there was mercy mixed, inasmuch as he was not
|
|
immediately cut off, but had space given him to repent; for God is
|
|
long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 4:13-15" id="Gen.v-p33.1" parsed="|Gen|4|13|4|15" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.13-Gen.4.15"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.4.13-Gen.4.15">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.v-p33.2">Cain's Complaint. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.v-p33.3">b. c.</span> 3875.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.v-p34">13 And Cain said unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.v-p34.1">Lord</span>, My punishment <i>is</i> greater than I can
|
|
bear.   14 Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the
|
|
face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be
|
|
a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass,
|
|
<i>that</i> every one that findeth me shall slay me.   15 And
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.v-p34.2">Lord</span> said unto him, Therefore
|
|
whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.
|
|
And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.v-p34.3">Lord</span> set a mark upon Cain,
|
|
lest any finding him should kill him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p35">We have here a further account of the
|
|
proceedings against Cain.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p36">I. Here is Cain's complaint of the sentence
|
|
passed upon him, as hard and severe. Some make him to speak the
|
|
language of despair, and read it, <i>My iniquity is greater than
|
|
that it may be forgiven;</i> and so what he says is a reproach and
|
|
affront to the mercy of God, which those only shall have the
|
|
benefit of that hope in it. There is forgiveness with the God of
|
|
pardons for the greatest sins and sinners; but those forfeit it who
|
|
despair of it. Just now Cain made nothing of his sin, but now he is
|
|
in the other extreme: Satan drives his vassals from presumption to
|
|
despair. We cannot think too ill of sin, provided we do not think
|
|
it unpardonable. But Cain seems rather to speak the language of
|
|
indignation: <i>My punishment is greater than I can bear;</i> and
|
|
so what he says is a reproach and affront to the justice of God,
|
|
and a complaint, not of the greatness of his sin, but of the
|
|
extremity of his punishment, as if this were disproportionable to
|
|
his merits. Instead of justifying God in the sentence, he condemns
|
|
him, not accepting the punishment of his iniquity, but quarrelling
|
|
with it. Note, impenitent unhumbled hearts are therefore not
|
|
reclaimed by God's rebukes because they think themselves wronged by
|
|
them; and it is an evidence of great hardness to be more concerned
|
|
about our sufferings than about our sins. Pharaoh's care was
|
|
concerning this death only, not this sin (<scripRef passage="Ex 10:17" id="Gen.v-p36.1" parsed="|Exod|10|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.17">Exod. x. 17</scripRef>); so was Cain's here. He is a
|
|
living man, and yet complains of the punishment of his sin,
|
|
<scripRef passage="La 3:39" id="Gen.v-p36.2" parsed="|Lam|3|39|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.39">Lam. iii. 39</scripRef>. He thinks
|
|
himself rigorously dealt with when really he is favourably treated;
|
|
and he cries out of wrong when he has more reason to wonder that he
|
|
is out of hell. Woe unto him that thus strives with his Maker, and
|
|
enters into judgment with his Judge. Now, to justify this
|
|
complaint, Cain descants upon the sentence. 1. He sees himself
|
|
excluded by it from the favour of his God, and concludes that,
|
|
being cursed, he is hidden from God's face, which is indeed the
|
|
true nature of God's curse; damned sinners find it so, to whom it
|
|
is said, <i>Depart from me you cursed.</i> Those are cursed indeed
|
|
that are forever shut out from God's love and care and from all
|
|
hopes of his grace. 2. He
|
|
|
|
<pb n="43" id="Gen.v-Page_43"/>
|
|
|
|
sees himself
|
|
expelled from all the comforts of this life, and concludes that,
|
|
being a fugitive, he is, in effect, <i>driven out this day from the
|
|
face of the earth.</i> As good have no place on earth as not have a
|
|
settled place. Better rest in the grave than not rest at all. 3. He
|
|
sees himself excommunicated by it, and cut off from the church, and
|
|
forbidden to attend on public ordinances. His hands being full of
|
|
blood, he must <i>bring no more vain oblations,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 1:13,15" id="Gen.v-p36.3" parsed="|Isa|1|13|0|0;|Isa|1|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.13 Bible:Isa.1.15">Isa. i. 13, 15</scripRef>. Perhaps this he
|
|
means when he complains that he is <i>driven out from the face of
|
|
the earth;</i> for being shut out of the church, which none had yet
|
|
deserted, he was <i>hidden from God's face,</i> being not admitted
|
|
to come <i>with the sons of God to present himself before the
|
|
Lord.</i> 4. He seen himself exposed by it to the hatred and
|
|
ill-will of all mankind: <i>It shall come to pass that every one
|
|
that finds me shall slay me.</i> Wherever he wanders, he goes in
|
|
peril of his life, at least he thinks so; and, like a man in debt,
|
|
thinks every one he meets a bailiff. There were none alive but his
|
|
near relations; yet even of them he is justly afraid who had
|
|
himself been so barbarous to his brother. Some read it,
|
|
<i>Whatsoever</i> finds me shall slay me; not only, "Whosoever
|
|
among men," but, "Whatsoever among all the creatures." Seeing
|
|
himself thrown out of God's protection, he sees the whole creation
|
|
armed against him. Note, unpardoned guilt fills men with continual
|
|
terrors, <scripRef passage="Pr 28:1,Job 15:20-21,Ps 53:5" id="Gen.v-p36.4" parsed="|Prov|28|1|0|0;|Job|15|20|15|21;|Ps|53|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.28.1 Bible:Job.15.20-Job.15.21 Bible:Ps.53.5">Prov.
|
|
xxviii. 1; Job xv. 20, 21; Ps. liii. 5</scripRef>. It is better to
|
|
fear and not sin than to sin and then fear. Dr. Lightfoot thinks
|
|
this word of Cain should be read as a wish: <i>Now, therefore, let
|
|
it be that any that find me may kill me.</i> Being bitter in soul,
|
|
he <i>longs for death, but it comes not</i> (<scripRef passage="Job 3:20-22" id="Gen.v-p36.5" parsed="|Job|3|20|3|22" osisRef="Bible:Job.3.20-Job.3.22">Job iii. 20-22</scripRef>), as those under spiritual
|
|
torments do, <scripRef passage="Re 9:5-6" id="Gen.v-p36.6" parsed="|Rev|9|5|9|6" osisRef="Bible:Rev.9.5-Rev.9.6">Rev. ix. 5,
|
|
6</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p37">II. Here is God's confirmation of the
|
|
sentence; for when he judges he will overcome, <scripRef passage="Ge 4:15" id="Gen.v-p37.1" parsed="|Gen|4|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. Observe, 1. How Cain is
|
|
protected in wrath by this declaration, notified, we may suppose,
|
|
to all that little world which was then in being: <i>Whosoever
|
|
slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him seven-fold,</i>
|
|
because thereby the sentence he was under (that he should be a
|
|
fugitive and a vagabond) would be defeated. Condemned prisoners are
|
|
under the special protection of the law; those that are appointed
|
|
sacrifices to public justice must not be sacrificed to private
|
|
revenge. God having said in Cain's case, <i>Vengeance is mine, I
|
|
will repay,</i> it would have been a daring usurpation for any man
|
|
to take the sword out of God's hand, a contempt put upon an express
|
|
declaration of God's mind, and therefore avenged seven-fold. Note,
|
|
God has wise and holy ends in protecting and prolonging the lives
|
|
even of very wicked men. God deals with some according to that
|
|
prayer, <i>Slay them not, lest my people forget; scatter them by
|
|
thy power,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 59:11" id="Gen.v-p37.2" parsed="|Ps|59|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.59.11">Ps. lix. 11</scripRef>.
|
|
Had Cain been slain immediately, he would have been forgotten
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ec 8:10" id="Gen.v-p37.3" parsed="|Eccl|8|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.8.10">Eccl. viii. 10</scripRef>); but now he
|
|
lives a more fearful and lasting monument of God's justice, hanged
|
|
in chains, as it were. 2. How he is marked in wrath: <i>The Lord
|
|
set a mark upon Cain,</i> to distinguish him from the rest of
|
|
mankind and to notify that he was the man that murdered his
|
|
brother, whom nobody must hurt, but everybody must hoot at. God
|
|
stigmatized him (as some malefactors are burnt in the cheek), and
|
|
put upon him such a visible and indelible mark of infamy and
|
|
disgrace as would make all wise people shun him, so that he could
|
|
not be otherwise than a fugitive and a vagabond, and the
|
|
off-scouring of all things.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 4:16-18" id="Gen.v-p37.4" parsed="|Gen|4|16|4|18" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.16-Gen.4.18"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.4.16-Gen.4.18">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.v-p37.5">The Family of Cain. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.v-p37.6">b. c.</span> 3875.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.v-p38">16 And Cain went out from the presence of the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.v-p38.1">Lord</span>, and dwelt in the land of Nod,
|
|
on the east of Eden.   17 And Cain knew his wife; and she
|
|
conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the
|
|
name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.   18 And
|
|
unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael
|
|
begat Methusael: and Methusael begat Lamech.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p39">We have here a further account of Cain, and
|
|
what became of him after he was rejected of God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p40">I. He tamely submitted to that part of his
|
|
sentence by which he was hidden from God's face; for (<scripRef passage="Ge 4:16" id="Gen.v-p40.1" parsed="|Gen|4|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>) <i>he went out from the
|
|
presence of the Lord,</i> that is, he willingly renounced God and
|
|
religion, and was content to forego its privileges, so that he
|
|
might not be under its precepts. He forsook Adam's family and
|
|
altar, and cast off all pretensions to the fear of God, and never
|
|
came among good people, nor attended on God's ordinances, any more.
|
|
Note, hypocritical professors, that have dissembled and trifled
|
|
with God Almighty, are justly left to themselves, to do something
|
|
that is grossly scandalous, and so to throw off that form of
|
|
godliness to which they have been a reproach, and under colour of
|
|
which they have denied the power of it. Cain went out now from the
|
|
presence of the Lord, and we never find that he came into it again,
|
|
to his comfort. Hell is <i>destruction from the presence of the
|
|
Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="2Th 1:9" id="Gen.v-p40.2" parsed="|2Thess|1|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Thess.1.9">2 Thess. i. 9</scripRef>. It
|
|
is a perpetual banishment from the fountain of all good. This is
|
|
the choice of sinners; and so shall their doom be, to their eternal
|
|
confusion.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p41">II. He endeavoured to confront that part of
|
|
the sentence by which he was made a fugitive and a vagabond;
|
|
for,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p42">1. He chose his land. He went and <i>dwelt
|
|
on the east of Eden,</i> somewhere distant from the place where
|
|
Adam and his religious family resided, distinguishing himself and
|
|
his accursed generation from the holy seed, his camp from the
|
|
<i>camp of the saints and the beloved city,</i> <scripRef passage="Re 20:9" id="Gen.v-p42.1" parsed="|Rev|20|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.20.9">Rev. xx. 9</scripRef>. On the east of Eden, the cherubim
|
|
were, with the flaming sword, <scripRef passage="Ge 3:24" id="Gen.v-p42.2" parsed="|Gen|3|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.24"><i>ch.</i> iii. 24</scripRef>. There he chose his lot, as
|
|
if to defy the terrors of the Lord. But his
|
|
|
|
<pb n="44" id="Gen.v-Page_44"/>
|
|
|
|
attempt to settle was in vain; for the land he dwelt in was to him
|
|
<i>the land of Nod</i> (that is, of <i>shaking</i> or
|
|
<i>trembling</i>), because of the continual restlessness and
|
|
uneasiness of his own spirit. Note, those that depart from God
|
|
cannot find rest any where else. After Cain went out from the
|
|
presence of the Lord, he never rested. Those that shut themselves
|
|
out of heaven abandon themselves to a perpetual trembling.
|
|
"<i>Return therefore to thy rest, O my soul,</i> to thy rest in
|
|
God; else thou art for ever restless."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p43">2. He built a city for a habitation,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 4:17" id="Gen.v-p43.1" parsed="|Gen|4|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. <i>He was
|
|
building a city,</i> so some read it, ever building it, but, a
|
|
curse being upon him and the work of his hands, he could not finish
|
|
it. Or, as we read it, he <i>built a city,</i> in token of a fixed
|
|
separation from the church of God, to which he had no thoughts of
|
|
ever returning. This city was to be the head-quarters of the
|
|
apostasy. Observe here, (1.) Cain's defiance of the divine
|
|
sentence. God said he should be a <i>fugitive and a vagabond.</i>
|
|
Had he repented and humbled himself, this curse might have been
|
|
turned into a blessing, as that of the tribe of Levi was, that they
|
|
should be <i>divided in Jacob and scattered in Israel;</i> but his
|
|
impenitent unhumbled heart walking contrary to God, and resolving
|
|
to fix in spite of heaven, that which might have been a blessing
|
|
was turned into a curse. (2.) See what was Cain's choice, after he
|
|
had forsaken God; he pitched upon a settlement in this world, as
|
|
his rest for ever. Those who looked for the heavenly city chose,
|
|
while on earth, to dwell in tabernacles; but Cain, as one that
|
|
minded not <i>that</i> city, built himself one on earth. Those that
|
|
are cursed of God are apt to seek their settlement and satisfaction
|
|
here below, <scripRef passage="Ps 17:14" id="Gen.v-p43.2" parsed="|Ps|17|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.17.14">Ps. xvii. 14</scripRef>.
|
|
(3.) See what method Cain took to defend himself against the
|
|
terrors with which he was perpetually haunted. He undertook this
|
|
building, to divert his thoughts from the consideration of his own
|
|
misery, and to drown the clamours of a guilty conscience with the
|
|
noise of axes and hammers. Thus many baffle their convictions by
|
|
thrusting themselves into a hurry of worldly business. (4.) See how
|
|
wicked people often get the start of God's people, and out-go them
|
|
in outward prosperity. Cain and his cursed race dwell in a city,
|
|
while Adam and his blessed family dwell in tents. We cannot judge
|
|
of <i>love or hatred by all that is before us,</i> <scripRef passage="Ec 9:1,2" id="Gen.v-p43.3" parsed="|Eccl|9|1|9|2" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.9.1-Eccl.9.2">Eccl. ix. 1, 2</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p44">3. His family also was built up. Here is an
|
|
account of his posterity, at least the heirs of his family, for
|
|
seven generations. His son was <i>Enoch,</i> of the same name, but
|
|
not of the same character, with that holy man that <i>walked with
|
|
God,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 5:22" id="Gen.v-p44.1" parsed="|Gen|5|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5.22"><i>ch.</i> v. 22</scripRef>.
|
|
Good men and bad may bear the same names: but God can distinguish
|
|
between Judas Iscariot and Judas <i>not</i> Iscariot, <scripRef passage="Joh 14:22" id="Gen.v-p44.2" parsed="|John|14|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.14.22">John xiv. 22</scripRef>. The names of more of
|
|
his posterity are mentioned, and but just mentioned; not as those
|
|
of the holy seed (<scripRef passage="Ge 5:1-32" id="Gen.v-p44.3" parsed="|Gen|5|1|5|32" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5.1-Gen.5.32"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
v.</scripRef>), where we have three verses concerning each, whereas
|
|
here we have three or four in one verse. They are numbered in
|
|
haste, as not valued or delighted in, in comparison with God's
|
|
chosen.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 4:19-22" id="Gen.v-p44.4" parsed="|Gen|4|19|4|22" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.19-Gen.4.22"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.4.19-Gen.4.22">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.v-p44.5">The Family of Lamech. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.v-p44.6">b. c.</span> 3875.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.v-p45">19 And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name
|
|
of the one <i>was</i> Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.
|
|
  20 And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell
|
|
in tents, and <i>of such as have</i> cattle.   21 And his
|
|
brother's name <i>was</i> Jubal: he was the father of all such as
|
|
handle the harp and organ.   22 And Zillah, she also bare
|
|
Tubal-cain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron: and
|
|
the sister of Tubal-cain <i>was</i> Naamah.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p46">We have here some particulars concerning
|
|
Lamech, the seventh from Adam in the line of Cain. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p47">I. His marrying two wives. It was one of
|
|
the degenerate race of Cain who first transgressed that original
|
|
law of marriage that two only should be one flesh. Hitherto one man
|
|
had but one wife at a time; but Lamech took two. <i>From the
|
|
beginning it was not so.</i> <scripRef passage="Mal 2:15,Mt 19:5" id="Gen.v-p47.1" parsed="|Mal|2|15|0|0;|Matt|19|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mal.2.15 Bible:Matt.19.5">Mal. ii. 15; Matt. xix. 5</scripRef>. See here,
|
|
1. Those who desert God's church and ordinances lay themselves open
|
|
to all manner of temptation. 2. When a bad custom is begun by bad
|
|
men sometimes men of better characters are, through unwariness,
|
|
drawn in to follow them. Jacob, David, and many others, who were
|
|
otherwise good men, were afterwards ensnared in this sin which
|
|
Lamech begun.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p48">II. His happiness in his children,
|
|
notwithstanding this. Though he sinned, in marrying two wives, yet
|
|
he was blessed with children by both, and those such as lived to be
|
|
famous in their generation, not for their piety, no mention is made
|
|
of this (for aught that appears they were the heathen of that age),
|
|
but for their ingenuity. They were not only themselves men of
|
|
business, but men that were serviceable to the world, and eminent
|
|
for the invention, or at least the improvement, of some useful
|
|
arts. 1. Jabal was a famous shepherd; he delighted much in keeping
|
|
cattle himself, and was so happy in devising methods of doing it to
|
|
the best advantage, and instructing others in them, that the
|
|
shepherds of those times, nay, the shepherds of after-times, called
|
|
him <i>father;</i> or perhaps, his children after him being brought
|
|
up to the same employment, the family was a family of shepherds. 2.
|
|
Jubal was a famous musician, and particularly an organist, and the
|
|
first that gave rules for the noble art or science of music. When
|
|
Jabal had set them in a way to be rich, Jubal put them in a way to
|
|
be merry. Those that spend their days in wealth will not be without
|
|
the timbrel and harp, <scripRef passage="Job 21:12,13" id="Gen.v-p48.1" parsed="|Job|21|12|21|13" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.12-Job.21.13">Job xxi. 12,
|
|
13</scripRef>. From his name, <i>Jubal,</i>
|
|
|
|
<pb n="45" id="Gen.v-Page_45"/>
|
|
|
|
probably the jubilee-trumpet was so called; for the best music was
|
|
that which proclaimed liberty and redemption. Jabal was their Pan
|
|
and Jubal their Apollo. 3. Tubal Cain was a famous smith, who
|
|
greatly improved the art of working in brass and iron, for the
|
|
service both of war and husbandry. He was their Vulcan. See here,
|
|
(1.) That worldly things are the only things that carnal wicked
|
|
people set their hearts upon and are most ingenious and industrious
|
|
about. So it was with this impious race of cursed Cain. Here were a
|
|
father of shepherds and a father of musicians, but not a father of
|
|
the faithful. Here was one to teach in brass and iron, but none to
|
|
teach the good knowledge of the Lord. Here were devices how to be
|
|
rich, and how to be mighty, and how to be merry, but nothing of
|
|
God, nor of his fear and service, among them. Present things fill
|
|
the heads of most people. (2.) That even those who are destitute of
|
|
the knowledge and grace of God may be endued with many excellent
|
|
and useful accomplishments, which may make them famous and
|
|
serviceable in their generation. Common gifts are given to bad men,
|
|
while God chooses to himself the foolish things of the world.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 4:23-24" id="Gen.v-p48.2" parsed="|Gen|4|23|4|24" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.23-Gen.4.24"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.4.23-Gen.4.24">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.v-p49">23 And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and
|
|
Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech:
|
|
for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.
|
|
  24 If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy
|
|
and sevenfold.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p50">By this speech of Lamech, which is here
|
|
recorded, and probably was much talked of in those times, he
|
|
further appears to have been a wicked man, as Cain's accursed race
|
|
generally were. Observe, 1. How haughtily and imperiously he speaks
|
|
to his wives, as one that expected a mighty regard and observance:
|
|
<i>Hear my voice, you wives of Lamech.</i> No marvel that he who
|
|
had broken one law of marriage, by taking two wives, broke another,
|
|
which obliged him to be kind and tender to those he had taken, and
|
|
to give honour to the wife as to the weaker vessel. Those are not
|
|
always the most careful to do their own duty that are highest in
|
|
their demands of respect from others, and most frequent in calling
|
|
upon their relations to know their place and do their duty. 2. How
|
|
bloody and barbarous he was to all about him: <i>I have slain,</i>
|
|
or (as it is in the margin) <i>I would slay a man in my wound, and
|
|
a young man in my hurt.</i> He owns himself a man of a fierce and
|
|
cruel disposition, that would lay about him without mercy, and kill
|
|
all that stood in his way; be it a man, or a young man, nay, though
|
|
he himself were in danger to be wounded and hurt in the conflict.
|
|
Some think, because (<scripRef passage="Ge 4:24" id="Gen.v-p50.1" parsed="|Gen|4|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.24"><i>v.</i>
|
|
24</scripRef>) he compares himself with Cain, that he had murdered
|
|
some of the holy seed, the true worshippers of God, and that he
|
|
acknowledged this to be the wounding of his conscience and the hurt
|
|
of his soul; and yet that, like Cain, he continued impenitent,
|
|
trembling and yet unhumbled. Or his wives, knowing what manner of
|
|
spirit he was of, how apt both to give and to resent provocation,
|
|
were afraid lest somebody or other would be the death of him.
|
|
"Never fear," says he, "I defy any man to set upon me; whosoever
|
|
does, let me alone to make my part good with him; I will slay him,
|
|
be he a man or a young man." Note, it is a common thing for fierce
|
|
and bloody men to <i>glory in their shame</i> (<scripRef passage="Php 3:19" id="Gen.v-p50.2" parsed="|Phil|3|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Phil.3.19">Phil. iii. 19</scripRef>), as if it were both their
|
|
safety and their honour that they care not how many lives are
|
|
sacrificed to their angry resentments, nor how much they are hated,
|
|
provided they may be feared. <i>Oderint, dum metuant—Let them
|
|
hate, provided they fear.</i> 3. How impiously he presumes even
|
|
upon God's protection in his wicked way, <scripRef passage="Ge 4:24" id="Gen.v-p50.3" parsed="|Gen|4|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. He had heard that <i>Cain should
|
|
be avenged seven-fold</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 4:15" id="Gen.v-p50.4" parsed="|Gen|4|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.15"><i>v.</i>
|
|
15</scripRef>), that is, that if any man should dare to kill Cain
|
|
he should be severely reckoned with and punished for so doing,
|
|
though Cain deserved to die a thousand deaths for the murder of his
|
|
brother, and hence he infers that if any one should kill him for
|
|
the murders he had committed God would much more avenge his death.
|
|
As if the special care God took to prolong and secure the life of
|
|
Cain, for special reasons peculiar to his case (and indeed for his
|
|
sorer punishment, as the beings of the damned are continued) were
|
|
designed as a protection to all murderers. Thus Lamech perversely
|
|
argues, "If God provided for the safety of Cain, much more for
|
|
mine, who, though I have slain many, yet never slew my own brother,
|
|
and upon no provocation, as he did." Note, the reprieve of some
|
|
sinners, and the patience God exercises towards them, are often
|
|
abused to the hardening of others in the like sinful ways,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ec 8:11" id="Gen.v-p50.5" parsed="|Eccl|8|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.8.11">Eccl. viii. 11</scripRef>. But, though
|
|
justice strike some slowly, others cannot therefore be sure but
|
|
that they may be taken away with a swift destruction. Or, if God
|
|
should bear long with those who thus presume upon his forbearance,
|
|
they do but hereby treasure up unto themselves <i>wrath against the
|
|
day of wrath.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p51">Now this is all we have upon record in
|
|
scripture concerning the family and posterity of cursed Cain, till
|
|
we find them all cut off and perishing in the universal deluge.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 4:25-26" id="Gen.v-p51.1" parsed="|Gen|4|25|4|26" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.25-Gen.4.26"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.4.25-Gen.4.26">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.v-p51.2">The Birth of Seth. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.v-p51.3">b. c.</span> 3874.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.v-p52">25 And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a
|
|
son, and called his name Seth: For God, <i>said she,</i> hath
|
|
appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.  
|
|
26 And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his
|
|
name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.v-p52.1">Lord</span>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<pb n="46" id="Gen.v-Page_46"/>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p53">This is the first mention of Adam in the
|
|
story of this chapter. No question, the murder of Abel, and the
|
|
impenitence and apostasy of Cain, were a very great grief to him
|
|
and Eve, and the more because their own wickedness did now correct
|
|
them and their backslidings did reprove them. Their folly had given
|
|
sin and death entrance into the world; and now they smarted by it,
|
|
being, by means thereof, deprived of <i>both their sons in one
|
|
day,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 27:45" id="Gen.v-p53.1" parsed="|Gen|27|45|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.45"><i>ch.</i> xxvii.
|
|
45</scripRef>. When parents are grieved by their children's
|
|
wickedness they should take occasion thence to lament that
|
|
corruption of nature which was derived from them, and which is the
|
|
root of bitterness. But here we have that which was a relief to our
|
|
first parents in their affliction.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p54">I. God gave them to see the re-building of
|
|
their family, which was sorely shaken and weakened by that sad
|
|
event. For, 1. They saw their seed, <i>another seed instead of
|
|
Abel,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 4:25" id="Gen.v-p54.1" parsed="|Gen|4|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>.
|
|
Observe God's kindness and tenderness towards his people, in his
|
|
providential dealings with them; when he takes away one comfort
|
|
from them, he gives them another instead of it, which may prove a
|
|
greater blessing to them than that was in which they thought their
|
|
lives were bound up. This other seed was he in whom the church was
|
|
to be built up and perpetuated, and he comes instead of Abel, for
|
|
the succession of confessors is the revival of the martyrs and as
|
|
it were the resurrection of God's slain witnesses. Thus we are
|
|
<i>baptized for the dead</i> (<scripRef passage="1Co 15:29" id="Gen.v-p54.2" parsed="|1Cor|15|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.15.29">1 Cor.
|
|
xv. 29</scripRef>), that is, we are, by baptism, admitted into the
|
|
church, for or instead of those who by death, especially by
|
|
martyrdom, are removed out of it; and we fill up their room. Those
|
|
who slay God's servants hope by this means to wear out the saints
|
|
of the Most High; but they will be deceived. Christ shall still see
|
|
his seed; God can out of stones raise up children for him, and make
|
|
the blood of the martyrs the seed of the church, whose lands, we
|
|
are sure, shall never be lost for want /f heirs. This son, by a
|
|
prophetic spirit, they called <i>Seth</i> (that is, <i>set,
|
|
settled,</i> or <i>placed</i>), because, in his seed, mankind
|
|
should continue to the end of time, and from him the Messiah should
|
|
descend. While Cain, the head of the apostasy, is made a wanderer,
|
|
Seth, from whom the true church was to come, is one fixed. In
|
|
Christ and his church is the only true settlement. 2. They saw
|
|
their seed's seed, <scripRef passage="Ge 4:26" id="Gen.v-p54.3" parsed="|Gen|4|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.26"><i>v.</i>
|
|
26</scripRef>. <i>To Seth was born a son called Enos,</i> that
|
|
general name for all men, which bespeaks the weakness, frailty, and
|
|
misery, of man's state. The best men are most sensible of these,
|
|
both in themselves and their children. We are never so settled but
|
|
we must remind ourselves that we are frail.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.v-p55">II. God gave them to see the reviving of
|
|
religion in their family: <i>Then began men to call upon the name
|
|
of the Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 4:26" id="Gen.v-p55.1" parsed="|Gen|4|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.26"><i>v.</i>
|
|
26</scripRef>. It is small comfort to a good man to see his
|
|
children's children, if he do not, withal, see peace upon Israel,
|
|
and those that come of him walking in the truth. Doubtless God's
|
|
name was called upon before, but now, 1. The worshippers of God
|
|
began to stir up themselves to do more in religion than they had
|
|
done; perhaps not more than had been done at first, but more than
|
|
had been done of late, since the defection of Cain. Now men began
|
|
to worship God, not only in their closets and families, but in
|
|
public and solemn assemblies. Or now there was so great a
|
|
reformation in religion that it was, as it were, a new beginning of
|
|
it. <i>Then</i> may refer, not to the birth of Enos, but to the
|
|
whole foregoing story: <i>then,</i> when men saw in Cain and Lamech
|
|
the sad effects of sin by the workings of natural conscience,—when
|
|
they saw God's judgments upon sin and sinners,—<i>then</i> they
|
|
were so much the more lively and resolute in religion. The worse
|
|
others are the better we should be, and the more zealous. 2. The
|
|
worshippers of God began to distinguish themselves. The margin
|
|
reads it, <i>Then began men to be called by the name of the
|
|
Lord,</i> or to call themselves by it. Now that Cain and those that
|
|
had deserted religion had built a city, and begun to declare for
|
|
impiety and irreligion, and called themselves the <i>sons of
|
|
men,</i> those that adhered to God began to declare for him and his
|
|
worship, and called themselves the <i>sons of God.</i> Now began
|
|
the distinction between professors and profane, which has been kept
|
|
up ever since, and will be while the world stands.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter V" n="vi" progress="6.02%" prev="Gen.v" next="Gen.vii" id="Gen.vi">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="46" id="Gen.vi-Page_46"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.vi-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.vi-p0.2">CHAP. V.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.vi-p1">This chapter is the only authentic history extant
|
|
of the first age of the world from the creation to the flood,
|
|
containing (according to the verity of the Hebrew text) 1656 years,
|
|
as may easily be computed by the ages of the patriarchs, before
|
|
they begat that son through whom the line went down to Noah. This
|
|
is one of those which the apostle calls "endless genealogies"
|
|
(<scripRef passage="1Ti 1:4" id="Gen.vi-p1.1" parsed="|1Tim|1|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.1.4">1 Tim. i. 4</scripRef>), for Christ,
|
|
who was the end of the Old-Testament law, was also the end of the
|
|
Old-Testament genealogies; towards him they looked, and in him they
|
|
centered. The genealogy here recorded is inserted briefly in the
|
|
pedigree of our Saviour (<scripRef passage="Lu 3:36-38" id="Gen.vi-p1.2" parsed="|Luke|3|36|3|38" osisRef="Bible:Luke.3.36-Luke.3.38">Luke iii.
|
|
36-38</scripRef>), and is of great use to show that Christ was the
|
|
"seed of the woman" that was promised. We have here an account, I.
|
|
Concerning Adam, <scripRef passage="Ge 5:1-5" id="Gen.vi-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|5|1|5|5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5.1-Gen.5.5">ver. 1-5</scripRef>.
|
|
II. Seth, <scripRef passage="Ge 5:6-8" id="Gen.vi-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|5|6|5|8" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5.6-Gen.5.8">ver. 6-8</scripRef>. III.
|
|
Enos, <scripRef passage="Ge 5:9-11" id="Gen.vi-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|5|9|5|11" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5.9-Gen.5.11">ver. 9-11</scripRef>. IV.
|
|
Cainan, <scripRef passage="Ge 5:12-14" id="Gen.vi-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|5|12|5|14" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5.12-Gen.5.14">ver. 12-14</scripRef>. V.
|
|
Mahalaleel, <scripRef passage="Ge 5:15-17" id="Gen.vi-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|5|15|5|17" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5.15-Gen.5.17">ver. 15-17</scripRef>.
|
|
VI. Jared, <scripRef passage="Ge 5:18-20" id="Gen.vi-p1.8" parsed="|Gen|5|18|5|20" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5.18-Gen.5.20">ver. 18-20</scripRef>.
|
|
VII. Enoch, <scripRef passage="Ge 5:21-24" id="Gen.vi-p1.9" parsed="|Gen|5|21|5|24" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5.21-Gen.5.24">ver. 21-24</scripRef>.
|
|
VIII. Methuselah, <scripRef passage="Ge 5:25-27" id="Gen.vi-p1.10" parsed="|Gen|5|25|5|27" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5.25-Gen.5.27">ver.
|
|
25-27</scripRef>. IX. Lamech and his son Noah, <scripRef passage="Ge 5:28-32" id="Gen.vi-p1.11" parsed="|Gen|5|28|5|32" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5.28-Gen.5.32">ver. 28-32</scripRef>. All scripture, being given by
|
|
inspiration of God, is profitable, though not all alike
|
|
profitable.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 5" id="Gen.vi-p1.12" parsed="|Gen|5|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 5:1-5" id="Gen.vi-p1.13" parsed="|Gen|5|1|5|5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5.1-Gen.5.5"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.5.1-Gen.5.5">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.vi-p1.14">Genealogies. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.vi-p1.15">b. c.</span> 3852.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.vi-p2">1 This <i>is</i> the book of the generations of
|
|
Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made
|
|
he him;   2 Male and female created he them; and blessed them,
|
|
and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.
|
|
  3 And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begat <i>a
|
|
son</i> in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name
|
|
Seth:   4 And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were
|
|
eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters:   5 And
|
|
all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years:
|
|
and he died.</p>
|
|
|
|
<pb n="47" id="Gen.vi-Page_47"/>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vi-p3">The first words of the chapter are the
|
|
title or argument of the whole chapter: it is <i>the book of the
|
|
generations of Adam;</i> it is the list or catalogue of the
|
|
posterity of Adam, not of all, but only of the <i>holy seed who
|
|
were the substance thereof</i> (<scripRef passage="Isa 6:13" id="Gen.vi-p3.1" parsed="|Isa|6|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.13">Isa.
|
|
vi. 13</scripRef>), and <i>of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ
|
|
came</i> (<scripRef passage="Ro 9:5" id="Gen.vi-p3.2" parsed="|Rom|9|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.5">Rom. ix. 5</scripRef>), the
|
|
names, ages, and deaths, of those that were the successors of the
|
|
first Adam in the custody of the promise, and the ancestors of the
|
|
second Adam. The genealogy begins with Adam himself. Here is,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vi-p4">I. His creation, <scripRef passage="Ge 5:1,2" id="Gen.vi-p4.1" parsed="|Gen|5|1|5|2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5.1-Gen.5.2"><i>v.</i> 1, 2</scripRef>, where we have a brief
|
|
rehearsal of what was before at large related concerning the
|
|
creation of man. This is what we have need frequently to hear of
|
|
and carefully to acquaint ourselves with. Observe here, 1. That
|
|
<i>God created man.</i> Man is not his own maker, therefore he must
|
|
not be his own master; but the Author of his being must be the
|
|
director of his motions and the centre of them. 2. That there was a
|
|
day in which God created man. He was not from eternity, but of
|
|
yesterday; he was not the first-born, but the junior of the
|
|
creation. 3. That God made him in his own likeness, righteous and
|
|
holy, and therefore, undoubtedly, happy. Man's nature resembled the
|
|
divine nature more than that of any of the creatures of this lower
|
|
world. 4. That God created them male and female (<scripRef passage="Ge 5:2" id="Gen.vi-p4.2" parsed="|Gen|5|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), for their mutual comfort as well
|
|
as for the preservation and increase of their kind. Adam and Eve
|
|
were both made immediately by the hand of God, both made in God's
|
|
likeness; and therefore between the sexes there is not that great
|
|
distance and inequality which some imagine. 5. That God blessed
|
|
them. It is usual for parents to bless their children; so God, the
|
|
common Father, blessed his. But earthly parents can only beg a
|
|
blessing; it is God's prerogative to command it. It refers chiefly
|
|
to the blessing of increase, not excluding other blessings. 6. That
|
|
he <i>called their name Adam. Adam</i> signifies <i>earth, red
|
|
earth.</i> Now, (1.) God gave him this name. Adam had himself named
|
|
the rest of the creatures, but he must not choose his own name,
|
|
lest he should assume some glorious pompous title. But God gave him
|
|
a name which would be a continual memorandum to him of the meanness
|
|
of his original, and oblige him to <i>look unto the rock whence he
|
|
was hewn and the hole of the pit whence he was digged,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 51:1" id="Gen.vi-p4.3" parsed="|Isa|51|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.51.1">Isa. li. 1</scripRef>. Those have
|
|
little reason to be proud who are so near akin to dust. (2.) He
|
|
gave this name both to the man and to the woman. Being at first one
|
|
by nature, and afterwards one by marriage, it was fit they should
|
|
both have the same name, in token of their union. The woman is
|
|
<i>of the earth earthy</i> as well as the man.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vi-p5">II. The birth of his son <i>Seth,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 5:3" id="Gen.vi-p5.1" parsed="|Gen|5|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. He was born in
|
|
the hundred and thirtieth year of Adam's life; and probably the
|
|
murder of Abel was not long before. Many other sons and daughters
|
|
were born to Adam, besides Cain and Abel, before this; but no
|
|
notice is taken of them, because an honourable mention must be made
|
|
of his name only in whose loins Christ and the church were. But
|
|
that which is most observable here concerning Seth is that Adam
|
|
begat him <i>in his own likeness, after his image.</i> Adam was
|
|
made in the image of God; but, when he was fallen and corrupt, he
|
|
begat a son in his own image, sinful and defiled, frail, mortal,
|
|
and miserable, like himself; not only a <i>man</i> like himself,
|
|
consisting of body and soul, but a <i>sinner</i> like himself,
|
|
guilty and obnoxious, degenerate and corrupt. Even the man after
|
|
God's own heart owns himself <i>conceived and born in sin,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 51:5" id="Gen.vi-p5.2" parsed="|Ps|51|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.51.5">Ps. li. 5</scripRef>. This was Adam's
|
|
own likeness, the reverse of that divine likeness in which Adam was
|
|
made; but, having lost it himself, he could not convey it to his
|
|
seed. Note, grace does not run in the blood, but corruption does. A
|
|
sinner begets a sinner, but a saint does not beget a saint.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vi-p6">III. His age and death. He lived, in all,
|
|
nine hundred and thirty years, and then he died, according to the
|
|
sentence passed upon him, <i>To dust thou shalt return.</i> Though
|
|
he did not die in the day he ate forbidden fruit, yet in that very
|
|
day he became mortal. Then he began to die; his whole life
|
|
afterwards was but a reprieve, a forfeited condemned life; nay, it
|
|
was a wasting dying life: he was not only like a criminal
|
|
sentenced, but as one already crucified, that dies slowly and by
|
|
degrees.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 5:6-20" id="Gen.vi-p6.1" parsed="|Gen|5|6|5|20" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5.6-Gen.5.20"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.5.6-Gen.5.20">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.vi-p7">6 And Seth lived a hundred and five years, and
|
|
begat Enos:   7 And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight
|
|
hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters:   8 And
|
|
all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he
|
|
died.   9 And Enos lived ninety years, and begat Cainan:
|
|
  10 And Enos lived after he begat Cainan eight hundred and
|
|
fifteen years, and begat sons and daughters:   11 And all the
|
|
days of Enos were nine hundred and five years: and he died.  
|
|
12 And Cainan lived seventy years, and begat Mahalaleel:   13
|
|
And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty
|
|
years, and begat sons and daughters:   14 And all the days of
|
|
Cainan were nine hundred and ten years: and he died.   15 And
|
|
Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years, and begat Jared:   16
|
|
And Mahalaleel lived after he begat Jared eight hundred and thirty
|
|
years, and begat sons and daughters:   17 And all the days of
|
|
Mahalaleel were eight hundred
|
|
|
|
<pb n="48" id="Gen.vi-Page_48"/>
|
|
|
|
ninety and five
|
|
years: and he died.   18 And Jared lived a hundred sixty and
|
|
two years, and he begat Enoch:   19 And Jared lived after he
|
|
begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:
|
|
  20 And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two
|
|
years: and he died.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vi-p8">We have here all that the Holy Ghost
|
|
thought fit to leave upon record concerning five of the patriarchs
|
|
before the flood, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, and Jared. There
|
|
is nothing observable concerning any of these particularly, though
|
|
we have reason to think they were men of eminence, both for
|
|
prudence and piety, in their day: but in general,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vi-p9">I. Observe how largely and expressly their
|
|
generations are recorded. This matter, one would think, might have
|
|
been delivered in fewer words; but it is certain that there is not
|
|
one idle word in God's books, whatever there is in men's. It is
|
|
thus plainly set down, 1. To make it easy and intelligible to the
|
|
meanest capacity. When we are informed how old they were when they
|
|
begat such a son, and how many years they lived afterwards, a very
|
|
little skill in arithmetic will enable a man to tell how long they
|
|
lived in all; yet the Holy Ghost sets down the sum total, for the
|
|
sake of those that have not even so much skill as this. 2. To show
|
|
the pleasure God takes in the names of his people. We found Cain's
|
|
generation numbered in haste (<scripRef passage="Ge 4:18" id="Gen.vi-p9.1" parsed="|Gen|4|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.18"><i>ch.</i> iv. 18</scripRef>), but this account of the
|
|
holy seed is enlarged upon, and given in words at length, and not
|
|
in figures; we are told how long those lived that lived in God's
|
|
fear, and when those died that died in his favour; but as for
|
|
others it is no matter. <i>The memory of the just is blessed, but
|
|
the name of the wicked shall rot.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vi-p10">II. Their life is reckoned by days
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 5:8" id="Gen.vi-p10.1" parsed="|Gen|5|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>): <i>All the
|
|
days of Seth,</i> and so of the rest, which intimates the shortness
|
|
of the life of man when it is at the longest, and the quick
|
|
revolution of our times on earth. If they reckoned by days, surely
|
|
we must reckon by hours, or rather make that our frequent prayer
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ps 90:12" id="Gen.vi-p10.2" parsed="|Ps|90|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.90.12">Ps. xc. 12</scripRef>), <i>Teach us
|
|
to number our days.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vi-p11">III. Concerning each of them, except Enoch,
|
|
it is said, <i>and he died.</i> It is implied in the numbering of
|
|
the years of their life that their life, when those years were
|
|
numbered and finished, came to an end; and yet it is still
|
|
repeated, <i>and he died,</i> to show that death passed upon all
|
|
men without exception, and that it is good for us particularly to
|
|
observe and improve the deaths of others for our own edification.
|
|
Such a one was a strong healthful man, but he died; such a one was
|
|
a great and rich man, but he died; such a one was a wise politic
|
|
man, but he died; such a one was a very good man, perhaps a very
|
|
useful man, but he died, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vi-p12">IV. That which is especially observable is
|
|
that they all lived very long; not one of them died till he had
|
|
seen the revolution of almost eight hundred years, and some of them
|
|
lived much longer, a great while for an immortal soul to be
|
|
imprisoned in a house of clay. The present life surely was not to
|
|
them such a burden as commonly it is now, else they would have been
|
|
weary of it; nor was the future life so clearly revealed then as it
|
|
is now under the gospel, else they would have been impatient to
|
|
remove to it: long life to the pious patriarchs was a blessing and
|
|
made them blessings. 1. Some natural causes may be assigned for
|
|
their long life in those first ages of the world. It is very
|
|
probable that the earth was more fruitful, that the productions of
|
|
it were more strengthening, that the air was more healthful, and
|
|
that the influences of the heavenly bodies were more benign, before
|
|
the flood, than afterwards. Though man was driven out of paradise,
|
|
yet the earth itself was then paradisiacal—a garden in comparison
|
|
with its present wilderness-state: and some think that their great
|
|
knowledge of the creatures, and of their usefulness both for food
|
|
and medicine, together with their sobriety and temperance,
|
|
contributed much to it; yet we do not find that those who were
|
|
intemperate, as many were (<scripRef passage="Lu 17:27" id="Gen.vi-p12.1" parsed="|Luke|17|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.17.27">Luke xvii.
|
|
27</scripRef>), were as short-lived as intemperate men generally
|
|
are now. 2. It must chiefly be resolved into the power and
|
|
providence of God. He prolonged their lives, both for the more
|
|
speedy replenishing of the earth and for the more effectual
|
|
preservation of the knowledge of God and religion, then, when there
|
|
was no written word, but tradition was the channel of its
|
|
conveyance. All the patriarchs here, except Noah, were born before
|
|
Adam died; so that from him they might receive a full and
|
|
satisfactory account of the creation, paradise, the fall, the
|
|
promise, and those divine precepts which concerned religious
|
|
worship and a religious life: and, if any mistake arose, they might
|
|
have recourse to him while he lived, as to an oracle, for the
|
|
rectifying of it, and after his death to Methuselah, and others,
|
|
that had conversed with him: so great was the care of Almighty God
|
|
to preserve in his church the knowledge of his will and the purity
|
|
of his worship.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 5:21-24" id="Gen.vi-p12.2" parsed="|Gen|5|21|5|24" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5.21-Gen.5.24"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.5.21-Gen.5.24">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.vi-p12.3">Translation of Enoch. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.vi-p12.4">b. c.</span> 3017.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.vi-p13">21 And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and
|
|
begat Methuselah:   22 And Enoch walked with God after he
|
|
begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:
|
|
  23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and
|
|
five years:   24 And Enoch walked with God: and he <i>was</i>
|
|
not; for God took him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vi-p14">The accounts here run on for several
|
|
generations without any thing remarkable, or any variation but of
|
|
the names and numbers; but at length there comes in one that must
|
|
not
|
|
|
|
<pb n="49" id="Gen.vi-Page_49"/>
|
|
|
|
be passed over so, of whom special notice
|
|
must be taken, and that is <i>Enoch,</i> the seventh from Adam: the
|
|
rest, we may suppose, did virtuously, but he excelled them all, and
|
|
was the brightest star of the patriarchal age. It is but little
|
|
that is recorded concerning him; but this little is enough to make
|
|
his name great, greater than the name of the other Enoch, who had a
|
|
city called by his name. Here are two things concerning him:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vi-p15">I. His gracious conversation in this world,
|
|
which is twice spoken of: <i>Enoch walked with God after he begat
|
|
Methuselah</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 5:22" id="Gen.vi-p15.1" parsed="|Gen|5|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5.22"><i>v.</i>
|
|
22</scripRef>), and again, <i>Enoch walked with God,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 5:24" id="Gen.vi-p15.2" parsed="|Gen|5|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vi-p16">1. The nature of his religion and the scope
|
|
and tenour of his conversation: he <i>walked with God,</i> which
|
|
denotes, (1.) True religion; what is godliness, but walking with
|
|
God? The ungodly and profane are without God in the world, they
|
|
walk contrary to him: but the godly walk with God, which
|
|
presupposes reconciliation to God, for two cannot <i>walk together
|
|
except they be agreed</i> (<scripRef passage="Am 3:3" id="Gen.vi-p16.1" parsed="|Amos|3|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.3">Amos iii.
|
|
3</scripRef>), and includes all the parts and instances of a godly,
|
|
righteous, and sober life. To walk with God is to set God always
|
|
before us, and to act as those that are always under his eye. It is
|
|
to live a life of communion with God both in ordinances and
|
|
providences. It is to make God's word our rule and his glory our
|
|
end in all our actions. It is to make it our constant care and
|
|
endeavour in every thing to please God, and nothing to offend him.
|
|
It is to comply with his will, to concur with his designs, and to
|
|
be workers together with him. It is to be <i>followers of him as
|
|
dear children.</i> (2.) Eminent religion. He was entirely dead to
|
|
this world, and did not only walk after God, as all good men do,
|
|
but he walked with God, as if he were in heaven already. He lived
|
|
above the rate, not only of other men, but of other saints: not
|
|
only good in bad times, but the best in good times. (3.) Activity
|
|
in promoting religion among others. Executing the priest's office
|
|
is called <i>walking before God,</i> <scripRef passage="1Sa 2:30,35" id="Gen.vi-p16.2" parsed="|1Sam|2|30|0|0;|1Sam|2|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.2.30 Bible:1Sam.2.35">1 Sam. ii. 30, 35</scripRef>, and see <scripRef passage="Zec 3:7" id="Gen.vi-p16.3" parsed="|Zech|3|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zech.3.7">Zech. iii. 7</scripRef>. Enoch, it should seem,
|
|
was a priest of the most high God, and like Noah, who is likewise
|
|
said to walk with God, he was a preacher of righteousness, and
|
|
prophesied of Christ's second coming. <scripRef passage="Jude 1:14" id="Gen.vi-p16.4" parsed="|Jude|1|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jude.1.14">Jude 14</scripRef>, <i>Behold, the Lord cometh with his
|
|
holy myriads.</i> Now the Holy Spirit, instead of saying, Enoch
|
|
<i>lived,</i> says, Enoch <i>walked with God;</i> for it is the
|
|
life of a good man to walk with God. This was, [1.] The business of
|
|
Enoch's life, his constant care and work; while others lived to
|
|
themselves and the world, he lived to God. [2.] It was the joy and
|
|
support of his life. Communion with God was to him better than life
|
|
itself. <i>To me to live is Christ,</i> <scripRef passage="Php 1:21" id="Gen.vi-p16.5" parsed="|Phil|1|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Phil.1.21">Phil. i. 21</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vi-p17">2. The date of his religion. It is said
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 5:21" id="Gen.vi-p17.1" parsed="|Gen|5|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>), <i>he lived
|
|
sixty-five years, and begat Methuselah;</i> but (<scripRef passage="Ge 5:22" id="Gen.vi-p17.2" parsed="|Gen|5|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>) <i>he walked with God after he
|
|
begat Methuselah,</i> which intimates that he did not begin to be
|
|
eminent for piety till about that time; at first he walked but as
|
|
other men. Great saints arrive at their eminence by degrees.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vi-p18">3. The continuance of his religion: he
|
|
walked with God <i>three hundred years,</i> as long as he continued
|
|
in this world. The hypocrite will not pray always; but the real
|
|
saint that acts from a principle, and makes religion his choice,
|
|
will persevere to the end, and walk with God while he lives, as one
|
|
that hopes to live for ever with him, <scripRef passage="Ps 104:33" id="Gen.vi-p18.1" parsed="|Ps|104|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.104.33">Ps. civ. 33</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vi-p19">II. His glorious removal to a better world.
|
|
As he did not live like the rest, so he did not die like the rest
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 5:24" id="Gen.vi-p19.1" parsed="|Gen|5|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>): <i>He was
|
|
not, for God took him;</i> that is, as it is explained (<scripRef passage="Heb 11:5" id="Gen.vi-p19.2" parsed="|Heb|11|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.5">Heb. xi. 5</scripRef>), <i>He was translated
|
|
that he should not see death, and was not found, because God had
|
|
translated him.</i> Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vi-p20">1. When he was thus translated. (1.) What
|
|
time of his life. It was when he had lived but three hundred and
|
|
sixty-five years (a year of years), which, as men's ages went then,
|
|
was in the midst of his days; for there was none of the patriarchs
|
|
before the flood that did not more than double that age. But why
|
|
did God take him so soon? Surely, because the world, which had now
|
|
grown corrupt, was not worthy of him, or because he was so much
|
|
above the world, and so weary of it, as to desire a speedy removal
|
|
out of it, or because his work was done, and done the sooner for
|
|
his minding it so closely. Note, God often takes those soonest whom
|
|
he loves best, and the time they lose on earth is gained in heaven,
|
|
to their unspeakable advantage. (2.) What time of the world. It was
|
|
when all the patriarchs mentioned in this chapter were living,
|
|
except Adam, who died fifty-seven years before, and Noah, who was
|
|
born sixty-nine years after; those two had sensible confirmations
|
|
to their faith other ways, but to all the rest, who were or might
|
|
have been witnesses of Enoch's translation, it was a sensible
|
|
encouragement to their faith and hope concerning a future
|
|
state.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vi-p21">2. How his removal is expressed: <i>He was
|
|
not, for God took him.</i> (1.) He was not any longer in this
|
|
world; it was not the period of his being, but of his being here:
|
|
he was <i>not found,</i> so the apostle explains it from the LXX.;
|
|
not found by his friends, who sought him as the sons of the
|
|
prophets sought Elijah (<scripRef passage="2Ki 2:17" id="Gen.vi-p21.1" parsed="|2Kgs|2|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.2.17">2 Kings ii.
|
|
17</scripRef>); not found by his enemies, who, some think, were in
|
|
quest of him, to put him to death in their rage against him for his
|
|
eminent piety. It appears by his prophecy that there were then many
|
|
ungodly sinners, who spoke hard speeches, and probably did hard
|
|
things too, against God's people (<scripRef passage="Jude 1:15" id="Gen.vi-p21.2" parsed="|Jude|1|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jude.1.15">Jude 15</scripRef>), but God hid Enoch from them, not
|
|
under heaven, but in heaven. (2.) God took him body and soul to
|
|
himself in the heavenly paradise, by the ministry of angels, as
|
|
afterwards he took Elijah. He was changed, as those saints will be
|
|
that shall be found alive at Christ's second coming. Whenever a
|
|
good man dies God takes him,
|
|
|
|
<pb n="50" id="Gen.vi-Page_50"/>
|
|
|
|
fetches him
|
|
hence, and receives him to himself. The apostle adds concerning
|
|
Enoch that, <i>before his translation, he had this testimony, that
|
|
he pleased God,</i> and this was the good report he obtained. Note,
|
|
[1.] Walking with God pleases God. [2.] We cannot walk with God so
|
|
as to please him, but by faith. [3.] God himself will put an honour
|
|
upon those that by faith walk with him so as to please him. He will
|
|
own them now, and witness for them before angels and men at the
|
|
great day. Those that have not this testimony before the
|
|
translation, yet shall have it afterwards. [4.] Those whose
|
|
conversation in the world is truly holy shall find their removal
|
|
out of it truly happy. Enoch's translation was not only an evidence
|
|
to faith of the reality of a future state, and of the possibility
|
|
of the body's existing in glory in that state; but it was an
|
|
encouragement to the hope of all that walk with God that they shall
|
|
be for ever with him: signal piety shall be crowned with signal
|
|
honours.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 5:25-27" id="Gen.vi-p21.3" parsed="|Gen|5|25|5|27" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5.25-Gen.5.27"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.5.25-Gen.5.27">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.vi-p22">25 And Methuselah lived a hundred eighty and
|
|
seven years, and begat Lamech:   26 And Methuselah lived after
|
|
he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons
|
|
and daughters:   27 And all the days of Methuselah were nine
|
|
hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vi-p23">Concerning Methuselah observe, 1. The
|
|
signification of his name, which some think was prophetical, his
|
|
father Enoch being a prophet. <i>Methuselah</i> signifies, <i>he
|
|
dies,</i> or <i>there is a dart,</i> or, <i>a sending forth,</i>
|
|
namely, of the deluge, which came the very year that Methuselah
|
|
died. If indeed his name was so intended and so explained, it was
|
|
fair warning to a careless world, a long time before the judgment
|
|
came. However, this is observable, that the longest liver that ever
|
|
was carried death in his name, that he might be reminded of its
|
|
coming surely, though it came slowly. 2. His age: he lived nine
|
|
hundred and sixty-nine years, the longest we read of that ever any
|
|
man lived on earth; and yet he died. The longest liver must die at
|
|
last. Neither youth nor age will discharge from that war, for that
|
|
is the end of all men: none can challenge life by long
|
|
prescription, nor make that a plea against the arrests of death. It
|
|
is commonly supposed that Methuselah died a little before the
|
|
flood; the Jewish writers say, "seven days before," referring to
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 7:10" id="Gen.vi-p23.1" parsed="|Gen|7|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.10"><i>ch.</i> vii. 10</scripRef>, and that
|
|
he was taken away from the evil to come, which goes upon this
|
|
presumption, which is generally received, that all the patriarchs
|
|
mentioned in this chapter were holy good men. I am loth to offer
|
|
any surmise to the contrary; and yet I see not that this can be any
|
|
more inferred from their enrollment here among the ancestors of
|
|
Christ than that all those kings of Judah were so whose names are
|
|
recorded in his genealogy, many of whom, we are sure, were much
|
|
otherwise: and, if this be questioned, it may be suggested as
|
|
probable that Methuselah was himself drowned with the rest of the
|
|
world; for it is certain that he died that year.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 5:28-32" id="Gen.vi-p23.2" parsed="|Gen|5|28|5|32" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5.28-Gen.5.32"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.5.28-Gen.5.32">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.vi-p23.3">Account of Noah. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.vi-p23.4">b. c.</span> 2448.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.vi-p24">28 And Lamech lived a hundred eighty and two
|
|
years, and begat a son:   29 And he called his name Noah,
|
|
saying, This <i>same</i> shall comfort us concerning our work and
|
|
toil of our hands, because of the ground which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.vi-p24.1">Lord</span> hath cursed.   30 And Lamech lived
|
|
after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat
|
|
sons and daughters:   31 And all the days of Lamech were seven
|
|
hundred seventy and seven years: and he died.   32 And Noah
|
|
was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and
|
|
Japheth.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vi-p25">Here we have the first mention of Noah, of
|
|
whom we shall read much in the following chapters. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vi-p26">I. His name, with the reason of it:
|
|
<i>Noah</i> signifies <i>rest;</i> his parents gave him that name,
|
|
with a prospect of his being a more than ordinary blessing to his
|
|
generation: <i>This same shall comfort us concerning our work and
|
|
toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath
|
|
cursed.</i> Here is, 1. Lamech's complaint of the calamitous state
|
|
of human life. By the entrance of sin, and the entail of the curse
|
|
for sin, our condition has become very miserable: our whole life is
|
|
spent in labour, and our time filled up with continual toil. God
|
|
having cursed the ground, it is as much as some can do, with the
|
|
utmost care and pains, to fetch a hard livelihood out of it. He
|
|
speaks as one fatigued with the business of this life, and grudging
|
|
that so many thoughts and precious minutes, which otherwise might
|
|
have been much better employed, are unavoidably spent for the
|
|
support of the body. 2. His comfortable hopes of some relief by the
|
|
birth of this son: <i>This same shall comfort us,</i> which denotes
|
|
not only the desire and expectation which parents generally have
|
|
concerning their children (that, when they grow up, they will be
|
|
comforts to them and helpers in their business, though they often
|
|
prove otherwise), but an apprehension and prospect of something
|
|
more. Very probably there were some prophecies that went before of
|
|
him, as a person that should be wonderfully serviceable to his
|
|
generation, which they so understood as to conclude that he was the
|
|
promised seed, the Messiah that should come; and then it intimates
|
|
that a covenant-interest in Christ as ours, and the believing
|
|
expectation of his coming, furnish us with the best and surest
|
|
|
|
<pb n="51" id="Gen.vi-Page_51"/>
|
|
|
|
comforts, both in reference to the wrath and
|
|
curse of God which we have deserved and to the toils and troubles
|
|
of this present time of which we are often complaining. "Is Christ
|
|
ours? Is heaven ours? <i>This same shall comfort us.</i>"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vi-p27">II. His children, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
|
|
These Noah begat (the eldest of these) when he was 500 years old.
|
|
It should seem that Japheth was the eldest (<scripRef passage="Ge 10:21" id="Gen.vi-p27.1" parsed="|Gen|10|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10.21"><i>ch.</i> x. 21</scripRef>), but Shem is put first
|
|
because on him the covenant was entailed, as appears by <scripRef passage="Ge 9:26" id="Gen.vi-p27.2" parsed="|Gen|9|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.26"><i>ch.</i> ix. 26</scripRef>, where God is called
|
|
the <i>Lord God of Shem.</i> To him, it is probable, the
|
|
birth-right was given, and from him, it is certain, both Christ the
|
|
head, and the church the body, were to descend. Therefore he is
|
|
called <i>Shem,</i> which signifies a <i>name,</i> because in his
|
|
posterity the name of God should always remain, till he should come
|
|
out of his loins whose name is above every name; so that in putting
|
|
Shem first Christ was, in effect, put first, who in all things must
|
|
have the pre-eminence.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter VI" n="vii" progress="6.53%" prev="Gen.vi" next="Gen.viii" id="Gen.vii">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="51" id="Gen.vii-Page_51"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.vii-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.vii-p0.2">CHAP. VI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.vii-p1">The most remarkable thing we have upon record
|
|
concerning the old world is the destruction of it by the universal
|
|
deluge, the account of which commences in this chapter, wherein we
|
|
have, I. The abounding iniquity of that wicked world, <scripRef passage="Ge 6:1-5" id="Gen.vii-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|6|1|6|5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.1-Gen.6.5">ver. 1-5</scripRef>, and <scripRef passage="Ge 6:11,12" id="Gen.vii-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|6|11|6|12" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.11-Gen.6.12">ver. 11, 12</scripRef>. II. The righteous God's just
|
|
resentment of that abounding iniquity, and his holy resolution to
|
|
punish it, <scripRef passage="Ge 6:6,7" id="Gen.vii-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|6|6|6|7" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.6-Gen.6.7">ver. 6, 7</scripRef>. III.
|
|
The special favour of God to his servant Noah. 1. In the character
|
|
given of him, <scripRef passage="Ge 6:8-10" id="Gen.vii-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|6|8|6|10" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.8-Gen.6.10">ver. 8-10</scripRef>.
|
|
2. In the communication of God's purpose to him, <scripRef passage="Ge 6:13,17" id="Gen.vii-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|6|13|0|0;|Gen|6|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.13 Bible:Gen.6.17">ver. 13, 17</scripRef>. 3. In the directions he gave
|
|
him to make an ark for his own safety, <scripRef passage="Ge 6:14-16" id="Gen.vii-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|6|14|6|16" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.14-Gen.6.16">ver. 14-16</scripRef>. 4. In the employing of him for
|
|
the preservation of the rest of the creatures, <scripRef passage="Ge 6:18-21" id="Gen.vii-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|6|18|6|21" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.18-Gen.6.21">ver. 18-21</scripRef>. Lastly, Noah's obedience to the
|
|
instructions given him, <scripRef passage="Ge 6:22" id="Gen.vii-p1.8" parsed="|Gen|6|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.22">ver.
|
|
22</scripRef>. And this concerning the old world is written for our
|
|
admonition, upon whom the ends of the new world have come.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 6" id="Gen.vii-p1.9" parsed="|Gen|6|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 6:1-2" id="Gen.vii-p1.10" parsed="|Gen|6|1|6|2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.1-Gen.6.2"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.6.1-Gen.6.2">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.vii-p1.11">Depravity of the World. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.vii-p1.12">b. c.</span> 2469.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.vii-p2">1 And it came to pass, when men began to
|
|
multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto
|
|
them,   2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that
|
|
they <i>were</i> fair; and they took them wives of all which they
|
|
chose.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vii-p3">For the glory of God's justice, and for
|
|
warning to a wicked world, before the history of the ruin of the
|
|
old world, we have a full account of its degeneracy, its apostasy
|
|
from God and rebellion against him. The destroying of it was an
|
|
act, not of an absolute sovereignty, but of necessary justice, for
|
|
the maintaining of the honour of God's government. Now here we have
|
|
an account of two things which occasioned the wickedness of the old
|
|
world:—1. The increase of mankind: <i>Men began to multiply upon
|
|
the face of the earth.</i> This was the effect of the blessing
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 1:28" id="Gen.vii-p3.1" parsed="|Gen|1|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.28"><i>ch.</i> i. 28</scripRef>), and yet
|
|
man's corruption so abused and perverted this blessing that it was
|
|
turned into a curse. Thus sin takes occasion by the mercies of God
|
|
to be the more exceedingly sinful. <scripRef passage="Pr 29:16" id="Gen.vii-p3.2" parsed="|Prov|29|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.29.16">Prov. xxix. 16</scripRef>, <i>When the wicked are
|
|
multiplied, transgression increaseth.</i> The more sinners the more
|
|
sin; and the multitude of offenders emboldens men. Infectious
|
|
diseases are most destructive in populous cities; and sin is a
|
|
spreading leprosy. Thus in the New-Testament church, <i>when the
|
|
number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ac 6:1" id="Gen.vii-p3.3" parsed="|Acts|6|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.6.1">Acts vi. 1</scripRef>), and we read of
|
|
a nation that was multiplied, not to the increase of their joy,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 9:3" id="Gen.vii-p3.4" parsed="|Isa|9|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.9.3">Isa. ix. 3</scripRef>. Numerous
|
|
families need to be well-governed, lest they become wicked
|
|
families. 2. Mixed marriages (<scripRef passage="Ge 6:2" id="Gen.vii-p3.5" parsed="|Gen|6|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.2"><i>v.</i>
|
|
2</scripRef>): <i>The sons of God</i> (that is, the professors of
|
|
religion, who were called by the name of the Lord, and called upon
|
|
that name), <i>married the daughters of men,</i> that is, those
|
|
that were profane, and strangers to God and godliness. The
|
|
posterity of Seth did not keep by themselves, as they ought to have
|
|
done, both for the preservation of their own purity and in
|
|
detestation of the apostasy. They intermingled themselves with the
|
|
excommunicated race of Cain: <i>They took them wives of all that
|
|
they chose.</i> But what was amiss in these marriages? (1.) They
|
|
chose only by the eye: <i>They saw that they were fair,</i> which
|
|
was all they looked at. (2.) They followed the choice which their
|
|
own corrupt affections made: they took <i>all that they chose,</i>
|
|
without advice and consideration. But, (3.) That which proved of
|
|
such bad consequence to them was that they <i>married strange
|
|
wives, were unequally yoked with unbelievers,</i> <scripRef passage="2Co 6:14" id="Gen.vii-p3.6" parsed="|2Cor|6|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.6.14">2 Cor. vi. 14</scripRef>. This was forbidden to
|
|
Israel, <scripRef passage="De 7:3,4" id="Gen.vii-p3.7" parsed="|Deut|7|3|7|4" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.3-Deut.7.4">Deut. vii. 3, 4</scripRef>. It
|
|
was the unhappy occasion of Solomon's apostasy (<scripRef passage="1Ki 11:1-4" id="Gen.vii-p3.8" parsed="|1Kgs|11|1|11|4" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.11.1-1Kgs.11.4">1 Kings xi. 1-4</scripRef>), and was of bad
|
|
consequence to the Jews after their return out of Babylon,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ezr 9:1,2" id="Gen.vii-p3.9" parsed="|Ezra|9|1|9|2" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.9.1-Ezra.9.2">Ezra ix. 1, 2</scripRef>. Note,
|
|
professors of religion, in marrying both themselves and their
|
|
children, should make conscience of keeping within the bounds of
|
|
profession. The bad will sooner debauch the good than the good
|
|
reform the bad. Those that profess themselves the children of God
|
|
must not marry without his consent, which they have not if they
|
|
join in affinity with his enemies.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 6:3" id="Gen.vii-p3.10" parsed="|Gen|6|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.3"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.6.3">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.vii-p4">3 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.vii-p4.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also
|
|
<i>is</i> flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty
|
|
years.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vii-p5">This comes in here as a token of God's
|
|
displeasure at those who married strange wives; he threatens to
|
|
withdraw from them his Spirit, whom they had grieved by such
|
|
marriages, contrary to their convictions: fleshly lusts are often
|
|
punished with spiritual judgments, the sorest of all judgments. Or
|
|
as another occasion of the great wickedness of the old world; the
|
|
Spirit of the Lord, being provoked by their resistance of his
|
|
motions, ceased to strive with them, and then all religion was soon
|
|
lost among them. This he warns them of before, that they might not
|
|
further vex his Holy Spirit, but by their prayers might stay him
|
|
with them. Observe in this verse,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vii-p6">I. God's resolution not always to strive
|
|
with man by his Spirit. The Spirit then strove by Noah's preaching
|
|
(<scripRef passage="1Pe 3:19,20" id="Gen.vii-p6.1" parsed="|1Pet|3|19|3|20" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.3.19-1Pet.3.20">1 Pet. iii. 19, 20</scripRef>) and
|
|
by inward checks, but it was in vain with the most of men;
|
|
therefore, says God, <i>He shall not always strive.</i> Note, 1.
|
|
The
|
|
|
|
<pb n="52" id="Gen.vii-Page_52"/>
|
|
|
|
blessed Spirit strives with sinners, by
|
|
the convictions and admonitions of conscience, to turn them from
|
|
sin to God. 2. If the Spirit be resisted, quenched, and striven
|
|
against, though he strive long, he will not strive always,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ho 4:17" id="Gen.vii-p6.2" parsed="|Hos|4|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.4.17">Hos. iv. 17</scripRef>. 3. Those are
|
|
ripening apace for ruin whom the Spirit of grace has left off
|
|
striving with.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vii-p7">II. The reason of this resolution: <i>For
|
|
that he also is flesh,</i> that is, incurably corrupt, and carnal,
|
|
and sensual, so that it is labour lost to strive with him. Can the
|
|
Ethiopian change his skin? <i>He also,</i> that is, All, one as
|
|
well as another, they have all sunk into the mire of flesh. Note,
|
|
1. It is the corrupt nature, and the inclination of the soul
|
|
towards the flesh, that oppose the Spirit's strivings and render
|
|
them ineffectual. 2. When a sinner has long adhered to that
|
|
interest, and sided with the flesh against the Spirit, the Spirit
|
|
justly withdraws his agency, and strives no more. None lose the
|
|
Spirit's strivings but those that have first forfeited them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vii-p8">III. A reprieve granted, notwithstanding:
|
|
<i>Yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years;</i> so long
|
|
I will defer the judgment they deserve, and give them space to
|
|
prevent it by their repentance and reformation. Justice said,
|
|
<i>Cut them down;</i> but mercy interceded, <i>Lord, let them alone
|
|
this year also;</i> and so far mercy prevailed, that a reprieve was
|
|
obtained for six-score years. Note, the time of God's patience and
|
|
forbearance towards provoking sinners is sometimes long, but always
|
|
limited: reprieves are not pardons; though God bear a great while,
|
|
he will not bear always.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 6:4-5" id="Gen.vii-p8.1" parsed="|Gen|6|4|6|5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.4-Gen.6.5"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.6.4-Gen.6.5">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.vii-p9">4 There were giants in the earth in those days;
|
|
and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the
|
|
daughters of men, and they bare <i>children</i> to them, the same
|
|
<i>became</i> mighty men which <i>were</i> of old, men of renown.
|
|
  5 And <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.vii-p9.1">God</span> saw that the
|
|
wickedness of man <i>was</i> great in the earth, and <i>that</i>
|
|
every imagination of the thoughts of his heart <i>was</i> only evil
|
|
continually.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vii-p10">We have here a further account of the
|
|
corruption of the old world. When the <i>sons of God</i> had
|
|
matched with the <i>daughters of men,</i> though it was very
|
|
displeasing to God, yet he did not immediately cut them off, but
|
|
waited to see what would be the issue of these marriages, and which
|
|
side the children would take after; and it proved (as usually it
|
|
does), that they took after the worst side. Here is,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vii-p11">I. The temptation they were under to
|
|
oppress and do violence. They were <i>giants,</i> and they were
|
|
<i>men of renown;</i> they became too hard for all about them, and
|
|
carried all before them, 1. With their great bulk, as the sons of
|
|
Anak, <scripRef passage="Nu 13:33" id="Gen.vii-p11.1" parsed="|Num|13|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.13.33">Num. xiii. 33</scripRef>. 2.
|
|
With their great name, as the king of Assyria, <scripRef passage="Isa 37:11" id="Gen.vii-p11.2" parsed="|Isa|37|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.37.11">Isa. xxxvii. 11</scripRef>. These made them the
|
|
<i>terror of the mighty in the land of the living;</i> and, thus
|
|
armed, they daringly insulted the rights of all their neighbours
|
|
and trampled upon all that is just and sacred. Note, those that
|
|
have so much power over others as to be able to oppress them have
|
|
seldom so much power over themselves as not to oppress; great might
|
|
is a very great snare to many. This degenerate race slighted the
|
|
honour their ancestors had obtained by virtue and religion, and
|
|
made themselves a great name by that which was the perpetual ruin
|
|
of their good name.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vii-p12">II. The charge exhibited and proved against
|
|
them, <scripRef passage="Ge 6:5" id="Gen.vii-p12.1" parsed="|Gen|6|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. The
|
|
evidence produced was incontestable. God saw it, and that was
|
|
instead of a thousand witnesses. God sees all the wickedness that
|
|
is among the children of men; it cannot be concealed from him now,
|
|
and, if it be not repented of, it shall not be concealed by him
|
|
shortly. Now what did God take notice of? 1. He observed that the
|
|
streams of sin that flowed along in men's lives, and the breadth
|
|
and depth of those streams: He <i>saw that the wickedness of man
|
|
was great in the earth.</i> Observe the connection of this with
|
|
what goes before: the oppressors were <i>mighty men and men of
|
|
renown;</i> and, <i>then, God saw that the wickedness of man was
|
|
great.</i> Note, the wickedness of a people is great indeed when
|
|
the most notorious sinners are men of renown among them. Things are
|
|
bad when bad men are not only honoured notwithstanding their
|
|
wickedness, but honoured for their wickedness, and the vilest men
|
|
exalted. Wickedness is then great when great men are wicked. Their
|
|
wickedness was great, that is, abundance of sin was committed in
|
|
all places, by all sorts of people; and such sin as was in its own
|
|
nature most gross, and heinous, and provoking; it was committed
|
|
daringly, and with a defiance of heaven, nor was any care taken by
|
|
those that had power in their hands to restrain and punish it. This
|
|
God saw. Note, all the sins of sinners are known to God the Judge.
|
|
Those that are most conversant in the world, though they see much
|
|
wickedness in it, yet they see but little of that which is; but God
|
|
sees all, and judges aright concerning it, how great it is, nor can
|
|
he be deceived in his judgment. 2. He observed the fountain of sin
|
|
that was in men's hearts. Any one might see that <i>the wickedness
|
|
of man was great,</i> for they declared their sin as Sodom; but
|
|
God's eye went further: <i>He saw that every imagination of the
|
|
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually</i>—a sad sight,
|
|
and very offensive to God's holy eye! This was the bitter root, the
|
|
corrupt spring: all the violence and oppression, all the luxury and
|
|
wantonness, that were in the world, proceeded from the corruption
|
|
of nature; lust conceived them,
|
|
|
|
<pb n="53" id="Gen.vii-Page_53"/>
|
|
|
|
<scripRef passage="Jam 1:15" id="Gen.vii-p12.2" parsed="|Jas|1|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jas.1.15">Jam. i. 15</scripRef>. See <scripRef passage="Mt 15:19" id="Gen.vii-p12.3" parsed="|Matt|15|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.15.19">Matt. xv. 19</scripRef>. (1.) The heart was naught; it
|
|
was deceitful and desperately wicked. The principles were corrupt,
|
|
and the habits and dispositions evil. (2.) The thoughts of the
|
|
heart were so. Thought is sometimes taken for the settled judgment
|
|
or opinion, and this was bribed, and biased, and misled; sometimes
|
|
it signifies the workings of the fancy, and these were always
|
|
either vain or vile, either weaving the spider's web or hatching
|
|
the cockatrice's egg. (3.) The imagination of the thoughts of the
|
|
heart was so, that is, their designs and devices were wicked. They
|
|
did not do evil through mere carelessness, as those that walk at
|
|
all adventures, not heeding what they do; but they did evil
|
|
deliberately and designedly, contriving how to do mischief. It was
|
|
bad indeed; for it was only evil, continually evil, and every
|
|
imagination was so. There was no good to be found among them, no,
|
|
not at any time: the stream of sin was full, and strong, and
|
|
constant; and God saw it; see <scripRef passage="Ps 14:1-3" id="Gen.vii-p12.4" parsed="|Ps|14|1|14|3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.14.1-Ps.14.3">Ps.
|
|
xiv. 1-3</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 6:6-7" id="Gen.vii-p12.5" parsed="|Gen|6|6|6|7" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.6-Gen.6.7"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.6.6-Gen.6.7">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.vii-p12.6">Mankind Threatened with
|
|
Destruction. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.vii-p12.7">b. c.</span> 2469.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.vii-p13">6 And it repented the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.vii-p13.1">Lord</span> that he had made man on the earth, and it
|
|
grieved him at his heart.   7 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.vii-p13.2">Lord</span> said, I will destroy man whom I have
|
|
created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the
|
|
creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that
|
|
I have made them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vii-p14">Here is, I. God's resentment of man's
|
|
wickedness. He did not see it as an unconcerned spectator, but as
|
|
one injured and affronted by it; he saw it as a tender father sees
|
|
the folly and stubbornness of a rebellious and disobedient child,
|
|
which not only angers him, but grieves him, and makes him wish he
|
|
had been written childless. The expressions here used are very
|
|
strange: <i>It repented the Lord that he had made man upon the
|
|
earth,</i> that he had made a creature of such noble powers and
|
|
faculties, and had put him on this earth, which he built and
|
|
furnished on purpose to be a convenient, comfortable, habitation
|
|
for him; <i>and it grieved him at his heart.</i> These are
|
|
expressions after the manner of men, and must be understood so as
|
|
not to reflect upon the honour of God's immutability or felicity.
|
|
1. This language does not imply any passion or uneasiness in God
|
|
(nothing can create disturbance to the Eternal Mind), but it
|
|
expresses his just and holy displeasure against sin and sinners,
|
|
against sin as odious to his holiness and against sinners as
|
|
obnoxious to his justice. He is pressed by the sins of his
|
|
creatures (<scripRef passage="Am 2:13" id="Gen.vii-p14.1" parsed="|Amos|2|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Amos.2.13">Amos ii. 13</scripRef>),
|
|
wearied (<scripRef passage="Isa 43:24" id="Gen.vii-p14.2" parsed="|Isa|43|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.43.24">Isa. xliii. 24</scripRef>),
|
|
broken (<scripRef passage="Eze 6:9" id="Gen.vii-p14.3" parsed="|Ezek|6|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.6.9">Ezek. vi. 9</scripRef>),
|
|
grieved (<scripRef passage="Ps 95:10" id="Gen.vii-p14.4" parsed="|Ps|95|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.95.10">Ps. cxv. 10</scripRef>), and
|
|
here <i>grieved to the heart,</i> as men are when they are wronged
|
|
and abused by those they have been very kind to, and therefore
|
|
repent of their kindness, and wish they had never fostered that
|
|
snake in their bosom which now hisses in their face and stings them
|
|
to the heart. Does God thus hate sin? And shall we not hate it? Has
|
|
our sin grieved him to the heart? And shall we not be grieved and
|
|
pricked to the heart for it? O that this consideration may humble
|
|
us and shame us, and that we may look on him whom we have thus
|
|
grieved, and mourn! <scripRef passage="Zec 12:10" id="Gen.vii-p14.5" parsed="|Zech|12|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zech.12.10">Zech. xii.
|
|
10</scripRef>. 2. It does not imply any change of God's mind; for
|
|
<i>he is in one mind, and who can turn him?</i> With him <i>there
|
|
is not variableness.</i> But it expressed a change of his way. When
|
|
God had made man upright, <i>he rested and was refreshed</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 31:17" id="Gen.vii-p14.6" parsed="|Exod|31|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.31.17">Exod. xxxi. 17</scripRef>), and his
|
|
way towards him was such as showed he was pleased with the work of
|
|
his own hands; but, now that man had apostatized, he could not do
|
|
otherwise than show himself displeased; so that the change was in
|
|
man, not in God. God repented that he had made man; but we never
|
|
find him repenting that he redeemed man (though that was a work of
|
|
much greater expense), because special and effectual grace is given
|
|
to secure the great ends of redemption; so that those <i>gifts and
|
|
callings are without repentance,</i> <scripRef passage="Ro 11:29" id="Gen.vii-p14.7" parsed="|Rom|11|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.11.29">Rom. xi. 29</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vii-p15">II. God's resolution to destroy man for his
|
|
wickedness, <scripRef passage="Ge 6:7" id="Gen.vii-p15.1" parsed="|Gen|6|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>.
|
|
Observe, 1. When God repented that he had made man, he resolved to
|
|
destroy man. Thus those that truly repent of sin will resolve, in
|
|
the strength of God's grace, to mortify sin and to destroy it, and
|
|
so to undo what they have done amiss. We do but mock God in saying
|
|
that we are sorry for our sin, and that it grieves us to the heart,
|
|
if we continue to indulge it. In vain do we pretend a change of our
|
|
mind if we do not evidence it by a change of our way. 2. He
|
|
resolves to destroy man. The original word is very significant:
|
|
<i>I will wipe off man from the earth</i> (so some), as dirt or
|
|
filth is wiped off from a place which should be clean, and is
|
|
thrown to the dunghill, the proper place for it. See <scripRef passage="2Ki 21:13" id="Gen.vii-p15.2" parsed="|2Kgs|21|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.21.13">2 Kings xxi. 13</scripRef>. Those that are the
|
|
spots of the places they live in are justly wiped away by the
|
|
judgments of God. <i>I will blot out man from the earth</i> (so
|
|
others), as those lines which displease the author are blotted out
|
|
a book, or as the name of a citizen is blotted out of the rolls of
|
|
the freemen, when he is dead or disfranchised. 3. He speaks of man
|
|
as his own creature even when he resolves upon his ruin: <i>Man
|
|
whom I have created.</i> "Though I have created him, this shall not
|
|
excuse him," <scripRef passage="Isa 27:11" id="Gen.vii-p15.3" parsed="|Isa|27|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.27.11">Isa. xxvii.
|
|
11</scripRef>. <i>He that made him will not save him;</i> he that
|
|
is our Creator, if he be not our ruler, will be our destroyer. Or,
|
|
"Because I have created him, and he has been so undutiful and
|
|
ungrateful to his Creator, therefore I will destroy him:" those
|
|
forfeit their lives that do not answer the end of their living. 4.
|
|
Even the brute-creatures were to be involved in
|
|
|
|
<pb n="54" id="Gen.vii-Page_54"/>
|
|
|
|
this destruction—<i>Beasts, and creeping things, and
|
|
the fowls of the air.</i> These were made for man, and therefore
|
|
must be destroyed with man; for it follows: <i>It repenteth me that
|
|
I have made them;</i> for the end of their creation also was
|
|
frustrated. They were made that man might serve and honour God with
|
|
them; and therefore were destroyed because he had served his lusts
|
|
with them, and made them subject to vanity. 5. God took up this
|
|
resolution concerning man after his Spirit had been long striving
|
|
with him in vain. None are ruined by the justice of God but those
|
|
that hate to be reformed by the grace of God.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 6:8-10" id="Gen.vii-p15.4" parsed="|Gen|6|8|6|10" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.8-Gen.6.10"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.6.8-Gen.6.10">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.vii-p16">8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.vii-p16.1">Lord</span>.   9 These <i>are</i> the
|
|
generations of Noah: Noah was a just man <i>and</i> perfect in his
|
|
generations, <i>and</i> Noah walked with God.   10 And Noah
|
|
begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vii-p17">We have here Noah distinguished from the
|
|
rest of the world, and a peculiar mark of honour put upon him. 1.
|
|
When God was displeased with the rest of the world, he favoured
|
|
Noah: <i>But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 6:8" id="Gen.vii-p17.1" parsed="|Gen|6|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. This vindicates
|
|
God's justice in his displeasure against the world, and shows that
|
|
he had strictly examined the character of every person in it before
|
|
he pronounced it universally corrupt; for, there being one good
|
|
man, he found him out, and smiled upon him. It also magnifies his
|
|
grace towards Noah that he was made a vessel of God's mercy when
|
|
all mankind besides had become the generation of his wrath:
|
|
distinguishing favours bring under peculiarly strong obligations.
|
|
Probably Noah did not find favour in the eyes of men; they hated
|
|
and persecuted him, because both by his life and preaching he
|
|
<i>condemned the world. But he found grace in the eyes of the
|
|
Lord,</i> and this was honour and comfort enough. God made more
|
|
account of Noah than of all the world besides, and this made him
|
|
greater and more truly honourable than all the giants that were in
|
|
those days, who became mighty men and men of renown. Let this be
|
|
the summit of our ambition, to <i>find grace in the eyes of the
|
|
Lord;</i> herein let us labour, that, present or absent, we may be
|
|
accepted of him, <scripRef passage="2Co 5:9" id="Gen.vii-p17.2" parsed="|2Cor|5|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.5.9">2 Cor. v.
|
|
9</scripRef>. Those are highly favoured whom God favours. 2. When
|
|
the rest of the world was corrupt and wicked, Noah kept his
|
|
integrity: <i>These are the generations of Noah</i> (this is the
|
|
account we have to give of him), <i>Noah was a just man,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 6:9" id="Gen.vii-p17.3" parsed="|Gen|6|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. This character
|
|
of Noah comes in here either, (1.) As the reason of God's favour to
|
|
him; his singular piety qualified him for singular tokens of God's
|
|
loving-kindness. Those that would find grace in the eyes of the
|
|
Lord must be as Noah was and do as Noah did; God loves those that
|
|
love him: or, (2.) As the effect of God's favour to him. It was
|
|
God's good-will to him that produced this good work in him. He was
|
|
a very good man, but he was no better than the grace of God made
|
|
him, <scripRef passage="1Co 15:10" id="Gen.vii-p17.4" parsed="|1Cor|15|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.15.10">1 Cor. xv. 10</scripRef>. Now
|
|
observe his character. [1.] He <i>was a just man,</i> that is,
|
|
justified before God by faith in the promised seed; for he was an
|
|
<i>heir of the righteousness which is by faith,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 11:7" id="Gen.vii-p17.5" parsed="|Heb|11|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.7">Heb. xi. 7</scripRef>. He was sanctified, and
|
|
had right principles and dispositions implanted in him; and he was
|
|
righteous in his conversation, one that made conscience of
|
|
rendering to all their due, to God his due and to men theirs. Note,
|
|
none but a downright honest man can find favour with God. That
|
|
conversation which will be pleasing to God must be governed by
|
|
<i>simplicity and godly sincerity,</i> not by <i>fleshly
|
|
wisdom,</i> <scripRef passage="2Co 1:12" id="Gen.vii-p17.6" parsed="|2Cor|1|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.1.12">2 Cor. i. 12</scripRef>.
|
|
God has sometimes chosen the foolish things of the world, but he
|
|
never chose the knavish things of it. [2.] He was <i>perfect,</i>
|
|
not with a sinless perfection, but a perfection of sincerity; and
|
|
it is well for us that by virtue of the covenant of grace, upon the
|
|
score of Christ's righteousness, sincerity is accepted as our
|
|
gospel perfection. [3.] He <i>walked with God,</i> as Enoch had
|
|
done before him. He was not only honest, but devout; he
|
|
<i>walked,</i> that is, he acted with God, as one always under his
|
|
eye. He lived a life of communion with God; it was his constant
|
|
care to conform himself to the will of God, to please him, and to
|
|
approve himself to him. Note, God looks down upon those with an eye
|
|
of favour who sincerely look up to him with an eye of faith. But,
|
|
[4.] That which crowns his character is that thus he was, and thus
|
|
he did, <i>in his generation,</i> in that corrupt degenerate age in
|
|
which his lot was cast. It is easy to be religious when religion is
|
|
in fashion; but it is an evidence of strong faith and resolution to
|
|
swim against a stream to heaven, and to appear for God when no one
|
|
else appears for him: so Noah did, and it is upon record, to his
|
|
immortal honour.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 6:11-12" id="Gen.vii-p17.7" parsed="|Gen|6|11|6|12" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.11-Gen.6.12"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.6.11-Gen.6.12">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.vii-p17.8">Depravity of the World. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.vii-p17.9">b. c.</span> 2448.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.vii-p18">11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and
|
|
the earth was filled with violence.   12 And God looked upon
|
|
the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted
|
|
his way upon the earth.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vii-p19">The wickedness of that generation is here
|
|
again spoken of, either as a foil to Noah's piety—he was just and
|
|
perfect, when all the earth was corrupt; or as a further
|
|
justification of God's resolution to destroy the world, which he
|
|
was now about to communicate to his servant Noah. 1. All kinds of
|
|
sin was found among them, for it is said (<scripRef passage="Ge 6:11" id="Gen.vii-p19.1" parsed="|Gen|6|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>) that the earth was, (1.)
|
|
<i>Corrupt before God,</i> that is, in the matters of God's
|
|
worship; either they had other gods before him, or they worshipped
|
|
him by images, or they were corrupt and wicked in despite and
|
|
|
|
<pb n="55" id="Gen.vii-Page_55"/>
|
|
|
|
contempt of God, daring him and defying him to
|
|
his face. (2.) <i>The earth was also filled with violence</i> and
|
|
injustice towards men. There was no order nor regular government;
|
|
no man was safe in the possession of that which he had the most
|
|
clear and incontestable right to, no, not the most innocent life;
|
|
there was nothing but murders, rapes, and rapine. Note, wickedness,
|
|
as it is the shame of human nature, so it is the ruin of human
|
|
society. Take away conscience and the fear of God, and men become
|
|
beasts and devils to one another, like the fishes of the sea, where
|
|
the greater devour the less. Sin fills the earth with violence, and
|
|
so turns the world into a wilderness, into a cock-pit. 2. The proof
|
|
and evidence of it were undeniable; for <i>God looked upon the
|
|
earth,</i> and was himself an eye-witness of the corruption that
|
|
was in it, of which before, <scripRef passage="Ge 6:5" id="Gen.vii-p19.2" parsed="|Gen|6|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.5"><i>v.</i>
|
|
5</scripRef>. The righteous Judge in all his judgments proceeds
|
|
upon the infallible certainty of his own omniscience, <scripRef passage="Ps 33:13" id="Gen.vii-p19.3" parsed="|Ps|33|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.33.13">Ps. xxxiii. 13</scripRef>. 3. That which most
|
|
aggravated the matter was the universal spreading of the contagion:
|
|
<i>All flesh had corrupted his way.</i> It was not some particular
|
|
nations or cities that were thus wicked, but the whole world of
|
|
mankind were so; there was none that did good, no, not one besides
|
|
Noah. Note, when wickedness has become general and universal ruin
|
|
is not far off; while there is a remnant of praying people in a
|
|
nation, to empty the measure as it fills, judgments may be kept off
|
|
a great while; but when all hands are at work to pull down the
|
|
fences by sin, and none stand in the gap to make up the breach,
|
|
what can be expected but an inundation of wrath?</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 6:13-21" id="Gen.vii-p19.4" parsed="|Gen|6|13|6|21" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.13-Gen.6.21"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.6.13-Gen.6.21">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.vii-p19.5">Prediction of the Deluge. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.vii-p19.6">b. c.</span> 2448.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.vii-p20">13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh
|
|
is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through
|
|
them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.   14
|
|
Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark,
|
|
and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.   15 And
|
|
this <i>is the fashion</i> which thou shalt make it <i>of:</i> The
|
|
length of the ark <i>shall be</i> three hundred cubits, the breadth
|
|
of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.   16 A
|
|
window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish
|
|
it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side
|
|
thereof; <i>with</i> lower, second, and third <i>stories</i> shalt
|
|
thou make it.   17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of
|
|
waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein <i>is</i> the
|
|
breath of life, from under heaven; <i>and</i> every thing that
|
|
<i>is</i> in the earth shall die.   18 But with thee will I
|
|
establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and
|
|
thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee.   19
|
|
And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every <i>sort</i>
|
|
shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep <i>them</i> alive with thee;
|
|
they shall be male and female.   20 Of fowls after their kind,
|
|
and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the
|
|
earth after his kind, two of every <i>sort</i> shall come unto
|
|
thee, to keep <i>them</i> alive.   21 And take thou unto thee
|
|
of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather <i>it</i> to thee;
|
|
and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vii-p21">Here it appears indeed that Noah <i>found
|
|
grace in the eyes of the Lord.</i> God's favour to him was plainly
|
|
intimated in what he said of him, <scripRef passage="Ge 6:8-10" id="Gen.vii-p21.1" parsed="|Gen|6|8|6|10" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.8-Gen.6.10"><i>v.</i> 8-10</scripRef>, where his name is mentioned
|
|
five times in five lines, when once might have served to make the
|
|
sense clear, as if the Holy Ghost took a pleasure in perpetuating
|
|
his memory; but it appears much more in what he says to him in
|
|
these verses—the informations and instructions here given him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vii-p22">I. God here makes Noah the <i>man of his
|
|
counsel,</i> communicating to him his purpose to destroy this
|
|
wicked world by water. As, afterwards, he told Abraham his
|
|
resolution concerning Sodom (<scripRef passage="Ge 18:17" id="Gen.vii-p22.1" parsed="|Gen|18|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.17"><i>ch.</i> xviii. 17</scripRef>, <i>Shall I hide from
|
|
Abraham?</i>) so here "Shall I hide from Noah <i>the thing that I
|
|
do,</i> seeing that he shall <i>become a great nation?</i>" Note,
|
|
<i>the secret of the Lord is with those that fear him</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ps 25:14" id="Gen.vii-p22.2" parsed="|Ps|25|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.25.14">Ps. xxv. 14</scripRef>); it was with
|
|
<i>his servants the prophets</i> (<scripRef passage="Am 3:7" id="Gen.vii-p22.3" parsed="|Amos|3|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.7">Amos
|
|
iii. 7</scripRef>), by a spirit of revelation, informing them
|
|
particularly of his purposes; it is with all believers by a spirit
|
|
of wisdom and faith, enabling them to understand and apply the
|
|
general declarations of the written word, and the warnings there
|
|
given. Now,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vii-p23">1. God told Noah, in general, that he would
|
|
destroy the world (<scripRef passage="Ge 6:13" id="Gen.vii-p23.1" parsed="|Gen|6|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.13"><i>v.</i>
|
|
13</scripRef>): <i>The end of all flesh has come before me; I will
|
|
destroy them;</i> that is, the ruin of this wicked world is decreed
|
|
and determined; <i>it has come,</i> that is, it will come surely,
|
|
and come quickly. Noah, it is likely, in preaching to his
|
|
neighbours, had warned them, in general, of the wrath of God that
|
|
they would bring upon themselves by their wickedness, and now God
|
|
seconds his endeavours by a particular denunciation of wrath, that
|
|
Noah might try whether this would work upon them. Hence observe,
|
|
(1.) That God <i>confirmeth the words of his messengers,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 44:26" id="Gen.vii-p23.2" parsed="|Isa|44|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.44.26">Isa. xliv. 26</scripRef>. (2.) That
|
|
<i>to him that has,</i> and uses what he has for the good of
|
|
others, <i>more shall be given,</i> more full instructions.</p>
|
|
|
|
<pb n="56" id="Gen.vii-Page_56"/>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vii-p24">2. He told him, particularly, that he would
|
|
destroy the world by a flood of waters: <i>And behold, I, even I,
|
|
do bring a flood of waters upon the earth,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 6:17" id="Gen.vii-p24.1" parsed="|Gen|6|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. God could have destroyed all
|
|
mankind by the sword of an angel, a flaming sword turning every
|
|
way, as he destroyed all the first-born of the Egyptians and the
|
|
camp of the Assyrians; and then there needed no more than to set a
|
|
mark upon Noah and his family for their preservation. But God chose
|
|
to do it by a <i>flood of waters,</i> which should drown the world.
|
|
The reasons, we may be sure, were wise and just, though to us
|
|
unknown. God has many arrows in his quiver, and he may use which he
|
|
please: as he chooses the rod with which he will correct his
|
|
children, so he chooses the sword with which he will cut off his
|
|
enemies. Observe the manner of expression: "<i>I, even I, do bring
|
|
a flood;</i> I that am infinite in power, and therefore <i>can</i>
|
|
do it, infinite in justice, and therefore <i>will</i> do it." (1.)
|
|
It intimates the certainty of the judgment: <i>I, even I,</i> will
|
|
do it. That cannot but be done effectually which God himself
|
|
undertakes the doing of. See <scripRef passage="Job 11:10" id="Gen.vii-p24.2" parsed="|Job|11|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.11.10">Job xi.
|
|
10</scripRef>. (2.) It intimates the tendency of it to God's glory
|
|
and the honour of his justice. Thus he will be magnified and
|
|
exalted in the earth, and all the world shall be made to know that
|
|
he is the God <i>to whom vengeance belongs;</i> methinks the
|
|
expression here is somewhat like that, <scripRef passage="Isa 1:24" id="Gen.vii-p24.3" parsed="|Isa|1|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.24">Isa. i. 24</scripRef>, <i>Ah, I will ease me of mine
|
|
adversaries.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vii-p25">II. God here makes Noah the <i>man of his
|
|
covenant,</i> another Hebrew periphrasis of a friend (<scripRef passage="Ge 6:18" id="Gen.vii-p25.1" parsed="|Gen|6|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>): <i>But with thee will I
|
|
establish my covenant.</i> 1. The covenant of providence, that the
|
|
course of nature shall be continued to the end of time,
|
|
notwithstanding the interruption which the flood would give to it.
|
|
This promise was immediately made to Noah and his sons, <scripRef passage="Ge 9:8-11" id="Gen.vii-p25.2" parsed="|Gen|9|8|9|11" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.8-Gen.9.11"><i>ch.</i> ix. 8</scripRef>, &c. They were
|
|
as trustees for all this part of the creation, and a great honour
|
|
was thereby put upon him and his. 2. The covenant of grace, that
|
|
God would be to him a God and that out of his seed God would take
|
|
to himself a people. Note, (1.) When God makes a covenant, he
|
|
establishes it, he makes it sure, he makes it good; his are
|
|
everlasting covenants. (2.) The covenant of grace has in it the
|
|
recompence of singular services, and the fountain and foundation of
|
|
all distinguishing favours; we need desire no more, either to make
|
|
up our losses for God or to make up a happiness for us in God, than
|
|
to have his covenant established with us.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vii-p26">III. God here makes Noah a monument of
|
|
sparing mercy, by putting him in a way to secure himself in the
|
|
approaching deluge, that he might not perish with the rest of the
|
|
world: <i>I will destroy them,</i> says God, <i>with the earth,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 6:13" id="Gen.vii-p26.1" parsed="|Gen|6|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. "But <i>make
|
|
thee an ark;</i> I will take care to preserve thee alive." Note,
|
|
singular piety shall be recompensed with distinguishing salvations,
|
|
which are in a special manner obliging. This will add much to the
|
|
honour and happiness of glorified saints, that they shall be saved
|
|
when the greatest part of the world is left to perish. Now,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vii-p27">1. God directs Noah to <i>make an ark,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 6:14-16" id="Gen.vii-p27.1" parsed="|Gen|6|14|6|16" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.14-Gen.6.16"><i>v.</i> 14-16</scripRef>. This ark
|
|
was like the hulk of a ship, fitted not to sail upon the waters
|
|
(there was no occasion for that, when there should be no shore to
|
|
sail to), but to float upon the waters, waiting for their fall. God
|
|
could have secured Noah by the ministration of angels, without
|
|
putting him to any care, or pains, or trouble, himself; but he
|
|
chose to employ him in making that which was to be the means of his
|
|
preservation, both for the trial of his faith and obedience and to
|
|
teach us that none shall be saved by Christ but those only that
|
|
<i>work out their salvation.</i> We cannot do it without God, and
|
|
he will not without us. Both the providence of God, and the grace
|
|
of God, own and crown the endeavours of the obedient and diligent.
|
|
God gave him very particular instructions concerning this building,
|
|
which could not but be admirably well fitted for the purpose when
|
|
Infinite Wisdom itself was the architect. (1.) It must be made of
|
|
<i>gopher-wood.</i> Noah, doubtless, knew what sort of wood that
|
|
was, though we now do not, whether cedar, or cypress, or what
|
|
other. (2.) He must make it three stories high within. (3.) He must
|
|
divide it into cabins, with partitions, places fitted for the
|
|
several sorts of creatures, so as to lose no room. (4.) Exact
|
|
dimensions were given him, that he might make it proportionable,
|
|
and might have room enough in it to answer the intention and no
|
|
more. Note, those that work for God must take their measures from
|
|
him and carefully observe them. Note, further, it is fit that he
|
|
who appoints us our habitation should fix the bounds and limits of
|
|
it. (5.) He must <i>pitch it within and without</i>—without, to
|
|
shed off the rain, and to prevent the water from soaking
|
|
in—within, to take away the bad smell of the beasts when kept
|
|
close. Observe,
|
|
God does not bid him paint it, but pitch it. If God
|
|
gives us habi/tations that are safe, and warm, and wholesome, we are
|
|
bound to be thankful, though they are not magnificent or nice. (6.)
|
|
He must make a little window towards the top, to let in light, and
|
|
(some think) that through that window he might behold the
|
|
desolations to be made in the earth. (7.) He must make a door in
|
|
the side of it, by which to go in and out.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vii-p28">2. God promises Noah that he and his shall
|
|
be preserved alive in the ark (<scripRef passage="Ge 6:18" id="Gen.vii-p28.1" parsed="|Gen|6|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>): <i>Thou shalt come into the
|
|
ark.</i> Note, what we do in obedience to God, we ourselves are
|
|
likely to have the comfort and benefit of. <i>If thou be wise, thou
|
|
shalt be wise for thyself.</i> Nor was he himself only saved in the
|
|
ark, but <i>his wife, and his sons, and his sons' wives.</i>
|
|
Observe, (1.) The care of good parents; they are solicitous not
|
|
only for their own
|
|
|
|
<pb n="57" id="Gen.vii-Page_57"/>
|
|
|
|
salvation, but for the
|
|
salvation of their families, and especially their children. (2.)
|
|
The happiness of those children that have godly parents. Their
|
|
parents' piety often procures them temporal salvation, as here; and
|
|
it furthers them in the way to eternal salvation, if they improve
|
|
the benefit of it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vii-p29">IV. God here makes Noah a great blessing to
|
|
the world, and herein makes him an eminent type of the Messiah,
|
|
though not the Messiah himself, as his parents expected, <scripRef passage="Ge 5:29" id="Gen.vii-p29.1" parsed="|Gen|5|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5.29"><i>ch.</i> v. 29</scripRef>. 1. God made him a
|
|
preacher to the men of that generation. As a watchman, he received
|
|
the word from God's mouth, that he might give them warning,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Eze 3:17" id="Gen.vii-p29.2" parsed="|Ezek|3|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.3.17">Ezek. iii. 17</scripRef>. Thus,
|
|
<i>while the long-suffering of God waited,</i> by his Spirit in
|
|
Noah, he <i>preached to</i> the old world, who, when Peter wrote,
|
|
were <i>spirits in prison</i> (<scripRef passage="1Pe 3:18-20" id="Gen.vii-p29.3" parsed="|1Pet|3|18|3|20" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.3.18-1Pet.3.20">1
|
|
Pet. iii. 18-20</scripRef>), and herein he was a type of Christ,
|
|
who, in a land and age wherein all flesh had corrupted their way,
|
|
went about preaching repentance and warning men of a deluge of
|
|
wrath coming. 2. God made him a saviour to the inferior creatures,
|
|
to keep the several kinds of them from perishing and being lost in
|
|
the deluge, <scripRef passage="Ge 6:19-21" id="Gen.vii-p29.4" parsed="|Gen|6|19|6|21" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.19-Gen.6.21"><i>v.</i>
|
|
19-21</scripRef>. This was a great honour put upon him, that not
|
|
only in him the race of mankind should be kept up, and that from
|
|
him should proceed a new world, the church, the soul of the world,
|
|
and Messiah, the head of that church, but that he should be
|
|
instrumental to preserve the inferior creatures, and so mankind
|
|
should in him acquire a new title to them and their service. (1.)
|
|
He was to provide shelter for them, that they might not be drowned.
|
|
<i>Two of every sort, male and female,</i> he must take with him
|
|
into the ark; and lest he should make any difficulty of gathering
|
|
them together, and getting them in, God promises (<scripRef passage="Ge 6:20" id="Gen.vii-p29.5" parsed="|Gen|6|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>) that they shall of their
|
|
own accord come to him. He that makes the ox to know his owner and
|
|
his crib then made him know his preserver and his ark. (2.) He was
|
|
to provide sustenance for them, that they might not be starved,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 6:21" id="Gen.vii-p29.6" parsed="|Gen|6|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. He must
|
|
victual his ship according to the number of his crew, that great
|
|
family which he had now the charge of, and according to the time
|
|
appointed for his confinement. Herein also he was a type of Christ,
|
|
to whom it is owing that the world stands, by whom all things
|
|
consist, and who preserves mankind from being totally cut off and
|
|
ruined by sin; in him the holy seed is saved alive, and the
|
|
creation rescued from the vanity under which it groans. Noah saved
|
|
those whom he was to rule, so does Christ, <scripRef passage="Heb 5:9" id="Gen.vii-p29.7" parsed="|Heb|5|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.5.9">Heb. v. 9</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 6:22" id="Gen.vii-p29.8" parsed="|Gen|6|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.22"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.6.22">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.vii-p30">22 Thus did Noah; according to all that God
|
|
commanded him, so did he.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.vii-p31">Noah's care and diligence in building the
|
|
ark may be considered, 1. As an effect of his faith in the word of
|
|
God. God had told him he would shortly drown the world; he believed
|
|
it, feared the threatened deluge, and, in that fear, prepared the
|
|
ark. Note, we ought to mix faith with the revelation God has made
|
|
of his wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men;
|
|
the threatenings of the word are not false alarms. Much might have
|
|
been objected against the credibility of this warning given to
|
|
Noah. "Who could believe that the wise God, who made the world,
|
|
should so soon unmake it again, that he who had drawn the waters
|
|
off the dry land (<scripRef passage="Ge 1:9,10" id="Gen.vii-p31.1" parsed="|Gen|1|9|1|10" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.9-Gen.1.10"><i>ch.</i> i. 9,
|
|
10</scripRef>) should cause them to cover it again? How would this
|
|
be reconciled with the mercy of God, which is over all his works,
|
|
especially that the innocent creatures should die for man's sin?
|
|
Whence could water be had sufficient to deluge the world? And, if
|
|
it must be so, why should notice be given of it to Noah only?" But
|
|
Noah's faith triumphed over all these corrupt reasonings. 2. As an
|
|
act of obedience to the command of God. Had he consulted with flesh
|
|
and blood, many objections would have been raised against it. To
|
|
rear a building, such a one as he never saw, so large, and of such
|
|
exact dimensions, would put him upon a great deal of care, and
|
|
labour, and expense. It would be a work of time; the vision was for
|
|
a great while to come. His neighbours would ridicule him for his
|
|
credulity, and he would be the song of the drunkards; his building
|
|
would be called <i>Noah's folly.</i> If the worst came to the
|
|
worst, as we say, each would fare as well as his neighbours. But
|
|
these, and a thousand such objections, Noah by faith got over. His
|
|
obedience was ready and resolute: <i>Thus did Noah,</i> willingly
|
|
and cheerfully, without murmuring and disputing. God says, <i>Do
|
|
this,</i> and he does it. It was also punctual and persevering: he
|
|
did all exactly according to the instructions given him, and,
|
|
having begun to build, did not leave off till he had finished it;
|
|
so did he, and so must we do. 3. As an instance of wisdom for
|
|
himself, thus to provide for his own safety. He feared the deluge,
|
|
and therefore prepared the ark. Note, when God gives warning of
|
|
approaching judgments, it is our wisdom and duty to provide
|
|
accordingly. See <scripRef passage="Ex 9:20-21,Eze 3:18" id="Gen.vii-p31.2" parsed="|Exod|9|20|9|21;|Ezek|3|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.20-Exod.9.21 Bible:Ezek.3.18">Exod. ix.
|
|
20, 21; Ezek. iii. 18</scripRef>. We must prepare to meet the Lord
|
|
in his judgments on earth, flee to his name as a strong tower
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Pr 18:10" id="Gen.vii-p31.3" parsed="|Prov|18|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.18.10">Prov. xviii. 10</scripRef>), enter
|
|
into our chambers (<scripRef passage="Isa 26:20,21" id="Gen.vii-p31.4" parsed="|Isa|26|20|26|21" osisRef="Bible:Isa.26.20-Isa.26.21">Isa. xxvi. 20,
|
|
21</scripRef>), especially prepare to meet him at death and in the
|
|
judgment of the great day, build upon Christ the Rock (<scripRef passage="Mt 7:24" id="Gen.vii-p31.5" parsed="|Matt|7|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.7.24">Matt. vii. 24</scripRef>), go into Christ the
|
|
Ark. 4. As intended for warning to a careless world; and it was
|
|
fair warning of the deluge coming. Every blow of his axes and
|
|
hammers was a call to repentance, a call to them to prepare arks
|
|
too. But, since by it he could not convince the world, by it he
|
|
condemned the world, <scripRef passage="Heb 11:7" id="Gen.vii-p31.6" parsed="|Heb|11|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.7">Heb. xi.
|
|
7</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter VII" n="viii" progress="7.30%" prev="Gen.vii" next="Gen.ix" id="Gen.viii">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="57" id="Gen.viii-Page_57"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.viii-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.viii-p0.2">CHAP. VII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.viii-p1">In this chapter we have the performance of what
|
|
was foretold in the foregoing chapter, both concerning the
|
|
destruction of the old world and the salvation of Noah; for we may
|
|
be sure that no
|
|
|
|
<pb n="58" id="Gen.viii-Page_58"/>
|
|
|
|
word of God shall fall to the
|
|
ground. There we left Noah busy about his ark, and full of care to
|
|
get it finished in time, while the rest of his neighbours were
|
|
laughing at him for his pains. Now here we see what was the end
|
|
thereof, the end of his care and of their carelessness. And this
|
|
famous period of the old world gives us some idea of the state of
|
|
things when the world that now is shall be destroyed by fire, as
|
|
that was by water. See <scripRef passage="2Pe 3:6,7" id="Gen.viii-p1.1" parsed="|2Pet|3|6|3|7" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.3.6-2Pet.3.7">2 Pet. iii. 6,
|
|
7</scripRef>. We have, in this chapter, I. God's gracious call to
|
|
Noah to come into the ark (<scripRef passage="Ge 7:1" id="Gen.viii-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|7|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.1">ver.
|
|
1</scripRef>), and to bring the creatures that were to be preserved
|
|
alive along with him (<scripRef passage="Ge 7:2,3" id="Gen.viii-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|7|2|7|3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.2-Gen.7.3">ver. 2,
|
|
3</scripRef>), in consideration of the deluge at hand, <scripRef passage="Ge 7:4" id="Gen.viii-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|7|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.4">ver. 4</scripRef>. II. Noah's obedience to this
|
|
heavenly vision, <scripRef passage="Ge 7:5" id="Gen.viii-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|7|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.5">ver. 5</scripRef>. When
|
|
he was six hundred years old, he came with his family into the ark
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 7:6,7" id="Gen.viii-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|7|6|7|7" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.6-Gen.7.7">ver. 6, 7</scripRef>), and brought
|
|
the creatures along with him (<scripRef passage="Ge 7:8,9" id="Gen.viii-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|7|8|7|9" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.8-Gen.7.9">ver. 8,
|
|
9</scripRef>), an account of which is repeated (<scripRef passage="Ge 7:13-16" id="Gen.viii-p1.8" parsed="|Gen|7|13|7|16" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.13-Gen.7.16">ver. 13-16</scripRef>), to which is added God's tender
|
|
care to shut him in. III. The coming of the threatened deluge
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 7:10" id="Gen.viii-p1.9" parsed="|Gen|7|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.10">ver. 10</scripRef>); the causes of it
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 7:11,12" id="Gen.viii-p1.10" parsed="|Gen|7|11|7|12" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.11-Gen.7.12">ver. 11, 12</scripRef>): the
|
|
prevalency of it, <scripRef passage="Ge 7:17-20" id="Gen.viii-p1.11" parsed="|Gen|7|17|7|20" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.17-Gen.7.20">ver.
|
|
17-20</scripRef>. IV. The dreadful desolations that were made by it
|
|
in the death of every living creature upon earth, except those that
|
|
were in the ark, <scripRef passage="Ge 7:21-23" id="Gen.viii-p1.12" parsed="|Gen|7|21|7|23" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.21-Gen.7.23">ver.
|
|
21-23</scripRef>. V. The continuance of it in full sea, before it
|
|
began to ebb, one hundred and fifty days, <scripRef passage="Ge 7:24" id="Gen.viii-p1.13" parsed="|Gen|7|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.24">ver. 24</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 7" id="Gen.viii-p1.14" parsed="|Gen|7|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 7:1-4" id="Gen.viii-p1.15" parsed="|Gen|7|1|7|4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.1-Gen.7.4"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.7.1-Gen.7.4">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.viii-p1.16">Noah Invited into the Ark. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.viii-p1.17">b. c.</span> 2349.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.viii-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.viii-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee
|
|
have I seen righteous before me in this generation.   2 Of
|
|
every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and
|
|
his female: and of beasts that <i>are</i> not clean by two, the
|
|
male and his female.   3 Of fowls also of the air by sevens,
|
|
the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all
|
|
the earth.   4 For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain
|
|
upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living
|
|
substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the
|
|
earth.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.viii-p3">Here is, I. A gracious invitation of Noah
|
|
and his family into a place of safety, now that the flood of waters
|
|
was coming, <scripRef passage="Ge 7:1" id="Gen.viii-p3.1" parsed="|Gen|7|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.viii-p4">1. The call itself is very kind, like that
|
|
of a tender father to his children, to come in doors, when he sees
|
|
night or a storm coming: <i>Come thou, and all thy house,</i> that
|
|
small family that thou hast, <i>into the ark.</i> Observe, (1.)
|
|
Noah did not go into the ark till God bade him; though he knew it
|
|
was designed for his place of refuge, yet he waited for a renewed
|
|
command, and had it. It is very comfortable to follow the calls of
|
|
Providence, and to see God going before us in every step we take.
|
|
(2.) God does not bid him <i>go</i> into the ark, but <i>come</i>
|
|
into it, implying that God would go with him, would lead him into
|
|
it, accompany him in it, and in due time bring him safely out of
|
|
it. Note, wherever we are, it is very desirable to have the
|
|
presence of God with us, for this is all in all to the comfort of
|
|
every condition. It was this that made Noah's ark, which was a
|
|
prison, to be to him not only a refuge, but a palace. (3.) Noah had
|
|
taken a great deal of pains to build the ark, and now he was
|
|
himself preserved alive in it. Note, what we do in obedience to the
|
|
command of God, and in faith, we ourselves shall certainly have the
|
|
comfort of, first or last. (4.) Not he only, but his house also,
|
|
his wife and children, are called with him into the ark. Note, It
|
|
is good to belong to the family of a godly man; it is safe and
|
|
comfortable to dwell under such a shadow. One of Noah's sons was
|
|
Ham, who proved afterwards a bad man, yet he was saved in the ark,
|
|
which intimates, [1.] That wicked children often fare the better
|
|
for the sake of their godly parents. [2.] That there is a mixture
|
|
of bad with good in the best societies on earth, and we are not to
|
|
think it strange. In Noah's family there was a Ham, and in Christ's
|
|
family there was a Judas. There is no perfect purity on this side
|
|
heaven. (5.) This call to Noah was a type of the call which the
|
|
gospel gives to poor sinners. Christ is an ark already prepared, in
|
|
whom alone we can be safe when death and judgment come. Now the
|
|
burden of the song is, "Come, come;" the word says, "Come;"
|
|
ministers say, "Come;" the Spirit says, "Come, come into the
|
|
ark."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.viii-p5">2. The reason for this invitation is a very
|
|
honourable testimony to Noah's integrity: <i>For thee have I seen
|
|
righteous before me in this generation.</i> Observe, (1.) Those are
|
|
righteous indeed that are righteous before God, that have not only
|
|
the form of godliness by which they appear righteous before men,
|
|
who may easily be imposed upon, but the power of it by which they
|
|
approve themselves to God, who searches the heart, and cannot be
|
|
deceived in men's characters. (2.) God takes notice of and is
|
|
pleased with those that are righteous before him: <i>Thee have I
|
|
seen.</i> In a world of wicked people God could see one righteous
|
|
Noah; that single grain of wheat could not be lost, no, not in so
|
|
great a heap of chaff. <i>The Lord knows those that are his.</i>
|
|
(3.) God, that is a witness to, will shortly be a witness for, his
|
|
people's integrity; he that sees it will proclaim it before angels
|
|
and men, to their immortal honour. Those that obtain mercy to be
|
|
righteous shall obtain witness that they are righteous. (4.) God
|
|
is, in a special manner, pleased with those that are good in bad
|
|
times and places. Noah was therefore illustriously righteous,
|
|
because he was so in that wicked and adulterous generation. (5.)
|
|
Those that keep themselves pure in times of common iniquity God
|
|
will keep safe in times of common calamity; those that partake not
|
|
with others in their sins shall not partake with them in their
|
|
plagues; those that are better than others are, even in this life,
|
|
safer than others, and it is better with them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.viii-p6">II. Here are necessary orders given
|
|
concerning the brute-creatures that were to be preserved alive with
|
|
Noah in the ark, <scripRef passage="Ge 7:2,3" id="Gen.viii-p6.1" parsed="|Gen|7|2|7|3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.2-Gen.7.3"><i>v.</i> 2,
|
|
3</scripRef>. They were not capable of receiving the warning and
|
|
directions themselves, as man was, who herein is taught <i>more
|
|
than the beasts of the earth, and made wiser than the fowls of
|
|
heaven</i>—that he is endued with the power of foresight;
|
|
therefore man is charged with the care of them: being under his
|
|
dominion, they must be under his protection; and, though he could
|
|
not secure every individual,
|
|
|
|
<pb n="59" id="Gen.viii-Page_59"/>
|
|
|
|
yet he must
|
|
carefully preserve every species, that no tribe, no, not the least
|
|
considerable, might entirely perish out of the creation. Observe in
|
|
this, 1. God's care for man, for his comfort and benefit. We do not
|
|
find that Noah was solicitous of himself about this matter; but God
|
|
consults our happiness more than we do ourselves. Though God saw
|
|
that the old world was very provoking, and foresaw that the new one
|
|
would be little better, yet he would preserve the brute creatures
|
|
for man's use. <i>Doth God take care for oxen?</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 9:9" id="Gen.viii-p6.2" parsed="|1Cor|9|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.9.9">1 Cor. ix. 9</scripRef>. Or was it not rather for
|
|
man's sake that this care was taken? 2. Even the unclean beasts,
|
|
which were least valuable and profitable, were preserved alive in
|
|
the ark; for God's tender mercies are over all his works, and not
|
|
over those only that are of most eminence and use. 3. Yet more of
|
|
the clean were preserved than of the unclean. (1.) Because the
|
|
clean were most for the service of man; and therefore, in favour to
|
|
him, more of them were preserved and are still propagated. Thanks
|
|
be to God, there are not herds of lions as there are of oxen, nor
|
|
flocks of tigers as there are of sheep. (2.) Because the clean were
|
|
for sacrifice to God; and therefore, in honour to him, more of them
|
|
were preserved, three couple for breed, and the odd seventh for
|
|
sacrifice, <scripRef passage="Ge 8:20" id="Gen.viii-p6.3" parsed="|Gen|8|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.8.20"><i>ch.</i> viii.
|
|
20</scripRef>. God gives us six for one in earthly things, as in
|
|
the distribution of the days of the week, that in spiritual things
|
|
we should be all for him. What is devoted to God's honour, and used
|
|
in his service, is particularly blessed and increased.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.viii-p7">III. Here is notice given of the now
|
|
imminent approach of the flood: <i>Yet seven days, and I will cause
|
|
it to rain,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 7:4" id="Gen.viii-p7.1" parsed="|Gen|7|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>.
|
|
1. "It shall be seven days <i>yet,</i> before I do it." After the
|
|
hundred and twenty years had expired, God grants them a reprieve of
|
|
seven days longer, both to show how slow he is to anger and that
|
|
punishing work is his strange work, and also to give them some
|
|
further space for repentance: but all in vain; these seven days
|
|
were trifled away, after all the rest; they continued secure and
|
|
sensual until the day that the flood came. 2. "It shall be
|
|
<i>but</i> seven days." While Noah told them of the judgment at a
|
|
distance, they were tempted to put off their repentance, because
|
|
the vision was for a great while to come; but now he is ordered to
|
|
tell them that it is at the door, that they have but one week more
|
|
to turn them in, but one sabbath more to improve, to see if that
|
|
will now, at last, awaken them to consider the things that belong
|
|
to their peace, which otherwise will soon be hidden from their
|
|
eyes. But it is common for those that have been careless of their
|
|
souls during the years of their health, when they have looked upon
|
|
death at a distance, to be as careless during the days, the seven
|
|
days, of their sickness, when they see it approaching, their hearts
|
|
being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 7:5-10" id="Gen.viii-p7.2" parsed="|Gen|7|5|7|10" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.5-Gen.7.10"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.7.5-Gen.7.10">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.viii-p7.3">The Deluge. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.viii-p7.4">b. c.</span> 2349.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.viii-p8">5 And Noah did according unto all that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.viii-p8.1">Lord</span> commanded him.   6 And Noah
|
|
<i>was</i> six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon
|
|
the earth.   7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife,
|
|
and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters
|
|
of the flood.   8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that
|
|
<i>are</i> not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that
|
|
creepeth upon the earth,   9 There went in two and two unto
|
|
Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded
|
|
Noah.   10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the
|
|
waters of the flood were upon the earth.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.viii-p9">Here is Noah's ready obedience to the
|
|
commands that God gave him. Observe, 1. He went into the ark, upon
|
|
notice that the flood would come after seven days, though probably
|
|
as yet there appeared no visible sign of its approach, no cloud
|
|
arising that threatened it, nothing done towards it, but all
|
|
continued serene and clear; for, as he prepared the ark by faith in
|
|
the warning given that the flood would come, so he went into it by
|
|
faith in this warning that it would come quickly, though he did not
|
|
see that the second causes had yet begun to work. In every step he
|
|
took, he walked by faith, and not by sense. During these seven
|
|
days, it is likely, he was settling himself and his family in the
|
|
ark, and distributing the creatures into their several apartments.
|
|
This was the conclusion of that visible sermon which he had long
|
|
been preaching to his careless neighbours, and which, one would
|
|
think, might have awakened them; but, not obtaining that desired
|
|
end, it left their blood upon their own heads. 2. He took all his
|
|
family along with him, his wife, to be his companion and comfort
|
|
(though it should seem that, after this, he had no children by
|
|
her), his sons, and his sons' wives, that by them not only his
|
|
family, but the world of mankind, might be built up. Observe,
|
|
Though men were to be reduced to so small a number, and it would be
|
|
very desirable to have the world speedily repeopled, yet Noah's
|
|
sons were each of them to have but one wife, which strengthens the
|
|
argument against having many wives; for from the beginning of this
|
|
new world it was not so: as, at first, God made, so now he kept
|
|
alive, but one woman for one man. See <scripRef passage="Mt 19:4,8" id="Gen.viii-p9.1" parsed="|Matt|19|4|0|0;|Matt|19|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.19.4 Bible:Matt.19.8">Matt. xix. 4, 8</scripRef>. 3. The brute creatures
|
|
readily went in with him. The same hand that at first brought them
|
|
to Adam to be named now brought them to Noah to be preserved. The
|
|
ox now knew his owner, and the ass his protector's crib, nay, even
|
|
the wildest creatures flocked to it; but man had become more
|
|
brutish than the brutes
|
|
|
|
<pb n="60" id="Gen.viii-Page_60"/>
|
|
|
|
themselves, and did
|
|
not know, did not consider, <scripRef passage="Isa 1:3" id="Gen.viii-p9.2" parsed="|Isa|1|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.3">Isa. i.
|
|
3</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 7:11-12" id="Gen.viii-p9.3" parsed="|Gen|7|11|7|12" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.11-Gen.7.12"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.7.11-Gen.7.12">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.viii-p10">11 In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in
|
|
the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day
|
|
were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows
|
|
of heaven were opened.   12 And the rain was upon the earth
|
|
forty days and forty nights.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.viii-p11">Here is, I. The date of this great event;
|
|
this is carefully recorded, for the greater certainty of the
|
|
story.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.viii-p12">1. It was in the 600th year of Noah's life,
|
|
which, by computation, appears to be 1656 years from the creation.
|
|
The years of the old world are reckoned, not by the reigns of the
|
|
giants, but the lives of the patriarchs; saints are of more account
|
|
with God than princes. <i>The righteous shall be had in everlasting
|
|
remembrance.</i> Noah was now a very old man, even as men's years
|
|
went then. Note, (1.) The longer we live in this world the more we
|
|
see of the miseries and calamities of it; it is therefore spoken of
|
|
as the privilege of those that die young that their <i>eyes shall
|
|
not see the evil</i> which is coming, <scripRef passage="2Ki 22:20" id="Gen.viii-p12.1" parsed="|2Kgs|22|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.22.20">2 Kings xxii. 20</scripRef>. (2.) Sometimes God
|
|
exercises his old servants with extraordinary trials of obedient
|
|
patience. The oldest of Christ's soldiers must not promise
|
|
themselves a discharge from their warfare till death discharge
|
|
them. Still they must gird on their harness, and not boast as
|
|
though they had put it off. As the year of the deluge is recorded,
|
|
so,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.viii-p13">2. We are told that it was in the <i>second
|
|
month, the seventeenth day of the month,</i> which is reckoned to
|
|
be about the beginning of November; so that Noah had had a harvest
|
|
just before, from which to victual his ark.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.viii-p14">II. The second causes that concurred to
|
|
this deluge. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.viii-p15">1. In the self-same day that Noah was fixed
|
|
in the ark, the inundation began. Note, (1.) Desolating judgments
|
|
come not till God has provided for the security of his own people;
|
|
see <scripRef passage="Ge 19:22" id="Gen.viii-p15.1" parsed="|Gen|19|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.22"><i>ch.</i> xix. 22</scripRef>, I
|
|
can <i>do nothing till thou be come thither:</i> and we find
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Re 7:3" id="Gen.viii-p15.2" parsed="|Rev|7|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.7.3">Rev. vii. 3</scripRef>) that the winds
|
|
are held till the servants of God are sealed. (2.) When good men
|
|
are removed judgments are not far off; for they are <i>taken away
|
|
from the evil to come,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 57:1" id="Gen.viii-p15.3" parsed="|Isa|57|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.57.1">Isa. lvii.
|
|
1</scripRef>. When they are called into the chambers, hidden in the
|
|
grave, hidden in heaven, then God is <i>coming out of his place to
|
|
punish,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 26:20,21" id="Gen.viii-p15.4" parsed="|Isa|26|20|26|21" osisRef="Bible:Isa.26.20-Isa.26.21">Isa. xxvi. 20,
|
|
21</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.viii-p16">2. See what was done on that day, that
|
|
fatal day to the world of the ungodly. (1.) <i>The fountains of the
|
|
great deep were broken up.</i> Perhaps there needed no new creation
|
|
of waters; what were already made to be, in the common course of
|
|
providence, blessings to the earth, were now, by an extraordinary
|
|
act of divine power, made the ruin of it. God has laid up the deep
|
|
in storehouses (<scripRef passage="Ps 33:7" id="Gen.viii-p16.1" parsed="|Ps|33|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.33.7">Ps. xxxiii.
|
|
7</scripRef>), and now he broke up those stores. As our bodies have
|
|
in themselves those humours which, when God pleases, become the
|
|
seeds and springs of mortal diseases, so the earth had in it bowels
|
|
those waters which, at God's command, sprang up and flooded it. God
|
|
had, in the creation, set <i>bars and doors</i> to the waters of
|
|
<i>the sea,</i> that they <i>might not return to cover the
|
|
earth</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 104:9,Job 38:9-11" id="Gen.viii-p16.2" parsed="|Ps|104|9|0|0;|Job|38|9|38|11" osisRef="Bible:Ps.104.9 Bible:Job.38.9-Job.38.11">Ps. civ. 9; Job
|
|
xxxviii. 9-11</scripRef>); and now he only removed those ancient
|
|
land-marks, mounds, and fences, and the waters of the sea returned
|
|
to cover the earth, as they had done at first, <scripRef passage="Ge 1:9" id="Gen.viii-p16.3" parsed="|Gen|1|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.9"><i>ch.</i> i. 9</scripRef>. Note, All the creatures are
|
|
ready to fight against sinful man, and any of them is able to be
|
|
the instrument of his ruin, if God do but take off the restraints
|
|
by which they are held in during the day of God's patience. (2.)
|
|
<i>The windows of heaven were opened,</i> and <i>the waters which
|
|
were above the firmament</i> were poured out upon the world; those
|
|
treasures which God has <i>reserved against the time of trouble,
|
|
the day of battle and war,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 38:22,23" id="Gen.viii-p16.4" parsed="|Job|38|22|38|23" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.22-Job.38.23">Job
|
|
xxxviii. 22, 23</scripRef>. The rain, which ordinarily descends in
|
|
drops, then came down in streams, or <i>spouts,</i> as they call
|
|
them in the Indies, where clouds have been often known to
|
|
<i>burst,</i> as they express it there, when the rain descends in a
|
|
much more violent torrent than we have ever seen in the greatest
|
|
shower. We read (<scripRef passage="Job 26:8" id="Gen.viii-p16.5" parsed="|Job|26|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.26.8">Job xxvi.
|
|
8</scripRef>) that <i>God binds up the waters in his thick
|
|
clouds,</i> and the <i>cloud is not rent under them;</i> but now
|
|
the bond was loosed, the cloud was rent, and such rains descended
|
|
as were never known before nor since, in such abundance and of such
|
|
continuance: the thick cloud was not, as ordinarily it is, wearied
|
|
with waterings (<scripRef passage="Job 37:11" id="Gen.viii-p16.6" parsed="|Job|37|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.37.11">Job xxxvii.
|
|
11</scripRef>), that is, soon spent and exhausted; but still the
|
|
clouds returned after the rain, and the divine power brought in
|
|
fresh recruits. It rained, without intermission or abatement,
|
|
<i>forty days and forty nights</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 7:12" id="Gen.viii-p16.7" parsed="|Gen|7|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), and that upon the whole earth
|
|
at once, not, as sometimes, <i>upon one city and not upon
|
|
another.</i> God made the world in six days, but he was forty days
|
|
in destroying it; for he is slow to anger: but, though the
|
|
destruction came slowly and gradually, yet it came effectually.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.viii-p17">3. Now learn from this, (1.) That all the
|
|
creatures are at God's disposal, and that he makes what use he
|
|
pleases of them, whether <i>for correction, or for his land, or for
|
|
mercy,</i> as Elihu speaks of the rain, <scripRef passage="Job 37:12,13" id="Gen.viii-p17.1" parsed="|Job|37|12|37|13" osisRef="Bible:Job.37.12-Job.37.13">Job xxxvii. 12, 13</scripRef>. (2.) That God often
|
|
makes that which <i>should be for our welfare to become a trap,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 69:22" id="Gen.viii-p17.2" parsed="|Ps|69|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.22">Ps. lxix. 22</scripRef>. That which
|
|
usually is a comfort and benefit to us becomes, when God pleases, a
|
|
scourge and a plague to us. Nothing is more needful nor useful than
|
|
water, both the springs of the earth and the showers of heaven; and
|
|
yet now nothing was more hurtful, nothing more destructive: every
|
|
creature is to us what God makes it. (3.) That it is impossible to
|
|
escape the righteous judgments of God
|
|
|
|
<pb n="61" id="Gen.viii-Page_61"/>
|
|
|
|
when
|
|
they come against sinners with commission; for God can arm both
|
|
heaven and earth against them; see <scripRef passage="Job 20:27" id="Gen.viii-p17.3" parsed="|Job|20|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.27">Job xx. 27</scripRef>. God can surround men with the
|
|
messengers of his wrath, so that, if they look upwards, it is with
|
|
horror and amazement, if they look to the earth, <i>behold, trouble
|
|
and darkness,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 8:21,22" id="Gen.viii-p17.4" parsed="|Isa|8|21|8|22" osisRef="Bible:Isa.8.21-Isa.8.22">Isa. viii. 21,
|
|
22</scripRef>. Who then is able to stand before God, when he is
|
|
angry? (4.) In this destruction of the old world by water God gave
|
|
a specimen of the final destruction of the world that now is by
|
|
fire. We find the apostle setting the one of these over against the
|
|
other, <scripRef passage="2Pe 3:6,7" id="Gen.viii-p17.5" parsed="|2Pet|3|6|3|7" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.3.6-2Pet.3.7">2 Pet. iii. 6, 7</scripRef>.
|
|
As there are waters under the earth, so Ætna, Vesuvius, and other
|
|
volcanoes, proclaim to the world that there are subterraneous fires
|
|
too; and fire often falls from heaven, many desolations are made by
|
|
lightning; so that, when the time predetermined comes, between
|
|
these two fires the earth and all the works therein shall be burnt
|
|
up, as the flood was brought upon the old world out of the
|
|
fountains of the great deep and through the windows of heaven.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 7:13-16" id="Gen.viii-p17.6" parsed="|Gen|7|13|7|16" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.13-Gen.7.16"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.7.13-Gen.7.16">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.viii-p18">13 In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem,
|
|
and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the
|
|
three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;   14 They,
|
|
and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their
|
|
kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after
|
|
his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort.
|
|
  15 And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of
|
|
all flesh, wherein <i>is</i> the breath of life.   16 And they
|
|
that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had
|
|
commanded him: and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.viii-p18.1">Lord</span> shut him
|
|
in.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.viii-p19">Here is repeated what was related before of
|
|
Noah's entrance into the ark, with his family and creatures that
|
|
were marked for preservation. Now,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.viii-p20">I. It is thus repeated for the honour of
|
|
Noah, whose faith and obedience herein shone so brightly, by which
|
|
he obtained a good report, and who herein appeared so great a
|
|
favourite of Heaven and so great a blessing to this earth.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.viii-p21">II. Notice is here taken of the beasts
|
|
going in <i>each after his kind,</i> according to the phrase used
|
|
in the history of the creation (<scripRef passage="Ge 1:21-25" id="Gen.viii-p21.1" parsed="|Gen|1|21|1|25" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.21-Gen.1.25"><i>ch.</i> i. 21-25</scripRef>), to intimate that just
|
|
as many kinds as were created at first were saved now, and no more;
|
|
and that this preservation was as a new creation: a life remarkably
|
|
protected is, as it were, a new life.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.viii-p22">III. Though all enmities and hostilities
|
|
between the creatures ceased for the present, and ravenous
|
|
creatures were not only so mild and manageable as that the <i>wolf
|
|
and the lamb lay down together,</i> but so strangely altered as
|
|
that the <i>lion did eat straw like an ox</i> (<scripRef passage="Isa 11:6,7" id="Gen.viii-p22.1" parsed="|Isa|11|6|11|7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.11.6-Isa.11.7">Isa. xi. 6, 7</scripRef>), yet, when this occasion was
|
|
over, the restraint was taken off, and they were still of the same
|
|
kind as ever; for the ark did not alter their constitution.
|
|
Hypocrites in the church, that externally conform to the laws of
|
|
that ark, may yet be unchanged, and then it will appear, one time
|
|
or other, what kind they are after.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.viii-p23">IV. It is added (and the circumstance
|
|
deserves our notice), <i>The Lord shut him in,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 7:16" id="Gen.viii-p23.1" parsed="|Gen|7|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. As Noah continued his
|
|
obedience to God, so God continued his care of Noah: and here it
|
|
appeared to be a very distinguishing care; for the shutting of this
|
|
door set up a partition wall between him and all the world besides.
|
|
God shut the door, 1. To secure him, and keep him safe in the ark.
|
|
The door must be shut very <i>close,</i> lest the waters should
|
|
break in and sink the ark, and very <i>fast,</i> lest any without
|
|
should break it down. Thus God made up Noah, as he <i>makes up his
|
|
jewels,</i> <scripRef passage="Mal 3:17" id="Gen.viii-p23.2" parsed="|Mal|3|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mal.3.17">Mal. iii. 17</scripRef>.
|
|
2. To exclude all others, and keep them for ever out. Hitherto the
|
|
door of the ark stood open, and if any, even during the last seven
|
|
days, had repented and believed, for aught I know they might have
|
|
been welcomed into the ark; but now the door was shut, and they
|
|
were cut off from all hopes of admittance: for God <i>shutteth, and
|
|
none can open.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.viii-p24">V. There is much of our gospel duty and
|
|
privilege to be seen in Noah's preservation in the ark. The apostle
|
|
makes it a type of our baptism, that is, our Christianity,
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Pe 3:20,21" id="Gen.viii-p24.1" parsed="|1Pet|3|20|3|21" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.3.20-1Pet.3.21">1 Pet. iii. 20, 21</scripRef>.
|
|
Observe then, 1. It is our great duty, in obedience to the gospel
|
|
call, by a lively faith in Christ, to come into that way of
|
|
salvation which God has provided for poor sinners. When Noah came
|
|
into the ark, he quitted his own house and lands; so must we quit
|
|
our own righteousness and our worldly possessions, whenever they
|
|
come into competition with Christ. Noah must, for a while, submit
|
|
to the confinements and inconveniences of the ark, in order to his
|
|
preservation for a new world; so those that come into Christ to be
|
|
saved by him must deny themselves, both in sufferings and services.
|
|
2. Those that come into the ark themselves should bring as many as
|
|
they can in with them, by good instructions, by persuasions, and by
|
|
a good example. <i>What knowest thou, O man, but thou mayest thus
|
|
save thy wife</i> (<scripRef passage="1Co 7:16" id="Gen.viii-p24.2" parsed="|1Cor|7|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.7.16">1 Cor. vii.
|
|
16</scripRef>), as Noah did his? There is room enough in Christ for
|
|
all comers. 3. Those that by faith come into Christ, the ark, shall
|
|
by the power of God be shut in, and kept as in a strong-hold <i>by
|
|
the power of God,</i> <scripRef passage="1Pe 1:5" id="Gen.viii-p24.3" parsed="|1Pet|1|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.1.5">1 Pet. i.
|
|
5</scripRef>. God put Adam into paradise, but he did not shut him
|
|
in, and so he threw himself out; but when he put Noah into the ark
|
|
he shut him in, and so when he brings a soul to Christ he ensures
|
|
its salvation: it is not in our own keeping, but in the Mediator's
|
|
hand. 4. The door of mercy will shortly be shut against
|
|
|
|
<pb n="62" id="Gen.viii-Page_62"/>
|
|
|
|
those that now make light of it. Now, <i>knock and it
|
|
shall be opened;</i> but the time will come when it shall not,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Lu 13:25" id="Gen.viii-p24.4" parsed="|Luke|13|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.13.25">Luke xiii. 25</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 7:17-20" id="Gen.viii-p24.5" parsed="|Gen|7|17|7|20" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.17-Gen.7.20"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.7.17-Gen.7.20">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.viii-p25">17 And the flood was forty days upon the earth;
|
|
and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up
|
|
above the earth.   18 And the waters prevailed, and were
|
|
increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of
|
|
the waters.   19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the
|
|
earth; and all the high hills, that <i>were</i> under the whole
|
|
heaven, were covered.   20 Fifteen cubits upward did the
|
|
waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.viii-p26">We are here told,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.viii-p27">I. How long the flood was
|
|
increasing—<i>forty days,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 7:17" id="Gen.viii-p27.1" parsed="|Gen|7|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. The profane world, who believed
|
|
not that it would come, probably when it came flattered themselves
|
|
with hopes that it would soon abate and never come to extremity;
|
|
but still it increased, it prevailed. Note, 1. When God judges he
|
|
will overcome. If he begin, he will make an end; his way is
|
|
perfect, both in judgment and mercy. 2. The gradual approaches and
|
|
advances of God's judgments, which are designed to bring sinners to
|
|
repentance, are often abused to the hardening of them in their
|
|
presumption.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.viii-p28">II. To what degree they increased: they
|
|
rose so high that not only the low flat countries were deluged, but
|
|
to make sure work, and that none might escape, the tops of the
|
|
highest mountains were overflowed—<i>fifteen cubits,</i> that is,
|
|
seven yards and a half; so that <i>in vain was salvation hoped for
|
|
from hills or mountains,</i> <scripRef passage="Jer 3:23" id="Gen.viii-p28.1" parsed="|Jer|3|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.3.23">Jer. iii.
|
|
23</scripRef>. None of God's creatures are so high but his power
|
|
can overtop them; and he will make them know that wherein they deal
|
|
proudly he is above them. Perhaps the tops of the mountains were
|
|
washed down by the strength of the waters, which helped much
|
|
towards the prevailing of the waters above them; for it is said
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Job 12:15" id="Gen.viii-p28.2" parsed="|Job|12|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.12.15">Job xii. 15</scripRef>), <i>He sends
|
|
out the waters,</i> and they not only overflow, but overturn, the
|
|
earth. Thus the refuge of lies was swept away, and the waters
|
|
overflowed the hiding-place of those sinners (<scripRef passage="Isa 28:17" id="Gen.viii-p28.3" parsed="|Isa|28|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.28.17">Isa. xxviii. 17</scripRef>), and in vain they fly to
|
|
them for safety, <scripRef passage="Re 6:16" id="Gen.viii-p28.4" parsed="|Rev|6|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.6.16">Rev. vi.
|
|
16</scripRef>. Now the mountains departed, and the hills were
|
|
removed, and nothing stood a man in stead but the <i>covenant of
|
|
peace,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 54:10" id="Gen.viii-p28.5" parsed="|Isa|54|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.10">Isa. liv. 10</scripRef>.
|
|
There is no place on earth so high as to set men out of the reach
|
|
of God's judgments, <scripRef passage="Jer 49:16,Ob 1:3,4" id="Gen.viii-p28.6" parsed="|Jer|49|16|0|0;|Obad|1|3|1|4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.49.16 Bible:Obad.1.3-Obad.1.4">Jer.
|
|
xlix. 16; Obad. 3, 4</scripRef>. God's hand will <i>find out all
|
|
his enemies,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 21:8" id="Gen.viii-p28.7" parsed="|Ps|21|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.21.8">Ps. xxi. 8</scripRef>.
|
|
Observe how exactly they are fathomed (<i>fifteen cubits</i>), not
|
|
by Noah's plummet, but by his knowledge who <i>weighs the waters by
|
|
measure,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 28:25" id="Gen.viii-p28.8" parsed="|Job|28|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.28.25">Job xxviii.
|
|
25</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.viii-p29">III. What became of Noah's ark when the
|
|
waters thus increased: <i>It was lifted up above the earth</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 7:17" id="Gen.viii-p29.1" parsed="|Gen|7|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>), <i>and went
|
|
upon the face of the waters,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 7:18" id="Gen.viii-p29.2" parsed="|Gen|7|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. When all other buildings were
|
|
demolished by the waters, and buried under them, the ark alone
|
|
subsisted. Observe, 1. The waters which broke down every thing else
|
|
bore up the ark. That which to unbelievers is a savour of death
|
|
unto death is to the faithful a savour of life unto life. 2. The
|
|
more the waters increased the higher the ark was lifted up towards
|
|
heaven. Thus sanctified afflictions are spiritual promotions; and
|
|
as troubles abound consolations much more abound.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 7:21-24" id="Gen.viii-p29.3" parsed="|Gen|7|21|7|24" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.21-Gen.7.24"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.7.21-Gen.7.24">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.viii-p30">21 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth,
|
|
both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping
|
|
thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:   22 All in
|
|
whose nostrils <i>was</i> the breath of life, of all that
|
|
<i>was</i> in the dry <i>land,</i> died.   23 And every living
|
|
substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both
|
|
man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the
|
|
heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only
|
|
remained <i>alive,</i> and they that <i>were</i> with him in the
|
|
ark.   24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred
|
|
and fifty days.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.viii-p31">Here is, I. The general destruction of all
|
|
flesh by the waters of the flood. <i>Come, and see the desolations
|
|
which God makes in the earth</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 46:8" id="Gen.viii-p31.1" parsed="|Ps|46|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.46.8">Ps.
|
|
xlvi. 8</scripRef>), and how he lays heaps upon heaps. Never did
|
|
death triumph, from its first entrance unto this day, as it did
|
|
then. Come, and see Death upon his pale horse, and hell following
|
|
with him, <scripRef passage="Re 6:7,8" id="Gen.viii-p31.2" parsed="|Rev|6|7|6|8" osisRef="Bible:Rev.6.7-Rev.6.8">Rev. vi. 7,
|
|
8</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.viii-p32">1. All the cattle, fowl, and creeping
|
|
things, died, except the few that were in the ark. Observe how this
|
|
is repeated: <i>All flesh died,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 7:21" id="Gen.viii-p32.1" parsed="|Gen|7|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. <i>All in whose nostrils was the
|
|
breath of life, of all that was on the dry land,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 7:22" id="Gen.viii-p32.2" parsed="|Gen|7|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>. <i>Every living
|
|
substance,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 7:23" id="Gen.viii-p32.3" parsed="|Gen|7|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>.
|
|
And why so? Man only had done wickedly, and justly is God's hand
|
|
against him; but <i>these sheep, what have they done?</i> I answer,
|
|
(1.) We are sure God did them no wrong. He is the sovereign Lord of
|
|
all life, for he is the sole fountain and author of it. He that
|
|
made them as he pleased might unmake them when he pleased; and who
|
|
shall say unto him, <i>What doest thou?</i> May he not do what he
|
|
will with his own, which were created for his pleasure? (2.) God
|
|
did admirably serve the purposes of his own glory by their
|
|
destruction, as well as by their creation. Herein his holiness and
|
|
justice were greatly magnified; by this it appears that he hates
|
|
sin, and is highly displeased with sinners, when even the inferior
|
|
creatures, because they are the servants of man and part of his
|
|
possession, and because they have been abused to be the servants of
|
|
sin, are destroyed with him. This
|
|
|
|
<pb n="63" id="Gen.viii-Page_63"/>
|
|
|
|
makes the
|
|
judgment the more remarkable, the more dreadful, and, consequently,
|
|
the more expressive of God's wrath and vengeance. The destruction
|
|
of the creatures was their deliverance from the bondage of
|
|
corruption, which deliverance the whole creation now groans after,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ro 8:21,22" id="Gen.viii-p32.4" parsed="|Rom|8|21|8|22" osisRef="Bible:Rom.8.21-Rom.8.22">Rom. viii. 21, 22</scripRef>. It was
|
|
likewise an instance of God's wisdom. As the creatures were made
|
|
for man when he was made, so they were multiplied for him when he
|
|
was multiplied; and therefore, now that mankind was reduced to so
|
|
small a number, it was fit that the beasts should proportionably be
|
|
reduced, otherwise they would have had the dominion, and would have
|
|
replenished the earth, and the remnant of mankind that was left
|
|
would have been overpowered by them. See how God considered this in
|
|
another case, <scripRef passage="Ex 23:29" id="Gen.viii-p32.5" parsed="|Exod|23|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.29">Exod. xxiii.
|
|
29</scripRef>, <i>Lest the beast of the field multiply against
|
|
thee.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.viii-p33">2. All the men, women, and children, that
|
|
were in the world (except that were in the ark) died. <i>Every
|
|
man</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 7:21" id="Gen.viii-p33.1" parsed="|Gen|7|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef> and
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 7:23" id="Gen.viii-p33.2" parsed="|Gen|7|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>), and perhaps
|
|
they were as many as are now upon the face of the earth, if not
|
|
more. Now, (1.) We may easily imagine what terror and consternation
|
|
seized on them when they saw themselves surrounded. Our Saviour
|
|
tells us that till the very day that the flood came they were
|
|
<i>eating and drinking</i> (<scripRef passage="Lu 17:26,27" id="Gen.viii-p33.3" parsed="|Luke|17|26|17|27" osisRef="Bible:Luke.17.26-Luke.17.27">Luke
|
|
xvii. 26, 27</scripRef>); they were drowned in security and
|
|
sensuality before they were drowned in those waters, crying
|
|
<i>Peace, peace,</i> to themselves, deaf and blind to all divine
|
|
warnings. In this posture death surprised them, as <scripRef passage="1Sa 30:16,17" id="Gen.viii-p33.4" parsed="|1Sam|30|16|30|17" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.30.16-1Sam.30.17">1 Sam. xxx. 16, 17</scripRef>. But O what an
|
|
amazement were they in then! Now they see and feel that which they
|
|
would not believe and fear, and are convinced of their folly when
|
|
it is too late; now they find no place for repentance, though they
|
|
seek it carefully with tears. (2.) We may suppose that they tried
|
|
all ways and means possible for their preservation, but all in
|
|
vain. Some climb to the tops of trees or mountains, and spin out
|
|
their terrors there awhile. But the flood reaches them, at last,
|
|
and they are forced to die with the more deliberation. Some, it is
|
|
likely, cling to the ark, and now hope that this may be their
|
|
safety which they had so long made their sport. Perhaps some get to
|
|
the top of the ark, and hope to shift for themselves there; but
|
|
either they perish there for want of food, or, by a speedier
|
|
despatch, a dash of rain washes them off that deck. Others, it may
|
|
be, hoped to prevail with Noah for admission into the ark, and
|
|
pleaded old acquaintance, <i>Have we not eaten and drunk in thy
|
|
presence? Hast thou not taught in our streets?</i> "Yes," might
|
|
Noah say, "that I have, many a time, to little purpose. <i>I called
|
|
but you refused; you set at nought all my counsel</i> (<scripRef passage="Pr 1:24,25" id="Gen.viii-p33.5" parsed="|Prov|1|24|1|25" osisRef="Bible:Prov.1.24-Prov.1.25">Prov. i. 24, 25</scripRef>), and now it is not
|
|
in my power to help you: God has shut the door, and I cannot open
|
|
it." Thus it will be at the great day. Neither climbing high in an
|
|
outward profession, nor claiming relation to good people, will
|
|
bring men to heaven, <scripRef passage="Mt 7:22,25:8-9" id="Gen.viii-p33.6" parsed="|Matt|7|22|0|0;|Matt|25|8|25|9" osisRef="Bible:Matt.7.22 Bible:Matt.25.8-Matt.25.9">Matt. vii.
|
|
22; xxv. 8, 9</scripRef>. Those that are not found in Christ, the
|
|
ark, are certainly undone, undone for ever; salvation itself cannot
|
|
save them. See <scripRef passage="Isa 10:3" id="Gen.viii-p33.7" parsed="|Isa|10|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.10.3">Isa. x. 3</scripRef>.
|
|
(3.) We may suppose that some of those that perished in the deluge
|
|
had themselves assisted Noah, or were employed by him, in the
|
|
building of the ark, and yet were not so wise as by repentance to
|
|
secure themselves a place in it. Thus wicked ministers, though they
|
|
may have been instrumental to help others to heaven, will
|
|
themselves be thrust down to hell.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.viii-p34">Let us now pause awhile and consider this
|
|
tremendous judgment! Let our hearts meditate terror, the terror of
|
|
this destruction. Let us see, and say, <i>It is a fearful thing to
|
|
fall into the hands of the living God; who can stand before him
|
|
when he is angry?</i> Let us see and say, <i>It is an evil thing,
|
|
and a bitter, to depart from God.</i> The sin of sinners will,
|
|
without repentance, be their ruin, first or last; if God be true,
|
|
it will. <i>Though hand join in hand, yet the wicked shall not go
|
|
unpunished.</i> The righteous God knows how to bring a flood upon
|
|
the world of the ungodly, <scripRef passage="2Pe 2:5" id="Gen.viii-p34.1" parsed="|2Pet|2|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.2.5">2 Pet. ii.
|
|
5</scripRef>. Eliphaz appeals to this story as a standing warning
|
|
to a careless world (<scripRef passage="Job 22:15,16" id="Gen.viii-p34.2" parsed="|Job|22|15|22|16" osisRef="Bible:Job.22.15-Job.22.16">Job xxii. 15,
|
|
16</scripRef>), <i>Hast thou marked the old way, which wicked men
|
|
have trodden, who were cut down out of time,</i> and sent into
|
|
eternity, <i>whose foundation was overflown with the flood?</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.viii-p35">II. The special preservation of Noah and
|
|
his family: <i>Noah only remained alive, and those that were with
|
|
him in the ark,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 7:23" id="Gen.viii-p35.1" parsed="|Gen|7|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.23"><i>v.</i>
|
|
23</scripRef>. Observe, 1. Noah lives. When all about him were
|
|
monuments of justice, thousands falling on his right hand and ten
|
|
thousands on his left, he was a monument of mercy. Only with his
|
|
eyes might he <i>behold and see the reward of the wicked,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 91:7,8" id="Gen.viii-p35.2" parsed="|Ps|91|7|91|8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.91.7-Ps.91.8">Ps. xci. 7, 8</scripRef>. <i>In the
|
|
floods of great waters, they did not come nigh him,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 32:6" id="Gen.viii-p35.3" parsed="|Ps|32|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.32.6">Ps. xxxii. 6</scripRef>. We have reason to think
|
|
that, while the long-suffering of God waited, Noah not only
|
|
preached to, but prayed for, that wicked world, and would have
|
|
turned away the wrath; but his prayers return into his own bosom,
|
|
and are answered only in his own escape, which is plainly referred
|
|
to, <scripRef passage="Eze 14:14" id="Gen.viii-p35.4" parsed="|Ezek|14|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.14.14">Ezek. xiv. 14</scripRef>,
|
|
<i>Noah, Daniel, and Job, shall but deliver their own souls.</i> A
|
|
mark of honour shall be set on intercessors. 2. He but lives. Noah
|
|
remains alive, and this is all; he is, in effect, buried
|
|
alive—cooped up in a close place, alarmed with the terrors of the
|
|
descending rain, the increasing flood, and the shrieks and outcries
|
|
of his perishing neighbours, his heart overwhelmed with melancholy
|
|
thoughts of the desolations made. But he comforts himself with
|
|
this, that he is in the way of duty and in the way of deliverance.
|
|
And we are taught (<scripRef passage="Jer 45:4,5" id="Gen.viii-p35.5" parsed="|Jer|45|4|45|5" osisRef="Bible:Jer.45.4-Jer.45.5">Jer. xlv. 4,
|
|
5</scripRef>) that when desolating judgments are abroad we must not
|
|
seek great nor pleasant things to ourselves, but reckon it an
|
|
unspeakable favour if we have our lives given us for a prey.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter VIII" n="ix" progress="8.00%" prev="Gen.viii" next="Gen.x" id="Gen.ix">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="64" id="Gen.ix-Page_64"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.ix-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.ix-p0.2">CHAP. VIII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.ix-p1">In the close of the foregoing chapter we left the
|
|
world in ruins and the church in straits; but in this chapter we
|
|
have the repair of the one and the enlargement of the other. Now
|
|
the scene alters, and another face of things begins to be presented
|
|
to us, and the brighter side of that cloud which there appeared so
|
|
black and dark; for, though God contend long, he will not contend
|
|
for ever, nor be always wrath. We have here, I. The earth made
|
|
anew, by the recess of the waters, and the appearing of the dry
|
|
land, now a second time, and both gradual. 1. The increase of the
|
|
waters is stayed, <scripRef passage="Ge 8:1,2" id="Gen.ix-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|8|1|8|2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.8.1-Gen.8.2">ver. 1,
|
|
2</scripRef>. 2. They begin sensibly to abate, <scripRef passage="Ge 8:3" id="Gen.ix-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|8|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.8.3">ver. 3</scripRef>. 3. After sixteen days' ebbing, the ark
|
|
rests, <scripRef passage="Ge 8:4" id="Gen.ix-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|8|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.8.4">ver. 4</scripRef>. 4. After sixty
|
|
days' ebbing, the tops of the mountains appeared above water,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 8:5" id="Gen.ix-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|8|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.8.5">ver. 5</scripRef>. 5. After forty days'
|
|
ebbing, and twenty days before the mountains appeared, Noah began
|
|
to send out his spies, a raven and a dove, to gain intelligence,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 8:6-12" id="Gen.ix-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|8|6|8|12" osisRef="Bible:Gen.8.6-Gen.8.12">ver. 6-12</scripRef>. 6. Two months
|
|
after the appearing of the tops of the mountains, the waters had
|
|
gone, and the face of the earth was dry (<scripRef passage="Ge 8:13" id="Gen.ix-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|8|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.8.13">ver. 13</scripRef>), though not dried so as to be fit for
|
|
man till almost two months after, <scripRef passage="Ge 8:14" id="Gen.ix-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|8|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.8.14">ver.
|
|
14</scripRef>. II. Man placed anew upon the earth, in which, 1.
|
|
Noah's discharge and departure out of the ark, <scripRef passage="Ge 8:15-19" id="Gen.ix-p1.8" parsed="|Gen|8|15|8|19" osisRef="Bible:Gen.8.15-Gen.8.19">ver. 15-19</scripRef>. 2. His sacrifice of praise,
|
|
which he offered to God upon his enlargement, <scripRef passage="Ge 8:20" id="Gen.ix-p1.9" parsed="|Gen|8|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.8.20">ver. 20</scripRef>. 3. God's acceptance of his sacrifice,
|
|
and the promise he made thereupon not to drown the world again,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 8:21,22" id="Gen.ix-p1.10" parsed="|Gen|8|21|8|22" osisRef="Bible:Gen.8.21-Gen.8.22">ver. 21, 22</scripRef>. And thus, at
|
|
length, mercy rejoices against judgment.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 8" id="Gen.ix-p1.11" parsed="|Gen|8|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.8"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 8:1-3" id="Gen.ix-p1.12" parsed="|Gen|8|1|8|3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.8.1-Gen.8.3"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.8.1-Gen.8.3">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.ix-p1.13">The Earth Becomes Dry. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.ix-p1.14">b. c.</span> 2349.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.ix-p2">1 And God remembered Noah, and every living
|
|
thing, and all the cattle that <i>was</i> with him in the ark: and
|
|
God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged;
|
|
  2 The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven
|
|
were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;   3 And
|
|
the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the
|
|
end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ix-p3">Here is, I. An act of God's grace: <i>God
|
|
remembered Noah and every living thing.</i> This is an expression
|
|
after the manner of men; for not any of his creatures (<scripRef passage="Lu 12:6" id="Gen.ix-p3.1" parsed="|Luke|12|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.12.6">Luke xii. 6</scripRef>), much less any of his
|
|
people, are forgotten of God, <scripRef passage="Isa 49:15,16" id="Gen.ix-p3.2" parsed="|Isa|49|15|49|16" osisRef="Bible:Isa.49.15-Isa.49.16">Isa.
|
|
xlix. 15, 16</scripRef>. But, 1. The whole race of mankind, except
|
|
Noah and his family, was now extinguished, and driven into the land
|
|
of forgetfulness, to be remembered no more; so that God's
|
|
remembering Noah was the return of his mercy to mankind, of whom he
|
|
would not make a full end. It is a strange expression, <scripRef passage="Eze 5:13" id="Gen.ix-p3.3" parsed="|Ezek|5|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.5.13">Ezek. v. 13</scripRef>, <i>When I have
|
|
accomplished my fury in them, I will be comforted.</i> The demands
|
|
of divine justice had been answered by the ruin of those sinners;
|
|
he had eased him of his adversaries (<scripRef passage="Isa 1:24" id="Gen.ix-p3.4" parsed="|Isa|1|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.24">Isa. i. 24</scripRef>), and now his spirit was quieted
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Zec 6:8" id="Gen.ix-p3.5" parsed="|Zech|6|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zech.6.8">Zech. vi. 8</scripRef>), and <i>he
|
|
remembered Noah and every living thing.</i> He remembered mercy in
|
|
wrath (<scripRef passage="Hab 3:2" id="Gen.ix-p3.6" parsed="|Hab|3|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hab.3.2">Hab. iii. 2</scripRef>),
|
|
remembered the days of old (<scripRef passage="Isa 63:11" id="Gen.ix-p3.7" parsed="|Isa|63|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.63.11">Isa.
|
|
lxiii. 11</scripRef>), remembered the holy seed, and then
|
|
remembered Noah. 2. Noah himself, though one that had found grace
|
|
in the eyes of the Lord, yet seemed to be forgotten in the ark, and
|
|
perhaps began to think himself so; for we do not find that God had
|
|
told him how long he should be confined and when he should be
|
|
released. Very good men have sometimes been ready to conclude
|
|
themselves forgotten of God, especially when their afflictions have
|
|
been unusually grievous and long. Perhaps Noah, though a great
|
|
believer, yet when he found the flood continuing so long after it
|
|
might reasonably be presumed to have done its work, was tempted to
|
|
fear lest he that shut him in would keep him in, and began to
|
|
expostulate. <i>How long wilt thou forget me?</i> But at length God
|
|
returned in mercy to him, and this is expressed by remembering him.
|
|
Note, Those that remember God shall certainly be remembered by him,
|
|
how desolate and disconsolate soever their condition may be. He
|
|
will appoint them a set time and remember them, <scripRef passage="Job 14:13" id="Gen.ix-p3.8" parsed="|Job|14|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.14.13">Job xiv. 13</scripRef>. 3. With Noah, God remembered
|
|
every living thing; for, though his delight is especially in the
|
|
sons of men, yet he rejoices in all his works, and hates nothing
|
|
that he has made. He takes special care, not only of his people's
|
|
persons, but of their possessions—of them and all that belongs to
|
|
them. He considered the cattle of Nineveh, <scripRef passage="Jon 4:11" id="Gen.ix-p3.9" parsed="|Jonah|4|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.4.11">Jon. iv. 11</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ix-p4">II. An act of God's power over wind and
|
|
water, both of which are at his beck, though neither of them is
|
|
under man's control. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ix-p5">1. He commanded the wind, and said to that,
|
|
<i>Go,</i> and it went, in order to the carrying off of the flood:
|
|
<i>God made a wind to pass over the earth.</i> See here, (1.) What
|
|
was God's remembrance of Noah: it was his relieving him. Note,
|
|
Those whom God remembers he remembers effectually, for good; he
|
|
remembers us to save us, that we may remember him to serve him.
|
|
(2.) What a sovereign dominion God has over the winds. He has them
|
|
in his fist (<scripRef passage="Pr 30:4" id="Gen.ix-p5.1" parsed="|Prov|30|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.30.4">Prov. xxx. 4</scripRef>)
|
|
and brings them out of his treasuries, <scripRef passage="Ps 135:7" id="Gen.ix-p5.2" parsed="|Ps|135|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.135.7">Ps. cxxxv. 7</scripRef>. He sends them when, and
|
|
whither, and for what purposes, he pleases. Even stormy winds
|
|
fulfil his word, <scripRef passage="Ps 148:8" id="Gen.ix-p5.3" parsed="|Ps|148|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.148.8">Ps. cxlviii.
|
|
8</scripRef>. It should seem, while the waters increased, there was
|
|
no wind; for that would have added to the toss of the ark; but now
|
|
God sent a wind, when it would not be so troublesome. Probably, it
|
|
was a north wind, for that drives away rain. However, it was a
|
|
drying wind, such a wind as God sent to divide the Red Sea before
|
|
Israel, <scripRef passage="Ex 14:21" id="Gen.ix-p5.4" parsed="|Exod|14|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.21">Exod. xiv. 21</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ix-p6">2. He remanded the waters, and said to
|
|
them, <i>Come,</i> and they came. (1.) He took away the cause. He
|
|
sealed up the springs of those waters, <i>the fountains of the
|
|
great deep, and the windows of heaven.</i> Note, [1.] As God has a
|
|
key to open, so he has a key to shut up again, and to stay the
|
|
progress of judgments by stopping the causes of them: and the same
|
|
hand that brings the desolation must bring the deliverance; to that
|
|
hand therefore our eye must ever be. He that wounds is alone able
|
|
to heal. See <scripRef passage="Job 12:14" id="Gen.ix-p6.1" parsed="|Job|12|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.12.14">Job xii. 14,
|
|
15</scripRef>. [2.] When afflictions have done the work for which
|
|
they are sent, whether killing work or curing work, they shall be
|
|
removed. God's word shall not return void, <scripRef passage="Isa 55:10,11" id="Gen.ix-p6.2" parsed="|Isa|55|10|55|11" osisRef="Bible:Isa.55.10-Isa.55.11">Isa. lv. 10, 11</scripRef>. (2.) Then the effect
|
|
ceased; not all at once, but by degrees: <i>The waters abated</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 8:1" id="Gen.ix-p6.3" parsed="|Gen|8|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.8.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>), <i>returned
|
|
from off the earth continually,</i> Heb. they were <i>going and
|
|
returning</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 8:3" id="Gen.ix-p6.4" parsed="|Gen|8|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.8.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>),
|
|
which denotes a gradual departure.
|
|
|
|
<pb n="65" id="Gen.ix-Page_65"/>
|
|
|
|
The heat
|
|
of the sun exhaled much, and perhaps the subterraneous caverns
|
|
soaked in more. Note, As the earth was not drowned in a day, so it
|
|
was not dried in a day. In the creation, it was but one day's work
|
|
to clear the earth from the waters that covered it, and to make it
|
|
dry land; nay, it was but half a day's work, <scripRef passage="Ge 1:9,10" id="Gen.ix-p6.5" parsed="|Gen|1|9|1|10" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.9-Gen.1.10"><i>ch.</i> i. 9, 10</scripRef>. But, the work of
|
|
creation being finished, this work of providence was effected by
|
|
the concurring influence of second causes, yet thus enforced by the
|
|
almighty power of God. God usually works deliverance for his people
|
|
gradually, that the day of small things may not be despised, nor
|
|
the day of great things despaired of, <scripRef passage="Zec 4:10" id="Gen.ix-p6.6" parsed="|Zech|4|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zech.4.10">Zech. iv. 10</scripRef>. See <scripRef passage="Pr 4:18" id="Gen.ix-p6.7" parsed="|Prov|4|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.4.18">Prov. iv. 18</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 8:4-5" id="Gen.ix-p6.8" parsed="|Gen|8|4|8|5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.8.4-Gen.8.5"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.8.4-Gen.8.5">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.ix-p7">4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on
|
|
the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.
|
|
  5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth
|
|
month: in the tenth <i>month,</i> on the first <i>day</i> of the
|
|
month, were the tops of the mountains seen.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ix-p8">Here we have the effects and evidences of
|
|
the ebbing of the waters. 1. The ark rested. This was some
|
|
satisfaction to Noah, to feel the house he was in upon firm ground,
|
|
and no longer movable. It rested upon a mountain, whither it was
|
|
directed, not by Noah's prudence (he did not steer it), but by the
|
|
wise and gracious providence of God, that it might rest the sooner.
|
|
Note, God has times and places of rest for his people after their
|
|
tossings; and many a time he provides for their seasonable and
|
|
comfortable settlement without their own contrivance and quite
|
|
beyond their own foresight. The ark of the church, though sometimes
|
|
tossed with tempests, and not comforted (<scripRef passage="Isa 54:11" id="Gen.ix-p8.1" parsed="|Isa|54|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.11">Isa. liv. 11</scripRef>), yet has its rests, <scripRef passage="Ac 9:31" id="Gen.ix-p8.2" parsed="|Acts|9|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.9.31">Acts ix. 31</scripRef>. 2. The tops of the
|
|
mountains were seen, like little islands, appearing above the
|
|
water. We must suppose that they were seen by Noah and his sons;
|
|
for there were none besides to see them. It is probable that they
|
|
had looked through the window of the ark every day, like the
|
|
longing mariners, after a tedious voyage, to see if they could
|
|
discover land, or as the prophet's servant (<scripRef passage="1Ki 18:43,44" id="Gen.ix-p8.3" parsed="|1Kgs|18|43|18|44" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.18.43-1Kgs.18.44">1 Kings xviii. 43, 44</scripRef>), and at length
|
|
they spy ground, and enter the day of the discovery in their
|
|
journal. They felt ground above forty days before they saw it,
|
|
according to Dr. Lightfoot's computation, whence he infers that, if
|
|
the waters decreased proportionably, the ark drew eleven cubits in
|
|
water.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 8:6-12" id="Gen.ix-p8.4" parsed="|Gen|8|6|8|12" osisRef="Bible:Gen.8.6-Gen.8.12"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.8.6-Gen.8.12">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.ix-p9">6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days,
|
|
that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:   7
|
|
And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the
|
|
waters were dried up from off the earth.   8 Also he sent
|
|
forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off
|
|
the face of the ground;   9 But the dove found no rest for the
|
|
sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the
|
|
waters <i>were</i> on the face of the whole earth: then he put
|
|
forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the
|
|
ark.   10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he
|
|
sent forth the dove out of the ark;   11 And the dove came in
|
|
to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth <i>was</i> an olive
|
|
leaf plucked off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off
|
|
the earth.   12 And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent
|
|
forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ix-p10">We have here an account of the spies which
|
|
Noah sent forth to bring him intelligence from abroad, a raven and
|
|
a dove. Observe here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ix-p11">I. That though God had told Noah
|
|
particularly when the flood would come, even to a day (<scripRef passage="Ge 7:4" id="Gen.ix-p11.1" parsed="|Gen|7|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.4"><i>ch.</i> vii. 4</scripRef>), yet he did not give
|
|
him a particular account by revelation at what times, and by what
|
|
steps, it should <i>go away,</i> 1. Because the knowledge of the
|
|
former was necessary to his preparing the ark, and settling himself
|
|
in it; but the knowledge of the latter would serve only to gratify
|
|
his curiosity, and the concealing of it from him would be the
|
|
needful exercise of his faith and patience. And, 2. He could not
|
|
foresee the flood, but by revelation; but he might, by ordinary
|
|
means, discover the decrease of it, and therefore God was pleased
|
|
to leave him to the use of them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ix-p12">II. That though Noah by faith expected his
|
|
enlargement, and by patience waited for it, yet he was inquisitive
|
|
concerning it, as one that thought it long to be thus confined.
|
|
Note, Desires of release out of trouble, earnest expectations of
|
|
it, and enquiries concerning its advances towards us, will very
|
|
well consist with the sincerity of faith and patience. <i>He that
|
|
believes does not make haste</i> to run before God, but he does
|
|
make haste to go forth to meet him, <scripRef passage="Isa 28:16" id="Gen.ix-p12.1" parsed="|Isa|28|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.28.16">Isa. xxviii. 16</scripRef>. Particularly, 1. Noah sent
|
|
forth a raven through the window of the ark, which went forth, as
|
|
the Hebrew phrase is, <i>going forth and returning,</i> that is,
|
|
flying about, and feeding on the carcases that floated, but
|
|
returning to the ark for rest; probably not in it, but upon it.
|
|
This gave Noah little satisfaction; therefore, 2. He sent forth a
|
|
dove, which returned the first time with no good news, but probably
|
|
wet and dirty; but, the second time, she brought an olive-leaf in
|
|
her
|
|
|
|
<pb n="66" id="Gen.ix-Page_66"/>
|
|
|
|
bill, which appeared to be first plucked
|
|
off, a plain indication that now the trees, the fruit-trees, began
|
|
to appear above water. Note here, (1.) That Noah sent forth the
|
|
dove the second time seven days after the first time, and the third
|
|
time was after seven days too; and probably the first sending of
|
|
her out was seven days after the sending forth of the raven. This
|
|
intimates that it was done on the sabbath day, which, it should
|
|
seem, Noah religiously observed in the ark. Having kept the sabbath
|
|
in a solemn assembly of his little church, he then expected special
|
|
blessings from heaven, and enquired concerning them. Having
|
|
directed his prayer, he looked up, <scripRef passage="Ps 5:3" id="Gen.ix-p12.2" parsed="|Ps|5|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.5.3">Ps.
|
|
v. 3</scripRef>. (2.) The dove is an emblem of a gracious soul,
|
|
which finding no rest for its foot, no solid peace or satisfaction
|
|
in this world, this deluged defiling world, returns to Christ as to
|
|
its ark, as to its Noah. The carnal heart, like the raven, takes up
|
|
with the world, and feeds on the carrions it finds there; <i>but
|
|
return thou to thy rest, O my soul,</i> to thy <i>Noah,</i> so the
|
|
word is, <scripRef passage="Ps 116:7" id="Gen.ix-p12.3" parsed="|Ps|116|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.116.7">Ps. cxvi. 7</scripRef>. <i>O
|
|
that I had wings like a dove,</i> to flee to him! <scripRef passage="Ps 55:6" id="Gen.ix-p12.4" parsed="|Ps|55|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.55.6">Ps. lv. 6</scripRef>. And as Noah put forth his
|
|
hand, and took the dove, and pulled her in to him, into the ark, so
|
|
Christ will graciously preserve, and help, and welcome, those that
|
|
fly to him for rest. (3.) The olive-branch, which was an emblem of
|
|
peace, was brought, not by the raven, a bird of prey, nor by a gay
|
|
and proud peacock, but by a mild, patient, humble dove. It is a
|
|
dove-like disposition that brings into the soul earnests of rest
|
|
and joy. (4.) Some make these things an allegory. The law was first
|
|
sent forth like the raven, but brought no tidings of the assuaging
|
|
of the waters of God's wrath, with which the world of mankind was
|
|
deluged; therefore, in the fulness of time, God sent forth his
|
|
gospel, as the dove, in the likeness of which the Holy Spirit
|
|
descended, and this presents us with an olive-branch and brings in
|
|
a better hope.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 8:13-14" id="Gen.ix-p12.5" parsed="|Gen|8|13|8|14" osisRef="Bible:Gen.8.13-Gen.8.14"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.8.13-Gen.8.14">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.ix-p13">13 And it came to pass in the six hundredth and
|
|
first year, in the first <i>month,</i> the first <i>day</i> of the
|
|
month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah
|
|
removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face
|
|
of the ground was dry.   14 And in the second month, on the
|
|
seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ix-p14">Here is, 1. The ground dry (<scripRef passage="Ge 8:13" id="Gen.ix-p14.1" parsed="|Gen|8|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.8.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>), that is, all the water
|
|
carried off it, which, upon the first day of the first month (a
|
|
joyful new-year's-day it was), Noah was himself an eye-witness of.
|
|
He <i>removed the covering of the ark,</i> not the whole covering,
|
|
but so much as would suffice to give him a prospect of the earth
|
|
about it; and a most comfortable prospect he had. For behold,
|
|
behold and wonder, <i>the face of the ground was dry.</i> Note,
|
|
(1.) It is a great mercy to see ground about us. Noah was more
|
|
sensible of it than we are; for mercies restored are much more
|
|
affecting than mercies continued. (2.) The divine power which now
|
|
renewed the face of the earth can renew the face of an afflicted
|
|
troubled soul and of a distressed persecuted church. He can make
|
|
dry ground to appear even where it seemed to have been lost and
|
|
forgotten, <scripRef passage="Ps 18:16" id="Gen.ix-p14.2" parsed="|Ps|18|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.18.16">Ps. xviii. 16</scripRef>.
|
|
2. The ground dried (<scripRef passage="Ge 8:14" id="Gen.ix-p14.3" parsed="|Gen|8|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.8.14"><i>v.</i>
|
|
14</scripRef>), so as to be a fit habitation for Noah. Observe,
|
|
Though Noah saw the ground dry the first day of the first month,
|
|
yet God would not suffer him to go out of the ark till the
|
|
twenty-seventh day of the second month. Perhaps Noah, being
|
|
somewhat weary of his restraint, would have quitted the ark at
|
|
first; but God, in kindness to him, ordered him to stay so much
|
|
longer. Note, God consults our benefit rather than our desires; for
|
|
he knows what is good for us better than we do for ourselves, and
|
|
how long it is fit our restraints should continue and desired
|
|
mercies should be delayed. We would go out of the ark before the
|
|
ground is dried: and perhaps, if the door be shut, are ready to
|
|
remove the covering, and to climb up some other way; but we should
|
|
be satisfied that God's time of showing mercy is certainly the best
|
|
time, when the mercy is ripe for us and we are ready for it.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 8:15-19" id="Gen.ix-p14.4" parsed="|Gen|8|15|8|19" osisRef="Bible:Gen.8.15-Gen.8.19"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.8.15-Gen.8.19">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.ix-p15">15 And God spake unto Noah, saying,   16 Go
|
|
forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons'
|
|
wives with thee.   17 Bring forth with thee every living thing
|
|
that <i>is</i> with thee, of all flesh, <i>both</i> of fowl, and of
|
|
cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth;
|
|
that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and
|
|
multiply upon the earth.   18 And Noah went forth, and his
|
|
sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him:   19 Every
|
|
beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, <i>and</i> whatsoever
|
|
creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the
|
|
ark.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ix-p16">Here is, I. Noah's dismission out of the
|
|
ark, <scripRef passage="Ge 8:15-17" id="Gen.ix-p16.1" parsed="|Gen|8|15|8|17" osisRef="Bible:Gen.8.15-Gen.8.17"><i>v.</i> 15-17</scripRef>.
|
|
Observe, 1. Noah did not stir till God bade him. As he had a
|
|
command to go into the ark (<scripRef passage="Ge 7:1" id="Gen.ix-p16.2" parsed="|Gen|7|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.1"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
vii. 1</scripRef>), so, how tedious soever his confinement there
|
|
was, he would wait for a command to go out of it again. Note, We
|
|
must in all our ways acknowledge God, and set him before us in all
|
|
our removes. Those only go under God's protection that follow God's
|
|
direction and submit to his government. Those that steadily adhere
|
|
to God's word as their rule, and are guided by his grace as their
|
|
principle, and take hints from his providence to assist
|
|
|
|
<pb n="67" id="Gen.ix-Page_67"/>
|
|
|
|
them in their application of general directions to
|
|
particular cases, may in faith see him guiding their motions in
|
|
their march through this wilderness. 2. Though God detained him
|
|
long, yet at last he gave him his discharge; for <i>the vision is
|
|
for an appointed time, and at the end it shall speak,</i> it shall
|
|
speak truth (<scripRef passage="Hab 2:3" id="Gen.ix-p16.3" parsed="|Hab|2|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hab.2.3">Hab. ii. 3</scripRef>), it
|
|
shall not lie. 3. God had said, <i>Come into the ark</i> which he
|
|
says, not, <i>Come forth,</i> but, Go <i>forth,</i> which intimates
|
|
that God, who went in with him, staid with him all the while, till
|
|
he sent him out safely; for he has said, <i>I will not leave
|
|
thee.</i> 4. Some observe that, when they were ordered into the
|
|
ark, the men and the women were mentioned separately (<scripRef passage="Ge 6:18" id="Gen.ix-p16.4" parsed="|Gen|6|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.18"><i>ch.</i> vi. 18</scripRef>): <i>Thou, and thy
|
|
sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives;</i> hence they infer that,
|
|
during the time of mourning, they were apart, and their wives
|
|
apart, <scripRef passage="Zec 12:12" id="Gen.ix-p16.5" parsed="|Zech|12|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zech.12.12">Zech. xii. 12</scripRef>. But
|
|
now God did as it were new-marry them, sending out Noah and his
|
|
wife together, and his sons and their wives together, that they
|
|
might be fruitful and multiply. 5. Noah was ordered to bring the
|
|
creatures out with him, that having taken the care of feeding them
|
|
so long, and been at so much pains about them, he might have the
|
|
honour of leading them forth by their armies, and receiving their
|
|
homage.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ix-p17">II. Noah's departure when he had his
|
|
dismission. As he would not go out without leave, so he would not,
|
|
out of fear or humour, stay in when he had leave, but was in all
|
|
points observant of the heavenly vision. Though he had been now a
|
|
full year and ten days a prisoner in the ark, yet when he found
|
|
himself preserved there, not only for a new life, but for a new
|
|
world, he saw no reason to complain of his long confinement. Now
|
|
observe, 1. Noah and his family came out alive, though one of them
|
|
was a wicked Ham, whom, though he escaped the flood, God's justice
|
|
could have taken away by some other stroke. But they are all alive.
|
|
Note, When families have been long continued together, and no
|
|
breaches made among them, it must be looked upon as a
|
|
distinguishing favour, and attributed to the Lord's mercies. 2.
|
|
Noah brought out all the creatures that went in with him, except
|
|
the raven and the dove, which, probably, were ready to meet their
|
|
mates at their coming out. Noah was able to give a very good
|
|
account of his charge; for of all that were given to him he had
|
|
lost none, but was faithful to him that appointed him, <i>pro hac
|
|
vice—on this occasion,</i> high steward of his household.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 8:20-22" id="Gen.ix-p17.1" parsed="|Gen|8|20|8|22" osisRef="Bible:Gen.8.20-Gen.8.22"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.8.20-Gen.8.22">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.ix-p17.2">Noah's Sacrifice. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.ix-p17.3">b. c.</span> 2348.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.ix-p18">20 And Noah builded an altar unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.ix-p18.1">Lord</span>; and took of every clean beast, and
|
|
of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
|
|
  21 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.ix-p18.2">Lord</span> smelled a
|
|
sweet savour; and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.ix-p18.3">Lord</span> said in
|
|
his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's
|
|
sake; for the imagination of man's heart <i>is</i> evil from his
|
|
youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I
|
|
have done.   22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and
|
|
harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and
|
|
night shall not cease.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ix-p19">Here is, I. Noah's thankful acknowledgment
|
|
of God's favour to him, in completing the mercy of his deliverance,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 8:20" id="Gen.ix-p19.1" parsed="|Gen|8|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.8.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. 1. He <i>built
|
|
an altar.</i> Hitherto he had done nothing without particular
|
|
instructions and commands from God. He had a particular call into
|
|
the ark, and another out of it; but, altars and sacrifices being
|
|
already of divine institution for religious worship, he did not
|
|
stay for a particular command thus to express his thankfulness.
|
|
Those that have received mercy from God should be forward in
|
|
returning thanks, and do it <i>not of constraint, but
|
|
willingly.</i> God is pleased with free-will offerings, and praises
|
|
that wait for him. Noah was now turned out into a cold and desolate
|
|
world, where, one would have thought, his first care would have
|
|
been to build a house for himself; but, behold, he begins with an
|
|
altar for God: God, that is the first, must be first served; and he
|
|
begins well that begins with God. 2. He offered a sacrifice upon
|
|
his altar, <i>of every clean beast, and of every clean
|
|
fowl</i>—one, the odd seventh that we read of, <scripRef passage="Ge 7:2,3" id="Gen.ix-p19.2" parsed="|Gen|7|2|7|3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.2-Gen.7.3"><i>ch.</i> vii. 2, 3</scripRef>. Here observe, (1.) He
|
|
offered only those that were clean; for it is not enough that we
|
|
sacrifice, but we must sacrifice that which God appoints, according
|
|
to the law of sacrifice, and not a corrupt thing. (2.) Though his
|
|
stock of cattle was so small, and that rescued from ruin at so
|
|
great an expense of care and pains, yet he did not grudge to give
|
|
God his dues out of it. He might have said, "Have I but seven sheep
|
|
to begin the world with, and must one of these seven be killed and
|
|
burnt for sacrifice? Were it not better to defer it till we have
|
|
greater plenty?" No, to prove the sincerity of his love and
|
|
gratitude, he cheerfully gives the seventh to his God, as an
|
|
acknowledgment that all was his, and owing to him. Serving God with
|
|
our little is the way to make it more; and we must never think that
|
|
wasted with which God is honoured. (3.) See here the antiquity of
|
|
religion: the first thing we find done in the new world was an act
|
|
of worship, <scripRef passage="Jer 6:16" id="Gen.ix-p19.3" parsed="|Jer|6|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.6.16">Jer. vi. 16</scripRef>. We
|
|
are now to express our thankfulness, not by burnt-offerings, but by
|
|
the sacrifices of praise and the sacrifices of righteousness, by
|
|
pious devotions and a pious conversation.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ix-p20">II. God's gracious acceptance of Noah's
|
|
thankfulness. It was a settled rule in the patriarchal age: <i>If
|
|
thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?</i> Noah was so.
|
|
For,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ix-p21">1. God was well pleased with the
|
|
|
|
<pb n="68" id="Gen.ix-Page_68"/>
|
|
|
|
performance, <scripRef passage="Ge 8:21" id="Gen.ix-p21.1" parsed="|Gen|8|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.8.21"><i>v.</i>
|
|
21</scripRef>. He <i>smelt a sweet savour,</i> or, as it is in the
|
|
Hebrew, <i>a savour of rest,</i> from it. As, when he had made the
|
|
world at first on the seventh day, he rested and was refreshed, so,
|
|
now that he had new-made it, in the sacrifice of the seventh he
|
|
rested. He was well pleased with Noah's pious zeal, and these
|
|
hopeful beginnings of the new world, as men are with fragrant and
|
|
agreeable smells; though his offering was small, it was according
|
|
to his ability, and God accepted it. Having caused his anger to
|
|
rest upon the world of sinners, he here caused his love to rest
|
|
upon this little remnant of believers.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ix-p22">2. Hereupon, he took up a resolution never
|
|
to drown the world again. Herein he had an eye, not so much to
|
|
Noah's sacrifice as to Christ's sacrifice of himself, which was
|
|
typified and represented by it, and which was indeed an <i>offering
|
|
of a sweet-smelling savour,</i> <scripRef passage="Eph 5:2" id="Gen.ix-p22.1" parsed="|Eph|5|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eph.5.2">Eph. v.
|
|
2</scripRef>. Good security is here given, and that which may be
|
|
relied upon,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ix-p23">(1.) That this judgment should never be
|
|
repeated. Noah might think, "To what purpose should the world be
|
|
repaired, when, in all probability, for the wickedness of it, it
|
|
will quickly be in like manner ruined again?" "No," says God, "it
|
|
never shall." It was said (<scripRef passage="Ge 6:6" id="Gen.ix-p23.1" parsed="|Gen|6|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.6"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
vi. 6</scripRef>), <i>It repented the Lord that he had made
|
|
man;</i> now here he speaks as if it repented him that he had
|
|
destroyed man: neither means a change of his mind, but both a
|
|
change of his way. <i>It repented him concerning his servants,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 32:36" id="Gen.ix-p23.2" parsed="|Deut|32|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.36">Deut. xxxii. 36</scripRef>. Two ways
|
|
this resolve is expressed:—[1.] <i>I will not again curse the
|
|
ground,</i> Heb. <i>I will not add to curse the ground any
|
|
more.</i> God had cursed the ground upon the first entrance of sin
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 3:17" id="Gen.ix-p23.3" parsed="|Gen|3|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.17"><i>ch.</i> iii. 17</scripRef>), when
|
|
he drowned it he added to that curse; but now he determines not to
|
|
add to it any more. [2.] <i>Neither will I again smite any more
|
|
every living thing;</i> that is, it was determined that whatever
|
|
ruin God might bring upon particular persons, or families, or
|
|
countries, he would never again destroy the whole world till the
|
|
day shall come when time shall be no more. But the reason of this
|
|
resolve is very surprising, for it seems the same in effect with
|
|
the reason given for the destruction of the world: <i>Because the
|
|
imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 6:5" id="Gen.ix-p23.4" parsed="|Gen|6|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.5"><i>ch.</i> vi. 5</scripRef>. But there is this
|
|
difference—there it is said, <i>The imagination of man's heart is
|
|
evil continually,</i> that is, "his actual transgressions
|
|
continually cry against him;" here it is said, It is evil <i>from
|
|
his youth or childhood.</i> It is bred in the bone; he brought it
|
|
into the world with him; he was shapen and conceived in it. Now,
|
|
one would think it should follow, "Therefore that guilty race shall
|
|
be wholly extinguished, and <i>I will make a full end.</i>" No,
|
|
"Therefore I will no more take this severe method; for,"
|
|
<i>First,</i> "He is rather to be pitied, for it is all the effect
|
|
of sin dwelling in him; and it is but what might be expected from
|
|
such a degenerate race: he is called a <i>transgressor from the
|
|
womb,</i> and therefore it is not strange that he deals so very
|
|
treacherously," <scripRef passage="Isa 48:8" id="Gen.ix-p23.5" parsed="|Isa|48|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.48.8">Isa. xlviii.
|
|
8</scripRef>. Thus God <i>remembers that he is flesh,</i> corrupt
|
|
and sinful, <scripRef passage="Ps 78:39" id="Gen.ix-p23.6" parsed="|Ps|78|39|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.78.39">Ps. lxxviii.
|
|
39</scripRef>. <i>Secondly,</i> "He will be utterly ruined; for, if
|
|
he be dealt with according to his deserts, one flood must succeed
|
|
another till all be destroyed." See here, 1. That outward
|
|
judgments, though they may terrify and restrain men, yet cannot of
|
|
themselves sanctify and renew them; the grace of God must work with
|
|
those judgments. Man's nature was as sinful after the deluge as it
|
|
had been before. 2. That God's goodness takes occasion from man's
|
|
sinfulness to magnify itself the more; his reasons of mercy are all
|
|
drawn from himself, not from any thing in us.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.ix-p24">(2.) That the course of nature should never
|
|
be discontinued (<scripRef passage="Ge 8:22" id="Gen.ix-p24.1" parsed="|Gen|8|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.8.22"><i>v.</i>
|
|
22</scripRef>): "<i>While the earth remaineth,</i> and man upon it,
|
|
there shall be <i>summer and winter</i> (not all winter as had been
|
|
this last year), <i>day and night,</i>" not all night, as probably
|
|
it was while the rain was descending. Here, [1.] It is plainly
|
|
intimated that this earth is not to remain always; it, and all the
|
|
works in it, must shortly be burnt up; and we look for <i>new
|
|
heavens and a new earth,</i> when all these things must be
|
|
dissolved. But, [2.] As long as it does remain God's providence
|
|
will carefully preserve the regular succession of times and
|
|
seasons, and cause each to know its place. To this we owe it that
|
|
the world stands, and the wheel of nature keeps it track. See here
|
|
how changeable the times are and yet how unchangeable.
|
|
<i>First,</i> The course of nature always changing. As it is with
|
|
the times, so it is with the events of time, they are subject to
|
|
vicissitudes—<i>day and night, summer and winter,</i>
|
|
counterchanged. In heaven and hell it is not so, but on earth
|
|
<i>God hath set the one over against the other. Secondly,</i> Yet
|
|
never changed. It is constant in this inconstancy. These seasons
|
|
have never ceased, nor shall cease, while the sun continued such a
|
|
steady measurer of time and the moon such a <i>faithful witness in
|
|
heaven.</i> This is <i>God's covenant of the day and of the
|
|
night,</i> the stability of which is mentioned for the confirming
|
|
of our faith in the covenant of grace, which is no less inviolable,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Jer 33:20,21" id="Gen.ix-p24.2" parsed="|Jer|33|20|33|21" osisRef="Bible:Jer.33.20-Jer.33.21">Jer. xxxiii. 20, 21</scripRef>. We
|
|
see God's promises to the creatures made good, and thence may infer
|
|
that his promises to all believers shall be so.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter IX" n="x" progress="8.57%" prev="Gen.ix" next="Gen.xi" id="Gen.x">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="68" id="Gen.x-Page_68"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.x-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.x-p0.2">CHAP. IX.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.x-p1">Both the world and the church were now again
|
|
reduced to a family, the family of Noah, of the affairs of which
|
|
this chapter gives us an account, of which we are the more
|
|
concerned to take cognizance because from this family we are all
|
|
descendants. Here is, I. The covenant of providence settled with
|
|
Noah and his sons, <scripRef passage="Ge 9:1-11" id="Gen.x-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|9|1|9|11" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.1-Gen.9.11">ver.
|
|
1-11</scripRef>. In this covenant, 1. God promises them to take
|
|
care of their lives, so that, (1.) They should replenish the earth,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 9:1,7" id="Gen.x-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|9|1|0|0;|Gen|9|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.1 Bible:Gen.9.7">ver. 1, 7</scripRef>. (2.) They should
|
|
be safe from the insults of the brute-creatures, which should stand
|
|
in awe of them, <scripRef passage="Ge 9:2" id="Gen.x-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|9|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.2">ver. 2</scripRef>. (3.)
|
|
They should be allowed to eat flesh for the support of their lives;
|
|
only they must not eat blood, <scripRef passage="Ge 9:3,4" id="Gen.x-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|9|3|9|4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.3-Gen.9.4">ver. 3,
|
|
4</scripRef>. (4.) The world should never be drowned again,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 9:8-11" id="Gen.x-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|9|8|9|11" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.8-Gen.9.11">ver. 8-11</scripRef>. 2. God requires
|
|
of them to take care of one another's lives, and of their own,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 9:5,6" id="Gen.x-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|9|5|9|6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.5-Gen.9.6">ver. 5, 6</scripRef>. II. The seal of
|
|
that covenant, namely, the rainbow, <scripRef passage="Ge 9:12-17" id="Gen.x-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|9|12|9|17" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.12-Gen.9.17">ver. 12-17</scripRef>. III. A particular passage of
|
|
story concerning Noah and his sons, which occasioned some
|
|
prophecies that related to after-times, 1. Noah's sin and shame,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 9:20,21" id="Gen.x-p1.8" parsed="|Gen|9|20|9|21" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.20-Gen.9.21">ver. 20, 21</scripRef>. 2. Ham's
|
|
impudence and impiety, <scripRef passage="Ge 9:22" id="Gen.x-p1.9" parsed="|Gen|9|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.22">ver.
|
|
22</scripRef>. 3. The pious modesty of Shem and Japheth,
|
|
|
|
<pb n="69" id="Gen.x-Page_69"/>
|
|
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 9:23" id="Gen.x-p1.10" parsed="|Gen|9|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.23">ver. 23</scripRef>. 4.
|
|
The curse of Canaan, and the blessing of Shem and Japheth,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 9:21-27" id="Gen.x-p1.11" parsed="|Gen|9|21|9|27" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.21-Gen.9.27">ver. 21-27</scripRef>. IV. The age
|
|
and death of Noah, <scripRef passage="Ge 9:28,29" id="Gen.x-p1.12" parsed="|Gen|9|28|9|29" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.28-Gen.9.29">ver. 28,
|
|
29</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 9" id="Gen.x-p1.13" parsed="|Gen|9|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 9:1-7" id="Gen.x-p1.14" parsed="|Gen|9|1|9|7" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.1-Gen.9.7"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.9.1-Gen.9.7">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.x-p1.15">Blessing of Noah and His
|
|
Sons. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.x-p1.16">b. c.</span> 2348.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.x-p2">1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said
|
|
unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
|
|
  2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon
|
|
every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all
|
|
that moveth <i>upon</i> the earth, and upon all the fishes of the
|
|
sea; into your hand are they delivered.   3 Every moving thing
|
|
that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I
|
|
given you all things.   4 But flesh with the life thereof,
|
|
<i>which is</i> the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.   5 And
|
|
surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of
|
|
every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand
|
|
of every man's brother will I require the life of man.   6
|
|
Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in
|
|
the image of God made he man.   7 And you, be ye fruitful, and
|
|
multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply
|
|
therein.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.x-p3">We read, in the close of the foregoing
|
|
chapter, the very kind things which God said in his heart,
|
|
concerning the remnant of mankind which was now left to be the seed
|
|
of a new world. Now here we have these kind things <i>spoken to
|
|
them.</i> In general, <i>God blessed Noah and his sons</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 9:1" id="Gen.x-p3.1" parsed="|Gen|9|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>), that is, he
|
|
assured them of his good-will to them and his gracious intentions
|
|
concerning them. This follows from what he said in his heart. Note,
|
|
All God's promises of good flow from his purposes of love and the
|
|
counsels of his own will. See <scripRef passage="Eph 1:11,3:11" id="Gen.x-p3.2" parsed="|Eph|1|11|0|0;|Eph|3|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eph.1.11 Bible:Eph.3.11">Eph. i. 11; iii. 11</scripRef>. and compare
|
|
<scripRef passage="Jer 29:11" id="Gen.x-p3.3" parsed="|Jer|29|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.29.11">Jer. xxix. 11</scripRef>. <i>I know
|
|
the thoughts that I think towards you.</i> We read (<scripRef passage="Ge 8:20" id="Gen.x-p3.4" parsed="|Gen|8|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.8.20"><i>ch.</i> viii. 20</scripRef>) how <i>Noah
|
|
blessed God,</i> by his altar and sacrifice. Now here we find God
|
|
blessing Noah. Note, God will graciously bless (that is, do well
|
|
for) those who sincerely bless (that is, speak well of) him. Those
|
|
that are truly thankful for the mercies they have received take the
|
|
readiest way to have them confirmed and continued to them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.x-p4">Now here we have the <i>Magna Charta—the
|
|
great charter</i> of this new kingdom of nature which was now to be
|
|
erected, and incorporated, the former charter having been forfeited
|
|
and seized.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.x-p5">I. The grants of this charter are kind and
|
|
gracious to men. Here is,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.x-p6">1. A grant of lands of vast extent, and a
|
|
promise of a great increase of men to occupy and enjoy them. The
|
|
first blessing is here renewed: <i>Be fruitful, and multiply, and
|
|
replenish the earth</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 9:1" id="Gen.x-p6.1" parsed="|Gen|9|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.1"><i>v.</i>
|
|
1</scripRef>), and repeated (<scripRef passage="Ge 9:7" id="Gen.x-p6.2" parsed="|Gen|9|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.7"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7</scripRef>), for the race of mankind was, as it were, to begin
|
|
again. Now, (1.) God sets the whole earth before them, tells them
|
|
it is all their own, <i>while it remains,</i> to them and their
|
|
heirs. Note, The earth God has given to the children of men, for a
|
|
possession and habitation, <scripRef passage="Ps 115:16" id="Gen.x-p6.3" parsed="|Ps|115|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.115.16">Ps. cxv.
|
|
16</scripRef>. Though it is not a paradise, but a wilderness
|
|
rather; yet it is better than we deserve. Blessed be God, it is not
|
|
hell. (2.) He gives them a blessing, by the force and virtue of
|
|
which mankind should be both multiplied and perpetuated upon earth,
|
|
so that in a little time all the habitable parts of the earth
|
|
should be more or less inhabited; and, though one generation should
|
|
pass away, yet another generation should come, while the world
|
|
stands, so that the stream of the human race should be supplied
|
|
with a constant succession, and run parallel with the current of
|
|
time, till both should be delivered up together into the ocean of
|
|
eternity. Though death should still reign, and the Lord would still
|
|
be known by his judgments, yet the earth should never again be
|
|
dispeopled as now it was, but still replenished, <scripRef passage="Ac 17:24-26" id="Gen.x-p6.4" parsed="|Acts|17|24|17|26" osisRef="Bible:Acts.17.24-Acts.17.26">Acts xvii. 24-26</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.x-p7">2. A grant of power over the inferior
|
|
creatures, <scripRef passage="Ge 9:2" id="Gen.x-p7.1" parsed="|Gen|9|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. He
|
|
grants, (1.) A title to them: <i>Into your hands they are
|
|
delivered,</i> for your use and benefit. (2.) A dominion over them,
|
|
without which the title would avail little: <i>The fear of you and
|
|
the dread of you shall be upon every beast.</i> This revives a
|
|
former grant (<scripRef passage="Ge 1:28" id="Gen.x-p7.2" parsed="|Gen|1|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.28"><i>ch.</i> i.
|
|
28</scripRef>), only with this difference, that man in innocence
|
|
ruled by love, fallen man rules by fear. Now this grant remains in
|
|
force, and thus far we have still the benefit of it, [1.] That
|
|
those creatures which are any way useful to us are reclaimed, and
|
|
we use them either for service or food, or both, as they are
|
|
capable. The horse and ox patiently submit to the bridle and yoke,
|
|
and the sheep is dumb both before the shearer and before the
|
|
butcher; for the fear and dread of man are upon them. [2.] Those
|
|
creatures that are any way hurtful to us are restrained, so that,
|
|
though now and then man may be hurt by some of them, they do not
|
|
combine together to rise up in rebellion against man, else God
|
|
could by these destroy the world as effectually as he did by a
|
|
deluge; it is one of God's sore judgments, <scripRef passage="Eze 14:21" id="Gen.x-p7.3" parsed="|Ezek|14|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.14.21">Ezek. xiv. 21</scripRef>. What is it that keeps wolves
|
|
out of our towns, and lions out of our streets, and confines them
|
|
to the wilderness, but this fear and dread? Nay, some have been
|
|
tamed, <scripRef passage="Jam 9:7" id="Gen.x-p7.4" parsed="|Jas|9|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jas.9.7">Jas. iii. 7</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.x-p8">3. A grant of maintenance and subsistence:
|
|
<i>Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 9:3" id="Gen.x-p8.1" parsed="|Gen|9|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. Hitherto, most
|
|
think, man had been confined to feed only upon the products of the
|
|
earth, fruits, herbs, and roots, and all sorts of corn and milk; so
|
|
was the first grant, <scripRef passage="Ge 1:29" id="Gen.x-p8.2" parsed="|Gen|1|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.29"><i>ch.</i> i.
|
|
29</scripRef>. But the flood having perhaps washed away much of the
|
|
virtue of the earth, and so rendered its fruits less
|
|
|
|
<pb n="70" id="Gen.x-Page_70"/>
|
|
|
|
pleasing and less nourishing, God now enlarged the
|
|
grant, and allowed man to eat flesh, which perhaps man himself
|
|
never thought of, till now that God directed him to it, nor had any
|
|
more desire to than a sheep has to suck blood like a wolf. But now
|
|
man is allowed to feed upon flesh, as freely and safely as upon the
|
|
green herb. Now here see, (1.) That God is a good master, and
|
|
provides, not only that we may live, but that we may live
|
|
comfortably, in his service; not for necessity only, but for
|
|
delight. (2.) That every <i>creature of God is good,</i> and
|
|
nothing to be refused, <scripRef passage="1Ti 4:4" id="Gen.x-p8.3" parsed="|1Tim|4|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.4.4">1 Tim. iv.
|
|
4</scripRef>. Afterwards some meats that were proper enough for
|
|
food were prohibited by the ceremonial law; but from the beginning,
|
|
it seems, it was not so, and therefore is not so under the
|
|
gospel.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.x-p9">II. The precepts and provisos of this
|
|
character are no less kind and gracious, and instances of God's
|
|
good-will to man. The Jewish doctors speak so often of the seven
|
|
precepts of Noah, or of the sons of Noah, which they say were to be
|
|
observed by all nations, that it may not be amiss to set them down.
|
|
The first against the worship of idols. The second against
|
|
blasphemy, and requiring to bless the name of God. The third
|
|
against murder. The fourth against incest and all uncleanness. The
|
|
fifth against theft and rapine. The sixth requiring the
|
|
administration of justice. The seventh against eating of flesh with
|
|
the life. These the Jews required the observance of from the
|
|
<i>proselytes of the gate.</i> But the precepts here given all
|
|
concern the life of man.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.x-p10">1. Man must not prejudice his own life by
|
|
eating that food which is unwholesome and prejudicial to his health
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 9:4" id="Gen.x-p10.1" parsed="|Gen|9|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>): "<i>Flesh with
|
|
the life thereof, which is the blood thereof</i> (that is, raw
|
|
flesh), shall you not eat, as the beasts of prey do." It was
|
|
necessary to add this limitation to the grant of liberty to eat
|
|
flesh, lest, instead of nourishing their bodies by it, they should
|
|
destroy them. God would hereby show, (1.) That though they were
|
|
lords of the creatures, yet they were subjects to the Creator, and
|
|
under the restraints of his law. (2.) That they must not be greedy
|
|
and hasty in taking their food, but stay the preparing of it; not
|
|
like Saul's soldiers (<scripRef passage="1Sa 14:32" id="Gen.x-p10.2" parsed="|1Sam|14|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.14.32">1 Sam. xiv.
|
|
32</scripRef>), nor <i>riotous eaters of flesh,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 23:20" id="Gen.x-p10.3" parsed="|Prov|23|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.23.20">Prov. xxiii. 20</scripRef>. (3.) That they must
|
|
not be barbarous and cruel to the inferior creatures. They must be
|
|
lords, but not tyrants; they might kill them for their profit, but
|
|
not torment them for their pleasure, nor tear away the member of a
|
|
creature while it was yet alive, and eat that. (4.) That during the
|
|
continuance of the law of sacrifices, in which the blood made
|
|
<i>atonement for the soul</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 17:11" id="Gen.x-p10.4" parsed="|Lev|17|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.17.11">Lev.
|
|
xvii. 11</scripRef>), signifying that the life of the sacrifice was
|
|
accepted for the life of the sinner, blood must not be looked upon
|
|
as a common thing, but must be <i>poured out before the Lord</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="2Sa 23:16" id="Gen.x-p10.5" parsed="|2Sam|23|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.23.16">2 Sam. xxiii. 16</scripRef>), either
|
|
upon his altar or upon his earth. But, now that the great and true
|
|
sacrifice has been offered, the obligation of the law ceases with
|
|
the reason of it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.x-p11">2. Man must not take away his own life:
|
|
<i>Your blood of your lives will I require,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 9:5" id="Gen.x-p11.1" parsed="|Gen|9|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. Our lives are not so our own as
|
|
that we may quit them at our own pleasure, but they are God's and
|
|
we must resign them at his pleasure; if we in any way hasten our
|
|
own deaths, we are accountable to God for it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.x-p12">3. The beasts must not be suffered to hurt
|
|
the life of man: <i>At the hand of every beast will I require
|
|
it.</i> To show how tender God was of the life of man, though he
|
|
had lately made such destruction of lives, he will have the beast
|
|
put to death that kills a man. This was confirmed by the law of
|
|
Moses (<scripRef passage="Ex 21:28" id="Gen.x-p12.1" parsed="|Exod|21|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.28">Exod. xxi. 28</scripRef>), and
|
|
I think it would not be unsafe to observe it still. Thus God showed
|
|
his hatred of the sin of murder, that men might hate it the more,
|
|
and not only punish, but prevent it. And see <scripRef passage="Job 5:23" id="Gen.x-p12.2" parsed="|Job|5|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.5.23">Job v. 23</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.x-p13">4. Wilful murderers must be put to death.
|
|
This is the sin which is here designed to be restrained by the
|
|
terror of punishment (1.) God will punish murderers: <i>At the hand
|
|
of every man's brother will I require the life of man,</i> that is,
|
|
"I will avenge the blood of the murdered upon the murderer."
|
|
<scripRef passage="2Ch 24:22" id="Gen.x-p13.1" parsed="|2Chr|24|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.24.22">2 Chron. xxiv. 22</scripRef>. When
|
|
God requires the life of a man at the hand of him that took it away
|
|
unjustly, the murderer cannot render that, and therefore must
|
|
render his own in lieu of it, which is the only way left of making
|
|
restitution. Note, The righteous God will certainly make
|
|
inquisition for blood, though men cannot or do not. One time or
|
|
other, in this world or in the next, he will both discover
|
|
concealed murders, which are hidden from man's eye, and punish
|
|
avowed and justified murders, which are too great for man's hand.
|
|
(2.) The magistrate must punish murderers (<scripRef passage="Ge 9:6" id="Gen.x-p13.2" parsed="|Gen|9|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>): <i>Whoso sheddeth man's
|
|
blood,</i> whether upon a sudden provocation or having premeditated
|
|
it (for rash anger is heart-murder as well as malice prepense,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mt 5:21,22" id="Gen.x-p13.3" parsed="|Matt|5|21|5|22" osisRef="Bible:Matt.5.21-Matt.5.22">Matt. v. 21, 22</scripRef>), <i>by
|
|
man shall his blood be shed,</i> that is, by the magistrate, or
|
|
whoever is appointed or allowed to be the avenger of blood. There
|
|
are those who are ministers of God for this purpose, to be a
|
|
protection to the innocent, by being a terror to the malicious and
|
|
evildoers, and they must not <i>bear the sword in vain,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ro 13:4" id="Gen.x-p13.4" parsed="|Rom|13|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.13.4">Rom. xiii. 4</scripRef>. Before the
|
|
flood, as it should seem by the story of Cain, God took the
|
|
punishment of murder into his own hands; but now he committed this
|
|
judgment to men, to masters of families at first, and afterwards to
|
|
the heads of countries, who ought to be faithful to the trust
|
|
reposed in them. Note, Wilful murder ought always to be punished
|
|
with death. It is a sin <i>which the Lord would not pardon</i> in a
|
|
prince (<scripRef passage="2Ki 24:3,4" id="Gen.x-p13.5" parsed="|2Kgs|24|3|24|4" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.24.3-2Kgs.24.4">2 Kings xxiv. 3,
|
|
4</scripRef>), and which therefore a prince should not pardon in a
|
|
subject. To this law there is a reason annexed: <i>For in the image
|
|
of God made he man</i> at first. Man is a creature dear to his
|
|
Creator, and therefore
|
|
|
|
<pb n="71" id="Gen.x-Page_71"/>
|
|
|
|
ought to be so to us.
|
|
God put honour upon him, let not us then put contempt upon him.
|
|
Such remains of God's image are still even upon fallen man as that
|
|
he who unjustly kills a man defaces the image of God and does
|
|
dishonour to him. When God allowed men to kill their beasts, yet he
|
|
forbade them to kill their slaves; for these are of a much more
|
|
noble and excellent nature, not only God's creatures, but his
|
|
image, <scripRef passage="Jam 3:9" id="Gen.x-p13.6" parsed="|Jas|3|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jas.3.9">Jam. iii. 9</scripRef>. All men
|
|
have something of the image of God upon them; but magistrates have,
|
|
besides, the image of his power, and the saints the image of his
|
|
holiness, and therefore those who shed the blood of princes or
|
|
saints incur a double guilt.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 9:8-11" id="Gen.x-p13.7" parsed="|Gen|9|8|9|11" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.8-Gen.9.11"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.9.8-Gen.9.11">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.x-p13.8">God's Covenant with Noah. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.x-p13.9">b. c.</span> 2347.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.x-p14">8 And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with
|
|
him, saying,   9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with
|
|
you, and with your seed after you;   10 And with every living
|
|
creature that <i>is</i> with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and
|
|
of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the
|
|
ark, to every beast of the earth.   11 And I will establish my
|
|
covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by
|
|
the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to
|
|
destroy the earth.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.x-p15">Here is, I. The general establishment of
|
|
God's covenant with this new world, and the extent of that
|
|
covenant, <scripRef passage="Ge 9:9,10" id="Gen.x-p15.1" parsed="|Gen|9|9|9|10" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.9-Gen.9.10"><i>v.</i> 9, 10</scripRef>.
|
|
Here observe, 1. That God is graciously pleased to deal with man in
|
|
the way of a covenant, wherein God greatly magnifies his
|
|
condescending favour, and greatly encourages man's duty and
|
|
obedience, as a reasonable and gainful service. 2. That all God's
|
|
covenants with man are of his own making: <i>I, behold, I.</i> It
|
|
is thus expressed both to raise our admiration—"Behold, and
|
|
wonder, that though God be high yet he has this respect to man,"
|
|
and to confirm our assurances of the validity of the
|
|
covenant—"Behold and see, I make it; I that am faithful and able
|
|
to make it good." 3. That God's covenants are established more
|
|
firmly than the pillars of heaven or the foundations of the earth,
|
|
and cannot be disannulled. 4. That God's covenants are made with
|
|
the covenanters and with their seed; the promise is to them and
|
|
their children. 5. That those may be taken into covenant with God,
|
|
and receive the benefits of it, who yet are not capable of
|
|
restipulating, or giving their own consent. For this covenant is
|
|
made with <i>every living creature, every beast of the
|
|
earth.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.x-p16">II. The particular intention of this
|
|
covenant. It was designed to secure the world from another deluge:
|
|
<i>There shall not any more be a flood.</i> God had drowned the
|
|
world once, and still it was as filthy and provoking as ever, and
|
|
God foresaw the wickedness of it, and yet promised he would never
|
|
drown it any more; for he deals not with us according to our sins.
|
|
It is owing to God's goodness and faithfulness, not to any
|
|
reformation of the world, that it has not often been deluged and
|
|
that it is not deluged now. As the old world was ruined to be a
|
|
monument of justice, so this world remains to this day, a monument
|
|
of mercy, according to the oath of God, that the waters of Noah
|
|
should no more return to cover the earth, <scripRef passage="Isa 54:9" id="Gen.x-p16.1" parsed="|Isa|54|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.9">Isa. liv. 9</scripRef>. This promise of God keeps the
|
|
sea and clouds in their decreed place, and <i>sets them gates and
|
|
bars; hitherto they shall come,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 38:10,11" id="Gen.x-p16.2" parsed="|Job|38|10|38|11" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.10-Job.38.11">Job xxxviii. 10, 11</scripRef>. If the sea should
|
|
flow but for a few days, as it does twice every day for a few
|
|
hours, what desolation would it make! And how destructive would the
|
|
clouds be, if such showers as we have sometimes seen were continued
|
|
long! But God, by flowing seas and sweeping rains, shows what he
|
|
could do in wrath; and yet, by preserving the earth from being
|
|
deluged between both, shows what he can do in mercy and will do in
|
|
truth. Let us give him the glory of his mercy in promising and of
|
|
his truth in performing. This promise does not hinder, 1. But that
|
|
God may bring other wasting judgments upon mankind; for, though he
|
|
has here bound himself not to use this arrow any more, yet he has
|
|
other arrows in his quiver. 2. Nor but that he may destroy
|
|
particular places and countries by the inundations of the sea or
|
|
rivers. 3. Nor will the destruction of the world at the last day by
|
|
fire be any breach of his promise. Sin which drowned the old world
|
|
will burn this.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 9:12-17" id="Gen.x-p16.3" parsed="|Gen|9|12|9|17" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.12-Gen.9.17"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.9.12-Gen.9.17">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.x-p17">12 And God said, This <i>is</i> the token of the
|
|
covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature
|
|
that <i>is</i> with you, for perpetual generations:   13 I do
|
|
set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant
|
|
between me and the earth.   14 And it shall come to pass, when
|
|
I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the
|
|
cloud:   15 And I will remember my covenant, which <i>is</i>
|
|
between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the
|
|
waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.   16
|
|
And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I
|
|
may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living
|
|
creature of all flesh that <i>is</i> upon the earth.   17 And
|
|
God said unto Noah, This <i>is</i> the token of the covenant, which
|
|
I have established
|
|
|
|
<pb n="72" id="Gen.x-Page_72"/>
|
|
|
|
between me and all flesh
|
|
that <i>is</i> upon the earth.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.x-p18">Articles of agreement among men are usually
|
|
sealed, that the covenants may be the more solemn, and the
|
|
performances of the covenants the more sure, to mutual
|
|
satisfaction. God therefore, being <i>willing more abundantly to
|
|
show to the heirs of promise the immutability of his councils,</i>
|
|
has confirmed his covenant by a seal (<scripRef passage="Heb 6:17" id="Gen.x-p18.1" parsed="|Heb|6|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.6.17">Heb. vi. 17</scripRef>), which makes the foundations we
|
|
build on stand sure, <scripRef passage="2Ti 2:19" id="Gen.x-p18.2" parsed="|2Tim|2|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Tim.2.19">2 Tim. ii.
|
|
19</scripRef>. The seal of this covenant of nature was natural
|
|
enough; it was the <i>rainbow,</i> which, it is likely, was seen in
|
|
the clouds before, when second causes concurred, but was never a
|
|
seal of the covenant till now that it was made so by a divine
|
|
institution. Now, concerning this seal of the covenant, observe, 1.
|
|
This seal is affixed with repeated assurances of the truth of that
|
|
promise of which it was designed to be the ratification: <i>I do
|
|
set my bow in the cloud</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 9:13" id="Gen.x-p18.3" parsed="|Gen|9|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.13"><i>v.</i>
|
|
13</scripRef>); it <i>shall be seen in the cloud</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 9:14" id="Gen.x-p18.4" parsed="|Gen|9|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>), that the eye may affect
|
|
the heart and confirm the faith; and it shall be <i>the token of
|
|
the covenant</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 9:12,13" id="Gen.x-p18.5" parsed="|Gen|9|12|9|13" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.12-Gen.9.13"><i>v.</i> 12,
|
|
13</scripRef>), <i>and I will remember my covenant, that the waters
|
|
shall no more become a flood,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 9:15" id="Gen.x-p18.6" parsed="|Gen|9|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. Nay, as if the Eternal Mind
|
|
needed a memorandum, <i>I will look upon it, that I may remember
|
|
the everlasting covenant,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 9:16" id="Gen.x-p18.7" parsed="|Gen|9|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.16"><i>v.</i>
|
|
16</scripRef>. Thus here is line upon line, that we might have sure
|
|
and strong consolation who have laid hold of this hope. 2. The
|
|
rainbow appears when the clouds are most disposed to wet, and
|
|
returns after the rain; when we have most reason to fear the rain
|
|
prevailing, then God shows this seal of the promise that it shall
|
|
not prevail. Thus God obviates our fears with such encouragements
|
|
as are both suitable and seasonable. 3. The thicker the cloud the
|
|
brighter the bow in the cloud. Thus, as threatening afflictions
|
|
abound, encouraging consolations much more abound, <scripRef passage="2Co 1:5" id="Gen.x-p18.8" parsed="|2Cor|1|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.1.5">2 Cor. i. 5</scripRef>. 4. The rainbow appears
|
|
when one part of the sky is clear, which intimates mercy remembered
|
|
in the midst of wrath; and the clouds are hemmed as it were with
|
|
the rainbow, that they may not overspread the heavens, for the bow
|
|
is coloured rain or the edges of a cloud gilded. 5. The rainbow is
|
|
the reflection of the beams of the sun, which intimates that all
|
|
the glory and significancy of the seals of the covenant are derived
|
|
from Christ the Sun of righteousness, who is also described with a
|
|
<i>rainbow about his throne</i> (<scripRef passage="Re 4:3" id="Gen.x-p18.9" parsed="|Rev|4|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.4.3">Rev.
|
|
iv. 3</scripRef>), and a <i>rainbow upon his head</i> (<scripRef passage="Re 10:1" id="Gen.x-p18.10" parsed="|Rev|10|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.10.1">Rev. x. 1</scripRef>), which intimates, not only
|
|
his majesty, but his mediatorship. 6. The rainbow has fiery colours
|
|
in it, to signify that though God will not again drown the world,
|
|
yet, when the mystery of God shall be finished, the world shall be
|
|
consumed by fire. 7. A bow bespeaks terror, but this bow has
|
|
neither string nor arrow, as the bow ordained against the
|
|
persecutors has (<scripRef passage="Ps 7:12,13" id="Gen.x-p18.11" parsed="|Ps|7|12|7|13" osisRef="Bible:Ps.7.12-Ps.7.13">Ps. vii. 12,
|
|
13</scripRef>), and a bow alone will do little execution. It is a
|
|
bow, but it is directed upwards, not towards the earth; for the
|
|
seals of the covenant were intended to comfort, not to terrify. 8.
|
|
As God looks upon the bow, that he may remember the covenant, so
|
|
should we, that we also may be ever mindful of the covenant, with
|
|
faith and thankfulness.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 9:18-23" id="Gen.x-p18.12" parsed="|Gen|9|18|9|23" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.18-Gen.9.23"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.9.18-Gen.9.23">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.x-p18.13">Sin of Ham. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.x-p18.14">b. c.</span> 2347.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.x-p19">18 And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the
|
|
ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham <i>is</i> the father
|
|
of Canaan.   19 These <i>are</i> the three sons of Noah: and
|
|
of them was the whole earth overspread.   20 And Noah began
|
|
<i>to be</i> a husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:   21 And
|
|
he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within
|
|
his tent.   22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the
|
|
nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.  
|
|
23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid <i>it</i> upon
|
|
both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness
|
|
of their father; and their faces <i>were</i> backward, and they saw
|
|
not their father's nakedness.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.x-p20">Here is, I. Noah's family and employment.
|
|
The names of his sons are again mentioned (<scripRef passage="Ge 9:18,19" id="Gen.x-p20.1" parsed="|Gen|9|18|9|19" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.18-Gen.9.19"><i>v.</i> 18, 19</scripRef>) as those from whom the
|
|
whole earth was overspread, by which it appears that Noah, after
|
|
the flood, had no more children: all the world came from these
|
|
three. Note, God, when he pleases, can make <i>a little one to
|
|
become a thousand,</i> and greatly increase the latter end of those
|
|
whose beginning was small. Such are the power and efficacy of a
|
|
divine blessing. The business Noah applied himself to was that of
|
|
<i>a husbandman,</i> Heb. <i>a man of the earth,</i> that is, a man
|
|
dealing in the earth, that kept ground in his hand, and occupied
|
|
it. We are all naturally men of the earth, made of it, living on
|
|
it, and hastening to it: many are sinfully so, addicted to earthly
|
|
things. Noah was by his calling led to trade in the fruits of the
|
|
earth. He <i>began to be a husbandman,</i> that is, some time after
|
|
his departure out of the ark, he returned to his old employment,
|
|
from which he had been diverted by the building of the ark first,
|
|
and probably afterwards by the building of a house on dry land for
|
|
himself and family. For this good while he had been a carpenter,
|
|
but now he began again to be a husbandman. Observe, Though Noah was
|
|
a great man and a good man, an old man and a rich man, a man
|
|
greatly favoured by heaven and honoured on earth, yet he would not
|
|
live an idle life, nor think the husbandman's calling
|
|
|
|
<pb n="73" id="Gen.x-Page_73"/>
|
|
|
|
below him. Note, Though God by his providence may
|
|
take us off from our callings for a time, yet when the occasion is
|
|
over we ought with humility and industry to apply ourselves to them
|
|
again, and, in the calling wherein we are called, faithfully to
|
|
<i>abide with God,</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 7:24" id="Gen.x-p20.2" parsed="|1Cor|7|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.7.24">1 Cor. vii.
|
|
24</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.x-p21">II. Noah's sin and shame: <i>He planted a
|
|
vineyard;</i> and, when he had gathered his vintage, probably he
|
|
appointed a day of mirth and feasting in his family, and had his
|
|
sons and their children with him, to rejoice with him in the
|
|
increase of his house as well as in the increase of his vineyard;
|
|
and we may suppose he prefaced his feast with a sacrifice to the
|
|
honour of God. If this was omitted, it was just with God to leave
|
|
him to himself, that he who did not begin with God might end with
|
|
the beasts; but we charitably hope that it was not: and perhaps he
|
|
appointed this feast with a design, at the close of it, to bless
|
|
his sons, as <i>Isaac,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 27:3,4" id="Gen.x-p21.1" parsed="|Gen|27|3|27|4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.3-Gen.27.4"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xxvii. 3, 4</scripRef>, <i>That I may eat, and that my soul may
|
|
bless thee.</i> At this feast he <i>drank of the wine;</i> for who
|
|
planteth a vineyard and <i>eateth not of the fruit of it?</i> But
|
|
he drank too liberally, more than his head at this age would bear,
|
|
for he was <i>drunk.</i> We have reason to think he was never drunk
|
|
before nor after; observe how he came now to be overtaken in this
|
|
fault. It was his sin, and a great sin, so much the worse for its
|
|
being so soon after a great deliverance; but God left him to
|
|
himself, as he did Hezekiah (<scripRef passage="2Ch 32:31" id="Gen.x-p21.2" parsed="|2Chr|32|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.32.31">2 Chron.
|
|
xxxii. 31</scripRef>), and has left this miscarriage of his upon
|
|
record, to teach us, 1. That the fairest copy that ever mere man
|
|
wrote since the fall had its blots and false strokes. It was said
|
|
of Noah that he was <i>perfect in his generations</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 6:9" id="Gen.x-p21.3" parsed="|Gen|6|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.9"><i>ch.</i> vi. 9</scripRef>), but this shows that
|
|
it is meant of sincerity, not a sinless perfection. 2. That
|
|
sometimes those who, with watchfulness and resolution, have, by the
|
|
grace of God, kept their integrity in the midst of temptation,
|
|
have, through security, and carelessness, and neglect of the grace
|
|
of God, been surprised into sin, when the hour of temptation has
|
|
been over. Noah, who had kept sober in drunken company, is now
|
|
drunk in sober company. <i>Let him that thinks he stands take
|
|
heed.</i> 3. That we have need to be very careful, when we use
|
|
God's good creatures plentifully, lest we use them to excess.
|
|
Christ's disciples must take heed lest at any time <i>their hearts
|
|
be overcharged,</i> <scripRef passage="Lu 21:34" id="Gen.x-p21.4" parsed="|Luke|21|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.21.34">Luke xxi.
|
|
34</scripRef>. Now the consequence of Noah's sin was shame. He was
|
|
<i>uncovered within his tent,</i> made naked to his shame, as Adam
|
|
when he had eaten forbidden fruit. Yet Adam sought concealment;
|
|
Noah is so destitute of thought and reason that he seeks no
|
|
covering. This was a fruit of the vine that Noah did not think of.
|
|
Observe here the great evil of the sin of drunkenness. (1.) It
|
|
discovers men. What infirmities they have, they betray when they
|
|
are drunk, and what secrets they are entrusted with are then easily
|
|
got out of them. Drunken porters keep open gates. (2.) It disgraces
|
|
men, and exposes them to contempt. As it shows them, so it shames
|
|
them. Men say and do that when drunk which when they are sober they
|
|
would blush at the thoughts of, <scripRef passage="Hab 2:15,16" id="Gen.x-p21.5" parsed="|Hab|2|15|2|16" osisRef="Bible:Hab.2.15-Hab.2.16">Hab. ii. 15, 16</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.x-p22">III. Ham's impudence and impiety: He <i>saw
|
|
the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 9:22" id="Gen.x-p22.1" parsed="|Gen|9|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>. To see it
|
|
accidentally and involuntarily would not have been a crime; but, 1.
|
|
He pleased himself with the sight, <i>as the Edomites looked up on
|
|
the day of their brother</i> (<scripRef passage="Ob 1:12" id="Gen.x-p22.2" parsed="|Obad|1|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Obad.1.12">Obad.
|
|
12</scripRef>), pleased, and insulting. Perhaps Ham had sometimes
|
|
been himself drunk, and reproved for it by his good father, whom he
|
|
was therefore pleased to see thus overcome. Note, It is common for
|
|
those who walk in false ways themselves to rejoice at the false
|
|
steps which they sometimes see others make. But charity rejoices
|
|
not in iniquity, nor can true penitents that are sorry for their
|
|
own sins rejoice in the sins of others. 2. <i>He told his two
|
|
brethren without</i> (<i>in the street,</i> as the word is), in a
|
|
scornful deriding manner, that his father might seem vile unto
|
|
them. It is very wrong, (1.) To make a jest of sin (<scripRef passage="Pr 14:9" id="Gen.x-p22.3" parsed="|Prov|14|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.14.9">Prov. xiv. 9</scripRef>), and to be puffed up
|
|
with that for which we should rather mourn, <scripRef passage="1Co 5:2" id="Gen.x-p22.4" parsed="|1Cor|5|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.5.2">1 Cor. v. 2</scripRef>. And, (2.) To publish the faults
|
|
of any, especially of parents, whom it is our duty to honour. Noah
|
|
was not only a good man, but had been a good father to him; and
|
|
this was a most base disingenuous requital to him for his
|
|
tenderness. Ham is here called the <i>father of Canaan,</i> which
|
|
intimates that he who was himself a father should have been more
|
|
respectful to him that was his father.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.x-p23">IV. The pious care of Shem and Japheth to
|
|
cover their poor father's shame, <scripRef passage="Ge 5:23" id="Gen.x-p23.1" parsed="|Gen|5|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. They not only would not see it
|
|
themselves, but provided that no one else might see it, herein
|
|
setting us an example of charity with reference to other men's sin
|
|
and shame; we must not only not say, <i>A confederacy,</i> with
|
|
those that proclaim it, but we must be careful to conceal it, or at
|
|
least to make the best of it, so doing as we would be done by. 1.
|
|
There is a mantle of love to be thrown over the faults of all,
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Pe 4:8" id="Gen.x-p23.2" parsed="|1Pet|4|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.4.8">1 Pet. iv. 8</scripRef>. 2. Besides
|
|
this, there is a robe of reverence to be thrown over the faults of
|
|
parents and other superiors.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 9:24-27" id="Gen.x-p23.3" parsed="|Gen|9|24|9|27" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.24-Gen.9.27"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.9.24-Gen.9.27">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.x-p23.4">Noah's Prophecy. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.x-p23.5">b. c.</span> 2347.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.x-p24">24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what
|
|
his younger son had done unto him.   25 And he said, Cursed
|
|
<i>be</i> Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his
|
|
brethren.   26 And he said, Blessed <i>be</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.x-p24.1">Lord</span> God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his
|
|
servant.   27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in
|
|
the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.</p>
|
|
|
|
<pb n="74" id="Gen.x-Page_74"/>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.x-p25">Here, I. Noah comes to himself: He <i>awoke
|
|
from his wine.</i> Sleep cured him, and, we may suppose, so cured
|
|
him that he never relapsed into that sin afterwards. Those that
|
|
sleep as Noah did should awake as he did, and not as that drunkard
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Pr 23:35" id="Gen.x-p25.1" parsed="|Prov|23|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.23.35">Prov. xxiii. 35</scripRef>) who says
|
|
when he awakes, <i>I will seek it yet again.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.x-p26">II. The spirit of prophecy comes upon him,
|
|
and, like dying Jacob, he tells his sons what shall befal them,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 49:1" id="Gen.x-p26.1" parsed="|Gen|49|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.1"><i>ch.</i> xlix. 1</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.x-p27">1. He pronounces a curse on Canaan the son
|
|
of Ham (<scripRef passage="Ge 9:25" id="Gen.x-p27.1" parsed="|Gen|9|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>), in
|
|
whom Ham is himself cursed, either because this son of his was now
|
|
more guilty than the rest, or because the posterity of this son was
|
|
afterwards to be rooted out of their land, to make room for Israel.
|
|
And Moses here records it for the animating of Israel in the wars
|
|
of Canaan; though the Canaanites were a formidable people, yet they
|
|
were of old an accursed people, and doomed to ruin. The particular
|
|
curse is, <i>A servant of servants</i> (that is, the meanest and
|
|
most despicable servant) <i>shall he be,</i> even <i>to his
|
|
brethren.</i> Those who by birth were his equals shall by conquest
|
|
be his lords. This certainly points at the victories obtained by
|
|
Israel over the Canaanites, by which they were all either put to
|
|
the sword or put under tribute (<scripRef passage="Jos 9:23,Jdg 1:28,30,33,35" id="Gen.x-p27.2" parsed="|Josh|9|23|0|0;|Judg|1|28|0|0;|Judg|1|30|0|0;|Judg|1|33|0|0;|Judg|1|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.9.23 Bible:Judg.1.28 Bible:Judg.1.30 Bible:Judg.1.33 Bible:Judg.1.35">Josh. ix. 23; Judg. i. 28, 30, 33,
|
|
35</scripRef>), which happened not till about 800 years after this.
|
|
Note, (1.) God often visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the
|
|
children, especially when the children inherit the fathers' wicked
|
|
dispositions, and imitate the fathers' wicked practices, and do
|
|
nothing to cut off the entail of the curse. (2.) Disgrace is justly
|
|
put upon those that put disgrace upon others, especially that
|
|
dishonour and grieve their own parents. An undutiful child that
|
|
mocks at his parents is <i>no more worthy to be called a son,</i>
|
|
but deserves to be <i>made as a hired servant,</i> nay, as <i>a
|
|
servant of servants,</i> among his brethren. (3.) Though divine
|
|
curses operate slowly, yet, first or last, they will take effect.
|
|
The Canaanites were under a curse of slavery, and yet, for a great
|
|
while, had the dominion; for a family, a people, a person, may lie
|
|
under the curse of God, and yet may long prosper in the world, till
|
|
the measure of their iniquity, like that of the Canaanites, be
|
|
full. Many are marked for ruin that are not yet ripe for ruin.
|
|
Therefore, <i>Let not thy heart envy sinners.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.x-p28">2. He entails a blessing upon Shem and
|
|
Japheth.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.x-p29">(1.) He blesses Shem, or rather blesses God
|
|
for him, yet so that it entitles him to the greatest honour and
|
|
happiness imaginable, <scripRef passage="Ge 9:26" id="Gen.x-p29.1" parsed="|Gen|9|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.26"><i>v.</i>
|
|
26</scripRef>. Observe, [1.] He calls the Lord <i>the god of
|
|
Shem;</i> and happy, thrice happy, <i>is that people whose God is
|
|
the</i> <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.x-p29.2">Lord</span>, <scripRef passage="Ps 144:15" id="Gen.x-p29.3" parsed="|Ps|144|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.144.15">Ps. cxliv. 15</scripRef>. All blessings are included in
|
|
this. This was the blessing conferred on Abraham and his seed; the
|
|
God of heaven was <i>not ashamed to be called their God,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Heb 11:16" id="Gen.x-p29.4" parsed="|Heb|11|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.16">Heb. xi. 16</scripRef>. Shem is
|
|
sufficiently recompensed for his respect to his father by this,
|
|
that the Lord himself puts this honour upon him, <i>to be his
|
|
God,</i> which is a sufficient recompence for all our services and
|
|
all our sufferings for his name. [2.] He gives to God the glory of
|
|
that good work which Shem had done, and, instead of blessing and
|
|
praising him that was the instrument, he blesses and praises God
|
|
that was the author. Note, The glory of all that is at any time
|
|
well done, by ourselves or others, must be humbly and thankfully
|
|
transmitted to God, who works all our good works in us and for us.
|
|
When we see men's good works we should glorify, not them, but
|
|
<i>our Father,</i> <scripRef passage="Mt 5:16" id="Gen.x-p29.5" parsed="|Matt|5|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.5.16">Matt. v.
|
|
16</scripRef>. Thus David, in effect, blessed Abigail, when he
|
|
<i>blessed God</i> that sent her (<scripRef passage="1Sa 25:32,33" id="Gen.x-p29.6" parsed="|1Sam|25|32|25|33" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.25.32-1Sam.25.33">1 Sam. xxv. 32, 33</scripRef>), for it is an honour
|
|
and a favour to be employed for God and used by him in doing good.
|
|
[3.] He foresees and foretells that God's gracious dealings with
|
|
Shem and his family would be such as would evidence to all the
|
|
world that he was the God of Shem, on which behalf thanksgivings
|
|
would by many be rendered to him: <i>Blessed be the Lord God of
|
|
Shem.</i> [4.] It is intimated that the church should be built up
|
|
and continued in the posterity of Shem; for of him came the Jews,
|
|
who were, for a great while, the only professing people God had in
|
|
the world. [5.] Some think reference is here had to Christ, who was
|
|
the Lord God that, in his human nature, should descend from the
|
|
loins of Shem; for of him, as concerning the flesh, Christ came.
|
|
[6.] Canaan is particularly enslaved to him: <i>He shall be his
|
|
servant.</i> Note, Those that have the Lord for their God shall
|
|
have as much of the honour and power of this world as he sees good
|
|
for them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.x-p30">(2.) He blesses Japheth, and, in him,
|
|
<i>the isles of the Gentiles,</i> which were peopled by his seed:
|
|
<i>God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of
|
|
Shem,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 9:27" id="Gen.x-p30.1" parsed="|Gen|9|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>. Now,
|
|
[1.] Some make this to belong wholly to Japheth, and to denote
|
|
either, <i>First,</i> His outward prosperity, that his seed should
|
|
be so numerous and so victorious that they should be masters of the
|
|
tents of Shem, which was fulfilled when the people of the Jews, the
|
|
most eminent of Shem's race, were tributaries to the Grecians first
|
|
and afterwards to the Romans, both of Japheth's seed. Note, Outward
|
|
prosperity is no infallible mark of the true church: the tents of
|
|
Shem are not always the tents of the conqueror. Or,
|
|
<i>Secondly,</i> It denotes the conversion of the Gentiles, and the
|
|
bringing of them into the church; and then we should read it,
|
|
<i>God shall persuade Japheth</i> (for so the word signifies), and
|
|
then, being so persuaded, <i>he shall dwell in the tents of
|
|
Shem,</i> that is, Jews and Gentiles shall be united together in
|
|
the gospel fold. After many of the Gentiles shall have been
|
|
proselyted to the Jewish religion, both shall be one in Christ
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Eph 2:14,15" id="Gen.x-p30.2" parsed="|Eph|2|14|2|15" osisRef="Bible:Eph.2.14-Eph.2.15">Eph. ii. 14, 15</scripRef>),
|
|
|
|
<pb n="75" id="Gen.x-Page_75"/>
|
|
|
|
and the Christian church, mostly made up of the
|
|
Gentiles, shall succeed the Jews in the privileges of
|
|
church-membership; the latter having first cast themselves out by
|
|
their unbelief, the Gentiles shall dwell in their tents, <scripRef passage="Ro 11:11-24" id="Gen.x-p30.3" parsed="|Rom|11|11|11|24" osisRef="Bible:Rom.11.11-Rom.11.24">Rom. xi. 11</scripRef>, &c. Note, It is
|
|
God only that can bring those again into the church who have
|
|
separated themselves from it. It is the power of God that makes the
|
|
gospel of Christ effectual to salvation, <scripRef passage="Ro 1:16" id="Gen.x-p30.4" parsed="|Rom|1|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.1.16">Rom. i. 16</scripRef>. And again, Souls are brought into
|
|
the church, not by force, but by persuasion, <scripRef passage="Ps 110:3" id="Gen.x-p30.5" parsed="|Ps|110|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.110.3">Ps. cx. 3</scripRef>. They are drawn by the cords of a
|
|
man, and persuaded by reason to be religious. [2.] Others divide
|
|
this between Japheth and Shem, Shem having not been directly
|
|
blessed, <scripRef passage="Ge 9:26" id="Gen.x-p30.6" parsed="|Gen|9|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>.
|
|
<i>First,</i> Japheth has the blessing of the earth beneath: <i>God
|
|
shall enlarge Japheth,</i> enlarge his seed, enlarge his border.
|
|
Japheth's prosperity peopled all Europe, a great part of Asia, and
|
|
perhaps America. Note, God is to be acknowledged in all our
|
|
enlargements. It is he that enlarges the coast and enlarges the
|
|
heart. And again, many dwell in large tents that do not dwell in
|
|
God's tents, as Japheth did. <i>Secondly,</i> Shem has the blessing
|
|
of heaven above: <i>He shall</i> (that is, God shall) <i>dwell in
|
|
the tents of Shem,</i> that is "From his loins <i>Christ shall
|
|
come,</i> and in his seed the <i>church shall be continued.</i>"
|
|
The birth-right was now to be divided between Shem and Japheth, Ham
|
|
being utterly discarded. In the principality which they equally
|
|
share Canaan shall be servant to both. The double portion is given
|
|
to Japheth, whom God shall enlarge; but the priesthood is given to
|
|
Shem, for <i>God shall dwell in the tents of Shem:</i> and
|
|
certainly we are more happy if we have God dwelling in our tents
|
|
than if we had there all the silver and gold in the world. It is
|
|
better to dwell in tents with God than in palaces without him. In
|
|
Salem, where is God's tabernacle, there is more satisfaction than
|
|
in all the isles of the Gentiles. <i>Thirdly,</i> They both have
|
|
dominion over Canaan: <i>Canaan shall be servant to them;</i> so
|
|
some read it. When Japheth joins with Shem, Canaan falls before
|
|
them both. When strangers become friends, enemies become
|
|
servants.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 9:28-29" id="Gen.x-p30.7" parsed="|Gen|9|28|9|29" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.28-Gen.9.29"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.9.28-Gen.9.29">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.x-p31">28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred
|
|
and fifty years.   29 And all the days of Noah were nine
|
|
hundred and fifty years: and he died.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.x-p32">Here see, 1. How God prolonged the life of
|
|
Noah; he lived 950 years, twenty more than Adam and but nineteen
|
|
less than Methuselah: this long life was a further reward of his
|
|
signal piety, and a great blessing to the world, to which no doubt
|
|
he continued a <i>preacher of righteousness,</i> with this
|
|
advantage, that now all he preached to were his own children. 2.
|
|
How God put a period to his life at last. Though he lived long, yet
|
|
he died, having probably first seen many that descended from him
|
|
dead before him. Noah lived to see two worlds, but, being an heir
|
|
of the righteousness which is by faith, when he died he went to see
|
|
a better than either.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter X" n="xi" progress="9.33%" prev="Gen.x" next="Gen.xii" id="Gen.xi">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="75" id="Gen.xi-Page_75"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xi-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xi-p0.2">CHAP. X.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xi-p1">This chapter shows more particularly what was said
|
|
in general (<scripRef passage="Ge 9:19" id="Gen.xi-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|9|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.19"><i>ch.</i> ix.
|
|
19</scripRef>), concerning the three sons of Noah, that "of them
|
|
was the whole earth overspread;" and the fruit of that blessing
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 9:1,7" id="Gen.xi-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|9|1|0|0;|Gen|9|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.1 Bible:Gen.9.7"><i>ch.</i> ix. 1, 7</scripRef>),
|
|
"replenish the earth." Is is the only certain account extant of the
|
|
origin of nations; and yet perhaps there is no nation but that of
|
|
the Jews that can be confident from which of these seventy
|
|
fountains (for so many there are here) it derives its streams.
|
|
Through the want of early records, the mixtures of people, the
|
|
revolutions of nations, and distance of time, the knowledge of the
|
|
lineal descent of the present inhabitants of the earth is lost; nor
|
|
were any genealogies preserved but those of the Jews, for the sake
|
|
of the Messiah, only in this chapter we have a brief account, I. Of
|
|
the posterity of Japheth, <scripRef passage="Ge 10:2-5" id="Gen.xi-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|10|2|10|5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10.2-Gen.10.5">ver.
|
|
2-5</scripRef>. II. The posterity of Ham (<scripRef passage="Ge 10:6-20" id="Gen.xi-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|10|6|10|20" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10.6-Gen.10.20">ver. 6-20</scripRef>), and in this particular notice
|
|
is taken of Nimrod, <scripRef passage="Ge 10:8-10" id="Gen.xi-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|10|8|10|10" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10.8-Gen.10.10">ver.
|
|
8-10</scripRef>. III. The posterity of Shem, <scripRef passage="Ge 10:21-32" id="Gen.xi-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|10|21|10|32" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10.21-Gen.10.32">ver. 21</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 10" id="Gen.xi-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|10|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 10:1-5" id="Gen.xi-p1.8" parsed="|Gen|10|1|10|5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10.1-Gen.10.5"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.10.1-Gen.10.5">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xi-p1.9">The Generations of Noah. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xi-p1.10">b. c.</span> 2347.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xi-p2">1 Now these <i>are</i> the generations of the
|
|
sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born
|
|
after the flood.   2 The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog,
|
|
and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.   3
|
|
And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.  
|
|
4 And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and
|
|
Dodanim.   5 By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided
|
|
in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families,
|
|
in their nations.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xi-p3">Moses begins with Japheth's family, either
|
|
because he was the eldest, or because his family lay remotest from
|
|
Israel and had least concern with them at the time when Moses
|
|
wrote, and therefore he mentions that race very briefly, hastening
|
|
to give an account of the posterity of Ham, who were Israel's
|
|
enemies and of Shem, who were Israel's ancestors; for it is the
|
|
church that the scripture is designed to be the history of, and of
|
|
the nations of the world only as they were some way or other
|
|
related to Israel and interested in the affairs of Israel. Observe,
|
|
1. Notice is taken that the sons of Noah had sons born to them
|
|
after the flood, to repair and rebuild the world of mankind which
|
|
the flood had ruined. He that had killed now makes alive. 2. The
|
|
posterity of Japheth were allotted to the isles of the Gentiles
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 10:5" id="Gen.xi-p3.1" parsed="|Gen|10|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), which were
|
|
solemnly, by lot, after a survey, divided among them, and probably
|
|
this island of ours among the rest; all places beyond the sea from
|
|
Judea are called <i>isles</i> (<scripRef passage="Jer 25:22" id="Gen.xi-p3.2" parsed="|Jer|25|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.25.22">Jer.
|
|
xxv. 22</scripRef>), and this directs us to understand that promise
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Isa 42:4" id="Gen.xi-p3.3" parsed="|Isa|42|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.42.4">Isa. xlii. 4</scripRef>), <i>the
|
|
isles shall wait for his law,</i> of the conversion of the Gentiles
|
|
to the faith of Christ.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 10:6-14" id="Gen.xi-p3.4" parsed="|Gen|10|6|10|14" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10.6-Gen.10.14"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.10.6-Gen.10.14">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xi-p4">6 And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and
|
|
Phut, and Canaan.   7 And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah,
|
|
and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtecha: and the sons of
|
|
|
|
<pb n="76" id="Gen.xi-Page_76"/>
|
|
|
|
Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.   8 And Cush begat
|
|
Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.   9 He was a
|
|
mighty hunter before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xi-p4.1">Lord</span>:
|
|
wherefore it is said; Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xi-p4.2">Lord</span>.   10 And the beginning of
|
|
his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the
|
|
land of Shinar.   11 Out of that land went forth Asshur, and
|
|
builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah,   12 And
|
|
Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same <i>is</i> a great city.
|
|
  13 And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and
|
|
Naphtuhim,   14 And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came
|
|
Philistim,) and Caphtorim.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xi-p5">That which is observable and improvable in
|
|
these verses is the account here given of Nimrod, <scripRef passage="Ge 10:8-10" id="Gen.xi-p5.1" parsed="|Gen|10|8|10|10" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10.8-Gen.10.10"><i>v.</i> 8-10</scripRef>. He is here
|
|
represented as a great man in his day: <i>He began to be a mighty
|
|
one in the earth,</i> that is, whereas those that went before him
|
|
were content to stand upon the same level with their neighbours,
|
|
and though every man bore rule in his own house yet no man
|
|
pretended any further, Nimrod's aspiring mind could not rest here;
|
|
he was resolved to tower above his neighbours, not only to be
|
|
eminent among them, but to lord it over them. The same spirit that
|
|
actuated the giants before the flood (who became <i>mighty men, and
|
|
men of renown,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 6:4" id="Gen.xi-p5.2" parsed="|Gen|6|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.4"><i>ch.</i> vi.
|
|
4</scripRef>), now revived in him, so soon was that tremendous
|
|
judgment which the pride and tyranny of those mighty men brought
|
|
upon the world forgotten. Note, There are some in whom ambition and
|
|
affectation of dominion seem to be bred in the bone; such there
|
|
have been and will be, notwithstanding the wrath of God often
|
|
revealed from heaven against them. Nothing on this side hell will
|
|
humble and break the proud spirits of some men, in this like
|
|
Lucifer, <scripRef passage="Isa 14:14,15" id="Gen.xi-p5.3" parsed="|Isa|14|14|14|15" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.14-Isa.14.15">Isa. xiv. 14,
|
|
15</scripRef>. Now,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xi-p6">I. Nimrod was a great hunter; with this he
|
|
began, and for this became famous to a proverb. Every great hunter
|
|
is, in remembrance of him, called a <i>Nimrod.</i> 1. Some think he
|
|
did good with his hunting, served his country by ridding it of the
|
|
wild beasts which infested it, and so insinuated himself into the
|
|
affections of his neighbours, and got to be their prince. Those
|
|
that exercise authority either are, or at least would be called,
|
|
<i>benefactors,</i> <scripRef passage="Lu 22:25" id="Gen.xi-p6.1" parsed="|Luke|22|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.22.25">Luke xxii.
|
|
25</scripRef>. 2. Others think that under pretence of hunting he
|
|
gathered men under his command, in pursuit of another game he had
|
|
to play, which was to make himself master of the country and to
|
|
bring them into subjection. He was a <i>mighty hunter,</i> that is,
|
|
he was a violent invader of his neighbours' rights and properties,
|
|
and a persecutor of innocent men, carrying all before him, and
|
|
endeavouring to make all his own by force and violence. He thought
|
|
himself a mighty prince, but <i>before the Lord</i> (that is, in
|
|
God's account) he was but a <i>mighty hunter.</i> Note, Great
|
|
conquerors are but great hunters. Alexander and Cesar would not
|
|
make such a figure in scripture-history as they do in common
|
|
history; the former is represented in prophecy but as a he-goat
|
|
pushing, <scripRef passage="Da 8:5" id="Gen.xi-p6.2" parsed="|Dan|8|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.8.5">Dan. viii. 5</scripRef>. Nimrod
|
|
was a mighty hunter <i>against</i> the Lord, so the LXX; that is,
|
|
(1.) He set up idolatry, as Jeroboam did, for the confirming of his
|
|
usurped dominion. That he might set up a new government, he set up
|
|
a new religion upon the ruin of the primitive constitution of both.
|
|
<i>Babel was the mother of harlots.</i> Or, (2.) He carried on his
|
|
oppression and violence in defiance of God himself, daring Heaven
|
|
with his impieties, as if he and his huntsmen could out-brave the
|
|
Almighty, and were a match for the Lord of hosts and all his
|
|
armies. <i>As if it were a small thing to weary men, he thinks to
|
|
weary my God also,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 7:13" id="Gen.xi-p6.3" parsed="|Isa|7|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.7.13">Isa. vii.
|
|
13</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xi-p7">II. Nimrod was a great ruler: <i>The
|
|
beginning of his kingdom was Babel,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 10:10" id="Gen.xi-p7.1" parsed="|Gen|10|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. Some way or other, by arts or
|
|
arms, he got into power, either being chosen to it or forcing his
|
|
way to it; and so laid the foundations of a monarchy, which was
|
|
afterwards a head of gold, and the terror of the mighty, and bade
|
|
fair to be universal. It does not appear that he had any right to
|
|
rule by birth; but either his fitness for government recommended
|
|
him, as some think, to an election, or by power and policy he
|
|
advanced gradually, and perhaps insensibly, into the throne. See
|
|
the antiquity of civil government, and particularly that form of it
|
|
which lodges the sovereignty in a single person. If Nimrod and his
|
|
neighbours began, other nations soon learned to incorporate under
|
|
one head for their common safety and welfare, which, however it
|
|
began, proved so great a blessing to the world that things were
|
|
reckoned to go ill indeed when there <i>was no king in
|
|
Israel.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xi-p8">III. Nimrod was a great builder. Probably
|
|
he was architect in the building of Babel, and there he began his
|
|
kingdom; but, when his project to rule all the sons of Noah was
|
|
baffled by the confusion of tongues, <i>out of that land he went
|
|
forth into Assyria</i> (so the margin reads it, <scripRef passage="Ge 10:11" id="Gen.xi-p8.1" parsed="|Gen|10|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>) <i>and built Nineveh,</i>
|
|
&c., that, having built these cities, he might command them and
|
|
rule over them. Observe, in Nimrod, the nature of ambition. 1. It
|
|
is boundless. Much would have more, and still cries, <i>Give,
|
|
give.</i> 2. It is restless. Nimrod, when he had four cities under
|
|
his command, could not be content till he had four more. 3. It is
|
|
expensive. Nimrod will rather be at the charge of rearing cities
|
|
than not have
|
|
|
|
<pb n="77" id="Gen.xi-Page_77"/>
|
|
|
|
the honour of ruling them. The
|
|
spirit of building is the common effect of a spirit of pride. 4. It
|
|
is daring, and will stick at nothing. Nimrod's name signifies
|
|
rebellion, which (if indeed he did abuse his power to the
|
|
oppression of his neighbours) teaches us that tyrants to men are
|
|
rebels to God, and their <i>rebellion is as the sin of
|
|
witchcraft.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 10:15-20" id="Gen.xi-p8.2" parsed="|Gen|10|15|10|20" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10.15-Gen.10.20"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.10.15-Gen.10.20">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xi-p9">15 And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and
|
|
Heth,   16 And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the
|
|
Girgasite,   17 And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the
|
|
Sinite,   18 And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the
|
|
Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread
|
|
abroad.   19 And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon,
|
|
as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and
|
|
Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha.   20 These
|
|
<i>are</i> the sons of Ham, after their families, after their
|
|
tongues, in their countries, <i>and</i> in their nations.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xi-p10">Observe here, 1. The account of the
|
|
posterity of Canaan, of the families and nations that descended
|
|
from him, and of the land they possessed, is more particular than
|
|
of any other in this chapter, because these were the nations that
|
|
were to be subdued before Israel, and their land was in process of
|
|
time to become the holy land, <i>Immanuel's land;</i> and this God
|
|
had an eye to when, in the meantime, he cast the lot of that
|
|
accursed devoted race in that spot of ground which he had selected
|
|
for his own people; this Moses takes notice of, <scripRef passage="De 32:8" id="Gen.xi-p10.1" parsed="|Deut|32|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.8">Deut. xxxii. 8</scripRef>, <i>When the Most High divided
|
|
to the nations their inheritance, he set the bounds of the people
|
|
according to the number of the children of Israel.</i> 2. By this
|
|
account it appears that the posterity of Canaan were numerous, and
|
|
rich, and very pleasantly situated; and yet Canaan was under a
|
|
curse, a divine curse, and not a curse causeless. Note, Those that
|
|
are under the curse of God may yet perhaps thrive and prosper
|
|
greatly in this world; for we cannot know love or hatred, the
|
|
blessing or the curse, by what is before us, but by what is within
|
|
us, <scripRef passage="Ec 9:1" id="Gen.xi-p10.2" parsed="|Eccl|9|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.9.1">Eccl. ix. 1</scripRef>. The curse of
|
|
God always works really and always terribly: but perhaps it is a
|
|
secret curse, a curse to the soul, and does not work visibly, or a
|
|
slow curse, and does not work immediately; but sinners are by it
|
|
reserved for, and bound over to, a day of wrath. Canaan here has a
|
|
better land than either Shem or Japheth, and yet they have a better
|
|
lot, for they inherit the blessing.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 10:21-32" id="Gen.xi-p10.3" parsed="|Gen|10|21|10|32" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10.21-Gen.10.32"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.10.21-Gen.10.32">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xi-p11">21 Unto Shem also, the father of all the
|
|
children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him
|
|
were <i>children</i> born.   22 The children of Shem; Elam,
|
|
and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram.   23 And the
|
|
children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash.   24 And
|
|
Arphaxad begat Salah; and Salah begat Eber.   25 And unto Eber
|
|
were born two sons: the name of one <i>was</i> Peleg; for in his
|
|
days was the earth divided; and his brother's name <i>was</i>
|
|
Joktan.   26 And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and
|
|
Hazarmaveth, and Jerah,   27 And Hadoram, and Uzal, and
|
|
Diklah,   28 And Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba,   29 And
|
|
Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these <i>were</i> the sons of
|
|
Joktan.   30 And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou goest
|
|
unto Sephar a mount of the east.   31 These <i>are</i> the
|
|
sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their
|
|
lands, after their nations.   32 These <i>are</i> the families
|
|
of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and
|
|
by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xi-p12">Two things especially are observable in
|
|
this account of the posterity of Shem:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xi-p13">I. The description of Shem, <i>v.</i> 21.
|
|
We have not only his name, <i>Shem,</i> which signifies <i>a
|
|
name,</i> but two titles to distinguish him by:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xi-p14">1. He was <i>the father of all the children
|
|
of Eber.</i> Eber was his great grandson; but why should he be
|
|
called the father of all <i>his</i> children, rather than of all
|
|
Arphaxad's, or Salah's, &c.? Probably because Abraham and his
|
|
seed, God's covenant-people, not only descended from Heber, but
|
|
from him were called <i>Hebrews;</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 14:13" id="Gen.xi-p14.1" parsed="|Gen|14|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.13"><i>ch.</i> xiv. 13</scripRef>, <i>Abram the Hebrew.</i>
|
|
Paul looked upon it as his privilege that he was a <i>Hebrew of the
|
|
Hebrews,</i> <scripRef passage="Php 3:5" id="Gen.xi-p14.2" parsed="|Phil|3|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Phil.3.5">Phil. iii. 5</scripRef>.
|
|
Eber himself, we may suppose, was a man eminent for religion in a
|
|
time of general apostasy, and a great example of piety to his
|
|
family; and, the holy tongue being commonly called from him the
|
|
<i>Hebrew,</i> it is probable that he retained it in his family, in
|
|
the confusion of Babel, as a special token of God's favour to him;
|
|
and from him the professors of religion were called <i>the children
|
|
of Eber.</i> Now, when the inspired penman would give Shem an
|
|
honourable title, he calls him <i>the father of the Hebrews.</i>
|
|
Though when Moses wrote this, they were a poor despised people,
|
|
bond-slaves in Egypt, yet, being God's people, it was an honour to
|
|
a man to be akin to them. As Ham, though he had many sons, is
|
|
disowned by being called <i>the father of Canaan,</i> on whose seed
|
|
|
|
<pb n="78" id="Gen.xi-Page_78"/>
|
|
|
|
the <i>curse</i> was entailed (<scripRef passage="Ge 9:22" id="Gen.xi-p14.3" parsed="|Gen|9|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.22"><i>ch.</i> ix. 22</scripRef>), so Shem, though he
|
|
had many sons, is dignified with the title of <i>the father of
|
|
Eber,</i> on whose seed the blessing was entailed. Note, a family
|
|
of saints is more truly honourable than a family of nobles, Shem's
|
|
holy seed than Ham's royal seed, Jacob's twelve patriarchs than
|
|
Ishmael's twelve princes, <scripRef passage="Ge 17:20" id="Gen.xi-p14.4" parsed="|Gen|17|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.20"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xvii. 20</scripRef>. Goodness is true greatness.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xi-p15">2. He was <i>the brother of Japheth the
|
|
elder,</i> by which it appears that, though Shem is commonly put
|
|
first, he was not Noah's first-born, but Japheth was older. But why
|
|
should this also be put as part of Shem's title and description,
|
|
that he <i>was the brother of Japheth,</i> since it had been, in
|
|
effect, said often before? And was he not as much brother to Ham?
|
|
Probably this was intended to signify the union of the Gentiles
|
|
with the Jews in the church. The sacred historian had mentioned it
|
|
as Shem's honour that he was the father of the Hebrews; but, lest
|
|
Japheth's seed should therefore be looked upon as for ever shut out
|
|
from the church, he here reminds us that he <i>was the brother of
|
|
Japheth,</i> not in birth only, but in blessing; for <i>Japheth was
|
|
to dwell in the tents of Shem.</i> Note, (1.) Those are brethren in
|
|
the best manner that are so by grace, and that meet in the covenant
|
|
of God and in the communion of saints. (2.) God, in dispensing his
|
|
grace, does not go by seniority, but the younger sometimes gets the
|
|
start of the elder in coming into the church; <i>so the last shall
|
|
be first and the first last.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xi-p16">II. The reason of the name of Peleg
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 10:25" id="Gen.xi-p16.1" parsed="|Gen|10|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>): Because
|
|
<i>in his days</i> (that is, about the time of his birth, when his
|
|
name was given him), <i>was the earth divided</i> among the
|
|
children of men that were to inhabit it; either when Noah divided
|
|
it by an orderly distribution of it, as Joshua divided the land of
|
|
Canaan by lot, or when, upon their refusal to comply with that
|
|
division, God, in justice, divided them by the confusion of
|
|
tongues: whichsoever of these was the occasion, pious Heber saw
|
|
cause to perpetuate the remembrance of it in the name of his son;
|
|
and justly may our sons be called by the same name, for in our
|
|
days, in another sense, is the earth, the church, most wretchedly
|
|
divided.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XI" n="xii" progress="9.64%" prev="Gen.xi" next="Gen.xiii" id="Gen.xii">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="78" id="Gen.xii-Page_78"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xii-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xii-p0.2">CHAP. XI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xii-p1">The old distinction between the sons of God and
|
|
the sons of men (professors and profane) survived the flood, and
|
|
now appeared again, when men began to multiply: according to this
|
|
distinction we have, in this chapter, I. The dispersion of the sons
|
|
of men at Babel (<scripRef passage="Ge 11:1-9" id="Gen.xii-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|11|1|11|9" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.1-Gen.11.9">ver.
|
|
1-9</scripRef>), where we have, 1. Their presumptuous provoking
|
|
design, which was to build a city and a tower, <scripRef passage="Ge 11:1-4" id="Gen.xii-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|11|1|11|4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.1-Gen.11.4">ver. 1-4</scripRef>. 2. The righteous judgment of God
|
|
upon them in disappointing their design, by confounding their
|
|
language, and so scattering them, <scripRef passage="Ge 11:5-9" id="Gen.xii-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|11|5|11|9" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.5-Gen.11.9">ver. 5-9</scripRef>. II. The pedigree of the sons of
|
|
God down to Abraham (<scripRef passage="Ge 11:10-26" id="Gen.xii-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|11|10|11|26" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.10-Gen.11.26">ver.
|
|
10-26</scripRef>), with a general account of his family, and
|
|
removal out of his native country, <scripRef passage="Ge 11:27-32" id="Gen.xii-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|11|27|11|32" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.27-Gen.11.32">ver. 27</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 11" id="Gen.xii-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|11|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 11:1-4" id="Gen.xii-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|11|1|11|4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.1-Gen.11.4"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.11.1-Gen.11.4">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xii-p1.8">The Confusion of Tongues. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xii-p1.9">b. c.</span> 2247.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xii-p2">1 And the whole earth was of one language, and
|
|
of one speech.   2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from
|
|
the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they
|
|
dwelt there.   3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us
|
|
make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone,
|
|
and slime had they for mortar.   4 And they said, Go to, let
|
|
us build us a city and a tower, whose top <i>may reach</i> unto
|
|
heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon
|
|
the face of the whole earth.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p3">The close of the foregoing chapter tells us
|
|
that <i>by</i> the sons of Noah, or <i>among</i> the sons of Noah,
|
|
<i>the nations were divided in the earth after the flood,</i> that
|
|
is, were distinguished into several tribes or colonies; and, the
|
|
places having grown too strait for them, it was either appointed by
|
|
Noah, or agreed upon among his sons, which way each several tribe
|
|
or colony should steer its course, beginning with the countries
|
|
that were next to them, and designing to proceed farther and farther,
|
|
and to remove to a greater distance from each other, as the
|
|
increase of their several companies should require. Thus was the
|
|
matter well settled, one hundred years after the flood, about the
|
|
time of Peleg's birth; but the sons of men, it should seem, were
|
|
loth to disperse into distant places; they thought the more the
|
|
merrier and the safer, and therefore they contrived to keep
|
|
together, and were <i>slack to go to possess the land which the
|
|
Lord God of their fathers had given them</i> (<scripRef passage="Jos 18:3" id="Gen.xii-p3.1" parsed="|Josh|18|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.18.3">Josh. xviii. 3</scripRef>), thinking themselves wiser
|
|
than either God or Noah. Now here we have,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p4">I. The advantages which befriended their
|
|
design of keeping together, 1. They were all of <i>one
|
|
language,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 11:1" id="Gen.xii-p4.1" parsed="|Gen|11|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>.
|
|
If there were any different languages before the flood, yet Noah's
|
|
only, which it is likely was the same with Adam's, was preserved
|
|
through the flood, and continued after it. Now, while they all
|
|
understood one another, they would be the more likely to love one
|
|
another, and the more capable of helping one another, and the less
|
|
inclinable to separate one from another. 2. They found a very
|
|
convenient commodious place to settle in (<scripRef passage="Ge 11:2" id="Gen.xii-p4.2" parsed="|Gen|11|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), <i>a plain in the land of
|
|
Shinar,</i> a spacious plain, able to <i>contain</i> them all, and
|
|
a <i>fruitful</i> plain, able, according as their present numbers
|
|
were, to support them all, though perhaps they had not considered
|
|
what room there would be for them when their numbers should be
|
|
increased. Note, Inviting accommodations, for the present, often
|
|
prove too strong temptations to the neglect of both duty and
|
|
interest, as it respects futurity.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p5">II. The method they took to bind themselves
|
|
to one another, and to settle together in one body. Instead of
|
|
coveting to enlarge their borders by a peaceful departure under the
|
|
divine protection, they contrived to fortify them, and, as those
|
|
that were resolved to wage war with Heaven, they put themselves
|
|
into a posture of defence. Their unanimous resolution is, <i>Let us
|
|
build ourselves a city
|
|
|
|
<pb n="79" id="Gen.xii-Page_79"/>
|
|
|
|
and a tower.</i> It is
|
|
observable that the first builders of cities, both in the old world
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 4:17" id="Gen.xii-p5.1" parsed="|Gen|4|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.17"><i>ch.</i> iv. 17</scripRef>), and in
|
|
the new world here, were not men of the best character and
|
|
reputation: tents served God's subjects to dwell in; cities were
|
|
first built by those that were rebels against him and revolters
|
|
from him. Observe here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p6">1. How they excited and encouraged one
|
|
another to set about this work. They said, <i>Go to, let us make
|
|
brick</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 11:3" id="Gen.xii-p6.1" parsed="|Gen|11|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), and
|
|
again, (<scripRef passage="Ge 11:4" id="Gen.xii-p6.2" parsed="|Gen|11|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>), <i>Go
|
|
to, let us build ourselves a city;</i> by mutual excitements they
|
|
made one another more daring and resolute. Note, Great things may
|
|
be brought to pass when the undertakers are numerous and unanimous,
|
|
and stir up one another. Let us learn to provoke one another to
|
|
love and to good works, as sinners stir up and encourage one
|
|
another to wicked works. See <scripRef passage="Ps 122:1,Isa 2:3,5,Jer 50:5" id="Gen.xii-p6.3" parsed="|Ps|122|1|0|0;|Isa|2|3|0|0;|Isa|2|5|0|0;|Jer|50|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.122.1 Bible:Isa.2.3 Bible:Isa.2.5 Bible:Jer.50.5">Ps. cxxii. 1; Isa. ii. 3, 5; Jer. l.
|
|
5</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p7">2. What materials they used in their
|
|
building. The country, being plain, yielded neither stone nor
|
|
mortar, yet this did not discourage them from their undertaking,
|
|
but they made brick to serve instead of stone, and slime or pitch
|
|
instead of mortar. See here, (1.) What shift those will make that
|
|
are resolute in their purposes: were we but zealously affected in a
|
|
good thing, we should not stop our work so often as we do, under
|
|
pretence that we want conveniences for carrying it on. (2.) What a
|
|
difference there is between men's building and God's; when men
|
|
build their Babel, brick and slime are their best materials; but,
|
|
when God builds his Jerusalem, he lays even the <i>foundations of
|
|
it with sapphires, and all its borders with pleasant stones,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 54:11-12,Re 21:19" id="Gen.xii-p7.1" parsed="|Isa|54|11|54|12;|Rev|21|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.11-Isa.54.12 Bible:Rev.21.19">Isa. liv. 11, 12; Rev.
|
|
xxi. 19</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p8">3. For what ends they built. Some think
|
|
they intended hereby to secure themselves against the waters of
|
|
another flood. God had told them indeed that he would not again
|
|
drown the world; but they would trust to a tower of their own
|
|
making, rather than to a promise of God's making or an ark of his
|
|
appointing. If, however, they had had this in their eye, they would
|
|
have chosen to build their tower upon a mountain rather than upon a
|
|
plain, but three things, it seems, they aimed at in building this
|
|
tower:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p9">(1.) It seems designed for an affront to
|
|
God himself; for they would build a tower <i>whose top might reach
|
|
to heaven,</i> which bespeaks a defiance of God, or at least a
|
|
rivalship with him. They would be <i>like the Most High,</i> or
|
|
would come as near him as they could, not in holiness but in
|
|
height. They forgot their place, and, scorning to creep on the
|
|
earth, resolved to climb to heaven, not by the door or ladder, but
|
|
some other way.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p10">(2.) They hoped hereby to make themselves a
|
|
name; they would do something to be talked of now, and to give
|
|
posterity to know that there had been such men as they in the
|
|
world. Rather than die and leave no memorandum behind them, they
|
|
would leave this monument of their pride, and ambition, and folly.
|
|
Note, [1.] Affectation of honour and a name among men commonly
|
|
inspires with a strange ardour for great and difficult
|
|
undertakings, and often betrays to that which is evil and offensive
|
|
to God. [2.] It is just with God to bury those names in the dust
|
|
which are raised by sin. These Babel-builders put themselves to a
|
|
great deal of foolish expense to make themselves a name; but they
|
|
could not gain even this point, for we do not find in any history
|
|
the name of so much as one of these Babel-builders. Philo Judæus
|
|
says, They engraved every one his name upon a brick, <i>in
|
|
perpetuam rei memoriam—as a perpetual memorial;</i> yet neither
|
|
did this serve their purpose.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p11">(3.) They did it to prevent their
|
|
dispersion: <i>Lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the
|
|
earth.</i> "It was done" (says Josephus) "in disobedience to that
|
|
command (<scripRef passage="Ge 9:1" id="Gen.xii-p11.1" parsed="|Gen|9|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.1"><i>ch.</i> ix. 1</scripRef>),
|
|
<i>Replenish the earth.</i>" God orders them to disperse. "No," say
|
|
they, "we will not, we will live and die together." In order
|
|
hereunto, they engage themselves and one another in this vast
|
|
undertaking. That they might unite in one glorious empire, they
|
|
resolve to build this city and tower, to be the metropolis of their
|
|
kingdom and the centre of their unity. It is probable that the band
|
|
of ambitious Nimrod was in all this. He could not content himself
|
|
with the command of a particular colony, but aimed at universal
|
|
monarchy, in order to which, under pretence of uniting for their
|
|
common safety, he contrives to keep them in one body, that, having
|
|
them all under his eye, he might not fail to have them under his
|
|
power. See the daring presumption of these sinners. Here is, [1.] A
|
|
bold opposition to God: "You shall be scattered," says God. "But we
|
|
will not," say they. <i>Woe unto him that thus strives with his
|
|
Maker.</i> [2.] A bold competition with God. It is God's
|
|
prerogative to be universal monarch, Lord of all, and King of
|
|
kings; the man that aims at it offers to step into the throne of
|
|
God, who will not give his glory to another.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 11:5-9" id="Gen.xii-p11.2" parsed="|Gen|11|5|11|9" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.5-Gen.11.9"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.11.5-Gen.11.9">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xii-p12">5 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xii-p12.1">Lord</span>
|
|
came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men
|
|
builded.   6 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xii-p12.2">Lord</span> said,
|
|
Behold, the people <i>is</i> one, and they have all one language;
|
|
and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from
|
|
them, which they have imagined to do.   7 Go to, let us go
|
|
down, and there confound their language, that they may not
|
|
understand one another's speech.   8 So the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xii-p12.3">Lord</span> scattered them abroad from thence upon the
|
|
face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.  
|
|
9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because
|
|
|
|
<pb n="80" id="Gen.xii-Page_80"/>
|
|
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xii-p12.4">Lord</span> did there
|
|
confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xii-p12.5">Lord</span> scatter them abroad upon the
|
|
face of all the earth.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p13">We have here the quashing of the project of
|
|
the Babel-builders, and the turning of the counsel of those froward
|
|
men headlong, that God's counsel might stand in spite of them. Here
|
|
is,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p14">I. The cognizance God took of the design
|
|
that was on foot: <i>The Lord came down to see the city,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 11:5" id="Gen.xii-p14.1" parsed="|Gen|11|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. It is an
|
|
expression after the manner of men; he knew it as clearly and fully
|
|
as men know that which they come to the place to view. Observe, 1.
|
|
Before he gave judgment upon their cause, he enquired into it; for
|
|
God is incontestably just and fair in all his proceedings against
|
|
sin and sinners, and condemns none unheard. 2. It is spoken of as
|
|
an act of condescension in God to take notice even of this
|
|
building, which the undertakers were so proud of; for he humbles
|
|
himself to behold the transactions, even the most considerable
|
|
ones, of this lower world, <scripRef passage="Ps 113:6" id="Gen.xii-p14.2" parsed="|Ps|113|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.113.6">Ps. cxiii.
|
|
6.</scripRef>. 3. It is said to be <i>the tower which the children
|
|
of men built,</i> which intimates, (1.) Their weakness and frailty
|
|
as men. It was a very foolish thing for the children of men, worms
|
|
of the earth, to defy Heaven, and to provoke the Lord to jealousy.
|
|
<i>Are they stronger than he?</i> (2.) Their sinfulness and
|
|
obnoxiousness. They were the sons of <i>Adam,</i> so it is in the
|
|
Hebrew; nay, of that Adam, that sinful disobedient Adam, whose
|
|
children are by nature children of disobedience, children that are
|
|
corrupters. (3.) Their distinction from the children of God, the
|
|
professors of religion, from whom these daring builders had
|
|
separated themselves, and built this tower to support and
|
|
perpetuate the separation. Pious Eber is not found among this
|
|
ungodly crew; for he and his are called the children of God, and
|
|
therefore their souls come not into the secret, nor unite
|
|
themselves to the assembly, of these children of men.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p15">II. The counsels and resolves of the
|
|
Eternal God concerning this matter; he did not come down merely as
|
|
a spectator, but as a judge, as a prince, to <i>look upon these
|
|
proud men, and abase them,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 40:11-14" id="Gen.xii-p15.1" parsed="|Job|40|11|40|14" osisRef="Bible:Job.40.11-Job.40.14">Job
|
|
xl. 11-14</scripRef>. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p16">1. He suffered them to proceed a good way
|
|
in their enterprise before he put a stop to it, that they might
|
|
have space to repent, and, if they had so much consideration left,
|
|
might be ashamed of it and weary of it themselves; and if not that
|
|
their disappointment might be the more shameful, and every one that
|
|
passed by might laugh at them, saying, <i>These men began to build,
|
|
and were not able to finish,</i> that so the works of their hands,
|
|
from which they promised themselves immortal honour, might turn to
|
|
their perpetual reproach. Note, God has wise and holy ends in
|
|
permitting the enemies of his glory to carry on their impious
|
|
projects a great way, and to prosper long in their enterprises.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p17">2. When they had, with much care and toil,
|
|
made some considerable progress in their building, then God
|
|
determined to break their measures and disperse them. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p18">(1.) The righteousness of God, which
|
|
appears in the considerations upon which he proceeded in this
|
|
resolution, <scripRef passage="Ge 11:6" id="Gen.xii-p18.1" parsed="|Gen|11|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. Two
|
|
things he considered:—[1.] Their oneness, as a reason why they
|
|
must be scattered: "<i>Behold, the people are one, and they have
|
|
all one language.</i> If they continue one, much of the earth will
|
|
be left uninhabited; the power of their prince will soon be
|
|
exorbitant; wickedness and profaneness will be insufferably
|
|
rampant, for they will strengthen one another's hands in it; and,
|
|
which is worst of all, there will be an overbalance to the church,
|
|
and these children of men, if thus incorporated, will swallow up
|
|
the little remnant of God's children." Therefore it is decreed that
|
|
they must not be one. Note, Unity is a policy, but it is not the
|
|
infallible mark of a true church; yet, while the builders of Babel,
|
|
though of different families, dispositions, and interests, were
|
|
thus unanimous in opposing God, what a pity is it, and what a
|
|
shame, that the builders of Sion, though united in one common head
|
|
and Spirit, should be divided, as they are, in serving God! But
|
|
marvel not at the matter. Christ came not to send peace. [2.] Their
|
|
obstinacy: <i>Now nothing will be restrained from them;</i> and
|
|
this is a reason why they must be crossed and thwarted in their
|
|
design. God had tried, by his commands and admonitions, to bring
|
|
them off from this project, but in vain; therefore he must take
|
|
another course with them. See here, <i>First,</i> The sinfulness of
|
|
sin, and the wilfulness of sinners; ever since Adam would not be
|
|
restrained from the forbidden tree, his unsanctified seed have been
|
|
impatient of restraint and ready to rebel against it.
|
|
<i>Secondly,</i> See the necessity of God's judgments upon earth,
|
|
to keep the world in some order and to tie the hands of those that
|
|
will not be checked by law.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p19">(2.) The wisdom and mercy of God in the
|
|
methods that were taken for the defeating of this enterprise
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 11:7" id="Gen.xii-p19.1" parsed="|Gen|11|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>): <i>Go to, let
|
|
us go down, and there confound their language.</i> This was not
|
|
spoken to the angels, as if God needed either their advice or their
|
|
assistance, but God speaks it to himself, or the Father to the Son
|
|
and Holy Ghost. They said, <i>Go to, let us make brick,</i> and
|
|
<i>Go to, let us build a tower,</i> animating one another to the
|
|
attempt; and now God says, <i>Go to, let us confound their
|
|
language;</i> for, if men stir up themselves to sin, God will stir
|
|
up himself to take vengeance, <scripRef passage="Isa 59:17,18" id="Gen.xii-p19.2" parsed="|Isa|59|17|59|18" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.17-Isa.59.18">Isa.
|
|
lix. 17, 18</scripRef>. Now observe here, [1.] The mercy of God, in
|
|
moderating the penalty, and not making it proportionable to the
|
|
offence; for <i>he deals not with us according to our sins.</i> He
|
|
does not say, "<i>Let us go down</i> now in thunder and lightning,
|
|
and consume those rebels in a moment;" or, "Let the earth open, and
|
|
swallow up them and
|
|
|
|
<pb n="81" id="Gen.xii-Page_81"/>
|
|
|
|
their building, and let
|
|
those go down quickly into hell who are climbing to heaven the
|
|
wrong way." No; only, "<i>Let us go down,</i> and scatter them."
|
|
They deserved death, but are only banished or transported; for the
|
|
patience of God is very great towards a provoking world.
|
|
Punishments are chiefly reserved for the future state. God's
|
|
judgments on sinners in this life, compared with those which are
|
|
reserved, are little more than restraints. [2.] The wisdom of God,
|
|
in pitching upon an effectual expedient to stay proceedings, which
|
|
was the confounding of their language, that they might not
|
|
understand one another's speech, nor could they well join hands
|
|
when their tongues were divided; so that this would be a very
|
|
proper method both for taking them off from their building (for, if
|
|
they could not understand one another, they could not help one
|
|
another) and also for disposing them to scatter; for, when they
|
|
could not understand one another, they could not take pleasure in
|
|
one another. Note, God has various means, and effectual ones, to
|
|
baffle and defeat the projects of proud men that set themselves
|
|
against him, and particularly to divide them among themselves,
|
|
either by dividing their spirits (<scripRef passage="Jdg 9:23" id="Gen.xii-p19.3" parsed="|Judg|9|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.9.23">Judg. ix. 23</scripRef>), or by dividing their tongues,
|
|
as David prays, <scripRef passage="Ps 55:9" id="Gen.xii-p19.4" parsed="|Ps|55|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.55.9">Ps. lv.
|
|
9</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p20">III. The execution of these counsels of
|
|
God, to the blasting and defeating of the counsels of men,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 11:8,9" id="Gen.xii-p20.1" parsed="|Gen|11|8|11|9" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.8-Gen.11.9"><i>v.</i> 8, 9</scripRef>. God made
|
|
them know <i>whose word should stand, his or theirs,</i> as the
|
|
expression is, <scripRef passage="Jer 44:28" id="Gen.xii-p20.2" parsed="|Jer|44|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.28">Jer. xliv.
|
|
28</scripRef>. Notwithstanding their oneness and obstinacy, God was
|
|
too hard for them, and wherein they dealt proudly he was above
|
|
them; for <i>who ever hardened his heart against him and
|
|
prospered?</i> Three things were done:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p21">1. Their language was confounded. God, who,
|
|
when he made man, taught him to speak, and put words into his mouth
|
|
fit to express the conceptions of his mind by, now caused these
|
|
builders to forget their former language, and to speak and
|
|
understand a new one, which yet was common to those of the same
|
|
tribe or family, but not to others: those of one colony could
|
|
converse together, but not with those of another. Now, (1.) This
|
|
was a great miracle, and a proof of the power which God has upon
|
|
the minds and tongues of men, which he turns as the rivers of
|
|
water. (2.) This was a great judgment upon these builders; for,
|
|
being thus deprived of the knowledge of the ancient and holy
|
|
tongue, they had become incapable of communicating with the true
|
|
church, in which it was retained, and probably it contributed much
|
|
to their loss of the knowledge of the true God. (3.) We all suffer
|
|
by it, to this day. In all the inconveniences we sustain by the
|
|
diversity of languages, and all the pains and trouble we are at to
|
|
learn the languages we have occasion for, we smart for the
|
|
rebellion of our ancestors at Babel. Nay, and those unhappy
|
|
controversies which are strifes of words, and arise from our
|
|
misunderstanding one another's language, for aught I know are owing
|
|
to this confusion of tongues. (4.) The project of some to frame a
|
|
universal character, in order to a universal language, how
|
|
desirable soever it may seem, is yet, I think, but a vain thing to
|
|
attempt; for it is to strive against a divine sentence, by which
|
|
the languages of the nations will be divided while the world
|
|
stands. (5.) We may here lament the loss of the universal use of
|
|
the Hebrew tongue, which from this time was the vulgar language of
|
|
the Hebrews only, and continued so till the captivity in Babylon,
|
|
where, even among them, it was exchanged for the Syriac. (6.) As
|
|
the confounding of tongues divided the children of men and
|
|
scattered them abroad, so the gift of tongues, bestowed upon the
|
|
apostles (<scripRef passage="Ac 2:1-13" id="Gen.xii-p21.1" parsed="|Acts|2|1|2|13" osisRef="Bible:Acts.2.1-Acts.2.13">Acts ii.</scripRef>),
|
|
contributed greatly to the gathering together of the children of
|
|
God, who were scattered abroad, and the uniting of them in Christ,
|
|
that with one mind and one mouth they might glorify God, <scripRef passage="Ro 15:6" id="Gen.xii-p21.2" parsed="|Rom|15|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.15.6">Rom. xv. 6</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p22">2. Their building was stopped: <i>They left
|
|
off to build the city.</i> This was the effect of the confusion of
|
|
their tongues; for it not only incapacitated them for helping one
|
|
another, but probably struck such a damp upon their spirits that
|
|
they could not proceed, since they saw, in this, the hand of the
|
|
Lord gone out against them. Note, (1.) It is wisdom to leave off
|
|
that which we see God fights against. (2.) God is able to blast and
|
|
bring to nought all the devices and designs of Babel-builders. He
|
|
sits in heaven, and laughs at the counsels of the kings of the
|
|
earth against him and his anointed; and will force them to confess
|
|
that there is no wisdom nor counsel against the Lord, <scripRef passage="Pr 21:30,Isa 8:9,10" id="Gen.xii-p22.1" parsed="|Prov|21|30|0|0;|Isa|8|9|8|10" osisRef="Bible:Prov.21.30 Bible:Isa.8.9-Isa.8.10">Prov. xxi. 30; Isa. viii. 9,
|
|
10</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p23">3. The builders were scattered abroad upon
|
|
the face of the whole earth, <scripRef passage="Ge 11:8,9" id="Gen.xii-p23.1" parsed="|Gen|11|8|11|9" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.8-Gen.11.9"><i>v.</i> 8, 9</scripRef>. They departed in companies,
|
|
after their families, and after their tongues (<scripRef passage="Ge 10:5,20,31" id="Gen.xii-p23.2" parsed="|Gen|10|5|0|0;|Gen|10|20|0|0;|Gen|10|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10.5 Bible:Gen.10.20 Bible:Gen.10.31"><i>ch.</i> x. 5, 20, 31</scripRef>), to the several
|
|
countries and places allotted to them in the division that had been
|
|
made, which they knew before, but would not go to take possession
|
|
of till now that they were forced to it. Observe here, (1.) The
|
|
very thing which they feared came upon them. That dispersion which
|
|
sought to evade by an act of rebellion they by this act brought
|
|
upon themselves; for we are most likely to fall into that trouble
|
|
which we seek to evade by indirect and sinful methods. (2.) It was
|
|
God's work: <i>The Lord scattered them.</i> God's hand is to be
|
|
acknowledged in all scattering providences; if the family be
|
|
scattered, relations scattered, churches scattered, it is the
|
|
Lord's doing. (3.) Though they were as firmly in league with one
|
|
another as could be, yet the Lord scattered them; for no man can
|
|
keep together what God will put asunder. (4.) Thus God justly took
|
|
vengeance on them for their oneness in that presumptuous attempt to
|
|
build their tower. Shameful dispersions are the just punishment of
|
|
sinful
|
|
|
|
<pb n="82" id="Gen.xii-Page_82"/>
|
|
|
|
unions. Simeon and Levi, who had been
|
|
brethren in iniquity, were divided in Jacob, <scripRef passage="Ge 49:5,7,Ps 83:3-13" id="Gen.xii-p23.3" parsed="|Gen|49|5|0|0;|Gen|49|7|0|0;|Ps|83|3|83|13" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.5 Bible:Gen.49.7 Bible:Ps.83.3-Ps.83.13"><i>ch.</i> xlix. 5, 7; Ps. lxxxiii.
|
|
3-13</scripRef>. (5.) They left behind them a perpetual memorandum
|
|
of their reproach, in the name given to the place. It was called
|
|
<i>Babel, confusion.</i> Those that aim at a great name commonly
|
|
come off with a <i>bad</i> name. (6.) The children of men were now
|
|
finally scattered, and never did, nor ever will, come all together
|
|
again, till the great day, when the Son of man shall sit upon the
|
|
throne of his glory, and all nations shall be gathered before him,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mt 25:31,32" id="Gen.xii-p23.4" parsed="|Matt|25|31|25|32" osisRef="Bible:Matt.25.31-Matt.25.32">Matt. xxv. 31, 32</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 11:10-26" id="Gen.xii-p23.5" parsed="|Gen|11|10|11|26" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.10-Gen.11.26"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.11.10-Gen.11.26">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xii-p24">10 These <i>are</i> the generations of Shem:
|
|
Shem <i>was</i> a hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years
|
|
after the flood:   11 And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad
|
|
five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.   12 And
|
|
Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah:   13
|
|
And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three
|
|
years, and begat sons and daughters.   14 And Salah lived
|
|
thirty years, and begat Eber:   15 And Salah lived after he
|
|
begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and
|
|
daughters.   16 And Eber lived four and thirty years, and
|
|
begat Peleg:   17 And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four
|
|
hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.   18
|
|
And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu:   19 And Peleg
|
|
lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons
|
|
and daughters.   20 And Reu lived two and thirty years, and
|
|
begat Serug:   21 And Reu lived after he begat Serug two
|
|
hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.   22
|
|
And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor:   23 And Serug
|
|
lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and
|
|
daughters.   24 And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and
|
|
begat Terah:   25 And Nahor lived after he begat Terah a
|
|
hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters.   26
|
|
And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and
|
|
Haran.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p25">We have here a genealogy, not an endless
|
|
genealogy, for here it ends in Abram, the friend of God, and leads
|
|
further to Christ, the promised seed, who was the son of Abram, and
|
|
from Abram the genealogy of Christ is reckoned (<scripRef passage="Mt 1:1-17" id="Gen.xii-p25.1" parsed="|Matt|1|1|1|17" osisRef="Bible:Matt.1.1-Matt.1.17">Matt. i. 1</scripRef>, &c.); so that put <scripRef passage="Ge 5, 11:10-26, Matt. 1:1-17" id="Gen.xii-p25.2" parsed="|Gen|5|0|0|0;|Gen|11|10|11|26;|Matt|1|1|1|17" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5 Bible:Gen.11.10-Gen.11.26 Bible:Matt.1.1-Matt.1.17"><i>ch.</i> v., <i>ch.</i>
|
|
xi., and Matt. i</scripRef>, together, and you have such an entire
|
|
genealogy of Jesus Christ as cannot be produced, for aught I know,
|
|
concerning any person in the world, out of his line, and at such a
|
|
distance from the fountain-head. And, laying these three
|
|
genealogies together, we shall find that twice ten, and thrice
|
|
fourteen, generations or descents, passed between the first and
|
|
second Adam, making it clear concerning Christ that he was not only
|
|
the Son of Abraham, but the Son of man, and the seed of woman.
|
|
Observe here, 1. Nothing is left upon record concerning those of
|
|
this line but their names and ages, the Holy Ghost seeming to
|
|
hasten through them to the story of Abram. How little do we know of
|
|
those that have gone before us in this world, even those that lived
|
|
in the same places where we live, as we likewise know little of
|
|
those that are our contemporaries in distant places! we have enough
|
|
to do to mind the work of our own day, and let God alone to
|
|
<i>require that which is past,</i> <scripRef passage="Ec 3:15" id="Gen.xii-p25.3" parsed="|Eccl|3|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.3.15">Eccl. iii. 15</scripRef>. 2. There was an observable
|
|
gradual decrease in the years of their lives. Shem reached to 600
|
|
years, which yet fell short of the age of the patriarchs before the
|
|
flood; the next three came short of 500; the next three did not
|
|
reach to 300; after them we read not of any that attained to 200,
|
|
except Terah; and, not many ages after this, Moses reckoned
|
|
seventy, or eighty, to be the utmost men ordinarily arrive at. When
|
|
the earth began to be replenished, men's lives began to shorten; so
|
|
that the decrease is to be imputed to the wise disposal of
|
|
Providence, rather than to any decay of nature. For the elect's
|
|
sake, men's days are shortened; and, being evil, it is well they
|
|
are few, and <i>attain not to the years of the lives of our
|
|
fathers,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 47:9" id="Gen.xii-p25.4" parsed="|Gen|47|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.9"><i>ch.</i> xlvii.
|
|
9</scripRef>. 3. Eber, from whom the Hebrews were denominated, was
|
|
the longest-lived of any that was born after the flood, which
|
|
perhaps was the reward of his singular piety and strict adherence
|
|
to the ways of God.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 11:27-32" id="Gen.xii-p25.5" parsed="|Gen|11|27|11|32" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.27-Gen.11.32"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.11.27-Gen.11.32">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xii-p25.6">The Generations of Terah. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xii-p25.7">b. c.</span> 1921.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xii-p26">27 Now these <i>are</i> the generations of
|
|
Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot.
|
|
  28 And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his
|
|
nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees.   29 And Abram and Nahor took
|
|
them wives: the name of Abram's wife <i>was</i> Sarai; and the name
|
|
of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of
|
|
Milcah, and the father of Iscah.   30 But Sarai was barren;
|
|
she <i>had</i> no child.   31 And Terah took Abram his son,
|
|
and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in
|
|
law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur,
|
|
|
|
<pb n="83" id="Gen.xii-Page_83"/>
|
|
|
|
of the Chaldees, to go into the land of
|
|
Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.   32 And
|
|
the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died
|
|
in Haran.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p27">Here begins the story of Abram, whose name
|
|
is famous, henceforward, in both Testaments. We have here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p28">I. His country: <i>Ur of the Chaldees.</i>
|
|
This was the land of his nativity, an idolatrous country, where
|
|
even the children of Eber themselves had degenerated. Note, Those
|
|
who are, through grace, heirs of the land of promise, ought to
|
|
remember what was the land of their nativity, what was their
|
|
corrupt and sinful state by nature, the rock out of which they were
|
|
hewn.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p29">II. His relations, mentioned for his sake,
|
|
and because of their interest in the following story. 1. His father
|
|
was <i>Terah,</i> of whom it is said (<scripRef passage="Jos 24:2" id="Gen.xii-p29.1" parsed="|Josh|24|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.24.2">Josh. xxiv. 2</scripRef>) that he served other gods, on
|
|
the other side of the flood, so early did idolatry gain footing in
|
|
the world, and so hard is it even for those that have some good
|
|
principles to swim against the stream. Though it is said (<scripRef passage="Ge 11:26" id="Gen.xii-p29.2" parsed="|Gen|11|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>) that when Terah was
|
|
seventy years old he begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran (which seems to
|
|
tell us that Abram was the eldest son of Terah, and was born in his
|
|
seventieth year), yet, by comparing <scripRef passage="Ge 11:32" id="Gen.xii-p29.3" parsed="|Gen|11|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>, which makes Terah to die in his
|
|
205<i>th</i> year, with <scripRef passage="Ac 7:4" id="Gen.xii-p29.4" parsed="|Acts|7|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.4">Acts vii.
|
|
4</scripRef> (where it is said that he was but seventy-five years
|
|
old when he removed from Haran), it appears that he was born in the
|
|
130<i>th</i> year of Terah, and probably was his youngest son; for,
|
|
in God's choices, the last are often first and the first last. We
|
|
have, 2. Some account of his brethren. (1.) <i>Nahor,</i> out of
|
|
whose family both Isaac and Jacob had their wives. (2.)
|
|
<i>Haran,</i> the father of Lot, of whom it is here said (<scripRef passage="Ge 11:28" id="Gen.xii-p29.5" parsed="|Gen|11|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>) <i>that he died before
|
|
his father Terah.</i> Note, Children cannot be sure that they shall
|
|
survive their parents; for death does not go by seniority, taking
|
|
the eldest first. <i>The shadow of death is without any order,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Job 10:22" id="Gen.xii-p29.6" parsed="|Job|10|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.10.22">Job x. 22</scripRef>. It is likewise
|
|
said that he died <i>in Ur of the Chaldees,</i> before the happy
|
|
removal of the family out of that idolatrous country. Note, It
|
|
concerns us to hasten out of our natural state, lest death surprise
|
|
us in it. 3. His wife was <i>Sarai,</i> who some think, was the
|
|
same with Iscah, the daughter of Haran. Abram himself says of her
|
|
that she was the daughter of his father, but not the daughter of
|
|
his mother, <scripRef passage="Ge 20:12" id="Gen.xii-p29.7" parsed="|Gen|20|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.12"><i>ch.</i> xx.
|
|
12</scripRef>. She was ten years younger than Abram.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p30">III. His departure out of Ur of the
|
|
Chaldees, with his father Terah, his nephew Lot, and the rest of
|
|
his family, in obedience to the call of God, of which we shall read
|
|
more, <scripRef passage="Ge 12:1-20" id="Gen.xii-p30.1" parsed="|Gen|12|1|12|20" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.1-Gen.12.20"><i>ch.</i> xii. 1</scripRef>,
|
|
&c. This chapter leaves them in Haran, or Charran, a place
|
|
about mid-way between Ur and Canaan, where they dwelt till Terah's
|
|
head was laid, probably because the old man was unable, through the
|
|
infirmities of age, to proceed in his journey. Many reach to
|
|
Charran, and yet fall short of Canaan; they are not far from the
|
|
kingdom of God, and yet never come thither.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XII" n="xiii" progress="10.23%" prev="Gen.xii" next="Gen.xiv" id="Gen.xiii">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="83" id="Gen.xiii-Page_83"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xiii-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xiii-p0.2">CHAP. XII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xiii-p1">The pedigree and family of Abram we had an account
|
|
of in the foregoing chapter; here the Holy Ghost enters upon his
|
|
story, and henceforward Abram and his seed are almost the only
|
|
subject of the sacred history. In this chapter we have, I. God's
|
|
call of Abram to the land of Canaan, <scripRef passage="Ge 12:1-3" id="Gen.xiii-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|12|1|12|3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.1-Gen.12.3">ver. 1-3</scripRef>. II. Abram's obedience to this
|
|
call, <scripRef passage="Ge 12:4,5" id="Gen.xiii-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|12|4|12|5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.4-Gen.12.5">ver. 4, 5</scripRef>. III. His
|
|
welcome to the land of Canaan, <scripRef passage="Ge 12:6-9" id="Gen.xiii-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|12|6|12|9" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.6-Gen.12.9">ver.
|
|
6-9</scripRef>. IV. His journey to Egypt, with an account of what
|
|
happened to him there. Abram's flight and fault, <scripRef passage="Ge 12:10-13" id="Gen.xiii-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|12|10|12|13" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.10-Gen.12.13">ver. 10-13</scripRef>. Sarai's danger and
|
|
deliverance, <scripRef passage="Ge 12:14-20" id="Gen.xiii-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|12|14|12|20" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.14-Gen.12.20">ver.
|
|
14-20</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 12" id="Gen.xiii-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|12|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 12:1-3" id="Gen.xiii-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|12|1|12|3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.1-Gen.12.3"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.12.1-Gen.12.3">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xiii-p1.8">The Call of Abram. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xiii-p1.9">b. c.</span> 1921.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xiii-p2">1 Now the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xiii-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy
|
|
kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show
|
|
thee:   2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will
|
|
bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
|
|
  3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that
|
|
curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be
|
|
blessed.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiii-p3">We have here the call by which Abram was
|
|
removed out of the land of his nativity into the land of promise,
|
|
which was designed both to try his faith and obedience and also to
|
|
separate him and set him apart for God, and for special services
|
|
and favours which were further designed. The circumstances of this
|
|
call we may be somewhat helped to the knowledge of from Stephen's
|
|
speech, <scripRef passage="Ac 7:2" id="Gen.xiii-p3.1" parsed="|Acts|7|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.2">Acts vii. 2</scripRef>, where we
|
|
are told, 1. That the God of glory appeared to him to give him this
|
|
call, appeared in such displays of his glory as left Abram no room
|
|
to doubt the divine authority of this call. God spoke to him
|
|
afterwards in divers manners; but this first time, when the
|
|
correspondence was to be settled, he appeared to him as <i>the God
|
|
of glory,</i> and spoke to him. 2. That this call was given him in
|
|
Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran; therefore we rightly read
|
|
it, <i>The Lord</i> had <i>said unto Abram,</i> namely, in Ur of
|
|
the Chaldees; and, in obedience to this call, as Stephen further
|
|
relates the story (<scripRef passage="Ac 7:4" id="Gen.xiii-p3.2" parsed="|Acts|7|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.4">Acts vii.
|
|
4</scripRef>), <i>he came out of the land of the Chaldeans, and
|
|
dwelt in Charran, or Haran, about five years, and thence, when his
|
|
father was dead,</i> by a fresh command, pursuant to the former,
|
|
God removed him into the land of Canaan. Some think that Haran was
|
|
in Chaldea, and so was still a part of Abram's country, or that
|
|
Abram, having staid there five years, began to call it his country,
|
|
and to take root there, till God let him know this was not the
|
|
place he was intended for. Note, If God loves us, and has mercy in
|
|
store for us, he will not suffer us to take up our rest any where
|
|
short of Canaan, but will graciously repeat his calls, till the
|
|
good work begun be performed, and our souls repose in
|
|
|
|
<pb n="84" id="Gen.xiii-Page_84"/>
|
|
|
|
God only. In the call itself we have a precept and a
|
|
promise.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiii-p4">I. A trying precept: <i>Get thee out of thy
|
|
country,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 12:1" id="Gen.xiii-p4.1" parsed="|Gen|12|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>.
|
|
Now,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiii-p5">1. By this precept he was tried whether he
|
|
loved his native soil and dearest friends, and whether he could
|
|
willingly leave all, to go along with God. His country had become
|
|
idolatrous, his kindred and his father's house were a constant
|
|
temptation to him, and he could not continue with them without
|
|
danger of being infected by them; therefore <i>Get thee out,</i>
|
|
<b><i>lk-lk</i></b>—<i>Vade tibi, Get thee gone,</i> with all
|
|
speed, <i>escape for thy life, look not behind thee,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 19:17" id="Gen.xiii-p5.1" parsed="|Gen|19|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.17"><i>ch.</i> xix. 17</scripRef>. Note, Those that
|
|
are in a sinful state are concerned to make all possible haste out
|
|
of it. <i>Get out for thyself</i> (so some read it), that is, for
|
|
thy own good. Note, Those who leave their sins, and turn to God,
|
|
will themselves be unspeakable gainers by the change, <scripRef passage="Pr 9:12" id="Gen.xiii-p5.2" parsed="|Prov|9|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.9.12">Prov. ix. 12</scripRef>. This command which God
|
|
gave to Abram is much the same with the gospel call by which all
|
|
the spiritual seed of faithful Abram are brought into covenant with
|
|
God. For, (1.) Natural affection must give way to divine grace. Our
|
|
country is dear to us, our kindred dearer, and our father's house
|
|
dearest of all; and yet they must all be hated (<scripRef passage="Lu 14:26" id="Gen.xiii-p5.3" parsed="|Luke|14|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.14.26">Luke xiv. 26</scripRef>), that is, we must love them
|
|
less than Christ, hate them in comparison with him, and, whenever
|
|
any of these come in competition with him, they must be postponed,
|
|
and the preference given to the will and honour of the Lord Jesus.
|
|
(2.) Sin, and all the occasions of it, must be forsaken, and
|
|
particularly bad company; we must abandon all the idols of iniquity
|
|
which have been set up in our hearts, and get out of the way of
|
|
temptation, plucking out even a right eye that leads us to sin
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Mt 5:29" id="Gen.xiii-p5.4" parsed="|Matt|5|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.5.29">Matt. v. 29</scripRef>), willingly
|
|
parting with that which is dearest to us, when we cannot keep it
|
|
without hazard of our integrity. Those that resolve to keep the
|
|
commandments of God must quit the society of evil doers, <scripRef passage="Ps 119:115,Ac 2:40" id="Gen.xiii-p5.5" parsed="|Ps|119|115|0|0;|Acts|2|40|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119.115 Bible:Acts.2.40">Ps. cxix. 115; Acts ii. 40</scripRef>.
|
|
(3.) The world, and all our enjoyments in it, must be looked upon
|
|
with a holy indifference and contempt; we must no longer look upon
|
|
it as our country, or home, but as our inn, and must accordingly
|
|
sit loose to it and live above it, get out of it in affection.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiii-p6">2. By this precept he was tried whether he
|
|
could trust God further than he saw him; for he must leave his own
|
|
country, to go to a <i>land that God would show him.</i> He does
|
|
not say, "It is a land that I will give thee," but merely, "a land
|
|
that I will show thee." Nor does he tell him what land it was, nor
|
|
what kind of land; but he must follow God with an implicit faith,
|
|
and take God's word for it, in the general, though he had no
|
|
particular securities given him that he should be no loser by
|
|
leaving his country, to follow God. Note, Those that will deal with
|
|
God must deal upon trust; we must quit the things that are seen for
|
|
things that are not seen, and submit to the sufferings of this
|
|
present time in hopes of a glory that is yet to be revealed
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ro 8:18" id="Gen.xiii-p6.1" parsed="|Rom|8|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.8.18">Rom. viii. 18</scripRef>); for <i>it
|
|
doth not yet appear what we shall be</i> (<scripRef passage="1Jo 3:2" id="Gen.xiii-p6.2" parsed="|1John|3|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.3.2">1 John iii. 2</scripRef>), any more than it did to Abram,
|
|
when God called him to a land he would show him, so teaching him to
|
|
live in a continual dependence upon his direction, and with his eye
|
|
ever towards him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiii-p7">II. Here is an encouraging promise, nay, it
|
|
is a complication of promises, many, and exceedingly great and
|
|
precious. Note, All God's precepts are attended with promises to
|
|
the obedient. When he makes himself known also as a rewarder: if we
|
|
obey the command, God will not fail to perform the promise. Here
|
|
are six promises:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiii-p8">1. <i>I will make of thee a great
|
|
nation.</i> When God took him from his own people, he promised to
|
|
make him the head of another; he cut him off from being the branch
|
|
of a wild olive, to make him the root of a good olive. This promise
|
|
was, (1.) A great relief to Abram's burden; for he had now no
|
|
child. Note, God knows how to suit his favours to the wants and
|
|
necessities of his children. He that has a plaster for every sore
|
|
will provide one for that first which is most painful. (2.) A great
|
|
trial to Abram's faith; for his wife had been long barren, so that,
|
|
if he believe, it must be against hope, and his faith must build
|
|
purely upon that power which <i>can out of stones raise up children
|
|
unto Abraham,</i> and make them a great nation. Note, [1.] God
|
|
makes nations: by him they are <i>born at once</i> (<scripRef passage="Isa 66:8" id="Gen.xiii-p8.1" parsed="|Isa|66|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.66.8">Isa. lxvi. 8</scripRef>), and he speaks, to
|
|
build and plant them, <scripRef passage="Jer 18:9" id="Gen.xiii-p8.2" parsed="|Jer|18|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.18.9">Jer. xviii.
|
|
9</scripRef>. And, [2.] If a nation be made great in wealth and
|
|
power, it is God that makes it great. [3.] God can raise great
|
|
nations out of dry ground, and can make <i>a little one to be a
|
|
thousand.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiii-p9">2. <i>I will bless thee,</i> either
|
|
particularly with the blessing of fruitfulness and increase, as he
|
|
had blessed Adam and Noah, or, in general, "<i>I will bless
|
|
thee</i> with all manner of blessings, both of the upper and the
|
|
nether springs. Leave thy father's house, and I will give thee a
|
|
father's blessing, better than that of they progenitors." Note,
|
|
Obedient believers will be sure to inherit the blessing.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiii-p10">3. <i>I will make thy name great.</i> By
|
|
deserting his country, he lost his name there. "Care not for that,"
|
|
says God, "but trust me, and I will make thee a greater name than
|
|
ever thou couldst have had there." Having no child, he feared he
|
|
should have no name; but God will make him a great nation, and so
|
|
make him a great name. Note, (1.) God is the fountain of honour,
|
|
and from him promotion comes, <scripRef passage="1Sa 2:8" id="Gen.xiii-p10.1" parsed="|1Sam|2|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.2.8">1 Sam.
|
|
ii. 8</scripRef>. (2.) The name of obedient believers shall
|
|
certainly be celebrated and made great. The best report is that
|
|
which the elders obtained by faith, <scripRef passage="Heb 11:2" id="Gen.xiii-p10.2" parsed="|Heb|11|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.2">Heb. xi. 2</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiii-p11">4. <i>Thou shalt be a blessing;</i> that
|
|
is, (1.) "Thy happiness shall be a sample of happiness, so that
|
|
those who would bless their
|
|
|
|
<pb n="85" id="Gen.xiii-Page_85"/>
|
|
|
|
friends shall
|
|
only pray that God would make them like Abram;" as <scripRef passage="Ru 4:11" id="Gen.xiii-p11.1" parsed="|Ruth|4|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ruth.4.11">Ruth iv. 11</scripRef>. Note, God's dealings with
|
|
obedient believers are so kind and gracious that we need not desire
|
|
for ourselves or our friends to be any better dealt with: to have
|
|
God for our friend is blessedness enough. (2.) "Thy life shall be a
|
|
blessing to the places where thou shalt sojourn." Note, Good men
|
|
are the blessings of their country, and it is their unspeakable
|
|
honour and happiness to be made so.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiii-p12">5. <i>I will bless those that bless thee
|
|
and curse him that curseth thee.</i> This made it a kind of a
|
|
league, offensive and defensive, between God and Abram. Abram
|
|
heartily espoused God's cause, and here God promises to interest
|
|
himself in his. (1.) He promises to be a friend to his friends, to
|
|
take kindnesses shown to him as done to himself, and to recompense
|
|
them accordingly. God will take care that none be losers, in the
|
|
long run, by any service done for his people; even a cup of cold
|
|
water shall be rewarded. (2.) He promises to appear against his
|
|
enemies. There were those that hated and cursed even Abram himself;
|
|
but, while their causeless curses could not hurt Abram, God's
|
|
righteous curse would certainly overtake and ruin them, <scripRef passage="Nu 24:9" id="Gen.xiii-p12.1" parsed="|Num|24|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.9">Num. xxiv. 9</scripRef>. This is a good reason
|
|
why we should bless those that curse us, because it is enough that
|
|
God <i>will curse them,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 38:13-15" id="Gen.xiii-p12.2" parsed="|Ps|38|13|38|15" osisRef="Bible:Ps.38.13-Ps.38.15">Ps.
|
|
xxxviii. 13-15</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiii-p13">6. <i>In thee shall all the families of the
|
|
earth be blessed.</i> This was the promise that crowned all the
|
|
rest; for it points at the Messiah, in whom <i>all the promises are
|
|
yea and amen.</i> Note, (1.) Jesus Christ is the great blessing of
|
|
the world, the greatest that ever the world was blessed with. He is
|
|
a family blessing, by him salvation is brought to the house
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Lu 19:9" id="Gen.xiii-p13.1" parsed="|Luke|19|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.19.9">Luke xix. 9</scripRef>); when we
|
|
reckon up our family blessings, let us put Christ in the
|
|
<i>imprimis—the first place,</i> as the blessing of blessings. But
|
|
how are all the families of the earth blessed in Christ, when so
|
|
many are strangers to him? <i>Answer,</i> [1.] All that are blessed
|
|
are blessed in him, <scripRef passage="Ac 4:12" id="Gen.xiii-p13.2" parsed="|Acts|4|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.4.12">Acts iv.
|
|
12</scripRef>. [2.] All that believe, of what family soever they
|
|
shall be, shall be blessed in him. [3.] Some of all the families of
|
|
the earth are blessed in him. [4.] There are some blessings which
|
|
all the families of the earth are blessed with in Christ; for the
|
|
gospel salvation is a <i>common salvation,</i> <scripRef passage="Jude 1:3" id="Gen.xiii-p13.3" parsed="|Jude|1|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jude.1.3">Jude 3</scripRef>. (2.) It is a great honour to be
|
|
related to Christ; this made Abram's name great, that the Messiah
|
|
was to descend from his loins, much more than that he should be the
|
|
father of many nations. It was Abram's honour to be his father by
|
|
nature; it will be ours to be his brethren by grace, <scripRef passage="Mt 12:50" id="Gen.xiii-p13.4" parsed="|Matt|12|50|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.12.50">Matt. xii. 50</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 12:4-5" id="Gen.xiii-p13.5" parsed="|Gen|12|4|12|5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.4-Gen.12.5"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.12.4-Gen.12.5">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xiii-p13.6">Arrival of Abram in Canaan. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xiii-p13.7">b. c.</span> 1920.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xiii-p14">4 So Abram departed, as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xiii-p14.1">Lord</span> had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him:
|
|
and Abram <i>was</i> seventy and five years old when he departed
|
|
out of Haran.   5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his
|
|
brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and
|
|
the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go
|
|
into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiii-p15">Here is, I. Abraham's removal out of his
|
|
country, out of Ur first and afterwards out of Haran, in compliance
|
|
with the call of God: <i>So Abram departed;</i> he was not
|
|
disobedient to the heavenly vision, but did as he was bidden, not
|
|
conferring with flesh and blood, <scripRef passage="Ga 1:15,16" id="Gen.xiii-p15.1" parsed="|Gal|1|15|1|16" osisRef="Bible:Gal.1.15-Gal.1.16">Gal. i. 15, 16</scripRef>. His obedience was speedy
|
|
and without delay, submissive and without dispute; for he <i>went
|
|
out, not knowing whither he went</i> (<scripRef passage="Heb 11:8" id="Gen.xiii-p15.2" parsed="|Heb|11|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.8">Heb. xi. 8</scripRef>), but knowing whom he followed and
|
|
under whose direction he went. Thus God <i>called him to his
|
|
foot,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 41:2" id="Gen.xiii-p15.3" parsed="|Isa|41|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.41.2">Isa. xli. 2</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiii-p16">II. His age when he removed: he was
|
|
<i>seventy-five years old,</i> an age when he should rather have
|
|
had rest and settlement; but, if God will have him to begin the
|
|
world again now in his old age, he will submit. Here is an instance
|
|
of an old convert.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiii-p17">III. The company and cargo that he took
|
|
with him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiii-p18">1. He took his wife, and his nephew Lot,
|
|
with him; not by force and against their wills, but by persuasion.
|
|
Sarai, his wife, would be sure to go with him; God had joined them
|
|
together, and nothing should put them asunder. If Abram leave all,
|
|
to follow God, Sarai will leave all, to follow Abram, though
|
|
neither of them knew whither. And it was a mercy to Abram to have
|
|
such a companion in his travels, a help meet for him. Note, It is
|
|
very comfortable when husband and wife agree to go together in the
|
|
way to heaven. Lot also, his kinsman, was influenced by Abram's
|
|
good example, who was perhaps his guardian after the death of his
|
|
father, and he was willing to go along with him too. Note, Those
|
|
that go to Canaan need not go alone; for, though few find the
|
|
strait gate, blessed be God, some do; and it is our wisdom to go
|
|
with those with whom God is (<scripRef passage="Zec 8:23" id="Gen.xiii-p18.1" parsed="|Zech|8|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zech.8.23">Zech.
|
|
viii. 23</scripRef>), wherever they go.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiii-p19">2. They took all their effects with
|
|
them—<i>all their substance</i> and movable goods, <i>that they
|
|
had gathered.</i> For, (1.) With themselves they would give up
|
|
their all, to be at God's disposal, would keep back no part of the
|
|
price, but venture all in one bottom, knowing it was a good bottom.
|
|
(2.) They would furnish themselves with that which was requisite,
|
|
both for the service of God and the supply of their family, in the
|
|
country whither they were going. To have thrown away his substance,
|
|
because God had promised to bless him, would have been to tempt
|
|
God, not to trust him. (3.) They would not be under any temptation
|
|
to return; therefore they leave not a hoof behind, lest that should
|
|
make them <i>mindful of the country from which they came
|
|
out.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<pb n="86" id="Gen.xiii-Page_86"/>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiii-p20">3. They took with them the <i>souls that
|
|
they had gotten,</i> that is, (1.) The servants they had bought,
|
|
which were part of their substance, but are called <i>souls,</i> to
|
|
remind masters that their poor servants have souls, precious souls,
|
|
which they ought to take care of and provide food convenient for.
|
|
(2.) The proselytes they had made, and persuaded to attend the
|
|
worship of the true God, and to go with them to Canaan: the souls
|
|
which (as one of the rabbin expresses it) they had <i>gathered
|
|
under the wings of the divine Majesty.</i> Note, Those who serve
|
|
and follow God themselves should do all they can to bring others to
|
|
serve and follow him too. These souls they are said to have
|
|
<i>gained.</i> We must reckon ourselves true gainers if we can but
|
|
win souls to Christ.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiii-p21">IV. Here is their happy arrival at their
|
|
journey's end: <i>They went forth to go into the land of
|
|
Canaan;</i> so they did before (<scripRef passage="Ge 11:31" id="Gen.xiii-p21.1" parsed="|Gen|11|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.31"><i>ch.</i> xi. 31</scripRef>), and then took up short,
|
|
but now they held on their way, and, by the good hand of their God
|
|
upon them, to the land of Canaan they came, where by a fresh
|
|
revelation they were told that this was the land God promised to
|
|
show them. They were not discouraged by the difficulties they met
|
|
with in their way, nor diverted by the delights they met with, but
|
|
<i>pressed forward.</i> Note, 1. Those that set out for heaven must
|
|
persevere to the end, still reaching forth to those things that are
|
|
before. 2. That which we undertake in obedience to God's command,
|
|
and a humble attendance upon his providence, will certainly
|
|
succeed, and end with comfort at last.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 12:6-9" id="Gen.xiii-p21.2" parsed="|Gen|12|6|12|9" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.6-Gen.12.9"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.12.6-Gen.12.9">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xiii-p21.3">Abram's Devotion. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xiii-p21.4">b. c.</span> 1921.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xiii-p22">6 And Abram passed through the land unto the
|
|
place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite
|
|
<i>was</i> then in the land.   7 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xiii-p22.1">Lord</span> appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy
|
|
seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xiii-p22.2">Lord</span>, who appeared unto him.  
|
|
8 And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of
|
|
Beth-el, and pitched his tent, <i>having</i> Beth-el on the west,
|
|
and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xiii-p22.3">Lord</span>, and called upon the name of the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xiii-p22.4">Lord</span>.   9 And Abram journeyed,
|
|
going on still toward the south.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiii-p23">One would have expected that Abram having
|
|
had such an extraordinary call to Canaan some great event should
|
|
have followed upon his arrival there, that he should have been
|
|
introduced with all possible marks of honour and respect, and that
|
|
the kings of Canaan should immediately have surrendered their
|
|
crowns to him, and done him homage. But no; he comes not with
|
|
observation, little notice is taken of him, for still God will have
|
|
him to live by faith, and to look upon Canaan, even when he was in
|
|
it, as a land of promise; therefore observe here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiii-p24">I. How little comfort he had in the land he
|
|
came to; for, 1. He had it not to himself: <i>The Canaanite was
|
|
then in the land.</i> He found the country peopled and possessed by
|
|
Canaanites, who were likely to be but bad neighbours and worse
|
|
landlords; and, for aught that appears, he could not have ground to
|
|
pitch his tent on but by their permission. Thus the accursed
|
|
Canaanites seemed to be in better circumstances than blessed Abram.
|
|
Note, The children of this world have commonly more of it than
|
|
God's children. 2. He had not a settlement in it. He <i>passed
|
|
through the land,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 12:6" id="Gen.xiii-p24.1" parsed="|Gen|12|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.6"><i>v.</i>
|
|
6</scripRef>. He <i>removed to a mountain,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 12:8" id="Gen.xiii-p24.2" parsed="|Gen|12|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. He <i>journeyed, going on
|
|
still,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 12:9" id="Gen.xiii-p24.3" parsed="|Gen|12|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>.
|
|
Observe here, (1.) Sometimes it is the lot of good men to be
|
|
unsettled, and obliged often to remove their habitation. Holy David
|
|
had his wanderings, his flittings, <scripRef passage="Ps 56:8" id="Gen.xiii-p24.4" parsed="|Ps|56|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.56.8">Ps.
|
|
lvi. 8</scripRef>. (2.) Our removes in this world are often into
|
|
various conditions. Abram sojourned, first in a plain <scripRef passage="Ge 12:6" id="Gen.xiii-p24.5" parsed="|Gen|12|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>, then in a mountain,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 12:8" id="Gen.xiii-p24.6" parsed="|Gen|12|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. God has set the
|
|
one over-against the other. (3.) All good people must look upon
|
|
themselves as strangers and sojourners in this world, and by faith
|
|
sit loose to it as a strange country. So Abram did, <scripRef passage="Heb 11:8-14" id="Gen.xiii-p24.7" parsed="|Heb|11|8|11|14" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.8-Heb.11.14">Heb. xi. 8-14</scripRef>. (4.) While we are
|
|
here in this present state, we must be journeying, and going on
|
|
still from strength to strength, as having not yet attained.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiii-p25">II. How much comfort he had in the God he
|
|
followed; when he could have little satisfaction in converse with
|
|
the Canaanites whom he found there, he had abundance of pleasure in
|
|
communion with that God who brought him thither, and did not leave
|
|
him. Communion with God is kept up by the word and by prayer, and
|
|
by these, according to the methods of that dispensation, Abram's
|
|
communion with God was kept up in the land of his pilgrimage.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiii-p26">1. God appeared to Abram, probably in a
|
|
vision, and spoke to him good words and comfortable words: <i>Unto
|
|
thy seed will I give this land.</i> Note, (1.) No place nor
|
|
condition of life can shut us out from the comfort of God's
|
|
gracious visits. Abram is a sojourner, unsettled among Canaanites;
|
|
and yet here also he meets with him that lives and sees him.
|
|
Enemies may part us and our tents, us and our altars, but not us
|
|
and our God. Nay, (2.) With respect to those that faithfully follow
|
|
God in a way of duty, though he lead them from their friends, he
|
|
will himself make up that loss by his gracious appearances to them.
|
|
(3.) God's promises are sure and satisfying to all those who
|
|
conscientiously observe and obey his precepts; and those who, in
|
|
compliance with God's call, leave or lose any thing that is dear to
|
|
them, shall be sure of something else abundantly better in lieu of
|
|
it. Abram had left
|
|
|
|
<pb n="87" id="Gen.xiii-Page_87"/>
|
|
|
|
the <i>land of his
|
|
nativity:</i> "Well," says God, "I will give thee this land,"
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mt 19:29" id="Gen.xiii-p26.1" parsed="|Matt|19|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.19.29">Matt. xix. 29</scripRef>. (4.) God
|
|
reveals himself and his favours to his people by degrees; before he
|
|
had promised to <i>show</i> him this land, now to <i>give</i> it to
|
|
him: as grace is growing, so is comfort. (5.) It is comfortable to
|
|
have land of God's giving, not by providence only, but by promise.
|
|
(6.) Mercies to the children are mercies to the parents. "I will
|
|
give it, not to thee, but to thy seed;" it is a grant in reversion
|
|
to his seed, which yet, it should seem, Abram understood also as a
|
|
grant to himself of a better land in reversion, of which this was a
|
|
type; for he looked for a heavenly country, <scripRef passage="Heb 11:16" id="Gen.xiii-p26.2" parsed="|Heb|11|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.16">Heb. xi. 16</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiii-p27">2. Abram attended on God in his instituted
|
|
ordinances. He <i>built an altar unto the Lord who appeared to him,
|
|
and called on the name of the Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 12:7,8" id="Gen.xiii-p27.1" parsed="|Gen|12|7|12|8" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.7-Gen.12.8"><i>v.</i> 7, 8</scripRef>. Now consider this, (1.) As
|
|
done upon a special occasion. When God appeared to him, then and
|
|
there he built an altar, with an eye to the God who appeared to
|
|
him. Thus he returned God's visit, and kept up his correspondence
|
|
with heaven, as one that resolved it should not fail on his side;
|
|
thus he acknowledged, with thankfulness, God's kindness to him in
|
|
making him that gracious visit and promise; and thus he testified
|
|
his confidence in and dependence upon the word which God had
|
|
spoken. Note, An active believer can heartily bless God for a
|
|
promise the performance of which he does not yet see, and build an
|
|
altar to the honour of God who appears to him, though he does not
|
|
yet appear for him. (2.) As his constant practice, whithersoever he
|
|
removed. As soon as Abram had got to Canaan, though he was but a
|
|
stranger and sojourner there, yet he set up, and kept up, the
|
|
worship of God in his family; and wherever he had a tent God had an
|
|
altar, and that an altar sanctified by prayer. For he not only
|
|
minded the ceremonial part of religion, the offering of sacrifice,
|
|
but made conscience of the natural duty of seeking to his God, and
|
|
calling on his name, that spiritual sacrifice with which God is
|
|
well pleased. He preached concerning the name of the Lord, that is,
|
|
he instructed his family and neighbours in the knowledge of the
|
|
true God and his holy religion. The <i>souls he had gotten in
|
|
Haran,</i> being discipled, must be further taught. Note, Those
|
|
that would approve themselves the children of faithful Abram, and
|
|
would inherit the blessing of Abram, must make conscience of
|
|
keeping up the solemn worship of God, particularly in their
|
|
families, according to the example of Abram. The way of family
|
|
worship is a good old way, is no novel invention, but the ancient
|
|
usage of all the saints. Abram was very rich and had a numerous
|
|
family, was now unsettled and in the midst of enemies, and yet,
|
|
wherever he pitched his tent, he built an altar. Wherever we go,
|
|
let us not fail to take our religion along with us.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 12:10-13" id="Gen.xiii-p27.2" parsed="|Gen|12|10|12|13" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.10-Gen.12.13"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.12.10-Gen.12.13">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xiii-p27.3">Abram's Removal into Egypt. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xiii-p27.4">b. c.</span> 1920.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xiii-p28">10 And there was a famine in the land: and Abram
|
|
went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine <i>was</i>
|
|
grievous in the land.   11 And it came to pass, when he was
|
|
come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife,
|
|
Behold now, I know that thou <i>art</i> a fair woman to look upon:
|
|
  12 Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall
|
|
see thee, that they shall say, This <i>is</i> his wife: and they
|
|
will kill me, but they will save thee alive.   13 Say, I pray
|
|
thee, thou <i>art</i> my sister: that it may be well with me for
|
|
thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiii-p29">Here is, I. A famine in the land of Canaan,
|
|
<i>a grievous famine.</i> That fruitful land was turned into
|
|
barrenness, not only to punish the iniquity of the Canaanites who
|
|
dwelt therein, but to exercise the faith of Abram who sojourned
|
|
therein; and a very sore trial it was; it tried what he would
|
|
think, 1. Of God that brought him thither, whether he would not be
|
|
ready to say with his murmuring seed that he was brought forth to
|
|
be <i>killed with hunger,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 16:3" id="Gen.xiii-p29.1" parsed="|Exod|16|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.3">Exod.
|
|
xvi. 3</scripRef>. Nothing short of a strong faith could keep up
|
|
good thoughts of God under such a providence. 2. Of the land of
|
|
promise, whether he would think the grant of it worth the
|
|
accepting, and a valuable consideration for the relinquishing of
|
|
his own country, when, for aught that now appeared, it was a land
|
|
that <i>ate up the inhabitants.</i> Now he was tried whether he
|
|
could preserve an unshaken confidence that the God who brought him
|
|
to Canaan would maintain him there, and whether he could rejoice in
|
|
him as the God of his salvation when the fig-tree did not blossom,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Hab 3:17,18" id="Gen.xiii-p29.2" parsed="|Hab|3|17|3|18" osisRef="Bible:Hab.3.17-Hab.3.18">Hab. iii. 17, 18</scripRef>. Note,
|
|
(1.) Strong faith is commonly exercised with divers temptations,
|
|
that it may be <i>found to praise, and honour, and glory,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Pe 1:6,7" id="Gen.xiii-p29.3" parsed="|1Pet|1|6|1|7" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.1.6-1Pet.1.7">1 Pet. i. 6, 7</scripRef>. (2.) It
|
|
pleases God sometimes to try those with great afflictions who are
|
|
but young beginners in religion. (3.) It is possible for a man to
|
|
be in the way of duty, and in the way to happiness, and yet meet
|
|
with great troubles and disappointments.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiii-p30">II. Abram's removal into Egypt, upon
|
|
occasion of this famine. See how wisely God provides that there
|
|
should be plenty in one place when there was scarcity in another,
|
|
that, as members of the great body, we may not say to one another,
|
|
<i>I have no need of you.</i> God's providence took care there
|
|
should be a supply in Egypt, and Abram's prudence made use of the
|
|
opportunity; for we tempt God, and do not trust him, if, in the
|
|
time of distress, we use not the means he has graciously provided
|
|
for our
|
|
|
|
<pb n="88" id="Gen.xiii-Page_88"/>
|
|
|
|
preservation: We must not expect
|
|
needless miracles. But that which is especially observable here, to
|
|
the praise of Abram, is that he did not offer to return, upon this
|
|
occasion, to the country from which he came out, nor so much as
|
|
towards it. The land of his nativity lay north-east from Canaan;
|
|
and therefore, when he must, for a time, quit Canaan, he chooses to
|
|
go to Egypt, which lay south-west, the contrary way, that he might
|
|
not so much as seem to look back. See <scripRef passage="Heb 11:15,16" id="Gen.xiii-p30.1" parsed="|Heb|11|15|11|16" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.15-Heb.11.16">Heb. xi. 15, 16</scripRef>. Further observe, When he
|
|
went down into Egypt, it was to sojourn there, not to dwell there.
|
|
Note, 1. Though Providence, for a time, may cast us into bad
|
|
places, yet we ought to tarry there no longer than needs must; we
|
|
may <i>sojourn</i> where we may not <i>settle.</i> 2. A good man,
|
|
while he is on this side heaven, wherever he is, is but a
|
|
sojourner.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiii-p31">III. A great fault which Abram was guilty
|
|
of, in denying his wife, and pretending that she was his sister.
|
|
The scripture is impartial in relating the misdeeds of the most
|
|
celebrated saints, which are recorded, not for our imitation, but
|
|
for our admonition, that he <i>who thinks he stands may take heed
|
|
lest he fall.</i> 1. His fault was dissembling his relation to
|
|
Sarai, equivocating concerning it, and teaching his wife, and
|
|
probably all his attendants, to do so too. What he said was, in a
|
|
sense, true (<scripRef passage="Ge 20:12" id="Gen.xiii-p31.1" parsed="|Gen|20|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.12"><i>ch.</i> xx.
|
|
12</scripRef>), but with a purpose to deceive; he so concealed a
|
|
further truth as in effect to deny it, and to expose thereby both
|
|
his wife and the Egyptians to sin. 2. That which was at the bottom
|
|
of it was a jealous timorous fancy he had that some of the
|
|
Egyptians would be so charmed with the beauty of Sarai (Egypt
|
|
producing few such beauties) that, if they should know he was her
|
|
husband, they would find some way or other to take him off, that
|
|
they might marry her. He presumes they would rather be guilty of
|
|
murder than adultery, such a heinous crime was it then accounted
|
|
and such a sacred regard was paid to the marriage bond; hence he
|
|
infers, without any good reason, <i>They will kill me.</i> Note,
|
|
The fear of man brings a snare, and many are driven to sin by the
|
|
dread of death, <scripRef passage="Lu 12:4,5" id="Gen.xiii-p31.2" parsed="|Luke|12|4|12|5" osisRef="Bible:Luke.12.4-Luke.12.5">Luke xii. 4,
|
|
5</scripRef>. The grace Abram was most eminent for was faith; and
|
|
yet he thus fell through unbelief and distrust of the divine
|
|
Providence, even <i>after God had appeared to him twice.</i> Alas!
|
|
what will become of the willows, when the cedars are thus
|
|
shaken?</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 12:14-20" id="Gen.xiii-p31.3" parsed="|Gen|12|14|12|20" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.14-Gen.12.20"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.12.14-Gen.12.20">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xiii-p31.4">Abram's Denial of His Wife. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xiii-p31.5">b. c.</span> 1920.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xiii-p32">14 And it came to pass, that, when Abram was
|
|
come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she <i>was</i>
|
|
very fair.   15 The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and
|
|
commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into
|
|
Pharaoh's house.   16 And he entreated Abram well for her
|
|
sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants,
|
|
and maidservants, and she asses, and camels.   17 And the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xiii-p32.1">Lord</span> plagued Pharaoh and his house
|
|
with great plagues because of Sarai Abram's wife.   18 And
|
|
Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What <i>is</i> this <i>that</i>
|
|
thou hast done unto me? why didst thou not tell me that she
|
|
<i>was</i> thy wife?   19 Why saidst thou, She <i>is</i> my
|
|
sister? so I might have taken her to me to wife: now therefore
|
|
behold thy wife, take <i>her,</i> and go thy way.   20 And
|
|
Pharaoh commanded <i>his</i> men concerning him: and they sent him
|
|
away, and his wife, and all that he had.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiii-p33">Here is, I. The danger Sarai was in of
|
|
having her chastity violated by the king of Egypt: and without
|
|
doubt the peril of sin is the greatest peril we can be in.
|
|
<i>Pharaoh's princes</i> (his pimps rather) <i>saw her, and,</i>
|
|
observing what a comely woman she was, they <i>commended her before
|
|
Pharaoh,</i> not for that which was really her praise—her virtue
|
|
and modesty, her faith and piety (these were no excellencies in
|
|
their eyes), but for her beauty, which they thought too good for
|
|
the embraces of a subject. They recommended her to the king, and
|
|
she was presently taken into Pharaoh's house, as Esther into the
|
|
seraglio of Ahasuerus (<scripRef passage="Es 2:8" id="Gen.xiii-p33.1" parsed="|Esth|2|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Esth.2.8">Esth. ii.
|
|
8</scripRef>), in order to her being taken into his bed. Now we
|
|
must not look upon Sarai as standing fair for preferment, but as
|
|
entering into temptation; and the occasions of it were her own
|
|
beauty (which is a snare to many) and Abram's equivocation, which
|
|
is a sin that commonly is an inlet to much sin. While Sarai was in
|
|
this danger, Abram fared the better for her sake. Pharaoh gave him
|
|
sheep, oxen, &c. (<scripRef passage="Ge 12:16" id="Gen.xiii-p33.2" parsed="|Gen|12|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.16"><i>v.</i>
|
|
16</scripRef>), to gain his consent, that he might the more readily
|
|
prevail with her whom he supposed to be his sister. We cannot think
|
|
that Abram expected this when he came down into Egypt, much less
|
|
that he had an eye to it when he denied his wife; but God brought
|
|
good out of evil. And thus the wealth of the sinner proves, in some
|
|
way or other, to be laid up for the just.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiii-p34">II. The deliverance of Sarai from this
|
|
danger. For if God did not deliver us, many a time, by prerogative,
|
|
out of those straits and distresses which we bring ourselves into
|
|
by our own sin and folly, and which therefore we could not expect
|
|
any deliverance from by promise, we should soon be ruined, nay, we
|
|
should have been ruined long before this. He deals not with us
|
|
according to our deserts.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiii-p35">1. God chastised Pharaoh, and so prevented
|
|
the progress of his sin. Note, Those are happy chastisements that
|
|
hinder us in a sinful way, and effectually bring us to our duty,
|
|
and particularly to the duty of restoring that
|
|
|
|
<pb n="89" id="Gen.xiii-Page_89"/>
|
|
|
|
which we have wrongfully taken and detained. Observe,
|
|
Not Pharaoh only, but his house, was plagued, probably those
|
|
princes especially that had commended Sarai to Pharaoh. Note,
|
|
Partners in sin are justly made partners in the punishment. Those
|
|
that serve others' lusts must expect to share in their plagues. We
|
|
are not told particularly what these plagues were; but doubtless
|
|
there was something in the plagues themselves, or some explication
|
|
added to them, sufficient to convince them that it was for Sarai's
|
|
sake that they were thus plagued.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiii-p36">2. Pharaoh reproved Abram, and then
|
|
dismissed him with respect.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiii-p37">(1.) The reproof was calm, but very just:
|
|
<i>What is this that thou hast done?</i> What an improper thing!
|
|
How unbecoming a wise and good man! Note, If those that profess
|
|
religion do that which is unfair and disingenuous, especially if
|
|
they say that which borders upon a lie, they must expect to hear of
|
|
it, and have reason to thank those that will tell them of it. We
|
|
find a prophet of the Lord justly reproved and upbraided by a
|
|
heathen ship-master, <scripRef passage="Jon 1:6" id="Gen.xiii-p37.1" parsed="|Jonah|1|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.1.6">Jon. i.
|
|
6</scripRef>. Pharaoh reasons with him: <i>Why didst thou not tell
|
|
me that she was thy wife?</i> intimating that, if he had known
|
|
this, he would not have taken her into his house. Note, It is a
|
|
fault too common among good people to entertain suspicions of
|
|
others beyond what there is cause for. We have often found more of
|
|
virtue, honour, and conscience, in some people than we thought they
|
|
possessed; and it ought to be a pleasure to us to be thus
|
|
disappointed, as Abram was here, who found Pharaoh to be a better
|
|
man than he expected. Charity teaches us to hope the best.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiii-p38">(2.) The dismission was kind and very
|
|
generous. He restored him his wife without offering any injury to
|
|
her honour: <i>Behold thy wife, take her,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 12:19" id="Gen.xiii-p38.1" parsed="|Gen|12|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. Note, Those that would prevent
|
|
sin must remove the temptation, or get out of the way of it. He
|
|
also sent him away in peace, and was so far from any design to kill
|
|
him, as he apprehended, that he took particular care of him. Note,
|
|
We often perplex and ensnare ourselves with fears which soon appear
|
|
to have been altogether groundless. We often fear where no fear is.
|
|
We fear the <i>fury of the oppressor, as though he were ready to
|
|
destroy,</i> when really there is no danger, <scripRef passage="Isa 51:13" id="Gen.xiii-p38.2" parsed="|Isa|51|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.51.13">Isa. li. 13</scripRef>. It would have been more for
|
|
Abram's credit and comfort to have told the truth at first; for,
|
|
after all, <i>honesty is the best policy.</i> Nay, it is said
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 12:20" id="Gen.xiii-p38.3" parsed="|Gen|12|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>), <i>Pharaoh
|
|
commanded his men concerning him,</i> that is, [1.] He charged them
|
|
not to injure him in any thing. Note, It is not enough for those in
|
|
authority to do no hurt themselves, but they must restrain their
|
|
servants, and those about them, from doing hurt. Or, [2.] He
|
|
appointed them, when Abram was disposed to return home, after the
|
|
famine, to conduct him safely out of the country, as his convoy.
|
|
Probably he was alarmed by the plagues (<scripRef passage="Ge 12:17" id="Gen.xiii-p38.4" parsed="|Gen|12|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>), and inferred from them that
|
|
Abram was a particular favourite of Heaven, and therefore, through
|
|
fear of their return, took special care he should receive no injury
|
|
in his country. Note, God has often raised up friends for his
|
|
people, by making men know that it is at their peril if they hurt
|
|
them. It is a dangerous thing to offend Christ's little ones.
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mt 18:6" id="Gen.xiii-p38.5" parsed="|Matt|18|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.18.6">Matt. xviii. 6</scripRef>. To this
|
|
passage, among others, the Psalmist refers, <scripRef passage="Ps 105:13-15" id="Gen.xiii-p38.6" parsed="|Ps|105|13|105|15" osisRef="Bible:Ps.105.13-Ps.105.15">Ps. cv. 13-15</scripRef>, <i>He reproved kings for
|
|
their sakes, saying, Touch not my anointed.</i> Perhaps if Pharaoh
|
|
had not <i>sent him away,</i> he would have been tempted to stay in
|
|
Egypt and to forget the land of promise. Note, Sometimes God makes
|
|
use of the enemies of his people to convince them, and remind them,
|
|
that this world is not their rest, but that they must think of
|
|
departing.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiii-p39"><i>Lastly,</i> Observe a resemblance
|
|
between this deliverance of Abram out of Egypt and the deliverance
|
|
of his seed thence: 430 years after Abram went into Egypt on
|
|
occasion of a famine they went thither on occasion of a famine
|
|
also; he was fetched out with great plagues on Pharaoh, so were
|
|
they; as Abram was dismissed by Pharaoh, and enriched with the
|
|
spoil of the Egyptians, so were they. For God's care of his people
|
|
is the same <i>yesterday, to-day, and for ever.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XIII" n="xiv" progress="10.94%" prev="Gen.xiii" next="Gen.xv" id="Gen.xiv">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="89" id="Gen.xiv-Page_89"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xiv-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xiv-p0.2">CHAP. XIII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xiv-p1">In this chapter we have a further account
|
|
concerning Abram. I. In general, of his condition and behaviour in
|
|
the land of promise, which was now the land of his pilgrimage. 1.
|
|
His removes, <scripRef passage="Ge 13:1,3,4,18" id="Gen.xiv-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|13|1|0|0;|Gen|13|3|0|0;|Gen|13|4|0|0;|Gen|13|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.1 Bible:Gen.13.3 Bible:Gen.13.4 Bible:Gen.13.18">ver. 1, 3, 4,
|
|
18</scripRef>. 2. His riches, <scripRef passage="Ge 13:2" id="Gen.xiv-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|13|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.2">ver.
|
|
2</scripRef>. 3. His devotion, <scripRef passage="Ge 13:4,18" id="Gen.xiv-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|13|4|0|0;|Gen|13|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.4 Bible:Gen.13.18">ver.
|
|
4, 18</scripRef>. II. A particular account of a quarrel that
|
|
happened between him and Lot. 1. The unhappy occasion of their
|
|
strife <scripRef passage="Ge 13:5,6" id="Gen.xiv-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|13|5|13|6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.5-Gen.13.6">ver. 5, 6</scripRef>. 2. The
|
|
parties concerned in the strife, with the aggravation of it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 13:7" id="Gen.xiv-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|13|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.7">ver. 7</scripRef>. III. The making up
|
|
of the quarrel, by the prudence of Abram <scripRef passage="Ge 13:8,9" id="Gen.xiv-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|13|8|13|9" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.8-Gen.13.9">ver. 8, 9</scripRef>. IV. Lot's departure from Abram to
|
|
the plain of Sodom, <scripRef passage="Ge 13:10-13" id="Gen.xiv-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|13|10|13|13" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.10-Gen.13.13">ver.
|
|
10-13</scripRef>. V. God's appearance to Abram, to confirm the
|
|
promise of the land of Canaan to him, <scripRef passage="Ge 13:14-18" id="Gen.xiv-p1.8" parsed="|Gen|13|14|13|18" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.14-Gen.13.18">ver. 14</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 13" id="Gen.xiv-p1.9" parsed="|Gen|13|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 13:1-4" id="Gen.xiv-p1.10" parsed="|Gen|13|1|13|4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.1-Gen.13.4"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.13.1-Gen.13.4">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xiv-p1.11">Abram's Removal to Canaan. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xiv-p1.12">b. c.</span> 1918.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xiv-p2">1 And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his
|
|
wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south.  
|
|
2 And Abram <i>was</i> very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.
|
|
  3 And he went on his journeys from the south even to
|
|
Beth-el, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning,
|
|
between Beth-el and Hai;   4 Unto the place of the altar,
|
|
which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the
|
|
name of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xiv-p2.1">Lord</span>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiv-p3">I. Here is Abram's return out of Egypt,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 13:1" id="Gen.xiv-p3.1" parsed="|Gen|13|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. He came himself
|
|
and brought all his with him back again to Canaan. Note, Though
|
|
there may be occasion to go sometimes into places of temptation,
|
|
yet we must hasten out of them as soon as possible. See <scripRef passage="Ru 1:6" id="Gen.xiv-p3.2" parsed="|Ruth|1|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ruth.1.6">Ruth i. 6</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiv-p4">II. His wealth: <i>He was very rich,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 13:2" id="Gen.xiv-p4.1" parsed="|Gen|13|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. He was very
|
|
<i>heavy,</i> so the Hebrew word signifies; for <i>riches are a
|
|
burden,</i> and those that <i>will be rich do but load themselves
|
|
with thick clay,</i> <scripRef passage="Hab 2:6" id="Gen.xiv-p4.2" parsed="|Hab|2|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hab.2.6">Hab. ii.
|
|
6</scripRef>. There is a burden
|
|
|
|
<pb n="90" id="Gen.xiv-Page_90"/>
|
|
|
|
of care in
|
|
getting them, fear in keeping them, temptation in using them, guilt
|
|
in abusing them, sorrow in losing them, and a burden of account, at
|
|
last, to be given up concerning them. Great possessions do but make
|
|
men heavy and unwieldy. Abram was not only rich in faith and good
|
|
works, and in the promises, but he was <i>rich in cattle, and in
|
|
silver and gold.</i> Note, 1. God, in his providence, sometimes
|
|
makes good men rich men, and teaches them how to abound, as well as
|
|
how to suffer want. 2. The riches of good men are the fruits of
|
|
God's blessing. God has said to Abram, <i>I will bless thee;</i>
|
|
and that blessing made him rich without sorrow, <scripRef passage="Pr 10:22" id="Gen.xiv-p4.3" parsed="|Prov|10|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.10.22">Prov. x. 22</scripRef>. 3. True piety will very well
|
|
consist with great prosperity. Though it is hard for a rich man to
|
|
get to heaven, yet it is not impossible, <scripRef passage="Mk 10:23,24" id="Gen.xiv-p4.4" parsed="|Mark|10|23|10|24" osisRef="Bible:Mark.10.23-Mark.10.24">Mark x. 23, 24</scripRef>. Abram was very rich and
|
|
yet very religious. Nay, as piety is a friend to outward prosperity
|
|
(<scripRef passage="1Ti 4:8" id="Gen.xiv-p4.5" parsed="|1Tim|4|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.4.8">1 Tim. iv. 8</scripRef>), so outward
|
|
prosperity, if well-managed, is an ornament to piety, and furnishes
|
|
an opportunity of doing so much the more good.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiv-p5">III. His removal to Beth-el, <scripRef passage="Ge 13:3,4" id="Gen.xiv-p5.1" parsed="|Gen|13|3|13|4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.3-Gen.13.4"><i>v.</i> 3, 4</scripRef>. Thither he went, not
|
|
only because there he had formerly had his tent, and he was willing
|
|
to go among his old acquaintance, but because there he had formerly
|
|
had his altar: and, though the altar was gone (probably he himself
|
|
having taken it down, when he left the place, lest it should be
|
|
polluted by the idolatrous Canaanites), yet he <i>came to the place
|
|
of the altar,</i> either to revive the remembrance of the sweet
|
|
communion he had had with God in that place, or perhaps to pay the
|
|
vows he had there made to God when he undertook his journey into
|
|
Egypt. Long afterwards God sent Jacob to this same place on that
|
|
errand (<scripRef passage="Ge 35:1" id="Gen.xiv-p5.2" parsed="|Gen|35|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.1"><i>ch.</i> xxxv. 1</scripRef>),
|
|
<i>Go up to Beth-el, where thou vowedst the vow.</i> We have need
|
|
to be reminded, and should take all occasions to remind ourselves,
|
|
of our solemn vows; and perhaps the place where they were made may
|
|
help to bring them afresh to mind, and it may therefore do us good
|
|
to visit it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiv-p6">IV. His devotion there. His altar was gone,
|
|
so that he could not offer sacrifice; but <i>he called on the name
|
|
of the Lord,</i> as he had done, <scripRef passage="Ge 12:8" id="Gen.xiv-p6.1" parsed="|Gen|12|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.8"><i>ch.</i> xii. 8</scripRef>. Note, 1. All God's people
|
|
are praying people. You may as soon find a living man without
|
|
breath as a living Christian without prayer. 2. Those that would
|
|
approve themselves upright with their God must be constant and
|
|
persevering in the services of religion. Abram did not leave his
|
|
religion behind him in Egypt, as many do in their travels. 3. When
|
|
we cannot do <i>what we would</i> we must make conscience of doing
|
|
<i>what we can</i> in the acts of devotion. When we want an altar,
|
|
let us not be wanting in prayer, but, wherever we are, call on the
|
|
name of the Lord.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 13:5-9" id="Gen.xiv-p6.2" parsed="|Gen|13|5|13|9" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.5-Gen.13.9"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.13.5-Gen.13.9">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xiv-p6.3">Lot's Separation from Abram. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xiv-p6.4">b. c.</span> 1917.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xiv-p7">5 And Lot also, which went with Abram, had
|
|
flocks, and herds, and tents.   6 And the land was not able to
|
|
bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was
|
|
great, so that they could not dwell together.   7 And there
|
|
was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen
|
|
of Lot's cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then
|
|
in the land.   8 And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no
|
|
strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen
|
|
and thy herdmen; for we <i>be</i> brethren.   9 <i>Is</i> not
|
|
the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me:
|
|
if <i>thou wilt take</i> the left hand, then I will go to the
|
|
right; or if <i>thou depart</i> to the right hand, then I will go
|
|
to the left.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiv-p8">We have here an unhappy falling out between
|
|
Abram and Lot, who had hitherto been inseparable companions (see
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 13:1" id="Gen.xiv-p8.1" parsed="|Gen|13|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>, and <scripRef passage="Ge 12:4" id="Gen.xiv-p8.2" parsed="|Gen|12|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.4"><i>ch.</i> xii. 4</scripRef>), but now
|
|
parted.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiv-p9">I. The occasion of their quarrel was their
|
|
riches. We read (<scripRef passage="Ge 13:2" id="Gen.xiv-p9.1" parsed="|Gen|13|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.2"><i>v.</i>
|
|
2</scripRef>) how rich Abram was; now here we are told (<scripRef passage="Ge 13:5" id="Gen.xiv-p9.2" parsed="|Gen|13|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>) that <i>Lot, who went
|
|
with Abram,</i> was rich too; and therefore God blessed him with
|
|
riches because he went with Abram. Note, 1. It is good being in
|
|
good company, and going with those with whom God is, <scripRef passage="Zec 8:23" id="Gen.xiv-p9.3" parsed="|Zech|8|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zech.8.23">Zech. viii. 23</scripRef>. 2. Those that are
|
|
partners with God's people in their obedience and sufferings shall
|
|
be sharers with them in their joys and comforts, <scripRef passage="Isa 66:10" id="Gen.xiv-p9.4" parsed="|Isa|66|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.66.10">Isa. lxvi. 10</scripRef>. Now, they both being very
|
|
rich, <i>the land was not able to bear them, that they might
|
|
dwell</i> comfortably and peaceably together. So that their riches
|
|
may be considered, (1.) As setting them at a distance one from
|
|
another. Because the place was too strait for them, and they had
|
|
not room for their stock, it was necessary they should live
|
|
asunder. Note, Every comfort in this world has its cross attending
|
|
it. Business is a comfort; but it has this inconvenience in it,
|
|
that it allows us not the society of those we love, so often, nor
|
|
so long, as we could wish. (2.) As setting them at variance one
|
|
with another. Note, Riches are often an occasion of strife and
|
|
contention among relations and neighbours. This is one of those
|
|
<i>foolish and hurtful lusts which those that will be rich fall
|
|
into,</i> <scripRef passage="1Ti 6:9" id="Gen.xiv-p9.5" parsed="|1Tim|6|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.6.9">1 Tim. vi. 9</scripRef>.
|
|
Riches not only afford matter for contention, and are the things
|
|
most commonly striven about, but they also stir up a spirit of
|
|
contention, by making people proud and covetous. <i>Meum</i> and
|
|
<i>tuum—Mine</i> and <i>thine,</i> are the great make-bates of the
|
|
world. Poverty and travail, wants and wanderings, could not
|
|
separate between Abram and Lot; but riches did. Friends are soon
|
|
lost; but God is a
|
|
|
|
<pb n="91" id="Gen.xiv-Page_91"/>
|
|
|
|
friend from whose love
|
|
neither the height of prosperity nor the depth of adversity shall
|
|
separate us.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiv-p10">II. The immediate instruments of the
|
|
quarrel were their servants. The strife began between <i>the
|
|
herdsmen of Abram's cattle and the herdsmen of Lot's cattle,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 13:7" id="Gen.xiv-p10.1" parsed="|Gen|13|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. They strove, it
|
|
is probable, which should have the better pasture or the better
|
|
water; and both interested their masters in the quarrel. Note, Bad
|
|
servants often make a great deal of mischief in families, by the
|
|
pride and passion, their lying slandering, and tale-bearing. It is
|
|
a very wicked thing for servants to do ill offices between
|
|
relations and neighbours, and to sow discord; those that do so are
|
|
the devil's agents and their masters' worst enemies.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiv-p11">III. The aggravation of the quarrel was
|
|
that <i>the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelt then in the land;</i>
|
|
this made the quarrel, 1. Very dangerous. If Abram and Lot cannot
|
|
agree to feed their flocks together, it is well if the common enemy
|
|
do not come upon them and plunder them both. Note, The division of
|
|
families and churches often proves the ruin of them. 2. Very
|
|
scandalous. No doubt the eyes of all the neighbours were upon them,
|
|
especially because of the singularity of their religion, and the
|
|
extraordinary sanctity they professed; and notice would soon be
|
|
taken of this quarrel, and improvement made of it, to their
|
|
reproach, by the Canaanites and Perizzites. Note, The quarrels of
|
|
professors are the reproach of profession, and give occasion, as
|
|
much as any thing, to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiv-p12">IV. The making up of this quarrel was very
|
|
happy. It is best to preserve the peace, that it be not broken; but
|
|
the next best is, if differences do happen, with all speed to
|
|
accommodate them, and quench the fire that has broken out. The
|
|
motion for staying this strife was made by Abram, though he was the
|
|
senior and superior relation, <scripRef passage="Ge 13:8" id="Gen.xiv-p12.1" parsed="|Gen|13|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.8"><i>v.</i>
|
|
8</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiv-p13">1. His petition for peace was very
|
|
affectionate: <i>Let there be not strife, I pray thee.</i> Abram
|
|
here shows himself to be a man, (1.) Of a cool spirit, that had the
|
|
command of his passion, and knew how to turn away wrath with a soft
|
|
answer. Those that would keep the peace must never render railing
|
|
for railing. (2.) Of a condescending spirit; he was willing to
|
|
beseech even his inferior to be at peace, and made the first
|
|
overture of reconciliation. Conquerors reckon it their glory to
|
|
give peace by power; and it is no less so to give peace by the
|
|
meekness of wisdom. Note, The people of God should always approve
|
|
themselves a peaceable people; whatever others are for, they must
|
|
be for peace.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiv-p14">2. His plea for peace was very cogent. (1.)
|
|
"Let there be no strife <i>between me and thee.</i> Let the
|
|
Canaanites and Perizzites contend about trifles; but let not thee
|
|
and me fall out, who know better things, and look for a better
|
|
country." Note, Professors of religion should, of all others, be
|
|
careful to avoid contention. <i>You shall not be so,</i> <scripRef passage="Lu 22:26" id="Gen.xiv-p14.1" parsed="|Luke|22|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.22.26">Luke xxii. 26</scripRef>. <i>We have no such
|
|
custom,</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 11:16" id="Gen.xiv-p14.2" parsed="|1Cor|11|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.11.16">1 Cor. xi. 16</scripRef>.
|
|
"Let there be no strife <i>between me and thee,</i> who have lived
|
|
together and loved one another so long." Note, The remembrance of
|
|
old friendships should quickly put an end to new quarrels which at
|
|
any time happen. (2.) Let it be remembered that <i>we are
|
|
brethren,</i> Heb. <i>we are men brethren;</i> a double argument.
|
|
[1.] We are men; and, as men, we are mortal creatures—we may die
|
|
to-morrow, and are concerned to be found in peace. We are rational
|
|
creatures, and should be ruled by reason. We are men, and not
|
|
brutes, men, and not children; we are sociable creatures, let us be
|
|
so to the uttermost. [2.] We are brethren. Men of the same nature,
|
|
of the same kindred and family, of the same religion, companions in
|
|
obedience, companions in patience. Note, The consideration of our
|
|
relation to each other, as brethren, should always prevail to
|
|
moderate our passions, and either to prevent or put an end to our
|
|
contentions. Brethren should love as brethren.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiv-p15">3. His proposal for peace was very fair.
|
|
Many who profess to be for peace yet will do nothing towards it;
|
|
but Abram hereby approved himself a real friend to peace that he
|
|
proposed an unexceptionable expedient for the preserving of it:
|
|
<i>Is not the whole land before thee?</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 13:9" id="Gen.xiv-p15.1" parsed="|Gen|13|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. As if he had said, "Why should we
|
|
quarrel for room, while there is room enough for us both?" (1.) He
|
|
concludes that they must part, and is very desirous that they
|
|
should part friends: <i>Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me.</i>
|
|
What could be expressed more affectionately? He does not expel him,
|
|
and force him away, but advises that he should separate himself.
|
|
Nor does he charge him to depart, but humbly desires him to
|
|
withdraw. Note, Those that have power to command, yet sometimes,
|
|
for love's sake, and peace' sake, should rather beseech as Paul
|
|
besought Philemon, <scripRef passage="Philemon 1:8,9" id="Gen.xiv-p15.2" parsed="|Phlm|1|8|1|9" osisRef="Bible:Phlm.1.8-Phlm.1.9"><i>v.</i> 8,
|
|
9</scripRef>. When the great God condescends to beseech us, we may
|
|
well afford to beseech one another, to <i>be reconciled,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="2Co 5:20" id="Gen.xiv-p15.3" parsed="|2Cor|5|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.5.20">2 Cor. v. 20</scripRef>. (2.) He
|
|
offers him a sufficient share of the land they were in. Though God
|
|
had promised Abram to give this land to his seed (<scripRef passage="Ge 12:7" id="Gen.xiv-p15.4" parsed="|Gen|12|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.7"><i>ch.</i> xii. 7</scripRef>), and it does not
|
|
appear that ever any such promise was made to Lot, which Abram
|
|
might have insisted on, to the total exclusion of Lot, yet he
|
|
allows him to come in partner with him, and tenders an equal share
|
|
to one that had not an equal right, and will not make God's promise
|
|
to patronise his quarrel, nor, under the protection of that, put
|
|
any hardship on his kinsman. (3.) He gives him his choice, and
|
|
offers to take up with his leavings: <i>If thou wilt take the left
|
|
hand, I will go to the right.</i> There was all the reason in the
|
|
world that Abram should choose first; yet he recedes from his
|
|
right. Note, It is a noble conquest to be willing to yield for
|
|
peace' sake; it is the conquest of ourselves, and our own pride and
|
|
passion,
|
|
|
|
<pb n="92" id="Gen.xiv-Page_92"/>
|
|
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mt 5:39,40" id="Gen.xiv-p15.5" parsed="|Matt|5|39|5|40" osisRef="Bible:Matt.5.39-Matt.5.40">Matt.
|
|
v. 39, 40</scripRef>. It is not only the punctilios of honour, but
|
|
even interest itself, that in many cases must be sacrificed to
|
|
peace.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 13:10-13" id="Gen.xiv-p15.6" parsed="|Gen|13|10|13|13" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.10-Gen.13.13"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.13.10-Gen.13.13">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xiv-p15.7">Lot's Removal to Sodom. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xiv-p15.8">b. c.</span> 1917.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xiv-p16">10 And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all
|
|
the plain of Jordan, that it <i>was</i> well watered everywhere,
|
|
before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xiv-p16.1">Lord</span> destroyed Sodom and
|
|
Gomorrah, <i>even</i> as the garden of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xiv-p16.2">Lord</span>, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest
|
|
unto Zoar.   11 Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan;
|
|
and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from
|
|
the other.   12 Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot
|
|
dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched <i>his</i> tent
|
|
toward Sodom.   13 But the men of Sodom <i>were</i> wicked and
|
|
sinners before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xiv-p16.3">Lord</span>
|
|
exceedingly.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiv-p17">We have here the choice that Lot made when
|
|
he parted from Abram. Upon this occasion, one would have expected,
|
|
1. That he should have expressed an unwillingness to part from
|
|
Abram, and that, at least, he should have done it with reluctancy.
|
|
2. That he should have been so civil as to have remitted the choice
|
|
back again to Abram. But we find not any instance of deference or
|
|
respect to his uncle in the whole management. Abram having offered
|
|
him the choice, without compliment he accepted it, and made his
|
|
election. Passion and selfishness make men rude. Now, in the choice
|
|
which Lot made, we may observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiv-p18">I. How much he had an eye to the goodness
|
|
of the land. He <i>beheld all the plain of Jordan,</i> the flat
|
|
country in which Sodom stood, that it was admirably <i>well watered
|
|
everywhere</i> (and perhaps the strife had been about water, which
|
|
made him particularly fond of that convenience), and so <i>Lot
|
|
chose all that plain,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 13:10,11" id="Gen.xiv-p18.1" parsed="|Gen|13|10|13|11" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.10-Gen.13.11"><i>v.</i>
|
|
10, 11</scripRef>. That valley, which was like the garden of Eden
|
|
itself, now yielded him a most pleasant prospect. It was, in his
|
|
eye, beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth; and
|
|
therefore he doubted not but that it would yield him a comfortable
|
|
settlement, and that in such a fruitful soil he should certainly
|
|
thrive, and grow very rich: and this was all he looked at. But what
|
|
came of it? Why, the next news we hear of him is that he is in the
|
|
briars among them, he and his carried captive. While he lived among
|
|
them, he vexed his righteous soul with their conversation, and
|
|
never had a good day with them, till, at last, God fired the town
|
|
over his head, and forced him to the mountain for safety who chose
|
|
the plain for wealth and pleasure. Note, Sensual choices are sinful
|
|
choices, and seldom speed well. Those who in choosing relations,
|
|
callings, dwellings, or settlements are guided and governed by the
|
|
lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, or the pride of life, and
|
|
consult not the interests of their souls and their religion, cannot
|
|
expect God's presence with them, nor his blessing upon them, but
|
|
are commonly disappointed even in that which they principally aimed
|
|
at, and miss of that which they promised themselves satisfaction
|
|
in. In all our choices this principle should overrule us, That that
|
|
is best for us which is best for our souls.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiv-p19">II. How little he considered the wickedness
|
|
of the inhabitants: <i>But the men of Sodom were wicked,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 13:13" id="Gen.xiv-p19.1" parsed="|Gen|13|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. Note, 1.
|
|
Though all are sinners, yet some are greater sinners than others.
|
|
The men of Sodom were sinners of the first magnitude, <i>sinners
|
|
before the Lord,</i> that is, impudent daring sinners; they were so
|
|
to a proverb. Hence we read of those that <i>declare their sin as
|
|
Sodom, they hide it not,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 3:9" id="Gen.xiv-p19.2" parsed="|Isa|3|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.3.9">Isa. iii.
|
|
9</scripRef>. 2. That some sinners are the worse for living in a
|
|
good land. So the Sodomites were: for this was the iniquity of
|
|
Sodom, <i>pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness;</i>
|
|
and all these were supported by the great plenty their country
|
|
afforded, <scripRef passage="Eze 16:49" id="Gen.xiv-p19.3" parsed="|Ezek|16|49|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.49">Ezek. xvi. 49</scripRef>.
|
|
Thus <i>the prosperity of fools destroys them.</i> 3. That God
|
|
often gives great plenty to great sinners. Filthy Sodomites dwell
|
|
in a city, in a fruitful plain, while faithful Abram and his pious
|
|
family dwell in tents upon the barren mountains. 4. When wickedness
|
|
has come to the height, ruin is not far off. Abounding sins are
|
|
sure presages of approaching judgments. Now Lot's coming to dwell
|
|
among the Sodomites may be considered, (1.) As a great mercy to
|
|
them, and a likely means of bringing them to repentance; for now
|
|
they had a prophet among them and a preacher of righteousness, and,
|
|
if they had hearkened to him, they might have been reformed, and
|
|
the ruin prevented. Note, God sends preachers, before he sends
|
|
destroyers; for he is not <i>willing that any should perish.</i>
|
|
(2.) As a great affliction to Lot, who was not only grieved to see
|
|
their wickedness (<scripRef passage="2Pe 2:7,8" id="Gen.xiv-p19.4" parsed="|2Pet|2|7|2|8" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.2.7-2Pet.2.8">2 Pet. ii. 7,
|
|
8</scripRef>), but was molested and persecuted by them, because he
|
|
would not do as they did. Note, It has often been the vexatious lot
|
|
of good men to live among wicked neighbours, to <i>sojourn in
|
|
Mesech</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 120:5" id="Gen.xiv-p19.5" parsed="|Ps|120|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.120.5">Ps. cxx. 5</scripRef>),
|
|
and it cannot but be the more grievous, if, as Lot here, they have
|
|
brought it upon themselves by an unadvised choice.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 13:14-18" id="Gen.xiv-p19.6" parsed="|Gen|13|14|13|18" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.14-Gen.13.18"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.13.14-Gen.13.18">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xiv-p19.7">God Confirms His Promise to
|
|
Abram. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xiv-p19.8">b. c.</span> 1917.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xiv-p20">14 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xiv-p20.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now
|
|
thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and
|
|
southward, and eastward, and westward:   15 For all the land
|
|
which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.
|
|
  16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so
|
|
that if a man can number the dust of the earth, <i>then</i> shall
|
|
thy seed also be numbered.   17 Arise,
|
|
|
|
<pb n="93" id="Gen.xiv-Page_93"/>
|
|
|
|
walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it;
|
|
for I will give it unto thee.   18 Then Abram removed
|
|
<i>his</i> tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which
|
|
<i>is</i> in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xiv-p20.2">Lord</span>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiv-p21">We have here an account of a gracious visit
|
|
which God paid to Abram, to confirm the promise to him and his.
|
|
Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiv-p22">I. When it was that God renewed and
|
|
ratified the promise: <i>After that Lot was separated from him,</i>
|
|
that is, 1. After the quarrel was over; for those are best prepared
|
|
for the visits of divine grace whose spirits are calm and sedate,
|
|
and not ruffled with any passion. 2. After Abram's humble
|
|
self-denying condescensions to Lot for the preserving of peace. It
|
|
was then that God came to him with this token of his favour. Note,
|
|
God will abundantly make up in spiritual peace what we lose for the
|
|
preservation of neighbourly peace. When Abram had willingly offered
|
|
Lot one-half of his right, God came, and confirmed the whole to
|
|
him. 3. After he had lost the comfortable society of his kinsman,
|
|
by whose departure his hands were weakened and his heart was
|
|
saddened, then God came to him with these good words and
|
|
comfortable words. Note, Communion with God may, at any time, serve
|
|
to make up the want of conversation with our friends; when our
|
|
relations are separated from us, yet God is not. 4. After Lot had
|
|
chosen that pleasant fruitful vale, and had gone to take possession
|
|
of it, lest Abram should be tempted to envy him and to repent that
|
|
he had given him the choice, God comes to him, and assures him that
|
|
what he had should remain to him and <i>his heirs for ever;</i> so
|
|
that, though Lot perhaps had the better land, yet Abram had the
|
|
better <i>title.</i> Lot had the paradise, such as it was, but
|
|
Abram had the promise; and the event soon made it appear that,
|
|
however it seemed now, Abram had really the better part. See
|
|
<scripRef passage="Job 22:20" id="Gen.xiv-p22.1" parsed="|Job|22|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.22.20">Job xxii. 20</scripRef>. God owned
|
|
Abram after his strife with Lot, as the churches owned Paul after
|
|
his strife with Barnabas, <scripRef passage="Ac 15:39,40" id="Gen.xiv-p22.2" parsed="|Acts|15|39|15|40" osisRef="Bible:Acts.15.39-Acts.15.40">Acts xv.
|
|
39, 40</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiv-p23">II. The promises themselves with which God
|
|
now comforted and enriched Abram. Two things he assures him of—a
|
|
good land, and a numerous issue to enjoy it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiv-p24">1. Here is the grant of a good land, a land
|
|
famous above all lands, for it was to be the holy land, and
|
|
Immanuel's land; this is the land here spoken of. (1.) God here
|
|
shows Abram the land, as he had promised (<scripRef passage="Ge 12:1" id="Gen.xiv-p24.1" parsed="|Gen|12|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.1"><i>ch.</i> xii. 1</scripRef>), and afterwards he showed
|
|
it to Moses from the top of Pisgah. <i>Lot had lifted up his eyes
|
|
and beheld the plain of Jordan</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 13:10" id="Gen.xiv-p24.2" parsed="|Gen|13|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>), and he had gone to enjoy what
|
|
he saw: "Come," says God to Abram, "<i>now lift thou up thy eyes,
|
|
and look, and see thy own.</i>" Note, That which God has to show us
|
|
is infinitely better and more desirable than any thing that the
|
|
world has to offer our view. The prospects of an eye of faith are
|
|
much more rich and beautiful than those of an eye of sense. Those
|
|
for whom the heavenly Canaan is designed in the other world have
|
|
sometimes, by faith, a comfortable prospect of it in their present
|
|
state; for we look at the <i>things that are not seen,</i> as real,
|
|
though distant. (2.) He secures this land to him and his seed for
|
|
ever (<scripRef passage="Ge 13:15" id="Gen.xiv-p24.3" parsed="|Gen|13|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>): <i>To
|
|
thee will I give it;</i> and again (<scripRef passage="Ge 13:17" id="Gen.xiv-p24.4" parsed="|Gen|13|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>) <i>I will give it unto
|
|
thee;</i> every repetition of the promise is a ratification of it.
|
|
<i>To thee and thy seed,</i> not to Lot and his seed; they were not
|
|
to have their inheritance in this land, and therefore Providence so
|
|
ordered it that Lot should be separated from Abram first, and then
|
|
the grant should be confirmed to him and his seed. Thus God often
|
|
brings good out of evil, and makes men's sins and follies
|
|
subservient to his own wise and holy counsels. <i>To thee and thy
|
|
seed</i>—to thee to sojourn in as a stranger, to thy seed to dwell
|
|
and rule in as proprietors. <i>To thee,</i> that is, <i>to thy
|
|
seed.</i> The granting of it to him and his for ever intimates that
|
|
it was typical of the heavenly Canaan, which is given to the
|
|
spiritual seed of Abram for ever, <scripRef passage="Heb 11:14" id="Gen.xiv-p24.5" parsed="|Heb|11|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.14">Heb. xi. 14</scripRef>. (3.) He gives him livery and
|
|
seisin of it, though it was a reversion: "<i>Arise, walk through
|
|
the land,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 13:17" id="Gen.xiv-p24.6" parsed="|Gen|13|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>.
|
|
Enter, and take possession, survey the parcels, and it will appear
|
|
better than upon a distant prospect." Note, God is willing more
|
|
abundantly to show to the heirs of promise the immutability of his
|
|
covenant, and the inestimable worth of covenant blessings. <i>Go,
|
|
walk about Sion,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 48:12" id="Gen.xiv-p24.7" parsed="|Ps|48|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.48.12">Ps. xlviii.
|
|
12</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiv-p25">2. Here is the promise of a numerous issue
|
|
to replenish this good land, so that it should never be lost for
|
|
want of heirs (<scripRef passage="Ge 13:16" id="Gen.xiv-p25.1" parsed="|Gen|13|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.16"><i>v.</i>
|
|
16</scripRef>): <i>I will make thy seed as the dust of the
|
|
earth,</i> that is, "They shall increase incredibly, and, take them
|
|
altogether, they shall be such a great multitude as no man can
|
|
number." They were so in Solomon's time, <scripRef passage="1Ki 4:20" id="Gen.xiv-p25.2" parsed="|1Kgs|4|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.4.20">1 Kings iv. 20</scripRef>, <i>Judah and Israel were many
|
|
as the sand which is by the sea in multitude.</i> This God here
|
|
gives him the promise of. Note, The same God that provides the
|
|
inheritance provides the heirs. He that has prepared the holy land
|
|
prepares the holy seed; he that gives glory gives grace to make
|
|
meet for glory.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xiv-p26"><i>Lastly,</i> We are told what Abram did
|
|
when God had thus confirmed the promise to him, <scripRef passage="Ge 13:18" id="Gen.xiv-p26.1" parsed="|Gen|13|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. 1. He <i>removed his tent.</i>
|
|
God bade him <i>walk through the land,</i> that is, "Do not think
|
|
of fixing in it, but expect to be always unsettled, and walking
|
|
through it to a better Canaan:" in compliance with God's will
|
|
herein, <i>he removes his tent,</i> confirming himself to the
|
|
condition of a pilgrim. 2. He <i>built there an altar,</i> in token
|
|
of his thankfulness to God for the kind visit he had paid him.
|
|
Note, When God meets us with gracious promises, he expects that we
|
|
should attend him with our humble praises.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XIV" n="xv" progress="11.43%" prev="Gen.xiv" next="Gen.xvi" id="Gen.xv">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="94" id="Gen.xv-Page_94"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xv-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xv-p0.2">CHAP. XIV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xv-p1">We have four things in the story of this chapter.
|
|
I. A war with the king of Sodom and his allies, <scripRef passage="Ge 14:1-11" id="Gen.xv-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|14|1|14|11" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.1-Gen.14.11">ver. 1-11</scripRef>. II. The captivity of Lot in that
|
|
war, <scripRef passage="Ge 14:12" id="Gen.xv-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|14|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.12">ver. 12</scripRef>. III. Abram's
|
|
rescue of Lot from that captivity, with the victory he obtained
|
|
over the conquerors, <scripRef passage="Ge 14:13-16" id="Gen.xv-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|14|13|14|16" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.13-Gen.14.16">ver.
|
|
13-16</scripRef>. IV. Abram's return from the expedition,
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 14:17" id="Gen.xv-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|14|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.17">ver. 17</scripRef>), with an account
|
|
of what passed, 1. Between him and the king of Salem, <scripRef passage="Ge 14:18-20" id="Gen.xv-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|14|18|14|20" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.18-Gen.14.20">ver. 18-20</scripRef>. 2. Between him and the
|
|
king of Sodom, <scripRef passage="Ge 14:21-24" id="Gen.xv-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|14|21|14|24" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.21-Gen.14.24">ver.
|
|
21-24</scripRef>. So that here we have that promise to Abram in
|
|
part fulfilled, that God would make his name great.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 14" id="Gen.xv-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|14|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 14:1-12" id="Gen.xv-p1.8" parsed="|Gen|14|1|14|12" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.1-Gen.14.12"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.14.1-Gen.14.12">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xv-p1.9">Lot Taken Captive. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xv-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1913.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xv-p2">1 And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel
|
|
king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam,
|
|
and Tidal king of nations;   2 <i>That these</i> made war with
|
|
Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king
|
|
of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which
|
|
is Zoar.   3 All these were joined together in the vale of
|
|
Siddim, which is the salt sea.   4 Twelve years they served
|
|
Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.   5
|
|
And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that
|
|
<i>were</i> with him, and smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim,
|
|
and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emims in Shaveh Kiriathaim,   6
|
|
And the Horites in their mount Seir, unto El-paran, which <i>is</i>
|
|
by the wilderness.   7 And they returned, and came to
|
|
En-mishpat, which <i>is</i> Kadesh, and smote all the country of
|
|
the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that dwelt in Hazezontamar.
|
|
  8 And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of
|
|
Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the
|
|
king of Bela (the same <i>is</i> Zoar;) and they joined battle with
|
|
them in the vale of Siddim;   9 With Chedorlaomer the king of
|
|
Elam, and with Tidal king of nations, and Amraphel king of Shinar,
|
|
and Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings with five.   10 And the
|
|
vale of Siddim <i>was full of</i> slimepits; and the kings of Sodom
|
|
and Gomorrah fled, and fell there; and they that remained fled to
|
|
the mountain.   11 And they took all the goods of Sodom and
|
|
Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way.   12 And
|
|
they took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his
|
|
goods, and departed.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xv-p3">We have here an account of the first war
|
|
that ever we read of in scripture, which (though the wars of the
|
|
nations make the greatest figure in history) we should not have had
|
|
the history of if Abram and Lot had not been concerned in it. Now,
|
|
concerning this war, we may observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xv-p4">I. The parties engaged in it. The invaders
|
|
were four kings, two of them no less than kings of Shinar and Elam
|
|
(that is, Chaldea and Persia), yet probably not the sovereign
|
|
princes of those great kingdoms in their own persons, but either
|
|
officers under them, or rather the heads and leaders of some
|
|
colonies which came out of those great nations, and settled
|
|
themselves near Sodom, but retained the names of the countries from
|
|
which they had their origin. The invaded were the kings of five
|
|
cities that lay near together in the plain of Jordan, namely,
|
|
Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar. Four of them are named,
|
|
but not the fifth, the king of Zoar or Bela, either because he was
|
|
much more mean and inconsiderable or because he was much more
|
|
wicked and inglorious than the rest, and worthy to be
|
|
forgotten.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xv-p5">II. The occasion of this war was the revolt
|
|
of the five kings from under the government of Chedorlaomer. Twelve
|
|
years they served him. Small joy they had of their fruitful land,
|
|
while thus they were tributaries to a foreign power, and could not
|
|
call what they had their own. Rich countries are a desirable prey,
|
|
and idle luxurious countries are an easy prey, to growing
|
|
greatness. The Sodomites were the posterity of Canaan whom Noah had
|
|
pronounced a servant to Shem, from whom Elam descended; thus soon
|
|
did that prophecy begin to be fulfilled. In the thirteenth year,
|
|
beginning to be weary of their subjection, they rebelled, denied
|
|
their tribute, and attempted to shake off the yoke and retrieve
|
|
their ancient liberties. In the fourteenth year, after some pause
|
|
and preparation, Chedorlaomer, in conjunction with his allies, set
|
|
himself to chastise and reduce the rebels, and, since he could not
|
|
have it otherwise, to fetch his tribute from them on the point of
|
|
his sword. Note, Pride, covetousness, and ambition, are the lusts
|
|
from which wars and fightings come. To these insatiable idols the
|
|
blood of thousands has been sacrificed.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xv-p6">III. The progress and success of the war.
|
|
The four kings laid the neighbouring countries waste and enriched
|
|
themselves with the spoil of them (<scripRef passage="Ge 14:5-7" id="Gen.xv-p6.1" parsed="|Gen|14|5|14|7" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.5-Gen.14.7"><i>v.</i> 5-7</scripRef>), upon the alarm of which it
|
|
had been the wisdom of the king of Sodom to submit, and desire
|
|
conditions of peace; for how could he grapple with an enemy thus
|
|
flushed with victory? But he would rather venture the utmost
|
|
extremity than yield, and it sped accordingly. <i>Quos Deus
|
|
destruet eos dementat—Those whom God means to destroy he delivers
|
|
up to infatuation.</i> 1. The forces of the king of Sodom and his
|
|
allies were routed; and, it should seem, many of them perished in
|
|
the slime-pits who had escaped the sword, <scripRef passage="Ge 14:10" id="Gen.xv-p6.2" parsed="|Gen|14|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. In all places we
|
|
|
|
<pb n="95" id="Gen.xv-Page_95"/>
|
|
|
|
are surrounded with deaths of various kinds,
|
|
especially in the field of battle. 2. The cities were plundered,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 14:11" id="Gen.xv-p6.3" parsed="|Gen|14|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. All the goods
|
|
of Sodom, and particularly their stores and provisions of victuals,
|
|
were carried off by the conquerors. Note, When men abuse the gifts
|
|
of a bountiful providence to gluttony and excess, it is just with
|
|
God, and his usual way, by some judgment or other to strip them of
|
|
that which they have so abused, <scripRef passage="Ho 2:8,9" id="Gen.xv-p6.4" parsed="|Hos|2|8|2|9" osisRef="Bible:Hos.2.8-Hos.2.9">Hos.
|
|
ii. 8, 9</scripRef>. 3. Lot was carried captive, <scripRef passage="Ge 14:12" id="Gen.xv-p6.5" parsed="|Gen|14|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. They took Lot among the rest,
|
|
and his goods. Now Lot may here be considered, (1.) As sharing with
|
|
his neighbours in this common calamity. Though he was himself a
|
|
righteous man, and (which is here expressly noticed) Abram's
|
|
brother's son, yet he was involved with the rest in all this
|
|
trouble. Note, <i>All things come alike to all,</i> <scripRef passage="Ec 9:2" id="Gen.xv-p6.6" parsed="|Eccl|9|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.9.2">Eccl. ix. 2</scripRef>. The best of men cannot
|
|
promise themselves an exemption from the greatest troubles in this
|
|
life; neither from our own piety nor our relation to those that are
|
|
the favourites of heaven will be our security, when God's judgments
|
|
are abroad. Note, further, Many an honest man fares the worse for
|
|
his wicked neighbours. It is therefore our wisdom to separate
|
|
ourselves, or at least to distinguish ourselves, from them
|
|
(<scripRef passage="2Co 6:17" id="Gen.xv-p6.7" parsed="|2Cor|6|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.6.17">2 Cor. vi. 17</scripRef>), and so
|
|
deliver ourselves, <scripRef passage="Re 18:4" id="Gen.xv-p6.8" parsed="|Rev|18|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.18.4">Rev. xviii.
|
|
4</scripRef>. (2.) As smarting for the foolish choice he made of a
|
|
settlement here. This is plainly intimated when it is said, <i>They
|
|
took Abram's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom.</i> So near a
|
|
relation of Abram should have been a companion and disciple of
|
|
Abram, and should have abode by his tents; but, if he choose to
|
|
dwell in Sodom, he must thank himself if he share in Sodom's
|
|
calamities. Note, When we go out of the way of our duty we put
|
|
ourselves from under God's protection, and cannot expect that the
|
|
choices which are made by our lusts should issue to our comfort.
|
|
Particular mention is made of their taking Lot's <i>goods,</i>
|
|
those goods which had occasioned his contest with Abram and his
|
|
separation from him. Note, It is just with God to deprive us of
|
|
those enjoyments by which we have suffered ourselves to be deprived
|
|
of our enjoyment of him.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 14:13-16" id="Gen.xv-p6.9" parsed="|Gen|14|13|14|16" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.13-Gen.14.16"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.14.13-Gen.14.16">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xv-p6.10">Lot Taken Captive, and
|
|
Rescued. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xv-p6.11">b. c.</span> 1913.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xv-p7">13 And there came one that had escaped, and told
|
|
Abram the Hebrew; for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite,
|
|
brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner: and these <i>were</i>
|
|
confederate with Abram.   14 And when Abram heard that his
|
|
brother was taken captive, he armed his trained <i>servants,</i>
|
|
born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued
|
|
<i>them</i> unto <scripRef passage="Dan. 15" id="Gen.xv-p7.1" parsed="|Dan|15|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.15">Dan. 15</scripRef> And he divided himself against
|
|
them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued
|
|
them unto Hobah, which <i>is</i> on the left hand of Damascus.
|
|
  16 And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again
|
|
his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the
|
|
people.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xv-p8">We have here an account of the only
|
|
military action we ever find Abram engaged in, and this he was
|
|
prompted to, not by his avarice or ambition, but purely by a
|
|
principle of charity; it was not to enrich himself, but to help his
|
|
friend. Never was any military expedition undertaken, prosecuted,
|
|
and finished, more honourably than this of Abram's. Here we
|
|
have,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xv-p9">I. The tidings brought him of his kinsman's
|
|
distress. Providence so ordered it that he now sojourned not far
|
|
off, that he might be a very present help. 1. He is here called
|
|
<i>Abram the Hebrew,</i> that is, the son and follower of Heber, in
|
|
whose family the profession of the true religion was kept up in
|
|
that degenerate age. Abram herein acted like a Hebrew—in a manner
|
|
not unworthy of the name and character of a religious professor. 2.
|
|
The tidings were brought by one that had escaped with his life for
|
|
a prey. Probably he was a Sodomite, and as bad as the worst of
|
|
them; yet knowing Abram's relation to Lot, and concern for him, he
|
|
implores his help, and hopes to speed for Lot's sake. Note, The
|
|
worst of men, in the day of their trouble, will be glad to claim
|
|
acquaintance with those that are wise and good, and so get an
|
|
interest in them. The rich man in hell called Abram <i>Father;</i>
|
|
and the foolish virgins made court to the wise for a share of their
|
|
oil.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xv-p10">II. The preparations he made for this
|
|
expedition. The cause was plainly good, his call to engage in it
|
|
was clear, and therefore, with all speed, he <i>armed his trained
|
|
servants, born in his house,</i> to the number of <i>three hundred
|
|
and eighteen</i>—a great family, but a small army, about as many
|
|
as Gideon's that routed the Midianites, <scripRef passage="Jdg 7:7" id="Gen.xv-p10.1" parsed="|Judg|7|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.7.7">Judg. vii. 7</scripRef>. He drew out his <i>trained</i>
|
|
servants, or his <i>catechised</i> servants, not only instructed in
|
|
the art of war, which was then far short of the perfection which
|
|
later and worse ages have improved it to, but instructed in the
|
|
principles of religion; for Abram commanded his household to keep
|
|
the way of the Lord. This shows that Abram was, 1. A great man, who
|
|
had so many servants depending upon him, and employed by him, which
|
|
was not only his strength and honour, but gave him a great
|
|
opportunity of doing good, which is all that is truly valuable and
|
|
desirable in great places and great estates. 2. A good man, who not
|
|
only served God himself, but instructed all about him in the
|
|
service of God. Note, Those that have great families have not only
|
|
many bodies, but many souls besides their own, to take care of and
|
|
provide for. Those that would be found the followers of Abram must
|
|
see that their servants be catechised servants. 3. A wise man
|
|
|
|
<pb n="96" id="Gen.xv-Page_96"/>
|
|
|
|
for, though he was a man of peace, yet he
|
|
disciplined his servants for war, not knowing what occasion he
|
|
might have, some time or other, so to employ them. Note, Though our
|
|
holy religion teaches us to be for peace, yet it does not forbid us
|
|
to provide for war.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xv-p11">III. His allies and confederates in this
|
|
expedition. He prevailed with his neighbours, <i>Aner, Eshcol, and
|
|
Mamre</i> (with whom he kept up a fair correspondence) to go along
|
|
with him. It was his prudence thus to strengthen his own troops
|
|
with their auxiliary forces; and probably they saw themselves
|
|
concerned, in interest, to act, as they could, against this
|
|
formidable power, lest their own turn should be next. Note, 1. It
|
|
is our wisdom and duty to behave ourselves so respectfully and
|
|
obligingly towards all men as that, whenever there is occasion,
|
|
they may be willing and ready to do us a kindness. 2. Those who
|
|
depend on God's help, yet, in times of distress, ought to make use
|
|
of men's help, as Providence offers it; else they tempt God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xv-p12">IV. His courage and conduct were very
|
|
remarkable. 1. There was a great deal of bravery in the enterprise
|
|
itself, considering the disadvantages he lay under. What could one
|
|
family of husbandmen and shepherds do against the armies of four
|
|
princes, who now came fresh from blood and victory? It was not a
|
|
vanquished, but a victorious army, that he was to pursue; nor was
|
|
he constrained by necessity to this daring attempt, but moved to it
|
|
by generosity; so that, all things considered, it was, for aught I
|
|
know, as great an instance of true courage as ever Alexander or
|
|
Caesar was celebrated for. Note, Religion tends to make men, not
|
|
cowardly, but truly valiant. The righteous is bold as a lion. The
|
|
true Christian is the true hero. 2. There was a great deal of
|
|
policy in the management of it. Abram was no stranger to the
|
|
stratagems of war: He <i>divided himself,</i> as Gideon did his
|
|
little army (<scripRef passage="Jdg 7:16" id="Gen.xv-p12.1" parsed="|Judg|7|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.7.16">Judg. vii.
|
|
16</scripRef>), that he might come upon the enemy from several
|
|
quarters at once, and so make his few seem a great many; he made
|
|
his attack by night, that he might surprise them. Note, Honest
|
|
policy is a good friend both to our safety and to our usefulness.
|
|
The serpent's head (provided it be nothing akin to the old serpent)
|
|
may well become a good Christian's body, especially if it have a
|
|
dove's eye in it, <scripRef passage="Mt 10:16" id="Gen.xv-p12.2" parsed="|Matt|10|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.10.16">Matt. x.
|
|
16</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xv-p13">V. His success was very considerable,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 14:15,16" id="Gen.xv-p13.1" parsed="|Gen|14|15|14|16" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.15-Gen.14.16"><i>v.</i> 15, 16</scripRef>. He
|
|
defeated his enemies, and rescued his friends; and we do not find
|
|
that he sustained any loss. Note, Those that venture in a good
|
|
cause, with a good heart, are under the special protection of a
|
|
good God, and have reason to hope for a good issue. Again, It is
|
|
all one with the Lord <i>to save by many or by few,</i> <scripRef passage="1Sa 14:6" id="Gen.xv-p13.2" parsed="|1Sam|14|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.14.6">1 Sam. xiv. 6</scripRef>. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xv-p14">1. He rescued his kinsman; twice here he is
|
|
called his <i>brother Lot.</i> The remembrance of the relation that
|
|
was between them, both by nature and grace, made him forget the
|
|
little quarrel that had been between them, in which Lot had by no
|
|
means acted well towards Abram. Justly might Abram have upbraided
|
|
Lot with his folly in quarrelling with him and removing from him,
|
|
and have told him that he was well enough served, he might have
|
|
known when he was well off; but, in the charitable breast of pious
|
|
Abram, it is all forgiven and forgotten, and he takes this
|
|
opportunity to give a real proof of the sincerity of his
|
|
reconciliation. Note, (1.) We ought to be ready, whenever it is in
|
|
the power of our hands, to succour and relieve those that are in
|
|
distress, especially our relations and friends. <i>A brother is
|
|
born for adversity,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 17:17" id="Gen.xv-p14.1" parsed="|Prov|17|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.17.17">Prov. xvii.
|
|
17</scripRef>. A friend in need is a friend indeed. (2.) Though
|
|
others have been wanting in their duty to us, yet we must not
|
|
therefore deny our duty to them. Some have said that they can more
|
|
easily forgive their enemies than their friends; but we shall see
|
|
ourselves obliged to forgive both if we consider, not only that our
|
|
God, when we were enemies, reconciled us, but also that he
|
|
<i>passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mic 7:18" id="Gen.xv-p14.2" parsed="|Mic|7|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mic.7.18">Mic. vii. 18</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xv-p15">2. He rescued the rest of the captives, for
|
|
Lot's sake, though they were strangers to him and such as he was
|
|
under no obligation to at all; nay, though they were Sodomites,
|
|
sinners before the Lord exceedingly, and though, probably, he might
|
|
have recovered Lot alone by ransom, yet he brought back all the
|
|
women, and the people, and their goods, <scripRef passage="Ge 14:16" id="Gen.xv-p15.1" parsed="|Gen|14|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. Note, As we have opportunity we
|
|
must do good to all men. Our charity must be extensive, as
|
|
opportunity offers itself. Wherever God gives life, we must not
|
|
grudge the help we can give to support it. God does good to the
|
|
just and unjust, and so must we, <scripRef passage="Mt 5:45" id="Gen.xv-p15.2" parsed="|Matt|5|45|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.5.45">Matt.
|
|
v. 45</scripRef>. This victory which Abram obtained over the kings
|
|
the prophet seems to refer to, <scripRef passage="Isa 41:2" id="Gen.xv-p15.3" parsed="|Isa|41|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.41.2">Isa.
|
|
xli. 2</scripRef>, <i>Who raised up the righteous man from the
|
|
east, and made him rule over kings?</i> And some suggest that, as
|
|
before he had a title to this land by grant, so now by
|
|
conquest.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 14:17-20" id="Gen.xv-p15.4" parsed="|Gen|14|17|14|20" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.17-Gen.14.20"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.14.17-Gen.14.20">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xv-p15.5">Abram's Interview with
|
|
Melchizedek. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xv-p15.6">b. c.</span> 1913.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xv-p16">17 And the king of Sodom went out to meet him
|
|
after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the
|
|
kings that <i>were</i> with him, at the valley of Shaveh, which
|
|
<i>is</i> the king's dale.   18 And Melchizedek king of Salem
|
|
brought forth bread and wine: and he <i>was</i> the priest of the
|
|
most high God.   19 And he blessed him, and said, Blessed
|
|
<i>be</i> Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and
|
|
earth:   20 And blessed be the most high God, which hath
|
|
delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of
|
|
all.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xv-p17">This paragraph begins with the mention of
|
|
the respect which the king of Sodom paid to
|
|
|
|
<pb n="97" id="Gen.xv-Page_97"/>
|
|
|
|
Abram at his return from the slaughter of the kings; but, before a
|
|
particular account is given of this, the story of Melchizedek is
|
|
briefly related, concerning whom observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xv-p18">I. Who he was. He was <i>king of Salem</i>
|
|
and <i>priest of the most high God;</i> and other glorious things
|
|
are said of him, <scripRef passage="Heb 7:1-10" id="Gen.xv-p18.1" parsed="|Heb|7|1|7|10" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.1-Heb.7.10">Heb. vii.
|
|
1</scripRef>, &c. 1. The rabbin, and most of our rabbinical
|
|
writers, conclude that Melchizedek was Shem the son of Noah, who
|
|
was king and priest to those that descended from him, according to
|
|
the patriarchal model. But this is not at all probable; for why
|
|
should his name be changed? And how came he to settle in Canaan? 2.
|
|
Many Christian writers have thought that this was an appearance of
|
|
the Son of God himself, our Lord Jesus, known to Abram, at this
|
|
time, by this name, as, afterwards, Hagar called him by another
|
|
name, <scripRef passage="Ge 16:13" id="Gen.xv-p18.2" parsed="|Gen|16|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.16.13"><i>ch.</i> xvi. 13</scripRef>.
|
|
He appeared to him as a righteous king, owning a righteous cause,
|
|
and giving peace. It is difficult to imagine that any mere man
|
|
should be said to <i>be without father, without mother, and without
|
|
descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Heb 7:3" id="Gen.xv-p18.3" parsed="|Heb|7|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.3">Heb. vii. 3</scripRef>. It is witnessed
|
|
of Melchizedek that he liveth, and that he abideth a priest
|
|
continually (<scripRef passage="Heb 7:3,8" id="Gen.xv-p18.4" parsed="|Heb|7|3|0|0;|Heb|7|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.3 Bible:Heb.7.8"><i>v.</i> 3,
|
|
8</scripRef>); nay (<scripRef passage="Heb 7:13,14" id="Gen.xv-p18.5" parsed="|Heb|7|13|7|14" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.13-Heb.7.14"><i>v.</i> 13,
|
|
14</scripRef>), the apostle makes him of whom these things are
|
|
spoken to be our Lord who sprang out of Judah. It is likewise
|
|
difficult to think that any mere man should, at this time, be
|
|
greater than Abram in the things of God, that Christ should be a
|
|
priest after the order of any mere man, and that any human
|
|
priesthood should so far excel that of Aaron as it is certain that
|
|
Melchizedek's did. 3. The most commonly received opinion is that
|
|
Melchizedek was a Canaanitish prince, that reigned in Salem, and
|
|
kept up the true religion there; but, if so, why his name should
|
|
occur here only in all the story of Abram, and why Abram should
|
|
have altars of his own and not attend the altars of his neighbour
|
|
Melchizedek who was greater than he, seem unaccountable. Mr.
|
|
Gregory of Oxford tells us that the <i>Arabic Catena,</i> which he
|
|
builds much upon the authority of, gives this account of
|
|
Melchizedek, That he was the son of Heraclim, the son of Peleg, the
|
|
son of Eber, and that his mother's name was Salathiel, the daughter
|
|
of Gomer, the son of Japheth, the son of Noah.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xv-p19">II. What he did. 1. He <i>brought forth
|
|
bread and wine,</i> for the refreshment of Abram and his soldiers,
|
|
and in congratulation of their victory. This he did as a king,
|
|
teaching us to do good and to communicate, and to be given to
|
|
hospitality, according to our ability; and representing the
|
|
spiritual provisions of strength and comfort which Christ has laid
|
|
up for us in the covenant of grace for our refreshment, when we are
|
|
wearied with our spiritual conflicts. 2. As priest of the most high
|
|
God, he blessed Abram, which we may suppose a greater refreshment
|
|
to Abram than his bread and wine were. Thus God, having raised up
|
|
his Son Jesus, has sent him to bless us, as one having authority;
|
|
and those whom he blesses are blessed indeed. Christ went to heaven
|
|
when he was blessing his disciples (<scripRef passage="Lu 24:51" id="Gen.xv-p19.1" parsed="|Luke|24|51|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.24.51">Luke xxiv. 51</scripRef>); for this is what he ever
|
|
lives to do.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xv-p20">III. What he said, <scripRef passage="Ge 14:19,20" id="Gen.xv-p20.1" parsed="|Gen|14|19|14|20" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.19-Gen.14.20"><i>v.</i> 19, 20</scripRef>. Two things were said by
|
|
him:—1. He blessed Abram from God: <i>Blessed be Abram, blessed
|
|
of the most high God,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 14:19" id="Gen.xv-p20.2" parsed="|Gen|14|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.19"><i>v.</i>
|
|
19</scripRef>. Observe the titles he here gives to God, which are
|
|
very glorious. (1.) <i>The most high God,</i> which bespeaks his
|
|
absolute perfections in himself and his sovereign dominion over all
|
|
the creatures; he is King of kings. Note, It will greatly help both
|
|
our faith and our reverence in prayer to eye God as the most high
|
|
God, and to call him so. (2.) <i>Possessor of heaven and earth,</i>
|
|
that is, rightful owner, and sovereign Lord, of all the creatures,
|
|
because he made them. This bespeaks him a great God, and greatly to
|
|
be praised (<scripRef passage="Ps 24:1" id="Gen.xv-p20.3" parsed="|Ps|24|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.24.1">Ps. xxiv. 1</scripRef>),
|
|
and those a happy people who have an interest in his favour and
|
|
love. 2. He blessed God for Abram (<scripRef passage="Ge 14:20" id="Gen.xv-p20.4" parsed="|Gen|14|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>): and <i>blessed be the most
|
|
high God.</i> Note, (1.) In all our prayers, we must praise God,
|
|
and join hallelujahs with all our hosannahs. These are the
|
|
spiritual sacrifices we must offer up daily, and upon particular
|
|
occasions. (2.) God, as the most high God, must have the glory of
|
|
all our victories, <scripRef passage="Ex 17:15,1Sa 7:10,12,Jdg 5:1,2,2Ch 20:21" id="Gen.xv-p20.5" parsed="|Exod|17|15|0|0;|1Sam|7|10|0|0;|1Sam|7|12|0|0;|Judg|5|1|5|2;|2Chr|20|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.15 Bible:1Sam.7.10 Bible:1Sam.7.12 Bible:Judg.5.1-Judg.5.2 Bible:2Chr.20.21">Exod. xvii. 15; 1 Sam.
|
|
vii. 10, 12; Judg. v. 1, 2; 2 Chron. xx. 21</scripRef>. In them he
|
|
shows himself higher than our enemies (<scripRef passage="Ex 18:11" id="Gen.xv-p20.6" parsed="|Exod|18|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.11">Exod. xviii. 11</scripRef>), and higher than we; for
|
|
without him we could do nothing. (3.) We ought to give thanks for
|
|
others' mercies as for our own, triumphing with those that triumph.
|
|
(4.) Jesus Christ, our great high priest, is the Mediator both of
|
|
our prayers and praises, and not only offers up ours, but his own
|
|
for us. See <scripRef passage="Lu 10:21" id="Gen.xv-p20.7" parsed="|Luke|10|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.10.21">Luke x. 21</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xv-p21">IV. What was done to him: <i>Abram gave him
|
|
tithes of all,</i> that is, of the spoils, <scripRef passage="Heb 7:4" id="Gen.xv-p21.1" parsed="|Heb|7|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.4">Heb. vii. 4</scripRef>. This may be looked upon, 1. As a
|
|
gratuity presented to Melchizedek, by way of return for his tokens
|
|
of respect. Note, Those that receive kindness should show kindness.
|
|
Gratitude is one of nature's laws. 2. As an offering vowed and
|
|
dedicated to the most high God, and therefore put into the hands of
|
|
Melchizedek his priest. Note, (1.) When we have received some
|
|
signal mercy from God, it is very fit that we should express our
|
|
thankfulness by some special act of pious charity. God must always
|
|
have his dues out of our substance, especially when, by any
|
|
particular providence, he has either preserved or increased it to
|
|
us. (2.) That the tenth of our increase is a very fit proportion to
|
|
be set apart for the honour of God and the service of his
|
|
sanctuary. (3.) That Jesus Christ, our great Melchizedek, is to
|
|
have homage done him, and to be humbly acknowledged by every one of
|
|
us as our king and priest; and not only the tithe of all, but all
|
|
we have, must be surrendered and given up to him.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 14:21-24" id="Gen.xv-p21.2" parsed="|Gen|14|21|14|24" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.21-Gen.14.24"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.14.21-Gen.14.24">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xv-p21.3">Abram's Disinterestedness. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xv-p21.4">b. c.</span> 1913.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xv-p22">21 And the king of Sodom said unto
|
|
|
|
<pb n="98" id="Gen.xv-Page_98"/>
|
|
|
|
Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to
|
|
thyself.   22 And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift
|
|
up mine hand unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xv-p22.1">Lord</span>, the most
|
|
high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,   23 That I will
|
|
not <i>take</i> from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I
|
|
will not take any thing that <i>is</i> thine, lest thou shouldest
|
|
say, I have made Abram rich:   24 Save only that which the
|
|
young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with
|
|
me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xv-p23">We have here an account of what passed
|
|
between Abram and the king of Sodom, who succeeded him that fell in
|
|
the battle (<scripRef passage="Ge 14:10" id="Gen.xv-p23.1" parsed="|Gen|14|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>),
|
|
and thought himself obliged to do this honour to Abram, in return
|
|
for the good services he had done him. Here is,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xv-p24">I. The king of Sodom's grateful offer to
|
|
Abram (<scripRef passage="Ge 14:21" id="Gen.xv-p24.1" parsed="|Gen|14|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>):
|
|
<i>Give me the soul, and take thou the substance;</i> so the Hebrew
|
|
reads it. Here he fairly begs the persons, but as freely bestows
|
|
the goods on Abram. Note, 1. Where a right is dubious and divided,
|
|
it is wisdom to compound the matter by mutual concessions rather
|
|
than to contend. The king of Sodom had an original right both to
|
|
the persons and to the goods, and it would bear a debate whether
|
|
Abram's acquired right by rescue would supersede his title and
|
|
extinguish it; but, to prevent all quarrels, the king of Sodom
|
|
makes this fair proposal. 2. Gratitude teaches us to recompense to
|
|
the utmost of our power those that have undergone fatigues, run
|
|
hazards, and been at expense for our service and benefit. <i>Who
|
|
goes a warfare at his own charges?</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 9:7" id="Gen.xv-p24.2" parsed="|1Cor|9|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.9.7">1 Cor. ix. 7</scripRef>. Soldiers purchase their pay
|
|
dearer than any labourers, and are well worthy of it, because they
|
|
expose their lives.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xv-p25">II. Abram's generous refusal of this offer.
|
|
He not only resigned the persons to him, who, being delivered out
|
|
of the hand of their enemies, ought to have served Abram, but he
|
|
restored all the goods too. He would not take <i>from a thread to a
|
|
shoe-latchet,</i> not the least thing that had ever belonged to the
|
|
king of Sodom or any of his. Note, A lively faith enables a man to
|
|
look upon the wealth of this world with a holy contempt, <scripRef passage="1Jo 5:4" id="Gen.xv-p25.1" parsed="|1John|5|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.5.4">1 John v. 4</scripRef>. What are all the
|
|
ornaments and delights of sense to one that has God and heaven ever
|
|
in his eye? He resolves even to a thread and a shoe-latchet; for a
|
|
tender conscience fears offending in a small matter. Now,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xv-p26">1. Abram ratifies this resolution with a
|
|
solemn oath: <i>I have lifted up my hand to the Lord that I will
|
|
not take any thing,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 14:22" id="Gen.xv-p26.1" parsed="|Gen|14|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.22"><i>v.</i>
|
|
22</scripRef>. Here observe, (1.) The titles he gives to God,
|
|
<i>The most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,</i> the
|
|
same that Melchizedek had just now used, <scripRef passage="Ge 14:19" id="Gen.xv-p26.2" parsed="|Gen|14|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. Note, It is good to learn of
|
|
others how to order our speech concerning God, and to imitate those
|
|
who speak well in divine things. This improvement we are to make of
|
|
the conversation of devout good men, we must learn to speak after
|
|
them. (2.) The ceremony used in this oath: <i>I have lifted up my
|
|
hand.</i> In religious swearing we appeal to God's knowledge of our
|
|
truth and sincerity and imprecate his wrath if we swear falsely,
|
|
and the <i>lifting up of the hand</i> is very significant and
|
|
expressive of both. (3.) The matter of the oath, namely, that he
|
|
would not take any reward from the king of Sodom, was lawful, but
|
|
what he was not antecedently obliged to. [1.] Probably Abram vowed,
|
|
before he went to the battle, that, if God would give him success,
|
|
he would, for the glory of God and the credit of his profession, so
|
|
far deny himself and his own right as to take nothing of the spoils
|
|
to himself. Note, the vows we have made when we are in pursuit of a
|
|
mercy must be carefully and conscientiously kept when we have
|
|
obtained the mercy, though they were made against our interest. A
|
|
citizen of Zion, if he has sworn, whether it be to God or man,
|
|
though it prove to <i>his own hurt, yet he changeth not,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 15:4" id="Gen.xv-p26.3" parsed="|Ps|15|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.15.4">Ps. xv. 4</scripRef>. Or, [2.] Perhaps
|
|
Abram, now when he saw cause to refuse the offer made him, at the
|
|
same time confirmed his refusal with this oath, to prevent further
|
|
importunity. Note, <i>First,</i> There may be good reason sometimes
|
|
why we should debar ourselves of that which is our undoubted right,
|
|
as St. Paul, <scripRef passage="1Co 8:13,1Co 9:12" id="Gen.xv-p26.4" parsed="|1Cor|8|13|0|0;|1Cor|9|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.8.13 Bible:1Cor.9.12">1 Cor. viii. 13;
|
|
ix. 12</scripRef>. <i>Secondly,</i> That strong resolutions are of
|
|
good use to put by the force of temptations.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xv-p27">2. He backs his refusal with a good reason:
|
|
<i>Lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich,</i> which would
|
|
reflect reproach, (1.) Upon the promise and covenant of God, as if
|
|
they would not have enriched Abram without the spoils of Sodom.
|
|
And, (2.) Upon the piety and charity of Abram, as if all he had in
|
|
his eye, when he undertook that hazardous expedition, was to enrich
|
|
himself. Note, [1.] We must be very careful that we give no
|
|
occasion to others to say things which they ought not. [2.] The
|
|
people of God must, for their credit's sake, take heed of doing any
|
|
thing that looks mean or mercenary, or that savours of covetousness
|
|
and self-seeking. Probably Abram knew the king of Sodom to be a
|
|
proud and scornful man, and one that would be apt to turn such a
|
|
thing as this to his reproach afterwards, though most unreasonably.
|
|
When we have to do with such men, we have need to act with
|
|
particular caution.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xv-p28">3. He limits his refusal with a double
|
|
proviso, <scripRef passage="Ge 14:24" id="Gen.xv-p28.1" parsed="|Gen|14|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. In
|
|
making vows, we ought carefully to insert the necessary exceptions,
|
|
that we may not afterwards say before the angel, <i>It was an
|
|
error,</i> <scripRef passage="Ec 5:6" id="Gen.xv-p28.2" parsed="|Eccl|5|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.5.6">Eccl. v. 6</scripRef>. Abram
|
|
here
|
|
|
|
<pb n="99" id="Gen.xv-Page_99"/>
|
|
|
|
excepts, (1.) The food of his soldiers;
|
|
they were worthy of their meat while they trod out the corn. This
|
|
would give no colour to the king of Sodom to say that he had
|
|
enriched Abram. (2.) The shares of his allies and confederates:
|
|
<i>Let them take their portion.</i> Note, Those who are strict in
|
|
restraining their own liberty yet ought not to impose those
|
|
restraints upon the liberties of others, nor to judge of them
|
|
accordingly. We must not make ourselves the standard to measure
|
|
others by. A good man will deny himself that liberty which he will
|
|
not deny another, contrary to the practice of the Pharisees,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mt 23:4" id="Gen.xv-p28.3" parsed="|Matt|23|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.4">Matt. xxiii. 4</scripRef>. There was
|
|
not the same reason why Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre, should quit their
|
|
right, that there was why Abram should. They did not make the
|
|
profession that he made, nor were they, as he was, under the
|
|
obligation of a vow. They had not the hopes that Abram had of a
|
|
portion in the other world, and therefore, by all means, <i>let
|
|
them take their portion</i> of this.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XV" n="xvi" progress="12.01%" prev="Gen.xv" next="Gen.xvii" id="Gen.xvi">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="99" id="Gen.xvi-Page_99"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xvi-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xvi-p0.2">CHAP. XV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xvi-p1">In this chapter we have a solemn treaty between
|
|
God and Abram concerning a covenant that was to be established
|
|
between them. In the former chapter we had Abram in the field with
|
|
kings; here we find him in the mount with God; and, though there he
|
|
looked great, yet, methinks, here he looks much greater: that
|
|
honour have the great men of the world, but "this honour have all
|
|
the saints." The covenant to be settled between God and Abram was a
|
|
covenant of promises; accordingly, here is, I. A general assurance
|
|
of God's kindness and good-will to Abram, <scripRef passage="Ge 15:1" id="Gen.xvi-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|15|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.1">ver. 1</scripRef>. II. A particular declaration of the
|
|
purposes of his love concerning him, in two things:—1. That he
|
|
would give him a numerous issue, <scripRef passage="Ge 15:2-6" id="Gen.xvi-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|15|2|15|6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.2-Gen.15.6">ver.
|
|
2-6</scripRef>. 2. That he would give him Canaan for an
|
|
inheritance, <scripRef passage="Ge 15:7-21" id="Gen.xvi-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|15|7|15|21" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.7-Gen.15.21">ver. 7-21</scripRef>.
|
|
Either an estate without an heir, or an heir without an estate,
|
|
would have been but a half comfort to Abram. But God ensures both
|
|
to him; and that which made these two, the promised seed and the
|
|
promised land, comforts indeed to this great believer was that they
|
|
were both typical of those two invaluable blessings, Christ and
|
|
heaven; and so, we have reason to think, Abram eyed them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 15" id="Gen.xvi-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|15|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 15:1" id="Gen.xvi-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|15|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.1"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.15.1">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xvi-p1.6">God's Covenant with Abram. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xvi-p1.7">b. c.</span> 1913.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xvi-p2">1 After these things the word of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xvi-p2.1">Lord</span> came unto Abram in a vision, saying,
|
|
Fear not, Abram: I <i>am</i> thy shield, <i>and</i> thy exceeding
|
|
great reward.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p3">Observe here, I. The time when God made
|
|
this treaty with Abram: <i>After these things.</i> 1. After that
|
|
famous act of generous charity which Abram had done, in rescuing
|
|
his friends and neighbours out of distress, and that, <i>not for
|
|
price nor reward.</i> After this, God made him this gracious visit.
|
|
Note, Those that show favour to men shall find favour with God. 2.
|
|
After that victory which he had obtained over four kings. Lest
|
|
Abram should be too much elevated and pleased with that, God comes
|
|
to him, to tell him he had better things in store for him. Note, A
|
|
believing converse with spiritual blessings is an excellent means
|
|
to keep us from being too much taken up with temporal enjoyments.
|
|
The gifts of common providence are not comparable to those of
|
|
covenant love.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p4">II. The manner in which God conversed with
|
|
Abram: <i>The word of the Lord came unto Abram</i> (that is, God
|
|
manifested himself and his will to Abram) <i>in a vision,</i> which
|
|
supposes Abram awake, and some visible appearances of the
|
|
Shechinah, or some sensible token of the presence of the divine
|
|
glory. Note, The methods of divine revelation are adapted to our
|
|
state in a world of sense.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p5">III. The gracious assurance God gave him of
|
|
his favour to him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p6">1. He called him by name—<i>Abram,</i>
|
|
which was a great honour to him, and made his name great, and was
|
|
also a great encouragement and assistance to his faith. Note, God's
|
|
good word does us good when it is spoken by his Spirit to us in
|
|
particular, and brought to our hearts. The word says, <i>Ho, every
|
|
one</i> (<scripRef passage="Isa 55:1" id="Gen.xvi-p6.1" parsed="|Isa|55|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.55.1">Isa. lv. 1</scripRef>), the
|
|
Spirit says, <i>Ho, such a one.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p7">2. He cautioned him against being
|
|
disquieted and confounded: <i>Fear not, Abram.</i> Abram might fear
|
|
lest the four kings he had routed should rally again, and fall upon
|
|
him to his ruin: "No," says God, "<i>Fear not.</i> Fear not their
|
|
revenges, nor thy neighbour's envy; I will take care of thee."
|
|
Note, (1.) Where there is great faith, yet there may be many fears,
|
|
<scripRef passage="2Co 7:5" id="Gen.xvi-p7.1" parsed="|2Cor|7|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.7.5">2 Cor. vii. 5</scripRef>. (2.) God
|
|
takes cognizance of his people's fears though ever so secret, and
|
|
<i>knows their souls,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 31:7" id="Gen.xvi-p7.2" parsed="|Ps|31|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.31.7">Ps. xxxi.
|
|
7</scripRef>. (3.) It is the will of God that his people should not
|
|
give way to prevailing fears, whatever happens. Let the sinners in
|
|
Sion be afraid, but fear not, Abram.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p8">3. He assured him of safety and happiness,
|
|
that he should for ever be, (1.) As safe as God himself could keep
|
|
him: <i>I am thy shield,</i> or, somewhat more emphatically, <i>I
|
|
am a shield to thee,</i> present with thee, actually caring for
|
|
thee. See <scripRef passage="1Ch 17:24" id="Gen.xvi-p8.1" parsed="|1Chr|17|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Chr.17.24">1 Chron. xvii.
|
|
24</scripRef>. Not only the God of Israel, but a God to Israel.
|
|
Note, The consideration of this, that God himself is, and will be,
|
|
a shield to his people to secure them from all destructive evils, a
|
|
shield ready to them and a shield round about them, should be
|
|
sufficient to silence all their perplexing tormenting fears. (2.)
|
|
As happy as God himself could make him: I will be <i>thy
|
|
exceedingly great reward;</i> not only thy rewarder, but thy
|
|
reward. Abram had generously refused the rewards which the king of
|
|
Sodom offered him, and here God comes, and tells him he shall be no
|
|
loser by it. Note, [1.] The rewards of believing obedience and
|
|
self-denial are exceedingly great, <scripRef passage="1Co 2:9" id="Gen.xvi-p8.2" parsed="|1Cor|2|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.2.9">1
|
|
Cor. ii. 9</scripRef>. [2.] God himself is the chosen and promised
|
|
felicity of holy souls—chosen in this world, promised in a better.
|
|
He is the <i>portion of their inheritance and their cup.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 15:2-6" id="Gen.xvi-p8.3" parsed="|Gen|15|2|15|6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.2-Gen.15.6"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.15.2-Gen.15.6">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xvi-p9">2 And Abram said, Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xvi-p9.1">God</span>, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go
|
|
childless, and the steward of my house <i>is</i> this Eliezer of
|
|
Damascus?   3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no
|
|
seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.   4 And,
|
|
behold, the word of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xvi-p9.2">Lord</span>
|
|
<i>came</i> unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he
|
|
that shall come
|
|
|
|
<pb n="100" id="Gen.xvi-Page_100"/>
|
|
|
|
forth out of thine own
|
|
bowels shall be thine heir.   5 And he brought him forth
|
|
abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if
|
|
thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy
|
|
seed be.   6 And he believed in the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xvi-p9.3">Lord</span>; and he counted it to him for
|
|
righteousness.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p10">We have here the assurance given to Abram
|
|
of a numerous offspring which should descend from him, in which
|
|
observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p11">I. Abram's repeated complaint, <scripRef passage="Ge 15:2,3" id="Gen.xvi-p11.1" parsed="|Gen|15|2|15|3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.2-Gen.15.3"><i>v.</i> 2, 3</scripRef>. This was that which
|
|
gave occasion to this promise. The great affliction that sat heavy
|
|
upon Abram was the want of a child; and the complaint of this he
|
|
here <i>pours out before the Lord, and shows before him his
|
|
trouble,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 142:2" id="Gen.xvi-p11.2" parsed="|Ps|142|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.142.2">Ps. cxlii. 2</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, Though we must never complain of God, yet we have leave to
|
|
complain to him, and to be large and particular in the statement of
|
|
our grievances; and it is some ease to a burdened spirit to open
|
|
its case to a faithful and compassionate friend: such a friend God
|
|
is, whose ear is always open. Now his complaint is four-fold:—1.
|
|
That he had no child (<scripRef passage="Ge 15:3" id="Gen.xvi-p11.3" parsed="|Gen|15|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.3"><i>v.</i>
|
|
3</scripRef>): <i>Behold, to me thou hast given no seed;</i> not
|
|
only no son, but <i>no seed;</i> if he had had a daughter, from her
|
|
the promised Messiah might have come, who was to be the seed of the
|
|
woman; but he had neither son nor daughter. He seems to lay an
|
|
emphasis on that, <i>to me.</i> His neighbours were full of
|
|
children, his servants had children born in his house. "But <i>to
|
|
me,</i>" he complains, "thou hast given none;" and yet God had told
|
|
him he should be a favourite above all. Note, Those that are
|
|
written childless must see God writing them so. Again, God often
|
|
withholds those temporal comforts from his own children which he
|
|
gives plentifully to others that are strangers to him. 2. That he
|
|
was never likely to have any, intimated in that <i>I go,</i> or
|
|
"<i>I am going, childless,</i> going into years, going down the
|
|
hill apace; nay, I am going out of the world, going the way of all
|
|
the earth. <i>I die childless,</i>" so the LXX. "I leave the world,
|
|
and leave no child behind me." 3. That his servants were for the
|
|
present and were likely to be to him instead of sons. While he
|
|
lived, <i>the steward of his house was Eliezer of Damascus;</i> to
|
|
him he committed the care of his family and estate, who might be
|
|
faithful, but only as a servant, not as a son. When he died, <i>one
|
|
born in his house would be his heir,</i> and would bear rule over
|
|
all that for which he had laboured, <scripRef passage="Ec 2:18,19,21" id="Gen.xvi-p11.4" parsed="|Eccl|2|18|2|19;|Eccl|2|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.2.18-Eccl.2.19 Bible:Eccl.2.21">Eccl. ii. 18, 19, 21</scripRef>. God had already
|
|
told him that he would make of him <i>a great nation</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 12:2" id="Gen.xvi-p11.5" parsed="|Gen|12|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.2"><i>ch.</i> xii. 2</scripRef>), and his <i>seed as
|
|
the dust of the earth</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 13:16" id="Gen.xvi-p11.6" parsed="|Gen|13|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.16"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xiii. 16</scripRef>); but he had left him in doubt whether it
|
|
should be his seed begotten or his seed adopted, by a son of his
|
|
loins or only a son of his house. "Now, Lord," says Abram, "if it
|
|
be only an adopted son, it must be one of my servants, which will
|
|
reflect disgrace upon the promised seed, that is to descend from
|
|
him." Note, While promised mercies are delayed our unbelief and
|
|
impatience are apt to conclude them denied. 4. That the want of a
|
|
son was so great a trouble to him that it took away the comfort of
|
|
all his enjoyments: "<i>Lord, what wilt thou give me?</i> All is
|
|
nothing to me, if I have not a son." Now, (1.) If we suppose that
|
|
Abram looked no further than a temporal comfort, this complaint was
|
|
culpable. God had, by his providence, given him some good things,
|
|
and more by his promise; and yet Abram makes no account of them,
|
|
because he has not a son. It did very ill become the father of the
|
|
faithful to say, <i>What wilt thou give me, seeing I go
|
|
childless,</i> immediately after God had said, <i>I am thy shield,
|
|
and thy exceedingly great reward.</i> Note, Those do not rightly
|
|
value the advantages of their covenant-relation to God and interest
|
|
in him who do not think them sufficient to balance the want of any
|
|
creature-comfort whatever. But, (2.) If we suppose that Abram,
|
|
herein, had a eye to the promised seed, the importunity of his
|
|
desire was very commendable: all was nothing to him, if he had not
|
|
the earnest of that great blessing, and an assurance of his
|
|
relation to the Messiah, of which God had already encouraged him to
|
|
maintain the expectation. He has wealth, and victory, and honour;
|
|
but, while he is kept in the dark about the main matter, it is all
|
|
nothing to him. Note, Till we have some comfortable evidence of our
|
|
interest in Christ and the new covenant, we should not rest
|
|
satisfied with any thing else. "This, and the other, I have; but
|
|
what will all this avail me, if I go Christless?" Yet thus far the
|
|
complaint was culpable, that there was some diffidence of the
|
|
promise at the bottom of it, and a weariness of waiting God's time.
|
|
Note, True believers sometimes find it hard to reconcile God's
|
|
promises and his providences, when they seem to disagree.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p12">II. God's gracious answer to this
|
|
complaint. To the first part of the complaint (<scripRef passage="Ge 15:2" id="Gen.xvi-p12.1" parsed="|Gen|15|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>) God gave no immediate answer,
|
|
because there was something of fretfulness in it; but, when he
|
|
renews his address somewhat more calmly (<scripRef passage="Ge 15:3" id="Gen.xvi-p12.2" parsed="|Gen|15|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), God answered him graciously.
|
|
Note, If we continue instant in prayer, and yet pray with a humble
|
|
submission to the divine will, we shall not seek in vain. 1. God
|
|
gave him an express promise of a son, <scripRef passage="Ge 15:4" id="Gen.xvi-p12.3" parsed="|Gen|15|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. This that is born in thy house
|
|
<i>shall not be thy heir,</i> as thou fearest, but one that shall
|
|
<i>come forth out of thy own bowels shall be thy heir.</i> Note,
|
|
(1.) God makes heirs; he says, "This shall not, and this shall;"
|
|
and whatever men devise and design, in settling their estates,
|
|
God's counsel shall stand. (2.) God is often better to us than our
|
|
own fears, and gives the mercy we had long despaired of. 2. To
|
|
|
|
<pb n="101" id="Gen.xvi-Page_101"/>
|
|
|
|
affect him the more with this promise, he took
|
|
him out, and showed him the stars (this vision being early in the
|
|
morning, before day), and then tells him, <i>So shall thy seed
|
|
be,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 15:5" id="Gen.xvi-p12.4" parsed="|Gen|15|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. (1.) So
|
|
numerous; the stars seem innumerable to a common eye: Abram feared
|
|
he should have no child at all, but God assured him that the
|
|
descendants from his loins should be so many as not to be numbered.
|
|
(2.) So illustrious, resembling the stars in splendour; for to
|
|
<i>them pertained the glory,</i> <scripRef passage="Ro 9:4" id="Gen.xvi-p12.5" parsed="|Rom|9|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.4">Rom.
|
|
ix. 4</scripRef>. Abram's seed, according to his flesh, were like
|
|
the dust of the earth (<scripRef passage="Ge 13:16" id="Gen.xvi-p12.6" parsed="|Gen|13|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.16"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xiii. 16</scripRef>), but his spiritual seed are like the stars of
|
|
heaven, not only numerous, but glorious, and very precious.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p13">III. Abram's firm belief of the promise God
|
|
now made him, and God's favourable acceptance of his faith,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 15:6" id="Gen.xvi-p13.1" parsed="|Gen|15|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. 1. He
|
|
<i>believed in the Lord,</i> that is, he believed the truth of that
|
|
promise which God had now made him, resting upon the irresistible
|
|
power and the inviolable faithfulness of him that made it. <i>Hath
|
|
he spoken, and shall he not make it good?</i> Note, Those who would
|
|
have the comfort of the promises must mix faith with the promises.
|
|
See how the apostle magnifies this faith of Abram, and makes it a
|
|
standing example, <scripRef passage="Ro 4:19-21" id="Gen.xvi-p13.2" parsed="|Rom|4|19|4|21" osisRef="Bible:Rom.4.19-Rom.4.21">Rom. iv.
|
|
19-21</scripRef>. <i>He was not weak in faith; he staggered not at
|
|
the promise;</i> he was <i>strong in faith; he was fully
|
|
persuaded.</i> The Lord work such a faith in every one of us! Some
|
|
think that his believing in the Lord respected, not only the Lord
|
|
promising, but the Lord promised, the Lord Jesus, the Mediator of
|
|
the new covenant. He <i>believed in him,</i> that is, received and
|
|
embraced the divine revelation concerning him, and <i>rejoiced to
|
|
see his day,</i> though at so great a distance, <scripRef passage="Joh 8:56" id="Gen.xvi-p13.3" parsed="|John|8|56|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.8.56">John viii. 56</scripRef>. 2. <i>God counted it to him
|
|
for righteousness;</i> that is, upon the score of this he was
|
|
accepted of God, and, as the rest of the patriarchs, by faith he
|
|
<i>obtained witness that he was righteous,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 11:4" id="Gen.xvi-p13.4" parsed="|Heb|11|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.4">Heb. xi. 4</scripRef>. This is urged in the New
|
|
Testament to prove that we are justified by faith without the works
|
|
of the law (<scripRef passage="Ro 4:4,Ga 3:6" id="Gen.xvi-p13.5" parsed="|Rom|4|4|0|0;|Gal|3|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.4.4 Bible:Gal.3.6">Rom. iv. 3; Gal. iii.
|
|
6</scripRef>); for Abram was so justified while he was yet
|
|
uncircumcised. If Abram, that was so rich in good works, was not
|
|
justified by them, but by his faith, much less can we, that are so
|
|
poor in them. This faith, which was imputed to Abram for
|
|
righteousness, had lately struggled with unbelief (<scripRef passage="Ge 15:2" id="Gen.xvi-p13.6" parsed="|Gen|15|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), and, coming off a
|
|
conqueror, it was thus crowned, thus honoured. Note, A fiducial
|
|
practical acceptance of, and dependence upon, God's promise of
|
|
grace and glory, in and through Christ, is that which, according to
|
|
the tenour of the new covenant, gives us a right to all the
|
|
blessings contained in that promise. All believers are justified as
|
|
Abram was, and it was his faith that was <i>counted to him for
|
|
righteousness.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 15:7-11" id="Gen.xvi-p13.7" parsed="|Gen|15|7|15|11" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.7-Gen.15.11"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.15.7-Gen.15.11">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xvi-p14">7 And he said unto him, I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xvi-p14.1">Lord</span> that brought thee out of Ur of the
|
|
Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.   8 And he
|
|
said, Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xvi-p14.2">God</span>, whereby shall I know
|
|
that I shall inherit it?   9 And he said unto him, Take me an
|
|
heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a
|
|
ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.
|
|
  10 And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the
|
|
midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds
|
|
divided he not.   11 And when the fowls came down upon the
|
|
carcases, Abram drove them away.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p15">We have here the assurance given to Abram
|
|
of the land of Canaan for an inheritance.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p16">I. God declares his purpose concerning it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 15:7" id="Gen.xvi-p16.1" parsed="|Gen|15|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. Observe here,
|
|
Abram made no complaint in this matter, as he had done for the want
|
|
of a child. Note, Those that are sure of an interest in the
|
|
promised seed will see no reason to doubt of a title to the
|
|
promised land. If Christ is ours, heaven is ours. Observe again,
|
|
When he believed the former promise (<scripRef passage="Ge 15:6" id="Gen.xvi-p16.2" parsed="|Gen|15|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>) then God explained and ratified
|
|
this to him. Note, To him that has (improves what he has) more
|
|
shall be given. Three things God here reminds Abram of, for his
|
|
encouragement concerning the promise of this good land:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p17">1. What God is in himself: <i>I am the
|
|
Lord</i> Jehovah; and therefore, (1.) "I may give it to thee, for I
|
|
am sovereign Lord of all, and have a right to dispose of the whole
|
|
earth." (2.) "I can give it to thee, whatever opposition may be
|
|
made, though by the sons of Anak." God never promises more than he
|
|
is able to perform, as men often do. (3.) "I will make good my
|
|
promise to thee." Jehovah is <i>not a man that he should
|
|
lie.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p18">2. What he had done for Abram. He had
|
|
brought him out of Ur of the Chaldees, <i>out of the fire of the
|
|
Chaldees,</i> so some, that is, either from their idolatries (for
|
|
the Chaldeans worshipped the fire), or from their persecutions. The
|
|
Jewish writers have a tradition that Abram was cast into a fiery
|
|
furnace for refusing to worship idols, and was miraculously
|
|
delivered. It is rather a place of that name. Thence God brought
|
|
him by an effectual call, brought him with a gracious violence,
|
|
snatched him as a brand out of the burning. This was, (1.) A
|
|
special mercy: "I brought thee, and left others, thousands, to
|
|
perish there." <i>God called him alone,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 51:2" id="Gen.xvi-p18.1" parsed="|Isa|51|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.51.2">Isa. li. 2</scripRef>. (2.) A spiritual mercy, a mercy
|
|
to his soul, a deliverance from sin and its fatal consequences. If
|
|
God save our souls, we shall want nothing that is good for us. (3.)
|
|
A fresh mercy, lately bestowed, and therefore should be the more
|
|
affecting,
|
|
|
|
<pb n="102" id="Gen.xvi-Page_102"/>
|
|
|
|
as that in the preface to the
|
|
commandments, <i>I am the Lord that brought thee out of Egypt</i>
|
|
lately. (4.) A foundation mercy, the beginning of mercy, peculiar
|
|
mercy to Abram, and therefore a pledge and earnest of further
|
|
mercy, <scripRef passage="Isa 66:9" id="Gen.xvi-p18.2" parsed="|Isa|66|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.66.9">Isa. lxvi. 9</scripRef>.
|
|
Observe how God speaks of it as that which he gloried in: <i>I am
|
|
the Lord that brought thee out.</i> He glories in it as an act both
|
|
of power and grace; compare <scripRef passage="Isa 29:22" id="Gen.xvi-p18.3" parsed="|Isa|29|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.29.22">Isa.
|
|
xxix. 22</scripRef>, where he glories in it, long afterwards.
|
|
<i>Thus saith the Lord who redeemed</i> Abraham, redeemed him from
|
|
sin.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p19">3. What he intended to do yet further for
|
|
him: "<i>I brought thee</i> hither, on purpose <i>to give thee this
|
|
land to inherit it,</i> not only to possess it, but to possess it
|
|
as an inheritance, which is the sweetest and surest title." Note,
|
|
(1.) The providence of God has secret but gracious designs in all
|
|
its various dispensations towards good people; we cannot conceive
|
|
the projects of Providence, till the event shows them in all their
|
|
mercy and glory. (2.) The great thing God designs in all his
|
|
dealings with his people is to bring them safely to heaven. They
|
|
are <i>chosen to salvation</i> (<scripRef passage="2Th 2:13" id="Gen.xvi-p19.1" parsed="|2Thess|2|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Thess.2.13">2
|
|
Thess. ii. 13</scripRef>), <i>called to the kingdom</i> (<scripRef passage="1Th 2:12" id="Gen.xvi-p19.2" parsed="|1Thess|2|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Thess.2.12">1 Thess. ii. 12</scripRef>), <i>begotten to the
|
|
inheritance</i> (<scripRef passage="1Pe 1:3,4" id="Gen.xvi-p19.3" parsed="|1Pet|1|3|1|4" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.1.3-1Pet.1.4">1 Pet. i. 3,
|
|
4</scripRef>), and by all <i>made meet</i> for it, <scripRef passage="Col 1:12,13,2Co 4:17" id="Gen.xvi-p19.4" parsed="|Col|1|12|1|13;|2Cor|4|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Col.1.12-Col.1.13 Bible:2Cor.4.17">Col. i. 12, 13; 2 Cor. iv.
|
|
17</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p20">II. Abram desires a sign: <i>Whereby shall
|
|
I know that I shall inherit it?</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 15:8" id="Gen.xvi-p20.1" parsed="|Gen|15|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. This did not proceed from
|
|
distrust of God's power or promise, as that of Zacharias; but he
|
|
desired this, 1. For the strengthening and confirming of his own
|
|
faith; he believed (<scripRef passage="Ge 15:6" id="Gen.xvi-p20.2" parsed="|Gen|15|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.6"><i>v.</i>
|
|
6</scripRef>), but here he prays, <i>Lord, help me</i> against
|
|
<i>my unbelief. Now</i> he believed, but he desired a sign to be
|
|
treasured up against an hour of temptation, not knowing how his
|
|
faith might, by some event or other, be shocked and tried. Note, We
|
|
all need, and should desire, helps from heaven for the confirming
|
|
of our faith, and should improve sacraments, which are instituted
|
|
signs, for that purpose. See <scripRef passage="Jdg 6:36-40,2Ki 20:8-10,Isa 7:11-12" id="Gen.xvi-p20.3" parsed="|Judg|6|36|6|40;|2Kgs|20|8|20|10;|Isa|7|11|7|12" osisRef="Bible:Judg.6.36-Judg.6.40 Bible:2Kgs.20.8-2Kgs.20.10 Bible:Isa.7.11-Isa.7.12">Judg. vi. 36-40; 2 Kings xx.
|
|
8-10; Isa. vii. 11, 12</scripRef>. 2. For the ratifying of the
|
|
promise to his posterity, that they also might be brought to
|
|
believe it. Note, Those that are satisfied themselves should desire
|
|
that others also may be satisfied of the truth of God's promises.
|
|
John sent his disciples to Christ, not so much for his own
|
|
satisfaction as for theirs, <scripRef passage="Mt 11:2,3" id="Gen.xvi-p20.4" parsed="|Matt|11|2|11|3" osisRef="Bible:Matt.11.2-Matt.11.3">Matt. xi.
|
|
2, 3</scripRef>. Canaan was a type of heaven. Note, It is a very
|
|
desirable thing to know that we shall inherit the heavenly Canaan,
|
|
that is, to be confirmed in our belief of the truth of that
|
|
happiness, and to have the evidences of our title to it more and
|
|
more cleared up to us.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p21">III. God directs Abram to make preparations
|
|
for a sacrifice, intending by that to give him a sign, and Abram
|
|
makes preparation accordingly (<scripRef passage="Ge 15:9-11" id="Gen.xvi-p21.1" parsed="|Gen|15|9|15|11" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.9-Gen.15.11"><i>v.</i> 9-11</scripRef>): <i>Take me a heifer,</i>
|
|
&c. Perhaps Abram expected some extraordinary sign from heaven;
|
|
but God gives him a sign upon a sacrifice. Note, Those that would
|
|
receive the assurances of God's favour, and would have their faith
|
|
confirmed, must attend instituted ordinances, and expect to meet
|
|
with God in them. Observe, 1. God appointed that each of the beasts
|
|
used for this service should be three years old, because then they
|
|
were at their full growth and strength: God must be served with the
|
|
best we have, for he is the best. 2. We do not read that God gave
|
|
Abram particular directions how to manage these beasts and fowls,
|
|
knowing that he was so well versed in the law and custom of
|
|
sacrifices that he needed not any particular directions; or perhaps
|
|
instructions were given him, which he carefully observed, thought
|
|
they are not recorded: at least it was intimated to him that they
|
|
must be prepared for the solemnity of ratifying a covenant; and he
|
|
well knew the manner of preparing them. 3. Abram took as God
|
|
appointed him, though as yet he knew not how these things should
|
|
become a sign to him. This was not the first instance of Abram's
|
|
implicit obedience. He divided the beasts in the midst, according
|
|
to the ceremony used in confirming covenants, <scripRef passage="Jer 34:18,19" id="Gen.xvi-p21.2" parsed="|Jer|34|18|34|19" osisRef="Bible:Jer.34.18-Jer.34.19">Jer. xxxiv. 18, 19</scripRef>, where it is said,
|
|
They cut <i>the calf in twain, and passed between the parts.</i> 4.
|
|
Abram, having prepared according to God's appointment, now set
|
|
himself to wait for the sign God might give him by these, like the
|
|
prophet upon his watch-tower, <scripRef passage="Hab 2:1" id="Gen.xvi-p21.3" parsed="|Hab|2|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hab.2.1">Hab. ii.
|
|
1</scripRef>. While God's appearing to own his sacrifice was
|
|
deferred, Abram continued waiting, and his expectations were raised
|
|
by the delay; when <i>the fowls came down upon the carcases</i> to
|
|
prey upon them, as common and neglected things, <i>Abram drove them
|
|
away</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 15:11" id="Gen.xvi-p21.4" parsed="|Gen|15|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>),
|
|
believing that the vision would, at the end, <i>speak, and not
|
|
lie.</i> Note, A very watchful eye must be kept upon our spiritual
|
|
sacrifices, that nothing be suffered to prey upon them and render
|
|
them unfit for God's acceptance. When vain thoughts, like these
|
|
fowls, come down upon our sacrifices, we must drive them away, and
|
|
not suffer them to lodge within us, but <i>attend on God without
|
|
distraction.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 15:12-16" id="Gen.xvi-p21.5" parsed="|Gen|15|12|15|16" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.12-Gen.15.16"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.15.12-Gen.15.16">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xvi-p22">12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep
|
|
fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon
|
|
him.   13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy
|
|
seed shall be a stranger in a land <i>that is</i> not theirs, and
|
|
shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
|
|
  14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I
|
|
judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
|
|
  15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be
|
|
buried in a good old age.   16 But in the fourth generation
|
|
they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites
|
|
<i>is</i> not yet full.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p23">We have here a full and particular
|
|
discovery made to Abram of God's purposes concerning his seed.
|
|
Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p24">I. The time when God came to him with this
|
|
discovery: <i>When the sun was going down,</i> or <i>declining,</i>
|
|
about the time of the <i>evening oblation,</i> <scripRef passage="1Ki 18:36,Da 9:21" id="Gen.xvi-p24.1" parsed="|1Kgs|18|36|0|0;|Dan|9|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.18.36 Bible:Dan.9.21">1 Kings xviii. 36; Dan. ix. 21</scripRef>.
|
|
Early in the morning, before day, while the stars were yet to be
|
|
seen, God had given him orders concerning the sacrifices (<scripRef passage="Ge 15:5" id="Gen.xvi-p24.2" parsed="|Gen|15|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), and we may suppose it
|
|
was, at least, his morning's work to prepare them and set them in
|
|
order; when he had done this, he abode by them, praying and waiting
|
|
till towards evening. Note, God often keeps his people long in
|
|
expectation of the comforts he designs them, for the confirmation
|
|
of their faith; but though the answers of prayer, and the
|
|
performance of promises, come slowly, yet they come surely. <i>At
|
|
evening time it shall be light.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p25">II. The preparatives for this discovery. 1.
|
|
<i>A deep sleep fell upon Abram,</i> not a common sleep through
|
|
weariness or carelessness, but a divine ecstasy, like that which
|
|
the <i>Lord God caused to fall upon Adam</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 2:21" id="Gen.xvi-p25.1" parsed="|Gen|2|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.21"><i>ch.</i> ii. 21</scripRef>), that, being hereby wholly
|
|
taken off from the view of things sensible, he might be wholly
|
|
taken up with the contemplation of things spiritual. The doors of
|
|
the body were locked up, that the soul might be private and
|
|
retired, and might act the more freely and like itself. 2. With
|
|
this sleep, <i>a horror of great darkness fell upon him.</i> How
|
|
sudden a change! But just before we had him solacing himself in the
|
|
comforts of God's covenant, and in communion with him; and here a
|
|
<i>horror of great darkness</i> falls upon him. Note, The children
|
|
of light do not always walk in the light, but sometimes clouds and
|
|
darkness are round about them. This great darkness, which brought
|
|
horror with it, was designed, (1.) To strike an awe upon the spirit
|
|
of Abram, and to possess him with a holy reverence, that the
|
|
familiarity to which God was pleased to admit him might not breed
|
|
contempt. Note, Holy fear prepares the soul for holy joy; the
|
|
spirit of bondage makes way for the spirit of adoption. God wounds
|
|
first, and then heals; humbles first, and then lifts up, <scripRef passage="Isa 6:5,6" id="Gen.xvi-p25.2" parsed="|Isa|6|5|6|6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.5-Isa.6.6">Isa. vi. 5, 6</scripRef>, &c. (2.) To be a
|
|
specimen of the methods of God's dealings with his seed. They must
|
|
first be in the horror and darkness of Egyptian slavery, and then
|
|
enter with joy into the good land; and therefore he must have the
|
|
foretaste of their sufferings, before he had the foresight of their
|
|
happiness. (3.) To be an indication of the nature of that covenant
|
|
of peculiarity which God was now about to make with Abram. The
|
|
Old-Testament dispensation, which was founded on that covenant, was
|
|
a dispensation, [1.] Of darkness and obscurity, <scripRef passage="2Co 3:13,14" id="Gen.xvi-p25.3" parsed="|2Cor|3|13|3|14" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.3.13-2Cor.3.14">2 Cor. iii. 13, 14</scripRef>. [2.] Of dread and
|
|
horror, <scripRef passage="Heb 12:18" id="Gen.xvi-p25.4" parsed="|Heb|12|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.18">Heb. xii. 18</scripRef>,
|
|
&c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p26">III. The prediction itself. Several things
|
|
are here foretold.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p27">1. The suffering state of Abram's seed for
|
|
a long time, <scripRef passage="Ge 15:13" id="Gen.xvi-p27.1" parsed="|Gen|15|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>.
|
|
Let not Abram flatter himself with the hopes of nothing but honour
|
|
and prosperity in his family; no, he must know, of a surety, that
|
|
which he was loth to believe, that the promised seed should be a
|
|
persecuted seed. Note, God sends the worst first; we must first
|
|
suffer, and then reign. He also lets us know the worst before it
|
|
comes, that when it comes it may not be a surprise to us, <scripRef passage="Joh 16:4" id="Gen.xvi-p27.2" parsed="|John|16|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.16.4">John xvi. 4</scripRef>. Now we have here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p28">(1.) The particulars of their sufferings.
|
|
[1.] They shall be strangers; so they were, first in Canaan
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ps 105:12" id="Gen.xvi-p28.1" parsed="|Ps|105|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.105.12">Ps. cv. 12</scripRef>) and
|
|
afterwards in Egypt; before they were lords of their own land they
|
|
were strangers in a strange land. The inconveniences of an
|
|
unsettled state make a happy settlement the more welcome. Thus the
|
|
heirs of heaven are first strangers on earth, a land that is not
|
|
theirs. [2.] They shall be servants; so they were to the Egyptians,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 1:13" id="Gen.xvi-p28.2" parsed="|Exod|1|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.1.13">Exod. i. 13</scripRef>. See how that
|
|
which was the doom of the Canaanites (<scripRef passage="Ge 9:25" id="Gen.xvi-p28.3" parsed="|Gen|9|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.25"><i>ch.</i> ix. 25</scripRef>), proves the distress of
|
|
Abram's seed: they are made to serve, but with this difference, the
|
|
Canaanites serve under a curse, the Hebrews under a blessing; and
|
|
the <i>upright shall have dominion in the morning,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 49:14" id="Gen.xvi-p28.4" parsed="|Ps|49|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.49.14">Ps. xlix. 14</scripRef>. [3.] They shall be
|
|
suffers. Those whom they serve shall afflict them; see <scripRef passage="Ex 1:11" id="Gen.xvi-p28.5" parsed="|Exod|1|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.1.11">Exod. i. 11</scripRef>. Note, Those that are
|
|
blessed and beloved of God are often sorely afflicted by wicked
|
|
men; and God foresees it, and takes cognizance of it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p29">(2.) The continuance of their
|
|
sufferings—<i>four hundred years.</i> This persecution began with
|
|
mocking, when Ishmael, the son of an Egyptian, persecuted Isaac,
|
|
who was <i>born after the Spirit,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 21:9,Gal 4:29" id="Gen.xvi-p29.1" parsed="|Gen|21|9|0|0;|Gal|4|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.9 Bible:Gal.4.29"><i>ch.</i> xxi. 9; Gal. iv. 29</scripRef>. It
|
|
continued in loathing; for it was an abomination to the Egyptians
|
|
to eat bread with the Hebrews, <scripRef passage="Ge 43:32" id="Gen.xvi-p29.2" parsed="|Gen|43|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.43.32"><i>ch.</i> xliii. 32</scripRef>; and it came at last to
|
|
murder, the basest of murders, that of their new-born children; so
|
|
that, more or less, it continued 400 years, though, in extremity,
|
|
not so many. This was a long time, but a limited time.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p30">2. The judgment of the enemies of Abram's
|
|
seed: <i>That nation whom they shall serve,</i> even the Egyptians,
|
|
<i>will I judge,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 15:14" id="Gen.xvi-p30.1" parsed="|Gen|15|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.14"><i>v.</i>
|
|
14</scripRef>. This points at the plagues of Egypt, by which God
|
|
not only constrained the Egyptians to release Israel, but punished
|
|
them for all the hardships they had put upon them. Note, (1.)
|
|
Though God may suffer persecutors and oppressors to trample upon
|
|
his people a great while, yet he will certainly reckon with them at
|
|
last; for his <i>day is coming,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 37:12,13" id="Gen.xvi-p30.2" parsed="|Ps|37|12|37|13" osisRef="Bible:Ps.37.12-Ps.37.13">Ps. xxxvii. 12, 13</scripRef>. (2.) The punishing of
|
|
persecutors is the judging of them: it is a righteous thing with
|
|
God, and a particular act of justice, to recompense tribulations to
|
|
those that trouble his people. The
|
|
|
|
<pb n="104" id="Gen.xvi-Page_104"/>
|
|
|
|
judging
|
|
of the church's enemies is God's work: <i>I will judge.</i> God can
|
|
do it, for he is the Lord; he will do it, for he is his people's
|
|
God, and he has said, <i>Vengeance is mine, I will repay.</i> To
|
|
him therefore we must leave it, to be done in his way and time.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p31">3. The deliverance of Abram's seed out of
|
|
Egypt. That great event is here foretold: <i>Afterwards shall they
|
|
come out with great substance.</i> It is here promised, (1.) That
|
|
they should be enlarged: <i>Afterwards they shall come out;</i>
|
|
that is, either after they have been afflicted 400 years, when the
|
|
days of their servitude are fulfilled, or after the Egyptians are
|
|
judged and plagued, then they may expect deliverance. Note, The
|
|
destruction of oppressors is the redemption of the oppressed; they
|
|
will not let God's people go till they are forced to it. (2.) That
|
|
they should be enriched: <i>They shall come out with great
|
|
substance;</i> this was fulfilled, <scripRef passage="Ex 12:35,36" id="Gen.xvi-p31.1" parsed="|Exod|12|35|12|36" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.35-Exod.12.36">Exod. xii. 35, 36</scripRef>. God took care they
|
|
should have, not only a good land to go to, but a good stock to
|
|
carry with them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p32">4. Their happy settlement in Canaan,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 15:16" id="Gen.xvi-p32.1" parsed="|Gen|15|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. They shall
|
|
not only come out of Egypt, but <i>they shall come hither
|
|
again,</i> hither to the land of Canaan, wherein thou now art. The
|
|
discontinuance of their possession shall be no defeasance of their
|
|
right: we must not reckon those comforts lost for ever that are
|
|
intermitted for a time. The reason why they must not have the land
|
|
of promise in possession till the fourth generation was because
|
|
<i>the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full.</i> Israel cannot
|
|
be possessed of Canaan till the Amorites be dispossessed; and they
|
|
are not yet ripe for ruin. The righteous God has determined that
|
|
they shall not be cut off till they have persisted in sin so long,
|
|
and arrived at such a pitch of wickedness, that there may appear
|
|
some equitable proportion between their sin and their ruin; and
|
|
therefore, till it come to that, the seed of Abram must be kept out
|
|
of possession. Note, (1.) The measure of sin fills gradually. Those
|
|
that continue impenitent in wicked ways are treasuring up unto
|
|
themselves wrath. (2.) Some people's measure of sin fills slowly.
|
|
The Sodomites, who were sinners before the Lord exceedingly, soon
|
|
filled their measure; so did the Jews, who were, in profession,
|
|
near to God. But the iniquity of the Amorites was long in the
|
|
filling up. (3.) That this is the reason of the prosperity of
|
|
wicked people; the measure of their sins is not yet full. The
|
|
wicked <i>live, become old, and are mighty in power,</i> while God
|
|
is <i>laying up their iniquity for their children,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 21:7,19" id="Gen.xvi-p32.2" parsed="|Job|21|7|0|0;|Job|21|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.7 Bible:Job.21.19">Job xxi. 7, 19</scripRef>. See <scripRef passage="Mt 23:32,De 32:34" id="Gen.xvi-p32.3" parsed="|Matt|23|32|0|0;|Deut|32|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.32 Bible:Deut.32.34">Matt. xxiii. 32; Deut. xxxii.
|
|
34</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p33">5. Abram's peaceful quiet death and burial,
|
|
before these things should come to pass, <scripRef passage="Ge 15:15" id="Gen.xvi-p33.1" parsed="|Gen|15|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. As he should not live to see
|
|
that good land in the possession of his family, but must die, as he
|
|
lived, a stranger in it, so, to balance this, he should not live to
|
|
see the troubles that should come upon his seed, much less to share
|
|
in them. This is promised to Josiah, <scripRef passage="2Ki 22:20" id="Gen.xvi-p33.2" parsed="|2Kgs|22|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.22.20">2 Kings xxii. 20</scripRef>. Note, Good men are
|
|
sometimes greatly favoured by being <i>taken away from the evil to
|
|
come,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 57:1" id="Gen.xvi-p33.3" parsed="|Isa|57|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.57.1">Isa. lvii. 1</scripRef>. Let
|
|
this satisfy Abram, that, for his part,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p34">(1.) He shall <i>go to his fathers in
|
|
peace.</i> Note, [1.] Even the friends and favourites of Heaven are
|
|
not exempted from the stroke of death. Are we greater than our
|
|
father Abram, who is dead? <scripRef passage="Joh 8:53" id="Gen.xvi-p34.1" parsed="|John|8|53|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.8.53">John viii.
|
|
53</scripRef>. [2.] Good men die willingly; they are not fetched,
|
|
they are not forced, but they go; their soul is not required, as
|
|
the rich fool's (<scripRef passage="Lu 12:20" id="Gen.xvi-p34.2" parsed="|Luke|12|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.12.20">Luke xii.
|
|
20</scripRef>), but cheerfully resigned: they would not live
|
|
always. [3.] At death we go to our fathers, to all our fathers that
|
|
have gone before us to the state of the dead (<scripRef passage="Job 21:32,33" id="Gen.xvi-p34.3" parsed="|Job|21|32|21|33" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.32-Job.21.33">Job xxi. 32, 33</scripRef>), to our godly fathers
|
|
that have gone before us to the state of the blessed, <scripRef passage="Heb 12:23" id="Gen.xvi-p34.4" parsed="|Heb|12|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.23">Heb. xii. 23</scripRef>. The former thought
|
|
helps to take off the terror of death, the latter puts comfort into
|
|
it. [4.] Whenever a godly man dies, he dies in peace. If the way be
|
|
piety, the end is peace, <scripRef passage="Ps 37:37" id="Gen.xvi-p34.5" parsed="|Ps|37|37|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.37.37">Ps. xxxvii.
|
|
37</scripRef>. Outward peace, to the last, is promised to Abram,
|
|
peace and truth is his days, whatever should come afterwards
|
|
(<scripRef passage="2Ki 20:19" id="Gen.xvi-p34.6" parsed="|2Kgs|20|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.20.19">2 Kings xx. 19</scripRef>); peace
|
|
with God, and everlasting peace, are sure to all the seed.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p35">(2.) He shall be <i>buried in a good old
|
|
age.</i> Perhaps mention is made of his burial here, where the land
|
|
of Canaan is promised him, because a burying place was the first
|
|
possession he had in it. He shall not only die in peace, but die in
|
|
honour, die, and be buried decently; not only die in peace, but die
|
|
in season, <scripRef passage="Job 5:26" id="Gen.xvi-p35.1" parsed="|Job|5|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.5.26">Job v. 26</scripRef>. Note,
|
|
[1.] Old age is a blessing. It is promised in the fifth
|
|
commandment; it is pleasing to nature; and it affords a great
|
|
opportunity for usefulness. [2.] Especially, if it be a good old
|
|
age. Theirs may be called a good old age, <i>First,</i> That are
|
|
old and healthful, not loaded with such distempers as make them
|
|
weary of life. <i>Secondly,</i> That are old and holy, old
|
|
disciples (<scripRef passage="Ac 21:16" id="Gen.xvi-p35.2" parsed="|Acts|21|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.21.16">Acts xxi. 16</scripRef>),
|
|
whose hoary head is <i>found in the way of righteousness</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Pr 16:31" id="Gen.xvi-p35.3" parsed="|Prov|16|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.16.31">Prov. xvi. 31</scripRef>), old and
|
|
useful, old and exemplary for godliness; theirs is indeed a good
|
|
old age.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 15:17-21" id="Gen.xvi-p35.4" parsed="|Gen|15|17|15|21" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.17-Gen.15.21"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.15.17-Gen.15.21">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xvi-p36">17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went
|
|
down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp
|
|
that passed between those pieces.   18 In the same day the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xvi-p36.1">Lord</span> made a covenant with Abram,
|
|
saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of
|
|
Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:   19 The
|
|
Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,   20 And the
|
|
Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,   21 And the
|
|
Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the
|
|
Jebusites.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p37">Here is, I. The covenant ratified
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 15:17" id="Gen.xvi-p37.1" parsed="|Gen|15|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>); the sign
|
|
which Abram desired was given, at length, when the sun had gone
|
|
down, so that it was dark; for that was a dark dispensation.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p38">1. The <i>smoking furnace</i> signified the
|
|
affliction of his seed in Egypt. They were there in the <i>iron
|
|
furnace</i> (<scripRef passage="De 4:20" id="Gen.xvi-p38.1" parsed="|Deut|4|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.20">Deut. iv. 20</scripRef>),
|
|
the <i>furnace of affliction</i> (<scripRef passage="Isa 48:10" id="Gen.xvi-p38.2" parsed="|Isa|48|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.48.10">Isa. xlviii. 10</scripRef>), labouring in the very
|
|
fire. They were there in the smoke, their eyes darkened, that they
|
|
could not see to the end of their troubles, and themselves at a
|
|
loss to conceive what God would do with them. Clouds and darkness
|
|
were round about them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p39">2. The <i>burning lamp</i> denotes comfort
|
|
in this affliction; and this God showed to Abram, at the same time
|
|
that he showed him the <i>smoking furnace.</i> (1.) Light denotes
|
|
deliverance out of the furnace; their salvation was as <i>a lamp
|
|
that burneth,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 62:1" id="Gen.xvi-p39.1" parsed="|Isa|62|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.62.1">Isa. lxii.
|
|
1</scripRef>. When God came down to deliver them, he appeared in a
|
|
bush that <i>burned, and was not consumed,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 3:2" id="Gen.xvi-p39.2" parsed="|Exod|3|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.2">Exod. iii. 2</scripRef>. (2.) The lamp denotes direction
|
|
in the smoke. God's word was their lamp: this word to Abram was so,
|
|
it was a light shining in a dark place. Perhaps this burning lamp
|
|
prefigured the pillar of cloud and fire, which led them out of
|
|
Egypt, in which God was. (3.) The burning lamp denotes the
|
|
destruction of their enemies who kept them so long in the furnace.
|
|
See <scripRef passage="Zec 12:6" id="Gen.xvi-p39.3" parsed="|Zech|12|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zech.12.6">Zech. xii. 6</scripRef>. The same
|
|
cloud that enlightened the Israelites troubled and burned the
|
|
Egyptians.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p40">3. The passing of these between the pieces
|
|
was the confirming of the covenant God now made with him, that he
|
|
might have strong consolation, being fully persuaded that what God
|
|
promised he would certainly perform. It is probable that the
|
|
furnace and lamp, which passed between the pieces, burnt and
|
|
consumed them, and so completed the sacrifice, and testified God's
|
|
acceptance of it, as of Gideon's (<scripRef passage="Jdg 6:21" id="Gen.xvi-p40.1" parsed="|Judg|6|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.6.21">Judg. vi. 21</scripRef>), Manoah's (<scripRef passage="Jdg 13:19,20" id="Gen.xvi-p40.2" parsed="|Judg|13|19|13|20" osisRef="Bible:Judg.13.19-Judg.13.20">Judg. xiii. 19, 20</scripRef>), and Solomon's,
|
|
<scripRef passage="2Ch 7:1" id="Gen.xvi-p40.3" parsed="|2Chr|7|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.7.1">2 Chron. vii. 1</scripRef>. So it
|
|
intimates, (1.) That God's covenants with man are made by sacrifice
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ps 50:5" id="Gen.xvi-p40.4" parsed="|Ps|50|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.50.5">Ps. l. 5</scripRef>), by Christ, the
|
|
great sacrifice: no agreement without atonement. (2.) God's
|
|
acceptance of our spiritual sacrifices is a token for good and an
|
|
earnest of further favours. See <scripRef passage="Jdg 13:23" id="Gen.xvi-p40.5" parsed="|Judg|13|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.13.23">Judg.
|
|
xiii. 23</scripRef>. And by this we may know that he accepts our
|
|
sacrifices if he kindle in our souls a holy fire of pious and
|
|
devout affections in them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p41">II. The covenant repeated and explained:
|
|
<i>In that same day,</i> that day never to be forgotten, <i>the
|
|
Lord made a covenant with Abram,</i> that is, gave a promise to
|
|
Abram, saying, <i>Unto thy seed have I given this land,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 15:18" id="Gen.xvi-p41.1" parsed="|Gen|15|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. Here is,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p42">1. A rehearsal of the grant. He had said
|
|
before, <i>To thy seed will I give this land,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 12:7,Ge 13:15" id="Gen.xvi-p42.1" parsed="|Gen|12|7|0|0;|Gen|13|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.7 Bible:Gen.13.15"><i>ch.</i> xii. 7; xiii. 15</scripRef>.
|
|
But here he says, <i>I have given it;</i> that is, (1.) I have
|
|
given the promise of it, the charter is sealed and delivered, and
|
|
cannot be disannulled. Note, God's promises are God's gifts, and
|
|
are so to be accounted. (2.) The possession is as sure, in due
|
|
time, as if it were now actually delivered to them. What God has
|
|
promised is as sure as if it were already done; hence, it is said,
|
|
<i>He that believes hath everlasting life</i> (<scripRef passage="Joh 3:36" id="Gen.xvi-p42.2" parsed="|John|3|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.3.36">John iii. 36</scripRef>), for he shall as surely go to
|
|
heaven as if he were there already.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvi-p43">2. A recital of the particulars granted,
|
|
such as is usual in the grants of lands. He specifies the
|
|
boundaries of the land intended hereby to be granted, <scripRef passage="Ge 15:18" id="Gen.xvi-p43.1" parsed="|Gen|15|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. And then, for the
|
|
greater certainty, as is usual in such cases, he mentions in whose
|
|
tenure and occupation these lands now were. Ten several nations, or
|
|
tribes, are here spoken of (<scripRef passage="Ge 15:19-21" id="Gen.xvi-p43.2" parsed="|Gen|15|19|15|21" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.19-Gen.15.21"><i>v.</i> 19-21</scripRef>) that must be cast out, to
|
|
make room for the <i>seed of Abram.</i> They were not possessed of
|
|
all these countries when God brought them into Canaan. The bounds
|
|
are fixed much narrower, <scripRef passage="Nu 34:2-12" id="Gen.xvi-p43.3" parsed="|Num|34|2|34|12" osisRef="Bible:Num.34.2-Num.34.12">Num. xxxiv.
|
|
2, 3</scripRef>. &c. But, (1.) In David's time, and Solomon's,
|
|
their jurisdiction extended to the utmost of these limits,
|
|
<scripRef passage="2Ch 9:26" id="Gen.xvi-p43.4" parsed="|2Chr|9|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.9.26">2 Chron. ix. 26</scripRef>. (2.) It
|
|
was their own fault that they were not sooner and longer in
|
|
possession of all these territories. They forfeited their right by
|
|
their sins, and by their own sloth and cowardice kept themselves
|
|
out of possession. (3.) The land granted is here described in its
|
|
utmost extent because it was to be a type of the heavenly
|
|
inheritance, where there is room enough: in our father's house are
|
|
many mansions. The present occupants are named, because their
|
|
number, and strength, and long prescription, should be no hindrance
|
|
to the accomplishment of this promise in its season, and to magnify
|
|
God's love to Abram and his seed, in giving to that one nation the
|
|
possessions of many nations, so precious were they in his sight,
|
|
and so honourable, <scripRef passage="Isa 43:4" id="Gen.xvi-p43.5" parsed="|Isa|43|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.43.4">Isa. xliii.
|
|
4</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XVI" n="xvii" progress="12.77%" prev="Gen.xvi" next="Gen.xviii" id="Gen.xvii">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="105" id="Gen.xvii-Page_105"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xvii-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xvii-p0.2">CHAP. XVI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xvii-p1">Hagar is the person mostly concerned in the story
|
|
of this chapter, an obscure Egyptian woman, whose name and story we
|
|
never should have heard of if Providence had not brought her into
|
|
the family of Abram. Probably she was one of those maid-servants
|
|
whom the king of Egypt, among other gifts, bestowed upon Abram,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 14:16" id="Gen.xvii-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|14|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.16"><i>ch.</i> xiv. 16</scripRef>.
|
|
Concerning her, we have four things in this chapter:—I. Her
|
|
marriage to Abram her master, <scripRef passage="Ge 16:1-3" id="Gen.xvii-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|16|1|16|3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.16.1-Gen.16.3">ver.
|
|
1-3</scripRef>. II. Her misbehaviour towards Sarai her mistress,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 16:4-6" id="Gen.xvii-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|16|4|16|6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.16.4-Gen.16.6">ver. 4-6</scripRef>. III. Her
|
|
discourse with an angel that met her in her flight, <scripRef passage="Ge 16:7-14" id="Gen.xvii-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|16|7|16|14" osisRef="Bible:Gen.16.7-Gen.16.14">ver. 7-14</scripRef>. IV. Her delivery of a
|
|
son, <scripRef passage="Ge 16:15,16" id="Gen.xvii-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|16|15|16|16" osisRef="Bible:Gen.16.15-Gen.16.16">ver. 15, 16</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 16" id="Gen.xvii-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|16|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.16"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 16:1-3" id="Gen.xvii-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|16|1|16|3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.16.1-Gen.16.3"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.16.1-Gen.16.3">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xvii-p1.8">Abram, Sarai, and Hagar. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xvii-p1.9">b. c.</span> 1911.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xvii-p2">1 Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children:
|
|
and she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name <i>was</i> Hagar.
|
|
  2 And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xvii-p2.1">Lord</span> hath restrained me from bearing: I pray
|
|
thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by
|
|
her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.   3 And Sarai
|
|
Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had
|
|
dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband
|
|
Abram to be his wife.</p>
|
|
|
|
<pb n="106" id="Gen.xvii-Page_106"/>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvii-p3">We have here the marriage of Abram to
|
|
Hagar, who was his secondary wife. Herein, though some excuse may
|
|
be made for him, he cannot be justified, for <i>from the beginning
|
|
it was not so;</i> and, when it was so, it seems to have proceeded
|
|
from an irregular desire to build up families for the speedier
|
|
peopling of the world and the church. Certainly it must not be so
|
|
now. Christ has reduced this matter to the first institution, and
|
|
makes the marriage union to be between one man and one woman only.
|
|
Now,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvii-p4">I. The maker of this match (would one think
|
|
it?) was Sarai herself: she said to Abram, <i>I pray thee, go in
|
|
unto my maid,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 16:2" id="Gen.xvii-p4.1" parsed="|Gen|16|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.16.2"><i>v.</i>
|
|
2</scripRef>. Note, 1. It is the policy of Satan to tempt us by our
|
|
nearest and dearest relations, or those friends that we have an
|
|
opinion of and an affection for. The temptation is most dangerous
|
|
when it is sent by a hand that is least suspected: it is our wisdom
|
|
therefore to consider, not so much who speaks as what is spoken. 2.
|
|
God's commands consult our comfort and honour much better than our
|
|
own contrivances do. It would have been much more for Sarai's
|
|
interest if Abram had kept to the rule of God's law instead of
|
|
being guided by her foolish projects; but we often do ill for
|
|
ourselves.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvii-p5">II. The inducement to it was Sarai's
|
|
barrenness.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvii-p6">1. <i>Sarai bare Abram no children.</i> She
|
|
was very fair (<scripRef passage="Ge 12:14" id="Gen.xvii-p6.1" parsed="|Gen|12|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.14"><i>ch.</i> xii.
|
|
14</scripRef>), was a very agreeable, dutiful wife, and a sharer
|
|
with him in his large possessions; and yet written childless. Note,
|
|
(1.) God dispenses his gifts variously, loading us with benefits,
|
|
but not overloading us: some cross or other is appointed to be an
|
|
alloy to great enjoyments. (2.) The mercy of children is often
|
|
given to the poor and denied to the rich, given to the wicked and
|
|
denied to good people, though the rich have most to leave them and
|
|
good people would take most care of their education. God does
|
|
herein as it has pleased him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvii-p7">2. She owned God's providence in this
|
|
affliction: <i>The Lord hath restrained me from bearing.</i> Note,
|
|
(1.) As, where children are, it is God that gives them (<scripRef passage="Ge 33:5" id="Gen.xvii-p7.1" parsed="|Gen|33|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.33.5"><i>ch.</i> xxxiii. 5</scripRef>), so where they
|
|
are wanted it is he that withholds them, <scripRef passage="Ge 30:2" id="Gen.xvii-p7.2" parsed="|Gen|30|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.2"><i>ch.</i> xxx. 2</scripRef>. This evil is of the Lord.
|
|
(2.) It becomes us to acknowledge this, that we may bear it, and
|
|
improve it, as an affliction of his ordering for wise and holy
|
|
ends.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvii-p8">3. She used this as an argument with Abram
|
|
to marry his maid; and he was prevailed upon by this argument to do
|
|
it. Note, (1.) When our hearts are too much set upon any
|
|
creature-comfort, we are easily put upon the use of indirect
|
|
methods for the obtaining of it. Inordinate desires commonly
|
|
produce irregular endeavours. If our wishes be not kept in a
|
|
submission to God's providence, our pursuits will scarcely be kept
|
|
under the restraints of his precepts. (2.) It is for want of a firm
|
|
dependence upon God's promise, and a patient waiting for God's
|
|
time, that we go out of the way of our duty to catch at expected
|
|
mercy. <i>He that believes does not make haste.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvii-p9">4. Abram's compliance with Sarai's
|
|
proposal, we have reason to think, was from an earnest desire of
|
|
the promised seed, on whom the covenant should be entailed. God had
|
|
told him that his heir should be a son of his body, but had not yet
|
|
told him that it should be a son by Sarai; therefore he thought,
|
|
"Why not by Hagar, since Sarai herself proposed it?" Note, (1.)
|
|
Foul temptations may have very fair pretences, and be coloured with
|
|
that which is very plausible. (2.) Fleshly wisdom, as it
|
|
anticipates God's time of mercy, so it puts us out of God's way.
|
|
(3.) This would be happily prevented if we would ask counsel of God
|
|
by the word and by prayer, before we attempt that which is
|
|
important and suspicious. Herein Abram was wanting; he married
|
|
without God's consent. <i>This persuasion came not of him that
|
|
called him.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 16:4-6" id="Gen.xvii-p9.1" parsed="|Gen|16|4|16|6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.16.4-Gen.16.6"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.16.4-Gen.16.6">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xvii-p10">4 And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived:
|
|
and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised
|
|
in her eyes.   5 And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong <i>be</i>
|
|
upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw
|
|
that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xvii-p10.1">Lord</span> judge between me and thee.   6
|
|
But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid <i>is</i> in thy hand;
|
|
do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with
|
|
her, she fled from her face.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvii-p11">We have here the immediate bad consequences
|
|
of Abram's unhappy marriage to Hagar. A great deal of mischief it
|
|
made quickly. When we do not well both sin and trouble lie at the
|
|
door; and we may thank ourselves for the guilt and grief that
|
|
follow us when we go out of the way of our duty. See it in this
|
|
story.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvii-p12">I. Sarai is despised, and thereby provoked
|
|
and put into a passion, <scripRef passage="Ge 16:4" id="Gen.xvii-p12.1" parsed="|Gen|16|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.16.4"><i>v.</i>
|
|
4</scripRef>. Hagar no sooner perceives herself with child by her
|
|
master than she looks scornfully upon her mistress, upbraids her
|
|
perhaps with her barrenness, insults over her, to make her to fret
|
|
(as <scripRef passage="1Sa 1:6" id="Gen.xvii-p12.2" parsed="|1Sam|1|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.1.6">1 Sam. i. 6</scripRef>), and boasts
|
|
of the prospect she had of bringing an heir to Abram, to that good
|
|
land, and to the promise. Now she thinks herself a better woman
|
|
than Sarai, more favoured by Heaven, and likely to be better
|
|
beloved by Abram; and therefore she will not submit as she has
|
|
done. Note, 1. Mean and servile spirits, when favoured and advanced
|
|
either by God or man, are apt to grow haughty and insolent, and to
|
|
forget their place and origin. See <scripRef passage="Pr 29:21,Pr 30:21-23" id="Gen.xvii-p12.3" parsed="|Prov|29|21|0|0;|Prov|30|21|30|23" osisRef="Bible:Prov.29.21 Bible:Prov.30.21-Prov.30.23">Prov. xxix. 21; xxx. 21-23</scripRef>. It is
|
|
a hard thing to bear honour aright. 2. We justly suffer by those
|
|
whom we have sinfully indulged, and it is a
|
|
|
|
<pb n="107" id="Gen.xvii-Page_107"/>
|
|
|
|
righteous thing with God to make those instruments of our trouble
|
|
whom we have made instruments of our sin, and to ensnare us in our
|
|
own evil counsels: this stone will return upon him that rolleth
|
|
it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvii-p13">II. Abram is clamoured upon, and cannot be
|
|
easy while Sarai is out of humour; she upbraids him vehemently, and
|
|
very unjustly charges him with the injury (<scripRef passage="Ge 16:5" id="Gen.xvii-p13.1" parsed="|Gen|16|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.16.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>): <i>My wrong be upon thee,</i>
|
|
with a most unreasonable jealousy suspecting that he countenanced
|
|
Hagar's insolence; and, as one not willing to hear what Abram had
|
|
to say for the rectifying of the mistake and the clearing of
|
|
himself, she rashly appeals to God in the case: <i>The Lord judge
|
|
between me and thee;</i> as if Abram had refused to right her. Thus
|
|
does Sarai, in her passion, speak <i>as one of the foolish women
|
|
speaketh.</i> Note, 1. It is an absurdity which passionate people
|
|
are often guilty of to quarrel with others for that of which they
|
|
themselves must bear the blame. Sarai could not but own that she
|
|
had given her maid to Abram, and yet she cries out, <i>My wrong be
|
|
upon thee,</i> when she should have said, <i>What a fool was I to
|
|
do so!</i> That is never said wisely which pride and anger have the
|
|
inditing of; when passion is upon the throne, reason is out of
|
|
doors, and is neither heard nor spoken. 2. Those are not always in
|
|
the right who are most loud and forward in appealing to God. Rash
|
|
and bold imprecations are commonly evidences of guilt and a bad
|
|
cause.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvii-p14">III. Hagar is afflicted, and driven from
|
|
the house, <scripRef passage="Ge 16:6" id="Gen.xvii-p14.1" parsed="|Gen|16|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.16.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>.
|
|
Observe, 1. Abram's meekness resigns the matter of the maid-servant
|
|
to Sarai, whose proper province it was to rule that part of the
|
|
family: <i>Thy maid is in thy hand.</i> Though she was his wife, he
|
|
would not countenance nor protect her in any thing that was
|
|
disrespectful to Sarai, for whom he still retained the same
|
|
affection that ever he had. Note, Those who would keep up peace and
|
|
love must return soft answers to hard accusations. Husbands and
|
|
wives particularly should agree, and endeavour not to be both angry
|
|
together. <i>Yielding pacifies great offenses.</i> See <scripRef passage="Pr 15:1" id="Gen.xvii-p14.2" parsed="|Prov|15|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.15.1">Prov. xv. 1</scripRef>. 2. Sarai's passion will
|
|
be revenged upon Hagar: <i>She dealt hardly with her,</i> not only
|
|
confining her to her usual place and work as a servant, but
|
|
probably making her to serve with rigour. Note, God takes notice
|
|
of, and is displeased with, the hardships which harsh masters
|
|
unreasonably put upon their servants. They ought to forbear
|
|
threatening, with Job's thought, <i>Did not he that made me make
|
|
him?</i> <scripRef passage="Job 31:15" id="Gen.xvii-p14.3" parsed="|Job|31|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.31.15">Job xxxi. 15</scripRef>. 3.
|
|
Hagar's pride cannot bear it, her high spirit having become
|
|
impatient of rebuke: <i>She fled from her face.</i> She not only
|
|
avoided her wrath for the present, as David did Saul's, but she
|
|
totally deserted her service, and ran away from the house,
|
|
forgetting, (1.) What wrong she hereby did to her mistress, whose
|
|
servant she was, and to her master, whose wife she was. Note, Pride
|
|
will hardly be restrained by <i>any</i> bonds of duty, no, not by
|
|
<i>many.</i> (2.) That she herself had first given the provocation,
|
|
by despising her mistress. Note, Those that suffer for their faults
|
|
ought to bear their sufferings patiently, <scripRef passage="1Pe 2:20" id="Gen.xvii-p14.4" parsed="|1Pet|2|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.2.20">1 Pet. ii. 20</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 16:7-9" id="Gen.xvii-p14.5" parsed="|Gen|16|7|16|9" osisRef="Bible:Gen.16.7-Gen.16.9"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.16.7-Gen.16.9">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xvii-p15">7 And the angel of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xvii-p15.1">Lord</span> found her by a fountain of water in the
|
|
wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.   8 And he
|
|
said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt
|
|
thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.
|
|
  9 And the angel of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xvii-p15.2">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her
|
|
hands.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvii-p16">Here is the first mention we have in
|
|
scripture of an angel's appearance. Hagar was a type of the law,
|
|
which was <i>given by the disposition of angels; but the world to
|
|
come is not put in subjection to them,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 2:5" id="Gen.xvii-p16.1" parsed="|Heb|2|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.2.5">Heb. ii. 5</scripRef>. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvii-p17">I. How the angel arrested her in her
|
|
flight, <scripRef passage="Ge 16:7" id="Gen.xvii-p17.1" parsed="|Gen|16|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.16.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. It
|
|
should seem, she was making towards her own country; for she was in
|
|
the way to Shur, which lay towards Egypt. It were well if our
|
|
afflictions would make us think of our home, the better country.
|
|
But Hagar was now out of her place, and out of the way of her duty,
|
|
and going further astray, when the angel found her. Note, 1. It is
|
|
a great mercy to be stopped in a sinful way either by conscience or
|
|
by Providence. 2. God suffers those that are out of the way to
|
|
wander awhile, that when they see their folly, and what a loss they
|
|
have brought themselves to, they may be the better disposed to
|
|
return. Hagar was not stopped till she was in the wilderness, and
|
|
had set down, weary enough, and glad of clear water to refresh
|
|
herself with. God brings us into a wilderness, and there meets us,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ho 2:14" id="Gen.xvii-p17.2" parsed="|Hos|2|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.2.14">Hos. ii. 14</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvii-p18">II. How he examined her, <scripRef passage="Ge 16:8" id="Gen.xvii-p18.1" parsed="|Gen|16|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.16.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvii-p19">1. He called her <i>Hagar, Sarai's
|
|
maid,</i> (1.) As a check to her pride. Though she was Abram's
|
|
wife, and, as such, was obliged to return, yet he calls her
|
|
<i>Sarai's maid,</i> to humble her. Note, Though civility teaches
|
|
us to call others by their highest titles, yet humility and wisdom
|
|
teach us to call ourselves by the lowest. (2.) As a rebuke to her
|
|
flight. Sarai's maid ought to be in Sarai's tent, and not wandering
|
|
in the wilderness and sauntering by a fountain of water. Note, It
|
|
is good for us often to call to mind what our place and relation
|
|
are. See <scripRef passage="Ec 10:4" id="Gen.xvii-p19.1" parsed="|Eccl|10|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.10.4">Eccl. x. 4</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvii-p20">2. The questions the angel put to her were
|
|
proper and very pertinent. (1.) "<i>Whence comest thou?</i>
|
|
Consider that thou art running away both from the duty thou wast
|
|
bound to and the privileges thou wast blessed with in Abram's
|
|
tent." Note, It is a great advantage to live in a religious family,
|
|
which those ought to consider who have that advantage, yet upon
|
|
every slight inducement are
|
|
|
|
<pb n="108" id="Gen.xvii-Page_108"/>
|
|
|
|
forward to quit
|
|
it. (2.) "<i>Whither wilt thou go?</i> Thou art running thyself
|
|
into sin, in Egypt" (if she return to that people, she will return
|
|
to their gods), "and into danger, in the wilderness," through which
|
|
she must travel, <scripRef passage="De 8:15" id="Gen.xvii-p20.1" parsed="|Deut|8|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.15">Deut. viii.
|
|
15</scripRef>. Note, Those who are forsaking God and their duty
|
|
would do well to remember not only <i>whence they have fallen,</i>
|
|
but <i>whither they are falling.</i> See <scripRef passage="Jer 2:18" id="Gen.xvii-p20.2" parsed="|Jer|2|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.2.18">Jer. ii. 18</scripRef>, <i>What hast thou to do</i>
|
|
(with Hagar) in the way of Egypt? <scripRef passage="Joh 6:68" id="Gen.xvii-p20.3" parsed="|John|6|68|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.6.68">John
|
|
vi. 68</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvii-p21">3. Her answer was honest, and a fair
|
|
confession: <i>I flee from the face of my mistress.</i> In this,
|
|
(1.) She acknowledges her fault in fleeing from her mistress, and
|
|
yet, (2.) Excuses it, that it was <i>from the face,</i> of
|
|
displeasure, of her mistress. Note, Children and servants must be
|
|
treated with mildness and gentleness, lest we provoke them to take
|
|
any irregular courses and so become accessory to their sins, which
|
|
will condemn us, though it will not justify them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvii-p22">4. How he sent her back, with suitable and
|
|
compassionate counsel: "<i>Return to thy mistress, and submit
|
|
thyself under her hand,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 16:9" id="Gen.xvii-p22.1" parsed="|Gen|16|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.16.9"><i>v.</i>
|
|
9</scripRef>. Go home, and humble thyself for what thou hast done
|
|
amiss, and beg pardon, and resolve for the future to behave thyself
|
|
better." He makes no question but she would be welcome, though it
|
|
does not appear that Abram sent after her. Note, Those that have
|
|
gone away from their place and duty, when they are convinced of
|
|
their error, must hasten their return and reformation, how
|
|
mortifying soever it may be.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 16:10-14" id="Gen.xvii-p22.2" parsed="|Gen|16|10|16|14" osisRef="Bible:Gen.16.10-Gen.16.14"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.16.10-Gen.16.14">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xvii-p22.3">The Promise Concerning
|
|
Ishmael. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xvii-p22.4">b. c.</span> 1911.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xvii-p23">10 And the angel of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xvii-p23.1">Lord</span> said unto her, I will multiply thy seed
|
|
exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.   11
|
|
And the angel of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xvii-p23.2">Lord</span> said unto
|
|
her, Behold, thou <i>art</i> with child, and shalt bear a son, and
|
|
shalt call his name Ishmael; because the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xvii-p23.3">Lord</span> hath heard thy affliction.   12 And he
|
|
will be a wild man; his hand <i>will be</i> against every man, and
|
|
every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of
|
|
all his brethren.   13 And she called the name of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xvii-p23.4">Lord</span> that spake unto her, Thou God seest
|
|
me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?
|
|
  14 Wherefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; behold,
|
|
<i>it is</i> between Kadesh and Bered.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvii-p24">We may suppose that the angel having given
|
|
Hagar that good counsel (<scripRef passage="Ge 16:9" id="Gen.xvii-p24.1" parsed="|Gen|16|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.16.9"><i>v.</i>
|
|
9</scripRef>) to <i>return to her mistress</i> she immediately
|
|
promised to do so, and was setting her face homeward; and then the
|
|
angel went on to encourage her with an assurance of the mercy God
|
|
had in store for her and her seed: for God will meet those with
|
|
mercy that are returning to their duty. <i>I said, I will confess,
|
|
and thou forgavest,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 32:5" id="Gen.xvii-p24.2" parsed="|Ps|32|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.32.5">Ps. xxxii.
|
|
5</scripRef>. Here is,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvii-p25">I. A prediction concerning her posterity
|
|
given her for her comfort in her present distress. Notice is taken
|
|
of her condition: <i>Behold, thou art with child;</i> and therefore
|
|
this is not a fit place for thee to be in. Note, It is a great
|
|
comfort to women with child to think that they are under the
|
|
particular cognizance and care of the divine Providence. God
|
|
graciously considers their case and suits supports to it. Now, 1.
|
|
The angel assures her of a safe delivery, and that of a <i>son,</i>
|
|
which Abram desired. This fright and ramble of hers might have
|
|
destroyed her hope of an offspring; but God dealt not with her
|
|
according to her folly: <i>Thou shalt bear a son.</i> She was saved
|
|
in child-bearing, not only by providence, but by promise. 2. He
|
|
names her child, which was an honour both to her and it: Call him
|
|
<i>Ishmael, God will hear;</i> and the reason is, because the Lord
|
|
has heard; he has, and therefore he will. Note, The experience we
|
|
have had of God's seasonable kindness to us in distress would
|
|
encourage us to hope for similar help in similar exigencies,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 10:17" id="Gen.xvii-p25.1" parsed="|Ps|10|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.10.17">Ps. x. 17</scripRef>. He has <i>heard
|
|
thy affliction,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 16:11" id="Gen.xvii-p25.2" parsed="|Gen|16|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.16.11"><i>v.</i>
|
|
11</scripRef>. Note, Even where there is little cry of devotion,
|
|
the God of pity sometimes graciously hears the cry of affliction.
|
|
Tears speak as well as prayers. This speaks comfort to the
|
|
afflicted, that God not only sees what their afflictions are, but
|
|
hears what they say. Note, further, Seasonable succours, in a day
|
|
of affliction, ought always to be remembered with thankfulness to
|
|
God. Such a time, in such a strait, <i>the Lord heard the voice of
|
|
my affliction, and helped me.</i> See <scripRef passage="De 26:7,Ps 31:22" id="Gen.xvii-p25.3" parsed="|Deut|26|7|0|0;|Ps|31|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26.7 Bible:Ps.31.22">Deut. xxvi. 7; Ps. xxxi. 22</scripRef>. 3. He
|
|
promises her a numerous offspring, (<scripRef passage="Ge 16:10" id="Gen.xvii-p25.4" parsed="|Gen|16|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.16.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>): <i>I will multiply thy seed
|
|
exceedingly,</i> Heb. <i>multiplying, I will multiply it,</i> that
|
|
is, multiply it in every age, so as to perpetuate it. It is
|
|
supposed that the Turks at this day descend from Ishmael; and they
|
|
are a great people. This was in pursuance of the promise made to
|
|
Abram: <i>I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 13:16" id="Gen.xvii-p25.5" parsed="|Gen|13|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.16"><i>ch.</i> xiii. 16</scripRef>. Note,
|
|
Many that are children of godly parents have, for their sakes, a
|
|
very large share of outward common blessings, though, like Ishmael,
|
|
they are not taken into covenant: many are multiplied that are not
|
|
sanctified. 4. He gives a character of the child she should bear,
|
|
which, however it may seem to us, perhaps was not very disagreeable
|
|
to her (<scripRef passage="Ge 16:12" id="Gen.xvii-p25.6" parsed="|Gen|16|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.16.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>):
|
|
<i>He will be a wild man; a wild ass of a man</i> (so the word is),
|
|
rude, and bold, and fearing no man—untamed, untractable living at
|
|
large, and impatient of service and restraint. Note, The children
|
|
of the bondwoman, who are out of covenant with God, are, as they
|
|
were born, like the wild ass's colt; it is grace that reclaims men,
|
|
civilizes them, and makes them wise, and good for something. It is
|
|
foretold, (1.) That he should live in strife,
|
|
|
|
<pb n="109" id="Gen.xvii-Page_109"/>
|
|
|
|
and in a state of war: <i>His hand against every
|
|
man</i>—this is his <i>sin; and every man's hand against
|
|
him</i>—this is his <i>punishment.</i> Note, Those that have
|
|
turbulent spirits have commonly troublesome lives; those that are
|
|
provoking, vexatious, and injurious to others, must expect to be
|
|
repaid in their own coin. He that has his hand and tongue against
|
|
every man shall have every man's hand and tongue against him, and
|
|
he has no reason to complain of it. And yet, (2.) That he should
|
|
live in safety, and hold his own against all the world: <i>He shall
|
|
dwell in the presence of all his brethren;</i> though threatened
|
|
and insulted by all his neighbours, yet he shall keep his ground,
|
|
and for Abram's sake, more than his own, shall be able to make his
|
|
part good with them. Accordingly we read (<scripRef passage="Ge 25:18" id="Gen.xvii-p25.7" parsed="|Gen|25|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.18"><i>ch.</i> xxv. 18</scripRef>), that he <i>died,</i> as
|
|
he lived, <i>in the presence of all his brethren.</i> Note, Many
|
|
that are much exposed by their own imprudence are yet strangely
|
|
preserved by the divine Providence, so much better is God to them
|
|
than they deserve, when they not only forfeit their lives by sin,
|
|
but hazard them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvii-p26">II. Hagar's pious reflection upon this
|
|
gracious appearance of God to her, <scripRef passage="Ge 16:13,14" id="Gen.xvii-p26.1" parsed="|Gen|16|13|16|14" osisRef="Bible:Gen.16.13-Gen.16.14"><i>v.</i> 13, 14</scripRef>. Observe in what she
|
|
said,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvii-p27">1. Her awful adoration of God's omniscience
|
|
and providence, with application of it to herself: <i>She called
|
|
the name of the Lord that spoke unto her,</i> that is, thus she
|
|
made confession of his name, this she said to his praise, <i>Thou
|
|
God seest me:</i> this should be, with her, his name for ever, and
|
|
this his memorial, by which she will know him and remember him
|
|
while she lives, <i>Thou God seest me.</i> Note, (1.) The God with
|
|
whom we have to do is a seeing God, and all-seeing God. <i>God
|
|
is</i> (as the ancients express it) <i>all eye.</i> (2.) We ought
|
|
to acknowledge this with application to ourselves. He that sees all
|
|
sees me, as David (<scripRef passage="Ps 139:1" id="Gen.xvii-p27.1" parsed="|Ps|139|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.139.1">Ps. cxxxix.
|
|
1</scripRef>), <i>O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.</i>
|
|
(3.) A believing regard to God, as a God that sees us, will be of
|
|
great use to us in our returns to him. It is a proper word for a
|
|
penitent:—[1.] "Thou seest my sin and folly." I have <i>sinned
|
|
before thee,</i> says the prodigal; <i>in thy sight,</i> says
|
|
David. [2.] "Thou seest my sorrow and affliction;" this Hagar
|
|
especially refers to. When we have brought ourselves into distress
|
|
by our own folly, yet God has not forsaken us. [3.] "Thou seest the
|
|
sincerity and seriousness of my return and repentance. Thou seest
|
|
my secret mournings for sin, and secret motions towards thee." [4.]
|
|
"Thou seest me, if in any instance I depart from thee," <scripRef passage="Ps 44:20,21" id="Gen.xvii-p27.2" parsed="|Ps|44|20|44|21" osisRef="Bible:Ps.44.20-Ps.44.21">Ps. xliv. 20, 21</scripRef>. This thought
|
|
should always restrain us from sin and excite us to duty: <i>Thou
|
|
God seest me.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvii-p28">2. Her humble admiration of God's favour to
|
|
her: "<i>Have I here also looked after him that seeth me?</i> Have
|
|
I here <i>seen the back parts</i> of him that seeth me?" so it
|
|
might be read, for the word is much the same with that, <scripRef passage="Ex 33:23" id="Gen.xvii-p28.1" parsed="|Exod|33|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.23">Exod. xxxiii. 23</scripRef>. She saw not <i>face
|
|
to face,</i> but as <i>through a glass darkly,</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 13:12" id="Gen.xvii-p28.2" parsed="|1Cor|13|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.13.12">1 Cor. xiii. 12</scripRef>. Probably she knew
|
|
not who it was that talked with her, till he was departing (as
|
|
<scripRef passage="Jdg 6:21,22,13:21" id="Gen.xvii-p28.3" parsed="|Judg|6|21|6|22;|Judg|13|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.6.21-Judg.6.22 Bible:Judg.13.21">Judg. vi. 21, 22; xiii.
|
|
21</scripRef>), and then she looked after him, with a reflection
|
|
like that of the two disciples, <scripRef passage="Lu 24:31,32" id="Gen.xvii-p28.4" parsed="|Luke|24|31|24|32" osisRef="Bible:Luke.24.31-Luke.24.32">Luke xxiv. 31, 32</scripRef>. Or, <i>Have I here seen
|
|
him that sees me?</i> Note, (1.) The communion which holy souls
|
|
have with God consists in their having an eye of faith towards him,
|
|
as a God that has an eye of favour towards them. The intercourse is
|
|
kept up by the eye. (2.) The privilege of our communion with God is
|
|
to be looked upon with wonder and admiration, [1.] Considering what
|
|
we are who are admitted to this favour. "Have I? I that am so mean,
|
|
I that am so vile?" <scripRef passage="2Sa 7:18" id="Gen.xvii-p28.5" parsed="|2Sam|7|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.7.18">2 Sam. vii.
|
|
18</scripRef>. [2.] Considering the place where we are thus
|
|
favoured—"<i>here</i> also? Not only in Abram's tent and at his
|
|
altar, but <i>here</i> also, in this wilderness? Here, where I
|
|
never expected it, where I was out of the way of my duty? <i>Lord,
|
|
how is it?</i>" <scripRef passage="Joh 14:22" id="Gen.xvii-p28.6" parsed="|John|14|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.14.22">John xiv.
|
|
22</scripRef>. Some make the answer to this question to be
|
|
negative, and so look upon it as a penitent reflection: "<i>Have I
|
|
here also,</i> in my distress and affliction, <i>looked after
|
|
God?</i> No, I was a careless and unmindful of him as ever I used
|
|
to be; and yet he has thus visited and regarded me:" for God often
|
|
anticipates us with his favours, and is found of those that seek
|
|
him not, <scripRef passage="Isa 65:1" id="Gen.xvii-p28.7" parsed="|Isa|65|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.1">Isa. lxv. 1</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvii-p29">III. The name which this gave to the place:
|
|
<i>Beer-lahai-roi, The well of him that liveth and seeth me,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 16:14" id="Gen.xvii-p29.1" parsed="|Gen|16|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.16.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. It is
|
|
probable that Hagar put this name upon it; and it was retained long
|
|
after, <i>in perpetuam rei memoriam—a lasting memorial of this
|
|
event.</i> This was a place where the God of glory manifested the
|
|
special cognizance and care he took of a poor woman in distress.
|
|
Note, 1. He that is all-seeing is ever-living; he lives and sees
|
|
us. 2. Those that are graciously admitted into communion with God,
|
|
and receive seasonable comforts from him, should tell others what
|
|
he has done for their souls, that they also may be encouraged to
|
|
seek him and trust in him. 3. God's gracious manifestations of
|
|
himself to us are to be had in everlasting remembrance by us, and
|
|
should never be forgotten.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 16:15-16" id="Gen.xvii-p29.2" parsed="|Gen|16|15|16|16" osisRef="Bible:Gen.16.15-Gen.16.16"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.16.15-Gen.16.16">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xvii-p29.3">The Birth of Ishmael. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xvii-p29.4">b. c.</span> 1911.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xvii-p30">15 And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called
|
|
his son's name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael.   16 And Abram
|
|
<i>was</i> fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to
|
|
Abram.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xvii-p31">It is here taken for granted, though not
|
|
expressly recorded, that Hagar did as the angel commanded her,
|
|
returning to her mistress and submitting herself; and then, in the
|
|
fulness of time, she brought forth her son. Note, Those who obey
|
|
divine precepts shall have the comfort of divine promises. This was
|
|
the son of the bond-woman that was <i>born after the flesh</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ga 4:23" id="Gen.xvii-p31.1" parsed="|Gal|4|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.4.23">Gal. iv. 23</scripRef>),
|
|
|
|
<pb n="110" id="Gen.xvii-Page_110"/>
|
|
|
|
representing the unbelieving Jews, <scripRef passage="Ga 4:25" id="Gen.xvii-p31.2" parsed="|Gal|4|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.4.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>. Note, 1. Many who can
|
|
call Abraham father are yet <i>born after the flesh,</i> <scripRef passage="Mt 3:9" id="Gen.xvii-p31.3" parsed="|Matt|3|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.3.9">Matt. iii. 9</scripRef>. 2. The carnal seed in the
|
|
church are sooner brought forth than the spiritual. It is an easier
|
|
thing to persuade men to assume the form of godliness than to
|
|
submit to the power of godliness.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XVII" n="xviii" progress="13.26%" prev="Gen.xvii" next="Gen.xix" id="Gen.xviii">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="110" id="Gen.xviii-Page_110"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xviii-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xviii-p0.2">CHAP. XVII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xviii-p1">This chapter contains articles of agreement
|
|
covenanted and concluded upon between the great Jehovah, the Father
|
|
of mercies, on the one part, and pious Abram, the father of the
|
|
faithful, on the other part. Abram is therefore called "the friend
|
|
of God," not only because he was the man of his counsel, but
|
|
because he was the man of his covenant; both these secrets were
|
|
with him. Mention was made of this covenant (<scripRef passage="Ge 15:18" id="Gen.xviii-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|15|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.18"><i>ch.</i> xv. 18</scripRef>), but here it is
|
|
particularly drawn up, and put into the form of a covenant, that
|
|
Abram might have strong consolation. Here are, I. The circumstances
|
|
of the making of this covenant, the time and manner (<scripRef passage="Ge 17:1" id="Gen.xviii-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|17|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.1">ver. 1</scripRef>), and the posture Abram was in,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 17:3" id="Gen.xviii-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|17|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.3">ver. 3</scripRef>. II. The covenant
|
|
itself. In the general scope of it, <scripRef passage="Ge 17:1" id="Gen.xviii-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|17|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.1">ver. 1</scripRef>. And, afterwards, in the particular
|
|
instances. 1. That he should be the father of many nations
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 17:4,6" id="Gen.xviii-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|17|4|0|0;|Gen|17|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.4 Bible:Gen.17.6">ver. 4, 6</scripRef>), and, in token
|
|
of this, his name was changed, <scripRef passage="Ge 17:5" id="Gen.xviii-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|17|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.5">ver.
|
|
5</scripRef>. 2. That God would be a God to him and his seed, and
|
|
would give them the land of Canaan, <scripRef passage="Ge 17:7,8" id="Gen.xviii-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|17|7|17|8" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.7-Gen.17.8">ver. 7, 8</scripRef>. And the seal of this part of the
|
|
covenant was circumcision, <scripRef passage="Ge 17:9-14" id="Gen.xviii-p1.8" parsed="|Gen|17|9|17|14" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.9-Gen.17.14">ver.
|
|
9-14</scripRef>. 3. That he should have a son by Sarai, and, in
|
|
token thereof, her name was changed, <scripRef passage="Ge 17:15,16" id="Gen.xviii-p1.9" parsed="|Gen|17|15|17|16" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.15-Gen.17.16">ver. 15, 16</scripRef>. This promise Abram received,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 17:17" id="Gen.xviii-p1.10" parsed="|Gen|17|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.17">ver. 17</scripRef>. And his request
|
|
for Ishmael, (<scripRef passage="Ge 17:18" id="Gen.xviii-p1.11" parsed="|Gen|17|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.18">ver. 18</scripRef>) was
|
|
answered, abundantly to his satisfaction, <scripRef passage="Ge 17:19-22" id="Gen.xviii-p1.12" parsed="|Gen|17|19|17|22" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.19-Gen.17.22">ver. 19-22</scripRef>. III. The circumcision of Abram
|
|
and his family, according to God's appointment, <scripRef passage="Ge 17:23-27" id="Gen.xviii-p1.13" parsed="|Gen|17|23|17|27" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.23-Gen.17.27">ver. 23</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 17" id="Gen.xviii-p1.14" parsed="|Gen|17|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 17:1-3" id="Gen.xviii-p1.15" parsed="|Gen|17|1|17|3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.1-Gen.17.3"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.17.1-Gen.17.3">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xviii-p1.16">The Covenant with Abraham
|
|
Renewed. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xviii-p1.17">b. c.</span> 1898.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xviii-p2">1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine,
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xviii-p2.1">Lord</span> appeared to Abram, and said
|
|
unto him, I <i>am</i> the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou
|
|
perfect.   2 And I will make my covenant between me and thee,
|
|
and will multiply thee exceedingly.   3 And Abram fell on his
|
|
face: and God talked with him, saying,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xviii-p3">Here is, I. The time when God made Abram
|
|
this gracious visit: <i>When he was ninety-nine years old,</i> full
|
|
thirteen years after the birth of Ishmael. 1. So long, it should
|
|
seem, God's extraordinary appearances to Abram were intermitted;
|
|
and all the communion he had with God was only in the usual ways of
|
|
ordinances and providences. Note, There are some special comforts
|
|
which are not the daily bread, no, not of the best saints, but they
|
|
are favoured with them now and then. On this side heaven they have
|
|
convenient food, but not a continual feast. 2. So long the promise
|
|
of Isaac was deferred. (1.) Perhaps to correct Abram's over-hasty
|
|
marrying of Hagar. Note, The comforts we sinfully anticipate are
|
|
justly delayed. (2.) That Abram and Sarai being so far stricken in
|
|
age God's power, in this matter, might be the more magnified, and
|
|
their faith the more tried. See <scripRef passage="De 32:36,Joh 11:6,15" id="Gen.xviii-p3.1" parsed="|Deut|32|36|0|0;|John|11|6|0|0;|John|11|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.36 Bible:John.11.6 Bible:John.11.15">Deut. xxxii. 36; John xi. 6, 15</scripRef>.
|
|
(3.) That a child so long waited for might be an <i>Isaac, a son
|
|
indeed,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 54:1" id="Gen.xviii-p3.2" parsed="|Isa|54|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.1">Isa. liv.
|
|
1</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xviii-p4">II. The way in which God made this covenant
|
|
with him: <i>The Lord appeared to Abram,</i> in the
|
|
<i>shechinah,</i> some visible display of God's immediate glorious
|
|
presence with him. Note, God first makes himself known to us, and
|
|
gives us a sight of him by faith, and then takes us into his
|
|
covenant.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xviii-p5">III. The posture Abram put himself into
|
|
upon this occasion: <i>He fell on his face while God talked with
|
|
him,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 17:3" id="Gen.xviii-p5.1" parsed="|Gen|17|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. 1. As
|
|
one overcome by the brightness of the divine glory, and unable to
|
|
bear the sight of it, though he had seen it several times before.
|
|
Daniel and John did likewise, though they were also acquainted with
|
|
the visions of the Almighty, <scripRef passage="Da 8:17,10:9,15,Re 1:17" id="Gen.xviii-p5.2" parsed="|Dan|8|17|0|0;|Dan|10|9|0|0;|Dan|10|15|0|0;|Rev|1|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.8.17 Bible:Dan.10.9 Bible:Dan.10.15 Bible:Rev.1.17">Dan. viii. 17; x. 9, 15; Rev. i.
|
|
17</scripRef>. Or, 2. As one ashamed of himself, and blushing to
|
|
think of the honours done to one so unworthy. He looks upon himself
|
|
with humility, and upon God with reverence, and, in token of both,
|
|
<i>falls on his face,</i> putting himself into a posture of
|
|
adoration. Note, (1.) God graciously condescends to talk with those
|
|
whom he takes into covenant and communion with himself. He talks
|
|
with them by his <i>word,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 6:22" id="Gen.xviii-p5.3" parsed="|Prov|6|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.6.22">Prov. vi.
|
|
22</scripRef>. He talks with them by his <i>Spirit,</i> <scripRef passage="Joh 14:26" id="Gen.xviii-p5.4" parsed="|John|14|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.14.26">John xiv. 26</scripRef>. This honour have all
|
|
his saints. (2.) Those that are admitted into fellowship with God
|
|
are, and must be, very humble and very reverent in their approaches
|
|
to him. If we say we have fellowship with him, and the familiarity
|
|
breeds contempt, we deceive ourselves. (3.) Those that would
|
|
receive comfort from God must set themselves to give glory to God
|
|
and to worship at his footstool.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xviii-p6">IV. The general scope and summary of the
|
|
covenant laid down as the foundation on which all the rest was
|
|
built; it is no other than the covenant of grace still made with
|
|
all believers in Jesus Christ, <scripRef passage="Ge 17:1" id="Gen.xviii-p6.1" parsed="|Gen|17|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. Observe here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xviii-p7">1. What we may expect to find God to us:
|
|
<i>I am the Almighty God.</i> By this name he chose to make himself
|
|
known to Abram rather than by his name <i>Jehovah,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 6:3" id="Gen.xviii-p7.1" parsed="|Exod|6|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.3">Exod. vi. 3</scripRef>. He used it to Jacob,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 28:3,43:14,48:3" id="Gen.xviii-p7.2" parsed="|Gen|28|3|0|0;|Gen|43|14|0|0;|Gen|48|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.3 Bible:Gen.43.14 Bible:Gen.48.3"><i>ch.</i> xxviii. 3; xliii.
|
|
14; xlviii. 3</scripRef>. It is the name of God that is mostly used
|
|
throughout the book of Job, at least in the <i>discourses</i> of
|
|
that book. After Moses, <i>Jehovah</i> is more frequently used, and
|
|
this, <i>El-shaddai,</i> very rarely; it bespeaks the almighty
|
|
power of God, either, (1.) As an avenger, from <b><i>shodeh</i></b>
|
|
<i>he laid waste,</i> so some; and they think God took this title
|
|
from the destruction of the old world. This is countenanced by
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 13:6" id="Gen.xviii-p7.3" parsed="|Isa|13|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.13.6">Isa. xiii. 6</scripRef>, and <scripRef passage="Joe 1:15" id="Gen.xviii-p7.4" parsed="|Joel|1|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Joel.1.15">Joel i. 15</scripRef>. Or, (2.) As a benefactor
|
|
<b><i>shin</i></b> (for) <b><i>asher</i></b> <i>(who),</i> and
|
|
<b><i>day</i></b> <i>(sufficient).</i> He is a God that is enough; or,
|
|
as our old English translation reads it here very significantly,
|
|
<i>I am God all-sufficient.</i> Note, The God with whom we have to
|
|
do is a God <i>that is enough.</i> [1.] He is enough in himself; he
|
|
is self-sufficient; he has every thing, and he needs not any thing.
|
|
[2.] He is enough to us, if we be in covenant with him: we have all
|
|
in him, and we have enough in him, enough to satisfy our most
|
|
enlarged desires, enough to supply the defect of every thing else,
|
|
and to secure to us a happiness for our immortal souls. See
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 16:5,6,73:25" id="Gen.xviii-p7.5" parsed="|Ps|16|5|16|6;|Ps|73|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.16.5-Ps.16.6 Bible:Ps.73.25">Ps. xvi. 5, 6; lxxiii.
|
|
25</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xviii-p8">2. What God requires that we should be to
|
|
him. The covenant is mutual: <i>Walk
|
|
|
|
<pb n="111" id="Gen.xviii-Page_111"/>
|
|
|
|
before
|
|
me, and be thou perfect,</i> that is, upright and sincere; for
|
|
herein the covenant of grace is well-ordered that sincerity is our
|
|
gospel perfection. Observe, (1.) That to be religious is to walk
|
|
before God in our integrity; it is to set God always before us, and
|
|
to think, and speak, and act, in every thing, as those that are
|
|
always under his eye. It is to have a constant regard to his word
|
|
as our rule and to his glory as our end in all our actions, and to
|
|
be continually in his fear. It is to be <i>inward with him,</i> in
|
|
all the duties of religious worship, for in them particularly we
|
|
walk before God (<scripRef passage="1Sa 2:30" id="Gen.xviii-p8.1" parsed="|1Sam|2|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.2.30">1 Sam. ii.
|
|
30</scripRef>), and to be <i>entire for him,</i> in all holy
|
|
conversation. I know no religion but sincerity. (2.) That upright
|
|
walking with God is the condition of our interest in his
|
|
all-sufficiency. If we neglect him, or dissemble with him, we
|
|
forfeit the benefit and comfort of our relation to him. (3.) A
|
|
continual regard to God's all-sufficiency will have a great
|
|
influence upon our upright walking with him.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 17:4-6" id="Gen.xviii-p8.2" parsed="|Gen|17|4|17|6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.4-Gen.17.6"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.17.4-Gen.17.6">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xviii-p9">4 As for me, behold, my covenant <i>is</i> with
|
|
thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.   5 Neither
|
|
shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be
|
|
Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.   6
|
|
And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of
|
|
thee, and kings shall come out of thee.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xviii-p10">The promise here is introduced with
|
|
solemnity: "<i>As for me,</i>" says the great God, "behold, behold
|
|
and admire it, behold and be assured of it, my covenant is with
|
|
thee;" as before (<scripRef passage="Ge 17:2" id="Gen.xviii-p10.1" parsed="|Gen|17|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.2"><i>v.</i>
|
|
2</scripRef>), <i>I will make my covenant.</i> Note, The covenant
|
|
of grace is a covenant of God's own making; this he glories in
|
|
(<i>as for me</i>), and so may we. Now here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xviii-p11">I. It is promised to Abraham that he should
|
|
be a <i>father of many nations;</i> that is, 1. That his seed after
|
|
the flesh should be very numerous, both in Isaac and Ishmael, as
|
|
well as in the sons of Keturah: something extraordinary is
|
|
doubtless included in this promise, and we may suppose that the
|
|
event answered to it, and that there have been, and are, more of
|
|
the children of men descended from Abraham than from any one man at
|
|
an equal distance with him from Noah, the common root. 2. That all
|
|
believers in every age should be looked upon as his spiritual seed,
|
|
and that he should be called, not only <i>the friend of God,</i>
|
|
but <i>the father of the faithful.</i> In this sense the apostle
|
|
directs us to understand this promise, <scripRef passage="Ro 4:16,17" id="Gen.xviii-p11.1" parsed="|Rom|4|16|4|17" osisRef="Bible:Rom.4.16-Rom.4.17">Rom. iv. 16, 17</scripRef>. He is the father of those
|
|
in every nation that by faith enter into covenant with God, and (as
|
|
the Jewish writers express it) <i>are gathered under the wings of
|
|
the divine Majesty.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xviii-p12">II. In token of this his name was changed
|
|
from <i>Abram, a high father,</i> to <i>Abraham, the father of a
|
|
multitude.</i> This was, 1. To put an honour upon him. It is spoken
|
|
of as the glory of the church that she shall be <i>called by a new
|
|
name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 62:2" id="Gen.xviii-p12.1" parsed="|Isa|62|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.62.2">Isa. lxii. 2</scripRef>. Princes dignify their
|
|
favourites by conferring new titles upon them; thus was Abraham
|
|
dignified by him that is indeed the fountain of honour. All
|
|
believers have a new name, <scripRef passage="Re 2:17" id="Gen.xviii-p12.2" parsed="|Rev|2|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.2.17">Rev. ii.
|
|
17</scripRef>. Some think it added to the honour of Abraham's new
|
|
name that a letter of the name <i>Jehovah</i> was inserted into it,
|
|
as it was a disgrace to Jeconiah to have the first syllable of his
|
|
name cut off, because it was the same as the first syllable of the
|
|
sacred name, <scripRef passage="Jer 22:28" id="Gen.xviii-p12.3" parsed="|Jer|22|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.22.28">Jer. xxii.
|
|
28</scripRef>. Believers are named from Christ, <scripRef passage="Eph 3:15" id="Gen.xviii-p12.4" parsed="|Eph|3|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eph.3.15">Eph. iii. 15</scripRef>. 2. To encourage and confirm the
|
|
faith of Abraham. While he was childless perhaps even his own name
|
|
was sometimes an occasion of grief to him: why should he be called
|
|
a high father who was not a father at all? But now that God had
|
|
promised him a numerous issue, and had given him a name which
|
|
signified so much, that name was his joy. Note, God calls things
|
|
that are not as though they were. It is the apostle's observation
|
|
upon this very thing, <scripRef passage="Ro 4:17" id="Gen.xviii-p12.5" parsed="|Rom|4|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.4.17">Rom. iv.
|
|
17</scripRef>. He called Abraham <i>the father of a multitude</i>
|
|
because he should prove to be so in due time, though as yet he had
|
|
but one child.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 17:7-14" id="Gen.xviii-p12.6" parsed="|Gen|17|7|17|14" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.7-Gen.17.14"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.17.7-Gen.17.14">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xviii-p13">7 And I will establish my covenant between me
|
|
and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an
|
|
everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after
|
|
thee.   8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after
|
|
thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan,
|
|
for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.   9
|
|
And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore,
|
|
thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.   10 This
|
|
<i>is</i> my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and
|
|
thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be
|
|
circumcised.   11 And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your
|
|
foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and
|
|
you.   12 And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised
|
|
among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in
|
|
the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which <i>is</i>
|
|
not of thy seed.   13 He that is born in thy house, and he
|
|
that is bought with thy money, must needs
|
|
|
|
<pb n="112" id="Gen.xviii-Page_112"/>
|
|
|
|
be
|
|
circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an
|
|
everlasting covenant.   14 And the uncircumcised man child
|
|
whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be
|
|
cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xviii-p14">Here is, I. The continuance of the
|
|
covenant, intimated in three things:—1. It is established; not to
|
|
be altered nor revoked. It is fixed, it is ratified, it is made as
|
|
firm as the divine power and truth can make it. 2. It is entailed;
|
|
it is a covenant, not with Abraham only (then it would die with
|
|
him), but with his seed after him, not only his seed after the
|
|
flesh, but his spiritual seed. 3. It is everlasting in the
|
|
evangelical sense and meaning of it. The covenant of grace is
|
|
everlasting. It is from everlasting in the counsels of it, and to
|
|
everlasting in the consequences of it; and the external
|
|
administration of it is transmitted with the seal of it to the seed
|
|
of believers, and the internal administration of it by the Spirit
|
|
of Christ's seed in every age.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xviii-p15">II. The contents of the covenant: it is a
|
|
covenant of promises, exceedingly great and precious promises. Here
|
|
are two which indeed are all-sufficient:—1. That God would be
|
|
their God, <scripRef passage="Ge 17:7,8" id="Gen.xviii-p15.1" parsed="|Gen|17|7|17|8" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.7-Gen.17.8"><i>v.</i> 7, 8</scripRef>.
|
|
All the privileges of the covenant, all its joys and all its hopes,
|
|
are summed up in this. A man needs desire no more than this to make
|
|
him happy. What God is himself, that he will be to his people: his
|
|
wisdom theirs, to guide and counsel them; his power theirs, to
|
|
protect and support them; his goodness theirs, to supply and
|
|
comfort them. What faithful worshippers can expect from the God
|
|
they serve believers shall find in God as theirs. This is enough,
|
|
yet not all. 2. That Canaan should be their everlasting possession,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 17:8" id="Gen.xviii-p15.2" parsed="|Gen|17|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. God had before
|
|
promised this land to Abraham and his seed, <scripRef passage="Ge 15:18" id="Gen.xviii-p15.3" parsed="|Gen|15|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.18"><i>ch.</i> xv. 18</scripRef>. But here, where it is
|
|
promised for an everlasting possession, surely it must be looked
|
|
upon as a type of heaven's happiness, that everlasting rest which
|
|
remains for the people of God, <scripRef passage="Heb 4:9" id="Gen.xviii-p15.4" parsed="|Heb|4|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.4.9">Heb. iv.
|
|
9</scripRef>. This is that better country to which Abraham had an
|
|
eye, and the grant of which was that which answered to the vast
|
|
extent and compass of that promise, that God would be to them a
|
|
God; so that, if God had not prepared and designed this, he would
|
|
have been ashamed to be called their God, <scripRef passage="Heb 11:16" id="Gen.xviii-p15.5" parsed="|Heb|11|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.16">Heb. xi. 16</scripRef>. As the land of Canaan was
|
|
secured to the seed of Abraham according to the flesh, so heaven is
|
|
secured to all his spiritual seed, by a covenant, and for a
|
|
possession, truly everlasting. The offer of this eternal life is
|
|
made in the word, and confirmed by the sacraments, to all that are
|
|
under the external administration of the covenant; and the earnest
|
|
of it is given to all believers, <scripRef passage="Eph 1:14" id="Gen.xviii-p15.6" parsed="|Eph|1|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eph.1.14">Eph.
|
|
i. 14</scripRef>. Canaan is here said to be the land wherein
|
|
Abraham was a stranger; and the heavenly Canaan is a land to which
|
|
we are strangers, for it does not yet appear what we shall be.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xviii-p16">III. The token of the covenant, and that is
|
|
circumcision, for the sake of which the covenant is itself called
|
|
the <i>covenant of circumcision,</i> <scripRef passage="Ac 7:8" id="Gen.xviii-p16.1" parsed="|Acts|7|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.8">Acts vii. 8</scripRef>. It is here said to be the covenant
|
|
which Abraham and his seed must keep, as a copy or counterpart,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 17:9,10" id="Gen.xviii-p16.2" parsed="|Gen|17|9|17|10" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.9-Gen.17.10"><i>v.</i> 9, 10</scripRef>. It is
|
|
called a sign and seal (<scripRef passage="Ro 4:11" id="Gen.xviii-p16.3" parsed="|Rom|4|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.4.11">Rom. iv.
|
|
11</scripRef>), for it was, 1. A confirmation to Abraham and his
|
|
seed of those promises which were God's part of the covenant,
|
|
assuring them that they should be fulfilled, that in due time
|
|
Canaan would be theirs: and the continuance of this ordinance,
|
|
after Canaan was theirs, intimates that these promises looked
|
|
further to another Canaan, which they must still be in expectation
|
|
of. See <scripRef passage="Heb 4:8" id="Gen.xviii-p16.4" parsed="|Heb|4|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.4.8">Heb. iv. 8</scripRef>. 2. An
|
|
obligation upon Abraham and his seed to that duty which was their
|
|
part of the covenant; not only to the duty of accepting the
|
|
covenant and consenting to it, and putting away the corruption of
|
|
the flesh (which were more immediately and primarily signified by
|
|
circumcision), but, in general, to the observance of all God's
|
|
commands, as they should at any time hereafter be intimated and
|
|
made known to them; for circumcision made men <i>debtors to do the
|
|
whole law,</i> <scripRef passage="Ga 5:3" id="Gen.xviii-p16.5" parsed="|Gal|5|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.5.3">Gal. v. 3</scripRef>.
|
|
Those who will have God to be to them a God must consent and
|
|
resolve to be to him a people. Now, (1.) Circumcision was a bloody
|
|
ordinance; for all things by the law were purged with blood,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Heb 9:22" id="Gen.xviii-p16.6" parsed="|Heb|9|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.9.22">Heb. ix. 22</scripRef>. See <scripRef passage="Ex 24:8" id="Gen.xviii-p16.7" parsed="|Exod|24|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.8">Exod. xxiv. 8</scripRef>. But, the blood of
|
|
Christ being shed, all bloody ordinances are now abolished;
|
|
circumcision therefore gives way to baptism. (2.) It was peculiar
|
|
to the males, though the women were also included in the covenant,
|
|
for the man is the head of the woman. In our kingdom, the oath of
|
|
allegiance is required only from men. Some think that the blood of
|
|
the males only was shed in circumcision because respect was had in
|
|
it to Jesus Christ and his blood. (3.) It was the flesh of the
|
|
foreskin that was to be cut off, because it is by ordinary
|
|
generation that sin is propagated, and with an eye to the promised
|
|
seed, who was to come from the loins of Abraham. Christ having not
|
|
yet offered himself to us, God would have man to enter into
|
|
covenant by the offering of some part of his own body, and no part
|
|
could be better spared. It is a secret part of the body; for the
|
|
true circumcision is that of the heart: this honour God put upon an
|
|
uncomely part, <scripRef passage="1Co 12:23,24" id="Gen.xviii-p16.8" parsed="|1Cor|12|23|12|24" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.12.23-1Cor.12.24">1 Cor. xii. 23,
|
|
24</scripRef>. (4.) The ordinance was to be administered to
|
|
children when they were eight days old, and not sooner, that they
|
|
might gather some strength, to be able to undergo the pain of it,
|
|
and that at least one sabbath might pass over them. (5.) The
|
|
children of the strangers, of whom the master of the family was the
|
|
true domestic owner, were to
|
|
|
|
<pb n="113" id="Gen.xviii-Page_113"/>
|
|
|
|
be circumcised
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 17:12,13" id="Gen.xviii-p16.9" parsed="|Gen|17|12|17|13" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.12-Gen.17.13"><i>v.</i> 12, 13</scripRef>),
|
|
which looked favourably upon the Gentiles, who should in due time
|
|
be brought into the family of Abraham, by faith. See <scripRef passage="Ga 3:14" id="Gen.xviii-p16.10" parsed="|Gal|3|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.3.14">Gal. iii. 14</scripRef>. (6.) The religious
|
|
observance of this institution was required under a very severe
|
|
penalty, <scripRef passage="Ge 17:14" id="Gen.xviii-p16.11" parsed="|Gen|17|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. The
|
|
contempt of circumcision was a contempt of the covenant; if the
|
|
parents did not circumcise their children, it was at their peril,
|
|
as in the case of Moses, <scripRef passage="Ex 4:24,25" id="Gen.xviii-p16.12" parsed="|Exod|4|24|4|25" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.24-Exod.4.25">Exod. iv.
|
|
24, 25</scripRef>. With respect to those that were not circumcised
|
|
in their infancy, if, when they grew up, they did not themselves
|
|
come under this ordinance, God would surely reckon with them. If
|
|
they cut not off the flesh of their foreskin, God would cut them
|
|
off from their people. It is a dangerous thing to make light of
|
|
divine institutions, and to live in the neglect of them.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 17:15-22" id="Gen.xviii-p16.13" parsed="|Gen|17|15|17|22" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.15-Gen.17.22"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.17.15-Gen.17.22">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xviii-p17">15 And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy
|
|
wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah <i>shall</i>
|
|
her name <i>be.</i>   16 And I will bless her, and give thee a
|
|
son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be <i>a
|
|
mother</i> of nations; kings of people shall be of her.   17
|
|
Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his
|
|
heart, Shall <i>a child</i> be born unto him that is a hundred
|
|
years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?  
|
|
18 And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before
|
|
thee!   19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son
|
|
indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my
|
|
covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, <i>and</i> with his
|
|
seed after him.   20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee:
|
|
Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will
|
|
multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will
|
|
make him a great nation.   21 But my covenant will I establish
|
|
with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in
|
|
the next year.   22 And he left off talking with him, and God
|
|
went up from Abraham.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xviii-p18">Here is, I. The promise made to Abraham of
|
|
a son by <i>Sarai,</i> that son in whom the promise made to him
|
|
should be fulfilled, that he should be the father of many nations;
|
|
for <i>she also shall be a mother of nations, and kings of people
|
|
shall be of her,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 17:16" id="Gen.xviii-p18.1" parsed="|Gen|17|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.16"><i>v.</i>
|
|
16</scripRef>. Note, 1. God reveals the purposes of his good-will
|
|
to his people by degrees. God had told Abraham long before that he
|
|
should have a son, but never till now that he should have a son by
|
|
<i>Sarai.</i> 2. The blessing of the Lord makes fruitful, and adds
|
|
no sorrow with it, no such sorrow as was in Hagar's case. "I will
|
|
bless her with the blessing of fruitfulness, and then thou shalt
|
|
have a son of her." 3. Civil government and order are a great
|
|
blessing to the church. It is promised, not only that
|
|
<i>people,</i> but <i>kings of people,</i> should be of her; not a
|
|
headless rout, but a well-modelled well-governed society.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xviii-p19">II. The ratification of this promise was
|
|
the change of <i>Sarai's</i> name into <i>Sarah</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 17:15" id="Gen.xviii-p19.1" parsed="|Gen|17|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>), the same letter being
|
|
added to her name that was to Abraham's, and for the same reasons.
|
|
<i>Sarai</i> signifies <i>my princess,</i> as if her honour were
|
|
confined to one family only. <i>Sarah</i> signifies <i>a
|
|
princess</i>—namely, of <i>multitudes,</i> or signifying that from
|
|
her should come the Messiah the prince, even the prince of the
|
|
kings of the earth.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xviii-p20">III. Abraham's joyful, thankful,
|
|
entertainment of this gracious promise, <scripRef passage="Ge 17:17" id="Gen.xviii-p20.1" parsed="|Gen|17|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. Upon this occasion he
|
|
expressed, 1. Great humility: He <i>fell on his face.</i> Note, The
|
|
more honours and favours God confers upon us the lower we should be
|
|
in our own eyes, and the more reverent and submissive before God.
|
|
2. Great joy: He <i>laughed.</i> It was a laughter of delight, not
|
|
of distrust. Note, Even the promises of a holy God, as well as his
|
|
performances, are the joys of holy souls; there is the joy of faith
|
|
as well as the joy of fruition. Now it was that Abraham rejoiced to
|
|
see Christ's day. Now he saw it and was glad (<scripRef passage="Joh 8:56" id="Gen.xviii-p20.2" parsed="|John|8|56|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.8.56">John viii. 56</scripRef>); for, as he saw heaven in the
|
|
promise of Canaan, so he saw Christ in the promise of Isaac. 3.
|
|
Great admiration: <i>Shall a child be born to him that is a hundred
|
|
years old?</i> He does not here speak of it as at all doubtful (for
|
|
we are sure that <i>he staggered not at the promise,</i> <scripRef passage="Ro 4:20" id="Gen.xviii-p20.3" parsed="|Rom|4|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.4.20">Rom. iv. 20</scripRef>), but as very wonderful
|
|
and that which could not be effected but by the almighty power of
|
|
God, and as very <i>kind,</i> and a favour which was the more
|
|
affecting and obliging for this, that it was extremely surprising,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 126:1,2" id="Gen.xviii-p20.4" parsed="|Ps|126|1|126|2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.126.1-Ps.126.2">Ps. cxxvi. 1, 2</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xviii-p21">IV. Abraham's prayer for Ishmael: <i>O that
|
|
Ishmael might live before thee!</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 17:18" id="Gen.xviii-p21.1" parsed="|Gen|17|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. This he speaks, not as desiring
|
|
that Ishmael might be preferred before the son he should have by
|
|
Sarah; but, dreading lest he should be abandoned and forsaken of
|
|
God, he puts up this petition on his behalf. Now that God is
|
|
talking with him he thinks he has a very fair opportunity to speak
|
|
a good word for Ishmael, and he will not let it slip. Note, 1.
|
|
Though we ought not to prescribe to God, yet he gives us leave, in
|
|
prayer, to be humbly free with him, and particular in making known
|
|
our requests, <scripRef passage="Php 4:6" id="Gen.xviii-p21.2" parsed="|Phil|4|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Phil.4.6">Phil. iv. 6</scripRef>.
|
|
Whatever is the matter of our care and fear should be spread before
|
|
God in prayer. 2. It is the duty of parents to pray for their
|
|
children, for all their children, as Job, who
|
|
|
|
<pb n="114" id="Gen.xviii-Page_114"/>
|
|
|
|
offered burnt offerings according to the number of
|
|
them all, <scripRef passage="Job 1:5" id="Gen.xviii-p21.3" parsed="|Job|1|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.1.5">Job i. 5</scripRef>. Abraham
|
|
would not have it thought that, when God promised him a son by
|
|
Sarah, which he so much desired, then his son by Hagar was
|
|
forgotten; no, still he bears him upon his heart, and shows a
|
|
concern for him. The prospect of further favours must not make us
|
|
unmindful of former favours. 3. The great thing we should desire of
|
|
God for our children is that they may live before him, that is,
|
|
that they may be kept in covenant with him, and may have grace to
|
|
walk before him in their uprightness. Spiritual blessings are the
|
|
best blessings, and those for which we should be most earnest with
|
|
God, both for ourselves and others. Those live well that live
|
|
before God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xviii-p22">V. God's answer to his prayer; and it is an
|
|
answer of peace. Abraham could not say that he sought God's face in
|
|
vain.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xviii-p23">1. Common blessings are secured to Ishmael
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 17:20" id="Gen.xviii-p23.1" parsed="|Gen|17|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.20"><i>v.</i> 20)</scripRef>: <i>As for
|
|
Ishmael,</i> whom thou art in so much care about, <i>I have heard
|
|
thee;</i> he shall find favour for thy sake; <i>I have blessed
|
|
him,</i> that is, I have many blessings in store for him. (1.) His
|
|
posterity shall be numerous: <i>I will multiply him
|
|
exceedingly,</i> more than his neighbours. This is the fruit of the
|
|
blessing, as that, <scripRef passage="Ge 1:28" id="Gen.xviii-p23.2" parsed="|Gen|1|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.28"><i>ch.</i> i.
|
|
28</scripRef>. (2.) They shall be considerable: <i>Twelve princes
|
|
shall he beget.</i> We may charitably hope that spiritual blessings
|
|
also were bestowed upon him, though the visible church was not
|
|
brought out of his loins and the covenant was not lodged in his
|
|
family. Note, Great plenty of outward good things is often given to
|
|
those children of godly parents who are born after the flesh, for
|
|
their parents' sake.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xviii-p24">2. Covenant blessings are reserved for
|
|
Isaac, and appropriated to him, <scripRef passage="Ge 17:19,21" id="Gen.xviii-p24.1" parsed="|Gen|17|19|0|0;|Gen|17|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.19 Bible:Gen.17.21"><i>v.</i> 19, 21</scripRef>. If Abraham, in his
|
|
prayer for Ishmael, meant that he would have the covenant made with
|
|
him, and the promised seed to come from him, then God did not
|
|
answer him in the letter, but in that which was equivalent, nay,
|
|
which was every way better. (1.) God repeats to him the promise of
|
|
a son by Sarah: <i>She shall bear thee a son indeed.</i> Note, Even
|
|
true believers need to have God's promises doubled and repeated to
|
|
them, that they may have strong consolation, <scripRef passage="Heb 6:18" id="Gen.xviii-p24.2" parsed="|Heb|6|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.6.18">Heb. vi. 18</scripRef>. Again, Children of the promise
|
|
are children indeed. (2.) He names that child—calls him <i>Isaac,
|
|
laughter,</i> because Abraham rejoiced in spirit when this son was
|
|
promised him. Note, If God's promises be our joy, his mercies
|
|
promised shall in due time be our <i>exceeding</i> joy. Christ will
|
|
be laughter to those that look for him; those that now rejoice in
|
|
hope shall shortly rejoice in having that which they hope for: this
|
|
is laughter that is not mad. (3.) He entails the covenant upon that
|
|
child: <i>I will establish my covenant with him.</i> Note, God
|
|
takes whom he pleases into covenant with himself, according to the
|
|
good pleasure of his will. See <scripRef passage="Ro 9:8,18" id="Gen.xviii-p24.3" parsed="|Rom|9|8|0|0;|Rom|9|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.8 Bible:Rom.9.18">Rom.
|
|
ix. 8, 18</scripRef>. Thus was the covenant settled between God and
|
|
Abraham, with its several limitations and remainders, and then the
|
|
conference ended: <i>God left off talking with him,</i> and the
|
|
vision disappeared, <i>God went up from Abraham.</i> Note, Our
|
|
communion with God here is broken and interrupted; in heaven it
|
|
will be a continual and everlasting feast.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 17:23-27" id="Gen.xviii-p24.4" parsed="|Gen|17|23|17|27" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.23-Gen.17.27"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.17.23-Gen.17.27">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xviii-p24.5">Circumcision of Abraham,
|
|
&c. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xviii-p24.6">b. c.</span> 1898.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xviii-p25">23 And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all
|
|
that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his
|
|
money, every male among the men of Abraham's house; and circumcised
|
|
the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said
|
|
unto him.   24 And Abraham <i>was</i> ninety years old and
|
|
nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.  
|
|
25 And Ishmael his son <i>was</i> thirteen years old, when he was
|
|
circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.   26 In the selfsame
|
|
day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son.   27 And all
|
|
the men of his house, born in the house, and bought with money of
|
|
the stranger, were circumcised with him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xviii-p26">We have here Abraham's obedience to the law
|
|
of circumcision. He himself and all his family were circumcised, so
|
|
receiving the token of the covenant and distinguishing themselves
|
|
from other families, that had no part nor lot in the matter. 1. It
|
|
was an implicit obedience: He did <i>as God had said to him,</i>
|
|
and did not ask why or wherefore. God's will was not only a law to
|
|
him, but a reason; he did it because God told him. 2. It was a
|
|
speedy obedience: <i>In the self-same day,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 17:23,26" id="Gen.xviii-p26.1" parsed="|Gen|17|23|0|0;|Gen|17|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.23 Bible:Gen.17.26"><i>v.</i> 23, 26</scripRef>. Sincere obedience is not
|
|
dilatory, <scripRef passage="Ps 119:60" id="Gen.xviii-p26.2" parsed="|Ps|119|60|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119.60">Ps. cxix. 60</scripRef>.
|
|
While the command is yet sounding in our ears, and the sense of
|
|
duty is fresh, it is good to apply ourselves to it immediately,
|
|
lest we deceive ourselves by putting it off to a more convenient
|
|
season. 3. It was a universal obedience: He did not circumcise his
|
|
family and excuse himself, but set them an example; nor did he take
|
|
the comfort of the seal of the covenant to himself only, but
|
|
desired that all his might share with him in it. This is a good
|
|
example to masters of families; they and their houses must serve
|
|
the Lord. Though God's covenant was not established with Ishmael,
|
|
yet he was circumcised; for children of believing parents, as such,
|
|
have a right to the privileges of the visible church, and the seals
|
|
of the covenant, whatever they may prove afterwards. Ishmael is
|
|
blessed, and therefore circumcised. 4. Abraham did this though much
|
|
might be objected against it. Though circumcision was
|
|
painful,—though to grown men it was shameful,—though, while they
|
|
were sore and unfit for action,
|
|
|
|
<pb n="115" id="Gen.xviii-Page_115"/>
|
|
|
|
their
|
|
enemies might take advantage against them, as Simeon and Levi did
|
|
against the Shechemites,—though Abraham was ninety-nine years old,
|
|
and had been justified and accepted of God long since,—though so
|
|
strange a thing done religiously might be turned to his reproach by
|
|
the Canaanite and the Perizzite that dwelt then in the land,—yet
|
|
God's command was sufficient to answer these and a thousand such
|
|
objections: what God requires we must do, not <i>conferring with
|
|
flesh and blood.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XVIII" n="xix" progress="13.83%" prev="Gen.xviii" next="Gen.xx" id="Gen.xix">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="115" id="Gen.xix-Page_115"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xix-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xix-p0.2">CHAP. XVIII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xix-p1">We have an account in this chapter of another
|
|
interview between God and Abraham, probably within a few days after
|
|
the former, as the reward of his cheerful obedience to the law of
|
|
circumcision. Here is, I. The kind visit which God made him, and
|
|
the kind entertainment which he gave to that visit, <scripRef passage="Ge 18:1-8" id="Gen.xix-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|18|1|18|8" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.1-Gen.18.8">ver. 1-8</scripRef>. II. The matters discoursed
|
|
of between them. 1. The purposes of God's love concerning Sarah,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 18:9-15" id="Gen.xix-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|18|9|18|15" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.9-Gen.18.15">ver. 9-15</scripRef>. 2. The
|
|
purposes of God's wrath concerning Sodom. (1.) The discovery God
|
|
made to Abraham of his design to destroy Sodom, <scripRef passage="Ge 18:16-22" id="Gen.xix-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|18|16|18|22" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.16-Gen.18.22">ver. 16-22</scripRef>. (2.) The intercession Abraham
|
|
made for Sodom, <scripRef passage="Ge 18:23-33" id="Gen.xix-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|18|23|18|33" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.23-Gen.18.33">ver. 23</scripRef>,
|
|
&c.).</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 18" id="Gen.xix-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|18|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 18:1-8" id="Gen.xix-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|18|1|18|8" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.1-Gen.18.8"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.18.1-Gen.18.8">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xix-p1.7">Abraham's Interview with the
|
|
Angels. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xix-p1.8">b. c.</span> 1898.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xix-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xix-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent
|
|
door in the heat of the day;   2 And he lift up his eyes and
|
|
looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw
|
|
<i>them,</i> he ran to meet them from the tent-door, and bowed
|
|
himself toward the ground,   3 And said, My Lord, if now I
|
|
have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from
|
|
thy servant:   4 Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched,
|
|
and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree:   5
|
|
And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts;
|
|
after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your
|
|
servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said.   6 And
|
|
Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready
|
|
quickly three measures of fine meal, knead <i>it,</i> and make
|
|
cakes upon the hearth.   7 And Abraham ran unto the herd, and
|
|
fetched a calf tender and good, and gave <i>it</i> unto a young
|
|
man; and he hasted to dress it.   8 And he took butter, and
|
|
milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set <i>it</i> before
|
|
them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xix-p3">The appearance of God to Abraham seems to
|
|
have had in it more of freedom and familiarity, and less of
|
|
grandeur and majesty, than those we have hitherto read of; and
|
|
therefore more resembles that great visit which, in the fullness of
|
|
time, the Son of God was to make to the world, when the Word would
|
|
be flesh, and appear as one of us. Observe here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xix-p4">I. How Abraham expected strangers, and how
|
|
richly his expectations were answered (<scripRef passage="Ge 18:1" id="Gen.xix-p4.1" parsed="|Gen|18|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>): <i>He sat in the tent-door, in
|
|
the heat of the day;</i> not so much to repose or divert himself as
|
|
to seek an opportunity of doing good, by giving entertainment to
|
|
strangers and travellers, there being perhaps no inns to
|
|
accommodate them. Note, 1. We are likely to have the most comfort
|
|
of those good works to which we are most free and forward. 2. God
|
|
graciously visits those in whom he has first raised the expectation
|
|
of him, and manifests himself to those that wait for him. When
|
|
Abraham was thus sitting, he saw three men coming towards him.
|
|
These three men were three spiritual heavenly beings, now assuming
|
|
human bodies, that they might be visible to Abraham, and
|
|
conversable with him. Some think that they were all created angels,
|
|
others that one of them was the Son of God, the angel of the
|
|
covenant, whom Abraham distinguished from the rest (<scripRef passage="Ge 18:3" id="Gen.xix-p4.2" parsed="|Gen|18|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), and who is called
|
|
<i>Jehovah,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 18:13" id="Gen.xix-p4.3" parsed="|Gen|18|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.13"><i>v.</i>
|
|
13</scripRef>. The apostle improves this for the encouragement of
|
|
hospitality, <scripRef passage="Heb 13:2" id="Gen.xix-p4.4" parsed="|Heb|13|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.13.2">Heb. xiii. 2</scripRef>.
|
|
Those that have been forward to entertain strangers have
|
|
entertained angels, to their unspeakable honour and satisfaction.
|
|
Where, upon a prudent and impartial judgment, we see no cause to
|
|
suspect ill, charity teaches us to hope well and to show kindness
|
|
accordingly. It is better to feed five drones, or wasps, than to
|
|
starve one bee.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xix-p5">II. How Abraham entertained those
|
|
strangers, and how kindly his entertainment was accepted. The Holy
|
|
Ghost takes particular notice of the very free and affectionate
|
|
welcome Abraham gave to the strangers. 1. He was very complaisant
|
|
and respectful to them. Forgetting his age and gravity, he <i>ran
|
|
to meet them</i> in the most obliging manner, and with all due
|
|
courtesy <i>bowed himself towards the ground,</i> though as yet he
|
|
knew nothing of them but that they appeared graceful respectable
|
|
men. Note, Religion does not destroy, but improve, good manners,
|
|
and teaches us to honour all men. Decent civility is a great
|
|
ornament to piety. 2. He was very earnest and importunate for their
|
|
stay, and took it as a great favour, <scripRef passage="Ge 18:3,4" id="Gen.xix-p5.1" parsed="|Gen|18|3|18|4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.3-Gen.18.4"><i>v.</i> 3, 4</scripRef>. Note, (1.) It becomes those
|
|
whom God has blessed with plenty to be liberal and open-hearted in
|
|
their entertainments, according to their ability, and (not in
|
|
compliment, but cordially) to bid their friends welcome. We should
|
|
take a pleasure in showing kindness to any; for both God and man
|
|
love a cheerful giver. Who would <i>eat the bread of him that has
|
|
an evil eye?</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 23:6,7" id="Gen.xix-p5.2" parsed="|Prov|23|6|23|7" osisRef="Bible:Prov.23.6-Prov.23.7">Prov. xxiii. 6,
|
|
7</scripRef>. (2.) Those that would have communion with God must
|
|
earnestly desire it and pray for it. God is a guest worth
|
|
entertaining. 3. His entertainment, though it was very free, was
|
|
yet plain and homely, and there was nothing in it of the gaiety and
|
|
niceness of our times. His dining-room was an arbour under a tree;
|
|
no rich table-linen, no side-board set with
|
|
|
|
<pb n="116" id="Gen.xix-Page_116"/>
|
|
|
|
plate. His feast was a joint or two of veal, and some cakes baked
|
|
on the hearth, and both hastily dressed up. Here were no dainties,
|
|
no varieties, no forced-meats, no sweet-meats, but good, plain,
|
|
wholesome food, though Abraham was very rich and his guests were
|
|
very honourable. Note, We ought not to be curious in our diet. Let
|
|
us be thankful for food convenient, though it be homely and common;
|
|
and not be desirous of dainties, for they are deceitful meat to
|
|
those that love them and set their hearts upon them. 4. He and his
|
|
wife were both of them very attentive and busy, in accommodating
|
|
their guests with the best they had. Sarah herself is cook and
|
|
baker; Abraham runs to fetch the calf, brings out the milk and
|
|
butter, and thinks it not below him to wait at table, that he might
|
|
show how heartily welcome his guests were. Note, (1.) Those that
|
|
have real merit need not take state upon them, nor are their
|
|
prudent condescensions any disparagement to them. (2.) Hearty
|
|
friendship will stoop to any thing but sin. Christ himself has
|
|
taught us to wash one another's feet, in humble love. Those that
|
|
thus abase themselves shall be exalted. Here Abraham's faith showed
|
|
itself in good works; and so must ours, else it is dead, <scripRef passage="Jam 2:21,26" id="Gen.xix-p5.3" parsed="|Jas|2|21|0|0;|Jas|2|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jas.2.21 Bible:Jas.2.26">Jam. ii. 21, 26</scripRef>. The father of the
|
|
faithful was famous for charity, and generosity, and good
|
|
house-keeping; and we must learn of him to <i>do good and to
|
|
communicate.</i> Job did not eat his morsel alone, <scripRef passage="Job 31:17" id="Gen.xix-p5.4" parsed="|Job|31|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.31.17">Job xxxi. 17</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 18:9-15" id="Gen.xix-p5.5" parsed="|Gen|18|9|18|15" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.9-Gen.18.15"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.18.9-Gen.18.15">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xix-p6">9 And they said unto him, Where <i>is</i> Sarah
|
|
thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent.   10 And he said,
|
|
I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life;
|
|
and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard <i>it</i>
|
|
in the tent-door, which <i>was</i> behind him.   11 Now
|
|
Abraham and Sarah <i>were</i> old <i>and</i> well stricken in age;
|
|
<i>and</i> it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.
|
|
  12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I
|
|
am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?  
|
|
13 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xix-p6.1">Lord</span> said unto Abraham,
|
|
Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a
|
|
child, which am old?   14 Is any thing too hard for the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xix-p6.2">Lord</span>? At the time appointed I will return
|
|
unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a
|
|
son.   15 Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she
|
|
was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xix-p7">These heavenly guests (being sent to
|
|
confirm the promise lately made to Abraham, that he should have a
|
|
son by Sarah), while they are receiving Abraham's kind
|
|
entertainment, they return his kindness. He receives angels, and
|
|
has angels' rewards, a gracious message from heaven, <scripRef passage="Mt 10:41" id="Gen.xix-p7.1" parsed="|Matt|10|41|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.10.41">Matt. x. 41</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xix-p8">I. Care is taken that Sarah should be
|
|
within hearing. She must conceive by faith, and therefore the
|
|
promise must be made to her, <scripRef passage="Heb 11:11" id="Gen.xix-p8.1" parsed="|Heb|11|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.11">Heb. xi.
|
|
11</scripRef>. It was the modest usage of that time that the women
|
|
did not sit at meat with men, at least not with strangers, but
|
|
confined themselves to their own apartments; therefore Sarah is
|
|
here out of sight: but she must not be out of hearing. The angels
|
|
enquire (<scripRef passage="Ge 18:9" id="Gen.xix-p8.2" parsed="|Gen|18|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>),
|
|
<i>Where is Sarah thy wife?</i> By naming her, they gave intimation
|
|
enough to Abraham that, though they seemed strangers, yet they very
|
|
well knew him and his family. By enquiring after her, they showed a
|
|
friendly kind concern for the family and relations of one whom they
|
|
found respectful to them. It is a piece of common civility, which
|
|
ought to proceed from a principle of Christian love, and then it is
|
|
sanctified. And, by speaking of her (she over-hearing it), they
|
|
drew her to listen to what was further to be said. <i>Where is
|
|
Sarah thy wife?</i> say the angels. "<i>Behold in the tent,</i>"
|
|
says Abraham. "Where should she be else? There she is in her place,
|
|
as she uses to be, and is now within call." Note, 1. The daughters
|
|
of Sarah must learn of her to be <i>chaste, keepers at home,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Tit 2:5" id="Gen.xix-p8.3" parsed="|Titus|2|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Titus.2.5">Tit. ii. 5</scripRef>. There is nothing
|
|
got by gadding. 2. Those are most likely to receive comfort from
|
|
God and his promises that are in their place and in the way of
|
|
their duty, <scripRef passage="Lu 2:8" id="Gen.xix-p8.4" parsed="|Luke|2|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.2.8">Luke ii. 8</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xix-p9">II. The promise is then renewed and
|
|
ratified, that she should have a son (<scripRef passage="Ge 18:10" id="Gen.xix-p9.1" parsed="|Gen|18|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>): "<i>I will certainly return
|
|
unto thee,</i> and visit thee next time with the performance, as
|
|
now I do with the promise." God will return to those that bid him
|
|
welcome, that entertain his visits: "I will return thy kindness,
|
|
<i>Sarah thy wife shall have a son;</i>" it is repeated again,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 18:14" id="Gen.xix-p9.2" parsed="|Gen|18|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. Thus the
|
|
promises of the Messiah were often repeated in the Old Testament,
|
|
for the strengthening of the faith of God's people. We are slow of
|
|
heart to believe, and therefore have need of line upon line to the
|
|
same purport. This is that word of promise which the apostle quotes
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ro 9:9" id="Gen.xix-p9.3" parsed="|Rom|9|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.9">Rom. ix. 9</scripRef>), as that by the
|
|
virtue of which Isaac was born. Note, 1. The same blessings which
|
|
others have from common providence believers have from the promise,
|
|
which makes them very sweet and very sure. 2. The spiritual seed of
|
|
Abraham owe their life, and joy, and hope, and all, to the promise.
|
|
They are born by the word of God, <scripRef passage="1Pe 1:23" id="Gen.xix-p9.4" parsed="|1Pet|1|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.1.23">1
|
|
Pet. i. 23</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xix-p10">III. Sarah thinks this too good news to be
|
|
true, and therefore cannot as yet find in her heart to believe it:
|
|
<i>Sarah laughed within herself,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 18:12" id="Gen.xix-p10.1" parsed="|Gen|18|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. It was not a pleasing laughter
|
|
of faith, like Abraham's (<scripRef passage="Ge 17:17" id="Gen.xix-p10.2" parsed="|Gen|17|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.17"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xvii. 17</scripRef>), but it was a laughter of doubting and
|
|
mistrust. Note, The same thing may be done from very different
|
|
principles, of which God only, who
|
|
|
|
<pb n="117" id="Gen.xix-Page_117"/>
|
|
|
|
knows the
|
|
heart, can judge. The great objection which Sarah could not get
|
|
over was her age: "<i>I am waxed old,</i> and past childbearing in
|
|
the course of nature, especially having been hitherto barren, and
|
|
(which magnifies the difficulty) <i>my lord is old also.</i>"
|
|
Observe here, 1. Sarah calls Abraham her <i>lord;</i> it was the
|
|
only good word in this saying, and the Holy Ghost takes notice of
|
|
it to her honour, and recommends it to the imitation of all
|
|
Christian wives. <scripRef passage="1Pe 3:6" id="Gen.xix-p10.3" parsed="|1Pet|3|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.3.6">1 Pet. iii.
|
|
6</scripRef>, <i>Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord,</i> in
|
|
token of respect and subjection. Thus must the wife reverence her
|
|
husband, <scripRef passage="Eph 5:33" id="Gen.xix-p10.4" parsed="|Eph|5|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eph.5.33">Eph. v. 33</scripRef>. And
|
|
thus must we be apt to take notice of what is spoken decently and
|
|
well, to the honour of those that speak it, though it may be mixed
|
|
with that which is amiss, over which we should cast a mantle of
|
|
love. 2. Human improbability often sets up in contradiction to the
|
|
divine promise. The objections of sense are very apt to stumble and
|
|
puzzle the weak faith even of true believers. It is hard to cleave
|
|
to the first Cause, when second causes frown. 3. Even where there
|
|
is true faith, yet there are often sore conflicts with unbelief,
|
|
Sarah could say, <i>Lord, I believe</i> (<scripRef passage="Heb 11:11" id="Gen.xix-p10.5" parsed="|Heb|11|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.11">Heb. xi. 11</scripRef>), and yet must say, <i>Lord,
|
|
help my unbelief.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xix-p11">IV. The angel reproves the indecent
|
|
expressions of her distrust, <scripRef passage="Ge 18:13,14" id="Gen.xix-p11.1" parsed="|Gen|18|13|18|14" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.13-Gen.18.14"><i>v.</i> 13, 14</scripRef>. Observe, 1. Though Sarah
|
|
was now most kindly and generously entertaining these angels, yet,
|
|
when she did amiss, they reproved her for it, as Christ reproved
|
|
Martha in her own house, <scripRef passage="Lu 10:40,41" id="Gen.xix-p11.2" parsed="|Luke|10|40|10|41" osisRef="Bible:Luke.10.40-Luke.10.41">Luke x.
|
|
40, 41</scripRef>. If our friends be kind to us, we must not
|
|
therefore be so unkind to them as to suffer sin upon them. 2. God
|
|
gave this reproof to Sarah by Abraham her husband. To him he said,
|
|
<i>Why did Sarah laugh?</i> perhaps because he had not told her of
|
|
the promise which had been given him some time before to this
|
|
purport, and which, if he had communicated it to her with its
|
|
ratifications, would have prevented her from being so surprised
|
|
now. Or Abraham was told of it that he might tell her of it. Mutual
|
|
reproof, when there is occasion for it, is one of the duties of the
|
|
conjugal relation. 3. The reproof itself is plain, and backed with
|
|
a good reason: <i>Wherefore did Sarah laugh?</i> Note, It is good
|
|
to enquire into the reason of our laughter, that it may not be the
|
|
laughter of the fool, <scripRef passage="Ec 7:6" id="Gen.xix-p11.3" parsed="|Eccl|7|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.7.6">Eccl. vii.
|
|
6</scripRef>. "Wherefore did I laugh?" Again, Our unbelief and
|
|
distrust are a great offence to the God of heaven. He justly takes
|
|
it ill to have the objections of sense set up in contradiction to
|
|
his promise, as <scripRef passage="Lu 1:18" id="Gen.xix-p11.4" parsed="|Luke|1|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.1.18">Luke i. 18</scripRef>.
|
|
4. Here is a question asked which is enough to answer all the
|
|
cavils of flesh and blood: <i>Is any thing too hard for the
|
|
Lord?</i> (Heb. <i>too wonderful</i>), that is, (1.) Is any thing
|
|
so secret as to escape his cognizance? No, not Sarah's laughing,
|
|
though it was only <i>within herself.</i> Or, (2.) Is any thing so
|
|
difficult as to exceed his power? No, not the giving of a child to
|
|
Sarah in her old age.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xix-p12">V. Sarah foolishly endeavours to conceal
|
|
her fault (<scripRef passage="Ge 18:15" id="Gen.xix-p12.1" parsed="|Gen|18|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>):
|
|
<i>She denied, saying, I did not laugh,</i> thinking nobody could
|
|
contradict her: she told this lie, because <i>she was afraid;</i>
|
|
but it was in vain to attempt concealing it from an all-seeing eye;
|
|
she was told, to her shame, <i>Thou didst laugh.</i> Now, 1. There
|
|
seems to be in Sarah a retraction of her distrust. Now she
|
|
perceived, by laying circumstances together, that it was a divine
|
|
promise which had been made concerning her, she renounced all
|
|
doubting distrustful thoughts about it. But, 2. There was withal a
|
|
sinful attempt to cover a sin with a lie. It is a shame to do
|
|
amiss, but a greater shame to deny it; for thereby we add iniquity
|
|
to our iniquity. Fear of a rebuke often betrays us into this snare.
|
|
See <scripRef passage="Isa 57:11" id="Gen.xix-p12.2" parsed="|Isa|57|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.57.11">Isa. lvii. 11</scripRef>, <i>Whom
|
|
hast thou feared, that thou hast lied?</i> But we deceive ourselves
|
|
if we think to impose upon God; he can and will bring truth to
|
|
light, to our shame. <i>He that covers his sin cannot prosper,</i>
|
|
for the day is coming which will discover it.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 18:16-22" id="Gen.xix-p12.3" parsed="|Gen|18|16|18|22" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.16-Gen.18.22"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.18.16-Gen.18.22">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xix-p12.4">Abraham's Interview with
|
|
God. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xix-p12.5">b. c.</span> 1898.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xix-p13">16 And the men rose up from thence, and looked
|
|
toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way.
|
|
  17 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xix-p13.1">Lord</span> said, Shall I
|
|
hide from Abraham that thing which I do;   18 Seeing that
|
|
Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the
|
|
nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?   19 For I know
|
|
him, that he will command his children and his household after him,
|
|
and they shall keep the way of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xix-p13.2">Lord</span>, to do justice and judgment; that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xix-p13.3">Lord</span> may bring upon Abraham that which he
|
|
hath spoken of him.   20 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xix-p13.4">Lord</span> said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah
|
|
is great, and because their sin is very grievous;   21 I will
|
|
go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to
|
|
the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.
|
|
  22 And the men turned their faces from thence, and went
|
|
toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xix-p13.5">Lord</span>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xix-p14">The messengers from heaven had now
|
|
despatched one part of their business, which was an errand of grace
|
|
to Abraham and Sarah, and which they delivered first; but now they
|
|
have before them work of another nature. Sodom is to be destroyed,
|
|
and they must do it, <scripRef passage="Ge 19:13" id="Gen.xix-p14.1" parsed="|Gen|19|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.13"><i>ch.</i> xix.
|
|
13</scripRef>. Note, As with the Lord there is mercy, so he is the
|
|
God to whom vengeance belongs. Pursuant to their commission, we
|
|
here find, 1. That <i>they looked towards Sodom</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 18:16" id="Gen.xix-p14.2" parsed="|Gen|18|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>); they set their faces
|
|
against it in wrath, as God is said to look unto the host of the
|
|
Egyptians, <scripRef passage="Ex 14:24" id="Gen.xix-p14.3" parsed="|Exod|14|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.24">Exod. xiv. 24</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, Though
|
|
|
|
<pb n="118" id="Gen.xix-Page_118"/>
|
|
|
|
God has long seemed to connive
|
|
at sinners, from which they have inferred that the Lord does not
|
|
see, does not regard, yet, when the day of his wrath comes, he will
|
|
look towards them. 2. That they <i>went towards Sodom</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 18:22" id="Gen.xix-p14.4" parsed="|Gen|18|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>), and
|
|
accordingly we find two of them at Sodom, <scripRef passage="Ge 19:1" id="Gen.xix-p14.5" parsed="|Gen|19|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.1"><i>ch.</i> xix. 1</scripRef>. Whether the third was the
|
|
Lord, before whom Abraham yet stood, and to whom he drew near
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 18:23" id="Gen.xix-p14.6" parsed="|Gen|18|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>), as most
|
|
think, or whether the third left them before they came to Sodom,
|
|
and the Lord before whom Abraham stood was the <i>shechinah,</i> or
|
|
that appearance of the divine glory which Abraham had formerly seen
|
|
and conversed with, is uncertain. However, we have here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xix-p15">I. The honour Abraham did to his guests:
|
|
<i>He went with them to bring them on the way,</i> as one that was
|
|
loth to part with such good company, and was desirous to pay his
|
|
utmost respects to them. This is a piece of civility proper to be
|
|
shown to our friends; but it must be done as the apostle directs
|
|
(<scripRef passage="3Jo 1:6" id="Gen.xix-p15.1" parsed="|3John|1|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:3John.1.6">3 John 6</scripRef>), <i>after a godly
|
|
sort.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xix-p16">II. The honour they did to him; for those
|
|
that honour God he will honour. God communicated to Abraham his
|
|
purpose to destroy Sodom, and not only so, but entered into a free
|
|
conference with him about it. Having taken him, more closely than
|
|
before, into covenant with himself (<scripRef passage="Ge 17:1-23" id="Gen.xix-p16.1" parsed="|Gen|17|1|17|23" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.1-Gen.17.23"><i>ch.</i> xvii.</scripRef>), he here admits him into
|
|
more intimate communion with himself than ever, as the man of his
|
|
counsel. Observe here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xix-p17">1. God's friendly thoughts concerning
|
|
Abraham, <scripRef passage="Ge 18:17-19" id="Gen.xix-p17.1" parsed="|Gen|18|17|18|19" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.17-Gen.18.19"><i>v.</i>
|
|
17-19</scripRef>, where we have his resolution to make known to
|
|
Abraham his purpose concerning Sodom, with the reasons of it. If
|
|
Abraham had not brought them on their way, perhaps he would not
|
|
have been thus favoured; but he that loves to walk with wise men
|
|
shall be wise, <scripRef passage="Pr 13:20" id="Gen.xix-p17.2" parsed="|Prov|13|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.13.20">Prov. xiii.
|
|
20</scripRef>. See how God is pleased to argue with himself:
|
|
<i>Shall I hide from Abraham</i> (or, as some read it, <i>Am I
|
|
concealing from Abraham</i>) <i>that thing which I do?</i> "Can I
|
|
go about such a thing, and not tell Abraham?" Thus does God, in his
|
|
counsels, express himself, after the manner of men, with
|
|
deliberation. But why must Abraham be of the cabinet-council? The
|
|
Jews suggest that because God had granted the land of Canaan to
|
|
Abraham and his seed therefore he would not destroy those cities
|
|
which were a part of that land, without his knowledge and consent.
|
|
But God here gives two other reasons:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xix-p18">(1.) Abraham must know, for he is a friend
|
|
and a favourite, and one that God has a particular kindness for and
|
|
great things in store for. He is to become a great nation; and not
|
|
only so, but in the Messiah, who is to come from his loins, <i>All
|
|
nations of the earth shall be blessed.</i> Note, <i>The secret of
|
|
the Lord is with those that fear him,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 25:14,Pr 3:32" id="Gen.xix-p18.1" parsed="|Ps|25|14|0|0;|Prov|3|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.25.14 Bible:Prov.3.32">Ps. xxv. 14; Prov. iii. 32</scripRef>. Those who
|
|
by faith live a life of communion with God cannot but know more of
|
|
his mind than other people, though not with a prophetical, yet with
|
|
a prudential practical knowledge. They have a better insight than
|
|
others into what is present (<scripRef passage="Ho 14:9,Ps 107:43" id="Gen.xix-p18.2" parsed="|Hos|14|9|0|0;|Ps|107|43|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.14.9 Bible:Ps.107.43">Hos. xiv. 9; Ps. cvii. 43</scripRef>), and a
|
|
better foresight of what is to come, at least so much as suffices
|
|
for their guidance and for their comfort.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xix-p19">(2.) Abraham must know, for he will teach
|
|
his household: <i>I know Abraham</i> very well, that <i>he will
|
|
command his children and his household after him,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 18:19" id="Gen.xix-p19.1" parsed="|Gen|18|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. Consider this, [1.] As
|
|
a very bright part of Abraham's character and example. He not only
|
|
prayed with his family, but he taught them as a man of knowledge,
|
|
nay, he commanded them as a man in authority, and was prophet and
|
|
king, as well as priest, in his own house. Observe, <i>First,</i>
|
|
God having made the covenant with him and his seed, and his
|
|
household being circumcised pursuant to that, he was very careful
|
|
to teach and rule them well. Those that expect family blessings
|
|
must make conscience of family duty. If our children be the Lord's,
|
|
they must be nursed for him; if they wear his livery, they must be
|
|
trained up in his work. <i>Secondly,</i> Abraham took care not only
|
|
of his children, but of his household; his servants were catechized
|
|
servants. Masters of families should instruct and inspect the
|
|
manners of all under their roof. The poorest servants have precious
|
|
souls that must be looked after. <i>Thirdly,</i> Abraham made it
|
|
his care and business to promote practical religion in his family.
|
|
He did not fill their heads with matters of nice speculation, or
|
|
doubtful disputation; but he taught them to keep <i>the way of the
|
|
Lord, and to do judgment and justice,</i> that is, to be serious
|
|
and devout in the worship of God and to be honest in their dealings
|
|
with all men. <i>Fourthly,</i> Abraham, herein, had an eye to
|
|
posterity, and was in care not only that his household with him,
|
|
but that his household after him, should keep the way of the Lord,
|
|
that religion might flourish in his family when he was in his
|
|
grave. <i>Fifthly,</i> His doing this was the fulfilling of the
|
|
conditions of the promises which God had made him. Those only can
|
|
expect the benefit of the promises that make conscience of their
|
|
duty. [2.] As the reason why God would make known to him his
|
|
purpose concerning Sodom, because he was communicative of his
|
|
knowledge, and improved it for the benefit of those that were under
|
|
his charge. Note, To him that hath shall be given, <scripRef passage="Mt 13:12,25:29" id="Gen.xix-p19.2" parsed="|Matt|13|12|0|0;|Matt|25|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.13.12 Bible:Matt.25.29">Matt. xiii. 12; xxv. 29</scripRef>. Those
|
|
that make a good use of their knowledge shall know more.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xix-p20">2. God's friendly talk with Abraham, in
|
|
which he makes known to him purpose concerning Sodom, and allows
|
|
him a liberty of application to him about the matter. (1.) He tells
|
|
him of the evidence there was against Sodom: <i>The cry of Sodom is
|
|
great,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 18:20" id="Gen.xix-p20.1" parsed="|Gen|18|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, Some sins, and the sins of some sinners, cry aloud to heaven
|
|
for vengeance. The iniquity of Sodom was crying iniquity, that is,
|
|
it was so very provoking that it even urged God to punish. (2.) The
|
|
enquiry he
|
|
|
|
<pb n="119" id="Gen.xix-Page_119"/>
|
|
|
|
would make upon this evidence:
|
|
<i>I will go down now and see,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 18:21" id="Gen.xix-p20.2" parsed="|Gen|18|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. Not as if there were any thing
|
|
concerning which God is in doubt, or in the dark; but he is pleased
|
|
thus to express himself after the manner of men, [1.] To show the
|
|
incontestable equity of all his judicial proceedings. Men are apt
|
|
to suggest that his way is not equal; but let them know that his
|
|
judgments are the result of an eternal counsel, and are never rash
|
|
or sudden resolves. He never punishes upon report, or common fame,
|
|
or the information of others, but upon his own certain and
|
|
infallible knowledge. [2.] To give example to magistrates, and
|
|
those in authority, with the utmost care and diligence to enquire
|
|
into the merits of a cause, before they give judgment upon it. [3.]
|
|
Perhaps the decree is here spoken of as not yet peremptory, that
|
|
room and encouragement might be given to Abraham to make
|
|
intercession for them. Thus God looked if there were any to
|
|
intercede, <scripRef passage="Isa 59:16" id="Gen.xix-p20.3" parsed="|Isa|59|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.16">Isa. lix.
|
|
16</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 18:23-33" id="Gen.xix-p20.4" parsed="|Gen|18|23|18|33" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.23-Gen.18.33"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.18.23-Gen.18.33">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xix-p20.5">Abraham's Intercession for
|
|
Sodom. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xix-p20.6">b. c.</span> 1898.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xix-p21">23 And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou
|
|
also destroy the righteous with the wicked?   24 Peradventure
|
|
there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy
|
|
and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that <i>are</i>
|
|
therein?   25 That be far from thee to do after this manner,
|
|
to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous
|
|
should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge
|
|
of all the earth do right?   26 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xix-p21.1">Lord</span> said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous
|
|
within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.
|
|
  27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken
|
|
upon me to speak unto the Lord, which <i>am but</i> dust and ashes:
|
|
  28 Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty
|
|
righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for <i>lack of</i> five?
|
|
And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy
|
|
<i>it.</i>   29 And he spake unto him yet again, and said,
|
|
Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will
|
|
not do <i>it</i> for forty's sake.   30 And he said <i>unto
|
|
him,</i> Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak:
|
|
Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will
|
|
not do <i>it,</i> if I find thirty there.   31 And he said,
|
|
Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord:
|
|
Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will
|
|
not destroy <i>it</i> for twenty's sake.   32 And he said, Oh
|
|
let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once:
|
|
Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not
|
|
destroy <i>it</i> for ten's sake.   33 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xix-p21.2">Lord</span> went his way, as soon as he had left
|
|
communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xix-p22">Communion with God is kept up by the word
|
|
and by prayer. In the word God speaks to us; in prayer we speak to
|
|
him. God had revealed to Abraham his purposes concerning Sodom; now
|
|
from this Abraham takes occasion to speak to God on Sodom's behalf.
|
|
Note, God's word then does us good when it furnishes us with matter
|
|
for prayer and excites us to it. When God has spoken to us, we must
|
|
consider what we have to say to him upon it. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xix-p23">I. The solemnity of Abraham's address to
|
|
God on this occasion: <i>Abraham drew near,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 18:23" id="Gen.xix-p23.1" parsed="|Gen|18|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. The expression intimates, 1. A
|
|
holy concern: <i>He engaged his heart</i> to approach to God,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Jer 30:21" id="Gen.xix-p23.2" parsed="|Jer|30|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.30.21">Jer. xxx. 21</scripRef>. "Shall Sodom
|
|
be destroyed, and I not speak one good word for it?" 2. A holy
|
|
confidence: He drew near <i>with an assurance of faith,</i> drew
|
|
near <i>as a prince,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 31:37" id="Gen.xix-p23.3" parsed="|Job|31|37|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.31.37">Job xxxi.
|
|
37</scripRef>. Note, When we address ourselves to the duty of
|
|
prayer, we ought to remember that we are drawing near to God, that
|
|
we may be filled with a reverence of him, <scripRef passage="Le 10:3" id="Gen.xix-p23.4" parsed="|Lev|10|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.3">Lev. x. 3</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xix-p24">II. The general scope of this prayer. It is
|
|
the first solemn prayer we have upon record in the Bible; and it is
|
|
a prayer for the sparing of Sodom. Abraham, no doubt, greatly
|
|
abhorred the wickedness of the Sodomites; he would not have lived
|
|
among them, as Lot did, if they would have given him the best
|
|
estate in their country; and yet he prayed earnestly for them.
|
|
Note, Though sin is to be hated, sinners are to be pitied and
|
|
prayed for. God delights not in their death, nor should we desire,
|
|
but deprecate, the woeful day. 1. He begins with a prayer that the
|
|
righteous among them might be spared, and not involved in the
|
|
common calamity, having an eye particularly to just Lot, whose
|
|
disingenuous carriage towards him he had long since forgiven and
|
|
forgotten, witness his friendly zeal to rescue him before by his
|
|
sword and now by his prayers. 2. He improves this into a petition
|
|
that all might be spared for the sake of the righteous that were
|
|
among them, God himself countenancing this request, and in effect
|
|
putting him upon it by his answer to his first address, <scripRef passage="Ge 18:26" id="Gen.xix-p24.1" parsed="|Gen|18|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>. Note, We must pray, not
|
|
only for ourselves, but for others also; for we are members of the
|
|
same body, at least of the same body of mankind. <i>All we are
|
|
brethren.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xix-p25">III. The particular graces eminent in this
|
|
prayer.</p>
|
|
|
|
<pb n="120" id="Gen.xix-Page_120"/>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xix-p26">1. Here is great faith; and it is the
|
|
prayer of faith that is the prevailing prayer. His faith pleads
|
|
with God, orders the cause, and fills his mouth with arguments. He
|
|
acts faith especially upon the righteousness of God, and is very
|
|
confident.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xix-p27">(1.) That God will not <i>destroy the
|
|
righteous with the wicked,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 18:23" id="Gen.xix-p27.1" parsed="|Gen|18|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. No, <i>that be far from
|
|
thee,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 18:25" id="Gen.xix-p27.2" parsed="|Gen|18|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>. We
|
|
must never entertain any thought that derogates from the honour of
|
|
God's righteousness. See <scripRef passage="Ro 3:5,6" id="Gen.xix-p27.3" parsed="|Rom|3|5|3|6" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.5-Rom.3.6">Rom. iii. 5,
|
|
6</scripRef>. Note, [1.] The righteous are mingled with the wicked
|
|
in this world. Among the best there are, commonly, some bad, and
|
|
among the worst some good: even in Sodom, one Lot. [2.] Though the
|
|
righteous be among the wicked, yet the righteous God will not,
|
|
certainly he will not, destroy the righteous with the wicked.
|
|
Though in this world they may be involved in the same common
|
|
calamities, yet in the great day a distinction with be made.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xix-p28">(2.) That the righteous shall not <i>be as
|
|
the wicked,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 18:25" id="Gen.xix-p28.1" parsed="|Gen|18|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.25"><i>v.</i>
|
|
25</scripRef>. Though they may suffer with them, yet they do not
|
|
suffer like them. Common calamities are quite another thing to the
|
|
righteous than what they are to the wicked, <scripRef passage="Isa 27:7" id="Gen.xix-p28.2" parsed="|Isa|27|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.27.7">Isa. xxvii. 7</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xix-p29">(3.) That <i>the Judge of all the earth
|
|
will do right;</i> undoubtedly he will, because he is the Judge of
|
|
all the earth; it is the apostle's argument, <scripRef passage="Ro 3:5,6" id="Gen.xix-p29.1" parsed="|Rom|3|5|3|6" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.5-Rom.3.6">Rom. iii. 5, 6</scripRef>. Note, [1.] God is the Judge
|
|
of all the earth; he gives charge to all, takes cognizance of all,
|
|
and will pass sentence upon all. [2.] That God Almighty never did
|
|
nor ever will do any wrong to any of the creatures, either by
|
|
withholding that which is right or by exacting more than is right,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Job 34:10,11" id="Gen.xix-p29.2" parsed="|Job|34|10|34|11" osisRef="Bible:Job.34.10-Job.34.11">Job xxxiv. 10, 11</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xix-p30">2. Here is great humility.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xix-p31">(1.) A deep sense of his own unworthiness
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 18:27" id="Gen.xix-p31.1" parsed="|Gen|18|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>): <i>Behold
|
|
now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, who am but dust
|
|
and ashes;</i> and again, <scripRef passage="Ge 18:31" id="Gen.xix-p31.2" parsed="|Gen|18|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.31"><i>v.</i>
|
|
31</scripRef>. He speaks as one amazed at his own boldness, and the
|
|
liberty God graciously allowed him, considering God's greatness—he
|
|
is <i>the Lord;</i> and his own meanness—<i>but dust and
|
|
ashes.</i> Note, [1.] The greatest of men, the most considerable
|
|
and deserving, are but dust and ashes, mean and vile before God,
|
|
despicable, frail, and dying. [2.] Whenever we draw near to God, it
|
|
becomes us reverently to acknowledge the vast distance that there
|
|
is between us and God. He is the Lord of glory, we are worms of the
|
|
earth. [3.] The access we have to the throne of grace, and the
|
|
freedom of speech allowed us, are just matter of humble wonder,
|
|
<scripRef passage="2Sa 7:18" id="Gen.xix-p31.3" parsed="|2Sam|7|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.7.18">2 Sam. vii. 18</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xix-p32">(2.) An awful dread of God's displeasure:
|
|
<i>O let not the Lord be angry</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 18:30" id="Gen.xix-p32.1" parsed="|Gen|18|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>), and again, <scripRef passage="Ge 18:32" id="Gen.xix-p32.2" parsed="|Gen|18|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>. Note, [1.] The importunity
|
|
which believers use in their addresses to God is such that, if they
|
|
were dealing with a man like themselves, they could not but fear
|
|
that he would be angry with them. But he with whom we have to do is
|
|
<i>God and not man;</i> and, whoever he may seem, is not really
|
|
<i>angry with the prayers of the upright</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 80:4" id="Gen.xix-p32.3" parsed="|Ps|80|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.80.4">Ps. lxxx. 4</scripRef>), for they are <i>his delight</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Pr 15:8" id="Gen.xix-p32.4" parsed="|Prov|15|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.15.8">Prov. xv. 8</scripRef>), and he is
|
|
pleased when he is wrestled with. [2.] That even when we receive
|
|
special tokens of the divine favour we ought to be jealous over
|
|
ourselves, lest we make ourselves obnoxious to the divine
|
|
displeasure; and therefore we must bring the Mediator with us in
|
|
the arms of our faith, to atone for <i>the iniquity of our holy
|
|
things.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xix-p33">3. Here is great charity. (1.) A charitable
|
|
opinion of Sodom's character: as bad as it was, he thought there
|
|
were several good people in it. It becomes us to hope the best of
|
|
the worst places. Of the two it is better to err in that extreme.
|
|
(2.) A charitable desire of Sodom's welfare: he used all his
|
|
interest at the throne of grace for mercy for them. We never find
|
|
him thus earnest in pleading with God for himself and his family,
|
|
as here for Sodom.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xix-p34">4. Here are great boldness and believing
|
|
confidence. (1.) He took the liberty to pitch upon a certain number
|
|
of righteous ones which he supposed might be in Sodom. Suppose
|
|
there be fifty, <scripRef passage="Ge 18:24" id="Gen.xix-p34.1" parsed="|Gen|18|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.24"><i>v.</i>
|
|
24</scripRef>. (2.) He advanced upon God's concessions, again and
|
|
again. As God granted much, he still begged more, with the hope of
|
|
gaining his point. (3.) He brought the terms as low as he could for
|
|
shame (having prevailed for mercy if there were but ten righteous
|
|
ones in five cities), and perhaps so low that he concluded they
|
|
would have been spared.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xix-p35">IV. The success of the prayer. He that thus
|
|
wrestled prevailed wonderfully; as a prince he had power with God:
|
|
it was but ask and have. 1. God's general good-will appears in
|
|
this, that he consented to spare the wicked for the sake of the
|
|
righteous. See how swift God is to show mercy; he even seeks a
|
|
reason for it. See what great blessings good people are to any
|
|
place, and how little those befriend themselves that hate and
|
|
persecute them. 2. His particular favour to Abraham appeared in
|
|
this, that he did not leave off granting till Abraham left off
|
|
asking. Such is the power of prayer. Why then did Abraham leave off
|
|
asking, when he had prevailed so far as to get the place spared it
|
|
there were but ten righteous in it? Either, (1.) Because he owned
|
|
that it deserved to be destroyed if there were not so many; <i>as
|
|
the dresser of the vineyard,</i> who consented that the barren tree
|
|
should be cut down if one year's trial more did not make it
|
|
fruitful, <scripRef passage="Lu 13:9" id="Gen.xix-p35.1" parsed="|Luke|13|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.13.9">Luke xiii. 9</scripRef>. Or,
|
|
(2.) Because God restrained his spirit from asking any further.
|
|
When God has determined the ruin of a place, he forbids it to be
|
|
prayed for, <scripRef passage="Jer 7:16,11:14,14:11" id="Gen.xix-p35.2" parsed="|Jer|7|16|0|0;|Jer|11|14|0|0;|Jer|14|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.7.16 Bible:Jer.11.14 Bible:Jer.14.11">Jer. vii. 16;
|
|
xi. 14; xiv. 11</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xix-p36">V. Here is the breaking up of the
|
|
conference, <scripRef passage="Ge 18:33" id="Gen.xix-p36.1" parsed="|Gen|18|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>.
|
|
1. <i>The Lord went his way.</i> The visions of God must not be
|
|
constant in this world, where it is by faith only that we are to
|
|
set God before us. God did not go away till Abraham had said all he
|
|
had to
|
|
|
|
<pb n="121" id="Gen.xix-Page_121"/>
|
|
|
|
say; for he is never weary of hearing
|
|
prayer, <scripRef passage="Isa 59:1,2" id="Gen.xix-p36.2" parsed="|Isa|59|1|59|2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.1-Isa.59.2">Isa. lix. 1. 2</scripRef>.
|
|
<i>Abraham returned unto his place,</i> not puffed up with the
|
|
honour done him, nor by these extraordinary interviews taken off
|
|
from the ordinary course of duty. He returned to his place to
|
|
observe what that event would be; and it proved that his prayer was
|
|
heard, and yet Sodom was not spared, because there were not ten
|
|
righteous in it. We cannot expect too little from man nor too much
|
|
from God.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XIX" n="xx" progress="14.50%" prev="Gen.xix" next="Gen.xxi" id="Gen.xx">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="121" id="Gen.xx-Page_121"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xx-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xx-p0.2">CHAP. XIX.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xx-p1">The contents of this chapter we have, <scripRef passage="2Pe 2:6-8" id="Gen.xx-p1.1" parsed="|2Pet|2|6|2|8" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.2.6-2Pet.2.8">2 Pet. ii. 6-8</scripRef>, where we find that
|
|
"God, turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes,
|
|
condemned them with an overthrow, and delivered just Lot." It is
|
|
the history of Sodom's ruin, and Lot's rescue from that ruin. We
|
|
read (<scripRef passage="Ge 18:1-33" id="Gen.xx-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|18|1|18|33" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.1-Gen.18.33"><i>ch.</i> xviii</scripRef>)
|
|
of God's coming to take a view of the present state of Sodom, what
|
|
its wickedness was, and what righteous persons there were in it:
|
|
now here we have the result of that enquiry. I. It was found, upon
|
|
trial, that Lot was very good (<scripRef passage="Ge 19:1-3" id="Gen.xx-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|19|1|19|3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.1-Gen.19.3">ver.
|
|
1-3</scripRef>), and it did not appear that there was any more of
|
|
the same character. II. It was found that the Sodomites were very
|
|
wicked and vile, <scripRef passage="Ge 19:4-11" id="Gen.xx-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|19|4|19|11" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.4-Gen.19.11">ver.
|
|
4-11</scripRef>. III. Special care was therefore taken for the
|
|
securing of Lot and his family, in a place of safety, <scripRef passage="Ge 19:12-23" id="Gen.xx-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|19|12|19|23" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.12-Gen.19.23">ver. 12-23</scripRef>. IV. Mercy having
|
|
rejoiced therein, justice shows itself in the ruin of Sodom and the
|
|
death of Lot's wife (<scripRef passage="Ge 19:24-26" id="Gen.xx-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|19|24|19|26" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.24-Gen.19.26">ver.
|
|
24-26</scripRef>), with a general repetition of the story,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 19:27-29" id="Gen.xx-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|19|27|19|29" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.27-Gen.19.29">ver. 27-29</scripRef>. V. A foul
|
|
sin that Lot was guilty of, in committing incest with his two
|
|
daughters, <scripRef passage="Ge 19:30-38" id="Gen.xx-p1.8" parsed="|Gen|19|30|19|38" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.30-Gen.19.38">ver. 30</scripRef>,
|
|
&c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 19" id="Gen.xx-p1.9" parsed="|Gen|19|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 19:1-3" id="Gen.xx-p1.10" parsed="|Gen|19|1|19|3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.1-Gen.19.3"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.19.1-Gen.19.3">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xx-p1.11">Assault on the House of Lot. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xx-p1.12">b. c.</span> 1898.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xx-p2">1 And there came two angels to Sodom at even;
|
|
and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing <i>them</i> rose
|
|
up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the
|
|
ground;   2 And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray
|
|
you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your
|
|
feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they
|
|
said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night.   3 And
|
|
he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and
|
|
entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake
|
|
unleavened bread, and they did eat.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xx-p3">These angels, it is likely, were two of the
|
|
three that had just before been with Abraham, the two created
|
|
angels that were sent to execute God's purpose concerning Sodom.
|
|
Observe here, 1. There was but one good man in Sodom, and these
|
|
heavenly messengers soon found him out. Wherever we are, we should
|
|
enquire out those of the place that live in the fear of God, and
|
|
should choose to associate ourselves with them. <scripRef passage="Mt 10:11" id="Gen.xx-p3.1" parsed="|Matt|10|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.10.11">Matt. x. 11</scripRef>, <i>Enquire who is worthy, and
|
|
there abide.</i> Those of the same country, when they are in a
|
|
foreign country, love to be together. 2. Lot sufficiently
|
|
distinguished himself from the rest of his neighbours, at this
|
|
time, which plainly set a mark upon him. He that did not act like
|
|
the rest must not fare like the rest. (1.) Lot sat in the gate of
|
|
Sodom at even. When the rest, it is likely, were tippling and
|
|
drinking, he sat alone, waiting for an opportunity to do good. (2.)
|
|
He was extremely respectful to men whose mien and aspect were sober
|
|
and serious, though they did not come in state. He bowed himself to
|
|
the ground, when he met them, as if, upon the first view, he
|
|
discerned something divine in them. (3.) He was hospitable, and
|
|
very free and generous in his invitations and entertainments. He
|
|
courted these strangers to his house, and to the best
|
|
accommodations he had, and gave them all the evidences that he
|
|
could of his sincerity; for, [1.] When the angels, to try whether
|
|
he was hearty in the invitation, declined the acceptance of it, at
|
|
first (which is the common usage of modesty, and no reproach at all
|
|
to truth and honesty), their refusal did not make him more
|
|
importunate; for he <i>pressed upon them greatly</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 19:3" id="Gen.xx-p3.2" parsed="|Gen|19|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), partly because he would
|
|
by no means have them to expose themselves to the inconveniences
|
|
and perils of lodging in the street of Sodom, and partly because he
|
|
was desirous of their company and converse. He had not seen two
|
|
such honest faces in Sodom this great while. Note, Those that live
|
|
in bad places should know how to value the society of those that
|
|
are wise and good, and earnestly desire it. [2.] When the angels
|
|
accepted his invitation, he treated them nobly; he made a feast for
|
|
them, and thought it well-bestowed on such guests. Note, Good
|
|
people should be (with prudence) generous people.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 19:4-11" id="Gen.xx-p3.3" parsed="|Gen|19|4|19|11" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.4-Gen.19.11"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.19.4-Gen.19.11">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xx-p4">4 But before they lay down, the men of the city,
|
|
<i>even</i> the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old
|
|
and young, all the people from every quarter:   5 And they
|
|
called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where <i>are</i> the men which
|
|
came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may
|
|
know them.   6 And Lot went out at the door unto them, and
|
|
shut the door after him,   7 And said, I pray you, brethren,
|
|
do not so wickedly.   8 Behold now, I have two daughters which
|
|
have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you,
|
|
and do ye to them as <i>is</i> good in your eyes: only unto these
|
|
men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my
|
|
roof.   9 And they said, Stand back. And they said
|
|
<i>again,</i> This one <i>fellow</i> came in to sojourn, and he
|
|
will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with
|
|
them. And they pressed sore upon the man, <i>even</i> Lot, and came
|
|
near to break the door.   10 But the men put forth their hand,
|
|
and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door.  
|
|
11 And they smote the men that <i>were</i> at the
|
|
|
|
<pb n="122" id="Gen.xx-Page_122"/>
|
|
|
|
door of the house with blindness, both small and
|
|
great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xx-p5">Now it appeared, beyond contradiction, that
|
|
the cry of Sodom was no louder than there was cause for. This
|
|
night's work was enough to fill the measure. For we find here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xx-p6">I. That they were all wicked, <scripRef passage="Ge 19:4" id="Gen.xx-p6.1" parsed="|Gen|19|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. Wickedness had become
|
|
universal, and they were unanimous in any vile design. Here were
|
|
old and young, and all from every quarter, engaged in this riot;
|
|
the old were not past it, and the young had soon come up to it.
|
|
Either they had no magistrates to keep the peace, and protect the
|
|
peaceable, or their magistrates were themselves aiding and
|
|
abetting. Note, When the disease of sin has become epidemical, it
|
|
is fatal to any place, <scripRef passage="Isa 1:5-7" id="Gen.xx-p6.2" parsed="|Isa|1|5|1|7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.5-Isa.1.7">Isa. i.
|
|
5-7</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xx-p7">II. That they had arrived at the highest
|
|
pitch of wickedness; they were <i>sinners before the Lord
|
|
exceedingly</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 13:13" id="Gen.xx-p7.1" parsed="|Gen|13|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.13"><i>ch.</i> xiii.
|
|
13</scripRef>); for, 1. It was the most unnatural and abominable
|
|
wickedness that they were now set upon, a sin that still bears
|
|
their name, and is called <i>Sodomy.</i> They were carried headlong
|
|
by those vile affections (<scripRef passage="Ro 1:26,27" id="Gen.xx-p7.2" parsed="|Rom|1|26|1|27" osisRef="Bible:Rom.1.26-Rom.1.27">Rom. i.
|
|
26, 27</scripRef>), which are worse than brutish, and the eternal
|
|
reproach of the human nature, and which cannot be thought of
|
|
without horror by those that have the least spark of virtue and any
|
|
remains of natural light and conscience. Note, Those that allow
|
|
themselves in unnatural uncleanness are marked for the vengeance of
|
|
eternal fire. See <scripRef passage="Jude 1:7" id="Gen.xx-p7.3" parsed="|Jude|1|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jude.1.7">Jude 7</scripRef>.
|
|
2. They were not ashamed to own it, and to prosecute their design
|
|
by force and arms. The practice would have been bad enough if it
|
|
had been carried on by intrigue and wheedling; but they proclaimed
|
|
war with virtue, and bade open defiance to it. Hence daring sinners
|
|
are said to <i>declare their sin as Sodom,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 3:9" id="Gen.xx-p7.4" parsed="|Isa|3|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.3.9">Isa. iii. 9</scripRef>. Note, Those that have become
|
|
impudent in sin generally prove impenitent in sin; and it will be
|
|
their ruin. Those have hard hearts indeed that sin with a high
|
|
hand, <scripRef passage="Jer 6:15" id="Gen.xx-p7.5" parsed="|Jer|6|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.6.15">Jer. vi. 15</scripRef>. 3. When
|
|
Lot interposed, with all the mildness imaginable, to check the rage
|
|
and fury of their lust, they were most insolently rude and abusive
|
|
to him. He ventured himself among them, <scripRef passage="Ge 19:6" id="Gen.xx-p7.6" parsed="|Gen|19|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. He spoke civilly to them, called
|
|
them <i>brethren</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 19:7" id="Gen.xx-p7.7" parsed="|Gen|19|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.7"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7</scripRef>), and begged of them not to do so wickedly; and, being
|
|
greatly disturbed at their vile attempt, he unadvisedly and
|
|
unjustifiably offered to prostitute his two daughters to them,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 19:8" id="Gen.xx-p7.8" parsed="|Gen|19|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. It is true, of
|
|
two evils we must choose the less; but of two sins we must choose
|
|
neither, nor ever do evil that good may come of it. He reasoned
|
|
with them, pleaded the laws of hospitality and the protection of
|
|
his house which his guests were entitled to; but he might as well
|
|
have offered reason to a roaring lion and a raging bear as to these
|
|
head-strong sinners, who were governed only by lust and passion.
|
|
Lot's arguing with them does but exasperate them; and, to complete
|
|
their wickedness, and fill up the measure of it, they fall foul
|
|
upon him. (1.) They ridicule him, charge him with the absurdity of
|
|
pretending to be a magistrate, when he was not so much as a
|
|
free-man of their city, <scripRef passage="Ge 19:9" id="Gen.xx-p7.9" parsed="|Gen|19|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.9"><i>v.</i>
|
|
9</scripRef>. Note, It is common for a reprover to be unjustly
|
|
upbraided as a usurper; and, while offering the kindness of a
|
|
friend, to be charged with assuming the authority of a judge: as if
|
|
a man might not speak reason without taking too much upon him. (2.)
|
|
They threaten him, and lay violent hands upon him; and the good man
|
|
is in danger of being pulled in pieces by this outrageous rabble.
|
|
Note, [1.] Those that hate to be reformed hate those that reprove
|
|
them, though with ever so much tenderness. Presumptuous sinners do
|
|
by their consciences as the Sodomites did by Lot, baffle their
|
|
checks, stifle their accusations, press hard upon them, till they
|
|
have seared them and quite stopped their mouths, and so made
|
|
themselves ripe for ruin. [2.] Abuses offered to God's messengers
|
|
and to faithful reprovers soon fill the measure of a people's
|
|
wickedness, and bring destruction without remedy. See <scripRef passage="Pr 29:1" id="Gen.xx-p7.10" parsed="|Prov|29|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.29.1">Prov. xxix. 1</scripRef>, and <scripRef passage="2Ch 36:16" id="Gen.xx-p7.11" parsed="|2Chr|36|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.36.16">2 Chron. xxxvi. 16</scripRef>. If reproofs remedy not,
|
|
there is no remedy. See <scripRef passage="2Ch 25:16" id="Gen.xx-p7.12" parsed="|2Chr|25|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.25.16">2 Chron. xxv.
|
|
16</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xx-p8">III. That nothing less than the power of an
|
|
angel could save a good man out of their wicked hands. It was now
|
|
past dispute what Sodom's character was and what course must be
|
|
taken with it, and therefore the angels immediately give a specimen
|
|
of what they further intended. 1. They rescue Lot, <scripRef passage="Ge 19:10" id="Gen.xx-p8.1" parsed="|Gen|19|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. Note, He that watereth
|
|
shall be watered also himself. Lot was solicitous to protect them,
|
|
and now they take effectual care for his safety, in return for his
|
|
kindness. Note further, Angels are employed for the special
|
|
preservation of those that expose themselves to danger by
|
|
well-doing. The saints, at death, are pulled like Lot into a house
|
|
of perfect safety, and the door shut for ever against those that
|
|
pursue them. 2. They chastise the insolence of the Sodomites:
|
|
<i>They smote them with blindness,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 19:11" id="Gen.xx-p8.2" parsed="|Gen|19|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. This was designed, (1.) To put
|
|
an end to their attempt, and disable them from pursuing it. Justly
|
|
were those struck blind who had been deaf to reason. Violent
|
|
persecutors are often infatuated so that they cannot push on their
|
|
malicious designs against God's messengers, <scripRef passage="Job 5:14,15" id="Gen.xx-p8.3" parsed="|Job|5|14|5|15" osisRef="Bible:Job.5.14-Job.5.15">Job v. 14, 15</scripRef>. Yet these Sodomites, after
|
|
they were struck blind, continued seeking the door, to break it
|
|
down, till they were tired. No judgments will, of themselves,
|
|
change the corrupt natures and purposes of wicked men. If their
|
|
minds had not been blinded as well as their bodies, they would have
|
|
said, as the magicians, <i>This is the finger of God,</i> and would
|
|
have submitted. (2.) It was to be an earnest of their utter ruin,
|
|
the next day. When God, in a way of righteous judgment, blinds men,
|
|
their condition is already desperate, <scripRef passage="Ro 11:8,9" id="Gen.xx-p8.4" parsed="|Rom|11|8|11|9" osisRef="Bible:Rom.11.8-Rom.11.9">Rom. xi. 8, 9</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<pb n="123" id="Gen.xx-Page_123"/>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 19:12-14" id="Gen.xx-p8.5" parsed="|Gen|19|12|19|14" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.12-Gen.19.14"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.19.12-Gen.19.14">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xx-p8.6">Rescue of Lot out of Sodom. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xx-p8.7">b. c.</span> 1898.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xx-p9">12 And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any
|
|
besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and
|
|
whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring <i>them</i> out of this
|
|
place:   13 For we will destroy this place, because the cry of
|
|
them is waxen great before the face of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xx-p9.1">Lord</span>; and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xx-p9.2">Lord</span> hath sent us to destroy it.   14 And
|
|
Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his
|
|
daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xx-p9.3">Lord</span> will destroy this city. But he seemed
|
|
as one that mocked unto his sons in law.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xx-p10">We have here the preparation for Lot's
|
|
deliverance.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xx-p11">I. Notice is given him of the approach of
|
|
Sodom's ruin: <i>We will destroy this place,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 19:13" id="Gen.xx-p11.1" parsed="|Gen|19|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. Note, The holy angels are
|
|
ministers of God's wrath for the destruction of sinners, as well as
|
|
of his mercy for the preservation and deliverance of his people. In
|
|
this sense, the good angels become <i>evil angels,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 78:49" id="Gen.xx-p11.2" parsed="|Ps|78|49|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.78.49">Ps. lxxviii. 49</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xx-p12">II. He is directed to give notice to his
|
|
friends and relations, that they, it they would, might be saved
|
|
with him (<scripRef passage="Ge 19:12" id="Gen.xx-p12.1" parsed="|Gen|19|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>):
|
|
"<i>Hast thou here any besides,</i> that thou art concerned for? If
|
|
thou hast, go tell them what is coming." Now this implies, 1. The
|
|
command of a great duty, which was to do all he could for the
|
|
salvation of those about him, to snatch them as brands out of the
|
|
fire. Note, Those who through grace are themselves delivered out of
|
|
a sinful state should do what they can for the deliverance of
|
|
others, especially their relations. 2. The offer of great favour.
|
|
They do not ask whether he knew any righteous ones in the city fit
|
|
to be spared: no, they knew there were none; but they ask what
|
|
relations he had there, that, whether righteous or unrighteous,
|
|
they might be saved with him. Note, Bad people often fare the
|
|
better in this world for the sake of their good relations. It is
|
|
good being akin to a godly man.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xx-p13">III. He applies himself accordingly to his
|
|
sons-in-law, <scripRef passage="Ge 19:14" id="Gen.xx-p13.1" parsed="|Gen|19|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>.
|
|
Observe, 1. The fair warning that Lot gave them: <i>Up, get you out
|
|
of this place.</i> The manner of expression is startling and
|
|
quickening. It was no time to trifle when the destruction was just
|
|
at the door. They had not forty days to repent in, as the Ninevites
|
|
had. Now or never they must make their escape. At midnight this cry
|
|
was made. Such as this is our call to the unconverted, to turn and
|
|
live. 2. The slight they put upon this warning: <i>He seemed to
|
|
them as one that mocked.</i> They thought, perhaps, that the
|
|
assault which the Sodomites had just now made upon his house had
|
|
disturbed his head, and put him into such a fright that he knew not
|
|
what he said; or they thought that he was not in earnest with them.
|
|
Those who lived a merry life, and made a jest of everything, made a
|
|
jest of this warning, and so they perished in the overthrow. Thus
|
|
many who are warned of the misery and danger they are in by sin
|
|
make a light matter of it, and think their ministers do but jest
|
|
with them; such will perish with their blood upon their own
|
|
heads.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 19:15-23" id="Gen.xx-p13.2" parsed="|Gen|19|15|19|23" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.15-Gen.19.23"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.19.15-Gen.19.23">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xx-p14">15 And when the morning arose, then the angels
|
|
hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters,
|
|
which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.
|
|
  16 And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand,
|
|
and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two
|
|
daughters; the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xx-p14.1">Lord</span> being merciful
|
|
unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.
|
|
  17 And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth
|
|
abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee,
|
|
neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest
|
|
thou be consumed.   18 And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my
|
|
Lord:   19 Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy
|
|
sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast showed
|
|
unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain,
|
|
lest some evil take me, and I die:   20 Behold now, this city
|
|
<i>is</i> near to flee unto, and it <i>is</i> a little one: Oh, let
|
|
me escape thither, (<i>is</i> it not a little one?) and my soul
|
|
shall live.   21 And he said unto him, See, I have accepted
|
|
thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this
|
|
city, for the which thou hast spoken.   22 Haste thee, escape
|
|
thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither.
|
|
Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.   23 The sun
|
|
was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 19:24-25" id="Gen.xx-p14.2" parsed="|Gen|19|24|19|25" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.24-Gen.19.25"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.19.24-Gen.19.25">
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xx-p15">Here is, I. The rescue of Lot out of Sodom.
|
|
Though there were not ten righteous men in Sodom, for whose sakes
|
|
it might be spared, yet that one righteous man that was among them
|
|
delivered his own soul, <scripRef passage="Eze 14:14" id="Gen.xx-p15.1" parsed="|Ezek|14|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.14.14">Ezek. xiv.
|
|
14</scripRef>. Early in the morning his own guests, in kindness to
|
|
him, turned him out of doors, and his family with him, <scripRef passage="Ge 19:15" id="Gen.xx-p15.2" parsed="|Gen|19|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. His daughters that were
|
|
married perished with their unbelieving husbands; but those that
|
|
continued with him were preserved with him. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<pb n="124" id="Gen.xx-Page_124"/>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xx-p16">1. With what a gracious violence Lot was
|
|
brought out of Sodom, <scripRef passage="Ge 19:16" id="Gen.xx-p16.1" parsed="|Gen|19|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.16"><i>v.</i>
|
|
16</scripRef>. It seems, though he did not make a jest of the
|
|
warning given, as his sons-in-law did, yet he lingered, he trifled,
|
|
he did not make so much haste as the case required. Thus many that
|
|
are under some convictions about the misery of their spiritual
|
|
state, and the necessity of a change, yet defer that needful work,
|
|
and foolishly linger. Lot did so, and it might have been fatal to
|
|
him it the angels had not <i>laid hold of his hand, and brought him
|
|
forth,</i> and saved him with fear, <scripRef passage="Jude 1:23" id="Gen.xx-p16.2" parsed="|Jude|1|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jude.1.23">Jude 23</scripRef>. Herein it is said, <i>The Lord was
|
|
merciful to him;</i> otherwise he might justly have left him to
|
|
perish, since he was so loth to depart. Note, (1.) The salvation of
|
|
the most righteous men must be attributed to God's mercy, not to
|
|
their own merit. We are saved by grace. (2.) God's power also must
|
|
be acknowledged in the bringing of souls out of a sinful state. If
|
|
God had not brought us forth, we had never come forth. (3.) If God
|
|
had not been merciful to us, our lingering had been our ruin.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xx-p17">2. With what a gracious vehemence he was
|
|
urged to make the best of his way, when he was <i>brought
|
|
forth,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 19:17" id="Gen.xx-p17.1" parsed="|Gen|19|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>.
|
|
(1.) He must still apprehend himself in danger of being consumed,
|
|
and be quickened by the law of self-preservation to flee for his
|
|
life. Note, A holy fear and trembling are found necessary to the
|
|
working out of our salvation. (2.) He must therefore mind his
|
|
business with the utmost care and diligence. He must not hanker
|
|
after Sodom: <i>Look not behind thee.</i> He must not loiter by the
|
|
way: <i>Stay not in the plain;</i> for it would all be made one
|
|
dead sea. He must not take up short of the place of refuge
|
|
appointed him: <i>Escape to the mountain.</i> Such as these are the
|
|
commands given to those who through grace are delivered out of a
|
|
sinful state. [1.] Return not to sin and Satan, for that is looking
|
|
back to Sodom. [2.] Rest not in self and the world, for that is
|
|
staying in the plain. And, [3.] Reach towards Christ and heaven,
|
|
for that is escaping to the mountain, short of which we must not
|
|
take up.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xx-p18">II. The fixing of a place of refuge for
|
|
him. The mountain was first appointed for him to flee to, but, 1.
|
|
He begged for a city of refuge, one of the five that lay together,
|
|
called <i>Bela,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 14:2,19:18-20" id="Gen.xx-p18.1" parsed="|Gen|14|2|0|0;|Gen|19|18|19|20" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.2 Bible:Gen.19.18-Gen.19.20"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xiv. 2, xix. 18-20</scripRef>. It was Lot's weakness to think a
|
|
city of his own choosing safer than the mountain of God's
|
|
appointing. And he argued against himself when he pleaded, <i>Thou
|
|
hast magnified thy mercy in saving my life, and I cannot escape to
|
|
the mountain;</i> for could not he that plucked him out of Sodom,
|
|
when he lingered, carry him safely to the mountain, though he began
|
|
to tire? Could not he that saved him from greater evils save him
|
|
from the less? He insists much in his petition upon the smallness
|
|
of the place: <i>It is a little one, it is not?</i> therefore, it
|
|
was to be hoped, not so bad as the rest. This gave a new name to
|
|
the place; it was called <i>Zoar, a little one.</i> Intercessions
|
|
for little ones are worthy to be remembered. 2. God granted him his
|
|
request, though there was much infirmity in it, <scripRef passage="Ge 19:21,22" id="Gen.xx-p18.2" parsed="|Gen|19|21|19|22" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.21-Gen.19.22"><i>v.</i> 21, 22</scripRef>. See what favour God
|
|
showed to a true saint, though weak. (1.) Zoar was spared, to
|
|
gratify him. Though his intercession for it was not, as Abraham's
|
|
for Sodom, from a principle of generous charity, but merely from
|
|
self-interest, yet God granted him his request, to show how much
|
|
the fervent prayer of a righteous man avails. (2.) Sodom's ruin was
|
|
suspended till he was safe: <i>I cannot do any thing till thou
|
|
shalt have come thither.</i> Note, The very presence of good men in
|
|
a place helps to keep off judgments. See what care God takes for
|
|
the preservation of his people. The winds are held till God's
|
|
servants are sealed, <scripRef passage="Re 7:3,Eze 9:4" id="Gen.xx-p18.3" parsed="|Rev|7|3|0|0;|Ezek|9|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.7.3 Bible:Ezek.9.4">Rev. vii.
|
|
3; Ezek. ix. 4</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xx-p19">III. It is taken notice of that the sun had
|
|
risen when Lot entered into Zoar; for when a good man comes into a
|
|
place he brings light along with him, or should do.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xx-p19.1">Destruction of Sodom and
|
|
Gomorrah. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xx-p19.2">b. c.</span> 1898.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xx-p20">24 Then the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xx-p20.1">Lord</span>
|
|
rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xx-p20.2">Lord</span> out of heaven;   25 And he
|
|
overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants
|
|
of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xx-p21"><i>Then,</i> when Lot had got safely into
|
|
Zoar, then this ruin came; for good men are taken away from the
|
|
evil to come. <i>Then,</i> when the sun had risen bright and clear,
|
|
promising a fair day, then this storm arose, to show that it was
|
|
not from natural causes. Concerning this destruction observe, 1.
|
|
God was the immediate author of it. It was destruction from the
|
|
Almighty: <i>The Lord rained—from the Lord</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 19:24" id="Gen.xx-p21.1" parsed="|Gen|19|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>), that is, God from himself, by
|
|
his own immediate power, and not in the common course of nature.
|
|
Or, God the Son from God the Father; for the Father has committed
|
|
all judgment to the Son. Note, He that is the Saviour will be the
|
|
destroyer of those that reject the salvation. 2. It was a strange
|
|
punishment, <scripRef passage="Job 31:3" id="Gen.xx-p21.2" parsed="|Job|31|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.31.3">Job xxxi. 3</scripRef>.
|
|
Never was the like before nor since. Hell was rained from heaven
|
|
upon them. <i>Fire, and brimstone, and a horrible tempest, were the
|
|
portion of their cup</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 11:6" id="Gen.xx-p21.3" parsed="|Ps|11|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.11.6">Ps. xi.
|
|
6</scripRef>); not a flash of lightning, which is destructive
|
|
enough when God gives it commission, but a shower of lightning.
|
|
Brimstone was scattered upon their habitation (<scripRef passage="Job 18:15" id="Gen.xx-p21.4" parsed="|Job|18|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.15">Job xviii. 15</scripRef>), and then the fire soon
|
|
fastened upon them. God could have drowned them, as he did the old
|
|
world; but he would show that he has many arrows in his quiver,
|
|
fire as well as water. 3. It was a judgment that laid all waste:
|
|
<i>It overthrew the cities,</i> and destroyed all the inhabitants
|
|
of them, the plain, and all that grew upon the ground, <scripRef passage="Ge 19:25" id="Gen.xx-p21.5" parsed="|Gen|19|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>. It was an utter ruin,
|
|
and irreparable. That fruitful valley remains to this day a great
|
|
lake, or dead sea; it is called
|
|
|
|
<pb n="125" id="Gen.xx-Page_125"/>
|
|
|
|
<i>the Salt
|
|
Sea,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 34:12" id="Gen.xx-p21.6" parsed="|Num|34|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.34.12">Num. xxxiv. 12</scripRef>.
|
|
Travellers say that it is about thirty miles long and ten miles
|
|
broad; it has no living creature in it; it is not moved by the
|
|
wind; the smell of it is offensive; things do not easily sink in
|
|
it. The Greeks call it <i>Asphaltites,</i> from a sort of pitch
|
|
which it casts up. Jordan falls into it, and is lost there. 4. It
|
|
was a punishment that answered to their sin. Burning lusts against
|
|
nature were justly punished with this preternatural burning. Those
|
|
that went after strange flesh were destroyed by strange fire,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Jude 1:7" id="Gen.xx-p21.7" parsed="|Jude|1|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jude.1.7">Jude 7</scripRef>. They persecuted the
|
|
angels with their rabble, and made Lot afraid; and now God
|
|
persecuted them with his tempest, and made them afraid with his
|
|
storm, <scripRef passage="Ps 83:15" id="Gen.xx-p21.8" parsed="|Ps|83|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.83.15">Ps. lxxxiii. 15</scripRef>. 5.
|
|
It was designed for a standing revelation of the wrath of God
|
|
against sin and sinners in all ages. It is, accordingly, often
|
|
referred to in the scripture, and made a pattern of the ruin of
|
|
Israel (<scripRef passage="De 29:23" id="Gen.xx-p21.9" parsed="|Deut|29|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.23">Deut. xxix. 23</scripRef>), of
|
|
Babylon (<scripRef passage="Isa 13:19" id="Gen.xx-p21.10" parsed="|Isa|13|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.13.19">Isa. xiii. 19</scripRef>),
|
|
of Edom (<scripRef passage="Jer 49:17,18" id="Gen.xx-p21.11" parsed="|Jer|49|17|49|18" osisRef="Bible:Jer.49.17-Jer.49.18">Jer. xlix. 17,
|
|
18</scripRef>), of Moab and Ammon, <scripRef passage="Zep 2:9" id="Gen.xx-p21.12" parsed="|Zeph|2|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zeph.2.9">Zep.
|
|
ii. 9</scripRef>. Nay, it was typical of <i>the vengeance of
|
|
eternal fire</i> (<scripRef passage="Jude 1:7" id="Gen.xx-p21.13" parsed="|Jude|1|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jude.1.7">Jude 7</scripRef>),
|
|
and the ruin of all <i>that live ungodly</i> (<scripRef passage="2Pe 2:6" id="Gen.xx-p21.14" parsed="|2Pet|2|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.2.6">2 Pet. ii. 6</scripRef>), especially that despise the
|
|
gospel, <scripRef passage="Mt 10:15" id="Gen.xx-p21.15" parsed="|Matt|10|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.10.15">Matt. x. 15</scripRef>. It is
|
|
in allusion to this destruction that the place of the damned is
|
|
often represented by a lake that burns, as Sodom did, with fire and
|
|
brimstone. Let us learn from it, (1.) The evil of sin, and the
|
|
hurtful nature of it. Iniquity tends to ruin. (2.) The terrors of
|
|
the Lord. See what a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of
|
|
the living God!</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 19:26" id="Gen.xx-p21.16" parsed="|Gen|19|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.26"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.19.26">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xx-p22">26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and
|
|
she became a pillar of salt.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xx-p23">This also is written for our admonition.
|
|
Our Saviour refers to it (<scripRef passage="Lu 17:32" id="Gen.xx-p23.1" parsed="|Luke|17|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.17.32">Luke xvii.
|
|
32</scripRef>), <i>Remember Lot's wife.</i> As by the example of
|
|
Sodom the wicked are warned to turn from their wickedness, so by
|
|
the example of Lot's wife the righteous are warned not to turn from
|
|
their righteousness. See <scripRef passage="Eze 3:18,20" id="Gen.xx-p23.2" parsed="|Ezek|3|18|0|0;|Ezek|3|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.3.18 Bible:Ezek.3.20">Ezek. iii.
|
|
18, 20</scripRef>. We have here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xx-p24">I. The sin of Lot's wife: <i>She looked
|
|
back from behind him.</i> This seemed a small thing, but we are
|
|
sure, by the punishment of it, that it was a great sin, and
|
|
exceedingly sinful. 1. She disobeyed an express command, and so
|
|
sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, which ruined
|
|
us all. 2. Unbelief was at the bottom of it; she questioned whether
|
|
Sodom would be destroyed, and thought she might still have been
|
|
safe in it. 3. She looked back upon her neighbours whom she had
|
|
left behind with more concern than was fit, now that their day of
|
|
grace was over, and divine justice was glorifying itself in their
|
|
ruin. See <scripRef passage="Isa 66:24" id="Gen.xx-p24.1" parsed="|Isa|66|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.66.24">Isa. lxvi. 24</scripRef>.
|
|
4. Probably she hankered after her house and goods in Sodom, and
|
|
was loth to leave them. Christ intimates this to be her sin
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Lu 17:31,32" id="Gen.xx-p24.2" parsed="|Luke|17|31|17|32" osisRef="Bible:Luke.17.31-Luke.17.32">Luke xvii. 31, 32</scripRef>); she
|
|
too much regarded her <i>stuff.</i> 5. Her looking back evinced an
|
|
inclination to go back; and therefore our Saviour uses it as a
|
|
warning against apostasy from our Christian profession. We have all
|
|
renounced the world and the flesh, and have set our faces
|
|
heaven-ward; we are in the plain, upon our probation; and it is at
|
|
our peril if we return into the interests we profess to have
|
|
abandoned. Drawing back is to perdition, and looking back is
|
|
towards it. <i>Let us therefore fear,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 4:1" id="Gen.xx-p24.3" parsed="|Heb|4|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.4.1">Heb. iv. 1</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xx-p25">II. The punishment of Lot's wife for this
|
|
sin. She was struck dead in the place; yet her body did not fall
|
|
down, but stood fixed and erect like a pillar, or monument, not
|
|
liable to waste nor decay, as human bodies exposed to the air are,
|
|
but metamorphosed into a metallic substance which would last
|
|
perpetually. Come, behold the goodness and severity of God
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ro 11:22" id="Gen.xx-p25.1" parsed="|Rom|11|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.11.22">Rom. xi. 22</scripRef>), towards Lot,
|
|
who went forward, goodness; towards his wife, who looked back,
|
|
severity. Though she was nearly related to a righteous man, though
|
|
better than her neighbours, and though a monument of distinguishing
|
|
mercy in her deliverance out of Sodom, yet God did not connive at
|
|
her disobedience; for great privileges will not secure us from the
|
|
wrath of God if we do not carefully and faithfully improve them.
|
|
This pillar of salt should season us. Since it is such a dangerous
|
|
thing to look back, let us always press forward, <scripRef passage="Php 3:13,14" id="Gen.xx-p25.2" parsed="|Phil|3|13|3|14" osisRef="Bible:Phil.3.13-Phil.3.14">Phil. iii. 13, 14</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 19:27-29" id="Gen.xx-p25.3" parsed="|Gen|19|27|19|29" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.27-Gen.19.29"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.19.27-Gen.19.29">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xx-p26">27 And Abraham gat up early in the morning to
|
|
the place where he stood before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xx-p26.1">Lord</span>:   28 And he looked toward Sodom and
|
|
Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and,
|
|
lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.
|
|
  29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the
|
|
plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst
|
|
of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot
|
|
dwelt.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xx-p27">Our communion with God consists in our
|
|
gracious regard to him and his gracious regard to us; we have here
|
|
therefore the communion that was between God and Abraham, in the
|
|
event concerning Sodom, as before in the consultation concerning
|
|
it, for communion with God is to be kept up in providences as well
|
|
as in ordinances.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xx-p28">I. Here is Abraham's pious regard to God in
|
|
this event, in two things:—1. A careful expectation of the event,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 19:27" id="Gen.xx-p28.1" parsed="|Gen|19|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>. <i>He got up
|
|
early</i> to look towards Sodom; and, to intimate that his design
|
|
herein was to see what became of his prayers, he went to the very
|
|
place where he had stood before the Lord, and set himself there, as
|
|
upon his watch tower, <scripRef passage="Hab 2:1" id="Gen.xx-p28.2" parsed="|Hab|2|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hab.2.1">Hab. ii.
|
|
1</scripRef>. Note, When we have prayed we must look after our
|
|
prayers, and observe the success of them. We must direct our prayer
|
|
as a letter, and then look up for an answer, direct our prayer as
|
|
an arrow, and then look up to see whether it reach the mark,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 5:3" id="Gen.xx-p28.3" parsed="|Ps|5|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.5.3">Ps. v. 3</scripRef>. Our enquiries after
|
|
news must be in expectation of an answer to our prayers. 2. An
|
|
awful observation of it: <i>He looked towards Sodom</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 19:28" id="Gen.xx-p28.4" parsed="|Gen|19|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>), not as Lot's wife did,
|
|
tacitly reflecting upon the divine severity, but humbly adoring it
|
|
and acquiescing in it. Thus the saints, when they see the smoke of
|
|
Babylon's torment rising up for ever (like Sodom's here), will say
|
|
again and again, <i>Alleluia,</i> <scripRef passage="Re 19:3" id="Gen.xx-p28.5" parsed="|Rev|19|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.19.3">Rev.
|
|
xix. 3</scripRef>. Those that have, in the day of grace, most
|
|
earnestly interceded for sinners, will, in the day of judgment, be
|
|
content to see them perish, and will glorify God in their
|
|
destruction.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xx-p29">II. Here is God's favourable regard to
|
|
Abraham, <scripRef passage="Ge 19:29" id="Gen.xx-p29.1" parsed="|Gen|19|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>. As
|
|
before, when Abraham prayed for Ishmael, God heard him for Isaac,
|
|
so now, when he prayed for Sodom, he heard him for Lot. <i>He
|
|
remembered Abraham, and,</i> for his sake, <i>sent Lot out of the
|
|
overthrow.</i> Note, 1. God will certainly give an answer of peace
|
|
to the prayer of faith, in his own way and time; though, for a
|
|
while, it seem to be forgotten, yet, sooner or later, it will
|
|
appear to be remembered. 2. The relations and friends of godly
|
|
people fare the better for their interest in God and intercessions
|
|
with him; it was out of respect to Abraham that Lot was rescued:
|
|
perhaps this word encouraged Moses long afterwards to pray
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 32:13" id="Gen.xx-p29.2" parsed="|Exod|32|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.13">Exod. xxxii. 13</scripRef>), <i>Lord,
|
|
remember Abraham;</i> and see <scripRef passage="Isa 63:11" id="Gen.xx-p29.3" parsed="|Isa|63|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.63.11">Isa.
|
|
lxiii. 11</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 19:30-38" id="Gen.xx-p29.4" parsed="|Gen|19|30|19|38" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.30-Gen.19.38"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.19.30-Gen.19.38">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xx-p29.5">Lot's Disgrace. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xx-p29.6">b. c.</span> 1898.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xx-p30">30 And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the
|
|
mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in
|
|
Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.   31
|
|
And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father <i>is</i> old,
|
|
and <i>there is</i> not a man in the earth to come in unto us after
|
|
the manner of all the earth:   32 Come, let us make our father
|
|
drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of
|
|
our father.   33 And they made their father drink wine that
|
|
night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he
|
|
perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose.   34 And
|
|
it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the
|
|
younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him
|
|
drink wine this night also; and go thou in, <i>and</i> lie with
|
|
him, that we may preserve seed of our father.   35 And they
|
|
made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger
|
|
arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down,
|
|
nor when she arose.   36 Thus were both the daughters of Lot
|
|
with child by their father.   37 And the firstborn bare a son,
|
|
and called his name Moab: the same <i>is</i> the father of the
|
|
Moabites unto this day.   38 And the younger, she also bare a
|
|
son, and called his name Ben-ammi: the same <i>is</i> the father of
|
|
the children of Ammon unto this day.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xx-p31">Here is, I. The great trouble and distress
|
|
that Lot was brought into after his deliverance, <scripRef passage="Ge 19:30" id="Gen.xx-p31.1" parsed="|Gen|19|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>. 1. He was frightened out of
|
|
Zoar, durst not dwell there; probably because he was conscious to
|
|
himself that it was a refuge of his own choosing and that herein he
|
|
had foolishly prescribed to God, and therefore he could not but
|
|
distrust his safety in it; or because he found it as wicked as
|
|
Sodom, and therefore concluded it could not long survive it; or
|
|
perhaps he observed the rise and increase of those waters which
|
|
after the conflagration, perhaps from Jordan, began to overflow the
|
|
plain, and which, mixing with the ruins, by degrees made the Dead
|
|
Sea; in those waters he concluded Zoar must needs perish (though it
|
|
had escaped the fire) because it stood upon the same flat. Note,
|
|
Settlements and shelters of our own choosing, and in which we do
|
|
not follow God, commonly prove uneasy to us. 2. He was forced to
|
|
betake himself to the mountain, and to take up with a cave for his
|
|
habitation there. Methinks it was strange that he did not return to
|
|
Abraham, and put himself under his protection, to whom he had once
|
|
and again owed his safety: but the truth is there are some good men
|
|
that are not wise enough to know what is best for themselves.
|
|
Observe, (1.) He was now glad to go to the mountain, the place
|
|
which God had appointed for his shelter. Note, It is well if
|
|
disappointment in our way drive us at last to God's way. (2.) He
|
|
that, awhile ago, could not find room enough for himself and his
|
|
stock in the whole land, but must jostle with Abraham, and get as
|
|
far from him as he could, is now confined to a hole in a hill,
|
|
where he has scarcely room to turn himself, and there he is
|
|
solitary and trembling. Note, It is just with God to reduce those
|
|
to poverty and restraint who have abused their liberty and plenty.
|
|
See also in Lot what those bring themselves to, at last, that
|
|
forsake the communion of saints for secular advantages; they will
|
|
be beaten with their own rod.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xx-p32">II. The great sin that Lot and his
|
|
daughters were guilty of, when they were in this desolate place. It
|
|
is a sad story.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xx-p33">1. His daughters laid a very wicked plot to
|
|
bring him to sin; and theirs was, doubtless, the greater guilt.
|
|
They contrived, under pretence of cheering up the spirits of
|
|
|
|
<pb n="127" id="Gen.xx-Page_127"/>
|
|
|
|
their father in his present condition, to make
|
|
him drunk, and then to lie with him, <scripRef passage="Ge 19:31,32" id="Gen.xx-p33.1" parsed="|Gen|19|31|19|32" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.31-Gen.19.32"><i>v.</i> 31, 32</scripRef>. (1.) Some think that
|
|
their pretence was plausible. Their father had no sons, they had no
|
|
husbands, nor knew they where to have any of the holy seed, or, if
|
|
they had children by others, their father's name would not be
|
|
preserved in them. Some think that they had the Messiah in their
|
|
eye, who, they hoped, might descend form their father; for he came
|
|
from Terah's elder son, who separated from the rest of Shem's
|
|
posterity as well as Abraham, and was now signally delivered out of
|
|
Sodom. Their mother, and the rest of the family, were gone; they
|
|
might not marry with the cursed Canaanites; and therefore they
|
|
supposed that the end they aimed at and the extremity they were
|
|
brought to, would excuse the irregularity. Thus the learned
|
|
Monsieur Allix. Note, Good intentions are often abused to patronise
|
|
bad actions. But, (2.) Whatever their pretence was, it is certain
|
|
that their project was very wicked and vile, and an impudent
|
|
affront to the very light and law of nature. Note, [1.] The sight
|
|
of God's most tremendous judgments upon sinners will not of itself,
|
|
without the grace of God, restrain evil hearts from evil practices:
|
|
one would wonder how the fire of lust could possibly kindle upon
|
|
those, who had so lately been the eye-witnesses of Sodom's flames.
|
|
[2.] Solitude has its temptations as well as company, and
|
|
particularly to uncleanness. When Joseph was alone with his
|
|
mistress he was in danger, <scripRef passage="Ge 39:11" id="Gen.xx-p33.2" parsed="|Gen|39|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.39.11"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xxxix. 11</scripRef>. Relations that dwell together, especially if
|
|
solitary, have need carefully to watch even against the least evil
|
|
thought of this kind, lest Satan get an advantage.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xx-p34">2. Lot himself, by his own folly and
|
|
unwariness, was wretchedly overcome, and suffered himself so far to
|
|
be imposed upon by his own children as, two nights together, to be
|
|
drunk, and to commit incest, <scripRef passage="Ge 19:33" id="Gen.xx-p34.1" parsed="|Gen|19|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.33"><i>v.</i>
|
|
33</scripRef>, &c. <i>Lord, what is man!</i> What are the best
|
|
of men, when God leaves them to themselves! See here, (1.) The
|
|
peril of security. Lot, who not only kept himself sober and chaste
|
|
in Sodom, but was a constant mourner for the wickedness of the
|
|
place and a witness against it, was yet, in the mountain, where he
|
|
was alone, and as he thought quite out of the way of temptation,
|
|
shamefully overtaken. Let him therefore that thinks he stands,
|
|
stands high and stands firm, <i>take heed lest he fall.</i> No
|
|
mountain, on this side the holy hill above, can set us out of the
|
|
reach of Satan's fiery darts. (2.) The peril of drunkenness. It is
|
|
not only a great sin itself, but it is the inlet of many sins; it
|
|
may prove the inlet of the worst and most unnatural sins, which may
|
|
be a perpetual wound and dishonour. Excellently does Mr. Herbert
|
|
describe it,</p>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<verse id="Gen.xx-p34.2">
|
|
<l class="t1" id="Gen.xx-p34.3">"He that is drunken may his mother kill</l>
|
|
<l class="t1" id="Gen.xx-p34.4">Big with his sister."—————————</l>
|
|
</verse>
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xx-p35">A man may do that without reluctance, when
|
|
he is drunk, which, when he is sober, he could not think of without
|
|
horror. (3.) The peril of temptation from our dearest relations and
|
|
friends, whom we love, and esteem, and expect kindness from. Lot,
|
|
whose temperance and chastity were impregnable against the
|
|
batteries of foreign force, was surprised into sin and shame by the
|
|
base treachery of his own daughters: we must dread a snare wherever
|
|
we are, and be always upon our guard.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xx-p36">3. In the close we have an account of the
|
|
birth of the two sons, or grandsons (call them which you will), of
|
|
Lot, Moab and Ammon, the fathers of two nations, neighbours to
|
|
Israel, and which we often read of in the Old Testament; both
|
|
together are called <i>the children of Lot,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 83:8" id="Gen.xx-p36.1" parsed="|Ps|83|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.83.8">Ps. lxxxiii. 8</scripRef>. Note, Though prosperous births
|
|
may attend incestuous conceptions, yet they are so far from
|
|
justifying them that they rather perpetuate the reproach of them
|
|
and entail infamy upon posterity; yet the tribe of Judah, of which
|
|
our Lord sprang, descended from such a birth, and Ruth, a
|
|
Moabitess, has a name in his genealogy, <scripRef passage="Mt 1:3,5" id="Gen.xx-p36.2" parsed="|Matt|1|3|0|0;|Matt|1|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.1.3 Bible:Matt.1.5">Matt. i. 3, 5</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xx-p37"><i>Lastly,</i> Observe that, after this, we
|
|
never read any more of Lot, nor what became of him: no doubt he
|
|
repented of his sin, and was pardoned; but from the silence of the
|
|
scripture concerning him henceforward we may learn that
|
|
drunkenness, as it makes men forgetful, so it makes them forgotten;
|
|
and many a name, which otherwise might have been remembered with
|
|
respect, is buried by it in contempt and oblivion.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XX" n="xxi" progress="15.24%" prev="Gen.xx" next="Gen.xxii" id="Gen.xxi">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="127" id="Gen.xxi-Page_127"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xxi-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xxi-p0.2">CHAP. XX.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xxi-p1">We are here returning to the story of Abraham; yet
|
|
that part of it which is here recorded is not to his honour. The
|
|
fairest marbles have their flaws, and, while there are spots in the
|
|
sun, we must not expect any thing spotless under it. The scripture,
|
|
it should be remarked, is impartial in relating the blemishes even
|
|
of its most celebrated characters. We have here, I. Abraham's sin
|
|
in denying his wife, and Abimelech's sin thereupon in taking her,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 20:1,2" id="Gen.xxi-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|20|1|20|2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.1-Gen.20.2">ver. 1, 2</scripRef>. II. God's
|
|
discourse with Abimelech in a dream, upon this occasion, wherein he
|
|
shows him his error (<scripRef passage="Ge 20:3" id="Gen.xxi-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|20|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.3">ver.
|
|
3</scripRef>), accepts his plea (<scripRef passage="Ge 20:4-6" id="Gen.xxi-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|20|4|20|6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.4-Gen.20.6">ver.
|
|
4-6</scripRef>), and directs him to make restitution, <scripRef passage="Ge 20:7" id="Gen.xxi-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|20|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.7">ver. 7</scripRef>. III. Abimelech's discourse
|
|
with Abraham, wherein he chides him for the cheat he had put upon
|
|
him (<scripRef passage="Ge 20:8-10" id="Gen.xxi-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|20|8|20|10" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.8-Gen.20.10">ver. 8-10</scripRef>), and
|
|
Abraham excuses it as well as he can, <scripRef passage="Ge 20:11-13" id="Gen.xxi-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|20|11|20|13" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.11-Gen.20.13">ver. 11-13</scripRef>. IV. The good issue of the
|
|
story, in which Abimelech restores Abraham his wife (<scripRef passage="Ge 20:14-16" id="Gen.xxi-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|20|14|20|16" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.14-Gen.20.16">ver. 14-16</scripRef>), and Abraham, by
|
|
prayer, prevails with God for the removal of the judgment Abimelech
|
|
was under, <scripRef passage="Ge 20:17,18" id="Gen.xxi-p1.8" parsed="|Gen|20|17|20|18" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.17-Gen.20.18">ver. 17,
|
|
18</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 20" id="Gen.xxi-p1.9" parsed="|Gen|20|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 20:1-2" id="Gen.xxi-p1.10" parsed="|Gen|20|1|20|2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.1-Gen.20.2"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.20.1-Gen.20.2">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxi-p1.11">Abraham's Denial of His
|
|
Wife. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxi-p1.12">b. c.</span> 1898.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxi-p2">1 And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the
|
|
south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned
|
|
in Gerar.   2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She
|
|
<i>is</i> my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took
|
|
Sarah.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxi-p3">Here is, 1. Abraham's removal from Mamre,
|
|
where he had lived nearly twenty years, into the country of the
|
|
Philistines: <i>He sojourned in Gerar,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 20:1" id="Gen.xxi-p3.1" parsed="|Gen|20|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. We are not told upon what
|
|
occasion he removed, whether terrified by the destruction of Sodom,
|
|
or because the country round was for the present prejudiced by it,
|
|
or, as some of the Jewish writers say, because he was grieved at
|
|
Lot's incest with his daughters, and the reproach which the
|
|
Canaanites cast upon him and his religion, for
|
|
|
|
<pb n="128" id="Gen.xxi-Page_128"/>
|
|
|
|
his kinsman's sake: doubtless there was some good
|
|
cause for his removal. Note, In a world where we are strangers and
|
|
pilgrims we cannot expect to be always in the same place. Again,
|
|
Wherever we are, we must look upon ourselves but as sojourners. 2.
|
|
His sin in denying his wife, as before (<scripRef passage="Ge 12:13" id="Gen.xxi-p3.2" parsed="|Gen|12|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.13"><i>ch.</i> xii. 13</scripRef>), which was not only in
|
|
itself such an equivocation as bordered upon a lie, and which, if
|
|
admitted as lawful, would be the ruin of human converse and an
|
|
inlet to all falsehood, but was also an exposing of the chastity
|
|
and honour of his wife, of which he ought to have been the
|
|
protector. But, besides this, it had here a two-fold aggravation:—
|
|
(1.) He had been guilty of this same sin before, and had been
|
|
reproved for it, and convinced of the folly of the suggestion which
|
|
induced him to it; yet he returns to it. Note, It is possible that
|
|
a good man may, not only fall into sin, but relapse into the same
|
|
sin, through the surprise and strength of temptation and the
|
|
infirmity of the flesh. Let backsliders repent then, but not
|
|
despair, <scripRef passage="Jer 3:22" id="Gen.xxi-p3.3" parsed="|Jer|3|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.3.22">Jer. iii. 22</scripRef>. (2.)
|
|
Sarah, as it should seem, was now with child of the promised seed,
|
|
or, at least, in expectation of being so quickly, according to the
|
|
word of God; he ought therefore to have taken particular care of
|
|
her now, as <scripRef passage="Jdg 13:4" id="Gen.xxi-p3.4" parsed="|Judg|13|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.13.4">Judg. xiii. 4</scripRef>.
|
|
3. The peril that Sarah was brought into by this means: <i>The king
|
|
of Gerar sent, and took her</i> to his house, in order to the
|
|
taking of her to his bed. Note, The sin of one often occasions the
|
|
sin of others; he that breaks the hedge of God's commandments opens
|
|
a gap to he knows not how many; the beginning of sin is as the
|
|
letting forth of water.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 20:3-7" id="Gen.xxi-p3.5" parsed="|Gen|20|3|20|7" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.3-Gen.20.7"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.20.3-Gen.20.7">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxi-p4">3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night,
|
|
and said to him, Behold, thou <i>art but</i> a dead man, for the
|
|
woman which thou hast taken; for she <i>is</i> a man's wife.  
|
|
4 But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxi-p4.1">Lord</span>, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?
|
|
  5 Said he not unto me, She <i>is</i> my sister? and she,
|
|
even she herself said, He <i>is</i> my brother: in the integrity of
|
|
my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this.   6 And
|
|
God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in
|
|
the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning
|
|
against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.   7
|
|
Now therefore restore the man <i>his</i> wife; for he <i>is</i> a
|
|
prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if
|
|
thou restore <i>her</i> not, know thou that thou shalt surely die,
|
|
thou, and all that <i>are</i> thine.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxi-p5">It appears by this that God revealed
|
|
himself by dreams (which evidenced themselves to be divine and
|
|
supernatural) not only to his servants the prophets, but even to
|
|
those who were out of the pale of the church and covenant; but
|
|
then, usually, it was with some regard to God's own people as in
|
|
Pharaoh's dream, to Joseph, in Nebuchadnezzar's, to Daniel, and
|
|
here, in Abimelech's, to Abraham and Sarah, for he reproved this
|
|
king for their sake, <scripRef passage="Ps 105:14,15" id="Gen.xxi-p5.1" parsed="|Ps|105|14|105|15" osisRef="Bible:Ps.105.14-Ps.105.15">Ps. cv. 14,
|
|
15</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxi-p6">I. God gives him notice of his danger
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 20:3" id="Gen.xxi-p6.1" parsed="|Gen|20|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), his danger of
|
|
<i>sin,</i> telling him that the woman is a man's wife, so that if
|
|
he take her he will wrong her husband; his danger of death for this
|
|
sin: <i>Thou art a dead man;</i> and God's saying so of a man makes
|
|
him so. Note, Every wilful sinner ought to be told that he is a
|
|
dead man, as the condemned malefactor, and the patient whose
|
|
disease is mortal, are said to be so. If thou art a bad man,
|
|
certainly thou art a dead man.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxi-p7">II. He pleads ignorance that Abraham and
|
|
Sarah had agreed to impose upon him, and not to let him know that
|
|
they were any more than brother and sister, <scripRef passage="Ge 20:6" id="Gen.xxi-p7.1" parsed="|Gen|20|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. See what confidence a man may
|
|
have towards God when his heart condemns him not, <scripRef passage="1Jo 3:21" id="Gen.xxi-p7.2" parsed="|1John|3|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.3.21">1 John iii. 21</scripRef>. If our consciences
|
|
witness to our integrity, and that, however we may have been
|
|
cheated into a snare, we have not knowingly and wittingly sinned
|
|
against God, it will be our rejoicing in the day of evil. He pleads
|
|
with God as Abraham had done, <scripRef passage="Ge 18:23" id="Gen.xxi-p7.3" parsed="|Gen|18|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.23"><i>ch.</i> xviii. 23</scripRef>. <i>Wilt thou slay a
|
|
righteous nation?</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 20:4" id="Gen.xxi-p7.4" parsed="|Gen|20|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.4"><i>v.</i>
|
|
4</scripRef>. Not such a nation as Sodom, which was indeed justly
|
|
destroyed, but a nation which, in this matter, was innocent.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxi-p8">III. God gives a very full answer to what
|
|
he had said.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxi-p9">1. He allows his plea, and admits that what
|
|
he did he did in the integrity of his heart: <i>Yea, I know it,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 20:6" id="Gen.xxi-p9.1" parsed="|Gen|20|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. Note, It is
|
|
matter of comfort to those that are honest that God knows their
|
|
honesty, and will acknowledge it, though perhaps men that are
|
|
prejudiced against them either cannot be convinced of it or will
|
|
not own that they are.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxi-p10">2. He lets him know that he was kept from
|
|
proceeding in the sin merely by the good hand of God upon him: <i>I
|
|
withheld thee from sinning against me.</i> Abimelech was hereby
|
|
kept from doing wrong, Abraham from suffering wrong, and Sarah from
|
|
both. Note, (1.) There is a great deal of sin devised and designed
|
|
that is never executed. As bad as things are in the world, they are
|
|
not so bad as the devil and wicked men would have them. (2.) It is
|
|
God that restrains men from doing the ill they would do. It is not
|
|
from him that there is sin, but it is from him that there is not
|
|
more sin, either by his influence upon men's minds, checking their
|
|
inclination to sin, or by his providence, taking away the
|
|
opportunity to sin. (3.) It is a great mercy to be hindered from
|
|
committing sin; of this God must have the glory, whoever is the
|
|
instrument, <scripRef passage="1Sa 25:32,33" id="Gen.xxi-p10.1" parsed="|1Sam|25|32|25|33" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.25.32-1Sam.25.33">1 Sam. xxv. 32,
|
|
33</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<pb n="129" id="Gen.xxi-Page_129"/>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxi-p11">3. He charges him to make restitution:
|
|
<i>Now therefore,</i> not that thou art better informed, <i>restore
|
|
the man his wife,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 20:7" id="Gen.xxi-p11.1" parsed="|Gen|20|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.7"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7</scripRef>. Note, Ignorance will excuse no longer than it
|
|
continues. If we have entered upon a wrong course through ignorance
|
|
this will not excuse our knowingly persisting in it, <scripRef passage="Le 5:3-5" id="Gen.xxi-p11.2" parsed="|Lev|5|3|5|5" osisRef="Bible:Lev.5.3-Lev.5.5">Lev. v. 3-5</scripRef>. The reasons why he must
|
|
be just and kind to Abraham are, (1.) Because <i>he is a
|
|
prophet,</i> near and dear to God, for whom God does in a
|
|
particular manner concern himself. God highly resents the injuries
|
|
done to his prophets, and takes them as done to himself. (2.) Being
|
|
a prophet, <i>he shall pray for thee;</i> this is a prophet's
|
|
reward, and a good reward it is. It is intimated that there was
|
|
great efficacy in the prayers of a prophet, and that good men
|
|
should be ready to help those with their prayers that stand in need
|
|
of them, and should make, at least, this return for the kindnesses
|
|
that are done them. Abraham was accessory to Abimelech's trouble,
|
|
and therefore was obliged in justice to pray for him. (3.) It is at
|
|
thy peril if thou do not restore her: <i>Know thou that thou shalt
|
|
surely die.</i> Note, He that does wrong, whoever he is, prince or
|
|
peasant, shall certainly receive for the wrong which he has done,
|
|
unless he repent and make restitution, <scripRef passage="Col 3:25" id="Gen.xxi-p11.3" parsed="|Col|3|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Col.3.25">Col. iii. 25</scripRef>. No injustice can be made
|
|
passable with God, no, not by Caesar's image stamped upon it.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 20:8-13" id="Gen.xxi-p11.4" parsed="|Gen|20|8|20|13" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.8-Gen.20.13"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.20.8-Gen.20.13">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxi-p11.5">Abimelech's Conduct Towards
|
|
Abraham. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxi-p11.6">b. c.</span> 1898.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxi-p12">8 Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning,
|
|
and called all his servants, and told all these things in their
|
|
ears: and the men were sore afraid.   9 Then Abimelech called
|
|
Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what
|
|
have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my
|
|
kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to
|
|
be done.   10 And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest
|
|
thou, that thou hast done this thing?   11 And Abraham said,
|
|
Because I thought, Surely the fear of God <i>is</i> not in this
|
|
place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake.   12 And yet
|
|
indeed <i>she is</i> my sister; she <i>is</i> the daughter of my
|
|
father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.
|
|
  13 And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my
|
|
father's house, that I said unto her, This <i>is</i> thy kindness
|
|
which thou shalt show unto me; at every place whither we shall
|
|
come, say of me, He <i>is</i> my brother.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxi-p13">Abimelech, being thus warned of God in a
|
|
dream, takes the warning, and, as one truly afraid of sin and its
|
|
consequences, he rises early to obey the directions given him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxi-p14">I. He has a caution for his servants,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 20:8" id="Gen.xxi-p14.1" parsed="|Gen|20|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. Abraham himself
|
|
could not be more careful than he was to command his household in
|
|
this matter. Note, Those whom God has convinced of sin and danger
|
|
ought to tell others what God has done for their souls, that they
|
|
also may be awakened and brought to a like holy fear.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxi-p15">II. He has a chiding for Abraham.
|
|
Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxi-p16">1. The serious reproof which Abimelech gave
|
|
to Abraham, <scripRef passage="Ge 20:9,10" id="Gen.xxi-p16.1" parsed="|Gen|20|9|20|10" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.9-Gen.20.10"><i>v.</i> 9,
|
|
10</scripRef>. His reasoning with Abraham upon this occasion was
|
|
very strong, and yet very mild. Nothing could be said better; he
|
|
does not reproach him, nor insult over him, does not say, "Is this
|
|
your profession? I see, though you will not swear, you will lie. If
|
|
these be prophets, I will beg to be freed from the sight of them:"
|
|
but he fairly represents the injury Abraham had done him, and
|
|
calmly signifies his resentment of it. (1.) He calls that sin which
|
|
he now found he had been in danger of a great sin. Note, Even the
|
|
light of nature teaches men that the sin of adultery is a very
|
|
great sin: be it observed, to the shame of many who call themselves
|
|
Christians, and yet make a light matter of it. (2.) He looks upon
|
|
it that both himself and his kingdom would have been exposed to the
|
|
wrath of God if he had been guilty of this sin, though ignorantly.
|
|
Note, The sins of kings often prove the plagues of kingdoms; rulers
|
|
should therefore, for their people's sake, dread sin. (3.) He
|
|
charges Abraham with doing that which was not justifiable, in
|
|
disowning his marriage. This he speaks of justly, and yet tenderly;
|
|
he does not call him a liar and cheat, but tells him he had done
|
|
<i>deeds that ought not to be done.</i> Note, Equivocation and
|
|
dissimulation, however they may be palliated, are very bad things,
|
|
and by no means to be admitted in any case. (4.) He takes it as a
|
|
very great injury to himself and his family that Abraham had thus
|
|
exposed them to sin: "<i>What have I offended thee?</i> If I had
|
|
been thy worst enemy, thou couldst not have done me a worse turn,
|
|
nor taken a more effectual course to be revenged on me." Note, We
|
|
ought to reckon that those do us the greatest unkindness in the
|
|
world that any way tempt us or expose us to sin, though they may
|
|
pretend friendship, and offer that which is grateful enough to
|
|
corrupt nature. (5.) He challenges him to assign a cause for his
|
|
suspecting them as a dangerous people for an honest man to live
|
|
among: "<i>What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing?</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 20:10" id="Gen.xxi-p16.2" parsed="|Gen|20|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. What reason
|
|
hadst thou to think that if we had known her to be thy wife thou
|
|
wouldst have been exposed to any danger by it?" Note, A suspicion
|
|
of our goodness is justly reckoned a greater affront than a slight
|
|
upon our greatness.</p>
|
|
|
|
<pb n="130" id="Gen.xxi-Page_130"/>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxi-p17">2. The poor excuse that Abraham made for
|
|
himself.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxi-p18">(1.) He pleaded the bad opinion he had of
|
|
the place, <scripRef passage="Ge 20:11" id="Gen.xxi-p18.1" parsed="|Gen|20|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. He
|
|
thought within himself (though he could not give any good reason
|
|
for his thinking so), "<i>Surely the fear of God is not in this
|
|
place,</i> and then they will slay me." [1.] Little good is to be
|
|
expected where no fear of God is. See <scripRef passage="Ps 36:1" id="Gen.xxi-p18.2" parsed="|Ps|36|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.36.1">Ps. xxxvi. 1</scripRef>. [2.] There are many places and
|
|
persons that have more of the fear of God in them than we think
|
|
they have: perhaps they are not called by our dividing name, they
|
|
do not wear our badges, they do not tie themselves to that which we
|
|
have an opinion of; and therefore we conclude they have not the
|
|
fear of God in their hearts, which is very injurious both of Christ
|
|
and Christians, and makes us obnoxious to God's judgment, <scripRef passage="Mt 7:1" id="Gen.xxi-p18.3" parsed="|Matt|7|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.7.1">Matt. vii. 1</scripRef>. [3.] Uncharitableness and
|
|
censoriousness are sins that are the cause of many other sins. When
|
|
men have once persuaded themselves concerning such and such that
|
|
they have not the fear of God, they think this will justify them in
|
|
the most unjust and unchristian practices towards them. Men would
|
|
not do ill if they did not first think ill.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxi-p19">(2.) He excused it from the guilt of a
|
|
downright lie by making it out that, in a sense, she was his
|
|
sister, <scripRef passage="Ge 20:12" id="Gen.xxi-p19.1" parsed="|Gen|20|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. Some
|
|
think she was own sister to Lot, who is called his <i>brother
|
|
Lot</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 14:16" id="Gen.xxi-p19.2" parsed="|Gen|14|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.16"><i>ch.</i> xiv.
|
|
16</scripRef>), though he was <i>his nephew;</i> so Sarah is called
|
|
his <i>sister.</i> But those to whom he said, <i>She is my
|
|
sister,</i> understood that she was so his sister as not to be
|
|
capable of being his wife; so that it was an equivocation, with an
|
|
intent to deceive.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxi-p20">(3.) He clears himself from the imputation
|
|
of an affront designed to Abimelech in it by alleging that it had
|
|
been his practice before, according to an agreement between him and
|
|
his wife, when they first became sojourners (<scripRef passage="Ge 20:13" id="Gen.xxi-p20.1" parsed="|Gen|20|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>): "<i>When God caused me to
|
|
wander from my father's house,</i> then we settled this matter."
|
|
Note, [1.] God is to be acknowledged in all our wanderings. [2.]
|
|
Those that travel abroad, and converse much with strangers, as they
|
|
have need of the wisdom of the serpent, so it is requisite that
|
|
that wisdom be ever tempered with the innocence of the dove. It
|
|
may, for aught I know, be suggested that God denied to Abraham and
|
|
Sarah the blessing of children so long to punish them for this
|
|
sinful compact if they will not own their marriage, why should God
|
|
own it? But we may suppose that, after this reproof which Abimelech
|
|
gave them, they agreed never to do so again, and then presently we
|
|
read (<scripRef passage="Ge 21:1,2" id="Gen.xxi-p20.2" parsed="|Gen|21|1|21|2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.1-Gen.21.2"><i>ch.</i> xxi. 1,
|
|
2</scripRef>) that <i>Sarah conceived.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 20:14-18" id="Gen.xxi-p20.3" parsed="|Gen|20|14|20|18" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.14-Gen.20.18"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.20.14-Gen.20.18">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxi-p21">14 And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and
|
|
menservants, and womenservants, and gave <i>them</i> unto Abraham,
|
|
and restored him Sarah his wife.   15 And Abimelech said,
|
|
Behold, my land <i>is</i> before thee: dwell where it pleaseth
|
|
thee.   16 And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy
|
|
brother a thousand <i>pieces</i> of silver: behold, he <i>is</i> to
|
|
thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that <i>are</i> with thee,
|
|
and with all <i>other:</i> thus she was reproved.   17 So
|
|
Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife,
|
|
and his maidservants; and they bare <i>children.</i>   18 For
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxi-p21.1">Lord</span> had fast closed up all the
|
|
wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham's
|
|
wife.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxi-p22">Here is, I. The kindness of a prince which
|
|
Abimelech showed to Abraham. See how unjust Abraham's jealousies
|
|
were. He fancied that if they knew that Sarah was his wife they
|
|
would kill him; but, when they did know it, instead of killing him
|
|
they were kind to him, frightened at least to be so by the divine
|
|
rebukes they were under. 1. He gives him his royal licence to dwell
|
|
where he pleased in his country, courting his stay because he gives
|
|
him his royal gifts (<scripRef passage="Ge 20:14" id="Gen.xxi-p22.1" parsed="|Gen|20|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.14"><i>v.</i>
|
|
14</scripRef>), <i>sheep and oxen,</i> and (<scripRef passage="Ge 20:16" id="Gen.xxi-p22.2" parsed="|Gen|20|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>) <i>a thousand pieces of
|
|
silver.</i> This he gave when he restored Sarah, either, [1.] By
|
|
way of satisfaction for the wrong he had offered to do, in taking
|
|
her to his house: when the Philistines restored the ark, being
|
|
plagued for detaining it, they sent a present with it. The law
|
|
appointed that when restitution was made something should be added
|
|
to it, <scripRef passage="Le 6:5" id="Gen.xxi-p22.3" parsed="|Lev|6|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.5">Lev. vi. 5</scripRef>. Or, [2.]
|
|
To engage Abraham's prayers for him; not as if prayers should be
|
|
bought and sold, but we should endeavour to be kind to those of
|
|
whose spiritual things we reap, <scripRef passage="1Co 9:11" id="Gen.xxi-p22.4" parsed="|1Cor|9|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.9.11">1 Cor.
|
|
ix. 11</scripRef>. Note, It is our wisdom to get and keep an
|
|
interest with those that have an interest in heaven, and to make
|
|
those our friends who are the friends of God. [3.] He gives to
|
|
Sarah good instruction, tells her that her husband (her
|
|
<i>brother</i> he calls him, to upbraid her with calling him so)
|
|
must be to her for <i>a covering of the eyes,</i> that is, she must
|
|
look at no other, nor desire to be looked at by any other. Note,
|
|
Yoke-fellows must be to each other for a covering of the eyes. The
|
|
marriage-covenant is a covenant with the eyes, like Job's,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Job 31:1" id="Gen.xxi-p22.5" parsed="|Job|31|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.31.1"><i>ch.</i> xxxi. 1</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxi-p23">II. The kindness of a prophet which Abraham
|
|
showed to Abimelech: he <i>prayed for him,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 20:17,18" id="Gen.xxi-p23.1" parsed="|Gen|20|17|20|18" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.17-Gen.20.18"><i>v.</i> 17, 18</scripRef>. This honour God would
|
|
put upon Abraham that, though Abimelech had restored Sarah, yet the
|
|
judgment he was under should be removed upon the prayer of Abraham,
|
|
and not before. Thus God healed Miriam, when Moses, whom she had
|
|
most affronted, prayed for her (<scripRef passage="Nu 12:13" id="Gen.xxi-p23.2" parsed="|Num|12|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.12.13">Num.
|
|
xii. 13</scripRef>), and was reconciled to Job's friends when Job,
|
|
whom they had grieved, prayed for them
|
|
|
|
<pb n="131" id="Gen.xxi-Page_131"/>
|
|
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Job 42:8-10" id="Gen.xxi-p23.3" parsed="|Job|42|8|42|10" osisRef="Bible:Job.42.8-Job.42.10">Job xlii. 8-10</scripRef>), and so
|
|
did, as it were, give it under his hand that he was reconciled to
|
|
them. Note, The prayers of good men may be a kindness to great men,
|
|
and ought to be valued.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXI" n="xxii" progress="15.61%" prev="Gen.xxi" next="Gen.xxiii" id="Gen.xxii">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="131" id="Gen.xxii-Page_131"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xxii-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xxii-p0.2">CHAP. XXI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xxii-p1">In this chapter we have, I. Isaac, the child of
|
|
promise born into Abraham's family, <scripRef passage="Ge 21:1-8" id="Gen.xxii-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|21|1|21|8" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.1-Gen.21.8">ver. 1-8</scripRef>. II. Ishmael, the son of the
|
|
bondwoman, cast out of it, <scripRef passage="Ge 21:9-21" id="Gen.xxii-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|21|9|21|21" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.9-Gen.21.21">ver.
|
|
9-21</scripRef>. III. Abraham's league with his neighbour
|
|
Abimelech, <scripRef passage="Ge 21:23-32" id="Gen.xxii-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|21|23|21|32" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.23-Gen.21.32">ver. 22-32</scripRef>.
|
|
IV. His devotion to his God, <scripRef passage="Ge 21:33" id="Gen.xxii-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|21|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.33">ver.
|
|
33</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 21" id="Gen.xxii-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|21|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 21:1-8" id="Gen.xxii-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|21|1|21|8" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.1-Gen.21.8"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.21.1-Gen.21.8">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxii-p1.7">The Birth of Isaac. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxii-p1.8">b. c.</span> 1897.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxii-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxii-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
visited Sarah as he had said, and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxii-p2.2">Lord</span> did unto Sarah as he had spoken.   2
|
|
For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the
|
|
set time of which God had spoken to him.   3 And Abraham
|
|
called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare
|
|
to him, Isaac.   4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being
|
|
eight days old, as God had commanded him.   5 And Abraham was
|
|
an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him.  
|
|
6 And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, <i>so that</i> all
|
|
that hear will laugh with me.   7 And she said, Who would have
|
|
said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for
|
|
I have borne <i>him</i> a son in his old age.   8 And the
|
|
child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the
|
|
<i>same</i> day that Isaac was weaned.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxii-p3">Long-looked-for comes at last. The vision
|
|
concerning the promised seed is for an appointed time, and now, at
|
|
the end, it speaks, and does not lie; few under the Old Testament
|
|
were brought into the world with such expectation as Isaac was, not
|
|
for the sake of any great person eminence at which he was to
|
|
arrive, but because he was to be, in this very thing, a type of
|
|
Christ, that seed which the holy God had so long promised and holy
|
|
men so long expected. In this account of the first days of Isaac we
|
|
may observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxii-p4">I. The fulfilling of God's promise in the
|
|
conception and birth of Isaac, <scripRef passage="Ge 21:1,2" id="Gen.xxii-p4.1" parsed="|Gen|21|1|21|2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.1-Gen.21.2"><i>v.</i> 1, 2</scripRef>. Note, God's providences look
|
|
best and brightest when they are compared with his word, and when
|
|
we observe how God, in them all, acts as he has said, as he has
|
|
spoken. 1. Isaac was born according to the promise. The Lord
|
|
visited Sarah in mercy, as he had said. Note, No word of God shall
|
|
fall to the ground; for he is faithful that has promised, and God's
|
|
faithfulness is the stay and support of his people's faith. He was
|
|
born <i>at the set time of which God had spoken,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 21:2" id="Gen.xxii-p4.2" parsed="|Gen|21|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. Note, God is always
|
|
punctual to his time; though his promised mercies come not at the
|
|
time we set, they will certainly come at the time he sets, and that
|
|
is the best time. 2. He was born by virtue of the promise: <i>Sarah
|
|
by faith received strength to conceive</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 11:11" id="Gen.xxii-p4.3" parsed="|Heb|11|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.11">Heb. xi. 11</scripRef>. God therefore by promise gave
|
|
that strength. It was not by the power of common providence, but by
|
|
the power of a special promise, that Isaac was born. A sentence of
|
|
death was, as it were, passed upon the second causes: Abraham was
|
|
old, and Sarah old, and both as good as dead; and then the word of
|
|
God took place. Note, True believers, by virtue of God's promises,
|
|
are enabled to do that which is above the power of human nature,
|
|
for <i>by them they partake of a divine nature,</i> <scripRef passage="2Pe 1:4" id="Gen.xxii-p4.4" parsed="|2Pet|1|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.1.4">2 Pet. i. 4</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxii-p5">II. Abraham's obedience to God's precept
|
|
concerning Isaac.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxii-p6">1. He named him, as God commanded him,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 21:3" id="Gen.xxii-p6.1" parsed="|Gen|21|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. God directed
|
|
him to a name for a memorial, <i>Isaac, laughter;</i> and Abraham,
|
|
whose office it was, gave him that name, though he might have
|
|
designed him some other name of a more pompous signification. Note,
|
|
it is fit that the luxuriancy of human invention should always
|
|
yield to the sovereignty and plainness of divine institution; yet
|
|
there was good reason for the name, for, (1.) When Abraham received
|
|
the promise of him he laughed for joy, <scripRef passage="Ge 17:17" id="Gen.xxii-p6.2" parsed="|Gen|17|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.17"><i>ch.</i> xvii. 17</scripRef>. Note, When the sun of
|
|
comfort has risen upon the soul it is good to remember how welcome
|
|
the dawning of the day was, and with what exultation we embraced
|
|
the promise. (2.) When Sarah received the promise she laughed with
|
|
distrust and diffidence. Note, When God gives us the mercies we
|
|
began to despair of we ought to remember with sorrow and shame our
|
|
sinful distrusts of God's power and promise, when we were in
|
|
pursuit of them. (3.) Isaac was himself, afterwards, laughed at by
|
|
Ishmael (<scripRef passage="Ge 21:9" id="Gen.xxii-p6.3" parsed="|Gen|21|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>), and
|
|
perhaps his name bade him expect it. Note, God's favourites are
|
|
often the world's laughing-stocks. (4.) The promise which he was
|
|
not only the son, but the heir of, was to be the joy of all the
|
|
saints in all ages, and that which would fill their mouths with
|
|
laughter.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxii-p7">2. He circumcised him, <scripRef passage="Ge 21:4" id="Gen.xxii-p7.1" parsed="|Gen|21|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. The covenant being established
|
|
with him, the seal of the covenant was administered to him; and
|
|
though a bloody ordinance, and he a darling, yet it must not be
|
|
omitted, no, nor deferred beyond the eighth day. God had kept time
|
|
in performing the promise, and therefore Abraham must keep time in
|
|
obeying the precept.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxii-p8">III. The impressions which this mercy made
|
|
upon Sarah.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxii-p9">1. It filled her with joy (<scripRef passage="Ge 21:6" id="Gen.xxii-p9.1" parsed="|Gen|21|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>): "<i>God has made me to
|
|
laugh;</i> he has given me both cause to rejoice and a heart to
|
|
rejoice." Thus the mother of our Lord, <scripRef passage="Lu 1:46,47" id="Gen.xxii-p9.2" parsed="|Luke|1|46|1|47" osisRef="Bible:Luke.1.46-Luke.1.47">Luke i. 46, 47</scripRef>. Note, (1.) God bestows
|
|
mercies upon his people to encourage their joy in his work and
|
|
service; and, whatever is the matter of
|
|
|
|
<pb n="132" id="Gen.xxii-Page_132"/>
|
|
|
|
our
|
|
joy, God must be acknowledged as the author of it, unless it be the
|
|
<i>laughter of the fool.</i> (2.) When mercies have been long
|
|
deferred they are the more welcome when they come. (3.) It adds to
|
|
the comfort of any mercy to have our friends rejoice with us in it:
|
|
<i>All that hear will laugh with me;</i> for laughing is catching.
|
|
See <scripRef passage="Lu 1:58" id="Gen.xxii-p9.3" parsed="|Luke|1|58|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.1.58">Luke i. 58</scripRef>. Others would
|
|
rejoice in this instance of God's power and goodness, and be
|
|
encouraged to trust in him. See <scripRef passage="Ps 119:74" id="Gen.xxii-p9.4" parsed="|Ps|119|74|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119.74">Ps.
|
|
cxix. 74</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxii-p10">2. It filled her with wonder, <scripRef passage="Ge 21:7" id="Gen.xxii-p10.1" parsed="|Gen|21|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. Observe here, (1.) What
|
|
it was she thought so wonderful: That <i>Sarah should give children
|
|
suck,</i> that she should, not only bear a child, but be so strong
|
|
and hearty at the age as to give it suck. Note, Mothers, if they be
|
|
able, ought to be nurses to their own children. Sarah was a person
|
|
of quality, was aged; nursing might be thought prejudicial of
|
|
herself, or to the child, or to both; she had choice of nurses, no
|
|
doubt, in her own family: and yet she would do her duty in this
|
|
matter; and her daughters the good wives are while they thus <i>do
|
|
well,</i> <scripRef passage="1Pe 3:5,6" id="Gen.xxii-p10.2" parsed="|1Pet|3|5|3|6" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.3.5-1Pet.3.6">1 Pet. iii. 5,
|
|
6</scripRef>. See <scripRef passage="La 4:3" id="Gen.xxii-p10.3" parsed="|Lam|4|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.3">Lam. iv. 3</scripRef>.
|
|
(2.) How she expressed her wonder: "<i>Who would have said it?</i>
|
|
The thing was so highly improbable, so near to impossible, that if
|
|
any one but God had said it we could not have believed it." Note,
|
|
God's favours to his covenant-people are such as surpass both their
|
|
own and others' thoughts and expectations. Who could imagine that
|
|
God should do so much for those that deserve so little, nay, for
|
|
those that deserve so ill? See <scripRef passage="Eph 3:20,2Sa 7:18,19" id="Gen.xxii-p10.4" parsed="|Eph|3|20|0|0;|2Sam|7|18|7|19" osisRef="Bible:Eph.3.20 Bible:2Sam.7.18-2Sam.7.19">Eph. iii. 20; 2 Sam. vii. 18, 19</scripRef>.
|
|
Who would have said that God should send his Son to die for us, his
|
|
Spirit to sanctify us, his angels to attend us? Who would have said
|
|
that such great sins should be pardoned, such mean services
|
|
accepted, and such worthless worms taken into covenant and
|
|
communion with the great and holy God?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxii-p11">IV. A short account of Isaac's infancy:
|
|
<i>The child grew,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 21:8" id="Gen.xxii-p11.1" parsed="|Gen|21|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.8"><i>v.</i>
|
|
8</scripRef>. Special notice is taken of this, though a thing of
|
|
course, to intimate that the children of the promise are growing
|
|
children. See <scripRef passage="Lu 1:80,Lu 2:40" id="Gen.xxii-p11.2" parsed="|Luke|1|80|0|0;|Luke|2|40|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.1.80 Bible:Luke.2.40">Luke i. 80; ii.
|
|
40</scripRef>. Those that are born of God shall increase of God,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Col 2:19" id="Gen.xxii-p11.3" parsed="|Col|2|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Col.2.19">Col. ii. 19</scripRef>. He grew so as
|
|
not always to need milk, but was able to bear strong meat, and then
|
|
he was weaned. See <scripRef passage="Heb 5:13,14" id="Gen.xxii-p11.4" parsed="|Heb|5|13|5|14" osisRef="Bible:Heb.5.13-Heb.5.14">Heb. v. 13,
|
|
14</scripRef>. And then it was that Abraham made a great feast for
|
|
his friends and neighbours, in thankfulness to God for his mercy to
|
|
him. He made this feast, not on the day that Isaac was born, that
|
|
would have been too great a disturbance to Sarah; nor on the day
|
|
that he was circumcised, that would have been too great a diversion
|
|
from the ordinance; but on the day that he was weaned, because
|
|
God's blessing upon the nursing of children, and the preservation
|
|
of them throughout the perils of the infant age, are signal
|
|
instances of the care and tenderness of the divine providence,
|
|
which ought to be acknowledged, to its praise. See <scripRef passage="Ps 22:9,10,Ho 11:1" id="Gen.xxii-p11.5" parsed="|Ps|22|9|22|10;|Hos|11|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.22.9-Ps.22.10 Bible:Hos.11.1">Ps. xxii. 9, 10; Hos. xi.
|
|
1</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 21:9-13" id="Gen.xxii-p11.6" parsed="|Gen|21|9|21|13" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.9-Gen.21.13"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.21.9-Gen.21.13">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxii-p11.7">Hagar and Ishmael Expelled. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxii-p11.8">b. c.</span> 1892.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxii-p12">9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian,
|
|
which she had borne unto Abraham, mocking.   10 Wherefore she
|
|
said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son
|
|
of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, <i>even</i> with
|
|
Isaac.   11 And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight
|
|
because of his son.   12 And God said unto Abraham, Let it not
|
|
be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy
|
|
bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her
|
|
voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.   13 And also of
|
|
the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he <i>is</i>
|
|
thy seed.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxii-p13">The casting out of Ishmael is here
|
|
considered of, and resolved on.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxii-p14">I. Ishmael himself gave the occasion by
|
|
some affronts he gave to Isaac his little brother, some think on
|
|
the day that Abraham made the feast for joy that Isaac was safely
|
|
weaned, which the Jews say was not till he was three years old,
|
|
others say five. Sarah herself was an eye-witness of the abuse: she
|
|
<i>saw the son of the Egyptian mocking</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 21:9" id="Gen.xxii-p14.1" parsed="|Gen|21|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>), mocking Isaac, no doubt, for it
|
|
is said, with reference to this (<scripRef passage="Ga 4:29" id="Gen.xxii-p14.2" parsed="|Gal|4|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.4.29">Gal.
|
|
iv. 29</scripRef>), that <i>he that was born after the flesh
|
|
persecuted him that was born after the Spirit.</i> Ishmael is here
|
|
called the <i>son of the Egyptian,</i> because, as some think, the
|
|
400 years' affliction of the seed of Abraham by the Egyptians began
|
|
now, and was to be dated hence, <scripRef passage="Ge 15:13" id="Gen.xxii-p14.3" parsed="|Gen|15|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.13"><i>ch.</i> xv. 13</scripRef>. She saw him <i>playing
|
|
with Isaac,</i> so the LXX., and, in play, <i>mocking him.</i>
|
|
Ishmael was fourteen years older than Isaac; and, when children are
|
|
together, the elder should be careful and tender of the younger:
|
|
but it argued a very base and sordid disposition in Ishmael to be
|
|
abusive to a child that was no way a match for him. Note, 1. God
|
|
takes notice of what children say and do in their play, and will
|
|
reckon with them if they say or do amiss, though their parents do
|
|
not. 2. Mocking is a great sin, and very provoking to God. 3. There
|
|
is a rooted remaining enmity in the seed of the serpent against the
|
|
seed of the woman. The children of promise must expect to be
|
|
mocked. This is persecution, which those that will live godly must
|
|
count upon. 4. None are rejected and cast out from God but those
|
|
who have first deserved it. Ishmael is continued in Abraham's
|
|
family till he becomes a disturbance, grief, and scandal to it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxii-p15">II. Sarah made the motion: <i>Cast out this
|
|
bond-woman,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 21:10" id="Gen.xxii-p15.1" parsed="|Gen|21|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.10"><i>v.</i>
|
|
10</scripRef>. This seems to be spoken
|
|
|
|
<pb n="133" id="Gen.xxii-Page_133"/>
|
|
|
|
in
|
|
some heat, yet it is quoted (<scripRef passage="Ga 4:30" id="Gen.xxii-p15.2" parsed="|Gal|4|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.4.30">Gal. iv.
|
|
30</scripRef>) as if it had been spoken by a spirit of prophecy;
|
|
and it is the sentence passed on all hypocrites and carnal people,
|
|
though they have a place and a name in the visible church. All that
|
|
are born after the flesh and not born again, that rest in the law
|
|
and reject the gospel promise, shall certainly be cast out. It is
|
|
made to point particularly at the rejection of the unbelieving
|
|
Jews, who, though they were the seed of Abraham, yet, because they
|
|
submitted not to the gospel covenant, were unchurched and
|
|
disfranchised: and that which, above any thing, provoked God to
|
|
cast them off was their mocking and persecuting the gospel church,
|
|
God's Isaac, in its infancy, <scripRef passage="1Th 2:16" id="Gen.xxii-p15.3" parsed="|1Thess|2|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Thess.2.16">1 Thess.
|
|
ii. 16</scripRef>. Note, There are many who are familiarly
|
|
conversant with the children of God in this world, and yet shall
|
|
not partake with them in the inheritance of sons. Ishmael might be
|
|
Isaac's play-fellow and school-fellow, yet not his fellow-heir.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxii-p16">III. Abraham was averse to it: <i>The thing
|
|
was very grievous in Abraham's sight,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 21:11" id="Gen.xxii-p16.1" parsed="|Gen|21|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. 1. It grieved him that Ishmael
|
|
had given such a provocation. Note, Children ought to consider that
|
|
the more their parents love them the more they are grieved at their
|
|
misconduct, and particularly at their quarrels among themselves. 2.
|
|
It grieved him that Sarah insisted upon such a punishment. "Might
|
|
it not suffice to correct him? would nothing less serve than to
|
|
expel him?" Note, Even the needful extremities which must be used
|
|
with wicked and incorrigible children are very grievous to tender
|
|
parents, who cannot thus afflict willingly.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxii-p17">IV. God determined it, <scripRef passage="Ge 21:12,13" id="Gen.xxii-p17.1" parsed="|Gen|21|12|21|13" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.12-Gen.21.13"><i>v.</i> 12, 13</scripRef>. We may well suppose
|
|
Abraham to be greatly agitated about this matter, loth to displease
|
|
Sarah, and yet loth to expel Ishmael; in this difficulty God tells
|
|
him what his will is, and then he is satisfied. Note, A good man
|
|
desires no more in doubtful cases than to know his duty, and what
|
|
God would have him do; and, when he is clear in this, he is, or
|
|
should be, easy. To make Abraham so, God sets this matter before
|
|
him in a true light, and shows him, 1. That the casting out of
|
|
Ishmael was necessary to the establishment of Isaac in the rights
|
|
and privileges of the covenant: <i>In Isaac shall thy seed be
|
|
called.</i> Both Christ and the church must descend from Abraham
|
|
through the loins of Isaac; this is the entail of the promise upon
|
|
Isaac, and is quoted by the apostle (<scripRef passage="Ro 9:7" id="Gen.xxii-p17.2" parsed="|Rom|9|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.7">Rom. ix. 7</scripRef>) to show that not all who come from
|
|
Abraham's loins were the heirs of Abraham's covenant. Isaac, the
|
|
promised son, must be the father of the promised seed; therefore,
|
|
"Away with Ishmael, send him far enough, lest he corrupt the
|
|
manners or attempt to invade the rights of Isaac." It will be his
|
|
security to have his rival banished. The covenant seed of Abraham
|
|
must be a peculiar people, a people by themselves, from the very
|
|
first, distinguished, not mingled with those that were out of
|
|
covenant; for this reason Ishmael must be separated. Abraham was
|
|
<i>called alone,</i> and so must Isaac be. See <scripRef passage="Isa 51:2" id="Gen.xxii-p17.3" parsed="|Isa|51|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.51.2">Isa. li. 2</scripRef>. It is probable that Sarah little
|
|
thought of this (<scripRef passage="Joh 11:51" id="Gen.xxii-p17.4" parsed="|John|11|51|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.11.51">John xi.
|
|
51</scripRef>), but God took what she said, and turned it into an
|
|
oracle, as afterwards, <scripRef passage="Ge 27:10" id="Gen.xxii-p17.5" parsed="|Gen|27|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.10"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xxvii. 10</scripRef>. 2. That the casting out of Ishmael should not
|
|
be his ruin, <scripRef passage="Ge 21:13" id="Gen.xxii-p17.6" parsed="|Gen|21|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>.
|
|
He shall be a <i>nation, because he is thy seed.</i> We are not
|
|
sure that it was his eternal ruin. It is presumption to say that
|
|
all those who are left out of the external dispensation from all
|
|
his mercies: those may be saved who are not thus honoured. However,
|
|
we are sure it was not his temporal ruin. Though he was chased out
|
|
of the church, he was not <i>chased out of the world. I will make
|
|
him a nation.</i> Note, (1.) Nations are of God's making: he founds
|
|
them, he forms them, he fixes them. (2.) Many are full of the
|
|
blessings of God's providence that are strangers to the blessings
|
|
of his covenant. (3.) The children of this world often fare the
|
|
better, as to outward things, for their relation to the children of
|
|
God.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 21:14-21" id="Gen.xxii-p17.7" parsed="|Gen|21|14|21|21" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.14-Gen.21.21"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.21.14-Gen.21.21">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxii-p17.8">God's Mercy to Hagar and
|
|
Ishmael. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxii-p17.9">b. c.</span> 1892.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxii-p18">14 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and
|
|
took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave <i>it</i> unto Hagar,
|
|
putting <i>it</i> on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her
|
|
away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of
|
|
Beer-sheba.   15 And the water was spent in the bottle, and
|
|
she cast the child under one of the shrubs.   16 And she went,
|
|
and sat her down over against <i>him</i> a good way off, as it were
|
|
a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And
|
|
she sat over against <i>him,</i> and lift up her voice, and wept.
|
|
  17 And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God
|
|
called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee,
|
|
Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he
|
|
<i>is.</i>   18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine
|
|
hand; for I will make him a great nation.   19 And God opened
|
|
her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the
|
|
bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.   20 And God was
|
|
with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became
|
|
an archer.   21 And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and
|
|
his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxii-p19">Here is, I. The casting out of the
|
|
|
|
<pb n="134" id="Gen.xxii-Page_134"/>
|
|
|
|
bond-woman, and her son from the family of Abraham,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 21:14" id="Gen.xxii-p19.1" parsed="|Gen|21|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. Abraham's
|
|
obedience to the divine command in this matter was speedy—<i>early
|
|
in the morning,</i> we may suppose immediately after he had, in the
|
|
night's visions, received orders to do this. It was also
|
|
submissive; it was contrary to his judgment, at least to his own
|
|
inclination, to do it; yet as soon as he perceives that it is the
|
|
mind of God he makes no objections, but silently does as he is
|
|
bidden, as one trained up to an implicit obedience. In sending them
|
|
away without any attendants, on foot, and slenderly provided for,
|
|
it is probable that he observed the directions given him. If Hagar
|
|
and Ishmael had conducted themselves well in Abraham's family, they
|
|
might have continued there; but they threw themselves out by their
|
|
own pride and insolence, which were thus justly chastised. Note, By
|
|
abusing our privileges we forfeit them. Those that know not when
|
|
they are well off, in such a desirable place as Abraham's family,
|
|
deserve to be cashiered, and to be made to know the worth of
|
|
mercies by the want of them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxii-p20">II. Their wandering in the wilderness,
|
|
missing their way to the place Abraham designed them for a
|
|
settlement.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxii-p21">1. They were reduced to great distress
|
|
there. Their provisions were spent, and Ishmael was sick. He that
|
|
used to be full fed in Abraham's house, where he waxed fat and
|
|
kicked, now fainted and sunk, when he was brought to short
|
|
allowance. Hagar is in tears, and sufficiently mortified. Now she
|
|
wishes for the crumbs she had wasted and made light of at her
|
|
master's table. Like one under the power of the spirit of bondage,
|
|
she despairs of relief, counts upon nothing but <i>the death of the
|
|
child</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 21:15,16" id="Gen.xxii-p21.1" parsed="|Gen|21|15|21|16" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.15-Gen.21.16"><i>v.</i> 15,
|
|
16</scripRef>), though God had told her, before he was born, that
|
|
he should live to be a man, a great man. We are apt to forget
|
|
former promises, when present providences seem to contradict them;
|
|
for we live by sense.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxii-p22">2. In this distress, God graciously
|
|
appeared for their relief: he heard <i>the voice of the lad,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 21:17" id="Gen.xxii-p22.1" parsed="|Gen|21|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. We read not
|
|
of a word he said; but his sighs, and groans, and calamitous state,
|
|
cried aloud in the ears of mercy. An angel was sent to comfort
|
|
Hagar, and it was not the first time that she had met with God's
|
|
comforts in a wilderness; she had thankfully acknowledged the
|
|
former kind visit which God made his in such a case (<scripRef passage="Ge 16:13" id="Gen.xxii-p22.2" parsed="|Gen|16|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.16.13"><i>ch.</i> xvi. 13</scripRef>), and therefore
|
|
God now visited her again with seasonable succours. (1.) The angel
|
|
assures her of the cognizance God took of her distress: <i>God has
|
|
heard the voice of the lad where he is,</i> though he is in a
|
|
wilderness (for, wherever we are, there is a way open heaven-ward);
|
|
therefore <i>lift up the lad, and hold him in thy hand,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 21:18" id="Gen.xxii-p22.3" parsed="|Gen|21|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. Note, God's
|
|
readiness to help us when we are in trouble must not slacken, but
|
|
quicken, our endeavours to help ourselves. (2.) He repeats the
|
|
promise concerning her son, that he should be <i>a great
|
|
nation,</i> as a reason why she should bestir herself to help him.
|
|
Note, It should engage our care and pains about children and young
|
|
people to consider that we know not what God has designed them for,
|
|
nor what great use Providence may make of them. (3.) He directs her
|
|
to a present supply (<scripRef passage="Ge 21:19" id="Gen.xxii-p22.4" parsed="|Gen|21|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.19"><i>v.</i>
|
|
19</scripRef>): <i>He opened her eyes</i> (which were swollen and
|
|
almost blinded with weeping), and then <i>she saw a well of
|
|
water.</i> Note, Many that have reason enough to be comforted go
|
|
mourning from day to day, because they do not see the reason they
|
|
have for comfort. There is a well of water by them in the covenant
|
|
of grace, but they are not aware of it; they have not the benefit
|
|
of it, till the same God that opened their eyes to see their wound
|
|
opens them to see their remedy, <scripRef passage="Joh 16:6,7" id="Gen.xxii-p22.5" parsed="|John|16|6|16|7" osisRef="Bible:John.16.6-John.16.7">John
|
|
xvi. 6, 7</scripRef>. Now the apostle tells us that those things
|
|
concerning Hagar and Ishmael are <b><i>allegoroumena</i></b>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ga 4:24" id="Gen.xxii-p22.6" parsed="|Gal|4|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.4.24">Gal. iv. 24</scripRef>), they are to
|
|
be allegorized; this then will serve to illustrate the folly, [1.]
|
|
Of those who, like the unbelieving Jews, seek for righteousness by
|
|
the law and the carnal ordinances of it, and not by the promise
|
|
made in Christ, thereby running themselves into a wilderness of
|
|
want and despair. Their comforts are soon exhausted, and if God
|
|
save them not by his special prerogative, and by a miracle of mercy
|
|
open their eyes and undeceive them, they are undone. [2.] Of those
|
|
who seek for satisfaction and happiness in the world and the things
|
|
of it. Those that forsake the comforts of the covenant and
|
|
communion with God, and choose their portion in this earth, take up
|
|
with a bottle of water, poor and slender provision, and that soon
|
|
spent; they wander endlessly in pursuit of satisfaction, and, at
|
|
length, sit down short of it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxii-p23">III. The settlement of Ishmael, at last, in
|
|
the wilderness of Paran (<scripRef passage="Ge 21:20,21" id="Gen.xxii-p23.1" parsed="|Gen|21|20|21|21" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.20-Gen.21.21"><i>v.</i>
|
|
20, 21</scripRef>), a wild place, fittest for a wild man; and such
|
|
a one he was, <scripRef passage="Ge 16:12" id="Gen.xxii-p23.2" parsed="|Gen|16|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.16.12"><i>ch.</i> xvi.
|
|
12</scripRef>. Those that are born after the flesh take up with the
|
|
wilderness of this world, while the children of the promise aim at
|
|
the heavenly Canaan, and cannot be at rest till they are there.
|
|
Observe, 1. He had some tokens of God's presence: <i>God was with
|
|
the lad;</i> his outward prosperity was owing to this. 2. By trade
|
|
he was an archer, which intimates that craft was his excellency and
|
|
sport his business: rejected Esau was a cunning hunter. 3. He
|
|
matched among his mother's relations; she took him a wife out of
|
|
Egypt: as great an archer as he was, he did not think he could take
|
|
his aim well, in the business of marriage, if he proceeded without
|
|
his mother's advice and consent.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 21:22-32" id="Gen.xxii-p23.3" parsed="|Gen|21|22|21|32" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.22-Gen.21.32"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.21.22-Gen.21.32">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxii-p23.4">Abimelech's Covenant with
|
|
Abraham. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxii-p23.5">b. c.</span> 1892.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxii-p24">22 And it came to pass at that time, that
|
|
Abimelech and Phichol the chief captain of his host spake unto
|
|
Abraham, saying, God <i>is</i> with thee in all that thou doest:
|
|
  23 Now therefore swear unto me here by God that
|
|
|
|
<pb n="135" id="Gen.xxii-Page_135"/>
|
|
|
|
thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with my son,
|
|
nor with my son's son: <i>but</i> according to the kindness that I
|
|
have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein
|
|
thou hast sojourned.   24 And Abraham said, I will swear.
|
|
  25 And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of
|
|
water, which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away.  
|
|
26 And Abimelech said, I wot not who hath done this thing: neither
|
|
didst thou tell me, neither yet heard I <i>of it,</i> but to day.
|
|
  27 And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto
|
|
Abimelech; and both of them made a covenant.   28 And Abraham
|
|
set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.   29 And
|
|
Abimelech said unto Abraham, What <i>mean</i> these seven ewe lambs
|
|
which thou hast set by themselves?   30 And he said, For
|
|
<i>these</i> seven ewe lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that they
|
|
may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well.   31
|
|
Wherefore he called that place Beer-sheba; because there they sware
|
|
both of them.   32 Thus they made a covenant at Beer-sheba:
|
|
then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his host,
|
|
and they returned into the land of the Philistines.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxii-p25">We have here an account of the treaty
|
|
between Abimelech and Abraham, in which appears the accomplishment
|
|
of that promise (<scripRef passage="Ge 12:2" id="Gen.xxii-p25.1" parsed="|Gen|12|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.2"><i>ch.</i> xii.
|
|
2</scripRef>) that God would <i>make his name great.</i> His
|
|
friendship is valued, is courted, though a stranger, though a
|
|
tenant at will to the Canaanites and Perizzites.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxii-p26">I. The league is proposed by Abimelech, and
|
|
Phichol his prime-minister of state and general of his army.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxii-p27">1. The inducement to it was God's favour to
|
|
Abraham (<scripRef passage="Ge 21:22" id="Gen.xxii-p27.1" parsed="|Gen|21|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>):
|
|
"<i>God is with thee in all that thou doest,</i> and we cannot but
|
|
take notice of it." Note, (1.) God in his providence sometimes
|
|
shows his people such tokens for good that their neighbours cannot
|
|
but take notice of it, <scripRef passage="Ps 86:17" id="Gen.xxii-p27.2" parsed="|Ps|86|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.86.17">Ps. lxxxvi.
|
|
17</scripRef>. Their affairs do so visibly prosper, and they have
|
|
such remarkable success in their undertakings, that a confession is
|
|
extorted from all about them of God's presence with them. (2.) It
|
|
is good being in favour with those that are in favour with God, and
|
|
having an interest in those that have an interest in heaven,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Zec 8:23" id="Gen.xxii-p27.3" parsed="|Zech|8|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zech.8.23">Zech. viii. 23</scripRef>. <i>We will
|
|
go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.</i> We do well
|
|
for ourselves if we have fellowship with those that have fellowship
|
|
with God, <scripRef passage="1Jo 1:3" id="Gen.xxii-p27.4" parsed="|1John|1|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.3">1 John i. 3</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxii-p28">2. The tenour of it was, in general, that
|
|
there should be a firm and constant friendship between the two
|
|
families, which should not upon any account be violated. This bond
|
|
of friendship must be strengthened by the bond of an oath, in which
|
|
the true God was appealed to, both as a witness of their sincerity
|
|
and an avenger in case either side were treacherous, <scripRef passage="Ge 21:23" id="Gen.xxii-p28.1" parsed="|Gen|21|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. Observe, (1.) He
|
|
desires the entail of this league upon his posterity and the
|
|
extension of it to his people. He would have his son, and his son's
|
|
son, and his land likewise, to have the benefit of it. Good men
|
|
should secure an alliance and communion with the favourites of
|
|
Heaven, not for themselves only, but for theirs also. (2.) He
|
|
reminds Abraham of the fair treatment he had found among them:
|
|
<i>According to the kindness I have done unto thee.</i> As those
|
|
that have received kindness must return it, so those that have
|
|
shown kindness may expect it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxii-p29">II. It is consented to by Abraham, with a
|
|
particular clause inserted about a well. In Abraham's part of this
|
|
transaction observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxii-p30">1. He was ready to enter into this league
|
|
with Abimelech, finding him to be a man of honour and conscience,
|
|
and that had the fear of God before his eyes: <i>I will swear,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 21:24" id="Gen.xxii-p30.1" parsed="|Gen|21|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. Note, (1.)
|
|
Religion does not make men morose and unconversable; I am sure it
|
|
ought not. We must not, under colour of shunning bad company, be
|
|
sour to all company, and jealous of everybody. (2.) An honest mind
|
|
does not startle at giving assurances: if Abraham say that he will
|
|
be true to Abimelech, he is not afraid to swear it; an oath is for
|
|
confirmation.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxii-p31">2. He prudently settled the matter
|
|
concerning a well, about which Abimelech's servants had quarrelled
|
|
with him. Wells of water, it seems, were choice goods in that
|
|
country: thanks be to God, that they are not so scarce in ours.
|
|
(1.) Abraham mildly told Abimelech of it, <scripRef passage="Ge 21:25" id="Gen.xxii-p31.1" parsed="|Gen|21|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>. Note, If our brother trespass
|
|
against us, we must, with the meekness of wisdom, tell him his
|
|
fault, that the matter may be fairly accommodated and an end made
|
|
of it, <scripRef passage="Mt 18:15" id="Gen.xxii-p31.2" parsed="|Matt|18|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.18.15">Matt. xviii. 15</scripRef>.
|
|
(2.) He acquiesced in Abimelech's justification of himself in this
|
|
matter: <i>I wot not who has done this thing,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 21:26" id="Gen.xxii-p31.3" parsed="|Gen|21|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>. Many are suspected of
|
|
injustice and unkindness that are perfectly innocent, and we ought
|
|
to be glad when they clear themselves. The faults of servants must
|
|
not be imputed to their masters, unless they know of them and
|
|
justify them; and no more can be expected from an honest man than
|
|
that he be ready to do right as soon as he knows that he has done
|
|
wrong. (3.) He took care to have his title to the well cleared and
|
|
confirmed, to prevent any disputes or quarrels for the future,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 21:30" id="Gen.xxii-p31.4" parsed="|Gen|21|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>. It is
|
|
justice, as well as wisdom, to do thus, <i>in perptuam rei
|
|
memoriam—that the circumstance may be perpetually
|
|
remembered.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxii-p32">3. He made a very handsome present to
|
|
Abimelech, <scripRef passage="Ge 21:27" id="Gen.xxii-p32.1" parsed="|Gen|21|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>. It
|
|
was not any thing curious or
|
|
|
|
<pb n="136" id="Gen.xxii-Page_136"/>
|
|
|
|
fine that he
|
|
presented to him, but that which was valuable and useful—<i>sheep
|
|
and oxen,</i> in gratitude for Abimelech's kindness to him, and in
|
|
token of hearty friendship between them. The interchanging of kind
|
|
offices is the improving of love: that which is mine is my
|
|
friend's.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxii-p33">4. He ratified the covenant by an oath, and
|
|
registered it by giving a new name to the place (<scripRef passage="Ge 21:31" id="Gen.xxii-p33.1" parsed="|Gen|21|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>), <i>Beer-sheba,</i> the <i>well
|
|
of the oath,</i> in remembrance of the covenant they swore to, that
|
|
they might be ever mindful of it; or <i>the well of seven,</i> in
|
|
remembrance of the seven lambs given to Abimelech, as a
|
|
consideration for his confirming Abraham's title to that well.
|
|
Note, Bargains made must be remembered, that we may make them good,
|
|
and may not break our word through oversight.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 21:33-34" id="Gen.xxii-p33.2" parsed="|Gen|21|33|21|34" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.33-Gen.21.34"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.21.33-Gen.21.34">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxii-p34">33 And <i>Abraham</i> planted a grove in
|
|
Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxii-p34.1">Lord</span>, the everlasting God.   34 And Abraham
|
|
sojourned in the Philistines' land many days.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxii-p35">Observe, 1. Abraham, having got into a good
|
|
neighbourhood, knew when he was well off, and continued a great
|
|
while there. There he planted a grove for a shade to his tent, or
|
|
perhaps an orchard of fruit-trees; and there, though we cannot say
|
|
he settled, for God would have him, while he lived, to be a
|
|
stranger and a pilgrim, yet he sojourned many days, as many as
|
|
would consist with his character, as Abraham the <i>Hebrew,</i> or
|
|
<i>passenger.</i> 2. There he made, not only a constant practice,
|
|
but an open profession, of his religion: <i>There he called on the
|
|
name of the Lord, the everlasting God,</i> probably in the grove he
|
|
planted, which was his oratory or house of prayer. Christ prayed in
|
|
a garden, on a mountain. (1.) Abraham kept up public worship, to
|
|
which, probably, his neighbours resorted, that they might join with
|
|
him. Note, Good men should not only retain their goodness wherever
|
|
they go, but do all they can to propagate it, and make others good.
|
|
(2.) In calling on the Lord, we must eye him as <i>the everlasting
|
|
God, the God of the world,</i> so some. Though God had made himself
|
|
known to Abraham as his God in particular, and in covenant with
|
|
him, yet he forgets not to give glory to him as the Lord of all:
|
|
<i>The everlasting God,</i> who was, before all worlds, and will
|
|
be, when time and days shall be no more. See <scripRef passage="Isa 40:28" id="Gen.xxii-p35.1" parsed="|Isa|40|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.40.28">Isa. xl. 28</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXII" n="xxiii" progress="16.20%" prev="Gen.xxii" next="Gen.xxiv" id="Gen.xxiii">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="136" id="Gen.xxiii-Page_136"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xxiii-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xxiii-p0.2">CHAP. XXII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xxiii-p1">We have here the famous story of Abraham's
|
|
offering up his son Isaac, that is, his offering to offer him,
|
|
which is justly looked upon as one of the wonders of the church.
|
|
Here is, I. The strange command which God gave to Abraham
|
|
concerning it, <scripRef passage="Ge 22:1,2" id="Gen.xxiii-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|22|1|22|2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22.1-Gen.22.2">ver. 1, 2</scripRef>.
|
|
II. Abraham's strange obedience to this command, <scripRef passage="Ge 22:3-10" id="Gen.xxiii-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|22|3|22|10" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22.3-Gen.22.10">ver. 3-10</scripRef>. III. The strange issue of this
|
|
trial. 1. The sacrificing of Isaac was countermanded, <scripRef passage="Ge 22:11,12" id="Gen.xxiii-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|22|11|22|12" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22.11-Gen.22.12">ver. 11, 12</scripRef>. 2. Another sacrifice
|
|
was provided, <scripRef passage="Ge 22:13,14" id="Gen.xxiii-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|22|13|22|14" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22.13-Gen.22.14">ver. 13,
|
|
14</scripRef>. 3. The covenant was renewed with Abraham hereupon,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 22:15-19" id="Gen.xxiii-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|22|15|22|19" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22.15-Gen.22.19">ver. 15-19</scripRef>. Lastly, an
|
|
account of some of Abraham's relations, <scripRef passage="Ge 22:20-24" id="Gen.xxiii-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|22|20|22|24" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22.20-Gen.22.24">ver. 20</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 22" id="Gen.xxiii-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|22|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 22:1-2" id="Gen.xxiii-p1.8" parsed="|Gen|22|1|22|2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22.1-Gen.22.2"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.22.1-Gen.22.2">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxiii-p1.9">Abraham Commanded to Offer
|
|
Isaac. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxiii-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1872.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxiii-p2">1 And it came to pass after these things, that
|
|
God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said,
|
|
Behold, <i>here</i> I <i>am.</i>   2 And he said, Take now thy
|
|
son, thine only <i>son</i> Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee
|
|
into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering
|
|
upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiii-p3">Here is the trial of Abraham's faith,
|
|
whether it continued so strong, so vigorous, so victorious, after a
|
|
long settlement in communion with God, as it was at first, when by
|
|
it he left his country: then it was made to appear that he loved
|
|
God better than his father; now that he loved him better than his
|
|
son. Observe here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiii-p4">I. The time when Abraham was thus tried
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 22:1" id="Gen.xxiii-p4.1" parsed="|Gen|22|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>): <i>After
|
|
these things,</i> after all the other exercises he had had, all the
|
|
hardships and difficulties he had gone through. Now, perhaps, he
|
|
was beginning to think the storms had all blown over; but, after
|
|
all, this encounter comes, which is sharper than any yet. Note,
|
|
Many former trials will not supersede nor secure us from further
|
|
trials; we have not yet put off the harness, <scripRef passage="1Ki 20:11" id="Gen.xxiii-p4.2" parsed="|1Kgs|20|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.20.11">1 Kings xx. 11</scripRef>. See <scripRef passage="Ps 30:6,7" id="Gen.xxiii-p4.3" parsed="|Ps|30|6|30|7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.30.6-Ps.30.7">Ps. xxx. 6, 7</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiii-p5">II. The author of the trial: <i>God</i>
|
|
tempted him, not to draw him to sin, so Satan tempts (if Abraham
|
|
had sacrificed Isaac, he would not have sinned, his orders would
|
|
have justified him, and borne him out), but to discover his graces,
|
|
how strong they were, that they might be <i>found to praise, and
|
|
honour, and glory,</i> <scripRef passage="1Pe 1:7" id="Gen.xxiii-p5.1" parsed="|1Pet|1|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.1.7">1 Pet. i.
|
|
7</scripRef>. Thus God tempted Job, that he might appear not only a
|
|
good man, but a great man. <i>God did tempt Abraham;</i> he did
|
|
<i>lift up Abraham,</i> so some read it; as a scholar that improves
|
|
well is lifted up, when he is put into a higher form. Note, Strong
|
|
faith is often exercised with strong trials and put upon hard
|
|
services.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiii-p6">III. The trial itself. God appeared to him
|
|
as he had formerly done, called him by name, <i>Abraham,</i> that
|
|
name which had been given him in ratification of the promise.
|
|
Abraham, like a good servant, readily answered, "<i>Here am I;</i>
|
|
what says my Lord unto his servant?" Probably he expected some
|
|
renewed promise like those, <scripRef passage="Ge 15:1" id="Gen.xxiii-p6.1" parsed="|Gen|15|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.1"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xv. 1</scripRef>, and <scripRef passage="Ge 17:1" id="Gen.xxiii-p6.2" parsed="|Gen|17|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.1"><i>ch.</i> xvii.
|
|
1</scripRef>. But, to his great amazement, that which God has to
|
|
say to him is, in short, <i>Abraham, Go kill thy son;</i> and this
|
|
command is given him in such aggravating language as makes the
|
|
temptation abundantly more grievous. When God speaks, Abraham, no
|
|
doubt, takes notice of every word, and listens attentively to it;
|
|
and every word here is a sword in his bones: the trial is steeled
|
|
with trying phrases. Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that he
|
|
should afflict? No, it is not; yet, when Abraham's faith is to be
|
|
tried, God seems to take pleasure in the aggravation of the trial,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 22:2" id="Gen.xxiii-p6.3" parsed="|Gen|22|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiii-p7">1. The person to be offered. (1.) "<i>Take
|
|
thy son,</i> not thy bullocks and thy lambs;" how willingly would
|
|
Abraham have parted with them by thousands to redeem Isaac!
|
|
|
|
<pb n="137" id="Gen.xxiii-Page_137"/>
|
|
|
|
"No, <i>I will take no bullock out of thy
|
|
house,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 50:9" id="Gen.xxiii-p7.1" parsed="|Ps|50|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.50.9">Ps. l. 9</scripRef>. I must
|
|
have thy son: not thy servant, no, not the steward of thy house,
|
|
that shall not serve the turn; I must have thy son." Jephthah, in
|
|
pursuance of a vow, offered a daughter; but Abraham must offer his
|
|
son, in whom the family was to be built up. "Lord, let it be an
|
|
adopted son;" "No, (2.) <i>Thy only son;</i> thy only son by
|
|
<i>Sarah.</i>" Ishmael was lately cast out, to the grief of
|
|
Abraham; and now Isaac only was left, and must he go too? Yes, (3.)
|
|
"Take <i>Isaac,</i> him, by name, <i>thy laughter,</i> that <i>son
|
|
indeed,</i>" <scripRef passage="Ge 17:19" id="Gen.xxiii-p7.2" parsed="|Gen|17|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.19"><i>ch.</i> xvii.
|
|
19</scripRef>. Not "Send for Ishmael back, and offer him;" no, it
|
|
must be Isaac. "But, Lord, I love Isaac, he is to me as my own
|
|
soul. Ishmael is not, and wilt thou take Isaac also? All this is
|
|
against me:" Yea, (4.) That son <i>whom thou lovest.</i> It was a
|
|
trial of Abraham's love to God, and therefore it must be in a
|
|
beloved son, and that string must be touched most upon: in the
|
|
Hebrew it is expressed more emphatically, and, I think, might very
|
|
well be read thus: <i>Take now that son of thine, that only one of
|
|
thine, whom thou lovest, that Isaac.</i> God's command must
|
|
overrule all these considerations.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiii-p8">2. The place: <i>In the land of Moriah,</i>
|
|
three days' journey off; so that he might have time to consider it,
|
|
and, if he did it, must do it deliberately, that it might be a
|
|
service the more reasonable and the more honourable.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiii-p9">3. The manner: <i>Offer him for a
|
|
burnt-offering.</i> He must not only kill his son, but kill him as
|
|
a sacrifice, kill him devoutly, kill him by rule, kill him with all
|
|
that pomp and ceremony, with all that sedateness and composure of
|
|
mind, with which he used to offer his burnt-offerings.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 22:3-10" id="Gen.xxiii-p9.1" parsed="|Gen|22|3|22|10" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22.3-Gen.22.10"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.22.3-Gen.22.10">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxiii-p9.2">Abraham's Obedience. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxiii-p9.3">b. c.</span> 1872.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxiii-p10">3 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and
|
|
saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac
|
|
his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up,
|
|
and went unto the place of which God had told him.   4 Then on
|
|
the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar
|
|
off.   5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here
|
|
with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and
|
|
come again to you.   6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt
|
|
offering, and laid <i>it</i> upon Isaac his son; and he took the
|
|
fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.
|
|
  7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My
|
|
father: and he said, Here <i>am</i> I, my son. And he said, Behold
|
|
the fire and the wood: but where <i>is</i> the lamb for a burnt
|
|
offering?   8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide
|
|
himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them
|
|
together.   9 And they came to the place which God had told
|
|
him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in
|
|
order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the
|
|
wood.   10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the
|
|
knife to slay his son.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiii-p11">We have here Abraham's obedience to this
|
|
severe command. <i>Being tried, he offered up Isaac,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 11:17" id="Gen.xxiii-p11.1" parsed="|Heb|11|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.17">Heb. xi. 17</scripRef>. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiii-p12">I. The difficulties which he broke through
|
|
in this act of obedience. Much might have been objected against it;
|
|
as, 1. It seemed directly against an antecedent law of God, which
|
|
forbids murder, under a severe penalty, <scripRef passage="Ge 9:5,6" id="Gen.xxiii-p12.1" parsed="|Gen|9|5|9|6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.5-Gen.9.6"><i>ch.</i> ix. 5, 6</scripRef>. Now can the unchangeable
|
|
God contradict himself? He that hates robbery for burnt-offering
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Isa 61:8" id="Gen.xxiii-p12.2" parsed="|Isa|61|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.61.8">Isa. lxi. 8</scripRef>) cannot
|
|
delight in murder for it. 2. How would it consist with natural
|
|
affection to his own son? It would be not only murder, but the
|
|
worst of murders. Cannot Abraham be obedient but he must be
|
|
unnatural? If God insist upon a human sacrifice, is there none but
|
|
Isaac to be the offering, and none but Abraham to be the offerer?
|
|
Must the father of the faithful be the monster of all fathers? 3.
|
|
God gave him no reason for it. When Ishmael was to be cast out, a
|
|
just cause was assigned, which satisfied Abraham; but here Isaac
|
|
must die, and Abraham must kill him, and neither the one nor the
|
|
other must know why or wherefore. If Isaac had been to die a martyr
|
|
for the truth, or his life had been the ransom of some other life
|
|
more precious, it would have been another matter; of if he had died
|
|
as a criminal, a rebel against God or his parents, as in the case
|
|
of the idolater (<scripRef passage="De 13:8,9" id="Gen.xxiii-p12.3" parsed="|Deut|13|8|13|9" osisRef="Bible:Deut.13.8-Deut.13.9">Deut. xiii. 8,
|
|
9</scripRef>), or the stubborn son (<scripRef passage="Deut 21:18,19" id="Deut.xxiii-p12.4" parsed="|Deut|21|18|21|19" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21.18-Deut.21.19">Deut. xxi. 18, 19</scripRef>), it might have passed
|
|
as a sacrifice to justice. But the case is not so: he is dutiful,
|
|
obedient, hopeful, son. "Lord, what profit is there in his blood?"
|
|
4. How would this consist with the promise? Was it not said that in
|
|
<i>Isaac shall thy seed be called?</i> But what comes of that seed,
|
|
if this pregnant bud be broken off so soon? 5. How should he ever
|
|
look Sarah in the face again? With what face can he return to her
|
|
and his family with the blood of Isaac sprinkled on his garments
|
|
and staining all his raiment? "<i>Surely a bloody husband hast thou
|
|
been to me</i>" would Sarah say (as <scripRef passage="Ex 4:25,26" id="Gen.xxiii-p12.5" parsed="|Exod|4|25|4|26" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.25-Exod.4.26">Exod. iv. 25, 26</scripRef>), and it would be likely
|
|
to alienate her affections for ever both from him and from his God.
|
|
6. What would the Egyptians say, and the Canaanites and the
|
|
Perizzites who dwelt then in the land? It would be an eternal
|
|
reproach to Abraham, and to his altars. "Welcome nature, if this be
|
|
grace." These and many similar objection might have been made; but
|
|
he was infallibly assured
|
|
|
|
<pb n="138" id="Gen.xxiii-Page_138"/>
|
|
|
|
that it was indeed
|
|
a command of God and not a delusion, and this was sufficient to
|
|
answer them all. Note, God's commands must not be disputed, but
|
|
obeyed; we must not consult with flesh and blood about them
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ga 1:15,16" id="Gen.xxiii-p12.6" parsed="|Gal|1|15|1|16" osisRef="Bible:Gal.1.15-Gal.1.16">Gal. i. 15, 16</scripRef>), but
|
|
with a gracious obstinacy persist in our obedience to them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiii-p13">II. The several steps of obedience, all
|
|
which help to magnify it, and to show that he was guided by
|
|
prudence, and governed by faith, in the whole transaction.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiii-p14">1. He rises early, <scripRef passage="Ge 22:3" id="Gen.xxiii-p14.1" parsed="|Gen|22|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. Probably the command was given in
|
|
the visions of the night, and early the next morning he set himself
|
|
about the execution of it—did not delay, did not demur, did not
|
|
take time to deliberate; for the command was peremptory, and would
|
|
not admit a debate. Note, those that do the will of God heartily
|
|
will do it speedily; while we delay, time is lost and the heart
|
|
hardened.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiii-p15">2. He gets things ready for a sacrifice,
|
|
and, as if he himself had been a Gibeonite, it should seem, with
|
|
his own hands he cleaves the wood for the burnt-offering, that it
|
|
might not be to seek when the sacrifice was to be offered.
|
|
Spiritual sacrifices must thus be prepared for.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiii-p16">3. It is very probable that he said nothing
|
|
about it to Sarah. This is a journey which she must know nothing
|
|
of, lest she prevent it. There is so much in our own hearts to
|
|
hinder our progress in duty that we have need, as much as may be,
|
|
to keep out of the way of other hindrances.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiii-p17">4. He carefully looked about him, to
|
|
discover the place appointed for this sacrifice, to which God had
|
|
promised by some sign to direct him. Probably the direction was
|
|
given by an appearance of the divine glory in the place, some
|
|
pillar of fire reaching from heaven to earth, visible at a
|
|
distance, and to which he pointed when he said (<scripRef passage="Ge 22:5" id="Gen.xxiii-p17.1" parsed="|Gen|22|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), "We will go yonder, where you
|
|
see the light, and worship."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiii-p18">5. He left his servants at some distance
|
|
off (<scripRef passage="Ge 22:5" id="Gen.xxiii-p18.1" parsed="|Gen|22|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), lest they
|
|
should interpose, and create him some disturbance in his strange
|
|
oblation; for Isaac was, no doubt, the darling of the whole family.
|
|
Thus, when Christ was entering upon his agony in the garden, he
|
|
took only three of his disciples with him, and left the rest at the
|
|
garden door. Note, It is our wisdom and duty, when we are going to
|
|
worship God, to lay aside all those thoughts and cares which may
|
|
divert us from the service, leave them at the bottom of the hill,
|
|
that we may attend on the Lord without distraction.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiii-p19">6. He obliged Isaac to carry the wood (both
|
|
to try his obedience in a smaller matter first, and that he might
|
|
typify Christ, who carried his own cross, <scripRef passage="Joh 19:17" id="Gen.xxiii-p19.1" parsed="|John|19|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.19.17">John xix. 17</scripRef>), while he himself, though he
|
|
knew what he did, with a steady and undaunted resolution carried
|
|
the fatal knife and fire, <scripRef passage="Ge 22:6" id="Gen.xxiii-p19.2" parsed="|Gen|22|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22.6"><i>v.</i>
|
|
6</scripRef>. Note, Those that through grace are resolved upon the
|
|
substance of any service or suffering for God must overlook the
|
|
little circumstances which make it doubly difficult to flesh and
|
|
blood.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiii-p20">7. Without any ruffle or disorder, he talks
|
|
it over with Isaac, as if it had been but a common sacrifice that
|
|
he was going to offer, <scripRef passage="Ge 22:7,8" id="Gen.xxiii-p20.1" parsed="|Gen|22|7|22|8" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22.7-Gen.22.8"><i>v.</i> 7,
|
|
8</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiii-p21">(1.) It was a very affecting question that
|
|
Isaac asked him, as they were going together: <i>My father,</i>
|
|
said Isaac; it was a melting word, which, one would think, would
|
|
strike deeper into the breast of Abraham than his knife could into
|
|
the breast of Isaac. He might have said, or thought, at least,
|
|
"Call me not thy father who am now to be thy murderer; can a father
|
|
be so barbarous, so perfectly lost to all the tenderness of a
|
|
father?" Yet he keeps his temper, and keeps his countenance, to
|
|
admiration; he calmly waits for his son's question, and this is it:
|
|
<i>Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb?</i> See how
|
|
expert Isaac was in the law and custom of sacrifices. This it is to
|
|
be well-catechised: this is, [1.] A trying question to Abraham. How
|
|
could he endure to think that Isaac was himself the lamb? So it is,
|
|
but Abraham, as yet, dares not tell him so. Where God knows the
|
|
faith to be armour of proof, he will laugh at <i>the trial of the
|
|
innocent,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 9:23" id="Gen.xxiii-p21.1" parsed="|Job|9|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.23">Job ix. 23</scripRef>.
|
|
[2.] It is a teaching question to us all, that, when we are going
|
|
to worship God, we should seriously consider whether we have every
|
|
thing ready, especially the lamb for a burnt-offering. Behold, the
|
|
fire is ready, the Spirit's assistance and God's acceptance; the
|
|
wood is ready, the instituted ordinances designed to kindle our
|
|
affections (which indeed, without the Spirit, are but like wood
|
|
without fire, but the Spirit works by them); <i>all things are now
|
|
ready,</i> but where is the lamb? Where is the heart? Is that ready
|
|
to be offered up to God, to ascend to him as a burnt-offering?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiii-p22">(2.) It was a very prudent answer which
|
|
Abraham gave him: <i>My son, God will provide himself a lamb.</i>
|
|
This was the language, either, [1.] Of his obedience. "We must
|
|
offer the lamb which God has appointed now to be offered;" thus
|
|
giving him this general rule of submission to the divine will, to
|
|
prepare him for the application of it to himself very quickly. Or,
|
|
[2.] Of his faith. Whether he meant it so or not, this proved to be
|
|
the meaning of it; a sacrifice was provided instead of Isaac. Thus,
|
|
<i>First,</i> Christ, the great sacrifice of atonement, was of
|
|
God's providing; when none in heaven or earth could have found a
|
|
lamb for that burnt-offering, God himself found the ransom,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 89:20" id="Gen.xxiii-p22.1" parsed="|Ps|89|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.89.20">Ps. lxxxix. 20</scripRef>.
|
|
<i>Secondly,</i> All our sacrifices of acknowledgment are of God's
|
|
providing too. It is he that prepares the heart, <scripRef passage="Ps 10:17" id="Gen.xxiii-p22.2" parsed="|Ps|10|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.10.17">Ps. x. 17</scripRef>. The broken and contrite spirit is
|
|
a sacrifice of God (<scripRef passage="Ps 51:17" id="Gen.xxiii-p22.3" parsed="|Ps|51|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.51.17">Ps. li.
|
|
17</scripRef>), of his providing.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiii-p23">8. With the same resolution and
|
|
composedness of mind, after many thoughts of heart, he applies
|
|
himself to the completing
|
|
|
|
<pb n="139" id="Gen.xxiii-Page_139"/>
|
|
|
|
of this sacrifice,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 22:9,10" id="Gen.xxiii-p23.1" parsed="|Gen|22|9|22|10" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22.9-Gen.22.10"><i>v.</i> 9, 10</scripRef>. He goes
|
|
on with a holy wilfulness, after many a weary step, and with a
|
|
heavy heart he arrives at length at the fatal place, builds the
|
|
altar (an altar of earth, we may suppose, the saddest that ever he
|
|
built, and he had built many a one), lays the wood in order for his
|
|
Isaac's funeral pile, and now tells him the amazing news: "Isaac,
|
|
thou art the lamb which God has provided." Isaac, for aught that
|
|
appears, is as willing as Abraham; we do not find that he raised
|
|
any objection against it, that he petitioned for his life, that he
|
|
attempted to make his escape, much less that he struggled with his
|
|
aged father, or made any resistance: Abraham does it, God will have
|
|
it done, and Isaac has learnt to submit to both, Abraham no doubt
|
|
comforting him with the same hopes with which he himself by faith
|
|
was comforted. Yet it is necessary that a sacrifice be bound. The
|
|
great sacrifice, which in the fullness of time was to be offered
|
|
up, must be bound, and therefore so must Isaac. But with what heart
|
|
could tender Abraham tie those guiltless hands, which perhaps had
|
|
often been lifted up to ask his blessing, and stretched out to
|
|
embrace him, and were now the more straitly bound with the cords of
|
|
love and duty! However, it must be done. Having bound him, he lays
|
|
him upon the altar, and his hand upon the head of his sacrifice;
|
|
and now, we may suppose, with floods of tears, he gives, and takes,
|
|
the final farewell of a parting kiss: perhaps he takes another for
|
|
Sarah from her dying son. This being done, he resolutely forgets
|
|
the bowels of a father, and puts on the awful gravity of a
|
|
sacrificer. With a fixed heart, and an eye lifted up to heaven, he
|
|
takes the knife, and stretches out his hand to give a fatal cut to
|
|
Isaac's throat. Be astonished, O heavens! at this; and wonder, O
|
|
earth! Here is an act of faith and obedience, which deserves to be
|
|
a spectacle to God, angels, and men. Abraham's darling, Sarah's
|
|
laughter, the church's hope, the heir of promise, lies ready to
|
|
bleed and die by his own father's hand, who never shrinks at the
|
|
doing of it. Now this obedience of Abraham in offering up Isaac is
|
|
a lively representation, (1.) Of the love of God to us, in
|
|
delivering up his only-begotten Son to suffer and die for us, as a
|
|
sacrifice. It <i>pleased the Lord</i> himself to <i>bruise him.</i>
|
|
See <scripRef passage="Isa 53:10,Zec 13:7" id="Gen.xxiii-p23.2" parsed="|Isa|53|10|0|0;|Zech|13|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.53.10 Bible:Zech.13.7">Isa. liii. 10; Zech.
|
|
xiii. 7</scripRef>. Abraham was obliged, both in duty and
|
|
gratitude, to part with Isaac, and parted with him to a friend; but
|
|
God was under no obligations to us, for we were enemies. (2.) Of
|
|
our duty to God, in return for that love. We must tread in the
|
|
steps of this faith of Abraham. God, by his word, calls us to part
|
|
with all for Christ,—all our sins, though they have been as a
|
|
right hand, or a right eye, or an Isaac—all those things that are
|
|
competitors and rivals with Christ for the sovereignty of the heart
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Lu 14:26" id="Gen.xxiii-p23.3" parsed="|Luke|14|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.14.26">Luke xiv. 26</scripRef>); and we must
|
|
cheerfully let them all go. God, by his providence, which is truly
|
|
the voice of God, calls us to part with an Isaac sometimes, and we
|
|
must do it with a cheerful resignation and submission to his holy
|
|
will, <scripRef passage="1Sa 3:18" id="Gen.xxiii-p23.4" parsed="|1Sam|3|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.3.18">1 Sam. iii. 18</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 22:11-14" id="Gen.xxiii-p23.5" parsed="|Gen|22|11|22|14" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22.11-Gen.22.14"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.22.11-Gen.22.14">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxiii-p23.6">Isaac Rescued. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxiii-p23.7">b. c.</span> 1872.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxiii-p24">11 And the angel of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxiii-p24.1">Lord</span> called unto him out of heaven, and said,
|
|
Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here <i>am</i> I.   12 And he
|
|
said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing
|
|
unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast
|
|
not withheld thy son, thine only <i>son</i> from me.   13 And
|
|
Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind
|
|
<i>him</i> a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went
|
|
and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the
|
|
stead of his son.   14 And Abraham called the name of that
|
|
place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said <i>to</i> this day, In the mount
|
|
of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxiii-p24.2">Lord</span> it shall be seen.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiii-p25">Hitherto this story has been very
|
|
melancholy, and seemed to hasten towards a most tragical period;
|
|
but here the sky suddenly clears up, the sun breaks out, and a
|
|
bright and pleasant scene opens. The same hand that had wounded and
|
|
cast down here heals and lifts up; for, though he cause grief, he
|
|
will have compassion. <i>The angel of the Lord,</i> that is, God
|
|
himself, the eternal Word, the angel of the covenant, who was to be
|
|
the great Redeemer and comforter, he interposed, and gave a happy
|
|
issue to this trial.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiii-p26">I. Isaac is rescued, <scripRef passage="Ge 22:11,12" id="Gen.xxiii-p26.1" parsed="|Gen|22|11|22|12" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22.11-Gen.22.12"><i>v.</i> 11, 12</scripRef>. The command to offer him
|
|
was intended only for trial, and it appearing, upon trial, that
|
|
Abraham did indeed love God better than he loved Isaac, the end of
|
|
the command was answered; and therefore the order is countermanded,
|
|
without any reflection at all upon the unchangeableness of the
|
|
divine counsels: <i>Lay not thy hand upon the lad.</i> Note, 1. Our
|
|
creature-comforts are
|
|
most likely to be continued to us when we are most willing to
|
|
resign them up to God's will. 2. God's time to help and relieve his
|
|
people is when they are brought to the greatest extremity. The more
|
|
imminent the danger is, and the nearer to be put in execution, the
|
|
more wonderful and the more welcome is the deliverance.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiii-p27">II. Abraham is not only approved, but
|
|
applauded. He obtains an honourable testimony that he is righteous:
|
|
<i>Now know I that thou fearest God.</i> God knew it before, but
|
|
now Abraham had given a most memorable evidence of it. He needed do
|
|
no more; what he had done was sufficient to prove the religious
|
|
regard he had to God and his authority. Note, 1. When God, by his
|
|
providence, hinders the performance of our sincere intentions in
|
|
his services, he graciously
|
|
|
|
<pb n="140" id="Gen.xxiii-Page_140"/>
|
|
|
|
accepts the will
|
|
for the deed, and the honest endeavour, though it come short of
|
|
finishing. 2. The best evidence of our fearing God is our being
|
|
willing of serve and honour him with that which is dearest to us,
|
|
and to part with all to him or for him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiii-p28">III. Another sacrifice is provided instead
|
|
of Isaac, <scripRef passage="Ge 22:13" id="Gen.xxiii-p28.1" parsed="|Gen|22|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. Now
|
|
that the altar was built, and the wood laid in order, it was
|
|
necessary that something should be offered. For, 1. God must be
|
|
acknowledged with thankfulness for the deliverance of Isaac; and
|
|
the sooner the better, when here is an altar ready. 2. Abraham's
|
|
words must be made good: <i>God will provide himself a lamb.</i>
|
|
God will not disappoint those expectations of his people which are
|
|
of his own raising; but according to their faith it is to them.
|
|
<i>Thou shalt decree a thing, and it shall be established.</i> 3.
|
|
Reference must be had to the promised Messiah, the blessed seed.
|
|
(1.) Christ was sacrificed in our stead, as this ram instead of
|
|
Isaac, and his death was our discharge. "<i>Here am I</i> (said
|
|
he,) <i>let these go their way.</i>" (2.) Though that blessed seed
|
|
was lately promised, and now typified by Isaac, yet the offering of
|
|
him up should be suspended till the latter end of the world: and in
|
|
the meantime the sacrifice of beasts should be accepted, as this
|
|
ram was, as a pledge of that expiation which should one day be made
|
|
by that great sacrifice. And it is observable that the temple, the
|
|
place of sacrifice, was afterwards built upon this Mount Moriah
|
|
(<scripRef passage="2Ch 3:1" id="Gen.xxiii-p28.2" parsed="|2Chr|3|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.3.1">2 Chron. iii. 1</scripRef>); and mount
|
|
Calvary, where Christ was crucified, was not far off.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiii-p29">IV. A new name is given to the place, to
|
|
the honour of God, and for the encouragement of all believers, to
|
|
the end of the world, cheerfully to trust in God in the way of
|
|
obedience: <i>Jehovah-jireh, The Lord will provide</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 22:14" id="Gen.xxiii-p29.1" parsed="|Gen|22|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>), probably alluding to
|
|
what he had said (<scripRef passage="Ge 22:8" id="Gen.xxiii-p29.2" parsed="|Gen|22|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22.8"><i>v.</i>
|
|
8</scripRef>), <i>God will provide himself a lamb.</i> It was not
|
|
owing to any contrivance of Abraham, nor was it in answer to his
|
|
prayer, though he was a distinguished intercessor; but it was
|
|
purely the Lord's doing. Let it be recorded for the generations to
|
|
come, 1. That <i>the Lord will see;</i> he will always have his eye
|
|
upon his people in their straits and distresses, that he may come
|
|
in with seasonable succour in the critical juncture. 2. That he
|
|
will <i>be seen,</i> be seen <i>in the mount,</i> in the greatest
|
|
perplexities of his people. He will not only manifest, but magnify,
|
|
his wisdom, power, and goodness, in their deliverance. Where God
|
|
sees and provides, he should be seen and praised. And, perhaps, it
|
|
may refer to <i>God manifest in the flesh.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 22:15-19" id="Gen.xxiii-p29.3" parsed="|Gen|22|15|22|19" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22.15-Gen.22.19"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.22.15-Gen.22.19">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxiii-p29.4">Abraham's Blessing
|
|
Confirmed. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxiii-p29.5">b. c.</span> 1872.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxiii-p30">15 And the angel of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxiii-p30.1">Lord</span> called unto Abraham out of heaven the
|
|
second time,   16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxiii-p30.2">Lord</span>, for because thou hast done
|
|
this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only <i>son:</i>
|
|
  17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I
|
|
will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand
|
|
which <i>is</i> upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the
|
|
gate of his enemies;   18 And in thy seed shall all the
|
|
nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
|
|
  19 So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up
|
|
and went together to Beer-sheba; and Abraham dwelt at
|
|
Beer-sheba.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiii-p31">Abraham's obedience was graciously
|
|
accepted; but this was not all: here we have it recompensed,
|
|
abundantly recompensed, before he stirred from the place; probably
|
|
while the ram he had sacrificed was yet burning God sent him this
|
|
gracious message, renewed and ratified his covenant with him. All
|
|
covenants were made by sacrifice, so was this by the typical
|
|
sacrifices of Isaac and the ram. Very high expressions of God's
|
|
favour to Abraham are employed in this confirmation of the covenant
|
|
with him, expressions exceeding any he had yet been blessed with.
|
|
Note, Extraordinary services shall be crowned with extraordinary
|
|
honours and comforts; and favours in the promise, though not yet
|
|
performed, ought to be accounted real and valuable recompences.
|
|
Observe, 1. God is pleased to make mention of Abraham's obedience
|
|
as the consideration of the covenant; and he speaks of it with an
|
|
encomium: <i>Because thou hast done this thing, and hast not
|
|
withheld thy son, thine only son,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 22:16" id="Gen.xxiii-p31.1" parsed="|Gen|22|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. He lays a strong emphasis on
|
|
this, and (<scripRef passage="Ge 22:18" id="Gen.xxiii-p31.2" parsed="|Gen|22|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>)
|
|
praises it as an act of obedience: in it thou hast <i>obeyed my
|
|
voice,</i> and to obey is better than sacrifice. Not that this was
|
|
a proportionable consideration, but God graciously put this honour
|
|
upon that by which Abraham had honoured him. 2. God now confirmed
|
|
the promise with an oath. It was said and sealed before; but now it
|
|
is sworn: <i>By myself have I sworn;</i> for he could swear by no
|
|
greater, <scripRef passage="Heb 6:13" id="Gen.xxiii-p31.3" parsed="|Heb|6|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.6.13">Heb. vi. 13</scripRef>. Thus
|
|
he interposed himself by an oath, as the apostle expresses it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Heb 6:17" id="Gen.xxiii-p31.4" parsed="|Heb|6|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.6.17">Heb. vi. 17</scripRef>. He did (to
|
|
speak with reverence) even pawn his own life and being upon it
|
|
(<i>As I live,</i>) that by all those immutable things, in which it
|
|
was impossible for God to lie, he and his might have strong
|
|
consolation. Note, If we exercise faith, God will encourage it.
|
|
Improve the promises, and God will ratify them. 3. The particular
|
|
promise here renewed is that of a numerous offspring:
|
|
<i>Multiplying, I will multiply thee,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 22:17" id="Gen.xxiii-p31.5" parsed="|Gen|22|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. Note, Those that are willing to
|
|
part with any thing for God shall have it made up to them with
|
|
unspeakable advantage. Abraham has but one son, and is willing to
|
|
part
|
|
|
|
<pb n="141" id="Gen.xxiii-Page_141"/>
|
|
|
|
with that one, in obedience to God.
|
|
"Well," said God, "thou shalt be recompensed with thousands and
|
|
millions." What a figure does the seed of Abraham make in history!
|
|
How numerous, how illustrious, were his known descendants, who, to
|
|
this day, triumph in this, that they have Abraham to their father!
|
|
Thus he received a thousand-fold in this life, <scripRef passage="Mt 19:29" id="Gen.xxiii-p31.6" parsed="|Matt|19|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.19.29">Matt. xix. 29</scripRef>. 4. The promise, doubtless,
|
|
points at the Messiah, and the grace of the gospel. This is the
|
|
oath sworn to our father Abraham, which Zacharias refers to,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Lu 1:73-75" id="Gen.xxiii-p31.7" parsed="|Luke|1|73|1|75" osisRef="Bible:Luke.1.73-Luke.1.75">Luke i. 73</scripRef>, &c. And
|
|
so here is a promise, (1.) Of the great blessing of the Spirit:
|
|
<i>In blessing, I will bless thee,</i> namely, with that best of
|
|
blessings the gift of the Holy Ghost; the promise of the Spirit was
|
|
that blessing of Abraham which was to come upon the Gentiles
|
|
through Jesus Christ, <scripRef passage="Ga 3:14" id="Gen.xxiii-p31.8" parsed="|Gal|3|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.3.14">Gal. iii.
|
|
14</scripRef>. (2.) Of the increase of the church, that believers,
|
|
his spiritual seed, should be numerous as the stars of heaven. (3.)
|
|
Of spiritual victories: <i>Thy seed shall possess the gate of his
|
|
enemies.</i> Believers, by their faith, overcome the world, and
|
|
triumph over all the powers of darkness, and are more than
|
|
conquerors. Probably Zacharias refers to this part of the oath
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Lu 1:74" id="Gen.xxiii-p31.9" parsed="|Luke|1|74|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.1.74">Luke i. 74</scripRef>), <i>That we,
|
|
being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve him
|
|
without fear.</i> But the crown of all is the last promise. (4.) Of
|
|
the incarnation of Christ: <i>In thy seed,</i> one particular
|
|
person that shall descend from thee (for he speaks not of many, but
|
|
of one, as the apostle observes, <scripRef passage="Ga 3:16" id="Gen.xxiii-p31.10" parsed="|Gal|3|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.3.16">Gal.
|
|
iii. 16</scripRef>), <i>shall all the nations of the earth be
|
|
blessed,</i> or shall <i>bless themselves,</i> as the phrase is,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 65:16" id="Gen.xxiii-p31.11" parsed="|Isa|65|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.16">Isa. lxv. 16</scripRef>. In him all
|
|
may be happy if they will, and all that belong to him shall be so,
|
|
and shall think themselves so. Christ is the great blessing of the
|
|
world. Abraham was ready to give up his son for a sacrifice to the
|
|
honour of God, and, on that occasion, God promised to give his Son
|
|
a sacrifice for the salvation of man.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 22:20-24" id="Gen.xxiii-p31.12" parsed="|Gen|22|20|22|24" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22.20-Gen.22.24"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.22.20-Gen.22.24">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxiii-p32">20 And it came to pass after these things, that
|
|
it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she hath also born
|
|
children unto thy brother Nahor;   21 Huz his first born, and
|
|
Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram,   22 And
|
|
Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.   23
|
|
And Bethuel begat Rebekah: these eight Milcah did bear to Nahor,
|
|
Abraham's brother.   24 And his concubine, whose name
|
|
<i>was</i> Reumah, she bare also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and
|
|
Maachah.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiii-p33">This is recorded here, 1. To show that
|
|
though Abraham saw his own family highly dignified with peculiar
|
|
privileges, admitted into covenant, and blessed with the entail of
|
|
the promise, yet he did not look with contempt and disdain upon his
|
|
relations, but was glad to hear of the increase and prosperity of
|
|
their families. 2. To make way for the following story of the
|
|
marriage of Isaac to Rebekah, a daughter of this family.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXIII" n="xxiv" progress="16.78%" prev="Gen.xxiii" next="Gen.xxv" id="Gen.xxiv">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="141" id="Gen.xxiv-Page_141"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xxiv-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xxiv-p0.2">CHAP. XXIII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xxiv-p1">Here is, I. Abraham a mourner for the death of
|
|
Sarah, <scripRef passage="Ge 23:1,2" id="Gen.xxiv-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|23|1|23|2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.23.1-Gen.23.2">ver. 1, 2</scripRef>. II.
|
|
Abraham a purchaser of a burying-place for Sarah. 1. The purchase
|
|
humbly proposed by Abraham, <scripRef passage="Ge 23:3,4" id="Gen.xxiv-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|23|3|23|4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.23.3-Gen.23.4">ver. 3,
|
|
4</scripRef>. 2. Fairly treated of, and agreed to, with a great
|
|
deal of mutual civility and respect, <scripRef passage="Ge 23:5-16" id="Gen.xxiv-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|23|5|23|16" osisRef="Bible:Gen.23.5-Gen.23.16">ver. 5-16</scripRef>. 3. The purchase-money paid,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 23:16" id="Gen.xxiv-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|23|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.23.16">ver. 16</scripRef>. 4. The premises
|
|
conveyed and secured to Abraham, <scripRef passage="Ge 23:17,18,20" id="Gen.xxiv-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|23|17|23|18;|Gen|23|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.23.17-Gen.23.18 Bible:Gen.23.20">ver. 17, 18, 20</scripRef>. 5. Sarah's funeral,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 23:19" id="Gen.xxiv-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|23|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.23.19">ver. 19</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 23" id="Gen.xxiv-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|23|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.23"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 23:1-2" id="Gen.xxiv-p1.8" parsed="|Gen|23|1|23|2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.23.1-Gen.23.2"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.23.1-Gen.23.2">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxiv-p1.9">The Death of Sarah. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxiv-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1857.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxiv-p2">1 And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty
|
|
years old: <i>these were</i> the years of the life of Sarah.  
|
|
2 And Sarah died in Kirjath-arba; the same <i>is</i> Hebron in the
|
|
land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep
|
|
for her.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiv-p3">We have here, 1. Sarah's age, <scripRef passage="Ge 23:1" id="Gen.xxiv-p3.1" parsed="|Gen|23|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.23.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. Almost forty years
|
|
before, she had called herself old, <scripRef passage="Ge 18:12" id="Gen.xxiv-p3.2" parsed="|Gen|18|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.12"><i>ch.</i> xviii. 12</scripRef>. Old people will die
|
|
never the sooner, but may die the better, for reckoning themselves
|
|
old. 2. Her death, <scripRef passage="Ge 23:2" id="Gen.xxiv-p3.3" parsed="|Gen|23|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.23.2"><i>v.</i>
|
|
2</scripRef>. The longest liver must die at last. Abraham and Sarah
|
|
had lived comfortably together many years; but death parts those
|
|
whom nothing else could part. The special friends and favourites of
|
|
Heaven are not exempted from the stroke of death. She died in the
|
|
land of Canaan, where she had been above sixty years a sojourner.
|
|
3. Abraham's mourning for her; and he was a true mourner. He did
|
|
not only perform the ceremonies of mourning according to the custom
|
|
of those time, as the mourners that go about the streets, but he
|
|
did sincerely lament the great loss he had of a good wife, and gave
|
|
proof of the constancy of his affection to her to the last. Two
|
|
words are used: he came both to <i>mourn</i> and to <i>weep.</i>
|
|
His sorrow was not counterfeit, but real. He came to her tent, and
|
|
sat down by the corpse, there to pay the tribute of his tears, that
|
|
his eye might affect his heart, and that he might pay the greater
|
|
respect to the memory of her that was gone. Note, It is not only
|
|
lawful, but it is a duty, to lament the death of our near
|
|
relations, both in compliance with the providence of God, who thus
|
|
calls to weeping and mourning, and in honour to those to whom
|
|
honour is due. Tears are a tribute due to our deceased friends.
|
|
When a body is sown, it must be watered. But we must not sorrow as
|
|
those that have no hope; for we have a good hope through grace both
|
|
concerning them and concerning ourselves.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 23:3-15" id="Gen.xxiv-p3.4" parsed="|Gen|23|3|23|15" osisRef="Bible:Gen.23.3-Gen.23.15"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.23.3-Gen.23.15">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxiv-p3.5">The Cave of Machpelah. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxiv-p3.6">b. c.</span> 1857.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxiv-p4">3 And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and
|
|
spake unto the sons of Heth, saying,   4 I <i>am</i> a
|
|
stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a
|
|
buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.
|
|
  5 And the children of Heth
|
|
|
|
<pb n="142" id="Gen.xxiv-Page_142"/>
|
|
|
|
answered
|
|
Abraham, saying unto him,   6 Hear us, my lord: thou
|
|
<i>art</i> a mighty prince among us: in the choice of our
|
|
sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his
|
|
sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead.   7 And Abraham
|
|
stood up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, <i>even</i>
|
|
to the children of Heth.   8 And he communed with them,
|
|
saying, If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my
|
|
sight; hear me, and intreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar,
|
|
  9 That he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he hath,
|
|
which <i>is</i> in the end of his field; for as much money as it is
|
|
worth he shall give it me for a possession of a buryingplace
|
|
amongst you.   10 And Ephron dwelt among the children of Heth:
|
|
and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the audience of the
|
|
children of Heth, <i>even</i> of all that went in at the gate of
|
|
his city, saying,   11 Nay, my lord, hear me: the field give I
|
|
thee, and the cave that <i>is</i> therein, I give it thee; in the
|
|
presence of the sons of my people give I it thee: bury thy dead.
|
|
  12 And Abraham bowed down himself before the people of the
|
|
land.   13 And he spake unto Ephron in the audience of the
|
|
people of the land, saying, But if thou <i>wilt give it,</i> I pray
|
|
thee, hear me: I will give thee money for the field; take <i>it</i>
|
|
of me, and I will bury my dead there.   14 And Ephron answered
|
|
Abraham, saying unto him,   15 My lord, hearken unto me: the
|
|
land <i>is worth</i> four hundred shekels of silver; what <i>is</i>
|
|
that betwixt me and thee? bury therefore thy dead.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiv-p5">Here is, I. The humble request which
|
|
Abraham made to his neighbours, the Hittites, for a burying-place
|
|
among them, <scripRef passage="Ge 23:3,4" id="Gen.xxiv-p5.1" parsed="|Gen|23|3|23|4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.23.3-Gen.23.4"><i>v.</i> 3,
|
|
4</scripRef>. It was strange he had this to do now; but we are to
|
|
impute it rather to God's providence than to his improvidence, as
|
|
appears <scripRef passage="Ac 7:5" id="Gen.xxiv-p5.2" parsed="|Acts|7|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.5">Acts vi. 5</scripRef>, where it
|
|
is said, <i>God gave him no inheritance in Canaan.</i> It were well
|
|
if all those who take care to provide burying-places for their
|
|
bodies after death were as careful to provide a resting-place for
|
|
their souls. Observe here, 1. The convenient diversion which this
|
|
affair gave, for the present, to Abraham's grief: He <i>stood up
|
|
from before his dead.</i> Those that find themselves in danger of
|
|
over-grieving for their dead relations, and are entering into that
|
|
temptation, must take heed of poring upon their loss and sitting
|
|
alone and melancholy. There must be a time of standing up from
|
|
before their dead, and ceasing to mourn. For, thanks be to God, our
|
|
happiness is not bound up in the life of any creature. Care of the
|
|
funeral may, as here, be improved to divert grief for the death at
|
|
first, when it is most in danger of tyrannizing. Weeping must not
|
|
hinder sowing. 2. The argument he used with the children of Heth,
|
|
which was this: "<i>I am a stranger and a sojourner with you,</i>
|
|
therefore I am unprovided, and must become a humble suitor to you
|
|
for a burying-place." This was one occasion which Abraham took to
|
|
confess that he was a stranger and a pilgrim upon earth; he was not
|
|
ashamed to own it thus publicly, <scripRef passage="Heb 11:13" id="Gen.xxiv-p5.3" parsed="|Heb|11|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.13">Heb.
|
|
xi. 13</scripRef>. Note, The death of our relations should
|
|
effectually remind us that we are not at home in this world. When
|
|
they are gone, say, "We are going." 3. His uneasiness till this
|
|
affair was settled, intimated in that word, <i>that I may bury my
|
|
dead out of my sight.</i> Note, Death will make those unpleasant to
|
|
our sight who while they lived were the desire of our eyes. The
|
|
countenance that was fresh and lively becomes pale and ghastly, and
|
|
fit to be removed into the land of darkness. While she was in his
|
|
sight, it renewed his grief, which he would prevent.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiv-p6">II. The generous offer which the children
|
|
of Heth made to him, <scripRef passage="Ge 23:5,6" id="Gen.xxiv-p6.1" parsed="|Gen|23|5|23|6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.23.5-Gen.23.6"><i>v.</i> 5,
|
|
6</scripRef>. They compliment him, 1. With a title of respect:
|
|
<i>Thou art a prince of God among us,</i> so the word is; not only
|
|
great, but good. He called himself a stranger and a sojourner; they
|
|
call him a great prince; for those that humble themselves shall be
|
|
exalted. God had promised to make Abraham's name great. 2. With a
|
|
tender of the best of their burying-places. Note, Even the light of
|
|
nature teaches us to be civil and respectful towards all, though
|
|
they be strangers and sojourners. The noble generosity of these
|
|
Canaanites shames and condemns the closeness, and selfishness, and
|
|
ill-humour, of many that call themselves Israelites. Observe, These
|
|
Canaanites would be glad to mingle their dust with Abraham's and to
|
|
have their last end like his.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiv-p7">III. The particular proposal which Abraham
|
|
made to them, <scripRef passage="Ge 23:7-9" id="Gen.xxiv-p7.1" parsed="|Gen|23|7|23|9" osisRef="Bible:Gen.23.7-Gen.23.9"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7-9</scripRef>. He returns them his thanks for their kind offer
|
|
with all possible decency and respect; though a great man, an old
|
|
man, and now a mourner, yet he stands up, and bows himself humbly
|
|
before them, <scripRef passage="Ge 23:7" id="Gen.xxiv-p7.2" parsed="|Gen|23|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.23.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, Religion teaches good manners; and those abuse it that place
|
|
it in rudeness and clownishness. He then pitches upon the place he
|
|
thinks most convenient, namely, the cave of Machpelah, which
|
|
probably lay near him, and had not yet been used for a
|
|
burying-place. The
|
|
|
|
<pb n="143" id="Gen.xxiv-Page_143"/>
|
|
|
|
present owner was
|
|
<i>Ephron.</i> Abraham cannot pretend to any interest in him, but
|
|
he desires that they would improve theirs with him to get the
|
|
purchase of that cave, and the field in which it was. Note, A
|
|
moderate desire to obtain that which is convenient for us, by fair
|
|
and honest means, is not such a coveting of that which is our
|
|
neighbour's as is forbidden in the tenth commandment.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiv-p8">IV. The present which Ephron made to
|
|
Abraham of his field: <i>The field give I thee,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 23:10,11" id="Gen.xxiv-p8.1" parsed="|Gen|23|10|23|11" osisRef="Bible:Gen.23.10-Gen.23.11"><i>v.</i> 10, 11</scripRef>. Abraham thought
|
|
he must be entreated to sell it; but, upon the first mention of it,
|
|
without entreaty, Ephron freely gives it. Some men have more
|
|
generosity than they are thought to have. Abraham, no doubt, had
|
|
taken all occasions to oblige his neighbours, and do them any
|
|
service that lay in his power; and now they return his kindness:
|
|
for <i>he that watereth shall be watered also himself.</i> Note, If
|
|
those that profess religion adorn their profession by eminent
|
|
civility and serviceableness to all, they shall find it will
|
|
rebound to their own comfort and advantage, as well as to the glory
|
|
of God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiv-p9">V. Abraham's modest and sincere refusal of
|
|
Ephron's kind offer, <scripRef passage="Ge 23:12,13" id="Gen.xxiv-p9.1" parsed="|Gen|23|12|23|13" osisRef="Bible:Gen.23.12-Gen.23.13"><i>v.</i> 12,
|
|
13</scripRef>. Abundance of thanks he returns him for it (<scripRef passage="Ge 23:12" id="Gen.xxiv-p9.2" parsed="|Gen|23|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.23.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), makes his obeisance to
|
|
him before the people of the land, that they might respect Ephron
|
|
the more for the respect they saw Abraham give him (<scripRef passage="1Sa 15:30" id="Gen.xxiv-p9.3" parsed="|1Sam|15|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.15.30">1 Sam. xv. 30</scripRef>), but resolves to give
|
|
him money for the field, even the full value of it. It was not in
|
|
pride that Abraham refused the gift, or because he scorned to be
|
|
beholden to Ephron; but, 1. In justice. Abraham was rich in silver
|
|
and gold (<scripRef passage="Ge 13:2" id="Gen.xxiv-p9.4" parsed="|Gen|13|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.2"><i>ch.</i> xiii.
|
|
2</scripRef>) and was able to pay for the field, and therefore
|
|
would not take advantage of Ephron's generosity. Note, Honesty, as
|
|
well as honour, forbids us to sponge upon our neighbours and to
|
|
impose upon those that are free. Job reflected upon it with
|
|
comfort, when he was poor, that he had not <i>eaten the fruits of
|
|
his land without money,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 31:39" id="Gen.xxiv-p9.5" parsed="|Job|31|39|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.31.39">Job xxxi.
|
|
39</scripRef>. 2. In prudence. He would pay for it lest Ephron,
|
|
when this good humour was over, should upbraid him with it, and
|
|
say, <i>I have made Abraham rich</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 14:23" id="Gen.xxiv-p9.6" parsed="|Gen|14|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.23"><i>ch.</i> xiv. 23</scripRef>), or lest the next heir
|
|
should question Abraham's title (because that grant was made
|
|
without any consideration), and claim back the field. Thus David
|
|
afterwards refused Araunah's offer, <scripRef passage="2Sa 24:24" id="Gen.xxiv-p9.7" parsed="|2Sam|24|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.24.24">2
|
|
Sam. xxiv. 24</scripRef>. We know not what affronts we may
|
|
hereafter receive from those that are now most kind and
|
|
generous.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiv-p10">VI. The price of the land fixed by Ephron
|
|
but not insisted on: <i>The land is worth four hundred shekels of
|
|
silver</i> (about fifty pounds of our money), <i>but what is that
|
|
between me and thee?</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 23:14,15" id="Gen.xxiv-p10.1" parsed="|Gen|23|14|23|15" osisRef="Bible:Gen.23.14-Gen.23.15"><i>v.</i>
|
|
14, 15</scripRef>. He would rather oblige his friend than have so
|
|
much money in his pocket. Herein Ephron discovers, 1. A great
|
|
contempt of worldly wealth. "What is that between me and thee? It
|
|
is a small matter, not worth speaking of." Many a one would have
|
|
said, "It is a deal of money; it will go far in a child's portion."
|
|
But Ephron says, "What is that?" Note, It is an excellent thing for
|
|
people to have low and mean thoughts of all the wealth of this
|
|
world; it is that which is not, and in the abundance of which a
|
|
man's life does not consist, <scripRef passage="Lu 12:15" id="Gen.xxiv-p10.2" parsed="|Luke|12|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.12.15">Luke xii.
|
|
15</scripRef>. 2. Great courtesy, and obligingness to his friend
|
|
and neighbour. Ephron was not jealous of Abraham as a resident
|
|
foreigner, nor envious at him as a man likely to thrive and grow
|
|
rich. He bore him no ill-will for his singularity in religion, but
|
|
was much kinder to him than most people now-a-days are to their own
|
|
brothers: <i>What is that between me and thee?</i> Note, No little
|
|
thing should occasion demurs and differences between true friends.
|
|
When we are tempted to be hot in resenting affronts, high in
|
|
demanding our rights, or hard in denying a kindness, we should
|
|
answer the temptation with this question: "What is that between me
|
|
and my friend?"</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 23:16-20" id="Gen.xxiv-p10.3" parsed="|Gen|23|16|23|20" osisRef="Bible:Gen.23.16-Gen.23.20"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.23.16-Gen.23.20">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxiv-p10.4">Sarah's Funeral. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxiv-p10.5">b. c.</span> 1857.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxiv-p11">16 And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and
|
|
Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the
|
|
audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver,
|
|
current <i>money</i> with the merchant.   17 And the field of
|
|
Ephron, which <i>was</i> in Machpelah, which <i>was</i> before
|
|
Mamre, the field, and the cave which <i>was</i> therein, and all
|
|
the trees that <i>were</i> in the field, that <i>were</i> in all
|
|
the borders round about, were made sure   18 Unto Abraham for
|
|
a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all
|
|
that went in at the gate of his city.   19 And after this,
|
|
Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah
|
|
before Mamre: the same <i>is</i> Hebron in the land of Canaan.
|
|
  20 And the field, and the cave that <i>is</i> therein, were
|
|
made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a buryingplace by the
|
|
sons of Heth.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxiv-p12">We have here the conclusion of the treaty
|
|
between Abraham and Ephron about the burying-place. The bargain was
|
|
publicly made before all the neighbours, <i>in the presence and
|
|
audience of the sons of Heth,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 23:16,17" id="Gen.xxiv-p12.1" parsed="|Gen|23|16|23|17" osisRef="Bible:Gen.23.16-Gen.23.17"><i>v.</i> 16, 17</scripRef>. Note, Prudence, as well
|
|
as justice, directs us to be fair, and open, and above-board, in
|
|
our dealings. Fraudulent contracts hate the light, and choose to be
|
|
clandestine; but those that design honestly in their bargains care
|
|
not who are witnesses to them. Our law countenances sales made in
|
|
market-overt, and by deed enrolled. Observe, 1. Abraham, without
|
|
fraud, covin, or further delay, pays
|
|
|
|
<pb n="144" id="Gen.xxiv-Page_144"/>
|
|
|
|
the
|
|
money, <scripRef passage="Ge 23:16" id="Gen.xxiv-p12.2" parsed="|Gen|23|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.23.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. He
|
|
pays it readily, without hesitation,—pays it in full, without
|
|
diminution,—and pays it by weight, current money with the
|
|
merchant, without deceit. See how anciently money was used for the
|
|
help of commerce; and see how honestly money should be paid where
|
|
it is due. Observe, Though all the land of Canaan was Abraham's by
|
|
promise, yet, the time of his possessing not having come, what he
|
|
had now occasion for he bought and paid for. Note, Dominion is not
|
|
founded in grace. The saints' title to an eternal inheritance does
|
|
not entitle them to the possessions of this world, nor justify them
|
|
in doing wrong. 2. Ephron honestly and fairly makes him a good
|
|
title to the land, <scripRef passage="Ge 23:17,18,20" id="Gen.xxiv-p12.3" parsed="|Gen|23|17|23|18;|Gen|23|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.23.17-Gen.23.18 Bible:Gen.23.20"><i>v.</i> 17,
|
|
18, 20</scripRef>. The field, with all its appurtenances, is
|
|
conveyed to Abraham and his heirs for ever, in open court, not by
|
|
writing (it does not appear that writing was then used), but by
|
|
such a public solemn declaration before witnesses as was sufficient
|
|
to pass it. Note, As that which is bought must be honestly paid
|
|
for, so that which is sold must be honestly delivered and secured.
|
|
3. Abraham, thereupon, takes possession, and buries Sarah in the
|
|
cave or vault (whether framed by nature or art is not certain)
|
|
which was in the purchased field. It is probable that Abraham had
|
|
buried servants out of his family since he came to Canaan, but the
|
|
graves of the common people (<scripRef passage="2Ki 23:6" id="Gen.xxiv-p12.4" parsed="|2Kgs|23|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.23.6">2 Kings
|
|
xxiii. 6</scripRef>) might suffice for them; now that Sarah was
|
|
dead a peculiar place must be found for her remains. It is worth
|
|
noting, (1.) That a burying-place was the first spot of ground
|
|
Abraham possessed in Canaan. Note, When we are entering into the
|
|
world it is good to think of our going out of it; for, as soon as
|
|
we are born, we begin to die. (2.) That it was the only piece of
|
|
land he ever possessed, though the country was all his own in
|
|
reversion. Those that have least of this earth find a grave in it.
|
|
Abraham provided, not cities, as Cain and Nimrod, but a sepulchre,
|
|
[1.] To be a constant memorandum of death to himself and his
|
|
posterity, that he and they might learn to die daily. This
|
|
sepulchre is said to be <i>at the end of the field</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 23:9" id="Gen.xxiv-p12.5" parsed="|Gen|23|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.23.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>); for, whatever our
|
|
possessions are, there is a sepulchre at the end of them. [2.] To
|
|
be a token of his belief and expectation of the resurrection; for
|
|
why should such care be taken of the body if it be thrown away for
|
|
ever, and must not rise again? Abraham, in this, said plainly that
|
|
he sought a better country, that is, a heavenly. Abraham is content
|
|
to be still flitting, while he lives, but secures a place where,
|
|
when he dies his flesh may rest in hope.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXIV" n="xxv" progress="17.10%" prev="Gen.xxiv" next="Gen.xxvi" id="Gen.xxv">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="144" id="Gen.xxv-Page_144"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xxv-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xxv-p0.2">CHAP. XXIV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xxv-p1">Marriages and funerals are the changes of
|
|
families, and the common news among the inhabitants of the
|
|
villages. In the foregoing chapter we had Abraham burying his wife,
|
|
here we have him marrying his son. These stories concerning his
|
|
family, with their minute circumstances, are largely related, while
|
|
the histories of the kingdoms of the world then in being, with
|
|
their revolutions, are buried in silence; for the Lord knows those
|
|
that are his. The subjoining of Isaac's marriage to Sarah's funeral
|
|
(with a particular reference to it, <scripRef passage="Ge 24:67" id="Gen.xxv-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|24|67|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.67">ver. 67</scripRef>) shows us that as "one generation
|
|
passes away another generation comes;" and thus the entail both of
|
|
the human nature, and of the covenant, is preserved. Here is, I.
|
|
Abraham's care about the marrying of his son, and the charge he
|
|
gave to his servant about it, <scripRef passage="Ge 24:1-9" id="Gen.xxv-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|24|1|24|9" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.1-Gen.24.9">ver.
|
|
1-9</scripRef>. II. His servant's journey into Abraham's country,
|
|
to seek a wife for his young master among his own relations,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 24:10-14" id="Gen.xxv-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|24|10|24|14" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.10-Gen.24.14">ver. 10-14</scripRef>. III. The
|
|
kind providence which brought him acquainted with Rebekah, whose
|
|
father was Isaac's cousin-german, <scripRef passage="Ge 24:15-28" id="Gen.xxv-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|24|15|24|28" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.15-Gen.24.28">ver. 15-28</scripRef>. IV. The treaty of marriage
|
|
with her relations, <scripRef passage="Ge 24:29-49" id="Gen.xxv-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|24|29|24|49" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.29-Gen.24.49">ver.
|
|
29-49</scripRef>. V. Their consent obtained, <scripRef passage="Ge 24:50-60" id="Gen.xxv-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|24|50|24|60" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.50-Gen.24.60">ver. 50-60</scripRef>. VI. The happy meeting and
|
|
marriage between Isaac and Rebekah, <scripRef passage="Ge 24:61-67" id="Gen.xxv-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|24|61|24|67" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.61-Gen.24.67">ver. 61</scripRef>, &c.).</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 24" id="Gen.xxv-p1.8" parsed="|Gen|24|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 24:1-9" id="Gen.xxv-p1.9" parsed="|Gen|24|1|24|9" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.1-Gen.24.9"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.24.1-Gen.24.9">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxv-p1.10">Abraham's Charges to His
|
|
Servant. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxv-p1.11">b. c.</span> 1857.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxv-p2">1 And Abraham was old, <i>and</i> well stricken
|
|
in age: and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxv-p2.1">Lord</span> had blessed
|
|
Abraham in all things.   2 And Abraham said unto his eldest
|
|
servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray
|
|
thee, thy hand under my thigh:   3 And I will make thee swear
|
|
by the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxv-p2.2">Lord</span>, the God of heaven, and
|
|
the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son
|
|
of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell:   4
|
|
But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a
|
|
wife unto my son Isaac.   5 And the servant said unto him,
|
|
Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this
|
|
land: must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence
|
|
thou camest?   6 And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that
|
|
thou bring not my son thither again.   7 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxv-p2.3">Lord</span> God of heaven, which took me from my
|
|
father's house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake
|
|
unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give
|
|
this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take
|
|
a wife unto my son from thence.   8 And if the woman will not
|
|
be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my
|
|
oath: only bring not my son thither again.   9 And the servant
|
|
put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to
|
|
him concerning that matter.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxv-p3">Three things we may observe here concerning
|
|
Abraham:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxv-p4">I. The care he took of a good son, to get
|
|
him married, well married. It was high time to think of it now, for
|
|
Isaac was about forty years old, and it had been customary with his
|
|
ancestors to marry at thirty, or sooner, <scripRef passage="Ge 11:14,18,22,24" id="Gen.xxv-p4.1" parsed="|Gen|11|14|0|0;|Gen|11|18|0|0;|Gen|11|22|0|0;|Gen|11|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.14 Bible:Gen.11.18 Bible:Gen.11.22 Bible:Gen.11.24"><i>ch.</i> xi. 14, 18, 22, 24</scripRef>.
|
|
Abraham believed the promise of the building up of his family, and
|
|
therefore did not make haste; not more haste than good speed. Two
|
|
considerations moved him to think of it now (<scripRef passage="Ge 24:1" id="Gen.xxv-p4.2" parsed="|Gen|24|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>):—1. That he himself was likely
|
|
to leave the world quickly, for he was <i>old, and well-stricken in
|
|
age,</i> and it would be a satisfaction to him to see his son
|
|
settled before he died; and, 2. That he
|
|
|
|
<pb n="145" id="Gen.xxv-Page_145"/>
|
|
|
|
had
|
|
a good estate to leave behind him, for <i>the Lord had blessed him
|
|
in all things;</i> and the blessing of the Lord makes rich. See how
|
|
much religion and piety befriend outward prosperity. Now Abraham's
|
|
pious care concerning his son was, (1.) That he should not marry a
|
|
daughter of Canaan, but one of his kindred. He saw that the
|
|
Canaanites were degenerating into great wickedness, and knew by
|
|
revelation that they were designed for ruin, and therefore he would
|
|
not marry his son among them, lest they should be either a snare to
|
|
his soul, or at least a blot to his name. (2.) That yet he should
|
|
not leave the land of Canaan, to go himself among his kindred, not
|
|
even for the purpose of choosing a wife, lest he should be tempted
|
|
to settle there. This caution is given <scripRef passage="Ge 24:6" id="Gen.xxv-p4.3" parsed="|Gen|24|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>, and repeated, <scripRef passage="Ge 24:8" id="Gen.xxv-p4.4" parsed="|Gen|24|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. "<i>Bring not my son thither
|
|
again,</i> whatever comes of it. Let him rather want a wife than
|
|
expose himself to that temptation." Note, Parents in disposing of
|
|
their children, should carefully consult the welfare of their
|
|
souls, and their furtherance in the way to heaven. Those who
|
|
through grace have escaped the corruption that is in the world
|
|
through lust, and have brought up their children accordingly,
|
|
should take heed of doing any thing by which they may be again
|
|
entangled therein and overcome, <scripRef passage="2Pe 2:20" id="Gen.xxv-p4.5" parsed="|2Pet|2|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.2.20">2 Pet.
|
|
ii. 20</scripRef>. Beware that you bring them not thither again,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Heb 11:15" id="Gen.xxv-p4.6" parsed="|Heb|11|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.15">Heb. xi. 15</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxv-p5">II. The charge he gave to a good servant,
|
|
probably Eliezer of Damascus, one of whose conduct, fidelity, and
|
|
affection to him and his family, he had had long experience. He
|
|
trusted him with this great affair, and not Isaac himself, because
|
|
he would not have Isaac go at all into that country, but marry
|
|
there by proxy; and no proxy so fit as this <i>steward of his
|
|
house.</i> This matter is settled between the master and the
|
|
servant with a great deal of care and solemnity. 1. The servant
|
|
must be bound by an oath to do his utmost to get a wife for Isaac
|
|
from among his relations, <scripRef passage="Ge 24:2-4" id="Gen.xxv-p5.1" parsed="|Gen|24|2|24|4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.2-Gen.24.4"><i>v.</i>
|
|
2-4</scripRef>. Abraham swears him to it, both for his own
|
|
satisfaction and for the engagement of his servant to all possible
|
|
care and diligence in this matter. Thus God swears his servants to
|
|
their work, that, having sworn, they may perform it. Honour is here
|
|
done to the eternal God; for he it is that is sworn by, to whom
|
|
alone these appeals ought to be made. And some think honour is done
|
|
to the covenant of circumcision by the ceremony here used of
|
|
<i>putting his hand under his thigh.</i> Note, Swearing being an
|
|
ordinance not peculiar to the church, but common to mankind, is to
|
|
be performed by such signs as are the appointments and common
|
|
usages of our country, for binding the person sworn. 2. He must be
|
|
clear of this oath if, when he had done his utmost, he could not
|
|
prevail. This proviso the servant prudently inserted (<scripRef passage="Ge 24:5" id="Gen.xxv-p5.2" parsed="|Gen|24|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), putting the case that
|
|
the woman would not follow him; and Abraham allowed the exception,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 24:8" id="Gen.xxv-p5.3" parsed="|Gen|24|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. Note, Oaths are
|
|
to be taken with great caution, and the matter sworn to should be
|
|
rightly understood and limited, because it is a <i>snare to devour
|
|
that which is holy, and, after vows, to make the enquiry</i> which
|
|
should have been made before.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxv-p6">III. The confidence he put in a good God,
|
|
who, he doubts not, will give his servant success in this
|
|
undertaking, <scripRef passage="Ge 24:7" id="Gen.xxv-p6.1" parsed="|Gen|24|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. He
|
|
remembers that God had wonderfully brought him out of the land of
|
|
his nativity, by the effectual call of his grace; and therefore
|
|
doubts not but he will succeed him in his care not to bring his son
|
|
thither again. He remembers also the promise God had made and
|
|
confirmed to him that he would give Canaan to his seed, and thence
|
|
infers that God would own him in his endeavours to match his son,
|
|
not among those devoted nations, but to one that was fit to be the
|
|
mother of such a seed. "Fear not therefore; he shall send his angel
|
|
before thee to make thy way prosperous." Note, 1. Those that
|
|
carefully keep in the way of duty, and govern themselves by the
|
|
principles of their religion in their designs and undertakings,
|
|
have good reason to expect prosperity and success in them. God will
|
|
cause that to issue in our comfort in which we sincerely aim at his
|
|
glory. 2. God's promises, and our own experiences, are sufficient
|
|
to encourage our dependence upon God, and our expectations from
|
|
him, in all the affairs of this life. 3. God's angels are
|
|
ministering spirits, sent forth, not only for the protection, but
|
|
for the guidance, of the heirs of promise, <scripRef passage="Heb 1:14" id="Gen.xxv-p6.2" parsed="|Heb|1|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.1.14">Heb. i. 14</scripRef>. "<i>He shall send his angel
|
|
before thee,</i> and then thou wilt speed well."</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 24:10-28" id="Gen.xxv-p6.3" parsed="|Gen|24|10|24|28" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.10-Gen.24.28"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.24.10-Gen.24.28">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxv-p6.4">Journey of Abraham's
|
|
Servant. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxv-p6.5">b. c.</span> 1857.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxv-p7">10 And the servant took ten camels of the camels
|
|
of his master, and departed; for all the goods of his master
|
|
<i>were</i> in his hand: and he arose, and went to Mesopotamia,
|
|
unto the city of Nahor.   11 And he made his camels to kneel
|
|
down without the city by a well of water at the time of the
|
|
evening, <i>even</i> the time that women go out to draw
|
|
<i>water.</i>   12 And he said, O <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxv-p7.1">Lord</span> God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send
|
|
me good speed this day, and show kindness unto my master Abraham.
|
|
  13 Behold, I stand <i>here</i> by the well of water; and the
|
|
daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water:   14
|
|
And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let
|
|
down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say,
|
|
Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: <i>let the same
|
|
be</i> she <i>that</i> thou hast appointed for thy servant
|
|
|
|
<pb n="146" id="Gen.xxv-Page_146"/>
|
|
|
|
Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast
|
|
showed kindness unto my master.   15 And it came to pass,
|
|
before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who
|
|
was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's
|
|
brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder.   16 And the
|
|
damsel <i>was</i> very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any
|
|
man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her
|
|
pitcher, and came up.   17 And the servant ran to meet her,
|
|
and said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher.
|
|
  18 And she said, Drink, my lord: and she hasted, and let
|
|
down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink.   19 And
|
|
when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw
|
|
<i>water</i> for thy camels also, until they have done drinking.
|
|
  20 And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough,
|
|
and ran again unto the well to draw <i>water,</i> and drew for all
|
|
his camels.   21 And the man wondering at her held his peace,
|
|
to wit whether the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxv-p7.2">Lord</span> had made his
|
|
journey prosperous or not.   22 And it came to pass, as the
|
|
camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden earring of
|
|
half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten
|
|
<i>shekels</i> weight of gold;   23 And said, Whose daughter
|
|
<i>art</i> thou? tell me, I pray thee: is there room <i>in</i> thy
|
|
father's house for us to lodge in?   24 And she said unto him,
|
|
I <i>am</i> the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, which she
|
|
bare unto Nahor.   25 She said moreover unto him, We have both
|
|
straw and provender enough, and room to lodge in.   26 And the
|
|
man bowed down his head, and worshipped the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxv-p7.3">Lord</span>.   27 And he said, Blessed <i>be</i>
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxv-p7.4">Lord</span> God of my master Abraham,
|
|
who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I
|
|
<i>being</i> in the way, the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxv-p7.5">Lord</span>
|
|
led me to the house of my master's brethren.   28 And the
|
|
damsel ran, and told <i>them of</i> her mother's house these
|
|
things.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxv-p8">Abraham's servant now begins to make a
|
|
figure in this story; and, though he is not named, yet much is here
|
|
recorded to his honour, and for an example to all servants, who
|
|
shall be honoured if, by faithfully serving God and their masters,
|
|
they adorn the doctrine of Christ (compare <scripRef passage="Pr 27:18,Tit 2:10" id="Gen.xxv-p8.1" parsed="|Prov|27|18|0|0;|Titus|2|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.27.18 Bible:Titus.2.10">Prov. xxvii. 18 with Titus ii. 10</scripRef>);
|
|
for there is no respect of persons with God, <scripRef passage="Col 3:24,25" id="Gen.xxv-p8.2" parsed="|Col|3|24|3|25" osisRef="Bible:Col.3.24-Col.3.25">Col. iii. 24, 25</scripRef>. A good servant that
|
|
makes conscience of the duty of his place, and does it in the fear
|
|
of God, though he make not a figure in the world nor have praise of
|
|
men, yet shall be owned and accepted of God and have praise of him.
|
|
Observe here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxv-p9">I. How faithful Abraham's servant approved
|
|
himself to his master. Having received his charge, he with all
|
|
expedition set out on his journey, with an equipage suitable to the
|
|
object of his negotiation (<scripRef passage="Ge 24:10" id="Gen.xxv-p9.1" parsed="|Gen|24|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.10"><i>v.</i>
|
|
10</scripRef>), <i>and he had all the goods of his master,</i> that
|
|
is, a schedule or particular account of them, <i>in his hand,</i>
|
|
to show to those with whom he was to treat; for, from first to
|
|
last, he consulted his master's honour. Isaac being a type of
|
|
Christ, some make this fetching of a wife for him to signify the
|
|
espousing of the church by the agency of his servants the
|
|
ministers. The church is the bride, the Lamb's wife, <scripRef passage="Re 21:9" id="Gen.xxv-p9.2" parsed="|Rev|21|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.21.9">Rev. xxi. 9</scripRef>. Christ is the bridegroom,
|
|
and ministers are the friends of the bridegroom (<scripRef passage="Joh 3:29" id="Gen.xxv-p9.3" parsed="|John|3|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.3.29">John iii. 29</scripRef>), whose work it is to persuade
|
|
souls to consent to him, <scripRef passage="2Co 11:2" id="Gen.xxv-p9.4" parsed="|2Cor|11|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.11.2">2 Cor. xi.
|
|
2</scripRef>. The spouse of Christ must not be of the Canaanites,
|
|
but of his own kindred, born again from above. Ministers, like
|
|
Abraham's servant, must lay out themselves with the utmost wisdom
|
|
and care to serve their master's interest herein.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxv-p10">II. How devoutly he acknowledged God in
|
|
this affair, like one of that happy household which Abraham had
|
|
<i>commanded to keep the way of the Lord,</i> &c., <scripRef passage="Ge 18:19" id="Gen.xxv-p10.1" parsed="|Gen|18|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.19"><i>ch.</i> xviii. 19</scripRef>. He arrived
|
|
early in the evening (after many days' journeying) at the place of
|
|
his destination, and reposed himself by a well of water, to
|
|
consider how he might manage his business for the best. And,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxv-p11">1. He acknowledges God by a particular
|
|
prayer (<scripRef passage="Ge 24:12-14" id="Gen.xxv-p11.1" parsed="|Gen|24|12|24|14" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.12-Gen.24.14"><i>v.</i>
|
|
12-14</scripRef>), wherein, (1.) He petitions for prosperity and
|
|
good success in this affair: <i>Send me good speed, this day.</i>
|
|
Note, We have leave to be particular in recommending our affairs to
|
|
the conduct and care of the divine Providence. Those that would
|
|
have good speed must pray for it. <i>This day, in this affair;</i>
|
|
thus we must, in all our ways, acknowledge God, <scripRef passage="Pr 3:6" id="Gen.xxv-p11.2" parsed="|Prov|3|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.3.6">Prov. iii. 6</scripRef>. And, if we thus look up to God in
|
|
every undertaking which we are in care about, we shall have the
|
|
comfort of having done our duty, whatever the issue be. (2.) He
|
|
pleads God's covenant with his master Abraham: <i>O God of my
|
|
master Abraham, show kindness to him.</i> Note, As the children of
|
|
good parents, so the servants of good masters, have peculiar
|
|
encouragement in the prayers they offer to God for prosperity and
|
|
success. (3.) He proposes a sign (<scripRef passage="Ge 24:14" id="Gen.xxv-p11.3" parsed="|Gen|24|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>), not by it to limit God, nor
|
|
with a design to proceed no further if he were not gratified in it;
|
|
but it is a prayer, [1.] That God would provide a good wife for his
|
|
young
|
|
|
|
<pb n="147" id="Gen.xxv-Page_147"/>
|
|
|
|
master, and this was a good prayer. He
|
|
knew that <i>a prudent wife is from the Lord</i> (<scripRef passage="Pr 19:14" id="Gen.xxv-p11.4" parsed="|Prov|19|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.19.14">Prov. xix. 14</scripRef>), and therefore that
|
|
for this he will be enquired of. He desires that his master's wife
|
|
might be humble and industrious woman, bred up to care and labour,
|
|
and willing to put her hand to any work that was to be done; and
|
|
that she might be of a courteous disposition, and charitable to
|
|
strangers. When he came to seek a wife for his master, he did not
|
|
go to the playhouse or the park, and pray that he might meet one
|
|
there, but to <i>the well of water,</i> expecting to find one there
|
|
well employed. [2.] That he would please to make his way, in this
|
|
matter, plain and clear before him, by the concurrence of minute
|
|
circumstances in his favour. Note, <i>First,</i> It is the comfort,
|
|
as well as the belief, of a good man, that God's providence extends
|
|
itself to the smallest occurrences and admirably serves its own
|
|
purposes by them. Our times are in God's hand; not only events
|
|
themselves, but the times of them. <i>Secondly,</i> It is our
|
|
wisdom, in all our affairs, to follow Providence, and folly to
|
|
force it. <i>Thirdly,</i> It is very desirable, and that which we
|
|
may lawfully pray for, while in the general we set God's will
|
|
before us as our rule, that he will, by hints of providence, direct
|
|
us in the way of our duty, and give us indications what his mind
|
|
it. Thus he guides his people with his eye (<scripRef passage="Ps 32:8" id="Gen.xxv-p11.5" parsed="|Ps|32|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.32.8">Ps. xxxii. 8</scripRef>), and leads them in a plain path,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 27:11" id="Gen.xxv-p11.6" parsed="|Ps|27|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.27.11">Ps. xxvii. 11</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxv-p12">2. God owns him by a particular providence.
|
|
He decreed the thing, and it was established to him, <scripRef passage="Job 22:28" id="Gen.xxv-p12.1" parsed="|Job|22|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.22.28">Job xxii. 28</scripRef>. According to his
|
|
faith, so was it unto him. The answer to this prayer was, (1.)
|
|
Speedy—<i>before he had made an end of speaking</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 24:15" id="Gen.xxv-p12.2" parsed="|Gen|24|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>), as it is written
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Isa 65:24" id="Gen.xxv-p12.3" parsed="|Isa|65|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.24">Isa. lxv. 24</scripRef>), <i>While
|
|
they are yet speaking, I will hear.</i> Though we are backward to
|
|
pray, God is forward to hear prayer. (2.) Satisfactory: the first
|
|
that came to draw water was, and did, in every thing, according to
|
|
his own heart. [1.] She was so well qualified that in all respects
|
|
she answered the characters he wished for in the woman that was to
|
|
be his master's wife, handsome and healthful, humble and
|
|
industrious, very courteous and obliging to a stranger, and having
|
|
all the marks of a good disposition. When she came to the well
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 24:16" id="Gen.xxv-p12.4" parsed="|Gen|24|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>), she went
|
|
down and <i>filled her pitcher, and came up</i> to go home with it.
|
|
She did not stand to gaze upon the strange man and his camels, but
|
|
minded her business, and would not have been diverted from it but
|
|
by an opportunity of doing good. She did not curiously nor
|
|
confidently enter into discourse with him, but modestly answered
|
|
him, with all the decorum that became her sex. What a degenerate
|
|
age do we live in, in which appear all the instances of pride,
|
|
luxury, and laziness, the reverse of Rebekah's character, whose
|
|
daughters few are! Those instances of goodness which were then in
|
|
honour are now in contempt. [2.] Providence so ordered it that she
|
|
did that which exactly answered to his sign, and was wonderfully
|
|
the counterpart of his proposal: she not only gave him drink, but,
|
|
which was more than could have been expected, she offered her
|
|
services to give his camels drink, which was the very sign he
|
|
proposed. Note, <i>First,</i> God, in his providence, does
|
|
sometimes wonderfully own the prayer of faith, and gratify the
|
|
innocent desires of his praying people, even in little things, that
|
|
he may show the extent of his care, and may encourage them at all
|
|
times to seek to him and trust in him; yet we must take heed of
|
|
being over-bold in prescribing to God, lest the event should weaken
|
|
our faith rather than strengthen it. <i>Secondly,</i> It is good to
|
|
take all opportunities of showing a humble, courteous, charitable,
|
|
disposition, because, some time or other, it may turn more to our
|
|
honour and benefit than we think of; some hereby have entertained
|
|
angels, and Rebekah hereby, quite beyond her expectation at this
|
|
time, was brought into the line of Christ and the covenant.
|
|
<i>Thirdly,</i> There may be a great deal of obliging kindness in
|
|
that which costs but little: our Saviour has promised a reward for
|
|
a cup of cold water, <scripRef passage="Mt 10:42" id="Gen.xxv-p12.5" parsed="|Matt|10|42|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.10.42">Matt. x.
|
|
42</scripRef>. <i>Fourthly,</i> The concurrence of providences and
|
|
their minute circumstances, for the furtherance of our success in
|
|
any business, ought to be particularly observed, with wonder and
|
|
thankfulness, to the glory of God: <i>The man wondered,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 24:21" id="Gen.xxv-p12.6" parsed="|Gen|24|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. We have been
|
|
wanting to ourselves, both in duty and in comfort, by neglecting to
|
|
observe Providence. [3.] Upon enquiry he found, to his great
|
|
satisfaction, that she was a near relation to his master, and that
|
|
the family she was of was considerable, and able to give him
|
|
entertainment, <scripRef passage="Ge 24:23-25" id="Gen.xxv-p12.7" parsed="|Gen|24|23|24|25" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.23-Gen.24.25"><i>v.</i>
|
|
23-25</scripRef>. Note, Providence sometimes wonderfully directs
|
|
those that by faith and prayer seek direction from heaven in the
|
|
choice of suitable yoke-fellows: happy marriages those are likely
|
|
to be that are made in the fear of God; and these, we are sure, are
|
|
made in heaven.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxv-p13">3. He acknowledges God in a particular
|
|
thanksgiving. He first paid his respects to Rebekah, in gratitude
|
|
for her civility (<scripRef passage="Ge 24:22" id="Gen.xxv-p13.1" parsed="|Gen|24|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.22"><i>v.</i>
|
|
22</scripRef>), obliging her with such ornaments and attire as a
|
|
maid, especially a bride, cannot forget (<scripRef passage="Jer 2:32" id="Gen.xxv-p13.2" parsed="|Jer|2|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.2.32">Jer. ii. 32</scripRef>), which yet, we should think, ill
|
|
suited the <i>pitcher of water;</i> but the ear-rings and bracelets
|
|
she sometimes wore did not make her think herself above the labours
|
|
of a virtuous woman (<scripRef passage="Pr 31:13" id="Gen.xxv-p13.3" parsed="|Prov|31|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.31.13">Prov. xxxi.
|
|
13</scripRef>), who <i>works willingly with her hands;</i> nor the
|
|
services of a child, who, while <i>under age, differs nothing from
|
|
a servant,</i> <scripRef passage="Ga 4:1" id="Gen.xxv-p13.4" parsed="|Gal|4|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.4.1">Gal. iv. 1</scripRef>.
|
|
Having done this, he turns his wonder (<scripRef passage="Ge 24:21" id="Gen.xxv-p13.5" parsed="|Gen|24|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>) into worshipping: <i>Blessed be
|
|
the Lord God of my master Abraham,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 24:26,27" id="Gen.xxv-p13.6" parsed="|Gen|24|26|24|27" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.26-Gen.24.27"><i>v.</i> 26, 27</scripRef>. Observe here, (1.) He
|
|
had prayed for good speed (<scripRef passage="Ge 24:12" id="Gen.xxv-p13.7" parsed="|Gen|24|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.12"><i>v.</i>
|
|
12</scripRef>), and now that he had sped well he gives thanks.
|
|
Note, What we win by prayer we must wear with praise; for mercies
|
|
in answer to prayer lay us under particular obligations.
|
|
|
|
<pb n="148" id="Gen.xxv-Page_148"/>
|
|
|
|
(2.) He had as yet but a comfortable prospect of
|
|
mercy, and was not certain what the issue might prove; yet he gives
|
|
thanks. Note, When God's favours are coming towards us we must meet
|
|
them with our praises. (3.) He blesses God for success when he was
|
|
negotiating for his master. Note, We should be thankful for our
|
|
friend's mercies as for our own. (4.) He gives thanks that, being
|
|
in the way, at a loss what course to steer, the Lord had led him.
|
|
Note, In doubtful cases, it is very comfortable to see God leading
|
|
us, as he led Israel in the wilderness by the pillar of cloud and
|
|
fire. (5.) He thinks himself very happy, and owns God in it, that
|
|
he was led to the <i>house of his master's brethren,</i> those of
|
|
them that had come out of Ur of the Chaldees, though they had not
|
|
come to Canaan, but remained in Haran. They were not idolaters, but
|
|
worshippers of the true God, and inclinable to the religion of
|
|
Abraham's family. Note, God is to be acknowledged in providing
|
|
suitable yoke-fellows, especially such as are agreeable in
|
|
religion. (6.) He acknowledges that God, herein, had not left his
|
|
master <i>destitute of his mercy and truth.</i> God had promised to
|
|
build up Abraham's family, yet it seemed destitute of the benefit
|
|
of that promise; but now Providence is working towards the
|
|
accomplishing of it. Note, [1.] God's faithful ones, how destitute
|
|
soever they may be of worldly comforts, shall never be left
|
|
destitute of God's mercy and truth; for God's mercy is an
|
|
inexhaustible fountain, and his truth an inviolable foundation.
|
|
[2.] It adds much to the comfort of any blessing to see in it the
|
|
continuance of God's mercy and truth.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 24:29-53" id="Gen.xxv-p13.8" parsed="|Gen|24|29|24|53" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.29-Gen.24.53"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.24.29-Gen.24.53">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxv-p13.9">Abraham's Servant Entertained by Laban;
|
|
Errand of Abraham's Servant. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxv-p13.10">b. c.</span> 1857.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxv-p14">29 And Rebekah had a brother, and his name
|
|
<i>was</i> Laban: and Laban ran out unto the man, unto the well.
|
|
  30 And it came to pass, when he saw the earring and
|
|
bracelets upon his sister's hands, and when he heard the words of
|
|
Rebekah his sister, saying, Thus spake the man unto me; that he
|
|
came unto the man; and, behold, he stood by the camels at the well.
|
|
  31 And he said, Come in, thou blessed of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxv-p14.1">Lord</span>; wherefore standest thou without? for I
|
|
have prepared the house, and room for the camels.   32 And the
|
|
man came into the house: and he ungirded his camels, and gave straw
|
|
and provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet, and the
|
|
men's feet that <i>were</i> with him.   33 And there was set
|
|
<i>meat</i> before him to eat: but he said, I will not eat, until I
|
|
have told mine errand. And he said, Speak on.   34 And he
|
|
said, I <i>am</i> Abraham's servant.   35 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxv-p14.2">Lord</span> hath blessed my master greatly; and he is
|
|
become great: and he hath given him flocks, and herds, and silver,
|
|
and gold, and menservants, and maidservants, and camels, and asses.
|
|
  36 And Sarah my master's wife bare a son to my master when
|
|
she was old: and unto him hath he given all that he hath.   37
|
|
And my master made me swear, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife to
|
|
my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell:
|
|
  38 But thou shalt go unto my father's house, and to my
|
|
kindred, and take a wife unto my son.   39 And I said unto my
|
|
master, Peradventure the woman will not follow me.   40 And he
|
|
said unto me, The <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxv-p14.3">Lord</span>, before whom
|
|
I walk, will send his angel with thee, and prosper thy way; and
|
|
thou shalt take a wife for my son of my kindred, and of my father's
|
|
house:   41 Then shalt thou be clear from <i>this</i> my oath,
|
|
when thou comest to my kindred; and if they give not thee
|
|
<i>one,</i> thou shalt be clear from my oath.   42 And I came
|
|
this day unto the well, and said, <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxv-p14.4">O
|
|
Lord</span> God of my master Abraham, if now thou do prosper my way
|
|
which I go:   43 Behold, I stand by the well of water; and it
|
|
shall come to pass, that when the virgin cometh forth to draw
|
|
<i>water,</i> and I say to her, Give me, I pray thee, a little
|
|
water of thy pitcher to drink;   44 And she say to me, Both
|
|
drink thou, and I will also draw for thy camels: <i>let</i> the
|
|
same <i>be</i> the woman whom the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxv-p14.5">Lord</span> hath appointed out for my master's son.
|
|
  45 And before I had done speaking in mine heart, behold,
|
|
Rebekah came forth with her pitcher on her shoulder; and she went
|
|
down unto the well, and drew <i>water</i>: and I said unto her, Let
|
|
me drink, I pray thee.   46 And she made haste, and let down
|
|
her pitcher from her <i>shoulder,</i> and said, Drink, and I will
|
|
give thy camels drink also: so I drank, and she made the camels
|
|
drink also.   47 And I asked her, and said, Whose daughter
|
|
<i>art</i> thou? And she said, The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's
|
|
son, whom Milcah bare unto him: and I put the earring upon her
|
|
face, and the bracelets upon her hands.
|
|
|
|
<pb n="149" id="Gen.xxv-Page_149"/>
|
|
|
|
  48 And I bowed down my head, and worshipped the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxv-p14.6">Lord</span>, and blessed the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxv-p14.7">Lord</span> God of my master Abraham, which had led me
|
|
in the right way to take my master's brother's daughter unto his
|
|
son.   49 And now if ye will deal kindly and truly with my
|
|
master, tell me: and if not, tell me; that I may turn to the right
|
|
hand, or to the left.   50 Then Laban and Bethuel answered and
|
|
said, The thing proceedeth from the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxv-p14.8">Lord</span>: we cannot speak unto thee bad or good.
|
|
  51 Behold, Rebekah <i>is</i> before thee, take <i>her,</i>
|
|
and go, and let her be thy master's son's wife, as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxv-p14.9">Lord</span> hath spoken.   52 And it came to pass,
|
|
that, when Abraham's servant heard their words, he worshipped the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxv-p14.10">Lord</span>, <i>bowing himself</i> to the
|
|
earth.   53 And the servant brought forth jewels of silver,
|
|
and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave <i>them</i> to Rebekah:
|
|
he gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxv-p15">We have here the making up of the marriage
|
|
between Isaac and Rebekah. It is related very largely and
|
|
particularly, even to the minute circumstances, which, we should
|
|
think, might have been spared, while other things of great moment
|
|
and mystery (as the story of Melchizedek) are related in few words.
|
|
Thus God conceals that which is curious from the wise and prudent,
|
|
reveals to babes that which is common and level to their capacity
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Mt 11:25" id="Gen.xxv-p15.1" parsed="|Matt|11|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.11.25">Matt. xi. 25</scripRef>), and rules
|
|
and <i>saves the world by the foolishness of preaching,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Co 1:21" id="Gen.xxv-p15.2" parsed="|1Cor|1|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.1.21">1 Cor. i. 21</scripRef>. Thus also we
|
|
are directed to take notice of God's providence in the little
|
|
common occurrences of human life, and in them also to exercise our
|
|
own prudence and other graces; for the scripture was not intended
|
|
for the use of philosophers and statesmen only, but to make us all
|
|
wise and virtuous in the conduct of ourselves and families. Here
|
|
is,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxv-p16">I. The very kind reception given to
|
|
Abraham's servant by Rebekah's relations. Her brother Laban went to
|
|
invite and conduct him in, but not till he saw the <i>ear-rings and
|
|
the bracelets upon his sister's hands,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 24:30" id="Gen.xxv-p16.1" parsed="|Gen|24|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>. "O," thinks Laban, "here is a
|
|
man that there is something to be got by, a man that is rich and
|
|
generous; we will be sure to bid him welcome!" We know so much of
|
|
Laban's character, by the following story, as to think that he
|
|
would not have been so free of his entertainment if he had not
|
|
hoped to be well paid for it, as he was, <scripRef passage="Ge 24:53" id="Gen.xxv-p16.2" parsed="|Gen|24|53|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.53"><i>v.</i> 53</scripRef>. Note, <i>A man's gift maketh
|
|
room for him</i> (<scripRef passage="Pr 18:16" id="Gen.xxv-p16.3" parsed="|Prov|18|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.18.16">Prov. xviii.
|
|
16</scripRef>), <i>which way soever it turneth, it prospereth,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Pr 17:8" id="Gen.xxv-p16.4" parsed="|Prov|17|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.17.8">Prov. xvii. 8</scripRef>. 1. The
|
|
invitation was kind: <i>Come in, thou blessed of the Lord,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 24:31" id="Gen.xxv-p16.5" parsed="|Gen|24|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>. They saw he
|
|
was rich, and therefore pronounced him <i>blessed of the Lord;</i>
|
|
or, perhaps, because they heard from Rebekah (<scripRef passage="Ge 24:28" id="Gen.xxv-p16.6" parsed="|Gen|24|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>) of the gracious words which
|
|
proceeded out of his mouth, they concluded him a good man, and
|
|
therefore <i>blessed of the Lord.</i> Note, Those that are blessed
|
|
of God should be welcome to us. It is good owning those whom God
|
|
owns. 2. The entertainment was kind, <scripRef passage="Ge 24:32,33" id="Gen.xxv-p16.7" parsed="|Gen|24|32|24|33" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.32-Gen.24.33"><i>v.</i> 32, 33</scripRef>. Both the house and
|
|
stable were well furnished, and Abraham's servant was invited to
|
|
the free use of both. Particular care was taken of the camels; for
|
|
a <i>good man regardeth the life of his beast,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 12:10" id="Gen.xxv-p16.8" parsed="|Prov|12|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.12.10">Prov. xii. 10</scripRef>. If the ox knows his
|
|
owner to serve him, the owner should know his ox to provide for him
|
|
that which is fitting for him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxv-p17">II. The full account which he gave them of
|
|
his errand, and the court he made to them for their consent
|
|
respecting Rebekah. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxv-p18">1. How intent he was upon his business;
|
|
though he had come off a journey, and come to a good house, he
|
|
would <i>not eat, till he had told his errand,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 24:33" id="Gen.xxv-p18.1" parsed="|Gen|24|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>. Note, The doing of our
|
|
work, and the fulfilling of our trusts, either for God or man,
|
|
should be preferred by us before our necessary food: it was our
|
|
Saviour's meat and drink, <scripRef passage="Joh 4:34" id="Gen.xxv-p18.2" parsed="|John|4|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.4.34">John iv.
|
|
34</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxv-p19">2. How ingenious he was in the management
|
|
of it; he approved himself, in this matter, both a prudent man and
|
|
a man of integrity, faithful to his master by whom he was trusted,
|
|
and just to those with whom he now treated.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxv-p20">(1.) He gives a short account of the state
|
|
of his master's family, <scripRef passage="Ge 24:34-36" id="Gen.xxv-p20.1" parsed="|Gen|24|34|24|36" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.34-Gen.24.36"><i>v.</i>
|
|
34-36</scripRef>. He was welcome before, but we may suppose him
|
|
doubly welcome when he said, <i>I am Abraham's servant.</i>
|
|
Abraham's name, no doubt, was well known among them and respected,
|
|
and we might suppose them not altogether ignorant of his state, for
|
|
Abraham knew theirs, <scripRef passage="Ge 22:20-24" id="Gen.xxv-p20.2" parsed="|Gen|22|20|22|24" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22.20-Gen.22.24"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xxii. 20-24</scripRef>. Two things he suggests, to recommend his
|
|
proposal:—[1.] That his master Abraham, through the blessing of
|
|
God, had a very good estate; and, [2.] That he had settled it all
|
|
upon Isaac, for whom he was now a suitor.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxv-p21">(2.) He tells them the charge his master
|
|
had given him, to fetch a wife for his son from among his kindred,
|
|
with the reason of it, <scripRef passage="Ge 24:37,38" id="Gen.xxv-p21.1" parsed="|Gen|24|37|24|38" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.37-Gen.24.38"><i>v.</i>
|
|
37, 38</scripRef>. Thus he insinuates a pleasing hint, that, though
|
|
Abraham had removed to a country at so great a distance, yet he
|
|
still retained the remembrance of his relations that he had left
|
|
behind, and a respect for them. The highest degrees of divine
|
|
affection must not divest us of natural affection. He likewise
|
|
obviates an objection, That, if Isaac were deserving, he needed not
|
|
send so far off for a wife: why did he not marry nearer home? "For
|
|
a good reason," says he; "my master's son must not match with a
|
|
Canaanite." He further recommends his
|
|
|
|
<pb n="150" id="Gen.xxv-Page_150"/>
|
|
|
|
proposal, [1.] From the faith his master had that it would succeed,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 24:40" id="Gen.xxv-p21.2" parsed="|Gen|24|40|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.40"><i>v.</i> 40</scripRef>. Abraham took
|
|
encouragement from the testimony of his conscience that he
|
|
<i>walked before God</i> in a regular course of holy living, and
|
|
thence inferred that God would prosper him; probably he refers to
|
|
that covenant which God had made with him (<scripRef passage="Ge 17:1" id="Gen.xxv-p21.3" parsed="|Gen|17|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.1"><i>ch.</i> xvii. 1</scripRef>), <i>I am God,
|
|
all-sufficient, walk before me.</i> Therefore, says he <i>the God
|
|
before whom I walk will send his angel.</i> Note, While we make
|
|
conscience of our part of the covenant, we may take the comfort of
|
|
God's part of it; and we should learn to apply general promises of
|
|
particular cases, as there is occasion. [2.] From the care he
|
|
himself had taken to preserve their liberty of giving or refusing
|
|
their consent, as they should see cause, without incurring the
|
|
guilt of perjury (<scripRef passage="Ge 24:39-41" id="Gen.xxv-p21.4" parsed="|Gen|24|39|24|41" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.39-Gen.24.41"><i>v.</i>
|
|
39-41</scripRef>), which showed him, in general, to be a cautious
|
|
man, and particularly careful that their consent might not be
|
|
forced, but be either free or not at all.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxv-p22">(3.) He relates to them the wonderful
|
|
concurrence of providences, to countenance and further the
|
|
proposal, plainly showing the finger of God in it. [1.] He tells
|
|
them how he had prayed for direction by a sign, <scripRef passage="Ge 24:42-44" id="Gen.xxv-p22.1" parsed="|Gen|24|42|24|44" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.42-Gen.24.44"><i>v.</i> 42-44</scripRef>. Note, It is good dealing
|
|
with those who by prayer take God along with them in their
|
|
dealings. [2.] How God had answered his prayer in the very letter
|
|
of it. Though he did but <i>speak in his heart</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 24:45" id="Gen.xxv-p22.2" parsed="|Gen|24|45|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.45"><i>v.</i> 45</scripRef>), which perhaps he
|
|
mentions, lest it should be suspected that Rebekah had overheard
|
|
his prayer and designedly humoured it. "No," says he, "I spoke
|
|
<i>it in my heart,</i> so that none heard it but God, to whom
|
|
thought are word, and from him the answer came," <scripRef passage="Ge 24:46,47" id="Gen.xxv-p22.3" parsed="|Gen|24|46|24|47" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.46-Gen.24.47"><i>v.</i> 46, 47</scripRef>. [3.] How he had
|
|
immediately acknowledged God's goodness to him therein, <i>leading
|
|
him,</i> as he here expresses it, <i>in the right way.</i> Note,
|
|
God's way is always the <i>right way</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 107:7" id="Gen.xxv-p22.4" parsed="|Ps|107|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.107.7">Ps. cvii. 7</scripRef>), and those are well led whom he
|
|
leads.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxv-p23">(4.) He fairly refers the matter to their
|
|
consideration, and waits their decision (<scripRef passage="Ge 24:49" id="Gen.xxv-p23.1" parsed="|Gen|24|49|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.49"><i>v.</i> 49</scripRef>): "<i>If you will deal kindly
|
|
and truly with my master,</i> well and good: if you will be
|
|
sincerely kind, you will accept the proposal, and I have what I
|
|
came for; if not, do not hold me in suspense." Note, Those who deal
|
|
fairly have reason to expect fair dealing.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxv-p24">(5.) They freely and cheerfully close with
|
|
the proposal upon a very good principle (<scripRef passage="Ge 24:50" id="Gen.xxv-p24.1" parsed="|Gen|24|50|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.50"><i>v.</i> 50</scripRef>): "<i>The thing proceedeth from
|
|
the Lord,</i> Providence smiles upon it, and we have nothing to say
|
|
against it." They do not object distance of place, Abraham's
|
|
forsaking them, or his having no land in possession, but personal
|
|
estate only: they do not question the truth of what this man said;
|
|
but, [1.] They trust much to his integrity. It were well if honesty
|
|
did so universally prevail among men that it might be as much an
|
|
act of prudence as it is of good nature to take a man's word. [2.]
|
|
They trust more to God's providence, and therefore by silence give
|
|
consent, because it appears to be directed and disposed by Infinite
|
|
Wisdom. Note, A marriage is then likely to be comfortable when it
|
|
appears to proceed from the Lord.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxv-p25">(6.) Abraham's servant makes a thankful
|
|
acknowledgment of the good success he had met with, [1.] To God:
|
|
<i>He worshipped the Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 24:52" id="Gen.xxv-p25.1" parsed="|Gen|24|52|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.52"><i>v.</i> 52</scripRef>. Observe, <i>First,</i> As his
|
|
good success went on, he went on to bless God. Those that <i>pray
|
|
without ceasing</i> should <i>in every thing give thanks,</i> and
|
|
own God in every step of mercy. <i>Secondly,</i> God sent his angel
|
|
before him, and so gave him success, <scripRef passage="Ge 24:7,40" id="Gen.xxv-p25.2" parsed="|Gen|24|7|0|0;|Gen|24|40|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.7 Bible:Gen.24.40"><i>v.</i> 7, 40</scripRef>. But when he has the
|
|
desired success, he worships God, not the angel. Whatever benefit
|
|
we have by the ministration of angels, all the glory must be given
|
|
to the Lord of the angels, <scripRef passage="Re 22:9" id="Gen.xxv-p25.3" parsed="|Rev|22|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.22.9">Rev. xxii.
|
|
9</scripRef>. [2.] He pays his respects to the family also, and
|
|
particularly to the bride, <scripRef passage="Ge 24:53" id="Gen.xxv-p25.4" parsed="|Gen|24|53|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.53"><i>v.</i>
|
|
53</scripRef>. He presented her, and her mother, and brother, with
|
|
many precious things, both to give a real proof of his master's
|
|
riches and generosity and in gratitude for their civility to him,
|
|
and further to ingratiate himself with them.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 24:54-61" id="Gen.xxv-p25.5" parsed="|Gen|24|54|24|61" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.54-Gen.24.61"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.24.54-Gen.24.61">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxv-p25.6">Rebekah's Departure. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxv-p25.7">b. c.</span> 1857.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxv-p26">54 And they did eat and drink, he and the men
|
|
that <i>were</i> with him, and tarried all night; and they rose up
|
|
in the morning, and he said, Send me away unto my master.   55
|
|
And her brother and her mother said, Let the damsel abide with us
|
|
<i>a few</i> days, at the least ten; after that she shall go.
|
|
  56 And he said unto them, Hinder me not, seeing the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxv-p26.1">Lord</span> hath prospered my way; send me away
|
|
that I may go to my master.   57 And they said, We will call
|
|
the damsel, and enquire at her mouth.   58 And they called
|
|
Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she
|
|
said, I will go.   59 And they sent away Rebekah their sister,
|
|
and her nurse, and Abraham's servant, and his men.   60 And
|
|
they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou <i>art</i> our
|
|
sister, be thou <i>the mother</i> of thousands of millions, and let
|
|
thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.   61 And
|
|
Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels, and
|
|
followed the man: and the servant took Rebekah, and went his
|
|
way.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxv-p27">Rebekah is here taking leave of her
|
|
father's house; and 1. Abraham's servant presses for a dismission.
|
|
Though he and his company were very welcome, and very cheerful
|
|
there, yet he said, <i>Send me away</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 24:54" id="Gen.xxv-p27.1" parsed="|Gen|24|54|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.54"><i>v.</i> 54</scripRef>), and again, <scripRef passage="Ge 24:56" id="Gen.xxv-p27.2" parsed="|Gen|24|56|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.56"><i>v.</i> 56</scripRef>. He knew his master would expect
|
|
him home with some impatience; he had business to do at home which
|
|
wanted him,
|
|
|
|
<pb n="151" id="Gen.xxv-Page_151"/>
|
|
|
|
and therefore, as one that
|
|
preferred his work before his pleasure, he was for hastening home.
|
|
Note, Lingering and loitering no way become a wise and good man;
|
|
when we have despatched our business abroad we must not delay our
|
|
return to our business at home, nor be longer from it than needs
|
|
must; for as a bird that <i>wanders from her nest so is he that
|
|
wanders from his place,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 27:8" id="Gen.xxv-p27.3" parsed="|Prov|27|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.27.8">Prov.
|
|
xxvii. 8</scripRef>. 2. Rebekah's relations, from natural affection
|
|
and according to the usual expression of kindness in that case,
|
|
solicit for her stay some time among them, <scripRef passage="Ge 24:55" id="Gen.xxv-p27.4" parsed="|Gen|24|55|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.55"><i>v.</i> 55</scripRef>. They could not think of parting
|
|
with her on a sudden, especially as she was about the remove so far
|
|
off and it was not likely that they would ever see one another
|
|
again: <i>Let her stay a few days, at least ten,</i> which makes it
|
|
as reasonable a request as the reading in the margin seems to make
|
|
it unreasonable, <i>a year,</i> or <i>at least ten months.</i> They
|
|
had consented to the marriage, and yet were loth to part with her.
|
|
Note, It is an instance of the vanity of this world that there is
|
|
nothing in it so agreeable but it has its alloy. <i>Nulla est
|
|
sincera voluptas—There is no unmingled pleasure.</i> They were
|
|
pleased that they had matched a daughter of their family so well,
|
|
and yet, when it came to the last, it was with great reluctance
|
|
that they sent her away. 3. Rebekah herself determined the matter.
|
|
To her they appealed, as it was fit they should (<scripRef passage="Ge 24:57" id="Gen.xxv-p27.5" parsed="|Gen|24|57|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.57"><i>v.</i> 57</scripRef>): <i>Call the damsel</i> (who
|
|
had retired to her apartment with a modest silence) and <i>enquire
|
|
at her mouth.</i> Note, As children ought not to marry without
|
|
their parents' consent, so parents ought not to marry them without
|
|
their own. Before the matter is resolved on, "Ask at the damsel's
|
|
mouth;" she is a party principally concerned, and therefore ought
|
|
to be principally consulted. Rebekah consented, not only to go, but
|
|
to go immediately: <i>I will go,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 24:58" id="Gen.xxv-p27.6" parsed="|Gen|24|58|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.58"><i>v.</i> 58</scripRef>. We may hope that the notice she
|
|
had taken of the servant's piety and devotion gave her such an idea
|
|
of the prevalence of religion and godliness in the family she was
|
|
to go to made her desirous to hasten thither, and willing to forget
|
|
her own people and her father's house, where religion had not so
|
|
much the ascendant. 4. Hereupon she is sent away with Abraham's
|
|
servant; not, we may suppose, the very next day after, but very
|
|
quickly: her friends see that she has a good heart on it, and so
|
|
they dismiss her, (1.) With suitable attendants—her <i>nurse</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 24:59" id="Gen.xxv-p27.7" parsed="|Gen|24|59|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.59"><i>v.</i> 59</scripRef>), her
|
|
<i>damsels,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 24:61" id="Gen.xxv-p27.8" parsed="|Gen|24|61|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.61"><i>v.</i>
|
|
61</scripRef>. It seems, then, that when she went to the well for
|
|
water it was not because she had not servants at command, but
|
|
because she took a pleasure in works of humble industry. Now that
|
|
she was going among strangers, it was fit she should take those
|
|
with her with whom she was acquainted. Here is nothing said of her
|
|
portion. Her personal merits were a portion in her, she needed none
|
|
with her, nor did that ever come into the treaty of marriage. (2.)
|
|
With hearty good wishes: <i>They blessed Rebekah,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 24:60" id="Gen.xxv-p27.9" parsed="|Gen|24|60|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.60"><i>v.</i> 60</scripRef>. Note, When our
|
|
relations are entering into a new condition, we ought by prayer to
|
|
recommend them to the blessing and grace of God. Now that she was
|
|
going to be a wife, they prayed that she might be a mother both of
|
|
a numerous and of a victorious progeny. Perhaps Abraham's servant
|
|
had told them of the promise God had lately made to his master,
|
|
which it is likely, Abraham acquainted his household with, that God
|
|
<i>would multiply his seed as the stars of heaven, and that they
|
|
should possess the gate of their enemies</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 22:17" id="Gen.xxv-p27.10" parsed="|Gen|22|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22.17"><i>ch.</i> xxii. 17</scripRef>), to which promise they
|
|
had an eye in this blessing, <i>Be thou the mother</i> of that
|
|
seed.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 24:62-67" id="Gen.xxv-p27.11" parsed="|Gen|24|62|24|67" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.62-Gen.24.67"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.24.62-Gen.24.67">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxv-p27.12">Isaac's Marriage. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxv-p27.13">b. c.</span> 1857.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxv-p28">62 And Isaac came from the way of the well
|
|
Lahai-roi; for he dwelt in the south country.   63 And Isaac
|
|
went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and he lifted up
|
|
his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels <i>were</i> coming.
|
|
  64 And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac,
|
|
she lighted off the camel.   65 For she <i>had</i> said unto
|
|
the servant, What man <i>is</i> this that walketh in the field to
|
|
meet us? And the servant <i>had</i> said, It <i>is</i> my master:
|
|
therefore she took a veil, and covered herself.   66 And the
|
|
servant told Isaac all things that he had done.   67 And Isaac
|
|
brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she
|
|
became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after
|
|
his mother's <i>death.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxv-p29">Isaac and Rebekah are, at length, happily
|
|
brought together. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxv-p30">I. Isaac was well employed when he met
|
|
Rebekah: <i>He went out to meditate,</i> or pray, <i>in the field,
|
|
at the even-tide,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 24:62,63" id="Gen.xxv-p30.1" parsed="|Gen|24|62|24|63" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.62-Gen.24.63"><i>v.</i> 62,
|
|
63</scripRef>. Some think he expected the return of his servants
|
|
about this time, and went out on purpose to meet them. But, it
|
|
should seem, he went out on another errand, to take the advantage
|
|
of a silent evening and a solitary field for meditation and prayer,
|
|
those divine exercises by which we converse with God and our own
|
|
hearts. Note, 1. Holy souls love retirement. It will do us good to
|
|
be often left alone, walking alone and sitting alone; and, if we
|
|
have the art of improving solitude, we shall find we are never less
|
|
alone than when alone. 2. Meditation and prayer ought to be both
|
|
our business and our delight when we are alone; while we have a
|
|
God, a Christ, and a heaven, to acquaint ourselves with, and to
|
|
secure our interest in, we need not want matter either for
|
|
meditation or prayer, which, if they go together, will mutually
|
|
befriend each other. 3. Our walks in the field are then truly
|
|
pleasant when in them we apply ourselves to meditation and prayer.
|
|
We
|
|
|
|
<pb n="152" id="Gen.xxv-Page_152"/>
|
|
|
|
there have a free and open prospect of
|
|
the heavens above us and the earth around us, and the host and
|
|
riches of both, by the view of which we should be led to the
|
|
contemplation of the Maker and owner of all. 4. The exercises of
|
|
devotion should be the refreshment and entertainment of the
|
|
evening, to relieve us from the fatigue occasioned by the care and
|
|
business of the day, and to prepare us for the repose and sleep of
|
|
the night. 5. Merciful providences are then doubly comfortable when
|
|
they find us well employed and in the way of our duty. Some think
|
|
Isaac was now praying for good success in this affair that was
|
|
depending, and meditating upon that which was proper to encourage
|
|
his hope in God concerning it; and now, when he sets himself, as it
|
|
were, upon his watch-tower, to see what God would answer him, as
|
|
the prophet (<scripRef passage="Hab 2:1" id="Gen.xxv-p30.2" parsed="|Hab|2|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hab.2.1">Hab. ii. 1</scripRef>),
|
|
<i>he sees the camels coming.</i> Sometimes God sends in the mercy
|
|
prayed for immediately, <scripRef passage="Ac 12:12" id="Gen.xxv-p30.3" parsed="|Acts|12|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.12.12">Acts xii.
|
|
12</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxv-p31">II. Rebekah behaved herself very
|
|
becomingly, when she met Isaac: understanding who he was, she
|
|
<i>alighted off her camel</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 24:64" id="Gen.xxv-p31.1" parsed="|Gen|24|64|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.64"><i>v.</i> 64</scripRef>), and <i>took a veil, and
|
|
covered herself</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 24:65" id="Gen.xxv-p31.2" parsed="|Gen|24|65|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.65"><i>v.</i>
|
|
65</scripRef>), in token of humility, modesty, and subjection. She
|
|
did not reproach Isaac for not coming himself to fetch her, or, at
|
|
least, to meet her a day's journey or two, did not complain of the
|
|
tediousness of her journey, or the difficulty of leaving her
|
|
relations, to come into a strange place; but, having seen
|
|
Providence going before her in the affair, she accommodates herself
|
|
with cheerfulness to her new relation. Those that by faith are
|
|
espoused to Christ, and would be presented as chaste virgins to
|
|
him, must, in conformity to his example, humble themselves, as
|
|
Rebekah, who alighted when she saw Isaac on foot, and must put
|
|
themselves into subjection to him who is their head (<scripRef passage="Eph 5:24" id="Gen.xxv-p31.3" parsed="|Eph|5|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eph.5.24">Eph. v. 24</scripRef>), as Rebekah, signifying
|
|
it by the veil she put on, <scripRef passage="1Co 11:10" id="Gen.xxv-p31.4" parsed="|1Cor|11|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.11.10">1 Cor. xi.
|
|
10</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxv-p32">III. They were brought together (probably
|
|
after some further acquaintance), to their mutual comfort,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 24:67" id="Gen.xxv-p32.1" parsed="|Gen|24|67|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.67"><i>v.</i> 67</scripRef>. Observe here,
|
|
1. What an affectionate son he was to his mother: it was about
|
|
three years since her death, and yet he was not, till now,
|
|
comforted concerning it; the wound which that affliction gave to
|
|
his tender spirit bled so long, and was never healed till God
|
|
brought him into this new relation. Thus crosses and comforts are
|
|
balances to each other (<scripRef passage="Ec 7:14" id="Gen.xxv-p32.2" parsed="|Eccl|7|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.7.14">Eccl. vii.
|
|
14</scripRef>), and help to keep the scale even. 2. What an
|
|
affectionate husband he was to his wife. Note, Those that have
|
|
approved themselves well in one relation, it may be hoped, will do
|
|
so in another: <i>She became his wife, and he loved her;</i> there
|
|
was all the reason in the world why he should, for so <i>ought men
|
|
to love their wives even as themselves.</i> The duty of the
|
|
relation is then done, and the comfort of the relation is then
|
|
enjoyed, when mutual love governs; for <i>there the Lord commands
|
|
the blessing.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXV" n="xxvi" progress="17.99%" prev="Gen.xxv" next="Gen.xxvii" id="Gen.xxvi">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="152" id="Gen.xxvi-Page_152"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xxvi-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xxvi-p0.2">CHAP. XXV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xxvi-p1">The sacred historian, in this chapter, I. Takes
|
|
his leave of Abraham, with an account, 1. Of his children by
|
|
another wife, <scripRef passage="Ge 25:1-4" id="Gen.xxvi-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|25|1|25|4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.1-Gen.25.4">ver. 1-4</scripRef>. 2.
|
|
Of his last will and testament, <scripRef passage="Ge 25:5,6" id="Gen.xxvi-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|25|5|25|6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.5-Gen.25.6">ver.
|
|
5, 6</scripRef>. 3. Of his age, death, and burial, <scripRef passage="Ge 25:7-10" id="Gen.xxvi-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|25|7|25|10" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.7-Gen.25.10">ver. 7-10</scripRef>. II. He takes his leave
|
|
of Ishmael, with a short account, 1. Of his children, <scripRef passage="Ge 25:12-16" id="Gen.xxvi-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|25|12|25|16" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.12-Gen.25.16">ver. 12-16</scripRef>. 2. Of his age and
|
|
death, <scripRef passage="Ge 25:17,18" id="Gen.xxvi-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|25|17|25|18" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.17-Gen.25.18">ver. 17, 18</scripRef>. III.
|
|
He enters upon the history of Isaac. 1. His prosperity, <scripRef passage="Ge 25:11" id="Gen.xxvi-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|25|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.11">ver. 11</scripRef>. 2. The conception and birth
|
|
of his two sons, with the oracle of God concerning them, <scripRef passage="Ge 25:19-26" id="Gen.xxvi-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|25|19|25|26" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.19-Gen.25.26">ver. 19-26</scripRef>. 3. Their different
|
|
characters, <scripRef passage="Ge 25:27,28" id="Gen.xxvi-p1.8" parsed="|Gen|25|27|25|28" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.27-Gen.25.28">ver. 27, 28</scripRef>.
|
|
4. Esau's selling his birthright to Jacob, <scripRef passage="Ge 25:29-34" id="Gen.xxvi-p1.9" parsed="|Gen|25|29|25|34" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.29-Gen.25.34">ver. 29-34</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 25" id="Gen.xxvi-p1.10" parsed="|Gen|25|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 25:1-10" id="Gen.xxvi-p1.11" parsed="|Gen|25|1|25|10" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.1-Gen.25.10"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.25.1-Gen.25.10">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxvi-p1.12">Abraham's Death. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxvi-p1.13">b. c.</span> 1822.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxvi-p2">1 Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name
|
|
<i>was</i> Keturah.   2 And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan,
|
|
and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah.   3 And Jokshan
|
|
begat Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and
|
|
Letushim, and Leummim.   4 And the sons of Midian; Ephah, and
|
|
Epher, and Hanoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these <i>were</i> the
|
|
children of Keturah.   5 And Abraham gave all that he had unto
|
|
Isaac.   6 But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham
|
|
had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son,
|
|
while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country.   7 And
|
|
these <i>are</i> the days of the years of Abraham's life which he
|
|
lived, an hundred threescore and fifteen years.   8 Then
|
|
Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man,
|
|
and full <i>of years</i>; and was gathered to his people.   9
|
|
And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah,
|
|
in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which
|
|
<i>is</i> before Mamre;   10 The field which Abraham purchased
|
|
of the sons of Heth: there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his
|
|
wife.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvi-p3">Abraham lived, after the marriage of Isaac,
|
|
thirty-five years, and all that is recorded concerning him during
|
|
the time lies here in a very few verses. We hear no more of God's
|
|
extraordinary appearances to him or trials of him; for all the
|
|
days, even of the best and greatest saints, are not eminent days,
|
|
some slide on silently, and neither come nor go with observation;
|
|
such were these last days of Abraham. We have here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvi-p4">I. An account of his children by Keturah,
|
|
another wife whom he married after the death of Sarah. He had
|
|
buried Sarah and married Isaac, the two dear companions of his
|
|
life, and was now solitary. He wanted a nurse, his family wanted a
|
|
governess, and it was not good for him to be thus alone. He
|
|
therefore marries Keturah, probably the chief of his maid-servants,
|
|
born in his house or bought with money. Marriage is not forbidden
|
|
to old age. By her he had six sons, in whom
|
|
|
|
<pb n="153" id="Gen.xxvi-Page_153"/>
|
|
|
|
the promise made to Abraham concerning the great increase of his
|
|
posterity was in part fulfilled, which, it is likely, he had an eye
|
|
to this marriage. The strength he received by the promise still
|
|
remained in him, to show how much the virtue of the promise exceeds
|
|
the power of nature.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvi-p5">II. The disposition which Abraham made of
|
|
his estate, <scripRef passage="Ge 25:5,6" id="Gen.xxvi-p5.1" parsed="|Gen|25|5|25|6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.5-Gen.25.6"><i>v.</i> 5,
|
|
6</scripRef>. After the birth of these sons, he set his house in
|
|
order, with prudence and justice. 1. He made Isaac his heir, as he
|
|
was bound to do, in justice to Sarah his first and principal wife,
|
|
and to Rebekah who married Isaac upon the assurance of it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 24:36" id="Gen.xxvi-p5.2" parsed="|Gen|24|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.36"><i>ch.</i> xxiv. 36</scripRef>. In
|
|
this <i>all,</i> which he settled upon Isaac, are perhaps included
|
|
the promise of the land of Canaan, and the entail of the covenant.
|
|
Or, God having already made him the heir of the promise, Abraham
|
|
therefore made him heir of his estate. Our affection and gifts
|
|
should attend God's. 2. He gave portions to the rest of his
|
|
children, both to Ishmael, though at first he was sent empty away,
|
|
and to his sons by Keturah. It was justice to provide for them;
|
|
parents that do not imitate him in this are worse than infidels. It
|
|
was prudence to settle them in places distant from Isaac, that they
|
|
might not pretend to divide the inheritance with him, nor be in any
|
|
way a care or expense to him. Observe, He did this <i>while he yet
|
|
lived,</i> lest it should not be done, or not so well done,
|
|
afterwards. Note, In many cases it is wisdom for men to make their
|
|
own hands their executors, and what they find to do to do it while
|
|
they live, as far as they can. These <i>sons of the concubines</i>
|
|
were sent into the country that lay east from Canaan, and their
|
|
posterity were called <i>the children of the east,</i> famous for
|
|
their numbers, <scripRef passage="Jdg 6:5,33" id="Gen.xxvi-p5.3" parsed="|Judg|6|5|0|0;|Judg|6|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.6.5 Bible:Judg.6.33">Judg. vi. 5,
|
|
33</scripRef>. Their great increase was the fruit of the promise
|
|
made to Abraham, that God would multiply his seed. God, in
|
|
dispensing his blessings, does as Abraham did; common blessings he
|
|
gives to the children of this world, as to the sons of the
|
|
bond-woman, but covenant-blessings he reserves for the heirs of
|
|
promise. All that he has is theirs, for they are his Isaacs, from
|
|
whom the rest shall be for ever separated.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvi-p6">III. The age and death of Abraham,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 25:7,8" id="Gen.xxvi-p6.1" parsed="|Gen|25|7|25|8" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.7-Gen.25.8"><i>v.</i> 7, 8</scripRef>. He lived
|
|
175 years, just 100 years after he came to Canaan; so long he was a
|
|
sojourner in a strange country. Though he lived long and lived
|
|
well, though he did good and could ill be spared, yet he died at
|
|
last. Observe how his death is here described. 1. He <i>gave up the
|
|
ghost.</i> His life was not extorted from him, but he cheerfully
|
|
resigned it; into the hands of the Father of spirits he committed
|
|
his spirit. 2. He <i>died in a good old age, an old man;</i> so God
|
|
had promised him. His death was his discharge from the burdens of
|
|
his age: an old man would not <i>so</i> live always. It was also
|
|
the crown of the glory of his old age. 3. He was <i>full of
|
|
years,</i> or full of <i>life</i> (as it might be supplied),
|
|
including all the conveniences and comforts of life. He did not
|
|
live till the world was weary of him, but till he was weary of the
|
|
world; he had had enough of it, and desired no more. <i>Vixi
|
|
quantum satis est—I have lived long enough.</i> A good man, though
|
|
he should not die old, dies full of days, satisfied with living
|
|
here, and longing to live in a better place. 4. He <i>was gathered
|
|
to his people.</i> His body was gathered to the congregation of the
|
|
dead, and his soul to the congregation of the blessed. Note, Death
|
|
gathers us to our people. Those that are our people while we live,
|
|
whether the people of God or the children of this world, are the
|
|
people to whom death will gather us.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvi-p7">IV. His burial, <scripRef passage="Ge 25:9,10" id="Gen.xxvi-p7.1" parsed="|Gen|25|9|25|10" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.9-Gen.25.10"><i>v.</i> 9, 10</scripRef>. Here is nothing recorded
|
|
of the pomp or ceremony of his funeral; only we are told, 1. Who
|
|
buried him: <i>His sons Isaac and Ishmael.</i> It was the last
|
|
office of respect they had to pay to their good father. Some
|
|
distance there had formerly been between Isaac and Ishmael; but it
|
|
seems either that Abraham had himself brought them together while
|
|
he lived, or at least that his death reconciled them. 2. Where they
|
|
buried him: in his own burying-place, which he had purchased, and
|
|
in which he had buried Sarah. Note, Those that in life have been
|
|
very dear to each other may not only innocently, but laudably,
|
|
desire to be buried together, that in their deaths they may not be
|
|
divided, and in token of their hopes of rising together.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 25:11-18" id="Gen.xxvi-p7.2" parsed="|Gen|25|11|25|18" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.11-Gen.25.18"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.25.11-Gen.25.18">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxvi-p7.3">Genealogy of Ishmael. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxvi-p7.4">b. c.</span> 1822.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxvi-p8">11 And it came to pass after the death of
|
|
Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac dwelt by the
|
|
well Lahai-roi.   12 Now these <i>are</i> the generations of
|
|
Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's handmaid,
|
|
bare unto Abraham:   13 And these <i>are</i> the names of the
|
|
sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations:
|
|
the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and
|
|
Mibsam,   14 And Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa,   15
|
|
Hadar, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah:   16 These
|
|
<i>are</i> the sons of Ishmael, and these <i>are</i> their names,
|
|
by their towns, and by their castles; twelve princes according to
|
|
their nations.   17 And these <i>are</i> the years of the life
|
|
of Ishmael, an hundred and thirty and seven years: and he gave up
|
|
the ghost and died; and was gathered unto his people.   18 And
|
|
they dwelt from Havilah unto Shur, that <i>is</i> before Egypt, as
|
|
thou goest toward Assyria: <i>and</i> he died in the presence of
|
|
all his brethren.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvi-p9">Immediately after the account of Abraham's
|
|
death, Moses begins the story of Isaac
|
|
|
|
<pb n="154" id="Gen.xxvi-Page_154"/>
|
|
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 25:11" id="Gen.xxvi-p9.1" parsed="|Gen|25|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>), and tells
|
|
us where he dwelt and how remarkably God blessed him. Note, The
|
|
blessing of Abraham did not die with him, but survived to all the
|
|
children of the promise. But he presently digresses from the story
|
|
of Isaac, to give a short account of Ishmael, forasmuch as he also
|
|
was a son of Abraham, and God had made some promises concerning
|
|
him, which it was requisite we should know the accomplishment of.
|
|
Observe here what is said, 1. Concerning his children. He had
|
|
twelve sons, <i>twelve princes</i> they are called (<scripRef passage="Ge 25:16" id="Gen.xxvi-p9.2" parsed="|Gen|25|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>), heads of families,
|
|
which in process of time became nations, distinct tribes, numerous
|
|
and very considerable. They peopled a very large continent, that
|
|
lay between Egypt and Assyria, called <i>Arabia.</i> The names of
|
|
his twelve sons are recorded. Midian and Kedar we often read of in
|
|
scripture. And some very good expositors have taken notice of the
|
|
signification of those three names which are put together
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 25:14" id="Gen.xxvi-p9.3" parsed="|Gen|25|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>), as
|
|
containing good advice to us all, <i>Mishma, Dumah,</i> and
|
|
<i>Massa,</i> that is, <i>hear, keep silence,</i> and <i>bear;</i>
|
|
we have them together in the same order, <scripRef passage="Jam 1:19" id="Gen.xxvi-p9.4" parsed="|Jas|1|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jas.1.19">Jam. i:19</scripRef>, <i>Be swift to hear, slow to
|
|
speak, slow to wrath.</i> The posterity of Ishmael had not only
|
|
tents in the fields, wherein they grew rich in times of peace; but
|
|
they had towns and castles (<scripRef passage="Ge 25:16" id="Gen.xxvi-p9.5" parsed="|Gen|25|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.16"><i>v.</i>
|
|
16</scripRef>), wherein they fortified themselves in time of war.
|
|
Now the number and strength of this family were the fruit of the
|
|
promise made to Hagar concerning Ishmael (<scripRef passage="Ge 16:10" id="Gen.xxvi-p9.6" parsed="|Gen|16|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.16.10"><i>ch.</i> xvi. 10</scripRef>), and to Abraham,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 17:20,21:13" id="Gen.xxvi-p9.7"><i>ch.</i> xvii. 20 and xxi.
|
|
13</scripRef>. Note, Many that are strangers to the covenants of
|
|
promise are yet blessed with outward prosperity for the sake of
|
|
their godly ancestors. <i>Wealth and riches shall be in their
|
|
house.</i> 2. Concerning himself. Here is an account of his age: He
|
|
<i>lived</i> 137 <i>years</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 25:17" id="Gen.xxvi-p9.8" parsed="|Gen|25|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>) which is recorded to show the
|
|
efficacy of Abraham's prayer for him (<scripRef passage="Ge 17:18" id="Gen.xxvi-p9.9" parsed="|Gen|17|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.18"><i>ch.</i> xvii. 18</scripRef>), <i>O that Ishmael might
|
|
live before thee!</i> Here is also an account of his death; he too
|
|
<i>was gathered to his people;</i> but it is not said that he was
|
|
<i>full of days,</i> though he lived to so great an age: he was not
|
|
so weary of the world, nor so willing to leave it, as his good
|
|
father was. Those words, <i>he fell in the presence of all his
|
|
brethren,</i> whether they mean, as we take them, <i>he died,</i>
|
|
or, as others, <i>his lot fell,</i> are designed to show the
|
|
fulfilling of that word to Hagar (<scripRef passage="Ge 16:12" id="Gen.xxvi-p9.10" parsed="|Gen|16|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.16.12"><i>ch.</i> xvi. 12</scripRef>), <i>He shall dwell in the
|
|
presence of all his brethren,</i> that is, he shall flourish and be
|
|
eminent among them, and shall hold his own to the last. Or he died
|
|
with his friends about him, which is comfortable.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 25:19-28" id="Gen.xxvi-p9.11" parsed="|Gen|25|19|25|28" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.19-Gen.25.28"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.25.19-Gen.25.28">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxvi-p9.12">Birth of Esau and Jacob. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxvi-p9.13">b. c.</span> 1837.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxvi-p10">19 And these <i>are</i> the generations of
|
|
Isaac, Abraham's son: Abraham begat Isaac:   20 And Isaac was
|
|
forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of
|
|
Bethuel the Syrian of Padan-aram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.
|
|
  21 And Isaac intreated the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxvi-p10.1">Lord</span> for his wife, because she <i>was</i>
|
|
barren: and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxvi-p10.2">Lord</span> was intreated
|
|
of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.   22 And the children
|
|
struggled together within her; and she said, If <i>it be</i> so,
|
|
why <i>am</i> I thus? And she went to enquire of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxvi-p10.3">Lord</span>.   23 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxvi-p10.4">Lord</span> said unto her, Two nations <i>are</i> in
|
|
thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy
|
|
bowels; and <i>the one</i> people shall be stronger than <i>the
|
|
other</i> people; and the elder shall serve the younger.   24
|
|
And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, <i>there
|
|
were</i> twins in her womb.   25 And the first came out red,
|
|
all over like a hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.
|
|
  26 And after that came his brother out, and his hand took
|
|
hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac
|
|
<i>was</i> threescore years old when she bare them.   27 And
|
|
the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field;
|
|
and Jacob <i>was</i> a plain man, dwelling in tents.   28 And
|
|
Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of <i>his</i> venison: but
|
|
Rebekah loved Jacob.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvi-p11">We have here an account of the birth of
|
|
Jacob and Esau, the twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah: their entrance
|
|
into the world was (which is not usual) one of the most
|
|
considerable parts of their story; nor is much related concerning
|
|
Isaac but what had reference to his father while he lived and to
|
|
his sons afterwards. For Isaac seems not to have been a man of
|
|
action, nor much tried, but to have spent his days in quietness and
|
|
silence. Now concerning Jacob and Esau we are here told,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvi-p12">I. That they were prayed for. Their
|
|
parents, after they had been long childless, obtained them by
|
|
prayer, <scripRef passage="Ge 25:20,21" id="Gen.xxvi-p12.1" parsed="|Gen|25|20|25|21" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.20-Gen.25.21"><i>v.</i> 20,
|
|
21</scripRef>. <i>Isaac was forty years old when he was
|
|
married;</i> though he was an only son, and the person from whom
|
|
the promised seed was to come, yet he made no haste to marry. He
|
|
was sixty years old when his sons were born (<scripRef passage="Ge 25:26" id="Gen.xxvi-p12.2" parsed="|Gen|25|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>), so that, after he was married,
|
|
he had no child for twenty years. Note, Though the accomplishment
|
|
of God's promise is always sure, yet it is often slow, and seems to
|
|
be crossed and contradicted by Providence, that the faith of
|
|
believers may be tried, their patience exercised, and mercies long
|
|
waited for may be the more welcome when they come. While this mercy
|
|
was delayed, Isaac did not approach to a handmaid's bed, as Abraham
|
|
had done, and Jacob afterwards; for he loved
|
|
|
|
<pb n="155" id="Gen.xxvi-Page_155"/>
|
|
|
|
Rebekah, <scripRef passage="Ge 24:67" id="Gen.xxvi-p12.3" parsed="|Gen|24|67|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.67"><i>ch.</i> xxiv.
|
|
67</scripRef>. But, 1. He prayed: he entreated the Lord for his
|
|
wife. Though God had promised to multiply his family, he prayed for
|
|
its increase; for God's promises must not supersede, but encourage,
|
|
our prayers, and be improved as the ground of our faith. Though he
|
|
had prayed for this mercy very often, and had continued his
|
|
supplication many years, and it was not granted, yet he did not
|
|
leave off praying for it; for men ought always to pray, and not to
|
|
faint (<scripRef passage="Lu 18:1" id="Gen.xxvi-p12.4" parsed="|Luke|18|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.18.1">Luke xviii. 1</scripRef>), to
|
|
pray without ceasing, and knock till the door be opened, He prayed
|
|
<i>for</i> his wife; some read it <i>with</i> his wife. Note,
|
|
Husbands and wives should pray together, which is intimated in the
|
|
apostle's caution, that their <i>prayers be not hindered,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Pe 3:7" id="Gen.xxvi-p12.5" parsed="|1Pet|3|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.3.7">1 Pet. iii. 7</scripRef>. The Jews have
|
|
a tradition that Isaac, at length, took his wife with him to mount
|
|
Moriah, where God had promised that he would multiply Abraham's
|
|
seed (<scripRef passage="Ge 22:17" id="Gen.xxvi-p12.6" parsed="|Gen|22|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.22.17"><i>ch.</i> xxii. 17</scripRef>),
|
|
and there, in his prayer with her and for her, pleaded the promise
|
|
made in that very place. 2. God heard his prayer, and was entreated
|
|
of him. Note, Children are the gift of God. Those that continue
|
|
instant in prayer, as Isaac did, shall find, at last, that they did
|
|
not <i>seek in vain,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 45:19" id="Gen.xxvi-p12.7" parsed="|Isa|45|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.45.19">Isa. xlv.
|
|
19</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvi-p13">II. That they were prophesied of before
|
|
they were born, and great mysteries were wrapped up in the
|
|
prophecies which went before of them, <scripRef passage="Ge 25:22,23" id="Gen.xxvi-p13.1" parsed="|Gen|25|22|25|23" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.22-Gen.25.23"><i>v.</i> 22, 23</scripRef>. Long had Isaac prayed
|
|
for a son; and now his wife is with child of two, to recompense him
|
|
for his long waiting. Thus God often outdoes our prayers, and gives
|
|
more than we are able to ask or think. Now Rebekah being with child
|
|
of these two sons, observe here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvi-p14">1. How she was perplexed in her mind
|
|
concerning her present case: <i>The children struggled together
|
|
within her.</i> The commotion she felt was altogether extraordinary
|
|
and made her very uneasy. Whether she was apprehensive that the
|
|
birth would be her death, or whether she was weary of the intestine
|
|
tumult, or whether she suspected it to be an ill omen, it seems she
|
|
was ready to wish that either she had not been with child or that
|
|
she might die immediately, and not bring forth such a struggling
|
|
brood: <i>If it be so,</i> or, <i>since it is so, Why am I
|
|
thus?</i> Before, the want of children was her trouble, now, the
|
|
struggle of the children is no less so. Note, (1.) The comforts we
|
|
are most desirous of are sometimes found to bring along with them
|
|
more occasion of trouble and uneasiness that we thought of; vanity
|
|
being written upon all things under the sun, God thus teaches us to
|
|
read it. (2.) We are too apt to be discontented with our comforts,
|
|
because of the uneasiness that attends them. We know not when we
|
|
are pleased; we know neither how to want nor how to abound. This
|
|
struggle between Jacob and Esau in the womb represents the struggle
|
|
that is maintained between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of
|
|
Satan, [1.] In the world. The seed of the woman and the seed of the
|
|
serpent have been contending ever since the enmity was put between
|
|
them (<scripRef passage="Ge 3:15" id="Gen.xxvi-p14.1" parsed="|Gen|3|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.15"><i>ch.</i> iii. 15</scripRef>),
|
|
and this has occasioned a constant uneasiness among men. Christ
|
|
himself came to <i>send fire on earth, and this division,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Lu 12:49,51" id="Gen.xxvi-p14.2" parsed="|Luke|12|49|0|0;|Luke|12|51|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.12.49 Bible:Luke.12.51">Luke xii. 49, 51</scripRef>. But
|
|
let not this be offence to us. A holy war is better than the peace
|
|
of the devil's palace. [2.] In the hearts of believers. No sooner
|
|
is Christ formed in the soul than immediately there begins a
|
|
conflict between the flesh and spirit, <scripRef passage="Ga 5:17" id="Gen.xxvi-p14.3" parsed="|Gal|5|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.5.17">Gal. v. 17</scripRef>. The stream is not turned without a
|
|
mighty struggle, which yet ought not to discourage us. It is better
|
|
to have a conflict with sin than tamely to submit to it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvi-p15">2. What course she took for her relief:
|
|
<i>She went to enquire of the Lord.</i> Some think Melchizedek was
|
|
now consulted as an oracle, or perhaps some <i>Urim</i> or
|
|
<i>Teraphim</i> were now used to enquire of God by, as afterwards
|
|
in the breast-plate of judgment. Note, The word and prayer, by both
|
|
which we now enquire of the Lord, give great relief to those that
|
|
are upon any account perplexed. It is a great relief to the mind to
|
|
spread our case before the Lord, and ask counsel at his mouth.
|
|
<i>Go into the sanctuary,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 73:17" id="Gen.xxvi-p15.1" parsed="|Ps|73|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.17">Ps.
|
|
lxxiii. 17</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvi-p16">3. The information given her, upon her
|
|
enquiry, which expounded the mystery: <i>Two nations are in thy
|
|
womb,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 25:23" id="Gen.xxvi-p16.1" parsed="|Gen|25|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. She
|
|
was now pregnant, not only with two children, but two nations,
|
|
which should not only in their manners and dispositions greatly
|
|
differ from each other, but in their interests clash and contend
|
|
with each other; and the issue of the contest should be that the
|
|
elder should serve the younger, which was fulfilled in the
|
|
subjection of the Edomites, for many ages, to the house of David,
|
|
till they revolted, <scripRef passage="2Ch 21:8" id="Gen.xxvi-p16.2" parsed="|2Chr|21|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.21.8">2 Chron. xxi.
|
|
8</scripRef>. Observe here, (1.) God is a free agent in dispensing
|
|
his grace; it is his prerogative to make a difference between those
|
|
who have not as yet themselves done either good or evil. This the
|
|
apostle infers hence, <scripRef passage="Ro 9:12" id="Gen.xxvi-p16.3" parsed="|Rom|9|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.12">Rom. ix.
|
|
12</scripRef>. (2.) In the struggle between grace and corruption in
|
|
the soul, grace, the younger, shall certainly get the upper hand at
|
|
last.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvi-p17">III. That when they were born there was a
|
|
great difference between them, which served to confirm what had
|
|
been foretold (<scripRef passage="Ge 25:23" id="Gen.xxvi-p17.1" parsed="|Gen|25|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.23"><i>v.</i>
|
|
23</scripRef>), was presage of the accomplishment of it, and served
|
|
greatly to illustrate the type.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvi-p18">1. There was a great difference in their
|
|
bodies, <scripRef passage="Ge 25:25" id="Gen.xxvi-p18.1" parsed="|Gen|25|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>. Esau,
|
|
when he was born, was rough and hairy, as if he had been already a
|
|
grown man, whence he had his name <i>Esau, made,</i> reared
|
|
already. This was an indication of a very strong constitution, and
|
|
gave cause to expect that he would be a very robust, daring, active
|
|
man. But Jacob was smooth and tender as other children. Note, (1.)
|
|
The difference of men's capacities, and consequently of their
|
|
condition in the world, arises very much from the difference of
|
|
their natural constitution; some are plainly designed by nature for
|
|
activity and honour,
|
|
|
|
<pb n="156" id="Gen.xxvi-Page_156"/>
|
|
|
|
others as manifestly
|
|
marked for obscurity. This instance of the divine sovereignty in
|
|
the kingdom of providence may perhaps help to reconcile us to the
|
|
doctrine of the divine sovereignty in the kingdom of grace. (2.) It
|
|
is God's usual way to choose the weak things of the world, and to
|
|
pass by the mighty, <scripRef passage="1Co 1:26,27" id="Gen.xxvi-p18.2" parsed="|1Cor|1|26|1|27" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.1.26-1Cor.1.27">1 Cor. i. 26,
|
|
27</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvi-p19">2. There was a manifest contest in their
|
|
births. Esau, the stronger, came forth first; but Jacob's hand
|
|
<i>took hold of his heel,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 25:26" id="Gen.xxvi-p19.1" parsed="|Gen|25|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>. This signified, (1.) Jacob's
|
|
pursuit of the birthright and blessing; from the first, he reached
|
|
forth to catch hold of it, and, if possible, to prevent his
|
|
brother. (2.) His prevailing for it at last, that, in process of
|
|
time, he should undermine his brother, and gain his point. This
|
|
passage is referred to (<scripRef passage="Ho 12:8" id="Gen.xxvi-p19.2" parsed="|Hos|12|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.8">Hos. xii.
|
|
8</scripRef>), and hence he had his name, <i>Jacob, a
|
|
supplanter.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvi-p20">3. They were very unlike in the temper of
|
|
their minds, and the way of living they chose, <scripRef passage="Ge 25:27" id="Gen.xxvi-p20.1" parsed="|Gen|25|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>. They soon appeared to be of
|
|
very different dispositions. (1.) Esau was a man for this world. He
|
|
was a man addicted to his sports, for he was a hunter; and a man
|
|
who knew how to live by his wits, for he was a cunning hunter.
|
|
Recreation was his business; he studied the art of it, and spent
|
|
all his time in it. He never loved a book, nor cared for being
|
|
within doors; but he was a man of the field, like Nimrod and
|
|
Ishmael, all for the game, and never well but when he was upon the
|
|
stretch in pursuit of it: in short, he set up for a gentleman and a
|
|
soldier. (2.) Jacob was a man for the other world. He was not cut
|
|
out for a statesman, nor did he affect to look great, but he was
|
|
<i>a plain man, dwelling in tents,</i> an honest man that always
|
|
meant well, and dealt fairly, that preferred the true delights of
|
|
solitude and retirement to all the pretended pleasure of busy noisy
|
|
sports: he dwelt in tents, [1.] As a shepherd. He was attached to
|
|
that safe and silent employment of keeping sheep, to which also he
|
|
bred up his children, <scripRef passage="Ge 46:34" id="Gen.xxvi-p20.2" parsed="|Gen|46|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.46.34"><i>ch.</i> xlvi.
|
|
34</scripRef>. Or, [2.] As a student. He frequented the tents of
|
|
Melchizedek, or Heber, as some understand it, to be taught by them
|
|
divine things. And this was that son of Isaac on whom the covenant
|
|
was entailed.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvi-p21">4. Their interest in the affections of
|
|
their parents was likewise different. They had but these two
|
|
children, and, it seems, one was the father's darling and the other
|
|
the mother's, <scripRef passage="Ge 25:28" id="Gen.xxvi-p21.1" parsed="|Gen|25|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>.
|
|
(1.) Isaac, though he was not a stirring man himself (for when he
|
|
went into the fields he went to meditate and pray, not to hunt),
|
|
yet loved to have his son active. Esau knew how to please him, and
|
|
showed a great respect for him, by treating him often with venison,
|
|
which gained him the affections of the good old man, and won upon
|
|
him more than one would have thought. (2.) Rebekah was mindful of
|
|
the oracle of God, which had given the preference to Jacob, and
|
|
therefore she preferred him in her love. And, if it be lawful for
|
|
parents to make a difference between their children upon any
|
|
account, doubtless Rebekah was in the right, that loved him whom
|
|
God loved.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 25:29-34" id="Gen.xxvi-p21.2" parsed="|Gen|25|29|25|34" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.29-Gen.25.34"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.25.29-Gen.25.34">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxvi-p21.3">Esau Sells His Birthright. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxvi-p21.4">b. c.</span> 1805.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxvi-p22">29 And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the
|
|
field, and he <i>was</i> faint:   30 And Esau said to Jacob,
|
|
Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red <i>pottage;</i> for I
|
|
<i>am</i> faint: therefore was his name called Edom.   31 And
|
|
Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.   32 And Esau
|
|
said, Behold, I <i>am</i> at the point to die: and what profit
|
|
shall this birthright do to me?   33 And Jacob said, Swear to
|
|
me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto
|
|
Jacob.   34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of
|
|
lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way:
|
|
thus Esau despised <i>his</i> birthright.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvi-p23">We have here a bargain made between Jacob
|
|
and Esau about the birthright, which was Esau's by providence but
|
|
Jacob's by promise. It was a spiritual privilege, including the
|
|
excellency of dignity and the excellency of power, as well as the
|
|
double portion, <scripRef passage="Ge 49:3" id="Gen.xxvi-p23.1" parsed="|Gen|49|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.3"><i>ch.</i> xlix.
|
|
3</scripRef>. It seemed to be such a birthright as had then the
|
|
blessing annexed to it, and the entail of the promise. Now see,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvi-p24">I. Jacob's pious desire of the birthright,
|
|
which yet he sought to obtain by indirect courses, not agreeable to
|
|
his character as a plain man. It was not out of pride or ambition
|
|
that he coveted the birthright, but with an eye to spiritual
|
|
blessings, which he had got well acquainted with in his tents,
|
|
while Esau had lost the scent of them in the field. For this he is
|
|
to be commended, that he coveted earnestly the best gifts; yet in
|
|
this he cannot be justified, that he took advantage of his
|
|
brother's necessity to make him a very hard bargain (<scripRef passage="Ge 25:31" id="Gen.xxvi-p24.1" parsed="|Gen|25|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>): <i>Sell me this day
|
|
thy birthright.</i> Probably there had formerly been some
|
|
communication between them about this matter, and then it was not
|
|
so great a surprise upon Esau as here it seems to be; and, it may
|
|
be, Esau had sometimes spoken slightly of the birthright and its
|
|
appurtenances, which encouraged Jacob to make this proposal to him.
|
|
And, if so, Jacob is, in some measure, excusable in what he did to
|
|
gain his point. Note, Plain men that have their conversation in
|
|
simplicity and godly sincerity, and without worldly wisdom, are
|
|
often found wisest of all for their souls and eternity. Those are
|
|
wise indeed that are wise for another world. Jacob's wisdom
|
|
appeared in two things:—1. He chose the fittest time, took the
|
|
opportunity when it offered itself, and did not let it slip. 2.
|
|
Having made the bargain, he made it sure, and got it confirmed by
|
|
Esau's oath: <i>Swear to me
|
|
|
|
<pb n="157" id="Gen.xxvi-Page_157"/>
|
|
|
|
this day,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 25:33" id="Gen.xxvi-p24.2" parsed="|Gen|25|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>. He took Esau
|
|
when he was in the mind, and would not leave him a power of
|
|
revocation. In a case of this nature, it is good to be sure.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvi-p25">II. Esau's profane contempt of the
|
|
birthright, and the foolish sale he made of it. He is called
|
|
<i>profane Esau</i> for it (<scripRef passage="Heb 12:16" id="Gen.xxvi-p25.1" parsed="|Heb|12|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.16">Heb. xii.
|
|
16</scripRef>), because <i>for one morsel of meat he sold his
|
|
birthright,</i> as dear a morsel as ever was eaten since the
|
|
forbidden fruit; and he lived to regret it when it was too late.
|
|
Never was there such a foolish bargain as this which Esau now made;
|
|
and yet he valued himself upon his policy, and had the reputation
|
|
of a cunning man, and perhaps had often bantered his brother Jacob
|
|
as a weak and simple man. Note, There are those that are penny-wise
|
|
and pound-foolish, cunning hunters that can out-wit others and draw
|
|
them into their snares, and yet are themselves imposed upon by
|
|
Satan's wiles and led captive by him at his will. Again, God often
|
|
chooses the foolish things of the world, by them to confound the
|
|
wise. Plain Jacob makes a fool of cunning Esau. Observe the
|
|
instances of Esau's folly.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvi-p26">1. His appetite was very strong, <scripRef passage="Ge 25:29,30" id="Gen.xxvi-p26.1" parsed="|Gen|25|29|25|30" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.29-Gen.25.30"><i>v.</i> 29, 30</scripRef>. Poor Jacob had
|
|
got some bread and pottage (<scripRef passage="Ge 25:29" id="Gen.xxvi-p26.2" parsed="|Gen|25|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.29"><i>v.</i>
|
|
29</scripRef>) for his dinner, and was sitting down to it
|
|
contentedly enough, without venison, when Esau came from hunting,
|
|
hungry and weary, and perhaps had caught nothing. And now Jacob's
|
|
pottage pleased his eye better than ever his game had done. Give me
|
|
(says he) some of <i>that red, that red,</i> as it is in the
|
|
original; it suited his own colour (<scripRef passage="Ge 25:25" id="Gen.xxvi-p26.3" parsed="|Gen|25|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>), and, in reproach to him for
|
|
this, he was ever afterwards called <i>Edom, red.</i> Nay, it
|
|
should seem, he was so faint that he could not feed himself, nor
|
|
had he a servant at hand to help him, but entreats his brother to
|
|
feed him. Note, (1.) Those that addict themselves to sport <i>weary
|
|
themselves for very vanity,</i> <scripRef passage="Hab 2:13" id="Gen.xxvi-p26.4" parsed="|Hab|2|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hab.2.13">Hab.
|
|
ii. 13</scripRef>. They might do the most needful business, and
|
|
gain the greatest advantages, with half the pains they take, and
|
|
half the perils they run into, in pursuit of their foolish
|
|
pleasures. (2.) Those that work with quietness are more constantly
|
|
and comfortably provided for than those that hunt with noise: bread
|
|
is not always to the wise, but those that trust in the Lord and do
|
|
good, verily they shall be fed, fed with daily bread; not as Esau,
|
|
sometimes feasting and sometimes fainting. (3.) The gratifying of
|
|
the sensual appetite is that which ruins thousands of precious
|
|
souls: surely, if Esau was hungry and faint, he might have got a
|
|
meal's meat cheaper than at the expense of his birthright; but he
|
|
was unaccountably fond of the colour of this pottage, and could not
|
|
deny himself the satisfaction of a mess of it, whatever it cost
|
|
him. Never better can come of it, when men's <i>hearts walk after
|
|
their eyes</i> (<scripRef passage="Job 31:7" id="Gen.xxvi-p26.5" parsed="|Job|31|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.31.7">Job xxxi.
|
|
7</scripRef>), and when they serve their own bellies: therefore
|
|
look not thou upon the wine, or, as Esau, upon the pottage, when it
|
|
is red, when it gives that colour in the cup, in the dish, which is
|
|
most inviting, <scripRef passage="Pr 23:31" id="Gen.xxvi-p26.6" parsed="|Prov|23|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.23.31">Prov. xxiii.
|
|
31</scripRef>. If we use ourselves to deny ourselves, we break the
|
|
forces of most temptations.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvi-p27">2. His reasoning was very weak (<scripRef passage="Ge 25:32" id="Gen.xxvi-p27.1" parsed="|Gen|25|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>): <i>Behold, I am at the
|
|
point to die;</i> and, if he were, would nothing serve to keep him
|
|
alive but this pottage? If the famine were now in the land
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 26:1" id="Gen.xxvi-p27.2" parsed="|Gen|26|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.1"><i>ch.</i> xxvi. 1</scripRef>), as Dr.
|
|
Lightfoot conjectures, we cannot suppose Isaac so poor, or Rebekah
|
|
so bad a house-keeper, but that he might have been supplied with
|
|
food convenient, other ways, and might have saved his birthright:
|
|
but his appetite has the mastery of him; he is in a longing
|
|
condition, nothing will please him but this <i>red</i> this <i>red
|
|
pottage,</i> and, to palliate his desire, he pretends he is at the
|
|
point to die. If it had been so, was it not better for him to die
|
|
in honour than to live in disgrace, to die under a blessing than to
|
|
live under a curse? The birthright was typical of spiritual
|
|
privileges, those of the church of the first-born. Esau was now
|
|
tried how he would value them, and he shows himself sensible only
|
|
of present grievances; may he but get relief against them, he cares
|
|
not for his birthright. Better principled was Naboth, who would
|
|
lose his life rather than sell his vineyard, because his part in
|
|
the earthly Canaan signified his part in the heavenly, <scripRef passage="1Ki 21:3" id="Gen.xxvi-p27.3" parsed="|1Kgs|21|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.21.3">1 Kings xxi. 3</scripRef>. (1.) If we look on
|
|
Esau's birthright as only a temporal advantage, what he said had
|
|
something of truth in it, namely, that our worldly enjoyments, even
|
|
those we are most fond of, will stand us in no stead in a dying
|
|
hour (<scripRef passage="Ps 49:6-8" id="Gen.xxvi-p27.4" parsed="|Ps|49|6|49|8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.49.6-Ps.49.8">Ps. xlix. 6-8</scripRef>); they
|
|
will not put by the stroke of death, nor ease the pangs nor remove
|
|
the sting: yet Esau, who set up for a gentleman, should have had a
|
|
greater and more noble spirit than to sell even such an honour so
|
|
cheaply. (2.) But, being of a spiritual nature, his undervaluing it
|
|
was the greatest profaneness imaginable. Note, It is egregious
|
|
folly to part with our interest in God, and Christ, and heaven, for
|
|
the riches, honours, and pleasures, of this world, as bad a bargain
|
|
as his that sold a birthright for a dish of broth.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvi-p28">3. Repentance was hidden from his eyes
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 25:34" id="Gen.xxvi-p28.1" parsed="|Gen|25|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.34"><i>v.</i> 34</scripRef>): <i>He did
|
|
eat and drink,</i> pleased his palate, satisfied his cravings,
|
|
congratulated himself on the good meal's meat he had had, and then
|
|
carelessly rose up and went his way, without any serious
|
|
reflections upon the bad bargain he had made, or any show of
|
|
regret. Thus Esau despised his birthright; he used no means at all
|
|
to get the bargain revoked, made no appeal to his father about it,
|
|
nor proposed to his brother to compound the matter; but the bargain
|
|
which his necessity had made (supposing it were so) his profaneness
|
|
confirmed <i>ex post facto—after the deed;</i> and by his
|
|
subsequent neglect and contempt he did, as it were, acknowledge a
|
|
fine, and by justifying himself in what he
|
|
|
|
<pb n="158" id="Gen.xxvi-Page_158"/>
|
|
|
|
had done he put the bargain past recall. Note, People are ruined,
|
|
not so much by doing what is amiss, as by doing it and not
|
|
repenting of it, doing it and standing to it.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXVI" n="xxvii" progress="18.61%" prev="Gen.xxvi" next="Gen.xxviii" id="Gen.xxvii">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="158" id="Gen.xxvii-Page_158"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xxvii-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xxvii-p0.2">CHAP. XXVI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xxvii-p1">In this chapter we have, I. Isaac in adversity, by
|
|
reason of a famine in the land, which, 1. Obliges him to change his
|
|
quarters, <scripRef passage="Ge 26:1" id="Gen.xxvii-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|26|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.1">ver. 1</scripRef>. But, 2.
|
|
God visits him with direction and comfort, <scripRef passage="Ge 26:2-5" id="Gen.xxvii-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|26|2|26|5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.2-Gen.26.5">ver. 2-5</scripRef>. 3. He foolishly denies his wife,
|
|
being in distress and is reproved for it by Abimelech, <scripRef passage="Ge 26:6-11" id="Gen.xxvii-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|26|6|26|11" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.6-Gen.26.11">ver. 6-11</scripRef>. II. Isaac in prosperity,
|
|
by the blessing of God upon him, <scripRef passage="Ge 26:12-14" id="Gen.xxvii-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|26|12|26|14" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.12-Gen.26.14">ver. 12-14</scripRef>. And, 1. The Philistines were
|
|
envious at him, <scripRef passage="Ge 26:14-17" id="Gen.xxvii-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|26|14|26|17" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.14-Gen.26.17">ver.
|
|
14-17</scripRef>. 2. He continued industrious in his business,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 26:18-23" id="Gen.xxvii-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|26|18|26|23" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.18-Gen.26.23">ver. 18-23</scripRef>. 3. God
|
|
appeared to him, and encouraged him, and he devoutly acknowledged
|
|
God, <scripRef passage="Ge 26:24,25" id="Gen.xxvii-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|26|24|26|25" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.24-Gen.26.25">ver. 24, 25</scripRef>. 4. The
|
|
Philistines, at length, made court to him, and made a covenant with
|
|
him, <scripRef passage="Ge 26:26-33" id="Gen.xxvii-p1.8" parsed="|Gen|26|26|26|33" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.26-Gen.26.33">ver. 26-33</scripRef>. 5. The
|
|
disagreeable marriage of his son Esau was an alloy to the comfort
|
|
of his prosperity, <scripRef passage="Ge 26:34,35" id="Gen.xxvii-p1.9" parsed="|Gen|26|34|26|35" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.34-Gen.26.35">ver. 34,
|
|
35</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 26" id="Gen.xxvii-p1.10" parsed="|Gen|26|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 26:1-5" id="Gen.xxvii-p1.11" parsed="|Gen|26|1|26|5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.1-Gen.26.5"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.26.1-Gen.26.5">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxvii-p1.12">Removal of Isaac to Gerar. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxvii-p1.13">b. c.</span> 1804.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxvii-p2">1 And there was a famine in the land, beside the
|
|
first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto
|
|
Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar.   2 And the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxvii-p2.1">Lord</span> appeared unto him, and said, Go
|
|
not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of:
|
|
  3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will
|
|
bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these
|
|
countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham
|
|
thy father;   4 And I will make thy seed to multiply as the
|
|
stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries;
|
|
and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;
|
|
  5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge,
|
|
my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvii-p3">Here, I. God tried Isaac by his providence.
|
|
Isaac had been trained up in a believing dependence upon the divine
|
|
grant of the land of Canaan to him and his heirs; yet now there is
|
|
<i>a famine in the land,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 26:1" id="Gen.xxvii-p3.1" parsed="|Gen|26|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.1"><i>v.</i>
|
|
1</scripRef>. What shall he think of the promise when the promised
|
|
land will not find him bread? Is such a grant worth accepting, upon
|
|
such terms, and after so long a time? Yes, Isaac will still cleave
|
|
to the covenant; and the less valuable Canaan in itself seems to be
|
|
the better he is taught to value it, 1. As a token of God's
|
|
everlasting kindness to him; and, 2. As a type of heaven's
|
|
everlasting blessedness. Note, The intrinsic worth of God's
|
|
promises cannot be lessened in a believer's eye by any cross
|
|
providences.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvii-p4">II. He directed him under this trial by his
|
|
word. Isaac finds himself straitened by the scarcity of provisions.
|
|
Somewhere he must go for supply; it should seem, he set out for
|
|
Egypt, whither his father went in the like strait, but he takes
|
|
Gerar in his way, full of thoughts, no doubt, which way he had best
|
|
steer his course, till God graciously appeared to him, and
|
|
determined him, abundantly to his satisfaction. 1. God bade him
|
|
stay where he was, and <i>not go down into Egypt: Sojourn in this
|
|
land,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 26:2,3" id="Gen.xxvii-p4.1" parsed="|Gen|26|2|26|3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.2-Gen.26.3"><i>v.</i> 2, 3</scripRef>.
|
|
There was a famine in Jacob's days, and God bade him <i>go down
|
|
into Egypt</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 46:3,4" id="Gen.xxvii-p4.2" parsed="|Gen|46|3|46|4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.46.3-Gen.46.4"><i>ch.</i> xlvi. 3,
|
|
4</scripRef>), a famine in <i>Isaac's</i> days, and God bade him
|
|
<i>not to go down,</i> a famine in Abraham's days, and God left him
|
|
to his liberty, directing him neither way. This variety in the
|
|
divine procedure (considering that Egypt was always a place of
|
|
trial and exercise to God's people) some ground upon the different
|
|
characters of these three patriarchs. Abraham was a man of very
|
|
high attainments, and intimate communion with God; and to him all
|
|
places and conditions were alike. Isaac was a very good man, but
|
|
not cut out for hardship; therefore he is forbidden to go to Egypt.
|
|
Jacob was inured to difficulties, strong and patient; and therefore
|
|
he must go down into Egypt, that <i>the trial of his faith might be
|
|
to praise, and honour, and glory.</i> Thus God proportions his
|
|
people's trials to their strength. 2. He promised to be <i>with
|
|
him, and bless him,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 26:3" id="Gen.xxvii-p4.3" parsed="|Gen|26|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.3"><i>v.</i>
|
|
3</scripRef>. As we may go any where with comfort when God's
|
|
blessing goes with us, so we may stay any where contentedly if that
|
|
blessing rest upon us. 3. He renewed the covenant with him, which
|
|
had so often been made with Abraham, repeating and ratifying the
|
|
promises of the land of Canaan, a numerous issue, and the Messiah,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 26:3,4" id="Gen.xxvii-p4.4" parsed="|Gen|26|3|26|4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.3-Gen.26.4"><i>v.</i> 3, 4</scripRef>. Note,
|
|
Those that must live by faith have need often to review, and repeat
|
|
to themselves, the promises they are to live upon, especially when
|
|
they are called to any instance of suffering or self-denial. 4. He
|
|
recommended to him the good example of his father's obedience, as
|
|
that which had preserved the entail of the covenant in his family
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 26:5" id="Gen.xxvii-p4.5" parsed="|Gen|26|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>): "<i>Abraham
|
|
obeyed my voice;</i> do thou do so too, and the promise shall be
|
|
sure to thee." Abraham's obedience is here celebrated, to his
|
|
honour; for by it he obtained a good report both with God and men.
|
|
A great variety of words is here used to express the divine will,
|
|
to which Abraham was obedient (<i>my voice, my charge, my
|
|
commandments, my statutes, and my laws</i>), which may intimate
|
|
that Abraham's obedience was universal; he obeyed the original laws
|
|
of nature, the revealed laws of divine worship, particularly that
|
|
of circumcision, and all the extraordinary precepts God gave him,
|
|
as that of quitting his country, and that (which some think is more
|
|
especially referred to) of the offering up of his son, which Isaac
|
|
himself had reason enough to remember. Note, Those only shall have
|
|
the benefit and comfort of God's covenant with their godly parents
|
|
that tread in the steps of their obedience.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 26:6-11" id="Gen.xxvii-p4.6" parsed="|Gen|26|6|26|11" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.6-Gen.26.11"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.26.6-Gen.26.11">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxvii-p4.7">Isaac's Denial of His Wife. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxvii-p4.8">b. c.</span> 1840.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxvii-p5">6 And Isaac dwelt in Gerar:   7 And the men
|
|
of the place asked <i>him</i> of his wife; and he said, She
|
|
<i>is</i> my sister: for he feared to say, <i>She is</i> my wife;
|
|
lest, <i>said he,</i> the men of the place should kill me for
|
|
Rebekah;
|
|
|
|
<pb n="159" id="Gen.xxvii-Page_159"/>
|
|
|
|
because she <i>was</i> fair to look
|
|
upon.   8 And it came to pass, when he had been there a long
|
|
time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a
|
|
window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac <i>was</i> sporting with
|
|
Rebekah his wife.   9 And Abimelech called Isaac, and said,
|
|
Behold, of a surety she <i>is</i> thy wife: and how saidst thou,
|
|
She <i>is</i> my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said,
|
|
Lest I die for her.   10 And Abimelech said, What <i>is</i>
|
|
this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have
|
|
lain with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon
|
|
us.   11 And Abimelech charged all <i>his</i> people, saying,
|
|
He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to
|
|
death.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvii-p6">Isaac had now laid aside all thoughts of
|
|
going to Egypt, and, in obedience to the heavenly vision, sets up
|
|
his staff in Gerar, the country in which he was born (<scripRef passage="Ge 26:6" id="Gen.xxvii-p6.1" parsed="|Gen|26|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), yet there he enters into
|
|
temptation, the same temptation that his good father had been once
|
|
and again surprised and overcome by, namely, to deny his wife, and
|
|
to give out that she was his sister. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvii-p7">I. How he sinned, <scripRef passage="Ge 26:7" id="Gen.xxvii-p7.1" parsed="|Gen|26|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. Because his wife was handsome, he
|
|
fancied the Philistines would find some way or other to take him
|
|
off, that some of them might marry her; and therefore she must pass
|
|
for his sister. It is an unaccountable thing that both these great
|
|
and good men should be guilty of so strange a piece of
|
|
dissimulation, by which they so much exposed both their own and
|
|
their wives' reputation. But we see, 1. That very good men have
|
|
sometimes been guilty of very great faults and follies. Let those
|
|
therefore that stand take heed lest they fall, and those that have
|
|
fallen not despair of being helped up again. 2. That there is an
|
|
aptness in us to imitate even the weaknesses and infirmities of
|
|
those we have a value for. We have need therefore to keep our foot,
|
|
lest, while we aim to tread in the steps of good men, we sometimes
|
|
tread in their by-steps.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvii-p8">II. How he was detected, and the cheat
|
|
discovered, by the king himself. Abimelech (not the same that was
|
|
in Abraham's days, <scripRef passage="Ge 20:1-18" id="Gen.xxvii-p8.1" parsed="|Gen|20|1|20|18" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.1-Gen.20.18"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
20</scripRef>, for this was nearly 100 years after that, but this
|
|
was the common name of the Philistine kings, as Cæsar of the Roman
|
|
emperors) saw Isaac more familiar and pleasant with Rebekah than he
|
|
knew he would be with his sister (<scripRef passage="Ge 26:8" id="Gen.xxvii-p8.2" parsed="|Gen|26|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>): he saw him sporting with her, or
|
|
<i>laughing;</i> it is the same word with that from which Isaac had
|
|
his name. He was <i>rejoicing with the wife of his youth,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Pr 5:18" id="Gen.xxvii-p8.3" parsed="|Prov|5|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.18">Prov. v. 18</scripRef>. It becomes
|
|
those in that relation to be pleasant with one another, as those
|
|
that are pleased with one another. Nowhere may a man more allow
|
|
himself to be innocently merry than with his own wife and children.
|
|
Abimelech charged him with the fraud (<scripRef passage="Ge 26:9" id="Gen.xxvii-p8.4" parsed="|Gen|26|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>), showed him how frivolous his
|
|
excuse was and what might have been the bad consequences of it
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 26:10" id="Gen.xxvii-p8.5" parsed="|Gen|26|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>), and then,
|
|
to convince him how groundless and unjust his jealousy of them was,
|
|
took him and his family under his particular protection, forbidding
|
|
any injury to be done to him or his wife upon pain of death,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 26:11" id="Gen.xxvii-p8.6" parsed="|Gen|26|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. Note, 1. A
|
|
lying tongue is but for a moment. Truth is the daughter of time;
|
|
and, in time, it will out. 2. One sin is often the inlet to many,
|
|
and therefore the beginnings of sin ought to be avoided. 3. The
|
|
sins of professors shame them before those that are without. 4. God
|
|
can make those that are incensed against his people, though there
|
|
may be some colour of cause for it, to know that it is at their
|
|
peril if they do them any hurt. See <scripRef passage="Ps 105:14,15" id="Gen.xxvii-p8.7" parsed="|Ps|105|14|105|15" osisRef="Bible:Ps.105.14-Ps.105.15">Ps. cv. 14, 15</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 26:12-25" id="Gen.xxvii-p8.8" parsed="|Gen|26|12|26|25" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.12-Gen.26.25"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.26.12-Gen.26.25">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxvii-p8.9">Isaac's Removal to
|
|
Beersheba. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxvii-p8.10">b. c.</span> 1804.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxvii-p9">12 Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received
|
|
in the same year an hundredfold: and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxvii-p9.1">Lord</span> blessed him:   13 And the man waxed
|
|
great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great:
|
|
  14 For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds,
|
|
and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him.  
|
|
15 For all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the
|
|
days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and
|
|
filled them with earth.   16 And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go
|
|
from us; for thou art much mightier than we.   17 And Isaac
|
|
departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and
|
|
dwelt there.   18 And Isaac digged again the wells of water,
|
|
which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the
|
|
Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he
|
|
called their names after the names by which his father had called
|
|
them.   19 And Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and
|
|
found there a well of springing water.   20 And the herdmen of
|
|
Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water <i>is</i>
|
|
ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove
|
|
with him.   21 And they digged another well, and strove for
|
|
that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah.   22 And he
|
|
removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they
|
|
strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For
|
|
now
|
|
|
|
<pb n="160" id="Gen.xxvii-Page_160"/>
|
|
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxvii-p9.2">Lord</span>
|
|
hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.  
|
|
23 And he went up from thence to Beer-sheba.   24 And the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxvii-p9.3">Lord</span> appeared unto him the same
|
|
night, and said, I <i>am</i> the God of Abraham thy father: fear
|
|
not, for I <i>am</i> with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply
|
|
thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake.   25 And he builded an
|
|
altar there, and called upon the name of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxvii-p9.4">Lord</span>, and pitched his tent there: and there
|
|
Isaac's servants digged a well.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvii-p10">Here we have,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvii-p11">I. The tokens of God's good-will to Isaac.
|
|
He <i>blessed him,</i> and prospered him, and made all that he had
|
|
to thrive under his hands. 1. His corn multiplied strangely,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 26:12" id="Gen.xxvii-p11.1" parsed="|Gen|26|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. He had no
|
|
land of his own, but took land of the Philistines, and sowed it;
|
|
and (be it observed for the encouragement of poor tenants, that
|
|
occupy other people's lands, and are honest and industrious) God
|
|
blessed him with a great increase. He reaped <i>a hundred fold;</i>
|
|
and there seems to be an emphasis laid upon the time: it was that
|
|
<i>same year</i> when there was a famine in the land; while others
|
|
scarcely reaped at all, he reaped thus plentifully. See <scripRef passage="Isa 65:13" id="Gen.xxvii-p11.2" parsed="|Isa|65|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.13">Isa. lxv. 13</scripRef>, <i>My servants shall
|
|
eat, but you shall be hungry,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 37:19" id="Gen.xxvii-p11.3" parsed="|Ps|37|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.37.19">Ps.
|
|
xxxvii. 19</scripRef>, <i>In the days of famine they shall be
|
|
satisfied.</i> 2. His cattle also increased, <scripRef passage="Ge 26:14" id="Gen.xxvii-p11.4" parsed="|Gen|26|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. And then, 3. He had <i>great
|
|
store of servants,</i> whom he employed and maintained. Note, <i>As
|
|
goods are increased those are increased that eat them,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ec 5:11" id="Gen.xxvii-p11.5" parsed="|Eccl|5|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.5.11">Eccl. v. 11</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvii-p12">II. The tokens of the Philistines' ill-will
|
|
to him. They <i>envied him,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 26:14" id="Gen.xxvii-p12.1" parsed="|Gen|26|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. It is an instance, 1. Of the
|
|
vanity of the world that the more men have of it the more they are
|
|
envied, and exposed to censure and injury. <i>Who can stand before
|
|
envy?</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 27:4" id="Gen.xxvii-p12.2" parsed="|Prov|27|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.27.4">Prov. xxvii. 4</scripRef>.
|
|
See <scripRef passage="Ec 4:4" id="Gen.xxvii-p12.3" parsed="|Eccl|4|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.4.4">Eccl. iv. 4</scripRef>. 2. Of the
|
|
corruption of nature; for that is a bad principle indeed which
|
|
makes men <i>grieve at the good of others,</i> as if it must needs
|
|
be ill with me because it is well with my neighbor. (1.) They had
|
|
already shown their ill-will to his family, by stopping up the
|
|
wells which his father had digged, <scripRef passage="Ge 26:15" id="Gen.xxvii-p12.4" parsed="|Gen|26|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. This was spitefully done.
|
|
Because they had not flocks of their own to water at these wells,
|
|
they would not leave them for the use of others; so absurd a thing
|
|
is malice. And it was perfidiously done, contrary to the covenant
|
|
of friendship they had made with Abraham, <scripRef passage="Ge 21:31,32" id="Gen.xxvii-p12.5" parsed="|Gen|21|31|21|32" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.31-Gen.21.32"><i>ch.</i> xxi. 31, 32</scripRef>. No bonds will hold
|
|
ill-nature. (2.) They expelled him out of their country, <scripRef passage="Ge 26:16,17" id="Gen.xxvii-p12.6" parsed="|Gen|26|16|26|17" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.16-Gen.26.17"><i>v.</i> 16, 17</scripRef>. The king of
|
|
Gerar began to look upon him with a jealous eye. Isaac's house was
|
|
like a court, and his riches and retinue eclipsed Abimelech's; and
|
|
therefore he must go further off. They were weary of his
|
|
neighbourhood, because they saw that the Lord blessed him; whereas,
|
|
for that reason, they should the rather have courted his stay, that
|
|
they also might be blessed for his sake. Isaac does not insist upon
|
|
the bargain he had made with them for the lands he held, nor upon
|
|
his occupying and improving them, nor does he offer to contest with
|
|
them by force, though he had become very great, but very peaceably
|
|
departs thence further from the royal city, and perhaps to a part
|
|
of the country less fruitful. Note, We should deny ourselves both
|
|
in our rights and in our conveniences, rather than quarrel: a wise
|
|
and a good man will rather retire into obscurity, like Isaac here
|
|
into a valley, than sit high to be the butt of envy and
|
|
ill-will.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvii-p13">III. His constancy and continuance in his
|
|
business still.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvii-p14">1. He kept up his husbandry, and continued
|
|
industrious to find wells of water, and to fit them for his use,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 26:18" id="Gen.xxvii-p14.1" parsed="|Gen|26|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>, &c.
|
|
Though he had grown very rich, yet he was as solicitous as ever
|
|
about the state of his flocks, and still looked well to his herds;
|
|
when men grow great, they must take heed of thinking themselves too
|
|
big and too high for their business. Though he was driven from the
|
|
conveniences he had had, and could not follow his husbandry with
|
|
the same ease and advantage as before, yet he set himself to make
|
|
the best of the country he had come into, which it is every man's
|
|
prudence to do. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvii-p15">(1.) He opened the wells that his father
|
|
had digged (<scripRef passage="Ge 26:18" id="Gen.xxvii-p15.1" parsed="|Gen|26|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>),
|
|
and out of respect to his father called them by the same names that
|
|
he had given them. Note, In our searches after truth, that fountain
|
|
of living water, it is good to make use of the discoveries of
|
|
former ages, which have been clouded by the corruptions of later
|
|
times. Enquire for the old way, the wells which our fathers digged,
|
|
which the adversaries of truth have stopped up: <i>Ask thy elders,
|
|
and they shall teach thee.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvii-p16">(2.) His servants dug new wells, <scripRef passage="Ge 26:19" id="Gen.xxvii-p16.1" parsed="|Gen|26|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. Note, Though we must
|
|
use the light of former ages, it does not therefore follow that we
|
|
must rest in it, and make no advances. We must still be building
|
|
upon their foundation, <i>running to and fro, that knowledge may be
|
|
increased,</i> <scripRef passage="Da 12:4" id="Gen.xxvii-p16.2" parsed="|Dan|12|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.12.4">Dan. xii.
|
|
4</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvii-p17">(3.) In digging his wells he met with much
|
|
opposition, <scripRef passage="Ge 26:20,21" id="Gen.xxvii-p17.1" parsed="|Gen|26|20|26|21" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.20-Gen.26.21"><i>v.</i> 20,
|
|
21</scripRef>. Those that open the fountains of truth must expect
|
|
contradiction. The first two wells which they dug were called
|
|
<i>Esek</i> and <i>Sitnah, contention</i> and <i>hatred.</i> See
|
|
here, [1.] What is the nature of worldly things; they are
|
|
make-bates and occasions of strife. [2.] What is often the lot even
|
|
of the most quiet and peaceable men in this world; those that avoid
|
|
striving yet cannot avoid being striven with, <scripRef passage="Ps 120:7" id="Gen.xxvii-p17.2" parsed="|Ps|120|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.120.7">Ps. cxx. 7</scripRef>. In this sense, Jeremiah was a
|
|
<i>man of contention</i> (<scripRef passage="Jer 15:10" id="Gen.xxvii-p17.3" parsed="|Jer|15|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.15.10">Jer. xv.
|
|
10</scripRef>), and Christ himself, though he is the prince of
|
|
peace. [3.] What a mercy it is to have plenty of water, to have it
|
|
|
|
<pb n="161" id="Gen.xxvii-Page_161"/>
|
|
|
|
without striving for it. The more common
|
|
this mercy is the more reason we have to be thankful for it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvii-p18">(4.) At length he removed to a quiet
|
|
settlement, cleaving to his peaceable principle, rather to fly than
|
|
fight, and unwilling to dwell with those that hated peace,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 120:6" id="Gen.xxvii-p18.1" parsed="|Ps|120|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.120.6">Ps. cxx. 6</scripRef>. He preferred
|
|
quietness to victory. <i>He dug a well, and for this they strove
|
|
not,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 26:22" id="Gen.xxvii-p18.2" parsed="|Gen|26|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, Those that follow peace, sooner or later, shall find peace;
|
|
those that study to be quiet seldom fail of being so. How unlike
|
|
was Isaac to his brother Ishmael, who, right or wrong, would hold
|
|
what he had, against all the world! <scripRef passage="Ge 16:12" id="Gen.xxvii-p18.3" parsed="|Gen|16|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.16.12"><i>ch.</i> xvi. 12</scripRef>. And which of these would
|
|
we be found the followers of? This well they called <i>Rehoboth,
|
|
enlargements,</i> room enough: in the two former wells we may see
|
|
what the earth is, <i>straitness</i> and <i>strife;</i> men cannot
|
|
thrive, for the throng of their neighbours. This well shows us what
|
|
heaven is; it is <i>enlargement</i> and <i>peace,</i> room enough
|
|
there, for there are many mansions.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvii-p19">2. He continued firm to his religion, and
|
|
kept up his communion with God. (1.) God graciously appeared to
|
|
him, <scripRef passage="Ge 26:24" id="Gen.xxvii-p19.1" parsed="|Gen|26|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. When the
|
|
Philistines expelled him, forced him to remove from place to place,
|
|
and gave him continual molestation, then God visited him, and gave
|
|
him fresh assurances of his favour. Note, When men are found false
|
|
and unkind, we may comfort ourselves that God is faithful and
|
|
gracious; and his time to show himself so is when we are most
|
|
disappointed in our expectations from men. When Isaac had come to
|
|
Beer-sheba (<scripRef passage="Ge 26:23" id="Gen.xxvii-p19.2" parsed="|Gen|26|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>)
|
|
it is probable that it troubled him to think of his unsettled
|
|
condition, and that he could not be suffered to stay long in a
|
|
place; and, in the multitude of these thoughts within him, that
|
|
same night that he came weary and uneasy to Beer-sheba God brought
|
|
him his comforts to delight his soul. Probably he was apprehensive
|
|
that the Philistines would not let him rest there: <i>Fear not,</i>
|
|
says God to him, <i>I am with thee, and will bless thee.</i> Those
|
|
may remove with comfort that are sure of God's presence with them
|
|
wherever they go. (2.) He was not wanting in his returns of duty to
|
|
God; for <i>there he built an altar, and called upon the name of
|
|
the Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 26:25" id="Gen.xxvii-p19.3" parsed="|Gen|26|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, [1.] Wherever we go, we must take our religion along with us.
|
|
Probably Isaac's altars and his religious worship gave offence to
|
|
the Philistines, and provoked them to be the more troublesome to
|
|
him; yet he kept up his duty, whatever ill-will he might be exposed
|
|
to by it. [2.] The comforts and encouragements God gives us by his
|
|
word should excite and quicken us to every exercise of devotion by
|
|
which God may be honoured and our intercourse with heaven
|
|
maintained.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 26:26-33" id="Gen.xxvii-p19.4" parsed="|Gen|26|26|26|33" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.26-Gen.26.33"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.26.26-Gen.26.33">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxvii-p19.5">Isaac's Covenant with
|
|
Abimelech. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxvii-p19.6">b. c.</span> 1760.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxvii-p20">26 Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and
|
|
Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his
|
|
army.   27 And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me,
|
|
seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you?   28 And
|
|
they said, We saw certainly that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxvii-p20.1">Lord</span> was with thee: and we said, Let there be
|
|
now an oath betwixt us, <i>even</i> betwixt us and thee, and let us
|
|
make a covenant with thee;   29 That thou wilt do us no hurt,
|
|
as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing
|
|
but good, and have sent thee away in peace: thou <i>art</i> now the
|
|
blessed of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxvii-p20.2">Lord</span>.   30 And
|
|
he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink.   31 And
|
|
they rose up betimes in the morning, and sware one to another: and
|
|
Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.  
|
|
32 And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac's servants came,
|
|
and told him concerning the well which they had digged, and said
|
|
unto him, We have found water.   33 And he called it Shebah:
|
|
therefore the name of the city <i>is</i> Beer-sheba unto this
|
|
day.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvii-p21">We have here the contests that had been
|
|
between Isaac and the Philistines issuing in a happy peace and
|
|
reconciliation.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvii-p22">I. Abimelech pays a friendly visit to
|
|
Isaac, in token of the respect he had for him, <scripRef passage="Ge 26:26" id="Gen.xxvii-p22.1" parsed="|Gen|26|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>. Note, <i>When a man's ways
|
|
please the Lord he makes even his enemies to be at peace with
|
|
him,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 16:7" id="Gen.xxvii-p22.2" parsed="|Prov|16|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.16.7">Prov. xvi. 7</scripRef>.
|
|
Kings' hearts are in his hands, and when he pleases he can turn
|
|
them to favour his people.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvii-p23">II. Isaac prudently and cautiously
|
|
questions his sincerity in this visit, <scripRef passage="Ge 26:27" id="Gen.xxvii-p23.1" parsed="|Gen|26|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>. Note, In settling friendships
|
|
and correspondences, there is need of the wisdom of the serpent, as
|
|
well as the innocence of the dove; nor is it any transgression of
|
|
the law of meekness and love plainly to signify our strong
|
|
perception of injuries received, and to stand upon our guard in
|
|
dealing with those that have acted unfairly.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvii-p24">III. Abimelech professes his sincerity, in
|
|
this address to Isaac, and earnestly courts his friendship,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 26:28,29" id="Gen.xxvii-p24.1" parsed="|Gen|26|28|26|29" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.28-Gen.26.29"><i>v.</i> 28, 29</scripRef>. Some
|
|
suggest that Abimelech pressed for this league with him because he
|
|
feared lest Isaac, growing rich, should, some time or other, avenge
|
|
himself upon them for the injuries he had received. However, he
|
|
professes to do it rather from a principle of love. 1. He makes the
|
|
best of their behaviour towards him. Isaac complained they had
|
|
<i>hated him, and sent him away.</i> No, said Abimelech, <i>we sent
|
|
thee away in peace.</i> They turned him off from the land he held
|
|
of them; but they suffered him to take away his stock, and all his
|
|
effects, with him. Note, The lessening of injuries is necessary to
|
|
the
|
|
|
|
<pb n="162" id="Gen.xxvii-Page_162"/>
|
|
|
|
preserving of friendship; for the
|
|
aggravating of them exasperates and widens breaches. The unkindness
|
|
done to us might have been worse. 2. He acknowledges the token of
|
|
God's favour to him, and makes this the ground of their desire to
|
|
be in league with him: <i>The Lord is with thee, and thou art the
|
|
blessed of the Lord.</i> As if he had said, "Be persuaded to
|
|
overlook and pass by the injuries offered thee; for God had
|
|
abundantly made up to thee the damage thou receivedst." Note, Those
|
|
whom God blesses and favours have reason enough to forgive those
|
|
who hate them, since the worst enemy they have cannot do them any
|
|
real hurt. Or, "For this reason we desire thy friendship, because
|
|
<i>God is with thee.</i>" Note, It is good to be in covenant and
|
|
communion with those who are in covenant and communion with God,
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Jo 1:3" id="Gen.xxvii-p24.2" parsed="|1John|1|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.3">1 John i. 3</scripRef>; present address
|
|
to him was the result of mature deliberation: <i>We said, Let there
|
|
be an oath between us.</i> Whatever some of his peevish envious
|
|
subjects might mean otherwise, he and his prime-ministers of state,
|
|
whom he had now brought with him, designed no other than a cordial
|
|
friendship. Perhaps Abimelech had received, by tradition, the
|
|
warning God gave to his predecessor not to hurt Abraham (<scripRef passage="Ge 20:7" id="Gen.xxvii-p24.3" parsed="|Gen|20|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.7"><i>ch.</i> xx. 7</scripRef>), and this made him
|
|
stand in such awe of Isaac, who appeared to be as much the
|
|
favourite of Heaven as Abraham was.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvii-p25">IV. Isaac entertains him and his company,
|
|
and enters into a league of friendship with him, <scripRef passage="Ge 26:30,31" id="Gen.xxvii-p25.1" parsed="|Gen|26|30|26|31" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.30-Gen.26.31"><i>v.</i> 30, 31</scripRef>. Here see how generous
|
|
the good man was, 1. In giving: <i>He made them a feast,</i> and
|
|
bade them welcome. (2.) In forgiving. He did not insist upon the
|
|
unkindnesses they had done him, but freely entered into a covenant
|
|
of friendship with them, and bound himself never to do them any
|
|
injury. Note, Religion teaches us to be neighbourly, and, as much
|
|
as in us lies, to <i>live peaceably with all men.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvii-p26">V. Providence smiled upon what Isaac did;
|
|
for the same day that he made this covenant with Abimelech his
|
|
servants brought him the tidings of a well of water they had found,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 26:32,33" id="Gen.xxvii-p26.1" parsed="|Gen|26|32|26|33" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.32-Gen.26.33"><i>v.</i> 32, 33</scripRef>. He did
|
|
not insist upon the restitution of the wells which the Philistines
|
|
had unjustly taken from him, lest this should break off the treaty,
|
|
but sat down silent under the injury; and, to recompense him for
|
|
this, immediately he is enriched with a new well, which, because it
|
|
suited so well to the occurrence of the day, he called by an old
|
|
name, <i>Beer-sheba, The well of the oath.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 26:34-35" id="Gen.xxvii-p26.2" parsed="|Gen|26|34|26|35" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.34-Gen.26.35"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.26.34-Gen.26.35">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxvii-p26.3">Esau's Foolish Marriage. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxvii-p26.4">b. c.</span> 1760.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxvii-p27">34 And Esau was forty years old when he took to
|
|
wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the
|
|
daughter of Elon the Hittite:   35 Which were a grief of mind
|
|
unto Isaac and to Rebekah.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxvii-p28">Here is, 1. Esau's foolish
|
|
marriage—foolish, some think, in marrying two wives together, for
|
|
which perhaps he is called a <i>fornicator</i> (<scripRef passage="Heb 12:16" id="Gen.xxvii-p28.1" parsed="|Heb|12|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.16">Heb. xii. 16</scripRef>), or rather in marrying
|
|
Canaanites, who were strangers to the blessing of Abraham, and
|
|
subject to the curse of Noah, for which he is called
|
|
<i>profane;</i> for hereby he intimated that he neither desired the
|
|
blessing nor dreaded the curse of God. 2. The grief and trouble it
|
|
created to his tender parents. (1.) It grieved them that he married
|
|
without asking, or at least without taking, their advice and
|
|
consent: see whose steps those children tread in who either contemn
|
|
or contradict their parents in disposing of themselves. (2.) It
|
|
grieved them that he married the daughters of Hittites, who had no
|
|
religion among them; for Isaac remembered his father's care
|
|
concerning him, that he should by no means marry a Canaanite. (3.)
|
|
It should seem, the wives he married were provoking in their
|
|
conduct towards Isaac and Rebekah; those children have little
|
|
reason to expect the blessing of God who do that which is a grief
|
|
of mind to their good parents.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXVII" n="xxviii" progress="19.13%" prev="Gen.xxvii" next="Gen.xxix" id="Gen.xxviii">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="162" id="Gen.xxviii-Page_162"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xxviii-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xxviii-p0.2">CHAP. XXVII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xxviii-p1">In this chapter we return to the typical story of
|
|
the struggle between Esau and Jacob. Esau had profanely sold the
|
|
birthright to Jacob; but Esau hopes he shall be never the poorer,
|
|
nor Jacob the richer, for that bargain, while he preserves his
|
|
interest in his father's affections, and so secures the blessing.
|
|
Here therefore we find how he was justly punished for his contempt
|
|
of the birthright (of which he foolishly deprived himself) with the
|
|
loss of the blessing, of which Jacob fraudulently deprives him.
|
|
Thus this story is explained, <scripRef passage="Heb 12:16,17" id="Gen.xxviii-p1.1" parsed="|Heb|12|16|12|17" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.16-Heb.12.17">Heb.
|
|
xii. 16, 17</scripRef>, "Because he sold the birthright, when he
|
|
would have inherited the blessing he was rejected." For those that
|
|
make light of the name and profession of religion, and throw them
|
|
away for a trifle, thereby forfeit the powers and privileges of it.
|
|
We have here, I. Isaac's purpose to entail the blessing upon Esau,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 27:1-5" id="Gen.xxviii-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|27|1|27|5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.1-Gen.27.5">ver. 1-5</scripRef>. II. Rebekah's
|
|
plot to procure it for Jacob, <scripRef passage="Ge 27:6-17" id="Gen.xxviii-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|27|6|27|17" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.6-Gen.27.17">ver.
|
|
6-17</scripRef>. III. Jacob's successful management of the plot,
|
|
and his obtaining the blessing, <scripRef passage="Ge 27:18-29" id="Gen.xxviii-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|27|18|27|29" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.18-Gen.27.29">ver. 18-29</scripRef>. IV. Esau's resentment of this,
|
|
in which, 1. His great importunity with his father to obtain a
|
|
blessing, <scripRef passage="Ge 27:30-40" id="Gen.xxviii-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|27|30|27|40" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.30-Gen.27.40">ver. 30-40</scripRef>. 2.
|
|
His great enmity to his brother for defrauding him of the first
|
|
blessing, <scripRef passage="Ge 27:41-46" id="Gen.xxviii-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|27|41|27|46" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.41-Gen.27.46">ver. 41</scripRef>,
|
|
&c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 27" id="Gen.xxviii-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|27|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 27:1-5" id="Gen.xxviii-p1.8" parsed="|Gen|27|1|27|5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.1-Gen.27.5"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.27.1-Gen.27.5">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxviii-p1.9">Rebekah's Contrivance. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxviii-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1760.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxviii-p2">1 And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old,
|
|
and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his
|
|
eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and he said unto him,
|
|
Behold, <i>here am</i> I.   2 And he said, Behold now, I am
|
|
old, I know not the day of my death:   3 Now therefore take, I
|
|
pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the
|
|
field, and take me <i>some</i> venison;   4 And make me
|
|
savoury meat, such as I love, and bring <i>it</i> to me, that I may
|
|
eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die.   5 And Rebekah
|
|
heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field
|
|
to hunt <i>for</i> venison, <i>and</i> to bring <i>it.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxviii-p3">Here is, I. Isaac's design to make his
|
|
will, and to declare Esau his heir. The promise of the Messiah and
|
|
the land of Canaan was a great trust, first committed to Abraham,
|
|
inclusive and typical of spiritual and eternal blessings; this, by
|
|
divine direction, he transmitted to Isaac. Isaac, being now old,
|
|
and
|
|
|
|
<pb n="163" id="Gen.xxviii-Page_163"/>
|
|
|
|
not knowing, or not understanding, or
|
|
not duly considering, the divine oracle concerning his two sons,
|
|
that the elder should serve the younger, resolves to entail all the
|
|
honour and power that were wrapped up in the promise upon Esau his
|
|
eldest son. In this he was governed more by natural affection, and
|
|
the common method of settlements, than he ought to have been, if he
|
|
knew (as it is probable he did) the intimations God had given of
|
|
his mind in this matter. Note, We are very apt to take our measures
|
|
rather from our own reason than from divine revelation, and thereby
|
|
often miss our way; we think the wise and learned, the mighty and
|
|
noble, should inherit the promise; but God sees not as man sees.
|
|
See <scripRef passage="1Sa 16:6,7" id="Gen.xxviii-p3.1" parsed="|1Sam|16|6|16|7" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.16.6-1Sam.16.7">1 Sam. xvi. 6, 7</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxviii-p4">II. The directions he gave to Esau,
|
|
pursuant to this design. He calls him to him, <scripRef passage="Ge 27:1" id="Gen.xxviii-p4.1" parsed="|Gen|27|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. For Esau, though married, had not
|
|
yet removed; and, though he had greatly grieved his parents by his
|
|
marriage, yet they had not expelled him, but it seems were pretty
|
|
well reconciled to him, and made the best of it. Note, Parents that
|
|
are justly offended at their children yet must not be implacable
|
|
towards them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxviii-p5">1. He tells him upon what considerations he
|
|
resolved to do this now (<scripRef passage="Ge 27:2" id="Gen.xxviii-p5.1" parsed="|Gen|27|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.2"><i>v.</i>
|
|
2</scripRef>): "<i>I am old,</i> and therefore must die shortly,
|
|
yet <i>I know not the day of my death,</i> nor when I must die; I
|
|
will therefore do that at this time which must be done some time."
|
|
Note, (1.) Old people should be reminded by the growing infirmities
|
|
of age to do quickly, and with all the little might they have, what
|
|
their hand finds to do. See <scripRef passage="Jos 13:1" id="Gen.xxviii-p5.2" parsed="|Josh|13|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.13.1">Josh.
|
|
xiii. 1</scripRef>. (2.) The consideration of the uncertainty of
|
|
the time of our departure out of the world (about which God has
|
|
wisely kept us in the dark) should quicken us to do the work of the
|
|
day in its day. The heart and the house should both be set, and
|
|
kept, in order, because <i>at such an hour as we think not the Son
|
|
of man comes;</i> because we <i>know not the day of our death,</i>
|
|
we are concerned to mind the business of life.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxviii-p6">2. He bids him to get things ready for the
|
|
solemnity of executing his last will and testament, by which he
|
|
designed to make him his heir, <scripRef passage="Ge 27:3,4" id="Gen.xxviii-p6.1" parsed="|Gen|27|3|27|4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.3-Gen.27.4"><i>v.</i> 3, 4</scripRef>. Esau must go a hunting, and
|
|
bring some venison, which his father will eat of, and then bless
|
|
him. In this he designed, not so much the refreshment of his own
|
|
spirits, that he might give the blessing in a lively manner, as it
|
|
is commonly taken, but rather the receiving of a fresh instance of
|
|
his son's filial duty and affection to him, before he bestowed this
|
|
favour upon him. Perhaps Esau, since he had married, had brought
|
|
his venison to his wives, and seldom to his father, as formerly
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 25:28" id="Gen.xxviii-p6.2" parsed="|Gen|25|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.28"><i>ch.</i> xxv. 28</scripRef>), and
|
|
therefore Isaac, before he would bless him, would have him show
|
|
this piece of respect to him. Note, It is fit, if the <i>less be
|
|
blessed of the greater,</i> that the greater should be served and
|
|
honoured by the less. He says, <i>That my soul may bless thee
|
|
before I die.</i> Note, (1.) Prayer is the work of the soul, and
|
|
not of the lips only; as the soul must be employed in blessing God
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ps 103:1" id="Gen.xxviii-p6.3" parsed="|Ps|103|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.103.1">Ps. ciii. 1</scripRef>), so it must
|
|
be in blessing ourselves and others: the blessing will not come to
|
|
the heart if it do not come from the heart. (2.) The work of life
|
|
must be done before we die, for it cannot be done afterwards
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ec 9:10" id="Gen.xxviii-p6.4" parsed="|Eccl|9|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.9.10">Eccl. ix. 10</scripRef>); and it is
|
|
very desirable, when we come to die, to have nothing else to do but
|
|
to die. Isaac lived above forty years after this; let none
|
|
therefore think that they shall die the sooner for making their
|
|
wills and getting ready for death.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 27:6-17" id="Gen.xxviii-p6.5" parsed="|Gen|27|6|27|17" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.6-Gen.27.17"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.27.6-Gen.27.17">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxviii-p7">6 And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying,
|
|
Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying,
|
|
  7 Bring me venison, and make me savoury meat, that I may
|
|
eat, and bless thee before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxviii-p7.1">Lord</span>
|
|
before my death.   8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice
|
|
according to that which I command thee.   9 Go now to the
|
|
flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I
|
|
will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth:
|
|
  10 And thou shalt bring <i>it</i> to thy father, that he may
|
|
eat, and that he may bless thee before his death.   11 And
|
|
Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother <i>is</i>
|
|
a hairy man, and I <i>am</i> a smooth man:   12 My father
|
|
peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver;
|
|
and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing.   13
|
|
And his mother said unto him, Upon me <i>be</i> thy curse, my son:
|
|
only obey my voice, and go fetch me <i>them.</i>   14 And he
|
|
went, and fetched, and brought <i>them</i> to his mother: and his
|
|
mother made savoury meat, such as his father loved.   15 And
|
|
Rebekah took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which
|
|
<i>were</i> with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob her
|
|
younger son:   16 And she put the skins of the kids of the
|
|
goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck:   17
|
|
And she gave the savoury meat and the bread, which she had
|
|
prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxviii-p8">Rebekah is here contriving to procure for
|
|
Jacob the blessing which was designed for Esau; and here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxviii-p9">I. The end was good, for she was directed
|
|
in this intention by the oracle of God, by
|
|
|
|
<pb n="164" id="Gen.xxviii-Page_164"/>
|
|
|
|
which she had been governed in dispensing her affections. God had
|
|
said it should be so, that the elder should <i>serve the
|
|
younger;</i> and therefore Rebekah resolves it shall be so, and
|
|
cannot bear to see her husband designing to thwart the oracle of
|
|
God. But,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxviii-p10">II. The means were bad, and no way
|
|
justifiable. If it was not a wrong to Esau to deprive him of the
|
|
blessing (he himself having forfeited it by selling the
|
|
birthright), yet it was a wrong to Isaac, taking advantage of his
|
|
infirmity, to impose upon him; it was a wrong to Jacob too, whom
|
|
she taught to deceive, by putting a lie into his mouth, or at least
|
|
by putting one into his right hand. It would likewise expose him to
|
|
endless scruples about the blessing, if he should obtain it thus
|
|
fraudulently, whether it would stand him or his in any stead,
|
|
especially if his father should revoke it, upon the discovery of
|
|
the cheat, and plead, as he might, that it was nulled by an
|
|
<i>error personæ—a mistake of the person.</i> He himself also was
|
|
aware of the danger, lest (<scripRef passage="Ge 27:12" id="Gen.xxviii-p10.1" parsed="|Gen|27|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.12"><i>v.</i>
|
|
12</scripRef>), if he should miss of the blessing, as he might
|
|
probably have done, he should bring upon himself his father's
|
|
curse, which he dreaded above any thing; besides, he laid himself
|
|
open to that divine curse which is pronounced upon him that
|
|
<i>causeth the blind to wander out of the way,</i> <scripRef passage="De 27:18" id="Gen.xxviii-p10.2" parsed="|Deut|27|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.18">Deut. xxvii. 18</scripRef>. If Rebekah, when she
|
|
heard Isaac promise the blessing to Esau, had gone, at his return
|
|
from hunting, to Isaac, and, with humility and seriousness, put him
|
|
in remembrance of that which God had said concerning their
|
|
sons,—if she further had shown him how Esau had forfeited the
|
|
blessing both by selling his birthright and by marrying strange
|
|
wives, it is probable that Isaac would have been prevailed upon
|
|
knowingly and wittingly to confer the blessing upon Jacob, and
|
|
needed not thus to have been cheated into it. This would have been
|
|
honourable and laudable, and would have looked well in the history;
|
|
but God left her to herself, to take this indirect course, that he
|
|
might have the glory of bringing good out of evil, and of serving
|
|
his own purposes by the sins and follies of men, and that we might
|
|
have the satisfaction of knowing that, though there is so much
|
|
wickedness and deceit in the world, God governs it according to his
|
|
will, to his own praise. See <scripRef passage="Job 12:16" id="Gen.xxviii-p10.3" parsed="|Job|12|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.12.16">Job xii.
|
|
16</scripRef>, <i>With him are strength and wisdom, the deceived
|
|
and the deceiver are his.</i> Isaac had lost the sense of seeing,
|
|
which, in this case, could not have been imposed upon, Providence
|
|
having so admirably well ordered the difference of features that no
|
|
two faces are exactly alike: conversation and commerce could
|
|
scarcely be maintained if there were not such a variety. Therefore
|
|
she endeavours to deceive, 1. His sense of tasting, by dressing
|
|
some choice pieces of kid, seasoning them, serving them up, so as
|
|
to make him believe they were venison: this it was no hard matter
|
|
to do. See the folly of those that are nice and curious in their
|
|
appetite, and take a pride in humouring it. It is easy to impose
|
|
upon them with that which they pretend to despise and dislike, so
|
|
little perhaps does it differ from that to which they give a
|
|
decided preference. Solomon tells us that dainties are <i>deceitful
|
|
meat;</i> for it is possible for us to be deceived by them in more
|
|
ways than one, <scripRef passage="Pr 23:32" id="Gen.xxviii-p10.4" parsed="|Prov|23|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.23.32">Prov. xxiii.
|
|
32</scripRef>. 2. His sense of feeling and smelling. She put Esau's
|
|
clothes upon Jacob, his best clothes, which, it might be supposed,
|
|
Esau would put on, in token of joy and respect to his father, when
|
|
he was to receive the blessing. Isaac knew these, by the stuff,
|
|
shape, and smell, to be Esau's. If we would obtain a blessing from
|
|
our heavenly Father, we must come for it in the garments of our
|
|
elder brother, clothed with his righteousness, who is the
|
|
first-born among many brethren. Lest the smoothness and softness of
|
|
Jacob's hands and neck should betray him, she covered them, and
|
|
probably part of his face, with the skins of the kids that were
|
|
newly killed, <scripRef passage="Ge 27:16" id="Gen.xxviii-p10.5" parsed="|Gen|27|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>.
|
|
Esau was rough indeed when nothing less than these would serve to
|
|
make Jacob like him. Those that affect to seem rough and rugged in
|
|
their carriage put the beast upon the man, and really shame
|
|
themselves, by thus disguising themselves. And, <i>lastly,</i> it
|
|
was a very rash word which Rebekah spoke, when Jacob objected the
|
|
danger of a curse: <i>Upon me be thy curse, my son,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 27:13" id="Gen.xxviii-p10.6" parsed="|Gen|27|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. Christ indeed, who is
|
|
mighty to save, because mighty to bear, has said, <i>Upon me be the
|
|
curse, only obey my voice;</i> he has borne the burden of the
|
|
curse, the curse of the law, for all those that will take upon them
|
|
the yoke of the command, the command of the gospel. But it is too
|
|
daring for any creature to say, <i>Upon me be the curse,</i> unless
|
|
it be that curse causeless which we are sure <i>shall not come,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Pr 26:2" id="Gen.xxviii-p10.7" parsed="|Prov|26|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.26.2">Prov. xxvi. 2</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 27:18-29" id="Gen.xxviii-p10.8" parsed="|Gen|27|18|27|29" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.18-Gen.27.29"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.27.18-Gen.27.29">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxviii-p10.9">The Fraud of Jacob. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxviii-p10.10">b. c.</span> 1760.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxviii-p11">18 And he came unto his father, and said, My
|
|
father: and he said, Here <i>am</i> I; who <i>art</i> thou, my son?
|
|
  19 And Jacob said unto his father, I <i>am</i> Esau thy
|
|
firstborn; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray
|
|
thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me.  
|
|
20 And Isaac said unto his son, How <i>is it</i> that thou hast
|
|
found <i>it</i> so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxviii-p11.1">Lord</span> thy God brought <i>it</i> to me.
|
|
  21 And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I
|
|
may feel thee, my son, whether thou <i>be</i> my very son Esau or
|
|
not.   22 And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he
|
|
felt him, and said, The voice <i>is</i> Jacob's voice, but the
|
|
hands <i>are</i> the hands of Esau.   23 And he discerned him
|
|
not,
|
|
|
|
<pb n="165" id="Gen.xxviii-Page_165"/>
|
|
|
|
because his hands were hairy, as his
|
|
brother Esau's hands: so he blessed him.   24 And he said,
|
|
<i>Art</i> thou my very son Esau? And he said, I <i>am.</i>  
|
|
25 And he said, Bring <i>it</i> near to me, and I will eat of my
|
|
son's venison, that my soul may bless thee. And he brought
|
|
<i>it</i> near to him, and he did eat: and he brought him wine, and
|
|
he drank.   26 And his father Isaac said unto him, Come near
|
|
now, and kiss me, my son.   27 And he came near, and kissed
|
|
him: and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and
|
|
said, See, the smell of my son <i>is</i> as the smell of a field
|
|
which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxviii-p11.2">Lord</span> hath blessed:  
|
|
28 Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of
|
|
the earth, and plenty of corn and wine:   29 Let people serve
|
|
thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and
|
|
let thy mother's sons bow down to thee: cursed <i>be</i> every one
|
|
that curseth thee, and blessed <i>be</i> he that blesseth thee.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxviii-p12">Observe here, I. The art and assurance with
|
|
which Jacob managed this intrigue. Who would have thought that this
|
|
plain man could have played his part so well in a design of this
|
|
nature? His mother having put him in the way of it, and encouraged
|
|
him in it, he dexterously applied himself to those methods which he
|
|
had never accustomed himself to, but had always conceived an
|
|
abhorrence of. Note, Lying is soon learnt. The psalmist speaks of
|
|
those who, <i>as soon as they are born, speak lies,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 58:3,Jer 9:5" id="Gen.xxviii-p12.1" parsed="|Ps|58|3|0|0;|Jer|9|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.58.3 Bible:Jer.9.5">Ps. lviii. 3; Jer. ix. 5</scripRef>. I
|
|
wonder how honest Jacob could so readily turn his tongue to say
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 27:19" id="Gen.xxviii-p12.2" parsed="|Gen|27|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>), <i>I am
|
|
Esau thy first-born;</i> nor do I see how the endeavour of some to
|
|
bring him off with that equivocation, <i>I am made thy
|
|
first-born,</i> namely by purchase, does him any service; for when
|
|
his father asked him (<scripRef passage="Ge 27:24" id="Gen.xxviii-p12.3" parsed="|Gen|27|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.24"><i>v.</i>
|
|
24</scripRef>), <i>Art thou my very son Esau?</i> he said, <i>I
|
|
am.</i> How could he say, <i>I have done as thou badest me,</i>
|
|
when he had received no command from his father, but was doing as
|
|
his mother bade him? How could he say, <i>Eat of my venison,</i>
|
|
when he knew it came, not from the field, but from the fold? But
|
|
especially I wonder how he could have the assurance to father it
|
|
upon God, and to use his name in the cheat (<scripRef passage="Ge 27:20" id="Gen.xxviii-p12.4" parsed="|Gen|27|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>): <i>The Lord thy God brought it
|
|
to me.</i> Is this Jacob? Is this Israel indeed, without guile? It
|
|
is certainly written, not for our imitation, but for our
|
|
admonition. <i>Let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he
|
|
fall.</i> Good men have sometimes failed in the exercise of those
|
|
graces for which they have been most eminent.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxviii-p13">II. The success of this management. Jacob
|
|
with some difficulty gained his point, and obtained the
|
|
blessing.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxviii-p14">1. Isaac was at first dissatisfied, and
|
|
would have discovered the fraud if he could have trusted his own
|
|
ears; for <i>the voice was Jacob's voice,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 27:22" id="Gen.xxviii-p14.1" parsed="|Gen|27|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>. Providence has ordered a
|
|
strange variety of voices as well as faces, which is also of use to
|
|
prevent our being imposed upon; and the voice is a thing not easily
|
|
disguised nor counterfeited. This may be alluded to to illustrate
|
|
the character of a hypocrite. His voice is Jacob's voice, but his
|
|
hands are Esau's. He speaks the language of a saint, but does the
|
|
works of a sinner; but the judgment will be, as here, by the
|
|
hands.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxviii-p15">2. At length he yielded to the power of the
|
|
cheat, <i>because the hands were hairy</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 27:23" id="Gen.xxviii-p15.1" parsed="|Gen|27|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>), not considering how easy it
|
|
was to counterfeit that circumstance; and now Jacob carries it on
|
|
dexterously, sets his venison before his father, and waits at table
|
|
very officiously, till dinner is done, and the blessing comes to be
|
|
pronounced in the close of this solemn feast. That which in some
|
|
small degree extenuates the crime of Rebekah and Jacob is that the
|
|
fraud was intended, not so much to hasten the fulfilling, as to
|
|
prevent the thwarting, of the oracle of God: the blessing was just
|
|
going to be put upon the wrong head, and they thought it was time
|
|
to bestir themselves. Now let us see how Isaac gave Jacob his
|
|
blessing, <scripRef passage="Ge 27:26-29" id="Gen.xxviii-p15.2" parsed="|Gen|27|26|27|29" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.26-Gen.27.29"><i>v.</i>
|
|
26-29</scripRef>. (1.) He embraced him, in token of a particular
|
|
affection to him. Those that are blessed of God are kissed with the
|
|
kisses of his mouth, and they do, by love and loyalty, <i>kiss the
|
|
Son,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 2:12" id="Gen.xxviii-p15.3" parsed="|Ps|2|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.2.12">Ps. ii. 12</scripRef>. (2.) He
|
|
praised him. <i>He smelt the smell of his raiment, and said, See,
|
|
the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath
|
|
blessed,</i> that is, like that of the most fragrant flowers and
|
|
spices. It appeared that God had blessed him, and therefore Isaac
|
|
would bless him. (3.) He prayed for him, and therein prophesied
|
|
concerning him. It is the duty of parents to pray for their
|
|
children, and to bless them in the name of the Lord. And thus, as
|
|
well as by their baptism, to do what they can to preserve and
|
|
perpetuate the entail of the covenant in their families. But this
|
|
was an extraordinary blessing; and Providence so ordered it that
|
|
Isaac should bestow it upon Jacob ignorantly and by mistake, that
|
|
it might appear he was beholden to God for it, and not to Isaac.
|
|
Three things Jacob is here blessed with:—[1.] Plenty (<scripRef passage="Ge 27:28" id="Gen.xxviii-p15.4" parsed="|Gen|27|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>), heaven and earth
|
|
concurring to make him rich. [2.] Power (<scripRef passage="Ge 27:29" id="Gen.xxviii-p15.5" parsed="|Gen|27|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>), particularly dominion over his
|
|
brethren, namely, Esau and his posterity. [3.] Prevalency with God,
|
|
and a great interest in Heaven: "<i>Cursed by every one that
|
|
curseth thee and blessed be he that blesseth thee.</i> Let God be a
|
|
friend to all thy friends, and an enemy to all thy enemies." More
|
|
is certainly comprised in this blessing than appears <i>prima
|
|
facie—at first sight.</i> It must amount
|
|
|
|
<pb n="166" id="Gen.xxviii-Page_166"/>
|
|
|
|
to
|
|
an entail of the promise of the Messiah, and of the church; this
|
|
was, in the patriarchal dialect, <i>the blessing:</i> something
|
|
spiritual, doubtless, is included in it. <i>First,</i> That from
|
|
him should come the Messiah, who should have a sovereign dominion
|
|
on earth. It was that top-branch of his family which people should
|
|
serve and nations bow down to. See <scripRef passage="Nu 24:19" id="Gen.xxviii-p15.6" parsed="|Num|24|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.19">Num. xxiv. 19</scripRef>, <i>Out of Jacob shall come he
|
|
that shall have dominion,</i> the <i>star</i> and <i>sceptre,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 24:17" id="Gen.xxviii-p15.7" parsed="|Num|24|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. Jacob's
|
|
dominion over Esau was to be only typical of this, <scripRef passage="Ge 49:10" id="Gen.xxviii-p15.8" parsed="|Gen|49|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.10"><i>ch.</i> xlix. 10</scripRef>. <i>Secondly,</i>
|
|
That from him should come the church, which should be particularly
|
|
owned and favoured by Heaven. It was part of the blessing of
|
|
Abraham, when he was first called to be the father of the faithful
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 12:3" id="Gen.xxviii-p15.9" parsed="|Gen|12|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.3"><i>ch.</i> xii. 3</scripRef>), <i>I
|
|
will bless those that bless thee;</i> therefore, when Isaac
|
|
afterwards confirmed the blessing to Jacob, he called it <i>the
|
|
blessing of Abraham,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 28:4" id="Gen.xxviii-p15.10" parsed="|Gen|28|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.4"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xxviii. 4</scripRef>. Balaam explains this too, <scripRef passage="Nu 24:9" id="Gen.xxviii-p15.11" parsed="|Num|24|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.9">Num. xxiv. 9</scripRef>. Note, It is the best and most
|
|
desirable blessing to stand in relation to Christ and his church,
|
|
and to be interested in Christ's power and the church's
|
|
favours.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 27:30-40" id="Gen.xxviii-p15.12" parsed="|Gen|27|30|27|40" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.30-Gen.27.40"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.27.30-Gen.27.40">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxviii-p15.13">The Blessing Pronounced on Jacob and
|
|
Esau. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxviii-p15.14">b. c.</span> 1760.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxviii-p16">30 And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had
|
|
made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was yet scarce gone out
|
|
from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came
|
|
in from his hunting.   31 And he also had made savoury meat,
|
|
and brought it unto his father, and said unto his father, Let my
|
|
father arise, and eat of his son's venison, that thy soul may bless
|
|
me.   32 And Isaac his father said unto him, Who <i>art</i>
|
|
thou? And he said, I <i>am</i> thy son, thy firstborn Esau.  
|
|
33 And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, Who? where
|
|
<i>is</i> he that hath taken venison, and brought <i>it</i> me, and
|
|
I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him? yea,
|
|
<i>and</i> he shall be blessed.   34 And when Esau heard the
|
|
words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter
|
|
cry, and said unto his father, Bless me, <i>even</i> me also, O my
|
|
father.   35 And he said, Thy brother came with subtlety, and
|
|
hath taken away thy blessing.   36 And he said, Is not he
|
|
rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times: he
|
|
took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my
|
|
blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?
|
|
  37 And Isaac answered and said unto Esau, Behold, I have
|
|
made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for
|
|
servants; and with corn and wine have I sustained him: and what
|
|
shall I do now unto thee, my son?   38 And Esau said unto his
|
|
father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me,
|
|
<i>even</i> me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and
|
|
wept.   39 And Isaac his father answered and said unto him,
|
|
Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the
|
|
dew of heaven from above;   40 And by thy sword shalt thou
|
|
live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when
|
|
thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from
|
|
off thy neck.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxviii-p17">Here is, I. The covenant-blessing denied to
|
|
Esau. He that made so light of the birthright <i>would now have
|
|
inherited the blessing, but he was rejected, and found no place of
|
|
repentance</i> in his father, <i>though he sought it carefully with
|
|
tears,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 12:17" id="Gen.xxviii-p17.1" parsed="|Heb|12|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.17">Heb. xii. 17</scripRef>.
|
|
Observe, 1. How carefully he sought it. He prepared the savoury
|
|
meat, as his father had directed him, and then begged the blessing
|
|
which his father had encouraged him to expect, <scripRef passage="Ge 27:31" id="Gen.xxviii-p17.2" parsed="|Gen|27|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>. When he understood that Jacob
|
|
had obtained it surreptitiously, he <i>cried with a great and
|
|
exceedingly bitter cry,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 27:34" id="Gen.xxviii-p17.3" parsed="|Gen|27|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.34"><i>v.</i>
|
|
34</scripRef>. No man could have laid the disappointment more to
|
|
heart than he did; he made his father's tent to ring with his
|
|
grief, and again (<scripRef passage="Ge 27:38" id="Gen.xxviii-p17.4" parsed="|Gen|27|38|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.38"><i>v.</i>
|
|
38</scripRef>) <i>lifted up his voice and wept.</i> Note, The day
|
|
is coming when those that now make light of the blessings of the
|
|
covenant, and sell their title to them for a thing of nought, will
|
|
in vain be importunate for them. Those that will not so much as ask
|
|
and seek now will knock shortly, and cry, <i>Lord, Lord.</i>
|
|
Slighters of Christ will then be humble suitors to him. 2. How he
|
|
was rejected. Isaac, when first made sensible of the imposition
|
|
that had been practised on him, <i>trembled exceedingly,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 27:33" id="Gen.xxviii-p17.5" parsed="|Gen|27|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>. Those that
|
|
follow the choice of their own affections, rather than the dictates
|
|
of the divine will, involve themselves in such perplexities as
|
|
these. But he soon recovers himself, and ratifies the blessing he
|
|
had given to Jacob: <i>I have blessed him, and he shall be
|
|
blessed;</i> he might, upon very plausible grounds, have recalled
|
|
it, but now, at last, he is sensible that he was in an error when
|
|
he designed it for Esau. Either himself recollecting the divine
|
|
oracle, or rather having found himself more than ordinarily filled
|
|
with the Holy Ghost when he gave the blessing to Jacob, he
|
|
perceived that God did, as it were, say Amen to it. Now, (1.) Jacob
|
|
was hereby confirmed in his possession of the blessing, and
|
|
abundantly satisfied of the validity of it, though he obtained it
|
|
fraudulently; hence too he had reason to hope that God graciously
|
|
|
|
<pb n="167" id="Gen.xxviii-Page_167"/>
|
|
|
|
overlooked and pardoned his misconduct. (2.)
|
|
Isaac hereby acquiesced in the will of God, though it contradicted
|
|
his own expectations and affection. He had a mind to give Esau the
|
|
blessing, but, when he perceived the will of God was otherwise, he
|
|
submitted; and this he did <i>by faith</i> (<scripRef passage="Heb 11:20" id="Gen.xxviii-p17.6" parsed="|Heb|11|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.20">Heb. xi. 20</scripRef>), as Abraham before him, when he
|
|
had solicited for Ishmael. May not God do what he will with his
|
|
own? (3.) Esau hereby was cut off from the expectation of that
|
|
special blessing which he thought to have preserved to himself when
|
|
he sold his birthright. We, by this instance, are taught, [1.] That
|
|
<i>it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of
|
|
God that showeth mercy,</i> <scripRef passage="Ro 9:16" id="Gen.xxviii-p17.7" parsed="|Rom|9|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.16">Rom. ix.
|
|
16</scripRef>. The apostle seems to allude to this story. Esau had
|
|
a good will to the blessing, and ran for it; but God that showed
|
|
mercy designed it for Jacob, <i>that the purpose of God according
|
|
to election might stand,</i> <scripRef passage="Ro 9:11" id="Gen.xxviii-p17.8" parsed="|Rom|9|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.11"><i>v.</i>
|
|
11</scripRef>. The Jews, like Esau, hunted <i>after the law of
|
|
righteousness</i> (<scripRef passage="Ro 9:31" id="Gen.xxviii-p17.9" parsed="|Rom|9|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.31"><i>v.</i>
|
|
31</scripRef>), yet missed of the blessing of righteousness,
|
|
<i>because they sought it by the works of the law</i> (<scripRef passage="Ro 9:32" id="Gen.xxviii-p17.10" parsed="|Rom|9|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>); while the Gentiles,
|
|
who, like Jacob, sought it by faith in the oracle of God, obtained
|
|
it by force, with that violence which the kingdom of heaven
|
|
suffers. See <scripRef passage="Mt 11:12" id="Gen.xxviii-p17.11" parsed="|Matt|11|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.11.12">Matt. xi. 12</scripRef>.
|
|
[2.] That those who undervalue their spiritual birthright, and can
|
|
afford to sell it for a morsel of meat, forfeit spiritual
|
|
blessings, and it is just with God to deny them those favours they
|
|
were careless of. Those that will part with their wisdom and grace,
|
|
with their faith and a good conscience, for the honours, wealth, or
|
|
pleasures, of this world, however they may pretend a zeal for the
|
|
blessing, have already judged themselves unworthy of it, and so
|
|
shall their doom be. [3.] That those who lift up hands in wrath
|
|
lift them up in vain. Esau, instead of repenting of his own folly,
|
|
reproached his brother, unjustly charged him with taking away the
|
|
birthright which he had fairly sold to him (<scripRef passage="Ge 27:36" id="Gen.xxviii-p17.12" parsed="|Gen|27|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.36"><i>v.</i> 36</scripRef>), and conceived malice against
|
|
him for what he had now done, <scripRef passage="Ge 27:41" id="Gen.xxviii-p17.13" parsed="|Gen|27|41|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.41"><i>v.</i> 41</scripRef>. Those are not likely to speed
|
|
in prayer who turn those resentments upon their brethren which they
|
|
should turn upon themselves, and lay the blame of their
|
|
miscarriages upon others, when they should take shame to
|
|
themselves. [4.] That those who seek not till it is too late will
|
|
be rejected. This was the ruin of Esau, he did not come in time. As
|
|
there is an accepted time, a time when God will be found, so there
|
|
is a time when he will not answer those that call upon him, because
|
|
they neglected the appointed season. See <scripRef passage="Pr 1:28" id="Gen.xxviii-p17.14" parsed="|Prov|1|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.1.28">Prov. i. 28</scripRef>. The time of God's patience and
|
|
our probation will not last always; the day of grace will come to
|
|
an end, and the door will be shut. Then many that now despise the
|
|
blessing will seek it carefully; for then they will know how to
|
|
value it, and will see themselves undone, for ever undone, without
|
|
it, but to no purpose, <scripRef passage="Lu 13:25-27" id="Gen.xxviii-p17.15" parsed="|Luke|13|25|13|27" osisRef="Bible:Luke.13.25-Luke.13.27">Luke xiii.
|
|
25-27</scripRef>. O that we would therefore, in this our day,
|
|
<i>know the things that belong to our peace!</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxviii-p18">II. Here is a common blessing bestowed upon
|
|
Esau.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxviii-p19">1. This he desired: <i>Bless me also,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 27:34" id="Gen.xxviii-p19.1" parsed="|Gen|27|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.34"><i>v.</i> 34</scripRef>. <i>Hast thou
|
|
not reserved a blessing for me?</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 27:36" id="Gen.xxviii-p19.2" parsed="|Gen|27|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.36"><i>v.</i> 36</scripRef>. Note, (1.) The worst of men
|
|
know how to wish well to themselves; and even those who profanely
|
|
sell their birthright seem piously to desire the blessing. Faint
|
|
desires of happiness, without a right choice of the end and a right
|
|
use of the means, deceive many into their own ruin. Multitudes go
|
|
to hell with their mouths full of good wishes. The desire of the
|
|
slothful and unbelieving kills them. Many will seek to enter in, as
|
|
Esau, who shall not be able, because they do not strive, <scripRef passage="Lu 13:24" id="Gen.xxviii-p19.3" parsed="|Luke|13|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.13.24">Luke xiii. 24</scripRef>. (2.) It is the folly
|
|
of most men that they are willing to take up with any good
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ps 4:6" id="Gen.xxviii-p19.4" parsed="|Ps|4|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.4.6">Ps. iv. 6</scripRef>), as Esau here,
|
|
who desired but a second-rate blessing, a blessing separated from
|
|
the birthright. Profane hearts think any blessing as good as that
|
|
from God's oracle: <i>Hast thou but one?</i> As if he had said, "I
|
|
will take up with any: though I have not the blessing of the
|
|
church, yet let me have some blessing."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxviii-p20">2. This he had; and let him make his best
|
|
of it, <scripRef passage="Ge 27:39,40" id="Gen.xxviii-p20.1" parsed="|Gen|27|39|27|40" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.39-Gen.27.40"><i>v.</i> 39,
|
|
40</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxviii-p21">(1.) It was a good thing, and better than
|
|
he deserved. It was promised him, [1.] That he should have a
|
|
competent livelihood—<i>the fatness of the earth, and the dew of
|
|
heaven.</i> Note, Those that come short of the blessings of the
|
|
covenant may yet have a very good share of outward blessings. God
|
|
gives good ground and good weather to many that reject his
|
|
covenant, and have no part nor lot in it. [2.] That by degrees he
|
|
should recover his liberty. If Jacob must rule (<scripRef passage="Ge 27:29" id="Gen.xxviii-p21.1" parsed="|Gen|27|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>), Esau must serve; but he has
|
|
this to comfort him, he shall <i>live by his sword.</i> He shall
|
|
serve, but he shall not starve; and, at length, after much
|
|
skirmishing, he shall break the yoke of bondage, and wear marks of
|
|
freedom. This was fulfilled (<scripRef passage="2Ki 8:20,22" id="Gen.xxviii-p21.2" parsed="|2Kgs|8|20|0|0;|2Kgs|8|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.8.20 Bible:2Kgs.8.22">2
|
|
Kings viii. 20, 22</scripRef>) when the Edomites revolted.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxviii-p22">(2.) Yet it was far short of Jacob's
|
|
blessing. For him God had reserved some better thing. [1.] In
|
|
Jacob's blessing <i>the dew of heaven</i> is put first, as that
|
|
which he most valued, and desired, and depended upon; in Esau's
|
|
<i>the fatness of the earth</i> is put first, for it was this that
|
|
he had the first and principal regard to. [2.] Esau has these, but
|
|
Jacob has them from God's hand: <i>God give thee the dew of
|
|
heaven,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 27:28" id="Gen.xxviii-p22.1" parsed="|Gen|27|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>.
|
|
It was enough to Esau to have the possession; but Jacob desired it
|
|
by promise, and to have it from covenant-love. [3.] Jacob shall
|
|
have dominion over his brethren: hence the Israelites often ruled
|
|
over the Edomites. Esau shall have dominion, that is, he shall gain
|
|
some power and interest, but shall never have dominion over his
|
|
brother: we never find that the Jews were sold into the hands of
|
|
the Edomites, or that they oppressed them. But the great difference
|
|
in
|
|
|
|
<pb n="168" id="Gen.xxviii-Page_168"/>
|
|
|
|
that there is nothing in Esau's blessing
|
|
that points at Christ, nothing that brings him or his into the
|
|
church and covenant of God, without which the fatness of the earth,
|
|
and the plunder of the field, will stand him in little stead. Thus
|
|
Isaac by faith blessed them both according as their lot should be.
|
|
Some observe that Jacob was blessed with a <i>kiss</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 27:27" id="Gen.xxviii-p22.2" parsed="|Gen|27|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>), so was not Esau.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 27:41-46" id="Gen.xxviii-p22.3" parsed="|Gen|27|41|27|46" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.41-Gen.27.46"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.27.41-Gen.27.46">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxviii-p22.4">Jacob's Life Threatened by
|
|
Esau. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxviii-p22.5">b. c.</span> 1760.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxviii-p23">41 And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing
|
|
wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The
|
|
days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my
|
|
brother Jacob.   42 And these words of Esau her elder son were
|
|
told to Rebekah: and she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and
|
|
said unto him, Behold, thy brother Esau, as touching thee, doth
|
|
comfort himself, <i>purposing</i> to kill thee.   43 Now
|
|
therefore, my son, obey my voice; and arise, flee thou to Laban my
|
|
brother to Haran;   44 And tarry with him a few days, until
|
|
thy brother's fury turn away;   45 Until thy brother's anger
|
|
turn away from thee, and he forget <i>that</i> which thou hast done
|
|
to him: then I will send, and fetch thee from thence: why should I
|
|
be deprived also of you both in one day?   46 And Rebekah said
|
|
to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth:
|
|
if Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these
|
|
<i>which are</i> of the daughters of the land, what good shall my
|
|
life do me?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxviii-p24">Here is, I. The malice Esau bore to Jacob
|
|
upon account of the blessing which he had obtained, <scripRef passage="Ge 27:41" id="Gen.xxviii-p24.1" parsed="|Gen|27|41|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.41"><i>v.</i> 41</scripRef>. Thus he went in the way
|
|
of Cain, who slew his brother because he had gained that acceptance
|
|
with God of which he had rendered himself unworthy. Esau's hatred
|
|
of Jacob was, 1. A causeless hatred. He hated him for no other
|
|
reason but because his father blessed him and God loved him. Note,
|
|
The happiness of saints is the envy of sinners. Whom Heaven
|
|
blesses, hell curses. 2. It was a cruel hatred. Nothing less would
|
|
satisfy him than to slay his brother. It is the blood of the saints
|
|
that persecutors thirst after: <i>I will slay my brother.</i> How
|
|
could he say that word without horror? How could he call him
|
|
<i>brother,</i> and yet vow his death? Note, The rage of
|
|
persecutors will not be tied up by any bonds, no, not the strongest
|
|
and most sacred. 3. It was a politic hatred. He expected his father
|
|
would soon die, and then titles must be tried and interests
|
|
contested between the brothers, which would give him a fair
|
|
opportunity for revenge. He thinks it not enough to <i>live by his
|
|
sword himself</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 27:40" id="Gen.xxviii-p24.2" parsed="|Gen|27|40|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.40"><i>v.</i>
|
|
40</scripRef>), unless his brother die by it. He is loth to grieve
|
|
his father while he lives, and therefore puts off the intended
|
|
murder till his death, not caring how much he then grieved his
|
|
surviving mother. Note, (1.) Those are bad children to whom their
|
|
good parents are a burden, and who, upon any account, long for the
|
|
days of mourning for them. (2.) Bad men are long held in by
|
|
external restraints from doing the mischief they would do, and so
|
|
their wicked purposes come to nought. (3.) Those who think to
|
|
defeat God's purposes will undoubtedly be disappointed themselves.
|
|
Esau aimed to prevent Jacob, or his seed, from having the dominion,
|
|
by taking away his life before he was married; but who can disannul
|
|
what God has spoken? Men may fret at God's counsels, but cannot
|
|
change them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxviii-p25">II. The method Rebekah took to prevent the
|
|
mischief.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxviii-p26">1. She gave Jacob warning of his danger,
|
|
and advised him to withdraw for a while, and shift for his own
|
|
safety. She tells him what she heard of Esau's design, that he
|
|
comforted himself with the hope of an opportunity to kill his
|
|
brother, <scripRef passage="Ge 27:42" id="Gen.xxviii-p26.1" parsed="|Gen|27|42|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.42"><i>v.</i> 42</scripRef>.
|
|
Would one think that such a bloody barbarous thought as this could
|
|
be a comfort to a man? If Esau could have kept his design to
|
|
himself his mother would not have suspected it; but men's impudence
|
|
in sin is often their infatuation; and they cannot accomplish their
|
|
wickedness because their rage is too violent to be concealed, and a
|
|
bird of the air carries the voice. Observe here, (1.) What Rebekah
|
|
feared—lest she <i>should be deprived of them both in one day</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 27:45" id="Gen.xxviii-p26.2" parsed="|Gen|27|45|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.45"><i>v.</i> 45</scripRef>), deprived,
|
|
not only of the murdered, but of the murderer, who either by the
|
|
magistrate, or by the immediate hand of God, would by sacrificed to
|
|
justice, which she herself must acquiesce in, and not obstruct: or,
|
|
if not so, yet thenceforward she would be deprived of all joy and
|
|
comfort in him. Those that are lost to virtue are in a manner lost
|
|
to all their friends. With what pleasure can a child be looked upon
|
|
that can be looked upon as no other than a child of the devil? (2.)
|
|
What Rebekah hoped—that, if Jacob for a while kept out of sight,
|
|
the affront which his brother resented so fiercely would by degrees
|
|
go out of mind. The strength of passions is weakened and taken off
|
|
by the distances both of time and place. She promised herself that
|
|
his brother's anger would turn away. Note, Yielding pacifies great
|
|
offences; and even those that have a good cause, and God on their
|
|
side, must yet use this with other prudent expedients for their own
|
|
preservation.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxviii-p27">2. She impressed Isaac with an apprehension
|
|
of the necessity of Jacob's going among her relations upon another
|
|
account, which was to take a wife, <scripRef passage="Ge 27:46" id="Gen.xxviii-p27.1" parsed="|Gen|27|46|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.46"><i>v.</i> 46</scripRef>. She would not tell him of
|
|
Esau's wicked design against the life of Jacob, lest it should
|
|
trouble him; but
|
|
|
|
<pb n="169" id="Gen.xxviii-Page_169"/>
|
|
|
|
prudently took another way
|
|
to gain her point. Isaac saw as uneasy as he was to Esau's being
|
|
unequally yoked with Hittites; and therefore, with a very good
|
|
colour of reason, she moves to have Jacob married to one that was
|
|
better principled. Note, One miscarriage should serve as a warning
|
|
to prevent another; those are careless indeed that stumble twice at
|
|
the same stone. Yet Rebekah seems to have expressed herself
|
|
somewhat too warmly in the matter, when she said, <i>What good will
|
|
my life do me if Jacob marry a Canaanite?</i> Thanks be to God, all
|
|
our comfort is not lodged in one hand; we may do the work of life,
|
|
and enjoy the comforts of life, though every thing do not fall out
|
|
to our mind, and though our relations be not in all respects
|
|
agreeable to us. Perhaps Rebekah spoke with this concern because
|
|
she saw it necessary, for the quickening of Isaac, to give speedy
|
|
orders in this matter. Observe, Though Jacob was himself very
|
|
towardly, and well fixed in his religion, yet he had need to be put
|
|
out of the way of temptation. Even he was in danger both of
|
|
following the bad example of his brother and of being drawn into a
|
|
snare by it. We must not presume too far upon the wisdom and
|
|
resolution, no, not of those children that are most hopeful and
|
|
promising; but care must be taken to keep them out of harm's
|
|
way.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXVIII" n="xxix" progress="19.87%" prev="Gen.xxviii" next="Gen.xxx" id="Gen.xxix">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="169" id="Gen.xxix-Page_169"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xxix-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xxix-p0.2">CHAP. XXVIII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xxix-p1">We have here, I. Jacob parting with his parents,
|
|
to go to Padan-aram; the charge his father gave him (<scripRef passage="Ge 28:1,2" id="Gen.xxix-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|28|1|28|2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.1-Gen.28.2">ver. 1, 2</scripRef>), the blessing he sent him
|
|
away with (<scripRef passage="Ge 28:3,4" id="Gen.xxix-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|28|3|28|4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.3-Gen.28.4">ver. 3, 4</scripRef>), his
|
|
obedience to the orders given him (<scripRef passage="Ge 28:5,10" id="Gen.xxix-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|28|5|0|0;|Gen|28|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.5 Bible:Gen.28.10">ver. 5, 10</scripRef>), and the influence this had
|
|
upon Esau, <scripRef passage="Ge 28:6-9" id="Gen.xxix-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|28|6|28|9" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.6-Gen.28.9">ver. 6-9</scripRef>. II.
|
|
Jacob meeting with God, and his communion with him by the way. And
|
|
there, 1. His vision of the ladder, <scripRef passage="Ge 28:11,12" id="Gen.xxix-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|28|11|28|12" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.11-Gen.28.12">ver. 11, 12</scripRef>. 2. The gracious promises God
|
|
made him, <scripRef passage="Ge 28:13-15" id="Gen.xxix-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|28|13|28|15" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.13-Gen.28.15">ver. 13-15</scripRef>. 3.
|
|
The impression this made upon him, <scripRef passage="Ge 28:16-19" id="Gen.xxix-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|28|16|28|19" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.16-Gen.28.19">ver. 16-19</scripRef>. 4. The vow he made to God, up
|
|
on this occasion, <scripRef passage="Ge 28:20-22" id="Gen.xxix-p1.8" parsed="|Gen|28|20|28|22" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.20-Gen.28.22">ver.
|
|
20</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 28" id="Gen.xxix-p1.9" parsed="|Gen|28|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 28:1-5" id="Gen.xxix-p1.10" parsed="|Gen|28|1|28|5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.1-Gen.28.5"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.28.1-Gen.28.5">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxix-p1.11">Jacob Dismissed with a
|
|
Blessing. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxix-p1.12">b. c.</span> 1760.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxix-p2">1 And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and
|
|
charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the
|
|
daughters of Canaan.   2 Arise, go to Padan-aram, to the house
|
|
of Bethuel thy mother's father; and take thee a wife from thence of
|
|
the daughters of Laban thy mother's brother.   3 And God
|
|
Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee,
|
|
that thou mayest be a multitude of people;   4 And give thee
|
|
the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that
|
|
thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God
|
|
gave unto Abraham.   5 And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went
|
|
to Padan-aram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of
|
|
Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxix-p3">Jacob had no sooner obtained the blessing
|
|
than immediately he was forced to flee from his country; and, as it
|
|
if were not enough that he was a stranger and sojourner there, he
|
|
must go to be more so, and no better than an exile, in another
|
|
country. Now <i>Jacob fled into Syria,</i> <scripRef passage="Ho 12:12" id="Gen.xxix-p3.1" parsed="|Hos|12|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.12">Hos. xii. 12</scripRef>. He was blessed with plenty of
|
|
corn and wine, and yet he went away poor, was blessed with
|
|
government, and yet went out to service, a hard service. This was,
|
|
1. Perhaps to correct him for his dealing fraudulently with his
|
|
father. The blessing shall be confirmed to him, and yet he shall
|
|
smart for the indirect course he took to obtain it. While there is
|
|
such an alloy as there is of sin in our duties, we must expect an
|
|
alloy of trouble in our comforts. However, 2. It was to teach us
|
|
that those who inherit the blessing must expect persecution; those
|
|
who have peace in Christ shall have tribulation in the world,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Joh 16:33" id="Gen.xxix-p3.2" parsed="|John|16|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.16.33">John xvi. 33</scripRef>. Being told
|
|
of this before, we must not think it strange, and, being assured of
|
|
a recompence hereafter, we must not think it hard. We may observe,
|
|
likewise, that God's providences often seem to contradict his
|
|
promises, and to go cross to them; and yet, when the mystery of God
|
|
shall be finished, we shall see that all was for the best, and that
|
|
cross providences did but render the promises and the
|
|
accomplishment of them the more illustrious. Now Jacob is here
|
|
dismissed by his father,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxix-p4">I. With a solemn charge: <i>He blessed him,
|
|
and charged him,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 28:1,2" id="Gen.xxix-p4.1" parsed="|Gen|28|1|28|2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.1-Gen.28.2"><i>v.</i> 1,
|
|
2</scripRef>. Note, Those that have the blessing must keep the
|
|
charge annexed to it, and not think to separate what God has
|
|
joined. The charge is like that in <scripRef passage="2Co 6:14" id="Gen.xxix-p4.2" parsed="|2Cor|6|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.6.14">2
|
|
Cor. vi. 14</scripRef>, <i>Be not unequally yoked with
|
|
unbelievers;</i> and all that inherit the promises of the remission
|
|
of sins, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, must keep this charge,
|
|
which follows those promises, <i>Save yourselves from this untoward
|
|
generation,</i> <scripRef passage="Ac 2:38-40" id="Gen.xxix-p4.3" parsed="|Acts|2|38|2|40" osisRef="Bible:Acts.2.38-Acts.2.40">Acts ii.
|
|
38-40</scripRef>. Those that are entitled to peculiar favours must
|
|
be a peculiar people. If Jacob be an heir of promise, he must
|
|
<i>not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan;</i> those that
|
|
profess religion should not marry those that are irreligious.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxix-p5">II. With a solemn blessing, <scripRef passage="Ge 28:3,4" id="Gen.xxix-p5.1" parsed="|Gen|28|3|28|4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.3-Gen.28.4"><i>v.</i> 3, 4</scripRef>. He had before
|
|
blessed him unwittingly; now he does it designedly, for the greater
|
|
encouragement of Jacob in that melancholy condition to which he was
|
|
now removing. This blessing is more express and full than the
|
|
former; it is an entail of the blessing of Abraham, that blessing
|
|
which was poured on the head of Abraham like the anointing oil,
|
|
thence to run down to his chosen seed, as the skirts of his
|
|
garments. It is a gospel blessing, the blessing of
|
|
church-privileges, that is the blessing of Abraham, which upon the
|
|
Gentiles through faith, <scripRef passage="Ga 3:14" id="Gen.xxix-p5.2" parsed="|Gal|3|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.3.14">Gal. iii.
|
|
14</scripRef>. It is a blessing from God Almighty, by which name
|
|
God appeared to the patriarchs, <scripRef passage="Ex 6:3" id="Gen.xxix-p5.3" parsed="|Exod|6|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.3">Exod.
|
|
vi. 3</scripRef>. Those are blessed indeed whom God Almighty
|
|
blesses; for he commands and effects the blessing. Two great
|
|
promises Abraham was blessed with, and Isaac here entails them both
|
|
upon Jacob.</p>
|
|
|
|
<pb n="170" id="Gen.xxix-Page_170"/>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxix-p6">1. The promise of heirs: <i>God make thee
|
|
fruitful, and multiply thee,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 28:3" id="Gen.xxix-p6.1" parsed="|Gen|28|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. (1.) Through his loins should
|
|
descend from Abraham that people who should be numerous as the
|
|
stars of heaven, and the sand of the sea, and who should increase
|
|
more than the rest of the nations, so as to be <i>an assembly of
|
|
people,</i> as the margin reads it. And never was such a multitude
|
|
of people so often gathered into one assembly as the tribes of
|
|
Israel were in the wilderness, and afterwards. (2.) Through his
|
|
loins should descend from Abraham that person in whom all the
|
|
families of the earth should be blessed, and to whom the gathering
|
|
of the people should be. Jacob had in him a multitude of people
|
|
indeed, for all things in heaven and earth are united in Christ
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Eph 1:10" id="Gen.xxix-p6.2" parsed="|Eph|1|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eph.1.10">Eph. i. 10</scripRef>), all centre in
|
|
him, that corn of wheat, which falling to the ground, produced much
|
|
fruit, <scripRef passage="Joh 12:24" id="Gen.xxix-p6.3" parsed="|John|12|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.12.24">John 12. 24</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxix-p7">2. The promise of an inheritance for those
|
|
heirs: <i>That thou mayest inherit the land of thy sojournings,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 28:4" id="Gen.xxix-p7.1" parsed="|Gen|28|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. Canaan was
|
|
hereby entailed upon the seed of Jacob, exclusive of the seed of
|
|
Esau. Isaac was now sending Jacob away into a distant country, to
|
|
settle there for some time; and, lest this should look like
|
|
disinheriting him, he here confirms the settlement of it upon him,
|
|
that he might be assured that the discontinuance of his possession
|
|
should be no defeasance of his right. Observe, He is here told that
|
|
he should inherit the land wherein he sojourned. Those that are
|
|
sojourners now shall be heirs for ever: and, even now, those do
|
|
most inherit the earth (though they do not inherit most of it) that
|
|
are most like strangers in it. Those have the best enjoyment of
|
|
present things that sit most loose to them. This promise looks as
|
|
high as heaven, of which Canaan was a type. This was the better
|
|
country, which Jacob, with the other patriarchs, had in his eye,
|
|
when he confessed himself a stranger and pilgrim upon the earth,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Heb 11:13" id="Gen.xxix-p7.2" parsed="|Heb|11|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.13">Heb. xi. 13</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxix-p8">Jacob, having taken leave of his father,
|
|
was hastened away with all speed, lest his brother should find an
|
|
opportunity to do him a mischief, and away he went to Padan-aram,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 28:5" id="Gen.xxix-p8.1" parsed="|Gen|28|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. How unlike was
|
|
his taking a wife thence to his father's! Isaac had servants and
|
|
camels sent to fetch his; Jacob must go himself, go alone, and go
|
|
afoot, to fetch his: he must go too in a fright from his father's
|
|
house, not knowing when he might return. Note, If God, in his
|
|
providence, disable us, we must be content, though we cannot keep
|
|
up the state and grandeur of our ancestors. We should be more in
|
|
care to maintain their piety than to maintain their dignity, and to
|
|
be as good as they were than to be as great. Rebekah is here called
|
|
<i>Jacob's and Esau's mother.</i> Jacob is named first, not only
|
|
because he had always been his mother's darling, but because he was
|
|
now make his father's heir, and Esau was, in this sense, set aside.
|
|
Note, The time will come when piety will have precedency, whatever
|
|
it has now.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 28:6-9" id="Gen.xxix-p8.2" parsed="|Gen|28|6|28|9" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.6-Gen.28.9"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.28.6-Gen.28.9">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxix-p9">6 When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob,
|
|
and sent him away to Padan-aram, to take him a wife from thence;
|
|
and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, Thou shalt
|
|
not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan;   7 And that Jacob
|
|
obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padan-aram;
|
|
  8 And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not
|
|
Isaac his father;   9 Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took
|
|
unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael
|
|
Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxix-p10">This passage concerning Esau comes in in
|
|
the midst of Jacob's story, either, 1. To show the influence of a
|
|
good example. Esau, though the greater man, now begins to think
|
|
Jacob the better man, and disdains not to take him for his pattern
|
|
in this particular instance of marrying with a daughter of Abraham.
|
|
The elder children should give to the younger an example of
|
|
tractableness and obedience; it is bad if they do not: but it is
|
|
some alleviation if they take the example of it from them, as Esau
|
|
here did from Jacob. Or, 2. To show the folly of an after-wit. Esau
|
|
did well, but he did it when it was too late, He <i>saw that the
|
|
daughters of Canaan pleased not his father,</i> and he might have
|
|
seen that long ago if he had consulted his father's judgment as
|
|
much as he did his palate. And how did he now mend the matter? Why,
|
|
truly, so as to make bad worse. (1.) He married a daughter of
|
|
Ishmael, the son of the bond-woman, who was cast out, and was not
|
|
to inherit with Isaac and his seed, thus joining with a family
|
|
which God had rejected, and seeking to strengthen his own
|
|
pretensions by the aid of another pretender. (2.) He took a third
|
|
wife, while, for aught that appears, his other two were neither
|
|
dead nor divorced. (3.) He did it only to please his father, not to
|
|
please God. Now that Jacob was sent into a far country Esau would
|
|
be all in all at home, and he hoped so to humour his father as to
|
|
prevail with him to make a new will, and entail the promise upon
|
|
him, revoking the settlement lately made upon Jacob. And thus, [1.]
|
|
He was wise when it was too late, like Israel that would venture
|
|
when the decree had gone forth against them (<scripRef passage="Nu 14:40" id="Gen.xxix-p10.1" parsed="|Num|14|40|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.40">Num. xiv. 40</scripRef>), and the foolish virgins,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mt 25:11" id="Gen.xxix-p10.2" parsed="|Matt|25|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.25.11">Matt. xxv. 11</scripRef>. [2.] He
|
|
rested in a partial reformation, and thought, by pleasing his
|
|
parents in one thing, to atone for all his other miscarriages. It
|
|
is not said that when he saw how obedient Jacob was, and how
|
|
willing to please his parents, he repented of his malicious design
|
|
against him: no, it appeared afterwards that he persisted in that,
|
|
and
|
|
|
|
<pb n="171" id="Gen.xxix-Page_171"/>
|
|
|
|
retained his malice. Note, Carnal hearts
|
|
are apt to think themselves as good as they should be, because
|
|
perhaps, in some one particular instance, they are not so bad as
|
|
they have been. Thus Micah retains his idols, but thinks himself
|
|
happy in having a Levite to be his priest, <scripRef passage="Jdg 17:13" id="Gen.xxix-p10.3" parsed="|Judg|17|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.17.13">Judg. xvii. 13</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 28:10-15" id="Gen.xxix-p10.4" parsed="|Gen|28|10|28|15" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.10-Gen.28.15"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.28.10-Gen.28.15">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxix-p10.5">Jacob's Vision at Bethel. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxix-p10.6">b. c.</span> 1760.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxix-p11">10 And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went
|
|
toward Haran.   11 And he lighted upon a certain place, and
|
|
tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of
|
|
the stones of that place, and put <i>them for</i> his pillows, and
|
|
lay down in that place to sleep.   12 And he dreamed, and
|
|
behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to
|
|
heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on
|
|
it.   13 And, behold, the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxix-p11.1">Lord</span>
|
|
stood above it, and said, I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxix-p11.2">Lord</span> God of Abraham thy father, and the God of
|
|
Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to
|
|
thy seed;   14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth,
|
|
and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to
|
|
the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all
|
|
the families of the earth be blessed.   15 And, behold, I
|
|
<i>am</i> with thee, and will keep thee in all <i>places</i>
|
|
whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I
|
|
will not leave thee, until I have done <i>that</i> which I have
|
|
spoken to thee of.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxix-p12">We have here Jacob upon his journey towards
|
|
Syria, in a very desolate condition, like one that was sent to seek
|
|
his fortune; but we find that, though he was alone, yet he was not
|
|
alone, for <i>the Father was with him,</i> <scripRef passage="Joh 16:32" id="Gen.xxix-p12.1" parsed="|John|16|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.16.32">John xvi. 32</scripRef>. If what is here recorded
|
|
happened (as it should seem it did) the first night, he had made a
|
|
long day's journey from Beersheba to Bethel, above forty miles.
|
|
Providence brought him to a convenient place, probably shaded with
|
|
trees, to rest himself in that night; and there he had,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxix-p13">I. A hard lodging (<scripRef passage="Ge 28:11" id="Gen.xxix-p13.1" parsed="|Gen|28|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>), the <i>stones for his
|
|
pillows,</i> and the heavens for his canopy and curtains. As the
|
|
usage then was, perhaps this was not so bad as it seems now to us;
|
|
but we should think, 1. He lay very cold, the cold ground for his
|
|
bed, and, which one would suppose made the matter worse, a cold
|
|
stone for his pillow, and in the cold air. 2. Very uneasy. If his
|
|
bones were sore with his day's journey, his night's rest would but
|
|
make them sorer. 3. Very much exposed. He forgot that he was
|
|
fleeing for his life; or had his brother, in his rage, pursued, or
|
|
sent a murderer after him, here he lay ready to be sacrificed, and
|
|
destitute of shelter and defence. We cannot think it was by reason
|
|
of his poverty that he was so ill accommodated, but, (1.) It was
|
|
owing to the plainness and simplicity of those times, when men did
|
|
not take so much state, and consult their ease so much, as in these
|
|
later times of softness and effeminacy. (2.) Jacob had been
|
|
particularly used to hardships, as a plain man dwelling in tents;
|
|
and, designing now to go to service, he was the more willing to
|
|
inure himself to them; and, as it proved, it was well, <scripRef passage="Ge 31:40" id="Gen.xxix-p13.2" parsed="|Gen|31|40|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.40"><i>ch.</i> xxxi. 40</scripRef>. (3.) His comfort
|
|
in the divine blessing, and his confidence in the divine
|
|
protection, made him easy, even when he lay thus exposed; being
|
|
sure that his God made him to dwell in safety, he could lie down
|
|
and sleep upon a stone.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxix-p14">II. In his hard lodging he had a pleasant
|
|
dream. Any Israelite indeed would be willing to take up with
|
|
Jacob's pillow, provided he might but have Jacob's dream. Then, and
|
|
there, he <i>heard the words of God, and saw the visions of the
|
|
Almighty.</i> It was the best night's sleep he ever had in his
|
|
life. Note, God's time to visit his people with his comforts is
|
|
when they are most destitute of other comforts, and other
|
|
comforters; when afflictions in the way of duty (as these were) do
|
|
abound, then shall consolations so much the more abound. Now
|
|
observe here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxix-p15">1. The encouraging vision Jacob saw,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 28:12" id="Gen.xxix-p15.1" parsed="|Gen|28|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. He saw a
|
|
ladder which reached from earth to heaven, the angels ascending and
|
|
descending upon it, and God himself at the head of it. Now this
|
|
represents the two things that are very comfortable to good people
|
|
at all times, and in all conditions:—(1.) The providence of God,
|
|
by which there is a constant correspondence kept up between heaven
|
|
and earth. The counsels of heaven are executed on earth, and the
|
|
actions and affairs of this earth are all known in heaven are
|
|
executed on earth, and the actions and affairs of this earth are
|
|
all known in heaven and judged there. Providence does its work
|
|
gradually, and by steps. Angels are employed as ministering
|
|
spirits, to serve all the purposes and designs of Providence, and
|
|
the wisdom of God is at the upper end of the ladder, directing all
|
|
the motions of second causes to the glory of the first Cause. The
|
|
angels are active spirits, continually ascending and descending;
|
|
they rest not, day nor night, from service, according to the posts
|
|
assigned them. They ascend, to give account of what they have done,
|
|
and to receive orders; and then descend, to execute the orders they
|
|
have received. Thus we should always abound in the work of the
|
|
Lord, that we may do it as the angels do it, <scripRef passage="Ps 103:20,21" id="Gen.xxix-p15.2" parsed="|Ps|103|20|103|21" osisRef="Bible:Ps.103.20-Ps.103.21">Ps. ciii. 20, 21</scripRef>. This vision gave very
|
|
seasonable comfort to Jacob, letting him know that he had both a
|
|
good guide and a good guard, in his going out and coming in,—that,
|
|
though he was made to wander from his father's house, yet still he
|
|
was the care of a kind Providence, and the charge of the holy
|
|
|
|
<pb n="172" id="Gen.xxix-Page_172"/>
|
|
|
|
angels. This is comfort enough, though we
|
|
should not admit the notion which some have, that the tutelar
|
|
angels of Canaan were ascending, having guarded Jacob out of their
|
|
land, and the angels of Syria descending to take him into their
|
|
custody. Jacob was now the type and representative of the whole
|
|
church, with the guardianship of which the angels are entrusted.
|
|
(2.) The mediation of Christ. He is this ladder, the foot on earth
|
|
in his human nature, the top in heaven in his divine nature: or the
|
|
former in his humiliation, the latter in his exaltation. All the
|
|
intercourse between heaven and earth, since the fall, is by this
|
|
ladder. Christ is the way; all God's favours come to us, and all
|
|
our services go to him, by Christ. If God dwell with us, and we
|
|
with him, it is by Christ. We have no way of getting to heaven, but
|
|
by this ladder; if we climb up any other way we are thieves and
|
|
robbers. To this vision our Saviour alludes when he speaks of the
|
|
angels of God <i>ascending and descending upon the son of man</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Joh 1:51" id="Gen.xxix-p15.3" parsed="|John|1|51|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.1.51">John i. 51</scripRef>); for the kind
|
|
offices the angels do us, and the benefits we receive by their
|
|
ministration, are all owing to Christ, who has reconciled things on
|
|
earth and things in heaven (<scripRef passage="Col 1:20" id="Gen.xxix-p15.4" parsed="|Col|1|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Col.1.20">Col. i.
|
|
20</scripRef>), and made them all meet in himself, <scripRef passage="Eph 1:10" id="Gen.xxix-p15.5" parsed="|Eph|1|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eph.1.10">Eph. i. 10</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxix-p16">2. The encouraging words Jacob heard. God
|
|
now brought him into the wilderness, and spoke comfortably to him,
|
|
spoke from the head of the ladder; for all the glad tidings we
|
|
receive from heaven come through Jesus Christ.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxix-p17">(1.) The former promises made to his father
|
|
were repeated and ratified to him, <scripRef passage="Ge 28:13,14" id="Gen.xxix-p17.1" parsed="|Gen|28|13|28|14" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.13-Gen.28.14"><i>v.</i> 13, 14</scripRef>. In general, God
|
|
intimated to him that he would be the same to him that he had been
|
|
to Abraham and Isaac. Those that tread in the steps of their godly
|
|
parents are interested in their covenant and entitled to their
|
|
privileges. Particularly, [1.] The land of Canaan is settled upon
|
|
him, <i>the land whereon thou liest;</i> as if by his lying so
|
|
contentedly upon the bare ground he had taken livery and seisin of
|
|
the whole land. [2.] It is promised him that his posterity should
|
|
multiply exceedingly as the dust of the earth—that, though he
|
|
seemed now to be plucked off as a withered branch, yet he should
|
|
become a flourishing tree, that should send out his boughs unto the
|
|
sea. These were the blessings with which his father had blessed him
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 28:3,4" id="Gen.xxix-p17.2" parsed="|Gen|28|3|28|4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.3-Gen.28.4"><i>v.</i> 3, 4</scripRef>), and God
|
|
here said Amen to them, that he might have strong consolation. [3.]
|
|
It is added that the Messiah should come from his loins, in whom
|
|
all the families of the earth should be blessed. Christ is the
|
|
great blessing of the world. All that are blessed, whatever family
|
|
they are of, are blessed in him, and none of any family are
|
|
excluded from blessedness in him, but those that exclude
|
|
themselves.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxix-p18">(2.) Fresh promises were made him,
|
|
accommodated to his present condition, <scripRef passage="Ge 28:15" id="Gen.xxix-p18.1" parsed="|Gen|28|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. [1.] Jacob was apprehensive of
|
|
danger from his brother Esau; but God promises to keep him. Note,
|
|
Those are safe whom God protects, whoever pursues them. [2.] He had
|
|
now a long journey before him, had to travel alone, in an unknown
|
|
road, to an unknown country; but, <i>behold, I am with thee,</i>
|
|
says God. Note, Wherever we are, we are safe, and may be easy, if
|
|
we have God's favourable presence with us. [3.] He knew not, but
|
|
God foresaw, what hardships he should meet with in his uncle's
|
|
service, and therefore promises to preserve him in all places.
|
|
Note, God knows how to give his people graces and comforts
|
|
accommodated to the events that shall be, as well as to those that
|
|
are. [4.] He was now going as an exile into a place far distant,
|
|
but God promises him to bring him back again to this land. Note, He
|
|
that preserves his people's going out will also take care of their
|
|
coming in, <scripRef passage="Ps 121:8" id="Gen.xxix-p18.2" parsed="|Ps|121|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.121.8">Ps. cxxi. 8</scripRef>.
|
|
[5.] He seemed to be forsaken of all his friends, but God here
|
|
gives him this assurance, <i>I will not leave thee.</i> Note, Whom
|
|
God loves he never leaves. This promise is sure to all the seed,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Heb 13:5" id="Gen.xxix-p18.3" parsed="|Heb|13|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.13.5">Heb. xiii. 5</scripRef>. [6.]
|
|
Providences seemed to contradict the promises; he is therefore
|
|
assured of the performance of them in their season: All shall <i>be
|
|
done that I have spoken to thee of.</i> Note, Saying and doing are
|
|
not two things with God, whatever they are with us.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 28:16-22" id="Gen.xxix-p18.4" parsed="|Gen|28|16|28|22" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.16-Gen.28.22"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.28.16-Gen.28.22">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxix-p18.5">Jacob's Vow. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxix-p18.6">b. c.</span> 1760.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxix-p19">16 And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he
|
|
said, Surely the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxix-p19.1">Lord</span> is in this
|
|
place; and I knew <i>it</i> not.   17 And he was afraid, and
|
|
said, How dreadful <i>is</i> this place! this <i>is</i> none other
|
|
but the house of God, and this <i>is</i> the gate of heaven.  
|
|
18 And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that
|
|
he had put <i>for</i> his pillows, and set it up <i>for</i> a
|
|
pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.   19 And he called
|
|
the name of that place Beth-el: but the name of that city <i>was
|
|
called</i> Luz at the first.   20 And Jacob vowed a vow,
|
|
saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I
|
|
go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,   21
|
|
So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxix-p19.2">Lord</span> be my God:   22 And this
|
|
stone, which I have set <i>for</i> a pillar, shall be God's house:
|
|
and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth
|
|
unto thee.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxix-p20">God manifested himself and his favour to
|
|
Jacob when he was asleep and purely passive; for the spirit, like
|
|
the wind, blows when and where he listeth, and God's grace, like
|
|
the dew, tarrieth not for the sons of men, <scripRef passage="Mic 5:7" id="Gen.xxix-p20.1" parsed="|Mic|5|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mic.5.7">Mic. v. 7</scripRef>. But Jacob applied himself
|
|
|
|
<pb n="173" id="Gen.xxix-Page_173"/>
|
|
|
|
to the improvement of the visit God had made him
|
|
when he was awake; and we may well think he awaked, as the prophet
|
|
did (<scripRef passage="Jer 31:26" id="Gen.xxix-p20.2" parsed="|Jer|31|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.31.26">Jer. xxxi. 26</scripRef>), and
|
|
behold his sleep was sweet to him. Here is much of Jacob's devotion
|
|
on this occasion.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxix-p21">I. He expressed a great surprise at the
|
|
tokens he had of God's special presence with him in that place:
|
|
<i>Surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 28:16" id="Gen.xxix-p21.1" parsed="|Gen|28|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. Note, 1.
|
|
God's manifestations of himself to his people carry their own
|
|
evidence along with them. God can give undeniable demonstrations of
|
|
his presence, such as give abundant satisfaction to the souls of
|
|
the faithful that God is with them of a truth, satisfaction not
|
|
communicable to others, but convincing to themselves. 2. We
|
|
sometimes meet with God where we little thought of meeting with
|
|
him. He is where we did not think he had been, is found where we
|
|
asked not for him. No place excludes divine visits (<scripRef passage="Ge 16:13" id="Gen.xxix-p21.2" parsed="|Gen|16|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.16.13"><i>ch.</i> xvi. 13</scripRef>, <i>here
|
|
also</i>); wherever we are, in the city or in the desert, in the
|
|
house or in the field, in the shop or in the street, we may keep up
|
|
our intercourse with Heaven if it be not our own fault.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxix-p22">II. It struck an awe upon him (<scripRef passage="Ge 28:17" id="Gen.xxix-p22.1" parsed="|Gen|28|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>): <i>He was afraid;</i>
|
|
so far was he from being puffed up, and exalted above measure, with
|
|
the abundance of the revelations (<scripRef passage="2Co 12:7" id="Gen.xxix-p22.2" parsed="|2Cor|12|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.12.7">2
|
|
Cor. xii. 7</scripRef>), that he was afraid. Note, The more we see
|
|
of God the more cause we see for holy trembling and blushing before
|
|
him. Those to whom God is pleased to manifest himself are thereby
|
|
laid, and kept, very low in their own eyes, and see cause to fear
|
|
even the Lord and his goodness, <scripRef passage="Ho 3:5" id="Gen.xxix-p22.3" parsed="|Hos|3|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.3.5">Hos.
|
|
iii. 5</scripRef>. He said, <i>How dreadful is this place!</i> that
|
|
is, "The appearance of God in this place is never to be thought of,
|
|
but with a holy awe and reverence. I shall have a respect for this
|
|
place, and remember it by this token, as long as I live:" not that
|
|
he thought the place itself any nearer the divine visions than
|
|
other places; but what he saw there at this time was, as it were,
|
|
<i>the house of God,</i> the residence of the divine Majesty, and
|
|
<i>the gate of heaven,</i> that is, the general rendezvous of the
|
|
inhabitants of the upper world, as the meetings of a city were in
|
|
their gates; or the angels ascending and descending were like
|
|
travellers passing and re-passing through the gates of a city.
|
|
Note, 1. God is in a special manner present where his grace is
|
|
revealed and where his covenants are published and sealed, as of
|
|
old by the ministry of angels, so now by instituted ordinances,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mt 28:20" id="Gen.xxix-p22.4" parsed="|Matt|28|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.28.20">Matt. xxviii. 20</scripRef>. 2. Where
|
|
God meets us with his special presence we ought to meet him with
|
|
the most humble reverence, remembering his justice and holiness,
|
|
and our own meanness and vileness.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxix-p23">III. He took care to preserve the memorial
|
|
of it two ways: 1. He set up the stone for a pillar (<scripRef passage="Ge 28:18" id="Gen.xxix-p23.1" parsed="|Gen|28|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>); not as if he thought
|
|
the visions of his head were any way owing to the stone on which it
|
|
lay, but thus he would mark the place against he came back, and
|
|
erect a lasting monument of God's favour to him, and because he had
|
|
not time now to build an altar here, as Abraham did in the places
|
|
where God appeared to him, <scripRef passage="Ge 12:7" id="Gen.xxix-p23.2" parsed="|Gen|12|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.7"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xii. 7</scripRef>. He therefore <i>poured oil on the top of this
|
|
stone,</i> which probably was the ceremony then used in dedicating
|
|
their altars, as an earnest of his building an altar when he should
|
|
have conveniences for it, as afterwards he did, in gratitude to God
|
|
for this vision, <scripRef passage="Ge 35:7" id="Gen.xxix-p23.3" parsed="|Gen|35|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.7"><i>ch.</i> xxxv.
|
|
7</scripRef>. Note, Grants of mercy call for returns of duty, and
|
|
the sweet communion we have with God ought ever to be remembered.
|
|
2. He gave a new name to the place, <scripRef passage="Ge 28:19" id="Gen.xxix-p23.4" parsed="|Gen|28|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. It had been called <i>Luz, an
|
|
almond-tree;</i> but he will have it henceforward called
|
|
<i>Beth-el, the house of God.</i> This gracious appearance of God
|
|
to him put a greater honour upon it, and made it more remarkable,
|
|
than all the almond-trees that flourished there. This is that
|
|
Beth-el where, long after, it is said, <i>God found Jacob, and
|
|
there</i> (in what he said to him) <i>he spoke with us,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ho 12:4" id="Gen.xxix-p23.5" parsed="|Hos|12|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.4">Hos. xii. 4</scripRef>. In process of
|
|
time, this <i>Beth-el, the house of God,</i> became <i>Beth-aven, a
|
|
house of vanity</i> and iniquity, when Jeroboam set up one of his
|
|
calves there.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxix-p24">IV. He made a solemn vow upon this
|
|
occasion, <scripRef passage="Ge 28:20-22" id="Gen.xxix-p24.1" parsed="|Gen|28|20|28|22" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.20-Gen.28.22"><i>v.</i>
|
|
20-22</scripRef>. By religious vows we give glory to God, own our
|
|
dependence upon him, and lay a bond upon our own souls to engage
|
|
and quicken our obedience to him. Jacob was now in fear and
|
|
distress; and it is seasonable to make vows in times of trouble, or
|
|
when we are in pursuit of any special mercy, <scripRef passage="Jon 1:16,Ps 66:13,14,1Sa 1:11,Nu 21:1-3" id="Gen.xxix-p24.2" parsed="|Jonah|1|16|0|0;|Ps|66|13|66|14;|1Sam|1|11|0|0;|Num|21|1|21|3" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.1.16 Bible:Ps.66.13-Ps.66.14 Bible:1Sam.1.11 Bible:Num.21.1-Num.21.3">Jon. i. 16; Ps. lxvi. 13,
|
|
14; 1 Sam. i. 11; Num. xxi. 1-3</scripRef>. Jacob had now had a
|
|
gracious visit from heaven. God had renewed his covenant with him,
|
|
and the covenant is mutual. When God ratifies his promises to us,
|
|
it is proper for us to repeat our promises to him. Now in this vow
|
|
observe, 1. Jacob's faith. God had said (<scripRef passage="Ge 28:15" id="Gen.xxix-p24.3" parsed="|Gen|28|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>), <i>I am with thee, and will
|
|
keep thee.</i> Jacob takes hold of this, and infers, "<i>Seeing God
|
|
will be with me, and will keep me,</i> as he hath said, and (which
|
|
is implied in that promise) will provide comfortably for me,—and
|
|
seeing he has promised to <i>bring me again to this land,</i> that
|
|
is, <i>to the house of my father,</i> whom I hope to find alive at
|
|
my return <i>in peace</i>" (so unlike was he to Esau who longed for
|
|
the days of mourning for his father),—"I depend upon it." Note,
|
|
God's promises are to be the guide and measure of our desires and
|
|
expectations. 2. Jacob's modesty and great moderation in his
|
|
desires. He will cheerfully content himself with bread to eat, and
|
|
raiment to put on; and, though God's promise had now made him heir
|
|
to a very great estate, yet he indents not for soft clothing and
|
|
dainty meat. Agur's wish is his, <i>Feed me with food convenient
|
|
for me;</i> and see <scripRef passage="1Ti 6:8" id="Gen.xxix-p24.4" parsed="|1Tim|6|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.6.8">1 Tim. vi.
|
|
8</scripRef>. Nature is content with a little, and grace with less.
|
|
Those that have most have, in effect, no more for themselves than
|
|
food and raiment; of the overplus they have only either the keeping
|
|
or the giving, not the enjoyment: if God give us more, we are bound
|
|
to be thankful, and to use it for him; if he give us but this, we
|
|
are bound to be content, and cheerfully to enjoy him in it. 3.
|
|
Jacob's piety, and his regard to God, which appear here, (1.) In
|
|
what he desired, that God would be with him and keep him. Note, We
|
|
need desire no more to make us easy and happy, wherever we are,
|
|
than to have God's presence with us and to be under his protection.
|
|
It is comfortable, in a journey, to have a guide in an unknown way,
|
|
a guard in a dangerous way, to be well carried, well provided for,
|
|
and to have good company in any way; and those that have God with
|
|
them have all this in the best manner. (2.) In what he designed.
|
|
His resolution is, [1.] In general, to cleave to the Lord, as his
|
|
God in covenant: <i>Then shall the Lord be my God.</i> Not as if he
|
|
would disown him and cast him off if he should want food and
|
|
raiment; no, though he slay us, we must cleave to him; but "then I
|
|
will rejoice in him as my God; then I will more strongly engage
|
|
myself to abide with him." Note, Every mercy we receive from God
|
|
should be improved as an additional obligation upon us to walk
|
|
closely with him as our God. [2.] In particular, that he would
|
|
perform some special acts of devotion, in token of his gratitude.
|
|
<i>First,</i> "This pillar shall keep possession here till I come
|
|
back in peace, and then it shall be God's house," that is, "an
|
|
altar shall be erected here to the honour of God." <i>Secondly,</i>
|
|
"The house of god shall not be unfurnished, nor his altar without a
|
|
sacrifice: <i>Of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the
|
|
tenth unto thee,</i> to be spent either upon God's altars or upon
|
|
his poor," both which are his receivers in the world. Probably it
|
|
was according to some general instructions received from heaven
|
|
that Abraham and Jacob offered the tenth of their acquisitions to
|
|
God. Note, 1. God must be honoured with our estates, and must have
|
|
his dues out of them. When we receive more than ordinary mercy from
|
|
God we should study to give some signal instances of gratitude to
|
|
him. 2. The tenth is a very fit proportion to be devoted to God and
|
|
employed for him, though, as circumstances vary, it may be more or
|
|
less, as God prospers us, <scripRef passage="1Co 16:2,2Co 9:7" id="Gen.xxix-p24.5" parsed="|1Cor|16|2|0|0;|2Cor|9|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.16.2 Bible:2Cor.9.7">1
|
|
Cor. xvi. 2; 2 Cor. ix. 7</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXIX" n="xxx" progress="20.46%" prev="Gen.xxix" next="Gen.xxxi" id="Gen.xxx">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="174" id="Gen.xxx-Page_174"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xxx-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xxx-p0.2">CHAP. XXIX.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xxx-p1">This chapter gives us an account of God's
|
|
providences concerning Jacob, pursuant to the promises made to him
|
|
in the foregoing chapter. I. How he was brought in safety to his
|
|
journey's end, and directed to his relations there, who bade him
|
|
welcome, <scripRef passage="Ge 29:1-14" id="Gen.xxx-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|29|1|29|14" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.1-Gen.29.14">ver. 1-14</scripRef>. II.
|
|
How he was comfortably disposed of in marriage, <scripRef passage="Ge 29:15-30" id="Gen.xxx-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|29|15|29|30" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.15-Gen.29.30">ver. 15-30</scripRef>. III. How his family was built
|
|
up in the birth of four sons, <scripRef passage="Ge 29:31-35" id="Gen.xxx-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|29|31|29|35" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.31-Gen.29.35">ver.
|
|
31-35</scripRef>. The affairs of princes and mighty nations that
|
|
were then in being are not recorded in the book of God, but are
|
|
left to be buried in oblivion; while these small domestic concerns
|
|
of holy Jacob are particularly recorded with their minute
|
|
circumstances, that they may be in everlasting remembrance. For
|
|
"the memory of the just is blessed."</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 29" id="Gen.xxx-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|29|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 29:1-8" id="Gen.xxx-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|29|1|29|8" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.1-Gen.29.8"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.29.1-Gen.29.8">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxx-p1.6">Jacob's Arrival at
|
|
Padan-aram. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxx-p1.7">b. c.</span> 1760.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxx-p2">1 Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into
|
|
the land of the people of the east.   2 And he looked, and
|
|
behold a well in the field, and, lo, there <i>were</i> three flocks
|
|
of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks:
|
|
and a great stone <i>was</i> upon the well's mouth.   3 And
|
|
thither were all the flocks gathered: and they rolled the stone
|
|
from the well's mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone
|
|
again upon the well's mouth in his place.   4 And Jacob said
|
|
unto them, My brethren, whence <i>be</i> ye? And they said, Of
|
|
Haran <i>are</i> we.   5 And he said unto them, Know ye Laban
|
|
the son of Nahor? And they said, We know <i>him.</i>   6 And
|
|
he said unto them, <i>Is</i> he well? And they said, <i>He is</i>
|
|
well: and, behold, Rachel his daughter cometh with the sheep.
|
|
  7 And he said, Lo, <i>it is</i> yet high day, neither <i>is
|
|
it</i> time that the cattle should be gathered together: water ye
|
|
the sheep, and go <i>and</i> feed <i>them.</i>   8 And they
|
|
said, We cannot, until all the flocks be gathered together, and
|
|
<i>till</i> they roll the stone from the well's mouth; then we
|
|
water the sheep.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxx-p3">All the stages Israel's march to Canaan are
|
|
distinctly noticed, but no particular journal is kept of Jacob's
|
|
expedition further than Beth-el; no, he had no more such happy
|
|
nights as he had at Beth-el, no more such visions of the Almighty.
|
|
That was intended for a feast; he must not expect it to be his
|
|
daily bread. But, 1. We are here told how cheerfully he proceeded
|
|
in his journey after the sweet communion he had with God at
|
|
Beth-el: <i>Then Jacob lifted up his feet;</i> so the margin reads
|
|
it, <scripRef passage="Ge 29:1" id="Gen.xxx-p3.1" parsed="|Gen|29|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. Then he
|
|
went on with cheerfulness and alacrity, not burdened with his
|
|
cares, nor cramped with his fears, being assured of God's gracious
|
|
presence with him. Note, After the visions we have had of God, and
|
|
the vows we have made to him in solemn ordinances, we should run
|
|
the way of his commandments with enlarged hearts, <scripRef passage="Heb 12:1" id="Gen.xxx-p3.2" parsed="|Heb|12|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.1">Heb. xii. 1</scripRef>. 2. How happily he
|
|
arrived at his journey's end. Providence brought him to the very
|
|
field where his uncle's flocks were to be watered, and there he met
|
|
with Rachel, who was to be his wife. Observe, (1.) The divine
|
|
Providence is to be acknowledged in all the little circumstances
|
|
which concur to make a journey, or other undertaking, comfortable
|
|
and successful. If, when we are at a loss, we meet seasonably with
|
|
those that can direct us—if we meet with a disaster, and those are
|
|
at hand that will help us—we must not say that it was by chance,
|
|
nor that fortune therein favoured us, but that it was by
|
|
Providence, and that God therein favoured us. Our ways are ways of
|
|
|
|
<pb n="175" id="Gen.xxx-Page_175"/>
|
|
|
|
pleasantness, if we continually acknowledge
|
|
God in them. (2.) Those that have flocks must look well to them,
|
|
and be diligent to know their state, <scripRef passage="Pr 27:23" id="Gen.xxx-p3.3" parsed="|Prov|27|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.27.23">Prov. xxvii. 23</scripRef>. What is here said of the
|
|
constant care of the shepherds concerning their sheep (<scripRef passage="Ge 29:2,3,7,8" id="Gen.xxx-p3.4" parsed="|Gen|29|2|29|3;|Gen|29|7|0|0;|Gen|29|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.2-Gen.29.3 Bible:Gen.29.7 Bible:Gen.29.8"><i>v.</i> 2, 3, 7, 8</scripRef>) may serve
|
|
to illustrate the tender concern which our Lord Jesus, the great
|
|
Shepherd of the sheep, has for his flock, the church; for he is the
|
|
good Shepherd, that knows his sheep, and is known of them,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Joh 10:14" id="Gen.xxx-p3.5" parsed="|John|10|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.10.14">John x. 14</scripRef>. The stone at
|
|
the well's mouth, which is so often mentioned here, was either to
|
|
secure their property in it (for water was scarce, it was not there
|
|
<i>usus communis aquarum—for every one's use</i>), or it was to
|
|
save the well from receiving damage from the heat of the sun, or
|
|
from any spiteful hand, or to prevent the lambs of the flock from
|
|
being drowned in it. (3.) Separate interests should not take us
|
|
from joint and mutual help; when all the shepherds came together
|
|
with their flocks, then, like loving neighbours, at watering-time,
|
|
they watered their flocks together. (4.) It becomes us to speak
|
|
civilly and respectfully to strangers. Though Jacob was no
|
|
courtier, but a plain man, dwelling in tents, and a stranger to
|
|
compliment, yet he addresses himself very obligingly to the people
|
|
he met with, and calls them his <i>brethren,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 29:4" id="Gen.xxx-p3.6" parsed="|Gen|29|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. The law of kindness in the tongue
|
|
has a commanding power, <scripRef passage="Pr 31:26" id="Gen.xxx-p3.7" parsed="|Prov|31|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.31.26">Prov. xxxi.
|
|
26</scripRef>. Some think he calls them brethren because they were
|
|
of the same trade, shepherds like him. Though he was now upon his
|
|
preferment, he was not ashamed of his occupation. (5.) Those that
|
|
show respect have usually respect shown to them. As Jacob was civil
|
|
to these strangers, so he found them civil to him. When he
|
|
undertook to teach them how to despatch their business (<scripRef passage="Ge 29:7" id="Gen.xxx-p3.8" parsed="|Gen|29|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>), they did not bid him
|
|
meddle with his own concerns and let them alone; but, though he was
|
|
a stranger, they gave him the reason of their delay, <scripRef passage="Ge 29:8" id="Gen.xxx-p3.9" parsed="|Gen|29|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. Those that are
|
|
neighbourly and friendly shall have neighbourly and friendly
|
|
usage.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 29:9-14" id="Gen.xxx-p3.10" parsed="|Gen|29|9|29|14" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.9-Gen.29.14"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.29.9-Gen.29.14">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxx-p3.11">Rachel's Humility and
|
|
Industry. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxx-p3.12">b. c.</span> 1760.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxx-p4">9 And while he yet spake with them, Rachel came
|
|
with her father's sheep: for she kept them.   10 And it came
|
|
to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother's
|
|
brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother's brother, that Jacob
|
|
went near, and rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered
|
|
the flock of Laban his mother's brother.   11 And Jacob kissed
|
|
Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept.   12 And Jacob told
|
|
Rachel that he <i>was</i> her father's brother, and that he
|
|
<i>was</i> Rebekah's son: and she ran and told her father.  
|
|
13 And it came to pass, when Laban heard the tidings of Jacob his
|
|
sister's son, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him, and kissed
|
|
him, and brought him to his house. And he told Laban all these
|
|
things.   14 And Laban said to him, Surely thou <i>art</i> my
|
|
bone and my flesh. And he abode with him the space of a month.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxx-p5">Here we see, 1. Rachel's humility and
|
|
industry: <i>She kept her father's sheep</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 29:9" id="Gen.xxx-p5.1" parsed="|Gen|29|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>), that is, she took the care of
|
|
them, having servants under her that were employed about them.
|
|
Rachel's name signifies <i>a sheep.</i> Note, Honest useful labour
|
|
is that which nobody needs be ashamed of, nor ought it to be a
|
|
hindrance to any one's preferment. 2. Jacob's tenderness and
|
|
affection. When he understood that this was his kinswoman (probably
|
|
he had heard of her name before), knowing what his errand was into
|
|
that country, we may suppose it struck his mind immediately that
|
|
this must be his wife. Being already smitten with her ingenuous
|
|
comely face (though it was probably sun-burnt, and she was in the
|
|
homely dress of a shepherdess), he is wonderfully officious, and
|
|
anxious to serve her (<scripRef passage="Ge 29:10" id="Gen.xxx-p5.2" parsed="|Gen|29|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.10"><i>v.</i>
|
|
10</scripRef>), and addresses himself to her with tears of joy and
|
|
kisses of love, <scripRef passage="Ge 29:11" id="Gen.xxx-p5.3" parsed="|Gen|29|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.11"><i>v.</i>
|
|
11</scripRef>. She runs with all haste to tell her father; for she
|
|
will by no means entertain her kinsman's address without her
|
|
father's knowledge and approbation, <scripRef passage="Ge 29:12" id="Gen.xxx-p5.4" parsed="|Gen|29|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. These mutual respects, at their
|
|
first interview, were good presages of their being a happy couple.
|
|
3. Providence made that which seemed contingent and fortuitous to
|
|
give speedy satisfaction to Jacob's mind, as soon as ever he came
|
|
to the place which he was bound for. Abraham's servant, when he
|
|
came upon a similar errand, met with similar encouragement. Thus
|
|
God guides his people with his eye, <scripRef passage="Ps 32:8" id="Gen.xxx-p5.5" parsed="|Ps|32|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.32.8">Ps.
|
|
xxxii. 8</scripRef>. It is a groundless conceit which some of the
|
|
Jewish writers have, that Jacob, when he kissed Rachel, wept
|
|
because he had been set upon in his journey by Eliphaz the eldest
|
|
son of Esau, at the command of his father, and robbed of all his
|
|
money and jewels, which his mother had given him when she sent him
|
|
away. It was plain that it was his passion for Rachel, and the
|
|
surprise of this happy meeting, that drew these tears from his
|
|
eyes. 4. Laban, though none of the best-humoured men, bade him
|
|
welcome, was satisfied in the account he gave of himself, and of
|
|
the reason of his coming in such poor circumstances. While we avoid
|
|
the extreme, on the one hand, of being foolishly credulous, we must
|
|
take heed of falling into the other extreme, of being uncharitably
|
|
jealous and suspicious. Laban owned him for his kinsman: <i>Thou
|
|
art my bone and my flesh,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 29:14" id="Gen.xxx-p5.6" parsed="|Gen|29|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.14">v.
|
|
14</scripRef>. Note, Those are hard-hearted indeed that are unkind
|
|
to their relations, and that <i>hide themselves from their own
|
|
flesh,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 58:7" id="Gen.xxx-p5.7" parsed="|Isa|58|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.58.7">Isa. lviii.
|
|
7</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 29:15-30" id="Gen.xxx-p5.8" parsed="|Gen|29|15|29|30" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.15-Gen.29.30"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.29.15-Gen.29.30">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxx-p5.9">Jacob's Marriage. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxx-p5.10">b. c.</span> 1753.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxx-p6">15 And Laban said unto Jacob,
|
|
|
|
<pb n="176" id="Gen.xxx-Page_176"/>
|
|
|
|
Because thou <i>art</i> my brother, shouldest thou
|
|
therefore serve me for nought? tell me, what <i>shall</i> thy wages
|
|
<i>be?</i>   16 And Laban had two daughters: the name of the
|
|
elder <i>was</i> Leah, and the name of the younger <i>was</i>
|
|
Rachel.   17 Leah <i>was</i> tender eyed; but Rachel was
|
|
beautiful and well favoured.   18 And Jacob loved Rachel; and
|
|
said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger
|
|
daughter.   19 And Laban said, <i>It is</i> better that I give
|
|
her to thee, than that I should give her to another man: abide with
|
|
me.   20 And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they
|
|
seemed unto him <i>but</i> a few days, for the love he had to her.
|
|
  21 And Jacob said unto Laban, Give <i>me</i> my wife, for my
|
|
days are fulfilled, that I may go in unto her.   22 And Laban
|
|
gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast.
|
|
  23 And it came to pass in the evening, that he took Leah his
|
|
daughter, and brought her to him; and he went in unto her.  
|
|
24 And Laban gave unto his daughter Leah Zilpah his maid <i>for</i>
|
|
a handmaid.   25 And it came to pass, that in the morning,
|
|
behold, it <i>was</i> Leah: and he said to Laban, What <i>is</i>
|
|
this thou hast done unto me? did not I serve with thee for Rachel?
|
|
wherefore then hast thou beguiled me?   26 And Laban said, It
|
|
must not be so done in our country, to give the younger before the
|
|
firstborn.   27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this
|
|
also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other
|
|
years.   28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he
|
|
gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.   29 And Laban gave
|
|
to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.  
|
|
30 And he went in also unto Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more
|
|
than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxx-p7">Here is, I. The fair contract made between
|
|
Laban and Jacob, during the month that Jacob spent there as a
|
|
guest, <scripRef passage="Ge 29:14" id="Gen.xxx-p7.1" parsed="|Gen|29|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. It
|
|
seems he was not idle, nor did he spend his time in sport and
|
|
pastime; but like a man of business, though he had no stock of his
|
|
own, he applied himself to serve his uncle, as he had begun
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 29:10" id="Gen.xxx-p7.2" parsed="|Gen|29|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>) when he
|
|
<i>watered his flock.</i> Note, Wherever we are, it is good to be
|
|
employing ourselves in some useful business, which will turn to a
|
|
good account to ourselves or others. Laban, it seems, was so taken
|
|
with Jacob's ingenuity and industry about his flocks that he was
|
|
desirous he should continue with him, and very fairly reasons thus:
|
|
"<i>Because thou art my brother, shouldst thou therefore serve me
|
|
for nought?</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 29:15" id="Gen.xxx-p7.3" parsed="|Gen|29|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.15"><i>v.</i>
|
|
15</scripRef>. No, what reason for that?" If Jacob be so respectful
|
|
to his uncle as to give him his service without demanding any
|
|
consideration for it, yet Laban will not be so unjust to his nephew
|
|
as to take advantage either of his necessity or of his good-nature.
|
|
Note, Inferior relations must not be imposed upon; if it be their
|
|
duty to serve us, it is our duty to reward them. Now Jacob had a
|
|
fair opportunity to make known to Laban the affection he had for
|
|
his daughter Rachel; and, having no worldly goods in his hand with
|
|
which to endow her, he promises him seven years' service, upon
|
|
condition that, at the end of the seven years, he would bestow her
|
|
upon him for his wife. It appears by computation that Jacob was now
|
|
seventy-seven years old when he bound himself apprentice for a
|
|
wife, <i>and for a wife he kept sheep,</i> <scripRef passage="Ho 12:12" id="Gen.xxx-p7.4" parsed="|Hos|12|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.12">Hos. xii. 12</scripRef>. His posterity are there
|
|
reminded of it long afterwards, as an instance of the meanness of
|
|
their origin: probably Rachel was young, and scarcely marriageable,
|
|
when Jacob first came, which made him the more willing to stay for
|
|
her till his seven years' service had expired.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxx-p8">II. Jacob's honest performance of his part
|
|
of the bargain, <scripRef passage="Ge 29:20" id="Gen.xxx-p8.1" parsed="|Gen|29|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.20"><i>v.</i>
|
|
20</scripRef>. He served seven years for Rachel. If Rachel still
|
|
continued to keep her father's sheep (as she did, <scripRef passage="Ge 29:9" id="Gen.xxx-p8.2" parsed="|Gen|29|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>), his innocent and
|
|
religious conversation with her, while they kept the flocks, could
|
|
not but increase their mutual acquaintance and affection (Solomon's
|
|
song of love is a pastoral); if she now left it off, his easing her
|
|
of that care was very obliging. Jacob honestly served out his seven
|
|
years, and did not forfeit his indentures, though he was old; nay,
|
|
he served them cheerfully: <i>They seemed to him but a few days,
|
|
for the love he had to her,</i> as if it were more his desire to
|
|
earn her than to have her. Note, Love makes long and hard services
|
|
short and easy; hence we read of <i>the labour of love,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Heb 6:10" id="Gen.xxx-p8.3" parsed="|Heb|6|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.6.10">Heb. vi. 10</scripRef>. If we know how
|
|
to value the happiness of heaven, the sufferings of this present
|
|
time will be as nothing to us in comparison of it. An age of work
|
|
will be but as a few days to those that love God and long for
|
|
Christ's appearing.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxx-p9">III. The base cheat which Laban put upon
|
|
him when he was out of his time: he put Leah into his arms instead
|
|
of Rachel, <scripRef passage="Ge 29:23" id="Gen.xxx-p9.1" parsed="|Gen|29|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>.
|
|
This was Laban's sin; he wronged both Jacob and Rachel, whose
|
|
affections, doubtless, were engaged to each other, and, if (as some
|
|
say) Leah was herein no better than an adulteress, it was no small
|
|
wrong to her too. But it was Jacob's affliction, a damp to the
|
|
|
|
<pb n="177" id="Gen.xxx-Page_177"/>
|
|
|
|
mirth of the marriage-feast, when in the
|
|
morning behold it was Leah, <scripRef passage="Ge 29:25" id="Gen.xxx-p9.2" parsed="|Gen|29|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.25"><i>v.</i>
|
|
25</scripRef>. It is easy to observe here how Jacob was paid in his
|
|
own coin. He had cheated his own father when he pretended to be
|
|
Esau, and now his father-in-law cheated him. Herein, how
|
|
unrighteous soever Laban was, the Lord was righteous; as <scripRef passage="Jdg 1:7" id="Gen.xxx-p9.3" parsed="|Judg|1|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.1.7">Judges i. 7</scripRef>. Even the righteous, if
|
|
they take a false step, are sometimes thus recompensed on the
|
|
earth. Many that are not, like Jacob, disappointed in the person,
|
|
soon find themselves, as much to their grief, disappointed in the
|
|
character. The choice of that relation therefore, on both sides,
|
|
ought to be made with good advice and consideration, that, if there
|
|
should be a disappointment, it may not be aggravated by a
|
|
consciousness of mismanagement.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxx-p10">IV. The excuse and atonement Laban made for
|
|
the cheat. 1. The excuse was frivolous: <i>It must not be so done
|
|
in our country,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 29:26" id="Gen.xxx-p10.1" parsed="|Gen|29|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.26"><i>v.</i>
|
|
26</scripRef>. We have reason to think there was no such custom of
|
|
his country as he pretends; only he banters Jacob with it, and
|
|
laughs at his mistake. Note, Those that can do wickedly and then
|
|
think to turn it off with a jest, though they may deceive
|
|
themselves and others, will find at last that God is not mocked.
|
|
But if there had been such a custom, and he had resolved to observe
|
|
it, he should have told Jacob so when he undertook to serve him for
|
|
his younger daughter. Note, As saith the proverb of the ancients,
|
|
<i>Wickedness proceeds from the wicked,</i> <scripRef passage="1Sa 24:13" id="Gen.xxx-p10.2" parsed="|1Sam|24|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.24.13">1 Sam. xxiv. 13</scripRef>. Those that deal with
|
|
treacherous men must expect to be dealt treacherously with. 2. His
|
|
compounding the matter did but make bad worse: <i>We will give thee
|
|
this also,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 29:27" id="Gen.xxx-p10.3" parsed="|Gen|29|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.27"><i>v.</i>
|
|
27</scripRef>. Hereby he drew Jacob into the sin, and snare, and
|
|
disquiet, of multiplying wives, which remains a blot in his
|
|
escutcheon, and will be so to the end of the world. Honest Jacob
|
|
did not design it, but to have kept as true to Rachel as his father
|
|
had done to Rebekah. He that had lived without a wife to the
|
|
eighty-fourth year of his age could then have been very well
|
|
content with one; but Laban, to dispose of his two daughters
|
|
without portions, and to get seven years' service more out of
|
|
Jacob, thus imposes upon him, and draws him into such a strait by
|
|
his fraud, that (the matter not being yet settled, as it was
|
|
afterwards by the divine law, <scripRef passage="Le 18:18" id="Gen.xxx-p10.4" parsed="|Lev|18|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.18">Lev.
|
|
xviii. 18</scripRef>, and more fully since by our Saviour,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mt 19:5" id="Gen.xxx-p10.5" parsed="|Matt|19|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.19.5">Matt. xix. 5</scripRef>) he had some
|
|
colourable reasons for marrying them both. He could not refuse
|
|
Rachel, for he had espoused her; still less could he refuse Leah,
|
|
for he had married her; and therefore Jacob must <i>be content, and
|
|
take two talents,</i> <scripRef passage="2Ki 5:23" id="Gen.xxx-p10.6" parsed="|2Kgs|5|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.5.23">2 Kings v.
|
|
23</scripRef>. Note, One sin is commonly the inlet of another.
|
|
Those that go in by one door of wickedness seldom find their way
|
|
out but by another. The polygamy of the patriarchs was, in some
|
|
measure, excusable in them, because, though there was a reason
|
|
against it as ancient as Adam's marriage (<scripRef passage="Mal 2:15" id="Gen.xxx-p10.7" parsed="|Mal|2|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mal.2.15">Mal. ii. 15</scripRef>), yet there was no express
|
|
command against it; it was in them a sin of ignorance. It was not
|
|
the product of any sinful lust, but for the building up of the
|
|
church, which was the good that Providence brought out of it; but
|
|
it will by no means justify the like practice now, when God's will
|
|
is plainly made known, that one man and one woman only must be
|
|
joined together, <scripRef passage="1Co 7:2" id="Gen.xxx-p10.8" parsed="|1Cor|7|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.7.2">1 Cor. vii.
|
|
2</scripRef>. The having of many wives suits well enough with the
|
|
carnal sensual spirit of the Mahomedan imposture, which allows it;
|
|
but we have not so learned Christ. Dr. Lightfoot makes Leah and
|
|
Rachel to be figures of the two churches, the Jews under the law
|
|
and the Gentiles under the gospel: the younger the more beautiful,
|
|
and more in the thoughts of Christ when he came in the form of a
|
|
servant; but he other, like Leah, first embraced: yet in this the
|
|
allegory does not hold, that the Gentiles, the younger, were more
|
|
fruitful, <scripRef passage="Ga 4:27" id="Gen.xxx-p10.9" parsed="|Gal|4|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.4.27">Gal. iv. 27</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 29:31-35" id="Gen.xxx-p10.10" parsed="|Gen|29|31|29|35" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.31-Gen.29.35"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.29.31-Gen.29.35">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxx-p10.11">Increase of Jacob's Family. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxx-p10.12">b. c.</span> 1749.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxx-p11">31 And when the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxx-p11.1">Lord</span> saw that Leah <i>was</i> hated, he opened
|
|
her womb: but Rachel <i>was</i> barren.   32 And Leah
|
|
conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben: for she
|
|
said, Surely the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxx-p11.2">Lord</span> hath looked
|
|
upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will love me.  
|
|
33 And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Because the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxx-p11.3">Lord</span> hath heard that I <i>was</i>
|
|
hated, he hath therefore given me this <i>son</i> also: and she
|
|
called his name Simeon.   34 And she conceived again, and bare
|
|
a son; and said, Now this time will my husband be joined unto me,
|
|
because I have born him three sons: therefore was his name called
|
|
Levi.   35 And she conceived again, and bare a son: and she
|
|
said, Now will I praise the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxx-p11.4">Lord</span>:
|
|
therefore she called his name Judah; and left bearing.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxx-p12">We have here the birth of four of Jacob's
|
|
sons, all by Leah. Observe, 1. That Leah, who was less beloved, was
|
|
blessed with children, when Rachel was denied that blessing,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 29:31" id="Gen.xxx-p12.1" parsed="|Gen|29|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>. See how
|
|
Providence, in dispensing its gifts, observes a proportion, to keep
|
|
the balance even, setting crosses and comforts one over-against
|
|
another, that none may be either too much elevated or too much
|
|
depressed. Rachel wants children, but she is blessed with her
|
|
husband's love; Leah wants that, but she is fruitful. Thus it was
|
|
between Elkana's two wives (<scripRef passage="1Sa 1:5" id="Gen.xxx-p12.2" parsed="|1Sam|1|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.1.5">1 Sam. i.
|
|
5</scripRef>); for the Lord is wise and righteous. <i>When the Lord
|
|
saw that Leah was hated,</i> that is, loved less than Rachel, in
|
|
which sense it is required that we hate father and mother, in
|
|
comparison with Christ (<scripRef passage="Lu 14:26" id="Gen.xxx-p12.3" parsed="|Luke|14|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.14.26">Luke xiv.
|
|
26</scripRef>), then the Lord granted her a child, which was a
|
|
rebuke
|
|
|
|
<pb n="178" id="Gen.xxx-Page_178"/>
|
|
|
|
to Jacob, for making so great a
|
|
difference between those that he was equally related to,—a check
|
|
to Rachel, who perhaps insulted over her sister upon that
|
|
account,—and a comfort to Leah, that she might not be overwhelmed
|
|
with the contempt put upon her: thus <i>God giveth abundant honour
|
|
to that which lacked,</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 12:24" id="Gen.xxx-p12.4" parsed="|1Cor|12|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.12.24">1 Cor. xii.
|
|
24</scripRef>. 2. The names she gave her children were expressive
|
|
of her respectful regards both to God and to her husband. (1.) She
|
|
appears very ambitious of her husband's love: she reckoned the want
|
|
of it her affliction (<scripRef passage="Ge 29:32" id="Gen.xxx-p12.5" parsed="|Gen|29|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.32"><i>v.</i>
|
|
32</scripRef>); not upbraiding him with it as his fault, nor
|
|
reproaching him for it, and so making herself uneasy to him, but
|
|
laying it to heart as her grief, which yet she had reason to bear
|
|
with the more patience because she herself was consenting to the
|
|
fraud by which she became his wife; and we may well bear that
|
|
trouble with patience which we bring upon ourselves by our own sin
|
|
and folly. She promised herself that the children she bore him
|
|
would gain her the interest she desired in his affections. She
|
|
called her first-born <i>Reuben</i> (<i>see a son</i>), with this
|
|
pleasant thought, <i>Now will my husband love me;</i> and her third
|
|
son <i>Levi</i> (<i>joined</i>), with this expectation, <i>Now will
|
|
my husband by joined unto me,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 29:34" id="Gen.xxx-p12.6" parsed="|Gen|29|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.34"><i>v.</i> 34</scripRef>. Mutual affection is both the
|
|
duty and comfort of that relation; and yoke-fellows should study to
|
|
recommend themselves to each other, <scripRef passage="1Co 7:33,34" id="Gen.xxx-p12.7" parsed="|1Cor|7|33|7|34" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.7.33-1Cor.7.34">1 Cor. vii. 33, 34</scripRef>. (2.) She thankfully
|
|
acknowledges the kind providence of God in it: <i>The Lord hath
|
|
looked upon my affliction,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 29:32" id="Gen.xxx-p12.8" parsed="|Gen|29|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>. "<i>The Lord hath heard,</i>
|
|
that is, taken notice of it, <i>that I was hated</i> (for our
|
|
afflictions, as they are before God's eyes, so they have a cry in
|
|
his ears), <i>he has therefore given me this son.</i>" Note,
|
|
Whatever we have that contributes either to our support and comfort
|
|
under our afflictions or to our deliverance from them, God must be
|
|
owned in it, especially his pity and tender mercy. Her fourth she
|
|
called <i>Judah</i> (<i>praise</i>), saying, <i>Now will I praise
|
|
the Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 29:35" id="Gen.xxx-p12.9" parsed="|Gen|29|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.35"><i>v.</i> 35</scripRef>.
|
|
And this was he of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came.
|
|
Note, [1.] Whatever is the matter of our rejoicing ought to be the
|
|
matter of our thanksgiving. Fresh favours should quicken us to
|
|
praise God for former favours. <i>Now will I praise the Lord</i>
|
|
more and better than I have done. [2.] All our praises must centre
|
|
in Christ, both as the matter of them and as the Mediator of them.
|
|
He descended from him whose name was praise, for he is our praise.
|
|
Is Christ formed in my heart? <i>Now will I praise the
|
|
Lord.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXX" n="xxxi" progress="20.91%" prev="Gen.xxx" next="Gen.xxxii" id="Gen.xxxi">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="178" id="Gen.xxxi-Page_178"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xxxi-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xxxi-p0.2">CHAP. XXX.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xxxi-p1">In this chapter we have an account of the
|
|
increase, I. Of Jacob's family. Eight children more we find
|
|
registered in this chapter; Dan and Naphtali by Bilhah, Rachel's
|
|
maid, <scripRef passage="Ge 30:1-8" id="Gen.xxxi-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|30|1|30|8" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.1-Gen.30.8">ver. 1-8</scripRef>. Gad and
|
|
Asher by Zilpah, Leah's maid, <scripRef passage="Ge 30:9-13" id="Gen.xxxi-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|30|9|30|13" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.9-Gen.30.13">ver.
|
|
9-13</scripRef>. Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah, by Leah, <scripRef passage="Ge 30:14-21" id="Gen.xxxi-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|30|14|30|21" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.14-Gen.30.21">ver. 14-21</scripRef>. And, last of all,
|
|
Joseph, by Rachel, <scripRef passage="Ge 30:22-24" id="Gen.xxxi-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|30|22|30|24" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.22-Gen.30.24">ver.
|
|
22-24</scripRef>. II. Of Jacob's estate. He makes a new bargain
|
|
with Laban, <scripRef passage="Ge 30:25-34" id="Gen.xxxi-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|30|25|30|34" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.25-Gen.30.34">ver. 25-34</scripRef>.
|
|
And in the six years' further service he did to Laban God
|
|
wonderfully blessed him, so that his stock of cattle became very
|
|
considerable, <scripRef passage="Ge 30:35-43" id="Gen.xxxi-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|30|35|30|43" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.35-Gen.30.43">ver.
|
|
35-43</scripRef>. Herein was fulfilled the blessing with which
|
|
Isaac dismissed him (<scripRef passage="Ge 28:3" id="Gen.xxxi-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|28|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.3"><i>ch.</i> xxviii.
|
|
3</scripRef>), "God make thee fruitful, and multiply thee." Even
|
|
these small matters concerning Jacob's house and field, though they
|
|
seem inconsiderable, are improvable for our learning. For the
|
|
scriptures were written, not for princes and statesmen, to instruct
|
|
them in politics; but for all people, even the meanest, to direct
|
|
them in their families and callings: yet some things are here
|
|
recorded concerning Jacob, not for imitation, but for
|
|
admonition.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 30" id="Gen.xxxi-p1.8" parsed="|Gen|30|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 30:1-13" id="Gen.xxxi-p1.9" parsed="|Gen|30|1|30|13" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.1-Gen.30.13"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.30.1-Gen.30.13">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxxi-p1.10">Increase of Jacob's Family. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxxi-p1.11">b. c.</span> 1745.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxi-p2">1 And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no
|
|
children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me
|
|
children, or else I die.   2 And Jacob's anger was kindled
|
|
against Rachel: and he said, <i>Am</i> I in God's stead, who hath
|
|
withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?   3 And she said,
|
|
Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my
|
|
knees, that I may also have children by her.   4 And she gave
|
|
him Bilhah her handmaid to wife: and Jacob went in unto her.  
|
|
5 And Bilhah conceived, and bare Jacob a son.   6 And Rachel
|
|
said, God hath judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath
|
|
given me a son: therefore called she his name <scripRef passage="Dan. 7" id="Gen.xxxi-p2.1" parsed="|Dan|7|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.7">Dan.   7</scripRef> And
|
|
Bilhah Rachel's maid conceived again, and bare Jacob a second son.
|
|
  8 And Rachel said, With great wrestlings have I wrestled
|
|
with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called his name
|
|
Naphtali.   9 When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she
|
|
took Zilpah her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife.   10 And
|
|
Zilpah Leah's maid bare Jacob a son.   11 And Leah said, A
|
|
troop cometh: and she called his name Gad.   12 And Zilpah
|
|
Leah's maid bare Jacob a second son.   13 And Leah said, Happy
|
|
am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his
|
|
name Asher.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxi-p3">We have here the bad consequences of that
|
|
strange marriage which Jacob made with the two sisters. Here
|
|
is,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxi-p4">I. An unhappy disagreement between him and
|
|
Rachel (<scripRef passage="Ge 30:1,2" id="Gen.xxxi-p4.1" parsed="|Gen|30|1|30|2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.1-Gen.30.2"><i>v.</i> 1, 2</scripRef>),
|
|
occasioned, not so much by her own barrenness as by her sister's
|
|
fruitfulness. Rebekah, the only wife of Isaac, was long childless,
|
|
and yet we find no uneasiness between her and Isaac; but here,
|
|
because Leah bears children, Rachel cannot live peaceably with
|
|
Jacob.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxi-p5">1. Rachel frets. She <i>envied her
|
|
sister,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 30:1" id="Gen.xxxi-p5.1" parsed="|Gen|30|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>.
|
|
Envy is grieving at the good of another, than which no sin is more
|
|
offensive to God, nor more injurious to our neighbour and
|
|
ourselves. She considered not that it was God that made the
|
|
difference, and that though, in this single instance her sister was
|
|
preferred before her, yet in other things she had the advantage.
|
|
Let us carefully watch against all the risings and workings of this
|
|
passion in our minds. Let not our eye be evil
|
|
|
|
<pb n="179" id="Gen.xxxi-Page_179"/>
|
|
|
|
towards any of our fellow-servants because our
|
|
master's is good. But this was not all; she said to Jacob, <i>Give
|
|
me children, or else I die.</i> Note, We are very apt to err in our
|
|
desires of temporal mercies, as Rachel here. (1.) One child would
|
|
not content her; but, because Leah has more than one, she must have
|
|
more too: <i>Give me children.</i> (2.) Her heart is inordinately
|
|
set upon it, and, if she have not what she would have, she will
|
|
throw away her life, and all the comforts of it. "Give them to me,
|
|
or <i>else I die,</i>" that is, "I shall fret myself to death; the
|
|
want of this satisfaction will shorten my days." Some think she
|
|
threatens Jacob to lay violent hands upon herself, if she could not
|
|
obtain this mercy. (3.) She did not apply to God by prayer, but to
|
|
Jacob only, forgetting that <i>children are a heritage of the
|
|
Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 127:3" id="Gen.xxxi-p5.2" parsed="|Ps|127|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.127.3">Ps. cxxvii. 3</scripRef>. We
|
|
wrong both God and ourselves when our eye is more to men, the
|
|
instruments of our crosses and comforts, than to God the author.
|
|
Observe a difference between Rachel's asking for this mercy and
|
|
Hannah's, <scripRef passage="1Sa 1:10,11" id="Gen.xxxi-p5.3" parsed="|1Sam|1|10|1|11" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.1.10-1Sam.1.11">1 Sam. i. 10</scripRef>,
|
|
&c. Rachel envied; Hannah wept. Rachel must have children, and
|
|
she died of the second; Hannah prayed for one child, and she had
|
|
four more. Rachel is importunate and peremptory; Hannah is
|
|
submissive and devout. <i>If thou wilt give me a child, I will give
|
|
him to the Lord.</i> Let Hannah be imitated, and not Rachel; and
|
|
let our desires be always under the direction and control of reason
|
|
and religion.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxi-p6">2. Jacob chides, and most justly. He loved
|
|
Rachel, and therefore reproved her for what she said amiss,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 30:2" id="Gen.xxxi-p6.1" parsed="|Gen|30|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. Note, Faithful
|
|
reproofs and products and instances of true affection, <scripRef passage="Ps 141:5,Pr 27:5,6" id="Gen.xxxi-p6.2" parsed="|Ps|141|5|0|0;|Prov|27|5|27|6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.141.5 Bible:Prov.27.5-Prov.27.6">Ps. cxli. 5; Prov. xxvii. 5,
|
|
6</scripRef>. Job reproved his wife when she spoke the language of
|
|
the foolish women, <scripRef passage="Job 2:10" id="Gen.xxxi-p6.3" parsed="|Job|2|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.2.10">Job ii.
|
|
10</scripRef>. See <scripRef passage="1Co 7:16" id="Gen.xxxi-p6.4" parsed="|1Cor|7|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.7.16">1 Cor. vii.
|
|
16</scripRef>. He was angry, not at the person, but at the sin; he
|
|
expressed himself so as to show his displeasure. Note, sometimes it
|
|
is requisite that a reproof should be given warm, like a medical
|
|
potion; not too hot, lest it scald the patient; yet not cold, lest
|
|
it prove ineffectual. It was a very grave and pious reply which
|
|
Jacob gave to Rachel's peevish demand: <i>Am I in God's stead?</i>
|
|
The Chaldee paraphrases it well, <i>Dost thou ask sons of me?
|
|
Oughtest thou not to ask them from before the Lord?</i> The Arabic
|
|
reads it, "<i>Am I above God?</i> can I give thee that which God
|
|
denies thee?" This was said like a plain man. Observe, (1.) He
|
|
acknowledges the hand of God in the affliction which he was a
|
|
sharer with her in: He <i>hath withheld the fruit of the womb.</i>
|
|
Note, Whatever we want, it is God that withholds it, a sovereign
|
|
Lord, most wise, holy, and just, that may do what he will with his
|
|
own, and is debtor to no man, that never did, nor ever can do, any
|
|
wrong to any of his creatures. The keys of the clouds, of the
|
|
heart, of the grave, and of the womb, are four keys which God had
|
|
in his hand, and which (the rabbin say) he entrusts neither with
|
|
angels nor seraphim. See <scripRef passage="Re 3:7,Job 11:10,12:14" id="Gen.xxxi-p6.5" parsed="|Rev|3|7|0|0;|Job|11|10|0|0;|Job|12|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.3.7 Bible:Job.11.10 Bible:Job.12.14">Rev. iii. 7. Job xi. 10; xii.
|
|
14</scripRef>. (2.) He acknowledges his own inability to alter what
|
|
God had appointed: "<i>Am I in God's stead?</i> What! dost thou
|
|
make a god of me?" <i>Deos qui rogat ille facit—He to whom we
|
|
offer supplications is to us a god.</i> Note, [1.] There is no
|
|
creature that is, or can be, to us, in God's stead. God may be to
|
|
us instead of any creature, as the sun instead of the moon and
|
|
stars; but the moon and all the stars will not be to us instead of
|
|
the sun. No creature's wisdom, power, and love, will be to us
|
|
instead of God's. [2.] It is therefore our sin and folly to place
|
|
any creature in God's stead, and to place that confidence in any
|
|
creature which is to be placed in God only.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxi-p7">II. An unhappy agreement between him and
|
|
the two handmaids.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxi-p8">1. At the persuasion of Rachel, he took
|
|
Bilhah her handmaid to wife, that, according to the usage of those
|
|
times, his children by her might be adopted and owned as her
|
|
mistress's children, <scripRef passage="Ge 30:3-8" id="Gen.xxxi-p8.1" parsed="|Gen|30|3|30|8" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.3-Gen.30.8"><i>v.</i>
|
|
3</scripRef>, &c. She would rather have children by reputation
|
|
than none at all, children that she might fancy to be her own, and
|
|
call her own, though they were not so. One would think her own
|
|
sister's children were nearer akin to her than her maid's, and she
|
|
might with more satisfaction have made them her own if she had so
|
|
pleased; but (so natural is it for us all to be fond of power)
|
|
children that she had a right to rule were more desirable to her
|
|
than children that she had more reason to love; and, as an early
|
|
instance of her dominion over the children born in her apartment,
|
|
she takes a pleasure in giving them names that carry in them
|
|
nothing but marks of emulation with her sister, as if she had
|
|
overcome her, (1.) At law. She calls the first son of her handmaid
|
|
<i>Dan</i> (<i>judgement</i>), saying, "<i>God hath judged me</i>"
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 30:6" id="Gen.xxxi-p8.2" parsed="|Gen|30|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), that is,
|
|
"given sentence in my favour." (2.) In battle. She calls the next
|
|
<i>Naphtali</i> (<i>wrestlings</i>), saying, <i>I have wrestled
|
|
with my sister, and have prevailed</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 30:8" id="Gen.xxxi-p8.3" parsed="|Gen|30|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>); as if all Jacob's sons must be
|
|
born men of contention. See what roots of bitterness envy and
|
|
strife are, and what mischief they make among relations.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxi-p9">2. At the persuasion of Leah, he took
|
|
Zilpah her handmaid to wife also, <scripRef passage="Ge 30:9" id="Gen.xxxi-p9.1" parsed="|Gen|30|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. Rachel had done that absurd and
|
|
preposterous thing of giving her maid to her husband, in emulation
|
|
with Leah; and now Leah (because she missed one year in bearing
|
|
children) does the same, to be even with her, or rather to keep
|
|
before her. See the power of jealousy and rivalship, and admire the
|
|
wisdom of the divine appointment, which unites one man and one
|
|
woman only; for <i>God hath called us to peace</i> and purity,
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Co 7:15" id="Gen.xxxi-p9.2" parsed="|1Cor|7|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.7.15">1 Cor. vii. 15</scripRef>. Two sons
|
|
Zilpah bore to Jacob, whom Leah looked upon herself as entitled to,
|
|
in token of which she called one <i>Gad</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 30:11" id="Gen.xxxi-p9.3" parsed="|Gen|30|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>), promising herself a little
|
|
<i>troop</i> of children; and children are the militia of a family,
|
|
they fill the quiver, <scripRef passage="Ps 127:4,5" id="Gen.xxxi-p9.4" parsed="|Ps|127|4|127|5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.127.4-Ps.127.5">Ps. cxxvii. 4,
|
|
5</scripRef>. The other she called <i>Asher</i>
|
|
|
|
<pb n="180" id="Gen.xxxi-Page_180"/>
|
|
|
|
(<i>happy</i>), thinking herself happy in him, and
|
|
promising herself that her neighbours would think so too: <i>The
|
|
daughters will call me blessed,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 30:13" id="Gen.xxxi-p9.5" parsed="|Gen|30|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. Note, It is an instance of the
|
|
vanity of the world, and the foolishness bound up in our hearts,
|
|
that most people value themselves and govern themselves more by
|
|
reputation than either by reason or religion; they think themselves
|
|
blessed if the daughters do but call them so. There was much amiss
|
|
in the contest and competition between these two sisters, yet God
|
|
brought good out of this evil; for, the time being now at hand when
|
|
the seed of Abraham must begin to increase and multiply, thus
|
|
Jacob's family was replenished with twelve sons, heads of the
|
|
thousands of Israel, from whom the celebrated twelve tribes
|
|
descended and were named.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 30:14-24" id="Gen.xxxi-p9.6" parsed="|Gen|30|14|30|24" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.14-Gen.30.24"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.30.14-Gen.30.24">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxi-p10">14 And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest,
|
|
and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother
|
|
Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son's
|
|
mandrakes.   15 And she said unto her, <i>Is it</i> a small
|
|
matter that thou hast taken my husband? and wouldest thou take away
|
|
my son's mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie
|
|
with thee to night for thy son's mandrakes.   16 And Jacob
|
|
came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet
|
|
him, and said, Thou must come in unto me; for surely I have hired
|
|
thee with my son's mandrakes. And he lay with her that night.
|
|
  17 And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare
|
|
Jacob the fifth son.   18 And Leah said, God hath given me my
|
|
hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband: and she called
|
|
his name Issachar.   19 And Leah conceived again, and bare
|
|
Jacob the sixth son.   20 And Leah said, God hath endued me
|
|
<i>with</i> a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me,
|
|
because I have borne him six sons: and she called his name Zebulun.
|
|
  21 And afterwards she bare a daughter, and called her name
|
|
Dinah.   22 And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to
|
|
her, and opened her womb.   23 And she conceived, and bare a
|
|
son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach:   24 And she
|
|
called his name Joseph; and said, The <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxxi-p10.1">Lord</span> shall add to me another son.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxi-p11">Here is, I. Leah fruitful again, after she
|
|
had, for some time, left off bearing. Jacob, it should seem,
|
|
associated more with Rachel than with Leah. The law of Moses
|
|
supposes it a common case that, if a man had two wives, one would
|
|
be beloved and the other hated, <scripRef passage="De 21:15" id="Gen.xxxi-p11.1" parsed="|Deut|21|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21.15">Deut.
|
|
xxi. 15</scripRef>. But at length Rachel's strong passions betrayed
|
|
her into a bargain with Leah that Jacob should return to her
|
|
apartment. Reuben, a little lad, five or six years old, playing in
|
|
the field, found <i>mandrakes, dudaim.</i> It is uncertain what
|
|
they were, the critics are not agreed about them; we are sure they
|
|
were some rarities, either fruits or flowers that were very
|
|
pleasant to the smell, <scripRef passage="So 7:13" id="Gen.xxxi-p11.2" parsed="|Song|7|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Song.7.13">Cant. vii.
|
|
13</scripRef>. Note, The God of nature has provided, not only for
|
|
our necessities, but for our delights; there are products of the
|
|
earth in the exposed fields, as well as in the planted protected
|
|
gardens, that are very valuable and useful. How plentifully is
|
|
nature's house furnished and her table spread! Her precious fruits
|
|
offer themselves to be gathered by the hands of little children. It
|
|
is a laudable custom of the devout Jews, when they find pleasure,
|
|
suppose in eating an apple, to lift up their hearts, and say,
|
|
"Blessed be he that made this fruit pleasant!" Or, in smelling a
|
|
flower, "Blessed be he that made this flower sweet." Some think
|
|
these mandrakes were jessamine flowers. Whatever they were, Rachel
|
|
could not see them in Leah's hands, where the child had placed
|
|
them, but she must covet them. She cannot bear the want of these
|
|
pretty flowers, but will purchase them at any rate. Note, There may
|
|
be great sin and folly in the inordinate desire of a small thing.
|
|
Leah takes this advantage (as Jacob had of Esau's coveting his red
|
|
pottage) to obtain that which was justly due to her, but to which
|
|
Rachel would not otherwise have consented. Note, Strong passions
|
|
often thwart one another, and those cannot but be continually
|
|
uneasy that are hurried on by them. Leah is overjoyed that she
|
|
shall have her husband's company again, that her family might yet
|
|
further be built up, which is the blessing she desires and devoutly
|
|
prays for, as is intimated, <scripRef passage="Ge 30:17" id="Gen.xxxi-p11.3" parsed="|Gen|30|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.17"><i>v.</i>
|
|
17</scripRef>, where it is said, <i>God hearkened unto Leah.</i>
|
|
The learned bishop Patrick very well suggests here that the true
|
|
reason of this contest between Jacob's wives for his company, and
|
|
their giving him their maids to be his wives, was the earnest
|
|
desire they had to fulfil the promise made to Abraham (and now
|
|
lately renewed to Jacob), that his seed should be as the stars of
|
|
heaven for multitude, and that in one seed of his, the Messiah, all
|
|
the nations of the earth should be blessed. And he thinks it would
|
|
have been below the dignity of this sacred history to take such
|
|
particular notice of these things if there had not been some such
|
|
great consideration in them. Leah was now blessed with two sons;
|
|
the first she called <i>Issachar</i> (<i>a hire</i>), reckoning
|
|
herself well repaid for her mandrakes, nay (which is a strange
|
|
construction of the providence) rewarded for giving her maid to her
|
|
husband. Note, We
|
|
|
|
<pb n="181" id="Gen.xxxi-Page_181"/>
|
|
|
|
abuse God's mercy when we
|
|
reckon that his favours countenance and patronize our follies. The
|
|
other she called <i>Zebulun</i> (<i>dwelling</i>), owning God's
|
|
bounty to her: <i>God has endowed me with a good dowry,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 30:20" id="Gen.xxxi-p11.4" parsed="|Gen|30|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. Jacob had not
|
|
endowed her when he married her, nor had he wherewithal in
|
|
possession; but she reckons a family of children not a bill of
|
|
charges, but a good dowry, <scripRef passage="Ps 113:9" id="Gen.xxxi-p11.5" parsed="|Ps|113|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.113.9">Ps. cxiii.
|
|
9</scripRef>. She promises herself more of her husband's company
|
|
now that she had borne him six sons, and that, in love to his
|
|
children at least, he would often visit her lodgings. Mention is
|
|
made (<scripRef passage="Ge 30:21" id="Gen.xxxi-p11.6" parsed="|Gen|30|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>) of the
|
|
birth of a daughter, <i>Dinah,</i> because of the following story
|
|
concerning her, <scripRef passage="Ge 34:1-31" id="Gen.xxxi-p11.7" parsed="|Gen|34|1|34|31" osisRef="Bible:Gen.34.1-Gen.34.31"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xxxiv</scripRef>. Perhaps Jacob had other daughters, though their
|
|
names are not registered.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxi-p12">II. Rachel fruitful at last (<scripRef passage="Ge 30:22" id="Gen.xxxi-p12.1" parsed="|Gen|30|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>): <i>God remembered
|
|
Rachel,</i> whom he seemed to have forgotten, and <i>hearkened to
|
|
her</i> whose prayers had been long denied; and then she bore a
|
|
son. Note, As God justly denies the mercy we have been inordinately
|
|
desirous of, so sometimes he graciously grants, at length, that
|
|
which we have long waited for. He corrects our folly, and yet
|
|
considers our frame, and does not contend for ever. Rachel called
|
|
her son <i>Joseph,</i> which in Hebrew is akin to two words of a
|
|
contrary signification, <i>Asaph</i> (<i>abstulit</i>), <i>He has
|
|
taken away my reproach,</i> as if the greatest mercy she had in
|
|
this son was that she had saved her credit; and <i>Jasaph</i>
|
|
(<i>addidit</i>), <i>The Lord shall add to me another son,</i>
|
|
which may be looked upon either as the language of her inordinate
|
|
desire (she scarcely knows how to be thankful for one unless she
|
|
may be sure of another), or of her faith—she takes this mercy as
|
|
an earnest of further mercy. "Has God given me his grace? I may
|
|
call it Joseph, and say, He shall add more grace! Has he given me
|
|
his joy? I may call it Joseph, and say, He will give me more joy.
|
|
Has he begun, and shall he not make an end?"</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 30:25-36" id="Gen.xxxi-p12.2" parsed="|Gen|30|25|30|36" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.25-Gen.30.36"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.30.25-Gen.30.36">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxxi-p12.3">Jacob's Bargain with Laban. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxxi-p12.4">b. c.</span> 1745.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxi-p13">25 And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne
|
|
Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, Send me away, that I may go
|
|
unto mine own place, and to my country.   26 Give <i>me</i> my
|
|
wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and let me go:
|
|
for thou knowest my service which I have done thee.   27 And
|
|
Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine
|
|
eyes, <i>tarry: for</i> I have learned by experience that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxxi-p13.1">Lord</span> hath blessed me for thy sake.  
|
|
28 And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will give <i>it.</i>
|
|
  29 And he said unto him, Thou knowest how I have served
|
|
thee, and how thy cattle was with me.   30 For <i>it was</i>
|
|
little which thou hadst before I <i>came,</i> and it is <i>now</i>
|
|
increased unto a multitude; and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxxi-p13.2">Lord</span> hath blessed thee since my coming: and now
|
|
when shall I provide for mine own house also?   31 And he
|
|
said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give
|
|
me anything: if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed
|
|
<i>and</i> keep thy flock:   32 I will pass through all thy
|
|
flock to day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted
|
|
cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted
|
|
and speckled among the goats: and <i>of such</i> shall be my hire.
|
|
  33 So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come,
|
|
when it shall come for my hire before thy face: every one that
|
|
<i>is</i> not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among
|
|
the sheep, that shall be counted stolen with me.   34 And
|
|
Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word.
|
|
  35 And he removed that day the he goats that were
|
|
ringstraked and spotted, and all the she goats that were speckled
|
|
and spotted, <i>and</i> every one that had <i>some</i> white in it,
|
|
and all the brown among the sheep, and gave <i>them</i> into the
|
|
hand of his sons.   36 And he set three days' journey betwixt
|
|
himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxi-p14">We have here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxi-p15">I. Jacob's thoughts of home. He faithfully
|
|
served his time out with Laban, even his second apprenticeship,
|
|
though he was an old man, had a large family to provide for, and it
|
|
was high time for him to set up for himself. Though Laban's service
|
|
was hard, and he had cheated him in the first bargain he had made,
|
|
yet Jacob honestly performs his engagements. Note, A good man,
|
|
though he swear to his own hurt, will not change. And though others
|
|
have deceived us this will not justify us in deceiving them. Our
|
|
rule is to do as we <i>would be</i> done by, not as we <i>are</i>
|
|
done by. Jacob's term having expired, he begs leave to be gone,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 30:25" id="Gen.xxxi-p15.1" parsed="|Gen|30|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>. Observe, 1.
|
|
He retained his affection for the land of Canaan, not only because
|
|
it was the land of his nativity, and his father and mother were
|
|
there, whom he longed to see, but because it was the land of
|
|
promise; and, in token of his dependence upon the promise of it,
|
|
though he sojourn in Haran he can by no means think of settling
|
|
there. Thus should we be affected towards our heavenly country,
|
|
looking upon ourselves as strangers here, viewing the heavenly
|
|
country as our home, and longing to be there, as soon as the days
|
|
of our service upon earth are numbered and finished.
|
|
|
|
<pb n="182" id="Gen.xxxi-Page_182"/>
|
|
|
|
We must not think of taking root here, for this is
|
|
not our place and country, <scripRef passage="Heb 13:14" id="Gen.xxxi-p15.2" parsed="|Heb|13|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.13.14">Heb. xiii.
|
|
14</scripRef>. 2. He was desirous to go to Canaan, though he had a
|
|
great family to take with him, and no provision yet made for them.
|
|
He had got wives and children with Laban, but nothing else; yet he
|
|
does not solicit Laban to give him either a portion with his wives
|
|
or the maintenance of some of his children. No, all his request is,
|
|
<i>Give me my wives and my children, and send me away,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 30:25,26" id="Gen.xxxi-p15.3" parsed="|Gen|30|25|30|26" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.25-Gen.30.26"><i>v.</i> 25, 26</scripRef>. Note,
|
|
Those that trust in God, in his providence and promise, though they
|
|
have great families and small incomes, can cheerfully hope that he
|
|
who sends mouths will send meat. He who feeds the brood of the
|
|
ravens will not starve the seed of the righteous.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxi-p16">II. Laban's desire of his stay, <scripRef passage="Ge 30:27" id="Gen.xxxi-p16.1" parsed="|Gen|30|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>. In love to himself, not
|
|
to Jacob or to his wives or children, Laban endeavours to persuade
|
|
him to continue his chief shepherd, entreating him, by the regard
|
|
he bore him, not to leave him: <i>If I have found favour in thy
|
|
eyes, tarry.</i> Note, Churlish selfish men know how to give good
|
|
words when it is to serve their own ends. Laban found that his
|
|
stock had wonderfully increased with Jacob's good management, and
|
|
he owns it, with very good expressions of respect both to God and
|
|
Jacob: <i>I have learned by experience that the Lord has blessed me
|
|
for thy sake.</i> Observe, 1. Laban's learning: <i>I have learned
|
|
by experience.</i> Note, There is many a profitable good lesson to
|
|
be learned by experience. We are very unapt scholars if we have not
|
|
learned by experience the evil of sin, the treachery of our own
|
|
hearts, the vanity of the world, the goodness of God, the gains of
|
|
godliness, and the like. 2. Laban's lesson. He owns, (1.) That his
|
|
prosperity was owing to God's blessing: <i>The Lord has blessed
|
|
me.</i> Note, worldly men, who choose their portion in this life,
|
|
are often blessed with an abundance of this world's goods. Common
|
|
blessings are given plentifully to many that have no title to
|
|
covenant-blessings. (3.) That Jacob's piety had brought that
|
|
blessing upon him: <i>The Lord has blessed me,</i> not for my own
|
|
sake (let not such a man as Laban, that lives without God in the
|
|
world, <i>think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Jam 1:7" id="Gen.xxxi-p16.2" parsed="|Jas|1|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jas.1.7">Jam. i. 7</scripRef>), but <i>for thy
|
|
sake.</i> Note, [1.] Good men are blessings to the places where
|
|
they live, even where they live meanly and obscurely, as Jacob in
|
|
the field, and Joseph in the prison, <scripRef passage="Ge 39:23" id="Gen.xxxi-p16.3" parsed="|Gen|39|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.39.23"><i>ch.</i> xxxix. 23</scripRef>. [2.] God often blesses
|
|
bad men with outward mercies for the sake of their godly relations,
|
|
though it is seldom that they have either the wit to see it or the
|
|
grace to own it, as Laban did here.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxi-p17">III. The new bargain they came upon.
|
|
Laban's craft and covetousness took advantage of Jacob's plainness,
|
|
honesty, and good-nature; and, perceiving that Jacob began to be
|
|
won upon by his fair speeches, instead of making him a generous
|
|
offer and bidding high, as he ought to have done, all things
|
|
considered, he puts it upon him to make his demands (<scripRef passage="Ge 30:28" id="Gen.xxxi-p17.1" parsed="|Gen|30|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>): <i>Appoint me thy
|
|
wages,</i> knowing he would be very modest in them, and would ask
|
|
less than he could for shame offer. Jacob accordingly makes a
|
|
proposal to him, in which,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxi-p18">1. He shows what reason he had to insist
|
|
upon so much, considering, (1.) That Laban was bound in gratitude
|
|
to do well for him, because he had served him not only faithfully,
|
|
but very successfully, <scripRef passage="Ge 30:30" id="Gen.xxxi-p18.1" parsed="|Gen|30|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.30"><i>v.</i>
|
|
30</scripRef>. Yet here observe how he speaks, like himself, very
|
|
modestly. Laban had said, <i>The Lord has blessed me for thy
|
|
sake;</i> Jacob will not say so, but, <i>The Lord has blessed thee
|
|
since my coming.</i> Note, Humble saints take more pleasure in
|
|
doing good than in hearing of it again. (2.) That he himself was
|
|
bound in duty to take care of his own family: <i>Now, when shall I
|
|
provide for my own house also?</i> Note, Faith and charity, though
|
|
they are excellent things, must not take us off from making
|
|
necessary provisions for our own support, and the support of our
|
|
families. We must, like Jacob, <i>trust in the Lord and do
|
|
good,</i> and yet we must, like him, provide for our own houses
|
|
also; he that does not the latter <i>is worse than an infidel,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Ti 5:8" id="Gen.xxxi-p18.2" parsed="|1Tim|5|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.5.8">1 Tim. v. 8</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxi-p19">2. He is willing to refer himself to the
|
|
providence of God, which, he knew, extends itself to the smallest
|
|
things, even the colour of the cattle; and he will be content to
|
|
have for his wages the sheep and goats of such and such a colour,
|
|
speckled, spotted, and brown, which should hereafter be brought
|
|
forth, <scripRef passage="Ge 30:32,33" id="Gen.xxxi-p19.1" parsed="|Gen|30|32|30|33" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.32-Gen.30.33"><i>v.</i> 32, 33</scripRef>.
|
|
This, he thinks, will be a most effectual way both to prevent
|
|
Laban's cheating him and to secure himself from being suspected of
|
|
cheating Laban. Some think he chose this colour because in Canaan
|
|
it was generally most desired and delighted in; their shepherds in
|
|
Canaan are called <i>Nekohim</i> (<scripRef passage="Am 1:1" id="Gen.xxxi-p19.2" parsed="|Amos|1|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Amos.1.1">Amos
|
|
i. 1</scripRef>), the word here used for <i>speckled;</i> and Laban
|
|
was willing to consent to this bargain because he thought if the
|
|
few he has that were now speckled and spotted were separated from
|
|
the rest, which by agreement was to be done immediately, the body
|
|
of the flock which Jacob was to tend, being of one colour, either
|
|
all black or all white, would produce few or none of mixed colours,
|
|
and so he should have Jacob's service for nothing, or next to
|
|
nothing. According to this bargain, those few that were
|
|
party-coloured were separated, and put into the hands of Laban's
|
|
sons, and sent three days' journey off; so great was Laban's
|
|
jealously lest any of them should mix with the rest of the flock,
|
|
to the advantage of Jacob. And now a fine bargain Jacob has made
|
|
for himself! Is this his providing for his own house, to put it
|
|
upon such an uncertainty? If these cattle bring forth, as usually
|
|
cattle do, young ones of the same colour with themselves, he must
|
|
still serve for nothing, and be a drudge and a beggar all the days
|
|
of his
|
|
|
|
<pb n="183" id="Gen.xxxi-Page_183"/>
|
|
|
|
life; but he knows whom he has
|
|
trusted, and the event showed, (1.) That he took the best way that
|
|
could be taken with Laban, who otherwise would certainly have been
|
|
too hard for him. And, (2.) That it was not in vain to rely upon
|
|
the divine providence, which owns and blesses honest humble
|
|
diligence. Those that find men whom they deal with unjust and
|
|
unkind shall not find God so, but, some way or other, he will
|
|
recompense the injured, and be a good pay-master to those that
|
|
commit their cause to him.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 30:37-43" id="Gen.xxxi-p19.3" parsed="|Gen|30|37|30|43" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.37-Gen.30.43"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.30.37-Gen.30.43">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxxi-p19.4">Jacob's Ingenious Policy. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxxi-p19.5">b. c.</span> 1745.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxi-p20">37 And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and
|
|
of the hazel and chesnut tree; and pilled white strakes in them,
|
|
and made the white appear which <i>was</i> in the rods.   38
|
|
And he set the rods which he had pilled before the flocks in the
|
|
gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that
|
|
they should conceive when they came to drink.   39 And the
|
|
flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle
|
|
ringstraked, speckled, and spotted.   40 And Jacob did
|
|
separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the
|
|
ringstraked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put
|
|
his own flocks by themselves, and put them not unto Laban's cattle.
|
|
  41 And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger cattle did
|
|
conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in
|
|
the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods.   42 But
|
|
when the cattle were feeble, he put <i>them</i> not in: so the
|
|
feebler were Laban's, and the stronger Jacob's.   43 And the
|
|
man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants,
|
|
and menservants, and camels, and asses.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxi-p21">Here is Jacob's honest policy to make his
|
|
bargain more advantageous to himself than it was likely to be. If
|
|
he had not taken some course to help himself, it would have been a
|
|
bad bargain indeed, which he knew Laban would never consider, or
|
|
rather would be well pleased to see him a loser by, so little did
|
|
Laban consult any one's interest but his own. Now Jacob's
|
|
contrivances were, 1. To set peeled sticks before the cattle where
|
|
they were watered, that, looking much at those unusual
|
|
party-coloured sticks, by the power of imagination they might bring
|
|
forth young ones in like manner party-coloured, <scripRef passage="Ge 30:37-39" id="Gen.xxxi-p21.1" parsed="|Gen|30|37|30|39" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.37-Gen.30.39"><i>v.</i> 37-39</scripRef>. Probably this custom was
|
|
commonly used by the shepherds of Canaan, who coveted to have their
|
|
cattle of this motley colour. Note, It becomes a man to be master
|
|
of his trade, whatever it is, and to be not only industrious, but
|
|
ingenious in it, and to be versed in all its lawful arts and
|
|
mysteries; for what is a man but his trade? There is a discretion
|
|
which God teaches the husbandman (as plain a trade as that is), and
|
|
which he ought to learn, <scripRef passage="Isa 28:26" id="Gen.xxxi-p21.2" parsed="|Isa|28|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.28.26">Isa. xxviii.
|
|
26</scripRef>. 2. When he began to have a stock of ringstraked and
|
|
brown, he contrived to set them first, and to put the faces of the
|
|
rest towards them, with the same design as in the former
|
|
contrivance; but would not let his own, that were of one colour,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 30:40" id="Gen.xxxi-p21.3" parsed="|Gen|30|40|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.40"><i>v.</i> 40</scripRef>. Strong
|
|
impressions, it seems, are made by the eye, with which therefore we
|
|
have need to make a covenant. 3. When he found that his project
|
|
succeeded, through the special blessing of God upon it, he
|
|
contrived, by using it only with the stronger cattle, to secure to
|
|
himself those that were most valuable, leaving the feebler to
|
|
Laban, <scripRef passage="Ge 30:41,42" id="Gen.xxxi-p21.4" parsed="|Gen|30|41|30|42" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.41-Gen.30.42"><i>v.</i> 41, 42</scripRef>.
|
|
Thus <i>Jacob increased exceedingly</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 30:43" id="Gen.xxxi-p21.5" parsed="|Gen|30|43|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.43"><i>v.</i> 43</scripRef>), and grew very rich in a little
|
|
time. This success of his policy, it is true, was not sufficient to
|
|
justify it, if there had been any thing fraudulent or unjust in it,
|
|
which we are sure there was not, for he did it by divine direction
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 31:12" id="Gen.xxxi-p21.6" parsed="|Gen|31|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.12"><i>ch.</i> xxxi. 12</scripRef>); nor
|
|
was there any thing in the thing itself but the honest improvement
|
|
of a fair bargain, which the divine providence wonderfully
|
|
prospered, both in justice to Jacob whom Laban had wronged and
|
|
dealt hardly with and in pursuance of the particular promises made
|
|
to him of the tokens of the divine favour, Note, Those who, while
|
|
their beginning is small, are humble and honest, contented and
|
|
industrious, are in a likely way to see their latter end greatly
|
|
increasing. He that is faithful in a little shall be entrusted with
|
|
more. He that is faithful in that which is another man's shall be
|
|
entrusted with something of his own. Jacob, who had been a just
|
|
servant, became a rich master.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXXI" n="xxxii" progress="21.51%" prev="Gen.xxxi" next="Gen.xxxiii" id="Gen.xxxii">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="183" id="Gen.xxxii-Page_183"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xxxii-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xxxii-p0.2">CHAP. XXXI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xxxii-p1">Jacob was a very honest good man, a man of great
|
|
devotion and integrity, yet he had more trouble and vexation than
|
|
any of the patriarchs. He left his father's house in a fright, went
|
|
to his uncle's in distress, very hard usage he met with there, and
|
|
now is going back surrounded with fears. Here is, I. His resolution
|
|
to return, <scripRef passage="Ge 31:1-16" id="Gen.xxxii-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|31|1|31|16" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.1-Gen.31.16">ver. 1-16</scripRef>. II.
|
|
His clandestine departure, <scripRef passage="Ge 31:17-21" id="Gen.xxxii-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|31|17|31|21" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.17-Gen.31.21">ver.
|
|
17-21</scripRef>. III. Laban's pursuit of him in displeasure,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 31:22-25" id="Gen.xxxii-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|31|22|31|25" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.22-Gen.31.25">ver. 22-25</scripRef>. IV. The hot
|
|
words that passed between them, <scripRef passage="Ge 31:26-42" id="Gen.xxxii-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|31|26|31|42" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.26-Gen.31.42">ver. 26-42</scripRef>. V. Their amicable agreement at
|
|
last, <scripRef passage="Ge 31:43-55" id="Gen.xxxii-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|31|43|31|55" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.43-Gen.31.55">ver. 43</scripRef>,
|
|
&c.).</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 31" id="Gen.xxxii-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|31|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 31:1-16" id="Gen.xxxii-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|31|1|31|16" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.1-Gen.31.16"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.31.1-Gen.31.16">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxxii-p1.8">Jacob's Departure. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxxii-p1.9">b. c.</span> 1739.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxii-p2">1 And he heard the words of Laban's sons,
|
|
saying, Jacob hath taken away all that <i>was</i> our father's; and
|
|
of <i>that</i> which <i>was</i> our father's hath he gotten all
|
|
this glory.   2 And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban,
|
|
and, behold, it <i>was</i> not toward him as before.   3 And
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxxii-p2.1">Lord</span> said unto Jacob, Return
|
|
unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and I will be
|
|
with thee.   4 And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to
|
|
|
|
<pb n="184" id="Gen.xxxii-Page_184"/>
|
|
|
|
the field unto his flock,   5 And said
|
|
unto them, I see your father's countenance, that it <i>is</i> not
|
|
toward me as before; but the God of my father hath been with me.
|
|
  6 And ye know that with all my power I have served your
|
|
father.   7 And your father hath deceived me, and changed my
|
|
wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me.   8 If
|
|
he said thus, The speckled shall be thy wages; then all the cattle
|
|
bare speckled: and if he said thus, The ringstraked shall be thy
|
|
hire; then bare all the cattle ringstraked.   9 Thus God hath
|
|
taken away the cattle of your father, and given <i>them</i> to me.
|
|
  10 And it came to pass at the time that the cattle
|
|
conceived, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and,
|
|
behold, the rams which leaped upon the cattle <i>were</i>
|
|
ringstraked, speckled, and grisled.   11 And the angel of God
|
|
spake unto me in a dream, <i>saying,</i> Jacob: And I said, Here
|
|
<i>am</i> I.   12 And he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and
|
|
see, all the rams which leap upon the cattle <i>are</i>
|
|
ringstraked, speckled, and grisled: for I have seen all that Laban
|
|
doeth unto thee.   13 I <i>am</i> the God of Beth-el, where
|
|
thou anointedst the pillar, <i>and</i> where thou vowedst a vow
|
|
unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto
|
|
the land of thy kindred.   14 And Rachel and Leah answered and
|
|
said unto him, <i>Is there</i> yet any portion or inheritance for
|
|
us in our father's house?   15 Are we not counted of him
|
|
strangers? for he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our
|
|
money.   16 For all the riches which God hath taken from our
|
|
father, that <i>is</i> ours, and our children's: now then,
|
|
whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxii-p3">Jacob is here taking up a resolution
|
|
immediately to quit his uncle's service, to take what he had and go
|
|
back to Canaan. This resolution he took up upon a just provocation,
|
|
by divine direction, and with the advice and consent of his
|
|
wives.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxii-p4">I. Upon a just provocation; for Laban and
|
|
his sons had become very cross and ill-natured towards him, so that
|
|
he could not stay among them with safety or satisfaction.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxii-p5">1. Laban's sons showed their ill-will in
|
|
what they said, <scripRef passage="Ge 31:1" id="Gen.xxxii-p5.1" parsed="|Gen|31|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>.
|
|
It should seem they said it in Jacob's hearing, with a design to
|
|
vex him. The last chapter began with Rachel's envying Leah; this
|
|
begins with Laban's sons envying Jacob. Observe, (1.) How greatly
|
|
they magnify Jacob's prosperity: <i>He has gotten all this
|
|
glory.</i> And what was this glory that they made so much ado
|
|
about? It was a parcel of brown sheep and speckled goats (and
|
|
perhaps the fine colours made them seem more glorious), and some
|
|
camels and asses, and such like trading; and this was <i>all this
|
|
glory.</i> Note, Riches are glorious things in the eyes of carnal
|
|
people, while to all those that are conversant with heavenly things
|
|
they have no glory in comparison with the glory which excelleth.
|
|
Men's over-valuing worldly wealth is that fundamental error which
|
|
is the root of covetousness, envy, and all evil. (2.) How basely
|
|
they reflect upon Jacob's fidelity, as if what he had he had not
|
|
gotten honestly: <i>Jacob has taken away all that was our
|
|
father's.</i> Not all, surely. What had become of those cattle
|
|
which were committed to the custody of Laban's sons, and sent
|
|
<i>three days' journey</i> off? <scripRef passage="Ge 30:35,36" id="Gen.xxxii-p5.2" parsed="|Gen|30|35|30|36" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.35-Gen.30.36"><i>ch.</i> xxx. 35, 36</scripRef>. They mean all that
|
|
was committed to him; but, speaking invidiously, they express
|
|
themselves thus generally. Note, [1.] Those that are ever so
|
|
careful to keep a good conscience cannot always be sure of a good
|
|
name. [2.] This is one of the vanities and vexations which attend
|
|
outward prosperity, that it makes a man to be envied of his
|
|
neighbors (<scripRef passage="Ec 4:4" id="Gen.xxxii-p5.3" parsed="|Eccl|4|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.4.4">Eccl. iv. 4</scripRef>), and
|
|
<i>who can stand before envy?</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 27:4" id="Gen.xxxii-p5.4" parsed="|Prov|27|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.27.4">Prov.
|
|
xxvii. 4</scripRef>. Whom Heaven blesses hell curses, and all its
|
|
children on earth.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxii-p6">2. Laban himself said little, but his
|
|
countenance was not towards Jacob as it used to be; and Jacob could
|
|
not but take notice of it, <scripRef passage="Ge 31:2,5" id="Gen.xxxii-p6.1" parsed="|Gen|31|2|0|0;|Gen|31|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.2 Bible:Gen.31.5"><i>v.</i>
|
|
2, 5</scripRef>. He was but a churl at the best, but now he was
|
|
more churlish than formerly. Note, Envy is a sin that often appears
|
|
in the countenance; hence we read of an <i>evil eye,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 23:6" id="Gen.xxxii-p6.2" parsed="|Prov|23|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.23.6">Prov. xxiii. 6</scripRef>. Sour looks may do a
|
|
great deal towards the ruin of peace and love in a family, and the
|
|
making of those uneasy of whose comfort we ought to be tender.
|
|
Laban's angry countenance lost him the greatest blessing his family
|
|
ever had, and justly.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxii-p7">II. By divine direction and under the
|
|
convoy of a promise: <i>The Lord said unto Jacob, Return, and I
|
|
will be with thee,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 31:3" id="Gen.xxxii-p7.1" parsed="|Gen|31|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.3"><i>v.</i>
|
|
3</scripRef>. Though Jacob had met with very hard usage here, yet
|
|
he would not quit his place till God bade him. He came thither by
|
|
orders from Heaven, and there he would stay till he was ordered
|
|
back. Note, It is our duty to set ourselves, and it will be our
|
|
comfort to see ourselves, under God's guidance, both in our going
|
|
out and in our coming in. The direction he had from Heaven is more
|
|
fully related in the account he gives of it to his wives (<scripRef passage="Ge 31:10-13" id="Gen.xxxii-p7.2" parsed="|Gen|31|10|31|13" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.10-Gen.31.13"><i>v.</i> 10-13</scripRef>), where he tells
|
|
them of a dream he had about the cattle, and the wonderful increase
|
|
of those of his colour; and how the angel of God, in that dream
|
|
(for I suppose the
|
|
|
|
<pb n="185" id="Gen.xxxii-Page_185"/>
|
|
|
|
dream spoken of <scripRef passage="Ge 31:10" id="Gen.xxxii-p7.3" parsed="|Gen|31|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef> and that <scripRef passage="Ge 31:11" id="Gen.xxxii-p7.4" parsed="|Gen|31|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef> to be the same), took
|
|
notice of the workings of his fancy in his sleep, and instructed
|
|
him, so that it was not by chance, or by his own policy, that he
|
|
obtained that great advantage; but, 1. By the providence of God,
|
|
who had taken notice of the hardships Laban had put upon him, and
|
|
took this way to recompense him: "<i>For I have seen all the Laban
|
|
doeth unto thee,</i> and herein I have an eye to that." Note, There
|
|
is more of equity in the distributions of the divine providence
|
|
than we are aware of, and by them the injured are recompensed
|
|
really, though perhaps insensibly. Nor was it only by the justice
|
|
of providence that Jacob was thus enriched, but, 2. In performance
|
|
of the promise intimated in what is said <scripRef passage="Ge 31:13" id="Gen.xxxii-p7.5" parsed="|Gen|31|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>, <i>I am the God of Beth-el,</i>
|
|
This was the place where the covenant was renewed with him. Note,
|
|
Worldly prosperity and success are doubly sweet and comfortable
|
|
when we see them flowing, not from common providence, but from
|
|
covenant-love, <i>to perform the mercy promised</i>—when we have
|
|
them from God as <i>the God of Beth-el,</i> from those promises of
|
|
the life which now is that belonging to godliness. Jacob, even when he
|
|
had this hopeful prospect of growing rich with Laban, must think of
|
|
returning. When the world begins to smile upon us we must remember
|
|
it is not our home. <i>Now arise</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 31:13" id="Gen.xxxii-p7.6" parsed="|Gen|31|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>) <i>and return,</i> (1.) To thy
|
|
devotions in Canaan, the solemnities of which had perhaps been much
|
|
intermitted while he was with Laban. The times of this servitude
|
|
God had winked at; but now, "Return to the place where thou
|
|
anointedst the pillar and vowedst the vow. Now that thou beginnest
|
|
to grow rich it is time to think of an altar and sacrifices again."
|
|
(2.) To thy comforts in Canaan: <i>Return to the land of thy
|
|
kindred.</i> He was here among his near kindred; but those only he
|
|
must look upon as his kindred in the best sense, the kindred he
|
|
must live and die with, to whom pertained the covenant. Note, The
|
|
heirs of Canaan must never reckon themselves at home till they come
|
|
thither, however they may seem to take root here.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxii-p8">III. With the knowledge and consent of his
|
|
wives. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxii-p9">1. He sent for Rachel and Leah to him to
|
|
the field (<scripRef passage="Ge 31:4" id="Gen.xxxii-p9.1" parsed="|Gen|31|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>),
|
|
that he might confer with them more privately, or because one would
|
|
not come to the other's apartment and he would willingly talk with
|
|
them together, or because he had work to do in the field which he
|
|
would not leave. Note, Husbands that love their wives will
|
|
communicate their purposes and intentions to them. Where there is a
|
|
mutual affection there will be a mutual confidence. And the
|
|
prudence of the wife should engage the heart of her husband to
|
|
trust in her, <scripRef passage="Pr 31:11" id="Gen.xxxii-p9.2" parsed="|Prov|31|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.31.11">Prov. xxxi.
|
|
11</scripRef>. Jacob told his wives, (1.) How faithfully he had
|
|
served their father, <scripRef passage="Ge 31:6" id="Gen.xxxii-p9.3" parsed="|Gen|31|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.6"><i>v.</i>
|
|
6</scripRef>. Note, If others do not do their duty to us, yet we
|
|
shall have the comfort of having done ours to them. (2.) How
|
|
unfaithfully their father had dealt with him <scripRef passage="Ge 31:7" id="Gen.xxxii-p9.4" parsed="|Gen|31|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. He would never keep to any
|
|
bargain that he made with him, but, after the first year, still as
|
|
he saw Providence favour Jacob with the colour agreed on, every
|
|
half year of the remaining five he changed it for some other
|
|
colour, which made it ten times; as if he thought not only to
|
|
deceive Jacob, but the divine Providence, which manifestly smiled
|
|
upon him. Note, Those that deal honestly are not always honestly
|
|
dealt with. (3.) How God had owned him notwithstanding. He had
|
|
protected him from Laban's ill-will: <i>God suffered him not to
|
|
hurt me.</i> Note, Those that keep close to God shall be kept
|
|
safely by him. He had also provided plentifully for him,
|
|
notwithstanding Laban's design to ruin him: <i>God has taken away
|
|
the cattle of your father, and given them to me,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 31:9" id="Gen.xxxii-p9.5" parsed="|Gen|31|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. Thus the righteous God
|
|
paid Jacob for his hard service out of Laban's estate; as
|
|
afterwards he paid the seed of Jacob for their serving the
|
|
Egyptians, with their spoils. Note, God is not unrighteous to
|
|
forget his people's work and labour of love, though men be so,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Heb 6:10" id="Gen.xxxii-p9.6" parsed="|Heb|6|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.6.10">Heb. vi. 10</scripRef>. Providence has
|
|
ways of making those honest in the event that are not so in their
|
|
design. Note, further, <i>The wealth of the sinner is laid up for
|
|
the just,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 13:22" id="Gen.xxxii-p9.7" parsed="|Prov|13|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.13.22">Prov. xiii.
|
|
22</scripRef>. (4.) He told them of the command God had given him,
|
|
in a dream, to return to his own country (<scripRef passage="Ge 31:13" id="Gen.xxxii-p9.8" parsed="|Gen|31|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>), that they might not suspect
|
|
his resolution to arise from inconstancy, or any disaffection to
|
|
their country or family, but might see it to proceed from a
|
|
principle of obedience to his God, and dependence on him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxii-p10">2. His wives cheerfully consented to his
|
|
resolution. They also brought forward their grievances, complaining
|
|
that their father had been not only unkind, but unjust, to them
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 31:14-16" id="Gen.xxxii-p10.1" parsed="|Gen|31|14|31|16" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.14-Gen.31.16"><i>v.</i> 14-16</scripRef>), that
|
|
he looked upon them as strangers, and was without natural affection
|
|
towards them; and, whereas Jacob had looked upon the wealth which
|
|
God had transferred from Laban to him as his wages, they looked
|
|
upon it as their portions; so that, both ways, God forced Laban to
|
|
pay his debts, both to his servant and to his daughters. So then it
|
|
seemed, (1.) They were weary of their own people and their father's
|
|
house, and could easily forget them. Note, This good use we should
|
|
make of the unkind usage we meet with from the world, we should sit
|
|
the more loose to it, and be willing to leave it and desirous to be
|
|
at home. (2.) They were willing to go along with their husband, and
|
|
put themselves with him under the divine direction: <i>Whatsoever
|
|
God hath said unto thee do.</i> Note, Those wives that are their
|
|
husband's meet helps will never be their hindrances in doing that
|
|
to which God calls them.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 31:17-24" id="Gen.xxxii-p10.2" parsed="|Gen|31|17|31|24" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.17-Gen.31.24"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.31.17-Gen.31.24">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxii-p11">17 Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his
|
|
wives upon camels;
|
|
|
|
<pb n="186" id="Gen.xxxii-Page_186"/>
|
|
|
|
  18 And he carried
|
|
away all his cattle, and all his goods which he had gotten, the
|
|
cattle of his getting, which he had gotten in Padan-aram, for to go
|
|
to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan.   19 And Laban went
|
|
to shear his sheep: and Rachel had stolen the images that
|
|
<i>were</i> her father's.   20 And Jacob stole away unawares
|
|
to Laban the Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled.  
|
|
21 So he fled with all that he had; and he rose up, and passed over
|
|
the river, and set his face <i>toward</i> the mount Gilead.  
|
|
22 And it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob was fled.
|
|
  23 And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him
|
|
seven days' journey; and they overtook him in the mount Gilead.
|
|
  24 And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and
|
|
said unto him, Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good
|
|
or bad.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxii-p12">Here is, I. Jacob's flight from Laban. We
|
|
may suppose he had been long considering of it, and casting about
|
|
in his mind respecting it; but when now, at last, God had given him
|
|
positive orders to go, he made no delay, nor was he disobedient to
|
|
the heavenly vision. The first opportunity that offered itself he
|
|
laid hold of, when Laban was shearing his sheep (<scripRef passage="Ge 31:19" id="Gen.xxxii-p12.1" parsed="|Gen|31|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>), that part of his flock which
|
|
was in the hands of his sons three days' journey off. Now, 1. It is
|
|
certain that it was lawful for Jacob to leave his service suddenly,
|
|
without giving a quarter's warning. It was not only justified by
|
|
the particular instructions God gave him, but warranted by the
|
|
fundamental law of self-preservation, which directs us, when we are
|
|
in danger, to shift for our own safety, as far as we can do it
|
|
without wronging our consciences. 2. It was his prudence to steal
|
|
away unawares to Laban, lest, if Laban had known, he should have
|
|
hindered him or plundered him. 3. It was honestly done to take no
|
|
more than his own with him, the <i>cattle of his getting,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 31:18" id="Gen.xxxii-p12.2" parsed="|Gen|31|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. He took what
|
|
Providence gave him, and was content with that, and would not take
|
|
the repair of his damages into his own hands. Yet Rachel was not so
|
|
honest as her husband; she <i>stole her father's images</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 31:19" id="Gen.xxxii-p12.3" parsed="|Gen|31|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>) and carried
|
|
them away with her. The Hebrew calls them <i>teraphim.</i> Some
|
|
think they were only little representations of the ancestors of the
|
|
family, in statues or pictures, which Rachel had a particular
|
|
fondness for, and was desirous to have with her, now that she was
|
|
going into another country. It should rather seem that they were
|
|
images for a religious use, <i>penates, household-gods,</i> either
|
|
worshipped or consulted as oracles; and we are willing to hope
|
|
(with bishop Patrick) that she took them away not out of
|
|
covetousness of the rich metal they were made of, much less for her
|
|
own use, or out of any superstitious fear lest Laban, by consulting
|
|
his <i>teraphim,</i> might know which way they had gone (Jacob, no
|
|
doubt, dwelt with his wives as a man of knowledge, and they were
|
|
better taught than so), but out of a design hereby to convince her
|
|
father of the folly of his regard to those as gods which could not
|
|
secure themselves, <scripRef passage="Isa 46:1,2" id="Gen.xxxii-p12.4" parsed="|Isa|46|1|46|2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.46.1-Isa.46.2">Isa. xlvi. 1,
|
|
2</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxii-p13">II. Laban's pursuit of Jacob. Tidings were
|
|
brought him, on the third day, that Jacob had fled; he immediately
|
|
raises the whole clan, takes his brethren, that is, the relations
|
|
of his family, that were all in his interests, and pursues Jacob
|
|
(as Pharaoh and his Egyptians afterwards pursued the seed of
|
|
Jacob), to bring him back into bondage again, or with design to
|
|
strip him of what he had. Seven days' journey he marched in pursuit
|
|
of him, <scripRef passage="Ge 31:23" id="Gen.xxxii-p13.1" parsed="|Gen|31|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. He
|
|
would not have taken half the pains to have visited his best
|
|
friends. But the truth is bad men will do more to serve their
|
|
sinful passions than good men will to serve their just affections,
|
|
and are more vehement in their anger than in their love. Well, at
|
|
length Laban, overtook him, and the very night before he came up
|
|
with him God interposed in the quarrel, rebuked Laban and sheltered
|
|
Jacob, charging Laban not to <i>speak unto him either good or
|
|
bad</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 31:24" id="Gen.xxxii-p13.2" parsed="|Gen|31|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>),
|
|
that is, to say nothing against his going on with his journey, for
|
|
that it proceeded from the Lord. The same Hebraism we have,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 24:50" id="Gen.xxxii-p13.3" parsed="|Gen|24|50|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.50"><i>ch.</i> xxiv. 50</scripRef>. Laban,
|
|
during his seven day's march, had been full of rage against Jacob,
|
|
and was now full of hopes that his lust should be satisfied upon
|
|
him (<scripRef passage="Ex 15:9" id="Gen.xxxii-p13.4" parsed="|Exod|15|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.9">Exod. xv. 9</scripRef>); but God
|
|
comes to him, and with one word ties his hands, though he does not
|
|
turn his heart. Note, 1. In a dream, and in slumberings upon the
|
|
bed, God has ways of opening the <i>ears of men, and sealing their
|
|
instruction,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 33:15,16" id="Gen.xxxii-p13.5" parsed="|Job|33|15|33|16" osisRef="Bible:Job.33.15-Job.33.16">Job xxxiii. 15,
|
|
16</scripRef>. Thus he admonishes men by their consciences, in
|
|
secret whispers, which the man of wisdom will hear and heed. 2. The
|
|
safety of good men is very much owing to the hold God has of the
|
|
consciences of bad men and the access he has to them. 3. God
|
|
sometimes appears wonderfully for the deliverance of his people
|
|
when they are upon the very brink of ruin. The Jews were saved from
|
|
Haman's plot when the king's decree drew hear to be put in
|
|
execution, <scripRef passage="Es 9:1" id="Gen.xxxii-p13.6" parsed="|Esth|9|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Esth.9.1">Esth. ix. 1</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 31:25-35" id="Gen.xxxii-p13.7" parsed="|Gen|31|25|31|35" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.25-Gen.31.35"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.31.25-Gen.31.35">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxxii-p13.8">Laban's Pursuit after Jacob. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxxii-p13.9">b. c.</span> 1739.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxii-p14">25 Then Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had
|
|
pitched his tent in the mount: and Laban with his brethren pitched
|
|
in the mount of Gilead.   26 And Laban said to Jacob, What
|
|
hast thou done, that thou hast stolen away unawares to me, and
|
|
carried away my daughters, as captives <i>taken</i> with the
|
|
|
|
<pb n="187" id="Gen.xxxii-Page_187"/>
|
|
|
|
sword?   27 Wherefore didst thou flee away
|
|
secretly, and steal away from me; and didst not tell me, that I
|
|
might have sent thee away with mirth, and with songs, with tabret,
|
|
and with harp?   28 And hast not suffered me to kiss my sons
|
|
and my daughters? thou hast now done foolishly in <i>so</i> doing.
|
|
  29 It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt: but the God
|
|
of your father spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take thou heed
|
|
that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.   30 And now,
|
|
<i>though</i> thou wouldest needs be gone, because thou sore
|
|
longedst after thy father's house, <i>yet</i> wherefore hast thou
|
|
stolen my gods?   31 And Jacob answered and said to Laban,
|
|
Because I was afraid: for I said, Peradventure thou wouldest take
|
|
by force thy daughters from me.   32 With whomsoever thou
|
|
findest thy gods, let him not live: before our brethren discern
|
|
thou what <i>is</i> thine with me, and take <i>it</i> to thee. For
|
|
Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them.   33 And Laban
|
|
went into Jacob's tent, and into Leah's tent, and into the two
|
|
maidservants' tents; but he found <i>them</i> not. Then went he out
|
|
of Leah's tent, and entered into Rachel's tent.   34 Now
|
|
Rachel had taken the images, and put them in the camel's furniture,
|
|
and sat upon them. And Laban searched all the tent, but found
|
|
<i>them</i> not.   35 And she said to her father, Let it not
|
|
displease my lord that I cannot rise up before thee; for the custom
|
|
of women <i>is</i> upon me. And he searched, but found not the
|
|
images.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxii-p15">We have here the reasoning, not to say the
|
|
rallying, that took place between Laban and Jacob at their meeting,
|
|
in that mountain which was afterwards called <i>Gilead,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 31:25" id="Gen.xxxii-p15.1" parsed="|Gen|31|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>. Here is,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxii-p16">I. The high charge which Laban exhibited
|
|
against him. He accuses him,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxii-p17">1. As a renegade that had unjustly deserted
|
|
his service. To represent Jacob as a criminal, he will have it
|
|
thought that he intended kindness to his daughters (<scripRef passage="Ge 31:27,28" id="Gen.xxxii-p17.1" parsed="|Gen|31|27|31|28" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.27-Gen.31.28"><i>v.</i> 27, 28</scripRef>), that he would
|
|
have dismissed them with all the marks of love and honour that
|
|
could be, that he would have made a solemn business of it, would
|
|
have kissed his little grandchildren (and that was all he would
|
|
have given them), and, according to the foolish custom of the
|
|
country, would have sent them away <i>with mirth, and with songs,
|
|
with tabret, and with harp:</i> not as Rebekah was sent away out of
|
|
the same family, above 120 years before, with prayers and blessings
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 24:60" id="Gen.xxxii-p17.2" parsed="|Gen|24|60|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.60"><i>ch.</i> xxiv. 60</scripRef>), but
|
|
with sport and merriment, which was a sign that religion had very
|
|
much decayed in the family, and that they had lost their
|
|
seriousness. However, he pretends they would have been treated with
|
|
respect at parting. Note, It is common for bad men, when they are
|
|
disappointed in their malicious projects, to pretend that they
|
|
designed nothing but what was kind and fair. When they cannot do
|
|
the mischief they intended, they are loth it should be thought that
|
|
they ever did intend it. When they have not done what they should
|
|
have done they come off with this excuse, that they would have done
|
|
it. Men may thus be deceived, but God cannot. He likewise suggests
|
|
that Jacob had some bad design in stealing away thus (<scripRef passage="Ge 31:26" id="Gen.xxxii-p17.3" parsed="|Gen|31|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>), that he took his wives
|
|
away as captives. Note, Those that mean ill themselves are most apt
|
|
to put the worst construction upon what others do innocently. The
|
|
insinuating and the aggravating of faults are the artifices of a
|
|
designing malice, and those must be represented (though never so
|
|
unjustly) as intending ill against whom ill is intended. Upon the
|
|
whole matter, (1.) He boasts of his own power (<scripRef passage="Ge 31:29" id="Gen.xxxii-p17.4" parsed="|Gen|31|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>): <i>It is in the power of my
|
|
hand to do you hurt.</i> He supposes that he had both right on his
|
|
side (<i>a good action,</i> as we say, against Jacob) and
|
|
<i>strength</i> on his side, either to avenge the wrong or recover
|
|
the right. Note, Bad people commonly value themselves much upon
|
|
their power to do hurt, whereas a power to do good is much more
|
|
valuable. Those that will do nothing to make themselves amiable
|
|
love to be thought formidable. And yet, (2.) He owns himself under
|
|
the check and restraint of God's power; and, though it redounds
|
|
much to the credit and comfort of Jacob, he cannot avoid telling
|
|
him the caution God had given him the night before in a dream,
|
|
<i>Speak not to Jacob good nor bad.</i> Note, As God has all wicked
|
|
instruments in a chain, so when he pleases he can make them
|
|
sensible of it, and force them to own it to his praise, as
|
|
protector of the good, as Balaam did. Or we may look upon this as
|
|
an instance of some conscientious regard felt by Laban for God's
|
|
express prohibitions. As bad as he was he durst not injure one whom
|
|
he saw to be the particular care of Heaven. Note, A great deal of
|
|
mischief would be prevented if men would but attend to the caveats
|
|
which their own consciences give them in slumberings upon the bed,
|
|
and regard the voice of God in them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxii-p18">2. As a thief, <scripRef passage="Ge 31:30" id="Gen.xxxii-p18.1" parsed="|Gen|31|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>. Rather than own that he had
|
|
given him any colour of provocation to depart, he is willing to
|
|
impute it to a foolish fondness for his father's house, which made
|
|
him that he would needs begone; but then (says he) <i>wherefore
|
|
hast thou
|
|
|
|
<pb n="188" id="Gen.xxxii-Page_188"/>
|
|
|
|
stolen my gods?</i> Foolish man!
|
|
to call those his gods that could be stolen! Could he expect
|
|
protection from those that could neither resist nor discover their
|
|
invaders? Happy are those who have the Lord for their God, for they
|
|
have a God that they cannot be robbed of. Enemies may steal our
|
|
goods, but not our God. Here Laban lays to Jacob's charge things
|
|
that he knew not, the common distress of oppressed innocency.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxii-p19">II. Jacob's apology for himself. Those that
|
|
commit their cause to God, yet are not forbidden to plead it
|
|
themselves with meekness and fear. 1. As to the charge of stealing
|
|
away his own wives he clears himself by giving the true reason why
|
|
he went away unknown to Laban, <scripRef passage="Ge 31:31" id="Gen.xxxii-p19.1" parsed="|Gen|31|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>. He feared lest Laban would by
|
|
force take away his daughters, and so oblige him, by the bond of
|
|
his affection to his wives, to continue in his service. Note, Those
|
|
that are unjust in the least, it may be suspected, will be unjust
|
|
also in much, <scripRef passage="Lu 16:10" id="Gen.xxxii-p19.2" parsed="|Luke|16|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.16.10">Luke xvi. 10</scripRef>.
|
|
If Laban deceive Jacob in his wages, it is likely he will make no
|
|
conscience of robbing him of his wives, and putting those asunder
|
|
whom God has joined together. What may not be feared from men that
|
|
have no principle of honesty? 2. As to the charge of stealing
|
|
Laban's gods he pleads not guilty, <scripRef passage="Ge 31:32" id="Gen.xxxii-p19.3" parsed="|Gen|31|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>. He not only did not take them
|
|
himself (he was not so fond of them), but he did not know that they
|
|
were taken. Yet perhaps he spoke too hastily and inconsiderately
|
|
when he said, "Whoever had taken them, <i>let him not live;</i>"
|
|
upon this he might reflect with some bitterness when, not long
|
|
after, Rachel who had taken them died suddenly in travail. How just
|
|
soever we think ourselves to be, it is best to forbear
|
|
imprecations, lest they fall heavier than we imagine.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxii-p20">III. The diligent search Laban made for his
|
|
gods (<scripRef passage="Ge 31:33-35" id="Gen.xxxii-p20.1" parsed="|Gen|31|33|31|35" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.33-Gen.31.35"><i>v.</i> 33-35</scripRef>),
|
|
partly out of hatred to Jacob, whom he would gladly have an
|
|
occasion to quarrel with, partly out of love to his idols, which he
|
|
was loth to part with. We do not find that he searched Jacob's
|
|
flocks for stolen cattle; but he searched his furniture for stolen
|
|
gods. He was of Micah's mind, <i>You have taken away my gods, and
|
|
what have I more?</i> <scripRef passage="Jdg 18:24" id="Gen.xxxii-p20.2" parsed="|Judg|18|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.18.24">Judg. xviii.
|
|
24</scripRef>. Were the worshippers of false gods so set upon their
|
|
idols? did they thus walk in the name of their gods? and shall not
|
|
we be as solicitous in our enquires after the true God? When he has
|
|
justly departed from us, how carefully should we ask, <i>Where is
|
|
God my Maker? O that I knew where I might find him!</i> <scripRef passage="Job 23:3" id="Gen.xxxii-p20.3" parsed="|Job|23|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.23.3">Job xxiii. 3</scripRef>. Laban, after all his
|
|
searches, missed of finding his gods, and was baffled in his
|
|
enquiry with a sham; but our God will not only by found of those
|
|
that seek him, but they shall find him their bountiful
|
|
rewarder.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 31:36-42" id="Gen.xxxii-p20.4" parsed="|Gen|31|36|31|42" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.36-Gen.31.42"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.31.36-Gen.31.42">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxii-p21">36 And Jacob was wroth, and chode with Laban:
|
|
and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What <i>is</i> my trespass?
|
|
what <i>is</i> my sin, that thou hast so hotly pursued after me?
|
|
  37 Whereas thou hast searched all my stuff, what hast thou
|
|
found of all thy household stuff? set <i>it</i> here before my
|
|
brethren and thy brethren, that they may judge betwixt us both.
|
|
  38 This twenty years <i>have</i> I <i>been</i> with thee;
|
|
thy ewes and thy she goats have not cast their young, and the rams
|
|
of thy flock have I not eaten.   39 That which was torn <i>of
|
|
beasts</i> I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it; of my
|
|
hand didst thou require it, <i>whether</i> stolen by day, or stolen
|
|
by night.   40 <i>Thus</i> I was; in the day the drought
|
|
consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from
|
|
mine eyes.   41 Thus have I been twenty years in thy house; I
|
|
served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for
|
|
thy cattle: and thou hast changed my wages ten times.   42
|
|
Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of
|
|
Isaac, had been with me, surely thou hadst sent me away now empty.
|
|
God hath seen mine affliction and the labour of my hands, and
|
|
rebuked <i>thee</i> yesternight.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxii-p22">See in these verses,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxii-p23">I. The power of provocation. Jacob's
|
|
natural temper was mild and calm, and grace had improved it; he was
|
|
a smooth man, and a plain man; and yet Laban's unreasonable
|
|
carriage towards him put him into a heat that transported him into
|
|
a heat that transported him into some vehemence, <scripRef passage="Ge 31:36,37" id="Gen.xxxii-p23.1" parsed="|Gen|31|36|31|37" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.36-Gen.31.37"><i>v.</i> 36, 37</scripRef>. His chiding with Laban,
|
|
though it may admit of some excuse, was not justifiable, nor is it
|
|
written for our imitation. Grievous words stir up anger, and
|
|
commonly do but make bad worse. It is a very great affront to one
|
|
that bears an honest mind to be charged with dishonesty, and yet
|
|
even this we must learn to bear with patience, committing our cause
|
|
to God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxii-p24">II. The comfort of a good conscience. This
|
|
was Jacob's rejoicing, that when Laban accused him his own
|
|
conscience acquitted him, and witnessed for him that he had been in
|
|
all things willing and careful to live honestly, <scripRef passage="Heb 13:18" id="Gen.xxxii-p24.1" parsed="|Heb|13|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.13.18">Heb. xiii. 18</scripRef>. Note, Those that in any
|
|
employment have dealt faithfully, if they cannot obtain the credit
|
|
of it with men, yet shall have the comfort of it in their own
|
|
bosoms.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxii-p25">III. The character of a good servant, and
|
|
particularly of a faithful shepherd. Jacob had approved himself
|
|
such a one, <scripRef passage="Ge 31:38-40" id="Gen.xxxii-p25.1" parsed="|Gen|31|38|31|40" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.38-Gen.31.40"><i>v.</i>
|
|
38-40</scripRef>. 1. He was very careful, so that, through his
|
|
|
|
<pb n="189" id="Gen.xxxii-Page_189"/>
|
|
|
|
oversight or neglect, the ewes did not cast
|
|
their young. His piety also procured a blessing upon his master's
|
|
effects that were under his hands. Note, Servants should take no
|
|
less care of what they are entrusted with for their masters than if
|
|
they were entitled to it as their own. 2. He was very honest, and
|
|
took none of that for his own eating which was not allowed him. He
|
|
contented himself with mean fare, and coveted not to feast upon the
|
|
rams of the flock. Note, Servants must not be dainty in their food,
|
|
nor covet what is forbidden them, but in that, and other instances,
|
|
show all good fidelity. 3. He was very laborious, <scripRef passage="Ge 31:40" id="Gen.xxxii-p25.2" parsed="|Gen|31|40|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.40"><i>v.</i> 40</scripRef>. He stuck to his
|
|
business, all weathers; and bore both heat and cold with invincible
|
|
patience. Note, Men of business, that intend to make something of
|
|
it, must resolve to endure hardness. Jacob is here an example to
|
|
ministers; they also are shepherds, of whom it is required that
|
|
they be true to their trust and willing to take pains.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxii-p26">IV. The character of a hard master. Laban
|
|
had been such a one to Jacob. Those are bad masters, 1. Who exact
|
|
from their servants that which is unjust, by obliging them to make
|
|
good that which is not damaged by any default of theirs. This Laban
|
|
did, <scripRef passage="Ge 31:39" id="Gen.xxxii-p26.1" parsed="|Gen|31|39|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.39"><i>v.</i> 39</scripRef>. Nay, if
|
|
there has been a neglect, yet it is unjust to punish above the
|
|
proportion of the fault. That may be an inconsiderable damage to
|
|
the master which would go near to ruin a poor servant. 2. Those
|
|
also are bad masters who deny to their servants that which is just
|
|
and equal. This Laban did, <scripRef passage="Ge 31:41" id="Gen.xxxii-p26.2" parsed="|Gen|31|41|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.41"><i>v.</i>
|
|
41</scripRef>. It was unreasonable for him to make Jacob serve for
|
|
his daughters, when he had in reversion so great an estate secured
|
|
to him by the promise of God himself; as it was also to give him
|
|
his daughters without portions, when it was in the power of his
|
|
hands to do well for them. Thus he robbed the poor because he was
|
|
poor, as he did also by changing his wages.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxii-p27">V. The care of providence for the
|
|
protection of injured innocence, <scripRef passage="Ge 31:42" id="Gen.xxxii-p27.1" parsed="|Gen|31|42|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.42"><i>v.</i> 42</scripRef>. God took cognizance of the
|
|
wrong done to Jacob, and repaid him whom Laban would otherwise have
|
|
sent empty away, and rebuked Laban, who otherwise would have
|
|
swallowed him up. Note, God is the patron of the oppressed; and
|
|
those who are wronged and yet not ruined, cast down and yet not
|
|
destroyed, must acknowledge him in their preservation and give him
|
|
the glory of it. Observe, 1. Jacob speaks of God as the God of his
|
|
father, intimating that he thought himself unworthy to be thus
|
|
regarded, but was beloved for the father's sake. 2. He calls him
|
|
the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac; for Abraham was dead,
|
|
and had gone to that world where perfect love casts out fear; but
|
|
Isaac was yet alive, sanctifying the Lord in his heart, as his fear
|
|
and his dread.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 31:43-55" id="Gen.xxxii-p27.2" parsed="|Gen|31|43|31|55" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.43-Gen.31.55"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.31.43-Gen.31.55">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxxii-p27.3">Jacob's Covenant with Laban. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxxii-p27.4">b. c.</span> 1739.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxii-p28">43 And Laban answered and said unto Jacob,
|
|
<i>These</i> daughters <i>are</i> my daughters, and <i>these</i>
|
|
children <i>are</i> my children, and <i>these</i> cattle <i>are</i>
|
|
my cattle, and all that thou seest <i>is</i> mine: and what can I
|
|
do this day unto these my daughters, or unto their children which
|
|
they have born?   44 Now therefore come thou, let us make a
|
|
covenant, I and thou; and let it be for a witness between me and
|
|
thee.   45 And Jacob took a stone, and set it up <i>for</i> a
|
|
pillar.   46 And Jacob said unto his brethren, Gather stones;
|
|
and they took stones, and made an heap: and they did eat there upon
|
|
the heap.   47 And Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha: but Jacob
|
|
called it Galeed.   48 And Laban said, This heap <i>is</i> a
|
|
witness between me and thee this day. Therefore was the name of it
|
|
called Galeed;   49 And Mizpah; for he said, The <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxxii-p28.1">Lord</span> watch between me and thee, when we are
|
|
absent one from another.   50 If thou shalt afflict my
|
|
daughters, or if thou shalt take <i>other</i> wives beside my
|
|
daughters, no man <i>is</i> with us; see, God <i>is</i> witness
|
|
betwixt me and thee.   51 And Laban said to Jacob, Behold this
|
|
heap, and behold <i>this</i> pillar, which I have cast betwixt me
|
|
and thee;   52 This heap <i>be</i> witness, and <i>this</i>
|
|
pillar <i>be</i> witness, that I will not pass over this heap to
|
|
thee, and that thou shalt not pass over this heap and this pillar
|
|
unto me, for harm.   53 The God of Abraham, and the God of
|
|
Nahor, the God of their father, judge betwixt us. And Jacob sware
|
|
by the fear of his father Isaac.   54 Then Jacob offered
|
|
sacrifice upon the mount, and called his brethren to eat bread: and
|
|
they did eat bread, and tarried all night in the mount.   55
|
|
And early in the morning Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his
|
|
daughters, and blessed them: and Laban departed, and returned unto
|
|
his place.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxii-p29">We have here the compromising of the matter
|
|
between Laban and Jacob. Laban had nothing to say in reply to
|
|
Jacob's remonstrance: he could neither justify himself nor condemn
|
|
Jacob, but was convicted by his own conscience of the wrong he had
|
|
done him; and therefore desires to hear no more of the matter He is
|
|
not willing to own himself in a fault, nor to ask Jacob's
|
|
forgiveness,
|
|
|
|
<pb n="190" id="Gen.xxxii-Page_190"/>
|
|
|
|
and make him satisfaction, as
|
|
he ought to have done. But,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxii-p30">I. He turns it off with a profession of
|
|
kindness for Jacob's wives and children (<scripRef passage="Ge 31:43" id="Gen.xxxii-p30.1" parsed="|Gen|31|43|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.43"><i>v.</i> 43</scripRef>): <i>These daughters are my
|
|
daughters.</i> When he cannot excuse what he has done, he does, in
|
|
effect, own what he should have done; he should have treated them
|
|
as his own, but he had counted them as strangers, <scripRef passage="Ge 31:15" id="Gen.xxxii-p30.2" parsed="|Gen|31|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. Note, It is common for
|
|
those who are without natural affection to pretend much to it when
|
|
it will serve a turn. Or perhaps Laban said this in a vain-glorious
|
|
say, as one that loved to talk big, and use great swelling words of
|
|
vanity: "All that thou seest is mine." It was not so, it was all
|
|
Jacob's, and he had paid dearly for it; yet Jacob let him have his
|
|
saying, perceiving him coming into a better humour. Note, Property
|
|
lies near the hearts of worldly people. They love to boast of it,
|
|
"This is mine, and the other is mine," as Nabal, <scripRef passage="1Sa 25:11" id="Gen.xxxii-p30.3" parsed="|1Sam|25|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.25.11">1 Sam. xxv. 11</scripRef>, <i>my bread and my
|
|
water.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxii-p31">II. He proposes a covenant of friendship
|
|
between them, to which Jacob readily agrees, without insisting upon
|
|
Laban's submission, much less his restitution. Note, When quarrels
|
|
happen, we should be willing to be friends again upon any terms:
|
|
peace and love are such valuable jewels that we can scarcely buy
|
|
them too dearly. Better sit down losers than go on in strife. Now
|
|
observe here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxii-p32">1. The substance of this covenant. Jacob
|
|
left it wholly to Laban to settle it. The tenour of it was, (1.)
|
|
That Jacob should be a good husband to his wives, that he should
|
|
not afflict them, nor marry other wives besides them, <scripRef passage="Ge 31:50" id="Gen.xxxii-p32.1" parsed="|Gen|31|50|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.50"><i>v.</i> 50</scripRef>. Jacob had never given
|
|
him any cause to suspect that he would be any other than a kind
|
|
husband; yet, as if he had, he was willing to come under this
|
|
engagement. Though Laban had afflicted them himself, yet he will
|
|
bind Jacob that he shall not afflict them. Note, Those that are
|
|
injurious themselves are commonly most jealous of others, and those
|
|
that do not do their own duty are most peremptory in demanding duty
|
|
from others. (2.) That he should never be a bad neighbour to Laban,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 31:52" id="Gen.xxxii-p32.2" parsed="|Gen|31|52|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.52"><i>v.</i> 52</scripRef>. It was agreed
|
|
that no act of hostility should ever pass between them, that Jacob
|
|
should forgive and forget all the wrongs he had received and not
|
|
remember them against Laban or his family in after-times. Note, We
|
|
may resent an injury which yet we may not revenge.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxii-p33">2. The ceremony of this covenant. It was
|
|
made and ratified with great solemnity, according to the usages of
|
|
those times. (1.) A pillar was erected (<scripRef passage="Ge 31:45" id="Gen.xxxii-p33.1" parsed="|Gen|31|45|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.45"><i>v.</i> 45</scripRef>), and a heap of stones raised
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 31:46" id="Gen.xxxii-p33.2" parsed="|Gen|31|46|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.46"><i>v.</i> 46</scripRef>), to
|
|
perpetuate the memory or the thing, the way of recording agreements
|
|
by writing being then either not known or not used. (2.) A
|
|
sacrifice was offered (<scripRef passage="Ge 31:54" id="Gen.xxxii-p33.3" parsed="|Gen|31|54|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.54"><i>v.</i>
|
|
54</scripRef>), a sacrifice of peace-offerings. Note, Our peace
|
|
with God is that which puts true comfort into our peace with our
|
|
friends. If parties contend, the reconciliation of both to him will
|
|
facilitate their reconciliation one to another. (3.) They did eat
|
|
bread together (<scripRef passage="Ge 31:46" id="Gen.xxxii-p33.4" parsed="|Gen|31|46|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.46"><i>v.</i>
|
|
46</scripRef>), jointly partaking of the feast upon the sacrifice,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 31:54" id="Gen.xxxii-p33.5" parsed="|Gen|31|54|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.54"><i>v.</i> 54</scripRef>. This was in
|
|
token of a hearty reconciliation. Covenants of friendship were
|
|
anciently ratified by the parties eating and drinking together. It
|
|
was in the nature of a love-feast. (4.) They solemnly appealed to
|
|
God concerning their sincerity herein, [1.] As a witness (<scripRef passage="Ge 31:49" id="Gen.xxxii-p33.6" parsed="|Gen|31|49|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.49"><i>v.</i> 49</scripRef>): <i>The Lord watch
|
|
between me and thee,</i> that is, "The Lord take cognizance of
|
|
every thing that shall be done on either side in violation of this
|
|
league. When we are out of one another's sight, let his be a
|
|
restraint upon us, that wherever we are we are under God's eye."
|
|
This appeal is convertible into a prayer. Friends at a distance
|
|
from each other may take the comfort of this, that when they cannot
|
|
know or succour one another God watches between them, and has his
|
|
eye on them both. [2.] As a Judge, <scripRef passage="Ge 31:53" id="Gen.xxxii-p33.7" parsed="|Gen|31|53|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.53"><i>v.</i> 53</scripRef>. <i>The God of Abraham</i> (from
|
|
whom Jacob descended), <i>and the God of Nahor</i> (from whom Laban
|
|
descended), <i>the God of their father</i> (the common ancestor,
|
|
form whom they both descended), <i>judge betwixt us.</i> God's
|
|
relation to them is thus expressed to intimate that they worshipped
|
|
one and the same God, upon which consideration there ought to be no
|
|
enmity between them. Note, Those that have one God should have one
|
|
heart: those that agree in religion should strive to agree in every
|
|
thing else. God is Judge between contending parties, and he will
|
|
judge righteously; whoever does wrong, it is at his peril. (5.)
|
|
They gave a new name to the place, <scripRef passage="Ge 31:47,48" id="Gen.xxxii-p33.8" parsed="|Gen|31|47|31|48" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.47-Gen.31.48"><i>v.</i> 47, 48</scripRef>. Laban called it in
|
|
Syriac, and Jacob in Hebrew, <i>the heap of witness;</i> and
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 31:49" id="Gen.xxxii-p33.9" parsed="|Gen|31|49|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.49"><i>v.</i> 49</scripRef>) it was
|
|
called <i>Mizpah, a watch-tower.</i> Posterity being included in
|
|
the league, care was taken that thus the memory of it should be
|
|
preserved. These names are applicable to the seals of the gospel
|
|
covenant, which are witnesses to us if we be faithful, but
|
|
witnesses to us if we be faithful, but witnesses against us if we
|
|
be false. The name Jacob gave this heap (<i>Galeed</i>) stuck by
|
|
it, not the name Laban gave it. In all this rencounter, Laban was
|
|
noisy and full of words, affecting to say much; Jacob was silent,
|
|
and said little. When Laban appealed to God under many titles,
|
|
Jacob only <i>swore by the fear of his father Isaac,</i> that is,
|
|
the God whom his father Isaac feared, who had never served other
|
|
gods, as Abraham and Nahor had done. Two words of Jacob's were more
|
|
memorable than all Laban's speeches and vain repetitions: <i>for
|
|
the words of wise men are heard in quiet, more than the cry of him
|
|
that ruleth among fools,</i> <scripRef passage="Ec 9:17" id="Gen.xxxii-p33.10" parsed="|Eccl|9|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.9.17">Eccl. ix.
|
|
17</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxii-p34"><i>Lastly,</i> After all this angry parley,
|
|
they part friends, <scripRef passage="Ge 31:55" id="Gen.xxxii-p34.1" parsed="|Gen|31|55|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.55"><i>v.</i>
|
|
55</scripRef>. Laban very affectionately <i>kissed his sons and his
|
|
daughters, and blessed them,</i> and then went back in peace. Note,
|
|
God is often better to us than our fears, and strangely overrules
|
|
the spirits of men in our favour, beyond what we could
|
|
|
|
<pb n="191" id="Gen.xxxii-Page_191"/>
|
|
|
|
have expected; for it is not in vain to trust in
|
|
him.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXXII" n="xxxiii" progress="22.29%" prev="Gen.xxxii" next="Gen.xxxiv" id="Gen.xxxiii">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="191" id="Gen.xxxiii-Page_191"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xxxiii-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xxxiii-p0.2">CHAP. XXXII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xxxiii-p1">We have here Jacob still upon his journey towards
|
|
Canaan. Never did so many memorable things occur in any march as in
|
|
this of Jacob's little family. By the way he meets, I. With good
|
|
tidings from his God, <scripRef passage="Ge 32:1,2" id="Gen.xxxiii-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|32|1|32|2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.1-Gen.32.2">ver. 1,
|
|
2</scripRef>. II. With bad tidings from his brother, to whom he
|
|
sent a message to notify his return, <scripRef passage="Ge 32:3-6" id="Gen.xxxiii-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|32|3|32|6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.3-Gen.32.6">ver. 3-6</scripRef>. In his distress, 1. He divides his
|
|
company, <scripRef passage="Ge 32:7,8" id="Gen.xxxiii-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|32|7|32|8" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.7-Gen.32.8">ver. 7, 8</scripRef>. 2. He
|
|
makes his prayer to God, <scripRef passage="Ge 32:9-12" id="Gen.xxxiii-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|32|9|32|12" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.9-Gen.32.12">ver.
|
|
9-12</scripRef>. 3. He sends a present to his brother, <scripRef passage="Ge 32:13-23" id="Gen.xxxiii-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|32|13|32|23" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.13-Gen.32.23">ver. 13-23</scripRef>. 4. He wrestles with
|
|
the angel, <scripRef passage="Ge 32:24-32" id="Gen.xxxiii-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|32|24|32|32" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.24-Gen.32.32">ver.
|
|
24-32</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 32" id="Gen.xxxiii-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|32|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 32:1-2" id="Gen.xxxiii-p1.8" parsed="|Gen|32|1|32|2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.1-Gen.32.2"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.32.1-Gen.32.2">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxxiii-p1.9">Jacob Pursuing His Journey. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxxiii-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1739.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxiii-p2">1 And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of
|
|
God met him.   2 And when Jacob saw them, he said, This
|
|
<i>is</i> God's host: and he called the name of that place
|
|
Mahanaim.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxiii-p3">Jacob, having got clear of Laban, pursues
|
|
his journey homewards towards Canaan: when God has helped us
|
|
through difficulties we should go on our way heaven-ward with so
|
|
much the more cheerfulness and resolution. Now, 1. Here is Jacob's
|
|
convoy in his journey (<scripRef passage="Ge 32:1" id="Gen.xxxiii-p3.1" parsed="|Gen|32|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.1"><i>v.</i>
|
|
1</scripRef>): <i>The angels of God met him,</i> in a visible
|
|
appearance, whether in a vision by day or in a dream by night, as
|
|
when he saw them upon the ladder (<scripRef passage="Ge 28:12" id="Gen.xxxiii-p3.2" parsed="|Gen|28|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.12"><i>ch.</i> xxviii. 12</scripRef>), is uncertain. Note,
|
|
Those that keep in a good way have always a good guard; angels
|
|
themselves are ministering spirits for their safety, <scripRef passage="Heb 1:14" id="Gen.xxxiii-p3.3" parsed="|Heb|1|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.1.14">Heb. i. 14</scripRef>. Where Jacob pitched his
|
|
tents, they pitched theirs about him, <scripRef passage="Ps 34:7" id="Gen.xxxiii-p3.4" parsed="|Ps|34|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.34.7">Ps. xxxiv. 7</scripRef>. They met him, to bid him welcome
|
|
to Canaan again; a more honourable reception this was than ever any
|
|
prince had, that was met by the magistrates of a city in their
|
|
formalities. They met him to congratulate him on his arrival, as
|
|
well as on his escape from Laban; for they have pleasure in the
|
|
prosperity of God's servants. They had invisibly attended him all
|
|
along, but now they appeared to him, because he had greater dangers
|
|
before him than those he had hitherto encountered. Note, When God
|
|
designs his people for extraordinary trials, he prepares them by
|
|
extraordinary comforts. We should think it had been more seasonable
|
|
for these angels to have appeared to him amidst the perplexity and
|
|
agitation occasioned first by Laban, and afterwards by Esau, than
|
|
in this calm and quiet interval, when he saw not himself in any
|
|
imminent peril; but God will have us, when we are in peace, to
|
|
provide for trouble, and, when trouble comes, to live upon former
|
|
observations and experiences; for <i>we walk by faith, not by
|
|
sight.</i> God's people, at death, are returning to Canaan, to
|
|
their Father's house; and then the angels of God will meet them, to
|
|
congratulate them on the happy finishing of their servitude, and to
|
|
carry them to their rest. 2. The comfortable notice he took of this
|
|
convoy, <scripRef passage="Ge 32:2" id="Gen.xxxiii-p3.5" parsed="|Gen|32|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. <i>This
|
|
is God's host,</i> and therefore, (1.) It is a powerful host; very
|
|
great is he that is thus attended, and very safe that is thus
|
|
guarded. (2.) God must have the praise of this protection: "This I
|
|
may thank God for, for it is his host." A good man may with an eye
|
|
of faith see the same that Jacob saw with his bodily eyes, by
|
|
believing that promise (<scripRef passage="Ps 91:11" id="Gen.xxxiii-p3.6" parsed="|Ps|91|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.91.11">Ps. xci.
|
|
11</scripRef>), <i>He shall give his angels charge over thee.</i>
|
|
What need have we to dispute whether every particular saint has a
|
|
guardian angel, when we are sure he has a guard of angels about
|
|
him? To preserve the remembrance of this favour, Jacob gave a name
|
|
to the place from it, <i>Mahanaim, two hosts,</i> or <i>two
|
|
camps.</i> That is, say some of the rabbin, one host of the
|
|
guardian angels of Mesopotamia, who conducted Jacob thence, and
|
|
delivered him safely to the other host of the angels of Canaan, who
|
|
met him upon the borders where he now was. Rather, they appeared to
|
|
him in two hosts, one on either side, or one in the front and the
|
|
other in the rear, to protect him from Laban behind and Esau
|
|
before, that they might be a complete guard. Thus he is
|
|
<i>compassed</i> with God's favour. Perhaps in allusion to this the
|
|
church is called <i>Mahanaim, two armies,</i> <scripRef passage="So 6:13" id="Gen.xxxiii-p3.7" parsed="|Song|6|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Song.6.13">Cant. vi. 13</scripRef>. Here were Jacob's family, which
|
|
made one army, representing the church militant and itinerant on
|
|
earth; and the angels, another army, representing the church
|
|
triumphant and at rest in heaven.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 32:3-8" id="Gen.xxxiii-p3.8" parsed="|Gen|32|3|32|8" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.3-Gen.32.8"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.32.3-Gen.32.8">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxiii-p4">3 And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau
|
|
his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom.   4
|
|
And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord
|
|
Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban,
|
|
and stayed there until now:   5 And I have oxen, and asses,
|
|
flocks, and menservants, and womenservants: and I have sent to tell
|
|
my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight.   6 And the
|
|
messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau,
|
|
and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.
|
|
  7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he
|
|
divided the people that <i>was</i> with him, and the flocks, and
|
|
herds, and the camels, into two bands;   8 And said, If Esau
|
|
come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which
|
|
is left shall escape.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxiii-p5">Now that Jacob was re-entering Canaan God,
|
|
by the vision of angels, reminded him of the friends he had when he
|
|
left it, and thence he takes occasion to remind himself of the
|
|
enemies he had, particularly Esau. It is probable that Rebekah had
|
|
sent him word of Esau's settlement in Seir, and of the continuance
|
|
of his enmity to him. What shall poor Jacob do? He longs to see his
|
|
father, and yet he dreads to see his brother. He rejoices to see
|
|
Canaan again, and yet cannot but rejoice with trembling because of
|
|
Esau.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxiii-p6">I. He sends a very kind and humble
|
|
|
|
<pb n="192" id="Gen.xxxiii-Page_192"/>
|
|
|
|
message to Esau. It does not appear that his way lay
|
|
through Esau's country, or that he needed to ask his leave for a
|
|
passage; but his way lay near it, and he would not go by him
|
|
without paying him the respect due to a brother, a twin-brother, an
|
|
only brother, an elder brother, a brother offended. Note, 1. Though
|
|
our relations fail in their duty to us, yet we must make conscience
|
|
of doing our duty to them. 2. It is a piece of friendship and
|
|
brotherly love to acquaint our friends with our condition, and
|
|
enquire into theirs. Acts of civility may help to slay enmities.
|
|
Jacob's message to him is very obliging, <scripRef passage="Ge 32:4,5" id="Gen.xxxiii-p6.1" parsed="|Gen|32|4|32|5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.4-Gen.32.5"><i>v.</i> 4, 5</scripRef>. (1.) He calls Esau his lord,
|
|
himself his servant, to intimate that he did not insist upon the
|
|
prerogatives of the birthright and blessing he had obtained for
|
|
himself, but left it to God to fulfil his own purpose in his seed.
|
|
Note, <i>Yielding pacifies great offences,</i> <scripRef passage="Ec 10:4" id="Gen.xxxiii-p6.2" parsed="|Eccl|10|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.10.4">Eccl. x. 4</scripRef>. We must not refuse to speak in a
|
|
respectful and submissive manner to those that are ever so unjustly
|
|
exasperated against it. (2.) He gives him a short account of
|
|
himself, that he was not a fugitive and a vagabond, but, though
|
|
long absent, had had a certain dwelling-place, with his own
|
|
relations: <i>I have sojourned with Laban, and staid there till
|
|
now;</i> and that he was not a beggar, nor did he come home, as the
|
|
prodigal son, destitute of necessaries and likely to be a charge to
|
|
his relations; no, <i>I have oxen and asses.</i> This he knew would
|
|
(if any thing) recommend him to Esau's good opinion. And, (3.) He
|
|
courts his favour: <i>I have sent, that I might find grace in thy
|
|
sight.</i> Note, It is no disparagement to those that have the
|
|
better cause to become petitioners for reconciliation, and to sue
|
|
for peace as well as right.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxiii-p7">II. He receives a very formidable account
|
|
of Esau's warlike preparations against him (<scripRef passage="Ge 32:6" id="Gen.xxxiii-p7.1" parsed="|Gen|32|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), not a word, but a blow, a very
|
|
coarse return to his kind message, and a sorry welcome home to a
|
|
poor brother: <i>He comes to meet thee, and four hundred men with
|
|
him.</i> He is now weary of waiting for the days of mourning for
|
|
this good father, and even before they come he resolves to slay his
|
|
brother. 1. He remembers the old quarrel, and will now be avenged
|
|
on him for the birthright and blessing, and, if possible, defeat
|
|
Jacob's expectations from both. Note, malice harboured will last
|
|
long, and find an occasion to break out with violence a great while
|
|
after the provocations given. Angry men have good memories. 2. He
|
|
envies Jacob what little estate he had, and, though he himself was
|
|
now possessed of a much better, yet nothing will serve him but to
|
|
feed his eyes upon Jacob's ruin, and fill his fields with Jacob's
|
|
spoils. Perhaps the account Jacob sent him of his wealth did but
|
|
provoke him the more. 3. He concludes it easy to destroy him, now
|
|
that he was upon the road, a poor weary traveller, unfixed, and (as
|
|
he thinks) unguarded. Those that have the serpent's poison have
|
|
commonly the serpent's policy, to take the first and fairest
|
|
opportunity that offers itself for revenge. 4. He resolves to do it
|
|
suddenly, and before Jacob had come to his father, lest he should
|
|
interpose and mediate between them. Esau was one of those that
|
|
hated peace; when Jacob speaks, speaks peaceably, <i>he</i> is for
|
|
war, <scripRef passage="Ps 120:6,7" id="Gen.xxxiii-p7.2" parsed="|Ps|120|6|120|7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.120.6-Ps.120.7">Ps. cxx. 6, 7</scripRef>. Out
|
|
he marches, spurred on with rage, and intent on blood and murders;
|
|
four hundred men he had with him, probably such as used to hunt
|
|
with him, armed, no doubt, rough and cruel like their leader, ready
|
|
to execute the word of command though ever so barbarous, and now
|
|
breathing nothing but threatenings and slaughter. The tenth part of
|
|
these were enough to cut off poor Jacob, and his guiltless helpless
|
|
family, root and branch. No marvel therefore that it follows
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 32:7" id="Gen.xxxiii-p7.3" parsed="|Gen|32|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>), <i>then Jacob
|
|
was greatly afraid and distressed,</i> perhaps the more so from
|
|
having scarcely recovered the fright Laban had put him in. Note,
|
|
Many are the troubles of the righteous in this world, and sometimes
|
|
the end of one is but the beginning of another. The clouds return
|
|
after the rain. Jacob, though a man of great faith, yet was now
|
|
greatly afraid. Note, A lively apprehension of danger, and a
|
|
quickening fear arising from it, may very well consist with a
|
|
humble confidence in God's power and promise. Christ himself, in
|
|
his agony, was sorely amazed.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxiii-p8">III. He puts himself into the best posture
|
|
of defence that his present circumstances will admit. It was absurd
|
|
to think of making resistance, all his contrivance is to make an
|
|
escape, <scripRef passage="Ge 32:7,8" id="Gen.xxxiii-p8.1" parsed="|Gen|32|7|32|8" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.7-Gen.32.8"><i>v.</i> 7, 8</scripRef>. He
|
|
thinks it prudent not to venture all in one bottom, and therefore
|
|
divides what he had into two companies, that, if one were smitten,
|
|
the other might escape. Like a tender careful master of a family,
|
|
he is more solicitous for their safety than for his own. He divided
|
|
his company, not as Abraham (<scripRef passage="Ge 14:15" id="Gen.xxxiii-p8.2" parsed="|Gen|14|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.15"><i>ch.</i> xiv. 15</scripRef>), for fight, but for
|
|
flight.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 32:9-12" id="Gen.xxxiii-p8.3" parsed="|Gen|32|9|32|12" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.9-Gen.32.12"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.32.9-Gen.32.12">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxxiii-p8.4">Jacob's Prayer. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxxiii-p8.5">b. c.</span> 1739.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxiii-p9">9 And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham,
|
|
and God of my father Isaac, the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxxiii-p9.1">Lord</span>
|
|
which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred,
|
|
and I will deal well with thee:   10 I am not worthy of the
|
|
least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast
|
|
showed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this
|
|
Jordan; and now I am become two bands.   11 Deliver me, I pray
|
|
thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I
|
|
fear him, lest he will come and smite me, <i>and</i> the mother
|
|
with the children.   12 And thou saidst, I will surely do thee
|
|
good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be
|
|
numbered for multitude.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxiii-p10">Our rule is to call upon God in the time of
|
|
|
|
<pb n="193" id="Gen.xxxiii-Page_193"/>
|
|
|
|
trouble; we have here an example to this
|
|
rule, and the success encourages us to follow this example. It was
|
|
now a time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it; and
|
|
here we have him praying for that salvation, <scripRef passage="Jer 30:7" id="Gen.xxxiii-p10.1" parsed="|Jer|30|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.30.7">Jer. xxx. 7</scripRef>. In his distress he sought the
|
|
Lord, and he heard him. Note, Times of fear should be times of
|
|
prayer; whatever frightens us should drive us to our knees, to our
|
|
God. Jacob had lately seen his guard of angels, but, in this
|
|
distress, he applied to God, not to them; he knew they were his
|
|
fellow-servants, <scripRef passage="Re 22:9" id="Gen.xxxiii-p10.2" parsed="|Rev|22|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.22.9">Rev. xxii.
|
|
9</scripRef>. Nor did he consult Laban's <i>teraphim;</i> it was
|
|
enough for him that he had a God to go to. To him he addresses
|
|
himself with all possible solemnity, so running for safety into the
|
|
name of the Lord, <i>as a strong tower,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 18:10" id="Gen.xxxiii-p10.3" parsed="|Prov|18|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.18.10">Prov. xviii. 10</scripRef>. This prayer is the more
|
|
remarkable because it won him the honour of being an <i>Israel, a
|
|
prince with God,</i> and the father of the praying remnant, who are
|
|
hence called <i>the seed of Jacob,</i> to whom he never said,
|
|
<i>Seek you me in vain.</i> Now it is worth while to enquire what
|
|
there was extraordinary in this prayer, that it should gain the
|
|
petitioner all this honour.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxiii-p11">I. The request itself is one, and very
|
|
express: <i>Deliver me from the hand of my brother,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 32:11" id="Gen.xxxiii-p11.1" parsed="|Gen|32|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. Though there was no
|
|
human probability on his side, yet he believed the power of God
|
|
could rescue him as a lamb out of the bloody jaws of the lion.
|
|
Note, 1. We have leave to be particular in our addresses to God, to
|
|
mention the particular straits and difficulties we are in; for the
|
|
God with whom we have to do is one we may be free with: <i>we have
|
|
liberty of speech</i> (<b><i>parresia</i></b>) at the throne of
|
|
grace. 2. When our brethren aim to be our destroyers, it is our
|
|
comfort that we have a Father to whom we may apply as our
|
|
deliverer.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxiii-p12">II. The pleas are many, and very powerful;
|
|
never was cause better ordered, <scripRef passage="Job 23:4" id="Gen.xxxiii-p12.1" parsed="|Job|23|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.23.4">Job
|
|
xxiii. 4</scripRef>. He offers up his request with great faith,
|
|
fervency, and humility. How earnestly does he beg! <i>Deliver me, I
|
|
pray thee,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 32:11" id="Gen.xxxiii-p12.2" parsed="|Gen|32|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.11"><i>v.</i>
|
|
11</scripRef>. His fear made him importunate. With what holy logic
|
|
does he argue! With what divine eloquence does he plead! Here is a
|
|
noble copy to write after.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxiii-p13">1. He addresses himself to God as the God
|
|
of his fathers, <scripRef passage="Ge 32:9" id="Gen.xxxiii-p13.1" parsed="|Gen|32|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>.
|
|
Such was the humble self-denying sense he had of his own
|
|
unworthiness that he did not call God his own God, but a God in
|
|
covenant with his ancestors: <i>O God of my father Abraham, and God
|
|
of my father Isaac;</i> and this he could the better plead because
|
|
the covenant, by divine designation, was entailed upon him. Note,
|
|
God's covenant with our fathers may be a comfort to us when were
|
|
are in distress. It has often been so to the Lord's people,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 22:4,5" id="Gen.xxxiii-p13.2" parsed="|Ps|22|4|22|5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.22.4-Ps.22.5">Ps. xxii. 4, 5</scripRef>. Being born
|
|
in God's house, we are taken under his special protection.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxiii-p14">2. He produces his warrant: <i>Thou saidst
|
|
unto me, Return unto thy country.</i> He did not rashly leave his
|
|
place with Laban, nor undertake this journey out of a fickle
|
|
humour, or a foolish fondness for his native country, but in
|
|
obedience to God's command. Note, (1.) We may be in the way of our
|
|
duty, and yet may meet with trouble and distress in that way. As
|
|
prosperity will not prove us in the right, so cross events will not
|
|
prove us in the wrong; we may be going whither God calls us, and
|
|
yet may think our way hedged up with thorns. (2.) We may
|
|
comfortably trust God with our safety, while we carefully keep to
|
|
our duty. If God be our guide, he will be our guard.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxiii-p15">3. He humbly acknowledges his own
|
|
unworthiness to receive any favour from God (<scripRef passage="Ge 32:10" id="Gen.xxxiii-p15.1" parsed="|Gen|32|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>): <i>I am not worthy;</i> it is
|
|
an unusual plea. Some would think he should have pleaded that what
|
|
was now in danger was his own, against all the world, and that he
|
|
had earned it dear enough; no, he pleads, <i>Lord, I am not worthy
|
|
of it.</i> Note, Self-denial and self-abasement well become us in
|
|
all our addresses to the throne of grace. Christ never commended
|
|
any of his petitioners so much as him who said, <i>Lord, I am not
|
|
worthy</i> (<scripRef passage="Mt 8:8" id="Gen.xxxiii-p15.2" parsed="|Matt|8|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.8.8">Matt. viii. 8</scripRef>),
|
|
and her who said, <i>Truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs
|
|
which fall from their master's table,</i> <scripRef passage="Mt 15:27" id="Gen.xxxiii-p15.3" parsed="|Matt|15|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.15.27">Matt. xv. 27</scripRef>. Now observe here, (1.) How
|
|
magnificently and honourably he speaks of the mercies of God to
|
|
him. We have here, <i>mercies,</i> in the plural number, and
|
|
inexhaustible spring, and innumerable streams; <i>mercies and
|
|
truth,</i> that is, past mercies given according to the promise,
|
|
and further mercies secured by the promise. Note, What is laid up
|
|
in God's truth, as well as what is laid out in God's mercies, is
|
|
the matter both of the comforts and the praises of active
|
|
believers. Nay, observe, it is <i>all</i> the mercies, and
|
|
<i>all</i> the truth; the manner of expression is copious, and
|
|
intimates that his heart was full of God's goodness. (2.) How
|
|
meanly and humbly he speaks of himself, disclaiming all thought of
|
|
his own merit: "<i>I am not worthy of the least of all thy
|
|
mercies,</i> much less am I worthy of so great a favour as this I
|
|
am now suing for." Jacob was a considerable man, and, upon many
|
|
accounts, very deserving, and, in treating with Laban, had justly
|
|
insisted on his merits, but not before God. <i>I am less than all
|
|
thy mercies;</i> so the word is. Note, The best and greatest of men
|
|
are utterly unworthy of the least favour from God, and just be
|
|
ready to own it upon all occasions. It was the excellent Mr.
|
|
Herbert's motto, <i>Less than the least of all God's mercies.</i>
|
|
Those are best prepared for the greatest mercies that see
|
|
themselves unworthy of the least.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxiii-p16">4. He thankfully owns God's goodness to him
|
|
in his banishment, and how much it had outdone his expectations:
|
|
"<i>With my staff I passed over this Jordan,</i> poor and desolate,
|
|
like a forlorn and despised pilgrim;" he had no guides, no
|
|
companions, no attendants, no conveniences for travel, but his
|
|
staff only, nothing else to stay himself upon; "<i>and now I have
|
|
become two bands,</i> now I am surrounded with a numerous and
|
|
comfortable retinue of
|
|
|
|
<pb n="194" id="Gen.xxxiii-Page_194"/>
|
|
|
|
children and
|
|
servants:" though it was his distress that had now obliged him to
|
|
divide his family into two bands, yet he makes use of that for the
|
|
magnifying of the mercy of his increase. Note, (1.) The increase of
|
|
our families is then comfortable indeed to us when we see God's
|
|
mercies, and his truth, in it. (2.) Those whose latter end greatly
|
|
increases ought, with humility and thankfulness, to remember how
|
|
small their beginning was. Jacob pleads, "Lord, thou didst keep me
|
|
when I went out with only my staff, and had but one life to lose;
|
|
wilt thou not keep me now that so many are embarked with me?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxiii-p17">5. He urges the extremity of the peril he
|
|
was in: <i>Lord, deliver me from Esau, for I fear him,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 32:11" id="Gen.xxxiii-p17.1" parsed="|Gen|32|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. The people of
|
|
God have not been shy of telling God their fears; for they know he
|
|
takes cognizance of them, and considers them. The fear that
|
|
quickens prayer is itself pleadable. It was not a robber, but a
|
|
murderer, that he was afraid of; nor was it his own life only that
|
|
lay at stake, but the mothers' and the children's, that had left
|
|
their native soil to go along with him. Note, Natural affection may
|
|
furnish us with allowable acceptable pleas in prayer.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxiii-p18">6. He insists especially upon the promise
|
|
God had made him (<scripRef passage="Ge 32:9" id="Gen.xxxiii-p18.1" parsed="|Gen|32|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.9"><i>v.</i>
|
|
9</scripRef>): <i>Thou saidst, I will deal well with thee,</i> and
|
|
again, in the close (<scripRef passage="Ge 32:12" id="Gen.xxxiii-p18.2" parsed="|Gen|32|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.12"><i>v.</i>
|
|
12</scripRef>): <i>Thou saidst, I will surely do thee good.</i>
|
|
Note, (1.) The best we can say to God in prayer is what he has said
|
|
to us. God's promises, as they are the surest guide of our desires
|
|
in prayer, and furnish us with the best petitions, so they are the
|
|
firmest ground of our hopes, and furnish us with the best pleas.
|
|
"Lord, thou saidst thus and thus; and wilt thou not be as good as
|
|
thy word, the word upon which thou had <i>caused me to hope?</i>"
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 119:49" id="Gen.xxxiii-p18.3" parsed="|Ps|119|49|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119.49">Ps. cxix. 49</scripRef>. (2.) The
|
|
most general promises are applicable to particular cases. "Thou
|
|
saidst, <i>I will do thee good;</i> Lord, do me good in this
|
|
matter." He pleads also a particular promise, that of <i>the
|
|
multiplying of his seed.</i> "Lord, what will become of that
|
|
promise, if they be all cut off?" Note, [1.] There are promises to
|
|
the families of good people, which are improvable in prayer for
|
|
family-mercies, ordinary and extraordinary, <scripRef passage="Ge 17:17,Ps 112:2,Ps 102:28" id="Gen.xxxiii-p18.4" parsed="|Gen|17|17|0|0;|Ps|112|2|0|0;|Ps|102|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.17 Bible:Ps.112.2 Bible:Ps.102.28"><i>ch.</i> xvii. 7; Ps. cxii. 2; cii.
|
|
28</scripRef>. [2.] The world's threatenings should drive us to
|
|
God's promises.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 32:13-23" id="Gen.xxxiii-p18.5" parsed="|Gen|32|13|32|23" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.13-Gen.32.23"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.32.13-Gen.32.23">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxxiii-p18.6">Jacob's Present to Esau. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxxiii-p18.7">b. c.</span> 1739.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxiii-p19">13 And he lodged there that same night; and took
|
|
of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother;
|
|
  14 Two hundred she goats, and twenty he goats, two hundred
|
|
ewes, and twenty rams,   15 Thirty milch camels with their
|
|
colts, forty kine, and ten bulls, twenty she asses, and ten foals.
|
|
  16 And he delivered <i>them</i> into the hand of his
|
|
servants, every drove by themselves; and said unto his servants,
|
|
Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove.
|
|
  17 And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my
|
|
brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose <i>art</i>
|
|
thou? and whither goest thou? and whose <i>are</i> these before
|
|
thee?   18 Then thou shalt say, <i>They be</i> thy servant
|
|
Jacob's; it <i>is</i> a present sent unto my lord Esau: and,
|
|
behold, also he <i>is</i> behind us.   19 And so commanded he
|
|
the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves,
|
|
saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him.
|
|
  20 And say ye moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob <i>is</i>
|
|
behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that
|
|
goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he
|
|
will accept of me.   21 So went the present over before him:
|
|
and himself lodged that night in the company.   22 And he rose
|
|
up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants,
|
|
and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok.   23 And
|
|
he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he
|
|
had.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxiii-p20">Jacob, having piously made God his friend
|
|
by a prayer, is here prudently endeavouring to make Esau his friend
|
|
by a present. He had prayed to God to deliver him from the hand of
|
|
Esau, for he feared him; but neither did his fear sink into such a
|
|
despair as dispirits for the use of means, nor did his prayer make
|
|
him presume upon God's mercy, without the use of means. Note, When
|
|
we have prayed to God for any mercy, we must second our prayers
|
|
with our endeavours; else, instead of trusting god, we tempt him;
|
|
we must so depend upon God's providence as to make use of our own
|
|
prudence. "Help thyself, and God will help thee;" God answers our
|
|
prayers by teaching us to order our affairs with discretion. To
|
|
pacify Esau,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxiii-p21">I. Jacob sent him a very noble present, not
|
|
of jewels or fine garments (he had them not), but of cattle, to the
|
|
number of 580 in all, <scripRef passage="Ge 32:13-15" id="Gen.xxxiii-p21.1" parsed="|Gen|32|13|32|15" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.13-Gen.32.15"><i>v.</i>
|
|
13-15</scripRef>. Now, 1. It was an evidence of the great increase
|
|
with which God had blessed Jacob that he could spare such a number
|
|
of cattle out of his stock. 2. It was an evidence of his wisdom
|
|
that he would willingly part with some, to secure the rest; some
|
|
men's covetousness loses them more than ever it gained them, and,
|
|
by grudging a little expense, they expose themselves to great
|
|
damage; <i>skin for skin, and all that a man has,</i> if he be a
|
|
wise man, <i>he will give for his life.</i> 3. It was a present
|
|
that he thought would be acceptable to Esau, who had traded
|
|
|
|
<pb n="195" id="Gen.xxxiii-Page_195"/>
|
|
|
|
so much in hunting wild beasts that perhaps he
|
|
was but ill furnished with tame cattle with which to stock his new
|
|
conquests. And we may suppose that the mixed colours of Jacob's
|
|
cattle, ring-straked, speckled, and spotted, would please Esau's
|
|
fancy. 4. He promised himself that by this present he should gain
|
|
Esau's favour; for a gift commonly <i>prospers, which way soever it
|
|
turns</i> (<scripRef passage="Pr 17:8" id="Gen.xxxiii-p21.2" parsed="|Prov|17|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.17.8">Prov. xvii. 8</scripRef>),
|
|
<i>and makes room for a man</i> (<scripRef passage="Pr 18:16" id="Gen.xxxiii-p21.3" parsed="|Prov|18|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.18.16">Prov.
|
|
xviii. 16</scripRef>); nay, <i>it pacifies anger and strong
|
|
wrath,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 21:14" id="Gen.xxxiii-p21.4" parsed="|Prov|21|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.21.14">Prov. xxi. 14</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, [1.] We must not despair of reconciling ourselves even to
|
|
those that have been most exasperated against us; we ought not to
|
|
judge men unappeasable, till we have tried to appease them. [2.]
|
|
Peace and love, though purchased dearly, will prove a good bargain
|
|
to the purchaser. Many a morose ill-natured man would have said, in
|
|
Jacob's case, "Esau has vowed my death without cause, and he shall
|
|
never be a farthing the better for me; I will see him far enough
|
|
before I will send him a present:" but Jacob forgives and
|
|
forgets.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxiii-p22">II. He sent him a very humble message,
|
|
which he ordered his servants to deliver in the best manner,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 32:17,18" id="Gen.xxxiii-p22.1" parsed="|Gen|32|17|32|18" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.17-Gen.32.18"><i>v.</i> 17, 18</scripRef>. They
|
|
must call Esau their <i>lord,</i> and Jacob his <i>servant;</i>
|
|
they must tell him the cattle they had was a small present which
|
|
Jacob had sent him, as a specimen of his acquisitions while he was
|
|
abroad. The cattle he sent were to be disposed of in several
|
|
droves, and the servants that attended each drove were to deliver
|
|
the same message, that the present might appear the more valuable,
|
|
and his submission, so often repeated, might be the more likely to
|
|
influence Esau. They must especially take care to tell him that
|
|
Jacob was coming after (<scripRef passage="Ge 32:18-20" id="Gen.xxxiii-p22.2" parsed="|Gen|32|18|32|20" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.18-Gen.32.20"><i>v.</i>
|
|
18-20</scripRef>), that he might not suspect he had fled through
|
|
fear. Note, A friendly confidence in men's goodness may help to
|
|
prevent the mischief designed us by their badness: if Jacob will
|
|
seem not to be afraid of Esau, Esau, it may be hoped, will not be a
|
|
terror to Jacob.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 32:24-32" id="Gen.xxxiii-p22.3" parsed="|Gen|32|24|32|32" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.24-Gen.32.32"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.32.24-Gen.32.32">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxxiii-p22.4">Jacob Wrestles with an
|
|
Angel. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxxiii-p22.5">b. c.</span> 1739.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxiii-p23">24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled
|
|
a man with him until the breaking of the day.   25 And when he
|
|
saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his
|
|
thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he
|
|
wrestled with him.   26 And he said, Let me go, for the day
|
|
breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless
|
|
me.   27 And he said unto him, What <i>is</i> thy name? And he
|
|
said, Jacob.   28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no
|
|
more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God
|
|
and with men, and hast prevailed.   29 And Jacob asked
|
|
<i>him,</i> and said, Tell <i>me,</i> I pray thee, thy name. And he
|
|
said, Wherefore <i>is</i> it <i>that</i> thou dost ask after my
|
|
name? And he blessed him there.   30 And Jacob called the name
|
|
of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life
|
|
is preserved.   31 And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose
|
|
upon him, and he halted upon his thigh.   32 Therefore the
|
|
children of Israel eat not <i>of</i> the sinew which shrank, which
|
|
<i>is</i> upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he
|
|
touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxiii-p24">We have here the remarkable story of
|
|
Jacob's wrestling with the angel and prevailing, which is referred
|
|
to, <scripRef passage="Ho 12:4" id="Gen.xxxiii-p24.1" parsed="|Hos|12|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.4">Hos. xii. 4</scripRef>. Very early
|
|
in the morning, a great while before day, Jacob had helped his
|
|
wives and his children over the river, and he desired to be
|
|
private, and was left alone, that he might again more fully spread
|
|
his cares and fears before God in prayer. Note, We ought to
|
|
continue instant in prayer, always to pray and not to faint:
|
|
frequency and importunity in prayer prepare us for mercy. While
|
|
Jacob was earnest in prayer, <i>stirring up himself to take hold on
|
|
God,</i> an angel takes hold on him. Some think this was a created
|
|
angel, the <i>angel of his presence</i> (<scripRef passage="Isa 63:9" id="Gen.xxxiii-p24.2" parsed="|Isa|63|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.63.9">Isa. lxiii. 9</scripRef>), one of those that <i>always
|
|
behold the face of our Father</i> and attend on the
|
|
<i>shechinah,</i> or the divine Majesty, which probably Jacob had
|
|
also in view. Others think it was Michael our prince, the eternal
|
|
Word, the angel of the covenant, who is indeed the Lord of the
|
|
angels, who often appeared in a human shape before he assumed the
|
|
human nature for a perpetuity; whichsoever it was, we are sure
|
|
<i>God's name was in him,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 23:21" id="Gen.xxxiii-p24.3" parsed="|Exod|23|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.21">Exod.
|
|
xxiii. 21</scripRef>. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxiii-p25">I. How Jacob and this angel engaged,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 32:24" id="Gen.xxxiii-p25.1" parsed="|Gen|32|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. It was a
|
|
single combat, hand to hand; they had neither of them any seconds.
|
|
Jacob was now full of care and fear about the interview he
|
|
expected, next day, with his brother, and, to aggravate the trial,
|
|
God himself seemed to come forth against him as an enemy, to oppose
|
|
his entrance into the land of promise, and to dispute the pass with
|
|
him, not suffering him to follow his wives and children whom he had
|
|
sent before. Note, Strong believers must expect divers temptations,
|
|
and strong ones. We are told by the prophet (<scripRef passage="Ho 12:4" id="Gen.xxxiii-p25.2" parsed="|Hos|12|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.4">Hos. xii. 4</scripRef>) how <i>Jacob wrestled:</i> he
|
|
<i>wept, and made supplication;</i> prayers and tears were his
|
|
weapons. It was not only a corporal, but a spiritual, wrestling, by
|
|
the vigorous actings of faith and holy desire; and thus all the
|
|
spiritual seed of Jacob, that pray in praying, still wrestle with
|
|
God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxiii-p26">II. What was the success of the engagement.
|
|
1. Jacob kept his ground; though the struggle continued long, the
|
|
angel, <i>prevailed not against him</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 32:25" id="Gen.xxxiii-p26.1" parsed="|Gen|32|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>), that is, this discouragement
|
|
did not shake his faith, nor
|
|
|
|
<pb n="196" id="Gen.xxxiii-Page_196"/>
|
|
|
|
silence his
|
|
prayer. It was not in his own strength that he wrestled, nor by his
|
|
own strength that he prevailed, but in and by strength derived from
|
|
Heaven. That of Job illustrates this (<scripRef passage="Job 23:6" id="Gen.xxxiii-p26.2" parsed="|Job|23|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.23.6">Job xxiii. 6</scripRef>), <i>Will he plead against me
|
|
with his great power?</i> No (had the angel done so, Jacob had been
|
|
crushed), <i>but he will put strength in me;</i> and by that
|
|
<i>strength Jacob had power over the angel,</i> <scripRef passage="Ho 12:4" id="Gen.xxxiii-p26.3" parsed="|Hos|12|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.4">Hos. xii. 4</scripRef>. Note, We cannot prevail with God
|
|
but in his own strength. It is his Spirit that intercedes in us,
|
|
and <i>helps our infirmities,</i> <scripRef passage="Ro 8:26" id="Gen.xxxiii-p26.4" parsed="|Rom|8|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.8.26">Rom.
|
|
viii. 26</scripRef>. 2. The angel put out Jacob's thigh, to show
|
|
him what he could do, and that it was God he was wrestling with,
|
|
for no man could disjoint his thigh with a touch. Some think that
|
|
Jacob felt little or no pain from this hurt; it is probable that he
|
|
did not, for he did not so much as halt till the struggle was over
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 32:31" id="Gen.xxxiii-p26.5" parsed="|Gen|32|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>), and, if so,
|
|
this was an evidence of a divine touch indeed, which wounded and
|
|
healed at the same time. Jacob prevailed, and yet had his thigh put
|
|
out. Note, Wrestling believers may obtain glorious victories, and
|
|
yet come off with broken bones; for <i>when they are weak then are
|
|
they strong,</i> weak in themselves, but strong in Christ,
|
|
<scripRef passage="2Co 12:10" id="Gen.xxxiii-p26.6" parsed="|2Cor|12|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.12.10">2 Cor. xii. 10</scripRef>. Our
|
|
honours and comforts in this world have their alloys. 3. The angel,
|
|
by an admirable condescension, mildly requests Jacob to let him go
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 32:26" id="Gen.xxxiii-p26.7" parsed="|Gen|32|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>), as God said
|
|
to Moses (<scripRef passage="Ex 32:10" id="Gen.xxxiii-p26.8" parsed="|Exod|32|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.10">Exod. xxxii. 10</scripRef>),
|
|
<i>Let me alone.</i> Could not a mighty angel get clear of Jacob's
|
|
grapples? He could; but thus he would put an honour on Jacob's
|
|
faith and prayer, and further try his constancy. <i>The king is
|
|
held in the galleries</i> (<scripRef passage="So 7:5" id="Gen.xxxiii-p26.9" parsed="|Song|7|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Song.7.5">Cant. vii.
|
|
5</scripRef>); <i>I held him</i> (says the spouse) <i>and would not
|
|
let him go,</i> <scripRef passage="So 3:4" id="Gen.xxxiii-p26.10" parsed="|Song|3|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Song.3.4">Cant. iii. 4</scripRef>.
|
|
The reason the angel gives why he would be gone is <i>because the
|
|
day breaks,</i> and therefore he would not any longer detain Jacob,
|
|
who had business to do, a journey to go, a family to look after,
|
|
which, especially in this critical juncture, called for his
|
|
attendance. Note, Every thing is beautiful in its season; even the
|
|
business of religion, and the comforts of communion with God, must
|
|
sometimes give way to the necessary affairs of this life: God
|
|
<i>will have mercy, and not sacrifice.</i> 4. Jacob persists in his
|
|
holy importunity: <i>I will not let thee go, except thou bless
|
|
me;</i> whatever becomes of his family and journey, he resolves to
|
|
make the best he can of this opportunity, and not to lose the
|
|
advantage of his victory: he does not mean to wrestle all night for
|
|
nothing, but humbly resolves he will have a blessing, and rather
|
|
shall all his bones be put out of joint than he will go away
|
|
without one. The credit of a conquest will do him no good without
|
|
the comfort of a blessing. In begging this blessing he owns his
|
|
inferiority, though he seemed to have the upper hand in the
|
|
struggle; for <i>the less is blessed of the better.</i> Note, Those
|
|
that would have the blessing of Christ must be in good earnest, and
|
|
be importunate for it, as those that resolve to have no denial. It
|
|
is the fervent prayer that is the effectual prayer. 5. The angel
|
|
puts a perpetual mark of honour upon him, by changing his name
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 32:27,28" id="Gen.xxxiii-p26.11" parsed="|Gen|32|27|32|28" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.27-Gen.32.28"><i>v.</i> 27, 28</scripRef>):
|
|
"Thou art a brave combatant" (says the angel), "a man of heroic
|
|
resolution; what is thy name?" "Jacob," says he, a
|
|
<i>supplanter;</i> so <i>Jacob</i> signifies: "Well," says the
|
|
angel, "be thou never so called any more; henceforth thou shalt be
|
|
celebrated, not for craft and artful management, but for true
|
|
valour; thou shalt be called <i>Israel, a prince with God,</i> a
|
|
name greater than those of the great men of the earth." He is a
|
|
prince indeed that is a prince with God, and those are truly
|
|
honourable that are mighty in prayer, Israels, Israelites indeed.
|
|
Jacob is here knighted in the field, as it were, and has a title of
|
|
honour given him by him that is the fountain of honour, which will
|
|
remain, to his praise, to the end of time. Yet this was not all;
|
|
having power with God, he shall have power with men too. Having
|
|
prevailed for a blessing from heaven, he shall, no doubt, prevail
|
|
for Esau's favour. Note, Whatever enemies we have, if we can but
|
|
make God our friend, we are well off; those that by faith have
|
|
power in heaven have thereby as much on earth as they have occasion
|
|
for. 6. He dismisses him with a blessing, <scripRef passage="Ge 32:29" id="Gen.xxxiii-p26.12" parsed="|Gen|32|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>. Jacob desired to know the
|
|
angel's name, that he might, according to his capacity, do him
|
|
honour, <scripRef passage="Jdg 13:17" id="Gen.xxxiii-p26.13" parsed="|Judg|13|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.13.17">Judg. xiii. 17</scripRef>.
|
|
But that request was denied, that he might not be too proud of his
|
|
conquest, nor think he had the angel at such an advantage as to
|
|
oblige him to what he pleased. No, "<i>Wherefore dost thou ask
|
|
after my name?</i> What good will it do thee to know that?" The
|
|
discovery of that was reserved for his death-bed, upon which he was
|
|
taught to call him <i>Shiloh.</i> But, instead of telling him his
|
|
name, he gave him his blessing, which was the thing he wrestled
|
|
for: <i>He blessed him there,</i> repeated and ratified the
|
|
blessing formerly given him. Note, Spiritual blessings, which
|
|
secure our felicity, are better and much more desirable than fine
|
|
notions which satisfy our curiosity. An interest in the angel's
|
|
blessing is better than an acquaintance with his name. The tree of
|
|
life is better than the tree of knowledge. Thus Jacob carried his
|
|
point; a blessing he wrestled for, and a blessing he had; nor did
|
|
ever any of his praying seed seek in vain. See how wonderfully God
|
|
condescends to countenance and crown importunate prayer: those that
|
|
resolve, though God slay them, yet to trust in him, will, at
|
|
length, be more than conquerors. 7. Jacob gives a new name to the
|
|
place; he calls it <i>Peniel,</i> the <i>face of God</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 32:30" id="Gen.xxxiii-p26.14" parsed="|Gen|32|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>), because there he had
|
|
seen the appearance of God, and obtained the favour of God.
|
|
Observe, The name he gives to the place preserves and perpetuates,
|
|
not the honour of his valour or victory, but only the honour of
|
|
God's free grace. He does not
|
|
|
|
<pb n="197" id="Gen.xxxiii-Page_197"/>
|
|
|
|
say, "In this
|
|
place I wrestled with God, and prevailed;" but, "In this place I
|
|
saw God face to face, and my life was preserved;" not, "It was my
|
|
praise that I came off a conqueror, but it was God's mercy that I
|
|
escaped with my life." Note, It becomes those whom God honours to
|
|
take shame to themselves, and to admire the condescensions of his
|
|
grace to them. Thus David did, after God had sent him a gracious
|
|
message (<scripRef passage="2Sa 7:18" id="Gen.xxxiii-p26.15" parsed="|2Sam|7|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.7.18">2 Sam. vii. 18</scripRef>),
|
|
<i>Who am I, O Lord God?</i> 8. The memorandum Jacob carried of
|
|
this in his bones: <i>He halted on his thigh</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 32:31" id="Gen.xxxiii-p26.16" parsed="|Gen|32|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>); some think he
|
|
continued to do so to his dying-day; and, if he did, he had no
|
|
reason to complain, for the honour and comfort he obtained by this
|
|
struggle were abundantly sufficient to countervail the damage,
|
|
though he went limping to his grave. He had no reason to look upon
|
|
it as his reproach thus <i>to bear in his body the marks of the
|
|
Lord Jesus</i> (<scripRef passage="Ga 6:17" id="Gen.xxxiii-p26.17" parsed="|Gal|6|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.6.17">Gal. vi.
|
|
17</scripRef>); yet it might serve, like Paul's thorn in the flesh,
|
|
to keep him from being lifted up with the abundance of the
|
|
revelations. Notice is taken of the sun's rising upon him when he
|
|
passed over <i>Penuel;</i> for it is sunrise with that soul that
|
|
has communion with God. The inspired penman mentions a traditional
|
|
custom which the seed of Jacob had, in remembrance of this, never
|
|
to eat of that sinew, or muscle, in any beast, by which the
|
|
hip-bone is fixed in its cup: thus they preserved the memorial of
|
|
this story, and gave occasion to their children to enquire
|
|
concerning it; they also did honour to the memory of Jacob. And
|
|
this use we may still make of it, to acknowledge the mercy of God,
|
|
and our obligations to Jesus Christ, that we may now keep up our
|
|
communion with God, in faith, hope, and love, without peril either
|
|
of life or limb.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXXIII" n="xxxiv" progress="23.01%" prev="Gen.xxxiii" next="Gen.xxxv" id="Gen.xxxiv">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="197" id="Gen.xxxiv-Page_197"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xxxiv-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xxxiv-p0.2">CHAP. XXXIII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xxxiv-p1">We read, in the former chapter, how Jacob had
|
|
power with God, and prevailed; here we find what power he had with
|
|
men too, and how his brother Esau was mollified, and, on a sudden,
|
|
reconciled to him; for so it is written, <scripRef passage="Pr 16:7" id="Gen.xxxiv-p1.1" parsed="|Prov|16|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.16.7">Prov. xvi. 7</scripRef>, "When a man's ways please the
|
|
Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him." Here is,
|
|
I. A very friendly meeting between Jacob and Esau, <scripRef passage="Ge 33:1-4" id="Gen.xxxiv-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|33|1|33|4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.33.1-Gen.33.4">ver. 1-4</scripRef>. II. Their conference at
|
|
their meeting, in which they vie with each other in civil and kind
|
|
expressions. Their discourse is, 1. About Jacob's family, <scripRef passage="Ge 33:5-7" id="Gen.xxxiv-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|33|5|33|7" osisRef="Bible:Gen.33.5-Gen.33.7">ver. 5-7</scripRef>. 2. About the present he
|
|
had sent, <scripRef passage="Ge 33:8-11" id="Gen.xxxiv-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|33|8|33|11" osisRef="Bible:Gen.33.8-Gen.33.11">ver. 8-11</scripRef>. 3.
|
|
About the progress of their journey, <scripRef passage="Ge 33:12-15" id="Gen.xxxiv-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|33|12|33|15" osisRef="Bible:Gen.33.12-Gen.33.15">ver. 12-15</scripRef>. III. Jacob's settlement in
|
|
Canaan, his house, ground, and altar, <scripRef passage="Ge 33:16-20" id="Gen.xxxiv-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|33|16|33|20" osisRef="Bible:Gen.33.16-Gen.33.20">ver. 16-20</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 33" id="Gen.xxxiv-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|33|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.33"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 33:1-4" id="Gen.xxxiv-p1.8" parsed="|Gen|33|1|33|4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.33.1-Gen.33.4"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.33.1-Gen.33.4">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxxiv-p1.9">Jacob's Interview with Esau. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxxiv-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1739.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxiv-p2">1 And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and,
|
|
behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men. And he divided
|
|
the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two
|
|
handmaids.   2 And he put the handmaids and their children
|
|
foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph
|
|
hindermost.   3 And he passed over before them, and bowed
|
|
himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his
|
|
brother.   4 And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and
|
|
fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxiv-p3">Here, I. Jacob discovered Esau's approach,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 33:1" id="Gen.xxxiv-p3.1" parsed="|Gen|33|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.33.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. Some think that
|
|
his lifting up his eyes denotes his cheerfulness and confidence, in
|
|
opposition to a dejected countenance; having by prayer committed
|
|
his case to God, he went on his way, <i>and his countenance was no
|
|
more sad,</i> <scripRef passage="1Sa 1:18" id="Gen.xxxiv-p3.2" parsed="|1Sam|1|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.1.18">1 Sam. i. 18</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, Those that have cast their care upon God may look before them
|
|
with satisfaction and composure of mind, cheerfully expecting the
|
|
issue, whatever it may be; come what will, nothing can come amiss
|
|
to him whose heart is fixed, trusting in God. Jacob sets himself
|
|
upon his watch-tower to see what answer God will give to his
|
|
prayers, <scripRef passage="Hab 2:1" id="Gen.xxxiv-p3.3" parsed="|Hab|2|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hab.2.1">Hab. ii. 1</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxiv-p4">II. He put his family into the best order
|
|
he could to receive him, whether he should come as a friend or as
|
|
an enemy, consulting their decency if he came as a friend and their
|
|
safety if he came as an enemy, <scripRef passage="Ge 33:1,2" id="Gen.xxxiv-p4.1" parsed="|Gen|33|1|33|2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.33.1-Gen.33.2"><i>v.</i> 1, 2</scripRef>. Observe what a different
|
|
figure these two brothers made. Esau is attended with a guard of
|
|
400 men, and looks big; Jacob is followed by a cumbersome train of
|
|
women and children that are his care, and he looks tender and
|
|
solicitous for their safety; and yet Jacob had the birthright, and
|
|
was to have the dominion, and was every way the better man. Note,
|
|
It is no disparagement to very great and good men to give a
|
|
personal attendance to their families, and to their family affairs.
|
|
Jacob, at the head of his household, set a better example than Esau
|
|
at the head of his regiment.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxiv-p5">III. At their meeting, the expressions of
|
|
kindness were interchanged in the best manner that could be between
|
|
them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxiv-p6">1. Jacob bowed to Esau, <scripRef passage="Ge 33:3" id="Gen.xxxiv-p6.1" parsed="|Gen|33|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.33.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. Though he feared Esau as an
|
|
enemy, yet he did obeisance to him as an elder brother, knowing and
|
|
remembering perhaps that when Abel was preferred in God's
|
|
acceptance before his elder brother Cain, yet God undertook for him
|
|
to Cain that he should not be wanting in the duty and respect owing
|
|
by a younger brother. <i>Unto thee shall be his desire, and thou
|
|
shalt rule over him,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 4:7" id="Gen.xxxiv-p6.2" parsed="|Gen|4|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.7"><i>ch.</i> iv.
|
|
7</scripRef>. Note, (1.) The way to recover peace where it has been
|
|
broken is to do our duty, and pay our respects, upon all occasions,
|
|
as if it had never been broken. It is the remembering and repeating
|
|
of matters that separates friends and perpetuates the separation.
|
|
(2.) A humble submissive carriage goes a great way towards the
|
|
turning away of wrath. Many preserve themselves by humbling
|
|
themselves: the bullet flies over him that stoops.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxiv-p7">2. Esau embraced Jacob (<scripRef passage="Ge 33:4" id="Gen.xxxiv-p7.1" parsed="|Gen|33|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.33.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>): <i>He ran to meet him,</i> not
|
|
in passion, but in love; and, as one heartily reconciled to him, he
|
|
received him with all the endearments imaginable, <i>embraced him,
|
|
fell on his neck, and kissed him.</i> Some think that when Esau
|
|
came out to meet Jacob it was with no bad design, but that he
|
|
brought his 400 men only for state, that he might pay so much the
|
|
greater respect to his returning brother. It is certain
|
|
|
|
<pb n="198" id="Gen.xxxiv-Page_198"/>
|
|
|
|
that Jacob understood the report of his messengers
|
|
otherwise, <scripRef passage="Ge 32:5,6" id="Gen.xxxiv-p7.2" parsed="|Gen|32|5|32|6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.5-Gen.32.6"><i>ch.</i> xxxii. 5,
|
|
6</scripRef>. Jacob was a man of prudence and fortitude, and we
|
|
cannot suppose him to admit of a groundless fear to such a degree
|
|
as he did this, nor that the Spirit of God would stir him up to
|
|
pray such a prayer as he did for deliverance from a merely
|
|
imaginary danger: and, if there was not some wonderful change
|
|
wrought upon the spirit of Esau at this time, I see not how
|
|
wrestling Jacob could be said to obtain such power with men as to
|
|
denominate him a <i>prince.</i> Note, (1.) God had the hearts of
|
|
all men in his hands, and can turn them when and how he pleases, by
|
|
a secret, silent, but resistless power. He can, of a sudden,
|
|
convert enemies into friends, as he did two Sauls, one by
|
|
restraining grace (<scripRef passage="1Sa 26:21,25" id="Gen.xxxiv-p7.3" parsed="|1Sam|26|21|0|0;|1Sam|26|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.26.21 Bible:1Sam.26.25">1 Sam. xxvi.
|
|
21, 25</scripRef>), the other by renewing grace, <scripRef passage="Ac 9:21,22" id="Gen.xxxiv-p7.4" parsed="|Acts|9|21|9|22" osisRef="Bible:Acts.9.21-Acts.9.22">Acts ix. 21, 22</scripRef>. (2.) It is not in vain to
|
|
trust in God, and to call upon him in the day of trouble; those
|
|
that do so often find the issue much better than they expected.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxiv-p8">3. They both wept. Jacob wept for joy, to
|
|
be thus kindly received by his brother whom he had feared; and Esau
|
|
perhaps wept for grief and shame, to think of the bad design he had
|
|
conceived against his brother, which he found himself strangely and
|
|
unaccountably prevented from executing.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 33:5-15" id="Gen.xxxiv-p8.1" parsed="|Gen|33|5|33|15" osisRef="Bible:Gen.33.5-Gen.33.15"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.33.5-Gen.33.15">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxiv-p9">5 And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women
|
|
and the children; and said, Who <i>are</i> those with thee? And he
|
|
said, The children which God hath graciously given thy servant.
|
|
  6 Then the handmaidens came near, they and their children,
|
|
and they bowed themselves.   7 And Leah also with her children
|
|
came near, and bowed themselves: and after came Joseph near and
|
|
Rachel, and they bowed themselves.   8 And he said, What
|
|
<i>meanest</i> thou by all this drove which I met? And he said,
|
|
<i>These are</i> to find grace in the sight of my lord.   9
|
|
And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto
|
|
thyself.   10 And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have
|
|
found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: for
|
|
therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of
|
|
God, and thou wast pleased with me.   11 Take, I pray thee, my
|
|
blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously
|
|
with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he took
|
|
<i>it.</i>   12 And he said, Let us take our journey, and let
|
|
us go, and I will go before thee.   13 And he said unto him,
|
|
My lord knoweth that the children <i>are</i> tender, and the flocks
|
|
and herds with young <i>are</i> with me: and if men should
|
|
overdrive them one day, all the flock will die.   14 Let my
|
|
lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant: and I will lead on
|
|
softly, according as the cattle that goeth before me and the
|
|
children be able to endure, until I come unto my lord unto Seir.
|
|
  15 And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee <i>some</i> of
|
|
the folk that <i>are</i> with me. And he said, What needeth it? let
|
|
me find grace in the sight of my lord.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxiv-p10">We have here the discourse between the two
|
|
brothers at their meeting, which is very free and friendly, without
|
|
the least intimation of the old quarrel. It was the best way to say
|
|
nothing of it. They converse,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxiv-p11">I. About Jacob's retinue, <scripRef passage="Ge 33:5-7" id="Gen.xxxiv-p11.1" parsed="|Gen|33|5|33|7" osisRef="Bible:Gen.33.5-Gen.33.7"><i>v.</i> 5-7</scripRef>. Eleven or twelve
|
|
little ones, the eldest of them not fourteen years old, followed
|
|
Jacob closely: <i>Who are these?</i> says Esau. Jacob had sent him
|
|
an account of the increase of his estate (<scripRef passage="Ge 32:5" id="Gen.xxxiv-p11.2" parsed="|Gen|32|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.5"><i>ch.</i> xxxii. 5</scripRef>), but made no mention of
|
|
his children; perhaps because he would not expose them to his rage
|
|
if he should meet him as an enemy, or would please him with the
|
|
unexpected sight if he should meet him as a friend: Esau therefore
|
|
had reason to ask, <i>Who are those with thee?</i> to which common
|
|
question Jacob returns a serious answer, such as became his
|
|
character: They are <i>the children which God hath graciously given
|
|
thy servant.</i> It had been a sufficient answer to the question,
|
|
and fit enough to be given to profane Esau, if he had only said,
|
|
"They are my children;" but then Jacob would not have spoken like
|
|
himself, like a man whose eyes were ever towards the Lord. Note, It
|
|
becomes us not only to do common actions, but to speak of them,
|
|
<i>after a godly sort,</i> <scripRef passage="3Jo 1:6" id="Gen.xxxiv-p11.3" parsed="|3John|1|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:3John.1.6">3 John
|
|
6</scripRef>. Jacob speaks of his children, 1. As God's gifts; they
|
|
are a <i>heritage of the Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 128:2,Ps 112:9,Ps 107:41" id="Gen.xxxiv-p11.4" parsed="|Ps|128|2|0|0;|Ps|112|9|0|0;|Ps|107|41|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.128.2 Bible:Ps.112.9 Bible:Ps.107.41">Ps. cxxviii. 3; cxii. 9; cvii.
|
|
41</scripRef>. 2. As choice gifts; he hath graciously given them.
|
|
Though they were many, and now much his care, and as yet but
|
|
slenderly provided for, yet he accounts them great blessings. His
|
|
wives and children, hereupon, come up in order, and pay their duty
|
|
to Esau, as he had done before them (<scripRef passage="Ge 33:6,7" id="Gen.xxxiv-p11.5" parsed="|Gen|33|6|33|7" osisRef="Bible:Gen.33.6-Gen.33.7"><i>v.</i> 6, 7</scripRef>); for it becomes the family
|
|
to show respect to those to whom the master of the family shows
|
|
respect.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxiv-p12">II. About the present he had sent him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxiv-p13">1. Esau modestly refused it because he had
|
|
enough, and did not need it, <scripRef passage="Ge 33:9" id="Gen.xxxiv-p13.1" parsed="|Gen|33|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.33.9"><i>v.</i>
|
|
9</scripRef>. Note, Those who wish to be considered men of honour
|
|
will not <i>seem</i> to be mercenary in their friendship: whatever
|
|
influence Jacob's present had upon Esau to pacify him, he would not
|
|
have it thought that it had any, and therefore he refused it. His
|
|
reason is <i>I have
|
|
|
|
<pb n="199" id="Gen.xxxiv-Page_199"/>
|
|
|
|
enough,</i> I have
|
|
<i>much</i> (so the word is), so much that he was not willing to
|
|
take any thing that was his brother's. Note, (1.) Many that come
|
|
short of spiritual blessings, and are out of covenant, yet have
|
|
much of this world's wealth. Esau had what was promised him, the
|
|
fatness of the earth and a livelihood by his sword. (2.) It is a
|
|
good thing for those that have much to know that they have enough,
|
|
though they have not so much as some others have. Even Esau can
|
|
say, <i>I have enough.</i> (3.) Those that are content with what
|
|
they have must show it by not coveting what others have. Esau bids
|
|
Jacob keep what he had to himself, supposing he had more need of
|
|
it. Esau, for his part, needs it not, either to supply him, for he
|
|
was rich, or to pacify him, for he was reconciled: we should take
|
|
heed lest at any time our covetousness impose upon the courtesy of
|
|
others, and meanly take advantage of their generosity.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxiv-p14">2. Jacob affectionately urges him to accept
|
|
it, and prevails, <scripRef passage="Ge 33:10,11" id="Gen.xxxiv-p14.1" parsed="|Gen|33|10|33|11" osisRef="Bible:Gen.33.10-Gen.33.11"><i>v.</i> 10,
|
|
11</scripRef>. Jacob sent it, through fear (<scripRef passage="Ge 32:20" id="Gen.xxxiv-p14.2" parsed="|Gen|32|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.20"><i>ch.</i> xxxii. 20</scripRef>), but, the fear being
|
|
over, he now importunes his acceptance of it for love, to show that
|
|
he desired his brother's friendship, and did not merely dread his
|
|
wrath; two things he urges:—(1.) The satisfaction he had in his
|
|
brother's favour, of which he thought himself bound to make this
|
|
thankful acknowledgment. It is a very high compliment that he
|
|
passes upon him: <i>I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the
|
|
face of God,</i> that is, "I have seen thee reconciled to me, and
|
|
at peace with me, as I desire to see God reconciled." Or the
|
|
meaning is that Jacob saw God's favour to him in Esau's: it was a
|
|
token for good to him that God had accepted his prayers. Note,
|
|
Creature-comforts are comforts indeed to us when they are granted
|
|
as answers to prayer, and are tokens of our acceptance with God.
|
|
Again, It is matter of great joy to those that are of a peaceable
|
|
and affectionate disposition to recover the friendship of those
|
|
relations with whom they have been at variance. (2.) The competency
|
|
he had of this world's goods: <i>God has dealt graciously with
|
|
me.</i> Note, If what we have in this world increase under our
|
|
hands, we must take notice of it with thankfulness, to the glory of
|
|
God, and own that therein he has dealt graciously with us, better
|
|
than we deserve. It is he that gives <i>power to get wealth,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 8:18" id="Gen.xxxiv-p14.3" parsed="|Deut|8|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.18">Deut. viii. 18</scripRef>. He adds,
|
|
"And <i>I have enough;</i> I have <i>all,</i>" so the word is.
|
|
Esau's enough was much, but Jacob's enough was all. Note, a godly
|
|
man, though he have but little in the world, yet may truly say, "I
|
|
have all," [1.] Because he has the God of all, and has all in him;
|
|
all is yours if you be Christ's, <scripRef passage="1Co 3:22" id="Gen.xxxiv-p14.4" parsed="|1Cor|3|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.3.22">1
|
|
Cor. iii. 22</scripRef>. [2.] Because he has the comfort of all.
|
|
<i>I have all, and abound,</i> <scripRef passage="Php 4:18" id="Gen.xxxiv-p14.5" parsed="|Phil|4|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Phil.4.18">Phil.
|
|
iv. 18</scripRef>. He that has much would have more; but he that
|
|
thinks he has all is sure he has enough. He has all in prospect; he
|
|
will have all shortly, when he comes to heaven: upon this principle
|
|
Jacob urged Esau, and he took his present. Note, It is an excellent
|
|
thing when men's religion makes them generous, free-hearted, and
|
|
open-handed, scorning to do a thing that is paltry and
|
|
sneaking.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxiv-p15">III. About the progress of their journey.
|
|
1. Esau offers himself to be his guide and companion, in token of
|
|
sincere reconciliation, <scripRef passage="Ge 33:12" id="Gen.xxxiv-p15.1" parsed="|Gen|33|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.33.12"><i>v.</i>
|
|
12</scripRef>. We never find that Jacob and Esau were so sociable
|
|
with one another, and so affectionate, as they were now. Note, As
|
|
for God his work is perfect. He made Esau, not only not an enemy,
|
|
but a friend. This bone that had been broken, being well set,
|
|
became stronger than ever. Esau has become fond of Jacob's company,
|
|
courts him to Mount Seir: let us never despair of any, nor distrust
|
|
God in whose hand all hearts are. Yet Jacob saw cause modestly to
|
|
refuse this offer (<scripRef passage="Ge 33:13,14" id="Gen.xxxiv-p15.2" parsed="|Gen|33|13|33|14" osisRef="Bible:Gen.33.13-Gen.33.14"><i>v.</i> 13,
|
|
14</scripRef>), wherein he shows a tender concern for his own
|
|
family and flocks, like a good shepherd and a good father. He must
|
|
consider the children, and the flocks with young, and not lead the
|
|
one, nor drive the other, too fast. This prudence and tenderness of
|
|
Jacob ought to be imitated by those that have the care and charge
|
|
of young people in the things of God. They must not be over-driven,
|
|
at first, by heavy tasks in religious services, but led, as they
|
|
can bear, having their work made as easy to them as possible.
|
|
Christ, the good Shepherd, does so, <scripRef passage="Isa 40:11" id="Gen.xxxiv-p15.3" parsed="|Isa|40|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.40.11">Isa. xl. 11</scripRef>. Now Jacob will not desire Esau
|
|
to slacken his pace, nor force his family to quicken theirs, nor
|
|
leave them, to keep company with his brother, as many would have
|
|
done, that love any society better than their own house; but he
|
|
desires Esau to march before, and promises to follow him leisurely,
|
|
as he could get forward. Note, It is an unreasonable thing to tie
|
|
others to our rate; we may come with comfort, at last, to the same
|
|
journey's end, though we do not journey together, either in the
|
|
same path or with the same pace. There may be those with whom we
|
|
cannot fall in and yet with whom we need not fall out by the way.
|
|
Jacob intimates to him that it was his present design to come to
|
|
him to Mount Seir; and we may presume he did so, after he had
|
|
settled his family and concerns elsewhere, though that visit is not
|
|
recorded. Note, When we have happily recovered peace with our
|
|
friends we must take care to cultivate it, and not to be
|
|
behind-hand with them in civilities. 2. Esau offers some of his men
|
|
to be his guard and convoy, <scripRef passage="Ge 33:15" id="Gen.xxxiv-p15.4" parsed="|Gen|33|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.33.15"><i>v.</i>
|
|
15</scripRef>. He saw Jacob but poorly attended, no servants but
|
|
his husbandmen and shepherds, no pages or footmen; and therefore,
|
|
thinking he was as desirous as himself (if he could afford it) to
|
|
take state upon him, and look great, he would needs lend him some
|
|
of his retinue, to attend upon him, that he might appear like
|
|
Esau's brother; but Jacob humbly refuses his offer, only desiring
|
|
he would not take it amiss that he did not accept it: <i>What
|
|
|
|
<pb n="200" id="Gen.xxxiv-Page_200"/>
|
|
|
|
needeth it?</i> (1.) Jacob is humble, and needs
|
|
it not for state; he desires not to make a fair show in the flesh,
|
|
by encumbering himself with a needless retinue. Note, It is the
|
|
vanity of pomp and grandeur that they are attended with a great
|
|
deal of which it may be said, <i>What needeth it?</i> (2.) Jacob is
|
|
under the divine protection, and needs it not for safety. Note,
|
|
Those are sufficiently guarded that have God for their guard and
|
|
are under a convoy of his hosts, as Jacob was. Those need not be
|
|
beholden to an arm of flesh that have God for their arm every
|
|
morning. Jacob adds, "Only <i>let me find grace in the sight of my
|
|
lord;</i> having thy favour, I have all I need, all I desire from
|
|
thee." If Jacob thus valued the good-will of a brother, much more
|
|
reason have we to reckon that we have enough if we have the
|
|
good-will of our God.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 33:16-20" id="Gen.xxxiv-p15.5" parsed="|Gen|33|16|33|20" osisRef="Bible:Gen.33.16-Gen.33.20"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.33.16-Gen.33.20">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxiv-p16">16 So Esau returned that day on his way unto
|
|
Seir.   17 And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him a
|
|
house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the
|
|
place is called Succoth.   18 And Jacob came to Shalem, a city
|
|
of Shechem, which <i>is</i> in the land of Canaan, when he came
|
|
from Padan-aram; and pitched his tent before the city.   19
|
|
And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at
|
|
the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for a hundred
|
|
pieces of money.   20 And he erected there an altar, and
|
|
called it El-elohe-Israel.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxiv-p17">Here, 1. Jacob comes to Succoth. Having in
|
|
a friendly manner parted with Esau, who had gone to his own country
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 33:16" id="Gen.xxxiv-p17.1" parsed="|Gen|33|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.33.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>), he comes to
|
|
a place where, it should seem, he rested for some time, set up
|
|
booths for his cattle, and other conveniences for himself and
|
|
family. The place was afterwards known by the name of Succoth, a
|
|
city in the tribe of Gad, on the other side Jordan (it signifies
|
|
<i>booths</i>), that when his posterity afterwards dwelt in houses
|
|
of stone, they might remember that <i>the Syrian ready to
|
|
perish</i> was their father, who was glad of booths (<scripRef passage="De 26:5" id="Gen.xxxiv-p17.2" parsed="|Deut|26|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26.5">Deut. xxvi. 5</scripRef>); such was the rock
|
|
whence they were hewn. 2. He comes to Shechem; we read it, to
|
|
<i>Shalem, a city of Shechem;</i> the critics generally incline to
|
|
read it appellatively: <i>he came safely, or in peace, to the city
|
|
of Shechem.</i> After a perilous journey, in which he had met with
|
|
many difficulties, he came safely, at last, into Canaan. Note,
|
|
Diseases and dangers should teach us how to value health and
|
|
safety, and should help to enlarge our hearts in thankfulness, when
|
|
our going out and coming in have been signally preserved. Here,
|
|
(1.) He buys a field, <scripRef passage="Ge 33:19" id="Gen.xxxiv-p17.3" parsed="|Gen|33|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.33.19"><i>v.</i>
|
|
19</scripRef>. Though the land of Canaan was his by promise, yet,
|
|
the time for taking possession not having yet come, he is content
|
|
to pay for his own, to prevent disputes with the present occupants.
|
|
Note, Dominion is not founded in grace. Those that have heaven on
|
|
free-cost must not expect to have earth so. (2.) He builds an
|
|
altar, <scripRef passage="Ge 33:20" id="Gen.xxxiv-p17.4" parsed="|Gen|33|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.33.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. [1.]
|
|
In thankfulness to God, for the good hand of his providence over
|
|
him. He did not content himself with verbal acknowledgments of
|
|
God's favour to him, but made real ones. [2.] That he might keep up
|
|
religion, and the worship of God, in his family. Note, Where we
|
|
have a tent God must have an altar, where we have a house he must
|
|
have a church in it. He dedicated this altar to the honour of
|
|
<i>El-elohe-Israel—God, the God of Israel,</i> to the honour of
|
|
God, in general, the only living and true God, the best of beings
|
|
and first of causes; and to the honour of the God of Israel, as a
|
|
God in covenant with him. Note, In our worship of God we must be
|
|
guided and governed by the joint-discoveries both of natural and
|
|
revealed religion. God had lately called him by the name of
|
|
<i>Israel,</i> and now he calls God <i>the God of Israel;</i>
|
|
though he is styled <i>a prince with God,</i> God shall still be a
|
|
prince with him, his Lord and his God. Note, Our honours then
|
|
become honours indeed to us when they are consecrated to God's
|
|
honour; Israel's God is Israel's glory.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXXIV" n="xxxv" progress="23.40%" prev="Gen.xxxiv" next="Gen.xxxvi" id="Gen.xxxv">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="200" id="Gen.xxxv-Page_200"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xxxv-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xxxv-p0.2">CHAP. XXXIV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xxxv-p1">At this chapter begins the story of Jacob's
|
|
afflictions in his children, which were very great, and are
|
|
recorded to show, 1. The vanity of this world. That which is
|
|
dearest to us may prove our greatest vexation, and we may meet with
|
|
the greatest crosses in those things of which we said, "This same
|
|
shall comfort us." 2. The common griefs of good people. Jacob's
|
|
children were circumcised, were well taught, and prayed for, and
|
|
had very good examples set them; yet some of them proved very
|
|
untoward. "The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the
|
|
strong." Grace does not run in the blood, and yet the interrupting
|
|
of the entail of grace does not cut off the entail of profession
|
|
and visible church-privileges: nay, Jacob's sons, though they were
|
|
his grief in some things, yet were all taken into covenant with
|
|
God. In this chapter we have, I. Dinah debauched, <scripRef passage="Ge 34:1-5" id="Gen.xxxv-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|34|1|34|5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.34.1-Gen.34.5">ver. 1-5</scripRef>. II. A treaty of marriage
|
|
between her and Shechem who had defiled her, <scripRef passage="Ge 34:6-19" id="Gen.xxxv-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|34|6|34|19" osisRef="Bible:Gen.34.6-Gen.34.19">ver. 6-19</scripRef>. III. The circumcision of the
|
|
Shechemites, pursuant to that treaty, <scripRef passage="Ge 34:20-24" id="Gen.xxxv-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|34|20|34|24" osisRef="Bible:Gen.34.20-Gen.34.24">ver. 20-24</scripRef>. IV. The perfidious and bloody
|
|
revenge which Simeon and Levi took upon them, <scripRef passage="Ge 34:25-31" id="Gen.xxxv-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|34|25|34|31" osisRef="Bible:Gen.34.25-Gen.34.31">ver. 25-31.</scripRef></p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 34" id="Gen.xxxv-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|34|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.34"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 34:1-5" id="Gen.xxxv-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|34|1|34|5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.34.1-Gen.34.5"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.34.1-Gen.34.5">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxxv-p1.7">Dinah Dishonoured. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxxv-p1.8">b. c.</span> 1732.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxv-p2">1 And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare
|
|
unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.   2 And
|
|
when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country,
|
|
saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her.   3
|
|
And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved
|
|
the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel.   4 And Shechem
|
|
spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife.
|
|
  5 And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter:
|
|
now his sons were with his cattle in the field: and Jacob held his
|
|
peace until they were come.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxv-p3">Dinah was, for aught that appears, Jacob's
|
|
only daughter, and we may suppose her
|
|
|
|
<pb n="201" id="Gen.xxxv-Page_201"/>
|
|
|
|
therefore the mother's fondling and the darling of the family, and
|
|
yet she proves neither a joy nor a credit to them; for those
|
|
children seldom prove either the best or the happiest that are most
|
|
indulged. She is reckoned now but fifteen or sixteen years of age
|
|
when she here occasioned so much mischief. Observe, 1. Her vain
|
|
curiosity, which exposed her. She went out, perhaps unknown to her
|
|
father, but by the connivance of her mother, <i>to see the
|
|
daughters of the land</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 34:1" id="Gen.xxxv-p3.1" parsed="|Gen|34|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.34.1"><i>v.</i>
|
|
1</scripRef>); probably it was at a ball, or on some public day.
|
|
Being an only daughter, she thought herself solitary at home,
|
|
having none of her own age and sex to converse with; and therefore
|
|
she must needs go abroad to divert herself, to keep off melancholy,
|
|
and to accomplish herself by conversation better than she could in
|
|
her father's tents. Note, It is a very good thing for children to
|
|
love home; it is parents' wisdom to make it easy to them, and
|
|
children's duty then to be easy in it. Her pretence was <i>to see
|
|
the daughters of the land,</i> to see how they dressed, and how
|
|
they danced, and what was fashionable among them. She went to
|
|
<i>see,</i> yet that was not all, she went to be <i>seen</i> too;
|
|
she went to see the daughters of the land, but, it may be, with
|
|
some thoughts of the sons of the land too. I doubt she went to get
|
|
an acquaintance with those Canaanites, and to learn their way.
|
|
Note, The pride and vanity of young people betray them into many
|
|
snares. 2. The loss of her honour by this means (<scripRef passage="Ge 34:2" id="Gen.xxxv-p3.2" parsed="|Gen|34|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.34.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>): <i>Shechem, the prince of the
|
|
country,</i> but a slave to his own lusts, took her, and lay with
|
|
her, it should seem, not so much by force as by surprise. Note,
|
|
Great men think they may do any thing; and what more mischievous
|
|
than untaught and ungoverned youth? See what came of Dinah's
|
|
gadding: young women must learn to be <i>chaste, keepers at
|
|
home;</i> these properties are put together, <scripRef passage="Tit 2:5" id="Gen.xxxv-p3.3" parsed="|Titus|2|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Titus.2.5">Tit. ii. 5</scripRef>, for those that are not keepers at
|
|
home expose their chastity. Dinah went abroad to look about her;
|
|
but, if she had looked about her as she ought, she would not have
|
|
fallen into this snare. Note, The beginning of sin is as the
|
|
letting forth of water. How great a matter does a little fire
|
|
kindle! We should therefore carefully avoid all occasions of sin
|
|
and approaches to it. 3. The court Shechem made to her, after he
|
|
had defiled her. This was fair and commendable, and made the best
|
|
of what was bad; he loved her (not as Amnon, <scripRef passage="2Sa 13:15" id="Gen.xxxv-p3.4" parsed="|2Sam|13|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.13.15">2 Sam. xiii. 15</scripRef>), and he engaged his father
|
|
to make a match for him with her, <scripRef passage="Ge 34:4" id="Gen.xxxv-p3.5" parsed="|Gen|34|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.34.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. 4. The tidings brought to poor
|
|
Jacob, <scripRef passage="Ge 34:5" id="Gen.xxxv-p3.6" parsed="|Gen|34|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.34.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. As soon
|
|
as his children grew up they began to be a grief to him. Let not
|
|
godly parents, that are lamenting the miscarriages of their
|
|
children, think their case singular or unprecedented. The good man
|
|
<i>held his peace,</i> as one astonished, that knows not what to
|
|
say: or he said nothing, for fear of saying amiss, as David
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ps 39:1,2" id="Gen.xxxv-p3.7" parsed="|Ps|39|1|39|2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.39.1-Ps.39.2">Ps. xxxix. 1, 2</scripRef>); he
|
|
smothered his resentments, lest, if he had suffered them to break
|
|
out, they should have transported him into any indecencies. Or, it
|
|
should seem, he had left the management of his affairs very much
|
|
(too much I doubt) to his sons, and he would do nothing without
|
|
them: or, at least, he knew they would make him uneasy if he did,
|
|
they having shown themselves, of late, upon all occasions, bold,
|
|
forward, and assuming. Note, Things never go well when the
|
|
authority of a parent runs low in a family. Let every man <i>bear
|
|
rule in his own house, and have his children in subjection with all
|
|
gravity.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 34:6-17" id="Gen.xxxv-p3.8" parsed="|Gen|34|6|34|17" osisRef="Bible:Gen.34.6-Gen.34.17"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.34.6-Gen.34.17">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxxv-p3.9">Treachery of Dinah's
|
|
Brethren. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxxv-p3.10">b. c.</span> 1732.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxv-p4">6 And Hamor the father of Shechem went out unto
|
|
Jacob to commune with him.   7 And the sons of Jacob came out
|
|
of the field when they heard <i>it:</i> and the men were grieved,
|
|
and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in
|
|
lying with Jacob's daughter; which thing ought not to be done.
|
|
  8 And Hamor communed with them, saying, The soul of my son
|
|
Shechem longeth for your daughter: I pray you give her him to wife.
|
|
  9 And make ye marriages with us, <i>and</i> give your
|
|
daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you.   10 And
|
|
ye shall dwell with us: and the land shall be before you; dwell and
|
|
trade ye therein, and get you possessions therein.   11 And
|
|
Shechem said unto her father and unto her brethren, Let me find
|
|
grace in your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I will give.
|
|
  12 Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give
|
|
according as ye shall say unto me: but give me the damsel to wife.
|
|
  13 And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his
|
|
father deceitfully, and said, because he had defiled Dinah their
|
|
sister:   14 And they said unto them, We cannot do this thing,
|
|
to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; for that
|
|
<i>were</i> a reproach unto us:   15 But in this will we
|
|
consent unto you: If ye will be as we <i>be,</i> that every male of
|
|
you be circumcised;   16 Then will we give our daughters unto
|
|
you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with
|
|
you, and we will become one people.   17 But if ye will not
|
|
hearken unto us, to be circumcised; then will we take our daughter,
|
|
and we will be gone.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxv-p5">Jacob's sons, when they heard of the
|
|
|
|
<pb n="202" id="Gen.xxxv-Page_202"/>
|
|
|
|
injury done to Dinah, showed a very great
|
|
resentment of it, influenced perhaps rather by jealousy for the
|
|
honour of their family than by a sense of virtue. Many are
|
|
concerned at the shamefulness of sin that never lay to heart the
|
|
sinfulness of it. It is here called <i>folly in Israel</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 34:7" id="Gen.xxxv-p5.1" parsed="|Gen|34|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.34.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>), according to
|
|
the language of after-times; for Israel was not yet a people, but a
|
|
family only. Note, 1. Uncleanness is folly; for it sacrifices the
|
|
favour of God, peace of conscience, and all the soul can pretend to
|
|
that is sacred and honourable, to a base and brutish lust. 2. This
|
|
folly is most shameful in <i>Israel,</i> in a family of Israel,
|
|
where God is known and worshipped, as he was in Jacob's tents, by
|
|
the name of <i>the God of Israel.</i> Folly in Israel is scandalous
|
|
indeed. 3. It is a good thing to have sin stamped with a bad name:
|
|
uncleanness is here proverbially called <i>folly in Israel,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="2Sa 13:12" id="Gen.xxxv-p5.2" parsed="|2Sam|13|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.13.12">2 Sam. xiii. 12</scripRef>. Dinah is
|
|
here called <i>Jacob's daughter,</i> for warning to all the
|
|
daughters of Israel, that they betray not themselves to this
|
|
folly.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxv-p6">Hamor came to treat with Jacob himself, but
|
|
he turns him over to his sons; and here we have a particular
|
|
account of the treaty, in which, it is a shame to say, the
|
|
Canaanites were more honest than the Israelites.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxv-p7">I. Hamor and Shechem fairly propose this
|
|
match, in order to a coalition in trade. Shechem is deeply in love
|
|
with Dinah; he will have her upon any terms, <scripRef passage="Ge 34:11,12" id="Gen.xxxv-p7.1" parsed="|Gen|34|11|34|12" osisRef="Bible:Gen.34.11-Gen.34.12"><i>v.</i> 11, 12</scripRef>. His father not only
|
|
consents, but solicits for him, and gravely insists upon the
|
|
advantages that would follow from the union of the families,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 34:9,10" id="Gen.xxxv-p7.2" parsed="|Gen|34|9|34|10" osisRef="Bible:Gen.34.9-Gen.34.10"><i>v.</i> 9, 10</scripRef>. He shows
|
|
no jealousy of Jacob, though he was a stranger, but rather an
|
|
earnest desire to settle a correspondence with him and his family,
|
|
making him that generous offer, <i>The land shall be before you,
|
|
trade you therein.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxv-p8">II. Jacob's sons basely pretend to insist
|
|
upon a coalition in religion, when really they designed nothing
|
|
less. If Jacob had taken the management of this affair into his own
|
|
hands, it is probable that he and Hamor would soon have concluded
|
|
it; but Jacob's sons meditate only revenge, and a strange project
|
|
they have for the compassing of it—the Shechemites must be
|
|
circumcised; not to make them holy (they never intended that), but
|
|
to make them sore, that they might become an easier prey to their
|
|
sword. 1. The pretence was specious. "It is the honour of Jacob's
|
|
family that they carry about with them the token of God's covenant
|
|
with them; and it will be a reproach to those that are thus
|
|
dignified and distinguished to enter into such a strict alliance
|
|
with those that are <i>uncircumcised</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 34:14" id="Gen.xxxv-p8.1" parsed="|Gen|34|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.34.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>); and therefore, <i>if you will
|
|
be circumcised, then we will become one people with you,</i>"
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 34:15,16" id="Gen.xxxv-p8.2" parsed="|Gen|34|15|34|16" osisRef="Bible:Gen.34.15-Gen.34.16"><i>v.</i> 15, 16</scripRef>. Had
|
|
they been sincere herein their proposal of these terms would have
|
|
had in it something commendable; for Israelites should not
|
|
intermarry with Canaanites, professors with profane; it is a great
|
|
sin, or at least the cause and inlet of a great deal, and has often
|
|
been of pernicious consequence. The interest we have in any
|
|
persons, and the hold we have of them, should be wisely improved by
|
|
us, to bring them to the love and practice of religion (<i>He that
|
|
winneth souls is wise</i>); but then we must not, like Jacob's
|
|
sons, think it enough to persuade them to submit to the external
|
|
rites of religion, but must endeavour to convince them of its
|
|
reasonableness, and to bring them acquainted with the power of it.
|
|
2. The intention was malicious, as appears by the sequel of the
|
|
story; all they aimed at was to prepare them for the day of
|
|
slaughter. Note, Bloody designs have often been covered, and
|
|
carried on, with a pretence of religion; thus they have been
|
|
accomplished most plausibly and most securely: but this dissembled
|
|
piety is, doubtless, double iniquity. Religion is never more
|
|
injured, nor are God's sacraments more profaned, than when they are
|
|
thus used for a cloak of maliciousness. Nay, if Jacob's sons had
|
|
not had this bloody design, I do not see how they could justify
|
|
their offering the sacred sign of circumcision, the seal of God's
|
|
covenant, to these devoted Canaanites, who had no part nor lot in
|
|
the matter. Those had no right to the seal that had no right to the
|
|
promise. <i>It is not meet to take the children's bread, and cast
|
|
it to dogs:</i> but Jacob's sons valued not this, while they could
|
|
make it serve their turn.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 34:18-24" id="Gen.xxxv-p8.3" parsed="|Gen|34|18|34|24" osisRef="Bible:Gen.34.18-Gen.34.24"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.34.18-Gen.34.24">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxv-p9">18 And their words pleased Hamor, and Shechem
|
|
Hamor's son.   19 And the young man deferred not to do the
|
|
thing, because he had delight in Jacob's daughter: and he
|
|
<i>was</i> more honourable than all the house of his father.  
|
|
20 And Hamor and Shechem his son came unto the gate of their city,
|
|
and communed with the men of their city, saying,   21 These
|
|
men <i>are</i> peaceable with us; therefore let them dwell in the
|
|
land, and trade therein; for the land, behold, <i>it is</i> large
|
|
enough for them; let us take their daughters to us for wives, and
|
|
let us give them our daughters.   22 Only herein will the men
|
|
consent unto us for to dwell with us, to be one people, if every
|
|
male among us be circumcised, as they <i>are</i> circumcised.
|
|
  23 <i>Shall</i> not their cattle and their substance and
|
|
every beast of theirs <i>be</i> ours? only let us consent unto
|
|
them, and they will dwell with us.   24 And unto Hamor and
|
|
unto Shechem his son hearkened all that went out of the gate of his
|
|
city;
|
|
|
|
<pb n="203" id="Gen.xxxv-Page_203"/>
|
|
|
|
and every male was circumcised, all
|
|
that went out of the gate of his city.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxv-p10">Here, 1. Hamor and Shechem gave consent
|
|
themselves to be circumcised, <scripRef passage="Ge 34:18,19" id="Gen.xxxv-p10.1" parsed="|Gen|34|18|34|19" osisRef="Bible:Gen.34.18-Gen.34.19"><i>v.</i> 18, 19</scripRef>. To this perhaps they
|
|
were moved, not only by the strong desire they had to bring about
|
|
this match, but by what they might have heard of the sacred and
|
|
honourable intentions of this sign, in the family of Abraham,
|
|
which, it is probable, they had some confused notions of, and of
|
|
the promises confirmed by it, which made them the more desirous to
|
|
incorporate with the family of Jacob, <scripRef passage="Zec 8:23" id="Gen.xxxv-p10.2" parsed="|Zech|8|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zech.8.23">Zech. viii. 23</scripRef>. Note, Many who know little of
|
|
religion, yet know so much of it as makes them willing to join
|
|
themselves with those that are religious. Again, If a man would
|
|
take upon him a form of religion to gain a good wife, much more
|
|
should we embrace the power of it to gain the favour of a good God,
|
|
even circumcise our hearts to love him, and, as Shechem here,
|
|
<i>not defer to do the thing.</i> 2. They gained the consent of the
|
|
men of their city, Jacob's sons requiring that they also should be
|
|
circumcised. (1.) They themselves had great influences upon them by
|
|
their command and example. Note, Religion would greatly prevail if
|
|
those in authority, who, like Shechem, are more honourable than
|
|
their neighbours, would appear forward and zealous for it. (2.)
|
|
They urged an argument which was very cogent (<scripRef passage="Ge 34:23" id="Gen.xxxv-p10.3" parsed="|Gen|34|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.34.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>), <i>Shall not their cattle and
|
|
their substance be ours?</i> They observed that Jacob's sons were
|
|
industrious thriving people, and promised themselves and their
|
|
neighbours advantage by an alliance with them; it would improve
|
|
ground and trade, and bring money into their country. Now, [1.] It
|
|
was bad enough to marry upon this principle: yet we see
|
|
covetousness the greatest matchmaker in the world, and nothing
|
|
designed so much, with many, as the laying of house to house, and
|
|
field to field, without regard had to any other consideration. [2.]
|
|
It was worse to be circumcised upon this principle. The Shechemites
|
|
will embrace the religion of Jacob's family only in hopes of
|
|
interesting themselves thereby in the riches of that family. Thus
|
|
there are many with whom gain is godliness, and who are more
|
|
governed and influenced by their secular interest than by any
|
|
principle of their religion.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 34:25-31" id="Gen.xxxv-p10.4" parsed="|Gen|34|25|34|31" osisRef="Bible:Gen.34.25-Gen.34.31"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.34.25-Gen.34.31">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxxv-p10.5">Murder of the Shechemites. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxxv-p10.6">b. c.</span> 1732.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxv-p11">25 And it came to pass on the third day, when
|
|
they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi,
|
|
Dinah's brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city
|
|
boldly, and slew all the males.   26 And they slew Hamor and
|
|
Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of
|
|
Shechem's house, and went out.   27 The sons of Jacob came
|
|
upon the slain, and spoiled the city, because they had defiled
|
|
their sister.   28 They took their sheep, and their oxen, and
|
|
their asses, and that which <i>was</i> in the city, and that which
|
|
<i>was</i> in the field,   29 And all their wealth, and all
|
|
their little ones, and their wives took they captive, and spoiled
|
|
even all that <i>was</i> in the house.   30 And Jacob said to
|
|
Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the
|
|
inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites:
|
|
and I <i>being</i> few in number, they shall gather themselves
|
|
together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and
|
|
my house.   31 And they said, Should he deal with our sister
|
|
as with an harlot?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxv-p12">Here, we have Simeon and Levi, two of
|
|
Jacob's sons, young men not much above twenty years old, cutting
|
|
the throats of the Shechemites, and thereby breaking the heart of
|
|
their good father.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxv-p13">I. Here is the barbarous murder of the
|
|
Shechemites. Jacob himself was used to the sheep-hook, but his sons
|
|
had got swords by their sides, as if they had been the seed of
|
|
Esau, who was to live by his sword; we have them here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxv-p14">1. Slaying the inhabitants of
|
|
Shechem—<i>all the males,</i> Hamor and Shechem particularly, with
|
|
whom they had been treating in a friendly manner but the other day,
|
|
yet with a design upon their lives. Some think that all Jacob's
|
|
sons, when they wheedled the Shechemites to be circumcised,
|
|
designed to take advantage of their soreness, and to rescue Dinah
|
|
from among them; but that Simeon and Levi, not content with that,
|
|
would themselves avenge the injury—and they did it with a witness.
|
|
Now, (1.) It cannot be denied but that God was righteous in it. Had
|
|
the Shechemites been circumcised in obedience to any command of
|
|
God, their circumcision would have been their protection; but when
|
|
they submitted to that sacred rite only to serve a turn, to please
|
|
their prince and to enrich themselves, it was just with God to
|
|
bring this upon them. Note, As nothing secures us better than true
|
|
religion, so nothing exposes us more than religion only pretended
|
|
to. (2.) But Simeon and Levi were most unrighteous. [1.] It was
|
|
true that Shechem had <i>wrought folly against Israel,</i> in
|
|
defiling Dinah; but it ought to have been considered how far Dinah
|
|
herself had been accessory to it. Had Shechem abused her in her own
|
|
mother's tent, it would have been another matter; but she went upon
|
|
his ground, and perhaps by her indecent carriage had struck the
|
|
spark which began the fire: when we are severe upon the sinner we
|
|
ought to consider
|
|
|
|
<pb n="204" id="Gen.xxxv-Page_204"/>
|
|
|
|
who was the tempter. [2.]
|
|
It was true that Shechem had done ill; but he was endeavouring to
|
|
atone for it, and was as honest and honourable, <i>ex post
|
|
facto—after the deed,</i> as the case would admit: it was not the
|
|
case of the Levite's concubine that was abused to death; nor does
|
|
he justify what he has done, but courts a reconciliation upon any
|
|
terms. [3.] It was true that Shechem had done ill; but what was
|
|
that to all the Shechemites? Does one man sin, and will they be
|
|
wroth with all the town? Must the innocent fall with the guilty?
|
|
This was barbarous indeed. [4.] But that which above all aggravated
|
|
the cruelty was the most perfidious treachery that was in it. The
|
|
Shechemites had submitted to their conditions, and had done that
|
|
upon which they had promised to become one people with them
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 34:16" id="Gen.xxxv-p14.1" parsed="|Gen|34|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.34.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>); yet they
|
|
act as sworn enemies to those to whom they had lately become sworn
|
|
friends, making as light of their covenant as they did of the laws
|
|
of humanity. And are these the sons of Israel? <i>Cursed be their
|
|
anger, for it was fierce.</i> [5.] This also added to the crime,
|
|
that they made a holy ordinance of God subservient to their wicked
|
|
design, so making that odious; as if it were not enough for them to
|
|
shame themselves and their family, they bring a reproach upon that
|
|
honourable badge of their religion; justly would it be called a
|
|
bloody ordinance.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxv-p15">2. Seizing the prey of Shechem, and
|
|
plundering the town. They rescued Dinah (<scripRef passage="Ge 34:26" id="Gen.xxxv-p15.1" parsed="|Gen|34|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.34.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>), and, if that was all they came
|
|
for, they might have done that without blood, as appears by their
|
|
own showing (<scripRef passage="Ge 34:17" id="Gen.xxxv-p15.2" parsed="|Gen|34|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.34.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>);
|
|
but they aimed at the spoil; and, though Simeon and Levi only were
|
|
the murderers, yet it is intimated that others of the sons of Jacob
|
|
<i>came upon the slain and spoiled the city</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 34:27" id="Gen.xxxv-p15.3" parsed="|Gen|34|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.34.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>), and so became accessory to the
|
|
murder. In them it was manifest injustice; yet here we may observe
|
|
the righteousness of God. The Shechemites were willing to gratify
|
|
the sons of Jacob by submitting to the penance of circumcision,
|
|
upon this principle, <i>Shall not their cattle and their substance
|
|
be ours?</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 34:23" id="Gen.xxxv-p15.4" parsed="|Gen|34|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.34.23"><i>v.</i>
|
|
23</scripRef>), and see what was the issue; instead of making
|
|
themselves masters of the wealth of Jacob's family, Jacob's family
|
|
become masters of their wealth. Note, Those who unjustly grasp at
|
|
that which is another's justly lose that which is their own.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxv-p16">II. Here is Jacob's resentment of this
|
|
bloody deed of Simeon and Levi, <scripRef passage="Ge 34:30" id="Gen.xxxv-p16.1" parsed="|Gen|34|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.34.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>. Two things he bitterly
|
|
complains of:—1. The reproach they had brought upon him thereby:
|
|
<i>You have troubled me,</i> put me into a disorder, for you have
|
|
made me <i>to stink among the inhabitants of the land,</i> that is,
|
|
"You have rendered me and my family odious among them. What will
|
|
they say of us and our religion? We shall be looked upon as the
|
|
most perfidious barbarous people in the world." Note, The gross
|
|
misconduct of wicked children is the grief and shame of their godly
|
|
parents. Children should be the joy of their parents; but wicked
|
|
children are their trouble, sadden their hearts, break their
|
|
spirits, and make them go mourning from day to day. Children should
|
|
be an ornament to their parents; but wicked children are their
|
|
reproach, and are as dead flies in the pot of ointment: but let
|
|
such children know that, if they repent not, the grief they have
|
|
caused to their parents, and the damage religion has sustained in
|
|
its reputation through them, will come into the account and be
|
|
reckoned for. 2. The ruin they had exposed him to. What could be
|
|
expected, but that the Canaanites, who were numerous and
|
|
formidable, would confederate against him, and he and his little
|
|
family would become an easy prey to them? <i>I shall be destroyed,
|
|
I and my house.</i> If all the Shechemites must be destroyed for
|
|
the offence of one, why not all the Israelites for the offence of
|
|
two? Jacob knew indeed that God had promised to preserve and
|
|
perpetuate his house; but he might justly fear that these vile
|
|
practices of his children would amount to a forfeiture, and cut off
|
|
the entail. Note, When sin is in the house, there is reason to fear
|
|
ruin at the door. The tender parents foresee those bad consequences
|
|
of sin which the wicked children have no dread of. One would think
|
|
this should have made them to relent, and they should have humbled
|
|
themselves to their good father, and begged his pardon; but,
|
|
instead of this, they justify themselves, and give him this
|
|
insolent reply, <i>Should he deal with our sister as with a
|
|
harlot?</i> No, he should not; but, if he do, must they be their
|
|
own avengers? Will nothing less than so many lives, and the ruin of
|
|
a whole city, serve to atone for an abuse done to one foolish girl?
|
|
By their question they tacitly reflect upon their father, as if he
|
|
would have been content to let them deal with his daughter as with
|
|
a harlot. Note, It is common for those who run into one extreme to
|
|
reproach and censure those who keep the mean as if they ran into
|
|
the other. Those who condemn the rigour of revenge shall be
|
|
misrepresented, as if they countenanced and justified the
|
|
offence.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXXV" n="xxxvi" progress="23.87%" prev="Gen.xxxv" next="Gen.xxxvii" id="Gen.xxxvi">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="204" id="Gen.xxxvi-Page_204"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xxxvi-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xxxvi-p0.2">CHAP. XXXV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xxxvi-p1">In this chapter we have three communions and three
|
|
funerals. I. Three communions between God and Jacob. 1. God ordered
|
|
Jacob to Beth-el; and, in obedience to that order, he purged his
|
|
house of idols, and prepared for that journey, <scripRef passage="Ge 35:1-5" id="Gen.xxxvi-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|35|1|35|5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.1-Gen.35.5">ver. 1-5</scripRef>. 2. Jacob built an altar at
|
|
Beth-el, to the honour of God that had appeared to him, and in
|
|
performance of his vow, <scripRef passage="Ge 35:6,7" id="Gen.xxxvi-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|35|6|35|7" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.6-Gen.35.7">ver. 6,
|
|
7</scripRef>. 3. God appeared to him again, and confirmed the
|
|
change of his name and covenant with him (<scripRef passage="Ge 35:9-13" id="Gen.xxxvi-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|35|9|35|13" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.9-Gen.35.13">ver. 9-13</scripRef>), of which appearance Jacob made
|
|
a grateful acknowledgment, <scripRef passage="Ge 35:14,15" id="Gen.xxxvi-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|35|14|35|15" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.14-Gen.35.15">ver. 14,
|
|
15</scripRef>. II. Three funerals. 1. Deborah's, <scripRef passage="Ge 35:8" id="Gen.xxxvi-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|35|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.8">ver. 8</scripRef>. 2. Rachel's, <scripRef passage="Ge 35:16-20" id="Gen.xxxvi-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|35|16|35|20" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.16-Gen.35.20">ver. 16-20</scripRef>. 3. Isaac's, <scripRef passage="Ge 35:27-29" id="Gen.xxxvi-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|35|27|35|29" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.27-Gen.35.29">ver. 27-29</scripRef>. Here is also Reuben's incest
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 35:22" id="Gen.xxxvi-p1.8" parsed="|Gen|35|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.22">ver. 22</scripRef>), and an account
|
|
of Jacob's sons, <scripRef passage="Ge 35:23-26" id="Gen.xxxvi-p1.9" parsed="|Gen|35|23|35|26" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.23-Gen.35.26">ver.
|
|
23-26</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 35" id="Gen.xxxvi-p1.10" parsed="|Gen|35|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 35:1-5" id="Gen.xxxvi-p1.11" parsed="|Gen|35|1|35|5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.1-Gen.35.5"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.35.1-Gen.35.5">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxxvi-p1.12">Jacob Summoned to Bethel; Jacob's Journeys
|
|
towards Bethel. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxxvi-p1.13">b. c.</span> 1732.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxvi-p2">1 And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to
|
|
Beth-el, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that
|
|
appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy
|
|
brother.   2 Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all
|
|
that <i>were</i> with
|
|
|
|
<pb n="205" id="Gen.xxxvi-Page_205"/>
|
|
|
|
him, Put away the
|
|
strange gods that <i>are</i> among you, and be clean, and change
|
|
your garments:   3 And let us arise, and go up to Beth-el; and
|
|
I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of
|
|
my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.   4 And
|
|
they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which <i>were</i> in
|
|
their hand, and <i>all their</i> earrings which <i>were</i> in
|
|
their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which <i>was</i> by
|
|
Shechem.   5 And they journeyed: and the terror of God was
|
|
upon the cities that <i>were</i> round about them, and they did not
|
|
pursue after the sons of Jacob.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxvi-p3">Here, I. God reminds Jacob of his vow at
|
|
Beth-el, and sends him thither to perform it, <scripRef passage="Ge 35:1" id="Gen.xxxvi-p3.1" parsed="|Gen|35|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. Jacob had said in the day of his
|
|
distress, <i>If I come again in peace, this stone shall be God's
|
|
house,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 28:22" id="Gen.xxxvi-p3.2" parsed="|Gen|28|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.22"><i>ch.</i> xxviii.
|
|
22</scripRef>. God had performed his part of the bargain, and had
|
|
given Jacob more than bread to eat and raiment to put on—he had
|
|
got an estate, and had become two bands; but, it should seem, he
|
|
had forgotten his vow, or at least had too long deferred the
|
|
performance of it. Seven or eight years it was now since he came to
|
|
Canaan; he had purchased ground there, and had built an altar in
|
|
remembrance of God's last appearance to him when he called him
|
|
<i>Israel</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 33:19,20" id="Gen.xxxvi-p3.3" parsed="|Gen|33|19|33|20" osisRef="Bible:Gen.33.19-Gen.33.20"><i>ch.</i> xxxiii.
|
|
19, 20</scripRef>); but still Beth-el is forgotten. Note, Time is
|
|
apt to wear out the sense of mercies and the impressions made upon
|
|
us by them; it should not be so, but so it is. God had exercised
|
|
Jacob with a very sore affliction in his family (<scripRef passage="Ge 34:1-31" id="Gen.xxxvi-p3.4" parsed="|Gen|34|1|34|31" osisRef="Bible:Gen.34.1-Gen.34.31"><i>ch.</i> xxxiv.</scripRef>), to see if this would
|
|
bring his vow to his remembrance, and put him upon the performance
|
|
of it, but it had not this effect; therefore God comes himself and
|
|
puts him in mind of it: <i>Arise, go to Beth-el.</i> Note, 1. As
|
|
many as God loves he will remind of neglected duties, one way or
|
|
other, by conscience or by providences. 2. When we have vowed a vow
|
|
to God, it is best not to defer the payment of it (<scripRef passage="Ec 5:4" id="Gen.xxxvi-p3.5" parsed="|Eccl|5|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.5.4">Eccles. v. 4</scripRef>), yet better late than
|
|
never. God bade him go to Beth-el and dwell there, that is, not
|
|
only go himself, but take his family with him, that they might join
|
|
with him in his devotions. Note, In Beth-el, the house of God, we
|
|
should desire to dwell, <scripRef passage="Ps 27:4" id="Gen.xxxvi-p3.6" parsed="|Ps|27|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.27.4">Ps. xxvii.
|
|
4</scripRef>. That should be our home, not our inn. God reminds him
|
|
not expressly of his vow, but of the occasion of it: <i>When thou
|
|
fleddest from the face of Esau.</i> Note, The remembrance of former
|
|
afflictions should bring to mind the workings of our souls under
|
|
them, <scripRef passage="Ps 66:13,14" id="Gen.xxxvi-p3.7" parsed="|Ps|66|13|66|14" osisRef="Bible:Ps.66.13-Ps.66.14">Ps. lxvi. 13,
|
|
14</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxvi-p4">II. Jacob commands his household to prepare
|
|
for this solemnity; not only for the journey and remove, but for
|
|
the religious services that were to be performed, <scripRef passage="Ge 35:2,3" id="Gen.xxxvi-p4.1" parsed="|Gen|35|2|35|3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.2-Gen.35.3"><i>v.</i> 2, 3</scripRef>. Note, 1. Before
|
|
solemn ordinances, there must be solemn preparation. <i>Wash you,
|
|
make you clean,</i> and then <i>come, and let us reason
|
|
together,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 1:16-18" id="Gen.xxxvi-p4.2" parsed="|Isa|1|16|1|18" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.16-Isa.1.18">Isa. i.
|
|
16-18</scripRef>. 2. Masters of families should use their authority
|
|
for the promoting of religion in their families. Not only we, but
|
|
our houses also, should serve the Lord, <scripRef passage="Jos 24:15" id="Gen.xxxvi-p4.3" parsed="|Josh|24|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.24.15">Josh. xxiv. 15</scripRef>. Observe the commands he
|
|
gives his household, like Abraham, <scripRef passage="Ge 18:19" id="Gen.xxxvi-p4.4" parsed="|Gen|18|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.19"><i>ch.</i> xviii. 19</scripRef>. (1.) They must <i>put
|
|
away the strange gods.</i> Strange gods in Jacob's family! Strange
|
|
things indeed! Could such a family, that was taught the good
|
|
knowledge of the Lord, admit them? Could such a master, to whom God
|
|
had appeared twice, and oftener, connive at them? Doubtless this
|
|
was his infirmity. Note, Those that are good themselves cannot
|
|
always have those about them so good as they should be. In those
|
|
families where there is a face of religion, and an altar to God,
|
|
yet many times there is much amiss, and more strange gods than one
|
|
would suspect. In Jacob's family, Rachel had her <i>teraphim,</i>
|
|
which, it is to be feared, she secretly made some superstitious use
|
|
of. The captives of Shechem brought their gods along with them, and
|
|
perhaps Jacob's sons took some with the plunder. However they came
|
|
by them, now they must <i>put them away.</i> (2.) They must be
|
|
clean, and <i>change their garments;</i> they must observe a due
|
|
decorum, and make the best appearance they could. Simeon and Levi
|
|
had their hands full of blood, it concerned them particularly to
|
|
wash, and to put off their garments that were so stained. These
|
|
were but ceremonies, signifying the purification and change of the
|
|
heart. What are clean clothes, and new clothes, without a clean
|
|
heart, and a new heart? Dr. Lightfoot, by their <i>being clean,</i>
|
|
or <i>washing</i> themselves, understands Jacob's admission of the
|
|
proselytes of Shechem and Syria into his religion by baptism,
|
|
because circumcision had become odious. 3. They must go with him to
|
|
Beth-el, <scripRef passage="Ge 35:3" id="Gen.xxxvi-p4.5" parsed="|Gen|35|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. Note,
|
|
Masters of families, when they go up to the house of God, should
|
|
bring their families with them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxvi-p5">III. His family surrendered all they had
|
|
that was idolatrous or superstitious, <scripRef passage="Ge 35:4" id="Gen.xxxvi-p5.1" parsed="|Gen|35|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. Perhaps, if Jacob had called for
|
|
them sooner, they would sooner have parted with them, being
|
|
convicted by their own consciences of the vanity of them. Note,
|
|
Sometimes attempts for reformation succeed better than one could
|
|
have expected, and people are not so obstinate against them as we
|
|
feared. Jacob's servants, and even the retainers of his family,
|
|
gave him all the strange gods, and the ear-rings they wore, either
|
|
as charms or to the honour of their gods; they parted with all.
|
|
Note, Reformation is not sincere if it be not universal. We hope
|
|
they parted with them cheerfully, and without reluctance, as
|
|
Ephraim did, when he said, <i>What have I to do any more with
|
|
idols?</i> (<scripRef passage="Ho 14:8" id="Gen.xxxvi-p5.2" parsed="|Hos|14|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.14.8">Hos. xiv. 8</scripRef>), or
|
|
that people that said to their idols, <i>Get you hence,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 30:22" id="Gen.xxxvi-p5.3" parsed="|Isa|30|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.30.22">Isa. xxx. 22</scripRef>. Jacob took
|
|
care to bury their
|
|
|
|
<pb n="206" id="Gen.xxxvi-Page_206"/>
|
|
|
|
images, we may suppose in
|
|
some place unknown to them, that they might not afterwards find
|
|
them and return to them. Note, We must be wholly separated from our
|
|
sins, as we are from those that are dead and buried out of our
|
|
sight, cast them <i>to the moles and the bats,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 2:20" id="Gen.xxxvi-p5.4" parsed="|Isa|2|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.2.20">Isa. ii. 20</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxvi-p6">IV. He removes without molestation from
|
|
Shechem to Bethel, <scripRef passage="Ge 35:5" id="Gen.xxxvi-p6.1" parsed="|Gen|35|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.5"><i>v.</i>
|
|
5</scripRef>. <i>The terror of God was upon the cities.</i> Though
|
|
the Canaanites were much exasperated against the sons of Jacob for
|
|
their barbarous usage of the Shechemites, yet they were so
|
|
restrained by a divine power that they could not take this fair
|
|
opportunity, which now offered itself, when they were upon their
|
|
march, to avenge their neighbours' quarrel. Note, The way of duty
|
|
is the way of safety. While there was sin in Jacob's house, he was
|
|
afraid of his neighbours; but now that the strange gods were put
|
|
away, and they were all going together to Bethel, his neighbours
|
|
were afraid of him. When we are about God's work, we are under
|
|
special protection. God is with us, while we are with him; and, if
|
|
he be for us, who can be against us? See <scripRef passage="Ex 34:24" id="Gen.xxxvi-p6.2" parsed="|Exod|34|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.24">Exod. xxxiv. 24</scripRef>, <i>No man shall desire thy
|
|
land, when thou goest up to appear before the Lord.</i> God governs
|
|
the world more by secret terrors on men's minds than we are aware
|
|
of.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 35:6-15" id="Gen.xxxvi-p6.3" parsed="|Gen|35|6|35|15" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.6-Gen.35.15"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.35.6-Gen.35.15">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxxvi-p6.4">Jacob's Arrival at Bethel. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxxvi-p6.5">b. c.</span> 1732.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxvi-p7">6 So Jacob came to Luz, which <i>is</i> in the
|
|
land of Canaan, that <i>is,</i> Beth-el, he and all the people that
|
|
<i>were</i> with him.   7 And he built there an altar, and
|
|
called the place El-Beth-el: because there God appeared unto him,
|
|
when he fled from the face of his brother.   8 But Deborah
|
|
Rebekah's nurse died, and she was buried beneath Beth-el under an
|
|
oak: and the name of it was called Allon-bachuth.   9 And God
|
|
appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padan-aram, and
|
|
blessed him.   10 And God said unto him, Thy name <i>is</i>
|
|
Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel
|
|
shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel.   11 And God
|
|
said unto him, I <i>am</i> God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply;
|
|
a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall
|
|
come out of thy loins;   12 And the land which I gave Abraham
|
|
and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will
|
|
I give the land.   13 And God went up from him in the place
|
|
where he talked with him.   14 And Jacob set up a pillar in
|
|
the place where he talked with him, <i>even</i> a pillar of stone:
|
|
and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon.
|
|
  15 And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake
|
|
with him, Beth-el.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxvi-p8">Jacob and his retinue having safely arrived
|
|
at Beth-el, we are here told what passed there.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxvi-p9">I. There he built an altar (<scripRef passage="Ge 35:7" id="Gen.xxxvi-p9.1" parsed="|Gen|35|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>), and no doubt offered
|
|
sacrifice upon it, perhaps the tenth of his cattle, according to
|
|
his vow, <i>I will give the tenth unto thee.</i> With these
|
|
sacrifices he joined praises for former mercies, particularly that
|
|
which the sight of the place brought afresh to his remembrance; and
|
|
he added prayers for the continuance of God's favour to him and his
|
|
family. And he called the place (that is, <i>the altar</i>)
|
|
<i>El-beth-el, the God of Bethel.</i> As, when he made a thankful
|
|
acknowledgment of the honour God had lately done him in calling him
|
|
<i>Israel,</i> he worshipped God by the name of <i>El-elohe
|
|
Israel;</i> so, now that he was making a grateful recognition of
|
|
God's former favour to him at Bethel, he worships God by the name
|
|
of <i>El-beth-el, the God of Beth-el,</i> because there God
|
|
appeared to him. Note, The comfort which the saints have in holy
|
|
ordinances is not so much from <i>Bethel, the house of God,</i> as
|
|
from <i>El-beth-el, the God of the house.</i> The ordinances are
|
|
but empty things if we do not meet with God in them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxvi-p10">II. There he buried Deborah, Rebekah's
|
|
nurse, <scripRef passage="Ge 35:8" id="Gen.xxxvi-p10.1" parsed="|Gen|35|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. We have
|
|
reason to think that Jacob, after he came to Canaan, while his
|
|
family dwelt near Shechem, went himself (it is likely, often) to
|
|
visit his father Isaac at Hebron. Rebekah probably was dead, but
|
|
her old nurse (of whom mention is made <scripRef passage="Ge 24:59" id="Gen.xxxvi-p10.2" parsed="|Gen|24|59|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.24.59"><i>ch.</i> xxiv. 59</scripRef>) survived her, and Jacob
|
|
took her to his family, to be a companion to his wives, her
|
|
country-women, and an instructor to his children; while they were
|
|
at Bethel, she died, and died lamented, so much lamented that the
|
|
oak under which she was buried was called <i>Allon-bachuth, the oak
|
|
of weeping.</i> Note, 1. Old servants in a family, that have in
|
|
their time been faithful and useful, ought to be respected. Honour
|
|
was done to this nurse, at her death, by Jacob's family, though she
|
|
was not related to them, and though she was aged. Former services,
|
|
in such a case, must be remembered. 2. We do not know where death
|
|
may meet us; perhaps at Beth-el, the house of God. Therefore let us
|
|
be always ready. 3. Family-afflictions may come even when
|
|
family-reformation and religion are on foot. Therefore rejoice with
|
|
trembling.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxvi-p11">III. There God appeared to him (<scripRef passage="Ge 35:9" id="Gen.xxxvi-p11.1" parsed="|Gen|35|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>), to own his altar, to
|
|
answer to the name by which he had called him, <i>The God of
|
|
Beth-el</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 35:7" id="Gen.xxxvi-p11.2" parsed="|Gen|35|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>),
|
|
and to comfort him under his affliction, <scripRef passage="Ge 35:8" id="Gen.xxxvi-p11.3" parsed="|Gen|35|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. Note, God will appear to those in
|
|
a way of grace that attend on him in a way of duty. Here, 1. He
|
|
confirmed the change of his name, <scripRef passage="Ge 35:10" id="Gen.xxxvi-p11.4" parsed="|Gen|35|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. It was done before by the angel
|
|
that wrestled with him (<scripRef passage="Ge 32:28" id="Gen.xxxvi-p11.5" parsed="|Gen|32|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.28"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xxxii. 28</scripRef>), and here it was ratified by the divine
|
|
Majesty, or <i>Shechinah,</i> that appeared to him. There it was to
|
|
encourage him against the fear of Esau, here against the fear of
|
|
the Canaanites. Who can be too hard for Israel, a prince with God?
|
|
It is below those who are thus dignified to droop and despond. 2.
|
|
He renewed and ratified the covenant with him, by the name
|
|
<i>El-shaddai. I am God Almighty, God all-sufficient</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 35:11" id="Gen.xxxvi-p11.6" parsed="|Gen|35|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>), able to make good the
|
|
promise in due time, and to support thee and provide for thee in
|
|
the meantime. Two things are promised him which we have met with
|
|
often before:—(1.) That he should be the father of a great
|
|
nation, great in number—<i>a company of nations shall be of
|
|
thee</i> (every tribe of Israel was a nation, and all the twelve a
|
|
company of nations), great in honour and power—<i>kings shall come
|
|
out of thy loins.</i> (2.) That he should be the master of a good
|
|
land (<scripRef passage="Ge 35:12" id="Gen.xxxvi-p11.7" parsed="|Gen|35|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>),
|
|
described by the grantees, Abraham and Isaac, to whom it was
|
|
promised, not by the occupants, the Canaanites in whose possession
|
|
it now was. The land that was given to Abraham and Isaac is here
|
|
entailed on Jacob and his seed. He shall not have children without
|
|
an estate, which is often the case of the poor, nor an estate
|
|
without children, which is often the grief of the rich; but both.
|
|
These two promises had a spiritual signification, of which we may
|
|
suppose Jacob himself had some notion, though not so clear and
|
|
distinct as we now have; for, without doubt, Christ is the promised
|
|
seed, and heaven is the promised land; the former is the
|
|
foundation, and the latter the top-stone, of all God's favours. 3.
|
|
He then went up from him, or <i>from over him,</i> in some visible
|
|
display of glory, which had hovered over him while he talked with
|
|
him, <scripRef passage="Ge 35:13" id="Gen.xxxvi-p11.8" parsed="|Gen|35|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. Note,
|
|
The sweetest communions the saints have with God in this world are
|
|
short and transient, and soon have an end. Our vision of God in
|
|
heaven will be everlasting; there we shall be ever with the Lord;
|
|
it is not so here.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxvi-p12">IV. There Jacob erected a memorial of this,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 35:14" id="Gen.xxxvi-p12.1" parsed="|Gen|35|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. 1. He set up
|
|
a pillar. When he was going to Padan-aram, he set up for a pillar
|
|
that stone on which he had laid his head. This was agreeable enough
|
|
to his low condition and his hasty flight; but now he took time to
|
|
erect one more stately, more distinguishable and durable, probably
|
|
placing that stone in it. In token of his intending it for a sacred
|
|
memorial of his communion with God, he poured oil and the other
|
|
ingredients of a drink-offering upon it. His vow was, <i>This stone
|
|
shall be God's house,</i> that is, shall be set up for his honour,
|
|
as houses to the praise of their builders; and here he performs it,
|
|
transferring it to God by anointing it. 2. He confirmed the name he
|
|
had formerly given to the place (<scripRef passage="Ge 35:15" id="Gen.xxxvi-p12.2" parsed="|Gen|35|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>), <i>Beth-el, the house of
|
|
God.</i> Yet this very place afterwards lost the honour of its
|
|
name, and became <i>Beth-aven, a house of iniquity;</i> for here it
|
|
was that Jeroboam set up one of his calves. It is impossible for
|
|
the best man to entail upon a place so much as the profession and
|
|
form of religion.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 35:16-20" id="Gen.xxxvi-p12.3" parsed="|Gen|35|16|35|20" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.16-Gen.35.20"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.35.16-Gen.35.20">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxxvi-p12.4">Death of Rachel. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxxvi-p12.5">b. c.</span> 1732.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxvi-p13">16 And they journeyed from Beth-el; and there
|
|
was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and
|
|
she had hard labour.   17 And it came to pass, when she was in
|
|
hard labour, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt
|
|
have this son also.   18 And it came to pass, as her soul was
|
|
in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Ben-oni: but
|
|
his father called him Benjamin.   19 And Rachel died, and was
|
|
buried in the way to Ephrath, which <i>is</i> Beth-lehem.   20
|
|
And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that <i>is</i> the pillar of
|
|
Rachel's grave unto this day.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxvi-p14">We have here the story of the death of
|
|
Rachel, the beloved wife of Jacob. 1. She fell in travail by the
|
|
way, not able to reach to Bethlehem, the next town, though they
|
|
were near it; so suddenly does pain sometimes come upon a woman in
|
|
travail, which she cannot escape, or put off. We may suppose Jacob
|
|
had soon a tent up, convenient enough for her reception. 2. Her
|
|
pains were violent. She had hard labour, harder than usual: this
|
|
was the effect of sin, <scripRef passage="Ge 3:16" id="Gen.xxxvi-p14.1" parsed="|Gen|3|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.16"><i>ch.</i> iii.
|
|
16</scripRef>. Note, Human life begins with sorrow, and the roses
|
|
of its joy are surrounded with thorns. 3. The midwife encouraged
|
|
her, <scripRef passage="Ge 35:17" id="Gen.xxxvi-p14.2" parsed="|Gen|35|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. No doubt
|
|
she had her midwife with her, ready at hand, yet that would not
|
|
secure her. Rachel had said, when she bore Joseph, <i>God shall add
|
|
another son,</i> which now the midwife remembers, and tells her her
|
|
words were made good. Yet this did not avail to keep up her
|
|
spirits; unless God command away fear, no one else can. He only
|
|
says as one having authority, <i>Fear not.</i> We are apt, in
|
|
extreme perils, to comfort ourselves and our friends with the hopes
|
|
of a temporal deliverance, in which we may be disappointed; we had
|
|
better found our comforts on that which cannot fail us, the hope of
|
|
eternal life. 4. Her travail was to the life of the child, but to
|
|
her own death. Note, Though the pains and perils of childbearing
|
|
were introduced by sin, yet they have sometimes been fatal to very
|
|
holy women, who, though not saved in childbearing, are saved
|
|
through it with an everlasting salvation. Rachel had passionately
|
|
said, <i>Give me children, or else I die;</i> and now that she had
|
|
children (for this was her second) she died. Her dying is here
|
|
called <i>the departing of her soul.</i> Note, The death of the
|
|
body is but the departure of the soul to the world of spirits. 5.
|
|
Her dying lips called her new-born son <i>Ben-oni, The son of my
|
|
sorrow.</i> And many a son, not born in such hard labour, yet
|
|
proves the son of his
|
|
|
|
<pb n="208" id="Gen.xxxvi-Page_208"/>
|
|
|
|
parent's sorrow, and
|
|
the heaviness of her that bore him. Children are enough the sorrow
|
|
of their poor mothers in the breeding, bearing, and nursing of
|
|
them; they should therefore, when they grow up, study to be their
|
|
joy, and so, if possible, to make them some amends. But Jacob,
|
|
because he would not renew the sorrowful remembrance of the
|
|
mother's death every time he called his son by his name, changed
|
|
his name, and called him <i>Benjamin, The son of my right hand;</i>
|
|
that is, "very dear to me, set on my right hand for a blessing, the
|
|
support of my age, like the staff in my right hand." 6. Jacob
|
|
buried her near the place where she died. As she died in child-bed,
|
|
it was convenient to bury her quickly; and therefore he did not
|
|
bring her to the burying-place of his family. If the soul be at
|
|
rest after death, it matters little where the body lies. In the
|
|
place where the tree falls, there let it be. No mention is made of
|
|
the mourning that was at her death, because that might easily be
|
|
taken for granted. Jacob, no doubt, was a true mourner. Note, Great
|
|
afflictions sometimes befal us immediately after great comforts.
|
|
Lest Jacob should be lifted up with the visions of the Almighty
|
|
with which he was honoured, this was sent as a thorn in the flesh
|
|
to humble him. Those that enjoy the favours peculiar to the
|
|
children of God must yet expect the troubles that are common to the
|
|
children of men. Deborah, who, had she lived, would have been a
|
|
comfort to Rachel in her extremity, died but a little before. Note,
|
|
When death comes into a family, it often strikes double. God by it
|
|
speaks once, yea, twice. The Jewish writers say, "The death of
|
|
Deborah and Rachel was to expiate the murder of the Shechemites,
|
|
occasioned by Dinah, a daughter of the family." 7. Jacob set up a
|
|
pillar upon her grave, so that it was known, long after, to be
|
|
Rachel's sepulchre (<scripRef passage="1Sa 10:2" id="Gen.xxxvi-p14.3" parsed="|1Sam|10|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.10.2">1 Sam. x.
|
|
2</scripRef>), and Providence so ordered it that this place
|
|
afterwards fell in the lot of Benjamin. Jacob set up a pillar in
|
|
remembrance of his joys (<scripRef passage="Ge 35:14" id="Gen.xxxvi-p14.4" parsed="|Gen|35|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.14"><i>v.</i>
|
|
14</scripRef>), and here he sets up one in remembrance of his
|
|
sorrows; for, as it may be of use to ourselves to keep both in
|
|
mind, so it may be of use to others to transmit the memorials of
|
|
both: the church, long afterwards, owned that what God said to
|
|
Jacob at Bethel, both by his word and by his rod, he intended for
|
|
their instruction (<scripRef passage="Ho 12:4" id="Gen.xxxvi-p14.5" parsed="|Hos|12|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.12.4">Hos. xii.
|
|
4</scripRef>), <i>There he spoke with us.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 35:21-29" id="Gen.xxxvi-p14.6" parsed="|Gen|35|21|35|29" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.21-Gen.35.29"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.35.21-Gen.35.29">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxxvi-p14.7">The Disgrace of Reuben. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxxvi-p14.8">b. c.</span> 1716.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxvi-p15">21 And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent
|
|
beyond the tower of Edar.   22 And it came to pass, when
|
|
Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his
|
|
father's concubine: and Israel heard <i>it.</i> Now the sons of
|
|
Jacob were twelve:   23 The sons of Leah; Reuben, Jacob's
|
|
firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and
|
|
Zebulun:   24 The sons of Rachel; Joseph, and Benjamin:  
|
|
25 And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid; Dan, and Naphtali:
|
|
  26 And the sons of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid; Gad, and Asher:
|
|
these <i>are</i> the sons of Jacob, which were born to him in
|
|
Padan-aram.   27 And Jacob came unto Isaac his father unto
|
|
Mamre, unto the city of Arbah, which <i>is</i> Hebron, where
|
|
Abraham and Isaac sojourned.   28 And the days of Isaac were
|
|
an hundred and fourscore years.   29 And Isaac gave up the
|
|
ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, <i>being</i> old
|
|
and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxvi-p16">Here is, 1. Jacob's removal, <scripRef passage="Ge 35:21" id="Gen.xxxvi-p16.1" parsed="|Gen|35|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. He also, as his
|
|
fathers, sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country,
|
|
and was not long in a place. Immediately after the story of
|
|
Rachel's death he is here called <i>Israel</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 35:21,22" id="Gen.xxxvi-p16.2" parsed="|Gen|35|21|35|22" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.21-Gen.35.22"><i>v.</i> 21, 22</scripRef>), and not often so
|
|
afterwards: the Jews say, "The historian does him this honour here
|
|
because he bore that affliction with such admirable patience and
|
|
submission to Providence." Note, Those are Israels indeed, princes
|
|
with God, that support the government of their own passions. He
|
|
that has this rule over his own spirit is better than the mighty.
|
|
Israel, a prince with God, yet dwells in tents; the city is
|
|
reserved for him in the other world. 2. The sin of Reuben. A piece
|
|
of abominable wickedness it was that he was guilty of (<scripRef passage="Ge 35:22" id="Gen.xxxvi-p16.3" parsed="|Gen|35|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>), that very sin which
|
|
the apostle says (<scripRef passage="1Co 5:1" id="Gen.xxxvi-p16.4" parsed="|1Cor|5|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.5.1">1 Cor v.
|
|
1</scripRef>) is not so much as named among the Gentiles, <i>that
|
|
one should have his father's wife.</i> It is said to have been
|
|
<i>when Israel dwelt in that land;</i> as if he were then absent
|
|
from his family, which might be the unhappy occasion of these
|
|
disorders. Though perhaps Bilhah was the greater criminal, and it
|
|
is probable was abandoned by Jacob for it, yet Reuben's crime was
|
|
so provoking that, for it, he lost his birthright and blessing,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 49:4" id="Gen.xxxvi-p16.5" parsed="|Gen|49|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.4"><i>ch.</i> xlix. 4</scripRef>. The
|
|
first-born is not always the best, nor the most promising. This was
|
|
Reuben's sin, but it was Jacob's affliction; and what a sore
|
|
affliction it was is intimated in a little compass, <i>and Israel
|
|
heard it.</i> No more is said—that is enough; he heard it with the
|
|
utmost grief and shame, horror and displeasure. Reuben thought to
|
|
conceal it, that his father should never hear of it; but those that
|
|
promise themselves secresy in sin are generally disappointed; a
|
|
bird of the air carries the voice. 3. A complete list of the sons
|
|
of Jacob, now that Benjamin the youngest was born. This is the
|
|
first time we have the names of these heads of the twelve tribes
|
|
together; afterwards we find them very often spoken of and
|
|
|
|
<pb n="209" id="Gen.xxxvi-Page_209"/>
|
|
|
|
enumerated, even to the end of the Bible, <scripRef passage="Re 7:4,21:12" id="Gen.xxxvi-p16.6" parsed="|Rev|7|4|0|0;|Rev|21|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.7.4 Bible:Rev.21.12">Rev. vii. 4; xxi. 12</scripRef>. 4. The
|
|
visit which Jacob made to his father Isaac at Hebron. We may
|
|
suppose he had visited him before since his return, for he
|
|
<i>sorely longed after his father's house;</i> but never, till now,
|
|
brought his family to settle with him, or near him, <scripRef passage="Ge 35:27" id="Gen.xxxvi-p16.7" parsed="|Gen|35|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>. Probably he did this
|
|
now upon the death of Rebekah, by which Isaac was left solitary,
|
|
and not disposed to marry again. 5. The age and death of Isaac are
|
|
here recorded, though it appears, by computation, that he died not
|
|
till many years after Joseph was sold into Egypt, and much about
|
|
the time that he was preferred there. Isaac, a mild quiet man,
|
|
lived the longest of all the patriarchs, for he was 180 years old;
|
|
Abraham was but 175. Isaac lived about forty years after he had
|
|
made his will, <scripRef passage="Ge 27:22" id="Gen.xxxvi-p16.8" parsed="|Gen|27|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.22"><i>ch.</i> xxvii.
|
|
2</scripRef>. We shall not die an hour the sooner, but abundantly
|
|
the better, for our timely setting our heart and house in order.
|
|
Particular notice is taken of the amicable agreement of Esau and
|
|
Jacob, in solemnizing their father's funeral (<scripRef passage="Ge 35:29" id="Gen.xxxvi-p16.9" parsed="|Gen|35|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>), to show how wonderfully God
|
|
had changed Esau's mind since he vowed his brother's murder
|
|
immediately after his father's death, <scripRef passage="Ge 27:41" id="Gen.xxxvi-p16.10" parsed="|Gen|27|41|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.41"><i>ch.</i> xxvii. 41</scripRef>. Note, God has many ways
|
|
of preventing bad men from doing the mischief they intended; he can
|
|
either tie their hands or turn their hearts.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXXVI" n="xxxvii" progress="24.36%" prev="Gen.xxxvi" next="Gen.xxxviii" id="Gen.xxxvii">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="209" id="Gen.xxxvii-Page_209"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xxxvii-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xxxvii-p0.2">CHAP. XXXVI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xxxvii-p1">In this chapter we have an account of the
|
|
posterity of Esau, who, from him, were called Edomites, that Esau
|
|
who sold his birthright, and lost his blessing, and was not loved
|
|
of God as Jacob was. Here is a brief register kept of his family
|
|
for some generations. 1. Because he was the son of Isaac, for whose
|
|
sake this honour is put upon him. 2. Because the Edomites were
|
|
neighbours to Israel, and their genealogy would be of use to give
|
|
light to the following stories of what passed between them. 3. It
|
|
is to show the performance of the promise to Abraham, that he
|
|
should be "the father of many nations," and of that answer which
|
|
Rebekah had from the oracle she consulted, "Two nations are in thy
|
|
womb," and of the blessing of Isaac, "Thy dwelling shall be the
|
|
fatness of the earth." We have here, I. Esau's wives, <scripRef passage="Ge 36:1-5" id="Gen.xxxvii-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|36|1|36|5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.36.1-Gen.36.5">ver. 1-5</scripRef>. II. His remove to mount
|
|
Seir, <scripRef passage="Ge 36:6-8" id="Gen.xxxvii-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|36|6|36|8" osisRef="Bible:Gen.36.6-Gen.36.8">ver. 6-8</scripRef>. III. The
|
|
names of his sons, <scripRef passage="Ge 36:9-14" id="Gen.xxxvii-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|36|9|36|14" osisRef="Bible:Gen.36.9-Gen.36.14">ver.
|
|
9-14</scripRef>. IV. The dukes who descended of his sons, <scripRef passage="Ge 36:15-19" id="Gen.xxxvii-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|36|15|36|19" osisRef="Bible:Gen.36.15-Gen.36.19">ver. 15-19</scripRef>. V. The dukes of the
|
|
Horites, <scripRef passage="Ge 36:20-30" id="Gen.xxxvii-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|36|20|36|30" osisRef="Bible:Gen.36.20-Gen.36.30">ver. 20-30</scripRef>. VI.
|
|
The kings and dukes of Edom, <scripRef passage="Ge 36:31-43" id="Gen.xxxvii-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|36|31|36|43" osisRef="Bible:Gen.36.31-Gen.36.43">ver.
|
|
31-43</scripRef>. Little more is recorded than their names, because
|
|
the history of those that were out of the church (though perhaps it
|
|
might have been serviceable in politics) would have been of little
|
|
use in divinity. It is in the church that the memorable instances
|
|
are found of special grace, and special providence; for that is the
|
|
enclosure, the rest is common. This chapter is abridged, <scripRef passage="1Ch 1:35-54" id="Gen.xxxvii-p1.7" parsed="|1Chr|1|35|1|54" osisRef="Bible:1Chr.1.35-1Chr.1.54">1 Chron. i. 35</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 36" id="Gen.xxxvii-p1.8" parsed="|Gen|36|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.36"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 36:1-8" id="Gen.xxxvii-p1.9" parsed="|Gen|36|1|36|8" osisRef="Bible:Gen.36.1-Gen.36.8"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.36.1-Gen.36.8">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxxvii-p1.10">The Generations of Esau. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxxvii-p1.11">b. c.</span> 1780.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxvii-p2">1 Now these <i>are</i> the generations of Esau,
|
|
who <i>is</i> Edom.   2 Esau took his wives of the daughters
|
|
of Canaan; Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Aholibamah
|
|
the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite;   3
|
|
And Bashemath Ishmael's daughter, sister of Nebajoth.   4 And
|
|
Adah bare to Esau Eliphaz; and Bashemath bare Reuel;   5 And
|
|
Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these <i>are</i> the
|
|
sons of Esau, which were born unto him in the land of Canaan.
|
|
  6 And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters,
|
|
and all the persons of his house, and his cattle, and all his
|
|
beasts, and all his substance, which he had got in the land of
|
|
Canaan; and went into the country from the face of his brother
|
|
Jacob.   7 For their riches were more than that they might
|
|
dwell together; and the land wherein they were strangers could not
|
|
bear them because of their cattle.   8 Thus dwelt Esau in
|
|
mount Seir: Esau <i>is</i> Edom.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxvii-p3">Observe here, 1. Concerning Esau himself,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 36:1" id="Gen.xxxvii-p3.1" parsed="|Gen|36|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.36.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. He is called
|
|
<i>Edom</i> (and again, <scripRef passage="Ge 36:8" id="Gen.xxxvii-p3.2" parsed="|Gen|36|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.36.8"><i>v.</i>
|
|
8</scripRef>), that name by which was perpetuated the remembrance
|
|
of the foolish bargain he made, when he sold his birthright for
|
|
<i>that red, that red pottage.</i> The very mention of that name is
|
|
enough to intimate the reason why his family is turned off with
|
|
such a short account. Note, If men do a wrong thing they must thank
|
|
themselves, when it is, long afterwards, remembered against them to
|
|
their reproach. 2. Concerning his wives, and the children they bore
|
|
him in the land of Canaan. He had three wives, and, by them all,
|
|
but five sons: many a one has more by one wife. God in his
|
|
providence often disappoints those who take indirect courses to
|
|
build up a family; yet here the promise prevailed, and Esau's
|
|
family was built up. 3. Concerning his removal to mount Seir, which
|
|
was the country God had given him for a possession, when he
|
|
reserved Canaan for the seed of Jacob. God owns it, long
|
|
afterwards: <i>I gave to Esau mount Seir</i> (<scripRef passage="De 2:5,Jos 24:4" id="Gen.xxxvii-p3.3" parsed="|Deut|2|5|0|0;|Josh|24|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.5 Bible:Josh.24.4">Deut. ii. 5; Josh. xxiv. 4</scripRef>), which was
|
|
the reason why the Edomites must not be disturbed in their
|
|
possession. Those that have not a right by promise, such as Jacob
|
|
had, to Canaan, may have a very good title by providence to their
|
|
estates, such as Esau had to mount Seir. Esau had begun to settle
|
|
among his wives' relations, in Seir, before Jacob came from
|
|
Padan-aram, <scripRef passage="Ge 32:3" id="Gen.xxxvii-p3.4" parsed="|Gen|32|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.3"><i>ch.</i> xxxii.
|
|
3</scripRef>. Isaac, it is likely, had sent him thither (as Abraham
|
|
in his life-time had sent the sons of the concubines from Isaac his
|
|
son into the east country, <scripRef passage="Ge 26:6" id="Gen.xxxvii-p3.5" parsed="|Gen|26|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.6"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xxv. 6</scripRef>), that Jacob might have the clearer way made for
|
|
him to the possession of the promised land. During the life of
|
|
Isaac, however, Esau had probably still some effects remaining in
|
|
Canaan; but, after his death, he wholly withdrew to mount Seir,
|
|
took with him what came to his share of his father's personal
|
|
estate, and left Canaan to Jacob, not only because he had the
|
|
promise of it, but because Esau perceived that if they should
|
|
continue to thrive as they had begun there would not be room for
|
|
both. <i>Thus dwelt Esau in Mount Seir,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 36:8" id="Gen.xxxvii-p3.6" parsed="|Gen|36|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.36.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. Note, Whatever opposition may be
|
|
made, God's word will be accomplished, and even those that have
|
|
opposed it will see themselves, some time or other, under a
|
|
necessity of yielding to it, and acquiescing in it. Esau had
|
|
struggled for Canaan, but now he tamely retires to mount Seir; for
|
|
God's counsels shall
|
|
|
|
<pb n="210" id="Gen.xxxvii-Page_210"/>
|
|
|
|
certainly stand,
|
|
concerning the times before appointed, and the bounds of our
|
|
habitation.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 36:9-19" id="Gen.xxxvii-p3.7" parsed="|Gen|36|9|36|19" osisRef="Bible:Gen.36.9-Gen.36.19"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.36.9-Gen.36.19">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxxvii-p3.8">The Dukes of Edom. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxxvii-p3.9">b. c.</span> 1729.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxvii-p4">9 And these <i>are</i> the generations of Esau
|
|
the father of the Edomites in mount Seir:   10 These
|
|
<i>are</i> the names of Esau's sons; Eliphaz the son of Adah the
|
|
wife of Esau, Reuel the son of Bashemath the wife of Esau.  
|
|
11 And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, and Gatam, and
|
|
Kenaz.   12 And Timna was concubine to Eliphaz Esau's son; and
|
|
she bare to Eliphaz Amalek: these <i>were</i> the sons of Adah
|
|
Esau's wife.   13 And these <i>are</i> the sons of Reuel;
|
|
Nahath, and Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah: these were the sons of
|
|
Bashemath Esau's wife.   14 And these were the sons of
|
|
Aholibamah, the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon, Esau's
|
|
wife: and she bare to Esau Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah.   15
|
|
These <i>were</i> dukes of the sons of Esau: the sons of Eliphaz
|
|
the firstborn <i>son</i> of Esau; duke Teman, duke Omar, duke
|
|
Zepho, duke Kenaz,   16 Duke Korah, duke Gatam, <i>and</i>
|
|
duke Amalek: these <i>are</i> the dukes <i>that came</i> of Eliphaz
|
|
in the land of Edom; these <i>were</i> the sons of Adah.   17
|
|
And these <i>are</i> the sons of Reuel Esau's son; duke Nahath,
|
|
duke Zerah, duke Shammah, duke Mizzah: these <i>are</i> the dukes
|
|
<i>that came</i> of Reuel in the land of Edom; these <i>are</i> the
|
|
sons of Bashemath Esau's wife.   18 And these <i>are</i> the
|
|
sons of Aholibamah Esau's wife; duke Jeush, duke Jaalam, duke
|
|
Korah: these <i>were</i> the dukes <i>that came</i> of Aholibamah
|
|
the daughter of Anah, Esau's wife.   19 These <i>are</i> the
|
|
sons of Esau, who <i>is</i> Edom, and these <i>are</i> their
|
|
dukes.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxvii-p5">Observe here, 1. That only the names of
|
|
Esau's sons and grandsons are recorded, only their names, not their
|
|
history; for it is the church that Moses preserves the records of,
|
|
not the record of those that are without. Those elders that lived
|
|
by faith alone obtained a good report. It is Sion that produces the
|
|
men of renown, not Seir, <scripRef passage="Ps 87:5" id="Gen.xxxvii-p5.1" parsed="|Ps|87|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.87.5">Ps. lxxxvii.
|
|
5</scripRef>. Nor does the genealogy go any further than the third
|
|
and fourth generation; the very names of all after are buried in
|
|
oblivion. It is only the pedigree of the Israelites, who were to be
|
|
the heirs of Canaan, and of whom were to come the promised seed,
|
|
and the holy seed, that is drawn out to any length, as far as there
|
|
was occasion for it, even of all the tribes till Canaan was divided
|
|
among them, and of the royal line till Christ came. 2. That these
|
|
sons and grandsons of Esau are called <i>dukes,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 36:15-19" id="Gen.xxxvii-p5.2" parsed="|Gen|36|15|36|19" osisRef="Bible:Gen.36.15-Gen.36.19"><i>v.</i> 15-19</scripRef>. Probably they
|
|
were military commanders, dukes, or captains, that had soldiers
|
|
under them; for Esau and his family lived <i>by the sword,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 27:40" id="Gen.xxxvii-p5.3" parsed="|Gen|27|40|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.40"><i>ch.</i> xxvii. 40</scripRef>. Note,
|
|
Titles of honour have been more ancient out of the church than in
|
|
it. Esau's sons were dukes when Jacob's sons were but plain
|
|
shepherds, <scripRef passage="Ge 47:3" id="Gen.xxxvii-p5.4" parsed="|Gen|47|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.3"><i>ch.</i> xlvii.
|
|
3</scripRef>. This is not a reason why such titles should not be
|
|
used among Christians; but it is a reason why men should not
|
|
overvalue themselves, or others, for the sake of them. There is an
|
|
honour that comes from God, and a name in his house that is
|
|
infinitely more valuable. Edomites may be dukes with men, but
|
|
Israelites indeed are made to our God kings and priests. 3. We may
|
|
suppose those dukes had numerous families of children and servants
|
|
that were their dukedoms. God promised to multiply Jacob, and to
|
|
enrich him; yet Esau increases, and is enriched first. Note, It is
|
|
no new thing for the men of this world to be full of children, and
|
|
to have their bellies too <i>filled with hidden treasures,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 17:14" id="Gen.xxxvii-p5.5" parsed="|Ps|17|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.17.14">Ps. xvii. 14</scripRef>. God's promise
|
|
to Jacob began to work late, but the effect of it remained longer,
|
|
and it had its complete accomplishment in the spiritual Israel.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 36:20-30" id="Gen.xxxvii-p5.6" parsed="|Gen|36|20|36|30" osisRef="Bible:Gen.36.20-Gen.36.30"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.36.20-Gen.36.30">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxvii-p6">20 These <i>are</i> the sons of Seir the Horite,
|
|
who inhabited the land; Lotan, and Shobal, and Zibeon, and Anah,
|
|
  21 And Dishon, and Ezer, and Dishan: these <i>are</i> the
|
|
dukes of the Horites, the children of Seir in the land of Edom.
|
|
  22 And the children of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; and
|
|
Lotan's sister <i>was</i> Timna.   23 And the children of
|
|
Shobal <i>were</i> these; Alvan, and Manahath, and Ebal, Shepho,
|
|
and Onam.   24 And these <i>are</i> the children of Zibeon;
|
|
both Ajah, and Anah: this <i>was that</i> Anah that found the mules
|
|
in the wilderness, as he fed the asses of Zibeon his father.  
|
|
25 And the children of Anah <i>were</i> these; Dishon, and
|
|
Aholibamah the daughter of Anah.   26 And these <i>are</i> the
|
|
children of Dishon; Hemdan, and Eshban, and Ithran, and Cheran.
|
|
  27 The children of Ezer <i>are</i> these; Bilhan, and
|
|
Zaavan, and Akan.   28 The children of Dishan <i>are</i>
|
|
these; Uz, and Aran.   29 These <i>are</i> the dukes <i>that
|
|
came</i> of the Horites; duke Lotan, duke Shobal, duke Zibeon, duke
|
|
Anah,   30 Duke Dishon, duke Ezer, duke Dishan: these
|
|
<i>are</i> the dukes <i>that came</i> of
|
|
|
|
<pb n="211" id="Gen.xxxvii-Page_211"/>
|
|
|
|
Hori, among their dukes in the land of Seir.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxvii-p7">In the midst of this genealogy of the
|
|
Edomites here is inserted the genealogy of the Horites, those
|
|
Canaanites, or Hittites (compare <scripRef passage="Ge 26:34" id="Gen.xxxvii-p7.1" parsed="|Gen|26|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.34"><i>ch.</i> xxvi. 34</scripRef>), that were the natives
|
|
of Mount Seir. Mention is made of them, <scripRef passage="Ge 14:6" id="Gen.xxxvii-p7.2" parsed="|Gen|14|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.6"><i>ch.</i> xiv. 6</scripRef>, and of their interest in
|
|
Mount Seir, before the Edomites took possession of it, <scripRef passage="De 2:12,22" id="Gen.xxxvii-p7.3" parsed="|Deut|2|12|0|0;|Deut|2|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.12 Bible:Deut.2.22">Deut. ii. 12, 22</scripRef>. This comes in
|
|
here, not only to give light to the story, but to be a standing
|
|
reflection upon the Edomites for intermarrying with them, by which,
|
|
it is probable, they learned their way, and corrupted themselves.
|
|
Esau having sold his birthright, and lost his blessing, and entered
|
|
into alliance with the Hittites, his posterity and the sons of Seir
|
|
are here reckoned together. Note, Those that treacherously desert
|
|
God's church are justly numbered with those that were never in it;
|
|
apostate Edomites stand on the same ground with accursed Horites.
|
|
Particular notice is taken of one Anah who fed the asses of Zibeon
|
|
his father (<scripRef passage="Ge 36:24" id="Gen.xxxvii-p7.4" parsed="|Gen|36|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.36.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>),
|
|
and yet is called <i>duke Anah,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 36:29" id="Gen.xxxvii-p7.5" parsed="|Gen|36|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.36.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>. Note, Those that expect to rise
|
|
high should begin low. An honourable descent should not keep men
|
|
from an honest employment, nor a mean employment hinder any man's
|
|
preferment. This Anah was not only industrious in his business, but
|
|
ingenious too, and successful; for he found <i>mules,</i> or (as
|
|
some read it) <i>waters, hot-baths,</i> in the wilderness. Those
|
|
that are diligent in their business sometimes find more advantages
|
|
than they expected.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 36:31-43" id="Gen.xxxvii-p7.6" parsed="|Gen|36|31|36|43" osisRef="Bible:Gen.36.31-Gen.36.43"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.36.31-Gen.36.43">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxvii-p8">31 And these <i>are</i> the kings that reigned
|
|
in the land of Edom, before there reigned any king over the
|
|
children of Israel.   32 And Bela the son of Beor reigned in
|
|
Edom: and the name of his city <i>was</i> Dinhabah.   33 And
|
|
Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his
|
|
stead.   34 And Jobab died, and Husham of the land of Temani
|
|
reigned in his stead.   35 And Husham died, and Hadad the son
|
|
of Bedad, who smote Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his
|
|
stead: and the name of his city <i>was</i> Avith.   36 And
|
|
Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his stead.   37
|
|
And Samlah died, and Saul of Rehoboth <i>by</i> the river reigned
|
|
in his stead.   38 And Saul died, and Baal-hanan the son of
|
|
Achbor reigned in his stead.   39 And Baal-hanan the son of
|
|
Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in his stead: and the name of his
|
|
city <i>was</i> Pau; and his wife's name <i>was</i> Mehetabel, the
|
|
daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab.   40 And these
|
|
<i>are</i> the names of the dukes <i>that came</i> of Esau,
|
|
according to their families, after their places, by their names;
|
|
duke Timnah, duke Alvah, duke Jetheth,   41 Duke Aholibamah,
|
|
duke Elah, duke Pinon,   42 Duke Kenaz, duke Teman, duke
|
|
Mibzar,   43 Duke Magdiel, duke Iram: these <i>be</i> the
|
|
dukes of Edom, according to their habitations in the land of their
|
|
possession: he <i>is</i> Esau the father of the Edomites.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxvii-p9">By degrees, it seems, the Edomites wormed
|
|
out the Horites, obtained full possession of the country, and had a
|
|
government of their own. 1. They were ruled by kings, who governed
|
|
the whole country, and seem to have come to the throne by election,
|
|
and not by lineal descent; so bishop Patrick observes. These kings
|
|
reigned in <i>Edom before there reigned any king over the children
|
|
of Israel,</i> that is, before Moses's time, for <i>he was king in
|
|
Jeshurun,</i> <scripRef passage="De 33:5" id="Gen.xxxvii-p9.1" parsed="|Deut|33|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.5">Deut. xxxiii.
|
|
5</scripRef>. God had lately promised <i>Jacob that kings should
|
|
come out of his loins</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 35:11" id="Gen.xxxvii-p9.2" parsed="|Gen|35|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.11"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xxxv. 11</scripRef>), yet Esau's blood becomes royal long before
|
|
any of Jacob's did. Note, In external prosperity and honour, the
|
|
children of the covenant are often cast behind, and those that are
|
|
out of covenant get the start. The triumphing of the wicked may be
|
|
quick, but it is short; soon ripe, and as soon rotten: but the
|
|
products of the promise, though they are slow, are sure and
|
|
lasting; <i>at the end it shall speak, and not lie.</i> We may
|
|
suppose it was a great trial to the faith of God's Israel to hear
|
|
of the pomp and power of the kings of Edom, while they were
|
|
bond-slaves in Egypt; but those that look for great things from God
|
|
must be content to wait for them; God's time is the best time. 2.
|
|
They were afterwards governed by dukes, again here named, who, I
|
|
suppose, ruled all at the same time in several places in the
|
|
country. Either they set up this form of government in conformity
|
|
to the Horites, who had used it (<scripRef passage="Ge 36:29" id="Gen.xxxvii-p9.3" parsed="|Gen|36|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.36.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>), or God's providence reduced
|
|
them to it, as some conjecture, to correct them for their
|
|
unkindness to Israel, in refusing them a passage though their
|
|
country, <scripRef passage="Nu 20:18" id="Gen.xxxvii-p9.4" parsed="|Num|20|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.18">Num. xx. 18</scripRef>. Note,
|
|
When power is abused, it is just with God to weaken it, by turning
|
|
it into divers channels. <i>For the transgression of a land, many
|
|
are the princes thereof.</i> Sin brought Edom from kings to dukes,
|
|
from crowns to coronets. We read of the dukes of Edom (<scripRef passage="Ex 15:15" id="Gen.xxxvii-p9.5" parsed="|Exod|15|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.15">Exod. xv: 15</scripRef>), yet, long afterwards,
|
|
of their kings again. 3. Mount Seir is called <i>the land of their
|
|
possession,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 36:43" id="Gen.xxxvii-p9.6" parsed="|Gen|36|43|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.36.43"><i>v.</i>
|
|
43</scripRef>. While the Israelites dwelt in the house of bondage,
|
|
and their Canaan was only the land of promise, the Edomites dwelt
|
|
in their own habitations, and Seir was in their possession. Note,
|
|
The children of this world have their all in hand, and nothing in
|
|
hope (<scripRef passage="Lu 16:25" id="Gen.xxxvii-p9.7" parsed="|Luke|16|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.16.25">Luke xvi. 25</scripRef>); while
|
|
|
|
<pb n="212" id="Gen.xxxvii-Page_212"/>
|
|
|
|
the children of God have their all in hope,
|
|
and next to nothing in hand. But, all things considered, it is
|
|
better to have Canaan in promise than mount Seir in possession.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXXVII" n="xxxviii" progress="24.67%" prev="Gen.xxxvii" next="Gen.xxxix" id="Gen.xxxviii">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="212" id="Gen.xxxviii-Page_212"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xxxviii-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xxxviii-p0.2">CHAP. XXXVII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xxxviii-p1">At this chapter begins the story of Joseph, who,
|
|
in every subsequent chapter but one to the end of this book, makes
|
|
the greatest figure. He was Jacob's eldest son by his beloved wife
|
|
Rachel, born, as many eminent men were, of a mother that had been
|
|
long barren. His story is so remarkably divided between his
|
|
humiliation and his exaltation that we cannot avoid seeing
|
|
something of Christ in it, who was first humbled and then exalted,
|
|
and, in many instances, so as to answer the type of Joseph. It also
|
|
shows the lot of Christians, who must through many tribulations
|
|
enter into the kingdom. In this chapter we have, I. The malice his
|
|
brethren bore against him. They hated him, 1. Because he informed
|
|
his father of their wickedness, <scripRef passage="Ge 37:1,2" id="Gen.xxxviii-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|37|1|37|2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.1-Gen.37.2">ver.
|
|
1, 2</scripRef>. 2. Because his father loved him, <scripRef passage="Ge 37:3,4" id="Gen.xxxviii-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|37|3|37|4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.3-Gen.37.4">ver. 3, 4</scripRef>. 3. Because he dreamed of
|
|
his dominion over them, <scripRef passage="Ge 37:5-11" id="Gen.xxxviii-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|37|5|37|11" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.5-Gen.37.11">ver.
|
|
5-11</scripRef>. II. The mischiefs his brethren designed and did to
|
|
him. 1. The kind visit he made them gave an opportunity, <scripRef passage="Ge 37:12-17" id="Gen.xxxviii-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|37|12|37|17" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.12-Gen.37.17">ver. 12-17</scripRef>. 2. They designed to
|
|
slay him, but determined to starve him, <scripRef passage="Ge 37:18-24" id="Gen.xxxviii-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|37|18|37|24" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.18-Gen.37.24">ver. 18-24</scripRef>. 3. They changed their purpose,
|
|
and sold him for a slave, <scripRef passage="Ge 37:25-28" id="Gen.xxxviii-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|37|25|37|28" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.25-Gen.37.28">ver.
|
|
25-28</scripRef>. 4. They made their father believe that he was
|
|
torn in pieces, <scripRef passage="Ge 37:29-35" id="Gen.xxxviii-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|37|29|37|35" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.29-Gen.37.35">ver.
|
|
29-35</scripRef>. 5. He was sold into Egypt to Potiphar, <scripRef passage="Ge 37:36" id="Gen.xxxviii-p1.8" parsed="|Gen|37|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.36">ver. 36</scripRef>. And all this was working
|
|
together for good.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 37" id="Gen.xxxviii-p1.9" parsed="|Gen|37|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 37:1-4" id="Gen.xxxviii-p1.10" parsed="|Gen|37|1|37|4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.1-Gen.37.4"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.37.1-Gen.37.4">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxxviii-p1.11">The History of Joseph. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxxviii-p1.12">b. c.</span> 1729.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxviii-p2">1 And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father
|
|
was a stranger, in the land of Canaan.   2 These <i>are</i>
|
|
the generations of Jacob. Joseph, <i>being</i> seventeen years old,
|
|
was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad <i>was</i>
|
|
with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's
|
|
wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.  
|
|
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he
|
|
<i>was</i> the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of
|
|
<i>many</i> colours.   4 And when his brethren saw that their
|
|
father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and
|
|
could not speak peaceably unto him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxviii-p3">Moses has no more to say of the Edomites,
|
|
unless as they happen to fall in Israel's way; but now applies
|
|
himself closely to the story of Jacob's family: <i>These are the
|
|
generations of Jacob.</i> His is not a bare barren genealogy as
|
|
that of Esau (<scripRef passage="Ge 36:1" id="Gen.xxxviii-p3.1" parsed="|Gen|36|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.36.1"><i>ch.</i> xxxvi.
|
|
1</scripRef>), but a memorable useful history. Here is, 1. Jacob a
|
|
sojourner with his father Isaac, who has yet living, <scripRef passage="Ge 37:1" id="Gen.xxxviii-p3.2" parsed="|Gen|37|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. We shall never be at
|
|
home, till we come to heaven. 2. Joseph, a shepherd, <i>feeding the
|
|
flock with his brethren,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 37:2" id="Gen.xxxviii-p3.3" parsed="|Gen|37|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.2"><i>v.</i>
|
|
2</scripRef>. Though he was his father's darling, yet he was not
|
|
brought up in idleness or delicacy. Those do not truly love their
|
|
children that do not inure them to business, and labour, and
|
|
mortification. The fondling of children is with good reason
|
|
commonly called the spoiling of them. Those that are trained up to
|
|
do nothing are likely to be good for nothing. 3. Joseph beloved by
|
|
his father (<scripRef passage="Ge 37:3" id="Gen.xxxviii-p3.4" parsed="|Gen|37|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>),
|
|
partly for his dear mother's sake that was dead, and partly for his
|
|
own sake, because he was the greatest comfort of his old age;
|
|
probably he waited on him, and was more observant of him than the
|
|
rest of his sons; he was the <i>son of the ancient</i> so some;
|
|
that is, when he was a child, he was as grave and discreet as if he
|
|
had been an old man, a child, but not childish. Jacob proclaimed
|
|
his affection to him by dressing him finer than the rest of his
|
|
children: He <i>made him a coat of divers colours,</i> which
|
|
probably was significant of further honors intended him. Note,
|
|
Though those children are happy that have that in them which justly
|
|
recommends them to their parents' particular love, yet it is the
|
|
prudence of parents not to make a difference between one child and
|
|
another, unless there be a great and manifest cause given for it by
|
|
the children's dutifulness or undutifulness; paternal government
|
|
must be impartial, and managed with a steady hand. 4. Joseph hated
|
|
by his brethren, (1.) Because his father loved him; when parents
|
|
make a difference, children soon take notice of it, and it often
|
|
occasions feuds and quarrels in families. (2.) Because he
|
|
<i>brought to his father their evil report.</i> Jacob's sons did
|
|
that, when they were from under his eye, which they durst not have
|
|
done if they had been at home with him; but Joseph gave his father
|
|
an account of their bad carriage, that he might reprove and
|
|
restrain them; not as a malicious tale-bearer, to sow discord, but
|
|
as a faithful brother, who, when he durst not admonish them
|
|
himself, represented their faults to one that had authority to
|
|
admonish them. Note, [1.] It is common for friendly monitors to be
|
|
looked upon as enemies. Those that hate to be reformed hate those
|
|
that would reform them, <scripRef passage="Pr 9:8" id="Gen.xxxviii-p3.5" parsed="|Prov|9|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.9.8">Prov. ix.
|
|
8</scripRef>. [2.] It is common for those that are beloved of God
|
|
to be hated by the world; whom Heaven blesses, hell curses. To
|
|
those to whom God speaks comfortably wicked men will not speak
|
|
peaceably. It is said here of Joseph, <i>the lad was with the sons
|
|
of Bilhah;</i> some read it, and he was <i>servant to them,</i>
|
|
they made him their drudge.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 37:5-11" id="Gen.xxxviii-p3.6" parsed="|Gen|37|5|37|11" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.5-Gen.37.11"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.37.5-Gen.37.11">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxviii-p4">5 And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told
|
|
<i>it</i> his brethren: and they hated him yet the more.   6
|
|
And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have
|
|
dreamed:   7 For, behold, we <i>were</i> binding sheaves in
|
|
the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and,
|
|
behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my
|
|
sheaf.   8 And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed
|
|
reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they
|
|
hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.   9
|
|
And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and
|
|
said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and
|
|
the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.   10 And
|
|
he told <i>it</i> to his father, and
|
|
|
|
<pb n="213" id="Gen.xxxviii-Page_213"/>
|
|
|
|
to his
|
|
brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What
|
|
<i>is</i> this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother
|
|
and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the
|
|
earth?   11 And his brethren envied him; but his father
|
|
observed the saying.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxviii-p5">Here, I. Joseph relates the prophetical
|
|
dreams he had, <scripRef passage="Ge 37:6,7,9,10" id="Gen.xxxviii-p5.1" parsed="|Gen|37|6|37|7;|Gen|37|9|0|0;|Gen|37|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.6-Gen.37.7 Bible:Gen.37.9 Bible:Gen.37.10"><i>v.</i> 6, 7,
|
|
9, 10</scripRef>. Though he was now very young (about seventeen
|
|
years old), yet he was pious and devout, and well-inclined, and
|
|
this fitted him for God's gracious discoveries of himself to him.
|
|
Joseph had a great deal of trouble before him, and therefore God
|
|
gave him betimes this prospect of his advancement, to support and
|
|
comfort him under the long and grievous troubles with which he was
|
|
to be exercised. Thus Christ had a <i>joy set before him,</i> and
|
|
so have Christians. Note, God has ways of preparing his people
|
|
beforehand for the trials which they cannot foresee, but which he
|
|
has an eye to in the comforts with which he furnishes them. His
|
|
dreams were, 1. That his brethren's sheaves all bowed to his,
|
|
intimating upon what occasion they should be brought to do homage
|
|
to him, namely, in seeking to him for corn; their empty sheaves
|
|
should bow to his full one. 2. That the sun, and moon, and eleven
|
|
stars, did obeisance to him, <scripRef passage="Ge 37:9" id="Gen.xxxviii-p5.2" parsed="|Gen|37|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.9"><i>v.</i>
|
|
9</scripRef>. Joseph was more of a prophet than a politician, else
|
|
he would have kept this to himself, when he could not but know that
|
|
his brethren did already hate him and that this would but the more
|
|
exasperate them. But, if he told it in his simplicity, yet God
|
|
directed it for the mortification of his brethren. Observe, Joseph
|
|
dreamed of his preferment, but he did not dream of his
|
|
imprisonment. Thus many young people, when they are setting out in
|
|
the world, think of nothing but prosperity and pleasure, and never
|
|
dream of trouble.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxviii-p6">II. His brethren take it very ill, and are
|
|
more and more enraged against him (<scripRef passage="Ge 37:8" id="Gen.xxxviii-p6.1" parsed="|Gen|37|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>): <i>Shalt thou indeed reign over
|
|
us?</i> See here, 1. How truly they interpreted his dream, that he
|
|
should reign over them. Those become the expositors of his dream
|
|
who were enemies to the accomplishment of it, as in Gideon's story
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Jdg 7:13,14" id="Gen.xxxviii-p6.2" parsed="|Judg|7|13|7|14" osisRef="Bible:Judg.7.13-Judg.7.14">Judg. vii. 13, 14</scripRef>);
|
|
they perceived that he spoke of them, <scripRef passage="Mt 21:45" id="Gen.xxxviii-p6.3" parsed="|Matt|21|45|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.21.45">Matt. xxi. 45</scripRef>. The event exactly answered to
|
|
this interpretation, <scripRef passage="Ge 42:6" id="Gen.xxxviii-p6.4" parsed="|Gen|42|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.6"><i>ch.</i> xlii.
|
|
6</scripRef>, &c. 2. How scornfully they resented it: "<i>Shalt
|
|
thou,</i> who are but one, <i>reign over us,</i> who are many?
|
|
Thou, who are the youngest, over us who are older?" Note, The reign
|
|
and dominion of Jesus Christ, our Joseph, have been, and are,
|
|
despised and striven against by a carnal and unbelieving world, who
|
|
cannot endure to think that this man should reign over them. The
|
|
dominion also of the upright, in the morning of the resurrection,
|
|
is thought of with the utmost disdain.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxviii-p7">III. His father gives him a gentle rebuke
|
|
for it, yet observes the saying, <scripRef passage="Ge 37:10,11" id="Gen.xxxviii-p7.1" parsed="|Gen|37|10|37|11" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.10-Gen.37.11"><i>v.</i> 10, 11</scripRef>. Probably he checked him
|
|
for it, to lessen the offence which his brethren would be apt to
|
|
take at it; yet he took notice of it more than he seemed to do: he
|
|
insinuated that it was but an idle dream, because his mother was
|
|
brought in, who had been dead some time since; whereas <i>the sun,
|
|
moon, and eleven stars,</i> signify no more than the whole family
|
|
that should have a dependence upon him, and be glad to be beholden
|
|
to him. Note, The faith of God's people in God's promises is often
|
|
sorely shaken by their misunderstanding the promises and then
|
|
suggesting the improbabilities that attend the performance; but God
|
|
is doing his own work, and will do it, whether we understand him
|
|
aright or no. Jacob, like Mary (<scripRef passage="Lu 2:51" id="Gen.xxxviii-p7.2" parsed="|Luke|2|51|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.2.51">Luke
|
|
ii. 51</scripRef>), kept these things in his heart, and no doubt
|
|
remembered them long afterwards, when the event answered to the
|
|
prediction.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 37:12-22" id="Gen.xxxviii-p7.3" parsed="|Gen|37|12|37|22" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.12-Gen.37.22"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.37.12-Gen.37.22">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxviii-p8">12 And his brethren went to feed their father's
|
|
flock in Shechem.   13 And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy
|
|
brethren feed <i>the flock</i> in Shechem? come, and I will send
|
|
thee unto them. And he said to him, Here <i>am I.</i>   14 And
|
|
he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy
|
|
brethren, and well with the flocks; and bring me word again. So he
|
|
sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.  
|
|
15 And a certain man found him, and, behold, <i>he was</i>
|
|
wandering in the field: and the man asked him, saying, What seekest
|
|
thou?   16 And he said, I seek my brethren: tell me, I pray
|
|
thee, where they feed <i>their flocks.</i>   17 And the man
|
|
said, They are departed hence; for I heard them say, Let us go to
|
|
Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in
|
|
Dothan.   18 And when they saw him afar off, even before he
|
|
came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.  
|
|
19 And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh.
|
|
  20 Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him
|
|
into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him:
|
|
and we shall see what will become of his dreams.   21 And
|
|
Reuben heard <i>it,</i> and he delivered him out of their hands;
|
|
and said, Let us not kill him.   22 And Reuben said unto them,
|
|
Shed no blood, <i>but</i> cast him into this pit
|
|
|
|
<pb n="214" id="Gen.xxxviii-Page_214"/>
|
|
|
|
that <i>is</i> in the wilderness, and lay no hand
|
|
upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him
|
|
to his father again.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxviii-p9">Here is, I. The kind visit which Joseph, in
|
|
obedience to his father's command, made to his brethren, who were
|
|
feeding the flock at Shechem, many miles off. Some suggest that
|
|
they went thither on purpose, expecting that Joseph would be sent
|
|
to see them, and that then they should have an opportunity to do
|
|
him a mischief. However, Joseph and his father had both of them
|
|
more of the innocence of the dove than of the wisdom of the
|
|
serpent, else he had never come thus into the hands of those that
|
|
hated him: but God designed it all for good. See in Joseph an
|
|
instance, 1. Of dutifulness to his father. Though he was his
|
|
father's darling, yet he was made, and was willing to be, his
|
|
father's servant. How readily does he wait his father's orders!
|
|
<i>Here I am,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 37:13" id="Gen.xxxviii-p9.1" parsed="|Gen|37|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.13"><i>v.</i>
|
|
13</scripRef>. Note, Those children that are best beloved by their
|
|
parents should be most obedient to their parents; and then their
|
|
love is well-bestowed and well-returned. 2. Of kindness to his
|
|
brethren. Though he knew they hated him and envied him, yet he made
|
|
no objections against his father's commands, either from the
|
|
distance of the place or the danger of the journey, but cheerfully
|
|
embraced the opportunity of showing his respect to his brethren.
|
|
Note, It is a very good lesson, though it is learnt with difficulty
|
|
and rarely practised, <i>to love those that hate us;</i> if our
|
|
relations do not their duty to us, yet we must not be wanting in
|
|
our duty to them. This is thank-worthy. Joseph was sent by his
|
|
father to Shechem, to see whether his brethren were well there, and
|
|
whether the country had not risen upon them and destroyed them, in
|
|
revenge of their barbarous murder of the Shechemites some years
|
|
before. But Joseph, not finding them there, went to Dothan, which
|
|
showed that he undertook this journey, not only in obedience to his
|
|
father (for then he might have returned when he missed them at
|
|
Shechem, having done what his father told him), but out of love to
|
|
his brethren, and therefore he sought diligently till he found
|
|
them. Thus let brotherly love continue, and let us give proofs of
|
|
it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxviii-p10">II. The bloody and malicious plot of his
|
|
brethren against him, who rendered good for evil, and, for his
|
|
love, were his adversaries. Observe, 1. How deliberate they were in
|
|
the contrivance of this mischief: when they <i>saw him afar off,
|
|
they conspired against him,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 37:18" id="Gen.xxxviii-p10.1" parsed="|Gen|37|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. It was not in a heat, or upon a
|
|
sudden provocation, that they thought to slay him, but from malice
|
|
prepense, and in cold blood. Note, Whosoever hateth his brother is
|
|
a murderer; for he will be one if he have an opportunity, <scripRef passage="1Jo 3:15" id="Gen.xxxviii-p10.2" parsed="|1John|3|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.3.15">1 John iii. 15</scripRef>. Malice is a most
|
|
mischievous thing, and is in danger of making bloody work where it
|
|
is harboured and indulged. The more there is of a project and
|
|
contrivance in a sin the worse it is; it is bad to do evil, but
|
|
worse to devise it. 2. How cruel they were in their design; nothing
|
|
less than his blood would satisfy them: <i>Come, and let us slay
|
|
him,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 37:20" id="Gen.xxxviii-p10.3" parsed="|Gen|37|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, The old enmity hunts for the precious life. It is the
|
|
<i>blood-thirsty</i> that <i>hate the upright</i> (<scripRef passage="Pr 29:10" id="Gen.xxxviii-p10.4" parsed="|Prov|29|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.29.10">Prov. xxix. 10</scripRef>), and it is the blood
|
|
of the saints that the harlot is drunk with. 3. How scornfully they
|
|
reproached him for his dreams (<scripRef passage="Ge 37:19" id="Gen.xxxviii-p10.5" parsed="|Gen|37|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>): <i>This dreamer cometh;</i>
|
|
and (<scripRef passage="Ge 37:20" id="Gen.xxxviii-p10.6" parsed="|Gen|37|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>), <i>We
|
|
shall see what will become of his dreams.</i> This shows what it
|
|
was that fretted and enraged them. They could not endure to think
|
|
of doing homage to him; this was what they were plotting to prevent
|
|
by the murder of him. Note, Men that fret and rage at God's
|
|
counsels are impiously aiming to defeat them; but they imagine a
|
|
vain thing, <scripRef passage="Ps 2:1-3" id="Gen.xxxviii-p10.7" parsed="|Ps|2|1|2|3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.2.1-Ps.2.3">Ps. ii. 1-3</scripRef>.
|
|
God's counsels will stand. 4. How they agreed to keep one another's
|
|
counsel, and to cover the murder with a lie: <i>We will say, Some
|
|
evil beast hath devoured him;</i> whereas in thus consulting to
|
|
devour him they proved themselves worse than the most evil beasts;
|
|
for evil beasts prey not on those of their own kind, but they were
|
|
tearing a piece of themselves.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxviii-p11">III. Reuben's project to deliver him,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 37:21,22" id="Gen.xxxviii-p11.1" parsed="|Gen|37|21|37|22" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.21-Gen.37.22"><i>v.</i> 21, 22</scripRef>. Note,
|
|
God can raise up friends for his people, even among their enemies;
|
|
for he has all hearts in his hands. Reuben, of all the brothers,
|
|
had most reason to be jealous of Joseph, for he was the first-born,
|
|
and so entitled to those distinguishing favours which Jacob was
|
|
conferring on Joseph; yet he proves his best friend. Reuben's
|
|
temper seems to have been soft and effeminate, which had betrayed
|
|
him to the sin of uncleanness; while the temper of the next two
|
|
brothers, Simeon and Levi, was fierce, which betrayed them to the
|
|
sin of murder, a sin which Reuben startled at the thought of. Note,
|
|
Our natural constitution should be guarded against those sins to
|
|
which it is most inclinable, and improved (as Reuben's here)
|
|
against those sins to which it is most averse. Reuben made a
|
|
proposal which they thought would effectually answer their
|
|
intention of destroying Joseph, and yet which he designed should
|
|
answer his intention of rescuing Joseph out of their hands and
|
|
restoring him to his father, probably hoping thereby to recover his
|
|
father's favour, which he had lately lost; but God overruled all to
|
|
serve his own purpose of making Joseph an instrument to save much
|
|
people alive. Joseph was here a type of Christ. Though he was the
|
|
beloved Son of his Father, and hated by a wicked world, yet the
|
|
Father sent him out of his bosom to visit us in great humility and
|
|
love. He came from heaven to earth, to seek and save us; yet then
|
|
malicious plots were laid against him. He came to his own, and his
|
|
own not only received him not, but consulted against him: <i>This
|
|
is the heir, come let us kill him; Crucify him,
|
|
|
|
<pb n="215" id="Gen.xxxviii-Page_215"/>
|
|
|
|
crucify him.</i> This he submitted to, in pursuance
|
|
of his design to redeem and save us.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 37:23-30" id="Gen.xxxviii-p11.2" parsed="|Gen|37|23|37|30" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.23-Gen.37.30"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.37.23-Gen.37.30">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxviii-p12">23 And it came to pass, when Joseph was come
|
|
unto his brethren, that they stript Joseph out of his coat,
|
|
<i>his</i> coat of <i>many</i> colours that <i>was</i> on him;
|
|
  24 And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit
|
|
<i>was</i> empty, <i>there was</i> no water in it.   25 And
|
|
they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and
|
|
looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with
|
|
their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry
|
|
<i>it</i> down to Egypt.   26 And Judah said unto his
|
|
brethren, What profit <i>is it</i> if we slay our brother, and
|
|
conceal his blood?   27 Come, and let us sell him to the
|
|
Ishmeelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he <i>is</i> our
|
|
brother <i>and</i> our flesh. And his brethren were content.  
|
|
28 Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and
|
|
lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites
|
|
for twenty <i>pieces</i> of silver: and they brought Joseph into
|
|
Egypt.   29 And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold,
|
|
Joseph <i>was</i> not in the pit; and he rent his clothes.  
|
|
30 And he returned unto his brethren, and said, The child <i>is</i>
|
|
not; and I, whither shall I go?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxviii-p13">We have here the execution of their plot
|
|
against Joseph. 1. They stripped him, each striving to seize the
|
|
envied coat of many colours, <scripRef passage="Ge 37:23" id="Gen.xxxviii-p13.1" parsed="|Gen|37|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.23"><i>v.</i>
|
|
23</scripRef>. Thus, in imagination, they degraded him from the
|
|
birthright, of which perhaps this was the badge, grieving him,
|
|
affronting their father, and making themselves sport, while they
|
|
insulted over him. "Now, Joseph, where is the fine coat?" Thus our
|
|
Lord Jesus was stripped of his seamless coat, and thus his
|
|
suffering saints have first been industriously divested of their
|
|
privileges and honours, and then made the off-scouring of all
|
|
things. 2. They went about to starve him, throwing him into a dry
|
|
pit, to perish there with hunger and cold, so cruel were their
|
|
tender mercies, <scripRef passage="Ge 37:25" id="Gen.xxxviii-p13.2" parsed="|Gen|37|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.25"><i>v.</i>
|
|
24</scripRef>. Note, Where envy reigns pity is banished, and
|
|
humanity itself is forgotten, <scripRef passage="Pr 27:4" id="Gen.xxxviii-p13.3" parsed="|Prov|27|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.27.4">Prov.
|
|
xxvii. 4</scripRef>. So full of deadly poison is malice that the
|
|
more barbarous any thing is the more grateful it is. Now Joseph
|
|
begged for his life, in <i>the anguish of his soul</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 42:21" id="Gen.xxxviii-p13.4" parsed="|Gen|42|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.21"><i>ch.</i> xlii. 21</scripRef>), entreated, by
|
|
all imaginable endearments, that they would be content with his
|
|
coat and spare his life. He pleads innocence, relation, affection,
|
|
submission; he weeps and makes supplication, but all in vain.
|
|
Reuben alone relents and intercedes for him, <scripRef passage="Ge 42:22" id="Gen.xxxviii-p13.5" parsed="|Gen|42|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.22"><i>ch.</i> xlii. 22</scripRef>. But he cannot prevail to
|
|
save Joseph from the horrible pit, in which they resolve he shall
|
|
die by degrees, and be buried alive. Is this he to whom his
|
|
brethren must do homage? Note, God's providences often seem to
|
|
contradict his purposes, even when they are serving them, and
|
|
working at a distance towards the accomplishment of them. 3. They
|
|
slighted him when he was in distress, and were not grieved for the
|
|
affliction of Joseph; for when he was pining away in the pit,
|
|
bemoaning his own misery, and with a languishing cry calling to
|
|
them for pity, <i>they sat down to eat bread,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 37:25" id="Gen.xxxviii-p13.6" parsed="|Gen|37|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>. (1.) They felt no
|
|
remorse of conscience for the sin; if they had, it would have
|
|
spoiled their appetite for their meat, and the relish of it. Note,
|
|
A great force put upon conscience commonly stupefies it, and for
|
|
the time deprives it both of sense and speech. Daring sinners are
|
|
secure ones. But the consciences of Joseph's brethren, though
|
|
asleep now, were roused long afterwards, <scripRef passage="Ge 42:21" id="Gen.xxxviii-p13.7" parsed="|Gen|42|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.21"><i>ch.</i> xlii. 21</scripRef>. (2.) They were now
|
|
pleased to think how they were freed from the fear of their
|
|
brother's dominion over them, and that, on the contrary, they had
|
|
turned the wheel upon him. They made merry over him, as the
|
|
persecutors over the two witnesses that had tormented them,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Re 11:10" id="Gen.xxxviii-p13.8" parsed="|Rev|11|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.11.10">Rev. xi. 10</scripRef>. Note, Those
|
|
that oppose God's counsels may possibly prevail so far as to think
|
|
they have gained their point, and yet be deceived. 4. They sold
|
|
him. A caravan of merchants very opportunely passed by (Providence
|
|
so ordering it), and Judah made the motion that they should sell
|
|
Joseph to them, to be carried far enough off into Egypt, where, in
|
|
all probability, he would be lost, and never heard of more. (1.)
|
|
Judah proposed it in compassion to Joseph (<scripRef passage="Ge 37:26" id="Gen.xxxviii-p13.9" parsed="|Gen|37|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>): "<i>What profit is it if we
|
|
slay our brother?</i> it will be less guilt, and more gain, to sell
|
|
him." Note, When we are tempted to sin, we should consider the
|
|
unprofitableness of it. It is what there is nothing to be got by.
|
|
(2.) They acquiesced in it, because they thought that if he were
|
|
sold for a slave he would never be a lord, if sold into Egypt he
|
|
would never be their lord; yet all this was working towards it.
|
|
Note, The wrath of man shall praise God, and the remainder of wrath
|
|
he will restrain, <scripRef passage="Ps 76:10" id="Gen.xxxviii-p13.10" parsed="|Ps|76|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.76.10">Ps. lxxvi.
|
|
10</scripRef>. Joseph's brethren were wonderfully restrained from
|
|
murdering him, and their selling him was as wonderfully turned to
|
|
God's praise. As Joseph was sold by the contrivance of Judah for
|
|
twenty pieces of silver, so was our Lord Jesus for thirty, and by
|
|
one of the same name too, <i>Judas.</i> Reuben (it seems) had gone
|
|
away from his brethren, when they sold Joseph, intending to come
|
|
round some other way to the pit, and to help Joseph out of it, and
|
|
return him safely to his father. This was a kind project, but, if
|
|
it had taken effect, what had become of God's purpose concerning
|
|
his preferment in Egypt? Note, There
|
|
|
|
<pb n="216" id="Gen.xxxviii-Page_216"/>
|
|
|
|
are
|
|
many devices in man's heart, many devices of the enemies of God's
|
|
people to destroy them and of their friends to help them, which
|
|
perhaps are both disappointed, as these were; but the counsel of
|
|
the Lord, that shall stand. Reuben thought himself undone, because
|
|
the child was sold: <i>I, whither shall I go?</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 37:30" id="Gen.xxxviii-p13.11" parsed="|Gen|37|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>. He being the eldest,
|
|
his father would expect from him an account of Joseph; but, as it
|
|
proved, they would all have been undone if he had not been
|
|
sold.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 37:31-36" id="Gen.xxxviii-p13.12" parsed="|Gen|37|31|37|36" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.31-Gen.37.36"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.37.31-Gen.37.36">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxviii-p14">31 And they took Joseph's coat, and killed a kid
|
|
of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood;   32 And they
|
|
sent the coat of <i>many</i> colours, and they brought <i>it</i> to
|
|
their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it
|
|
<i>be</i> thy son's coat or no.   33 And he knew it, and said,
|
|
<i>It is</i> my son's coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph
|
|
is without doubt rent in pieces.   34 And Jacob rent his
|
|
clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son
|
|
many days.   35 And all his sons and all his daughters rose up
|
|
to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I
|
|
will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father
|
|
wept for him.   36 And the Midianites sold him into Egypt unto
|
|
Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, <i>and</i> captain of the
|
|
guard.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxviii-p15">I. Joseph would soon be missed, great
|
|
enquiry would be made for him, and therefore his brethren have a
|
|
further design, to make the world believe that Joseph was torn in
|
|
pieces by a wild beast; and this they did, 1. To clear themselves,
|
|
that they might not be suspected to have done him any mischief.
|
|
Note, We have all learned of Adam to cover our transgression,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Job 31:33" id="Gen.xxxviii-p15.1" parsed="|Job|31|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.31.33">Job xxxi. 33</scripRef>. When the
|
|
devil has taught men to commit one sin, he then teaches them to
|
|
conceal it with another, theft and murder with lying and perjury;
|
|
but he that covers his sin shall not prosper long. Joseph's
|
|
brethren kept their own and one another's counsel for some time,
|
|
but their villany came to light at last, and it is here published
|
|
to the world, and the remembrance of it transmitted to every age.
|
|
2. To grieve their good father. It seems designed by them on
|
|
purpose to be revenged upon him for his distinguishing love of
|
|
Joseph. It was contrived on purpose to create the utmost vexation
|
|
to him. They sent him Joseph's coat of many colours, with one
|
|
colour more than it had had, a bloody colour, <scripRef passage="Ge 37:32" id="Gen.xxxviii-p15.2" parsed="|Gen|37|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>. They pretended they had found
|
|
it in the fields, and Jacob himself must be scornfully asked, <i>Is
|
|
this thy son's coat?</i> Now the badge of his honour is the
|
|
discovery of his fate; and it is rashly inferred from the bloody
|
|
coat that <i>Joseph, without doubt, is rent in pieces.</i> Love is
|
|
always apt to fear the worst concerning the person beloved; there
|
|
is a love that casteth out fear, but that is a perfect love. Now
|
|
let those that know the heart of a parent suppose the agonies of
|
|
poor Jacob, and put their souls into his soul's stead. How strongly
|
|
does he represent to himself the direful idea of Joseph's misery!
|
|
Sleeping or waking, he imagines he sees the wild beast setting upon
|
|
Joseph, thinks he hears his piteous shrieks when the lion roared
|
|
against him, makes himself tremble and grow chill, many a time,
|
|
when he fancies how the beast sucked his blood, tore him limb from
|
|
limb, and left no remains of him, but the coat of many colours, to
|
|
carry the tidings. And no doubt it added no little to the grief
|
|
that he had exposed him, by sending him, and sending him all alone,
|
|
on this dangerous journey, which proved so fatal to him. This cuts
|
|
him to the heart, and he is ready to look upon himself as an
|
|
accessory to the death of his son. Now, (1.) Endeavours were used
|
|
to comfort him. His sons basely pretended to do it (<scripRef passage="Ge 37:35" id="Gen.xxxviii-p15.3" parsed="|Gen|37|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.35"><i>v.</i> 35</scripRef>); but miserable
|
|
hypocritical comforters were they all. Had they really desired to
|
|
comfort him, they might easily have done it, by telling him the
|
|
truth, "Joseph is alive, he is indeed sold into Egypt, but it will
|
|
be an easy thing to send thither and ransom him." This would have
|
|
<i>loosened his sackcloth, and girded him with gladness</i>
|
|
presently. I wonder their countenances did not betray their guilt,
|
|
and with what face they could pretend to condole with Jacob on the
|
|
death of Joseph, when they knew he was alive. Note, The heart is
|
|
strangely hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. But, (2.) It was
|
|
all in vain: <i>Jacob refused to be comforted,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 37:35" id="Gen.xxxviii-p15.4" parsed="|Gen|37|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.35"><i>v.</i> 35</scripRef>. He was an obstinate
|
|
mourner, resolved to go down to the grave mourning. It was not a
|
|
sudden transport of passion, like that of David, <i>Would God I had
|
|
died for thee, my son, my son!</i> But, like Job, he hardened
|
|
himself in sorrow. Note, [1.] Great affection to any creature does
|
|
not prepare for so much the greater affliction, when it is either
|
|
removed from us or embittered to us. Inordinate love commonly ends
|
|
in immoderate grief; as much as the sway of the pendulum throws one
|
|
way, so much it will throw the other way. [2.] Those consult
|
|
neither the comfort of their souls nor the credit of their religion
|
|
that are determined in their sorrow upon any occasion whatsoever.
|
|
We must never say, "We will go to our grave mourning," because we
|
|
know not what joyful days Providence may yet reserve for us, and it
|
|
is our wisdom and duty to accommodate ourselves to Providence. [3.]
|
|
We often perplex ourselves with imaginary troubles. We fancy things
|
|
worse than they are, and then afflict ourselves more than we need.
|
|
Sometimes there needs no more to comfort us than to undeceive us:
|
|
it is good to hope the best.</p>
|
|
|
|
<pb n="217" id="Gen.xxxviii-Page_217"/>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxviii-p16">II. The Ishmaelites and Midianites having
|
|
bought Joseph only to make their market of him, here we have him
|
|
sold again (with gain enough to the merchants, no doubt) to
|
|
Potiphar, <scripRef passage="Ge 37:36" id="Gen.xxxviii-p16.1" parsed="|Gen|37|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.36"><i>v.</i> 36</scripRef>.
|
|
Jacob was lamenting the loss of his life; had he known all he would
|
|
have lamented, though not so passionately, the loss of liberty.
|
|
Shall Jacob's freeborn son exchange the best robe of his family for
|
|
the livery of an Egyptian lord, and all the marks of servitude? How
|
|
soon was the land of Egypt made a house of bondage to the seed of
|
|
Jacob! Note, It is the wisdom of parents not to bring up their
|
|
children too delicately, because they know not to what hardships
|
|
and mortifications Providence may reduce them before they die.
|
|
Jacob little thought that ever his beloved Joseph would be thus
|
|
bought and sold for a servant.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXXVIII" n="xxxix" progress="25.24%" prev="Gen.xxxviii" next="Gen.xl" id="Gen.xxxix">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="217" id="Gen.xxxix-Page_217"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xxxix-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xxxix-p0.2">CHAP. XXXVIII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xxxix-p1">This chapter gives us an account of Judah and his
|
|
family, and such an account it is that one would wonder that, of
|
|
all Jacob's sons, our Lord should spring out of Judah, <scripRef passage="Heb 7:14" id="Gen.xxxix-p1.1" parsed="|Heb|7|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.14">Heb. vii. 14</scripRef>. If we were to form a
|
|
character of him by this story, we should not say, "Judah, thou art
|
|
he whom thy brethren shall praise," <scripRef passage="Ge 49:8" id="Gen.xxxix-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|49|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.8"><i>ch.</i> xlix. 8</scripRef>. But God will show that his
|
|
choice is of grace and not of merit, and that Christ came into the
|
|
world to save sinners, even the chief, and is not ashamed, upon
|
|
their repentance, to be allied to them, also that the worth and
|
|
worthiness of Jesus Christ are personal, of himself, and not
|
|
derived from his ancestors. Humbling himself to be "made in the
|
|
likeness of sinful flesh," he was pleased to descend from some that
|
|
were infamous. How little reason had the Jews, who were so called
|
|
from this Judah, to boast, as they did, that they were not born of
|
|
fornication! <scripRef passage="Joh 8:41" id="Gen.xxxix-p1.3" parsed="|John|8|41|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.8.41">John viii. 41</scripRef>.
|
|
We have, in this chapter, I. Judah's marriage and issue, and the
|
|
untimely death of his two eldest sons, <scripRef passage="Ge 38:1-11" id="Gen.xxxix-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|38|1|38|11" osisRef="Bible:Gen.38.1-Gen.38.11">ver. 1-11</scripRef>. II. Judah's incest with his
|
|
daughter-in-law Tamar, without his knowing it, <scripRef passage="Ge 38:12-23" id="Gen.xxxix-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|38|12|38|23" osisRef="Bible:Gen.38.12-Gen.38.23">ver. 12-23</scripRef>. III. His confusion, when it
|
|
was discovered, <scripRef passage="Ge 38:24-26" id="Gen.xxxix-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|38|24|38|26" osisRef="Bible:Gen.38.24-Gen.38.26">ver.
|
|
24-26</scripRef>. IV. The birth of his twin sons, in whom his
|
|
family was built up, <scripRef passage="Ge 38:27-30" id="Gen.xxxix-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|38|27|38|30" osisRef="Bible:Gen.38.27-Gen.38.30">ver.
|
|
27</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 38" id="Gen.xxxix-p1.8" parsed="|Gen|38|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.38"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 38:1-11" id="Gen.xxxix-p1.9" parsed="|Gen|38|1|38|11" osisRef="Bible:Gen.38.1-Gen.38.11"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.38.1-Gen.38.11">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxxix-p1.10">Judah's Profligacy. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxxix-p1.11">b. c.</span> 1717.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxix-p2">1 And it came to pass at that time, that Judah
|
|
went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite,
|
|
whose name <i>was</i> Hirah.   2 And Judah saw there a
|
|
daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name <i>was</i> Shuah; and
|
|
he took her, and went in unto her.   3 And she conceived, and
|
|
bare a son; and he called his name Er.   4 And she conceived
|
|
again, and bare a son; and she called his name Onan.   5 And
|
|
she yet again conceived, and bare a son; and called his name
|
|
Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when she bare him.   6 And Judah
|
|
took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name <i>was</i> Tamar.
|
|
  7 And Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxxix-p2.1">Lord</span>; and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxxix-p2.2">Lord</span> slew him.   8 And Judah said unto
|
|
Onan, Go in unto thy brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up
|
|
seed to thy brother.   9 And Onan knew that the seed should
|
|
not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's
|
|
wife, that he spilled <i>it</i> on the ground, lest that he should
|
|
give seed to his brother.   10 And the thing which he did
|
|
displeased the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxxix-p2.3">Lord</span>: wherefore he
|
|
slew him also.   11 Then said Judah to Tamar his daughter in
|
|
law, Remain a widow at thy father's house, till Shelah my son be
|
|
grown: for he said, Lest peradventure he die also, as his brethren
|
|
<i>did.</i> And Tamar went and dwelt in her father's house.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxix-p3">Here is, 1. Judah's foolish friendship with
|
|
a Canaanite-man. He went down from his brethren, and withdrew for a
|
|
time from their society and his father's family, and got to be
|
|
intimately acquainted with one Hirah, an Adullamite, <scripRef passage="Ge 38:1" id="Gen.xxxix-p3.1" parsed="|Gen|38|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.38.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. It is computed that he
|
|
was now not much above fifteen or sixteen years of age, an easy
|
|
prey to the tempter. Note, When young people that have been well
|
|
educated begin to change their company, they will soon change their
|
|
manners, and lose their good education. Those that go down from
|
|
their brethren, that despise and forsake the society of the seed of
|
|
Israel, and pick up Canaanites for their companions, are going down
|
|
the hill apace. It is of great consequence to young people to
|
|
choose proper associates; for these they will imitate, study to
|
|
recommend themselves to, and, by their opinion of them, value
|
|
themselves: an error in this choice is often fatal. 2. His foolish
|
|
marriage with a Canaanite-woman, a match made, not by his father,
|
|
who, it should seem, was not consulted, but by his new friend
|
|
Hirah, <scripRef passage="Ge 38:2" id="Gen.xxxix-p3.2" parsed="|Gen|38|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.38.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. Many
|
|
have been drawn into marriages scandalous and pernicious to
|
|
themselves and their families by keeping bad company, and growing
|
|
familiar with bad people: one wicked league entangles men in
|
|
another. Let young people be admonished by this to take their good
|
|
parents for their best friends, and to be advised by them, and not
|
|
by flatterers, who wheedle them, to make a prey of them. 3. His
|
|
children by this Canaanite, and his disposal of them. Three sons he
|
|
had by her, Er, Onan, and Shelah. It is probable that she embraced
|
|
the worship of the God of Israel, at least in profession, but, for
|
|
aught that appears, there was little of the fear of God in the
|
|
family. Judah married too young, and very rashly; he also married
|
|
his sons too young, when they had neither wit nor grace to govern
|
|
themselves, and the consequences were very bad. (1.) His
|
|
first-born, <i>Er,</i> was notoriously wicked; he was so <i>in the
|
|
sight of the Lord,</i> that is, in defiance of God and his law; or,
|
|
if perhaps he was not wicked in the sight of the world, he was so
|
|
in the sight of God, to whom all men's wickedness is open; and what
|
|
came of it? Why, God cut him off presently (<scripRef passage="Ge 38:7" id="Gen.xxxix-p3.3" parsed="|Gen|38|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.38.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>): <i>The Lord slew him.</i> Note,
|
|
Sometimes God makes quick work with sinners, and takes them away in
|
|
his wrath, when they are but just setting out in a wicked course of
|
|
life. (2.) The next son, <i>Onan,</i> was, according to the ancient
|
|
usage, married to the
|
|
|
|
<pb n="218" id="Gen.xxxix-Page_218"/>
|
|
|
|
widow, to preserve the
|
|
name of his deceased brother that died childless. Though God had
|
|
taken away his life for his wickedness, yet they were solicitous to
|
|
preserve his memory; and their disappointment therein, through
|
|
Onan's sin, was a further punishment of his wickedness. The custom
|
|
of marrying the brother's widow was afterwards made one of the laws
|
|
of Moses, <scripRef passage="De 25:5" id="Gen.xxxix-p3.4" parsed="|Deut|25|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.25.5">Deut. xxv. 5</scripRef>.
|
|
Onan, though he consented to marry the widow, yet, to the great
|
|
abuse of his own body, of the wife that he had married, and of the
|
|
memory of his brother that was gone, he refused to raise up seed
|
|
unto his brother, as he was in duty bound. This was so much the
|
|
worse because the Messiah was to descend from Judah, and, had he
|
|
not been guilty of this wickedness, he might have had the honour of
|
|
being one of his ancestors. Note, Those sins that dishonour the
|
|
body and defile it are very displeasing to God and evidences of
|
|
vile affections. (3.) <i>Shelah,</i> the third son, was reserved
|
|
for the widow (<scripRef passage="Ge 38:11" id="Gen.xxxix-p3.5" parsed="|Gen|38|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.38.11"><i>v.</i>
|
|
11</scripRef>), yet with a design that he should not marry so young
|
|
as his brothers had done, <i>lest he die also.</i> Some think that
|
|
Judah never intended to marry Shelah to Tamar, but unjustly
|
|
suspected her to have been the death of her two former husbands
|
|
(whereas it was their own wickedness that slew them), and then sent
|
|
her to her father's house, with a charge to remain a widow. If so,
|
|
it was an inexcusable piece of prevarication that he was guilty of.
|
|
However, Tamar acquiesced for the present, and waited the
|
|
issue.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 38:12-23" id="Gen.xxxix-p3.6" parsed="|Gen|38|12|38|23" osisRef="Bible:Gen.38.12-Gen.38.23"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.38.12-Gen.38.23">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxix-p4">12 And in process of time the daughter of Shuah
|
|
Judah's wife died; and Judah was comforted, and went up unto his
|
|
sheepshearers to Timnath, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.
|
|
  13 And it was told Tamar, saying, Behold thy father in law
|
|
goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep.   14 And she put her
|
|
widow's garments off from her, and covered her with a veil, and
|
|
wrapped herself, and sat in an open place, which <i>is</i> by the
|
|
way to Timnath; for she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not
|
|
given unto him to wife.   15 When Judah saw her, he thought
|
|
her <i>to be</i> an harlot; because she had covered her face.
|
|
  16 And he turned unto her by the way, and said, Go to, I
|
|
pray thee, let me come in unto thee; (for he knew not that she
|
|
<i>was</i> his daughter in law.) And she said, What wilt thou give
|
|
me, that thou mayest come in unto me?   17 And he said, I will
|
|
send <i>thee</i> a kid from the flock. And she said, Wilt thou give
|
|
<i>me</i> a pledge, till thou send <i>it?</i>   18 And he
|
|
said, What pledge shall I give thee? And she said, Thy signet, and
|
|
thy bracelets, and thy staff that <i>is</i> in thine hand. And he
|
|
gave <i>it</i> her, and came in unto her, and she conceived by him.
|
|
  19 And she arose, and went away, and laid by her veil from
|
|
her, and put on the garments of her widowhood.   20 And Judah
|
|
sent the kid by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive
|
|
<i>his</i> pledge from the woman's hand: but he found her not.
|
|
  21 Then he asked the men of that place, saying, Where
|
|
<i>is</i> the harlot, that <i>was</i> openly by the way side? And
|
|
they said, There was no harlot in this <i>place.</i>   22 And
|
|
he returned to Judah, and said, I cannot find her, and also the men
|
|
of the place said, <i>that</i> there was no harlot in this
|
|
<i>place.</i>   23 And Judah said, Let her take <i>it</i> to
|
|
her, lest we be shamed: behold, I sent this kid, and thou hast not
|
|
found her.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxix-p5">It is a very ill-favoured story that is
|
|
here told concerning Judah; one would not have expected such folly
|
|
in Israel. Judah had buried his wife; and widowers have need to
|
|
stand upon their guard with the utmost caution and resolution
|
|
against all fleshly lusts. He was unjust to his daughter-in-law,
|
|
either through negligence or design, in not giving her his
|
|
surviving son, and this exposed her to temptation.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxix-p6">I. Tamar wickedly prostituted herself as a
|
|
harlot to Judah, that, if the son might not, the father might raise
|
|
up seed to the deceased. Some excuse this by suggesting that,
|
|
though she was a Canaanite, yet she had embraced the true religion,
|
|
and believed the promise made to Abraham and his seed, particularly
|
|
that of the Messiah, who was to descend from the loins of Judah,
|
|
and that she was therefore thus earnestly desirous to have a child
|
|
by one of that family that she might have the honour, or at least
|
|
stand fair for the honour, of being the mother of the Messiah. And,
|
|
if this was indeed her desire, it had its success; she is one of
|
|
the four women particularly named in the genealogy of Christ,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mt 1:3" id="Gen.xxxix-p6.1" parsed="|Matt|1|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.1.3">Matt. i. 3</scripRef>. Her sinful
|
|
practice was pardoned, and her good intention was accepted, which
|
|
magnifies the grace of God, but can by no means be admitted to
|
|
justify or encourage the like. Bishop Patrick thinks it probable
|
|
that she hoped Shelah, who was by right her husband, might have
|
|
come along with his father, and that he might have been allured to
|
|
her embraces. There was a great deal of plot and contrivance in
|
|
Tamar's sin. 1. She took an opportunity for it, when Judah had a
|
|
time of
|
|
|
|
<pb n="219" id="Gen.xxxix-Page_219"/>
|
|
|
|
mirth and feasting with his
|
|
sheep-shearers. Note, Time of jollity often prove times of
|
|
temptation, particularly to the sin of uncleanness; when men are
|
|
fed to the full, the reins are apt to be let loose. 2. She exposed
|
|
herself as a harlot <i>in an open place,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 38:14" id="Gen.xxxix-p6.2" parsed="|Gen|38|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.38.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. Those that are, and would be,
|
|
chaste, must be <i>keepers at home,</i> <scripRef passage="Tit 2:5" id="Gen.xxxix-p6.3" parsed="|Titus|2|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Titus.2.5">Tit. ii. 5</scripRef>. It should seem, it was the custom
|
|
of harlots, in those times, to cover their faces, that, though they
|
|
were not ashamed, yet they might seem to be so. The sin of
|
|
uncleanness did not then go so barefaced as it does now.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxix-p7">II. Judah was taken in the snare, and
|
|
though it was ignorantly that he was guilty of incest with his
|
|
daughter-in-law (not knowing who she was), yet he was willfully
|
|
guilty of fornication: whoever she was, he knew she was not his
|
|
wife, and therefore not to be touched. Nor was his sin capable, in
|
|
the least, of such a charitable excuse as some make for Tamar, that
|
|
though the action was bad the intention possibly might be good.
|
|
Observe, 1. Judah's sin began in the eye (<scripRef passage="Ge 38:15" id="Gen.xxxix-p7.1" parsed="|Gen|38|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.38.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>): <i>He saw her.</i> Note, Those
|
|
have eyes, and hearts too, full of adultery (as it is <scripRef passage="2Pe 2:14" id="Gen.xxxix-p7.2" parsed="|2Pet|2|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.2.14">2 Pet. ii. 14</scripRef>), that catch at every
|
|
bait that presents itself to them and are as tinder to every spark.
|
|
We have need to make a covenant with our eyes, and to turn them
|
|
from beholding vanity, lest the eye infect the heart. 2. It added
|
|
to the scandal that the hire of a harlot (than which nothing is
|
|
more infamous) was demanded, offered, and accepted—<i>a kid from
|
|
the flock,</i> a goodly price at which her chastity and honour were
|
|
valued! Nay, had the consideration been thousands of rams, and ten
|
|
thousand rivers of oil, it had not been a valuable consideration.
|
|
The favour of God, the purity of the soul, the peace of conscience,
|
|
and the hope of heaven, are too precious to be exposed to sale at
|
|
any such rates; the Topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal them: what are
|
|
those profited that lose their souls to gain the world? 3. It
|
|
turned to the reproach of Judah that he left his jewels in pawn for
|
|
a kid. Note, Fleshly lusts are not only brutish, but sottish, and
|
|
ruining to men's secular interests. It is plain that whoredom, as
|
|
well as wine, and new wine, takes away the heart first, else it
|
|
would never take away the signet and the bracelets.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxix-p8">III. He lost his jewels by the bargain; he
|
|
sent the kid, according to this promise, to redeem his pawn, but
|
|
the supposed harlot could not be found. He sent it by his friend
|
|
(who was indeed his <i>back-friend,</i> because he was aiding and
|
|
abetting in his evil deeds) the Adullamite, who came back without
|
|
the pledge. It is a good account (if it be but true) of any place
|
|
which they here gave, <i>there is no harlot in this place;</i> for
|
|
such sinners are the scandals and plagues of any place. Judah sits
|
|
down content to lose his signet and his bracelets, and forbids his
|
|
friend to make any further enquiry after them, giving this reason,
|
|
<i>lest we be shamed,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 38:23" id="Gen.xxxix-p8.1" parsed="|Gen|38|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.38.23"><i>v.</i>
|
|
23</scripRef>. Either, 1. Lest his sin should come to be known
|
|
publicly, and be talked of. Fornication and uncleanness have ever
|
|
been looked upon as scandalous things and the reproach and shame of
|
|
those that are convicted of them. Nothing will make those blush
|
|
that are not ashamed of these. 2. Lest he should be laughed at as a
|
|
fool for trusting a strumpet with his signet and his bracelets. He
|
|
expresses no concern about the sin, to get that pardoned, only
|
|
about the shame, to prevent that. Note, There are many who are more
|
|
solicitous to preserve their reputation with men than to secure the
|
|
favour of God and a good conscience; <i>lest we be shamed</i> goes
|
|
further with them than <i>lest we be damned.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 38:24-30" id="Gen.xxxix-p8.2" parsed="|Gen|38|24|38|30" osisRef="Bible:Gen.38.24-Gen.38.30"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.38.24-Gen.38.30">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xxxix-p8.3">Birth of Phares and Zarah. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xxxix-p8.4">b. c.</span> 1714.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xxxix-p9">24 And it came to pass about three months after,
|
|
that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter in law hath
|
|
played the harlot; and also, behold, she <i>is</i> with child by
|
|
whoredom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt.
|
|
  25 When she <i>was</i> brought forth, she sent to her father
|
|
in law, saying, By the man, whose these <i>are, am</i> I with
|
|
child: and she said, Discern, I pray thee, whose <i>are</i> these,
|
|
the signet, and bracelets, and staff.   26 And Judah
|
|
acknowledged <i>them,</i> and said, She hath been more righteous
|
|
than I; because that I gave her not to Shelah my son. And he knew
|
|
her again no more.   27 And it came to pass in the time of her
|
|
travail, that, behold, twins <i>were</i> in her womb.   28 And
|
|
it came to pass, when she travailed, that <i>the one</i> put out
|
|
<i>his</i> hand: and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a
|
|
scarlet thread, saying, This came out first.   29 And it came
|
|
to pass, as he drew back his hand, that, behold, his brother came
|
|
out: and she said, How hast thou broken forth? <i>this</i> breach
|
|
<i>be</i> upon thee: therefore his name was called Pharez.  
|
|
30 And afterward came out his brother, that had the scarlet thread
|
|
upon his hand: and his name was called Zarah.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxix-p10">Here is, I. Judah's rigour against Tamar,
|
|
when he heard she was an adulteress. She was, in the eye of the
|
|
law, Shelah's wife, and therefore her being with child by another
|
|
was looked upon as an injury and reproach to Judah's family:
|
|
<i>Bring her forth therefore,</i> says Judah, the master of the
|
|
family, and <i>let her be burnt;</i> not burnt to death, but burnt
|
|
in the cheek or forehead, stigmatized for a harlot. This seems
|
|
probable, <scripRef passage="Ge 38:24" id="Gen.xxxix-p10.1" parsed="|Gen|38|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.38.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>.
|
|
|
|
<pb n="220" id="Gen.xxxix-Page_220"/>
|
|
|
|
Note, it is a common thing for men to be severe
|
|
against those very sins in others in which yet they allow
|
|
themselves; and so, in judging others, they condemn themselves,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ro 2:1,14:22" id="Gen.xxxix-p10.2" parsed="|Rom|2|1|0|0;|Rom|14|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.2.1 Bible:Rom.14.22">Rom. ii. 1; xiv. 22</scripRef>. If
|
|
he designed that she should be burnt to death, perhaps, under
|
|
pretence of zeal against the sin, he was contriving how to get rid
|
|
of his daughter-in-law, being loath to marry Shelah to her. Note,
|
|
It is a common thing, but a very bad thing, to cover malice against
|
|
men's persons with a show of zeal against their vices.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxix-p11">II. Judah's shame, when it was made to
|
|
appear that he was the adulterer. She produced <i>the ring and the
|
|
bracelets</i> in court, which justified the fathering of the child
|
|
upon Judah, <scripRef passage="Ge 38:25,26" id="Gen.xxxix-p11.1" parsed="|Gen|38|25|38|26" osisRef="Bible:Gen.38.25-Gen.38.26"><i>v.</i> 25,
|
|
26</scripRef>. Note, The wickedness that has been most secretly
|
|
committed, and most industriously concealed, yet sometimes is
|
|
strangely brought to light, to the shame and confusion of those who
|
|
have said, <i>No eye sees.</i> A bird of the air may carry the
|
|
voice; however, there is a destroying day coming, when all will be
|
|
laid open. Some of the Jewish writers observe that as Judah had
|
|
said to his father, <i>See, is this thy son's coat?</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 37:32" id="Gen.xxxix-p11.2" parsed="|Gen|37|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.32"><i>ch.</i> xxxvii. 32</scripRef>) so it was now
|
|
said to him, "See, are these thy signet and bracelets?" Judah,
|
|
being convicted by his own conscience, 1. Confesses his sin: <i>She
|
|
has been more righteous than I.</i> He owns that a perpetual mark
|
|
of infamy should be fastened rather upon him, who had been so much
|
|
accessory to it. Note, Those offenders ought to be treated with the
|
|
greatest tenderness to whom we have any way given occasion of
|
|
offending. If servants purloin, and their masters, by withholding
|
|
from them what is due, tempt them to it, they ought to forgive
|
|
them. 2. He never returned to it again: <i>He knew her again no
|
|
more.</i> Note, Those do not truly repent of their sins that do not
|
|
forsake them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xxxix-p12">III. The building up of Judah's family
|
|
hereby, notwithstanding, in the birth of Pharez and Zarah, from
|
|
whom descended the most considerable families of the illustrious
|
|
tribe of Judah. It should seem, the birth was hard to the mother,
|
|
by which she was corrected for her sin. The children also, like
|
|
Jacob and Esau, struggled for the birthright, and Pharez obtained
|
|
it, who is ever named first, and from him Christ descended. He had
|
|
his name from his breaking forth before his brother: <i>This breach
|
|
be upon thee,</i> which is applicable to those that sow discord,
|
|
and create distance, between brethren. The Jews, as Zarah, bade
|
|
fair for the birthright, and were marked with a scarlet thread, as
|
|
those that came out first; but the Gentiles, like Pharez, as a son
|
|
of violence, got the start of them, by that violence which the
|
|
kingdom of heaven suffers, and attained to the righteousness of
|
|
which the Jews came short. Yet, when the fulness of time is come,
|
|
all Israel shall be saved. Both these sons are named in the
|
|
genealogy of our Saviour (<scripRef passage="Mt 1:3" id="Gen.xxxix-p12.1" parsed="|Matt|1|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.1.3">Matt. i.
|
|
3</scripRef>), to perpetuate the story, as an instance of the
|
|
humiliation of our Lord Jesus. Some observe that the four eldest
|
|
sons of Jacob fell under very foul guilt, Reuben and Judah under
|
|
the guilt of incest, Simeon and Levi under that of murder; yet they
|
|
were patriarchs, and from Levi descended the priests, from Judah
|
|
the kings and Messiah. Thus they became examples of repentance, and
|
|
monuments of pardoning mercy.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXXIX" n="xl" progress="25.62%" prev="Gen.xxxix" next="Gen.xli" id="Gen.xl">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="220" id="Gen.xl-Page_220"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xl-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xl-p0.2">CHAP. XXXIX.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xl-p1">At this chapter we return to the story of Joseph.
|
|
We have him here, I. A servant, a slave in Potiphar's house
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 39:1" id="Gen.xl-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|39|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.39.1">ver. 1</scripRef>), and yet there
|
|
greatly honoured and favoured, 1. By the providence of God, which
|
|
made him, in effect, a master, <scripRef passage="Ge 39:2-6" id="Gen.xl-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|39|2|39|6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.39.2-Gen.39.6">ver.
|
|
2-6</scripRef>. 2. By the grace of God, which made him more than a
|
|
conqueror over a strong temptation to uncleanness, <scripRef passage="Ge 39:7-12" id="Gen.xl-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|39|7|39|12" osisRef="Bible:Gen.39.7-Gen.39.12">ver. 7-12</scripRef>. II. We have him here a
|
|
sufferer, falsely accused (<scripRef passage="Ge 39:13-18" id="Gen.xl-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|39|13|39|18" osisRef="Bible:Gen.39.13-Gen.39.18">ver.
|
|
13-18</scripRef>), imprisoned (<scripRef passage="Ge 39:19,20" id="Gen.xl-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|39|19|39|20" osisRef="Bible:Gen.39.19-Gen.39.20">ver.
|
|
19, 20</scripRef>), and yet his imprisonment made both honourable
|
|
and comfortable by the tokens of God's special presence with him,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 39:21-23" id="Gen.xl-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|39|21|39|23" osisRef="Bible:Gen.39.21-Gen.39.23">ver. 21-23</scripRef>. And herein
|
|
Joseph was a type of Christ, "who took upon him the form of a
|
|
servant," and yet then did that which made it evident that "God was
|
|
with him," who was tempted by Satan, but overcame the temptation,
|
|
who was falsely accused and bound, and yet had all things committed
|
|
to his hand.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 39" id="Gen.xl-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|39|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.39"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 39:1-6" id="Gen.xl-p1.8" parsed="|Gen|39|1|39|6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.39.1-Gen.39.6"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.39.1-Gen.39.6">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xl-p1.9">The History of Joseph. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xl-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1721.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xl-p2">1 And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and
|
|
Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian,
|
|
bought him of the hands of the Ishmeelites, which had brought him
|
|
down thither.   2 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xl-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the
|
|
house of his master the Egyptian.   3 And his master saw that
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xl-p2.2">Lord</span> <i>was</i> with him, and
|
|
that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xl-p2.3">Lord</span> made all that he did
|
|
to prosper in his hand.   4 And Joseph found grace in his
|
|
sight, and he served him: and he made him overseer over his house,
|
|
and all <i>that</i> he had he put into his hand.   5 And it
|
|
came to pass from the time <i>that</i> he had made him overseer in
|
|
his house, and over all that he had, that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xl-p2.4">Lord</span> blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's
|
|
sake; and the blessing of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xl-p2.5">Lord</span>
|
|
was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field.   6
|
|
And he left all that he had in Joseph's hand; and he knew not ought
|
|
he had, save the bread which he did eat. And Joseph was <i>a</i>
|
|
goodly <i>person,</i> and well favoured.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xl-p3">Here is, I. Joseph bought (<scripRef passage="Ge 39:1" id="Gen.xl-p3.1" parsed="|Gen|39|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.39.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>), and he that bought him,
|
|
whatever he gave for him, had a good bargain of him; it was better
|
|
than the merchandise of silver. The Jews have a proverb, "If the
|
|
world did but know the worth of good men, they would hedge them
|
|
about with pearls." He was sold to an officer of Pharaoh, with whom
|
|
he might get acquainted with public persons and public business,
|
|
and so be fitted for the preferment for which he was designed.
|
|
Note, 1. What
|
|
|
|
<pb n="221" id="Gen.xl-Page_221"/>
|
|
|
|
God intends men for he will be
|
|
sure, some way or other, to qualify them for. 2. Providence is to
|
|
be acknowledged in the disposal even of poor servants and in their
|
|
settlements, and therein may perhaps be working towards something
|
|
great and important.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xl-p4">II. Joseph blessed, wonderfully blessed,
|
|
even in the house of his servitude.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xl-p5">1. God prospered him, <scripRef passage="Ge 39:2,3" id="Gen.xl-p5.1" parsed="|Gen|39|2|39|3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.39.2-Gen.39.3"><i>v.</i> 2, 3</scripRef>. Perhaps the affairs of
|
|
Potiphar's family had remarkably gone backward before; but, upon
|
|
Joseph's coming into it, a discernible turn was given to them, and
|
|
the face and posture of them altered on a sudden. Though, at first,
|
|
we may suppose that his hand was put to the meanest services, even
|
|
in those appeared his ingenuity and industry; a particular blessing
|
|
of Heaven attended him, which, as he rose in his employment, became
|
|
more and more discernible. Note, (1.) Those that have wisdom and
|
|
grace have that which cannot be taken away from them, whatever else
|
|
they are robbed of. Joseph's brethren had stripped him of his coat
|
|
of many colours, but they could not strip him of his virtue and
|
|
prudence. (2.) Those that can separate us from all our friends, yet
|
|
cannot deprive us of the gracious presence of our God. When Joseph
|
|
had none of all his relations with him, he had his God with him,
|
|
even in the house of the Egyptian. Joseph was separated from his
|
|
brethren, but not from his God; banished from his father's house,
|
|
but <i>the Lord was with him,</i> and this comforted him. (3.) It
|
|
is God's presence with us that makes all we do prosperous. Those
|
|
that would prosper must therefore make God their friend; and those
|
|
that do prosper must therefore give God the praise.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xl-p6">2. His master preferred him, by degrees
|
|
made him steward of his household, <scripRef passage="Ge 39:4" id="Gen.xl-p6.1" parsed="|Gen|39|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.39.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. Note, (1.) Industry and honesty
|
|
are the surest and safest way both of rising and thriving: <i>Seest
|
|
thou a man</i> prudent, and faithful, and <i>diligent in his
|
|
business? He shall stand before kings</i> at length, and not always
|
|
<i>before mean men.</i> (2.) It is the wisdom of those that are in
|
|
any sort of authority to countenance and employ those with whom it
|
|
appears that the presence of God is, <scripRef passage="Ps 101:6" id="Gen.xl-p6.2" parsed="|Ps|101|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.101.6">Ps. ci. 6</scripRef>. Potiphar knew what he did when he
|
|
put all into the hands of Joseph; for he knew it would prosper
|
|
better there than in his own hand. (3.) He that is faithful in a
|
|
few things stand fair for being made ruler over many things,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mt 25:21" id="Gen.xl-p6.3" parsed="|Matt|25|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.25.21">Matt. xxv. 21</scripRef>. Christ goes
|
|
by this rule with his servants. (4.) It is a great ease to a master
|
|
to have those employed under him that are trusty. Potiphar was so
|
|
well satisfied with Joseph's conduct that <i>he knew not aught he
|
|
had, save the bread which he did eat,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 39:6" id="Gen.xl-p6.4" parsed="|Gen|39|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.39.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. The servant had all the care and
|
|
trouble of the estate; the master had only the enjoyment of it: an
|
|
example not to be imitated by any master, unless he could be sure
|
|
that he had one in all respects like Joseph for a servant.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xl-p7">3. God favoured his master for his sake
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 39:5" id="Gen.xl-p7.1" parsed="|Gen|39|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.39.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>): <i>He blessed
|
|
the Egyptian's house,</i> though he was an Egyptian, a stranger to
|
|
the true God, <i>for Joseph's sake;</i> and he himself, like Laban,
|
|
soon learned it by experience, <scripRef passage="Ge 30:27" id="Gen.xl-p7.2" parsed="|Gen|30|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.27"><i>ch.</i> xxx. 27</scripRef>. Note, (1.) Good men are
|
|
the blessings of the places where they live; even good servants may
|
|
be so, though mean, and lightly esteemed. (2.) The prosperity of
|
|
the wicked is, one way or other, for the sake of the godly. Here
|
|
was a wicked family blessed for the sake of one good servant in
|
|
it.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 39:7-12" id="Gen.xl-p7.3" parsed="|Gen|39|7|39|12" osisRef="Bible:Gen.39.7-Gen.39.12"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.39.7-Gen.39.12">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xl-p8">7 And it came to pass after these things, that
|
|
his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with
|
|
me.   8 But he refused, and said unto his master's wife,
|
|
Behold, my master wotteth not what <i>is</i> with me in the house,
|
|
and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand;   9
|
|
<i>There is</i> none greater in this house than I; neither hath he
|
|
kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou <i>art</i> his
|
|
wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?
|
|
  10 And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day,
|
|
that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, <i>or</i> to be with
|
|
her.   11 And it came to pass about this time, that
|
|
<i>Joseph</i> went into the house to do his business; and <i>there
|
|
was</i> none of the men of the house there within.   12 And
|
|
she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his
|
|
garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xl-p9">Here is, I. A most shameful instance of
|
|
impudence and immodesty in Joseph's mistress, the shame and scandal
|
|
of her sex, perfectly lost to all virtue and honour, and not to be
|
|
mentioned, nor thought of, without the utmost indignation. It was
|
|
well that she was an Egyptian; for we must have shared in the
|
|
confusion if such folly had been found in Israel. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xl-p10">I. Her sin began in the eye: She <i>cast
|
|
her eyes upon Joseph</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 39:7" id="Gen.xl-p10.1" parsed="|Gen|39|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.39.7"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7</scripRef>), who <i>was a goodly person, and well-favoured,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 39:6" id="Gen.xl-p10.2" parsed="|Gen|39|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.39.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. Note, (1.)
|
|
Remarkable beauty, either of men or women, often proves a dangerous
|
|
snare both to themselves and others, which forbids pride in it and
|
|
commands constant watchfulness against the temptation that attends
|
|
it; favour is deceitful—deceiving. (2.) We have great need to make
|
|
a covenant with our eyes (<scripRef passage="Job 31:1" id="Gen.xl-p10.3" parsed="|Job|31|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.31.1">Job xxxi.
|
|
1</scripRef>), lest the eye infect the heart. Joseph's mistress had
|
|
a husband that ought to have been to her for a covering of the eyes
|
|
from all others, <scripRef passage="Ge 20:16" id="Gen.xl-p10.4" parsed="|Gen|20|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.16"><i>ch.</i> xx.
|
|
16</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xl-p11">2. She was daring and shameless in the
|
|
|
|
<pb n="222" id="Gen.xl-Page_222"/>
|
|
|
|
sin. With an impudent face, and a harlot's
|
|
forehead, she said, <i>Lie with me,</i> having already, by her
|
|
wanton looks and unchaste desires, committed adultery with him in
|
|
her heart. Note, Where the unclean spirit gets possession and
|
|
dominion in a soul, it is as with the possessed of the devils
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Lu 7:27,29" id="Gen.xl-p11.1" parsed="|Luke|7|27|0|0;|Luke|7|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.7.27 Bible:Luke.7.29">Luke viii. 27, 29</scripRef>), the
|
|
clothes of modesty are thrown off and the bands and fetters of
|
|
shame are broken in pieces. When lust has got head, it will stick
|
|
at nothing, blush at nothing; decency, and reputation, and
|
|
conscience, are all sacrificed to that Baal-peor. 3. She was urgent
|
|
and violent in the temptation. Often she had been denied with the
|
|
strongest reasons, and yet as often renewed her vile solicitations.
|
|
She <i>spoke to him day by day,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 39:10" id="Gen.xl-p11.2" parsed="|Gen|39|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.39.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. Now this was, (1.) Great
|
|
wickedness in her, and showed her heart fully set to do evil. (2.)
|
|
A great temptation to Joseph. The hand of Satan, no doubt, was in
|
|
it, who, when he found he could not overcome him with troubles and
|
|
the frowns of the world (for in them he still held fast his
|
|
integrity), assaulted him with soft and charming pleasures, which
|
|
have ruined more than the former, and have slain their
|
|
ten-thousands.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xl-p12">II. Here is a most illustrious instance of
|
|
virtue and resolved chastity in Joseph, who, by the grace of God,
|
|
was enabled to resist and overcome this temptation; and, all things
|
|
considered, his escape was, for aught I know, as great an instance
|
|
of the divine power as the deliverance of the three children out of
|
|
the fiery furnace.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xl-p13">1. The temptation he was assaulted with was
|
|
very strong. Never was a more violent onset made upon the fort of
|
|
chastity than this recorded here. (1.) The sin he was tempted to
|
|
was uncleanness, which considering his youth, his beauty, his
|
|
single state, and his plentiful living at the table of a ruler, was
|
|
a sin which, one would think, might most easily beset him and
|
|
betray him. (2.) The tempter was his mistress, a person of quality,
|
|
whom it was his place to obey and his interest to oblige, whose
|
|
favour would contribute more than any thing to his preferment, and
|
|
by whose means he might arrive at the highest honours of the court.
|
|
On the other hand, it was at his utmost peril if he slighted her,
|
|
and made her his enemy. (3.) Opportunity makes a thief, makes an
|
|
adulterer, and that favoured the temptation. The tempter was in the
|
|
house with him; his business led him to be, without any suspicion,
|
|
where she was; none of the family were within (<scripRef passage="Ge 39:11" id="Gen.xl-p13.1" parsed="|Gen|39|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.39.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>); there appeared no danger of
|
|
its being ever discovered, or, if it should be suspected, his
|
|
mistress would protect him. (4.) To all this was added importunity,
|
|
frequent constant importunity, to such a degree that, at last, she
|
|
laid violent hands on him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xl-p14">2. His resistance of the temptation was
|
|
very brave, and the victory truly honourable. The almighty grace of
|
|
God enabled him to overcome this assault of the enemy,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xl-p15">(1.) By strength of reason; and wherever
|
|
right reason may be heard, religion no doubt will carry the day. He
|
|
argues from the respect he owed both to God and his master,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 39:8,9" id="Gen.xl-p15.1" parsed="|Gen|39|8|39|9" osisRef="Bible:Gen.39.8-Gen.39.9"><i>v.</i> 8, 9</scripRef>. [1.] He
|
|
would not wrong his master, nor do such an irreparable injury to
|
|
his honour. He considers, and urges, how kind his master had been
|
|
to him, what a confidence he had reposed in him, in how many
|
|
instances he had befriended him, for which he abhorred the thought
|
|
of making such an ungrateful return. Note, We are bound in honour,
|
|
as well as justice and gratitude, not in any thing to injure those
|
|
that have a good opinion of us and place a trust in us, how
|
|
secretly soever it may be done. See how he argues (<scripRef passage="Ge 39:9" id="Gen.xl-p15.2" parsed="|Gen|39|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.39.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): "<i>There is none
|
|
greater in this house than I,</i> therefore I will not do it."
|
|
Note, Those that are great, instead of being proud of their
|
|
greatness, should use it as an argument against sin. "Is none
|
|
greater than I? Then I will scorn to do a wicked thing; it is below
|
|
me to serve a base lust; I will not disparage myself so much." [2.]
|
|
He would not offend his God. This is the chief argument with which
|
|
he strengthens his aversion to the sin. <i>How can I do this?</i>
|
|
not only, How shall I? or, How dare I? but, <i>How can I? Id
|
|
possumus, quod jure possumus—We can do that which we can do
|
|
lawfully.</i> It is good to shut out sin with the strongest bar,
|
|
even that of an impossibility. He that is born of God cannot sin,
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Jo 3:9" id="Gen.xl-p15.3" parsed="|1John|3|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.3.9">1 John iii. 9</scripRef>. Three
|
|
arguments Joseph urges upon himself. <i>First,</i> He considers who
|
|
he was that was tempted. "<i>I;</i> others may perhaps take their
|
|
liberty, but <i>I</i> cannot. <i>I</i> that am an Israelite in
|
|
covenant with God, that profess religion, and relation to him: it
|
|
is next to impossible for me to do so." <i>Secondly,</i> What the
|
|
sin was to which he was tempted: <i>This great wickedness.</i>
|
|
Others might look upon it as a small matter, a peccadillo, a trick
|
|
of youth; but Joseph had another idea of it. In general, when at
|
|
any time we are tempted to sin, we must consider the great
|
|
wickedness there is in it, let sin appear sin (<scripRef passage="Ro 7:13" id="Gen.xl-p15.4" parsed="|Rom|7|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.7.13">Rom. vii. 13</scripRef>), call it by its own name, and
|
|
never go about to lessen it. Particularly let the sin of
|
|
uncleanness always be looked upon as great wickedness, as an
|
|
exceedingly sinful sin, that wars against the soul as much as any
|
|
other. <i>Thirdly,</i> Against whom he was tempted to
|
|
sin—<i>against God;</i> not only, "How shall I do it, and sin
|
|
against my master, my mistress, myself, my own body and soul; but
|
|
against God?" Note, Gracious souls look upon this as the worst
|
|
thing in sin that it is against God, against his nature and his
|
|
dominion, against his love and his design. Those that love God do
|
|
for this reason hate sin.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xl-p16">(2.) By stedfastness of resolution. The
|
|
grace of God enabled him to overcome the temptation by avoiding the
|
|
tempter. [1.] He <i>hearkened not to her,</i> so much as to be with
|
|
her, <scripRef passage="Ge 39:10" id="Gen.xl-p16.1" parsed="|Gen|39|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.39.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. Note,
|
|
Those that would be
|
|
|
|
<pb n="223" id="Gen.xl-Page_223"/>
|
|
|
|
kept from harm must keep
|
|
themselves out of harm's way. <i>Avoid it, pass not by it.</i> Nay,
|
|
[2.] When she laid hold of him, he <i>left his garment in her
|
|
hand,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 39:12" id="Gen.xl-p16.2" parsed="|Gen|39|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.39.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. He
|
|
would not stay so much as to parley with the temptation, but flew
|
|
out from it with the utmost abhorrence; he left his garment, as one
|
|
escaping for his life. Note, It is better to lose a good coat than
|
|
a good conscience.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 39:13-18" id="Gen.xl-p16.3" parsed="|Gen|39|13|39|18" osisRef="Bible:Gen.39.13-Gen.39.18"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.39.13-Gen.39.18">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xl-p17">13 And it came to pass, when she saw that he had
|
|
left his garment in her hand, and was fled forth,   14 That
|
|
she called unto the men of her house, and spake unto them, saying,
|
|
See, he hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us; he came in
|
|
unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice:   15
|
|
And it came to pass, when he heard that I lifted up my voice and
|
|
cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled, and got him out.
|
|
  16 And she laid up his garment by her, until his lord came
|
|
home.   17 And she spake unto him according to these words,
|
|
saying, The Hebrew servant, which thou hast brought unto us, came
|
|
in unto me to mock me:   18 And it came to pass, as I lifted
|
|
up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled
|
|
out.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xl-p18">Joseph's mistress, having tried in vain to
|
|
make him a criminal, now endeavours to represent him as one; so to
|
|
be revenged on him for his virtue. Now was her love turned into the
|
|
utmost rage and malice, and she pretends she cannot endure the
|
|
sight of him whom awhile ago she could not endure out of her sight.
|
|
Chaste and holy love will continue, though slighted; but sinful
|
|
love, like Amnon's to Tamar, is easily changed into sinful hatred.
|
|
1. She accused him to his fellow servants (<scripRef passage="Ge 39:13-15" id="Gen.xl-p18.1" parsed="|Gen|39|13|39|15" osisRef="Bible:Gen.39.13-Gen.39.15"><i>v.</i> 13-15</scripRef>) and gave him a bad name
|
|
among them. Probably they envied him his interest in their master's
|
|
favour, and his authority in the house; and perhaps found
|
|
themselves aggrieved sometimes by his fidelity, which prevented
|
|
their purloining; and therefore they were glad to hear any thing
|
|
that might tend to his disgrace, and, if there was room for it,
|
|
incensed their mistress yet more against him. Observe, When she
|
|
speaks of her husband, she does not call him her husband, or her
|
|
lord, but only <i>he;</i> for she had forgotten the covenant of her
|
|
God, that was between them. Thus the adulteress (<scripRef passage="Pr 7:19" id="Gen.xl-p18.2" parsed="|Prov|7|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.7.19">Prov. vii. 19</scripRef>) calls her husband <i>the good
|
|
man.</i> Note, Innocence itself cannot secure a man's reputation.
|
|
Not every one that keeps a good conscience can keep a good name. 2.
|
|
She accused him to his master, who had power in his hand to punish
|
|
him, which his fellow servants had not, <scripRef passage="Ge 39:17,18" id="Gen.xl-p18.3" parsed="|Gen|39|17|39|18" osisRef="Bible:Gen.39.17-Gen.39.18"><i>v.</i> 17, 18</scripRef>. Observe, (1.) What an
|
|
improbable story she tells, producing his garment as an evidence
|
|
that he had offered violence to her, which was a plain indication
|
|
that she had offered violence to him. Note, Those that have broken
|
|
the bonds of modesty will never be held by the bonds of truth. No
|
|
marvel that she who had impudence enough to say, <i>Lie with
|
|
me,</i> had front enough to say, "He would have lien with me." Had
|
|
the lie been told to conceal her own crime it would have been bad
|
|
enough, yet, in some degree, excusable; but it was told to be
|
|
revenged upon his virtue, a most malicious lie. And yet, (2.) She
|
|
manages it so as to incense her husband against him, reflecting
|
|
upon him for bringing this Hebrew servant among them, perhaps at
|
|
first against her mind, because he was a Hebrew. Note, It is no new
|
|
thing for the best of men to be falsely accused of the worst of
|
|
crimes by those who themselves are the worst of criminals. As this
|
|
matter was represented, one would have thought chaste Joseph a very
|
|
bad man and his wanton mistress a virtuous woman; it is well that
|
|
there is a day of discovery coming, in which all shall appear in
|
|
their true characters. This was not the first time that Joseph's
|
|
coat was made use of as a false witness concerning him; his father
|
|
had been deceived by it before, now his master.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 39:19-23" id="Gen.xl-p18.4" parsed="|Gen|39|19|39|23" osisRef="Bible:Gen.39.19-Gen.39.23"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.39.19-Gen.39.23">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xl-p19">19 And it came to pass, when his master heard
|
|
the words of his wife, which she spake unto him, saying, After this
|
|
manner did thy servant to me; that his wrath was kindled.   20
|
|
And Joseph's master took him, and put him into the prison, a place
|
|
where the king's prisoners <i>were</i> bound: and he was there in
|
|
the prison.   21 But the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xl-p19.1">Lord</span>
|
|
was with Joseph, and showed him mercy, and gave him favour in the
|
|
sight of the keeper of the prison.   22 And the keeper of the
|
|
prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that
|
|
<i>were</i> in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was
|
|
the doer <i>of it.</i>   23 The keeper of the prison looked
|
|
not to any thing <i>that was</i> under his hand; because the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xl-p19.2">Lord</span> was with him, and <i>that</i> which
|
|
he did, the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xl-p19.3">Lord</span> made <i>it</i> to
|
|
prosper.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xl-p20">Here is, 1. Joseph wronged by his master.
|
|
He believed the accusation, and either Joseph durst not make his
|
|
defence by telling the truth, as it would reflect too much upon his
|
|
mistress, or his master would not hear it, or would not believe it,
|
|
and there is no remedy, he is condemned to perpetual imprisonment,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 39:19,20" id="Gen.xl-p20.1" parsed="|Gen|39|19|39|20" osisRef="Bible:Gen.39.19-Gen.39.20"><i>v.</i> 19, 20</scripRef>. God
|
|
restrained his wrath, else he had put him to death; and that wrath
|
|
which
|
|
|
|
<pb n="224" id="Gen.xl-Page_224"/>
|
|
|
|
imprisoned him God made to turn to his
|
|
praise, in order to which Providence so disposed that he should be
|
|
shut up among the king's prisoners, the state-prisoners. Potiphar,
|
|
it is likely, chose that prison because it was the worst; for there
|
|
the iron entered into the soul (<scripRef passage="Ps 105:18" id="Gen.xl-p20.2" parsed="|Ps|105|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.105.18">Ps.
|
|
cv. 18</scripRef>), but God designed to pave the way to his
|
|
enlargement. He was committed to the king's prison, that he might
|
|
thence be preferred to the king's person. Note, Many an action of
|
|
false imprisonment will, in the great day, be found to lie against
|
|
the enemies and persecutors of God's people. Our Lord Jesus, like
|
|
Joseph here, was bound, and numbered with the transgressors. 2.
|
|
Joseph owned and righted by his God, who is, and will be, the just
|
|
and powerful patron of oppressed innocence. Joseph was at a
|
|
distance from all his friends and relations, had not them with him
|
|
to comfort him, or to minister to him, or to mediate for him; but
|
|
<i>the Lord was with Joseph, and showed him mercy,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 39:21" id="Gen.xl-p20.3" parsed="|Gen|39|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.39.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. Note, (1.) God despises
|
|
not his prisoners, <scripRef passage="Ps 69:33" id="Gen.xl-p20.4" parsed="|Ps|69|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.33">Ps. lxix.
|
|
33</scripRef>. No gates nor bars can shut out his gracious presence
|
|
from his people; for he has promised that he will never leave them.
|
|
(2.) Those that have a good conscience in a prison have a good God
|
|
there. Integrity and uprightness qualify us for the divine favour,
|
|
wherever we are. Joseph is not long a prisoner before he becomes a
|
|
little ruler even in the prison, which is to be attributed, under
|
|
God, [1.] To the keeper's favour. God <i>gave him favour in the
|
|
sight of the keeper of the prison.</i> Note, God can raise up
|
|
friends for his people even where they little expect to find them,
|
|
and can <i>make them to be pitied</i> even of those that carry them
|
|
captive, <scripRef passage="Ps 106:46" id="Gen.xl-p20.5" parsed="|Ps|106|46|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.46">Ps. cvi. 46</scripRef>. [2.]
|
|
To Joseph's fitness for business. The keeper saw that God was with
|
|
him, and that every thing prospered under his hand; and therefore
|
|
entrusted him with the management of the affairs of the prison,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 39:22,23" id="Gen.xl-p20.6" parsed="|Gen|39|22|39|23" osisRef="Bible:Gen.39.22-Gen.39.23"><i>v.</i> 22, 23</scripRef>. Note,
|
|
Wisdom and virtue will shine in the narrowest spheres. A good man
|
|
will do good wherever he is, and will be a blessing even in bonds
|
|
and banishment; for the Spirit of the Lord is not bound nor
|
|
banished, witness St. Paul, <scripRef passage="Php 1:12,13" id="Gen.xl-p20.7" parsed="|Phil|1|12|1|13" osisRef="Bible:Phil.1.12-Phil.1.13">Phil.
|
|
i. 12, 13</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XL" n="xli" progress="26.05%" prev="Gen.xl" next="Gen.xlii" id="Gen.xli">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="224" id="Gen.xli-Page_224"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xli-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xli-p0.2">CHAP. XL.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xli-p1">In this chapter things are working, though slowly,
|
|
towards Joseph's advancement. I. Two of Pharaoh's servants are
|
|
committed to prison, and there to Joseph's care, and so become
|
|
witnesses of his extraordinary conduct, <scripRef passage="Ge 40:1-4" id="Gen.xli-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|40|1|40|4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.40.1-Gen.40.4">ver. 1-4</scripRef>. II. They dreamed each of them a
|
|
dream, which Joseph interpreted (<scripRef passage="Ge 40:5-19" id="Gen.xli-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|40|5|40|19" osisRef="Bible:Gen.40.5-Gen.40.19">ver. 5-19</scripRef>), and the event verified the
|
|
interpretation (<scripRef passage="Ge 40:20-22" id="Gen.xli-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|40|20|40|22" osisRef="Bible:Gen.40.20-Gen.40.22">ver.
|
|
20-22</scripRef>), and so they became witnesses of his
|
|
extraordinary skill. III. Joseph recommends his case to one of
|
|
them, whose preferment he foresaw (<scripRef passage="Ge 40:14,15" id="Gen.xli-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|40|14|40|15" osisRef="Bible:Gen.40.14-Gen.40.15">ver. 14, 15</scripRef>), but in vain, <scripRef passage="Ge 40:23" id="Gen.xli-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|40|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.40.23">ver. 23</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 40" id="Gen.xli-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|40|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.40"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 40:1-4" id="Gen.xli-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|40|1|40|4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.40.1-Gen.40.4"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.40.1-Gen.40.4">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xli-p1.8">The History of Joseph. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xli-p1.9">b. c.</span> 1717.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xli-p2">1 And it came to pass after these things,
|
|
<i>that</i> the butler of the king of Egypt and <i>his</i> baker
|
|
had offended their lord the king of Egypt.   2 And Pharaoh was
|
|
wroth against two <i>of</i> his officers, against the chief of the
|
|
butlers, and against the chief of the bakers.   3 And he put
|
|
them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard, into the
|
|
prison, the place where Joseph <i>was</i> bound.   4 And the
|
|
captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them:
|
|
and they continued a season in ward.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xli-p3">We should not have had this story of
|
|
Pharaoh's butler and baker recorded in scripture if it had not been
|
|
serviceable to Joseph's preferment. The world stands for the sake
|
|
of the church, and is governed for its good. Observe, 1. Two of the
|
|
great officers of Pharaoh's court, having offended the king, are
|
|
committed to prison. Note, High places are slippery places; nothing
|
|
more uncertain than the favour of princes. Those that make God's
|
|
favour their happiness, and his service their business, will find
|
|
him a better Master than Pharaoh was, and not so extreme to mark
|
|
what they do amiss. Many conjectures there are concerning the
|
|
offence of these servants of Pharaoh; some make it no less than an
|
|
attempt to take away his life, others no more than the casual
|
|
lighting of a fly into his cup and a little sand into his bread.
|
|
Whatever it was, Providence by this means brought them into the
|
|
prison where Joseph was. 2. The <i>captain of the guard</i>
|
|
himself, who was Potiphar, charged Joseph with them (<scripRef passage="Ge 40:4" id="Gen.xli-p3.1" parsed="|Gen|40|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.40.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>), which intimates that he
|
|
began now to be reconciled to him, and perhaps to be convinced of
|
|
his innocence, though he durst not release him for fear of
|
|
disobliging his wife. John Baptist must lose his head, to please
|
|
Herodias.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 40:5-19" id="Gen.xli-p3.2" parsed="|Gen|40|5|40|19" osisRef="Bible:Gen.40.5-Gen.40.19"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.40.5-Gen.40.19">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xli-p4">5 And they dreamed a dream both of them, each
|
|
man his dream in one night, each man according to the
|
|
interpretation of his dream, the butler and the baker of the king
|
|
of Egypt, which <i>were</i> bound in the prison.   6 And
|
|
Joseph came in unto them in the morning, and looked upon them, and,
|
|
behold, they <i>were</i> sad.   7 And he asked Pharaoh's
|
|
officers that <i>were</i> with him in the ward of his lord's house,
|
|
saying, Wherefore look ye <i>so</i> sadly to day?   8 And they
|
|
said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and <i>there is</i> no
|
|
interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, <i>Do</i> not
|
|
interpretations <i>belong</i> to God? tell me <i>them,</i> I pray
|
|
you.   9 And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and
|
|
said to him, In my dream, behold, a vine <i>was</i> before me;
|
|
  10 And in the vine <i>were</i> three branches: and it
|
|
<i>was</i> as though it budded, <i>and</i> her blossoms shot forth;
|
|
and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes:   11 And
|
|
Pharaoh's cup <i>was</i> in my hand: and I took the grapes, and
|
|
|
|
<pb n="225" id="Gen.xli-Page_225"/>
|
|
|
|
pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the
|
|
cup into Pharaoh's hand.   12 And Joseph said unto him, This
|
|
<i>is</i> the interpretation of it: The three branches <i>are</i>
|
|
three days:   13 Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up
|
|
thine head, and restore thee unto thy place: and thou shalt deliver
|
|
Pharaoh's cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast
|
|
his butler.   14 But think on me when it shall be well with
|
|
thee, and show kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of
|
|
me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house:   15 For
|
|
indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews: and here
|
|
also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.
|
|
  16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was
|
|
good, he said unto Joseph, I also <i>was</i> in my dream, and,
|
|
behold, <i>I had</i> three white baskets on my head:   17 And
|
|
in the uppermost basket <i>there was</i> of all manner of bakemeats
|
|
for Pharaoh; and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my
|
|
head.   18 And Joseph answered and said, This <i>is</i> the
|
|
interpretation thereof: The three baskets <i>are</i> three days:
|
|
  19 Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from
|
|
off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat
|
|
thy flesh from off thee.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xli-p5">Observe, I. The special providence of God,
|
|
which filled the heads of these two prisoners with unusual dreams,
|
|
such as made extraordinary impressions upon them, and carried with
|
|
them evidences of a divine origin, both in one night. Note, God has
|
|
immediate access to the spirits of men, which he can make
|
|
serviceable to his own purposes whenever he pleases, quite beyond
|
|
the intention of those concerned. To him all hearts are open, and
|
|
anciently he spoke not only to his own people, but to others, in
|
|
dreams, <scripRef passage="Job 33:15" id="Gen.xli-p5.1" parsed="|Job|33|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.33.15">Job xxxiii. 15</scripRef>.
|
|
Things to come were thus foretold, but very obscurely.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xli-p6">II. The impression which was made upon
|
|
these prisoners by their dreams (<scripRef passage="Ge 40:6" id="Gen.xli-p6.1" parsed="|Gen|40|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.40.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>): <i>They were sad.</i> It was not
|
|
the prison that made them sad (they were pretty well used to that,
|
|
and perhaps lived jovially there), but the dream. Note, God has
|
|
more ways than one to sadden the spirits of those that are to be
|
|
made sad. Those sinners that are hardy enough under outward
|
|
troubles, and will not yield to them, yet God can find out a way to
|
|
punish; he can take off their wheels, by wounding their spirits,
|
|
and laying loads upon them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xli-p7">III. Joseph's great tenderness and
|
|
compassion towards them. He enquired with concern, <i>Wherefore
|
|
look you so sadly to-day?</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 40:7" id="Gen.xli-p7.1" parsed="|Gen|40|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.40.7"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7</scripRef>. Joseph was their keeper, and in that office he was
|
|
mild. Note, It becomes us to take cognizance of the sorrows even of
|
|
those that are under our check. Joseph was their companion in
|
|
tribulation, he was now a prisoner with them, and had been a
|
|
dreamer too. Note, Communion in sufferings helps to work compassion
|
|
towards those that do suffer. Let us learn hence, 1. To concern
|
|
ourselves in the sorrows and troubles of others, and to enquire
|
|
into the reason of the sadness of our brethren's countenances; we
|
|
should be often considering the tears of the oppressed, <scripRef passage="Ec 4:1" id="Gen.xli-p7.2" parsed="|Eccl|4|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.4.1">Eccl. iv. 1</scripRef>. It is some relief to those
|
|
that are in trouble to be taken notice of. 2. To enquire into the
|
|
causes of our own sorrow, "Wherefore do I look so sadly? Is there a
|
|
reason? Is it a good reason? Is there not a reason for comfort
|
|
sufficient to balance it, whatever it is? <i>Why art thou cast
|
|
down, O my soul?</i>"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xli-p8">IV. The dreams themselves, and the
|
|
interpretation of them. That which troubled these prisoners was
|
|
that being confined they could not have recourse to the diviners of
|
|
Egypt who pretended to interpret dreams: <i>There is no
|
|
interpreter</i> here in the prison, <scripRef passage="Ge 40:8" id="Gen.xli-p8.1" parsed="|Gen|40|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.40.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. Note, There are interpreters
|
|
which those that are in prison and sorrow should wish to have with
|
|
them, to instruct them in the meaning and design of Providence
|
|
(Elihu alludes to such, when he says, If <i>there be an
|
|
interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto man his
|
|
uprightness,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 33:23,24" id="Gen.xli-p8.2" parsed="|Job|33|23|33|24" osisRef="Bible:Job.33.23-Job.33.24">Job xxxiii. 23,
|
|
24</scripRef>), interpreters to guide their consciences, not to
|
|
satisfy their curiosity. Joseph hereupon directed them which way to
|
|
look: <i>Do not interpretations belong to God?</i> He means the God
|
|
whom he worshipped, to the knowledge of whom he endeavours hereby
|
|
to lead them. Note, It is God's prerogative to foretel things to
|
|
come, <scripRef passage="Isa 46:10" id="Gen.xli-p8.3" parsed="|Isa|46|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.46.10">Isa. xlvi. 10</scripRef>. He
|
|
must therefore have the praise of all the gifts of foresight which
|
|
men have, ordinary or extraordinary. Joseph premises a caveat
|
|
against his own praise, and is careful to transmit the glory to
|
|
God, as Daniel, <scripRef passage="Da 2:30" id="Gen.xli-p8.4" parsed="|Dan|2|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.30"><i>ch.</i> ii.
|
|
30</scripRef>. Joseph suggests, "If interpretations belong to God,
|
|
he is a free agent, and may communicate the power to whom he
|
|
pleases, and therefore tell me your dreams." Now, 1. The chief
|
|
butler's dream was a happy presage of his enlargement, and
|
|
re-advancement, within three days; and so Joseph explained it to
|
|
him, <scripRef passage="Ge 40:12,13" id="Gen.xli-p8.5" parsed="|Gen|40|12|40|13" osisRef="Bible:Gen.40.12-Gen.40.13"><i>v.</i> 12, 13</scripRef>.
|
|
Probably it had been usual with him to press the full-ripe grapes
|
|
immediately into Pharaoh's cup, the simplicity of that age not
|
|
being acquainted with the modern arts of making the wine fine.
|
|
Observe, Joseph foretold the chief butler's deliverance, but he did
|
|
not foresee his own. He had long before dreamt of his own honour,
|
|
and the obeisance which his brethren should do to him, with the
|
|
remembrance of which
|
|
|
|
<pb n="226" id="Gen.xli-Page_226"/>
|
|
|
|
he must now support
|
|
himself, without any new or fresh discoveries. The visions that are
|
|
for the comfort of God's saints are for a great while to come, and
|
|
relate to things that are very far off, while the foresights of
|
|
others, like this recorded there, look but three days before them.
|
|
2. The chief baker's dream portended his ignominious death,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 40:18,19" id="Gen.xli-p8.6" parsed="|Gen|40|18|40|19" osisRef="Bible:Gen.40.18-Gen.40.19"><i>v.</i> 18, 19</scripRef>. The
|
|
happy interpretation of the other's dream encouraged him to relate
|
|
his. Thus hypocrites, when they hear good things promised to good
|
|
Christians, would put in for a share, though they have no part nor
|
|
lot in the matter. It was not Joseph's fault that he brought him no
|
|
better tidings. Ministers are but interpreters, they cannot make
|
|
the thing otherwise than it is; if therefore they deal faithfully,
|
|
and their message prove unpleasing, it is not their fault. Bad
|
|
dreams cannot expect a good interpretation.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xli-p9">V. The improvement Joseph made of this
|
|
opportunity to get a friend at court, <scripRef passage="Ge 40:14,15" id="Gen.xli-p9.1" parsed="|Gen|40|14|40|15" osisRef="Bible:Gen.40.14-Gen.40.15"><i>v.</i> 14, 15</scripRef>. He modestly bespoke the
|
|
favour of the chief butler, whose preferment he foretold: <i>But
|
|
think of me when it shall be well with thee.</i> Though the respect
|
|
paid to Joseph made the prison as easy to him as a prison could be,
|
|
yet none can blame him for being desirous of liberty. See here, 1.
|
|
What a modest representation he makes of his own case, <scripRef passage="Ge 40:15" id="Gen.xli-p9.2" parsed="|Gen|40|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.40.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. He does not reflect
|
|
upon his brethren that sold him; he only says, <i>I was stolen out
|
|
of the land of the Hebrews,</i> that is, unjustly sent thence, no
|
|
matter where the fault was. Nor does he reflect on the wrong done
|
|
him in this imprisonment by his mistress that was his prosecutrix,
|
|
and his master that was his judge; but mildly avers his own
|
|
innocence: <i>Here have I done nothing that they should put me into
|
|
the dungeon.</i> Note, When we are called to vindicate ourselves we
|
|
should carefully avoid, as much as may be, speaking ill of others.
|
|
Let us be content to prove ourselves innocent, and not be fond of
|
|
upbraiding others with their guilt. 2. What a modest request he
|
|
makes to the chief butler: "Only, <i>think of me.</i> Pray do me a
|
|
kindness, if it lie in your way." And his particular petition is,
|
|
<i>Bring me out of this house.</i> He does not say, "Bring me into
|
|
Pharaoh's house, get me a place at court." No, he begs for
|
|
enlargement, not preferment. Note, Providence sometimes designs the
|
|
greatest honours for those that least covet or expect them.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 40:20-23" id="Gen.xli-p9.3" parsed="|Gen|40|20|40|23" osisRef="Bible:Gen.40.20-Gen.40.23"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.40.20-Gen.40.23">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xli-p10">20 And it came to pass the third day, <i>which
|
|
was</i> Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast unto all his
|
|
servants: and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the
|
|
chief baker among his servants.   21 And he restored the chief
|
|
butler unto his butlership again; and he gave the cup into
|
|
Pharaoh's hand:   22 But he hanged the chief baker: as Joseph
|
|
had interpreted to them.   23 Yet did not the chief butler
|
|
remember Joseph, but forgat him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xli-p11">Here is, 1. The verifying of Joseph's
|
|
interpretation of the dreams, on the very day prefixed. The chief
|
|
butler and baker were both advanced, one to his office, the other
|
|
to the gallows, and both at the three days' end. Note, Very great
|
|
changes, both for the better and for the worse, often happen in a
|
|
very little time, so sudden are the revolutions of the wheel of
|
|
nature. The occasion of giving judgment severally upon their case
|
|
was the solemnizing of Pharaoh's birth-day, on which, all his
|
|
servants being obliged by custom to attend him, these two came to
|
|
be enquired after, and the cause of their commitment looked into.
|
|
The solemnizing of the birth-day of princes has been an ancient
|
|
piece of respect done them; and if it be not abused, as Jeroboam's
|
|
was (<scripRef passage="Ho 7:5" id="Gen.xli-p11.1" parsed="|Hos|7|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.5">Hos. vii. 5</scripRef>), and
|
|
Herod's (<scripRef passage="Mk 6:21" id="Gen.xli-p11.2" parsed="|Mark|6|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mark.6.21">Mark vi. 21</scripRef>), is a
|
|
usage innocent enough: and we may all profitably take notice of our
|
|
birth-days, with thankfulness for the mercies of our birth, sorrow
|
|
for the sinfulness of it, and an expectation of the day of our
|
|
death as better than the day of our birth. On Pharaoh's birth-day
|
|
he lifted up the head of these two prisoners, that is, arraigned
|
|
and tried them (when Naboth was tried he was <i>set on high</i>
|
|
among the people, <scripRef passage="1Ki 21:9" id="Gen.xli-p11.3" parsed="|1Kgs|21|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.21.9">1 Kings xxi.
|
|
9</scripRef>), and <i>he restored the chief butler,</i> and
|
|
<i>hanged the chief baker.</i> If the butler was innocent and the
|
|
baker guilty, we must own the equity of Providence in clearing up
|
|
the innocency of the innocent, and making the sin of the guilty to
|
|
find him out. If both were either equally innocent or equally
|
|
guilty, it is an instance of the arbitrariness of such great
|
|
princes as pride themselves in that power which Nebuchadnezzar set
|
|
up for (<scripRef passage="Da 5:19" id="Gen.xli-p11.4" parsed="|Dan|5|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.5.19">Dan. v. 19</scripRef>, <i>whom
|
|
he would he slew, and whom he would he kept alive</i>), forgetting
|
|
that there is a higher than they, to whom they are accountable. 2.
|
|
The disappointing of Joseph's expectation from the chief butler: He
|
|
<i>remembered not Joseph, but forgot him,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 40:23" id="Gen.xli-p11.5" parsed="|Gen|40|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.40.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. (1.) See here an instance of
|
|
base ingratitude; Joseph had deserved well at his hands, had
|
|
ministered to him, sympathized with him, helped him to a favourable
|
|
interpretation of his dream, had recommended himself to him as an
|
|
extraordinary person upon all accounts; and yet he forgot him. We
|
|
must not think it strange if in this world we have hatred shown us
|
|
for our love, and slights for our respects. (2.) See how apt those
|
|
that are themselves at ease are to forget others in distress.
|
|
Perhaps it is in allusion to this story that the prophet speaks of
|
|
those that <i>drink wine in bowls, and are not grieved for the
|
|
affliction of Joseph,</i> <scripRef passage="Am 6:6" id="Gen.xli-p11.6" parsed="|Amos|6|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Amos.6.6">Amos vi.
|
|
6</scripRef>. Let us learn hence to cease from man. Joseph perhaps
|
|
depended too much upon his interest in the chief butler, and
|
|
promised himself too much from him; he learned by his
|
|
disappointment to trust in
|
|
|
|
<pb n="227" id="Gen.xli-Page_227"/>
|
|
|
|
God only. We
|
|
cannot expect too little from man nor too much from God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xli-p12">Some observe the resemblance between Joseph
|
|
and Christ in this story. Joseph's fellow-sufferers were like the
|
|
two thieves that were crucified with Christ—the one saved, the
|
|
other condemned. (It is Dr. Lightfoot's remark, from Mr.
|
|
Broughton.) One of these, when Joseph said to him, <i>Remember me
|
|
when it shall be well with thee,</i> forget him; but one of those,
|
|
when he said to Christ, <i>Remember me when thou comest into thy
|
|
kingdom,</i> was not forgotten. We justly blame the chief butler's
|
|
ingratitude to Joseph, yet we conduct ourselves much more
|
|
disingenuously towards the Lord Jesus. Joseph had but foretold the
|
|
chief butler's enlargement, but Christ wrought out ours, mediated
|
|
with the King of kings for us; yet we forget him, though often
|
|
reminded of him, though we have promised never to forget him: thus
|
|
ill do we requite him, like foolish people and unwise.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XLI" n="xlii" progress="26.36%" prev="Gen.xli" next="Gen.xliii" id="Gen.xlii">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="227" id="Gen.xlii-Page_227"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xlii-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xlii-p0.2">CHAP. XLI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xlii-p1">Two things Providence is here bringing about:—I.
|
|
The advancement of Joseph. II. The maintenance of Jacob and his
|
|
family in a time of famine; for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro
|
|
through the earth, and direct the affairs of the children of men
|
|
for the benefit of those few whose hearts are upright with him. In
|
|
order to these, we have here, 1. Pharaoh's dreams, <scripRef passage="Ge 41:1-8" id="Gen.xlii-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|41|1|41|8" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.1-Gen.41.8">ver. 1-8</scripRef>. 2. The recommendation of
|
|
Joseph to him for an interpreter, <scripRef passage="Ge 41:9-13" id="Gen.xlii-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|41|9|41|13" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.9-Gen.41.13">ver. 9-13</scripRef>. 3. The interpretation of the
|
|
dreams, and the prediction of seven years of plenty and seven years
|
|
of famine in Egypt, with the prudent advice given to Pharaoh
|
|
thereupon, <scripRef passage="Ge 41:14-36" id="Gen.xlii-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|41|14|41|36" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.14-Gen.41.36">ver. 14-36</scripRef>.
|
|
4. The preferment of Joseph to a place of the highest power and
|
|
trust in Egypt, <scripRef passage="Ge 41:37-45" id="Gen.xlii-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|41|37|41|45" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.37-Gen.41.45">ver.
|
|
37-45</scripRef>. 5. The accomplishment of Joseph's prediction, and
|
|
his fidelity to his trust, <scripRef passage="Ge 41:46-57" id="Gen.xlii-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|41|46|41|57" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.46-Gen.41.57">ver.
|
|
46</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 41" id="Gen.xlii-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|41|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 41:1-8" id="Gen.xlii-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|41|1|41|8" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.1-Gen.41.8"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.41.1-Gen.41.8">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xlii-p1.8">Pharaoh's Portentous Dream. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xlii-p1.9">b. c.</span> 1715.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xlii-p2">1 And it came to pass at the end of two full
|
|
years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river.
|
|
  2 And, behold, there came up out of the river seven well
|
|
favoured kine and fatfleshed; and they fed in a meadow.   3
|
|
And, behold, seven other kine came up after them out of the river,
|
|
ill favoured and leanfleshed; and stood by the <i>other</i> kine
|
|
upon the brink of the river.   4 And the ill favoured and
|
|
leanfleshed kine did eat up the seven well favoured and fat kine.
|
|
So Pharaoh awoke.   5 And he slept and dreamed the second
|
|
time: and, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank
|
|
and good.   6 And, behold, seven thin ears and blasted with
|
|
the east wind sprung up after them.   7 And the seven thin
|
|
ears devoured the seven rank and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and,
|
|
behold, <i>it was</i> a dream.   8 And it came to pass in the
|
|
morning that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for
|
|
all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof: and
|
|
Pharaoh told them his dreams; but <i>there was</i> none that could
|
|
interpret them unto Pharaoh.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlii-p3">Observe, 1. The delay of Joseph's
|
|
enlargement. It was not till <i>the end of two full years</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 41:1" id="Gen.xlii-p3.1" parsed="|Gen|41|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>); so long he
|
|
waited after he had entrusted the chief butler with his case and
|
|
began to have some prospect of relief. Note, We have need of
|
|
patience, not only bearing, but waiting, patience. Joseph lay in
|
|
prison until the time that his word came, <scripRef passage="Ps 105:19" id="Gen.xlii-p3.2" parsed="|Ps|105|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.105.19">Ps. cv. 19</scripRef>. There is a time set for the
|
|
deliverance of God's people; that time will come, though it seem to
|
|
tarry; and, when it comes, it will appear to have been the best
|
|
time, and therefore we ought to wait for it (<scripRef passage="Hab 2:3" id="Gen.xlii-p3.3" parsed="|Hab|2|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hab.2.3">Hab. ii. 3</scripRef>), and not think two full years too
|
|
long to continue waiting. 2. The means of Joseph's enlargement,
|
|
which were Pharaoh's dreams, here related. If we were to look upon
|
|
them as ordinary dreams, we might observe from them the follies and
|
|
absurdities of a roving working fancy, how it represents to itself
|
|
tame cows as beasts of prey (nay, more ravenous than any, eating up
|
|
those of their own kind), and ears of corn as devouring one
|
|
another. Surely in the multitude of dreams, nay, even in one dream,
|
|
there are divers vanities, <scripRef passage="Ec 5:7" id="Gen.xlii-p3.4" parsed="|Eccl|5|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.5.7">Eccl. v.
|
|
7</scripRef>. Now that God no longer speaks to us in that way, I
|
|
think it is no matter how little we either heed them or tell them.
|
|
Foolish dreams related can make no better than foolish talk. But
|
|
these dreams which Pharaoh dreamed carried their own evidence with
|
|
them that they were sent of God; and therefore, when he awoke, his
|
|
spirit was troubled, <scripRef passage="Ge 41:8" id="Gen.xlii-p3.5" parsed="|Gen|41|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.8"><i>v.</i>
|
|
8</scripRef>. It cannot but put us into a concern to receive any
|
|
extraordinary message from heaven, because we are conscious to
|
|
ourselves that we have no reason to expect any good tidings thence.
|
|
His magicians were puzzled, the rules of their art failed them:
|
|
these dreams of Pharaoh, it seems, did not fall within the compass
|
|
of them, so that they could not offer at the interpretation of
|
|
them. This was to make Joseph's performance by the Spirit of God
|
|
the more admirable. Human reason, prudence, and foresight, must be
|
|
nonplussed, that divine revelation may appear the more glorious in
|
|
the contrivance of our redemption, <scripRef passage="1Co 2:13,14" id="Gen.xlii-p3.6" parsed="|1Cor|2|13|2|14" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.2.13-1Cor.2.14">1 Cor. 2. 13, 14</scripRef>. Compare with this
|
|
story, <scripRef passage="Da 2:27,4:7,5:8" id="Gen.xlii-p3.7" parsed="|Dan|2|27|0|0;|Dan|4|7|0|0;|Dan|5|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.27 Bible:Dan.4.7 Bible:Dan.5.8">Dan. ii. 27; iv. 7; v.
|
|
8</scripRef>. Joseph's own dreams were the occasion of his
|
|
troubles, and now Pharaoh's dreams were the occasion of his
|
|
enlargement.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 41:9-16" id="Gen.xlii-p3.8" parsed="|Gen|41|9|41|16" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.9-Gen.41.16"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.41.9-Gen.41.16">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xlii-p3.9">Joseph Brought before
|
|
Pharaoh. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xlii-p3.10">b. c.</span> 1715.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xlii-p4">9 Then spake the chief butler unto Pharaoh,
|
|
saying, I do remember my faults this day:   10 Pharaoh was
|
|
wroth with his servants, and put me in ward in the captain of the
|
|
guard's house, <i>both</i> me and the chief baker:   11 And we
|
|
dreamed a dream in one night, I and he; we dreamed each man
|
|
according to the interpretation of his dream.   12 And
|
|
<i>there was</i> there with us a young man, a Hebrew, servant to
|
|
the captain of the guard; and we told
|
|
|
|
<pb n="228" id="Gen.xlii-Page_228"/>
|
|
|
|
him,
|
|
and he interpreted to us our dreams; to each man according to his
|
|
dream he did interpret.   13 And it came to pass, as he
|
|
interpreted to us, so it was; me he restored unto mine office, and
|
|
him he hanged.   14 Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and
|
|
they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved
|
|
<i>himself,</i> and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh.
|
|
  15 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and
|
|
<i>there is</i> none that can interpret it: and I have heard say of
|
|
thee, <i>that</i> thou canst understand a dream to interpret it.
|
|
  16 And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, <i>It is</i> not in
|
|
me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlii-p5">Here is, 1. The recommending of Joseph to
|
|
Pharaoh for an interpreter. The chief butler did it more in
|
|
compliment to Pharaoh, to oblige him, than in gratitude to Joseph,
|
|
or in compassion for his case. He makes a fair confession
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 41:9" id="Gen.xlii-p5.1" parsed="|Gen|41|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): "<i>I
|
|
remember my faults this day,</i> in forgetting Joseph." Note, It is
|
|
best to remember our duty, and to do it in its time; but, if we
|
|
have neglected that, it is next best to remember our faults, and
|
|
repent of them, and do our duty at last; better late than never.
|
|
Some think he means his faults against Pharaoh, for which he was
|
|
imprisoned; and then he would insinuate that, though Pharaoh had
|
|
forgiven him, he had not forgiven himself. The story he had to tell
|
|
was, in short, That there was an obscure young man in the king's
|
|
prison, who had very properly interpreted his dream, and the chief
|
|
baker's (the event corresponding in each with the interpretation),
|
|
and that he would recommend him to the king his master for an
|
|
interpreter. Note, God's time for the enlargement of his people
|
|
will appear at last to be the fittest time. If the chief butler had
|
|
at first used his interest for Joseph's enlargement, and had
|
|
obtained it, it is probable that upon his release he would have
|
|
gone back to <i>the land of the Hebrews</i> again, which he spoke
|
|
of so feelingly (<scripRef passage="Ge 40:15" id="Gen.xlii-p5.2" parsed="|Gen|40|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.40.15"><i>ch.</i> xl.
|
|
15</scripRef>), and then he would neither have been so blessed
|
|
himself, nor such a blessing to his family, as afterwards he
|
|
proved. But staying two years longer, and coming out now upon this
|
|
occasion, at last, to interpret the king's dreams, way was made for
|
|
his very great preferment. Those that patiently wait for God shall
|
|
be paid for their waiting, not only principal but interest,
|
|
<scripRef passage="La 3:26" id="Gen.xlii-p5.3" parsed="|Lam|3|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.26">Lam. iii. 26</scripRef>. 2. The
|
|
introducing of Joseph to Pharaoh. The king's business requires
|
|
haste. Joseph is sent for out of the dungeon with all speed;
|
|
Pharaoh's order discharged him both from his imprisonment and from
|
|
his servitude, and made him a candidate for some of the highest
|
|
trusts at court. The king can scarcely allow him time, but that
|
|
decency required it, to shave himself, and to change his raiment,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 41:14" id="Gen.xlii-p5.4" parsed="|Gen|41|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. It is done
|
|
with all possible expedition, and Joseph is brought in, perhaps
|
|
almost as much surprised as Peter was, <scripRef passage="Ac 12:9" id="Gen.xlii-p5.5" parsed="|Acts|12|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.12.9">Acts xii. 9</scripRef>. So suddenly is his captivity
|
|
brought back that he is as one that dreams, <scripRef passage="Ps 126:1" id="Gen.xlii-p5.6" parsed="|Ps|126|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.126.1">Ps. cxxvi. 1</scripRef>. Pharaoh immediately, without
|
|
enquiring who or whence he was, tells him his business, that he
|
|
expected he should interpret his dream, <scripRef passage="Ge 41:15" id="Gen.xlii-p5.7" parsed="|Gen|41|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. To which, Joseph makes him a
|
|
very modest decent reply, (<scripRef passage="Ge 41:16" id="Gen.xlii-p5.8" parsed="|Gen|41|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.16"><i>v.</i>
|
|
16</scripRef>), in which, (1.) He gives honour to God. "It is not
|
|
in me, God must give it." Note, Great gifts appear most graceful
|
|
and illustrious when those that have them use them humbly, and take
|
|
not the praise of them to themselves, but give it to God. To such
|
|
God gives more grace. (2.) He shows respect to Pharaoh, and hearty
|
|
good-will to him and his government, in supposing that the
|
|
interpretation would be an answer of peace. Note, Those that
|
|
consult God's oracles may expect an answer of peace. If Joseph be
|
|
made the interpreter, hope the best.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 41:17-32" id="Gen.xlii-p5.9" parsed="|Gen|41|17|41|32" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.17-Gen.41.32"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.41.17-Gen.41.32">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xlii-p5.10">Joseph Interprets Pharaoh's
|
|
Dream. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xlii-p5.11">b. c.</span> 1715.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xlii-p6">17 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, In my dream,
|
|
behold, I stood upon the bank of the river:   18 And, behold,
|
|
there came up out of the river seven kine, fatfleshed and well
|
|
favoured; and they fed in a meadow:   19 And, behold, seven
|
|
other kine came up after them, poor and very ill favoured and
|
|
leanfleshed, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for
|
|
badness:   20 And the lean and the ill favoured kine did eat
|
|
up the first seven fat kine:   21 And when they had eaten them
|
|
up, it could not be known that they had eaten them; but they
|
|
<i>were</i> still ill favoured, as at the beginning. So I awoke.
|
|
  22 And I saw in my dream, and, behold, seven ears came up in
|
|
one stalk, full and good:   23 And, behold, seven ears,
|
|
withered, thin, <i>and</i> blasted with the east wind, sprung up
|
|
after them:   24 And the thin ears devoured the seven good
|
|
ears: and I told <i>this</i> unto the magicians; but <i>there
|
|
was</i> none that could declare <i>it</i> to me.   25 And
|
|
Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh <i>is</i> one: God
|
|
hath showed Pharaoh what he <i>is</i> about to do.   26 The
|
|
seven good kine <i>are</i> seven years; and the seven good ears
|
|
<i>are</i> seven years: the dream <i>is</i> one.   27 And the
|
|
seven thin and ill favoured kine that came up after them <i>are</i>
|
|
seven years; and the seven empty ears
|
|
|
|
<pb n="229" id="Gen.xlii-Page_229"/>
|
|
|
|
blasted with the east wind shall be seven years of famine.  
|
|
28 This <i>is</i> the thing which I have spoken unto Pharaoh: What
|
|
God <i>is</i> about to do he showeth unto Pharaoh.   29
|
|
Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the
|
|
land of Egypt:   30 And there shall arise after them seven
|
|
years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land
|
|
of Egypt; and the famine shall consume the land;   31 And the
|
|
plenty shall not be known in the land by reason of that famine
|
|
following; for it <i>shall be</i> very grievous.   32 And for
|
|
that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; <i>it is</i> because
|
|
the thing <i>is</i> established by God, and God will shortly bring
|
|
it to pass.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlii-p7">Here, I. Pharaoh relates his dream. He
|
|
dreamt that he stood upon the bank of the river Nile, and saw the
|
|
kine, both the fat ones and the lean ones, come out of the river.
|
|
For the kingdom of Egypt had no rain, as appears, <scripRef passage="Zec 14:18" id="Gen.xlii-p7.1" parsed="|Zech|14|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zech.14.18">Zech. xiv. 18</scripRef>, but the plenty of the
|
|
year depended upon the overflowing of the river, and it was about
|
|
one certain time of the year that it overflowed. If it rose to
|
|
fifteen or sixteen cubits, there was plenty; if to twelve or
|
|
thirteen only, or under, there was scarcity. See how many ways
|
|
Providence has of dispensing its gifts; yet, whatever the second
|
|
causes are, our dependence is still the same upon the first Cause,
|
|
who makes every creature that to us that it is, be it rain or
|
|
river.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlii-p8">II. Joseph interprets his dream, and tells
|
|
him that it signified seven years of plenty now immediately to
|
|
ensue, which should be succeeded by as many years of famine.
|
|
Observe, 1. The two dreams signified the same thing, but the
|
|
repetition was to denote the certainty, the nearness, and the
|
|
importance, of the event, <scripRef passage="Ge 41:32" id="Gen.xlii-p8.1" parsed="|Gen|41|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.32"><i>v.</i>
|
|
32</scripRef>. Thus God has often shown <i>the immutability of his
|
|
counsel by two immutable things,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 6:17,18" id="Gen.xlii-p8.2" parsed="|Heb|6|17|6|18" osisRef="Bible:Heb.6.17-Heb.6.18">Heb. vi. 17, 18</scripRef>. The covenant is sealed
|
|
with two sacraments; and in the one of them there are both bread
|
|
and wine, wherein the dream is one, and yet it is doubled, for the
|
|
thing is certain. 2. Yet the two dreams had a distinct reference to
|
|
the two things wherein we most experience plenty and scarcity,
|
|
namely, grass and corn. The plenty and scarcity of grass for the
|
|
cattle were signified by the fat kine and the lean ones; the plenty
|
|
and scarcity of herb for the service of man by the full ears and
|
|
the thin ones. 3. See what changes the comforts of this life are
|
|
subject to. After great plenty may come great scarcity; how strong
|
|
soever we may think our mountain stands, if God speak the word, it
|
|
will soon be moved. We cannot be sure that <i>to-morrow shall be as
|
|
this day,</i> next year as this, and <i>much more abundant,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 56:12" id="Gen.xlii-p8.3" parsed="|Isa|56|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.56.12">Isa. lvi. 12</scripRef>. We must
|
|
learn how to want, as well as how to abound. 4. See the goodness of
|
|
God in sending the seven years of plenty before those of famine,
|
|
that provision might be made accordingly. Thus he <i>sets the one
|
|
over-against the other,</i> <scripRef passage="Ec 7:14" id="Gen.xlii-p8.4" parsed="|Eccl|7|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.7.14">Eccl. vii.
|
|
14</scripRef>. With what wonderful wisdom has Providence, that
|
|
great housekeeper, ordered the affairs of this numerous family from
|
|
the beginning hitherto! Great variety of seasons there have been,
|
|
and the produce of the earth is sometimes more and sometimes less;
|
|
yet, take one time with another, what was miraculous concerning the
|
|
manna is ordinarily verified in the common course of Providence,
|
|
<i>He that gathers much has nothing over, and he that gathers
|
|
little has no lack,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 16:18" id="Gen.xlii-p8.5" parsed="|Exod|16|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.18">Exod. xvi.
|
|
18</scripRef>. 5. See the perishing nature of our worldly
|
|
enjoyments. The great increase of the years of plenty was quite
|
|
lost and swallowed up in the years of famine; and the overplus of
|
|
it, which seemed very much, yet did but just serve to keep men
|
|
alive, <scripRef passage="Ge 41:29-31" id="Gen.xlii-p8.6" parsed="|Gen|41|29|41|31" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.29-Gen.41.31"><i>v.</i> 29-31</scripRef>.
|
|
<i>Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats, but God shall
|
|
destroy both it and them,</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 6:13" id="Gen.xlii-p8.7" parsed="|1Cor|6|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.6.13">1 Cor.
|
|
vi. 13</scripRef>. There is bread which <i>endures to everlasting
|
|
life,</i> which shall not be forgotten, and which it is worth while
|
|
to labour for, <scripRef passage="Joh 6:27" id="Gen.xlii-p8.8" parsed="|John|6|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.6.27">John vi. 27</scripRef>.
|
|
Those that make the things of this world their good things will
|
|
find but little pleasure in remembering that they have received
|
|
them, <scripRef passage="Lu 16:25" id="Gen.xlii-p8.9" parsed="|Luke|16|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.16.25">Luke xvi. 25</scripRef>. 6.
|
|
Observe, God revealed this beforehand to Pharaoh, who, as king of
|
|
Egypt, was to be the father of his country, and to make prudent
|
|
provision for them. Magistrates are called <i>shepherds,</i> whose
|
|
care it must be, not only to rule, but to feed.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 41:33-45" id="Gen.xlii-p8.10" parsed="|Gen|41|33|41|45" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.33-Gen.41.45"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.41.33-Gen.41.45">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xlii-p8.11">Joseph's Exaltation. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xlii-p8.12">b. c.</span> 1715.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xlii-p9">33 Now therefore let Pharaoh look out a man
|
|
discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt.   34
|
|
Let Pharaoh do <i>this,</i> and let him appoint officers over the
|
|
land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven
|
|
plenteous years.   35 And let them gather all the food of
|
|
those good years that come, and lay up corn under the hand of
|
|
Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities.   36 And that
|
|
food shall be for store to the land against the seven years of
|
|
famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt; that the land perish
|
|
not through the famine.   37 And the thing was good in the
|
|
eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants.   38 And
|
|
Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find <i>such a one</i> as
|
|
this <i>is,</i> a man in whom the Spirit of God <i>is?</i>  
|
|
39 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath showed thee
|
|
all this, <i>there is</i> none so discreet and wise as thou
|
|
|
|
<pb n="230" id="Gen.xlii-Page_230"/>
|
|
|
|
<i>art:</i>   40 Thou shalt be over my
|
|
house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled:
|
|
only in the throne will I be greater than thou.   41 And
|
|
Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of
|
|
Egypt.   42 And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and
|
|
put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine
|
|
linen, and put a gold chain about his neck;   43 And he made
|
|
him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried
|
|
before him, Bow the knee: and he made him <i>ruler</i> over all the
|
|
land of Egypt.   44 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I <i>am</i>
|
|
Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in
|
|
all the land of Egypt.   45 And Pharaoh called Joseph's name
|
|
Zaphnath-paaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of
|
|
Poti-pherah priest of On. And Joseph went out over <i>all</i> the
|
|
land of Egypt.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlii-p10">Here is, I. The good advice that Joseph
|
|
gave to Pharaoh, which was, 1. That in the years of plenty he
|
|
should lay up for the years of famine, buy up corn when it was
|
|
cheap, that he might both enrich himself and supply the country
|
|
when it would be dear and scarce. Note, Fair warning should always
|
|
be followed with good counsel. Therefore the prudent man foresees
|
|
the evil, that he may hide himself. God has in his word told us of
|
|
a day of trial and exigence before us, when we shall need all the
|
|
grace we can get, and all little enough, "Now, therefore, provide
|
|
accordingly." Note, further, Times of gathering must be diligently
|
|
improved, because there will come a time of spending. Let us go to
|
|
the ant, and learn of her this wisdom, <scripRef passage="Pr 6:6-8" id="Gen.xlii-p10.1" parsed="|Prov|6|6|6|8" osisRef="Bible:Prov.6.6-Prov.6.8">Prov. vi. 6-8</scripRef>. 2. Because that which is
|
|
everybody's work commonly proves nobody's work, he advises Pharaoh
|
|
to appoint officers who should make it their business, and to
|
|
select some one person to preside in the affair, <scripRef passage="Ge 41:33" id="Gen.xlii-p10.2" parsed="|Gen|41|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>. Probably, if Joseph had not
|
|
advised this, it would not have been done; Pharaoh's counsellors
|
|
could no more improve the dream than his magicians interpret it;
|
|
therefore it is said of him (<scripRef passage="Ps 105:22" id="Gen.xlii-p10.3" parsed="|Ps|105|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.105.22">Ps. cv.
|
|
22</scripRef>) that he <i>taught the senators, wisdom.</i> Hence we
|
|
may justly infer with Solomon (<scripRef passage="Ec 4:13" id="Gen.xlii-p10.4" parsed="|Eccl|4|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.4.13">Eccl.
|
|
iv. 13</scripRef>), <i>Better is a poor and a wise child than an
|
|
old and foolish king.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlii-p11">II. The great honour that Pharaoh did to
|
|
Joseph. 1. He gave him an honourable testimony: He is <i>a man in
|
|
whom the Spirit of God is;</i> and this puts a great excellency
|
|
upon any man; such men ought to be valued, <scripRef passage="Ge 41:38" id="Gen.xlii-p11.1" parsed="|Gen|41|38|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.38"><i>v.</i> 38</scripRef>. He is a nonsuch for prudence:
|
|
<i>There is none so discreet and wise as thou art,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 41:39" id="Gen.xlii-p11.2" parsed="|Gen|41|39|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.39"><i>v.</i> 39</scripRef>. Now he is abundantly
|
|
recompensed for the disgrace that had been done him; and his
|
|
righteousness is as the morning-light, <scripRef passage="Ps 37:6" id="Gen.xlii-p11.3" parsed="|Ps|37|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.37.6">Ps. xxxvii. 6</scripRef>. 2. He put him into an
|
|
honourable office; not only employed him to buy up corn, but made
|
|
him prime-minister of state, comptroller of the household—<i>Thou
|
|
shalt be over my house,</i> chief justice of the
|
|
kingdom—<i>according to thy word shall all my people be ruled,</i>
|
|
or <i>armed,</i> as some read it, and then it bespeaks him general
|
|
of the forces. Him commission was very ample: <i>I have set thee
|
|
over all the land of Egypt</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 41:41" id="Gen.xlii-p11.4" parsed="|Gen|41|41|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.41"><i>v.</i> 41</scripRef>); <i>without thee shall no man
|
|
lift up his hand or foot</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 41:44" id="Gen.xlii-p11.5" parsed="|Gen|41|44|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.44"><i>v.</i> 44</scripRef>); all the affairs of the kingdom
|
|
must pass through his hand. Nay (<scripRef passage="Ge 41:40" id="Gen.xlii-p11.6" parsed="|Gen|41|40|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.40"><i>v.</i> 40</scripRef>), <i>only in the throne will I
|
|
be greater than thou.</i> Note, It is the wisdom of princes to
|
|
prefer those, and the happiness of people to have those preferred,
|
|
to places of power and trust, in whom the Spirit of God is. It is
|
|
probable that there were those about the court who opposed Joseph's
|
|
preferment, which occasioned Pharaoh so often to repeat the grant,
|
|
and with that solemn sanction (<scripRef passage="Ge 41:44" id="Gen.xlii-p11.7" parsed="|Gen|41|44|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.44"><i>v.</i> 44</scripRef>), <i>I am Pharaoh.</i> When the
|
|
proposal was made that there should be a corn-master-general
|
|
nominated, it is said (<scripRef passage="Ge 41:37" id="Gen.xlii-p11.8" parsed="|Gen|41|37|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.37"><i>v.</i>
|
|
37</scripRef>), <i>Pharaoh's servants were all pleased</i> with the
|
|
proposal, each hoping for the place; but when Pharaoh said to them,
|
|
"Joseph shall be the man," we do not read that they made him any
|
|
answer, being uneasy at it, and acquiescing only because they could
|
|
not help it. Joseph had enemies, no doubt, archers that shot at
|
|
him, and hated him (<scripRef passage="Ge 49:23" id="Gen.xlii-p11.9" parsed="|Gen|49|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.23"><i>ch.</i> xlix.
|
|
23</scripRef>), as Daniel, <scripRef passage="Da 6:4" id="Gen.xlii-p11.10" parsed="|Dan|6|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.6.4"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
vi. 4</scripRef>. 3. He put upon him all the marks of honour
|
|
imaginable, to recommend him to the esteem and respect of the
|
|
people as the king's favourite, and one whom he delighted to
|
|
honour. (1.) He gave him his own ring, as a ratification of his
|
|
commission, and in token of peculiar favour; or it was like
|
|
delivering him the great seal. (2.) He put fine clothes upon him,
|
|
instead of his prison garments. For those that are in kings'
|
|
palaces must wear soft clothing; he that, in the morning, was
|
|
dragging his fetters of iron, before night was adorned with a chain
|
|
of gold. (3.) He made him <i>ride in the second chariot</i> to his
|
|
own, and ordered all to do homage to him: "<i>Bow the knee,</i> as
|
|
to Pharaoh himself." (4.) He gave him a new name, to show his
|
|
authority over him, and yet such a name as bespoke the value he had
|
|
for him, <i>Zaphnath-paaneah—A revealer of secrets.</i> (5.) He
|
|
married him honourably to a prince's daughter. Where God had been
|
|
liberal in giving wisdom and other merits, Pharaoh was not sparing
|
|
in conferring honours. Now this preferment of Joseph was, [1.] An
|
|
abundant recompense for his innocent and patient suffering, a
|
|
lasting instance of the equity and goodness of Providence, and an
|
|
encouragement to all good people to trust in a good God. [2.] It
|
|
was typical of the
|
|
|
|
<pb n="231" id="Gen.xlii-Page_231"/>
|
|
|
|
exaltation of Christ,
|
|
that great <i>revealer of secrets</i> (<scripRef passage="Joh 1:18" id="Gen.xlii-p11.11" parsed="|John|1|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.1.18">John i. 18</scripRef>), or, as some translate Joseph's
|
|
new name, the <i>Saviour of the world.</i> The brightest glories of
|
|
the upper world are put upon him, the highest trust is lodged in
|
|
his hand, and all power is given to him both in heaven and earth.
|
|
He is gatherer, keeper, and disposer, of all the stores of divine
|
|
grace, and chief ruler of the kingdom of God among men. The work of
|
|
ministers is to cry before him, "<i>Bow the knee; kiss the
|
|
Son.</i>"</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 41:46-57" id="Gen.xlii-p11.12" parsed="|Gen|41|46|41|57" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.46-Gen.41.57"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.41.46-Gen.41.57">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xlii-p11.13">The Famine in Egypt and
|
|
Canaan. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xlii-p11.14">b. c.</span> 1706.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xlii-p12">46 And Joseph <i>was</i> thirty years old when
|
|
he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the
|
|
presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.
|
|
  47 And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth
|
|
by handfuls.   48 And he gathered up all the food of the seven
|
|
years, which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the
|
|
cities: the food of the field, which <i>was</i> round about every
|
|
city, laid he up in the same.   49 And Joseph gathered corn as
|
|
the sand of the sea, very much, until he left numbering; for <i>it
|
|
was</i> without number.   50 And unto Joseph were born two
|
|
sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of
|
|
Poti-pherah priest of On bare unto him.   51 And Joseph called
|
|
the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, <i>said he,</i> hath
|
|
made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house.   52
|
|
And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused
|
|
me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.   53 And the
|
|
seven years of plenteousness, that was in the land of Egypt, were
|
|
ended.   54 And the seven years of dearth began to come,
|
|
according as Joseph had said: and the dearth was in all lands; but
|
|
in all the land of Egypt there was bread.   55 And when all
|
|
the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for
|
|
bread: and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, Go unto Joseph;
|
|
what he saith to you, do.   56 And the famine was over all the
|
|
face of the earth: and Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold
|
|
unto the Egyptians; and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt.
|
|
  57 And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy
|
|
<i>corn;</i> because that the famine was <i>so</i> sore in all
|
|
lands.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlii-p13">Observe here, I. The building of Joseph's
|
|
family in the birth of two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, <scripRef passage="Ge 41:50-52" id="Gen.xlii-p13.1" parsed="|Gen|41|50|41|52" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.50-Gen.41.52"><i>v.</i> 50-52</scripRef>. In the names he
|
|
gave them, he owned the divine Providence giving this happy turn to
|
|
his affairs, 1. He was made to forget his misery, <scripRef passage="Job 11:16" id="Gen.xlii-p13.2" parsed="|Job|11|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.11.16">Job xi. 16</scripRef>. We should bear our
|
|
afflictions when they are present as those that know not but
|
|
Providence may so outweigh them by after-comforts as that we may
|
|
even forget them when they are past. But could he be so unnatural
|
|
as to <i>forget all his father's house?</i> He means the unkindness
|
|
he received from his brethren, or perhaps the wealth and honour he
|
|
expected from his father, with the birthright. The robes he now
|
|
wore made him forget the coat of divers colours which he wore in
|
|
his father's house. 2. He was made <i>fruitful in the land of his
|
|
affliction.</i> It had been the land of his affliction, and in some
|
|
sense it was still so, for it was not Canaan, the land of promise.
|
|
His distance from his father was still his affliction. Note, Light
|
|
is sometimes sown for the righteous in a barren and unlikely soil;
|
|
and yet if God sow it, and water it, it will come up again. The
|
|
afflictions of the saints promote their fruitfulness.
|
|
<i>Ephraim</i> signifies <i>fruitfulness,</i> and <i>Manasseh
|
|
forgetfulness,</i> for these two often go together; when Jeshurun
|
|
waxed fat, he forgot God his Maker.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlii-p14">II. The accomplishment of Joseph's
|
|
predictions. Pharaoh had great confidence in the truth of them,
|
|
perhaps finding in his own mind, beyond what another person could,
|
|
an exact correspondence between them and his dreams, as between the
|
|
key and the lock; and the event showed that he was not deceived.
|
|
The seven plenteous years came (<scripRef passage="Ge 41:47" id="Gen.xlii-p14.1" parsed="|Gen|41|47|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.47"><i>v.</i> 47</scripRef>), and, at length, they were
|
|
ended, <scripRef passage="Ge 41:54" id="Gen.xlii-p14.2" parsed="|Gen|41|54|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.54"><i>v.</i> 53</scripRef>. Note,
|
|
We ought to foresee the approaching period of the days both of our
|
|
prosperity and of our opportunity, and therefore must not be secure
|
|
in the enjoyment of our prosperity nor slothful in the improvement
|
|
of our opportunity; years of plenty will end, therefore, Whatever
|
|
thy hand finds to do do it; and gather in gathering time. <i>The
|
|
morning cometh and also the night</i> (<scripRef passage="Isa 21:12" id="Gen.xlii-p14.3" parsed="|Isa|21|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.21.12">Isa. xxi. 12</scripRef>), the plenty and also the
|
|
famine. <i>The seven years of dearth began to come,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 41:54" id="Gen.xlii-p14.4" parsed="|Gen|41|54|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.54"><i>v.</i> 54</scripRef>. See what changes of
|
|
condition we are liable to in this world, and what need we have to
|
|
be joyful in a day of prosperity and in a day of adversity to
|
|
consider, <scripRef passage="Ec 7:14" id="Gen.xlii-p14.5" parsed="|Eccl|7|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.7.14">Eccl. vii. 14</scripRef>.
|
|
This famine, it seems, was not only in Egypt, but in other lands,
|
|
in <i>all lands,</i> that is, all the neighbouring countries;
|
|
<i>fruitful lands</i> are soon <i>turned into barrenness for the
|
|
iniquity of those that dwell therein,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 107:34" id="Gen.xlii-p14.6" parsed="|Ps|107|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.107.34">Ps. cvii. 34</scripRef>. It is here said that <i>in the
|
|
land of Egypt there was bread,</i> meaning probably, not only that
|
|
which Joseph had bought up for the king, but that which private
|
|
persons, by his example, and
|
|
|
|
<pb n="232" id="Gen.xlii-Page_232"/>
|
|
|
|
upon the public
|
|
notice of this prediction, as well as by the rules of common
|
|
prudence, had laid up.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlii-p15">III. The performance of Joseph's trust. He
|
|
was found faithful to it, as a steward ought to be. 1. He was
|
|
diligent in laying up, while the plenty lasted, <scripRef passage="Ge 41:48,49" id="Gen.xlii-p15.1" parsed="|Gen|41|48|41|49" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.48-Gen.41.49"><i>v.</i> 48, 49</scripRef>. He that thus gathers is
|
|
a wise son. 2. He was prudent and careful in giving out, when the
|
|
famine came, and kept the markets low by furnishing them at
|
|
reasonable rates out of his stores. The people in distress cried to
|
|
Pharaoh, as that woman to the king of Israel (<scripRef passage="2Ki 6:26" id="Gen.xlii-p15.2" parsed="|2Kgs|6|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.6.26">2 Kings vi. 26</scripRef>), <i>Help, my lord, O
|
|
king:</i> he sent them to his treasurer, <i>Go to Joseph.</i> Thus
|
|
God in the gospel directs those that apply to him for mercy and
|
|
grace to <i>go to the Lord Jesus,</i> in whom all fulness dwells;
|
|
and, <i>What he saith to you, do.</i> Joseph, no doubt, with wisdom
|
|
and justice fixed the price of the corn he sold, so that Pharaoh,
|
|
whose money had bought it up, might have a reasonable profit, and
|
|
yet the country might not be oppressed, nor advantage taken of
|
|
their prevailing necessity; while he that withholdest corn when it
|
|
is dear, in hopes it will yet grow dearer, though people perish for
|
|
want of it, has many a curse for so doing (and it is not a curse
|
|
causeless), <i>blessings shall be upon the head of him that</i>
|
|
thus <i>selleth it,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 11:26" id="Gen.xlii-p15.3" parsed="|Prov|11|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.11.26">Prov. xi.
|
|
26</scripRef>. And let the price be determined by that golden rule
|
|
of justice, to do as we would be done by.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XLII" n="xliii" progress="26.90%" prev="Gen.xlii" next="Gen.xliv" id="Gen.xliii">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="232" id="Gen.xliii-Page_232"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xliii-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xliii-p0.2">CHAP. XLII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xliii-p1">We had, in the foregoing chapter, the fulfilling
|
|
of the dreams which Joseph had interpreted: in this and the
|
|
following chapters we have the fulfilling of the dreams which
|
|
Joseph himself had dreamed, that his father's family should do
|
|
homage to him. The story is very largely and particularly related
|
|
of what passed between Joseph and his brethren, not only because it
|
|
is an entertaining story, and probably was much talked of, both
|
|
among the Israelites and among the Egyptians, but because it is
|
|
very instructive, and it gave occasion for the removal of Jacob's
|
|
family into Egypt, on which so many great events afterwards
|
|
depended. We have, in this chapter, I. The humble application of
|
|
Jacob's sons to Joseph to buy corn, <scripRef passage="Ge 42:1-6" id="Gen.xliii-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|42|1|42|6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.1-Gen.42.6">ver. 1-6</scripRef>. II. The fright Joseph put them
|
|
into, for their trial, <scripRef passage="Ge 42:7-20" id="Gen.xliii-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|42|7|42|20" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.7-Gen.42.20">ver.
|
|
7-20</scripRef>. III. The conviction they were now under of their
|
|
sin concerning Joseph long before, <scripRef passage="Ge 42:21-24" id="Gen.xliii-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|42|21|42|24" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.21-Gen.42.24">ver. 21-24</scripRef>. IV. Their return to Canaan
|
|
with corn, and the great distress their good father was in upon
|
|
hearing the account of their expedition, <scripRef passage="Ge 42:25-38" id="Gen.xliii-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|42|25|42|38" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.25-Gen.42.38">ver. 25</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 42" id="Gen.xliii-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|42|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 42:1-6" id="Gen.xliii-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|42|1|42|6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.1-Gen.42.6"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.42.1-Gen.42.6">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xliii-p1.7">Jacob Sends to Egypt to Buy
|
|
Corn. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xliii-p1.8">b. c.</span> 1706.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xliii-p2">1 Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in
|
|
Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons, Why do ye look one upon another?
|
|
  2 And he said, Behold, I have heard that there is corn in
|
|
Egypt: get you down thither, and buy for us from thence; that we
|
|
may live, and not die.   3 And Joseph's ten brethren went down
|
|
to buy corn in Egypt.   4 But Benjamin, Joseph's brother,
|
|
Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he said, Lest peradventure
|
|
mischief befal him.   5 And the sons of Israel came to buy
|
|
<i>corn</i> among those that came: for the famine was in the land
|
|
of Canaan.   6 And Joseph <i>was</i> the governor over the
|
|
land, <i>and</i> he <i>it was</i> that sold to all the people of
|
|
the land: and Joseph's brethren came, and bowed down themselves
|
|
before him <i>with</i> their faces to the earth.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xliii-p3">Though Jacob's sons were all married, and
|
|
had families of their own, yet, it should seem, they were still
|
|
incorporated in one society, under the conduct and presidency of
|
|
their father Jacob. We have here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xliii-p4">I. The orders he gave them to go and buy
|
|
corn in Egypt, <scripRef passage="Ge 42:1,2" id="Gen.xliii-p4.1" parsed="|Gen|42|1|42|2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.1-Gen.42.2"><i>v.</i> 1,
|
|
2</scripRef>. Observe, 1. The famine was grievous in the land of
|
|
Canaan. It is observable that all the three patriarchs, to whom
|
|
Canaan was the land of promise, met with famine in that land, which
|
|
was not only to try their faith, whether they could trust God
|
|
though he should slay them, though he should starve them, but to
|
|
teach them to seek the better country, that is, the heavenly,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Heb 11:14-16" id="Gen.xliii-p4.2" parsed="|Heb|11|14|11|16" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.14-Heb.11.16">Heb. xi. 14-16</scripRef>. We have
|
|
need of something to wean us from this world, and make us long for
|
|
a better. 2. Still, when there was famine in Canaan, there was corn
|
|
in Egypt. Thus Providence orders it, that one place should be a
|
|
succour and supply to another; for we are all brethren. The
|
|
Egyptians, the seed of accursed Ham, have plenty, when God's
|
|
blessed Israel want: thus God, in dispensing common favours, often
|
|
crosses hands. Yet observe, The plenty Egypt now had was owing,
|
|
under God, to Joseph's prudence and care: if his brethren had not
|
|
sold him into Egypt, but respected him according to his merits, who
|
|
knows but he might have done the same thing for Jacob's family
|
|
which now he had done for Pharaoh, and the Egyptians might then
|
|
have come to them to buy corn? but those who drive away from among
|
|
them wise and good men know not what they do. 3. <i>Jacob saw that
|
|
there was corn in Egypt;</i> he saw the corn that his neighbours
|
|
had bought there and brought home. It is a spur to exertion to see
|
|
where supplies are to be had, and to see others supplied. Shall
|
|
others get food for their souls, and shall we starve while it is to
|
|
be had? 4. He reproved his sons for delaying to provide corn for
|
|
their families. <i>Why do you look one upon another?</i> Note, When
|
|
we are in trouble and want, it is folly for us to stand looking
|
|
upon one another, that is, to stand desponding and despairing, as
|
|
if there were no hope, no help,—to stand disputing either which
|
|
shall have the honour of going first or which shall have the safety
|
|
of coming last,—to stand deliberating and debating what we shall
|
|
do, and doing nothing,—to stand dreaming under a spirit of
|
|
slumber, as if we had nothing to do, and to stand delaying, as if
|
|
we had time at command. Let it never be said, "We left that to be
|
|
done to-morrow which we could as well have done to-day." 5. He
|
|
quickened them to go to Egypt: <i>Get you down thither.</i> Masters
|
|
of families must not only pray for daily bread for their families,
|
|
and food convenient,
|
|
|
|
<pb n="233" id="Gen.xliii-Page_233"/>
|
|
|
|
but must lay out
|
|
themselves with care and industry to provide it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xliii-p5">II. Their obedience to these orders,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 42:3" id="Gen.xliii-p5.1" parsed="|Gen|42|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. They <i>went
|
|
down to buy corn;</i> they did not send their servants, but very
|
|
prudently went themselves, to lay out their own money. Let none
|
|
think themselves too great nor too good to take pains. Masters of
|
|
families should see with their own eyes, and take heed of leaving
|
|
too much to servants. Only Benjamin went not with them, for he was
|
|
his father's darling. To Egypt they came, among others, and, having
|
|
a considerable cargo of corn to buy, they were brought before
|
|
Joseph himself, who probably expected they would come; and,
|
|
according to the laws of courtesy, <i>they bowed down themselves
|
|
before him,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 42:6" id="Gen.xliii-p5.2" parsed="|Gen|42|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>.
|
|
Now their empty sheaves did obeisance to his full one. Compare this
|
|
with <scripRef passage="Isa 60:14,Re 3:9" id="Gen.xliii-p5.3" parsed="|Isa|60|14|0|0;|Rev|3|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.60.14 Bible:Rev.3.9">Isa. lx. 14 and Rev. iii.
|
|
9</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 42:7-20" id="Gen.xliii-p5.4" parsed="|Gen|42|7|42|20" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.7-Gen.42.20"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.42.7-Gen.42.20">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xliii-p5.5">Joseph Speaks Roughly to His
|
|
Brethren. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xliii-p5.6">b. c.</span> 1706.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xliii-p6">7 And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them,
|
|
but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them;
|
|
and he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land
|
|
of Canaan to buy food.   8 And Joseph knew his brethren, but
|
|
they knew not him.   9 And Joseph remembered the dreams which
|
|
he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Ye <i>are</i> spies; to see
|
|
the nakedness of the land ye are come.   10 And they said unto
|
|
him, Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come.   11
|
|
We <i>are</i> all one man's sons; we <i>are</i> true <i>men,</i>
|
|
thy servants are no spies.   12 And he said unto them, Nay,
|
|
but to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.   13 And
|
|
they said, Thy servants <i>are</i> twelve brethren, the sons of one
|
|
man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest <i>is</i> this
|
|
day with our father, and one <i>is</i> not.   14 And Joseph
|
|
said unto them, That <i>is it</i> that I spake unto you, saying, Ye
|
|
<i>are</i> spies:   15 Hereby ye shall be proved: By the life
|
|
of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest
|
|
brother come hither.   16 Send one of you, and let him fetch
|
|
your brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may
|
|
be proved, whether <i>there be any</i> truth in you: or else by the
|
|
life of Pharaoh surely ye <i>are</i> spies.   17 And he put
|
|
them all together into ward three days.   18 And Joseph said
|
|
unto them the third day, This do, and live; <i>for</i> I fear God:
|
|
  19 If ye <i>be</i> true <i>men,</i> let one of your brethren
|
|
be bound in the house of your prison: go ye, carry corn for the
|
|
famine of your houses:   20 But bring your youngest brother
|
|
unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And
|
|
they did so.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xliii-p7">We may well wonder that Joseph, during the
|
|
twenty years that he had now been in Egypt, especially during the
|
|
last seven years that he had been in power there, never sent to his
|
|
father to acquaint him with his circumstances; nay, it is strange
|
|
that he who so often <i>went throughout all the land of Egypt</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 41:45,46" id="Gen.xliii-p7.1" parsed="|Gen|41|45|41|46" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.45-Gen.41.46"><i>ch.</i> xli. 45, 46</scripRef>)
|
|
never made an excursion to Canaan, to visit his aged father, when
|
|
he was in the borders of Egypt, that lay next to Canaan. Perhaps it
|
|
would not have been above three or four days' journey for him in
|
|
his chariot. It is a probable conjecture that his whole management
|
|
of himself in this affair was by special direction from Heaven,
|
|
that the purpose of God concerning Jacob and his family might be
|
|
accomplished. When Joseph's brethren came, he knew them by many a
|
|
satisfactory token, but they knew not him, little thinking to find
|
|
him there, <scripRef passage="Ge 42:8" id="Gen.xliii-p7.2" parsed="|Gen|42|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. He
|
|
<i>remembered the dreams</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 42:9" id="Gen.xliii-p7.3" parsed="|Gen|42|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.9"><i>v.</i>
|
|
9</scripRef>), but they had forgotten them. The laying up of God's
|
|
oracles in our hearts will be of excellent use to us in all our
|
|
conduct. Joseph had an eye to his dreams, which he knew to be
|
|
divine, in his carriage towards his brethren, and aimed at the
|
|
accomplishment of them and the bringing of his brethren to
|
|
repentance for their former sins; and both these points were
|
|
gained.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xliii-p8">I. He showed himself very rigorous and
|
|
harsh with them. The very manner of his speaking, considering the
|
|
post he was in, was enough to frighten them; for <i>he spoke
|
|
roughly to them,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 42:7" id="Gen.xliii-p8.1" parsed="|Gen|42|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.7"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7</scripRef>. He charged them with bad designs against the
|
|
government (<scripRef passage="Ge 42:9" id="Gen.xliii-p8.2" parsed="|Gen|42|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>),
|
|
treated them as dangerous persons, saying, <i>You are spies,</i>
|
|
and protesting <i>by the life of Pharaoh</i> that they were so,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 42:16" id="Gen.xliii-p8.3" parsed="|Gen|42|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. Some make
|
|
this an oath, others make it no more than a vehement asseveration,
|
|
like that, <i>as thy soul liveth;</i> however it was more than yea,
|
|
yea, and nay, nay, and therefore came of evil. Note, Bad words are
|
|
soon learned by converse with those that use them, but not so soon
|
|
unlearned. Joseph, by being much at court, got the courtier's oath,
|
|
<i>By the life of Pharaoh,</i> perhaps designing hereby to confirm
|
|
his brethren in their belief that he was an Egyptian, and not an
|
|
Israelite. They knew this was not the language of a son of Abraham.
|
|
When Peter would prove himself no disciple of Christ, he cursed and
|
|
swore. Now why was Joseph thus hard upon his brethren? We may be
|
|
sure it was not from a spirit of revenge, that he might now trample
|
|
upon those who had formerly trampled upon him; he was not a man of
|
|
|
|
<pb n="234" id="Gen.xliii-Page_234"/>
|
|
|
|
that temper. But, 1. It was to enrich his
|
|
own dreams, and complete the accomplishment of them. 2. It was to
|
|
bring them to repentance. 3. It was to get out of them an account
|
|
of the state of their family, which he longed to know: they would
|
|
have discovered him if he had asked as a friend, therefore he asks
|
|
as a judge. Not seeing his brother Benjamin with them, perhaps he
|
|
began to suspect that they had made away with him too, and
|
|
therefore gives them occasion to speak of their father and brother.
|
|
Note, God in his providence sometimes seems harsh with those he
|
|
loves, and speaks roughly to those for whom yet he has great mercy
|
|
in store.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xliii-p9">II. They, hereupon, were very submissive.
|
|
They spoke to him with all the respect imaginable: <i>Nay, my
|
|
lord</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 42:10" id="Gen.xliii-p9.1" parsed="|Gen|42|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>)—a
|
|
great change since they said, <i>Behold, this dreamer comes.</i>
|
|
They very modestly deny the charge: <i>We are no spies.</i> They
|
|
tell him their business, that they came to buy food, a justifiable
|
|
errand, and the same that many strangers came to Egypt upon at this
|
|
time. They undertake to give a particular account of themselves and
|
|
their family (<scripRef passage="Ge 42:13" id="Gen.xliii-p9.2" parsed="|Gen|42|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.13"><i>v.</i>
|
|
13</scripRef>), and this was what they wanted.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xliii-p10">III. He clapped them all up in prison for
|
|
three days, <scripRef passage="Ge 42:17" id="Gen.xliii-p10.1" parsed="|Gen|42|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>.
|
|
Thus God deals with the souls he designs for special comfort and
|
|
honour; he first humbles them, and terrifies them, and brings them
|
|
under a spirit of bondage, and then binds up their wounds by the
|
|
Spirit of adoption.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xliii-p11">IV. He concluded with them, at last, that
|
|
one of them should be left as a hostage, and the rest should go
|
|
home and fetch Benjamin. It was a very encouraging word he said to
|
|
them (<scripRef passage="Ge 42:18" id="Gen.xliii-p11.1" parsed="|Gen|42|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>): <i>I
|
|
fear God;</i> as if he had said, "You may assure yourselves I will
|
|
do you no wrong; I dare not, for I know that, high as I am, there
|
|
is one higher than I." Note, With those that fear God we have
|
|
reason to expect fair dealing. The fear of God will be a check upon
|
|
those that are in power, to restrain them from abusing their power
|
|
to oppression and tyranny. Those that have no one else to stand in
|
|
awe of ought to stand in awe of their own consciences. See
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ne 5:15" id="Gen.xliii-p11.2" parsed="|Neh|5|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Neh.5.15">Neh. v. 15</scripRef>, <i>So did not I,
|
|
because of the fear of God.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 42:21-28" id="Gen.xliii-p11.3" parsed="|Gen|42|21|42|28" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.21-Gen.42.28"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.42.21-Gen.42.28">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xliii-p11.4">Reflections of Joseph's
|
|
Brethren. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xliii-p11.5">b. c.</span> 1706.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xliii-p12">21 And they said one to another, We <i>are</i>
|
|
verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of
|
|
his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is
|
|
this distress come upon us.   22 And Reuben answered them,
|
|
saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child;
|
|
and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is
|
|
required.   23 And they knew not that Joseph understood
|
|
<i>them;</i> for he spake unto them by an interpreter.   24
|
|
And he turned himself about from them, and wept; and returned to
|
|
them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and
|
|
bound him before their eyes.   25 Then Joseph commanded to
|
|
fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man's money into
|
|
his sack, and to give them provision for the way: and thus did he
|
|
unto them.   26 And they laded their asses with the corn, and
|
|
departed thence.   27 And as one of them opened his sack to
|
|
give his ass provender in the inn, he espied his money; for,
|
|
behold, it <i>was</i> in his sack's mouth.   28 And he said
|
|
unto his brethren, My money is restored; and, lo, <i>it is</i> even
|
|
in my sack: and their heart failed <i>them,</i> and they were
|
|
afraid, saying one to another, What <i>is</i> this <i>that</i> God
|
|
hath done unto us?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xliii-p13">Here is, I. The penitent reflection
|
|
Joseph's brethren made upon the wrong they had formerly done to
|
|
him, <scripRef passage="Ge 42:21" id="Gen.xliii-p13.1" parsed="|Gen|42|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. They
|
|
talked the matter over in the Hebrew tongue, not suspecting that
|
|
Joseph, whom they took for a native of Egypt, understood them, much
|
|
less that he was the person they spoke of.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xliii-p14">1. They remembered with regret the
|
|
barbarous cruelty wherewith they persecuted him: <i>We are verily
|
|
guilty concerning our brother.</i> We do not read that they said
|
|
this during their three days' imprisonment; but now, when the
|
|
matter had come to some issue and they saw themselves still
|
|
embarrassed, now they began to relent. Perhaps Joseph's mention of
|
|
<i>the fear of God</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 42:18" id="Gen.xliii-p14.1" parsed="|Gen|42|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.18"><i>v.</i>
|
|
18</scripRef>) put them upon consideration and extorted this
|
|
reflection. Now see here, (1.) The office of conscience; it is a
|
|
remembrancer, to bring to mind things long since said and done, to
|
|
show us wherein we have erred, though it was long ago, as the
|
|
reflection here mentioned was above twenty years after the sin was
|
|
committed. As time will not wear out the guilt of sin, so it will
|
|
not blot out the records of conscience; when the guilt of this sin
|
|
of Joseph's brethren was fresh they made light of it, and sat down
|
|
to eat bread; but now, long afterwards, their consciences reminded
|
|
them of it. (2.) The benefit of affliction; they often prove the
|
|
happy and effectual means of awakening conscience, and bringing sin
|
|
to our remembrance, <scripRef passage="Job 13:26" id="Gen.xliii-p14.2" parsed="|Job|13|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.13.26">Job xiii.
|
|
26</scripRef>. (3.) The evil of guilt concerning our brethren; of
|
|
all their sins, it was this that conscience now reproached them
|
|
for. Whenever we think we have wrong done us, we ought to remember
|
|
the wrong we have done to others, <scripRef passage="Ec 7:21,22" id="Gen.xliii-p14.3" parsed="|Eccl|7|21|7|22" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.7.21-Eccl.7.22">Eccl. vii. 21, 22</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xliii-p15">2. Reuben alone remembered, with comfort,
|
|
that he had been an advocate for his
|
|
|
|
<pb n="235" id="Gen.xliii-Page_235"/>
|
|
|
|
brother, and had done what he could to prevent the mischief they
|
|
did him (<scripRef passage="Ge 42:22" id="Gen.xliii-p15.1" parsed="|Gen|42|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>):
|
|
<i>Spoke I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child?</i>
|
|
Note, (1.) It is an aggravation of any sin that it was committed
|
|
against admonitions. (2.) When we come to share with others in
|
|
their calamities, it will be a comfort to us if we have the
|
|
testimony of our consciences for us that we did not share with them
|
|
in their iniquities, but, in our places, witnessed against them.
|
|
This shall be our rejoicing in the day of evil, and shall take out
|
|
the sting.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xliii-p16">II. Joseph's tenderness towards them upon
|
|
this occasion. He retired from them to weep, <scripRef passage="Ge 42:24" id="Gen.xliii-p16.1" parsed="|Gen|42|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. Though his reason directed that
|
|
he should still carry himself as a stranger to them, because they
|
|
were not as yet humbled enough, yet natural affection could not but
|
|
work, for he was a man of a tender spirit. This represents the
|
|
tender mercies of our God towards repenting sinners. See <scripRef passage="Jer 31:20" id="Gen.xliii-p16.2" parsed="|Jer|31|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.31.20">Jer. xxxi. 20</scripRef>, <i>Since I spoke
|
|
against him I do earnestly remember him still.</i> See <scripRef passage="Jdg 10:16" id="Gen.xliii-p16.3" parsed="|Judg|10|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.10.16">Judg. x. 16</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xliii-p17">III. The imprisonment of Simeon, <scripRef passage="Ge 42:24" id="Gen.xliii-p17.1" parsed="|Gen|42|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. He chose him for the
|
|
hostage probably because he remembered him to have been his most
|
|
bitter enemy, or because he observed him now to be least humbled
|
|
and concerned; he bound him <i>before their eyes</i> to affect them
|
|
all; or perhaps it is intimated that, though he bound him with some
|
|
severity before them, yet afterwards, when they were gone, he took
|
|
off his bonds.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xliii-p18">IV. The dismission of the rest of them.
|
|
They came for corn, and corn they had; and not only so, but every
|
|
man had his money restored in his sack's mouth. Thus Christ, our
|
|
Joseph, gives out supplies without money and without price.
|
|
Therefore the poor are invited to buy, <scripRef passage="Re 3:17,18" id="Gen.xliii-p18.1" parsed="|Rev|3|17|3|18" osisRef="Bible:Rev.3.17-Rev.3.18">Rev. iii. 17, 18</scripRef>. This put them into great
|
|
consternation (<scripRef passage="Ge 42:28" id="Gen.xliii-p18.2" parsed="|Gen|42|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.28"><i>v.</i>
|
|
28</scripRef>): <i>Their heart failed them, and they were afraid,
|
|
saying one to another, What is this that God hath done to
|
|
us?</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xliii-p19">1. It was really a merciful event; for I
|
|
hope they had no wrong done to them when they had their money given
|
|
them back, but a kindness; yet they were thus terrified by it.
|
|
Note, (1.) Guilty consciences are apt to take good providences in a
|
|
bad sense, and to put wrong constructions even upon those things
|
|
that make for them. They flee when none pursues. (2.) Wealth
|
|
sometimes brings as much care along with it as want does, and more
|
|
too. If they had been robbed of their money, they could not have
|
|
been worse frightened than they were now when they found their
|
|
money in their sacks. Thus he whose ground brought forth
|
|
plentifully said, <i>What shall I do?</i> <scripRef passage="Lu 12:17" id="Gen.xliii-p19.1" parsed="|Luke|12|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.12.17">Luke xii. 17</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xliii-p20">2. Yet in their circumstances it was very
|
|
amazing. They knew that the Egyptians abhorred a Hebrew (<scripRef passage="Ge 43:32" id="Gen.xliii-p20.1" parsed="|Gen|43|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.43.32"><i>ch.</i> xliii. 32</scripRef>), and therefore,
|
|
since they could not expect to receive any kindness from them, they
|
|
concluded that this was done with a design to pick a quarrel with
|
|
them, and the rather because the man, the lord of the land, had
|
|
charged them as spies. Their own consciences also were awake, and
|
|
their sins set in order before them; and this put them into
|
|
confusion. Note, (1.) When men's spirits are sinking every thing
|
|
helps to sink them. (2.) When the events of Providence concerning
|
|
us are surprising it is good to enquire what it is that God has
|
|
done and is doing with us, and to consider the operation of his
|
|
hands.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 42:29-38" id="Gen.xliii-p20.2" parsed="|Gen|42|29|42|38" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.29-Gen.42.38"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.42.29-Gen.42.38">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xliii-p20.3">The Report Made to Jacob. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xliii-p20.4">b. c.</span> 1706.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xliii-p21">29 And they came unto Jacob their father unto
|
|
the land of Canaan, and told him all that befell unto them; saying,
|
|
  30 The man, <i>who is</i> the lord of the land, spake
|
|
roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country.   31 And
|
|
we said unto him, We <i>are</i> true <i>men;</i> we are no spies:
|
|
  32 We <i>be</i> twelve brethren, sons of our father; one
|
|
<i>is</i> not, and the youngest <i>is</i> this day with our father
|
|
in the land of Canaan.   33 And the man, the lord of the
|
|
country, said unto us, Hereby shall I know that ye <i>are</i> true
|
|
<i>men;</i> leave one of your brethren <i>here</i> with me, and
|
|
take <i>food for</i> the famine of your households, and be gone:
|
|
  34 And bring your youngest brother unto me: then shall I
|
|
know that ye <i>are</i> no spies, but <i>that</i> ye <i>are</i>
|
|
true <i>men: so</i> will I deliver you your brother, and ye shall
|
|
traffic in the land.   35 And it came to pass as they emptied
|
|
their sacks, that, behold, every man's bundle of money <i>was</i>
|
|
in his sack: and when <i>both</i> they and their father saw the
|
|
bundles of money, they were afraid.   36 And Jacob their
|
|
father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved <i>of my children:</i>
|
|
Joseph <i>is</i> not, and Simeon <i>is</i> not, and ye will take
|
|
Benjamin <i>away:</i> all these things are against me.   37
|
|
And Reuben spake unto his father, saying, Slay my two sons, if I
|
|
bring him not to thee: deliver him into my hand, and I will bring
|
|
him to thee again.   38 And he said, My son shall not go down
|
|
with you; for his brother is dead, and he is left alone: if
|
|
mischief befal him by the way in the which ye go, then shall ye
|
|
bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xliii-p22">Here is, 1. The report which Jacob's sons
|
|
made to their father of the great distress they had been in in
|
|
Egypt; how they had been suspected, and threatened, and obliged
|
|
|
|
<pb n="236" id="Gen.xliii-Page_236"/>
|
|
|
|
to leave Simeon a prisoner there, till they
|
|
should bring Benjamin with them thither. Who would have thought of
|
|
this when they left home? When we go abroad we should consider how
|
|
many sad accidents, that we little think of, may befal us before we
|
|
return home. <i>We know not what a day may bring forth;</i> we
|
|
ought therefore to be always ready for the worst. 2. The deep
|
|
impression this made upon the good man. The very bundles of money
|
|
which Joseph returned, in kindness to his father, frightened him
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 42:35" id="Gen.xliii-p22.1" parsed="|Gen|42|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.35"><i>v.</i> 35</scripRef>); for he
|
|
concluded it was done with some mischievous design, or perhaps
|
|
suspected his own sons to have committed some offence, and so to
|
|
have run themselves into a <i>præmunire—a penalty,</i> which is
|
|
intimated in what he says (<scripRef passage="Ge 42:36" id="Gen.xliii-p22.2" parsed="|Gen|42|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.36"><i>v.</i>
|
|
36</scripRef>): <i>Me have you bereaved.</i> He seems to lay the
|
|
fault upon them; knowing their characters, he feared they had
|
|
provoked the Egyptians, and perhaps forcibly, or fraudulently,
|
|
brought home their money. Jacob is here much out of temper. (1.) He
|
|
has very melancholy apprehensions concerning the present state of
|
|
his family: <i>Joseph is not, and Simeon is not;</i> whereas Joseph
|
|
was in honour and Simeon in the way to it. Note, We often perplex
|
|
ourselves with our own mistakes, even in matters of fact. True
|
|
griefs may arise from false intelligence and suppositions,
|
|
<scripRef passage="2Sa 13:31" id="Gen.xliii-p22.3" parsed="|2Sam|13|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.13.31">2 Sam. xiii. 31</scripRef>. Jacob
|
|
gives up Joseph for gone, and Simeon and Benjamin as being in
|
|
danger; and he concludes, <i>All these things are against me.</i>
|
|
It proved otherwise, that all these were for him, were working
|
|
together for his good and the good of his family: yet here he
|
|
thinks them all against him. Note, Through our ignorance and
|
|
mistake, and the weakness of our faith, we often apprehend that to
|
|
be against us which is really for us. We are afflicted in body,
|
|
estate, name, and relations; and we think all these things are
|
|
against us, whereas these are really working for us the weight of
|
|
glory. (2.) He is at present resolved that Benjamin shall not go
|
|
down. Reuben will undertake to bring him back in safety (<scripRef passage="Ge 42:37" id="Gen.xliii-p22.4" parsed="|Gen|42|37|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.37"><i>v.</i> 37</scripRef>), not so much as putting
|
|
in, <i>If the Lord will,</i> nor expecting the common disasters of
|
|
travellers; but he foolishly bids Jacob slay his two sons (which,
|
|
it is likely, he was very proud of) if he brought him not back; as
|
|
if the death of two grandsons could satisfy Jacob for the death of
|
|
a son. No, Jacob's present thoughts are, <i>My son shall not go
|
|
down with you.</i> He plainly intimates a distrust of them,
|
|
remembering that he never saw Joseph since he had been with them;
|
|
therefore, "Benjamin shall not go with you, by the way in which you
|
|
go, for <i>you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the
|
|
grave.</i>" Note, It is bad with a family when children conduct
|
|
themselves so ill that their parents know not how to trust
|
|
them.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XLIII" n="xliv" progress="27.37%" prev="Gen.xliii" next="Gen.xlv" id="Gen.xliv">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="236" id="Gen.xliv-Page_236"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xliv-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xliv-p0.2">CHAP. XLIII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xliv-p1">Here the story of Joseph's brethren is carried on,
|
|
and very particularly related. I. Their melancholy parting with
|
|
their father Jacob in Canaan, <scripRef passage="Ge 43:1-14" id="Gen.xliv-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|43|1|43|14" osisRef="Bible:Gen.43.1-Gen.43.14">ver.
|
|
1-14</scripRef>. II. Their pleasant meeting with Joseph in Egypt,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 43:15-34" id="Gen.xliv-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|43|15|43|34" osisRef="Bible:Gen.43.15-Gen.43.34">ver. 15</scripRef>, &c. For on
|
|
this occasion nothing occurs there but what is agreeable and
|
|
pleasant.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 43" id="Gen.xliv-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|43|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.43"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 43:1-10" id="Gen.xliv-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|43|1|43|10" osisRef="Bible:Gen.43.1-Gen.43.10"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.43.1-Gen.43.10">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xliv-p1.5">Jacob Unwilling to Part with
|
|
Benjamin. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xliv-p1.6">b. c.</span> 1707.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xliv-p2">1 And the famine <i>was</i> sore in the land.
|
|
  2 And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the corn which
|
|
they had brought out of Egypt, their father said unto them, Go
|
|
again, buy us a little food.   3 And Judah spake unto him,
|
|
saying, The man did solemnly protest unto us, saying, Ye shall not
|
|
see my face, except your brother <i>be</i> with you.   4 If
|
|
thou wilt send our brother with us, we will go down and buy thee
|
|
food:   5 But if thou wilt not send <i>him,</i> we will not go
|
|
down: for the man said unto us, Ye shall not see my face, except
|
|
your brother <i>be</i> with you.   6 And Israel said,
|
|
Wherefore dealt ye <i>so</i> ill with me, <i>as</i> to tell the man
|
|
whether ye had yet a brother?   7 And they said, The man asked
|
|
us straitly of our state, and of our kindred, saying, <i>Is</i>
|
|
your father yet alive? have ye <i>another</i> brother? and we told
|
|
him according to the tenor of these words: could we certainly know
|
|
that he would say, Bring your brother down?   8 And Judah said
|
|
unto Israel his father, Send the lad with me, and we will arise and
|
|
go; that we may live, and not die, both we, and thou, <i>and</i>
|
|
also our little ones.   9 I will be surety for him; of my hand
|
|
shalt thou require him: if I bring him not unto thee, and set him
|
|
before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever:   10 For
|
|
except we had lingered, surely now we had returned this second
|
|
time.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xliv-p3">Here, 1. Jacob urges his sons to go and buy
|
|
more corn in Egypt, <scripRef passage="Ge 43:1,2" id="Gen.xliv-p3.1" parsed="|Gen|43|1|43|2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.43.1-Gen.43.2"><i>v.</i> 1,
|
|
2</scripRef>. The famine continued; and the corn they had bought
|
|
was all spent, for it is meat that perisheth. Jacob, as a good
|
|
master of a family, is in care to provide for those of his own
|
|
house food convenient; and shall not God provide for his children,
|
|
for <i>the household of faith?</i> Jacob bids them go again and buy
|
|
a <i>little</i> food; now, in time of scarcity, a little must
|
|
suffice, for nature is content with a little. 2. Judah urges him to
|
|
consent that Benjamin should go down with them, how much soever it
|
|
went against his feelings and previous determination. Note, It is
|
|
not at all inconsistent with the honour and duty which children owe
|
|
their parents humbly and modestly to advise them, and, as occasion
|
|
is, to reason with them. <i>Plead with your mother, plead,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="ho 2:2" id="Gen.xliv-p3.2" parsed="|Hos|2|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.2.2">Hos. ii. 2</scripRef>. (1.) He insists
|
|
upon the
|
|
|
|
<pb n="237" id="Gen.xliv-Page_237"/>
|
|
|
|
absolute necessity they were under
|
|
of bringing Benjamin with them, of which he, who was a witness to
|
|
all that had passed in Egypt, was a more competent judge than Jacob
|
|
could be. Joseph's protestation (<scripRef passage="Ge 43:3" id="Gen.xliv-p3.3" parsed="|Gen|43|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.43.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>) may be alluded to to show upon
|
|
what terms we must draw nigh to God; unless we bring Christ along
|
|
with us in the arms of our faith, we cannot see the face of God
|
|
with comfort. (2.) He engages to take all possible care of him, and
|
|
to do his utmost for his safety, <scripRef passage="Ge 43:8,9" id="Gen.xliv-p3.4" parsed="|Gen|43|8|43|9" osisRef="Bible:Gen.43.8-Gen.43.9"><i>v.</i> 8, 9</scripRef>. Judah's conscience had
|
|
lately smitten him for what he had done a great while ago against
|
|
Joseph (<scripRef passage="Ge 42:21" id="Gen.xliv-p3.5" parsed="|Gen|42|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.21"><i>ch.</i> xlii.
|
|
21</scripRef>); and, as an evidence of the truth of his repentance,
|
|
he is ready to undertake, as far as a man could do it, for
|
|
Benjamin's security. He will not only not wrong him, but will do
|
|
all he can to protect him. This is restitution, as far as the case
|
|
will admit; when he knew not how he could restore Joseph, he would
|
|
make some amends for the irreparable injury he had done him by
|
|
doubling his care concerning Benjamin.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 43:11-14" id="Gen.xliv-p3.6" parsed="|Gen|43|11|43|14" osisRef="Bible:Gen.43.11-Gen.43.14"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.43.11-Gen.43.14">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xliv-p3.7">Joseph's Brethren Again Sent to
|
|
Egypt. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xliv-p3.8">b. c.</span> 1707.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xliv-p4">11 And their father Israel said unto them, If
|
|
<i>it must be</i> so now, do this; take of the best fruits in the
|
|
land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little
|
|
balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds:
|
|
  12 And take double money in your hand; and the money that
|
|
was brought again in the mouth of your sacks, carry <i>it</i> again
|
|
in your hand; peradventure it <i>was</i> an oversight:   13
|
|
Take also your brother, and arise, go again unto the man:   14
|
|
And God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may send
|
|
away your other brother, and Benjamin. If I be bereaved <i>of my
|
|
children,</i> I am bereaved.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xliv-p5">Observe here, I. Jacob's persuasibleness.
|
|
He would be ruled by reason, though they were his inferiors that
|
|
urged it. He saw the necessity of the case; and, since there was no
|
|
remedy, he consented to yield to the necessity (<scripRef passage="Ge 43:11" id="Gen.xliv-p5.1" parsed="|Gen|43|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.43.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>): "<i>If it must be so now, take
|
|
your brother.</i> If no corn can be had but upon those terms, we
|
|
may as well expose him to the perils of the journey as suffer
|
|
ourselves and families, and Benjamin amongst the rest, to perish
|
|
for want of bread." <i>Skin for skin, and all that a man has,</i>
|
|
even a Benjamin, the dearest of all, <i>will he give for his
|
|
life.</i> No death so dreadful as that by famine, <scripRef passage="La 4:9" id="Gen.xliv-p5.2" parsed="|Lam|4|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.9">Lam. iv. 9</scripRef>. Jacob had said (<scripRef passage="Ge 42:38" id="Gen.xliv-p5.3" parsed="|Gen|42|38|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.38"><i>ch.</i> xlii. 38</scripRef>), <i>My son shall
|
|
not go down;</i> but now he is over-persuaded to consent. Note, It
|
|
is no fault, but our wisdom and duty, to alter our purposes and
|
|
resolutions when there is a good reason for our so doing. Constancy
|
|
is a virtue, but obstinacy is not. It is God's prerogative not to
|
|
repent, and to make unchangeable resolves.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xliv-p6">II. Jacob's prudence and justice, which
|
|
appeared in three things:—1. He sent back the money which they had
|
|
found in the sacks' mouths, with this discreet construction of it,
|
|
<i>Peradventure it was an oversight.</i> Note, Honesty obliges us
|
|
to make restitution, not only of that which comes to us by our own
|
|
fault, but of that which comes to us by the mistakes of others.
|
|
Though we get it by oversight, if we keep it when the oversight is
|
|
discovered, it is kept by deceit. In the stating of accounts,
|
|
errors must be excepted, even those that make for us as well as
|
|
those that make against us. Jacob's words furnish us with a
|
|
favourable construction to put upon that which we are tempted to
|
|
resent as an injury and affront; pass it by, and say,
|
|
<i>Peradventure it was an oversight.</i> 2. He sent double money,
|
|
as much again as they took the time before, upon supposition that
|
|
the price of corn might have risen,—or that if it should be
|
|
insisted upon they might pay a ransom for Simeon, or his
|
|
prison-fees,—or to show a generous spirit, that they might be the
|
|
more likely to find generous treatment with <i>the man, the lord of
|
|
the land.</i> 3. He sent a present of such things as the land
|
|
afforded, and as were scarce in Egypt—<i>balm and honey,
|
|
&c.</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 43:11" id="Gen.xliv-p6.1" parsed="|Gen|43|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.43.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>),
|
|
the commodities that Canaan exported, <scripRef passage="Ge 37:25" id="Gen.xliv-p6.2" parsed="|Gen|37|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.25"><i>ch.</i> xxxvii. 25</scripRef>. Note, (1.) Providence
|
|
dispenses its gifts variously. Some countries produce one
|
|
commodity, others another, that commerce may be preserved. (2.)
|
|
Honey and spice will never make up the want of bread-corn. The
|
|
famine was sore in Canaan, and yet they had balm and myrrh, &c.
|
|
We may live well enough upon plain food without dainties; but we
|
|
cannot live upon dainties without plain food. Let us thank God that
|
|
that which is most needful and useful is generally most cheap and
|
|
common. (3.) A <i>gift in secret pacifies wrath,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 21:14" id="Gen.xliv-p6.3" parsed="|Prov|21|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.21.14">Prov. xxi. 14</scripRef>. Jacob's sons were
|
|
unjustly accused as spies, yet Jacob was willing to be at the
|
|
expense of a present, to pacify the accuser. Sometimes we must not
|
|
think it too much to buy peace even where we may justly demand it,
|
|
and insist upon it as our right.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xliv-p7">III. Jacob's piety appearing in his prayer:
|
|
<i>God Almighty give you mercy before the man!</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 43:14" id="Gen.xliv-p7.1" parsed="|Gen|43|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.43.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. Jacob had formerly
|
|
turned an angry brother into a kind one with a present and a
|
|
prayer; and here he betakes himself to the same tried method, and
|
|
it sped well. Note, Those that would find mercy with men must seek
|
|
it of God, who has all hearts in his hands, and turns them as he
|
|
pleases.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xliv-p8">IV. Jacob's patience. He concludes all with
|
|
this: "<i>If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved;</i> If I
|
|
must part with them thus one after another, I must acquiesce, and
|
|
say, <i>The will of the Lord be done.</i>" Note, It is our wisdom
|
|
to reconcile ourselves to the sorest afflictions, and make the best
|
|
of
|
|
|
|
<pb n="238" id="Gen.xliv-Page_238"/>
|
|
|
|
them; for there is nothing got by
|
|
striving with our Maker, <scripRef passage="2Sa 15:25,26" id="Gen.xliv-p8.1" parsed="|2Sam|15|25|15|26" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.15.25-2Sam.15.26">2 Sam.
|
|
xv. 25, 26</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 43:15-25" id="Gen.xliv-p8.2" parsed="|Gen|43|15|43|25" osisRef="Bible:Gen.43.15-Gen.43.25"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.43.15-Gen.43.25">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xliv-p8.3">Joseph Entertains His
|
|
Brethren. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xliv-p8.4">b. c.</span> 1707.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xliv-p9">15 And the men took that present, and they took
|
|
double money in their hand, and Benjamin; and rose up, and went
|
|
down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph.   16 And when Joseph
|
|
saw Benjamin with them, he said to the ruler of his house, Bring
|
|
<i>these</i> men home, and slay, and make ready; for <i>these</i>
|
|
men shall dine with me at noon.   17 And the man did as Joseph
|
|
bade; and the man brought the men into Joseph's house.   18
|
|
And the men were afraid, because they were brought into Joseph's
|
|
house; and they said, Because of the money that was returned in our
|
|
sacks at the first time are we brought in; that he may seek
|
|
occasion against us, and fall upon us, and take us for bondmen, and
|
|
our asses.   19 And they came near to the steward of Joseph's
|
|
house, and they communed with him at the door of the house,  
|
|
20 And said, O sir, we came indeed down at the first time to buy
|
|
food:   21 And it came to pass, when we came to the inn, that
|
|
we opened our sacks, and, behold, <i>every</i> man's money
|
|
<i>was</i> in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight: and
|
|
we have brought it again in our hand.   22 And other money
|
|
have we brought down in our hands to buy food: we cannot tell who
|
|
put our money in our sacks.   23 And he said, Peace <i>be</i>
|
|
to you, fear not: your God, and the God of your father, hath given
|
|
you treasure in your sacks: I had your money. And he brought Simeon
|
|
out unto them.   24 And the man brought the men into Joseph's
|
|
house, and gave <i>them</i> water, and they washed their feet; and
|
|
he gave their asses provender.   25 And they made ready the
|
|
present against Joseph came at noon: for they heard that they
|
|
should eat bread there.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xliv-p10">Jacob's sons, having got leave to take
|
|
Benjamin with them, were observant of the orders their father had
|
|
given them, and went down the second time into Egypt to buy corn.
|
|
If we should ever know what a famine of the word means, let us not
|
|
think it much to travel as far for spiritual food as they did for
|
|
corporal food. Now here we have an account of what passed between
|
|
them and Joseph's steward, who, some conjecture, was in the secret,
|
|
and knew them to be Joseph's brethren, and helped to humour the
|
|
thing; I rather think not, because no man was permitted to be
|
|
present when Joseph afterwards made himself known to them,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 45:1" id="Gen.xliv-p10.1" parsed="|Gen|45|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.45.1"><i>ch.</i> xlv. 1</scripRef>. Observe,
|
|
1. Joseph's steward has orders from his master (who was busy
|
|
selling corn, and receiving money) to take them to his house, and
|
|
make ready for their entertainment. Though Joseph saw Benjamin
|
|
there, he would not leave his work at working-time, nor trust
|
|
another with it. Note, Business must take place of civility in its
|
|
season. Our needful employments must not be neglected, no, not to
|
|
pay respect to our friends. 2. Even this frightened them: <i>They
|
|
were afraid, because they were brought into Joseph's house,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 43:18" id="Gen.xliv-p10.2" parsed="|Gen|43|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.43.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. The just
|
|
challenges of their own consciences, and Joseph's violent
|
|
suspicions of them, forbade them to expect any favour, and
|
|
suggested to them that this was done with a bad design upon them.
|
|
Note, Those that are guilty and timorous are apt to make the worst
|
|
of every thing. Now they thought they should be reckoned with about
|
|
the money in the sacks' mouths, and should be charged as cheats,
|
|
and men not fit to be dealt with, who had taken advantage of the
|
|
hurry of the market to carry off their corn unpaid for. They
|
|
therefore laid the case before the steward, that he, being apprized
|
|
of it, might stand between them and danger; and, as a substantial
|
|
proof of their honesty, before they were charged with taking back
|
|
their money they produced it. Note, Integrity and uprightness will
|
|
preserve us, and will clear themselves as the light of the morning.
|
|
3. The steward encouraged them (<scripRef passage="Ge 43:23" id="Gen.xliv-p10.3" parsed="|Gen|43|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.43.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>): <i>Peace be to you, fear
|
|
not;</i> though he knew not what his master drove at, yet he was
|
|
aware these were men whom he meant no harm to, while he thus amused
|
|
them; and therefore he directs them to look at the divine
|
|
Providence in the return of their money: <i>Your God, and the God
|
|
of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks.</i> Observe,
|
|
(1.) Hereby he shows that he had no suspicion at all of dishonesty
|
|
in them: for of what we get by deceit we cannot say, "God gives it
|
|
to us." (2.) Hereby he silences their further enquiry about it.
|
|
"Ask not how it came thither; Providence brought it to you, and let
|
|
that satisfy you." (3.) It appears by what he said that, by his
|
|
good master's instructions, he was brought to the knowledge of the
|
|
true God, the God of the Hebrews. It may justly be expected that
|
|
those who are servants in religious families should take all fit
|
|
occasions to speak of God and his providence with reverence and
|
|
seriousness. (4.) He directs them to look up to God, and
|
|
acknowledge his providence in the good bargain they had. We must
|
|
own ourselves indebted to God, as <i>our God and the God of our
|
|
fathers</i> (a God in covenant with
|
|
|
|
<pb n="239" id="Gen.xliv-Page_239"/>
|
|
|
|
us and
|
|
them) for all our successes and advantages, and the kindnesses of
|
|
our friends; for every creature is that to us, and no more, which
|
|
God makes it to be. The steward encouraged them, not only in words
|
|
but in deeds; for he made very much of them till his master came,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 43:24" id="Gen.xliv-p10.4" parsed="|Gen|43|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.43.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 43:26-34" id="Gen.xliv-p10.5" parsed="|Gen|43|26|43|34" osisRef="Bible:Gen.43.26-Gen.43.34"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.43.26-Gen.43.34">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xliv-p11">26 And when Joseph came home, they brought him
|
|
the present which <i>was</i> in their hand into the house, and
|
|
bowed themselves to him to the earth.   27 And he asked them
|
|
of <i>their</i> welfare, and said, <i>Is</i> your father well, the
|
|
old man of whom ye spake? <i>Is</i> he yet alive?   28 And
|
|
they answered, Thy servant our father <i>is</i> in good health, he
|
|
<i>is</i> yet alive. And they bowed down their heads, and made
|
|
obeisance.   29 And he lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother
|
|
Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, <i>Is</i> this your younger
|
|
brother, of whom ye spake unto me? And he said, God be gracious
|
|
unto thee, my son.   30 And Joseph made haste; for his bowels
|
|
did yearn upon his brother: and he sought <i>where</i> to weep; and
|
|
he entered into <i>his</i> chamber, and wept there.   31 And
|
|
he washed his face, and went out, and refrained himself, and said,
|
|
Set on bread.   32 And they set on for him by himself, and for
|
|
them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, which did eat with him,
|
|
by themselves: because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the
|
|
Hebrews; for that <i>is</i> an abomination unto the Egyptians.
|
|
  33 And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his
|
|
birthright, and the youngest according to his youth: and the men
|
|
marvelled one at another.   34 And he took <i>and sent</i>
|
|
messes unto them from before him: but Benjamin's mess was five
|
|
times so much as any of theirs. And they drank, and were merry with
|
|
him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xliv-p12">Here is, I. The great respect that Joseph's
|
|
brethren paid to him. When they brought him the present, <i>they
|
|
bowed themselves before him</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 43:26" id="Gen.xliv-p12.1" parsed="|Gen|43|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.43.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>); and again, when they gave him
|
|
an account of their father's health, <i>they made obeisance,</i>
|
|
and called him, <i>Thy servant our father,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 43:28" id="Gen.xliv-p12.2" parsed="|Gen|43|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.43.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>. Thus were Joseph's dreams
|
|
fulfilled more and more: and even the father, by the sons, <i>bowed
|
|
before him,</i> according to the dream, <scripRef passage="Ge 37:10" id="Gen.xliv-p12.3" parsed="|Gen|37|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.10"><i>ch.</i> xxxvii. 10</scripRef>. Probably Jacob had
|
|
directed them, if they had occasion to speak of him to <i>the man,
|
|
the lord of the land,</i> to call him <i>his servant.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xliv-p13">II. The great kindness that Joseph showed
|
|
to them, while they little thought it was a brotherly kindness.
|
|
Here is,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xliv-p14">1. His kind enquiry concerning Jacob: <i>Is
|
|
he yet alive?</i>—a very fit question to be asked concerning any,
|
|
especially concerning old people; for we are dying daily: it is
|
|
strange that we are <i>yet alive.</i> Jacob had said many years
|
|
before, <i>I will go to the grave to my son;</i> but <i>he is yet
|
|
alive:</i> we must not die when we will.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xliv-p15">2. The kind notice he took of Benjamin, his
|
|
own brother. (1.) He put up a prayer for him: <i>God be gracious
|
|
unto thee, my son,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 43:29" id="Gen.xliv-p15.1" parsed="|Gen|43|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.43.29"><i>v.</i>
|
|
29</scripRef>. Joseph's favour, though he was the lord of the land,
|
|
would do him little good, unless God were gracious to him. Many
|
|
seek the ruler's favour, but Joseph directs him to seek the favour
|
|
of the ruler of rulers. (2.) He shed some tears for him, <scripRef passage="Ge 43:30" id="Gen.xliv-p15.2" parsed="|Gen|43|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.43.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>. His natural affection
|
|
to his brother, his joy to see him, his concern at seeing him and
|
|
the rest of them in distress for bread, and the remembrance of his
|
|
own griefs since he last saw him, produced a great agitation in
|
|
him, which perhaps was the more uneasy because he endeavoured to
|
|
stifle and suppress it; but he was forced to retire into his
|
|
closet, there to give vent to his feeling by tears. Note, [1.]
|
|
Tears of tenderness and affection are no disparagement at all, even
|
|
to great and wise men. [2.] Gracious weepers should not proclaim
|
|
their tears. <i>My soul shall weep in secret,</i> says the prophet,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Jer 13:17" id="Gen.xliv-p15.3" parsed="|Jer|13|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.13.17">Jer. xiii. 17</scripRef>. <i>Peter
|
|
went out and wept bitterly.</i> See <scripRef passage="Mt 26:75" id="Gen.xliv-p15.4" parsed="|Matt|26|75|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.26.75">Matt. xxvi. 75</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xliv-p16">3. His kind entertainment of them all. When
|
|
his weeping had subsided so that he could refrain himself, he sat
|
|
down to dinner with them, treated them nobly, and yet contrived
|
|
every thing to amuse them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xliv-p17">(1.) He ordered three tables to be spread,
|
|
one for his brethren, another for the Egyptians that dined with him
|
|
(for so different were their customs that they did not care to eat
|
|
together), another for himself, who durst not own himself a Hebrew,
|
|
and yet would not sit with the Egyptians. See here an instance,
|
|
[1.] Of hospitality and good house-keeping, which are very
|
|
commendable, according as the ability is. [2.] Of compliance with
|
|
people's humours, even whimsical ones, as bishop Patrick calls this
|
|
of the Egyptians not eating with the Hebrews. Though Joseph was the
|
|
lord of the land, and orders were given that all people should obey
|
|
him, yet he would not force the Egyptians to eat with the Hebrews,
|
|
against their minds, but let them enjoy their humours. Spirits
|
|
truly generous hate to impose. [3.] Of the early distance between
|
|
Jews and Gentiles; one table would not hold them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xliv-p18">(2.) He placed his brethren according to
|
|
their seniority (<scripRef passage="Ge 43:33" id="Gen.xliv-p18.1" parsed="|Gen|43|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.43.33"><i>v.</i>
|
|
33</scripRef>), as if he <i>could certainly divine.</i> Some think
|
|
they placed themselves so, according to their custom; but, if so, I
|
|
see not why such particular notice is taken of it, especially as a
|
|
thing they marvelled at.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xliv-p19">(3.) He gave them a very plentiful
|
|
|
|
<pb n="240" id="Gen.xliv-Page_240"/>
|
|
|
|
entertainment, sent messes to them from his own
|
|
table, <scripRef passage="Ge 43:34" id="Gen.xliv-p19.1" parsed="|Gen|43|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.43.34"><i>v.</i> 34</scripRef>. This
|
|
was the more generous in him, and the more obliging to them,
|
|
because of the present scarcity of provisions. In a day of famine,
|
|
it is enough to be fed; but here they were feasted. Perhaps they
|
|
had not had such a good dinner for many months. It is said, <i>They
|
|
drank and were merry;</i> their cares and fears were now over, and
|
|
they ate their bread with joy, concluding they were now upon good
|
|
terms with the man, the lord of the land. If God accept our works,
|
|
<i>our present,</i> we have reason to be cheerful. Yet when we sit,
|
|
as they here did, to eat with a ruler, we should consider what is
|
|
before us, and not indulge our appetite, nor be desirous of
|
|
dainties, <scripRef passage="Pr 23:1-3" id="Gen.xliv-p19.2" parsed="|Prov|23|1|23|3" osisRef="Bible:Prov.23.1-Prov.23.3">Prov. xxiii.
|
|
1-3</scripRef>. Joseph gave them to understand that Benjamin was
|
|
his favourite; for his mess was <i>five times as much as any of
|
|
theirs,</i> not as if he would have him eat so much more than the
|
|
rest, for then he must eat more than would do him good (and it is
|
|
no act of friendship, but rather an injury and unkindness, to press
|
|
any either to eat or drink to excess), but thus he would testify
|
|
his particular respect for him, that he might try whether his
|
|
brethren would envy Benjamin his larger messes, as formerly they
|
|
had envied himself his finer coat. And it must be our rule, in such
|
|
cases, to be content with what we have, and not to grieve at what
|
|
others have.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XLIV" n="xlv" progress="27.77%" prev="Gen.xliv" next="Gen.xlvi" id="Gen.xlv">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="240" id="Gen.xlv-Page_240"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xlv-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xlv-p0.2">CHAP. XLIV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xlv-p1">Joseph, having entertained his brethren, dismissed
|
|
them; but here we have them brought back in a greater fright than
|
|
any they had been in yet. Observe, I. What method he took both to
|
|
humble them further and also to try their affection to his brother
|
|
Benjamin, by which he would be able to judge of the sincerity of
|
|
their repentance for what they had done against himself, of which
|
|
he was desirous to be satisfied before he manifested his
|
|
reconciliation to them. This he contrived to do by bringing
|
|
Benjamin into distress, <scripRef passage="Ge 44:1-17" id="Gen.xlv-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|44|1|44|17" osisRef="Bible:Gen.44.1-Gen.44.17">ver.
|
|
1-17</scripRef>. II. The good success of the experiment; he found
|
|
them all heartily concerned, and Judah particularly, both for the
|
|
safety of Benjamin and for the comfort of their aged father,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 44:18-34" id="Gen.xlv-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|44|18|44|34" osisRef="Bible:Gen.44.18-Gen.44.34">ver. 18</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 44" id="Gen.xlv-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|44|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.44"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 44:1-17" id="Gen.xlv-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|44|1|44|17" osisRef="Bible:Gen.44.1-Gen.44.17"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.44.1-Gen.44.17">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xlv-p1.5">Joseph's Policy. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xlv-p1.6">b. c.</span> 1707.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xlv-p2">1 And he commanded the steward of his house,
|
|
saying, Fill the men's sacks <i>with</i> food, as much as they can
|
|
carry, and put every man's money in his sack's mouth.   2 And
|
|
put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack's mouth of the youngest,
|
|
and his corn money. And he did according to the word that Joseph
|
|
had spoken.   3 As soon as the morning was light, the men were
|
|
sent away, they and their asses.   4 <i>And</i> when they were
|
|
gone out of the city, <i>and</i> not <i>yet</i> far off, Joseph
|
|
said unto his steward, Up, follow after the men; and when thou dost
|
|
overtake them, say unto them, Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for
|
|
good?   5 <i>Is</i> not this <i>it</i> in which my lord
|
|
drinketh, and whereby indeed he divineth? ye have done evil in so
|
|
doing.   6 And he overtook them, and he spake unto them these
|
|
same words.   7 And they said unto him, Wherefore saith my
|
|
lord these words? God forbid that thy servants should do according
|
|
to this thing:   8 Behold, the money, which we found in our
|
|
sacks' mouths, we brought again unto thee out of the land of
|
|
Canaan: how then should we steal out of thy lord's house silver or
|
|
gold?   9 With whomsoever of thy servants it be found, both
|
|
let him die, and we also will be my lord's bondmen.   10 And
|
|
he said, Now also <i>let</i> it <i>be</i> according unto your
|
|
words: he with whom it is found shall be my servant; and ye shall
|
|
be blameless.   11 Then they speedily took down every man his
|
|
sack to the ground, and opened every man his sack.   12 And he
|
|
searched, <i>and</i> began at the eldest, and left at the youngest:
|
|
and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack.   13 Then they rent
|
|
their clothes, and laded every man his ass, and returned to the
|
|
city.   14 And Judah and his brethren came to Joseph's house;
|
|
for he <i>was</i> yet there: and they fell before him on the
|
|
ground.   15 And Joseph said unto them, What deed <i>is</i>
|
|
this that ye have done? wot ye not that such a man as I can
|
|
certainly divine?   16 And Judah said, What shall we say unto
|
|
my lord? what shall we speak? or how shall we clear ourselves? God
|
|
hath found out the iniquity of thy servants: behold, we <i>are</i>
|
|
my lord's servants, both we, and <i>he</i> also with whom the cup
|
|
is found.   17 And he said, God forbid that I should do so:
|
|
<i>but</i> the man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my
|
|
servant; and as for you, get you up in peace unto your father.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlv-p3">Joseph heaps further kindnesses upon his
|
|
brethren, fills their sacks, returns their money, and sends them
|
|
away full of gladness; but he also exercises them with further
|
|
trials. Our God thus humbles those whom he loves and loads with
|
|
benefits. Joseph ordered his steward to put a fine silver cup which
|
|
he had (and which, it is likely, was used at his table when they
|
|
dined with him) into Benjamin's sack's mouth, that it might seem as
|
|
if he had stolen it from the table, and put it here himself, after
|
|
his corn was delivered to him. If Benjamin had stolen it, it had
|
|
been the basest piece of dishonesty and ingratitude that could be
|
|
|
|
<pb n="241" id="Gen.xlv-Page_241"/>
|
|
|
|
and if Joseph, by ordering it to be there,
|
|
had designed really to take advantage against him, it had been in
|
|
him most horrid cruelty and oppression; but it proved, in the
|
|
issue, that there was no harm done, nor any designed, on either
|
|
side. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlv-p4">I. How the pretended criminals were pursued
|
|
and arrested, on suspicion of having stolen a silver cup. The
|
|
steward charged them with ingratitude—rewarding evil for good; and
|
|
with folly, in taking away a cup of daily use, and which therefore
|
|
would soon be missed, and diligent search made for it; for so it
|
|
may be read: <i>Is not this it in which my lord drinketh</i> (as
|
|
having a particular fondness for it), <i>and for which he would
|
|
search thoroughly?</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 44:5" id="Gen.xlv-p4.1" parsed="|Gen|44|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.44.5"><i>v.</i>
|
|
5</scripRef>. Or, "By which, leaving it carelessly at your table,
|
|
he would make trial whether you were honest men or no."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlv-p5">II. How they pleaded for themselves. They
|
|
solemnly protested their innocence, and detestation of so base a
|
|
thing (<scripRef passage="Ge 44:7" id="Gen.xlv-p5.1" parsed="|Gen|44|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.44.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>), urged
|
|
it as an instance of their honesty that they had brought their
|
|
money back (<scripRef passage="Ge 44:8" id="Gen.xlv-p5.2" parsed="|Gen|44|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.44.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>),
|
|
and offered to submit to the severest punishment if they should be
|
|
found guilty, <scripRef passage="Ge 44:9,10" id="Gen.xlv-p5.3" parsed="|Gen|44|9|44|10" osisRef="Bible:Gen.44.9-Gen.44.10"><i>v.</i> 9,
|
|
10</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlv-p6">III. How the theft was fastened upon
|
|
Benjamin. In his sack the cup was found to whom Joseph had been
|
|
particularly kind. Benjamin, no doubt, was ready to deny, upon
|
|
oath, the taking of the cup, and we may suppose him as little
|
|
liable to suspicion as any of them; but it is in vain to confront
|
|
such notorious evidence: the cup is found in his custody; they dare
|
|
not arraign Joseph's justice, nor so much as suggest that perhaps
|
|
he that had put their money in their sacks' mouths had put the cup
|
|
there; but they throw themselves upon Joseph's mercy. And,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlv-p7">IV. Here is their humble submission,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 44:16" id="Gen.xlv-p7.1" parsed="|Gen|44|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.44.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. 1. They
|
|
acknowledge the righteousness of God: <i>God hath found out the
|
|
iniquity of thy servants,</i> perhaps referring to the injury they
|
|
had formerly done to Joseph, for which they thought God was now
|
|
reckoning with them. Note, Even in those afflictions wherein we
|
|
apprehend ourselves wronged by men yet we must own that God is
|
|
righteous, and finds out our iniquity. 2. They surrender themselves
|
|
prisoners to Joseph: <i>We are my lord's servants.</i> Now Joseph's
|
|
dreams were accomplished to the utmost. Their bowing so often, and
|
|
doing homage, might be looked upon but as a compliment, and no more
|
|
than what other strangers did; but the construction they
|
|
themselves, in their pride, had put upon his dreams was, <i>Shalt
|
|
though have dominion over us?</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 37:8" id="Gen.xlv-p7.2" parsed="|Gen|37|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.8"><i>ch.</i> xxxvii. 8</scripRef>), and in this sense it is
|
|
now at length fulfilled,; they own themselves his vassals. Since
|
|
they did invidiously so understand it, so it shall be fulfilled in
|
|
them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlv-p8">V. Joseph, with an air of justice, gives
|
|
sentence that Benjamin only should be kept in bondage, and the rest
|
|
should be dismissed; for why should any suffer but the guilty?
|
|
Perhaps Joseph intended hereby to try Benjamin's temper, whether he
|
|
could bear such a hardship as this with the calmness and composure
|
|
of mind that became a wise and good man: in short, whether he was
|
|
indeed his own brother, in <i>spirit</i> as well as <i>blood;</i>
|
|
for Joseph himself had been falsely accused, and had suffered hard
|
|
things in consequence, and yet kept possession of his own soul.
|
|
However, it is plain he intended hereby to try the affection of his
|
|
brethren to Benjamin and to their father. If they had gone away
|
|
contentedly, and left Benjamin in bonds, no doubt Joseph would soon
|
|
have released and promoted him, and sent notice to Jacob, and would
|
|
have left the rest of his brethren justly to suffer for their
|
|
hard-heartedness; but they proved to be better affected to Benjamin
|
|
than he feared. Note, We cannot judge what men are by what they
|
|
have been formerly, nor what they will do by what they have done:
|
|
age and experience may make men wiser and better. Those that had
|
|
sold Joseph would not now abandon Benjamin. The worst may mend in
|
|
time.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 44:18-34" id="Gen.xlv-p8.1" parsed="|Gen|44|18|44|34" osisRef="Bible:Gen.44.18-Gen.44.34"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.44.18-Gen.44.34">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xlv-p8.2">Judah's Appeal on Behalf of
|
|
Benjamin. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xlv-p8.3">b. c.</span> 1707.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xlv-p9">18 Then Judah came near unto him, and said, Oh
|
|
my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my lord's
|
|
ears, and let not thine anger burn against thy servant: for thou
|
|
<i>art</i> even as Pharaoh.   19 My lord asked his servants,
|
|
saying, Have ye a father, or a brother?   20 And we said unto
|
|
my lord, We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age,
|
|
a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his
|
|
mother, and his father loveth him.   21 And thou saidst unto
|
|
thy servants, Bring him down unto me, that I may set mine eyes upon
|
|
him.   22 And we said unto my lord, The lad cannot leave his
|
|
father: for <i>if</i> he should leave his father, <i>his father</i>
|
|
would die.   23 And thou saidst unto thy servants, Except your
|
|
youngest brother come down with you, ye shall see my face no more.
|
|
  24 And it came to pass when we came up unto thy servant my
|
|
father, we told him the words of my lord.   25 And our father
|
|
said, Go again, <i>and</i> buy us a little food.   26 And we
|
|
said, We cannot go down: if our youngest brother be with us, then
|
|
will we go down: for we may not see the man's face, except our
|
|
youngest brother <i>be</i> with us.   27 And thy servant my
|
|
father said unto us, Ye know that my wife bare me two <i>sons:</i>
|
|
  28 And the one went
|
|
|
|
<pb n="242" id="Gen.xlv-Page_242"/>
|
|
|
|
out from me, and
|
|
I said, Surely he is torn in pieces; and I saw him not since:
|
|
  29 And if ye take this also from me, and mischief befall
|
|
him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.
|
|
  30 Now therefore when I come to thy servant my father, and
|
|
the lad <i>be</i> not with us; seeing that his life is bound up in
|
|
the lad's life;   31 It shall come to pass, when he seeth that
|
|
the lad <i>is</i> not <i>with us,</i> that he will die: and thy
|
|
servants shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our father
|
|
with sorrow to the grave.   32 For thy servant became surety
|
|
for the lad unto my father, saying, If I bring him not unto thee,
|
|
then I shall bear the blame to my father for ever.   33 Now
|
|
therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad a
|
|
bondman to my lord; and let the lad go up with his brethren.  
|
|
34 For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad <i>be</i> not
|
|
with me? lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my
|
|
father.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlv-p10">We have here a most ingenious and pathetic
|
|
speech which Judah made to Joseph on Benjamin's behalf, to obtain
|
|
his discharge from the sentence passed upon him. Perhaps Judah was
|
|
a better friend to Benjamin than the rest were, and more solicitous
|
|
to bring him off; or he thought himself under greater obligations
|
|
to attempt it than the rest, because he had passed his word to his
|
|
father for his safe return; or the rest chose him for their
|
|
spokesman, because he was a man of better sense, and better spirit,
|
|
and had a greater command of language than any of them. His
|
|
address, as it is here recorded, is so very natural and so
|
|
expressive of his present feelings that we cannot but suppose
|
|
Moses, who wrote it so long after, to have written it under the
|
|
special direction of him that made man's mouth.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlv-p11">I. A great deal of unaffected art, and
|
|
unstudied unforced rhetoric, there is in this speech. 1. He
|
|
addresses himself to Joseph with a great deal of respect and
|
|
deference, calls him his <i>lord,</i> himself and his brethren his
|
|
<i>servants,</i> begs his patient hearing, and ascribes sovereign
|
|
authority to him: "<i>Thou art even as Pharaoh,</i> one whose
|
|
favour we desire and whose wrath we dread as we do Pharaoh's."
|
|
Religion does not destroy good manners, and it is prudence to speak
|
|
respectfully to those at whose mercy we lie: titles of honour to
|
|
those that are entitled to them are not flattering titles. 2. He
|
|
represented Benjamin as one well worthy of his compassionate
|
|
consideration (<scripRef passage="Ge 44:20" id="Gen.xlv-p11.1" parsed="|Gen|44|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.44.20"><i>v.</i>
|
|
20</scripRef>); he was <i>a little one,</i> compared with the rest
|
|
of them; the youngest, not acquainted with the world, nor ever
|
|
inured to hardship, having always been brought up tenderly with his
|
|
father. It made the case the more pitiable that he alone was left
|
|
of his mother, and his brother was dead, namely, <i>Joseph.</i>
|
|
Little did Judah think what a tender point he touched upon now.
|
|
Judah knew that Joseph was sold, and therefore had reason enough to
|
|
think that he was alive; at least he could not be sure that he was
|
|
dead: but they had made their father believe he was dead; and now
|
|
they had told that lie so long that they had forgotten the truth,
|
|
and begun to believe the lie themselves. 3. He urged it very
|
|
closely that Joseph had himself constrained them to bring Benjamin
|
|
with them, had expressed a desire to see him (<scripRef passage="Ge 44:21" id="Gen.xlv-p11.2" parsed="|Gen|44|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.44.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>), and had forbidden them his
|
|
presence unless they brought Benjamin with them (<scripRef passage="Ge 44:23,26" id="Gen.xlv-p11.3" parsed="|Gen|44|23|0|0;|Gen|44|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.44.23 Bible:Gen.44.26"><i>v.</i> 23, 26</scripRef>), all which intimated
|
|
that he designed him some kindness; and must he be brought with so
|
|
much difficulty to the preferment of a perpetual slavery? Was he
|
|
not brought to Egypt, in obedience, purely in obedience, to the
|
|
command of Joseph? and would he not show him some mercy? Some
|
|
observe that Jacob's sons, in reasoning with their father, had
|
|
said, <i>We will not go down unless Benjamin go with us</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 43:5" id="Gen.xlv-p11.4" parsed="|Gen|43|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.43.5"><i>ch.</i> xliii. 5</scripRef>); but
|
|
that when Judah comes to relate the story he expresses it more
|
|
decently: "<i>We cannot go down</i> with any expectation to speed
|
|
well." Indecent words spoken in haste to our superiors should be
|
|
recalled and amended. 4. The great argument he insisted upon was
|
|
the insupportable grief it would be to his aged father if Benjamin
|
|
should be left behind in servitude: <i>His father loveth him,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 44:20" id="Gen.xlv-p11.5" parsed="|Gen|44|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.44.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. This they had
|
|
pleaded against Joseph's insisting on his coming down (<scripRef passage="Ge 44:22" id="Gen.xlv-p11.6" parsed="|Gen|44|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.44.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>): "<i>If he should leave
|
|
his father, his father would die;</i> much more if now he be left
|
|
behind, never more to return to him." This the old man, of whom
|
|
they spoke, had pleaded against his going down: <i>If mischief
|
|
befal him, you shall bring down my gray hairs,</i> that crown of
|
|
glory, <i>with sorrow to the grave,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 44:29" id="Gen.xlv-p11.7" parsed="|Gen|44|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.44.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>. This therefore Judah presses
|
|
with a great deal of earnestness: "<i>His life is bound up in the
|
|
lad's life</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 44:30" id="Gen.xlv-p11.8" parsed="|Gen|44|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.44.30"><i>v.</i>
|
|
30</scripRef>); when he sees that the lad is not with us, he will
|
|
faint away, and die immediately (<scripRef passage="Ge 44:31" id="Gen.xlv-p11.9" parsed="|Gen|44|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.44.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>), or will abandon himself to
|
|
such a degree of sorrow as will, in a few days, make an end of
|
|
him." And, <i>lastly,</i> Judah pleads that, for his part, he could
|
|
not bear to see this: <i>Let me not see the evil that shall come on
|
|
my father,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 44:34" id="Gen.xlv-p11.10" parsed="|Gen|44|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.44.34"><i>v.</i>
|
|
34</scripRef>. Note, It is the duty of children to be very tender
|
|
of their parents' comfort, and to be afraid of every thing that may
|
|
be an occasion of grief to them. Thus the love that descended first
|
|
must again ascend, and something must be done towards a recompense
|
|
for their care. 5. Judah, in honour to the justice of Joseph's
|
|
sentence, and to show his sincerity in this
|
|
|
|
<pb n="243" id="Gen.xlv-Page_243"/>
|
|
|
|
plea, offers himself to become a bondsman instead of Benjamin,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 44:33" id="Gen.xlv-p11.11" parsed="|Gen|44|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.44.33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>. Thus the law
|
|
would be satisfied; Joseph would be no loser (for we may suppose
|
|
Judah a more able-bodied man than Benjamin, and fitter for
|
|
service); and Jacob would better bear the loss of him than of
|
|
Benjamin. Now, so far was he from grieving at his father's
|
|
particular fondness for Benjamin, that he was himself willing to be
|
|
a bondman to indulge it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlv-p12">Now, had Joseph been, as Judah supposed
|
|
him, an utter stranger to the family, yet even common humanity
|
|
could not but be wrought upon by such powerful reasonings as these;
|
|
for nothing could be said more moving, more tender; it was enough
|
|
to melt a heart of stone. But to Joseph, who was nearer akin to
|
|
Benjamin than Judah himself was, and who, at this time, felt a
|
|
greater affection both for him and his aged father than Judah did,
|
|
nothing could be more pleasingly nor more happily said. Neither
|
|
Jacob nor Benjamin needed an intercessor with Joseph; for he
|
|
himself loved them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlv-p13">II. Upon the whole matter let us take
|
|
notice, 1. How prudently Judah suppressed all mention of the crime
|
|
that was charged upon Benjamin. Had he said any thing by way of
|
|
acknowledgment of it, he would have reflected on Benjamin's
|
|
honesty, and seemed too forward to suspect that; had he said any
|
|
thing by way of denial of it, he would have reflected on Joseph's
|
|
justice, and the sentence he had passed: therefore he wholly waives
|
|
that head, and appeals to Joseph's pity. Compare with this that of
|
|
Job, in humbling himself before God (<scripRef passage="Job 9:15" id="Gen.xlv-p13.1" parsed="|Job|9|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.15">Job ix. 15</scripRef>), <i>Though I were righteous, yet
|
|
would I not answer;</i> I would not argue, but petition; <i>I would
|
|
make supplication to my Judge.</i> 2. What good reason dying Jacob
|
|
had to say, <i>Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall
|
|
praise</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 49:8" id="Gen.xlv-p13.2" parsed="|Gen|49|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.8"><i>ch.</i> xlix.
|
|
8</scripRef>), for he excelled them all in boldness, wisdom,
|
|
eloquence, and especially tenderness for their father and family.
|
|
3. Judah's faithful adherence to Benjamin, now in his distress, was
|
|
recompensed long after by the constant adherence of the tribe of
|
|
Benjamin to the tribe of Judah, when all the other ten tribes
|
|
deserted it. 4. How fitly does the apostle, when he is discoursing
|
|
of the mediation of Christ, observe, that <i>our Lord sprang out of
|
|
Judah</i> (<scripRef passage="Heb 7:14" id="Gen.xlv-p13.3" parsed="|Heb|7|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.14">Heb. vii. 14</scripRef>);
|
|
for, like his father Judah, he not only <i>made intercession for
|
|
the transgressors,</i> but he became a surety for them, as it
|
|
follows there (<scripRef passage="Ge 44:22" id="Gen.xlv-p13.4" parsed="|Gen|44|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.44.22"><i>v.</i>
|
|
22</scripRef>), testifying therein a very tender concern both for
|
|
his father and for his brethren.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XLV" n="xlvi" progress="28.11%" prev="Gen.xlv" next="Gen.xlvii" id="Gen.xlvi">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="243" id="Gen.xlvi-Page_243"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xlvi-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xlvi-p0.2">CHAP. XLV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xlvi-p1">It is a pity that this chapter and the foregoing
|
|
should be parted, and read asunder. There we had Judah's
|
|
intercession for Benjamin, with which, we may suppose, the rest of
|
|
his brethren signified their concurrence; Joseph let him go on
|
|
without interruption, heard all he had to say, and then answered it
|
|
all in one word, "I am Joseph." Now he found his brethren humbled
|
|
for their sins, mindful of himself (for Judah had mentioned him
|
|
twice in his speech), respectful to their father, and very tender
|
|
of their brother Benjamin; now they were ripe for the comfort he
|
|
designed them, by making himself known to them, the story of which
|
|
we have in this chapter. It was to Joseph's brethren as clear
|
|
shining after rain, nay, it was to them as life from the dead. Here
|
|
is, I. Joseph's discovery of himself to his brethren, and his
|
|
discourse with them upon that occasion, <scripRef passage="Ge 45:1-15" id="Gen.xlvi-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|45|1|45|15" osisRef="Bible:Gen.45.1-Gen.45.15">ver. 1-15</scripRef>. II. The orders Pharaoh,
|
|
hereupon, gave to fetch Jacob and his family down to Egypt, and
|
|
Joseph's despatch of his brethren, accordingly, back to his father
|
|
with those orders, <scripRef passage="Ge 45:16-24" id="Gen.xlvi-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|45|16|45|24" osisRef="Bible:Gen.45.16-Gen.45.24">ver.
|
|
16-24</scripRef>. III. The joyful tidings of this brought to Jacob,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 45:25-28" id="Gen.xlvi-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|45|25|45|28" osisRef="Bible:Gen.45.25-Gen.45.28">ver. 25</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 45" id="Gen.xlvi-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|45|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.45"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 45:1-15" id="Gen.xlvi-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|45|1|45|15" osisRef="Bible:Gen.45.1-Gen.45.15"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.45.1-Gen.45.15">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xlvi-p1.6">Joseph Discovers Himself to His
|
|
Brethren. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xlvi-p1.7">b. c.</span> 1707.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xlvi-p2">1 Then Joseph could not refrain himself before
|
|
all them that stood by him; and he cried, Cause every man to go out
|
|
from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself
|
|
known unto his brethren.   2 And he wept aloud: and the
|
|
Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard.   3 And Joseph said
|
|
unto his brethren, I <i>am</i> Joseph; doth my father yet live? And
|
|
his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his
|
|
presence.   4 And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to
|
|
me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I <i>am</i> Joseph
|
|
your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.   5 Now therefore be
|
|
not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for
|
|
God did send me before you to preserve life.   6 For these two
|
|
years <i>hath</i> the famine <i>been</i> in the land: and yet
|
|
<i>there are</i> five years, in the which <i>there shall</i>
|
|
neither <i>be</i> earing nor harvest.   7 And God sent me
|
|
before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save
|
|
your lives by a great deliverance.   8 So now <i>it was</i>
|
|
not you <i>that</i> sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a
|
|
father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler
|
|
throughout all the land of Egypt.   9 Haste ye, and go up to
|
|
my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath
|
|
made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not:   10
|
|
And thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near
|
|
unto me, thou, and thy children, and thy children's children, and
|
|
thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast:   11 And
|
|
there will I nourish thee; for yet <i>there are</i> five years of
|
|
famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come
|
|
to poverty.   12 And, behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of
|
|
my brother Benjamin, that <i>it is</i> my mouth that speaketh unto
|
|
you.   13 And ye shall tell my father of all my glory in
|
|
Egypt, and of all that ye have seen; and ye shall haste and bring
|
|
|
|
<pb n="244" id="Gen.xlvi-Page_244"/>
|
|
|
|
down my father hither.   14 And he fell
|
|
upon his brother Benjamin's neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon
|
|
his neck.   15 Moreover he kissed all his brethren, and wept
|
|
upon them: and after that his brethren talked with him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlvi-p3">Judah and his brethren were waiting for an
|
|
answer, and could not but be amazed to discover, instead of the
|
|
gravity of a judge, the natural affection of a father or
|
|
brother.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlvi-p4">I. Joseph ordered all his attendants to
|
|
withdraw, <scripRef passage="Ge 45:1" id="Gen.xlvi-p4.1" parsed="|Gen|45|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.45.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. The
|
|
private conversations of friends are the most free. When Joseph
|
|
would put on love he puts off state, and it was not fit his
|
|
servants should be witnesses of this. Thus Christ graciously
|
|
manifests himself and his loving-kindness to his people, out of the
|
|
sight and hearing of the world.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlvi-p5">II. Tears were the preface or introduction
|
|
to his discourse, <scripRef passage="Ge 45:2" id="Gen.xlvi-p5.1" parsed="|Gen|45|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.45.2"><i>v.</i>
|
|
2</scripRef>. He had dammed up this stream a great while, and with
|
|
much ado: but now it swelled so high that he could no longer
|
|
contain, but <i>he wept aloud,</i> so that those whom he had
|
|
forbidden to see him could not but hear him. These were tears of
|
|
tenderness and strong affection, and with these he threw off that
|
|
austerity with which he had hitherto carried himself towards his
|
|
brethren; for he could bear it no longer. This represents the
|
|
divine compassion towards returning penitents, as much as that of
|
|
the father of the prodigal, <scripRef passage="Lu 15:20,Ho 14:8,9" id="Gen.xlvi-p5.2" parsed="|Luke|15|20|0|0;|Hos|14|8|14|9" osisRef="Bible:Luke.15.20 Bible:Hos.14.8-Hos.14.9">Luke xv. 20; Hos. xiv. 8, 9</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlvi-p6">III. He very abruptly (as one uneasy till
|
|
it was out) tells them who he was: <i>I am Joseph.</i> They knew
|
|
him only by his Egyptian name, <i>Zaphnath-paaneah,</i> his Hebrew
|
|
name being lost and forgotten in Egypt; but now he teaches them to
|
|
call him by that: <i>I am Joseph;</i> nay, that they might not
|
|
suspect it was another of the same name, he explains himself
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 45:4" id="Gen.xlvi-p6.1" parsed="|Gen|45|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.45.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>): <i>I am
|
|
Joseph, your brother.</i> This would both humble them yet more for
|
|
their sin in selling him, and would encourage them to hope for kind
|
|
treatment. Thus when Christ would convince Paul he said, <i>I am
|
|
Jesus;</i> and when he would comfort his disciples he said, <i>It
|
|
is I, be not afraid.</i> This word, at first, startled Joseph's
|
|
brethren; they started back through fear, or at least stood still
|
|
astonished; but Joseph called kindly and familiarly to them:
|
|
<i>Come near, I pray you.</i> Thus when Christ manifests himself to
|
|
his people he encourages them to draw near to him with a true
|
|
heart. Perhaps, being about to speak of their selling him, he would
|
|
not speak aloud, lest the Egyptians should overhear, and it should
|
|
make the Hebrews to be yet more an abomination to them; therefore
|
|
he would have them come near, that he might whisper with them,
|
|
which, now that the tide of his passion was a little over, he was
|
|
able to do, whereas at first he could not but cry out.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlvi-p7">IV. He endeavours to assuage their grief
|
|
for the injuries they had done him, by showing them that whatever
|
|
they designed God meant it for good, and had brought much good out
|
|
of it (<scripRef passage="Ge 45:5" id="Gen.xlvi-p7.1" parsed="|Gen|45|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.45.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>): <i>Be
|
|
not grieved, nor angry with yourselves.</i> Sinners must grieve,
|
|
and be angry with themselves, for their sins; yea, though God by
|
|
his power brings good out of them, for no thanks are due to the
|
|
sinner for this: but true penitents should be greatly affected when
|
|
they see God thus bringing good out of evil, <i>meat out of the
|
|
eater.</i> Though we must not with this consideration extenuate our
|
|
own sins and so take off the edge of our repentance, yet it may be
|
|
well thus to extenuate the sins of others and so take off the edge
|
|
of our angry resentments. Thus Joseph does here; his brethren
|
|
needed not to fear that he would avenge upon them an injury which
|
|
God's providence had made to turn so much to his advantage and that
|
|
of his family. Now he tells them how long the famine was likely to
|
|
last—<i>five years;</i> yet (<scripRef passage="Ge 45:6" id="Gen.xlvi-p7.2" parsed="|Gen|45|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.45.6"><i>v.</i>
|
|
6</scripRef>) what a capacity he was in of being kind to his
|
|
relations and friends, which is the greatest satisfaction that
|
|
wealth and power can give to a good man, <scripRef passage="Ge 45:8" id="Gen.xlvi-p7.3" parsed="|Gen|45|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.45.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. See what a favourable colour he
|
|
puts upon the injury they had done him: <i>God sent me before
|
|
you,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 45:5,7" id="Gen.xlvi-p7.4" parsed="|Gen|45|5|0|0;|Gen|45|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.45.5 Bible:Gen.45.7"><i>v.</i> 5, 7</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, 1. God's Israel is the particular care of God's providence.
|
|
Joseph reckoned that his advancement was not so much designed to
|
|
save a whole kingdom of Egyptians as to preserve a small family of
|
|
Israelites: <i>for the Lord's portion is his people;</i> whatever
|
|
becomes of others, they shall be secured. 2. Providence looks a
|
|
great way forward, and has a long reach. Even long before the years
|
|
of plenty, Providence was preparing for the supply of Jacob's house
|
|
in the years of famine. The psalmist praises God for this
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ps 105:17" id="Gen.xlvi-p7.5" parsed="|Ps|105|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.105.17">Ps. cv. 17</scripRef>): <i>He sent a
|
|
man before them, even Joseph.</i> God sees his work from the
|
|
beginning to the end, but we do not, <scripRef passage="Ec 3:11" id="Gen.xlvi-p7.6" parsed="|Eccl|3|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.3.11">Eccl. iii. 11</scripRef>. How admirable are the projects
|
|
of providence! How remote its tendencies! What wheels are there
|
|
within wheels, and yet all directed by the eyes in the wheels, and
|
|
the spirit of the living creature! Let us therefore judge nothing
|
|
before the time. 3. God often works by contraries. The envy and
|
|
contention of brethren threaten the ruin of families, yet, in this
|
|
instance, they prove the occasion of preserving Jacob's family.
|
|
Joseph could never have been <i>the shepherd and stone of
|
|
Israel</i> if his brethren had not shot at him, and hated him; even
|
|
those that had wickedly sold Joseph into Egypt yet themselves
|
|
reaped the benefit of the good God brought out of it; as those that
|
|
put Christ to death were many of them saved by his death. 4. God
|
|
must have all the glory of the seasonable preservations of his
|
|
people, by what way soever they are effected. <i>It was not you
|
|
that sent me hither, but God,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 45:8" id="Gen.xlvi-p7.7" parsed="|Gen|45|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.45.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. As, on the one hand, they must
|
|
not fret at it, because it ended so well, so on the other hand they
|
|
must not be proud
|
|
|
|
<pb n="245" id="Gen.xlvi-Page_245"/>
|
|
|
|
of it, because it was
|
|
God's doing, and not theirs. They designed, by selling him into
|
|
Egypt, to defeat his dreams, but God thereby designed to accomplish
|
|
them. <scripRef passage="Isa 10:7" id="Gen.xlvi-p7.8" parsed="|Isa|10|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.10.7">Isa. x. 7</scripRef>, <i>Howbeit
|
|
he meaneth not so.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlvi-p8">V. He promises to take care of his father
|
|
and all the family during the rest of the years of famine. 1. He
|
|
desires that his father may speedily be made glad with the tidings
|
|
of his life and dignity. His brethren must hasten to Canaan, and
|
|
must inform Jacob that his son Joseph was <i>lord of all Egypt;</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 45:9" id="Gen.xlvi-p8.1" parsed="|Gen|45|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.45.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): they must
|
|
tell him of all his glory there, <scripRef passage="Ge 45:13" id="Gen.xlvi-p8.2" parsed="|Gen|45|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.45.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. He knew it would be a
|
|
refreshing oil to his hoary head and a sovereign cordial to his
|
|
spirits. If any thing would make him young again, this would. He
|
|
desires them to give themselves, and take with them to their
|
|
father, all possible satisfaction of the truth of these surprising
|
|
tidings: <i>Your eyes see that it is my mouth,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 45:12" id="Gen.xlvi-p8.3" parsed="|Gen|45|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.45.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. If they would recollect
|
|
themselves, they might remember something of his features, speech,
|
|
&c., and be satisfied. 2. He is very earnest that his father
|
|
and all his family should come to him to Egypt: <i>Come down unto
|
|
me, tarry not,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 45:9" id="Gen.xlvi-p8.4" parsed="|Gen|45|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.45.9"><i>v.</i>
|
|
9</scripRef>. He allots his dwelling in Goshen, that part of Egypt
|
|
which lay towards Canaan, that they might be mindful of the country
|
|
from which they were to come out, <scripRef passage="Ge 45:10" id="Gen.xlvi-p8.5" parsed="|Gen|45|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.45.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. He promises to provide for him:
|
|
<i>I will nourish thee,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 45:11" id="Gen.xlvi-p8.6" parsed="|Gen|45|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.45.11"><i>v.</i>
|
|
11</scripRef>. Note, It is the duty of children, if the necessity
|
|
of their parents do at any time require it, to support and supply
|
|
them to the utmost of their ability; and <i>Corban</i> will never
|
|
excuse them, <scripRef passage="Mk 7:11" id="Gen.xlvi-p8.7" parsed="|Mark|7|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mark.7.11">Mark vii. 11</scripRef>.
|
|
This is showing piety at home, <scripRef passage="1ti 5:4" id="Gen.xlvi-p8.8" parsed="|1Tim|5|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.5.4">1 Tim.
|
|
v. 4</scripRef>. Our Lord Jesus being, like Joseph, exalted to the
|
|
highest honours and powers of the upper world, it is his will that
|
|
all that are his should be with him where he is, <scripRef passage="Joh 17:24" id="Gen.xlvi-p8.9" parsed="|John|17|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.17.24">John xvii. 24</scripRef>. This is his commandment, that
|
|
we be with him now in faith and hope, and a heavenly conversation;
|
|
and this is his promise, that we shall be for ever with him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlvi-p9">VI. Endearments were interchanged between
|
|
him and his brethren. He began with the youngest, his own brother
|
|
Benjamin, who was but about a year old when Joseph was separated
|
|
from his brethren; they wept on each other's neck (<scripRef passage="Ge 45:14" id="Gen.xlvi-p9.1" parsed="|Gen|45|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.45.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>), perhaps to think of
|
|
their mother Rachel, who died in travail of Benjamin. Rachel, in
|
|
her husband Jacob, had been lately weeping for her children,
|
|
because, in his apprehension, they were not—Joseph gone, and
|
|
Benjamin going; and now they were weeping for her, because she was
|
|
not. After he had embraced Benjamin, he, in like manner, caressed
|
|
them all (<scripRef passage="Ge 45:15" id="Gen.xlvi-p9.2" parsed="|Gen|45|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.45.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>);
|
|
and then <i>his brethren talked with him</i> freely and familiarly
|
|
of all the affairs of their father's house. After the tokens of
|
|
true reconciliation follow the instances of a sweet communion.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 45:16-24" id="Gen.xlvi-p9.3" parsed="|Gen|45|16|45|24" osisRef="Bible:Gen.45.16-Gen.45.24"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.45.16-Gen.45.24">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xlvi-p9.4">Pharaoh's Kindness to
|
|
Joseph. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xlvi-p9.5">b. c.</span> 1707.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xlvi-p10">16 And the fame thereof was heard in Pharaoh's
|
|
house, saying, Joseph's brethren are come: and it pleased Pharaoh
|
|
well, and his servants.   17 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say
|
|
unto thy brethren, This do ye; lade your beasts, and go, get you
|
|
unto the land of Canaan;   18 And take your father and your
|
|
households, and come unto me: and I will give you the good of the
|
|
land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land.   19 Now
|
|
thou art commanded, this do ye; take you wagons out of the land of
|
|
Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your
|
|
father, and come.   20 Also regard not your stuff; for the
|
|
good of all the land of Egypt <i>is</i> yours.   21 And the
|
|
children of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them wagons, according
|
|
to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way.
|
|
  22 To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but
|
|
to Benjamin he gave three hundred <i>pieces</i> of silver, and five
|
|
changes of raiment.   23 And to his father he sent after this
|
|
<i>manner;</i> ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt, and
|
|
ten she asses laden with corn and bread and meat for his father by
|
|
the way.   24 So he sent his brethren away, and they departed:
|
|
and he said unto them, See that ye fall not out by the way.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlvi-p11">Here is, 1. The kindness of Pharaoh to
|
|
Joseph, and to his relations for his sake: he bade his brethren
|
|
welcome (<scripRef passage="Ge 45:16" id="Gen.xlvi-p11.1" parsed="|Gen|45|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.45.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>),
|
|
though it was a time of scarcity, and they were likely to be a
|
|
charge to him. Nay, because it pleased Pharaoh, it pleased his
|
|
servants, too, at least they pretended to be pleased because Pharaoh
|
|
was. He engaged Joseph to send for his father down to Egypt, and
|
|
promised to furnish them with all conveniences both for his removal
|
|
thither and his settlement there. If the good of all the land of
|
|
Egypt (as it was not better stocked than any other land, thanks to
|
|
Joseph, under God) would suffice him, he was welcome to it all, it
|
|
was all his own, even <i>the fat of the land</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 45:18" id="Gen.xlvi-p11.2" parsed="|Gen|45|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.45.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>), so that they need not
|
|
<i>regard their stuff,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 45:20" id="Gen.xlvi-p11.3" parsed="|Gen|45|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.45.20"><i>v.</i>
|
|
20</scripRef>. What they had in Canaan he reckoned but stuff, in
|
|
comparison with what he had for them in Egypt; and therefore if
|
|
they should be constrained to leave some of that behind them, let
|
|
them not be discontented; Egypt would afford them enough to make up
|
|
the losses of their removal. Thus those for whom Christ intends
|
|
shares in his heavenly glory ought not to regard the stuff of this
|
|
world: The best of its enjoyments are but stuff, but
|
|
|
|
<pb n="246" id="Gen.xlvi-Page_246"/>
|
|
|
|
lumber; we cannot make sure of it while we are here,
|
|
much less can we carry it away with us; let us not therefore be
|
|
solicitous about it, nor set our eyes or hearts upon it. There are
|
|
better things reserved for us in that blessed land whither our
|
|
Joseph has gone to prepare a place.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlvi-p12">II. The kindness of Joseph to his father
|
|
and brethren. Pharaoh was respectful to Joseph, in gratitude,
|
|
because he had been an instrument of much good to him and his
|
|
kingdom, not only preserving it from the common calamity, but
|
|
helping to make it considerable among the nations; for all their
|
|
neighbours would say, "Surely the Egyptians are a wise and an
|
|
understanding people, that are so well stocked in a time of
|
|
scarcity." For this reason Pharaoh never thought any thing too much
|
|
that he could do for Joseph. Note, There is a gratitude owing even
|
|
to inferiors; and when any have shown us kindness we should study
|
|
to requite it, not only to them, but to their relations. And Joseph
|
|
likewise was respectful to his father and brethren in duty, because
|
|
they were his near relations, though his brethren had been his
|
|
enemies, and his father long a stranger. 1. He furnished them for
|
|
necessity, <scripRef passage="Ge 45:21" id="Gen.xlvi-p12.1" parsed="|Gen|45|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.45.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. He
|
|
gave them wagons and provisions for the way, both going and coming;
|
|
for we never find that Jacob was very rich, and, at this time, when
|
|
the famine prevailed, we may suppose he was rather poor. 2. He
|
|
furnished them for ornament and delight. To his brethren he gave
|
|
two suits apiece of good clothes, to Benjamin five suits, and money
|
|
besides in his pocket, <scripRef passage="Ge 45:22" id="Gen.xlvi-p12.2" parsed="|Gen|45|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.45.22"><i>v.</i>
|
|
22</scripRef>. To his father he sent a very handsome present of the
|
|
varieties of Egypt, <scripRef passage="Ge 45:23" id="Gen.xlvi-p12.3" parsed="|Gen|45|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.45.23"><i>v.</i>
|
|
23</scripRef>. Note, Those that are wealthy should be generous, and
|
|
devise liberal things; what is an abundance good for, but to do
|
|
good with it? 3. He dismissed them with a seasonable caution:
|
|
<i>See that you fall not out by the way,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 45:24" id="Gen.xlvi-p12.4" parsed="|Gen|45|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.45.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. He knew they were but too apt
|
|
to be quarrelsome; and what had lately passed, which revived the
|
|
remembrance of what they had done formerly against their brother,
|
|
might give them occasion to quarrel. Joseph had observed them to
|
|
contend about it, <scripRef passage="Ge 42:22" id="Gen.xlvi-p12.5" parsed="|Gen|42|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.22"><i>ch.</i> xlii.
|
|
22</scripRef>. To one they would say, "It was you that first
|
|
upbraided him with his dreams;" to another, "It was you that said,
|
|
Let us kill him;" to another, "It was you that stripped him of his
|
|
fine coat;" to another, "It was you that threw him into the pit,"
|
|
&c. Now Joseph, having forgiven them all, lays this obligation
|
|
upon them, not to upbraid one another. This charge our Lord Jesus
|
|
has given to us, <i>that we love one another,</i> that we live in
|
|
peace, that whatever occurs, or whatever former occurrences are
|
|
remembered, we fall not out. For, (1.) We are brethren, we have all
|
|
one Father. (2.) We are his brethren, and we shame our relation to
|
|
him <i>who is our peace,</i> if we fall out. (3.) We are guilty,
|
|
<i>verily guilty,</i> and, instead of quarrelling with one another,
|
|
have a great deal of reason to fall out with ourselves. (4.) We
|
|
are, or hope to be, forgiven of God whom we have all offended, and
|
|
therefore should be ready to forgive one another. (5.) We are <i>by
|
|
the way,</i> a way that lies through the land of Egypt, where we
|
|
have many eyes upon us, that seek occasion and advantage against
|
|
us, a way that leads to Canaan, where we hope to be for ever in
|
|
perfect peace.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 45:25-28" id="Gen.xlvi-p12.6" parsed="|Gen|45|25|45|28" osisRef="Bible:Gen.45.25-Gen.45.28"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.45.25-Gen.45.28">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xlvi-p12.7">The History of Joseph. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xlvi-p12.8">b. c.</span> 1707.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xlvi-p13">25 And they went up out of Egypt, and came into
|
|
the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father,   26 And told him,
|
|
saying, Joseph <i>is</i> yet alive, and he <i>is</i> governor over
|
|
all the land of Egypt. And Jacob's heart fainted, for he believed
|
|
them not.   27 And they told him all the words of Joseph,
|
|
which he had said unto them: and when he saw the wagons which
|
|
Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father
|
|
revived:   28 And Israel said, <i>It is</i> enough; Joseph my
|
|
son <i>is</i> yet alive: I will go and see him before I die.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlvi-p14">We have here the good news brought to
|
|
Jacob. 1. The relation of it, at first, sunk his spirits. When,
|
|
without any preamble, his sons came in, crying, <i>Joseph is yet
|
|
alive,</i> each striving which should first proclaim it, perhaps he
|
|
thought they bantered him, and the affront grieved him; or the very
|
|
mention of Joseph's name revived his sorrow, so that his heart
|
|
fainted, <scripRef passage="Ge 45:26" id="Gen.xlvi-p14.1" parsed="|Gen|45|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.45.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>. It
|
|
was a good while before he came to himself. He was in such care and
|
|
fear about the rest of them that at this time it would have been
|
|
joy enough to him to hear that Simeon was released, and that
|
|
Benjamin had come safely home (for he had been ready to despair
|
|
concerning both these); but to hear that <i>Joseph is alive</i> is
|
|
too good news to be true; he faints, for he believes it not. Note,
|
|
We faint, because we do not believe; David himself had fainted if
|
|
he had not believed, <scripRef passage="Ps 27:13" id="Gen.xlvi-p14.2" parsed="|Ps|27|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.27.13">Ps. xxvii.
|
|
13</scripRef>. 2. The confirmation of it, by degrees, revived his
|
|
spirit. Jacob had easily believed his sons formerly when they told
|
|
him, <i>Joseph is dead;</i> but he can hardly believe them now that
|
|
they tell him, <i>Joseph is alive.</i> Weak and tender spirits are
|
|
influenced more by fear than hope, and are more apt to receive
|
|
impressions that are discouraging than those that are encouraging.
|
|
But at length Jacob is convinced of the truth of the story,
|
|
especially when he sees the waggons which were sent to carry him
|
|
(for seeing is believing), then his <i>spirit revived.</i> Death is
|
|
as the waggons which are sent to fetch us to Christ: the very sight
|
|
of it approaching should revive us. Now Jacob is called Israel
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 45:28" id="Gen.xlvi-p14.3" parsed="|Gen|45|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.45.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>), for he
|
|
begins to recover his wonted vigour. (1.) It pleases him to think
|
|
that Joseph is alive. He says nothing of Joseph's glory, of which
|
|
they told him; it
|
|
|
|
<pb n="247" id="Gen.xlvi-Page_247"/>
|
|
|
|
was enough to him that
|
|
Joseph was alive. Note, Those that would be content with less
|
|
degrees of comfort are best prepared for greater. (2.) It pleases
|
|
him to think of going to see him. Though he was old, and the
|
|
journey long, yet he would go to see Joseph, because Joseph's
|
|
business would not permit him to come to see him. Observe, He says,
|
|
"<i>I will go and see him,</i>" not, "I will go and live with him;"
|
|
Jacob was old, and did not expect to live long; "But I will go and
|
|
see him <i>before I die,</i> and then let me depart in peace; let
|
|
my eyes be refreshed with this sight before they are closed, and
|
|
then it is <i>enough,</i> I need no more to make me happy in this
|
|
world." Note, It is good for us all to make death familiar to us,
|
|
and to speak of it as near, that we may think how little we have to
|
|
do before we die, that we may do it with all our might, and may
|
|
enjoy our comforts as those that must quickly die, and leave
|
|
them.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XLVI" n="xlvii" progress="28.53%" prev="Gen.xlvi" next="Gen.xlviii" id="Gen.xlvii">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="247" id="Gen.xlvii-Page_247"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xlvii-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xlvii-p0.2">CHAP. XLVI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xlvii-p1">Jacob is here removing to Egypt in his old age,
|
|
forced thither by a famine, and invited thither by a son. Here, I.
|
|
God sends him thither, <scripRef passage="Ge 46:1-4" id="Gen.xlvii-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|46|1|46|4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.46.1-Gen.46.4">ver.
|
|
1-4</scripRef>. II. All his family goes with him, <scripRef passage="Ge 46:5-27" id="Gen.xlvii-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|46|5|46|27" osisRef="Bible:Gen.46.5-Gen.46.27">ver. 5-27</scripRef>. III. Joseph bids him
|
|
welcome, <scripRef passage="Ge 46:28-34" id="Gen.xlvii-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|46|28|46|34" osisRef="Bible:Gen.46.28-Gen.46.34">ver. 28-34</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 46" id="Gen.xlvii-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|46|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.46"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 46:1-4" id="Gen.xlvii-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|46|1|46|4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.46.1-Gen.46.4"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.46.1-Gen.46.4">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xlvii-p1.6">Jacob Sacrifices at
|
|
Beersheba. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xlvii-p1.7">b. c.</span> 1707.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xlvii-p2">1 And Israel took his journey with all that he
|
|
had, and came to Beer-sheba, and offered sacrifices unto the God of
|
|
his father Isaac.   2 And God spake unto Israel in the visions
|
|
of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here <i>am</i>
|
|
I.   3 And he said, I <i>am</i> God, the God of thy father:
|
|
fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a
|
|
great nation:   4 I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I
|
|
will also surely bring thee up <i>again:</i> and Joseph shall put
|
|
his hand upon thine eyes.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlvii-p3">The divine precept is, <i>In all thy ways
|
|
acknowledge God;</i> and the promise annexed to it is, <i>He shall
|
|
direct thy paths.</i> Jacob has here a very great concern before
|
|
him, not only a journey, but a removal, to settle in another
|
|
country, a change which was very surprising to him (for he never
|
|
had any other thoughts than to live and die in Canaan), and which
|
|
would be of great consequence to his family for a long time to
|
|
come. Now here we are told,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlvii-p4">I. How he acknowledged God in this way. He
|
|
<i>came to Beersheba,</i> from Hebron, where he now dwelt; and
|
|
there <i>he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 46:1" id="Gen.xlvii-p4.1" parsed="|Gen|46|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.46.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. He chose that
|
|
place, in remembrance of the communion which his father and
|
|
grandfather had with God in that place. Abraham called on God there
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 21:33" id="Gen.xlvii-p4.2" parsed="|Gen|21|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.33"><i>ch.</i> xxi. 33</scripRef>), so
|
|
did Isaac (<scripRef passage="Ge 26:25" id="Gen.xlvii-p4.3" parsed="|Gen|26|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.25"><i>ch.</i> xxvi.
|
|
25</scripRef>), and therefore Jacob made it the place of his
|
|
devotion, the rather because it lay in his way. In his devotion, 1.
|
|
He had an eye to God as the God of his father Isaac, that is, a God
|
|
in covenant with him; for by Isaac the covenant was entailed upon
|
|
him. God had forbidden Isaac to go down to Egypt when there was a
|
|
famine in Canaan (<scripRef passage="Ge 26:2" id="Gen.xlvii-p4.4" parsed="|Gen|26|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.26.2"><i>ch.</i> xxvi.
|
|
2</scripRef>), which perhaps Jacob calls to mind when he consults
|
|
God as the God of his father Isaac, with this thought, "Lord,
|
|
though I am very desirous to see Joseph, yet if thou forbid me to
|
|
go down to Egypt, as thou didst my father Isaac, I will submit, and
|
|
very contentedly stay where I am." 2. He <i>offered sacrifices,</i>
|
|
extraordinary sacrifices, besides those at his stated times; these
|
|
sacrifices were offered, (1.) By way of thanksgiving for the late
|
|
blessed change of the face of his family, for the good news he had
|
|
received concerning Joseph, and for the hopes he had of seeing him.
|
|
Note, We should give God thanks for the beginnings of mercy, though
|
|
they are not yet perfected; and this is a decent way of begging
|
|
further mercy. (2.) By way of petition for the presence of God with
|
|
him in his intended journey; he desired by these sacrifices to make
|
|
his peace with God, to obtain the forgiveness of sin, that he might
|
|
take no guilt along with him in this journey, for that is a bad
|
|
companion. By Christ, the great sacrifice, we must reconcile
|
|
ourselves to God, and offer up our requests to him. (3.) By way of
|
|
consultation. The heathen consulted their oracles by sacrifice.
|
|
Jacob would not go till he had asked God's leave: "Shall I go down
|
|
to Egypt, or back to Hebron?" Such must be our enquiries in
|
|
doubtful cases; and, though we cannot expect immediate answers from
|
|
heaven, yet, if we diligently attend to the directions of the word,
|
|
conscience, and providence, we shall find it is not in vain to ask
|
|
counsel of God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlvii-p5">II. How God directed his paths: <i>In the
|
|
visions of the night</i> (probably the very next night after he had
|
|
offered his sacrifices, as <scripRef passage="2Ch 1:7" id="Gen.xlvii-p5.1" parsed="|2Chr|1|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.1.7">2 Chron. i.
|
|
7</scripRef>) <i>God spoke unto him,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 46:2" id="Gen.xlvii-p5.2" parsed="|Gen|46|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.46.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. Note, Those who desire to keep up
|
|
communion with God shall find that it never fails on his side. If
|
|
we speak to him as we ought, he will not fail to speak to us. God
|
|
called him by name, by his old name, <i>Jacob, Jacob,</i> to remind
|
|
him of his low estate; his present fears did scarcely become an
|
|
Israel. Jacob, like one well acquainted with the visions of the
|
|
Almighty, and ready to obey them, answers, "<i>Here I am,</i> ready
|
|
to receive orders:" and what has God to say to him?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlvii-p6">1. He renews the covenant with him: <i>I am
|
|
God, the God of thy father</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 46:3" id="Gen.xlvii-p6.1" parsed="|Gen|46|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.46.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>); that is, "I am what thou ownest
|
|
me to be: thou shalt find me a God, a divine wisdom and power
|
|
engaged for thee; and thou shalt find me the God of thy father,
|
|
true to the covenant made with him."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlvii-p7">2. He encourages him to make this removal
|
|
of his family: <i>Fear not to go down into Egypt.</i> It seems,
|
|
though Jacob, upon the first intelligence of Joseph's life and
|
|
glory in Egypt, resolved, without any hesitation, <i>I will go and
|
|
see him;</i> yet, upon second thoughts, he saw some difficulties in
|
|
it, which
|
|
|
|
<pb n="248" id="Gen.xlvii-Page_248"/>
|
|
|
|
he knew not well how to get over.
|
|
Note, Even those changes that seem to have in them the greatest
|
|
joys and hopes, yet have an alloy of cares and fears, <i>Nulla est
|
|
sincera voluptas—There is no unmingled pleasure.</i> We must
|
|
always rejoice with trembling. Jacob had many careful thoughts
|
|
about this journey, which God took notice of. (1.) He was old, 130
|
|
years old; and it is mentioned as one of the infirmities of old
|
|
people that they are <i>afraid of that which is high, and fears are
|
|
in the way,</i> <scripRef passage="Ec 12:5" id="Gen.xlvii-p7.1" parsed="|Eccl|12|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.12.5">Eccl. xii.
|
|
5</scripRef>. It was a long journey, and Jacob was unfit for
|
|
travel, and perhaps remembered that his beloved Rachel died in a
|
|
journey. (2.) He feared lest his sons should be tainted with the
|
|
idolatry of Egypt, and forget the God of their fathers, or
|
|
enamoured with the pleasures of Egypt, and forget the land of
|
|
promise. (3.) Probably he thought of what God had said to Abraham
|
|
concerning the bondage and affliction of his seed (<scripRef passage="Ge 15:13" id="Gen.xlvii-p7.2" parsed="|Gen|15|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.13"><i>ch.</i> xv. 13</scripRef>), and was
|
|
apprehensive that his removal to Egypt would issue in that. Present
|
|
satisfactions should not take us off from the consideration and
|
|
prospect of future inconveniences, which possibly may arise from
|
|
what now appears most promising. (4.) He could not think of laying
|
|
his bones in Egypt. But, whatever his discouragements were, this
|
|
was enough to answer them all, <i>Fear not to go down into
|
|
Egypt.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlvii-p8">3. He promises him comfort in the removal.
|
|
(1.) That he should multiply in Egypt: "<i>I will there,</i> where
|
|
thou fearest that thy family will sink and be lost, <i>make it a
|
|
great nation.</i> That is the place Infinite Wisdom has chosen for
|
|
the accomplishment of that promise." (2.) That he should have God's
|
|
presence with him: <i>I will go down with thee into Egypt.</i>
|
|
Note, Those that go whither God sends them shall certainly have God
|
|
with them, and that is enough to secure them wherever they are and
|
|
to silence their fears; we may safely venture even into Egypt if
|
|
God go down with us. (3.) That neither he nor his should be lost in
|
|
Egypt: <i>I will surely bring thee up again.</i> Though Jacob died
|
|
in Egypt, yet this promise was fulfilled, [1.] In the bringing up
|
|
of his body, to be buried in Canaan, about which, it appears, he
|
|
was very solicitous, <scripRef passage="Ge 49:29,32" id="Gen.xlvii-p8.1" parsed="|Gen|49|29|0|0;|Gen|49|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.29 Bible:Gen.49.32"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xlix. 29, 32</scripRef>. [2.] In the bringing up of his seed to be
|
|
settled in Canaan. Whatever low or darksome valley we are called
|
|
into at any time, we may be confident, if God go down with us into
|
|
it, that he will surely bring us up again. If he go with us down to
|
|
death, he will surely bring us up again to glory. (4.) That living
|
|
and dying, his beloved Joseph should be a comfort to him: <i>Joseph
|
|
shall put his hand upon thine eyes.</i> This is a promise that
|
|
Joseph should live as long as he lived, that he should be with him
|
|
at his death, and close his eyes with all possible tenderness and
|
|
respect, as the dearest relations used to do. Probably Jacob, in
|
|
the multitude of his thoughts within him, had been wishing that
|
|
Joseph might do this last office of love for him: <i>Ille meos
|
|
oculos comprimat—Let him close my eyes;</i> and God thus answered
|
|
him in the letter of his desire. Thus God sometimes gratifies the
|
|
innocent wishes of his people, and makes not only their death
|
|
happy, but the very circumstances of it agreeable.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 46:5-27" id="Gen.xlvii-p8.2" parsed="|Gen|46|5|46|27" osisRef="Bible:Gen.46.5-Gen.46.27"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.46.5-Gen.46.27">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xlvii-p8.3">Jacob's Removal to Egypt. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xlvii-p8.4">b. c.</span> 1706.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xlvii-p9">5 And Jacob rose up from Beer-sheba: and the
|
|
sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones,
|
|
and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him.
|
|
  6 And they took their cattle, and their goods, which they
|
|
had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob, and
|
|
all his seed with him:   7 His sons, and his sons' sons with
|
|
him, his daughters, and his sons' daughters, and all his seed
|
|
brought he with him into Egypt.   8 And these <i>are</i> the
|
|
names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt, Jacob and
|
|
his sons: Reuben, Jacob's firstborn.   9 And the sons of
|
|
Reuben; Hanoch, and Phallu, and Hezron, and Carmi.   10 And
|
|
the sons of Simeon; Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and
|
|
Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman.   11 And the
|
|
sons of Levi; Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.   12 And the sons
|
|
of Judah; Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Pharez, and Zerah: but Er
|
|
and Onan died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Pharez were
|
|
Hezron and Hamul.   13 And the sons of Issachar; Tola, and
|
|
Phuvah, and Job, and Shimron.   14 And the sons of Zebulun;
|
|
Sered, and Elon, and Jahleel.   15 These <i>be</i> the sons of
|
|
Leah, which she bare unto Jacob in Padan-aram, with his daughter
|
|
Dinah: all the souls of his sons and his daughters <i>were</i>
|
|
thirty and three.   16 And the sons of Gad; Ziphion, and
|
|
Haggi, Shuni, and Ezbon, Eri, and Arodi, and Areli.   17 And
|
|
the sons of Asher; Jimnah, and Ishuah, and Isui, and Beriah, and
|
|
Serah their sister: and the sons of Beriah; Heber, and Malchiel.
|
|
  18 These <i>are</i> the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to
|
|
Leah his daughter, and these she bare unto Jacob, <i>even</i>
|
|
sixteen souls.   19 The sons of Rachel Jacob's wife; Joseph,
|
|
and Benjamin.   20 And unto Joseph in
|
|
|
|
<pb n="249" id="Gen.xlvii-Page_249"/>
|
|
|
|
the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, which Asenath the
|
|
daughter of Poti-pherah priest of On bare unto him.   21 And
|
|
the sons of Benjamin <i>were</i> Belah, and Becher, and Ashbel,
|
|
Gera, and Naaman, Ehi, and Rosh, Muppim, and Huppim, and Ard.
|
|
  22 These <i>are</i> the sons of Rachel, which were born to
|
|
Jacob: all the souls <i>were</i> fourteen.   23 And the sons
|
|
of Dan; Hushim.   24 And the sons of Naphtali; Jahzeel, and
|
|
Guni, and Jezer, and Shillem.   25 These <i>are</i> the sons
|
|
of Bilhah, which Laban gave unto Rachel his daughter, and she bare
|
|
these unto Jacob: all the souls <i>were</i> seven.   26 All
|
|
the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his
|
|
loins, besides Jacob's sons' wives, all the souls <i>were</i>
|
|
threescore and six;   27 And the sons of Joseph, which were
|
|
born him in Egypt, <i>were</i> two souls: all the souls of the
|
|
house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, <i>were</i> threescore and
|
|
ten.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlvii-p10">Old Jacob is here flitting. Little did he
|
|
think of ever leaving Canaan; he expected, no doubt, <i>to die in
|
|
his nest,</i> and to leave his seed in actual possession of the
|
|
promised land: but Providence orders it otherwise. Note, Those that
|
|
think themselves well settled may yet be unsettled in a little
|
|
time. Even old people, who think of no other removal than that to
|
|
the grave (which Jacob had much upon his heart, <scripRef passage="Ge 37:35,42:38" id="Gen.xlvii-p10.1" parsed="|Gen|37|35|0|0;|Gen|42|38|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.35 Bible:Gen.42.38">ch. xxxvii. 35; xlii. 38</scripRef>), sometimes
|
|
live to see great changes in their family. It is good to be ready,
|
|
not only for the grave, but for whatever may happen betwixt us and
|
|
the grave. Observe, 1. How Jacob was conveyed; not in a chariot,
|
|
though chariots were then used, but in a waggon, <scripRef passage="Ge 46:5" id="Gen.xlvii-p10.2" parsed="|Gen|46|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.46.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. Jacob had the character of a
|
|
plain man, who did not affect any thing stately or magnificent; his
|
|
son rode in a chariot (<scripRef passage="Ge 41:43" id="Gen.xlvii-p10.3" parsed="|Gen|41|43|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.43"><i>ch.</i> xli.
|
|
43</scripRef>), but a waggon would serve him. 2. The removal of
|
|
what he had with him. (1.) His effects (<scripRef passage="Ge 46:6" id="Gen.xlvii-p10.4" parsed="|Gen|46|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.46.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), <i>cattle and goods;</i> these
|
|
he took with him that he might not wholly be beholden to Pharaoh
|
|
for a livelihood, and that it might not afterwards be said of them,
|
|
"that they came beggars to Egypt." (2.) His family, <i>all his
|
|
seed,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 46:7" id="Gen.xlvii-p10.5" parsed="|Gen|46|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.46.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. It is
|
|
probable that they had continued to live together in common with
|
|
their father; and therefore when he went they all went, which
|
|
perhaps they were the more willing to do, because, though they had
|
|
heard that the land of Canaan was promised them, yet, to this day,
|
|
they had none of it in possession. We have here a particular
|
|
account of the names of Jacob's family, <i>his sons' sons,</i> most
|
|
of whom are afterwards mentioned as heads of houses in the several
|
|
tribes. See <scripRef passage="Nu 26:5-65" id="Gen.xlvii-p10.6" parsed="|Num|26|5|26|65" osisRef="Bible:Num.26.5-Num.26.65">Num. xxvi. 5</scripRef>,
|
|
&c. Bishop Patrick observes that Issachar called his eldest son
|
|
<i>Tola,</i> which signifies a <i>worm,</i> probably because when
|
|
he was born he was a very little weak child, a worm, and no man,
|
|
not likely to live; and yet there sprang from him a very numerous
|
|
offspring, <scripRef passage="1Ch 7:2" id="Gen.xlvii-p10.7" parsed="|1Chr|7|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Chr.7.2">1 Chron. vii. 2</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, Living and dying do not go by probability. The whole number
|
|
that went down into Egypt was sixty-six (<scripRef passage="Ge 46:26" id="Gen.xlvii-p10.8" parsed="|Gen|46|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.46.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>), to which add Joseph and his
|
|
two sons, who were there before, and Jacob himself, the head of the
|
|
family, and you have the number of seventy, <scripRef passage="Ge 46:27" id="Gen.xlvii-p10.9" parsed="|Gen|46|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.46.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>. The LXX. makes them
|
|
seventy-five, and Stephen follows them (<scripRef passage="Ac 7:14" id="Gen.xlvii-p10.10" parsed="|Acts|7|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.14">Acts vii. 14</scripRef>), the reason of which we leave to
|
|
the conjecture of the critics; but let us observe, [1.] Masters of
|
|
families ought to take care of all under their charge, and to
|
|
provide for those of their own house food convenient both for body
|
|
and soul. When Jacob himself removed to a land of plenty, he would
|
|
not leave any of his children behind him to starve in a barren
|
|
land. [2.] Though the accomplishment of promises is always sure,
|
|
yet it is often slow. It was now 215 years since God had promised
|
|
Abraham to make of him a great nation (<scripRef passage="Ge 12:2" id="Gen.xlvii-p10.11" parsed="|Gen|12|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.2"><i>ch.</i> xii. 2</scripRef>); and yet that branch of his
|
|
seed on which the promise was entailed had increased only to
|
|
seventy, of which this particular account is kept, that the power
|
|
of God in multiplying these seventy to so vast a multitude, even in
|
|
Egypt, may appear the more illustrious. When God pleases, <i>a
|
|
little one shall become a thousand,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 60:22" id="Gen.xlvii-p10.12" parsed="|Isa|60|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.60.22">Isa. lx. 22</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 46:28-34" id="Gen.xlvii-p10.13" parsed="|Gen|46|28|46|34" osisRef="Bible:Gen.46.28-Gen.46.34"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.46.28-Gen.46.34">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xlvii-p10.14">Meeting between Jacob and
|
|
Joseph. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xlvii-p10.15">b. c.</span> 1706.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xlvii-p11">28 And he sent Judah before him unto Joseph, to
|
|
direct his face unto Goshen; and they came into the land of Goshen.
|
|
  29 And Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet
|
|
Israel his father, to Goshen, and presented himself unto him; and
|
|
he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while.   30
|
|
And Israel said unto Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen thy
|
|
face, because thou <i>art</i> yet alive.   31 And Joseph said
|
|
unto his brethren, and unto his father's house, I will go up, and
|
|
show Pharaoh, and say unto him, My brethren, and my father's house,
|
|
which <i>were</i> in the land of Canaan, are come unto me;  
|
|
32 And the men <i>are</i> shepherds, for their trade hath been to
|
|
feed cattle; and they have brought their flocks, and their herds,
|
|
and all that they have.   33 And it shall come to pass, when
|
|
Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say, What <i>is</i> your
|
|
occupation?   34 That ye shall say, Thy servants' trade hath
|
|
been
|
|
|
|
<pb n="250" id="Gen.xlvii-Page_250"/>
|
|
|
|
about cattle from our youth even until
|
|
now, both we, <i>and</i> also our fathers: that ye may dwell in the
|
|
land of Goshen; for every shepherd <i>is</i> an abomination unto
|
|
the Egyptians.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlvii-p12">We have here, I. The joyful meeting between
|
|
Jacob and his son Joseph, in which observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlvii-p13">1. Jacob's prudence in sending Judah before
|
|
him to Joseph, to give him notice of his arrival in Goshen. This
|
|
was a piece of respect owing to the government, under the
|
|
protection of which these strangers had come to put themselves,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 46:28" id="Gen.xlvii-p13.1" parsed="|Gen|46|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.46.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>. We should be
|
|
very careful not to give offence to any, especially not to the
|
|
higher powers.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlvii-p14">2. Joseph's filial respect to him. He went
|
|
in his chariot to met him, and, in the interview, showed, (1.) How
|
|
much he honoured him: <i>He presented himself unto him.</i> Note,
|
|
It is the duty of children to reverence their parents, yea, though
|
|
Providence, as to outward condition, has advanced them above their
|
|
parents. (2.) How much he loved him. Time did not wear out the
|
|
sense of his obligations, but his tears which he shed abundantly
|
|
upon his father's neck, for joy to see him, were real indications
|
|
of the sincere and strong affection he had for him. See how near
|
|
sorrow and joy are to each other in this world, when tears serve
|
|
for the expression of both. In the other world weeping will be
|
|
restrained to sorrow only; in heaven there is perfect joy, but no
|
|
tears of joy: all tears, even those, shall there be wiped away,
|
|
because the joys there are, as no joys are here, without any alloy.
|
|
When Joseph embraced Benjamin he <i>wept upon his neck,</i> but
|
|
when he embraced his father he <i>wept upon his neck a good
|
|
while;</i> his brother Benjamin was dear, but his father Jacob must
|
|
be dearer.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlvii-p15">3. Jacob's great satisfaction in this
|
|
meeting: <i>Now let me die,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 46:30" id="Gen.xlvii-p15.1" parsed="|Gen|46|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.46.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>. Not but that it was further
|
|
desirable to live with Joseph, and to see his honour and
|
|
usefulness; but he had so much pleasure and satisfaction in this
|
|
first meeting that he thought it too much to desire or expect any
|
|
more in this world, where our comforts must always be imperfect.
|
|
Jacob wished to die immediately, and lived seventeen years longer,
|
|
which, as our lives go now, is a considerable part of a man's age.
|
|
Note, Death will not always come just when we call for it, whether
|
|
in a passion of sorrow or in a passion of joy. Our times are in
|
|
God's hand, and not in our own; we must die just when God pleases,
|
|
and not either just when we are surfeited with the pleasures of
|
|
life or just when we are overwhelmed with its griefs.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlvii-p16">II. Joseph's prudent care concerning his
|
|
brethren's settlement. It was justice to Pharaoh to let him know
|
|
that such a colony had come to settle in his dominions. Note, If
|
|
others repose a confidence in us, we must not be so base and
|
|
disingenuous as to abuse it by imposing upon them. If Jacob and his
|
|
family should come to be a charge to the Egyptians, yet it should
|
|
never be said that they came among them clandestinely and by
|
|
stealth. Thus Joseph took care to pay his respects to Pharaoh,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 46:31" id="Gen.xlvii-p16.1" parsed="|Gen|46|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.46.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>. But how shall
|
|
he dispose of his brethren? Time was when they were contriving to
|
|
get rid of him; now he is contriving to settle them to their
|
|
satisfaction and advantage: this is rendering good for evil. Now,
|
|
1. He would have them to live by themselves, separate as much as
|
|
might be from the Egyptians, <i>in the land of Goshen,</i> which
|
|
lay nearest to Canaan, and which perhaps was more thinly peopled by
|
|
the Egyptians, and well furnished with pastures for cattle. He
|
|
desired they might live separately, that they might be in the less
|
|
danger both of being infected by the vices of the Egyptians and of
|
|
being insulted by the malice of the Egyptians. Shepherds, it seems,
|
|
<i>were an abomination to the Egyptians,</i> that is, they looked
|
|
upon them with contempt, and scorned to converse with them; and he
|
|
would not send for his brethren to Egypt to be trampled upon. And
|
|
yet, 2. He would have them to continue shepherds, and not to be
|
|
ashamed to own that as their occupation before Pharaoh. He could
|
|
have employed them under himself in the corn-trade, or perhaps, by
|
|
his interest in the king, might have procured places for them at
|
|
court or in the army, and some of them, at least, were deserving
|
|
enough; but such preferments would have exposed them to the envy of
|
|
the Egyptians, and would have tempted them to forget Canaan and the
|
|
promise made unto their fathers; therefore he contrives to continue
|
|
them in their old employment. Note, (1.) An honest calling is no
|
|
disparagement, nor ought we to account it so either in ourselves or
|
|
in our relations, but rather reckon it a shame to be idle, or to
|
|
have nothing to do. (2.) It is generally best for people to abide
|
|
in the callings that they have been bred to, and used to, <scripRef passage="1Co 7:24" id="Gen.xlvii-p16.2" parsed="|1Cor|7|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.7.24">1 Cor. vii. 24</scripRef>. Whatever employment
|
|
or condition God, in his providence, has allotted for us, let us
|
|
accommodate ourselves to it, and satisfy ourselves with it, and
|
|
<i>not mind high things.</i> It is better to be the credit of a
|
|
mean post than the shame of a high one.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XLVII" n="xlviii" progress="28.94%" prev="Gen.xlvii" next="Gen.xlix" id="Gen.xlviii">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="250" id="Gen.xlviii-Page_250"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xlviii-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xlviii-p0.2">CHAP. XLVII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xlviii-p1">In this chapter we have instances, I. Of Joseph's
|
|
kindness and affection to his relations, presenting his brethren
|
|
first and then his father to Pharaoh (<scripRef passage="Ge 47:1-10" id="Gen.xlviii-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|47|1|47|10" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.1-Gen.47.10">ver. 1-10</scripRef>), settling them in Goshen, and
|
|
providing for them there (<scripRef passage="Ge 47:11,12" id="Gen.xlviii-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|47|11|47|12" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.11-Gen.47.12">ver. 11,
|
|
12</scripRef>), and paying his respects to his father when he sent
|
|
for him, <scripRef passage="Ge 47:27-31" id="Gen.xlviii-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|47|27|47|31" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.27-Gen.47.31">ver. 27-31</scripRef>. II.
|
|
Of Joseph's justice between prince and people in a very critical
|
|
affair, selling Pharaoh's corn to his subjects with reasonable
|
|
profits to Pharaoh, and yet without any wrong to them, <scripRef passage="Ge 47:13-26" id="Gen.xlviii-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|47|13|47|26" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.13-Gen.47.26">ver. 13</scripRef>, &c. Thus he approved
|
|
himself wise and good, both in his private and in his public
|
|
capacity.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 47" id="Gen.xlviii-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|47|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 47:1-12" id="Gen.xlviii-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|47|1|47|12" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.1-Gen.47.12"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.47.1-Gen.47.12">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xlviii-p1.7">Pharaoh's Generosity; Jacob Presented to
|
|
Pharaoh. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xlviii-p1.8">b. c.</span> 1706.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xlviii-p2">1 Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh, and said,
|
|
My father and my brethren, and their flocks, and their herds, and
|
|
all that they have,
|
|
|
|
<pb n="251" id="Gen.xlviii-Page_251"/>
|
|
|
|
are come out of the land
|
|
of Canaan; and, behold, they <i>are</i> in the land of Goshen.
|
|
  2 And he took some of his brethren, <i>even</i> five men,
|
|
and presented them unto Pharaoh.   3 And Pharaoh said unto his
|
|
brethren, What <i>is</i> your occupation? And they said unto
|
|
Pharaoh, Thy servants <i>are</i> shepherds, both we, <i>and</i>
|
|
also our fathers.   4 They said moreover unto Pharaoh, For to
|
|
sojourn in the land are we come; for thy servants have no pasture
|
|
for their flocks; for the famine <i>is</i> sore in the land of
|
|
Canaan: now therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the
|
|
land of Goshen.   5 And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, Thy
|
|
father and thy brethren are come unto thee:   6 The land of
|
|
Egypt <i>is</i> before thee; in the best of the land make thy
|
|
father and brethren to dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell:
|
|
and if thou knowest <i>any</i> men of activity among them, then
|
|
make them rulers over my cattle.   7 And Joseph brought in
|
|
Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed
|
|
Pharaoh.   8 And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old <i>art</i>
|
|
thou?   9 And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years
|
|
of my pilgrimage <i>are</i> a hundred and thirty years: few and
|
|
evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not
|
|
attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in
|
|
the days of their pilgrimage.   10 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh,
|
|
and went out from before Pharaoh.   11 And Joseph placed his
|
|
father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of
|
|
Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh
|
|
had commanded.   12 And Joseph nourished his father, and his
|
|
brethren, and all his father's household, with bread, according to
|
|
<i>their</i> families.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlviii-p3">Here is, I. The respect which Joseph, as a
|
|
subject, showed to his prince. Though he was his favourite, and
|
|
prime-minister of state, and had had particular orders from him to
|
|
send for his father down to Egypt, yet he would not suffer him to
|
|
settle till he had given notice of it to Pharaoh, <scripRef passage="Ge 47:1" id="Gen.xlviii-p3.1" parsed="|Gen|47|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. Christ, our Joseph,
|
|
disposes of his followers in his kingdom as it is prepared of his
|
|
Father, saying, <i>It is not mine to give,</i> <scripRef passage="Mt 20:23" id="Gen.xlviii-p3.2" parsed="|Matt|20|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.20.23">Matt. xx. 23</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlviii-p4">II. The respect which Joseph, as a brother,
|
|
showed to his brethren, notwithstanding all the unkindness he had
|
|
formerly received from them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlviii-p5">1. Though he was a great man, and they were
|
|
comparatively mean and despicable, especially in Egypt, yet he
|
|
owned them. Let those that are rich and great in the world learn
|
|
hence not to overlook nor despise their poor relations. Every
|
|
branch of the tree is not a top branch; but, because it is a lower
|
|
branch, is it therefore not of the tree? Our Lord Jesus, like
|
|
Joseph here, is not <i>ashamed to call us brethren.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlviii-p6">2. They being strangers and no courtiers,
|
|
he introduced some of them to Pharaoh, <i>to kiss his hand,</i> as
|
|
we say, intending thereby to put an honour upon them among the
|
|
Egyptians. Thus Christ presents his brethren in the court of
|
|
heaven, and improves his interest for them, though in themselves
|
|
unworthy and <i>an abomination to the Egyptians.</i> Being
|
|
presented to Pharaoh, according to the instructions which Joseph
|
|
had given them, they tell him, (1.) What was their business—that
|
|
they were shepherds, <scripRef passage="Ge 47:3" id="Gen.xlviii-p6.1" parsed="|Gen|47|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.3"><i>v.</i>
|
|
3</scripRef>. Pharaoh asked them (and Joseph knew it would be one
|
|
of his first questions, <scripRef passage="Ge 46:33" id="Gen.xlviii-p6.2" parsed="|Gen|46|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.46.33"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xlvi. 33</scripRef>), <i>What is your occupation?</i> He takes it
|
|
for granted they had something to do, else Egypt should be no place
|
|
for them, no harbour for idle vagrants. If they would not work,
|
|
they should not eat of his bread in this time of scarcity. Note,
|
|
All that have a place in the world should have an employment in it
|
|
according to their capacity, some occupation or other, mental or
|
|
manual. Those that need not work for their bread must yet have
|
|
something to do, to keep them from idleness. Again, Magistrates
|
|
should enquire into the occupation of their subjects, as those that
|
|
have the care of the public welfare; for idle people are as drones
|
|
in the hive, unprofitable burdens of the commonwealth. (2.) What
|
|
was their business in Egypt—to sojourn in the land (<scripRef passage="Ge 47:4" id="Gen.xlviii-p6.3" parsed="|Gen|47|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>), not to settle there for
|
|
ever, only to sojourn there for a time, while the famine so
|
|
prevailed in Canaan, which lay high, that it was not habitable for
|
|
shepherds, the grass being burnt up much more than in Egypt, which
|
|
lay low, and where the corn chiefly failed, while there was
|
|
tolerably good pasture.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlviii-p7">3. He obtained for them a grant of a
|
|
settlement in the land of Goshen, <scripRef passage="Ge 47:5,6" id="Gen.xlviii-p7.1" parsed="|Gen|47|5|47|6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.5-Gen.47.6"><i>v.</i> 5, 6</scripRef>. This was an instance of
|
|
Pharaoh's gratitude to Joseph; because he had been such a blessing
|
|
to him and his kingdom, he would be kind to his relations, purely
|
|
for his sake. He offered them preferment as shepherds over his
|
|
cattle, provided they were men of activity; for it is the man who
|
|
is diligent in his business that shall stand before kings. And,
|
|
whatever our profession or employment is, we should aim to be
|
|
excellent in it, and to prove ourselves ingenious and
|
|
industrious.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlviii-p8">III. The respect Joseph, as a son, showed
|
|
to his father.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlviii-p9">1. He presented him to Pharaoh, <scripRef passage="Ge 47:7" id="Gen.xlviii-p9.1" parsed="|Gen|47|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. And here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlviii-p10">(1.) Pharaoh asks Jacob a common question:
|
|
<i>How old art thou?</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 47:8" id="Gen.xlviii-p10.1" parsed="|Gen|47|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.8"><i>v.</i>
|
|
8</scripRef>. A question usually put to old men, for it is natural
|
|
to us to admire old age and to reverence it (<scripRef passage="Le 19:32" id="Gen.xlviii-p10.2" parsed="|Lev|19|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.32">Lev. xix. 32</scripRef>), as it is very unnatural and
|
|
unbecoming to despise it, <scripRef passage="Isa 3:5" id="Gen.xlviii-p10.3" parsed="|Isa|3|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.3.5">Isa. iii.
|
|
5</scripRef>. Jacob's countenance, no doubt, showed him to be very
|
|
old, for he had been a man of labour and sorrow; in Egypt people
|
|
were not so long-lived as in Canaan, and therefore Pharaoh looks
|
|
upon Jacob with wonder; he was as a show in his court. When we are
|
|
reflecting upon ourselves, this should come into the account, "How
|
|
old are we?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlviii-p11">(2.) Jacob gives Pharaoh an uncommon
|
|
answer, <scripRef passage="Ge 47:9" id="Gen.xlviii-p11.1" parsed="|Gen|47|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. He
|
|
speaks as becomes a patriarch, with an air of seriousness, for the
|
|
instruction of Pharaoh. Though our speech be not always of grace,
|
|
yet it must thus be always with grace. Observe here, [1.] He calls
|
|
his life <i>a pilgrimage,</i> looking upon himself as a stranger in
|
|
this world, and a traveller towards another world: this earth his
|
|
inn, not his home. To this the apostle refers (<scripRef passage="Heb 11:13" id="Gen.xlviii-p11.2" parsed="|Heb|11|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.13">Heb. xi. 13</scripRef>), <i>They confessed that they
|
|
were strangers and pilgrims.</i> He not only reckoned himself a
|
|
pilgrim now that he was in Egypt, a strange country in which he
|
|
never was before; but his life, even in the land of his nativity,
|
|
was a pilgrimage, and those who so reckon it can the better bear
|
|
the inconvenience of banishment from their native soil; they are
|
|
but pilgrims still, and so they were always. [2.] He reckons his
|
|
life by <i>days;</i> for, even so, it is soon reckoned, and we are
|
|
not sure of the continuance of it for a day to an end, but may be
|
|
turned out of this tabernacle at less than an hour's warning. Let
|
|
us therefore number our days (<scripRef passage="Ps 90:12" id="Gen.xlviii-p11.3" parsed="|Ps|90|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.90.12">Ps. xc.
|
|
12</scripRef>), and measure them, <scripRef passage="Ps 39:4" id="Gen.xlviii-p11.4" parsed="|Ps|39|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.39.4">Ps.
|
|
xxxix. 4</scripRef>. [3.] The character he gives of them is,
|
|
<i>First,</i> That they were few. Though he had now lived 130
|
|
years, they seemed to him but a few days, in comparison with the
|
|
days of eternity, the eternal God, and the eternal state, in which
|
|
a thousand years (longer than ever any man lived) are but as one
|
|
day. <i>Secondly,</i> That they were evil. This is true concerning
|
|
man in general, <i>he is of few days, and full of trouble</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Job 14:1" id="Gen.xlviii-p11.5" parsed="|Job|14|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.14.1">Job xiv. 1</scripRef>); and, since
|
|
his days are evil, it is well they are few. Jacob's life,
|
|
particularly, had been made up of evil days; and the pleasantest
|
|
days of his life were yet before him. <i>Thirdly,</i> That they
|
|
were short of the days of his fathers, not so many, not so
|
|
pleasant, as their days. Old age came sooner upon him than it had
|
|
done upon some of his ancestors. As the young man should not be
|
|
proud of his strength or beauty, so the old man should not be proud
|
|
of his age, and the crown of his hoary hairs, though others justly
|
|
reverence it; for those who are accounted very old attain not to
|
|
the years of the patriarchs. The hoary head is a crown of glory
|
|
only when it is found in the way of righteousness.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlviii-p12">(3.) Jacob both addresses himself to
|
|
Pharaoh and takes leave of him with a blessing (<scripRef passage="Ge 47:7" id="Gen.xlviii-p12.1" parsed="|Gen|47|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>): <i>Jacob blessed Pharaoh,</i>
|
|
and again, <scripRef passage="Ge 47:10" id="Gen.xlviii-p12.2" parsed="|Gen|47|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>,
|
|
which was not only an act of civility (he paid him respect and
|
|
returned him thanks for his kindness), but an act of piety—he
|
|
prayed for him, as one having the authority of a prophet and a
|
|
patriarch. Though in worldly wealth Pharaoh was the greater, yet,
|
|
in interest with God, Jacob was the greater; he was God's anointed,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 105:15" id="Gen.xlviii-p12.3" parsed="|Ps|105|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.105.15">Ps. cv. 15</scripRef>. And a
|
|
patriarch's blessing was not a thing to be despised, no, not by a
|
|
potent prince. Darius valued the prayers of the church for himself
|
|
and for his sons, <scripRef passage="Ezr 6:10" id="Gen.xlviii-p12.4" parsed="|Ezra|6|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.6.10">Ezra vi.
|
|
10</scripRef>. Pharaoh kindly received Jacob, and, whether in the
|
|
name of a prophet or no, thus he had a prophet's reward, which
|
|
sufficiently recompensed him, not only for his courteous converse
|
|
with him, but for all the other kindnesses he showed to him and
|
|
his.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlviii-p13">2. He provided well for him and his,
|
|
<i>placed him in Goshen</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 47:11" id="Gen.xlviii-p13.1" parsed="|Gen|47|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.11"><i>v.</i>
|
|
11</scripRef>), <i>nourished him</i> and all his with food
|
|
convenient for them, <scripRef passage="Ge 47:12" id="Gen.xlviii-p13.2" parsed="|Gen|47|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.12"><i>v.</i>
|
|
12</scripRef>. This bespeaks, not only Joseph a good man, who took
|
|
this tender care of his poor relations, but God a good God, who
|
|
raised him up for this purpose, and put him into a capacity of
|
|
doing it, as Esther came to the kingdom for such a time as this.
|
|
What God here did for Jacob he has, in effect, promised to do for
|
|
all his, that serve him and trust in him. <scripRef passage="Ps 37:19" id="Gen.xlviii-p13.3" parsed="|Ps|37|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.37.19">Ps. xxxvii. 19</scripRef>, <i>In the days of famine they
|
|
shall be satisfied.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 47:13-26" id="Gen.xlviii-p13.4" parsed="|Gen|47|13|47|26" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.13-Gen.47.26"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.47.13-Gen.47.26">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xlviii-p13.5">Distressed Occasioned by the
|
|
Famine. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xlviii-p13.6">b. c.</span> 1706.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xlviii-p14">13 And <i>there was</i> no bread in all the
|
|
land; for the famine <i>was</i> very sore, so that the land of
|
|
Egypt and <i>all</i> the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the
|
|
famine.   14 And Joseph gathered up all the money that was
|
|
found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the corn
|
|
which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's
|
|
house.   15 And when money failed in the land of Egypt, and in
|
|
the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said,
|
|
Give us bread: for why should we die in thy presence? for the money
|
|
faileth.   16 And Joseph said, Give your cattle; and I will
|
|
give you for your cattle, if money fail.   17 And they brought
|
|
their cattle unto Joseph: and Joseph gave them bread <i>in
|
|
exchange</i> for horses, and for the flocks, and for the cattle of
|
|
the herds, and for the asses: and he fed them with bread for all
|
|
their cattle for that year.   18 When that year was ended,
|
|
they came
|
|
|
|
<pb n="253" id="Gen.xlviii-Page_253"/>
|
|
|
|
unto him the second year, and said
|
|
unto him, We will not hide <i>it</i> from my lord, how that our
|
|
money is spent; my lord also hath our herds of cattle; there is not
|
|
ought left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands:
|
|
  19 Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our
|
|
land? buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be
|
|
servants unto Pharaoh: and give <i>us</i> seed, that we may live,
|
|
and not die, that the land be not desolate.   20 And Joseph
|
|
bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold
|
|
every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them: so the
|
|
land became Pharaoh's.   21 And as for the people, he removed
|
|
them to cities from <i>one</i> end of the borders of Egypt even to
|
|
the <i>other</i> end thereof.   22 Only the land of the
|
|
priests bought he not; for the priests had a portion <i>assigned
|
|
them</i> of Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave
|
|
them: wherefore they sold not their lands.   23 Then Joseph
|
|
said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your
|
|
land for Pharaoh: lo, <i>here is</i> seed for you, and ye shall sow
|
|
the land.   24 And it shall come to pass in the increase, that
|
|
ye shall give the fifth <i>part</i> unto Pharaoh, and four parts
|
|
shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and
|
|
for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.
|
|
  25 And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find
|
|
grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants.
|
|
  26 And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this
|
|
day, <i>that</i> Pharaoh should have the fifth <i>part;</i> except
|
|
the land of the priests only, <i>which</i> became not
|
|
Pharaoh's.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlviii-p15">Care being taken of Jacob and his family,
|
|
the preservation of which was especially designed by Providence in
|
|
Joseph's advancement, an account is now given of the saving of the
|
|
kingdom of Egypt too from ruin; for God is King of nations as well
|
|
as King of saints, and provideth food for all flesh. Joseph now
|
|
returns to the management of that great trust which Pharaoh had
|
|
lodged in his hand. It would have been pleasing enough to him to
|
|
have gone and lived with his father and brethren in Goshen; but his
|
|
employment would not permit it. When he had seen his father, and
|
|
seen him well settled, he applied himself as closely as ever to the
|
|
execution of his office. Note, Even natural affection must give way
|
|
to necessary business. Parents and children must be content to be
|
|
absent one from another, when it is necessary, on either side, for
|
|
the service of God or their generation. In Joseph's transactions
|
|
with the Egyptians observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlviii-p16">I. The great extremity that Egypt, and the
|
|
parts adjacent, were reduced to by the famine. There was no bread,
|
|
and they <i>fainted</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 47:13" id="Gen.xlviii-p16.1" parsed="|Gen|47|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.13"><i>v.</i>
|
|
13</scripRef>), they were ready to die, <scripRef passage="Ge 47:15,19" id="Gen.xlviii-p16.2" parsed="|Gen|47|15|0|0;|Gen|47|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.15 Bible:Gen.47.19"><i>v.</i> 15, 19</scripRef>. 1. See here what a
|
|
dependence we have upon God's providence. If its usual favours are
|
|
suspended but for a while, we die, we perish, we all perish. All
|
|
our wealth would not keep us from starving if the rain of heaven
|
|
were but withheld for two or three years. See how much we lie at
|
|
God's mercy, and let us keep ourselves always in his love. 2. See
|
|
how much we smart by our own improvidence. If all the Egyptians had
|
|
done for themselves in the seven years of plenty as Joseph did for
|
|
Pharaoh, they had not been now in these straits; but they regarded
|
|
not the warning they had of the years of famine, concluding that
|
|
to-morrow shall be as this day, next year as this, and much more
|
|
abundant. Note, Because man knows not his time (his time of
|
|
gathering when he has it) therefore his misery is great upon him
|
|
when the spending time comes, <scripRef passage="Ec 8:6,7" id="Gen.xlviii-p16.3" parsed="|Eccl|8|6|8|7" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.8.6-Eccl.8.7">Eccl.
|
|
viii. 6, 7</scripRef>. 3. See how early God put a difference
|
|
between the Egyptians and the Israelites, as afterwards in the
|
|
plagues, <scripRef passage="Ex 8:22,9:4,10:23" id="Gen.xlviii-p16.4" parsed="|Exod|8|22|0|0;|Exod|9|4|0|0;|Exod|10|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.22 Bible:Exod.9.4 Bible:Exod.10.23">Exod. viii. 22; ix.
|
|
4, 26; x. 23</scripRef>. Jacob and his family, though strangers,
|
|
were plentifully fed on free cost, while the Egyptians were dying
|
|
for want. See <scripRef passage="Isa 65:13" id="Gen.xlviii-p16.5" parsed="|Isa|65|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.13">Isa. lxv.
|
|
13</scripRef>, <i>My servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry.
|
|
Happy art thou, O Israel.</i> Whoever wants, God's children shall
|
|
not, <scripRef passage="Ps 34:10" id="Gen.xlviii-p16.6" parsed="|Ps|34|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.34.10">Ps. xxxiv. 10</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlviii-p17">II. The price they had come up to, for
|
|
their supply, in this exigency. 1. They parted with all their money
|
|
which they had hoarded up, <scripRef passage="Ge 47:14" id="Gen.xlviii-p17.1" parsed="|Gen|47|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.14"><i>v.</i>
|
|
14</scripRef>. Silver and gold would not feed them, they must have
|
|
corn. All the money of the kingdom was by this means brought into
|
|
the exchequer. 2. When the money failed, they parted with all their
|
|
cattle, those for labour, as the horses and asses, and those for
|
|
food, as the flocks and the herds, <scripRef passage="Ge 47:17" id="Gen.xlviii-p17.2" parsed="|Gen|47|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. By this it should seem that we
|
|
may better live upon bread without flesh than upon flesh without
|
|
bread. We may suppose they parted the more easily with their cattle
|
|
because they had little or no grass for them; and now Pharaoh saw
|
|
in reality what he had before seen in vision, nothing but lean
|
|
kine. 3. When they had sold their stocks off their land, it was
|
|
easy to persuade themselves (rather than starve) to sell their land
|
|
too; for what good would that do them, when they had neither corn
|
|
to sow it nor cattle to eat of it? They
|
|
|
|
<pb n="254" id="Gen.xlviii-Page_254"/>
|
|
|
|
therefore sold that next, for a further supply of corn. 4. When
|
|
their land was sold, so that they had nothing to live on, they must
|
|
of course sell themselves, that they might live purely upon their
|
|
labour, and hold their lands by the base tenure of villanage, at
|
|
the courtesy of the crown. Note, <i>Skin for skin, and all that a
|
|
man hath,</i> even liberty and property (those darling twins),
|
|
<i>will he give for his life;</i> for life is sweet. There are few
|
|
(though perhaps there are some) who would even dare to die rather
|
|
than live in slavery, and dependence on an arbitrary power. And
|
|
perhaps there are those who, in that case, could die by the sword,
|
|
in a heat, who yet could not deliberately die by famine, which is
|
|
much worse, <scripRef passage="La 4:9" id="Gen.xlviii-p17.3" parsed="|Lam|4|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.9">Lam. iv. 9</scripRef>. Now
|
|
it was a great mercy to the Egyptians that, in this distress, they
|
|
could have corn at any rate; if they had all died for hunger, their
|
|
lands perhaps would have escheated to the crown of course, for want
|
|
of heirs; they therefore resolved to make the best of bad.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlviii-p18">III. The method which Joseph took to
|
|
accommodate the matter between prince and people, so that the
|
|
prince might have his just advantage, and yet the people not be
|
|
quite ruined. 1. For their lands, he needed not come to any bargain
|
|
with them while the years of famine lasted; but when these were
|
|
over (for God will not contend for ever, nor will he be always
|
|
wroth) he came to an agreement, which it seems both sides were
|
|
pleased with, that the people should occupy and enjoy the lands, as
|
|
he thought fit to assign them, and should have seed to sow them
|
|
with out of the king's stores, for their own proper use and behoof,
|
|
yielding and paying only a fifth part of the yearly profits as a
|
|
chief rent to the crown. This became a standing law, <scripRef passage="Ge 47:26" id="Gen.xlviii-p18.1" parsed="|Gen|47|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>. And it was a very good
|
|
bargain to have food for their lands, when otherwise they and
|
|
theirs must have starved, and then to have their lands again upon
|
|
such easy terms. Note, Those ministers of state are worthy of
|
|
double honour, both for wisdom and integrity, that keep the balance
|
|
even between prince and people, so that liberty and property may
|
|
not intrench upon prerogative, nor the prerogative bear hard upon
|
|
liberty and property: in the multitude of such counsellors there is
|
|
safety. If afterwards the Egyptians thought it hard to pay so great
|
|
a duty to the king out of their lands, they must remember, not only
|
|
how just, but how kind, the first imposing of it was. They might
|
|
thankfully pay a fifth where all was due. It is observable how
|
|
faithful Joseph was to him that appointed him. He did not put the
|
|
money into his own pocket, nor entail the lands upon his own
|
|
family; but converted both entirely to Pharaoh's use; and therefore
|
|
we do not find that his posterity went out of Egypt any richer than
|
|
the rest of their poor brethren. Those in public trusts, if they
|
|
raise great estates, must take heed that it be not at the expense
|
|
of a good conscience, which is much more valuable. 2. For their
|
|
persons, he removed them to cities, <scripRef passage="Ge 47:21" id="Gen.xlviii-p18.2" parsed="|Gen|47|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. He transplanted them, to show
|
|
Pharaoh's sovereign power over them, and that they might, in time,
|
|
forget their titles to their lands, and be the more easily
|
|
reconciled to their new condition of servitude. The Jewish writers
|
|
say, "He removed them thus from their former habitations because
|
|
they reproached his brethren as strangers, to silence which
|
|
reproach they were all made, in effect, strangers." See what
|
|
changes a little time may make with a people, and how soon God can
|
|
empty those from vessel to vessel who had settled upon their lees.
|
|
How hard soever this seems to have been upon them, they themselves
|
|
were at this time sensible of it as a very great kindness, and were
|
|
thankful they were not worse used: <i>Thou hast saved our
|
|
lives,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 47:25" id="Gen.xlviii-p18.3" parsed="|Gen|47|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, There is good reason that the Saviour of our lives should be
|
|
the Master of our lives. "Thou hast saved us; do what thou wilt
|
|
with us."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlviii-p19">IV. The reservation he made in favour of
|
|
the priests. They were maintained on free cost, so that they needed
|
|
not to sell their lands, <scripRef passage="Ge 47:22" id="Gen.xlviii-p19.1" parsed="|Gen|47|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.22"><i>v.</i>
|
|
22</scripRef>. <i>All people will thus walk in the name of their
|
|
God;</i> they will be kind to those that attend the public service
|
|
of their God, and that minister to them in holy things; and we
|
|
should, in like manner, honour our God, by esteeming his ministers
|
|
highly in love for their work's sake.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 47:27-31" id="Gen.xlviii-p19.2" parsed="|Gen|47|27|47|31" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.27-Gen.47.31"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.47.27-Gen.47.31">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xlviii-p19.3">Jacob's Charge Concerning His
|
|
Burial. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xlviii-p19.4">b. c.</span> 1706.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xlviii-p20">27 And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the
|
|
country of Goshen; and they had possessions therein, and grew, and
|
|
multiplied exceedingly.   28 And Jacob lived in the land of
|
|
Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was a hundred
|
|
forty and seven years.   29 And the time drew nigh that Israel
|
|
must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I
|
|
have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my
|
|
thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee,
|
|
in Egypt:   30 But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt
|
|
carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their buryingplace. And he
|
|
said, I will do as thou hast said.   31 And he said, Swear
|
|
unto me. And he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the
|
|
bed's head.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlviii-p21">Observe, 1. The comfort Jacob lived in
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 47:27,28" id="Gen.xlviii-p21.1" parsed="|Gen|47|27|47|28" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.27-Gen.47.28"><i>v.</i> 27, 28</scripRef>);
|
|
while the Egyptians were impoverished in their own land, Jacob was
|
|
replenished in a strange land. He lived seventeen years after he
|
|
came into Egypt, far beyond his own expectation. Seventeen
|
|
|
|
<pb n="255" id="Gen.xlviii-Page_255"/>
|
|
|
|
years he had nourished Joseph (for so old he was
|
|
when he was sold from him, <scripRef passage="Ge 37:2" id="Gen.xlviii-p21.2" parsed="|Gen|37|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.37.2"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xxxvii. 2</scripRef>), and now, by way of requital, seventeen years
|
|
Joseph nourished him. Observe how kindly Providence ordered Jacob's
|
|
affairs, that when he was old, and least able to bear care or
|
|
fatigue, he had least occasion for it, being well provided for by
|
|
his son without his own forecast. Thus God considers the frame of
|
|
his people. 2. The care Jacob died in. At last <i>the time drew
|
|
nigh that Israel must die,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 47:29" id="Gen.xlviii-p21.3" parsed="|Gen|47|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>. Israel, a prince with God, that
|
|
had power over the angel and prevailed, yet must yield to death.
|
|
There is no remedy, he <i>must die:</i> it is appointed for all
|
|
men, therefore for him; and there is no discharge in that war.
|
|
Joseph supplied him with bread, that he might not die by famine;
|
|
but this did not secure him from dying by age or sickness. He died
|
|
by degrees; his candle was not blown out, but gradually burnt down
|
|
to the socket, so that he saw, at some distance, the time drawing
|
|
nigh. Note, It is an improvable advantage to see the approach of
|
|
death before we feel its arrests, that we may be quickened to do
|
|
what our hand finds to do with all our might: however, it is not
|
|
far from any of us. Now Jacob's care, as he saw the day
|
|
approaching, was about his burial, not the pomp of it (he was no
|
|
way solicitous about that), but the place of it. (1.) He would be
|
|
buried in Canaan. This he resolved on, not from mere humour,
|
|
because Canaan was the land of his nativity, but in faith, because
|
|
it was the land of promise (which he desired thus, as it were, to
|
|
keep possession of, till the time should come when his posterity
|
|
should be masters of it), and because it was a type of heaven, that
|
|
better country which he that said these things declared plainly
|
|
that he was in expectation of, <scripRef passage="Heb 11:14" id="Gen.xlviii-p21.4" parsed="|Heb|11|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.14">Heb.
|
|
xi. 14</scripRef>. He aimed at a good land, which would be his rest
|
|
and bliss on the other side death. (2.) He would have Joseph sworn
|
|
to bring him thither to be buried (<scripRef passage="Ge 47:29,31" id="Gen.xlviii-p21.5" parsed="|Gen|47|29|0|0;|Gen|47|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.29 Bible:Gen.47.31"><i>v.</i> 29, 31</scripRef>), that Joseph, being
|
|
under such a solemn obligation to do it, might have that to answer
|
|
to the objections which otherwise might have been made against it,
|
|
and for the greater satisfaction of Jacob now in his dying minutes.
|
|
Nothing will better help to make a death-bed easy than the certain
|
|
prospect of a rest in Canaan after death. (3.) When this was done
|
|
<i>Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head,</i> yielding himself,
|
|
as it were, to the stroke of death ("Now let it come, and it shall
|
|
be welcome"), or worshipping God, as it is explained, <scripRef passage="Heb 11:21" id="Gen.xlviii-p21.6" parsed="|Heb|11|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.21">Heb. xi. 21</scripRef>, giving God thanks for
|
|
all his favours, and particularly for this, that Joseph was ready,
|
|
not only to put his hand upon his eyes to close them, but under his
|
|
thigh to give him the satisfaction he desired concerning his
|
|
burial. Thus those that go down to the dust should, with humble
|
|
thankfulness, bow before God, the God of their mercies, <scripRef passage="Ps 22:29" id="Gen.xlviii-p21.7" parsed="|Ps|22|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.22.29">Ps. xxii. 29</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XLVIII" n="xlix" progress="29.44%" prev="Gen.xlviii" next="Gen.l" id="Gen.xlix">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="255" id="Gen.xlix-Page_255"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.xlix-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.xlix-p0.2">CHAP. XLVIII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xlix-p1">The time drawing nigh that Israel must die,
|
|
having, in the former chapter, given order about his burial, in
|
|
this he takes leave of his grand-children by Joseph, and in the
|
|
next of all his children. Thus Jacob's dying words are recorded,
|
|
because he then spoke by a spirit of prophecy; Abraham's and
|
|
Isaac's are not. God's gifts and graces shine forth much more in
|
|
some saints than in others upon their death-beds. The Spirit, like
|
|
the wind, blows where it listeth. In this chapter, I. Joseph,
|
|
hearing of his father's sickness, goes to visit him, and takes his
|
|
two sons with him, <scripRef passage="Ge 48:1,2" id="Gen.xlix-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|48|1|48|2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.1-Gen.48.2">ver. 1,
|
|
2</scripRef>. II. Jacob solemnly adopts his two sons, and takes
|
|
them for his own, <scripRef passage="Ge 48:3-7" id="Gen.xlix-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|48|3|48|7" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.3-Gen.48.7">ver.
|
|
3-7</scripRef>. III. He blesses them, <scripRef passage="Ge 48:8-16" id="Gen.xlix-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|48|8|48|16" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.8-Gen.48.16">ver. 8-16</scripRef>. IV. He explains and justifies
|
|
the crossing of his hands in blessing them, <scripRef passage="Ge 48:17-20" id="Gen.xlix-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|48|17|48|20" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.17-Gen.48.20">ver. 17-20</scripRef>. V. He leaves a particular
|
|
legacy to Joseph, <scripRef passage="Ge 48:21,22" id="Gen.xlix-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|48|21|48|22" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.21-Gen.48.22">ver. 21,
|
|
22</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 48" id="Gen.xlix-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|48|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 48:1-7" id="Gen.xlix-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|48|1|48|7" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.1-Gen.48.7"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.48.1-Gen.48.7">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xlix-p1.8">Jacob's Last Illness. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xlix-p1.9">b. c.</span> 1689.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xlix-p2">1 And it came to pass after these things, that
|
|
<i>one</i> told Joseph, Behold, thy father <i>is</i> sick: and he
|
|
took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.   2 And
|
|
<i>one</i> told Jacob, and said, Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto
|
|
thee: and Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed.  
|
|
3 And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz
|
|
in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,   4 And said unto me,
|
|
Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will
|
|
make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy
|
|
seed after thee <i>for</i> an everlasting possession.   5 And
|
|
now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee
|
|
in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, <i>are</i>
|
|
mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.   6 And thy
|
|
issue, which thou begettest after them, shall be thine, <i>and</i>
|
|
shall be called after the name of their brethren in their
|
|
inheritance.   7 And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel
|
|
died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when yet <i>there
|
|
was</i> but a little way to come unto Ephrath: and I buried her
|
|
there in the way of Ephrath; the same <i>is</i> Beth-lehem.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlix-p3">Here, I. Joseph, upon notice of his
|
|
father's illness, goes to see him; though a man of honour and
|
|
business, yet he will not fail to show this due respect to his aged
|
|
father, <scripRef passage="Ge 48:1" id="Gen.xlix-p3.1" parsed="|Gen|48|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>.
|
|
Visiting the sick, to whom we lie under obligations, or may have
|
|
opportunity of doing good, either for body or soul, is our duty.
|
|
The sick bed is a proper place both for giving comfort and counsel
|
|
to others and receiving instruction ourselves. Joseph took his two
|
|
sons with him, that they might receive their dying grandfather's
|
|
blessing, and that what they might see in him, and hear from him,
|
|
might make an abiding impression upon them. Note, 1. It is good to
|
|
acquaint young people that are coming into the world with the aged
|
|
servants of God that are going out of it, whose dying testimony to
|
|
the
|
|
|
|
<pb n="256" id="Gen.xlix-Page_256"/>
|
|
|
|
goodness of God, and the pleasantness of
|
|
wisdom's ways, may be a great encouragement to the rising
|
|
generation. Manasseh and Ephraim (I dare say) would never forget
|
|
what passed at this time. 2. Pious parents are desirous of a
|
|
blessing, not only for themselves, but for their children. "O that
|
|
they may live before God!" Joseph had been, above all his brethren,
|
|
kind to his father, and therefore had reason to expect particular
|
|
favour from him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlix-p4">II. Jacob, upon notice of his son's visit,
|
|
prepared himself as well as he could to entertain him, <scripRef passage="Ge 48:2" id="Gen.xlix-p4.1" parsed="|Gen|48|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. He did what he could to
|
|
rouse his spirits, and to stir up the gift that was in him; what
|
|
little was left of bodily strength he put forth to the utmost, and
|
|
<i>sat upon the bed.</i> Note, It is very good for sick and aged
|
|
people to be as lively and cheerful as they can, that they may not
|
|
faint in the day of adversity. <i>Strengthen thyself,</i> as Jacob
|
|
here, and God will strengthen thee; hearten thyself and help
|
|
thyself, and God will help and hearten thee. Let the spirit sustain
|
|
the infirmity.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlix-p5">III. In recompence to Joseph for all his
|
|
attentions to him, he adopted his two sons. In this charter of
|
|
adoption there is, 1. A particular recital of God's promise to him,
|
|
to which this had reference: "<i>God blessed me</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 48:3" id="Gen.xlix-p5.1" parsed="|Gen|48|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), and let that blessing be
|
|
entailed upon them." God had promised him two things, a numerous
|
|
issue, and Canaan for an inheritance (<scripRef passage="Ge 48:4" id="Gen.xlix-p5.2" parsed="|Gen|48|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>); and Joseph's sons, pursuant
|
|
hereunto, should each of them multiply into a tribe, and each of
|
|
them have a distinct lot in Canaan, equal with Jacob's own sons.
|
|
See how he blessed them by faith in that which God had said to him,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Heb 11:21" id="Gen.xlix-p5.3" parsed="|Heb|11|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.21">Heb. xi. 21</scripRef>. Note, In all
|
|
our prayers, both for ourselves and for our children, we ought to
|
|
have a particular eye to, and remembrance of, God's promises to us.
|
|
2. An express reception of Joseph's sons into his family: "<i>Thy
|
|
sons are mine</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 48:5" id="Gen.xlix-p5.4" parsed="|Gen|48|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.5"><i>v.</i>
|
|
5</scripRef>), not only my grand-children, but as my own children."
|
|
Though they were born in Egypt, and their father was then separated
|
|
from his brethren, which might seem to have cut them off from the
|
|
heritage of the Lord, yet Jacob takes them in, and owns them for
|
|
visible church members. He explains this at <scripRef passage="Ge 48:16" id="Gen.xlix-p5.5" parsed="|Gen|48|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>, <i>Let my name be named upon
|
|
them, and the name of my fathers;</i> as if he had said, "Let them
|
|
not succeed their father in his power and grandeur here in Egypt,
|
|
but let them succeed me in the inheritance of the promise made to
|
|
Abraham," which Jacob looked upon as much more valuable and
|
|
honourable, and would have them to prize and covet accordingly.
|
|
Thus the aged dying patriarch teaches these young persons, now that
|
|
they were of age (being about twenty-one years old), not to look
|
|
upon Egypt as their home, nor to incorporate themselves with the
|
|
Egyptians, but to take their lot with the people of God, as Moses
|
|
afterwards in the like temptation, <scripRef passage="Heb 11:24-26" id="Gen.xlix-p5.6" parsed="|Heb|11|24|11|26" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.24-Heb.11.26">Heb. xi. 24-26</scripRef>. And because it would be a
|
|
piece of self-denial in them, who stood so fair for preferment in
|
|
Egypt, to adhere to the despised Hebrews, to encourage them he
|
|
constitutes each of them the head of a tribe. Note, Those are
|
|
worthy of double honour who, through God's grace, break through the
|
|
temptations of worldly wealth and preferment, to embrace religion
|
|
in disgrace and poverty. Jacob will have Ephraim and Manasseh to
|
|
believe that it is better to be low and in the church than high and
|
|
out of it, to be called by the name of poor Jacob than to be called
|
|
by the name of rich Joseph. 3. A proviso inserted concerning the
|
|
children he might afterwards have; they should not be accounted
|
|
heads of tribes, as Ephraim and Manasseh were, but should fall in
|
|
with either the one or the other of their brethren, <scripRef passage="Ge 48:6" id="Gen.xlix-p5.7" parsed="|Gen|48|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. It does not appear that
|
|
Joseph had any more children; however, it was Jacob's prudence to
|
|
give this direction, for the preventing of contest and
|
|
mismanagement. Note, In making settlements, it is good to take
|
|
advice, and to provide for what may happen, while we cannot foresee
|
|
what will happen. Our prudence must attend God's providence. 4.
|
|
Mention is made of the death and burial of Rachel, Joseph's mother,
|
|
and Jacob's best beloved wife (<scripRef passage="Ge 48:7" id="Gen.xlix-p5.8" parsed="|Gen|48|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>), referring to that story,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 35:19" id="Gen.xlix-p5.9" parsed="|Gen|35|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.19"><i>ch.</i> xxxv. 19</scripRef>. Note,
|
|
(1.) When we come to die ourselves, it is good to call to mind the
|
|
death of our dear relations and friends, that have gone before us,
|
|
to make death and the grave the more familiar to us. See <scripRef passage="Nu 27:13" id="Gen.xlix-p5.10" parsed="|Num|27|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.27.13">Num. xxvii. 13</scripRef>. Those that were to us
|
|
as our own souls are dead and buried; and shall we think it much to
|
|
follow them in the same path? (2.) The removal of dear relations
|
|
from us is an affliction the remembrance of which cannot but abide
|
|
with us a great while. Strong affections in the enjoyment cause
|
|
long afflictions in the loss.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 48:8-22" id="Gen.xlix-p5.11" parsed="|Gen|48|8|48|22" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.8-Gen.48.22"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.48.8-Gen.48.22">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.xlix-p5.12">Jacob Blesses the Sons of Joseph; Jacob's
|
|
Dying Prophecy. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xlix-p5.13">b. c.</span> 1689.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xlix-p6">8 And Israel beheld Joseph's sons, and said, Who
|
|
<i>are</i> these?   9 And Joseph said unto his father, They
|
|
<i>are</i> my sons, whom God hath given me in this <i>place.</i>
|
|
And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless
|
|
them.   10 Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, <i>so
|
|
that</i> he could not see. And he brought them near unto him; and
|
|
he kissed them, and embraced them.   11 And Israel said unto
|
|
Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face: and, lo, God hath showed
|
|
me also thy seed.   12 And Joseph brought them out from
|
|
between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.
|
|
  13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his
|
|
|
|
<pb n="257" id="Gen.xlix-Page_257"/>
|
|
|
|
right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh
|
|
in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought
|
|
<i>them</i> near unto him.   14 And Israel stretched out his
|
|
right hand, and laid <i>it</i> upon Ephraim's head, who <i>was</i>
|
|
the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his
|
|
hands wittingly; for Manasseh <i>was</i> the firstborn.   15
|
|
And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers
|
|
Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long
|
|
unto this day,   16 The Angel which redeemed me from all evil,
|
|
bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of
|
|
my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in
|
|
the midst of the earth.   17 And when Joseph saw that his
|
|
father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased
|
|
him: and he held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's
|
|
head unto Manasseh's head.   18 And Joseph said unto his
|
|
father, Not so, my father: for this <i>is</i> the firstborn; put
|
|
thy right hand upon his head.   19 And his father refused, and
|
|
said, I know <i>it,</i> my son, I know <i>it:</i> he also shall
|
|
become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger
|
|
brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a
|
|
multitude of nations.   20 And he blessed them that day,
|
|
saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as
|
|
Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.  
|
|
21 And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God shall be
|
|
with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers.  
|
|
22 Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren,
|
|
which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with
|
|
my bow.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlix-p7">Here is, I. The blessing with which Jacob
|
|
blessed the two sons of Joseph, which is the more remarkable
|
|
because the apostle makes such particular mention of it (<scripRef passage="Heb 11:21" id="Gen.xlix-p7.1" parsed="|Heb|11|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.21">Heb. xi. 21</scripRef>), while he says nothing
|
|
of the blessing which Jacob pronounced on the rest of his sons,
|
|
though that also was done in faith. Observe here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlix-p8">1. Jacob was blind for age, <scripRef passage="Ge 48:10" id="Gen.xlix-p8.1" parsed="|Gen|48|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. It is one of the common
|
|
infirmities of old age. <i>Those that look out at the windows are
|
|
darkened,</i> <scripRef passage="Ec 12:3" id="Gen.xlix-p8.2" parsed="|Eccl|12|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.12.3">Eccl. xii. 3</scripRef>.
|
|
It is folly to <i>walk in the sight of our eyes,</i> and to suffer
|
|
our hearts to go after them, while we know death will shortly close
|
|
them, and we do not know but some accident between us and death may
|
|
darken them. Jacob, like his father before him, when he was old,
|
|
was dim-sighted. Note, (1.) Those that have the honour of age must
|
|
therewith be content to take the burden of it. (2.) The eye of
|
|
faith may be very clear even when the eye of the body is very much
|
|
clouded.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlix-p9">2. Jacob was very fond of Joseph's sons:
|
|
<i>He kissed them and embraced them,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 48:10" id="Gen.xlix-p9.1" parsed="|Gen|48|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. It is common for old people to
|
|
have a very particular affection for their grand-children, perhaps
|
|
more than they had for their own children when they were little,
|
|
which Solomon gives a reason for (<scripRef passage="Pr 17:6" id="Gen.xlix-p9.2" parsed="|Prov|17|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.17.6">Prov.
|
|
xvii. 6</scripRef>), <i>Children's children are the crown of old
|
|
men.</i> With what satisfaction does Jacob say here (<scripRef passage="Ge 48:11" id="Gen.xlix-p9.3" parsed="|Gen|48|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>), <i>I had not thought
|
|
to see thy face</i> (having many years given him up for lost),
|
|
<i>and, lo, God has shown me also thy seed!</i> See here, (1.) How
|
|
these two good men own God in their comforts. Joseph says
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 48:9" id="Gen.xlix-p9.4" parsed="|Gen|48|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>), <i>They are
|
|
my sons whom God has given me,</i> and, to magnify the favour, he
|
|
adds, "<i>In this place</i> of my banishment, slavery, and
|
|
imprisonment." Jacob says here, <i>God has shown me thy seed.</i>
|
|
Our comforts are then doubly sweet to us when we see them coming
|
|
from God's hand. (2.) How often God, in his merciful providences,
|
|
outdoes our expectations, and thus greatly magnifies his favours.
|
|
He not only prevents our fears, but exceeds our hopes. We may apply
|
|
this to the promise which is made to us and to our children. We
|
|
could not have thought that we should have been taken into covenant
|
|
with God ourselves, considering how guilty and corrupt we are; and
|
|
yet, lo, he has shown us our seed also in covenant with him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlix-p10">3. Before he entails his blessing, he
|
|
recounts his experiences of God's goodness to him. He had spoken
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 48:3" id="Gen.xlix-p10.1" parsed="|Gen|48|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>) of God's
|
|
appearing to him. The particular visits of his grace, and the
|
|
special communion we have sometimes had with him, ought never to be
|
|
forgotten. But (<scripRef passage="Ge 48:15,16" id="Gen.xlix-p10.2" parsed="|Gen|48|15|48|16" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.15-Gen.48.16"><i>v.</i> 15,
|
|
16</scripRef>) he mentions the constant care which the divine
|
|
Providence had taken of him all his days. (1.) He had <i>fed him
|
|
all his life long unto this day,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 48:15" id="Gen.xlix-p10.3" parsed="|Gen|48|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. Note, As long as we have lived
|
|
in this world we have had continual experience of God's goodness to
|
|
us, in providing for the support of our natural life. Our bodies
|
|
have called for daily food, and no little has gone to feed us, yet
|
|
we have never wanted food convenient. He that has fed us <i>all our
|
|
life long</i> surely will not fail us at last. (2.) He had by his
|
|
angel <i>redeemed him from all evil,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 48:16" id="Gen.xlix-p10.4" parsed="|Gen|48|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. A great deal of hardship he had
|
|
known in his time, but God had graciously kept him from the evil of
|
|
his troubles. Now that he was dying he looked upon himself as
|
|
<i>redeemed from all evil,</i> and bidding an everlasting farewell
|
|
to sin and sorrow. Christ, the Angel of the covenant, is he that
|
|
redeems us from
|
|
|
|
<pb n="258" id="Gen.xlix-Page_258"/>
|
|
|
|
all evil, <scripRef passage="2Ti 4:18" id="Gen.xlix-p10.5" parsed="|2Tim|4|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Tim.4.18">2 Tim. iv. 18</scripRef>. Note, [1.] It becomes the
|
|
servants of God, when they are old and dying, to witness for our
|
|
God that they have found him gracious. [2.] Our experiences of
|
|
God's goodness to us are improvable, both for the encouragement of
|
|
others to serve God, and for encouragement to us in blessing them
|
|
and praying for them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlix-p11">4. When he confers the blessing and name of
|
|
Abraham and Isaac upon them he recommends the pattern and example
|
|
of Abraham and Isaac to them, <scripRef passage="Ge 48:15" id="Gen.xlix-p11.1" parsed="|Gen|48|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. He calls God the <i>God before
|
|
whom his fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,</i> that is, in whom
|
|
they believed, whom they observed and obeyed, and with whom they
|
|
kept up communion in instituted ordinances, according to the
|
|
condition of the covenant. <i>Walk before me,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 17:1" id="Gen.xlix-p11.2" parsed="|Gen|17|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.1"><i>ch.</i> xvii. 1</scripRef>. Note, (1.) Those
|
|
that would inherit the blessing of their godly ancestors, and have
|
|
the benefit of God's covenant with them, must tread in the steps of
|
|
their piety. (2.) It should recommend religion and the service of
|
|
God to us that God was the God of our fathers, and that they had
|
|
satisfaction in walking before him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlix-p12">5. In blessing them, he <i>crossed
|
|
hands.</i> Joseph placed them so as that Jacob's right hand should
|
|
be put on the head of Manasseh the elder, <scripRef passage="Ge 48:12,13" id="Gen.xlix-p12.1" parsed="|Gen|48|12|48|13" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.12-Gen.48.13"><i>v.</i> 12, 13</scripRef>. But Jacob would put it
|
|
on the head of Ephraim the younger, <scripRef passage="Ge 48:14" id="Gen.xlix-p12.2" parsed="|Gen|48|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. This displeased Joseph, who was
|
|
willing to support the reputation of his first-born, and would
|
|
therefore have removed his father's hands, <scripRef passage="Ge 48:17,18" id="Gen.xlix-p12.3" parsed="|Gen|48|17|48|18" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.17-Gen.48.18"><i>v.</i> 17, 18</scripRef>. But Jacob gave him to
|
|
understand that he know what he did, and that he did it not by
|
|
mistake, nor in a humour, nor from a partial affection to one more
|
|
than the other, but from a spirit of prophecy, and in compliance
|
|
with the divine counsels. Manasseh should be great, but truly
|
|
Ephraim should be greater. When the tribes were mustered in the
|
|
wilderness, Ephraim was more numerous than Manasseh, and had the
|
|
standard of that squadron (<scripRef passage="Nu 1:32,33,35,2:18,20" id="Gen.xlix-p12.4" parsed="|Num|1|32|1|33;|Num|1|35|0|0;|Num|2|18|0|0;|Num|2|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.1.32-Num.1.33 Bible:Num.1.35 Bible:Num.2.18 Bible:Num.2.20">Num. i. 32, 33, 35; ii. 18, 20</scripRef>),
|
|
and is named first, <scripRef passage="Ps 80:2" id="Gen.xlix-p12.5" parsed="|Ps|80|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.80.2">Ps. lxxx.
|
|
2</scripRef>. Joshua was of that tribe, so was Jeroboam. The tribe
|
|
of Manasseh was divided, one half on one side Jordan, the other
|
|
half on the other side, which made it the less powerful and
|
|
considerable. In the foresight of this, <i>Jacob crossed hands.</i>
|
|
Note. (1.) God, in bestowing his blessings upon his people, gives
|
|
more to some than to others, more gifts, graces, and comforts, and
|
|
more of the good things of this life. (2.) He often gives most to
|
|
those that are least likely. He chooses the weak things of the
|
|
world; raises the poor out of the dust. Grace observes not the
|
|
order of nature, nor does God prefer those whom we think fittest to
|
|
be preferred, but as it pleases him. It is observable how often
|
|
God, by the distinguishing favours of his covenant, advanced the
|
|
younger above the elder, Abel above Cain, Shem above Japheth,
|
|
Abraham above Nahor and Haran, Isaac above Ishmael, Jacob above
|
|
Esau; Judah and Joseph were preferred before Reuben, Moses before
|
|
Aaron, David and Solomon before their elder brethren. See <scripRef passage="1Sa 16:7" id="Gen.xlix-p12.6" parsed="|1Sam|16|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.16.7">1 Sam. xvi. 7</scripRef>. He tied the Jews to
|
|
observe the birthright (<scripRef passage="De 21:17" id="Gen.xlix-p12.7" parsed="|Deut|21|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21.17">Deut. xxi.
|
|
17</scripRef>), but he never tied himself to observe it. Some make
|
|
this typical of the preference given to the Gentiles above the
|
|
Jews; the Gentile converts were much more numerous than those of
|
|
the Jews. See <scripRef passage="Gal 4:27" id="Gen.xlix-p12.8" parsed="|Gal|4|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.4.27">Gal. iv. 27</scripRef>.
|
|
Thus free grace becomes more illustrious.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xlix-p13">II. The particular tokens of his favour to
|
|
Joseph. 1. He left with him the promise of their return out of
|
|
Egypt, as a sacred trust: <i>I die, but God shall be with you, and
|
|
bring you again,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 48:21" id="Gen.xlix-p13.1" parsed="|Gen|48|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.21"><i>v.</i>
|
|
21</scripRef>. Accordingly, Joseph, when he died, left it with his
|
|
brethren, <scripRef passage="Ge 50:24" id="Gen.xlix-p13.2" parsed="|Gen|50|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.24"><i>ch.</i> l. 24</scripRef>.
|
|
This assurance was given them, and carefully preserved among them,
|
|
that they might neither love Egypt too much when it favoured them,
|
|
nor fear it too much when it frowned upon them. These words of
|
|
Jacob furnish us with comfort in reference to the death of our
|
|
friends: <i>They die;</i> but God shall be with us, and his
|
|
gracious presence is sufficient to make up the loss: they leave us,
|
|
but he will never fail us. Further, He will bring us to the land of
|
|
our fathers, the heavenly Canaan, whither our godly fathers have
|
|
gone before us. If God be with us while we stay behind in this
|
|
world, and will receive us shortly to be with those that have gone
|
|
before to a better world, we ought not to sorrow as those that have
|
|
no hope. 2. He bestowed one portion upon him above his brethren,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 48:22" id="Gen.xlix-p13.3" parsed="|Gen|48|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>. The lands
|
|
bequeathed are described to be those which he <i>took out of the
|
|
hand of the Amorite with his sword, and with his bow.</i> He
|
|
purchased them first (<scripRef passage="Jos 24:32" id="Gen.xlix-p13.4" parsed="|Josh|24|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.24.32">Josh. xxiv.
|
|
32</scripRef>), and, it seems, was afterwards disseized of them by
|
|
the Amorites, but retook them by the sword, repelling force by
|
|
force, and recovering his right by violence when he could not
|
|
otherwise recover it. These lands he settled upon Joseph; mention
|
|
is made of this grant, <scripRef passage="Joh 4:5" id="Gen.xlix-p13.5" parsed="|John|4|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.4.5">John iv.
|
|
5</scripRef>. Pursuant to it, this parcel of ground was given to
|
|
the tribe of Ephraim as their right, and the lot was never cast
|
|
upon it; and in it Joseph's bones were buried, which perhaps Jacob
|
|
had an eye to as much as to any thing in this settlement. Note, It
|
|
may sometimes be both just and prudent to give some children
|
|
portions above the rest; but a grave is that which we can most
|
|
count upon as our own in this earth.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XLIX" n="l" progress="29.82%" prev="Gen.xlix" next="Gen.li" id="Gen.l">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="258" id="Gen.l-Page_258"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.l-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.l-p0.2">CHAP. XLIX.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.l-p1">This chapter is a prophecy; the likest to it we
|
|
have yet met with was that of Noah, <scripRef passage="Ge 9:25-27" id="Gen.l-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|9|25|9|27" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.25-Gen.9.27"><i>ch.</i> ix. 25</scripRef>, &c. Jacob is here
|
|
upon his death-bed, making his will. He put it off till now,
|
|
because dying men's words are apt to make deep impressions, and to
|
|
be remembered long: what he said here, he could not say when he
|
|
would, but as the Spirit gave him utterance, who chose this time,
|
|
that divine strength might be perfected in his weakness. The twelve
|
|
sons of Jacob were, in their day, men of renown, but the twelve
|
|
tribes of Israel, which descended and were denominated from them,
|
|
were much more renowned; we find their names upon the gates of the
|
|
New Jerusalem, <scripRef passage="Re 21:12" id="Gen.l-p1.2" parsed="|Rev|21|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.21.12">Rev. xxi.
|
|
12</scripRef>. In the prospect of this their dying father says
|
|
something remarkable of each son, or of the tribe that bore his
|
|
name. Here is, I. The preface, <scripRef passage="Ge 49:1,2" id="Gen.l-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|49|1|49|2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.1-Gen.49.2">ver.
|
|
1, 2</scripRef>. II. The prediction concerning each tribe,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 49:3-28" id="Gen.l-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|49|3|49|28" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.3-Gen.49.28">ver. 3-28</scripRef>. III. The
|
|
charge repeated concerning his burial, <scripRef passage="Ge 49:29-32" id="Gen.l-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|49|29|49|32" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.29-Gen.49.32">ver. 29-32</scripRef>. IV. His death, <scripRef passage="Ge 49:33" id="Gen.l-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|49|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.33">ver. 33</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 49" id="Gen.l-p1.7" parsed="|Gen|49|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 49:1-4" id="Gen.l-p1.8" parsed="|Gen|49|1|49|4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.1-Gen.49.4"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.49.1-Gen.49.4">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.l-p1.9">Jacob's Prophecy Concerning His
|
|
Sons. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.l-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1689.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.l-p2">1 And Jacob called unto his sons, and said,
|
|
Gather yourselves
|
|
|
|
<pb n="259" id="Gen.l-Page_259"/>
|
|
|
|
together, that I may tell
|
|
you <i>that</i> which shall befal you in the last days.   2
|
|
Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken
|
|
unto Israel your father.   3 Reuben, thou <i>art</i> my
|
|
firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the
|
|
excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:   4
|
|
Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to
|
|
thy father's bed; then defiledst thou <i>it:</i> he went up to my
|
|
couch.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.l-p3">Here is, I. The preface to the prophecy, in
|
|
which, 1. The congregation is called together (<scripRef passage="Ge 49:2" id="Gen.l-p3.1" parsed="|Gen|49|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>): <i>Gather yourselves
|
|
together;</i> let them all be sent for from their several
|
|
employments, to see their father die, and to hear his dying words.
|
|
It was a comfort to Jacob, now that he was dying, to see all his
|
|
children about him, and none missing, though he had sometimes
|
|
thought himself bereaved. It was of use to them to attend him in
|
|
his last moments, that they might learn of him how to die, as well
|
|
as how to live: what he said to each he said in the hearing of all
|
|
the rest; for we may profit by the reproofs, counsels, and
|
|
comforts, that are principally intended for others. His calling
|
|
upon them once and again to gather together intimated both a
|
|
precept to them to unite in love, (to keep together, not to mingle
|
|
with the Egyptians, not to forsake the assembling of themselves
|
|
together,) and a prediction that they should not be separated from
|
|
each other, as Abraham's sons and Isaac's were, but should be
|
|
incorporated, and all make one people. 2. A general idea is given
|
|
of the intended discourse (<scripRef passage="Ge 49:1" id="Gen.l-p3.2" parsed="|Gen|49|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.1"><i>v.</i>
|
|
1</scripRef>): <i>That I may tell you that which shall befal
|
|
you</i> (not your persons, but your posterity) <i>in the latter
|
|
days;</i> this prediction would be of use to those that came after
|
|
them, for the confirming of their faith and the guiding of their
|
|
way, on their return to Canaan, and their settlement there. We
|
|
cannot tell our children what shall befal them or their families in
|
|
this world; but we can tell them, from the word of God, what will
|
|
befal them in the last day of all, according as they conduct
|
|
themselves in this world. 3. Attention is demanded (<scripRef passage="Ge 49:2" id="Gen.l-p3.3" parsed="|Gen|49|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>): "<i>Hearken to Israel
|
|
your father;</i> let Israel, that has prevailed with God, prevail
|
|
with you." Note, Children must diligently hearken to what their
|
|
godly parents say, particularly when they are dying. <i>Hear, you
|
|
children, the instruction of a father,</i> which carries with it
|
|
both authority and affection, <scripRef passage="Pr 4:1" id="Gen.l-p3.4" parsed="|Prov|4|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.4.1">Prov. iv.
|
|
1</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.l-p4">II. The prophecy concerning Reuben. He
|
|
begins with him (<scripRef passage="Ge 49:3,4" id="Gen.l-p4.1" parsed="|Gen|49|3|49|4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.3-Gen.49.4"><i>v.</i> 3,
|
|
4</scripRef>), for he was the firstborn; but by committing
|
|
uncleanness with his father's wife, to the great reproach of the
|
|
family to which he ought to have been an ornament, he forfeited the
|
|
prerogatives of the birthright; and his dying father here solemnly
|
|
degrades him, though he does not disown nor disinherit him: he
|
|
shall have all the privileges of a son, but not of a firstborn. We
|
|
have reason to think Reuben had repented of his sin, and it was
|
|
pardoned; yet it was a necessary piece of justice, in detestation
|
|
of the villany, and for warning to others, to put this mark of
|
|
disgrace upon him. Now according to the method of degrading, 1.
|
|
Jacob here puts upon him the ornaments of the birthright (<scripRef passage="Ge 49:3" id="Gen.l-p4.2" parsed="|Gen|49|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), that he and all his
|
|
brethren might see what he had forfeited, and, in that, might see
|
|
the evil of the sin: as the firstborn, he was his father's joy,
|
|
almost his pride, being <i>the beginning of his strength.</i> How
|
|
welcome he was to his parents his name bespeaks, <i>Reuben, See a
|
|
son.</i> To him belonged the excellency of dignity above his
|
|
brethren, and some power over them. Christ Jesus is the firstborn
|
|
among many brethren, and to him, of right, belong the most
|
|
excellent power and dignity: his church also, through him, is a
|
|
church of firstborn. 2. He then strips him of these ornaments
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 49:4" id="Gen.l-p4.3" parsed="|Gen|49|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>), lifts him up,
|
|
that he may cast him down, by that one word, "<i>Thou shalt not
|
|
excel;</i> a being thou shalt have as a tribe, but not an
|
|
excellency." No judge, prophet, nor prince, is found of that tribe,
|
|
nor any person of renown except Dathan and Abiram, who were noted
|
|
for their impious rebellion against Moses. That tribe, as not
|
|
aiming to excel, meanly chose a settlement on the other side
|
|
Jordan. Reuben himself seems to have lost all that influence upon
|
|
his brethren to which his birthright entitled him; for <i>when he
|
|
spoke unto them they would not hear,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 42:22" id="Gen.l-p4.4" parsed="|Gen|42|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.42.22"><i>ch.</i> xlii. 22</scripRef>. Those that have not
|
|
understanding and spirit to support the honours and privileges of
|
|
their birth will soon lose them, and retain only the name of them.
|
|
The character fastened upon Reuben, for which he is laid under this
|
|
mark of infamy, is that he was <i>unstable as water.</i> (1.) His
|
|
virtue was unstable; he had not the government of himself and his
|
|
own appetites: sometimes he would be very regular and orderly, but
|
|
at other times he deviated into the wildest courses. Note,
|
|
Instability is the ruin of men's excellency. Men do not thrive
|
|
because they do not fix. (2.) His honour consequently was unstable;
|
|
it departed from him, vanished into smoke, and became as water
|
|
spilt upon the ground. Note, Those that throw away their virtue
|
|
must not expect to save their reputation. Jacob charges him
|
|
particularly with the sin for which he was thus disgraced: <i>Thou
|
|
wentest up to thy father's bed.</i> It was forty years ago that he
|
|
had been guilty of this sin, yet now it is remembered against him.
|
|
Note, As time will not of itself wear off the guilt of any sin from
|
|
the conscience, so there are some sins whose stains it will not
|
|
wipe off from the good name, especially seventh-commandment sins.
|
|
Reuben's sin left an indelible mark of infamy upon his family, a
|
|
dishonour that was a wound not to be healed
|
|
|
|
<pb n="260" id="Gen.l-Page_260"/>
|
|
|
|
without a scar, <scripRef passage="Pr 6:32,33" id="Gen.l-p4.5" parsed="|Prov|6|32|6|33" osisRef="Bible:Prov.6.32-Prov.6.33">Prov. vi. 32,
|
|
33</scripRef>. Let us never do evil, and then we need not fear
|
|
being told of it.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 49:5-7" id="Gen.l-p4.6" parsed="|Gen|49|5|49|7" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.5-Gen.49.7"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.49.5-Gen.49.7">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.l-p5">5 Simeon and Levi <i>are</i> brethren;
|
|
instruments of cruelty <i>are in</i> their habitations.   6 O
|
|
my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine
|
|
honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and
|
|
in their selfwill they digged down a wall.   7 Cursed
|
|
<i>be</i> their anger, for <i>it was</i> fierce; and their wrath,
|
|
for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in
|
|
Israel.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.l-p6">These were next in age to Reuben, and they
|
|
also had been a grief and shame to Jacob, when they treacherously
|
|
and barbarously destroyed the Shechemites, which he here remembers
|
|
against them. Children should be afraid of incurring their parents'
|
|
just displeasure, lest they fare the worse for it long afterwards,
|
|
and, when they would inherit the blessing, be rejected. Observe, 1.
|
|
The character of Simeon and Levi: they were brethren in
|
|
disposition; but, unlike their father, they were passionate and
|
|
revengeful, fierce and uncontrollable; their swords, which should
|
|
have been only weapons of defence, were (as the margin reads it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 49:5" id="Gen.l-p6.1" parsed="|Gen|49|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>) <i>weapons of
|
|
violence,</i> to do wrong to others, not to save themselves from
|
|
wrong. Note, It is no new thing for the temper of children to
|
|
differ very much from that of their parents. We need not think this
|
|
strange: it was so in Jacob's family. It is not in the power of
|
|
parents, no, not by education, to form the dispositions of their
|
|
children; Jacob bred his sons to every thing that was mild and
|
|
quiet, and yet they proved to be thus furious. 2. A proof of this
|
|
is the murder of the Shechemites, which Jacob deeply resented at
|
|
the time (<scripRef passage="Ge 34:30" id="Gen.l-p6.2" parsed="|Gen|34|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.34.30"><i>ch.</i> xxxiv.
|
|
30</scripRef>) and still continued to resent. They slew a man,
|
|
Shechem himself, and many others; and, to effect that, they digged
|
|
down a wall, broke the houses, to plunder them, and murder the
|
|
inhabitants. Note, The best governors cannot always restrain those
|
|
under their charge from committing the worst villanies. And when
|
|
two in a family are mischievous they commonly make one another so
|
|
much the worse, and it were wisdom to part them. Simeon and Levi,
|
|
it is probable, were most active in the wrong done to Joseph, to
|
|
which some think Jacob has here some reference; for in their anger
|
|
they would have slain <i>that man.</i> Observe what a mischievous
|
|
thing self-will is in young people: Simeon and Levi would not be
|
|
advised by their aged and experienced father; no, they would be
|
|
governed by their own passion rather than by his prudence. Young
|
|
people would better consult their own interests if they would less
|
|
indulge their own will. 3. Jacob's protestation against this
|
|
barbarous act of theirs: <i>O my soul, come not thou into their
|
|
secret.</i> Hereby he professes not only his abhorrence of such
|
|
practices in general, but his innocence particularly in that
|
|
matter. Perhaps he had been suspected as, under-hand, aiding and
|
|
abetting; he therefore thus solemnly expresses his detestation of
|
|
the fact, that he might not die under that suspicion. Note, Our
|
|
soul is our honour; by its powers and faculties we are
|
|
distinguished from, and dignified above, the beasts that perish.
|
|
Note, further, We ought, from our hearts, to detest and abhor all
|
|
society and confederacy with bloody and mischievous men. We must
|
|
not be ambitious of coming into their secret, or knowing the depths
|
|
of Satan. 4. His abhorrence of those brutish lusts that led them to
|
|
this wickedness: <i>Cursed be their anger.</i> He does not curse
|
|
their persons, but their lusts. Note, (1.) Anger is the cause and
|
|
original of a great deal of sin, and exposes us to the curse of
|
|
God, and his judgment, <scripRef passage="Mt 5:22" id="Gen.l-p6.3" parsed="|Matt|5|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.5.22">Matt. v.
|
|
22</scripRef>. (2.) We ought always, in the expressions of our
|
|
zeal, carefully to distinguish between the sinner and the sin, so
|
|
as not to love nor bless the sin for the sake of the person, nor to
|
|
hate nor curse the person for the sake of the sin. 5. A token of
|
|
displeasure which he foretells their posterity should lie under for
|
|
this: <i>I will divide them.</i> The Levites were scattered
|
|
throughout all the tribes, and Simeon's lot lay not together, and
|
|
was so strait that many of the tribe were forced to disperse
|
|
themselves in quest of settlements and subsistence. This curse was
|
|
afterwards turned into a blessing to the Levites; but the
|
|
Simeonites, for Zimri's sin (<scripRef passage="Nu 25:14" id="Gen.l-p6.4" parsed="|Num|25|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.25.14">Num. xxv.
|
|
14</scripRef>), had it bound on. Note, Shameful dispersions are the
|
|
just punishment of sinful unions and confederacies.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 49:8-12" id="Gen.l-p6.5" parsed="|Gen|49|8|49|12" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.8-Gen.49.12"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.49.8-Gen.49.12">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.l-p7">8 Judah, thou <i>art he</i> whom thy brethren
|
|
shall praise: thy hand <i>shall be</i> in the neck of thine
|
|
enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee.   9
|
|
Judah <i>is</i> a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art
|
|
gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion;
|
|
who shall rouse him up?   10 The sceptre shall not depart from
|
|
Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and
|
|
unto him <i>shall</i> the gathering of the people <i>be.</i>  
|
|
11 Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the
|
|
choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the
|
|
blood of grapes:   12 His eyes <i>shall be</i> red with wine,
|
|
and his teeth white with milk.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.l-p8">Glorious things are here said of Judah. The
|
|
mention of the crimes of the three elder
|
|
|
|
<pb n="261" id="Gen.l-Page_261"/>
|
|
|
|
of
|
|
his sons had not so put the dying patriarch out of humour but that
|
|
he had a blessing ready for Judah, to whom blessings belonged.
|
|
Judah's name signifies <i>praise,</i> in allusion to which he says,
|
|
<i>Thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 49:8" id="Gen.l-p8.1" parsed="|Gen|49|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. God was praised for him
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 29:35" id="Gen.l-p8.2" parsed="|Gen|29|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.35"><i>ch.</i> xxix. 35</scripRef>),
|
|
praised by him, and praised in him; and therefore his brethren
|
|
shall praise him. Note, Those that are to God for a praise shall be
|
|
the praise of their brethren. It is prophesied that, 1. The tribe
|
|
of Judah should be victorious and successful in war: <i>Thy hand
|
|
shall be in the neck of thy enemies.</i> This was fulfilled in
|
|
David, <scripRef passage="Ps 18:40" id="Gen.l-p8.3" parsed="|Ps|18|40|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.18.40">Ps. xviii. 40</scripRef>. 2. It
|
|
should be superior to the rest of the tribes; not only in itself
|
|
more numerous and illustrious, but having a dominion over them:
|
|
<i>Thy father's children shall bow down before thee.</i> Judah was
|
|
the <i>lawgiver,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 60:7" id="Gen.l-p8.4" parsed="|Ps|60|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.60.7">Ps. lx.
|
|
7</scripRef>. That tribe led the van through the wilderness, and in
|
|
the conquest of Canaan, <scripRef passage="Jdg 1:2" id="Gen.l-p8.5" parsed="|Judg|1|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.1.2">Judg. i.
|
|
2</scripRef>. The prerogatives of the birthright which Reuben had
|
|
forfeited, the excellency of dignity and power, were thus conferred
|
|
upon Judah. Observe, "Thy brethren shall bow down before thee, and
|
|
yet shall praise thee, reckoning themselves happy in having so wise
|
|
and bold a commander." Note, Honour and power are then a blessing
|
|
to those that have them when they are not grudged and envied, but
|
|
praised and applauded, and cheerfully submitted to. 3. It should be
|
|
a strong and courageous tribe, and so qualified for command and
|
|
conquest: <i>Judah is a lion's whelp,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 49:9" id="Gen.l-p8.6" parsed="|Gen|49|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. The lion is the king of beasts,
|
|
the terror of the forest when he roars; when he seizes his prey,
|
|
none can resist him; when he goes up from the prey, none dare
|
|
pursue him to revenge it. By this it is foretold that the tribe of
|
|
Judah should become very formidable, and should not only obtain
|
|
great victories, but should peaceably and quietly enjoy what was
|
|
obtained by those victories—that they should make war, not for the
|
|
sake of war, but for the sake of peace. Judah is compared, not to a
|
|
lion <i>rampant,</i> always tearing, always raging, always ranging;
|
|
but to a lion <i>couchant,</i> enjoying the satisfaction of his
|
|
power and success, without creating vexation to others: this is to
|
|
be truly great. 4. It should be the royal tribe, and the tribe from
|
|
which Messiah the Prince should come: <i>The sceptre shall not
|
|
depart from Judah, till Shiloh come,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 49:10" id="Gen.l-p8.7" parsed="|Gen|49|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. Jacob here foresees and
|
|
foretells, (1.) That the sceptre should come into the tribe of
|
|
Judah, which was fulfilled in David, on whose family the crown was
|
|
entailed. (2.) That Shiloh should be of this tribe—his seed, that
|
|
promised seed, in whom the earth should be blessed: <i>that
|
|
peaceable and prosperous one,</i> or <i>the Saviour,</i> so others
|
|
translate it, he shall come of Judah. Thus dying Jacob, at a great
|
|
distance, saw Christ's day, and it was his comfort and support on
|
|
his death-bed. (3.) That after the coming of the sceptre into the
|
|
tribe of Judah it should continue in that tribe, at least a
|
|
government of their own, till the coming of the Messiah, in whom,
|
|
as the king of the church, and the great high priest, it was fit
|
|
that both the priesthood and the royalty should determine. Till the
|
|
captivity, all along from David's time, the sceptre was in Judah,
|
|
and subsequently the governors of Judea were of that tribe, or of
|
|
the Levites that adhered to it (which was equivalent), till Judea
|
|
became a province of the Roman empire, just at the time of our
|
|
Saviour's birth, and was at that time taxed as one of the
|
|
provinces, <scripRef passage="Lu 2:1" id="Gen.l-p8.8" parsed="|Luke|2|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.2.1">Luke ii. 1</scripRef>. And at
|
|
the time of his death the Jews expressly owned, <i>We have no king
|
|
but Cæsar.</i> Hence it is undeniably inferred against the Jews
|
|
that our Lord Jesus is he that should come, and that we are to look
|
|
for no other; for he came exactly at the time appointed. Many
|
|
excellent pens have been admirable well employed in explaining and
|
|
illustrating this famous prophecy of Christ. 5. It should be a very
|
|
fruitful tribe, especially that it should abound with milk for
|
|
babes, and wine to make glad the heart of strong men (<scripRef passage="Ge 49:11,12" id="Gen.l-p8.9" parsed="|Gen|49|11|49|12" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.11-Gen.49.12"><i>v.</i> 11, 12</scripRef>)—vines so common
|
|
in the hedge-rows and so strong that they should tie their asses to
|
|
them, and so fruitful that they should load their asses from
|
|
them—wine as plentiful as water, so that the men of that tribe
|
|
should be very healthful and lively, their eyes brisk and
|
|
sparkling, their teeth white. Much of what is here said concerning
|
|
Judah is to be applied to our Lord Jesus. (1.) He is the ruler of
|
|
all his father's children, and the conqueror of all his father's
|
|
enemies; and he it is that is the praise of all the saints. (2.) He
|
|
is <i>the lion of the tribe of Judah,</i> as he is called with
|
|
reference to this prophecy (<scripRef passage="Re 5:5" id="Gen.l-p8.10" parsed="|Rev|5|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.5.5">Rev. v.
|
|
5</scripRef>), who, having spoiled principalities and powers, went
|
|
up a conqueror, and couched so as none can stir him up, when he sat
|
|
down on the right hand of the Father. (3.) To him belongs the
|
|
sceptre; he is the <i>lawgiver,</i> and <i>to him shall the
|
|
gathering of the people be,</i> as the desire of all nations
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ga 2:7" id="Gen.l-p8.11" parsed="|Gal|2|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.2.7">Hag. ii. 7</scripRef>), who, being
|
|
lifted up from the earth, should draw all men unto him (<scripRef passage="Joh 12:32" id="Gen.l-p8.12" parsed="|John|12|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.12.32">John xii. 32</scripRef>), and in whom the
|
|
children of God that are scattered abroad should meet as the centre
|
|
of their unity, <scripRef passage="Joh 11:52" id="Gen.l-p8.13" parsed="|John|11|52|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.11.52">John xi.
|
|
52</scripRef>. (4.) In him there is plenty of all that which is
|
|
nourishing and refreshing to the soul, and which maintains and
|
|
cheers the divine life in it; in him we may have wine and milk, the
|
|
riches of Judah's tribe, without money and without price, <scripRef passage="Isa 55:1" id="Gen.l-p8.14" parsed="|Isa|55|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.55.1">Isa. lv. 1</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 49:13-21" id="Gen.l-p8.15" parsed="|Gen|49|13|49|21" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.13-Gen.49.21"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.49.13-Gen.49.21">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.l-p9">13 Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea;
|
|
and he <i>shall be</i> for a haven of ships; and his border
|
|
<i>shall be</i> unto Zidon.   14 Issachar <i>is</i> a strong
|
|
ass couching down between two burdens:   15 And he saw that
|
|
rest <i>was</i> good, and the land that <i>it was</i> pleasant;
|
|
|
|
<pb n="262" id="Gen.l-Page_262"/>
|
|
|
|
and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a
|
|
servant unto tribute.   16 Dan shall judge his people, as one
|
|
of the tribes of Israel.   17 Dan shall be a serpent by the
|
|
way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his
|
|
rider shall fall backward.   18 I have waited for thy
|
|
salvation, O <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.l-p9.1">Lord</span>.   19 Gad, a
|
|
troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.  
|
|
20 Out of Asher his bread <i>shall be</i> fat, and he shall yield
|
|
royal dainties.   21 Naphtali <i>is</i> a hind let loose: he
|
|
giveth goodly words.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.l-p10">Here we have Jacob's prophecy concerning
|
|
six of his sons.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.l-p11">I. Concerning Zebulun (<scripRef passage="Ge 49:13" id="Gen.l-p11.1" parsed="|Gen|49|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>), that his posterity should have
|
|
their lot upon the seacoast, and should be merchants, and mariners,
|
|
and traders at sea. This was fulfilled when, two or three hundred
|
|
years after, the land of Canaan was divided by lot, and the
|
|
<i>border of Zebulun went up towards the sea,</i> <scripRef passage="Jos 19:11" id="Gen.l-p11.2" parsed="|Josh|19|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.19.11">Josh. xix. 11</scripRef>. Had they chosen their
|
|
lot themselves, or Joshua appointed it, we might have supposed it
|
|
done with design to make Jacob's words good; but, being done by
|
|
lot, it appears that it was divinely disposed, and Jacob divinely
|
|
inspired. Note, The lot of God's providence exactly agrees with the
|
|
plan of God's counsel, like a true copy with the original. If
|
|
prophecy says, <i>Zebulun shall be a haven of ships,</i> Providence
|
|
will so plant him. Note, 1. God appoints the bounds of our
|
|
habitation. 2. It is our wisdom and duty to accommodate ourselves
|
|
to our lot and to improve it. If Zebulun dwell at the haven of the
|
|
sea, let him be for a haven of ships.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.l-p12">II. Concerning Issachar, <scripRef passage="Ge 49:14,15" id="Gen.l-p12.1" parsed="|Gen|49|14|49|15" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.14-Gen.49.15"><i>v.</i> 14, 15</scripRef>. 1. That the men of that
|
|
tribe should be strong and industrious, fit for labour and inclined
|
|
to labour, particularly the toil of husbandry, like the ass, that
|
|
patiently carries his burden, and, by using himself to it, makes it
|
|
the easier. Issachar submitted to two burdens, tillage and tribute.
|
|
It was a tribe that took pains, and, thriving thereby, was called
|
|
upon for rents and taxes. 2. That they should be encouraged in
|
|
their labour by the goodness of the land that should fall to their
|
|
lot. (1.) <i>He saw that rest</i> at home <i>was good.</i> Note,
|
|
The labour of the husbandman is really rest, in comparison with
|
|
that of soldiers and seamen, whose hurries and perils are such that
|
|
those who tarry at home in the most constant service have no reason
|
|
to envy them. (2.) <i>He saw that the land was pleasant,</i>
|
|
yielding not only pleasant prospects to charm the eye of the
|
|
curious, but pleasant fruits to recompense his toils. Many are the
|
|
pleasures of a country life, abundantly sufficient to balance the
|
|
inconveniences of it, if we can but persuade ourselves to think so,
|
|
Issachar, in prospect of advantage, <i>bowed his shoulders to
|
|
bear:</i> let us, with an eye of faith, see the heavenly rest to be
|
|
good, and that land of promise to be pleasant; and this will make
|
|
our present services easy, and encourage us to bow our shoulder to
|
|
them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.l-p13">III. Concerning Dan, <scripRef passage="Ge 49:16,17" id="Gen.l-p13.1" parsed="|Gen|49|16|49|17" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.16-Gen.49.17"><i>v.</i> 16, 17</scripRef>. What is said concerning
|
|
Dan has reference either, 1. To that tribe in general, that though
|
|
Dan was one of the sons of the concubines yet he should be a tribe
|
|
governed by judges of his own as well as other tribes, and should,
|
|
by art, and policy, and surprise, gain advantages against his
|
|
enemies, like a serpent suddenly biting the heel of the traveller.
|
|
Note, In God's spiritual Israel there is no distinction made of
|
|
<i>bond or free,</i> <scripRef passage="Col 3:11" id="Gen.l-p13.2" parsed="|Col|3|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Col.3.11">Col. iii.
|
|
11</scripRef>. Dan shall be incorporated by as good a charter as
|
|
any of the other tribes. Note, also, Some, like Dan, may excel in
|
|
the subtlety of the serpent, as others, like Judah, in the courage
|
|
of the lion; and both may do good service to the cause of God
|
|
against the Canaanites. Or it may refer, 2. To Samson, who was of
|
|
that tribe, and judged Israel, that is, delivered them out of the
|
|
hands of the Philistines, not as the other judges, by fighting them
|
|
in the field, but by the vexations and annoyances he gave them
|
|
underhand: when he pulled the house down under the Philistines that
|
|
were upon the roof of it, he made the horse throw his rider.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.l-p14">Thus was Jacob going on with his discourse;
|
|
but now, being almost spent with speaking, and ready to faint and
|
|
die away, he relieves himself with those words which come in as a
|
|
parenthesis (<scripRef passage="Ge 49:18" id="Gen.l-p14.1" parsed="|Gen|49|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>),
|
|
<i>I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord!</i> as those that are
|
|
fainting are helped by taking a spoonful of a cordial, or smelling
|
|
at a bottle of spirits; or, if he must break off here, and his
|
|
breath will not serve him to finish what he intended, with these
|
|
words he pours out his soul into the bosom of his God, and even
|
|
breathes it out. Note, The pious ejaculations of a warm and lively
|
|
devotion, though sometimes they may be incoherent, are not
|
|
therefore to be censured as impertinent; that may be uttered
|
|
affectionately which does not come in methodically. It is no
|
|
absurdity, when we are speaking to men, to lift up our hearts to
|
|
God. The salvation he waited for was <i>Christ,</i> the promised
|
|
seed, whom he had spoken of, <scripRef passage="Ge 49:10" id="Gen.l-p14.2" parsed="|Gen|49|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.10"><i>v.</i>
|
|
10</scripRef>. Now that he was going to be gathered to his people,
|
|
he breathes after him to whom the gathering of the people shall be.
|
|
The salvation he waited for was also <i>heaven,</i> the better
|
|
country, which he declared plainly that he sought (<scripRef passage="Heb 11:13,14" id="Gen.l-p14.3" parsed="|Heb|11|13|11|14" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.13-Heb.11.14">Heb. xi. 13, 14</scripRef>), and continued
|
|
seeking, now that he was in Egypt. Now that he is going to enjoy
|
|
the salvation he comforts himself with this, that he had waited for
|
|
the salvation. Note, It is the character of a living saint that he
|
|
waits for the salvation of the Lord. Christ, as our way to heaven,
|
|
is to be waited on;
|
|
|
|
<pb n="263" id="Gen.l-Page_263"/>
|
|
|
|
and heaven, as our rest
|
|
in Christ, is to be waited for. Again, It is the comfort of a dying
|
|
saint thus to have waited for the salvation of the Lord; for then
|
|
he shall have what he has been waiting for: long-looked-for will
|
|
come.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.l-p15">IV. Concerning Gad, <scripRef passage="Ge 49:19" id="Gen.l-p15.1" parsed="|Gen|49|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. He alludes to his name, which
|
|
signifies a <i>troop,</i> foresees the character of that tribe,
|
|
that it should be a warlike tribe, and so we find (<scripRef passage="1Ch 12:8" id="Gen.l-p15.2" parsed="|1Chr|12|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Chr.12.8">1 Chron. xii. 8</scripRef>); the <i>Gadites were
|
|
men of war fit for the battle.</i> He foresees that the situation
|
|
of that tribe on the other side Jordan would expose it to the
|
|
incursions of its neighbours, the Moabites and Ammonites; and, that
|
|
they might not be proud of their strength and valour, he foretells
|
|
that the troops of their enemies should, in many skirmishes,
|
|
overcome them; yet, that they might not be discouraged by their
|
|
defeats, he assures them that they should <i>overcome at the
|
|
last,</i> which was fulfilled when, in Saul's time and David's, the
|
|
Moabites and Ammonites were wholly subdued: see <scripRef passage="1Ch 5:18-22" id="Gen.l-p15.3" parsed="|1Chr|5|18|5|22" osisRef="Bible:1Chr.5.18-1Chr.5.22">1 Chron. v. 18</scripRef>, &c. Note, The cause of
|
|
God and his people, though it may seem for a time to be baffled and
|
|
run down, will yet be victorious at last. <i>Vincimur in prælio,
|
|
sed non in bello—We are foiled in a battle, but not in a
|
|
campaign.</i> Grace in the soul is often foiled in its conflicts,
|
|
troops of corruption overcome it, but the cause is God's, and grace
|
|
will in the issue come off conqueror, yea, <i>more than
|
|
conqueror,</i> <scripRef passage="Ro 8:37" id="Gen.l-p15.4" parsed="|Rom|8|37|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.8.37">Rom. viii.
|
|
37</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.l-p16">V. Concerning Asher (<scripRef passage="Ge 49:20" id="Gen.l-p16.1" parsed="|Gen|49|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>), that it should be a very rich
|
|
tribe, replenished not only with bread for necessity, but with
|
|
fatness, with <i>dainties, royal dainties</i> (for the king himself
|
|
is <i>served of the field,</i> <scripRef passage="Ec 5:9" id="Gen.l-p16.2" parsed="|Eccl|5|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.5.9">Eccl. v.
|
|
9</scripRef>), and these exported out of Asher to other tribes,
|
|
perhaps to other lands. Note, The God of nature has provided for us
|
|
not only necessaries but dainties, that we might call him a
|
|
bountiful benefactor; yet, whereas all places are competently
|
|
furnished with necessaries, only some places afford dainties. Corn
|
|
is more common than spices. Were the supports of luxury as
|
|
universal as the supports of life, the world would be worse than it
|
|
is, and that it needs not be.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.l-p17">VI. Concerning Naphtali (<scripRef passage="Ge 49:21" id="Gen.l-p17.1" parsed="|Gen|49|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>), a tribe that carries struggles
|
|
in its name; it signifies <i>wrestling,</i> and the blessing
|
|
entailed upon it signifies prevailing; it is <i>a hind let
|
|
loose.</i> Though we find not this prediction so fully answered in
|
|
the event as some of the rest, yet, no doubt, it proved true that
|
|
those of this tribe were, 1. As the loving hind (for that is her
|
|
epithet, <scripRef passage="Pr 5:19" id="Gen.l-p17.2" parsed="|Prov|5|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.19">Prov. v. 19</scripRef>),
|
|
friendly and obliging to one another and to other tribes; their
|
|
converse remarkably kind and endearing. 2. As the loosened hind,
|
|
zealous for their liberty. 3. As the swift hind (<scripRef passage="Ps 18:33" id="Gen.l-p17.3" parsed="|Ps|18|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.18.33">Ps. xviii. 33</scripRef>), quick in despatch of
|
|
business; and perhaps, 4. As the trembling, timorous in times of
|
|
public danger. It is rare that those that are most amiable to their
|
|
friends are most formidable to their enemies. 5. That they should
|
|
be affable and courteous, their language refined, and they
|
|
complaisant, <i>giving goodly words.</i> Note, Among God's Israel
|
|
there is to be found a great variety of dispositions, contrary to
|
|
each other, yet all contributing to the beauty and strength of the
|
|
body, Judah like a lion, Issachar like an ass, Dan like a serpent,
|
|
Naphtali like a hind. Let not those of different tempers and gifts
|
|
censure one another, nor envy one another, any more than those of
|
|
different statures and complexions.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 49:22-27" id="Gen.l-p17.4" parsed="|Gen|49|22|49|27" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.22-Gen.49.27"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.49.22-Gen.49.27">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.l-p18">22 Joseph <i>is</i> a fruitful bough,
|
|
<i>even</i> a fruitful bough by a well; <i>whose</i> branches run
|
|
over the wall:   23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and
|
|
shot <i>at him,</i> and hated him:   24 But his bow abode in
|
|
strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands
|
|
of the mighty <i>God</i> of Jacob; (from thence <i>is</i> the
|
|
shepherd, the stone of Israel:)   25 <i>Even</i> by the God of
|
|
thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall
|
|
bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep
|
|
that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:  
|
|
26 The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings
|
|
of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills:
|
|
they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head
|
|
of him that was separate from his brethren.   27 Benjamin
|
|
shall ravin <i>as</i> a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the
|
|
prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.l-p19">He closes with the blessings of his best
|
|
beloved sons, Joseph and Benjamin; with these he will breathe his
|
|
last.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.l-p20">I. The blessing of Joseph, which is very
|
|
large and full. He is compared (<scripRef passage="Ge 49:22" id="Gen.l-p20.1" parsed="|Gen|49|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>) to <i>a fruitful bough,</i> or
|
|
young tree; for God had made him fruitful in the land of his
|
|
affliction; he owned it, <scripRef passage="Ge 41:52" id="Gen.l-p20.2" parsed="|Gen|41|52|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.41.52"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xli. 52</scripRef>. His two sons were as branches of a vine, or
|
|
other spreading plant, <i>running over the wall.</i> Note, God can
|
|
make those fruitful, great comforts to themselves and others, who
|
|
have been looked upon as dry and withered. More is recorded in the
|
|
history concerning Joseph than concerning any other of Jacob's
|
|
sons; and therefore what Jacob says of him is historical as well as
|
|
prophetical. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.l-p21">1. The providences of God concerning
|
|
Joseph, <scripRef passage="Ge 49:23,24" id="Gen.l-p21.1" parsed="|Gen|49|23|49|24" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.23-Gen.49.24"><i>v.</i> 23,
|
|
24</scripRef>. These are mentioned to the glory of God, and for the
|
|
encouragement of Jacob's faith and hope, that God had blessings in
|
|
store for his seed. Here observe (1.) Joseph's straits and
|
|
troubles, <scripRef passage="Ge 49:23" id="Gen.l-p21.2" parsed="|Gen|49|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>.
|
|
Though he now lived at ease and in honour,
|
|
|
|
<pb n="264" id="Gen.l-Page_264"/>
|
|
|
|
Jacob reminds him of the difficulties he had formerly waded
|
|
through. He had had many enemies, here called <i>archers,</i> being
|
|
skilful to do mischief, masters of their art of persecution. They
|
|
hated him: there persecution begins. They shot their poisonous
|
|
darts at him, and thus they sorely grieved him. His brethren, in
|
|
his father's house, were very spiteful towards him, mocked him,
|
|
stripped him, threatened him, sold him, thought they had been the
|
|
death of him. His mistress, in the house of Potiphar, sorely
|
|
grieved him, and shot at him, when she impudently assaulted his
|
|
chastity (temptations are fiery darts, thorns in the flesh, sorely
|
|
grievous to gracious souls); when she prevailed not in this, she
|
|
hated him, and shot at him by her false accusations, arrows against
|
|
which there is little fence but the hold God has in the consciences
|
|
of the worst of men. Doubtless he had enemies in the court of
|
|
Pharaoh, that envied his preferment, and sought to undermine him.
|
|
(2.) Joseph's strength and support under all these troubles
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 49:24" id="Gen.l-p21.3" parsed="|Gen|49|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>): <i>His bow
|
|
abode in strength,</i> that is, his faith did not fail, but he kept
|
|
his ground, and came off a conqueror. The <i>arms of his hands were
|
|
made strong,</i> that is, his other graces did their part, his
|
|
wisdom, courage, and patience, which are better than weapons of
|
|
war. In short, he maintained both his integrity and his comfort
|
|
through all his trials; he bore all his burdens with an invincible
|
|
resolution, and did not sink under them, nor do any thing
|
|
unbecoming him. (3.) The spring and fountain of this strength; it
|
|
was <i>by the hands of the mighty God,</i> who was therefore able
|
|
to strengthen him, and <i>the God of Jacob,</i> a God in covenant
|
|
with him, and therefore engaged to help him. All our strength for
|
|
the resisting of temptations, and the bearing of afflictions, comes
|
|
from God: his grace is sufficient, and his strength is perfected in
|
|
our weakness. (4.) The state of honour and usefulness to which he
|
|
was subsequently advanced: <i>Thence</i> (from this strange method
|
|
of providence) he became the <i>shepherd and stone,</i> the feeder
|
|
and supporter, <i>of</i> God's <i>Israel,</i> Jacob and his family.
|
|
Herein Joseph was a type, [1.] Of Christ; he was shot at and hated,
|
|
but borne up under his sufferings (<scripRef passage="Isa 50:7-9" id="Gen.l-p21.4" parsed="|Isa|50|7|50|9" osisRef="Bible:Isa.50.7-Isa.50.9">Isa. l. 7-9</scripRef>), and was afterwards advanced
|
|
to be <i>the shepherd and stone.</i> [2.] Of the church in general,
|
|
and particular believers; hell shoots its arrows against the
|
|
saints, but Heaven protects and strengthens them, and will crown
|
|
them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.l-p22">2. The promises of God to Joseph. See how
|
|
these are connected with the former: <i>Even by the God of thy
|
|
father Jacob, who shall help thee,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 49:25" id="Gen.l-p22.1" parsed="|Gen|49|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>. Note, Our experiences of God's
|
|
power and goodness in strengthening us hitherto are our
|
|
encouragements still to hope for help from him; he that has helped
|
|
us will help: we may build much upon our <i>Eben-ezers.</i> See
|
|
what Joseph may expect from <i>the Almighty,</i> even <i>the God of
|
|
his father.</i> (1.) He shall help thee in difficulties and dangers
|
|
which may yet be before thee, help thy seed in their wars. Joshua
|
|
came from him, who commanded in chief in the wars of Canaan. (2.)
|
|
He shall bless thee; and he only blesses indeed. Jacob prays for a
|
|
blessing upon Joseph, but the God of Jacob commands the blessing.
|
|
Observe the blessings conferred on Joseph. [1.] Various and
|
|
abundant blessings: <i>Blessings of heaven above</i> (rain in its
|
|
season, and fair weather in its season, and the benign influences
|
|
of the heavenly bodies); <i>blessings of the deep that lieth
|
|
under</i> this earth, which, compared with the upper world, is but
|
|
a great deep, with subterraneous mines and springs. Spiritual
|
|
blessings are blessings of heaven above, which we ought to desire
|
|
and seek for in the first place, and to which we must give the
|
|
preference; while temporal blessings, those of this earth, must lie
|
|
under in our account and esteem. <i>Blessings of the womb and the
|
|
breasts</i> are given when children are safely born and comfortably
|
|
nursed. In the word of God, by which we are born again, and
|
|
nourished up (<scripRef passage="1Pe 1:23,2:2" id="Gen.l-p22.2" parsed="|1Pet|1|23|0|0;|1Pet|2|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.1.23 Bible:1Pet.2.2">1 Pet. i. 23; ii.
|
|
2</scripRef>), there are to the new man blessings both of the womb
|
|
and the breasts. [2.] Eminent and transcendent blessings, which
|
|
<i>prevail above the blessings of my progenitors,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 49:26" id="Gen.l-p22.3" parsed="|Gen|49|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>. His father Isaac had
|
|
but one blessing, and, when he had given that to Jacob, he was at a
|
|
loss for a blessing to bestow upon Esau; but Jacob had a blessing
|
|
for each of his twelve sons, and now, at the latter end, a copious
|
|
one for Joseph. The great blessing entailed upon that family was
|
|
increase, which did not so immediately and so signally follow the
|
|
blessings which Abraham and Isaac gave to their sons as it followed
|
|
the blessing which Jacob gave to his; for, soon after his death,
|
|
they multiplied exceedingly. [3.] Durable and extensive blessings:
|
|
<i>Unto the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills,</i> including
|
|
all the productions of the most fruitful hills, and lasting as long
|
|
as they last, <scripRef passage="Isa 54:10" id="Gen.l-p22.4" parsed="|Isa|54|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.10">Isa. liv.
|
|
10</scripRef>. Note, the blessings of the everlasting God include
|
|
the riches of the everlasting hills, and much more. Well, of these
|
|
blessings it is here said, <i>They shall be,</i> so it is a
|
|
promise, or, <i>Let them be,</i> so it is a prayer, <i>on the head
|
|
of Joseph,</i> to which let them be as a crown to adorn it and a
|
|
helmet to protect it. Joseph <i>was separated from his brethren</i>
|
|
(so we read it) for a time; yet, as others read it, <i>he was a
|
|
Nazarite among his brethren,</i> better and more excellent than
|
|
they. Note, It is no new thing for the best men to meet with the
|
|
worst usage, for Nazarites among their brethren to be cast out and
|
|
separated from their brethren; but the blessing of God will make it
|
|
up to them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.l-p23">II. The blessing of Benjamin (<scripRef passage="Ge 49:27" id="Gen.l-p23.1" parsed="|Gen|49|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>): He <i>shall raven as a
|
|
wolf;</i> it is plain by this that Jacob was guided in what he said
|
|
by a spirit of prophecy, and not by natural affection; else he
|
|
would have spoken with more tenderness of his beloved son Benjamin,
|
|
concerning whom he only foresees and foretells this, that
|
|
|
|
<pb n="265" id="Gen.l-Page_265"/>
|
|
|
|
his posterity should be a warlike tribe, strong and
|
|
daring, and that they should enrich themselves with the spoils of
|
|
their enemies—that they should be active and busy in the world,
|
|
and a tribe as much feared by their neighbours as any other: <i>In
|
|
the morning, he shall devour the prey,</i> which he seized and
|
|
divided over night. Or, in the first times of Israel, they shall be
|
|
noted for activity, though many of them left-handed, <scripRef passage="Jdg 3:15,20:16" id="Gen.l-p23.2" parsed="|Judg|3|15|0|0;|Judg|20|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.3.15 Bible:Judg.20.16">Judg. iii. 15; xx. 16</scripRef>. Ehud the
|
|
second judge, and Saul the first king, were of this tribe; and so
|
|
also in the last times Esther and Mordecai, by whom the enemies of
|
|
the Jews were destroyed, were of this tribe. The Benjamites ravened
|
|
like wolves when they desperately espoused the cause of the men of
|
|
Gibeah, those men of Belial, <scripRef passage="Jdg 20:14" id="Gen.l-p23.3" parsed="|Judg|20|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.20.14">Judg.
|
|
xx. 14</scripRef>. Blessed Paul was of this tribe (<scripRef passage="Ro 11:1,Php 3:5" id="Gen.l-p23.4" parsed="|Rom|11|1|0|0;|Phil|3|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.11.1 Bible:Phil.3.5">Rom. xi. 1; Phil. iii. 5</scripRef>); and
|
|
he did, in the morning of his day, devour the prey as a persecutor,
|
|
but, in the evening, divided the spoil as a preacher. Note, God can
|
|
serve his own purposes by the different tempers of men; <i>the
|
|
deceived and the deceiver are his.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 49:28-33" id="Gen.l-p23.5" parsed="|Gen|49|28|49|33" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.28-Gen.49.33"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.49.28-Gen.49.33">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.l-p23.6">Death of Jacob. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.l-p23.7">b. c.</span> 1689.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.l-p24">28 All these <i>are</i> the twelve tribes of
|
|
Israel: and this <i>is it</i> that their father spake unto them,
|
|
and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed
|
|
them.   29 And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be
|
|
gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that
|
|
<i>is</i> in the field of Ephron the Hittite,   30 In the cave
|
|
that <i>is</i> in the field of Machpelah, which <i>is</i> before
|
|
Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field
|
|
of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace.   31
|
|
There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried
|
|
Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.   32 The
|
|
purchase of the field and of the cave that <i>is</i> therein
|
|
<i>was</i> from the children of Heth.   33 And when Jacob had
|
|
made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into
|
|
the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his
|
|
people.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.l-p25">Here is, I. The summing up of the blessings
|
|
of Jacob's sons, <scripRef passage="Ge 49:28" id="Gen.l-p25.1" parsed="|Gen|49|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.28"><i>v.</i>
|
|
28</scripRef>. Though Reuben, Simeon, and Levi were put under the
|
|
marks of their father's displeasure, yet he is said to <i>bless
|
|
them every one according to his blessing;</i> for none of them were
|
|
rejected as Esau was. Note, Whatever rebukes of God's word or
|
|
providence we are under at any time, yet, as long as we have an
|
|
interest in God's covenant, a place and a name among his people,
|
|
and good hopes of a share in the heavenly Canaan, we must account
|
|
ourselves blessed.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.l-p26">II. The solemn charge Jacob gave them
|
|
concerning his burial, which is a repetition of what he had before
|
|
given to Joseph. See how he speaks of death, now that he is dying:
|
|
<i>I am to be gathered unto my people,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 49:29" id="Gen.l-p26.1" parsed="|Gen|49|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>. Note, It is good to represent
|
|
death to ourselves under the most desirable images, that the terror
|
|
of it may be taken off. Though it separates us from our children
|
|
and our people in this world, it gathers us to our fathers and to
|
|
our people in the other world. Perhaps Jacob uses this expression
|
|
concerning death as a reason why his sons should bury him in
|
|
Canaan; for, says he, "<i>I am to be gathered unto my people,</i>
|
|
my soul must go to <i>the spirits of just men made perfect:</i> and
|
|
therefore bury me with my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, and their
|
|
wives," <scripRef passage="Ge 49:31" id="Gen.l-p26.2" parsed="|Gen|49|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>.
|
|
Observe, 1. His heart was very much upon it, not so much from a
|
|
natural affection to his native soil as from a principle of faith
|
|
in the promise of God, that Canaan should be the inheritance of his
|
|
seed in due time. Thus he would keep up in his sons a remembrance
|
|
of the promised land, and not only would have their acquaintance
|
|
with it renewed by a journey thither on that occasion, but their
|
|
desire towards it and their expectation of it preserved. 2. He is
|
|
very particular in describing the place both by the situation of it
|
|
and by the purchase Abraham had made of it for a burying-place,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 49:30,32" id="Gen.l-p26.3" parsed="|Gen|49|30|0|0;|Gen|49|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.30 Bible:Gen.49.32"><i>v.</i> 30, 32</scripRef>. He was
|
|
afraid lest his sons, after seventeen years' sojourning in Egypt,
|
|
had forgotten Canaan, and even the burying-place of their ancestors
|
|
there, or lest the Canaanites should dispute his title to it; and
|
|
therefore he specifies it thus largely, and the purchase of it,
|
|
even when he lies a-dying, not only to prevent mistakes, but to
|
|
show how mindful he was of that country. Note, It is, and should
|
|
be, a great pleasure to dying saints to fix their thoughts upon the
|
|
heavenly Canaan, and the rest they hope for there after death.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.l-p27">III. The death of Jacob, <scripRef passage="Ge 49:33" id="Gen.l-p27.1" parsed="|Gen|49|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>. When he had finished both his
|
|
blessing and his charge (both which are included in the commanding
|
|
of his sons), and so had finished his testimony, he addressed
|
|
himself to his dying work. 1. He put himself into a posture for
|
|
dying; having before seated himself upon the bed-side, to bless his
|
|
sons (the spirit of prophecy bringing fresh oil to his expiring
|
|
lamp, <scripRef passage="Da 10:19" id="Gen.l-p27.2" parsed="|Dan|10|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.10.19">Dan. x. 19</scripRef>), when
|
|
that work was done, <i>he gathered up his feet into the bed,</i>
|
|
that he might lie along, not only as one patiently submitting to
|
|
the stroke, but as one cheerfully composing himself to rest, now
|
|
that he was weary. <i>I will lay me down, and sleep.</i> 2. He
|
|
freely resigned his spirit into the hand of God, the Father of
|
|
spirits: <i>He yielded up the ghost.</i> 3. His separated soul went
|
|
to the assembly of the souls of the faithful, which, after they are
|
|
delivered from the burden of the flesh, are in joy and felicity: he
|
|
was <i>gathered to his people.</i> Note, If God's people be our
|
|
people, death will gather us to them.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter L" n="li" progress="30.64%" prev="Gen.l" next="Ex" id="Gen.li">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="266" id="Gen.li-Page_266"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Gen.li-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Gen.li-p0.2">CHAP. L.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Gen.li-p1">Here is, I. The preparation for Jacob's funeral,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 50:1-6" id="Gen.li-p1.1" parsed="|Gen|50|1|50|6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.1-Gen.50.6">ver. 1-6</scripRef>. II. The funeral
|
|
itself, <scripRef passage="Ge 50:7-14" id="Gen.li-p1.2" parsed="|Gen|50|7|50|14" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.7-Gen.50.14">ver. 7-14</scripRef>. III.
|
|
The settling of a good understanding between Joseph and his
|
|
brethren after the death of Jacob, <scripRef passage="Ge 50:15-21" id="Gen.li-p1.3" parsed="|Gen|50|15|50|21" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.15-Gen.50.21">ver. 15-21</scripRef>. IV. The age and death of
|
|
Joseph, <scripRef passage="Ge 50:22-26" id="Gen.li-p1.4" parsed="|Gen|50|22|50|26" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.22-Gen.50.26">ver. 22-26</scripRef>. Thus
|
|
the book of Genesis, which began with the origin of light and life,
|
|
ends with nothing but death and darkness; so sad a change has sin
|
|
made.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 50" id="Gen.li-p1.5" parsed="|Gen|50|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 50:1-6" id="Gen.li-p1.6" parsed="|Gen|50|1|50|6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.1-Gen.50.6"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.50.1-Gen.50.6">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.li-p1.7">The Burial of Jacob. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.li-p1.8">b. c.</span> 1689.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.li-p2">1 And Joseph fell upon his father's face, and
|
|
wept upon him, and kissed him.   2 And Joseph commanded his
|
|
servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians
|
|
embalmed Israel.   3 And forty days were fulfilled for him;
|
|
for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed: and the
|
|
Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days.   4 And
|
|
when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spake unto the
|
|
house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found grace in your eyes,
|
|
speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,   5 My
|
|
father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my grave which I have
|
|
digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now
|
|
therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will
|
|
come again.   6 And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father,
|
|
according as he made thee swear.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.li-p3">Joseph is here paying his last respects to
|
|
his deceased father. 1. With tears and kisses, and all the tender
|
|
expressions of a filial affection, he takes leave of the deserted
|
|
body, <scripRef passage="Ge 50:1" id="Gen.li-p3.1" parsed="|Gen|50|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. Though
|
|
Jacob was old and decrepit, and must needs die in the course of
|
|
nature—though he was poor comparatively, and a constant charge to
|
|
his son Joseph, yet such an affection he had for a loving father,
|
|
and so sensible was he of the loss of a prudent, pious, praying
|
|
father, that he could not part with him without floods of tears.
|
|
Note, As it is an honour to die lamented, so it is the duty of
|
|
survivors to lament the death of those who have been useful in
|
|
their day, though for some time they may have survived their
|
|
usefulness. The departed soul is out of the reach of our tears and
|
|
kisses, but with them it is proper to show our respect to the poor
|
|
body, of which we look for a glorious and joyful resurrection. Thus
|
|
Joseph showed his faith in God, and love to his father, by kissing
|
|
his pale and cold lips, and so giving an affectionate farewell.
|
|
Probably the rest of Jacob's sons did the same, much moved, no
|
|
doubt, with his dying words. 2. He ordered the body to be embalmed
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 50:2" id="Gen.li-p3.2" parsed="|Gen|50|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), not only
|
|
because he died in Egypt, and that was the manner of the Egyptians,
|
|
but because he was to be carried to Canaan, which would be a work
|
|
of time, and therefore it was necessary the body should be
|
|
preserved as well as it might be from putrefaction. See how vile
|
|
our bodies are, when the soul has forsaken them; without a great
|
|
deal of art, and pains, and care, they will, in a very little time,
|
|
become noisome. If the body have been dead four days, by that time
|
|
it is offensive. 3. He observed the ceremony of solemn mourning for
|
|
him, <scripRef passage="Ge 50:3" id="Gen.li-p3.3" parsed="|Gen|50|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. Forty days
|
|
were taken up in embalming the body, which the Egyptians (they say)
|
|
had an art of doing so curiously as to preserve the very features
|
|
of the face unchanged; all this time, and thirty days more, seventy
|
|
in all, they either confined themselves and sat solitary, or, when
|
|
they went out, appeared in the habit of close mourners, according
|
|
to the decent custom of the country. Even the Egyptians, many of
|
|
them, out of the great respect they had for Joseph (whose good
|
|
offices done for the king and country were now fresh in
|
|
remembrance), put themselves into mourning for his father: as with
|
|
us, when the court goes into mourning, those of the best quality do
|
|
so too. About ten weeks was the court of Egypt in mourning for
|
|
Jacob. Note, What they did in state, we should do in sincerity,
|
|
<i>weep with those that weep,</i> and mourn with those that mourn,
|
|
as being ourselves also in the body. 4. He asked and obtained leave
|
|
of Pharaoh to go to Canaan, thither to attend the funeral of his
|
|
father, <scripRef passage="Ge 50:4-6" id="Gen.li-p3.4" parsed="|Gen|50|4|50|6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.4-Gen.50.6"><i>v.</i> 4-6</scripRef>.
|
|
(1.) It was a piece of necessary respect to Pharaoh that he would
|
|
not go without leave; for we may suppose that, though his charge
|
|
about the corn was long since over, yet he continued a
|
|
prime-minister of state, and therefore would not be so long absent
|
|
from his business without licence. (2.) He observed a decorum, in
|
|
employing some of the royal family, or some of the officers of the
|
|
household, to intercede for this licence, either because it was not
|
|
proper for him in the days of his mourning to come into the
|
|
presence-chamber, or because he would not presume too much upon his
|
|
own interest. Note, Modesty is a great ornament to dignity. (3.) He
|
|
pleaded the obligation his father had laid upon him, by an oath, to
|
|
bury him in Canaan, <scripRef passage="Ge 50:5" id="Gen.li-p3.5" parsed="|Gen|50|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.5"><i>v.</i>
|
|
5</scripRef>. It was not from pride or humour, but from his regard
|
|
to an indispensable duty, that he desired it. All nations reckon
|
|
that oaths must be performed, and the will of the dead must be
|
|
observed. (4.) He promised to return: <i>I will come again.</i>
|
|
When we return to our own houses from burying the bodies of our
|
|
relations, we say, "We have left them behind;" but, if their souls
|
|
have gone to our heavenly Father's house, we may say with more
|
|
reason, "They have left us behind." (5.) He obtained leave
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 50:6" id="Gen.li-p3.6" parsed="|Gen|50|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>): <i>Go and
|
|
bury thy father.</i> Pharaoh was willing his business should stand
|
|
still so long; but the service of Christ is more needful, and
|
|
therefore he would not allow one that had work to do for him to go
|
|
first and bury his father; no, <i>Let the dead bury their dead,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mt 8:22" id="Gen.li-p3.7" parsed="|Matt|8|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.8.22">Matt. viii. 22</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<pb n="267" id="Gen.li-Page_267"/>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 50:7-14" id="Gen.li-p3.8" parsed="|Gen|50|7|50|14" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.7-Gen.50.14"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.50.7-Gen.50.14">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.li-p4">7 And Joseph went up to bury his father: and
|
|
with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his
|
|
house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,   8 And all
|
|
the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father's house: only
|
|
their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in
|
|
the land of Goshen.   9 And there went up with him both
|
|
chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company.   10
|
|
And they came to the threshingfloor of Atad, which <i>is</i> beyond
|
|
Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore
|
|
lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days.
|
|
  11 And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw
|
|
the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This <i>is</i> a
|
|
grievous mourning to the Egyptians: wherefore the name of it was
|
|
called Abel-mizraim, which <i>is</i> beyond Jordan.   12 And
|
|
his sons did unto him according as he commanded them:   13 For
|
|
his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the
|
|
cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field
|
|
for a possession of a buryingplace of Ephron the Hittite, before
|
|
Mamre.   14 And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his
|
|
brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after
|
|
he had buried his father.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.li-p5">We have here an account of Jacob's funeral.
|
|
Of the funerals of the kings of Judah, usually, no more is said
|
|
than this, <i>They were buried with their fathers in the city of
|
|
David:</i> but the funeral of the patriarch Jacob is more largely
|
|
and fully described, to show how much better God was to him than he
|
|
expected (he had spoken more than once of dying for grief, and
|
|
going to the grave bereaved of his children, but, behold, he dies
|
|
in honour, and is followed to the grave by all his children), and
|
|
also because his orders concerning his burial were given and
|
|
observed in faith, and in expectation both of the earthly and of
|
|
the heavenly Canaan. Now, 1. It was a stately funeral. He was
|
|
attended to the grave, not only by his own family, but by the
|
|
courtiers, and all the great men of the kingdom, who, in token of
|
|
their gratitude to Joseph, showed this respect to his father for
|
|
his sake, and did him honour at his death. Though the Egyptians had
|
|
had an antipathy to the Hebrews, and had looked upon them with
|
|
disdain (<scripRef passage="Ge 43:32" id="Gen.li-p5.1" parsed="|Gen|43|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.43.32"><i>ch.</i> xliii.
|
|
32</scripRef>), yet now, that they were better acquainted with
|
|
them, they began to have a respect for them. Good old Jacob had
|
|
conducted himself so well among them as to gain universal esteem.
|
|
Note, Professors of religion should endeavour, by wisdom and love,
|
|
to remove the prejudices which many may have conceived against them
|
|
because they do not know them. There went abundance of chariots and
|
|
horsemen, not only to attend them a little way, but to go through
|
|
with them. Note, The decent solemnities of funerals, according to a
|
|
man's situation, are very commendable; and we must not say of them,
|
|
<i>To what purpose is this waste?</i> See <scripRef passage="Ac 8:2,Lu 7:12" id="Gen.li-p5.2" parsed="|Acts|8|2|0|0;|Luke|7|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.8.2 Bible:Luke.7.12">Acts viii. 2; Luke vii. 12</scripRef>. 2. It was a
|
|
sorrowful funeral (<scripRef passage="Ge 50:10,11" id="Gen.li-p5.3" parsed="|Gen|50|10|50|11" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.10-Gen.50.11"><i>v.</i> 10,
|
|
11</scripRef>); standers-by took notice of it as a grievous
|
|
mourning. Note, The death of good men is a great loss to any place,
|
|
and ought to be greatly lamented. Stephen dies a martyr, and yet
|
|
devout men make great lamentations for him. The solemn mourning for
|
|
Jacob gave a name to the place, <i>Abel-Mizraim, the mourning of
|
|
the Egyptians,</i> which served for a testimony against the next
|
|
generation of the Egyptians, who oppressed the posterity of this
|
|
Jacob to whom their ancestors showed such respect.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 50:15-21" id="Gen.li-p5.4" parsed="|Gen|50|15|50|21" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.15-Gen.50.21"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.50.15-Gen.50.21">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.li-p5.5">Joseph Comforts His
|
|
Brethren. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.li-p5.6">b. c.</span> 1689.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.li-p6">15 And when Joseph's brethren saw that their
|
|
father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and
|
|
will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him.
|
|
  16 And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father
|
|
did command before he died, saying,   17 So shall ye say unto
|
|
Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and
|
|
their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee,
|
|
forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And
|
|
Joseph wept when they spake unto him.   18 And his brethren
|
|
also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we
|
|
<i>be</i> thy servants.   19 And Joseph said unto them, Fear
|
|
not: for <i>am</i> I in the place of God?   20 But as for you,
|
|
ye thought evil against me; <i>but</i> God meant it unto good, to
|
|
bring to pass, as <i>it is</i> this day, to save much people alive.
|
|
  21 Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your
|
|
little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.li-p7">We have here the settling of a good
|
|
correspondence between Joseph and his brethren, now that their
|
|
father was dead. Joseph was at court, in the royal city; his
|
|
brethren were in Goshen, remote in the
|
|
|
|
<pb n="268" id="Gen.li-Page_268"/>
|
|
|
|
country; yet the keeping up of a good understanding, and a good
|
|
affection, between them, would be both his honour and their
|
|
interest. Note, When Providence has removed the parents by death,
|
|
the best methods ought to be taken, not only for the preventing of
|
|
quarrels among the children (which often happen about the dividing
|
|
of the estate), but for the preserving of acquaintance and love,
|
|
that unity may continue even when that centre of unity is taken
|
|
away.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.li-p8">I. Joseph's brethren humbly make their
|
|
court to him for his favour. 1. They began to be jealous of Joseph,
|
|
not that he had given them any cause to be so, but the
|
|
consciousness of guilt, and of their own inability in such a case
|
|
to forgive and forget, made them suspicious of the sincerity and
|
|
constancy of Joseph's favour (<scripRef passage="Ge 50:15" id="Gen.li-p8.1" parsed="|Gen|50|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>): <i>Joseph will peradventure
|
|
hate us.</i> While their father lived, they thought themselves safe
|
|
under his shadow; but now that he was dead they feared the worst
|
|
from Joseph. Note, A guilty conscience exposes men to continual
|
|
frights, even where no fear is, and makes them suspicious of every
|
|
body, as Cain, <scripRef passage="Ge 4:14" id="Gen.li-p8.2" parsed="|Gen|4|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.14"><i>ch.</i> iv.
|
|
14</scripRef>. Those that would be fearless must keep themselves
|
|
guiltless. If our heart reproach us not, then have we confidence
|
|
both towards God and man. 2. They humbled themselves before him,
|
|
confessed their fault, and begged his pardon. They did it by proxy
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 50:17" id="Gen.li-p8.3" parsed="|Gen|50|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>); they did it
|
|
in person, <scripRef passage="Ge 50:18" id="Gen.li-p8.4" parsed="|Gen|50|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>.
|
|
Now that the sun and moon had set, the eleven stars did homage to
|
|
Joseph, for the further accomplishment of his dream. They speak of
|
|
their former offence with fresh regret: <i>Forgive the
|
|
trespass.</i> They throw themselves at Joseph's feet, and refer
|
|
themselves to his mercy: <i>We are thy servants.</i> Thus we must
|
|
bewail the sins we committed long ago, even those which we hope
|
|
through grace are forgiven; and, when we pray to God for pardon, we
|
|
must promise to be his servants. 3. They pleaded their relation to
|
|
Jacob and to Jacob's God. (1.) To Jacob, urging that he directed
|
|
them to make this submission, rather because he questioned whether
|
|
they would do their duty in humbling themselves than because he
|
|
questioned whether Joseph would do his duty in forgiving them; nor
|
|
could he reasonably expect Joseph's kindness to them unless they
|
|
thus qualified themselves for it (<scripRef passage="Ge 50:16" id="Gen.li-p8.5" parsed="|Gen|50|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>): <i>Thy father did command.</i>
|
|
Thus, in humbling ourselves to Christ by faith and repentance, we
|
|
may plead that it is the command of his Father, and our Father,
|
|
that we do so. (2.) To Jacob's God. They plead (<scripRef passage="Ge 50:17" id="Gen.li-p8.6" parsed="|Gen|50|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>), <i>We</i> are the<i>servants
|
|
of the God of thy father;</i> not only children of the same Jacob,
|
|
but worshippers of the same Jehovah. Note, Though we must be ready
|
|
to forgive all that are any way injurious to us, yet we must
|
|
especially take heed of bearing malice towards any that are the
|
|
servants of the God of our father: such we should always treat with
|
|
a peculiar tenderness; for we and they have the same Master.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.li-p9">II. Joseph, with a great deal of
|
|
compassion, confirms his reconciliation and affection to them; his
|
|
compassion appears, <scripRef passage="Ge 50:17" id="Gen.li-p9.1" parsed="|Gen|50|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.17"><i>v.</i>
|
|
17</scripRef>. <i>He wept when they spoke to him.</i> These were
|
|
tears of sorrow for their suspicion of him, and tears of tenderness
|
|
upon their submission. In his reply, 1. He directs them to look up
|
|
to God in their repentance (<scripRef passage="Ge 50:19" id="Gen.li-p9.2" parsed="|Gen|50|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.19"><i>v.</i>
|
|
19</scripRef>): <i>Am I in the place of God?</i> He, in his great
|
|
humility, thought they showed him too much respect, as if all their
|
|
happiness were bound up in his favour, and said to them, in effect,
|
|
as Peter to Cornelius, "<i>Stand up, I myself also am a man.</i>
|
|
Make your peace with God, and then you will find it an easy matter
|
|
to make your peace with me." Note, When we ask forgiveness of those
|
|
whom we have offended we must take heed of putting them in the
|
|
place of God, by dreading their wrath and soliciting their favour
|
|
more than God's. "Am I in the place of God, to whom alone vengeance
|
|
belongs? No, I will leave you to his mercy." Those that avenge
|
|
themselves step into the place of God, <scripRef passage="Ro 12:19" id="Gen.li-p9.3" parsed="|Rom|12|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.12.19">Rom. xii. 19</scripRef>. 2. He extenuates their fault,
|
|
from the consideration of the great good which God wonderfully
|
|
brought out of it, which, though it should not make them the less
|
|
sorry for their sin, yet might make him the more willing to forgive
|
|
it (<scripRef passage="Ge 50:20" id="Gen.li-p9.4" parsed="|Gen|50|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>): <i>You
|
|
thought evil</i> (to disappoint the dreams), <i>but God meant it
|
|
unto good,</i> in order to the fulfilling of the dreams, and the
|
|
making of Joseph a greater blessing to his family than otherwise he
|
|
could have been. Note, when God makes use of men's agency for the
|
|
performance of his counsels, it is common for him to mean one thing
|
|
and them another, even the quite contrary, but God's counsel shall
|
|
stand. See <scripRef passage="Isa 10:7" id="Gen.li-p9.5" parsed="|Isa|10|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.10.7">Isa. x. 7</scripRef>.
|
|
Again, God often brings good out of evil, and promotes the designs
|
|
of his providence even by the sins of men; not that he is the
|
|
author of sin, far be it from us to think so; but his infinite
|
|
wisdom so overrules events, and directs the chain of them, that, in
|
|
the issue, that ends in his praise which in its own nature had a
|
|
direct tendency to his dishonour; as the putting of Christ to
|
|
death, <scripRef passage="Ac 2:23" id="Gen.li-p9.6" parsed="|Acts|2|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.2.23">Acts ii. 23</scripRef>. This
|
|
does not make sin the less sinful, nor sinners the less punishable,
|
|
but it redounds greatly to the glory of God's wisdom. 3. He assures
|
|
them of the continuance of his kindness to them: <i>Fear not; I
|
|
will nourish you,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 50:21" id="Gen.li-p9.7" parsed="|Gen|50|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.21"><i>v.</i>
|
|
21</scripRef>. See what an excellent spirit Joseph was of, and
|
|
learn of him to render good for evil. He did not tell them they
|
|
were upon their good behaviour, and he would be kind to them if he
|
|
saw they conducted themselves well; no, he would not thus hold them
|
|
in suspense, nor seem jealous of them, though they had been
|
|
suspicious of him: <i>He comforted them,</i> and, to banish all
|
|
their fears, <i>he spoke kindly to them.</i> Note,
|
|
|
|
<pb n="269" id="Gen.li-Page_269"/>
|
|
|
|
Broken spirits must be bound up and encouraged.
|
|
Those we love and forgive we must not only do well for but speak
|
|
kindly to.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ge 50:22-26" id="Gen.li-p9.8" parsed="|Gen|50|22|50|26" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.22-Gen.50.26"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.50.22-Gen.50.26">
|
|
<h4 id="Gen.li-p9.9">The Death of Joseph. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.li-p9.10">b. c.</span> 1635.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Gen.li-p10">22 And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his
|
|
father's house: and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years.  
|
|
23 And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third
|
|
<i>generation:</i> the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh
|
|
were brought up upon Joseph's knees.   24 And Joseph said unto
|
|
his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you
|
|
out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac,
|
|
and to Jacob.   25 And Joseph took an oath of the children of
|
|
Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my
|
|
bones from hence.   26 So Joseph died, <i>being</i> an hundred
|
|
and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a
|
|
coffin in Egypt.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.li-p11">Here is, I. The prolonging of Joseph's life
|
|
in Egypt: he lived to be <i>a hundred and ten years old,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 50:22" id="Gen.li-p11.1" parsed="|Gen|50|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>. Having
|
|
honoured his father, his days were long in the land which, for the
|
|
present, God had given him; and it was a great mercy to his
|
|
relations that God continued him so long, a support and comfort to
|
|
them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.li-p12">II. The building up of Joseph's family: he
|
|
lived to see his great-grand-children by both his sons (<scripRef passage="Ge 50:23" id="Gen.li-p12.1" parsed="|Gen|50|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>), and probably he saw
|
|
his two sons solemnly owned as heads of distinct tribes, equal to
|
|
any of his brethren. It contributes much to the comfort of aged
|
|
parents if they see their posterity in a flourishing condition,
|
|
especially if with it they see peace upon Israel, <scripRef passage="Ps 128:6" id="Gen.li-p12.2" parsed="|Ps|128|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.128.6">Ps. cxxviii. 6</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.li-p13">III. The last will and testament of Joseph
|
|
published in the presence of his brethren, when he saw his death
|
|
approaching. Those that were properly his brethren perhaps were
|
|
some of them dead before him, as several of them were older than
|
|
he; but to those of them who yet survived, and to the sons of those
|
|
who were gone, who stood up in their fathers' stead, he said this.
|
|
1. He comforted them with the assurance of their return to Canaan
|
|
in due time: <i>I die, but God will surely visit you,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 50:24" id="Gen.li-p13.1" parsed="|Gen|50|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. To this purport Jacob
|
|
had spoken to him, <scripRef passage="Ge 48:21" id="Gen.li-p13.2" parsed="|Gen|48|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.21"><i>ch.</i> xlviii.
|
|
21</scripRef>. Thus must we comfort others with the same comforts
|
|
with which we ourselves have been comforted of God, and encourage
|
|
them to rest on those promises which have been our support. Joseph
|
|
was, under God, both the protector and the benefactor of his
|
|
brethren; and what would become of them now that he was dying? Why,
|
|
let this be their comfort, <i>God will surely visit you.</i> Note,
|
|
God's gracious visits will serve to make up the loss of our best
|
|
friends. They die; but we may live, and live comfortably, if we
|
|
have the favour and presence of God with us. He bids them be
|
|
confident: <i>God will bring you out of this land,</i> and
|
|
therefore, (1.) They must not hope to settle there, nor look upon
|
|
it as their rest for ever; they must set their hearts upon the land
|
|
of promise, and call that their home. (2.) They must not fear
|
|
sinking, and being ruined there; probably he foresaw the ill usage
|
|
they would meet with there after his death, and therefore gives
|
|
them this word of encouragement: "<i>God will bring you</i> in
|
|
triumph <i>out of this land</i> at last." Herein he has an eye to
|
|
the promise, <scripRef passage="Ge 15:13,14" id="Gen.li-p13.3" parsed="|Gen|15|13|15|14" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.13-Gen.15.14"><i>ch.</i> xv. 13,
|
|
14</scripRef>, and, in God's name, assures them of the performance
|
|
of it. 2. For a confession of his own faith, and a confirmation of
|
|
theirs, he charges them to keep him unburied till that day, that
|
|
glorious day, should come, when they should be settled in the land
|
|
of promise, <scripRef passage="Ge 50:25" id="Gen.li-p13.4" parsed="|Gen|50|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>.
|
|
He makes them promise him with an oath that they would bury him in
|
|
Canaan. In Egypt they buried their great men very honourably and
|
|
with abundance of pomp; but Joseph prefers a significant burial in
|
|
Canaan, and that deferred too almost 200 years, before a
|
|
magnificent one in Egypt. Thus Joseph, by faith in the doctrine of
|
|
the resurrection and the promise of Canaan, gave <i>commandment
|
|
concerning his bones,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 11:22" id="Gen.li-p13.5" parsed="|Heb|11|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.22">Heb. xi.
|
|
22</scripRef>. He dies in Egypt; but lays his bones at stake that
|
|
God will surely visit Israel, and bring them to Canaan.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Gen.li-p14">IV. The death of Joseph, and the
|
|
reservation of his body for a burial in Canaan, <scripRef passage="Ge 50:26" id="Gen.li-p14.1" parsed="|Gen|50|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>. He was <i>put in a coffin in
|
|
Egypt,</i> but not buried till his children had received their
|
|
inheritance in Canaan, <scripRef passage="Jos 24:32" id="Gen.li-p14.2" parsed="|Josh|24|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.24.32">Josh. xxiv.
|
|
32</scripRef>. Note, 1. If the separate soul, at death, do but
|
|
return to its rest with God, the matter is not great though the
|
|
deserted body find not at all, or not quickly, its rest in the
|
|
grave. 2. Yet care ought to be taken of the dead bodies of the
|
|
saints, in the belief of their resurrection; for there is a
|
|
covenant with the dust, which shall be remembered, and a
|
|
commandment is given concerning the bones.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
</div1>
|
|
|
|
<div1 title="Exodus" n="ii" progress="31.07%" prev="Gen.li" next="Ex.i" id="Ex">
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Introduction" n="i" progress="31.07%" prev="Ex" next="Ex.ii" id="Ex.i">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.i-p0.1">Exodus</h2>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<hr/>
|
|
|
|
<pb n="270" id="Ex.i-Page_270"/>
|
|
|
|
<div class="Center" id="Ex.i-p0.3">
|
|
<p id="Ex.i-p1"><b>AN</b></p>
|
|
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.i-p1.1">EXPOSITION,</h3>
|
|
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.i-p1.2">W I T H   P R A C T I C A L   O B S E
|
|
R V A T I O N S,</h4>
|
|
|
|
<h5 id="Ex.i-p1.3">OF THE SECOND BOOK OF MOSES, CALLED</h5>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.i-p1.4">E X O D U S.</h2>
|
|
|
|
<hr style="width:2in"/>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.i-p2"><span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.i-p2.1">Moses</span> (the
|
|
<i>servant of the Lord</i> in writing for him as well as in acting
|
|
for him—with the pen of God as well as with the rod of God in his
|
|
hand) having, in the first book of his history, preserved and
|
|
transmitted the records of the church, while it existed in private
|
|
families, comes, in this second book, to give us an account of its
|
|
growth into a great nation; and, as the former furnishes us with
|
|
the best economics, so this with the best politics. The beginning
|
|
of the former book shows us how God formed the world for himself;
|
|
the beginning of this shows us how he formed Israel for himself,
|
|
and both to show forth his praise, <scripRef passage="Isa 43:21" id="Ex.i-p2.2" parsed="|Isa|43|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.43.21">Isa. xliii. 21</scripRef>. There we have the creation
|
|
of the world in history, here the redemption of the world in type.
|
|
The Greek translators called this book <i>Exodus</i> (which
|
|
signifies a <i>departure</i> or <i>going out</i>) because it begins
|
|
with the story of the going out of the children of Israel from
|
|
Egypt. Some allude to the names of this and the foregoing book, and
|
|
observe that immediately after <i>Genesis,</i> which signifies the
|
|
<i>beginning</i> or <i>original,</i> follows <i>Exodus,</i> which
|
|
signifies <i>a departure;</i> for a time to be born is immediately
|
|
succeeded by a time to die. No sooner have we made our entrance
|
|
into the world than we must think of making our exit, and going out
|
|
of the world. When we begin to live we begin to die. The forming of
|
|
Israel into a people was a new creation. As the earth was, in the
|
|
beginning, first fetched from under water, and then beautified and
|
|
replenished, so Israel was first by an almighty power made to
|
|
emerge out of Egyptian slavery, and then enriched with God's law
|
|
and tabernacle. This book gives us, I. The accomplishment of the
|
|
promises made before to Abraham (<scripRef passage="Ex 1:1-19:25" id="Ex.i-p2.3" parsed="|Exod|1|1|19|25" osisRef="Bible:Exod.1.1-Exod.19.25"><i>ch.</i> i.-xix.</scripRef>), and then, II. The
|
|
establishment of the ordinances which were afterwards observed by
|
|
Israel, <scripRef passage="Ex 20:1-40:38" id="Ex.i-p2.4" parsed="|Exod|20|1|40|38" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.1-Exod.40.38"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xx.-xl.</scripRef> Moses, in this book, begins, like Cæsar, to
|
|
write his own Commentaries; nay, a greater, a far greater, than
|
|
Cæsar is here. But henceforward the penman is himself the hero, and
|
|
gives us the history of those things of which he was himself an eye
|
|
and ear-witness, <i>et quorum pars magna fuit—and in which he bore
|
|
a conspicuous part.</i> There are more types of Christ in this book
|
|
than perhaps in any other book of the Old Testament; for Moses
|
|
wrote of him, <scripRef passage="Joh 5:46" id="Ex.i-p2.5" parsed="|John|5|46|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.5.46">John v. 46</scripRef>.
|
|
The way of man's reconciliation to God, and coming into covenant
|
|
and communion with him by a Mediator, is here variously
|
|
represented; and it is of great use to us for the illustration of
|
|
the New Testament, now that we have that to assist us in the
|
|
explication of the Old.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter I" n="ii" progress="31.12%" prev="Ex.i" next="Ex.iii" id="Ex.ii">
|
|
|
|
<pb n="270" id="Ex.ii-Page_270"/>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.ii-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.ii-p0.2">CHAP. I.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.ii-p1">We have here, I. God's kindness to Israel, in
|
|
multiplying them exceedingly, (<scripRef passage="Ex 1:1-7" id="Ex.ii-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|1|1|1|7" osisRef="Bible:Exod.1.1-Exod.1.7">ver.
|
|
1-7</scripRef>). II. The Egyptians' wickedness to them, 1.
|
|
Oppressing and enslaving them, (<scripRef passage="Ex 1:8-14" id="Ex.ii-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|1|8|1|14" osisRef="Bible:Exod.1.8-Exod.1.14">ver.
|
|
8-14</scripRef>). 2. Murdering their children, (<scripRef passage="Ex 1:15-22" id="Ex.ii-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|1|15|1|22" osisRef="Bible:Exod.1.15-Exod.1.22">ver. 15-22</scripRef>). Thus whom the court of heaven
|
|
blessed the country of Egypt cursed, and for that reason.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 1" id="Ex.ii-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|1|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.1"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 1:1-7" id="Ex.ii-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|1|1|1|7" osisRef="Bible:Exod.1.1-Exod.1.7"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.1.1-Exod.1.7">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.ii-p1.6">The Israelites Oppressed in
|
|
Egypt. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.ii-p1.7">b. c.</span> 1588.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.ii-p2">1 Now these <i>are</i> the names of the children
|
|
of Israel, which came into Egypt; every man and his household came
|
|
with Jacob.   2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,   3
|
|
Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,   4 Dan, and Naphtali, Gad,
|
|
and Asher.   5 And all the souls that came out of the loins of
|
|
Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt <i>already.</i>
|
|
  6 And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that
|
|
generation.   7 And the children of Israel were fruitful, and
|
|
increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty;
|
|
and the land was filled with them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.ii-p3">In these verses we have, 1. A recital of
|
|
the names of the <i>twelve patriarchs,</i> as they are called,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ac 7:8" id="Ex.ii-p3.1" parsed="|Acts|7|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.8">Acts vii. 8</scripRef>. Their names are
|
|
often repeated in scripture, that they may not sound uncouth to us,
|
|
as other hard names, but that, by their occurring so frequently,
|
|
they may become familiar to us; and to show how precious God's
|
|
spiritual Israel are to him, and how much he delights in them. 2.
|
|
The account which was kept of the number of Jacob's family, when
|
|
they went down into Egypt; they were in all <i>seventy souls</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 1:5" id="Ex.ii-p3.2" parsed="|Exod|1|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.1.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>). according to
|
|
the computation we had, <scripRef passage="Ge 46:27" id="Ex.ii-p3.3" parsed="|Gen|46|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.46.27">Gen. xlvi.
|
|
27</scripRef>. This was just the number of the nations by which the
|
|
earth was peopled, according to the account given, <scripRef passage="Ge 10:1-32" id="Ex.ii-p3.4" parsed="|Gen|10|1|10|32" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10.1-Gen.10.32">Gen. x.</scripRef> <i>For
|
|
|
|
<pb n="271" id="Ex.ii-Page_271"/>
|
|
|
|
when the Most High separated the sons of Adam, he
|
|
set the bounds of the people according to the number of the
|
|
children of Israel,</i> as Moses observes, <scripRef passage="De 32:8" id="Ex.ii-p3.5" parsed="|Deut|32|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.8">Deut. xxxii. 8</scripRef>. Notice is here taken of this
|
|
that their increase in Egypt might appear the more wonderful. Note,
|
|
It is good for those whose latter end greatly increases often to
|
|
remember how small their beginning was, <scripRef passage="Job 8:7" id="Ex.ii-p3.6" parsed="|Job|8|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.7">Job viii. 7</scripRef>. 3. The death of Joseph, <scripRef passage="Ex 1:6" id="Ex.ii-p3.7" parsed="|Exod|1|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.1.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. <i>All that generation</i>
|
|
by degrees wore off. Perhaps all Jacob's sons died much about the
|
|
same time; for there was not more than seven years' difference in
|
|
age between the eldest and the youngest of them, except Benjamin;
|
|
and, when death comes into a family, sometimes it makes a full end
|
|
in a little time. When Joseph, the stay of the family, died, the
|
|
rest went off apace. Note, We must look upon ourselves and our
|
|
brethren, and all we converse with, as dying and hastening out of
|
|
the world. This generation passeth away, as that did which went
|
|
before. 4. The strange increase of Israel in Egypt, <scripRef passage="Ex 1:7" id="Ex.ii-p3.8" parsed="|Exod|1|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.1.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. Here are four words used
|
|
to express it: They <i>were fruitful,</i> and <i>increased
|
|
abundantly,</i> like fishes or insects, so that they
|
|
<i>multiplied;</i> and, being generally healthful and strong, they
|
|
<i>waxed exceedingly mighty,</i> so that they began almost to
|
|
outnumber the natives, for the land was in all places filled with
|
|
them, at least Goshen, their own allotment. Observe, (1.) Though,
|
|
no doubt, they increased considerably before, yet, it should seem,
|
|
it was not till after the death of Joseph that it began to be taken
|
|
notice of as extraordinary. Thus, when they lost the benefit of his
|
|
protection, God made their numbers their defence, and they became
|
|
better able than they had been to shift for themselves. If God
|
|
continue our friends and relations to us while we most need them,
|
|
and remove them when they can be better spared, let us own that he
|
|
is wise, and not complain that he is hard upon us. After the death
|
|
of Christ, our Joseph, his gospel Israel began most remarkably to
|
|
increase: and his death had an influence upon it; it was like the
|
|
sowing of a corn of wheat, which, if it die, bringeth forth much
|
|
fruit, <scripRef passage="Joh 12:24" id="Ex.ii-p3.9" parsed="|John|12|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.12.24">John xii. 24</scripRef>. (2.)
|
|
This wonderful increase was the fulfillment of the promise long
|
|
before made unto the fathers. From the call of Abraham, when God
|
|
first told him he would make of him a great nation, to the
|
|
deliverance of his seed out of Egypt, it was 430 years, during the
|
|
first 215 of which they were increased but to seventy, but, in the
|
|
latter half, those seventy multiplied to 600,000 fighting men.
|
|
Note, [1.] Sometimes God's providences may seem for a great while
|
|
to thwart his promises, and to go counter to them, that his
|
|
people's faith may be tried, and his own power the more magnified.
|
|
[2.] Though the performance of God's promises is sometimes slow,
|
|
yet it is always sure; <i>at the end it shall speak, and not
|
|
lie,</i> <scripRef passage="Hab 2:3" id="Ex.ii-p3.10" parsed="|Hab|2|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hab.2.3">Hab. ii. 3</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 1:8-14" id="Ex.ii-p3.11" parsed="|Exod|1|8|1|14" osisRef="Bible:Exod.1.8-Exod.1.14"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.1.8-Exod.1.14">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.ii-p4">8 Now there arose up a new king over Egypt,
|
|
which knew not Joseph.   9 And he said unto his people,
|
|
Behold, the people of the children of Israel <i>are</i> more and
|
|
mightier than we:   10 Come on, let us deal wisely with them;
|
|
lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth
|
|
out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us,
|
|
and <i>so</i> get them up out of the land.   11 Therefore they
|
|
did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens.
|
|
And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.
|
|
  12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they
|
|
multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children
|
|
of Israel.   13 And the Egyptians made the children of Israel
|
|
to serve with rigour:   14 And they made their lives bitter
|
|
with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of
|
|
service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them
|
|
serve, <i>was</i> with rigour.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.ii-p5">The land of Egypt here, at length, becomes
|
|
to Israel a house of bondage, though hitherto it had been a happy
|
|
shelter and settlement for them. Note, The place of our
|
|
satisfaction may soon become the place of our affliction, and that
|
|
may prove the greatest cross to us of which we said, <i>This same
|
|
shall comfort us.</i> Those may prove our sworn enemies whose
|
|
parents were our faithful friends; nay, the same persons that loved
|
|
us may possibly turn to hate us: therefore cease from man, and say
|
|
not concerning any place on this side heaven, <i>This is my rest
|
|
for ever.</i> Observe here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.ii-p6">I. The obligations they lay under to Israel
|
|
upon Joseph's account were forgotten: <i>There arose a new
|
|
king,</i> after several successions in Joseph's time, <i>who knew
|
|
not Joseph,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 1:8" id="Ex.ii-p6.1" parsed="|Exod|1|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.1.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>.
|
|
All that knew him loved him, and were kind to his relations for his
|
|
sake; but when he was dead he was soon forgotten, and the
|
|
remembrance of the good offices he had done was either not retained
|
|
or not regarded, nor had it any influence upon their councils.
|
|
Note, the best and the most useful and acceptable services done to
|
|
men are seldom remembered, so as to be recompensed to those that
|
|
did them, in the notice taken either of their memory, or of their
|
|
posterity, after their death, <scripRef passage="Ec 9:5,15" id="Ex.ii-p6.2" parsed="|Eccl|9|5|0|0;|Eccl|9|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.9.5 Bible:Eccl.9.15">Eccl.
|
|
ix. 5, 15</scripRef>. Therefore our great care should be to serve
|
|
God, and please him, who is not unrighteous, whatever men are, to
|
|
forget our work and labour of love, <scripRef passage="Heb 6:10" id="Ex.ii-p6.3" parsed="|Heb|6|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.6.10">Heb. vi. 10</scripRef>. If we work for men only, our
|
|
works, at furthest, will die with us; if for God, they will follow
|
|
us, <scripRef passage="Re 14:13" id="Ex.ii-p6.4" parsed="|Rev|14|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.14.13">Rev. xiv. 13</scripRef>. This king
|
|
of Egypt knew not Joseph; and after him arose one that had the
|
|
impudence to say, <i>I know
|
|
|
|
<pb n="272" id="Ex.ii-Page_272"/>
|
|
|
|
not the
|
|
Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 5:2" id="Ex.ii-p6.5" parsed="|Exod|5|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.2"><i>ch.</i> v. 2</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, Those that are unmindful of their other benefactors, it is to
|
|
be feared, will forget the supreme benefactor, <scripRef passage="1Jo 4:20" id="Ex.ii-p6.6" parsed="|1John|4|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.20">1 John iv. 20</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.ii-p7">II. Reasons of state were suggested for
|
|
their dealing hardly with Israel, <scripRef passage="Ex 1:9,10" id="Ex.ii-p7.1" parsed="|Exod|1|9|1|10" osisRef="Bible:Exod.1.9-Exod.1.10"><i>v.</i> 9, 10</scripRef>. 1. They are represented as
|
|
more and mightier than the Egyptians; certainly they were not so,
|
|
but the king of Egypt, when he resolved to oppress them, would have
|
|
them thought so, and looked on as a formidable body. 2. Hence it is
|
|
inferred that if care were not taken to keep them under they would
|
|
become dangerous to the government, and in time of war would side
|
|
with their enemies and revolt from their allegiance to the crown of
|
|
Egypt. Note, It has been the policy of persecutors to represent
|
|
God's Israel as a dangerous people, <i>hurtful to kings and
|
|
provinces,</i> not fit to be trusted, nay, not fit to be tolerated,
|
|
that they may have some pretence for the barbarous treatment they
|
|
design them, <scripRef passage="Ezr 4:12,Es 3:8" id="Ex.ii-p7.2" parsed="|Ezra|4|12|0|0;|Esth|3|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.4.12 Bible:Esth.3.8">Ezra iv. 12,
|
|
&c.; Esth. iii. 8</scripRef>. Observe, The thing they feared
|
|
was lest they should <i>get them up out of the land,</i> probably
|
|
having heard them speak of the promise made to their fathers that
|
|
they should settle in Canaan. Note, The policies of the church's
|
|
enemies aim to defeat the promises of the church's God, but in
|
|
vain; God's counsels shall stand. 3. It is therefore proposed that
|
|
a course be taken to prevent their increase: <i>Come on, let us
|
|
deal wisely with them, lest they multiply.</i> Note, (1.) The
|
|
growth of Israel is the grief of Egypt, and that against which the
|
|
powers and policies of hell are levelled. (2.) When men deal
|
|
wickedly, it is common for them to imagine that they deal wisely;
|
|
but the folly of sin will, at last, be manifested before all
|
|
men.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.ii-p8">III. The method they took to suppress them,
|
|
and check their growth, <scripRef passage="Ex 1:11,13,14" id="Ex.ii-p8.1" parsed="|Exod|1|11|0|0;|Exod|1|13|0|0;|Exod|1|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.1.11 Bible:Exod.1.13 Bible:Exod.1.14"><i>v.</i>
|
|
11, 13, 14</scripRef>. The Israelites behaved themselves so
|
|
peaceably and inoffensively that they could not find any occasion
|
|
of making war upon them, and weakening them by that means: and
|
|
therefore, 1. They took care to keep them poor, by charging them
|
|
with heavy taxes, which, some think, is included in the
|
|
<i>burdens</i> with which they afflicted them. 2. By this means
|
|
they took an effectual course to make them slaves. The Israelites,
|
|
it should seem, were much more industrious laborious people than
|
|
the Egyptians, and therefore Pharaoh took care to find them work,
|
|
both in building (they built him <i>treasure-cities</i>), and in
|
|
husbandry, even <i>all manner of service in the field:</i> and this
|
|
was exacted from them with the utmost rigour and severity. Here are
|
|
many expressions used, to affect us with the condition of God's
|
|
people. They had <i>taskmasters</i> set over them, who were
|
|
directed, not only to burden them, but, as much as might be, <i>to
|
|
afflict them with their burdens,</i> and contrive how to make them
|
|
grievous. They not only made them serve, which was sufficient for
|
|
Pharaoh's profit, but they made them <i>serve with rigour,</i> so
|
|
that their lives became bitter to them, intending hereby, (1.) To
|
|
break their spirits, and rob them of every thing in them that was
|
|
ingenuous and generous. (2.) To ruin their health and shorten their
|
|
days, and so diminish their numbers. (3.) To discourage them from
|
|
marrying, since their children would be born to slavery. (4.) To
|
|
oblige them to desert the Hebrews, and incorporate themselves with
|
|
the Egyptians. Thus he hoped to cut off the name of Israel, that it
|
|
might be no more in remembrance. And it is to be feared that the
|
|
oppression they were under had this bad effect upon them, that it
|
|
brought over many of them to join with the Egyptians in their
|
|
idolatrous worship; for we read (<scripRef passage="Jos 24:14" id="Ex.ii-p8.2" parsed="|Josh|24|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.24.14">Josh. xxiv. 14</scripRef>) that they served other gods
|
|
in Egypt; and, though it is not mentioned here in this history, yet
|
|
we find (<scripRef passage="Eze 20:8" id="Ex.ii-p8.3" parsed="|Ezek|20|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.20.8">Ezek. xx. 8</scripRef>) that
|
|
God had threatened to destroy them for it, even while they were in
|
|
the land of Egypt: however, they were kept a distinct body,
|
|
unmingled with the Egyptians, and by their other customs separated
|
|
from them, which was <i>the Lord's doing, and marvellous.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.ii-p9">IV. The wonderful increase of the
|
|
Israelites, notwithstanding the oppressions they groaned under
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 1:12" id="Ex.ii-p9.1" parsed="|Exod|1|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.1.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>): <i>The more
|
|
they afflicted them the more they multiplied,</i> sorely to the
|
|
grief and vexation of the Egyptians. Note, 1. Times of affliction
|
|
have often been the church's growing times, <i>Sub pondere
|
|
crescit—Being pressed, it grows.</i> Christianity spread most when
|
|
it was persecuted: the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the
|
|
church. 2. Those that take counsel against the Lord and his Israel
|
|
do but imagine a vain thing (<scripRef passage="Ps 2:1" id="Ex.ii-p9.2" parsed="|Ps|2|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.2.1">Ps. ii.
|
|
1</scripRef>), and create so much the greater vexation to
|
|
themselves: hell and earth cannot diminish those whom Heaven will
|
|
increase.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 1" id="Ex.ii-p9.3" parsed="|Exod|1|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.1"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 1:15-22" id="Ex.ii-p9.4" parsed="|Exod|1|15|1|22" osisRef="Bible:Exod.1.15-Exod.1.22"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.1.15-Exod.1.22">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.ii-p10">15 And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew
|
|
midwives, of which the name of the one <i>was</i> Shiphrah, and the
|
|
name of the other Puah:   16 And he said, When ye do the
|
|
office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see <i>them</i> upon
|
|
the stools; if it <i>be</i> a son, then ye shall kill him: but if
|
|
it <i>be</i> a daughter, then she shall live.   17 But the
|
|
midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded
|
|
them, but saved the men children alive.   18 And the king of
|
|
Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done
|
|
this thing, and have saved the men children alive?   19 And
|
|
the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women <i>are</i>
|
|
not as the Egyptian women; for they <i>are</i> lively, and are
|
|
delivered ere the midwives come in unto them.   20 Therefore
|
|
God dealt well with the midwives:
|
|
|
|
<pb n="273" id="Ex.ii-Page_273"/>
|
|
|
|
and the
|
|
people multiplied, and waxed very mighty.   21 And it came to
|
|
pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses.
|
|
  22 And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son
|
|
that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye
|
|
shall save alive.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.ii-p11">The Egyptians' indignation at Israel's
|
|
increase, notwithstanding the many hardships they put upon them,
|
|
drove them at length to the most barbarous and inhuman methods of
|
|
suppressing them, by the murder of their children. It was strange
|
|
that they did not rather pick quarrels with the grown men, against
|
|
whom they might perhaps find some occasion: to be thus bloody
|
|
towards the infants, whom all must own to be innocents, was a sin
|
|
which they had to cloak for. Note, 1. There is more cruelty in the
|
|
corrupt heart of man than one would imagine, <scripRef passage="Ro 3:15,16" id="Ex.ii-p11.1" parsed="|Rom|3|15|3|16" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.15-Rom.3.16">Rom. iii. 15, 16</scripRef>. The enmity that is in the
|
|
seed of the serpent against the seed of the woman divests men of
|
|
humanity itself, and makes them forget all pity. One would not
|
|
think it possible that ever men should be so barbarous and
|
|
blood-thirsty as the persecutors of God's people have been,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Re 17:6" id="Ex.ii-p11.2" parsed="|Rev|17|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.17.6">Rev. xvii. 6</scripRef>. 2. Even
|
|
confessed innocence is no defence against the old enmity. What
|
|
blood so guiltless as that of a child new-born? Yet that is
|
|
prodigally shed like water, and sucked with delight like milk or
|
|
honey. Pharaoh and Herod sufficiently proved themselves agents for
|
|
that <i>great red dragon, who stood to devour the man-child as soon
|
|
as it was born,</i> <scripRef passage="Re 12:3,4" id="Ex.ii-p11.3" parsed="|Rev|12|3|12|4" osisRef="Bible:Rev.12.3-Rev.12.4">Rev. xii. 3,
|
|
4</scripRef>. Pilate delivered Christ to be crucified, after he had
|
|
confessed that he found no fault in him. It is well for us that,
|
|
though man can kill the body, this is all he can do. Two bloody
|
|
edicts are here signed for the destruction of all the male children
|
|
that were born to the Hebrews.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.ii-p12">I. The midwives were commanded to murder
|
|
them. Observe, 1. The orders given them, <scripRef passage="Ex 1:15,16" id="Ex.ii-p12.1" parsed="|Exod|1|15|1|16" osisRef="Bible:Exod.1.15-Exod.1.16"><i>v.</i> 15, 16</scripRef>. It added much to the
|
|
barbarity of the intended executions that the <i>midwives</i> were
|
|
appointed to be the executioners; for it was to make them, not only
|
|
bloody, but perfidious, and to oblige them to betray a trust, and
|
|
to destroy those whom they undertook to save and help. Could he
|
|
think that their sex would admit such cruelty, and their employment
|
|
such base treachery? Note, Those who are themselves barbarous think
|
|
to find, or make, others as barbarous. Pharaoh's project was
|
|
secretly to engage the midwives to stifle the men-children as soon
|
|
as they were born, and then to lay it upon the difficulty of the
|
|
birth, or some mischance common in that case, <scripRef passage="Job 3:11" id="Ex.ii-p12.2" parsed="|Job|3|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.3.11">Job iii. 11</scripRef>. The two midwives he tampered
|
|
with in order hereunto are here named; and perhaps, at this time,
|
|
which was above eighty years before their going out of Egypt, those
|
|
two might suffice for all the Hebrew women, at least so many of
|
|
them as lay near the court, as it is plain by <scripRef passage="Ex 2:5,6" id="Ex.ii-p12.3" parsed="|Exod|2|5|2|6" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.5-Exod.2.6"><i>ch.</i> ii. 5, 6</scripRef>, many of them did, and of
|
|
them he was most jealous. They are called <i>Hebrew midwives,</i>
|
|
probably not because they were themselves Hebrews (for surely
|
|
Pharaoh could never expect they should be so barbarous to those of
|
|
their own nation), but because they were generally made use of by
|
|
the Hebrews; and, being Egyptians, he hoped to prevail with them.
|
|
2. Their pious disobedience to this impious command, <scripRef passage="Ex 1:17" id="Ex.ii-p12.4" parsed="|Exod|1|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.1.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. <i>They feared God,</i>
|
|
regarded his law, and dreaded his wrath more than Pharaoh's, and
|
|
therefore saved the men-children alive. Note, If men's commands be
|
|
any way contrary to the commands of God, we must obey God and not
|
|
man, <scripRef passage="Ac 4:19,5:29" id="Ex.ii-p12.5" parsed="|Acts|4|19|0|0;|Acts|5|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.4.19 Bible:Acts.5.29">Acts iv. 19; v.
|
|
29</scripRef>. No power on earth can warrant us, much less oblige
|
|
us, to sin against God, our chief Lord. Again, Where the fear of
|
|
God rules in the heart, it will preserve it from the snare which
|
|
the inordinate fear of man brings. 3. Their justifying themselves
|
|
in this disobedience, when they were charged with it as a crime,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 1:18" id="Ex.ii-p12.6" parsed="|Exod|1|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.1.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. They gave a
|
|
reason for it, which, it seems, God's gracious promise furnished
|
|
them with—that they came too late to do it, for generally the
|
|
children were born before they came, <scripRef passage="Ex 1:19" id="Ex.ii-p12.7" parsed="|Exod|1|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.1.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. I see no reason we have to doubt
|
|
the truth of this; it is plain that the Hebrews were now under an
|
|
extraordinary blessing of increase, which may well be supposed to
|
|
have this effect, that the women had very quick and easy labour,
|
|
and, the mothers and children being both lively, they seldom needed
|
|
the help of midwives: this these midwives took notice of, and,
|
|
concluding it to be the finger of God, were thereby emboldened to
|
|
disobey the king, in favour of those whom Heaven thus favoured, and
|
|
with this justified themselves before Pharaoh, when he called them
|
|
to an account for it. Some of the ancient Jews expound it thus,
|
|
<i>Ere the midwife comes to them they pray to their Father in
|
|
heaven, and he answereth them, and they do bring forth.</i> Note,
|
|
God is a readier help to his people in distress than any other
|
|
helpers are, and often anticipates them with the blessings of his
|
|
goodness; such deliverances lay them under peculiarly strong
|
|
obligations. 4. The recompence God gave them for their tenderness
|
|
towards his people: <i>He dealt well with them,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 1:20" id="Ex.ii-p12.8" parsed="|Exod|1|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.1.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. Note, God will be
|
|
behind-hand with none for any kindness done to his people, taking
|
|
it as done to himself. In particular, <i>he made them houses</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 1:21" id="Ex.ii-p12.9" parsed="|Exod|1|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.1.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>), built them
|
|
up into families, blessed their children, and prospered them in all
|
|
they did. Note, The services done for God's Israel are often repaid
|
|
in kind. The midwives kept up the Israelites' houses, and, in
|
|
recompence for it, <i>God made them houses.</i> Observe, The
|
|
recompence has relation to the principle upon which they went:
|
|
<i>Because they feared God, he made them houses.</i> Note, Religion
|
|
and piety are good friends to outward prosperity:
|
|
|
|
<pb n="274" id="Ex.ii-Page_274"/>
|
|
|
|
the fear of God in a house will help to build it up
|
|
and establish it. Dr. Lightfoot's notion of it is, That, for their
|
|
piety, they were married to Israelites, and Hebrew families were
|
|
built up by them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.ii-p13">II. When this project did not take effect,
|
|
Pharaoh gave public orders to all his people to drown all the male
|
|
children of the Hebrews, <scripRef passage="Ex 1:22" id="Ex.ii-p13.1" parsed="|Exod|1|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.1.22"><i>v.</i>
|
|
22</scripRef>. We may suppose it was made highly penal for any to
|
|
know of the birth of a son to an Israelite, and not to give
|
|
information to those who were appointed to throw him into the
|
|
river. Note, The enemies of the church have been restless in their
|
|
endeavours to <i>wear out the saints of the Most High,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Da 7:25" id="Ex.ii-p13.2" parsed="|Dan|7|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.7.25">Dan. vii. 25</scripRef>. But <i>he that
|
|
sits in heaven shall laugh at them.</i> See <scripRef passage="Ps 2:4" id="Ex.ii-p13.3" parsed="|Ps|2|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.2.4">Ps. ii. 4</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter II" n="iii" progress="31.51%" prev="Ex.ii" next="Ex.iv" id="Ex.iii">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.iii-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.iii-p0.2">CHAP. II.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.iii-p1">This chapter begins the story of Moses, that man
|
|
of renown, famed for his intimate acquaintance with Heaven and his
|
|
eminent usefulness on earth, and the most remarkable type of
|
|
Christ, as a prophet, saviour, lawgiver, and mediator, in all the
|
|
Old Testament. The Jews have a book among them of the life of
|
|
Moses, which tells a great many stories concerning him, which we
|
|
have reason to think are mere fictions; what he has recorded
|
|
concerning himself is what we may rely upon, for we know that his
|
|
record is true; and it is what we may be satisfied with, for it is
|
|
what Infinite Wisdom thought fit to preserve and transmit to us. In
|
|
this chapter we have, I. The perils of his birth and infancy,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 2:1-4" id="Ex.iii-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|2|1|2|4" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.1-Exod.2.4">ver. 1-4</scripRef>. II. His
|
|
preservation through those perils, and the preferment of his
|
|
childhood and youth, <scripRef passage="Ex 2:5-10" id="Ex.iii-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|2|5|2|10" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.5-Exod.2.10">ver.
|
|
5-10</scripRef>. III. The pious choice of his riper years, which
|
|
was to own the people of God. 1. He offered them his service at
|
|
present, if they would accept it, <scripRef passage="Ex 2:11-14" id="Ex.iii-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|2|11|2|14" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.11-Exod.2.14">ver. 11-14</scripRef>. 2. He retired, that he might
|
|
reserve himself for further service hereafter, <scripRef passage="Ex 2:15-22" id="Ex.iii-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|2|15|2|22" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.15-Exod.2.22">ver. 15-22</scripRef>. IV. The dawning of the day of
|
|
Israel's deliverance, <scripRef passage="Ex 2:23-25" id="Ex.iii-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|2|23|2|25" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.23-Exod.2.25">ver.
|
|
23</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 2" id="Ex.iii-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|2|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 2:1-4" id="Ex.iii-p1.7" parsed="|Exod|2|1|2|4" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.1-Exod.2.4"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.2.1-Exod.2.4">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.iii-p1.8">The Birth of Moses. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.iii-p1.9">b. c.</span> 1571.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.iii-p2">1 And there went a man of the house of Levi, and
|
|
took <i>to wife</i> a daughter of Levi.   2 And the woman
|
|
conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he <i>was
|
|
a</i> goodly <i>child,</i> she hid him three months.   3 And
|
|
when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of
|
|
bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the
|
|
child therein; and she laid <i>it</i> in the flags by the river's
|
|
brink.   4 And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be
|
|
done to him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p3">Moses was a Levite, both by father and
|
|
mother. Jacob left Levi under marks of disgrace (<scripRef passage="Ge 49:5" id="Ex.iii-p3.1" parsed="|Gen|49|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.5">Gen. xlix. 5</scripRef>); and yet, soon after, Moses
|
|
appears a descendant from him, that he might typify Christ, who
|
|
came in the likeness of sinful flesh and was made a curse for us.
|
|
This tribe began to be distinguished from the rest by the birth of
|
|
Moses, as afterwards it became remarkable in many other instances.
|
|
Observe, concerning this newborn infant,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p4">I. How he was hidden. It seems to have been
|
|
just at the time of his birth that the cruel law was made for the
|
|
murder of all the male children of the Hebrews; and many, no doubt,
|
|
perished by the execution of it. The parents of Moses had Miriam
|
|
and Aaron, both older than he, born to them before this edict came
|
|
out, and had nursed them without that peril: but those that begin
|
|
the world in peace know not what troubles they may meet with before
|
|
they have got through it. Probably the mother of Moses was full of
|
|
anxiety in the expectation of his birth, now that this edict was in
|
|
force, and was ready to say, <i>Blessed are the barren that never
|
|
bore,</i> <scripRef passage="Lu 23:29" id="Ex.iii-p4.1" parsed="|Luke|23|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.23.29">Luke xxiii. 29</scripRef>.
|
|
Better so than bring forth children to the murderer, <scripRef passage="Ho 9:13" id="Ex.iii-p4.2" parsed="|Hos|9|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.13">Hos. ix. 13</scripRef>. Yet this child proves the
|
|
glory of his father's house. Thus that which is most our fear often
|
|
proves, in the issue, most our joy. Observe the beauty of
|
|
providence: just at the time when Pharaoh's cruelty rose to this
|
|
height the deliverer was born, though he did not appear for many
|
|
years after. Note, When men are projecting the church's ruin God is
|
|
preparing for its salvation. Moses, who was afterwards to bring
|
|
Israel out of this house of bondage, was himself in danger of
|
|
falling a sacrifice to the fury of the oppressor, God so ordering
|
|
it that, being afterwards told of this, he might be the more
|
|
animated with a holy zeal for the deliverance of his brethren out
|
|
of the hands of such bloody men. 1. His parents observed him to be
|
|
a <i>goodly child,</i> more than ordinarily beautiful; he was
|
|
<i>fair to God,</i> <scripRef passage="Ac 7:20" id="Ex.iii-p4.3" parsed="|Acts|7|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.20">Acts vii.
|
|
20</scripRef>. They fancied he had a lustre in his countenance that
|
|
was something more than human, and was a specimen of the shining of
|
|
his face afterwards, <scripRef passage="Ex 34:29" id="Ex.iii-p4.4" parsed="|Exod|34|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.29">Exod. xxxiv.
|
|
29</scripRef>. Note, God sometimes gives early earnests of his
|
|
gifts, and manifests himself betimes in those for whom and by whom
|
|
he designs to do great things. Thus he put an early strength into
|
|
Samson (<scripRef passage="Jdg 13:24,25" id="Ex.iii-p4.5" parsed="|Judg|13|24|13|25" osisRef="Bible:Judg.13.24-Judg.13.25">Judge xiii. 24,
|
|
25</scripRef>), an early forwardness into Samuel (<scripRef passage="1Sa 2:18" id="Ex.iii-p4.6" parsed="|1Sam|2|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.2.18">1 Sam. ii. 18</scripRef>), wrought an early
|
|
deliverance for David (<scripRef passage="1Sa 17:37" id="Ex.iii-p4.7" parsed="|1Sam|17|37|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.17.37">1 Sam. xvii.
|
|
37</scripRef>), and began betimes with Timothy, <scripRef passage="1Ti 3:15" id="Ex.iii-p4.8" parsed="|1Tim|3|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.3.15">1 Tim. iii. 15</scripRef>. 2. Therefore they were the
|
|
more solicitous for his preservation, because they looked upon this
|
|
as an indication of some kind purpose of God concerning him, and a
|
|
happy omen of something great. Note, A lively active faith can take
|
|
encouragement from the least intimation of the divine favour; a
|
|
merciful hint of Providence will encourage those whose spirits make
|
|
diligent search, <i>Three months</i> they hid him in some private
|
|
apartment of their own house, though probably with the hazard of
|
|
their own lives, had he been discovered. Herein Moses was a type of
|
|
Christ, who, in his infancy, was forced to abscond, and in Egypt
|
|
too (<scripRef passage="Mt 2:13" id="Ex.iii-p4.9" parsed="|Matt|2|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.2.13">Matt. ii. 13</scripRef>), and was
|
|
wonderfully preserved, when many innocents were butchered. It is
|
|
said (<scripRef passage="Heb 11:23" id="Ex.iii-p4.10" parsed="|Heb|11|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.23">Heb. xi. 23</scripRef>) that
|
|
the parents of Moses <i>hid him by faith;</i> some think they had a
|
|
special revelation to them that the deliverer should spring from
|
|
their loins; however they had the general promise of Israel's
|
|
preservation, which they acted faith upon, and in that faith hid
|
|
their child, not being afraid of the penalty annexed to the king's
|
|
commandment. Note, Faith in God's promise is so far from
|
|
superseding that it rather excites and quickens to the use of
|
|
lawful means for the obtaining of mercy. Duty is ours, events are
|
|
God's. Again, Faith in God will set us above the ensnaring fear of
|
|
man.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p5">II. How he was exposed. At three months'
|
|
end, probably when the searchers came about to look for concealed
|
|
children, so that they could not hide him any longer (their faith
|
|
perhaps beginning now to fail), they put him in an ark of bulrushes
|
|
by the <i>river's brink</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 2:3" id="Ex.iii-p5.1" parsed="|Exod|2|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.3"><i>v.</i>
|
|
3</scripRef>), and set his little sister at some distance to watch
|
|
what would become of him, and into whose hands he would fall,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 2:4" id="Ex.iii-p5.2" parsed="|Exod|2|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. God put it into
|
|
their hearts to do this, to bring about his own purposes, that
|
|
Moses might by this means be brought into the hands of Pharaoh's
|
|
daughter, and that by his deliverance from this imminent danger a
|
|
specimen might be given of the deliverance of God's church, which
|
|
now lay thus exposed. Note, 1. God takes special care of the
|
|
outcasts of Israel (<scripRef passage="Ps 147:2" id="Ex.iii-p5.3" parsed="|Ps|147|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.147.2">Ps. cxlvii.
|
|
2</scripRef>); they are <i>his</i> outcasts, <scripRef passage="Isa 16:4" id="Ex.iii-p5.4" parsed="|Isa|16|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.16.4">Isa. xvi. 4</scripRef>. Moses seemed quite abandoned by
|
|
his friends; his own mother durst not own him: but now the Lord
|
|
took him up and protected him, <scripRef passage="Ps 27:10" id="Ex.iii-p5.5" parsed="|Ps|27|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.27.10">Ps.
|
|
xxvii. 10</scripRef>. 2. In times of extreme difficulty it is good
|
|
to venture upon the providence of God. Thus to have exposed their
|
|
child while they might have preserved it, would have been to tempt
|
|
Providence; but, when they could not, it was to trust to
|
|
Providence. "Nothing venture, nothing win." <i>If I perish, I
|
|
perish.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 2:5-10" id="Ex.iii-p5.6" parsed="|Exod|2|5|2|10" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.5-Exod.2.10"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.2.5-Exod.2.10">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.iii-p5.7">The Deliverance of Moses. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.iii-p5.8">b. c.</span> 1571.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.iii-p6">5 And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash
|
|
<i>herself</i> at the river; and her maidens walked along by the
|
|
river's side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent
|
|
her maid to fetch it.   6 And when she had opened <i>it,</i>
|
|
she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had
|
|
compassion on him, and said, This <i>is one</i> of the Hebrews'
|
|
children.   7 Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter,
|
|
Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she
|
|
may nurse the child for thee?   8 And Pharaoh's daughter said
|
|
to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother.  
|
|
9 And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and
|
|
nurse it for me, and I will give <i>thee</i> thy wages. And the
|
|
woman took the child, and nursed it.   10 And the child grew,
|
|
and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son.
|
|
And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out
|
|
of the water.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p7">Here is, I. Moses saved from perishing.
|
|
Come see the place where that great man lay when he was a little
|
|
child; he lay in a bulrush-basket by the river's side. Had he been
|
|
left to lie there, he must have perished in a little time with
|
|
hunger, if he had not been sooner washed into the river or devoured
|
|
by a crocodile. Had he fallen into any other hands than those he
|
|
did fall into, either they would not, or durst not, have done
|
|
otherwise than have thrown him straightway into the river; but
|
|
Providence brings no less a person thither than Pharaoh's daughter,
|
|
just at that juncture, guides her to the place where this poor
|
|
forlorn infant lay, and inclines her heart to pity it, which she
|
|
dares do when none else durst. Never did poor child cry so
|
|
seasonably, so happily, as this did: <i>The babe wept,</i> which
|
|
moved the compassion of the princess, as no doubt his beauty did,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 2:5,6" id="Ex.iii-p7.1" parsed="|Exod|2|5|2|6" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.5-Exod.2.6"><i>v.</i> 5, 6</scripRef>. Note, 1.
|
|
Those are hard-hearted indeed that have not a tender compassion for
|
|
helpless infancy. How pathetically does God represent his
|
|
compassion for the Israelites in general considered in this
|
|
pitiable state! <scripRef passage="Eze 16:5,6" id="Ex.iii-p7.2" parsed="|Ezek|16|5|16|6" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.5-Ezek.16.6">Ezek. xvi. 5,
|
|
6</scripRef>. 2. It is very commendable in persons of quality to
|
|
take cognizance of the distresses of the meanest, and to be helpful
|
|
and charitable to them. 3. God's care of us in our infancy ought to
|
|
be often made mention of by us to his praise. Though we were not
|
|
thus exposed (that we were not was God's mercy) yet many were the
|
|
perils we were surrounded with in our infancy, out of which the
|
|
Lord delivered us, <scripRef passage="Ps 22:9,10" id="Ex.iii-p7.3" parsed="|Ps|22|9|22|10" osisRef="Bible:Ps.22.9-Ps.22.10">Ps. xxii. 9,
|
|
10</scripRef>. 4. God often raises up friends for his people even
|
|
among their enemies. Pharaoh cruelly seeks Israel's destruction,
|
|
but his own daughter charitably compassionates a Hebrew child, and
|
|
not only so, but, beyond her intention, preserves Israel's
|
|
deliverer. <i>O Lord, how wonderful are thy counsels!</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p8">II. Moses well provided with a good nurse,
|
|
no worse than his own dear mother, <scripRef passage="Ex 2:7-9" id="Ex.iii-p8.1" parsed="|Exod|2|7|2|9" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.7-Exod.2.9"><i>v.</i> 7-9</scripRef>. Pharaoh's daughter thinks it
|
|
convenient that he should have a Hebrew nurse (pity that so fair a
|
|
child should be suckled by a sable Moor), and the sister of Moses,
|
|
with art and good management, introduces the mother into the place
|
|
of a nurse, to the great advantage of the child; for mothers are
|
|
the best nurses, and those who receive the blessings of the breasts
|
|
with those of the womb are not just if they give them not to those
|
|
for whose sake they received them: it was also an unspeakable
|
|
satisfaction to the mother, who received her son as life from the
|
|
dead, and now could enjoy him without fear. The transport of her
|
|
joy, upon this happy turn, we may suppose sufficient to betray her
|
|
to be the true mother (had there been any suspicion of it) to a
|
|
less discerning eye than that of Solomon, <scripRef passage="1Ki 3:27" id="Ex.iii-p8.2" parsed="|1Kgs|3|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.3.27">1 Kings iii. 27</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p9">III. Moses preferred to be the son of
|
|
Pharaoh's daughter (<scripRef passage="Ex 2:10" id="Ex.iii-p9.1" parsed="|Exod|2|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.10"><i>v.</i>
|
|
10</scripRef>), his parents herein perhaps not only yielding to
|
|
necessity, having nursed him <i>for her,</i> but too much pleased
|
|
with the honour thereby done to their son; for the smiles of the
|
|
world are stronger temptations than its frowns, and more difficult
|
|
to resist. The tradition of the Jews is that Pharaoh's daughter had
|
|
no child of her own, and that she was the only child of her father,
|
|
so that when he was adopted for her son he stood fair for the
|
|
crown: however it is certain he stood fair for the best preferments
|
|
of the court in due time, and in the meantime had the advantage of
|
|
the best education and improvements of the court, with the help of
|
|
which, having a great genius, he became master of all the lawful
|
|
learning of the Egyptians, <scripRef passage="Ac 7:22" id="Ex.iii-p9.2" parsed="|Acts|7|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.22">Acts vii.
|
|
22</scripRef>. Note, 1. Providence pleases itself sometimes in
|
|
raising the poor out of the dust, to set them among princes,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 113:7,8" id="Ex.iii-p9.3" parsed="|Ps|113|7|113|8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.113.7-Ps.113.8">Ps. cxiii. 7, 8</scripRef>. Many
|
|
who, by their birth, seem marked for obscurity and poverty, by
|
|
surprising events of Providence are brought to sit at the upper end
|
|
of the world, to make men know that <i>the heavens do rule.</i> 2.
|
|
Those whom God designs for great services he find out ways to
|
|
qualify and prepare beforehand. Moses, by having his education in a
|
|
court, is the fitter to be a prince and <i>king in Jeshurun;</i> by
|
|
having his education in a learned court (for such the Egyptian then
|
|
was) is the fitter to be an historian; and by having his education
|
|
in the court of Egypt is the fitter to be employed, in the name of
|
|
God, as an ambassador to that court.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p10">IV. Moses named. The Jews tell us that his
|
|
father, at his circumcision, called him <i>Joachim,</i> but
|
|
Pharaoh's daughter called him <i>Moses, Drawn out of the water,</i>
|
|
so it signifies in the Egyptian language. The calling of the Jewish
|
|
lawgiver by an Egyptian name is a happy omen to the Gentile world,
|
|
and gives hopes of that day when it shall be said, <i>Blessed be
|
|
Egypt my people,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 19:25" id="Ex.iii-p10.1" parsed="|Isa|19|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.19.25">Isa. xix.
|
|
25</scripRef>. And his tuition at court was an earnest of the
|
|
performance of that promise, <scripRef passage="Isa 49:23" id="Ex.iii-p10.2" parsed="|Isa|49|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.49.23">Isa.
|
|
xlix. 23</scripRef>, <i>Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and
|
|
queens thy nursing mothers.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 2" id="Ex.iii-p10.3" parsed="|Exod|2|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 2:11-15" id="Ex.iii-p10.4" parsed="|Exod|2|11|2|15" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.11-Exod.2.15"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.2.11-Exod.2.15">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.iii-p10.5">Moses Slays an Egyptian; Rebukes a
|
|
Contentious Hebrew. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.iii-p10.6">b. c.</span> 1533.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.iii-p11">11 And it came to pass in those days, when Moses
|
|
was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their
|
|
burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his
|
|
brethren.   12 And he looked this way and that way, and when
|
|
he saw that <i>there was</i> no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid
|
|
him in the sand.   13 And when he went out the second day,
|
|
behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him
|
|
that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?   14
|
|
And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest
|
|
thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared,
|
|
and said, Surely this thing is known.   15 Now when Pharaoh
|
|
heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the
|
|
face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down
|
|
by a well.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p12">Moses had now passed the first forty years
|
|
of his life in the court of Pharaoh, preparing himself for
|
|
business; and now it was time for him to enter upon action,
|
|
and,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p13">I. He boldly owns and espouses the cause of
|
|
God's people: <i>When Moses was grown he went out unto his
|
|
brethren, and looked on their burdens,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 2:11" id="Ex.iii-p13.1" parsed="|Exod|2|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. The best exposition of these
|
|
words we have from an inspired pen, <scripRef passage="Heb 11:24-26" id="Ex.iii-p13.2" parsed="|Heb|11|24|11|26" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.24-Heb.11.26">Heb. xi. 24-26</scripRef>, where we are told that by
|
|
this he expressed, 1. His holy contempt of the honours and
|
|
pleasures of the Egyptian court; he <i>refused to be called the son
|
|
of Pharaoh's daughter,</i> for <i>he went out.</i> The temptation
|
|
was indeed very strong. He had a fair opportunity (as we say) to
|
|
make his fortune, and to have been serviceable to Israel too, with
|
|
his interest at court. He was obliged, in gratitude as well as
|
|
interest, to Pharaoh's daughter, and yet he obtained a glorious
|
|
victory by faith over his temptation. He reckoned it much more his
|
|
honour and advantage to be a son of Abraham than to be the son of
|
|
Pharaoh's daughter. 2. His tender concern for his poor brethren in
|
|
bondage, with whom (though he might easily have avoided it) he
|
|
<i>chose to suffer affliction;</i> he looked on their burdens as
|
|
one that not only pitied them, but was resolved to venture with
|
|
them, and, if occasion were, to venture for them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p14">II. He gives a specimen of the great things
|
|
he was afterwards to do for God and his Israel in two little
|
|
instances, related particularly by Stephen (<scripRef passage="Ac 7:23-53" id="Ex.iii-p14.1" parsed="|Acts|7|23|7|53" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.23-Acts.7.53">Acts vii. 23</scripRef>, &c.) with design to show
|
|
how their fathers had <i>always resisted the Holy Ghost</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ac 7:51" id="Ex.iii-p14.2" parsed="|Acts|7|51|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.51"><i>v.</i> 51</scripRef>), even in
|
|
Moses himself, when he first appeared as their deliverer, wilfully
|
|
shutting their eyes against this day-break of their enlargement. He
|
|
found himself, no doubt, under a divine direction and impulse in
|
|
what he did, and that he was in an extraordinary manner called of
|
|
God to do it. Now observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p15">1. Moses was afterwards to be employed in
|
|
plaguing the Egyptians for the wrongs they had done to God's
|
|
Israel; and, as a specimen of that, he killed the Egyptian who
|
|
smote the Hebrew (<scripRef passage="Ex 2:11,12" id="Ex.iii-p15.1" parsed="|Exod|2|11|2|12" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.11-Exod.2.12"><i>v.</i> 11,
|
|
12</scripRef>); probably it was one of the Egyptian taskmasters,
|
|
whom he found abusing his Hebrew slave, a relation (as some think)
|
|
of Moses, a man of the same tribe. It was by special warrant from
|
|
Heaven (which makes not a precedent in ordinary cases) that Moses
|
|
slew the Egyptian, and rescued his oppressed brother. The Jew's
|
|
tradition is that he did not slay him with any weapon, but, as
|
|
Peter slew Ananias and Sapphira, with the word of his mouth. His
|
|
<i>hiding him in the sand</i> signified that hereafter Pharaoh and
|
|
all his Egyptians should, under the control of the rod of Moses, be
|
|
buried in the sand of the Red Sea. His taking care to execute this
|
|
justice privately, when no man saw, was a piece of needful prudence
|
|
and caution, it being but an assay; and perhaps his faith was as
|
|
yet weak, and what he did was with some hesitation. Those who come
|
|
to be of great faith, yet began with a little, and at first spoke
|
|
tremblingly.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p16">2. Moses was afterwards to be employed in
|
|
governing Israel, and as a specimen of this, we have him here
|
|
trying to end a controversy between two Hebrews, in which he is
|
|
forced (as he did afterwards for forty years) to suffer their
|
|
manners. Observe here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p17">(1.) The unhappy quarrel which Moses
|
|
observed between two Hebrews, <scripRef passage="Ex 2:13" id="Ex.iii-p17.1" parsed="|Exod|2|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.13"><i>v.</i>
|
|
13</scripRef>. It does not appear what was the occasion; but,
|
|
whatever it was, it was certainly very unseasonable for Hebrews to
|
|
strive with one another when they were all oppressed and ruled with
|
|
rigour by the Egyptians. Had they not beating enough from the
|
|
Egyptians, but they must beat one another? Note, [1.] Even
|
|
sufferings in common do not always unite God's professing people to
|
|
one another, so much as one might reasonably expect. [2.] When God
|
|
raises up instruments of salvation for the church they will find
|
|
enough to do, not only with oppressing Egyptians, to restrain them,
|
|
but with quarrelsome Israelites, to reconcile them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p18">(2.) The way he took of dealing with them;
|
|
he marked him that caused the division, that did the wrong, and
|
|
mildly reasoned with him: <i>Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?</i>
|
|
The injurious Egyptian was killed, the injurious Hebrew was only
|
|
reprimanded; for what the former did was from a rooted malice, what
|
|
the latter did we may suppose was only upon a sudden provocation.
|
|
The wise God makes, and, according to his example, all wise
|
|
governors make, a difference between one offender and another,
|
|
according to the several qualities of the same offence. Moses
|
|
endeavoured to make them friends, a good office; thus we find
|
|
Christ often reproving his disciples' strifes (<scripRef passage="Lu 9:46-50,22:24-27" id="Ex.iii-p18.1" parsed="|Luke|9|46|9|50;|Luke|22|24|22|27" osisRef="Bible:Luke.9.46-Luke.9.50 Bible:Luke.22.24-Luke.22.27">Luke ix. 46, &c.; xxii. 24,
|
|
&c.</scripRef>), for he was a prophet like unto Moses, a
|
|
healing prophet, a peacemaker, who visited his brethren with a
|
|
design to slay all enmities. The reproof Moses gave on this
|
|
occasion may still be of use, <i>Wherefore smitest thou thy
|
|
fellow?</i> Note, Smiting our fellows is bad in any, especially in
|
|
Hebrews, smiting with tongue or hand, either in a way of
|
|
persecution or in a way of strife and contention. Consider the
|
|
person thou smitest; it is thy fellow, thy fellow-creature, thy
|
|
fellow-christian, it is thy fellow-servant, thy fellow-sufferer.
|
|
Consider the cause, <i>Wherefore smitest?</i> Perhaps it is for no
|
|
cause at all, or no just cause, or none worth speaking of.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p19">(3.) The ill success of his attempt
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 2:14" id="Ex.iii-p19.1" parsed="|Exod|2|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>): <i>He said,
|
|
Who made thee a prince?</i> He that did the wrong thus quarrelled
|
|
with Moses; the injured party, it should seem, was inclinable
|
|
enough to peace, but the wrong-doer was thus touchy. Note, It is a
|
|
sign of guilt to be impatient of reproof; and it is often easier to
|
|
persuade the injured to bear the trouble of taking wrong than the
|
|
injurious to bear the conviction of having <i>done wrong.</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Co 6:7,8" id="Ex.iii-p19.2" parsed="|1Cor|6|7|6|8" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.6.7-1Cor.6.8">1 Cor. vi. 7, 8</scripRef>. It was a
|
|
very wise and mild reproof which Moses gave to this quarrelsome
|
|
Hebrew, but he could not bear it, he kicked against the pricks
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ac 9:5" id="Ex.iii-p19.3" parsed="|Acts|9|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.9.5">Acts ix. 5</scripRef>), and crossed
|
|
questions with his reprover. [1.] He challenges his authority:
|
|
<i>Who made thee a prince?</i> A man needs no great authority for
|
|
the giving of a friendly reproof, it is an act of kindness; yet
|
|
this man needs will interpret it an act of dominion, and represents
|
|
his reprover as imperious and assuming. Thus when people dislike
|
|
good discourse, or a seasonable admonition, they will call it
|
|
<i>preaching,</i> as if a man could not speak a work for God and
|
|
against sin but he took too much upon him. Yet Moses was indeed a
|
|
prince and a judge, and knew it, and thought the Hebrews would have
|
|
understood it, and struck in with him; but they stood in their own
|
|
light, and <i>thrust him away,</i> <scripRef passage="Ac 7:25,27" id="Ex.iii-p19.4" parsed="|Acts|7|25|0|0;|Acts|7|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.25 Bible:Acts.7.27">Acts vii. 25, 27</scripRef>. [2.] He upbraids him with
|
|
what he had done in killing the Egyptian: <i>Intendest thou to kill
|
|
me?</i> See what base constructions malice puts upon the best words
|
|
and actions. Moses, for reproving him is immediately charged with a
|
|
design to kill him. An attempt upon his sin was interpreted an
|
|
attempt upon his life; and his having killed the Egyptian was
|
|
thought sufficient to justify the suspicion; as if Moses made no
|
|
difference between an Egyptian and a Hebrew. If Moses, to right an
|
|
injured Hebrew, had put his life in his hand, and slain an
|
|
Egyptian, he ought therefore to have submitted to him, not only as
|
|
a friend to the Hebrews, but as a friend that had more than
|
|
ordinary power and zeal. But he throws that in his teeth as a crime
|
|
which was bravely done, and was intended as a specimen of the
|
|
promised deliverance; if the Hebrews had taken the hint, and come
|
|
in to Moses as their head and captain, it is probable that they
|
|
would have been delivered now; but, despising their deliverer,
|
|
their deliverance was justly deferred, and their bondage prolonged
|
|
forty years, as afterwards their despising Canaan kept them out of
|
|
it forty years more. <i>I would, and you would not.</i> Note, Men
|
|
know not what they do, nor what enemies they are to their own
|
|
interest, when they resist and despise faithful reproofs and
|
|
reprovers. When the Hebrews strove with Moses, God sent him away
|
|
into Midian, and they never heard of him for forty years; thus the
|
|
things that belonged to their peace were hidden from their eyes,
|
|
because they knew not the day of their visitation. As to Moses, we
|
|
may look on it as a great damp and discouragement to him. He was
|
|
now <i>choosing to suffer affliction with the people of God,</i>
|
|
and embracing <i>the reproach of Christ;</i> and now, at his first
|
|
setting out, to meet with this affliction and reproach from them
|
|
was a very sore trial of his resolution. He might have said, "If
|
|
this be the spirit of the Hebrews, I will go to court again, and be
|
|
the son of Pharaoh's daughter." Note, <i>First,</i> We must take
|
|
heed of being prejudiced against the ways and people of God by the
|
|
follies and peevishness of some particular persons that profess
|
|
religion. <i>Secondly,</i> It is no new thing for the church's best
|
|
friends to meet with a great deal of opposition and discouragement
|
|
in their healing, saving attempts, even from their own mother's
|
|
children; Christ himself was set at nought by the builders, and is
|
|
still rejected by those he would save.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p20">(4.) The flight of Moses to Midian, in
|
|
consequence. The affront given him thus far proved a kindness to
|
|
him; it gave him to understand that his killing the Egyptian was
|
|
discovered, and so he had time to make his escape, otherwise the
|
|
wrath of Pharaoh might have surprised him and taken him off. Note,
|
|
God can overrule even the strife of tongues, so as, one way or
|
|
other, to bring good to his people out of it. Information was
|
|
brought to Pharaoh (and it is well if it was not brought by the
|
|
Hebrew himself whom Moses reproved) of his killing the Egyptian;
|
|
warrants are presently out for the apprehending of Moses, which
|
|
obliged him to shift for his own safety, by flying into the land of
|
|
Midian, <scripRef passage="Ex 2:15" id="Ex.iii-p20.1" parsed="|Exod|2|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. [1.]
|
|
Moses did this out of a prudent care of his own life. If this be
|
|
his forsaking of Egypt which the apostle refers to as done by faith
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Heb 11:27" id="Ex.iii-p20.2" parsed="|Heb|11|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.27">Heb. xi. 27</scripRef>), it teaches
|
|
us that when we are at any time in trouble and danger for doing our
|
|
duty the grace of faith will be of good use to us in taking proper
|
|
methods for our own preservation. Yet there it is said, <i>He
|
|
feared not the wrath of the king;</i> here it is said he
|
|
<i>feared,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 2:14" id="Ex.iii-p20.3" parsed="|Exod|2|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>.
|
|
He did not fear with a fear of diffidence and amazement, which
|
|
weakens and has torment, but with a fear of diligence, which
|
|
quickened him to take that way which Providence opened to him for
|
|
his own preservation. [2.] God ordered it for wise and holy ends.
|
|
Things were not yet ripe for Israel's deliverance: the measure of
|
|
Egypt's iniquity was not yet full; the Hebrews were not
|
|
sufficiently humbled, nor were they yet increased to such a
|
|
multitude as God designed; Moses is to be further fitted for the
|
|
service, and therefore is directed to withdraw for the present,
|
|
till the time to favour Israel, even the set time, should come. God
|
|
guided Moses to Midian because the Midianites were of the seed of
|
|
Abraham, and retained the worship of the true God among them, so
|
|
that he might have not only a safe but a comfortable settlement
|
|
among them. And through this country he was afterwards to lead
|
|
Israel, with which (that he might do it the better) he now had
|
|
opportunity of making himself acquainted. Hither he came, and sat
|
|
down by a well, tired and thoughtful, at a loss, and waiting to see
|
|
which way Providence would direct him. It was a great change with
|
|
him, since he was but the other day at ease in Pharaoh's court:
|
|
thus God tried his faith, and it was found to praise and
|
|
honour.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 2" id="Ex.iii-p20.4" parsed="|Exod|2|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 2:16-22" id="Ex.iii-p20.5" parsed="|Exod|2|16|2|22" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.16-Exod.2.22"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.2.16-Exod.2.22">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.iii-p20.6">The Marriage of Moses. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.iii-p20.7">b. c.</span> 1533.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.iii-p21">16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters:
|
|
and they came and drew <i>water,</i> and filled the troughs to
|
|
water their father's flock.   17 And the shepherds came and
|
|
drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered
|
|
their flock.   18 And when they came to Reuel their father, he
|
|
said, How <i>is it that</i> ye are come so soon to day?   19
|
|
And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the
|
|
shepherds, and also drew <i>water</i> enough for us, and watered
|
|
the flock.   20 And he said unto his daughters, And where
|
|
<i>is</i> he? why <i>is</i> it <i>that</i> ye have left the man?
|
|
call him, that he may eat bread.   21 And Moses was content to
|
|
dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.  
|
|
22 And she bare <i>him</i> a son, and he called his name Gershom:
|
|
for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p22">Moses here gains a settlement in Midian,
|
|
just as his father Jacob had gained one in Syria, <scripRef passage="Ge 29:2" id="Ex.iii-p22.1" parsed="|Gen|29|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.2">Gen. xxix. 2</scripRef>, &c. And both these
|
|
instances should encourage us to trust Providence, and to follow
|
|
it. Events that seem inconsiderable, and purely accidental, after
|
|
wards appear to have been designed by the wisdom of God for very
|
|
good purposes, and of great consequence to his people. A casual
|
|
transient occurrence has sometimes occasioned the greatest and
|
|
happiest turns of a man's life. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p23">I. Concerning the seven daughters of Reuel
|
|
the priest or prince of Midian. 1. They were humble, and very
|
|
industrious, according as the employment of the country was: they
|
|
<i>drew water for their father's flock,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 2:16" id="Ex.iii-p23.1" parsed="|Exod|2|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. If their father was a prince, it
|
|
teaches us that even those who are honourably born, and are of
|
|
quality and distinction in their country, should yet apply
|
|
themselves to some useful business, and what their hand finds to do
|
|
do it with all their might. Idleness can be no one's honour. If
|
|
their father was a priest, it teaches us that ministers' children
|
|
should, in a special manner, be examples of humility and industry.
|
|
2. They were modest, and would not ask this strange Egyptian to
|
|
come home with them (though handsome and a great courtier), till
|
|
their father sent for him. Modesty is the ornament of woman.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p24">II. Concerning Moses. He was taken for an
|
|
Egyptian (<scripRef passage="Ex 2:19" id="Ex.iii-p24.1" parsed="|Exod|2|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>); and
|
|
strangers must be content to be the subjects of mistake; but it is
|
|
observable, 1. How ready he was to help Reuel's daughters to water
|
|
their flocks. Though bred in learning and at court, yet he knew how
|
|
to turn his hand to such an office as this when there was occasion;
|
|
nor had he learned of the Egyptians to despise shepherds. Note,
|
|
Those that have had a liberal education yet should not be strangers
|
|
to servile work, because they know not what necessity Providence
|
|
may put them in of working for themselves, or what opportunity
|
|
Providence may give them of being serviceable to others. These
|
|
young women, it seems, met with some opposition in their
|
|
employment, more than they and their servants could conquer; the
|
|
shepherds of some neighbouring prince, as some think, or some idle
|
|
fellows that called themselves shepherds, <i>drove away their
|
|
flocks;</i> but Moses, though melancholy and in distress, <i>stood
|
|
up and helped them,</i> not only to get clear of the shepherds,
|
|
but, when that was done, to water the flocks. This he did, not only
|
|
in complaisance to the daughters of Reuel (though that also did
|
|
very well become him), but because, wherever he was, as occasion
|
|
offered itself, (1.) He loved to be doing justice, and appearing in
|
|
the defence of such as he saw injured, which every man ought to do
|
|
as far as it is in the power of his hand to do it. (2.) He loved to
|
|
be doing good. Wherever the Providence of God casts us we should
|
|
desire and endeavour to be useful; and, when we cannot do the good
|
|
we would, we must be ready to do the good we can. And he that is
|
|
faithful in a little shall be entrusted with more. 2. How well he
|
|
was paid for his serviceableness. When the young women acquainted
|
|
their father with the kindnesses they had received from this
|
|
stranger, he sent to invite him to his house, and made much of him,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 2:20" id="Ex.iii-p24.2" parsed="|Exod|2|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. Thus God will
|
|
recompense the kindnesses which are at any time shown to his
|
|
children; they shall in no wise lose their reward. Moses soon
|
|
recommended himself to the esteem and good affection of this prince
|
|
of Midian, who took him into his house, and, in process of time,
|
|
married one of his daughters to him (<scripRef passage="Ex 2:21" id="Ex.iii-p24.3" parsed="|Exod|2|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>), by whom he had a son, whom he
|
|
called <i>Gershom, a stranger there</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 2:22" id="Ex.iii-p24.4" parsed="|Exod|2|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>), that if ever God should give
|
|
him a home of his own he might keep in remembrance the land in
|
|
which he had been a stranger. Now this settlement of Moses in
|
|
Midian was designed by Providence, (1.) To shelter him for the
|
|
present. God will find hiding-places for his people in the day of
|
|
their distress; nay, he will himself be to them a little sanctuary,
|
|
and will secure them, either under heaven or in heaven. But, (2.)
|
|
It was also designed to prepare him for the great services he was
|
|
further designed for. His manner of life in Midian, where he kept
|
|
the flock of his father-in-law (having none of his own to keep),
|
|
would be of use to him, [1.] To inure him to hardship and poverty,
|
|
that he might learn how to want as well as how to abound. Those
|
|
whom God intends to exalt he first humbles. [2.] To inure him to
|
|
contemplation and devotion. Egypt accomplished him as a scholar, a
|
|
gentleman, a statesman, a soldier, all which accomplishments would
|
|
be afterwards of use to him; but yet he lacked one thing, in which
|
|
the court of Egypt could not befriend him. He that was to do all by
|
|
divine revelation must know, by a long experience, what it was to
|
|
live a life of communion with God; and in this he would be greatly
|
|
furthered by the solitude and retirement of a shepherd's life in
|
|
Midian. By the former he was prepared to rule in Jeshurun, but by
|
|
the latter he was prepared to converse with God in Mount Horeb,
|
|
near which mount he had spent much of his time. Those that know
|
|
what it is to be alone with God in holy exercises are acquainted
|
|
with better delights than ever Moses tasted in the court of
|
|
Pharaoh.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 2:23-25" id="Ex.iii-p24.5" parsed="|Exod|2|23|2|25" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.23-Exod.2.25"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.2.23-Exod.2.25">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.iii-p24.6">Cry of the Oppressed
|
|
Israelites. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.iii-p24.7">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.iii-p25">23 And it came to pass in process of time, that
|
|
the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason
|
|
of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by
|
|
reason of the bondage.   24 And God heard their groaning, and
|
|
God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with
|
|
Jacob.   25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and
|
|
God had respect unto <i>them.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iii-p26">Here is, 1. The continuance of the
|
|
Israelites' bondage in Egypt, <scripRef passage="Ex 2:23" id="Ex.iii-p26.1" parsed="|Exod|2|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.23"><i>v.</i>
|
|
23</scripRef>. Probably the murdering of their infants did not
|
|
continue; this part of their affliction attended only the period
|
|
immediately connected with the birth of Moses, and served to
|
|
signalize it. The Egyptians now were content with their increase,
|
|
finding that Egypt was enriched by their labour; so that they might
|
|
have them for slaves, they cared not how many they were. On this
|
|
therefore they were intent, to keep them all at work, and make the
|
|
best hand they could of their labour. When one Pharaoh died,
|
|
another rose up in his place that was governed by the same maxims,
|
|
and was as cruel to Israel as his predecessors. If there was
|
|
sometimes a little relaxation, yet it presently revived again with
|
|
as much rigour as ever; and probably, as the more Israel were
|
|
oppressed the more they multiplied, so the more they multiplied the
|
|
more they were oppressed. Note, Sometimes God suffers the rod of
|
|
the wicked to lie very long and very heavily on the lot of the
|
|
righteous. If Moses, in Midian, at any time began to think how much
|
|
better his condition might have been had he staid among the
|
|
courtiers, he must of himself think this also, how much worse it
|
|
would have been if he had had his lot with brethren: it was a great
|
|
degradation to him to be keeping sheep in Midian, but better so
|
|
than making brick in Egypt. The consideration of our brethren's
|
|
afflictions would help to reconcile us to our own. 2. The preface
|
|
to their deliverance at last. (1.) <i>They cried,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 2:23" id="Ex.iii-p26.2" parsed="|Exod|2|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. Now, at last, they began
|
|
to think of God under their troubles, and to return to him from the
|
|
idols they had served, <scripRef passage="Eze 20:8" id="Ex.iii-p26.3" parsed="|Ezek|20|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.20.8">Ezek. xx.
|
|
8</scripRef>. Hitherto they had fretted at the instruments of their
|
|
trouble, but God was not in all their thoughts. Thus <i>hypocrites
|
|
in heart heap up wrath; they cry not when he binds them,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Job 36:13" id="Ex.iii-p26.4" parsed="|Job|36|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.36.13">Job xxxvi. 13</scripRef>. But before
|
|
God unbound them he put it into their hearts to cry unto him, as it
|
|
is explained, <scripRef passage="Nu 20:16" id="Ex.iii-p26.5" parsed="|Num|20|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.16">Num. xx. 16</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, It is a good sign that God is coming towards us with
|
|
deliverance when he inclines and enables us to cry to him for it.
|
|
(2.) <i>God heard,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 2:24,25" id="Ex.iii-p26.6" parsed="|Exod|2|24|2|25" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.24-Exod.2.25"><i>v.</i> 24,
|
|
25</scripRef>. The name of God is here emphatically prefixed to
|
|
four different expressions of a kind intention towards them. [1.]
|
|
<i>God heard their groaning;</i> that is, he made it to appear that
|
|
he took notice of their complaints. The groans of the oppressed cry
|
|
aloud in the ears of the righteous God, to whom vengeance belongs,
|
|
especially the groans of God's spiritual Israel; he knows the
|
|
burdens they groan under and the blessings they groan after, and
|
|
that the blessed Spirit, by these groanings, makes intercession in
|
|
them. [2.] <i>God remembered his covenant,</i> which he seemed to
|
|
have forgotten, but of which he is ever mindful. This God had an
|
|
eye to, and not to any merit of theirs, in what he did for them.
|
|
See <scripRef passage="Le 26:42" id="Ex.iii-p26.7" parsed="|Lev|26|42|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.42">Lev. xxvi. 42</scripRef>. (3.)
|
|
<i>God looked upon the children of Israel.</i> Moses looked upon
|
|
them and pitied them (<scripRef passage="Ex 2:11" id="Ex.iii-p26.8" parsed="|Exod|2|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.11"><i>v.</i>
|
|
11</scripRef>); but now God looked upon them and helped them. (4.)
|
|
<i>God had a respect unto them,</i> a favourable respect to them as
|
|
his own. The frequent repetition of the name of God here intimates
|
|
that now we are to expect something great, <i>Opus Deo dignum—A
|
|
work worthy of God.</i> His eyes, which run to and fro through the
|
|
earth, are now fixed upon Israel, to show himself strong, to show
|
|
himself a God in their behalf.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter III" n="iv" progress="32.23%" prev="Ex.iii" next="Ex.v" id="Ex.iv">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.iv-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.iv-p0.2">CHAP. III.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.iv-p1">As prophecy had ceased for many ages before the
|
|
coming of Christ, that the revival and perfection of it in that
|
|
great prophet might be the more remarkable, so vision had ceased
|
|
(for aught that appears) among the patriarchs for some ages before
|
|
the coming of Moses, that God's appearances to him for Israel's
|
|
salvation might be the more welcome; and in this chapter we have
|
|
God's first appearance to him in the bush and the conference
|
|
between God and Moses in that vision. Here is, I. The discovery God
|
|
was pleased to make of his glory to Moses at the bush, to which
|
|
Moses was forbidden to approach too near, <scripRef passage="Ex 3:1-5" id="Ex.iv-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|3|1|3|5" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.1-Exod.3.5">ver. 1-5</scripRef>. II. A general declaration of God's
|
|
grace and good-will to his people, who were beloved for their
|
|
fathers' sakes, <scripRef passage="Ex 3:6" id="Ex.iv-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|3|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.6">ver. 6</scripRef>. III.
|
|
A particular notification of God's purpose concerning the
|
|
deliverance of Israel out of Egypt. 1. He assures Moses it should
|
|
now be done, <scripRef passage="Ex 3:7-9" id="Ex.iv-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|3|7|3|9" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.7-Exod.3.9">ver. 7-9</scripRef>. 2.
|
|
He gives him a commission to act in it as his ambassador both to
|
|
Pharaoh, (<scripRef passage="Ex 3:10" id="Ex.iv-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|3|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.10">ver. 10</scripRef>) and to
|
|
Israel, <scripRef passage="Ex 3:16" id="Ex.iv-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|3|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.16">ver. 16</scripRef>. 3. He
|
|
answers the objection Moses made of his own unworthiness, <scripRef passage="Ex 3:11,12" id="Ex.iv-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|3|11|3|12" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.11-Exod.3.12">ver. 11, 12</scripRef>. 4. He gives him full
|
|
instructions what to say both to Pharaoh and to Israel, <scripRef passage="Ex 3:13-18" id="Ex.iv-p1.7" parsed="|Exod|3|13|3|18" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.13-Exod.3.18">ver. 13-18</scripRef>. 5. He tells him
|
|
beforehand what the issue would be, <scripRef passage="Ex 3:19-22" id="Ex.iv-p1.8" parsed="|Exod|3|19|3|22" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.19-Exod.3.22">ver. 19</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 3" id="Ex.iv-p1.9" parsed="|Exod|3|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 3:1-6" id="Ex.iv-p1.10" parsed="|Exod|3|1|3|6" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.1-Exod.3.6"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.3.1-Exod.3.6">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.iv-p1.11">The Burning Bush. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.iv-p1.12">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.iv-p2">1 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father
|
|
in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside
|
|
of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, <i>even</i> to
|
|
Horeb. 2 And the angel of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.iv-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush:
|
|
and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush
|
|
<i>was</i> not consumed. 3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside,
|
|
and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. 4 And when the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.iv-p2.2">Lord</span> saw that he turned aside to
|
|
see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said,
|
|
Moses, Moses. And he said, Here <i>am</i> I. 5 And he said, Draw
|
|
not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place
|
|
whereon thou standest <i>is</i> holy ground. 6 Moreover he said, I
|
|
<i>am</i> the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of
|
|
Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was
|
|
afraid to look upon God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iv-p3">The years of the life of Moses are
|
|
remarkably divided into three forties: the first forty he spent as
|
|
a prince in Pharaoh's court, the second a shepherd in Midian, the
|
|
third a king in Jeshurun; so changeable is the life of men,
|
|
especially the life of good men. He had now finished his second
|
|
forty, when he received his commission to bring Israel out of
|
|
Egypt. Note, Sometimes it is long before God calls his servants out
|
|
of that work which of old he designed them for, and has been
|
|
graciously preparing them for. Moses was born to be Israel's
|
|
deliverer, and yet not a word is said of it to him till he is
|
|
eighty years of age. Now observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iv-p4">I. How this appearance of God to him found
|
|
him employed. He was keeping the flock (tending sheep) near mount
|
|
Horeb, <scripRef passage="Ex 3:1" id="Ex.iv-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|3|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. This was
|
|
a poor employment for a man of his parts and education, yet he
|
|
rests satisfied with it, and thus learns meekness and contentment
|
|
to a high degree, for which he is more celebrated in sacred writ
|
|
than for all his other learning. Note, 1. In the calling to which
|
|
we are called we should abide, and not be given to change. 2. Even
|
|
those that are qualified for great employments and services must
|
|
not think it strange if they be confined to obscurity; it was the
|
|
lot of Moses before them, who foresaw nothing to the contrary but
|
|
that he should die, as he had lived a great while, a poor
|
|
despicable shepherd. Let those that think themselves buried alive
|
|
be content to shine like lamps in their sepulchres, and wait till
|
|
God's time come for setting them on a candlestick. Thus employed
|
|
Moses was, when he was honoured with this vision. Note, (1.) God
|
|
will encourage industry. The shepherds were keeping their flocks
|
|
when they received the tidings of our Saviour's birth, <scripRef passage="Lu 2:8" id="Ex.iv-p4.2" parsed="|Luke|2|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.2.8">Luke ii. 8</scripRef>. Satan loves to find us
|
|
idle; God is well pleased when he find us employed. (2.) Retirement
|
|
is a good friend to our communion with God. When we are alone, the
|
|
Father is with us. Moses saw more of God in a desert than ever he
|
|
had seen in Pharaoh's court.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iv-p5">II. What the appearance was. To his great
|
|
surprise he saw a bush burning, when he perceived no fire either
|
|
from earth or heaven to kindle it, and, which was more strange, it
|
|
did not consume, <scripRef passage="Ex 3:2" id="Ex.iv-p5.1" parsed="|Exod|3|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>.
|
|
It was an angel of the Lord that appeared to him; some think, a
|
|
created angel, who speaks in the language of him that sent him;
|
|
others, the second person, the angel of the covenant, who is
|
|
himself Jehovah. It was an extraordinary manifestation of the
|
|
divine presence and glory; what was visible was produced by the
|
|
ministry of an angel, but he heard God in it speaking to him. 1. He
|
|
saw a flame of fire; <i>for our God is a consuming fire.</i> When
|
|
Israel's deliverance out of Egypt was promised to Abraham, he saw a
|
|
burning lamp, which signified the light of joy which that
|
|
deliverance should cause (<scripRef passage="Ge 15:17" id="Ex.iv-p5.2" parsed="|Gen|15|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.17">Gen. xv.
|
|
17</scripRef>); but now it shines brighter, as a flame of fire, for
|
|
God in that deliverance brought terror and destruction to his
|
|
enemies, light and heat to his people, and displayed his glory
|
|
before all. See <scripRef passage="Isa 10:17" id="Ex.iv-p5.3" parsed="|Isa|10|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.10.17">Isa. x.
|
|
17</scripRef>. 2. This fire was not in a tall and stately cedar,
|
|
but in a bush, <i>a thorny bush,</i> so the word signifies; for God
|
|
chooses the weak and despised things of the world (such as Moses,
|
|
now a poor shepherd), with them to confound the wise; he delights
|
|
to beautify and crown the humble. 3. <i>The bush burned,</i> and
|
|
yet <i>was not consumed,</i> an emblem of the church now in bondage
|
|
in Egypt, burning in the brick-kilns, yet not consumed; perplexed,
|
|
but not in despair; cast down, but not destroyed.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iv-p6">III. The curiosity Moses had to enquire
|
|
into this extraordinary sight: <i>I will turn aside and see,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 3:3" id="Ex.iv-p6.1" parsed="|Exod|3|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. He speaks as one
|
|
inquisitive and bold in his enquiry; whatever it was, he would, if
|
|
possible, know the meaning of it. Note, Things revealed belong to
|
|
us, and we ought diligently to enquire into them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iv-p7">IV. The invitation he had to draw near, yet
|
|
with a caution not to come too near, nor rashly.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iv-p8">1. God gave him a gracious call, to which
|
|
he returned a ready answer, <scripRef passage="Ex 3:4" id="Ex.iv-p8.1" parsed="|Exod|3|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.4"><i>v.</i>
|
|
4</scripRef>. When God saw that he took notice of the burning bush,
|
|
and turned aside to see it, and left his business to attend it,
|
|
then God called to him. If he had carelessly neglected it as an
|
|
<i>ignis fatuus—a deceiving meteor,</i> a thing not worth taking
|
|
notice of, it is probable that God would have departed, and said
|
|
nothing to him; but, when he turned aside, God called to him. Note,
|
|
Those that would have communion with God must attend upon him, and
|
|
approach to him, in those ordinances wherein he is pleased to
|
|
manifest himself, and his power and glory, though it be in a bush;
|
|
they must come to the treasure, though in an earthen vessel. Those
|
|
that seek God diligently shall find him, and find him their
|
|
bountiful rewarder. <i>Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to
|
|
you.</i> God called him by name, <i>Moses, Moses.</i> This which he
|
|
heard could not but surprise him much more than what he saw. The
|
|
word of the Lord always went along with the glory of the Lord, for
|
|
every divine vision was designed for divine revelation, <scripRef passage="Job 4:16-21,32:14-15" id="Ex.iv-p8.2" parsed="|Job|4|16|4|21;|Job|32|14|32|15" osisRef="Bible:Job.4.16-Job.4.21 Bible:Job.32.14-Job.32.15">Job iv. 16, &c.; xxxii.
|
|
14-15</scripRef>. Divine calls are then effectual, (1.) When the
|
|
Spirit of God makes them particular, and calls us by name. The word
|
|
calls, <i>Ho, every one!</i> The Spirit, by the application of
|
|
that, calls, <i>Ho, such a one! I know thee by name,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 33:12" id="Ex.iv-p8.3" parsed="|Exod|33|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.12">Exod. xxxiii. 12</scripRef>. (2.) When we return
|
|
an obedient answer to them, as Moses here, "<i>Here am I, what
|
|
saith my Lord unto his servant? Here am I,</i> not only to hear
|
|
what is said, but to do what I am bidden."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iv-p9">2. God gave him a needful caution against
|
|
rashness and irreverence in his approach, (1.) He must keep his
|
|
distance; draw near, but not too near; so near as to hear, but not
|
|
so near as to pry. His conscience must be satisfied, but not his
|
|
curiosity; and care must be taken that familiarity do not breed
|
|
contempt. Note, In all our approaches to God, we ought to be deeply
|
|
affected with the infinite distance there is between us and God,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ec 5:2" id="Ex.iv-p9.1" parsed="|Eccl|5|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.5.2">Eccl. v. 2</scripRef>. Or this may be
|
|
taken as proper to the Old-Testament dispensation, which was a
|
|
dispensation of darkness, bondage, and terror, from which the
|
|
gospel happily frees us, giving us boldness to enter into the
|
|
holiest, and inviting us to draw near. (2.) He must express his
|
|
reverence, and his readiness to obey: <i>Put off thy shoes from off
|
|
thy feet,</i> as a servant. Putting off the shoe was then what
|
|
putting off the hat is now, a token of respect and submission. "The
|
|
ground, for the present, is <i>holy ground,</i> made so by this
|
|
special manifestation of the divine presence, during the
|
|
continuance of which it must retain this character; therefore tread
|
|
not on that ground with soiled shoes." <i>Keep thy foot,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ec 5:1" id="Ex.iv-p9.2" parsed="|Eccl|5|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.5.1">Eccl. v. 1</scripRef>. Note, We ought to
|
|
approach to God with a solemn pause and preparation; and, though
|
|
bodily exercise alone profits little, yet we ought to glorify God
|
|
with our bodies, and to express our inward reverence by a grave and
|
|
reverent behaviour in the worship of God, carefully avoiding
|
|
everything that looks light, and rude, and unbecoming the awfulness
|
|
of the service.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iv-p10">V. The solemn declaration God made of his
|
|
name, by which he would be known to Moses: <i>I am the God of thy
|
|
father,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 3:6" id="Ex.iv-p10.1" parsed="|Exod|3|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. 1.
|
|
He lets him know that it is God who speaks to him, to engage his
|
|
reverence and attention, his faith and obedience; for this is
|
|
enough to command all these: <i>I am the Lord.</i> Let us always
|
|
hear the word <i>as the word of God,</i> <scripRef passage="1Th 2:13" id="Ex.iv-p10.2" parsed="|1Thess|2|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Thess.2.13">1 Thess. ii. 13</scripRef>. 2. He will be known as the
|
|
God of his father, his pious father Amram, and the God of Abraham,
|
|
Isaac, and Jacob, his ancestors, and the ancestors of all Israel,
|
|
for whom God was now about to appear. By this God designed, (1.) To
|
|
instruct Moses in the knowledge of another world, and to strengthen
|
|
his belief of a future state. Thus it is interpreted by our Lord
|
|
Jesus, the best expositor of scripture, who from this proves that
|
|
the dead are raised, against the Sadducees. <i>Moses,</i> says he,
|
|
<i>showed it at the bush</i> (<scripRef passage="Lu 20:37" id="Ex.iv-p10.3" parsed="|Luke|20|37|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.20.37">Luke xx.
|
|
37</scripRef>), that is, God there showed it to him, and in him to
|
|
us, <scripRef passage="Mt 22:31" id="Ex.iv-p10.4" parsed="|Matt|22|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.31">Matt. xxii. 31</scripRef>, &c.
|
|
Abraham was dead, and yet God is the God of Abraham; therefore
|
|
Abraham's soul lives, to which God stands in relation; and, to make
|
|
his soul completely happy, his body must live again in due time.
|
|
This promise made unto the fathers, that God would be their God,
|
|
must include a future happiness; for he never did anything for them
|
|
in this world sufficient to answer to the vast extent and compass
|
|
of that great word, but, having prepared for them a city, he is not
|
|
ashamed to be called their God, <scripRef passage="Heb 11:16" id="Ex.iv-p10.5" parsed="|Heb|11|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.16">Heb.
|
|
xi. 16</scripRef>; and see <scripRef passage="Ac 26:6,7,24:15" id="Ex.iv-p10.6" parsed="|Acts|26|6|26|7;|Acts|24|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.26.6-Acts.26.7 Bible:Acts.24.15">Acts
|
|
xxvi. 6, 7; xxiv. 15</scripRef>. (2.) To assure Moses of the
|
|
fulfillment of all those particular promises made to the fathers.
|
|
He may confidently expect this, for by these words it appears that
|
|
God remembered his covenant, <scripRef passage="Ex 2:24" id="Ex.iv-p10.7" parsed="|Exod|2|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.24"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
ii. 24</scripRef>. Note, [1.] God's covenant-relation to us as our
|
|
God is the best support in the worst of times, and a great
|
|
encouragement to our faith in particular promises. [2.] When we are
|
|
conscious to ourselves of our own great unworthiness we may take
|
|
comfort from God's relation to our fathers, <scripRef passage="2Ch 20:6" id="Ex.iv-p10.8" parsed="|2Chr|20|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.20.6">2 Chron. xx. 6</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iv-p11">VI. The solemn impression this made upon
|
|
Moses: He <i>hid his face,</i> as one both ashamed and afraid to
|
|
look upon God. Now that he knew it was a divine light his eyes were
|
|
dazzled with it; he was not afraid of a burning bush till he
|
|
perceived that God was in it. Yea, though God called himself <i>the
|
|
God of his father,</i> and a God in covenant with him, yet he was
|
|
afraid. Note, 1. The more we see of God the more cause we shall see
|
|
to worship him with reverence and godly fear. 2. Even the
|
|
manifestations of God's grace and covenant-love should increase our
|
|
humble reverence of him.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 3:7-10" id="Ex.iv-p11.1" parsed="|Exod|3|7|3|10" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.7-Exod.3.10"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.3.7-Exod.3.10">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.iv-p11.2">Compassion of God for the
|
|
Israelites. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.iv-p11.3">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.iv-p12">7 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.iv-p12.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which
|
|
<i>are</i> in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their
|
|
taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; 8 And I am come down to
|
|
deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up
|
|
out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing
|
|
with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the
|
|
Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites,
|
|
and the Jebusites. 9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children
|
|
of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression
|
|
wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come now therefore, and I
|
|
will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people
|
|
the children of Israel out of Egypt.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iv-p13">Now that Moses had put off his shoes (for,
|
|
no doubt, he observed the orders given him, <scripRef passage="Ex 3:5" id="Ex.iv-p13.1" parsed="|Exod|3|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), and covered his face, God enters
|
|
upon the particular business that was now to be concerted, which
|
|
was the bringing of Israel out of Egypt. Now, after forty years of
|
|
Israel's bondage and Moses's banishment, when we may suppose both
|
|
he and they began to despair, they of being delivered and he of
|
|
delivering them, at length, the time has come, even the year of the
|
|
redeemed. Note, God often comes for the salvation of his people
|
|
when they have done looking for him. <i>Shall he find faith?</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Lu 18:8" id="Ex.iv-p13.2" parsed="|Luke|18|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.18.8">Luke xviii. 8</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iv-p14">Here is, I. The notice God takes of the
|
|
afflictions of Israel (<scripRef passage="Ex 3:7,9" id="Ex.iv-p14.1" parsed="|Exod|3|7|0|0;|Exod|3|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.7 Bible:Exod.3.9"><i>v.</i> 7,
|
|
9</scripRef>): <i>Seeing I have seen,</i> not only, <i>I have
|
|
surely seen,</i> but I have strictly observed and considered the
|
|
matter. Three things God took cognizance of:—1. <i>Their
|
|
sorrows,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 3:7" id="Ex.iv-p14.2" parsed="|Exod|3|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. It
|
|
is likely they were not permitted to make a remonstrance of their
|
|
grievances to Pharaoh, nor to seek relief against their
|
|
task-masters in any of his courts, nor scarcely durst complain to
|
|
one another; but God observed their tears. Note, Even the secret
|
|
sorrows of God's people are known to him. 2. Their cry: <i>I have
|
|
heard their cry</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 3:7" id="Ex.iv-p14.3" parsed="|Exod|3|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.7"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7</scripRef>), <i>it has come unto me,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 3:9" id="Ex.iv-p14.4" parsed="|Exod|3|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. Note, God is not deaf to the cries
|
|
of his afflicted people. 3. The tyranny of their persecutors: <i>I
|
|
have seen the oppression,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 3:9" id="Ex.iv-p14.5" parsed="|Exod|3|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.9"><i>v.</i>
|
|
9</scripRef>. Note, As the poorest of the oppressed are not below
|
|
God's cognizance, so the highest and greatest of their oppressors
|
|
are not above his check, but he will surely visit for these
|
|
things.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iv-p15">II. The promise God makes of their speedy
|
|
deliverance and enlargement: <i>I have come down to deliver
|
|
them,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 3:8" id="Ex.iv-p15.1" parsed="|Exod|3|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. 1. It
|
|
denotes his resolution to deliver them, and that his heart was upon
|
|
it, so that it should be done speedily and effectually, and by
|
|
methods out of the common road of providence: when God does
|
|
something very extraordinary he is said to <i>come down</i> to do
|
|
it, as <scripRef passage="Isa 64:1" id="Ex.iv-p15.2" parsed="|Isa|64|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.64.1">Isa. lxiv. 1</scripRef>. 2.
|
|
This deliverance was typical of our redemption by Christ, in which
|
|
the eternal Word did indeed come down from heaven to deliver us: it
|
|
was his errand into the world. He promises also their happy
|
|
settlement in the land of Canaan, that they should exchange bondage
|
|
for liberty, poverty for plenty, labour for rest, and the
|
|
precarious condition of tenants at will for the ease and honour of
|
|
lords proprietors. Note, Whom God by his grace delivers out of a
|
|
spiritual Egypt he will bring to a heavenly Canaan.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iv-p16">III. The commission he gives to Moses in
|
|
order hereunto, <scripRef passage="Ex 3:10" id="Ex.iv-p16.1" parsed="|Exod|3|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.10"><i>v.</i>
|
|
10</scripRef>. He is not only sent as a prophet to Israel, to
|
|
assure them that they should speedily be delivered (even that would
|
|
have been a great favour), but he is sent as an ambassador to
|
|
Pharaoh, to treat with him, or rather as a herald at arms, to
|
|
demand their discharge, and to denounce war in case of refusal; and
|
|
he is sent as a prince to Israel, to conduct and command them. Thus
|
|
is he taken from <i>following the ewes great with young,</i> to a
|
|
pastoral office much more noble, as David, <scripRef passage="Ps 78:71" id="Ex.iv-p16.2" parsed="|Ps|78|71|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.78.71">Ps. lxxviii. 71</scripRef>. Note, God is the fountain of
|
|
power, and the powers that be are ordained of him as he pleases.
|
|
The same hand that now fetched a shepherd out of a desert, to be
|
|
the planter of a Jewish church, afterwards fetched fishermen from
|
|
their ships, to be the planters of the Christian church, <i>That
|
|
the excellency of the power might be of God.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 3" id="Ex.iv-p16.3" parsed="|Exod|3|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 3:11-15" id="Ex.iv-p16.4" parsed="|Exod|3|11|3|15" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.11-Exod.3.15"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.3.11-Exod.3.15">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.iv-p16.5">Instructions Given to Moses. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.iv-p16.6">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.iv-p17">11 And Moses said unto God, Who <i>am</i> I,
|
|
that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the
|
|
children of Israel out of Egypt? 12 And he said, Certainly I will
|
|
be with thee; and this <i>shall be</i> a token unto thee, that I
|
|
have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of
|
|
Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain. 13 And Moses said
|
|
unto God, Behold, <i>when</i> I come unto the children of Israel,
|
|
and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto
|
|
you; and they shall say to me, What <i>is</i> his name? what shall
|
|
I say unto them? 14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he
|
|
said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath
|
|
sent me unto you. 15 And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt
|
|
thou say unto the children of Israel, The <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.iv-p17.1">Lord</span> God of your fathers, the God of Abraham,
|
|
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this
|
|
<i>is</i> my name for ever, and this <i>is</i> my memorial unto all
|
|
generations.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iv-p18">God, having spoken to Moses, allows him
|
|
also a liberty of speech, which he here improves; and,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iv-p19">I. He objects his own insufficiency for the
|
|
service he was called to (<scripRef passage="Ex 3:11" id="Ex.iv-p19.1" parsed="|Exod|3|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.11"><i>v.</i>
|
|
11</scripRef>): <i>Who am I?</i> He thinks himself unworthy of the
|
|
honour, and not <i>par negotio—equal to the task.</i> He thinks he
|
|
wants courage, and therefore cannot go to Pharaoh, to make a demand
|
|
which might cost the demandant his head: he thinks he wants skill,
|
|
and therefore cannot bring forth the children of Israel out of
|
|
Egypt; they are unarmed, undisciplined, quite dispirited, utterly
|
|
unable to help themselves; it is morally impossible to bring them
|
|
out. 1. Moses was incomparably the fittest of any man living for
|
|
this work, eminent for learning, wisdom, experience, valour, faith,
|
|
holiness; and yet he says, <i>Who am I?</i> Note, The more fit any
|
|
person is for service commonly the less opinion he has of himself:
|
|
see <scripRef passage="Jdg 9:8" id="Ex.iv-p19.2" parsed="|Judg|9|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.9.8">Judg. ix. 8</scripRef>, &c. 2.
|
|
The difficulties of the work were indeed very great, enough to
|
|
startle the courage and stagger the faith of Moses himself. Note,
|
|
Even wise and faithful instruments may be much discouraged at the
|
|
difficulties that lie in the way of the church's salvation. 3.
|
|
Moses had formerly been very courageous when he slew the Egyptian,
|
|
but now his heart failed him; for good men are not always alike
|
|
bold and zealous. 4. Yet Moses is the man that does it at last; for
|
|
God gives grace to the lowly. Modest beginnings are very good
|
|
presages.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iv-p20">II. God answers this objection, <scripRef passage="Ex 3:12" id="Ex.iv-p20.1" parsed="|Exod|3|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. 1. He promises him his
|
|
presence: <i>Certainly I will be with thee,</i> and that is enough.
|
|
Note, Those that are weak in themselves may yet do wonders, being
|
|
strong in the Lord and in the power of his might; and those that
|
|
are most diffident of themselves may be most confident in God.
|
|
God's presence puts an honour upon the worthless, wisdom and
|
|
strength into the weak and foolish, makes the greatest difficulties
|
|
dwindle to nothing, and is enough to answer all objections. 2. He
|
|
assures him of success, and that the Israelites should serve God
|
|
upon this mountain. Note, (1.) Those deliverances are most valuable
|
|
which open to us a door of liberty to serve God. (2.) If God gives
|
|
us opportunity and a heart to serve him, it is a happy and
|
|
encouraging earnest of further favours designed us.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iv-p21">III. He begs instructions for the executing
|
|
of his commission, and has them, thoroughly to furnish him. He
|
|
desires to know by what name God would at this time make himself
|
|
known, <scripRef passage="Ex 3:13" id="Ex.iv-p21.1" parsed="|Exod|3|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iv-p22">1. He supposes the children of Israel would
|
|
ask him, <i>What is his name?</i> This they would ask either, (1.)
|
|
To perplex Moses: he foresaw difficulty, not only in dealing with
|
|
Pharaoh, to make him willing to part with them, but in dealing with
|
|
them, to make them willing to remove. They would be scrupulous and
|
|
apt to cavil, would bid him produce his commission, and probably
|
|
this would be the trial: "Does he know the name of God? Has he the
|
|
watch-word?" Once he was asked, <i>Who made thee a judge?</i> Then
|
|
he had not his answer ready, and he would not be nonplussed so
|
|
again, but would be able to tell in whose name he came. Or, (2.)
|
|
For their own information. It is to be feared that they had grown
|
|
very ignorant in Egypt, by reason of their hard bondage, want of
|
|
teachers, and loss of the sabbath, so that they needed to be told
|
|
the first principles of the oracles of God. Or this question,
|
|
<i>What is his name?</i> amounted to an enquiry into the nature of
|
|
the dispensation they were now to expect: "How will God in it be
|
|
known to us, and what may we depend upon from him?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iv-p23">2. He desires instructions what answer to
|
|
give them: "<i>What shall I say to them?</i> What name shall I
|
|
vouch to them for the proof of my authority? I must have something
|
|
great and extraordinary to say to them; what must it be? If I must
|
|
go, let me have full instructions, that I may not run in vain."
|
|
Note, (1.) It highly concerns those who speak to people in the name
|
|
of God to be well prepared beforehand. (2.) Those who would know
|
|
what to say must go to God, to the word of his grace and to the
|
|
throne of his grace, for instructions, <scripRef passage="Eze 2:7,3:4,10,17" id="Ex.iv-p23.1" parsed="|Ezek|2|7|0|0;|Ezek|3|4|0|0;|Ezek|3|10|0|0;|Ezek|3|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.2.7 Bible:Ezek.3.4 Bible:Ezek.3.10 Bible:Ezek.3.17">Ezek. ii. 7; iii. 4, 10, 17</scripRef>. (3.)
|
|
Whenever we have any thing to do with God, it is desirable to know,
|
|
and our duty to consider, what is his name.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iv-p24">IV. God readily gives him full instructions
|
|
in this matter. Two names God would now be known by:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iv-p25">1. A name that denotes what he is in
|
|
himself (<scripRef passage="Ex 3:14" id="Ex.iv-p25.1" parsed="|Exod|3|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>): <i>I
|
|
am that I am.</i> This explains his name <i>Jehovah,</i> and
|
|
signifies, (1.) That he is self-existent; he has his being of
|
|
himself, and has no dependence upon any other: the greatest and
|
|
best man in the world must say, By the grace of God <i>I am what I
|
|
am;</i> but God says absolutely—and it is more than any creature,
|
|
man or angel, can say—<i>I am that I am.</i> Being self-existent,
|
|
he cannot but be self-sufficient, and therefore all-sufficient, and
|
|
the inexhaustible fountain of being and bliss. (2.) That he is
|
|
eternal and unchangeable, and always the same, yesterday, to-day,
|
|
and for ever; he will be what he will be and what he is; see
|
|
<scripRef passage="Re 1:8" id="Ex.iv-p25.2" parsed="|Rev|1|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.1.8">Rev. i. 8</scripRef>. (3.) That we
|
|
cannot by searching find him out. This is such a name as checks all
|
|
bold and curious enquiries concerning God, and in effect says,
|
|
<i>Ask not after my name, seeing it is secret,</i> <scripRef passage="Jdg 13:18,Pr 30:4" id="Ex.iv-p25.3" parsed="|Judg|13|18|0|0;|Prov|30|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.13.18 Bible:Prov.30.4">Judg. xiii. 18; Prov. xxx.
|
|
4</scripRef>. Do we ask what is God? Let it suffice us to know that
|
|
he is what he is, what he ever was, and ever will be. <i>How little
|
|
a portion is heard of him!</i> <scripRef passage="Job 26:14" id="Ex.iv-p25.4" parsed="|Job|26|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.26.14">Job
|
|
xxvi. 14</scripRef>. (4.) That he is faithful and true to all his
|
|
promises, unchangeable in his word as well as in his nature, and
|
|
not a man that he should lie. Let Israel know this, <i>I AM hath
|
|
sent me unto you.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iv-p26">2. A name that denotes what he is to his
|
|
people. Lest that name <i>I AM</i> should amuse and puzzle them, he
|
|
is further directed to make use of another name of God more
|
|
familiar and intelligible: <i>The Lord God of your fathers hath
|
|
sent me unto you</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 3:15" id="Ex.iv-p26.1" parsed="|Exod|3|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.15"><i>v.</i>
|
|
15</scripRef>): Thus God had made himself know to him (<scripRef passage="Ex 3:6" id="Ex.iv-p26.2" parsed="|Exod|3|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), and thus he must make him
|
|
known to them, (1.) That he might revive among them the religion of
|
|
their fathers, which, it is to be feared, was much decayed and
|
|
almost lost. This was necessary to prepare them for deliverance,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 80:19" id="Ex.iv-p26.3" parsed="|Ps|80|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.80.19">Ps. lxxx. 19</scripRef>. (2.) That he
|
|
might raise their expectations of the speedy performance of the
|
|
promises made unto their fathers. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are
|
|
particularly named, because with Abraham the covenant was first
|
|
made, and with Isaac and Jacob often expressly renewed; and these
|
|
three were distinguished from their brethren, and chosen to be the
|
|
trustees of the covenant, when their brethren were rejected. God
|
|
will have this to be his name for ever, and it has been, is, and
|
|
will be, his name, by which his worshippers know him, and
|
|
distinguish him from all false gods; see <scripRef passage="1Ki 18:36" id="Ex.iv-p26.4" parsed="|1Kgs|18|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.18.36">1 Kings xviii. 36</scripRef>. Note, God's
|
|
covenant-relation to his people is what he will be ever mindful of,
|
|
what he glories in, and what he will have us never forget, but give
|
|
him the glory of: if he will have this to be his memorial unto all
|
|
generations, we have all the reason in the world to make it so with
|
|
us, for it is a precious memorial.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 3" id="Ex.iv-p26.5" parsed="|Exod|3|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 3:16-22" id="Ex.iv-p26.6" parsed="|Exod|3|16|3|22" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.16-Exod.3.22"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.3.16-Exod.3.22">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.iv-p27">16 Go, and gather the elders of Israel together,
|
|
and say unto them, The <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.iv-p27.1">Lord</span> God of
|
|
your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared
|
|
unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and <i>seen</i> that
|
|
which is done to you in Egypt: 17 And I have said, I will bring you
|
|
up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites,
|
|
and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the
|
|
Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and
|
|
honey. 18 And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come,
|
|
thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall
|
|
say unto him, The <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.iv-p27.2">Lord</span> God of the
|
|
Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three
|
|
days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.iv-p27.3">Lord</span> our God. 19 And I am sure that
|
|
the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand. 20
|
|
And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders
|
|
which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let
|
|
you go. 21 And I will give this people favour in the sight of the
|
|
Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall
|
|
not go empty: 22 But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and
|
|
of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels
|
|
of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put <i>them</i> upon your sons,
|
|
and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.iv-p28">Moses is here more particularly instructed
|
|
in his work, and informed beforehand of his success. 1. He must
|
|
deal with the elders of Israel, and raise their expectation of a
|
|
speedy removal to Canaan, <scripRef passage="Ex 3:16,17" id="Ex.iv-p28.1" parsed="|Exod|3|16|3|17" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.16-Exod.3.17"><i>v.</i>
|
|
16, 17</scripRef>. He must repeat to them what God had said to him,
|
|
as a faithful ambassador. Note, That which ministers have received
|
|
of the Lord they must deliver to his people, and keep back nothing
|
|
that is profitable. Lay an emphasis on that, <scripRef passage="Ex 3:17" id="Ex.iv-p28.2" parsed="|Exod|3|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>: "<i>I have said, I will bring
|
|
you up;</i> that is enough to satisfy them, <i>I have said it:</i>"
|
|
hath he spoken, and will he not make it good? With us saying and
|
|
doing are two things, but they are not so with God, for he is in
|
|
one mind and who can turn him? "I have said it, and all the world
|
|
cannot gainsay it. My counsel shall stand." His success with the
|
|
elders of Israel would be good; so he is told (<scripRef passage="Ex 3:18" id="Ex.iv-p28.3" parsed="|Exod|3|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>): <i>They shall hearken to thy
|
|
voice,</i> and not thrust thee away as they did forty years ago. He
|
|
who, by his grace, inclines the heart, and opens the ear, could say
|
|
beforehand, <i>They shall hearken to thy voice,</i> having
|
|
determined to make them willing in this day of power. 2. He must
|
|
deal with the king of Egypt (<scripRef passage="Ex 3:18" id="Ex.iv-p28.4" parsed="|Exod|3|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.18"><i>v.</i>
|
|
18</scripRef>), he and the elders of Israel, and in this they must
|
|
not begin with a demand, but with a humble petition; that gentle
|
|
and submissive method must be first tried, even with one who, it
|
|
was certain, would not be wrought upon by it: <i>We beseech thee,
|
|
let us go.</i> Moreover, they must only beg leave of Pharaoh to go
|
|
as far as Mount Sinai to worship God, and say nothing to him of
|
|
going quite away to Canaan; the latter would have been immediately
|
|
rejected, but the former was a very modest and reasonable request,
|
|
and his denying it was utterly inexcusable and justified them in
|
|
the total deserting of his kingdom. If he would not give them leave
|
|
to go and sacrifice at Sinai, justly did they go without leave to
|
|
settle in Canaan. Note, The calls and commands which God sends to
|
|
sinners are so highly reasonable in themselves, and delivered to
|
|
them in such a gentle winning way, that the mouth of the
|
|
disobedient must needs be for ever stopped. As to his success with
|
|
Pharaoh, Moses is here told, (1.) That petitions, and persuasions,
|
|
and humble remonstrances, would not prevail with him, no, nor a
|
|
mighty hand stretched out in signs and wonders: <i>I am sure he
|
|
will not let you go,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 3:19" id="Ex.iv-p28.5" parsed="|Exod|3|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.19"><i>v.</i>
|
|
19</scripRef>. Note, God sends his messengers to those whose
|
|
hardness and obstinacy he certainly knows and foresees, that it may
|
|
appear he would have them turn and live. (2.) That plagues should
|
|
compel him to it: <i>I will smite Egypt,</i> and then he will
|
|
<i>let you go,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 3:20" id="Ex.iv-p28.6" parsed="|Exod|3|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.20"><i>v.</i>
|
|
20</scripRef>. Note, Those will certainly be broken by the power of
|
|
God's hand that will not bow to the power of his word; we may be
|
|
sure that <i>when God judges he will overcome.</i> (3.) That his
|
|
people should be more kind to them, and furnish them at their
|
|
departure with abundance of plate and jewels, to their great
|
|
enriching: <i>I will give this people favour in the sight of the
|
|
Egyptians,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 3:21,22" id="Ex.iv-p28.7" parsed="|Exod|3|21|3|22" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.21-Exod.3.22"><i>v.</i> 21,
|
|
22</scripRef>. Note, [1.] God sometimes makes the enemies of his
|
|
people, not only to be at peace with them, but to be kind to them.
|
|
[2.] God has many ways of balancing accounts between the injured
|
|
and the injurious, of righting the oppressed, and compelling those
|
|
that have done wrong to make restitution; for he sits in the throne
|
|
judging right.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter IV" n="v" progress="32.82%" prev="Ex.iv" next="Ex.vi" id="Ex.v">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.v-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.v-p0.2">CHAP. IV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.v-p1">This chapter, I. Continues and concludes God's
|
|
discourse with Moses at the bush concerning this great affair of
|
|
bringing Israel out of Egypt. 1. Moses objects the people's
|
|
unbelief (<scripRef passage="Ex 4:1" id="Ex.v-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|4|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.1">ver. 1</scripRef>), and God
|
|
answers that objection by giving him a power to work miracles, (1.)
|
|
To turn his rod into a serpent, and then into a rod again,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 4:2-5" id="Ex.v-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|4|2|4|5" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.2-Exod.4.5">ver. 2-5</scripRef>. (2.) To make his
|
|
hand leprous, and then whole again, <scripRef passage="Ex 4:6-8" id="Ex.v-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|4|6|4|8" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.6-Exod.4.8">ver. 6-8</scripRef>. (3.) To turn the water into blood,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 4:9" id="Ex.v-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|4|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.9">ver. 9</scripRef>. 2. Moses objects his
|
|
own slowness of speech (<scripRef passage="Ex 4:10" id="Ex.v-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|4|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.10">ver.
|
|
10</scripRef>), and begs to be excused (<scripRef passage="Ex 4:13" id="Ex.v-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|4|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.13">ver. 13</scripRef>); but God answers this objection, (1.)
|
|
By promising him his presence, <scripRef passage="Ex 4:11,12" id="Ex.v-p1.7" parsed="|Exod|4|11|4|12" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.11-Exod.4.12">ver.
|
|
11, 12</scripRef>. (2.) By joining Aaron in commission with him,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 4:14-16" id="Ex.v-p1.8" parsed="|Exod|4|14|4|16" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.14-Exod.4.16">ver. 14-16</scripRef>. (3.) By
|
|
putting an honour upon the very staff in his hand, <scripRef passage="Ex 4:17" id="Ex.v-p1.9" parsed="|Exod|4|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.17">ver. 17</scripRef>. II. It begins Moses's
|
|
execution of his commission. 1. He obtains leave of his
|
|
father-in-law to return into Egypt, <scripRef passage="Ex 4:18" id="Ex.v-p1.10" parsed="|Exod|4|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.18">ver. 18</scripRef>. 2. He receives further instructions
|
|
and encouragements from God, <scripRef passage="Ex 4:19,21-23" id="Ex.v-p1.11" parsed="|Exod|4|19|0|0;|Exod|4|21|4|23" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.19 Bible:Exod.4.21-Exod.4.23">ver.
|
|
19, 21-23</scripRef>. 3. He hastens his departure, and takes his
|
|
family with him, <scripRef passage="Ex 4:20" id="Ex.v-p1.12" parsed="|Exod|4|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.20">ver. 20</scripRef>. 4.
|
|
He meets with some difficulty in the way about the circumcising of
|
|
his son, <scripRef passage="Ex 4:24-26" id="Ex.v-p1.13" parsed="|Exod|4|24|4|26" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.24-Exod.4.26">ver. 24-26</scripRef>. 5.
|
|
He has the satisfaction of meeting his brother Aaron, <scripRef passage="Ex 4:27,28" id="Ex.v-p1.14" parsed="|Exod|4|27|4|28" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.27-Exod.4.28">ver. 27, 28</scripRef>. 6. He produces his
|
|
commission before the elders of Israel, to their great joy,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 4:29-31" id="Ex.v-p1.15" parsed="|Exod|4|29|4|31" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.29-Exod.4.31">ver. 29-31</scripRef>. And thus the
|
|
wheels were set a going towards that great deliverance.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 4" id="Ex.v-p1.16" parsed="|Exod|4|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 4:1-9" id="Ex.v-p1.17" parsed="|Exod|4|1|4|9" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.1-Exod.4.9"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.4.1-Exod.4.9">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.v-p1.18">The Objections of Moses
|
|
Overruled. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.v-p1.19">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.v-p2">1 And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they
|
|
will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say,
|
|
The <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.v-p2.1">Lord</span> hath not appeared unto
|
|
thee.   2 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.v-p2.2">Lord</span> said
|
|
unto him, What <i>is</i> that in thine hand? And he said, A rod.
|
|
  3 And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the
|
|
ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.
|
|
  4 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.v-p2.3">Lord</span> said unto
|
|
Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put
|
|
forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand:
|
|
  5 That they may believe that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.v-p2.4">Lord</span> God of their fathers, the God of Abraham,
|
|
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee.
|
|
  6 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.v-p2.5">Lord</span> said
|
|
furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put
|
|
his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand
|
|
<i>was</i> leprous as snow.   7 And he said, Put thine hand
|
|
into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and
|
|
plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as
|
|
his <i>other</i> flesh.   8 And it shall come to pass, if they
|
|
will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first
|
|
sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.   9
|
|
And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two
|
|
signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the
|
|
water of the river, and pour <i>it</i> upon the dry <i>land:</i>
|
|
and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood
|
|
upon the dry <i>land.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.v-p3">It was a very great honour that Moses was
|
|
called to when God commissioned him to bring Israel out of Egypt;
|
|
yet he is with difficulty persuaded to accept the commission, and
|
|
does it at last with great reluctance, which we should rather
|
|
impute to a humble diffidence of himself and his own sufficiency
|
|
than to any unbelieving distrust of God and his word and power.
|
|
Note, Those whom God designs for preferment he clothes with
|
|
humility; the most fit for service are the least forward.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.v-p4">I. Moses objects that in all probability
|
|
the people would not <i>hearken to his voice</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 4:1" id="Ex.v-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|4|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>), that is, they would not
|
|
take his bare word, unless he showed them some sign, which he had
|
|
not been yet instructed to do. This objection cannot be justified,
|
|
because it contradicts what God had said (<scripRef passage="Ex 3:18" id="Ex.v-p4.2" parsed="|Exod|3|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.18"><i>ch.</i> iii. 18</scripRef>), <i>They shall hearken to
|
|
thy voice.</i> If God says, <i>They will,</i> does it become Moses
|
|
to say, <i>They will not?</i> Surely he means, "Perhaps they will
|
|
not at first, or some of them will not." If there should be some
|
|
gainsayers among them who would question his commission, how should
|
|
he deal with them? And what course should he take to convince them?
|
|
He remembered how they had once rejected him, and feared it would
|
|
be so again. Note, 1. Present discouragements often arise from
|
|
former disappointments. 2. Wise and good men have sometimes a worse
|
|
opinion of people than they deserve. Moses said (<scripRef passage="Ex 4:1" id="Ex.v-p4.3" parsed="|Exod|4|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>), <i>They will not believe me;</i>
|
|
and yet he was happily mistaken, for it is said (<scripRef passage="Ex 4:31" id="Ex.v-p4.4" parsed="|Exod|4|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>), <i>The people believed;</i> but
|
|
then the signs which God appointed in answer to this objection were
|
|
first wrought in their sight.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.v-p5">II. God empowers him to work miracles,
|
|
directs him to three particularly, two of which were now
|
|
immediately wrought for his own satisfaction. Note, True miracles
|
|
are the most convincing external proofs of a divine mission
|
|
attested by them. Therefore our Saviour often appealed to his works
|
|
(as <scripRef passage="Joh 5:36" id="Ex.v-p5.1" parsed="|John|5|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.5.36">John v. 36</scripRef>), and
|
|
Nicodemus owns himself convinced by them, <scripRef passage="Joh 3:2" id="Ex.v-p5.2" parsed="|John|3|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.3.2">John iii. 2</scripRef>. And here Moses, having a special
|
|
commission given him as a judge and lawgiver to Israel, has this
|
|
seal affixed to his commission, and comes supported by these
|
|
credentials.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.v-p6">1. The rod in his hand is made the subject
|
|
of a miracle, a double miracle: it is but thrown out of his hand
|
|
and it becomes a serpent; he resumes it and it becomes a rod again,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 4:2-4" id="Ex.v-p6.1" parsed="|Exod|4|2|4|4" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.2-Exod.4.4"><i>v.</i> 2-4</scripRef>. Now, (1.)
|
|
Here was a divine power manifested in the change itself, that a dry
|
|
stick should be turned into a living serpent, a lively one, so
|
|
formidable a one that Moses himself, on whom, it should seem, it
|
|
turned in some threatening manner, <i>fled from before it,</i>
|
|
though we may suppose, in that desert, serpents were no strange
|
|
things to him; but what was produced miraculously was always the
|
|
best and strongest of the kind, as the water turned to wine: and,
|
|
then, that this living serpent should be turned into a dry stick
|
|
again, this was the Lord's doing. (2.) Here was an honour put upon
|
|
Moses, that this change was wrought upon his throwing it down and
|
|
taking it up, without any spell, or charm, or incantation: his
|
|
being empowered thus to act under God, out of the common course of
|
|
nature and providence, was a demonstration of his authority, under
|
|
God, to settle a new dispensation of the kingdom of grace. We
|
|
cannot imagine that the God of truth would delegate such a power as
|
|
this to an impostor. (3.) There was a significancy in the miracle
|
|
itself. Pharaoh had turned the rod of Israel into a serpent,
|
|
representing them as dangerous (<scripRef passage="Ex 1:10" id="Ex.v-p6.2" parsed="|Exod|1|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.1.10"><i>ch.</i> i. 10</scripRef>), causing their belly to
|
|
cleave to the dust, and seeking their ruin; but now they should be
|
|
turned into a rod again: or, thus Pharaoh had turned the rod of
|
|
government into the serpent of oppression, from which Moses had
|
|
himself fled into Midian; but by the agency of Moses the scene was
|
|
altered again. (4.) There was a direct tendency in it to convince
|
|
the children of Israel that Moses was indeed sent of God to do what
|
|
he did, <scripRef passage="Ex 4:5" id="Ex.v-p6.3" parsed="|Exod|4|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. Miracles
|
|
were for signs to those that believed not, <scripRef passage="1Co 14:22" id="Ex.v-p6.4" parsed="|1Cor|14|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.14.22">1 Cor. xiv. 22</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.v-p7">2. His hand itself is next made the subject
|
|
of a miracle. He puts it once into his bosom, and takes it out
|
|
leprous; he puts it again into the same place, and takes it out
|
|
well, <scripRef passage="Ex 4:6,7" id="Ex.v-p7.1" parsed="|Exod|4|6|4|7" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.6-Exod.4.7"><i>v.</i> 6, 7</scripRef>. This
|
|
signified, (1.) That Moses, by the power of God, should bring sore
|
|
diseases upon Egypt, and that, at his prayer, they should be
|
|
removed. (2.) That whereas the Israelites in Egypt had become
|
|
leprous, polluted by sin, and almost consumed by oppression (a
|
|
leper is <i>as one dead,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 12:12" id="Ex.v-p7.2" parsed="|Num|12|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.12.12">Num. xii.
|
|
12</scripRef>), by being taken into the bosom of Moses they should
|
|
be cleansed and cured, and have all their grievances redressed.
|
|
(3.) That Moses was not to work miracles by his own power, nor for
|
|
his own praise, but by the power of God and for his glory; the
|
|
leprous hand of Moses does forever exclude boasting. Now it was
|
|
supposed that, if the former sign did not convince, this latter
|
|
would. Note, God is willing more abundantly to show the truth of
|
|
his word, and is not sparing in his proofs; the multitude and
|
|
variety of the miracles corroborate the evidence.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.v-p8">3. He is directed, when he shall come to
|
|
Egypt, to turn some of the water of the river into blood, <scripRef passage="Ex 4:9" id="Ex.v-p8.1" parsed="|Exod|4|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. This was done, at first,
|
|
as a sign, but, not gaining due credit with Pharaoh, the whole
|
|
river was afterwards turned into blood, and then it became a
|
|
plague. He is ordered to work this miracle in case they would not
|
|
be convinced by the other two. Note, Unbelief shall be left
|
|
inexcusable, and convicted of a wilful obstinacy. As to the people
|
|
of Israel, God had said (<scripRef passage="Ex 3:18" id="Ex.v-p8.2" parsed="|Exod|3|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.18"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
iii. 18</scripRef>), <i>They shall hearken;</i> yet he appoints
|
|
these miracles to be wrought for their conviction, for he that has
|
|
ordained the end has ordained the means.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 4" id="Ex.v-p8.3" parsed="|Exod|4|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 4:10-17" id="Ex.v-p8.4" parsed="|Exod|4|10|4|17" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.10-Exod.4.17"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.4.10-Exod.4.17">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.v-p9">10 And Moses said unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.v-p9.1">Lord</span>, O my Lord, I <i>am</i> not eloquent,
|
|
neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant:
|
|
but I <i>am</i> slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.   11 And
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.v-p9.2">Lord</span> said unto him, Who hath
|
|
made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing,
|
|
or the blind? have not I the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.v-p9.3">Lord</span>?
|
|
  12 Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach
|
|
thee what thou shalt say.   13 And he said, O my Lord, send, I
|
|
pray thee, by the hand <i>of him whom</i> thou wilt send.   14
|
|
And the anger of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.v-p9.4">Lord</span> was
|
|
kindled against Moses, and he said, <i>Is</i> not Aaron the Levite
|
|
thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he
|
|
cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad
|
|
in his heart.   15 And thou shalt speak unto him, and put
|
|
words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his
|
|
mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do.   16 And he shall
|
|
be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, <i>even</i> he
|
|
shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him
|
|
instead of God.   17 And thou shalt take this rod in thine
|
|
hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.v-p10">Moses still continues backward to the
|
|
service for which God had designed him, even to a fault; for now we
|
|
can no longer impute it to his humility and modesty, but must own
|
|
that here was too much of cowardice, slothfulness, and unbelief in
|
|
it. Observe here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.v-p11">I. How Moses endeavours to excuse himself
|
|
from the work.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.v-p12">1. He pleads that he was no good spokesman:
|
|
<i>O my Lord! I am not eloquent,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 4:10" id="Ex.v-p12.1" parsed="|Exod|4|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. He was a great philosopher,
|
|
statesman, and divine, and yet no orator; a man of a clear head,
|
|
great thought, and solid judgment, but had not a voluble tongue, or
|
|
ready utterance, and therefore he thought himself unfit to speak
|
|
before great men about great affairs, and in danger of being run
|
|
down by the Egyptians. Observe, (1.) We must not judge of men by
|
|
the readiness and fluency of their discourse. Moses was <i>mighty
|
|
in word</i> (<scripRef passage="Ac 7:22" id="Ex.v-p12.2" parsed="|Acts|7|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.22">Acts vii. 22</scripRef>),
|
|
and yet not eloquent: what he said was strong and nervous, and to
|
|
the purpose, and distilled as the dew (<scripRef passage="De 32:2" id="Ex.v-p12.3" parsed="|Deut|32|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.2">Deut. xxxii. 2</scripRef>), though he did not deliver
|
|
himself with that readiness, ease, and elegance, that some do, who
|
|
have not the tenth part of his sense. St. Paul's speech was
|
|
contemptible, <scripRef passage="2Co 10:10" id="Ex.v-p12.4" parsed="|2Cor|10|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.10.10">2 Cor. x.
|
|
10</scripRef>. A great deal of wisdom and true worth is concealed
|
|
by a slow tongue. (2.) God is pleased sometimes to make choice of
|
|
those as his messengers who have fewest of the advantages of art or
|
|
nature, that his grace in them may appear the more glorious.
|
|
Christ's disciples were no orators, till the Spirit made them
|
|
such.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.v-p13">2. When this plea was overruled, and all
|
|
his excuses were answered, he begged that God would send somebody
|
|
else on this errand and leave him to keep sheep in Midian
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 4:13" id="Ex.v-p13.1" parsed="|Exod|4|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>): "Send by any
|
|
hand but mine; thou canst certainly find one much more fit." Note,
|
|
An unwilling mind will take up with a sorry excuse rather than
|
|
none, and is willing to devolve those services upon others that
|
|
have any thing of difficulty or danger in them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.v-p14">II. How God condescends to answer all his
|
|
excuses. Though <i>the anger of the Lord was kindled against
|
|
him</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 4:14" id="Ex.v-p14.1" parsed="|Exod|4|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>), yet
|
|
he continued to reason with him, till he had overcome him. Note,
|
|
Even self-diffidence, when it grows into an extreme—when it either
|
|
hinders us from duty or clogs us in duty, or when it discourages
|
|
our dependence upon the grace of God—is very displeasing to him.
|
|
God justly resents our backwardness to serve him, and has reason to
|
|
take it ill; for he is such a benefactor as is before-hand with us,
|
|
and such a rewarder as will not be behind-hand with us. Note
|
|
further, God is justly displeased with those whom yet he does not
|
|
reject: he vouchsafes to reason the case even with his froward
|
|
children, and overcomes them, as he did Moses here, with grace and
|
|
kindness.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.v-p15">1. To balance the weakness of Moses, he
|
|
here reminds him of his own power, <scripRef passage="Ex 4:11" id="Ex.v-p15.1" parsed="|Exod|4|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. (1.) His power in that
|
|
concerning which Moses made the objection: <i>Who has made man's
|
|
mouth? Have not I the Lord?</i> Moses knew that God made man, but
|
|
he must be reminded now that God made man's mouth. An eye to God as
|
|
Creator would help us over a great many of the difficulties which
|
|
lie in the way of our duty, <scripRef passage="Ps 124:8" id="Ex.v-p15.2" parsed="|Ps|124|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.124.8">Ps. cxxiv.
|
|
8</scripRef>. God, as the author of nature, has given us the power
|
|
and faculty of speaking; and from him, as the fountain of gifts and
|
|
graces, comes the faculty of speaking well, the <i>mouth and
|
|
wisdom</i> (<scripRef passage="Lu 21:15" id="Ex.v-p15.3" parsed="|Luke|21|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.21.15">Luke xxi. 15</scripRef>),
|
|
the <i>tongue of the learned</i> (<scripRef passage="Isa 50:4" id="Ex.v-p15.4" parsed="|Isa|50|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.50.4">Isa.
|
|
l. 4</scripRef>); he <i>pours grace into the lips,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 45:2" id="Ex.v-p15.5" parsed="|Ps|45|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.45.2">Ps. xlv. 2</scripRef>. (2.) His power in general
|
|
over the other faculties. Who but God <i>makes the dumb and the
|
|
deaf, the seeing and the blind?</i> [1.] The perfections of our
|
|
faculties are his work, he makes the <i>seeing;</i> he formed the
|
|
eye (<scripRef passage="Ps 94:9" id="Ex.v-p15.6" parsed="|Ps|94|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.94.9">Ps. xciv. 9</scripRef>); he opens
|
|
the understanding, the eye of the mind, <scripRef passage="Lu 24:45" id="Ex.v-p15.7" parsed="|Luke|24|45|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.24.45">Luke xxiv. 45</scripRef>. [2.] Their imperfections are
|
|
from him too; he make the <i>dumb,</i> and <i>deaf,</i> and
|
|
<i>blind.</i> Is there any evil of this kind, and the Lord has not
|
|
done it? No doubt he has, and always in wisdom and righteousness,
|
|
and for his own glory, <scripRef passage="Joh 9:3" id="Ex.v-p15.8" parsed="|John|9|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.9.3">John ix.
|
|
3</scripRef>. Pharaoh and the Egyptians were made deaf and blind
|
|
spiritually, as <scripRef passage="Isa 6:9,10" id="Ex.v-p15.9" parsed="|Isa|6|9|6|10" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.9-Isa.6.10">Isa. vi. 9,
|
|
10</scripRef>. But God knew how to manage them, and get himself
|
|
honour upon them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.v-p16">2. To encourage him in this great
|
|
undertaking, he repeats the promise of his presence, not only in
|
|
general, <i>I will be with thee</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 3:12" id="Ex.v-p16.1" parsed="|Exod|3|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.12"><i>ch.</i> iii. 12</scripRef>), but in particular, "<i>I
|
|
will be with thy mouth,</i> so that the imperfection in thy speech
|
|
shall be no prejudice to thy message." It does not appear that God
|
|
did immediately remove the infirmity, whatever it was; but he did
|
|
that which was equivalent, he taught him what to say, and then let
|
|
the matter recommend itself: if others spoke more gracefully, none
|
|
spoke more powerfully. Note, Those whom God employs to speak for
|
|
him ought to depend upon him for instructions, and <i>it shall be
|
|
given them what they shall speak,</i> <scripRef passage="Mt 10:19" id="Ex.v-p16.2" parsed="|Matt|10|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.10.19">Matt. x. 19</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.v-p17">3. He joins Aaron in commission with him.
|
|
He promises that Aaron shall meet him opportunely, and that he will
|
|
be glad to see him, they having not seen one another (it is likely)
|
|
for many years, <scripRef passage="Ex 4:14" id="Ex.v-p17.1" parsed="|Exod|4|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.14"><i>v.</i>
|
|
14</scripRef>. He directs him to make use of Aaron as his
|
|
spokesman, <scripRef passage="Ex 4:16" id="Ex.v-p17.2" parsed="|Exod|4|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. God
|
|
might have laid Moses wholly aside, for his backwardness to be
|
|
employed; but he considered his frame, and ordered him an
|
|
assistant. Observe, (1.) Two are better than one, <scripRef passage="Ec 4:9" id="Ex.v-p17.3" parsed="|Eccl|4|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.4.9">Eccl. iv. 9</scripRef>. God will have his two
|
|
witnesses (<scripRef passage="Re 11:3" id="Ex.v-p17.4" parsed="|Rev|11|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.11.3">Rev. xi. 3</scripRef>), that
|
|
out of their mouths every word may be established. (2.) Aaron was
|
|
the brother of Moses, divine wisdom so ordering it, that their
|
|
natural affection one to another might strengthen their union in
|
|
the joint execution of their commission. Christ sent his disciples
|
|
two and two, and some of the couples were brothers. (3.) Aaron was
|
|
the elder brother, and yet he was willing to be employed under
|
|
Moses in this affair, because God would have it so. (4.) Aaron
|
|
could speak well, and yet was far inferior to Moses in wisdom. God
|
|
dispenses his gifts variously to the children of men, that we may
|
|
see our need one of another, and each may contribute something to
|
|
the good of the body, <scripRef passage="1Co 12:21" id="Ex.v-p17.5" parsed="|1Cor|12|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.12.21">1 Cor. xii.
|
|
21</scripRef>. The tongue of Aaron, with the head and heart of
|
|
Moses, would make one completely fit for this embassy. (5.) God
|
|
promises, <i>I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth.</i> Even
|
|
Aaron, that could speak well, yet could not speak to purpose unless
|
|
God was with his mouth; without the constant aids of divine grace
|
|
the best gifts will fail.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.v-p18">4. He bids him take the rod with him in his
|
|
hand (<scripRef passage="Ex 4:17" id="Ex.v-p18.1" parsed="|Exod|4|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>), to
|
|
intimate that he must bring about his undertaking rather by acting
|
|
than by speaking; the signs he should work with this rod might
|
|
abundantly supply the want of eloquence; one miracle would do him
|
|
better service than all the rhetoric in the world. <i>Take this
|
|
rod,</i> the rod he carried as a shepherd, that he might not be
|
|
ashamed of that mean condition out of which God called him. This
|
|
rod must be his staff of authority, and must be to him in stead
|
|
both of sword and sceptre.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 4" id="Ex.v-p18.2" parsed="|Exod|4|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 4:18-23" id="Ex.v-p18.3" parsed="|Exod|4|18|4|23" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.18-Exod.4.23"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.4.18-Exod.4.23">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.v-p18.4">Moses Returns in Egypt. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.v-p18.5">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.v-p19">18 And Moses went and returned to Jethro his
|
|
father in law, and said unto him, Let me go, I pray thee, and
|
|
return unto my brethren which <i>are</i> in Egypt, and see whether
|
|
they be yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace.   19
|
|
And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.v-p19.1">Lord</span> said unto Moses in
|
|
Midian, Go, return into Egypt: for all the men are dead which
|
|
sought thy life.   20 And Moses took his wife and his sons,
|
|
and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt: and
|
|
Moses took the rod of God in his hand.   21 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.v-p19.2">Lord</span> said unto Moses, When thou goest to
|
|
return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before
|
|
Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his
|
|
heart, that he shall not let the people go.   22 And thou
|
|
shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.v-p19.3">Lord</span>, Israel <i>is</i> my son, <i>even</i> my
|
|
firstborn:   23 And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he
|
|
may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay
|
|
thy son, <i>even</i> thy firstborn.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.v-p20">Here, I. Moses obtains leave of his
|
|
father-in-law to return into Egypt, <scripRef passage="Ex 4:18" id="Ex.v-p20.1" parsed="|Exod|4|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. His father-in-law had been kind
|
|
to him when he was a stranger, and therefore he would not be so
|
|
uncivil as to leave his family, nor so unjust as to leave his
|
|
service, without giving him notice. Note, The honour of being
|
|
admitted into communion with God, and of being employed for him,
|
|
does not exempt us from the duties of our relations and callings in
|
|
this world. Moses said nothing to his father-in-law (for aught that
|
|
appears) of the glorious manifestation of God to him; such favours
|
|
we are to be thankful for to God, but not to boast of before
|
|
men.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.v-p21">II. He receives from God further
|
|
encouragements and directions in his work. After God had appeared
|
|
to him in the bush to settle a correspondence, it should seem, he
|
|
often spoke to him, as there was occasion, with less overwhelming
|
|
solemnity. And, 1. He assures Moses that the coasts were clear.
|
|
Whatever new enemies he might make by his undertaking, his old
|
|
enemies were <i>all dead, all that sought his life,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 4:19" id="Ex.v-p21.1" parsed="|Exod|4|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. Perhaps some secret fear
|
|
of falling into their hands was at the bottom of Moses's
|
|
backwardness to go to Egypt, though he was not willing to own it,
|
|
but pleaded unworthiness, insufficiency, want of elocution, &c.
|
|
Note, God knows all the temptations his people lie under, and how
|
|
to arm them against their secret fears, <scripRef passage="Ps 142:3" id="Ex.v-p21.2" parsed="|Ps|142|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.142.3">Ps. cxlii. 3</scripRef>. 2. He orders him to do the
|
|
miracles, not only before the elders of Israel, but before Pharaoh,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 4:21" id="Ex.v-p21.3" parsed="|Exod|4|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. There were
|
|
some alive perhaps in the court of Pharaoh who remembered Moses
|
|
when he was the son of Pharaoh's daughter, and had many a time
|
|
called him a fool for deserting the honours of that relation; but
|
|
he is now sent back to court, clad with greater powers than
|
|
Pharaoh's daughter could have advanced him to, so that it might
|
|
appear he was no loser by his choice: this wonder-working rod did
|
|
more adorn the hand of Moses than the sceptre of Egypt could have
|
|
done. Note, Those that look with contempt upon worldly honours
|
|
shall be recompensed with the honour that cometh from God, which is
|
|
the true honour. 3. That Pharaoh's obstinacy might be no surprise
|
|
nor discouragement to him, God tells him before that he would
|
|
<i>harden his heart.</i> Pharaoh had hardened his own heart against
|
|
the groans and cries of the oppressed Israelites, and shut up the
|
|
bowels of his compassion from them; and now God, in a way of
|
|
righteous judgment, hardens his heart against the conviction of the
|
|
miracles, and the terror of the plagues. Note, Ministers must
|
|
expect with many to labour in vain: we must not think it strange if
|
|
we meet with those who will not be wrought upon by the strongest
|
|
arguments and fairest reasonings; yet our judgment is with the
|
|
Lord. 4. Words are put into his mouth with which to address
|
|
Pharaoh, <scripRef passage="Ex 4:22,23" id="Ex.v-p21.4" parsed="|Exod|4|22|4|23" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.22-Exod.4.23"><i>v.</i> 22,
|
|
23</scripRef>. God had promised him (<scripRef passage="Ex 4:12" id="Ex.v-p21.5" parsed="|Exod|4|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), <i>I will teach thee what thou
|
|
shalt say;</i> and here he does teach him. (1.) He must deliver his
|
|
message in the name of the great Jehovah: <i>Thus saith the
|
|
Lord;</i> this is the first time <i>that</i> preface is used by any
|
|
man which afterwards is used so frequently by all the prophets:
|
|
whether Pharaoh will hear, or whether he will forbear, Moses must
|
|
tell him, <i>Thus saith the Lord.</i> (2.) He must let Pharaoh know
|
|
Israel's relation to God, and God's concern for Israel. <i>Is
|
|
Israel a servant? is he a home-born slave?</i> <scripRef passage="Jer 2:14" id="Ex.v-p21.6" parsed="|Jer|2|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.2.14">Jer. ii. 14</scripRef>. "No, <i>Israel is my son, my
|
|
firstborn, precious in my sight, honourable,</i> and dear to me,
|
|
not to be thus insulted and abused." (3.) He must demand a
|
|
discharge for them: "<i>Let my son go;</i> not only my servant whom
|
|
thou hast no right to detain, but my son whose liberty and honour I
|
|
am very jealous for. It is my son, my son that serves me, and
|
|
therefore must be spared, must be pleaded for," <scripRef passage="Mal 3:17" id="Ex.v-p21.7" parsed="|Mal|3|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mal.3.17">Mal. iii. 17</scripRef>. (4.) He must threaten Pharaoh
|
|
with the death of the first-born of Egypt, in case of a refusal:
|
|
<i>I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.</i> As men deal with
|
|
God's people, let them expect to be themselves dealt with; with the
|
|
froward he will wrestle.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.v-p22">III. Moses addresses himself to this
|
|
expedition. When God had assured him (<scripRef passage="Ex 4:19" id="Ex.v-p22.1" parsed="|Exod|4|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>) that the men were dead who
|
|
sought his life, immediately it follows (<scripRef passage="Ex 4:20" id="Ex.v-p22.2" parsed="|Exod|4|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>), <i>he took his wife, and his
|
|
sons,</i> and set out for Egypt. Note, Though corruption may object
|
|
much against the services God calls us to, yet grace will get the
|
|
upper hand, and will be obedient to the heavenly vision.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 4:24-31" id="Ex.v-p22.3" parsed="|Exod|4|24|4|31" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.24-Exod.4.31"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.4.24-Exod.4.31">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.v-p22.4">The Circumcision of the Son of
|
|
Moses. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.v-p22.5">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.v-p23">24 And it came to pass by the way in the inn,
|
|
that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.v-p23.1">Lord</span> met him, and sought to
|
|
kill him.   25 Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off
|
|
the foreskin of her son, and cast <i>it</i> at his feet, and said,
|
|
Surely a bloody husband <i>art</i> thou to me.   26 So he let
|
|
him go: then she said, A bloody husband <i>thou art,</i> because of
|
|
the circumcision.   27 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.v-p23.2">Lord</span> said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to
|
|
meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mount of God, and
|
|
kissed him.   28 And Moses told Aaron all the words of the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.v-p23.3">Lord</span> who had sent him, and all the
|
|
signs which he had commanded him.   29 And Moses and Aaron
|
|
went and gathered together all the elders of the children of
|
|
Israel:   30 And Aaron spake all the words which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.v-p23.4">Lord</span> had spoken unto Moses, and did the
|
|
signs in the sight of the people.   31 And the people
|
|
believed: and when they heard that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.v-p23.5">Lord</span> had visited the children of Israel, and
|
|
that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their
|
|
heads and worshipped.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.v-p24">Moses is here going to Egypt, and we are
|
|
told,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.v-p25">I. How God met him in anger, <scripRef passage="Ex 4:24-26" id="Ex.v-p25.1" parsed="|Exod|4|24|4|26" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.24-Exod.4.26"><i>v.</i> 24-26</scripRef>. This is a very
|
|
difficult passage of story; much has been written, and excellently
|
|
written, to make it intelligible; we will try to make it improving.
|
|
Here is,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.v-p26">1. The sin of Moses, which was neglecting
|
|
to circumcise his son. This was probably the effect of his being
|
|
unequally yoked with a Midianite, who was too indulgent of her
|
|
child, while Moses was too indulgent of her. Note, (1.) We have
|
|
need to watch carefully over our own hearts, lest fondness for any
|
|
relation prevail above our love to God, and take us off from our
|
|
duty to him. It is charged upon Eli that he <i>honoured his sons
|
|
more than God</i> (<scripRef passage="1Sa 2:29" id="Ex.v-p26.1" parsed="|1Sam|2|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.2.29">1 Sam. ii.
|
|
29</scripRef>); and see <scripRef passage="Mt 10:37" id="Ex.v-p26.2" parsed="|Matt|10|37|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.10.37">Matt. x.
|
|
37</scripRef>. (2.) Even good men are apt to cool in their zeal for
|
|
God and duty when they have long been deprived of the society of
|
|
the faithful: solitude has its advantages, but they seldom
|
|
counterbalance the loss of Christian communion.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.v-p27">2. God's displeasure against him. He met
|
|
him, and, probably by a sword in an angel's hand, sought to kill
|
|
him. This was a great change; very lately God was conversing with
|
|
him, and lodging a trust in him, as a friend; and now he is coming
|
|
forth against him as an enemy. Note, (1.) Omissions are sins, and
|
|
must come into judgment, and particularly the contempt and neglect
|
|
of the seals of the covenant; for it is a sign that we undervalue
|
|
the promises of the covenant, and are displeased with the
|
|
conditions of it. He that has made a bargain, and is not willing to
|
|
seal and ratify it, one may justly suspect, neither likes it nor
|
|
designs to stand to it. (2.) God takes notice of, and is much
|
|
displeased with, the sins of his own people. If they neglect their
|
|
duty, let them expect to hear of it by their consciences, and
|
|
perhaps to feel from it by cross providences: for this cause many
|
|
are sick and weak, as some think Moses was here.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.v-p28">3. The speedy performance of the duty for
|
|
the neglect of which God had now a controversy with him. His son
|
|
must be circumcised; Moses is unable to circumcise him; therefore,
|
|
in this case of necessity, Zipporah does it, whether with
|
|
passionate words (expressing her dislike of the ordinance itself,
|
|
or at least the administration of it to so young a child, and in a
|
|
journey), as to me it seems, or with proper words—solemnly
|
|
expressing the espousal of the child to God by the covenant of
|
|
circumcision (as some read it) or her thankfulness to God for
|
|
sparing her husband, giving him a new life, and thereby giving her,
|
|
as it were, a new marriage to him, upon her circumcising her son
|
|
(as others read it)—I cannot determine: but we learn, (1.) That
|
|
when God discovers to us what is amiss in our lives we must give
|
|
all diligence to amend it speedily, and particularly return to the
|
|
duties we have neglected. (2.) The putting away of our sins is
|
|
indispensably necessary to the removal of God's judgements. This is
|
|
the voice of every rod, it calls to us to return to him that smites
|
|
us.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.v-p29">4. The release of Moses thereupon: <i>So he
|
|
let him go;</i> the distemper went off, the destroying angel
|
|
withdrew, and all was well: only Zipporah cannot forget the fright
|
|
she was in, but will unreasonably call Moses <i>a bloody
|
|
husband,</i> because he obliged her to circumcise the child; and,
|
|
upon this occasion (it is probable), he sent them back to his
|
|
father-in-law, that they might not create him any further
|
|
uneasiness. Note, (1.) When we return to God in a way of duty he
|
|
will return to us in a way of mercy; take away the cause, and the
|
|
effect will cease. (2.) We must resolve to bear it patiently, if
|
|
our zeal for God and his institutions be misinterpreted and
|
|
discouraged by some that should understand themselves, and us, and
|
|
their duty, better, as David's zeal was misinterpreted by Michal;
|
|
but if this be to be vile, if this be to be bloody, we must be yet
|
|
more so. (3.) When we have any special service to do for God we
|
|
should remove as far from us as we can that which is likely to be
|
|
our hindrance. <i>Let the dead bury their dead, but follow thou
|
|
me.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.v-p30">II. How Aaron met him in love, <scripRef passage="Ex 4:27,28" id="Ex.v-p30.1" parsed="|Exod|4|27|4|28" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.27-Exod.4.28"><i>v.</i> 27, 28</scripRef>. 1. God sent Aaron
|
|
to meet him, and directed him where to find him, in the wilderness
|
|
that lay towards Midian. Note, The providence of God is to be
|
|
acknowledged in the comfortable meeting of relations and friends.
|
|
2. Aaron made so much haste, in obedience to his God, and in love
|
|
to his brother, that he met him <i>in the mount of God,</i> the
|
|
place where God had met with him. 3. They embraced one another with
|
|
mutual endearments. The more they saw of God's immediate direction
|
|
in bringing them together the more pleasant their interview was:
|
|
they <i>kissed,</i> not only in token of brotherly affection, and
|
|
in remembrance of ancient acquaintance, but as a pledge of their
|
|
hearty concurrence in the work to which they were jointly called.
|
|
4. Moses informed his brother of the commission he had received,
|
|
with all the instructions and credentials affixed to it, <scripRef passage="Ex 4:28" id="Ex.v-p30.2" parsed="|Exod|4|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>. Note, What we know of
|
|
God we should communicate for the benefit of others; and those that
|
|
are fellow-servants to God in the same work should use a mutual
|
|
freedom, and endeavour rightly and fully to understand one
|
|
another.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.v-p31">III. How the elders of Israel met him in
|
|
faith and obedience. When Moses and Aaron first opened their
|
|
commission in Egypt, said what they were ordered to say, and, to
|
|
confirm it, did what they were ordered to do, they met with a
|
|
better reception than they promised themselves, <scripRef passage="Ex 4:29-31" id="Ex.v-p31.1" parsed="|Exod|4|29|4|31" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.29-Exod.4.31"><i>v.</i> 29-31</scripRef>. 1. The Israelites gave
|
|
credit to them: <i>The people believed,</i> as God had foretold
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 3:18" id="Ex.v-p31.2" parsed="|Exod|3|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.18"><i>ch.</i> iii. 18</scripRef>),
|
|
knowing that no man could do those works that they did, unless God
|
|
were with him. They gave glory to God: <i>They bowed their heads
|
|
and worshipped,</i> therein expressing not only their humble
|
|
thankfulness to God, who had raised them up and sent them a
|
|
deliverer, but also their cheerful readiness to observe orders, and
|
|
pursue the methods of their deliverance.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter V" n="vi" progress="33.42%" prev="Ex.v" next="Ex.vii" id="Ex.vi">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.vi-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.vi-p0.2">CHAP. V.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.vi-p1">Moses and Aaron are here dealing with Pharaoh, to
|
|
get leave of him to go and worship in the wilderness. I. They
|
|
demand leave in the name of God (<scripRef passage="Ex 5:1" id="Ex.vi-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|5|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.1">ver.
|
|
1</scripRef>), and he answers their demand with a defiance of God,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 5:2" id="Ex.vi-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|5|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.2">ver. 2</scripRef>. II. They beg leave in
|
|
the name of Israel (<scripRef passage="Ex 5:3" id="Ex.vi-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|5|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.3">ver. 3</scripRef>),
|
|
and he answers their request with further orders to oppress Israel,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 5:4-9" id="Ex.vi-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|5|4|5|9" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.4-Exod.5.9">ver. 4-9</scripRef>. These cruel
|
|
orders were, 1. Executed by the task-masters, <scripRef passage="Ex 5:10-14" id="Ex.vi-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|5|10|5|14" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.10-Exod.5.14">ver. 10-14</scripRef>. 2. Complained of to Pharaoh,
|
|
but in vain, <scripRef passage="Ex 5:15-19" id="Ex.vi-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|5|15|5|19" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.15-Exod.5.19">ver. 15-19</scripRef>.
|
|
3. Complained of by the people to Moses <scripRef passage="Ex 5:20,21" id="Ex.vi-p1.7" parsed="|Exod|5|20|5|21" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.20-Exod.5.21">ver. 20, 21</scripRef>), and by him to God, <scripRef passage="Ex 5:22,23" id="Ex.vi-p1.8" parsed="|Exod|5|22|5|23" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.22-Exod.5.23">ver. 22, 23</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 5" id="Ex.vi-p1.9" parsed="|Exod|5|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 5:1-2" id="Ex.vi-p1.10" parsed="|Exod|5|1|5|2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.1-Exod.5.2"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.5.1-Exod.5.2">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.vi-p1.11">Sufferings of the Israelites
|
|
Increased. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.vi-p1.12">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.vi-p2">1 And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and
|
|
told Pharaoh, Thus saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.vi-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me
|
|
in the wilderness.   2 And Pharaoh said, Who <i>is</i> the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.vi-p2.2">Lord</span>, that I should obey his voice
|
|
to let Israel go? I know not the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.vi-p2.3">Lord</span>, neither will I let Israel go.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.vi-p3">Moses and Aaron, having delivered their
|
|
message to the elders of Israel, with whom they found good
|
|
acceptance, are now to deal with Pharaoh, to whom they come in
|
|
peril of their lives—<i>Moses</i> particularly, who perhaps was
|
|
out-lawed for killing the Egyptian forty years before, so that if
|
|
any of the old courtiers should happen to remember that against him
|
|
now it might cost him his head. Their message itself was
|
|
displeasing, and touch Pharaoh both in his honour and in his
|
|
profit, two tender points; yet these faithful ambassadors boldly
|
|
deliver it, whether he will hear or whether he will forbear.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.vi-p4">I. Their demand is piously bold: <i>Thus
|
|
saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 5:1" id="Ex.vi-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|5|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. Moses, in treating with
|
|
the elders of Israel, is directed to call God <i>the God of their
|
|
fathers;</i> but, in treating with Pharaoh, they call him <i>the
|
|
God of Israel,</i> and it is the first time we find him called so
|
|
in scripture: he is called <i>the God of Israel,</i> the
|
|
<i>person</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 33:20" id="Ex.vi-p4.2" parsed="|Gen|33|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.33.20">Gen. xxxiii.
|
|
20</scripRef>); but here it is Israel, the <i>people.</i> They are
|
|
just beginning to be formed into a people when God is called their
|
|
God. Moses, it is likely, was directed to call him so, at least it
|
|
might be inferred from <scripRef passage="Ex 9:22" id="Ex.vi-p4.3" parsed="|Exod|9|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.22"><i>ch.</i> ix.
|
|
22</scripRef>, <i>Israel is my son.</i> In this great name they
|
|
deliver their message: <i>Let my people go.</i> 1. They were God's
|
|
people, and therefore Pharaoh ought not to detain them in bondage.
|
|
Note, God will own his own people, though ever so poor and
|
|
despicable, and will find a time to plead their cause. "The
|
|
Israelites are slaves in Egypt, but they are my people," says God,
|
|
"and I will not suffer them to be always trampled upon." See
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 52:4,5" id="Ex.vi-p4.4" parsed="|Isa|52|4|52|5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.52.4-Isa.52.5">Isa. lii. 4, 5</scripRef>. 2. He
|
|
expected services and sacrifices from them, and therefore they must
|
|
have leave to go where they could freely exercise their religion,
|
|
without giving offence to, or receiving offence from, the
|
|
Egyptians. Note, God delivers his people out of the hand of their
|
|
enemies, that they may serve him, and serve him cheerfully, that
|
|
they may hold a feast to him, which they may do, while they have
|
|
his favour and presence, even in a wilderness, a dry and barren
|
|
land.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.vi-p5">II. Pharaoh's answer is impiously bold:
|
|
<i>Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice?</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 5:2" id="Ex.vi-p5.1" parsed="|Exod|5|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. Being summoned to
|
|
surrender, he thus hangs out the flag of defiance, hectors Moses
|
|
and the God that sends him, and peremptorily refuses to let Israel
|
|
go; he will not treat about it, nor so much as bear the mention of
|
|
it. Observe, 1. How scornfully he speaks of the God of Israel:
|
|
"<i>Who is Jehovah?</i> I neither know him nor care for him,
|
|
neither value him nor fear him:" it is a hard name that he never
|
|
heard of before, but he resolves it shall be no bug-bear to him.
|
|
Israel was now a despised oppressed people, looked on as the tail
|
|
of the nation, and, by the character they bore, Pharaoh makes his
|
|
estimate of their God, and concludes that he made no better a
|
|
figure among the gods than his people did among the nations. Note,
|
|
Hardened persecutors are more malicious against God himself than
|
|
they are against his people. See <scripRef passage="Isa 37:23" id="Ex.vi-p5.2" parsed="|Isa|37|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.37.23">Isa.
|
|
xxxvii. 23</scripRef>. Again, Ignorance and contempt of God are at
|
|
the bottom of all the wickedness that is in the world. Men know not
|
|
the Lord, or have very low and mean thoughts of him, and therefore
|
|
they obey not his voice, nor will let any thing go for him. 2. How
|
|
proudly he speaks of himself: "<i>That I should obey his voice;</i>
|
|
I, the king of Egypt, a great people, obey the God of Israel, a
|
|
poor enslaved people? Shall I, that rule the Israel of God, obey
|
|
the God of Israel? No, it is below me; I scorn to answer his
|
|
summons." Note, Those are the children of pride that are the
|
|
<i>children of disobedience,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 41:34,Eph 5:6" id="Ex.vi-p5.3" parsed="|Job|41|34|0|0;|Eph|5|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.41.34 Bible:Eph.5.6">Job xli. 34; Eph. v. 6</scripRef>. Proud men
|
|
think themselves too good to stoop even to God himself, and would
|
|
not be under control, <scripRef passage="Jer 43:2" id="Ex.vi-p5.4" parsed="|Jer|43|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.43.2">Jer. xliii.
|
|
2</scripRef>. Here is the core of the controversy: God must rule,
|
|
but man will not be ruled. "I will have my will done," says God:
|
|
"But I will do my own will," says the sinner. 3. How resolutely he
|
|
denies the demand: <i>Neither will I let Israel go.</i> Note, Of
|
|
all sinners none are so obstinate, nor so hardly persuaded to leave
|
|
their sin, as persecutors are.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 5:3-9" id="Ex.vi-p5.5" parsed="|Exod|5|3|5|9" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.3-Exod.5.9"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.5.3-Exod.5.9">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.vi-p6">3 And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met
|
|
with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the
|
|
desert, and sacrifice unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.vi-p6.1">Lord</span>
|
|
our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword.
|
|
  4 And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye,
|
|
Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? get you unto your
|
|
burdens.   5 And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land
|
|
now <i>are</i> many, and ye make them rest from their burdens.
|
|
  6 And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the
|
|
people, and their officers, saying,   7 Ye shall no more give
|
|
the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and
|
|
gather straw for themselves.   8 And the tale of the bricks,
|
|
which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall
|
|
not diminish <i>ought</i> thereof: for they <i>be</i> idle;
|
|
therefore they cry, saying, Let us go <i>and</i> sacrifice to our
|
|
God.   9 Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they
|
|
may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.vi-p7">Finding that Pharaoh had no veneration at
|
|
all for God, Moses and Aaron next try whether he had any compassion
|
|
for Israel, and become humble suitors to him for leave to go and
|
|
sacrifice, but in vain.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.vi-p8">I. Their request is very humble and modest,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 5:3" id="Ex.vi-p8.1" parsed="|Exod|5|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. They make no
|
|
complaint of the rigour they were ruled with. They plead that the
|
|
journey they designed was not a project formed among themselves,
|
|
but that their God had met with them, and called them to it. They
|
|
beg with all submission: <i>We pray thee.</i> The poor useth
|
|
entreaties; though God may summon princes that oppress, it becomes
|
|
us to beseech and make supplication to them. What they ask is very
|
|
reasonable, only for a short vacation, while they went three days'
|
|
journey into the desert, and that on a good errand, and
|
|
unexceptionable: "<i>We will sacrifice unto the Lord our God,</i>
|
|
as other people do to theirs;" and, <i>lastly,</i> they give a very
|
|
good reason, "Lest, if we quite cast off his worship, he fall upon
|
|
us with one judgment or other, and then Pharaoh will lose his
|
|
vassals."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.vi-p9">II. Pharaoh's denial of their request is
|
|
very barbarous and unreasonable, <scripRef passage="Ex 5:4-9" id="Ex.vi-p9.1" parsed="|Exod|5|4|5|9" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.4-Exod.5.9"><i>v.</i> 4-9</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.vi-p10">1. His suggestions were very unreasonable.
|
|
(1.) That the people were idle, and that therefore they talked of
|
|
going to sacrifice. The cities they built for Pharaoh, and the
|
|
other fruit of their labours, were witnesses for them that they
|
|
were not idle; yet he thus basely misrepresents them, that he might
|
|
have a pretence to increase their burdens. (2.) That Moses and
|
|
Aaron made them idle with vain words, <scripRef passage="Ex 5:9" id="Ex.vi-p10.1" parsed="|Exod|5|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. God's words are here called vain
|
|
words; and those that called them to the best and most needful
|
|
business are accused of making them idle. Note, The malice of Satan
|
|
has often represented the service and worship of God as fit
|
|
employment for those only that have nothing else to do, and the
|
|
business only of the idle; whereas indeed it is the indispensable
|
|
duty of those that are most busy in the world.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.vi-p11">2. His resolutions hereupon were most
|
|
barbarous. (1.) Moses and Aaron themselves must get to <i>their
|
|
burdens</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 5:4" id="Ex.vi-p11.1" parsed="|Exod|5|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>);
|
|
they are Israelites, and, however God had distinguished them from
|
|
the rest, Pharaoh makes no difference: they must share in the
|
|
common slavery of their nation. Persecutors have always taken a
|
|
particular pleasure in putting contempt and hardship upon the
|
|
ministers of the churches. (2.) The usual tale of bricks must be
|
|
exacted, without the usual allowance of straw to mix with the clay,
|
|
or to burn the bricks with, that thus more work might be laid upon
|
|
the men, which if they performed, they would be broken with labour;
|
|
and, if not, they would be exposed to punishment.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 5" id="Ex.vi-p11.2" parsed="|Exod|5|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 5:10-14" id="Ex.vi-p11.3" parsed="|Exod|5|10|5|14" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.10-Exod.5.14"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.5.10-Exod.5.14">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.vi-p12">10 And the taskmasters of the people went out,
|
|
and their officers, and they spake to the people, saying, Thus
|
|
saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw.   11 Go ye, get you
|
|
straw where ye can find it: yet not ought of your work shall be
|
|
diminished.   12 So the people were scattered abroad
|
|
throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of
|
|
straw.   13 And the taskmasters hasted <i>them,</i> saying,
|
|
Fulfil your works, <i>your</i> daily tasks, as when there was
|
|
straw.   14 And the officers of the children of Israel, which
|
|
Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, <i>and</i>
|
|
demanded, Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task in making brick
|
|
both yesterday and to day, as heretofore?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.vi-p13">Pharaoh's orders are here put in execution;
|
|
straw is denied, and yet the work not diminished. 1. The Egyptian
|
|
task-masters were very severe. Pharaoh having decreed unrighteous
|
|
decrees, the task-masters were ready to write the grievousness that
|
|
he had prescribed, <scripRef passage="Isa 10:1" id="Ex.vi-p13.1" parsed="|Isa|10|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.10.1">Isa. x.
|
|
1</scripRef>. Cruel princes will never want cruel instruments to be
|
|
employed under them, who will justify them in that which is most
|
|
unreasonable. These task-masters insisted upon the daily tasks, as
|
|
when there was straw, <scripRef passage="Ex 5:13" id="Ex.vi-p13.2" parsed="|Exod|5|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.13"><i>v.</i>
|
|
13</scripRef>. See what need we have to pray that <i>we may be
|
|
delivered from unreasonable and wicked men,</i> <scripRef passage="2Th 3:2" id="Ex.vi-p13.3" parsed="|2Thess|3|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Thess.3.2">2 Thess. iii. 2</scripRef>. The enmity of the serpent's
|
|
seed against the seed of the woman is such as breaks through all
|
|
the laws of reason, honour, humanity, and common justice. 2. The
|
|
people hereby were dispersed throughout all the land of Egypt, to
|
|
gather stubble, <scripRef passage="Ex 5:12" id="Ex.vi-p13.4" parsed="|Exod|5|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.12"><i>v.</i>
|
|
12</scripRef>. By this means Pharaoh's unjust and barbarous usage
|
|
of them came to be known to all the kingdom, and perhaps caused
|
|
them to be pitied by their neighbours, and made Pharaoh's
|
|
government less acceptable even to his own subjects: good-will is
|
|
never got by persecution. 3. The Israelite-officers were used with
|
|
particular harshness, <scripRef passage="Ex 5:14" id="Ex.vi-p13.5" parsed="|Exod|5|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.14"><i>v.</i>
|
|
14</scripRef>. Those that were the fathers of the houses of Israel
|
|
paid dearly for their honour; for from them immediately the service
|
|
was exacted, and they were beaten when it was not performed. See
|
|
here, (1.) What a miserable thing slavery is, and what reason we
|
|
have to be thankful to God that we are a free people, and not
|
|
oppressed. Liberty and property are valuable jewels in the eyes of
|
|
those whose services and possessions lie at the mercy of an
|
|
arbitrary power. (2.) What disappointments we often meet with after
|
|
the raising of our expectations. The Israelites were now lately
|
|
encouraged to hope for enlargement, but behold greater distresses.
|
|
This teaches us always to rejoice with trembling. (3.) What strange
|
|
steps God sometimes takes in delivering his people; he often brings
|
|
them to the utmost straits when he is just ready to appear for
|
|
them. The lowest ebbs go before the highest tides; and very cloudy
|
|
mornings commonly introduce the fairest days, <scripRef passage="De 32:36" id="Ex.vi-p13.6" parsed="|Deut|32|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.36">Deut. xxxii. 36</scripRef>. God's time to help is when
|
|
things are at the worst; and Providence verifies the paradox,
|
|
<i>The worse the better.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 5" id="Ex.vi-p13.7" parsed="|Exod|5|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 5:15-23" id="Ex.vi-p13.8" parsed="|Exod|5|15|5|23" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.15-Exod.5.23"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.5.15-Exod.5.23">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.vi-p14">15 Then the officers of the children of Israel
|
|
came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying, Wherefore dealest thou thus
|
|
with thy servants?   16 There is no straw given unto thy
|
|
servants, and they say to us, Make brick: and, behold, thy servants
|
|
<i>are</i> beaten; but the fault <i>is</i> in thine own people.
|
|
  17 But he said, Ye <i>are</i> idle, <i>ye are</i> idle:
|
|
therefore ye say, Let us go <i>and</i> do sacrifice to the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.vi-p14.1">Lord</span>.   18 Go therefore now,
|
|
<i>and</i> work; for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall
|
|
ye deliver the tale of bricks.   19 And the officers of the
|
|
children of Israel did see <i>that</i> they <i>were</i> in evil
|
|
<i>case,</i> after it was said, Ye shall not minish <i>ought</i>
|
|
from your bricks of your daily task.   20 And they met Moses
|
|
and Aaron, who stood in the way, as they came forth from Pharaoh:
|
|
  21 And they said unto them, The <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.vi-p14.2">Lord</span> look upon you, and judge; because ye have
|
|
made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the
|
|
eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us.
|
|
  22 And Moses returned unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.vi-p14.3">Lord</span>, and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou
|
|
<i>so</i> evil entreated this people? why <i>is</i> it <i>that</i>
|
|
thou hast sent me?   23 For since I came to Pharaoh to speak
|
|
in thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast thou
|
|
delivered thy people at all.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.vi-p15">It was a great strait that the head-workmen
|
|
were in, when they must either abuse those that were under them or
|
|
be abused by those that were over them; yet, it should seem, rather
|
|
than they would tyrannize, they would be tyrannized over; and they
|
|
were so. In this evil case (<scripRef passage="Ex 5:19" id="Ex.vi-p15.1" parsed="|Exod|5|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.19"><i>v.</i>
|
|
19</scripRef>), observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.vi-p16">I. How justly they complained to Pharaoh:
|
|
They <i>came and cried unto Pharaoh,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 5:15" id="Ex.vi-p16.1" parsed="|Exod|5|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. Whither should they go with a
|
|
remonstrance of their grievances but to the supreme power, which is
|
|
ordained for the protection of the injured? As bad as Pharaoh was
|
|
his oppressed subjects had liberty to complain to him; there was no
|
|
law against petitioning: it was a very modest, but moving,
|
|
representation that they made of their condition (<scripRef passage="Ex 5:16" id="Ex.vi-p16.2" parsed="|Exod|5|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>): <i>Thy servants are
|
|
beaten</i> (severely enough, no doubt, when things were in such a
|
|
ferment), and yet <i>the fault is in thy own people,</i> the
|
|
task-masters, who deny us what is necessary for carrying on our
|
|
work. Note, It is common for those to be most rigorous in blaming
|
|
others who are most blameworthy themselves. But what did they get
|
|
by this complaint? It did but make bad worse. 1. Pharaoh taunted
|
|
them (<scripRef passage="Ex 5:17" id="Ex.vi-p16.3" parsed="|Exod|5|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>); when
|
|
they were almost killed with working, he told them they were idle:
|
|
they underwent the fatigue of industry, and yet lay under the
|
|
imputation of slothfulness, while nothing appeared to ground the
|
|
charge upon but this, that they said, <i>Let us go and do
|
|
sacrifice.</i> Note, It is common for the best actions to be
|
|
mentioned under the worst names; holy diligence in the best
|
|
business is censured by many as a culpable carelessness in the
|
|
business of the world. It is well for us that men are not to be our
|
|
judges, but a God who knows what the principles are on which we
|
|
act. Those that are diligent in doing sacrifice to the Lord will,
|
|
with God, escape the doom of the slothful servant, though, with
|
|
men, they do not. 2. He bound on their burdens: <i>Go now and
|
|
work.</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 5:18" id="Ex.vi-p16.4" parsed="|Exod|5|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, wickedness proceedeth from the wicked; what can be expected
|
|
from unrighteous men but more unrighteousness?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.vi-p17">II. How unjustly they complained of Moses
|
|
and Aaron: <i>The Lord look upon you, and judge,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 5:21" id="Ex.vi-p17.1" parsed="|Exod|5|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. This was not fair. Moses
|
|
and Aaron had given sufficient evidence of their hearty good-will
|
|
to the liberties of Israel; and yet, because things succeed not
|
|
immediately as they hoped, they are reproached as accessaries to
|
|
their slavery. They should have humbled themselves before God, and
|
|
taken to themselves the shame of their sin, which turned away good
|
|
things from them; but, instead of this, they fly in the face of
|
|
their best friends, and quarrel with the instruments of their
|
|
deliverance, because of some little difficulties and obstructions
|
|
they met with in effecting it. Note, Those that are called out to
|
|
public service for God and their generation must expect to be
|
|
tried, not only by the malicious threats of proud enemies, but by
|
|
the unjust and unkind censures of unthinking friends, who judge
|
|
only by outward appearance and look but a little way before them.
|
|
Now what did Moses do in this strait? It grieved him to the heart
|
|
that the event did not answer, but rather contradict, his
|
|
expectation; and their upbraidings were very cutting, and like a
|
|
sword in his bones; but, 1. He returned to the Lord (<scripRef passage="Ex 5:22" id="Ex.vi-p17.2" parsed="|Exod|5|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>), to acquaint him with
|
|
it, and to represent the case to him: he knew that what he had said
|
|
and done was by divine direction; and therefore what blame is laid
|
|
upon him for it he considers as reflecting upon God, and, like
|
|
Hezekiah, spreads it before him as interested in the cause, and
|
|
appeals to him. Compare this with <scripRef passage="Jer 20:7-9" id="Ex.vi-p17.3" parsed="|Jer|20|7|20|9" osisRef="Bible:Jer.20.7-Jer.20.9">Jer. xx. 7-9</scripRef>. Note, When we find ourselves,
|
|
at any time, perplexed and embarrassed in the way of our duty, we
|
|
ought to have recourse to God, and lay open our case before him by
|
|
faithful and fervent prayer. If we retreat, let us retreat to him,
|
|
and no further. 2. He expostulated with him, <scripRef passage="Ex 5:22,23" id="Ex.vi-p17.4" parsed="|Exod|5|22|5|23" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.22-Exod.5.23"><i>v.</i> 22, 23</scripRef>. He knew not how to
|
|
reconcile the providence with the promise and the commission which
|
|
he had received. "Is this God's coming down to deliver Israel? Must
|
|
I, who hoped to be a blessing to them, become a scourge to them? By
|
|
this attempt to get them out of the pit, they are but sunk the
|
|
deeper into it." Now he asks, (1.) <i>Wherefore hast thou so evil
|
|
entreated this people?</i> Note, Even when God is coming towards
|
|
his people in ways of mercy, he sometimes takes such methods as
|
|
that they may think themselves but ill treated. The instruments of
|
|
deliverance, when they aim to help, are found to hinder, and that
|
|
becomes a trap which, it was hoped, would have been for their
|
|
welfare, God suffering it to be so that we may learn to cease from
|
|
man, and may come off from a dependence upon second causes. Note,
|
|
further, When the people of God think themselves ill treated, they
|
|
should go to God by prayer, and plead with him, and that is the way
|
|
to have better treatment in God's good time. (2.) <i>Why is it thou
|
|
hast sent me?</i> Thus, [1.] He complains of his ill success:
|
|
"Pharaoh has done evil to this people, and not one step seems to be
|
|
taken towards their deliverance." Note, It cannot but sit very
|
|
heavily upon the spirits of those whom God employs for him to see
|
|
that their labour does no good, and much more to see that it does
|
|
hurt eventually, though not designedly. It is uncomfortable to a
|
|
good minister to perceive that his endeavours for men's conviction
|
|
and conversion do but exasperate their corruptions, confirm their
|
|
prejudices, harden their hearts, and seal them up under unbelief.
|
|
This makes them go in the bitterness of their souls, as the
|
|
prophet, <scripRef passage="Eze 3:14" id="Ex.vi-p17.5" parsed="|Ezek|3|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.3.14">Ezek. 3. 14</scripRef>. Or,
|
|
[2.] He enquires what was further to be done: <i>Why hast thou sent
|
|
me</i>? that is, "What other method shall I take in pursuance of my
|
|
commission?" Note, Disappointments in our work must not drive us
|
|
from our God, but still we must consider why we are sent.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter VI" n="vii" progress="33.80%" prev="Ex.vi" next="Ex.viii" id="Ex.vii">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.vii-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.vii-p0.2">CHAP. VI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.vii-p1">Much ado there was to bring Moses to his work, and
|
|
when the ice was broken, some difficulty having occurred in
|
|
carrying it on, there was no less ado to put him forward in it.
|
|
Witness this chapter, in which, I. God satisfies Moses himself in
|
|
an answer to his complaints in the close of the foregoing chapter,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 6:1" id="Ex.vii-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|6|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.1">ver. 1</scripRef>. II. He gives him
|
|
fuller instructions than had yet been given him what to say to the
|
|
children of Israel, for their satisfaction (<scripRef passage="Ex 6:2-8" id="Ex.vii-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|6|2|6|8" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.2-Exod.6.8">ver. 2-8</scripRef>), but to little purpose, <scripRef passage="Ex 6:9" id="Ex.vii-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|6|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.9">ver. 9</scripRef>. III. He sends him again to
|
|
Pharaoh, <scripRef passage="Ex 6:10,11" id="Ex.vii-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|6|10|6|11" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.10-Exod.6.11">ver. 10, 11</scripRef>. But
|
|
Moses objects against (<scripRef passage="Ex 6:12" id="Ex.vii-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|6|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.12">ver.
|
|
12</scripRef>), upon which a very strict charge is given to him and
|
|
his brother to execute their commission with vigour, <scripRef passage="Ex 6:13" id="Ex.vii-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|6|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.13">ver. 13</scripRef>. IV. Here is an abstract of
|
|
the genealogy of the tribes of Reuben and Simeon, to introduce that
|
|
of Levi, that the pedigree of Moses and Aaron might be cleared
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 6:14-25" id="Ex.vii-p1.7" parsed="|Exod|6|14|6|25" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.14-Exod.6.25">ver. 14-25</scripRef>), and then
|
|
the chapter concludes with a repetition of so much of the preceding
|
|
story as was necessary to make way for the following chapter.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 6" id="Ex.vii-p1.8" parsed="|Exod|6|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 6:1-9" id="Ex.vii-p1.9" parsed="|Exod|6|1|6|9" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.1-Exod.6.9"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.6.1-Exod.6.9">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.vii-p1.10">The Promise of Deliverance. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.vii-p1.11">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.vii-p2">1 Then the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.vii-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh: for
|
|
with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand
|
|
shall he drive them out of his land.   2 And God spake unto
|
|
Moses, and said unto him, I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.vii-p2.2">Lord</span>:   3 And I appeared unto Abraham, unto
|
|
Isaac, and unto Jacob, by <i>the name of</i> God Almighty, but by
|
|
my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.   4 And I have also
|
|
established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan,
|
|
the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers.   5
|
|
And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom
|
|
the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant.
|
|
  6 Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I <i>am</i> the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.vii-p2.3">Lord</span>, and I will bring you out from
|
|
under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their
|
|
bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with
|
|
great judgments:   7 And I will take you to me for a people,
|
|
and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I <i>am</i> the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.vii-p2.4">Lord</span> your God, which bringeth you
|
|
out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.   8 And I will
|
|
bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to
|
|
give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you
|
|
for an heritage: I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.vii-p2.5">Lord</span>.   9 And Moses spake so unto the
|
|
children of Israel: but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish
|
|
of spirit, and for cruel bondage.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.vii-p3">Here, I. God silences Moses's complaints
|
|
with the assurance of success in this negotiation, repeating the
|
|
promise made him in <scripRef passage="Ex 3:20" id="Ex.vii-p3.1" parsed="|Exod|3|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.20"><i>ch.</i> iii.
|
|
20</scripRef>, <i>After that, he will let you go.</i> When Moses
|
|
was at his wit's end, wishing he had staid in Midian, rather than
|
|
have come to Egypt to make bad worse—when he was quite at a loss
|
|
what to do—<i>Then the Lord said unto Moses,</i> for the quieting
|
|
of his mind, "<i>Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 6:1" id="Ex.vii-p3.2" parsed="|Exod|6|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>); now that the
|
|
affair has come to a crisis, things are as bad as they can be,
|
|
Pharaoh is in the height of pride and Israel in the depth of
|
|
misery, now is my time to appear." See <scripRef passage="Ps 12:5" id="Ex.vii-p3.3" parsed="|Ps|12|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.12.5">Ps. xii. 5</scripRef>, <i>Now will I arise.</i> Note,
|
|
Man's extremity is God's opportunity of helping and saving. Moses
|
|
had been expecting what God would do; but now he shall see what he
|
|
will do, shall see his day at length, <scripRef passage="Job 24:1" id="Ex.vii-p3.4" parsed="|Job|24|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.24.1">Job xxiv. 1</scripRef>. Moses had been trying what he
|
|
could do, and could effect nothing. "Well," says God, "now thou
|
|
shalt see what <i>I</i> will do; let me alone to deal with this
|
|
proud man," <scripRef passage="Job 40:12,13" id="Ex.vii-p3.5" parsed="|Job|40|12|40|13" osisRef="Bible:Job.40.12-Job.40.13">Job xl. 12,
|
|
13</scripRef>. Note, Then the deliverance of God's church will be
|
|
accomplished, when God takes the work into his own hands. <i>With a
|
|
strong hand,</i> that is, being forced to it by a strong hand,
|
|
<i>he shall let them go.</i> Note, As some are brought to their
|
|
duty by the strong hand of God's grace, who are made willing in the
|
|
day of his power, so others by the strong hand of his justice,
|
|
breaking those that would not bend.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.vii-p4">II. He gives him further instructions, that
|
|
both he and the people of Israel might be encouraged to hope for a
|
|
glorious issue of this affair. Take comfort,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.vii-p5">1. From God's name, Jehovah, <scripRef passage="Ex 6:2,3" id="Ex.vii-p5.1" parsed="|Exod|6|2|6|3" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.2-Exod.6.3"><i>v.</i> 2, 3</scripRef>. He begins with this,
|
|
<i>I am Jehovah,</i> the same with, <i>I am that I am,</i> the
|
|
fountain of being, and blessedness, and infinite perfection. The
|
|
patriarchs knew this name, but they did not know him in this matter
|
|
by that which this name signifies. God would now be known by his
|
|
name <i>Jehovah,</i> that is, (1.) A God performing what he had
|
|
promised, and so inspiring confidence in his promises. (2.) A God
|
|
perfecting what he had begun, and finishing his own work. In the
|
|
history of the creation, God is never called Jehovah till the
|
|
heavens and the earth were finished, <scripRef passage="Ge 2:4" id="Ex.vii-p5.2" parsed="|Gen|2|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.4">Gen. ii. 4</scripRef>. When the salvation of the saints is
|
|
completed in eternal life, then he will be known by his name
|
|
Jehovah (<scripRef passage="Re 22:13" id="Ex.vii-p5.3" parsed="|Rev|22|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.22.13">Rev. xxii. 13</scripRef>); in
|
|
the meantime they shall find him, for their strength and support,
|
|
<i>El-shaddai, a God all-sufficient,</i> a God that is enough and
|
|
will be so, <scripRef passage="Mic 7:20" id="Ex.vii-p5.4" parsed="|Mic|7|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mic.7.20">Mic. vii.
|
|
20</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.vii-p6">2. From his covenant: <i>I have established
|
|
my covenant,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 6:4" id="Ex.vii-p6.1" parsed="|Exod|6|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, The covenants God makes he establishes; they are made as firm
|
|
as the power and truth of God can make them. We may venture our all
|
|
upon this bottom.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.vii-p7">3. From his compassions (<scripRef passage="Ex 6:5" id="Ex.vii-p7.1" parsed="|Exod|6|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>): <i>I have heard the groaning of
|
|
the children of Israel;</i> he means their groaning on occasion of
|
|
the late hardships put upon them. Note, God take notice of the
|
|
increase of his people's calamities, and observes how their enemies
|
|
grow upon them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.vii-p8">4. From his present resolutions, <scripRef passage="Ex 6:6-8" id="Ex.vii-p8.1" parsed="|Exod|6|6|6|8" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.6-Exod.6.8"><i>v.</i> 6-8</scripRef>. Here is line upon
|
|
line, to assure them that they should be brought triumphantly out
|
|
of Egypt (<scripRef passage="Ex 6:6" id="Ex.vii-p8.2" parsed="|Exod|6|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), and
|
|
should be put in possession of the land of Canaan (<scripRef passage="Ex 6:8" id="Ex.vii-p8.3" parsed="|Exod|6|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>): <i>I will bring you out.
|
|
I will rid you. I will redeem you. I will bring you into the land
|
|
of Canaan,</i> and <i>I will give it to you.</i> Let man take the
|
|
shame of his unbelief, which needs such repetitions; and let God
|
|
have the glory of his condescending grace, which gives us such
|
|
repeated assurances for our satisfaction.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.vii-p9">5. From his gracious intentions in all
|
|
these, which were great, and worthy of him, <scripRef passage="Ex 6:7" id="Ex.vii-p9.1" parsed="|Exod|6|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. (1.) He intended their happiness:
|
|
<i>I will take you to me for a people,</i> a peculiar people, and
|
|
<i>I will be to you a God;</i> more than this we need not ask, we
|
|
cannot have, to make us happy. (2.) He intended his own glory:
|
|
<i>You shall know that I am the Lord.</i> God will attain his own
|
|
ends, nor shall we come short of them if we make them our chief end
|
|
too. Now, one would think, these good words, and comfortable words,
|
|
should have revived the drooping Israelites, and cause them to
|
|
forget their misery; but, on the contrary, their miseries made them
|
|
regardless of God's promises (<scripRef passage="Ex 6:9" id="Ex.vii-p9.2" parsed="|Exod|6|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.9"><i>v.</i>
|
|
9</scripRef>): <i>They harkened not unto Moses for anguish of
|
|
spirit.</i> That is, [1.] They were so taken up with their troubles
|
|
that they did not heed him. [2.] They were so cast down with their
|
|
late disappointment that they did not believe him. [3.] They had
|
|
such a dread of Pharaoh's power and wrath that they durst not
|
|
themselves move in the least towards their deliverance. Note,
|
|
<i>First,</i> Disconsolate spirits often put from them the comforts
|
|
they are entitled to, and stand in their own light. See <scripRef passage="Isa 28:12" id="Ex.vii-p9.3" parsed="|Isa|28|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.28.12">Isa. xxviii. 12</scripRef>. <i>Secondly,</i>
|
|
Strong passions oppose strong consolations. By indulging ourselves
|
|
in discontent and fretfulness, we deprive ourselves of the comfort
|
|
we might have both from God's word and from his providence, and
|
|
must thank ourselves if we go comfortless.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 6" id="Ex.vii-p9.4" parsed="|Exod|6|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 6:10-13" id="Ex.vii-p9.5" parsed="|Exod|6|10|6|13" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.10-Exod.6.13"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.6.10-Exod.6.13">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.vii-p10">10 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.vii-p10.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   11 Go in, speak unto Pharaoh king
|
|
of Egypt, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land.
|
|
  12 And Moses spake before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.vii-p10.2">Lord</span>, saying, Behold, the children of Israel
|
|
have not hearkened unto me; how then shall Pharaoh hear me, who
|
|
<i>am</i> of uncircumcised lips?   13 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.vii-p10.3">Lord</span> spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, and gave
|
|
them a charge unto the children of Israel, and unto Pharaoh king of
|
|
Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of
|
|
Egypt.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.vii-p11">Here, I. God sends Moses the second time to
|
|
Pharaoh (<scripRef passage="Ex 6:11" id="Ex.vii-p11.1" parsed="|Exod|6|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>) upon
|
|
the same errand as before, to command him, at his peril, that he
|
|
<i>let the children of Israel go.</i> Note, God repeats his
|
|
precepts before he begins his punishments. Those that have often
|
|
been called in vain to leave their sins must yet be called again
|
|
and again, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Eze 3:1" id="Ex.vii-p11.2" parsed="|Ezek|3|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.3.1">Ezek. iii. 11</scripRef>. God is said
|
|
to <i>hew</i> sinners by his prophets (<scripRef passage="Ho 6:5" id="Ex.vii-p11.3" parsed="|Hos|6|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.6.5">Hos. vi. 5</scripRef>), which denotes the repetition of
|
|
the strokes. <i>How often would I have gathered you?</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.vii-p12">II. Moses makes objections, as one
|
|
discouraged, and willing to give up the cause, <scripRef passage="Ex 6:12" id="Ex.vii-p12.1" parsed="|Exod|6|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. He pleads, 1. The unlikelihood
|
|
of Pharaoh's hearing: "<i>Behold the children of Israel have not
|
|
hearkened unto me;</i> they give no heed, no credit, to what I have
|
|
said; how then can I expect that Pharaoh should hear me? If the
|
|
anguish of their spirit makes them deaf to that which would compose
|
|
and comfort them, much more will the anger of his spirit, his pride
|
|
and insolence, make him deaf to that which will but exasperate and
|
|
provoke him." If God's professing people hear not his messengers,
|
|
how can it be thought that his professed enemy should? Note, The
|
|
frowardness and untractableness of those that are called Christians
|
|
greatly discourage ministers, and make them ready to despair of
|
|
success in dealing with those that are atheistical and profane. We
|
|
would be instrumental to unite Israelites, to refine and purify
|
|
them, to comfort and pacify them; but, if they hearken not to us,
|
|
how shall we prevail with those in whom we cannot pretend to such
|
|
an interest? But with God all things are possible. 2. He pleads the
|
|
unreadiness and infirmity of his own speaking: <i>I am of
|
|
uncircumcised lips;</i> it is repeated, <scripRef passage="Ex 6:30" id="Ex.vii-p12.2" parsed="|Exod|6|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>. He was conscious to himself that
|
|
he had not the gift of utterance, had no command of language; his
|
|
talent did not lie that way. To this objection God had given a
|
|
sufficient answer before, and therefore he ought not to have
|
|
insisted upon it, for the sufficiency of grace can supply the
|
|
defects of nature at any time. Note, Though our infirmities ought
|
|
to humble us, yet they ought not to discourage us from doing our
|
|
best in any service we have to do for God. His strength is made
|
|
perfect in our weakness.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.vii-p13">III. God again joins Aaron in commission
|
|
with Moses, and puts an end to the dispute by interposing his own
|
|
authority, and giving them both a solemn charge, upon their
|
|
allegiance to their great Lord, to execute it with all possible
|
|
expedition and fidelity. When Moses repeats his baffled arguments,
|
|
he shall be argued with no longer, but God gives him a charge, and
|
|
Aaron with him, both to the children of Israel and to Pharaoh,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 6:13" id="Ex.vii-p13.1" parsed="|Exod|6|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. Note, God's
|
|
authority is sufficient to answer all objections, and binds us to
|
|
obedience, without murmuring or disputing, <scripRef passage="Php 2:14" id="Ex.vii-p13.2" parsed="|Phil|2|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Phil.2.14">Phil. ii. 14</scripRef>. Moses himself has need to be
|
|
charged, and so has Timothy, <scripRef passage="1Ti 6:13,2Ti 4:1" id="Ex.vii-p13.3" parsed="|1Tim|6|13|0|0;|2Tim|4|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.6.13 Bible:2Tim.4.1">1
|
|
Tim. vi. 13; 2 Tim. iv. 1</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 6" id="Ex.vii-p13.4" parsed="|Exod|6|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 6:14-30" id="Ex.vii-p13.5" parsed="|Exod|6|14|6|30" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.14-Exod.6.30"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.6.14-Exod.6.30">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.vii-p13.6">Genealogies of Reuben, Simeon, and
|
|
Levi. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.vii-p13.7">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.vii-p14">14 These <i>be</i> the heads of their fathers'
|
|
houses: The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel; Hanoch, and
|
|
Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi: these <i>be</i> the families of Reuben.
|
|
  15 And the sons of Simeon; Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and
|
|
Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman: these
|
|
<i>are</i> the families of Simeon.   16 And these <i>are</i>
|
|
the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations;
|
|
Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari: and the years of the life of Levi
|
|
<i>were</i> an hundred thirty and seven years.   17 The sons
|
|
of Gershon; Libni, and Shimi, according to their families.  
|
|
18 And the sons of Kohath; Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and
|
|
Uzziel: and the years of the life of Kohath <i>were</i> an hundred
|
|
thirty and three years.   19 And the sons of Merari; Mahali
|
|
and Mushi: these <i>are</i> the families of Levi according to their
|
|
generations.   20 And Amram took him Jochebed his father's
|
|
sister to wife; and she bare him Aaron and Moses: and the years of
|
|
the life of Amram <i>were</i> an hundred and thirty and seven
|
|
years.   21 And the sons of Izhar; Korah, and Nepheg, and
|
|
Zichri.   22 And the sons of Uzziel; Mishael, and Elzaphan,
|
|
and Zithri.   23 And Aaron took him Elisheba, daughter of
|
|
Amminadab, sister of Naashon, to wife; and she bare him Nadab, and
|
|
Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.   24 And the sons of Korah;
|
|
Assir, and Elkanah, and Abiasaph: these <i>are</i> the families of
|
|
the Korhites.   25 And Eleazar Aaron's son took him <i>one</i>
|
|
of the daughters of Putiel to wife; and she bare him Phinehas:
|
|
these <i>are</i> the heads of the fathers of the Levites according
|
|
to their families.   26 These <i>are</i> that Aaron and Moses,
|
|
to whom the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.vii-p14.1">Lord</span> said, Bring out the
|
|
children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their
|
|
armies.   27 These <i>are</i> they which spake to Pharaoh king
|
|
of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt: these
|
|
<i>are</i> that Moses and Aaron.   28 And it came to pass on
|
|
the day <i>when</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.vii-p14.2">Lord</span> spake
|
|
unto Moses in the land of Egypt,   29 That the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.vii-p14.3">Lord</span> spake unto Moses, saying, I <i>am</i> the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.vii-p14.4">Lord</span>: speak thou unto Pharaoh king
|
|
of Egypt all that I say unto thee.   30 And Moses said before
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.vii-p14.5">Lord</span>, Behold, I <i>am</i> of
|
|
uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh hearken unto me?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.vii-p15">I. We have here a genealogy, not an endless
|
|
one, such as the apostle condemns (<scripRef passage="1Ti 1:4" id="Ex.vii-p15.1" parsed="|1Tim|1|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.1.4">1
|
|
Tim. i. 4</scripRef>), for it ends in those two great patriots
|
|
Moses and Aaron, and comes in here to show that they were
|
|
Israelites, bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh whom they
|
|
were sent to deliver, raised up unto them of their brethren, as
|
|
Christ also should be, who was to be the prophet and priest, the
|
|
Redeemer and lawgiver, of the people of Israel, and whose genealogy
|
|
also, like this, was to be carefully preserved. The heads of the
|
|
houses of three of the tribes are here named, agreeing with the
|
|
accounts we had, <scripRef passage="Ge 46:1-34" id="Ex.vii-p15.2" parsed="|Gen|46|1|46|34" osisRef="Bible:Gen.46.1-Gen.46.34">Gen. 46</scripRef>.
|
|
Dr. Lightfoot thinks that Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, are thus
|
|
dignified here by themselves for this reason, because they were
|
|
left under marks of infamy by their dying father, Reuben for his
|
|
incest and Simeon and Levi for their murder of the Shechemites; and
|
|
therefore Moses would put this particular honour upon them, to
|
|
magnify God's mercy in their repentance and remission, as a pattern
|
|
to those that should afterwards believe: the two former seem rather
|
|
to be mentioned only for the sake of a third, which was Levi, from
|
|
whom Moses and Aaron descended, and all the priests of the Jewish
|
|
church. Thus was the tribe of Levi distinguished betimes. Observe
|
|
here, 1. That Kohath, from whom Moses and Aaron, and all the
|
|
priests, derived their pedigree, was a younger son of Levi,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 6:16" id="Ex.vii-p15.3" parsed="|Exod|6|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. Note, The
|
|
grants of God's favours do not go by seniority of age and priority
|
|
of birth, but the divine sovereignty often prefers the younger
|
|
before the elder, so crossing hands. 2. That the ages of Levi,
|
|
Kohath, and Amram, the father, grandfather, and great grandfather,
|
|
of Moses, are here recorded; they all lived to a great age, Levi to
|
|
137, Kohath to 133, and Amram to 137. Moses himself came much short
|
|
of them, and fixed seventy or eighty for the ordinary stretch of
|
|
human life (<scripRef passage="Ps 90:10" id="Ex.vii-p15.4" parsed="|Ps|90|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.90.10">Ps. xc. 10</scripRef>);
|
|
for now that God's Israel was multiplied and had become a great
|
|
nation, and divine revelation was by the hand of Moses committed to
|
|
writing and no longer trusted to tradition, the two great reasons
|
|
for the long lives of the patriarchs had ceased, and therefore
|
|
henceforward fewer years must serve men. 3. That Aaron married
|
|
Elisheba (the same name with that of the wife of Zecharias,
|
|
Elizabeth, as Miriam is the same with Mary), daughter of Amminadab,
|
|
one of the chief of the fathers of the tribe of Judah; for the
|
|
tribes of Levi and Judah often intermarried, <scripRef passage="Ex 6:23" id="Ex.vii-p15.5" parsed="|Exod|6|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. 4. It must not be omitted that
|
|
Moses has recorded the marriage of his father Amram with Jochebed
|
|
his own aunt (<scripRef passage="Ex 6:20" id="Ex.vii-p15.6" parsed="|Exod|6|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>);
|
|
and it appears by <scripRef passage="Nu 26:59" id="Ex.vii-p15.7" parsed="|Num|26|59|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.26.59">Num. xxvi.
|
|
59</scripRef> that it must be taken strictly for his father's own
|
|
sister, at least by the half blood. This marriage was afterwards
|
|
forbidden as incestuous (<scripRef passage="Le 18:12" id="Ex.vii-p15.8" parsed="|Lev|18|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.12">Lev. xviii.
|
|
12</scripRef>), which might be looked upon as a blot upon his
|
|
family, though before that law; yet Moses does not conceal it, for
|
|
he sought not his own praise, but wrote with a sincere regard to
|
|
truth, whether it smiled or frowned upon him. 5. He concludes it
|
|
with a particular mark of honour on the persons he is writing of,
|
|
though he himself was one of them, <scripRef passage="Ex 6:26,27" id="Ex.vii-p15.9" parsed="|Exod|6|26|6|27" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.26-Exod.6.27"><i>v.</i> 26, 27</scripRef>. These are <i>that Moses
|
|
and Aaron</i> whom God pitched upon to be his plenipotentiaries in
|
|
this treaty. These were those to whom <i>God spoke</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 6:26" id="Ex.vii-p15.10" parsed="|Exod|6|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>), and who <i>spoke to
|
|
Pharaoh</i> on Israel's behalf, <scripRef passage="Ex 6:27" id="Ex.vii-p15.11" parsed="|Exod|6|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>. Note, Communion with God and
|
|
serviceableness to his church are things that, above any other, put
|
|
true honour upon men. Those are great indeed with whom God
|
|
converses and whom he employs on his service. Such were that Moses
|
|
and Aaron; and something of this honour have all his saints, who
|
|
are made to our God kings and priests.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.vii-p16">II. In the close of the chapter Moses
|
|
returns to his narrative, from which he had broken off somewhat
|
|
abruptly (<scripRef passage="Ex 6:13" id="Ex.vii-p16.1" parsed="|Exod|6|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>), and
|
|
repeats, 1. The charge God had given him to deliver his message to
|
|
Pharaoh (<scripRef passage="Ex 6:29" id="Ex.vii-p16.2" parsed="|Exod|6|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>):
|
|
<i>Speak all that I say unto thee,</i> as a faithful ambassador.
|
|
Note, Those that go on God's errand must not shun to declare <i>the
|
|
whole counsel of God.</i> 2. His objection against it, <scripRef passage="Ex 6:30" id="Ex.vii-p16.3" parsed="|Exod|6|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>. Note, Those that have at
|
|
any time spoken unadvisedly with their lips ought often to reflect
|
|
upon it with regret, as Moses seems to do here.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter VII" n="viii" progress="34.16%" prev="Ex.vii" next="Ex.ix" id="Ex.viii">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.viii-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.viii-p0.2">CHAP. VII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.viii-p1">In this chapter, I. The dispute between God and
|
|
Moses finishes, and Moses applies himself to the execution of his
|
|
commission, in obedience to God's command, <scripRef passage="Ex 7:1-7" id="Ex.viii-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|7|1|7|7" osisRef="Bible:Exod.7.1-Exod.7.7">ver. 1-7</scripRef>. II. The dispute between Moses and
|
|
Pharaoh begins, and a famous trial of skill it was. Moses, in God's
|
|
name, demands Israel's release; Pharaoh denies it. The contest is
|
|
between the power of the great God and the power of a proud prince;
|
|
and it will be found, in the issue, that when God judgeth he will
|
|
overcome. 1. Moses confirms the demand he had made to Pharaoh, by a
|
|
miracle, turning his rod into a serpent; but Pharaoh hardens his
|
|
heart against this conviction, <scripRef passage="Ex 7:8-13" id="Ex.viii-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|7|8|7|13" osisRef="Bible:Exod.7.8-Exod.7.13">ver.
|
|
8-13</scripRef>. 2. He chastises his disobedience by a plague, the
|
|
first of the ten, turning the waters into blood; but Pharaoh
|
|
hardens his heart against this correction, <scripRef passage="Ex 7:14-25" id="Ex.viii-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|7|14|7|25" osisRef="Bible:Exod.7.14-Exod.7.25">ver. 14</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 7" id="Ex.viii-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|7|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.7"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 7:1-7" id="Ex.viii-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|7|1|7|7" osisRef="Bible:Exod.7.1-Exod.7.7"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.7.1-Exod.7.7">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.viii-p1.6">Moses Receives a Fresh
|
|
Commission. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.viii-p1.7">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.viii-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.viii-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron
|
|
thy brother shall be thy prophet.   2 Thou shalt speak all
|
|
that I command thee: and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto
|
|
Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of his land.
|
|
  3 And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs
|
|
and my wonders in the land of Egypt.   4 But Pharaoh shall not
|
|
hearken unto you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring
|
|
forth mine armies, <i>and</i> my people the children of Israel, out
|
|
of the land of Egypt by great judgments.   5 And the Egyptians
|
|
shall know that I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.viii-p2.2">Lord</span>, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt,
|
|
and bring out the children of Israel from among them.   6 And
|
|
Moses and Aaron did as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.viii-p2.3">Lord</span>
|
|
commanded them, so did they.   7 And Moses <i>was</i>
|
|
fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and three years old, when
|
|
they spake unto Pharaoh.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.viii-p3">Here, I. God encourages Moses to go to
|
|
Pharaoh, and at last silences all his discouragements. 1. He
|
|
clothes him with great power and authority (<scripRef passage="Ex 7:1" id="Ex.viii-p3.1" parsed="|Exod|7|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.7.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>): <i>I have made thee a god to
|
|
Pharaoh;</i> that is, my representative in this affair, as
|
|
magistrates are called <i>gods,</i> because they are God's
|
|
vicegerents. He was authorized to speak and act in God's name and
|
|
stead, and, under the divine direction, was endued with a divine
|
|
power to do that which is above the ordinary power of nature, and
|
|
invested with a divine authority to demand obedience from a
|
|
sovereign prince and punish disobedience. Moses was a god, but he
|
|
was only a <i>made</i> god, not essentially one by nature; he was
|
|
no god but by commission. He was a god, but he was a god only to
|
|
Pharaoh; the living and true God is a God to all the world. It is
|
|
an instance of God's condescension, and an evidence that his
|
|
thoughts towards us are thoughts of peace, that when he treats with
|
|
men he treats by men, whose terror shall not make us afraid. 2. He
|
|
again nominates him an assistant, his brother Aaron, who was not a
|
|
man of uncircumcised lips, but a notable spokesman: "He shall be
|
|
<i>thy prophet,</i>" that is, "he shall speak from thee to Pharaoh,
|
|
as prophets do from God to the children of men. Thou shalt, as a
|
|
god, inflict and remove the plagues, and Aaron, as a prophet, shall
|
|
denounce them, and threaten Pharaoh with them." 3. He tells him the
|
|
worst of it, that Pharaoh would not hearken to him, and yet the
|
|
work should be done at last, Israel should be delivered and God
|
|
therein would be glorified, <scripRef passage="Ex 7:4,5" id="Ex.viii-p3.2" parsed="|Exod|7|4|7|5" osisRef="Bible:Exod.7.4-Exod.7.5"><i>v.</i>
|
|
4, 5</scripRef>. The Egyptians, who would not know the Lord, should
|
|
be made to know him. Note, It is, and ought to be, satisfaction
|
|
enough to God's messengers that, whatever contradiction and
|
|
opposition may be given them, thus far they shall gain their point,
|
|
that God will be glorified in the success of their embassy, and all
|
|
his chosen Israel will be saved, and then they have no reason to
|
|
say that they have laboured in vain. See here, (1.) How God
|
|
glorifies himself; he makes people know that he is Jehovah. Israel
|
|
is made to know it by the performance of his promises to them
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 6:3" id="Ex.viii-p3.3" parsed="|Exod|6|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.3"><i>ch.</i> vi. 3</scripRef>), and the
|
|
Egyptians are made to know it by the pouring out of his wrath upon
|
|
them. Thus God's name is exalted both in those that are saved and
|
|
in those that perish. (2.) What method he takes to do this: he
|
|
humbles the proud, and exalts the poor, <scripRef passage="Lu 1:51,52" id="Ex.viii-p3.4" parsed="|Luke|1|51|1|52" osisRef="Bible:Luke.1.51-Luke.1.52">Luke i. 51, 52</scripRef>. If God stretch out his hand
|
|
to sinners in vain, he will at last stretch out his hand upon them;
|
|
and who can bear the weight of it?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.viii-p4">II. Moses and Aaron apply themselves to
|
|
their work without further objection: <i>They did as the Lord
|
|
commanded them,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 7:6" id="Ex.viii-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|7|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.7.6"><i>v.</i>
|
|
6</scripRef>. Their obedience, all things considered, was well
|
|
worthy to be celebrated, as it is by the Psalmist (<scripRef passage="Ps 105:28" id="Ex.viii-p4.2" parsed="|Ps|105|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.105.28">Ps. cv. 28</scripRef>), <i>They rebelled not
|
|
against his word,</i> namely, Moses and Aaron, whom he mentions,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 7:26" id="Ex.viii-p4.3" parsed="|Exod|7|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.7.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>. Thus Jonah,
|
|
though at first he was very averse, at length went to Nineveh.
|
|
Notice is taken of the age of Moses and Aaron when they undertook
|
|
this glorious service. Aaron the elder (and yet the inferior in
|
|
office) was eighty-three, Moses was eighty; both of them men of
|
|
great gravity and experience, whose age was venerable, and whose
|
|
years might teach wisdom, <scripRef passage="Ex 7:7" id="Ex.viii-p4.4" parsed="|Exod|7|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.7.7"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7</scripRef>. Joseph, who was to be only a servant to Pharaoh, was
|
|
preferred at thirty years old; but Moses, who was to be a god to
|
|
Pharaoh, was not so dignified until he was eighty years old. It was
|
|
fit that he should long wait for such an honour, and be long in
|
|
preparing for such a service.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 7:8-13" id="Ex.viii-p4.5" parsed="|Exod|7|8|7|13" osisRef="Bible:Exod.7.8-Exod.7.13"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.7.8-Exod.7.13">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.viii-p4.6">Magicians of Egypt. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.viii-p4.7">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.viii-p5">8 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.viii-p5.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,   9 When Pharaoh
|
|
shall speak unto you, saying, Show a miracle for you: then thou
|
|
shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast <i>it</i> before
|
|
Pharaoh, <i>and</i> it shall become a serpent.   10 And Moses
|
|
and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.viii-p5.2">Lord</span> had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod
|
|
before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent.
|
|
  11 Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers:
|
|
now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their
|
|
enchantments.   12 For they cast down every man his rod, and
|
|
they became serpents: but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods.
|
|
  13 And he hardened Pharaoh's heart, that he hearkened not
|
|
unto them; as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.viii-p5.3">Lord</span> had said.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.viii-p6">The first time that Moses made his
|
|
application to Pharaoh, he produced his instructions only; now he
|
|
is directed to produce his credentials, and does accordingly. 1. It
|
|
is taken for granted that Pharaoh would challenge these demandants
|
|
to work a miracle, that, by a performance evidently above the power
|
|
of nature, they might prove their commission from the God of
|
|
nature. Pharaoh will say, <i>Show a miracle;</i> not with any
|
|
desire to be convinced, but with the hope that none will be
|
|
wrought, and then he would have some colour for his infidelity. 2.
|
|
Orders are therefore given to turn the rod into a serpent,
|
|
according to the instructions, <scripRef passage="Ex 4:3" id="Ex.viii-p6.1" parsed="|Exod|4|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.3"><i>ch.</i> iv. 3</scripRef>. The same rod that was to give
|
|
the signal of the other miracles is now itself the subject of a
|
|
miracle, to put a reputation upon it. Aaron cast his rod to the
|
|
ground, and instantly it became a serpent, <scripRef passage="Ex 7:10" id="Ex.viii-p6.2" parsed="|Exod|7|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.7.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. This was proper, not only to
|
|
affect Pharaoh with wonder, but to strike a terror upon him.
|
|
Serpents are hurtful dreadful animals; the very sight of one, thus
|
|
miraculously produced, might have softened his heart into a fear of
|
|
that God by whose power it was produced. This first miracle, though
|
|
it was not a plague, yet amounted to the threatening of a plague.
|
|
If it made not Pharaoh feel, it made him fear; and this is God's
|
|
method of dealing with sinners—he comes upon them gradually. 3.
|
|
This miracle, though too plain to be denied, is enervated, and the
|
|
conviction of it taken off, by the magicians' imitation of it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 7:11,12" id="Ex.viii-p6.3" parsed="|Exod|7|11|7|12" osisRef="Bible:Exod.7.11-Exod.7.12"><i>v.</i> 11, 12</scripRef>. Moses
|
|
had been originally instructed in the learning of the Egyptians,
|
|
and was suspected to have improved himself in magical arts in his
|
|
long retirement; the magicians are therefore sent for, to vie with
|
|
him. And some think those of that profession had a particular spite
|
|
against the Hebrews ever since Joseph put them all to shame, by
|
|
interpreting a dream which they could make nothing of, in
|
|
remembrance of which slur put on their predecessors these magicians
|
|
withstood Moses, as it is explained, <scripRef passage="2Ti 3:8" id="Ex.viii-p6.4" parsed="|2Tim|3|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Tim.3.8">2
|
|
Tim. iii. 8</scripRef>. Their rods became serpents, real serpents;
|
|
some think, by the power of God, beyond their intention or
|
|
expectation, for the hardening of Pharaoh's heart; others think, by
|
|
the power of evil angels, artfully substituting serpents in the
|
|
room of the rods, God permitting the delusion to be wrought for
|
|
wise and holy ends, that those might believe a lie who received not
|
|
the truth: and herein the Lord was righteous. Yet this might have
|
|
helped to frighten Pharaoh into a compliance with the demands of
|
|
Moses, that he might be freed from these dreadful unaccountable
|
|
phenomena, with which he saw himself on all sides surrounded. But
|
|
to the seed of the serpent these serpents were no amazement. Note,
|
|
God suffers the lying spirit to do strange things, that the faith
|
|
of some may be tried and manifested (<scripRef passage="De 13:3,1Co 11:19" id="Ex.viii-p6.5" parsed="|Deut|13|3|0|0;|1Cor|11|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.13.3 Bible:1Cor.11.19">Deut. xiii. 3; 1 Cor. xi. 19</scripRef>), that
|
|
the infidelity of others may be confirmed, and that he who is
|
|
filthy may be filthy still, <scripRef passage="2Co 4:4" id="Ex.viii-p6.6" parsed="|2Cor|4|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.4.4">2 Cor. iv.
|
|
4</scripRef>. 4. Yet, in this contest, Moses plainly gains the
|
|
victory. The serpent which Aaron's rod was turned into swallowed up
|
|
the others, which was sufficient to have convinced Pharaoh on which
|
|
side the right lay. Note, Great is the truth, and will prevail. The
|
|
cause of God will undoubtedly triumph at last over all competition
|
|
and contradiction, and will reign alone, <scripRef passage="Da 2:44" id="Ex.viii-p6.7" parsed="|Dan|2|44|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.44">Dan. ii. 44</scripRef>. But Pharaoh was not wrought upon
|
|
by this. The magicians having produced serpents, he had this to
|
|
say, that the case between them and Moses was disputable; and the
|
|
very appearance of an opposition to truth, and the least head made
|
|
against it, serve those for a justification of their infidelity who
|
|
are prejudiced against the light and love of it.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 7" id="Ex.viii-p6.8" parsed="|Exod|7|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.7"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 7:14-25" id="Ex.viii-p6.9" parsed="|Exod|7|14|7|25" osisRef="Bible:Exod.7.14-Exod.7.25"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.7.14-Exod.7.25">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.viii-p6.10">The Plagues of Egypt. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.viii-p6.11">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.viii-p7">14 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.viii-p7.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto Moses, Pharaoh's heart <i>is</i> hardened, he refuseth to
|
|
let the people go.   15 Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning;
|
|
lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the
|
|
river's brink against he come; and the rod which was turned to a
|
|
serpent shalt thou take in thine hand.   16 And thou shalt say
|
|
unto him, The <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.viii-p7.2">Lord</span> God of the
|
|
Hebrews hath sent me unto thee, saying, Let my people go, that they
|
|
may serve me in the wilderness: and, behold, hitherto thou wouldest
|
|
not hear.   17 Thus saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.viii-p7.3">Lord</span>, In this thou shalt know that I <i>am</i>
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.viii-p7.4">Lord</span>: behold, I will smite with
|
|
the rod that <i>is</i> in mine hand upon the waters which
|
|
<i>are</i> in the river, and they shall be turned to blood.  
|
|
18 And the fish that <i>is</i> in the river shall die, and the
|
|
river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink of the
|
|
water of the river.   19 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.viii-p7.5">Lord</span> spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy
|
|
rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon
|
|
their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon
|
|
all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and
|
|
<i>that</i> there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt,
|
|
both in <i>vessels of</i> wood, and in <i>vessels of</i> stone.
|
|
  20 And Moses and Aaron did so, as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.viii-p7.6">Lord</span> commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and
|
|
smote the waters that <i>were</i> in the river, in the sight of
|
|
Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that
|
|
<i>were</i> in the river were turned to blood.   21 And the
|
|
fish that <i>was</i> in the river died; and the river stank, and
|
|
the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there
|
|
was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.   22 And the
|
|
magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments: and Pharaoh's
|
|
heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them; as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.viii-p7.7">Lord</span> had said.   23 And Pharaoh
|
|
turned and went into his house, neither did he set his heart to
|
|
this also.   24 And all the Egyptians digged round about the
|
|
river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of
|
|
the river.   25 And seven days were fulfilled, after that the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.viii-p7.8">Lord</span> had smitten the river.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.viii-p8">Here is the first of the ten plagues, the
|
|
turning of the water into blood, which was, 1. A dreadful plague,
|
|
and very grievous. The very sight of such vast rolling streams of
|
|
blood, pure blood no doubt, florid and high-colored, could not but
|
|
strike a horror upon people: much more afflictive were the
|
|
consequences of it. Nothing more common than water: so wisely has
|
|
Providence ordered it, and so kindly, that that which is so needful
|
|
and serviceable to the comfort of human life should be cheap, and
|
|
almost everywhere to be had; but now the Egyptians must either
|
|
drink blood, or die for thirst. Fish was much of their food
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 11:5" id="Ex.viii-p8.1" parsed="|Num|11|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.5">Num. xi. 5</scripRef>), but the
|
|
changing of the waters was the death of the fish; it was a
|
|
pestilence in that element (<scripRef passage="Ex 7:21" id="Ex.viii-p8.2" parsed="|Exod|7|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.7.21"><i>v.</i>
|
|
21</scripRef>): <i>The fish died.</i> In the general deluge they
|
|
escaped, because perhaps they had not then contributed so much to
|
|
the luxury of man as they have since; but in this particular
|
|
judgment they perished (<scripRef passage="Ps 105:29" id="Ex.viii-p8.3" parsed="|Ps|105|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.105.29">Ps. cv.
|
|
29</scripRef>): <i>He slew their fish;</i> and when another
|
|
destruction of Egypt, long afterwards, is threatened, the
|
|
disappointment of those that make sluices and ponds for fish is
|
|
particularly noticed, <scripRef passage="Isa 19:10" id="Ex.viii-p8.4" parsed="|Isa|19|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.19.10">Isa. xix.
|
|
10</scripRef>. Egypt was a pleasant land, but the noisome stench of
|
|
dead fish and blood, which by degrees would grow putrid, now
|
|
rendered it very unpleasant. 2. It was a righteous plague, and
|
|
justly inflicted upon the Egyptians. For, (1.) Nilus, the river of
|
|
Egypt, was their idol; they and their land derived so much benefit
|
|
from it that they served and worshipped it more than the Creator.
|
|
The true fountain of the Nile being unknown to them, they paid all
|
|
their devotions to its streams: here therefore God punished them,
|
|
and turned that into blood which they had turned into a god. Note,
|
|
That creature which we idolize God justly removes from us, or
|
|
embitters to us. He makes that a scourge to us which we make a
|
|
competitor with him. (2.) They had stained the river with the blood
|
|
of the Hebrews' children, and now God made that river all bloody.
|
|
Thus he gave them blood to drink, for they were worthy, <scripRef passage="Re 16:6" id="Ex.viii-p8.5" parsed="|Rev|16|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.16.6">Rev. xvi. 6</scripRef>. Note, Never any thirsted
|
|
after blood, but, sooner or later, they had enough of it. 3. It was
|
|
a significant plague. Egypt had a great dependence upon their river
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Zec 14:18" id="Ex.viii-p8.6" parsed="|Zech|14|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zech.14.18">Zech. xiv. 18</scripRef>), so that
|
|
in smiting the river they were warned of the destruction of all the
|
|
productions of their country, till it came at last to their
|
|
firstborn; and this red river proved a direful omen of the ruin of
|
|
Pharaoh and all his forces in the Red Sea. This plague of Egypt is
|
|
alluded to in the prediction of the ruin of the enemies of the
|
|
New-Testament church, <scripRef passage="Re 16:3,4" id="Ex.viii-p8.7" parsed="|Rev|16|3|16|4" osisRef="Bible:Rev.16.3-Rev.16.4">Rev. xvi. 3,
|
|
4</scripRef>. But there the sea, as well as the rivers and
|
|
fountains of water, is turned into blood; for spiritual judgments
|
|
reach further, and strike deeper, than temporal judgments do. And,
|
|
<i>lastly,</i> let me observe in general concerning this plague
|
|
that one of the first miracles Moses wrought was turning water into
|
|
blood, but one of the first miracles our Lord Jesus wrought was
|
|
turning water into wine; for the law was given by Moses, and it was
|
|
a dispensation of death and terror; but grace and truth, which,
|
|
like wine, make glad the heart, came by Jesus Christ. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.viii-p9">I. Moses is directed to give Pharaoh
|
|
warning of this plague. "Pharaoh's heart is hardened (<scripRef passage="Ex 7:14" id="Ex.viii-p9.1" parsed="|Exod|7|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.7.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>), therefore go and try
|
|
what this will do to soften it," <scripRef passage="Ex 7:15" id="Ex.viii-p9.2" parsed="|Exod|7|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.7.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. Moses perhaps may not be
|
|
admitted into Pharaoh's presence-chamber, or the room of state
|
|
where he used to give audience to ambassadors; and therefore he is
|
|
directed to meet him by the river's brink, whither God foresaw he
|
|
would come in the morning, either for the pleasure of a morning's
|
|
walk or to pay his morning devotions to the river: for thus all
|
|
people will walk, every one in the name of his god; they will not
|
|
fail to worship their god every morning. There Moses must be ready
|
|
to give him a new summons to surrender, and, in case of a refusal,
|
|
to tell him of the judgment that was coming upon that very river on
|
|
the banks of which they were now standing. Notice is thus given him
|
|
of it beforehand, that they might have no colour to say it was a
|
|
chance, or to attribute it to any other cause, but that it might
|
|
appear to be done by the power of the God of the Hebrews, and as a
|
|
punishment upon him for his obstinacy. Moses is expressly ordered
|
|
to take the rod with him, that Pharaoh might be alarmed at the
|
|
sight of that rod which had so lately triumphed over the rods of
|
|
the magicians. Now learn hence, 1. That the judgments of God are
|
|
all known to himself beforehand. He knows what he will do in wrath
|
|
as well as in mercy. Every consumption is a consumption determined,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 10:23" id="Ex.viii-p9.3" parsed="|Isa|10|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.10.23">Isa. x. 23</scripRef>. 2. That men
|
|
cannot escape the alarms of God's wrath, because they cannot go out
|
|
of the hearing of their own consciences: he that made their hearts
|
|
can make his sword to approach them. 3. That God warns before he
|
|
wounds; for he is <i>long-suffering, not willing that any should
|
|
perish, but that all should come to repentance.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.viii-p10">II. Aaron (who carried the mace) is
|
|
directed to summon the plague by smiting the river with his rod,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 7:19,20" id="Ex.viii-p10.1" parsed="|Exod|7|19|7|20" osisRef="Bible:Exod.7.19-Exod.7.20"><i>v.</i> 19, 20</scripRef>. It was
|
|
done in the sight of Pharaoh and his attendants; for God's true
|
|
miracles were not performed, as Satan's lying wonders were, by
|
|
those that peeped and muttered: truth seeks no corners. An amazing
|
|
change was immediately wrought; all the waters, not only in the
|
|
rivers but in all their ponds, were turned into blood. 1. See here
|
|
the almighty power of God. Every creature is that to us which he
|
|
makes it to be, water or blood. 2. See the mutability of all things
|
|
under the sun, and what changes we may meet with in them. That
|
|
which is water to-day may be blood to-morrow; what is always vain
|
|
may soon become vexatious. A river, at the best, is transient; but
|
|
divine justice can quickly make it malignant. 3. See what
|
|
mischievous work sin makes. if the things that have been our
|
|
comforts prove our crosses, we must thank ourselves: it is sin that
|
|
turns our waters into blood.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.viii-p11">III. Pharaoh endeavours to confront the
|
|
miracle, because he resolves not to humble himself under the
|
|
plague. He sends for the magicians, and, by God's permission, they
|
|
ape the miracle with their enchantments (<scripRef passage="Ex 7:22" id="Ex.viii-p11.1" parsed="|Exod|7|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.7.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>), and this serves Pharaoh for an
|
|
excuse not to set his heart to this also (<scripRef passage="Ex 7:23" id="Ex.viii-p11.2" parsed="|Exod|7|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.7.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>), and a pitiful excuse it was.
|
|
Could they have turned the river of blood into water again, this
|
|
would have been something to the purpose; then they would have
|
|
proved their power, and Pharaoh would have been obliged to them as
|
|
his benefactors. But for them, when there was such scarcity of
|
|
water, to turn more of it into blood, only to show their art,
|
|
plainly intimates that the design of the devil is only to delude
|
|
his devotees and amuse them, not to do them any real kindness, but
|
|
to keep them from doing a real kindness to themselves by repenting
|
|
and returning to their God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.viii-p12">IV. The Egyptians, in the meantime, are
|
|
seeking for relief against the plague, digging round about the
|
|
river for water to drink, <scripRef passage="Ex 7:24" id="Ex.viii-p12.1" parsed="|Exod|7|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.7.24"><i>v.</i>
|
|
24</scripRef>. Probably they found some, with much ado, God
|
|
remembering mercy in the midst of wrath; for he is full of
|
|
compassion, and would not let the subjects smart too much for the
|
|
obstinacy of their prince.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.viii-p13">V. The plague continued seven days
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 7:25" id="Ex.viii-p13.1" parsed="|Exod|7|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.7.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>), and, in all
|
|
that time, Pharaoh's proud heart would not let him so much as
|
|
desire Moses to intercede for the removal of it. Thus the
|
|
hypocrites in heart heap up wrath; <i>they cry not when he binds
|
|
them</i> (<scripRef passage="Job 36:13" id="Ex.viii-p13.2" parsed="|Job|36|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.36.13">Job xxxvi. 13</scripRef>);
|
|
and then no wonder that his anger is not turned away, but his hand
|
|
is stretched out still.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter VIII" n="ix" progress="34.56%" prev="Ex.viii" next="Ex.x" id="Ex.ix">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.ix-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.ix-p0.2">CHAP. VIII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.ix-p1">Three more of the plagues of Egypt are related in
|
|
this chapter, I. That of the frogs, which is, 1. Threatened,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 8:1-4" id="Ex.ix-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|8|1|8|4" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.1-Exod.8.4">ver. 1-4</scripRef>. 2. Inflicted,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 8:5,6" id="Ex.ix-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|8|5|8|6" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.5-Exod.8.6">ver. 5, 6</scripRef>. 3. Mimicked by
|
|
the magicians, <scripRef passage="Ex 8:7" id="Ex.ix-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|8|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.7">ver. 7</scripRef>. 4.
|
|
Removed, at the humble request of Pharaoh (<scripRef passage="Ex 8:8-14" id="Ex.ix-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|8|8|8|14" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.8-Exod.8.14">ver. 8-14</scripRef>), who yet hardens his heart, and,
|
|
notwithstanding his promise while the plague was upon him
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 8:8" id="Ex.ix-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|8|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.8">ver. 8</scripRef>), refuses to let
|
|
Israel go, <scripRef passage="Ex 8:15" id="Ex.ix-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|8|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.15">ver. 15</scripRef>. II. The
|
|
plague of lice (<scripRef passage="Ex 8:16,17" id="Ex.ix-p1.7" parsed="|Exod|8|16|8|17" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.16-Exod.8.17">ver. 16,
|
|
17</scripRef>), by which, 1. The magicians were baffled (<scripRef passage="Ex 8:18,19" id="Ex.ix-p1.8" parsed="|Exod|8|18|8|19" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.18-Exod.8.19">ver. 18, 19</scripRef>), and yet, 2. Pharaoh
|
|
was hardened, <scripRef passage="Ex 8:19" id="Ex.ix-p1.9" parsed="|Exod|8|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.19">ver. 19</scripRef>. III.
|
|
That of flies. 1. Pharaoh is warned of it before (<scripRef passage="Ex 8:20,21" id="Ex.ix-p1.10" parsed="|Exod|8|20|8|21" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.20-Exod.8.21">ver. 20, 21</scripRef>), and told that the
|
|
land of Goshen should be exempt from this plague, <scripRef passage="Ex 8:22,23" id="Ex.ix-p1.11" parsed="|Exod|8|22|8|23" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.22-Exod.8.23">ver. 22, 23</scripRef>. 2. The plague is
|
|
brought, <scripRef passage="Ex 8:24" id="Ex.ix-p1.12" parsed="|Exod|8|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.24">ver. 24</scripRef>. 3. Pharaoh
|
|
treats with Moses about the release of Israel, and humbles himself,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 8:25-29" id="Ex.ix-p1.13" parsed="|Exod|8|25|8|29" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.25-Exod.8.29">ver. 25-29</scripRef>. 4. The plague
|
|
is thereupon removed (<scripRef passage="Ex 8:31" id="Ex.ix-p1.14" parsed="|Exod|8|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.31">ver.
|
|
31</scripRef>), and Pharaoh's heart hardened, <scripRef passage="Ex 8:32" id="Ex.ix-p1.15" parsed="|Exod|8|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.32">ver. 32</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 8" id="Ex.ix-p1.16" parsed="|Exod|8|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 8:1-15" id="Ex.ix-p1.17" parsed="|Exod|8|1|8|15" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.1-Exod.8.15"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.8.1-Exod.8.15">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.ix-p1.18">The Plagues of Egypt. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.ix-p1.19">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.ix-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.ix-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.ix-p2.2">Lord</span>, Let my people go, that they
|
|
may serve me.   2 And if thou refuse to let <i>them</i> go,
|
|
behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs:   3 And the
|
|
river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and
|
|
come into thine house, and into thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed,
|
|
and into the house of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into
|
|
thine ovens, and into thy kneadingtroughs:   4 And the frogs
|
|
shall come up both on thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy
|
|
servants.   5 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.ix-p2.3">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch forth thine hand with thy
|
|
rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and
|
|
cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt.   6 And Aaron
|
|
stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came
|
|
up, and covered the land of Egypt.   7 And the magicians did
|
|
so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of
|
|
Egypt.   8 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said,
|
|
Intreat the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.ix-p2.4">Lord</span>, that he may take
|
|
away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the
|
|
people go, that they may do sacrifice unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.ix-p2.5">Lord</span>.   9 And Moses said unto Pharaoh,
|
|
Glory over me: when shall I intreat for thee, and for thy servants,
|
|
and for thy people, to destroy the frogs from thee and thy houses,
|
|
<i>that</i> they may remain in the river only?   10 And he
|
|
said, To morrow. And he said, <i>Be it</i> according to thy word:
|
|
that thou mayest know that <i>there is</i> none like unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.ix-p2.6">Lord</span> our God.   11 And the frogs
|
|
shall depart from thee, and from thy houses, and from thy servants,
|
|
and from thy people; they shall remain in the river only.   12
|
|
And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh: and Moses cried unto the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.ix-p2.7">Lord</span> because of the frogs which he
|
|
had brought against Pharaoh.   13 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.ix-p2.8">Lord</span> did according to the word of Moses; and the
|
|
frogs died out of the houses, out of the villages, and out of the
|
|
fields.   14 And they gathered them together upon heaps: and
|
|
the land stank.   15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was
|
|
respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.ix-p2.9">Lord</span> had said.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.ix-p3">Pharaoh is here first threatened and then
|
|
plagued with frogs, as afterwards, in this chapter, with lice and
|
|
flies, little despicable inconsiderable animals, and yet by their
|
|
vast numbers rendered sore plagues to the Egyptians. God could have
|
|
plagued them with lions, or bears, or wolves, or with vultures or
|
|
other birds of prey; but he chose to do it by these contemptible
|
|
instruments. 1. That he might magnify his own power. He is Lord of
|
|
the hosts of the whole creation, has them all at his beck, and
|
|
makes what use he pleases of them. Some have thought that the power
|
|
of God is shown as much in the making of an ant as in the making of
|
|
an elephant; so is his providence in serving his own purposes by
|
|
the least creatures as effectually as by the strongest, that the
|
|
excellency of the power, in judgment as well as mercy, may be of
|
|
God, and not of the creature. See what reason we have to stand in
|
|
awe of this God, who, when he pleases, can arm the smallest parts
|
|
of the creation against us. If God be our enemy, all the creatures
|
|
are at war with us. 2. That he might humble Pharaoh's pride, and
|
|
chastise his insolence. What a mortification must it needs be to
|
|
this haughty monarch to see himself brought to his knees, and
|
|
forced to submit, by such despicable means! Every child is,
|
|
ordinarily, able to deal with those invaders, and can triumph over
|
|
them; yet now so numerous were their troops, and so vigorous their
|
|
assaults, that Pharaoh, with all his chariots and horsemen, could
|
|
make no head against them. Thus he <i>poureth contempt upon
|
|
princes</i> that offer contempt to him and his sovereignty, and
|
|
makes those who will not own him above them to know that, when he
|
|
pleases, he can make the meanest creature to insult them and
|
|
trample upon them. As to the plague of frogs we may observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.ix-p4">I. How it was threatened. Moses, no doubt,
|
|
attended the divine Majesty daily for fresh instructions, and
|
|
(perhaps while the river was yet blood) he is here directed to give
|
|
notice to Pharaoh of another judgment coming upon him, in case he
|
|
continue obstinate: <i>If thou refuse to let them go,</i> it is at
|
|
thy peril, <scripRef passage="Ex 8:1,2" id="Ex.ix-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|8|1|8|2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.1-Exod.8.2"><i>v.</i> 1, 2</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, God does not punish men for sin unless they persist in it.
|
|
<i>If he turn not, he will whet his sword</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 7:12" id="Ex.ix-p4.2" parsed="|Ps|7|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.7.12">Ps. vii. 12</scripRef>), which implies favour <i>if he
|
|
turn.</i> So here, <i>If thou refuse, I will smite thy borders,</i>
|
|
intimating that if Pharaoh complied the controversy should
|
|
immediately be dropped. The plague threatened, in case of refusal,
|
|
was formidably extensive. Frogs were to make such an inroad upon
|
|
them as should make them uneasy in their houses, in their beds, and
|
|
at their tables; they should not be able to eat, nor drink, nor
|
|
sleep in quietness, but, wherever they were, should be infested by
|
|
them, <scripRef passage="Ex 8:3,4" id="Ex.ix-p4.3" parsed="|Exod|8|3|8|4" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.3-Exod.8.4"><i>v.</i> 3, 4</scripRef>. Note,
|
|
1. God's curse upon a man will pursue him wherever he goes, and lie
|
|
heavily upon him whatever he does. See <scripRef passage="De 28:16" id="Ex.ix-p4.4" parsed="|Deut|28|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.16">Deut. xxviii. 16</scripRef>, &c. 2. There is no
|
|
avoiding divine judgments when they invade with commission.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.ix-p5">II. How it was inflicted. Pharaoh not
|
|
regarding the alarm, nor being at all inclined to yield to the
|
|
summons, Aaron is ordered to draw out the forces, and with his
|
|
outstretched arm and rod to give the signal of battle. <i>Dictum
|
|
factum—No sooner said then done;</i> the host is mustered, and,
|
|
under the direction and command of an invisible power, shoals of
|
|
frogs invade the land, and the Egyptians, with all their art and
|
|
all their might, cannot check their progress, nor so much as give
|
|
them a diversion. Compare this with that prophecy of an army of
|
|
locusts and caterpillars, <scripRef passage="Joe 2:2" id="Ex.ix-p5.1" parsed="|Joel|2|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Joel.2.2">Joel ii.
|
|
2</scripRef>, &c.; and see <scripRef passage="Isa 34:16,17" id="Ex.ix-p5.2" parsed="|Isa|34|16|34|17" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.16-Isa.34.17">Isa. xxxiv. 16, 17</scripRef>. Frogs came up, at the
|
|
divine call, and <i>covered the land.</i> Note, God has many ways
|
|
of disquieting those that live at ease.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.ix-p6">III. How the magicians were permitted to
|
|
imitate it, <scripRef passage="Ex 8:7" id="Ex.ix-p6.1" parsed="|Exod|8|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. They
|
|
also brought up frogs, but could not remove those that God sent.
|
|
The unclean spirits which came <i>out of the mouth of the
|
|
dragon</i> are said to be like frogs, which go forth to the kings
|
|
of the earth, to deceive them (<scripRef passage="Re 16:13" id="Ex.ix-p6.2" parsed="|Rev|16|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.16.13">Rev.
|
|
xvi. 13</scripRef>), which probably alludes to these frogs, for it
|
|
follows the account of the turning of the waters into blood. The
|
|
dragon, like the magicians, intended by them to deceive, but God
|
|
intended by them to destroy those that would be deceived.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.ix-p7">IV. How Pharaoh relented under this plague:
|
|
it was the first time he did so, <scripRef passage="Ex 8:8" id="Ex.ix-p7.1" parsed="|Exod|8|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. He begs of Moses to intercede for
|
|
the removal of the frogs, and promises fair that he will let the
|
|
people go. He that a little while ago had spoken with the utmost
|
|
disdain both of God and Moses is now glad to be beholden to the
|
|
mercy of God and the prayers of Moses. Note, Those that bid
|
|
defiance to God and prayer in a day of extremity will, first or
|
|
last, be made to see their need of both, and will cry, <i>Lord,
|
|
Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Mt 7:22" id="Ex.ix-p7.2" parsed="|Matt|7|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.7.22">Matt. vii. 22</scripRef>.
|
|
Those that have bantered prayer have been brought to beg it, as the
|
|
rich man that had scorned Lazarus courted him for a drop of
|
|
water.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.ix-p8">V. How Moses fixes the time with Pharaoh,
|
|
and then prevails with God by prayer for the removal of the frogs.
|
|
Moses, to show that his performances had no dependence upon the
|
|
conjunctions or oppositions of the planets, or the luckiness of any
|
|
one hour more than another, bids Pharaoh name his time. <i>Nellum
|
|
occurrit tempus regi—No time fixed on by the king shall be
|
|
objected to,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 8:9" id="Ex.ix-p8.1" parsed="|Exod|8|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>.
|
|
<i>Have thou this honour over me,</i> tell me <i>against when I
|
|
shall entreat for thee.</i> This was designed for Pharaoh's
|
|
conviction, that, if his eyes were not opened by the plague, they
|
|
might by the removal of it. So various are the methods God takes to
|
|
bring men to repentance. Pharaoh sets the time for
|
|
<i>to-morrow,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 8:10" id="Ex.ix-p8.2" parsed="|Exod|8|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.10"><i>v.</i>
|
|
10</scripRef>. And why not immediately? Was he so fond of his
|
|
guests that he would have them stay another night with him? No, but
|
|
probably he hoped that they would go away of themselves, and then
|
|
he should get clear of the plague without being obliged either to
|
|
God or Moses. However, Moses joins issue with him upon it: "<i>Be
|
|
it according to thy word,</i> it shall be done just when thou
|
|
wouldst have it done, <i>that thou mayest know that,</i> whatever
|
|
the magicians pretend to, <i>there is none like unto the Lord our
|
|
God.</i> None has such a command as he has over all the creatures,
|
|
nor is any one so ready to forgive those that humble themselves
|
|
before him." Note, The great design both of judgments and mercies
|
|
is to convince us that there is none like the Lord our God, none so
|
|
wise, so mighty, so good, no enemy so formidable, no friend so
|
|
desirable, so valuable. Moses, hereupon, applies to God, prays
|
|
earnestly to him, to remand the frogs, <scripRef passage="Ex 8:12" id="Ex.ix-p8.3" parsed="|Exod|8|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. Note, We must pray for our
|
|
enemies and persecutors, even the worst as Christ did. In answer to
|
|
the prayer of Moses, the frogs that came up one day perished the
|
|
next, or the next but one. They all died (<scripRef passage="Ex 8:13" id="Ex.ix-p8.4" parsed="|Exod|8|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>), and, that it might appear that
|
|
they were real frogs, their dead bodies were left to be raked
|
|
together in heaps, so that the smell of them became offensive,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 8:14" id="Ex.ix-p8.5" parsed="|Exod|8|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. Note, The
|
|
great Sovereign of the world makes what use he pleases of the lives
|
|
and deaths of his creatures; and he that gives a being, to serve
|
|
one purpose, may, without wrong to his justice, call for it again
|
|
immediately, to serve another purpose.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.ix-p9">VI. What was the issue of this plague
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 8:15" id="Ex.ix-p9.1" parsed="|Exod|8|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>): <i>When
|
|
Pharaoh saw there was a respite,</i> without considering either
|
|
what he had lately felt or what he had reason to fear, he hardened
|
|
his heart. Note, 1. Till the heart is renewed by the grace of God,
|
|
the impressions made by the force of affliction do not abide; the
|
|
convictions wear off, and the promises that were extorted are
|
|
forgotten. Till the disposition of the air is changed, what thaws
|
|
in the sun will freeze again in the shade. 2. God's patience is
|
|
shamefully abused by impenitent sinners. The respite he gives them,
|
|
to lead them to repentance, they are hardened by; and while he
|
|
graciously allows them a truce, in order to the making of their
|
|
peace, they take that opportunity to rally again the baffled forces
|
|
of an obstinate infidelity. See <scripRef passage="Ec 8:11,Ps 78:34" id="Ex.ix-p9.2" parsed="|Eccl|8|11|0|0;|Ps|78|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.8.11 Bible:Ps.78.34">Eccl. viii. 11; Ps. lxxviii. 34</scripRef>,
|
|
&c.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 8" id="Ex.ix-p9.3" parsed="|Exod|8|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 8:16-19" id="Ex.ix-p9.4" parsed="|Exod|8|16|8|19" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.16-Exod.8.19"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.8.16-Exod.8.19">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.ix-p10">16 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.ix-p10.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the
|
|
dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land
|
|
of Egypt.   17 And they did so; for Aaron stretched out his
|
|
hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became
|
|
lice in man, and in beast; all the dust of the land became lice
|
|
throughout all the land of Egypt.   18 And the magicians did
|
|
so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not:
|
|
so there were lice upon man, and upon beast.   19 Then the
|
|
magicians said unto Pharaoh, This <i>is</i> the finger of God: and
|
|
Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.ix-p10.2">Lord</span> had said.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.ix-p11">Here is a short account of the plague of
|
|
lice. It does not appear that any warning was given of it before.
|
|
Pharaoh's abuse of the respite granted to him might have been a
|
|
sufficient warning to him to expect another plague: for if the
|
|
removal of an affliction harden us, and so we lose the benefit of
|
|
it, we may conclude it goes away with a purpose to return or to
|
|
make room for a worse. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.ix-p12">I. How this plague of lice was inflicted on
|
|
the Egyptians, <scripRef passage="Ex 8:16,17" id="Ex.ix-p12.1" parsed="|Exod|8|16|8|17" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.16-Exod.8.17"><i>v.</i> 16,
|
|
17</scripRef>. The frogs were produced out of the waters, but these
|
|
live out of <i>the dust of the earth;</i> for out of any part of
|
|
the creation God can fetch a scourge, with which to correct those
|
|
that rebel against him. He has many arrows in his quiver. Even the
|
|
dust of the earth obeys him. "<i>Fear not then, thou worm
|
|
Jacob,</i> for God can use thee as a threshing instrument, if he
|
|
please," <scripRef passage="Isa 41:14,15" id="Ex.ix-p12.2" parsed="|Isa|41|14|41|15" osisRef="Bible:Isa.41.14-Isa.41.15">Isa. xli. 14,
|
|
15</scripRef>. These lice, no doubt, were extremely vexatious, as
|
|
well as scandalous, to the Egyptians. Though they had respite, they
|
|
had respite but awhile, <scripRef passage="Re 11:14" id="Ex.ix-p12.3" parsed="|Rev|11|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.11.14">Rev. xi.
|
|
14</scripRef>. The second woe was past, but behold the third woe
|
|
came very quickly.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.ix-p13">II. How the magicians were baffled by it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 8:18" id="Ex.ix-p13.1" parsed="|Exod|8|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. They attempted
|
|
to imitate it, but they could not. When they failed in this, it
|
|
should seem they attempted to remove it; for it follows, <i>So
|
|
there were lice upon man and beast,</i> in spite of them. This
|
|
forced them to confess themselves overpowered: <i>This is the
|
|
finger of God</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 8:19" id="Ex.ix-p13.2" parsed="|Exod|8|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.19"><i>v.</i>
|
|
19</scripRef>); that is, "This check and restraint put upon us must
|
|
needs be from a divine power." Note, 1. God has the devil in a
|
|
chain, and limits him both as a deceiver and as a destroyer;
|
|
<i>hitherto he shall come, but no further.</i> The devil's agents
|
|
when God permitted them, could do great things; but when he laid an
|
|
embargo upon them, though but with his finger, they could do
|
|
nothing. The magicians' inability, in this less instance, showed
|
|
whence they had their ability in the former instances which seemed
|
|
greater, and that they had no power against Moses but what was
|
|
given them from above. 2. Sooner or later God will extort, even
|
|
from his enemies, an acknowledgment of his own sovereignty and
|
|
over-ruling power. It is certain they must all (as we say) knock
|
|
under at last, as Julian the apostate did, when his dying lips
|
|
confessed, <i>Thou hast overcome me, O thou Galilean!</i> God will
|
|
not only be too hard for all opposers, but will force them to own
|
|
it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.ix-p14">III. How Pharaoh, notwithstanding this, was
|
|
made more and more obstinate (<scripRef passage="Ex 8:19" id="Ex.ix-p14.1" parsed="|Exod|8|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.19"><i>v.</i>
|
|
19</scripRef>); even those that had deceived him now said enough to
|
|
undeceive him, and yet he grew more and more obstinate. Even the
|
|
miracles and the judgments were to him a savour of death unto
|
|
death. Note, Those that are not made better by God's word and
|
|
providences are commonly made worse by them.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 8:20-32" id="Ex.ix-p14.2" parsed="|Exod|8|20|8|32" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.20-Exod.8.32"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.8.20-Exod.8.32">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.ix-p15">20 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.ix-p15.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before
|
|
Pharaoh; lo, he cometh forth to the water; and say unto him, Thus
|
|
saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.ix-p15.2">Lord</span>, Let my people go,
|
|
that they may serve me.   21 Else, if thou wilt not let my
|
|
people go, behold, I will send swarms <i>of flies</i> upon thee,
|
|
and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses:
|
|
and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms <i>of
|
|
flies,</i> and also the ground whereon they <i>are.</i>   22
|
|
And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people
|
|
dwell, that no swarms <i>of flies</i> shall be there; to the end
|
|
thou mayest know that I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.ix-p15.3">Lord</span> in the midst of the earth.   23 And I
|
|
will put a division between my people and thy people: to morrow
|
|
shall this sign be.   24 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.ix-p15.4">Lord</span> did so; and there came a grievous swarm
|
|
<i>of flies</i> into the house of Pharaoh, and <i>into</i> his
|
|
servants' houses, and into all the land of Egypt: the land was
|
|
corrupted by reason of the swarm <i>of flies.</i>   25 And
|
|
Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice
|
|
to your God in the land.   26 And Moses said, It is not meet
|
|
so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians
|
|
to the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.ix-p15.5">Lord</span> our God: lo, shall we
|
|
sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and
|
|
will they not stone us?   27 We will go three days' journey
|
|
into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.ix-p15.6">Lord</span> our God, as he shall command us.   28
|
|
And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.ix-p15.7">Lord</span> your God in the wilderness;
|
|
only ye shall not go very far away: intreat for me.   29 And
|
|
Moses said, Behold, I go out from thee, and I will intreat the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.ix-p15.8">Lord</span> that the swarms <i>of flies</i>
|
|
may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, to
|
|
morrow: but let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not
|
|
letting the people go to sacrifice to the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.ix-p15.9">Lord</span>.   30 And Moses went out from Pharaoh,
|
|
and intreated the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.ix-p15.10">Lord</span>.   31
|
|
And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.ix-p15.11">Lord</span> did according to the
|
|
word of Moses; and he removed the swarms <i>of flies</i> from
|
|
Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; there remained not
|
|
one.   32 And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also,
|
|
neither would he let the people go.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.ix-p16">Here is the story of the plague of flies,
|
|
in which we are told,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.ix-p17">I. How it was threatened, like that of
|
|
frogs, before it was inflicted. Moses is directed (<scripRef passage="Ex 8:20" id="Ex.ix-p17.1" parsed="|Exod|8|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>) to rise early in the
|
|
morning, to meet Pharaoh when he came forth to the water, and there
|
|
to repeat his demands. Note, 1. Those that would bring great things
|
|
to pass for God and their generation must rise early, and redeem
|
|
time in the morning. Pharaoh was early up at his superstitious
|
|
devotions to the river; and shall we be for more sleep and more
|
|
slumber when any service is to be done which would pass well in our
|
|
account in the great day? 2. Those that would approve themselves
|
|
God's faithful servants must not be afraid of the face of man.
|
|
Moses must <i>stand before Pharaoh,</i> proud as he was, and tell
|
|
him that which was in the highest degree humbling, must challenge
|
|
him (if he refused to release his captives) to engage with any army
|
|
of flies, which would obey God's orders of Pharaoh would not. See a
|
|
similar threatening, <scripRef passage="Isa 7:18" id="Ex.ix-p17.2" parsed="|Isa|7|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.7.18">Isa. vii.
|
|
18</scripRef>, <i>The Lord will hiss</i> (or whistle) <i>for the
|
|
fly and the bee,</i> to come and serve his purposes.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.ix-p18">II. How the Egyptians and the Hebrews were
|
|
to be remarkably distinguished in this plague, <scripRef passage="Ex 8:22,23" id="Ex.ix-p18.1" parsed="|Exod|8|22|8|23" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.22-Exod.8.23"><i>v.</i> 22, 23</scripRef>. It is probable that this
|
|
distinction had not been so manifest and observable in any of the
|
|
foregoing plagues as it was to be in this. Thus, as the plague of
|
|
lice was made more convincing than any before it, by its running
|
|
the magicians aground, so was this, by the distinction made between
|
|
the Egyptians and the Hebrews. Pharaoh must be made to know that
|
|
<i>God is the Lord in the midst of the earth;</i> and by this it
|
|
will be known beyond dispute. 1. Swarms of flies, which seem to us
|
|
to fly at random, shall be manifestly under the conduct of an
|
|
intelligent mind, while they are above the direction of any man.
|
|
"Hither they shall go," says Moses, "and thither they shall not
|
|
come;" and the performance is punctually according to this
|
|
appointment, and both, compared, amount to a demonstration that he
|
|
that said it and he that did it was the same, even a Being of
|
|
infinite power and wisdom. 2. The servants and worshippers of the
|
|
great Jehovah shall be preserved from sharing in the common
|
|
calamities of the place they live in, so that the plague which
|
|
annoys all their neighbours shall not approach them; and this shall
|
|
be an incontestable proof that God is <i>the Lord in the midst of
|
|
the earth.</i> Put both these together, and it appears that <i>the
|
|
eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the earth,</i> and through
|
|
the air too, to direct that which to us seems most casual, to serve
|
|
some great designed end, that he may <i>show himself strong on the
|
|
behalf of those whose hearts are upright with him,</i> <scripRef passage="2Ch 16:9" id="Ex.ix-p18.2" parsed="|2Chr|16|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.16.9">2 Chron. xvi. 9</scripRef>. Observe how it is
|
|
repeated: <i>I will put a division between my people and thy
|
|
people</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 8:23" id="Ex.ix-p18.3" parsed="|Exod|8|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, The Lord knows those that are his, and will make it appear,
|
|
perhaps in this world, certainly in the other, that he has set them
|
|
apart for himself. A day will come when you shall <i>return and
|
|
discern between the righteous and the wicked</i> (<scripRef passage="Mal 3:18" id="Ex.ix-p18.4" parsed="|Mal|3|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mal.3.18">Mal. iii. 18</scripRef>), <i>the sheep and the
|
|
goats</i> (<scripRef passage="Mt 25:32,Eze 34:17" id="Ex.ix-p18.5" parsed="|Matt|25|32|0|0;|Ezek|34|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.25.32 Bible:Ezek.34.17">Matt. xxv. 32;
|
|
Ezek. xxxiv. 17</scripRef>), though now intermixed.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.ix-p19">III. How it was inflicted, the day after it
|
|
was threatened: <i>There came a grievous swarm of flies</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 8:24" id="Ex.ix-p19.1" parsed="|Exod|8|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>), flies of
|
|
divers sorts, and such as devoured them, <scripRef passage="Ps 78:45" id="Ex.ix-p19.2" parsed="|Ps|78|45|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.78.45">Ps. lxxviii. 45</scripRef>. The prince of the power of
|
|
the air has gloried in being <i>Beelzebub—the god of flies;</i>
|
|
but here it is proved that even in <i>that</i> he is a pretender
|
|
and a usurper, for even with swarms of flies God fights against his
|
|
kingdom and prevails.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.ix-p20">IV. How Pharaoh, upon this attack, sounded
|
|
a parley, and entered into a treaty with Moses and Aaron about a
|
|
surrender of his captives: but observe with what reluctance he
|
|
yields.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.ix-p21">1. He is content they should sacrifice to
|
|
their God, provided they would do it in the land of Egypt,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 8:25" id="Ex.ix-p21.1" parsed="|Exod|8|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>. Note, God can
|
|
extort a toleration of his worship, even from those that are really
|
|
enemies to it. Pharaoh, under the smart of the rod, is content they
|
|
should do sacrifice, and will allow liberty of conscience to God's
|
|
Israel, even in his own land. But Moses will not accept his
|
|
concession; he cannot do it, <scripRef passage="Ex 8:26" id="Ex.ix-p21.2" parsed="|Exod|8|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.26"><i>v.</i>
|
|
26</scripRef>. It would be an abomination to God should they offer
|
|
the Egyptian sacrifices, and an abomination to the Egyptians should
|
|
they offer to God their own sacrifices, as they ought; so that they
|
|
could not sacrifice in the land without incurring the displeasure
|
|
either of their God or of their task-masters; therefore he insists:
|
|
<i>We will go three days' journey into the wilderness,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 8:27" id="Ex.ix-p21.3" parsed="|Exod|8|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>. Note, Those
|
|
that would offer an acceptable sacrifice to God must, (1.) Separate
|
|
themselves from the wicked and profane; for we cannot have
|
|
fellowship both with the Father of lights and with the works of
|
|
darkness, both with Christ and with Belial, <scripRef passage="2Co 6:14,Ps 26:4,6" id="Ex.ix-p21.4" parsed="|2Cor|6|14|0|0;|Ps|26|4|0|0;|Ps|26|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.6.14 Bible:Ps.26.4 Bible:Ps.26.6">2 Cor. vi. 14, &c.; Ps. xxvi. 4,
|
|
6</scripRef>. (2.) They must retire from the distractions of the
|
|
world, and get as far as may be from the noise of it. Israel cannot
|
|
keep the feast of the Lord either among the brick-kilns or among
|
|
the flesh-pots of Egypt; no, <i>We will go into the wilderness,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ho 2:14,So 7:11" id="Ex.ix-p21.5" parsed="|Hos|2|14|0|0;|Song|7|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.2.14 Bible:Song.7.11">Hos. ii. 14; Cant. vii.
|
|
11</scripRef>. (3.) They must observe the divine appointment: "We
|
|
will sacrifice as God shall command us, and not otherwise." Though
|
|
they were in the utmost degree of slavery to Pharaoh, yet in the
|
|
worship of God, they must observe his commands and not
|
|
Pharaoh's.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.ix-p22">2. When this proposal is rejected, he
|
|
consents for them to go into the wilderness, provided they do not
|
|
go <i>very far away,</i> not so far but that he might fetch them
|
|
back again, <scripRef passage="Ex 8:28" id="Ex.ix-p22.1" parsed="|Exod|8|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>. It
|
|
is probable he had heard of their design upon Canaan, and suspected
|
|
that if once they left Egypt they would never come back again; and
|
|
therefore, when he is forced to consent that they shall go (the
|
|
swarms of flies buzzing the necessity in his ears), yet he is not
|
|
willing that they should go out of his reach. Thus some sinners
|
|
who, in a pang of conviction, part with their sins, yet are loth
|
|
they should go very far away; for, when the fright is over, they
|
|
will return to them again. We observe here a struggle between
|
|
Pharaoh's convictions and his corruptions; his convictions said,
|
|
"Let them go;" his corruptions said, "Yet not very far away:" but
|
|
he sided with his corruptions against his convictions, and this was
|
|
his ruin. This proposal Moses so far accepted as that he promised
|
|
the removal of this plague upon it, <scripRef passage="Ex 8:29" id="Ex.ix-p22.2" parsed="|Exod|8|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>. See here, (1.) How ready God is
|
|
to accept sinners' submissions. Pharaoh does but say, <i>Entreat
|
|
for me</i> (though it is with regret that he humbles so far), and
|
|
Moses promises immediately, <i>I will entreat the Lord for
|
|
thee,</i> that Pharaoh might see what the design of the plague was,
|
|
not to bring him to ruin, but to bring him to repentance. With what
|
|
pleasure did God say (<scripRef passage="1Ki 21:29" id="Ex.ix-p22.3" parsed="|1Kgs|21|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.21.29">1 Kings xxi.
|
|
29</scripRef>), <i>Seest thou how Ahab humbles himself?</i> (2.)
|
|
What need we have to be admonished that we be sincere in our
|
|
submission: <i>But let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more.</i>
|
|
Those that deal deceitfully are justly suspected, and must be
|
|
cautioned not to return again to folly, after God has once more
|
|
spoken peace. <i>Be not deceived, God is not mocked;</i> if we
|
|
think to put a cheat upon God by a counterfeit repentance, and a
|
|
fraudulent surrender of ourselves to him, we shall prove, in the
|
|
end, to have put a fatal cheat upon our own souls.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.ix-p23"><i>Lastly,</i> The issue of all was that
|
|
God graciously removed the plague (<scripRef passage="Ex 8:30,31" id="Ex.ix-p23.1" parsed="|Exod|8|30|8|31" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.30-Exod.8.31"><i>v.</i> 30, 31</scripRef>), but Pharaoh perfidiously
|
|
returned to his hardness, and <i>would not let the people go,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 8:32" id="Ex.ix-p23.2" parsed="|Exod|8|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>. His pride
|
|
would not let him part with such a flower of his crown as his
|
|
dominion over Israel was, nor his covetousness with such a branch
|
|
of his revenue as their labours were. Note, Reigning lusts break
|
|
through the strongest bounds, and make men impudently presumptuous
|
|
and scandalously perfidious. Let not sin therefore reign; for, if
|
|
it do, it will betray and hurry us to the grossest absurdities.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter IX" n="x" progress="35.06%" prev="Ex.ix" next="Ex.xi" id="Ex.x">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.x-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.x-p0.2">CHAP. IX.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.x-p1">In this chapter we have an account of three more
|
|
of the plagues of Egypt. I. Murrain among the cattle, which was
|
|
fatal to them, <scripRef passage="Ex 9:1-7" id="Ex.x-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|9|1|9|7" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.1-Exod.9.7">ver. 1-7</scripRef>.
|
|
II. Boils upon man and beast, <scripRef passage="Ex 9:8-12" id="Ex.x-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|9|8|9|12" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.8-Exod.9.12">ver.
|
|
8-12</scripRef>. III. Hail, with thunder and lightning. 1. Warning
|
|
is given of this plague, <scripRef passage="Ex 9:13-21" id="Ex.x-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|9|13|9|21" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.13-Exod.9.21">ver.
|
|
13-21</scripRef>. 2. It is inflicted, to their great terror,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 9:22-26" id="Ex.x-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|9|22|9|26" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.22-Exod.9.26">ver. 22-26</scripRef>. 3. Pharaoh,
|
|
in a fright, renews his treaty with Moses, but instantly breaks his
|
|
word, <scripRef passage="Ex 9:27-35" id="Ex.x-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|9|27|9|35" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.27-Exod.9.35">ver. 27</scripRef>,
|
|
&c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 9" id="Ex.x-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|9|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 9:1-7" id="Ex.x-p1.7" parsed="|Exod|9|1|9|7" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.1-Exod.9.7"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.9.1-Exod.9.7">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.x-p1.8">The Plagues of Egypt. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.x-p1.9">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.x-p2">1 Then the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.x-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.x-p2.2">Lord</span> God of the Hebrews, Let my
|
|
people go, that they may serve me.   2 For if thou refuse to
|
|
let <i>them</i> go, and wilt hold them still,   3 Behold, the
|
|
hand of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.x-p2.3">Lord</span> is upon thy cattle
|
|
which <i>is</i> in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon
|
|
the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: <i>there shall
|
|
be</i> a very grievous murrain.   4 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.x-p2.4">Lord</span> shall sever between the cattle of Israel
|
|
and the cattle of Egypt: and there shall nothing die of all <i>that
|
|
is</i> the children's of Israel.   5 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.x-p2.5">Lord</span> appointed a set time, saying, To morrow the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.x-p2.6">Lord</span> shall do this thing in the
|
|
land.   6 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.x-p2.7">Lord</span> did that
|
|
thing on the morrow, and all the cattle of Egypt died: but of the
|
|
cattle of the children of Israel died not one.   7 And Pharaoh
|
|
sent, and, behold, there was not one of the cattle of the
|
|
Israelites dead. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did
|
|
not let the people go.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.x-p3">Here is, I. Warning given of another
|
|
plague, namely, the murrain of beasts. When Pharaoh's heart was
|
|
hardened, after he had seemed to relent under the former plague,
|
|
then Moses is sent to tell him there is another coming, to try what
|
|
that would do towards reviving the impressions of the former
|
|
plagues. Thus is the wrath of God revealed from heaven, both in his
|
|
word and in his works, <i>against all ungodliness and
|
|
unrighteousness of men.</i> 1. Moses puts Pharaoh in a very fair
|
|
way to prevent it: <i>Let my people go,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 9:1" id="Ex.x-p3.1" parsed="|Exod|9|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. This was still the demand. God
|
|
will have Israel released; Pharaoh opposes it, and the trial is,
|
|
<i>whose word shall stand.</i> See how jealous God is for his
|
|
people. When <i>the year of his redeemed has come,</i> he will
|
|
<i>give Egypt for their ransom;</i> that kingdom shall be ruined,
|
|
rather than Israel shall not be delivered. See how reasonable God's
|
|
demands are. Whatever he calls for, it is but <i>his own:</i> They
|
|
are my people, therefore let them go. 2. He describes the plague
|
|
that should come, if he refused, <scripRef passage="Ex 9:2,3" id="Ex.x-p3.2" parsed="|Exod|9|2|9|3" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.2-Exod.9.3"><i>v.</i> 2, 3</scripRef>. <i>The hand of the Lord</i>
|
|
immediately, without the stretching out of Aaron's hand, <i>is upon
|
|
the cattle,</i> many of which, some of all kinds, should die by a
|
|
sort of pestilence. This was greatly to the loss of the owners:
|
|
they had made Israel poor, and now God would make them poor. Note,
|
|
The hand of God is to be acknowledged even in the sickness and
|
|
death of cattle, or other damage sustained in them; for a
|
|
<i>sparrow falls not to the ground without our Father.</i> 3. As an
|
|
evidence of the special hand of God in it, and of his particular
|
|
favour to his own people, he foretells that none of their cattle
|
|
should die, though they breathed in the same air and drank of the
|
|
same water with the Egyptians' cattle: <i>The Lord shall sever,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 9:4" id="Ex.x-p3.3" parsed="|Exod|9|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. Note, When God's
|
|
judgments are abroad, though they may fall both on the righteous
|
|
and the wicked, yet God makes such a distinction that they are not
|
|
the same to the one that they are to the other. See <scripRef passage="Isa 27:7" id="Ex.x-p3.4" parsed="|Isa|27|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.27.7">Isa. xxvii. 7</scripRef>. The providence of God
|
|
is to be acknowledged with thankfulness in the life of the cattle,
|
|
for he preserveth man and beast, <scripRef passage="Ps 36:6" id="Ex.x-p3.5" parsed="|Ps|36|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.36.6">Ps.
|
|
xxxvi. 6</scripRef>. 4. To make the warning the more remarkable,
|
|
the time is fixed (<scripRef passage="Ex 9:5" id="Ex.x-p3.6" parsed="|Exod|9|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.5"><i>v.</i>
|
|
5</scripRef>): <i>To-morrow</i> it shall be done. We know not what
|
|
any day will bring forth, and therefore we cannot say what we will
|
|
do to-morrow, but it is not so with God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.x-p4">II. The plague itself inflicted. The cattle
|
|
died, <scripRef passage="Ex 9:6" id="Ex.x-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|9|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. Note, The
|
|
creature is made subject to vanity by the sin of man, being liable,
|
|
according to its capacity, both to serve his wickedness and to
|
|
share in his punishment, as in the universal deluge. <scripRef passage="Ro 8:20,22" id="Ex.x-p4.2" parsed="|Rom|8|20|0|0;|Rom|8|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.8.20 Bible:Rom.8.22">Rom. viii. 20, 22</scripRef>. Pharaoh and the
|
|
Egyptians sinned; but the <i>sheep, what had they done?</i> Yet
|
|
they are plagued. See <scripRef passage="Jer 12:4" id="Ex.x-p4.3" parsed="|Jer|12|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.12.4">Jer. xii.
|
|
4</scripRef>, For the <i>wickedness of the land, the beasts are
|
|
consumed.</i> The Egyptians afterwards, and (some think) now,
|
|
worshipped their cattle; it was among them that the Israelites
|
|
learned to make a god of a calf: in this therefore the plague here
|
|
spoken of meets with them. Note, What we make an idol of it is just
|
|
with God to remove from us, or embitter to us. See <scripRef passage="Isa 19:1" id="Ex.x-p4.4" parsed="|Isa|19|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.19.1">Isa. xix. 1</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.x-p5">III. The distinction put between the cattle
|
|
of the Egyptians and the Israelites' cattle, according to the word
|
|
of God: Not <i>one of the cattle of the Israelites died,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 9:6,7" id="Ex.x-p5.1" parsed="|Exod|9|6|9|7" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.6-Exod.9.7"><i>v.</i> 6, 7</scripRef>. Does God
|
|
take care of oxen? Yes, he does; his providence extends itself to
|
|
the meanest of his creatures. But it is written also for our sakes,
|
|
that, trusting in God, and making him our refuge, we may not be
|
|
<i>afraid of the pestilence that walketh in darkness,</i> no, not
|
|
though <i>thousands fall at our side,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 91:6,7" id="Ex.x-p5.2" parsed="|Ps|91|6|91|7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.91.6-Ps.91.7">Ps. xci. 6, 7</scripRef>. Pharaoh sent to see if the
|
|
cattle of the Israelites were infected, not to satisfy his
|
|
conscience, but only to gratify his curiosity, or with design, by
|
|
way of reprisal, to repair his own losses out of their stocks; and,
|
|
having no good design in the enquiry, the report brought to him
|
|
made no impression upon him, but, on the contrary, his heart was
|
|
hardened. Note, To those that are wilfully blind, even those
|
|
methods of conviction which are ordained to life prove a savour of
|
|
death unto death.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 9:8-12" id="Ex.x-p5.3" parsed="|Exod|9|8|9|12" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.8-Exod.9.12"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.9.8-Exod.9.12">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.x-p6">8 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.x-p6.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take to you handfuls of ashes of
|
|
the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the
|
|
sight of Pharaoh.   9 And it shall become small dust in all
|
|
the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth <i>with</i>
|
|
blains upon man, and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt.
|
|
  10 And they took ashes of the furnace, and stood before
|
|
Pharaoh; and Moses sprinkled it up toward heaven; and it became a
|
|
boil breaking forth <i>with</i> blains upon man, and upon beast.
|
|
  11 And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of
|
|
the boils; for the boil was upon the magicians, and upon all the
|
|
Egyptians.   12 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.x-p6.2">Lord</span>
|
|
hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them; as
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.x-p6.3">Lord</span> had spoken unto Moses.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.x-p7">Observe here, concerning the plague of
|
|
boils and blains,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.x-p8">I. When they were not wrought upon by the
|
|
death of their cattle, God sent a plague that seized their own
|
|
bodies, and touched them to the quick. If less judgments do not do
|
|
their work, God will send greater. Let us therefore humble
|
|
ourselves under the mighty hand of God, and go forth to meet him in
|
|
the way of his judgments, that his anger may be turned away from
|
|
us.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.x-p9">II. The signal by which this plague was
|
|
summoned was the sprinkling of warm ashes from the <i>furnace,
|
|
towards heaven</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 9:8,10" id="Ex.x-p9.1" parsed="|Exod|9|8|0|0;|Exod|9|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.8 Bible:Exod.9.10"><i>v.</i> 8,
|
|
10</scripRef>), which was to signify the heating of the air with
|
|
such an infection as should produce in the bodies of the Egyptians
|
|
sore boils, which would be both noisome and painful. Immediately
|
|
upon the scattering of the ashes, a scalding dew came down out of
|
|
the air, which blistered wherever it fell. Note, Sometimes God
|
|
shows men their sin in their punishment; they had oppressed Israel
|
|
in the furnaces, and now the ashes of the furnace are made as much
|
|
a terror to them as ever their task-masters had been to the
|
|
Israelites.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.x-p10">III. The plague itself was very grievous—a
|
|
common eruption would be so, especially to the nice and delicate,
|
|
but these eruptions were inflammations, like Job's. This is
|
|
afterwards called the <i>botch of Egypt</i> (<scripRef passage="De 28:27" id="Ex.x-p10.1" parsed="|Deut|28|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.27">Deut. xxviii. 27</scripRef>), as if it were some new
|
|
disease, never heard of before, and known ever after by that name,
|
|
Note, Sores in the body are to be looked upon as the punishments of
|
|
sin, and to be hearkened to as calls to repentance.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.x-p11">IV. The magicians themselves were struck
|
|
with these boils, <scripRef passage="Ex 9:11" id="Ex.x-p11.1" parsed="|Exod|9|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.11"><i>v.</i>
|
|
11</scripRef>. 1. Thus they were punished, (1.) For helping to
|
|
harden Pharaoh's heart, as Elymas for seeking to <i>pervert the
|
|
right ways of the Lord;</i> God will severely reckon with those
|
|
that strengthen the hands of the wicked in their wickedness. (2.)
|
|
For pretending to imitate the former plagues, and making themselves
|
|
and Pharaoh sport with them. Those that would produce lice shall,
|
|
against their wills, produce boils. Note, It is ill jesting with
|
|
God's judgments, and more dangerous than playing with fire. <i>Be
|
|
you not mockers, lest your bands be made strong.</i> 2. Thus they
|
|
were shamed in the presence of their admirers. How weak were their
|
|
enchantments, which could not so much as secure themselves! The
|
|
devil can give no protection to those that are in confederacy with
|
|
him. 3. Thus they were driven from the field. Their power was
|
|
restrained before (<scripRef passage="Ex 8:18" id="Ex.x-p11.2" parsed="|Exod|8|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.8.18"><i>ch.</i> viii.
|
|
18</scripRef>), but they continued to confront Moses, and confirm
|
|
Pharaoh in his unbelief, till now, at length, they were forced to
|
|
retreat, and could not stand before Moses, to which the apostle
|
|
refers (<scripRef passage="2Ti 3:9" id="Ex.x-p11.3" parsed="|2Tim|3|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Tim.3.9">2 Tim. iii. 9</scripRef>) when
|
|
he says that their <i>folly was made manifest unto all men.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.x-p12">V. Pharaoh continued obstinate, for now
|
|
<i>the Lord hardened</i> his heart, <scripRef passage="Ex 9:12" id="Ex.x-p12.1" parsed="|Exod|9|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. Before, he had hardened his own
|
|
heart, and resisted the grace of God; and now God justly gave him
|
|
up to his own heart's lusts, to a reprobate mind, and strong
|
|
delusions, permitting Satan to blind and harden him, and ordering
|
|
every thing, henceforward, so as to make him more and more
|
|
obstinate. Note, Wilful hardness is commonly punished with judicial
|
|
hardness. If men shut their eyes against the light, it is just with
|
|
God to close their eyes. Let us dread this as the sorest judgment a
|
|
man can be under on this side hell.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 9" id="Ex.x-p12.2" parsed="|Exod|9|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 9:13-21" id="Ex.x-p12.3" parsed="|Exod|9|13|9|21" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.13-Exod.9.21"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.9.13-Exod.9.21">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.x-p13">13 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.x-p13.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before
|
|
Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.x-p13.2">Lord</span> God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that
|
|
they may serve me.   14 For I will at this time send all my
|
|
plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy
|
|
people; that thou mayest know that <i>there is</i> none like me in
|
|
all the earth.   15 For now I will stretch out my hand, that I
|
|
may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be
|
|
cut off from the earth.   16 And in very deed for this
|
|
<i>cause</i> have I raised thee up, for to show <i>in</i> thee my
|
|
power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.
|
|
  17 As yet exaltest thou thyself against my people, that thou
|
|
wilt not let them go?   18 Behold, to morrow about this time I
|
|
will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been
|
|
in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now.   19
|
|
Send therefore now, <i>and</i> gather thy cattle, and all that thou
|
|
hast in the field; <i>for upon</i> every man and beast which shall
|
|
be found in the field, and shall not be brought home, the hail
|
|
shall come down upon them, and they shall die.   20 He that
|
|
feared the word of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.x-p13.3">Lord</span> among
|
|
the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into
|
|
the houses:   21 And he that regarded not the word of the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.x-p13.4">Lord</span> left his servants and his
|
|
cattle in the field.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.x-p14">Here is, I. A general declaration of the
|
|
wrath of God against Pharaoh for his obstinacy. Though God has
|
|
hardened his heart (<scripRef passage="Ex 9:12" id="Ex.x-p14.1" parsed="|Exod|9|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.12"><i>v.</i>
|
|
12</scripRef>), yet Moses must repeat his applications to him; God
|
|
suspends his grace and yet demands obedience, to punish him for
|
|
requiring bricks of the children of Israel when he denied them
|
|
straw. God would likewise show forth a pattern of long-suffering,
|
|
and how he waits to be gracious to a <i>rebellious and gainsaying
|
|
people</i> Six times the demand had been made in vain, yet Moses
|
|
must make it the seventh time: <i>Let my people go,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 9:13" id="Ex.x-p14.2" parsed="|Exod|9|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. A most dreadful message
|
|
Moses is here ordered to deliver to him, whether he will hear or
|
|
whether he will forbear. 1. He must tell him that he is marked for
|
|
ruin, that he now stands as the butt at which God would shoot all
|
|
the arrows of his wrath, <scripRef passage="Ex 9:14,15" id="Ex.x-p14.3" parsed="|Exod|9|14|9|15" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.14-Exod.9.15"><i>v.</i>
|
|
14, 15</scripRef>. "Now I will send <i>all my plagues.</i>" Now
|
|
that no place is found for repentance in Pharaoh, nothing can
|
|
prevent his utter destruction, for that only would have prevented
|
|
it. Now that God begins to <i>harden his heart,</i> his case is
|
|
desperate. "I will send my plagues <i>upon thy heart,</i> not only
|
|
temporal plagues upon thy body, but spiritual plagues upon thy
|
|
soul." Note, God can send plagues upon thy soul." Note, God can
|
|
send plagues upon the heart, either by making it senseless or by
|
|
making it hopeless—and these are the worst plagues. Pharaoh must
|
|
now expect no respite, no cessation of arms, but to be followed
|
|
with plague upon plague, till he is utterly consumed. Note, When
|
|
God judges he will overcome; none ever hardened his heart against
|
|
him and prospered. 2. He must tell him that he is to remain in
|
|
history a standing monument of the justice and power of God's wrath
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 9:16" id="Ex.x-p14.4" parsed="|Exod|9|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>): "<i>For this
|
|
cause have I raised thee up</i> to the throne at this time, and
|
|
made thee to stand the shock of the plagues hitherto, to <i>show in
|
|
thee my power.</i>" Providence ordered it so that Moses should have
|
|
a man of such a fierce and stubborn spirit as he was to deal with;
|
|
and every thing was so managed in this transaction as to make it a
|
|
most signal and memorable instance of the power God has to humble
|
|
and bring down the proudest of his enemies. Every thing concurred
|
|
to signalize this, that God's name (that is, his incontestable
|
|
sovereignty, his irresistible power, and his inflexible justice)
|
|
might be declared throughout all the earth, not only to all places,
|
|
but through all ages while the earth remains. Note, God sometimes
|
|
raises up very bad men to honour and power, spares them long, and
|
|
suffers them to grow insufferably insolent, that he may be so much
|
|
the more glorified in their destruction at last. See how the
|
|
neighbouring nations, at that time, improved the ruin of Pharaoh to
|
|
the glory of God. Jethro said upon it, <i>Now know I that the Lord
|
|
is greater than all gods,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 18:11" id="Ex.x-p14.5" parsed="|Exod|18|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.11"><i>ch.</i> xviii. 11</scripRef>. The apostle illustrates
|
|
the doctrine of God's sovereignty with this instance, <scripRef passage="Ro 9:17" id="Ex.x-p14.6" parsed="|Rom|9|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.17">Rom. ix. 17</scripRef>. To justify God in these
|
|
resolutions, Moses is directed to ask him (<scripRef passage="Ex 9:17" id="Ex.x-p14.7" parsed="|Exod|9|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>), <i>As yet exaltest thou thyself
|
|
against my people?</i> Pharaoh was a great king; God's people were
|
|
poor shepherds at the best, and now poor slaves; and yet Pharaoh
|
|
shall be ruined if he exalt himself against them, for it is
|
|
considered as exalting himself against God. This was not the first
|
|
time that God reproved kings for their sakes, and let them know
|
|
that he would not suffer his people to be trampled upon and
|
|
insulted, no, not by the most powerful of them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.x-p15">II. A particular prediction of the plague
|
|
of hail (<scripRef passage="Ex 9:18" id="Ex.x-p15.1" parsed="|Exod|9|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>), and
|
|
a gracious advice to Pharaoh and his people to send for their
|
|
servants and cattle out of the field, that they might be sheltered
|
|
from the hail, <scripRef passage="Ex 9:19" id="Ex.x-p15.2" parsed="|Exod|9|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, When God's justice threatens ruin his mercy, at the same
|
|
time, shows us a way of escape from it, so unwilling is he that any
|
|
should perish. See here what care God took, not only to distinguish
|
|
between Egyptians and Israelites, but between some Egyptians and
|
|
others. If Pharaoh will not yield, and so prevent the judgment
|
|
itself, yet an opportunity is given to those that have any dread of
|
|
God and his word to save themselves from sharing in the judgment.
|
|
Note, Those that will take warning may take shelter; and those that
|
|
will not may thank themselves if they fall by the overflowing
|
|
scourge, and the hail which will <i>sweep away the refuge of
|
|
lies,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 28:17" id="Ex.x-p15.3" parsed="|Isa|28|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.28.17">Isa. xxviii. 17</scripRef>.
|
|
See the different effect of this warning. 1. <i>Some believed the
|
|
things that were spoken,</i> and they feared, and housed their
|
|
servants and cattle (<scripRef passage="Ex 9:20" id="Ex.x-p15.4" parsed="|Exod|9|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.20"><i>v.</i>
|
|
20)</scripRef>, like Noah (<scripRef passage="Heb 11:7" id="Ex.x-p15.5" parsed="|Heb|11|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.7">Heb. xi.
|
|
7</scripRef>), and it was their wisdom. Even among the servants of
|
|
Pharaoh there were some that trembled at God's word; and shall not
|
|
the sons of Israel dread it? But, 2. Others believed not: though,
|
|
whatever plague Moses had hitherto foretold, the event exactly
|
|
answered to the prediction; and though, if they had had any reason
|
|
to question this, it would have been no great damage to them to
|
|
have kept their cattle in the house for one day, and so, supposing
|
|
it a doubtful case, to have chosen the surer side; yet they were so
|
|
foolhardy as in defiance to the truth of Moses, and the power of
|
|
God (of both which they had already had experience enough, to their
|
|
cost), to leave their cattle in the field, Pharaoh himself, it is
|
|
probable, giving them an example of the presumption, <scripRef passage="Ex 9:21" id="Ex.x-p15.6" parsed="|Exod|9|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. Note, Obstinate
|
|
infidelity, which is deaf to the fairest warnings and the wisest
|
|
counsels, leaves the blood of those that perish upon their own
|
|
heads.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 9:22-35" id="Ex.x-p15.7" parsed="|Exod|9|22|9|35" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.22-Exod.9.35"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.9.22-Exod.9.35">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.x-p16">22 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.x-p16.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto Moses, Stretch forth thine hand toward heaven, that there
|
|
may be hail in all the land of Egypt, upon man, and upon beast, and
|
|
upon every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt.  
|
|
23 And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.x-p16.2">Lord</span> sent thunder and hail, and the fire
|
|
ran along upon the ground; and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.x-p16.3">Lord</span> rained hail upon the land of Egypt.  
|
|
24 So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very
|
|
grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt
|
|
since it became a nation.   25 And the hail smote throughout
|
|
all the land of Egypt all that <i>was</i> in the field, both man
|
|
and beast; and the hail smote every herb of the field, and brake
|
|
every tree of the field.   26 Only in the land of Goshen,
|
|
where the children of Israel <i>were,</i> was there no hail.  
|
|
27 And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto
|
|
them, I have sinned this time: the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.x-p16.4">Lord</span> <i>is</i> righteous, and I and my people
|
|
<i>are</i> wicked.   28 Intreat the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.x-p16.5">Lord</span> (for <i>it is</i> enough) that there be no
|
|
<i>more</i> mighty thunderings and hail; and I will let you go, and
|
|
ye shall stay no longer.   29 And Moses said unto him, As soon
|
|
as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.x-p16.6">Lord</span>; <i>and</i> the thunder
|
|
shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest
|
|
know how that the earth <i>is</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.x-p16.7">Lord</span>'s.   30 But as for thee and thy
|
|
servants, I know that ye will not yet fear the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.x-p16.8">Lord</span> God.   31 And the flax and the barley
|
|
was smitten: for the barley <i>was</i> in the ear, and the flax
|
|
<i>was</i> bolled.   32 But the wheat and the rye were not
|
|
smitten: for they <i>were</i> not grown up.   33 And Moses
|
|
went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread abroad his hands unto
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.x-p16.9">Lord</span>: and the thunders and hail
|
|
ceased, and the rain was not poured upon the earth.   34 And
|
|
when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were
|
|
ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his
|
|
servants.   35 And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, neither
|
|
would he let the children of Israel go; as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.x-p16.10">Lord</span> had spoken by Moses.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.x-p17">The threatened plague of hail is here
|
|
summoned by the powerful hand and rod of Moses (<scripRef passage="Ex 9:22,23" id="Ex.x-p17.1" parsed="|Exod|9|22|9|23" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.22-Exod.9.23"><i>v.</i> 22, 23</scripRef>), and it obeys the
|
|
summons, or rather the divine command; for <i>fire and hail fulfil
|
|
God's word,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 148:8" id="Ex.x-p17.2" parsed="|Ps|148|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.148.8">Ps. cxlviii.
|
|
8</scripRef>. And here we are told,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.x-p18">I. What desolations it made upon the earth.
|
|
The thunder, and fire from heaven (or lightning), made it both the
|
|
more dreadful and the more destroying, <scripRef passage="Ex 9:23,24" id="Ex.x-p18.1" parsed="|Exod|9|23|9|24" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.23-Exod.9.24"><i>v.</i> 23, 24</scripRef>. Note, God makes the
|
|
clouds, not only his store-houses whence he drops fatness on his
|
|
people, but his magazines whence, when he pleases, he can draw out
|
|
a most formidable train of artillery, with which to destroy his
|
|
enemies. He himself speaks of the <i>treasures of hail which he
|
|
hath reserved against the day of battle and war,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 38:22,23" id="Ex.x-p18.2" parsed="|Job|38|22|38|23" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.22-Job.38.23">Job xxxviii. 22, 23</scripRef>. Woeful havoc
|
|
this hail made in the land of Egypt. It killed both men and cattle,
|
|
and battered down, not only the herbs, but the trees, <scripRef passage="Ex 9:25" id="Ex.x-p18.3" parsed="|Exod|9|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>. The corn that was above
|
|
ground was destroyed, and that only preserved which as yet had not
|
|
come up, <scripRef passage="Ex 9:31,32" id="Ex.x-p18.4" parsed="|Exod|9|31|9|32" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.31-Exod.9.32"><i>v.</i> 31,
|
|
32</scripRef>. Note, God has many ways of <i>taking away the corn
|
|
in the season thereof</i> (<scripRef passage="Ho 2:9" id="Ex.x-p18.5" parsed="|Hos|2|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.2.9">Hos. ii.
|
|
9</scripRef>), either by a secret blasting, or a noisy hail. In
|
|
this plague the <i>hot thunderbolts,</i> as well as the hail, are
|
|
said to destroy <i>their flocks,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 78:47,48" id="Ex.x-p18.6" parsed="|Ps|78|47|78|48" osisRef="Bible:Ps.78.47-Ps.78.48">Ps. lxxviii. 47, 48</scripRef>; and see <scripRef passage="Ps 105:32,33" id="Ex.x-p18.7" parsed="|Ps|105|32|105|33" osisRef="Bible:Ps.105.32-Ps.105.33">Ps. cv. 32, 33</scripRef>. Perhaps David
|
|
alludes to this when, describing God's glorious appearances for the
|
|
discomfiture of his enemies, he speaks of the hailstones and coals
|
|
of fire he threw among them, <scripRef passage="Ps 18:12,13" id="Ex.x-p18.8" parsed="|Ps|18|12|18|13" osisRef="Bible:Ps.18.12-Ps.18.13">Ps.
|
|
xviii. 12, 13</scripRef>. And there is a plan reference to it on
|
|
the pouring out of the seventh vial, <scripRef passage="Re 16:21" id="Ex.x-p18.9" parsed="|Rev|16|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.16.21">Rev. xvi. 21</scripRef>. Notice is here taken (<scripRef passage="Ex 9:26" id="Ex.x-p18.10" parsed="|Exod|9|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>) of the land of Goshen's
|
|
being preserved from receiving any damage by this plague. God has
|
|
the directing of the pregnant clouds, and causes it to rain or hail
|
|
on one city and not on another, either in mercy or in judgment.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.x-p19">II. What a consternation it put Pharaoh in.
|
|
See what effect it had upon him, 1. He humbled himself to Moses in
|
|
the language of a penitent, <scripRef passage="Ex 9:27,28" id="Ex.x-p19.1" parsed="|Exod|9|27|9|28" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.27-Exod.9.28"><i>v.</i> 27, 28</scripRef>. No man could have spoken
|
|
better. He owns himself on the wrong side in his contest with the
|
|
God of the Hebrews: "<i>I have sinned</i> in standing it out so
|
|
long." He owns the equity of God's proceedings against him: <i>The
|
|
Lord is righteous,</i> and must be justified when he speaks, though
|
|
he speak in thunder and lightning. He condemns himself and his
|
|
land: "<i>I and my people are wicked,</i> and deserve what is
|
|
brought upon us." He begs the prayers of Moses: "<i>Entreat the
|
|
Lord</i> for me, that this direful plague may be removed." And,
|
|
<i>lastly,</i> he promises to yield up his prisoners: <i>I will let
|
|
you go.</i> What could one desire more? And yet his heart was
|
|
hardened all this while. Note, The terror of the rod often extorts
|
|
penitent acknowledgments from those who have no penitent
|
|
affections; under the surprise and smart of affliction, they start
|
|
up, and say that which is pertinent enough, not because they are
|
|
deeply affected, but because they know that they should be and that
|
|
<i>it is meet to be said.</i> 2. Moses, hereupon, becomes an
|
|
intercessor for him with God. Though he had all the reason in the
|
|
world to think that he would immediately repent of his repentance,
|
|
and told him so (<scripRef passage="Ex 9:30" id="Ex.x-p19.2" parsed="|Exod|9|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.30"><i>v.</i>
|
|
30</scripRef>), yet he promises to be this friend in the court of
|
|
heaven. Note, Even those whom we have little hopes of, yet we
|
|
should continue to pray for, and to admonish, <scripRef passage="1Sa 12:23" id="Ex.x-p19.3" parsed="|1Sam|12|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.12.23">1 Sam. xii. 23</scripRef>. Observe, (1.) The place
|
|
Moses chose for his intercession. He went <i>out of the city</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 9:33" id="Ex.x-p19.4" parsed="|Exod|9|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>), not only for
|
|
privacy in his communion with God, but to show that he durst
|
|
venture abroad into the field, notwithstanding the hail and
|
|
lightning which kept Pharaoh and his servants withindoors, knowing
|
|
that every hail-stone had its direction from his God, who meant him
|
|
no hurt. Note, Peace with God makes men thunderproof, for thunder
|
|
is the voice of their Father. (2.) The gesture: He <i>spread abroad
|
|
his hands unto the Lord</i>—an outward expression of earnest
|
|
desire and humble expectation. Those that come to God for mercy
|
|
must stand ready to receive it. (3.) The end Moses aimed at in
|
|
interceding for him: <i>That thou mayest know,</i> and be
|
|
convinced, <i>that the earth is the Lord's</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 9:29" id="Ex.x-p19.5" parsed="|Exod|9|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>), that is, that God has a
|
|
sovereign dominion over all the creatures, that they all are ruled
|
|
by him, and therefore that thou oughtest to be so. See what various
|
|
methods God uses to bring men to their proper senses. Judgments are
|
|
sent, judgments removed, and all for the same end, to make men know
|
|
that he Lord reigns. (4.) The success of it. [1.] He prevailed with
|
|
God, <scripRef passage="Ex 9:33" id="Ex.x-p19.6" parsed="|Exod|9|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>. But, [2.]
|
|
He could not prevail with Pharaoh: <i>He sinned yet more, and
|
|
hardened his heart,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 9:34,35" id="Ex.x-p19.7" parsed="|Exod|9|34|9|35" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.34-Exod.9.35"><i>v.</i>
|
|
34, 35</scripRef>. The prayer of Moses opened and shut heaven, like
|
|
Elias's (<scripRef passage="Jam 5:17,18" id="Ex.x-p19.8" parsed="|Jas|5|17|5|18" osisRef="Bible:Jas.5.17-Jas.5.18">Jam. v. 17,
|
|
18</scripRef>), and such is the power of God's two witnesses
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Re 11:6" id="Ex.x-p19.9" parsed="|Rev|11|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.11.6">Rev. xi. 6</scripRef>); yet neither
|
|
Moses nor Elias, nor those two witnesses, could subdue the hard
|
|
hearts of men. Pharaoh was frightened into a compliance by the
|
|
judgment, but, when it was over, his convictions vanished, and his
|
|
fair promises were forgotten. Note, Little credit is to be given to
|
|
confessions upon the rack. Note also, Those that are not bettered
|
|
by judgments and mercies are commonly made worse.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter X" n="xi" progress="35.55%" prev="Ex.x" next="Ex.xii" id="Ex.xi">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.xi-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.xi-p0.2">CHAP. X.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.xi-p1">The eighth and ninth of the plagues of Egypt, that
|
|
of locusts and that of darkness, are recorded in this chapter. I.
|
|
Concerning the plague of locusts, 1. God instructs Moses in the
|
|
meaning of these amazing dispensations of his providence, <scripRef passage="Ex 10:1,2" id="Ex.xi-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|10|1|10|2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.1-Exod.10.2">ver. 1, 2</scripRef>. 2. He threatens the
|
|
locusts, <scripRef passage="Ex 10:3-6" id="Ex.xi-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|10|3|10|6" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.3-Exod.10.6">ver. 3-6</scripRef>. 3.
|
|
Pharaoh, at the persuasion of his servants, is willing to treat
|
|
again with Moses (<scripRef passage="Ex 10:7-9" id="Ex.xi-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|10|7|10|9" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.7-Exod.10.9">ver.
|
|
7-9</scripRef>), but they cannot agree, <scripRef passage="Ex 10:10,11" id="Ex.xi-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|10|10|10|11" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.10-Exod.10.11">ver. 10, 11</scripRef>. 4. The locusts come,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 10:12-15" id="Ex.xi-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|10|12|10|15" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.12-Exod.10.15">ver. 12-15</scripRef>. 5. Pharaoh
|
|
cries Peccavi—I have offended (<scripRef passage="Ex 10:16,17" id="Ex.xi-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|10|16|10|17" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.16-Exod.10.17">ver. 16, 17</scripRef>), whereupon Moses prays for
|
|
the removal of the plague, and it is done; but Pharaoh's heart is
|
|
still hardened, <scripRef passage="Ex 10:18-20" id="Ex.xi-p1.7" parsed="|Exod|10|18|10|20" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.18-Exod.10.20">ver.
|
|
18-20</scripRef>. II. Concerning the plague of darkness, 1. It is
|
|
inflicted, <scripRef passage="Ex 10:21-23" id="Ex.xi-p1.8" parsed="|Exod|10|21|10|23" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.21-Exod.10.23">ver. 21-23</scripRef>.
|
|
2. Pharaoh again treats with Moses about a surrender, but the
|
|
treaty breaks off in a heat, <scripRef passage="Ex 10:26-29" id="Ex.xi-p1.9" parsed="|Exod|10|26|10|29" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.26-Exod.10.29">ver.
|
|
26</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 10" id="Ex.xi-p1.10" parsed="|Exod|10|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 10:1-11" id="Ex.xi-p1.11" parsed="|Exod|10|1|10|11" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.1-Exod.10.11"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.10.1-Exod.10.11">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xi-p1.12">The Plagues of Egypt. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xi-p1.13">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xi-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xi-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart,
|
|
and the heart of his servants, that I might show these my signs
|
|
before him:   2 And that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy
|
|
son, and of thy son's son, what things I have wrought in Egypt, and
|
|
my signs which I have done among them; that ye may know how that I
|
|
<i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xi-p2.2">Lord</span>.   3 And
|
|
Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xi-p2.3">Lord</span> God of the Hebrews, How
|
|
long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? let my people
|
|
go, that they may serve me.   4 Else, if thou refuse to let my
|
|
people go, behold, to morrow will I bring the locusts into thy
|
|
coast:   5 And they shall cover the face of the earth, that
|
|
one cannot be able to see the earth: and they shall eat the residue
|
|
of that which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail,
|
|
and shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field:
|
|
  6 And they shall fill thy houses, and the houses of all thy
|
|
servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians; which neither thy
|
|
fathers, nor thy fathers' fathers have seen, since the day that
|
|
they were upon the earth unto this day. And he turned himself, and
|
|
went out from Pharaoh.   7 And Pharaoh's servants said unto
|
|
him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go,
|
|
that they may serve the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xi-p2.4">Lord</span> their
|
|
God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?   8 And
|
|
Moses and Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh: and he said unto
|
|
them, Go, serve the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xi-p2.5">Lord</span> your God:
|
|
<i>but</i> who <i>are</i> they that shall go?   9 And Moses
|
|
said, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and
|
|
with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go;
|
|
for we <i>must hold</i> a feast unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xi-p2.6">Lord</span>.   10 And he said unto them, Let the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xi-p2.7">Lord</span> be so with you, as I will let
|
|
you go, and your little ones: look <i>to it;</i> for evil <i>is</i>
|
|
before you.   11 Not so: go now ye <i>that are</i> men, and
|
|
serve the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xi-p2.8">Lord</span>; for that ye did
|
|
desire. And they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xi-p3">Here, I. Moses is instructed. We may well
|
|
suppose that he, for his part, was much astonished both at
|
|
Pharaoh's obstinacy and at God's severity, and could not but be
|
|
compassionately concerned for the desolations of Egypt, and at a
|
|
loss to conceive what this contest would come to at last. Now here
|
|
God tells him what he designed, not only Israel's release, but the
|
|
magnifying of his own name: <i>That thou mayest tell</i> in thy
|
|
writings, which shall continue to the world's end, <i>what I have
|
|
wrought in Egypt,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 10:1,2" id="Ex.xi-p3.1" parsed="|Exod|10|1|10|2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.1-Exod.10.2"><i>v.</i> 1,
|
|
2</scripRef>. The ten plagues of Egypt must be inflicted, that they
|
|
may be recorded for the generations to come as undeniable proofs,
|
|
1. Of God's overruling power in the kingdom of nature, his dominion
|
|
over all the creatures, and his authority to use them either as
|
|
servants to his justice or sufferers by it, according to the
|
|
counsel of his will. 2. Of God's victorious power over the kingdom
|
|
of Satan, to restrain the malice and chastise the insolence of his
|
|
and his church's enemies. These plagues are standing monuments of
|
|
the greatness of God, the happiness of the church, and the
|
|
sinfulness of sin, and standing monitors to the children of men in
|
|
all ages not to <i>provoke the Lord to jealousy</i> nor to
|
|
<i>strive with their Maker.</i> The benefit of these instructions
|
|
to the world sufficiently balances the expense.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xi-p4">II. Pharaoh is reproved (<scripRef passage="Ex 10:3" id="Ex.xi-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|10|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>): <i>Thus saith the Lord God of
|
|
the</i> poor, despised, persecuted, Hebrews, <i>How long wilt thou
|
|
refuse to humble thyself before me?</i> Note, It is justly expected
|
|
from the greatest of men that they humble themselves before the
|
|
great God, and it is at their peril if they refuse to do it. This
|
|
has more than once been God's quarrel with princes. Belshazzar did
|
|
not humble his heart, <scripRef passage="Da 5:22" id="Ex.xi-p4.2" parsed="|Dan|5|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.5.22">Dan. v.
|
|
22</scripRef>. Zedekiah humbled not himself before Jeremiah,
|
|
<scripRef passage="2Ch 36:12" id="Ex.xi-p4.3" parsed="|2Chr|36|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.36.12">2 Chron. xxxvi. 12</scripRef>. Those
|
|
that will not humble themselves God will humble. Pharaoh had
|
|
sometimes pretended to humble himself, but no account was made of
|
|
it, because he was neither sincere nor constant in it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xi-p5">III. The plague of locusts is threatened,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 10:4-6" id="Ex.xi-p5.1" parsed="|Exod|10|4|10|6" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.4-Exod.10.6"><i>v.</i> 4-6</scripRef>. The hail
|
|
had broken down the fruits of the earth, but these locusts should
|
|
come and devour them: and not only so, but they should fill their
|
|
houses, whereas the former inroads of these insects had been
|
|
confined to their lands. This should be much worse than all the
|
|
calamities of that king which had ever been known. Moses, when he
|
|
had delivered his message, not expecting any better answer than he
|
|
had formerly, <i>turned himself and went out from</i> Pharaoh,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 10:6" id="Ex.xi-p5.2" parsed="|Exod|10|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. Thus Christ
|
|
appointed his disciples to depart from those who would not receive
|
|
them, and to <i>shake off the dust of their feet for a testimony
|
|
against them;</i> and ruin is not far off from those who are thus
|
|
justly abandoned by the Lord's messengers, <scripRef passage="1Sa 15:27" id="Ex.xi-p5.3" parsed="|1Sam|15|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.15.27">1 Sam. xv. 27</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xi-p6">IV. Pharaoh's attendants, his ministers of
|
|
state, or privy-counsellors, interpose, to persuade him to come to
|
|
some terms with Moses, <scripRef passage="Ex 10:7" id="Ex.xi-p6.1" parsed="|Exod|10|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.7"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7</scripRef>. They, as in duty bound, represent to him the
|
|
deplorable condition of the kingdom (<i>Egypt is destroyed</i>),
|
|
and advise him by all means to release his prisoners (<i>Let the
|
|
men go</i>); for Moses, they found, would be a snare to them till
|
|
it was done, and it were better to consent at first than to be
|
|
compelled at last. The Israelites had become a burdensome stone to
|
|
the Egyptians, and now, at length, the princes of Egypt were
|
|
willing to be rid of them, <scripRef passage="Zec 12:3" id="Ex.xi-p6.2" parsed="|Zech|12|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zech.12.3">Zech. xii.
|
|
3</scripRef>. Note, It is a thing to be regretted (and prevented,
|
|
if possible) that a whole nation should be ruined for the pride and
|
|
obstinacy of its princes, <i>Salus populi suprema lex—To consult
|
|
the welfare of the people is the first of laws.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xi-p7">V. A new treaty is, hereupon, set on foot
|
|
between Pharaoh and Moses, in which Pharaoh consents for the
|
|
Israelites to go into the wilderness to do sacrifice; but the
|
|
matter in dispute was who should go, <scripRef passage="Ex 10:8" id="Ex.xi-p7.1" parsed="|Exod|10|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. 1. Moses insists that they should
|
|
take their whole families, and all their effects, along with them,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 10:9" id="Ex.xi-p7.2" parsed="|Exod|10|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. Note, Those
|
|
that serve God must serve him with all they have. Moses pleads, "We
|
|
must hold a feast, therefore we must have our families to feast
|
|
with, and our flocks and herds to feast upon, to the honour of
|
|
God." 2. Pharaoh will by no means grant this: he will allow the men
|
|
to go, pretending that this was all they desired, though this
|
|
matter was never yet mentioned in any of the former treaties; but,
|
|
for the <i>little ones,</i> he resolves to keep them as hostages,
|
|
to oblige them to return, <scripRef passage="Ex 10:10,11" id="Ex.xi-p7.3" parsed="|Exod|10|10|10|11" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.10-Exod.10.11"><i>v.</i>
|
|
10, 11</scripRef>. In a great passion he curses them, and threatens
|
|
that, if they offer to remove their little ones, they will do it at
|
|
their peril. Note, Satan does all he can to hinder those that serve
|
|
God themselves from bringing their children in to serve him. He is
|
|
a sworn enemy to early piety, knowing how destructive it is to the
|
|
interests of his kingdom; whatever would hinder us from engaging
|
|
our children to the utmost in God's service, we have reason to
|
|
suspect the hand of Satan in it. 3. The treaty, hereupon, breaks
|
|
off abruptly; those that before went out from Pharaoh's presence
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 10:6" id="Ex.xi-p7.4" parsed="|Exod|10|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>) were now
|
|
driven out. Those will quickly hear their doom that cannot bear to
|
|
hear their duty. See <scripRef passage="2Ch 25:16" id="Ex.xi-p7.5" parsed="|2Chr|25|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.25.16">2 Chron. xxv.
|
|
16</scripRef>. <i>Quos Deus destruet eos dementat—Whom God intends
|
|
to destroy he delivers up to infatuation.</i> Never was man so
|
|
infatuated to his own ruin as Pharaoh was.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 10" id="Ex.xi-p7.6" parsed="|Exod|10|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 10:12-20" id="Ex.xi-p7.7" parsed="|Exod|10|12|10|20" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.12-Exod.10.20"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.10.12-Exod.10.20">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xi-p8">12 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xi-p8.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt for
|
|
the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat
|
|
every herb of the land, <i>even</i> all that the hail hath left.
|
|
  13 And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt,
|
|
and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xi-p8.2">Lord</span> brought an east wind
|
|
upon the land all that day, and all <i>that</i> night; <i>and</i>
|
|
when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.   14
|
|
And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in
|
|
all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous <i>were they;</i> before
|
|
them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall
|
|
be such.   15 For they covered the face of the whole earth, so
|
|
that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the
|
|
land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and
|
|
there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of
|
|
the field, through all the land of Egypt.   16 Then Pharaoh
|
|
called for Moses and Aaron in haste; and he said, I have sinned
|
|
against the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xi-p8.3">Lord</span> your God, and
|
|
against you.   17 Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin
|
|
only this once, and intreat the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xi-p8.4">Lord</span>
|
|
your God, that he may take away from me this death only.   18
|
|
And he went out from Pharaoh, and intreated the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xi-p8.5">Lord</span>.   19 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xi-p8.6">Lord</span> turned a mighty strong west wind, which
|
|
took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red sea; there
|
|
remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt.   20 But
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xi-p8.7">Lord</span> hardened Pharaoh's heart,
|
|
so that he would not let the children of Israel go.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xi-p9">Here is, I. The invasion of the land by the
|
|
locusts—<i>God's great army,</i> <scripRef passage="Joe 2:11" id="Ex.xi-p9.1" parsed="|Joel|2|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Joel.2.11">Joel
|
|
ii. 11</scripRef>. God bids <i>Moses stretch out his hand</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 10:12" id="Ex.xi-p9.2" parsed="|Exod|10|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), to beckon
|
|
them, as it were (for they came at a call), and he <i>stretched
|
|
forth his rod,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 10:13" id="Ex.xi-p9.3" parsed="|Exod|10|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.13"><i>v.</i>
|
|
13</scripRef>. Compare <scripRef passage="Ex 9:22,23" id="Ex.xi-p9.4" parsed="|Exod|9|22|9|23" osisRef="Bible:Exod.9.22-Exod.9.23"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
ix. 22, 23</scripRef>. Moses ascribes it to the stretching out, not
|
|
of his own hand, but the <i>rod of God,</i> the instituted sign of
|
|
God's presence with him. The locusts obey the summons, and fly upon
|
|
the wings of the wind, the east wind, and <i>caterpillars without
|
|
number,</i> as we are told, <scripRef passage="Ps 105:34,35" id="Ex.xi-p9.5" parsed="|Ps|105|34|105|35" osisRef="Bible:Ps.105.34-Ps.105.35">Ps.
|
|
cv. 34, 35</scripRef>. A formidable army of horse and foot might
|
|
more easily have been resisted than this host of insects. Who then
|
|
is able to stand before the great God?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xi-p10">II. The desolations they made in it
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 10:15" id="Ex.xi-p10.1" parsed="|Exod|10|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>): They
|
|
<i>covered the face of the earth,</i> and <i>ate up the fruit</i>
|
|
of it. The earth God has <i>given to the children of men;</i> yet,
|
|
when God pleases, he can disturb their possession and send locusts
|
|
and caterpillars to force them out. Herbs grow <i>for the service
|
|
of man;</i> yet, when God pleases, those contemptible insects shall
|
|
not only be fellow-commoners with him, but shall plunder him, and
|
|
eat the bread out of his mouth. Let our labour be, not for the
|
|
habitation and meat which thus lie exposed, but for those which
|
|
<i>endure to eternal life,</i> which cannot be thus invaded, nor
|
|
thus corrupted.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xi-p11">III. Pharaoh's admission, hereupon,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 10:16,17" id="Ex.xi-p11.1" parsed="|Exod|10|16|10|17" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.16-Exod.10.17"><i>v.</i> 16, 17</scripRef>. He had
|
|
driven Moses and Aaron from him (<scripRef passage="Ex 10:11" id="Ex.xi-p11.2" parsed="|Exod|10|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>), telling them (it is likely) he
|
|
would have no more to do with them. But now he calls for them again
|
|
in all haste, and makes court to them with as much respect as
|
|
before he had dismissed them with disdain. Note, The day will come
|
|
when those who set at nought their counsellors, and despise all
|
|
their reproofs, will be glad to make an interest in them and engage
|
|
them to intercede on their behalf. The foolish virgins court the
|
|
wise to <i>give them of their oil;</i> and see <scripRef passage="Ps 141:6" id="Ex.xi-p11.3" parsed="|Ps|141|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.141.6">Ps. cxli. 6</scripRef>. 1. Pharaoh confesses his fault:
|
|
<i>I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you.</i> He
|
|
now sees his own folly in the slights and affronts he had put on
|
|
God and his ambassadors, and <i>seems</i> at least, to repent of
|
|
it. When God convinces men of sin, and humbles them for it, their
|
|
contempt of God's ministers, and the word of the Lord in their
|
|
mouths, will certainly come into the account, and lie heavily upon
|
|
their consciences. Some think that when Pharaoh said, "The <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xi-p11.4">Lord</span> <i>your</i> God," he did in effect
|
|
say, "The <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xi-p11.5">Lord</span> shall not be
|
|
<i>my</i> God." Many treat with God as a potent enemy, whom they
|
|
are willing not to be at war with, but care not for treating with
|
|
him as their rightful prince, to whom they are willing to submit
|
|
with loyal affection. True penitents lament sin as committed
|
|
against God, even their own God, to whom they stand obliged. 2. He
|
|
begs pardon, not of God, as penitents ought, but of Moses, which
|
|
was more excusable in him, because, by a special commission, Moses
|
|
was made a <i>god to Pharaoh,</i> and <i>whosesoever sins he
|
|
remitted</i> they were forgiven; when he prays, <i>Forgive this
|
|
once,</i> he, in effect, promises not to offend in like manner any
|
|
more, yet seems loth to express that promise, nor does he say any
|
|
thing particularly of letting the people go. Note, Counterfeit
|
|
repentance commonly cheats men with general promises and is loth to
|
|
covenant against particular sins. 3. He entreats Moses and Aaron to
|
|
pray for him. There are those who, in distress, implore the help of
|
|
other persons' prayers, but have no mind to pray for themselves,
|
|
showing thereby that they have no true love to God, nor any delight
|
|
in communion with him. Pharaoh desires their prayers <i>that this
|
|
death</i> only might be taken away, not <i>this sin:</i> he
|
|
deprecates the plague of locusts, not the plague of a hard heart,
|
|
which yet was much the more dangerous.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xi-p12">IV. The removal of the judgment, upon the
|
|
prayer of Moses, <scripRef passage="Ex 10:18,19" id="Ex.xi-p12.1" parsed="|Exod|10|18|10|19" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.18-Exod.10.19"><i>v.</i> 18,
|
|
19</scripRef>. This was, 1. As great an instance of the power of
|
|
God as the judgment itself. An east wind brought the locusts, and
|
|
now a west wind carried them off. Note, Whatever point of the
|
|
compass the wind is in, it is fulfilling God's word, and turns
|
|
about by his counsel. The <i>wind bloweth where it listeth,</i> as
|
|
it respects any control of ours; not so as it respects the control
|
|
of God: he <i>directeth it under the whole heaven.</i> 2. It was as
|
|
great a proof of the authority of Moses, and as firm a ratification
|
|
of his commission and his interest in that God who both <i>makes
|
|
peace</i> and <i>creates evil,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 45:7" id="Ex.xi-p12.2" parsed="|Isa|45|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.45.7">Isa. xlv. 7</scripRef>. Nay, hereby he not only
|
|
commanded the respect, but recommended himself to the good
|
|
affections of the Egyptians, inasmuch as, while the judgment came
|
|
in obedience to his summons, the removal of it was in answer to his
|
|
prayers. He never desired the woeful day, though he threatened it.
|
|
His commission indeed ran against Egypt, but his intercession was
|
|
for it, which was a good reason why they should love him, though
|
|
they feared him. 3. It was also as strong an argument for their
|
|
repentance as the judgment itself; for by this it appeared that God
|
|
is ready to forgive, and swift to show mercy. If he turn away a
|
|
particular judgment, as he did often from Pharaoh, or defer it, as
|
|
in Ahab's case, upon the profession of repentance and the outward
|
|
tokens of humiliation, what will he do if we be sincere, and how
|
|
welcome will true penitents be to him! O that this goodness of God
|
|
might lead us to repentance!</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xi-p13">V. Pharaoh's return to his impious
|
|
resolution again not to let the people go (<scripRef passage="Ex 10:20" id="Ex.xi-p13.1" parsed="|Exod|10|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>), through the righteous hand of
|
|
God upon him, hardening his heart, and confirming him in his
|
|
obstinacy. Note, Those that have often baffled their convictions,
|
|
and stood it out against them, forfeit the benefit of them, and are
|
|
justly given up to those lusts of their own hearts which (how
|
|
strong soever their convictions) prove too strong for them.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 10:21-29" id="Ex.xi-p13.2" parsed="|Exod|10|21|10|29" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.21-Exod.10.29"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.10.21-Exod.10.29">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xi-p14">21 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xi-p14.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there
|
|
may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness <i>which</i>
|
|
may be felt.   22 And Moses stretched forth his hand toward
|
|
heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt
|
|
three days:   23 They saw not one another, neither rose any
|
|
from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had
|
|
light in their dwellings.   24 And Pharaoh called unto Moses,
|
|
and said, Go ye, serve the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xi-p14.2">Lord</span>;
|
|
only let your flocks and your herds be stayed: let your little ones
|
|
also go with you.   25 And Moses said, Thou must give us also
|
|
sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice unto the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xi-p14.3">Lord</span> our God.   26 Our cattle
|
|
also shall go with us; there shall not an hoof be left behind; for
|
|
thereof must we take to serve the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xi-p14.4">Lord</span> our God; and we know not with what we must
|
|
serve the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xi-p14.5">Lord</span>, until we come
|
|
thither.   27 But the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xi-p14.6">Lord</span>
|
|
hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go.   28
|
|
And Pharaoh said unto him, Get thee from me, take heed to thyself,
|
|
see my face no more; for in <i>that</i> day thou seest my face thou
|
|
shalt die.   29 And Moses said, Thou hast spoken well, I will
|
|
see thy face again no more.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xi-p15">Here is, I. The plague of darkness brought
|
|
upon Egypt, and a most dreadful plague it was, and therefore is put
|
|
first of the ten in <scripRef passage="Ps 105:28" id="Ex.xi-p15.1" parsed="|Ps|105|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.105.28">Ps. cv.
|
|
28</scripRef>, though it was one of the last; and in the
|
|
destruction of the spiritual Egypt it is produced by the fifth
|
|
vial, which is poured out upon the <i>seat of the beast,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Re 16:10" id="Ex.xi-p15.2" parsed="|Rev|16|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.16.10">Rev. xvi. 10</scripRef>. <i>His
|
|
kingdom was full of darkness.</i> Observe particularly concerning
|
|
this plague, 1. That it was a total darkness. We have reason to
|
|
think, not only that the lights of heaven were clouded, but that
|
|
all their fires and candles were put out by the damps or clammy
|
|
vapours which were the cause of this darkness; for it is said
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 10:23" id="Ex.xi-p15.3" parsed="|Exod|10|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>), They <i>saw
|
|
not one another.</i> It is threatened to the wicked (<scripRef passage="Job 18:5,6" id="Ex.xi-p15.4" parsed="|Job|18|5|18|6" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.5-Job.18.6">Job xviii. 5, 6</scripRef>) that the <i>spark
|
|
of his fire shall not shine</i> (even <i>the sparks of his own
|
|
kindling,</i> as they are called, <scripRef passage="Isa 50:11" id="Ex.xi-p15.5" parsed="|Isa|50|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.50.11">Isa. l. 11</scripRef>), and that the <i>light shall be
|
|
dark in his tabernacle.</i> Hell is <i>utter darkness.</i> The
|
|
light of <i>a candle shall shine no more at all in thee,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Re 18:23" id="Ex.xi-p15.6" parsed="|Rev|18|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.18.23">Rev. xviii. 23</scripRef>. 2. That it
|
|
was darkness which <i>might be felt</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 10:21" id="Ex.xi-p15.7" parsed="|Exod|10|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>), felt in its <i>causes</i> by
|
|
their fingers' ends (so thick were the fogs), felt in its
|
|
<i>effects,</i> some think, by their eyes, which were pricked with
|
|
pain, and made the more sore by their rubbing them. Great pain is
|
|
spoken of as the effect of that darkness, <scripRef passage="Re 16:10" id="Ex.xi-p15.8" parsed="|Rev|16|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.16.10">Rev. xvi. 10</scripRef>, which alludes to this. 3. No
|
|
doubt it astonished and terrified them. The cloud of locusts, which
|
|
had <i>darkened the land</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 10:15" id="Ex.xi-p15.9" parsed="|Exod|10|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>), was nothing to this. The
|
|
tradition of the Jews is that in this darkness they were terrified
|
|
by the apparitions of evil spirits, or rather by dreadful sounds
|
|
and murmurs which they made, or (which is no less frightful) by the
|
|
horrors of their own consciences; and this is the plague which some
|
|
think is intended (for, otherwise, it is not mentioned at all
|
|
there) <scripRef passage="Ps 78:49" id="Ex.xi-p15.10" parsed="|Ps|78|49|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.78.49">Ps. lxxviii. 49</scripRef>,
|
|
<i>He poured upon them the fierceness of his anger, by sending evil
|
|
angels among them;</i> for to those to whom the devil has been a
|
|
deceiver he will, at length, be a terror. 4. It continued three
|
|
days, <i>six nights</i> (says bishop Hall) <i>in one;</i> so long
|
|
they were imprisoned by those chains of darkness, and the most
|
|
lightsome palaces were perfect dungeons. No <i>man rose from his
|
|
place,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 10:23" id="Ex.xi-p15.11" parsed="|Exod|10|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>.
|
|
They were all confined to their houses; and such a terror seized
|
|
them that few of them had the courage to go from the chair to the
|
|
bed, or from the bed to the chair. Thus were they <i>silent in
|
|
darkness,</i> <scripRef passage="1Sa 2:9" id="Ex.xi-p15.12" parsed="|1Sam|2|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.2.9">1 Sam. ii. 9</scripRef>.
|
|
Now Pharaoh had time to consider, if he would have improved it.
|
|
Spiritual darkness is spiritual bondage; while Satan blinds men's
|
|
eyes that they see not, he binds them hands and feet that they work
|
|
not for God, nor move towards heaven. They <i>sit in darkness.</i>
|
|
5. It was a righteous thing with God thus to punish them. Pharaoh
|
|
and his people had rebelled against the light of God's word, which
|
|
Moses spoke to them; justly therefore are they punished with
|
|
darkness, for they loved it and chose it rather. The blindness of
|
|
their minds brings upon them this darkness of the air. Never was
|
|
mind so blinded as Pharaoh's, never was air so darkened as Egypt's.
|
|
The Egyptians by their cruelty would have extinguished the lamp of
|
|
Israel, and quenched their coal; justly therefore does God put out
|
|
their lights. Compare it with the punishment of the Sodomites,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 19:11" id="Ex.xi-p15.13" parsed="|Gen|19|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.11">Gen. xix. 11</scripRef>. Let us dread
|
|
the consequences of sin; if three days' darkness was so dreadful,
|
|
what will everlasting darkness be? 6. The children of Israel, at
|
|
the same time, had <i>light in their dwellings</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 10:23" id="Ex.xi-p15.14" parsed="|Exod|10|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>), not only in the land
|
|
of Goshen, where most of them dwelt, but in the habitations of
|
|
those who were dispersed among the Egyptians: for that some of them
|
|
were thus dispersed appears from the distinction afterwards
|
|
appointed to be put on their door-posts, <scripRef passage="Ex 12:7" id="Ex.xi-p15.15" parsed="|Exod|12|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.7"><i>ch.</i> xii. 7</scripRef>. This is an instance, (1.)
|
|
Of the power of God above the ordinary power of nature. We must not
|
|
think that we share in common mercies as a matter of course, and
|
|
therefore that we owe no thanks to God for them; he could
|
|
distinguish, and withhold that from us which he grants to other. He
|
|
does indeed ordinarily make his sun to shine on the just and
|
|
unjust; but he could make a difference, and we must own ourselves
|
|
indebted to his mercy that he does not. (2.) Of the particular
|
|
favour he bears to his people: they <i>walk in the light</i> when
|
|
others <i>wander</i> endlessly <i>in thick darkness;</i> wherever
|
|
there is an Israelite indeed, though in this dark world, there is
|
|
light, there is a <i>child of light,</i> one for whom <i>light is
|
|
sown,</i> and whom the <i>day-spring from on high visits.</i> When
|
|
God made this difference between the Israelites and the Egyptians,
|
|
who would not have preferred the poorest cottage of an Israelite to
|
|
the finest palace of an Egyptian? There is still a real difference,
|
|
though not so discernible a one, between the house of the wicked,
|
|
which is under a curse, and the habitation of the just, which is
|
|
blessed, <scripRef passage="Pr 3:33" id="Ex.xi-p15.16" parsed="|Prov|3|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.3.33">Prov. iii. 33</scripRef>. We
|
|
should believe in that difference, and govern ourselves
|
|
accordingly. Upon <scripRef passage="Ps 105:28" id="Ex.xi-p15.17" parsed="|Ps|105|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.105.28">Ps. cv.
|
|
28</scripRef>, <i>He sent darkness and made it dark, and they
|
|
rebelled not against his word,</i> some ground a conjecture that,
|
|
during these three days of darkness, the Israelites were
|
|
circumcised, in order to their celebrating the passover which was
|
|
now approaching, and that the command which authorized this was the
|
|
word against which they rebelled not; for their circumcision, when
|
|
they entered Canaan, is spoken of as a second general circumcision,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Josh 5:2" id="Ex.xi-p15.18" parsed="|Josh|5|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.5.2">Josh. v. 2</scripRef>. During these
|
|
three days of darkness to the Egyptians, if God had so pleased, the
|
|
Israelites, by the light which they had, might have made their
|
|
escape, and without asking leave of Pharaoh; but God would bring
|
|
them out <i>with a high hand,</i> and not by stealth, nor in haste,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 52:12" id="Ex.xi-p15.19" parsed="|Isa|52|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.52.12">Isa. lii. 12</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xi-p16">II. Here is the impression made upon
|
|
Pharaoh by this plague, much like that of the foregoing plagues. 1.
|
|
It awakened him so far that he renewed the treaty with Moses and
|
|
Aaron, and now, at length, consented that they should take their
|
|
little ones with them, only he would have their cattle left in
|
|
pawn, <scripRef passage="Ex 10:24" id="Ex.xi-p16.1" parsed="|Exod|10|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. It is
|
|
common for sinners thus to bargain with God Almighty. Some sins
|
|
they will leave, but not all; they will leave their sins for a
|
|
time, but they will not bid them a final farewell; they will allow
|
|
him some share in their hearts, but the world and the flesh must
|
|
share with him: thus they mock God, but they deceive themselves.
|
|
Moses resolves not to abate in his terms: <i>Our cattle shall go
|
|
with us,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 10:26" id="Ex.xi-p16.2" parsed="|Exod|10|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, The terms of reconciliation are so fixed that though men
|
|
dispute them ever so long they cannot possibly alter them, nor
|
|
bring them lower. We must come up to the demands of God's will, for
|
|
we cannot expect he should condescend to the provisos of our lusts.
|
|
God's messengers must always be bound up by that rule (<scripRef passage="Jer 15:19" id="Ex.xi-p16.3" parsed="|Jer|15|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.15.19">Jer. xv. 19</scripRef>), <i>Let them return
|
|
unto thee, but return not thou unto them.</i> Moses gives a very
|
|
good reason why they must take their cattle with them; they must go
|
|
to do sacrifice, and therefore they must take wherewithal. What
|
|
numbers and kinds of sacrifices would be required they did not yet
|
|
know, and therefore they must take all they had. Note, With
|
|
ourselves, and our children, we must devote all our worldly
|
|
possessions to the service of God, because we know not what use God
|
|
will make of what we have, nor in what way we may be called upon to
|
|
honour God with it. 2. Yet it exasperated him so far that, when he
|
|
might not make his own terms, he broke off the conference abruptly,
|
|
and took up a resolution to treat no more. Wrath now came upon him
|
|
to the utmost, and he became outrageous beyond all bounds,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 10:28" id="Ex.xi-p16.4" parsed="|Exod|10|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>. Moses is
|
|
dismissed in anger, forbidden the court upon pain of death,
|
|
forbidden so much as to meet Pharaoh any more, as he had been used
|
|
to do, by the river's side: <i>In that day thou seest my face, thou
|
|
shalt die.</i> Prodigious madness! Had he not found that Moses
|
|
could plague him without seeing his face? Or had he forgotten how
|
|
often he had sent for Moses as his physician to heal him and ease
|
|
him of his plagues? and must he now be bidden to come near him no
|
|
more? Impotent malice! To threaten him with death who was armed
|
|
with such a power, and at whose mercy he had so often laid himself.
|
|
What will not hardness of heart and contempt of God's word and
|
|
commandments bring men to? Moses takes him at his word (<scripRef passage="Ex 10:29" id="Ex.xi-p16.5" parsed="|Exod|10|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>): <i>I will see thy face
|
|
no more,</i> that is, "after this time;" for this conference did
|
|
not break off till <scripRef passage="Ex 11:8" id="Ex.xi-p16.6" parsed="|Exod|11|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.11.8"><i>ch.</i> xi.
|
|
8</scripRef>, when Moses went out <i>in a great anger,</i> and told
|
|
Pharaoh how soon he would change his mind, and his proud spirit
|
|
would come down, which was fulfilled (<scripRef passage="Ex 12:31" id="Ex.xi-p16.7" parsed="|Exod|12|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.31"><i>ch.</i> xii. 31</scripRef>), when Pharaoh became a
|
|
humble supplicant to Moses to depart. So that, after this
|
|
interview, Moses came no more, till he was sent for. Note, When men
|
|
drive God's word from them he justly permits their delusions, and
|
|
answers them according to the multitude of their idols. When the
|
|
Gadarenes desired Christ to depart, he presently left them.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XI" n="xii" progress="36.07%" prev="Ex.xi" next="Ex.xiii" id="Ex.xii">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.xii-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.xii-p0.2">CHAP. XI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.xii-p1">Pharaoh had told Moses to get out of his presence
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 10:28" id="Ex.xii-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|10|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.10.28"><i>ch.</i> x. 28</scripRef>), and
|
|
Moses had promised this should be the last time he would trouble
|
|
him, yet he resolves to say out what he had to say, before he left
|
|
him; accordingly, we have in this chapter, I. The instructions God
|
|
had given to Moses, which he was now to pursue (<scripRef passage="Ex 11:1,2" id="Ex.xii-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|11|1|11|2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.11.1-Exod.11.2">ver. 1, 2</scripRef>), together with the interest
|
|
Israel and Moses had in the esteem of the Egyptians, <scripRef passage="Ex 11:3" id="Ex.xii-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|11|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.11.3">ver. 3</scripRef>. II. The last message Moses
|
|
delivered to Pharaoh, concerning the death of the firstborn,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 11:4-8" id="Ex.xii-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|11|4|11|8" osisRef="Bible:Exod.11.4-Exod.11.8">ver. 4-8</scripRef>. III. A
|
|
repetition of the prediction of Pharaoh's hardening his heart,
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 11:9" id="Ex.xii-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|11|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.11.9">ver. 9</scripRef>), and the event
|
|
answering to it, <scripRef passage="Ex 11:10" id="Ex.xii-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|11|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.11.10">ver.
|
|
10</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 11" id="Ex.xii-p1.7" parsed="|Exod|11|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.11"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 11:1-3" id="Ex.xii-p1.8" parsed="|Exod|11|1|11|3" osisRef="Bible:Exod.11.1-Exod.11.3"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.11.1-Exod.11.3">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xii-p1.9">The Plagues of Egypt. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xii-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xii-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xii-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto Moses, Yet will I bring one plague <i>more</i> upon
|
|
Pharaoh, and upon Egypt; afterwards he will let you go hence: when
|
|
he shall let <i>you</i> go, he shall surely thrust you out hence
|
|
altogether.   2 Speak now in the ears of the people, and let
|
|
every man borrow of his neighbour, and every woman of her
|
|
neighbour, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold.   3 And the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xii-p2.2">Lord</span> gave the people favour in the
|
|
sight of the Egyptians. Moreover the man Moses <i>was</i> very
|
|
great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants, and
|
|
in the sight of the people.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xii-p3">Here is, I. The high favour Moses and
|
|
Israel were in with God. 1. Moses was a favourite of Heaven, for
|
|
God will not hide from him the thing he will do. God not only makes
|
|
him his messenger to deliver his errands, but communicates to him
|
|
his purpose (as the man of his counsel) that he would bring one
|
|
plague more, and but one, upon Pharaoh, by which he would complete
|
|
the deliverance of Israel, <scripRef passage="Ex 11:1" id="Ex.xii-p3.1" parsed="|Exod|11|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.11.1"><i>v.</i>
|
|
1</scripRef>. Moses longed to see an end of this dreadful work, to
|
|
see Egypt no more plagued and Israel no more oppressed: "Well,"
|
|
says God, "now it is near an end; the warfare shall shortly be
|
|
accomplished, the point gained; Pharaoh shall be forced to own
|
|
himself conquered, and to give up the cause." After all the rest of
|
|
the plagues, God says, <i>I will bring one more.</i> Thus, after
|
|
all the judgments executed upon sinners in this world, still there
|
|
is one more reserved to be brought on them in the other world,
|
|
which will completely humble those whom nothing else would humble.
|
|
2. The Israelites were favourites of Heaven; for God himself
|
|
espouses their injured cause, and takes care to see them paid for
|
|
all their pains in serving the Egyptians. This was the last day of
|
|
their servitude; they were about to go away, and their masters, who
|
|
had abused them in their work, would not have defrauded them of
|
|
their wages, and have sent them away empty; while the poor
|
|
Israelites were so fond of liberty that they would be satisfied
|
|
with that, without pay, and would rejoice to get that upon any
|
|
terms: but he that <i>executeth righteousness and judgment for the
|
|
oppressed</i> provided that the labourers should not lose their
|
|
hire, and ordered them to demand it now at their departure
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 11:2" id="Ex.xii-p3.2" parsed="|Exod|11|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.11.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), <i>in jewels
|
|
of silver and jewels of gold,</i> to prepare for which God, by the
|
|
plagues, had now made the Egyptians as willing to part with them
|
|
upon any terms as, before, the Egyptians, by their severities, had
|
|
made them willing to go upon any terms. Though the patient
|
|
Israelites were content to lose their wages, yet God would not let
|
|
them go without them. Note, One way or other, God will give redress
|
|
to the injured, who in a humble silence commit their cause to him;
|
|
and he will see to it that none be losers at last by their patient
|
|
suffering any more than by their services.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xii-p4">II. The high favour Moses and Israel were
|
|
in with the Egyptians, <scripRef passage="Ex 11:3" id="Ex.xii-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|11|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.11.3"><i>v.</i>
|
|
3</scripRef>. 1. Even the people that has been hated and despised
|
|
now came to be respected; the wonders wrought on their behalf put
|
|
an honour upon them and made them considerable. How great do they
|
|
become for whom God thus fights! Thus <i>the Lord gave them
|
|
favour</i> in the sight of the Egyptians, by making it appear how
|
|
much he favoured them: he also changed the spirit of the Egyptians
|
|
towards them, and made them to be pitied of their oppressors,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 106:46" id="Ex.xii-p4.2" parsed="|Ps|106|46|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.46">Ps. cvi. 46</scripRef>. 2. <i>The man
|
|
Moses was very great.</i> How could it be otherwise when they saw
|
|
what power he was clothed with, and what wonders were wrought by
|
|
his hand? Thus the apostles, though otherwise despicable men, came
|
|
to be magnified, <scripRef passage="Ac 5:13" id="Ex.xii-p4.3" parsed="|Acts|5|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.5.13">Acts v. 13</scripRef>.
|
|
Those that honour God he will honour; and with respect to those
|
|
that approve themselves faithful to him, how meanly soever they may
|
|
pass through this world, there is a day coming when they will look
|
|
great, very great, in the eyes of all the world, even theirs who
|
|
now look upon them with the utmost contempt. Observe, Though
|
|
Pharaoh hated Moses, there were those of Pharaoh's servants that
|
|
respected him. Thus in Caesar's household, even Nero's, there were
|
|
some that had an esteem for blessed Paul, <scripRef passage="Php 1:13" id="Ex.xii-p4.4" parsed="|Phil|1|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Phil.1.13">Phil. i. 13</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 11:4-10" id="Ex.xii-p4.5" parsed="|Exod|11|4|11|10" osisRef="Bible:Exod.11.4-Exod.11.10"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.11.4-Exod.11.10">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xii-p5">4 And Moses said, Thus saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xii-p5.1">Lord</span>, About midnight will I go out into the
|
|
midst of Egypt:   5 And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt
|
|
shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his
|
|
throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that <i>is</i>
|
|
behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts.   6 And
|
|
there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such
|
|
as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more.   7
|
|
But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his
|
|
tongue, against man or beast: that ye may know how that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xii-p5.2">Lord</span> doth put a difference between the
|
|
Egyptians and Israel.   8 And all these thy servants shall
|
|
come down unto me, and bow down themselves unto me, saying, Get
|
|
thee out, and all the people that follow thee: and after that I
|
|
will go out. And he went out from Pharaoh in a great anger.  
|
|
9 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xii-p5.3">Lord</span> said unto Moses,
|
|
Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you; that my wonders may be
|
|
multiplied in the land of Egypt.   10 And Moses and Aaron did
|
|
all these wonders before Pharaoh: and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xii-p5.4">Lord</span> hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he would
|
|
not let the children of Israel go out of his land.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xii-p6">Warning is here given to Pharaoh of the
|
|
last and conquering plague which was now to be inflicted. This was
|
|
the <i>death of all the first-born in</i> Egypt at once, which had
|
|
been first threatened (<scripRef passage="Ex 4:23" id="Ex.xii-p6.1" parsed="|Exod|4|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.23"><i>ch.</i> iv.
|
|
23</scripRef>, <i>I will slay thy son, thy first-born</i>), but is
|
|
last executed; less judgments were tried, which, if they had done
|
|
the work would have prevented this. See how slow God is to wrath,
|
|
and how willing to be met with in the way of his judgments, and to
|
|
have his anger turned away, and particularly how precious the lives
|
|
of men are in his eyes: if the death of their cattle had humbled
|
|
and reformed them, their children would have been spared; but, if
|
|
men will not improve the gradual advances of divine judgments, they
|
|
must thank themselves if they find, in the issue, that the worst
|
|
was reserved for the last. 1. The plague itself is here
|
|
particularly foretold, <scripRef passage="Ex 11:4-6" id="Ex.xii-p6.2" parsed="|Exod|11|4|11|6" osisRef="Bible:Exod.11.4-Exod.11.6"><i>v.</i>
|
|
4-6</scripRef>. The time is fixed—about midnight, the very next
|
|
midnight, the dead time of the night; when they were all asleep,
|
|
all their first-born should sleep the sleep of death, not silently
|
|
and insensibly, so as not to be discovered till morning, but so as
|
|
to rouse the families at midnight to stand by and see them die. The
|
|
extent of this plague is described, <scripRef passage="Ex 11:5" id="Ex.xii-p6.3" parsed="|Exod|11|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.11.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. The prince that was to succeed in
|
|
the throne was not too high to be reached by it, nor were the
|
|
slaves at the mill too low to be taken notice of. Moses and Aaron
|
|
were not ordered to summon this plague; no <i>I will go out, saith
|
|
the Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 11:4" id="Ex.xii-p6.4" parsed="|Exod|11|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.11.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>.
|
|
<i>It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living
|
|
God;</i> what is hell but this? 2. The special protection which the
|
|
children of Israel should be under, and the manifest difference
|
|
that should be put between them and the Egyptians. While angels
|
|
drew their swords against the Egyptians, there should not so much
|
|
as a dog bark at any of the children of Israel, <scripRef passage="Ex 11:7" id="Ex.xii-p6.5" parsed="|Exod|11|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.11.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. An earnest was hereby given of
|
|
the difference which shall be put in the great day between God's
|
|
people and his enemies: did men know what a difference God puts,
|
|
and will put to eternity, between those that serve him and those
|
|
that serve him not, religion would not seem to them such an
|
|
indifferent thing as they make it, nor would they act in it with so
|
|
much indifference as they do. 3. The humble submission which
|
|
Pharaoh's servants should make to Moses, and how submissively they
|
|
should request him to go (<scripRef passage="Ex 11:8" id="Ex.xii-p6.6" parsed="|Exod|11|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.11.8"><i>v.</i>
|
|
8</scripRef>): <i>They shall come down, and bow themselves.</i>
|
|
Note, The proud enemies of God and his Israel shall be made to fall
|
|
under at last (<scripRef passage="Re 3:9" id="Ex.xii-p6.7" parsed="|Rev|3|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.3.9">Rev. iii. 9</scripRef>),
|
|
and shall be found liars to them, <scripRef passage="De 33:29" id="Ex.xii-p6.8" parsed="|Deut|33|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.29">Deut. xxxiii. 29</scripRef>. When Moses had thus
|
|
delivered his message, it is said, <i>He went out from Pharaoh in a
|
|
great anger,</i> though he was the meekest of all the men of the
|
|
earth. Probably he expected that the very threatening of the death
|
|
of the firstborn would have induced Pharaoh to comply, especially
|
|
as Pharaoh had complied so far already, and had seen how exactly
|
|
all Moses's predictions hitherto were fulfilled. But it had not
|
|
that effect; his proud heart would not yield, no, not to save all
|
|
the firstborn of his kingdom: no marvel that men are not deterred
|
|
from vicious courses by the prospects given them of eternal misery
|
|
in the other world, when the imminent peril they run of the loss of
|
|
all that is dear to them in this world will not frighten them.
|
|
Moses, hereupon, was provoked to a holy indignation, being grieved
|
|
(as our Saviour afterwards) for the <i>hardness of his heart,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mk 3:5" id="Ex.xii-p6.9" parsed="|Mark|3|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mark.3.5">Mark iii. 5</scripRef>. Note, It is a
|
|
great vexation to the spirits of good ministers to see people deaf
|
|
to all the fair warnings given them, and running headlong upon
|
|
ruin, notwithstanding all the kind methods taken to prevent it.
|
|
Thus Ezekiel went in <i>the bitterness of his spirit</i> (<scripRef passage="Eze 3:14" id="Ex.xii-p6.10" parsed="|Ezek|3|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.3.14">Ezek. iii. 14</scripRef>), because God had told
|
|
him that the house of Israel would not hearken to him, <scripRef passage="Ex 11:7" id="Ex.xii-p6.11" parsed="|Exod|11|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.11.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. To be angry at nothing
|
|
but sin is the way not to sin in anger. Moses, having thus adverted
|
|
to the disturbance which Pharaoh's obstinacy gave him, (1.)
|
|
Reflects upon the previous notice God had given him of this
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 11:9" id="Ex.xii-p6.12" parsed="|Exod|11|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.11.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): <i>The Lord
|
|
said unto Moses, Pharaoh shall not hearken to you.</i> The
|
|
scripture has foretold the incredulity of those who should hear the
|
|
gospel, that it might not be a surprise nor stumbling-block to us,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Joh 12:37,38,Ro 10:16" id="Ex.xii-p6.13" parsed="|John|12|37|12|38;|Rom|10|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.12.37-John.12.38 Bible:Rom.10.16">John xii. 37, 38; Rom. x.
|
|
16</scripRef>. Let us think never the worse of the gospel of Christ
|
|
for the slights men generally put upon it, for we were told before
|
|
what cold entertainment it would meet with. (2.) He recapitulates
|
|
all he had said before to this purport (<scripRef passage="Ex 11:10" id="Ex.xii-p6.14" parsed="|Exod|11|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.11.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>), that Moses did all these
|
|
wonders, as they are here related, before Pharaoh (he himself was
|
|
an eye-witness of them), and yet he could not prevail, which was a
|
|
certain sign that God himself had, in a way of righteous judgment,
|
|
hardened his heart. Thus the Jews' rejection of the gospel of
|
|
Christ was so gross an absurdity that it might easily be inferred
|
|
from it that <i>God had given them the spirit of slumber,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ro 11:8" id="Ex.xii-p6.15" parsed="|Rom|11|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.11.8">Rom. xi. 8</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XII" n="xiii" progress="36.30%" prev="Ex.xii" next="Ex.xiv" id="Ex.xiii">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.xiii-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.xiii-p0.2">CHAP. XII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.xiii-p1">This chapter gives an account of one of the most
|
|
memorable ordinances, and one of the most memorable providences, of
|
|
all that are recorded in the Old Testament. I. Not one of all the
|
|
ordinances of the Jewish church was more eminent than that of the
|
|
passover, nor is any one more frequently mentioned in the New
|
|
Testament; and we have here an account of the institution to it.
|
|
The ordinance consisted of three parts:—1. The killing and eating
|
|
of the paschal lamb, <scripRef passage="Ex 12:1-6,8-11" id="Ex.xiii-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|12|1|12|6;|Exod|12|8|12|11" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.1-Exod.12.6 Bible:Exod.12.8-Exod.12.11">ver. 1-6,
|
|
8-11</scripRef>. 2. The sprinkling of the blood upon the
|
|
door-posts, spoken of as a distinct thing (<scripRef passage="Heb 11:28" id="Ex.xiii-p1.2" parsed="|Heb|11|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.28">Heb. xi. 28</scripRef>), and peculiar to this first
|
|
passover (<scripRef passage="Ex 12:7" id="Ex.xiii-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|12|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.7">ver. 7</scripRef>), with the
|
|
reason for it, <scripRef passage="Ex 12:13" id="Ex.xiii-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|12|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.13">ver. 13</scripRef>. 3.
|
|
The feast of unleavened bread for seven days following; this points
|
|
rather at what was to be done afterwards, in the observance of this
|
|
ordinance, <scripRef passage="Ex 12:14-20" id="Ex.xiii-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|12|14|12|20" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.14-Exod.12.20">ver. 14-20</scripRef>.
|
|
This institution is communicated to the people, and they are
|
|
instructed in the observance, (1.) Of this first passover,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 12:21-23" id="Ex.xiii-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|12|21|12|23" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.21-Exod.12.23">ver. 21-23</scripRef>. (2.) Of the
|
|
after passovers, <scripRef passage="Ex 12:24-27" id="Ex.xiii-p1.7" parsed="|Exod|12|24|12|27" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.24-Exod.12.27">ver.
|
|
24-27</scripRef>. And the Israelites' obedience to these orders,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 12:28" id="Ex.xiii-p1.8" parsed="|Exod|12|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.28">ver. 28</scripRef>. II. Not one of all
|
|
the providences of God concerning the Jewish church was more
|
|
illustrious, or is more frequently mentioned, than the deliverance
|
|
of the children of Israel out of Egypt. 1. The firstborn of the
|
|
Egyptians are slain, <scripRef passage="Ex 12:29,30" id="Ex.xiii-p1.9" parsed="|Exod|12|29|12|30" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.29-Exod.12.30">ver. 29,
|
|
30</scripRef>. 2. Orders are given immediately for their discharge,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 12:31-33" id="Ex.xiii-p1.10" parsed="|Exod|12|31|12|33" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.31-Exod.12.33">ver. 31-33</scripRef>. 3. They
|
|
begin their march. (1.) Loaded with their own effects, <scripRef passage="Ex 12:34" id="Ex.xiii-p1.11" parsed="|Exod|12|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.34">ver. 34</scripRef>. (2.) Enriched with the
|
|
spoils of Egypt, <scripRef passage="Ex 12:35,36" id="Ex.xiii-p1.12" parsed="|Exod|12|35|12|36" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.35-Exod.12.36">ver. 35,
|
|
36</scripRef>. (3.) Attended with a mixed multitude, <scripRef passage="Ex 12:37,38" id="Ex.xiii-p1.13" parsed="|Exod|12|37|12|38" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.37-Exod.12.38">ver. 37, 38</scripRef>. (4.) Put to their
|
|
shifts for present supply, <scripRef passage="Ex 12:39" id="Ex.xiii-p1.14" parsed="|Exod|12|39|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.39">ver.
|
|
39</scripRef>. The event is dated, <scripRef passage="Ex 12:40-42" id="Ex.xiii-p1.15" parsed="|Exod|12|40|12|42" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.40-Exod.12.42">ver. 40-42</scripRef>. Lastly, A recapitulation in
|
|
the close, [1.] Of this memorable ordinance, with some additions,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 12:43-49" id="Ex.xiii-p1.16" parsed="|Exod|12|43|12|49" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.43-Exod.12.49">ver. 43-49</scripRef>. [2.] Of this
|
|
memorable providence, <scripRef passage="Ex 12:50,51" id="Ex.xiii-p1.17" parsed="|Exod|12|50|12|51" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.50-Exod.12.51">ver. 50,
|
|
51</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 12" id="Ex.xiii-p1.18" parsed="|Exod|12|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 12:1-20" id="Ex.xiii-p1.19" parsed="|Exod|12|1|12|20" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.1-Exod.12.20"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.12.1-Exod.12.20">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xiii-p1.20">The Appointment of the Passover; the Feast
|
|
of Unleavened Bread. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiii-p1.21">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xiii-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiii-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,   2
|
|
This month <i>shall be</i> unto you the beginning of months: it
|
|
<i>shall be</i> the first month of the year to you.   3 Speak
|
|
ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth
|
|
<i>day</i> of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb,
|
|
according to the house of <i>their</i> fathers, a lamb for an
|
|
house:   4 And if the household be too little for the lamb,
|
|
let him and his neighbour next unto his house take <i>it</i>
|
|
according to the number of the souls; every man according to his
|
|
eating shall make your count for the lamb.   5 Your lamb shall
|
|
be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take
|
|
<i>it</i> out from the sheep, or from the goats:   6 And ye
|
|
shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and
|
|
the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in
|
|
the evening.   7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike
|
|
<i>it</i> on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the
|
|
houses, wherein they shall eat it.   8 And they shall eat the
|
|
flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread;
|
|
<i>and</i> with bitter <i>herbs</i> they shall eat it.   9 Eat
|
|
not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast <i>with</i>
|
|
fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.
|
|
  10 And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning;
|
|
and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with
|
|
fire.   11 And thus shall ye eat it; <i>with</i> your loins
|
|
girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and
|
|
ye shall eat it in haste: it <i>is</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiii-p2.2">Lord</span>'s passover.   12 For I will pass
|
|
through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the
|
|
firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all
|
|
the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiii-p2.3">Lord</span>.   13 And the blood shall be to
|
|
you for a token upon the houses where ye <i>are:</i> and when I see
|
|
the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon
|
|
you to destroy <i>you,</i> when I smite the land of Egypt.  
|
|
14 And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep
|
|
it a feast to the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiii-p2.4">Lord</span> throughout
|
|
your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for
|
|
ever.   15 Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the
|
|
first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for
|
|
whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the
|
|
seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.   16 And
|
|
in the first day <i>there shall be</i> an holy convocation, and in
|
|
the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no
|
|
manner of work shall be done in them, save <i>that</i> which every
|
|
man must eat, that only may be done of you.   17 And ye shall
|
|
observe <i>the feast of</i> unleavened bread; for in this selfsame
|
|
day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore
|
|
shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for
|
|
ever.   18 In the first <i>month,</i> on the fourteenth day of
|
|
the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and
|
|
twentieth day of the month at even.   19 Seven days shall
|
|
there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that
|
|
which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the
|
|
congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the
|
|
land.   20 Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your
|
|
habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xiii-p3">Moses and Aaron here <i>receive of the
|
|
Lord</i> what they were afterwards to <i>deliver to the people</i>
|
|
concerning the ordinance of the passover, to which is prefixed an
|
|
order for a new style to be observed in their months (<scripRef passage="Ex 12:1,2" id="Ex.xiii-p3.1" parsed="|Exod|12|1|12|2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.1-Exod.12.2"><i>v.</i> 1, 2</scripRef>): <i>This shall be to
|
|
you the beginning of months.</i> They had hitherto begun their year
|
|
from the middle of September, but henceforward they were to begin
|
|
it from the middle of March, at least in all their ecclesiastical
|
|
computations. Note, It is good to begin the day, and begin the
|
|
year, and especially to begin our lives, with God. This new
|
|
calculation began the year with the spring, which <i>reneweth the
|
|
face of the earth,</i> and was used as a figure of the coming of
|
|
Christ, <scripRef passage="So 2:11,12" id="Ex.xiii-p3.2" parsed="|Song|2|11|2|12" osisRef="Bible:Song.2.11-Song.2.12">Cant. ii. 11, 12</scripRef>.
|
|
We may suppose that, while Moses was bringing the ten plagues upon
|
|
the Egyptians, he was directing the Israelites to prepare for their
|
|
departure at an hour's warning. Probably he had by degrees brought
|
|
them near together from their dispersions, for they are here
|
|
called <i>the congregation of Israel</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 12:3" id="Ex.xiii-p3.3" parsed="|Exod|12|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), and to them as a congregation
|
|
orders are here sent. Their amazement and hurry, it is easy to
|
|
suppose, were great; yet now they must apply themselves to the
|
|
observance of a sacred rite, to the honour of God. Note, When our
|
|
heads are fullest of care, and our hands of business, yet we must
|
|
not forget our religion, nor suffer ourselves to be indisposed for
|
|
acts of devotion.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xiii-p4">I. God appointed that on the night wherein
|
|
they were to go out of Egypt they should, in each of their
|
|
families, <i>kill a lamb,</i> or that two or three families, if
|
|
they were small, should join for a lamb. The lamb was to be got
|
|
ready four days before and that afternoon they were to <i>kill
|
|
it</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 12:6" id="Ex.xiii-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|12|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>) as a
|
|
sacrifice; not strictly, for it was not offered <i>upon the
|
|
altar,</i> but as a religious ceremony, acknowledging God's
|
|
goodness to them, not only in preserving them from, but in
|
|
delivering them by, the plagues inflicted on the Egyptians. See the
|
|
antiquity of family-religion; and see the convenience of the
|
|
joining of small families together for religious worship, that it
|
|
may be made the more solemn.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xiii-p5">II. The lamb so slain they were to eat,
|
|
roasted (we may suppose, in its several quarters), with unleavened
|
|
bread and bitter herbs, because they were to eat it <i>in haste</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 12:11" id="Ex.xiii-p5.1" parsed="|Exod|12|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>), and to
|
|
leave none of it until the morning; for God would have them to
|
|
depend upon him for their daily bread, and not to take thought for
|
|
the morrow. He that led them would feed them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xiii-p6">III. Before they ate the flesh of the lamb,
|
|
they were to sprinkle the blood upon the doorposts, <scripRef passage="Ex 12:7" id="Ex.xiii-p6.1" parsed="|Exod|12|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. By this their houses were
|
|
to be distinguished from the houses of the Egyptians, and so their
|
|
first-born secured from the sword of the destroying angel,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 12:12,13" id="Ex.xiii-p6.2" parsed="|Exod|12|12|12|13" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.12-Exod.12.13"><i>v.</i> 12, 13</scripRef>.
|
|
Dreadful work was to be made this night in Egypt; all the
|
|
first-born both of man and beast were to be slain, and judgment
|
|
executed upon the gods of Egypt. Moses does not mention the
|
|
fulfillment, in this chapter, yet he speaks of it <scripRef passage="Nu 33:4" id="Ex.xiii-p6.3" parsed="|Num|33|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.33.4">Num. xxxiii. 4</scripRef>. It is very probable
|
|
that the idols which the Egyptians worshipped were destroyed, those
|
|
of metal melted, those of wood consumed, and those of stone broken
|
|
to pieces, whence Jethro infers (<scripRef passage="Ex 18:11" id="Ex.xiii-p6.4" parsed="|Exod|18|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.11"><i>ch.</i> xviii. 11</scripRef>), <i>The Lord is greater
|
|
than all gods.</i> The same angel that destroyed their first-born
|
|
demolished their idols, which were no less dear to them. For the
|
|
protection of Israel from this plague they were ordered to sprinkle
|
|
the blood of the lamb upon the door-posts, their doing which would
|
|
be accepted as an instance of their faith in the divine warnings
|
|
and their obedience to the divine precepts. Note, 1. If in times of
|
|
common calamity God will secure his own people, and set a mark upon
|
|
them; they shall be hidden either in heaven or under heaven,
|
|
preserved either from the stroke of judgments or at least from the
|
|
sting of them. 2. The blood of sprinkling is the saint's security
|
|
in times of common calamity; it is this that marks them for God,
|
|
pacifies conscience, and gives them boldness of access to the
|
|
throne of grace, and so becomes a wall of protection round them and
|
|
a wall of partition between them and the children of this
|
|
world.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xiii-p7">IV. This was to be annually observed as a
|
|
feast of the Lord in their generations, to which the <i>feast of
|
|
unleavened bread</i> was annexed, during which, for seven days,
|
|
they were to eat no bread but what was unleavened, in remembrance
|
|
of their being confined to such bread, of necessity, for many days
|
|
after they came out of Egypt, <scripRef passage="Ex 12:14-20" id="Ex.xiii-p7.1" parsed="|Exod|12|14|12|20" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.14-Exod.12.20"><i>v.</i> 14-20</scripRef>. The appointment is
|
|
inculcated for their better direction, and that they might not
|
|
mistake concerning it, and to awaken those who perhaps in Egypt had
|
|
grown generally very stupid and careless in the matters of religion
|
|
to a diligent observance of the institution. Now, without doubt,
|
|
there was much of the gospel in this ordinance; it is often
|
|
referred to in the New Testament, and, in it, to us is <i>the
|
|
gospel preached,</i> and <i>not to them only,</i> who <i>could not
|
|
stedfastly look to the end of these things,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 4:2,2Co 3:13" id="Ex.xiii-p7.2" parsed="|Heb|4|2|0|0;|2Cor|3|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.4.2 Bible:2Cor.3.13">Heb. iv. 2; 2 Cor. iii. 13</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xiii-p8">1. The paschal lamb was typical. Christ is
|
|
<i>our Passover,</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 5:7" id="Ex.xiii-p8.1" parsed="|1Cor|5|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.5.7">1 Cor. v.
|
|
7</scripRef>. (1.) It was to be a <i>lamb;</i> and Christ is <i>the
|
|
Lamb of God</i> (<scripRef passage="Joh 1:29" id="Ex.xiii-p8.2" parsed="|John|1|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.1.29">John i.
|
|
29</scripRef>), often in the Revelation called the <i>Lamb,</i>
|
|
meek and innocent as a lamb, dumb before the shearers, before the
|
|
butchers. (2.) It was to be a <i>male of the first year</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 12:5" id="Ex.xiii-p8.3" parsed="|Exod|12|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), in its prime;
|
|
Christ offered up himself in the midst of his days, not in infancy
|
|
with the babes of Bethlehem. It denotes the strength and
|
|
sufficiency of the Lord Jesus, on whom our help was laid. (3.) It
|
|
was to be <i>without blemish</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 12:5" id="Ex.xiii-p8.4" parsed="|Exod|12|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), denoting the purity of the Lord
|
|
Jesus, a Lamb <i>without spot,</i> <scripRef passage="1Pe 1:19" id="Ex.xiii-p8.5" parsed="|1Pet|1|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.1.19">1
|
|
Pet. i. 19</scripRef>. The judge that condemned him (as if his
|
|
trial were only like the scrutiny that was made concerning the
|
|
sacrifices, whether they were without blemish or no) pronounced him
|
|
innocent. (4.) It was to be set apart four days before (<scripRef passage="Ex 12:3,6" id="Ex.xiii-p8.6" parsed="|Exod|12|3|0|0;|Exod|12|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.3 Bible:Exod.12.6"><i>v.</i> 3, 6</scripRef>), denoting the
|
|
designation of the Lord Jesus to be a Saviour, both in the purpose
|
|
and in the promise. It is very observable that as Christ was
|
|
crucified at the passover, so he solemnly entered into Jerusalem
|
|
four days before, the very day that the paschal lamb was set apart.
|
|
(5.) It was to be <i>slain,</i> and <i>roasted with fire</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 12:6-9" id="Ex.xiii-p8.7" parsed="|Exod|12|6|12|9" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.6-Exod.12.9"><i>v.</i> 6-9</scripRef>), denoting
|
|
the exquisite sufferings of the Lord Jesus, even unto death, the
|
|
death of the cross. The wrath of God is as fire, and Christ was
|
|
made a curse for us. (6.) It was to be killed by the whole
|
|
congregation between the two evenings, that is, between three
|
|
o'clock and six. Christ suffered in the <i>end of the world</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Heb 9:26" id="Ex.xiii-p8.8" parsed="|Heb|9|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.9.26">Heb. ix. 26</scripRef>), by the hand
|
|
of the Jews, the whole multitude of them (<scripRef passage="Lu 23:18" id="Ex.xiii-p8.9" parsed="|Luke|23|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.23.18">Luke xxiii. 18</scripRef>), and for the good of all his
|
|
spiritual Israel. (7.) Not <i>a bone of it must be broken</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 12:46" id="Ex.xiii-p8.10" parsed="|Exod|12|46|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.46"><i>v.</i> 46</scripRef>), which is
|
|
expressly said to be fulfilled in Christ (<scripRef passage="Joh 19:33,36" id="Ex.xiii-p8.11" parsed="|John|19|33|0|0;|John|19|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.19.33 Bible:John.19.36">John xix. 33, 36</scripRef>), denoting the unbroken
|
|
strength of the Lord Jesus.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xiii-p9">2. The sprinkling of the blood was typical.
|
|
(1.) It was not enough that the blood of the lamb was shed, but it
|
|
must be sprinkled, denoting the application of the merits of
|
|
Christ's death to our souls; we must <i>receive the atonement,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ro 5:11" id="Ex.xiii-p9.1" parsed="|Rom|5|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.5.11">Rom. v. 11</scripRef>. (2.) It was to
|
|
be sprinkled with <i>a bunch of hyssop</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 12:22" id="Ex.xiii-p9.2" parsed="|Exod|12|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>) <i>dipped in the basin.</i> The
|
|
everlasting covenant, like the basin, in the conservatory of this
|
|
blood, the benefits and privileges purchased by it are laid up for
|
|
us there; faith is the bunch of hyssop by which we apply the
|
|
promises to ourselves and the benefits of the blood of Christ laid
|
|
up in them. (3.) It was to be sprinkled upon the <i>door-posts,</i>
|
|
denoting the open profession we are to make of faith in Christ, and
|
|
obedience to him, as those that are not ashamed to own our
|
|
dependence upon him. The mark of the beast may be received on the
|
|
forehead or in the right hand, but the seal of the <i>Lamb</i> is
|
|
always <i>in the forehead,</i> <scripRef passage="Re 7:3" id="Ex.xiii-p9.3" parsed="|Rev|7|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.7.3">Rev. vii.
|
|
3</scripRef>. There is a back-way to hell, but no back-way to
|
|
heaven; no, the only way to this is a high-way, <scripRef passage="Isa 35:8" id="Ex.xiii-p9.4" parsed="|Isa|35|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.35.8">Isa. xxxv. 8</scripRef>. (4.) It was to be sprinkled
|
|
upon the <i>lintel</i> and the <i>sideposts,</i> but not upon the
|
|
<i>threshold</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 12:7" id="Ex.xiii-p9.5" parsed="|Exod|12|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.7"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7</scripRef>), which cautions us to take heed of trampling under
|
|
foot the blood of the covenant, <scripRef passage="Heb 10:29" id="Ex.xiii-p9.6" parsed="|Heb|10|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.10.29">Heb.
|
|
x. 29</scripRef>. It is precious blood, and must be precious to us.
|
|
(5.) The blood, thus sprinkled, was a means of the preservation of
|
|
the Israelites from the destroying angel, who had nothing to do
|
|
where the blood was. If the blood of Christ be sprinkled upon our
|
|
consciences, it will be our protection from the wrath of God, the
|
|
curse of the law, and the damnation of hell, <scripRef passage="Ro 8:1" id="Ex.xiii-p9.7" parsed="|Rom|8|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.8.1">Rom. viii. 1</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xiii-p10">3. The solemnly eating of the lamb was
|
|
typical of our gospel-duty to Christ. (1.) The paschal lamb was
|
|
killed, not to be looked upon only, but to be fed upon; so we must
|
|
by faith make Christ ours, as we do that which we eat, and we must
|
|
receive spiritual strength and nourishment from him, as from our
|
|
food, and have delight and satisfaction in him, as we have in
|
|
eating and drinking when we are hungry or thirsty: see <scripRef passage="Joh 6:53-55" id="Ex.xiii-p10.1" parsed="|John|6|53|6|55" osisRef="Bible:John.6.53-John.6.55">John vi. 53-55</scripRef>. (2.) It was to be
|
|
all eaten; those that by faith feed upon Christ must feed upon a
|
|
whole Christ; they must take Christ and his yoke, Christ and his
|
|
cross, as well as Christ and his crown. <i>Is Christ divided?</i>
|
|
Those hat gather much of Christ will have nothing over. (3.) It was
|
|
to be eaten immediately, not deferred till morning, <scripRef passage="Ex 12:10" id="Ex.xiii-p10.2" parsed="|Exod|12|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. <i>To-day</i> Christ is
|
|
offered, and is to be accepted while it is called to-day, before we
|
|
sleep the sleep of death. (4.) It was to be eaten <i>with bitter
|
|
herbs</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 12:8" id="Ex.xiii-p10.3" parsed="|Exod|12|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>), in
|
|
remembrance of the bitterness of their bondage in Egypt. We must
|
|
feed upon Christ with sorrow and brokenness of heart, in
|
|
remembrance of sin; this will give an admirable relish to the
|
|
paschal lamb. Christ will be sweet to us if sin be bitter. (5.) It
|
|
was to be eaten in a departing posture (<scripRef passage="Ex 12:11" id="Ex.xiii-p10.4" parsed="|Exod|12|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>); when we feed upon Christ by
|
|
faith we must absolutely forsake the rule and dominion of sin,
|
|
shake off Pharaoh's yoke; and we must sit loose to the world, and
|
|
every thing in it, forsake all for Christ, and reckon it no bad
|
|
bargain, <scripRef passage="Heb 13:13,14" id="Ex.xiii-p10.5" parsed="|Heb|13|13|13|14" osisRef="Bible:Heb.13.13-Heb.13.14">Heb. xiii. 13,
|
|
14</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xiii-p11">4. The feast of unleavened bread was
|
|
typical of the Christian life, <scripRef passage="1Co 5:7,8" id="Ex.xiii-p11.1" parsed="|1Cor|5|7|5|8" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.5.7-1Cor.5.8">1 Cor.
|
|
v. 7, 8</scripRef>. Having received Christ Jesus the Lord, (1.) We
|
|
must keep a feast in holy joy, continually delighting ourselves in
|
|
Christ Jesus; no <i>manner of work must be done</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 12:16" id="Ex.xiii-p11.2" parsed="|Exod|12|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>), no care admitted or
|
|
indulged, inconsistent with, or prejudicial to, this holy joy: if
|
|
true believers have not a continual feast, it is their own fault.
|
|
(2.) It must be a feast of unleavened bread, kept in charity,
|
|
without the leaven of malice, and insincerity, without the leaven
|
|
of hypocrisy. The law was very strict as to the passover, and the
|
|
Jews were so in their usages, that no leaven should be <i>found in
|
|
their houses,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 12:19" id="Ex.xiii-p11.3" parsed="|Exod|12|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.19"><i>v.</i>
|
|
19</scripRef>. All the old leaven of sin must be put far from us,
|
|
with the utmost caution and abhorrence, if we would keep the feast
|
|
of a holy life to the honour of Christ. (3.) It was by an
|
|
<i>ordinance for ever</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 12:17" id="Ex.xiii-p11.4" parsed="|Exod|12|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.17"><i>v.</i>
|
|
17</scripRef>); as long as we live, we must continue feeding upon
|
|
Christ and rejoicing in him, always making thankful mention of the
|
|
great things he has done for us.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 12:21-28" id="Ex.xiii-p11.5" parsed="|Exod|12|21|12|28" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.21-Exod.12.28"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.12.21-Exod.12.28">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xiii-p11.6">The Passover. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiii-p11.7">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xiii-p12">21 Then Moses called for all the elders of
|
|
Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according
|
|
to your families, and kill the passover.   22 And ye shall
|
|
take a bunch of hyssop, and dip <i>it</i> in the blood that
|
|
<i>is</i> in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side
|
|
posts with the blood that <i>is</i> in the bason; and none of you
|
|
shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.   23
|
|
For the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiii-p12.1">Lord</span> will pass through to
|
|
smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel,
|
|
and on the two side posts, the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiii-p12.2">Lord</span>
|
|
will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come
|
|
in unto your houses to smite <i>you.</i>   24 And ye shall
|
|
observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for
|
|
ever.   25 And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the
|
|
land which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiii-p12.3">Lord</span> will give you,
|
|
according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service.
|
|
  26 And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say
|
|
unto you, What mean ye by this service?   27 That ye shall
|
|
say, It <i>is</i> the sacrifice of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiii-p12.4">Lord</span>'s passover, who passed over the houses of
|
|
the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and
|
|
delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped.
|
|
  28 And the children of Israel went away, and did as the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiii-p12.5">Lord</span> had commanded Moses and Aaron,
|
|
so did they.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xiii-p13">I. Moses is here, as a faithful steward in
|
|
God's house, teaching the children of Israel to <i>observe all
|
|
things which God had commanded him;</i> and no doubt he gave the
|
|
instructions as largely as he received them, though they are not so
|
|
largely recorded. It is here added,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xiii-p14">1. That this night, when the first-born
|
|
were to be destroyed, no Israelite must <i>stir out of doors till
|
|
morning,</i> that is, till towards morning, when they would be
|
|
called to march out of Egypt, <scripRef passage="Ex 12:22" id="Ex.xiii-p14.1" parsed="|Exod|12|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>. Not but that the destroying
|
|
angel could have known an Israelite from an Egyptian in the street;
|
|
but God would intimate to them that their safety was owing to the
|
|
<i>blood of sprinkling;</i> if they put themselves from under the
|
|
protection of that, it was at their peril. Those whom God has
|
|
marked for himself must not mingle with evil doers: see <scripRef passage="Isa 26:20,21" id="Ex.xiii-p14.2" parsed="|Isa|26|20|26|21" osisRef="Bible:Isa.26.20-Isa.26.21">Isa. xxvi. 20, 21</scripRef>. They must not
|
|
go out of the doors, lest they should straggle and be out of the
|
|
way when they should be summoned to depart: they must stay within,
|
|
to <i>wait for the salvation of the Lord,</i> and it is good to do
|
|
so.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xiii-p15">2. That hereafter they should carefully
|
|
teach their children the meaning of this service, <scripRef passage="Ex 12:26,27" id="Ex.xiii-p15.1" parsed="|Exod|12|26|12|27" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.26-Exod.12.27"><i>v.</i> 26, 27</scripRef>. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xiii-p16">(1.) The question which the children would
|
|
ask concerning this solemnity (which they would soon take notice of
|
|
in the family): "<i>What mean you by this service?</i> What is he
|
|
meaning of all this care and exactness about eating this lamb, and
|
|
this unleavened bread, more than about common food? Why such a
|
|
difference between this meal and other meals?" Note, [1.] It is a
|
|
good thing to see children inquisitive about the things of God; it
|
|
is to be hoped that those who are careful to ask for the way will
|
|
find it. Christ himself, when a child, <i>heard and asked
|
|
questions,</i> <scripRef passage="Lu 2:46" id="Ex.xiii-p16.1" parsed="|Luke|2|46|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.2.46">Luke ii. 46</scripRef>.
|
|
[2.] It concerns us all rightly to understand the meaning of those
|
|
holy ordinances wherein we worship God, what is the nature and what
|
|
the end of them, what is signified and what intended, what is the
|
|
duty expected from us in them and what are the advantages to be
|
|
expected by us. Every ordinance has a meaning; some ordinances, as
|
|
sacraments, have not their meaning so plain and obvious as others
|
|
have; therefore we are concerned to search, that we may not offer
|
|
<i>the blind for sacrifice,</i> but may do a reasonable service. If
|
|
either we are ignorant of, or mistake about, the meaning of holy
|
|
ordinances, we can neither please God nor profit ourselves.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xiii-p17">(2.) The answer which the parents were to
|
|
return to this question (<scripRef passage="Ex 12:27" id="Ex.xiii-p17.1" parsed="|Exod|12|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.27"><i>v.</i>
|
|
27</scripRef>): <i>You shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord's
|
|
passover,</i> that is, "By the killing and sacrificing of this
|
|
lamb, we keep in remembrance the work of wonder and grace which God
|
|
did for our fathers, when," [1.] "To make way for our deliverance
|
|
out of bondage, he slew the firstborn of the Egyptians, so
|
|
compelling them to sign our discharge;" and, [2.] "Though there
|
|
were <i>with us, even with us, sins against the Lord our God,</i>
|
|
for which the destroying angel, when he was abroad doing execution,
|
|
might justly have destroyed our first-born too, yet God graciously
|
|
appointed and accepted the family-sacrifice of a lamb, instead of
|
|
the first-born, as, of old, the ram instead of Isaac, and in every
|
|
house where the lamb was slain the first-born were saved." The
|
|
repetition of this solemnity in the return of every year was
|
|
designed, <i>First,</i> To look backward as a memorial, that in it
|
|
they might remember what great things God had done for them and
|
|
their fathers. The word <i>pesach</i> signifies a <i>leap,</i> or
|
|
<i>transition;</i> it is a passing over; for the destroying angel
|
|
passed over the houses of the Israelites, and did not destroy their
|
|
first-born. When God brings utter ruin upon his people he says,
|
|
<i>I will not pass by them any more</i> (<scripRef passage="Am 7:8,8:2" id="Ex.xiii-p17.2" parsed="|Amos|7|8|0|0;|Amos|8|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.8 Bible:Amos.8.2">Amos vii. 8; viii. 2</scripRef>), intimating how often
|
|
he had passed by them, as now when the destroying angel passed over
|
|
their houses. Note, 1. Distinguishing mercies lay under peculiar
|
|
obligations. When <i>a thousand fall at our side, and ten thousand
|
|
at our right hand,</i> and yet we are preserved, and have our lives
|
|
given us for a prey, this should greatly affect us, <scripRef passage="Ps 91:7" id="Ex.xiii-p17.3" parsed="|Ps|91|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.91.7">Ps. xci. 7</scripRef>. In war or pestilence, if
|
|
the arrow of death have passed by us, passed over us, hit the next
|
|
to us and just missed us, we must not say it was by chance that we
|
|
were preserved but by the special providence of our God. 2. Old
|
|
mercies to ourselves, or to our fathers, must not be forgotten, but
|
|
be had in everlasting remembrance, that God may be praised, our
|
|
faith in him encouraged, and our hearts enlarged in his service.
|
|
<i>Secondly,</i> It was designed to look forward as an earnest of
|
|
the great sacrifice of the Lamb of God in the fulness of time,
|
|
instead of us and our first-born. We were obnoxious to the sword of
|
|
the destroying angel, but <i>Christ our passover was sacrificed for
|
|
us,</i> his death was our life, and thus he was the <i>Lamb slain
|
|
from the foundation of the world,</i> from the foundation of the
|
|
Jewish church: Moses kept the passover by faith in Christ, for
|
|
Christ was <i>the end of the law for righteousness.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xiii-p18">II. The people received these instructions
|
|
with reverence and ready obedience. 1. They <i>bowed the head and
|
|
worshipped</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 12:27" id="Ex.xiii-p18.1" parsed="|Exod|12|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.27"><i>v.</i>
|
|
27</scripRef>): they hereby signified their submission to this
|
|
institution as a law, and their thankfulness for it as a favour and
|
|
privilege. Note, When God gives law to us, we must give honour to
|
|
him; when he speaks, we must <i>bow our heads and worship.</i> 2.
|
|
They <i>went away and did</i> as they were commanded, <scripRef passage="Ex 12:23" id="Ex.xiii-p18.2" parsed="|Exod|12|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. Here was none of that
|
|
discontent and murmuring among them which we read of, <scripRef passage="Ex 5:20,21" id="Ex.xiii-p18.3" parsed="|Exod|5|20|5|21" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.20-Exod.5.21"><i>ch.</i> v. 20, 21</scripRef>. The plagues
|
|
of Egypt had done them good, and raised their expectations of a
|
|
glorious deliverance, which before they despaired of; and now they
|
|
went forth to meet it in the way appointed. Note, The perfecting of
|
|
God's mercies to us must be waited for in a humble observance of
|
|
his institutions.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 12:29-36" id="Ex.xiii-p18.4" parsed="|Exod|12|29|12|36" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.29-Exod.12.36"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.12.29-Exod.12.36">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xiii-p18.5">The Death of the Firstborn. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiii-p18.6">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xiii-p19">29 And it came to pass, that at midnight the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiii-p19.1">Lord</span> smote all the firstborn in the
|
|
land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne
|
|
unto the firstborn of the captive that <i>was</i> in the dungeon;
|
|
and all the firstborn of cattle.   30 And Pharaoh rose up in
|
|
the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and
|
|
there was a great cry in Egypt; for <i>there was</i> not a house
|
|
where <i>there was</i> not one dead.   31 And he called for
|
|
Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, <i>and</i> get you
|
|
forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and
|
|
go, serve the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiii-p19.2">Lord</span>, as ye have said.
|
|
  32 Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said,
|
|
and be gone; and bless me also.   33 And the Egyptians were
|
|
urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land
|
|
in haste; for they said, We <i>be</i> all dead <i>men.</i>  
|
|
34 And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their
|
|
kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothes upon their
|
|
shoulders.   35 And the children of Israel did according to
|
|
the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of
|
|
silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment:   36 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiii-p19.3">Lord</span> gave the people favour in the sight
|
|
of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them <i>such things as
|
|
they required.</i> And they spoiled the Egyptians.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xiii-p20">Here we have, I. The Egyptians' sons, even
|
|
their first-born, slain, <scripRef passage="Ex 12:29,30" id="Ex.xiii-p20.1" parsed="|Exod|12|29|12|30" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.29-Exod.12.30"><i>v.</i>
|
|
29, 30</scripRef>. If Pharaoh would have taken the warning which
|
|
was given him of this plague, and would thereupon have released
|
|
Israel, what a great many dear and valuable lives might have been
|
|
preserved! But see what obstinate infidelity brings upon men.
|
|
Observe, 1. The time when this blow was given: It was <i>at
|
|
midnight,</i> which added to the terror of it. The three preceding
|
|
nights were made dreadful by the additional plague of darkness,
|
|
which might be felt, and doubtless disturbed their repose; and now,
|
|
when they hoped for one quiet night's rest, at midnight was the
|
|
alarm given. When the destroying angel drew his sword against
|
|
Jerusalem, it was in the day-time (<scripRef passage="2Sa 24:15" id="Ex.xiii-p20.2" parsed="|2Sam|24|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.24.15">2
|
|
Sam. xxiv. 15</scripRef>), which made it the less frightful; but
|
|
the destruction of Egypt was by a <i>pestilence walking in
|
|
darkness,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 91:6" id="Ex.xiii-p20.3" parsed="|Ps|91|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.91.6">Ps. xci. 6</scripRef>.
|
|
Shortly there will be an alarming cry at midnight, <i>Behold, the
|
|
bridegroom cometh.</i> 2. On whom the plague fastened—on <i>their
|
|
first-born,</i> the joy and hope of their respective families. They
|
|
had slain the Hebrews' children, and now God slew theirs. Thus he
|
|
visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children; and he is
|
|
<i>not unrighteous who taketh vengeance.</i> 3. How far it
|
|
reached—from the throne to the dungeon. Prince and peasant stand
|
|
upon the same level before God's judgments, for there is no respect
|
|
of persons with him; see <scripRef passage="Job 34:19,20" id="Ex.xiii-p20.4" parsed="|Job|34|19|34|20" osisRef="Bible:Job.34.19-Job.34.20">Job
|
|
xxxiv. 19, 20</scripRef>. Now the <i>slain of the Lord were many;
|
|
multitudes, multitudes,</i> fall in this <i>valley of decision,</i>
|
|
when the controversy between God and Pharaoh was to be determined.
|
|
4. What an outcry was made upon it: <i>There was a great cry in
|
|
Egypt,</i> universal lamentation for their <i>only</i> son (with
|
|
many), and with all for their <i>first-born.</i> If any be suddenly
|
|
taken ill in the night, we are wont to call up neighbours; but the
|
|
Egyptians could have no help, no comfort, from their neighbours,
|
|
all being involved in the same calamity. Let us learn hence, (1.)
|
|
To tremble before God, and to be <i>afraid of his judgments,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 119:120" id="Ex.xiii-p20.5" parsed="|Ps|119|120|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119.120">Ps. cxix. 120</scripRef>. Who is
|
|
able to stand before him, or dares resist him? (2.) To be thankful
|
|
to God for the daily preservation of ourselves and our families:
|
|
lying so much exposed, we have reason to say, "It is of the Lord's
|
|
mercies that we are not consumed."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xiii-p21">II. God's sons, even his first-born,
|
|
released; this judgment conquered Pharaoh, and obliged him to
|
|
<i>surrender at discretion,</i> without capitulating. Men had
|
|
better come up to God's terms at first, for he will never come down
|
|
to theirs, let them object as long as they will. Now Pharaoh's
|
|
pride is abased, and he yields to all that Moses had insisted on:
|
|
<i>Serve the Lord as you have said</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 12:31" id="Ex.xiii-p21.1" parsed="|Exod|12|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>), and <i>take your flocks as you
|
|
have said,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 12:32" id="Ex.xiii-p21.2" parsed="|Exod|12|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.32"><i>v.</i>
|
|
32</scripRef>. Note, God's word will stand, and we shall get
|
|
nothing by disputing it, or delaying to submit to it. Hitherto the
|
|
Israelites were not permitted to depart, but now things had come to
|
|
the last extremity, in consequence of which, 1. They are commanded
|
|
to depart: <i>Rise up, and get you forth,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 12:31" id="Ex.xiii-p21.3" parsed="|Exod|12|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>. Pharaoh had told Moses he
|
|
should <i>see his face no more;</i> but now he sent for him. Those
|
|
will seek God early in their distress who before had set him at
|
|
defiance. Such a fright he was now in that he gave orders by night
|
|
for their discharge, fearing lest, if he delayed any longer, he
|
|
himself should fall next; and that he sent them out, not as men
|
|
hated (as the pagan historians have represented this matter), but
|
|
as men feared, is plainly discovered by his humble request to them
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 12:32" id="Ex.xiii-p21.4" parsed="|Exod|12|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>): "<i>Bless
|
|
me also;</i> let me have your prayers, that I may not be plagued
|
|
for what is past, when you are gone." Note, Those that are enemies
|
|
to God's church are enemies to themselves, and, sooner or later,
|
|
they will be made to see it. 2. They are hired to depart by the
|
|
Egyptians; they cried out (<scripRef passage="Ex 12:33" id="Ex.xiii-p21.5" parsed="|Exod|12|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.33"><i>v.</i>
|
|
33</scripRef>), <i>We be all dead men.</i> Note, When death comes
|
|
into our houses, it is seasonable for us to think of our own
|
|
mortality. Are our relations dead? It is easy to infer thence that
|
|
we are dying, and, in effect, already dead men. Upon this
|
|
consideration they were urgent with the Israelites to be gone,
|
|
which gave great advantage to the Israelites in borrowing their
|
|
jewels, <scripRef passage="Ex 12:35,36" id="Ex.xiii-p21.6" parsed="|Exod|12|35|12|36" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.35-Exod.12.36"><i>v.</i> 35,
|
|
36</scripRef>. When the Egyptians urged them to be gone, it was
|
|
easy for them to say that the Egyptians had kept them poor, that
|
|
they could not undertake such a journey with empty purses, but,
|
|
that, if they would give them wherewithal to bear their charges,
|
|
they would be gone. And this the divine Providence designed in
|
|
suffering things to come to this extremity, that they, becoming
|
|
formidable to the Egyptians, might have what they would, for
|
|
asking; the Lord also, by the influence he has on the minds of
|
|
people, inclined the hearts of the Egyptians to furnish them with
|
|
what they desired, they probably intending thereby to <i>make
|
|
atonement,</i> that the plagues might be stayed, as the
|
|
Philistines, when they returned the ark, sent a present with it for
|
|
a trespass-offering, having an eye to this precedent, <scripRef passage="1Sa 6:3,6" id="Ex.xiii-p21.7" parsed="|1Sam|6|3|0|0;|1Sam|6|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.6.3 Bible:1Sam.6.6">1 Sam. vi. 3, 6</scripRef>. The Israelites
|
|
might receive and keep what they thus borrowed, or rather required,
|
|
of the Egyptians, (1.) As justly as servants receive wages from
|
|
their masters for work done, and sue for it if it be detained. (2.)
|
|
As justly as conquerors take the spoils of their enemies whom they
|
|
have subdued; Pharaoh was in rebellion against the <i>God of the
|
|
Hebrews,</i> by which all that he had was forfeited. (3.) As justly
|
|
as subjects receive the estates granted to them by their prince.
|
|
God is the sovereign proprietor of the earth, and the fulness
|
|
thereof; and, if he take from one and give to another, who may say
|
|
unto him, <i>What doest thou?</i> It was by God's special order and
|
|
appointment that the Israelites did what they did, which was
|
|
sufficient to justify them, and bear them out; but what they did
|
|
will by no means authorize others (who cannot pretend to any such
|
|
warrant) to do the same. Let us remember, [1.] That the King of
|
|
kings can do no wrong. [2.] That he will do right to those whom men
|
|
injure, <scripRef passage="Ps 146:7" id="Ex.xiii-p21.8" parsed="|Ps|146|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.146.7">Ps. cxlvi. 7</scripRef>. Hence
|
|
it is that the <i>wealth of the sinner</i> often proves to be
|
|
<i>laid up for the just,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 13:22,Job 27:16,17" id="Ex.xiii-p21.9" parsed="|Prov|13|22|0|0;|Job|27|16|27|17" osisRef="Bible:Prov.13.22 Bible:Job.27.16-Job.27.17">Prov. xiii. 22; Job xxvii. 16,
|
|
17</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 12:37-42" id="Ex.xiii-p21.10" parsed="|Exod|12|37|12|42" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.37-Exod.12.42"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.12.37-Exod.12.42">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xiii-p21.11">Departure of the Israelites. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiii-p21.12">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xiii-p22">37 And the children of Israel journeyed from
|
|
Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot <i>that
|
|
were</i> men, beside children.   38 And a mixed multitude went
|
|
up also with them; and flocks, and herds, <i>even</i> very much
|
|
cattle.   39 And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough
|
|
which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened;
|
|
because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither
|
|
had they prepared for themselves any victual.   40 Now the
|
|
sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt,
|
|
<i>was</i> four hundred and thirty years.   41 And it came to
|
|
pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the
|
|
selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiii-p22.1">Lord</span> went out from the land of Egypt.
|
|
  42 It <i>is</i> a night to be much observed unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiii-p22.2">Lord</span> for bringing them out from the land
|
|
of Egypt: this <i>is</i> that night of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiii-p22.3">Lord</span> to be observed of all the children of
|
|
Israel in their generations.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xiii-p23">Here is the departure of the children of
|
|
Israel out of Egypt; having obtained their dismission, they set
|
|
forward without delay, and did not defer to a more convenient
|
|
season. Pharaoh was now in a good mind; but they had reason to
|
|
think he would not long continue so, and therefore it was no time
|
|
to linger. We have here an account, 1. Of their number, about
|
|
600,000 men (<scripRef passage="Ex 12:37" id="Ex.xiii-p23.1" parsed="|Exod|12|37|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.37"><i>v.</i> 37</scripRef>),
|
|
besides women and children, which I think, we cannot suppose to
|
|
make less than 1,200,000 more. What a vast increase was this, to
|
|
arise from seventy souls in little more than 200 years' time! See
|
|
the power and efficacy of that blessing, when God commands it,
|
|
<i>Be fruitful and multiply.</i> This was typical of the multitudes
|
|
that were brought into the gospel church when it was first founded;
|
|
<i>so mightily grew the word of God, and prevailed.</i> 2. Of their
|
|
retinue (<scripRef passage="Ex 12:38" id="Ex.xiii-p23.2" parsed="|Exod|12|38|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.38"><i>v.</i> 38</scripRef>):
|
|
<i>A mixed multitude went up with them,</i> hangers on to that
|
|
great family, some perhaps willing to leave their country, because
|
|
it was laid waste by the plagues, and to seek their fortune, as we
|
|
say, with the Israelites; others went out of curiosity, to see the
|
|
solemnities of Israel's sacrifice to their God, which had been so
|
|
much talked of, and expecting to see some glorious appearances of
|
|
their God to them in the wilderness, having seen such glorious
|
|
appearances of their God for them in the field of Zoan, <scripRef passage="Ps 78:12" id="Ex.xiii-p23.3" parsed="|Ps|78|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.78.12">Ps. lxxviii. 12</scripRef>. Probably the
|
|
greatest part of this mixed multitude were but a rude unthinking
|
|
mob, that followed the crowd they knew not why; we afterwards find
|
|
that they proved a snare to them (<scripRef passage="Nu 11:4" id="Ex.xiii-p23.4" parsed="|Num|11|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.4">Num.
|
|
xi. 4</scripRef>), and it is probable that when, soon afterwards,
|
|
they understood that the children of Israel were to continue forty
|
|
years in the wilderness, they quitted them, and returned to Egypt.
|
|
Note, There were always those among the Israelites that were not
|
|
Israelites, and there are still hypocrites in the church, who make
|
|
a deal of mischief, but will be shaken off at last. 3. Of their
|
|
effects. They had with them <i>flocks and herds,</i> even <i>very
|
|
much cattle.</i> This is taken notice of because it was long before
|
|
Pharaoh would give them leave to remove their effects, which were
|
|
chiefly cattle, <scripRef passage="Ge 46:32" id="Ex.xiii-p23.5" parsed="|Gen|46|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.46.32">Gen. xlvi.
|
|
32</scripRef>. 4. Of the provision made for the camp, which was
|
|
very poor and slender. They brought some dough with them out of
|
|
Egypt in their knapsacks, <scripRef passage="Ex 12:34" id="Ex.xiii-p23.6" parsed="|Exod|12|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.34"><i>v.</i>
|
|
34</scripRef>. They had prepared to bake, the next day, in order to
|
|
their removal, understanding it was very near; but, being hastened
|
|
away sooner than they thought of, by some hours, they took the
|
|
dough as it was, unleavened; when they came to Succoth, their first
|
|
stage, they baked unleavened cakes, and, though these were of
|
|
course insipid, yet the liberty they were brought into made this
|
|
the most joyful meal they had ever eaten in their lives. Note, The
|
|
servants of God must not be slaves to their appetites, nor
|
|
solicitous to wind up all the delights of sense to their highest
|
|
pitch. We should be willing to take up with dry bread, nay, with
|
|
unleavened bread, rather than neglect or delay any service we have
|
|
to do for God, as those whose meat and drink it is to do his will.
|
|
5. Of the date of this great event: it was just 430 years from the
|
|
promise made to Abraham (as the apostle explains it, <scripRef passage="Ga 3:17" id="Ex.xiii-p23.7" parsed="|Gal|3|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.3.17">Gal. iii. 17</scripRef>) at his first coming into
|
|
Canaan, during all which time <i>the children of Israel,</i> that
|
|
is, the Hebrews, the distinguished chosen seed, were sojourners in
|
|
a land that was not theirs, either Canaan or Egypt. So long the
|
|
promise God made to Abraham of a settlement lay dormant and
|
|
unfulfilled, but now, at length, it revived, and things began to
|
|
work towards the accomplishment of it. The first day of the march
|
|
of Abraham's seed towards Canaan was just 430 years (it should seem
|
|
to a day) from the promise made to Abraham, <scripRef passage="Ge 12:2" id="Ex.xiii-p23.8" parsed="|Gen|12|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.2">Gen. xii. 2</scripRef>, <i>I will make of thee a great
|
|
nation.</i> See how punctual God is to his time; though his
|
|
promises be not performed quickly, they will be accomplished in
|
|
their season. 6. Of the memorableness of it: <i>It is a night to be
|
|
much observed,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 12:42" id="Ex.xiii-p23.9" parsed="|Exod|12|42|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.42"><i>v.</i>
|
|
42</scripRef>. (1.) The providences of that first night were very
|
|
observable; memorable was the destruction of the Egyptians, and the
|
|
deliverance of the Israelites by it; God herein made himself taken
|
|
notice of. (2.) The ordinances of that night, in the annual return
|
|
of it, were to be carefully observed: <i>This is that night of the
|
|
Lord,</i> that remarkable night, to be celebrated in all
|
|
generations. Note, The great things God does for his people are not
|
|
to be a nine days' wonder, as we say, but the remembrance of them
|
|
is to be perpetuated throughout all ages, especially the work of
|
|
our redemption by Christ. This first passover-night was a night of
|
|
the Lord <i>much to be observed;</i> but the last passover-night,
|
|
in which Christ was betrayed (and in which the passover, with the
|
|
rest of the ceremonial institutions, was superseded and abolished),
|
|
was a night of the Lord <i>much more to be observed,</i> when a
|
|
yoke heavier than that of Egypt was broken from off our necks, and
|
|
a land better than that of Canaan set before us. That was a
|
|
temporal deliverance to be celebrated <i>in their generation;</i>
|
|
this is an eternal redemption to be celebrated in the praises of
|
|
glorious saints, <i>world without end.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 12:43-51" id="Ex.xiii-p23.10" parsed="|Exod|12|43|12|51" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.43-Exod.12.51"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.12.43-Exod.12.51">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xiii-p23.11">Directions Concerning the
|
|
Passover. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiii-p23.12">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xiii-p24">43 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiii-p24.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto Moses and Aaron, This <i>is</i> the ordinance of the
|
|
passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof:   44 But every
|
|
man's servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised
|
|
him, then shall he eat thereof.   45 A foreigner and an hired
|
|
servant shall not eat thereof.   46 In one house shall it be
|
|
eaten; thou shalt not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of
|
|
the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof.   47 All the
|
|
congregation of Israel shall keep it.   48 And when a stranger
|
|
shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiii-p24.2">Lord</span>, let all his males be circumcised,
|
|
and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that
|
|
is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof.
|
|
  49 One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the
|
|
stranger that sojourneth among you.   50 Thus did all the
|
|
children of Israel; as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiii-p24.3">Lord</span>
|
|
commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.   51 And it came to
|
|
pass the selfsame day, <i>that</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiii-p24.4">Lord</span> did bring the children of Israel out of the
|
|
land of Egypt by their armies.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xiii-p25">Some further precepts are here given
|
|
concerning the passover, as it should be observed in times to
|
|
come.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xiii-p26">I. <i>All the congregation of Israel must
|
|
keep it,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 12:47" id="Ex.xiii-p26.1" parsed="|Exod|12|47|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.47"><i>v.</i> 47</scripRef>.
|
|
All that share in God's mercies should join in thankful praises for
|
|
them. Though it was observed in families apart, yet it is looked
|
|
upon as the act of the whole congregation; for the smaller
|
|
communities constituted the greater. The New-Testament passover,
|
|
the Lord's supper, ought not to be neglected by any who are capable
|
|
of celebrating it. He is unworthy the name of an Israelite that can
|
|
contentedly neglect the commemoration of so great a deliverance. 1.
|
|
No stranger that was uncircumcised might be admitted to eat of it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 12:43,45,48" id="Ex.xiii-p26.2" parsed="|Exod|12|43|0|0;|Exod|12|45|0|0;|Exod|12|48|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.43 Bible:Exod.12.45 Bible:Exod.12.48"><i>v.</i> 43, 45, 48</scripRef>.
|
|
None might sit at the table but those that came in by the door; nor
|
|
may any now approach to the improving ordinance of the Lord's
|
|
supper who have not first submitted to the initiating ordinance of
|
|
baptism. We must be born again by the word ere we can be nourished
|
|
by it. Nor shall any partake of the benefit of Christ's sacrifice,
|
|
or feast upon it, who are not first circumcised in heart, <scripRef passage="Col 2:11" id="Ex.xiii-p26.3" parsed="|Col|2|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Col.2.11">Col. ii. 11</scripRef>. 2. Any stranger that was
|
|
circumcised might be welcome to eat of the passover, even
|
|
<i>servants,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 12:44" id="Ex.xiii-p26.4" parsed="|Exod|12|44|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.44"><i>v.</i>
|
|
44</scripRef>. If, by circumcision, they would make themselves
|
|
debtors to the law in its burdens, they were welcome to share in
|
|
the joy of its solemn feasts, and not otherwise. Only it is
|
|
intimated (<scripRef passage="Ex 12:48" id="Ex.xiii-p26.5" parsed="|Exod|12|48|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.48"><i>v.</i> 48</scripRef>)
|
|
that those who were masters of families must not only be
|
|
circumcised themselves, but have all their males circumcised, too.
|
|
If in sincerity, and with that zeal which the thing required and
|
|
deserves, we give up ourselves to God, we shall, with ourselves,
|
|
give up all we have to him, and do our utmost that all ours may be
|
|
his too. Here is an early indication of favour to the poor
|
|
Gentiles, that the stranger, if circumcised, stands upon the same
|
|
level with the home-born Israelite. <i>One law</i> for both,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 12:49" id="Ex.xiii-p26.6" parsed="|Exod|12|49|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.49"><i>v.</i> 49</scripRef>. This was a
|
|
mortification to the Jews, and taught them that it was their
|
|
dedication to God, not their descent from Abraham, that entitled
|
|
them to their privileges. A sincere proselyte was as welcome to the
|
|
passover as a native Israelite, <scripRef passage="Isa 56:6,7" id="Ex.xiii-p26.7" parsed="|Isa|56|6|56|7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.56.6-Isa.56.7">Isa.
|
|
lvi. 6, 7</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xiii-p27">II. <i>In one house shall it be eaten</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 12:46" id="Ex.xiii-p27.1" parsed="|Exod|12|46|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.46"><i>v.</i> 46</scripRef>), for
|
|
good-fellowship sake, that they might rejoice together, and edify
|
|
one another in the eating of it. None of it must be carried to
|
|
another place, nor left to another time; for God would not have
|
|
them so taken up with care about their departure as to be
|
|
indisposed to take the comfort of it, but to leave Egypt, and enter
|
|
upon a wilderness, with cheerfulness, and, in token of that, to eat
|
|
a good hearty meal. The papists' carrying their consecrated host
|
|
from house to house is not only superstitious in itself, but
|
|
contrary to this typical law of the passover, which directed that
|
|
no part of the lamb should be carried abroad.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xiii-p28">The chapter concludes with a repetition of
|
|
the whole matter, that the children of Israel did as they were
|
|
bidden, and God did for them as he promised (<scripRef passage="Ex 12:50,51" id="Ex.xiii-p28.1" parsed="|Exod|12|50|12|51" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.50-Exod.12.51"><i>v.</i> 50, 51</scripRef>); for he will certainly
|
|
be the author of salvation to those that obey him.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XIII" n="xiv" progress="37.15%" prev="Ex.xiii" next="Ex.xv" id="Ex.xiv">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.xiv-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.xiv-p0.2">CHAP. XIII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.xiv-p1">In this chapter we have, I. The commands God gave
|
|
to Israel, 1. To sanctify all their firstborn to him, <scripRef passage="Ex 13:1,2" id="Ex.xiv-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|13|1|13|2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.1-Exod.13.2">ver. 1, 2</scripRef>. 2. To be sure to remember
|
|
their deliverance out of Egypt (<scripRef passage="Ex 13:3,4" id="Ex.xiv-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|13|3|13|4" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.3-Exod.13.4">v. 3,
|
|
4</scripRef>), and, in remembrance of it, to keep the feast of
|
|
unleavened bread, <scripRef passage="Ex 13:5-7" id="Ex.xiv-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|13|5|13|7" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.5-Exod.13.7">ver.
|
|
5-7</scripRef>. 3. To transmit the knowledge of it with all
|
|
possible care to their children, <scripRef passage="Ex 13:8-10" id="Ex.xiv-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|13|8|13|10" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.8-Exod.13.10">ver. 8-10</scripRef>. 4. To set apart unto God the
|
|
firstlings of their cattle, (<scripRef passage="Ex 13:11-13" id="Ex.xiv-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|13|11|13|13" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.11-Exod.13.13">ver.
|
|
11-13</scripRef>), and to explain that also to their children,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 13:14-16" id="Ex.xiv-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|13|14|13|16" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.14-Exod.13.16">ver. 14-16</scripRef>. II. The care
|
|
God took of Israel, when he had brought them out of Egypt. 1.
|
|
Choosing their way for them, <scripRef passage="Ex 13:17,18" id="Ex.xiv-p1.7" parsed="|Exod|13|17|13|18" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.17-Exod.13.18">ver.
|
|
17, 18</scripRef>. 2. Guiding them in the way, <scripRef passage="Ex 13:20-22" id="Ex.xiv-p1.8" parsed="|Exod|13|20|13|22" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.20-Exod.13.22">ver. 20-22</scripRef>. And III. Their care of
|
|
Joseph's bones, <scripRef passage="Ex 13:19" id="Ex.xiv-p1.9" parsed="|Exod|13|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.19">ver.
|
|
19</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 13" id="Ex.xiv-p1.10" parsed="|Exod|13|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 13:1-10" id="Ex.xiv-p1.11" parsed="|Exod|13|1|13|10" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.1-Exod.13.10"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.13.1-Exod.13.10">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xiv-p1.12">The Sanctification of the
|
|
Firstborn. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiv-p1.13">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xiv-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiv-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   2 Sanctify unto me all the
|
|
firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of
|
|
Israel, <i>both</i> of man and of beast: it <i>is</i> mine.  
|
|
3 And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye
|
|
came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength
|
|
of hand the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiv-p2.2">Lord</span> brought you out
|
|
from this <i>place:</i> there shall no leavened bread be eaten.
|
|
  4 This day came ye out in the month Abib.   5 And it
|
|
shall be when the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiv-p2.3">Lord</span> shall bring
|
|
thee into the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the
|
|
Amorites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he sware unto
|
|
thy fathers to give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, that
|
|
thou shalt keep this service in this month.   6 Seven days
|
|
thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day <i>shall
|
|
be</i> a feast to the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiv-p2.4">Lord</span>.   7
|
|
Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and there shall no
|
|
leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven
|
|
seen with thee in all thy quarters.   8 And thou shalt show
|
|
thy son in that day, saying, <i>This is done</i> because of that
|
|
<i>which</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiv-p2.5">Lord</span> did unto me
|
|
when I came forth out of Egypt.   9 And it shall be for a sign
|
|
unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes,
|
|
that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiv-p2.6">Lord</span>'s law may be in thy
|
|
mouth: for with a strong hand hath the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiv-p2.7">Lord</span> brought thee out of Egypt.   10 Thou
|
|
shalt therefore keep this ordinance in his season from year to
|
|
year.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xiv-p3">Care is here taken to perpetuate the
|
|
remembrance,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xiv-p4">I. Of the preservation of Israel's
|
|
firstborn, when the firstborn of the Egyptians were slain. In
|
|
memory of that distinguishing favour, and in gratitude for it, the
|
|
firstborn, in all ages, were to be consecrated to God, as his
|
|
peculiars (<scripRef passage="Ex 13:2" id="Ex.xiv-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|13|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), and
|
|
to be redeemed, <scripRef passage="Ex 13:13" id="Ex.xiv-p4.2" parsed="|Exod|13|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.13"><i>v.</i>
|
|
13</scripRef>. God, who by the right of creation is proprietor and
|
|
sovereign of all the creatures, here lays claim in particular to
|
|
the firstborn of the Israelites, by right of protection:
|
|
<i>Sanctify to me all the firstborn.</i> The parents were not to
|
|
look upon themselves as interested in their firstborn, till they
|
|
had first solemnly presented them to God, recognized his title to
|
|
them, and received them back, at a certain rate, from him again.
|
|
Note, 1. That which is by special distinguishing mercy spared to us
|
|
should be in a peculiar manner dedicated to God's honour; at least
|
|
some grateful acknowledgment, in works of piety and charity, should
|
|
be made, when our lives, or the lives of our children, have been
|
|
given us for a prey. 2. God, who is the first and best, should have
|
|
the first and best, and to him we should resign that which is most
|
|
dear to us, and most valuable. The firstborn were the joy and hope
|
|
of their families. Therefore <i>they shall be mine,</i> says God.
|
|
By this it will appear that we love God best (as we ought) if we
|
|
are willing to part with that to him which we love best in this
|
|
world. 3. It is the <i>church of the firstborn</i> that is
|
|
sanctified to God, <scripRef passage="Heb 12:23" id="Ex.xiv-p4.3" parsed="|Heb|12|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.23">Heb. xii.
|
|
23</scripRef>. Christ it the <i>firstborn among many brethren</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ro 8:29" id="Ex.xiv-p4.4" parsed="|Rom|8|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.8.29">Rom. viii. 29</scripRef>), and, by
|
|
virtue of their union with him, all that are born again, and born
|
|
from above, are accounted as firstborn. There is an <i>excellency
|
|
of dignity and power</i> belonging to them; and, <i>if children,
|
|
then heirs.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xiv-p5">II. The remembrance of their coming out of
|
|
Egypt must also be perpetuated: "<i>Remember this day,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 13:3" id="Ex.xiv-p5.1" parsed="|Exod|13|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. Remember it by
|
|
a good token, as the most remarkable day of your lives, the
|
|
birthday of your nation, or the day of its coming of age, to be no
|
|
longer under the rod." Thus the day of Christ's resurrection is to
|
|
be remembered, for in it we were raised up with Christ out of
|
|
death's <i>house of bondage.</i> The scripture tells us not
|
|
expressly what day of the <i>year</i> Christ rose (as Moses told
|
|
the Israelites what day of the year they were brought out of Egypt,
|
|
that they might remember it yearly), but very particularly what day
|
|
of the <i>week</i> it was, plainly intimating that, as the more
|
|
valuable deliverance, and of greater importance, it should be
|
|
remembered <i>weekly.</i> Remember it, for <i>by strength of hand
|
|
the Lord brought you out.</i> Note, The more of God and his power
|
|
appears in any deliverance, the more memorable it is. Now, that it
|
|
might be remembered,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xiv-p6">1. They must be sure to <i>keep the feast
|
|
of unleavened bread,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 13:5-7" id="Ex.xiv-p6.1" parsed="|Exod|13|5|13|7" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.5-Exod.13.7"><i>v.</i>
|
|
5-7</scripRef>. It was not enough that they remembered it, but they
|
|
must celebrate the memorial of it in that way which God had
|
|
appointed, and use the instituted means of preserving the
|
|
remembrance of it. So, under the gospel, we must not only remember
|
|
Christ, but <i>do this in remembrance</i> of him. Observe, How
|
|
strict the prohibition of leaven is (<scripRef passage="Ex 13:7" id="Ex.xiv-p6.2" parsed="|Exod|13|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>); not only no leaven must be
|
|
eaten, but none must be seen, no, not in all their quarters.
|
|
Accordingly, the Jews' usage was, before the feast of the passover,
|
|
to cast all the leavened bread out of their houses: they burnt it,
|
|
or buried it, or broke it small and scattered it in the wind; they
|
|
searched diligently with lighted candles in all the corners of
|
|
their houses, lest any leaven should remain. The care and
|
|
strictness enjoined in this matter were designed, (1.) To make the
|
|
feast the more solemn, and consequently the more taken notice of by
|
|
their children, who would ask, "Why is so much ado made?" (2.) To
|
|
teach us how solicitous we should be to put away from us all sin,
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Co 5:7" id="Ex.xiv-p6.3" parsed="|1Cor|5|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.5.7">1 Cor. v. 7</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xiv-p7">2. They must instruct their children in the
|
|
meaning of it, and relate to them the story of their deliverance
|
|
out of Egypt, <scripRef passage="Ex 13:8" id="Ex.xiv-p7.1" parsed="|Exod|13|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, (1.) Care must be taken betimes to instruct children in the
|
|
knowledge of God. Here is an ancient law for catechising. (2.) It
|
|
is particularly of great use to acquaint children betimes with the
|
|
stories of the scripture, and to make them familiar to them. (3.)
|
|
It is a debt we owe to the honour of God, and to the benefit of our
|
|
children's souls, to tell them of the great works God has done for
|
|
his church, both those which we have seen with our eyes done in our
|
|
day and which we have heard with our ears and our fathers have told
|
|
us: <i>Thou shalt show thy son in that day</i> (the day of the
|
|
feast) these things. When they were celebrating the ordinance, they
|
|
must explain it. <i>Every thing is beautiful in its season.</i> The
|
|
passover is appointed <i>for a sign, and for a memorial,</i> that
|
|
<i>the Lord's law may be in thy mouth.</i> Note, We must retain the
|
|
remembrance of God's works, that we may remain under the influence
|
|
of God's law. And those that have God's law in their heart should
|
|
have it in their mouth, and be often speaking of it, the more to
|
|
affect themselves and to instruct others.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 13" id="Ex.xiv-p7.2" parsed="|Exod|13|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 13:11-16" id="Ex.xiv-p7.3" parsed="|Exod|13|11|13|16" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.11-Exod.13.16"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.13.11-Exod.13.16">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xiv-p7.4">God's Claim upon the
|
|
Firstborn. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiv-p7.5">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xiv-p8">11 And it shall be when the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiv-p8.1">Lord</span> shall bring thee into the land of the
|
|
Canaanites, as he sware unto thee and to thy fathers, and shall
|
|
give it thee,   12 That thou shalt set apart unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiv-p8.2">Lord</span> all that openeth the matrix, and
|
|
every firstling that cometh of a beast which thou hast; the males
|
|
<i>shall be</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiv-p8.3">Lord</span>'s.  
|
|
13 And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and
|
|
if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all
|
|
the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem.  
|
|
14 And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come,
|
|
saying, What <i>is</i> this? that thou shalt say unto him, By
|
|
strength of hand the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiv-p8.4">Lord</span> brought us
|
|
out from Egypt, from the house of bondage:   15 And it came to
|
|
pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiv-p8.5">Lord</span> slew all the firstborn in the land of
|
|
Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast:
|
|
therefore I sacrifice to the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiv-p8.6">Lord</span>
|
|
all that openeth the matrix, being males; but all the firstborn of
|
|
my children I redeem.   16 And it shall be for a token upon
|
|
thine hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes: for by strength
|
|
of hand the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiv-p8.7">Lord</span> brought us forth
|
|
out of Egypt.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xiv-p9">Here we have,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xiv-p10">I. Further directions concerning the
|
|
dedicating of their firstborn to God. 1. The firstlings of their
|
|
cattle were to be dedicated to God, as part of their possessions.
|
|
Those of clean beasts—calves, lambs, and kids—if males, were to
|
|
be sacrificed, <scripRef passage="Ex 22:30,Nu 18:17,18" id="Ex.xiv-p10.1" parsed="|Exod|22|30|0|0;|Num|18|17|18|18" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.30 Bible:Num.18.17-Num.18.18">Exod. xxii.
|
|
30; Num. xviii. 17, 18</scripRef>. Those of unclean beasts, as
|
|
colts, were to be redeemed with a lamb, or knocked on the head. For
|
|
whatsoever is unclean (as we all are by nature), if it be not
|
|
redeemed, will be destroyed, <scripRef passage="Ex 13:11,13" id="Ex.xiv-p10.2" parsed="|Exod|13|11|0|0;|Exod|13|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.11 Bible:Exod.13.13"><i>v.</i> 11, 13</scripRef>. 2. The firstborn of
|
|
their children were to be redeemed, and by no means sacrificed, as
|
|
the Gentiles sacrificed their children to Moloch. The price of the
|
|
redemption of the firstborn was fixed by the law (<scripRef passage="Nu 18:16" id="Ex.xiv-p10.3" parsed="|Num|18|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.16">Num. xviii. 16</scripRef>) at <i>five
|
|
shekels.</i> We were all obnoxious to the wrath and curse of God;
|
|
by the blood of Christ we are redeemed, that we may be joined to
|
|
the <i>church of the firstborn.</i> They were to redeem their
|
|
children, as well as the firstlings of the unclean beasts, for our
|
|
children are by nature polluted. <i>Who can bring a clean thing out
|
|
of an unclean?</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xiv-p11">II. Further directions concerning the
|
|
catechising of their children, and all those of the rising
|
|
generation, from time to time, in this matter. It is supposed that,
|
|
when they saw all the firstlings thus devoted, they would ask the
|
|
meaning of it, and their parents and teachers must tell them
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 13:14-16" id="Ex.xiv-p11.1" parsed="|Exod|13|14|13|16" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.14-Exod.13.16"><i>v.</i> 14-16</scripRef>) that
|
|
God's special propriety in their firstborn, and all their
|
|
firstlings, was founded in his special preservation of them from
|
|
the sword of the destroying angel. Being thus delivered, they must
|
|
serve him. Note, 1. Children should be directed and encouraged to
|
|
ask their parents questions concerning the things of God, a
|
|
practice which would be perhaps of all others the most profitable
|
|
way of catechising; and parents must furnish themselves with useful
|
|
knowledge, that they may be ready always to give an answer to their
|
|
enquiries. If ever the <i>knowledge of God cover the earth,</i> as
|
|
the waters do the sea, the fountains of family-instruction must
|
|
first be broken up. 2. We should all be able to show cause for what
|
|
we do in religion. As sacraments are sanctified by the word, so
|
|
they must be explained and understood by it. God's service is
|
|
reasonable, and it is then acceptable when we perform it
|
|
intelligently, knowing what we do and why we do it. 3. It must be
|
|
observed how often it is said in this chapter that <i>by strength
|
|
of hand</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 13:3,14,16" id="Ex.xiv-p11.2" parsed="|Exod|13|3|0|0;|Exod|13|14|0|0;|Exod|13|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.3 Bible:Exod.13.14 Bible:Exod.13.16"><i>v.</i> 3, 14,
|
|
16</scripRef>), <i>with a strong hand</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 13:9" id="Ex.xiv-p11.3" parsed="|Exod|13|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>), the Lord brought them out of
|
|
Egypt. The more opposition is given to the accomplishment of God's
|
|
purposes the more is his power magnified therein. It is a strong
|
|
hand that conquers hard hearts. Sometimes God is said to work
|
|
deliverance <i>not by might nor power</i> (<scripRef passage="Zec 4:6" id="Ex.xiv-p11.4" parsed="|Zech|4|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zech.4.6">Zech. iv. 6</scripRef>), not by such visible displays of
|
|
his power as that recorded here. 4. Their posterity that should be
|
|
born in Canaan are directed to say, <i>The Lord brought us out of
|
|
Egypt,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 13:14,16" id="Ex.xiv-p11.5" parsed="|Exod|13|14|0|0;|Exod|13|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.14 Bible:Exod.13.16"><i>v.</i> 14,
|
|
16</scripRef>. Mercies to our fathers are mercies to us; we reap
|
|
the benefit of them, and therefore must keep up a grateful
|
|
remembrance of them. We stand upon the bottom of former
|
|
deliverances, and were in the loins of our ancestors when they were
|
|
delivered. Much more reason have we to say that in the death and
|
|
resurrection of Jesus Christ we were redeemed.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 13" id="Ex.xiv-p11.6" parsed="|Exod|13|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 13:17-22" id="Ex.xiv-p11.7" parsed="|Exod|13|17|13|22" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.17-Exod.13.22"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.13.17-Exod.13.22">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xiv-p11.8">The Pillar of Fire and Fire. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiv-p11.9">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xiv-p12">17 And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the
|
|
people go, that God led them not <i>through</i> the way of the land
|
|
of the Philistines, although that <i>was</i> near; for God said,
|
|
Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they
|
|
return to Egypt:   18 But God led the people about,
|
|
<i>through</i> the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and the
|
|
children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt.
|
|
  19 And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had
|
|
straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely
|
|
visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you.
|
|
  20 And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in
|
|
Etham, in the edge of the wilderness.   21 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xiv-p12.1">Lord</span> went before them by day in a pillar
|
|
of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire,
|
|
to give them light; to go by day and night:   22 He took not
|
|
away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by
|
|
night, <i>from</i> before the people.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xiv-p13">Here is, I. The choice God made of their
|
|
way, <scripRef passage="Ex 13:17,18" id="Ex.xiv-p13.1" parsed="|Exod|13|17|13|18" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.17-Exod.13.18"><i>v.</i> 17, 18</scripRef>.
|
|
He was their guide. Moses gave them direction but as he received it
|
|
from the Lord. Note, The way of man is not in himself, <scripRef passage="Jer 10:23" id="Ex.xiv-p13.2" parsed="|Jer|10|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.10.23">Jer. x. 23</scripRef>. He may <i>devise his
|
|
way,</i> and design it; but, after all, it is God that <i>directs
|
|
his steps,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 16:9" id="Ex.xiv-p13.3" parsed="|Prov|16|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.16.9">Prov. xvi. 9</scripRef>.
|
|
Man proposes, but God disposes, and in his disposal we must
|
|
acquiesce, and set ourselves to follow providence. There were two
|
|
ways from Egypt to Canaan. One was a short cut from the north of
|
|
Egypt to the south of Canaan, perhaps about four or five days'
|
|
journey; the other was much further about, through the wilderness,
|
|
and that was the way in which God chose to lead his people Israel,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 13:18" id="Ex.xiv-p13.4" parsed="|Exod|13|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. 1. There were
|
|
many reasons why God led them <i>through the way of the wilderness
|
|
of the Red Sea.</i> The Egyptians were to be drowned in the Red
|
|
Sea. The Israelites were to be humbled and proved in the
|
|
wilderness, <scripRef passage="De 8:2" id="Ex.xiv-p13.5" parsed="|Deut|8|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.2">Deut. viii. 2</scripRef>.
|
|
God had given it to Moses for a sign (<scripRef passage="Ex 3:12" id="Ex.xiv-p13.6" parsed="|Exod|3|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.12"><i>ch.</i> iii. 12</scripRef>), <i>You shall serve God in
|
|
this mountain.</i> They had again and again told Pharaoh that they
|
|
must go <i>three days' journey into the wilderness to do
|
|
sacrifice,</i> and therefore it was requisite that they should bend
|
|
their march that way, else they would justly have been exclaimed
|
|
against as notorious dissemblers. Before they entered the lists
|
|
with their enemies, matters must be settled between them and their
|
|
God, laws must be given, ordinances instituted, covenants sealed,
|
|
and the original contract ratified, for the doing of which it was
|
|
necessary that they should retire into the solitudes of a
|
|
wilderness, the only closet for such a crowd; the high road would
|
|
be no proper place for these transactions. It is said (<scripRef passage="De 32:10" id="Ex.xiv-p13.7" parsed="|Deut|32|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.10">Deut. xxxii. 10</scripRef>), <i>He led them
|
|
about,</i> some hundreds of miles about, and yet (<scripRef passage="Ps 107:7" id="Ex.xiv-p13.8" parsed="|Ps|107|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.107.7">Ps. cvii. 7</scripRef>), <i>He led them forth by
|
|
the right way.</i> God's way is the right way, though it seem
|
|
<i>about.</i> If we think he leads not his people the nearest way,
|
|
yet we may be sure he leads them the best way, and so it will
|
|
appear when we come to our journey's end. <i>Judge nothing before
|
|
the time.</i> 2. There was one reason why God did not lead them the
|
|
nearest way, which would have brought them after a few days' march
|
|
to <i>the land of the Philistines</i> (for it was that part of
|
|
Canaan that lay next to Egypt), namely, because they were not as
|
|
yet fit for war, much less for war with the Philistines, <scripRef passage="Ex 13:17" id="Ex.xiv-p13.9" parsed="|Exod|13|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. Their spirits were
|
|
broken with slavery; it was not easy for them to turn their hands
|
|
of a sudden from the trowel to the sword. The Philistines were
|
|
formidable enemies, too fierce to be encountered by raw recruits;
|
|
it was more suitable that they should begin with the Amalekites,
|
|
and be prepared for the wars of Canaan by experiencing the
|
|
difficulties of the wilderness. Note, God proportions his people's
|
|
trials to their strength, and will <i>not suffer them to be tempted
|
|
above what they are able,</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 10:13" id="Ex.xiv-p13.10" parsed="|1Cor|10|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.10.13">1 Cor.
|
|
x. 13</scripRef>. That promise, if compared with the foregoing
|
|
verses, will seem to refer to this event, as an instance of it.
|
|
<i>God knows our frame,</i> and considers our weakness and
|
|
faintheartedness, and by less trials will prepare us for greater.
|
|
God is said to bring Israel out of Egypt as the eagle <i>brings up
|
|
her young ones</i> (<scripRef passage="De 32:11" id="Ex.xiv-p13.11" parsed="|Deut|32|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.11">Deut. xxxii.
|
|
11</scripRef>), teaching them by degrees to fly. Orders being thus
|
|
given which way they should go, we are told, (1.) That they went up
|
|
themselves, not as a confused rout, but in good order, rank and
|
|
file: they <i>went up harnessed,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 13:18" id="Ex.xiv-p13.12" parsed="|Exod|13|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. They went up by <i>five in a
|
|
rank</i> (so some), in <i>five squadrons,</i> so others. They
|
|
marched like an army with banners, which added much to their
|
|
strength and honour. (2.) That they took the <i>bones of Joseph</i>
|
|
along with them (<scripRef passage="Ex 13:19" id="Ex.xiv-p13.13" parsed="|Exod|13|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.19"><i>v.</i>
|
|
19</scripRef>), and probably the bones of the rest of Jacob's sons,
|
|
unless (as some think) they had been privately carried to Canaan
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ac 7:16" id="Ex.xiv-p13.14" parsed="|Acts|7|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.16">Acts vii. 16</scripRef>), severally as
|
|
they died. Joseph had particularly appointed that his bones should
|
|
be carried up when God should visit the (<scripRef passage="Ge 50:25,26" id="Ex.xiv-p13.15" parsed="|Gen|50|25|50|26" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.25-Gen.50.26">Gen. l. 25, 26</scripRef>), so that their carrying up
|
|
his bones was not only a performance of the oath their fathers had
|
|
sworn to Joseph, but an acknowledgment of the performance of God's
|
|
promise to them by Joseph that he would visit them and bring them
|
|
out of the land of Egypt, and an encouragement to their faith and
|
|
hope that he would fulfil the other part of the promise, which was
|
|
to bring them to Canaan, in expectation of which they carried these
|
|
bones with them while they wandered in the desert. They might
|
|
think, "Joseph's bones must rest at last, and then we shall." Moses
|
|
is said to take these bones with him. Moses was now a very great
|
|
man; so had Joseph been in his day, yet he was now but a box full
|
|
of dry bones; this was all that remained of him in this world,
|
|
which might serve for a monitor to Moses to remember his mortality.
|
|
<i>I have said, You are gods;</i> it was said so to Moses expressly
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 7:1" id="Ex.xiv-p13.16" parsed="|Exod|7|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.7.1"><i>ch.</i> vii. 1</scripRef>); <i>but
|
|
you shall die like men.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xiv-p14">II. Here is the guidance they were blessed
|
|
with in the way: <i>The Lord went before them in a pillar,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 13:21,22" id="Ex.xiv-p14.1" parsed="|Exod|13|21|13|22" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.21-Exod.13.22"><i>v.</i> 21, 22</scripRef>. In the
|
|
first two stages it was enough that God directed Moses whither to
|
|
march: he knew the country and the road well enough; but now that
|
|
they had come <i>to the edge of the wilderness</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 13:20" id="Ex.xiv-p14.2" parsed="|Exod|13|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>) they would have
|
|
occasion for a guide; and a very good guide they had, one that was
|
|
infinitely wise, kind, and faithful: <i>The Lord went before
|
|
them,</i> the <i>shechinah</i> (or appearance of the divine
|
|
Majesty, which was typical of Christ) or a previous manifestation
|
|
of the eternal Word, which, in the fulness of time, was to be
|
|
<i>made flesh,</i> and <i>dwell among us.</i> Christ was with the
|
|
church in the wilderness, <scripRef passage="1Co 10:9" id="Ex.xiv-p14.3" parsed="|1Cor|10|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.10.9">1 Cor. x.
|
|
9</scripRef>. Now <i>their King passed before them, even the Lord
|
|
on the head of them,</i> <scripRef passage="Mic 2:13" id="Ex.xiv-p14.4" parsed="|Mic|2|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mic.2.13">Mic. ii.
|
|
13</scripRef>. Note, Those whom God brings into a wilderness he
|
|
will not leave nor lose there, but will take care to lead them
|
|
through it; we may well think it was a very great satisfaction to
|
|
Moses and the pious Israelites to be sure that they were under
|
|
divine guidance. Those needed not to fear missing their way who
|
|
were thus led, nor being lost who were thus directed; those needed
|
|
not to fear being benighted who were thus illuminated, nor being
|
|
robbed who were thus protected. Those who make the glory of God
|
|
their end, and the word of God their rule, the Spirit of God the
|
|
guide of their affections, and the providence of God the guide of
|
|
their affairs, may be confident that <i>the Lord goes before
|
|
them,</i> as truly as he went before Israel in the wilderness,
|
|
though not so sensibly; we must live by faith. 1. They had sensible
|
|
evidences of God's going before them. They all saw an appearance
|
|
from heaven of a pillar, which in the bright day appeared cloudy,
|
|
and in the dark night appeared fiery. We commonly see that that
|
|
which is a flame in the night is a smoke in the day; so was this.
|
|
God gave them this ocular demonstration of his presence, in
|
|
compassion to the infirmity of their faith, and in compliance with
|
|
that infant state of the church, which needed to be thus lisped to
|
|
in their own language; but blessed are <i>those that have not seen
|
|
and yet have believed</i> God's gracious presence with them,
|
|
according to his promise. 2. They had sensible effects of God's
|
|
going before them in this pillar. For, (1.) It led the way in that
|
|
vast howling wilderness, in which there was no road, no track, no
|
|
way-mark, of which they had no maps, through which they had no
|
|
guides. When they marched, this pillar went before them, at the
|
|
rate that they could follow, and appointed the place of their
|
|
encampment, as Infinite Wisdom saw fit, which both eased them from
|
|
care, and secured them from danger, both in moving and in resting.
|
|
(2.) It sheltered them by day from the heat, which, at some times
|
|
of the year, was extreme. (3.) It gave them light by night when
|
|
they had occasion for it, and at all times made their camp pleasant
|
|
and the wilderness they were in less frightful.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xiv-p15">III. These were constant standing miracles
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 13:22" id="Ex.xiv-p15.1" parsed="|Exod|13|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>): He <i>took
|
|
not away the pillar of cloud;</i> no, not when they seemed to have
|
|
less occasion for it, travelling through inhabited countries, no,
|
|
not when they murmured and were provoking; it never left them, till
|
|
it brought them to the borders of Canaan. It was a cloud which the
|
|
wind could not scatter. This favour is acknowledged with
|
|
thankfulness long afterwards, <scripRef passage="Ne 9:19,Ps 78:14" id="Ex.xiv-p15.2" parsed="|Neh|9|19|0|0;|Ps|78|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Neh.9.19 Bible:Ps.78.14">Neh. ix. 19; Ps. lxxviii. 14</scripRef>. There
|
|
was something spiritual in this pillar of cloud and fire. 1. The
|
|
children of Israel were baptized unto Moses in this cloud, which,
|
|
some think, distilled dew upon them, <scripRef passage="1Co 10:2" id="Ex.xiv-p15.3" parsed="|1Cor|10|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.10.2">1
|
|
Cor. x. 2</scripRef>. By coming under this cloud, they signified
|
|
their putting themselves under the divine guidance and command by
|
|
the ministry of Moses. Protection draws allegiance; this cloud was
|
|
the badge of God's protection, and so became the bond of their
|
|
allegiance. Thus they were initiated, and admitted under that
|
|
government, now when they were entering upon the wilderness. 2.
|
|
Some make this cloud a type of Christ. The cloud of his human
|
|
nature was a veil to the light and fire of his divine nature; we
|
|
find him (<scripRef passage="Re 10:1" id="Ex.xiv-p15.4" parsed="|Rev|10|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.10.1">Rev. x. 1</scripRef>)
|
|
<i>clothed with a cloud, and his feet as pillars of fire.</i>
|
|
Christ is our way, the light of our way and the guide of it. 3. It
|
|
signified the special guidance and protection which the church of
|
|
Christ is under in this world. God himself is the keeper of Israel,
|
|
and he <i>neither slumbers nor sleeps,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 121:4,Isa 27:3" id="Ex.xiv-p15.5" parsed="|Ps|121|4|0|0;|Isa|27|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.121.4 Bible:Isa.27.3">Ps. cxxi. 4; Isa. xxvii. 3</scripRef>. There is
|
|
a defence created, not only on Sion's assemblies, but on every
|
|
dwelling-place in Sion. See <scripRef passage="Isa 4:5,6" id="Ex.xiv-p15.6" parsed="|Isa|4|5|4|6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.4.5-Isa.4.6">Isa. iv.
|
|
5, 6</scripRef>. Nay, every Israelite indeed is hidden under the
|
|
shadow of God's wings (<scripRef passage="Ps 17:8" id="Ex.xiv-p15.7" parsed="|Ps|17|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.17.8">Ps. xvii.
|
|
8</scripRef>); angels, whose ministry was made use of in this
|
|
cloud, are employed for their good, and pitch their tents about
|
|
them. <i>Happy art thou, O Israel! who is like unto thee, O
|
|
people?</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XIV" n="xv" progress="37.61%" prev="Ex.xiv" next="Ex.xvi" id="Ex.xv">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.xv-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.xv-p0.2">CHAP. XIV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.xv-p1">The departure of the children of Israel out of
|
|
Egypt (which was indeed the birth of the Jewish church) is made yet
|
|
more memorable by further works of wonder, which were wrought
|
|
immediately upon it. Witness the records of this chapter, the
|
|
contents whereof, together with a key to it, we have, <scripRef passage="Heb 11:29" id="Ex.xv-p1.1" parsed="|Heb|11|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.29">Heb. xi. 29</scripRef>. "They passed through
|
|
the Red Sea as by dry land, which the Egyptians assaying to do were
|
|
drowned;" and this they did by faith, which intimates that there
|
|
was something typical and spiritual in it. Here is, I. The extreme
|
|
distress and danger that Israel was in at the Red Sea. 1. Notice
|
|
was given of it to Moses before, <scripRef passage="Ex 14:1-4" id="Ex.xv-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|14|1|14|4" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.1-Exod.14.4">ver.
|
|
1-4</scripRef>. 2. The cause of it was Pharaoh's violent pursuit of
|
|
them, <scripRef passage="Ex 14:5-9" id="Ex.xv-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|14|5|14|9" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.5-Exod.14.9">ver. 5-9</scripRef>. 3. Israel
|
|
was in a great consternation upon it, <scripRef passage="Ex 14:10-12" id="Ex.xv-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|14|10|14|12" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.10-Exod.14.12">ver. 10-12</scripRef>. 4. Moses endeavours to
|
|
encourage them, <scripRef passage="Ex 14:13" id="Ex.xv-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|14|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.13">ver. 13,
|
|
14</scripRef>. II. The wonderful deliverance that God wrought for
|
|
them out of this distress. 1. Moses is instructed concerning it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 14:15-18" id="Ex.xv-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|14|15|14|18" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.15-Exod.14.18">ver. 15-18</scripRef>. 2. Lines
|
|
that could not be forced are set between the camp of Israel and
|
|
Pharaoh's camp, <scripRef passage="Ex 14:19,20" id="Ex.xv-p1.7" parsed="|Exod|14|19|14|20" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.19-Exod.14.20">ver. 19,
|
|
20</scripRef>. 3. By the divine power the Red Sea is divided
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 14:31" id="Ex.xv-p1.8" parsed="|Exod|14|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.31">ver. 31</scripRef>), and is made,
|
|
(1.) A lane to the Israelites, who marched safely through it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 14:22,29" id="Ex.xv-p1.9" parsed="|Exod|14|22|0|0;|Exod|14|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.22 Bible:Exod.14.29">ver. 22, 29</scripRef>. But, (2.)
|
|
To the Egyptians it was made, [1.] An ambush into which they were
|
|
drawn, <scripRef passage="Ex 14:23-25" id="Ex.xv-p1.10" parsed="|Exod|14|23|14|25" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.23-Exod.14.25">ver. 23-25</scripRef>. And,
|
|
[2.] A grave in which they were all buried, <scripRef passage="Ex 14:26-28" id="Ex.xv-p1.11" parsed="|Exod|14|26|14|28" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.26-Exod.14.28">ver. 26-28</scripRef>. III. The impressions this made
|
|
upon the Israelites, <scripRef passage="Ex 14:30,31" id="Ex.xv-p1.12" parsed="|Exod|14|30|14|31" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.30-Exod.14.31">ver. 30,
|
|
31</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 14" id="Ex.xv-p1.13" parsed="|Exod|14|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 14:1-9" id="Ex.xv-p1.14" parsed="|Exod|14|1|14|9" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.1-Exod.14.9"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.14.1-Exod.14.9">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xv-p1.15">The Israelites Pursued by
|
|
Pharaoh. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xv-p1.16">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xv-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xv-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   2 Speak unto the children of
|
|
Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between
|
|
Migdol and the sea, over against Baal-zephon: before it shall ye
|
|
encamp by the sea.   3 For Pharaoh will say of the children of
|
|
Israel, They <i>are</i> entangled in the land, the wilderness hath
|
|
shut them in.   4 And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he
|
|
shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and
|
|
upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I <i>am</i> the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xv-p2.2">Lord</span>. And they did so.   5 And
|
|
it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart
|
|
of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and
|
|
they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from
|
|
serving us?   6 And he made ready his chariot, and took his
|
|
people with him:   7 And he took six hundred chosen chariots,
|
|
and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them.
|
|
  8 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xv-p2.3">Lord</span> hardened the
|
|
heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children
|
|
of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with an high hand.
|
|
  9 But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses
|
|
<i>and</i> chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and
|
|
overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, before
|
|
Baal-zephon.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xv-p3">We have here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xv-p4">I. Instructions given to Moses concerning
|
|
Israel's motions and encampments, which were so very surprising
|
|
that if Moses had not express orders about them before they would
|
|
scarcely have been persuaded to follow the pillar of cloud and
|
|
fire. That therefore there might be no scruple nor dissatisfaction
|
|
about it, Moses is told before, 1. Whither they must go, <scripRef passage="Ex 14:1,2" id="Ex.xv-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|14|1|14|2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.1-Exod.14.2"><i>v.</i> 1, 2</scripRef>. They had got to the
|
|
edge of the wilderness (<scripRef passage="Ex 13:20" id="Ex.xv-p4.2" parsed="|Exod|13|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.20"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xiii. 20</scripRef>), and a stage or two more would have brought
|
|
them to Horeb, the place appointed for their serving God; but,
|
|
instead of going forward, they are ordered to turn short off, on
|
|
the right hand from Canaan, and to march towards the Red Sea. Where
|
|
they were, at Etham, there was no sea in their way to obstruct
|
|
their passage: but God himself orders them into straits, which
|
|
might give them an assurance that when his purposes were served he
|
|
would without fail bring them out of those straits. Note, God
|
|
sometimes raises difficulties in the way of the salvation of his
|
|
people, that he may have the glory of subduing them, and helping
|
|
his people over them. 2. What God designed in these strange orders.
|
|
Moses would have yielded an implicit obedience, though God had
|
|
given him no reason; but shall he hide from Moses the thing that he
|
|
does? No, Moses shall know, (1.) That Pharaoh has a design to ruin
|
|
Israel, <scripRef passage="Ex 14:3" id="Ex.xv-p4.3" parsed="|Exod|14|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. (2.)
|
|
That therefore God has a design to ruin Pharaoh, and he takes this
|
|
way to effect it, <scripRef passage="Ex 14:4" id="Ex.xv-p4.4" parsed="|Exod|14|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.4"><i>v.</i>
|
|
4</scripRef>. Pharaoh's sagacity would conclude that Israel was
|
|
entangled in the wilderness and so would become an easy prey to
|
|
him; and, that he might be the more apt to think so, God orders
|
|
them into yet greater entanglements; also, by turning them so much
|
|
out of their road, he amazes him yet more, and gives him further
|
|
occasion to suppose that they were in a state of embarrassment and
|
|
danger. And thus (says God) <i>I will be honoured upon Pharaoh.</i>
|
|
Note, [1.] All men being made for the honour of their Maker, those
|
|
whom he is not honoured by he will be honoured upon. [2.] What
|
|
seems to tend to the church's ruin is often overruled to the ruin
|
|
of the church's enemies, whose pride and malice are fed by
|
|
Providence, that they may be ripened for destruction.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xv-p5">II. Pharaoh's pursuit of Israel, in which,
|
|
while he gratifies his own malice and revenge, he is furthering the
|
|
accomplishment of God's counsels concerning him. <i>It was told him
|
|
that the people fled,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 14:5" id="Ex.xv-p5.1" parsed="|Exod|14|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.5"><i>v.</i>
|
|
5</scripRef>. Such a fright was he in, when he gave them leave to
|
|
go, that when the fright was a little over he either forgot, or
|
|
would not own, that they departed with his consent, and therefore
|
|
was willing that it should be represented to him as a revolt from
|
|
their allegiance. Thus what may easily be justified is easily
|
|
condemned, by putting false colours upon it. Now, hereupon,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xv-p6">1. He reflects upon it with regret that he
|
|
had connived at their departure. He and his servants, though it was
|
|
with the greatest reason in the world that they had let Israel go,
|
|
yet were now angry with themselves for it: <i>Why have we done
|
|
thus?</i> (1.) It vexed them that Israel had their liberty, that
|
|
they had lost the profit of their labours, and the pleasure of
|
|
chastising them. It is meat and drink to proud persecutors to
|
|
trample upon the saints of the Most High, and say to their souls,
|
|
<i>Bow down, that we may go over;</i> and therefore it vexes them
|
|
to have their hands tied. Note, The liberty of God's people is a
|
|
heavy grievance to their enemies, <scripRef passage="Es 5:12,13,Ac 5:17,33" id="Ex.xv-p6.1" parsed="|Esth|5|12|5|13;|Acts|5|17|0|0;|Acts|5|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Esth.5.12-Esth.5.13 Bible:Acts.5.17 Bible:Acts.5.33">Esth. v. 12, 13; Acts v. 17, 33</scripRef>.
|
|
(2.) It aggravated the vexation that they themselves had consented
|
|
to it, thinking now that they might have hindered it, and that they
|
|
needed not to have yielded, though they had stood it out to the
|
|
last extremity. Thus God makes men's envy and rage against his
|
|
people a torment to themselves, <scripRef passage="Ps 112:10" id="Ex.xv-p6.2" parsed="|Ps|112|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.112.10">Ps.
|
|
cxii. 10</scripRef>. It was well done to let Israel go, and what
|
|
they would have reflected on with comfort if they had done it from
|
|
an honest principle; but doing it by constraint, they called
|
|
themselves a thousand fools for doing it, and passionately wished
|
|
it undone again. Note, It is very common, but very absurd and
|
|
criminal, for people to repent of their good deeds; their justice
|
|
and charity, and even their repentance, are repented of. See an
|
|
instance somewhat like this, <scripRef passage="Jer 34:10,11" id="Ex.xv-p6.3" parsed="|Jer|34|10|34|11" osisRef="Bible:Jer.34.10-Jer.34.11">Jer.
|
|
xxxiv. 10, 11</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xv-p7">2. He resolves, if possible, either to
|
|
reduce them or to be revenged on them; in order to this, he levies
|
|
an army, musters all his force of chariots and horsemen, <scripRef passage="Ex 14:17,18" id="Ex.xv-p7.1" parsed="|Exod|14|17|14|18" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.17-Exod.14.18"><i>v.</i> 17, 18</scripRef> (for, it should
|
|
seem, he took no foot with him, because the king's business
|
|
required haste), and thus he doubts not but he shall re-enslave
|
|
them, <scripRef passage="Ex 14:6,7" id="Ex.xv-p7.2" parsed="|Exod|14|6|14|7" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.6-Exod.14.7"><i>v.</i> 6, 7</scripRef>. It
|
|
is easy to imagine what a rage Pharaoh was now in, roaring like a
|
|
lion disappointed of his prey, how his proud heart aggravated the
|
|
affront, swelled with indignation, scorned to be baffled, longed to
|
|
be revenged: and now all the plagues are as if they had never been.
|
|
He has quite forgotten the sorrowful funerals of his firstborn, and
|
|
can think of nothing but making Israel feel his resentments; now he
|
|
thinks he can be too hard for God himself; for, otherwise, could he
|
|
have hoped to conquer a people so dear to him? God gave him up to
|
|
these passions of his own heart, and so hardened it. It is said
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 14:8" id="Ex.xv-p7.3" parsed="|Exod|14|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>), The children
|
|
of Israel went out with <i>a high hand,</i> that is, with a great
|
|
deal of courage and bravery, triumphing in their release, and
|
|
resolved to break through the difficulties that lay in their way.
|
|
<i>But the Egyptians</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 14:9" id="Ex.xv-p7.4" parsed="|Exod|14|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.9">v.
|
|
9</scripRef>) <i>pursued after them.</i> Note, Those that in good
|
|
earnest set their faces heaven-ward, and will live godly in Christ
|
|
Jesus, must expect to be set upon by Satan's temptations and
|
|
terrors. He will not tamely part with any out of his service, nor
|
|
go out without raging, <scripRef passage="Mk 9:26" id="Ex.xv-p7.5" parsed="|Mark|9|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mark.9.26">Mark ix.
|
|
26</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 14" id="Ex.xv-p7.6" parsed="|Exod|14|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 14:10-14" id="Ex.xv-p7.7" parsed="|Exod|14|10|14|14" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.10-Exod.14.14"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.14.10-Exod.14.14">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xv-p8">10 And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of
|
|
Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched
|
|
after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel
|
|
cried out unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xv-p8.1">Lord</span>.   11
|
|
And they said unto Moses, Because <i>there were</i> no graves in
|
|
Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore
|
|
hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?
|
|
  12 <i>Is</i> not this the word that we did tell thee in
|
|
Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For
|
|
<i>it had been</i> better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that
|
|
we should die in the wilderness.   13 And Moses said unto the
|
|
people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xv-p8.2">Lord</span>, which he will show to you to
|
|
day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them
|
|
again no more for ever.   14 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xv-p8.3">Lord</span> shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your
|
|
peace.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xv-p9">We have here, I. The fright that the
|
|
children of Israel were in when they perceived that Pharaoh pursued
|
|
them, <scripRef passage="Ex 14:10" id="Ex.xv-p9.1" parsed="|Exod|14|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. They
|
|
knew very well the strength and rage of the enemy, and their own
|
|
weakness; numerous indeed they were, but all on foot, unarmed,
|
|
undisciplined, disquieted by long servitude, and (which was worst
|
|
of all) now penned up by the situation of their camp, so that they
|
|
could not make their escape. On the one hand was Pi-hahiroth, a
|
|
range of craggy rocks impassable; on the other hand were Migdol and
|
|
Baalzephon, which, some think were forts and garrisons upon the
|
|
frontiers of Egypt; before them was the sea; behind them were the
|
|
Egyptians: so that there was no way open for them but upwards, and
|
|
thence their deliverance came. Note, We may be in the way of our
|
|
duty, following God and hastening towards heaven, and yet may be in
|
|
great straits, <i>troubled on every side,</i> <scripRef passage="2Co 4:8" id="Ex.xv-p9.2" parsed="|2Cor|4|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.4.8">2 Cor. iv. 8</scripRef>. In this distress, no marvel that
|
|
the children of Israel were sorely afraid; their father Jacob was
|
|
so in a like case (<scripRef passage="Ge 32:7" id="Ex.xv-p9.3" parsed="|Gen|32|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.7">Gen. xxxii.
|
|
7</scripRef>); when without are fightings, it cannot be otherwise
|
|
but that within are fears: what therefore was the fruit of this
|
|
fear? According as that was, the fear was good or evil. 1. Some of
|
|
them cried out unto the Lord; their fear set them a praying, and
|
|
that was a good effect of it. God brings us into straits that he
|
|
may bring us to our knees. 2. Others of them cried out against
|
|
Moses; their fear set them a murmuring, <scripRef passage="Ex 14:11,12" id="Ex.xv-p9.4" parsed="|Exod|14|11|14|12" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.11-Exod.14.12"><i>v.</i> 11, 12</scripRef>. They give up themselves
|
|
for lost; and as if God's arm were shortened all of a sudden, and
|
|
he were not as able to work miracles to-day as he was yesterday,
|
|
they despair of deliverance, and can count upon nothing but
|
|
<i>dying in the wilderness.</i> How inexcusable was their distrust!
|
|
Did they not see themselves under the guidance and protection of a
|
|
pillar from heaven? And can almighty power fail them, or infinite
|
|
goodness be false to them? Yet this was not the worst; they quarrel
|
|
with Moses for bringing them out of Egypt, and, in quarrelling with
|
|
him, fly in the face of God himself, and provoke him to wrath whose
|
|
favour was now the only succour they had to flee to. As the
|
|
Egyptians were angry with themselves for the best deed they ever
|
|
did, so the Israelites were angry with God for the greatest
|
|
kindness that was ever done them; so gross are the absurdities of
|
|
unbelief. They here express, (1.) A sordid contempt of liberty,
|
|
preferring servitude before it, only because it was attended with
|
|
some difficulties. A generous spirit would have said, "If the worst
|
|
come to the worst," as we say, "It is better to die in the field of
|
|
honour than to live in the chains of slavery;" nay, under God's
|
|
conduct, they could not miscarry, and therefore they might say,
|
|
"Better live God's freemen in the open air of a wilderness than the
|
|
Egyptians' bondmen in the smoke of the brick-kilns." But because,
|
|
for the present, they are a little embarrassed, they are angry that
|
|
they were not left buried alive in their house of bondage. (2.)
|
|
Base ingratitude to Moses, who had been the faithful instrument of
|
|
their deliverance. They condemn him, as if he had dealt hardly and
|
|
unkindly with them, whereas it was evident, beyond dispute, that
|
|
whatever he did, and however it issued, it was by direction from
|
|
their God, and with design for their good. What they had said in a
|
|
former ferment (when they hearkened not to Moses for anguish of
|
|
spirit), they repeat and justify in this: <i>We said in Egypt, Let
|
|
us alone;</i> and it was ill-said, yet more excusable, because then
|
|
they had not had so much experience as they had now of God's
|
|
wonderful appearances in their favour. But they had as soon
|
|
forgotten the miracles of mercy as the Egyptians had forgotten the
|
|
miracles of wrath; and they, as well as the Egyptians, hardened
|
|
their hearts, at last, to their own ruin; as Egypt after ten
|
|
plagues, so Israel after ten provocations, of which this was the
|
|
first (<scripRef passage="Nu 14:22" id="Ex.xv-p9.5" parsed="|Num|14|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.22">Num. xiv. 22</scripRef>), were
|
|
sentenced to die in the wilderness.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xv-p10">II. The seasonable encouragement that Moses
|
|
gave them in this distress, <scripRef passage="Ex 14:13,14" id="Ex.xv-p10.1" parsed="|Exod|14|13|14|14" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.13-Exod.14.14"><i>v.</i> 13, 14</scripRef>. He answered not these
|
|
fools according to their folly. God bore with the provocation they
|
|
gave to him, and did not (as he might justly have done) chose their
|
|
delusions, and bring their fears upon them; and therefore Moses
|
|
might well afford to pass by the affront they put upon him. Instead
|
|
of chiding them, he comforts them, and with an admirable presence
|
|
and composure of mind, not disheartened either by the threatenings
|
|
of Egypt or the tremblings of Israel, stills their murmuring, with
|
|
the assurance of a speedy and complete deliverance: <i>Fear you
|
|
not.</i> Note, It is our duty and interest, when we cannot get out
|
|
of our troubles, yet to get above our fears, so that they may only
|
|
serve to quicken our prayers and endeavours, but may not prevail to
|
|
silence our faith and hope. 1. He assures them that God would
|
|
deliver them, that he would undertake their deliverance, and that
|
|
he would effect it in the utter ruin of their pursuers: <i>The Lord
|
|
shall fight for you.</i> This Moses was confident of himself, and
|
|
would have them to be so, though as yet he knew not how or which
|
|
way it would be brought to pass. God had assured him that Pharaoh
|
|
and his host should be ruined, and he comforts them with the same
|
|
comforts wherewith he had been comforted. 2. He directs them to
|
|
leave it to God, in a silent expectation of the event: "<i>Stand
|
|
still,</i> and think not to save yourselves either by fighting or
|
|
flying; wait God's orders, and observe them; be not contriving what
|
|
course to take, but follow your leader; wait God's appearances, and
|
|
take notice of them, that you may see how foolish you are to
|
|
distrust them. Compose yourselves, by an entire confidence in God,
|
|
into a peaceful prospect of the great salvation God is now about to
|
|
work for you. Hold your peace; you need not so much as give a shout
|
|
against the enemy, as <scripRef passage="Jos 6:16" id="Ex.xv-p10.2" parsed="|Josh|6|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.6.16">Josh. vi.
|
|
16</scripRef>. The work shall be done without any concurrence of
|
|
yours." Note, (1.) If God himself bring his people into straits, he
|
|
will himself discover a way to bring them out again. (2.) In times
|
|
of great difficulty and great expectation, it is our wisdom to keep
|
|
our spirits calm, quiet, and sedate; for then we are in the best
|
|
frame both to do our own work and to <i>consider the work of God.
|
|
Your strength is to sit still</i> (<scripRef passage="Isa 30:7" id="Ex.xv-p10.3" parsed="|Isa|30|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.30.7">Isa. xxx. 7</scripRef>), <i>for the Egyptians shall help
|
|
in vain,</i> and threaten to hurt in vain.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 14" id="Ex.xv-p10.4" parsed="|Exod|14|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 14:15-20" id="Ex.xv-p10.5" parsed="|Exod|14|15|14|20" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.15-Exod.14.20"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.14.15-Exod.14.20">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xv-p10.6">The Pillar of Cloud. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xv-p10.7">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xv-p11">15 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xv-p11.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the
|
|
children of Israel, that they go forward:   16 But lift thou
|
|
up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it:
|
|
and the children of Israel shall go on dry <i>ground</i> through
|
|
the midst of the sea.   17 And I, behold, I will harden the
|
|
hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get
|
|
me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots,
|
|
and upon his horsemen.   18 And the Egyptians shall know that
|
|
I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xv-p11.2">Lord</span>, when I have
|
|
gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his
|
|
horsemen.   19 And the angel of God, which went before the
|
|
camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the
|
|
cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:   20
|
|
And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of
|
|
Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness <i>to them,</i> but it gave
|
|
light by night <i>to these:</i> so that the one came not near the
|
|
other all the night.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xv-p12">We have here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xv-p13">I. Direction given to Israel's leader.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xv-p14">1. What he must do himself. He must, for
|
|
the present, leave off praying, and apply himself to his business
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 14:15" id="Ex.xv-p14.1" parsed="|Exod|14|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>):
|
|
<i>Wherefore cryest thou unto me?</i> Moses, though he was assured
|
|
of a good issue to the present distress, yet did not neglect
|
|
prayer. We read not of one word he said in prayer, but he lifted up
|
|
to God his heart, the language of which God well understood and
|
|
took notice of. Moses's silent prayers of faith prevailed more with
|
|
God than Israel's loud outcries of fear, <scripRef passage="Ex 14:10" id="Ex.xv-p14.2" parsed="|Exod|14|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. Note, (1.) Praying, if of the
|
|
right kind, is <i>crying to God,</i> which denotes it to be the
|
|
language both of a natural and of an importunate desire. (2.) To
|
|
quicken his diligence. Moses had something else to do besides
|
|
praying; he was to command the hosts of Israel, and it was now
|
|
requisite that he should be at his post. <i>Every thing is
|
|
beautiful in its season.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xv-p15">2. What he must order Israel to do.
|
|
<i>Speak to them, that they go forward.</i> Some think that Moses
|
|
had prayed, not so much for their deliverance (he was assured of
|
|
that) as for the pardon of their murmurings, and that God's ordering
|
|
them to go forward was an intimation of the pardon. There is no
|
|
going forward with any comfort but in the sense of our
|
|
reconciliation to God. Moses had bidden them stand still, and
|
|
expect orders from God; and now orders are given. They thought they
|
|
must have been directed either to the right hand or to the left.
|
|
"No," says God, "speak to them to go forward, directly to the
|
|
sea-side;" as if there had lain a fleet of transport-ships ready
|
|
for them to embark in. Note, When we are in the way of our duty,
|
|
though we met with difficulties, we must go forward, and not stand
|
|
in mute astonishment; we must mind present work and then leave the
|
|
even to God, use means and trust him with the issue.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xv-p16">3. What he might expect God to do. Let the
|
|
children of Israel go as far as they can upon dry ground, and then
|
|
God will divide the sea, and open a passage for them through it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 14:16-18" id="Ex.xv-p16.1" parsed="|Exod|14|16|14|18" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.16-Exod.14.18"><i>v.</i> 16-18</scripRef>. God
|
|
designs, not only to deliver the Israelites, but to destroy the
|
|
Egyptians; and the plan of his counsels is accordingly. (1.) He
|
|
will show favour to Israel; the waters shall be divided for them to
|
|
pass through, <scripRef passage="Ex 14:16" id="Ex.xv-p16.2" parsed="|Exod|14|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>.
|
|
The same power could have congealed the waters for them to pass
|
|
over; but Infinite Wisdom chose rather to divide the waters for
|
|
them to pass through; for that way of salvation is always pitched
|
|
upon which is most humbling. Thus it is said, with reference to
|
|
this (<scripRef passage="Isa 63:13,14" id="Ex.xv-p16.3" parsed="|Isa|63|13|63|14" osisRef="Bible:Isa.63.13-Isa.63.14">Isa. lxiii. 13,
|
|
14</scripRef>), <i>He led them through the deep, as a beast goes
|
|
down into the valley,</i> and thus <i>made himself a glorious
|
|
name.</i> (2.) He will get him honour upon Pharaoh. If the due rent
|
|
of honour be not paid to the great landlord, by and from whom we
|
|
have and hold our beings and comforts, he will distrain for it, and
|
|
recover it. God will be a loser by no man. In order to this, it is
|
|
threatened: <i>I, behold I, will harden Pharaoh's heart,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 14:17" id="Ex.xv-p16.4" parsed="|Exod|14|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. The manner of
|
|
expression is observable: <i>I, behold I, will do it.</i> "I, that
|
|
may do it;" so it is the language of his sovereignty. We may not
|
|
contribute to the hardening of any man's heart, nor withhold any
|
|
thing that we can do towards the softening of it; but God's grace
|
|
is his own, <i>he hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom
|
|
he will be hardeneth.</i> "I, that can do it;" so it is the
|
|
language of his power; none but the Almighty can make the heart
|
|
soft (<scripRef passage="Job 23:16" id="Ex.xv-p16.5" parsed="|Job|23|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.23.16">Job xxiii. 16</scripRef>), nor
|
|
can any other being make it hard. "I, that will do it;" for it is
|
|
the language of his justice; it is a righteous thing with God to
|
|
put those under the impressions of his wrath who have long resisted
|
|
the influences of his grace. It is spoken in a way of triumph over
|
|
this obstinate and presumptuous rebel: "<i>I even I,</i> will take
|
|
an effectual course to humble him; he shall break that would not
|
|
bend." It is an expression like that (<scripRef passage="Isa 1:24" id="Ex.xv-p16.6" parsed="|Isa|1|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.24">Isa. i. 24</scripRef>), <i>Ah, I will ease me of my
|
|
adversaries.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xv-p17">II. A guard set upon Israel's camp where it
|
|
now lay most exposed, which was <i>in the rear,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 14:19,20" id="Ex.xv-p17.1" parsed="|Exod|14|19|14|20" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.19-Exod.14.20"><i>v.</i> 19, 20</scripRef>. <i>The angel of
|
|
God,</i> whose ministry was made use of in the pillar of cloud and
|
|
fire, went from <i>before the camp of Israel,</i> where they did
|
|
not now need a guide (there was no danger of missing their way
|
|
through the sea, nor needed they any other word of command than to
|
|
go forward), and it came behind them, where now they needed a guard
|
|
(the Egyptians being just ready to seize the hindmost of them), and
|
|
so was a wall of partition between them. There it was of use to the
|
|
Israelites, not only to protect them, but to light them through the
|
|
sea, and, at the same time, it confounded the Egyptians, so that
|
|
they lost sight of their prey just when they were ready to lay
|
|
hands on it. The word and providence of God have a black and dark
|
|
side towards sin and sinners, but a bright and pleasant side
|
|
towards those that are Israelites indeed. That which is a savour of
|
|
life unto life to some is a savour of death unto death to others.
|
|
This was not the first time that he who in the beginning divided
|
|
between light and darkness (<scripRef passage="Ge 1:4" id="Ex.xv-p17.2" parsed="|Gen|1|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.4">Gen. i.
|
|
4</scripRef>), and still forms both (<scripRef passage="Isa 45:7" id="Ex.xv-p17.3" parsed="|Isa|45|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.45.7">Isa. xlv. 7</scripRef>), had, at the same time, allotted
|
|
darkness to the Egyptians and light to the Israelites, a specimen
|
|
of the endless distinction which will be made between the
|
|
inheritance of the saints in light and that utter darkness which
|
|
for ever will be the portion of hypocrites. God will separate
|
|
between the precious and the vile.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xv-p17.4">The Destruction of the
|
|
Egyptians. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xv-p17.5">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 14:21-31" id="Ex.xv-p17.6" parsed="|Exod|14|21|14|31" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.21-Exod.14.31"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.14.21-Exod.14.31">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xv-p18">21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the
|
|
sea; and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xv-p18.1">Lord</span> caused the sea to
|
|
go <i>back</i> by a strong east wind all that night, and made the
|
|
sea dry <i>land,</i> and the waters were divided.   22 And the
|
|
children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry
|
|
<i>ground:</i> and the waters <i>were</i> a wall unto them on their
|
|
right hand, and on their left.   23 And the Egyptians pursued,
|
|
and went in after them to the midst of the sea, <i>even</i> all
|
|
Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.   24 And it
|
|
came to pass, that in the morning watch the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xv-p18.2">Lord</span> looked unto the host of the Egyptians
|
|
through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host
|
|
of the Egyptians,   25 And took off their chariot wheels, that
|
|
they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee
|
|
from the face of Israel; for the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xv-p18.3">Lord</span> fighteth for them against the Egyptians.
|
|
  26 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xv-p18.4">Lord</span> said unto
|
|
Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may
|
|
come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their
|
|
horsemen.   27 And Moses stretched forth his hand over the
|
|
sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning
|
|
appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xv-p18.5">Lord</span> overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the
|
|
sea.   28 And the waters returned, and covered the chariots,
|
|
and the horsemen, <i>and</i> all the host of Pharaoh that came into
|
|
the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them.
|
|
  29 But the children of Israel walked upon dry <i>land</i> in
|
|
the midst of the sea; and the waters <i>were</i> a wall unto them
|
|
on their right hand, and on their left.   30 Thus the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xv-p18.6">Lord</span> saved Israel that day out of the hand
|
|
of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea
|
|
shore.   31 And Israel saw that great work which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xv-p18.7">Lord</span> did upon the Egyptians: and the
|
|
people feared the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xv-p18.8">Lord</span>, and believed
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xv-p18.9">Lord</span>, and his servant Moses.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xv-p19">We have here the history of that work of
|
|
wonder which is so often mentioned both in the Old and New
|
|
Testament, the dividing of the Red Sea before the children of
|
|
Israel. It was the terror of the Canaanites (<scripRef passage="Jos 2:9,10" id="Ex.xv-p19.1" parsed="|Josh|2|9|2|10" osisRef="Bible:Josh.2.9-Josh.2.10">Josh. ii. 9, 10</scripRef>), the praise and triumph of
|
|
the Israelites, <scripRef passage="Ps 114:3,Ps 106:9,136:13,14" id="Ex.xv-p19.2" parsed="|Ps|114|3|0|0;|Ps|106|9|0|0;|Ps|136|13|136|14" osisRef="Bible:Ps.114.3 Bible:Ps.106.9 Bible:Ps.136.13-Ps.136.14">Ps.
|
|
cxiv. 3; cvi. 9; cxxxvi. 13, 14</scripRef>. It was a type of
|
|
baptism, <scripRef passage="1Co 10:1,2" id="Ex.xv-p19.3" parsed="|1Cor|10|1|10|2" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.10.1-1Cor.10.2">1 Cor. x. 1, 2</scripRef>.
|
|
Israel's passage through it was typical of the conversion of souls
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Isa 11:15" id="Ex.xv-p19.4" parsed="|Isa|11|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.11.15">Isa. xi. 15</scripRef>), and the
|
|
Egyptians' perdition in it was typical of the final ruin of all
|
|
impenitent sinners, <scripRef passage="Re 20:14" id="Ex.xv-p19.5" parsed="|Rev|20|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.20.14">Rev. xx.
|
|
14</scripRef>. Here we have,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xv-p20">I. An instance of God's almighty power in
|
|
the kingdom of nature, in dividing the sea, and opening a passage
|
|
through the waters. It was a bay, or gulf, or arm of the sea, two
|
|
or three leagues over, which was divided, <scripRef passage="Ex 14:21" id="Ex.xv-p20.1" parsed="|Exod|14|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. The instituted sign made use of
|
|
was Moses's stretching out his hand over it, to signify that it was
|
|
done in answer to his prayer, for the confirmation of his mission,
|
|
and in favour to the people whom he led. The natural sign was a
|
|
strong east wind, signifying that it was done by the power of God,
|
|
whom the winds and the seas obey. If there be any passage in the
|
|
book of Job which has reference to the miracles wrought for
|
|
Israel's deliverance out of Egypt, it is that in <scripRef passage="Job 26:12" id="Ex.xv-p20.2" parsed="|Job|26|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.26.12">Job xxvi. 12</scripRef>, <i>He divideth the sea with
|
|
his power, and by his understanding he smileth through Rahab</i>
|
|
(so the word is), that is, Egypt. Note, God can bring his people
|
|
through the greatest difficulties, and force a way where he does
|
|
not find it. The God of nature has not tied himself to its laws,
|
|
but, when he pleases, dispenses with them, and then the fire does
|
|
not burn, nor the water flow.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xv-p21">II. An instance of his wonderful favour to
|
|
his Israel. They went through the sea to the opposite shore, for I
|
|
cannot suppose, with some, that they fetched a compass, and came
|
|
out again on the same side, <scripRef passage="Ex 14:22" id="Ex.xv-p21.1" parsed="|Exod|14|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.22"><i>v.</i>
|
|
22</scripRef>. They <i>walked upon dry land in the midst of the
|
|
sea,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 14:29" id="Ex.xv-p21.2" parsed="|Exod|14|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>. And
|
|
the pillar of cloud, <i>that glory of the Lord,</i> being their
|
|
<i>rearward</i> (<scripRef passage="Isa 58:8" id="Ex.xv-p21.3" parsed="|Isa|58|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.58.8">Isa. lviii.
|
|
8</scripRef>), that the Egyptians might not charge them in the
|
|
flank, the <i>waters were a wall to them</i> (it is twice
|
|
mentioned) <i>on their right hand and on their left.</i> Moses and
|
|
Aaron, it is probable, ventured first into this untrodden path, and
|
|
then all Israel after them; and this march through the paths of the
|
|
great waters would make their march afterwards, through the
|
|
wilderness, less formidable. Those who had followed God through the
|
|
sea needed not to fear following him whithersoever he led them.
|
|
This march through the sea was in the night, and not a moon-shiny
|
|
night, for it was seven days after the full moon, so that they had
|
|
no light but what they had from the pillar of cloud and fire. This
|
|
made it the more awful; but where God leads us he will light us;
|
|
while we follow his conduct, we shall not want his comforts.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xv-p22">This was done, and recorded, in order to
|
|
encourage God's people in all ages to trust in him in the greatest
|
|
straits. What cannot he do who did this? What will not he do for
|
|
those that fear and love him who did this for these murmuring
|
|
unbelieving Israel is, who yet were <i>beloved for their fathers'
|
|
sake,</i> and for the sake of a remnant among them? We find the
|
|
saints, long afterwards, making themselves sharers in the triumphs
|
|
of this march (<scripRef passage="Ps 66:6" id="Ex.xv-p22.1" parsed="|Ps|66|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.66.6">Ps. lxvi. 6</scripRef>):
|
|
<i>They went through the flood on foot; there did we rejoice in
|
|
him:</i> and see how this work of wonder is improved, <scripRef passage="Ps 77:11,16,19" id="Ex.xv-p22.2" parsed="|Ps|77|11|0|0;|Ps|77|16|0|0;|Ps|77|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.77.11 Bible:Ps.77.16 Bible:Ps.77.19">Ps. lxxvii. 11, 16, 19</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xv-p23">III. An instance of his just and righteous
|
|
wrath upon his and his people's enemies, the Egyptians. Observe
|
|
here, 1. How they were infatuated. In the heat of their pursuit,
|
|
they went after the Israelites <i>into the midst of the sea,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 14:23" id="Ex.xv-p23.1" parsed="|Exod|14|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. "Why,"
|
|
thought they, "may not we venture where Israel did?" Once or twice
|
|
the magicians of Egypt had done what Moses did, with their
|
|
enchantments; Pharaoh remembered this, but forgot how they were
|
|
nonplussed at last. They were more advantageously provided with
|
|
chariots and horses, while the Israelites were on foot. Pharaoh had
|
|
said, <i>I know not the Lord;</i> and by this it appeared he did
|
|
not, else he would not have ventured thus. None so bold as those
|
|
that are blind. Rage against Israel made them thus daring and
|
|
inconsiderate: they had long hardened their own hearts; and now God
|
|
hardened them to their ruin, and hid from their eyes the things
|
|
that belonged to their peace and safety. <i>Surely in vain is the
|
|
net spread in the sight of any bird</i> (<scripRef passage="Pr 1:17" id="Ex.xv-p23.2" parsed="|Prov|1|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.1.17">Prov. i. 17</scripRef>); yet so blind where the Egyptians
|
|
that they <i>hastened to the snare,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 7:23" id="Ex.xv-p23.3" parsed="|Prov|7|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.7.23">Prov. vii. 23</scripRef>. Note, The ruin of sinners is
|
|
brought on by their own presumption, which hurries them headlong
|
|
into the pit. They are self-destroyers. 2. How they were troubled
|
|
and perplexed, <scripRef passage="Ex 14:24,25" id="Ex.xv-p23.4" parsed="|Exod|14|24|14|25" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.24-Exod.14.25"><i>v.</i> 24,
|
|
25</scripRef>. For some hours they marched through the divided
|
|
waters as safely and triumphantly as Israel did, not doubting but,
|
|
that, in a little time, they should gain their point. But, <i>in
|
|
the morning watch, the Lord looked upon the host of the Egyptians,
|
|
and troubled them.</i> Something or other they saw or heard from
|
|
the pillar of cloud and fire which put them into great
|
|
consternation, and gave them an apprehension of their ruin before
|
|
it was brought upon them. Now it appeared that the <i>triumphing of
|
|
the wicked is short,</i> and that God has ways to frighten sinners
|
|
into despair, before he plunges them into destruction. <i>He cuts
|
|
off the spirit of princes, and is terrible to the kings of the
|
|
earth.</i> (1.) They had hectored and boasted as if the day were
|
|
their own; but now they were troubled and dismayed, struck with a
|
|
panic-fear. (2.) They had driven furiously; but now they drove
|
|
heavily, and found themselves plugged and embarrassed at every
|
|
step; the way grew deep, their hearts grew sad, their wheels
|
|
dropped off, and the axle-trees failed. Thus can God check the
|
|
violence of those that are in pursuit of his people. (3.) They had
|
|
been flying upon the back of Israel, as the hawk upon the trembling
|
|
dove; but now they cried, <i>Let us flee from the face of
|
|
Israel,</i> which had become to them <i>like a torch of fire in a
|
|
sheaf,</i> <scripRef passage="Zec 12:6" id="Ex.xv-p23.5" parsed="|Zech|12|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zech.12.6">Zech. xii. 6</scripRef>.
|
|
Israel has now, all of a sudden, become as much a terror to them as
|
|
they had been to Israel. They might have let Israel alone and would
|
|
not; now they would flee from the face of Israel and cannot. Men
|
|
will not be convinced, till it is too late, that those who meddle
|
|
with God's people meddle to their own hurt; when the Lord shall
|
|
come with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment, the
|
|
mighty men will in vain seek to shelter themselves under rocks and
|
|
mountains <i>from the face of Israel</i> and Israel's King,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Re 6:15" id="Ex.xv-p23.6" parsed="|Rev|6|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.6.15">Rev. vi. 15</scripRef>. Compare with
|
|
this story, <scripRef passage="Job 27:20" id="Ex.xv-p23.7" parsed="|Job|27|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.27.20">Job xxvii. 20</scripRef>,
|
|
&c. 3. How they were all drowned. As soon as ever the children
|
|
of Israel had got safely to the shore, Moses was ordered to
|
|
<i>stretch out his hand over the sea,</i> and thereby give a signal
|
|
to the waters to close again, as before, upon he word of command,
|
|
they had <i>opened to the right and the left,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 14:29" id="Ex.xv-p23.8" parsed="|Exod|14|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>. He did so, and
|
|
immediately the waters returned to their place, and overwhelmed all
|
|
the host of the Egyptians, <scripRef passage="Ex 14:27,28" id="Ex.xv-p23.9" parsed="|Exod|14|27|14|28" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.27-Exod.14.28"><i>v.</i> 27, 28</scripRef>. Pharaoh and his
|
|
servants, who had hardened one another in sin, now fell together,
|
|
and not one escaped. An ancient tradition says that Pharaoh's
|
|
magicians, Jannes and Jambres, perished with the rest, as Balaam
|
|
with the Midianites whom he had seduced, <scripRef passage="Nu 31:8" id="Ex.xv-p23.10" parsed="|Num|31|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.8">Num. xxxi. 8</scripRef>. And now, (1.) God avenged upon
|
|
the Egyptians the blood of the firstborn whom they had drowned: and
|
|
the principal is repaid with interest, it is recompensed double,
|
|
full-grown Egyptians for newborn Israelites; thus the Lord is
|
|
righteous, and precious is his people's blood in his sight,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 72:14" id="Ex.xv-p23.11" parsed="|Ps|72|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.72.14">Ps. lxxii. 14</scripRef>. (2.) God
|
|
reckoned with Pharaoh for all his proud and insolent conduct
|
|
towards Moses his ambassador. Mocking the messengers of the Lord,
|
|
and playing the fool with them, bring ruin without remedy. Now God
|
|
<i>got him honour upon Pharaoh,</i> looking upon that proud man,
|
|
and abasing him, <scripRef passage="Job 40:12" id="Ex.xv-p23.12" parsed="|Job|40|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.40.12">Job. xl.
|
|
12</scripRef>. Come and see the desolations he made, and write it,
|
|
not in water, but with an iron pen in the rock for ever. Here lies
|
|
that bloody tyrant who bade defiance to his Maker, to his demands,
|
|
threatenings, and judgments; a rebel to God, and a slave to his own
|
|
barbarous passions; perfectly lost to humanity, virtue, and all
|
|
true honour; here he lies, buried in the deep, a perpetual monument
|
|
of divine justice. Here he went down to the pit, though he was the
|
|
terror of the mighty in the land of the living. This is Pharaoh and
|
|
all his multitude, <scripRef passage="Eze 31:18" id="Ex.xv-p23.13" parsed="|Ezek|31|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.31.18">Ezek. xxxi.
|
|
18</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xv-p24">IV. Here is the notice which the Israelites
|
|
took of this wonderful work which God wrought for them, and the
|
|
good impressions which it made upon them for the present.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xv-p25">1. They saw the Egyptians dead upon the
|
|
sands, <scripRef passage="Ex 14:30" id="Ex.xv-p25.1" parsed="|Exod|14|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>.
|
|
Providence so ordered it that the next tide threw up the dead
|
|
bodies, (1.) For the greater disgrace of the Egyptians. Now the
|
|
beasts and birds of prey were called to <i>eat the flesh of the
|
|
captains and mighty men,</i> <scripRef passage="Re 19:17,18" id="Ex.xv-p25.2" parsed="|Rev|19|17|19|18" osisRef="Bible:Rev.19.17-Rev.19.18">Rev.
|
|
xix. 17, 18</scripRef>. The Egyptians were very nice and curious in
|
|
embalming and preserving the bodies of their great men, but here
|
|
the utmost contempt is poured upon all the grandees of Egypt; see
|
|
how they lie, heaps upon heaps, as dung upon the face of the earth.
|
|
(2.) For the greater triumph of the Israelites, and to affect them
|
|
the more with their deliverance; for the eye affects the heart. See
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 66:24" id="Ex.xv-p25.3" parsed="|Isa|66|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.66.24">Isa. lxvi. 24</scripRef>, <i>They
|
|
shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have
|
|
transgressed against me.</i> Probably they stripped the slain and,
|
|
having borrowed jewels of their neighbours before, which (the
|
|
Egyptians having by this hostile pursuit of them broken their faith
|
|
with them) henceforward they were not under any obligation to
|
|
restore, they now got arms from them, which, some think, they were
|
|
not before provided with. Thus, when God broke the heads of
|
|
Leviathan in pieces, <i>he gave him to be meat to the people
|
|
inhabiting the wilderness,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 74:14" id="Ex.xv-p25.4" parsed="|Ps|74|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.74.14">Ps.
|
|
lxxiv. 14</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xv-p26">2. The sight of this great work greatly
|
|
affected them, and now they <i>feared the Lord, and believed the
|
|
Lord, and his servant Moses,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 14:31" id="Ex.xv-p26.1" parsed="|Exod|14|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>. Now they were ashamed of their
|
|
distrusts and murmurings, and, in the good mind they were in, they
|
|
would never again despair of help from Heaven, no, not in the
|
|
greatest straits; they would never again quarrel with Moses, nor
|
|
talk of returning to Egypt. They were now baptized unto Moses in
|
|
the sea, <scripRef passage="1Co 10:2" id="Ex.xv-p26.2" parsed="|1Cor|10|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.10.2">1 Cor. x. 2</scripRef>. This
|
|
great work which God wrought for them by the ministry of Moses
|
|
bound them effectually to follow his directions, under God. This
|
|
confirmed their faith in the promises that were yet to be
|
|
fulfilled; and, being brought thus triumphantly out of Egypt, they
|
|
did not doubt that they should be in Canaan shortly, having such a
|
|
God to trust to, and such a mediator between them and him. O that
|
|
there had been such a heart in them as now there seemed to be!
|
|
Sensible mercies, when they are fresh, make sensible impressions;
|
|
but with many these impressions soon wear off: while they see God's
|
|
works, and feel the benefit of them, they fear him and trust in
|
|
him; but they soon forget his works, and then they slight him. How
|
|
well were it for us if we were always in as good a frame as we are
|
|
in sometimes!</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XV" n="xvi" progress="38.33%" prev="Ex.xv" next="Ex.xvii" id="Ex.xvi">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.xvi-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.xvi-p0.2">CHAP. XV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.xvi-p1">In this chapter, I. Israel looks back upon Egypt
|
|
with a song of praise for their deliverance. Here is, 1. The song
|
|
itself, <scripRef passage="Ex 15:1-19" id="Ex.xvi-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|15|1|15|19" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.1-Exod.15.19">ver. 1-19</scripRef>. 2. The
|
|
solemn singing of it, <scripRef passage="Ex 15:20,21" id="Ex.xvi-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|15|20|15|21" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.20-Exod.15.21">ver. 20,
|
|
21</scripRef>. II. Israel marches forward in the wilderness
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 15:22" id="Ex.xvi-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|15|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.22">ver. 22</scripRef>), and there, 1.
|
|
Their discontent at the waters of Marah (<scripRef passage="Ex 15:23,24" id="Ex.xvi-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|15|23|15|24" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.23-Exod.15.24">ver. 23, 24</scripRef>), and the relief granted them,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 15:25,26" id="Ex.xvi-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|15|25|15|26" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.25-Exod.15.26">ver. 25, 26</scripRef>. 2. Their
|
|
satisfaction in the waters of Elim, <scripRef passage="Ex 15:27" id="Ex.xvi-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|15|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.27">ver. 27</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 15" id="Ex.xvi-p1.7" parsed="|Exod|15|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 15:1-21" id="Ex.xvi-p1.8" parsed="|Exod|15|1|15|21" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.1-Exod.15.21"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.15.1-Exod.15.21">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xvi-p1.9">Triumphant Song of the
|
|
Israelites. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvi-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xvi-p2">1 Then sang Moses and the children of Israel
|
|
this song unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvi-p2.1">Lord</span>, and spake,
|
|
saying, I will sing unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvi-p2.2">Lord</span>,
|
|
for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he
|
|
thrown into the sea.   2 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvi-p2.3">Lord</span> <i>is</i> my strength and song, and he is
|
|
become my salvation: he <i>is</i> my God, and I will prepare him an
|
|
habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him.   3 The
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvi-p2.4">Lord</span> <i>is</i> a man of war: the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvi-p2.5">Lord</span> <i>is</i> his name.   4
|
|
Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his
|
|
chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea.   5 The
|
|
depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone.
|
|
  6 Thy right hand, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvi-p2.6">O Lord</span>, is
|
|
become glorious in power: thy right hand, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvi-p2.7">O
|
|
Lord</span>, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.   7 And in the
|
|
greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose
|
|
up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, <i>which</i>
|
|
consumed them as stubble.   8 And with the blast of thy
|
|
nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood
|
|
upright as an heap, <i>and</i> the depths were congealed in the
|
|
heart of the sea.   9 The enemy said, I will pursue, I will
|
|
overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon
|
|
them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.   10
|
|
Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as
|
|
lead in the mighty waters.   11 Who <i>is</i> like unto thee,
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvi-p2.8">O Lord</span>, among the gods? who
|
|
<i>is</i> like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful <i>in</i>
|
|
praises, doing wonders?   12 Thou stretchedst out thy right
|
|
hand, the earth swallowed them.   13 Thou in thy mercy hast
|
|
led forth the people <i>which</i> thou hast redeemed: thou hast
|
|
guided <i>them</i> in thy strength unto thy holy habitation.  
|
|
14 The people shall hear, <i>and</i> be afraid: sorrow shall take
|
|
hold on the inhabitants of Palestina.   15 Then the dukes of
|
|
Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take
|
|
hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away.
|
|
  16 Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of
|
|
thine arm they shall be <i>as</i> still as a stone; till thy people
|
|
pass over, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvi-p2.9">O Lord</span>, till the people
|
|
pass over, <i>which</i> thou hast purchased.   17 Thou shalt
|
|
bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance,
|
|
<i>in</i> the place, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvi-p2.10">O Lord</span>,
|
|
<i>which</i> thou hast made for thee to dwell in, <i>in</i> the
|
|
Sanctuary, O Lord, <i>which</i> thy hands have established.  
|
|
18 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvi-p2.11">Lord</span> shall reign for ever and
|
|
ever.   19 For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots
|
|
and with his horsemen into the sea, and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvi-p2.12">Lord</span> brought again the waters of the sea upon
|
|
them; but the children of Israel went on dry <i>land</i> in the
|
|
midst of the sea.   20 And Miriam the prophetess, the sister
|
|
of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out
|
|
after her with timbrels and with dances.   21 And Miriam
|
|
answered them, Sing ye to the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvi-p2.13">Lord</span>,
|
|
for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he
|
|
thrown into the sea.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xvi-p3">Having read how that complete victory of
|
|
Israel over the Egyptians was obtained, here we are told how it was
|
|
celebrated; those that were to hold their peace while the
|
|
deliverance was in working (<scripRef passage="Ex 14:14" id="Ex.xvi-p3.1" parsed="|Exod|14|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.14"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xiv. 14</scripRef>) must not hold their peace now that it was
|
|
wrought; the less they had to do then the more they had to do now.
|
|
If God accomplishes deliverance by his own immediate power, it
|
|
redounds so much the more to his glory. Moses, no doubt by divine
|
|
inspiration, indited this song, and delivered it to the children of
|
|
Israel, to be sung before they stirred from the place where they
|
|
saw the Egyptians dead upon the shore. Observe, 1. They expressed
|
|
their joy in God, and thankfulness to him, by singing; it is almost
|
|
natural to us thus to give vent to our joy and the exultations of
|
|
our spirit. By this instance it appears that the singing of psalms,
|
|
as an act of religious worship, was used in the church of Christ
|
|
before the giving of the ceremonial law, and therefore was no part
|
|
of it, nor abolished with it. Singing is as much the language of
|
|
holy joy as praying is of holy desire. 2. Moses, who had gone
|
|
before them through the sea, goes before them in the song, and
|
|
composes it for them. Note, Those that are active in public
|
|
services should not be neuters in public praises. 3. When the mercy
|
|
was fresh, and they were much affected with it, then they sang this
|
|
song. Note, When we have received special mercy from God, we ought
|
|
to be quick and speedy in our returns of praise to him, before time
|
|
and the deceitfulness of our own hearts efface the good impressions
|
|
that have been made. David sang his triumphant song in the day that
|
|
the Lord delivered him, <scripRef passage="2Sa 22:1" id="Ex.xvi-p3.2" parsed="|2Sam|22|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.22.1">2 Sam. xxii.
|
|
1</scripRef>. <i>Bis dat qui cito dat—He gives twice who gives
|
|
quickly.</i> 4. When they <i>believed the Lord</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 14:31" id="Ex.xvi-p3.3" parsed="|Exod|14|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.31"><i>ch.</i> xiv. 31</scripRef>) then they sang
|
|
this song: it was a song of faith; this connection is observed
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ps 106:12" id="Ex.xvi-p3.4" parsed="|Ps|106|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.12">Ps. cvi. 12</scripRef>): <i>Then
|
|
believed they his words, they sang his praise.</i> If with the
|
|
heart man believes, thus confession must be made. Here is,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xvi-p4">I. The song itself; and,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xvi-p5">1. We may observe respecting this song,
|
|
that it is, (1.) An ancient song, the most ancient that we know of.
|
|
(2.) A most admirable composition, the style lofty and magnificent,
|
|
the images lively and proper, and the whole very moving. (3.) It is
|
|
a holy song, consecrated to the honour of God, and intended to
|
|
exalt his name and celebrate his praise, and his only, not in the
|
|
least to magnify any man: holiness to the Lord is engraven in it,
|
|
and to him they made melody in the singing of it. (4.) It is a
|
|
typical song. The triumphs of the gospel church, in the downfall of
|
|
its enemies, are expressed in the song of Moses and the song of the
|
|
Lamb put together, which are said to be sung upon a sea of glass,
|
|
as this was upon the Red Sea, <scripRef passage="Re 15:2,3" id="Ex.xvi-p5.1" parsed="|Rev|15|2|15|3" osisRef="Bible:Rev.15.2-Rev.15.3">Rev.
|
|
xv. 2, 3</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xvi-p6">2. Let us observe what Moses chiefly aims
|
|
at in this song.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xvi-p7">(1.) He gives glory to God, and triumphs in
|
|
him; this is first in his intention (<scripRef passage="Ex 15:1" id="Ex.xvi-p7.1" parsed="|Exod|15|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>): <i>I will sing unto the
|
|
Lord.</i> Note, All our joy must terminate in God, and all our
|
|
praises be offered up to him, the Father of lights and Father of
|
|
mercies, <i>for he hath triumphed.</i> Note, All that love God
|
|
triumph in his triumphs; what is his honour should be our joy.
|
|
Israel rejoiced in God, [1.] As their own God, and therefore their
|
|
<i>strength, song,</i> and <i>salvation,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 15:2" id="Ex.xvi-p7.2" parsed="|Exod|15|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. Happy therefore the people whose
|
|
God is the Lord; they need no more to make them happy. They have
|
|
work to do, temptations to grapple with, and afflictions to bear,
|
|
and are weak in themselves; but he strengthens them: his grace is
|
|
their strength. They are often in sorrow, upon many accounts, but
|
|
in him they have comfort, he is <i>their song;</i> sin, and death,
|
|
and hell, threaten them, but he is, and will be, <i>their
|
|
salvation:</i> See <scripRef passage="Isa 12:2" id="Ex.xvi-p7.3" parsed="|Isa|12|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.12.2">Isa. xii.
|
|
2</scripRef>. [2.] <i>As their fathers' God.</i> This they take
|
|
notice of, because, being conscious to themselves of their own
|
|
unworthiness and provocations, they had reason to think that what
|
|
God had now done for them was for their <i>fathers' sake,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 4:37" id="Ex.xvi-p7.4" parsed="|Deut|4|37|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.37">Deut. iv. 37</scripRef>. Note, The
|
|
children of the covenant ought to improve their fathers' relation
|
|
to God as their God for comfort, for caution, and for quickening.
|
|
[3.] As a God of infinite power (<scripRef passage="Ex 15:3" id="Ex.xvi-p7.5" parsed="|Exod|15|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>): <i>The Lord is a man of war,</i>
|
|
that is, well able to deal with all those that strive with their
|
|
Maker, and will certainly be too hard for them. [4.] As a God of
|
|
matchless and incomparable perfection, <scripRef passage="Ex 15:11" id="Ex.xvi-p7.6" parsed="|Exod|15|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. This is expressed,
|
|
<i>First,</i> More generally: <i>Who is like unto thee, O Lord,
|
|
among the gods!</i> This is pure praise, and a high expression of
|
|
humble adoration.—It is a challenge to all other gods to compare
|
|
with him: "Let them stand forth, and pretend their utmost; none of
|
|
them dare make the comparison." Egypt was notorious for the
|
|
multitude of its gods, but the <i>God of the Hebrews</i> was too
|
|
hard for them and baffled them all, <scripRef passage="Nu 38:4,De 32:23-39" id="Ex.xvi-p7.7" parsed="|Num|38|4|0|0;|Deut|32|23|32|39" osisRef="Bible:Num.38.4 Bible:Deut.32.23-Deut.32.39">Num. xxxviii. 4; Deut. xxxii.
|
|
23-39</scripRef>. The princes and potentates of the world are
|
|
called <i>gods,</i> but they are feeble and mortal, none of them
|
|
all comparable to Jehovah, the almighty and eternal God.—It is
|
|
confession of his infinite perfection, as transcendent and
|
|
unparalleled. Note, God is to be worshipped and adored as a being
|
|
of such infinite perfection that there is none like him, nor any to
|
|
be compared with him, as one that in all things has and must have
|
|
the pre-eminence, <scripRef passage="Ps 89:6" id="Ex.xvi-p7.8" parsed="|Ps|89|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.89.6">Ps. lxxxix.
|
|
6</scripRef>. <i>Secondly,</i> More particularly, 1. <i>He is
|
|
glorious in holiness;</i> his holiness is his glory. It is that
|
|
attribute which angels adore, <scripRef passage="Isa 6:3" id="Ex.xvi-p7.9" parsed="|Isa|6|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.3">Isa. vi.
|
|
3</scripRef>. His holiness appeared in the destruction of Pharaoh,
|
|
his hatred of sin, and his wrath against obstinate sinners. It
|
|
appeared in the deliverance of Israel, his delight in the holy
|
|
seed, and his faithfulness to his own promise. God is <i>rich in
|
|
mercy</i>—this is his treasure, <i>glorious in holiness</i>—this
|
|
is his honour. Let us always give thanks at the remembrance of his
|
|
holiness. 2. <i>He is fearful in praises.</i> That which is the
|
|
matter of our praise, though it is joyful to the servants of God,
|
|
is dreadful and very terrible to his enemies, <scripRef passage="Ps 66:1-3" id="Ex.xvi-p7.10" parsed="|Ps|66|1|66|3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.66.1-Ps.66.3">Ps. lxvi. 1-3</scripRef>. Or it directs us in the
|
|
manner of our praising God; we should praise him with a humble holy
|
|
awe, and <i>serve the Lord with fear.</i> Even our spiritual joy
|
|
and triumph must be balanced with a religious fear. 3. He is
|
|
<i>doing wonders,</i> wondrous to all, being above the power and
|
|
out of the common course of nature; especially wondrous to us, in
|
|
whose favour they are wrought, who are so unworthy that we had
|
|
little reason to expect them. They were wonders of power and
|
|
wonders of grace; in both God was to be humbly adored.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xvi-p8">(2.) He describes the deliverance they were
|
|
now triumphing in, because the song was intended, not only to
|
|
express and excite their thankfulness for the present, but to
|
|
preserve and perpetuate the remembrance of this work of wonder to
|
|
after-ages. Two things were to be taken notice of:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xvi-p9">[1.] The destruction of the enemy; the
|
|
waters were divided, <scripRef passage="Ex 15:8" id="Ex.xvi-p9.1" parsed="|Exod|15|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.8"><i>v.</i>
|
|
8</scripRef>. <i>The floods stood upright as a heap.</i> Pharaoh
|
|
and all his hosts were buried in the waters. <i>The horse and his
|
|
rider</i> could not escape (<scripRef passage="Ex 15:1" id="Ex.xvi-p9.2" parsed="|Exod|15|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.1"><i>v.</i>
|
|
1</scripRef>), the <i>chariots,</i> and the <i>chosen captains</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 15:4" id="Ex.xvi-p9.3" parsed="|Exod|15|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>); they
|
|
themselves went into the sea, and they were overwhelmed, <scripRef passage="Ex 15:19" id="Ex.xvi-p9.4" parsed="|Exod|15|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. <i>The depths, the sea,
|
|
covered them,</i> and the proud waters went over the proud sinners;
|
|
they <i>sank like a stone, like lead</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 15:5,10" id="Ex.xvi-p9.5" parsed="|Exod|15|5|0|0;|Exod|15|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.5 Bible:Exod.15.10"><i>v.</i> 5, 10</scripRef>), under the weight of their
|
|
own guilt and God's wrath. Their sin had made them hard like a
|
|
stone, and now they justly sink like a stone. Nay, <i>the earth
|
|
itself swallowed them</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 15:12" id="Ex.xvi-p9.6" parsed="|Exod|15|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.12"><i>v.</i>
|
|
12</scripRef>); their dead bodies sank into the sands upon which
|
|
they were thrown up, which sucked them in. Those whom the Creator
|
|
fights against the whole creation is at war with. All this was the
|
|
Lord's doing, and his only. It was an act of his power: <i>Thy
|
|
right hand, O Lord,</i> not ours, <i>has dashed in pieces the
|
|
enemy,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 15:6" id="Ex.xvi-p9.7" parsed="|Exod|15|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. It
|
|
was with <i>the blast of thy nostrils</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 15:8" id="Ex.xvi-p9.8" parsed="|Exod|15|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>), and <i>thy wind</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 15:10" id="Ex.xvi-p9.9" parsed="|Exod|15|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>), and the <i>stretching
|
|
out of thy right hand,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 15:12" id="Ex.xvi-p9.10" parsed="|Exod|15|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.12"><i>v.</i>
|
|
12</scripRef>. It was an instance of his transcendent power—in
|
|
<i>the greatness of thy excellency;</i> and it was the execution of
|
|
his justice: <i>Thou sentest forth thy wrath,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 15:7" id="Ex.xvi-p9.11" parsed="|Exod|15|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. This destruction of the
|
|
Egyptians was made the more remarkable by their pride and
|
|
insolence, and their strange assurance of success: <i>The enemy
|
|
said, I will pursue,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 15:9" id="Ex.xvi-p9.12" parsed="|Exod|15|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.9"><i>v.</i>
|
|
9</scripRef>. Here is, <i>First,</i> Great confidence. When they
|
|
pursue, they do not question but they shall overtake; and, when
|
|
they overtake, they do not question but they shall overcome, and
|
|
obtain so decisive a victory as to <i>divide the spoil.</i> Note,
|
|
It is common for men to be most elevated with the hope of success
|
|
when they are upon the brink of ruin, which makes their ruin so
|
|
much the sorer. See <scripRef passage="Isa 37:24,25" id="Ex.xvi-p9.13" parsed="|Isa|37|24|37|25" osisRef="Bible:Isa.37.24-Isa.37.25">Isa. xxxvii.
|
|
24, 25</scripRef>. <i>Secondly,</i> Great cruelty—nothing but
|
|
killing, and slaying, and destroying, and this will satisfy his
|
|
lust; and a barbarous lust that is which so much blood must be the
|
|
satisfaction of. Note, It is a cruel hatred with which the church
|
|
is hated; its enemies are bloody men. This is taken notice of here
|
|
to show, 1. That God resists the proud, and delights to humble
|
|
those who lift up themselves; he that says, "I will, and I will,
|
|
whether God will or no," shall be made to know that wherein he
|
|
deals proudly God is above him. 2. That those who thirst for blood
|
|
shall have enough of it. Those who love to be destroying shall be
|
|
destroyed; for we know who has said, <i>Vengeance is mine, I will
|
|
repay.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xvi-p10">[2.] The protection and guidance of Israel
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 15:13" id="Ex.xvi-p10.1" parsed="|Exod|15|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>): <i>Thou in
|
|
thy mercy hast led forth the people,</i> led them forth out of the
|
|
bondage Egypt, led them forth out of the perils of the Red Sea,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 15:19" id="Ex.xvi-p10.2" parsed="|Exod|15|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. <i>But the
|
|
children of Israel went on dry land.</i> Note, The destruction of
|
|
the wicked serves for a foil to set off the salvation of Israel,
|
|
and to make it the more illustrious, <scripRef passage="Isa 45:13-15" id="Ex.xvi-p10.3" parsed="|Isa|45|13|45|15" osisRef="Bible:Isa.45.13-Isa.45.15">Isa. xlv. 13-15</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xvi-p11">(3.) He sets himself to improve this
|
|
wonderful appearance of God for them. [1.] In order to quicken them
|
|
to serve God: in consideration of this, <i>I will prepare him
|
|
habitation,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 15:2" id="Ex.xvi-p11.1" parsed="|Exod|15|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>.
|
|
God having preserved them, and prepared a covert for them under
|
|
which they had been safe and easy, they resolve to spare no cost
|
|
nor pains for the erecting of a tabernacle to his honour, and there
|
|
they will exalt him, and mention, to his praise, the honour he had
|
|
got upon Pharaoh. God had now exalted them, making them great and
|
|
high, and therefore they will exalt him, by speaking of his
|
|
infinite height and grandeur. Note, Our constant endeavour should
|
|
be, by praising his name and serving his interests, to exalt God;
|
|
and it is an advancement to us to be so employed. [2.] In order to
|
|
encourage them to trust in God. So confident is this Psalmist of
|
|
the happy issue of the salvation which was so gloriously begun that
|
|
he looks upon it as in effect finished already: "<i>Thou hast
|
|
guided them to thy holy habitation,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 15:13" id="Ex.xvi-p11.2" parsed="|Exod|15|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. Thou hast thus put them into
|
|
the way to it, and wilt in due time bring them to the end of that
|
|
way," for God's work is perfect; or, "<i>Thou hast guided them</i>
|
|
to attend thy holy habitation in heaven with their praises." Note,
|
|
Those whom God takes under his direction he will guide to his holy
|
|
habitation in faith now, and in fruition shortly. Two ways this
|
|
great deliverance was encouraging:—<i>First,</i> It was such an
|
|
instance of God's power as would terrify their enemies, and quite
|
|
dishearten them, <scripRef passage="Ex 15:14-16" id="Ex.xvi-p11.3" parsed="|Exod|15|14|15|16" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.14-Exod.15.16"><i>v.</i>
|
|
14-16</scripRef>. The very report of the overthrow of the Egyptians
|
|
would be more than half the over throw of all their other enemies;
|
|
it would sink their spirits, which would go far towards the sinking
|
|
of their powers and interests; he Philistines, Moabites, Edomites,
|
|
and Canaanites (with each of which nations Israel was to grapple),
|
|
would be alarmed by it, would be quite dispirited, and would
|
|
conclude it was in vain to fight against Israel, when a God of such
|
|
power fought for them. It had this effect; the Edomites were afraid
|
|
of them (<scripRef passage="De 2:4" id="Ex.xvi-p11.4" parsed="|Deut|2|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.4">Deut. ii. 4</scripRef>), so
|
|
were the Moabites (<scripRef passage="Nu 22:3" id="Ex.xvi-p11.5" parsed="|Num|22|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.3">Num. xxii.
|
|
3</scripRef>), and the Canaanites, <scripRef passage="Jos 2:9,10,5:1" id="Ex.xvi-p11.6" parsed="|Josh|2|9|2|10;|Josh|5|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.2.9-Josh.2.10 Bible:Josh.5.1">Josh. ii. 9, 10; v. 1</scripRef>. Thus God sent
|
|
his fear before them (<scripRef passage="Ex 23:27" id="Ex.xvi-p11.7" parsed="|Exod|23|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.27"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xxiii. 27</scripRef>), and cut off the spirit of princes.
|
|
<i>Secondly,</i> It was such a beginning of God's favour to them as
|
|
gave them an earnest of he perfection of his kindness. This was but
|
|
in order to something further: <i>Thou shalt bring them in,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 15:17" id="Ex.xvi-p11.8" parsed="|Exod|15|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. If he thus
|
|
<i>bring them out of Egypt,</i> notwithstanding their unworthiness,
|
|
and the difficulties that lay in the way of their escape, doubtless
|
|
he will bring them into Canaan; for has he begun (<i>so</i> begun),
|
|
and will he not make an end? Note, Our experiences of God's power
|
|
and favour should be improved for the support of our expectations.
|
|
"Thou <i>hast,</i> therefore, not only thou <i>canst,</i> but we
|
|
trust thou <i>wilt,</i>" is good arguing. <i>Thou wilt plant them
|
|
in the place which thou has made for thee to dwell in.</i> Note, It
|
|
is good dwelling where God dwells, in his church on earth
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ps 27:4" id="Ex.xvi-p11.9" parsed="|Ps|27|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.27.4">Ps. xxvii. 4</scripRef>), in his
|
|
church in heaven, <scripRef passage="Joh 17:24" id="Ex.xvi-p11.10" parsed="|John|17|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.17.24">John xvii.
|
|
24</scripRef>. Where he says, "This is my rest for ever," we should
|
|
say, "Let it be ours." <i>Lastly,</i> The great ground of the
|
|
encouragement which they draw from this work of wonder is, <i>The
|
|
Lord shall reign for ever and ever,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 15:18" id="Ex.xvi-p11.11" parsed="|Exod|15|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. They had now seen an end of
|
|
Pharaoh's reign; but time itself shall not put a period to
|
|
Jehovah's reign, which, like himself, is eternal, and not subject
|
|
to change. Note, It is the unspeakable comfort of all God's
|
|
faithful subjects, not only that he does reign universally and with
|
|
an incontestable sovereignty, but that he will reign eternally, and
|
|
there shall be no end of his dominion.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xvi-p12">II. The solemn singing of this song,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 15:20,21" id="Ex.xvi-p12.1" parsed="|Exod|15|20|15|21" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.20-Exod.15.21"><i>v.</i> 20, 21</scripRef>. Miriam
|
|
(or Mary, it is the same name) presided in an assembly of the
|
|
women, who (according to the softness of their sex, and the common
|
|
usage of those times for expressing joy, with timbrels and dances)
|
|
sang this song. Moses led the psalm, and gave it out for the men,
|
|
and then Miriam for the women. Famous victories were wont to be
|
|
applauded by the daughters of Israel (<scripRef passage="1Sa 18:6,7" id="Ex.xvi-p12.2" parsed="|1Sam|18|6|18|7" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.18.6-1Sam.18.7">1 Sam. xviii. 6, 7</scripRef>); so was this. When God
|
|
brought Israel out of Egypt, it is said (<scripRef passage="Mic 6:4" id="Ex.xvi-p12.3" parsed="|Mic|6|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mic.6.4">Micah vi. 4</scripRef>), <i>He sent before them Moses,
|
|
Aaron, and Miriam,</i> though we read not of any thing memorable
|
|
that Miriam did but this. But those are to be reckoned great
|
|
blessings to a people who assist them, and go before them, in
|
|
praising God.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 15:22-27" id="Ex.xvi-p12.4" parsed="|Exod|15|22|15|27" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.22-Exod.15.27"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.15.22-Exod.15.27">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xvi-p12.5">The Waters of Marah. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvi-p12.6">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xvi-p13">22 So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and
|
|
they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days
|
|
in the wilderness, and found no water.   23 And when they came
|
|
to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they
|
|
<i>were</i> bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah.
|
|
  24 And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall
|
|
we drink?   25 And he cried unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvi-p13.1">Lord</span>; and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvi-p13.2">Lord</span> showed him a tree, <i>which</i> when he had
|
|
cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for
|
|
them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them,  
|
|
26 And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvi-p13.3">Lord</span> thy God, and wilt do that which
|
|
is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and
|
|
keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee,
|
|
which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvi-p13.4">Lord</span> that healeth thee.   27 And they
|
|
came to Elim, where <i>were</i> twelve wells of water, and
|
|
threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the
|
|
waters.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xvi-p14">It should seem, it was with some difficulty
|
|
that Moses prevailed with Israel to leave that triumphant shore on
|
|
which they sang the foregoing song. They were so taken up with the
|
|
sight, or with the song, or with the spoiling of the dead bodies,
|
|
that they cared not to go forward, but Moses with much ado brought
|
|
them from the Red Sea into a wilderness. The pleasures of our way
|
|
to Canaan must not retard our progress, but quicken it, though we
|
|
have a wilderness before us. Now here we are told,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xvi-p15">I. That in the wilderness of Shur they had
|
|
no water, <scripRef passage="Ex 15:22" id="Ex.xvi-p15.1" parsed="|Exod|15|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>.
|
|
This was a sore trial to the young travellers, and a diminution to
|
|
their joy; thus God would train them up to difficulties. David, in
|
|
a dry and thirsty land where no water is, reaches forth towards
|
|
God, <scripRef passage="Ps 63:1" id="Ex.xvi-p15.2" parsed="|Ps|63|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.63.1">Ps. lxiii. 1</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xvi-p16">II. That at Marah they had water, but it
|
|
was bitter, so that though they had been three days without water
|
|
they could not drink it, because it was extremely unpleasant to the
|
|
taste or was likely to be prejudicial to their health, or was so
|
|
brackish that it rather increased their thirst than quenched it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 15:23" id="Ex.xvi-p16.1" parsed="|Exod|15|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. Note, God can
|
|
embitter that to us from which we promise ourselves most
|
|
satisfaction, and often does so in the wilderness of this world,
|
|
that our wants and disappointments in the creature may drive us to
|
|
the Creator, in whose favour alone true comfort is to be had. Now
|
|
in this distress, 1. The people fretted and quarrelled with Moses,
|
|
as if he had done ill by them. <i>What shall we drink?</i> is all
|
|
their clamour, <scripRef passage="Ex 15:24" id="Ex.xvi-p16.2" parsed="|Exod|15|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.24"><i>v.</i>
|
|
24</scripRef>. Note, The greatest joys and hopes are soon turned
|
|
into the greatest griefs and fears with those that live by sense
|
|
only, and not by faith. 2. Moses prayed: <i>He cried unto the
|
|
Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 15:25" id="Ex.xvi-p16.3" parsed="|Exod|15|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>. The
|
|
complaints which they brought to him he brought to God, on whom,
|
|
notwithstanding his elevation, Moses owned a constant dependence.
|
|
Note, It is the greatest relief of the cares of magistrates and
|
|
ministers, when those under their charge make them uneasy, that
|
|
they may have recourse to God by prayer: he is the guide of the
|
|
church's guides and to him, as the Chief Shepherd, the
|
|
under-shepherds must upon all occasions apply. 3. God provided
|
|
graciously for them. He directed Moses to a tree, which he cast
|
|
into the waters, in consequence of which, all of a sudden, they
|
|
were made sweet. Some think this wood had a peculiar virtue in it
|
|
for this purpose, because it is said, <i>God showed him the
|
|
tree.</i> God is to be acknowledged, not only in the creating of
|
|
things useful for man, but in discovering their usefulness. Or
|
|
perhaps this was only a sign, and not at all a means, of the cure,
|
|
any more than the brazen serpent, or Elisha's casting one cruse
|
|
full of salt into the waters of Jericho. Some make this tree
|
|
typical of the cross of Christ, which sweetens the bitter waters of
|
|
affliction to all the faithful, and enables them to rejoice in
|
|
tribulation. The Jews' tradition is that the wood of this tree was
|
|
itself bitter, yet it sweetened the waters of Marah; the bitterness
|
|
of Christ's sufferings and death alters the property of ours. 4.
|
|
Upon this occasion, God came upon terms with them, and plainly told
|
|
them, now that they had got clear of the Egyptians, and had entered
|
|
into the wilderness, that they were upon their good behaviour, and
|
|
that according as they carried themselves so it would be well or
|
|
ill with them: <i>There he made a statute and an ordinance,</i> and
|
|
settled matters with them. <i>There he proved them,</i> that is,
|
|
there he put them upon the trial, admitted them as probationers for
|
|
his favour. In short, he tells them, <scripRef passage="Ex 15:26" id="Ex.xvi-p16.4" parsed="|Exod|15|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>, (1.) What he expected from
|
|
them, and that was, in one word, obedience. They must diligently
|
|
<i>hearken to his voice, and give ear to his commandments,</i> that
|
|
they might know their duty, and not transgress through ignorance;
|
|
and they must take care in every thing to do that which was right
|
|
in God's sight, and to <i>keep all his statutes.</i> They must not
|
|
think, now that they were delivered from their bondage in Egypt,
|
|
that they had no lord over them, but were their own masters; no,
|
|
therefore they must look upon themselves as God's servants, because
|
|
he had <i>loosed their bonds,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 116:16,Lu 1:74,75" id="Ex.xvi-p16.5" parsed="|Ps|116|16|0|0;|Luke|1|74|1|75" osisRef="Bible:Ps.116.16 Bible:Luke.1.74-Luke.1.75">Ps. cxvi. 16; Luke i. 74, 75</scripRef>.
|
|
(2.) What they might then expect from him: <i>I will put none of
|
|
these diseases upon thee,</i> that is, "I will not bring upon thee
|
|
any of the plagues of Egypt." This intimates that, if they were
|
|
rebellious and disobedient, the very plagues which they had seen
|
|
inflicted upon their enemies should be brought upon them; so it is
|
|
threatened, <scripRef passage="De 28:60" id="Ex.xvi-p16.6" parsed="|Deut|28|60|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.60">Deut. xxviii.
|
|
60</scripRef>. God's judgments upon Egypt, as they were mercies to
|
|
Israel, opening the way to their deliverance, so they were warnings
|
|
to Israel, and designed to awe them into obedience. Let not the
|
|
Israelites think, because God had thus highly honoured them in the
|
|
great things he had done for them, and had proclaimed them to all
|
|
the world his favourites, that therefore he would connive at their
|
|
sins and let them do as they would. No, God is no respecter of
|
|
persons; a rebellious Israelite shall fare no better than a
|
|
rebellious Egyptian; and so they found, to their cost, before the
|
|
got to Canaan. "But, if thou wilt be obedient, thou shalt be safe
|
|
and happy;" the threatening is implied only, but the promise is
|
|
expressed: "<i>I am the Lord that healeth thee,</i> and will take
|
|
care of thy comfort wherever thou goest." Note, God is the great
|
|
physician. If we be kept well, it is he that keeps us; if we be
|
|
made well, it is he that restores us; he is our life, and the
|
|
length of our days.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xvi-p17">III. That at Elim they had good water, and
|
|
enough of it, <scripRef passage="Ex 15:27" id="Ex.xvi-p17.1" parsed="|Exod|15|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>.
|
|
Though God may, for a time, order his people to encamp by the
|
|
waters of Marah, yet that shall not always be their lot. See how
|
|
changeable our condition is in this world, from better to worse,
|
|
from worse to better. Let us therefore learn both how to be abased
|
|
and how to abound, to rejoice as though we rejoiced not when we are
|
|
full, and to weep as though we wept not when we are emptied. Here
|
|
were twelve wells for their supply, one for every tribe, that they
|
|
might not strive for water, as their fathers had sometimes done;
|
|
and, for their pleasure, there were seventy palm-trees, under the
|
|
shadow of which their great men might repose themselves. Note, God
|
|
can find places of refreshment for his people even in the
|
|
wilderness of this world, wells in the valley of Baca, lest they
|
|
should faint in their mind with perpetual fatigue: yet, whatever
|
|
our delights may be in the land of our pilgrimage, we must remember
|
|
that we do but encamp by them for a time, that here we have no
|
|
continuing city.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XVI" n="xvii" progress="38.85%" prev="Ex.xvi" next="Ex.xviii" id="Ex.xvii">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.xvii-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.xvii-p0.2">CHAP. XVI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.xvii-p1">This chapter gives us an account of the
|
|
victualling of the camp of Israel. I. Their complaint for want of
|
|
bread, <scripRef passage="Ex 16:1-3" id="Ex.xvii-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|16|1|16|3" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.1-Exod.16.3">ver. 1-3</scripRef>. II. The
|
|
notice God gave them beforehand of the provision he intended to
|
|
make for them, <scripRef passage="Ex 16:4-12" id="Ex.xvii-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|16|4|16|12" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.4-Exod.16.12">ver. 4-12</scripRef>.
|
|
III. The sending of the manna, <scripRef passage="Ex 16:13-15" id="Ex.xvii-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|16|13|16|15" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.13-Exod.16.15">ver.
|
|
13-15</scripRef>. IV. The laws and orders concerning the manna. 1.
|
|
That they should gather it daily for their daily bread, <scripRef passage="Ex 16:16-21" id="Ex.xvii-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|16|16|16|21" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.16-Exod.16.21">ver. 16-21</scripRef>. 2. That they should
|
|
gather a double portion on the sixth day, <scripRef passage="Ex 16:22-26" id="Ex.xvii-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|16|22|16|26" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.22-Exod.16.26">ver. 22-26</scripRef>. 3. That they should expect
|
|
none on the seventh day, <scripRef passage="Ex 16:27-31" id="Ex.xvii-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|16|27|16|31" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.27-Exod.16.31">ver.
|
|
27-31</scripRef>. 4. That they should preserve a pot of it for a
|
|
memorial, <scripRef passage="Ex 16:32-36" id="Ex.xvii-p1.7" parsed="|Exod|16|32|16|36" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.32-Exod.16.36">ver. 32</scripRef>,
|
|
&c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 16" id="Ex.xvii-p1.8" parsed="|Exod|16|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 16:1-12" id="Ex.xvii-p1.9" parsed="|Exod|16|1|16|12" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.1-Exod.16.12"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.16.1-Exod.16.12">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xvii-p1.10">The Israelites Murmur for
|
|
Bread. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvii-p1.11">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xvii-p2">1 And they took their journey from Elim, and all
|
|
the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness
|
|
of Sin, which <i>is</i> between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth
|
|
day of the second month after their departing out of the land of
|
|
Egypt.   2 And the whole congregation of the children of
|
|
Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness:   3
|
|
And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died
|
|
by the hand of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvii-p2.1">Lord</span> in the land
|
|
of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, <i>and</i> when we did eat
|
|
bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this
|
|
wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.   4 Then
|
|
said the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvii-p2.2">Lord</span> unto Moses, Behold, I
|
|
will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out
|
|
and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether
|
|
they will walk in my law, or no.   5 And it shall come to
|
|
pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare <i>that</i> which
|
|
they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.
|
|
  6 And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel,
|
|
At even, then ye shall know that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvii-p2.3">Lord</span> hath brought you out from the land of
|
|
Egypt:   7 And in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvii-p2.4">Lord</span>; for that he heareth your
|
|
murmurings against the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvii-p2.5">Lord</span>: and
|
|
what <i>are</i> we, that ye murmur against us?   8 And Moses
|
|
said, <i>This shall be,</i> when the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvii-p2.6">Lord</span> shall give you in the evening flesh to eat,
|
|
and in the morning bread to the full; for that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvii-p2.7">Lord</span> heareth your murmurings which ye murmur
|
|
against him: and what <i>are</i> we? your murmurings <i>are</i> not
|
|
against us, but against the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvii-p2.8">Lord</span>.
|
|
  9 And Moses spake unto Aaron, Say unto all the congregation
|
|
of the children of Israel, Come near before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvii-p2.9">Lord</span>: for he hath heard your murmurings.  
|
|
10 And it came to pass, as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation
|
|
of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness,
|
|
and, behold, the glory of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvii-p2.10">Lord</span>
|
|
appeared in the cloud.   11 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvii-p2.11">Lord</span> spake unto Moses, saying,   12 I have
|
|
heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them,
|
|
saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be
|
|
filled with bread; and ye shall know that I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvii-p2.12">Lord</span> your God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xvii-p3">The host of Israel, it seems, took along
|
|
with them out of Egypt, when they came thence on the fifteenth day
|
|
of the first month, a month's provisions, which, by the fifteenth
|
|
day of the second month, was all spent; and here we have,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xvii-p4">I. Their discontent and murmuring upon that
|
|
occasion, <scripRef passage="Ex 16:2,3" id="Ex.xvii-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|16|2|16|3" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.2-Exod.16.3"><i>v.</i> 2, 3</scripRef>.
|
|
The whole congregation, the greatest part of them, joined in this
|
|
mutiny; it was not immediately against God that they murmured, but
|
|
(which was equivalent) against Moses and Aaron, God's vicegerents
|
|
among them. 1. They count upon being killed in the
|
|
wilderness—nothing less, at the first appearance of disaster. If
|
|
the Lord had been pleased to kill them, he could easily have done
|
|
that in the Red Sea; but then he preserved them, and now could as
|
|
easily provide for them. It argues great distrust of God, and of
|
|
his power and goodness, in every distress and appearance of danger
|
|
to despair of life, and to talk of nothing but being speedily
|
|
killed. 2. They invidiously charge Moses with a design to starve
|
|
them when he brought them out of Egypt; whereas what he had done
|
|
was both by order from God and with a design to promote their
|
|
welfare. Note, It is no new thing for the greatest kindnesses to be
|
|
misinterpreted and basely represented as the greatest injuries. The
|
|
worst colours are sometimes put upon the best actions. Nay, 3. They
|
|
so far undervalue their deliverance that they wish they had died in
|
|
Egypt, nay, and died by the hand of the Lord too, that is, by some
|
|
of the plagues which cut off the Egyptians, as if it were not the
|
|
hand of the Lord, but of Moses only, that brought them into this
|
|
hungry wilderness. It is common for people to say of that pain, or
|
|
sickness, or sore, of which they see not the second causes, "It is
|
|
what pleases God," as if that were not so likewise which comes by
|
|
the hand of man, or some visible accident. Prodigious madness! They
|
|
would rather die by the fleshpots of Egypt, where they found
|
|
themselves with provision, than live under the guidance of the
|
|
heavenly pillar in a wilderness and be provided for by the hand of
|
|
God! they pronounce it better to have fallen in the destruction of
|
|
God's enemies than to bear the fatherly discipline of his children!
|
|
We cannot suppose that they had any great plenty in Egypt, how
|
|
largely soever they now talk of the flesh-pots; nor could they fear
|
|
dying for want in the wilderness, while they had their flocks and
|
|
herds with them. But discontent magnifies what is past, and
|
|
vilifies what is present, without regard to truth or reason. None
|
|
talk more absurdly than murmurers. Their impatience, ingratitude,
|
|
and distrust of God, were so much the worse in that they had lately
|
|
received such miraculous favours, and convincing proofs both that
|
|
God could help them in the greatest exigencies and that really he
|
|
had mercy in store for them. See how <i>soon they forgot his works,
|
|
and provoked him at the sea, even at the Red Sea,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 106:7-13" id="Ex.xvii-p4.2" parsed="|Ps|106|7|106|13" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.7-Ps.106.13">Ps. cvi. 7-13</scripRef>. Note, Experiences
|
|
of God's mercies greatly aggravate our distrusts and
|
|
murmurings.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xvii-p5">II. The care God graciously took for their
|
|
supply. Justly he might have said, "I will rain fire and brimstone
|
|
upon these murmurers, and consume them;" but, quite contrary, he
|
|
promises to rain bread upon them. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xvii-p6">1. How God makes known to Moses his kind
|
|
intentions, that he might not be uneasy at their murmurings, nor be
|
|
tempted to wish he had let them alone in Egypt. (1.) He takes
|
|
notice of the people's complaints: <i>I have heard the murmurings
|
|
of the children of Israel,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 16:12" id="Ex.xvii-p6.1" parsed="|Exod|16|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. As a God of pity, he took
|
|
cognizance of their necessity, which was the occasion of their
|
|
murmuring; as a just and holy God, he took cognizance of their base
|
|
and unworthy reflections upon his servant Moses, and was much
|
|
displeased with them. Note, When we begin to fret and be uneasy, we
|
|
ought to consider that God hears all our murmurings, though silent,
|
|
and only the murmurings of the heart. Princes, parents, masters, do
|
|
not hear all the murmurs of their inferiors against them, and it is
|
|
well they do not, for perhaps they could not bear it; but God
|
|
hears, and yet bears. We must not think, because God does not
|
|
immediately take vengeance on men for their sins, that therefore he
|
|
does not take notice of them; no, he hears the murmurings of
|
|
Israel, and is grieved with this generation, and yet continues his
|
|
care of them, as the tender parent of the froward child. (2.) He
|
|
promises them a speedy, sufficient, and constant supply, <scripRef passage="Ex 16:4" id="Ex.xvii-p6.2" parsed="|Exod|16|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. Man being made out of the
|
|
earth, his Maker has wisely ordered him food out of the earth,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 104:14" id="Ex.xvii-p6.3" parsed="|Ps|104|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.104.14">Ps. civ. 14</scripRef>. But the
|
|
people of Israel, typifying the church of the first-born that are
|
|
written in heaven, and born from above, and being themselves
|
|
immediately under the direction and government of heaven, receiving
|
|
their charters, laws, and commissions, from heaven, from heaven
|
|
also received their food: their law being given by the disposition
|
|
of angels, they did also eat angels' food. See what God designed in
|
|
making this provision for them: <i>That I may prove them, whether
|
|
they will walk in my law or no.</i> [1.] Thus he tried whether they
|
|
would trust him, and walk in the law of faith or no, whether they
|
|
could live from hand to mouth, and (though now uneasy because their
|
|
provisions were spent) could rest satisfied with the bread of the
|
|
day in its day, and depend upon God for fresh supplies to-morrow.
|
|
[2.] Thus he tried whether they would serve him, and be always
|
|
faithful to so good a Master, that provided so well for his
|
|
servants; and hereby he made it appear to all the world, in the
|
|
issue, what an ungrateful people they were, whom nothing could
|
|
affect with a sense of obligation. Let <i>favour be shown</i> to
|
|
them, yet <i>will they not learn righteousness,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 26:10" id="Ex.xvii-p6.4" parsed="|Isa|26|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.26.10">Isa. xxvi. 10</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xvii-p7">2. How Moses made known these intentions to
|
|
Israel, as God ordered him. Here Aaron was his prophet, as he had
|
|
been to Pharaoh. Moses directed Aaron what to <i>speak to the
|
|
congregation of Israel</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 16:9" id="Ex.xvii-p7.1" parsed="|Exod|16|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.9"><i>v.</i>
|
|
9</scripRef>); and some think that, while Aaron was giving a public
|
|
summons to the congregation to <i>come near before the Lord,</i>
|
|
Moses retired to pray, and that the appearance of the glory of the
|
|
Lord (<scripRef passage="Ex 16:10" id="Ex.xvii-p7.2" parsed="|Exod|16|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>) was in
|
|
answer to his prayer. They are called to come near, as <scripRef passage="Isa 1:18" id="Ex.xvii-p7.3" parsed="|Isa|1|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.18">Isa. i. 18</scripRef>, <i>Come, and let us
|
|
reason together.</i> Note, God condescends to give even murmurers a
|
|
fair hearing; and shall we then despise the cause of our inferiors
|
|
when they contend with us? <scripRef passage="Job 31:13" id="Ex.xvii-p7.4" parsed="|Job|31|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.31.13">Job xxxi.
|
|
13</scripRef>. (1.) He convinces them of the evil of their
|
|
murmurings. They thought they reflected only upon Moses and Aaron,
|
|
but here they are told that God was struck at through their sides.
|
|
This is much insisted on (<scripRef passage="Ex 16:7,8" id="Ex.xvii-p7.5" parsed="|Exod|16|7|16|8" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.7-Exod.16.8"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7, 8</scripRef>): "<i>Your murmurings are not against us,</i> then
|
|
we would have been silent, but <i>against the Lord;</i> it was he
|
|
that led you into these straits, and not we." Note, When we murmur
|
|
against those who are instruments of any uneasiness to us, whether
|
|
justly or unjustly, we should do well to consider how much we
|
|
reflect upon God by it; men are but God's hand. Those that quarrel
|
|
with the reproofs and convictions of the word, and are angry with
|
|
their ministers when they are touched in a tender part, know not
|
|
what they do, for therein they strive with their Maker. Let this
|
|
for ever stop the mouth of murmuring, that it is daring impiety to
|
|
murmur at God, because he is God; and gross absurdity to murmur at
|
|
men, because they are but men. (2.) He assures them of the supply
|
|
of their wants, that since they had harped upon the flesh-pots so
|
|
much they should for once have flesh in abundance that evening, and
|
|
bread the next morning, and so on every day thenceforward,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 16:8,12" id="Ex.xvii-p7.6" parsed="|Exod|16|8|0|0;|Exod|16|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.8 Bible:Exod.16.12"><i>v.</i> 8, 12</scripRef>. Many
|
|
there are of whom we say that they are better fed than taught; but
|
|
the Israelites were thus fed, that they might be taught. <i>He led
|
|
him about, he instructed him</i> (<scripRef passage="De 32:10" id="Ex.xvii-p7.7" parsed="|Deut|32|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.10">Deut. xxxii. 10</scripRef>); and, as to this instance,
|
|
see <scripRef passage="De 8:3" id="Ex.xvii-p7.8" parsed="|Deut|8|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.3">Deut. viii. 3</scripRef>, <i>He fed
|
|
thee with manna, that thou mightest know that man doth not live by
|
|
bread only.</i> And, besides this, here are two things mentioned,
|
|
which he intended to teach them by sending them manna:—[1.] <i>By
|
|
this you shall know that the Lord hath brought you out from the
|
|
land of Egypt,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 16:6" id="Ex.xvii-p7.9" parsed="|Exod|16|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.6"><i>v.</i>
|
|
6</scripRef>. That they were brought out of Egypt was plain enough;
|
|
but so strangely sottish and short-sighted were they that they said
|
|
it was Moses that brought them out, <scripRef passage="Ex 16:3" id="Ex.xvii-p7.10" parsed="|Exod|16|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. Now God sent them manna, to prove
|
|
that it was no less than infinite power and goodness that brought
|
|
them out, and this could perfect what was begun. If Moses only had
|
|
brought them out of Egypt, he could not thus have fed them; they
|
|
must therefore own that that was the Lord's doing, because this was
|
|
so, and both were marvellous in their eyes; yet, long afterwards,
|
|
they needed to be told that <i>Moses gave them not this bread from
|
|
heaven,</i> <scripRef passage="Joh 6:32" id="Ex.xvii-p7.11" parsed="|John|6|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.6.32">John vi. 32</scripRef>.
|
|
[2.] <i>By this you shall know that I am the Lord your God,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 16:12" id="Ex.xvii-p7.12" parsed="|Exod|16|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. This gave
|
|
proof of his power as the Lord, and his particular favour to them
|
|
as their God. When God plagued the Egyptians, it was to make them
|
|
know that he was the Lord; when he provided for the Israelites, it
|
|
was to make them know that he was their God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xvii-p8">3. How God himself manifested his glory, to
|
|
still the murmurings of the people, and to put a reputation upon
|
|
Moses and Aaron, <scripRef passage="Ex 16:10" id="Ex.xvii-p8.1" parsed="|Exod|16|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.10"><i>v.</i>
|
|
10</scripRef>. While Aaron was speaking, <i>the glory of the Lord
|
|
appeared in the cloud.</i> The cloud itself, one would think, was
|
|
enough both to strike an awe upon them and to give encouragement to
|
|
them; yet, in a few days, it had grown so familiar to them that it
|
|
made no impression upon them, unless it shone with an unusual
|
|
brightness. Note, What God's ministers say to us is then likely to
|
|
do us good when the glory of God shines in with it upon our
|
|
souls.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 16" id="Ex.xvii-p8.2" parsed="|Exod|16|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 16:13-21" id="Ex.xvii-p8.3" parsed="|Exod|16|13|16|21" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.13-Exod.16.21"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.16.13-Exod.16.21">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xvii-p8.4">Manna Rained from Heaven. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvii-p8.5">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xvii-p9">13 And it came to pass, that at even the quails
|
|
came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round
|
|
about the host.   14 And when the dew that lay was gone up,
|
|
behold, upon the face of the wilderness <i>there lay</i> a small
|
|
round thing, <i>as</i> small as the hoar frost on the ground.
|
|
  15 And when the children of Israel saw <i>it,</i> they said
|
|
one to another, It <i>is</i> manna: for they wist not what it
|
|
<i>was.</i> And Moses said unto them, This <i>is</i> the bread
|
|
which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvii-p9.1">Lord</span> hath given you to
|
|
eat.   16 This <i>is</i> the thing which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvii-p9.2">Lord</span> hath commanded, Gather of it every man
|
|
according to his eating, an omer for every man, <i>according to</i>
|
|
the number of your persons; take ye every man for <i>them</i> which
|
|
<i>are</i> in his tents.   17 And the children of Israel did
|
|
so, and gathered, some more, some less.   18 And when they did
|
|
mete <i>it</i> with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing
|
|
over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every
|
|
man according to his eating.   19 And Moses said, Let no man
|
|
leave of it till the morning.   20 Notwithstanding they
|
|
hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the
|
|
morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with
|
|
them.   21 And they gathered it every morning, every man
|
|
according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xvii-p10">Now they begin to be provided for by the
|
|
immediate hand of God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xvii-p11">I. He makes them a feast, at night, of
|
|
delicate fowl, <i>feathered fowl</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 78:27" id="Ex.xvii-p11.1" parsed="|Ps|78|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.78.27">Ps. lxxviii. 27</scripRef>), therefore not
|
|
<i>locusts,</i> as some think; quails, or pheasants, or some wild
|
|
fowl, came up, and covered the camp, so tame that they might take
|
|
up as many of them as they pleased. Note, God gives us of the good
|
|
things of this life, not only for necessity, but for delight, that
|
|
we may not only serve him, but serve him cheerfully.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xvii-p12">II. Next morning he rained manna upon them,
|
|
which was to be continued to them for their daily bread. 1. That
|
|
which was provided for them was manna, which descended from the
|
|
clouds, so that, in some sense, they might be said to live upon the
|
|
air. It came down in dew that melted, and yet was itself of such a
|
|
consistency as to serve for nourishing strengthening food, without
|
|
any thing else. They called it <i>manna, manhu,</i> "What is this?"
|
|
Either, "What a poor thing this is!" despising it: or, "What a
|
|
strange thing this is!" admiring it: or, "It is a portion, no
|
|
matter what it is; it is that which our God has allotted us, and we
|
|
will take it and be thankful," <scripRef passage="Ex 16:14,15" id="Ex.xvii-p12.1" parsed="|Exod|16|14|16|15" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.14-Exod.16.15"><i>v.</i> 14, 15</scripRef>. It was pleasant food;
|
|
the Jews say that it was palatable to all, however varied their
|
|
tastes. It was wholesome food, light of digestion, and very
|
|
necessary (Dr. Grew says) to cleanse them from disorders with which
|
|
he thinks it probable that they were, in the time of their bondage,
|
|
more or less infected, which disorders a luxurious diet would have
|
|
made contagious. By this spare and plain diet we are all taught a
|
|
lesson of temperance, and forbidden to desire dainties and
|
|
varieties. 2. They were to gather it every morning (<scripRef passage="Ex 16:21" id="Ex.xvii-p12.2" parsed="|Exod|16|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>), <i>the portion of a
|
|
day in his day,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 16:4" id="Ex.xvii-p12.3" parsed="|Exod|16|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.4"><i>v.</i>
|
|
4</scripRef>. Thus they must live upon daily providence, as the
|
|
fowls of the air, of which it is said, <i>That which thou givest
|
|
them they gather</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 104:28" id="Ex.xvii-p12.4" parsed="|Ps|104|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.104.28">Ps. civ.
|
|
28</scripRef>); not to-day for to-morrow: <i>let the morrow take
|
|
thought for the things of itself.</i> To this daily raining and
|
|
gathering of manna our Saviour seems to allude when he teaches us
|
|
to pray, <i>Give us this day our daily bread.</i> We are hereby
|
|
taught, (1.) Prudence and diligence in providing food convenient
|
|
for ourselves and our household. What God graciously gives we must
|
|
industriously gather; with quietness working, and eating our own
|
|
bread, not the bread either of idleness or deceit. God's bounty
|
|
leaves room for man's duty; it did so even when manna was rained:
|
|
they must not eat till they have gathered. (2.) Contentment and
|
|
satisfaction with a sufficiency. They must gather, <i>every man
|
|
according to his eating;</i> enough is as good as a feast, and more
|
|
than enough is as bad as a surfeit. Those that have most have, for
|
|
themselves, but food, and raiment, and mirth; and those that have
|
|
least generally have these: so that <i>he who gathers much has
|
|
nothing over, and he who gathers little has no lack.</i> There is
|
|
not so great a disproportion between one and another in the
|
|
comforts and enjoyments of the things of this life as there is in
|
|
the property and possession of the things themselves. (3.)
|
|
Dependence upon Providence: <i>Let no man leave till morning</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 16:19" id="Ex.xvii-p12.5" parsed="|Exod|16|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>), but let
|
|
them learn to go to bed and sleep quietly, though they have not a
|
|
bit of bread in their tent, nor in all their camp, trusting that
|
|
God, with the following day, will bring them their daily bread." It
|
|
was surer and safer in God's store-house than in their own, and
|
|
would thence come to them sweeter and fresher. Read with this,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mt 6:25" id="Ex.xvii-p12.6" parsed="|Matt|6|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.6.25">Matt. vi. 25</scripRef>, <i>Take no
|
|
thought for your life,</i> &c. See here the folly of hoarding.
|
|
The manna that was laid up by some (who thought themselves wiser
|
|
and better managers than their neighbours, and who would provide in
|
|
case it should fail next day), putrefied, and bred worms, and
|
|
became good for nothing. Note, That proves to be most wasted which
|
|
is covetously and distrustfully spared. Those riches are corrupted,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Jam 5:2,3" id="Ex.xvii-p12.7" parsed="|Jas|5|2|5|3" osisRef="Bible:Jas.5.2-Jas.5.3">James v. 2, 3</scripRef>. Let us set
|
|
ourselves to think, [1.] Of that great power of God which fed
|
|
Israel in the wilderness, and made miracles their daily bread. What
|
|
cannot this God do, who prepared a table in the wilderness, and
|
|
furnished it richly even for those who questioned whether he could
|
|
or no? <scripRef passage="Ps 78:19,20" id="Ex.xvii-p12.8" parsed="|Ps|78|19|78|20" osisRef="Bible:Ps.78.19-Ps.78.20">Ps. lxxviii. 19,
|
|
20</scripRef>. Never was there such a market of provisions as this,
|
|
where so many hundred thousand men were daily furnished, without
|
|
money and without price. Never was there such an open house kept as
|
|
God kept in the wilderness for forty years together, nor such free
|
|
and plentiful entertainment given. The feast which Ahasuerus made,
|
|
to show the <i>riches of his kingdom,</i> and the <i>honour of his
|
|
majesty,</i> was nothing to this, <scripRef passage="Es 1:4" id="Ex.xvii-p12.9" parsed="|Esth|1|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Esth.1.4">Esth.
|
|
i. 4</scripRef>. It is said (<scripRef passage="Ex 16:21" id="Ex.xvii-p12.10" parsed="|Exod|16|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.21"><i>v.</i>
|
|
21</scripRef>), <i>When the sun waxed hot, it melted;</i> as if
|
|
what was left were drawn up by the heat of the sun into the air to
|
|
be the seed of the next day's harvest, and so from day to day. [2.]
|
|
Of that constant providence of God which <i>gives food to all
|
|
flesh, for his mercy endures for ever,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 136:25" id="Ex.xvii-p12.11" parsed="|Ps|136|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.136.25">Ps. cxxxvi. 25</scripRef>. He is a great house-keeper
|
|
that provides for all the creatures. The same wisdom, power, and
|
|
goodness that now brought food daily out of the clouds, are
|
|
employed in the constant course of nature, bringing food yearly out
|
|
of the earth, and giving us all things richly to enjoy.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 16:22-31" id="Ex.xvii-p12.12" parsed="|Exod|16|22|16|31" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.22-Exod.16.31"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.16.22-Exod.16.31">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xvii-p13">22 And it came to pass, <i>that</i> on the sixth
|
|
day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one
|
|
<i>man:</i> and all the rulers of the congregation came and told
|
|
Moses.   23 And he said unto them, This <i>is that</i> which
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvii-p13.1">Lord</span> hath said, To morrow
|
|
<i>is</i> the rest of the holy sabbath unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvii-p13.2">Lord</span>: bake <i>that</i> which ye will bake <i>to
|
|
day,</i> and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth
|
|
over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.   24 And
|
|
they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not
|
|
stink, neither was there any worm therein.   25 And Moses
|
|
said, Eat that to day; for to day <i>is</i> a sabbath unto the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvii-p13.3">Lord</span>: to day ye shall not find it in
|
|
the field.   26 Six days ye shall gather it; but on the
|
|
seventh day, <i>which is</i> the sabbath, in it there shall be
|
|
none.   27 And it came to pass, <i>that</i> there went out
|
|
<i>some</i> of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and
|
|
they found none.   28 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvii-p13.4">Lord</span> said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep
|
|
my commandments and my laws?   29 See, for that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvii-p13.5">Lord</span> hath given you the sabbath, therefore
|
|
he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye
|
|
every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the
|
|
seventh day.   30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
|
|
  31 And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna:
|
|
and it <i>was</i> like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it
|
|
<i>was</i> like wafers <i>made</i> with honey.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xvii-p14">We have here, 1. A plain intimation of the
|
|
observing of a <i>seventh day sabbath,</i> not only before the
|
|
giving of the law upon Mount Sinai, but before the bringing of
|
|
Israel out of Egypt, and therefore, <i>from the beginning,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 2:3" id="Ex.xvii-p14.1" parsed="|Gen|2|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.3">Gen. ii. 3</scripRef>. If the sabbath
|
|
had now been first instituted, how could Moses have understood what
|
|
God said to him (<scripRef passage="Ex 16:5" id="Ex.xvii-p14.2" parsed="|Exod|16|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.5"><i>v.</i>
|
|
5</scripRef>), concerning a double portion to be gathered on the
|
|
sixth day, without making any express mention of the sabbath? And
|
|
how could the people so readily take the hint (<scripRef passage="Ex 16:22" id="Ex.xvii-p14.3" parsed="|Exod|16|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>), even to the surprise of the
|
|
rulers, before Moses had declared that it was done with a regard to
|
|
the sabbath, if they had not had some knowledge of the sabbath
|
|
before? The setting apart of one day in seven for holy work, and,
|
|
in order to that, for holy rest, was a divine appointment ever
|
|
since God created man upon the earth, and the most ancient of
|
|
positive laws. The way of sabbath-sanctification is the good old
|
|
way. 2. The double provision which God made for the Israelites, and
|
|
which they were to make for themselves, on the sixth day: God gave
|
|
them <i>on the sixth day the bread of two days,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 16:29" id="Ex.xvii-p14.4" parsed="|Exod|16|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>. Appointing them to rest
|
|
on the seventh day, he took care that they should be no losers by
|
|
it; and none ever will be losers by serving God. On that day they
|
|
were to fetch in enough for two days, and to prepare it, <scripRef passage="Ex 16:23" id="Ex.xvii-p14.5" parsed="|Exod|16|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. The law was very
|
|
strict, that they must bake and seeth, the day before, and not on
|
|
the sabbath day. This does not now make it unlawful for us to dress
|
|
meat on the Lord's day, but directs us to contrive our family
|
|
affairs so that they may hinder us as little as possible in the
|
|
work of the sabbath. Works of necessity, no doubt, are to be done
|
|
on that day; but it is desirable to have as little as may be to do
|
|
of things necessary to the life that now is, that we may apply
|
|
ourselves the more closely to the one thing needful. That which
|
|
they kept of for their food on the sabbath day did not putrefy,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 16:24" id="Ex.xvii-p14.6" parsed="|Exod|16|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. When they
|
|
kept it in opposition to a command (<scripRef passage="Ex 16:20" id="Ex.xvii-p14.7" parsed="|Exod|16|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>) it stank; when they kept it in
|
|
obedience to a command it was sweet and good; for every thing is
|
|
sanctified by the <i>word of God and prayer.</i> 3. The
|
|
intermission of the manna on the seventh day. God did not send it
|
|
then, and therefore they must not expect it, nor go out to gather,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 16:25,26" id="Ex.xvii-p14.8" parsed="|Exod|16|25|16|26" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.25-Exod.16.26"><i>v.</i> 25, 26</scripRef>. This
|
|
showed that it was not produced by natural causes, and that it was
|
|
designed for a confirmation of the divine authority of the law
|
|
which was to be given by Moses. Thus God took an effectual course
|
|
to make them <i>remember the sabbath day;</i> they could not forget
|
|
it, nor the day of preparation for it. Some, it seems, went out on
|
|
the seventh day, expecting to find manna (<scripRef passage="Ex 16:27" id="Ex.xvii-p14.9" parsed="|Exod|16|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>); but they found none, for those
|
|
that will find must seek in the appointed time: seek the Lord
|
|
<i>while he may be found.</i> God, upon this occasion, said to
|
|
Moses, <i>How long refuse you to keep my commandments?</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 16:28" id="Ex.xvii-p14.10" parsed="|Exod|16|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>. Why did he
|
|
say this to Moses? He was not disobedient. No, but he was the ruler
|
|
of a disobedient people, and God charges it upon him that he might
|
|
the more warmly charge it upon them, and might take care that their
|
|
disobedience should not be through any neglect or default of his.
|
|
It was for going out to seek for manna on he seventh day that they
|
|
were thus reproved. Note, (1.) Disobedience, even in a small
|
|
matter, is very provoking. (2.) God is jealous for the honour of
|
|
his sabbaths. If walking out on the sabbath to seek for food was
|
|
thus reproved, walking out on that day purely to find our own
|
|
pleasure cannot be justified.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 16:32-36" id="Ex.xvii-p14.11" parsed="|Exod|16|32|16|36" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.32-Exod.16.36"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.16.32-Exod.16.36">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xvii-p14.12">A Pot of Manna Preserved. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvii-p14.13">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xvii-p15">32 And Moses said, This <i>is</i> the thing
|
|
which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvii-p15.1">Lord</span> commandeth, Fill an
|
|
omer of it to be kept for your generations; that they may see the
|
|
bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought
|
|
you forth from the land of Egypt.   33 And Moses said unto
|
|
Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay
|
|
it up before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvii-p15.2">Lord</span>, to be kept
|
|
for your generations.   34 As the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xvii-p15.3">Lord</span> commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before
|
|
the Testimony, to be kept.   35 And the children of Israel did
|
|
eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they
|
|
did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of
|
|
Canaan.   36 Now an omer <i>is</i> the tenth <i>part</i> of an
|
|
ephah.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xvii-p16">God having provided manna to be his
|
|
people's food in the wilderness, and to be to them a continual
|
|
feast, we are here told, 1. How the memory of it was preserved. An
|
|
omer of this manna was laid up in <i>a golden pot,</i> as we are
|
|
told (<scripRef passage="Heb 9:4" id="Ex.xvii-p16.1" parsed="|Heb|9|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.9.4">Heb. ix. 4</scripRef>), and kept
|
|
<i>before the testimony,</i> or the ark, when it was afterwards
|
|
made, <scripRef passage="Ex 16:32-34" id="Ex.xvii-p16.2" parsed="|Exod|16|32|16|34" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.32-Exod.16.34"><i>v.</i> 32-34</scripRef>.
|
|
The preservation of this manna from waste and corruption was a
|
|
standing miracle, and therefore the more proper memorial of this
|
|
miraculous food. "Posterity shall <i>see the bread,</i>" says God,
|
|
"<i>wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness,</i>" see what sort
|
|
of food it was, and how much each man's daily proportion of it was,
|
|
that it may appear they were neither kept to hard fare nor to short
|
|
allowance, and then judge between God and Israel, whether they had
|
|
any cause given them to murmur and find fault with their
|
|
provisions, and whether they and their seed after them had not a
|
|
great deal of reason gratefully to won God's goodness to them.
|
|
Note, Eaten bread must not be forgotten. God's miracles and mercies
|
|
are to be had in everlasting remembrance, for our encouragement to
|
|
trust in him at all times. 2. How the mercy of it was continued as
|
|
long as they had occasion for it. The manna never ceased till they
|
|
came to the borders of Canaan, where there was bread enough and to
|
|
spare, <scripRef passage="Ex 16:35" id="Ex.xvii-p16.3" parsed="|Exod|16|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.35"><i>v.</i> 35</scripRef>. See
|
|
how constant the care of Providence is; seedtime and harvest fail
|
|
not, while the earth remains. Israel was very provoking in the
|
|
wilderness, yet the manna never failed them: thus still God causes
|
|
his rain to fall on the just and unjust. The manna is called
|
|
<i>spiritual meat</i> (<scripRef passage="1Co 10:3" id="Ex.xvii-p16.4" parsed="|1Cor|10|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.10.3">1 Cor. x.
|
|
3</scripRef>), because it was typical of spiritual blessings in
|
|
heavenly things. Christ himself is the true manna, the bread of
|
|
life, of which this was a figure, <scripRef passage="Joh 6:49-51" id="Ex.xvii-p16.5" parsed="|John|6|49|6|51" osisRef="Bible:John.6.49-John.6.51">John vi. 49-51</scripRef>. The word of God is the
|
|
manna by which our souls are nourished, <scripRef passage="Mt 4:4" id="Ex.xvii-p16.6" parsed="|Matt|4|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.4.4">Matt. iv. 4</scripRef>. The comforts of the Spirit are
|
|
hidden manna, <scripRef passage="Re 2:17" id="Ex.xvii-p16.7" parsed="|Rev|2|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.2.17">Rev. ii. 17</scripRef>.
|
|
These come from heaven, as the manna did, and are the support and
|
|
comfort of the divine life in the soul, while we are in the
|
|
wilderness of this world. It is food for <i>Israelites,</i> for
|
|
those only that follow the pillar of cloud and fire. It is to be
|
|
<i>gathered;</i> Christ in the word is to be applied to the soul,
|
|
and the means of grace are to be used. We must every one of us
|
|
gather for ourselves, and gather in the morning of our
|
|
opportunities, which if we let slip, it may be too late to gather.
|
|
The manna they gathered must not be hoarded up, but eaten; those
|
|
that have received Christ must by faith live upon him, and not
|
|
receive his grace in vain. There was manna enough for all, enough
|
|
for each, and none had too much; so in Christ there is a complete
|
|
sufficiency, and no superfluity. But those that did eat manna
|
|
hungered again, died at last, and with many of them God was not
|
|
well-pleased; whereas those that feed on Christ by faith shall
|
|
never hunger, and shall die no more, and with them God will be for
|
|
ever well pleased. The Lord evermore give us this bread!</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XVII" n="xviii" progress="39.42%" prev="Ex.xvii" next="Ex.xix" id="Ex.xviii">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.xviii-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.xviii-p0.2">CHAP. XVII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.xviii-p1">Two passages of story are recorded in this
|
|
chapter, I. The watering of the host of Israel. 1. In the
|
|
wilderness they wanted water, <scripRef passage="Ex 17:1" id="Ex.xviii-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|17|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.1">ver.
|
|
1</scripRef>. 2. In their want they chided Moses, <scripRef passage="Ex 17:2,3" id="Ex.xviii-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|17|2|17|3" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.2-Exod.17.3">ver. 2, 3</scripRef>. 3. Moses cried to God,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 17:4" id="Ex.xviii-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|17|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.4">ver. 4</scripRef>. 4. God ordered him
|
|
to smite the rock, and fetch water out of that; Moses did so,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 17:5,6" id="Ex.xviii-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|17|5|17|6" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.5-Exod.17.6">ver. 5, 6</scripRef>. 5. The place
|
|
named from it, <scripRef passage="Ex 17:7" id="Ex.xviii-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|17|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.7">ver. 7</scripRef>. II.
|
|
The defeating of the host of Amalek. 1. The victory obtained by the
|
|
prayer of Moses, <scripRef passage="Ex 17:8-12" id="Ex.xviii-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|17|8|17|12" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.8-Exod.17.12">ver.
|
|
8-12</scripRef>. 2. By the sword of Joshua, <scripRef passage="Ex 17:13" id="Ex.xviii-p1.7" parsed="|Exod|17|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.13">ver. 13</scripRef>. 3. A record kept of it, <scripRef passage="Ex 17:14,16" id="Ex.xviii-p1.8" parsed="|Exod|17|14|0|0;|Exod|17|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.14 Bible:Exod.17.16">ver. 14, 16</scripRef>. And these things
|
|
which happened to them are written for our instruction in our
|
|
spiritual journey and warfare.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 17" id="Ex.xviii-p1.9" parsed="|Exod|17|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 17:1-7" id="Ex.xviii-p1.10" parsed="|Exod|17|1|17|7" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.1-Exod.17.7"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.17.1-Exod.17.7">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xviii-p1.11">The Israelites Murmur for
|
|
Water. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xviii-p1.12">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xviii-p2">1 And all the congregation of the children of
|
|
Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys,
|
|
according to the commandment of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xviii-p2.1">Lord</span>, and pitched in Rephidim: and <i>there
|
|
was</i> no water for the people to drink.   2 Wherefore the
|
|
people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may
|
|
drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do
|
|
ye tempt the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xviii-p2.2">Lord</span>?   3 And the
|
|
people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against
|
|
Moses, and said, Wherefore <i>is</i> this <i>that</i> thou hast
|
|
brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our
|
|
cattle with thirst?   4 And Moses cried unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xviii-p2.3">Lord</span>, saying, What shall I do unto this people?
|
|
they be almost ready to stone me.   5 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xviii-p2.4">Lord</span> said unto Moses, Go on before the people,
|
|
and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith
|
|
thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go.   6
|
|
Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and
|
|
thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it,
|
|
that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the
|
|
elders of Israel.   7 And he called the name of the place
|
|
Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of
|
|
Israel, and because they tempted the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xviii-p2.5">Lord</span>, saying, Is the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xviii-p2.6">Lord</span> among us, or not?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xviii-p3">Here is, I. The strait that the children of
|
|
Israel were in for want of water; once before the were in the like
|
|
distress, and now, a second time, <scripRef passage="Ex 17:1" id="Ex.xviii-p3.1" parsed="|Exod|17|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. They journeyed <i>according to
|
|
the commandment of the Lord,</i> led by the pillar of cloud and
|
|
fire, and yet they came to a place where there was no water for
|
|
them to drink. Note, We may be in the way of our duty, and yet may
|
|
meet with troubles, which Providence brings us into for the trial
|
|
of our faith, and that God may be glorified in our relief.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xviii-p4">II. Their discontent and distrust in this
|
|
strait. It is said (<scripRef passage="Ex 17:3" id="Ex.xviii-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|17|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.3"><i>v.</i>
|
|
3</scripRef>), They <i>thirsted there for water.</i> If they had no
|
|
water to drink, they must needs thirst; but this intimates, not
|
|
only that they wanted water and felt the inconvenience of that
|
|
want, but that their passion sharpened their appetites and they
|
|
were violent and impatient in their desire; their thirst made them
|
|
outrageous. Natural desires, and those that are most craving, have
|
|
need to be kept under the check and control of religion and reason.
|
|
See what was the language of this inordinate desire. 1. They
|
|
challenged Moses to supply them (<scripRef passage="Ex 17:2" id="Ex.xviii-p4.2" parsed="|Exod|17|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>): <i>Give us water, that we may
|
|
drink,</i> demanding it as a debt, and strongly suspecting that he
|
|
was not able to discharge it. Because they were supplied with
|
|
bread, they insist upon it that they must be supplied with water
|
|
too; and indeed to those that by faith and prayer live a life of
|
|
dependence upon God one favour is an earnest of another, and may be
|
|
humbly pleaded; but the unthankful and unbelieving have reason to
|
|
think that the abuse of former favours is the forfeiture of further
|
|
favours: <i>Let not them think that they shall receive any
|
|
thing</i> (<scripRef passage="Jam 1:7" id="Ex.xviii-p4.3" parsed="|Jas|1|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jas.1.7">Jam. i. 7</scripRef>), yet
|
|
they are ready to demand every thing. 2. They quarrelled with him
|
|
for bringing them out of Egypt, as if, instead of delivering them,
|
|
he designed to murder them, than which nothing could be more base
|
|
and invidious, <scripRef passage="Ex 17:3" id="Ex.xviii-p4.4" parsed="|Exod|17|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>.
|
|
Many that have not only designed well, but done well, for their
|
|
generation, have had their best services thus misconstrued, and
|
|
their patience thereby tried, by unthinking unthankful people. To
|
|
such a degree their malice against Moses rose that they were
|
|
<i>almost ready to stone him,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 17:4" id="Ex.xviii-p4.5" parsed="|Exod|17|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. <i>Many good works he had shown
|
|
them;</i> and for which of these would they stone him? <scripRef passage="Joh 10:32" id="Ex.xviii-p4.6" parsed="|John|10|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.10.32">John x. 32</scripRef>. Ungoverned passions,
|
|
provoked by the crossing of unbridled appetites, sometimes make men
|
|
guilty of the greatest absurdities, and act like madmen, that cast
|
|
firebrands, arrows, and death, among their best friends. 3. They
|
|
began to question whether God were with them or not: They
|
|
<i>tempted the Lord, saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 17:7" id="Ex.xviii-p4.7" parsed="|Exod|17|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. Is Jehovah
|
|
among us by that name by which he made himself known to us in
|
|
Egypt?" They question his essential presence—whether there was a
|
|
God or not; his common providence—whether that God governed the
|
|
world; and his special promise—whether he would be as good as his
|
|
word to them. This is called their <i>tempting God,</i> which
|
|
signifies, not only a distrust of God in general, but a distrust of
|
|
him after they had received such proofs of his power and goodness,
|
|
for the confirmation of his promise. They do, in effect, suppose
|
|
that Moses was an impostor, Aaron a deceiver, the pillar of cloud
|
|
and fire a mere sham and illusion, which imposed upon their senses,
|
|
that long series of miracles which had rescued them, served them,
|
|
and fed them, a chain of cheats, and the promise of Canaan a banter
|
|
upon them; it was all so, if <i>the Lord was not among them.</i>
|
|
Note, It is a great provocation to God for us to question his
|
|
presence, providence, or promise, especially for his Israel to do
|
|
it, who are so peculiarly bound to trust him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xviii-p5">III. The course that Moses took, when he
|
|
was thus set upon, and insulted. 1. He reproved the murmurers
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 17:2" id="Ex.xviii-p5.1" parsed="|Exod|17|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>): <i>Why chide
|
|
you with me?</i> Observe how mildly he answered them; it was well
|
|
that he was a man of extraordinary meekness, else their tumultuous
|
|
conduct would have made him lose the possession of himself: it is
|
|
folly to answer passion with passion, for that makes bad worse; but
|
|
<i>soft answers turn away wrath.</i> He showed them whom their
|
|
murmurings reflected upon, and that the reproaches they cast on him
|
|
fell on God himself: <i>You tempt the Lord;</i> that is, "By
|
|
distrusting his power, you try his patience, and so provoke his
|
|
wrath." 2. He made his complaint to God (<scripRef passage="Ex 17:4" id="Ex.xviii-p5.2" parsed="|Exod|17|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>): <i>Moses cried unto the
|
|
Lord.</i> This servant came, and showed his Lord all these things,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Lu 14:21" id="Ex.xviii-p5.3" parsed="|Luke|14|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.14.21">Luke xiv. 21</scripRef>. When men
|
|
unjustly censure us and quarrel with us, it will be a great relief
|
|
to us to go to God, and by prayer lay the case before him and leave
|
|
it with him: if men will not hear us, God will; if their bad
|
|
conduct towards us ruffle our spirits, God's consolations will
|
|
compose them. Moses begs of God to direct him what he should do,
|
|
for he was utterly at a loss; he could not of himself either supply
|
|
their want or pacify their tumult; God only could do it. He pleads
|
|
his own peril: "<i>They are almost ready to stone me;</i> Lord, if
|
|
thou hast any regard to the life of thy poor servant, interpose
|
|
now."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xviii-p6">IV. God's gracious appearance for their
|
|
relief, <scripRef passage="Ex 17:5,6" id="Ex.xviii-p6.1" parsed="|Exod|17|5|17|6" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.5-Exod.17.6"><i>v.</i> 5, 6</scripRef>. He
|
|
orders Moses to go on before the people, and venture himself in his
|
|
post, though they spoke of stoning him. He must take his rod with
|
|
him, not (as God might justly have ordered) to summon some plague
|
|
or other to chastise them for their distrust and murmuring, but to
|
|
fetch water for their supply. O the wonderful patience and
|
|
forbearance of God towards provoking sinners! He loads those with
|
|
benefits that make him to serve with their sins, maintains those
|
|
that are at war with him, and reaches out the hand of his bounty to
|
|
those that lift up the heel against him. Thus he teaches us, if our
|
|
enemy hunger, to feed him, and if he thirst, as Israel did now,
|
|
<i>to give him drink,</i> <scripRef passage="Ro 12:20,Mt 5:44,45" id="Ex.xviii-p6.2" parsed="|Rom|12|20|0|0;|Matt|5|44|5|45" osisRef="Bible:Rom.12.20 Bible:Matt.5.44-Matt.5.45">Rom. xii. 20; Matt. v. 44, 45</scripRef>.
|
|
Will he fail those that trust him, when he was so liberal even to
|
|
those that tempted him? If God had only shown Moses a fountain of
|
|
water in the wilderness, as he did Hagar not far hence (<scripRef passage="Ge 21:19" id="Ex.xviii-p6.3" parsed="|Gen|21|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.19">Gen. xxi. 19</scripRef>), that would have been a
|
|
great favour; but that he might show his power as well as his pity,
|
|
and make it a miracle of mercy, he gave them water out of a rock.
|
|
He directed Moses whither to go, and appointed him to take some of
|
|
the elders of Israel with him, to be witnesses of what was done,
|
|
that they might themselves be satisfied, and might satisfy others,
|
|
of the certainty of God's presence with them. He promised to meet
|
|
him there in the cloud of glory (to encourage him), and ordered him
|
|
to smite the rock; Moses obeyed, and immediately water came out of
|
|
the rock in great abundance, which ran throughout the camp in
|
|
streams and rivers (<scripRef passage="Ps 78:15,16" id="Ex.xviii-p6.4" parsed="|Ps|78|15|78|16" osisRef="Bible:Ps.78.15-Ps.78.16">Ps. lxxviii.
|
|
15, 16</scripRef>), and followed them wherever they went in that
|
|
wilderness: it is called <i>a fountain of waters,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 114:8" id="Ex.xviii-p6.5" parsed="|Ps|114|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.114.8">Ps. cxiv. 8</scripRef>. God showed the care he
|
|
took of his people in giving them water when they wanted it; he
|
|
showed his power in fetching the water out of a rock; and he put an
|
|
honour upon Moses in appointing the water to flow out upon his
|
|
smiting the rock. This fair water, that came out of the rock, is
|
|
called <i>honey and oil</i> (<scripRef passage="De 32:13" id="Ex.xviii-p6.6" parsed="|Deut|32|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.13">Deut.
|
|
xxxii. 13</scripRef>), because the people's thirst made it doubly
|
|
pleasant; coming when they were in extreme want, it was like honey
|
|
and oil to them. It is probable that the people digged canals for
|
|
the conveyance of it, and pools for the reception of it, in like
|
|
manner as, long afterwards, passing through the valley of Baca,
|
|
they made it a well, <scripRef passage="Ps 84:6,Nu 21:18" id="Ex.xviii-p6.7" parsed="|Ps|84|6|0|0;|Num|21|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.84.6 Bible:Num.21.18">Ps.
|
|
lxxxiv. 6; Num. xxi. 18</scripRef>. Let this direct us to live in a
|
|
dependence, 1. Upon God's providence, even in the greatest straits
|
|
and difficulties. God can open fountains for our supply where we
|
|
least expect them, <i>waters in the wilderness</i> (<scripRef passage="Isa 43:20" id="Ex.xviii-p6.8" parsed="|Isa|43|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.43.20">Isa. xliii. 20</scripRef>), because he makes a
|
|
<i>way in the wilderness,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 17:19" id="Ex.xviii-p6.9" parsed="|Exod|17|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. Those who, in this wilderness,
|
|
keep to God's way, may trust him to provide for them. While we
|
|
follow the pillar of cloud and fire, surely goodness and mercy
|
|
shall follow us, like the water out of the rock. 2. Upon Christ's
|
|
grace: <i>That rock was Christ,</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 10:4" id="Ex.xviii-p6.10" parsed="|1Cor|10|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.10.4">1
|
|
Cor. x. 4</scripRef>. The graces and comforts of the Spirit are
|
|
compared to <i>rivers of living water,</i> <scripRef passage="Joh 7:38,39,Joh 4:14" id="Ex.xviii-p6.11" parsed="|John|7|38|7|39;|John|4|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.7.38-John.7.39 Bible:John.4.14">John vii. 38, 39; iv. 14</scripRef>. These
|
|
flow from Christ, who is the rock smitten by the law of Moses, for
|
|
he was made under the law. Nothing will supply the needs, and
|
|
satisfy the desires, of a soul, but water out of this rock, this
|
|
fountain opened. The pleasures of sense are puddle-water; spiritual
|
|
delights are rock-water, so pure, so clear, so refreshing—rivers
|
|
of pleasure.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xviii-p7">V. A new name was, upon this occasion,
|
|
given to the place, preserving the remembrance, not of the mercy of
|
|
their supply (the water that followed them was sufficient to do
|
|
that), but of the sin of their murmuring—<i>Massah,
|
|
temptation,</i> because they tempted God; <i>Meribah, strife,</i>
|
|
because they chid with Moses, <scripRef passage="Ex 17:7" id="Ex.xviii-p7.1" parsed="|Exod|17|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.7"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7</scripRef>. There was thus a remembrance kept of sin, both for
|
|
the disgrace of the sinners themselves (sin leaves a blot upon the
|
|
name) and for warning to their seed to take heed of sinning after
|
|
the similitude of their transgression.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 17:8-16" id="Ex.xviii-p7.2" parsed="|Exod|17|8|17|16" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.8-Exod.17.16"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.17.8-Exod.17.16">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xviii-p7.3">The Conflict with Amalek; The Defeat of
|
|
Amalek. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xviii-p7.4">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xviii-p8">8 Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in
|
|
Rephidim.   9 And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men,
|
|
and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of
|
|
the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.   10 So Joshua did
|
|
as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron,
|
|
and Hur went up to the top of the hill.   11 And it came to
|
|
pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when
|
|
he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.   12 But Moses' hands
|
|
<i>were</i> heavy; and they took a stone, and put <i>it</i> under
|
|
him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the
|
|
one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands
|
|
were steady until the going down of the sun.   13 And Joshua
|
|
discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
|
|
  14 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xviii-p8.1">Lord</span> said unto
|
|
Moses, Write this <i>for</i> a memorial in a book, and rehearse
|
|
<i>it</i> in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the
|
|
remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.   15 And Moses built
|
|
an altar, and called the name of it Jehovahnissi:   16 For he
|
|
said, Because the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xviii-p8.2">Lord</span> hath sworn
|
|
<i>that</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xviii-p8.3">Lord</span> <i>will
|
|
have</i> war with Amalek from generation to generation.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xviii-p9">We have here the story of the war with
|
|
Amalek, which, we may suppose, was the first that was recorded in
|
|
the <i>book of the wars of the Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 21:14" id="Ex.xviii-p9.1" parsed="|Num|21|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.14">Num. xxi. 14</scripRef>. Amalek was the first of the
|
|
nations that Israel fought with, <scripRef passage="Nu 24:20" id="Ex.xviii-p9.2" parsed="|Num|24|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.20">Num.
|
|
xxiv. 20</scripRef>. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xviii-p10">I. Amalek's attempt: They <i>came out, and
|
|
fought with Israel,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 17:8" id="Ex.xviii-p10.1" parsed="|Exod|17|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.8"><i>v.</i>
|
|
8</scripRef>. The Amalekites were the posterity of Esau, who hated
|
|
Jacob because of the birthright and blessing, and this was an
|
|
effort of the hereditary enmity, a malice that ran in the blood,
|
|
and perhaps was now exasperated by the working of the promise
|
|
towards an accomplishment. Consider this, 1. As Israel's
|
|
affliction. They had been quarrelling with Moses (<scripRef passage="Ex 17:2" id="Ex.xviii-p10.2" parsed="|Exod|17|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), and now God sends
|
|
Amalekites to quarrel with them; wars abroad are the just
|
|
punishment of strifes and discontents at home. 2. As Amalek's sin;
|
|
so it is reckoned, <scripRef passage="De 25:17,18" id="Ex.xviii-p10.3" parsed="|Deut|25|17|25|18" osisRef="Bible:Deut.25.17-Deut.25.18">Deut. xxv. 17,
|
|
18</scripRef>. They did not boldly front them as a generous enemy,
|
|
but without any provocation given by Israel, or challenge given to
|
|
them, basely fell upon their rear, and smote those that were faint
|
|
and feeble and could neither make resistance nor escape. Herein
|
|
they bade defiance to that power which had so lately ruined the
|
|
Egyptians; but in vain did they attack a camp guarded and
|
|
victualled by miracles: verily they knew not what they did.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xviii-p11">II. Israel's engagement with Amalek, in
|
|
their own necessary defence against the aggressors. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xviii-p12">1. The post assigned to Joshua, of whom
|
|
this is the first mention: he is nominated commander-in-chief in
|
|
this expedition, that he might be trained up to the services he was
|
|
designed for after the death of Moses, and be a <i>man of war from
|
|
his youth.</i> He is ordered to draw out a detachment of choice men
|
|
from the thousands of Israel and to drive back the Amalekites,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 17:9" id="Ex.xviii-p12.1" parsed="|Exod|17|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. When the
|
|
Egyptians pursued them Israel must stand still and see what God
|
|
would do; but now it was required that they should bestir
|
|
themselves. Note, God is to be trusted in the use of means.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xviii-p13">2. The post assumed by Moses: <i>I will
|
|
stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 17:9" id="Ex.xviii-p13.1" parsed="|Exod|17|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. See how God
|
|
qualifies his people for, and calls them to, various services for
|
|
the good of his church: Joshua fights, Moses prays, and both
|
|
minister to Israel. Moses went up to the top of the hill, and
|
|
placed himself, probably, so as to be seen by Israel; there he held
|
|
up <i>the rod of God in his hand,</i> that wonder-working rod which
|
|
had summoned the plagues of Egypt, and under which Israel had
|
|
passed out of the house of bondage. This rod Moses held up to
|
|
Israel, to animate them; the rod was held up as the banner to
|
|
encourage the soldiers, who might look up, and say, "Yonder is the
|
|
rod, and yonder the hand that used it, when such glorious things
|
|
were wrought for us." Note, It tends much to the encouragement of
|
|
faith to reflect upon the great things God has done for us, and
|
|
review the monuments of his favours. Moses also held up this rod to
|
|
God, by way of appeal to him: "Is not the battle the Lord's? Is not
|
|
he able to help, and engaged to help? Witness this rod, the voice
|
|
of which, thus held up, is (<scripRef passage="Isa 51:9,10" id="Ex.xviii-p13.2" parsed="|Isa|51|9|51|10" osisRef="Bible:Isa.51.9-Isa.51.10">Isa.
|
|
li. 9, 10</scripRef>), <i>Put on strength, O arm of the Lord; art
|
|
not thou it that hath cut Rahab?</i>" Moses was not only a
|
|
standard-bearer, but an intercessor, pleading with God for success
|
|
and victory. Note, When the host goes forth against the enemy
|
|
earnest prayers should be made to the God of hosts for his presence
|
|
with them. It is here the praying legion that proves the thundering
|
|
legion. There, in Salem, in Sion where prayers were made, there the
|
|
victory was won, <i>there broke the arrows of the bow,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 76:2,3" id="Ex.xviii-p13.3" parsed="|Ps|76|2|76|3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.76.2-Ps.76.3">Ps. lxxvi. 2, 3</scripRef>. Observe,
|
|
(1.) How Moses was tired (<scripRef passage="Ex 17:12" id="Ex.xviii-p13.4" parsed="|Exod|17|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.12"><i>v.</i>
|
|
12</scripRef>): <i>His hands were heavy.</i> The strongest arm will
|
|
fail with being long extended; it is God only whose hand is
|
|
<i>stretched out still.</i> We do not find that Joshua's hands were
|
|
heavy in fighting, but Moses's hands were heavy in praying. The
|
|
more spiritual any service is the more apt we are to fail and flag
|
|
in it. Praying work, if done with due intenseness of mind and
|
|
vigour of affection, will be found hard work, and, though <i>the
|
|
spirit be willing, the flesh will be weak.</i> Our great
|
|
Intercessor in heaven faints not, nor is he weary, though he
|
|
attends continually to this very thing. (2.) What influence the rod
|
|
of Moses had upon the battle (<scripRef passage="Ex 17:11" id="Ex.xviii-p13.5" parsed="|Exod|17|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>): <i>When Moses held up his
|
|
hand</i> in prayer (so the Chaldee explains it) <i>Israel
|
|
prevailed,</i> but, <i>when he let down his hand</i> from prayer,
|
|
<i>Amalek prevailed.</i> To convince Israel that the hand of Moses
|
|
(with whom they had just now been chiding) contributed more to
|
|
their safety than their own hands, his rod than their sword, the
|
|
success rises and falls as Moses lifts up or lets down his hands.
|
|
It seems, the scale wavered for some time, before it turned on
|
|
Israel's side. Even the best cause must expect disappointments as
|
|
an alloy to its successes; though the battle be the Lord's, Amalek
|
|
may prevail for a time. The reason was, Moses let down his hands.
|
|
Note, The church's cause is, commonly, more or less successful
|
|
according as the church's friends are more or less strong in faith
|
|
and fervent in prayer. (3.) The care that was taken for the support
|
|
of Moses. When he could not stand any longer he sat down, not in a
|
|
chair of state, but upon a stone (<scripRef passage="Ex 17:12" id="Ex.xviii-p13.6" parsed="|Exod|17|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>); when he could not hold up his
|
|
hands, he would have them held up. Moses, the man of God, is glad
|
|
of the assistance of Aaron his brother, and Hur, who, some think,
|
|
was his brother-in-law, the husband of Miriam. We should not be shy
|
|
either of asking help from others or giving help to others, for we
|
|
are members one of another. Moses's hands, thus stayed, were
|
|
<i>steady till the going down of the sun;</i> and, though it was
|
|
with much ado that he held out, yet his willing mind was accepted.
|
|
No doubt it was a great encouragement to the people to see Joshua
|
|
before them in the field of battle and Moses above them upon the
|
|
top of the hill: Christ is both to us—our Joshua, the captain of
|
|
our salvation who fights our battles, and our Moses, who, in the
|
|
upper world, ever lives making intercession, that our faith fail
|
|
not.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xviii-p14">III. The defeat of Amalek. Victory had
|
|
hovered awhile between the camps; sometimes Israel prevailed and
|
|
sometimes Amalek, but Israel carried the day, <scripRef passage="Ex 17:13" id="Ex.xviii-p14.1" parsed="|Exod|17|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. Though Joshua fought with great
|
|
disadvantages—his soldiers undisciplined, ill-armed, long inured
|
|
to servitude, and apt to murmur; yet by them God wrought a great
|
|
salvation, and made Amalek pay dearly for his insolence. Note,
|
|
Weapons formed against God's Israel cannot prosper long, and shall
|
|
be broken at last. The cause of God and his Israel will be
|
|
victorious. Though God gave the victory, yet it is said, <i>Joshua
|
|
discomfited Amalek,</i> because Joshua was a type of Christ, and of
|
|
the same name, and in him it is that we are more than conquerors.
|
|
It was his arm alone that spoiled principalities and powers, and
|
|
routed all their force.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xviii-p15">IV. The trophies of this victory set up. 1.
|
|
Moses took care that God should have the glory of it (<scripRef passage="Ex 17:15" id="Ex.xviii-p15.1" parsed="|Exod|17|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>); instead of setting up
|
|
a triumphal arch, to the honour of Joshua (though it had been a
|
|
laudable policy to put marks of honour upon him), he builds an
|
|
altar to the honour of God, and we may suppose it was not an altar
|
|
without sacrifice; but that which is most carefully recorded is the
|
|
inscription upon the altar, <i>Jehovah-nissi—The Lord is my
|
|
banner,</i> which probably refers to the lifting up of the rod of
|
|
God as a banner in this action. The presence and power of Jehovah
|
|
were the banner under which they enlisted, by which they were
|
|
animated and kept together, and therefore which they erected in the
|
|
day of their triumph. In the name of our God we must always lift up
|
|
our banners, <scripRef passage="Ps 20:5" id="Ex.xviii-p15.2" parsed="|Ps|20|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.20.5">Ps. xx. 5</scripRef>. It
|
|
is fit that he who does all the work should have all the praise. 2.
|
|
God took care that posterity should have the comfort and benefit of
|
|
it: "<i>Write this for a memorial,</i> not in loose papers, but in
|
|
a book, <i>write it,</i> and then <i>rehearse it in the ears of
|
|
Joshua,</i> let him be entrusted with this memorial, to transmit it
|
|
to the generations to come." Moses must now begin to keep a diary
|
|
or journal of occurrences; it is the first mention of writing that
|
|
we find in scripture, and perhaps the command was not given till
|
|
after the writing of the law upon the tables of stone: "Write it
|
|
<i>in perpetuam rei memoriam—that the event may be had in
|
|
perpetual remembrance;</i> that which is written remains." (1.)
|
|
"Write what has been done, what Amalek has done against Israel;
|
|
write in gall their bitter hatred, write in blood their cruel
|
|
attempts, let them never be forgotten, nor yet what God has done
|
|
for Israel in saving them from Amalek. Let ages to come know that
|
|
God fights for his people, and <i>he that touches them touches the
|
|
apple of his eye.</i>" (2.) Write what shall be done. [1.] That in
|
|
process of time Amalek shall be totally ruined and rooted out
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 17:14" id="Ex.xviii-p15.3" parsed="|Exod|17|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>), that he
|
|
shall be remembered only in history." Amalek would have cut off the
|
|
name of Israel, that it might be no more in remembrance (<scripRef passage="Ps 83:4,7" id="Ex.xviii-p15.4" parsed="|Ps|83|4|0|0;|Ps|83|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.83.4 Bible:Ps.83.7">Ps. lxxxiii. 4, 7</scripRef>); and therefore
|
|
God not only disappoints him in this, but cuts off his name. "Write
|
|
it for the encouragement of Israel, whenever the Amalekites are an
|
|
annoyance to them, that Israel will at last undoubtedly triumph in
|
|
the fall of Amalek." This sentence was executed in part by Saul
|
|
(<scripRef passage="1Sa 15:1-35" id="Ex.xviii-p15.5" parsed="|1Sam|15|1|15|35" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.15.1-1Sam.15.35">1 Sam. xv</scripRef>), and
|
|
completely by David (<scripRef passage="1Sa 30:1-31,2Sa 1:1,8:12" id="Ex.xviii-p15.6" parsed="|1Sam|30|1|30|31;|2Sam|1|1|0|0;|2Sam|8|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.30.1-1Sam.30.31 Bible:2Sam.1.1 Bible:2Sam.8.12"><i>ch.</i> xxx.; 2 Sam. i. 1; viii.
|
|
12</scripRef>); after his time we never read so much as of the name
|
|
of Amalek. [2.] This is the meantime God would have a continual
|
|
controversy with him (<scripRef passage="Ex 17:16" id="Ex.xviii-p15.7" parsed="|Exod|17|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.16"><i>v.</i>
|
|
16</scripRef>): <i>Because his hand is upon the throne of the
|
|
Lord,</i> that is, against the camp of Israel in which the Lord
|
|
ruled, which was the <i>place of his sanctuary,</i> and is
|
|
therefore called a <i>glorious high throne from the beginning</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Jer 17:12" id="Ex.xviii-p15.8" parsed="|Jer|17|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.17.12">Jer. xvii. 12</scripRef>); therefore
|
|
the Lord will have <i>war with Amalek from generation to
|
|
generation.</i> This was written for direction to Israel never to
|
|
make any league with the Amalekites, but to look upon them as
|
|
irreconcilable enemies, doomed to ruin. Amalek's destruction was
|
|
typical of the destruction of all the enemies of Christ and his
|
|
kingdom. Whoever <i>make war with the Lamb, the Lamb will overcome
|
|
them.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XVIII" n="xix" progress="39.88%" prev="Ex.xviii" next="Ex.xx" id="Ex.xix">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.xix-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.xix-p0.2">CHAP. XVIII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.xix-p1">This chapter is concerning Moses himself, and the
|
|
affairs of his own family. I. Jethro his father-in-law brings to
|
|
him his wife and children, <scripRef passage="Ex 18:1-6" id="Ex.xix-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|18|1|18|6" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.1-Exod.18.6">ver.
|
|
1-6</scripRef>. II. Moses entertains his father-in-law with great
|
|
respect (<scripRef passage="Ex 18:7" id="Ex.xix-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|18|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.7">ver. 7</scripRef>), with good
|
|
discourse (<scripRef passage="Ex 18:8-11" id="Ex.xix-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|18|8|18|11" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.8-Exod.18.11">ver. 8-11</scripRef>),
|
|
with a sacrifice and a feast, <scripRef passage="Ex 18:12" id="Ex.xix-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|18|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.12">ver.
|
|
12</scripRef>. III. Jethro advises him about the management of his
|
|
business as a judge in Israel, to take inferior judges in to his
|
|
assistance (<scripRef passage="Ex 18:13-23" id="Ex.xix-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|18|13|18|23" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.13-Exod.18.23">ver. 13-23</scripRef>),
|
|
and Moses, after some time, takes his counsel (<scripRef passage="Ex 18:24-26" id="Ex.xix-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|18|24|18|26" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.24-Exod.18.26">ver. 24-26</scripRef>), and so they part, <scripRef passage="Ex 18:27" id="Ex.xix-p1.7" parsed="|Exod|18|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.27">ver. 27</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 18" id="Ex.xix-p1.8" parsed="|Exod|18|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 18:1-6" id="Ex.xix-p1.9" parsed="|Exod|18|1|18|6" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.1-Exod.18.6"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.18.1-Exod.18.6">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xix-p1.10">Jethro's Visit to Moses. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xix-p1.11">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xix-p2">1 When Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses'
|
|
father in law, heard of all that God had done for Moses, and for
|
|
Israel his people, <i>and</i> that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xix-p2.1">Lord</span> had brought Israel out of Egypt;   2
|
|
Then Jethro, Moses' father in law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife,
|
|
after he had sent her back,   3 And her two sons; of which the
|
|
name of the one <i>was</i> Gershom; for he said, I have been an
|
|
alien in a strange land:   4 And the name of the other
|
|
<i>was</i> Eliezer; for the God of my father, <i>said he, was</i>
|
|
mine help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh:   5 And
|
|
Jethro, Moses' father in law, came with his sons and his wife unto
|
|
Moses into the wilderness, where he encamped at the mount of God:
|
|
  6 And he said unto Moses, I thy father in law Jethro am come
|
|
unto thee, and thy wife, and her two sons with her.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xix-p3">This incident may very well be allowed to
|
|
have happened as it is placed here, before the giving of the law,
|
|
and not, as some place it, in connection with what is recorded,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 10:11,29" id="Ex.xix-p3.1" parsed="|Num|10|11|0|0;|Num|10|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.10.11 Bible:Num.10.29">Num. x. 11, 29</scripRef>, &c.
|
|
Sacrifices were offered before; in these mentioned here (<scripRef passage="Ex 18:12" id="Ex.xix-p3.2" parsed="|Exod|18|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>) it is observable that
|
|
<i>Jethro</i> is said to take them, not <i>Aaron.</i> And as to
|
|
Jethro's advising Moses to constitute judges under him, though it
|
|
is intimate (<scripRef passage="Ex 18:13" id="Ex.xix-p3.3" parsed="|Exod|18|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>)
|
|
that the occasion of his giving that advice was <i>on the
|
|
morrow,</i> yet it does not follow but that Moses's settlement of
|
|
that affair might be some time after, when the law was given, as it
|
|
is placed, <scripRef passage="De 1:9" id="Ex.xix-p3.4" parsed="|Deut|1|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.9">Deut. i. 9</scripRef>. It is
|
|
plain that Jethro himself would not have him make this alteration
|
|
in the government till he had received instructions from God about
|
|
it (<scripRef passage="Ex 18:23" id="Ex.xix-p3.5" parsed="|Exod|18|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>), which he
|
|
did not till some time after. Jethro comes,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xix-p4">I. To congratulate the happiness of Israel,
|
|
and particularly the honour of Moses his son-in-law; and now Jethro
|
|
thinks himself well paid for all the kindness he had shown to Moses
|
|
in his distress, and his daughter better matched than he could have
|
|
expected. Jethro could not but hear what all the country rang of,
|
|
the glorious appearances of God for his people Israel (<scripRef passage="Ex 18:1" id="Ex.xix-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|18|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>); and he comes to enquire,
|
|
and inform himself more fully thereof (see <scripRef passage="Ps 111:2" id="Ex.xix-p4.2" parsed="|Ps|111|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.111.2">Ps. cxi. 2</scripRef>), and to rejoice with them as one
|
|
that had a true respect both for them and for their God. Though he,
|
|
as a Midianite, was not to share with them in the promised land,
|
|
yet he shared with them in the joy of their deliverance. We may
|
|
thus make the comforts of others our own, by taking pleasure, as
|
|
God does, in the <i>prosperity of the righteous.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xix-p5">II. To bring Moses's wife and children to
|
|
him. It seems, he had sent them back, probably from the inn where
|
|
his wife's aversion to the circumcision of her son had like to have
|
|
cost him his life (<scripRef passage="Ex 4:25" id="Ex.xix-p5.1" parsed="|Exod|4|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.25"><i>ch.</i> iv.
|
|
25</scripRef>); fearing lest they should prove a further hindrance,
|
|
he sent them home to his father-in-law. He foresaw what
|
|
discouragements he was likely to meet with in the court of Pharaoh,
|
|
and therefore would not take any with him in his own family. He was
|
|
of that tribe that said to his father, <i>I have not known him,</i>
|
|
when service was to be done for God, <scripRef passage="De 33:9" id="Ex.xix-p5.2" parsed="|Deut|33|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.9">Deut. xxxiii. 9</scripRef>. Thus Christ's disciples, when
|
|
they were to go upon an expedition not much unlike that of Moses,
|
|
were to forsake <i>wife and children,</i> <scripRef passage="Mt 19:29" id="Ex.xix-p5.3" parsed="|Matt|19|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.19.29">Matt. xix. 29</scripRef>. But though there might be
|
|
reason for the separation that was between Moses and his wife for a
|
|
time, yet they must come together again, as soon as ever they could
|
|
with any convenience. It is the law of the relation. <i>You
|
|
husbands, dwell with your wives,</i> <scripRef passage="1Pe 3:7" id="Ex.xix-p5.4" parsed="|1Pet|3|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.3.7">1
|
|
Pet. iii. 7</scripRef>. Jethro, we may suppose, was glad of his
|
|
daughter's company, and fond of her children, yet he would not keep
|
|
her from her husband, nor them from their father, <scripRef passage="Ex 18:5,6" id="Ex.xix-p5.5" parsed="|Exod|18|5|18|6" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.5-Exod.18.6"><i>v.</i> 5, 6</scripRef>. Moses must have his
|
|
family with him, that while he ruled the church of God he might set
|
|
a good example of prudence in family-government, <scripRef passage="1Ti 3:5" id="Ex.xix-p5.6" parsed="|1Tim|3|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.3.5">1 Tim. iii. 5</scripRef>. Moses had now a great deal both
|
|
of honour and care put upon him, and it was fit that his wife
|
|
should be with him to share with him in both. Notice is taken of
|
|
the significant names of his two sons. 1. The eldest was called
|
|
<i>Gershom</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 18:3" id="Ex.xix-p5.7" parsed="|Exod|18|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.3"><i>v.</i>
|
|
3</scripRef>), <i>a stranger,</i> Moses designing thereby, not only
|
|
a memorial of his own condition, but a memorandum to his son of his
|
|
condition also: for we are all strangers upon earth, as all our
|
|
fathers were. Moses had a great uncle almost of the same name,
|
|
<i>Gershon, a stranger;</i> for though he was born in Canaan
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 46:11" id="Ex.xix-p5.8" parsed="|Gen|46|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.46.11">Gen. xlvi. 11</scripRef>), yet even
|
|
there the patriarchs confessed themselves strangers. 2. The other
|
|
he called <i>Eliezer</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 18:4" id="Ex.xix-p5.9" parsed="|Exod|18|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.4"><i>v.</i>
|
|
4</scripRef>), <i>My God a help,</i> as we translate it; it looks
|
|
back to his deliverance from Pharaoh, when he made his escape,
|
|
after the slaying of the Egyptian; but, if this was (as some think)
|
|
the son that was circumcised at the inn as he was going, I would
|
|
rather translate it so as to look forward, which the original will
|
|
bear, <i>The Lord is my help, and will deliver me</i> from the
|
|
sword of Pharaoh, which he had reason to expect would be drawn
|
|
against him when he was going to fetch Israel out of bondage. Note,
|
|
When we are undertaking any difficult service for God and our
|
|
generation, it is good for us to encourage ourselves in God as our
|
|
help: he that has delivered does and will deliver.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 18:7-12" id="Ex.xix-p5.10" parsed="|Exod|18|7|18|12" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.7-Exod.18.12"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.18.7-Exod.18.12">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xix-p6">7 And Moses went out to meet his father in law,
|
|
and did obeisance, and kissed him; and they asked each other of
|
|
<i>their</i> welfare; and they came into the tent.   8 And
|
|
Moses told his father in law all that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xix-p6.1">Lord</span> had done unto Pharaoh and to the Egyptians
|
|
for Israel's sake, <i>and</i> all the travail that had come upon
|
|
them by the way, and <i>how</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xix-p6.2">Lord</span> delivered them.   9 And Jethro
|
|
rejoiced for all the goodness which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xix-p6.3">Lord</span> had done to Israel, whom he had delivered
|
|
out of the hand of the Egyptians.   10 And Jethro said,
|
|
Blessed <i>be</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xix-p6.4">Lord</span>, who hath
|
|
delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand
|
|
of Pharaoh, who hath delivered the people from under the hand of
|
|
the Egyptians.   11 Now I know that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xix-p6.5">Lord</span> <i>is</i> greater than all gods: for in the
|
|
thing wherein they dealt proudly <i>he was</i> above them.  
|
|
12 And Jethro, Moses' father in law, took a burnt offering and
|
|
sacrifices for God: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel,
|
|
to eat bread with Moses' father in law before God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xix-p7">Observe here, I. The kind greeting that
|
|
took place between Moses and his father-in-law, <scripRef passage="Ex 18:7" id="Ex.xix-p7.1" parsed="|Exod|18|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. Though Moses was a prophet of the
|
|
Lord, a great prophet, and king in Jeshurun, yet he showed a very
|
|
humble respect to his father-in-law. However God in his providence
|
|
is pleased to advance us, we must make conscience of giving honour
|
|
to whom honour is due, and never look with disdain upon our poor
|
|
relations. Those that stand high in the favour of God are not
|
|
thereby discharged from the duty they owe to men, nor will that
|
|
justify them in a stately haughty carriage. Moses went out to meet
|
|
Jethro, did <i>homage to him, and kissed him.</i> Religion does not
|
|
destroy good manners. <i>They asked each other of their
|
|
welfare.</i> Even the kind How-do-you-do's that pass between them
|
|
are taken notice of, as the expressions and improvements of mutual
|
|
love and friendship.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xix-p8">II. The narrative that Moses gave his
|
|
father-in-law of the great things God had done for Israel,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 18:8" id="Ex.xix-p8.1" parsed="|Exod|18|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. This was one
|
|
thing Jethro came for, to know more fully and particularly what he
|
|
had heard the general report of. Note, Conversation concerning
|
|
<i>God's wondrous works</i> is profitable conversation; it is
|
|
<i>good, and to the use of edifying,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 105:2" id="Ex.xix-p8.2" parsed="|Ps|105|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.105.2">Ps. cv. 2</scripRef>. Compare <scripRef passage="Ps 145:11,12" id="Ex.xix-p8.3" parsed="|Ps|145|11|145|12" osisRef="Bible:Ps.145.11-Ps.145.12">Ps. cxlv. 11, 12</scripRef>. Asking and telling
|
|
news, and discoursing of it, are not only an allowable
|
|
entertainment of conversation, but are capable of being tuned to a
|
|
very good account, by taking notice of God's providence, and the
|
|
operations and tendencies of that providence, in all
|
|
occurrences.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xix-p9">III. The impressions this narrative made
|
|
upon Jethro. 1. He congratulated God's Israel: <i>Jethro
|
|
rejoiced,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 18:9" id="Ex.xix-p9.1" parsed="|Exod|18|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>.
|
|
He not only rejoiced in the honour done to his son-in-law, but in
|
|
<i>all the goodness done to Israel,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 18:9" id="Ex.xix-p9.2" parsed="|Exod|18|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. Note, Public blessings are the
|
|
joy of public spirits. While the Israelites were themselves
|
|
murmuring, notwithstanding all God's goodness to them, here was a
|
|
Midianite rejoicing. This was not the only time that the faith of
|
|
the Gentiles shamed the unbelief of the Jews; see <scripRef passage="Mt 8:10" id="Ex.xix-p9.3" parsed="|Matt|8|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.8.10">Matt. viii. 10</scripRef>. Standers-by were more
|
|
affected with the favours God had shown to Israel than those were
|
|
that received them. 2. He gave the glory to Israel's God (<scripRef passage="Ex 18:10" id="Ex.xix-p9.4" parsed="|Exod|18|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>): "<i>Blessed be
|
|
Jehovah</i>" (for by that name he is now known), "<i>who hath
|
|
delivered you,</i> Moses and Aaron, <i>out of the hand of
|
|
Pharaoh,</i> so that though he designed your death he could not
|
|
effect it, and by your ministry has <i>delivered the people.</i>"
|
|
Note, Whatever we have the joy of God must have the praise of. 3.
|
|
His faith was hereby confirmed, and he took this occasion to make a
|
|
solemn profession of it: <i>Now know I that Jehovah is greater than
|
|
all gods,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 18:11" id="Ex.xix-p9.5" parsed="|Exod|18|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>.
|
|
Observe, (1.) The matter of his faith: that the God of Israel is
|
|
greater than all pretenders, all false and counterfeit-deities,
|
|
that usurp divine honours; he silences them, subdues them, and is
|
|
too hard for them all, and therefore is himself the only <i>living
|
|
and true God.</i> He is also higher than all princes and potentates
|
|
(who are called gods), and has both an incontestable authority over
|
|
them and an irresistible power to control and over-rule them; he
|
|
manages them all as he pleases, and gets honour upon them, how
|
|
great soever they are. (2.) The confirmation and improvement of his
|
|
faith: <i>Now know I;</i> he knew it before, but now he knew it
|
|
better; his faith great up to a full assurance, upon this fresh
|
|
evidence. Those obstinately shut their eyes against the clearest
|
|
light who do not know that <i>the Lord is greater than all
|
|
gods.</i> (3.) The ground and reason upon which he built it: <i>For
|
|
wherein they dealt proudly,</i> the magicians, and the idols which
|
|
the Egyptians worshipped, or Pharaoh and his grandees (they both
|
|
opposed God and set up in competition with him), <i>he was above
|
|
them.</i> The magicians were baffled, the idols shaken, Pharaoh
|
|
humbled, his powers broken, and, in spite of all their
|
|
confederacies, God's Israel was rescued out of their hands. Note,
|
|
Sooner or later, God will show himself above those that by their
|
|
proud dealings contest with him. He that <i>exalts himself</i>
|
|
against God <i>shall be abased.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xix-p10">IV. The expressions of their joy and
|
|
thankfulness. They had communion with each other both in a feast
|
|
and in a sacrifice, <scripRef passage="Ex 18:12" id="Ex.xix-p10.1" parsed="|Exod|18|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.12"><i>v.</i>
|
|
12</scripRef>. Jethro, being hearty in Israel's interests, was
|
|
cheerfully admitted though a Midianite, into fellowship with Moses
|
|
and the elders of Israel, <i>forasmuch as he also was a son of
|
|
Abraham,</i> though of a younger house. 1. They joined in a
|
|
sacrifice of thanksgiving: <i>Jethro took burnt offerings for
|
|
God,</i> and probably offered them himself, for he was a priest in
|
|
Midian, and a worshipper of the true God, and the priesthood was
|
|
not yet settled in Israel. Note, Mutual friendship is sanctified by
|
|
joint-worship. It is a very good thing for relations and friends,
|
|
when they come together, to join in the spiritual sacrifice of
|
|
prayer and praise, as those that meet in Christ the centre of
|
|
unity. 2. They joined in a feast of rejoicing, a feast upon the
|
|
sacrifice. Moses, upon this occasion, invited his relations and
|
|
friends to an entertainment in his own tent, a laudable usage among
|
|
friends, and which Christ himself, not only warranted, but
|
|
recommended, by his acceptance of such invitations. This was a
|
|
temperate feast: <i>They did eat bread;</i> this bread, we may
|
|
suppose, was manna. Jethro must see and taste that bread from
|
|
heaven, and, though a Gentile, is as welcome to it as any
|
|
Israelite; the Gentiles still are so to Christ the bread of life.
|
|
It was a feast kept after a godly sort: <i>They did eat bread
|
|
before God,</i> soberly, thankfully, in the fear of God; and their
|
|
table-talk was such as became saints. Thus we must eat and drink to
|
|
the glory of God, behaving ourselves at our tables as those who
|
|
believe that God's eye is upon us.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 18" id="Ex.xix-p10.2" parsed="|Exod|18|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 18:13-27" id="Ex.xix-p10.3" parsed="|Exod|18|13|18|27" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.13-Exod.18.27"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.18.13-Exod.18.27">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xix-p10.4">Jethro's Advice to Moses. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xix-p10.5">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xix-p11">13 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses
|
|
sat to judge the people: and the people stood by Moses from the
|
|
morning unto the evening.   14 And when Moses' father in law
|
|
saw all that he did to the people, he said, What <i>is</i> this
|
|
thing that thou doest to the people? why sittest thou thyself
|
|
alone, and all the people stand by thee from morning unto even?
|
|
  15 And Moses said unto his father in law, Because the people
|
|
come unto me to enquire of God:   16 When they have a matter,
|
|
they come unto me; and I judge between one and another, and I do
|
|
make <i>them</i> know the statutes of God, and his laws.   17
|
|
And Moses' father in law said unto him, The thing that thou doest
|
|
<i>is</i> not good.   18 Thou wilt surely wear away, both
|
|
thou, and this people that <i>is</i> with thee: for this thing
|
|
<i>is</i> too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it
|
|
thyself alone.   19 Hearken now unto my voice, I will give
|
|
thee counsel, and God shall be with thee: Be thou for the people to
|
|
God-ward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God:   20 And
|
|
thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt show them the
|
|
way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do.  
|
|
21 Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such
|
|
as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place
|
|
<i>such</i> over them, <i>to be</i> rulers of thousands, <i>and</i>
|
|
rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:  
|
|
22 And let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be,
|
|
<i>that</i> every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but
|
|
every small matter they shall judge: so shall it be easier for
|
|
thyself, and they shall bear <i>the burden</i> with thee.   23
|
|
If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee <i>so,</i> then
|
|
thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people shall also go to
|
|
their place in peace.   24 So Moses hearkened to the voice of
|
|
his father in law, and did all that he had said.   25 And
|
|
Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over
|
|
the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of
|
|
fifties, and rulers of tens.   26 And they judged the people
|
|
at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every
|
|
small matter they judged themselves.   27 And Moses let his
|
|
father in law depart; and he went his way into his own land.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xix-p12">Here is, I. The great zeal and industry of
|
|
Moses as a magistrate.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xix-p13">1. Having been employed to redeem Israel
|
|
out of the house of bondage, herein he is a further type of Christ,
|
|
that he is employed as a lawgiver and a judge among them. (1.) He
|
|
was to answer enquiries, to acquaint them with the will of God in
|
|
doubtful cases, and to explain the laws of God that were already
|
|
given them, concerning the sabbath, the man, &c., beside the
|
|
laws of nature, relating both to piety and equity, <scripRef passage="Ex 18:15" id="Ex.xix-p13.1" parsed="|Exod|18|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. <i>They came to enquire
|
|
of God;</i> and happy it was for them that they had such an oracle
|
|
to consult: we are ready to wish, many a time, that we had some
|
|
such certain way of knowing God's mind when we are at a loss what
|
|
to do. Moses was faithful both to him that appointed him and to
|
|
those that consulted him, and made them <i>know the statutes of God
|
|
and his laws,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 18:16" id="Ex.xix-p13.2" parsed="|Exod|18|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.16"><i>v.</i>
|
|
16</scripRef>. His business was, not to make laws, but to make
|
|
known God's laws; his place was but that of a servant. (2.) He was
|
|
to decide controversies, and determine matters in variance, judging
|
|
between a man and his fellow, <scripRef passage="Ex 18:16" id="Ex.xix-p13.3" parsed="|Exod|18|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. And, if the people were as
|
|
quarrelsome one with another as they were with God, no doubt he had
|
|
a great many causes brought before him, and the more because their
|
|
trials put them to no expense, nor was the law costly to them. When
|
|
a quarrel happened in Egypt, and Moses would have reconciled the
|
|
contenders, they asked, <i>Who made thee a prince and a judge?</i>
|
|
But now it was past dispute that God had made him one; and they
|
|
humbly attend him whom they had then proudly rejected.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xix-p14">2. Such was the business Moses was called
|
|
to, and it appears that he did it, (1.) With great consideration,
|
|
which, some think, is intimated in his posture: he <i>sat</i> to
|
|
judge (<scripRef passage="Ex 18:13" id="Ex.xix-p14.1" parsed="|Exod|18|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>),
|
|
composed and sedate. (2.) With great condescension to the people,
|
|
who stood <i>by him,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 18:14" id="Ex.xix-p14.2" parsed="|Exod|18|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.14"><i>v.</i>
|
|
14</scripRef>. He was very easy of access; the meanest Israelite
|
|
was welcome himself to bring his cause before him. (3.) With great
|
|
constancy and closeness of application. [1.] Though Jethro, his
|
|
father-in-law, was with him, which might have given him a good
|
|
pretence for a vacation (he might have adjourned the court for that
|
|
day, or at least have shortened it), yet he sat, even the next day
|
|
after his coming, <i>from morning till evening.</i> Note, Necessary
|
|
business must always take place of ceremonious attentions. It is
|
|
too great a compliment to our friends to prefer the enjoyment of
|
|
their company before our duty to God, which ought to be done, while
|
|
yet the other is not left undone. [2.] Though Moses was advanced to
|
|
great honour, yet he did not therefore take his case and throw upon
|
|
others the burden of care and business; no, he thought his
|
|
preferment, instead of discharging him from service, made it more
|
|
obligatory upon him. Those think of themselves above what is meet
|
|
who think it below them to do good. It is the honour even of angels
|
|
themselves to be serviceable. [3.] Though the people had been
|
|
provoking to him, and were ready to stone him (<scripRef passage="Ex 17:4" id="Ex.xix-p14.3" parsed="|Exod|17|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.4"><i>ch.</i> xvii. 4</scripRef>), yet still he made himself
|
|
the servant of all. Note, Though others fail in their duty to us,
|
|
yet we must not therefore neglect ours to them. [4.] Though he was
|
|
an old man, yet he kept to his business from morning to night, and
|
|
made it his meat and drink to do it. God had given him great
|
|
strength both of body and mind, which enabled him to go through a
|
|
great deal of work with ease and pleasure; and, for the
|
|
encouragement of others to spend and be spent in the service of
|
|
God, it proved that after all his labours his natural force was not
|
|
diminished. Those that wait on the Lord and his service shall renew
|
|
their strength.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xix-p15">II. The great prudence and consideration of
|
|
Jethro as a friend.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xix-p16">1. He disliked the method that Moses took,
|
|
and was so free with him as to tell him so, <scripRef passage="Ex 18:14,17,18" id="Ex.xix-p16.1" parsed="|Exod|18|14|0|0;|Exod|18|17|0|0;|Exod|18|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.14 Bible:Exod.18.17 Bible:Exod.18.18"><i>v.</i> 14, 17, 18</scripRef>. He thought it was
|
|
too much business for Moses to undertake alone, that it would be a
|
|
prejudice to his health and too great a fatigue to him, and also
|
|
that it would make the administration of justice tiresome to the
|
|
people; and therefore he tells him plainly, <i>It is not good.</i>
|
|
Note, There may be over-doing even in well-doing, and therefore our
|
|
zeal must always be governed by discretion, that our good may not
|
|
be evil spoken of. Wisdom is profitable to direct, that we may
|
|
neither content ourselves with less than our duty nor over-task
|
|
ourselves with that which is beyond our strength.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xix-p17">2. He advised him to such a model of
|
|
government as would better answer the intention, which was, (1.)
|
|
That he should reserve to himself all applications to God
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 18:19" id="Ex.xix-p17.1" parsed="|Exod|18|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>): <i>Be thou
|
|
for them to God-ward;</i> that was an honour in which it was not
|
|
fit any other should share with him, <scripRef passage="Nu 12:6-8" id="Ex.xix-p17.2" parsed="|Num|12|6|12|8" osisRef="Bible:Num.12.6-Num.12.8">Num. xii. 6-8</scripRef>. Also whatever concerned the
|
|
whole congregation in general must pass through his hand, <scripRef passage="Ex 18:20" id="Ex.xix-p17.3" parsed="|Exod|18|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. But, (2.) That he
|
|
should appoint judges in the several tribes and families, who
|
|
should try causes between man and man, and determine them, which
|
|
would be done with less noise, and more despatch, than in the
|
|
general assembly wherein Moses himself presided. Thus they must be
|
|
governed as a nation by a king as supreme, and inferior magistrates
|
|
sent and commissioned by him, <scripRef passage="1Pe 2:13" id="Ex.xix-p17.4" parsed="|1Pet|2|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.2.13">1 Pet.
|
|
ii. 13, 14</scripRef>. Thus many hands would make light work,
|
|
causes would be sooner heard, and the people eased by having
|
|
justice thus brought to their tent-doors. Yet, (3.) An appeal might
|
|
lie, if there were just cause for it, from these inferior courts to
|
|
Moses himself; at least if the judges were themselves at a loss:
|
|
<i>Every great matter they shall bring unto thee,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 18:22" id="Ex.xix-p17.5" parsed="|Exod|18|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>. Thus that great man
|
|
would be the more serviceable by being employed only in great
|
|
matters. Note, Those whose gifts and stations are most eminent may
|
|
yet be greatly furthered in their work by the assistance of those
|
|
that are every way their inferiors, whom therefore they should not
|
|
despise. The head has need of the hands and feet, <scripRef passage="1Co 12:21" id="Ex.xix-p17.6" parsed="|1Cor|12|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.12.21">1 Cor. xii. 21</scripRef>. Great men should not
|
|
only study to be useful themselves, but contrive how to make others
|
|
useful, according as their capacity is. Such is Jethro's advice, by
|
|
which it appears that though Moses excelled him in prophecy he
|
|
excelled Moses in politics; yet,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xix-p18">3. He adds two qualifications to his
|
|
counsel:—(1.) That great care should be taken in the choice of
|
|
the persons who should be admitted into this trust (<scripRef passage="Ex 18:21" id="Ex.xix-p18.1" parsed="|Exod|18|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>); they must <i>be able
|
|
men,</i> &c. It was requisite that they should be men of the
|
|
very best character, [1.] For judgment and resolution—<i>able
|
|
men,</i> men of good sense, that understood business, and bold men,
|
|
that would not be daunted by frowns or clamours. Clear heads and
|
|
stout hearts make good judges. [2.] For piety and religion—<i>such
|
|
as fear God,</i> as believe there is a God above them, whose eye is
|
|
upon them, to whom they are accountable, and of whose judgment they
|
|
stand in awe. Conscientious men, that dare not do a base thing,
|
|
though they could do it ever so secretly and securely. The fear of
|
|
God is that principle which will best fortify a man against all
|
|
temptations to injustice, <scripRef passage="Ne 5:15,Ge 42:18" id="Ex.xix-p18.2" parsed="|Neh|5|15|0|0;|Gen|42|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Neh.5.15 Bible:Gen.42.18">Neh.
|
|
v. 15; Gen. xlii. 18</scripRef>. [3.] For integrity and
|
|
honesty—<i>men of truth,</i> whose word one may take, and whose
|
|
fidelity one may rely upon, who would not for a world tell a lie,
|
|
betray a trust, or act an insidious part. [4.] For noble and
|
|
generous contempt of worldly wealth—<i>hating covetousness,</i>
|
|
not only not seeking bribes nor aiming to enrich themselves, but
|
|
abhorring the thought of it; he is fit to be a magistrate, and he
|
|
alone, who <i>despiseth the gain of oppressions, and shaketh his
|
|
hands from the holding of bribes,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 33:15" id="Ex.xix-p18.3" parsed="|Isa|33|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.33.15">Isa. xxxiii. 15</scripRef>. (2.) That he should attend
|
|
God's direction in the case (<scripRef passage="Ex 18:23" id="Ex.xix-p18.4" parsed="|Exod|18|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.23"><i>v.</i>
|
|
23</scripRef>): <i>If thou shalt do this thing, and God command
|
|
thee so.</i> Jethro knew that Moses had a better counsellor than he
|
|
was, and to his counsel he refers him. Note, Advice must be given
|
|
with a humble submission to the word and providence of God, which
|
|
must always overrule.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xix-p19">Now Moses did not despise this advice
|
|
because it came from one not acquainted, as he was, with the words
|
|
of God and the visions of the Almighty; but he <i>hearkened to the
|
|
voice of his father-in-law,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 18:24" id="Ex.xix-p19.1" parsed="|Exod|18|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. When he came to consider the
|
|
thing, he saw the reasonableness of what his father-in-law proposed
|
|
and resolved to put it in practice, which he did soon afterwards,
|
|
when he had received directions from God in the matter. Note, Those
|
|
are not so wise as they would be thought to be who think themselves
|
|
too wise to be counselled; for <i>a wise man</i> (one who is truly
|
|
so) <i>will hear, and will increase learning,</i> and not slight
|
|
good counsel, though given by an inferior. Moses did not leave the
|
|
election of the magistrates to the people, who had already done
|
|
enough to prove themselves unfit for such a trust; but he chose
|
|
them, and appointed them, some for greater, others for less
|
|
division, the less probably subordinate to the greater. We have
|
|
reason to value government as a very great mercy, and to thank God
|
|
for laws and magistrates, so that we are not like <i>the fishes of
|
|
the sea, where the greater devour the less.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xix-p20">III. Jethro's return to his own land,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 18:27" id="Ex.xix-p20.1" parsed="|Exod|18|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>. No doubt he
|
|
took home with him the improvements he had made in the knowledge of
|
|
God, and communicated them to his neighbours for their instruction.
|
|
It is supposed that the Kenites (mentioned in <scripRef passage="1Sa 15:6" id="Ex.xix-p20.2" parsed="|1Sam|15|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.15.6">1 Sam. xv. 6</scripRef>) were the posterity of Jethro
|
|
(compare <scripRef passage="Jdg 1:16" id="Ex.xix-p20.3" parsed="|Judg|1|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.1.16">Judg. i. 16</scripRef>), and
|
|
they are there taken under special protection, for the kindness
|
|
their ancestor here showed to Israel. The good-will shown to God's
|
|
people, even in the smallest instances, shall in no wise lose its
|
|
reward, but shall be recompensed, at furthest, in the
|
|
resurrection.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XIX" n="xx" progress="40.38%" prev="Ex.xix" next="Ex.xxi" id="Ex.xx">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.xx-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.xx-p0.2">CHAP. XIX.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.xx-p1">This chapter introduces the solemnity of the
|
|
giving of the law upon Mount Sinai, which was one of the most
|
|
striking appearances of the divine glory that ever was in this
|
|
lower world. We have here, I. The circumstances of time and place,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 19:1,2" id="Ex.xx-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|19|1|19|2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.1-Exod.19.2">ver. 1, 2</scripRef>. II. The
|
|
covenant between God and Israel settled in general. The gracious
|
|
proposal God made to them (<scripRef passage="Ex 19:3-6" id="Ex.xx-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|19|3|19|6" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.3-Exod.19.6">ver.
|
|
3-6</scripRef>), and their consent to the proposal, <scripRef passage="Ex 19:7,8" id="Ex.xx-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|19|7|19|8" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.7-Exod.19.8">ver. 7, 8</scripRef>. III. Notice given three
|
|
days before of God's design to give the law out of a thick cloud,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 19:9" id="Ex.xx-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|19|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.9">ver. 9</scripRef>. Orders given to
|
|
prepare the people to receive the law (<scripRef passage="Ex 19:10-13" id="Ex.xx-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|19|10|19|13" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.10-Exod.19.13">ver. 10-13</scripRef>), and care taken to execute
|
|
those orders, <scripRef passage="Ex 19:14,15" id="Ex.xx-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|19|14|19|15" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.14-Exod.19.15">ver. 14,
|
|
15</scripRef>. IV. A terrible appearance of God's glory upon mount
|
|
Sinai, <scripRef passage="Ex 19:16-20" id="Ex.xx-p1.7" parsed="|Exod|19|16|19|20" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.16-Exod.19.20">ver. 16-20</scripRef>. V.
|
|
Silence proclaimed, and strict charges given to the people to
|
|
observe decorum while God spoke to them, <scripRef passage="Ex 19:21-25" id="Ex.xx-p1.8" parsed="|Exod|19|21|19|25" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.21-Exod.19.25">ver. 21</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 19" id="Ex.xx-p1.9" parsed="|Exod|19|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 19:1-8" id="Ex.xx-p1.10" parsed="|Exod|19|1|19|8" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.1-Exod.19.8"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.19.1-Exod.19.8">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xx-p1.11">The Covenant of Sinai. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xx-p1.12">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xx-p2">1 In the third month, when the children of
|
|
Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came
|
|
they <i>into</i> the wilderness of Sinai.   2 For they were
|
|
departed from Rephidim, and were come <i>to</i> the desert of
|
|
Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped
|
|
before the mount.   3 And Moses went up unto God, and the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xx-p2.1">Lord</span> called unto him out of the
|
|
mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and
|
|
tell the children of Israel;   4 Ye have seen what I did unto
|
|
the Egyptians, and <i>how</i> I bare you on eagles' wings, and
|
|
brought you unto myself.   5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my
|
|
voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar
|
|
treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth <i>is</i>
|
|
mine:   6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an
|
|
holy nation. These <i>are</i> the words which thou shalt speak unto
|
|
the children of Israel.   7 And Moses came and called for the
|
|
elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words
|
|
which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xx-p2.2">Lord</span> commanded him.  
|
|
8 And all the people answered together, and said, All that the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xx-p2.3">Lord</span> hath spoken we will do. And
|
|
Moses returned the words of the people unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xx-p2.4">Lord</span>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xx-p3">Here is, I. The date of that great charter
|
|
by which Israel was incorporated. 1. The time when it bears date
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 19:1" id="Ex.xx-p3.1" parsed="|Exod|19|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>)—<i>in the
|
|
third month</i> after they came out of Egypt. It is computed that
|
|
the law was given just fifty days after their coming out of Egypt,
|
|
in remembrance of which the feast of Pentecost was observed the
|
|
fiftieth day after the passover, and in compliance with which the
|
|
Spirit was poured out upon the apostles at the feast of pentecost,
|
|
fifty days after the death of Christ. In Egypt they had spoken of a
|
|
three days' journey into the wilderness to the place of their
|
|
sacrifice (<scripRef passage="Ex 5:3" id="Ex.xx-p3.2" parsed="|Exod|5|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.3"><i>ch.</i> v. 3</scripRef>),
|
|
but it proved to be almost a two months' journey; so often are we
|
|
out in the calculation of times, and things prove longer in the
|
|
doing than we expected. 2. The place whence it bears date—from
|
|
<i>Mount Sinai,</i> a place which nature, not art, had made eminent
|
|
and conspicuous, for it was the highest in all that range of
|
|
mountains. Thus God put contempt upon cities, and palaces, and
|
|
magnificent structures, setting up his pavilion on the top of a
|
|
high mountain, in a waste and barren desert, there to carry on this
|
|
treaty. It is called <i>Sinai,</i> from the multitude of thorny
|
|
bushes that overspread it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xx-p4">II. The charter itself. Moses was called up
|
|
the mountain (on the top of which God had pitched his tent, and at
|
|
the foot of which Israel had pitched theirs), and was employed as
|
|
the mediator, or rather no more than the messenger of the covenant:
|
|
<i>Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children
|
|
of Israel,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 19:3" id="Ex.xx-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|19|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>.
|
|
Here the learned bishop Patrick observes that the people are called
|
|
by the names both of <i>Jacob</i> and <i>Israel,</i> to remind them
|
|
that those who had lately been as low as Jacob when he went to
|
|
Padan-aram had now grown as great as God made him when he came
|
|
thence (justly enriched with the spoils of him that had oppressed
|
|
him) and was called <i>Israel.</i> Now observe, 1. That the maker,
|
|
and first mover, of the covenant, is God himself. Nothing was said
|
|
nor done by this stupid unthinking people themselves towards this
|
|
settlement; no motion made, no petition put up for God's favour,
|
|
but this blessed charter was granted <i>ex mero motu—purely out of
|
|
God's own good-will.</i> Note, In all our dealings with God, free
|
|
grace anticipates us with the blessings of goodness, and all our
|
|
comfort is owing, not to our knowing God, but rather to our being
|
|
<i>known of him,</i> <scripRef passage="Ga 4:9" id="Ex.xx-p4.2" parsed="|Gal|4|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.4.9">Gal. iv.
|
|
9</scripRef>. <i>We love him,</i> visit him, and covenant with him,
|
|
<i>because he first loved us,</i> visited us, and covenanted with
|
|
us. God is the Alpha, and therefore must be the Omega. 2. That the
|
|
matter of the covenant is not only just and unexceptionable, and
|
|
such as puts no hardship upon them, but kind and gracious, and such
|
|
as gives them the greatest privileges and advantages imaginable.
|
|
(1.) He reminds them of what he had done for them, <scripRef passage="Ex 19:4" id="Ex.xx-p4.3" parsed="|Exod|19|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. He had righted them, and
|
|
avenged them upon their persecutors and oppressors: "<i>You have
|
|
seen what I did unto the Egyptians,</i> how many lives were
|
|
sacrificed to Israel's honour and interests:" He had given them
|
|
unparalleled instances of his favour to them, and his care of them:
|
|
<i>I bore you on eagles' wings,</i> a high expression of the
|
|
wonderful tenderness God had shown for them. It is explained,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 32:11,12" id="Ex.xx-p4.4" parsed="|Deut|32|11|32|12" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.11-Deut.32.12">Deut. xxxii. 11, 12</scripRef>. It
|
|
denotes great speed. God not only came upon the wing for their
|
|
deliverance (when the set time was come, he rode on a cherub, and
|
|
did fly), but he hastened them out, as it were, upon the wing. He
|
|
did it also with great ease, with the strength as well as with the
|
|
swiftness of an eagle: those that faint not, nor are weary, are
|
|
said to <i>mount up with wings as eagles,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 40:31" id="Ex.xx-p4.5" parsed="|Isa|40|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.40.31">Isa. xl. 31</scripRef>. Especially, it denotes God's
|
|
particular care of them and affection to them. Even Egypt, that
|
|
iron furnace, was the nest in which these young ones were hatched,
|
|
where they were first formed as the embryo of a nation; when, by
|
|
the increase of their numbers, they grew to some maturity, they
|
|
were carried out of that nest. Other birds carry their young in
|
|
their talons, but the eagle (they say) upon her wings, so that even
|
|
those archers who shoot flying cannot hurt the young ones, unless
|
|
they first shoot through the old one. Thus, in the Red Sea, the
|
|
pillar of cloud and fire, the token of God's presence, interposed
|
|
itself between the Israelites and their pursuers (lines of defence
|
|
which could not be forced, a wall which could not be penetrated):
|
|
yet this was not all; their way so paved, so guarded, was glorious,
|
|
but their end much more so: <i>I brought you unto myself.</i> They
|
|
were brought not only into a state of liberty and honour, but into
|
|
covenant and communion with God. This, this was the glory of their
|
|
deliverance, as it is of ours by Christ, that he died, <i>the just
|
|
for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.</i> This God aims at
|
|
in all the gracious methods of his providence and grace, to bring
|
|
us back to himself, from whom we have revolted, and to bring us
|
|
home to himself, in whom alone we can be happy. He appeals to
|
|
themselves, and their own observation and experience, for the truth
|
|
of what is here insisted on: <i>You have seen what I did;</i> so
|
|
that they could not disbelieve God, unless they would first
|
|
disbelieve their own eyes. They saw how all that was done was
|
|
purely the Lord's doing. It was not they that reached towards God,
|
|
but it was he that brought them to himself. Some have well observed
|
|
that the <i>Old-Testament church</i> is said to be borne upon
|
|
eagles' wings, denoting the power of that dispensation, which was
|
|
carried on with <i>a high hand an out-stretched arm;</i> but the
|
|
<i>New-Testament church</i> is said to be gathered by the Lord
|
|
Jesus, <i>as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Mt 23:37" id="Ex.xx-p4.6" parsed="|Matt|23|37|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.37">Matt. xxiii. 37</scripRef>), denoting
|
|
the grace and compassion of that dispensation, and the admirable
|
|
condescension and humiliation of the Redeemer. (2.) He tells them
|
|
plainly what he expected and required from them in one word,
|
|
obedience (<scripRef passage="Ex 19:5" id="Ex.xx-p4.7" parsed="|Exod|19|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>),
|
|
that they should <i>obey his voice indeed and keep his
|
|
covenant.</i> Being thus saved by him, that which he insisted upon
|
|
was that they should be ruled by him. The reasonableness of this
|
|
demand is, long after, pleaded with them, that <i>in the day he
|
|
brought them out of the land of Egypt</i> this was the condition of
|
|
the covenant, <i>Obey my voice</i> (<scripRef passage="Jer 7:23" id="Ex.xx-p4.8" parsed="|Jer|7|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.7.23">Jer. vii. 23</scripRef>); and this he is said to protest
|
|
earnestly to them, <scripRef passage="Jer 11:4,7" id="Ex.xx-p4.9" parsed="|Jer|11|4|0|0;|Jer|11|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.11.4 Bible:Jer.11.7">Jer. xi. 4,
|
|
7</scripRef>. Only obey <i>indeed,</i> not in profession and
|
|
promise only, not in pretence, but in sincerity. God had shown them
|
|
real favours, and therefore required real obedience. (3.) He
|
|
assures them of the honour he would put upon them, and the kindness
|
|
he would show them, in case they did thus keep his covenant
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 19:5,6" id="Ex.xx-p4.10" parsed="|Exod|19|5|19|6" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.5-Exod.19.6"><i>v.</i> 5, 6</scripRef>): <i>Then
|
|
you shall be a peculiar treasure to me.</i> He does not specify any
|
|
one particular favour, as giving them the land of Canaan, or the
|
|
like, but expresses it in that which was inclusive of all
|
|
happiness, that he would be to them a God in covenant, and they
|
|
should be to him a people. [1.] God here asserts his sovereignty
|
|
over, and propriety in, the whole visible creation: <i>All the
|
|
earth is mine.</i> Therefore he needed them not; he that had so
|
|
vast a dominion was great enough, and happy enough, without
|
|
concerning himself for so small a demesne as Israel was. All
|
|
nations on the earth being his, he might choose which he pleased
|
|
for his peculiar, and act in a way of sovereignty. [2.] He
|
|
appropriates Israel to himself, <i>First,</i> As a people dear unto
|
|
him. <i>You shall be a peculiar treasure;</i> not that God was
|
|
enriched by them, as a man is by his treasure, but he was pleased
|
|
to value and esteem them as a man does his treasure; they were
|
|
<i>precious in his sight and honourable</i> (<scripRef passage="Isa 43:4" id="Ex.xx-p4.11" parsed="|Isa|43|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.43.4">Isa. xliii. 4</scripRef>); he <i>set his love upon
|
|
them</i> (<scripRef passage="De 7:7" id="Ex.xx-p4.12" parsed="|Deut|7|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.7">Deut. vii. 7</scripRef>), took
|
|
them under his special care and protection, as a treasure that is
|
|
kept under lock and key. He looked upon the rest of the world but
|
|
as trash and lumber in comparison with them. By giving them divine
|
|
revelation, instituted ordinances, and promises inclusive of
|
|
eternal life, by sending his prophets among them, and pouring out
|
|
his Spirit upon them, he distinguished them from, and dignified
|
|
them above, all people. And this honour have all the saints; they
|
|
are unto God a <i>peculiar people</i> (<scripRef passage="Tit 2:4" id="Ex.xx-p4.13" parsed="|Titus|2|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Titus.2.4">Tit. ii. 14</scripRef>), his when he <i>makes up his
|
|
jewels. Secondly,</i> As a people devoted to him, to his honour and
|
|
service (<scripRef passage="Ex 19:6" id="Ex.xx-p4.14" parsed="|Exod|19|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), a
|
|
<i>kingdom of priests,</i> a <i>holy nation.</i> All the
|
|
Israelites, if compared with other people, were priests unto God,
|
|
so near were they to him (<scripRef passage="Ps 148:14" id="Ex.xx-p4.15" parsed="|Ps|148|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.148.14">Ps.
|
|
cxlviii. 14</scripRef>), so much employed in his immediate service,
|
|
and such intimate communion they had with him. When they were first
|
|
made a free people it was that they might <i>sacrifice to the Lord
|
|
their God,</i> as <i>priests;</i> they were under God's immediate
|
|
government, and the tendency of the laws given them was to
|
|
distinguish them from others, and engage them for God as a holy
|
|
nation. Thus all believers are, through Christ, made to our God
|
|
kings and priests (<scripRef passage="Re 1:6" id="Ex.xx-p4.16" parsed="|Rev|1|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.1.6">Rev. i.
|
|
6</scripRef>), <i>a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Pe 2:9" id="Ex.xx-p4.17" parsed="|1Pet|2|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.2.9">1 Pet. ii. 9</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xx-p5">III. Israel's acceptance of this charter,
|
|
and consent to the conditions of it. 1. Moses faithfully delivered
|
|
God's message to them (<scripRef passage="Ex 19:7" id="Ex.xx-p5.1" parsed="|Exod|19|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.7"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7</scripRef>): He <i>laid before their faces all those words;</i>
|
|
he not only explained to them what God had given him in charge, but
|
|
he put it to their choice whether they would accept these promises
|
|
upon these terms or no. His laying it to their faces denotes his
|
|
laying it to their consciences. 2. They readily agreed to the
|
|
covenant proposed. They would oblige themselves to obey the voice
|
|
of God, and take it as a great favour to be made a kingdom of
|
|
priests to him. They answered together as one man, <i>nemine
|
|
contradicente—without a dissentient voice</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 19:8" id="Ex.xx-p5.2" parsed="|Exod|19|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>): <i>All that the Lord hath spoken
|
|
we will do.</i> Thus they strike the bargain, accepting the Lord to
|
|
be to them a God, and giving up themselves to be to him a people. O
|
|
that there had been such a heart in them! 3. Moses, as a mediator,
|
|
returned the words of the people to God, <scripRef passage="Ex 19:8" id="Ex.xx-p5.3" parsed="|Exod|19|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. Thus Christ, the Mediator between
|
|
us and God, as a prophet reveals God's will to us, his precepts and
|
|
promises, and then as a priest offers up to God our spiritual
|
|
sacrifices, not only of prayer and praise, but of devout affections
|
|
and pious resolutions, the work of his own Spirit in us. Thus he is
|
|
that blessed <i>days-man who lays his hand upon us both.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 19:9-15" id="Ex.xx-p5.4" parsed="|Exod|19|9|19|15" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.9-Exod.19.15"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.19.9-Exod.19.15">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xx-p5.5">The Approach of God
|
|
Announced. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xx-p5.6">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xx-p6">9 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xx-p6.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the
|
|
people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever.
|
|
And Moses told the words of the people unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xx-p6.2">Lord</span>.   10 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xx-p6.3">Lord</span> said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and
|
|
sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their
|
|
clothes,   11 And be ready against the third day: for the
|
|
third day the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xx-p6.4">Lord</span> will come down in
|
|
the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai.   12 And thou
|
|
shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to
|
|
yourselves, <i>that ye</i> go <i>not</i> up into the mount, or
|
|
touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be
|
|
surely put to death:   13 There shall not an hand touch it,
|
|
but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether <i>it
|
|
be</i> beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth
|
|
long, they shall come up to the mount.   14 And Moses went
|
|
down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and
|
|
they washed their clothes.   15 And he said unto the people,
|
|
Be ready against the third day: come not at <i>your</i> wives.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xx-p7">Here, I. God intimates to Moses his purpose
|
|
of coming down upon Mount Sinai, in some visible appearance of his
|
|
glory, in <i>a thick cloud</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 19:9" id="Ex.xx-p7.1" parsed="|Exod|19|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>); for he said that he would
|
|
<i>dwell in the thick darkness</i> (<scripRef passage="2Ch 6:1" id="Ex.xx-p7.2" parsed="|2Chr|6|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.6.1">2
|
|
Chron. vi. 1</scripRef>), and make this his pavilion (<scripRef passage="Ps 18:11" id="Ex.xx-p7.3" parsed="|Ps|18|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.18.11">Ps. xviii. 11</scripRef>), <i>holding back the
|
|
face of his throne</i> when he set it upon <i>Mount Sinai, and
|
|
spreading a cloud upon it,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 26:9" id="Ex.xx-p7.4" parsed="|Job|26|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.26.9">Job
|
|
xxvi. 9</scripRef>. This thick cloud was to prohibit curious
|
|
enquiries into things secret, and to command an awful adoration of
|
|
that which was revealed. God would come down <i>in the sight of all
|
|
the people</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 19:11" id="Ex.xx-p7.5" parsed="|Exod|19|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.11"><i>v.</i>
|
|
11</scripRef>); though they should see no manner of similitude, yet
|
|
they should see so much as would convince them that God was among
|
|
them of a truth. And so high was the top of Mount Sinai that it is
|
|
supposed that not only the camp of Israel, but even the countries
|
|
about, might discern some extraordinary appearance of glory upon
|
|
it, which would strike a terror upon them. It seems also to have
|
|
been particularly intended to put an honour upon Moses: <i>That
|
|
they may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for
|
|
ever,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 19:9" id="Ex.xx-p7.6" parsed="|Exod|19|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. Thus
|
|
the correspondence was to be first settled by a sensible appearance
|
|
of the divine glory, which was afterwards to be carried on more
|
|
silently by the ministry of Moses. In like manner, the Holy Ghost
|
|
descended visibly upon Christ at his baptism, and all that were
|
|
present heard God speak to him (<scripRef passage="Mt 3:17" id="Ex.xx-p7.7" parsed="|Matt|3|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.3.17">Matt.
|
|
iii. 17</scripRef>), that afterwards, without the repetition of
|
|
such visible tokens, they might believe him. So likewise the Spirit
|
|
descended in cloven tongues upon the apostles (<scripRef passage="Ac 2:3" id="Ex.xx-p7.8" parsed="|Acts|2|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.2.3">Acts ii. 3</scripRef>), that they might be believed.
|
|
Observe, When the people had declared themselves willing to obey
|
|
the voice of God, then God promised they should hear his voice;
|
|
for, if any man be resolved to <i>do his will, he shall know
|
|
it,</i> <scripRef passage="Joh 7:17" id="Ex.xx-p7.9" parsed="|John|7|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.7.17">John vii. 17</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xx-p8">II. He orders Moses to make preparation for
|
|
this great solemnity, giving him two days' time for it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xx-p9">1. He must <i>sanctify the people</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 19:10" id="Ex.xx-p9.1" parsed="|Exod|19|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>), as Job,
|
|
before this, sent and <i>sanctified his sons,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 1:5" id="Ex.xx-p9.2" parsed="|Job|1|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.1.5">Job i. 5</scripRef>. He must raise their
|
|
expectation by giving them notice what God would do, and assist
|
|
their preparation by directing them what they must do. "<i>Sanctify
|
|
them,</i>" that is, "Call them off from their worldly business, and
|
|
call them to religious exercises, meditation and prayer, that they
|
|
may receive the law from God's mouth with reverence and devotion.
|
|
<i>Let them be ready,</i>" <scripRef passage="Ex 19:11" id="Ex.xx-p9.3" parsed="|Exod|19|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.11"><i>v.</i>
|
|
11</scripRef>. Note, When we are to attend upon God in solemn
|
|
ordinances it concerns us to sanctify ourselves, and to get ready
|
|
beforehand. Wandering thoughts must be gathered in, impure
|
|
affections abandoned, disquieting passions suppressed, nay, and all
|
|
cares about secular business, for the present, dismissed and laid
|
|
by, that our hearts may be <i>engaged to approach unto God.</i> Two
|
|
things particularly prescribed as signs and instances of their
|
|
preparation:—(1.) In token of their cleansing themselves from all
|
|
sinful pollutions, that they might be holy to God, they must
|
|
<i>wash their clothes</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 19:10" id="Ex.xx-p9.4" parsed="|Exod|19|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.10"><i>v.</i>
|
|
10</scripRef>), and they did so (<scripRef passage="Ex 19:14" id="Ex.xx-p9.5" parsed="|Exod|19|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>); not that God regards our
|
|
clothes; but while they were washing their clothes he would have
|
|
them think of washing their souls by repentance from the sins they
|
|
had contracted in Egypt and since their deliverance. It becomes us
|
|
to appear in clean clothes when we wait upon great men; so clean
|
|
hearts are required in our attendance on the great God, who sees
|
|
them as plainly as men see our clothes. This is absolutely
|
|
necessary to our acceptably worshipping God. See <scripRef passage="Ps 26:6,Isa 1:16-18,Heb 10:22" id="Ex.xx-p9.6" parsed="|Ps|26|6|0|0;|Isa|1|16|1|18;|Heb|10|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.26.6 Bible:Isa.1.16-Isa.1.18 Bible:Heb.10.22">Ps. xxvi. 6; Isa. i. 16-18; Heb. x.
|
|
22</scripRef>. (2.) In token of their devoting themselves entirely
|
|
to religious exercises, upon this occasion, they must abstain even
|
|
from lawful enjoyments during these three days, and not <i>come at
|
|
their wives,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 19:15" id="Ex.xx-p9.7" parsed="|Exod|19|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.15"><i>v.</i>
|
|
15</scripRef>. See <scripRef passage="1Co 7:5" id="Ex.xx-p9.8" parsed="|1Cor|7|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.7.5">1 Cor. vii.
|
|
5</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xx-p10">2. He must <i>set bounds about the
|
|
mountain,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 19:12,13" id="Ex.xx-p10.1" parsed="|Exod|19|12|19|13" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.12-Exod.19.13"><i>v.</i> 12,
|
|
13</scripRef>. Probably he drew a line, or ditch, round at the foot
|
|
of the hill, which none were to pass upon pain of death. This was
|
|
to intimate, (1.) That humble awful reverence which ought to
|
|
possess the minds of all those that worship God. We are mean
|
|
creatures before a great Creator, vile sinners before a holy
|
|
righteous Judge; and therefore a godly fear and shame well become
|
|
us, <scripRef passage="Heb 12:28,Ps 2:11" id="Ex.xx-p10.2" parsed="|Heb|12|28|0|0;|Ps|2|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.28 Bible:Ps.2.11">Heb. xii. 28; Ps. ii.
|
|
11</scripRef>. (2.) The distance at which worshippers were kept,
|
|
under that dispensation, which we ought to take notice of, that we
|
|
may the more value our privilege under the gospel, having
|
|
<i>boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Heb 10:19" id="Ex.xx-p10.3" parsed="|Heb|10|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.10.19">Heb. x. 19</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xx-p11">3. He must order the people to attend upon
|
|
the summons that should be given (<scripRef passage="Ex 19:13" id="Ex.xx-p11.1" parsed="|Exod|19|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>): "<i>When the trumpet soundeth
|
|
long</i> then let them take their places at the foot of the mount,
|
|
and so sit down at God's feet," as it is explained, <scripRef passage="De 33:3" id="Ex.xx-p11.2" parsed="|Deut|33|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.3">Deut. xxxiii. 3</scripRef>. Never was so great a
|
|
congregation called together, and preached to, at once, as this was
|
|
here. No one man's voice could have reached so many, but the voice
|
|
of God did.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 19" id="Ex.xx-p11.3" parsed="|Exod|19|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 19:16-25" id="Ex.xx-p11.4" parsed="|Exod|19|16|19|25" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.16-Exod.19.25"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.19.16-Exod.19.25">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xx-p11.5">The Divine Presence on Mount
|
|
Sinai. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xx-p11.6">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xx-p12">16 And it came to pass on the third day in the
|
|
morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud
|
|
upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so
|
|
that all the people that <i>was</i> in the camp trembled.   17
|
|
And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with
|
|
God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount.   18 And
|
|
Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xx-p12.1">Lord</span> descended upon it in fire: and the smoke
|
|
thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount
|
|
quaked greatly.   19 And when the voice of the trumpet sounded
|
|
long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered
|
|
him by a voice.   20 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xx-p12.2">Lord</span> came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of
|
|
the mount: and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xx-p12.3">Lord</span> called Moses
|
|
<i>up</i> to the top of the mount; and Moses went up.   21 And
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xx-p12.4">Lord</span> said unto Moses, Go down,
|
|
charge the people, lest they break through unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xx-p12.5">Lord</span> to gaze, and many of them perish.   22
|
|
And let the priests also, which come near to the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xx-p12.6">Lord</span>, sanctify themselves, lest the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xx-p12.7">Lord</span> break forth upon them.   23 And Moses
|
|
said unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xx-p12.8">Lord</span>, The people
|
|
cannot come up to Mount Sinai: for thou chargedst us, saying, Set
|
|
bounds about the mount, and sanctify it.   24 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xx-p12.9">Lord</span> said unto him, Away, get thee down,
|
|
and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee: but let not the
|
|
priests and the people break through to come up unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xx-p12.10">Lord</span>, lest he break forth upon them.
|
|
  25 So Moses went down unto the people, and spake unto
|
|
them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xx-p13">Now, at length, comes that memorable day,
|
|
that terrible day of the Lord, that day of judgment, in which
|
|
<i>Israel heard the voice of the Lord God</i> speaking to them
|
|
<i>out of the midst of the fire, and lived,</i> <scripRef passage="De 4:33" id="Ex.xx-p13.1" parsed="|Deut|4|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.33">Deut. iv. 33</scripRef>. Never was there such a sermon
|
|
preached, before nor since, as this which was here preached to the
|
|
church in the wilderness. For,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xx-p14">I. The preacher was God himself (<scripRef passage="Ex 19:18" id="Ex.xx-p14.1" parsed="|Exod|19|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>): <i>The Lord descended
|
|
in fire,</i> and (<scripRef passage="Ex 19:20" id="Ex.xx-p14.2" parsed="|Exod|19|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.20"><i>v.</i>
|
|
20</scripRef>), <i>The Lord came down upon Mount Sinai.</i> The
|
|
<i>shechinah,</i> or glory of the Lord, appeared in the sight of
|
|
all the people; he <i>shone forth from mount Paran with ten
|
|
thousands of his saints</i> (<scripRef passage="De 33:2" id="Ex.xx-p14.3" parsed="|Deut|33|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.2">Deut.
|
|
xxxiii. 2</scripRef>), that is, attended, as the divine Majesty
|
|
always is, by a multitude of the holy angels, who were both to
|
|
grace the solemnity and to assist at it. Hence the law is said to
|
|
be given <i>by the disposition of angels,</i> <scripRef passage="Ac 7:53" id="Ex.xx-p14.4" parsed="|Acts|7|53|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.53">Acts vii. 53</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xx-p15">II. The pulpit (or throne rather) was mount
|
|
Sinai, hung with a <i>thick cloud</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 19:16" id="Ex.xx-p15.1" parsed="|Exod|19|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>), covered with <i>smoke</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 19:18" id="Ex.xx-p15.2" parsed="|Exod|19|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>), and made to
|
|
<i>quake</i> greatly. Now it was that the earth <i>trembled at the
|
|
presence of the Lord,</i> and the <i>mountains skipped like
|
|
rams</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 114:4" id="Ex.xx-p15.3" parsed="|Ps|114|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.114.4">Ps. cxiv. 4, 7</scripRef>),
|
|
that Sinai itself, though rough and rocky, <i>melted from before
|
|
the Lord God of Israel,</i> <scripRef passage="Jdg 5:5" id="Ex.xx-p15.4" parsed="|Judg|5|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.5.5">Judg. v.
|
|
5</scripRef>. Now it was that the <i>mountains saw him, and
|
|
trembled</i> (<scripRef passage="Hab 3:10" id="Ex.xx-p15.5" parsed="|Hab|3|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hab.3.10">Hab. iii.
|
|
10</scripRef>), and were witnesses against a hard-hearted unmoved
|
|
people, whom nothing would influence.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xx-p16">III. The congregation was called together
|
|
by the <i>sound of a trumpet, exceedingly loud</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 19:16" id="Ex.xx-p16.1" parsed="|Exod|19|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>), and <i>waxing louder
|
|
and louder,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 19:19" id="Ex.xx-p16.2" parsed="|Exod|19|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.19"><i>v.</i>
|
|
19</scripRef>. This was done by the ministry of the angels, and we
|
|
read of trumpets sounded by angels, <scripRef passage="Re 8:6" id="Ex.xx-p16.3" parsed="|Rev|8|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.8.6">Rev.
|
|
viii. 6</scripRef>. It was the <i>sound of the trumpet that made
|
|
all the people tremble,</i> as those who knew their own guilt, and
|
|
who had reason to expect that the sound of this trumpet was to them
|
|
the <i>alarm of war.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xx-p17">IV. Moses brought the hearers to the place
|
|
of meeting, <scripRef passage="Ex 19:17" id="Ex.xx-p17.1" parsed="|Exod|19|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>.
|
|
He that had led them out of the bondage of Egypt now led them to
|
|
receive the law from God's mouth. Public persons are indeed public
|
|
blessings when they lay out themselves in their places to promote
|
|
the public worship of God. Moses, at the head of an assembly
|
|
worshipping God, was as truly great as Moses at the head of an army
|
|
in the field.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xx-p18">V. The introductions to the service were
|
|
<i>thunders and lightnings,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 19:16" id="Ex.xx-p18.1" parsed="|Exod|19|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. These were designed to strike
|
|
an awe upon the people, and to raise and engage their attention.
|
|
Were they asleep? The thunders would awaken them. Were they looking
|
|
another way? The lightnings would engage them to turn their faces
|
|
towards him that spoke to them. Thunder and lightning have natural
|
|
causes, but the scripture directs us in a particular manner to take
|
|
notice of the power of God, and his terror, in them. Thunder is the
|
|
voice of God, and lightning the fire of God, proper to engage the
|
|
senses of sight and hearing, those senses by which we receive so
|
|
much of our information.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xx-p19">VI. Moses is God's minister, who is spoken
|
|
to, to command silence, and keep the congregation in order:
|
|
<i>Moses spoke,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 19:19" id="Ex.xx-p19.1" parsed="|Exod|19|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.19"><i>v.</i>
|
|
19</scripRef>. Some think it was now that he said, <i>I exceedingly
|
|
fear and quake</i> (<scripRef passage="Heb 12:21" id="Ex.xx-p19.2" parsed="|Heb|12|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.21">Heb. xii.
|
|
21</scripRef>); but God stilled his fear by his distinguishing
|
|
favour to him, in calling him up to the top of the mount (<scripRef passage="Ex 19:20" id="Ex.xx-p19.3" parsed="|Exod|19|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>), by which also he tried
|
|
his faith and courage. No sooner had Moses got up a little way
|
|
towards the top of the mount than he was sent down again to keep
|
|
the people from <i>breaking through to gaze,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 19:21" id="Ex.xx-p19.4" parsed="|Exod|19|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. Even the priests or princes,
|
|
the heads of the houses of their fathers, who officiated for their
|
|
respective families, and therefore are said to <i>come near to the
|
|
Lord</i> at other times, must now keep their distance, and conduct
|
|
themselves with a great deal of caution. Moses pleads that they
|
|
needed not to have any further orders given them, effectual care
|
|
being taken already to prevent any intrusions, <scripRef passage="Ex 19:23" id="Ex.xx-p19.5" parsed="|Exod|19|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. But God, who knew their
|
|
wilfulness and presumption, and what was now in the hearts of some
|
|
of them, hastens him down with this in charge, that neither the
|
|
priests nor the people should offer to force the lines that were
|
|
set, to <i>come up unto the Lord,</i> but Moses and Aaron on, the
|
|
men whom God delighted to honour. Observe, 1. What it was that God
|
|
forbade them—breaking through to gaze; enough was provided to
|
|
awaken their consciences, but they were not allowed to gratify
|
|
their vain curiosity. They might see, but not gaze. Some of them,
|
|
probably, were desirous to see some similitude, that they might
|
|
know how to make an image of God, which he took care to prevent,
|
|
for they <i>saw no manner of similitude,</i> <scripRef passage="De 4:5" id="Ex.xx-p19.6" parsed="|Deut|4|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.5">Deut. iv. 5</scripRef>. Note, In divine things we must not
|
|
covet to know more than God would have us know; and he has allowed
|
|
us as much as is good for us. A desire of forbidden knowledge was
|
|
the ruin of our first parents. Those that would be wise above what
|
|
is written, and intrude into those things which they have not seen,
|
|
need this admonition, that they <i>break not through to gaze.</i>
|
|
2. Under what penalty it was forbidden: <i>Lest the Lord break
|
|
forth upon them</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 19:22-24" id="Ex.xx-p19.7" parsed="|Exod|19|22|19|24" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.22-Exod.19.24"><i>v.</i>
|
|
22-24</scripRef>), and <i>many of them perish.</i> Note, (1.) The
|
|
restraints and warnings of the divine law are all intended for our
|
|
good, and to keep us out of that danger into which we should
|
|
otherwise, by our own folly, run ourselves. (2.) It is at our peril
|
|
if we break the bounds that God has set us, and intrude upon that
|
|
which he has not allowed us; the Bethshemites and Uzzah paid dearly
|
|
for their presumption. And, even when we are called to approach
|
|
God, we must remember that he is in heaven and we upon earth, and
|
|
therefore it behoves us to exercise reverence and godly fear.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XX" n="xxi" progress="40.90%" prev="Ex.xx" next="Ex.xxii" id="Ex.xxi">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.xxi-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.xxi-p0.2">CHAP. XX.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.xxi-p1">All things being prepared for the solemn
|
|
promulgation of the divine law, we have, in this chapter, I. The
|
|
ten commandments, as God himself spoke them upon Mount Sinai
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 20:1-17" id="Ex.xxi-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|20|1|20|17" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.1-Exod.20.17">ver. 1-17</scripRef>), as
|
|
remarkable a portion of scripture as any in the Old Testament. II.
|
|
The impressions made upon the people thereby, <scripRef passage="Ex 20:18-21" id="Ex.xxi-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|20|18|20|21" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.18-Exod.20.21">ver. 18-21</scripRef>. III. Some particular
|
|
instructions which God gave privately to Moses, to be by him
|
|
communicated to the people, relating to his worship, <scripRef passage="Ex 20:22-26" id="Ex.xxi-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|20|22|20|26" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.22-Exod.20.26">ver. 22</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 20" id="Ex.xxi-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|20|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 20:1-11" id="Ex.xxi-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|20|1|20|11" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.1-Exod.20.11"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.20.1-Exod.20.11">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxi-p1.6">The Ten Commandments. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxi-p1.7">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxi-p2">1 And God spake all these words, saying,  
|
|
2 I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxi-p2.1">Lord</span> thy God,
|
|
which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house
|
|
of bondage.   3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
|
|
  4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any
|
|
likeness <i>of any thing</i> that <i>is</i> in heaven above, or
|
|
that <i>is</i> in the earth beneath, or that <i>is</i> in the water
|
|
under the earth:   5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them,
|
|
nor serve them: for I the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxi-p2.2">Lord</span> thy
|
|
God <i>am</i> a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers
|
|
upon the children unto the third and fourth <i>generation</i> of
|
|
them that hate me;   6 And showing mercy unto thousands of
|
|
them that love me, and keep my commandments.   7 Thou shalt
|
|
not take the name of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxi-p2.3">Lord</span> thy
|
|
God in vain; for the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxi-p2.4">Lord</span> will not
|
|
hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.   8 Remember
|
|
the sabbath day, to keep it holy.   9 Six days shalt thou
|
|
labour, and do all thy work:   10 But the seventh day
|
|
<i>is</i> the sabbath of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxi-p2.5">Lord</span>
|
|
thy God: <i>in it</i> thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy
|
|
son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy
|
|
cattle, nor thy stranger that <i>is</i> within thy gates:   11
|
|
For <i>in</i> six days the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxi-p2.6">Lord</span> made
|
|
heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them <i>is,</i> and
|
|
rested the seventh day: wherefore the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxi-p2.7">Lord</span> blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed
|
|
it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxi-p3">Here is, I. The preface of the law-writer,
|
|
Moses: <i>God spoke all these words,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 20:1" id="Ex.xxi-p3.1" parsed="|Exod|20|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. The law of the ten commandments
|
|
is, 1. A law of God's making. They are enjoined by the infinite
|
|
eternal Majesty of heaven and earth. And <i>where the word of the
|
|
King</i> of kings <i>is surely there is power.</i> 2. It is a law
|
|
of his own speaking. God has many ways of speaking to the children
|
|
of men (<scripRef passage="Job 33:14" id="Ex.xxi-p3.2" parsed="|Job|33|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.33.14">Job xxxiii. 14</scripRef>);
|
|
<i>once, yea twice</i>—by his Spirit, by conscience, by
|
|
providences, by his voice, all which we ought carefully to attend
|
|
to; but he never spoke, at any time, upon any occasion, as he spoke
|
|
the ten commandments, which therefore we ought to hear with the
|
|
<i>more earnest heed.</i> They were not only spoken audibly (so he
|
|
owned the Redeemer by a voice from heaven, <scripRef passage="Mt 3:17" id="Ex.xxi-p3.3" parsed="|Matt|3|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.3.17">Matt. iii. 17</scripRef>), but with a great deal of
|
|
dreadful pomp. This law God had given to man before (it was written
|
|
in his heart by nature); but sin had so defaced that writing that
|
|
it was necessary, in this manner, to revive the knowledge of
|
|
it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxi-p4">II. The preface of the Law-maker: <i>I am
|
|
the Lord thy God,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 20:2" id="Ex.xxi-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|20|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.2"><i>v.</i>
|
|
2</scripRef>. Herein, 1. God asserts his own authority to enact
|
|
this law in general: "I am the Lord who command thee all that
|
|
follows." 2. He proposes himself as the sole object of that
|
|
religious worship which is enjoined in the first four of the
|
|
commandments. They are here bound to obedience by a threefold cord,
|
|
which, one would think, could not <i>easily be broken.</i> (1.)
|
|
Because God <i>is the Lord</i>—Jehovah, self-existent,
|
|
independent, eternal, and the fountain of all being and power;
|
|
therefore he has an incontestable right to command us. He that
|
|
gives being may give law; and therefore he is able to bear us out
|
|
in our obedience, to reward it, and to punish our disobedience.
|
|
(2.) He was their God, a God in covenant with them, their God by
|
|
their own consent; and, if they would not keep his commandments,
|
|
who would? He had laid himself under obligations to them by
|
|
promise, and therefore might justly lay his obligations on them by
|
|
precept. Though that covenant of peculiarity is now no more, yet
|
|
there is another, by virtue of which all that are baptized are
|
|
taken into relation to him as their God, and are therefore unjust,
|
|
unfaithful, and very ungrateful, if they obey him not. (3.) He had
|
|
<i>brought them out of the land of Egypt;</i> therefore they were
|
|
bound in gratitude to obey him, because he had done them so great a
|
|
kindness, had brought them out of a grievous slavery into a
|
|
glorious liberty. They themselves had been eye-witnesses of the
|
|
great things God had done in order to their deliverance, and could
|
|
not but have observed that every circumstance of it heightened
|
|
their obligation. They were now enjoying the blessed fruits of
|
|
their deliverance, and in expectation of a speedy settlement in
|
|
Canaan; and could they think any thing too much to do for him that
|
|
had done so much for them? Nay, by redeeming them, he acquired a
|
|
further right to rule them; they owed their service to him to whom
|
|
they owed their freedom, and whose they were by purchase. And thus
|
|
Christ, having rescued us out of the bondage of sin, is entitled to
|
|
the best service we can do him, <scripRef passage="Lu 1:74" id="Ex.xxi-p4.2" parsed="|Luke|1|74|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.1.74">Luke i.
|
|
74</scripRef>. Having loosed our bonds, he has bound us to obey
|
|
him, <scripRef passage="Ps 116:16" id="Ex.xxi-p4.3" parsed="|Ps|116|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.116.16">Ps. cxvi. 16</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxi-p5">III. The law itself. The first four of the
|
|
ten commandments, which concern our duty to God (commonly called
|
|
<i>the first table</i>), we have in these verses. It was fit that
|
|
those should be put first, because man had a Maker to love before
|
|
he had a neighbour to love; and justice and charity are acceptable
|
|
acts of obedience to God only when they flow from the principles of
|
|
piety. It cannot be expected that he should be true to his brother
|
|
who is false to his God. Now our duty to God is, in one word, to
|
|
worship him, that is, to give to him the glory due to his name, the
|
|
inward worship of our affections, the outward worship of solemn
|
|
address and attendance. This is spoken of as the sum and substance
|
|
of the everlasting gospel. <scripRef passage="Re 14:7" id="Ex.xxi-p5.1" parsed="|Rev|14|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.14.7">Rev. xiv.
|
|
7</scripRef>, <i>Worship God.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxi-p6">1. The first commandment concerns the
|
|
object of our worship, Jehovah, and him only (<scripRef passage="Ex 20:3" id="Ex.xxi-p6.1" parsed="|Exod|20|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>): <i>Thou shalt have no other gods
|
|
before me.</i> The Egyptians, and other neighbouring nations, had
|
|
many gods, the creatures of their own fancy, strange gods, <i>new
|
|
gods;</i> this law was prefixed because of that transgression, and,
|
|
Jehovah being the God of Israel, they must entirely cleave to him,
|
|
and not be for any other, either of their own invention or borrowed
|
|
from their neighbours. This was the sin they were most in danger of
|
|
now that the world was so overspread with polytheism, which yet
|
|
could not be rooted out effectually but by the gospel of Christ.
|
|
The sin against this commandment which <i>we</i> are most in danger
|
|
of is giving the glory and honour to any creature which are due to
|
|
God only. Pride makes a god of self, covetousness makes a god of
|
|
money, sensuality makes a god of the belly; whatever is esteemed or
|
|
loved, feared or served, delighted in or depended on, more than
|
|
God, that (whatever it is) we do in effect make a god of. This
|
|
prohibition includes a precept which is the foundation of the whole
|
|
law, that we take the Lord for our God, acknowledge that he is God,
|
|
accept him for ours, adore him with admiration and humble
|
|
reverence, and set our affections entirely upon him. In the last
|
|
words, <i>before me,</i> it is intimated, (1.) That we cannot have
|
|
any other God but he will certainly know it. There is none besides
|
|
him but what is before him. Idolaters covet secresy; but <i>shall
|
|
not God search this out?</i> (2.) That it is very provoking to him;
|
|
it is a sin that dares him to his face, which he cannot, which he
|
|
will not, overlook, nor connive at. See <scripRef passage="Ps 44:20,21" id="Ex.xxi-p6.2" parsed="|Ps|44|20|44|21" osisRef="Bible:Ps.44.20-Ps.44.21">Ps. xliv. 20, 21</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxi-p7">2. The second commandment concerns the
|
|
ordinances of worship, or the way in which God will be worshipped,
|
|
which it is fit that he himself should have the appointing of. Here
|
|
is,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxi-p8">(1.) The prohibition: we are here forbidden
|
|
to worship even the true God by images, <scripRef passage="Ex 20:4,5" id="Ex.xxi-p8.1" parsed="|Exod|20|4|20|5" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.4-Exod.20.5"><i>v.</i> 4, 5</scripRef>. [1.] The Jews (at least
|
|
after the captivity) thought themselves forbidden by this
|
|
commandment to make any image or picture whatsoever. Hence the very
|
|
images which the Roman armies had in their ensigns are called <i>an
|
|
abomination</i> to them (<scripRef passage="Mt 24:15" id="Ex.xxi-p8.2" parsed="|Matt|24|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.24.15">Matt. xxiv.
|
|
15</scripRef>), especially when they were set up <i>in the holy
|
|
place.</i> It is certain that it forbids making any image of God
|
|
(for <i>to whom can we liken him?</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 40:15,18" id="Ex.xxi-p8.3" parsed="|Isa|40|15|0|0;|Isa|40|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.40.15 Bible:Isa.40.18">Isa. xl. 18, 15</scripRef>), or the image of any
|
|
creature for a religious use. It is called the changing of the
|
|
truth of God into a lie (<scripRef passage="Ro 1:25" id="Ex.xxi-p8.4" parsed="|Rom|1|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.1.25">Rom. i.
|
|
25</scripRef>), for an image is a teacher of lies; it insinuates to
|
|
us that God has a body, whereas he is an infinite spirit, <scripRef passage="Hab 2:18" id="Ex.xxi-p8.5" parsed="|Hab|2|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hab.2.18">Hab. ii. 18</scripRef>. It also forbids us to
|
|
make images of God in our fancies, as if he were a man as we are.
|
|
Our religious worship must be governed by the power of faith, not
|
|
by the power of imagination. They must not make such images or
|
|
pictures as the heathen worshipped, lest they also should be
|
|
tempted to worship them. Those who would be kept from sin must keep
|
|
themselves from the occasions of it. [2.] They must not <i>bow down
|
|
to them</i> occasionally, that is, show any sign of respect or
|
|
honour to them, much less serve them constantly, by sacrifice or
|
|
incense, or any other act of religious worship. When they paid
|
|
their devotion to the true God, they must not have any image before
|
|
them, for the directing, exciting, or assisting of their devotion.
|
|
Though the worship was designed to terminate in God, it would not
|
|
please him if it came to him through an image. The best and most
|
|
ancient lawgivers among the heathen forbade the setting up of
|
|
images in their temples. This practice was forbidden in Rome by
|
|
Numa, a pagan prince; yet commanded in Rome by the pope, a
|
|
Christian bishop, but, in this, anti-christian. The use of images
|
|
in the church of Rome, at this day, is so plainly contrary to the
|
|
letter of this command, and so impossible to be reconciled to it,
|
|
that in all their catechisms and books of devotion, which they put
|
|
into the hands of the people, they leave out this commandment,
|
|
joining the reason of it to the first; and so the third commandment
|
|
they call the second, the fourth the third, &c.; only, to make
|
|
up the number ten, they divide the tenth into two. Thus have they
|
|
committed two great evils, in which they persist, and from which
|
|
they hate to be reformed; they take away from God's word, and add
|
|
to his worship.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxi-p9">(2.) The reasons to enforce this
|
|
prohibition (<scripRef passage="Ex 20:5,6" id="Ex.xxi-p9.1" parsed="|Exod|20|5|20|6" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.5-Exod.20.6"><i>v.</i> 5,
|
|
6</scripRef>), which are, [1.] God's jealousy in the matters of his
|
|
worship: "<i>I am the Lord</i> Jehovah, and <i>thy God, am a
|
|
jealous God,</i> especially in things of this nature." This
|
|
intimates the care he has of his own institutions, his hatred of
|
|
idolatry and all false worship, his displeasure against idolaters,
|
|
and that he resents every thing in his worship that looks like, or
|
|
leads to, idolatry. Jealousy is quicksighted. Idolatry being
|
|
spiritual adultery, as it is very often represented in scripture,
|
|
the displeasure of God against it is fitly called <i>jealousy.</i>
|
|
If God is jealous herein, we should be so, afraid of offering any
|
|
worship to God otherwise than as he has appointed in his word. [2.]
|
|
The punishment of idolaters. God looks upon them as haters of him,
|
|
though they perhaps pretend love to him; he will <i>visit their
|
|
iniquity,</i> that is, he will very severely punish it, not only as
|
|
a breach of his law, but as an affront to his majesty, a violation
|
|
of the covenant, and a blow at the root of all religion. He will
|
|
<i>visit it upon the children,</i> that is, this being a sin for
|
|
which churches shall be unchurched and a bill of divorce given
|
|
them, the children shall be cast out of covenant and communion
|
|
together with the parents, as with the parents the children were at
|
|
first taken in. Or he will bring such judgments upon a people as
|
|
shall be the total ruin of families. If idolaters live to be old,
|
|
so as to see their children of the third or fourth generation, it
|
|
shall be the vexation of their eyes, and the breaking of their
|
|
hearts, to see them fall by the sword, carried captive, and
|
|
enslaved. Nor is it an unrighteous thing with God (if the parents
|
|
died in their iniquity, and the children tread in their steps, and
|
|
keep up false worships, because they received them by tradition
|
|
from their fathers), when the measure is full, and God comes by his
|
|
judgments to reckon with them, to bring into the account the
|
|
idolatries their fathers were guilty of. Though he bear long with
|
|
an idolatrous people, he will not bear always, but by the fourth
|
|
generation, at furthest, he will begin to visit. Children are dear
|
|
to their parents; therefore, to deter men from idolatry, and to
|
|
show how much God is displeased with it, not only a brand of infamy
|
|
is by it entailed upon families, but the judgments of God may for
|
|
it be executed upon the poor children when the parents are dead and
|
|
gone. [3.] The favour God would show to his faithful worshippers:
|
|
<i>Keeping mercy for thousands</i> of persons, thousands of
|
|
generations <i>of those that love me, and keep my commandments.</i>
|
|
This intimates that the second commandment, though, in the letter
|
|
of it, it is only a prohibition of false worships, yet includes a
|
|
precept of worshipping God in all those ordinances which he has
|
|
instituted. As the first commandment requires the inward worship of
|
|
love, desire, joy, hope, and admiration, so the second requires the
|
|
outward worship of prayer and praise, and solemn attendance on
|
|
God's word. Note, <i>First,</i> Those that truly love God will make
|
|
it their constant care and endeavour to keep his commandments,
|
|
particularly those that relate to his worship. Those that love God,
|
|
and keep those commandments, shall receive grace to keep his other
|
|
commandments. Gospel worship will have a good influence upon all
|
|
manner of gospel obedience. <i>Secondly,</i> God has mercy in store
|
|
for such. Even they need mercy, and cannot plead merit; and mercy
|
|
they shall find with God, merciful protection in their obedience
|
|
and a merciful recompence of it. <i>Thirdly,</i> This mercy shall
|
|
extend to thousands, much further than the wrath threatened to
|
|
those that hate him, for that reaches but to the third or fourth
|
|
generation. The streams of mercy run now as full, as free, and as
|
|
fresh, as ever.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxi-p10">3. The third commandment concerns the
|
|
manner of our worship, that it be done with all possible reverence
|
|
and seriousness, <scripRef passage="Ex 20:7" id="Ex.xxi-p10.1" parsed="|Exod|20|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.7"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7</scripRef>. We have here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxi-p11">(1.) A strict prohibition: <i>Thou shalt
|
|
not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.</i> It is supposed
|
|
that, having taken Jehovah for their God, they would make mention
|
|
of his name (for thus <i>all people will walk every one in the name
|
|
of his god</i>); this command gives a needful caution not to
|
|
mention it in vain, and it is still as needful as ever. We take
|
|
God's name in vain, [1.] By hypocrisy, making a profession of God's
|
|
name, but not living up to that profession. Those that name the
|
|
name of Christ, but do not depart from iniquity, as that name binds
|
|
them to do, name it in vain; their worship is vain (<scripRef passage="Mt 15:7-9" id="Ex.xxi-p11.1" parsed="|Matt|15|7|15|9" osisRef="Bible:Matt.15.7-Matt.15.9">Matt. xv. 7-9</scripRef>), their oblations are
|
|
vain (<scripRef passage="Isa 1:11,13" id="Ex.xxi-p11.2" parsed="|Isa|1|11|0|0;|Isa|1|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.11 Bible:Isa.1.13">Isa. i. 11, 13</scripRef>),
|
|
their religion is vain, <scripRef passage="Jam 1:26" id="Ex.xxi-p11.3" parsed="|Jas|1|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jas.1.26">Jam. i.
|
|
26</scripRef>. [2.] By covenant-breaking; if we make promises to
|
|
God, binding our souls with those bonds to that which is good, and
|
|
yet perform not to the Lord our vows, we take his name in vain
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Mt 5:33" id="Ex.xxi-p11.4" parsed="|Matt|5|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.5.33">Matt. v. 33</scripRef>), it is folly,
|
|
and God <i>has no pleasure in fools</i> (<scripRef passage="Ec 5:4" id="Ex.xxi-p11.5" parsed="|Eccl|5|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.5.4">Eccl. v. 4</scripRef>), nor will he be <i>mocked,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ga 6:7" id="Ex.xxi-p11.6" parsed="|Gal|6|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.6.7">Gal. vi. 7</scripRef>. [3.] By rash
|
|
swearing, mentioning the name of God, or any of his attributes, in
|
|
the form of an oath, without any just occasion for it, or due
|
|
application of mind to it, but as a by-word, to no purpose at all,
|
|
or to no good purpose. [4.] By false swearing, which, some think,
|
|
is chiefly intended in the letter of the commandment; so it was
|
|
expounded by those of old time. <i>Thou shalt not forswear
|
|
thyself,</i> <scripRef passage="Mt 5:33" id="Ex.xxi-p11.7" parsed="|Matt|5|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.5.33">Matt. v. 33</scripRef>.
|
|
One part of the religious regard the Jews were taught to pay to
|
|
their God was to <i>swear by his name,</i> <scripRef passage="De 10:20" id="Ex.xxi-p11.8" parsed="|Deut|10|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.20">Deut. x. 20</scripRef>. But they affronted him, instead
|
|
of doing him honour, if they called him to be witness to a lie.
|
|
[5.] By using the name of God lightly and carelessly, and without
|
|
any regard to its awful significancy. The profanation of the forms
|
|
of devotion is forbidden, as well as the profanation of the forms
|
|
of swearing; as also the profanation of any of those things whereby
|
|
God makes himself known, his word, or any of his institutions; when
|
|
they are either turned into charms and spells, or into jest and
|
|
sport, the name of God is taken in vain.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxi-p12">(2.) A severe penalty: <i>The Lord will not
|
|
hold him guiltless;</i> magistrates, who punish other offences, may
|
|
not think themselves concerned to take notice of this, because it
|
|
does not immediately offer injury either to private property or the
|
|
public peace; but God, who is jealous for his honour, will not thus
|
|
connive at it. The sinner may perhaps hold himself guiltless, and
|
|
think there is no harm in it, and that God will never call him to
|
|
an account for it. To obviate this suggestion, the threatening is
|
|
thus expressed, God will <i>not hold him guiltless,</i> as he hopes
|
|
he will; but more is implied, namely, that God will himself be the
|
|
avenger of those that take his name in vain, and they will find it
|
|
a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxi-p13">4. The fourth commandment concerns the time
|
|
of worship. God is to be served and honoured daily, but one day in
|
|
seven is to be particularly dedicated to his honour and spent in
|
|
his service. Here is,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxi-p14">(1.) The command itself (<scripRef passage="Ex 20:8" id="Ex.xxi-p14.1" parsed="|Exod|20|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>): <i>Remember the sabbath day to
|
|
keep it holy;</i> and (<scripRef passage="Ex 20:10" id="Ex.xxi-p14.2" parsed="|Exod|20|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.10"><i>v.</i>
|
|
10</scripRef>), <i>In it thou shalt do no manner of work.</i> It is
|
|
taken for granted that the sabbath was instituted before; we read
|
|
of God's blessing and sanctifying a seventh day from the beginning
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 2:3" id="Ex.xxi-p14.3" parsed="|Gen|2|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.3">Gen. ii. 3</scripRef>), so that this
|
|
was not the enacting of a new law, but the reviving of an old law.
|
|
[1.] They are told what is the day they must religiously
|
|
observe—<i>a seventh, after six days' labour;</i> whether this was
|
|
the seventh by computation from the first seventh, or from the day
|
|
of their coming out of Egypt, or both, is not certain: now the
|
|
precise day was notified to them (<scripRef passage="Ex 16:23" id="Ex.xxi-p14.4" parsed="|Exod|16|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.23"><i>ch.</i> xvi. 23</scripRef>), and from this they were
|
|
to observe the seventh. [2.] How it must be observed. <i>First,</i>
|
|
As a day of rest; they were to do no manner of work on this day in
|
|
their callings or worldly business. <i>Secondly,</i> As a holy day,
|
|
set apart to the honour of the holy God, and to be spent in holy
|
|
exercises. God, by blessing it, had made it holy; they, by solemnly
|
|
blessing him, must keep it holy, and not alienate it to any other
|
|
purpose than that for which the difference between it and other
|
|
days was instituted. [3.] Who must observe it: <i>Thou, and thy
|
|
son, and thy daughter;</i> the wife is not mentioned, because she
|
|
is supposed to be one with the husband and present with him, and,
|
|
if he sanctify the sabbath, it is taken for granted that she will
|
|
join with him; but the rest of the family are specified. Children
|
|
and servants must keep the sabbath, according to their age and
|
|
capacity: in this, as in other instances of religion, it is
|
|
expected that masters of families should take care, not only to
|
|
serve the Lord themselves, but that their houses also should serve
|
|
him, at least that it may not be through their neglect if they do
|
|
not, <scripRef passage="Jos 24:15" id="Ex.xxi-p14.5" parsed="|Josh|24|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.24.15">Josh. xxiv. 15</scripRef>. Even
|
|
the proselyted strangers must observe a difference between this day
|
|
and other days, which, if it laid some restraint upon them then,
|
|
yet proved a happy indication of God's gracious purpose, in process
|
|
of time, to bring the Gentiles into the church, that they might
|
|
share in the benefit of sabbaths. Compare <scripRef passage="Isa 56:6,7" id="Ex.xxi-p14.6" parsed="|Isa|56|6|56|7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.56.6-Isa.56.7">Isa. lvi. 6, 7</scripRef>. God takes notice of what we
|
|
do, particularly what we do on sabbath days, though we should be
|
|
where we are strangers. [4.] A particular memorandum put upon this
|
|
duty: <i>Remember it.</i> It is intimated that the sabbath was
|
|
instituted and observed before; but in their bondage in Egypt they
|
|
had lost their computation, or were restrained by their
|
|
task-masters, or, through a great degeneracy and indifference in
|
|
religion, they had let fall the observance of it, and therefore it
|
|
was requisite they should be reminded of it. Note, Neglected duties
|
|
remain duties still, notwithstanding our neglect. It also intimates
|
|
that we are both apt to forget it and concerned to remember it.
|
|
Some think it denotes the preparation we are to make for the
|
|
sabbath; we must think of it before it comes, that, when it does
|
|
come, we may keep it holy, and do the duty of it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxi-p15">(2.) The reasons of this command. [1.] We
|
|
have time enough for ourselves in those six days, on the seventh
|
|
day let us serve God; and time enough to tire ourselves, on the
|
|
seventh it will be a kindness to us to be obliged to rest. [2.]
|
|
This is God's day: it is the <i>sabbath of the Lord thy God,</i>
|
|
not only instituted by him, but consecrated to him. It is sacrilege
|
|
to alienate it; the sanctification of it is a debt. [3.] It is
|
|
designed for a memorial of the creation of the world, and therefore
|
|
to be observed to the glory of the Creator, as an engagement upon
|
|
ourselves to serve him and an encouragement to us to trust in him
|
|
who made heaven and earth. By the sanctification of the sabbath,
|
|
the Jews declared that they worshipped the God that made the world,
|
|
and so distinguished themselves from all other nations, who
|
|
worshipped gods which they themselves made. [4.] God has given us
|
|
an example of rest, after six days' work: he <i>rested the seventh
|
|
day,</i> took a complacency in himself, and <i>rejoiced in the work
|
|
of his hand,</i> to teach us, on that day, to take a complacency in
|
|
him, and to give him the glory of his works, <scripRef passage="Ps 92:4" id="Ex.xxi-p15.1" parsed="|Ps|92|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.92.4">Ps. xcii. 4</scripRef>. The sabbath began in the
|
|
finishing of the work of creation, so will the everlasting sabbath
|
|
in the finishing of the work of providence and redemption; and we
|
|
observe the weekly sabbath in expectation of that, as well as in
|
|
remembrance of the former, in both conforming ourselves to him we
|
|
worship. [5.] He has himself <i>blessed the sabbath day and
|
|
sanctified it.</i> He has put an honour upon it by setting it apart
|
|
for himself; it is the holy of the Lord and honourable: and he has
|
|
put blessings into it, which he has encouraged us to expect from
|
|
him in the religious observance of that day. It is <i>the day which
|
|
the Lord hath made,</i> let not us do what we can to unmake it. He
|
|
has blessed, honoured, and sanctified it, let not us profane it,
|
|
dishonour it, and level that with common time which God's blessing
|
|
has thus dignified and distinguished.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 20" id="Ex.xxi-p15.2" parsed="|Exod|20|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 20:12-17" id="Ex.xxi-p15.3" parsed="|Exod|20|12|20|17" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.12-Exod.20.17"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.20.12-Exod.20.17">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxi-p16">12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy
|
|
days may be long upon the land which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxi-p16.1">Lord</span> thy God giveth thee.   13 Thou shalt
|
|
not kill.   14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.   15 Thou
|
|
shalt not steal.   16 Thou shalt not bear false witness
|
|
against thy neighbour.   17 Thou shalt not covet thy
|
|
neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor
|
|
his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor
|
|
any thing that <i>is</i> thy neighbour's.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxi-p17">We have here the laws of the second table,
|
|
as they are commonly called, the last six of the ten commandments,
|
|
comprehending our duty to ourselves and to one another, and
|
|
constituting a comment upon the second great commandment, <i>Thou
|
|
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.</i> As religion towards God is
|
|
an essential branch of universal righteousness, so righteousness
|
|
towards men is an essential branch of true religion. Godliness and
|
|
honesty must go together.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxi-p18">I. The fifth commandment concerns the
|
|
duties we owe to our relations; those of children to their parents
|
|
are alone specified: <i>Honour thy father and thy mother,</i> which
|
|
includes, 1. A decent respect to their persons, an inward esteem of
|
|
them outwardly expressed upon all occasions in our conduct towards
|
|
them. <i>Fear them</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 19:3" id="Ex.xxi-p18.1" parsed="|Lev|19|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.3">Lev. xix.
|
|
3</scripRef>), <i>give them reverence,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 12:9" id="Ex.xxi-p18.2" parsed="|Heb|12|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.9">Heb. xii. 9</scripRef>. The contrary to this is mocking
|
|
at them and despising them, <scripRef passage="Pr 30:17" id="Ex.xxi-p18.3" parsed="|Prov|30|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.30.17">Prov. xxx.
|
|
17</scripRef>. 2. Obedience to their lawful commands; so it is
|
|
expounded (<scripRef passage="Eph 6:1-3" id="Ex.xxi-p18.4" parsed="|Eph|6|1|6|3" osisRef="Bible:Eph.6.1-Eph.6.3">Eph. vi. 1-3</scripRef>):
|
|
"<i>Children, obey your parents,</i> come when they call you, go
|
|
where they send you, do what they bid you, refrain from what they
|
|
forbid you; and this, as children, cheerfully, and from a principle
|
|
of love." Though you have said, "We will not," yet afterwards
|
|
repent and obey, <scripRef passage="Mt 21:29" id="Ex.xxi-p18.5" parsed="|Matt|21|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.21.29">Matt. xxi.
|
|
29</scripRef>. 3. Submission to their rebukes, instructions, and
|
|
corrections; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the
|
|
froward, out of conscience towards God. 4. Disposing of themselves
|
|
with the advice, direction, and consent, of parents, not alienating
|
|
their property, but with their approbation. 5. Endeavouring, in
|
|
every thing, to be the comfort of their parents, and to make their
|
|
old age easy to them, maintaining them if they stand in need of
|
|
support, which our Saviour makes to be particularly intended in
|
|
this commandment, <scripRef passage="Mt 15:4-6" id="Ex.xxi-p18.6" parsed="|Matt|15|4|15|6" osisRef="Bible:Matt.15.4-Matt.15.6">Matt. xv.
|
|
4-6</scripRef>. The reason annexed to this commandment is a
|
|
promise: <i>That thy days may be long in the land which the Lord
|
|
thy God giveth thee.</i> Having mentioned, in the preface to the
|
|
commandments, has bringing them out of Egypt as a reason for their
|
|
obedience, he here, in the beginning of the second table, mentions
|
|
his bringing them into Canaan, as another reason; that good land
|
|
they must have upon their thoughts and in their eye, now that they
|
|
were in the wilderness. They must also remember, when they came to
|
|
that land, that they were upon their good behaviour, and that, if
|
|
they did not conduct themselves well, their days should be
|
|
shortened in that land, both the days of particular persons who
|
|
should be cut off from it, and the days of their nation which
|
|
should be removed out of it. But here a long life in that good land
|
|
is promised particularly to obedient children. Those that do their
|
|
duty to their parents are most likely to have the comfort of that
|
|
which their parents gather for them and leave to them; those that
|
|
support their parents shall find that God, the common Father, will
|
|
support them. This promise is expounded (<scripRef passage="Eph 6:3" id="Ex.xxi-p18.7" parsed="|Eph|6|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eph.6.3">Eph. vi. 3</scripRef>), <i>That it may be well with thee,
|
|
and thou mayest live long on the earth.</i> Those who, in
|
|
conscience towards God, keep this and the rest of God's
|
|
commandments, may be sure that it shall be well with them, and that
|
|
they shall live as long on earth as Infinite Wisdom sees good for
|
|
them, and that what they may seem to be cut short of on earth shall
|
|
be abundantly made up in eternal life, the heavenly Canaan which
|
|
God will give them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxi-p19">II. The sixth commandment concerns our own
|
|
and our neighbour's life (<scripRef passage="Ex 20:13" id="Ex.xxi-p19.1" parsed="|Exod|20|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.13"><i>v.</i>
|
|
13</scripRef>): "<i>Thou shalt not kill;</i> thou shalt not do any
|
|
thing hurtful or injurious to the health, ease, and life, of thy
|
|
own body, or any other person's unjustly." This is one of the laws
|
|
of nature, and was strongly enforced by the precepts given to Noah
|
|
and his sons, <scripRef passage="Ge 9:5,6" id="Ex.xxi-p19.2" parsed="|Gen|9|5|9|6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.5-Gen.9.6">Gen. ix. 5,
|
|
6</scripRef>. It does not forbid killing in lawful war, or in our
|
|
own necessary defence, nor the magistrate's putting offenders to
|
|
death, for those things tend to the preserving of life; but it
|
|
forbids all malice and hatred to the person of any (for <i>he that
|
|
hateth his brother is a murderer</i>), and all personal revenge
|
|
arising therefrom; also all rash anger upon sudden provocations,
|
|
and hurt said or done, or aimed to be done, in passion: of this our
|
|
Saviour expounds this commandment, <scripRef passage="Mt 5:22" id="Ex.xxi-p19.3" parsed="|Matt|5|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.5.22">Matt. v. 22</scripRef>. And, as that which is worst of
|
|
all, it forbids persecution, laying wait for the blood of the
|
|
innocent and excellent ones of the earth.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxi-p20">III. The seventh commandment concerns our
|
|
own and our neighbour's chastity: <i>Thou shalt not commit
|
|
adultery,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 20:14" id="Ex.xxi-p20.1" parsed="|Exod|20|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>.
|
|
This is put before the sixth by our Saviour (<scripRef passage="Mk 10:19" id="Ex.xxi-p20.2" parsed="|Mark|10|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mark.10.19">Mark. x. 19</scripRef>): <i>Do not commit adultery, do
|
|
not kill;</i> for our chastity should be as dear to us as our
|
|
lives, and we should be as much afraid of that which defiles the
|
|
body as of that which destroys it. This commandment forbids all
|
|
acts of uncleanness, with all those fleshly lusts which produce
|
|
those acts and war against the soul, and all those practices which
|
|
cherish and excite those fleshly lusts, as looking, in order to
|
|
lust, which, Christ tells us, is forbidden in this commandment,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mt 5:28" id="Ex.xxi-p20.3" parsed="|Matt|5|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.5.28">Matt. v. 28</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxi-p21">IV. The eighth commandment concerns our own
|
|
and our neighbour's wealth, estate, and goods: <i>Thou shalt not
|
|
steal,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 20:15" id="Ex.xxi-p21.1" parsed="|Exod|20|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>.
|
|
Though God had lately allowed and appointed them to spoil the
|
|
Egyptians in a way of just reprisal, yet he did not intend that it
|
|
should be drawn into a precedent and that they should be allowed
|
|
thus to spoil one another. This command forbids us to rob ourselves
|
|
of what we have by sinful spending, or of the use and comfort of it
|
|
by sinful sparing, and to rob others by removing the ancient
|
|
landmarks, invading our neighbour's rights, taking his goods from
|
|
his person, or house, or field, forcibly or clandestinely,
|
|
over-reaching in bargains, nor restoring what is borrowed or found,
|
|
withholding just debts, rents, or wages, and (which is worst of
|
|
all) to rob the public in the coin or revenue, or that which is
|
|
dedicated to the service of religion.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxi-p22">V. The ninth commandment concerns our own
|
|
and our neighbour's good name: <i>Thou shalt not bear false
|
|
witness,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 20:16" id="Ex.xxi-p22.1" parsed="|Exod|20|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>.
|
|
This forbids, 1. Speaking falsely in any matter, lying,
|
|
equivocating, and any way devising and designing to deceive our
|
|
neighbour. 2. Speaking unjustly against our neighbour, to the
|
|
prejudice of his reputation; and (which involves the guilty of
|
|
both), 3. Bearing false witness against him, laying to his charge
|
|
things that he knows not, either judicially, upon oath (by which
|
|
the third commandment, and the sixth of eighth, as well as this,
|
|
are broken), or extrajudicially, in common converse, slandering,
|
|
backbiting, tale-bearing, aggravating what is done amiss and making
|
|
it worse than it is, and any way endeavouring to raise our own
|
|
reputation upon the ruin of our neighbour's.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxi-p23">VI. The tenth commandment strikes at the
|
|
root: <i>Thou shalt not covet,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 20:17" id="Ex.xxi-p23.1" parsed="|Exod|20|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. The foregoing commands
|
|
implicitly forbid all desire of doing that which will be an injury
|
|
to our neighbour; this forbids all inordinate desire of having that
|
|
which will be a gratification to ourselves. "O that such a man's
|
|
house were mine! Such a man's wife mine! Such a man's estate mine!"
|
|
This is certainly the language of discontent at our own lot, and
|
|
envy at our neighbour's; and these are the sins principally
|
|
forbidden here. St. Paul, when the grace of God caused the scales
|
|
to fall from his eyes, perceived that this law, <i>Thou shalt not
|
|
covet,</i> forbade all those irregular appetites and desires which
|
|
are the first-born of the corrupt nature, the first risings of the
|
|
sin that dwelleth in us, and the beginnings of all the sin that is
|
|
committed by us: this is that lust which, he says, he had not known
|
|
the evil of, if this commandment, when it came to his conscience in
|
|
the power of it, had not shown it to him, <scripRef passage="Ro 7:7" id="Ex.xxi-p23.2" parsed="|Rom|7|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.7.7">Rom. vii. 7</scripRef>. God give us all to see our face in
|
|
the glass of this law, and to lay our hearts under the government
|
|
of it!</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 20" id="Ex.xxi-p23.3" parsed="|Exod|20|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 20:18-21" id="Ex.xxi-p23.4" parsed="|Exod|20|18|20|21" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.18-Exod.20.21"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.20.18-Exod.20.21">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxi-p23.5">Terror with Which the Law Was
|
|
Given. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxi-p23.6">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxi-p24">  18 And all the people saw the
|
|
thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and
|
|
the mountain smoking: and when the people saw <i>it,</i> they
|
|
removed, and stood afar off.   19 And they said unto Moses,
|
|
Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with
|
|
us, lest we die.   20 And Moses said unto the people, Fear
|
|
not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before
|
|
your faces, that ye sin not.   21 And the people stood afar
|
|
off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God
|
|
<i>was.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxi-p25">I. The extraordinary terror with which the
|
|
law was given. Never was any thing delivered with such awful pomp;
|
|
every word was accented, and every sentence paused, with thunder
|
|
and lightning, much louder and brighter, no doubt, than ordinary.
|
|
And why was the law given in this dreadful manner, and with all
|
|
this tremendous ceremony? 1. It was designed (once for all) to give
|
|
a sensible discovery of the glorious majesty of God, for the
|
|
assistance of our faith concerning it, that, <i>knowing the terror
|
|
of the Lord,</i> we may be persuaded to live in his fear. 2. It was
|
|
a specimen of the terrors of the general judgment, in which sinners
|
|
will be called to an account for the breach of this law: the
|
|
archangel's trumpet will then sound an alarm, to give notice of the
|
|
Judge's coming, and a <i>fire shall devour before him.</i> 3. It
|
|
was an indication of the terror of those convictions which the law
|
|
brings into conscience, to prepare the soul for the comforts of the
|
|
gospel. Thus was the law given by Moses in such a way as might
|
|
startle, affright, and humble men, that the <i>grace and truth
|
|
which came by Jesus Christ</i> might be the more welcome. The
|
|
apostle largely describes this instance of the terror of that
|
|
dispensation, as a foil to set off our privileges, as Christians,
|
|
in the light, liberty, and joy, of the New-Testament dispensation,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Heb 12:18" id="Ex.xxi-p25.1" parsed="|Heb|12|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.18">Heb. xii. 18</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxi-p26">II. The impression which this made, for the
|
|
present, upon the people; they must have had stupid hearts indeed,
|
|
if this had not affected them. 1. <i>They removed, and stood afar
|
|
off,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 20:18" id="Ex.xxi-p26.1" parsed="|Exod|20|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>.
|
|
Before God began to speak, they were thrusting forward to gaze
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 19:21" id="Ex.xxi-p26.2" parsed="|Exod|19|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.21"><i>ch.</i> xix. 21</scripRef>); but
|
|
now they were effectually cured of their presumption, and taught to
|
|
keep their distance. 2. <i>They entreated that the word should not
|
|
be so spoken to them any more</i> (<scripRef passage="Heb 12:19" id="Ex.xxi-p26.3" parsed="|Heb|12|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.19">Heb. xii. 19</scripRef>), but begged that God would
|
|
speak to them by Moses, <scripRef passage="Ex 20:19" id="Ex.xxi-p26.4" parsed="|Exod|20|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.19"><i>v.</i>
|
|
19</scripRef>. Hereby they obliged themselves to acquiesce in the
|
|
mediation of Moses, they themselves nominating him as a fit person
|
|
to deal between them and God, and promising to hearken to him as to
|
|
God's messenger; hereby also they teach us to acquiesce in that
|
|
method which Infinite Wisdom takes, of speaking to us by men like
|
|
ourselves, whose <i>terror shall not make us afraid, nor their hand
|
|
be heavy upon us.</i> Once God tried the expedient of speaking to
|
|
the children of men immediately, but it was found that they could
|
|
not bear it; it rather drove men from God than brought them to him,
|
|
and, as it proved in the issue, though it terrified them, it did
|
|
not deter them from idolatry, for soon after this they worshipped
|
|
the golden calf. Let us therefore rest satisfied with the
|
|
instructions given us by the scriptures and the ministry; for, if
|
|
we believe not them, neither should we be persuaded though God
|
|
should speak to us in thunder and lightning, as he did from Mount
|
|
Sinai: here that matter was determined.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxi-p27">III. The encouragement Moses gave them, by
|
|
explaining the design of God in his terror (<scripRef passage="Ex 20:20" id="Ex.xxi-p27.1" parsed="|Exod|20|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>): <i>Fear not,</i> that is,
|
|
"Think not that the thunder and fire are designed to consume you,"
|
|
which was the thing they feared (<scripRef passage="Ex 20:19" id="Ex.xxi-p27.2" parsed="|Exod|20|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>, <i>lest we die</i>); thunder
|
|
and lightning constituted one of the plagues of Egypt, but Moses
|
|
would not have them think they were sent to them on the same errand
|
|
on which they were sent to the Egyptians: no, they were intended,
|
|
1. To prove them, to try how they would like dealing with God
|
|
immediately, without a mediator, and so to convince them how
|
|
admirably well God had chosen for them, in putting Moses into that
|
|
office. Ever since Adam fled, upon hearing God's voice in the
|
|
garden, sinful man could not bear either to speak to God or hear
|
|
from him immediately. 2. To keep them to their duty, and prevent
|
|
their sinning against God. He encourages them, saying, <i>Fear
|
|
not,</i> and yet tells them that God thus spoke to them, <i>that
|
|
his fear might be before their face.</i> We must not fear with
|
|
amazement—with that fear which has torment, which only works upon
|
|
the fancy for the present, sets us a trembling, genders to bondage,
|
|
betrays us to Satan, and alienates us from God; but we must always
|
|
have in our minds a reverence of God's majesty, a dread of his
|
|
displeasure, and an obedient regard to his sovereign authority over
|
|
us: this fear will quicken us to our duty and make us circumspect
|
|
in our walking. Thus <i>stand in awe, and sin not,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 4:4" id="Ex.xxi-p27.3" parsed="|Ps|4|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.4.4">Ps. iv. 4</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxi-p28">IV. The progress of their communion with
|
|
God by the mediation of Moses, <scripRef passage="Ex 20:21" id="Ex.xxi-p28.1" parsed="|Exod|20|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. While the people continued to
|
|
stand afar off, conscious of guilt and afraid of God's wrath,
|
|
<i>Moses drew near unto the thick darkness;</i> he <i>was made to
|
|
draw near,</i> so the word is: Moses, of himself, durst not have
|
|
ventured into the thick darkness, if God had not called him, and
|
|
encouraged him, and, as some of the rabbies suppose, sent an angel
|
|
to take him by the hand, and lead him up. Thus it is said of the
|
|
great Mediator, <i>I will cause him to draw near</i> (<scripRef passage="Jer 30:21" id="Ex.xxi-p28.2" parsed="|Jer|30|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.30.21">Jer. xxx. 21</scripRef>), and by him it is that
|
|
we also are introduced, <scripRef passage="Eph 3:12" id="Ex.xxi-p28.3" parsed="|Eph|3|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eph.3.12">Eph. iii.
|
|
12</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 20:22-26" id="Ex.xxi-p28.4" parsed="|Exod|20|22|20|26" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.22-Exod.20.26"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.20.22-Exod.20.26">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxi-p28.5">The Law Concerning Altars. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxi-p28.6">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxi-p29">22 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxi-p29.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel,
|
|
Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.   23 Ye
|
|
shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto
|
|
you gods of gold.   24 An altar of earth thou shalt make unto
|
|
me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace
|
|
offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record
|
|
my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.   25 And
|
|
if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of
|
|
hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast
|
|
polluted it.   26 Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine
|
|
altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxi-p30">Moses having gone into <i>the thick
|
|
darkness, where God was,</i> God there spoke in his hearing only,
|
|
privately and without terror, all that follows hence to the end of
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 23:1-32" id="Ex.xxi-p30.1" parsed="|Exod|23|1|23|32" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.1-Exod.23.32"><i>ch.</i> xxiii</scripRef>, which
|
|
is mostly an exposition of the ten commandments; and he was to
|
|
transmit it by word of mouth first, and afterwards in writing, to
|
|
the people. The laws in these verses related to God's worship.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxi-p31">I. They are here forbidden to make images
|
|
for worship (<scripRef passage="Ex 20:22,23" id="Ex.xxi-p31.1" parsed="|Exod|20|22|20|23" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.22-Exod.20.23"><i>v.</i> 22,
|
|
23</scripRef>): <i>You have seen that I have talked with you from
|
|
heaven</i> (such was his wonderful condescension, much more than
|
|
for some mighty prince to talk familiarly with a company of poor
|
|
beggars); now <i>you shall not make gods of silver.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxi-p32">1. This repetition of the second
|
|
commandment comes in here, either (1.) As pointing to that which
|
|
God had chiefly in view in giving them this law in this manner,
|
|
that is, their peculiar addictedness to idolatry, and the peculiar
|
|
sinfulness of that crime. Ten commandments God had given them, but
|
|
Moses is ordered to inculcate upon them especially the first two.
|
|
They must not forget any of them, but they must be sure to remember
|
|
those. Or, (2.) As pointing to that which might properly be
|
|
inferred from God's speaking to them as he had done. He had given
|
|
them sufficient demonstration of his presence among them; they
|
|
needed not to make images of him, as if he were absent. Besides,
|
|
they had only seen that he talked with them; they had seen no
|
|
manner of similitude, so that they could not make any image of God;
|
|
and his manifesting himself to them only by a voice plainly showed
|
|
them that they must not make any such image, but keep up their
|
|
communion with God by his word, and not otherwise.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxi-p33">2. Two arguments are here hinted against
|
|
image-worship:—(1.) That thereby they would affront God,
|
|
intimated in that, <i>You shall not make with me gods.</i> Though
|
|
they pretended to worship them but as representations of God, yet
|
|
really they made them rivals with God, which he would not endure.
|
|
(2.) That thereby they would abuse themselves, intimated in that,
|
|
"<i>You shall not make unto you gods;</i> while you think by them
|
|
to assist your devotion, you will really corrupt it, and put a
|
|
cheat upon yourselves." At first, it should seem, they made their
|
|
images for worship of gold and silver, pretending, by the richness
|
|
of those metals, to honour God, and, by the brightness of them, to
|
|
affect themselves with his glory; but, even in these, they
|
|
<i>changed the truth of God into a lie,</i> and so, by degrees,
|
|
were justly given up to such strong delusions as to worship images
|
|
of wood or stone.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxi-p34">II. They are here directed in making altars
|
|
for worship: it is meant of occasional altars, such as they reared
|
|
now in the wilderness, before the tabernacle was erected, and
|
|
afterwards upon special emergencies, for present use, such as
|
|
Gideon built (<scripRef passage="Jdg 6:24" id="Ex.xxi-p34.1" parsed="|Judg|6|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.6.24">Judg. vi.
|
|
24</scripRef>), Manoah (<scripRef passage="Jdg 13:19" id="Ex.xxi-p34.2" parsed="|Judg|13|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.13.19">Judg. xiii.
|
|
19</scripRef>), Samuel (<scripRef passage="1Sa 7:17" id="Ex.xxi-p34.3" parsed="|1Sam|7|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.7.17">1 Sam. vii.
|
|
17</scripRef>), and many others. We may suppose, now that the
|
|
people of Israel were, with this glorious discovery which God had
|
|
made of himself to them, that many of them would incline, in this
|
|
pang of devotion, to offer sacrifice to God; and, it being
|
|
necessary to a sacrifice that there be an alter, they are here
|
|
appointed,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxi-p35">1. To make their altars very plain, either
|
|
of <i>earth</i> or of <i>unhewn stone,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 20:24,25" id="Ex.xxi-p35.1" parsed="|Exod|20|24|20|25" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.24-Exod.20.25"><i>v.</i> 24, 25</scripRef>. That they might not be
|
|
tempted to think of a graven image, they must not so much as hew
|
|
into shape the stones that they made their altars of, but pile them
|
|
up as they were, in the rough. This rule being prescribed before
|
|
the establishment of the ceremonial law, which appointed altars
|
|
much more costly, intimates that, after the period of that law,
|
|
plainness should be accepted as the best ornament of the external
|
|
services of religion, and that gospel-worship should not be
|
|
performed with external pomp and gaiety. The beauty of holiness
|
|
needs no paint, nor do those do any service to the spouse of Christ
|
|
that dress her in the attire of a harlot, as the church of Rome
|
|
does: an <i>altar of earth</i> does best.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxi-p36">2. To make their altars very low (<scripRef passage="Ex 20:26" id="Ex.xxi-p36.1" parsed="|Exod|20|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>), so that they might not
|
|
go up by steps to them. That the higher the altar was, and the
|
|
nearer heaven, the more acceptable the sacrifice was, was a foolish
|
|
fancy of the heathen, who therefore chose high places; in
|
|
opposition to this, and to show that it is the elevation of the
|
|
heart, not of the sacrifice, that God looks at, they were here
|
|
ordered to make their altars low. We may suppose that the altars
|
|
they reared in the wilderness, and other occasional altars, were
|
|
designed only for the sacrifice of one beast at a time; but the
|
|
altar in Solomon's temple, which was to be made much longer and
|
|
broader, that it might contain many sacrifices at once, was made
|
|
ten cubits high, that the height might bear a decent proportion to
|
|
the length and breadth; and to that it was requisite they should go
|
|
up by steps, which yet, no doubt, were so contrived as to prevent
|
|
the inconvenience here spoken of, the <i>discovering of their
|
|
nakedness</i> thereon.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxi-p37">III. They are here assured of God's
|
|
gracious acceptance of their devotions, wherever they were paid
|
|
according to his will (<scripRef passage="Ex 20:24" id="Ex.xxi-p37.1" parsed="|Exod|20|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.24"><i>v.</i>
|
|
24</scripRef>): <i>In all places where I record my name,</i> or
|
|
where my name is recorded (that is, where I am worshipped in
|
|
sincerity), <i>I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.</i>
|
|
Afterwards, God chose one particular place wherein to record his
|
|
name: but that being taken away now under the gospel, when men are
|
|
encouraged to pray everywhere, this promise revives in its full
|
|
extent, that, wherever God's people meet in his name to worship
|
|
him, he will be <i>in the midst of them,</i> he will honour them
|
|
with his presence, and reward them with the gifts of his grace;
|
|
there he will come unto them, and will bless them, and more than
|
|
this we need not desire for the beautifying of our solemn
|
|
assemblies.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXI" n="xxii" progress="41.78%" prev="Ex.xxi" next="Ex.xxiii" id="Ex.xxii">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.xxii-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.xxii-p0.2">CHAP. XXI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.xxii-p1">The laws recorded in this chapter relate to the
|
|
fifth and sixth commandments; and though they are not accommodated
|
|
to our constitution, especially in point of servitude, nor are the
|
|
penalties annexed binding on us, yet they are of great use for the
|
|
explanation of the moral law, and the rules of natural justice.
|
|
Here are several enlargements, I. Upon the fifth commandment, which
|
|
concerns particular relations. 1. The duty of masters towards their
|
|
servants, their men-servants (<scripRef passage="Ex 21:2-6" id="Ex.xxii-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|21|2|21|6" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.2-Exod.21.6">ver.
|
|
2-6</scripRef>), and the maidservants, <scripRef passage="Ex 21:7-11" id="Ex.xxii-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|21|7|21|11" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.7-Exod.21.11">ver. 7-11</scripRef>. 2. The punishment of disobedient
|
|
children that strike their parents (<scripRef passage="Ex 21:15" id="Ex.xxii-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|21|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.15">ver. 15</scripRef>), or curse them, <scripRef passage="Ex 21:17" id="Ex.xxii-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|21|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.17">ver. 17</scripRef>. II. Upon the sixth commandment,
|
|
which forbids all violence offered to the person of a man. Here is,
|
|
1. Concerning murder, <scripRef passage="Ex 21:12-14" id="Ex.xxii-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|21|12|21|14" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.12-Exod.21.14">ver.
|
|
12-14</scripRef>. 2. Man-stealing, <scripRef passage="Ex 21:16" id="Ex.xxii-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|21|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.16">ver. 16</scripRef>. 3. Assault and battery, <scripRef passage="Ex 21:18,19" id="Ex.xxii-p1.7" parsed="|Exod|21|18|21|19" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.18-Exod.21.19">ver. 18, 19</scripRef>. 4. Correcting a
|
|
servant, <scripRef passage="Ex 21:20,21" id="Ex.xxii-p1.8" parsed="|Exod|21|20|21|21" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.20-Exod.21.21">ver. 20, 21</scripRef>. 5.
|
|
Hurting a woman with child, <scripRef passage="Ex 21:22,23" id="Ex.xxii-p1.9" parsed="|Exod|21|22|21|23" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.22-Exod.21.23">ver.
|
|
22, 23</scripRef>. 6. The law of retaliation, <scripRef passage="Ex 21:24,25" id="Ex.xxii-p1.10" parsed="|Exod|21|24|21|25" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.24-Exod.21.25">ver. 24, 25</scripRef>. 7. Maiming a servant,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 21:26" id="Ex.xxii-p1.11" parsed="|Exod|21|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.26">ver. 26, 27</scripRef>. 8. An ox
|
|
goring, <scripRef passage="Ex 21:28-32" id="Ex.xxii-p1.12" parsed="|Exod|21|28|21|32" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.28-Exod.21.32">ver. 28-32</scripRef>. 9.
|
|
Damage by opening a pit, <scripRef passage="Ex 21:33,34" id="Ex.xxii-p1.13" parsed="|Exod|21|33|21|34" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.33-Exod.21.34">ver. 33,
|
|
34</scripRef>. 10. Cattle fighting, <scripRef passage="Ex 21:35,36" id="Ex.xxii-p1.14" parsed="|Exod|21|35|21|36" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.35-Exod.21.36">ver. 35, 36</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 21" id="Ex.xxii-p1.15" parsed="|Exod|21|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 21:1-11" id="Ex.xxii-p1.16" parsed="|Exod|21|1|21|11" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.1-Exod.21.11"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.21.1-Exod.21.11">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxii-p1.17">Judicial Laws. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxii-p1.18">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxii-p2">1 Now these <i>are</i> the judgments which thou
|
|
shalt set before them.   2 If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six
|
|
years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for
|
|
nothing.   3 If he came in by himself, he shall go out by
|
|
himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him.
|
|
  4 If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him
|
|
sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's,
|
|
and he shall go out by himself.   5 And if the servant shall
|
|
plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not
|
|
go out free:   6 Then his master shall bring him unto the
|
|
judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post;
|
|
and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall
|
|
serve him for ever.   7 And if a man sell his daughter to be a
|
|
maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do.   8
|
|
If she please not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself,
|
|
then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange
|
|
nation he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully
|
|
with her.   9 And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he
|
|
shall deal with her after the manner of daughters.   10 If he
|
|
take him another <i>wife;</i> her food, her raiment, and her duty
|
|
of marriage, shall he not diminish.   11 And if he do not
|
|
these three unto her, then shall she go out free without money.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxii-p3">The <scripRef passage="Ex 21:1" id="Ex.xxii-p3.1" parsed="|Exod|21|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.1">first
|
|
verse</scripRef> is the general title of the laws contained in this
|
|
and the two following chapters, some of them relating to the
|
|
religious worship of God, but most of them relating to matters
|
|
between man and man. Their government being purely a Theocracy,
|
|
that which in other states is to be settled by human prudence was
|
|
directed among them by a divine appointment, so that the
|
|
constitution of their government was peculiarly adapted to make
|
|
them happy. These laws are called <i>judgments,</i> because they
|
|
are framed in infinite wisdom and equity, and because their
|
|
magistrates were to give judgment according to the people. In the
|
|
doubtful cases that had hitherto occurred, Moses had particularly
|
|
enquired of God for them, as appeared, <scripRef passage="Ex 18:15" id="Ex.xxii-p3.2" parsed="|Exod|18|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.15"><i>ch.</i> xviii. 15</scripRef>; but now God gave him
|
|
statutes in general by which to determine particular cases, which
|
|
likewise he must apply to other like cases that might happen,
|
|
which, falling under the same reason, fell under the same rule. He
|
|
begins with the laws concerning servants, commanding mercy and
|
|
moderation towards them. The Israelites had lately been servants
|
|
themselves; and now that they had become, not only their own
|
|
masters, but masters of servants, too, lest they should abuse their
|
|
servants, as they themselves had been abused and ruled with rigour
|
|
by the Egyptian task-masters, provision was made by these laws for
|
|
the mild and gentle usage of servants. Note, If those who have had
|
|
power over us have been injurious to us this will not in the least
|
|
excuse us if we be in like manner injurious to those who are under
|
|
our power, but will rather aggravate our crime, because, in that
|
|
case, we may the more easily put our souls into their soul's stead.
|
|
Here is,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxii-p4">I. A law concerning men-servants, sold,
|
|
either by themselves or their parents, through poverty, or by the
|
|
judges, for their crimes; even those of the latter sort (if
|
|
Hebrews) were to continue in slavery but seven years at the most,
|
|
in which time it was taken for granted that they would sufficiently
|
|
have smarted for their folly or offence. At the seven years' end
|
|
the servant should either go out free (<scripRef passage="Ex 21:2,3" id="Ex.xxii-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|21|2|21|3" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.2-Exod.21.3"><i>v.</i> 2, 3</scripRef>), or his servitude should
|
|
thenceforward be his choice, <scripRef passage="Ex 21:5,6" id="Ex.xxii-p4.2" parsed="|Exod|21|5|21|6" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.5-Exod.21.6"><i>v.</i> 5, 6</scripRef>. If he had a wife given him
|
|
by his master, and children, he might either leave them and go out
|
|
free himself, or, if he had such a kindness for them that he would
|
|
rather tarry with them in bondage than go out at liberty without
|
|
them, he was to have his ear bored through to the doorpost and
|
|
serve till the death of his master, or the year of jubilee.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxii-p5">1. By this law God taught, (1.) The Hebrew
|
|
servants generosity, and a noble love of liberty, for they were the
|
|
Lord's freemen; a mark of disgrace must be put upon him who refused
|
|
liberty when he might have it, though he refused it upon
|
|
considerations otherwise laudable enough. Thus Christians, being
|
|
<i>bought with a price, and called unto liberty,</i> must not be
|
|
the servants of men, nor of the lusts of men, <scripRef passage="1Co 7:23" id="Ex.xxii-p5.1" parsed="|1Cor|7|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.7.23">1 Cor. vii. 23</scripRef>. There is a free and princely
|
|
spirit that much helps to uphold a Christian, <scripRef passage="Ps 51:12" id="Ex.xxii-p5.2" parsed="|Ps|51|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.51.12">Ps. li. 12</scripRef>. He likewise taught, (2.) The
|
|
Hebrew masters not to trample upon their poor servants, knowing,
|
|
not only that they had been by birth upon a level with them, but
|
|
that, in a few years, they would be so again. Thus Christian
|
|
masters must look with respect on believing servants, <scripRef passage="Philemon 1:16" id="Ex.xxii-p5.3" parsed="|Phlm|1|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Phlm.1.16">Philem. 16</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxii-p6">2. This law will be further useful to us,
|
|
(1.) To illustrate the right God has to the children of believing
|
|
parents, as such, and the place they have in his church. They are
|
|
by baptism enrolled among his servants, because they are <i>born in
|
|
his house,</i> for they are therefore <i>born unto him,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Eze 16:20" id="Ex.xxii-p6.1" parsed="|Ezek|16|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.20">Ezek. xvi. 20</scripRef>. David owns
|
|
himself God's servant, as he was <i>the son of his handmaid</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ps 116:16" id="Ex.xxii-p6.2" parsed="|Ps|116|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.116.16">Ps. cxvi. 16</scripRef>), and
|
|
therefore entitled to protection, <scripRef passage="Ps 86:16" id="Ex.xxii-p6.3" parsed="|Ps|86|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.86.16">Ps.
|
|
lxxxvi. 16</scripRef>. (2.) To explain the obligation which the
|
|
great Redeemer laid upon himself to prosecute the work of our
|
|
salvation, for he says (<scripRef passage="Ps 40:6" id="Ex.xxii-p6.4" parsed="|Ps|40|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.40.6">Ps. xl.
|
|
6</scripRef>), <i>My ears hast thou opened,</i> which seems to
|
|
allude to this law. He loved his Father, and his captive spouse,
|
|
and the children that were given him, and would not go out free
|
|
from his undertaking, but engaged to serve in it for ever,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 42:1,4" id="Ex.xxii-p6.5" parsed="|Isa|42|1|0|0;|Isa|42|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.42.1 Bible:Isa.42.4">Isa. xlii. 1, 4</scripRef>. Much
|
|
more reason have we thus to engage ourselves to serve God for ever;
|
|
we have all the reason in the world to love our Master and his
|
|
work, and to have our ears bored to his door-posts, as those who
|
|
desire not to go out free from his service, but to be found more
|
|
and more free to it, and in it, <scripRef passage="Ps 84:10" id="Ex.xxii-p6.6" parsed="|Ps|84|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.84.10">Ps.
|
|
lxxxiv. 10</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxii-p7">Concerning maid-servants, whom their
|
|
parents, through extreme poverty, had sold, when they were very
|
|
young, to such as they hoped would marry them when they grew up; if
|
|
they did not, yet they must not sell them to strangers, but rather
|
|
study how to make them amends for the disappointment; if they did,
|
|
they must maintain them handsomely, <scripRef passage="Ex 21:7-11" id="Ex.xxii-p7.1" parsed="|Exod|21|7|21|11" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.7-Exod.21.11"><i>v.</i> 7-11</scripRef>. Thus did God provide for
|
|
the comfort and reputation of the daughters of Israel, and has
|
|
taught husbands to <i>give honour to their wives</i> (be their
|
|
extraction ever so mean) as to the <i>weaker vessels,</i> <scripRef passage="1Pe 3:7" id="Ex.xxii-p7.2" parsed="|1Pet|3|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.3.7">1 Pet. iii. 7</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 21" id="Ex.xxii-p7.3" parsed="|Exod|21|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 21:12-21" id="Ex.xxii-p7.4" parsed="|Exod|21|12|21|21" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.12-Exod.21.21"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.21.12-Exod.21.21">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxii-p8">12 He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall
|
|
be surely put to death.   13 And if a man lie not in wait, but
|
|
God deliver <i>him</i> into his hand; then I will appoint thee a
|
|
place whither he shall flee.   14 But if a man come
|
|
presumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay him with guile; thou
|
|
shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die.   15 And he
|
|
that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to
|
|
death.   16 And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if
|
|
he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.   17
|
|
And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put
|
|
to death.   18 And if men strive together, and one smite
|
|
another with a stone, or with <i>his</i> fist, and he die not, but
|
|
keepeth <i>his</i> bed:   19 If he rise again, and walk abroad
|
|
upon his staff, then shall he that smote <i>him</i> be quit: only
|
|
he shall pay <i>for</i> the loss of his time, and shall cause
|
|
<i>him</i> to be thoroughly healed.   20 And if a man smite
|
|
his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he
|
|
shall be surely punished.   21 Notwithstanding, if he continue
|
|
a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he <i>is</i> his
|
|
money.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxii-p9">Here is, I. A law concerning murder. He had
|
|
lately said, <i>Thou shalt not kill;</i> here he provides, 1. For
|
|
the punishing of wilful murder (<scripRef passage="Ex 21:12" id="Ex.xxii-p9.1" parsed="|Exod|21|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>): <i>He that smiteth a man,</i>
|
|
whether upon a sudden passion or in malice prepense, <i>so that he
|
|
die,</i> the government must take care that the murderer be <i>put
|
|
to death,</i> according to that ancient law (<scripRef passage="Ge 9:6" id="Ex.xxii-p9.2" parsed="|Gen|9|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.6">Gen. ix. 6</scripRef>), <i>Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by
|
|
man shall his blood be shed.</i> God, who by his providence gives
|
|
and maintains life, thus by his law protects it; so that mercy
|
|
shown to a wilful murderer is real cruelty to all mankind besides:
|
|
such a one, God here says, shall be taken even <i>from his
|
|
altar</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 21:14" id="Ex.xxii-p9.3" parsed="|Exod|21|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>),
|
|
to which he might flee for protection; and, if God will not shelter
|
|
him, let him <i>flee to the pit, and let no man stay him.</i> 2.
|
|
For the relief of such as killed by accident, <i>per
|
|
infortunium—by misfortune,</i> or <i>chance-medley,</i> as our law
|
|
expresses it, when a man, in doing a lawful act, without intent of
|
|
hurt to any, happens to kill another, or, as it is here described,
|
|
<i>God delivers him into his hand;</i> for nothing comes to pass by
|
|
chance; what seems to us purely casual is ordered by the divine
|
|
Providence, for wise and holy ends secret to us. In this case God
|
|
provided cities of refuge for the protection of those whose
|
|
infelicity it was, but not their fault, to occasion the death of
|
|
another, <scripRef passage="Ex 21:13" id="Ex.xxii-p9.4" parsed="|Exod|21|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. With
|
|
us, who know no avengers of blood but the magistrates, the law
|
|
itself is a sufficient sanctuary for those whose minds are
|
|
innocent, though their hands are guilty, and there needs no
|
|
other.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxii-p10">II. Concerning rebellious children. It is
|
|
here made a capital crime, to be punished with death, for children
|
|
either, 1. To strike their parents (<scripRef passage="Ex 21:15" id="Ex.xxii-p10.1" parsed="|Exod|21|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>) so as either to draw blood or
|
|
to make the place struck black and blue. Or, 2. To curse their
|
|
parents (<scripRef passage="Ex 21:17" id="Ex.xxii-p10.2" parsed="|Exod|21|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>), if
|
|
they profaned any name of God in doing it, as the rabbies say.
|
|
Note, The undutiful behaviour of children towards their parents is
|
|
a very great provocation to God our common Father; and, if men do
|
|
not punish it, he will. Those are perfectly lost to all virtue, and
|
|
abandoned to all wickedness, that have broken through the bonds of
|
|
filial reverence and duty to such a degree as in word or action to
|
|
abuse their own parents. What yoke will those bear that have shaken
|
|
off this? Let children take heed of entertaining in their minds any
|
|
such thought or passions towards their parents as savour of
|
|
undutifulness and contempt; for the righteous God searches the
|
|
heart.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxii-p11">III. Here is a law against man-stealing
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 21:16" id="Ex.xxii-p11.1" parsed="|Exod|21|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>): <i>He that
|
|
steals a man</i> (that is, a person, man, woman, or child), with
|
|
design to sell him to the Gentiles (for no Israelite would buy
|
|
him), was adjudged to death by this statute, which is ratified by
|
|
the apostle (<scripRef passage="1Ti 1:10" id="Ex.xxii-p11.2" parsed="|1Tim|1|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.1.10">1 Tim. i. 10</scripRef>),
|
|
where <i>men-stealers</i> are reckoned among those wicked ones
|
|
against whom laws must be made by Christian princes.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxii-p12">IV. Care is here taken that satisfaction be
|
|
made for hurt done to a person, though death do not ensue,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 21:18,19" id="Ex.xxii-p12.1" parsed="|Exod|21|18|21|19" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.18-Exod.21.19"><i>v.</i> 18, 19</scripRef>. He
|
|
that did the hurt must be accountable for damages, and pay, not
|
|
only for the cure, but for the loss of time, to which the Jews add
|
|
that he must likewise give some recompence both for the pain and
|
|
for the blemish, if there were any.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxii-p13">V. Direction is given what should be done
|
|
if a servant died by his master's correction. This servant must not
|
|
be an Israelite, but a Gentile slave, as the negroes to our
|
|
planters; and it is supposed that he smite him with a rod, and not
|
|
with any thing that was likely to give a mortal wound; yet, if he
|
|
died under his hand, he should be punished for his cruelty, at the
|
|
discretion of the judges, upon consideration of circumstances,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 21:20" id="Ex.xxii-p13.1" parsed="|Exod|21|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. But, if he
|
|
continued a day or two after the correction given, the master was
|
|
supposed to suffer enough by losing his servant, <scripRef passage="Ex 21:21" id="Ex.xxii-p13.2" parsed="|Exod|21|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. Our law makes the death of a
|
|
servant, by his master's reasonable beating of him, but
|
|
<i>chance-medley.</i> Yet let all masters take heed of tyrannizing
|
|
over their servants; the gospel teaches them even to forbear and
|
|
moderate threatenings (<scripRef passage="Eph 6:9" id="Ex.xxii-p13.3" parsed="|Eph|6|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eph.6.9">Eph. vi.
|
|
9</scripRef>), considering with holy Job, <i>What shall I do, when
|
|
God riseth up?</i> <scripRef passage="Job 31:13-15" id="Ex.xxii-p13.4" parsed="|Job|31|13|31|15" osisRef="Bible:Job.31.13-Job.31.15">Job xxxi.
|
|
13-15</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 21:22-36" id="Ex.xxii-p13.5" parsed="|Exod|21|22|21|36" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.22-Exod.21.36"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.21.22-Exod.21.36">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxii-p14">22 If men strive, and hurt a woman with child,
|
|
so that her fruit depart <i>from her,</i> and yet no mischief
|
|
follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's
|
|
husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges
|
|
<i>determine.</i>   23 And if <i>any</i> mischief follow, then
|
|
thou shalt give life for life,   24 Eye for eye, tooth for
|
|
tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,   25 Burning for burning,
|
|
wound for wound, stripe for stripe.   26 And if a man smite
|
|
the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish; he
|
|
shall let him go free for his eye's sake.   27 And if he smite
|
|
out his manservant's tooth, or his maidservant's tooth; he shall
|
|
let him go free for his tooth's sake.   28 If an ox gore a man
|
|
or a woman, that they die: then the ox shall be surely stoned, and
|
|
his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox <i>shall
|
|
be</i> quit.   29 But if the ox were wont to push with his
|
|
horn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he
|
|
hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or a woman; the
|
|
ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death.
|
|
  30 If there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall
|
|
give for the ransom of his life whatsoever is laid upon him.  
|
|
31 Whether he have gored a son, or have gored a daughter, according
|
|
to this judgment shall it be done unto him.   32 If the ox
|
|
shall push a manservant or a maidservant; he shall give unto their
|
|
master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.  
|
|
33 And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit, and
|
|
not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein;   34 The owner
|
|
of the pit shall make <i>it</i> good, <i>and</i> give money unto
|
|
the owner of them; and the dead <i>beast</i> shall be his.  
|
|
35 And if one man's ox hurt another's, that he die; then they shall
|
|
sell the live ox, and divide the money of it; and the dead
|
|
<i>ox</i> also they shall divide.   36 Or if it be known that
|
|
the ox hath used to push in time past, and his owner hath not kept
|
|
him in; he shall surely pay ox for ox; and the dead shall be his
|
|
own.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxii-p15">Observe here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxii-p16">I. The particular care which the law took
|
|
of women with child, that no hurt should be done them which might
|
|
occasion their mis-carrying. The law of nature obliges us to be
|
|
very tender in that case, lest the tree and fruit be destroyed
|
|
together, <scripRef passage="Ex 21:22,23" id="Ex.xxii-p16.1" parsed="|Exod|21|22|21|23" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.22-Exod.21.23"><i>v.</i> 22,
|
|
23</scripRef>. Women with child, who are thus taken under the
|
|
special protection of the law of God, if they live in his fear, may
|
|
still believe themselves under the special protection of the
|
|
providence of God, and hope that they shall be saved in
|
|
child-bearing. On this occasion comes in that general law of
|
|
retaliation which our Saviour refers to, <scripRef passage="Mt 5:38" id="Ex.xxii-p16.2" parsed="|Matt|5|38|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.5.38">Matt. v. 38</scripRef>, <i>An eye for an eye.</i> Now, 1.
|
|
The execution of this law is not hereby put into the hands of
|
|
private persons, as if every man might avenge himself, which would
|
|
introduce universal confusion, and make men like the fishes of the
|
|
sea. The tradition of the elders seems to have put this corrupt
|
|
gloss upon it, in opposition to which our Saviour commands us to
|
|
forgive injuries, and not to meditate revenge, <scripRef passage="Mt 5:39" id="Ex.xxii-p16.3" parsed="|Matt|5|39|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.5.39">Matt. v. 39</scripRef>. 2. God often executes it in the
|
|
course of his providence, making the punishment, in many cases, to
|
|
answer to the sin, as <scripRef passage="Jdg 1:7,Isa 33:1,Hab 2:13,Mt 26:52" id="Ex.xxii-p16.4" parsed="|Judg|1|7|0|0;|Isa|33|1|0|0;|Hab|2|13|0|0;|Matt|26|52|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.1.7 Bible:Isa.33.1 Bible:Hab.2.13 Bible:Matt.26.52">Judg. i. 7; Isa. xxxiii. 1;
|
|
Hab. ii. 13; Matt. xxvi. 52</scripRef>. 3. Magistrates ought to
|
|
have an eye to this rule in punishing offenders, and doing right to
|
|
those that are injured. Consideration must be had of the nature,
|
|
quality, and degree of the wrong done, that reparation may be made
|
|
to the party injured, and others deterred from doing the like;
|
|
either <i>an eye</i> shall go <i>for an eye,</i> or the forfeited
|
|
eye shall be redeemed by a sum of money. Note, He that does wrong
|
|
must expect one way or other to receive <i>according to the wrong
|
|
he has done,</i> <scripRef passage="Col 3:25" id="Ex.xxii-p16.5" parsed="|Col|3|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Col.3.25">Col. iii.
|
|
25</scripRef>. God sometimes brings men's violent dealings upon
|
|
their own heads (<scripRef passage="Ps 7:16" id="Ex.xxii-p16.6" parsed="|Ps|7|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.7.16">Ps. vii.
|
|
16</scripRef>); and magistrates are in this the ministers of the
|
|
justice, that they are <i>avengers</i> (<scripRef passage="Ro 13:4" id="Ex.xxii-p16.7" parsed="|Rom|13|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.13.4">Rom. xiii. 4</scripRef>), and they shall not bear the
|
|
sword in vain.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxii-p17">II. The care God took of servants. If their
|
|
masters maimed them, though it was only striking out a tooth, that
|
|
should be their discharge, <scripRef passage="Ex 21:26,27" id="Ex.xxii-p17.1" parsed="|Exod|21|26|21|27" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.26-Exod.21.27"><i>v.</i> 26, 27</scripRef>. This was intended, 1. To
|
|
prevent their being abused; masters would be careful not to offer
|
|
them any violence, lest they should lose their service. 2. To
|
|
comfort them if they were abused; the loss of a limb should be the
|
|
gaining of their liberty, which would do something towards
|
|
balancing both the pain and disgrace they underwent. Nay,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxii-p18">III. <i>Does God take care for oxen?</i>
|
|
Yes, it appears by the following laws in this chapter that he does,
|
|
<i>for our sakes,</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 9:9,10" id="Ex.xxii-p18.1" parsed="|1Cor|9|9|9|10" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.9.9-1Cor.9.10">1 Cor. ix. 9,
|
|
10</scripRef>. The Israelites are here directed what to do,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxii-p19">1. In case of hurt done by oxen, or any
|
|
other brute-creature; for the law, doubtless, was designed to
|
|
extend to all parallel cases. (1.) As an instance of God's care of
|
|
the life of man (though forfeited a thousand times into the hands
|
|
of divine justice), and in token of his detestation of the sin of
|
|
murder. If an ox killed any man, woman, or child, the ox was to be
|
|
<i>stoned</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 21:28" id="Ex.xxii-p19.1" parsed="|Exod|21|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.28"><i>v.</i>
|
|
28</scripRef>); and, because the greatest honour of the inferior
|
|
creatures is to be serviceable to man, the criminal is denied that
|
|
honour: his <i>flesh shall not be eaten.</i> Thus God would keep up
|
|
in the minds of his people a rooted abhorrence of the sin of murder
|
|
and every thing that was barbarous. (2.) To make men careful that
|
|
none of their cattle might do hurt, but that, by all means
|
|
possible, mischief might be prevented. If the owner of the beast
|
|
knew that he was mischievous, he must answer for the hurt done,
|
|
and, according as the circumstances of the case proved him to be
|
|
more or less accessory, he must either be <i>put to death</i> or
|
|
ransom his life with a sum of money, <scripRef passage="Ex 21:29-32" id="Ex.xxii-p19.2" parsed="|Exod|21|29|21|32" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.29-Exod.21.32"><i>v.</i> 29-32</scripRef>. Some of our ancient books
|
|
make this felony, by the common law of England, and give this
|
|
reason, "The owner, by suffering his beast to go at liberty when he
|
|
knew it to be mischievous, shows that he was very willing that hurt
|
|
should be done." Note, It is not enough for us not to do mischief
|
|
ourselves, but we must take care that no mischief be done by those
|
|
whom it is in our power to restrain, whether man or beast.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxii-p20">2. In case of hurt done to oxen, or other
|
|
cattle. (1.) If they fall into a pit, and perish there, he that
|
|
opened the pit must make good the loss, <scripRef passage="Ex 21:33,34" id="Ex.xxii-p20.1" parsed="|Exod|21|33|21|34" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.33-Exod.21.34"><i>v.</i> 33, 34</scripRef>. Note, We must take heed
|
|
not only of doing that which will be hurtful, but of doing that
|
|
which may be so. It is not enough not to design and devise
|
|
mischief, but we must contrive to prevent mischief, else we become
|
|
accessory to our neighbours' damage. Mischief done in malice is the
|
|
great transgression; but mischief done through negligence, and for
|
|
want of due care and consideration, is not without fault, but ought
|
|
to be reflected upon with great regret, according as the degree of
|
|
the mischief is: especially we must be careful that we do nothing
|
|
to make ourselves accessory to the sins of others, by laying an
|
|
occasion of offence in our brother's way, <scripRef passage="Ro 14:13" id="Ex.xxii-p20.2" parsed="|Rom|14|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.14.13">Rom. xiv. 13</scripRef>. (2.) If cattle fight, and one
|
|
kill another, the owners shall equally share in the loss, <scripRef passage="Ex 21:35" id="Ex.xxii-p20.3" parsed="|Exod|21|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.35"><i>v.</i> 35</scripRef>. Only if the beast that
|
|
had done the harm was known to the owner to have been mischievous
|
|
he shall answer for the damage, because he ought either to have
|
|
killed him or kept him up, <scripRef passage="Ex 21:36" id="Ex.xxii-p20.4" parsed="|Exod|21|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.36"><i>v.</i>
|
|
36</scripRef>. The determinations of these cases carry with them
|
|
the evidence of their own equity, and give such rules of justice as
|
|
were then, and are still, in use, for the decision of similar
|
|
controversies that arise between man and man. But I conjecture that
|
|
these cases might be specified, rather than others (though some of
|
|
them seem minute), because they were then cases in fact actually
|
|
depending before Moses; for in the wilderness where they lay
|
|
closely encamped, and had their flocks and herds among them, such
|
|
mischiefs as these last mentioned were likely enough to occur. That
|
|
which we are taught by these laws is that we should be very careful
|
|
to do no wrong, either directly or indirectly; and that, if we have
|
|
done wrong, we must be very willing to make satisfaction, and
|
|
desirous that nobody may lose by us.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXII" n="xxiii" progress="42.21%" prev="Ex.xxii" next="Ex.xxiv" id="Ex.xxiii">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.xxiii-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.xxiii-p0.2">CHAP. XXII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.xxiii-p1">The laws of this chapter relate, I. To the eighth
|
|
commandment, concerning theft (<scripRef passage="Ex 22:1-4" id="Ex.xxiii-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|22|1|22|4" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.1-Exod.22.4">ver.
|
|
1-4</scripRef>), trespass by cattle (<scripRef passage="Ex 22:5" id="Ex.xxiii-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|22|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.5">ver. 5</scripRef>), damage by fire (<scripRef passage="Ex 22:6" id="Ex.xxiii-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|22|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.6">ver. 6</scripRef>), trusts (<scripRef passage="Ex 22:7-13" id="Ex.xxiii-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|22|7|22|13" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.7-Exod.22.13">ver. 7-13</scripRef>), borrowing cattle (<scripRef passage="Ex 22:14,15" id="Ex.xxiii-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|22|14|22|15" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.14-Exod.22.15">ver. 14, 15</scripRef>), or money, <scripRef passage="Ex 22:25" id="Ex.xxiii-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|22|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.25">ver. 25-27</scripRef>. II. To the seventh
|
|
commandment. Against fornication (<scripRef passage="Ex 22:16,17" id="Ex.xxiii-p1.7" parsed="|Exod|22|16|22|17" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.16-Exod.22.17">ver. 16, 17</scripRef>), bestiality, <scripRef passage="Ex 22:19" id="Ex.xxiii-p1.8" parsed="|Exod|22|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.19">ver. 19</scripRef>. III. To the first table,
|
|
forbidding witchcraft (<scripRef passage="Ex 22:18" id="Ex.xxiii-p1.9" parsed="|Exod|22|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.18">ver.
|
|
18</scripRef>), idolatry, <scripRef passage="Ex 22:20" id="Ex.xxiii-p1.10" parsed="|Exod|22|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.20">ver.
|
|
20</scripRef>. Commanding to offer the firstfruits, <scripRef passage="Ex 22:29,30" id="Ex.xxiii-p1.11" parsed="|Exod|22|29|22|30" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.29-Exod.22.30">ver. 29, 30</scripRef>. IV. To the poor,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 22:21-24" id="Ex.xxiii-p1.12" parsed="|Exod|22|21|22|24" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.21-Exod.22.24">ver. 21-24</scripRef>. V. To the
|
|
civil government, <scripRef passage="Ex 22:28" id="Ex.xxiii-p1.13" parsed="|Exod|22|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.28">ver. 28</scripRef>.
|
|
VI. To the peculiarity of the Jewish nation, <scripRef passage="Ex 22:31" id="Ex.xxiii-p1.14" parsed="|Exod|22|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.31">ver. 31</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 22" id="Ex.xxiii-p1.15" parsed="|Exod|22|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 22:1-6" id="Ex.xxiii-p1.16" parsed="|Exod|22|1|22|6" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.1-Exod.22.6"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.22.1-Exod.22.6">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxiii-p1.17">Judicial Laws. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxiii-p1.18">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxiii-p2">1 If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and
|
|
kill it, or sell it; he shall restore five oxen for an ox, and four
|
|
sheep for a sheep.   2 If a thief be found breaking up, and be
|
|
smitten that he die, <i>there shall</i> no blood <i>be shed</i> for
|
|
him.   3 If the sun be risen upon him, <i>there shall be</i>
|
|
blood <i>shed</i> for him; <i>for</i> he should make full
|
|
restitution; if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his
|
|
theft.   4 If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive,
|
|
whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep; he shall restore double.  
|
|
5 If a man shall cause a field or vineyard to be eaten, and shall
|
|
put in his beast, and shall feed in another man's field; of the
|
|
best of his own field, and of the best of his own vineyard, shall
|
|
he make restitution.   6 If fire break out, and catch in
|
|
thorns, so that the stacks of corn, or the standing corn, or the
|
|
field, be consumed <i>therewith;</i> he that kindled the fire shall
|
|
surely make restitution.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxiii-p3">Here are the laws,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxiii-p4">I. Concerning theft, which are these:—1.
|
|
If a man steal any cattle (in which the wealth of those times
|
|
chiefly consisted), and they be found in his custody, he must
|
|
restore double, <scripRef passage="Ex 22:4" id="Ex.xxiii-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|22|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>.
|
|
Thus he must both satisfy for the wrong and suffer for the crime.
|
|
But it was afterwards provided that if the thief were touched in
|
|
conscience, and voluntarily confessed it, before it was discovered
|
|
or enquired into by any other, then he should only make restitution
|
|
of what he had stolen, and add to it a fifth part, <scripRef passage="Le 6:4,5" id="Ex.xxiii-p4.2" parsed="|Lev|6|4|6|5" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.4-Lev.6.5">Lev. vi. 4, 5</scripRef>. 2. If he had killed or
|
|
sold the sheep or ox he had stolen, and thereby persisted in his
|
|
crime, he must restore <i>five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a
|
|
sheep</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 22:1" id="Ex.xxiii-p4.3" parsed="|Exod|22|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>),
|
|
more for an ox than for a sheep because the owner, besides all the
|
|
other profit, lost the daily labour of his ox. This law teaches us
|
|
that fraud and injustice, so far from enriching men, will
|
|
impoverish them: if we unjustly get and keep that which is
|
|
another's, it will not only waste itself, but it will consume that
|
|
which is our own. 3. If he was not able to make restitution, he
|
|
must be sold for a slave, <scripRef passage="Ex 22:3" id="Ex.xxiii-p4.4" parsed="|Exod|22|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.3"><i>v.</i>
|
|
3</scripRef>. The court of judgment was to do it, and it is
|
|
probable that the person robbed had the money. Thus with us, in
|
|
some cases, felons are transported into plantations where alone
|
|
Englishmen know what slavery is. 4. If a thief broke a house in the
|
|
night, and was killed in the doing of it, his blood was upon his
|
|
own head, and should not be required at the hand of him that shed
|
|
it, <scripRef passage="Ex 22:2" id="Ex.xxiii-p4.5" parsed="|Exod|22|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. As he that
|
|
does an unlawful act bears the blame of the mischief that follows
|
|
to others, so likewise of that which follows to himself. A man's
|
|
house is his castle, and God's law, as well as man's, sets a guard
|
|
upon it; he that assaults it does so at his peril. Yet, if it was
|
|
in the day-time that the thief was killed, he that killed him must
|
|
be accountable for it (<scripRef passage="Ex 22:3" id="Ex.xxiii-p4.6" parsed="|Exod|22|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.3"><i>v.</i>
|
|
3</scripRef>), unless it was in the necessary defence of his own
|
|
life. Note, We ought to be tender of the lives even of bad men; the
|
|
magistrate must afford us redress, and we must not avenge
|
|
ourselves.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxiii-p5">II. Concerning trespass, <scripRef passage="Ex 22:5" id="Ex.xxiii-p5.1" parsed="|Exod|22|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. He that wilfully put his cattle
|
|
into his neighbour's field must make restitution of the best of his
|
|
own. Our law makes a much greater difference between this and other
|
|
thefts than the law of Moses did. The Jews hence observed it as a
|
|
general rule that restitution must always be made of the best, and
|
|
that no man should keep any cattle that were likely to trespass
|
|
upon his neighbours or do them any damage. We should be more
|
|
careful not to do wrong than not to suffer wrong, because to suffer
|
|
wrong is only an affliction, but to do wrong is a sin, and sin is
|
|
always worse than affliction.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxiii-p6">III. Concerning damage done by fire,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 22:6" id="Ex.xxiii-p6.1" parsed="|Exod|22|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. He that
|
|
designed only the burning of thorns might become accessory to the
|
|
burning of corn, and should not be held guiltless. Men of hot and
|
|
eager spirits should take heed, lest, while they pretend only to
|
|
pluck up the tares, they root out the wheat also. If the fire did
|
|
mischief, he that kindled it must answer for it, though it could
|
|
not be proved that he designed the mischief. Men must suffer for
|
|
their carelessness, as well as for their malice. We must take heed
|
|
of beginning strife; for, though it seem but little, we know not
|
|
how great a matter it may kindle, the blame of which we must bear,
|
|
if, with the madman, we cast fire-brands, arrows, and death, and
|
|
pretend we mean no harm. It will make us very careful of ourselves,
|
|
if we consider that we are accountable, not only for the hurt we
|
|
do, but for the hurt we occasion through inadvertency.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 22:7-15" id="Ex.xxiii-p6.2" parsed="|Exod|22|7|22|15" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.7-Exod.22.15"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.22.7-Exod.22.15">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxiii-p7">7 If a man shall deliver unto his neighbour
|
|
money or stuff to keep, and it be stolen out of the man's house; if
|
|
the thief be found, let him pay double.   8 If the thief be
|
|
not found, then the master of the house shall be brought unto the
|
|
judges, <i>to see</i> whether he have put his hand unto his
|
|
neighbour's goods.   9 For all manner of trespass, <i>whether
|
|
it be</i> for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, <i>or</i> for
|
|
any manner of lost thing, which <i>another</i> challengeth to be
|
|
his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges;
|
|
<i>and</i> whom the judges shall condemn, he shall pay double unto
|
|
his neighbour.   10 If a man deliver unto his neighbour an
|
|
ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or any beast, to keep; and it die, or be
|
|
hurt, or driven away, no man seeing <i>it:</i>   11
|
|
<i>Then</i> shall an oath of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxiii-p7.1">Lord</span> be between them both, that he hath not put
|
|
his hand unto his neighbour's goods; and the owner of it shall
|
|
accept <i>thereof,</i> and he shall not make <i>it</i> good.  
|
|
12 And if it be stolen from him, he shall make restitution unto the
|
|
owner thereof.   13 If it be torn in pieces, <i>then</i> let
|
|
him bring it <i>for</i> witness, <i>and</i> he shall not make good
|
|
that which was torn.   14 And if a man borrow <i>ought</i> of
|
|
his neighbour, and it be hurt, or die, the owner thereof
|
|
<i>being</i> not with it, he shall surely make <i>it</i> good.
|
|
  15 <i>But</i> if the owner thereof <i>be</i> with it, he
|
|
shall not make <i>it</i> good: if it <i>be</i> an hired
|
|
<i>thing,</i> it came for his hire.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxiii-p8">These laws are,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxiii-p9">I. Concerning trusts, <scripRef passage="Ex 22:7-13" id="Ex.xxiii-p9.1" parsed="|Exod|22|7|22|13" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.7-Exod.22.13"><i>v.</i> 7-13</scripRef>. If a man deliver goods,
|
|
suppose to a carrier to be conveyed, or to a warehouse-keeper to be
|
|
preserved, or cattle to a farmer to be fed, upon a valuable
|
|
consideration, and if a special confidence be reposed in the person
|
|
they are lodged with, in case these goods be stolen or lost, perish
|
|
or be damaged, if it appear that it was not by any fault of the
|
|
trustee, the owner must stand to the loss, otherwise he that has
|
|
been false to this trust must be compelled to make satisfaction.
|
|
The trustee must aver his innocence upon oath before the judges, if
|
|
the case was such as afforded no other proof, and they were to
|
|
determine the matter according as it appeared. This teaches us, 1.
|
|
That we ought to be very careful of every thing we are entrusted
|
|
with, as careful of it, though it be another's, as if it were our
|
|
own. It is unjust and base, and that which all the world cries
|
|
shame on, to betray a trust. 2. That there is such a general
|
|
failing of truth and justice upon earth as gives too much occasion
|
|
to suspect men's honesty whenever it is their interest to be
|
|
dishonest. 3. That <i>an oath for confirmation is an end of
|
|
strife,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 6:16" id="Ex.xxiii-p9.2" parsed="|Heb|6|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.6.16">Heb. vi. 16</scripRef>. It
|
|
is called an <i>oath for the Lord</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 22:11" id="Ex.xxiii-p9.3" parsed="|Exod|22|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>), because to him the appeal is
|
|
made, not only as to a witness of truth, but as to an avenger of
|
|
wrong and falsehood. Those that had offered injury to their
|
|
neighbour by doing any unjust thing, yet, it might be hoped, had
|
|
not so far debauched their consciences as to profane an oath of the
|
|
Lord, and call the God of truth to be witness to a lie: perjury is
|
|
a sin which natural conscience startles at as much as any other.
|
|
The religion of an oath is very ancient, and a plain indication of
|
|
the universal belief of a God, and a providence, and a judgment to
|
|
come. 4. That magistracy is an ordinance of God, designed, among
|
|
other intentions, to assist men both in discovering rights disputed
|
|
and recovering rights denied; and great respect ought to be paid to
|
|
the determination of the judges. 5. That there is no reason why a
|
|
man should suffer for that which he could not help: masters should
|
|
consider this, in dealing with their servants, and not rebuke that
|
|
as a fault which was a mischance, and which they themselves, had
|
|
they been in their servants' places, could not have prevented.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxiii-p10">II. Concerning loans, <scripRef passage="Ex 22:14,15" id="Ex.xxiii-p10.1" parsed="|Exod|22|14|22|15" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.14-Exod.22.15"><i>v.</i> 14, 15</scripRef>. If a man (suppose) lent
|
|
his team to his neighbour, if the owner was with it, or was to
|
|
receive profit for the loan of it, whatever harm befel the cattle
|
|
the owner must stand to the loss of: but if the owner was so kind
|
|
to the borrower as to lend it to him gratis, and put such a
|
|
confidence in him as to trust it from under his own eye, then, if
|
|
any harm happened, the borrower must make it good. Let us learn
|
|
hence to be very careful not to abuse any thing that is lent us; it
|
|
is not only unjust, but base and disingenuous, inasmuch as it is
|
|
rendering evil for good; we should much rather choose to lose
|
|
ourselves than that any should sustain loss by their kindness to
|
|
us. <i>Alas, master! for it was borrowed,</i> <scripRef passage="2Ki 6:5" id="Ex.xxiii-p10.2" parsed="|2Kgs|6|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.6.5">2 Kings vi. 5</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 22" id="Ex.xxiii-p10.3" parsed="|Exod|22|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 22:16-24" id="Ex.xxiii-p10.4" parsed="|Exod|22|16|22|24" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.16-Exod.22.24"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.22.16-Exod.22.24">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxiii-p11">16 And if a man entice a maid that is not
|
|
betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow her to be his
|
|
wife.   17 If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him,
|
|
he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins.   18
|
|
Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.   19 Whosoever lieth
|
|
with a beast shall surely be put to death.   20 He that
|
|
sacrificeth unto <i>any</i> god, save unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxiii-p11.1">Lord</span> only, he shall be utterly destroyed.  
|
|
21 Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were
|
|
strangers in the land of Egypt.   22 Ye shall not afflict any
|
|
widow, or fatherless child.   23 If thou afflict them in any
|
|
wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry;
|
|
  24 And my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the
|
|
sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children
|
|
fatherless.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxiii-p12">Here is, I. A law that he who debauched a
|
|
young woman should be obliged to marry her, <scripRef passage="Ex 22:16,17" id="Ex.xxiii-p12.1" parsed="|Exod|22|16|22|17" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.16-Exod.22.17"><i>v.</i> 16, 17</scripRef>. If she was betrothed to
|
|
another, it was death to debauch her (<scripRef passage="De 22:23,24" id="Ex.xxiii-p12.2" parsed="|Deut|22|23|22|24" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.23-Deut.22.24">Deut. xxii. 23, 24</scripRef>); but the law here
|
|
mentioned respects her as single. But, if the father refused her to
|
|
him, he was to give satisfaction in money for the injury and
|
|
disgrace he had done her. This law puts an honour upon marriage and
|
|
shows likewise how improper a thing it is that children should
|
|
marry without their parents' consent: even here, where the divine
|
|
law appointed the marriage, both as a punishment to him that had
|
|
done wrong and a recompence to her that had suffered wrong, yet
|
|
there was an express reservation for the father's power; if he
|
|
denied his consent, it must be no marriage.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxiii-p13">II. A law which makes witchcraft a capital
|
|
crime, <scripRef passage="Ex 22:18" id="Ex.xxiii-p13.1" parsed="|Exod|22|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>.
|
|
Witchcraft not only gives that honour to the devil which is due to
|
|
God alone, but bids defiance to the divine Providence, wages war
|
|
with God's government, and puts his work into the devil's hand,
|
|
expecting him to do good and evil, and so making him indeed <i>the
|
|
god of this world;</i> justly therefore was it punished with death,
|
|
especially among a people that were blessed with a divine
|
|
revelation, and cared for by divine Providence above any people
|
|
under the sun. By our law, consulting, covenanting with,
|
|
invocating, or employing, any evil spirit, to any intent
|
|
whatsoever, and exercising any enchantment, charm, or sorcery,
|
|
whereby hurt shall be done to any person whatsoever, is made
|
|
felony, without benefit of clergy; also pretending to tell where
|
|
goods lost or stolen may be found, or the like, is an iniquity
|
|
punishable by the judge, and the second offence with death. The
|
|
justice of our law herein is supported by the law of God recorded
|
|
here.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxiii-p14">III. Unnatural abominations are here made
|
|
capital; such beasts in the shape of men as are guilty of them are
|
|
unfit to live (<scripRef passage="Ex 22:19" id="Ex.xxiii-p14.1" parsed="|Exod|22|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.19"><i>v.</i>
|
|
19</scripRef>): <i>Whosoever lies with a beast shall die.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxiii-p15">IV. Idolatry is also made capital,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 22:20" id="Ex.xxiii-p15.1" parsed="|Exod|22|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. God having
|
|
declared himself jealous in this matter, the civil powers must be
|
|
jealous in it too, and utterly destroy those persons, families, and
|
|
places of Israel, that worshipped any god, save the Lord: this law
|
|
might have prevented the woeful apostasies of the Jewish nation in
|
|
after times, if those that should have executed it had not been
|
|
ringleaders in the breach of it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxiii-p16">V. A caution against oppression. Because
|
|
those who were empowered to punish other crimes were themselves
|
|
most in danger of this, God takes the punishing of it into his own
|
|
hands.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxiii-p17">1. Strangers must not be abused (<scripRef passage="Ex 22:21" id="Ex.xxiii-p17.1" parsed="|Exod|22|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>), not wronged in
|
|
judgment by the magistrates, not imposed upon in contracts, nor
|
|
must any advantage be taken of their ignorance or necessity; no,
|
|
nor must they be taunted, trampled upon, treated with contempt, or
|
|
upbraided with being strangers; for all these were vexations, and
|
|
would discourage strangers from coming to live among them, or would
|
|
strengthen their prejudices against their religion, to which, by
|
|
all kind and gentle methods, they should endeavour to proselyte
|
|
them. The reason given why they should be kind to strangers is,
|
|
"<i>You were strangers in Egypt,</i> and knew what it was to be
|
|
vexed and oppressed there," Note, (1.) Humanity is one of the laws
|
|
of religion, and obliges us particularly to be tender of those that
|
|
lie most under disadvantages and discouragements, and to extend our
|
|
compassionate concern to strangers, and those to whom we are not
|
|
under the obligations of alliance or acquaintance. Those that are
|
|
strangers to us are known to God, and he preserves them, <scripRef passage="Ps 146:9" id="Ex.xxiii-p17.2" parsed="|Ps|146|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.146.9">Ps. cxlvi. 9</scripRef>. (2.) Those that profess
|
|
religion should study to oblige strangers, that they may thereby
|
|
recommend religion to their good opinion, and take heed of doing
|
|
any thing that may tempt them to think ill of it or its professors,
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Pe 2:12" id="Ex.xxiii-p17.3" parsed="|1Pet|2|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.2.12">1 Pet. ii. 12</scripRef>. (3.) Those
|
|
that have themselves been in poverty and distress, if Providence
|
|
enrich and enlarge them, ought to show a particular tenderness
|
|
towards those that are now in such circumstances as they were in
|
|
formerly, doing now by them as they then wished to be done by.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxiii-p18">2. Widows and fatherless must not be abused
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 22:22" id="Ex.xxiii-p18.1" parsed="|Exod|22|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>): <i>You
|
|
shall not afflict them,</i> that is, "You shall comfort and assist
|
|
them, and be ready upon all occasions to show them kindness." In
|
|
making just demands from them, their condition must be considered,
|
|
who have lost those that should deal for them, and protect them;
|
|
they are supposed to be unversed in business, destitute of advice,
|
|
timorous, and of a tender spirit, and therefore must be treated
|
|
with kindness and compassion; no advantage must be taken against
|
|
them, nor any hardship put upon them, from which a husband or a
|
|
father would have sheltered them. For, (1.) God takes particular
|
|
cognizance of their case, <scripRef passage="Ex 22:23" id="Ex.xxiii-p18.2" parsed="|Exod|22|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.23"><i>v.</i>
|
|
23</scripRef>. Having no one else to complain and appeal to, they
|
|
will <i>cry unto God,</i> and he will be sure <i>to hear them;</i>
|
|
for his law and his providence are guardians to the widows and
|
|
fatherless, and if men do not pity them, and will not hear them, he
|
|
will. Note, It is a great comfort to those who are injured and
|
|
oppressed by men that they have a God to go to who will do more
|
|
than <i>give them the hearing;</i> and it ought to be a terror to
|
|
those who are oppressive that they have the cry of the poor against
|
|
them, which God will hear. Nay, (2.) He will severely reckon with
|
|
those that do oppress them. Though they escape punishments from
|
|
men, God's righteous judgments will pursue and overtake them,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 22:24" id="Ex.xxiii-p18.3" parsed="|Exod|22|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. Men that have
|
|
a sense of justice and honour will espouse the injured cause of the
|
|
weak and helpless; and shall not the righteous God do it? Observe
|
|
the equity of the sentence here passed upon those that oppress the
|
|
widows and fatherless: their wives shall become widows, and their
|
|
children fatherless; and the Lord is known by these judgments,
|
|
which he sometimes executes still.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 22:25-31" id="Ex.xxiii-p18.4" parsed="|Exod|22|25|22|31" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.25-Exod.22.31"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.22.25-Exod.22.31">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxiii-p19">25 If thou lend money to <i>any of</i> my people
|
|
<i>that is</i> poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer,
|
|
neither shalt thou lay upon him usury.   26 If thou at all
|
|
take thy neighbour's raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto
|
|
him by that the sun goeth down:   27 For that <i>is</i> his
|
|
covering only, it <i>is</i> his raiment for his skin: wherein shall
|
|
he sleep? and it shall come to pass, when he crieth unto me, that I
|
|
will hear; for I <i>am</i> gracious.   28 Thou shalt not
|
|
revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people.   29 Thou
|
|
shalt not delay <i>to offer</i> the first of thy ripe fruits, and
|
|
of thy liquors: the firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me.
|
|
  30 Likewise shalt thou do with thine oxen, <i>and</i> with
|
|
thy sheep: seven days it shall be with his dam; on the eighth day
|
|
thou shalt give it me.   31 And ye shall be holy men unto me:
|
|
neither shall ye eat <i>any</i> flesh <i>that is</i> torn of beasts
|
|
in the field; ye shall cast it to the dogs.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxiii-p20">Here is, I. A law against extortion in
|
|
lending. 1. They must not receive use for money from any that
|
|
borrowed for necessity (<scripRef passage="Ex 22:25" id="Ex.xxiii-p20.1" parsed="|Exod|22|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.25"><i>v.</i>
|
|
25</scripRef>), as in that case, <scripRef passage="Ne 5:5,7" id="Ex.xxiii-p20.2" parsed="|Neh|5|5|0|0;|Neh|5|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Neh.5.5 Bible:Neh.5.7">Neh.
|
|
v. 5, 7</scripRef>. And such provision the law made for the
|
|
preservation of estates to their families by the year of jubilee
|
|
that a people who had little concern in trade could not be supposed
|
|
to borrow money but for necessity, and therefore it is generally
|
|
forbidden among themselves; but to a stranger, whom yet they might
|
|
not oppress, they were allowed to lend upon usury: this law,
|
|
therefore, in the strictness of it, seems to have been peculiar to
|
|
the Jewish state; but, in the equity of it, it obliges us to show
|
|
mercy to those of whom we might take advantage, and to be content
|
|
to share, in loss as well as profit, with those we lend to, if
|
|
Providence cross them; and, upon this condition, it seems as lawful
|
|
to receive interest for my money, which another takes pains with
|
|
and improves, but runs the hazard of, in trade, as it is to receive
|
|
rent for my land, which another takes pains with and improves, but
|
|
runs the hazard of, in husbandry. 2. They must not take a poor
|
|
man's bed-clothes in pawn; but, if they did, must restore them by
|
|
bed-time, <scripRef passage="Ex 22:26,27" id="Ex.xxiii-p20.3" parsed="|Exod|22|26|22|27" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.26-Exod.22.27"><i>v.</i> 26,
|
|
27</scripRef>. Those who lie soft and warm themselves should
|
|
consider the hard and cold lodgings of many poor people, and not do
|
|
any thing to make bad worse, or to add affliction to the
|
|
afflicted.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxiii-p21">II. A law against the contempt of authority
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 22:28" id="Ex.xxiii-p21.1" parsed="|Exod|22|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>): <i>Thou
|
|
shalt not revile the gods,</i> that is, the <i>judges</i> and
|
|
<i>magistrates,</i> for their executing these laws; they must do
|
|
their duty, whoever suffer by it. Magistrates ought not to fear the
|
|
reproach of men, nor their revilings, but to despise them as long
|
|
as they keep a good conscience; but those that do revile them for
|
|
their being a terror to evil works and workers reflect upon God
|
|
himself, and will have a great deal to answer for another day. We
|
|
find those under a black character, and a heavy doom, that
|
|
<i>despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities,</i> <scripRef passage="Jude 1:8" id="Ex.xxiii-p21.2" parsed="|Jude|1|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jude.1.8">Jude 8</scripRef>. Princes and magistrates are
|
|
our fathers, whom the fifth commandment obliges us to honour and
|
|
forbids us to revile. St. Paul applies this law to himself, and
|
|
owns that he ought not to <i>speak evil of the ruler of his
|
|
people;</i> no, not though the ruler was then his most unrighteous
|
|
persecutor, <scripRef passage="Ac 23:5" id="Ex.xxiii-p21.3" parsed="|Acts|23|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.23.5">Acts xxiii. 5</scripRef>;
|
|
see <scripRef passage="Ec 10:20" id="Ex.xxiii-p21.4" parsed="|Eccl|10|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.10.20">Eccl. x. 20</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxiii-p22">III. A law concerning the offering of their
|
|
first-fruits to God, <scripRef passage="Ex 22:29,30" id="Ex.xxiii-p22.1" parsed="|Exod|22|29|22|30" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.29-Exod.22.30"><i>v.</i> 29,
|
|
30</scripRef>. It was appointed before (<scripRef passage="Ex 13:1-22" id="Ex.xxiii-p22.2" parsed="|Exod|13|1|13|22" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.1-Exod.13.22"><i>ch.</i> xiii</scripRef>), and it is here repeated:
|
|
<i>The firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me;</i> and much
|
|
more reason have we to give ourselves, and all we have, to God, who
|
|
<i>spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all.</i> The
|
|
first ripe of their corn they must not delay to offer. There is
|
|
danger, if we delay our duty, lest we wholly omit it; and by
|
|
slipping the first opportunity, in expectation of another, we
|
|
suffer Satan to cheat us of all our time. Let not young people
|
|
delay to offer to God the first-fruits of their time and strength,
|
|
lest their delays come, at last, to be denials, through the
|
|
deceitfulness of sin, and the more convenient season they promise
|
|
themselves never arrive. Yet it is provided that the firstlings of
|
|
their cattle should not be dedicated to God till they were past
|
|
seven days old, for then they began to be good for something. Note,
|
|
God is the first and best, and therefore must have the first and
|
|
best.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxiii-p23">IV. A distinction put between the Jews and
|
|
all other people: <i>You shall be holy men unto me;</i> and one
|
|
mark of that honourable distinction is appointed in their diet,
|
|
which was, that they should not <i>eat any flesh that was torn of
|
|
beasts</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 22:31" id="Ex.xxiii-p23.1" parsed="|Exod|22|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>),
|
|
not only because it was unwholesome, but because it was paltry, and
|
|
base, and covetous, and a thing below those who were holy men unto
|
|
God, to eat the leavings of the beasts of prey. We that are
|
|
sanctified to God must not be curious in our diet; but we must be
|
|
conscientious, not feeding ourselves without fear, but eating and
|
|
drinking by rule, the rule of sobriety, to the glory of God.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXIII" n="xxiv" progress="42.65%" prev="Ex.xxiii" next="Ex.xxv" id="Ex.xxiv">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.xxiv-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.xxiv-p0.2">CHAP. XXIII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.xxiv-p1">This chapter continues and concludes the acts that
|
|
passed in the first session (if I may so call it) upon Mount Sinai.
|
|
Here are, I. Some laws of universal obligation, relating especially
|
|
to the ninth commandment, against bearing false witness (<scripRef passage="Ex 23:1" id="Ex.xxiv-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|23|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.1">ver. 1</scripRef>), and giving false judgment,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 23:2,3,6-8" id="Ex.xxiv-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|23|2|23|3;|Exod|23|6|23|8" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.2-Exod.23.3 Bible:Exod.23.6-Exod.23.8">ver. 2, 3, 6-8</scripRef>. Also a
|
|
law of doing good to our enemies (<scripRef passage="Ex 23:4,5" id="Ex.xxiv-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|23|4|23|5" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.4-Exod.23.5">ver. 4, 5</scripRef>), and not oppressing strangers,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 23:9" id="Ex.xxiv-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|23|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.9">ver. 9</scripRef>. II. Some laws
|
|
peculiar to the Jews. The sabbatical year (<scripRef passage="Ex 23:10,11" id="Ex.xxiv-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|23|10|23|11" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.10-Exod.23.11">ver. 10, 11</scripRef>), the three annual feasts
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 23:14-17" id="Ex.xxiv-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|23|14|23|17" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.14-Exod.23.17">ver. 14-17</scripRef>), with some
|
|
laws pertaining thereto. III. Gracious promises of the completing
|
|
of the mercy God had begun for them, upon condition of their
|
|
obedience. That God would conduct them through the wilderness
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 23:20-24" id="Ex.xxiv-p1.7" parsed="|Exod|23|20|23|24" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.20-Exod.23.24">ver. 20-24</scripRef>), that he
|
|
would prosper all they had (<scripRef passage="Ex 23:25,26" id="Ex.xxiv-p1.8" parsed="|Exod|23|25|23|26" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.25-Exod.23.26">ver.
|
|
25, 26</scripRef>), that he would put them in possession of Canaan,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 23:27-31" id="Ex.xxiv-p1.9" parsed="|Exod|23|27|23|31" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.27-Exod.23.31">ver. 27-31</scripRef>. But they
|
|
must not mingle themselves with the nations, <scripRef passage="Ex 23:32,33" id="Ex.xxiv-p1.10" parsed="|Exod|23|32|23|33" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.32-Exod.23.33">ver. 32, 33</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 23" id="Ex.xxiv-p1.11" parsed="|Exod|23|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 23:1-9" id="Ex.xxiv-p1.12" parsed="|Exod|23|1|23|9" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.1-Exod.23.9"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.23.1-Exod.23.9">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxiv-p1.13">Judicial Laws. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxiv-p1.14">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxiv-p2">1 Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not
|
|
thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.   2
|
|
Thou shalt not follow a multitude to <i>do</i> evil; neither shalt
|
|
thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest
|
|
<i>judgment:</i>   3 Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man
|
|
in his cause.   4 If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass
|
|
going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again.  
|
|
5 If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his
|
|
burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help
|
|
with him.   6 Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in
|
|
his cause.   7 Keep thee far from a false matter; and the
|
|
innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the
|
|
wicked.   8 And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth
|
|
the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.   9 Also
|
|
thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a
|
|
stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxiv-p3">Here are, I. Cautions concerning judicial
|
|
proceedings; it was not enough that they had good laws, better than
|
|
ever any nation had, but care must be taken for the due
|
|
administration of justice according to those laws.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxiv-p4">1. The witnesses are here cautioned that
|
|
they neither occasion an innocent man to be indicted, by raising a
|
|
false report of him and setting common fame against him, nor assist
|
|
in the prosecution of an innocent man, or one whom they do not know
|
|
to be guilty, by <i>putting their hand</i> in swearing as witnesses
|
|
against him, <scripRef passage="Ex 23:1" id="Ex.xxiv-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|23|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>.
|
|
Bearing false witness against a man, in a matter that touches his
|
|
life, has in it all the guilty of lying, perjury, malice, theft,
|
|
murder, with the additional stains of colouring all with a pretence
|
|
of justice and involving many others in the same guilt. There is
|
|
scarcely any one act of wickedness that a man can possibly be
|
|
guilty of which has in it a greater complication of villanies than
|
|
this has. Yet the former part of this caution is to be extended,
|
|
not only to judicial proceedings, but to common conversation; so
|
|
that slandering and backbiting are a species of
|
|
falsewitness-bearing. A man's reputation lies as much at the mercy
|
|
of every company as his estate or life does at the mercy of a judge
|
|
or jury; so that he who raises, or knowingly spreads, a false
|
|
report against his neighbour, especially if the report be made to
|
|
wise and good men whose esteem one would desire to enjoy, sins as
|
|
much against the laws of truth, justice, and charity, as a false
|
|
witness does—with this further mischief, that he leaves it not in
|
|
the power of the person injured to obtain redress. That which we
|
|
translate, Thou shalt not <i>raise,</i> the margin reads, Thou
|
|
shalt not <i>receive</i> a false report; for sometimes the
|
|
receiver, in this case, is as bad as the thief; and a backbiting
|
|
tongue would not do so much mischief as it does if it were not
|
|
countenanced. Sometimes we cannot avoid hearing a false report, but
|
|
we must not receive it, that is, we must not hear it with pleasure
|
|
and delight as those that rejoice in iniquity, nor give credit to
|
|
it as long as there remains any cause to question the truth of it.
|
|
This is charity to our neighbour's good name, and doing as we would
|
|
be done by.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxiv-p5">2. The judges are here cautioned not to
|
|
pervert judgment. (1.) They must not be overruled, either by might
|
|
or multitude, to go against their consciences in giving judgment,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 23:2" id="Ex.xxiv-p5.1" parsed="|Exod|23|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. With the Jews
|
|
causes were tried by a bench of justices, and judgment given
|
|
according to the majority of votes, in which cause every particular
|
|
justice must go according to truth, as it appeared to him upon the
|
|
strictest and most impartial enquiry, though the multitude of the
|
|
people, and their outcries, or, the sentence of the <i>rabbim</i>
|
|
(we translate it <i>many</i>), the more ancient and honourable of
|
|
the justices, went the other way. Therefore (as with us), among the
|
|
Jews, the junior upon the bench voted first, that he might not be
|
|
swayed nor overruled by the authority of the senior. Judges must
|
|
not respect the persons either of the parties or of their
|
|
fellow-judges. The former part of this verse also gives a general
|
|
rule for all, as well as judges, not <i>to follow a multitude to do
|
|
evil.</i> General usage will never excuse us in a bad practice; nor
|
|
is the broad way ever the better or safer for its being tracked and
|
|
crowded. We must enquire what we ought to do, not what the majority
|
|
do; because we must be judged by our Master, not by our
|
|
fellow-servants, and it is too great a compliment to be willing to
|
|
go to hell for company. (2.) They must not pervert judgment, no,
|
|
not in favour of a poor man, <scripRef passage="Ex 23:3" id="Ex.xxiv-p5.2" parsed="|Exod|23|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.3"><i>v.</i>
|
|
3</scripRef>. Right must in all cases take place and wrong must be
|
|
punished, and justice never biassed nor injury connived at under
|
|
pretence of charity and compassion. If a poor man be a bad man, and
|
|
do a bad thing, it is foolish pity to let him fare the better for
|
|
his poverty, <scripRef passage="De 1:16,17" id="Ex.xxiv-p5.3" parsed="|Deut|1|16|1|17" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.16-Deut.1.17">Deut. i. 16,
|
|
17</scripRef>. (3.) Neither must they pervert judgment in prejudice
|
|
to a poor man, nor suffer him to be wronged because he had not
|
|
wherewithal to right himself; in such cases the judges themselves
|
|
must become advocates for the poor, as far as their cause was good
|
|
and honest (<scripRef passage="Ex 23:6" id="Ex.xxiv-p5.4" parsed="|Exod|23|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>):
|
|
"<i>Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of the poor;</i> remember
|
|
they are thy poor, bone of thy bone, thy poor neighbours, thy poor
|
|
brethren; let them not therefore fare the worse for being poor."
|
|
(4.) They must dread the thoughts of assisting or abetting a bad
|
|
cause (<scripRef passage="Ex 23:7" id="Ex.xxiv-p5.5" parsed="|Exod|23|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>):
|
|
"<i>Keep thyself far from a false matter;</i> do not only keep
|
|
thyself free from it, nor think it enough to say thou art
|
|
unconcerned in it, but keep far from it, dread it as a dangerous
|
|
snare. The innocent and righteous thou wouldest not, for all the
|
|
world, slay with thy own hands; keep far therefore from a false
|
|
matter, for thou knowest not but it may end in that, and the
|
|
righteous God will not leave such wickedness unpunished: <i>I will
|
|
not justify the wicked,</i>" that is, "I will condemn him that
|
|
unjustly condemns others." Judges themselves are accountable to the
|
|
great judge. (5.) They must not take bribes, <scripRef passage="Ex 23:8" id="Ex.xxiv-p5.6" parsed="|Exod|23|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. They must not only not be swayed
|
|
by a gift to give an unjust judgment, to condemn the innocent, or
|
|
acquit the guilty, or adjudge a man's right from him, but they must
|
|
not so much as take a gift, lest it should have a bad influence
|
|
upon them, and overrule them, contrary to their intentions; for it
|
|
has a strange tendency to blind those that otherwise would do well.
|
|
(6.) They must not oppress a stranger, <scripRef passage="Ex 23:9" id="Ex.xxiv-p5.7" parsed="|Exod|23|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. Though aliens might not inherit
|
|
lands among them, yet they must have justice done them, must
|
|
peaceably enjoy their own, and be redressed if they were wronged,
|
|
though they were strangers to the commonwealth of Israel. It is an
|
|
instance of the equity and goodness of our law, that, if an alien
|
|
be tried for any crime except treason, the one half of his jury, if
|
|
he desire it, shall be foreigners; they call it a trial <i>per
|
|
mediatatem linguae,</i> a kind provision that strangers may not be
|
|
oppressed. The reason here given is the same with that in <scripRef passage="Ex 22:21" id="Ex.xxiv-p5.8" parsed="|Exod|22|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.21"><i>ch.</i> xxii. 21</scripRef>, <i>You were
|
|
strangers,</i> which is here elegantly enforced, <i>You know the
|
|
heart of a stranger;</i> you know something of the griefs and fears
|
|
of a stranger by sad experience, and therefore, being delivered,
|
|
can the more easily put your souls into their souls' stead.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxiv-p6">II. Commands concerning neighbourly
|
|
kindnesses. We must be ready to do all good offices, as there is
|
|
occasion, for any body, yea even for those that have done us ill
|
|
offices, <scripRef passage="Ex 23:4,5" id="Ex.xxiv-p6.1" parsed="|Exod|23|4|23|5" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.4-Exod.23.5"><i>v.</i> 4, 5</scripRef>.
|
|
The command of loving our enemies, and doing good to those that
|
|
hate us, is not only a <i>new,</i> but an <i>old</i> commandment,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Pr 25:21,22" id="Ex.xxiv-p6.2" parsed="|Prov|25|21|25|22" osisRef="Bible:Prov.25.21-Prov.25.22">Prov. xxv. 21, 22</scripRef>. Infer
|
|
hence, 1. If we must do this kindness for an enemy, much more for a
|
|
friend, though an enemy only is mentioned, because it is supposed
|
|
that a man would not be unneighbourly to any unless such as he had
|
|
a particular spleen against. 2. If it be wrong not to prevent our
|
|
enemy's loss and damage, how much worse is it to occasion harm and
|
|
loss to him, or any thing he has. 3. If we must bring back our
|
|
neighbours' cattle when they go astray, much more must we
|
|
endeavour, by prudent admonitions and instructions, to bring back
|
|
our neighbours themselves, when they go astray in any sinful path,
|
|
see <scripRef passage="Jam 5:19,20" id="Ex.xxiv-p6.3" parsed="|Jas|5|19|5|20" osisRef="Bible:Jas.5.19-Jas.5.20">Jam. v. 19, 20</scripRef>. And,
|
|
if we must endeavour to help up a fallen ass, much more should we
|
|
endeavour, by comforts and encouragements, to help up a sinking
|
|
spirit, <i>saying to those that are of a fearful heart, Be
|
|
strong.</i> We must seek the relief and welfare of others <i>as our
|
|
own,</i> <scripRef passage="Php 2:4" id="Ex.xxiv-p6.4" parsed="|Phil|2|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Phil.2.4">Phil. ii. 4</scripRef>. <i>If
|
|
thou sayest, Behold, we know it not, doth not he that pondereth the
|
|
heart consider it?</i> See <scripRef passage="Pr 24:11,12" id="Ex.xxiv-p6.5" parsed="|Prov|24|11|24|12" osisRef="Bible:Prov.24.11-Prov.24.12">Prov.
|
|
xxiv. 11, 12</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxiv-p6.6">Sacred Feasts. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxiv-p6.7">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 23" id="Ex.xxiv-p6.8" parsed="|Exod|23|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 23:10-19" id="Ex.xxiv-p6.9" parsed="|Exod|23|10|23|19" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.10-Exod.23.19"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.23.10-Exod.23.19">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxiv-p7">10 And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and
|
|
shalt gather in the fruits thereof:   11 But the seventh
|
|
<i>year</i> thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of
|
|
thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field
|
|
shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard,
|
|
<i>and</i> with thy oliveyard.   12 Six days thou shalt do thy
|
|
work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and
|
|
thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger,
|
|
may be refreshed.   13 And in all <i>things</i> that I have
|
|
said unto you be circumspect: and make no mention of the name of
|
|
other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.   14
|
|
Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.   15
|
|
Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat
|
|
unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time
|
|
appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt:
|
|
and none shall appear before me empty:)   16 And the feast of
|
|
harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in
|
|
the field: and the feast of ingathering, <i>which is</i> in the end
|
|
of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the
|
|
field.   17 Three times in the year all thy males shall appear
|
|
before the Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxiv-p7.1">God</span>.   18 Thou
|
|
shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread;
|
|
neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning.
|
|
  19 The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring
|
|
into the house of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxiv-p7.2">Lord</span> thy God.
|
|
Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxiv-p8">Here is, I. The institution of the
|
|
sabbatical year, <scripRef passage="Ex 23:10,11" id="Ex.xxiv-p8.1" parsed="|Exod|23|10|23|11" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.10-Exod.23.11"><i>v.</i> 10,
|
|
11</scripRef>. Every seventh year the land was to rest; they must
|
|
not plough nor sow it at the beginning of the year, and then they
|
|
could not expect any great harvest at the end of the year: but what
|
|
the earth did produce of itself should be eaten from hand to mouth,
|
|
and not laid up. Now this was designed, 1. To show what a plentiful
|
|
land that was into which God was bringing them—that so numerous a
|
|
people could have rich maintenance out of the produce of so small a
|
|
country, without foreign trade, and yet could spare the increase of
|
|
every seventh year. 2. To remind them of their dependence upon God
|
|
their great landlord, and their obligation to use the fruit of
|
|
their land as he should direct. Thus he would try their obedience
|
|
in a matter that nearly touched their interest. Afterwards we find
|
|
that their disobedience to this command was a forfeiture of the
|
|
promises, <scripRef passage="2Ch 36:21" id="Ex.xxiv-p8.2" parsed="|2Chr|36|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.36.21">2 Chron. xxxvi.
|
|
21</scripRef>. 3. To teach them a confidence in the divine
|
|
Providence, while they did their duty—that, as the sixth day's
|
|
manna served for two day's meat, so the sixth year's increase
|
|
should serve for two years' subsistence. Thus they must learn not
|
|
to <i>take thought for their life,</i> <scripRef passage="Mt 6:25" id="Ex.xxiv-p8.3" parsed="|Matt|6|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.6.25">Matt. vi. 25</scripRef>. If we are prudent and diligent
|
|
in our affairs, we may trust Providence to furnish us with the
|
|
bread of the day in its day.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxiv-p9">II. The repetition of the law of the fourth
|
|
commandment concerning the weekly sabbath, <scripRef passage="Ex 23:12" id="Ex.xxiv-p9.1" parsed="|Exod|23|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. Even in the year of rest they
|
|
must not think that the sabbath day was laid in common with the
|
|
other days, but, even that year, it must be religiously observed;
|
|
yet thus some have endeavoured to take away the observance of the
|
|
sabbath, by pretending that every day must be a sabbath day.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxiv-p10">III. All manner of respect to the gods of
|
|
the heathen is here strictly forbidden, <scripRef passage="Ex 23:13" id="Ex.xxiv-p10.1" parsed="|Exod|23|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. A general caution is prefixed
|
|
to this, which has reference to all these precepts: <i>In all
|
|
things that I have said unto you, be circumspect.</i> We are in
|
|
danger of missing our way on the right hand and on the left, and it
|
|
is at our peril if we do; therefore we have need to look about us.
|
|
A man may ruin himself through mere carelessness, but he cannot
|
|
save himself without great care and circumspection: particularly,
|
|
since idolatry was a sin which they were much addicted to, and
|
|
would be greatly tempted to, they must endeavour to blot out the
|
|
remembrance of the gods of the heathen, and must disuse and forget
|
|
all their superstitious forms of speech, and never mention them but
|
|
with detestation. In Christian schools and academies (for it is in
|
|
vain to think of reforming the play-houses), it were to be wished
|
|
that the names and stories of the heathen deities, or demons
|
|
rather, were not so commonly and familiarly used as they are, even
|
|
with intimations of respect, and sometimes with forms of
|
|
invocation. Surely we have <i>not so learned Christ.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxiv-p11">IV. Their solemn religious attendance on
|
|
God in the place which he should choose is here strictly required,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 23:14-17" id="Ex.xxiv-p11.1" parsed="|Exod|23|14|23|17" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.14-Exod.23.17"><i>v.</i> 14-17</scripRef>. 1.
|
|
Thrice a year all their males must come together in a holy
|
|
convocation, that they might the better know and love one another,
|
|
and keep up their communion as a dignified and peculiar people. 2.
|
|
They must come together <i>before the Lord</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 23:17" id="Ex.xxiv-p11.2" parsed="|Exod|23|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>) to present themselves before
|
|
him, looking towards the place where his honour dwelt, and to pay
|
|
their homage to him as their great Lord, from and under whom they
|
|
held all their enjoyments. 3. They must feast together before the
|
|
Lord, eating and drinking together, in token of their joy in God
|
|
and their grateful sense of his goodness to them; for <i>a feast is
|
|
made for laughter,</i> <scripRef passage="Ec 10:19" id="Ex.xxiv-p11.3" parsed="|Eccl|10|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.10.19">Eccl. x.
|
|
19</scripRef>. O what a good Master do we serve, who has made it
|
|
our duty to <i>rejoice before him,</i> who feasts his servants when
|
|
they are in waiting! Never let religion be called a melancholy
|
|
thing, when its solemn services are solemn feasts. 4. They must not
|
|
<i>appear before God empty,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 23:15" id="Ex.xxiv-p11.4" parsed="|Exod|23|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. Some free-will offering or
|
|
other they must bring, in token of their respect and gratitude to
|
|
their great benefactor; and, as they were not allowed to come
|
|
empty-handed, so we must not come to worship God empty-hearted; our
|
|
souls must be filled with grace, with pious and devout affections,
|
|
holy desires towards him, and dedications of ourselves to him, for
|
|
<i>with such sacrifices God is well-pleased.</i> 5. The passover,
|
|
pentecost, and feast of tabernacles, in spring, summer, and autumn,
|
|
were the three times appointed for their attendance: not in winter,
|
|
because travelling was then uncomfortable; not in the midst of
|
|
their harvest, because then they were otherwise employed; so that
|
|
they had no reason to say that he <i>made them to serve with an
|
|
offering,</i> or <i>wearied them with incense.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxiv-p12">V. Some particular directions are here
|
|
given about the three feasts, though not so fully as afterwards. 1.
|
|
As to the passover, it was not to be offered with leavened bread,
|
|
for at that feast all leaven was to be cast out, nor was the fat of
|
|
it to remain until the morning, lest it should become offensive,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 23:18" id="Ex.xxiv-p12.1" parsed="|Exod|23|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. 2. At the
|
|
feast of pentecost, when they were to begin their harvest, they
|
|
must bring <i>the first of their first-fruits</i> to God, by the
|
|
pious presenting of which the whole harvest was sanctified,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 23:19" id="Ex.xxiv-p12.2" parsed="|Exod|23|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. 3. At the
|
|
feast of <i>ingathering,</i> as it is called (<scripRef passage="Ex 23:16" id="Ex.xxiv-p12.3" parsed="|Exod|23|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>), they must give God thanks for
|
|
the harvest-mercies they had received, and must depend upon him for
|
|
the next harvest, and must not think to receive benefit by that
|
|
superstitious usage of some of the Gentiles, who, it is said, at
|
|
the end of their harvest, <i>seethed a kid in its dam's milk,</i>
|
|
and sprinkled that milk-pottage, in a magical way, upon their
|
|
gardens and fields, to make them more fruitful next year. But
|
|
Israel must abhor such foolish customs.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 23:20-33" id="Ex.xxiv-p12.4" parsed="|Exod|23|20|23|33" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.20-Exod.23.33"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.23.20-Exod.23.33">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxiv-p12.5">Precepts and Promises. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxiv-p12.6">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxiv-p13">20 Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep
|
|
thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have
|
|
prepared.   21 Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him
|
|
not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name
|
|
<i>is</i> in him.   22 But if thou shalt indeed obey his
|
|
voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine
|
|
enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries.   23 For
|
|
mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the
|
|
Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites,
|
|
the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off.   24
|
|
Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after
|
|
their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break
|
|
down their images.   25 And ye shall serve the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxiv-p13.1">Lord</span> your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and
|
|
thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.
|
|
  26 There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in
|
|
thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil.   27 I will
|
|
send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom
|
|
thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs
|
|
unto thee.   28 And I will send hornets before thee, which
|
|
shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from
|
|
before thee.   29 I will not drive them out from before thee
|
|
in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the
|
|
field multiply against thee.   30 By little and little I will
|
|
drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and
|
|
inherit the land.   31 And I will set thy bounds from the Red
|
|
sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto
|
|
the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your
|
|
hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee.   32 Thou
|
|
shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.   33
|
|
They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against
|
|
me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto
|
|
thee.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxiv-p14">Three gracious promises are here made to
|
|
Israel, to engage them to their duty and encourage them in it; and
|
|
each of the promises has some needful precepts and cautions joined
|
|
to it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxiv-p15">I. It is here promised that they should be
|
|
guided and kept in their way through the wilderness to the land of
|
|
promise: <i>Behold, I send an angel before thee</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 23:20" id="Ex.xxiv-p15.1" parsed="|Exod|23|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>), <i>my angel</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 23:23" id="Ex.xxiv-p15.2" parsed="|Exod|23|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>), a created
|
|
angel, say some, a minister of God's providence, employed in
|
|
conducting and protecting the camp of Israel; that it might appear
|
|
that God took a particular care of them, he appointed one of his
|
|
chief servants to make it his business to attend them, and see that
|
|
they wanted for nothing. Others suppose it to be the Son of God,
|
|
the angel of the covenant; for the Israelites in the wilderness are
|
|
said to <i>tempt Christ;</i> and we may as well suppose him God's
|
|
messenger, and the church's Redeemer, before his incarnation, as
|
|
<i>the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.</i> And we may
|
|
the rather think he was pleased to undertake the deliverance and
|
|
guidance of Israel because they were typical of his great
|
|
undertaking. It is promised that this blessed angel should <i>keep
|
|
them in the way,</i> though it lay through a wilderness first, and
|
|
afterwards through their enemies' country; thus God's spiritual
|
|
Israel shall be kept through the wilderness of this earth, and from
|
|
the insults of the gates of hell. It is also promised that he
|
|
should bring them into the place which God had not only designed
|
|
but prepared for them: and thus Christ has prepared a place for his
|
|
followers, and will preserve them to it, for he is faithful to him
|
|
that appointed him. The precept joined with this promise is that
|
|
they be observant of, and obedient to, this angel whom God would
|
|
send before them (<scripRef passage="Ex 23:21" id="Ex.xxiv-p15.3" parsed="|Exod|23|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.21"><i>v.</i>
|
|
21</scripRef>): "<i>Beware of him, and obey his voice</i> in every
|
|
thing; <i>provoke him not</i> in any thing, for it is at your peril
|
|
if you do, he will <i>visit your iniquity.</i>" Note, 1. Christ is
|
|
the author of salvation to those only that obey him. The word of
|
|
command is <i>Hear you him,</i> <scripRef passage="Mt 17:5" id="Ex.xxiv-p15.4" parsed="|Matt|17|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.17.5">Matt.
|
|
xvii. 5</scripRef>. <i>Observe what he hath commanded,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mt 28:20" id="Ex.xxiv-p15.5" parsed="|Matt|28|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.28.20">Matt. xxviii. 20</scripRef>. 2. Our
|
|
necessary dependence upon the divine power and goodness should awe
|
|
us into obedience. We do well to take heed of provoking our
|
|
protector and benefactor, because if our defence depart from us,
|
|
and the streams of his goodness be cut off, we are undone.
|
|
Therefore, "<i>Beware of him,</i> and carry it towards him with all
|
|
possible reverence and caution. Fear the <i>Lord, and his
|
|
goodness.</i>" 3. Christ will be faithful to those who are faithful
|
|
to him, and will espouse their cause who adhere to his: <i>I will
|
|
be an adversary to thine adversaries,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 23:22" id="Ex.xxiv-p15.6" parsed="|Exod|23|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>. The league shall be offensive
|
|
and defensive, like that with Abraham, <i>I will bless him that
|
|
blesseth thee, and curse him that curseth thee.</i> Thus is God
|
|
pleased to twist his interests and friendships with his
|
|
people's.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxiv-p16">II. It is promised that they should have a
|
|
comfortable settlement in the land of Canaan, which they hoped now
|
|
(though it proved otherwise) within a few months to be in the
|
|
possession of, <scripRef passage="Ex 23:24-26" id="Ex.xxiv-p16.1" parsed="|Exod|23|24|23|26" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.24-Exod.23.26"><i>v.</i>
|
|
24-26</scripRef>. Observe, 1. How reasonable the conditions of this
|
|
promise are—only that they should serve their own God, who was
|
|
indeed the only true God, and not the gods of the nations, which
|
|
were no gods at all, and which they had no reason at all to have
|
|
any respect for. They must not only not worship their gods, but
|
|
they must utterly overthrow them, in token of their great
|
|
abhorrence of idolatry, their resolution never to worship idols
|
|
themselves, and their care to prevent any other from worshipping
|
|
them; as the converted conjurors <i>burnt their books,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ac 19:19" id="Ex.xxiv-p16.2" parsed="|Acts|19|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.19.19">Acts xix. 19</scripRef>. 2. How rich
|
|
the particulars of this promise are. (1.) The comfort of their
|
|
food. He shall <i>bless thy bread and thy water;</i> and God's
|
|
blessing will make bread and water more refreshing and nourishing
|
|
than a feast of fat things and wines on the lees without that
|
|
blessing. (2.) The continuance of their health: "<i>I will take
|
|
sickness away,</i> either prevent it or remove it. Thy land shall
|
|
not be visited with epidemical diseases, which are very dreadful,
|
|
and sometimes have laid countries waste." (3.) The increase of
|
|
their wealth. Their cattle should not be barren, nor cast their
|
|
young, which is mentioned as an instance of prosperity, <scripRef passage="Job 21:10" id="Ex.xxiv-p16.3" parsed="|Job|21|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.10">Job xxi. 10</scripRef>. (4.) The prolonging of
|
|
their lives to old age: "<i>The number of thy days I will
|
|
fulfil,</i> and they shall not be cut off in the midst by untimely
|
|
deaths." Thus hath godliness the <i>promise of the life that now
|
|
is.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxiv-p17">III. It is promised that they should
|
|
conquer and subdue their enemies, the present occupants of the land
|
|
of Canaan, who must be driven out to make room for them. This God
|
|
would do, 1. Effectually by his power (<scripRef passage="Ex 23:17,18" id="Ex.xxiv-p17.1" parsed="|Exod|23|17|23|18" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.17-Exod.23.18"><i>v.</i> 17, 18</scripRef>); not so much by the
|
|
sword and bow of Israel as by the terrors which he would strike
|
|
into the Canaanites. Though they were so obstinate as not to be
|
|
willing to submit to Israel, resign their country, and retire
|
|
elsewhere, which they might have done, yet they were so dispirited
|
|
that they were not able to stand before them. This completed their
|
|
ruin; such power had the devil in them that they would resist, but
|
|
such power had God over them that they could not. <i>I will send my
|
|
fear before thee;</i> and those that fear will soon flee. Hosts of
|
|
hornets made way for the hosts of Israel; such mean creatures can
|
|
God make use of for the chastising of his people's enemies, as in
|
|
the plagues of Egypt. When God pleases, hornets can drive out
|
|
Canaanites, as well as lions could, <scripRef passage="Jos 24:12" id="Ex.xxiv-p17.2" parsed="|Josh|24|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.24.12">Josh. xxiv. 12</scripRef>. 2. He would do it gradually,
|
|
in wisdom (<scripRef passage="Ex 23:29,30" id="Ex.xxiv-p17.3" parsed="|Exod|23|29|23|30" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.29-Exod.23.30"><i>v.</i> 29,
|
|
30</scripRef>), not all at once, but by little and little. As the
|
|
Canaanites had kept possession till Israel had grown into a people,
|
|
so there should still be some remains of them till Israel should
|
|
grow so numerous as to replenish the whole. Note, The wisdom of God
|
|
is to be observed in the gradual advances of the church's
|
|
interests. It is in real kindness to the church that its enemies
|
|
are subdued by little and little; for thus we are kept upon our
|
|
guard, and in a continual dependence upon God. Corruptions are thus
|
|
driven out of the hearts of God's people; not all at once, but by
|
|
little and little; the old man is crucified, and therefore dies
|
|
slowly. God, in his providence, often delays mercies, because we
|
|
are not ready for them. Canaan has room enough to receive Israel,
|
|
but Israel is not numerous enough to occupy Canaan. We are not
|
|
straitened in God; if we are straitened, it is in ourselves. The
|
|
land of Canaan is promised them (<scripRef passage="Ex 23:31" id="Ex.xxiv-p17.4" parsed="|Exod|23|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>) in its utmost extent, which yet
|
|
they were not possessed of till the days of David; and by their
|
|
sins they soon lost possession. The precept annexed to this promise
|
|
is that they should not make any friendship, nor have any
|
|
familiarity, with idolaters, <scripRef passage="Ex 23:32,33" id="Ex.xxiv-p17.5" parsed="|Exod|23|32|23|33" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.32-Exod.23.33"><i>v.</i> 32, 33</scripRef>. Idolaters must not so
|
|
much as sojourn in their land, unless they renounced their
|
|
idolatry. Thus they must avoid the reproach of intimacy with the
|
|
worshippers of false gods and the danger of being drawn to worship
|
|
with them. By familiar converse with idolaters, their dread and
|
|
detestation of the sin would wear off; they would think it no harm,
|
|
in compliment to their friends, to pay some respect to their gods,
|
|
and so by degrees would be drawn into the fatal snare. Note, Those
|
|
that would be kept from bad courses must keep from bad company; it
|
|
is dangerous living in a bad neighbourhood; others' sins will be
|
|
our snares, if we look not well to ourselves. We must always look
|
|
upon our greatest danger to be from those that would cause us to
|
|
sin against God. Whatever friendship is pretended, that is really
|
|
our worst enemy that draws us from our duty.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXIV" n="xxv" progress="43.19%" prev="Ex.xxiv" next="Ex.xxvi" id="Ex.xxv">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.xxv-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.xxv-p0.2">CHAP. XXIV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.xxv-p1">Moses, as mediator between God and Israel, having
|
|
received divers laws and ordinances from God privately in the three
|
|
foregoing chapters, in this chapter, I. Comes down to the people,
|
|
acquaints them with the laws he had received, and takes their
|
|
consent to those laws (<scripRef passage="Ex 24:3" id="Ex.xxv-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|24|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.3">ver.
|
|
3</scripRef>), writes the laws, and reads them to the people, who
|
|
repeat their consent (<scripRef passage="Ex 24:4-7" id="Ex.xxv-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|24|4|24|7" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.4-Exod.24.7">ver.
|
|
4-7</scripRef>), and then by sacrifice, and the sprinkling of
|
|
blood, ratifies the covenant between them and God, <scripRef passage="Ex 24:5,6,8" id="Ex.xxv-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|24|5|24|6;|Exod|24|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.5-Exod.24.6 Bible:Exod.24.8">ver. 5, 6, 8</scripRef>. II. He returns to
|
|
God again, to receive further directions. When he was dismissed
|
|
from his former attendance, he was ordered to attend again,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 24:1,2" id="Ex.xxv-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|24|1|24|2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.1-Exod.24.2">ver. 1, 2</scripRef>. He did so with
|
|
seventy of the elders, to whom God made a discovery of his glory,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 24:9-11" id="Ex.xxv-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|24|9|24|11" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.9-Exod.24.11">ver. 9-11</scripRef>. Moses is
|
|
ordered up into the mount (<scripRef passage="Ex 24:12,13" id="Ex.xxv-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|24|12|24|13" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.12-Exod.24.13">ver. 12,
|
|
13</scripRef>); the rest are ordered down to the people, <scripRef passage="Ex 24:14" id="Ex.xxv-p1.7" parsed="|Exod|24|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.14">ver. 14</scripRef>. The cloud of glory is seen
|
|
by all the people on the top of Mount Sinai (<scripRef passage="Ex 24:15-17" id="Ex.xxv-p1.8" parsed="|Exod|24|15|24|17" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.15-Exod.24.17">ver. 15-17</scripRef>), and Moses is therewith God
|
|
forty days and forty nights, <scripRef passage="Ex 24:18" id="Ex.xxv-p1.9" parsed="|Exod|24|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.18">ver.
|
|
18</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 24" id="Ex.xxv-p1.10" parsed="|Exod|24|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 24:1-8" id="Ex.xxv-p1.11" parsed="|Exod|24|1|24|8" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.1-Exod.24.8"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.24.1-Exod.24.8">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxv-p1.12">Israel's Acceptance of the
|
|
Laws. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxv-p1.13">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxv-p2">1 And he said unto Moses, Come up unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxv-p2.1">Lord</span>, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu,
|
|
and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off.
|
|
  2 And Moses alone shall come near the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxv-p2.2">Lord</span>: but they shall not come nigh; neither
|
|
shall the people go up with him.   3 And Moses came and told
|
|
the people all the words of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxv-p2.3">Lord</span>, and all the judgments: and all the people
|
|
answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxv-p2.4">Lord</span> hath said will we do.   4 And
|
|
Moses wrote all the words of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxv-p2.5">Lord</span>, and rose up early in the morning, and
|
|
builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to
|
|
the twelve tribes of Israel.   5 And he sent young men of the
|
|
children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed
|
|
peace offerings of oxen unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxv-p2.6">Lord</span>.   6 And Moses took half of the blood,
|
|
and put <i>it</i> in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on
|
|
the altar.   7 And he took the book of the covenant, and read
|
|
in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxv-p2.7">Lord</span> hath said will we do, and be
|
|
obedient.   8 And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled
|
|
<i>it</i> on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the
|
|
covenant, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxv-p2.8">Lord</span> hath made
|
|
with you concerning all these words.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxv-p3">The first two verses record the appointment
|
|
of a second session upon Mount Sinai, for the making of laws, when
|
|
an end was put to the first. When a communion is begun between God
|
|
and us, it shall never fail on his side, if it do not first fail on
|
|
ours. Moses is directed to bring Aaron and his sons, and the
|
|
seventy elders of Israel, that they might be witnesses of the glory
|
|
of God, and that communion with him to which Moses was admitted;
|
|
and that their testimony might confirm the people's faith. In this
|
|
approach, 1. They must all be very reverent: <i>Worship you afar
|
|
off,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 24:1" id="Ex.xxv-p3.1" parsed="|Exod|24|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. Before
|
|
they came near, they must worship. Thus we must enter into God's
|
|
gates with humble and solemn adorations, draw near as those that
|
|
know our distance, and admire the condescensions of God's grace in
|
|
admitting us to draw near. Are great princes approached with the
|
|
profound reverences of the body? And shall not the soul that draws
|
|
near to God be bowed before him? 2. They must none of them come so
|
|
near as Moses, <scripRef passage="Ex 24:2" id="Ex.xxv-p3.2" parsed="|Exod|24|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>.
|
|
They must come up to the Lord (and those that would approach to God
|
|
must <i>ascend</i>), but Moses alone must come near, being therein
|
|
a type of Christ, who, as the high priest, entered alone into the
|
|
most holy place.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxv-p4">In the following verses, we have the solemn
|
|
covenant made between God and Israel, and the exchanging of the
|
|
ratifications; and a very solemn transaction it was, typifying the
|
|
covenant of grace between God and believers through Christ.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxv-p5">I. Moses told the people the words of the
|
|
Lord, <scripRef passage="Ex 24:3" id="Ex.xxv-p5.1" parsed="|Exod|24|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. He did
|
|
not lead them blindfold into the covenant, nor teach them a
|
|
devotion that was the daughter of ignorance; but laid before them
|
|
all the precepts, general and particular, in the foregoing
|
|
chapters; and fairly put it to them whether they were willing to
|
|
submit to these laws or no.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxv-p6">II. The people unanimously consented to the
|
|
terms proposed, without reservation or exception: <i>All the words
|
|
which the Lord hath said will we do.</i> They had before consented
|
|
in general to be under God's government (<scripRef passage="Ex 19:8" id="Ex.xxv-p6.1" parsed="|Exod|19|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.8"><i>ch.</i> xix. 8</scripRef>); here they consent in
|
|
particular to these laws now given. <i>O that there had been such a
|
|
heart in them!</i> How well were it if people would but be always
|
|
in the same good mind that sometimes they seem to be in! Many
|
|
consent to the law, and yet do not live up to it; they have nothing
|
|
to except against it, and yet will not persuade themselves to be
|
|
ruled by it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxv-p7">This is the tenour of the covenant, That,
|
|
if they would observe the foregoing precepts, God would perform the
|
|
foregoing promises. "Obey, and be happy." Here is the bargain made.
|
|
Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxv-p8">1. How it was engrossed in the book of the
|
|
covenant: <i>Moses wrote the words of the Lord</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 24:4" id="Ex.xxv-p8.1" parsed="|Exod|24|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>), that there might be no
|
|
mistake; probably he had written them as God dictated them on the
|
|
mount. As soon as ever God had separated to himself a peculiar
|
|
people in the world, he governed them by a written word, as he has
|
|
done ever since, and will do while the world stands and the church
|
|
in it. Moses, having engrossed the articles of agreement concluded
|
|
upon between God and Israel, <i>read them in the audience of the
|
|
people</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 24:7" id="Ex.xxv-p8.2" parsed="|Exod|24|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>),
|
|
that they might be perfectly apprised of the thing, and might try
|
|
whether their second thoughts were the same with their first, upon
|
|
the whole matter. And we may suppose they were so; for their words
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 24:7" id="Ex.xxv-p8.3" parsed="|Exod|24|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>) are the same
|
|
with what they were (<scripRef passage="Ex 24:3" id="Ex.xxv-p8.4" parsed="|Exod|24|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.3"><i>v.</i>
|
|
3</scripRef>), but something stronger: <i>All that the Lord hath
|
|
said</i> (be it good, or be it evil, to flesh and blood, <scripRef passage="Jer 42:6" id="Ex.xxv-p8.5" parsed="|Jer|42|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.42.6">Jer. xlii. 6</scripRef>) <i>we will do;</i> so
|
|
they had said before, but now they add, "<i>And will be
|
|
obedient;</i> not only we will do what has been commanded, but in
|
|
every thing which shall further be ordained <i>we will be
|
|
obedient.</i>" Bravely resolved! if they had but stuck to their
|
|
resolution. See here that God's covenants and commands are so
|
|
incontestably equitable in themselves, and so highly advantageous
|
|
to us, that the more we think of them, and the more plainly and
|
|
fully they are set before us, the more reason we shall see to
|
|
comply with them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxv-p9">2. How it was sealed by the blood of the
|
|
covenant, that Israel might receive strong consolations from the
|
|
ratifying of God's promises to them, and might lie under strong
|
|
obligations from the ratifying of their promises to God. Thus has
|
|
Infinite Wisdom devised means that we may be confirmed both in our
|
|
faith and in our obedience, may be both encouraged in our duty and
|
|
engaged to it. The covenant must be made by sacrifice (<scripRef passage="Ps 50:5" id="Ex.xxv-p9.1" parsed="|Ps|50|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.50.5">Ps. l. 5</scripRef>), because, since man has
|
|
sinned, and forfeited his Creator's favour, there can be no
|
|
fellowship by covenant till there be first friendship and atonement
|
|
by sacrifice.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxv-p10">(1.) In preparation therefore for the
|
|
parties interchangeably putting their seals to this covenant, [1.]
|
|
Moses builds an altar, to the honour of God, which was principally
|
|
intended in all the altars that were built, and which was the first
|
|
thing to be looked at in the covenant they were now to seal. No
|
|
addition to the perfections of the divine nature can be made by any
|
|
of God's dealings with the children of men, but in them his
|
|
perfections are manifested and magnified, and his honour is shown
|
|
forth; therefore he will not be represented by an altar, to signify
|
|
that all he expected from them was that they should do him honour,
|
|
and that, being his people, they should be to him for a name and a
|
|
praise. [2.] He erects twelve pillars, according to the number of
|
|
the tribes. These were to represent the people, the other party to
|
|
the covenant; and we may suppose that they were set up against the
|
|
altar, and that Moses, as mediator, passed to and fro between them.
|
|
Probably each tribe set up and knew its own pillar, and their
|
|
elders stood by it. [3.] He appointed sacrifices to be offered upon
|
|
the altar (<scripRef passage="Ex 24:5" id="Ex.xxv-p10.1" parsed="|Exod|24|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>),
|
|
burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, which yet were designed to be
|
|
expiatory. We are not concerned to enquire who these young men were
|
|
that were employed in offering these sacrifices; for Moses was
|
|
himself the priest, and what they did was purely as his servants,
|
|
by his order and appointment. No doubt they were men who by their
|
|
bodily strength were qualified for the service, and by their
|
|
station among the people were fittest for the honour.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxv-p11">(2.) Preparation being thus made, the
|
|
ratifications were very solemnly exchanged. [1.] The blood of the
|
|
sacrifice which the people offered was (part of it) sprinkled upon
|
|
the altar (<scripRef passage="Ex 24:6" id="Ex.xxv-p11.1" parsed="|Exod|24|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>),
|
|
which signifies the people's dedicating themselves, their lives,
|
|
and beings, to God, and to his honour. In the blood (which is the
|
|
life) of the dead sacrifices all the Israelites were presented unto
|
|
God as living sacrifices, <scripRef passage="Ro 12:1" id="Ex.xxv-p11.2" parsed="|Rom|12|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.12.1">Rom. xii.
|
|
1</scripRef>. [2.] The blood of the sacrifice which God had owned
|
|
and accepted was (the remainder of it) sprinkled either upon the
|
|
people themselves (<scripRef passage="Ex 24:8" id="Ex.xxv-p11.3" parsed="|Exod|24|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.8"><i>v.</i>
|
|
8</scripRef>) or upon the pillars that represented them, which
|
|
signified God's graciously conferring his favour upon them and all
|
|
the fruits of that favour, and his giving them all the gifts they
|
|
could expect or desire from a God reconciled to them and in
|
|
covenant with them by sacrifice. This part of the ceremony was thus
|
|
explained: "<i>Behold the blood of the covenant;</i> see here how
|
|
God has sealed to you to be a people; his promises to you, and
|
|
yours to him, are both <i>yea and amen.</i>" Thus our Lord Jesus,
|
|
the Mediator of the new covenant (of whom Moses was a type), having
|
|
offered up himself a sacrifice upon the cross, that his blood might
|
|
be indeed the blood of the covenant, sprinkled it upon the altar in
|
|
his intercession (<scripRef passage="Heb 9:12" id="Ex.xxv-p11.4" parsed="|Heb|9|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.9.12">Heb. ix.
|
|
12</scripRef>), and sprinkles it upon his church by his word and
|
|
ordinances and the influences and operations of the Spirit of
|
|
promise, by whom we are sealed. He himself seemed to allude to this
|
|
solemnity when, in the institution of the Lord's supper, he said,
|
|
<i>This cup is the New Testament</i> (or covenant) <i>in my
|
|
blood.</i> Compare with this, <scripRef passage="Heb 9:19,20" id="Ex.xxv-p11.5" parsed="|Heb|9|19|9|20" osisRef="Bible:Heb.9.19-Heb.9.20">Heb.
|
|
ix. 19, 20</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 24:9-11" id="Ex.xxv-p11.6" parsed="|Exod|24|9|24|11" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.9-Exod.24.11"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.24.9-Exod.24.11">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxv-p11.7">A Manifestation of God. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxv-p11.8">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxv-p12">9 Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and
|
|
Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel:   10 And they saw
|
|
the God of Israel: and <i>there was</i> under his feet as it were a
|
|
paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven
|
|
in <i>his</i> clearness.   11 And upon the nobles of the
|
|
children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did
|
|
eat and drink.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxv-p13">The people having, besides their submission
|
|
to the ceremony of the sprinkling of blood, declared their
|
|
well-pleasedness in their God and his law, again and again, God
|
|
here gives to their representatives some special tokens of his
|
|
favour to them (for God meets him that rejoices and works
|
|
righteousness), and admits them nearer to him than they could have
|
|
expected. Thus, in the New-Testament church, we find the <i>four
|
|
living creatures,</i> and the <i>four and twenty elders,</i>
|
|
honoured with places round the throne, being <i>redeemed unto
|
|
God</i> by the <i>blood of the Lamb</i> which is <i>in the midst of
|
|
the throne,</i> <scripRef passage="Re 4:4,6,5:8,9" id="Ex.xxv-p13.1" parsed="|Rev|4|4|0|0;|Rev|4|6|0|0;|Rev|5|8|5|9" osisRef="Bible:Rev.4.4 Bible:Rev.4.6 Bible:Rev.5.8-Rev.5.9">Rev. iv. 4, 6;
|
|
v. 8, 9</scripRef>. Observe, 1. They saw the God of Israel
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 24:10" id="Ex.xxv-p13.2" parsed="|Exod|24|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>), that is,
|
|
they had some glimpse of his glory, in light and fire, though they
|
|
saw <i>no manner of similitude,</i> and his being <i>no man hath
|
|
seen nor can see,</i> <scripRef passage="1Ti 6:16" id="Ex.xxv-p13.3" parsed="|1Tim|6|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.6.16">1 Tim. vi.
|
|
16</scripRef>. They saw the place where the God of Israel stood (so
|
|
the LXX.), something that came near a similitude, but was not;
|
|
whatever they saw, it was certainly something of which no image nor
|
|
picture could be made, and yet enough to satisfy them that God was
|
|
with them of a truth. Nothing is described but that which was under
|
|
his feet; for our conceptions of God are all below him, and fall
|
|
infinitely short of being adequate. They saw not so much as God's
|
|
feet; but at the bottom of the brightness, and as the footstool or
|
|
pedestal of it, they saw a most rich and splendid pavement, such as
|
|
they never saw before nor after, as it had been of sapphires, azure
|
|
or sky-coloured. The heavens themselves are the pavement of God's
|
|
palace, and his throne is above the firmament. See how much better
|
|
wisdom is than the precious onyx or the sapphires, for wisdom was
|
|
from eternity God's delight (<scripRef passage="Pr 8:30" id="Ex.xxv-p13.4" parsed="|Prov|8|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.8.30">Prov.
|
|
viii. 30</scripRef>), and lay in his bosom, but the sapphires are
|
|
the pavement under his feet; there let us put all the wealth of
|
|
this world, and not in our hearts. 2. <i>Upon the nobles</i> (or
|
|
elders) <i>of Israel, he laid not his hand,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 24:11" id="Ex.xxv-p13.5" parsed="|Exod|24|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. Though they were men, the
|
|
dazzling splendour of his glory did not overwhelm them; but it was
|
|
so moderated (<scripRef passage="Job 26:9" id="Ex.xxv-p13.6" parsed="|Job|26|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.26.9">Job xxvi. 9</scripRef>),
|
|
and they were so strengthened (<scripRef passage="Da 10:19" id="Ex.xxv-p13.7" parsed="|Dan|10|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.10.19">Dan. x.
|
|
19</scripRef>), that they were able to bear it. Nay, though they
|
|
were sinful men, and obnoxious to God's justice, yet he did not lay
|
|
his punishing avenging hand upon them, as they feared he would.
|
|
When we consider what a consuming fire God is, and what stubble we
|
|
are before him, we shall have reason to say, in all our approaches
|
|
to him, <i>It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not
|
|
consumed.</i> 3. <i>They saw God, and did eat and drink.</i> They
|
|
had not only their lives preserved, but their vigour, courage, and
|
|
comfort; it cast no damp upon their joy, but rather increased and
|
|
elevated it. They <i>feasted upon the sacrifice,</i> before God, in
|
|
token of their cheerful consent to the covenant now made, their
|
|
grateful acceptance of the benefits of it, and their communion with
|
|
God, in pursuance of that covenant. Thus believers <i>eat and drink
|
|
with Christ at his table,</i> <scripRef passage="Lu 22:30" id="Ex.xxv-p13.8" parsed="|Luke|22|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.22.30">Luke
|
|
xxii. 30</scripRef>. Blessed are those that shall eat bread in the
|
|
kingdom of our Father, and drink of the wine new there.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 24" id="Ex.xxv-p13.9" parsed="|Exod|24|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 24:12-18" id="Ex.xxv-p13.10" parsed="|Exod|24|12|24|18" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.12-Exod.24.18"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.24.12-Exod.24.18">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxv-p14">12 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxv-p14.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I
|
|
will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I
|
|
have written; that thou mayest teach them.   13 And Moses rose
|
|
up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mount of
|
|
God.   14 And he said unto the elders, Tarry ye here for us,
|
|
until we come again unto you: and, behold, Aaron and Hur <i>are</i>
|
|
with you: if any man have any matters to do, let him come unto
|
|
them.   15 And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud
|
|
covered the mount.   16 And the glory of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxv-p14.2">Lord</span> abode upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud
|
|
covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out
|
|
of the midst of the cloud.   17 And the sight of the glory of
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxv-p14.3">Lord</span> <i>was</i> like devouring
|
|
fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.
|
|
  18 And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him
|
|
up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty
|
|
nights.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxv-p15">The public ceremony of sealing the covenant
|
|
being over, Moses is called up to receive further instructions,
|
|
which we have in the following chapters.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxv-p16">I. He is called up into the mount, and
|
|
there he remains six days at some distance. Orders are given him
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 24:12" id="Ex.xxv-p16.1" parsed="|Exod|24|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>): <i>Come up
|
|
to the mount, and be there,</i> that is, "Expect to continue there
|
|
for some considerable time." Those that would have communion with
|
|
God must not only come to ordinances, but they must abide by them.
|
|
Blessed are those that dwell in his house, not that merely call
|
|
there. "Come up, and <i>I will give thee a law, that thou mayest
|
|
teach them.</i>" Moses taught them nothing but what he had received
|
|
from the Lord, and he received nothing from the Lord but what he
|
|
taught them; for he was faithful both to God and Israel, and did
|
|
neither add nor diminish, but kept close to his instructions.
|
|
Having received these orders, 1. He appointed Aaron and Hur to be
|
|
as lords-justices in his absence, to keep the peace and good order
|
|
in the congregation, <scripRef passage="Ex 24:14" id="Ex.xxv-p16.2" parsed="|Exod|24|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.14"><i>v.</i>
|
|
14</scripRef>. The care of his government he would leave behind him
|
|
when he went up into the mount, that he might not have that to
|
|
distract his mind; and yet he would not leave the people as sheep
|
|
having no shepherd, no, not for a few days. Good princes find their
|
|
government a constant care, and their people find it a constant
|
|
blessing. 2. He took Joshua up with him into the mount, <scripRef passage="Ex 24:13" id="Ex.xxv-p16.3" parsed="|Exod|24|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. Joshua was his
|
|
minister, and it would be a satisfaction to him to have him with
|
|
him as a companion, during the six days that he tarried in the
|
|
mount, before God called to him. Joshua was to be his successor,
|
|
and therefore thus he was honoured before the people, above the
|
|
rest of the elders, that they might afterwards the more readily
|
|
take him for their governor; and thus he was prepared for service,
|
|
by being trained up in communion with God. Joshua was a type of
|
|
Christ, and (as the learned bishop Pearson well observes) Moses
|
|
takes him with him into the mount, because without Jesus, in whom
|
|
are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, there is no
|
|
looking into the secrets of heaven, nor approaching the glorious
|
|
presence of God. 3. A cloud covered the mount six days, a visible
|
|
token of God's special presence there, for he so shows himself to
|
|
us as at the same time to conceal himself from us. He lets us know
|
|
so much as to assure us of his presence, power, and grace, but
|
|
intimates to us that we cannot find him out to perfection. During
|
|
these six days Moses staid waiting upon the mountain for a call
|
|
into the presence-chamber, <scripRef passage="Ex 24:15,16" id="Ex.xxv-p16.4" parsed="|Exod|24|15|24|16" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.15-Exod.24.16"><i>v.</i> 15, 16</scripRef>. God thus tried the
|
|
patience of Moses, and his obedience to that command (<scripRef passage="Ex 24:12" id="Ex.xxv-p16.5" parsed="|Exod|24|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), <i>Be there.</i> If
|
|
Moses had been tired before the seventh day (as Saul, <scripRef passage="1Sa 13:8,9" id="Ex.xxv-p16.6" parsed="|1Sam|13|8|13|9" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.13.8-1Sam.13.9">1 Sam. xiii. 8, 9</scripRef>), and had said,
|
|
<i>What should I wait for the Lord any longer?</i> he would have
|
|
lost the honour of entering into the cloud; but communion with God
|
|
is worth waiting for. And it is fit we should address ourselves to
|
|
solemn ordinances with a solemn pause, taking time to compose
|
|
ourselves, <scripRef passage="Ps 108:1" id="Ex.xxv-p16.7" parsed="|Ps|108|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.108.1">Ps. cviii.
|
|
1</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxv-p17">II. He is called up into a cloud on the
|
|
seventh day, probably on the sabbath day, <scripRef passage="Ex 24:16" id="Ex.xxv-p17.1" parsed="|Exod|24|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. Now, 1. The thick cloud opened
|
|
in the sight of all Israel, and the glory of the Lord broke forth
|
|
<i>like devouring fire,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 24:17" id="Ex.xxv-p17.2" parsed="|Exod|24|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.17"><i>v.</i>
|
|
17</scripRef>. God, even our God, is a consuming fire, and so he
|
|
was pleased to manifest himself in the giving of the law, that,
|
|
knowing the terrors of the Lord, we may be persuaded to obey, and
|
|
may by them be prepared for the comforts of the gospel, and that
|
|
the <i>grace and truth</i> which come by Jesus Christ may be the
|
|
more acceptable. 2. The entrance of Moses into the cloud was very
|
|
wonderful: <i>Moses went into the midst of the cloud,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 24:18" id="Ex.xxv-p17.3" parsed="|Exod|24|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. It was an extraordinary
|
|
presence of mind which the grace of God furnished him with by his
|
|
six days' preparation, else he durst not have ventured into the
|
|
cloud, especially when it broke out in devouring fire. Moses was
|
|
sure that he who called him would protect him; and even those
|
|
glorious attributes of God which are most terrible to the wicked
|
|
the saints with a humble reverence rejoice in. He that walks
|
|
righteously, and speaks uprightly, is able to <i>dwell even with
|
|
this devouring fire,</i> as we are told, <scripRef passage="Isa 33:14,15" id="Ex.xxv-p17.4" parsed="|Isa|33|14|33|15" osisRef="Bible:Isa.33.14-Isa.33.15">Isa. xxxiii. 14, 15</scripRef>. There are persons
|
|
and works that will abide the fire, <scripRef passage="1Co 3:12" id="Ex.xxv-p17.5" parsed="|1Cor|3|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.3.12">1
|
|
Cor. iii. 12</scripRef>, &c., and some that will have
|
|
confidence before God. 3. His continuance in the cloud was no less
|
|
wonderful; he was there <i>forty days and forty nights.</i> It
|
|
should seem, the six days (<scripRef passage="Ex 24:16" id="Ex.xxv-p17.6" parsed="|Exod|24|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.16"><i>v.</i>
|
|
16</scripRef>) were not part of the forty; for, during those six
|
|
days, Moses was with Joshua, who did eat of the manna, and drink of
|
|
the brook, mentioned, <scripRef passage="De 9:21" id="Ex.xxv-p17.7" parsed="|Deut|9|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.21">Deut. ix.
|
|
21</scripRef>, and while they were together it is probable that
|
|
Moses did eat and drink with him; but when Moses was called <i>into
|
|
the midst of the cloud</i> he left Joshua without, who continued to
|
|
eat and drink daily while he waited for Moses's return, but
|
|
thenceforward Moses fasted. Doubtless God could have said what he
|
|
had now to say to Moses in one day, but, for the greater solemnity
|
|
of the thing, he kept him with him in the mount <i>forty days and
|
|
forty nights.</i> We are hereby taught to spend much time in
|
|
communion with God, and to think that time best spent which is so
|
|
spent. Those that would get the knowledge of God's will must
|
|
meditate <i>thereon day and night.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXV" n="xxvi" progress="43.60%" prev="Ex.xxv" next="Ex.xxvii" id="Ex.xxvi">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.xxvi-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.xxvi-p0.2">CHAP. XXV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.xxvi-p1">At this chapter begins an account of the orders
|
|
and instructions God gave to Moses upon the mount for the erecting
|
|
and furnishing of a tabernacle to the honour of God. We have here.
|
|
I. Orders given for a collection to be made among the people for
|
|
this purpose, <scripRef passage="Ex 25:1-9" id="Ex.xxvi-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|25|1|25|9" osisRef="Bible:Exod.25.1-Exod.25.9">ver. 1-9</scripRef>.
|
|
II. Particular instructions, 1. Concerning the ark of the covenant,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 25:10-22" id="Ex.xxvi-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|25|10|25|22" osisRef="Bible:Exod.25.10-Exod.25.22">ver. 10-22</scripRef>. 2. The table
|
|
of showbread, <scripRef passage="Ex 25:23-30" id="Ex.xxvi-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|25|23|25|30" osisRef="Bible:Exod.25.23-Exod.25.30">ver.
|
|
23-30</scripRef>. 3. The golden candlestick, <scripRef passage="Ex 25:31-40" id="Ex.xxvi-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|25|31|25|40" osisRef="Bible:Exod.25.31-Exod.25.40">ver. 31</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 25" id="Ex.xxvi-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|25|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.25"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 25:1-9" id="Ex.xxvi-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|25|1|25|9" osisRef="Bible:Exod.25.1-Exod.25.9"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.25.1-Exod.25.9">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxvi-p1.7">The Tabernacle and Its
|
|
Furniture. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxvi-p1.8">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxvi-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxvi-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   2 Speak unto the children of
|
|
Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it
|
|
willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering.   3 And
|
|
this <i>is</i> the offering which ye shall take of them; gold, and
|
|
silver, and brass,   4 And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and
|
|
fine linen, and goats' <i>hair,</i>   5 And rams' skins dyed
|
|
red, and badgers' skins, and shittim wood,   6 Oil for the
|
|
light, spices for anointing oil, and for sweet incense,   7
|
|
Onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod, and in the
|
|
breastplate.   8 And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may
|
|
dwell among them.   9 According to all that I show thee,
|
|
<i>after</i> the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all
|
|
the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make <i>it.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxvi-p3">We may suppose that when Moses went into
|
|
the midst of the cloud, and abode there so long, where the holy
|
|
angels attended the <i>shechinah,</i> or divine Majesty, he saw and
|
|
heard very glorious things relating to the upper world, but they
|
|
were things which it was not lawful nor possible to utter; and
|
|
therefore, in the records he kept of the transactions there, he
|
|
says nothing to satisfy the curiosity of those who would intrude
|
|
into the things which they have not seen, but writes that only
|
|
which he was to speak to the children of Israel. For the scripture
|
|
is designed to direct us in our duty, not to fill our heads with
|
|
speculations, nor to please our fancies.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxvi-p4">In these verses God tells Moses his
|
|
intention in general, that the children of Israel should build him
|
|
a sanctuary, for he designed to <i>dwell among them</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 25:8" id="Ex.xxvi-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|25|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.25.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>); and some think that,
|
|
though there were altars and groves used for religious worship
|
|
before this, yet there never was any house, or temple, built for
|
|
sacred uses in any nation before this tabernacle was erected by
|
|
Moses, and that all the temples which were afterwards so much
|
|
celebrated among the heathen took rise from this and pattern by it.
|
|
God had chosen the people of Israel to be a peculiar people to
|
|
himself (above all people), among whom divine revelation, and a
|
|
religion according to it, should be lodged and established: he
|
|
himself would be their King. As their King, he had already given
|
|
them laws for the government of themselves, and their dealings one
|
|
with another, with some general rules for religious worship,
|
|
according to the light of reason and the law of nature, in the ten
|
|
commandments and the following comments upon them. But this was not
|
|
thought sufficient to distinguish them from other nations, or to
|
|
answer to the extent of that covenant which God would make with
|
|
them to be <i>their God;</i> and therefore,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxvi-p5">I. He orders a royal palace to be set up
|
|
among them for himself, here called <i>a sanctuary,</i> or <i>holy
|
|
place,</i> or <i>habitation,</i> of which it is said (<scripRef passage="Jer 17:12" id="Ex.xxvi-p5.1" parsed="|Jer|17|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.17.12">Jer. xvii. 12</scripRef>), <i>A glorious high
|
|
throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.</i> This
|
|
sanctuary is to be considered,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxvi-p6">1. As ceremonial, consonant to the
|
|
other institutions of that dispensation, which consisted in carnal
|
|
ordinances (<scripRef passage="Heb 9:10" id="Ex.xxvi-p6.1" parsed="|Heb|9|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.9.10">Heb. ix. 10</scripRef>);
|
|
hence it is called a <i>worldly sanctuary,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 9:1" id="Ex.xxvi-p6.2" parsed="|Heb|9|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.9.1">Heb. ix. 1</scripRef>. God in it kept his court, as
|
|
Israel's King. (1.) There he manifested his presence among them,
|
|
and it was intended for a sign or token of his presence, that,
|
|
while they had that in the midst of them, they might never again
|
|
ask, <i>Is the Lord among us or not?</i> And, because in the
|
|
wilderness they dwelt in tents, even this royal palace was ordered
|
|
to be a tabernacle too, that it might move with them, and might be
|
|
an instance of the condescension of the divine favour. (2.) There
|
|
he ordered his subjects to attend him with their homage and
|
|
tribute. Thither they must come to consult his oracles, thither
|
|
they must bring their sacrifices, and there all Israel must meet,
|
|
to pay their joint respects to the God of Israel.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxvi-p7">2. As typical; the holy places made with
|
|
hands were the <i>figures of the true,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 9:24" id="Ex.xxvi-p7.1" parsed="|Heb|9|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.9.24">Heb. ix. 24</scripRef>. The gospel church is the true
|
|
<i>tabernacle, which the Lord hath pitched, and not man,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Heb 8:2" id="Ex.xxvi-p7.2" parsed="|Heb|8|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.8.2">Heb. viii. 2</scripRef>. The body of
|
|
Christ, in and by which he made atonement, was the <i>greater and
|
|
more perfect tabernacle,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 9:11" id="Ex.xxvi-p7.3" parsed="|Heb|9|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.9.11">Heb. ix.
|
|
11</scripRef>. <i>The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,</i>
|
|
as in a tabernacle.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxvi-p8">II. When Moses was to erect this palace, it
|
|
was requisite that he should first be instructed where he must have
|
|
the materials, and where he must have the model; for he could
|
|
neither contrive it by his own ingenuity nor build it at his own
|
|
charge; he is therefore directed here concerning both.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxvi-p9">1. The people must furnish him with the
|
|
materials, not by a tax imposed upon them, but by a voluntary
|
|
contribution. This is the first thing concerning which orders are
|
|
here given.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxvi-p10">(1.) <i>Speak unto the children of Israel
|
|
that they bring me an offering;</i> and there was all the reason in
|
|
the world that they should, for (<scripRef passage="Ex 25:1" id="Ex.xxvi-p10.1" parsed="|Exod|25|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.25.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>), [1.] It was God himself that had
|
|
not only enlarged them, but enriched them with the spoils of the
|
|
Egyptians. He had instructed them to borrow, and he had inclined
|
|
the Egyptians to lend, so that from him they had their wealth, and
|
|
therefore it was fit they should devote it to him and use it for
|
|
him, and thus make a grateful acknowledgement of the favours they
|
|
had received. Note, <i>First,</i> The best use we can make of our
|
|
worldly wealth is to honour God with it in works of piety and
|
|
charity. <i>Secondly,</i> When we have been blessed with some
|
|
remarkable success in our affairs, and have had, as we say, a good
|
|
turn, it may be justly expected that we should do something more
|
|
than ordinary for the glory of God, consecrating our gain, in some
|
|
reasonable proportion of it, to the Lord of the whole earth,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mic 4:3" id="Ex.xxvi-p10.2" parsed="|Mic|4|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mic.4.3">Mic. iv. 13</scripRef>. [2.] The
|
|
sanctuary that was to be built was intended for their benefit and
|
|
comfort, and therefore they must be at the expense of it. They had
|
|
been unworthy of the privilege if they had grudged at the charge.
|
|
They might well afford to offer liberally for the honour of God,
|
|
while they lived at free quarters, having food for themselves and
|
|
their families rained upon them daily from heaven. We also must own
|
|
that we have our all from God's bounty, and therefore ought to use
|
|
all for his glory. Since we live upon him, we must live to him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxvi-p11">(2.) This offering must be given willingly,
|
|
and with the heart, that is, [1.] It was not prescribed to them
|
|
what or how much they must give, but it was left to their
|
|
generosity, that they might show their good-will to the house of
|
|
God and the offices thereof, and might do it with a holy emulation,
|
|
the zeal of a few <i>provoking many,</i> <scripRef passage="2Co 9:2" id="Ex.xxvi-p11.1" parsed="|2Cor|9|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.9.2">2 Cor. ix. 2</scripRef>. We should ask, not only, "What
|
|
must we do?" but, "What may we do for God?" [2.] Whatever they
|
|
gave, they must give it cheerfully, not grudgingly and with
|
|
reluctance, for <i>God loves a cheerful giver,</i> <scripRef passage="2Co 9:7" id="Ex.xxvi-p11.2" parsed="|2Cor|9|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.9.7">2 Cor. ix. 7</scripRef>. What is laid out in the
|
|
service of God we must reckon well bestowed.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxvi-p12">(3.) The particulars are here mentioned
|
|
which they must offer (<scripRef passage="Ex 25:3-7" id="Ex.xxvi-p12.1" parsed="|Exod|25|3|25|7" osisRef="Bible:Exod.25.3-Exod.25.7"><i>v.</i>
|
|
3-7</scripRef>), all of them things that there would be occasion
|
|
for in the tabernacle, or the service of it. Some observe that here
|
|
was gold, silver, and brass, provided, but no iron; that is the
|
|
military metal, and this was to be a house of peace. Every thing
|
|
that was provided was very rich and fine, and the best of the sort;
|
|
for God, who is the best, should have the best.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxvi-p13">2. God himself would furnish him with the
|
|
model: <i>According to all that I show thee,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 25:9" id="Ex.xxvi-p13.1" parsed="|Exod|25|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.25.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. God showed him an exact plan of
|
|
it, in miniature, which he must conform to in all points. Thus
|
|
Ezekiel saw in vision the form of the house and the fashion
|
|
thereof, <scripRef passage="Eze 43:11" id="Ex.xxvi-p13.2" parsed="|Ezek|43|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.43.11">Ezek. xliii. 11</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, Whatsoever is done in God's service must be done by his
|
|
direction, and not otherwise. Yet God did not only show him the
|
|
model, but gave him also particular directions how to frame the
|
|
tabernacle according to that model, in all the parts of it, which
|
|
he goes over distinctly in this and the following chapters. When
|
|
Moses, in the beginning of Genesis, was to describe the creation of
|
|
the world, though it is such a stately and curious fabric and made
|
|
up of such a variety and vast number of particulars, yet he gave a
|
|
very short and general account of it, and nothing compared with
|
|
what the wisdom of this world would have desired and expected from
|
|
one that wrote by divine revelation; but, when he comes to describe
|
|
the tabernacle, he does it with the greatest niceness and accuracy
|
|
imaginable. He that gave us no account of the lines and circles of
|
|
the globe, the diameter of the earth, or the height and magnitude
|
|
of the stars, has told us particularly the measure of every board
|
|
and curtain of the tabernacle; for God's church and instituted
|
|
religion are more precious to him and more considerable than all
|
|
the rest of the world. And the scriptures were written, not to
|
|
describe to us the works of nature, a general view of which is
|
|
sufficient to lead us to the knowledge and service of the Creator,
|
|
but to acquaint us with the methods of grace, and those things
|
|
which are purely matters of divine revelation. The blessedness of
|
|
the future state is more fully represented under the notion of a
|
|
new Jerusalem than under the notion of new heavens and a new
|
|
earth.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 25" id="Ex.xxvi-p13.3" parsed="|Exod|25|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.25"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 25:10-22" id="Ex.xxvi-p13.4" parsed="|Exod|25|10|25|22" osisRef="Bible:Exod.25.10-Exod.25.22"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.25.10-Exod.25.22">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxvi-p14">10 And they shall make an ark <i>of</i> shittim
|
|
wood: two cubits and a half <i>shall be</i> the length thereof, and
|
|
a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the
|
|
height thereof.   11 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold,
|
|
within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a
|
|
crown of gold round about.   12 And thou shalt cast four rings
|
|
of gold for it, and put <i>them</i> in the four corners thereof;
|
|
and two rings <i>shall be</i> in the one side of it, and two rings
|
|
in the other side of it.   13 And thou shalt make staves
|
|
<i>of</i> shittim wood, and overlay them with gold.   14 And
|
|
thou shalt put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark,
|
|
that the ark may be borne with them.   15 The staves shall be
|
|
in the rings of the ark: they shall not be taken from it.   16
|
|
And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give
|
|
thee.   17 And thou shalt make a mercy seat <i>of</i> pure
|
|
gold: two cubits and a half <i>shall be</i> the length thereof, and
|
|
a cubit and a half the breadth thereof.   18 And thou shalt
|
|
make two cherubims <i>of</i> gold, <i>of</i> beaten work shalt thou
|
|
make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat.   19 And make
|
|
one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end:
|
|
<i>even</i> of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the
|
|
two ends thereof.   20 And the cherubims shall stretch forth
|
|
<i>their</i> wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their
|
|
wings, and their faces <i>shall look</i> one to another; toward the
|
|
mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.   21 And thou
|
|
shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou
|
|
shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee.   22 And there
|
|
I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the
|
|
mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which <i>are</i> upon
|
|
the ark of the testimony, of all <i>things</i> which I will give
|
|
thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxvi-p15">The first thing which is here ordered to be
|
|
made is the ark with its appurtenances, the furniture of the most
|
|
holy place, and the special token of God's presence, for which the
|
|
tabernacle was erected to be the receptacle.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxvi-p16">I. The ark itself was a chest, or coffer,
|
|
in which the two tables of the law, written with the finger of God,
|
|
were to be honourably deposited, and carefully kept. The dimensions
|
|
of it are exactly ordered; if the Jewish cubit was, as some learned
|
|
men compute, three inches longer than our half-yard (twenty-one
|
|
inches in all), this chest or cabinet was about fifty-two inches
|
|
long, thirty-one broad, and thirty-one deep. It was overlaid within
|
|
and without with thin plates of gold. It had a crown, or cornice,
|
|
of gold, round it, with rings and staves to carry it with; and in
|
|
it he must put the testimony, <scripRef passage="Ex 25:10-16" id="Ex.xxvi-p16.1" parsed="|Exod|25|10|25|16" osisRef="Bible:Exod.25.10-Exod.25.16"><i>v.</i> 10-16</scripRef>. The tables of the law are
|
|
called the <i>testimony</i> because God did in them testify his
|
|
will: his giving them that law was in token of his favour to them;
|
|
and their acceptance of it was in token of their subjection and
|
|
obedience to him. This law was a testimony to them, to direct them
|
|
in their duty, and would be a testimony against them if they
|
|
transgressed. The ark is called the <i>ark of the testimony</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 30:6" id="Ex.xxvi-p16.2" parsed="|Exod|30|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.6"><i>ch.</i> xxx. 6</scripRef>), and the
|
|
tabernacle <i>the tabernacle of the testimony</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 10:11" id="Ex.xxvi-p16.3" parsed="|Num|10|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.10.11">Num. x. 11</scripRef>) or witness, <scripRef passage="Ac 7:44" id="Ex.xxvi-p16.4" parsed="|Acts|7|44|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.44">Acts vii. 44</scripRef>. The gospel of Christ is
|
|
also called a testimony or witness, <scripRef passage="Mt 24:14" id="Ex.xxvi-p16.5" parsed="|Matt|24|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.24.14">Matt. xxiv. 14</scripRef>. It is observable, 1. That the
|
|
tables of the law were carefully preserved in the ark for the
|
|
purpose, to teach us to make much of the word of God, and to hide
|
|
it in our hearts, in our innermost thoughts, as the ark was placed
|
|
in the holy of holies. It intimates likewise the care which divine
|
|
Providence ever did, and ever will, take to preserve the records of
|
|
divine revelation in the church, so that even in the latter days
|
|
there shall be seen in his temple the <i>ark of his testament.</i>
|
|
See <scripRef passage="Re 11:19" id="Ex.xxvi-p16.6" parsed="|Rev|11|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.11.19">Rev. xi. 19</scripRef>. 2. That
|
|
this ark was the chief token of God's presence, which teaches us
|
|
that the first and great evidence and assurance of God's favour is
|
|
the putting of his law in the heart. God dwells where that rules,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Heb 8:10" id="Ex.xxvi-p16.7" parsed="|Heb|8|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.8.10">Heb. viii. 10</scripRef>. 3. That
|
|
provision was made for the carrying of this ark about with them in
|
|
all their removals, which intimates to us that, wherever we go, we
|
|
should take our religion along with us, always bearing about with
|
|
us the love of the Lord Jesus, and his law.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxvi-p17">II. The mercy-seat was the covering of the
|
|
ark or chest, made of solid gold, exactly to fit the dimensions of
|
|
the ark, <scripRef passage="Ex 25:17,21" id="Ex.xxvi-p17.1" parsed="|Exod|25|17|0|0;|Exod|25|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.25.17 Bible:Exod.25.21"><i>v.</i> 17,
|
|
21</scripRef>. This <i>propitiatory covering,</i> as it might well
|
|
be translated, was a type of Christ, the great propitiation, whose
|
|
satisfaction fully answers the demands of the law, covers our
|
|
transgressions, and comes between us and the curse we deserve. Thus
|
|
he is the <i>end of the law for righteousness.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxvi-p18">III. The cherubim of gold were fixed to the
|
|
mercy-seat, and of a piece with it, and spread their wings over it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 25:18" id="Ex.xxvi-p18.1" parsed="|Exod|25|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.25.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. It is
|
|
supposed that these cherubim were designed to represent the holy
|
|
angels, who always attended the <i>shechinah,</i> or divine
|
|
Majesty, particularly at the giving of the law; not by any effigies
|
|
of an angel, but some emblem of the angelical nature, probably some
|
|
one of those four faces spoken of, <scripRef passage="Eze 1:10" id="Ex.xxvi-p18.2" parsed="|Ezek|1|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.1.10">Ezek. i. 10</scripRef>. Whatever the faces were, they
|
|
looked one towards another, and both downward towards the ark,
|
|
while their wings were stretched out so as to touch one another.
|
|
The apostle calls them <i>cherubim of glory shadowing the
|
|
mercy-seat,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 9:5" id="Ex.xxvi-p18.3" parsed="|Heb|9|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.9.5">Heb. ix. 5</scripRef>.
|
|
It denotes their attendance upon the Redeemer, to whom they were
|
|
ministering spirits, their readiness to do his will, their special
|
|
presence in the assemblies of saints (<scripRef passage="Ps 68:17,1Co 11:10" id="Ex.xxvi-p18.4" parsed="|Ps|68|17|0|0;|1Cor|11|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.68.17 Bible:1Cor.11.10">Ps. lxviii. 17; 1 Cor. xi. 10</scripRef>), and
|
|
their desire to look into the mysteries of the gospel which they
|
|
diligently contemplate, <scripRef passage="1Pe 1:12" id="Ex.xxvi-p18.5" parsed="|1Pet|1|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.1.12">1 Pet. i.
|
|
12</scripRef>. God is said to dwell, or sit, <i>between the
|
|
cherubim,</i> on the mercy-seat (<scripRef passage="Ps 80:1" id="Ex.xxvi-p18.6" parsed="|Ps|80|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.80.1">Ps.
|
|
lxxx. 1</scripRef>), and thence he here promises, for the future,
|
|
to meet with Moses, and to <i>commune with him,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 25:22" id="Ex.xxvi-p18.7" parsed="|Exod|25|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.25.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>. There he would give
|
|
law, and there he would give audience, as a prince on his throne;
|
|
and thus he manifests himself willing to be reconciled to us, and
|
|
keep up communion with us, in and by the mediation of Christ. In
|
|
allusion to this mercy-seat, we are said to come boldly to <i>the
|
|
throne of grace</i> (<scripRef passage="Heb 4:16" id="Ex.xxvi-p18.8" parsed="|Heb|4|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.4.16">Heb. iv.
|
|
16</scripRef>); for we <i>are not under the law,</i> which is
|
|
covered, <i>but under grace,</i> which is displayed; its wings are
|
|
stretched out, and we are invited to come under the shadow of them,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ru 2:12" id="Ex.xxvi-p18.9" parsed="|Ruth|2|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ruth.2.12">Ruth ii. 12</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 25:23-30" id="Ex.xxvi-p18.10" parsed="|Exod|25|23|25|30" osisRef="Bible:Exod.25.23-Exod.25.30"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.25.23-Exod.25.30">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxvi-p19">  23 Thou shalt also make a table <i>of</i>
|
|
shittim wood: two cubits <i>shall be</i> the length thereof, and a
|
|
cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height
|
|
thereof.   24 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and
|
|
make thereto a crown of gold round about.   25 And thou shalt
|
|
make unto it a border of an hand breadth round about, and thou
|
|
shalt make a golden crown to the border thereof round about.  
|
|
26 And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings
|
|
in the four corners that <i>are</i> on the four feet thereof.
|
|
  27 Over against the border shall the rings be for places of
|
|
the staves to bear the table.   28 And thou shalt make the
|
|
staves <i>of</i> shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, that the
|
|
table may be borne with them.   29 And thou shalt make the
|
|
dishes thereof, and spoons thereof, and covers thereof, and bowls
|
|
thereof, to cover withal: <i>of</i> pure gold shalt thou make them.
|
|
  30 And thou shalt set upon the table showbread before me
|
|
alway.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxvi-p20">Here is, 1. A table ordered to be made of
|
|
wood overlaid with gold, which was to stand, not in the holy of
|
|
holies (nothing was in that but the ark with its appurtenances),
|
|
but in the outer part of the tabernacle, called the
|
|
<i>sanctuary,</i> or <i>holy place,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 9:2,23" id="Ex.xxvi-p20.1" parsed="|Heb|9|2|0|0;|Heb|9|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.9.2 Bible:Heb.9.23">Heb. ix. 2, 23</scripRef>, &c. There must also be
|
|
the usual furniture of the sideboard, dishes and spoons, &c.,
|
|
and all <i>of gold,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 25:29" id="Ex.xxvi-p20.2" parsed="|Exod|25|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.25.29"><i>v.</i>
|
|
29</scripRef>. 2. This table was to be always spread, and furnished
|
|
with the show-bread (<scripRef passage="Ex 25:30" id="Ex.xxvi-p20.3" parsed="|Exod|25|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.25.30"><i>v.</i>
|
|
30</scripRef>), or <i>bread of faces,</i> twelve loaves, one for
|
|
each tribe, set in two rows, six in a row; see the law concerning
|
|
them, <scripRef passage="Le 24:5-10" id="Ex.xxvi-p20.4" parsed="|Lev|24|5|24|10" osisRef="Bible:Lev.24.5-Lev.24.10">Lev. xxiv. 5</scripRef>,
|
|
&c. The tabernacle being God's house, in which he was pleased
|
|
to say that he would dwell among them, he would show that he kept a
|
|
good house. In the royal palace it was fit that there should be a
|
|
royal table. Some make the twelve loaves to represent the twelve
|
|
tribes, set before God as his people and <i>the corn of his
|
|
floor,</i> as they are called, <scripRef passage="Isa 21:10" id="Ex.xxvi-p20.5" parsed="|Isa|21|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.21.10">Isa.
|
|
xxi. 10</scripRef>. As the ark signified God's being present with
|
|
them, so the twelve loaves signified their being presented to God.
|
|
This bread was designed to be, (1.) A thankful acknowledgement of
|
|
God's goodness to them, in giving them their daily bread, manna in
|
|
the wilderness, where he prepared a table for them, and, in Canaan,
|
|
the corn of the land. Hereby they owned their dependence upon
|
|
Providence, not only for the corn in the field, which they gave
|
|
thanks for in offering the sheaf of first-fruits, but for the bread
|
|
in their houses, that, when it was brought home, God did not
|
|
<i>blow upon it,</i> <scripRef passage="Hag 1:9" id="Ex.xxvi-p20.6" parsed="|Hag|1|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hag.1.9">Hag. i.
|
|
9</scripRef>. Christ has taught us to pray every day for the bread
|
|
of the day. (2.) A token of their communion with God. This bread on
|
|
God's table being made of the same corn with the bread on their own
|
|
tables, God and Israel did, as it were, eat together, as a pledge
|
|
of friendship and fellowship; he supped with them, and they with
|
|
him. (3.) A type of the spiritual provision which is made in the
|
|
church, by the gospel of Christ, for all that are made priests to
|
|
our God. <i>In our Father's house there is bread enough and to
|
|
spare,</i> a loaf for every tribe. All that attend in God's house
|
|
shall be abundantly satisfied with the goodness of it, <scripRef passage="Ps 36:8" id="Ex.xxvi-p20.7" parsed="|Ps|36|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.36.8">Ps. xxxvi. 8</scripRef>. Divine consolations are
|
|
the continual feast of holy souls, notwithstanding there are those
|
|
to whom <i>the table of the Lord,</i> and the <i>meat thereof</i>
|
|
(because it is plain bread), are <i>contemptible,</i> <scripRef passage="Mal 1:12" id="Ex.xxvi-p20.8" parsed="|Mal|1|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mal.1.12">Mal. i. 12</scripRef>. Christ has a table in his
|
|
kingdom, at which all his saints shall for every eat and drink with
|
|
him, <scripRef passage="Lu 22:30" id="Ex.xxvi-p20.9" parsed="|Luke|22|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.22.30">Luke xxii. 30</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 25:31-40" id="Ex.xxvi-p20.10" parsed="|Exod|25|31|25|40" osisRef="Bible:Exod.25.31-Exod.25.40"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.25.31-Exod.25.40">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxvi-p21">31 And thou shalt make a candlestick <i>of</i>
|
|
pure gold: <i>of</i> beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his
|
|
shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers,
|
|
shall be of the same.   32 And six branches shall come out of
|
|
the sides of it; three branches of the candlestick out of the one
|
|
side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side:
|
|
  33 Three bowls made like unto almonds, <i>with</i> a knop
|
|
and a flower in one branch; and three bowls made like almonds in
|
|
the other branch, <i>with</i> a knop and a flower: so in the six
|
|
branches that come out of the candlestick.   34 And in the
|
|
candlestick <i>shall be</i> four bowls made like unto almonds,
|
|
<i>with</i> their knops and their flowers.   35 And <i>there
|
|
shall be</i> a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop
|
|
under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of
|
|
the same, according to the six branches that proceed out of the
|
|
candlestick.   36 Their knops and their branches shall be of
|
|
the same: all it <i>shall be</i> one beaten work <i>of</i> pure
|
|
gold.   37 And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof: and
|
|
they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over
|
|
against it.   38 And the tongs thereof, and the snuffdishes
|
|
thereof, <i>shall be of</i> pure gold.   39 <i>Of</i> a talent
|
|
of pure gold shall he make it, with all these vessels.   40
|
|
And look that thou make <i>them</i> after their pattern, which was
|
|
showed thee in the mount.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxvi-p22">I. The next thing ordered to be made for
|
|
the furnishing of God's palace was a rich stately candlestick, all
|
|
of pure gold, not hollow, but solid. The particular directions here
|
|
given concerning it show, 1. That it was very magnificent, and a
|
|
great ornament to the place; it had many branches drawn from the
|
|
main shaft, which had not only their bowls (to put the oil and the
|
|
kindled wick in) for necessity, but knops and flowers for ornament.
|
|
2. That it was very convenient, and admirably contrived both to
|
|
scatter the light and to keep the tabernacle clean from smoke and
|
|
snuffs. 3. That it was very significant. The tabernacle had no
|
|
windows by which to let in the light of the day, all its light was
|
|
candle-light, which intimates the comparative darkness of that
|
|
dispensation, while the Sun or righteousness had not as yet risen,
|
|
nor had the day-star from on high yet visited his church. Yet God
|
|
left not himself without witness, nor them without instruction; the
|
|
commandment was a lamp, and the law a light, and the prophets were
|
|
branches from that lamp, which gave light in their several ages to
|
|
the Old-Testament church. The church is still dark, as the
|
|
tabernacle was, in comparison with what it will be in heaven; but
|
|
the word of God is the candlestick, <i>a light shining in a dark
|
|
place</i> (<scripRef passage="2Pe 1:19" id="Ex.xxvi-p22.1" parsed="|2Pet|1|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.1.19">2 Pet. i. 19</scripRef>),
|
|
and a dark place indeed the world would be without it. The Spirit
|
|
of God, in his various gifts and graces, is compared to the
|
|
<i>seven lamps</i> which <i>burn before the throne,</i> <scripRef passage="Re 4:5" id="Ex.xxvi-p22.2" parsed="|Rev|4|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.4.5">Rev. iv. 5</scripRef>. The churches are golden
|
|
candlesticks, the lights of the world, <i>holding forth the word of
|
|
life</i> as the candlestick does the light, <scripRef passage="Php 2:15,16" id="Ex.xxvi-p22.3" parsed="|Phil|2|15|2|16" osisRef="Bible:Phil.2.15-Phil.2.16">Phil. ii. 15, 16</scripRef>. Ministers are to light
|
|
the lamps, and snuff them (<scripRef passage="Ex 25:37" id="Ex.xxvi-p22.4" parsed="|Exod|25|37|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.25.37"><i>v.</i>
|
|
37</scripRef>), by opening the scriptures. The treasure of this
|
|
light is now put into <i>earthen vessels,</i> <scripRef passage="2Co 4:6,7" id="Ex.xxvi-p22.5" parsed="|2Cor|4|6|4|7" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.4.6-2Cor.4.7">2 Cor. iv. 6, 7</scripRef>. The branches of the
|
|
candlestick spread every way, to denote the diffusing of the light
|
|
of the gospel into all parts by the Christian ministry, <scripRef passage="Mt 5:14,15" id="Ex.xxvi-p22.6" parsed="|Matt|5|14|5|15" osisRef="Bible:Matt.5.14-Matt.5.15">Matt. v. 14, 15</scripRef>. There is a
|
|
<i>diversity of gifts,</i> but the same Spirit gives to each to
|
|
profit withal.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxvi-p23">II. There is in the midst of these
|
|
instructions an express caution given to Moses, to take heed of
|
|
varying from his model: <i>Make them after the pattern shown
|
|
thee,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 25:40" id="Ex.xxvi-p23.1" parsed="|Exod|25|40|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.25.40"><i>v.</i> 40</scripRef>.
|
|
Nothing was left to his own invention, or the fancy of the workmen,
|
|
or the people's humour; but the will of God must be religiously
|
|
observed in every particular. Thus, 1. All God's providences are
|
|
exactly according to his counsels, and the copy never varies from
|
|
the original. Infinite Wisdom never changes its measures; whatever
|
|
is purposed shall undoubtedly be performed. 2. All his ordinances
|
|
must be administered according to his institutions. Christ's
|
|
instruction to his disciples (<scripRef passage="Mt 28:20" id="Ex.xxvi-p23.2" parsed="|Matt|28|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.28.20">Matt.
|
|
xxviii. 20</scripRef>) is similar to this: <i>Observe all things
|
|
whatsoever I have commanded you.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXVI" n="xxvii" progress="44.09%" prev="Ex.xxvi" next="Ex.xxviii" id="Ex.xxvii">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.xxvii-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.xxvii-p0.2">CHAP. XXVI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.xxvii-p1">Moses here receives instructions, I. Concerning
|
|
the inner curtains of the tent or tabernacle, and the coupling of
|
|
those curtains, <scripRef passage="Ex 26:1-6" id="Ex.xxvii-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|26|1|26|6" osisRef="Bible:Exod.26.1-Exod.26.6">ver. 1-6</scripRef>.
|
|
II. Concerning the outer curtains which were of goats' hair, to
|
|
strengthen the former, <scripRef passage="Ex 26:7-13" id="Ex.xxvii-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|26|7|26|13" osisRef="Bible:Exod.26.7-Exod.26.13">ver.
|
|
7-13</scripRef>. III. Concerning the case or cover which was to
|
|
secure it from the weather, <scripRef passage="Ex 26:14" id="Ex.xxvii-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|26|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.26.14">ver.
|
|
14</scripRef>. IV. Concerning the boards which were to be reared up
|
|
to support the curtains, with their bars and sockets, <scripRef passage="Ex 26:15-30" id="Ex.xxvii-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|26|15|26|30" osisRef="Bible:Exod.26.15-Exod.26.30">ver. 15-30</scripRef>. V. The partition
|
|
between the holy place and the most holy, <scripRef passage="Ex 26:31-35" id="Ex.xxvii-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|26|31|26|35" osisRef="Bible:Exod.26.31-Exod.26.35">ver. 31-35</scripRef>. VI. The veil for the door,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 26:36,37" id="Ex.xxvii-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|26|36|26|37" osisRef="Bible:Exod.26.36-Exod.26.37">ver. 36, 37</scripRef>. These
|
|
particulars, thus largely recorded, seem of little use to us now;
|
|
yet, having been of great use to Moses and Israel, and God having
|
|
thought fit to preserve down to us the remembrance of them, we
|
|
ought not to overlook them. Even the antiquity renders this account
|
|
venerable.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 26" id="Ex.xxvii-p1.7" parsed="|Exod|26|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.26"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 26:1-6" id="Ex.xxvii-p1.8" parsed="|Exod|26|1|26|6" osisRef="Bible:Exod.26.1-Exod.26.6"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.26.1-Exod.26.6">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxvii-p1.9">The Tabernacle and Its
|
|
Furniture. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxvii-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxvii-p2">1 Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle
|
|
<i>with</i> ten curtains <i>of</i> fine twined linen, and blue, and
|
|
purple, and scarlet: <i>with</i> cherubims of cunning work shalt
|
|
thou make them. 2 The length of one curtain <i>shall be</i> eight
|
|
and twenty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and
|
|
every one of the curtains shall have one measure. 3 The five
|
|
curtains shall be coupled together one to another; and <i>other</i>
|
|
five curtains <i>shall be</i> coupled one to another. 4 And thou
|
|
shalt make loops of blue upon the edge of the one curtain from the
|
|
selvedge in the coupling; and likewise shalt thou make in the
|
|
uttermost edge of <i>another</i> curtain, in the coupling of the
|
|
second. 5 Fifty loops shalt thou make in the one curtain, and fifty
|
|
loops shalt thou make in the edge of the curtain that <i>is</i> in
|
|
the coupling of the second; that the loops may take hold one of
|
|
another. 6 And thou shalt make fifty taches of gold, and couple the
|
|
curtains together with the taches: and it shall be one
|
|
tabernacle.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxvii-p3">I. The house must be a <i>tabernacle</i> or
|
|
<i>tent,</i> such as soldiers now use in the camp, which was both a
|
|
mean dwelling and a movable one; and yet the ark of God had not
|
|
better, till Solomon built the temple 480 years after this,
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Ki 6:1" id="Ex.xxvii-p3.1" parsed="|1Kgs|6|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.6.1">1 Kings vi. 1</scripRef>. God
|
|
manifested his presence among them thus in a tabernacle, 1. In
|
|
compliance with their present condition in the wilderness, that
|
|
they might have him with them wherever they went. Note, God suits
|
|
the tokens of his favour, and the gifts of his grace, to his
|
|
people's wants and necessities, according as they are,
|
|
accommodating his mercy to their state, prosperous or adverse,
|
|
settled or unsettled. <i>When thou passest through the waters, I
|
|
will be with thee,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 43:2" id="Ex.xxvii-p3.2" parsed="|Isa|43|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.43.2">Isa. xliii.
|
|
2</scripRef>. 2. That it might represent the state of God's church
|
|
in this world, it is a <i>tabernacle-state,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 15:1" id="Ex.xxvii-p3.3" parsed="|Ps|15|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.15.1">Ps. xv. 1</scripRef>. <i>We have here no continuing
|
|
city;</i> being strangers in this world, and travellers towards a
|
|
better, we shall never be fixed till we come to heaven.
|
|
Church-privileges are movable goods, from one place to another; the
|
|
gospel is not tied to any place; the candlestick is in a tent, and
|
|
may easily be taken away, <scripRef passage="Re 2:5" id="Ex.xxvii-p3.4" parsed="|Rev|2|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.2.5">Rev. ii.
|
|
5</scripRef>. If we make much of the tabernacle, and improve the
|
|
privilege of it, wherever we go it will accompany us; but, if we
|
|
neglect and disgrace it, wherever we stay it will forsake us.
|
|
<i>What hath my beloved to do in my house?</i> <scripRef passage="Jer 11:15" id="Ex.xxvii-p3.5" parsed="|Jer|11|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.11.15">Jer. xi. 15</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxvii-p4">II. The curtains of the tabernacle must
|
|
correspond to a divine pattern. 1. They were to be very rich, the
|
|
best of the kind, <i>fine twined linen;</i> and colours very
|
|
pleasing, <i>blue,</i> and <i>purple,</i> and <i>scarlet.</i> 2.
|
|
They were to be embroidered with cherubim (<scripRef passage="Ex 26:1" id="Ex.xxvii-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|26|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.26.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>), to intimate that the angels of
|
|
God pitch their tents round about the church, <scripRef passage="Ps 34:7" id="Ex.xxvii-p4.2" parsed="|Ps|34|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.34.7">Ps. xxxiv. 7</scripRef>. As there were cherubim over the
|
|
mercy-seat, so there were round the tabernacle; for we find the
|
|
angels compassing, not only the throne, but the elders; see
|
|
<scripRef passage="Re 5:11" id="Ex.xxvii-p4.3" parsed="|Rev|5|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.5.11">Rev. v. 11</scripRef>. 3. There were to
|
|
be two hangings, five breadths in each, sewed together, and the two
|
|
hangings coupled together with golden clasps, or tacks, so that it
|
|
might be all one tabernacle, <scripRef passage="Ex 26:6" id="Ex.xxvii-p4.4" parsed="|Exod|26|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.26.6">v.
|
|
6</scripRef>. Thus the churches of Christ and the saints, though
|
|
they are many, are yet one, being <i>fitly joined together</i> in
|
|
holy love, and by the <i>unity of the Spirit,</i> so growing into
|
|
one <i>holy temple</i> in <i>the Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Eph 2:21,22,4:16" id="Ex.xxvii-p4.5" parsed="|Eph|2|21|2|22;|Eph|4|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eph.2.21-Eph.2.22 Bible:Eph.4.16">Eph. ii. 21, 22; iv. 16</scripRef>. This
|
|
tabernacle was very strait and narrow; but, at the preaching of the
|
|
gospel, the church is bidden to <i>enlarge the place of her
|
|
tent,</i> and to <i>stretch forth her curtains,</i> <scripRef passage="Is 54:2" id="Ex.xxvii-p4.6" parsed="|Isa|54|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.2">Isa. liv. 2</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 26:7-14" id="Ex.xxvii-p4.7" parsed="|Exod|26|7|26|14" osisRef="Bible:Exod.26.7-Exod.26.14"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.26.7-Exod.26.14">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxvii-p5">7 And thou shalt make curtains <i>of</i> goats'
|
|
<i>hair</i> to be a covering upon the tabernacle: eleven curtains
|
|
shalt thou make. 8 The length of one curtain <i>shall be</i> thirty
|
|
cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and the eleven
|
|
curtains <i>shall be all</i> of one measure. 9 And thou shalt
|
|
couple five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves,
|
|
and shalt double the sixth curtain in the forefront of the
|
|
tabernacle. 10 And thou shalt make fifty loops on the edge of the
|
|
one curtain <i>that is</i> outmost in the coupling, and fifty loops
|
|
in the edge of the curtain which coupleth the second. 11 And thou
|
|
shalt make fifty taches of brass, and put the taches into the
|
|
loops, and couple the tent together, that it may be one. 12 And the
|
|
remnant that remaineth of the curtains of the tent, the half
|
|
curtain that remaineth, shall hang over the backside of the
|
|
tabernacle. 13 And a cubit on the one side, and a cubit on the
|
|
other side of that which remaineth in the length of the curtains of
|
|
the tent, it shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle on this
|
|
side and on that side, to cover it. 14 And thou shalt make a
|
|
covering for the tent <i>of</i> rams' skins dyed red, and a
|
|
covering above <i>of</i> badgers' skins.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxvii-p6">Moses is here ordered to make a double
|
|
covering for the tabernacle, that it might not rain in, and that
|
|
the beauty of those fine curtains might not be damaged. 1. There
|
|
was to be a covering of hair camlet curtains, which were somewhat
|
|
larger every way than the inner curtains, because they were to
|
|
enclose them, and probably were stretched out at some little
|
|
distance from them, <scripRef passage="Ex 26:7" id="Ex.xxvii-p6.1" parsed="|Exod|26|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.26.7">v. 7</scripRef>,
|
|
&c. These were coupled together with brass clasps. The stuff
|
|
being less valuable, the tacks were so; but the brass tacks would
|
|
answer the intention as effectually as the golden ones. The bonds
|
|
of unity may be as strong between curtains of goats' hair as
|
|
between those of purple and scarlet. 2. Over this there was to be
|
|
another covering, and that a double one (<scripRef passage="Ex 26:14" id="Ex.xxvii-p6.2" parsed="|Exod|26|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.26.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>), one of <i>rams' skins dyed
|
|
red,</i> probably dressed with the wool on; another of <i>badgers'
|
|
skins,</i> so we translate it, but it should rather seem to have
|
|
been some strong sort of leather (but very fine), for we read of
|
|
the best sort of shoes being made of it, <scripRef passage="Eze 16:10" id="Ex.xxvii-p6.3" parsed="|Ezek|16|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.10">Ezek. xvi. 10</scripRef>. Now observe here, (1.) That
|
|
the outside of the tabernacle was coarse and rough, the beauty of
|
|
it was in the inner curtains. Those in whom God dwells must labour
|
|
to be better than they seem to be. Hypocrites put the best side
|
|
outwards, like <i>whited sepulchres;</i> but <i>the king's daughter
|
|
is all glorious within</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 45:13" id="Ex.xxvii-p6.4" parsed="|Ps|45|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.45.13">Ps. xlv.
|
|
13</scripRef>); in the eye of the world black as the tents of
|
|
Kedar, but, in the eye of God, comely as the curtains of Solomon,
|
|
<scripRef passage="So 1:5" id="Ex.xxvii-p6.5" parsed="|Song|1|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Song.1.5">Cant. i. 5</scripRef>. Let our adorning
|
|
be that of the hidden man of the heart, which God values, <scripRef passage="1Pe 3:4" id="Ex.xxvii-p6.6" parsed="|1Pet|3|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.3.4">1 Pet. iii. 4</scripRef>. (2.) That where God
|
|
places his glory he will create a defence upon it; even upon the
|
|
habitations of the righteous there shall be a covert, <scripRef passage="Isa 6:5,6" id="Ex.xxvii-p6.7" parsed="|Isa|6|5|6|6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.5-Isa.6.6">Isa. vi. 5, 6</scripRef>. The protection of
|
|
Providence shall always be upon the beauty of holiness. God's tent
|
|
will be a pavilion, <scripRef passage="Ps 27:5" id="Ex.xxvii-p6.8" parsed="|Ps|27|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.27.5">Ps. xxvii.
|
|
5</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 26" id="Ex.xxvii-p6.9" parsed="|Exod|26|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.26"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 26:15-30" id="Ex.xxvii-p6.10" parsed="|Exod|26|15|26|30" osisRef="Bible:Exod.26.15-Exod.26.30"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.26.15-Exod.26.30">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxvii-p7">15 And thou shalt make boards for the tabernacle
|
|
<i>of</i> shittim wood standing up. 16 Ten cubits <i>shall be</i>
|
|
the length of a board, and a cubit and a half <i>shall be</i> the
|
|
breadth of one board. 17 Two tenons <i>shall there be</i> in one
|
|
board, set in order one against another: thus shalt thou make for
|
|
all the boards of the tabernacle. 18 And thou shalt make the boards
|
|
for the tabernacle, twenty boards on the south side southward. 19
|
|
And thou shalt make forty sockets of silver under the twenty
|
|
boards; two sockets under one board for his two tenons, and two
|
|
sockets under another board for his two tenons. 20 And for the
|
|
second side of the tabernacle on the north side <i>there shall
|
|
be</i> twenty boards: 21 And their forty sockets <i>of</i> silver;
|
|
two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board.
|
|
22 And for the sides of the tabernacle westward thou shalt make six
|
|
boards. 23 And two boards shalt thou make for the corners of the
|
|
tabernacle in the two sides. 24 And they shall be coupled together
|
|
beneath, and they shall be coupled together above the head of it
|
|
unto one ring: thus shall it be for them both; they shall be for
|
|
the two corners. 25 And they shall be eight boards, and their
|
|
sockets <i>of</i> silver, sixteen sockets; two sockets under one
|
|
board, and two sockets under another board. 26 And thou shalt make
|
|
bars <i>of</i> shittim wood; five for the boards of the one side of
|
|
the tabernacle, 27 And five bars for the boards of the other side
|
|
of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the side of the
|
|
tabernacle, for the two sides westward. 28 And the middle bar in
|
|
the midst of the boards shall reach from end to end. 29 And thou
|
|
shalt overlay the boards with gold, and make their rings <i>of</i>
|
|
gold <i>for</i> places for the bars: and thou shalt overlay the
|
|
bars with gold. 30 And thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according
|
|
to the fashion thereof which was showed thee in the mount.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxvii-p8">Very particular directions are here given
|
|
about the boards of the tabernacle, which were to bear up the
|
|
curtains, as the stakes of a tent which had need to be strong,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 54:2" id="Ex.xxvii-p8.1" parsed="|Isa|54|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.2">Isa. liv. 2</scripRef>. These boards
|
|
had tenons which fell into the mortises that were made for them in
|
|
silver bases. God took care to have every thing strong, as well as
|
|
fine, in his tabernacle. Curtains without boards would have been
|
|
shaken by every wind; but <i>it is a good thing</i> to have the
|
|
<i>heart established with grace,</i> which is as the boards to
|
|
support the curtains of profession, which otherwise will not hold
|
|
out long. The boards were coupled together with gold rings at top
|
|
and bottom (<scripRef passage="Ex 26:24" id="Ex.xxvii-p8.2" parsed="|Exod|26|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.26.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>),
|
|
and kept firm with bars that ran through golden staples in every
|
|
board (<scripRef passage="Ex 26:26" id="Ex.xxvii-p8.3" parsed="|Exod|26|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.26.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>), and
|
|
the boards and bars were all richly gilded, <scripRef passage="Ex 26:29" id="Ex.xxvii-p8.4" parsed="|Exod|26|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.26.29">v. 29</scripRef>. Thus every thing in the tabernacle was
|
|
very splendid, agreeable to that infant state of the church, when
|
|
such things were proper enough to please children, to possess the
|
|
minds of the worshippers with a reverence of the divine glory, and
|
|
to affect them with the greatness of that prince who said, <i>Here
|
|
will I dwell;</i> in allusion to this the new Jerusalem is said to
|
|
be of <i>pure gold,</i> <scripRef passage="Re 21:18" id="Ex.xxvii-p8.5" parsed="|Rev|21|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.21.18">Rev. xxi.
|
|
18</scripRef>. But the builders of the gospel church said,
|
|
<i>Silver and gold have we none;</i> and yet the glory of their
|
|
building far exceeded that of the tabernacle, <scripRef passage="2Co 3:10,11" id="Ex.xxvii-p8.6" parsed="|2Cor|3|10|3|11" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.3.10-2Cor.3.11">2 Cor. iii. 10, 11</scripRef>. <i>How much better is
|
|
wisdom than gold!</i> No orders are given here about the floor of
|
|
the tabernacle; probably that also was boarded; for we cannot think
|
|
that within all these fine curtains they trod upon the cold or wet
|
|
ground; if it was so left, it may remind us of <scripRef passage="Ex 20:24" id="Ex.xxvii-p8.7" parsed="|Exod|20|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.24"><i>ch.</i> xx. 24</scripRef>, <i>An altar of earth shalt
|
|
thou make unto me.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 26:31-37" id="Ex.xxvii-p8.8" parsed="|Exod|26|31|26|37" osisRef="Bible:Exod.26.31-Exod.26.37"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.26.31-Exod.26.37">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxvii-p9">31 And thou shalt make a vail <i>of</i> blue,
|
|
and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work:
|
|
with cherubims shall it be made: 32 And thou shalt hang it upon
|
|
four pillars of shittim <i>wood</i> overlaid with gold: their hooks
|
|
<i>shall be of</i> gold, upon the four sockets of silver. 33 And
|
|
thou shalt hang up the vail under the taches, that thou mayest
|
|
bring in thither within the vail the ark of the testimony: and the
|
|
vail shall divide unto you between the holy <i>place</i> and the
|
|
most holy. 34 And thou shalt put the mercy seat upon the ark of the
|
|
testimony in the most holy <i>place.</i> 35 And thou shalt set the
|
|
table without the vail, and the candlestick over against the table
|
|
on the side of the tabernacle toward the south: and thou shalt put
|
|
the table on the north side. 36 And thou shalt make an hanging for
|
|
the door of the tent, <i>of</i> blue, and purple, and scarlet, and
|
|
fine twined linen, wrought with needlework. 37 And thou shalt make
|
|
for the hanging five pillars <i>of</i> shittim <i>wood,</i> and
|
|
overlay them with gold, <i>and</i> their hooks <i>shall be of</i>
|
|
gold: and thou shalt cast five sockets of brass for them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxvii-p10">Two veils are here ordered to be made, 1.
|
|
One for a partition between the holy place and the most holy, which
|
|
not only forbade any to enter, but forbade them so much as to look
|
|
into the holiest of all, <scripRef passage="Ex 26:31,33" id="Ex.xxvii-p10.1" parsed="|Exod|26|31|0|0;|Exod|26|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.26.31 Bible:Exod.26.33">v. 31,
|
|
33</scripRef>. Under that dispensation, divine grace was veiled,
|
|
but now we behold it with open face, <scripRef passage="2Co 3:18" id="Ex.xxvii-p10.2" parsed="|2Cor|3|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.3.18">2
|
|
Cor. iii. 18</scripRef>. The apostle tells us (<scripRef passage="Heb 9:8,9" id="Ex.xxvii-p10.3" parsed="|Heb|9|8|9|9" osisRef="Bible:Heb.9.8-Heb.9.9">Heb. ix. 8, 9</scripRef>) what was the meaning of this
|
|
veil; it intimated that the ceremonial law <i>could not make the
|
|
comers thereunto perfect,</i> nor would the observance of it bring
|
|
men to heaven; the <i>way into the holiest of all was not made
|
|
manifest while the first tabernacle was standing; life and
|
|
immortality</i> lay concealed till they were <i>brought to light by
|
|
the gospel,</i> which was therefore signified by the rending of
|
|
this veil at the death of Christ, <scripRef passage="Mt 27:51" id="Ex.xxvii-p10.4" parsed="|Matt|27|51|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.27.51">Matt. xxvii. 51</scripRef>. We have not <i>boldness to
|
|
enter into the holiest,</i> in all acts of devotion, <i>by the
|
|
blood of Jesus,</i> yet such as obliges us to a holy reverence and
|
|
a humble sense of our distance. 2. Another veil was for the outer
|
|
door of the tabernacle, <scripRef passage="Ex 26:36,37" id="Ex.xxvii-p10.5" parsed="|Exod|26|36|26|37" osisRef="Bible:Exod.26.36-Exod.26.37">v. 36,
|
|
37</scripRef>. Through this first veil the priests went in every
|
|
day to minister in the holy place, but not the people, <scripRef passage="Heb 9:6" id="Ex.xxvii-p10.6" parsed="|Heb|9|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.9.6">Heb. ix. 6</scripRef>. This veil, which was all
|
|
the defence the tabernacle had against thieves and robbers, might
|
|
easily be broken through, for it could be neither locked nor
|
|
barred, and the abundance of wealth in the tabernacle, one would
|
|
think, might be a temptation; but by leaving it thus exposed, (1.)
|
|
The priests and Levites would be so much the more obliged to keep a
|
|
strict watch upon it, and, (2.) God would show his care of his
|
|
church on earth, though it is weak and defenceless, and continually
|
|
exposed. A curtain shall be (if God please to make it so) as strong
|
|
a defence to his house as gates of brass and bars of iron.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXVII" n="xxviii" progress="44.37%" prev="Ex.xxvii" next="Ex.xxix" id="Ex.xxviii">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.xxviii-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.xxviii-p0.2">CHAP. XXVII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.xxviii-p1">In this chapter directions are given, I.
|
|
Concerning the brazen altar for burnt-offerings, <scripRef passage="Ex 27:1-8" id="Ex.xxviii-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|27|1|27|8" osisRef="Bible:Exod.27.1-Exod.27.8">ver. 1-8</scripRef>. II. Concerning the court of the
|
|
tabernacle, with the hangings of it, <scripRef passage="Ex 27:9-19" id="Ex.xxviii-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|27|9|27|19" osisRef="Bible:Exod.27.9-Exod.27.19">ver. 9-19</scripRef>. III. Concerning oil for the
|
|
lamp, <scripRef passage="Ex 27:20,21" id="Ex.xxviii-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|27|20|27|21" osisRef="Bible:Exod.27.20-Exod.27.21">ver. 20, 21</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 27" id="Ex.xxviii-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|27|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.27"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 27:1-8" id="Ex.xxviii-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|27|1|27|8" osisRef="Bible:Exod.27.1-Exod.27.8"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.27.1-Exod.27.8">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxviii-p1.6">The Tabernacle and Its
|
|
Furniture. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxviii-p1.7">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxviii-p2">1 And thou shalt make an altar <i>of</i> shittim
|
|
wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be
|
|
foursquare: and the height thereof <i>shall be</i> three cubits.
|
|
  2 And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners
|
|
thereof: his horns shall be of the same: and thou shalt overlay it
|
|
with brass.   3 And thou shalt make his pans to receive his
|
|
ashes, and his shovels, and his basons, and his fleshhooks, and his
|
|
firepans: all the vessels thereof thou shalt make <i>of</i> brass.
|
|
  4 And thou shalt make for it a grate of network <i>of</i>
|
|
brass; and upon the net shalt thou make four brasen rings in the
|
|
four corners thereof.   5 And thou shalt put it under the
|
|
compass of the altar beneath, that the net may be even to the midst
|
|
of the altar.   6 And thou shalt make staves for the altar,
|
|
staves <i>of</i> shittim wood, and overlay them with brass.  
|
|
7 And the staves shall be put into the rings, and the staves shall
|
|
be upon the two sides of the altar, to bear it.   8 Hollow
|
|
with boards shalt thou make it: as it was showed thee in the mount,
|
|
so shall they make <i>it.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxviii-p3">As God intended in the tabernacle to
|
|
manifest his presence among his people, so there they were to pay
|
|
their devotions to him, not in the tabernacle itself (into that
|
|
only the priests entered as God's domestic servants), but in the
|
|
court before the tabernacle, where, as common subjects, they
|
|
attended. There an altar was ordered to be set up, to which they
|
|
must bring their sacrifices, and on which their priests must offer
|
|
them to God: and this altar was to sanctify their gifts. Here they
|
|
were to present their services to God, as from the mercy-seat he
|
|
gave his oracles to them; and thus a communion was settled between
|
|
God and Israel. Moses is here directed about, 1. The dimensions of
|
|
it; it was square, <scripRef passage="Ex 27:1,2" id="Ex.xxviii-p3.1" parsed="|Exod|27|1|27|2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.27.1-Exod.27.2"><i>v.</i>
|
|
1</scripRef>. 2. The horns of it (<scripRef passage="Ex 27:2" id="Ex.xxviii-p3.2" parsed="|Exod|27|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.27.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), which were for ornament and for
|
|
use; the sacrifices were <i>bound with cords to the horns of the
|
|
altar,</i> and to them malefactors fled for refuge. 3. The
|
|
materials; it was of wood overlaid with brass, <scripRef passage="Ex 27:1,2" id="Ex.xxviii-p3.3" parsed="|Exod|27|1|27|2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.27.1-Exod.27.2"><i>v.</i> 1, 2</scripRef>. 4. The appurtenances of it
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 27:3" id="Ex.xxviii-p3.4" parsed="|Exod|27|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.27.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), which were
|
|
all of brass. 5. The grate, which was let into the hollow of the
|
|
altar, about the middle of it, in which the fire was kept, and the
|
|
sacrifice burnt; it was made of network like a sieve, and hung
|
|
hollow, that the fire might burn the better, and that the ashes
|
|
might fall through into the hollow of the altar, <scripRef passage="Ex 27:4,5" id="Ex.xxviii-p3.5" parsed="|Exod|27|4|27|5" osisRef="Bible:Exod.27.4-Exod.27.5"><i>v.</i> 4, 5</scripRef>. 6. The staves with which it
|
|
must be carried, <scripRef passage="Ex 27:6,7" id="Ex.xxviii-p3.6" parsed="|Exod|27|6|27|7" osisRef="Bible:Exod.27.6-Exod.27.7"><i>v.</i> 6,
|
|
7</scripRef>. And, <i>lastly,</i> he is referred to the pattern
|
|
shown him, <scripRef passage="Ex 27:8" id="Ex.xxviii-p3.7" parsed="|Exod|27|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.27.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxviii-p4">Now this brazen altar was a type of Christ
|
|
dying to make atonement for our sins: the wood would have been
|
|
consumed by the fire from heaven if it had not been secured by the
|
|
brass; nor could the human nature of Christ have borne the wrath of
|
|
God if it had not been supported by a divine power. Christ
|
|
sanctified himself for his church, as their altar (<scripRef passage="Joh 17:19" id="Ex.xxviii-p4.1" parsed="|John|17|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.17.19">John xvii. 19</scripRef>), and by his mediation
|
|
sanctifies the daily services of his people, who have also <i>a
|
|
right to eat of this altar</i> (<scripRef passage="Heb 13:10" id="Ex.xxviii-p4.2" parsed="|Heb|13|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.13.10">Heb.
|
|
xiii. 10</scripRef>), for they serve at it as spiritual priests. To
|
|
the horns of this altar poor sinners fly for refuge when justice
|
|
pursues them, and they are safe in virtue of the sacrifice there
|
|
offered.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 27:9-19" id="Ex.xxviii-p4.3" parsed="|Exod|27|9|27|19" osisRef="Bible:Exod.27.9-Exod.27.19"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.27.9-Exod.27.19">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxviii-p5">9 And thou shalt make the court of the
|
|
tabernacle: for the south side southward <i>there shall be</i>
|
|
hangings for the court <i>of</i> fine twined linen of an hundred
|
|
cubits long for one side:   10 And the twenty pillars thereof
|
|
and their twenty sockets <i>shall be of</i> brass; the hooks of the
|
|
pillars and their fillets <i>shall be of</i> silver.   11 And
|
|
likewise for the north side in length <i>there shall be</i>
|
|
hangings of an hundred <i>cubits</i> long, and his twenty pillars
|
|
and their twenty sockets <i>of</i> brass; the hooks of the pillars
|
|
and their fillets <i>of</i> silver.   12 And <i>for</i> the
|
|
breadth of the court on the west side <i>shall be</i> hangings of
|
|
fifty cubits: their pillars ten, and their sockets ten.   13
|
|
And the breadth of the court on the east side eastward <i>shall
|
|
be</i> fifty cubits.   14 The hangings of one side <i>of the
|
|
gate shall be</i> fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their
|
|
sockets three.   15 And on the other side <i>shall be</i>
|
|
hangings fifteen <i>cubits:</i> their pillars three, and their
|
|
sockets three.   16 And for the gate of the court <i>shall
|
|
be</i> an hanging of twenty cubits, <i>of</i> blue, and purple, and
|
|
scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework: <i>and</i>
|
|
their pillars <i>shall be</i> four, and their sockets four.  
|
|
17 All the pillars round about the court <i>shall be</i> filleted
|
|
with silver; their hooks <i>shall be of</i> silver, and their
|
|
sockets <i>of</i> brass.   18 The length of the court <i>shall
|
|
be</i> an hundred cubits, and the breadth fifty everywhere, and
|
|
the height five cubits <i>of</i> fine twined linen, and their
|
|
sockets <i>of</i> brass.   19 All the vessels of the
|
|
tabernacle in all the service thereof, and all the pins thereof,
|
|
and all the pins of the court, <i>shall be of</i> brass.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxviii-p6">Before the tabernacle there was to be a
|
|
court or yard, enclosed with hangings of the finest linen that was
|
|
used for tents. This court, according to the common computation of
|
|
cubits, was fifty yards long, and twenty-five broad. Pillars were
|
|
set up at convenient distances, in sockets of brass, the pillars
|
|
filleted with silver, and silver tenter-hooks in them, on which the
|
|
linen hangings were fastened: the hanging which served for the gate
|
|
was finer than the rest, <scripRef passage="Ex 27:16" id="Ex.xxviii-p6.1" parsed="|Exod|27|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.27.16"><i>v.</i>
|
|
16</scripRef>. This court was a type of the church, enclosed and
|
|
distinguished from the rest of the world, the enclosure supported
|
|
by pillars, denoting the stability of the church, hung with the
|
|
clean linen, which is said to be the <i>righteousness of
|
|
saints,</i> <scripRef passage="Re 19:8" id="Ex.xxviii-p6.2" parsed="|Rev|19|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.19.8">Rev. xix. 8</scripRef>.
|
|
These were the courts David longed for and coveted to reside in
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ps 84:2,10" id="Ex.xxviii-p6.3" parsed="|Ps|84|2|0|0;|Ps|84|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.84.2 Bible:Ps.84.10">Ps. lxxxiv. 2, 10</scripRef>), and
|
|
into which the people of God entered with praise and thanksgiving
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ps 100:4" id="Ex.xxviii-p6.4" parsed="|Ps|100|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.100.4">Ps. c. 4</scripRef>); yet this court
|
|
would contain but a few worshippers. Thanks be to God, now, under
|
|
the gospel, the enclosure is taken down. God's will is that men
|
|
<i>pray everywhere;</i> and there is room for all that in every
|
|
place call on the name of Jesus Christ.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 27:20-21" id="Ex.xxviii-p6.5" parsed="|Exod|27|20|27|21" osisRef="Bible:Exod.27.20-Exod.27.21"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.27.20-Exod.27.21">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxviii-p7">20 And thou shalt command the children of
|
|
Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light,
|
|
to cause the lamp to burn always.   21 In the tabernacle of
|
|
the congregation without the vail, which <i>is</i> before the
|
|
testimony, Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to
|
|
morning before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxviii-p7.1">Lord</span>: <i>it shall
|
|
be</i> a statute for ever unto their generations on the behalf of
|
|
the children of Israel.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxviii-p8">We read of the candlestick in the
|
|
twenty-fifth chapter; here is an order given for the keeping of the
|
|
lamps constantly burning in it, else it was useless; in every
|
|
candlestick there should be a burning and shining light;
|
|
candlesticks without candles are as <i>wells without water</i> or
|
|
as <i>clouds without rain.</i> Now, 1. The people were to provide
|
|
the oil; from them the Lord's ministers must have their
|
|
maintenance. Or, rather, the pure oil signified the gifts and
|
|
graces of the Spirit, which are communicated to all believers from
|
|
Christ the good olive, of whose fulness we receive (<scripRef passage="Zec 4:11,12" id="Ex.xxviii-p8.1" parsed="|Zech|4|11|4|12" osisRef="Bible:Zech.4.11-Zech.4.12">Zech. iv. 11, 12</scripRef>), and without
|
|
which our light cannot shine before men. 2. The priests were to
|
|
light the lamps, and to tend them; it was part of their daily
|
|
service to <i>cause the lamp to burn always,</i> night and day;
|
|
thus it is the work of ministers, by the preaching and expounding
|
|
of the scriptures (which are as a lamp), to enlighten the church,
|
|
God's tabernacle upon the earth, and to direct the spiritual
|
|
priests in his service. This is to be <i>a statute for ever,</i>
|
|
that the lamps of the word be lighted as duly as the incense of
|
|
prayer and praise is offered.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXVIII" n="xxix" progress="44.53%" prev="Ex.xxviii" next="Ex.xxx" id="Ex.xxix">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.xxix-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.xxix-p0.2">CHAP. XXVIII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.xxix-p1">Orders being given for the fitting up of the place
|
|
of worship, in this and the following chapter care is taken about
|
|
the priests that were to minister in this holy place, as the menial
|
|
servants of the God of Israel. He hired servants, as a token of his
|
|
purpose to reside among them. In this chapter, I. He pitches upon
|
|
the persons who should be his servants, <scripRef passage="Ex 28:1" id="Ex.xxix-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|28|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.1">ver. 1</scripRef>. II. He appoints their livery; their
|
|
work was holy, and so must their garments be, and unanswerable to
|
|
the glory of the house which was now to be erected, <scripRef passage="Ex 28:2-5" id="Ex.xxix-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|28|2|28|5" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.2-Exod.28.5">ver. 2-5</scripRef>. 1. He appoints the
|
|
garments of his head-servant, the high priest, which were very
|
|
rich. (1.) An ephod and girdle, <scripRef passage="Ex 28:6-14" id="Ex.xxix-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|28|6|28|14" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.6-Exod.28.14">ver.
|
|
6-14</scripRef>. (2.) A breast-plate of judgment (<scripRef passage="Ex 28:15-29" id="Ex.xxix-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|28|15|28|29" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.15-Exod.28.29">ver. 15-29</scripRef>), in which must be put
|
|
the urim and thummim, <scripRef passage="Ex 28:30" id="Ex.xxix-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|28|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.30">ver.
|
|
30</scripRef>. (3.) The robe of the ephod, <scripRef passage="Ex 28:31-35" id="Ex.xxix-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|28|31|28|35" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.31-Exod.28.35">ver. 31-35</scripRef>. (4.) The mitre, <scripRef passage="Ex 28:36-39" id="Ex.xxix-p1.7" parsed="|Exod|28|36|28|39" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.36-Exod.28.39">ver. 36-39</scripRef>. 2. The garments of the
|
|
inferior priests, <scripRef passage="Ex 28:40-43" id="Ex.xxix-p1.8" parsed="|Exod|28|40|28|43" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.40-Exod.28.43">ver.
|
|
40-43</scripRef>. And these also were shadows of good things to
|
|
come.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 28" id="Ex.xxix-p1.9" parsed="|Exod|28|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 28:1-5" id="Ex.xxix-p1.10" parsed="|Exod|28|1|28|5" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.1-Exod.28.5"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.28.1-Exod.28.5">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxix-p1.11">The Priests' Attire. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxix-p1.12">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxix-p2">1 And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and
|
|
his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may
|
|
minister unto me in the priest's office, <i>even</i> Aaron, Nadab
|
|
and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons.   2 And thou
|
|
shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for
|
|
beauty.   3 And thou shalt speak unto all <i>that are</i> wise
|
|
hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they
|
|
may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him, that he may minister
|
|
unto me in the priest's office.   4 And these <i>are</i> the
|
|
garments which they shall make; a breastplate, and an ephod, and a
|
|
robe, and a broidered coat, a mitre, and a girdle: and they shall
|
|
make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may
|
|
minister unto me in the priest's office.   5 And they shall
|
|
take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxix-p3">We have here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxix-p4">I. The priests nominated: <i>Aaron and his
|
|
sons,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 28:1" id="Ex.xxix-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|28|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>.
|
|
Hitherto every master of a family was priest to his own family, and
|
|
offered, as he saw cause, upon altars of earth; but now that the
|
|
families of Israel began to be incorporated into a nation, and a
|
|
<i>tabernacle of the congregation</i> was to be erected, as a
|
|
visible centre of their unity, it was requisite there should be a
|
|
public priesthood instituted. Moses, who had hitherto officiated,
|
|
and is therefore reckoned among the <i>priests of the Lord</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ps 99:6" id="Ex.xxix-p4.2" parsed="|Ps|99|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.99.6">Ps. xcix. 6</scripRef>), had enough to
|
|
do as their prophet to consult the oracle for them, and as their
|
|
prince to judge among them; nor was he desirous to engross all the
|
|
honours to himself, or to entail that of the priesthood, which
|
|
alone was hereditary, upon his own family, but was very well
|
|
pleased to see his brother Aaron invested in this office, and his
|
|
sons after him, while (how great soever he was) his sons after him
|
|
would be but common Levites. It is an instance of the humility of
|
|
that great man, and an evidence of his sincere regard for the glory
|
|
of God, that he had so little regard to the preferment of his own
|
|
family. Aaron, who had humbly served as a prophet to his younger
|
|
brother Moses, and did not decline the office (<scripRef passage="Ex 7:1" id="Ex.xxix-p4.3" parsed="|Exod|7|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.7.1"><i>ch.</i> vii. 1</scripRef>), is now advanced to be a
|
|
priest, a high priest to God; for he will exalt those that abase
|
|
themselves. Nor could any man have <i>taken this honour to
|
|
himself,</i> but he that was <i>called of God to it,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 5:4" id="Ex.xxix-p4.4" parsed="|Heb|5|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.5.4">Heb. v. 4</scripRef>. God had said of Israel in
|
|
general that they should be to him a <i>kingdom of priests,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 19:6" id="Ex.xxix-p4.5" parsed="|Exod|19|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.6"><i>ch.</i> xix. 6</scripRef>. But
|
|
because it was requisite that those who ministered at the altar
|
|
should give themselves wholly to the service, and because that
|
|
which is everybody's work will soon come to be nobody's work, God
|
|
here chose from among them one to be a family of priests, the
|
|
father and his four sons; and from Aaron's loins descended all the
|
|
priests of the Jewish church, of whom we read so often, both in the
|
|
Old Testament and in the New. A blessed thing it is when real
|
|
holiness goes, as the ceremonial holiness did, by succession in a
|
|
family.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxix-p5">II. The priests' garments appointed, <i>for
|
|
glory and beauty,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 28:2" id="Ex.xxix-p5.1" parsed="|Exod|28|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.2"><i>v.</i>
|
|
2</scripRef>. Some of the richest materials were to be provided
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 28:5" id="Ex.xxix-p5.2" parsed="|Exod|28|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), and the best
|
|
artists employed in the making of them, whose skill God, by a
|
|
<i>special gift</i> for this purpose, would improve to a very high
|
|
degree, <scripRef passage="Ex 28:3" id="Ex.xxix-p5.3" parsed="|Exod|28|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. Note,
|
|
Eminence, even in common arts, is a gift of God, it comes from him,
|
|
and, as there is occasion, it ought to be used for him. He that
|
|
teaches the husbandman discretion teaches the tradesman also; both
|
|
therefore ought to honour God with their gain. Human learning ought
|
|
particularly to be consecrated to the service of the priesthood,
|
|
and employed for the adorning of those that minister about holy
|
|
things. The garments appointed were, 1. Four, which both the high
|
|
priest and the inferior priests wore, namely, the linen breeches,
|
|
the linen coat, the linen girdle which fastened it to them, and the
|
|
bonnet or turban; that which the high priest wore is called <i>a
|
|
mitre.</i> 2. Four more, which were peculiar to the high priest,
|
|
namely, the ephod, with the curious girdle of it, the breast-plate
|
|
of judgment, the long robe with the bells and pomegranates at the
|
|
bottom of it, and the golden plate on his forehead. These glorious
|
|
garments were appointed, (1.) That the priests themselves might be
|
|
reminded of the dignity of their office, and might behave
|
|
themselves with due decorum. (2.) That the people might thereby be
|
|
possessed with a holy reverence of that God whose ministers
|
|
appeared in such grandeur. (3.) That the priests might be types of
|
|
Christ, who should offer himself without spot to God, and of all
|
|
Christians, who have the beauty of holiness put upon them, in which
|
|
they are consecrated to God. Our adorning, now under the gospel,
|
|
both that of ministers and Christians, is not to be of gold, and
|
|
pearl, and costly array, but the <i>garments of salvation, and the
|
|
robe of righteousness,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 61:10,Ps 132:9,16" id="Ex.xxix-p5.4" parsed="|Isa|61|10|0|0;|Ps|132|9|0|0;|Ps|132|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.61.10 Bible:Ps.132.9 Bible:Ps.132.16">Isa. lxi. 10; Ps. cxxxii. 9, 16</scripRef>.
|
|
As the filthy garments wherewith Joshua the high priest was clothed
|
|
signified the iniquity which cleaved to his priesthood, from which
|
|
care was taken that it should be purged (<scripRef passage="Zec 3:3,4" id="Ex.xxix-p5.5" parsed="|Zech|3|3|3|4" osisRef="Bible:Zech.3.3-Zech.3.4">Zech. iii. 3, 4</scripRef>), so those <i>holy
|
|
garments</i> signified the perfect purity that there is in the
|
|
priesthood of Christ; he is holy, harmless, and undefiled.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 28:6-14" id="Ex.xxix-p5.6" parsed="|Exod|28|6|28|14" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.6-Exod.28.14"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.28.6-Exod.28.14">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxix-p6">6 And they shall make the ephod <i>of</i> gold,
|
|
<i>of</i> blue, and <i>of</i> purple, <i>of</i> scarlet, and fine
|
|
twined linen, with cunning work.   7 It shall have the two
|
|
shoulderpieces thereof joined at the two edges thereof; and
|
|
<i>so</i> it shall be joined together.   8 And the curious
|
|
girdle of the ephod, which <i>is</i> upon it, shall be of the same,
|
|
according to the work thereof; <i>even of</i> gold, <i>of</i> blue,
|
|
and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen.   9 And thou
|
|
shalt take two onyx stones, and grave on them the names of the
|
|
children of Israel:   10 Six of their names on one stone, and
|
|
<i>the other</i> six names of the rest on the other stone,
|
|
according to their birth.   11 With the work of an engraver in
|
|
stone, <i>like</i> the engravings of a signet, shalt thou engrave
|
|
the two stones with the names of the children of Israel: thou shalt
|
|
make them to be set in ouches of gold.   12 And thou shalt put
|
|
the two stones upon the shoulders of the ephod <i>for</i> stones of
|
|
memorial unto the children of Israel: and Aaron shall bear their
|
|
names before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxix-p6.1">Lord</span> upon his two
|
|
shoulders for a memorial.   13 And thou shalt make ouches
|
|
<i>of</i> gold;   14 And two chains <i>of</i> pure gold at the
|
|
ends; <i>of</i> wreathen work shalt thou make them, and fasten the
|
|
wreathen chains to the ouches.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxix-p7">Directions are here given concerning the
|
|
ephod, which was the outmost garment of the high priest.
|
|
<i>Linen</i> ephods were worn by the inferior priests, <scripRef passage="1Sa 22:18" id="Ex.xxix-p7.1" parsed="|1Sam|22|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.22.18">1 Sam. xxii. 18</scripRef>. Samuel wore one
|
|
when he was a child (<scripRef passage="1Sa 2:18" id="Ex.xxix-p7.2" parsed="|1Sam|2|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.2.18">1 Sam. ii.
|
|
18</scripRef>), and David when he danced before the ark (<scripRef passage="2Sa 6:14" id="Ex.xxix-p7.3" parsed="|2Sam|6|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.6.14">2 Sam. vi. 14</scripRef>); but this which the
|
|
high priest only wore was called a <i>golden ephod,</i> because
|
|
there was a great deal of gold woven into it. It was a short coat
|
|
without sleeves, buttoned closely to him, with a curious girdle of
|
|
the same stuff (<scripRef passage="Ex 28:6-8" id="Ex.xxix-p7.4" parsed="|Exod|28|6|28|8" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.6-Exod.28.8"><i>v.</i>
|
|
6-8</scripRef>); the shoulder-pieces were buttoned together with
|
|
two precious stones set in gold, one on each shoulder, on which
|
|
were engraven the names of the <i>children of Israel,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 28:9-12" id="Ex.xxix-p7.5" parsed="|Exod|28|9|28|12" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.9-Exod.28.12"><i>v.</i> 9-12</scripRef>. In allusion to
|
|
this, 1. Christ our high priest appeared to John <i>girt about the
|
|
breast with a golden girdle,</i> such as was the curious girdle of
|
|
the ephod, <scripRef passage="Re 1:13" id="Ex.xxix-p7.6" parsed="|Rev|1|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.1.13">Rev. i. 13</scripRef>.
|
|
Righteousness is the girdle of his loins (<scripRef passage="Isa 11:6" id="Ex.xxix-p7.7" parsed="|Isa|11|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.11.6">Isa. xi. 6</scripRef>), and should be of ours, <scripRef passage="Eph 6:14" id="Ex.xxix-p7.8" parsed="|Eph|6|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eph.6.14">Eph. vi. 14</scripRef>. He is girt with strength
|
|
for the work of our salvation, and is ready for it. 2. The
|
|
government is said to be <i>upon his shoulders</i> (<scripRef passage="Isa 9:6" id="Ex.xxix-p7.9" parsed="|Isa|9|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.9.6">Isa. ix. 6</scripRef>), as Aaron had the names of
|
|
all Israel upon his shoulders in precious stone. He presents to
|
|
himself and to his Father <i>a glorious church,</i> <scripRef passage="Eph 5:27" id="Ex.xxix-p7.10" parsed="|Eph|5|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eph.5.27">Eph. v. 27</scripRef>. He has power to support
|
|
them, interest to recommend them, and it is in him that they are
|
|
remembered with honour and favour. He bears them before the Lord
|
|
<i>for a memorial</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 28:12" id="Ex.xxix-p7.11" parsed="|Exod|28|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.12"><i>v.</i>
|
|
12</scripRef>), in token of his <i>appearing before God</i> as the
|
|
representative of all Israel and an advocate for them.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 28" id="Ex.xxix-p7.12" parsed="|Exod|28|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 28:15-30" id="Ex.xxix-p7.13" parsed="|Exod|28|15|28|30" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.15-Exod.28.30"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.28.15-Exod.28.30">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxix-p7.14">Aaron's Attire. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxix-p7.15">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxix-p8">15 And thou shalt make the breastplate of
|
|
judgment with cunning work; after the work of the ephod thou shalt
|
|
make it; <i>of</i> gold, <i>of</i> blue, and <i>of</i> purple, and
|
|
<i>of</i> scarlet, and <i>of</i> fine twined linen, shalt thou make
|
|
it.   16 Foursquare it shall be <i>being</i> doubled; a span
|
|
<i>shall be</i> the length thereof, and a span <i>shall be</i> the
|
|
breadth thereof.   17 And thou shalt set in it settings of
|
|
stones, <i>even</i> four rows of stones: <i>the first</i> row
|
|
<i>shall be</i> a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle: <i>this shall
|
|
be</i> the first row.   18 And the second row <i>shall be</i>
|
|
an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond.   19 And the third row
|
|
a ligure, an agate, and an amethyst.   20 And the fourth row a
|
|
beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper: they shall be set in gold in
|
|
their inclosings.   21 And the stones shall be with the names
|
|
of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names,
|
|
<i>like</i> the engravings of a signet; every one with his name
|
|
shall they be according to the twelve tribes.   22 And thou
|
|
shalt make upon the breastplate chains at the ends <i>of</i>
|
|
wreathen work <i>of</i> pure gold.   23 And thou shalt make
|
|
upon the breastplate two rings of gold, and shalt put the two rings
|
|
on the two ends of the breastplate.   24 And thou shalt put
|
|
the two wreathen <i>chains</i> of gold in the two rings <i>which
|
|
are</i> on the ends of the breastplate.   25 And <i>the
|
|
other</i> two ends of the two wreathen <i>chains</i> thou shalt
|
|
fasten in the two ouches, and put <i>them</i> on the shoulderpieces
|
|
of the ephod before it.   26 And thou shalt make two rings of
|
|
gold, and thou shalt put them upon the two ends of the breastplate
|
|
in the border thereof, which <i>is</i> in the side of the ephod
|
|
inward.   27 And two <i>other</i> rings of gold thou shalt
|
|
make, and shalt put them on the two sides of the ephod underneath,
|
|
toward the forepart thereof, over against the <i>other</i> coupling
|
|
thereof, above the curious girdle of the ephod.   28 And they
|
|
shall bind the breastplate by the rings thereof unto the rings of
|
|
the ephod with a lace of blue, that <i>it</i> may be above the
|
|
curious girdle of the ephod, and that the breastplate be not loosed
|
|
from the ephod.   29 And Aaron shall bear the names of the
|
|
children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart,
|
|
when he goeth in unto the holy <i>place,</i> for a memorial before
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxix-p8.1">Lord</span> continually.   30 And
|
|
thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the
|
|
Thummim; and they shall be upon Aaron's heart, when he goeth in
|
|
before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxix-p8.2">Lord</span>: and Aaron shall
|
|
bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxix-p8.3">Lord</span> continually.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxix-p9">The most considerable of the ornaments of
|
|
the high priest was this breast-plate, a rich piece of cloth,
|
|
curiously wrought with gold and purple, &c., two spans long and
|
|
a span broad, so that, being doubled, it was a span square,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 28:16" id="Ex.xxix-p9.1" parsed="|Exod|28|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. This was
|
|
fastened to the ephod with wreathen chains of gold (<scripRef passage="Ex 28:13,14,22" id="Ex.xxix-p9.2" parsed="|Exod|28|13|28|14;|Exod|28|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.13-Exod.28.14 Bible:Exod.28.22"><i>v.</i> 13, 14, 22</scripRef>, &c.)
|
|
both at top and bottom, so that <i>the breast-plate might not be
|
|
loosed from the ephod,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 28:28" id="Ex.xxix-p9.3" parsed="|Exod|28|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.28"><i>v.</i>
|
|
28</scripRef>. The ephod was the garment of service; the
|
|
breast-plate of judgment was an emblem of honour: these two must by
|
|
no means be separated. If any man will <i>minister unto the
|
|
Lord,</i> and <i>do his will,</i> he shall <i>know his
|
|
doctrine.</i> In this breast-plate,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxix-p10">I. The tribes of Israel were recommended to
|
|
God's favour in twelve precious stones, <scripRef passage="Ex 28:17-21,29" id="Ex.xxix-p10.1" parsed="|Exod|28|17|28|21;|Exod|28|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.17-Exod.28.21 Bible:Exod.28.29"><i>v.</i> 17-21, 29</scripRef>. Some question
|
|
whether Levi had a precious stone with his name or no. If not,
|
|
Ephraim and Manasseh were reckoned distinct, as Jacob had said they
|
|
should be, and the high priest himself, being head of the tribe of
|
|
Levi, sufficiently represented that tribe. If there was a stone for
|
|
Levi, as is intimated by this, that they were <i>engraven according
|
|
to their birth</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 28:10" id="Ex.xxix-p10.2" parsed="|Exod|28|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.10"><i>v.</i>
|
|
10</scripRef>), Ephraim and Manasseh were one in Joseph. Aaron was
|
|
to bear their names for a <i>memorial before the Lord
|
|
continually,</i> being <i>ordained for men,</i> to represent them
|
|
in things pertaining to God, herein typifying our great high
|
|
priest, who always appears in the presence of God for us. 1. Though
|
|
the people were forbidden to come near, and obliged to keep their
|
|
distance, yet by the high priest, who had their names on his
|
|
breast-plate, they entered into the holiest; so believers, even
|
|
while they are here on this earth, not only <i>enter into the
|
|
holiest,</i> but by faith are made to <i>sit with Christ in
|
|
heavenly places,</i> <scripRef passage="Eph 2:6" id="Ex.xxix-p10.3" parsed="|Eph|2|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eph.2.6">Eph. ii.
|
|
6</scripRef>. 2. The name of each tribe was engraven in a precious
|
|
stone, to signify how precious, in God's sight, believers are, and
|
|
how honourable, <scripRef passage="Isa 43:4" id="Ex.xxix-p10.4" parsed="|Isa|43|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.43.4">Isa. xliii.
|
|
4</scripRef>. They shall be his in the day he <i>makes up his
|
|
jewels,</i> <scripRef passage="Mal 3:17" id="Ex.xxix-p10.5" parsed="|Mal|3|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mal.3.17">Mal. iii. 17</scripRef>.
|
|
How small and poor soever the tribe was, it was a precious stone in
|
|
the breast-plate of the high priest; thus are all the saints dear
|
|
to Christ, and his delight is in them as the excellent ones of the
|
|
earth, however men may esteem them as <i>earthen pitchers,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="La 4:2" id="Ex.xxix-p10.6" parsed="|Lam|4|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.2">Lam. iv. 2</scripRef>. 3. The high
|
|
priest had the names of the tribes both on his shoulders and on his
|
|
breast, intimating both the power and the love with which our Lord
|
|
Jesus intercedes for those that are his. He not only bears them up
|
|
<i>upon his heart,</i> as the expression here is (<scripRef passage="Ex 28:29" id="Ex.xxix-p10.7" parsed="|Exod|28|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>), <i>carries them in his
|
|
bosom</i> (<scripRef passage="Isa 40:11" id="Ex.xxix-p10.8" parsed="|Isa|40|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.40.11">Isa. xl. 11</scripRef>),
|
|
with the most tender affection. How near should Christ's name be to
|
|
our hearts, since he is pleased to lay our names so near his! and
|
|
what a comfort it is to us, in all our addresses to God, that the
|
|
great high priest of our profession has the names of all his Israel
|
|
upon his breast before the Lord <i>for a memorial,</i> presenting
|
|
them to God as the people of his choice, who were to be made
|
|
<i>accepted in the beloved!</i> Let not any good Christians fear
|
|
that God has forgotten them, nor question his being mindful of them
|
|
upon all occasions, when they are not only engraven upon the
|
|
<i>palms of his hands</i> (<scripRef passage="Isa 49:16" id="Ex.xxix-p10.9" parsed="|Isa|49|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.49.16">Isa. xlix.
|
|
16</scripRef>), but engraven upon the heart of the great
|
|
intercessor. See <scripRef passage="So 8:6" id="Ex.xxix-p10.10" parsed="|Song|8|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Song.8.6">Cant. viii.
|
|
6</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxix-p11">II. The urim and thummim, by which the will
|
|
of God was made known in doubtful cases, were put in this
|
|
breast-plate, which is therefore called the <i>breast-plate of
|
|
judgment,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 28:30" id="Ex.xxix-p11.1" parsed="|Exod|28|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>.
|
|
<i>Urim</i> and <i>thummim</i> signify <i>light</i> and
|
|
<i>integrity;</i> many conjectures there are among the learned what
|
|
they were; we have no reason to think they were any thing that
|
|
Moses was to make more than what was before ordered, so that either
|
|
God made them himself, and gave them to Moses, for him to put into
|
|
the breast-plate, when other things were prepared (<scripRef passage="Le 8:8" id="Ex.xxix-p11.2" parsed="|Lev|8|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8.8">Lev. viii. 8</scripRef>), or no more is meant than
|
|
a declaration of the further use of what was already ordered to be
|
|
made. I think the words may be read thus, <i>And thou shalt
|
|
give,</i> or <i>add,</i> or <i>deliver, to the breast-plate of
|
|
judgment, the illuminations and perfections, and they shall be upon
|
|
the heart of Aaron;</i> that is, "He shall be endued with a power
|
|
of knowing and making known the mind of God in all difficult
|
|
doubtful cases, relating either to the civil or ecclesiastical
|
|
state of the nation." Their government was a theocracy: God was
|
|
their King, the high priest was, under God, their ruler, the urim
|
|
and thummim were his cabinet-council; probably Moses wrote upon the
|
|
breast-plate, or wove into it, these words, <i>Urim</i> and
|
|
<i>Thummim,</i> to signify that the high priest, having on him this
|
|
breast-plate, and asking counsel of God in any emergency relating
|
|
to the public, should be directed to take those measures, and give
|
|
that advice, which God would own. If he was standing before the ark
|
|
(but without the veil) probably he received instructions from off
|
|
the mercy-seat, as Moses did (<scripRef passage="Ex 25:22" id="Ex.xxix-p11.3" parsed="|Exod|25|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.25.22"><i>ch.</i> xxv. 22</scripRef>); thus, it should seem,
|
|
Phinehas did, <scripRef passage="Jdg 20:27,28" id="Ex.xxix-p11.4" parsed="|Judg|20|27|20|28" osisRef="Bible:Judg.20.27-Judg.20.28">Judg. xx. 27,
|
|
28</scripRef>. If he was at a distance from the ark, as Abiathar
|
|
was when he enquired of the Lord for David (<scripRef passage="1Sa 23:6" id="Ex.xxix-p11.5" parsed="|1Sam|23|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.23.6">1 Sam. xxiii. 6</scripRef>, &c.), then the answer
|
|
was given either by a voice from heaven or rather by an impulse
|
|
upon the mind of the high priest, which last is perhaps intimated
|
|
in that expression, <i>He shall bear the judgment of the children
|
|
of Israel upon his heart.</i> This oracle was of great use to
|
|
Israel; Joshua consulted it (<scripRef passage="Nu 27:21" id="Ex.xxix-p11.6" parsed="|Num|27|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.27.21">Num.
|
|
xxvii. 21</scripRef>), and, it is likely, the judges after him. It
|
|
was lost in the captivity, and never regained after, though, it
|
|
should seem, it was expected, <scripRef passage="Ezr 2:63" id="Ex.xxix-p11.7" parsed="|Ezra|2|63|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.2.63">Ezra ii.
|
|
63</scripRef>. But it was a shadow of good things to come, and the
|
|
substance is Christ. He is our oracle; by him God in these last
|
|
days makes known himself and his mind to us, <scripRef passage="Heb 1:2,Joh 1:18" id="Ex.xxix-p11.8" parsed="|Heb|1|2|0|0;|John|1|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.1.2 Bible:John.1.18">Heb. i. 2; John i. 18</scripRef>. Divine
|
|
revelation centres in him, and comes to us through him; he is the
|
|
light, the true light, the faithful witness, the truth itself, and
|
|
from him we receive the Spirit of truth, who leads into all truth.
|
|
The joining of the breast-plate to the ephod denotes that his
|
|
prophetical office was founded in his priesthood; and it was by the
|
|
merit of his death that he purchased this honour for himself and
|
|
this favour for us. It was the <i>Lamb that had been slain</i> that
|
|
was worthy to <i>take the book</i> and to <i>open the seals,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Re 5:9" id="Ex.xxix-p11.9" parsed="|Rev|5|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.5.9">Rev. v. 9</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 28:31-39" id="Ex.xxix-p11.10" parsed="|Exod|28|31|28|39" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.31-Exod.28.39"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.28.31-Exod.28.39">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxix-p12">31 And thou shalt make the robe of the ephod all
|
|
<i>of</i> blue.   32 And there shall be an hole in the top of
|
|
it, in the midst thereof: it shall have a binding of woven work
|
|
round about the hole of it, as it were the hole of an habergeon,
|
|
that it be not rent.   33 And <i>beneath</i> upon the hem of
|
|
it thou shalt make pomegranates <i>of</i> blue, and <i>of</i>
|
|
purple, and <i>of</i> scarlet, round about the hem thereof; and
|
|
bells of gold between them round about:   34 A golden bell and
|
|
a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the
|
|
robe round about.   35 And it shall be upon Aaron to minister:
|
|
and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy
|
|
<i>place</i> before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxix-p12.1">Lord</span>, and
|
|
when he cometh out, that he die not.   36 And thou shalt make
|
|
a plate <i>of</i> pure gold, and grave upon it, <i>like</i> the
|
|
engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD.   37 And thou
|
|
shalt put it on a blue lace, that it may be upon the mitre; upon
|
|
the forefront of the mitre it shall be.   38 And it shall be
|
|
upon Aaron's forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy
|
|
things, which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy
|
|
gifts; and it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be
|
|
accepted before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxix-p12.2">Lord</span>.   39
|
|
And thou shalt embroider the coat of fine linen, and thou shalt
|
|
make the mitre <i>of</i> fine linen, and thou shalt make the girdle
|
|
<i>of</i> needlework.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxix-p13">Here is, 1. Direction given concerning
|
|
<i>the robe of the ephod,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 28:31-35" id="Ex.xxix-p13.1" parsed="|Exod|28|31|28|35" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.31-Exod.28.35"><i>v.</i> 31-35</scripRef>. This was next under the
|
|
ephod, and reached down to the knees, was without sleeves, and was
|
|
put on over their head, having holes on the sides to put the arms
|
|
through, or, as Maimonides describes it, was not sewed together on
|
|
the sides at all. The hole on the top, through which the head was
|
|
put, was carefully bound about, that it might not tear in the
|
|
putting on. In religious worship, care must be taken to prevent
|
|
every thing that may distract the minds of the worshippers, or
|
|
render the service despicable. Round the skirts of the robe were
|
|
hung golden bells, and the representations of pomegranates made of
|
|
yarn of divers colours. The pomegranates added to the beauty of the
|
|
robe, and the sound of the bells gave notice to the people in the
|
|
outer court when he went into the holy place to burn incense, that
|
|
they might then apply themselves to their devotions at the same
|
|
time (<scripRef passage="Lu 1:10" id="Ex.xxix-p13.2" parsed="|Luke|1|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.1.10">Luke i. 10</scripRef>), in token
|
|
of their concurrence with him in his offering, and their hopes of
|
|
the ascent of their prayers to God in virtue of the incense he
|
|
offered. Aaron must come near to minister in the garments that were
|
|
appointed him, <i>that he die not.</i> It is at his peril if he
|
|
attend otherwise than according to the institution. This intimates
|
|
that we must serve the Lord <i>with fear</i> and holy
|
|
<i>trembling,</i> as those that know we deserve to die, and are in
|
|
danger of making some fatal mistake. Some make the bells of the
|
|
holy robe to typify the sound of the gospel of Christ in the world,
|
|
giving notice of his entrance within the veil for us. <i>Blessed
|
|
are those that hear this joyful sound,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 89:15" id="Ex.xxix-p13.3" parsed="|Ps|89|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.89.15">Ps. lxxxix. 15</scripRef>. The adding of the
|
|
pomegranates, which are a fragrant fruit, denotes the sweet savour
|
|
of the gospel, as well as the joyful sound of it, for it is a
|
|
<i>savour of life unto life.</i> The church is called an <i>orchard
|
|
of pomegranates.</i> 2. Concerning the golden plate fixed upon
|
|
Aaron's forehead, on which must be engraven, <i>Holiness to the
|
|
Lord</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 28:36,37" id="Ex.xxix-p13.4" parsed="|Exod|28|36|28|37" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.36-Exod.28.37"><i>v.</i> 36,
|
|
37</scripRef>), or <i>The holiness of Jehovah.</i> Aaron must
|
|
hereby be reminded that God is holy, and that his priests must be
|
|
holy. <i>Holiness becomes his house</i> and household. The high
|
|
priest must be sequestered from all pollution, and consecrated to
|
|
God and to his service and honour, and so must all his
|
|
ministrations be. All that attend in God's house must have
|
|
<i>Holiness to the Lord</i> engraven upon their foreheads, that is,
|
|
they must be holy, devoted to the Lord, and designing his glory in
|
|
all they do. This must appear in their forehead, in an open
|
|
profession of their relation to God, as those that are not ashamed
|
|
to own it, and in a conversation in the world answerable to it. It
|
|
must likewise be engraven like the engravings of a signet, so deep,
|
|
so durable, not painted to be washed off, but sincere and lasting;
|
|
such must our <i>holiness to the Lord</i> be. Aaron must have this
|
|
upon his forehead, that he may <i>bear the iniquity of the holy
|
|
things</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 28:38" id="Ex.xxix-p13.5" parsed="|Exod|28|38|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.38"><i>v.</i> 38</scripRef>),
|
|
and that <i>they may be accepted before the Lord.</i> Herein he was
|
|
a type of Christ, the great Mediator between God and man, through
|
|
whom it is that we have to do with God. (1.) Through him what is
|
|
amiss in our services is pardoned. The divine law is strict; in
|
|
many things we come short of our duty, so that we cannot but be
|
|
conscious to ourselves of much iniquity cleaving even to our holy
|
|
things; when we would do good evil is present; even this would be
|
|
our ruin if God should enter into judgment with us. But Christ, our
|
|
high priest, bears this iniquity, bears it for us so as to bear it
|
|
from us, and through him it is forgiven to us and not laid to our
|
|
charge. (2.) Through him what is good is accepted; our persons, our
|
|
performances, are pleasing to God upon the account of Christ's
|
|
intercession, and not otherwise, <scripRef passage="1Pe 2:5" id="Ex.xxix-p13.6" parsed="|1Pet|2|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.2.5">1 Pet.
|
|
ii. 5</scripRef>. His being <i>holiness to the Lord</i> recommends
|
|
all those to the divine favour that are interested in his
|
|
righteousness, and clothed with his Spirit; and therefore he has
|
|
said it was for our sakes that he <i>sanctified himself,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Joh 17:19" id="Ex.xxix-p13.7" parsed="|John|17|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.17.19">John xvii. 19</scripRef>. Having
|
|
<i>such a high priest,</i> we come <i>boldly to the throne of
|
|
grace,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 4:14-16" id="Ex.xxix-p13.8" parsed="|Heb|4|14|4|16" osisRef="Bible:Heb.4.14-Heb.4.16">Heb. iv.
|
|
14-16</scripRef>. 3. The rest of the garments are but named
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 28:39" id="Ex.xxix-p13.9" parsed="|Exod|28|39|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.39"><i>v.</i> 39</scripRef>), because
|
|
there was nothing extraordinary in them. The embroidered coat of
|
|
fine linen was the innermost of the priestly garments; it reached
|
|
to the feet, and the sleeves to the wrists, and was bound to the
|
|
body with a girdle or sash of needle-work. The mitre, or diadem,
|
|
was of linen, such as kings anciently wore in the east, typifying
|
|
the kingly office of Christ. He is a <i>priest upon a throne</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Zec 6:13" id="Ex.xxix-p13.10" parsed="|Zech|6|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zech.6.13">Zech. vi. 13</scripRef>), a priest
|
|
with a crown. These two God has joined, and we must not think to
|
|
separate them.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 28:40-43" id="Ex.xxix-p13.11" parsed="|Exod|28|40|28|43" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.40-Exod.28.43"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.28.40-Exod.28.43">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxix-p13.12">The Priests' Attire. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxix-p13.13">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxix-p14">40 And for Aaron's sons thou shalt make coats,
|
|
and thou shalt make for them girdles, and bonnets shalt thou make
|
|
for them, for glory and for beauty.   41 And thou shalt put
|
|
them upon Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him; and shalt
|
|
anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may
|
|
minister unto me in the priest's office.   42 And thou shalt
|
|
make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness; from the loins
|
|
even unto the thighs they shall reach:   43 And they shall be
|
|
upon Aaron, and upon his sons, when they come in unto the
|
|
tabernacle of the congregation, or when they come near unto the
|
|
altar to minister in the holy <i>place;</i> that they bear not
|
|
iniquity, and die: <i>it shall be</i> a statute for ever unto him
|
|
and his seed after him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxix-p15">We have here, 1. Particular orders about
|
|
the vestments of the inferior priests. They were to have coats, and
|
|
girdles, and bonnets, of the same materials with those of the high
|
|
priest; but there was a difference in shape between their bonnets
|
|
and his mitre. Theirs, as his, were to be <i>for glory and
|
|
beauty</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 28:40" id="Ex.xxix-p15.1" parsed="|Exod|28|40|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.40"><i>v.</i> 40</scripRef>),
|
|
that they might look great in their ministration: yet all this
|
|
glory was nothing compared with the glory of grace, this beauty
|
|
nothing to the beauty of holiness, of which these holy garments
|
|
were typical. They are particularly ordered, in their ministration,
|
|
to wear <i>linen breeches,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 28:42" id="Ex.xxix-p15.2" parsed="|Exod|28|42|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.42"><i>v.</i> 42</scripRef>. This teaches us modesty and
|
|
decency of garb and gesture at all times, especially in public
|
|
worship, in which a veil is becoming, <scripRef passage="1Co 11:5,6,10" id="Ex.xxix-p15.3" parsed="|1Cor|11|5|11|6;|1Cor|11|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.11.5-1Cor.11.6 Bible:1Cor.11.10">1 Cor. xi. 5, 6, 10</scripRef>. It also intimates
|
|
what need our souls have of a covering, when we come before God,
|
|
that the <i>shame of their nakedness may not appear.</i> 2. A
|
|
general rule concerning the garments both of the high priest and of
|
|
the inferior priests, that they were to be put upon them, at first,
|
|
when they were consecrated, in token of their being invested in the
|
|
office (<scripRef passage="Ex 28:41" id="Ex.xxix-p15.4" parsed="|Exod|28|41|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.41"><i>v.</i> 41</scripRef>), and
|
|
then they were to wear them in all their ministrations, but not at
|
|
other times (<scripRef passage="Ex 28:43" id="Ex.xxix-p15.5" parsed="|Exod|28|43|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.43"><i>v.</i> 43</scripRef>),
|
|
and this at their peril, lest they <i>bear iniquity and die.</i>
|
|
Those who are guilty of omissions in duty, as well as omissions of
|
|
duty, shall <i>bear their iniquity.</i> If the priests perform the
|
|
instituted service, and do not do it in the appointed garments, it
|
|
is (say the Jewish doctors) as if a stranger did it, and the
|
|
<i>stranger that comes nigh shall be put to death.</i> Nor will God
|
|
connive at the presumptions and irreverences even of those whom he
|
|
causes to draw most near to him; if Aaron himself put a slight upon
|
|
the divine institution, he shall bear iniquity, and die. To us
|
|
these garments typify, (1.) The righteousness of Christ; if we
|
|
appear not before God in this, we shall <i>bear iniquity and
|
|
die.</i> What have we to do at the wedding-feast without a
|
|
wedding-garment, or at God's altar without the array of his
|
|
priests? <scripRef passage="Mt 22:12,13" id="Ex.xxix-p15.6" parsed="|Matt|22|12|22|13" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.12-Matt.22.13">Matt. xxii. 12,
|
|
13</scripRef>. (2.) <i>The armour of God</i> prescribed <scripRef passage="Eph 6:13" id="Ex.xxix-p15.7" parsed="|Eph|6|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eph.6.13">Eph. vi. 13</scripRef>. If we venture without
|
|
that armour, our spiritual enemies will be the death of our souls,
|
|
and we shall bear the iniquity, our blood will be upon our own
|
|
heads. Blessed is he therefore that watcheth, and keepeth his
|
|
garments, <scripRef passage="Re 16:15" id="Ex.xxix-p15.8" parsed="|Rev|16|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.16.15">Rev. xvi. 15</scripRef>. 3.
|
|
This is said to be a <i>statute for ever,</i> that is, it is to
|
|
continue as long as the priesthood continues. But it is to have its
|
|
perpetuity in the substance of which these things were the
|
|
shadows.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXIX" n="xxx" progress="45.09%" prev="Ex.xxix" next="Ex.xxxi" id="Ex.xxx">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.xxx-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.xxx-p0.2">CHAP. XXIX.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.xxx-p1">Particular orders are given in this chapter, I.
|
|
Concerning the consecration of the priests, and the sanctification
|
|
of the altar, <scripRef passage="Ex 29:1-37" id="Ex.xxx-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|29|1|29|37" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.1-Exod.29.37">ver. 1-37</scripRef>.
|
|
II. Concerning the daily sacrifice, <scripRef passage="Ex 29:38-41" id="Ex.xxx-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|29|38|29|41" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.38-Exod.29.41">ver. 38-41</scripRef>. To which gracious promises are
|
|
annexed that God would own and bless them in all their services,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 29:42-46" id="Ex.xxx-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|29|42|29|46" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.42-Exod.29.46">ver. 42</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 29" id="Ex.xxx-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|29|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 29:1-37" id="Ex.xxx-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|29|1|29|37" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.1-Exod.29.37"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.29.1-Exod.29.37">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxx-p1.6">The Consecration of the
|
|
Priests. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxx-p1.7">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxx-p2">1 And this <i>is</i> the thing that thou shalt
|
|
do unto them to hallow them, to minister unto me in the priest's
|
|
office: Take one young bullock, and two rams without blemish,
|
|
  2 And unleavened bread, and cakes unleavened tempered with
|
|
oil, and wafers unleavened anointed with oil: <i>of</i> wheaten
|
|
flour shalt thou make them.   3 And thou shalt put them into
|
|
one basket, and bring them in the basket, with the bullock and the
|
|
two rams.   4 And Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the
|
|
door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shalt wash them
|
|
with water.   5 And thou shalt take the garments, and put upon
|
|
Aaron the coat, and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the
|
|
breastplate, and gird him with the curious girdle of the ephod:
|
|
  6 And thou shalt put the mitre upon his head, and put the
|
|
holy crown upon the mitre.   7 Then shalt thou take the
|
|
anointing oil, and pour <i>it</i> upon his head, and anoint him.
|
|
  8 And thou shalt bring his sons, and put coats upon them.
|
|
  9 And thou shalt gird them with girdles, Aaron and his sons,
|
|
and put the bonnets on them: and the priest's office shall be
|
|
theirs for a perpetual statute: and thou shalt consecrate Aaron and
|
|
his sons.   10 And thou shalt cause a bullock to be brought
|
|
before the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron and his sons
|
|
shall put their hands upon the head of the bullock.   11 And
|
|
thou shalt kill the bullock before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxx-p2.1">Lord</span>, <i>by</i> the door of the tabernacle of
|
|
the congregation.   12 And thou shalt take of the blood of the
|
|
bullock, and put <i>it</i> upon the horns of the altar with thy
|
|
finger, and pour all the blood beside the bottom of the altar.
|
|
  13 And thou shalt take all the fat that covereth the
|
|
inwards, and the caul <i>that is</i> above the liver, and the two
|
|
kidneys, and the fat that <i>is</i> upon them, and burn <i>them</i>
|
|
upon the altar.   14 But the flesh of the bullock, and his
|
|
skin, and his dung, shalt thou burn with fire without the camp: it
|
|
<i>is</i> a sin offering.   15 Thou shalt also take one ram;
|
|
and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the
|
|
ram.   16 And thou shalt slay the ram, and thou shalt take his
|
|
blood, and sprinkle <i>it</i> round about upon the altar.   17
|
|
And thou shalt cut the ram in pieces, and wash the inwards of him,
|
|
and his legs, and put <i>them</i> unto his pieces, and unto his
|
|
head.   18 And thou shalt burn the whole ram upon the altar:
|
|
it <i>is</i> a burnt offering unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxx-p2.2">Lord</span>: it <i>is</i> a sweet savour, an offering
|
|
made by fire unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxx-p2.3">Lord</span>.  
|
|
19 And thou shalt take the other ram; and Aaron and his sons shall
|
|
put their hands upon the head of the ram.   20 Then shalt thou
|
|
kill the ram, and take of his blood, and put <i>it</i> upon the tip
|
|
of the right ear of Aaron, and upon the tip of the right ear of his
|
|
sons, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great
|
|
toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood upon the altar
|
|
round about.   21 And thou shalt take of the blood that
|
|
<i>is</i> upon the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle
|
|
<i>it</i> upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and
|
|
upon the garments of his sons with him: and he shall be hallowed,
|
|
and his garments, and his sons, and his sons' garments with him.
|
|
  22 Also thou shalt take of the ram the fat and the rump, and
|
|
the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul <i>above</i> the
|
|
liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that <i>is</i> upon them,
|
|
and the right shoulder; for it <i>is</i> a ram of consecration:
|
|
  23 And one loaf of bread, and one cake of oiled bread, and
|
|
one wafer out of the basket of the unleavened bread that <i>is</i>
|
|
before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxx-p2.4">Lord</span>:   24 And thou
|
|
shalt put all in the hands of Aaron, and in the hands of his sons;
|
|
and shalt wave them <i>for</i> a wave offering before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxx-p2.5">Lord</span>.   25 And thou shalt receive
|
|
them of their hands, and burn <i>them</i> upon the altar for a
|
|
burnt offering, for a sweet savour before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxx-p2.6">Lord</span>: it <i>is</i> an offering made by fire unto
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxx-p2.7">Lord</span>.   26 And thou shalt
|
|
take the breast of the ram of Aaron's consecration, and wave it
|
|
<i>for</i> a wave offering before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxx-p2.8">Lord</span>: and it shall be thy part.   27 And
|
|
thou shalt sanctify the breast of the wave offering, and the
|
|
shoulder of the heave offering, which is waved, and which is heaved
|
|
up, of the ram of the consecration, <i>even</i> of <i>that</i>
|
|
which <i>is</i> for Aaron, and of <i>that</i> which is for his
|
|
sons:   28 And it shall be Aaron's and his sons' by a statute
|
|
for ever from the children of Israel: for it <i>is</i> an heave
|
|
offering: and it shall be an heave offering from the children of
|
|
Israel of the sacrifice of their peace offerings, <i>even</i> their
|
|
heave offering unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxx-p2.9">Lord</span>.  
|
|
29 And the holy garments of Aaron shall be his sons' after him, to
|
|
be anointed therein, and to be consecrated in them.   30
|
|
<i>And</i> that son that is priest in his stead shall put them on
|
|
seven days, when he cometh into the tabernacle of the congregation
|
|
to minister in the holy <i>place.</i>   31 And thou shalt take
|
|
the ram of the consecration, and seethe his flesh in the holy
|
|
place.   32 And Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the
|
|
ram, and the bread that <i>is</i> in the basket, <i>by</i> the door
|
|
of the tabernacle of the congregation.   33 And they shall eat
|
|
those things wherewith the atonement was made, to consecrate
|
|
<i>and</i> to sanctify them: but a stranger shall not eat
|
|
<i>thereof,</i> because they <i>are</i> holy.   34 And if
|
|
ought of the flesh of the consecrations, or of the bread, remain
|
|
unto the morning, then thou shalt burn the remainder with fire: it
|
|
shall not be eaten, because it <i>is</i> holy.   35 And thus
|
|
shalt thou do unto Aaron, and to his sons, according to all
|
|
<i>things</i> which I have commanded thee: seven days shalt thou
|
|
consecrate them.   36 And thou shalt offer every day a bullock
|
|
<i>for</i> a sin offering for atonement: and thou shalt cleanse the
|
|
altar, when thou hast made an atonement for it, and thou shalt
|
|
anoint it, to sanctify it.   37 Seven days thou shalt make an
|
|
atonement for the altar, and sanctify it; and it shall be an altar
|
|
most holy: whatsoever toucheth the altar shall be holy.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxx-p3">Here is, I. The law concerning the
|
|
consecration of Aaron and his sons to the priest's office, which
|
|
was to be done with a great deal of ceremony and solemnity, that
|
|
they themselves might be duly affected with the greatness of the
|
|
work to which they were called, and that the people also might
|
|
learn to magnify the office and none might dare to invade it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxx-p4">1. The ceremonies wherewith it was to be
|
|
done were very fully and particularly appointed, because nothing of
|
|
this kind had been done before, and because it was to be a statute
|
|
for ever that the high priest should be thus inaugurated. Now,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxx-p5">(1.) The work to be done was the
|
|
consecrating of the persons whom God had chosen to be priests, by
|
|
which they devoted and gave up themselves to the service of God and
|
|
God declared his acceptance of them; and the people were made to
|
|
know that they <i>glorified not themselves</i> to be made priests,
|
|
but were <i>called of God,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 5:4,5" id="Ex.xxx-p5.1" parsed="|Heb|5|4|5|5" osisRef="Bible:Heb.5.4-Heb.5.5">Heb.
|
|
v. 4, 5</scripRef>. They were thus distinguished from common men,
|
|
sequestered from common services, and set apart for God and an
|
|
immediate attendance on him. Note, All that are to be employed for
|
|
God are to be sanctified to him. The person must first be accepted,
|
|
and then the performance. The Hebrew phrase for consecrating <i>is
|
|
filling the hand</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 29:9" id="Ex.xxx-p5.2" parsed="|Exod|29|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.9"><i>v.</i>
|
|
9</scripRef>): <i>Thou shalt fill the hand of Aaron and his
|
|
sons,</i> and the <i>ram of consecration</i> is the <i>ram of
|
|
fillings,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 29:22,26" id="Ex.xxx-p5.3" parsed="|Exod|29|22|0|0;|Exod|29|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.22 Bible:Exod.29.26"><i>v.</i> 22,
|
|
26</scripRef>. The consecrating of them was the perfecting of them;
|
|
Christ is said to be <i>perfect</i> or <i>consecrated for
|
|
evermore,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 7:28" id="Ex.xxx-p5.4" parsed="|Heb|7|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.28">Heb. vii. 28</scripRef>.
|
|
Probably the phrase here is borrowed from the putting of the
|
|
sacrifice into their hand, to be waved before the Lord, <scripRef passage="Ex 29:24" id="Ex.xxx-p5.5" parsed="|Exod|29|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. But it intimates, [1.]
|
|
That ministers have their hands full; they have no time to trifle,
|
|
so great, so copious, so constant is their work. [2.] That they
|
|
must have their hands filled. Of necessity <i>they must have
|
|
something to offer,</i> and they cannot find it in themselves, it
|
|
must be given them from above. They cannot fill the people's hearts
|
|
unless God fill their hands; to him therefore they must go, and
|
|
<i>receive from his fulness.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxx-p6">(2.) The person to do it was Moses, by
|
|
God's appointment. Though he was <i>ordained for men,</i> yet the
|
|
people were not to consecrate him; Moses the <i>servant of the
|
|
Lord,</i> and his agent herein, must do it. By God's special
|
|
appointment he now did the priest's work, and therefore that which
|
|
was the priest's part of the sacrifice was here ordered to be his,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 29:26" id="Ex.xxx-p6.1" parsed="|Exod|29|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxx-p7">(3.) The place was at the <i>door of the
|
|
tabernacle of meeting,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 29:4" id="Ex.xxx-p7.1" parsed="|Exod|29|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.4"><i>v.</i>
|
|
4</scripRef>. God was pleased to dwell in the tabernacle, the
|
|
people attending in the courts, so that the door between the court
|
|
and the tabernacle was the fittest place for those to be
|
|
consecrated in who were to mediate between God and man, and to
|
|
stand between both, and <i>lay their hands</i> (as it were) <i>upon
|
|
both.</i> They were consecrated at the door, for they were to be
|
|
door-keepers.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxx-p8">(4.) It was done with many ceremonies.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxx-p9">[1.] They were to be washed (<scripRef passage="Ex 29:4" id="Ex.xxx-p9.1" parsed="|Exod|29|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>), signifying that those
|
|
must be clean who <i>bear the vessels of the Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 52:11" id="Ex.xxx-p9.2" parsed="|Isa|52|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.52.11">Isa. lii. 11</scripRef>. Those that would
|
|
<i>perfect holiness</i> must <i>cleanse themselves from all
|
|
filthiness of flesh and spirit,</i> <scripRef passage="2Co 7:1,Isa 1:16-18" id="Ex.xxx-p9.3" parsed="|2Cor|7|1|0|0;|Isa|1|16|1|18" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.7.1 Bible:Isa.1.16-Isa.1.18">2 Cor. vii. 1; Isa. i. 16-18</scripRef>. They
|
|
were now washed all over; but afterwards, when they went in to
|
|
minister, they washed only their hands and feet (<scripRef passage="Ex 30:19" id="Ex.xxx-p9.4" parsed="|Exod|30|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.19"><i>ch.</i> xxx. 19</scripRef>); for <i>he that is washed
|
|
needs</i> no more, <scripRef passage="Joh 13:10" id="Ex.xxx-p9.5" parsed="|John|13|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.13.10">John xiii.
|
|
10</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxx-p10">[2.] They were to be clothed with the holy
|
|
garments (<scripRef passage="Ex 29:5,6,8,9" id="Ex.xxx-p10.1" parsed="|Exod|29|5|29|6;|Exod|29|8|0|0;|Exod|29|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.5-Exod.29.6 Bible:Exod.29.8 Bible:Exod.29.9"><i>v.</i> 5, 6, 8,
|
|
9</scripRef>), to signify that it was not sufficient for them to
|
|
put away the pollutions of sin, but they must put on the graces of
|
|
the Spirit, be <i>clothed with righteousness,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 132:9" id="Ex.xxx-p10.2" parsed="|Ps|132|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.132.9">Ps. cxxxii. 9</scripRef>. They must be girded,
|
|
as men prepared and strengthened for their work; and they must be
|
|
robed and crowned, as men that counted their work and office their
|
|
true honour.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxx-p11">[3.] The high priest was to be anointed
|
|
with the <i>holy anointing oil</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 29:7" id="Ex.xxx-p11.1" parsed="|Exod|29|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>), that the church might be filled
|
|
and delighted with the sweet savour of his administrations (for
|
|
<i>ointment and perfume rejoice the heart</i>), and in token of the
|
|
pouring out of the Spirit upon him, to qualify him for his work.
|
|
Brotherly love is compared to this oil with which Aaron was
|
|
anointed, <scripRef passage="Ps 133:2" id="Ex.xxx-p11.2" parsed="|Ps|133|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.133.2">Ps. cxxxiii. 2</scripRef>.
|
|
The inferior priests are said to be anointed (<scripRef passage="Ex 30:30" id="Ex.xxx-p11.3" parsed="|Exod|30|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.30"><i>ch.</i> xxx. 30</scripRef>), not on their heads, as
|
|
the high priest (<scripRef passage="Le 21:10" id="Ex.xxx-p11.4" parsed="|Lev|21|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.21.10">Lev. xxi.
|
|
10</scripRef>), the oil was only mingled with the blood that was
|
|
sprinkled upon their garments.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxx-p12">[4.] Sacrifices were to be offered for
|
|
them. The covenant of priesthood, as all other covenants, must be
|
|
<i>made by sacrifice.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxx-p13"><i>First,</i> There must be a sin-offering,
|
|
to make atonement for them, <scripRef passage="Ex 29:10-14" id="Ex.xxx-p13.1" parsed="|Exod|29|10|29|14" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.10-Exod.29.14"><i>v.</i> 10-14</scripRef>. The law made those
|
|
priests that had infirmity, and therefore they must first offer for
|
|
their own sin, before they could make atonement <i>for the
|
|
people,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 7:27,28" id="Ex.xxx-p13.2" parsed="|Heb|7|27|7|28" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.27-Heb.7.28">Heb. vii. 27,
|
|
28</scripRef>. They were to put their hand on the head of their
|
|
sacrifice (<scripRef passage="Ex 29:10" id="Ex.xxx-p13.3" parsed="|Exod|29|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>),
|
|
confessing that they deserved to die for their own sin, and
|
|
desiring that the killing of the beast might expiate their guilt,
|
|
and be accepted as a vicarious satisfaction. It was used as other
|
|
sin-offerings were; only, whereas the flesh of other sin-offerings
|
|
was eaten by the priests (<scripRef passage="Le 10:18" id="Ex.xxx-p13.4" parsed="|Lev|10|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.18">Lev. x.
|
|
18</scripRef>), in token of the priest's taking away the sin of the
|
|
people, this was appointed to be all burnt without the camp
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 29:14" id="Ex.xxx-p13.5" parsed="|Exod|29|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>), to signify
|
|
the imperfection of the legal dispensation (as the learned bishop
|
|
Patrick notes); for the sins of the priests themselves could not be
|
|
taken away by those sacrifices, but they must expect a better high
|
|
priest and a better sacrifice.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxx-p14"><i>Secondly,</i> There must be a
|
|
burnt-offering, a ram wholly burnt, to the honour of God, in token
|
|
of the dedication of themselves wholly to God and to his service,
|
|
as living sacrifices, kindled with the fire and ascending in the
|
|
flame of holy love, <scripRef passage="Ex 29:15-18" id="Ex.xxx-p14.1" parsed="|Exod|29|15|29|18" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.15-Exod.29.18"><i>v.</i>
|
|
15-18</scripRef>. The sin-offering must first be offered and then
|
|
the burnt-offering; for, till guilt be removed, no acceptable
|
|
service can be performed, <scripRef passage="Isa 6:7" id="Ex.xxx-p14.2" parsed="|Isa|6|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.7">Isa. vi.
|
|
7</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxx-p15"><i>Thirdly,</i> There must be a
|
|
peace-offering; it is called <i>the ram of consecration,</i>
|
|
because there was more in this peculiar to the occasion than in the
|
|
other two. In the burnt-offering God had the glory of their
|
|
priesthood, in this they had the comfort of it; and, in token of a
|
|
mutual covenant between God and them, 1. The blood of the sacrifice
|
|
was divided between God and them (<scripRef passage="Ex 29:20,21" id="Ex.xxx-p15.1" parsed="|Exod|29|20|29|21" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.20-Exod.29.21"><i>v.</i> 20, 21</scripRef>); part of the blood was
|
|
<i>sprinkled upon the altar round about,</i> and part put upon
|
|
them, upon their bodies (<scripRef passage="Ex 29:20" id="Ex.xxx-p15.2" parsed="|Exod|29|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.20"><i>v.</i>
|
|
20</scripRef>), and upon their garments, <scripRef passage="Ex 29:21" id="Ex.xxx-p15.3" parsed="|Exod|29|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. Thus the benefit of the
|
|
expiation made by the sacrifice was applied and assured to them,
|
|
and their whole selves from head to foot sanctified to the service
|
|
of God. The blood was put upon the extreme parts of the body, to
|
|
signify that it was all, as it were, enclosed and taken in for God,
|
|
the tip of the ear and the great toe not excepted. We reckon that
|
|
the blood and oil sprinkled upon garments spot and stain them; yet
|
|
the holy oil, and the blood of the sacrifice, sprinkled upon their
|
|
garments, must be looked upon as the greatest adorning imaginable
|
|
to them, for they signified the blood of Christ, and the graces of
|
|
the Spirit, which constitute and complete the beauty of holiness,
|
|
and recommend us to God; we read of robes <i>made white with the
|
|
blood of the Lamb.</i> 2. The <i>flesh of the sacrifice,</i> with
|
|
the meat-offering annexed to it, was likewise divided between God
|
|
and them, that (to speak with reverence) God and they might feast
|
|
together, in token of friendship and fellowship. (1.) Part of it
|
|
was to be first waved before the Lord, and then burnt upon the
|
|
altar; part of the <i>flesh</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 29:22" id="Ex.xxx-p15.4" parsed="|Exod|29|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>), part of the <i>bread,</i> for
|
|
bread and flesh must go together (<scripRef passage="Ex 29:23" id="Ex.xxx-p15.5" parsed="|Exod|29|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>); these were first put into the
|
|
hands of Aaron to be waved to and fro, in token of their being
|
|
offered to God (who, though unseen, yet compasses us round on every
|
|
side), and then they were to be burnt upon the altar (<scripRef passage="Ex 29:24,25" id="Ex.xxx-p15.6" parsed="|Exod|29|24|29|25" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.24-Exod.29.25"><i>v.</i> 24, 25</scripRef>), for the altar
|
|
was to devour God's part of the sacrifice. Thus God admitted Aaron
|
|
and his sons to be his servants, and wait at his table, taking the
|
|
mat of his altar from their hands. Here, in a parenthesis, as it
|
|
were, comes in the law concerning the priests' part of the
|
|
peace-offerings afterwards, the breast and shoulder, which were now
|
|
divided; Moses had the breast, and the shoulder was burnt on the
|
|
altar with God's part, <scripRef passage="Ex 29:26-28" id="Ex.xxx-p15.7" parsed="|Exod|29|26|29|28" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.26-Exod.29.28"><i>v.</i>
|
|
26-28</scripRef>. (2.) The other part, both of the flesh of the ram
|
|
and of the bread, Aaron and his sons were to eat at the door of the
|
|
tabernacle (<scripRef passage="Ex 29:31-33" id="Ex.xxx-p15.8" parsed="|Exod|29|31|29|33" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.31-Exod.29.33"><i>v.</i>
|
|
31-33</scripRef>), to signify that he called them not only
|
|
<i>servants</i> but <i>friends,</i> <scripRef passage="Joh 15:15" id="Ex.xxx-p15.9" parsed="|John|15|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.15.15">John xv. 15</scripRef>. He <i>supped with them,</i> and
|
|
<i>they with him.</i> Their eating of the things wherewith <i>the
|
|
atonement was made</i> signified their <i>receiving the
|
|
atonement,</i> as the expression is (<scripRef passage="Ro 5:11" id="Ex.xxx-p15.10" parsed="|Rom|5|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.5.11">Rom. v. 11</scripRef>), their thankful acceptance of the
|
|
benefit of it, and their joyful communion with God thereupon, which
|
|
was the true intent and meaning of a feast upon a sacrifice. If any
|
|
of it was left, it must be burnt, that it might not be in any
|
|
danger of putrefying, and to show that it was an extraordinary
|
|
peace-offering.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxx-p16">2. The time that was to be spent in this
|
|
consecration: <i>Seven days shalt thou consecrate them,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 29:35" id="Ex.xxx-p16.1" parsed="|Exod|29|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.35"><i>v.</i> 35</scripRef>. Though all
|
|
the ceremonies were performed on the first day, yet, (1.) They were
|
|
not to look upon their consecration as completed till the seven
|
|
days' end, which put a solemnity upon their admission, and a
|
|
distance between this and their former state, and obliged them to
|
|
enter upon their work with a pause, giving them time to consider
|
|
the weight and seriousness of it. This was to be observed in
|
|
after-ages, <scripRef passage="Ex 29:30" id="Ex.xxx-p16.2" parsed="|Exod|29|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>.
|
|
He that was to succeed Aaron in the high-priesthood must put on the
|
|
holy garments seven days together, in token of a deliberate and
|
|
gradual advance into his office, and that one sabbath might pass
|
|
over him in his consecration. (2.) Every day of the seven, in this
|
|
first consecration, a bullock was to be offered for a sin-offering
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 29:36" id="Ex.xxx-p16.3" parsed="|Exod|29|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.36"><i>v.</i> 36</scripRef>), which was
|
|
to intimate to them, [1.] That it was of very great concern to them
|
|
to get their sins pardoned, and that though atonement was made, and
|
|
they had the comfort of it, yet they must still keep up a penitent
|
|
sense of sin and often repeat the confession of it. [2.] That those
|
|
sacrifices which were thus offered day by day to make atonement
|
|
could not make the <i>comers thereunto perfect,</i> for then they
|
|
would have ceased to be offered, as the apostle argues, <scripRef passage="Heb 10:1,2" id="Ex.xxx-p16.4" parsed="|Heb|10|1|10|2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.10.1-Heb.10.2">Heb. x. 1, 2</scripRef>. They must therefore
|
|
expect the <i>bringing in of a better hope.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxx-p17">3. This consecration of the priests was a
|
|
<i>shadow of good things to come.</i> (1.) Our Lord Jesus is the
|
|
great high-priest of our profession, called of God to be so,
|
|
consecrated for evermore, anointed with the Spirit above his
|
|
fellows (whence he is called <i>Messiah,</i> the <i>Christ</i>),
|
|
clothed with the holy garments, even with glory and beauty,
|
|
sanctified by his own blood, not that of bullocks and rams
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Heb 9:12" id="Ex.xxx-p17.1" parsed="|Heb|9|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.9.12">Heb. ix. 12</scripRef>), <i>made
|
|
perfect,</i> or consecrated, <i>through sufferings,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 2:10" id="Ex.xxx-p17.2" parsed="|Heb|2|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.2.10">Heb. ii. 10</scripRef>. Thus in him this was a
|
|
perpetual statute, <scripRef passage="Ex 29:9" id="Ex.xxx-p17.3" parsed="|Exod|29|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.9"><i>v.</i>
|
|
9</scripRef>. (2.) All believers are spiritual priests, to offer
|
|
spiritual sacrifices (<scripRef passage="1Pe 2:5" id="Ex.xxx-p17.4" parsed="|1Pet|2|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.2.5">1 Pet. ii.
|
|
5</scripRef>), washed in the blood of Christ, and so <i>made to our
|
|
God priests,</i> <scripRef passage="Re 1:5,6" id="Ex.xxx-p17.5" parsed="|Rev|1|5|1|6" osisRef="Bible:Rev.1.5-Rev.1.6">Rev. i. 5,
|
|
6</scripRef>. They also are clothed with the beauty of holiness,
|
|
and have received the anointing, <scripRef passage="1Jo 2:27" id="Ex.xxx-p17.6" parsed="|1John|2|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.2.27">1
|
|
John ii. 27</scripRef>. Their hands are filled with work, to which
|
|
they must continually attend; and it is through Christ, the great
|
|
sacrifice, that they are dedicated to this service. His blood
|
|
<i>sprinkled upon the conscience purges it from dead works, that
|
|
they may,</i> as priests, <i>serve the living God.</i> The Spirit
|
|
of God (as Ainsworth notes) is called the <i>finger of God</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Lu 21:20" id="Ex.xxx-p17.7" parsed="|Luke|21|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.21.20">Luke xi. 20</scripRef>, compared with
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mt 12:28" id="Ex.xxx-p17.8" parsed="|Matt|12|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.12.28">Matt. xii. 28</scripRef>), and by him
|
|
the merit of Christ is effectually applied to our souls, as here
|
|
Moses with his finger was to put the blood upon Aaron. It is
|
|
likewise intimated that gospel ministers are to be solemnly set
|
|
apart to the work of the ministry with great deliberation and
|
|
seriousness both in the ordainers and in the ordained, as those
|
|
that are to be employed in a great work and entrusted with a great
|
|
charge.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxx-p18">II. The consecration of the altar, which
|
|
seems to have been coincident with that of the priests, and the
|
|
sin-offerings which were offered every day for seven days together
|
|
had reference to the altar as well as the priests, <scripRef passage="Ex 29:36,37" id="Ex.xxx-p18.1" parsed="|Exod|29|36|29|37" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.36-Exod.29.37"><i>v.</i> 36, 37</scripRef>. An
|
|
<i>atonement</i> was <i>made for the altar.</i> Though that was not
|
|
a subject capable of sin, nor, having never yet been used, could it
|
|
be said to be polluted with the sins of the people, yet, since the
|
|
fall, there can be no sanctification to God but there must first be
|
|
<i>an atonement for sin,</i> which renders us both unworthy and
|
|
unfit to be employed for God. The altar was also <i>sanctified,</i>
|
|
not only set apart itself to a sacred use, but made so holy as to
|
|
<i>sanctify the gifts</i> that were offered upon it, <scripRef passage="Mt 23:19" id="Ex.xxx-p18.2" parsed="|Matt|23|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.19">Matt. xxiii. 19</scripRef>. Christ is our altar;
|
|
for our sakes he sanctified himself, that we and our performances
|
|
might be sanctified and recommended to God, <scripRef passage="Joh 17:19" id="Ex.xxx-p18.3" parsed="|John|17|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.17.19">John xvii. 19</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 29:38-46" id="Ex.xxx-p18.4" parsed="|Exod|29|38|29|46" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.38-Exod.29.46"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.29.38-Exod.29.46">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxx-p19">38 Now this <i>is that</i> which thou shalt
|
|
offer upon the altar; two lambs of the first year day by day
|
|
continually.   39 The one lamb thou shalt offer in the
|
|
morning; and the other lamb thou shalt offer at even:   40 And
|
|
with the one lamb a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth
|
|
part of an hin of beaten oil; and the fourth part of an hin of wine
|
|
<i>for</i> a drink offering.   41 And the other lamb thou
|
|
shalt offer at even, and shalt do thereto according to the meat
|
|
offering of the morning, and according to the drink offering
|
|
thereof, for a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxx-p19.1">Lord</span>.   42 <i>This shall be</i>
|
|
a continual burnt offering throughout your generations <i>at</i>
|
|
the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxx-p19.2">Lord</span>: where I will meet you, to speak
|
|
there unto thee.   43 And there I will meet with the children
|
|
of Israel, and <i>the tabernacle</i> shall be sanctified by my
|
|
glory.   44 And I will sanctify the tabernacle of the
|
|
congregation, and the altar: I will sanctify also both Aaron and
|
|
his sons, to minister to me in the priest's office.   45 And I
|
|
will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God.
|
|
  46 And they shall know that I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxx-p19.3">Lord</span> their God, that brought them forth out of
|
|
the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I <i>am</i> the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxx-p19.4">Lord</span> their God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxx-p20">In this paragraph we have,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxx-p21">I. The daily service appointed. A lamb was
|
|
to be offered upon the altar every morning, and a lamb every
|
|
evening, each with a meat-offering, both made by fire, as a
|
|
<i>continual burnt-offering throughout their generations,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 29:38-41" id="Ex.xxx-p21.1" parsed="|Exod|29|38|29|41" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.38-Exod.29.41"><i>v.</i> 38-41</scripRef>. Whether
|
|
there were any other sacrifices to be offered or not, these were
|
|
sure to be offered, at the public charge, for the benefit and
|
|
comfort of all Israel, to make atonement for their daily sins, and
|
|
to be an acknowledgement to God of their daily mercies. This was
|
|
that which <i>the duty of every day required.</i> The taking away
|
|
of this daily sacrifice by Antiochus, for so many evenings and
|
|
mornings, was that great calamity of the church which was foretold,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Da 8:11" id="Ex.xxx-p21.2" parsed="|Dan|8|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.8.11">Dan. viii. 11</scripRef>. Note, 1. This
|
|
typified the continual intercession which Christ ever lives to
|
|
make, in virtue of his satisfaction, for the continual
|
|
sanctification of his church: though he offered himself <i>once for
|
|
all,</i> yet that one offering thus becomes a continual offering.
|
|
2. This teaches us to offer up to God the spiritual sacrifices of
|
|
prayer and praise every day, morning and evening, in humble
|
|
acknowledgement of our dependence upon him and our obligations to
|
|
him. Our daily devotions must be looked upon as the most needful of
|
|
our daily works and the most pleasant of our daily comforts.
|
|
Whatever business we have, this must never be omitted, either
|
|
morning or evening; prayer-time must be kept up as duly as
|
|
meat-time. The daily sacrifices were as the daily meals in God's
|
|
house, and therefore they were always attended with bread and wine.
|
|
Those starve their own souls that keep not up a constant attendance
|
|
on the throne of grace.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxx-p22">II. Great and precious promises made of
|
|
God's favour to Israel, and the tokens of his special presence with
|
|
them, while they thus kept up his institutions among them. He
|
|
speaks as one well pleased with the appointment of the daily
|
|
sacrifice; for, before he proceeds to the other appointments that
|
|
follow, he interposes these promises. It is constancy in religion
|
|
that brings in the comfort of it. He promises, 1. That he would
|
|
keep up communion with them; that he would not only meet Moses, and
|
|
speak to him, but that he would <i>meet the children of Israel,</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 29:43" id="Ex.xxx-p22.1" parsed="|Exod|29|43|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.43"><i>v.</i> 43</scripRef>), to accept
|
|
the daily sacrifices offered up on their behalf. Note, God will not
|
|
fail to give those the meeting who diligently and conscientiously
|
|
attend upon him in the ordinances of his own appointment. 2. That
|
|
he would own his own institutions, the tabernacle, the altar, the
|
|
priesthood (<scripRef passage="Ex 29:43,44" id="Ex.xxx-p22.2" parsed="|Exod|29|43|29|44" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.43-Exod.29.44"><i>v.</i> 43,
|
|
44</scripRef>); he would take possession of that which was
|
|
consecrated to him. Note, What is sanctified to the glory of God
|
|
shall be sanctified by his glory. If we do our part, God will do
|
|
his, and will mark and fit that for himself which is in sincerity
|
|
given up to him. 3. That he would reside among them as God in
|
|
covenant with them, and would give them sure and comfortable tokens
|
|
of his peculiar favour to them, and his special presence with them
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 29:45,46" id="Ex.xxx-p22.3" parsed="|Exod|29|45|29|46" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.45-Exod.29.46"><i>v.</i> 45, 46</scripRef>): <i>I
|
|
will dwell among the children of Israel.</i> Note, Where God sets
|
|
up the tabernacle of his ordinances he will himself dwell. <i>Lo, I
|
|
am with you always,</i> <scripRef passage="Mt 28:20" id="Ex.xxx-p22.4" parsed="|Matt|28|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.28.20">Matt. xxviii.
|
|
20</scripRef>. Those that abide in God's house shall have God to
|
|
abide with them. <i>I will be their God, and they shall know</i>
|
|
that I am so. Note, Those are truly happy that have a
|
|
covenant-interest in God as theirs and the comfortable evidence of
|
|
that interest. If we have this, we have enough, and need no more to
|
|
make us happy.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXX" n="xxxi" progress="45.58%" prev="Ex.xxx" next="Ex.xxxii" id="Ex.xxxi">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.xxxi-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.xxxi-p0.2">CHAP. XXX.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.xxxi-p1">Moses is, in this chapter, further instructed, I.
|
|
Concerning the altar of incense, <scripRef passage="Ex 30:1-10" id="Ex.xxxi-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|30|1|30|10" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.1-Exod.30.10">ver. 1-10</scripRef>. II. Concerning the ransom-money
|
|
which the Israelites were to pay, when they were numbered,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 30:11-16" id="Ex.xxxi-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|30|11|30|16" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.11-Exod.30.16">ver. 11-16</scripRef>. III.
|
|
Concerning the laver of brass, which was set for the priests to
|
|
wash in, <scripRef passage="Ex 30:17-21" id="Ex.xxxi-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|30|17|30|21" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.17-Exod.30.21">ver. 17-21</scripRef>. IV.
|
|
Concerning the making up of the anointing oil, and the use of it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 30:22-33" id="Ex.xxxi-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|30|22|30|33" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.22-Exod.30.33">ver. 22-33</scripRef>. V.
|
|
Concerning the incense and perfume which were to be burned on the
|
|
golden altar, <scripRef passage="Ex 30:34" id="Ex.xxxi-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|30|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.34">ver. 34</scripRef>,
|
|
&c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 30" id="Ex.xxxi-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|30|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 30:1-10" id="Ex.xxxi-p1.7" parsed="|Exod|30|1|30|10" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.1-Exod.30.10"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.30.1-Exod.30.10">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxxi-p1.8">The Tabernacles and Its
|
|
Furniture. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxi-p1.9">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxxi-p2">1 And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense
|
|
upon: <i>of</i> shittim wood shalt thou make it.   2 A cubit
|
|
<i>shall be</i> the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth
|
|
thereof; foursquare shall it be: and two cubits <i>shall be</i> the
|
|
height thereof: the horns thereof <i>shall be</i> of the same.
|
|
  3 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof,
|
|
and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof; and thou
|
|
shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about.   4 And two
|
|
golden rings shalt thou make to it under the crown of it, by the
|
|
two corners thereof, upon the two sides of it shalt thou make
|
|
<i>it;</i> and they shall be for places for the staves to bear it
|
|
withal.   5 And thou shalt make the staves <i>of</i> shittim
|
|
wood, and overlay them with gold.   6 And thou shalt put it
|
|
before the vail that <i>is</i> by the ark of the testimony, before
|
|
the mercy seat that <i>is</i> over the testimony, where I will meet
|
|
with thee.   7 And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense
|
|
every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense
|
|
upon it.   8 And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he
|
|
shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxi-p2.1">Lord</span> throughout your generations.   9
|
|
Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor
|
|
meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon.  
|
|
10 And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a
|
|
year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements: once in the
|
|
year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations:
|
|
it <i>is</i> most holy unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxi-p2.2">Lord</span>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxi-p3">I. The orders given concerning the altar of
|
|
incense are, 1. That it was to be made of wood, and covered with
|
|
gold, pure gold, about a yard high and half a yard square, with
|
|
horns at the corners, a golden cornice round it, with rings and
|
|
staves of gold, for the convenience of carrying it, <scripRef passage="Ex 30:1-5" id="Ex.xxxi-p3.1" parsed="|Exod|30|1|30|5" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.1-Exod.30.5"><i>v.</i> 1-5</scripRef>. It does not appear
|
|
that there was any grate to this altar for the ashes to fall into,
|
|
that they might be taken away; but, when they burnt incense, a
|
|
golden censer was brought with coals in it, and placed upon the
|
|
altar, and in that censer the incense was burnt, and with it all
|
|
the coals were taken away, so that no coals nor ashes fell upon the
|
|
altar. The measure of the altar of incense in Ezekiel's temple is
|
|
double to what it is here (<scripRef passage="Eze 41:22" id="Ex.xxxi-p3.2" parsed="|Ezek|41|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.41.22">Ezek. xli.
|
|
22</scripRef>), and it is there called <i>an altar of wood,</i> and
|
|
there is no mention of gold, to signify that the incense, in gospel
|
|
times, should be spiritual, the worship plain, and the service of
|
|
God enlarged, for <i>in every place incense should be offered,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mal 1:11" id="Ex.xxxi-p3.3" parsed="|Mal|1|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mal.1.11">Mal. i. 11</scripRef>. 2. That it was
|
|
to be placed before the veil, on the outside of that partition, but
|
|
before the mercy-seat, which was within the veil, <scripRef passage="Ex 30:6" id="Ex.xxxi-p3.4" parsed="|Exod|30|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. For though he that
|
|
ministered at the altar could not see the mercy-seat, the veil
|
|
interposing, yet he must look towards it, and direct his incense
|
|
that way, to teach us that though we cannot with our bodily eyes
|
|
see the throne of grace, that blessed mercy-seat (for it is such a
|
|
throne of glory that God, in compassion to us, holds back the face
|
|
of it, and spreads a cloud upon it), yet we must in prayer by faith
|
|
set ourselves before it, direct our prayer, and look up. 3. That
|
|
Aaron was to burn sweet incense upon this altar, every morning and
|
|
every evening, about half a pound at a time, which was intended,
|
|
not only to take away the ill smell of the flesh that was burnt
|
|
daily on the brazen altar, but for the honour of God, and to show
|
|
the acceptableness of his people's services to him, and the
|
|
pleasure which they should take in ministering to him, <scripRef passage="Ex 30:7,8" id="Ex.xxxi-p3.5" parsed="|Exod|30|7|30|8" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.7-Exod.30.8"><i>v.</i> 7, 8</scripRef>. As by the offerings
|
|
on the brazen altar satisfaction was made for what had been done
|
|
displeasing to God, so, by the offering on this, what they did well
|
|
was, as it were, recommended to the divine acceptance; for our two
|
|
great concerns with God are to be acquitted from guilt and accepted
|
|
as righteous in his sight. 4. That nothing was to be offered upon
|
|
it but incense, nor any incense but that which was appointed,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 30:9" id="Ex.xxxi-p3.6" parsed="|Exod|30|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. God will have
|
|
his own service done according to his own appointment, and not
|
|
otherwise. 5. That this altar should be purified with the blood of
|
|
the sin-offering put upon the <i>horns of it,</i> every year, upon
|
|
<i>the day of atonement,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 30:10" id="Ex.xxxi-p3.7" parsed="|Exod|30|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.10"><i>v.</i>
|
|
10</scripRef>. See <scripRef passage="Le 16:18,19" id="Ex.xxxi-p3.8" parsed="|Lev|16|18|16|19" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.18-Lev.16.19">Lev. xvi. 18,
|
|
19</scripRef>. The high priest was to take this in his way, as he
|
|
came out from the holy of holies. This was to intimate to them that
|
|
the sins of the priests who ministered at this altar, and of the
|
|
people for whom they ministered, put a ceremonial impurity upon it,
|
|
from which it must be cleansed by the blood of atonement.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxi-p4">II. This incense-altar typified, 1. The
|
|
mediation of Christ. The brazen altar in the court was a type of
|
|
Christ dying on earth; the golden altar in the sanctuary was a type
|
|
of Christ interceding in heaven, in virtue of his satisfaction.
|
|
This altar was before the mercy-seat; for Christ always appears in
|
|
the presence of God for us; he is our <i>advocate with the
|
|
father</i> (<scripRef passage="1Jo 2:1" id="Ex.xxxi-p4.1" parsed="|1John|2|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.2.1">1 John ii. 1</scripRef>),
|
|
and his intercession is unto God of a sweet-smelling savour. This
|
|
altar had a crown fixed to it; for Christ intercedes as king.
|
|
<i>Father, I will,</i> <scripRef passage="Joh 17:24" id="Ex.xxxi-p4.2" parsed="|John|17|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.17.24">John xvii.
|
|
24</scripRef>. 2. The devotions of the saints, whose prayers are
|
|
said to be set forth before God as incense, <scripRef passage="Ps 141:2" id="Ex.xxxi-p4.3" parsed="|Ps|141|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.141.2">Ps. cxli. 2</scripRef>. As the smoke of the incense
|
|
ascended, so much our desires towards God rise in prayer, being
|
|
kindled with the fire of holy love and other pious affections. When
|
|
the priest was burning incense the people were praying (<scripRef passage="Lu 1:10" id="Ex.xxxi-p4.4" parsed="|Luke|1|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.1.10">Luke i. 10</scripRef>), to signify that prayer is
|
|
the true incense. This incense was offered daily, it was a
|
|
perpetual incense (<scripRef passage="Ex 30:8" id="Ex.xxxi-p4.5" parsed="|Exod|30|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.8"><i>v.</i>
|
|
8</scripRef>); for we must pray always, that is, we must keep up
|
|
stated times for prayer every day, morning and evening, at least,
|
|
and never omit it, but thus pray without ceasing. The lamps were
|
|
dressed or lighted at the same time that the incense was burnt, to
|
|
teach us that the reading of the scriptures (which are our light
|
|
and lamp) is a part of our daily work, and should ordinarily
|
|
accompany our prayers and praises. When we speak to God we must
|
|
hear what God says to us, and thus the communion is complete. The
|
|
devotions of sanctified souls are well-pleasing to God, of a
|
|
sweet-smelling savour; the prayers of saints are compared to sweet
|
|
odours (<scripRef passage="Re 5:8" id="Ex.xxxi-p4.6" parsed="|Rev|5|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.5.8">Rev. v. 8</scripRef>), but it is
|
|
the incense which Christ adds to them that makes them acceptable
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Re 8:3" id="Ex.xxxi-p4.7" parsed="|Rev|8|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.8.3">Rev. viii. 3</scripRef>), and his blood
|
|
that atones for the guilt which cleaves to our best services. And,
|
|
if the heart and life be not holy, even <i>incense is an
|
|
abomination</i> (<scripRef passage="Isa 1:13" id="Ex.xxxi-p4.8" parsed="|Isa|1|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.13">Isa. i.
|
|
13</scripRef>), and he that offers it is <i>as if he blessed an
|
|
idol,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 56:3" id="Ex.xxxi-p4.9" parsed="|Isa|56|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.56.3">Isa. lxvi. 3</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 30" id="Ex.xxxi-p4.10" parsed="|Exod|30|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 30:11-16" id="Ex.xxxi-p4.11" parsed="|Exod|30|11|30|16" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.11-Exod.30.16"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.30.11-Exod.30.16">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxxi-p5">11 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxi-p5.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   12 When thou takest the sum of the
|
|
children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every
|
|
man a ransom for his soul unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxi-p5.2">Lord</span>, when thou numberest them; that there be no
|
|
plague among them, when <i>thou</i> numberest them.   13 This
|
|
they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are
|
|
numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a
|
|
shekel <i>is</i> twenty gerahs:) an half shekel <i>shall be</i> the
|
|
offering of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxi-p5.3">Lord</span>.   14
|
|
Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty
|
|
years old and above, shall give an offering unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxi-p5.4">Lord</span>.   15 The rich shall not give more,
|
|
and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when
|
|
<i>they</i> give an offering unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxi-p5.5">Lord</span>, to make an atonement for your souls.
|
|
  16 And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children
|
|
of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle
|
|
of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of
|
|
Israel before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxi-p5.6">Lord</span>, to make an
|
|
atonement for your souls.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxi-p6">Some observe that the repetition of those
|
|
words, <i>The Lord spoke unto Moses,</i> here and afterwards
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 30:17,22,34" id="Ex.xxxi-p6.1" parsed="|Exod|30|17|0|0;|Exod|30|22|0|0;|Exod|30|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.17 Bible:Exod.30.22 Bible:Exod.30.34"><i>v.</i> 17, 22,
|
|
34</scripRef>), intimates that God did not deliver these precepts
|
|
to Moses in the mount, in a continued discourse, but with many
|
|
intermissions, giving him time either to write what was said to him
|
|
or at least to charge his memory with it. Christ gave instructions
|
|
to his disciples as they were able to hear them. Moses is here
|
|
ordered to levy money upon the people by way of poll, so much a
|
|
head, for the service of the tabernacle. This he must do when he
|
|
numbered the people. Some think that it refers only to the first
|
|
numbering of them, now when the tabernacle was set up; and that
|
|
this tax was to make up what was deficient in the voluntary
|
|
contributions for the finishing of the work, or rather for the
|
|
beginning of the service in the tabernacle. Others think that it
|
|
was afterwards repeated upon any emergency and always when the
|
|
people were numbered, and that David offended in not demanding it
|
|
when he numbered the people. But many of the Jewish writers, and
|
|
others from them, are of opinion that it was to be an annual
|
|
tribute, only it was begun when Moses first numbered the people.
|
|
This was that tribute-money which Christ paid, for fear of
|
|
offending his adversaries (<scripRef passage="Mt 17:27" id="Ex.xxxi-p6.2" parsed="|Matt|17|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.17.27">Matt. xvii.
|
|
27</scripRef>), when yet he showed good reason why he should have
|
|
been excused. Men were appointed in every city to receive this
|
|
payment yearly. Now, 1. The tribute to be paid was <i>half a
|
|
shekel,</i> about fifteen pence of our money. The rich were not to
|
|
give more, nor the poor less (<scripRef passage="Ex 30:15" id="Ex.xxxi-p6.3" parsed="|Exod|30|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>), to intimate that the souls of
|
|
the rich and poor are alike precious, and that God is <i>no
|
|
respecter of persons,</i> <scripRef passage="Ac 10:34,Job 34:19" id="Ex.xxxi-p6.4" parsed="|Acts|10|34|0|0;|Job|34|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.10.34 Bible:Job.34.19">Acts x. 34; Job xxxiv. 19</scripRef>. In other
|
|
offerings men were to give according to their ability; but this,
|
|
which was the <i>ransom of the soul,</i> must be alike for all; for
|
|
the rich have as much need of Christ as the poor, and the poor are
|
|
as welcome to him as the rich. They both alike contributed to the
|
|
maintenance of the temple-service, because both were to have a like
|
|
interest in it and benefit by it. In Christ and his ordinances
|
|
<i>rich and poor meet together; the Lord is the Maker,</i> the Lord
|
|
Christ is the Redeemer of them both, <scripRef passage="Pr 22:2" id="Ex.xxxi-p6.5" parsed="|Prov|22|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.22.2">Prov. xxii. 2</scripRef>. The Jews say, "If a man refused
|
|
to pay this tribute, he was not comprehended in the expiation." 2.
|
|
this tribute was to be paid as a <i>ransom of the soul, that there
|
|
might be no plague among them.</i> Hereby they acknowledged that
|
|
they received their lives from God, that they had forfeited their
|
|
lives to him, and that they depended upon his power and patience
|
|
for the continuance of them; and thus they did homage to the God of
|
|
their lives, and deprecated those plagues which their sins had
|
|
deserved. 3. This money that was raised was to be employed in the
|
|
service of the tabernacle (<scripRef passage="Ex 30:16" id="Ex.xxxi-p6.6" parsed="|Exod|30|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.16"><i>v.</i>
|
|
16</scripRef>); with it they bought sacrifices, flour, incense,
|
|
wine, oil, fuel, salt, priests' garments, and all other things
|
|
which the whole congregation was interested in. Note, Those that
|
|
have the benefit of God's tabernacle among them must be willing to
|
|
defray the expenses of it, and not grudge the necessary charges of
|
|
God's public worship. Thus we must honour the Lord with our
|
|
substance, and reckon that best laid out which is laid out in the
|
|
service of God. Money indeed cannot make an <i>atonement for the
|
|
soul,</i> but it may be used for the honour of him who has made the
|
|
atonement, and for the maintenance of the gospel by which the
|
|
atonement is applied.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 30" id="Ex.xxxi-p6.7" parsed="|Exod|30|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 30:17-21" id="Ex.xxxi-p6.8" parsed="|Exod|30|17|30|21" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.17-Exod.30.21"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.30.17-Exod.30.21">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxxi-p7">17 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxi-p7.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   18 Thou shalt also make a laver
|
|
<i>of</i> brass, and his foot <i>also of</i> brass, to wash
|
|
<i>withal:</i> and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the
|
|
congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein.
|
|
  19 For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their
|
|
feet thereat:   20 When they go into the tabernacle of the
|
|
congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or
|
|
when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made
|
|
by fire unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxi-p7.2">Lord</span>:   21 So
|
|
they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not: and
|
|
it shall be a statute for ever to them, <i>even</i> to him and to
|
|
his seed throughout their generations.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxi-p8">Orders are here given, 1. For the making of
|
|
a laver, or font, of brass, a large vessel, that would contain a
|
|
good quantity of water, which was to be set near the door of the
|
|
tabernacle, <scripRef passage="Ex 30:18" id="Ex.xxxi-p8.1" parsed="|Exod|30|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>.
|
|
The foot of brass, it is supposed, was so contrived as to receive
|
|
the water, which was let into it out of the laver by spouts or
|
|
cocks. They then had a laver for the priests only to wash in, but
|
|
to us now there is a fountain open for Judah and Jerusalem to wash
|
|
in (<scripRef passage="Zec 13:1" id="Ex.xxxi-p8.2" parsed="|Zech|13|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zech.13.1">Zech. xiii. 1</scripRef>), an
|
|
inexhaustible <i>fountain of living water,</i> so that it is our
|
|
own fault if we remain in our pollution. 2. For the using of this
|
|
laver. Aaron and his sons must wash their hands and feet at this
|
|
laver every time they went in to minister, every morning, at least,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 30:19-21" id="Ex.xxxi-p8.3" parsed="|Exod|30|19|30|21" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.19-Exod.30.21"><i>v.</i> 19-21</scripRef>. For
|
|
this purpose clean water was put into the laver fresh every day.
|
|
Though they washed themselves ever so clean at their own houses,
|
|
that would not serve; they must wash at the laver, because that was
|
|
appointed for washing, <scripRef passage="2Ki 5:12-14" id="Ex.xxxi-p8.4" parsed="|2Kgs|5|12|5|14" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.5.12-2Kgs.5.14">2 Kings v.
|
|
12-14</scripRef>. This was designed, (1.) To teach them purity in
|
|
all their ministrations, and to possess them with a reverence of
|
|
God's holiness and a dread of the pollutions of sin. They must not
|
|
only wash and be made clean when they were first consecrated, but
|
|
they must wash and be kept clean whenever they went in to minister.
|
|
He only shall <i>stand in God's holy place</i> that has <i>clean
|
|
hands and a pure heart,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 24:3,4" id="Ex.xxxi-p8.5" parsed="|Ps|24|3|24|4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.24.3-Ps.24.4">Ps. xxiv.
|
|
3, 4</scripRef>. And, (2.) It was to teach us, who are daily to
|
|
attend upon God, daily to renew our repentance for sin and our
|
|
believing application of the blood of Christ to our souls for
|
|
remission; for in many things we daily offend and contract
|
|
pollution, <scripRef passage="Joh 13:8,10,Jam 3:2" id="Ex.xxxi-p8.6" parsed="|John|13|8|0|0;|John|13|10|0|0;|Jas|3|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.13.8 Bible:John.13.10 Bible:Jas.3.2">John xiii. 8,
|
|
10; Jam. iii. 2</scripRef>. This is the preparation we are to make
|
|
for solemn ordinances. <i>Cleanse your hands and purify your
|
|
hearts,</i> and then <i>draw nigh to God,</i> <scripRef passage="Jam 4:8" id="Ex.xxxi-p8.7" parsed="|Jas|4|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jas.4.8">Jam. iv. 8</scripRef>. To this law David alludes in
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 26:6" id="Ex.xxxi-p8.8" parsed="|Ps|26|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.26.6">Ps. xxvi. 6</scripRef>, <i>I will wash
|
|
my hands in innocency, so will I compass thine altar, O
|
|
Lord.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 30:22-38" id="Ex.xxxi-p8.9" parsed="|Exod|30|22|30|38" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.22-Exod.30.38"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.30.22-Exod.30.38">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxxi-p9">22 Moreover the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxi-p9.1">Lord</span> spake unto Moses, saying,   23 Take
|
|
thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred
|
|
<i>shekels,</i> and of sweet cinnamon half so much, <i>even</i> two
|
|
hundred and fifty <i>shekels,</i> and of sweet calamus two hundred
|
|
and fifty <i>shekels,</i>   24 And of cassia five hundred
|
|
<i>shekels,</i> after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil olive
|
|
an hin:   25 And thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment,
|
|
an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary: it shall be
|
|
an holy anointing oil.   26 And thou shalt anoint the
|
|
tabernacle of the congregation therewith, and the ark of the
|
|
testimony,   27 And the table and all his vessels, and the
|
|
candlestick and his vessels, and the altar of incense,   28
|
|
And the altar of burnt offering with all his vessels, and the laver
|
|
and his foot.   29 And thou shalt sanctify them, that they may
|
|
be most holy: whatsoever toucheth them shall be holy.   30 And
|
|
thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that
|
|
<i>they</i> may minister unto me in the priest's office.   31
|
|
And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, This
|
|
shall be an holy anointing oil unto me throughout your generations.
|
|
  32 Upon man's flesh shall it not be poured, neither shall ye
|
|
make <i>any other</i> like it, after the composition of it: it
|
|
<i>is</i> holy, <i>and</i> it shall be holy unto you.   33
|
|
Whosoever compoundeth <i>any</i> like it, or whosoever putteth
|
|
<i>any</i> of it upon a stranger, shall even be cut off from his
|
|
people.   34 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxi-p9.2">Lord</span> said
|
|
unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and
|
|
galbanum; <i>these</i> sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each
|
|
shall there be a like <i>weight:</i>   35 And thou shalt make
|
|
it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary,
|
|
tempered together, pure <i>and</i> holy:   36 And thou shalt
|
|
beat <i>some</i> of it very small, and put of it before the
|
|
testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet
|
|
with thee: it shall be unto you most holy.   37 And <i>as
|
|
for</i> the perfume which thou shalt make, ye shall not make to
|
|
yourselves according to the composition thereof: it shall be unto
|
|
thee holy for the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxi-p9.3">Lord</span>.   38
|
|
Whosoever shall make like unto that, to smell thereto, shall even
|
|
be cut off from his people.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxi-p10">Directions are here given for the
|
|
composition of the holy anointing oil and the incense that were to
|
|
be used in the service of the tabernacle; with these God was to be
|
|
honoured, and therefore he would appoint the making of them; for
|
|
nothing comes <i>to</i> God but what comes <i>from</i> him. 1. The
|
|
holy anointing oil is here ordered to be made up the ingredients,
|
|
and their quantities, are prescribed, <scripRef passage="Ex 30:23-25" id="Ex.xxxi-p10.1" parsed="|Exod|30|23|30|25" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.23-Exod.30.25"><i>v.</i> 23-25</scripRef>. Interpreters are not
|
|
agreed concerning them; we are sure, in general, they were the best
|
|
and fittest for the purpose; they must needs be so when the divine
|
|
wisdom appointed them for the divine honour. It was to be
|
|
compounded <i>secundum artem—after the art of the apothecary</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 30:25" id="Ex.xxxi-p10.2" parsed="|Exod|30|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>); the spices,
|
|
which were in all nearly half a hundred weight, were to be infused
|
|
in the oil, which was to be about five or six quarts, and then
|
|
strained out, leaving an admirable sweet smell in the oil. With
|
|
this oil God's tent and all the furniture of it were to be
|
|
anointed; it was to be used also in the consecration of the
|
|
priests, <scripRef passage="Ex 30:26-30" id="Ex.xxxi-p10.3" parsed="|Exod|30|26|30|30" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.26-Exod.30.30"><i>v.</i>
|
|
26-30</scripRef>. It was to be continued <i>throughout their
|
|
generations,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 30:31" id="Ex.xxxi-p10.4" parsed="|Exod|30|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.31"><i>v.</i>
|
|
31</scripRef>. The tradition of the Jews is that this very oil
|
|
which was prepared by Moses himself lasted till near the captivity.
|
|
But bishop Patrick shows the great improbability of the tradition,
|
|
and supposes that it was repeated according to the prescription
|
|
here, for Solomon was anointed with it (<scripRef passage="2Ki 1:39" id="Ex.xxxi-p10.5" parsed="|2Kgs|1|39|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.1.39">2 Kings i. 39</scripRef>), and some other of the kings;
|
|
and all the high priests with such a quantity of it that it ran
|
|
down to the skirts of the garments; and we read of the making up of
|
|
this ointment (<scripRef passage="1Ch 9:30" id="Ex.xxxi-p10.6" parsed="|1Chr|9|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Chr.9.30">1 Chron. ix.
|
|
30</scripRef>): yet all agree that in the second temple there was
|
|
none of this holy oil, which he supposes was owing to a notion they
|
|
had that it was not lawful to make it up, Providence overruling
|
|
that want as a presage of the better unction of the Holy Ghost in
|
|
gospel times, the variety of whose gifts was typified by these
|
|
several sweet ingredients. To show the excellency of holiness,
|
|
there was that in the tabernacle which was in the highest degree
|
|
grateful both to the sight and to the smell. Christ's name is said
|
|
to be as <i>ointment poured forth</i> (<scripRef passage="So 1:3" id="Ex.xxxi-p10.7" parsed="|Song|1|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Song.1.3">Cant. i. 3</scripRef>), and the good name of Christians
|
|
better than <i>precious ointment,</i> <scripRef passage="Ec 7:1" id="Ex.xxxi-p10.8" parsed="|Eccl|7|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.7.1">Eccl. vii. 1</scripRef>. 2. The incense which was burned
|
|
upon the golden altar was prepared of sweet spices likewise, though
|
|
not so rare and rich as those of which the anointing oil was
|
|
compounded, <scripRef passage="Ex 30:34,35" id="Ex.xxxi-p10.9" parsed="|Exod|30|34|30|35" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.34-Exod.30.35"><i>v.</i> 34,
|
|
35</scripRef>. This was prepared once a year (the Jews say), a
|
|
pound for each day of the year, and three pounds over for the day
|
|
of atonement. When it was used, it was to be beaten very small:
|
|
thus it pleased the Lord to bruise the Redeemer when he offered
|
|
himself for a sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour. 3. Concerning
|
|
both these preparations the same law is here given (<scripRef passage="Ex 30:32,33,37,38" id="Ex.xxxi-p10.10" parsed="|Exod|30|32|30|33;|Exod|30|37|0|0;|Exod|30|38|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.32-Exod.30.33 Bible:Exod.30.37 Bible:Exod.30.38"><i>v.</i> 32, 33, 37, 38</scripRef>),
|
|
that the like should not be made for any common use. Thus God would
|
|
preserve in the people's minds a reverence for his own
|
|
institutions, and teach us not to profane nor abuse any thing
|
|
whereby God makes himself known, as those did who invented to
|
|
themselves (for their common entertainments) instruments of music
|
|
like David, <scripRef passage="Am 6:5" id="Ex.xxxi-p10.11" parsed="|Amos|6|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Amos.6.5">Amos vi. 5</scripRef>. It is
|
|
a great affront to God to jest with sacred things, particularly to
|
|
make sport with the word and ordinances of God, or to treat them
|
|
with lightness, <scripRef passage="Mt 22:5" id="Ex.xxxi-p10.12" parsed="|Matt|22|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.5">Matt. xxii.
|
|
5</scripRef>. That which is God's peculiar must not be used as a
|
|
common thing.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXXI" n="xxxii" progress="45.99%" prev="Ex.xxxi" next="Ex.xxxiii" id="Ex.xxxii">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.xxxii-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.xxxii-p0.2">CHAP. XXXI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.xxxii-p1">God is here drawing towards a conclusion of what
|
|
he had to say to Moses upon the mount, where he had now been with
|
|
him forty days and forty nights; and yet no more is recorded of
|
|
what was said to him in all that time than what we have read in the
|
|
six chapters foregoing. In this, I. He appoints what workmen should
|
|
be employed in the building and furnishing of the tabernacle,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 31:1-11" id="Ex.xxxii-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|31|1|31|11" osisRef="Bible:Exod.31.1-Exod.31.11">ver. 1-11</scripRef>. II. He repeats
|
|
the law of the sabbath, and the religious observance of it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 31:12-17" id="Ex.xxxii-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|31|12|31|17" osisRef="Bible:Exod.31.12-Exod.31.17">ver. 12-17</scripRef>. III. He
|
|
delivers to him the two tables of the testimony at parting,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 31:18" id="Ex.xxxii-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|31|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.31.18">ver. 18</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 31" id="Ex.xxxii-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|31|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.31"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 31:1-11" id="Ex.xxxii-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|31|1|31|11" osisRef="Bible:Exod.31.1-Exod.31.11"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.31.1-Exod.31.11">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxxii-p1.6">Appointment of Bezaleel and
|
|
Aholiab. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxii-p1.7">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxxii-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxii-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   2 See, I have called by name
|
|
Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah:
|
|
  3 And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom,
|
|
and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of
|
|
workmanship,   4 To devise cunning works, to work in gold, and
|
|
in silver, and in brass,   5 And in cutting of stones, to set
|
|
<i>them,</i> and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of
|
|
workmanship.   6 And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab,
|
|
the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan: and in the hearts of all
|
|
that are wise hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all
|
|
that I have commanded thee;   7 The tabernacle of the
|
|
congregation, and the ark of the testimony, and the mercy seat that
|
|
<i>is</i> thereupon, and all the furniture of the tabernacle,
|
|
  8 And the table and his furniture, and the pure candlestick
|
|
with all his furniture, and the altar of incense,   9 And the
|
|
altar of burnt offering with all his furniture, and the laver and
|
|
his foot,   10 And the cloths of service, and the holy
|
|
garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to
|
|
minister in the priest's office,   11 And the anointing oil,
|
|
and sweet incense for the holy <i>place:</i> according to all that
|
|
I have commanded thee shall they do.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxii-p3">A great deal of fine work God had ordered
|
|
to be done about the tabernacle; the materials the people were to
|
|
provide, but who must put them into form? Moses himself was learned
|
|
in all the learning of the Egyptians, nay, he was well acquainted
|
|
with the words of God, and the visions of the Almighty; but he knew
|
|
not how to engrave or embroider. We may suppose that there were
|
|
some very ingenious men among the Israelites; but, having lived all
|
|
their days in bondage in Egypt, we cannot think they were any of
|
|
them instructed in these curious arts. They knew how to make brick
|
|
and work in clay, but to work in gold and in cutting diamonds was
|
|
what they had never been brought up to. How should the work be done
|
|
with the neatness and exactness that were required when they had no
|
|
goldsmiths or jewellers but what must be made out of masons and
|
|
bricklayers? We may suppose that there were a sufficient number who
|
|
would gladly be employed, and would do their best; but it would be
|
|
hard to find out a proper person to preside in this work. <i>Who
|
|
was sufficient for these things?</i> But God takes care of this
|
|
matter also.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxii-p4">I. He nominates the persons that were to be
|
|
employed, that there might be no contest about the preferment, nor
|
|
envy at those that were preferred, God himself having made the
|
|
choice. 1. Bezaleel was to be the architect, or master workman,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 31:2" id="Ex.xxxii-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|31|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.31.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. He was of the
|
|
tribe of Judah, a tribe that God delighted to honour; the grandson
|
|
of Hur, probably that Hur who had helped to hold up Moses's hands
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 17:1-16" id="Ex.xxxii-p4.2" parsed="|Exod|17|1|17|16" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.1-Exod.17.16"><i>ch.</i> xvii.</scripRef>), and
|
|
was at this time in commission with Aaron for the government of the
|
|
people in the absence of Moses (<scripRef passage="Ex 24:14" id="Ex.xxxii-p4.3" parsed="|Exod|24|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.14"><i>ch.</i> xxiv. 14</scripRef>); out of that family
|
|
which was of note in Israel was the workman chosen, and it added no
|
|
little honour to the family that a branch of it was employed,
|
|
though but as a mechanic, or handicraft tradesman, for the service
|
|
of the tabernacle. The Jews' tradition is that Hur was the husband
|
|
of Miriam; and, if so, it was requisite that God should appoint him
|
|
to this service, lest, if Moses himself had done it, he should be
|
|
thought partial to his own kindred, his brother Aaron also being
|
|
advanced to the priesthood. God will put honour upon Moses's
|
|
relations, and yet will make it to appear that he takes not the
|
|
honour to himself or his own family, but that it is purely the
|
|
Lord's doing. 2. Aholiab, of the tribe of Dan, is appointed next to
|
|
Bezaleel, and partner with him, <scripRef passage="Ex 31:6" id="Ex.xxxii-p4.4" parsed="|Exod|31|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.31.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. Two are better than one. Christ
|
|
sent forth his disciples who were to rear the gospel tabernacle,
|
|
two and two, and we read of his two witnesses. Aholiab was of the
|
|
tribe of Dan, which was one of the less honourable tribes, that the
|
|
tribes of Judah and Levi might not be lifted up, as if they were to
|
|
engross all the preferments; to prevent a schism in the body, God
|
|
gives honour to <i>that part which lacked,</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 12:24" id="Ex.xxxii-p4.5" parsed="|1Cor|12|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.12.24">1 Cor. xii. 24</scripRef>. <i>The head cannot say to
|
|
the foot, I have no need of thee.</i> Hiram, who was the head
|
|
workman in the building of Solomon's temple, was also of the tribe
|
|
of Dan, <scripRef passage="2Ch 2:14" id="Ex.xxxii-p4.6" parsed="|2Chr|2|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.2.14">2 Chron. ii. 14</scripRef>. 3.
|
|
There were others that were employed by and under these in the
|
|
several operations about the tabernacle, <scripRef passage="Ex 31:6" id="Ex.xxxii-p4.7" parsed="|Exod|31|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.31.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. Note, When God has work to do he
|
|
will never want instruments to do it with, for all hearts and heads
|
|
too are under his eye, and in his hand; and those may cheerfully go
|
|
about any service for God, and go on in it, who have reason to
|
|
think that, one way or other, he has called them to it; for whom he
|
|
calls he will own and bear out.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxii-p5">II. He qualifies these persons for the
|
|
service (<scripRef passage="Ex 31:3" id="Ex.xxxii-p5.1" parsed="|Exod|31|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.31.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>): <i>I
|
|
have filled him with the Spirit of God;</i> and (<scripRef passage="Ex 31:6" id="Ex.xxxii-p5.2" parsed="|Exod|31|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.31.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>) <i>in the hearts of all that are
|
|
wise-hearted I have put wisdom.</i> Note, 1. Skill in common arts
|
|
and employments is the gift of God; from him are derived both the
|
|
faculty and the improvement of the faculty. It is he that puts even
|
|
this <i>wisdom into the inward parts,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 38:36" id="Ex.xxxii-p5.3" parsed="|Job|38|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.36">Job xxxviii. 36</scripRef>. He teaches the husbandman
|
|
discretion (<scripRef passage="Isa 28:26" id="Ex.xxxii-p5.4" parsed="|Isa|28|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.28.26">Isa. xxviii.
|
|
26</scripRef>), and the tradesman too; and he must have the praise
|
|
of it. 2. God dispenses his gifts variously, one gift to one,
|
|
another to another, and all for the good of the whole body, both of
|
|
mankind and of the church. Moses was fittest of all to govern
|
|
Israel, but Bezaleel was fitter than he to build the tabernacle.
|
|
The common benefit is very much supported by the variety of men's
|
|
faculties and inclinations; the genius of some leads them to be
|
|
serviceable one way, of others another way, and <i>all these
|
|
worketh that one and the self-same Spirit,</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 12:11" id="Ex.xxxii-p5.5" parsed="|1Cor|12|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.12.11">1 Cor. xii. 11</scripRef>. This forbids pride, envy,
|
|
contempt, and carnal emulation, and strengthens the bond of mutual
|
|
love. 3. Those whom God calls to any service he will either find,
|
|
or make, fit for it. If God give the commission, he will in some
|
|
measure give the qualifications, according as the service is. The
|
|
work, that was to be done here was to make the tabernacle and the
|
|
utensils of it, which are here particularly reckoned up, <scripRef passage="Ex 31:7" id="Ex.xxxii-p5.6" parsed="|Exod|31|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.31.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>, &c. And for this the
|
|
persons employed were enabled to <i>work in gold, and silver, and
|
|
brass.</i> When Christ sent his apostles to rear the gospel
|
|
tabernacle, he poured out his Spirit upon them, to enable them to
|
|
speak with tongues the wonderful works of God; not to work upon
|
|
metal, but to work upon men; so much more excellent were the gifts,
|
|
as the tabernacle to be pitched was a <i>greater and more perfect
|
|
tabernacle,</i> as the apostle calls it, <scripRef passage="Heb 9:11" id="Ex.xxxii-p5.7" parsed="|Heb|9|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.9.11">Heb. ix. 11</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 31" id="Ex.xxxii-p5.8" parsed="|Exod|31|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.31"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 31:12-18" id="Ex.xxxii-p5.9" parsed="|Exod|31|12|31|18" osisRef="Bible:Exod.31.12-Exod.31.18"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.31.12-Exod.31.18">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxxii-p5.10">The Observance of the
|
|
Sabbath. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxii-p5.11">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxxii-p6">12 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxii-p6.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   13 Speak thou also unto the
|
|
children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for
|
|
it <i>is</i> a sign between me and you throughout your generations;
|
|
that <i>ye</i> may know that I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxii-p6.2">Lord</span> that doth sanctify you.   14 Ye shall
|
|
keep the sabbath therefore; for it <i>is</i> holy unto you: every
|
|
one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever
|
|
doeth <i>any</i> work therein, that soul shall be cut off from
|
|
among his people.   15 Six days may work be done; but in the
|
|
seventh <i>is</i> the sabbath of rest, holy to the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxii-p6.3">Lord</span>: whosoever doeth <i>any</i> work in the
|
|
sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.   16 Wherefore
|
|
the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the
|
|
sabbath throughout their generations, <i>for</i> a perpetual
|
|
covenant.   17 It <i>is</i> a sign between me and the children
|
|
of Israel for ever: for <i>in</i> six days the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxii-p6.4">Lord</span> made heaven and earth, and on the seventh
|
|
day he rested, and was refreshed.   18 And he gave unto Moses,
|
|
when he had made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai, two
|
|
tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of
|
|
God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxii-p7">Here is, I. A strict command for the
|
|
sanctification of the sabbath day, <scripRef passage="Ex 31:13-17" id="Ex.xxxii-p7.1" parsed="|Exod|31|13|31|17" osisRef="Bible:Exod.31.13-Exod.31.17"><i>v.</i> 13-17</scripRef>. The law of the sabbath
|
|
had been given them before any other law, by was of preparation
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 16:23" id="Ex.xxxii-p7.2" parsed="|Exod|16|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.23"><i>ch.</i> xvi. 23</scripRef>); it
|
|
had been inserted in the body of the moral law, in the fourth
|
|
commandment; it had been annexed to the judicial law (<scripRef passage="Ex 23:12" id="Ex.xxxii-p7.3" parsed="|Exod|23|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.12"><i>ch.</i> xxiii. 12</scripRef>); and here it is
|
|
added to the first part of the ceremonial law, because the
|
|
observance of the sabbath is indeed the hem and hedge of the whole
|
|
law; where no conscience is made of that, farewell both godliness
|
|
and honesty; for, in the moral law, it stands in the midst between
|
|
the two tables. Some suggest that it comes in here upon another
|
|
account. Orders were now given that a tabernacle should be set up
|
|
and furnished for the service of God with all possible expedition;
|
|
but lest they should think that the nature of the work, and the
|
|
haste that was required, would justify them in working at it on
|
|
sabbath days, that they might get it done the sooner, this caution
|
|
is seasonably inserted, <i>Verily,</i> or <i>nevertheless, my
|
|
sabbaths you shall keep.</i> Though they must hasten the work, yet
|
|
they must not make more haste than good speed; they must not break
|
|
the law of the sabbath in their haste: even tabernacle-work must
|
|
give way to the sabbath-rest; so jealous is God for the honour of
|
|
his sabbaths. Observe what is here said concerning the sabbath
|
|
day.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxii-p8">1. The nature, meaning, and intention, of
|
|
the sabbath, by the declaration of which God puts an honour upon
|
|
it, and teaches us to value it. Divers things are here said of the
|
|
sabbath. (1.) <i>It is a sign between me and you</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 31:13" id="Ex.xxxii-p8.1" parsed="|Exod|31|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.31.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>), and again, <scripRef passage="Ex 31:17" id="Ex.xxxii-p8.2" parsed="|Exod|31|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.31.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. The institution of the
|
|
sabbath was a great instance of God's favour to them, and a sign
|
|
that he had distinguished them from all other people; and their
|
|
religious observance of the sabbath was a great instance of their
|
|
duty and obedience to him. God, by sanctifying this day among them,
|
|
let them know that he sanctified them, and set them apart for
|
|
himself and his service; otherwise he would not have revealed to
|
|
them his holy sabbaths, to be the support of religion among them.
|
|
Or it may refer to the law concerning the sabbath, <i>Keep my
|
|
sabbaths, that you may know that I the Lord do sanctify you.</i>
|
|
Note, If God by his grace incline our hearts to keep the law of the
|
|
fourth commandment, it will be an evidence of a good work wrought
|
|
in us by his Spirit. If we sanctify God's day, it is a sign between
|
|
him and us that he has sanctified our hearts: hence it is the
|
|
character of the blessed man that he <i>keepeth the sabbath from
|
|
polluting it,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 56:2" id="Ex.xxxii-p8.3" parsed="|Isa|56|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.56.2">Isa. lvi.
|
|
2</scripRef>. The Jews, by observing one day in seven, after six
|
|
days' labour, testified and declared that they worshipped the God
|
|
who made the world in six days, and rested the seventh; and so
|
|
distinguished themselves from other nations, who, having first lost
|
|
the sabbath, which was instituted to be a memorial of the creation,
|
|
by degrees lost the knowledge of the Creator, and gave that honour
|
|
to the creature which was due to him alone. (2.) <i>It is holy unto
|
|
you</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 31:14" id="Ex.xxxii-p8.4" parsed="|Exod|31|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.31.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>),
|
|
that is, "It is designed for your benefit as well as for God's
|
|
honour;" <i>the sabbath was made for man.</i> Or, "It shall be
|
|
accounted holy by you, and shall so be observed, and you shall look
|
|
upon it a sacrilege to profane it." (3.) It is the <i>sabbath of
|
|
rest, holy to the Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 31:15" id="Ex.xxxii-p8.5" parsed="|Exod|31|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.31.15"><i>v.</i>
|
|
15</scripRef>. It is separated from common use, and designed for
|
|
the honour and service of God, and by the observance of it we are
|
|
taught to rest from worldly pursuits and the service of the flesh,
|
|
and to devote ourselves, and all we are, have, and can do, to God's
|
|
glory. (4.) It was to be observed <i>throughout their
|
|
generations,</i> in every age, <i>for a perpetual covenant.</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 31:16" id="Ex.xxxii-p8.6" parsed="|Exod|31|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.31.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. This was to
|
|
be one of the most lasting tokens of that covenant which was
|
|
between God and Israel.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxii-p9">2. The law of the sabbath. They must keep
|
|
it (<scripRef passage="Ex 31:13,14,16" id="Ex.xxxii-p9.1" parsed="|Exod|31|13|31|14;|Exod|31|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.31.13-Exod.31.14 Bible:Exod.31.16"><i>v.</i> 13, 14,
|
|
16</scripRef>), keep it as a treasure, as a trust, observe it and
|
|
preserve it, keep it from polluting it, keep it up as a sign
|
|
between God and them, keep it and never part with it. The Gentiles
|
|
had anniversary-feasts, to the honour of their gods; but it was
|
|
peculiar to the Jews to have a weekly festival; this therefore they
|
|
must carefully observe.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxii-p10">3. The reason of the sabbath; for God's
|
|
laws are not only backed with the highest authority, but supported
|
|
with the best reason. God's own example is the great reason,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 31:17" id="Ex.xxxii-p10.1" parsed="|Exod|31|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.31.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. As the work
|
|
of creation is worthy to be thus commemorated, so the great Creator
|
|
is worthy to be thus imitated, by a holy rest, the seventh day,
|
|
after six days' labour, especially since we hope, in further
|
|
conformity to the same example, shortly to rest with him from all
|
|
our labours.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxii-p11">4. The penalty to be inflicted for the
|
|
breach of this law: "Every one that <i>defileth the sabbath,</i> by
|
|
doing <i>any work therein</i> but works of piety and mercy,
|
|
<i>shall be cut off from among his people</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 31:14" id="Ex.xxxii-p11.1" parsed="|Exod|31|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.31.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>); <i>he shall surely be put to
|
|
death.</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 31:15" id="Ex.xxxii-p11.2" parsed="|Exod|31|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.31.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>.
|
|
The magistrate must cut him off the sword of justice if the crime
|
|
can be proved; if it cannot, or if the magistrate be remiss, and do
|
|
not do his duty, God will take the work into his own hands, and cut
|
|
him off by a stroke from heaven, and his family shall be rooted out
|
|
of Israel." Note, The contempt and profanation of the sabbath day
|
|
is an iniquity to be punished by the judges; and, if men do not
|
|
punish it, God will, here or hereafter, unless it be repented
|
|
of.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxii-p12">II. The delivering of the two tables of
|
|
testimony to Moses. God had promised him these tables when he
|
|
called him up into the mount (<scripRef passage="Ex 24:12" id="Ex.xxxii-p12.1" parsed="|Exod|24|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.12"><i>ch.</i> xxiv. 12</scripRef>), and now, when he was
|
|
sending him down, he delivered them to him, to be carefully and
|
|
honourably deposited in the ark, <scripRef passage="Ex 31:18" id="Ex.xxxii-p12.2" parsed="|Exod|31|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.31.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. 1. The ten commandments which
|
|
God had spoken upon Mount Sinai in the hearing of all the people
|
|
were now written, <i>in perpetuam rei memoriam—for a perpetual
|
|
memorial,</i> because that which is written remains. 2. They were
|
|
written in <i>tables of stone,</i> prepared, not by Moses, as it
|
|
should seem (for it is intimated, <scripRef passage="Ex 24:12" id="Ex.xxxii-p12.3" parsed="|Exod|24|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.12"><i>ch.</i> xxiv. 12</scripRef>, that he found them ready
|
|
written when he went up to the mount), but, as some think, by the
|
|
ministry of angels. The law was written in <i>tables of stone,</i>
|
|
to denote the perpetual duration of it (what can be supposed to
|
|
last longer than that which is written in stone, and laid up?), to
|
|
denote likewise the hardness of our hearts; one might more easily
|
|
write in stone than write any thing that is good in our corrupt and
|
|
sinful hearts. 3. They were written <i>with the finger of God,</i>
|
|
that is, by his will and power immediately, without the use of any
|
|
instrument. It is God only that can write his law in the heart; he
|
|
<i>gives a heart of flesh,</i> and then, by his Spirit, which is
|
|
the <i>finger of God,</i> he writes his will in the <i>fleshly
|
|
tables of the heart,</i> <scripRef passage="2Co 3:3" id="Ex.xxxii-p12.4" parsed="|2Cor|3|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.3.3">2 Cor. iii.
|
|
3</scripRef>. 4. They were written in two tables, being designed to
|
|
direct us in our duty both towards God and towards man. 5. They are
|
|
called <i>tables of testimony,</i> because this written law
|
|
testified both the will of God concerning them and his good-will
|
|
towards them, and would be a testimony against them if they were
|
|
disobedient. 6. They were delivered to Moses, probably with a
|
|
charge, before he laid them up in the ark, to show them publicly,
|
|
that they might be <i>seen and read of all men,</i> and so what
|
|
they had heard with the hearing of the ear might now be brought to
|
|
their remembrance. Thus <i>the law was given by Moses, but grace
|
|
and truth came by Jesus Christ.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXXII" n="xxxiii" progress="46.31%" prev="Ex.xxxii" next="Ex.xxxiv" id="Ex.xxxiii">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.xxxiii-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.xxxiii-p0.2">CHAP. XXXII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.xxxiii-p1">It is a very lamentable interruption which the
|
|
story of this chapter gives to the record of the establishment of
|
|
the church, and of religion among the Jews. Things went on
|
|
admirably well towards that happy settlement: God had shown himself
|
|
very favourable, and the people also had seemed to be pretty
|
|
tractable. Moses had now almost completed his forty days upon the
|
|
mount, and, we may suppose, was pleasing himself with the thoughts
|
|
of the very joyful welcome he should have to the camp of Israel at
|
|
his return, and the speedy setting up of the tabernacle among them.
|
|
But, behold, the measures are broken, the sin of Israel turns away
|
|
those good things from them, and puts a stop to the current of
|
|
God's favours; the sin that did the mischief (would you think it?)
|
|
was worshipping a golden calf. The marriage was ready to be
|
|
solemnized between God and Israel, but Israel plays the harlot, and
|
|
so the match is broken, and it will be no easy matter to piece it
|
|
again. Here is, I. The sin of Israel, and of Aaron particularly, in
|
|
making the golden calf for a god (<scripRef passage="Ex 32:1-4" id="Ex.xxxiii-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|32|1|32|4" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.1-Exod.32.4">ver. 1-4</scripRef>), and worshipping it, <scripRef passage="Ex 32:5,6" id="Ex.xxxiii-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|32|5|32|6" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.5-Exod.32.6">ver. 5, 6</scripRef>. II. The notice which God
|
|
gave of this to Moses, who was now in the mount with him,
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 32:7,8" id="Ex.xxxiii-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|32|7|32|8" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.7-Exod.32.8">ver. 7, 8</scripRef>), and the
|
|
sentence of his wrath against them, <scripRef passage="Ex 32:9,10" id="Ex.xxxiii-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|32|9|32|10" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.9-Exod.32.10">ver. 9, 10</scripRef>. III. The intercession which
|
|
Moses immediately made for them in the mount (<scripRef passage="Ex 32:11-13" id="Ex.xxxiii-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|32|11|32|13" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.11-Exod.32.13">ver. 11-13</scripRef>), and the prevalency of that
|
|
intercession, <scripRef passage="Ex 32:14" id="Ex.xxxiii-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|32|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.14">ver. 14</scripRef>. IV.
|
|
His coming down from the mount, when he became an eye-witness of
|
|
their idolatry (<scripRef passage="Ex 32:15-19" id="Ex.xxxiii-p1.7" parsed="|Exod|32|15|32|19" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.15-Exod.32.19">ver.
|
|
15-19</scripRef>), in abhorrence of which, and as an expression of
|
|
just indignation, he broke the tables (<scripRef passage="Ex 32:19" id="Ex.xxxiii-p1.8" parsed="|Exod|32|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.19">ver. 19</scripRef>), and burnt the golden calf,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 32:20" id="Ex.xxxiii-p1.9" parsed="|Exod|32|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.20">ver. 20</scripRef>. V. The examination
|
|
of Aaron about it, <scripRef passage="Ex 32:21-24" id="Ex.xxxiii-p1.10" parsed="|Exod|32|21|32|24" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.21-Exod.32.24">ver.
|
|
21-24</scripRef>. VI. Execution done upon the ring-leaders in the
|
|
idolatry, <scripRef passage="Ex 32:25-29" id="Ex.xxxiii-p1.11" parsed="|Exod|32|25|32|29" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.25-Exod.32.29">ver. 25-29</scripRef>.
|
|
VII. The further intercession Moses made for them, to turn away the
|
|
wrath of God from them (<scripRef passage="Ex 32:30-32" id="Ex.xxxiii-p1.12" parsed="|Exod|32|30|32|32" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.30-Exod.32.32">ver.
|
|
30-32</scripRef>), and a reprieve granted thereupon, reserving them
|
|
for a further reckoning, <scripRef passage="Ex 32:33-35" id="Ex.xxxiii-p1.13" parsed="|Exod|32|33|32|35" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.33-Exod.32.35">ver.
|
|
33</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 32" id="Ex.xxxiii-p1.14" parsed="|Exod|32|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 32:1-6" id="Ex.xxxiii-p1.15" parsed="|Exod|32|1|32|6" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.1-Exod.32.6"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.32.1-Exod.32.6">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxxiii-p1.16">The Golden Calf. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxiii-p1.17">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxxiii-p2">1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to
|
|
come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together
|
|
unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go
|
|
before us; for <i>as for</i> this Moses, the man that brought us up
|
|
out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.  
|
|
2 And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which
|
|
<i>are</i> in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your
|
|
daughters, and bring <i>them</i> unto me.   3 And all the
|
|
people brake off the golden earrings which <i>were</i> in their
|
|
ears, and brought <i>them</i> unto Aaron.   4 And he received
|
|
<i>them</i> at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool,
|
|
after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These <i>be</i>
|
|
thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
|
|
  5 And when Aaron saw <i>it,</i> he built an altar before it;
|
|
and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow <i>is</i> a feast
|
|
to the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxiii-p2.1">Lord</span>.   6 And they rose
|
|
up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought
|
|
peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and
|
|
rose up to play.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiii-p3">While Moses was in the mount, receiving the
|
|
law from God, the people had time to meditate upon what had been
|
|
delivered, and prepare themselves for what was further to be
|
|
revealed, and forty days was little enough for that work; but,
|
|
instead of that, there were those among them that were contriving
|
|
how to break the laws they had already received, and to anticipate
|
|
those which they were in expectation of. On the thirty-ninth day of
|
|
the forty, the plot broke out of rebellion against the Lord. Here
|
|
is,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiii-p4">I. A tumultuous address which the people
|
|
made to Aaron, who was entrusted with the government in the absence
|
|
of Moses: <i>Up, make us gods, which shall go before us,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 32:1" id="Ex.xxxiii-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|32|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiii-p5">1. See the ill effect of Moses's absence
|
|
from them; if he had not had God's call both to go and stay, he
|
|
would not have been altogether free from blame. Those that have the
|
|
charge of others, as magistrates, ministers, and masters of
|
|
families, ought not, without just cause, to absent themselves from
|
|
their charge, <i>lest Satan get advantage</i> thereby.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiii-p6">2. See the fury and violence of a multitude
|
|
when they are influenced and corrupted by such as lie in wait to
|
|
deceive. Some few, it is likely, were at first possessed with this
|
|
humour, while many, who would never have thought of it if they had
|
|
not put it into their hearts, were brought to follow their
|
|
pernicious ways; and presently such a multitude were carried down
|
|
the stream that the few who abhorred the proposal durst not so much
|
|
as enter their protestation against it. <i>Behold how great a
|
|
matter a little fire kindles!</i> Now what was the matter with this
|
|
giddy multitude?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiii-p7">(1.) They were weary of waiting for the
|
|
promised land. They thought themselves detained too long at mount
|
|
Sinai; though there they lay very safe and very easy, well fed and
|
|
well taught, yet they were impatient to be going forward. They had
|
|
a God that staid with them, and manifested his presence with them
|
|
by the cloud; but this would not serve. They must have a god to go
|
|
before them; they are for hastening to the land <i>flowing with
|
|
milk and honey,</i> and cannot stay to take their religion along
|
|
with them. Note, Those that would anticipate God's counsels are
|
|
commonly precipitate in their own. We must first wait for God's law
|
|
before we catch at his promises. He that believeth doth not make
|
|
haste, not more haste than good speed.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiii-p8">(2.) They were weary of waiting for the
|
|
return of Moses. When he went up into the mount, he had not told
|
|
them (for God had not told him) how long he must stay; and
|
|
therefore, when he had outstayed their time, though they were every
|
|
way well provided for in his absence, some bad people advanced I
|
|
know not what surmises concerning his delay: <i>As for this Moses,
|
|
the man that brought us up out of Egypt, we wot not what has become
|
|
of him.</i> Observe, [1.] How slightly they speak of his
|
|
person—<i>this Moses.</i> Thus ungrateful are they to Moses, who
|
|
had shown such a tender concern for them, and thus do they walk
|
|
contrary to God. While God delights to put honour upon him, they
|
|
delight to put contempt upon him, and this to the face of Aaron his
|
|
brother, and now his viceroy. Note, The greatest merits cannot
|
|
secure men from the greatest indignities and affronts in this
|
|
ungrateful world. [2.] How suspiciously they speak of his delay:
|
|
<i>We wot not what has become of him.</i> They thought he was
|
|
either consumed by the devouring fire or starved for want to food,
|
|
as if that God who kept and fed them, who were so unworthy, would
|
|
not take care for the protection and supply of Moses his favourite.
|
|
Some of them, who were willing to think well of Moses, perhaps
|
|
suggested that he was translated to heaven like Enoch; while others
|
|
that cared not how ill they thought of him insinuated that he had
|
|
deserted his undertaking, as unable to go on with it, and had
|
|
returned to his father-in-law to keep his flock. All these
|
|
suggestions were perfectly groundless and absurd, nothing could be
|
|
more so; it was easy to tell <i>what had become of him:</i> he was
|
|
seen to go into the cloud, and the cloud he went into was still
|
|
seen by all Israel upon the top of the mount; they had all the
|
|
reason in the world to conclude that he was safe there; if the Lord
|
|
had been pleased to kill him, he would not have shown him such
|
|
favours as these. If he tarried long, it was because God had a
|
|
great deal to say to him, for their good; he resided upon the mount
|
|
as the ambassador, and he would certainly return as soon as he had
|
|
finished the business he went upon; and yet they make this the
|
|
colour for their wicked proposal: <i>We wot not what has become of
|
|
him.</i> Note, <i>First,</i> Those that are resolved to think ill,
|
|
when they have ever so much reason to think well, commonly pretend
|
|
that they know not what to think. <i>Secondly,</i>
|
|
Misinterpretations of our Redeemer's delays are the occasion of a
|
|
great deal of wickedness. Our Lord Jesus has gone up into the mount
|
|
of glory, where he is appearing in the presence of Gold for us, but
|
|
out of our sight; the heavens must contain him, must conceal him,
|
|
that we may live by faith. There he has been long; there he is yet.
|
|
Hence unbelievers suggest that they know not what has become of
|
|
him; and ask, <i>Where is the promise of his coming?</i> (<scripRef passage="2Pe 3:4" id="Ex.xxxiii-p8.1" parsed="|2Pet|3|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.3.4">2 Pet. iii. 4</scripRef>), as if, because he has
|
|
not come yet, he would never come. The wicked servant emboldens
|
|
himself in his impieties with this consideration, <i>My Lord delays
|
|
his coming. Thirdly,</i> Weariness in waiting betrays us to a great
|
|
many temptations. This began Saul's ruin; he staid for Samuel to
|
|
the last hour of the time appointed, but had not patience to stay
|
|
that hour (<scripRef passage="1Sa 13:8" id="Ex.xxxiii-p8.2" parsed="|1Sam|13|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.13.8">1 Sam. xiii. 8</scripRef>,
|
|
&c.); so Israel here, if they could but have staid one day
|
|
longer, would have seen what had become of Moses. <i>The Lord is a
|
|
God of judgment,</i> and must be waited for till he comes waited
|
|
for though he tarry; and then we shall not lose our labour, for he
|
|
that shall come will come, and will not tarry.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiii-p9">(3.) They were weary of waiting for a
|
|
divine institution of religious worship among them for that was the
|
|
thing they were now in expectation of. They were told that they
|
|
must <i>serve God in this mountain,</i> and fond enough they would
|
|
be of the pomp and ceremony of it; but, because that was not
|
|
appointed them so soon as they wished, they would set their own
|
|
wits on work to devise signs of God's presence with them, and would
|
|
glory in them, and have a worship of their own invention, probably
|
|
such as they had seen among the Egyptians; for Stephen says that
|
|
when they said unto Aaron, <i>Make us gods,</i> they did, in heart,
|
|
<i>turn back into Egypt,</i> <scripRef passage="Ac 7:39,40" id="Ex.xxxiii-p9.1" parsed="|Acts|7|39|7|40" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.39-Acts.7.40">Acts
|
|
vii. 39, 40</scripRef>. This was a very strange motion, <i>Up, make
|
|
us gods.</i> If they knew not what had become of Moses, and thought
|
|
him lost, it would have been decent for them to have appointed a
|
|
solemn mourning for him for certain days; but see how soon so great
|
|
a benefactor is forgotten. If they had said, "Moses is lost, make
|
|
us a governor," there would have been some sense in it, though a
|
|
great deal of ingratitude to the memory of Moses, and contempt of
|
|
Aaron and Hur who were left lords-justices in his absence; but to
|
|
say, <i>Moses is lost, make us a god,</i> was the greatest
|
|
absurdity imaginable. Was Moses their god? Had he ever pretended to
|
|
be so? Whatever had become of Moses, was it not evident, beyond
|
|
contradiction that God was still with them? And had they any room
|
|
to question his leading their camp who victualled it so well every
|
|
day? Could they have any other god that would provide so well for
|
|
them as he had done, nay as he now did? And yet, <i>Make us gods,
|
|
which shall go before us! Gods!</i> How many would they have? Is
|
|
not one sufficient? <i>Make us gods!</i> and what good would gods
|
|
of their own making do them? They must have such gods to go before
|
|
them as could not go themselves further than they were carried. So
|
|
wretchedly besotted and intoxicated are idolaters: they are <i>mad
|
|
upon their idols,</i> <scripRef passage="Jer 50:38" id="Ex.xxxiii-p9.2" parsed="|Jer|50|38|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.50.38">Jer. l.
|
|
38</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiii-p10">II. Here is the demand which Aaron makes of
|
|
their jewels thereupon: <i>Bring me your golden ear-rings,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 32:2" id="Ex.xxxiii-p10.1" parsed="|Exod|32|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. We do not find
|
|
that he said one word to discountenance their proposal; he did not
|
|
reprove their insolence, did not reason with them to convince them
|
|
of the sin and folly of it, but seemed to approve the motion, and
|
|
showed himself not unwilling to humour them in it. One would hope
|
|
he designed, at first, only to make a jest of it, and, by setting
|
|
up a ridiculous image among them, to expose the motion, and show
|
|
them the folly of it. But, if so, it proved ill jesting with sin:
|
|
it is of dangerous consequence for the unwary fly to play about the
|
|
candle. Some charitably suppose that when Aaron told them to break
|
|
off their ear-rings, and bring them to him, he did it with design
|
|
to crush the proposal, believing that though their covetousness
|
|
would have let them <i>lavish gold out of the bag</i> to make an
|
|
idol of (<scripRef passage="Isa 46:6" id="Ex.xxxiii-p10.2" parsed="|Isa|46|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.46.6">Isa. xlvi. 6</scripRef>), yet
|
|
their pride would not have suffered them to part with the golden
|
|
ear-rings. But it is not safe to try how far men's sinful lusts
|
|
will carry them in a sinful way, and what expense they will be at;
|
|
it proved here a dangerous experiment.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiii-p11">III. Here is the making of the golden calf,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 32:3,4" id="Ex.xxxiii-p11.1" parsed="|Exod|32|3|32|4" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.3-Exod.32.4"><i>v.</i> 3, 4</scripRef>. 1. The
|
|
people brought in their ear-rings to Aaron, whose demand of them,
|
|
instead of discouraging the motion, perhaps did rather gratify
|
|
their superstition, and beget in them a fancy that the gold taken
|
|
from their ears would be the most acceptable, and would make the
|
|
most valuable god. Let their readiness to part with their rings to
|
|
make an idol of shame us out of our niggardliness in the service of
|
|
the true God. Did they not draw back from the charge of their
|
|
idolatry? And shall we grudge the expenses of our religion, or
|
|
starve so good a cause? 2. Aaron melted down their rings, and,
|
|
having a mould prepared for the purpose, poured the melted gold
|
|
into it, and then produced it in the shape of an ox or calf, giving
|
|
it some finishing strokes with a graving tool. Some think that
|
|
Aaron chose this figure, for a sign or token of the divine
|
|
presence, because he thought the head and horns of an ox a proper
|
|
emblem of the divine power, and yet, being so plain and common a
|
|
thing, he hoped the people would not be so sottish as to worship
|
|
it. But it is probable that they had learnt of the Egyptians thus
|
|
to represent the Deity, for it is said (<scripRef passage="Eze 20:8" id="Ex.xxxiii-p11.2" parsed="|Ezek|20|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.20.8">Ezek. xx. 8</scripRef>), <i>They did not forsake the
|
|
idols of Egypt,</i> and (<scripRef passage="Ex 23:8" id="Ex.xxxiii-p11.3" parsed="|Exod|23|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.8"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xxiii. 8</scripRef>), <i>Neither left she her whoredoms brought
|
|
from Egypt. Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an
|
|
ox</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 106:20" id="Ex.xxxiii-p11.4" parsed="|Ps|106|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.20">Ps. cvi. 20</scripRef>), and
|
|
proclaimed their own folly, beyond that of other idolaters, who
|
|
worshipped the host of heaven.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiii-p12">IV. Having made the calf in Horeb, they
|
|
<i>worshipped the graven image,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 106:19" id="Ex.xxxiii-p12.1" parsed="|Ps|106|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.19">Ps. cvi. 19</scripRef>. Aaron, seeing the people fond
|
|
of their calf, was willing yet further to humour them, and he built
|
|
an altar before it, and proclaimed a feast to the honour of it
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 32:5" id="Ex.xxxiii-p12.2" parsed="|Exod|32|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), a feast of
|
|
dedication. Yet he calls it <i>a feast to Jehovah;</i> for, brutish
|
|
as they were, they did not imagine that this image was itself a
|
|
god, nor did they design to terminate their adoration in the image,
|
|
but they made it for a representation of the true God, whom they
|
|
intended to worship in and through this image; and yet this did not
|
|
excuse them from gross idolatry, any more than it will excuse the
|
|
papists, whose plea it is that they do not worship the image, but
|
|
God by the image, so making themselves just such idolaters as the
|
|
worshippers of the golden calf, whose feast was a feast to Jehovah,
|
|
and proclaimed to be so, that the most ignorant and unthinking
|
|
might not mistake it. The people are forward enough to celebrate
|
|
this feast (<scripRef passage="Ex 32:6" id="Ex.xxxiii-p12.3" parsed="|Exod|32|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>):
|
|
<i>They rose up early on the morrow,</i> to show how well pleased
|
|
they were with the solemnity, and, according to the ancient rites
|
|
of worship, they offered sacrifice to this new-made deity, and then
|
|
feasted upon the sacrifice; thus having, at the expense of their
|
|
ear-rings, made their god, they endeavour, at the expense of their
|
|
beasts, to make this god propitious. Had they offered these
|
|
sacrifices immediately to Jehovah, without the intervention of an
|
|
image, they might (for aught I know) have been accepted (<scripRef passage="Ex 20:24" id="Ex.xxxiii-p12.4" parsed="|Exod|20|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.24"><i>ch.</i> xx. 24</scripRef>); but having set up
|
|
an image before them as a symbol of God's presence, and so changed
|
|
the truth of God into a lie, these sacrifices were an abomination,
|
|
nothing could be more so. When the idolatry of theirs is spoken of
|
|
in the New Testament the account of their feast upon the sacrifice
|
|
is quoted and referred to (<scripRef passage="1Co 10:7" id="Ex.xxxiii-p12.5" parsed="|1Cor|10|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.10.7">1 Cor. x.
|
|
7</scripRef>): <i>They sat down to eat and drink</i> of the
|
|
remainder of what was sacrificed, and then <i>rose up to play,</i>
|
|
to play the fool, to play the wanton. Like god, like worship. They
|
|
would not have made a calf their god if they had not first made
|
|
their belly their god; but, when the god was a jest, no marvel that
|
|
the service was sport. Being <i>vain in their imaginations,</i>
|
|
they became vain in their worship, so great was this vanity. Now,
|
|
1. It was strange that any of the people, especially so great a
|
|
number of them, should do such a thing. Had they not, but the other
|
|
day, in this very place, heard the voice of the Lord God speaking
|
|
to them out of the midst of the fire, <i>Thou shalt not make to
|
|
thyself any graven image?</i> Had they not heard the thunder, seen
|
|
the lightnings, and felt the earthquake, with the dreadful pomp of
|
|
which this law was given? Had they not been particularly cautioned
|
|
not to make <i>gods of gold?</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 20:23" id="Ex.xxxiii-p12.6" parsed="|Exod|20|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.23"><i>ch.</i> xx. 23</scripRef>. Nay, had they not
|
|
themselves solemnly entered into covenant with God, and promised
|
|
that all that which he had said unto them they <i>would do, and
|
|
would be obedient?</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 24:7" id="Ex.xxxiii-p12.7" parsed="|Exod|24|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.7"><i>ch.</i> xxiv.
|
|
7</scripRef>. And yet, before they stirred from the place where
|
|
this covenant had been solemnly ratified, and before the cloud was
|
|
removed from the top of Mount Sinai, thus to break an express
|
|
command, in defiance of an express threatening that this
|
|
<i>iniquity should be visited upon them and their
|
|
children</i>—what shall be think of it? It is a plain indication
|
|
that the law was no more able to sanctify than it was to justify;
|
|
by it is the knowledge of sin, but not the cure of it. This is
|
|
intimated in the emphasis laid upon the place where this sin was
|
|
committed (<scripRef passage="Ps 106:19" id="Ex.xxxiii-p12.8" parsed="|Ps|106|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.19">Ps. cvi. 19</scripRef>).
|
|
<i>They made a calf in Horeb,</i> the very place where the law was
|
|
given. It was otherwise with those that received the gospel; they
|
|
immediately <i>turned from idols;</i> <scripRef passage="1Th 1:9" id="Ex.xxxiii-p12.9" parsed="|1Thess|1|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Thess.1.9">1
|
|
Thess. i. 9</scripRef>. 2. It was especially strange that Aaron
|
|
should be so deeply implicated in this sin, that he should make the
|
|
calf, and proclaim the feast! Is this Aaron, the saint of the Lord,
|
|
the brother of Moses his prophet, that could <i>speak so well.</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 4:14" id="Ex.xxxiii-p12.10" parsed="|Exod|4|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.4.14"><i>ch.</i> iv. 14</scripRef>), and yet
|
|
speaks not one word against this idolatry? Is this he that had not
|
|
only seen, but had been employed in summoning, the plagues of
|
|
Egypt, and the judgments, executed upon the gods of the Egyptians?
|
|
What! and yet himself copying out the abandoned idolatries of
|
|
Egypt? With what face could they say, <i>These are thy gods</i>
|
|
that <i>brought thee out of Egypt,</i> when they thus bring the
|
|
idolatry of Egypt (the worst thing there) along with them? Is this
|
|
Aaron, who had been with Moses in the mount (<scripRef passage="Ex 19:24,24:9" id="Ex.xxxiii-p12.11" parsed="|Exod|19|24|0|0;|Exod|24|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.24 Bible:Exod.24.9"><i>ch.</i> xix. 24; xxiv. 9</scripRef>), and knew
|
|
that there was no manner of similitude seen there, by which they
|
|
might make an image? Is this Aaron who was entrusted with the care
|
|
of the people in the absence of Moses? Is he aiding and abetting in
|
|
this rebellion against the Lord? How was it possible that he should
|
|
ever do so sinful a thing? Either he was strangely surprised into
|
|
it, and did it when he was half asleep, or he was frightened into
|
|
it by the outrages of the rabble. The Jews have a tradition that
|
|
his colleague Hur opposing it the people fell upon him and stoned
|
|
him (and therefore we never read of him after) and that this
|
|
frightened Aaron into a compliance. And God left him to himself,
|
|
[1.] To teach us what the best of men are when they are so left,
|
|
that we may <i>cease from man,</i> and that he who <i>thinks he
|
|
stands may take heed lest he fall.</i> [2.] Aaron was, at this
|
|
time, destined by the divine appointment to the great office of the
|
|
priesthood; though he knew it not, Moses in the mount did. Now,
|
|
lest he should be <i>lifted up, above measure,</i> with the honours
|
|
that were to be put upon him, a messenger of Satan was suffered to
|
|
prevail over him, that the remembrance thereof might keep him
|
|
humble all his days. He who had once shamed himself so far as to
|
|
build an altar to a golden calf must own himself altogether
|
|
unworthy of the honour of attending at the altar of God, and purely
|
|
indebted to free grace for it. Thus pride and boasting were for
|
|
ever silenced, and a good effect brought out of a bad cause. By
|
|
this likewise it was shown that <i>the law made those priests who
|
|
had infirmity, and needed first to offer for their own
|
|
sins.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 32:7-14" id="Ex.xxxiii-p12.12" parsed="|Exod|32|7|32|14" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.7-Exod.32.14"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.32.7-Exod.32.14">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxxiii-p12.13">The Intercession of Moses. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxiii-p12.14">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxxiii-p13">7 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxiii-p13.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou
|
|
broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted
|
|
<i>themselves:</i>   8 They have turned aside quickly out of
|
|
the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf,
|
|
and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said,
|
|
These <i>be</i> thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out
|
|
of the land of Egypt.   9 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxiii-p13.2">Lord</span> said unto Moses, I have seen this people,
|
|
and, behold, it <i>is</i> a stiffnecked people:   10 Now
|
|
therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and
|
|
that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.
|
|
  11 And Moses besought the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxiii-p13.3">Lord</span> his God, and said, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxiii-p13.4">Lord</span>, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy
|
|
people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with
|
|
great power, and with a mighty hand?   12 Wherefore should the
|
|
Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to
|
|
slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of
|
|
the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil
|
|
against thy people.   13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel,
|
|
thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst
|
|
unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and
|
|
all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and
|
|
they shall inherit <i>it</i> for ever.   14 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxiii-p13.5">Lord</span> repented of the evil which he thought
|
|
to do unto his people.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiii-p14">Here, I. God acquaints Moses with what was
|
|
doing in the camp while he was absent, <scripRef passage="Ex 32:7,8" id="Ex.xxxiii-p14.1" parsed="|Exod|32|7|32|8" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.7-Exod.32.8"><i>v.</i> 7, 8</scripRef>. He could have told him
|
|
sooner, as soon as the first step was taken towards it, and have
|
|
hastened him down to prevent it; but he suffered it to come to this
|
|
height, for wise and holy ends, and then sent him down to punish
|
|
it. Note, It is no reproach to the holiness of God that he suffers
|
|
sin to be committed, since he knows, not only how to restrain it
|
|
when he pleases, but how to make it serviceable to the designs of
|
|
his own glory. Observe what God here says to Moses concerning this
|
|
sin. 1. That they had <i>corrupted themselves.</i> Sin is the
|
|
corruption or depravation of the sinner, and it is a
|
|
self-corruption; <i>every man is tempted when he is drawn aside of
|
|
his own lust.</i> 2. That they had <i>turned aside out of the
|
|
way.</i> Sin is a deviation from the way of our duty into a
|
|
by-path. When they promised to do all that God should command them,
|
|
they set out as fair as could be; but now they missed their way,
|
|
and turned aside. 3. That they had turned aside quickly, quickly
|
|
after the law was given them and they had promised to obey it,
|
|
quickly after God had done such great things for them and declared
|
|
his kind intentions to do greater. <i>They soon forgot his
|
|
works.</i> To fall into sin quickly after we have renewed our
|
|
covenants with God, or received special mercy from him, is very
|
|
provoking. 4. He tells him particularly what they had done: <i>They
|
|
have made a calf, and worshipped it.</i> Note, Those sins which are
|
|
concealed from our governors are naked and open before God. He sees
|
|
that which they cannot discover, nor is any of the wickedness in
|
|
the world hidden from him. We could not bear to see the thousandth
|
|
part of that provocation which God sees every day and yet keeps
|
|
silence. 5. He seems to disown them, in saying to Moses, They are
|
|
<i>thy people whom thou broughtest up out of the land of Egypt;</i>
|
|
as if he had said, "I will not own any relation to them, or concern
|
|
for them; let it never be said that they are my people, or that I
|
|
brought them out of Egypt." Note, Those that corrupt themselves not
|
|
only shame themselves, but even make God himself ashamed of them
|
|
and of his kindness to them. 6. He sends him down to them with all
|
|
speed: <i>Go, get thee down.</i> He must break off even his
|
|
communion with God to go and do his duty as a magistrate among the
|
|
people; so must Joshua, <scripRef passage="Ex 7:10" id="Ex.xxxiii-p14.2" parsed="|Exod|7|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.7.10"><i>ch.</i> vii.
|
|
10</scripRef>. Every thing is beautiful in its season.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiii-p15">II. He expresses his displeasure against
|
|
Israel for this sin, and the determination of his justice to cut
|
|
them off, <scripRef passage="Ex 32:9,10" id="Ex.xxxiii-p15.1" parsed="|Exod|32|9|32|10" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.9-Exod.32.10"><i>v.</i> 9,
|
|
10</scripRef>. 1. He gives this people their true character: "<i>It
|
|
is a stiff-necked people,</i> unapt to come under the yoke of the
|
|
divine law, and governed as it were by a spirit of contradiction,
|
|
averse to all good and prone to evil, obstinate against the methods
|
|
employed for their cure." Note, The righteous God sees, not only
|
|
what we do, but what we are, not only the actions of our lives, but
|
|
the dispositions of our spirits, and has an eye to them in all his
|
|
proceedings. 2. He declares what was their just desert—that his
|
|
wrath should <i>wax hot against them,</i> so as to consume them at
|
|
once, and <i>blot out their name from under heaven</i> (<scripRef passage="De 9:14" id="Ex.xxxiii-p15.2" parsed="|Deut|9|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.14">Deut. ix. 14</scripRef>); not only cast them out
|
|
of covenant, but chase them out of the world. Note, Sin exposes us
|
|
to the wrath of God; and that wrath, if it be not allayed by divine
|
|
mercy, will burn us up as stubble. It were just with God to let the
|
|
law have its course against sinners, and to cut them off
|
|
immediately in the very act of sin; and, if he should do so, it
|
|
would be neither loss nor dishonour to him. 3. He holds out
|
|
inducements to Moses not to intercede for them: <i>Therefore, let
|
|
me alone.</i> What did Moses, or what could he do, to hinder God
|
|
from consuming them? When God resolves to abandon a people, and the
|
|
decree of ruin has gone forth, no intercession can prevent it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Eze 14:14,15:1" id="Ex.xxxiii-p15.3">Ezek. xiv. 14; Jer. xv.
|
|
1</scripRef>. But God would thus express the greatness of his just
|
|
displeasure against them, after the manner of men, who would have
|
|
none to intercede for those they resolve to be severe with. Thus
|
|
also he would put an honour upon prayer, intimating that nothing
|
|
but the intercession of Moses could save them from ruin, that he
|
|
might be a type of Christ, by whose mediation alone God would
|
|
<i>reconcile the world unto himself.</i> That the intercession of
|
|
Moses might appear the more illustrious, God fairly offers him
|
|
that, if he would not interpose in this matter, he would <i>make of
|
|
him a great nation,</i> that either, in process of time, he would
|
|
raise up a people out of his loins, or that he would immediately,
|
|
by some means or other, bring another great nation under his
|
|
government and conduct, so that he should be no loser by their
|
|
ruin. Had Moses been of a narrow selfish spirit, he would have
|
|
closed with this offer; but he prefers the salvation of Israel
|
|
before the advancement of his own family. Here was a man fit to be
|
|
a governor.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiii-p16">III. Moses earnestly intercedes with God on
|
|
their behalf (<scripRef passage="Ex 32:11-13" id="Ex.xxxiii-p16.1" parsed="|Exod|32|11|32|13" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.11-Exod.32.13"><i>v.</i>
|
|
11-13</scripRef>): he besought the Lord his God. If God would not
|
|
be called <i>the God of Israel,</i> yet he hoped he might address
|
|
him as <i>his own God.</i> What interest we have at the throne of
|
|
grace we should improve for the church of God, and for our friends.
|
|
Now Moses is standing in the gap to turn away the wrath of God,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 106:23" id="Ex.xxxiii-p16.2" parsed="|Ps|106|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.23">Ps. cvi. 23</scripRef>. He wisely
|
|
took the hint which God gave him when he said, <i>Let me alone,</i>
|
|
which, though it seemed to forbid his interceding, did really
|
|
encourage it, by showing what power the prayer of faith has with
|
|
God. In such a case, God <i>wonders if there be no intercessor,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 59:16" id="Ex.xxxiii-p16.3" parsed="|Isa|59|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.16">Isa. lix. 16</scripRef>. Observe, 1.
|
|
His prayer (<scripRef passage="Ex 32:12" id="Ex.xxxiii-p16.4" parsed="|Exod|32|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>):
|
|
<i>Turn from thy fierce wrath;</i> not as if he thought God was not
|
|
justly angry, but he begs that he would not be so greatly angry as
|
|
to consume them. "Let mercy rejoice against judgment; <i>repent of
|
|
this evil;</i> change the sentence of destruction into that of
|
|
correction." 2. His pleas. He fills his mouth with arguments, not
|
|
to move God, but to express his own faith and to excite his own
|
|
fervency in prayer. He urges, (1.) God's interest in them, the
|
|
great things he had already done for them, and the vast expense of
|
|
favours and miracles he had been at upon them, <scripRef passage="Ex 32:11" id="Ex.xxxiii-p16.5" parsed="|Exod|32|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. God had said to Moses
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 32:7" id="Ex.xxxiii-p16.6" parsed="|Exod|32|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>), They are
|
|
<i>thy people, whom thou broughtest up out of Egypt;</i> but Moses
|
|
humbly turns them back upon God again: "They are <i>thy people,</i>
|
|
thou art their Lord and owner; I am but their servant. <i>Thou
|
|
broughtest them forth out of Egypt;</i> I was but the instrument in
|
|
thy hand; that was done in order to their deliverance which thou
|
|
only couldest do." Though their being his people was a reason why
|
|
he should be angry with them for setting up another god, yet it was
|
|
a reason why he should not be so angry with them as to consume
|
|
them. Nothing is more natural than for a father to correct his son,
|
|
but nothing more unnatural than for a father to slay his son. And
|
|
as the relation is a good plea ("they are <i>thy people</i>"), so
|
|
is the experience they had had of his kindness to them: "Thou
|
|
<i>broughtest them out of Egypt,</i> though they were unworthy, and
|
|
had there served the gods of the Egyptians, <scripRef passage="Jos 24:15" id="Ex.xxxiii-p16.7" parsed="|Josh|24|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.24.15">Josh. xxiv. 15</scripRef>. If thou didst that for them,
|
|
notwithstanding their sins in Egypt, wilt thou undo it for their
|
|
sins of the same nature in the wilderness?" (2.) He pleads the
|
|
concern of God's glory (<scripRef passage="Ex 32:12" id="Ex.xxxiii-p16.8" parsed="|Exod|32|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.12"><i>v.</i>
|
|
12</scripRef>): <i>Wherefore should the Egyptians say, For mischief
|
|
did he bring them out?</i> Israel is dear to Moses as his kindred,
|
|
as his charge; but it is the glory of God that he is most concerned
|
|
for; this lies nearer his heart than any thing else. If Israel
|
|
could perish without any reproach to God's name, Moses could
|
|
persuade himself to sit down contented; but he cannot bear to hear
|
|
God reflected on, and therefore this he insists upon, <i>Lord, what
|
|
will the Egyptians say?</i> Their eyes, and the eyes of all the
|
|
neighbouring nations, were now upon Israel; from the wondrous
|
|
beginnings of that people, they raised their expectations of
|
|
something great in their latter end; but, if a people so strangely
|
|
saved should be suddenly ruined, what would the world say of it,
|
|
especially the Egyptians, who have such an implacable hatred both
|
|
to Israel and to the God of Israel? They would say, "God was either
|
|
weak, and could not, or fickle, and would not, complete the
|
|
salvation he began; he brought them forth to that mountain, not to
|
|
sacrifice (as was pretended), but to be sacrificed." They will not
|
|
consider the provocation given by Israel, to justify the
|
|
proceeding, but will think it cause enough for triumph that God and
|
|
his people could not agree, but that their God had done that which
|
|
they (the Egyptians) wished to see done. Note, The glorifying of
|
|
God's name, as it ought to be our first petition (it is so in the
|
|
Lord's prayer), so it ought to be our great plea, <scripRef passage="Ps 79:9" id="Ex.xxxiii-p16.9" parsed="|Ps|79|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.79.9">Ps. lxxix. 9</scripRef>, <i>Do not disgrace the
|
|
throne of thy glory,</i> <scripRef passage="Jer 14:21" id="Ex.xxxiii-p16.10" parsed="|Jer|14|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.21">Jer. xiv.
|
|
21</scripRef>; and see <scripRef passage="Jer 33:8,9" id="Ex.xxxiii-p16.11" parsed="|Jer|33|8|33|9" osisRef="Bible:Jer.33.8-Jer.33.9">Jer. xxxiii.
|
|
8, 9</scripRef>. And, if we would with comfort plead this with God
|
|
as a reason why he should not destroy us, we ought to plead it with
|
|
ourselves as a reason why we should not offend him: <i>What will
|
|
the Egyptians say?</i> We ought always to be careful that the name
|
|
of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed through us. (3.) He
|
|
pleads God's promise to the patriarchs that he would multiply their
|
|
seed, and give them the land of Canaan for an inheritance, and this
|
|
promise confirmed by an oath, an oath by himself, since he could
|
|
swear by no greater, <scripRef passage="Ex 32:13" id="Ex.xxxiii-p16.12" parsed="|Exod|32|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.13"><i>v.</i>
|
|
13</scripRef>. God's promises are to be our pleas in prayer; for
|
|
what he has promised he is able to perform, and the honour of this
|
|
truth is engaged for the performance of it. "Lord, if Israel be cut
|
|
off, what will become of the promise? Shall their unbelief make
|
|
that of no effect? God forbid." Thus we must take our encouragement
|
|
in prayer from God only.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiii-p17">IV. God graciously abated the rigour of the
|
|
sentence, and <i>repented of the evil he thought to do</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 32:14" id="Ex.xxxiii-p17.1" parsed="|Exod|32|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>); though he
|
|
designed to punish them, yet he would not ruin them. See here, 1.
|
|
The power of prayer; God suffers himself to be prevailed with by
|
|
the humble believing importunity of intercessors. 2. The compassion
|
|
of God towards poor sinners, and how ready he is to forgive. Thus
|
|
he has given other proofs besides his own oath that he has no
|
|
pleasure in the death of those that die; for he not only pardons
|
|
upon the repentance of sinners, but spares and reprieves upon the
|
|
intercession of others for them.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 32" id="Ex.xxxiii-p17.2" parsed="|Exod|32|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 32:15-20" id="Ex.xxxiii-p17.3" parsed="|Exod|32|15|32|20" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.15-Exod.32.20"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.32.15-Exod.32.20">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxxiii-p17.4">Moses Breaks the Tablets of the
|
|
Law. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxiii-p17.5">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxxiii-p18">15 And Moses turned, and went down from the
|
|
mount, and the two tables of the testimony <i>were</i> in his hand:
|
|
the tables <i>were</i> written on both their sides; on the one side
|
|
and on the other <i>were</i> they written.   16 And the tables
|
|
<i>were</i> the work of God, and the writing <i>was</i> the writing
|
|
of God, graven upon the tables.   17 And when Joshua heard the
|
|
noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, <i>There
|
|
is</i> a noise of war in the camp.   18 And he said, <i>It
|
|
is</i> not the voice of <i>them that</i> shout for mastery, neither
|
|
<i>is it</i> the voice of <i>them that</i> cry for being overcome:
|
|
<i>but</i> the noise of <i>them that</i> sing do I hear.   19
|
|
And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he
|
|
saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he
|
|
cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.
|
|
  20 And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt
|
|
<i>it</i> in the fire, and ground <i>it</i> to powder, and strawed
|
|
<i>it</i> upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink
|
|
<i>of it.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiii-p19">Here is, I. The favour of God to Moses, in
|
|
trusting him with the two tables of the testimony, which, though of
|
|
common stone, were far more valuable than all the precious stones
|
|
that adorned the breast-plate of Aaron. The topaz of Ethiopia could
|
|
not equal them, <scripRef passage="Ex 32:15,16" id="Ex.xxxiii-p19.1" parsed="|Exod|32|15|32|16" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.15-Exod.32.16"><i>v.</i> 15,
|
|
16</scripRef>. God himself, without the ministry either of man or
|
|
angel (for aught that appears), wrote the ten commandments on these
|
|
tables, <i>on both their sides,</i> some on one table and some on
|
|
the other, so that they were folded together like a book, to be
|
|
deposited in the ark.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiii-p20">II. The familiarity between Moses and
|
|
Joshua. While Moses was in the cloud, as in the presence-chamber,
|
|
Joshua continued as near as he might, in the anti-chamber (as it
|
|
were), waiting till Moses came out, that he might be ready to
|
|
attend him; and though he was all alone for forty days (fed, it is
|
|
likely, with manna), yet he was not weary of waiting, as the people
|
|
were, but when Moses came down he came with him, and not till then.
|
|
And here we are told what constructions they put upon the noise
|
|
that they heard in the camp, <scripRef passage="Ex 32:17,18" id="Ex.xxxiii-p20.1" parsed="|Exod|32|17|32|18" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.17-Exod.32.18"><i>v.</i> 17, 18</scripRef>. Though Moses had been so
|
|
long in immediate converse with God, yet he did not disdain to talk
|
|
freely with his servant Joshua. Those whom God advances he
|
|
preserves from being puffed up. Nor did he disdain to talk of the
|
|
affairs of the camp. Blessed Paul was not the less mindful of the
|
|
church on earth for having been in the third heavens, where he
|
|
heard unspeakable words. Joshua, who was a military man, and had
|
|
the command of the train-bands, feared there was <i>a noise of war
|
|
in the camp,</i> and then he would be missed; but Moses, having
|
|
received notice of it from God, better distinguished the sound, and
|
|
was aware that it was <i>the voice of those that sing.</i> It does
|
|
not however appear that he told Joshua what he knew of the occasion
|
|
of their singing; for we should not be forward to proclaim men's
|
|
faults: they will be known too soon.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiii-p21">III. The great and just displeasure of
|
|
Moses against Israel, for their idolatry. Knowing what to expect,
|
|
he was presently aware of the golden calf, and the sport the people
|
|
made with it. He saw how merry they could be in his absence, how
|
|
soon he was forgotten among them, and what little thought they had
|
|
of him and his return. He might justly take this ill, as an affront
|
|
to himself, but this was the least part of the grievance; he
|
|
resented it as an offence to God, and the scandal of his people.
|
|
See what a change it is to come down from the mount of communion
|
|
with God to converse with a world that <i>lies in wickedness.</i>
|
|
In God we see nothing but what is pure and pleasant, in the world
|
|
nothing but pollution and provocation. Moses was the meekest man on
|
|
the earth, and yet when he saw <i>the calf, and the dancing,</i>
|
|
his <i>anger waxed hot.</i> Note, It is no breach of the law of
|
|
meekness to show our displeasure at the wickedness of the wicked.
|
|
Those are <i>angry and sin not</i> that are angry at sin only, not
|
|
as against themselves, but as against God. Ephesus is famous for
|
|
patience, and yet <i>cannot bear those that are evil,</i> <scripRef passage="Re 2:2" id="Ex.xxxiii-p21.1" parsed="|Rev|2|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.2.2">Rev. ii. 2</scripRef>. It becomes us to be cool in
|
|
our own cause, but warm in God's. Moses showed himself very angry,
|
|
both by breaking the tables and burning the calf, that he might, by
|
|
these expressions of strong indignation, awaken the people to a
|
|
sense of the greatness of the sin they had been guilty of, which
|
|
they would have been ready to make light of if he had not thus
|
|
shown his resentment, as one in earnest for their conviction. 1. To
|
|
convince them that they had forfeited and lost the favour of God,
|
|
<i>he broke the tables,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 32:19" id="Ex.xxxiii-p21.2" parsed="|Exod|32|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.19"><i>v.</i>
|
|
19</scripRef>. Though God knew of their sin, before Moses came
|
|
down, yet he did not order him to leave the tables behind him, but
|
|
gave them to him to take down in his hand, that the people might
|
|
see how forward God was to take them into covenant with himself,
|
|
and that nothing but their own sin prevented it; yet he put in into
|
|
his heart, when the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered (as the
|
|
expression is, <scripRef passage="Ho 7:1" id="Ex.xxxiii-p21.3" parsed="|Hos|7|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.1">Hos. vii. 1</scripRef>),
|
|
to break the tables before their eyes (as it is <scripRef passage="De 9:17" id="Ex.xxxiii-p21.4" parsed="|Deut|9|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.17">Deut. ix. 17</scripRef>), that the sight of it might the
|
|
more affect them, and fill them with confusion, when they saw what
|
|
blessings they had lost. Thus, they being guilty of so notorious an
|
|
infraction of the treaty now on foot, the writings were torn, even
|
|
when they lay ready to be sealed. Note, The greatest sign of God's
|
|
displeasure against any person or people is his taking his law from
|
|
them. The breaking of the tables is the breaking of the <i>staff of
|
|
beauty and band</i> (<scripRef passage="Zec 11:10,14" id="Ex.xxxiii-p21.5" parsed="|Zech|11|10|0|0;|Zech|11|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zech.11.10 Bible:Zech.11.14">Zech. xi. 10,
|
|
14</scripRef>); it leaves a people unchurched and undone. Some
|
|
think that Moses sinned in breaking the tables, and observe that,
|
|
when men are angry, they are in danger of breaking all God's
|
|
commandments; but it rather seems to be an act of justice than of
|
|
passion, and we do not find that he himself speaks of it afterwards
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 9:17" id="Ex.xxxiii-p21.6" parsed="|Deut|9|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.17">Deut. ix. 17</scripRef>) with any
|
|
regret. 2. To convince them that they had betaken themselves to a
|
|
God that could not help them, he <i>burnt the calf</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 32:20" id="Ex.xxxiii-p21.7" parsed="|Exod|32|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>), melted it down, and
|
|
then filed it to dust; and, that the powder to which it was reduced
|
|
might be taken notice of throughout the camp, he strewed it upon
|
|
that water of which they all drank. That it might appear that <i>an
|
|
idol is nothing in the world</i> (<scripRef passage="1Co 8:4" id="Ex.xxxiii-p21.8" parsed="|1Cor|8|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.8.4">1
|
|
Cor. viii. 4</scripRef>); he reduced this to atoms, that it might
|
|
be as near nothing as could be. To show that false gods cannot help
|
|
their worshippers, he here showed that this could not save itself,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 46:1,2" id="Ex.xxxiii-p21.9" parsed="|Isa|46|1|46|2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.46.1-Isa.46.2">Isa. xlvi. 1, 2</scripRef>. And to
|
|
teach us that all the relics of idolatry ought to be abolished, and
|
|
that the names of Baalim should be taken away, the very dust to
|
|
which it was ground was scattered. Filings of gold are precious (we
|
|
say), and therefore are carefully gathered up; but the filings of
|
|
the golden calf were odious, and must be scattered with
|
|
detestation. Thus the idols of silver and gold must be cast to the
|
|
moles and the bats (<scripRef passage="Isa 2:20,30:22" id="Ex.xxxiii-p21.10" parsed="|Isa|2|20|0|0;|Isa|30|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.2.20 Bible:Isa.30.22">Isa. ii. 20;
|
|
xxx. 22</scripRef>), and Ephraim shall say, <i>What have I to do
|
|
any more with idols?</i> His mixing this powder with their drink
|
|
signified to them that the curse they had thereby brought upon
|
|
themselves would mingle itself with all their enjoyments, and
|
|
embitter them; it would enter into their bowels like water, and
|
|
like oil into their bones. <i>The backslider in heart shall be
|
|
filled with his own ways;</i> he shall drink as he brews. These
|
|
were indeed waters of Marah.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 32:21-29" id="Ex.xxxiii-p21.11" parsed="|Exod|32|21|32|29" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.21-Exod.32.29"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.32.21-Exod.32.29">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxxiii-p21.12">Moses Reproves Aaron; Destruction of the
|
|
Idolaters. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxiii-p21.13">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxxiii-p22">21 And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this
|
|
people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?
|
|
  22 And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot:
|
|
thou knowest the people, that they <i>are set</i> on mischief.
|
|
  23 For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go
|
|
before us: for <i>as for</i> this Moses, the man that brought us up
|
|
out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.  
|
|
24 And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break
|
|
<i>it</i> off. So they gave <i>it</i> me: then I cast it into the
|
|
fire, and there came out this calf.   25 And when Moses saw
|
|
that the people <i>were</i> naked; (for Aaron had made them naked
|
|
unto <i>their</i> shame among their enemies:)   26 Then Moses
|
|
stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who <i>is</i> on the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxiii-p22.1">Lord</span>'s side? <i>let him come</i> unto me.
|
|
And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.
|
|
  27 And he said unto them, Thus saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxiii-p22.2">Lord</span> God of Israel, Put every man his sword by
|
|
his side, <i>and</i> go in and out from gate to gate throughout the
|
|
camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion,
|
|
and every man his neighbour.   28 And the children of Levi did
|
|
according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that
|
|
day about three thousand men.   29 For Moses had said,
|
|
Consecrate yourselves to day to the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxiii-p22.3">Lord</span>, even every man upon his son, and upon his
|
|
brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiii-p23">Moses, having shown his just indignation
|
|
against the sin of Israel by breaking the tables and burning the
|
|
calf, now proceeds to reckon with the sinners and to call them to
|
|
an account, herein acting as the representative of God, who is not
|
|
only a holy God, and hates sin, but a just God, and is engaged in
|
|
honour to punish it, <scripRef passage="Isa 59:18" id="Ex.xxxiii-p23.1" parsed="|Isa|59|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.18">Isa. lix.
|
|
18</scripRef>. Now,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiii-p24">I. He begins with Aaron, as God began with
|
|
Adam, because he was the principal person, though not first in the
|
|
transgression, but drawn into it. Observe here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiii-p25">1. The just reproof Moses gives him,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 32:21" id="Ex.xxxiii-p25.1" parsed="|Exod|32|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. He does not
|
|
order him to be cut-off, as those (<scripRef passage="Ex 32:27" id="Ex.xxxiii-p25.2" parsed="|Exod|32|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>) that had been the ring-leaders
|
|
in the sin. Note, A great deal of difference will be made between
|
|
those that presumptuously rush into sin and those that through
|
|
infirmity are surprised into it, between those that overtake the
|
|
fault that flees from them and those that are overtaken in the
|
|
fault they flee from. See <scripRef passage="Ga 6:1" id="Ex.xxxiii-p25.3" parsed="|Gal|6|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.6.1">Gal. vi.
|
|
1</scripRef>. Not but that Aaron deserved to be cut off for this
|
|
sin, and would have been so if Moses had not interceded
|
|
particularly for him, as appears <scripRef passage="De 9:20" id="Ex.xxxiii-p25.4" parsed="|Deut|9|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.20">Deut.
|
|
ix. 20</scripRef>. And having prevailed with God for him, to save
|
|
him from ruin, he here expostulates with him, to bring him to
|
|
repentance. He puts Aaron upon considering, (1.) What he had done
|
|
to this people: <i>Thou hast brought so great a sin upon them.</i>
|
|
The sin of idolatry is a great sin, so great a sin that the evil of
|
|
it cannot be expressed; the people, as the first movers, might be
|
|
said to bring the sin upon Aaron; but he being a magistrate, who
|
|
should have suppressed it, and yet aiding and abetting it, might
|
|
truly be said to bring it upon them, because he hardened their
|
|
hearts and strengthened their hands in it. It is a shocking thing
|
|
for governors to humour people in their sins, and give countenance
|
|
to that to which they should be a terror. Observe, in general,
|
|
Those who bring sin upon others, either by drawing them into it or
|
|
encouraging them in it, do more mischief than they are aware of; we
|
|
really hate those whom we either bring or suffer sin upon,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 19:17" id="Ex.xxxiii-p25.5" parsed="|Lev|19|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.17">Lev. xix. 17</scripRef>. Those that
|
|
share in sin help to break their partners, and really ruin one
|
|
another. (2.) What moved him to it: <i>What did this people unto
|
|
thee?</i> He takes it for granted that it must needs be something
|
|
more than ordinary that prevailed with Aaron to do such a thing,
|
|
thus insinuating an excuse for him, because he knew that his heart
|
|
was upright: "<i>What did they?</i> Did they accost thee fairly,
|
|
and wheedle thee into it; and durst thou displease thy God, to
|
|
please the people? Did they overcome thee by importunity; and hadst
|
|
thou so little resolution left as to yield to the stream of a
|
|
popular clamour? Did they threaten to stone thee; and couldest not
|
|
thou have opposed God's threatenings to theirs, and frightened them
|
|
worse than they could frighten thee?" Note, We must never be drawn
|
|
into sin by any thing that man can say or do to us, for it will not
|
|
justify us to say that we were so drawn in. Men can but tempt us to
|
|
sin; they cannot force us. Men can but frighten us; if we do not
|
|
comply, they cannot hurt us.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiii-p26">2. The frivolous excuse Aaron makes for
|
|
himself. We will hope that he testified his repentance for the sin
|
|
afterwards better than he did now; for what he says here has little
|
|
in it of the language of a penitent. If a just man fall, he shall
|
|
rise again, but perhaps not quickly. (1.) He deprecates the anger
|
|
of Moses only, whereas he should have deprecated God's anger in the
|
|
first place: <i>Let not the anger of my Lord wax hot,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 32:22" id="Ex.xxxiii-p26.1" parsed="|Exod|32|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>. (2.) He lays all the
|
|
fault upon the people: <i>They are set on mischief, and they said,
|
|
Make us gods.</i> It is natural to us to endeavour thus to transfer
|
|
our guilt; we have it in our kind, Adam and Eve did so; sin is a
|
|
brat that nobody is willing to own. Aaron was now the chief
|
|
magistrate and had power over the people, and yet pleads that the
|
|
people overpowered him; he that had authority to restrain them, yet
|
|
had so little resolution as to yield to them. (3.) It is well if he
|
|
did not intend a reflection upon Moses, as accessory to the sin, by
|
|
staying so long on the mount, in repeating, without need, that
|
|
invidious surmise of the people, <i>As for this Moses, we know not
|
|
what has become of him,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 32:23" id="Ex.xxxiii-p26.2" parsed="|Exod|32|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.23"><i>v.</i>
|
|
23</scripRef>. (4.) He extenuates and conceals his own share in the
|
|
sin, as if he had only bidden them <i>break off their gold</i> that
|
|
they had about them, intending to make a hasty assay for the
|
|
present, and to try what he could make of the gold that was next
|
|
hand: and childishly insinuates that when he cast the gold into the
|
|
fire it came out, either by accident or by the magic art of some of
|
|
the mixed multitude (as the Jewish writers dream), in this shape;
|
|
but not a word of his graving and fashioning it, <scripRef passage="Ex 32:24" id="Ex.xxxiii-p26.3" parsed="|Exod|32|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. But Moses relates to all ages
|
|
what he did (<scripRef passage="Ex 32:4" id="Ex.xxxiii-p26.4" parsed="|Exod|32|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>),
|
|
though he himself here would not own it. Note, <i>He that covers
|
|
his sin shall not prosper,</i> for sooner or later it will be
|
|
discovered. Well, this was all Aaron had to say for himself; and he
|
|
had better have said nothing, for his defence did but aggravate his
|
|
offence; and yet he is not only spared, but preferred; as sin did
|
|
abound, grace did much more abound.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiii-p27">II. The people are next to be judged for
|
|
this sin. The approach of Moses soon spoiled their sport and turned
|
|
their dancing into trembling. Those that hectored Aaron into a
|
|
compliance with them in their sin durst not look Moses in the face,
|
|
nor make the least opposition to the severity which he thought fit
|
|
to use both against the idol and against the idolaters. Note, It is
|
|
not impossible to make those sins which were committed with daring
|
|
presumption appear contemptible, when the insolent perpetrators of
|
|
them slink away overwhelmed in their own confusion. <i>The king
|
|
that sits upon the throne of judgment scatters away all evil with
|
|
his eyes.</i> Observe two things:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiii-p28">1. How they were exposed to shame by their
|
|
sin: <i>The people were naked</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 32:25" id="Ex.xxxiii-p28.1" parsed="|Exod|32|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>), not so much because they had
|
|
some of them lost their ear-rings (that was inconsiderable), but
|
|
because they had lost their integrity, and lay under the reproach
|
|
of ingratitude to their best benefactor, and a treacherous revolt
|
|
from their rightful Lord. It was a shame to them, and a perpetual
|
|
blot, that they <i>changed their glory into the similitude of an
|
|
ox.</i> Other nations boasted that they were true to their false
|
|
gods; well may Israel blush for being false to the true God. Thus
|
|
were they <i>made naked,</i> stripped of their ornaments, and
|
|
exposed to contempt; stripped of their armour, and liable to
|
|
insults. Thus our first parents, when they had sinned, became
|
|
<i>naked, to their shame.</i> Note, Those that do dishonour to God
|
|
really bring the greatest dishonour upon themselves: so Israel here
|
|
did, and Moses was concerned to see it, though they themselves were
|
|
not; he <i>saw that they were naked.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiii-p29">2. The course that Moses took to roll away
|
|
this reproach, not by concealing the sin, or putting any false
|
|
colour upon it, but by punishing it, and so bearing a public
|
|
testimony against it. Whenever it should be case in their teeth
|
|
that they had <i>made a calf in Horeb,</i> they might have this to
|
|
say, in answer to those that reproached them, that though it was
|
|
true there were those that did so, yet justice was executed upon
|
|
them. The government disallowed the sin, and suffered not the
|
|
sinners to go unpunished. They did so, but they paid dearly for it.
|
|
Thus (said God) thou shalt <i>put the evil away,</i> <scripRef passage="De 13:5" id="Ex.xxxiii-p29.1" parsed="|Deut|13|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.13.5">Deut. xiii. 5</scripRef>. Observe here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiii-p30">(1.) By whom vengeance was taken—by the
|
|
children of Levi (<scripRef passage="Ex 32:26,28" id="Ex.xxxiii-p30.1" parsed="|Exod|32|26|0|0;|Exod|32|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.26 Bible:Exod.32.28"><i>v.</i> 26,
|
|
28</scripRef>); not by the immediate hand of God himself, as on
|
|
Nadab and Abihu, but by the sword of man, to teach them that
|
|
idolatry was an <i>iniquity to be punished by the judge,</i> being
|
|
a <i>denial of the God that is above,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 31:28,De 13:9" id="Ex.xxxiii-p30.2" parsed="|Job|31|28|0|0;|Deut|13|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.31.28 Bible:Deut.13.9">Job xxxi. 28; Deut. xiii. 9</scripRef>. It was
|
|
to be done by the sword of their own brethren, that the execution
|
|
of justice might redound more to the honour of the nation. And, if
|
|
they must fall now into the hands of man, better so than flee
|
|
before their enemies. The innocent must be culled out to be the
|
|
executioners of the guilty, that it might be the more effectual
|
|
warning to themselves, that they did not the like another time; and
|
|
the putting of them upon such an unpleasant service, and so much
|
|
against the grain as this must needs be, to kill their next
|
|
neighbours, was a punishment to them too for not appearing sooner
|
|
to prevent the sin, and make head against it. The Levites
|
|
particularly were employed in doing this execution; for, it should
|
|
seem, there were more of them than of any other tribe that had kept
|
|
themselves free from the contagion, which was the more laudable
|
|
because Aaron, the head of their tribe, was so deeply concerned in
|
|
it. Now here we are told, [1.] How the Levites were called out to
|
|
this service: <i>Moses stood in the gate of the camp,</i> the place
|
|
of judgment; there he <i>displayed a banner,</i> as it were,
|
|
because of the truth, to enlist soldiers for God. He proclaimed,
|
|
<i>Who is on the Lord's side?</i> The idolaters had set up the
|
|
golden calf for their standard, and now Moses set up his, in
|
|
opposition to them. Now <i>Moses clad himself with zeal</i> as with
|
|
a robe, and summoned all those to appear forthwith that were on
|
|
God's side, against the golden calf. He does not proclaim, as Jehu,
|
|
"<i>Who is on my side</i> (<scripRef passage="2Ki 9:32" id="Ex.xxxiii-p30.3" parsed="|2Kgs|9|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.9.32">2 Kings ix.
|
|
32</scripRef>), to avenge the indignity done to me?" but, <i>Who is
|
|
on the Lord's side?</i> It was God's cause that he espoused
|
|
<i>against the evil-doers,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 94:16" id="Ex.xxxiii-p30.4" parsed="|Ps|94|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.94.16">Ps.
|
|
xciv. 16</scripRef>. Note, <i>First,</i> There are two great
|
|
interests on foot in the world, with the one or the other of which
|
|
all the children of men are siding. The interest of sin and
|
|
wickedness is the devil's interest, and all wicked people side with
|
|
that interest; the interest of truth and holiness is God's
|
|
interest, with which all godly people side; and it is a case that
|
|
will not admit a neutrality. <i>Secondly,</i> It concerns us all to
|
|
enquire whether we are on the Lord's side or not. <i>Thirdly,</i>
|
|
Those who are on his side are comparatively but few, and sometimes
|
|
seem fewer than really they are. <i>Fourthly,</i> God does
|
|
sometimes call out those that are on his side to appear for him, as
|
|
witnesses, as soldiers, as intercessors. [2.] How they were
|
|
commissioned for this service (<scripRef passage="Ex 32:27" id="Ex.xxxiii-p30.5" parsed="|Exod|32|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>): <i>Slay every man his
|
|
brother,</i> that is, "Slay all those that you know to have been
|
|
active for the making and worshipping of the golden calf, though
|
|
they were your own nearest relations, or dearest friends." The
|
|
crime was committed publicly, the Levites saw who of their
|
|
acquaintance were concerned in it, and therefore needed no other
|
|
direction than their own knowledge whom to slay. And probably the
|
|
greatest part of those that were guilty were known, and known to be
|
|
so, by some or other of the Levites who were employed in the
|
|
execution. Yet, it should seem, they were to slay those only whom
|
|
they found <i>abroad in the streets</i> of the camp; for it might
|
|
be hoped that those who had retired into their tents were ashamed
|
|
of what they had done, and were upon their knees, repenting. Those
|
|
are marked for ruin who persist in sin, and are not ashamed of the
|
|
abominations they have committed, <scripRef passage="Jer 8:12" id="Ex.xxxiii-p30.6" parsed="|Jer|8|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.12">Jer.
|
|
viii. 12</scripRef>. But how durst the Levites encounter so great a
|
|
body, who probably were much enraged by the burning of their calf?
|
|
It is easy to account for this; a sense of guilt disheartened the
|
|
delinquents, and a divine commission animated the executioners. And
|
|
one thing that put life into them was that Moses had said,
|
|
<i>Consecrate yourselves to day to the Lord, that he may bestow a
|
|
blessing upon you,</i> thereby intimating to them that they now
|
|
stood fair for preferment and that, if they would but signalize
|
|
themselves upon this occasion, it would be construed into such a
|
|
consecration of themselves to God, and to his service, as would put
|
|
upon their tribe a perpetual honour. Those that consecrate
|
|
themselves to the Lord he will set apart for himself. Those that do
|
|
the duty shall have the dignity; and, if we do signal services for
|
|
God, he will bestow especial blessings upon us. There was a
|
|
blessing designed for the tribe of Levi; now says Moses,
|
|
"<i>Consecrate yourselves to the Lord,</i> that you may qualify
|
|
yourselves to receive the blessing." The Levites were to assist in
|
|
the offering of sacrifice to God; and now they must begin with the
|
|
offering of these sacrifices to the honour of divine justice. Those
|
|
that are to minister about holy things must be not only sincere and
|
|
serious, but warm and zealous, bold and courageous, for God and
|
|
godliness. Thus all Christians, but especially ministers, must
|
|
<i>forsake father and mother,</i> and prefer the service of Christ
|
|
and his interest far before their nearest and dearest relations;
|
|
for if we love our relations better than Christ we are not
|
|
<i>worthy of him.</i> See how this zeal of the Levites is
|
|
applauded, <scripRef passage="De 33:9" id="Ex.xxxiii-p30.7" parsed="|Deut|33|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.9">Deut. xxxiii.
|
|
9</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiii-p31">(2.) On whom vengeance is taken: <i>There
|
|
fell of the people that day about 3000 men,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 32:28" id="Ex.xxxiii-p31.1" parsed="|Exod|32|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>. Probably these were but few, in
|
|
comparison with the many that were guilty; but these were the men
|
|
that headed the rebellion, and were therefore picked out, to be
|
|
made examples of, for terror to all others. Those that in the
|
|
morning were shouting and dancing before night were dying in their
|
|
own blood; such a sudden change do the judgments of God sometimes
|
|
make with sinners that are secure and jovial in their sin, as with
|
|
Belshazzar by the hand-writing upon the wall. This is written for
|
|
warning to us. <scripRef passage="1Co 10:7" id="Ex.xxxiii-p31.2" parsed="|1Cor|10|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.10.7">1 Cor. x. 7</scripRef>,
|
|
<i>Neither be you idolaters, as were some of them.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 32:30-35" id="Ex.xxxiii-p31.3" parsed="|Exod|32|30|32|35" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.30-Exod.32.35"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.32.30-Exod.32.35">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxxiii-p31.4">The Intercession of Moses. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxiii-p31.5">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxxiii-p32">30 And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses
|
|
said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go
|
|
up unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxiii-p32.1">Lord</span>; peradventure I
|
|
shall make an atonement for your sin.   31 And Moses returned
|
|
unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxiii-p32.2">Lord</span>, and said, Oh, this
|
|
people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.
|
|
  32 Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin—; and if not,
|
|
blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.
|
|
  33 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxiii-p32.3">Lord</span> said unto
|
|
Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my
|
|
book.   34 Therefore now go, lead the people unto <i>the
|
|
place</i> of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel
|
|
shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will
|
|
visit their sin upon them.   35 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxiii-p32.4">Lord</span> plagued the people, because they made the
|
|
calf, which Aaron made.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiii-p33">Moses, having executed justice upon the
|
|
principal offenders, is here dealing both with the people and with
|
|
God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiii-p34">I. With the people, to bring them to
|
|
repentance, <scripRef passage="Ex 32:30" id="Ex.xxxiii-p34.1" parsed="|Exod|32|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.30"><i>v.</i>
|
|
30</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiii-p35">1. When some were slain, lest the rest
|
|
should imagine that, because they were exempt from the capital
|
|
punishment, they were therefore looked upon as free from guilt,
|
|
Moses here tells the survivors, <i>You have sinned a great sin,</i>
|
|
and therefore, though you have escaped this time, <i>except you
|
|
repent, you shall all likewise perish.</i> That they might not
|
|
think lightly of the sin itself, he calls it <i>a great sin;</i>
|
|
and that they might not think themselves innocent, because perhaps
|
|
they were not all so deeply guilty as some of those that were put
|
|
to death, he tells them all, <i>You have sinned a great sin.</i>
|
|
The work of ministers is to show people their sins, and the
|
|
greatness of their sins. "<i>You have sinned,</i> and therefore you
|
|
are undone if your sins be not pardoned, for ever undone without a
|
|
Saviour. It is a great sin, and therefore calls for great sorrow,
|
|
for it puts you in great danger." To affect them with the greatness
|
|
of their sin he intimates to them what a difficult thing it would
|
|
be to make up the quarrel which God had with them for it. (1.) It
|
|
would not be done, unless he himself <i>went up unto the Lord</i>
|
|
on purpose, and gave as long and as solemn attendance as he had
|
|
done for the receiving of the law. And yet, (2.) Even so it was but
|
|
a peradventure that he should make atonement for them; the case was
|
|
extremely hazardous. This should convince us of the great evil
|
|
there is in sin, that he who undertook to make atonement found it
|
|
no easy thing to do it; he must <i>go up to the Lord</i> with his
|
|
own blood to <i>make atonement.</i> The malignity of sin appears in
|
|
the price of pardons.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiii-p36">2. Yet it was some encouragement to the
|
|
people (when they were told that they had <i>sinned a great
|
|
sin</i>) to hear that Moses, who had so great an interest in heaven
|
|
and so true an affection for them, would <i>go up unto the Lord to
|
|
make atonement</i> for them. Consolation should go along with
|
|
conviction: first wound, and then heal; first show people the
|
|
greatness of their sin, and then make known to them the atonement,
|
|
and give them hopes of mercy. <i>Moses will go up unto the
|
|
Lord,</i> though it be but a <i>peradventure</i> that he should
|
|
make atonement. Christ, the great Mediator, went upon greater
|
|
certainty than this, for he had lain in the bosom of the Father,
|
|
and perfectly knew all his counsels. But to us poor supplicants it
|
|
is encouragement enough in prayer for particular mercies that
|
|
<i>peradventure</i> we may obtain them, though we have not an
|
|
absolute promise. <scripRef passage="Zep 2:3" id="Ex.xxxiii-p36.1" parsed="|Zeph|2|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zeph.2.3">Zeph. ii.
|
|
3</scripRef>, <i>It may be, you shall be hid.</i> In our prayers
|
|
for others, we should be humbly earnest with God, though it is but
|
|
a <i>peradventure that God will give them repentance,</i> <scripRef passage="2Ti 2:25" id="Ex.xxxiii-p36.2" parsed="|2Tim|2|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Tim.2.25">2 Tim. ii. 25</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiii-p37">II. He intercedes with God for mercy.
|
|
Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiii-p38">1. How pathetic his address was. <i>Moses
|
|
returned unto the Lord,</i> not to receive further instructions
|
|
about the tabernacle: there were no more conferences now about that
|
|
matter. Thus men's sins and follies make work for their friends and
|
|
ministers, unpleasant work, many times, and give great
|
|
interruptions to that work which they delight in. Moses in this
|
|
address expresses, (1.) His great detestation of the people's sin,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 32:31" id="Ex.xxxiii-p38.1" parsed="|Exod|32|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>. He speaks as
|
|
one overwhelmed with the horror of it: <i>Oh! this people have
|
|
sinned a great sin.</i> God had first told him of it (<scripRef passage="Ex 32:7" id="Ex.xxxiii-p38.2" parsed="|Exod|32|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>), and now he tells God of
|
|
it, by way of lamentation. He does not call them God's people, he
|
|
knew they were unworthy to be called so; but this people, this
|
|
treacherous ungrateful people, they have made for themselves gods
|
|
of gold. It is a great sin indeed to make gold our god, as those do
|
|
that make it their hope, and set their heart on it. He does not go
|
|
about to excuse or extenuate the sin; but what he had said to them
|
|
by way of conviction he says to God by way of confession: <i>They
|
|
have sinned a great sin;</i> he came not to make apologies, but to
|
|
make atonement. "Lord, pardon the sin, <i>for it is great,</i>"
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 25:11" id="Ex.xxxiii-p38.3" parsed="|Ps|25|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.25.11">Ps. xxv. 11</scripRef>. (2.) His great
|
|
desire of the people's welfare (<scripRef passage="Ex 32:32" id="Ex.xxxiii-p38.4" parsed="|Exod|32|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>): <i>Yet now</i> it is not too
|
|
great a sin for infinite mercy to pardon, and therefore <i>if thou
|
|
wilt forgive their sin.</i> What then Moses? It is an abrupt
|
|
expression, "<i>If thou wilt,</i> I desire no more; <i>if thou
|
|
wilt,</i> thou wilt be praised, I shall be pleased, and abundantly
|
|
recompensed for my intercession." It is an expression like that of
|
|
the dresser of the vineyard (<scripRef passage="Lu 13:9" id="Ex.xxxiii-p38.5" parsed="|Luke|13|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.13.9">Luke xiii.
|
|
9</scripRef>), <i>If it bear fruit;</i> or, <i>If thou wilt
|
|
forgive,</i> is as much as, "O that thou wouldest forgive!" as
|
|
<scripRef passage="Lu 19:42" id="Ex.xxxiii-p38.6" parsed="|Luke|19|42|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.19.42">Luke xix. 42</scripRef>, <i>If thou
|
|
hadst known</i> is, <i>O that thou hadst known.</i> "But <i>if
|
|
not,</i> if the decree has gone forth, and there is no remedy, but
|
|
they must be ruined; if this punishment which has already been
|
|
inflicted on many is not sufficient (<scripRef passage="2Co 2:6" id="Ex.xxxiii-p38.7" parsed="|2Cor|2|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.2.6">2
|
|
Cor. ii. 6</scripRef>), but they must all be cut off, <i>blot me, I
|
|
pray thee, out of the book which thou hast written;</i>" that is,
|
|
"If they must be cut off, let me be cut off with them, and cut
|
|
short of Canaan; if all Israel must perish, I am content to perish
|
|
with them; let not the land of promise be mine by survivorship."
|
|
This expression may be illustrated from <scripRef passage="Eze 13:9" id="Ex.xxxiii-p38.8" parsed="|Ezek|13|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.13.9">Ezek. xiii. 9</scripRef>, where this is threatened
|
|
against the false prophets, <i>They shall not be written in the
|
|
writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the
|
|
land of Israel.</i> God had told Moses that, if he would not
|
|
interpose he would make of him a <i>great nation,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 32:10" id="Ex.xxxiii-p38.9" parsed="|Exod|32|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. "No," says Moses, "I am
|
|
so far from desiring to see my name and family built up on the
|
|
ruins of Israel, that I will choose rather to sink with them. If I
|
|
cannot prevent their destruction, let me not see it (<scripRef passage="Nu 11:15" id="Ex.xxxiii-p38.10" parsed="|Num|11|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.15">Num. xi. 15</scripRef>); let me not be
|
|
<i>written among the living</i> (<scripRef passage="Isa 4:3" id="Ex.xxxiii-p38.11" parsed="|Isa|4|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.4.3">Isa.
|
|
iv. 3</scripRef>), nor among those that are marked for
|
|
preservation; even let me die in the last ditch." Thus he expresses
|
|
his tender affection for the people, and is a type of the good
|
|
Shepherd, that <i>lays down his life for the sheep</i> (<scripRef passage="Joh 10:11" id="Ex.xxxiii-p38.12" parsed="|John|10|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.10.11">John x. 11</scripRef>), who was to be <i>cut
|
|
off from the land of the living for the transgression of my
|
|
people,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 53:8,Da 9:26" id="Ex.xxxiii-p38.13" parsed="|Isa|53|8|0|0;|Dan|9|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.53.8 Bible:Dan.9.26">Isa. liii. 8; Dan.
|
|
ix. 26</scripRef>. He is also an example of public-spiritedness to
|
|
all, especially to those in public stations. All private interests
|
|
must be made subordinate to the good and welfare of communities. It
|
|
is no great matter what becomes of us and our families in this
|
|
world, so that it go well with the church of God, and there be
|
|
peace upon Israel. Moses thus importunes for a pardon, and wrestles
|
|
with God, not prescribing to him ("If thou wilt not forgive, thou
|
|
art either unjust or unkind"); no, he is far from that; but, "If
|
|
not, let me die with the Israelites, and the will of the Lord be
|
|
done."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiii-p39">2. Observe how prevalent his address was.
|
|
God would not take him at his word; no, he will not blot any out of
|
|
his book but those that by their wilful disobedience have forfeited
|
|
the honour of being enrolled in it (<scripRef passage="Ex 32:33" id="Ex.xxxiii-p39.1" parsed="|Exod|32|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>); the soul that sins shall die,
|
|
and not the innocent for the guilty. This was also an intimation of
|
|
mercy to the people, that they should not all be destroyed in a
|
|
body, but those only that had a hand in the sin. Thus Moses gets
|
|
ground by degrees. God would not at first give him full assurances
|
|
of his being reconciled to them, lest, if the comfort of a pardon
|
|
were too easily obtained, they should be emboldened to do the like
|
|
again, and should not be made sensible enough of the evil of the
|
|
sin. Comforts are suspended that convictions may be the deeper
|
|
impressed: also God would hereby exercise the faith and zeal of
|
|
Moses, their great intercessor. Further, in answer to the address
|
|
of Moses, (1.) God promises, notwithstanding this, to go on with
|
|
his kind intention of giving them the land of Canaan, the land he
|
|
had <i>spoken to them of,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 32:34" id="Ex.xxxiii-p39.2" parsed="|Exod|32|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.34"><i>v.</i> 34</scripRef>. Therefore he sends Moses back
|
|
to them to lead them, though they were unworthy of him, and
|
|
promises that his angel should go before them, some created angel
|
|
that was employed in the common services of the kingdom of
|
|
providence, which intimated that they were not to expect any thing
|
|
for the future to be done for them out of the common road of
|
|
providence, not any thing extraordinary. Moses afterwards obtained
|
|
a promise of God's special presence with them (<scripRef passage="Ex 33:14,17" id="Ex.xxxiii-p39.3" parsed="|Exod|33|14|0|0;|Exod|33|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.14 Bible:Exod.33.17"><i>ch.</i> xxxiii. 14, 17</scripRef>); but at present
|
|
this was all he could prevail for. (2.) Yet he threatens to
|
|
remember this sin against them when hereafter he should see cause
|
|
to punish them for other sins: "<i>When I visit, I will visit</i>
|
|
for this among the rest. Next time I take the rod in hand, they
|
|
shall have one stripe the more for this." The Jews have a saying,
|
|
grounded on this, that henceforward no judgment fell upon Israel
|
|
but there was in it an ounce of the powder of the golden calf. I
|
|
see no ground in scripture for the opinion some are of, that God
|
|
would not have burdened them with such a multitude of sacrifices
|
|
and other ceremonial institutions if they had not provoked him by
|
|
worshipping the golden calf. On the contrary, Stephen says that
|
|
when they <i>made a calf, and offered sacrifice to the idol, God
|
|
turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ac 7:41,42" id="Ex.xxxiii-p39.4" parsed="|Acts|7|41|7|42" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.41-Acts.7.42">Acts vii. 41, 42</scripRef>); so
|
|
that the strange addictedness of that people to the sin of idolatry
|
|
was a just judgment upon them for making and worshipping the golden
|
|
calf, and a judgment they were never quite freed from till the
|
|
captivity of Babylon. See <scripRef passage="Ro 1:23-25" id="Ex.xxxiii-p39.5" parsed="|Rom|1|23|1|25" osisRef="Bible:Rom.1.23-Rom.1.25">Rom. i.
|
|
23-25</scripRef>. Note, Many that are not immediately cut off in
|
|
their sins are reserved for a further day of reckoning: vengeance
|
|
is slow, but sure. For the present, <i>the Lord plagued the
|
|
people</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 32:35" id="Ex.xxxiii-p39.6" parsed="|Exod|32|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.35"><i>v.</i> 35</scripRef>),
|
|
probably by the pestilence, or some other infectious disease, which
|
|
was a messenger of God's wrath, and an earnest of worse. Aaron made
|
|
the calf, and yet it is said the people made it, because they
|
|
worshipped it. <i>Deos qui rogat, ille facit—He who asks for gods
|
|
makes them.</i> Aaron was not plagued, but the people; for his was
|
|
a sin of infirmity, theirs a presumptuous sin, between which there
|
|
is a great difference, not always discernable to us, but evident to
|
|
God, whose judgment therefore, we are sure, is according to truth.
|
|
Thus Moses prevailed for a reprieve and a mitigation of the
|
|
punishment, but could not wholly turn away the wrath of God. This
|
|
(some think) bespeaks the inability of the law of Moses to
|
|
reconcile men to God and to perfect our peace with him, which was
|
|
reserved for Christ to do, in whom alone it is that God so pardons
|
|
sin as to <i>remember it no more.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXXIII" n="xxxiv" progress="47.65%" prev="Ex.xxxiii" next="Ex.xxxv" id="Ex.xxxiv">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.xxxiv-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.xxxiv-p0.2">CHAP. XXXIII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.xxxiv-p1">In this chapter we have a further account of the
|
|
mediation of Moses between God and Israel, for the making up of the
|
|
breach that sin had made between them. I. He brings a very humbling
|
|
message from God to them (<scripRef passage="Ex 33:1-3,5" id="Ex.xxxiv-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|33|1|33|3;|Exod|33|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.1-Exod.33.3 Bible:Exod.33.5">ver. 1-3,
|
|
5</scripRef>), which has a good effect upon them, and helps to
|
|
prepare them for mercy, <scripRef passage="Ex 33:4,6" id="Ex.xxxiv-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|33|4|0|0;|Exod|33|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.4 Bible:Exod.33.6">ver. 4,
|
|
6</scripRef>. II. He settles a correspondence between God and them,
|
|
and both God and the people signify their approbation of that
|
|
correspondence, God by descending in a cloudy pillar, and the
|
|
people by worshipping at the tent doors, <scripRef passage="Ex 33:7-11" id="Ex.xxxiv-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|33|7|33|11" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.7-Exod.33.11">ver. 7-11</scripRef>. III. He is earnest with God in
|
|
prayer, and prevails, 1. For a promise of his presence with the
|
|
people, <scripRef passage="Ex 33:12-17" id="Ex.xxxiv-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|33|12|33|17" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.12-Exod.33.17">ver. 12-17</scripRef>. 2.
|
|
For a sight of his glory for himself, <scripRef passage="Ex 33:18-23" id="Ex.xxxiv-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|33|18|33|23" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.18-Exod.33.23">ver. 18</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 33" id="Ex.xxxiv-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|33|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 33:1-6" id="Ex.xxxiv-p1.7" parsed="|Exod|33|1|33|6" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.1-Exod.33.6"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.33.1-Exod.33.6">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxxiv-p1.8">The Israelites Reproved. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxiv-p1.9">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxxiv-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxiv-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto Moses, Depart, <i>and</i> go up hence, thou and the
|
|
people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto
|
|
the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob,
|
|
saying, Unto thy seed will I give it:   2 And I will send an
|
|
angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite,
|
|
and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite:
|
|
  3 Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go
|
|
up in the midst of thee; for thou <i>art</i> a stiffnecked people:
|
|
lest I consume thee in the way.   4 And when the people heard
|
|
these evil tidings, they mourned: and no man did put on him his
|
|
ornaments.   5 For the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxiv-p2.2">Lord</span> had
|
|
said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye <i>are</i> a
|
|
stiffnecked people: I will come up into the midst of thee in a
|
|
moment, and consume thee: therefore now put off thy ornaments from
|
|
thee, that I may know what to do unto thee.   6 And the
|
|
children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the
|
|
mount Horeb.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiv-p3">Here is, I. The message which God sent by
|
|
Moses to the children of Israel, signifying the continuance of the
|
|
displeasure against them, and the bad terms they yet stood upon
|
|
with God. This he must let them know for their further
|
|
mortification. 1. He applies to them a mortifying name, by giving
|
|
them their just character—<i>a stiff-necked people,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 33:3,5" id="Ex.xxxiv-p3.1" parsed="|Exod|33|3|0|0;|Exod|33|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.3 Bible:Exod.33.5"><i>v.</i> 3, 5</scripRef>. "Go," says God to
|
|
Moses, "go and tell them that they are so." He that knows them
|
|
better than they know themselves says so of them. God would have
|
|
brought them under the yoke of his law, and into the bond of his
|
|
covenant, but their necks were too stiff to bow to them. God would
|
|
have cured them of their corrupt and crooked dispositions, and have
|
|
set them straight; but they were wilful and obstinate, and hated to
|
|
be reformed, and would not have God to reign over them. Note, God
|
|
judges of men by the temper of their minds. We know what man does;
|
|
God knows what he is: we know what proceeds from man; God knows
|
|
what is in man, and nothing is more displeasing to him than
|
|
stiff-neckedness, as nothing in children is more offensive to their
|
|
parents and teachers than stubbornness. 2. He tells them what they
|
|
deserved, that he should <i>come into the midst of them in a
|
|
moment, and consume them,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 33:5" id="Ex.xxxiv-p3.2" parsed="|Exod|33|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.5"><i>v.</i>
|
|
5</scripRef>. Had he dealt with them according to their sins, he
|
|
had taken them away with a swift destruction. Note, Those whom God
|
|
pardons must be made to know what their sin deserved, and how
|
|
miserable they would have been if they had been unpardoned, that
|
|
God's mercy may be the more magnified. 3. He bids them <i>depart
|
|
and go up hence</i> to the land of Canaan, <scripRef passage="Ex 33:1" id="Ex.xxxiv-p3.3" parsed="|Exod|33|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. This Mount Sinai, where they now
|
|
were, was the place appointed for the setting up of God's
|
|
tabernacle and solemn worship among them; this was not yet done, so
|
|
that in bidding them depart hence God intimates that it should not
|
|
be done—"Let them go forward as they are;" and so it was very
|
|
expressive of God's displeasure. 4. He turns them over to Moses, as
|
|
the people whom he had brought up out of the land of Egypt, and
|
|
leaves it to him to lead them to Canaan. 5. Though he promises to
|
|
make good his covenant with Abraham, in giving them Canaan, yet he
|
|
denies them the extraordinary tokens of his presence, such as they
|
|
had hitherto been blessed with, and leaves them under the common
|
|
conduct of Moses their prince, and the common convoy of a guardian
|
|
angel: "<i>I will send an angel before thee,</i> for thy protector,
|
|
otherwise the evil angels would soon destroy thee; but <i>I will
|
|
not go up in the midst of thee, lest I consume thee</i>" (<scripRef passage="Ex 33:2,3" id="Ex.xxxiv-p3.4" parsed="|Exod|33|2|33|3" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.2-Exod.33.3"><i>v.</i> 2, 3</scripRef>); not as if an angel
|
|
would be more patient and compassionate than God, but their
|
|
affronts given to an angel would not be so provoking as those given
|
|
to the <i>shechinah,</i> or divine Majesty itself. Note, The
|
|
greater the privileges we enjoy the greater is our danger if we do
|
|
not improve them and live up to them. 6. He speaks as one that was
|
|
at a loss what course to take with them. Justice said, "Cut them
|
|
off, and consume them." Mercy said, "<i>How shall I give thee up,
|
|
Ephraim?</i>" <scripRef passage="Ho 11:8" id="Ex.xxxiv-p3.5" parsed="|Hos|11|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.11.8">Hos. xi. 8</scripRef>.
|
|
Well, says God, <i>put off thy ornaments, that I may know what to
|
|
do with thee;</i> that is, "Put thyself into the posture of a
|
|
penitent, that the dispute may be determined in thy favour, and
|
|
mercy may rejoice against judgment," <scripRef passage="Ex 33:5" id="Ex.xxxiv-p3.6" parsed="|Exod|33|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. Note, Calls to repentance are
|
|
plain indications of mercy designed. If the Lord were pleased to
|
|
kill us, justice knows what to do with a stiff-necked people: but
|
|
God has no pleasure in the death of those that die; let them return
|
|
and repent, and then mercy, which otherwise is at a loss, knows
|
|
what to do.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiv-p4">II. The people's melancholy reception of
|
|
this message; it was evil tidings to them to hear that they should
|
|
not have God's special presence with them, and therefore, 1.
|
|
<i>They mourned</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 33:4" id="Ex.xxxiv-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|33|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.4"><i>v.</i>
|
|
4</scripRef>), mourned for their sin which had provoked God to
|
|
withdraw from them, and mourned for this as the sorest punishment
|
|
of their sin. When 3000 of them were at one time laid dead upon the
|
|
spot by the Levites' sword, we do not find that they mourned for
|
|
this (hoping that it would help to expiate the guilt); but when God
|
|
denied them his favourable presence then they mourned and were in
|
|
bitterness. Note, Of all the bitter fruits and consequences of sin,
|
|
that which true penitents most lament, and dread most, is God's
|
|
departure from them. God had promised that, notwithstanding their
|
|
sin, he would give them the <i>land flowing with milk and
|
|
honey.</i> but they could have small joy of that if they had not
|
|
God's presence with them. Canaan itself would be no pleasant land
|
|
without that; therefore, if they want that, they mourn. 2. In token
|
|
of great shame and humiliation, those that were undressed did
|
|
<i>not put on their ornaments</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 33:4" id="Ex.xxxiv-p4.2" parsed="|Exod|33|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>), and those that were dressed
|
|
<i>stripped themselves of their ornaments, by the mount;</i> or, as
|
|
some read it, <i>at a distance from the mount</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 33:6" id="Ex.xxxiv-p4.3" parsed="|Exod|33|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), standing afar off like
|
|
the publican, <scripRef passage="Lu 18:13" id="Ex.xxxiv-p4.4" parsed="|Luke|18|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.18.13">Luke xviii.
|
|
13</scripRef>. God bade them <i>lay aside their ornaments</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 33:5" id="Ex.xxxiv-p4.5" parsed="|Exod|33|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), and they did
|
|
so, both to show, in general, their deep mourning, and, in
|
|
particular, to take a holy revenge upon themselves for giving their
|
|
ear-rings to make the golden calf of. Those that would part with
|
|
their ornaments for the maintenance of their sin could do no less
|
|
than lay aside their ornaments in token of their sorrow and shame
|
|
for it. When the <i>Lord God calls to weeping and mourning</i> we
|
|
must comply with the call, and not only fast from pleasant bread
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Da 10:3" id="Ex.xxxiv-p4.6" parsed="|Dan|10|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.10.3">Dan. x. 3</scripRef>), but lay aside
|
|
our ornaments; even those that are decent enough at other times are
|
|
unseasonably worn on days of humiliation or in times of public
|
|
calamity, <scripRef passage="Isa 3:18" id="Ex.xxxiv-p4.7" parsed="|Isa|3|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.3.18">Isa. iii. 18</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 33:7-11" id="Ex.xxxiv-p4.8" parsed="|Exod|33|7|33|11" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.7-Exod.33.11"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.33.7-Exod.33.11">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxxiv-p4.9">The Tabernacle of the
|
|
Congregation. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxiv-p4.10">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxxiv-p5">7 And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it
|
|
without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the
|
|
Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, <i>that</i>
|
|
every one which sought the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxiv-p5.1">Lord</span> went
|
|
out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which <i>was</i>
|
|
without the camp.   8 And it came to pass, when Moses went out
|
|
unto the tabernacle, <i>that</i> all the people rose up, and stood
|
|
every man <i>at</i> his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he
|
|
was gone into the tabernacle.   9 And it came to pass, as
|
|
Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and
|
|
stood <i>at</i> the door of the tabernacle, and <i>the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxiv-p5.2">Lord</span></i> talked with Moses.   10 And all
|
|
the people saw the cloudy pillar stand <i>at</i> the tabernacle
|
|
door: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man
|
|
<i>in</i> his tent door.   11 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxiv-p5.3">Lord</span> spake unto Moses face to face, as a man
|
|
speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but
|
|
his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out
|
|
of the tabernacle.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiv-p6">Here is, I. One mark of displeasure put
|
|
upon them for their further humiliation: <i>Moses took the
|
|
tabernacle,</i> not his own tent for his family, but the tent
|
|
wherein he gave audience, heard causes, and enquired of God, the
|
|
<i>guild-hall</i> (as it were) of their camp, and <i>pitched it
|
|
without, afar off from the camp</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 33:7" id="Ex.xxxiv-p6.1" parsed="|Exod|33|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>), to signify to them that they had
|
|
rendered themselves unworthy of it, and that, unless peace was
|
|
made, it would return to them no more. God would thus let them know
|
|
that he was at variance with them: <i>The Lord is far from the
|
|
wicked.</i> Thus the glory of the Lord departed from the temple
|
|
when it was polluted with sin, <scripRef passage="Eze 10:4,11:23" id="Ex.xxxiv-p6.2" parsed="|Ezek|10|4|0|0;|Ezek|11|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.10.4 Bible:Ezek.11.23">Ezek. x. 4; xi. 23</scripRef>. Note, It is a sign
|
|
that God is angry when he removes his tabernacle, for his
|
|
ordinances are fruits of his favour and tokens of his presence;
|
|
while we have them with us we have him with us. Perhaps this
|
|
tabernacle was a plan, or model rather, of the tabernacle that was
|
|
afterwards to be erected, a hasty draught from the pattern shown
|
|
him in the mount, designed for direction to the workmen, and used,
|
|
in the meantime, as a tabernacle of meeting between God and Moses
|
|
about public affairs. This was set up at a distance, to affect the
|
|
people with the loss of that glorious structure which, if they had
|
|
not forsaken their own mercies for lying vanities, was to have been
|
|
set up in the midst of them. Let them see what they had
|
|
forfeited.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiv-p7">II. Many encouragements give them,
|
|
notwithstanding, to hope that God would yet be reconciled to
|
|
them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiv-p8">1. Though the tabernacle was removed, yet
|
|
every one that was disposed to seek the Lord was welcome to follow
|
|
it, <scripRef passage="Ex 33:7" id="Ex.xxxiv-p8.1" parsed="|Exod|33|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. Private
|
|
persons, as well as Moses, were invited and encouraged to apply to
|
|
God, as intercessors upon this occasion. A place was appointed for
|
|
them to go to <i>without the camp,</i> to solicit God's return to
|
|
them. Thus when Ezra (a second Moses) interceded for Israel there
|
|
were assembled to him many that <i>trembled at God's word,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ezr 9:4" id="Ex.xxxiv-p8.2" parsed="|Ezra|9|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.9.4">Ezra ix. 4</scripRef>. When God designs
|
|
mercy, he stirs up prayer. <i>He will be</i> sought unto (<scripRef passage="Eze 36:37" id="Ex.xxxiv-p8.3" parsed="|Ezek|36|37|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.36.37">Ezek. xxxvi. 37</scripRef>); and, thanks be to
|
|
his name, he may be sought unto, and will not reject the
|
|
intercession of the poorest. Every Israelite that sought the Lord
|
|
was welcome to this tabernacle, as well as Moses <i>the man of
|
|
God.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiv-p9">2. Moses undertook to mediate between God
|
|
and Israel. He <i>went out to the tabernacle,</i> the place of
|
|
treaty, probably pitched between them and the mount (<scripRef passage="Ex 33:8" id="Ex.xxxiv-p9.1" parsed="|Exod|33|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>), and he <i>entered into
|
|
the tabernacle,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 33:9" id="Ex.xxxiv-p9.2" parsed="|Exod|33|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.9"><i>v.</i>
|
|
9</scripRef>. That cause could not but speed well which had so good
|
|
a manager; when their judge (under God) becomes their advocate, and
|
|
he who was appointed to be their law-giver is an intercessor for
|
|
them, there is <i>hope in Israel concerning this thing.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiv-p10">3. The people seemed to be in a very good
|
|
mind and well disposed towards a reconciliation. (1.) When Moses
|
|
went out to go to the tabernacle, the people <i>looked after
|
|
him</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 33:8" id="Ex.xxxiv-p10.1" parsed="|Exod|33|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>), in
|
|
token of their respect to him whom before they had slighted, and
|
|
their entire dependence upon his mediation. By this it appeared
|
|
that they were very solicitous about this matter, desirous to be at
|
|
peace with God and concerned to know what would be the issue. Thus
|
|
the disciples looked after our Lord Jesus, when he ascended on high
|
|
to enter into the holy place not made with hands, till a <i>cloud
|
|
received him out of their sight,</i> as Moses here. And we must
|
|
with an eye of faith follow him likewise thither, where he is
|
|
appearing in the presence of God for us; then shall we have the
|
|
benefit of his mediation. (2.) When they saw the cloudy pillar,
|
|
that symbol of God's presence, give Moses the meeting, they all
|
|
<i>worshipped, every man at his tent door,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 33:10" id="Ex.xxxiv-p10.2" parsed="|Exod|33|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. Thereby they signified, [1.]
|
|
Their humble adoration of the divine Majesty, which they will ever
|
|
worship, and not gods of gold any more. [2.] Their joyful
|
|
thankfulness to God that he was pleased to show them this token for
|
|
good, and give them hopes of a reconciliation; for, if he had been
|
|
pleased to kill them, he would not have shown them such things as
|
|
these, would not have raised them up such a mediator, nor given him
|
|
such countenance. [3.] Their hearty concurrence with Moses as their
|
|
advocate in every thing he should promise for them, and their
|
|
expectation of a comfortable and happy issue of this treaty. Thus
|
|
must we worship God in our tents with an eye to Christ as the
|
|
Mediator. Their worshipping in their tent doors declared plainly
|
|
that they were not ashamed publicly to own their respect to God and
|
|
Moses, as they had publicly worshipped the calf.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiv-p11">4. God was, in Moses, reconciling Israel to
|
|
himself, and manifested himself very willing to be at peace. (1.)
|
|
God met Moses at the place of treaty, <scripRef passage="Ex 33:9" id="Ex.xxxiv-p11.1" parsed="|Exod|33|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. The cloudy pillar, which had
|
|
withdrawn itself from the camp when it was polluted with idolatry,
|
|
now returned to this tabernacle at some distance, coming back
|
|
gradually. If our hearts go forth towards God to meet him he will
|
|
graciously come down to meet us. (2.) God <i>talked with Moses</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 33:9" id="Ex.xxxiv-p11.2" parsed="|Exod|33|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>), <i>spoke to
|
|
him face to face, as a man speaks to his friend</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 33:11" id="Ex.xxxiv-p11.3" parsed="|Exod|33|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>), which intimates that
|
|
God revealed himself to Moses, not only with greater clearness and
|
|
evidence of divine light than to any other of the prophets, but
|
|
also with greater expressions of particular kindness and grace. He
|
|
spoke, not as a prince to a subject, but as a <i>man to his
|
|
friend,</i> whom he loves, and with whom he takes sweet counsel.
|
|
This was great encouragement to Israel, to see their advocate so
|
|
great a favourite; and, that they might be encouraged by it,
|
|
<i>Moses turned again into the camp,</i> to tell the people what
|
|
hopes he had of bringing this business to a good issue, and that
|
|
they might not despair if he should be long absent. But, because he
|
|
intended speedily to return to the tabernacle of the congregation,
|
|
he left Joshua there, for it was not fit that the place should be
|
|
empty, so long as the cloud of glory <i>stood at the door</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 33:9" id="Ex.xxxiv-p11.4" parsed="|Exod|33|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>); but, if God
|
|
had any thing to say out of that cloud while Moses was absent,
|
|
Joshua was there, ready to hear it.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 33" id="Ex.xxxiv-p11.5" parsed="|Exod|33|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 33:12-23" id="Ex.xxxiv-p11.6" parsed="|Exod|33|12|33|23" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.12-Exod.33.23"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.33.12-Exod.33.23">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxxiv-p11.7">Moses Petitions to See God's
|
|
Glory. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxiv-p11.8">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxxiv-p12">12 And Moses said unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxiv-p12.1">Lord</span>, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this
|
|
people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me.
|
|
Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found
|
|
grace in my sight.   13 Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have
|
|
found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know
|
|
thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this
|
|
nation <i>is</i> thy people.   14 And he said, My presence
|
|
shall go <i>with thee,</i> and I will give thee rest.   15 And
|
|
he said unto him, If thy presence go not <i>with me,</i> carry us
|
|
not up hence.   16 For wherein shall it be known here that I
|
|
and thy people have found grace in thy sight? <i>is it</i> not in
|
|
that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy
|
|
people, from all the people that <i>are</i> upon the face of the
|
|
earth.   17 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxiv-p12.2">Lord</span> said
|
|
unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for
|
|
thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.  
|
|
18 And he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory.   19 And he
|
|
said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will
|
|
proclaim the name of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxiv-p12.3">Lord</span> before
|
|
thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will
|
|
show mercy on whom I will show mercy.   20 And he said, Thou
|
|
canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.
|
|
  21 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxiv-p12.4">Lord</span> said, Behold,
|
|
<i>there is</i> a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:
|
|
  22 And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by,
|
|
that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee
|
|
with my hand while I pass by:   23 And I will take away mine
|
|
hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be
|
|
seen.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiv-p13">Moses, having returned to the door of the
|
|
tabernacle, becomes a humble and importunate supplicant there for
|
|
two very great favours, and as a prince he has power with God, and
|
|
prevails for both: herein he was a type of Christ the great
|
|
intercessor, <i>whom the Father heareth always.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiv-p14">I. He is very earnest with God for a grant
|
|
of his presence with Israel in the rest of their march to Canaan,
|
|
notwithstanding their provocations. The people had by their sin
|
|
deserved the wrath of God, and for the turning away of that Moses
|
|
had already prevailed, <scripRef passage="Ex 32:14" id="Ex.xxxiv-p14.1" parsed="|Exod|32|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.14"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xxxii. 14</scripRef>. But they had likewise forfeited God's
|
|
favourable presence, and all the benefit and comfort of that, and
|
|
this Moses is here begging for the return of. Thus, by the
|
|
intercession of Christ, we obtain not only the removal of the
|
|
curse, but an assurance of the blessing; we are not only saved from
|
|
ruin, but become entitled to everlasting happiness. Observe how
|
|
admirably Moses orders this cause before God, and <i>fills his
|
|
mouth with arguments.</i> What a value he expresses for God's
|
|
favour, what a concern for God's glory and the welfare of Israel.
|
|
How he pleads, and how he speeds.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiv-p15">1. How he pleads. (1.) He insists upon the
|
|
commission God had given him to <i>bring up this people,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 33:12" id="Ex.xxxiv-p15.1" parsed="|Exod|33|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. This he
|
|
begins with: "Lord, it is thou thyself that employest me; and wilt
|
|
thou not own me? I am in the way of my duty; and shall I not have
|
|
thy presence with me in that way?" Whom God calls out to any
|
|
service he will be sure to furnish with necessary assistances.
|
|
"Now, Lord, thou hast ordered me a great work, and yet left me at a
|
|
loss how to go about it, and to through with it." Note, Those that
|
|
sincerely design and endeavour to do their duty may in faith beg of
|
|
God direction and strength for the doing of it. (2.) He improves
|
|
the interest he himself had with God, and pleads God's gracious
|
|
expressions of kindness to him: <i>Thou hast said, I know thee by
|
|
name,</i> as a particular friend and confidant, <i>and thou hast
|
|
also found grace in my sight,</i> above any other. <i>Now,
|
|
therefore,</i> says Moses, if it be indeed so, that <i>I have found
|
|
grace in thy sight, show me the way,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 33:13" id="Ex.xxxiv-p15.2" parsed="|Exod|33|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. What favour God had expressed
|
|
to the people they had forfeited the benefit of, there was no
|
|
insisting upon that; and therefore Moses lays the stress of his
|
|
plea upon what God had said to him, which, though he owns himself
|
|
unworthy of, yet he hopes he has not thrown himself out of the
|
|
benefit of. By this therefore he takes hold on God: "Lord, if ever
|
|
thou wilt do any thing for me, do this for the people." Thus our
|
|
Lord Jesus, in his intercession, presents himself to the Father, as
|
|
one in whom he is always well pleased, and so obtains mercy for us
|
|
with whom he is justly displeased; and we are <i>accepted in the
|
|
beloved.</i> Thus also men of public spirit love to improve their
|
|
interest both with God and man for the public good. Observe what it
|
|
is he is thus earnest for: <i>Show me thy way,</i> that I may know
|
|
that <i>I find grace in thy sight.</i> Note, Divine direction is
|
|
one of the best evidences of divine favour. By this we may know
|
|
that we <i>find grace in God's sight,</i> if we find grace in our
|
|
hearts to guide and quicken us in the way of our duty. God's good
|
|
work in us is the surest discovery of his good-will towards us.
|
|
(3.) He insinuates that the people also, though most unworthy, yet
|
|
were in some relation to God: "<i>Consider that this nation is thy
|
|
people,</i> a people that thou hast done great things for, redeemed
|
|
to thyself, and taken into covenant with thyself; Lord, they are
|
|
thy own, do not leave them." The offended father considers this,
|
|
"My child is foolish and froward, but he is my child, and I cannot
|
|
abandon him." (4.) He expresses the great value he had for the
|
|
presence of God. When God said, <i>My presence shall go with
|
|
thee,</i> he caught at that word, as that which he could not live
|
|
and move without: "<i>If thy presence go not with me, carry us not
|
|
up hence,</i>" <scripRef passage="Ex 33:15" id="Ex.xxxiv-p15.3" parsed="|Exod|33|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.15"><i>v.</i>
|
|
15</scripRef>. He speaks as one that dreaded the thought of going
|
|
forward without God's presence, knowing that their marches could
|
|
not be safe, nor their encampments easy, if they had not God with
|
|
them. "Better lie down and die here in the wilderness than go
|
|
forward to Canaan without God's presence." Note, Those who know how
|
|
to value God's favours are best prepared to receive them. Observe
|
|
how earnest Moses is in this matter; he begs as one that would take
|
|
no denial. "Here we will stay till we obtain thy favour; like
|
|
Jacob, <i>I will not let thee go except thou bless me.</i>" And
|
|
observe how he advances upon God's concessions; the kind
|
|
intimations given him make him yet more importunate. Thus God's
|
|
gracious promises, and the advances of mercy towards us, should not
|
|
only encourage our faith, but excite our fervency in prayer. (5.)
|
|
He concludes with an argument taken from God's glory (<scripRef passage="Ex 33:16" id="Ex.xxxiv-p15.4" parsed="|Exod|33|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>): "<i>Wherein shall it
|
|
be known</i> to the nations that have their eyes upon us that <i>I
|
|
and thy people</i> (with whom my interests are all blended) <i>have
|
|
found grace in thy sight,</i> distinguishing favour, so as to be
|
|
<i>separated from all people on earth?</i> How will it appear that
|
|
we are indeed thus honoured? <i>Is it not in that thou goest with
|
|
us?</i> Nothing short of this can answer these characters. Let it
|
|
never be said that we are a peculiar people, and highly favoured,
|
|
for we stand but upon a level with the rest of our neighbours
|
|
unless thou go with us; sending an angel with us will not serve."
|
|
He lays a stress upon the place—"<i>here</i> in this wilderness,
|
|
whither thou hast led us, and where we shall be certainly lost if
|
|
thou leave us." Note, God's special presence with us in this
|
|
wilderness, by his Spirit and grace, to direct, defend, and comfort
|
|
us, is the surest pledge of his special love to us and will redound
|
|
to his glory as well as our benefit.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiv-p16">2. Observe how he speeds. He obtained an
|
|
assurance of God's favour, (1.) To himself (<scripRef passage="Ex 33:14" id="Ex.xxxiv-p16.1" parsed="|Exod|33|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>): "<i>I will give thee rest,</i>
|
|
I will take care to make thee easy in this matter; however it be,
|
|
thou shalt have satisfaction." Moses never entered Canaan, and yet
|
|
God made good his word that he would give him rest, <scripRef passage="Da 12:13" id="Ex.xxxiv-p16.2" parsed="|Dan|12|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.12.13">Dan. xii. 13</scripRef>. (2.) To the people for
|
|
his sake. Moses was not content with that answer which bespoke
|
|
favour to himself only, he must gain a promise, an express promise,
|
|
for the people too, or he is not at rest; gracious generous souls
|
|
think it not enough to get to heaven themselves, but would have all
|
|
their friends go thither, too. And in this also Moses prevailed:
|
|
<i>I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 33:17" id="Ex.xxxiv-p16.3" parsed="|Exod|33|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. Moses is not checked as
|
|
an unreasonable beggar, whom no saying would serve, but he is
|
|
encouraged. God grants as long as he asks, <i>gives liberally,</i>
|
|
and <i>does not upbraid</i> him. See the power of prayer, and be
|
|
quickened hereby to ask, and seek, and knock, and to <i>continue
|
|
instant in prayer, to pray always and not to faint.</i> See the
|
|
riches of God's goodness. When he has done much, yet he is willing
|
|
to do more: <i>I will do this also</i>—above <i>what we are able
|
|
to ask or think.</i> See, in type, the prevalency of Christ's
|
|
intercession, which he ever lives to make for all those that come
|
|
to God by him, and the ground of that prevalency. It is purely his
|
|
own merit, not any thing in those for whom he intercedes; it is
|
|
because <i>thou hast found grace in my sight.</i> And now the
|
|
matter is settled, God is perfectly reconciled to them, his
|
|
presence in the pillar of cloud returns to them and shall continue
|
|
with them; all is well again, and henceforth we hear no more of the
|
|
golden calf. <i>Lord, who is a God like unto thee, pardoning
|
|
iniquity?</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiv-p17">II. Having gained this point, he next begs
|
|
<i>a sight of God's glory,</i> and is heard in this matter also.
|
|
Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiv-p18">1. The humble request Moses makes: <i>I
|
|
beseech thee, show me thy glory,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 33:18" id="Ex.xxxiv-p18.1" parsed="|Exod|33|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. Moses had lately been in the
|
|
mount with God, had continued there a great while, and had enjoyed
|
|
as intimate a communion with God as ever any man had on this side
|
|
heaven; and yet he is still desiring a further acquaintance. All
|
|
that are effectually called to the knowledge of God and fellowship
|
|
with him, though they desire nothing more than God, are
|
|
nevertheless still coveting more and more of him, till they come to
|
|
see as they are seen. Moses had wonderfully prevailed with God for
|
|
one favour after another, and the success of his prayers emboldened
|
|
him to go on still to seek God; the more he had the more he asked:
|
|
when we are in a good frame at the throne of grace, we should
|
|
endeavour to preserve and improve it, and strike while the iron is
|
|
hot: "<i>Show me thy glory; make me to see</i> it" (so the word
|
|
is); "make it some way or other visible, and enable me to bear the
|
|
sight of it." Not that he was so ignorant as to think God's essence
|
|
could be seen with bodily eyes; but, having hitherto only heard a
|
|
voice out of a pillar of cloud or fire, he desired to see some
|
|
representation of the divine glory, such as God saw fit to gratify
|
|
him with. It was not fit that the people should see any similitude
|
|
when the Lord spoke unto them, <i>lest they should corrupt
|
|
themselves;</i> but he hoped that there was not that danger in his
|
|
seeing some similitude. Something it was more than he had yet seen
|
|
that Moses desired. If it was purely for the assisting of his faith
|
|
and devotion, the desire was commendable; but perhaps there was in
|
|
it a mixture of human infirmity. God will have us walk by faith,
|
|
not by sight, in this world; and <i>faith comes by hearing.</i>
|
|
Some think that Moses desired a sight of God's glory as a token of
|
|
his reconciliation, and an earnest of that presence which he had
|
|
promised them; but he knew not what he asked.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxiv-p19">2. The gracious reply God made to this
|
|
request. (1.) He denied that which was not fit to be granted, and
|
|
which Moses could not bear: <i>Thou canst not see my face,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 33:20" id="Ex.xxxiv-p19.1" parsed="|Exod|33|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. A full
|
|
discovery of the glory of God would quite overpower the faculties
|
|
of any mortal man in this present state, and overwhelm him, even
|
|
Moses himself. Man is mean and unworthy of it, weak and could not
|
|
bear it, guilty and could not but dread it. It is in compassion to
|
|
our infirmity that God <i>holdeth back the face of his throne, and
|
|
spreadeth a cloud upon it,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 26:9" id="Ex.xxxiv-p19.2" parsed="|Job|26|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.26.9">Job
|
|
xxvi. 9</scripRef>. God has said that <i>here</i> (that is, in this
|
|
world) his <i>face shall not be seen</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 33:23" id="Ex.xxxiv-p19.3" parsed="|Exod|33|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>); that is an honour reserved for
|
|
the future state, to be the eternal bliss of holy souls: should men
|
|
in this state know what it is, they would not be content to live
|
|
short of it. There is a knowledge and enjoyment of God which must
|
|
be waited for in another world, when we shall <i>see him as he
|
|
is,</i> <scripRef passage="1Jo 3:2" id="Ex.xxxiv-p19.4" parsed="|1John|3|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.3.2">1 John iii. 2</scripRef>. In
|
|
the meantime let us adore the height of what we do know of God,
|
|
and the depth of what we do not. Long before this, Jacob had spoken
|
|
of it with wonder that he had <i>seen God face to face,</i> and yet
|
|
<i>his life was preserved,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 32:30" id="Ex.xxxiv-p19.5" parsed="|Gen|32|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.32.30">Gen.
|
|
xxxii. 30</scripRef>. Sinful man dreads the sight of God his Judge;
|
|
but holy souls, being <i>by the Spirit of the Lord changed into the
|
|
same image, behold with open face the glory of the Lord.</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="2Co 3:18" id="Ex.xxxiv-p19.6" parsed="|2Cor|3|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.3.18">2 Cor. iii. 18</scripRef>. (2.) He
|
|
granted that which would be abundantly satisfying. [1.] He should
|
|
hear what would please him (<scripRef passage="Ex 33:19" id="Ex.xxxiv-p19.7" parsed="|Exod|33|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.19"><i>v.</i>
|
|
19</scripRef>): <i>I will make all my goodness pass before
|
|
thee.</i> He had given him wonderful instances of his goodness in
|
|
being reconciled to Israel: but that was only goodness in the
|
|
stream; he would show him goodness in the spring—<i>all his
|
|
goodness.</i> This was a sufficient answer to his request. "Show me
|
|
thy glory," says Moses. "I will show thee my goodness," says God.
|
|
Note, God's goodness is his glory; and he will have us to know him
|
|
by the glory of his mercy more than by the glory of his majesty;
|
|
for we must fear even <i>the Lord and his goodness,</i> <scripRef passage="Ho 3:5" id="Ex.xxxiv-p19.8" parsed="|Hos|3|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.3.5">Hos. iii. 5</scripRef>. That especially which is
|
|
the glory of God's goodness is the sovereignty of it, that he will
|
|
be <i>gracious to whom he will be gracious,</i> that, as an
|
|
absolute proprietor, he makes what difference he pleases in
|
|
bestowing his gifts, and is not debtor to any, nor accountable to
|
|
any (<i>may he not do what he will with his own?</i>); also that
|
|
all his reasons of mercy are fetched from within himself, not from
|
|
any merit in his creatures: as he has mercy on whom he will, so,
|
|
because he will. <i>Even so, Father, because it seemed good in thy
|
|
sight.</i> It is never said, "I will be angry at whom I will be
|
|
angry," for his wrath is always just and holy; but <i>I will show
|
|
mercy on whom I will show mercy,</i> for his grace is always free.
|
|
He never damns by prerogative, but by prerogative he saves. The
|
|
apostle quotes this (<scripRef passage="Ro 9:15" id="Ex.xxxiv-p19.9" parsed="|Rom|9|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.15">Rom. ix.
|
|
15</scripRef>) in answer to those who charged God with
|
|
unrighteousness in giving that grace freely to some which he
|
|
withholds justly from others. [2.] He should see what he could
|
|
bear, and what would suffice him. The matter is concerted so as
|
|
that Moses might be safe and yet satisfied. <i>First,</i> Save in a
|
|
<i>cleft of the rock,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 33:21,22" id="Ex.xxxiv-p19.10" parsed="|Exod|33|21|33|22" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.21-Exod.33.22"><i>v.</i>
|
|
21, 22</scripRef>. In this he was to be sheltered from the dazzling
|
|
light and devouring fire of God's glory. This was the rock in Horeb
|
|
out of which water was brought, of which it is said, <i>That rock
|
|
was Christ,</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 10:4" id="Ex.xxxiv-p19.11" parsed="|1Cor|10|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.10.4">1 Cor. x.
|
|
4</scripRef>. It is in the clefts of this rock that we are secured
|
|
from the wrath of God, which otherwise would consume us; God
|
|
himself will protect those that are thus hid. And it is only
|
|
through Christ that we have <i>the knowledge of the glory of
|
|
God.</i> None can see his glory to their comfort but those who
|
|
stand upon this rock, and take shelter in it. <i>Secondly,</i> He
|
|
was satisfied with a sight of his back-parts, <scripRef passage="Ex 33:23" id="Ex.xxxiv-p19.12" parsed="|Exod|33|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. He should see more of God than
|
|
any ever saw on earth, but not so much as those see who are in
|
|
heaven. The face, in man, is the seat of majesty, and men are known
|
|
by their faces; in them we take a full view of men. That sight of
|
|
God Moses might not have, but such a sight as we have of a man who
|
|
has gone past us, so that we only see his back, and have (as we
|
|
say) a blush of him. We cannot be said to look at God, but rather
|
|
to look after him (<scripRef passage="Ge 16:13" id="Ex.xxxiv-p19.13" parsed="|Gen|16|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.16.13">Gen. xvi.
|
|
13</scripRef>); for we see <i>through a glass darkly.</i> When we
|
|
see what God has done in his works, observe the goings of our God,
|
|
our King, we see (as it were) his back-parts. The best thus <i>know
|
|
but in part,</i> and we cannot order our speech concerning God, by
|
|
reason of darkness, any more than we can describe a man whose face
|
|
we never saw. Now Moses was allowed to see only the back-parts; but
|
|
long afterwards, when he was a witness to Christ's transfiguration,
|
|
he saw <i>his face shine as the sun.</i> If we faithfully improve
|
|
the discoveries God gives us of himself while we are here, a
|
|
brighter and more glorious scene will shortly be opened to us; for
|
|
<i>to him that hath shall be given.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXXIV" n="xxxv" progress="48.28%" prev="Ex.xxxiv" next="Ex.xxxvi" id="Ex.xxxv">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.xxxv-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.xxxv-p0.2">CHAP. XXXIV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.xxxv-p1">God having in the foregoing chapter intimated to
|
|
Moses his reconciliation to Israel, here gives proofs of it,
|
|
proceeding to settle his covenant and communion with them. Four
|
|
instances of the return of his favour we have in this chapter:—I.
|
|
The orders he gives to Moses to come up to the mount, the next
|
|
morning, and bring two tables of stone with him, <scripRef passage="Ex 34:1-4" id="Ex.xxxv-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|34|1|34|4" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.1-Exod.34.4">ver. 1-4</scripRef>. II. His meeting him there, and the
|
|
proclamation of his name, <scripRef passage="Ex 34:5-9" id="Ex.xxxv-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|34|5|34|9" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.5-Exod.34.9">ver.
|
|
5-9</scripRef>. III. The instructions he gave him there, and his
|
|
converse with him for forty days together, without intermission,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 34:10-28" id="Ex.xxxv-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|34|10|34|28" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.10-Exod.34.28">ver. 10-28</scripRef>. IV. The
|
|
honour he put upon him when he sent him down with his face shining,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 34:29-35" id="Ex.xxxv-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|34|29|34|35" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.29-Exod.34.35">ver. 29-35</scripRef>. In all this
|
|
God dealt with Moses as a public person, and mediator between him
|
|
and Israel, and a type of the great Mediator.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 34" id="Ex.xxxv-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|34|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 34:1-4" id="Ex.xxxv-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|34|1|34|4" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.1-Exod.34.4"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.34.1-Exod.34.4">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxxv-p1.7">God's Proclamation of
|
|
Himself. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxv-p1.8">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxxv-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxv-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first:
|
|
and I will write upon <i>these</i> tables the words that were in
|
|
the first tables, which thou brakest.   2 And be ready in the
|
|
morning, and come up in the morning unto Mount Sinai, and present
|
|
thyself there to me in the top of the mount.   3 And no man
|
|
shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all
|
|
the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount.
|
|
  4 And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and
|
|
Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto Mount Sinai,
|
|
as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxv-p2.2">Lord</span> had commanded him, and
|
|
took in his hand the two tables of stone.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxv-p3">The treaty that was on foot between God and
|
|
Israel being broken off abruptly, by their worshipping the golden
|
|
calf, when peace was made all must be begun anew, not where they
|
|
left off, but from the beginning. Thus backsliders must <i>repent,
|
|
and do their first works,</i> <scripRef passage="Re 2:5" id="Ex.xxxv-p3.1" parsed="|Rev|2|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.2.5">Rev. ii.
|
|
5</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxv-p4">I. Moses must prepare for the renewing of
|
|
the tables, <scripRef passage="Ex 34:1" id="Ex.xxxv-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|34|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>.
|
|
Before, God himself provided the tables, and wrote on them; now,
|
|
Moses must <i>hew out the tables,</i> and God would only write upon
|
|
them. Thus, in the first writing of the law upon the heart of man
|
|
in innocency, both the tables and the writing were the work of God;
|
|
but when those were broken and defaced by sin, and the divine law
|
|
was to be preserved in the scriptures, God therein made use of the
|
|
ministry of man, and Moses first. But the prophets and apostles did
|
|
only hew the tables, as it were; the writing was God's still, for
|
|
<i>all scripture is given by inspiration of God.</i> Observe, When
|
|
God was reconciled to them, he ordered the tables to be renewed,
|
|
and wrote his law in them, which plainly intimates to us, 1. That
|
|
even under the gospel of peace and reconciliation by Christ (of
|
|
which the intercession of Moses was typical) the moral law should
|
|
continue to bind believers. Though Christ has redeemed us from the
|
|
curse of the law, yet not from the command of it, but still we are
|
|
<i>under the law to Christ;</i> when our Saviour, in his sermon on
|
|
the mount, expounded the moral law, and vindicated it from the
|
|
corrupt glosses with which the scribes and Pharisees had broken it
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Mt 5:19" id="Ex.xxxv-p4.2" parsed="|Matt|5|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.5.19">Matt. v. 19</scripRef>), he did in
|
|
effect renew the tables, and make them like the first, that is,
|
|
reduce the law to its primitive sense and intention. 2. That the
|
|
best evidence of the pardon of sin and peace with God is the
|
|
writing of the law in the heart. The first token God gave of his
|
|
reconciliation to Israel was the renewing of the tables of the law;
|
|
thus the first article of the new covenant is, <i>I will write my
|
|
law in their heart</i> (<scripRef passage="Heb 8:10" id="Ex.xxxv-p4.3" parsed="|Heb|8|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.8.10">Heb. viii.
|
|
10</scripRef>), and it follows (<scripRef passage="Ex 34:12" id="Ex.xxxv-p4.4" parsed="|Exod|34|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), <i>for I will be merciful to
|
|
their unrighteousness.</i> 3. That, if we would have God to write
|
|
the law in our hearts, we must prepare our hearts for the reception
|
|
of it. The heart of stone must be hewn by conviction and
|
|
humiliation for sin (<scripRef passage="Ho 6:5" id="Ex.xxxv-p4.5" parsed="|Hos|6|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.6.5">Hos. vi.
|
|
5</scripRef>), the <i>superfluity of naughtiness</i> must be taken
|
|
off (<scripRef passage="Jam 1:21" id="Ex.xxxv-p4.6" parsed="|Jas|1|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jas.1.21">James i. 21</scripRef>), the
|
|
heart made smooth, and laboured with, that the word may have a
|
|
place in it. Moses did accordingly hew out the <i>tables of
|
|
stone,</i> or slate, for they were so slight and thin that Moses
|
|
carried them both in his hand; and, for their dimensions, they must
|
|
have been somewhat less, and perhaps not much, than the ark in
|
|
which they were deposited, which was a yard and quarter long, and
|
|
three quarters broad. It should seem there was nothing particularly
|
|
curious in the framing of them, for there was no great time taken;
|
|
Moses had them ready presently, to take up with him, next morning.
|
|
They were to receive their beauty, not from the art of man, but
|
|
from the finger of God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxv-p5">II. Moses must attend again on the top of
|
|
Mount Sinai, and present himself to God there, <scripRef passage="Ex 34:2" id="Ex.xxxv-p5.1" parsed="|Exod|34|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. Though the absence of Moses, and
|
|
his continuance so long on the mount, had lately occasioned their
|
|
making the golden calf, yet God did not therefore alter his
|
|
measures, but he shall come up and tarry as long as he had done, to
|
|
try whether they had learned to wait. To strike an awe upon the
|
|
people, they are directed to keep their distance, none must come up
|
|
with him, <scripRef passage="Ex 34:3" id="Ex.xxxv-p5.2" parsed="|Exod|34|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. They
|
|
had said (<scripRef passage="Ex 32:1" id="Ex.xxxv-p5.3" parsed="|Exod|32|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.1"><i>ch.</i> xxxii.
|
|
1</scripRef>), <i>We know not what has become of him,</i> and God
|
|
will not let them know. Moses, accordingly, <i>rose up early</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 34:4" id="Ex.xxxv-p5.4" parsed="|Exod|34|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>) to go to the
|
|
place appointed, to show how forward he was to present himself
|
|
before God and loth to lose time. It is good to be early at our
|
|
devotions. The morning is perhaps as good a friend to the graces as
|
|
it is to the muses.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 34:5-9" id="Ex.xxxv-p5.5" parsed="|Exod|34|5|34|9" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.5-Exod.34.9"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.34.5-Exod.34.9">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxxv-p6">5 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxv-p6.1">Lord</span>
|
|
descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed
|
|
the name of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxv-p6.2">Lord</span>.   6 And
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxv-p6.3">Lord</span> passed by before him, and
|
|
proclaimed, The <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxv-p6.4">Lord</span>, The <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxv-p6.5">Lord</span> God, merciful and gracious,
|
|
longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,   7 Keeping
|
|
mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,
|
|
and that will by no means clear <i>the guilty;</i> visiting the
|
|
iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's
|
|
children, unto the third and to the fourth <i>generation.</i>
|
|
  8 And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth,
|
|
and worshipped.   9 And he said, If now I have found grace in
|
|
thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it
|
|
<i>is</i> a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our
|
|
sin, and take us for thine inheritance.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxv-p7">No sooner had Moses got to the top of the
|
|
mount than God gave him the meeting (<scripRef passage="Ex 34:5" id="Ex.xxxv-p7.1" parsed="|Exod|34|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>): <i>The Lord descended,</i> by
|
|
some sensible token of his presence, and manifestation of his
|
|
glory. His descending bespeaks his condescension; he humbles
|
|
himself to take cognizance of those that humble themselves to walk
|
|
with him. <scripRef passage="Ps 113:6" id="Ex.xxxv-p7.2" parsed="|Ps|113|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.113.6">Ps. cxiii. 6</scripRef>,
|
|
<i>Lord, what is man, that he should be thus visited?</i> He
|
|
descended <i>in the cloud,</i> probably that pillar of cloud which
|
|
had hitherto gone before Israel, and had the day before met Moses
|
|
at the door of the tabernacle. This cloud was to strike an awe upon
|
|
Moses, that the familiarity he was admitted to might not breed
|
|
contempt. The disciples <i>feared, when they entered the cloud.</i>
|
|
His making a cloud his pavilion intimated that, though he made
|
|
known much of himself, yet there was much more concealed. Now
|
|
observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxv-p8">I. How God proclaimed his name (<scripRef passage="Ex 34:6,7" id="Ex.xxxv-p8.1" parsed="|Exod|34|6|34|7" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.6-Exod.34.7"><i>v.</i> 6, 7</scripRef>): he did it <i>in
|
|
transitu—as he passed by him.</i> Fixed views of God are reserved
|
|
for the future state; the best we have in this world are transient.
|
|
God now was performing what he had promised Moses, the day before,
|
|
that his glory should pass by, <scripRef passage="Ex 33:22" id="Ex.xxxv-p8.2" parsed="|Exod|33|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.22"><i>ch.</i> xxxiii. 22</scripRef>. He <i>proclaimed the
|
|
name of the Lord,</i> by which he would make himself known. He had
|
|
made himself known to Moses in the glory of his self-existence and
|
|
self-sufficiency when he proclaimed that name, <i>I am that I
|
|
am;</i> now he makes himself known in the glory of his grace, and
|
|
goodness, and all-sufficiency to us. Now that God is about to
|
|
publish a second edition of the law he prefaces it with this
|
|
proclamation; for it is God's grace or goodness that gives the law,
|
|
especially the remedial law. The pardon of Israel's sin in
|
|
worshipping the calf was now to pass the seals; and God, by this
|
|
declaration, would let them know that he pardoned <i>ex mero
|
|
motu—merely out of his own good pleasure,</i> not for their
|
|
merits' sake, but from his own inclination to forgive. The
|
|
proclaiming of it denotes the universal extent of God's mercy. He
|
|
is not only good to Israel, but good to all; let all take notice of
|
|
it. He that hath an ear, let him hear, and know, and believe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxv-p9">1. That the God with whom we have to do is
|
|
a great God. He is Jehovah, the Lord, who has his being of himself,
|
|
and is the fountain of all being, <i>Jehovah-El, the Lord, the
|
|
strong God,</i> a God of almighty power himself, and the original
|
|
of all power. This is prefixed before the display of his mercy, to
|
|
teach us to think and to speak even of God's grace and goodness
|
|
with great seriousness and a holy awe, and to encourage us to
|
|
depend upon these mercies; they are not the mercies of a man, that
|
|
is frail and feeble, false and fickle, but the mercies of the Lord,
|
|
the Lord God; therefore sure mercies, and sovereign mercies,
|
|
mercies that may be trusted, but not tempted.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxv-p10">2. That he is a good God. His greatness and
|
|
goodness illustrate and set off each other. That the terror of his
|
|
greatness may not make us afraid, we are told how good he is; and,
|
|
that we may not presume upon his goodness, we are told how great he
|
|
is. Many words are here heaped up, to acquaint us with, and
|
|
convince us of, God's goodness, and to show how much his goodness
|
|
is both his glory and his delight, yet without any tautology. (1.)
|
|
He is <i>merciful.</i> This bespeaks his tender compassion, like
|
|
that of a father to his children. This is put first, because it is
|
|
the first wheel in all the instances of God's good-will to fallen
|
|
man, whose misery makes him an object of pity, <scripRef passage="Jdg 10:16,Isa 63:9" id="Ex.xxxv-p10.1" parsed="|Judg|10|16|0|0;|Isa|63|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.10.16 Bible:Isa.63.9">Judg. x. 16; Isa. lxiii. 9</scripRef>. Let us
|
|
not then have either hard thoughts of God or hard hearts towards
|
|
our brethren. (2.) He is <i>gracious.</i> This bespeaks both
|
|
freeness and kindness; it intimates not only that he has a
|
|
compassion to his creatures, but a complacency in them and in doing
|
|
good to them, and this of his own good-will, and not for the sake
|
|
of any thing in them. His mercy is grace, free grace; this teaches
|
|
us to be not only pitiful, but courteous, <scripRef passage="1Pe 3:8" id="Ex.xxxv-p10.2" parsed="|1Pet|3|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.3.8">1 Pet. iii. 8</scripRef>. (3.) He is
|
|
<i>long-suffering.</i> This is a branch of God's goodness which the
|
|
wickedness of sinners gives occasion for; that of Israel had done
|
|
so: they had tried his patience, and experienced it. He is
|
|
long-suffering, that is, he is slow to anger, and delays the
|
|
execution of his justice; he waits to be gracious, and lengthens
|
|
out the offers of his mercy. (4.) He is <i>abundant in goodness and
|
|
truth.</i> This bespeaks plentiful goodness, goodness abounding
|
|
above our deserts, above our conception and expression. The springs
|
|
of mercy are always full, the streams of mercy always flowing;
|
|
there is mercy enough in God, enough for all, enough for each,
|
|
enough for ever. It bespeaks promised goodness, goodness and truth
|
|
put together, goodness engaged by promise, and his faithfulness
|
|
pledged for the security of it. He not only does good, but by his
|
|
promise he raises our expectation of it, and even binds himself to
|
|
show mercy. (5.) He keepeth <i>mercy for thousands.</i> This
|
|
denotes, [1.] Mercy extended to thousands of persons. When he gives
|
|
to some, still he keeps for others, and is never exhausted; he has
|
|
mercy enough for all the thousands of Israel, when they shall
|
|
<i>multiply as the sand.</i> [2.] Mercy entailed upon thousands of
|
|
generations, even those upon whom the ends of the world have come;
|
|
nay, the line of it is drawn parallel with that of eternity itself.
|
|
(6.) He <i>for giveth iniquity, transgression, and sin.</i>
|
|
Pardoning mercy is specified, because in this divine grace is most
|
|
magnified, and because in this divine grace is most magnified, and
|
|
because it is this which opens the door to all other gifts of his
|
|
divine grace, and because of this he had lately given a very
|
|
pregnant proof. He forgives offences of all sorts—<i>iniquity,
|
|
transgression, and sin,</i> multiplies his pardons; and with him is
|
|
<i>plenteous redemption.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxv-p11">3. That he is a just and holy God. For,
|
|
(1.) <i>He will by no means clear the guilty.</i> Some read it so
|
|
as to express a mitigation of wrath, even when he does punish:
|
|
<i>When he empties, he will not make quite desolate;</i> that is,
|
|
"He does not proceed to the greatest extremity, till there be no
|
|
remedy." As we read it, we must expound it that he will by no means
|
|
connive at the guilty, as if he took no notice of their sin. Or, he
|
|
will not clear the impenitently guilty, that go on still in their
|
|
trespasses: he will not clear the guilty without some satisfaction
|
|
to his justice, and necessary vindications of the honour of his
|
|
government. (2.) <i>He visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the
|
|
children.</i> He may justly do it, for all souls are his, and there
|
|
is a malignity in sin that taints the blood. He sometimes will do
|
|
it, especially for the punishment of idolaters. Thus he shows his
|
|
hatred to sin, and displeasure against it; yet he <i>keepeth not
|
|
his anger for ever,</i> but visits to the third and fourth
|
|
generation only, while he <i>keepeth his mercy for thousands.</i>
|
|
Well, this is God's name for ever, and this is his memorial unto
|
|
all generations.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxv-p12">II. How Moses received this declaration
|
|
which God made of himself, and of his grace and mercy. It should
|
|
seem as if Moses accepted this as a sufficient answer to his
|
|
request that God would <i>show him his glory;</i> for we read not
|
|
that he went into the cleft of the rock, whence to gain a sight of
|
|
God's back parts. Perhaps this satisfied him, and he desired no
|
|
more; as we read not that Thomas did <i>thrust his hand into
|
|
Christ's side,</i> though Christ invited him to do it. God having
|
|
thus proclaimed his name, Moses says, "It is enough, I expect no
|
|
more till I come to heaven;" at least he did not think fit to
|
|
relate what he saw. Now we are here told,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxv-p13">1. What impression it made upon him:
|
|
<i>Moses made haste, and bowed his head,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 34:8" id="Ex.xxxv-p13.1" parsed="|Exod|34|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. Thus he expressed, (1.) His
|
|
humble reverence and adoration of God's glory, giving him <i>the
|
|
honour due to that name</i> he had thus proclaimed. Even the
|
|
goodness of God must be looked upon by us with a profound
|
|
veneration and holy awe. (2.) His joy in this discovery which God
|
|
had made of himself, and his thankfulness for it. We have reason
|
|
gratefully to acknowledge God's goodness to us, not only in the
|
|
real instances of it, but in the declarations he has made of it by
|
|
his word; not only that he is, and will be, gracious to us, but
|
|
that he is pleased to let us know it. (3.) His holy submission to
|
|
the will of God, made known in this declaration, subscribing to his
|
|
justice as well as mercy, and putting himself and his people Israel
|
|
under the government and direction of such a God as Jehovah had now
|
|
proclaimed himself to be. Let this God be our God for ever and
|
|
ever.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxv-p14">2. What improvement he made of it. He
|
|
immediately grounded a prayer upon it (<scripRef passage="Ex 34:9" id="Ex.xxxv-p14.1" parsed="|Exod|34|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>); and a more earnest affectionate
|
|
prayer it is, (1.) For the presence of God with his people Israel
|
|
in the wilderness: "<i>I pray thee, go among us,</i> for thy
|
|
presence is all in all to our safety and success." (2.) For pardon
|
|
of sin: "<i>O pardon our iniquity and our sin,</i> else we cannot
|
|
expect thee to go among us." And, (3.) For the privileges of a
|
|
peculiar people: "Take us for <i>thy inheritance,</i> which thou
|
|
wilt have a particular eye to, and concern for, and delight in."
|
|
These things God had already promised, and given Moses assurances
|
|
of, and yet he prays for them, not as doubting the sincerity of
|
|
God's grants, but as one solicitous for the ratification of them.
|
|
God's promises are intended, not to supersede, but to direct and
|
|
encourage, prayer. Those who have some good hopes, through grace,
|
|
that their sins are pardoned, must yet continue to pray for pardon,
|
|
for the renewing of their pardon, and the clearing of it more and
|
|
more to their souls. The more we see of God's goodness the more
|
|
ashamed we should be of our own sins, and the more earnest for an
|
|
interest in it. God had said, in the close of the proclamation,
|
|
that he would <i>visit the iniquity upon the children;</i> and
|
|
Moses here deprecates that. "Lord, do not only pardon it to them,
|
|
but to their children, and let our covenant-relation to thee be
|
|
entailed upon our posterity, as an inheritance." Thus Moses, like a
|
|
man of a truly public spirit, intercedes even for the children that
|
|
should be born. But it is a strange plea he urges: <i>For it is a
|
|
stiff-necked people.</i> God had given this as a reason why he
|
|
would not go along with them, <scripRef passage="Ex 33:3" id="Ex.xxxv-p14.2" parsed="|Exod|33|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.3"><i>ch.</i> xxxiii. 3</scripRef>. "Yea," says Moses, "the
|
|
rather go along with us; for the worse they are the more need they
|
|
have of thy presence and grace to make them better." Moses sees
|
|
them so stiff-necked that, for his part, he has neither patience
|
|
nor power enough to deal with them. "Therefore, Lord, do thou go
|
|
among us, else they will never be kept in awe. Thou wilt spare, and
|
|
bear with them, for thou art <i>God, and not man,</i>" <scripRef passage="Ho 11:9" id="Ex.xxxv-p14.3" parsed="|Hos|11|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.11.9">Hos. xi. 9</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 34" id="Ex.xxxv-p14.4" parsed="|Exod|34|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 34:10-17" id="Ex.xxxv-p14.5" parsed="|Exod|34|10|34|17" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.10-Exod.34.17"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.34.10-Exod.34.17">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxxv-p14.6">A Caution Against Idolatry. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxv-p14.7">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxxv-p15">10 And he said, Behold, I make a covenant:
|
|
before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done
|
|
in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which
|
|
thou <i>art</i> shall see the work of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxv-p15.1">Lord</span>: for it <i>is</i> a terrible thing that I
|
|
will do with thee.   11 Observe thou that which I command thee
|
|
this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the
|
|
Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and
|
|
the Jebusite.   12 Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a
|
|
covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest
|
|
it be for a snare in the midst of thee:   13 But ye shall
|
|
destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their
|
|
groves:   14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxv-p15.2">Lord</span>, whose name <i>is</i> Jealous,
|
|
<i>is</i> a jealous God:   15 Lest thou make a covenant with
|
|
the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their
|
|
gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and <i>one</i> call thee,
|
|
and thou eat of his sacrifice;   16 And thou take of their
|
|
daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after
|
|
their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.  
|
|
17 Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxv-p16">Reconciliation being made, a covenant of
|
|
friendship is here settled between God and Israel. The traitors are
|
|
not only pardoned, but preferred and made favourites again. Well
|
|
may the assurances of this be ushered in with a <i>behold,</i> a
|
|
word commanding attention and admiration: <i>Behold, I make a
|
|
covenant.</i> When the covenant was broken, it was Israel that
|
|
broke it; now that it comes to be renewed, it is God that makes it.
|
|
If there be quarrels, we must bear all the blame; if there be
|
|
peace, God must have all the glory. Here is,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxv-p17">I. God's part of this covenant, what he
|
|
would do for them, <scripRef passage="Ex 34:10,11" id="Ex.xxxv-p17.1" parsed="|Exod|34|10|34|11" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.10-Exod.34.11"><i>v.</i> 10,
|
|
11</scripRef>. 1. In general: <i>Before all thy people, I will do
|
|
marvels.</i> Note, Covenant-blessings are marvellous things
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ps 98:1" id="Ex.xxxv-p17.2" parsed="|Ps|98|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.98.1">Ps. xcviii. 1</scripRef>), marvels in
|
|
the kingdom of grace; those mentioned here were marvels in the
|
|
kingdom of nature, the drying up of Jordan, the standing still of
|
|
the sun, &c. Marvels indeed, for they were without precedent,
|
|
<i>such as have not been done in all the earth.</i> They were the
|
|
joy of Israel, and the confirmation of their faith: <i>Thy people
|
|
shall see,</i> and own <i>the work of the Lord.</i> And they were
|
|
the terror of their enemies: <i>It is a terrible thing that I will
|
|
do.</i> Nay, even God's own people should see them with
|
|
astonishment. 2. In particular: <i>I drive out before thee the
|
|
Amorite.</i> God, as King of nations, plucks up some, to plant
|
|
others, as it pleases him; as King of saints, he made room for the
|
|
vine he brought out of Egypt, <scripRef passage="Ps 80:8,9" id="Ex.xxxv-p17.3" parsed="|Ps|80|8|80|9" osisRef="Bible:Ps.80.8-Ps.80.9">Ps.
|
|
lxxx. 8, 9</scripRef>. Kingdoms are sacrificed to Israel's
|
|
interests, <scripRef passage="Isa 43:3,4" id="Ex.xxxv-p17.4" parsed="|Isa|43|3|43|4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.43.3-Isa.43.4">Isa. xliii. 3,
|
|
4</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxv-p18">II. Their part of the covenant: <i>Observe
|
|
that which I command thee.</i> We cannot expect the benefit of the
|
|
promises unless we make conscience of the precepts.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxv-p19">1. The two great precepts are, (1.) <i>Thou
|
|
shalt worship no other gods</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 34:14" id="Ex.xxxv-p19.1" parsed="|Exod|34|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>), not give divine honour to any
|
|
creature, or any name whatsoever, the creature of fancy. A good
|
|
reason is annexed. It is at thy peril if thou do: <i>For the Lord,
|
|
whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God,</i> as tender in the
|
|
matters of his worship as the husband is of the honour of the
|
|
marriage-bed. Jealousy is called the <i>rage of a man</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Pr 6:34" id="Ex.xxxv-p19.2" parsed="|Prov|6|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.6.34">Prov. vi. 34</scripRef>), but it is
|
|
<i>God's holy and just displeasure.</i> Those cannot worship God
|
|
aright who do not worship him alone. (2.) "<i>Thou shalt make thee
|
|
no molten god</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 34:17" id="Ex.xxxv-p19.3" parsed="|Exod|34|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.17"><i>v.</i>
|
|
17</scripRef>); thou shalt not worship the true God by images."
|
|
This was the sin they had lately fallen into, which therefore they
|
|
are particularly cautioned against.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxv-p20">2. Fences are here erected about these two
|
|
precepts by two others: (1.) That they might not be tempted to
|
|
worship other gods, they must not join in affinity or friendship
|
|
with those that did (<scripRef passage="Ex 34:12" id="Ex.xxxv-p20.1" parsed="|Exod|34|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.12"><i>v.</i>
|
|
12</scripRef>): "<i>Take heed to thyself,</i> for thou art upon thy
|
|
good behaviour. It is a sin that thou art prone to and that will
|
|
easily beset thee, and therefore be very cautious, and carefully
|
|
abstain from all appearances of it and advances towards it. <i>Make
|
|
no covenant with the inhabitants of the land.</i>" If God, in
|
|
kindness to them, drove out the Canaanites, they ought, in duty to
|
|
God, not to harbour them. What could be insisted on more reasonable
|
|
than this? If God make war with the Canaanites, let not Israel make
|
|
peace with them. If God take care that the Canaanites be not their
|
|
lords, let them take care that they be not their snares. It was for
|
|
their civil interest to complete the conquest of the land; so much
|
|
does God consult our benefit in the laws he gives us. They must
|
|
particularly take heed of intermarrying with them, <scripRef passage="Ex 34:15,16" id="Ex.xxxv-p20.2" parsed="|Exod|34|15|34|16" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.15-Exod.34.16"><i>v.</i> 15, 16</scripRef>. If they espoused
|
|
their children, they would be in danger of espousing their gods;
|
|
such is the corruption of nature that the bad are much more likely
|
|
to debauch the good than the good to reform the bad. The way of sin
|
|
is downhill: those that are in league with idolaters will come by
|
|
degrees to be in love with idolatry; and those that are prevailed
|
|
upon to eat of the idolatrous sacrifice will come at length to
|
|
offer it. <i>Obsta principiis—Nip the mischief in the bud.</i>
|
|
(2.) That they might not be tempted to make molten gods, they must
|
|
utterly destroy those they found and all that belong to them, the
|
|
altars and groves (<scripRef passage="Ex 34:13" id="Ex.xxxv-p20.3" parsed="|Exod|34|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.13"><i>v.</i>
|
|
13</scripRef>), lest, if these were left standing, they should be
|
|
brought, in process of time, either to use them or to take pattern
|
|
by them, or to abate in their detestation and dread of idolatry.
|
|
The relics of idolatry ought to be abolished as affronts to the
|
|
holy God and a great reproach to human nature. Let it never be said
|
|
that men who pretend to reason were ever guilty of such absurdities
|
|
as to make gods of their own and worship them.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 34" id="Ex.xxxv-p20.4" parsed="|Exod|34|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 34:18-27" id="Ex.xxxv-p20.5" parsed="|Exod|34|18|34|27" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.18-Exod.34.27"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.34.18-Exod.34.27">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxxv-p20.6">Solemn Feasts Appointed. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxv-p20.7">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxxv-p21">18 The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou
|
|
keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded
|
|
thee, in the time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib thou
|
|
camest out from Egypt.   19 All that openeth the matrix
|
|
<i>is</i> mine; and every firstling among thy cattle,
|
|
<i>whether</i> ox or sheep, <i>that is male.</i>   20 But the
|
|
firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou
|
|
redeem <i>him</i> not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the
|
|
firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear
|
|
before me empty.   21 Six days thou shalt work, but on the
|
|
seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou
|
|
shalt rest.   22 And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of
|
|
the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at
|
|
the year's end.   23 Thrice in the year shall all your men
|
|
children appear before the Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxv-p21.1">God</span>,
|
|
the God of Israel.   24 For I will cast out the nations before
|
|
thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy
|
|
land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxv-p21.2">Lord</span> thy God thrice in the year.   25 Thou
|
|
shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither
|
|
shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the
|
|
morning.   26 The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou
|
|
shalt bring unto the house of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxv-p21.3">Lord</span> thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his
|
|
mother's milk.   27 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxv-p21.4">Lord</span> said unto Moses, Write thou these words:
|
|
for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee
|
|
and with Israel.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxv-p22">Here is a repetition of several
|
|
appointments made before, especially relating to their solemn
|
|
feasts. When they had made the calf, they proclaimed a feast in
|
|
honour of it; now, that they might never do so again, they are here
|
|
charged with the observance of the feasts which God had instituted.
|
|
Note, Men need not be drawn from their religion by the temptation
|
|
of mirth, for we serve a Master that has abundantly provided for
|
|
the joy of his servants: serious godliness is a continual feast,
|
|
and joy in God always.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxv-p23">I. Once a week they must rest (<scripRef passage="Ex 34:21" id="Ex.xxxv-p23.1" parsed="|Exod|34|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>), <i>even in earing
|
|
time, and in harvest,</i> the most busy times of the year. All
|
|
worldly business must give way to that holy rest; harvest-work will
|
|
prosper the better for the religious observance of the sabbath-day
|
|
in harvest-time. Hereby we must show that we prefer our communion
|
|
with God, and our duty to him, before either the business or the
|
|
joy of harvest.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxv-p24">II. Thrice a year they must feast
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 34:23" id="Ex.xxxv-p24.1" parsed="|Exod|34|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>); they must
|
|
then appear <i>before the Lord, God, the God of Israel.</i> In all
|
|
our religious approaches to God, we must eye him as the Lord God,
|
|
infinitely blessed, great, and glorious, that we may worship him
|
|
with reverence and godly fear, as the God of Israel, a God in
|
|
covenant with us, that we may be encouraged to trust in him, and to
|
|
serve him cheerfully. We always are before God; but, in holy
|
|
duties, we present ourselves before him, as servants to receive
|
|
commands, as petitioners to sue for favours, and we have reason to
|
|
do both with joy. But it might be suggested that, when all the
|
|
males from every part of the country had gone up to worship in the
|
|
place that God should choose, the country would be left exposed to
|
|
the insults of their neighbours; and what would become of the poor
|
|
women and children, and sick and aged, that were left at home?
|
|
Trust God with them (<scripRef passage="Ex 34:24" id="Ex.xxxv-p24.2" parsed="|Exod|34|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.24"><i>v.</i>
|
|
24</scripRef>): <i>Neither shall any man desire thy land;</i> not
|
|
only they shall not invade it, but they shall not so much as think
|
|
of invading it. Note, 1. All hearts are in God's hands, and under
|
|
his check; he can lay a restraint, not only upon men's actions, but
|
|
upon their desires. Canaan was a desirable land, and the
|
|
neighbouring nations were greedy enough; and yet God says, "They
|
|
shall not desire it." Let us check all sinful desires in our own
|
|
hearts against God and his glory, and then trust him to check all
|
|
sinful desires in the hearts of others against us and our interest.
|
|
2. The way of duty is the way of safety. If we serve God, he will
|
|
preserve us; and those that venture for him shall never lose by
|
|
him. While we are employed in God's work, and are attending upon
|
|
him, we are taken under special protection, as noblemen and members
|
|
of parliament are privileged from arrests.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxv-p25">III. The three feasts are here mentioned,
|
|
with their appendages. 1. The passover, and the feast of unleavened
|
|
bread, in remembrance of their deliverance out of Egypt; and to
|
|
this is annexed the law of the redemption of the first-born,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 34:18-20" id="Ex.xxxv-p25.1" parsed="|Exod|34|18|34|20" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.18-Exod.34.20"><i>v.</i> 18-20</scripRef>. This
|
|
feast was instituted, <scripRef passage="Ex 12:13" id="Ex.xxxv-p25.2" parsed="|Exod|12|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.13"><i>ch.</i> xii.
|
|
13</scripRef>, and urged again, <scripRef passage="Ex 23:15" id="Ex.xxxv-p25.3" parsed="|Exod|23|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.15"><i>ch.</i> xxiii. 15</scripRef>. 2. The feast of weeks,
|
|
that is, that of pentecost, seven weeks after the passover; and to
|
|
this is annexed the law of the first-fruits. 3. The feast of
|
|
in-gathering at the year's end, which was the feast of tabernacles
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 34:22" id="Ex.xxxv-p25.4" parsed="|Exod|34|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>): of these
|
|
also he had spoken before, <scripRef passage="Ex 23:16" id="Ex.xxxv-p25.5" parsed="|Exod|23|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.16"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xxiii. 16</scripRef>. As to those laws repeated here (<scripRef passage="Ex 34:25,26" id="Ex.xxxv-p25.6" parsed="|Exod|34|25|34|26" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.25-Exod.34.26"><i>v.</i> 25, 26</scripRef>), that against
|
|
leaven relates to the passover, that of the first-fruits to the
|
|
feast of pentecost, and therefore that against seething the kid in
|
|
his mother's milk in all probability relates to the feast of
|
|
in-gathering, at which God would not have them use that
|
|
superstitious ceremony, which probably they had seen the Egyptians,
|
|
or some other of the neighbouring nations, bless their harvests
|
|
with.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxv-p26">IV. With these laws, here repeated, it is
|
|
probable all that was said to him when he was before upon the mount
|
|
was repeated likewise, and the model of the tabernacle shown him
|
|
again, lest the ruffle and discomposure, which the golden calf had
|
|
put him in to should have bereaved him of the ideas he had in mind
|
|
of what he had seen and heard; also in token of a complete
|
|
reconciliation, and to show that <i>not one jot or tittle of the
|
|
law should pass away,</i> but that all should be carefully
|
|
preserved by the great Mediator, who came not to destroy, but to
|
|
fulfil, <scripRef passage="Mt 5:17,18" id="Ex.xxxv-p26.1" parsed="|Matt|5|17|5|18" osisRef="Bible:Matt.5.17-Matt.5.18">Matt. v. 17, 18</scripRef>.
|
|
And in the close, 1. Moses is ordered to write these words
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 34:27" id="Ex.xxxv-p26.2" parsed="|Exod|34|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>), that the
|
|
people might be the better acquainted with them by a frequent
|
|
perusal, and that they might be transmitted to the generations to
|
|
come. We can never be enough thankful to God for the written word.
|
|
2. He is told that according to the tenour of these words God would
|
|
make a covenant with Moses and Israel; not with Israel immediately,
|
|
but with them in Moses a mediator. Thus the covenant of grace is
|
|
made with believers through Christ, who is <i>given for a covenant
|
|
to the people,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 49:8" id="Ex.xxxv-p26.3" parsed="|Isa|49|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.49.8">Isa. xlix.
|
|
8</scripRef>. And, as here the covenant was made according to the
|
|
tenour of the command, so it is still; for we are by baptism
|
|
brought into covenant, that we may be <i>taught to observe all
|
|
things whatsoever Christ has commanded us,</i> <scripRef passage="Mt 28:19,20" id="Ex.xxxv-p26.4" parsed="|Matt|28|19|28|20" osisRef="Bible:Matt.28.19-Matt.28.20">Matt. xxviii. 19, 20</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 34:28-35" id="Ex.xxxv-p26.5" parsed="|Exod|34|28|34|35" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.28-Exod.34.35"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.34.28-Exod.34.35">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxxv-p26.6">The Veil of Moses. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxv-p26.7">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxxv-p27">28 And he was there with the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxv-p27.1">Lord</span> forty days and forty nights; he did neither
|
|
eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words
|
|
of the covenant, the ten commandments.   29 And it came to
|
|
pass, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tables of
|
|
testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that
|
|
Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with
|
|
him.   30 And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw
|
|
Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to
|
|
come nigh him.   31 And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and
|
|
all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses
|
|
talked with them.   32 And afterward all the children of
|
|
Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxv-p27.2">Lord</span> had spoken with him in mount
|
|
Sinai.   33 And <i>till</i> Moses had done speaking with them,
|
|
he put a vail on his face.   34 But when Moses went in before
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxv-p27.3">Lord</span> to speak with him, he took
|
|
the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto
|
|
the children of Israel <i>that</i> which he was commanded.  
|
|
35 And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin
|
|
of Moses' face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again,
|
|
until he went in to speak with him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxv-p28">Here is, I. The continuance of Moses in the
|
|
mount, where he was miraculously sustained, <scripRef passage="Ex 34:28" id="Ex.xxxv-p28.1" parsed="|Exod|34|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>. He was there in very intimate
|
|
communion with God, without interruption, forty days and forty
|
|
nights, and did not think it long. When we are weary of an hour or
|
|
two spent in attendance upon God and adoration of him, we should
|
|
think how many days and nights Moses spent with him, and of the
|
|
eternal day we hope to spend in praising him. During all this time
|
|
Moses did neither eat nor drink. Though he had before been kept so
|
|
long fasting, yet he did not, this second time, take up so many
|
|
days' provision along with him, but believed that <i>man lives not
|
|
by bread alone,</i> and encouraged himself with the experience he
|
|
had of the truth of it. So long he continued without meat and drink
|
|
(and probably without sleep too), for, 1. The power of God
|
|
supported him, that he did not need it. He who made the body can
|
|
nourish it without ordinary means, which he uses, but is not tied
|
|
to. <i>The life is more than meat.</i> 2. His communion with God
|
|
entertained him, so that he did not desire it. He had meat to eat
|
|
which the world knew not of, for it was his meat and drink to hear
|
|
the word of God and pray. The abundant satisfaction his soul had in
|
|
the word of God and the visions of the Almighty made him forget the
|
|
body and the pleasures of it. When God would treat his favourite
|
|
Moses, it was not with meat and drink, but with his light, law, and
|
|
love, with the knowledge of himself and his will; then man did
|
|
indeed eat angels' food. See what we should value as the truest
|
|
pleasure. <i>The kingdom of God is not meat and drink,</i> neither
|
|
the abundance nor delicacy of food, but <i>righteousness and peace
|
|
and joy in the Holy Ghost.</i> As Moses, so Elijah and Christ,
|
|
fasted forty days and forty nights. The more dead we are to the
|
|
delights of sense the better prepared we are for the pleasures of
|
|
heaven.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxv-p29">II. The coming down of Moses from the
|
|
mount, greatly enriched and miraculously adorned.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxv-p30">1. He came down enriched with the best
|
|
treasure; for he brought in his hands the two tables of the law,
|
|
written with the finger of God, <scripRef passage="Ex 34:28,29" id="Ex.xxxv-p30.1" parsed="|Exod|34|28|34|29" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.28-Exod.34.29"><i>v.</i> 28, 29</scripRef>. It is a great favour to
|
|
have the law given us; this favour was shown to Israel, <scripRef passage="Ps 147:19,20" id="Ex.xxxv-p30.2" parsed="|Ps|147|19|147|20" osisRef="Bible:Ps.147.19-Ps.147.20">Ps. cxlvii. 19, 20</scripRef>. It is a great
|
|
honour to be employed in delivering God's law to others; this
|
|
honour was done to Moses.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxv-p31">2. He came down adorned with the best
|
|
beauty; for the <i>skin of his face shone,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 34:29" id="Ex.xxxv-p31.1" parsed="|Exod|34|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>. This time of his being in the
|
|
mount he heard only what he had heard before, but he saw more of
|
|
the glory of God, which having with open face beheld, he was in
|
|
some measure <i>changed into the same image from glory to
|
|
glory,</i> <scripRef passage="2Co 3:18" id="Ex.xxxv-p31.2" parsed="|2Cor|3|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.3.18">2 Cor. iii. 18</scripRef>.
|
|
The last time he came down from the mount with the glory of a
|
|
magistrate, to frown upon and chastise Israel's idolatry; now with
|
|
the glory of an angel, with tidings of peace and reconciliation.
|
|
Then he came with a rod, now with the spirit of meekness. Now,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxv-p32">(1.) This may be looked upon, [1.] As a
|
|
great honour done to Moses, that the people might never again
|
|
question his mission nor think nor speak lightly of him. He carried
|
|
his credentials in his very countenance, which, some think,
|
|
retained, as long as he lived, some remainders of this glory, which
|
|
perhaps contributed to the vigour of his old age; that eye could
|
|
not wax dim which had seen God, nor that face become wrinkled which
|
|
had shone with his glory. The Israelites could not look him in the
|
|
face but they must there read his commission. Thus it was done to
|
|
the man whom the King of kings did delight to honour. Yet, after
|
|
this, they murmured against him; for the most sensible proofs will
|
|
not of themselves conquer an obstinate infidelity. The shining of
|
|
Moses's face was a great honour to him; yet that was no glory, in
|
|
comparison with the glory which excelled. We read of our Lord
|
|
Jesus, not only that <i>his face shone</i> as the sun, but his
|
|
whole body also, for his <i>raiment was white and glistering,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Lu 9:29" id="Ex.xxxv-p32.1" parsed="|Luke|9|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.9.29">Luke ix. 29</scripRef>. But, when he
|
|
came down from the mount, he quite laid aside that glory, it being
|
|
his will that we should <i>walk by faith, not by sight.</i> [2.] It
|
|
was also a great favour to the people, and an encouragement to
|
|
them, that God put this glory upon him, who was their intercessor,
|
|
thereby giving them assurance that he was accepted, and they
|
|
through him. Thus the advancement of Christ, our advocate with the
|
|
Father, is the great support of our faith. [3.] It was the effect
|
|
of his sight of God. Communion with God, <i>First,</i> Makes the
|
|
face to shine in true honour. Serious godliness puts a lustre upon
|
|
a man's countenance, such as commands esteem and affection.
|
|
<i>Secondly,</i> It should make the face to shine in universal
|
|
holiness. When we have been in the mount with God, we should let
|
|
our <i>light shine before men,</i> in humility, meekness, and all
|
|
the instances of a heavenly conversation; thus must the <i>beauty
|
|
of the Lord our God be upon us,</i> even the <i>beauty of
|
|
holiness,</i> that all we converse with may <i>take knowledge of us
|
|
that we have been with Jesus,</i> <scripRef passage="Ac 4:13" id="Ex.xxxv-p32.2" parsed="|Acts|4|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.4.13">Acts
|
|
iv. 13</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxv-p33">(2.) Concerning the shining of Moses's face
|
|
observe here, [1.] Moses was not aware of it himself: <i>He wist
|
|
not that the skin of his face shone,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 34:29" id="Ex.xxxv-p33.1" parsed="|Exod|34|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>. Thus, <i>First,</i> It is the
|
|
infelicity of some that, though their faces shine in true grace,
|
|
yet they do not know it, to take the comfort of it. Their friends
|
|
see much of God in them, but they themselves are ready to think
|
|
they have no grace. <i>Secondly,</i> It is the humility of others
|
|
that, though their faces shine in eminent gifts and usefulness, yet
|
|
they do not know it, to be puffed up with it. Whatever beauty God
|
|
puts upon us, we should still be filled with a humble sense of our
|
|
own unworthiness, and manifold infirmities, as will make us even
|
|
overlook and forget that which makes our faces shine. [2.] Aaron
|
|
and the children of Israel saw it, and <i>were afraid,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 34:30" id="Ex.xxxv-p33.2" parsed="|Exod|34|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>. The truth of
|
|
it was attested by a multitude of witnesses, who were also
|
|
conscious of the terror of it. It not only dazzled their eyes, but
|
|
struck such an awe upon them as obliged them to retire. Probably
|
|
they doubted whether it were a token of God's favour or of his
|
|
displeasure; and, though it seemed most likely to be a good omen,
|
|
yet, being conscious of guilt, they feared the worst, especially
|
|
remembering the posture Moses found them in when he came last down
|
|
from the mount. Holiness will command reverence; but the sense of
|
|
sin makes men afraid of their friends, and even of that which
|
|
really is a favour to them. [3.] Moses put a <i>veil upon his
|
|
face,</i> when he perceived that it shone, <scripRef passage="Ex 34:33,35" id="Ex.xxxv-p33.3" parsed="|Exod|34|33|0|0;|Exod|34|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.33 Bible:Exod.34.35"><i>v.</i> 33, 35</scripRef>. <i>First,</i> This
|
|
teaches us all a lesson of modesty and humility. We must be content
|
|
to have our excellences obscured, and a veil drawn over them, not
|
|
coveting to <i>make a fair show in the flesh.</i> Those that are
|
|
truly desirous to be owned and accepted of God will likewise desire
|
|
not to be taken notice of nor applauded by men. <i>Qui bene latuit,
|
|
bene vixit—There is a laudable concealment. Secondly,</i> It
|
|
teaches ministers to accommodate themselves to the capacities of
|
|
people, and to preach to them as they are able to bear it. Let all
|
|
that art and all that learning be veiled which tend to amusement
|
|
rather than edification, and let the strong condescend to the
|
|
infirmities of the weak. <i>Thirdly,</i> This veil signified the
|
|
darkness of that dispensation. The ceremonial institutions had in
|
|
them much of Christ, much of the grace of the gospel, but a veil
|
|
was drawn over it, so that the children of Israel could not
|
|
distinctly and <i>stedfastly see those good things to come which
|
|
the law had the shadow of.</i> It was beauty veiled, gold in the
|
|
mine, a pearl in the shell; but, thanks be to God, by the gospel
|
|
life and immortality are brought to light, the veil is taken away
|
|
from off the Old Testament; yet still it remains upon the hearts of
|
|
those who shut their eyes against the light. Thus the apostle
|
|
expounds this passage, <scripRef passage="2Co 3:13-15" id="Ex.xxxv-p33.4" parsed="|2Cor|3|13|3|15" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.3.13-2Cor.3.15">2 Cor. iii.
|
|
13-15</scripRef>. [4.] When Moses <i>went in before the Lord,</i>
|
|
to speak with him in the tabernacle of meeting, he <i>put off the
|
|
veil,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 34:34" id="Ex.xxxv-p33.5" parsed="|Exod|34|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.34"><i>v.</i> 34</scripRef>.
|
|
Then there was no occasion for it, and, before God, every man does
|
|
and must appear unveiled; for <i>all things are naked and open
|
|
before the eyes of him with whom we have to do,</i> and it is folly
|
|
for us to think of concealing or disguising any thing. Every veil
|
|
must be thrown aside when we come to present ourselves unto the
|
|
Lord. This signified also, as it is explained (<scripRef passage="2Co 3:16" id="Ex.xxxv-p33.6" parsed="|2Cor|3|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.3.16">2 Cor. iii. 16</scripRef>), that when a soul turns to
|
|
the Lord the veil shall be taken away, and with open face it may
|
|
behold his glory. And when we shall come before the Lord in heaven,
|
|
to be there for ever speaking with him, the veil shall not only be
|
|
taken off from the divine glory, but from our hearts and eyes, that
|
|
we may see as we are seen, and know as we are known.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXXV" n="xxxvi" progress="49.09%" prev="Ex.xxxv" next="Ex.xxxvii" id="Ex.xxxvi">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.xxxvi-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.xxxvi-p0.2">CHAP. XXXV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.xxxvi-p1">What should have been said and done upon Moses'
|
|
coming down the first time from the mount, if the golden calf had
|
|
not broken the measures and put all into disorder, now at last,
|
|
when with great difficulty reconciliation was made, begins to be
|
|
said and done; and that great affair of the setting up of God's
|
|
worship is put into its former channel again, and goes on now
|
|
without interruption. I. Moses gives Israel those instructions,
|
|
received from God, which required immediate observance. 1.
|
|
Concerning the sabbath, <scripRef passage="Ex 35:1-3" id="Ex.xxxvi-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|35|1|35|3" osisRef="Bible:Exod.35.1-Exod.35.3">ver.
|
|
1-3</scripRef>. 2. Concerning the contribution that was to be made
|
|
for the erecting of the tabernacle, <scripRef passage="Ex 35:4-9" id="Ex.xxxvi-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|35|4|35|9" osisRef="Bible:Exod.35.4-Exod.35.9">ver. 4-9</scripRef>. 3. Concerning the framing of the
|
|
tabernacle and the utensils of it, <scripRef passage="Ex 35:10-19" id="Ex.xxxvi-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|35|10|35|19" osisRef="Bible:Exod.35.10-Exod.35.19">ver. 10-19</scripRef>. II. The people bring in their
|
|
contributions, <scripRef passage="Ex 35:20-29" id="Ex.xxxvi-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|35|20|35|29" osisRef="Bible:Exod.35.20-Exod.35.29">ver.
|
|
20-29</scripRef>. III. The head-workmen are nominated, <scripRef passage="Ex 35:30-35" id="Ex.xxxvi-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|35|30|35|35" osisRef="Bible:Exod.35.30-Exod.35.35">ver. 30</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 35" id="Ex.xxxvi-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|35|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.35"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 35:1-19" id="Ex.xxxvi-p1.7" parsed="|Exod|35|1|35|19" osisRef="Bible:Exod.35.1-Exod.35.19"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.35.1-Exod.35.19">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxxvi-p1.8">Orders Concerning the
|
|
Tabernacle. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxvi-p1.9">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxxvi-p2">1 And Moses gathered all the congregation of the
|
|
children of Israel together, and said unto them, These <i>are</i>
|
|
the words which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxvi-p2.1">Lord</span> hath
|
|
commanded, that <i>ye</i> should do them.   2 Six days shall
|
|
work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy
|
|
day, a sabbath of rest to the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxvi-p2.2">Lord</span>:
|
|
whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death.   3 Ye
|
|
shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath
|
|
day.   4 And Moses spake unto all the congregation of the
|
|
children of Israel, saying, This <i>is</i> the thing which the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxvi-p2.3">Lord</span> commanded, saying,   5
|
|
Take ye from among you an offering unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxvi-p2.4">Lord</span>: whosoever <i>is</i> of a willing heart,
|
|
let him bring it, an offering of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxvi-p2.5">Lord</span>; gold, and silver, and brass,   6 And
|
|
blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats'
|
|
<i>hair,</i>   7 And rams' skins dyed red, and badgers' skins,
|
|
and shittim wood,   8 And oil for the light, and spices for
|
|
anointing oil, and for the sweet incense,   9 And onyx stones,
|
|
and stones to be set for the ephod, and for the breastplate.  
|
|
10 And every wise hearted among you shall come, and make all that
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxvi-p2.6">Lord</span> hath commanded;   11
|
|
The tabernacle, his tent, and his covering, his taches, and his
|
|
boards, his bars, his pillars, and his sockets,   12 The ark,
|
|
and the staves thereof, <i>with</i> the mercy seat, and the vail of
|
|
the covering,   13 The table, and his staves, and all his
|
|
vessels, and the showbread,   14 The candlestick also for the
|
|
light, and his furniture, and his lamps, with the oil for the
|
|
light,   15 And the incense altar, and his staves, and the
|
|
anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the hanging for the door
|
|
at the entering in of the tabernacle,   16 The altar of burnt
|
|
offering, with his brazen grate, his staves, and all his vessels,
|
|
the laver and his foot,   17 The hangings of the court, his
|
|
pillars, and their sockets, and the hanging for the door of the
|
|
court,   18 The pins of the tabernacle, and the pins of the
|
|
court, and their cords,   19 The cloths of service, to do
|
|
service in the holy <i>place,</i> the holy garments for Aaron the
|
|
priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's
|
|
office.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxvi-p3">It was said in general (<scripRef passage="Ex 34:32" id="Ex.xxxvi-p3.1" parsed="|Exod|34|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.32"><i>ch.</i> xxxiv. 32</scripRef>), <i>Moses gave them in
|
|
commandment all that the Lord has spoken with him.</i> But, the
|
|
erecting and furnishing of the tabernacle being the work to which
|
|
they were now immediately to apply themselves, there is particular
|
|
mention of the orders given concerning it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxvi-p4">I. All the congregation is summoned to
|
|
attend (<scripRef passage="Ex 35:1" id="Ex.xxxvi-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|35|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.35.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>); that
|
|
is, the heads and rulers of the congregation, the representatives
|
|
of the several tribes, who must receive instructions from Moses as
|
|
he had received them from the Lord, and must communicate them to
|
|
the people. Thus John, being commanded to write to the seven
|
|
churches what had been revealed to him, writes it to the angels, or
|
|
ministers, of the churches.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxvi-p5">II. Moses gave them in charge all that (and
|
|
that only) which God had commanded him; thus he approved himself
|
|
faithful both to God and Israel, between whom he was a messenger or
|
|
mediator. If he had added, altered, or diminished, he would have
|
|
been false to both. But, both sides having reposed a trust in him,
|
|
he was true to the trust; yet he was faithful as a servant only,
|
|
but <i>Christ as a Son,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 3:5,6" id="Ex.xxxvi-p5.1" parsed="|Heb|3|5|3|6" osisRef="Bible:Heb.3.5-Heb.3.6">Heb. iii.
|
|
5, 6</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxvi-p6">III. He begins with the law of the sabbath,
|
|
because that was much insisted on in the instructions he had
|
|
received (<scripRef passage="Ex 35:2,3" id="Ex.xxxvi-p6.1" parsed="|Exod|35|2|35|3" osisRef="Bible:Exod.35.2-Exod.35.3"><i>v.</i> 2, 3</scripRef>):
|
|
<i>Six days shall work be done,</i> work for the tabernacle, the
|
|
work of the day that was now to be done in its day; and they had
|
|
little else to do here in the wilderness, where they had neither
|
|
husbandry nor merchandise, neither food to get nor clothes to make:
|
|
<i>but on the seventh day</i> you must not strike a stroke, no, not
|
|
at the tabernacle-work; the honour of the sabbath was above that of
|
|
the sanctuary, more ancient and more lasting; that must be to you a
|
|
holy day, devoted to God, and not be spent in common business. It
|
|
is a sabbath of rest. It is a <i>sabbath of sabbaths</i> (so some
|
|
read it), more honourable and excellent than any of the other
|
|
feasts, and should survive them all. A <i>sabbath of sabbatism,</i>
|
|
so others read it, being typical of that sabbatism or rest, both
|
|
spiritual and eternal, which <i>remains for the people of God,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Heb 4:9" id="Ex.xxxvi-p6.2" parsed="|Heb|4|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.4.9">Heb. iv. 9</scripRef>. It is a sabbath
|
|
of rest, that is, in which a rest from all worldly labour must be
|
|
very carefully and strictly observed. It is a sabbath and a little
|
|
sabbath, so some of the Jews would have it read; not only observing
|
|
the whole day as a sabbath, but an hour before the beginning of it,
|
|
and an hour after the ending of it, which they throw in over and
|
|
above out of their own time, and call <i>a little sabbath,</i> to
|
|
show how glad they are of the approach of the sabbath and how loth
|
|
to part with it. It is a sabbath of rest, but it is rest to the
|
|
Lord, to whose honour it must be devoted. A penalty is here annexed
|
|
to the breach of it: <i>Whosoever doeth work therein shall be put
|
|
to death.</i> Also a particular prohibition of kindling fires on
|
|
the sabbath day for any servile work, as smith's work, or plumbers,
|
|
&c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxvi-p7">IV. He orders preparation to be made for
|
|
the setting up of the tabernacle. Two things were to be done:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxvi-p8">1. All that were able must contribute:
|
|
<i>Take you from among you an offering,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 35:5" id="Ex.xxxvi-p8.1" parsed="|Exod|35|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.35.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. The tabernacle was to be
|
|
dedicated to the honour of God, and used in his service; and
|
|
therefore what was brought for the setting up and furnishing of
|
|
that was <i>an offering to the Lord.</i> Our goodness extends not
|
|
to God, but what is laid out for the support of his kingdom and
|
|
interest among men he is pleased to accept as an offering to
|
|
himself; and he requires such acknowledgements of our receiving our
|
|
all from him and such instances of our dedicating our all to him.
|
|
The rule is, <i>Whosoever is of a willing heart let him bring.</i>
|
|
It was not to be a tax imposed upon them, but a benevolence or
|
|
voluntary contribution, to intimate to us, (1.) That God has not
|
|
made our yoke heavy. He is a prince that does not burden his
|
|
subjects with taxes, nor <i>make them to serve with an
|
|
offering,</i> but <i>draws with the cords of a man,</i> and leaves
|
|
it to ourselves to <i>judge what is right;</i> his is a government
|
|
that there is no cause to complain of, for he does not rule with
|
|
rigour. (2.) That God loves a cheerful giver, and is best pleased
|
|
with the free-will offering. Those services are acceptable to him
|
|
that come from the willing heart of a willing people, <scripRef passage="Ps 110:3" id="Ex.xxxvi-p8.2" parsed="|Ps|110|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.110.3">Ps. cx. 3</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxvi-p9">2. All that were skilful must work:
|
|
<i>Every wise-hearted among you shall come, and make,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 35:10" id="Ex.xxxvi-p9.1" parsed="|Exod|35|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.35.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. See how God dispenses
|
|
his gifts variously; and, <i>as every man hath received the gift,
|
|
so he must minister,</i> <scripRef passage="1Pe 4:10" id="Ex.xxxvi-p9.2" parsed="|1Pet|4|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.4.10">1 Pet. iv.
|
|
10</scripRef>. Those that were rich must bring in materials to work
|
|
on; those that were ingenious must serve the tabernacle with their
|
|
ingenuity; as they needed one another, so the tabernacle needed
|
|
them both, <scripRef passage="1Co 12:7-21" id="Ex.xxxvi-p9.3" parsed="|1Cor|12|7|12|21" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.12.7-1Cor.12.21">1 Cor. xii.
|
|
7-21</scripRef>. The work was likely to go on when some helped with
|
|
their purses, others with their hands, and both with a willing
|
|
heart. Moses, as he had told them what must be given (<scripRef passage="Ex 35:5-9" id="Ex.xxxvi-p9.4" parsed="|Exod|35|5|35|9" osisRef="Bible:Exod.35.5-Exod.35.9"><i>v.</i> 5-9</scripRef>), so he gives them the
|
|
general heads of what must be made (<scripRef passage="Ex 35:11-19" id="Ex.xxxvi-p9.5" parsed="|Exod|35|11|35|19" osisRef="Bible:Exod.35.11-Exod.35.19"><i>v.</i> 11-19</scripRef>), that, seeing how much
|
|
work was before them, they might apply themselves to it the more
|
|
vigorously, and every hand might be busy; and it gave them such an
|
|
idea of the fabric designed that they could not but long to see it
|
|
finished.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 35:20-29" id="Ex.xxxvi-p9.6" parsed="|Exod|35|20|35|29" osisRef="Bible:Exod.35.20-Exod.35.29"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.35.20-Exod.35.29">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxxvi-p9.7">The Contributions for the
|
|
Tabernacle. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxvi-p9.8">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxxvi-p10">20 And all the congregation of the children of
|
|
Israel departed from the presence of Moses.   21 And they
|
|
came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his
|
|
spirit made willing, <i>and</i> they brought the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxvi-p10.1">Lord</span>'s offering to the work of the tabernacle of
|
|
the congregation, and for all his service, and for the holy
|
|
garments.   22 And they came, both men and women, as many as
|
|
were willing hearted, <i>and</i> brought bracelets, and earrings,
|
|
and rings, and tablets, all jewels of gold: and every man that
|
|
offered <i>offered</i> an offering of gold unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxvi-p10.2">Lord</span>.   23 And every man, with whom was
|
|
found blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats'
|
|
<i>hair,</i> and red skins of rams, and badgers' skins, brought
|
|
<i>them.</i>   24 Every one that did offer an offering of
|
|
silver and brass brought the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxvi-p10.3">Lord</span>'s
|
|
offering: and every man, with whom was found shittim wood for any
|
|
work of the service, brought <i>it.</i>   25 And all the women
|
|
that were wise hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that
|
|
which they had spun, <i>both</i> of blue, and of purple, <i>and</i>
|
|
of scarlet, and of fine linen.   26 And all the women whose
|
|
heart stirred them up in wisdom spun goats' <i>hair.</i>   27
|
|
And the rulers brought onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the
|
|
ephod, and for the breastplate;   28 And spice, and oil for
|
|
the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense.
|
|
  29 The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxvi-p10.4">Lord</span>, every man and woman, whose
|
|
heart made them willing to bring for all manner of work, which the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxvi-p10.5">Lord</span> had commanded to be made by the
|
|
hand of Moses.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxvi-p11">Moses having made known to them the will of
|
|
God, they went home and immediately put in practice what they had
|
|
heard, <scripRef passage="Ex 35:20" id="Ex.xxxvi-p11.1" parsed="|Exod|35|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.35.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. O that
|
|
every congregation would thus depart from the hearing of the word
|
|
of God, with a full resolution to be <i>doers of the same!</i>
|
|
Observe here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxvi-p12">I. The offerings that were brought for the
|
|
service of the tabernacle (<scripRef passage="Ex 35:21" id="Ex.xxxvi-p12.1" parsed="|Exod|35|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.35.21"><i>v.</i>
|
|
21</scripRef>, &c.), concerning which many things may be noted.
|
|
1. It is intimated that they brought their offerings immediately;
|
|
they departed to their tents immediately to fetch their offering,
|
|
and did not desire time to consider of it, lest their zeal should
|
|
be cooled by delays. What duty God convinces us of, and calls us
|
|
to, we should set about speedily. No season will be more convenient
|
|
than the present season. 2. It is said that <i>their spirits made
|
|
them willing</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 35:21" id="Ex.xxxvi-p12.2" parsed="|Exod|35|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.35.21"><i>v.</i>
|
|
21</scripRef>), <i>and their hearts,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 35:29" id="Ex.xxxvi-p12.3" parsed="|Exod|35|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.35.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>. What they did they did
|
|
cheerfully, and from a good principle. They were willing, and it
|
|
was not any external inducement that made them so, but their
|
|
spirits. It was from a principle of love to God and his service, a
|
|
desire of his presence with them in his ordinances, gratitude for
|
|
the great things he had done for them, faith in his promise of what
|
|
he would further do (or, at least, from the present consideration
|
|
of these things), that they were willing to offer. What we give and
|
|
do for God is then acceptable when it comes from a good principle
|
|
in the heart and spirit. 3. When it is said that as many as were
|
|
willing-hearted brought their offerings (<scripRef passage="Ex 35:22" id="Ex.xxxvi-p12.4" parsed="|Exod|35|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.35.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>), it should seem as if there
|
|
were some who were not, who loved their gold better than their God,
|
|
and would not part with it, no, not for the service of the
|
|
tabernacle. Such there are, who will be called Israelites, and yet
|
|
will not be moved by the equity of the thing, God's expectations
|
|
from them, and the good examples of those about them, to part with
|
|
any thing for the interests of God's kingdom: they are for the true
|
|
religion, provided it be cheap and will cost them nothing. 4. The
|
|
offerings were of divers kinds, according as they had; those that
|
|
had gold and precious stones brought them, not thinking any thing
|
|
too good and too rich to part with for the honour of God. Those
|
|
that had not precious stones to bring brought goats' hair, and
|
|
rams' skins. If we cannot do as much as others for God, we must not
|
|
therefore sit still and do nothing: if the meaner offerings which
|
|
are according to our ability gain us not such a reputation among
|
|
men, yet they shall not fail of acceptance with God, who requires
|
|
<i>according to what a man hath, and not according to what he hath
|
|
not,</i> <scripRef passage="2Co 8:12,2Ki 5:23" id="Ex.xxxvi-p12.5" parsed="|2Cor|8|12|0|0;|2Kgs|5|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.8.12 Bible:2Kgs.5.23">2 Cor. viii. 12; 2
|
|
Kings v. 23</scripRef>. Two mites from a pauper were more pleasing
|
|
than so many talents from a Dives. God has an eye to the heart of
|
|
the giver more than to the value of the gift. 5. Many of the things
|
|
they offered were their ornaments, bracelets and rings, and tablets
|
|
or lockets (<scripRef passage="Ex 35:22" id="Ex.xxxvi-p12.6" parsed="|Exod|35|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.35.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>);
|
|
and even the women parted with these. <i>Can a maid forget her
|
|
ornaments?</i> Thus far they forgot them that they preferred the
|
|
beautifying of the sanctuary before their own adorning. Let this
|
|
teach us, in general, to part with that for God, when he calls for
|
|
it, which is very dear to us, which we value, and value ourselves
|
|
by; and particularly to lay aside our ornaments, and deny ourselves
|
|
in them, when either they occasion offence to others or feed our
|
|
own pride. If we think those gospel rules concerning our clothing
|
|
too strict (<scripRef passage="1Ti 2:9,10,1Pe 3:3,4" id="Ex.xxxvi-p12.7" parsed="|1Tim|2|9|2|10;|1Pet|3|3|3|4" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.2.9-1Tim.2.10 Bible:1Pet.3.3-1Pet.3.4">1 Tim. ii. 9,
|
|
10; 1 Pet. iii. 3, 4</scripRef>), I fear we should scarcely have
|
|
done as these Israelites did. If they thought their ornaments well
|
|
bestowed upon the tabernacle, shall not we think the want of
|
|
ornaments well made up by the graces of the Spirit? <scripRef passage="Pr 1:9" id="Ex.xxxvi-p12.8" parsed="|Prov|1|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.1.9">Prov. i. 9</scripRef>. 6. These rich things that
|
|
they offered, we may suppose, were mostly the spoils of the
|
|
Egyptians; for the Israelites in Egypt were kept poor, till they
|
|
borrowed at parting. And we may suppose the rulers had better
|
|
things (<scripRef passage="Ex 35:27" id="Ex.xxxvi-p12.9" parsed="|Exod|35|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.35.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>),
|
|
because, having more influence among the Egyptians, they borrowed
|
|
larger sums. Who would have thought that ever the wealth of Egypt
|
|
should have been so well employed? but thus God has often made
|
|
<i>the earth to help the woman,</i> <scripRef passage="Re 12:16" id="Ex.xxxvi-p12.10" parsed="|Rev|12|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.12.16">Rev. xii. 16</scripRef>. It was by a special providence
|
|
and promise of God that the Israelites got all that spoil, and
|
|
therefore it was highly fit that they should devote a part of it to
|
|
the service of that God to whom they owed it all. Let every man
|
|
give <i>according as God hath prospered him,</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 16:2" id="Ex.xxxvi-p12.11" parsed="|1Cor|16|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.16.2">1 Cor. xvi. 2</scripRef>. Extraordinary successes should
|
|
be acknowledged by extraordinary offerings. Apply it to human
|
|
learning, arts and sciences, which are borrowed, as it were, from
|
|
the Egyptians. Those that are enriched with these must devote them
|
|
to the service of God and his tabernacle: they may be used as helps
|
|
to understand the scriptures, as ornaments or handmaids to
|
|
divinity. But then great care must be taken that Egypt's gods
|
|
mingle not with Egypt's gold. Moses, though learned in all the
|
|
learning of the Egyptians, did not therefore pretend, in the least
|
|
instance, to correct the pattern shown him in the mount. The
|
|
furnishing of the tabernacle with the riches of Egypt was perhaps a
|
|
good omen to the Gentiles, who, in the fulness of time, should be
|
|
brought into the gospel tabernacle, and their silver and their gold
|
|
with them (<scripRef passage="Isa 60:9" id="Ex.xxxvi-p12.12" parsed="|Isa|60|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.60.9">Isa. lx. 9</scripRef>), and
|
|
it should be said, <i>Blessed be Egypt my people,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 19:25" id="Ex.xxxvi-p12.13" parsed="|Isa|19|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.19.25">Isa. xix. 25</scripRef>. 7. We may suppose that
|
|
the remembrance of the offerings made for the golden calf made them
|
|
the more forward in these offerings. Those that had then parted
|
|
with their ear-rings would not testify their repentance by giving
|
|
the rest of their jewels to the service of God: godly sorrow
|
|
worketh such a revenge, <scripRef passage="2Co 7:11" id="Ex.xxxvi-p12.14" parsed="|2Cor|7|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.7.11">2 Cor. vii.
|
|
11</scripRef>. And those that had kept themselves pure from that
|
|
idolatry yet argued with themselves, "Were they so forward in
|
|
contributing to an idol, and shall we be backward or sneaking in
|
|
our offerings to the Lord?" Thus some good was brought even out of
|
|
that evil.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxvi-p13">II. The work that was done for the service
|
|
of the tabernacle (<scripRef passage="Ex 35:25" id="Ex.xxxvi-p13.1" parsed="|Exod|35|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.35.25"><i>v.</i>
|
|
25</scripRef>): <i>The women did spin with their hands.</i> Some
|
|
spun fine work, of blue and purple; others coarse work, of goats'
|
|
hair, and yet theirs also is said to be done in wisdom, <scripRef passage="Ex 35:26" id="Ex.xxxvi-p13.2" parsed="|Exod|35|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.35.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>. As it is not only rich
|
|
gifts, so it is not only fine work that God accepts. Notice is here
|
|
taken of the good women's work for God, as well as of Bezaleel's
|
|
and Aholiab's. The meanest hand for the honour of God, shall have
|
|
an honourable recompence. Mary's anointing of Christ's head shall
|
|
be told for a memorial (<scripRef passage="Mt 26:13" id="Ex.xxxvi-p13.3" parsed="|Matt|26|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.26.13">Matt. xxvi.
|
|
13</scripRef>); and a record is kept of the women that laboured in
|
|
the gospel tabernacle (<scripRef passage="Php 4:3" id="Ex.xxxvi-p13.4" parsed="|Phil|4|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Phil.4.3">Phil. iv.
|
|
3</scripRef>), and were helpers to Paul in Christ Jesus, <scripRef passage="Ro 16:3" id="Ex.xxxvi-p13.5" parsed="|Rom|16|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.16.3">Rom. xvi. 3</scripRef>. It is part of the
|
|
character of the virtuous woman that she layeth <i>her hands to the
|
|
spindle,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 31:19" id="Ex.xxxvi-p13.6" parsed="|Prov|31|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.31.19">Prov. xxxi.
|
|
19</scripRef>. This employment was here turned to a pious use, as
|
|
it may be still (though we have no hangings to make for the
|
|
tabernacle) by the imitation of the charity of Dorcas, who made
|
|
coats and garments for poor widows, <scripRef passage="Ac 9:39" id="Ex.xxxvi-p13.7" parsed="|Acts|9|39|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.9.39">Acts ix. 39</scripRef>. Even those that are not in a
|
|
capacity to give in charity may yet work in charity; and thus the
|
|
poor may relieve the poor, and those that have nothing but their
|
|
limbs and senses may be very charitable in the labour of love.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 35:30-35" id="Ex.xxxvi-p13.8" parsed="|Exod|35|30|35|35" osisRef="Bible:Exod.35.30-Exod.35.35"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.35.30-Exod.35.35">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxxvi-p14">30 And Moses said unto the children of Israel,
|
|
See, the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxvi-p14.1">Lord</span> hath called by name
|
|
Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah;
|
|
  31 And he hath filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom,
|
|
in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of
|
|
workmanship;   32 And to devise curious works, to work in
|
|
gold, and in silver, and in brass,   33 And in the cutting of
|
|
stones, to set <i>them,</i> and in carving of wood, to make any
|
|
manner of cunning work.   34 And he hath put in his heart that
|
|
he may teach, <i>both</i> he, and Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of
|
|
the tribe of <scripRef passage="Dan. 35" id="Ex.xxxvi-p14.2" parsed="|Dan|35|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.35">Dan.   35</scripRef> Them hath he filled with wisdom of
|
|
heart, to work all manner of work, of the engraver, and of the
|
|
cunning workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in
|
|
scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, <i>even</i> of them
|
|
that do any work, and of those that devise cunning work.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxvi-p15">Here is the divine appointment of the
|
|
master-workmen, that there might be no strife for the office, and
|
|
that all who were employed in the work might take direction from,
|
|
and give account to, these general inspectors; for God is the God
|
|
of order and not of confusion. Observe, 1. Those whom God called by
|
|
name to this service he <i>filled with the Spirit of God,</i> to
|
|
qualify them for it, <scripRef passage="Ex 35:30,31" id="Ex.xxxvi-p15.1" parsed="|Exod|35|30|35|31" osisRef="Bible:Exod.35.30-Exod.35.31"><i>v.</i> 30,
|
|
31</scripRef>. Skill in secular employments is God's gift, and
|
|
comes from above, <scripRef passage="Jam 1:17" id="Ex.xxxvi-p15.2" parsed="|Jas|1|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jas.1.17">Jam. i.
|
|
17</scripRef>. From him the faculty is, and the improvement of it.
|
|
To his honour therefore all knowledge must be devoted, and we must
|
|
study how to serve him with it. The work was extraordinary which
|
|
Bezaleel was designed for, and therefore he was qualified in an
|
|
extraordinary manner for it; thus when the apostles were appointed
|
|
to be master-builders in setting up the gospel tabernacle they were
|
|
<i>filled with the Spirit of God in wisdom and understanding.</i>
|
|
2. The were appointed, not only to devise, but to work (<scripRef passage="Ex 35:32" id="Ex.xxxvi-p15.3" parsed="|Exod|35|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.35.32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>), <i>to work all manner
|
|
of work,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 35:35" id="Ex.xxxvi-p15.4" parsed="|Exod|35|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.35.35"><i>v.</i> 35</scripRef>.
|
|
Those of eminent gifts, that are capable of directing others, must
|
|
not think that these will excuse them in idleness. Many are
|
|
ingenious enough in cutting out work for other people, and can tell
|
|
what this man and that man should do, but the burdens they bind on
|
|
others they themselves <i>will not touch with one of their
|
|
fingers.</i> These will fall under the character of slothful
|
|
servants. 3. They were not only to devise and work themselves, but
|
|
they were to teach others, <scripRef passage="Ex 35:34" id="Ex.xxxvi-p15.5" parsed="|Exod|35|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.35.34"><i>v.</i>
|
|
34</scripRef>. Not only had Bezaleel power to command, but he was
|
|
to take pains to instruct. Those that rule should teach; and those
|
|
to whom God had given knowledge should be willing to communicate it
|
|
for the benefit of others, not coveting to monopolize it.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXXVI" n="xxxvii" progress="49.50%" prev="Ex.xxxvi" next="Ex.xxxviii" id="Ex.xxxvii">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.xxxvii-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.xxxvii-p0.2">CHAP. XXXVI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.xxxvii-p1">In this chapter, I. The work of the tabernacle is
|
|
begun, <scripRef passage="Ex 36:1-4" id="Ex.xxxvii-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|36|1|36|4" osisRef="Bible:Exod.36.1-Exod.36.4">ver. 1-4</scripRef>. II. A
|
|
stop is put to the people's contributions, <scripRef passage="Ex 36:5-7" id="Ex.xxxvii-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|36|5|36|7" osisRef="Bible:Exod.36.5-Exod.36.7">ver. 5-7</scripRef>. III. A particular account is given
|
|
of the making of the tabernacle itself; the fine curtains of it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 36:8-13" id="Ex.xxxvii-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|36|8|36|13" osisRef="Bible:Exod.36.8-Exod.36.13">ver. 8-13</scripRef>. The coarse
|
|
ones, <scripRef passage="Ex 36:14-19" id="Ex.xxxvii-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|36|14|36|19" osisRef="Bible:Exod.36.14-Exod.36.19">ver. 14-19</scripRef>. The
|
|
boards, <scripRef passage="Ex 36:20-30" id="Ex.xxxvii-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|36|20|36|30" osisRef="Bible:Exod.36.20-Exod.36.30">ver. 20-30</scripRef>. The
|
|
bars, <scripRef passage="Ex 36:31-34" id="Ex.xxxvii-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|36|31|36|34" osisRef="Bible:Exod.36.31-Exod.36.34">ver. 31-34</scripRef>. The
|
|
partition veil, <scripRef passage="Ex 36:35,36" id="Ex.xxxvii-p1.7" parsed="|Exod|36|35|36|36" osisRef="Bible:Exod.36.35-Exod.36.36">ver. 35,
|
|
36</scripRef>. And the hanging for the door, <scripRef passage="Ex 36:37,38" id="Ex.xxxvii-p1.8" parsed="|Exod|36|37|36|38" osisRef="Bible:Exod.36.37-Exod.36.38">ver. 37</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 36" id="Ex.xxxvii-p1.9" parsed="|Exod|36|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.36"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 36:1-7" id="Ex.xxxvii-p1.10" parsed="|Exod|36|1|36|7" osisRef="Bible:Exod.36.1-Exod.36.7"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.36.1-Exod.36.7">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxxvii-p1.11">Appointment of Bezaleel and
|
|
Aholiab. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxvii-p1.12">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxxvii-p2">1 Then wrought Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every
|
|
wise hearted man, in whom the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxvii-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner of work
|
|
for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxvii-p2.2">Lord</span> had commanded.   2 And Moses
|
|
called Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whose
|
|
heart the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxvii-p2.3">Lord</span> had put wisdom,
|
|
<i>even</i> every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto the
|
|
work to do it:   3 And they received of Moses all the
|
|
offering, which the children of Israel had brought for the work of
|
|
the service of the sanctuary, to make it <i>withal.</i> And they
|
|
brought yet unto him free offerings every morning.   4 And all
|
|
the wise men, that wrought all the work of the sanctuary, came
|
|
every man from his work which they made;   5 And they spake
|
|
unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the
|
|
service of the work, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxvii-p2.4">Lord</span>
|
|
commanded to make.   6 And Moses gave commandment, and they
|
|
caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither
|
|
man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary.
|
|
So the people were restrained from bringing.   7 For the stuff
|
|
they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too
|
|
much.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxvii-p3">I. The workmen set in without delay. Then
|
|
they wrought, <scripRef passage="Ex 36:1" id="Ex.xxxvii-p3.1" parsed="|Exod|36|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.36.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>.
|
|
When God had qualified them for the work, then they applied
|
|
themselves to it. Note, The talents we are entrusted with must not
|
|
be laid up, but laid out; not hid in a napkin, but traded with.
|
|
What have we all our gifts for, but to do good with them? They
|
|
began when Moses called them, <scripRef passage="Ex 36:2" id="Ex.xxxvii-p3.2" parsed="|Exod|36|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.36.2"><i>v.</i>
|
|
2</scripRef>. Even those whom God has qualified for, and inclined
|
|
to, the service of the tabernacle, yet must wait for a regular call
|
|
to it, either extraordinary, as that of prophets and apostles, or
|
|
ordinary, as that of pastors and teachers. And observe who they
|
|
were that Moses called: Those <i>in whose heart God had put
|
|
wisdom</i> for this purpose, beyond their natural capacity, and
|
|
<i>whose heart stirred them up to come to the work</i> in good
|
|
earnest. Note, Those are to be called to the building of the gospel
|
|
tabernacle whom God has by his grace made in some measure fit for
|
|
the work and free to engage in it. Ability and willingness (with
|
|
resolution) are the two things to be regarded in the call of
|
|
ministers. Has God given them not only knowledge, but wisdom? (for
|
|
those that would win souls must be wise, and have their hearts
|
|
stirred up to come to the work, and not to the honour only; to do
|
|
it, and not to talk of it only), let them come to it with full
|
|
purpose of heart to go through with it. The materials which the
|
|
people had contributed were delivered by Moses to the workmen,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 36:3" id="Ex.xxxvii-p3.3" parsed="|Exod|36|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.36.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. They could not
|
|
create a tabernacle, that is, make it out of nothing, nor work,
|
|
unless they had something to work upon; the people therefore
|
|
brought the materials and Moses put them into their hands. Precious
|
|
souls are the materials of the gospel tabernacle; they are <i>built
|
|
up a spiritual house,</i> <scripRef passage="1Pe 2:5" id="Ex.xxxvii-p3.4" parsed="|1Pet|2|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.2.5">1 Pet. ii.
|
|
5</scripRef>. To this end they are to offer themselves a free-will
|
|
offering to the Lord, for his service (<scripRef passage="Ro 15:16" id="Ex.xxxvii-p3.5" parsed="|Rom|15|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.15.16">Rom. xv. 16</scripRef>), and they are then committed to
|
|
the care of his ministers, as builders, to be framed and wrought
|
|
upon by their edification and increase in holiness, till they all
|
|
come, like the curtains of the tabernacle, <i>in the unity of the
|
|
faith, to be a holy temple,</i> <scripRef passage="Eph 2:21,22,4:12,13" id="Ex.xxxvii-p3.6" parsed="|Eph|2|21|2|22;|Eph|4|12|4|13" osisRef="Bible:Eph.2.21-Eph.2.22 Bible:Eph.4.12-Eph.4.13">Eph. ii. 21, 22; iv. 12, 13</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxvii-p4">II. The contributions restrained. The
|
|
people continued to bring <i>free offerings every morning,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 36:3" id="Ex.xxxvii-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|36|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.36.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. Note, We should
|
|
always make it our morning's work to bring our offerings unto the
|
|
Lord; even the spiritual offerings of prayer and praise, and a
|
|
broken heart surrendered entirely to God. This is that which the
|
|
duty of every day requires. God's compassions are new every
|
|
morning, and so must our duty to him be. Probably there were some
|
|
that were backward at first to bring their offering, but their
|
|
neighbours' forwardness stirred them up and shamed them. The zeal
|
|
of some provoked many. There are those who will be content to
|
|
follow who yet do not care for leading in a good work. It is best
|
|
to be forward, but better late than never. Or perhaps some who had
|
|
offered at first, having pleasure in reflecting upon it, offered
|
|
more; so far were they from grudging what they had contributed,
|
|
that they doubled their contribution. Thus, in charity, <i>give a
|
|
portion to seven, and also to eight;</i> having given much, give
|
|
more. Now observe, 1. The honesty of the workmen. When they had cut
|
|
out their work, and found how their stuff held out, and that the
|
|
people were still forward to bring in more, they went in a body to
|
|
Moses to tell him that there needed no more contributions,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 36:4,5" id="Ex.xxxvii-p4.2" parsed="|Exod|36|4|36|5" osisRef="Bible:Exod.36.4-Exod.36.5"><i>v.</i> 4, 5</scripRef>. Had they
|
|
sought their own things, they had now a fair opportunity of
|
|
enriching themselves by the people's gifts; for they might have
|
|
made up their work, and converted the overplus to their own use, as
|
|
perquisites of their place. But they were men of integrity, that
|
|
scorned to do so mean a thing as to sponge upon the people, and
|
|
enrich themselves with that which was offered to the Lord. Those
|
|
are the greatest cheats that cheat the public. If to murder many is
|
|
worse than to murder one, by the same rule to defraud communities,
|
|
and to rob the church or state, is a much greater crime than to
|
|
pick the pocket of a single person. But these workmen were not only
|
|
ready to account for all they received, but were not willing to
|
|
receive more than they had occasion for, lest they should come
|
|
either into the temptation or under the suspicion of taking it to
|
|
themselves. These were men that knew when they had enough. 2. The
|
|
liberality of the people. Though they saw what an abundance was
|
|
contributed, yet they continued to offer, till they were forbidden
|
|
by proclamation, <scripRef passage="Ex 36:6,7" id="Ex.xxxvii-p4.3" parsed="|Exod|36|6|36|7" osisRef="Bible:Exod.36.6-Exod.36.7"><i>v.</i> 6,
|
|
7</scripRef>. A rare instance! Most need a spur to quicken their
|
|
charity; few need a bridle to check it, yet these did. Had Moses
|
|
aimed to enrich himself, he might have suffered them still to bring
|
|
in their offerings; and when the work was finished might have taken
|
|
the remainder to himself: but he also preferred the public before
|
|
his own private interest, and was therein a good example to all in
|
|
public trusts. It is said (<scripRef passage="Ex 36:5" id="Ex.xxxvii-p4.4" parsed="|Exod|36|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.36.5"><i>v.</i>
|
|
6</scripRef>), <i>The people were restrained from bringing;</i>
|
|
they looked upon it as a restraint upon them not to be allowed to
|
|
do more for the tabernacle; such was the zeal of those people, who
|
|
gave <i>to their power, yea, and beyond their power, praying</i>
|
|
the collectors <i>with much entreaty to receive the gift,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="2Co 8:3,4" id="Ex.xxxvii-p4.5" parsed="|2Cor|8|3|8|4" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.8.3-2Cor.8.4">2 Cor. viii. 3, 4</scripRef>. These
|
|
were the fruits of a first love; in these last-days charity has
|
|
grown too cold for us to expect such things from it.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 36:8-13" id="Ex.xxxvii-p4.6" parsed="|Exod|36|8|36|13" osisRef="Bible:Exod.36.8-Exod.36.13"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.36.8-Exod.36.13">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxxvii-p4.7">Construction of the
|
|
Tabernacle. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxvii-p4.8">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxxvii-p5">8 And every wise hearted man among them that
|
|
wrought the work of the tabernacle made ten curtains <i>of</i> fine
|
|
twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: <i>with</i>
|
|
cherubims of cunning work made he them.   9 The length of one
|
|
curtain <i>was</i> twenty and eight cubits, and the breadth of one
|
|
curtain four cubits: the curtains <i>were</i> all of one size.
|
|
  10 And he coupled the five curtains one unto another: and
|
|
<i>the other</i> five curtains he coupled one unto another.  
|
|
11 And he made loops of blue on the edge of one curtain from the
|
|
selvedge in the coupling: likewise he made in the uttermost side of
|
|
<i>another</i> curtain, in the coupling of the second.   12
|
|
Fifty loops made he in one curtain, and fifty loops made he in the
|
|
edge of the curtain which <i>was</i> in the coupling of the second:
|
|
the loops held one <i>curtain</i> to another.   13 And he made
|
|
fifty taches of gold, and coupled the curtains one unto another
|
|
with the taches: so it became one tabernacle.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxvii-p6">The first work they set about was the
|
|
framing of the house, which must be done before the furniture of it
|
|
was prepared. This house was not made of timber or stone, but of
|
|
curtains curiously embroidered and coupled together. This served to
|
|
typify the state of the church in this world, the palace of God's
|
|
kingdom among men. 1. Though it is upon the earth, yet its
|
|
foundation is not in the earth, as that of a house is; no, Christ's
|
|
kingdom is not of this world, nor founded in it. 2. It is mean and
|
|
mutable, and in a militant state; shepherds dwelt in tents, and God
|
|
is the Shepherd of Israel; soldiers dwelt in tents, and the Lord is
|
|
a man of war, and his church marches through an enemy's country,
|
|
and must fight its way. The kings of the earth enclose themselves
|
|
in cedar (<scripRef passage="Jer 22:15" id="Ex.xxxvii-p6.1" parsed="|Jer|22|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.22.15">Jer. xxii. 15</scripRef>),
|
|
but the ark of God was lodged in curtains only. 3. Yet there is a
|
|
beauty in holiness; the curtains were embroidered, so is the church
|
|
adorned with the gifts and graces of the Spirit, that <i>raiment of
|
|
needle-work,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 45:14" id="Ex.xxxvii-p6.2" parsed="|Ps|45|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.45.14">Ps. xlv.
|
|
14</scripRef>. 4. The several societies of believers are united in
|
|
one, and, as here, all <i>become one tabernacle; for there is one
|
|
Lord, one faith, and one baptism.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 36" id="Ex.xxxvii-p6.3" parsed="|Exod|36|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.36"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 36:14-34" id="Ex.xxxvii-p6.4" parsed="|Exod|36|14|36|34" osisRef="Bible:Exod.36.14-Exod.36.34"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.36.14-Exod.36.34">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxxvii-p7">14 And he made curtains <i>of</i> goats'
|
|
<i>hair</i> for the tent over the tabernacle: eleven curtains he
|
|
made them.   15 The length of one curtain <i>was</i> thirty
|
|
cubits, and four cubits <i>was</i> the breadth of one curtain: the
|
|
eleven curtains <i>were</i> of one size.   16 And he coupled
|
|
five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves.  
|
|
17 And he made fifty loops upon the uttermost edge of the curtain
|
|
in the coupling, and fifty loops made he upon the edge of the
|
|
curtain which coupleth the second.   18 And he made fifty
|
|
taches <i>of</i> brass to couple the tent together, that it might
|
|
be one.   19 And he made a covering for the tent <i>of</i>
|
|
rams' skins dyed red, and a covering <i>of</i> badgers' skins above
|
|
<i>that.</i>   20 And he made boards for the tabernacle
|
|
<i>of</i> shittim wood, standing up.   21 The length of a
|
|
board <i>was</i> ten cubits, and the breadth of a board one cubit
|
|
and a half.   22 One board had two tenons, equally distant one
|
|
from another: thus did he make for all the boards of the
|
|
tabernacle.   23 And he made boards for the tabernacle; twenty
|
|
boards for the south side southward:   24 And forty sockets of
|
|
silver he made under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board
|
|
for his two tenons, and two sockets under another board for his two
|
|
tenons.   25 And for the other side of the tabernacle,
|
|
<i>which is</i> toward the north corner, he made twenty boards,
|
|
  26 And their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one
|
|
board, and two sockets under another board.   27 And for the
|
|
sides of the tabernacle westward he made six boards.   28 And
|
|
two boards made he for the corners of the tabernacle in the two
|
|
sides.   29 And they were coupled beneath, and coupled
|
|
together at the head thereof, to one ring: thus he did to both of
|
|
them in both the corners.   30 And there were eight boards;
|
|
and their sockets <i>were</i> sixteen sockets of silver, under
|
|
every board two sockets.   31 And he made bars of shittim
|
|
wood; five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle,  
|
|
32 And five bars for the boards of the other side of the
|
|
tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the tabernacle for the
|
|
sides westward.   33 And he made the middle bar to shoot
|
|
through the boards from the one end to the other.   34 And he
|
|
overlaid the boards with gold, and made their rings <i>of</i> gold
|
|
<i>to be</i> places for the bars, and overlaid the bars with
|
|
gold.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxvii-p8">Here, 1. The shelter and special protection
|
|
that the church is under are signified by the curtains of
|
|
hair-cloth, which were spread over the tabernacle, and the covering
|
|
of rams' skins and badgers' skins over them, <scripRef passage="Ex 36:14-19" id="Ex.xxxvii-p8.1" parsed="|Exod|36|14|36|19" osisRef="Bible:Exod.36.14-Exod.36.19"><i>v.</i> 14-19</scripRef>. God has provided for his
|
|
people a <i>shadow from the heat, and a covert from storm and
|
|
rain,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 4:6" id="Ex.xxxvii-p8.2" parsed="|Isa|4|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.4.6">Isa. iv. 6</scripRef>. They
|
|
are armed against all weathers; the sun and the moon shall not
|
|
smite them: and they are protected from the storms of divine wrath,
|
|
that hail which will <i>sweep away the refuge of lies,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 28:17" id="Ex.xxxvii-p8.3" parsed="|Isa|28|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.28.17">Isa. xxviii. 17</scripRef>. Those
|
|
that dwell in God's house shall find, be the tempest ever so
|
|
violent, or the dropping ever so continual, it does not rain in. 2.
|
|
The strength and stability of the church, though it is but a
|
|
tabernacle, are signified by the boards and bars with which the
|
|
curtains were borne up, <scripRef passage="Ex 36:20-34" id="Ex.xxxvii-p8.4" parsed="|Exod|36|20|36|34" osisRef="Bible:Exod.36.20-Exod.36.34"><i>v.</i>
|
|
20-34</scripRef>. The boards were coupled together and joined by
|
|
the bars which shot through them; for the union of the church, and
|
|
the hearty agreement of those that are its stays and supporters,
|
|
contribute abundantly to its strength and establishment.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 36:35-38" id="Ex.xxxvii-p8.5" parsed="|Exod|36|35|36|38" osisRef="Bible:Exod.36.35-Exod.36.38"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.36.35-Exod.36.38">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxxvii-p9">35 And he made a vail <i>of</i> blue, and
|
|
purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: <i>with</i> cherubims
|
|
made he it of cunning work.   36 And he made thereunto four
|
|
pillars <i>of</i> shittim <i>wood,</i> and overlaid them with gold:
|
|
their hooks <i>were of</i> gold; and he cast for them four sockets
|
|
of silver.   37 And he made an hanging for the tabernacle door
|
|
<i>of</i> blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, of
|
|
needlework;   38 And the five pillars of it with their hooks:
|
|
and he overlaid their chapiters and their fillets with gold: but
|
|
their five sockets <i>were of</i> brass.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxvii-p10">In the building of a house there is a great
|
|
deal of work about the doors and partitions. In the tabernacle
|
|
these were answerable to the rest of the fabric; there were
|
|
curtains for doors, and veils for partitions. 1. There was a veil
|
|
made for a partition between the holy place, and the most holy,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 36:35,36" id="Ex.xxxvii-p10.1" parsed="|Exod|36|35|36|36" osisRef="Bible:Exod.36.35-Exod.36.36"><i>v.</i> 35, 36</scripRef>. This
|
|
signified the darkness and distance of that dispensation, compared
|
|
with the New Testament, which shows us the glory of God more
|
|
clearly and invites us to draw near to it; and the darkness and
|
|
distance of our present state, in comparison with heaven, where we
|
|
shall be <i>ever with the Lord</i> and <i>see him as he is.</i> 2.
|
|
There was a veil made for the door of the tabernacle, <scripRef passage="Ex 36:37,38" id="Ex.xxxvii-p10.2" parsed="|Exod|36|37|36|38" osisRef="Bible:Exod.36.37-Exod.36.38"><i>v.</i> 37, 38</scripRef>. At this door the
|
|
people assembled, though forbidden to enter; for, while we are in
|
|
this present state, we must get as near to God as we can.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXXVII" n="xxxviii" progress="49.78%" prev="Ex.xxxvii" next="Ex.xxxix" id="Ex.xxxviii">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.xxxviii-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.xxxviii-p0.2">CHAP. XXXVII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.xxxviii-p1">Bezaleel and his workmen are still busy, making I.
|
|
The ark with the mercy-seat and the cherubim, <scripRef passage="Ex 37:1-9" id="Ex.xxxviii-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|37|1|37|9" osisRef="Bible:Exod.37.1-Exod.37.9">ver. 1-9</scripRef>. II. The table with its vessels,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 37:10-16" id="Ex.xxxviii-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|37|10|37|16" osisRef="Bible:Exod.37.10-Exod.37.16">ver. 10-16</scripRef>. III. The
|
|
candlestick with its appurtenances, <scripRef passage="Ex 37:17-24" id="Ex.xxxviii-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|37|17|37|24" osisRef="Bible:Exod.37.17-Exod.37.24">ver. 17-24</scripRef>. IV. The golden altar for
|
|
incense, <scripRef passage="Ex 37:25-28" id="Ex.xxxviii-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|37|25|37|28" osisRef="Bible:Exod.37.25-Exod.37.28">ver. 25-28</scripRef>. V.
|
|
The holy oil and incense, <scripRef passage="Ex 37:29" id="Ex.xxxviii-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|37|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.37.29">ver.
|
|
29</scripRef>. The particular appointment concerning each of which
|
|
we had before the <scripRef passage="Ex 25:1-40,30:1-38" id="Ex.xxxviii-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|25|1|25|40;|Exod|30|1|30|38" osisRef="Bible:Exod.25.1-Exod.25.40 Bible:Exod.30.1-Exod.30.38">25th and
|
|
30th chapters</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 37" id="Ex.xxxviii-p1.7" parsed="|Exod|37|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.37"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 37:1-9" id="Ex.xxxviii-p1.8" parsed="|Exod|37|1|37|9" osisRef="Bible:Exod.37.1-Exod.37.9"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.37.1-Exod.37.9">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxxviii-p1.9">The Tabernacle and Its
|
|
Furniture. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxviii-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxxviii-p2">1 And Bezaleel made the ark <i>of</i> shittim
|
|
wood: two cubits and a half <i>was</i> the length of it, and a
|
|
cubit and a half the breadth of it, and a cubit and a half the
|
|
height of it:   2 And he overlaid it with pure gold within and
|
|
without, and made a crown of gold to it round about.   3 And
|
|
he cast for it four rings of gold, <i>to be set</i> by the four
|
|
corners of it; even two rings upon the one side of it, and two
|
|
rings upon the other side of it.   4 And he made staves
|
|
<i>of</i> shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold.   5 And
|
|
he put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, to bear
|
|
the ark.   6 And he made the mercy seat <i>of</i> pure gold:
|
|
two cubits and a half <i>was</i> the length thereof, and one cubit
|
|
and a half the breadth thereof.   7 And he made two cherubims
|
|
<i>of</i> gold, beaten out of one piece made he them, on the two
|
|
ends of the mercy seat;   8 One cherub on the end on this
|
|
side, and another cherub on the <i>other</i> end on that side: out
|
|
of the mercy seat made he the cherubims on the two ends thereof.
|
|
  9 And the cherubims spread out <i>their</i> wings on high,
|
|
<i>and</i> covered with their wings over the mercy seat, with their
|
|
faces one to another; <i>even</i> to the mercy seatward were the
|
|
faces of the cherubims.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxviii-p3">I. It may be thought strange that Moses,
|
|
when he had recorded so fully the instructions given him upon the
|
|
mount for the making of all these things, should here record as
|
|
particularly the making of them, when it might have sufficed only
|
|
to have said, in a few words, that each of these things was made
|
|
exactly according to the directions before recited. We are sure
|
|
that Moses, when he wrote by divine inspiration, used no vain
|
|
repetitions; there are no idle words in scripture. Why then are so
|
|
many chapters taken up with this narrative, which we are tempted to
|
|
think needless and tedious? But we must consider, 1. That Moses
|
|
wrote primarily for the people of Israel, to whom it would be of
|
|
great use to read and hear often of these divine and sacred
|
|
treasures with which they were entrusted. These several ornaments
|
|
wherewith the tabernacle was furnished they were not admitted to
|
|
see, but the priests only, and therefore it was requisite that they
|
|
should be thus largely described particularly to them. That which
|
|
they ought to read again (lest they should fail of doing it) is
|
|
written again and again: thus many of the same passages of the
|
|
history of Christ are in the New Testament related by two or three,
|
|
and some by four of the evangelists, for the same reason. The great
|
|
things of God's law and gospel we need to have inculcated upon us
|
|
again and again. To write the same (says St. Paul) to me <i>is not
|
|
grievous, but for you it is safe,</i> <scripRef passage="Php 3:1" id="Ex.xxxviii-p3.1" parsed="|Phil|3|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Phil.3.1">Phil. iii. 1</scripRef>. 2. Moses would thus show the
|
|
great care which he and his workmen took to make every thing
|
|
exactly according to the pattern shown him in the mount. Having
|
|
before given us the original, he here gives us the copy, that we
|
|
may compare them, and observe how exactly they agree. Thus he
|
|
appeals to every reader concerning his fidelity to him that
|
|
appointed him, in all his house, and in all the particulars of it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Heb 3:5" id="Ex.xxxviii-p3.2" parsed="|Heb|3|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.3.5">Heb. iii. 5</scripRef>. And thus he
|
|
teaches us to have respect to all God's commandments, even to every
|
|
iota and tittle of them. 3. It is intimated hereby that God takes
|
|
delight in the sincere obedience of his people, and keeps an exact
|
|
account of it, which shall be produced to their honour in the
|
|
resurrection of the just. None can be so punctual in their duty,
|
|
but God will be as punctual in his notices of it. He is <i>not
|
|
unrighteous to forget the work and labour of love,</i> in any
|
|
instance of it, <scripRef passage="Heb 6:10" id="Ex.xxxviii-p3.3" parsed="|Heb|6|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.6.10">Heb. vi.
|
|
10</scripRef>. 4. The spiritual riches and beauties of the gospel
|
|
tabernacle are hereby recommended to our frequent and serious
|
|
consideration. Go walk about this Zion, view it and review it: the
|
|
more you contemplate the glories of the church, the more you will
|
|
admire them and be in love with them. The charter of its
|
|
privileges, and the account of its constitution, will very well
|
|
bear a second reading.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxviii-p4">II. In these verses we have an account of
|
|
the making of the ark, with its glorious and most significant
|
|
appurtenances, the mercy-seat and the cherubim. Consider these
|
|
three together, and they represent the glory of a holy god, the
|
|
sincerity of a holy heart, and the communion that is between them,
|
|
in and by a Mediator. 1. It is the glory of a holy god that he
|
|
dwells between the cherubim; that is, is continually attended and
|
|
adored by the blessed angels, whose swiftness was signified by
|
|
their faces being one towards another. 2. It is the character of an
|
|
upright heart that, like the ark of the testimony, it has the law
|
|
of God hid and kept in it. 3. By Jesus Christ, the great
|
|
propitiation, there is reconciliation made, and a communion
|
|
settled, between us and God: he interposes between us and God's
|
|
displeasure; and not only so, but through him we become entitled to
|
|
God's favour. If he write his law in our heart, he will be to us a
|
|
God and we shall be to him a people. From the mercy-seat he will
|
|
teach us, there he will accept us, and show himself merciful to our
|
|
unrighteousness; and under the shadow of his wings we shall be safe
|
|
and easy.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 37" id="Ex.xxxviii-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|37|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.37"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 37:10-24" id="Ex.xxxviii-p4.2" parsed="|Exod|37|10|37|24" osisRef="Bible:Exod.37.10-Exod.37.24"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.37.10-Exod.37.24">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxxviii-p5">10 And he made the table <i>of</i> shittim wood:
|
|
two cubits <i>was</i> the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth
|
|
thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof:   11 And
|
|
he overlaid it with pure gold, and made thereunto a crown of gold
|
|
round about.   12 Also he made thereunto a border of an
|
|
handbreadth round about; and made a crown of gold for the border
|
|
thereof round about.   13 And he cast for it four rings of
|
|
gold, and put the rings upon the four corners that <i>were</i> in
|
|
the four feet thereof.   14 Over against the border were the
|
|
rings, the places for the staves to bear the table.   15 And
|
|
he made the staves <i>of</i> shittim wood, and overlaid them with
|
|
gold, to bear the table.   16 And he made the vessels which
|
|
<i>were</i> upon the table, his dishes, and his spoons, and his
|
|
bowls, and his covers to cover withal, <i>of</i> pure gold.  
|
|
17 And he made the candlestick <i>of</i> pure gold: <i>of</i>
|
|
beaten work made he the candlestick; his shaft, and his branch, his
|
|
bowls, his knops, and his flowers, were of the same:   18 And
|
|
six branches going out of the sides thereof; three branches of the
|
|
candlestick out of the one side thereof, and three branches of the
|
|
candlestick out of the other side thereof:   19 Three bowls
|
|
made after the fashion of almonds in one branch, a knop and a
|
|
flower; and three bowls made like almonds in another branch, a knop
|
|
and a flower: so throughout the six branches going out of the
|
|
candlestick.   20 And in the candlestick <i>were</i> four
|
|
bowls made like almonds, his knops, and his flowers:   21 And
|
|
a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two
|
|
branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same,
|
|
according to the six branches going out of it.   22 Their
|
|
knops and their branches were of the same: all of it <i>was</i> one
|
|
beaten work <i>of</i> pure gold.   23 And he made his seven
|
|
lamps, and his snuffers, and his snuffdishes, <i>of</i> pure gold.
|
|
  24 <i>Of</i> a talent of pure gold made he it, and all the
|
|
vessels thereof.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxviii-p6">Here is, 1. The making of the table on
|
|
which the show-bread was to be continually placed. God is a good
|
|
householder, that always keeps a plentiful table. Is the world his
|
|
tabernacle? His providence in it spreads a table for all the
|
|
creatures: he <i>provides food for all flesh.</i> Is the church his
|
|
tabernacle? His grace in it spreads a table for all believers,
|
|
furnished with the bread of life. But observe how much the
|
|
dispensation of the gospel exceeds that of the law. Though here was
|
|
a table furnished, it was only with <i>show-bread,</i> bread to be
|
|
looked upon, not to be fed upon, while it was on this table, and
|
|
afterwards only by the priests; but to the table which Christ has
|
|
spread in the new covenant all real Christians are invited guests;
|
|
and to them it is said, <i>Eat, O friends, come eat of my
|
|
bread.</i> What the law gave but a sight of at a distance, the
|
|
gospel gives the enjoyment of, and a hearty welcome to. 2. The
|
|
making of the candlestick, which was not of wood overlaid with
|
|
gold, but all beaten work of pure gold only, <scripRef passage="Ex 37:17,22" id="Ex.xxxviii-p6.1" parsed="|Exod|37|17|0|0;|Exod|37|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.37.17 Bible:Exod.37.22"><i>v.</i> 17, 22</scripRef>. This signified that
|
|
light of divine revelation with which God's church upon earth
|
|
(which is his tabernacle among men) has always been enlightened,
|
|
being always supplied with fresh oil from Christ the good Olive,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Zec 4:2,3" id="Ex.xxxviii-p6.2" parsed="|Zech|4|2|4|3" osisRef="Bible:Zech.4.2-Zech.4.3">Zech. iv. 2, 3</scripRef>. God's
|
|
manifestations of himself in this world are but candle-light
|
|
compared with the daylight of the future state. The Bible is a
|
|
golden candlestick; it is of pure gold, <scripRef passage="Ps 19:10" id="Ex.xxxviii-p6.3" parsed="|Ps|19|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.19.10">Ps. xix. 10</scripRef>. From it light is diffused to
|
|
every part of God's tabernacle, that by it his spiritual priests
|
|
may see to minister unto the Lord, and to do the service of his
|
|
sanctuary. This candlestick has not only its bowls for necessary
|
|
use, but its knops and flowers for ornament; there are many things
|
|
which God saw fit to beautify his word with which we can no more
|
|
give a reason for than for these knops and flowers, and yet we are
|
|
sure that they were added for a good purpose. Let us bless God for
|
|
this candlestick, have an eye to it continually, and dread the
|
|
removal of it out of its place.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 37:25-29" id="Ex.xxxviii-p6.4" parsed="|Exod|37|25|37|29" osisRef="Bible:Exod.37.25-Exod.37.29"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.37.25-Exod.37.29">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxxviii-p7">25 And he made the incense altar <i>of</i>
|
|
shittim wood: the length of it <i>was</i> a cubit, and the breadth
|
|
of it a cubit; <i>it was</i> foursquare; and two cubits <i>was</i>
|
|
the height of it; the horns thereof were of the same.   26 And
|
|
he overlaid it with pure gold, <i>both</i> the top of it, and the
|
|
sides thereof round about, and the horns of it: also he made unto
|
|
it a crown of gold round about.   27 And he made two rings of
|
|
gold for it under the crown thereof, by the two corners of it, upon
|
|
the two sides thereof, to be places for the staves to bear it
|
|
withal.   28 And he made the staves <i>of</i> shittim wood,
|
|
and overlaid them with gold.   29 And he made the holy
|
|
anointing oil, and the pure incense of sweet spices, according to
|
|
the work of the apothecary.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxviii-p8">Here is, 1. The making of the golden altar,
|
|
on which incense was to be burnt daily, which signified both the
|
|
prayers of saints and the intercession of Christ, to which are
|
|
owing the acceptableness and success of those prayers. The rings
|
|
and staves, and all the appurtenances of this altar, were overlaid
|
|
with gold, as all the vessels of the table and candlestick were of
|
|
gold, for these were used in the holy place. God is the best, and
|
|
we must serve him with the best we have; but the best we can serve
|
|
him with in his courts on earth is but as brass, compared with the
|
|
gold, the sinless and spotless perfection, with which his saints
|
|
shall serve him in his holy place above. 2. The preparing of the
|
|
incense which was to be burnt upon this altar, and with it the holy
|
|
anointing oil (<scripRef passage="Ex 37:29" id="Ex.xxxviii-p8.1" parsed="|Exod|37|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.37.29"><i>v.</i>
|
|
29</scripRef>), according to the dispensatory, <scripRef passage="Ex 30:22-38" id="Ex.xxxviii-p8.2" parsed="|Exod|30|22|30|38" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.22-Exod.30.38"><i>ch.</i> xxx. 22</scripRef>, &c. God taught
|
|
Bezaleel this art also; so that though he was not before acquainted
|
|
with it yet he made up these things according to the work of the
|
|
apothecary, as dexterously and exactly as if he had been bred up to
|
|
the trade. Where God gives wisdom and grace, it will make the man
|
|
of God <i>perfect, thoroughly furnished to every good work.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXXVIII" n="xxxix" progress="50.02%" prev="Ex.xxxviii" next="Ex.xl" id="Ex.xxxix">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.xxxix-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.xxxix-p0.2">CHAP. XXXVIII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.xxxix-p1">Here is an account, I. Of the making of the brazen
|
|
altar (<scripRef passage="Ex 38:1-7" id="Ex.xxxix-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|38|1|38|7" osisRef="Bible:Exod.38.1-Exod.38.7">ver. 1-7</scripRef>), and the
|
|
laver, <scripRef passage="Ex 38:8" id="Ex.xxxix-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|38|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.38.8">ver. 8</scripRef>. II. The
|
|
preparing of the hangings for the enclosing of the court in which
|
|
the tabernacle was to stand, <scripRef passage="Ex 38:9-20" id="Ex.xxxix-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|38|9|38|20" osisRef="Bible:Exod.38.9-Exod.38.20">ver.
|
|
9-20</scripRef>. III. A summary of the gold, silver, and brass,
|
|
that was contributed to, and used in, the preparing of the
|
|
tabernacle, <scripRef passage="Ex 38:21-31" id="Ex.xxxix-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|38|21|38|31" osisRef="Bible:Exod.38.21-Exod.38.31">ver. 21</scripRef>,
|
|
&c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 38" id="Ex.xxxix-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|38|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.38"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 38:1-8" id="Ex.xxxix-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|38|1|38|8" osisRef="Bible:Exod.38.1-Exod.38.8"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.38.1-Exod.38.8">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xxxix-p1.7">The Tabernacle and Its
|
|
Furniture. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxix-p1.8">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxxix-p2">1 And he made the altar of burnt offering
|
|
<i>of</i> shittim wood: five cubits <i>was</i> the length thereof,
|
|
and five cubits the breadth thereof; <i>it was</i> foursquare; and
|
|
three cubits the height thereof.   2 And he made the horns
|
|
thereof on the four corners of it; the horns thereof were of the
|
|
same: and he overlaid it with brass.   3 And he made all the
|
|
vessels of the altar, the pots, and the shovels, and the basons,
|
|
<i>and</i> the fleshhooks, and the firepans: all the vessels
|
|
thereof made he <i>of</i> brass.   4 And he made for the altar
|
|
a brazen grate of network under the compass thereof beneath unto
|
|
the midst of it.   5 And he cast four rings for the four ends
|
|
of the grate of brass, <i>to be</i> places for the staves.   6
|
|
And he made the staves <i>of</i> shittim wood, and overlaid them
|
|
with brass.   7 And he put the staves into the rings on the
|
|
sides of the altar, to bear it withal; he made the altar hollow
|
|
with boards.   8 And he made the laver <i>of</i> brass, and
|
|
the foot of it <i>of</i> brass, of the looking-glasses of <i>the
|
|
women</i> assembling, which assembled <i>at</i> the door of the
|
|
tabernacle of the congregation.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxix-p3">Bezaleel having finished the gold-work,
|
|
which, though the richest, yet was ordered to lie most out of
|
|
sight, in the tabernacle itself, here goes on to prepare the court,
|
|
which lay open to the view of all. Two things the court was
|
|
furnished with, and both made of brass:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxix-p4">I. An altar of burnt-offering, <scripRef passage="Ex 38:1-7" id="Ex.xxxix-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|38|1|38|7" osisRef="Bible:Exod.38.1-Exod.38.7"><i>v.</i> 1-7</scripRef>. On this all their
|
|
sacrifices were offered, and it was this which, being sanctified
|
|
itself for this purpose by the divine appointment, sanctified the
|
|
gift that was in faith offered on it. Christ was himself the altar
|
|
to his own sacrifice of atonement, and so he is to all our
|
|
sacrifices of acknowledgment. We must have an eye to him in
|
|
offering them, as God has in accepting them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxix-p5">II. A laver, to hold water for the priests
|
|
to wash in when they went in to minister, <scripRef passage="Ex 38:8" id="Ex.xxxix-p5.1" parsed="|Exod|38|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.38.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. This signified the provision that
|
|
is made in the gospel of Christ for the cleansing of our souls from
|
|
the moral pollution of sin by the merit and grace of Christ, that
|
|
we may be fit to serve the holy God in holy duties. This is here
|
|
said to be made of the <i>looking-glasses</i> (or mirrors) of the
|
|
women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxix-p6">1. It should seem these women were eminent
|
|
and exemplary for devotion, attending more frequently and seriously
|
|
at the place of public worship than others did; and notice is here
|
|
taken of it to their honour. Anna was such a one long afterwards,
|
|
who <i>departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings
|
|
and prayers night and day,</i> <scripRef passage="Lu 2:37" id="Ex.xxxix-p6.1" parsed="|Luke|2|37|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.2.37">Luke ii.
|
|
37</scripRef>. It seems in every age of the church there have been
|
|
some who have thus distinguished themselves by their serious
|
|
zealous piety, and they have thereby distinguished themselves; for
|
|
devout women are really honourable women (<scripRef passage="Ac 13:50" id="Ex.xxxix-p6.2" parsed="|Acts|13|50|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.13.50">Acts xiii. 50</scripRef>), and not the less so for their
|
|
being called, by the scoffers of the latter days, <i>silly
|
|
women.</i> Probably these women were such as showed their zeal upon
|
|
this occasion, by assisting in the work that was now going on for
|
|
the service of the tabernacle. They assembled by <i>troops,</i> so
|
|
the word is; a blessed sight, to see so many, and those so zealous
|
|
and so unanimous, in this good work.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxix-p7">2. These women parted with their mirrors
|
|
(which were of the finest brass, burnished for that purpose) for
|
|
the use of the tabernacle. Those women that admire their own
|
|
beauty, are in love with their own shadow, and make the putting on
|
|
of apparel their chief adorning by which they value and recommend
|
|
themselves, can but ill spare their <i>looking-glasses;</i> yet
|
|
these women offered <i>them</i> to God, either, (1.) In token of
|
|
their repentance for the former abuse of them, to the support of
|
|
their pride and vanity; now that they were convinced of their
|
|
folly, and had devoted themselves to the service of God at the door
|
|
of the tabernacle, they thus threw away that which, though lawful
|
|
and useful in itself, yet had been an occasion of sin to them. Thus
|
|
Mary Magdalene, who had been a sinner, when she became a penitent
|
|
wiped Christ's feet with her hair. Or, (2.) In token of their great
|
|
zeal for the work of the tabernacle; rather than the workmen should
|
|
want brass, or not have of the best, they would part with their
|
|
mirrors, though they could not do well without them. God's service
|
|
and glory must always be preferred by us before any satisfactions
|
|
or accommodations of our own. Let us never complain of the want of
|
|
that which we may honour God by parting with.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxix-p8">3. These mirrors were used for the making
|
|
of the laver. Either they were artfully joined together, or else
|
|
molten down and cast anew; but it is probable that the laver was so
|
|
brightly burnished that the sides of it still served for mirrors,
|
|
that the priests, when they came to wash, might there see their
|
|
faces, and so discover the spots, to wash them clean. Note, In the
|
|
washing of repentance, there is need of the looking-glass of
|
|
self-examination. The word of God is a glass, in which we may see
|
|
our own faces (see <scripRef passage="Jam 1:23" id="Ex.xxxix-p8.1" parsed="|Jas|1|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jas.1.23">Jam. i.
|
|
23</scripRef>); and with it we must compare our own hearts and
|
|
lives, that, finding out our blemishes, we may wash with particular
|
|
sorrow, and application of the blood of Christ to our souls.
|
|
Usually the more particular we are in the confession of sin the
|
|
more comfort we have in the sense of the pardon.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 38:9-20" id="Ex.xxxix-p8.2" parsed="|Exod|38|9|38|20" osisRef="Bible:Exod.38.9-Exod.38.20"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.38.9-Exod.38.20">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxxix-p9">9 And he made the court: on the south side
|
|
southward the hangings of the court <i>were of</i> fine twined
|
|
linen, an hundred cubits:   10 Their pillars <i>were</i>
|
|
twenty, and their brazen sockets twenty; the hooks of the pillars
|
|
and their fillets <i>were of</i> silver.   11 And for the
|
|
north side <i>the hangings were</i> an hundred cubits, their
|
|
pillars <i>were</i> twenty, and their sockets of brass twenty; the
|
|
hooks of the pillars and their fillets <i>of</i> silver.   12
|
|
And for the west side <i>were</i> hangings of fifty cubits, their
|
|
pillars ten, and their sockets ten; the hooks of the pillars and
|
|
their fillets <i>of</i> silver.   13 And for the east side
|
|
eastward fifty cubits.   14 The hangings of the one side <i>of
|
|
the gate were</i> fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their
|
|
sockets three.   15 And for the other side of the court gate,
|
|
on this hand and that hand, <i>were</i> hangings of fifteen cubits;
|
|
their pillars three, and their sockets three.   16 All the
|
|
hangings of the court round about <i>were</i> of fine twined linen.
|
|
  17 And the sockets for the pillars <i>were of</i> brass; the
|
|
hooks of the pillars and their fillets <i>of</i> silver; and the
|
|
overlaying of their chapiters <i>of</i> silver; and all the pillars
|
|
of the court <i>were</i> filleted with silver.   18 And the
|
|
hanging for the gate of the court <i>was</i> needlework, <i>of</i>
|
|
blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: and twenty
|
|
cubits <i>was</i> the length, and the height in the breadth
|
|
<i>was</i> five cubits, answerable to the hangings of the court.
|
|
  19 And their pillars <i>were</i> four, and their sockets
|
|
<i>of</i> brass four; their hooks <i>of</i> silver, and the
|
|
overlaying of their chapiters and their fillets <i>of</i> silver.
|
|
  20 And all the pins of the tabernacle, and of the court
|
|
round about, <i>were of</i> brass.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxix-p10">The walls of the court, or church-yard,
|
|
were like the rest curtains or hangings, made according to the
|
|
appointment, <scripRef passage="Ex 27:9-19" id="Ex.xxxix-p10.1" parsed="|Exod|27|9|27|19" osisRef="Bible:Exod.27.9-Exod.27.19"><i>ch.</i> xxvii.
|
|
9</scripRef>, &c. This represented the state of the
|
|
Old-Testament church: it was a garden enclosed; the worshippers
|
|
were then confined to a little compass. But the enclosure being of
|
|
curtains only intimated that the confinement of the church in one
|
|
particular nation was not to be perpetual. The dispensation itself
|
|
was a tabernacle-dispensation, movable and mutable, and in due time
|
|
to be taken down and folded up, when the place of the tent should
|
|
be enlarged and its cords lengthened, to make room for the Gentile
|
|
world, as is foretold, <scripRef passage="Isa 54:2,3" id="Ex.xxxix-p10.2" parsed="|Isa|54|2|54|3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.2-Isa.54.3">Isa. liv. 2,
|
|
3</scripRef>. The church here on earth is but the court of God's
|
|
house, and happy they that tread these courts and flourish in them;
|
|
but through these courts we are passing to the holy place above.
|
|
<i>Blessed are those that dwell in that house</i> of God: they well
|
|
be <i>still praising him.</i> The enclosing of a court before the
|
|
tabernacle teaches us a gradual approach to God. The priests that
|
|
ministered must pass through the holy court, before they entered
|
|
the holy house. Thus before solemn ordinances there ought to be the
|
|
separated and enclosed court of a solemn preparation, in which we
|
|
must wash our hands, and so draw near with a true heart.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 38:21-31" id="Ex.xxxix-p10.3" parsed="|Exod|38|21|38|31" osisRef="Bible:Exod.38.21-Exod.38.31"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.38.21-Exod.38.31">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xxxix-p11">21 This is the sum of the tabernacle,
|
|
<i>even</i> of the tabernacle of testimony, as it was counted,
|
|
according to the commandment of Moses, <i>for</i> the service of
|
|
the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, son to Aaron the priest.
|
|
  22 And Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe
|
|
of Judah, made all that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xxxix-p11.1">Lord</span>
|
|
commanded Moses.   23 And with him <i>was</i> Aholiab, son of
|
|
Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a cunning workman,
|
|
and an embroiderer in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet, and fine
|
|
linen.   24 All the gold that was occupied for the work in all
|
|
the work of the holy <i>place,</i> even the gold of the offering,
|
|
was twenty and nine talents, and seven hundred and thirty shekels,
|
|
after the shekel of the sanctuary.   25 And the silver of them
|
|
that were numbered of the congregation <i>was</i> an hundred
|
|
talents, and a thousand seven hundred and threescore and fifteen
|
|
shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary:   26 A bekah for
|
|
every man, <i>that is,</i> half a shekel, after the shekel of the
|
|
sanctuary, for every one that went to be numbered, from twenty
|
|
years old and upward, for six hundred thousand and three thousand
|
|
and five hundred and fifty <i>men.</i>   27 And of the hundred
|
|
talents of silver were cast the sockets of the sanctuary, and the
|
|
sockets of the vail; an hundred sockets of the hundred talents, a
|
|
talent for a socket.   28 And of the thousand seven hundred
|
|
seventy and five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, and
|
|
overlaid their chapiters, and filleted them.   29 And the
|
|
brass of the offering <i>was</i> seventy talents, and two thousand
|
|
and four hundred shekels.   30 And therewith he made the
|
|
sockets to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the
|
|
brazen altar, and the brazen grate for it, and all the vessels of
|
|
the altar,   31 And the sockets of the court round about, and
|
|
the sockets of the court gate, and all the pins of the tabernacle,
|
|
and all the pins of the court round about.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xxxix-p12">Here we have a breviat of the account
|
|
which, by Moses's appointment, the Levites took and kept of the
|
|
gold, silver, and brass, that was brought in for the tabernacle's
|
|
use, and how it was employed. Ithamar the son of Aaron was
|
|
appointed to draw up this account, and was thus by less services
|
|
trained up and fitted for greater, <scripRef passage="Ex 38:21" id="Ex.xxxix-p12.1" parsed="|Exod|38|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.38.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. Bezaleel and Aholiab must bring
|
|
in the account (<scripRef passage="Ex 38:22,23" id="Ex.xxxix-p12.2" parsed="|Exod|38|22|38|23" osisRef="Bible:Exod.38.22-Exod.38.23"><i>v.</i> 22,
|
|
23</scripRef>), and Ithamar must audit it, and give it in to Moses.
|
|
And it was thus:—1. All the gold was a free-will offering; every
|
|
man brought as he could and would, and it amounted to twenty-nine
|
|
talents, and 730 shekels over, which some compute to be about
|
|
150,000<i>l.</i> worth of gold, according to the present value of
|
|
it. Of this were made all the golden furniture and vessels. 2. The
|
|
silver was levied by way of tax; every man was assessed half a
|
|
shekel, a kind of poll-money, which amounted in the whole to 100
|
|
talents, and 1775 shekels over, <scripRef passage="Ex 38:25,26" id="Ex.xxxix-p12.3" parsed="|Exod|38|25|38|26" osisRef="Bible:Exod.38.25-Exod.38.26"><i>v.</i> 25, 26</scripRef>. Of this they made the
|
|
sockets into which the boards of the tabernacle were let, and on
|
|
which they rested; so that they were as the foundation of the
|
|
tabernacle, <scripRef passage="Ex 38:27" id="Ex.xxxix-p12.4" parsed="|Exod|38|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.38.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>.
|
|
The silver amounted to about 34,000<i>l.</i> of our money. The
|
|
raising of the gold by voluntary contribution, and of the silver by
|
|
way of tribute, shows that either way may be taken for the
|
|
defraying of public expenses, provided that nothing be done with
|
|
partiality. 3. The brass, though less valuable, was of use not only
|
|
for the brazen altar, but for the sockets of the court, which
|
|
probably in other tents were of wood: but it is promised (<scripRef passage="Isa 60:17" id="Ex.xxxix-p12.5" parsed="|Isa|60|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.60.17">Isa. lx. 17</scripRef>), <i>For wood I will
|
|
bring brass.</i> See how liberal the people were and how faithful
|
|
the workmen were, in both which respects their good example ought
|
|
to be followed.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXXIX" n="xl" progress="50.27%" prev="Ex.xxxix" next="Ex.xli" id="Ex.xl">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.xl-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.xl-p0.2">CHAP. XXXIX.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.xl-p1">This chapter gives us an account of the finishing
|
|
of the work of the tabernacle. I. The last things prepared were the
|
|
holy garments. The ephod and its curious girdle, <scripRef passage="Ex 39:1-5" id="Ex.xl-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|39|1|39|5" osisRef="Bible:Exod.39.1-Exod.39.5">ver. 1-5</scripRef>. The onyx-stones for the shoulders,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 39:6,7" id="Ex.xl-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|39|6|39|7" osisRef="Bible:Exod.39.6-Exod.39.7">ver. 6, 7</scripRef>. The breastplate
|
|
with the precious stones in it, <scripRef passage="Ex 39:8-21" id="Ex.xl-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|39|8|39|21" osisRef="Bible:Exod.39.8-Exod.39.21">ver.
|
|
8-21</scripRef>. The robe of the ephod, <scripRef passage="Ex 39:22-26" id="Ex.xl-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|39|22|39|26" osisRef="Bible:Exod.39.22-Exod.39.26">ver. 22-26</scripRef>. The coats, bonnets, and
|
|
breeches, for the inferior priests, <scripRef passage="Ex 39:27-29" id="Ex.xl-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|39|27|39|29" osisRef="Bible:Exod.39.27-Exod.39.29">ver. 27-29</scripRef>. And the plate of the holy
|
|
crown, <scripRef passage="Ex 39:30,31" id="Ex.xl-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|39|30|39|31" osisRef="Bible:Exod.39.30-Exod.39.31">ver. 30, 31</scripRef>. II.
|
|
A summary account of the whole work, as it was presented to Moses
|
|
when it was all finished, <scripRef passage="Ex 39:32-43" id="Ex.xl-p1.7" parsed="|Exod|39|32|39|43" osisRef="Bible:Exod.39.32-Exod.39.43">ver.
|
|
32</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 39" id="Ex.xl-p1.8" parsed="|Exod|39|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.39"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 39:1-31" id="Ex.xl-p1.9" parsed="|Exod|39|1|39|31" osisRef="Bible:Exod.39.1-Exod.39.31"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.39.1-Exod.39.31">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xl-p1.10">The Tabernacle and Its
|
|
Furniture. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xl-p1.11">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xl-p2">1 And of the blue, and purple, and scarlet, they
|
|
made cloths of service, to do service in the holy <i>place,</i> and
|
|
made the holy garments for Aaron; as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xl-p2.1">Lord</span> commanded Moses.   2 And he made the
|
|
ephod <i>of</i> gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine
|
|
twined linen.   3 And they did beat the gold into thin plates,
|
|
and cut <i>it into</i> wires, to work <i>it</i> in the blue, and in
|
|
the purple, and in the scarlet, and in the fine linen, <i>with</i>
|
|
cunning work.   4 They made shoulderpieces for it, to couple
|
|
<i>it</i> together: by the two edges was it coupled together.
|
|
  5 And the curious girdle of his ephod, that <i>was</i> upon
|
|
it, <i>was</i> of the same, according to the work thereof;
|
|
<i>of</i> gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined
|
|
linen; as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xl-p2.2">Lord</span> commanded Moses.
|
|
  6 And they wrought onyx stones inclosed in ouches of gold,
|
|
graven, as signets are graven, with the names of the children of
|
|
Israel.   7 And he put them on the shoulders of the ephod,
|
|
<i>that they should be</i> stones for a memorial to the children of
|
|
Israel; as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xl-p2.3">Lord</span> commanded Moses.
|
|
  8 And he made the breastplate <i>of</i> cunning work, like
|
|
the work of the ephod; <i>of</i> gold, blue, and purple, and
|
|
scarlet, and fine twined linen.   9 It was foursquare; they
|
|
made the breastplate double: a span <i>was</i> the length thereof,
|
|
and a span the breadth thereof, <i>being</i> doubled.   10 And
|
|
they set in it four rows of stones: <i>the first</i> row <i>was</i>
|
|
a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle: this <i>was</i> the first row.
|
|
  11 And the second row, an emerald, a sapphire, and a
|
|
diamond.   12 And the third row, a ligure, an agate, and an
|
|
amethyst.   13 And the fourth row, a beryl, an onyx, and a
|
|
jasper: <i>they were</i> inclosed in ouches of gold in their
|
|
inclosings.   14 And the stones <i>were</i> according to the
|
|
names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names,
|
|
<i>like</i> the engravings of a signet, every one with his name,
|
|
according to the twelve tribes.   15 And they made upon the
|
|
breastplate chains at the ends, <i>of</i> wreathen work <i>of</i>
|
|
pure gold.   16 And they made two ouches <i>of</i> gold, and
|
|
two gold rings; and put the two rings in the two ends of the
|
|
breastplate.   17 And they put the two wreathen chains of gold
|
|
in the two rings on the ends of the breastplate.   18 And the
|
|
two ends of the two wreathen chains they fastened in the two
|
|
ouches, and put them on the shoulderpieces of the ephod, before it.
|
|
  19 And they made two rings of gold, and put <i>them</i> on
|
|
the two ends of the breastplate, upon the border of it, which
|
|
<i>was</i> on the side of the ephod inward.   20 And they made
|
|
two <i>other</i> golden rings, and put them on the two sides of the
|
|
ephod underneath, toward the forepart of it, over against the
|
|
<i>other</i> coupling thereof, above the curious girdle of the
|
|
ephod.   21 And they did bind the breastplate by his rings
|
|
unto the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it might be
|
|
above the curious girdle of the ephod, and that the breastplate
|
|
might not be loosed from the ephod; as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xl-p2.4">Lord</span> commanded Moses.   22 And he made the
|
|
robe of the ephod <i>of</i> woven work, all <i>of</i> blue.  
|
|
23 And <i>there was</i> an hole in the midst of the robe, as the
|
|
hole of an habergeon, <i>with</i> a band round about the hole, that
|
|
it should not rend.   24 And they made upon the hems of the
|
|
robe pomegranates <i>of</i> blue, and purple, and scarlet,
|
|
<i>and</i> twined <i>linen.</i>   25 And they made bells
|
|
<i>of</i> pure gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates
|
|
upon the hem of the robe, round about between the pomegranates;
|
|
  26 A bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, round
|
|
about the hem of the robe to minister <i>in;</i> as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xl-p2.5">Lord</span> commanded Moses.   27 And they
|
|
made coats <i>of</i> fine linen <i>of</i> woven work for Aaron, and
|
|
for his sons,   28 And a mitre <i>of</i> fine linen, and
|
|
goodly bonnets <i>of</i> fine linen, and linen breeches <i>of</i>
|
|
fine twined linen,   29 And a girdle <i>of</i> fine twined
|
|
linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, <i>of</i> needlework; as
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xl-p2.6">Lord</span> commanded Moses.   30
|
|
And they made the plate of the holy crown <i>of</i> pure gold, and
|
|
wrote upon it a writing, <i>like to</i> the engravings of a signet,
|
|
HOLINESS TO THE LORD.   31 And they tied unto it a lace of
|
|
blue, to fasten <i>it</i> on high upon the mitre; as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xl-p2.7">Lord</span> commanded Moses.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xl-p3">In this account of the making of the
|
|
priests' garments, according to the instructions given (ch. 28), we
|
|
may observe, 1. That the priests' garments are called here
|
|
<i>clothes of service,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 39:1" id="Ex.xl-p3.1" parsed="|Exod|39|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.39.1"><i>v.</i>
|
|
1</scripRef>. Note, Those that wear robes of honour must look upon
|
|
them as clothes of service; for from those upon whom honour is put
|
|
service is expected. It is said of those that are arrayed in white
|
|
robes that they <i>are before the throne of God, and serve him day
|
|
and night in his temple,</i> <scripRef passage="Re 7:13" id="Ex.xl-p3.2" parsed="|Rev|7|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.7.13">Rev. vii.
|
|
13, 15</scripRef>. Holy garments were not made for men to sleep in,
|
|
or to strut in, but to do service in; and then they are indeed for
|
|
glory and beauty. The Son of man himself <i>came not to be
|
|
ministered unto, but to minister.</i> 2. That all the six
|
|
paragraphs here, which give a distinct account of the making of
|
|
these holy garments, conclude with those words, <i>as the Lord
|
|
commanded Moses,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 39:5,7,21,26,29,31" id="Ex.xl-p3.3" parsed="|Exod|39|5|0|0;|Exod|39|7|0|0;|Exod|39|21|0|0;|Exod|39|26|0|0;|Exod|39|29|0|0;|Exod|39|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.39.5 Bible:Exod.39.7 Bible:Exod.39.21 Bible:Exod.39.26 Bible:Exod.39.29 Bible:Exod.39.31"><i>v.</i> 5, 7, 21, 26, 29, 31</scripRef>.
|
|
The like is not in any of the foregoing accounts, as if in these,
|
|
more than any other of the appurtenances of the tabernacle, they
|
|
had a particular regard to the divine appointment, both for warrant
|
|
and for direction. It is an intimation to all the Lord's ministers
|
|
to make the word of God their rule in all their ministrations, and
|
|
to act in observance of and obedience to the command of God. 3.
|
|
That these garments, in conformity to the rest of the furniture of
|
|
the tabernacle, were very rich and splendid; the church in its
|
|
infancy was thus taught, thus pleased, with the rudiments of this
|
|
world; but now under the gospel, which is the ministration of the
|
|
Spirit, to affect and impose such pompous habits as the church of
|
|
Rome does, under pretence of decency and instruction, is to betray
|
|
<i>the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free,</i> and to
|
|
entangle the church again in the bondage of those carnal ordinances
|
|
which were imposed only till the time of reformation. 4. That they
|
|
were all shadows of good things to come, but the substance is
|
|
Christ, and the grace of the gospel; when therefore the substance
|
|
has come, it is a jest to be fond of the shadow. (1.) Christ is our
|
|
great high-priest; when he undertook the work of our redemption, he
|
|
put on the clothes of service—he arrayed himself with the gifts
|
|
and graces of the Spirit, which he received not by measure—girded
|
|
himself with the curious girdle of resolution, to go through with
|
|
his undertaking—charged himself with the curious girdle of
|
|
resolution, to go through with his undertaking—charged himself
|
|
with all God's spiritual Israel, bore them on his shoulders,
|
|
carried them in his bosom, laid them near his heart, engraved them
|
|
on the palms of his hands, and presented them in the breast-plate
|
|
of judgment unto his Father. And (lastly) he crowned himself with
|
|
<i>holiness to the Lord,</i> consecrating his whole undertaking to
|
|
the honour of his Father's holiness: now consider how great this
|
|
man is. (2.) True believers are spiritual priests. The clean linen
|
|
with which all their clothes of service must be made is <i>the
|
|
righteousness of saints</i> (<scripRef passage="Re 19:8" id="Ex.xl-p3.4" parsed="|Rev|19|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.19.8">Rev. xix.
|
|
8</scripRef>), and <i>Holiness to the Lord</i> must be so written
|
|
upon their foreheads that all who converse with them may see, and
|
|
say, that they bear the image of God's holiness, and are devoted to
|
|
the praise of it.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 39:32-43" id="Ex.xl-p3.5" parsed="|Exod|39|32|39|43" osisRef="Bible:Exod.39.32-Exod.39.43"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.39.32-Exod.39.43">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xl-p3.6">The Tabernacle Completed. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xl-p3.7">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xl-p4">32 Thus was all the work of the tabernacle of
|
|
the tent of the congregation finished: and the children of Israel
|
|
did according to all that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xl-p4.1">Lord</span>
|
|
commanded Moses, so did they.   33 And they brought the
|
|
tabernacle unto Moses, the tent, and all his furniture, his taches,
|
|
his boards, his bars, and his pillars, and his sockets,   34
|
|
And the covering of rams' skins dyed red, and the covering of
|
|
badgers' skins, and the vail of the covering,   35 The ark of
|
|
the testimony, and the staves thereof, and the mercy seat,  
|
|
36 The table, <i>and</i> all the vessels thereof, and the
|
|
showbread,   37 The pure candlestick, <i>with</i> the lamps
|
|
thereof, <i>even with</i> the lamps to be set in order, and all the
|
|
vessels thereof, and the oil for light,   38 And the golden
|
|
altar, and the anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the
|
|
hanging for the tabernacle door,   39 The brazen altar, and
|
|
his grate of brass, his staves, and all his vessels, the laver and
|
|
his foot,   40 The hangings of the court, his pillars, and his
|
|
sockets, and the hanging for the court gate, his cords, and his
|
|
pins, and all the vessels of the service of the tabernacle, for the
|
|
tent of the congregation,   41 The cloths of service to do
|
|
service in the holy <i>place,</i> and the holy garments for Aaron
|
|
the priest, and his sons' garments, to minister in the priest's
|
|
office.   42 According to all that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xl-p4.2">Lord</span> commanded Moses, so the children of Israel
|
|
made all the work.   43 And Moses did look upon all the work,
|
|
and, behold, they had done it as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xl-p4.3">Lord</span> had commanded, even so had they done it:
|
|
and Moses blessed them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xl-p5">Observe here, I. The builders of the
|
|
tabernacle made very good despatch. It was not much more than five
|
|
months from the beginning to the finishing of it. Though there was
|
|
a great deal of fine work about it, such as is usually the work of
|
|
time, embroidering and engraving, not only in gold, but in precious
|
|
stones, yet they went through with it in a little time. Church-work
|
|
is usually slow work, but they made quick work of this, and yet did
|
|
it with the greatest exactness imaginable. For, 1. Many hands were
|
|
employed, all unanimous, and not striving with each other. This
|
|
expedited the business, and made it easy. 2. The workmen were
|
|
taught of God, and so were kept from making blunders, which would
|
|
have retarded them. 3. The people were hearty and zealous in the
|
|
work, and impatient till it was finished. God had prepared their
|
|
hearts, and then <i>the thing was done suddenly,</i> <scripRef passage="2Ch 29:36" id="Ex.xl-p5.1" parsed="|2Chr|29|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.29.36">2 Chron. xxix. 36</scripRef>. Resolution and
|
|
industry, and a cheerful application of mind, will, by the grace of
|
|
God, bring a great deal of good work to pass in a little time, in
|
|
less than one would expect.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xl-p6">II. They punctually observed their orders,
|
|
and did not in the least vary from them. They did it <i>according
|
|
to all that the Lord commanded Moses,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 39:32,42" id="Ex.xl-p6.1" parsed="|Exod|39|32|0|0;|Exod|39|42|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.39.32 Bible:Exod.39.42"><i>v.</i> 32, 42</scripRef>. Note, God's work must be
|
|
done, in every thing, according to his own will. His institutions
|
|
neither need nor admit men's inventions to make them either more
|
|
beautiful or more likely to answer the intention of them. <i>Add
|
|
thou not unto his words.</i> God is pleased with willing worship,
|
|
but not with will-worship.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xl-p7">III. They brought all their work to Moses,
|
|
and submitted it to his inspection and censure, <scripRef passage="Ex 39:33" id="Ex.xl-p7.1" parsed="|Exod|39|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.39.33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>. He knew what he had ordered
|
|
them to make; and now the particulars were called over, and all
|
|
produced, that Moses might see both that they had made all,
|
|
omitting nothing, and that they had made all according to the
|
|
instructions given them, and that, if they had made a mistake in
|
|
any thing, it might be forthwith rectified. Thus they showed
|
|
respect to Moses, who was set over them in the Lord; not objecting
|
|
that Moses did not understand such work, and therefore that there
|
|
was no reason for submitting it to his judgment. No, that God who
|
|
gave them so much knowledge as to do the work gave them also so
|
|
much humility as to be willing to have it examined and compared
|
|
with the model. Moses was in authority, and they would pay a
|
|
deference to his place. <i>The spirit of the prophets is subject to
|
|
the prophets.</i> And besides, though they knew how to do the work
|
|
better than Moses, Moses had a better and more exact idea of the
|
|
model than they had, and therefore they could not be well pleased
|
|
with their own work, unless they had his approbation. Thus in all
|
|
the services of religion we should <i>labour to be accepted of the
|
|
Lord.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xl-p8">IV. Moses, upon search, found all done
|
|
according to the rule, <scripRef passage="Ex 39:43" id="Ex.xl-p8.1" parsed="|Exod|39|43|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.39.43"><i>v.</i>
|
|
43</scripRef>. Moses, both for their satisfaction and for his own,
|
|
did look upon all the work, piece by piece, and behold they had
|
|
done it according to the pattern shown him, for the same Being that
|
|
showed him the pattern guided their hand in the work. All the
|
|
copies of God's grace exactly agree with the original of his
|
|
counsels: what God works in us, and by us, is the fulfilling of the
|
|
good pleasure of his own goodness; and when the mystery of God
|
|
shall be finished, and all his performances come to be compared
|
|
with his purposes, it will appear that behold all is done according
|
|
to the counsel of his own will, not one iota or tittle of which
|
|
shall fall to the ground, or be varied from.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xl-p9">V. Moses blessed them. 1. He commended
|
|
them, and signified his approbation of all they had done. He did
|
|
not find fault where there was none, as some do, who think they
|
|
disparage their own judgment if they do not find something amiss in
|
|
the best and most accomplished performance. In all this work it is
|
|
probable there might have been found here and there a stitch amiss,
|
|
and a stroke awry, which would have served for an over-curious and
|
|
censorious critic to animadvert upon; but Moses was too candid to
|
|
notice small faults where there were no great ones. Note, All
|
|
governors must be a praise to those that do well, as well as a
|
|
terror to evil-doers. Why should any take a pride in being hard to
|
|
be pleased? 2. He not only praised them, but prayed for them. He
|
|
blessed them as one having authority, for the less is blessed of
|
|
the better. We read not of any wages that Moses paid them for their
|
|
work, but this blessing he gave them. For, though ordinarily the
|
|
labourer be worthy of his hire, yet in this case, 1. They wrought
|
|
for themselves. The honour and comfort of God's tabernacle among
|
|
them would be recompence enough. <i>If thou be wise, thou shalt be
|
|
wise for thyself.</i> 2. They had their meat from heaven on
|
|
free-cost, for themselves and their families, and their raiment
|
|
waxed not old upon them; so that they neither needed wages nor had
|
|
reason to expect any. <i>Freely you have received, freely give.</i>
|
|
The obligations we lie under, both in duty and interest, to serve
|
|
God, should be sufficient to quicken us to our work, though we had
|
|
not a reward in prospect. But, 3. This blessing, in the name of the
|
|
Lord, was wages enough for all their work. Those whom God employs
|
|
he will bless, and those whom he blesses are blessed indeed. The
|
|
blessing he commands is <i>life for evermore.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XL" n="xli" progress="50.58%" prev="Ex.xl" next="Lev" id="Ex.xli">
|
|
<h2 id="Ex.xli-p0.1">E X O D U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Ex.xli-p0.2">CHAP. XL.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Ex.xli-p1">In this chapter, I. Orders are given for the
|
|
setting up of the tabernacle and the fixing of all the
|
|
appurtenances of it in their proper places (<scripRef passage="Ex 40:1-8" id="Ex.xli-p1.1" parsed="|Exod|40|1|40|8" osisRef="Bible:Exod.40.1-Exod.40.8">ver. 1-8</scripRef>), and the consecrating of it
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 40:9-11" id="Ex.xli-p1.2" parsed="|Exod|40|9|40|11" osisRef="Bible:Exod.40.9-Exod.40.11">ver. 9-11</scripRef>), and of the
|
|
priests, <scripRef passage="Ex 40:12-15" id="Ex.xli-p1.3" parsed="|Exod|40|12|40|15" osisRef="Bible:Exod.40.12-Exod.40.15">ver. 12-15</scripRef>. II.
|
|
Care is taken to do all this, and as it was appointed to be done,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 40:16-33" id="Ex.xli-p1.4" parsed="|Exod|40|16|40|33" osisRef="Bible:Exod.40.16-Exod.40.33">ver. 16-33</scripRef>. III. God
|
|
takes possession of it by the cloud, <scripRef passage="Ex 40:34-38" id="Ex.xli-p1.5" parsed="|Exod|40|34|40|38" osisRef="Bible:Exod.40.34-Exod.40.38">ver. 34</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 40" id="Ex.xli-p1.6" parsed="|Exod|40|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.40"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 40:1-15" id="Ex.xli-p1.7" parsed="|Exod|40|1|40|15" osisRef="Bible:Exod.40.1-Exod.40.15"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.40.1-Exod.40.15">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xli-p1.8">The Rearing of the
|
|
Tabernacle. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xli-p1.9">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xli-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xli-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   2 On the first day of the first
|
|
month shalt thou set up the tabernacle of the tent of the
|
|
congregation.   3 And thou shalt put therein the ark of the
|
|
testimony, and cover the ark with the vail.   4 And thou shalt
|
|
bring in the table, and set in order the things that are to be set
|
|
in order upon it; and thou shalt bring in the candlestick, and
|
|
light the lamps thereof.   5 And thou shalt set the altar of
|
|
gold for the incense before the ark of the testimony, and put the
|
|
hanging of the door to the tabernacle.   6 And thou shalt set
|
|
the altar of the burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle
|
|
of the tent of the congregation.   7 And thou shalt set the
|
|
laver between the tent of the congregation and the altar, and shalt
|
|
put water therein.   8 And thou shalt set up the court round
|
|
about, and hang up the hanging at the court gate.   9 And thou
|
|
shalt take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle, and all
|
|
that <i>is</i> therein, and shalt hallow it, and all the vessels
|
|
thereof: and it shall be holy.   10 And thou shalt anoint the
|
|
altar of the burnt offering, and all his vessels, and sanctify the
|
|
altar: and it shall be an altar most holy.   11 And thou shalt
|
|
anoint the laver and his foot, and sanctify it.   12 And thou
|
|
shalt bring Aaron and his sons unto the door of the tabernacle of
|
|
the congregation, and wash them with water.   13 And thou
|
|
shalt put upon Aaron the holy garments, and anoint him, and
|
|
sanctify him; that he may minister unto me in the priest's office.
|
|
  14 And thou shalt bring his sons, and clothe them with
|
|
coats:   15 And thou shalt anoint them, as thou didst anoint
|
|
their father, that they may minister unto me in the priest's
|
|
office: for their anointing shall surely be an everlasting
|
|
priesthood throughout their generations.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xli-p3">The materials and furniture of the
|
|
tabernacle had been viewed severally and approved, and now they
|
|
must be put together. 1. God here directs Moses to set up the
|
|
tabernacle and the utensils of it in their places. Though the work
|
|
of the tabernacle was finished, and every thing ready for rearing,
|
|
and the people, no doubt, were very desirous to see it up, yet
|
|
Moses will not erect it till he has express orders for doing so. It
|
|
is good to see God going before us in every step, <scripRef passage="Ps 37:23" id="Ex.xli-p3.1" parsed="|Ps|37|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.37.23">Ps. xxxvii. 23</scripRef>. The time for doing
|
|
this is fixed to <i>the first day of the first month</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 40:2" id="Ex.xli-p3.2" parsed="|Exod|40|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.40.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), which wanted but
|
|
fourteen days of a year since they came out of Egypt; and a good
|
|
year's work there was done in it. Probably the work was made ready
|
|
but just at the end of the year, so that the appointing of this day
|
|
gave no delay, or next to none, to this good work. We must not put
|
|
off any necessary duty under pretence of waiting for some
|
|
remarkable day; the present season is the most convenient. But the
|
|
tabernacle happening to be set up <i>on the first day of the first
|
|
month</i> intimates that it is good to begin the year with some
|
|
good work. Let him that is the first have the first; and let the
|
|
things of his kingdom be first sought. In Hezekiah's time we find
|
|
they began to sanctify the temple <i>on the first day of the first
|
|
month,</i> <scripRef passage="2Ch 29:17" id="Ex.xli-p3.3" parsed="|2Chr|29|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.29.17">2 Chron. xxix.
|
|
17</scripRef>. The new moon (which by their computation was the
|
|
first day of every month) was observed by them with some solemnity;
|
|
and therefore this first new moon of the year was thus made
|
|
remarkable. Note, When a new year begins, we should think of
|
|
serving God more and better than we did the year before. Moses is
|
|
particularly ordered to set up the tabernacle itself first, in
|
|
which God would dwell and would be served (<scripRef passage="Ex 40:2" id="Ex.xli-p3.4" parsed="|Exod|40|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.40.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), then to put the ark in its
|
|
place, and draw the veil before it (<scripRef passage="Ex 40:3" id="Ex.xli-p3.5" parsed="|Exod|40|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.40.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), then to fix the table, and the
|
|
candlestick, and the altar of incense, without the veil (<scripRef passage="Ex 40:4,5" id="Ex.xli-p3.6" parsed="|Exod|40|4|40|5" osisRef="Bible:Exod.40.4-Exod.40.5"><i>v.</i> 4, 5</scripRef>), and to fix the
|
|
hanging of the door before the door. Then in the court he must
|
|
place the altar of burnt offering, and the laver (<scripRef passage="Ex 40:6,7" id="Ex.xli-p3.7" parsed="|Exod|40|6|40|7" osisRef="Bible:Exod.40.6-Exod.40.7"><i>v.</i> 6, 7</scripRef>); and, lastly, he
|
|
must set up the curtains of the court, and a hanging for a
|
|
court-gate. And all this would be easily done in one day, many
|
|
hands no doubt being employed in it under the direction of Moses.
|
|
2. He directs Moses, when he had set up the tabernacle and all the
|
|
furniture of it, to consecrate it and them, by anointing them with
|
|
the oil which was prepared for the purpose, <scripRef passage="Ex 30:25-29" id="Ex.xli-p3.8" parsed="|Exod|30|25|30|29" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.25-Exod.30.29"><i>ch.</i> xxx. 25</scripRef>, &c. It was there
|
|
ordered that this should be done; here it was ordered that it
|
|
should be done now, <scripRef passage="Ex 40:9-11" id="Ex.xli-p3.9" parsed="|Exod|40|9|40|11" osisRef="Bible:Exod.40.9-Exod.40.11"><i>v.</i>
|
|
9-11</scripRef>. Observe, Every thing was sanctified when it was
|
|
put in its proper place, and not till then, for till then it was
|
|
not fit for the use to which it was to be sanctified. As every
|
|
thing is beautiful in its season, so is every thing in its place.
|
|
3. He directs him to consecrate Aaron and his sons. When the goods
|
|
were brought into God's house, they were marked first, and then
|
|
servants were hired to bear the vessels of the Lord; and those must
|
|
be clean who were put into that office, <scripRef passage="Ex 40:12-15" id="Ex.xli-p3.10" parsed="|Exod|40|12|40|15" osisRef="Bible:Exod.40.12-Exod.40.15"><i>v.</i> 12-15</scripRef>. The law which was now
|
|
ordered to be put in execution we had before, <scripRef passage="Ex 29:1-46" id="Ex.xli-p3.11" parsed="|Exod|29|1|29|46" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.1-Exod.29.46"><i>ch.</i> xxix.</scripRef> Thus in the visible
|
|
church, which is God's tabernacle among men, it is requisite that
|
|
there be ministers to keep the charge of the sanctuary, and that
|
|
they receive the anointing.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 40" id="Ex.xli-p3.12" parsed="|Exod|40|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.40"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 40:16-33" id="Ex.xli-p3.13" parsed="|Exod|40|16|40|33" osisRef="Bible:Exod.40.16-Exod.40.33"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.40.16-Exod.40.33">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xli-p4">16 Thus did Moses: according to all that the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xli-p4.1">Lord</span> commanded him, so did he.
|
|
  17 And it came to pass in the first month in the second
|
|
year, on the first <i>day</i> of the month, <i>that</i> the
|
|
tabernacle was reared up.   18 And Moses reared up the
|
|
tabernacle, and fastened his sockets, and set up the boards
|
|
thereof, and put in the bars thereof, and reared up his pillars.
|
|
  19 And he spread abroad the tent over the tabernacle, and
|
|
put the covering of the tent above upon it; as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xli-p4.2">Lord</span> commanded Moses.   20 And he took and
|
|
put the testimony into the ark, and set the staves on the ark, and
|
|
put the mercy seat above upon the ark:   21 And he brought the
|
|
ark into the tabernacle, and set up the vail of the covering, and
|
|
covered the ark of the testimony; as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xli-p4.3">Lord</span> commanded Moses.   22 And he put the
|
|
table in the tent of the congregation, upon the side of the
|
|
tabernacle northward, without the vail.   23 And he set the
|
|
bread in order upon it before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xli-p4.4">Lord</span>; as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xli-p4.5">Lord</span>
|
|
had commanded Moses.   24 And he put the candlestick in the
|
|
tent of the congregation, over against the table, on the side of
|
|
the tabernacle southward.   25 And he lighted the lamps before
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xli-p4.6">Lord</span>; as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xli-p4.7">Lord</span> commanded Moses.   26 And he put the
|
|
golden altar in the tent of the congregation before the vail:
|
|
  27 And he burnt sweet incense thereon; as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xli-p4.8">Lord</span> commanded Moses.   28 And he set up
|
|
the hanging <i>at</i> the door of the tabernacle.   29 And he
|
|
put the altar of burnt offering <i>by</i> the door of the
|
|
tabernacle of the tent of the congregation, and offered upon it the
|
|
burnt offering and the meat offering; as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xli-p4.9">Lord</span> commanded Moses.   30 And he set the
|
|
laver between the tent of the congregation and the altar, and put
|
|
water there, to wash <i>withal.</i>   31 And Moses and Aaron
|
|
and his sons washed their hands and their feet thereat:   32
|
|
When they went into the tent of the congregation, and when they
|
|
came near unto the altar, they washed; as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xli-p4.10">Lord</span> commanded Moses.   33 And he reared up
|
|
the court round about the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the
|
|
hanging of the court gate. So Moses finished the work.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xli-p5">When the tabernacle and the furniture of it
|
|
were prepared, they did not put off the rearing of it till they
|
|
came to Canaan, though they now hoped to be there very shortly;
|
|
but, in obedience to the will of God, they set it up in the midst
|
|
of their camp, while they were in the wilderness. Those that are
|
|
unsettled in the world must not think that this will excuse them in
|
|
their continued irreligion; as if it were enough to begin to serve
|
|
God when they begin to be settled in the world. No; a tabernacle
|
|
for God is a very needful and profitable companion even in a
|
|
wilderness, especially considering that our carcases may fall in
|
|
that wilderness, and we may be fixed in another world before we
|
|
come to fix in this.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xli-p6">The rearing of the tabernacle was a good
|
|
day's work; the consecrating of it, and of the priests, was
|
|
attended to some days after. Here we have an account only of that
|
|
new-year's-day's work. 1. Moses not only did all that God directed
|
|
him to do, but in the order that God appointed; for God will be
|
|
sought in the due order. 2. To each particular there is added an
|
|
express reference to the divine appointment, which Moses governed
|
|
himself by as carefully and conscientiously as the workmen did; and
|
|
therefore, as before, so here it is repeated, <i>as the Lord
|
|
commanded Moses,</i> seven times in less than fourteen verses.
|
|
Moses himself, as great a man as he was, would not pretend to vary
|
|
from the institution, neither to add to it nor diminish from it, in
|
|
the least punctilio. Those that command others must remember that
|
|
their Master also is in heaven, and they must do as they are
|
|
commanded. 3. That which was to be veiled be veiled (<scripRef passage="Ex 40:21" id="Ex.xli-p6.1" parsed="|Exod|40|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.40.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>), and that which was to
|
|
be used he used immediately, for the instruction of the priests,
|
|
that by seeing him do the several offices they might learn to do
|
|
them the more dexterously. Though Moses was not properly a priest,
|
|
yet he is numbered among the priests (<scripRef passage="Ps 99:6" id="Ex.xli-p6.2" parsed="|Ps|99|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.99.6">Ps. xcix. 6</scripRef>), and the Jewish writers call him
|
|
<i>the priest of the priests;</i> what he did he did by special
|
|
warrant and direction from God, rather as a prophet, or law-giver,
|
|
than as a priest. He set the wheels a going, and then left the work
|
|
in the hands of the appointed ministry. (1.) When he had placed the
|
|
table, he set the show-bread in order upon it (<scripRef passage="Ex 40:23" id="Ex.xli-p6.3" parsed="|Exod|40|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.40.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>); for God will never have his
|
|
table unfurnished. (2.) As soon as he had fixed the candlestick,
|
|
<i>he lighted the lamps before the Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 40:25" id="Ex.xli-p6.4" parsed="|Exod|40|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.40.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>. Even that dark dispensation
|
|
would not admit of unlighted candles. (3.) The golden altar being
|
|
put in its place, immediately he <i>burnt sweet incense thereon</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 40:27" id="Ex.xli-p6.5" parsed="|Exod|40|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.40.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>); for God's
|
|
altar must be a smoking altar. (4.) The altar of the burnt-offering
|
|
was no sooner set up in the court of the tabernacle than he had a
|
|
<i>burnt-offering, and a meat-offering, ready to offer upon it,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 40:29" id="Ex.xli-p6.6" parsed="|Exod|40|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.40.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>. Some think,
|
|
though this is mentioned here, it was not done till some time
|
|
after; but it seems to me that he immediately began the ceremony of
|
|
its consecration, though it was not completed for seven days. (5.)
|
|
At the laver likewise, when he had fixed that, Moses himself washed
|
|
his hands and feet. Thus, in all these instances, he not only
|
|
showed the priests how to do their duty, but has taught us that
|
|
God's gifts are intended for use, and not barely for show. Though
|
|
the altars, and table, and candlestick, were fresh and new, he did
|
|
not say it was a pity to sully them; no, he handselled them
|
|
immediately. Talents were given to be occupied, not to be
|
|
buried.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Ex 40:34-38" id="Ex.xli-p6.7" parsed="|Exod|40|34|40|38" osisRef="Bible:Exod.40.34-Exod.40.38"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Exod.40.34-Exod.40.38">
|
|
<h4 id="Ex.xli-p6.8">The Tabernacle Filled with
|
|
Glory. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xli-p6.9">b. c.</span> 1491.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Ex.xli-p7">34 Then a cloud covered the tent of the
|
|
congregation, and the glory of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xli-p7.1">Lord</span> filled the tabernacle.   35 And Moses
|
|
was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because
|
|
the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xli-p7.2">Lord</span> filled the tabernacle.   36 And when
|
|
the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of
|
|
Israel went onward in all their journeys:   37 But if the
|
|
cloud were not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that
|
|
it was taken up.   38 For the cloud of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ex.xli-p7.3">Lord</span> <i>was</i> upon the tabernacle by day, and
|
|
fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel,
|
|
throughout all their journeys.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xli-p8">As when, in the creation, God had finished
|
|
this earth, which he designed for man's habitation, he made man,
|
|
and put him in possession of it, so when Moses had finished the
|
|
tabernacle, which was designed for God's dwelling-place among men,
|
|
God came and took possession of it. The <i>shechinah,</i> the
|
|
divine eternal Word, though not yet made flesh, yet, as a prelude
|
|
to that event, came and dwelt among them, <scripRef passage="Joh 1:14" id="Ex.xli-p8.1" parsed="|John|1|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.1.14">John i. 14</scripRef>. This was henceforward the
|
|
<i>place of his throne,</i> and <i>the place of the soles of his
|
|
feet</i> (<scripRef passage="Eze 43:7" id="Ex.xli-p8.2" parsed="|Ezek|43|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.43.7">Ezek. xliii. 7</scripRef>);
|
|
here he resided, here he ruled. By the visible tokens of God's
|
|
coming among them to take possession of the tabernacle he testified
|
|
both the return of his favour to them, which they had forfeited by
|
|
the golden calf (<scripRef passage="Ex 33:7" id="Ex.xli-p8.3" parsed="|Exod|33|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.7"><i>ch.</i> xxxiii.
|
|
7</scripRef>), and his gracious acceptance of all the expense they
|
|
had been at, and all the care and pains they had taken about the
|
|
tabernacle. Thus God owned them, showed himself well pleased with
|
|
what they had done, and abundantly rewarded them. Note, God will
|
|
dwell with those that prepare him a habitation. The broken and
|
|
contrite heart, the clean and holy heart, that is furnished for his
|
|
service, and devoted to his honour, shall be his <i>rest for
|
|
ever;</i> here will Christ dwell by faith, <scripRef passage="Eph 3:17" id="Ex.xli-p8.4" parsed="|Eph|3|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eph.3.17">Eph. iii. 17</scripRef>. Where God has a throne and an
|
|
altar in the soul, there is a living temple. And God will be sure
|
|
to own and crown the operations of his own grace and the observance
|
|
of his own appointments.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xli-p9">As God had manifested himself upon mount
|
|
Sinai, so he did now in this newly-erected tabernacle. We read
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 24:16" id="Ex.xli-p9.1" parsed="|Exod|24|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.16"><i>ch.</i> xxiv. 16</scripRef>) that
|
|
<i>the glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai,</i> which is said
|
|
to be like <i>devouring fire</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 40:17" id="Ex.xli-p9.2" parsed="|Exod|40|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.40.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>), and that the <i>cloud covered
|
|
it</i> on the outside, and the <i>glory of the Lord filled it</i>
|
|
within, to which, probably there is an allusion in <scripRef passage="Zec 2:5" id="Ex.xli-p9.3" parsed="|Zech|2|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zech.2.5">Zech. ii. 5</scripRef>, where God promises to be
|
|
a <i>wall of fire round about Jerusalem</i> (and the pillar of
|
|
cloud was by night a pillar of fire) <i>and the glory in the midst
|
|
of her.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xli-p10">I. <i>The cloud covered the tent.</i> That
|
|
same cloud which, as the chariot or pavilion of the
|
|
<i>shechinah,</i> had come up before them out of Egypt and led them
|
|
hither, now settled upon the tabernacle and hovered over it, even
|
|
in the hottest and clearest day; for it was none of those clouds
|
|
which the sun scatters. This cloud was intended to be, 1. A token
|
|
of God's presence constantly visible day and night (<scripRef passage="Ex 40:38" id="Ex.xli-p10.1" parsed="|Exod|40|38|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.40.38"><i>v.</i> 38</scripRef>) to all Israel, even to
|
|
those that lay in the remotest corners of the camp, that they might
|
|
never again make a question of it, <i>Is the Lord among us, or is
|
|
he not?</i> That very cloud which had already been so pregnant with
|
|
wonders in the Red Sea, and on Mount Sinai, sufficient to prove God
|
|
in it of a truth, was continually <i>in sight of all the house of
|
|
Israel throughout all their journeys;</i> so that they were
|
|
inexcusable if they believed not their own eyes. 2. A concealment
|
|
of the tabernacle, and the glory of God in it. God did indeed dwell
|
|
among them, but he dwelt in a cloud: <i>Verily thou art a God that
|
|
hidest, thyself.</i> Blessed be God for the gospel of Christ, in
|
|
which <i>we all with open face behold as in a glass,</i> not in a
|
|
cloud, <i>the glory of the Lord.</i> 3. A protection of the
|
|
tabernacle. They had sheltered it with one covering upon another,
|
|
but, after all, the cloud that covered it was its best guard. Those
|
|
that dwell in the house of the Lord are hidden there, and are safe
|
|
under the divine protection, <scripRef passage="Ps 27:4,5" id="Ex.xli-p10.2" parsed="|Ps|27|4|27|5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.27.4-Ps.27.5">Ps.
|
|
xxvii. 4, 5</scripRef>. Yet this, which was then a peculiar favour
|
|
to the tabernacle, is promised to every dwelling-place of mount
|
|
Zion (<scripRef passage="Isa 4:5" id="Ex.xli-p10.3" parsed="|Isa|4|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.4.5">Isa. iv. 5</scripRef>); for
|
|
<i>upon all the glory shall be a defence.</i> 4. A guide to the
|
|
camp of Israel in their march through the wilderness, <scripRef passage="Ex 40:36,37" id="Ex.xli-p10.4" parsed="|Exod|40|36|40|37" osisRef="Bible:Exod.40.36-Exod.40.37"><i>v.</i> 36, 37</scripRef>. While the cloud
|
|
continued on the tabernacle, they rested; when it removed, they
|
|
removed and followed it, as being purely under divine direction.
|
|
This is spoken of more fully, <scripRef passage="Nu 9:19,Ps 78:14,105:39" id="Ex.xli-p10.5" parsed="|Num|9|19|0|0;|Ps|78|14|0|0;|Ps|105|39|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.9.19 Bible:Ps.78.14 Bible:Ps.105.39">Num. ix. 19; Ps. lxxviii. 14; cv.
|
|
39</scripRef>. As before the tabernacle was set up the Israelites
|
|
had the cloud for their guide, which appeared sometimes in one
|
|
place and sometimes in another, but henceforward rested on the
|
|
tabernacle and was to be found there only, so the church had divine
|
|
revelation for its guide from the first, before the scriptures were
|
|
written, but since the making up of that canon it rests in that as
|
|
its tabernacle, and there only it is to be found, as in the
|
|
creation the light which was made the first day, centered in the
|
|
sun the fourth day. Blessed be God for the law and the
|
|
testimony!</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Ex.xli-p11">II. <i>The glory of the Lord filled the
|
|
tabernacle,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 40:34,35" id="Ex.xli-p11.1" parsed="|Exod|40|34|40|35" osisRef="Bible:Exod.40.34-Exod.40.35"><i>v.</i> 34,
|
|
35</scripRef>. The <i>shechinah</i> now made an awful and pompous
|
|
entry into the tabernacle, through the outer part of which it
|
|
passed into the most holy place, as the presence-chamber, and there
|
|
seated itself between the cherubim. It was in light and fire, and
|
|
(for aught we know) no otherwise, that the <i>shechinah</i> made
|
|
itself visible; for <i>God is light; our God is a consuming
|
|
fire.</i> With these the tabernacle was now filled, yet, as before
|
|
the bush was not consumed, so now the curtains were not so much as
|
|
singed by this fire; for to those that have received the anointing
|
|
the terrible majesty of God is not destroying. Yet so dazzling was
|
|
the light, and so dreadful was the fire, that Moses was <i>not able
|
|
to enter into the tent of the congregation,</i> at the door of
|
|
which he attended, till the splendour had a little abated, and the
|
|
glory of the Lord retired within the veil, <scripRef passage="Ex 40:35" id="Ex.xli-p11.2" parsed="|Exod|40|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.40.35"><i>v.</i> 35</scripRef>. This shows how terrible the
|
|
glory and majesty of God are, and how unable the greatest and best
|
|
of men are to stand before him. The divine light and fire, let
|
|
forth in their full strength, will overpower the strongest heads
|
|
and the purest hearts. But what Moses could not do, in that <i>he
|
|
was weak through the flesh,</i> has been done by our Lord Jesus,
|
|
whom God caused to draw near and approach, and who, as the
|
|
forerunner, <i>has for us entered,</i> and has invited us to come
|
|
boldly even to the mercy-seat. He was able to enter into the holy
|
|
place not made with hands (<scripRef passage="Heb 9:24" id="Ex.xli-p11.3" parsed="|Heb|9|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.9.24">Heb. ix.
|
|
24</scripRef>); nay, he is himself the true tabernacle, filled with
|
|
the glory of God (<scripRef passage="Joh 1:14" id="Ex.xli-p11.4" parsed="|John|1|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.1.14">John i.
|
|
14</scripRef>), even with the divine grace and truth prefigured by
|
|
this fire and light. In him the shechinah took up its rest for
|
|
ever, for in him <i>dwells all the fulness of the godhead
|
|
bodily.</i> Blessed be God for Jesus Christ!</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
</div1>
|
|
|
|
<div1 title="Leviticus" n="iii" progress="50.95%" prev="Ex.xli" next="Lev.i" id="Lev">
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Introduction" n="i" progress="50.95%" prev="Lev" next="Lev.ii" id="Lev.i">
|
|
<h2 id="Lev.i-p0.1">Leviticus</h2>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<hr/>
|
|
|
|
<pb n="448" id="Lev.i-Page_448"/>
|
|
|
|
<div class="Center" id="Lev.i-p0.3">
|
|
<p id="Lev.i-p1"><b>AN</b></p>
|
|
|
|
<h3 id="Lev.i-p1.1">EXPOSITION,</h3>
|
|
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.i-p1.2">W I T H   P R A C T I C A L   O B S E
|
|
R V A T I O N S,</h4>
|
|
|
|
<h5 id="Lev.i-p1.3">OF THE THIRD BOOK OF MOSES, CALLED</h5>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Lev.i-p1.4">L E V I T I C U S.</h2>
|
|
|
|
<hr style="width:2in"/>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.i-p2"><span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.i-p2.1">There</span> is
|
|
nothing historical in all this book of Leviticus except the account
|
|
which it gives us of the consecration of the priesthood (<scripRef passage="Le 8:1-9:24" id="Lev.i-p2.2" parsed="|Lev|8|1|9|24" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8.1-Lev.9.24"><i>ch.</i> viii.-ix.</scripRef>), of the
|
|
punishment of Nadab and Abihu, by the hand of God, for offering
|
|
strange fire (<scripRef passage="Le 10:1-20" id="Lev.i-p2.3" parsed="|Lev|10|1|10|20" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.1-Lev.10.20"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
x</scripRef>), and of Shelomith's son, by the hand of the
|
|
magistrate, for blasphemy (<scripRef passage="Le 24:1-23" id="Lev.i-p2.4" parsed="|Lev|24|1|24|23" osisRef="Bible:Lev.24.1-Lev.24.23"><i>ch.</i> xxiv</scripRef>). All the rest of the book
|
|
is taken up with the laws, chiefly the ecclesiastical laws, which
|
|
God gave to Israel by Moses, concerning their sacrifices and
|
|
offerings, their meats and drinks, and divers washings, and the
|
|
other peculiarities by which God set that people apart for himself,
|
|
and distinguished them from other nations, all which were shadows
|
|
of good things to come, which are realized and superseded by the
|
|
gospel of Christ. We call the book <i>Leviticus,</i> from the
|
|
Septuagint, because it contains the laws and ordinances of the
|
|
<i>levitical priesthood</i> (as it is called, <scripRef passage="Heb 7:11" id="Lev.i-p2.5" parsed="|Heb|7|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.11">Heb. vii. 11</scripRef>), and the ministrations of it.
|
|
The Levites were principally charged with these institutions, both
|
|
to do their part and to teach the people theirs. We read, in the
|
|
close of the foregoing book, of the setting up of the tabernacle,
|
|
which was to be the place of worship; and, as that was framed
|
|
according to the pattern, so must the ordinances of worship be,
|
|
which were there to be administered. In these the divine
|
|
appointment was as particular as in the former, and must be as
|
|
punctually observed. The remaining record of these abrogated laws
|
|
is of use to us, for the strengthening of our faith in Jesus
|
|
Christ, as <i>the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,</i>
|
|
and for the increase of our thankfulness to God, that by him we are
|
|
freed from the yoke of the ceremonial law, and live in the times of
|
|
reformation.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter I" n="ii" progress="50.99%" prev="Lev.i" next="Lev.iii" id="Lev.ii">
|
|
<h2 id="Lev.ii-p0.1">L E V I T I C U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Lev.ii-p0.2">CHAP. I.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Lev.ii-p1">This book begins with the laws concerning
|
|
sacrifices, of which the most ancient were the burnt-offerings,
|
|
about which God gives Moses instructions in this chapter. Orders
|
|
are here given how that sort of sacrifice must be managed. I. If it
|
|
was a bullock out of the herd, <scripRef passage="Le 1:3-9" id="Lev.ii-p1.1" parsed="|Lev|1|3|1|9" osisRef="Bible:Lev.1.3-Lev.1.9">ver.
|
|
3-9</scripRef>. II. If it was a sheep or goat, a lamb or kid, out
|
|
of the flock, <scripRef passage="Le 1:10-13" id="Lev.ii-p1.2" parsed="|Lev|1|10|1|13" osisRef="Bible:Lev.1.10-Lev.1.13">ver. 10-13</scripRef>.
|
|
III. If it was a turtle-dove or a young pigeon, <scripRef passage="Le 1:14-17" id="Lev.ii-p1.3" parsed="|Lev|1|14|1|17" osisRef="Bible:Lev.1.14-Lev.1.17">ver. 14-17</scripRef>. And whether the offering was
|
|
more or less valuable in itself, if it was offered with an upright
|
|
heart, according to these laws, it was accepted of God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 1" id="Lev.ii-p1.4" parsed="|Lev|1|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.1"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 1:1-2" id="Lev.ii-p1.5" parsed="|Lev|1|1|1|2" osisRef="Bible:Lev.1.1-Lev.1.2"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.1.1-Lev.1.2">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.ii-p1.6">The Law Concerning
|
|
Offerings. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.ii-p1.7">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.ii-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.ii-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the
|
|
congregation, saying,   2 Speak unto the children of Israel,
|
|
and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.ii-p2.2">Lord</span>, ye shall bring your offering
|
|
of the cattle, <i>even</i> of the herd, and of the flock.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.ii-p3">Observe here, 1. It is taken for granted
|
|
that people would be inclined to bring offerings to the Lord. The
|
|
very light of nature directs man, some way or other, to do honour
|
|
to his Maker, and pay him homage as his Lord. Revealed religion
|
|
supposes natural religion to be an ancient and early institution,
|
|
since the fall had directed men to glorify God by sacrifice, which
|
|
was an implicit acknowledgment of their having received all from
|
|
God as creatures, and their having forfeited all to him as sinners.
|
|
A conscience thoroughly convinced of dependence and guilt would be
|
|
willing to come before God with <i>thousands of rams,</i> <scripRef passage="Mic 6:6,7" id="Lev.ii-p3.1" parsed="|Mic|6|6|6|7" osisRef="Bible:Mic.6.6-Mic.6.7">Mic. vi. 6, 7</scripRef>. 2. Provision is made
|
|
that men should not indulge their own fancies, nor become vain in
|
|
their imaginations and inventions about their sacrifices, lest,
|
|
while they pretended to honour God, they should really dishonour
|
|
him, and do that which was unworthy of him. Every thing therefore
|
|
is directed to be done with due decorum, by a certain rule, and so
|
|
as that the sacrifices might be most significant both of the great
|
|
sacrifice of atonement which Christ was to offer in the fulness of
|
|
time and of the spiritual sacrifices of acknowledgment which
|
|
believers should offer daily. 3. God gave those laws to Israel by
|
|
Moses; nothing is more frequently repeated than this, <i>The Lord
|
|
spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel.</i>
|
|
God could have spoken it to the children of Israel himself, as he
|
|
did the ten commandments; but he chose to deliver it to them by
|
|
Moses, because they had desired he would no more speak to them
|
|
himself, and he had designed that Moses should, above all the
|
|
prophets, be a type of Christ, by whom God would in these last days
|
|
speak to us, <scripRef passage="Heb 1:2" id="Lev.ii-p3.2" parsed="|Heb|1|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.1.2">Heb. i. 2</scripRef>. By
|
|
other prophets God sent messages to his people, but by Moses he
|
|
gave them laws; and therefore he was fit to typify him to whom the
|
|
Father has given all judgment. And, besides, the treasure of divine
|
|
revelation was always to be put into earthen vessels, that our
|
|
faith might be tried, and that the excellency of the power might be
|
|
of God. 4. God spoke to him out of the tabernacle. As soon as ever
|
|
the shechinah had taken possession of its new habitation, in token
|
|
of the acceptance of what was done, God talked with Moses from the
|
|
mercy-seat, while he attended without the veil, or rather at the
|
|
door, hearing a voice only; and it is probable that he wrote what
|
|
he heard at that time, to prevent any mistake, or a slip of memory,
|
|
in the rehearsal of it. The tabernacle was set up to be a place of
|
|
communion between God and Israel; there, where they performed their
|
|
services to God, God revealed his will to them. Thus, by the word
|
|
and by prayer, we now have fellowship with the Father, and with his
|
|
Son Jesus Christ, <scripRef passage="Ac 6:4" id="Lev.ii-p3.3" parsed="|Acts|6|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.6.4">Acts vi. 4</scripRef>.
|
|
When we speak to God we must desire to hear from him, and reckon it
|
|
a great favour that he is pleased to speak to us. The Lord called
|
|
to Moses, not to come near (under that dispensation, even Moses
|
|
must keep his distance), but to attend and hearken to what should
|
|
be said. A letter less than ordinary in the Hebrew word for
|
|
<i>called,</i> the Jewish critics tell us, intimates that God spoke
|
|
in a still small voice. The moral law was given with terror from a
|
|
burning mountain in thunder and lightning; but the remedial law of
|
|
sacrifice was given more gently from a mercy-seat, because that was
|
|
typical of the grace of the gospel, which is the ministration of
|
|
life and peace.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 1:3-9" id="Lev.ii-p3.4" parsed="|Lev|1|3|1|9" osisRef="Bible:Lev.1.3-Lev.1.9"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.1.3-Lev.1.9">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.ii-p3.5">Law of the Burnt-Offering. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.ii-p3.6">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.ii-p4">3 If his offering <i>be</i> a burnt sacrifice of
|
|
the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it
|
|
of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the
|
|
congregation before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.ii-p4.1">Lord</span>.  
|
|
4 And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering;
|
|
and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.  
|
|
5 And he shall kill the bullock before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.ii-p4.2">Lord</span>: and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall bring
|
|
the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that
|
|
<i>is by</i> the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.  
|
|
6 And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into his pieces.
|
|
  7 And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the
|
|
altar, and lay the wood in order upon the fire:   8 And the
|
|
priests, Aaron's sons, shall lay the parts, the head, and the fat,
|
|
in order upon the wood that <i>is</i> on the fire which <i>is</i>
|
|
upon the altar:   9 But his inwards and his legs shall he wash
|
|
in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, <i>to be</i>
|
|
a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.ii-p4.3">Lord</span>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.ii-p5">If a man were rich and could afford it, it
|
|
is supposed that he would bring his burnt-sacrifice, with which he
|
|
designed to honour God, out of his herd of larger cattle. He that
|
|
considers that God is the best that is will resolve to give him the
|
|
best he has, else he gives him not the glory due unto his name. Now
|
|
if a man determined to kill a bullock, not for an entertainment for
|
|
his family and friends, but for a sacrifice to his God, these rules
|
|
must be religiously observed:—1. The beast to be offered must be
|
|
a male, and without blemish, and the best he had in his pasture.
|
|
Being designed purely for the honour of him that is infinitely
|
|
perfect, it ought to be the most perfect in its kind. This
|
|
signified the complete strength and purity that were in Christ the
|
|
dying sacrifice, and the sincerity of heart and unblamableness of
|
|
life that should be in Christians, who are presented to God as
|
|
living sacrifices. But, literally, in Christ Jesus there is neither
|
|
male nor female; nor is any natural blemish in the body a bar to
|
|
our acceptance with God, but only the moral defects and deformities
|
|
introduced by sin into the soul. 2. The owner must offer it
|
|
voluntarily. What is done in religion, so as to please God, must be
|
|
done by no other constraint than that of love. God accepts the
|
|
willing people and the cheerful giver. Ainsworth and others read
|
|
it, not as the principle, but as the end of offering: "Let him
|
|
offer it <i>for his favourable acceptation before the Lord.</i> Let
|
|
him propose this to himself as his end in bringing his sacrifice,
|
|
and let his eye be fixed steadily upon that end—that he may be
|
|
accepted of the Lord." Those only shall find acceptance who
|
|
sincerely desire and design it in all their religious services,
|
|
<scripRef passage="2Co 5:9" id="Lev.ii-p5.1" parsed="|2Cor|5|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.5.9">2 Cor. v. 9</scripRef>. 3. It must be
|
|
offered at the door of the tabernacle, where the brazen altar of
|
|
burnt-offerings stood, which sanctified the gift, and not
|
|
elsewhere. He must offer it at the door, as one unworthy to enter,
|
|
and acknowledging that there is no admission for a sinner into
|
|
covenant and communion with God, but by sacrifice; but he must
|
|
offer it at the tabernacle of the congregation, in token of his
|
|
communion with the whole church of Israel even in this personal
|
|
service. 4. The offerer must put his hand upon the head of his
|
|
offering, <scripRef passage="Le 1:4" id="Lev.ii-p5.2" parsed="|Lev|1|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.1.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. "He
|
|
must put both his hands," say the Jewish doctors, "with all his
|
|
might, between the horns of the beast," signifying thereby, (1.)
|
|
The transfer of all his right to, and interest in, the beast, to
|
|
God, actually, and by a manual delivery, resigning it to his
|
|
service. (2.) An acknowledgment that he deserved to die, and would
|
|
have been willing to die if God had required it, for the serving of
|
|
his honour, and the obtaining of his favour. (3.) A dependence upon
|
|
the sacrifice, as an instituted type of the great sacrifice on
|
|
which the iniquity of us all was to be laid. The mystical
|
|
signification of the sacrifices, and especially this rite, some
|
|
think the apostle means by the doctrine of <i>laying on of
|
|
hands</i> (<scripRef passage="Heb 6:2" id="Lev.ii-p5.3" parsed="|Heb|6|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.6.2">Heb. vi. 2</scripRef>),
|
|
which typified evangelical faith. The offerer's putting his hand on
|
|
the head of the offering was to signify his desire and hope that it
|
|
might <i>be accepted from him to make atonement for him.</i> Though
|
|
the burnt-offerings had not respect to any particular sin, as the
|
|
sin-offering had, yet they were to make atonement for sin in
|
|
general; and he that laid his hand on the head of a burnt-offering
|
|
was to confess that <i>he had left undone what he ought to have
|
|
done and had done that which he ought not to have done,</i> and to
|
|
pray that, though he deserved to die himself, the death of his
|
|
sacrifice might be accepted for the expiating of his guilt. 5. The
|
|
sacrifice was to be killed by the priests of Levites, before the
|
|
Lord, that is, in a devout religious manner, and with an eye to God
|
|
and his honour. This signified that our Lord Jesus was to make his
|
|
soul, or life, an offering for sin. Messiah the prince must be cut
|
|
off as a sacrifice, <i>but not for himself,</i> <scripRef passage="Da 9:26" id="Lev.ii-p5.4" parsed="|Dan|9|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.9.26">Dan. ix. 26</scripRef>. It signified also that in
|
|
Christians, who are living sacrifices, the brutal part must be
|
|
mortified or killed, the flesh crucified with its corrupt
|
|
affections and lusts and all the appetites of the mere animal life.
|
|
6. The priests were to <i>sprinkle the blood upon the altar</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 1:5" id="Lev.ii-p5.5" parsed="|Lev|1|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.1.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>); for, the blood
|
|
being the life, it was this that made atonement for the soul. This
|
|
signified the direct and actual regard which our Lord Jesus had to
|
|
the satisfaction of his Father's justice, and the securing of his
|
|
injured honour, in the shedding of his blood; <i>he offered himself
|
|
without spot to God.</i> It also signified the pacifying and
|
|
purifying of our consciences by the sprinkling of the blood of
|
|
Jesus Christ upon them by faith, <scripRef passage="1Pe 1:2,Heb 10:22" id="Lev.ii-p5.6" parsed="|1Pet|1|2|0|0;|Heb|10|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.1.2 Bible:Heb.10.22">1 Pet. i. 2; Heb. x. 22</scripRef>. 7. The
|
|
beast was to be flayed and decently cut up, and divided into its
|
|
several joints or pieces, according to the art of the butcher; and
|
|
then all the pieces, with the head and the fat (the legs and
|
|
inwards being first washed), were to be burnt together upon the
|
|
altar, <scripRef passage="Le 1:6-9" id="Lev.ii-p5.7" parsed="|Lev|1|6|1|9" osisRef="Bible:Lev.1.6-Lev.1.9"><i>v.</i> 6-9</scripRef>.
|
|
"<i>But to what purpose,</i>" would some say, "<i>was this
|
|
waste?</i> Why should all this good meat, which might have been
|
|
given to the poor, and have served their hungry families for food a
|
|
great while, be burnt together to ashes?" So was the will of God;
|
|
and it is not for us to object or to find fault with it. When it
|
|
was burnt for the honour of God, in obedience to his command, and
|
|
to signify spiritual blessings, it was really better bestowed, and
|
|
better answered the end of its creation, than when it was used as
|
|
food for man. We must never reckon that lost which is laid out for
|
|
God. The burning of the sacrifice signified the sharp sufferings of
|
|
Christ, and the devout affections with which, as a holy fire,
|
|
Christians must offer up themselves their whole spirit, soul, and
|
|
body, unto God. 8. This is said to be <i>an offering of a sweet
|
|
savour,</i> or <i>savour of rest, unto the Lord.</i> The burning of
|
|
flesh is unsavoury in itself; but this, as an act of obedience to a
|
|
divine command, and a type of Christ, was well pleasing to God: he
|
|
was reconciled to the offerer, and did himself take a complacency
|
|
in that reconciliation. He rested, and was refreshed with these
|
|
institutions of his grace, as, at first, with his works of creation
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 31:17" id="Lev.ii-p5.8" parsed="|Exod|31|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.31.17">Exod. xxxi. 17</scripRef>), rejoicing
|
|
therein, <scripRef passage="Ps 104:31" id="Lev.ii-p5.9" parsed="|Ps|104|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.104.31">Ps. civ. 31</scripRef>.
|
|
Christ's offering of himself to God is said to be of <i>a
|
|
sweet-smelling savour</i> (<scripRef passage="Eph 5:2" id="Lev.ii-p5.10" parsed="|Eph|5|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eph.5.2">Eph. v.
|
|
2</scripRef>), and the spiritual sacrifices of Christians are said
|
|
to be <i>acceptable to God, through Christ,</i> <scripRef passage="1Pe 2:5" id="Lev.ii-p5.11" parsed="|1Pet|2|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.2.5">1 Pet. ii. 5</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 1" id="Lev.ii-p5.12" parsed="|Lev|1|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.1"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 1:10-17" id="Lev.ii-p5.13" parsed="|Lev|1|10|1|17" osisRef="Bible:Lev.1.10-Lev.1.17"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.1.10-Lev.1.17">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.ii-p6">10 And if his offering <i>be</i> of the flocks,
|
|
<i>namely,</i> of the sheep, or of the goats, for a burnt
|
|
sacrifice; he shall bring it a male without blemish.   11 And
|
|
he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward before the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.ii-p6.1">Lord</span>: and the priests, Aaron's sons,
|
|
shall sprinkle his blood round about upon the altar.   12 And
|
|
he shall cut it into his pieces, with his head and his fat: and the
|
|
priest shall lay them in order on the wood that <i>is</i> on the
|
|
fire which <i>is</i> upon the altar:   13 But he shall wash
|
|
the inwards and the legs with water: and the priest shall bring
|
|
<i>it</i> all, and burn <i>it</i> upon the altar: it <i>is</i> a
|
|
burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.ii-p6.2">Lord</span>.   14 And if the burnt
|
|
sacrifice for his offering to the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.ii-p6.3">Lord</span> <i>be</i> of fowls, then he shall bring his
|
|
offering of turtledoves, or of young pigeons.   15 And the
|
|
priest shall bring it unto the altar, and wring off his head, and
|
|
burn <i>it</i> on the altar; and the blood thereof shall be wrung
|
|
out at the side of the altar:   16 And he shall pluck away his
|
|
crop with his feathers, and cast it beside the altar on the east
|
|
part, by the place of the ashes:   17 And he shall cleave it
|
|
with the wings thereof, <i>but</i> shall not divide <i>it</i>
|
|
asunder: and the priest shall burn it upon the altar, upon the wood
|
|
that <i>is</i> upon the fire: it <i>is</i> a burnt sacrifice, an
|
|
offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.ii-p6.4">Lord</span>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.ii-p7">Here we have the laws concerning the
|
|
burnt-offerings, which were of the flock or of the fowls. Those of
|
|
the middle rank, that could not well afford to offer a bullock,
|
|
would bring a sheep or a goat; and those that were not able to do
|
|
that should be accepted of God if they brought a turtle-dove or a
|
|
pigeon. For God, in his law and in his gospel, as well as in his
|
|
providence, considers the poor. It is observable that those
|
|
creatures were chosen for sacrifice which were most mild and
|
|
gentle, harmless and inoffensive, to typify the innocence and
|
|
meekness that were in Christ, and to teach the innocence and
|
|
meekness that should be in Christians. Directions are here given,
|
|
1. Concerning the burnt-offerings of the flock, <scripRef passage="Le 1:10" id="Lev.ii-p7.1" parsed="|Lev|1|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.1.10">v. 10</scripRef>. The method of managing these is much
|
|
the same with that of the bullocks; only it is ordered here that
|
|
the sacrifice should be killed <i>on the side of the altar
|
|
northward,</i> which, though mentioned here only, was probably to
|
|
be observed concerning the former, and other sacrifices. Perhaps on
|
|
that side of the altar there was the largest vacant space, and room
|
|
for the priests to turn them in. It was of old observed that
|
|
<i>fair weather comes out of the north,</i> and that <i>the north
|
|
wind drives away rain;</i> and by these sacrifices the storms of
|
|
God's wrath are scattered, and the light of God's countenance is
|
|
obtained, which is more pleasant than the brightest fairest
|
|
weather. 2. Concerning those of the fowls. They must be either
|
|
turtle-doves (and, if so, "they must be <i>old</i> turtles," say
|
|
the Jews), or <i>pigeons,</i> and, if so, they must be <i>young</i>
|
|
pigeons. What was most acceptable at men's tables must be brought
|
|
to God's altar. In the offering of these fowls, (1.) The head must
|
|
be wrung off, "quite off," say some; others think only pinched, so
|
|
as to kill the bird, and yet leave the head hanging to the body.
|
|
But it seems more likely that it was to be quite separated, for it
|
|
was to be burnt first. (2.) The blood was to be <i>wrung out at the
|
|
side of the altar.</i> (3.) The garbages with the feathers were to
|
|
be thrown by upon the dunghill. (4.) The body was to be opened,
|
|
sprinkled with salt, and then burnt upon the altar. "This sacrifice
|
|
of birds," the Jews say, "was one of the most difficult services
|
|
the priests had to do," to teach those that minister in holy things
|
|
to be as solicitous for the salvation of the poor as for that of
|
|
the rich, and that the services of the poor are as acceptable to
|
|
God, if they come from an upright heart, as the services of the
|
|
rich, for he accepts <i>according to what a man hath,</i> and not
|
|
<i>according to what he hath not,</i> <scripRef passage="2Co 8:12" id="Lev.ii-p7.2" parsed="|2Cor|8|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.8.12">2 Cor. viii. 12</scripRef>. The poor man's turtle-doves,
|
|
or young pigeons, are here said to be <i>an offering of a
|
|
sweet-smelling savour,</i> as much as that of an ox or bullock that
|
|
hath horns or hoofs. Yet, after all, to <i>love God with all our
|
|
heart, and to love our neighbour as ourselves, is better than all
|
|
burnt-offerings and sacrifices,</i> <scripRef passage="Mk 12:33" id="Lev.ii-p7.3" parsed="|Mark|12|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mark.12.33">Mark xii. 33</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter II" n="iii" progress="51.33%" prev="Lev.ii" next="Lev.iv" id="Lev.iii">
|
|
<h2 id="Lev.iii-p0.1">L E V I T I C U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Lev.iii-p0.2">CHAP. II.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Lev.iii-p1">In this chapter we have the law concerning the
|
|
meat-offering. I. The matter of it; whether of raw flour with oil
|
|
and incense (<scripRef passage="Le 2:1" id="Lev.iii-p1.1" parsed="|Lev|2|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.2.1">ver. 1</scripRef>), or
|
|
baked in the oven (<scripRef passage="Le 2:4" id="Lev.iii-p1.2" parsed="|Lev|2|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.2.4">ver. 4</scripRef>),
|
|
or upon a plate (<scripRef passage="Le 2:5,6" id="Lev.iii-p1.3" parsed="|Lev|2|5|2|6" osisRef="Bible:Lev.2.5-Lev.2.6">ver. 5,
|
|
6</scripRef>), or in a frying pan, <scripRef passage="Le 2:7" id="Lev.iii-p1.4" parsed="|Lev|2|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.2.7">ver.
|
|
7</scripRef>. II. The management of it, of the flour (<scripRef passage="Le 2:2,3" id="Lev.iii-p1.5" parsed="|Lev|2|2|2|3" osisRef="Bible:Lev.2.2-Lev.2.3">ver. 2, 3</scripRef>), of the cakes, <scripRef passage="Le 2:8-10" id="Lev.iii-p1.6" parsed="|Lev|2|8|2|10" osisRef="Bible:Lev.2.8-Lev.2.10">ver. 8-10</scripRef>. III. Some particular
|
|
rules concerning it, That leaven and honey must never be admitted
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 2:11,12" id="Lev.iii-p1.7" parsed="|Lev|2|11|2|12" osisRef="Bible:Lev.2.11-Lev.2.12">ver. 11, 12</scripRef>), and salt
|
|
never omitted in the meat-offering, <scripRef passage="Le 2:13" id="Lev.iii-p1.8" parsed="|Lev|2|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.2.13">ver. 13</scripRef>. IV. The law concerning the offering
|
|
of firstfruits in the ear, <scripRef passage="Le 2:14" id="Lev.iii-p1.9" parsed="|Lev|2|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.2.14">ver.
|
|
14</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 2" id="Lev.iii-p1.10" parsed="|Lev|2|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.2"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 2:1-10" id="Lev.iii-p1.11" parsed="|Lev|2|1|2|10" osisRef="Bible:Lev.2.1-Lev.2.10"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.2.1-Lev.2.10">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.iii-p1.12">The Law of the
|
|
Meat-Offering. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.iii-p1.13">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.iii-p2">1 And when any will offer a meat offering unto
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.iii-p2.1">Lord</span>, his offering shall be
|
|
<i>of</i> fine flour; and he shall pour oil upon it, and put
|
|
frankincense thereon:   2 And he shall bring it to Aaron's
|
|
sons the priests: and he shall take thereout his handful of the
|
|
flour thereof, and of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense
|
|
thereof; and the priest shall burn the memorial of it upon the
|
|
altar, <i>to be</i> an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour
|
|
unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.iii-p2.2">Lord</span>:   3 And the
|
|
remnant of the meat offering <i>shall be</i> Aaron's and his sons':
|
|
<i>it is</i> a thing most holy of the offerings of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.iii-p2.3">Lord</span> made by fire.   4 And if thou bring an
|
|
oblation of a meat offering baken in the oven, <i>it shall be</i>
|
|
unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, or unleavened
|
|
wafers anointed with oil.   5 And if thy oblation <i>be</i> a
|
|
meat offering <i>baken</i> in a pan, it shall be <i>of</i> fine
|
|
flour unleavened, mingled with oil.   6 Thou shalt part it in
|
|
pieces, and pour oil thereon: it <i>is</i> a meat offering.  
|
|
7 And if thy oblation <i>be</i> a meat offering <i>baken</i> in the
|
|
fryingpan, it shall be made <i>of</i> fine flour with oil.   8
|
|
And thou shalt bring the meat offering that is made of these things
|
|
unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.iii-p2.4">Lord</span>: and when it is
|
|
presented unto the priest, he shall bring it unto the altar.  
|
|
9 And the priest shall take from the meat offering a memorial
|
|
thereof, and shall burn <i>it</i> upon the altar: <i>it is</i> an
|
|
offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.iii-p2.5">Lord</span>.   10 And that which is left of the
|
|
meat offering <i>shall be</i> Aaron's and his sons': <i>it is</i> a
|
|
thing most holy of the offerings of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.iii-p2.6">Lord</span> made by fire.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.iii-p3">There were some meat-offerings that were
|
|
only appendices to the burnt-offerings, as that which was offered
|
|
with the daily sacrifice (<scripRef passage="Ex 29:38,39" id="Lev.iii-p3.1" parsed="|Exod|29|38|29|39" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.38-Exod.29.39">Exod.
|
|
xxix. 38, 39</scripRef>) and with the peace-offerings; these had
|
|
drink-offerings joined with them (see <scripRef passage="Nu 15:4,7,9,10" id="Lev.iii-p3.2" parsed="|Num|15|4|0|0;|Num|15|7|0|0;|Num|15|9|0|0;|Num|15|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.4 Bible:Num.15.7 Bible:Num.15.9 Bible:Num.15.10">Num. xv. 4, 7, 9, 10</scripRef>), and in these the
|
|
quantity was appointed. But the law of this chapter concerns those
|
|
meat-offerings that were offered by themselves, whenever a man saw
|
|
cause thus to express his devotion. The first offering we read of
|
|
in scripture was of this kind (<scripRef passage="Ge 4:3" id="Lev.iii-p3.3" parsed="|Gen|4|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.3">Gen. iv.
|
|
3</scripRef>): <i>Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an
|
|
offering.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.iii-p4">I. This sort of offerings was appointed, 1.
|
|
In condescension to the poor, and their ability, that those who
|
|
themselves lived only upon bread and cakes might offer an
|
|
acceptable offering to God out of that which was their own coarse
|
|
and homely fare, and by making for God's altar, as the widow of
|
|
Sarepta for his prophet, a little cake first, might procure such a
|
|
blessing upon the handful of meal in the barrel, and the oil in the
|
|
cruse, as that it should not fail. 2. As a proper acknowledgment of
|
|
the mercy of God to them in their food. This was like a quitrent,
|
|
by which they testified their dependence upon God, their
|
|
thankfulness to him, and their expectations from him as their owner
|
|
and bountiful benefactor, who giveth to all life, and breath, and
|
|
food convenient. Thus must they honour the Lord with their
|
|
substance, and, in token of their eating and drinking to his glory,
|
|
must consecrate some of their meat and drink to his immediate
|
|
service. Those that now, with a grateful charitable heart, deal out
|
|
their bread to the hungry, and provide for the necessities of those
|
|
that are destitute of daily food, and when they eat the fat and
|
|
drink the sweet themselves send portions to those for whom nothing
|
|
is prepared, offer unto God an acceptable meat-offering. The
|
|
prophet laments it as one of the direful effects of famine that
|
|
thereby the <i>meat-offering and drink-offering were cut off from
|
|
the house of the Lord</i> (<scripRef passage="Joe 1:9" id="Lev.iii-p4.1" parsed="|Joel|1|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Joel.1.9">Joel i.
|
|
9</scripRef>), and reckoned it the greatest blessing of plenty that
|
|
it would be the revival of them, <scripRef passage="Joe 2:14" id="Lev.iii-p4.2" parsed="|Joel|2|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Joel.2.14">Joel
|
|
ii. 14</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.iii-p5">II. The laws of the meat-offerings were
|
|
these:—1. The ingredients must always be fine flour and oil, two
|
|
staple commodities of the land of Canaan, <scripRef passage="De 8:8" id="Lev.iii-p5.1" parsed="|Deut|8|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.8">Deut. viii. 8</scripRef>. Oil was to them then in their
|
|
food what butter is now to us. If it was undressed, the oil must be
|
|
poured upon the flour (<scripRef passage="Le 2:1" id="Lev.iii-p5.2" parsed="|Lev|2|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.2.1"><i>v.</i>
|
|
1</scripRef>); if cooked, it must be mingled with the flour,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 2:4" id="Lev.iii-p5.3" parsed="|Lev|2|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.2.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>, &c. 2. If it
|
|
was flour unbaked, besides the oil it must have frankincense put
|
|
upon it, which was to be burnt with it (<scripRef passage="Le 2:1,2" id="Lev.iii-p5.4" parsed="|Lev|2|1|2|2" osisRef="Bible:Lev.2.1-Lev.2.2"><i>v.</i> 1, 2</scripRef>), for the perfuming of the
|
|
altar; in allusion to this, gospel ministers are said to be <i>a
|
|
sweet savour unto God,</i> <scripRef passage="2Co 2:15" id="Lev.iii-p5.5" parsed="|2Cor|2|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.2.15">2 Cor. ii.
|
|
15</scripRef>. 3. If it was prepared, this might be done in various
|
|
ways; the offerer might bake it, or fry it, or mix the flour and
|
|
oil upon a plate, for the doing of which conveniences were provided
|
|
about the tabernacle. The law was very exact even about those
|
|
offerings that were least costly, to intimate the cognizance God
|
|
takes of the religious services performed with a devout mind, even
|
|
by the poor of his people. 4. It was to be presented by the offerer
|
|
to the priest, which is called <i>bringing it to the Lord</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 2:8" id="Lev.iii-p5.6" parsed="|Lev|2|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.2.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>), for the
|
|
priests were God's receivers, and were ordained to offer gifts. 5.
|
|
Part of it was to be burnt upon the altar, for a memorial, that is,
|
|
in token of their mindfulness of God's bounty to them, in giving
|
|
them all things richly to enjoy. It was <i>an offering made by
|
|
fire,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 2:2,9" id="Lev.iii-p5.7" parsed="|Lev|2|2|0|0;|Lev|2|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.2.2 Bible:Lev.2.9"><i>v.</i> 2, 9</scripRef>.
|
|
The consuming of it by fire might remind them that they deserved to
|
|
have all the fruits of the earth thus burnt up, and that it was of
|
|
the Lord's mercies that they were not. They might also learn that
|
|
as <i>meats are for the belly, and the belly for meats,</i> so
|
|
<i>God shall destroy both it and them</i> (<scripRef passage="1Co 6:13" id="Lev.iii-p5.8" parsed="|1Cor|6|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.6.13">1 Cor. vi. 13</scripRef>), and that <i>man lives not by
|
|
bread alone.</i> This offering made by fire is here said to be
|
|
<i>of a sweet savour unto the Lord;</i> and so are our spiritual
|
|
offerings, which are made by the fire of holy love, particularly
|
|
that of almsgiving, which is said to be <i>an odour of a sweet
|
|
smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God</i> (<scripRef passage="Php 4:18" id="Lev.iii-p5.9" parsed="|Phil|4|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Phil.4.18">Phil. iv. 18</scripRef>), and <i>with such
|
|
sacrifices God is well pleased,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 13:16" id="Lev.iii-p5.10" parsed="|Heb|13|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.13.16">Heb. xiii. 16</scripRef>. 6. The remainder of the
|
|
meat-offering was to be given to the priests, <scripRef passage="Le 2:3,10" id="Lev.iii-p5.11" parsed="|Lev|2|3|0|0;|Lev|2|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.2.3 Bible:Lev.2.10"><i>v.</i> 3, 10</scripRef>. <i>It is a thing most
|
|
holy,</i> not to be eaten by the offerers, as the peace-offerings
|
|
(which, though holy, were not most holy), but by the priests only,
|
|
and their families. Thus God provided that those who served at the
|
|
altar should live upon the altar, and live comfortably.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 2" id="Lev.iii-p5.12" parsed="|Lev|2|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.2"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 2:11-16" id="Lev.iii-p5.13" parsed="|Lev|2|11|2|16" osisRef="Bible:Lev.2.11-Lev.2.16"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.2.11-Lev.2.16">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.iii-p6">11 No meat offering, which ye shall bring unto
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.iii-p6.1">Lord</span>, shall be made with leaven:
|
|
for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any offering of the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.iii-p6.2">Lord</span> made by fire.   12 As for
|
|
the oblation of the firstfruits, ye shall offer them unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.iii-p6.3">Lord</span>: but they shall not be burnt on the
|
|
altar for a sweet savour.   13 And every oblation of thy meat
|
|
offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the
|
|
salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat
|
|
offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.   14
|
|
And if thou offer a meat offering of thy firstfruits unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.iii-p6.4">Lord</span>, thou shalt offer for the meat
|
|
offering of thy firstfruits green ears of corn dried by the fire,
|
|
<i>even</i> corn beaten out of full ears.   15 And thou shalt
|
|
put oil upon it, and lay frankincense thereon: it <i>is</i> a meat
|
|
offering.   16 And the priest shall burn the memorial of it,
|
|
<i>part</i> of the beaten corn thereof, and <i>part</i> of the oil
|
|
thereof, with all the frankincense thereof: <i>it is</i> an
|
|
offering made by fire unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.iii-p6.5">Lord</span>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.iii-p7">Here, I. Leaven and honey are forbidden to
|
|
be put in any of their meat-offerings: <i>No leaven, nor any honey,
|
|
in any offering made by fire,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 2:11" id="Lev.iii-p7.1" parsed="|Lev|2|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.2.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. 1. The leaven was forbidden in
|
|
remembrance of the unleavened bread they ate when they came out of
|
|
Egypt. So much despatch was required in the offerings they made
|
|
that it was not convenient they should stay for the leavening of
|
|
them. The New Testament comparing pride and hypocrisy to leaven
|
|
because they swell like leaven, comparing also malice and
|
|
wickedness to leaven because they sour like leaven, we are to
|
|
understand and improve this as a caution to take heed of those sins
|
|
which will certainly spoil the acceptableness of our spiritual
|
|
sacrifices. Pure hands must be lifted up without wrath, and all our
|
|
gospel feasts kept with the unleavened bread of sincerity and
|
|
truth. 2. Honey was forbidden, though Canaan flowed with it,
|
|
because <i>to eat much honey is not good</i> (<scripRef passage="Pr 25:16,27" id="Lev.iii-p7.2" parsed="|Prov|25|16|0|0;|Prov|25|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.25.16 Bible:Prov.25.27">Prov. xxv. 16, 27</scripRef>); it turns to choler and
|
|
bitterness in the stomach, though luscious to the taste. Some think
|
|
the chief reason why those two things, leaven and honey, were
|
|
forbidden, was because the Gentiles used them very much in their
|
|
sacrifices, and God's people must not learn or use the way of the
|
|
heathen, but his services must be the reverse of their idolatrous
|
|
services; see <scripRef passage="De 12:30,31" id="Lev.iii-p7.3" parsed="|Deut|12|30|12|31" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.30-Deut.12.31">Deut. xii. 30,
|
|
31</scripRef>. Some make this application of this double
|
|
prohibition: leaven signifies grief and sadness of spirit
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ps 73:21" id="Lev.iii-p7.4" parsed="|Ps|73|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.21">Ps. lxxiii. 21</scripRef>), <i>My
|
|
heart was leavened;</i> honey signifies sensual pleasure and mirth.
|
|
In our service of God both these must be avoided, and a mean
|
|
observed between those extremes; for the sorrow of the world
|
|
worketh death, and a love to the delights of sense is a great enemy
|
|
to holy love.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.iii-p8">II. Salt is required in all their
|
|
offerings, <scripRef passage="Le 2:13" id="Lev.iii-p8.1" parsed="|Lev|2|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.2.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. The
|
|
altar was the table of the Lord; and therefore, salt being always
|
|
set on our tables, God would have it always used at his. It is
|
|
called <i>the salt of the covenant,</i> because, as men confirmed
|
|
their covenants with each other by eating and drinking together, at
|
|
all which collations salt was used, so God, by accepting his
|
|
people's gifts and feasting them upon his sacrifices, supping with
|
|
them and they with him (<scripRef passage="Re 3:20" id="Lev.iii-p8.2" parsed="|Rev|3|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.3.20">Rev. iii.
|
|
20</scripRef>), did confirm his covenant with them. Among the
|
|
ancients salt was a symbol of friendship. The salt for the
|
|
sacrifice was not brought by the offerers, but was provided at the
|
|
public charge, as the wood was, <scripRef passage="Ezr 7:20-22" id="Lev.iii-p8.3" parsed="|Ezra|7|20|7|22" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.7.20-Ezra.7.22">Ezra vii. 20-22</scripRef>. And there was a chamber
|
|
in the court of the temple called <i>the chamber of salt,</i> in
|
|
which they laid it up. <i>Can that which is unsavoury be eaten
|
|
without salt?</i> God would hereby intimate to them that their
|
|
sacrifices in themselves were unsavoury. The saints, who are living
|
|
sacrifices to God, must have salt in themselves, for <i>every
|
|
sacrifice must be salted with salt</i> (<scripRef passage="Mk 9:49,50" id="Lev.iii-p8.4" parsed="|Mark|9|49|9|50" osisRef="Bible:Mark.9.49-Mark.9.50">Mark ix. 49, 50</scripRef>), and our speech must be
|
|
<i>always with grace</i> (<scripRef passage="Col 4:6" id="Lev.iii-p8.5" parsed="|Col|4|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Col.4.6">Col. iv.
|
|
6</scripRef>), so must all our religious performances be seasoned
|
|
with that salt. Christianity is the salt of the earth.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.iii-p9">III. Directions are given about the
|
|
first-fruits. 1. The oblation of their first-fruits at harvest, of
|
|
which we read, <scripRef passage="De 26:2" id="Lev.iii-p9.1" parsed="|Deut|26|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26.2">Deut. xxvi.
|
|
2</scripRef>. These were offered to the Lord, not to be burnt upon
|
|
the altar, but to be given to the priests as perquisites of their
|
|
office, <scripRef passage="Le 2:12" id="Lev.iii-p9.2" parsed="|Lev|2|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.2.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. And
|
|
<i>you shall offer them</i> (that is, leaven and honey) in the
|
|
oblation of the first-fruits, though they were forbidden in other
|
|
meat-offerings; for they were proper enough to be eaten by the
|
|
priests, though not to be burnt upon the altar. The loaves of the
|
|
first-fruits are particularly ordered to be <i>baked with
|
|
leaven,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 23:17" id="Lev.iii-p9.3" parsed="|Lev|23|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.17">Lev. xxiii. 17</scripRef>.
|
|
And we read of the first-fruits of honey brought to the house of
|
|
God, <scripRef passage="2Ch 31:5" id="Lev.iii-p9.4" parsed="|2Chr|31|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.31.5">2 Chron. xxxi. 5</scripRef>. 2. A
|
|
meat-offering of their first-fruits. The former was required by the
|
|
law; this was a free-will offering, <scripRef passage="Le 2:14-16" id="Lev.iii-p9.5" parsed="|Lev|2|14|2|16" osisRef="Bible:Lev.2.14-Lev.2.16"><i>v.</i> 14-16</scripRef>. If a man, with a thankful
|
|
sense of God's goodness to him in giving him hopes of a plentiful
|
|
crop, was disposed to bring an offering in kind immediately out of
|
|
his field, and present it to God, owning thereby his dependence
|
|
upon God and obligations to him, (1.) Let him be sure to bring the
|
|
first ripe and full ears, not such as were small and half-withered.
|
|
Whatever was brought for an offering to God must be the best in its
|
|
kind, though it were but green ears of corn. We mock God, and
|
|
deceive ourselves, if we think to put him off with a corrupt thing
|
|
while we have in our flock a male, <scripRef passage="Mal 1:14" id="Lev.iii-p9.6" parsed="|Mal|1|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mal.1.14">Mal. i. 14</scripRef>. (2.) These green ears must be
|
|
dried by the fire, that the corn, such as it was, might be beaten
|
|
out of them. That is not expected from green ears which one may
|
|
justly look for from those that have been left to grow fully ripe.
|
|
If those that are young do God's work as well as they can, they
|
|
shall be accepted, though they cannot do it so well as those that
|
|
are aged and experienced. God makes the best of green ears of corn,
|
|
and so must we. (3.) Oil and frankincense must be put upon it. Thus
|
|
(as some allude to this) wisdom and humility must soften and
|
|
sweeten the spirits and services of young people, and then their
|
|
green ears of corn shall be acceptable. God takes a particular
|
|
delight in the first ripe fruits of the Spirit and the expressions
|
|
of early piety and devotion. Those that can but think and speak as
|
|
children, yet, if they think and speak well, God will be well
|
|
pleased with their buds and blossoms, and will never forget the
|
|
kindness of their youth. (4.) It must be used as other
|
|
meat-offerings, <scripRef passage="Le 2:16" id="Lev.iii-p9.7" parsed="|Lev|2|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.2.16"><i>v.</i>
|
|
16</scripRef>, compare <scripRef passage="Le 2:9" id="Lev.iii-p9.8" parsed="|Lev|2|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.2.9"><i>v.</i>
|
|
9</scripRef>. He shall <i>offer all the frankincense; it is an
|
|
offering made by fire.</i> The fire and the frankincense seem to
|
|
have had a special significancy. [1.] The fire denotes the fervency
|
|
of spirit which ought to be in all our religious services. In every
|
|
good thing we must be zealously affected. Holy love to God is the
|
|
fire by which all our offerings must be made; else they are not of
|
|
a sweet savour to God. [2.] The frankincense denotes the mediation
|
|
and intercession of Christ, by which all our services are perfumed
|
|
and recommended to God's gracious acceptance. Blessed be God that
|
|
we have the substance of which all these observances were but
|
|
shadows, the fruit that was hid under these leaves.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter III" n="iv" progress="51.61%" prev="Lev.iii" next="Lev.v" id="Lev.iv">
|
|
<h2 id="Lev.iv-p0.1">L E V I T I C U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Lev.iv-p0.2">CHAP. III.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Lev.iv-p1">In this chapter we have the law concerning the
|
|
peace-offerings, whether they were, I. Of the heard, a bullock or a
|
|
heifer, <scripRef passage="Le 3:1-5" id="Lev.iv-p1.1" parsed="|Lev|3|1|3|5" osisRef="Bible:Lev.3.1-Lev.3.5">ver. 1-5</scripRef>. Or, II.
|
|
Of the flock, either a lamb (<scripRef passage="Le 3:6-11" id="Lev.iv-p1.2" parsed="|Lev|3|6|3|11" osisRef="Bible:Lev.3.6-Lev.3.11">ver.
|
|
6-11</scripRef>) or a goat, <scripRef passage="Le 3:12-17" id="Lev.iv-p1.3" parsed="|Lev|3|12|3|17" osisRef="Bible:Lev.3.12-Lev.3.17">ver.
|
|
12-17</scripRef>. The ordinances concerning each of these are much
|
|
the same, yet they are repeated, to show the care we ought to take
|
|
that all our services be done according to the appointment and the
|
|
pleasure God takes in the services that are so performed. It is
|
|
likewise to intimate what need we have of precept upon precept, and
|
|
line upon line.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 3" id="Lev.iv-p1.4" parsed="|Lev|3|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.3"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 3:1-5" id="Lev.iv-p1.5" parsed="|Lev|3|1|3|5" osisRef="Bible:Lev.3.1-Lev.3.5"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.3.1-Lev.3.5">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.iv-p1.6">Law of the Peace-Offering. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.iv-p1.7">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.iv-p2">1 And if his oblation <i>be</i> a sacrifice of
|
|
peace offering, if he offer <i>it</i> of the herd; whether <i>it
|
|
be</i> a male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.iv-p2.1">Lord</span>.   2 And he shall lay
|
|
his hand upon the head of his offering, and kill it <i>at</i> the
|
|
door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron's sons the
|
|
priests shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about.  
|
|
3 And he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering an
|
|
offering made by fire unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.iv-p2.2">Lord</span>;
|
|
the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that <i>is</i>
|
|
upon the inwards,   4 And the two kidneys, and the fat that
|
|
<i>is</i> on them, which <i>is</i> by the flanks, and the caul
|
|
above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away.   5
|
|
And Aaron's sons shall burn it on the altar upon the burnt
|
|
sacrifice, which <i>is</i> upon the wood that <i>is</i> on the
|
|
fire: <i>it is</i> an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.iv-p2.3">Lord</span>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.iv-p3">The burnt-offerings had regard to God as in
|
|
himself the best of beings, most perfect and excellent; they were
|
|
purely expressive of adoration, and therefore were wholly burnt.
|
|
But the peace-offerings had regard to God as a benefactor to his
|
|
creatures, and the giver of all good things to us; and therefore
|
|
these were divided between the altar, the priest, and the owner.
|
|
Peace signifies, 1. Reconciliation, concord, and communion. And so
|
|
these were called <i>peace-offerings,</i> because in them God and
|
|
his people did, as it were, feast together, in token of friendship.
|
|
The priest, who was ordained for men in things pertaining to God,
|
|
gave part of this peace-offering to God (that part which he
|
|
required, and it was fit he should be first served), burning it
|
|
upon God's altar; part he gave to the offerer, to be eaten by him
|
|
with his family and friends; and part he took to himself, as the
|
|
days-man that laid his hand upon them both. They could not thus eat
|
|
together unless they were agreed; so that it was a symbol of
|
|
friendship and fellowship between God and man, and a confirmation
|
|
of the covenant of peace. 2. It signifies prosperity and all
|
|
happiness: <i>Peace be to you</i> was as much as, <i>All good</i>
|
|
be to you; and so the peace-offerings were offered either, (1.) By
|
|
way of supplication or request for some good that was wanted and
|
|
desired. If a man was in the pursuit or expectation of any mercy,
|
|
he would back his prayer for it with a peace-offering, and probably
|
|
put up the prayer when he laid his hand upon the head of his
|
|
offering. Christ is our peace, our peace-offering; for through him
|
|
alone it is that we can expect to obtain mercy, and an answer of
|
|
peace to our prayers; and in him an upright prayer shall be
|
|
acceptable and successful, though we bring not a peace-offering.
|
|
The less costly our devotions are the more lively and serious they
|
|
should be. Or, (2.) By way of thanksgiving for some particular
|
|
mercy received. It is called <i>a peace-offering of
|
|
thanksgiving,</i> for so it was sometimes; as in other cases <i>a
|
|
vow,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 7:15,16" id="Lev.iv-p3.1" parsed="|Lev|7|15|7|16" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.15-Lev.7.16"><i>ch.</i> vii. 15,
|
|
16</scripRef>. And some make the original word to signify
|
|
<i>retribution.</i> When they had received any special mercy, and
|
|
were enquiring what they should render, this they were directed to
|
|
render to the God of their mercies as a grateful acknowledgment for
|
|
the benefit done to them, <scripRef passage="Ps 116:12" id="Lev.iv-p3.2" parsed="|Ps|116|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.116.12">Ps. cxvi.
|
|
12</scripRef>. And we must offer to God the sacrifice of praise
|
|
continually, by Christ our peace; and then this shall please the
|
|
Lord better than an ox or bullock. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.iv-p4">I. As to the matter of the peace-offering,
|
|
suppose it was of the herd, it must be <i>without blemish;</i> and,
|
|
if it was so, it was indifferent whether it was male or female,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 3:1" id="Lev.iv-p4.1" parsed="|Lev|3|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.3.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. In our spiritual
|
|
offerings, it is not the sex, but the heart, that God looks at,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ga 3:28" id="Lev.iv-p4.2" parsed="|Gal|3|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.3.28">Gal. iii. 28</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.iv-p5">II. As to the management of it. 1. The
|
|
offerer was, by a solemn manumission, to transfer his interest in
|
|
it to God (<scripRef passage="Le 3:2" id="Lev.iv-p5.1" parsed="|Lev|3|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.3.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), and,
|
|
with <i>his hand on the head</i> of the sacrifice, to acknowledge
|
|
the particular mercies for which he designed this a thank-offering,
|
|
or, if it was a vow, to make his prayer. 2. It must be killed; and,
|
|
although this might be done in any part of the court, yet it is
|
|
said to be <i>at the door of the tabernacle,</i> because the
|
|
mercies received or expected were acknowledged to come from God,
|
|
and the prayers or praises were directed to him, and both, as it
|
|
were, through that door. Our Lord Jesus has said, <i>I am the
|
|
door,</i> for he is indeed the door of the tabernacle. 3. The
|
|
priest must <i>sprinkle the blood upon the altar,</i> for it was
|
|
the blood that made atonement for the soul; and, though this was
|
|
not a sin-offering, yet we must be taught that in all our offerings
|
|
we must have an eye to Christ as the propitiation for sin, as those
|
|
who know that the best of their services cannot be accepted unless
|
|
through him their sins be pardoned. Penitent confessions must
|
|
always go along with our thankful acknowledgments; and, whatever
|
|
mercy we pray for, in order to it we must pray for the removal of
|
|
guilt, as that which keeps good things from us. First <i>take away
|
|
all iniquity,</i> and then <i>receive us graciously,</i> or <i>give
|
|
good,</i> <scripRef passage="Ho 14:2" id="Lev.iv-p5.2" parsed="|Hos|14|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.14.2">Hos. xiv. 2</scripRef>. 4.
|
|
All the fat of the inwards, that which we call the tallow and suet,
|
|
with the caul that encloses it and the kidneys in the midst of it,
|
|
were to be taken away, and burnt upon the altar, as an offering
|
|
<i>made by fire,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 3:3-5" id="Lev.iv-p5.3" parsed="|Lev|3|3|3|5" osisRef="Bible:Lev.3.3-Lev.3.5"><i>v.</i>
|
|
3-5</scripRef>. And this was all that was sacrificed to the Lord
|
|
out of the peace-offering; how the rest was to be disposed of we
|
|
shall find, <scripRef passage="Le 7:11-34" id="Lev.iv-p5.4" parsed="|Lev|7|11|7|34" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.11-Lev.7.34"><i>ch.</i> vii.
|
|
11</scripRef>, &c. It is ordered to be burnt upon the
|
|
burnt-sacrifice, that is, the daily burnt-offering, the lamb which
|
|
was offered every morning before any other sacrifice was offered;
|
|
so that the fat of the peace-offerings was an addition to that, and
|
|
a continuation of it. The great sacrifice of peace, that of the
|
|
Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world, prepares the
|
|
altar for our sacrifices of praise, which are not accepted till we
|
|
are reconciled. Now the burning of this fat is supposed to signify,
|
|
(1.) The offering up of our good affections to God in all our
|
|
prayers and praises. God must have the inwards; for we must pour
|
|
out our souls, and lift up our hearts, in prayer, and must bless
|
|
his name with all that is within us. It is required that we be
|
|
inward with God in every thing wherein we have to do with him. The
|
|
fat denotes the best and choicest, which must always be devoted to
|
|
God, who has made for us a feast of fat things. (2.) The mortifying
|
|
of our corrupt affections and lusts, and the burning up of them by
|
|
the fire of divine grace, <scripRef passage="Col 3:5" id="Lev.iv-p5.5" parsed="|Col|3|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Col.3.5">Col. iii.
|
|
5</scripRef>. Then we are truly thankful for former mercies, and
|
|
prepared to receive further mercy, when we part with our sins, and
|
|
have our minds cleared from all sensuality by the <i>spirit of
|
|
judgment</i> and the <i>spirit of burning,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 4:4" id="Lev.iv-p5.6" parsed="|Isa|4|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.4.4">Isa. iv. 4</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 3:6-17" id="Lev.iv-p5.7" parsed="|Lev|3|6|3|17" osisRef="Bible:Lev.3.6-Lev.3.17"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.3.6-Lev.3.17">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.iv-p6">  6 And if his offering for a sacrifice of
|
|
peace offering unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.iv-p6.1">Lord</span>
|
|
<i>be</i> of the flock; male or female, he shall offer it without
|
|
blemish.   7 If he offer a lamb for his offering, then shall
|
|
he offer it before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.iv-p6.2">Lord</span>.  
|
|
8 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering, and kill
|
|
it before the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron's sons
|
|
shall sprinkle the blood thereof round about upon the altar.  
|
|
9 And he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering an
|
|
offering made by fire unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.iv-p6.3">Lord</span>;
|
|
the fat thereof, <i>and</i> the whole rump, it shall he take off
|
|
hard by the backbone; and the fat that covereth the inwards, and
|
|
all the fat that <i>is</i> upon the inwards,   10 And the two
|
|
kidneys, and the fat that <i>is</i> upon them, which <i>is</i> by
|
|
the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it
|
|
shall he take away.   11 And the priest shall burn it upon the
|
|
altar: <i>it is</i> the food of the offering made by fire unto the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.iv-p6.4">Lord</span>.   12 And if his offering
|
|
<i>be</i> a goat, then he shall offer it before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.iv-p6.5">Lord</span>.   13 And he shall lay his hand upon
|
|
the head of it, and kill it before the tabernacle of the
|
|
congregation: and the sons of Aaron shall sprinkle the blood
|
|
thereof upon the altar round about.   14 And he shall offer
|
|
thereof his offering, <i>even</i> an offering made by fire unto the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.iv-p6.6">Lord</span>; the fat that covereth the
|
|
inwards, and all the fat that <i>is</i> upon the inwards,   15
|
|
And the two kidneys, and the fat that <i>is</i> upon them, which
|
|
<i>is</i> by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the
|
|
kidneys, it shall he take away.   16 And the priest shall burn
|
|
them upon the altar: <i>it is</i> the food of the offering made by
|
|
fire for a sweet savour: all the fat <i>is</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.iv-p6.7">Lord</span>'s.   17 <i>It shall be</i> a perpetual
|
|
statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye
|
|
eat neither fat nor blood.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.iv-p7">Directions are here given concerning the
|
|
peace-offering, if it was a sheep or a goat. Turtle-doves or young
|
|
pigeons, which might be brought for whole burnt offerings, were not
|
|
allowed for peace-offerings, because they have no fat considerable
|
|
enough to be burnt upon the altar; and they would be next to
|
|
nothing if they were to be divided according to the law of the
|
|
peace-offerings. The laws concerning a lamb or goat offered for a
|
|
peace offering are much the same with those concerning a bullock,
|
|
and little now occurs here; but, 1. The rump of the mutton was to
|
|
be burnt with the fat of the inwards upon the altar, the <i>whole
|
|
rump</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 3:9" id="Lev.iv-p7.1" parsed="|Lev|3|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.3.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>),
|
|
because in those countries it was very fat and large. Some observe
|
|
from this that, be a thing ever so contemptible, God can make it
|
|
honourable, by applying it to his service. Thus God is said to give
|
|
more <i>abundant honour to that part which lacked,</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 12:23,24" id="Lev.iv-p7.2" parsed="|1Cor|12|23|12|24" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.12.23-1Cor.12.24">1 Cor. xii. 23, 24</scripRef>. 2. That which
|
|
was burnt upon the altar is called the <i>food of the offering,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 3:11,16" id="Lev.iv-p7.3" parsed="|Lev|3|11|0|0;|Lev|3|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.3.11 Bible:Lev.3.16"><i>v.</i> 11, 16</scripRef>. It fed
|
|
the holy fire; it was acceptable to God as our food is to us; and
|
|
since in the tabernacle God did, as it were, keep house among them,
|
|
by the offerings on the altar he kept a good table, as Solomon in
|
|
his court, <scripRef passage="1Ki 4:22-28" id="Lev.iv-p7.4" parsed="|1Kgs|4|22|4|28" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.4.22-1Kgs.4.28">1 Kings iv.
|
|
22</scripRef>, &c. 3. Here is a general rule laid down, that
|
|
<i>all the fat is the Lord's</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 3:16" id="Lev.iv-p7.5" parsed="|Lev|3|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.3.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>), and a law made thereupon, that
|
|
they <i>should eat neither fat nor blood,</i> no, not in their
|
|
private houses, <scripRef passage="Le 3:17" id="Lev.iv-p7.6" parsed="|Lev|3|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.3.17"><i>v.</i>
|
|
17</scripRef>. (1.) As for the <i>fat,</i> it is not meant of that
|
|
which is interlarded with the meat (that they might eat, <scripRef passage="Neh 8:10" id="Lev.iv-p7.7" parsed="|Neh|8|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Neh.8.10">Neh. viii. 10</scripRef>), but the fat of the
|
|
inwards, the suet, which was always God's part out of the
|
|
sacrificed beasts; and therefore they must not eat of it, no, not
|
|
out of the beasts that they killed for their common use. Thus would
|
|
God preserve the honour of that which was sacred to himself. They
|
|
must not only not feed upon that fat which was to be the food of
|
|
the altar, but not upon any like it, lest the <i>table of the
|
|
Lord</i> (as the altar is called), if something were not reserved
|
|
peculiar to it, should become contemptible, and <i>the fruit
|
|
thereof, even its meat, contemptible,</i> <scripRef passage="Mal 1:7,12" id="Lev.iv-p7.8" parsed="|Mal|1|7|0|0;|Mal|1|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mal.1.7 Bible:Mal.1.12">Mal. i. 7, 12</scripRef>. (2.) The blood was
|
|
universally forbidden likewise, for the same reason that the fat
|
|
was, because it was God's part of every sacrifice. The heathen
|
|
drank the blood of their sacrifices; hence we read of their
|
|
<i>drink-offerings of blood,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 16:4" id="Lev.iv-p7.9" parsed="|Ps|16|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.16.4">Ps.
|
|
xvi. 4</scripRef>. But God would not permit the blood, that made
|
|
atonement, to be used as a common thing (<scripRef passage="Heb 10:29" id="Lev.iv-p7.10" parsed="|Heb|10|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.10.29">Heb. x. 29</scripRef>), nor will he allow us, though we
|
|
have the comfort of the atonement made, to assume to ourselves any
|
|
share in the honour of making it. He that glories, let him glory in
|
|
the Lord, and to his praise let all the blood be poured out.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter IV" n="v" progress="51.86%" prev="Lev.iv" next="Lev.vi" id="Lev.v">
|
|
<h2 id="Lev.v-p0.1">L E V I T I C U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Lev.v-p0.2">CHAP. IV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Lev.v-p1">This chapter is concerning the sin-offering, which
|
|
was properly intended to make atonement for a sin committed through
|
|
ignorance, I. By the priest himself, <scripRef passage="Le 4:1-12" id="Lev.v-p1.1" parsed="|Lev|4|1|4|12" osisRef="Bible:Lev.4.1-Lev.4.12">ver. 1-12</scripRef>. Or, II. By the whole
|
|
congregation, <scripRef passage="Le 4:13-21" id="Lev.v-p1.2" parsed="|Lev|4|13|4|21" osisRef="Bible:Lev.4.13-Lev.4.21">ver. 13-21</scripRef>.
|
|
Or, III. By a ruler, <scripRef passage="Le 4:22-26" id="Lev.v-p1.3" parsed="|Lev|4|22|4|26" osisRef="Bible:Lev.4.22-Lev.4.26">ver.
|
|
22-26</scripRef>. Or, IV. By a private person, <scripRef passage="Le 4:27-35" id="Lev.v-p1.4" parsed="|Lev|4|27|4|35" osisRef="Bible:Lev.4.27-Lev.4.35">ver. 27</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 4" id="Lev.v-p1.5" parsed="|Lev|4|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.4"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 4:1-12" id="Lev.v-p1.6" parsed="|Lev|4|1|4|12" osisRef="Bible:Lev.4.1-Lev.4.12"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.4.1-Lev.4.12">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.v-p1.7">Law of the Sin-Offering. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.v-p1.8">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.v-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.v-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   2 Speak unto the children of
|
|
Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any
|
|
of the commandments of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.v-p2.2">Lord</span>
|
|
<i>concerning things</i> which ought not to be done, and shall do
|
|
against any of them:   3 If the priest that is anointed do sin
|
|
according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for his sin,
|
|
which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.v-p2.3">Lord</span> for a sin offering.   4
|
|
And he shall bring the bullock unto the door of the tabernacle of
|
|
the congregation before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.v-p2.4">Lord</span>;
|
|
and shall lay his hand upon the bullock's head, and kill the
|
|
bullock before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.v-p2.5">Lord</span>.   5
|
|
And the priest that is anointed shall take of the bullock's blood,
|
|
and bring it to the tabernacle of the congregation:   6 And
|
|
the priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle of the
|
|
blood seven times before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.v-p2.6">Lord</span>,
|
|
before the vail of the sanctuary.   7 And the priest shall put
|
|
<i>some</i> of the blood upon the horns of the altar of sweet
|
|
incense before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.v-p2.7">Lord</span>, which
|
|
<i>is</i> in the tabernacle of the congregation; and shall pour all
|
|
the blood of the bullock at the bottom of the altar of the burnt
|
|
offering, which <i>is at</i> the door of the tabernacle of the
|
|
congregation.   8 And he shall take off from it all the fat of
|
|
the bullock for the sin offering; the fat that covereth the
|
|
inwards, and all the fat that <i>is</i> upon the inwards,   9
|
|
And the two kidneys, and the fat that <i>is</i> upon them, which
|
|
<i>is</i> by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the
|
|
kidneys, it shall he take away,   10 As it was taken off from
|
|
the bullock of the sacrifice of peace offerings: and the priest
|
|
shall burn them upon the altar of the burnt offering.   11 And
|
|
the skin of the bullock, and all his flesh, with his head, and with
|
|
his legs, and his inwards, and his dung,   12 Even the whole
|
|
bullock shall he carry forth without the camp unto a clean place,
|
|
where the ashes are poured out, and burn him on the wood with fire:
|
|
where the ashes are poured out shall he be burnt.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.v-p3">The laws contained in the first three
|
|
chapters seem to have been delivered to Moses at one time. Here
|
|
begin the statutes of another session, another day. From the throne
|
|
of glory between the cherubim God delivered these orders. And he
|
|
enters now upon a subject more strictly new than those before.
|
|
Burnt-offerings, meat-offerings, and peace-offerings, it should
|
|
seem, had been offered before the giving of the law upon mount
|
|
Sinai; those sacrifices the patriarchs had not been altogether
|
|
unacquainted with (<scripRef passage="Ge 8:20,Ex 20:24" id="Lev.v-p3.1" parsed="|Gen|8|20|0|0;|Exod|20|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.8.20 Bible:Exod.20.24">Gen. viii.
|
|
20; Exod. xx. 24</scripRef>), and in them they had respect to sin,
|
|
to make atonement for it, <scripRef passage="Job 1:5" id="Lev.v-p3.2" parsed="|Job|1|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.1.5">Job i.
|
|
5</scripRef>. But the law being now added <i>because of
|
|
transgressions</i> (<scripRef passage="Ga 3:19" id="Lev.v-p3.3" parsed="|Gal|3|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.3.19">Gal. iii.
|
|
19</scripRef>), and having entered, that eventually <i>the offence
|
|
might abound</i> (<scripRef passage="Ro 5:20" id="Lev.v-p3.4" parsed="|Rom|5|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.5.20">Rom. v.
|
|
20</scripRef>), they were put into a way of making atonement for
|
|
sin more particularly by sacrifice, which was (more than any of the
|
|
ceremonial institutions) <i>a shadow of good things to come,</i>
|
|
but the substance is Christ, and that one offering of himself by
|
|
which he put away sin and <i>perfected for ever those who are
|
|
sanctified.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.v-p4">I. The general case supposed we have,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 4:2" id="Lev.v-p4.1" parsed="|Lev|4|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.4.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. Here observe, 1.
|
|
Concerning sin in general, that it is described to be against
|
|
<i>any of the commandments of the Lord;</i> for <i>sin is the
|
|
transgression of the law,</i> the divine law. The wits or wills of
|
|
men, their inventions or their injunctions, cannot make that to be
|
|
sin which the law of God has not made to be so. It is said
|
|
likewise, <i>if a soul sin,</i> for it is not sin if it be not some
|
|
way or other the soul's act; hence it is called the <i>sin of the
|
|
soul</i> (<scripRef passage="Mic 6:7" id="Lev.v-p4.2" parsed="|Mic|6|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mic.6.7">Mic. vi. 7</scripRef>), and
|
|
it is the soul that is injured by it, <scripRef passage="Pr 8:36" id="Lev.v-p4.3" parsed="|Prov|8|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.8.36">Prov. viii. 36</scripRef>. 2. Concerning the sins for
|
|
which those offerings were appointed. (1.) They are supposed to be
|
|
overt acts; for, had they been required to bring a sacrifice for
|
|
every sinful thought or word, the task had been endless. Atonement
|
|
was made for those in the gross, on the day of expiation, once a
|
|
year; but these are said to be done against the commandments. (2.)
|
|
They are supposed to be sins of commission, things which ought not
|
|
to be done. Omissions are sins, and must come into judgment; but
|
|
what had been omitted at one time might be done at another, and so
|
|
to obey was better than sacrifice: but a commission was past
|
|
recall. (3.) They are supposed to be sins committed through
|
|
ignorance. If they were done presumptuously, and with an avowed
|
|
contempt of the law and the Law-maker, the offender was to be cut
|
|
off, and there remained <i>no sacrifice for the sin,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 10:26,27,Nu 15:30" id="Lev.v-p4.4" parsed="|Heb|10|26|10|27;|Num|15|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.10.26-Heb.10.27 Bible:Num.15.30">Heb. x. 26, 27; Num. xv.
|
|
30</scripRef>. But if the offender were either ignorant of the law,
|
|
as in divers instances we may suppose many were (so numerous and
|
|
various were the prohibitions), or were surprised into the sin
|
|
unawares, the circumstances being such as made it evident that his
|
|
resolution against the sin was sincere, but that he was overtaken
|
|
in it, as the expression is (<scripRef passage="Ga 6:1" id="Lev.v-p4.5" parsed="|Gal|6|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.6.1">Gal. vi.
|
|
1</scripRef>), in this case relief was provided by the remedial law
|
|
of the sin-offering. And the Jews say, "Those crimes only were to
|
|
be expiated by sacrifice, if committed ignorantly, for which the
|
|
criminal was to have been cut off if they had been committed
|
|
presumptuously."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.v-p5">II. The law begins with the case of the
|
|
anointed priest, that is, the high priest, provided he should sin
|
|
through ignorance; for <i>the law made men priests who had
|
|
infirmity.</i> Though his ignorance was of all others least
|
|
excusable, yet he was allowed to bring his offering. His office did
|
|
not so far excuse his offence as that it should be forgiven him
|
|
without a sacrifice; yet it did not so far aggravate it but that it
|
|
should be forgiven him when he did bring his sacrifice. If he sin
|
|
<i>according to the sin of the people</i> (so the case is put,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 4:3" id="Lev.v-p5.1" parsed="|Lev|4|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.4.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), which supposes
|
|
him in this matter to stand upon the level with other Israelites,
|
|
and to have no benefit of his clergy at all. Now the law concerning
|
|
the sin-offering for the high priest is, 1. That he must bring a
|
|
bullock without blemish for a sin-offering (<scripRef passage="Le 4:3" id="Lev.v-p5.2" parsed="|Lev|4|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.4.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), as valuable an offering as that
|
|
for the whole congregation (<scripRef passage="Le 4:14" id="Lev.v-p5.3" parsed="|Lev|4|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.4.14"><i>v.</i>
|
|
14</scripRef>); whereas for any other ruler, or a common person,
|
|
<i>a kid of the goats</i> should serve, <scripRef passage="Le 4:23,28" id="Lev.v-p5.4" parsed="|Lev|4|23|0|0;|Lev|4|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.4.23 Bible:Lev.4.28"><i>v.</i> 23, 28</scripRef>. This intimated the
|
|
greatness of the guilt connected with the sin of a high priest. The
|
|
eminency of his station, and his relation both to God and to the
|
|
people, greatly aggravated his offences; see <scripRef passage="Ro 2:21" id="Lev.v-p5.5" parsed="|Rom|2|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.2.21">Rom. ii. 21</scripRef>. 2. The hand of the offerer must
|
|
be laid upon the head of the offering (<scripRef passage="Le 4:4" id="Lev.v-p5.6" parsed="|Lev|4|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.4.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>), with a solemn penitent confession
|
|
of the sin he had committed, putting it upon the head of the
|
|
sin-offering, <scripRef passage="Le 16:21" id="Lev.v-p5.7" parsed="|Lev|16|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.21"><i>ch.</i> xvi.
|
|
21</scripRef>. No remission without confession, <scripRef passage="Ps 32:5,Pr 28:13" id="Lev.v-p5.8" parsed="|Ps|32|5|0|0;|Prov|28|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.32.5 Bible:Prov.28.13">Ps. xxxii. 5; Prov. xxviii. 13</scripRef>. It
|
|
signified also a confidence in this instituted way of expiating
|
|
guilt, as a figure of something better yet to come, which they
|
|
could not stedfastly discern. He that laid his hand on the head of
|
|
the beast thereby owned that he deserved to die himself, and that
|
|
it was God's great mercy that he would please to accept the
|
|
offering of this beast to die for him. The Jewish writers
|
|
themselves say that neither the sin-offering nor the
|
|
trespass-offering made atonement, except for those that repented
|
|
and believed in their atonement. 3. The bullock must be killed, and
|
|
a great deal of solemnity there must be in disposing of the blood;
|
|
for it was <i>the blood that made atonement,</i> and <i>without
|
|
shedding of blood</i> there was <i>no remission,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 4:5-7" id="Lev.v-p5.9" parsed="|Lev|4|5|4|7" osisRef="Bible:Lev.4.5-Lev.4.7"><i>v.</i> 5-7</scripRef>. Some of the blood of
|
|
the high-priest's sin-offering was to be <i>sprinkled seven times
|
|
before the veil,</i> with an eye towards the mercy-seat, though it
|
|
was veiled: some of it was to be put upon the horns of the golden
|
|
altar, because at that altar the priest himself ministered; and
|
|
thus was signified the putting away of that pollution which from
|
|
his sins did cleave to his services. It likewise serves to
|
|
illustrate the influence which Christ's satisfaction has upon the
|
|
prevalency of his intercession. The blood of his sacrifice is put
|
|
upon the altar of his incense and sprinkled before the Lord. When
|
|
this was done the remainder of the blood was poured at the foot of
|
|
the brazen altar. By this rite, the sinner acknowledged that he
|
|
deserved to have his blood thus poured out like water. It likewise
|
|
signified the pouring out of the soul before God in true
|
|
repentance, and typified our Saviour's <i>pouring out his soul unto
|
|
death.</i> 4. The fat of the inwards was to be burnt upon the altar
|
|
of burnt-offering, <scripRef passage="Le 4:8-10" id="Lev.v-p5.10" parsed="|Lev|4|8|4|10" osisRef="Bible:Lev.4.8-Lev.4.10"><i>v.</i>
|
|
8-10</scripRef>. By this the intention of the offering and of the
|
|
atonement made by it was directed to the glory of God, who, having
|
|
been dishonoured by the sin, was thus honoured by the sacrifice. It
|
|
signified the sharp sufferings of our Lord Jesus, when he was made
|
|
sin (that is, a sin-offering) for us, especially the sorrows of his
|
|
soul and his inward agonies. It likewise teaches us, in conformity
|
|
to the death of Christ, to crucify the flesh. 5. The head and body
|
|
of the beast, skin and all, were to be carried <i>without the
|
|
camp,</i> to a certain place appointed for that purpose, and there
|
|
burnt to ashes, <scripRef passage="Le 4:11,12" id="Lev.v-p5.11" parsed="|Lev|4|11|4|12" osisRef="Bible:Lev.4.11-Lev.4.12"><i>v.</i> 11,
|
|
12</scripRef>. This was very significant, (1.) Of the duty of
|
|
repentance, which is the putting away of sin as a detestable thing,
|
|
which our soul hates. True penitents say to their idols, "Get you
|
|
hence; what have we to do any more with idols?" The sin-offering is
|
|
called <i>sin.</i> What they did to that we must do to our sins;
|
|
the body of sin must be destroyed, <scripRef passage="Ro 6:6" id="Lev.v-p5.12" parsed="|Rom|6|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.6">Rom.
|
|
vi. 6</scripRef>. (2.) Of the privilege of remission. When God
|
|
pardons sin he quite abolishes it, casts it behind his back. <i>The
|
|
iniquity of Judah shall be sought for and not found.</i> The
|
|
apostle takes particular notice of this ceremony, and applies it to
|
|
Christ (<scripRef passage="Heb 13:11-13" id="Lev.v-p5.13" parsed="|Heb|13|11|13|13" osisRef="Bible:Heb.13.11-Heb.13.13">Heb. xiii.
|
|
11-13</scripRef>), who suffered without the gate, in the place of a
|
|
skull, where the ashes of dead men, as those of the altar, were
|
|
poured out.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 4" id="Lev.v-p5.14" parsed="|Lev|4|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.4"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 4:13-21" id="Lev.v-p5.15" parsed="|Lev|4|13|4|21" osisRef="Bible:Lev.4.13-Lev.4.21"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.4.13-Lev.4.21">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.v-p6">13 And if the whole congregation of Israel sin
|
|
through ignorance, and the thing be hid from the eyes of the
|
|
assembly, and they have done <i>somewhat against</i> any of the
|
|
commandments of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.v-p6.1">Lord</span>
|
|
<i>concerning things</i> which should not be done, and are guilty;
|
|
  14 When the sin, which they have sinned against it, is
|
|
known, then the congregation shall offer a young bullock for the
|
|
sin, and bring him before the tabernacle of the congregation.
|
|
  15 And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands
|
|
upon the head of the bullock before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.v-p6.2">Lord</span>: and the bullock shall be killed before the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.v-p6.3">Lord</span>.   16 And the priest that
|
|
is anointed shall bring of the bullock's blood to the tabernacle of
|
|
the congregation:   17 And the priest shall dip his finger
|
|
<i>in some</i> of the blood, and sprinkle <i>it</i> seven times
|
|
before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.v-p6.4">Lord</span>, <i>even</i> before
|
|
the vail.   18 And he shall put <i>some</i> of the blood upon
|
|
the horns of the altar which <i>is</i> before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.v-p6.5">Lord</span>, that <i>is</i> in the tabernacle of the
|
|
congregation, and shall pour out all the blood at the bottom of the
|
|
altar of the burnt offering, which <i>is at</i> the door of the
|
|
tabernacle of the congregation.   19 And he shall take all his
|
|
fat from him, and burn <i>it</i> upon the altar.   20 And he
|
|
shall do with the bullock as he did with the bullock for a sin
|
|
offering, so shall he do with this: and the priest shall make an
|
|
atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them.   21 And he
|
|
shall carry forth the bullock without the camp, and burn him as he
|
|
burned the first bullock: it <i>is</i> a sin offering for the
|
|
congregation.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.v-p7">This is the law for expiating the guilt of
|
|
a national sin, by a sin offering. If the leaders of the people,
|
|
through mistake concerning the law, caused them to err, when the
|
|
mistake was discovered an offering must be brought, that wrath
|
|
might not come upon the whole congregation. Observe, 1. It is
|
|
possible that the church may err, and that her guides may mislead
|
|
her. It is here supposed that the whole congregation may sin, and
|
|
sin through ignorance. God will always have a church on earth; but
|
|
he never said it should be infallible, or perfectly pure from
|
|
corruption on this side heaven. 2. When a sacrifice was to be
|
|
offered for the whole congregation, the elders were to lay their
|
|
hands upon the head of it (three of them at least), as
|
|
representatives of the people and agents for them. The sin we
|
|
suppose to have been some common custom, taken up and used by the
|
|
generality of the people, upon presumption of its being lawful,
|
|
which afterwards, upon search, appeared to be otherwise. In this
|
|
case the commonness of the usage received perhaps by tradition from
|
|
their fathers, and the vulgar opinion of its being lawful, would
|
|
not so far excuse them from sin but that they must bring a
|
|
sacrifice to make atonement for it. There are many bad customs and
|
|
forms of speech which are thought to have no harm in them, and yet
|
|
may bring guilt and wrath upon a land, which therefore it concerns
|
|
the elders both to reform and to intercede with God for the pardon
|
|
of, <scripRef passage="Joe 2:16" id="Lev.v-p7.1" parsed="|Joel|2|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Joel.2.16">Joel ii. 16</scripRef>. 3. The
|
|
blood of this sin-offering, as of the former, was to be
|
|
<i>sprinkled seven times before the Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 4:17" id="Lev.v-p7.2" parsed="|Lev|4|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.4.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. It was not to be poured out
|
|
there, but sprinkled only; for the cleansing virtue of the blood of
|
|
Christ was then and still is sufficiently signified and represented
|
|
by sprinkling, <scripRef passage="Isa 52:15" id="Lev.v-p7.3" parsed="|Isa|52|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.52.15">Isa. lii.
|
|
15</scripRef>. It was to be sprinkled seven times. Seven is a
|
|
number of perfection, because when God had made the world in six
|
|
days he rested the seventh; so this signified the perfect
|
|
satisfaction Christ made, and the complete cleansing of the souls
|
|
of the faithful by it; see <scripRef passage="Heb 10:14" id="Lev.v-p7.4" parsed="|Heb|10|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.10.14">Heb. x.
|
|
14</scripRef>. The blood was likewise to be put upon the horns of
|
|
the incense-altar, to which there seems to be an allusion in
|
|
<scripRef passage="Jer 17:1" id="Lev.v-p7.5" parsed="|Jer|17|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.17.1">Jer. xvii. 1</scripRef>, where the sin
|
|
of Judah is said to be <i>graven upon the horns of their
|
|
altars.</i> If they did not forsake their sins, the putting of the
|
|
blood of their sin-offerings upon the horns of their altars,
|
|
instead of taking away their guilt, did but bind it on the faster,
|
|
perpetuated the remembrance of it, and remained a witness against
|
|
them. It is likewise alluded to in <scripRef passage="Re 9:13" id="Lev.v-p7.6" parsed="|Rev|9|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.9.13">Rev.
|
|
ix. 13</scripRef>, where a voice is heard <i>from the four horns of
|
|
the golden altar;</i> that is, an answer of peace is given to the
|
|
prayers of the saints, which are acceptable and prevalent only by
|
|
virtue of the blood of the sin-offering put upon the horns of that
|
|
altar; compare <scripRef passage="Re 8:3" id="Lev.v-p7.7" parsed="|Rev|8|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.8.3">Rev. viii. 3</scripRef>.
|
|
4. When the offering is completed, it is said, <i>atonement is
|
|
made, and the sin shall be forgiven,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 4:20" id="Lev.v-p7.8" parsed="|Lev|4|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.4.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. The promise of remission is
|
|
founded upon the atonement. It is spoken here of the forgiveness of
|
|
the sin of the whole congregation, that is, the turning away of
|
|
those national judgments which the sin deserved. Note, The saving
|
|
of churches and kingdoms from ruin is owing to the satisfaction and
|
|
mediation of Christ.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 4:22-26" id="Lev.v-p7.9" parsed="|Lev|4|22|4|26" osisRef="Bible:Lev.4.22-Lev.4.26"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.4.22-Lev.4.26">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.v-p8">22 When a ruler hath sinned, and done
|
|
<i>somewhat</i> through ignorance <i>against</i> any of the
|
|
commandments of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.v-p8.1">Lord</span> his God
|
|
<i>concerning things</i> which should not be done, and is guilty;
|
|
  23 Or if his sin, wherein he hath sinned, come to his
|
|
knowledge; he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a male
|
|
without blemish:   24 And he shall lay his hand upon the head
|
|
of the goat, and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt
|
|
offering before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.v-p8.2">Lord</span>: it
|
|
<i>is</i> a sin offering.   25 And the priest shall take of
|
|
the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and put <i>it</i>
|
|
upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out
|
|
his blood at the bottom of the altar of burnt offering.   26
|
|
And he shall burn all his fat upon the altar, as the fat of the
|
|
sacrifice of peace offerings: and the priest shall make an
|
|
atonement for him as concerning his sin, and it shall be forgiven
|
|
him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.v-p9">Observe here, 1. That God takes notice of
|
|
and is displeased with the sins of rulers. Those who have power to
|
|
call others to account are themselves accountable to the ruler of
|
|
rulers; for, as high as they are, there is a higher than they. This
|
|
is intimated in that the commandment transgressed is here said to
|
|
be the <i>commandment of the Lord his God,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 4:22" id="Lev.v-p9.1" parsed="|Lev|4|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.4.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>. He is a prince to others, but
|
|
let him know the Lord is a God to him. 2. The sin of the ruler
|
|
which he committed through ignorance is supposed afterwards to come
|
|
to his knowledge (<scripRef passage="Le 4:23" id="Lev.v-p9.2" parsed="|Lev|4|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.4.23"><i>v.</i>
|
|
23</scripRef>), which must be either by the check of his own
|
|
conscience or by the reproof of his friends, both which we should
|
|
all, even the best and greatest, not only submit to, but be
|
|
thankful for. What we have done amiss we should be very desirous to
|
|
come to the knowledge of. <i>That which I see not, teach thou me,
|
|
and show me wherein I have erred,</i> are prayers we should put up
|
|
to God every day, that though through ignorance we fall into sin we
|
|
may not through ignorance lie still in it. 3. The sin-offering for
|
|
a ruler was to be <i>a kid of the goats,</i> not a bullock, as for
|
|
the priest and the whole congregation; nor was the blood of his
|
|
sin-offering to be brought into the tabernacle, as of the other
|
|
two, but it was all bestowed upon the brazen altar (<scripRef passage="Le 4:25" id="Lev.v-p9.3" parsed="|Lev|4|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.4.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>); nor was the flesh of it
|
|
to be burnt, as that of the other two, without the camp, which
|
|
intimated that the sin of a ruler, though worse than that of a
|
|
common person, yet was not so heinous, nor of such pernicious
|
|
consequence, as the sin of the high priest, or of the whole
|
|
congregation. A kid of the goats was sufficient to be offered for a
|
|
ruler, but a bullock for a tribe, to intimate that the ruler,
|
|
though <i>major singulis—greater than each,</i> was <i>minor
|
|
universis—less than the whole.</i> It is bad when great men give
|
|
bad examples, but worse when all men follow them. 4. It is promised
|
|
that the atonement shall be accepted and the sin forgiven
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 4:26" id="Lev.v-p9.4" parsed="|Lev|4|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.4.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>), that is, if
|
|
he repent and reform; for otherwise God swore concerning Eli, a
|
|
judge in Israel, that the iniquity of his house should not be
|
|
purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever, <scripRef passage="1Sa 3:14" id="Lev.v-p9.5" parsed="|1Sam|3|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.3.14">1 Sam. iii. 14</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 4:27-35" id="Lev.v-p9.6" parsed="|Lev|4|27|4|35" osisRef="Bible:Lev.4.27-Lev.4.35"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.4.27-Lev.4.35">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.v-p10">27 And if any one of the common people sin
|
|
through ignorance, while he doeth <i>somewhat against</i> any of
|
|
the commandments of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.v-p10.1">Lord</span>
|
|
<i>concerning things</i> which ought not to be done, and be guilty;
|
|
28 Or if his sin, which he hath sinned, come to his knowledge: then
|
|
he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a female without
|
|
blemish, for his sin which he hath sinned. 29 And he shall lay his
|
|
hand upon the head of the sin offering, and slay the sin offering
|
|
in the place of the burnt offering. 30 And the priest shall take of
|
|
the blood thereof with his finger, and put <i>it</i> upon the horns
|
|
of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out all the blood
|
|
thereof at the bottom of the altar. 31 And he shall take away all
|
|
the fat thereof, as the fat is taken away from off the sacrifice of
|
|
peace offerings; and the priest shall burn <i>it</i> upon the altar
|
|
for a sweet savour unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.v-p10.2">Lord</span>;
|
|
and the priest shall make an atonement for him, and it shall be
|
|
forgiven him. 32 And if he bring a lamb for a sin offering, he
|
|
shall bring it a female without blemish. 33 And he shall lay his
|
|
hand upon the head of the sin offering, and slay it for a sin
|
|
offering in the place where they kill the burnt offering. 34 And
|
|
the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering with his
|
|
finger, and put <i>it</i> upon the horns of the altar of burnt
|
|
offering, and shall pour out all the blood thereof at the bottom of
|
|
the altar: 35 And he shall take away all the fat thereof, as the
|
|
fat of the lamb is taken away from the sacrifice of the peace
|
|
offerings; and the priest shall burn them upon the altar, according
|
|
to the offerings made by fire unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.v-p10.3">Lord</span>: and the priest shall make an atonement for
|
|
his sin that he hath committed, and it shall be forgiven him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.v-p11">I. Here is the law of the sin-offering for
|
|
a common person, which differs from that for a ruler only in this,
|
|
that a private person might bring either a kid or a lamb, a ruler
|
|
only a kid; and that for a ruler must be a male, for the other a
|
|
female: in all the circumstances of the management of the offering
|
|
they agreed. Observe, 1. The case supposed: <i>If any one of the
|
|
common people sin through ignorance,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 4:27" id="Lev.v-p11.1" parsed="|Lev|4|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.4.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>. The prophet supposes that they
|
|
were not so likely as the great men to <i>know the way of the Lord,
|
|
and the judgment of their God</i> (<scripRef passage="Jer 5:4" id="Lev.v-p11.2" parsed="|Jer|5|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.5.4">Jer.
|
|
v. 4</scripRef>), and yet, if they sin through ignorance, they must
|
|
bring a sin-offering. Note, Even sins of ignorance need to be
|
|
atoned for by sacrifice. To be able to plead, when we are charged
|
|
with sin, that we did it ignorantly, and through the surprise of
|
|
temptation, will not bring us off if we be not interested in that
|
|
great plea, <i>Christ hath died,</i> and entitled to the benefit of
|
|
that. We have all need to pray with David (and he was a ruler) to
|
|
be cleansed from <i>secret faults,</i> the errors which we
|
|
ourselves do not understand or are not aware of, <scripRef passage="Ps 19:12" id="Lev.v-p11.3" parsed="|Ps|19|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.19.12">Ps. xix. 12</scripRef>. 2. That the sins of ignorance
|
|
committed by a single person, a common obscure person, did require
|
|
a sacrifice; for, as the greatest are not above the censure, so the
|
|
meanest are not below the cognizance of the divine justice. None of
|
|
the common people, if offenders, were overlooked in a crowd. 3.
|
|
That a sin-offering was not only admitted, but accepted, even from
|
|
one of the common people, and an atonement made by it, <scripRef passage="Le 4:31,35" id="Lev.v-p11.4" parsed="|Lev|4|31|0|0;|Lev|4|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.4.31 Bible:Lev.4.35"><i>v.</i> 31, 35</scripRef>. Here rich and
|
|
poor, prince and peasant, meet together; they are both alike
|
|
welcome to Christ, and to an interest in his sacrifice, upon the
|
|
same terms. See <scripRef passage="Job 34:19" id="Lev.v-p11.5" parsed="|Job|34|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.34.19">Job xxxiv.
|
|
19</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.v-p12">II. From all these laws concerning the
|
|
sin-offerings we may learn, 1. To hate sin, and to watch against
|
|
it. That is certainly a very bad thing to make atonement for which
|
|
so many innocent and useful creatures must be slain and mangled
|
|
thus. 2. To value Christ, the great and true sin-offering, whose
|
|
blood cleanses from all sin, which it was not possible that the
|
|
<i>blood of bulls and of goats should take away. Now, if any man
|
|
sin,</i> Christ is <i>the propitiation</i> (<scripRef passage="1Jo 2:1,2" id="Lev.v-p12.1" parsed="|1John|2|1|2|2" osisRef="Bible:1John.2.1-1John.2.2">1 John ii. 1, 2</scripRef>), not for Jews only, but for
|
|
Gentiles. And perhaps there was some allusion to this law
|
|
concerning sacrifices for sins of ignorance in that prayer of
|
|
Christ's, just when he was offering up himself a sacrifice,
|
|
<i>Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter V" n="vi" progress="52.31%" prev="Lev.v" next="Lev.vii" id="Lev.vi">
|
|
<h2 id="Lev.vi-p0.1">L E V I T I C U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Lev.vi-p0.2">CHAP. V.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Lev.vi-p1">This chapter, and part of the next, concern the
|
|
trespass-offering. The difference between this and the sin-offering
|
|
lay not so much in the sacrifices themselves, and the management of
|
|
them, as in the occasions of the offering of them. They were both
|
|
intended to make atonement for sin; but the former was more
|
|
general, this applied to some particular instances. Observe what is
|
|
here said, I. Concerning the trespass. If a man sin, 1. In
|
|
concealing his knowledge, when he is adjured, <scripRef passage="Le 5:1" id="Lev.vi-p1.1" parsed="|Lev|5|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.5.1">ver. 1</scripRef>. 2. In touching an unclean thing,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 5:2,3" id="Lev.vi-p1.2" parsed="|Lev|5|2|5|3" osisRef="Bible:Lev.5.2-Lev.5.3">ver. 2, 3</scripRef>. 3. In swearing,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 5:4" id="Lev.vi-p1.3" parsed="|Lev|5|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.5.4">ver. 4</scripRef>. 4. In embezzling the
|
|
holy things, <scripRef passage="Le 5:14-16" id="Lev.vi-p1.4" parsed="|Lev|5|14|5|16" osisRef="Bible:Lev.5.14-Lev.5.16">ver. 14-16</scripRef>.
|
|
5. In any sin of infirmity, <scripRef passage="Le 5:17-19" id="Lev.vi-p1.5" parsed="|Lev|5|17|5|19" osisRef="Bible:Lev.5.17-Lev.5.19">ver.
|
|
17-19</scripRef>. Some other cases there are, in which these
|
|
offerings were to be offered, <scripRef passage="Le 6:2-4,14:12,19:21,Nu 6:12" id="Lev.vi-p1.6" parsed="|Lev|6|2|6|4;|Lev|14|12|0|0;|Lev|19|21|0|0;|Num|6|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.2-Lev.6.4 Bible:Lev.14.12 Bible:Lev.19.21 Bible:Num.6.12"><i>ch.</i> vi. 2-4; xiv. 12; xix.
|
|
21; Num. vi. 12</scripRef>. II. Concerning the trespass-offerings,
|
|
1. Of the flock, <scripRef passage="Le 5:5,6" id="Lev.vi-p1.7" parsed="|Lev|5|5|5|6" osisRef="Bible:Lev.5.5-Lev.5.6">ver. 5, 6</scripRef>.
|
|
2. Of fowls, <scripRef passage="Le 5:7-10" id="Lev.vi-p1.8" parsed="|Lev|5|7|5|10" osisRef="Bible:Lev.5.7-Lev.5.10">ver. 7-10</scripRef>. 3.
|
|
Of flour, <scripRef passage="Le 5:11-13" id="Lev.vi-p1.9" parsed="|Lev|5|11|5|13" osisRef="Bible:Lev.5.11-Lev.5.13">ver. 11-13</scripRef>; but
|
|
chiefly a ram without blemish, <scripRef passage="Le 5:15" id="Lev.vi-p1.10" parsed="|Lev|5|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.5.15">ver.
|
|
15</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 5" id="Lev.vi-p1.11" parsed="|Lev|5|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.5"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 5:1-6" id="Lev.vi-p1.12" parsed="|Lev|5|1|5|6" osisRef="Bible:Lev.5.1-Lev.5.6"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.5.1-Lev.5.6">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.vi-p1.13">Law of the Sin-Offering. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.vi-p1.14">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.vi-p2">1 And if a soul sin, and hear the voice of
|
|
swearing, and <i>is</i> a witness, whether he hath seen or known
|
|
<i>of it;</i> if he do not utter <i>it,</i> then he shall bear his
|
|
iniquity.   2 Or if a soul touch any unclean thing, whether
|
|
<i>it be</i> a carcase of an unclean beast, or a carcase of unclean
|
|
cattle, or the carcase of unclean creeping things, and <i>if</i> it
|
|
be hidden from him; he also shall be unclean, and guilty.   3
|
|
Or if he touch the uncleanness of man, whatsoever uncleanness <i>it
|
|
be</i> that a man shall be defiled withal, and it be hid from him;
|
|
when he knoweth <i>of it,</i> then he shall be guilty.   4 Or
|
|
if a soul swear, pronouncing with <i>his</i> lips to do evil, or to
|
|
do good, whatsoever <i>it be</i> that a man shall pronounce with an
|
|
oath, and it be hid from him; when he knoweth <i>of it,</i> then he
|
|
shall be guilty in one of these.   5 And it shall be, when he
|
|
shall be guilty in one of these <i>things,</i> that he shall
|
|
confess that he hath sinned in that <i>thing:</i>   6 And he
|
|
shall bring his trespass offering unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.vi-p2.1">Lord</span> for his sin which he hath sinned, a female
|
|
from the flock, a lamb or a kid of the goats, for a sin offering;
|
|
and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his
|
|
sin.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.vi-p3">I. The offences here supposed are, 1. A
|
|
man's concealing the truth when he was sworn as a witness to speak
|
|
the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Judges among
|
|
the Jews had power to adjure not only the witnesses, as with us,
|
|
but the person suspected (contrary to a rule of our law, that no
|
|
man is bound to accuse himself), as appears by the high priest
|
|
adjuring our Saviour, who thereupon answered, though before he
|
|
stood silent, <scripRef passage="Mt 26:63,64" id="Lev.vi-p3.1" parsed="|Matt|26|63|26|64" osisRef="Bible:Matt.26.63-Matt.26.64">Matt. xxvi. 63,
|
|
64</scripRef>. Now (<scripRef passage="Le 5:1" id="Lev.vi-p3.2" parsed="|Lev|5|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.5.1">v. 1</scripRef>),
|
|
<i>If a soul sin</i> (that is, a person, for the soul is the man),
|
|
if he <i>hear the voice of swearing</i> (that is, if he be adjured
|
|
to testify what he knows, by an <i>oath</i> of the Lord upon him,
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Ki 8:31" id="Lev.vi-p3.3" parsed="|1Kgs|8|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.8.31">1 Kings viii. 31</scripRef>), if in
|
|
such a case, for fear of offending one that either has been his
|
|
friend or may be his enemy, he refuses to give evidence, or gives
|
|
it but in part, <i>he shall bear his iniquity.</i> And that is a
|
|
heavy burden, which, if some course be not taken to get it removed,
|
|
will sink a man to the lowest hell. He that <i>heareth cursing</i>
|
|
(that is, that is thus adjured) and betrayeth it not (that is,
|
|
stifles his evidence, and does not utter it), he is a partner with
|
|
the sinner, and <i>hateth his own soul;</i> see <scripRef passage="Pr 29:24" id="Lev.vi-p3.4" parsed="|Prov|29|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.29.24">Prov. xxix. 24</scripRef>. Let all that are called out
|
|
at any time to bear testimony think of this law, and be free and
|
|
open in their evidence, and take heed of prevaricating. An oath of
|
|
the Lord is a sacred thing, and not to be dallied with. 2. A man's
|
|
touching any thing that was ceremonially unclean, <scripRef passage="Le 5:2,3" id="Lev.vi-p3.5" parsed="|Lev|5|2|5|3" osisRef="Bible:Lev.5.2-Lev.5.3">v. 2, 3</scripRef>. If a man, polluted by such
|
|
touch, came into the sanctuary inconsiderately, or if he neglected
|
|
to wash himself according to the law, then he was to look upon
|
|
himself as under guilt, and must bring his offering. Though his
|
|
touching the unclean thing contracted only a ceremonial defilement,
|
|
yet his neglect to wash himself according to the law was such an
|
|
instance either of carelessness or contempt as contracted a moral
|
|
guilt. If at first it be <i>hidden from him,</i> yet when he knows
|
|
it he <i>shall be guilty.</i> Note, As soon as ever God by his
|
|
Spirit convinces our consciences of any sin or duty we must
|
|
immediately set in with the conviction, and prosecute it, as those
|
|
that are not ashamed to own our former mistake. 3. Rash swearing.
|
|
If a man binds himself by an oath that he will do or not do such a
|
|
thing, and the performance of his oath afterwards proves either
|
|
unlawful or impracticable, by which he is discharged from the
|
|
obligation, yet he must bring an offering to atone for his fully in
|
|
swearing so rashly, as David that he would kill Nabal. And then it
|
|
was that he must <i>say before the angel</i> that it <i>was an
|
|
error,</i> <scripRef passage="Ec 5:6" id="Lev.vi-p3.6" parsed="|Eccl|5|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.5.6">Eccl. v. 6</scripRef>. <i>He
|
|
shall be guilty in one of these</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 5:4" id="Lev.vi-p3.7" parsed="|Lev|5|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.5.4"><i>ch.</i> v. 4</scripRef>), guilty if he do not perform
|
|
his oath, and yet, if the matter of it were evil, guilty if he do.
|
|
Such wretched dilemmas as these do some men bring themselves into
|
|
by their own rashness and folly; go which way they will their
|
|
consciences are wounded, sin stares them in the face, so sadly are
|
|
they <i>snared in the words of their mouth.</i> A more sad dilemma
|
|
this is than that of the lepers, "If we sit still, we die; if we
|
|
stir, we die." Wisdom and watchfulness beforehand would prevent
|
|
these straits.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.vi-p4">II. Now in these cases, 1. The offender
|
|
must confess his sin and bring his offering (<scripRef passage="Le 5:5,6" id="Lev.vi-p4.1" parsed="|Lev|5|5|5|6" osisRef="Bible:Lev.5.5-Lev.5.6">v. 5, 6</scripRef>); and the offering was not accepted
|
|
unless it was accompanied with a penitential confession and a
|
|
humble prayer for pardon. Observe, The confession must be
|
|
particular, <i>that he hath sinned in that thing;</i> such was
|
|
David's confession (<scripRef passage="Ps 51:4" id="Lev.vi-p4.2" parsed="|Ps|51|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.51.4">Ps. li.
|
|
4</scripRef>), <i>I have done this evil;</i> and Achan's (<scripRef passage="Jos 7:20" id="Lev.vi-p4.3" parsed="|Josh|7|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.7.20">Josh. vii. 20</scripRef>), <i>Thus and thus have
|
|
I done.</i> Deceit lies in generals; many will own in general they
|
|
have sinned, for that all must own, so that it is not any
|
|
particular reproach to them; but that they have sinned <i>in this
|
|
thing</i> they stand too much upon their honour to acknowledge: but
|
|
the way to be well assured of pardon, and to be well armed against
|
|
sin for the future, is to be particular in our penitent
|
|
confessions. 2. The priest must <i>make atonement for him.</i> As
|
|
the atonement was not accepted without his repentance, so his
|
|
repentance would not justify him without the atonement. Thus, in
|
|
our reconciliation to God, Christ's part and ours are both
|
|
needful.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 5:7-13" id="Lev.vi-p4.4" parsed="|Lev|5|7|5|13" osisRef="Bible:Lev.5.7-Lev.5.13"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.5.7-Lev.5.13">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.vi-p5">7 And if he be not able to bring a lamb, then he
|
|
shall bring for his trespass, which he hath committed, two
|
|
turtledoves, or two young pigeons, unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.vi-p5.1">Lord</span>; one for a sin offering, and the other for
|
|
a burnt offering.   8 And he shall bring them unto the priest,
|
|
who shall offer <i>that</i> which <i>is</i> for the sin offering
|
|
first, and wring off his head from his neck, but shall not divide
|
|
<i>it</i> asunder:   9 And he shall sprinkle of the blood of
|
|
the sin offering upon the side of the altar; and the rest of the
|
|
blood shall be wrung out at the bottom of the altar: it <i>is</i> a
|
|
sin offering.   10 And he shall offer the second <i>for</i> a
|
|
burnt offering, according to the manner: and the priest shall make
|
|
an atonement for him for his sin which he hath sinned, and it shall
|
|
be forgiven him.   11 But if he be not able to bring two
|
|
turtledoves, or two young pigeons, then he that sinned shall bring
|
|
for his offering the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a sin
|
|
offering; he shall put no oil upon it, neither shall he put
|
|
<i>any</i> frankincense thereon: for it <i>is</i> a sin offering.
|
|
  12 Then shall he bring it to the priest, and the priest
|
|
shall take his handful of it, <i>even</i> a memorial thereof, and
|
|
burn <i>it</i> on the altar, according to the offerings made by
|
|
fire unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.vi-p5.2">Lord</span>: it <i>is</i> a
|
|
sin offering.   13 And the priest shall make an atonement for
|
|
him as touching his sin that he hath sinned in one of these, and it
|
|
shall be forgiven him: and <i>the remnant</i> shall be the
|
|
priest's, as a meat offering.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.vi-p6">Provision is here made for the poor of
|
|
God's people, and the pacifying of their consciences under the
|
|
sense of guilt. Those that were not able to bring a lamb might
|
|
bring for a sin-offering a pair of <i>turtle-doves</i> or <i>two
|
|
young pigeons;</i> nay, if any were so extremely poor that they
|
|
were not able to procure these so often as they would have
|
|
occasion, they might bring a pottle of fine flour, and this should
|
|
be accepted. Thus the expense of the sin-offering was brought lower
|
|
than that of any other offering, to teach us that no man's poverty
|
|
shall ever be a bar in the way of his pardon. The poorest of all
|
|
may have atonement made for them, if it be not their own fault.
|
|
Thus the poor are evangelized; and no man shall say that he had not
|
|
wherewithal to bear the charges of a journey to heaven. Now,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.vi-p7">I. If the sinner brought two doves, one was
|
|
to be offered for a sin-offering and the other for a
|
|
burnt-offering, <scripRef passage="Le 5:7" id="Lev.vi-p7.1" parsed="|Lev|5|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.5.7">v. 7</scripRef>.
|
|
Observe, 1. Before he offered the burnt-offering, which was for the
|
|
honour and praise of God, he must offer the sin-offering, to make
|
|
atonement. We must first see to it that our peace be made with God,
|
|
and then we may expect that our services for his glory will be
|
|
accepted. The sin-offering must make way for the burnt-offering. 2.
|
|
After the sin-offering, which made atonement, came the
|
|
burnt-offering, as an acknowledgment of the great mercy of God in
|
|
appointing and accepting the atonement.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.vi-p8">II. If he brought fine flour, a handful of
|
|
it was to be offered, but without either oil or frankincense
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 5:11" id="Lev.vi-p8.1" parsed="|Lev|5|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.5.11">v. 11</scripRef>), not only because
|
|
this would make it too costly for the poor, for whose comfort this
|
|
sacrifice was appointed, but because it was a sin-offering, and
|
|
therefore, to show the loathsomeness of the sin for which it was
|
|
offered, it must not be made grateful either to the taste by oil or
|
|
to the smell by frankincense. The unsavouriness of the offering was
|
|
to intimate that the sinner must never relish his sin again as he
|
|
had done. God by these sacrifices did speak, 1. Comfort to those
|
|
that had offended, that they might not despair, nor pine away in
|
|
their iniquity; but, peace being thus made for them with God, they
|
|
might have peace in him. 2. Caution likewise not to offend any
|
|
more, remembering what an expensive troublesome thing it was to
|
|
make atonement.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 5" id="Lev.vi-p8.2" parsed="|Lev|5|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.5"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 5:14-19" id="Lev.vi-p8.3" parsed="|Lev|5|14|5|19" osisRef="Bible:Lev.5.14-Lev.5.19"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.5.14-Lev.5.19">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.vi-p8.4">Law of the
|
|
Trespass-Offering. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.vi-p8.5">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.vi-p9">14 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.vi-p9.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   15 If a soul commit a trespass,
|
|
and sin through ignorance, in the holy things of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.vi-p9.2">Lord</span>; then he shall bring for his trespass unto
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.vi-p9.3">Lord</span> a ram without blemish out
|
|
of the flocks, with thy estimation by shekels of silver, after the
|
|
shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering:   16 And he
|
|
shall make amends for the harm that he hath done in the holy thing,
|
|
and shall add the fifth part thereto, and give it unto the priest:
|
|
and the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the
|
|
trespass offering, and it shall be forgiven him.   17 And if a
|
|
soul sin, and commit any of these things which are forbidden to be
|
|
done by the commandments of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.vi-p9.4">Lord</span>; though he wist <i>it</i> not, yet is he
|
|
guilty, and shall bear his iniquity.   18 And he shall bring a
|
|
ram without blemish out of the flock, with thy estimation, for a
|
|
trespass offering, unto the priest: and the priest shall make an
|
|
atonement for him concerning his ignorance wherein he erred and
|
|
wist <i>it</i> not, and it shall be forgiven him.   19 It
|
|
<i>is</i> a trespass offering: he hath certainly trespassed against
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.vi-p9.5">Lord</span>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.vi-p10">Hitherto in this chapter orders were given
|
|
concerning those sacrifices that were both sin-offerings and
|
|
trespass-offerings, for they go by both names, <scripRef passage="Le 5:6" id="Lev.vi-p10.1" parsed="|Lev|5|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.5.6">v. 6</scripRef>. Here we have the law concerning those
|
|
that were properly and peculiarly <i>trespass-offerings,</i> which
|
|
were offered to atone for trespasses done against a neighbour,
|
|
those sins we commonly call trespasses. Now injuries done to
|
|
another may be either in holy things or in common things; of the
|
|
former we have the law in these verses; of the latter in the
|
|
beginning of the next chapter. If a man <i>did harm</i> (as it is
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 5:16" id="Lev.vi-p10.2" parsed="|Lev|5|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.5.16">v. 16</scripRef>) <i>in the holy things
|
|
of the Lord,</i> he thereby committed a trespass against the
|
|
priests, the Lord's ministers, who were entrusted with the care of
|
|
these holy things, and had the benefit of them. Now if a man did
|
|
alienate or convert to his own use any thing that was dedicated to
|
|
God, unwittingly, he was to bring this sacrifice; as suppose he had
|
|
ignorantly made use of the tithes, or first-fruits, or first-born
|
|
of his cattle, or (which, it should seem by <scripRef passage="Le 22:14-16" id="Lev.vi-p10.3" parsed="|Lev|22|14|22|16" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22.14-Lev.22.16"><i>ch.</i> xxii. 14-16</scripRef>, is principally
|
|
meant here) had eaten any of those parts of the sacrifices which
|
|
were appropriated to the priests; this was a trespass. It is
|
|
supposed to be done through mistake, or forgetfulness, for want
|
|
either of care or zeal; for if it was done presumptuously, and in
|
|
contempt of the law, the offender died without mercy, <scripRef passage="Heb 10:28" id="Lev.vi-p10.4" parsed="|Heb|10|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.10.28">Heb. x. 28</scripRef>. But in case of
|
|
negligence and ignorance this sacrifice was appointed; and Moses is
|
|
told, 1. What must be done in case the trespass appeared to be
|
|
certain. The trespasser must bring an offering to the Lord, which,
|
|
in all those that were purely trespass-offerings, must be a <i>ram
|
|
without blemish,</i> "of the second year," say the Jewish doctors.
|
|
He must likewise make restitution to the priest, according to a
|
|
just estimation of the thing which he had so alienated, adding a
|
|
fifth part to it, that he might learn to take more heed next time
|
|
of embezzling what was sacred to God, finding to his cost that
|
|
there was nothing got by it, and that he paid dearly for his
|
|
oversights. 2. What must be done in case it were doubtful whether
|
|
he had trespassed or no; he had cause to suspect it, but he <i>wist
|
|
it not</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 5:17" id="Lev.vi-p10.5" parsed="|Lev|5|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.5.17">v. 17</scripRef>), that is,
|
|
he was not very certain; in this case, because it is good to be
|
|
sure, he must bring his trespass-offering, and the value of that
|
|
which he feared he had embezzled, only he was not to add the fifth
|
|
part to it. Now this was designed to show the very great evil there
|
|
is in sacrilege. Achan, that was guilty of it presumptuously, died
|
|
for it; so did Ananias and Sapphira. But this goes further to show
|
|
the evil of it, that if a man had, through mere ignorance, and
|
|
unwittingly, alienated the holy things, nay, if he did but suspect
|
|
that he had done so, he must be at the expense, not only of a full
|
|
restitution with interest, but of an offering, with the trouble of
|
|
bringing it, and must take shame to himself, by making confession
|
|
of it; so bad a thing is it to invade God's property, and so
|
|
cautious should we be to abstain from all appearances of this evil.
|
|
We are also taught here to be jealous over ourselves with a godly
|
|
jealousy, to ask pardon for the sin, and make satisfaction for the
|
|
wrong, which we do but suspect ourselves guilty of. In doubtful
|
|
cases we should take and keep the safer side.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter VI" n="vii" progress="52.62%" prev="Lev.vi" next="Lev.viii" id="Lev.vii">
|
|
<h2 id="Lev.vii-p0.1">L E V I T I C U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Lev.vii-p0.2">CHAP. VI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Lev.vii-p1">The first seven verses of this chapter might fitly
|
|
have been added to the foregoing chapter, being a continuation of
|
|
the law of the trespass-offering, and the putting of other cases in
|
|
which it was to be offered; and with this end the instructions God
|
|
gave concerning the several kinds of sacrifices that should be
|
|
offered: and then at <scripRef passage="Le 6:8" id="Lev.vii-p1.1" parsed="|Lev|6|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.8"><i>v.</i>
|
|
8</scripRef> (which in the original begins a new section of the
|
|
law) he comes to appoint the several rites and ceremonies
|
|
concerning these sacrifices which had not been mentioned before. I.
|
|
The burnt-offering, <scripRef passage="Le 6:8-13" id="Lev.vii-p1.2" parsed="|Lev|6|8|6|13" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.8-Lev.6.13">ver.
|
|
8-13</scripRef>. II. The meat-offering (<scripRef passage="Le 6:11-18" id="Lev.vii-p1.3" parsed="|Lev|6|11|6|18" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.11-Lev.6.18">ver. 11-18</scripRef>), particularly that at the
|
|
consecration of the priest, <scripRef passage="Le 6:19-23" id="Lev.vii-p1.4" parsed="|Lev|6|19|6|23" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.19-Lev.6.23">ver.
|
|
19-23</scripRef>. III. The sin-offering, <scripRef passage="Le 6:24-30" id="Lev.vii-p1.5" parsed="|Lev|6|24|6|30" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.24-Lev.6.30">ver. 24</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 6" id="Lev.vii-p1.6" parsed="|Lev|6|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 6:1-7" id="Lev.vii-p1.7" parsed="|Lev|6|1|6|7" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.1-Lev.6.7"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.6.1-Lev.6.7">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.vii-p1.8">Law of the
|
|
Trespass-Offering. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.vii-p1.9">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.vii-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.vii-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   2 If a soul sin, and commit a
|
|
trespass against the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.vii-p2.2">Lord</span>, and lie
|
|
unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep, or in
|
|
fellowship, or in a thing taken away by violence, or hath deceived
|
|
his neighbour;   3 Or have found that which was lost, and
|
|
lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely; in any of all these that
|
|
a man doeth, sinning therein:   4 Then it shall be, because he
|
|
hath sinned, and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he
|
|
took violently away, or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten,
|
|
or that which was delivered him to keep, or the lost thing which he
|
|
found,   5 Or all that about which he hath sworn falsely; he
|
|
shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth
|
|
part more thereto, <i>and</i> give it unto him to whom it
|
|
appertaineth, in the day of his trespass offering.   6 And he
|
|
shall bring his trespass offering unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.vii-p2.3">Lord</span>, a ram without blemish out of the flock,
|
|
with thy estimation, for a trespass offering, unto the priest:
|
|
  7 And the priest shall make an atonement for him before the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.vii-p2.4">Lord</span>: and it shall be forgiven him
|
|
for any thing of all that he hath done in trespassing therein.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.vii-p3">This is the latter part of the law of the
|
|
trespass-offering: the former part, which concerned trespasses
|
|
about holy things, we had in the close of the foregoing chapter;
|
|
this concerns trespasses in common things. Observe here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.vii-p4">I. The trespass supposed, <scripRef passage="Le 6:2,3" id="Lev.vii-p4.1" parsed="|Lev|6|2|6|3" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.2-Lev.6.3"><i>v.</i> 2, 3</scripRef>. Though all the
|
|
instances relate to our neighbour, yet it is called a <i>trespass
|
|
against the Lord,</i> because, though the injury be done
|
|
immediately to our neighbour, yet an affront is thereby given to
|
|
his Maker and our Master. He that speaks evil of his brother is
|
|
said to speak evil of the law, and consequently of the Law-maker,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Jam 4:11" id="Lev.vii-p4.2" parsed="|Jas|4|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jas.4.11">Jam. iv. 11</scripRef>. Though the
|
|
person injured be ever so mean and despicable, and every way our
|
|
inferior, yet the injury reflects upon that God who has made the
|
|
command of loving our neighbour second to that of loving himself.
|
|
The trespasses specified are, 1. Denying a trust: <i>If a man lie
|
|
unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep,</i> or,
|
|
which is worse, which was lent him for his use. If we claim that as
|
|
our own which is only borrowed, left in our custody, or committed
|
|
to our care, this is a trespass <i>against the Lord,</i> who, for
|
|
the benefit of human society, will have property and truth
|
|
maintained. 2. Defrauding a partner: <i>If a man lie in
|
|
fellowship,</i> claiming a sole interest in that wherein he has but
|
|
a joint-interest. 3. Disowning a manifest wrong: <i>If a man</i>
|
|
has the front to <i>lie in a thing taken away by violence,</i>
|
|
which ordinarily cannot be hid. 4. Deceiving in commerce, or, as
|
|
some think, by false accusation; if a man have <i>deceitfully
|
|
oppressed</i> his neighbour, as some read it, either withholding
|
|
what is due or extorting what is not. 5. Detaining what is found,
|
|
and denying it (<scripRef passage="Le 6:3" id="Lev.vii-p4.3" parsed="|Lev|6|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>);
|
|
if a man have <i>found that which was lost,</i> he must not call it
|
|
his own presently, but endeavour to find out the owner, to whom it
|
|
must be returned; this is doing as we would be done by: but he that
|
|
<i>lies concerning it,</i> that falsely says he knows nothing of
|
|
it, especially if he back this lie with a false oath,
|
|
<i>trespasseth against the Lord,</i> who to every thing that is
|
|
said is a witness, but in an oath he is the party appealed to, and
|
|
highly affronted when he is called to witness to a lie.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.vii-p5">II. The trespass-offering appointed. 1.
|
|
<i>In the day of his trespass-offering</i> he must make
|
|
satisfaction to his brother. This must be first done <i>if thy
|
|
brother hath aught against thee: Because he hath sinned and is
|
|
guilty,</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 6:4,5" id="Lev.vii-p5.1" parsed="|Lev|6|4|6|5" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.4-Lev.6.5"><i>v.</i> 4,
|
|
5</scripRef>), that is, is convicted of his guilt by his own
|
|
conscience, and is touched with remorse for it; seeing himself
|
|
guilty before God, let him faithfully restore all that he has got
|
|
by fraud or oppression, with a fifth part added, to make amends to
|
|
the owner for the loss and trouble he had sustained in the mean
|
|
time; let him account both for debt and damages. Note, Where wrong
|
|
has been done restitution must be made; and till it is made to the
|
|
utmost of our power, or an equivalent accepted by the person
|
|
wronged, we cannot have the comfort of the forgiveness of the sin;
|
|
for the keeping of what is unjustly got avows the taking, and both
|
|
together make but one continued act of unrighteousness. To repent
|
|
is to undo what we have done amiss, which (whatever we pretend) we
|
|
cannot be said to do till we restore what has been got by it, as
|
|
Zaccheus (<scripRef passage="Lu 19:8" id="Lev.vii-p5.2" parsed="|Luke|19|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.19.8">Luke xix. 8</scripRef>), and
|
|
make satisfaction for the wrong done. 2. He must <i>then come and
|
|
offer his gift,</i> must <i>bring his trespass-offering to the
|
|
Lord</i> whom he had offended; and the priest must make an
|
|
atonement for him, <scripRef passage="Le 6:6,7" id="Lev.vii-p5.3" parsed="|Lev|6|6|6|7" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.6-Lev.6.7"><i>v.</i> 6,
|
|
7</scripRef>. This trespass-offering could not, of itself, make
|
|
satisfaction for sin, nor reconciliation between God and the
|
|
sinner, but as it signified the atonement that was to be made by
|
|
our Lord Jesus, when he should make his soul <i>an offering or
|
|
sin,</i> a <i>trespass-offering;</i> it is the same word that is
|
|
here used, <scripRef passage="Isa 53:10" id="Lev.vii-p5.4" parsed="|Isa|53|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.53.10">Isa. liii. 10</scripRef>.
|
|
The trespasses here mentioned are trespasses still against the law
|
|
of Christ, which insists as much upon justice and truth as ever the
|
|
law of nature or the law of Moses did; and though now we may have
|
|
them pardoned without a trespass-offering, yet not without true
|
|
repentance, restitution, reformation, and a humble faith in the
|
|
righteousness of Christ: and, if any make the more bold with these
|
|
sins because they are not now put to the expense of a
|
|
trespass-offering for them, they turn the grace of God into
|
|
wantonness, and so bring upon themselves a swift destruction. The
|
|
Lord is the avenger of all such, <scripRef passage="1Th 4:6" id="Lev.vii-p5.5" parsed="|1Thess|4|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Thess.4.6">1
|
|
Thess. iv. 6</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 6:8-13" id="Lev.vii-p5.6" parsed="|Lev|6|8|6|13" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.8-Lev.6.13"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.6.8-Lev.6.13">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.vii-p5.7">Law of the Burnt-Offering. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.vii-p5.8">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.vii-p6">8 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.vii-p6.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   9 Command Aaron and his sons,
|
|
saying, This <i>is</i> the law of the burnt offering: It <i>is</i>
|
|
the burnt offering, because of the burning upon the altar all night
|
|
unto the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be burning in it.
|
|
  10 And the priest shall put on his linen garment, and his
|
|
linen breeches shall he put upon his flesh, and take up the ashes
|
|
which the fire hath consumed with the burnt offering on the altar,
|
|
and he shall put them beside the altar.   11 And he shall put
|
|
off his garments, and put on other garments, and carry forth the
|
|
ashes without the camp unto a clean place.   12 And the fire
|
|
upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out: and
|
|
the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt
|
|
offering in order upon it; and he shall burn thereon the fat of the
|
|
peace offerings.   13 The fire shall ever be burning upon the
|
|
altar; it shall never go out.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.vii-p7">Hitherto we have had the instructions which
|
|
Moses was directed to give to the people concerning the sacrifices;
|
|
but here begin the instructions he was to give to the priests; he
|
|
must <i>command Aaron and his sons,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 6:9" id="Lev.vii-p7.1" parsed="|Lev|6|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. The priests were rulers in the
|
|
house of God, but these rulers must be ruled; and those that had
|
|
the command of others must themselves be commanded. Let ministers
|
|
remember that not only commissions, but commands, were given to
|
|
Aaron and his sons, who must be in subjection to them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.vii-p8">In these verses we have the law of the
|
|
burnt-offering, as far as it was the peculiar care of the priests.
|
|
The daily sacrifice of a lamb, which was offered morning and
|
|
evening for the whole congregation, is here chiefly referred
|
|
to.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.vii-p9">I. The priest must take care of the ashes
|
|
of the burnt-offering, that they be decently disposed of, <scripRef passage="Le 6:10,11" id="Lev.vii-p9.1" parsed="|Lev|6|10|6|11" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.10-Lev.6.11"><i>v.</i> 10, 11</scripRef>. He must clear the
|
|
altar of them every morning, and put them on the east side of the
|
|
altar, which was furthest from the sanctuary; this he must do in
|
|
his linen garment, which he always wore when he did any service at
|
|
the altar; and then he must shift himself, and put on other
|
|
garments, either such as were his common wear, or (as some think)
|
|
other priestly garments less honourable, and must <i>carry the
|
|
ashes into a clean place without the camp.</i> Now, 1. God would
|
|
have this done, for the honour of his altar and the sacrifices that
|
|
were burnt upon it. Even the ashes of the sacrifices must be
|
|
preserved, to testify the regard God had to it; by the
|
|
burnt-offering <i>he</i> was honoured, and therefore thus <i>it</i>
|
|
was honoured. And some
|
|
think that this care which was taken of the ashes of the sacrifice
|
|
typified the burial of our Saviour; his dead body (the ashes of his
|
|
sacrifice) was carefully laid up in a garden, in a new sepulchre,
|
|
which was a <i>clean place.</i> It was also requisite that the
|
|
altar should be kept as clean as might be; the fire upon it would
|
|
burn the better, and it is decent in a house to have a clean
|
|
fire-side. 2. God would have the priests themselves to keep it so,
|
|
to teach them and us to stoop to the meanest services for the
|
|
honour of God and of his altar. The priest himself must not only
|
|
kindle the fire, but clean the hearth, and carry out the ashes.
|
|
God's servants must think nothing below them but sin.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.vii-p10">II. The priest must take care of the fire
|
|
upon the altar, that it be kept <i>always burning.</i> This is much
|
|
insisted on here (<scripRef passage="Le 6:9,12" id="Lev.vii-p10.1" parsed="|Lev|6|9|0|0;|Lev|6|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.9 Bible:Lev.6.12"><i>v.</i> 9,
|
|
12</scripRef>), and this express law is given: <i>The fire shall
|
|
ever be burning upon the altar, it shall never go out,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 6:13" id="Lev.vii-p10.2" parsed="|Lev|6|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. We may suppose
|
|
that no day passed without some extraordinary sacrifices, which
|
|
were always offered between the morning and evening lamb; so that
|
|
from morning to night the fire on the altar was kept up of course.
|
|
But to preserve it <i>all night unto the morning</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 6:9" id="Lev.vii-p10.3" parsed="|Lev|6|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>) required some care. Those
|
|
that keep good houses never let their kitchen fire go out;
|
|
therefore God would thus give an instance of his good
|
|
house-keeping. The first fire upon the altar came <i>from
|
|
heaven</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 9:24" id="Lev.vii-p10.4" parsed="|Lev|9|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.9.24"><i>ch.</i> ix.
|
|
24</scripRef>), so that by keeping that up continually with a
|
|
constant supply of fuel all their sacrifices throughout all their
|
|
generations might be said to be consumed with that fire from
|
|
heaven, in token of God's acceptance. If, through carelessness,
|
|
they should ever let it go out, they could not expect to have it so
|
|
kindled again. Accordingly the Jews tell us that the fire never did
|
|
go out upon the altar, till the captivity in Babylon. This is
|
|
referred to <scripRef passage="Isa 31:9" id="Lev.vii-p10.5" parsed="|Isa|31|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.31.9">Isa. xxxi. 9</scripRef>,
|
|
where God is said <i>to have his fire in Zion, and his furnace in
|
|
Jerusalem.</i> By this law we are taught to keep up in our minds a
|
|
constant disposition to all acts of piety and devotion, an habitual
|
|
affection to divine things, so as to be always ready to every good
|
|
word and work. We must not only not <i>quench the Spirit,</i> but
|
|
we must <i>stir up the gift</i> that is in us. Though we be not
|
|
always sacrificing, yet we must keep the fire of holy love always
|
|
burning; and thus we must pray always.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 6" id="Lev.vii-p10.6" parsed="|Lev|6|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 6:14-23" id="Lev.vii-p10.7" parsed="|Lev|6|14|6|23" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.14-Lev.6.23"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.6.14-Lev.6.23">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.vii-p10.8">Law of the Meat-Offering. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.vii-p10.9">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.vii-p11">14 And this <i>is</i> the law of the meat
|
|
offering: the sons of Aaron shall offer it before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.vii-p11.1">Lord</span>, before the altar.   15 And he shall
|
|
take of it his handful, of the flour of the meat offering, and of
|
|
the oil thereof, and all the frankincense which <i>is</i> upon the
|
|
meat offering, and shall burn <i>it</i> upon the altar <i>for</i> a
|
|
sweet savour, <i>even</i> the memorial of it, unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.vii-p11.2">Lord</span>.   16 And the remainder thereof shall
|
|
Aaron and his sons eat: with unleavened bread shall it be eaten in
|
|
the holy place; in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation
|
|
they shall eat it.   17 It shall not be baken with leaven. I
|
|
have given it <i>unto them for</i> their portion of my offerings
|
|
made by fire; it <i>is</i> most holy, as <i>is</i> the sin
|
|
offering, and as the trespass offering.   18 All the males
|
|
among the children of Aaron shall eat of it. <i>It shall be</i> a
|
|
statute for ever in your generations concerning the offerings of
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.vii-p11.3">Lord</span> made by fire: every one
|
|
that toucheth them shall be holy.   19 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.vii-p11.4">Lord</span> spake unto Moses, saying,   20 This
|
|
<i>is</i> the offering of Aaron and of his sons, which they shall
|
|
offer unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.vii-p11.5">Lord</span> in the day when
|
|
he is anointed; the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a meat
|
|
offering perpetual, half of it in the morning, and half thereof at
|
|
night.   21 In a pan it shall be made with oil; <i>and when it
|
|
is</i> baken, thou shalt bring it in: <i>and</i> the baken pieces
|
|
of the meat offering shalt thou offer <i>for</i> a sweet savour
|
|
unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.vii-p11.6">Lord</span>.   22 And the
|
|
priest of his sons that is anointed in his stead shall offer it:
|
|
<i>it is</i> a statute for ever unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.vii-p11.7">Lord</span>; it shall be wholly burnt.   23 For
|
|
every meat offering for the priest shall be wholly burnt: it shall
|
|
not be eaten.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.vii-p12">The meat-offering was either that which was
|
|
offered by the people or that by the priests at their consecration.
|
|
Now,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.vii-p13">I. As to the common meat-offering,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.vii-p14">1. Only a handful of it was to be burnt
|
|
upon the altar; all the rest was allowed to the priests for their
|
|
food. The law of the burnt-offerings was such as imposed upon the
|
|
priests a great deal of care and work, but allowed them little
|
|
profit; for the flesh was wholly burnt, and the priests had nothing
|
|
but the skin. But to make them amends the greatest part of the
|
|
meat-offering was their own. The burning of a handful of it upon
|
|
the altar (<scripRef passage="Le 6:15" id="Lev.vii-p14.1" parsed="|Lev|6|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>) was
|
|
ordered before, <scripRef passage="Le 2:2,9" id="Lev.vii-p14.2" parsed="|Lev|2|2|0|0;|Lev|2|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.2.2 Bible:Lev.2.9"><i>ch.</i> ii. 2,
|
|
9</scripRef>. Here the remainder of it is consigned to the priests,
|
|
the servants of God's house: <i>I have given it unto them for their
|
|
portion of my offerings,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 6:17" id="Lev.vii-p14.3" parsed="|Lev|6|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.17"><i>v.</i>
|
|
17</scripRef>. Note, (1.) It is the will of God that his ministers
|
|
should be well provided for with food convenient; and what is given
|
|
to them he accepts as offered to himself, if it be done with a
|
|
single eye. (2.) All Christians, being spiritual priests, do
|
|
themselves share in the spiritual sacrifices they offer. It is not
|
|
God that is the gainer by them; the handful burnt upon the altar
|
|
was not worth speaking of, in comparison with the priests' share;
|
|
we ourselves are the gainers by our religious services. Let God
|
|
have all the frankincense, and the priests shall have the flour and
|
|
the oil; what we give to God the praise and glory of we may take to
|
|
ourselves the comfort and benefit of.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.vii-p15">2. The laws concerning the eating of it
|
|
were, (1.) That it must be <i>eaten unleavened,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 6:16" id="Lev.vii-p15.1" parsed="|Lev|6|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. What was offered to God
|
|
must have no leaven in it, and the priests must have it as the
|
|
altar had it, and no otherwise. Thus must we keep the feasts of the
|
|
Lord with the <i>unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.</i> (2.)
|
|
It must be eaten in <i>the court of the tabernacle</i> (here called
|
|
the <i>holy place</i>), in some room prepared by the side of the
|
|
court for this purpose. It was a great crime to carry any of it out
|
|
of the court. The very eating of it was a sacred rite, by which
|
|
they were to honour God, and therefore it must be done in a
|
|
religious manner, and with a holy reverence, which was preserved by
|
|
confining it to the holy place. (3.) The males only must eat of it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 6:18" id="Lev.vii-p15.2" parsed="|Lev|6|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. Of the less
|
|
holy things, as the first-fruits and tithes, and the shoulder and
|
|
breasts of the peace-offerings, the <i>daughters</i> of the priests
|
|
might eat, for they might be carried out of the court; but this was
|
|
of the most holy things, which being to be eaten only in the
|
|
tabernacle, the <i>sons</i> of Aaron only might eat of it. (4.) The
|
|
priests only that were clean might eat of it: <i>Every one that
|
|
toucheth them shall be holy,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 6:18" id="Lev.vii-p15.3" parsed="|Lev|6|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. Holy things for holy persons.
|
|
Some read it, <i>Every thing that toucheth it shall be holy:</i> Al
|
|
the furniture of the table on which these holy things were eaten
|
|
must be appropriated to that use only, and never after used as
|
|
common things.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.vii-p16">II. As to the consecration meat-offering,
|
|
which was offered for the priests themselves, it was to be
|
|
<i>wholly burnt, and none of it eaten,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 6:23" id="Lev.vii-p16.1" parsed="|Lev|6|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. It comes in here as an exception
|
|
to the foregoing law. It should seem that this law concerning the
|
|
meat-offering of initiation did not only oblige the high priest to
|
|
offer it, and on that day only that he was anointed, and so for his
|
|
successors in the day they were anointed; but the Jewish writers
|
|
say that by this law every priest, on the day he first entered upon
|
|
his ministry, was bound to offer this meat-offering,—that the high
|
|
priest was bound to offer it every day of his life, from the day in
|
|
which he was anointed,—and that it was to be offered besides the
|
|
meat-offering that attended the morning and evening sacrifice,
|
|
because it is said here to be a <i>meat-offering perpetual,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 6:20" id="Lev.vii-p16.2" parsed="|Lev|6|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. Josephus says,
|
|
"The high priest sacrificed twice every day at his own charges, and
|
|
this was his sacrifice." Note, Those whom God has advanced above
|
|
others in dignity and power ought to consider that he expects more
|
|
from them than from others, and should attend to every intimation
|
|
of service to be done for him. The meat-offering of the priest was
|
|
to be baked as if it were to be eaten, and yet it must be wholly
|
|
burnt. Though the priest that ministered was to be paid for serving
|
|
the people, yet there was no reason that he should be paid for
|
|
serving the high priest, who was the father of the family of the
|
|
priests, and whom therefore any priest should take a pleasure in
|
|
serving gratis. Nor was it fit that the priests should eat of the
|
|
offerings of a priest; for as the sins of the people were typically
|
|
transferred to the priests, which was signified by their eating of
|
|
their offerings (<scripRef passage="Ho 4:8" id="Lev.vii-p16.3" parsed="|Hos|4|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.4.8">Hos. iv. 8</scripRef>),
|
|
so the sins of the priests must be typically transferred to the
|
|
altar, which therefore must eat up all their offerings. We are all
|
|
undone, both ministers and people, if we must <i>bear our own
|
|
iniquity;</i> nor could we have had any comfort or hope if God had
|
|
not laid on his dear Son the iniquity of us all, and he is both the
|
|
priest and the altar.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 6:24-30" id="Lev.vii-p16.4" parsed="|Lev|6|24|6|30" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.24-Lev.6.30"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.6.24-Lev.6.30">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.vii-p16.5">Law of the Sin-Offering. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.vii-p16.6">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.vii-p17">24 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.vii-p17.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying, 25 Speak unto Aaron and to his sons,
|
|
saying, This <i>is</i> the law of the sin offering: In the place
|
|
where the burnt offering is killed shall the sin offering be killed
|
|
before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.vii-p17.2">Lord</span>: it <i>is</i> most
|
|
holy. 26 The priest that offereth it for sin shall eat it: in the
|
|
holy place shall it be eaten, in the court of the tabernacle of the
|
|
congregation. 27 Whatsoever shall touch the flesh thereof shall be
|
|
holy: and when there is sprinkled of the blood thereof upon any
|
|
garment, thou shalt wash that whereon it was sprinkled in the holy
|
|
place. 28 But the earthen vessel wherein it is sodden shall be
|
|
broken: and if it be sodden in a brazen pot, it shall be both
|
|
scoured, and rinsed in water. 29 All the males among the priests
|
|
shall eat thereof: it <i>is</i> most holy. 30 And no sin offering,
|
|
whereof <i>any</i> of the blood is brought into the tabernacle of
|
|
the congregation to reconcile <i>withal</i> in the holy
|
|
<i>place,</i> shall be eaten: it shall be burnt in the fire.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.vii-p18">We have here so much of the law of the
|
|
sin-offering as did peculiarly concern the priests that offered it.
|
|
As, 1. That it must be killed <i>in the place where the
|
|
burnt-offering was killed</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 6:25" id="Lev.vii-p18.1" parsed="|Lev|6|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>), that is, on the north side of
|
|
the altar (<scripRef passage="Le 1:11" id="Lev.vii-p18.2" parsed="|Lev|1|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.1.11"><i>ch.</i> i.
|
|
11</scripRef>), which, some think typified the crucifying of Christ
|
|
on mount Calvary, which was on the north side of Jerusalem. 2. That
|
|
the priest who offered it for the sinner was (with his sons, or
|
|
other priests, <scripRef passage="Le 6:29" id="Lev.vii-p18.3" parsed="|Lev|6|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>)
|
|
to eat the flesh of it, after the blood and fat had been offered to
|
|
God, in the <i>court of the tabernacle,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 6:26" id="Lev.vii-p18.4" parsed="|Lev|6|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>. Hereby they were to <i>bear the
|
|
iniquity of the congregation,</i> as it is explained, <scripRef passage="Le 10:17" id="Lev.vii-p18.5" parsed="|Lev|10|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.17"><i>ch.</i> x. 17</scripRef>. 3. The blood of the
|
|
sin-offering was with great reverence to be washed out of the
|
|
clothes on which it happened to light (<scripRef passage="Le 6:27" id="Lev.vii-p18.6" parsed="|Lev|6|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>), which signified the awful
|
|
regard we ought to have to the blood of Christ, not counting it a
|
|
common thing; that blood must be sprinkled on the conscience, not
|
|
on the raiment. 4. The vessel in which the flesh of the
|
|
sin-offering was boiled must be broken if it were an earthen one,
|
|
and, if a brazen one, well washed, <scripRef passage="Le 6:28" id="Lev.vii-p18.7" parsed="|Lev|6|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>. This intimated that the
|
|
defilement was not wholly taken away by the offering, but did
|
|
rather cleave to it, such was the weakness and deficiency of those
|
|
sacrifices; but the blood of Christ thoroughly cleanses from all
|
|
sin, and after it there needs no cleansing. 5. That all this must
|
|
be understood of the common sin-offerings, not of those for the
|
|
priest, or the body of the congregation, either occasional, or
|
|
stated upon the day of atonement; for it had been before ordained,
|
|
and was now ratified, that if the blood of the offering was brought
|
|
into the holy place, as it was in those extraordinary cases, the
|
|
flesh was not to be eaten, but burnt without the camp, <scripRef passage="Le 6:30" id="Lev.vii-p18.8" parsed="|Lev|6|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>. Hence the apostle infers
|
|
the advantage we have under the gospel above what they had under
|
|
the law; for though the blood of Christ was <i>brought into the
|
|
tabernacle, to reconcile within the holy place,</i> yet we have a
|
|
right by faith to <i>eat of the altar</i> (<scripRef passage="Heb 13:10-12" id="Lev.vii-p18.9" parsed="|Heb|13|10|13|12" osisRef="Bible:Heb.13.10-Heb.13.12">Heb. xiii. 10-12</scripRef>), and so to take the
|
|
comfort of the great propitiation.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter VII" n="viii" progress="53.05%" prev="Lev.vii" next="Lev.ix" id="Lev.viii">
|
|
<h2 id="Lev.viii-p0.1">L E V I T I C U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Lev.viii-p0.2">CHAP. VII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Lev.viii-p1">Here is, I. The law of the trespass-offering
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 7:1-7" id="Lev.viii-p1.1" parsed="|Lev|7|1|7|7" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.1-Lev.7.7">ver. 1-7</scripRef>), with some
|
|
further directions concerning the burnt-offering and the
|
|
meat-offering, <scripRef passage="Le 7:8-10" id="Lev.viii-p1.2" parsed="|Lev|7|8|7|10" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.8-Lev.7.10">ver. 8-10</scripRef>.
|
|
II. The law of the peace-offering. The eating of it (<scripRef passage="Le 7:11-21" id="Lev.viii-p1.3" parsed="|Lev|7|11|7|21" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.11-Lev.7.21">ver. 11-21</scripRef>), on which occasion the
|
|
prohibition of eating fat or blood is repeated (<scripRef passage="Le 7:22-27" id="Lev.viii-p1.4" parsed="|Lev|7|22|7|27" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.22-Lev.7.27">ver. 22-27</scripRef>), and the priests' share of it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 7:28-34" id="Lev.viii-p1.5" parsed="|Lev|7|28|7|34" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.28-Lev.7.34">ver. 28-34</scripRef>. III. The
|
|
conclusion of those institutions, <scripRef passage="Le 7:35-38" id="Lev.viii-p1.6" parsed="|Lev|7|35|7|38" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.35-Lev.7.38">ver. 35</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 7" id="Lev.viii-p1.7" parsed="|Lev|7|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 7:1-10" id="Lev.viii-p1.8" parsed="|Lev|7|1|7|10" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.1-Lev.7.10"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.7.1-Lev.7.10">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.viii-p1.9">Law of the
|
|
Trespass-Offering. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.viii-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.viii-p2">1 Likewise this <i>is</i> the law of the
|
|
trespass offering: it <i>is</i> most holy.   2 In the place
|
|
where they kill the burnt offering shall they kill the trespass
|
|
offering: and the blood thereof shall he sprinkle round about upon
|
|
the altar.   3 And he shall offer of it all the fat thereof;
|
|
the rump, and the fat that covereth the inwards,   4 And the
|
|
two kidneys, and the fat that <i>is</i> on them, which <i>is</i> by
|
|
the flanks, and the caul <i>that is</i> above the liver, with the
|
|
kidneys, it shall he take away:   5 And the priest shall burn
|
|
them upon the altar <i>for</i> an offering made by fire unto the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.viii-p2.1">Lord</span>: it <i>is</i> a trespass
|
|
offering.   6 Every male among the priests shall eat thereof:
|
|
it shall be eaten in the holy place: it <i>is</i> most holy.  
|
|
7 As the sin offering <i>is,</i> so <i>is</i> the trespass
|
|
offering: <i>there is</i> one law for them: the priest that maketh
|
|
atonement therewith shall have <i>it.</i>   8 And the priest
|
|
that offereth any man's burnt offering, <i>even</i> the priest
|
|
shall have to himself the skin of the burnt offering which he hath
|
|
offered.   9 And all the meat offering that is baken in the
|
|
oven, and all that is dressed in the fryingpan, and in the pan,
|
|
shall be the priest's that offereth it.   10 And every meat
|
|
offering, mingled with oil, and dry, shall all the sons of Aaron
|
|
have, one <i>as much</i> as another.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.viii-p3">Observe here, 1. Concerning the
|
|
trespass-offering, that, being much of the same nature with the
|
|
sin-offering, it was to be governed by the same rules, <scripRef passage="Le 7:6" id="Lev.viii-p3.1" parsed="|Lev|7|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. When the blood and fat
|
|
were offered to God to make atonement, the priests were to eat the
|
|
flesh, as that of the sin-offering, in the holy place. The Jews
|
|
have a tradition (as we have it from the learned bishop Patrick)
|
|
concerning the sprinkling of the blood of the trespass-offering
|
|
<i>round about upon the altar,</i> "That there was a scarlet line
|
|
which went round about the altar exactly in the middle, and the
|
|
blood of the burnt-offerings was sprinkled round about above the
|
|
line, but that of the trespass-offerings and peace-offerings round
|
|
about below the line." As to the flesh of the trespass-offering,
|
|
the right to it belonged to the priest that offered it, <scripRef passage="Le 7:7" id="Lev.viii-p3.2" parsed="|Lev|7|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. He that did the work must
|
|
have the wages. This was an encouragement to the priests to give
|
|
diligent attendance on the altar; the more ready and busy they were
|
|
the more they got. Note, The more diligent we are in the services
|
|
of religion the more we shall reap of the advantages of it. But any
|
|
of the priests, and the males of their families, might be invited
|
|
by him to whom it belonged to partake with him: <i>Every male among
|
|
the priests shall eat thereof,</i> that is, may eat thereof, <i>in
|
|
the holy place,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 7:6" id="Lev.viii-p3.3" parsed="|Lev|7|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.6"><i>v.</i>
|
|
6</scripRef>. And, no doubt, it was the usage to treat one another
|
|
with those perquisites of their office, by which friendship and
|
|
fellowship were kept up among the priests. Freely they had
|
|
received, and must freely give. It seems the offerer was not
|
|
himself to have any share of his trespass-offering, as he was to
|
|
have of his peace-offering; but it was all divided between the
|
|
altar and the priest. They offered peace-offerings in thankfulness
|
|
for mercy, and then it was proper to feast; but they offered
|
|
trespass-offerings in sorrow for sin, and then fasting was more
|
|
proper, in token of holy mourning, and a resolution to abstain from
|
|
sin. 2. Concerning the burnt-offering it is here appointed that the
|
|
priest that offered it should have the skin (<scripRef passage="Le 7:8" id="Lev.viii-p3.4" parsed="|Lev|7|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>), which no doubt he might make
|
|
money of. "This" (the Jews say) "is meant only for the
|
|
burnt-offerings which were offered by particular persons; for the
|
|
profit of the skins of the daily burnt-offerings for the
|
|
congregation went to the repair of the sanctuary." Some suggest
|
|
that this appointment will help us to understand God's clothing our
|
|
first parents with <i>coats of skins,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 3:21" id="Lev.viii-p3.5" parsed="|Gen|3|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.21">Gen. iii. 21</scripRef>. It is probable that the beasts
|
|
whose skins they were were offered in sacrifice as whole
|
|
burnt-offerings, and that Adam was the priest that offered them;
|
|
and then God gave him the skins, as his fee, to make clothes of for
|
|
himself and his wife, in remembrance of which the skins ever after
|
|
pertained to the priest; and see <scripRef passage="Ge 27:16" id="Lev.viii-p3.6" parsed="|Gen|27|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.16">Gen.
|
|
xxvii. 16</scripRef>. 3. Concerning the meat-offering, if it was
|
|
dressed, it was fit to be eaten immediately; and therefore the
|
|
priest that offered it was to have it, <scripRef passage="Le 7:9" id="Lev.viii-p3.7" parsed="|Lev|7|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. If it was dry, there was not so
|
|
much occasion for being in haste to use it; and therefore an equal
|
|
dividend of it must be made among all the priests that were then in
|
|
waiting, <scripRef passage="Le 7:10" id="Lev.viii-p3.8" parsed="|Lev|7|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 7" id="Lev.viii-p3.9" parsed="|Lev|7|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 7:11-34" id="Lev.viii-p3.10" parsed="|Lev|7|11|7|34" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.11-Lev.7.34"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.7.11-Lev.7.34">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.viii-p3.11">Law of the Peace-Offering. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.viii-p3.12">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.viii-p4">11 And this <i>is</i> the law of the sacrifice
|
|
of peace offerings, which he shall offer unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.viii-p4.1">Lord</span>.   12 If he offer it for a
|
|
thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of
|
|
thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened
|
|
wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil, of fine
|
|
flour, fried.   13 Besides the cakes, he shall offer
|
|
<i>for</i> his offering leavened bread with the sacrifice of
|
|
thanksgiving of his peace offerings.   14 And of it he shall
|
|
offer one out of the whole oblation <i>for</i> an heave offering
|
|
unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.viii-p4.2">Lord</span>, <i>and</i> it shall
|
|
be the priest's that sprinkleth the blood of the peace offerings.
|
|
  15 And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for
|
|
thanksgiving shall be eaten the same day that it is offered; he
|
|
shall not leave any of it until the morning.   16 But if the
|
|
sacrifice of his offering <i>be</i> a vow, or a voluntary offering,
|
|
it shall be eaten the same day that he offereth his sacrifice: and
|
|
on the morrow also the remainder of it shall be eaten:   17
|
|
But the remainder of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day
|
|
shall be burnt with fire.   18 And if <i>any</i> of the flesh
|
|
of the sacrifice of his peace offerings be eaten at all on the
|
|
third day, it shall not be accepted, neither shall it be imputed
|
|
unto him that offereth it: it shall be an abomination, and the soul
|
|
that eateth of it shall bear his iniquity.   19 And the flesh
|
|
that toucheth any unclean <i>thing</i> shall not be eaten; it shall
|
|
be burnt with fire: and as for the flesh, all that be clean shall
|
|
eat thereof.   20 But the soul that eateth <i>of</i> the flesh
|
|
of the sacrifice of peace offerings, that <i>pertain</i> unto the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.viii-p4.3">Lord</span>, having his uncleanness upon
|
|
him, even that soul shall be cut off from his people.   21
|
|
Moreover the soul that shall touch any unclean <i>thing, as</i> the
|
|
uncleanness of man, or <i>any</i> unclean beast, or any abominable
|
|
unclean <i>thing,</i> and eat of the flesh of the sacrifice of
|
|
peace offerings, which <i>pertain</i> unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.viii-p4.4">Lord</span>, even that soul shall be cut off from his
|
|
people.   22 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.viii-p4.5">Lord</span> spake
|
|
unto Moses, saying,   23 Speak unto the children of Israel,
|
|
saying, Ye shall eat no manner of fat, of ox, or of sheep, or of
|
|
goat.   24 And the fat of the beast that dieth of itself, and
|
|
the fat of that which is torn with beasts, may be used in any other
|
|
use: but ye shall in no wise eat of it.   25 For whosoever
|
|
eateth the fat of the beast, of which men offer an offering made by
|
|
fire unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.viii-p4.6">Lord</span>, even the soul
|
|
that eateth <i>it</i> shall be cut off from his people.   26
|
|
Moreover ye shall eat no manner of blood, <i>whether it be</i> of
|
|
fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings.   27 Whatsoever
|
|
soul <i>it be</i> that eateth any manner of blood, even that soul
|
|
shall be cut off from his people.   28 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.viii-p4.7">Lord</span> spake unto Moses, saying,   29 Speak
|
|
unto the children of Israel, saying, He that offereth the sacrifice
|
|
of his peace offerings unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.viii-p4.8">Lord</span>
|
|
shall bring his oblation unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.viii-p4.9">Lord</span> of the sacrifice of his peace offerings.
|
|
  30 His own hands shall bring the offerings of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.viii-p4.10">Lord</span> made by fire, the fat with the
|
|
breast, it shall he bring, that the breast may be waved <i>for</i>
|
|
a wave offering before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.viii-p4.11">Lord</span>.
|
|
  31 And the priest shall burn the fat upon the altar: but the
|
|
breast shall be Aaron's and his sons'.   32 And the right
|
|
shoulder shall ye give unto the priest <i>for</i> an heave offering
|
|
of the sacrifices of your peace offerings.   33 He among the
|
|
sons of Aaron, that offereth the blood of the peace offerings, and
|
|
the fat, shall have the right shoulder for <i>his</i> part.  
|
|
34 For the wave breast and the heave shoulder have I taken of the
|
|
children of Israel from off the sacrifices of their peace
|
|
offerings, and have given them unto Aaron the priest and unto his
|
|
sons by a statute for ever from among the children of Israel.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.viii-p5">All this relates to the peace-offerings: it
|
|
is the repetition and explication of what we had before, with
|
|
various additions.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.viii-p6">I. The nature and intention of the
|
|
peace-offerings are here more distinctly opened. They were offered
|
|
either, 1. In thankfulness for some special mercy received, such as
|
|
recovery from sickness, preservation in a journey, deliverance at
|
|
sea, redemption out of captivity, all which are specified in
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 107:1-43" id="Lev.viii-p6.1" parsed="|Ps|107|1|107|43" osisRef="Bible:Ps.107.1-Ps.107.43">Ps. cvii.</scripRef>, and for them
|
|
men are called upon to offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 7:22" id="Lev.viii-p6.2" parsed="|Lev|7|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>. Or, 2. In
|
|
performance of some vow which a man made when he was in distress
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 7:16" id="Lev.viii-p6.3" parsed="|Lev|7|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>), and this was
|
|
less honourable than the former, though the omission of it would
|
|
have been more culpable. Or, 3. In supplication for some special
|
|
mercy which a man was in the pursuit and expectation of, here
|
|
called a <i>voluntary offering.</i> This accompanied a man's
|
|
prayers, as the former did his praises. We do not find that men
|
|
were bound by the law, unless they had bound themselves by vow, to
|
|
offer these peace-offerings upon such occasions, as they were to
|
|
bring their sacrifices of atonement in case of sin committed. Not
|
|
but that prayer and praise are as much our duty as repentance is;
|
|
but here, in the expressions of their sense of mercy, God left them
|
|
more to their liberty than in the expressions of their sense of
|
|
sin—to try the generosity of their devotion, and that their
|
|
sacrifices, being free-will offerings, might be the more laudable
|
|
and acceptable; and, by obliging them to bring the sacrifices of
|
|
atonement, God would show the necessity of the great
|
|
propitiation.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.viii-p7">II. The rites and ceremonies about the
|
|
peace-offerings are enlarged upon.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.viii-p8">1. If the peace-offering was offered for a
|
|
thanksgiving, a meat-offering must be offered with it, cakes of
|
|
several sorts, and wafers (<scripRef passage="Le 7:12" id="Lev.viii-p8.1" parsed="|Lev|7|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.12"><i>v.</i>
|
|
12</scripRef>), and (which was peculiar to the peace-offerings)
|
|
leavened bread must be offered, not to be burnt upon the altar,
|
|
that was forbidden (<scripRef passage="Le 2:11" id="Lev.viii-p8.2" parsed="|Lev|2|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.2.11"><i>ch.</i> ii.
|
|
11</scripRef>), but to be eaten with the flesh of the sacrifice,
|
|
that nothing might be wanting to make it a complete and pleasant
|
|
feast; for unleavened bread was less grateful to the taste, and
|
|
therefore, though enjoined in the passover for a particular reason,
|
|
yet in other festivals leavened bread, which was lighter and more
|
|
pleasant, was appointed, that men might feast at God's table as
|
|
well as at their own. And some think that a meat-offering is
|
|
required to be brought with every peace-offering, as well as with
|
|
that of thanksgiving, by that law (<scripRef passage="Le 7:29" id="Lev.viii-p8.3" parsed="|Lev|7|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>) which requires an oblation with
|
|
it, that the table might be as well furnished as the altar.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.viii-p9">2. The flesh of the peace-offerings, both
|
|
that which was the priest's share and that which was the offerer's
|
|
must be eaten quickly, and not kept long, either raw, or dressed,
|
|
cold. If it was a peace-offering for thanksgiving, it must be all
|
|
eaten the same day (<scripRef passage="Le 7:16" id="Lev.viii-p9.1" parsed="|Lev|7|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.16"><i>v.</i>
|
|
16</scripRef>); if a vow, or voluntary offering, it must be eaten
|
|
either the same day or the day after, <scripRef passage="Le 7:16" id="Lev.viii-p9.2" parsed="|Lev|7|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. If any was left beyond the time
|
|
limited, it was to be burnt (<scripRef passage="Le 7:17" id="Lev.viii-p9.3" parsed="|Lev|7|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.17"><i>v.</i>
|
|
17</scripRef>); and, if any person ate of what was so left their
|
|
conduct should be animadverted upon as a very high misdemeanour,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 7:18" id="Lev.viii-p9.4" parsed="|Lev|7|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. Though they
|
|
were not obliged to eat it in the holy place, as those offerings
|
|
that are called most holy, but might take it to their own tents and
|
|
feast upon it there, yet God would by this law make them to know a
|
|
difference between that and other meat, and religiously to observe
|
|
it, that whereas they might keep other meat cold in the house as
|
|
long as they thought fit, and warm it again if they pleased, and
|
|
eat it three or four days after, they might not do so with the
|
|
flesh of their peace-offerings, but it must be eaten immediately.
|
|
(1.) Because God would not have that holy flesh to be in danger of
|
|
putrefying, or being fly-blown, to prevent which it must be salted
|
|
with <i>fire</i> (as the expression is, <scripRef passage="Mk 9:49" id="Lev.viii-p9.5" parsed="|Mark|9|49|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mark.9.49">Mark ix. 49</scripRef>) if it were kept; as, if it was
|
|
used, it must be salted with salt. (2.) Because God would not have
|
|
his people to be niggardly and sparing, and distrustful of
|
|
providence, but cheerfully to enjoy what God gives them (<scripRef passage="Ec 8:15" id="Lev.viii-p9.6" parsed="|Eccl|8|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.8.15">Eccl. viii. 15</scripRef>), and to do good with
|
|
it, and not to be anxiously solicitous for the morrow. (3.) The
|
|
flesh of the peace-offerings was God's treat, and therefore God
|
|
would have the disposal of it; and he orders it to be used
|
|
generously for the entertainment of their friends, and charitably
|
|
for the relief of the poor, to show that he is a bountiful
|
|
benefactor, <i>giving us all things richly to enjoy,</i> the bread
|
|
of the day in its day. If the sacrifice was thanksgiving, they were
|
|
especially obliged thus to testify their holy joy in God's goodness
|
|
by their holy feasting. This law is made very strict (<scripRef passage="Le 7:18" id="Lev.viii-p9.7" parsed="|Lev|7|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>), that if the offerer did
|
|
not take care to have all his offering eaten by himself or his
|
|
family, his friends or the poor, within the time limited by the
|
|
law, or, in the event of any part being left, to burn it (which was
|
|
the most decent way of disposing of it, the sacrifices upon the
|
|
altar being <i>consumed by fire</i>), then his offering should not
|
|
be accepted, nor imputed to him. Note, All the benefit of our
|
|
religious services is lost if we do not improve them, and conduct
|
|
ourselves aright afterwards. They are not acceptable to God if they
|
|
have not a due influence upon ourselves. If a man seemed generous
|
|
in bringing a peace-offering, and yet afterwards proved sneaking
|
|
and paltry in the using of it, it was as if he had never brought
|
|
it; nay, <i>it shall be an abomination.</i> Note, There is no mean
|
|
between God's acceptance and his abhorrence. If our persons and
|
|
performances are sincere and upright, they are accepted; if not,
|
|
they are an abomination, <scripRef passage="Pr 15:8" id="Lev.viii-p9.8" parsed="|Prov|15|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.15.8">Prov. xv.
|
|
8</scripRef>. He that eats it after the time appointed shall
|
|
<i>bear his iniquity,</i> that is, he shall be <i>cut off from his
|
|
people,</i> as it is explained (<scripRef passage="Le 19:8" id="Lev.viii-p9.9" parsed="|Lev|19|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.8"><i>ch.</i> xix. 8</scripRef>), where this law is
|
|
repeated. This law of eating the peace-offerings before the third
|
|
day, that they might not putrefy, is applicable tot the
|
|
resurrection of Christ after two days, that, being God's <i>holy
|
|
one,</i> he might not see corruption, <scripRef passage="Ps 16:10" id="Lev.viii-p9.10" parsed="|Ps|16|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.16.10">Ps. xvi. 10</scripRef>. And some think that it instructs
|
|
us speedily, and without delay, to partake of Christ and his grace,
|
|
feeding and feasting thereon by faith to-day, <i>while it is called
|
|
to-day</i> (<scripRef passage="Heb 3:13,14" id="Lev.viii-p9.11" parsed="|Heb|3|13|3|14" osisRef="Bible:Heb.3.13-Heb.3.14">Heb. iii. 13,
|
|
14</scripRef>), for it will be too late shortly.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.viii-p10">3. But the flesh, and those that eat it,
|
|
must be pure. (1.) The flesh must <i>touch no unclean thing;</i> if
|
|
it did, it must not be eaten, but burnt, <scripRef passage="Le 7:19" id="Lev.viii-p10.1" parsed="|Lev|7|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. If, in carrying it from the
|
|
altar to the place where it was eaten, a dog touched it, or it
|
|
touched a dead body or any other unclean thing, it was then unfit
|
|
to be used in a religious feast. Every thing we honour the holy God
|
|
with must be pure and carefully kept from all pollution. It is a
|
|
case adjudged (<scripRef passage="Hag 2:12" id="Lev.viii-p10.2" parsed="|Hag|2|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hag.2.12">Hag. ii. 12</scripRef>)
|
|
that the holy flesh could not by its touch communicate holiness to
|
|
what was common; but by this law it is determined that by the touch
|
|
of that which was unclean it received pollution from it, which
|
|
intimates that the infection of sin is more easily and more
|
|
frequently communicated than the savour of grace. (2.) It must not
|
|
be eaten by any unclean person. When a person was upon any account
|
|
ceremonially unclean it was at his peril if he presumed to eat of
|
|
the flesh of the peace-offerings, <scripRef passage="Le 7:20,21" id="Lev.viii-p10.3" parsed="|Lev|7|20|7|21" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.20-Lev.7.21"><i>v.</i> 20, 21</scripRef>. Holy things are only for
|
|
holy persons; the holiness of the food being ceremonial, those were
|
|
incapacitated to partake of it who lay under any ceremonial
|
|
uncleanness; but we are hereby taught to preserve ourselves pure
|
|
from all the pollutions of sin, that we may have the benefit and
|
|
comfort of Christ's sacrifice, <scripRef passage="1Pe 2:1,2" id="Lev.viii-p10.4" parsed="|1Pet|2|1|2|2" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.2.1-1Pet.2.2">1 Pet.
|
|
ii. 1, 2</scripRef>. Our consciences must be purged from dead
|
|
works, that we may be fit to <i>serve the living God,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 9:14" id="Lev.viii-p10.5" parsed="|Heb|9|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.9.14">Heb. ix. 14</scripRef>. But if any dare to
|
|
partake of the table of the Lord under the pollution of sin
|
|
unrepented of, and so profane sacred things, they eat and drink
|
|
<i>judgment to themselves,</i> as those did that ate of the
|
|
peace-offerings (<scripRef passage="Le 7:20" id="Lev.viii-p10.6" parsed="|Lev|7|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.20"><i>v.</i>
|
|
20</scripRef>) and again (<scripRef passage="Le 7:21" id="Lev.viii-p10.7" parsed="|Lev|7|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.21"><i>v.</i>
|
|
21</scripRef>), that they <i>pertain unto the Lord:</i> whatever
|
|
pertains to the Lord is sacred, and must be used with great
|
|
reverence and not with unhallowed hands. "<i>Be you holy,</i> for
|
|
God is holy, and you pertain to him."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.viii-p11">4. The eating of blood and the fat of the
|
|
inwards is here again prohibited; and the prohibition is annexed as
|
|
before to the law of the peace-offerings, <scripRef passage="Le 3:17" id="Lev.viii-p11.1" parsed="|Lev|3|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.3.17"><i>ch.</i> iii. 17</scripRef>. (1.) The prohibition of
|
|
the fat seems to be confined to those beasts which were used for
|
|
sacrifice, the bullocks, sheep, and goats: but of the roe-buck, the
|
|
hart, and other clean beasts, they might eat the fat; for those
|
|
only of which offerings were brought are mentioned here, <scripRef passage="Le 7:23-25" id="Lev.viii-p11.2" parsed="|Lev|7|23|7|25" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.23-Lev.7.25"><i>v.</i> 23-25</scripRef>. This was to
|
|
preserve in their minds a reverence for God's altar, on which the
|
|
fat of the inwards was burnt. The Jews say, "If a man eat so much
|
|
as an olive of forbidden fat—if he do it presumptuously, he is in
|
|
danger of being cut off by the hand of God—if ignorantly, he is to
|
|
bring a sin-offering, and so to pay dearly for his carelessness."
|
|
To eat of the flesh of that which died of itself, or was torn of
|
|
beasts, was unlawful; but to eat of the fat of such was doubly
|
|
unlawful, <scripRef passage="Le 7:24" id="Lev.viii-p11.3" parsed="|Lev|7|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. (2.)
|
|
The prohibition of blood is more general (<scripRef passage="Le 7:26,27" id="Lev.viii-p11.4" parsed="|Lev|7|26|7|27" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.26-Lev.7.27"><i>v.</i> 26, 27</scripRef>), because the fat was
|
|
offered to God only by way of acknowledgment, but the blood <i>made
|
|
atonement for the soul,</i> and so typified Christ's sacrifice much
|
|
more than the burning of the fat did; to this therefore a greater
|
|
reverence must be paid, till these types had their accomplishment
|
|
in the offering up of the body of Christ once for all. The Jews
|
|
rightly expound this law as forbidding only the <i>blood of the
|
|
life,</i> as they express it, not that which we call the
|
|
<i>gravy,</i> for of that they supposed it was lawful to eat.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.viii-p12">5. The priest's share of the
|
|
peace-offerings is here prescribed. Out of every beast that was
|
|
offered for a peace-offering the priest that offered it was to have
|
|
to himself the breast and the right shoulder, <scripRef passage="Le 7:30-34" id="Lev.viii-p12.1" parsed="|Lev|7|30|7|34" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.30-Lev.7.34"><i>v.</i> 30-34</scripRef>. Observe here, (1.) That
|
|
when the sacrifice was killed the offerer himself must, with his
|
|
own hands, present God's part of it, that he might signify thereby
|
|
his cheerfully giving it up to God, and his desire that it might be
|
|
accepted. He was with his own hands to <i>lift it up,</i> in token
|
|
of his regard to God as the God of heaven, and then to <i>wave it
|
|
to and fro,</i> in token of his regard to God as the Lord of the
|
|
whole earth, to whom thus, as far as he could reach, he offered it,
|
|
showing his readiness and wish to do him honour. Now that which was
|
|
thus heaved and waved was the fat, and the breast, and the right
|
|
shoulder, it was all offered to God; and then he ordered the fat to
|
|
his altar, and the breast and shoulder to his priest, both being
|
|
his receivers. (2.) That when the fat was burnt the priest took his
|
|
part, on which he and his family were to feast, as well as the
|
|
offerer and his family. In holy joy and thanksgiving, it is good to
|
|
have our ministers to go before us, and to be our mouth to God. The
|
|
melody is sweet when he that sows and those that reap rejoice
|
|
together. Some observe a significancy in the parts assigned to the
|
|
priests: the breast and the shoulder intimate the affections and
|
|
the actions, which must be devoted to the honour of God by all his
|
|
people and to the service also of the church by all his priests.
|
|
Christ, our great peace-offering, feasts all his spiritual priests
|
|
with the breast and shoulder, with the dearest love and the
|
|
sweetest and strongest supports; for his is the wisdom of God and
|
|
the power of God. When Saul was designed for a king Samuel ordered
|
|
the shoulder of the peace-offering to be set before him (<scripRef passage="1Sa 9:24" id="Lev.viii-p12.2" parsed="|1Sam|9|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.9.24">1 Sam. ix. 24</scripRef>), which gave him a hint
|
|
of something great and sacred intended for him. Jesus Christ is our
|
|
great peace-offering; for he made himself a sacrifice, not only to
|
|
atone for sin, and so to save us from the curse, but to purchase a
|
|
blessing for us, and all good. By our joyfully partaking of the
|
|
benefits of redemption we <i>feast upon the sacrifice,</i> to
|
|
signify which the Lord's supper was instituted.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 7:35-38" id="Lev.viii-p12.3" parsed="|Lev|7|35|7|38" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.35-Lev.7.38"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.7.35-Lev.7.38">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.viii-p13">35 This <i>is the portion</i> of the anointing
|
|
of Aaron, and of the anointing of his sons, out of the offerings of
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.viii-p13.1">Lord</span> made by fire, in the day
|
|
<i>when</i> he presented them to minister unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.viii-p13.2">Lord</span> in the priest's office; 36 Which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.viii-p13.3">Lord</span> commanded to be given them of the
|
|
children of Israel, in the day that he anointed them, <i>by</i> a
|
|
statute for ever throughout their generations. 37 This <i>is</i>
|
|
the law of the burnt offering, of the meat offering, and of the sin
|
|
offering, and of the trespass offering, and of the consecrations,
|
|
and of the sacrifice of the peace offerings; 38 Which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.viii-p13.4">Lord</span> commanded Moses in Mount Sinai, in
|
|
the day that he commanded the children of Israel to offer their
|
|
oblations unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.viii-p13.5">Lord</span>, in the
|
|
wilderness of Sinai.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.viii-p14">Here is the conclusion of these laws
|
|
concerning the sacrifices, though some of them are afterwards
|
|
repeated and explained. These are to be considered, 1. As a grant to
|
|
the priests, <scripRef passage="Le 7:35,36" id="Lev.viii-p14.1" parsed="|Lev|7|35|7|36" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.35-Lev.7.36"><i>v.</i> 35,
|
|
36</scripRef>. In the day they were ordained to that work and
|
|
office this provision was made for their comfortable maintenance.
|
|
Note, God will take care that those who are employed for him be
|
|
well paid and well provided for. Those that receive the anointing
|
|
of the Spirit to minister unto the Lord shall have their portion,
|
|
and it shall be a worthy portion, out of the offerings of the Lord;
|
|
for God's work is its own wages, and there is a present reward of
|
|
obedience in obedience. 2. As a statute for ever to the people,
|
|
that they should bring these offerings according to the rules
|
|
prescribed, and cheerfully give the priests their share out of
|
|
them. God <i>commanded the children of Israel to offer their
|
|
oblations,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 7:38" id="Lev.viii-p14.2" parsed="|Lev|7|38|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.38"><i>v.</i> 38</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, The solemn acts religious worship are commanded. They are not
|
|
things that we are left to our liberty in, and which we may do or
|
|
not do at our pleasure; but we are under indispensable obligations
|
|
to perform them in their season, and it is at our peril if we omit
|
|
them. The observance of the laws of Christ cannot be less necessary
|
|
than the observance of the laws of Moses was.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter VIII" n="ix" progress="53.52%" prev="Lev.viii" next="Lev.x" id="Lev.ix">
|
|
<h2 id="Lev.ix-p0.1">L E V I T I C U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Lev.ix-p0.2">CHAP. VIII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Lev.ix-p1">This chapter gives us an account of the solemn
|
|
consecration of Aaron and his sons to the priest's office. I. It
|
|
was done publicly, and the congregation was called together to be
|
|
witnesses of it, <scripRef passage="Le 8:1-4" id="Lev.ix-p1.1" parsed="|Lev|8|1|8|4" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8.1-Lev.8.4">ver. 1-4</scripRef>.
|
|
II. It was done exactly according to God's appointment, <scripRef passage="Le 8:5" id="Lev.ix-p1.2" parsed="|Lev|8|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8.5">ver. 5</scripRef>. 1. They were washed and
|
|
dressed, <scripRef passage="Le 8:6-9,13" id="Lev.ix-p1.3" parsed="|Lev|8|6|8|9;|Lev|8|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8.6-Lev.8.9 Bible:Lev.8.13">ver. 6-9, 13</scripRef>.
|
|
2. The tabernacle and the utensils of it were anointed, and then
|
|
the priests, <scripRef passage="Le 8:10-12" id="Lev.ix-p1.4" parsed="|Lev|8|10|8|12" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8.10-Lev.8.12">ver. 10-12</scripRef>.
|
|
3. A sin-offering was offered for them, <scripRef passage="Le 8:14-17" id="Lev.ix-p1.5" parsed="|Lev|8|14|8|17" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8.14-Lev.8.17">ver. 14-17</scripRef>. 4. A burnt-offering, <scripRef passage="Le 8:18-21" id="Lev.ix-p1.6" parsed="|Lev|8|18|8|21" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8.18-Lev.8.21">ver. 18-21</scripRef>. 5. The ram of
|
|
consecration, <scripRef passage="Le 8:22-30" id="Lev.ix-p1.7" parsed="|Lev|8|22|8|30" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8.22-Lev.8.30">ver. 22-30</scripRef>.
|
|
6. The continuance of this solemnity for seven days, <scripRef passage="Le 8:31-36" id="Lev.ix-p1.8" parsed="|Lev|8|31|8|36" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8.31-Lev.8.36">ver. 31</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 8" id="Lev.ix-p1.9" parsed="|Lev|8|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 8:1-13" id="Lev.ix-p1.10" parsed="|Lev|8|1|8|13" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8.1-Lev.8.13"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.8.1-Lev.8.13">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.ix-p1.11">Consecration of Aaron and His
|
|
Sons. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.ix-p1.12">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.ix-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.ix-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   2 Take Aaron and his sons with
|
|
him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and a bullock for the
|
|
sin offering, and two rams, and a basket of unleavened bread;
|
|
  3 And gather thou all the congregation together unto the
|
|
door of the tabernacle of the congregation.   4 And Moses did
|
|
as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.ix-p2.2">Lord</span> commanded him; and the
|
|
assembly was gathered together unto the door of the tabernacle of
|
|
the congregation.   5 And Moses said unto the congregation,
|
|
This <i>is</i> the thing which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.ix-p2.3">Lord</span> commanded to be done.   6 And Moses
|
|
brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water.   7
|
|
And he put upon him the coat, and girded him with the girdle, and
|
|
clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod upon him, and he
|
|
girded him with the curious girdle of the ephod, and bound
|
|
<i>it</i> unto him therewith.   8 And he put the breastplate
|
|
upon him: also he put in the breastplate the Urim and the Thummim.
|
|
  9 And he put the mitre upon his head; also upon the mitre,
|
|
<i>even</i> upon his forefront, did he put the golden plate, the
|
|
holy crown; as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.ix-p2.4">Lord</span> commanded
|
|
Moses.   10 And Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the
|
|
tabernacle and all that <i>was</i> therein, and sanctified them.
|
|
  11 And he sprinkled thereof upon the altar seven times, and
|
|
anointed the altar and all his vessels, both the laver and his
|
|
foot, to sanctify them.   12 And he poured of the anointing
|
|
oil upon Aaron's head, and anointed him, to sanctify him.   13
|
|
And Moses brought Aaron's sons, and put coats upon them, and girded
|
|
them with girdles, and put bonnets upon them; as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.ix-p2.5">Lord</span> commanded Moses.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.ix-p3">God had given Moses orders to consecrate
|
|
Aaron and his sons to the priests' office, when he was with him the
|
|
first time upon Mount Sinai, <scripRef passage="Ex 28:1-29:46" id="Lev.ix-p3.1" parsed="|Exod|28|1|29|46" osisRef="Bible:Exod.28.1-Exod.29.46">Exod. xxviii. and xxix.</scripRef>, where we have
|
|
also the particular instructions he had how to do it. Now here we
|
|
have,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.ix-p4">I. The orders repeated. What was there
|
|
commanded to be done is here commanded to be done <i>now,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 8:2,3" id="Lev.ix-p4.1" parsed="|Lev|8|2|8|3" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8.2-Lev.8.3"><i>v.</i> 2, 3</scripRef>. The
|
|
tabernacle was newly set up, which, without the priests, would be
|
|
as a candlestick without a candle; the law concerning sacrifices
|
|
was newly given, but could not be observed without priests; for,
|
|
though Aaron and his sons had been nominated to the office, they
|
|
could not officiate, till they were consecrated, which yet must not
|
|
be done till the place of their ministration was prepared, and the
|
|
ordinances were instituted, that they might apply themselves to
|
|
work as soon as ever they were consecrated, and might know that
|
|
they were ordained, not only to the honour and profit, but to the
|
|
business of the priesthood. Aaron and his sons were near relations
|
|
to Moses, and therefore he would not consecrate them till he had
|
|
further orders, lest he should seem too forward to bring honour
|
|
into his family.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.ix-p5">II. The congregation called together, <i>at
|
|
the door,</i> that is, in the court <i>of the tabernacle,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 8:4" id="Lev.ix-p5.1" parsed="|Lev|8|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. The elders and
|
|
principal men of the congregation, who represented the body of the
|
|
people, were summoned to attend; for the court would hold but a few
|
|
of the many thousands of Israel. It was done thus publicly, 1.
|
|
Because it was a solemn transaction between God and Israel; the
|
|
priests were to be <i>ordained for men in things pertaining to
|
|
God,</i> for the maintaining of a settled correspondence, and the
|
|
negotiating of all affairs between the people and God; and
|
|
therefore it was fit that both sides should appear, to own the
|
|
appointment, at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. 2. The
|
|
spectators of the solemnity could not but be possessed, by the
|
|
sight of it, with a great veneration for the priests and their
|
|
office, which was necessary among a people so wretchedly prone as
|
|
these were to envy and discontent. It was strange that any of those
|
|
who were witnesses of what was here done should afterwards say, as
|
|
some of them did, <i>You take too much upon you, you sons of
|
|
Levi;</i> but what would they have said if it had been done
|
|
clandestinely? Note, It is very fit, and of good use, that
|
|
ministers should be ordained publicly, <i>plebe praesente—in the
|
|
presence of the common people,</i> according to the usage of the
|
|
primitive church.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.ix-p6">III. The commission read, <scripRef passage="Le 8:5" id="Lev.ix-p6.1" parsed="|Lev|8|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. Moses, who was God's
|
|
representative in this solemnity, produced his orders before the
|
|
congregation: <i>This is the thing which the Lord commanded to be
|
|
done.</i> Though God had crowned him king in Jeshurun, when he made
|
|
his face to shine in the sight of all Israel, yet he did not
|
|
institute or appoint any thing in God's worship but what God
|
|
himself had commanded. The priesthood he delivered to them was that
|
|
which he had received from the Lord. Note, All that minister about
|
|
holy things must have an eye to God's command as their rule and
|
|
warrant; for it is only in the observance of this that they can
|
|
expect to be owned and accepted of God. Thus we must be able to
|
|
say, in all acts of religious worship, <i>This is the thing which
|
|
the Lord commanded to be done.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.ix-p7">IV. The ceremony performed according to the
|
|
divine ritual. 1. Aaron and his sons were <i>washed with water</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 8:6" id="Lev.ix-p7.1" parsed="|Lev|8|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), to signify
|
|
that they ought now to purify themselves from all sinful
|
|
dispositions and inclinations, and ever after to keep themselves
|
|
pure. Christ washes those from their sins in his own blood whom he
|
|
makes to our God kings and priests (<scripRef passage="Re 1:5,6" id="Lev.ix-p7.2" parsed="|Rev|1|5|1|6" osisRef="Bible:Rev.1.5-Rev.1.6">Rev. i. 5, 6</scripRef>); and those that draw near to
|
|
God must be washed in pure water, <scripRef passage="Heb 10:22" id="Lev.ix-p7.3" parsed="|Heb|10|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.10.22">Heb. x. 22</scripRef>. Though they were ever so clean
|
|
before and no filth was to be seen upon them, yet they must be
|
|
washed, to signify their purification from sin, with which their
|
|
souls were polluted, how clean soever their bodies were. 2. They
|
|
were clothed with the holy garments, Aaron with his (<scripRef passage="Le 8:7-9" id="Lev.ix-p7.4" parsed="|Lev|8|7|8|9" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8.7-Lev.8.9"><i>v.</i> 7-9</scripRef>), which typified the
|
|
dignity of Christ our great high priest, and his sons with theirs
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 8:13" id="Lev.ix-p7.5" parsed="|Lev|8|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>), which
|
|
typified the decency of Christians, who are spiritual priests.
|
|
Christ wears the breast-plate of judgment and the holy crown; for
|
|
the church's high priest is her prophet and king. All believers are
|
|
clothed with the robe of righteousness, and girt with the girdle of
|
|
truth, resolution, and close application; and their heads are
|
|
<i>bound,</i> as the word here is, with the bonnet or diadem of
|
|
beauty, the beauty of holiness. 3. The high priest was anointed,
|
|
and, it should seem, the holy things were anointed at the same
|
|
time; some think that they were anointed before, but that the
|
|
anointing of them is mentioned here because Aaron was anointed with
|
|
the same oil with which they were anointed; but the manner of
|
|
relating it here makes it more than probable that it was done at
|
|
the same time, and that the seven days employed in consecrating the
|
|
altar were coincident with the seven days of the priests'
|
|
consecration. The tabernacle, and all its utensils, had some of the
|
|
anointing oil put upon them with Moses's finger (<scripRef passage="Le 8:10" id="Lev.ix-p7.6" parsed="|Lev|8|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>), so had the altar (<scripRef passage="Le 8:11" id="Lev.ix-p7.7" parsed="|Lev|8|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>); these were to sanctify
|
|
the gold and the gift (<scripRef passage="Mt 23:17-19" id="Lev.ix-p7.8" parsed="|Matt|23|17|23|19" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.17-Matt.23.19">Matt. xxiii.
|
|
17-19</scripRef>), and therefore must themselves be thus
|
|
sanctified; but he poured it out more plentifully upon the head of
|
|
Aaron (<scripRef passage="Le 8:12" id="Lev.ix-p7.9" parsed="|Lev|8|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), so
|
|
that it ran down to the <i>skirts of his garments,</i> because his
|
|
unction was to typify the anointing of Christ with the Spirit,
|
|
which was not given by measure to him. Yet all believers also have
|
|
received the anointing, which puts an indelible character upon
|
|
them, <scripRef passage="1Jo 2:27" id="Lev.ix-p7.10" parsed="|1John|2|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.2.27">1 John ii. 27</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 8" id="Lev.ix-p7.11" parsed="|Lev|8|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 8:14-30" id="Lev.ix-p7.12" parsed="|Lev|8|14|8|30" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8.14-Lev.8.30"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.8.14-Lev.8.30">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.ix-p8">14 And he brought the bullock for the sin
|
|
offering: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of
|
|
the bullock for the sin offering.   15 And he slew <i>it;</i>
|
|
and Moses took the blood, and put <i>it</i> upon the horns of the
|
|
altar round about with his finger, and purified the altar, and
|
|
poured the blood at the bottom of the altar, and sanctified it, to
|
|
make reconciliation upon it.   16 And he took all the fat that
|
|
<i>was</i> upon the inwards, and the caul <i>above</i> the liver,
|
|
and the two kidneys, and their fat, and Moses burned <i>it</i> upon
|
|
the altar.   17 But the bullock, and his hide, his flesh, and
|
|
his dung, he burnt with fire without the camp; as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.ix-p8.1">Lord</span> commanded Moses.   18 And he brought
|
|
the ram for the burnt offering: and Aaron and his sons laid their
|
|
hands upon the head of the ram.   19 And he killed <i>it;</i>
|
|
and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about.   20
|
|
And he cut the ram into pieces; and Moses burnt the head, and the
|
|
pieces, and the fat.   21 And he washed the inwards and the
|
|
legs in water; and Moses burnt the whole ram upon the altar: it
|
|
<i>was</i> a burnt sacrifice for a sweet savour, <i>and</i> an
|
|
offering made by fire unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.ix-p8.2">Lord</span>;
|
|
as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.ix-p8.3">Lord</span> commanded Moses.  
|
|
22 And he brought the other ram, the ram of consecration: and Aaron
|
|
and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram.   23
|
|
And he slew <i>it;</i> and Moses took of the blood of it, and put
|
|
<i>it</i> upon the tip of Aaron's right ear, and upon the thumb of
|
|
his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot.   24
|
|
And he brought Aaron's sons, and Moses put of the blood upon the
|
|
tip of their right ear, and upon the thumbs of their right hands,
|
|
and upon the great toes of their right feet: and Moses sprinkled
|
|
the blood upon the altar round about.   25 And he took the
|
|
fat, and the rump, and all the fat that <i>was</i> upon the
|
|
inwards, and the caul <i>above</i> the liver, and the two kidneys,
|
|
and their fat, and the right shoulder:   26 And out of the
|
|
basket of unleavened bread, that <i>was</i> before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.ix-p8.4">Lord</span>, he took one unleavened cake, and a cake of
|
|
oiled bread, and one wafer, and put <i>them</i> on the fat, and
|
|
upon the right shoulder:   27 And he put all upon Aaron's
|
|
hands, and upon his sons' hands, and waved them <i>for</i> a wave
|
|
offering before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.ix-p8.5">Lord</span>.   28
|
|
And Moses took them from off their hands, and burnt <i>them</i> on
|
|
the altar upon the burnt offering: they <i>were</i> consecrations
|
|
for a sweet savour: it <i>is</i> an offering made by fire unto the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.ix-p8.6">Lord</span>.   29 And Moses took the
|
|
breast, and waved it <i>for</i> a wave offering before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.ix-p8.7">Lord</span>: <i>for</i> of the ram of
|
|
consecration it was Moses' part; as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.ix-p8.8">Lord</span> commanded Moses.   30 And Moses took
|
|
of the anointing oil, and of the blood which <i>was</i> upon the
|
|
altar, and sprinkled <i>it</i> upon Aaron, <i>and</i> upon his
|
|
garments, and upon his sons, and upon his sons' garments with him;
|
|
and sanctified Aaron, <i>and</i> his garments, and his sons, and
|
|
his sons' garments with him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.ix-p9">The covenant of priesthood must be made by
|
|
sacrifice, as well as other covenants, <scripRef passage="Ps 50:5" id="Lev.ix-p9.1" parsed="|Ps|50|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.50.5">Ps. l. 5</scripRef>. And thus Christ was consecrated by
|
|
the sacrifice of himself, once for all. Sacrifices of each kind
|
|
must be offered for the priests, that they might with the more
|
|
tenderness and concern offer the gifts and sacrifices of the
|
|
people, with compassion on the ignorant, and on <i>those that were
|
|
out of the way,</i> not insulting over those for whom sacrifices
|
|
were offered, remembering that they themselves had had sacrifices
|
|
offered for them, being <i>compassed with infirmity.</i> 1. A
|
|
bullock, the largest sacrifice, was offered for a sin-offering
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 8:14" id="Lev.ix-p9.2" parsed="|Lev|8|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>), that hereby
|
|
atonement might be made, and they might not bring any of the guilt
|
|
of the sins of their former state into the new character they were
|
|
now to put on. When Isaiah was sent to be a prophet, he was told to
|
|
his comfort, <i>Thy iniquity is taken away,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 6:7" id="Lev.ix-p9.3" parsed="|Isa|6|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.7">Isa. vi. 7</scripRef>. Ministers, that are to declare the
|
|
remission of sins to others, should give diligence to get it made
|
|
sure to themselves in the first place that their own sins are
|
|
pardoned. Those to whom is <i>committed the ministry of
|
|
reconciliation</i> must first be reconciled to God themselves, that
|
|
they may deal for the souls of others as for their own. 2. A ram
|
|
was offered for a burnt-offering, <scripRef passage="Le 8:18-21" id="Lev.ix-p9.4" parsed="|Lev|8|18|8|21" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8.18-Lev.8.21"><i>v.</i> 18-21</scripRef>. By this they gave to God
|
|
the glory of this great honour which was now put upon them, and
|
|
returned him praise for it, as Paul thanked Christ Jesus for
|
|
<i>putting him into the ministry,</i> <scripRef passage="1Ti 1:12" id="Lev.ix-p9.5" parsed="|1Tim|1|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.1.12">1 Tim. i. 12</scripRef>. They also signified the
|
|
devoting of themselves and all their services to the honour of God.
|
|
3. Another ram, called the <i>ram of consecration,</i> was offered
|
|
for a peace-offering, <scripRef passage="Le 8:22" id="Lev.ix-p9.6" parsed="|Lev|8|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8.22"><i>v.</i>
|
|
22</scripRef>, &c. The blood of it was part put on the priests,
|
|
on their ears, thumbs, and toes, and part sprinkled upon the altar;
|
|
and thus he did (as it were) marry them to the altar, upon which
|
|
they must all their days give attendance. All the ceremonies about
|
|
this offering, as those before, were appointed by the express
|
|
command of God; and, if we compare this chapter with <scripRef passage="Ex 29:1-46" id="Lev.ix-p9.7" parsed="|Exod|29|1|29|46" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.1-Exod.29.46">Exod. xxix</scripRef>, we shall find that the
|
|
performance of the solemnity exactly agrees with the precept there,
|
|
and in nothing varies. Here, therefore, as in the account we had of
|
|
the tabernacle and its vessels, it is again and again repeated,
|
|
<i>As the Lord commanded Moses.</i> And thus Christ, when he
|
|
sanctified himself with his own blood, had an eye to his Father's
|
|
will in it. <i>As the Father gave me commandment so I do,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Joh 14:31,Joh 10:18,Joh 6:38" id="Lev.ix-p9.8" parsed="|John|14|31|0|0;|John|10|18|0|0;|John|6|38|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.14.31 Bible:John.10.18 Bible:John.6.38">John xiv. 31; x.
|
|
18; vi. 38</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 8:31-36" id="Lev.ix-p9.9" parsed="|Lev|8|31|8|36" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8.31-Lev.8.36"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.8.31-Lev.8.36">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.ix-p10">31 And Moses said unto Aaron and to his sons,
|
|
Boil the flesh <i>at</i> the door of the tabernacle of the
|
|
congregation: and there eat it with the bread that <i>is</i> in the
|
|
basket of consecrations, as I commanded, saying, Aaron and his sons
|
|
shall eat it.   32 And that which remaineth of the flesh and
|
|
of the bread shall ye burn with fire.   33 And ye shall not go
|
|
out of the door of the tabernacle of the congregation <i>in</i>
|
|
seven days, until the days of your consecration be at an end: for
|
|
seven days shall he consecrate you.   34 As he hath done this
|
|
day, <i>so</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.ix-p10.1">Lord</span> hath
|
|
commanded to do, to make an atonement for you.   35 Therefore
|
|
shall ye abide <i>at</i> the door of the tabernacle of the
|
|
congregation day and night seven days, and keep the charge of the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.ix-p10.2">Lord</span>, that ye die not: for so I am
|
|
commanded.   36 So Aaron and his sons did all things which the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.ix-p10.3">Lord</span> commanded by the hand of
|
|
Moses.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.ix-p11">Moses, having done his part of the
|
|
ceremony, now leaves Aaron and his sons to do theirs.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.ix-p12">I. They must boil the flesh of their
|
|
peace-offering, and eat it in the court of the tabernacle, and what
|
|
remained they must burn with fire, <scripRef passage="Le 8:31,32" id="Lev.ix-p12.1" parsed="|Lev|8|31|8|32" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8.31-Lev.8.32"><i>v.</i> 31, 32</scripRef>. This signified their
|
|
thankful consent to the consecration: when God gave Ezekiel his
|
|
commission, he told him to eat the roll, <scripRef passage="Eze 3:1,2" id="Lev.ix-p12.2" parsed="|Ezek|3|1|3|2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.3.1-Ezek.3.2">Ezek. iii. 1, 2</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.ix-p13">II. They must not stir out of the court of
|
|
the tabernacle for seven days, <scripRef passage="Le 8:33" id="Lev.ix-p13.1" parsed="|Lev|8|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8.33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>. The priesthood being a good
|
|
warfare, they must thus learn to endure hardness, and to
|
|
disentangle themselves from the affairs of this life, <scripRef passage="2Ti 2:3,4" id="Lev.ix-p13.2" parsed="|2Tim|2|3|2|4" osisRef="Bible:2Tim.2.3-2Tim.2.4">2 Tim. ii. 3, 4</scripRef>. Being consecrated
|
|
to their service, they must <i>give themselves wholly to it,</i>
|
|
and <i>attend continually to this very thing.</i> Thus Christ's
|
|
apostles were appointed to <i>wait for the promise of the
|
|
Father,</i> <scripRef passage="Ac 1:4" id="Lev.ix-p13.3" parsed="|Acts|1|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.1.4">Acts i. 4</scripRef>. During
|
|
this time appointed for their consecration, they were daily to
|
|
repeat the same sacrifices which were offered the first day,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 8:34" id="Lev.ix-p13.4" parsed="|Lev|8|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8.34"><i>v.</i> 34</scripRef>. This shows the
|
|
imperfection of the legal sacrifices, which, because they could not
|
|
take away sin, were often repeated (<scripRef passage="Heb 10:1,2" id="Lev.ix-p13.5" parsed="|Heb|10|1|10|2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.10.1-Heb.10.2">Heb. x. 1, 2</scripRef>), but were here repeated seven
|
|
times (a number of perfection), because they typified that <i>one
|
|
offering, which perfected for ever those that were sanctified.</i>
|
|
The work lasted seven days; for it was a kind of creation: and this
|
|
time was appointed in honour of the sabbath, which, probably, was
|
|
the last day of the seven, for which they were to prepare during
|
|
the six days. Thus the time of our life, like the six days, must be
|
|
our preparation for the perfection of our consecration to God in
|
|
the everlasting sabbath: they attended <i>day and night</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 8:35" id="Lev.ix-p13.6" parsed="|Lev|8|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8.35"><i>v.</i> 35</scripRef>), and so
|
|
constant should we be in our meditation on God's law, <scripRef passage="Ps 1:2" id="Lev.ix-p13.7" parsed="|Ps|1|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.1.2">Ps. i. 2</scripRef>. They attended to <i>keep the
|
|
charge of the Lord:</i> we have every one of us a charge to keep,
|
|
an eternal God to glorify, an immortal soul to provide for, needful
|
|
duty to be done, our generation to serve; and it must be our daily
|
|
care to keep this charge, for it is the charge of the Lord our
|
|
Master, who will shortly call us to an account about it, and it is
|
|
at our utmost peril if we neglect it. Keep it <i>that you die
|
|
not;</i> it is death, eternal death, to betray the trust we are
|
|
charged with; by the consideration of this we must be kept in awe.
|
|
<i>Lastly,</i> We are told (<scripRef passage="Le 8:36" id="Lev.ix-p13.8" parsed="|Lev|8|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8.36"><i>v.</i>
|
|
36</scripRef>) that <i>Aaron and his sons did all that was
|
|
commanded.</i> Thus their consecration was completed; and thus they
|
|
set an example before the people of an exact obedience to the laws
|
|
of sacrifices now newly given, and then they could with the better
|
|
grace teach them. Thus the <i>covenant of peace</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 25:12" id="Lev.ix-p13.9" parsed="|Num|25|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.25.12">Num. xxv. 12</scripRef>), <i>of life and
|
|
peace</i> (<scripRef passage="Mal 2:5" id="Lev.ix-p13.10" parsed="|Mal|2|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mal.2.5">Mal. ii. 5</scripRef>), was
|
|
made with Aaron and his sons; but after all the ceremonies that
|
|
were used in their consecration there was one point of ratification
|
|
which was reserved to be the honour and establishment of Christ's
|
|
priesthood, which was this, that they were <i>made priests without
|
|
an oath, but Christ with an oath</i> (<scripRef passage="Hab 7:21" id="Lev.ix-p13.11" parsed="|Hab|7|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hab.7.21">Hab. vii. 21</scripRef>), for neither such priests nor
|
|
their priesthood could continue, but Christ's is a perpetual and
|
|
unchangeable priesthood.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.ix-p14">Gospel ministers are compared to those who
|
|
served at the altar, for they <i>minister about holy things</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="1Co 9:13" id="Lev.ix-p14.1" parsed="|1Cor|9|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.9.13">1 Cor. ix. 13</scripRef>), they are
|
|
God's mouth to the people and the people's to God, the pastors and
|
|
teachers Christ has appointed to continue in the church to the end
|
|
of the world: they seem to be meant in that promise which points at
|
|
gospel times (<scripRef passage="Isa 66:21" id="Lev.ix-p14.2" parsed="|Isa|66|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.66.21">Isa. lvi.
|
|
21</scripRef>), <i>I will take of them for priests and for
|
|
Levites.</i> No man may take this honour to himself, but he who
|
|
upon trial is found to be clothed and anointed by the Spirit of God
|
|
with gifts and graces to qualify him for it, and who with purpose
|
|
of heart devotes himself entirely to the service, and is then by
|
|
the <i>word and prayer</i> (for so every thing is sanctified), and
|
|
the imposition of the hands of those that <i>give themselves to the
|
|
word and prayer,</i> set apart to the office, and recommended to
|
|
Christ as a servant and to the church as a steward and guide. And
|
|
those that are thus solemnly dedicated to God ought not to depart
|
|
from his service, but faithfully to abide in it all their days; and
|
|
those that do so, and continue <i>labouring in the word and
|
|
doctrine,</i> are to be accounted <i>worthy of double honour,</i>
|
|
double to that of the Old-Testament priests.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter IX" n="x" progress="53.90%" prev="Lev.ix" next="Lev.xi" id="Lev.x">
|
|
<h2 id="Lev.x-p0.1">L E V I T I C U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Lev.x-p0.2">CHAP. IX.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Lev.x-p1">Aaron and his sons, having been solemnly
|
|
consecrated to the priesthood, are in this chapter entering upon
|
|
the execution of their office, the very next day after their
|
|
consecration was completed. I. Moses (no doubt by direction from
|
|
God) appoints a meeting between God and his priests, as the
|
|
representatives of his people, ordering them to attend him, and
|
|
assuring them that he would appear to them, <scripRef passage="Le 9:1-7" id="Lev.x-p1.1" parsed="|Lev|9|1|9|7" osisRef="Bible:Lev.9.1-Lev.9.7">ver. 1-7</scripRef>. II. The meeting is held according
|
|
to the appointment. 1. Aaron attends on God by sacrifice, offering
|
|
a sin-offering and burnt-offering for himself (<scripRef passage="Le 9:8-14" id="Lev.x-p1.2" parsed="|Lev|9|8|9|14" osisRef="Bible:Lev.9.8-Lev.9.14">ver. 8-14</scripRef>), and then the offerings for the
|
|
people, whom he blessed in the name of the Lord, <scripRef passage="Le 9:15-22" id="Lev.x-p1.3" parsed="|Lev|9|15|9|22" osisRef="Bible:Lev.9.15-Lev.9.22">ver. 15-22</scripRef>. 2. God signifies his
|
|
acceptance, (1.) Of their persons, by showing them his glory,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 9:23" id="Lev.x-p1.4" parsed="|Lev|9|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.9.23">ver. 23</scripRef>. (2.) Of their
|
|
sacrifices, by consuming them with fire from heaven, <scripRef passage="Le 9:24" id="Lev.x-p1.5" parsed="|Lev|9|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.9.24">ver. 24</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 9" id="Lev.x-p1.6" parsed="|Lev|9|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.9"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 9:1-7" id="Lev.x-p1.7" parsed="|Lev|9|1|9|7" osisRef="Bible:Lev.9.1-Lev.9.7"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.9.1-Lev.9.7">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.x-p1.8">Aaron and His Sons Enter on Their
|
|
Office. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.x-p1.9">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.x-p2">1 And it came to pass on the eighth day,
|
|
<i>that</i> Moses called Aaron and his sons, and the elders of
|
|
Israel;   2 And he said unto Aaron, Take thee a young calf for
|
|
a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering, without blemish,
|
|
and offer <i>them</i> before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.x-p2.1">Lord</span>.   3 And unto the children of Israel
|
|
thou shalt speak, saying, Take ye a kid of the goats for a sin
|
|
offering; and a calf and a lamb, <i>both</i> of the first year,
|
|
without blemish, for a burnt offering;   4 Also a bullock and
|
|
a ram for peace offerings, to sacrifice before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.x-p2.2">Lord</span>; and a meat offering mingled with oil: for
|
|
to day the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.x-p2.3">Lord</span> will appear unto
|
|
you.   5 And they brought <i>that</i> which Moses commanded
|
|
before the tabernacle of the congregation: and all the congregation
|
|
drew near and stood before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.x-p2.4">Lord</span>.
|
|
  6 And Moses said, This <i>is</i> the thing which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.x-p2.5">Lord</span> commanded that ye should do: and the
|
|
glory of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.x-p2.6">Lord</span> shall appear unto
|
|
you.   7 And Moses said unto Aaron, Go unto the altar, and
|
|
offer thy sin offering, and thy burnt offering, and make an
|
|
atonement for thyself, and for the people: and offer the offering
|
|
of the people, and make an atonement for them; as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.x-p2.7">Lord</span> commanded.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.x-p3">Orders are here given for another solemnity
|
|
upon the eighth day; for the newly-ordained priests were set to
|
|
work immediately after the days of their consecration were
|
|
finished, to let them know that they were not ordained to be idle:
|
|
<i>He that desires the office of a bishop desires a good work,</i>
|
|
which must be looked at with desire, more than the honour and
|
|
benefit. The priests had not so much as one day's respite from
|
|
service allowed them, that they might divert themselves, and
|
|
receive the compliments of their friends upon their elevation, but
|
|
were busily employed the very next day; for their consecration was
|
|
the <i>filling of their hands.</i> God's spiritual priests have
|
|
constant work cut out for them, which the duty of every day
|
|
requires; and those that would give up their account with joy must
|
|
redeem time; see <scripRef passage="Eze 43:26,27" id="Lev.x-p3.1" parsed="|Ezek|43|26|43|27" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.43.26-Ezek.43.27">Ezek. xliii. 26,
|
|
27</scripRef>. Now, 1. Moses raises their expectation of a glorious
|
|
appearance of God to them this day (<scripRef passage="Le 9:4" id="Lev.x-p3.2" parsed="|Lev|9|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.9.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>): "<i>To day the Lord will appear
|
|
to you</i> that are the priests." And when all the congregation are
|
|
gathered together, and <i>stand before the Lord,</i> he tells them
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 9:6" id="Lev.x-p3.3" parsed="|Lev|9|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.9.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), <i>The glory
|
|
of the Lord shall appear to you.</i> Though they had reason enough
|
|
to believe God's acceptance of all that they had done according to
|
|
his appointment, upon the general assurance we have that he is the
|
|
<i>rewarder of those that diligently seek him</i> (even if he had
|
|
not given them any sensible token of it), yet that if possible they
|
|
and theirs might be effectually obliged to the service and worship
|
|
of God, and might never turn aside to idols, the glory of God
|
|
appeared to them, and visibly owned what they had done. We are not
|
|
now to expect such appearances; we Christians walk more by faith,
|
|
and less by sight, than they did. But we may be sure that God draws
|
|
nigh to those who draw nigh to him, and that the offerings of faith
|
|
are really acceptable to him, though, the sacrifices being
|
|
spiritual, the tokens of the acceptance are, as it is fit they
|
|
should be, spiritual likewise. To those who are duly consecrated to
|
|
God he will undoubtedly manifest himself. 2. He puts both priests
|
|
and people upon preparing to receive this favour which God designed
|
|
them. <i>Aaron and his sons,</i> and <i>the elders of Israel,</i>
|
|
are all summoned to attend, <scripRef passage="Le 9:1" id="Lev.x-p3.4" parsed="|Lev|9|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.9.1"><i>v.</i>
|
|
1</scripRef>. Note, God will manifest himself in the solemn
|
|
assemblies of his people and ministers; and those that would have
|
|
the benefit and comfort of God's appearances must in them give
|
|
their attendance. (1.) Aaron is ordered to prepare his offerings:
|
|
<i>A young calf for a sin-offering,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 9:2" id="Lev.x-p3.5" parsed="|Lev|9|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.9.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. The Jewish writers suggest that a
|
|
<i>calf</i> was appointed for a sin-offering to remind him of his
|
|
sin in making the golden calf, by which he had rendered himself for
|
|
ever unworthy of the honour of the priesthood, and which he had
|
|
reason to reflect upon with sorrow and shame in all the atonements
|
|
he made. (2.) Aaron must direct the people to get theirs ready.
|
|
Hitherto Moses had told the people what they must do; but now
|
|
Aaron, as high priest over the house of God, must be their teacher,
|
|
<i>in things pertaining to God: Unto the children of Israel thou
|
|
shalt speak,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 9:3" id="Lev.x-p3.6" parsed="|Lev|9|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.9.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>.
|
|
Now that he was to speak from them to God in the sacrifices (the
|
|
language of which he that appointed them very well understood) he
|
|
must speak from God to them in the laws about the sacrifices. Thus
|
|
Moses would engage the people's respect and obedience to him, as
|
|
one that was set <i>over them in the Lord, to admonish them.</i>
|
|
(3.) Aaron must offer his own first, and then the people's,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 9:7" id="Lev.x-p3.7" parsed="|Lev|9|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.9.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. Aaron must now
|
|
<i>go to the altar,</i> Moses having shown him the way to it; and
|
|
there, [1.] He must <i>make an atonement for himself;</i> for the
|
|
high priest, being <i>compassed with infirmity, ought, as for the
|
|
people, so also for himself, to offer for sins</i> (<scripRef passage="Heb 5:2,3" id="Lev.x-p3.8" parsed="|Heb|5|2|5|3" osisRef="Bible:Heb.5.2-Heb.5.3">Heb. v. 2, 3</scripRef>), and for himself
|
|
first; for how can we expect to be accepted in our prayers for
|
|
others, if we ourselves be not reconciled to God? Nor is any
|
|
service pleasing to God till the guilt of sin be removed by our
|
|
interest in the great propitiation. Those that have the care of the
|
|
souls of others are also hereby taught to look to their own in the
|
|
first place; this charity must begin at home, though it must not
|
|
end there. It is the charge to Timothy, to take care to save
|
|
himself first, and then those that heard him, <scripRef passage="1Ti 4:16" id="Lev.x-p3.9" parsed="|1Tim|4|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.4.16">1 Tim. iv. 16</scripRef>. The high priest made atonement
|
|
for himself, as one that was joined with sinners; but we have a
|
|
high priest that was separated from sinners, and needed no
|
|
atonement. When Messiah the prince was cut off as a sacrifice, it
|
|
was not for himself; for he knew no sin. [2.] He must <i>make an
|
|
atonement for the people,</i> by offering their sacrifices. Now
|
|
that he was made a high priest he must lay to heart the concerns of
|
|
the people, and this as their great concern, their reconciliation
|
|
to God, and the putting away of sin which had separated between
|
|
them and God. He must <i>make atonement as the Lord commanded.</i>
|
|
See here the wonderful condescension of the mercy of God, that he
|
|
not only allows an atonement to be made, but commands it; not only
|
|
admits, but requires us to be reconciled to him. No room therefore
|
|
is left to doubt but that the atonement which is commanded will be
|
|
accepted.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 9:8-22" id="Lev.x-p3.10" parsed="|Lev|9|8|9|22" osisRef="Bible:Lev.9.8-Lev.9.22"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.9.8-Lev.9.22">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.x-p4">8 Aaron therefore went unto the altar, and slew
|
|
the calf of the sin offering, which <i>was</i> for himself.  
|
|
9 And the sons of Aaron brought the blood unto him: and he dipped
|
|
his finger in the blood, and put <i>it</i> upon the horns of the
|
|
altar, and poured out the blood at the bottom of the altar:  
|
|
10 But the fat, and the kidneys, and the caul above the liver of
|
|
the sin offering, he burnt upon the altar; as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.x-p4.1">Lord</span> commanded Moses.   11 And the flesh
|
|
and the hide he burnt with fire without the camp.   12 And he
|
|
slew the burnt offering; and Aaron's sons presented unto him the
|
|
blood, which he sprinkled round about upon the altar.   13 And
|
|
they presented the burnt offering unto him, with the pieces
|
|
thereof, and the head: and he burnt <i>them</i> upon the altar.
|
|
  14 And he did wash the inwards and the legs, and burnt
|
|
<i>them</i> upon the burnt offering on the altar.   15 And he
|
|
brought the people's offering, and took the goat, which <i>was</i>
|
|
the sin offering for the people, and slew it, and offered it for
|
|
sin, as the first.   16 And he brought the burnt offering, and
|
|
offered it according to the manner.   17 And he brought the
|
|
meat offering, and took an handful thereof, and burnt <i>it</i>
|
|
upon the altar, beside the burnt sacrifice of the morning.  
|
|
18 He slew also the bullock and the ram <i>for</i> a sacrifice of
|
|
peace offerings, which <i>was</i> for the people: and Aaron's sons
|
|
presented unto him the blood, which he sprinkled upon the altar
|
|
round about,   19 And the fat of the bullock and of the ram,
|
|
the rump, and that which covereth <i>the inwards,</i> and the
|
|
kidneys, and the caul <i>above</i> the liver:   20 And they
|
|
put the fat upon the breasts, and he burnt the fat upon the altar:
|
|
  21 And the breasts and the right shoulder Aaron waved
|
|
<i>for</i> a wave offering before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.x-p4.2">Lord</span>; as Moses commanded.   22 And Aaron
|
|
lifted up his hand toward the people, and blessed them, and came
|
|
down from offering of the sin offering, and the burnt offering, and
|
|
peace offerings.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.x-p5">These being the first offerings that ever
|
|
were offered by the levitical priesthood, according to the
|
|
newly-enacted law of sacrifices, the manner of offering them is
|
|
particularly related, that it might appear how exactly they agreed
|
|
with the institution. 1. Aaron with his own hands <i>slew the
|
|
offering</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 9:8" id="Lev.x-p5.1" parsed="|Lev|9|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.9.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>),
|
|
and did the work of the inferior priests; for, great as he was, he
|
|
must not think any service below him which he could do for the
|
|
honour of God: and, as Moses had shown him how to do this work
|
|
decently and dexterously, so he showed his sons, that they might do
|
|
likewise; for this is the best way of teaching, and thus parents
|
|
should instruct their children by example. Therefore as Moses
|
|
before, so Aaron now offered some of each of the several sorts of
|
|
sacrifices that were appointed, whose rites differed, that they
|
|
might be <i>thoroughly furnished for every good work.</i> 2. He
|
|
offered these <i>besides the burnt-sacrifice of the morning,</i>
|
|
which was every day offered first, <scripRef passage="Le 9:17" id="Lev.x-p5.2" parsed="|Lev|9|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.9.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. Note, Our accustomed devotions
|
|
morning and evening, alone and in our families, must not be omitted
|
|
upon any pretence whatsoever, no, not when extraordinary services
|
|
are to be performed; whatever is added, these must not be
|
|
diminished. 3. It is not clear whether, when it is said that he
|
|
burnt such and such parts of the sacrifices upon the altar
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 9:10-20" id="Lev.x-p5.3" parsed="|Lev|9|10|9|20" osisRef="Bible:Lev.9.10-Lev.9.20"><i>v.</i> 10-20</scripRef>), the
|
|
meaning is that he burnt them immediately with ordinary fire, as
|
|
formerly, or that he laid them upon the altar ready to be burnt
|
|
with the fire from heaven which they expected (<scripRef passage="Le 9:24" id="Lev.x-p5.4" parsed="|Lev|9|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.9.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>), or whether, as bishop Patrick
|
|
thinks, he burnt the offerings for himself with ordinary fire, but
|
|
when they were burnt out he laid the people's sacrifices upon the
|
|
altar, which were kindled and consumed by the fire of the Lord. I
|
|
would rather conjecture, because it is said of all these sacrifices
|
|
that <i>he burnt them</i> (except the burnt-offering for the
|
|
people, of which it is said that he offered it <i>according to the
|
|
manner,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 9:16" id="Lev.x-p5.5" parsed="|Lev|9|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.9.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>,
|
|
which seems to be equivalent), that he did not kindle the fire to
|
|
burn them, but that then the fire from the Lord fastened upon them,
|
|
put out the fire that he had kindled (as we know a greater fire
|
|
puts out a less), and suddenly consumed the remainder, which the
|
|
fire he had kindled would have consumed slowly. 4. When Aaron had
|
|
done all that on his part was to be done about the sacrifices he
|
|
<i>lifted up his hand towards the people, and blessed them,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 9:22" id="Lev.x-p5.6" parsed="|Lev|9|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.9.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>. This was one
|
|
part of the priest's work, in which he was a type of Christ, who
|
|
came into the world to bless us, and when he was parted from his
|
|
disciples, at his ascension, <i>lifted up his hands and blessed
|
|
them,</i> and in them his whole church, of which they were the
|
|
elders and representatives, as the great high priest of our
|
|
profession. Aaron <i>lifted up his hands</i> in blessing them, to
|
|
intimate whence he desired and expected the blessing to come, even
|
|
from heaven, which is God's throne. Aaron could but crave a
|
|
blessing, it is God's prerogative to command it. Aaron, when he had
|
|
blessed, came down; Christ, when he blessed, went up.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 9:23-24" id="Lev.x-p5.7" parsed="|Lev|9|23|9|24" osisRef="Bible:Lev.9.23-Lev.9.24"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.9.23-Lev.9.24">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.x-p6">23 And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle
|
|
of the congregation, and came out, and blessed the people: and the
|
|
glory of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.x-p6.1">Lord</span> appeared unto all
|
|
the people.   24 And there came a fire out from before the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.x-p6.2">Lord</span>, and consumed upon the altar
|
|
the burnt offering and the fat: <i>which</i> when all the people
|
|
saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.x-p7">We are not told what Moses and Aaron went
|
|
into the tabernacle to do, <scripRef passage="Le 9:23" id="Lev.x-p7.1" parsed="|Lev|9|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.9.23"><i>v.</i>
|
|
23</scripRef>. Some of the Jewish writers say, "They went in to
|
|
pray for the appearance of the divine glory;" most probably they
|
|
went in that Moses might instruct Aaron how to do the service that
|
|
was to be done there—burn incense, light the lamps, set the
|
|
show-bread, &c., that he might instruct his sons in it. But,
|
|
when they came out, they both joined in blessing the people, who
|
|
stood expecting the promised appearance of the divine glory; and it
|
|
was now (when Moses and Aaron concurred in praying) that they had
|
|
what they waited for. Note, God's manifestations of himself, of his
|
|
glory and grace, are commonly given in answer to prayer. When
|
|
Christ was praying the <i>heavens were opened,</i> <scripRef passage="Lu 3:21" id="Lev.x-p7.2" parsed="|Luke|3|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.3.21">Luke iii. 21</scripRef>. The glory of God
|
|
appeared, not while the sacrifices were in offering, but when the
|
|
priests prayed (as <scripRef passage="2Ch 5:13" id="Lev.x-p7.3" parsed="|2Chr|5|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.5.13">2 Chron. v.
|
|
13</scripRef>), when they praised God, which intimates that the
|
|
prayers and praises of God's spiritual priests are more pleasing to
|
|
God than all burnt-offerings and sacrifices.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.x-p8">When the solemnity was finished, the
|
|
blessing pronounced, and the congregation ready to be dismissed, in
|
|
the close of the day, then God testified his acceptance, which gave
|
|
them such satisfaction as was well worth waiting for.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.x-p9">I. <i>The glory of the Lord appeared unto
|
|
all the people,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 9:23" id="Lev.x-p9.1" parsed="|Lev|9|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.9.23"><i>v.</i>
|
|
23</scripRef>. What the appearance of it was we are not told; no
|
|
doubt it was such as carried its own evidence along with it. The
|
|
glory which <i>filled the tabernacle</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 40:34" id="Lev.x-p9.2" parsed="|Exod|40|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.40.34">Exod. xl. 34</scripRef>) now showed itself at the door
|
|
of the tabernacle to those who attended there, as a prince shows
|
|
himself to the expecting crowd, to gratify them. God hereby
|
|
testified of their gifts, and showed them that he was worthy for
|
|
whom they should do all this. Note, Those that diligently attend
|
|
upon God in the way he has appointed shall have such a sight of his
|
|
glory as shall be abundantly to their satisfaction. Those that
|
|
dwell in God's house with an eye of faith may <i>behold the beauty
|
|
of the Lord.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.x-p10">II. <i>There came a fire out from before
|
|
the Lord, and consumed the sacrifice,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 9:24" id="Lev.x-p10.1" parsed="|Lev|9|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.9.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. Here the learned bishop Patrick
|
|
has a very probable conjecture, that Moses and Aaron staid in the
|
|
tabernacle till it was time to offer the evening sacrifice, which
|
|
Aaron did, but it is not mentioned, because it was done of course,
|
|
and it was this which the <i>fire that came out from the Lord
|
|
consumed.</i> Whether this fire came from heaven, or out of the
|
|
most holy place, or from that visible appearance of the glory of
|
|
God which all the people saw, it was a manifest token of God's
|
|
acceptance of their service, as, afterwards, of Solomon's
|
|
sacrifice, <scripRef passage="2Ch 7:1" id="Lev.x-p10.2" parsed="|2Chr|7|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.7.1">2 Chron. vii. 1</scripRef>,
|
|
and Elijah's, <scripRef passage="1Ki 18:38" id="Lev.x-p10.3" parsed="|1Kgs|18|38|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.18.38">1 Kings xviii.
|
|
38</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.x-p11">1. This fire did consume (or, as the word
|
|
is, <i>eat up</i>) the present sacrifice. And two ways this was a
|
|
testimony of acceptance:—(1.) It signified the turning away of
|
|
God's wrath from them. God's wrath is a consuming fire; this fire
|
|
might justly have fastened upon the people, and consumed them for
|
|
their sins; but its fastening upon the sacrifice, and consuming
|
|
that, signified God's acceptance of that as an atonement for the
|
|
sinner. (2.) It signified God's entering into covenant and
|
|
communion with them: they ate their part of the sacrifice, and the
|
|
fire of the Lord ate up his part; and thus he did, as it were,
|
|
<i>sup with them, and they with him,</i> <scripRef passage="Re 3:20" id="Lev.x-p11.1" parsed="|Rev|3|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.3.20">Rev. iii. 20</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.x-p12">2. This fire did, as it were, take
|
|
possession of the altar. The fire was thus kindled in God's house,
|
|
which was to continue as long as the house stood, as we read
|
|
before, <scripRef passage="Le 6:13" id="Lev.x-p12.1" parsed="|Lev|6|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.13"><i>ch.</i> vi. 13</scripRef>.
|
|
This also was a figure of good things to come. The Spirit descended
|
|
upon the apostles in <i>fire</i> (<scripRef passage="Ac 2:3" id="Lev.x-p12.2" parsed="|Acts|2|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.2.3">Acts
|
|
ii. 3</scripRef>), so ratifying their commission, as this spoken of
|
|
here did the priests'. And the descent of this holy fire into our
|
|
souls to kindle in them pious and devout affections towards God,
|
|
and such a holy zeal as burns up the flesh and the lusts of it, is
|
|
a certain token of God's gracious acceptance of our persons and
|
|
performances. That redounds to God's glory which is the work of his
|
|
own grace in us. <i>Hereby we know that we dwell in God, and God in
|
|
us, because he hath thus given us of his Spirit,</i> <scripRef passage="1Jo 4:13" id="Lev.x-p12.3" parsed="|1John|4|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.13">1 John iv. 13</scripRef>. Now henceforward, (1.)
|
|
All their sacrifices and incense must be offered with this fire.
|
|
Note, Nothing goes to God but what comes from him. We must have
|
|
grace, that holy fire, from the God of grace, else we cannot
|
|
<i>serve him acceptably,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 12:28" id="Lev.x-p12.4" parsed="|Heb|12|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.28">Heb.
|
|
xii. 28</scripRef>. (2.) The priests must keep it burning with a
|
|
constant supply of fuel, and the fuel must be wood, the cleanest of
|
|
fuel. Thus those to whom God has given grace must take heed of
|
|
quenching the Spirit.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.x-p13">III. We are here told how the people were
|
|
affected with this discovery of God's glory and grace; they
|
|
received it, 1. With the highest joy: <i>They shouted;</i> so
|
|
stirring up themselves and one another to a holy triumph, in the
|
|
assurance now given them that they had God nigh unto them, which is
|
|
spoken of the grandeur of their nation, <scripRef passage="De 4:7" id="Lev.x-p13.1" parsed="|Deut|4|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.7">Deut. iv. 7</scripRef>. 2. With the lowest reverence:
|
|
<i>They fell on their faces,</i> humbly adoring the majesty of that
|
|
God who vouchsafed thus to manifest himself to them. That is a
|
|
sinful fear of God which drives us from him; a gracious fear makes
|
|
us bow before him. Very good impressions were made upon their minds
|
|
for the present, but they soon wore off, as those commonly do which
|
|
are made by that which is only sensible; while the influences of
|
|
faith are durable.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter X" n="xi" progress="54.27%" prev="Lev.x" next="Lev.xii" id="Lev.xi">
|
|
<h2 id="Lev.xi-p0.1">L E V I T I C U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Lev.xi-p0.2">CHAP. X.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Lev.xi-p1">The story of this chapter is as sad an
|
|
interruption to the institutions of the levitical law as that of
|
|
the golden calf was to the account of the erecting of the
|
|
tabernacle. Here is, I. The sin and death of Nadab and Abihu, the
|
|
sons of Aaron, <scripRef passage="Le 10:1,2" id="Lev.xi-p1.1" parsed="|Lev|10|1|10|2" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.1-Lev.10.2">ver. 1, 2</scripRef>.
|
|
II. The quieting of Aaron under this sore affliction, <scripRef passage="Le 10:3" id="Lev.xi-p1.2" parsed="|Lev|10|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.3">ver. 3</scripRef>. III. Orders given and observed
|
|
about the funeral and mourning, <scripRef passage="Le 10:4-7" id="Lev.xi-p1.3" parsed="|Lev|10|4|10|7" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.4-Lev.10.7">ver.
|
|
4-7</scripRef>. IV. A command to the priests not to drink wine when
|
|
they went in to minister, <scripRef passage="Le 10:8-11" id="Lev.xi-p1.4" parsed="|Lev|10|8|10|11" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.8-Lev.10.11">ver.
|
|
8-11</scripRef>. V. The care Moses took that they should go on with
|
|
their work, notwithstanding the agitation produced by this event,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 10:12-20" id="Lev.xi-p1.5" parsed="|Lev|10|12|10|20" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.12-Lev.10.20">ver. 12</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 10" id="Lev.xi-p1.6" parsed="|Lev|10|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 10:1-2" id="Lev.xi-p1.7" parsed="|Lev|10|1|10|2" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.1-Lev.10.2"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.10.1-Lev.10.2">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.xi-p1.8">Death of Nadab and Abihu. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xi-p1.9">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xi-p2">1 And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took
|
|
either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense
|
|
thereon, and offered strange fire before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xi-p2.1">Lord</span>, which he commanded them not.   2 And
|
|
there went out fire from the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xi-p2.2">Lord</span>,
|
|
and devoured them, and they died before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xi-p2.3">Lord</span>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xi-p3">Here is, I. The great sin that Nadab and
|
|
Abihu were guilty of: and a great sin we must call it, how little
|
|
soever it appears in our eye, because it is evident by the
|
|
punishment of it that it was highly provoking to the God of heaven,
|
|
whose judgment, we are sure, is according to truth. But what was
|
|
their sin? All the account here given of it is that they <i>offered
|
|
strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 10:1" id="Lev.xi-p3.1" parsed="|Lev|10|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>), and the same
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 3:4" id="Lev.xi-p3.2" parsed="|Num|3|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.4">Num. iii. 4</scripRef>. 1. It does not
|
|
appear the they had any orders to burn incense at all at this time.
|
|
It is true their consecration was completed the day before, and it
|
|
was part of their work, as priests, to serve at the altar of
|
|
incense; but, it should seem, the whole service of this solemn day
|
|
of inauguration was to be performed by Aaron himself, for he
|
|
<i>slew the sacrifices</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 9:8,15,18" id="Lev.xi-p3.3" parsed="|Lev|9|8|0|0;|Lev|9|15|0|0;|Lev|9|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.9.8 Bible:Lev.9.15 Bible:Lev.9.18"><i>ch.</i> ix. 8, 15, 18</scripRef>), and his sons
|
|
were only to attend him (<scripRef passage="Le 10:9,12,18" id="Lev.xi-p3.4" parsed="|Lev|10|9|0|0;|Lev|10|12|0|0;|Lev|10|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.9 Bible:Lev.10.12 Bible:Lev.10.18"><i>v.</i> 9, 12, 18</scripRef>); therefore Moses
|
|
and Aaron only <i>went into the tabernacle,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 10:23" id="Lev.xi-p3.5" parsed="|Lev|10|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. But Nadab and Abihu were so
|
|
proud of the honour they were newly advanced to, and so ambitious
|
|
of doing the highest and most honourable part of their work
|
|
immediately, that though the service of this day was extraordinary,
|
|
and done by particular direction from Moses, yet without receiving
|
|
orders, or so much as asking leave from him, they took their
|
|
censers, and they would enter into the tabernacle, at the door of
|
|
which they thought they had attended long enough, and would burn
|
|
incense. And then their <i>offering strange fire</i> is the same
|
|
with <i>offering strange incense,</i> which is expressly forbidden,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 30:9" id="Lev.xi-p3.6" parsed="|Exod|30|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.9">Exod. xxx. 9</scripRef>. Moses, we may
|
|
suppose, had the custody of the incense which was prepared for this
|
|
purpose (<scripRef passage="Ex 39:38" id="Lev.xi-p3.7" parsed="|Exod|39|38|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.39.38">Exod. xxxix. 38</scripRef>),
|
|
and they, doing this without his leave, had none of the incense
|
|
which should have been offered, but common incense, so that the
|
|
smoke of their incense came from a <i>strange fire.</i> God had
|
|
indeed required the priests to burn incense, but, at this time, it
|
|
was what he commanded them not; and so their crime was like that of
|
|
Uzziah the king, <scripRef passage="2Ch 26:16" id="Lev.xi-p3.8" parsed="|2Chr|26|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.26.16">2 Chron. xxvi.
|
|
16</scripRef>. The priests were to burn incense only when <i>it was
|
|
their lot</i> (<scripRef passage="Lu 1:9" id="Lev.xi-p3.9" parsed="|Luke|1|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.1.9">Luke i. 9</scripRef>),
|
|
and, at this time, it was not theirs. 2. Presuming thus to burn
|
|
incense of their own without order, no marvel that they made a
|
|
further blunder, and instead of taking of the fire from the altar,
|
|
which was newly kindled from before the Lord and which henceforward
|
|
must be used in offering both sacrifice and incense (<scripRef passage="Re 8:5" id="Lev.xi-p3.10" parsed="|Rev|8|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.8.5">Rev. viii. 5</scripRef>), they took common fire,
|
|
probably from that with which the flesh of the peace-offerings was
|
|
boiled, and this they made use of in burning incense; not being
|
|
holy fire, it is called <i>strange fire;</i> and, though not
|
|
expressly forbidden, it was crime enough that God <i>commanded it
|
|
not.</i> For (as bishop Hall well observes here) "It is a dangerous
|
|
thing, in the service of God, to decline from his own institutions;
|
|
we have to do with a God who is wise to prescribe his own worship,
|
|
just to require what he has prescribed, and powerful to revenge
|
|
what he has not prescribed." 3. Incense was always to be burned by
|
|
only one priest at a time, but here they would both go in together
|
|
to do it. 4. They did it rashly, and with precipitation. They
|
|
<i>snatched</i> their censers, so some read it, in a light careless
|
|
way, without due reverence and seriousness: when all the people
|
|
<i>fell upon their faces,</i> before the <i>glory of the Lord,</i>
|
|
they thought the dignity of their office was such as to exempt them
|
|
from such abasements. The familiarity they were admitted to bred a
|
|
contempt of the divine Majesty; and now that they were priests they
|
|
thought they might do what they pleased. 5. There is reason to
|
|
suspect that they were drunk when they did it, because of the law
|
|
which was given upon this occasion, <scripRef passage="Le 10:8" id="Lev.xi-p3.11" parsed="|Lev|10|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. They had been feasting upon the
|
|
peace-offerings, and the drink-offerings that attended them, and so
|
|
their heads were light, or, at least, their <i>hearts were merry
|
|
with wine;</i> they <i>drank and forgot the law</i> (<scripRef passage="Pr 31:5" id="Lev.xi-p3.12" parsed="|Prov|31|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.31.5">Prov. xxxi. 5</scripRef>) and were guilty of this
|
|
fatal miscarriage. 6. No doubt it was done presumptuously; for, if
|
|
it had been done through ignorance, they would have been allowed
|
|
the benefit of the law lately made, even for the priests, that they
|
|
should bring a sin-offering, <scripRef passage="Le 4:2,3" id="Lev.xi-p3.13" parsed="|Lev|4|2|4|3" osisRef="Bible:Lev.4.2-Lev.4.3"><i>ch.</i> iv. 2, 3</scripRef>. But <i>the soul that
|
|
doth aught presumptuously,</i> and in contempt of God's majesty,
|
|
authority, and justice, <i>that soul shall be cut of,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 15:30" id="Lev.xi-p3.14" parsed="|Num|15|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.30">Num. xv. 30</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xi-p4">II. The dreadful punishment of this sin:
|
|
<i>There went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 10:2" id="Lev.xi-p4.1" parsed="|Lev|10|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. This fire which
|
|
consumed the sacrifices came the same way with that which had
|
|
consumed the sacrifices (<scripRef passage="Le 9:24" id="Lev.xi-p4.2" parsed="|Lev|9|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.9.24"><i>ch.</i> ix.
|
|
24</scripRef>), which showed what justice would have done to all
|
|
the guilty people if infinite mercy had not found and accepted a
|
|
ransom; and, if that fire struck such an awe upon the people, much
|
|
more would this.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xi-p5">1. Observe the severity of their
|
|
punishment. (1.) They <i>died.</i> Might it not have sufficed if
|
|
they had been only struck with a leprosy, as Uzziah, or struck
|
|
dumb, as Zechariah, and both by the altar of incense? No; they were
|
|
both struck dead. The wages of this sin was death. (2.) They died
|
|
<i>suddenly,</i> in the very act of their sin, and had not time so
|
|
much as to cry, "Lord, have mercy upon us!" Though God is
|
|
long-suffering to us-ward, yet sometimes he makes quick work with
|
|
sinners; sentence is executed speedily: presumptuous sinners bring
|
|
upon themselves a swift destruction, and are justly denied even
|
|
space to repent. (3.) They died <i>before the Lord;</i> that is,
|
|
before the veil that covered the mercy-seat; for even mercy itself
|
|
will not suffer its own glory to be affronted. Those that sinned
|
|
before the Lord died before him. Damned sinners are said to be
|
|
tormented <i>in the presence of the Lamb,</i> intimating that he
|
|
does not interpose on their behalf, <scripRef passage="Re 14:10" id="Lev.xi-p5.1" parsed="|Rev|14|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.14.10">Rev. xiv. 10</scripRef>. (4.) They died <i>by fire,</i>
|
|
as by fire they sinned. They slighted the fire that came from
|
|
before the Lord to consume the sacrifices, and thought other fire
|
|
would do every jot as well; and now God justly made them feel the
|
|
power of that fire which they did not reverence. Thus those that
|
|
hate to be refined by the fire of divine grace will undoubtedly be
|
|
ruined by the fire of divine wrath. The fire did not burn them to
|
|
ashes, as it had done the sacrifices, nor so much as singe their
|
|
coats (<scripRef passage="Le 10:5" id="Lev.xi-p5.2" parsed="|Lev|10|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), but,
|
|
like lightning, struck them dead in an instant; by these different
|
|
effects of the same fire God would show that it was no common fire,
|
|
but kindled <i>by the breath of the Almighty,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 30:23" id="Lev.xi-p5.3" parsed="|Isa|30|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.30.23">Isa. xxx. 23</scripRef>. (5.) It is twice taken
|
|
notice of in scripture that they <i>died childless,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 3:4,1Ch 24:2" id="Lev.xi-p5.4" parsed="|Num|3|4|0|0;|1Chr|24|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.4 Bible:1Chr.24.2">Num. iii. 4, and 1 Chron. xxiv.
|
|
2</scripRef>. By their presumption they had reproached God's name,
|
|
and God justly blotted out their names, and laid that honour in the
|
|
dust which they were proud of.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xi-p6">2. But why did the Lord deal thus severely
|
|
with them? Were they not the sons of Aaron, the saint of the Lord,
|
|
nephews to Moses, the great favourite of heaven? Was not the holy
|
|
anointing oil sprinkled upon them, as men whom God had set apart
|
|
for himself? Had they not diligently attended during the seven days
|
|
of their consecration, and <i>kept the charge of the Lord,</i> and
|
|
might not that atone for this rashness? Would it not excuse them
|
|
that they were young men, as yet unexperienced in these services,
|
|
that it was the first offence, and done in a transport of joy for
|
|
their elevation? And besides, never could men be worse spared: a
|
|
great deal of work was now lately cut out for the priests to do,
|
|
and the priesthood was confined to Aaron and his seed; he has but
|
|
four sons; if two of them die, there will not be hands enough to do
|
|
the service of the tabernacle; if they die childless, the house of
|
|
Aaron will become weak and little, and the priesthood will be in
|
|
danger of being lost for want of heirs. But none of all these
|
|
considerations shall serve either to excuse the offence or bring
|
|
off the offenders. For, (1.) The sin was greatly aggravated. It was
|
|
a manifest contempt of Moses, and the divine law that was given by
|
|
Moses. Hitherto it had been expressly observed concerning every
|
|
thing that was done that they did it <i>as the Lord commanded
|
|
Moses,</i> in opposition to which it is here said they did that
|
|
<i>which the Lord commanded them not,</i> but they did it of their
|
|
own heads. God was now teaching his people obedience, and to do
|
|
every thing by rule, as becomes servants; for priests therefore to
|
|
break rules and disobey was such a provocation as must by no means
|
|
go unpunished. Their character made their sin more exceedingly
|
|
sinful. For the sons of Aaron, his eldest sons, whom God had chosen
|
|
to be immediate attendants upon him, for them to be guilty of such
|
|
a piece of presumption, it cannot be suffered. There was in their
|
|
sin a contempt of God's glory, which had now newly appeared in
|
|
fire, as if that fire were needless, they had as good of their own
|
|
before. (2.) Their punishment was a piece of necessary justice, now
|
|
at the first settling of the ceremonial institutions. It is often
|
|
threatened in the law that such and such offenders should be cut
|
|
off from the people; and here God explained the threatening with a
|
|
witness. Now that the laws concerning sacrifices were newly made,
|
|
lest any should be tempted to think lightly of them because they
|
|
descended to many circumstances which seemed very minute, these
|
|
that were the first transgressors were thus punished, for warning
|
|
to others, and to show how jealous God is in the matters of his
|
|
worship. Thus he <i>magnified the law and made it honourable;</i>
|
|
and let his priests know that the caution which so often occurs in
|
|
the laws concerning them, that they must do so <i>that they die
|
|
not,</i> was not a mere bugbear, but fair warning of their danger,
|
|
if they did the work of the Lord negligently. And no doubt this
|
|
exemplary piece of justice at first prevented many irregularities
|
|
afterwards. Thus Ananias and Sapphira were punished, when they
|
|
presumed to lie to the Holy Ghost, that newly-descended fire. (3.)
|
|
As the people's falling into idolatry, presently after the moral
|
|
law was given, shows the weakness of the law and its insufficiency
|
|
to take away sin, so the sin and punishment of these priests show
|
|
the imperfection of that priesthood from the very beginning, and
|
|
its inability to shelter any from the fire of God's wrath otherwise
|
|
than as it was typical of Christ's priesthood, in the execution of
|
|
which there never was, nor can be, any irregularity, or false step
|
|
taken.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 10:3-7" id="Lev.xi-p6.1" parsed="|Lev|10|3|10|7" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.3-Lev.10.7"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.10.3-Lev.10.7">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.xi-p6.2">Mourning for Nadab and
|
|
Abihu. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xi-p6.3">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xi-p7">3 Then Moses said unto Aaron, This <i>is it</i>
|
|
that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xi-p7.1">Lord</span> spake, saying, I will
|
|
be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people
|
|
I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace.   4 And Moses
|
|
called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron,
|
|
and said unto them, Come near, carry your brethren from before the
|
|
sanctuary out of the camp.   5 So they went near, and carried
|
|
them in their coats out of the camp; as Moses had said.   6
|
|
And Moses said unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar, his
|
|
sons, Uncover not your heads, neither rend your clothes; lest ye
|
|
die, and lest wrath come upon all the people: but let your
|
|
brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xi-p7.2">Lord</span> hath kindled.   7 And ye
|
|
shall not go out from the door of the tabernacle of the
|
|
congregation, lest ye die: for the anointing oil of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xi-p7.3">Lord</span> <i>is</i> upon you. And they did
|
|
according to the word of Moses.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xi-p8">We may well think that when Nadab and Abihu
|
|
were struck with death all about them were struck with horror, and
|
|
every face, as well as theirs, gathered blackness. Great
|
|
consternation, no doubt, seized them, and they were all full of
|
|
confusion; but, whatever the rest were, Moses was composed, and
|
|
knew what he said and did, not being displeased, as David was in a
|
|
like case, <scripRef passage="2Sa 6:8" id="Lev.xi-p8.1" parsed="|2Sam|6|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.6.8">2 Sam. vi. 8</scripRef>. But
|
|
though it touched him in a very tender part, and was a dreadful
|
|
damp to one of the greatest joys he ever knew, yet he kept
|
|
possession of his own soul, and took care to keep good order and a
|
|
due decorum in the sanctuary.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xi-p9">I. He endeavours to pacify Aaron, and to
|
|
keep him in a good frame under this sad dispensation, <scripRef passage="Le 10:3" id="Lev.xi-p9.1" parsed="|Lev|10|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. Moses was a brother that
|
|
was born for adversity, and has taught us, by his example, with
|
|
seasonable counsels and comforts to <i>support the weak,</i> and
|
|
<i>strengthen the feeble-minded.</i> Observe here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xi-p10">1. What it was that Moses suggested to his
|
|
poor brother upon this occasion: <i>This is it that the Lord
|
|
spoke.</i> Note, The most quieting considerations under affliction
|
|
are those that are fetched from the word of God. So and so <i>the
|
|
Lord hath said,</i> and it is not for us to gainsay it. Note, also,
|
|
In all God's providences it is good to observe the fulfilling of
|
|
scripture, and to compare God's word and his works together, which
|
|
if we do we shall find an admirable harmony and agreement between
|
|
them, and that they mutually explain and illustrate each other.
|
|
But, (1.) Where did God speak this? We do not find the very words;
|
|
but to this purport he had said (<scripRef passage="Ex 19:22" id="Lev.xi-p10.1" parsed="|Exod|19|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.22">Exod.
|
|
xix. 22</scripRef>), <i>Let the priests who come near to the Lord
|
|
sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break forth upon them.</i>
|
|
Indeed the whole scope and tenour of his law spoke this, that being
|
|
a holy God, and a sovereign Lord, he must always be worshipped with
|
|
holiness and reverence, and exactly according to his own
|
|
appointment; and, if any jest with him, it is at their peril. Much
|
|
had been said to this purport, as <scripRef passage="Ex 29:43,44,34:14,Le 8:35" id="Lev.xi-p10.2" parsed="|Exod|29|43|29|44;|Exod|34|14|0|0;|Lev|8|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.43-Exod.29.44 Bible:Exod.34.14 Bible:Lev.8.35">Exod. xxix. 43, 44; xxxiv. 14;
|
|
<i>ch.</i> viii. 35</scripRef>. (2.) What was it that God spoke? It
|
|
was this (the Lord by his grace speak it to all our hearts!) <i>I
|
|
will be sanctified in those that come nigh me,</i> whoever they
|
|
are, and <i>before all the people I will be glorified.</i> Note,
|
|
<i>First,</i> Whenever we worship God, we come nigh unto him, as
|
|
spiritual priests. This consideration ought to make us very
|
|
reverent and serious in all acts of devotion, that in them we
|
|
approach to God, and present ourselves before him. <i>Secondly,</i>
|
|
It concerns us all, when we come nigh to God, to sanctify him, that
|
|
is, to give him the praise of his holiness, to perform every
|
|
religious exercise as those who believe that the God with whom we
|
|
have to do is a holy God, a God of spotless purity and transcendent
|
|
perfection, <scripRef passage="Isa 8:13" id="Lev.xi-p10.3" parsed="|Isa|8|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.8.13">Isa. viii. 13</scripRef>.
|
|
<i>Thirdly,</i> When we sanctify God we glorify him, for his
|
|
holiness is his glory; and, when we sanctify him in our solemn
|
|
assemblies, we glorify him <i>before all the people,</i> confessing
|
|
our own belief of his glory and desiring that others also may be
|
|
affected with it. <i>Fourthly,</i> If God be not sanctified and
|
|
glorified by us, he will be sanctified and glorified upon us. He
|
|
will take vengeance on those that profane his sacred name by
|
|
trifling with him. If his rent be not paid, it shall be distrained
|
|
for. (3.) But what was this to the present case? What was there in
|
|
this to quiet Aaron? Two things:—[1.] This must silence him, that
|
|
his sons deserved their death; for they were thus cut off from
|
|
their people because they did not sanctify and glorify God. The
|
|
acts of necessary justice, how hard soever they may seem to bear
|
|
upon the persons concerned, are not to be complained of, but
|
|
submitted to. [2.] This must satisfy him, that the death of his
|
|
sons redounded to the honour of God, and his impartial justice
|
|
would for it be adored throughout all ages.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xi-p11">2. What good effects this had upon him:
|
|
<i>Aaron held his peace,</i> that is, he patiently submitted to the
|
|
holy will of God in this sad providence, was <i>dumb, and opened
|
|
not his mouth,</i> because God did it. Something he was ready to
|
|
say by way of complaint (as losers think they may have leave to
|
|
speak), but he wisely suppressed it, <i>laid his hand upon his
|
|
mouth,</i> and said nothing, for fear lest he <i>should offend with
|
|
his tongue,</i> now that his <i>heart was hot within him.</i> Note,
|
|
(1.) When God corrects us or ours for sin, it is our duty to be
|
|
silent under the correction, not to quarrel with God, arraign his
|
|
justice, or charge him with folly, but to acquiesce in all that God
|
|
does; not only bearing, but accepting, the punishment of iniquity,
|
|
and saying, as Eli, in a case not much unlike this, <i>It is the
|
|
Lord, let him do what seemeth him good,</i> <scripRef passage="1Sa 3:18" id="Lev.xi-p11.1" parsed="|1Sam|3|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.3.18">1 Sam. iii. 18</scripRef>. <i>If our children have
|
|
sinned against God</i> (as Bildad puts the case, <scripRef passage="Job 8:4" id="Lev.xi-p11.2" parsed="|Job|8|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.8.4">Job viii. 4</scripRef>), <i>and he have cast them away
|
|
for their transgression,</i> though it must needs be grievous to
|
|
think that the children of our love should be the children of God's
|
|
wrath, yet we must awfully adore the divine justice, and make no
|
|
exceptions against its processes. (2.) The most effectual arguments
|
|
to quiet a gracious spirit under afflictions are those that are
|
|
fetched from God's glory; this silenced Aaron. It is true he is a
|
|
loser in his comforts by this severe execution, but Moses has shown
|
|
him that God is a gainer in his glory, and therefore he has not a
|
|
word to say against it: if God be sanctified, Aaron is satisfied.
|
|
Far be it from him that he should honour his sons more than God, or
|
|
wish that God's name, or house, or law, should be exposed to
|
|
reproach or contempt for the preserving of the reputation of his
|
|
family. No; now, as well as in the matter of the golden calf, Levi
|
|
does not <i>acknowledge his brethren,</i> nor <i>know his own
|
|
children;</i> and therefore <i>they shall teach Jacob thy
|
|
judgments, and Israel thy law,</i> <scripRef passage="De 33:9,10" id="Lev.xi-p11.3" parsed="|Deut|33|9|33|10" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.9-Deut.33.10">Deut. xxxiii. 9, 10</scripRef>. Ministers and their
|
|
families are sometimes exercised with sore trials that they may be
|
|
examples to the believers of patience and resignation to God, and
|
|
they may comfort others with that with which they themselves have
|
|
been comforted.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xi-p12">II. Moses gives orders about the dead
|
|
bodies. It was not fit that they should be left to lie where they
|
|
fell; yet their own father and brethren, the amazed spectators of
|
|
this dismal tragedy, durst not offer to lift them up, no, not to
|
|
see whether there was any life left in them; they must neither be
|
|
diverted from nor unfitted for the great work that was now upon
|
|
their hands. <i>Let the dead bury their dead,</i> but they must go
|
|
on with their service; that is, "Rather let the dead be unburied,
|
|
if there be nobody else to do it, than that work for God should be
|
|
left undone by those whom he has called to it." But Moses takes
|
|
care of this matter, that though they died by the hand of justice
|
|
in the act of sin, yet they should be decently buried, and they
|
|
were so, <scripRef passage="Le 10:4,5" id="Lev.xi-p12.1" parsed="|Lev|10|4|10|5" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.4-Lev.10.5"><i>v.</i> 4, 5</scripRef>.
|
|
1. Some of their nearest relations were employed in it, who were
|
|
cousins-german to their father, and are here named, who would
|
|
perform this office with tenderness and respect. They were Levites
|
|
only, and might not have come into the sanctuary, no, not upon such
|
|
an occasion as this, if they had not had a special command for it.
|
|
2. They carried them out of the camp to be burned, so far were they
|
|
from burying them in the place of worship, or the court of it,
|
|
according to our modern usage, though they died there, that they
|
|
did not bury them, nor any of their dead, within the lines of their
|
|
camp; as afterwards their burying places were out of their cities.
|
|
The tabernacle was pitched in the midst of the camp, so that they
|
|
could not carry these dead priests to their graves without carrying
|
|
them through one of the squadrons of the camp; and doubtless it was
|
|
a very awful affecting sight to the people. The names of Nadab and
|
|
Abihu had become very great and honourable among them; none more
|
|
talked of, nor more expected to appear abroad after the days of
|
|
their consecration, to receive the honours and caresses of the
|
|
crowd, whose manner it is to adore the rising sun; and next to
|
|
Moses and Aaron, who were old and going off, Nadab and Abihu (who
|
|
had been in the mount with God, <scripRef passage="Ex 24:1" id="Lev.xi-p12.2" parsed="|Exod|24|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.1">Exod.
|
|
xxiv. 1</scripRef>) were looked upon as the great favourites of
|
|
heaven, and the hopes of their people; and now on a sudden, when
|
|
the tidings of the event had scarcely reached their ears, to see
|
|
them both carried out dead, with the visible marks of divine
|
|
vengeance upon them, as sacrifices to the justice of God, they
|
|
could not choose but cry out, <i>Who is able to stand before this
|
|
holy Lord God?</i> <scripRef passage="1Sa 6:20" id="Lev.xi-p12.3" parsed="|1Sam|6|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.6.20">1 Sam. vi.
|
|
20</scripRef>. 3. They carried them out (and probably buried them)
|
|
in their coats, and the garments of their priesthood, which they
|
|
had lately put on, and perhaps were too proud of. Thus the
|
|
impartiality of God's justice was proclaimed, and all the people
|
|
were made to know that even the priests' garments would not protect
|
|
an offender from the wrath of God. And it was easy to argue, "If
|
|
they escape not when they transgress, can we expect to go
|
|
unpunished?" And the priests' clothes being so soon made
|
|
grave-clothes might intimate both that <i>the law worketh
|
|
death,</i> and that in the process of time that priesthood itself
|
|
should be abolished and buried in the grave of the Lord Jesus.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xi-p13">III. He gives directions about the
|
|
mourning.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xi-p14">1. That the priests must not mourn. Aaron
|
|
and his two surviving sons, though sad in spirit, must not use any
|
|
outward expressions of sorrow upon this sad occasion, nor so much
|
|
as follow the corpse one step from the door of the tabernacle,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 10:7" id="Lev.xi-p14.1" parsed="|Lev|10|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. It was
|
|
afterwards forbidden to the high priest to use the ceremonies of
|
|
mourning for the death of any friend whatsoever, though it were a
|
|
father or mother (<scripRef passage="Le 21:11" id="Lev.xi-p14.2" parsed="|Lev|21|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.21.11"><i>ch.</i> xxi.
|
|
11</scripRef>); yet it was allowed at the same time to the inferior
|
|
priests to mourn for their near relations, <scripRef passage="Le 10:2,3" id="Lev.xi-p14.3" parsed="|Lev|10|2|10|3" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.2-Lev.10.3"><i>v.</i> 2, 3</scripRef>. But here it was forbidden
|
|
both to Aaron and his sons, because, (1.) They were now actually
|
|
waiting, doing a great work, which must by no means cease
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ne 6:3" id="Lev.xi-p14.4" parsed="|Neh|6|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Neh.6.3">Neh. vi. 3</scripRef>); and it was very
|
|
much for the honour of God that their attendance on him should take
|
|
place of their respects to their nearest relations, and that all
|
|
services should give way to those of their ministry. By this they
|
|
must make it to appear that they had a greater value and affection
|
|
for their God and their work than for the best friend they had in
|
|
the world; as Christ did, <scripRef passage="Mt 12:47,48" id="Lev.xi-p14.5" parsed="|Matt|12|47|12|48" osisRef="Bible:Matt.12.47-Matt.12.48">Matt.
|
|
xii. 47, 48</scripRef>. And we are hereby taught, when we are
|
|
serving God in holy duties, to keep out minds, as much as may be,
|
|
intent and engaged, and not to suffer them to be diverted by any
|
|
worldly thoughts, or cares, or passions. Let us always attend upon
|
|
the Lord without distraction. (2.) Their brethren were cut off for
|
|
their transgression by the immediate hand of God, and therefore
|
|
they must not mourn for them lest they should seem to countenance
|
|
the sin, or impeach the justice of God in the punishment. Instead
|
|
of lamenting their own loss, they must be wholly taken up in
|
|
applauding the sentence, and subscribing to the equity of it. Note,
|
|
The public concerns of God's glory ought to lie nearer our hearts
|
|
than any private affections of our own. Observe, How Moses
|
|
frightens them into this submission, and holds the rod over them to
|
|
still their crying (<scripRef passage="Le 10:6" id="Lev.xi-p14.6" parsed="|Lev|10|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.6"><i>v.</i>
|
|
6</scripRef>): "<i>Lest you die</i> likewise, and <i>lest wrath
|
|
come upon all the people,</i> who may be in danger of suffering for
|
|
your irreverence, and disobedience, and ungoverned passions;" and
|
|
again (<scripRef passage="Le 10:7" id="Lev.xi-p14.7" parsed="|Lev|10|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>), <i>lest
|
|
you die.</i> See here what use we are to make of the judgments of
|
|
God upon others; we must double our guard over ourselves, <i>lest
|
|
we likewise perish.</i> The death, especially the sudden death, of
|
|
others, instead of moving our passion, should compose us into a
|
|
holy reverence of God, a cautious separation from all sin, and a
|
|
serious expectation of our own death. The reason given them is
|
|
because <i>the anointing oil of your God is upon you,</i> the
|
|
honour of which must be carefully preserved by your doing the duty
|
|
of your office with cheerfulness. Note, Those that through grace
|
|
have <i>received the anointing</i> ought not to disturb themselves
|
|
with the <i>sorrow of the world,</i> which <i>worketh death.</i> It
|
|
was very hard, no doubt, for Aaron and his sons to restrain
|
|
themselves upon such an extraordinary occasion from inordinate
|
|
grief, but reason and grace mastered the passion, and they bore the
|
|
affliction with an obedient patience: <i>They did according to the
|
|
word of Moses,</i> because they knew it to be the word of God.
|
|
Happy those who thus are themselves under God's government, and
|
|
have their passions under their own government.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xi-p15">2. The people must mourn: <i>Let the whole
|
|
house of Israel bewail the burning which the Lord has kindled.</i>
|
|
The congregation must lament, not only the loss of their priests,
|
|
but especially the displeasure of God which appeared in it. They
|
|
must bewail the burning that was kindled, that it might not burn
|
|
further. Aaron and his sons were in danger of being too much
|
|
affected with the providence, and therefore they are forbidden to
|
|
mourn: the house of Israel were in danger of being too little
|
|
affected with it, and therefore they are commanded to lament. Thus
|
|
nature must always be governed by grace, according as it needs to
|
|
be either constrained or restrained.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 10:8-11" id="Lev.xi-p15.1" parsed="|Lev|10|8|10|11" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.8-Lev.10.11"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.10.8-Lev.10.11">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.xi-p15.2">Cautions for the Priests. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xi-p15.3">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xi-p16">8 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xi-p16.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Aaron, saying,   9 Do not drink wine nor strong
|
|
drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle
|
|
of the congregation, lest ye die: <i>it shall be</i> a statute for
|
|
ever throughout your generations:   10 And that ye may put
|
|
difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean;
|
|
  11 And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the
|
|
statutes which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xi-p16.2">Lord</span> hath spoken
|
|
unto them by the hand of Moses.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xi-p17">Aaron having been very observant of what
|
|
God said to him by Moses, now God does him the honour to speak to
|
|
him immediately (<scripRef passage="Le 10:8" id="Lev.xi-p17.1" parsed="|Lev|10|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.8"><i>v.</i>
|
|
8</scripRef>): <i>The Lord spoke unto Aaron,</i> and the rather
|
|
because what was now to be said Aaron might perhaps have taken
|
|
amiss from Moses, as if he had suspected him to have been a
|
|
gluttonous man and a wine-bibber, so apt are we to resent cautions
|
|
as accusations; therefore God saith it himself to him, <i>Do not
|
|
drink wine, nor strong drink, when you go into the tabernacle,</i>
|
|
and this at their peril, <i>lest you die,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 10:9" id="Lev.xi-p17.2" parsed="|Lev|10|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. Probably they had seen the ill
|
|
effect of it in Nadab and Abihu, and therefore must take warning by
|
|
them. Observe here, 1. The prohibition itself: <i>Do not drink wine
|
|
nor strong drink.</i> At other times they were allowed it (it was
|
|
not expected that every priest should be a Nazarite), but during
|
|
the time of their ministration they were forbidden it. This was one
|
|
of the laws in Ezekiel's temple (<scripRef passage="Eze 44:21" id="Lev.xi-p17.3" parsed="|Ezek|44|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.44.21">Ezek. xliv. 21</scripRef>), and so it is required of
|
|
gospel ministers that they be <i>not given to wine,</i> <scripRef passage="1Ti 3:3" id="Lev.xi-p17.4" parsed="|1Tim|3|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.3.3">1 Tim. iii. 3</scripRef>. Note, Drunkenness is
|
|
bad in any, but it is especially scandalous and pernicious in
|
|
ministers, who of all men ought to have the clearest heads and the
|
|
cleanest hearts. 2. The penalty annexed to the prohibition: <i>Lest
|
|
you die; lest you die</i> when you are in drink, <i>and so that day
|
|
come upon you unawares,</i> <scripRef passage="Lu 21:34" id="Lev.xi-p17.5" parsed="|Luke|21|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.21.34">Luke xxi.
|
|
34</scripRef>. Or, "Lest you do that which will make you liable to
|
|
be cut off by the hand of God." The danger of death we are
|
|
continually in should engage us to <i>be sober,</i> <scripRef passage="1Pe 4:7" id="Lev.xi-p17.6" parsed="|1Pet|4|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.4.7">1 Pet. iv. 7</scripRef>. It is a pity that it
|
|
should ever be used for the support of licentiousness, as it is by
|
|
those who argue, <i>Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.</i>
|
|
3. The reasons assigned for this prohibition. They must needs to be
|
|
sober, else they could not duly discharge their office; they will
|
|
be in danger of <i>erring through wine,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 28:7" id="Lev.xi-p17.7" parsed="|Isa|28|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.28.7">Isa. xxviii. 7</scripRef>. They must be sure to keep
|
|
sober, (1.) That they might themselves be able to distinguish, in
|
|
their ministrations, between that which was sacred and that which
|
|
was common, and might never confound them, <scripRef passage="Le 10:10" id="Lev.xi-p17.8" parsed="|Lev|10|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. It concerns the Lord's
|
|
ministers to put a difference between holy and unholy, both things
|
|
and persons, that they may separate between <i>the precious and the
|
|
vile,</i> <scripRef passage="Jer 15:19" id="Lev.xi-p17.9" parsed="|Jer|15|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.15.19">Jer. xv. 19</scripRef>.
|
|
(2.) That they might be able to teach the people (<scripRef passage="Le 10:11" id="Lev.xi-p17.10" parsed="|Lev|10|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>), for that was a part of
|
|
the priests' work (<scripRef passage="De 33:10" id="Lev.xi-p17.11" parsed="|Deut|33|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.10">Deut. xxxiii.
|
|
10</scripRef>); and those that are addicted to drunkenness are very
|
|
unfit to teach people God's statutes, both because those that live
|
|
after the flesh can have no experimental acquaintance with the
|
|
things of the Spirit, and because such teachers pull down with one
|
|
hand what they build up with the other.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 10" id="Lev.xi-p17.12" parsed="|Lev|10|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 10:12-20" id="Lev.xi-p17.13" parsed="|Lev|10|12|10|20" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.12-Lev.10.20"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.10.12-Lev.10.20">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.xi-p17.14">Moses Angry with Eleazar and
|
|
Ithamar. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xi-p17.15">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xi-p18">12 And Moses spake unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar
|
|
and unto Ithamar, his sons that were left, Take the meat offering
|
|
that remaineth of the offerings of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xi-p18.1">Lord</span> made by fire, and eat it without leaven
|
|
beside the altar: for it <i>is</i> most holy:   13 And ye
|
|
shall eat it in the holy place, because it <i>is</i> thy due, and
|
|
thy sons' due, of the sacrifices of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xi-p18.2">Lord</span> made by fire: for so I am commanded.  
|
|
14 And the wave breast and heave shoulder shall ye eat in a clean
|
|
place; thou, and thy sons, and thy daughters with thee: for <i>they
|
|
be</i> thy due, and thy sons' due, <i>which</i> are given out of
|
|
the sacrifices of peace offerings of the children of Israel.  
|
|
15 The heave shoulder and the wave breast shall they bring with the
|
|
offerings made by fire of the fat, to wave <i>it for</i> a wave
|
|
offering before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xi-p18.3">Lord</span>; and it
|
|
shall be thine, and thy sons' with thee, by a statute for ever; as
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xi-p18.4">Lord</span> hath commanded.   16
|
|
And Moses diligently sought the goat of the sin offering, and,
|
|
behold, it was burnt: and he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar,
|
|
the sons of Aaron <i>which were</i> left <i>alive,</i> saying,
|
|
  17 Wherefore have ye not eaten the sin offering in the holy
|
|
place, seeing it <i>is</i> most holy, and <i>God</i> hath given it
|
|
you to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for
|
|
them before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xi-p18.5">Lord</span>?   18
|
|
Behold, the blood of it was not brought in within the holy
|
|
<i>place:</i> ye should indeed have eaten it in the holy
|
|
<i>place,</i> as I commanded.   19 And Aaron said unto Moses,
|
|
Behold, this day have they offered their sin offering and their
|
|
burnt offering before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xi-p18.6">Lord</span>; and
|
|
such things have befallen me: and <i>if</i> I had eaten the sin
|
|
offering to day, should it have been accepted in the sight of the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xi-p18.7">Lord</span>?   20 And when Moses heard
|
|
<i>that,</i> he was content.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xi-p19">Moses is here directing Aaron to go on with
|
|
his service after this interruption. Afflictions should rather
|
|
quicken us to our duty than take us off from it. Observe (<scripRef passage="Le 10:12" id="Lev.xi-p19.1" parsed="|Lev|10|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), He spoke unto Aaron
|
|
and to his sons <i>that were left.</i> The notice taken of their
|
|
survivorship intimates, 1. That Aaron should take comfort under the
|
|
loss of two of his sons, from this consideration, that God had
|
|
graciously spared him the other two, and that he had reason to be
|
|
thankful for the remnant that was left, and all his sons were not
|
|
dead, and, in token of his thankfulness to God, to go on cheerfully
|
|
in his work. 2. That God's sparing them should be an engagement
|
|
upon them to proceed in his service, and not to fly off from it.
|
|
Here were four priests consecrated together, two were taken away,
|
|
and two left; therefore the two that were left should endeavour to
|
|
fill up the places of those that were gone, by double care and
|
|
diligence in the services of the priesthood. Now,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xi-p20">I. Moses repeats the directions he had
|
|
formerly given them about eating their share of the sacrifices,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 10:12-15" id="Lev.xi-p20.1" parsed="|Lev|10|12|10|15" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.12-Lev.10.15"><i>v.</i> 12-14, 15</scripRef>. The
|
|
priests must learn not only to <i>put a difference between the holy
|
|
and the unholy,</i> as they had been taught (<scripRef passage="Le 10:10" id="Lev.xi-p20.2" parsed="|Lev|10|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>), but also to distinguish
|
|
between that which was most holy and that which was only holy of
|
|
the things that were to eat. That part of the meat-offering which
|
|
remained to the priest was most holy, and therefore must be eaten
|
|
in the courts of the tabernacle, and by Aaron <i>sons</i> only
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 10:12,13" id="Lev.xi-p20.3" parsed="|Lev|10|12|10|13" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.12-Lev.10.13"><i>v.</i> 12, 13</scripRef>); but
|
|
the breast and shoulder of the peace-offerings might be eaten in
|
|
any decent place out of the courts of the tabernacle, and by the
|
|
daughters of their families. The meat-offerings, being annexed to
|
|
the burnt-offerings, were intended only and wholly for the glory of
|
|
God; but the peace-offerings were ordained for the furtherance of
|
|
men's joy and comfort; the former therefore were the more sacred,
|
|
and to be had more in veneration. This distinction the priests must
|
|
carefully observe, and take heed of making any blunders. Moses does
|
|
not pretend to give any reasons for this difference, but refers to
|
|
his instructions: <i>For so am I commanded,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 10:13" id="Lev.xi-p20.4" parsed="|Lev|10|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. This was reason enough; he had
|
|
<i>received of the Lord all that he delivered unto them,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Co 11:23" id="Lev.xi-p20.5" parsed="|1Cor|11|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.11.23">1 Cor. xi. 23</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xi-p21">II. He enquires concerning one deviation
|
|
from the appointment, which it seems had happened upon this
|
|
occasion, which was this:—There was a goat to be sacrificed as a
|
|
<i>sin-offering or the people,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 9:15" id="Lev.xi-p21.1" parsed="|Lev|9|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.9.15"><i>ch.</i> ix. 15</scripRef>. Now the law of the
|
|
sin-offerings was that if the blood of them was brought into the
|
|
holy place, as that of the sin-offerings for the priest was, then
|
|
the flesh was to be burnt without the camp; otherwise it was to be
|
|
eaten by the priest in the holy place, <scripRef passage="Le 6:30" id="Lev.xi-p21.2" parsed="|Lev|6|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.30"><i>ch.</i> vi. 30</scripRef>. The meaning of this is here
|
|
explained (<scripRef passage="Le 10:17" id="Lev.xi-p21.3" parsed="|Lev|10|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>),
|
|
that the priests did hereby <i>bear the iniquity of the
|
|
congregation,</i> that is, they were types of him who was to be
|
|
made sin for us, and on whom God would <i>lay the iniquity of us
|
|
all.</i> Now the blood of this goat was not brought into the holy
|
|
place, and yet, it seems, it was burnt without the camp. Now
|
|
observe here, 1. The gentle reproof Moses gives to Aaron and his
|
|
sons for this irregularity. Here again Aaron sons are said to be
|
|
those <i>that were left alive</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 10:16" id="Lev.xi-p21.4" parsed="|Lev|10|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>), who therefore ought to have
|
|
taken warning; and Moses was <i>angry with them.</i> Though he was
|
|
the meekest man in the world, it seems he could be angry; and when
|
|
he thought God was disobeyed and dishonoured, and the priesthood
|
|
endangered, he would be angry. Yet observe how very mildly he deals
|
|
with Aaron and his sons, considering their present affliction. He
|
|
only tells them <i>they should indeed have eaten it in the holy
|
|
place,</i> but is willing to hear what they have to say for
|
|
themselves, being loth to speak to the grief of those whom God had
|
|
wounded.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xi-p22">2. The plausible excuse which Aaron makes
|
|
for this mistake. Moses charged the fault upon Eleazar and Ithamar
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 10:16" id="Lev.xi-p22.1" parsed="|Lev|10|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>), but it is
|
|
probable that what they did was by Aaron direction, and therefore
|
|
he apologized for it. He might have pleaded that this was a
|
|
sin-offering for the congregation, and if it had been a bullock it
|
|
must have been wholly burnt (<scripRef passage="Le 4:21" id="Lev.xi-p22.2" parsed="|Lev|4|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.4.21"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
iv. 21</scripRef>), and therefore why not now that it was a goat?
|
|
But it seems it was otherwise ordered at this time, and therefore
|
|
he makes his affliction his excuse, <scripRef passage="Le 10:19" id="Lev.xi-p22.3" parsed="|Lev|10|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. Observe, (1.) How he speaks of
|
|
affliction: <i>Such things have befallen me,</i> such sad things,
|
|
which could not but go near his heart, and make it very happy. He
|
|
was a high priest <i>taken from among men,</i> and could not put
|
|
off natural affection when he put on the holy garments. He held his
|
|
peace (<scripRef passage="Le 10:3" id="Lev.xi-p22.4" parsed="|Lev|10|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), yet his
|
|
sorrow was stirred, as David's, <scripRef passage="Ps 39:2" id="Lev.xi-p22.5" parsed="|Ps|39|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.39.2">Ps.
|
|
xxxix. 2</scripRef>. Note, There may be a deep sense of affliction
|
|
even where there is a sincere resignation to the will of God in the
|
|
affliction. "<i>Such things</i> as never befel me before, and as I
|
|
little expected now. My spirits cannot but sink, when I see my
|
|
family sinking; I must needs be heavy, when God is angry:" thus it
|
|
is easy to say a great deal to aggravate an affliction, but it is
|
|
better to say little. (2.) How he makes this an excuse for his
|
|
varying from the appointment about the sin-offering. He could not
|
|
have eaten it but in his mourning, and with a sorrowful spirit; and
|
|
would this have been accepted? He does not plead that his heart was
|
|
so full of grief that he had no appetite for it, but that he feared
|
|
it would not be accepted. Note, [1.] Acceptance with God is the
|
|
great thing we should desire and aim at in all our religious
|
|
services, particularly in the Lord's supper, which is our eating of
|
|
the sin-offering. [2.] The sorrow of the world is a very great
|
|
hindrance to our acceptable performance of holy duties, both as it
|
|
is discomposing to ourselves, takes off our chariot-wheels and
|
|
makes us drive heavily (<scripRef passage="1Sa 1:7,8" id="Lev.xi-p22.6" parsed="|1Sam|1|7|1|8" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.1.7-1Sam.1.8">1 Sam. i. 7,
|
|
8</scripRef>), and as it is displeasing to God, whose will it is
|
|
that we should serve him cheerfully, <scripRef passage="De 12:7" id="Lev.xi-p22.7" parsed="|Deut|12|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.7">Deut. xii. 7</scripRef>. Mourner's bread was polluted,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ho 9:4" id="Lev.xi-p22.8" parsed="|Hos|9|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.9.4">Hos. ix. 4</scripRef>. See <scripRef passage="Mal 3:14" id="Lev.xi-p22.9" parsed="|Mal|3|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mal.3.14">Mal. iii. 14</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xi-p23">3. The acquiescence of Moses in this
|
|
excuse: <i>He was content,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 10:20" id="Lev.xi-p23.1" parsed="|Lev|10|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. Perhaps he thought it justified
|
|
what they had done. God had provided that what could not be eaten
|
|
might be burnt. Our unfitness for duty, when it is natural and not
|
|
sinful, will have great allowances made for it; and God will have
|
|
mercy and not sacrifice. At least he thought it did very much
|
|
extenuate the fault; <i>the spirit indeed was willing, but the
|
|
flesh was weak.</i> God by Moses showed that he considered his
|
|
frame. It appeared that Aaron sincerely aimed at God's acceptance;
|
|
and those that do so with an upright heart shall find he is not
|
|
<i>extreme to mark what they do amiss.</i> Nor must we be severe in
|
|
our animadversions upon every mistake, <i>considering ourselves,
|
|
lest we also be tempted.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XI" n="xii" progress="55.04%" prev="Lev.xi" next="Lev.xiii" id="Lev.xii">
|
|
<h2 id="Lev.xii-p0.1">L E V I T I C U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Lev.xii-p0.2">CHAP. XI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Lev.xii-p1">The ceremonial law is described by the apostle
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Heb 9:9,10" id="Lev.xii-p1.1" parsed="|Heb|9|9|9|10" osisRef="Bible:Heb.9.9-Heb.9.10">Heb. ix. 9, 10</scripRef>) to
|
|
consist, not only "in gifts and sacrifices," which hitherto have
|
|
been treated of in this book, but "in meats, and drinks, and divers
|
|
washings" from ceremonial uncleanness, the laws concerning which
|
|
begin with this chapter, which puts a difference between some sorts
|
|
of flesh-meat and others, allowing some to be eaten as clean and
|
|
forbidding others as unclean. "There is one kind of flesh of men."
|
|
Nature startles at the thought of eating this, and none do it but
|
|
such as have arrived at the highest degree of barbarity, and become
|
|
but one remove from brutes; therefore there needed no law against
|
|
it. But there is "another kind of flesh of beasts," concerning
|
|
which the law directs here (<scripRef passage="Le 11:1-8" id="Lev.xii-p1.2" parsed="|Lev|11|1|11|8" osisRef="Bible:Lev.11.1-Lev.11.8">ver.
|
|
1-8</scripRef>), "another of fishes" (<scripRef passage="Le 11:9-12" id="Lev.xii-p1.3" parsed="|Lev|11|9|11|12" osisRef="Bible:Lev.11.9-Lev.11.12">ver. 9-12</scripRef>), "another of birds" (<scripRef passage="Le 11:13-19" id="Lev.xii-p1.4" parsed="|Lev|11|13|11|19" osisRef="Bible:Lev.11.13-Lev.11.19">ver. 13-19</scripRef>), and "another of
|
|
creeping things," which are distinguished into two sorts, flying
|
|
creeping things (<scripRef passage="Le 11:20-28" id="Lev.xii-p1.5" parsed="|Lev|11|20|11|28" osisRef="Bible:Lev.11.20-Lev.11.28">ver.
|
|
20-28</scripRef>) and creeping things upon the earth, <scripRef passage="Le 11:29-43" id="Lev.xii-p1.6" parsed="|Lev|11|29|11|43" osisRef="Bible:Lev.11.29-Lev.11.43">ver. 29-43</scripRef>. And the law concludes
|
|
with the general rule of holiness, and reasons for it, <scripRef passage="Le 11:44-47" id="Lev.xii-p1.7" parsed="|Lev|11|44|11|47" osisRef="Bible:Lev.11.44-Lev.11.47">ver. 44</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 11" id="Lev.xii-p1.8" parsed="|Lev|11|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.11"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 11:1-8" id="Lev.xii-p1.9" parsed="|Lev|11|1|11|8" osisRef="Bible:Lev.11.1-Lev.11.8"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.11.1-Lev.11.8">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.xii-p1.10">Distinction of Meats. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xii-p1.11">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xii-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xii-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses and to Aaron, saying unto them,   2 Speak
|
|
unto the children of Israel, saying, These <i>are</i> the beasts
|
|
which ye shall eat among all the beasts that <i>are</i> on the
|
|
earth.   3 Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted,
|
|
<i>and</i> cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat.
|
|
  4 Nevertheless these shall ye not eat of them that chew the
|
|
cud, or of them that divide the hoof: <i>as</i> the camel, because
|
|
he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he <i>is</i> unclean
|
|
unto you.   5 And the coney, because he cheweth the cud, but
|
|
divideth not the hoof; he <i>is</i> unclean unto you.   6 And
|
|
the hare, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he
|
|
<i>is</i> unclean unto you.   7 And the swine, though he
|
|
divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud;
|
|
he <i>is</i> unclean to you.   8 Of their flesh shall ye not
|
|
eat, and their carcase shall ye not touch; they <i>are</i> unclean
|
|
to you.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xii-p3">Now that Aaron was consecrated a high
|
|
priest over the house of God, God spoke to him with Moses, and
|
|
appointed them both as joint-commissioners to deliver his will to
|
|
the people. He spoke both to Moses and to Aaron about this matter;
|
|
for it was particularly required of the priests that they should
|
|
put a difference between clean and unclean, and teach the people to
|
|
do so. After the flood, when God entered into covenant with Noah
|
|
and his sons, he allowed them to eat flesh (<scripRef passage="Ge 9:13" id="Lev.xii-p3.1" parsed="|Gen|9|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.13">Gen. ix. 13</scripRef>), whereas before they were
|
|
confined to the productions of the earth. But the liberty allowed
|
|
to the sons of Noah is here limited to the sons of Israel. They
|
|
might eat flesh, but not all kinds of flesh; some they must look
|
|
upon as unclean and forbidden to them, others as clean and allowed
|
|
them. The law in this matter is both very particular and very
|
|
strict. But what reason can be given for this law? Why may not
|
|
God's people have as free a use of all the creatures as other
|
|
people? 1. It is reason enough that God would have it so: his will,
|
|
as it is law sufficient, so it is reason sufficient; for his will
|
|
is his wisdom. He saw good thus to try and exercise the obedience
|
|
of his people, not only in the solemnities of his altar, but in
|
|
matters of daily occurrence at their own table, that they might
|
|
remember they were under authority. Thus God had tried the
|
|
obedience of man in innocency, by forbidding him to eat of one
|
|
particular tree. 2. Most of the meats forbidden as unclean are such
|
|
as were really unwholesome, and not fit to be eaten; and those of
|
|
them that we think wholesome enough, and use accordingly, as the
|
|
rabbit, the hare, and the swine, perhaps in those countries, and to
|
|
their bodies, might be hurtful. And then God in this law did by
|
|
them but as a wise and loving father does by his children, whom he
|
|
restrains from eating that which he knows will make them sick.
|
|
Note, The Lord is for the body, and it is not only folly, but sin
|
|
against God, to prejudice our health for the pleasing of our
|
|
appetite. 3. God would thus teach his people to distinguish
|
|
themselves from other people, not only in their religious worship,
|
|
but in the common actions of life. Thus he would show them that
|
|
they must not be numbered among the nations. It should seem there
|
|
had been, before this, some difference between the Hebrews and
|
|
other nations in their food, kept up by tradition; for the
|
|
Egyptians and they would not eat together, <scripRef passage="Ge 43:32" id="Lev.xii-p3.2" parsed="|Gen|43|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.43.32">Gen. xliii. 32</scripRef>. And even before the flood
|
|
there was a distinction of beasts into clean and not clean
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 7:2" id="Lev.xii-p3.3" parsed="|Gen|7|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.2">Gen. vii. 2</scripRef>), which
|
|
distinction was quite lost, with many other instances of religion,
|
|
among the Gentiles. But by this law it is reduced to a certainty,
|
|
and ordered to be kept up among the Jews, that thus, by having a
|
|
diet peculiar to themselves, they might be kept from familiar
|
|
conversation with their idolatrous neighbours, and might typify
|
|
God's spiritual Israel, who not in these little things, but in the
|
|
temper of their spirits, and the course of their lives, should be
|
|
governed by a sober singularity, and not be conformed to this
|
|
world. The learned observe further, That most of the creatures
|
|
which by this law were to be abominated as unclean were such as
|
|
were had in high veneration among the heathen, not so much for food
|
|
as for divination and sacrifice to their gods; and therefore those
|
|
are here mentioned as unclean, and an abomination, which yet they
|
|
would not be in any temptation to eat, that they might keep up a
|
|
religious loathing of that for which the Gentiles had a
|
|
superstitious value. The swine, with the later Gentiles, was sacred
|
|
to Venus, the owl to Minerva, the eagle to Jupiter, the dog to
|
|
Hecate, &c., and all these are here made unclean. As to the
|
|
beasts, there is a general rule laid down, that those which both
|
|
part the hoof and chew the cud were clean, and those only: these
|
|
are particularly mentioned in the repetition of this law (<scripRef passage="De 14:4,5" id="Lev.xii-p3.4" parsed="|Deut|14|4|14|5" osisRef="Bible:Deut.14.4-Deut.14.5">Deut. xiv. 4, 5</scripRef>), where it appears
|
|
that the Israelites had variety enough allowed them, and needed not
|
|
to complain of the confinement they were under. Those beasts that
|
|
did not both <i>chew the cud and divide the hoof</i> were unclean,
|
|
by which rule the flesh of swine, and of hares, and of rabbits, was
|
|
prohibited to them, though commonly used among us. Therefore,
|
|
particularly at the eating of any of these, we should give thanks
|
|
for the liberty granted us in this matter by the gospel, which
|
|
teaches us that <i>every creature of God is good,</i> and we are to
|
|
<i>call nothing common or unclean.</i> Some observe a significancy
|
|
in the rule here laid down for them to distinguish by, or at least
|
|
think it may be alluded to. Meditation, and other acts of devotion
|
|
done by the hidden man of the heart, may be signified by the
|
|
chewing of the cud, digesting our spiritual food; justice and
|
|
charity towards men, and the acts of a good conversation, may be
|
|
signified by the <i>dividing of the hoof.</i> Now either of these
|
|
without the other will not serve to recommend us to God, but both
|
|
must go together, good affections in the heart and good works in
|
|
the life: if either be wanting, we are not clean, surely we are not
|
|
clean. Of all the creatures here forbidden as unclean, none has
|
|
been more dreaded and detested by the pious Jews than swine's
|
|
flesh. Many were put to death by Antiochus because they would not
|
|
eat it. This, probably, they were most in danger of being tempted
|
|
to, and therefore possessed themselves and their children with a
|
|
particular antipathy to it, calling it not by its proper name, but
|
|
<i>a strange thing.</i> It should seem the Gentiles used it
|
|
superstitiously (<scripRef passage="Isa 65:4" id="Lev.xii-p3.5" parsed="|Isa|65|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.4">Isa. lxv.
|
|
4</scripRef>), <i>they eat swine's flesh;</i> and therefore God
|
|
forbids all use of it to his people, lest they should learn of
|
|
their neighbours to make that ill use of it. Some suggest that the
|
|
prohibition of these beasts as unclean was intended to be a caution
|
|
to the people against the bad qualities of these creatures. We must
|
|
not be filthy nor wallow in the mire as swine, nor be timorous and
|
|
faint-hearted as hares, nor dwell in the earth as rabbits; let not
|
|
man that is in honour make himself like these beasts that perish.
|
|
The law forbade, not only the eating of them, but the very touching
|
|
of them; for those that would be kept from any sin must be careful
|
|
to avoid all temptations to it, and every thing that looks towards
|
|
it or leads to it.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 11:9-19" id="Lev.xii-p3.6" parsed="|Lev|11|9|11|19" osisRef="Bible:Lev.11.9-Lev.11.19"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.11.9-Lev.11.19">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xii-p4">9 These shall ye eat of all that <i>are</i> in
|
|
the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the
|
|
seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat.   10 And all that
|
|
have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all
|
|
that move in the waters, and of any living thing which <i>is</i> in
|
|
the waters, they <i>shall be</i> an abomination unto you:   11
|
|
They shall be even an abomination unto you; ye shall not eat of
|
|
their flesh, but ye shall have their carcases in abomination.
|
|
  12 Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters, that
|
|
<i>shall be</i> an abomination unto you.   13 And these <i>are
|
|
they which</i> ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they
|
|
shall not be eaten, they <i>are</i> an abomination: the eagle, and
|
|
the ossifrage, and the ospray,   14 And the vulture, and the
|
|
kite after his kind;   15 Every raven after his kind;  
|
|
16 And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk
|
|
after his kind,   17 And the little owl, and the cormorant,
|
|
and the great owl,   18 And the swan, and the pelican, and the
|
|
gier eagle,   19 And the stork, the heron after her kind, and
|
|
the lapwing, and the bat.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xii-p5">Here is, 1. A general rule concerning
|
|
fishes, which were clean and which not. All that had fins and
|
|
scales they might eat, and only those odd sorts of water-animals
|
|
that have not were forbidden, <scripRef passage="Le 11:9,10" id="Lev.xii-p5.1" parsed="|Lev|11|9|11|10" osisRef="Bible:Lev.11.9-Lev.11.10"><i>v.</i> 9, 10</scripRef>. The ancients accounted
|
|
fish the most delicate food (so far were they from allowing it on
|
|
fasting-days, or making it an instance of mortification to eat
|
|
fish); therefore God did not lay much restraint upon his people in
|
|
them; for he is a Master that allows his servants not only for
|
|
necessity but for delight. Concerning the prohibited fish it is
|
|
said, <i>They shall be an abomination to you</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 11:10-12" id="Lev.xii-p5.2" parsed="|Lev|11|10|11|12" osisRef="Bible:Lev.11.10-Lev.11.12"><i>v.</i> 10-12</scripRef>), that is, "You
|
|
shall count them unclean, and not only not eat of them, but keep at
|
|
a distance from them." Note, Whatever is unclean should be to us an
|
|
abomination; <i>touch not the unclean thing.</i> But observe, It
|
|
was to be an abomination only to Jews; the neighbouring nations
|
|
were under none of these obligations, nor are these things to be an
|
|
abomination to us Christians. The Jews were honoured with peculiar
|
|
privileges, and therefore, lest they should be proud of those,
|
|
<i>Transeunt cum onere—They were likewise laid under peculiar
|
|
restraints.</i> Thus God's spiritual Israel, as they are dignified
|
|
above others by the gospel-covenant of adoption and friendship, so
|
|
they must be mortified more than others by the gospel-commands of
|
|
self-denial and bearing the cross. 2. Concerning fowls here is no
|
|
general rule given, but a particular enumeration of those fowls
|
|
that they must abstain from as unclean, which implies an allowance
|
|
of all others. The critics here have their hands full to find out
|
|
what is the true signification of the Hebrew words here used, some
|
|
of which still remain uncertain, some sorts of fowls being peculiar
|
|
to some countries. Were the law in force now, we should be
|
|
concerned to know with certainty what are prohibited by it; and
|
|
perhaps if we did, and were better acquainted with the nature of
|
|
the fowls here mentioned, we should admire the knowledge of Adam,
|
|
in giving them names expressive of their natures, <scripRef passage="Ge 2:20" id="Lev.xii-p5.3" parsed="|Gen|2|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.20">Gen. ii. 20</scripRef>. But the law being
|
|
repealed, and the learning in a great measure lost, it is
|
|
sufficient for us to observe that of the fowls here forbidden, (1.)
|
|
Some are birds of prey, as the eagle, vulture, &c., and God
|
|
would have his people to abhor every thing that is barbarous and
|
|
cruel, and not to live by blood and rapine. Doves that are preyed
|
|
upon were fit to be food for man and offerings to God; but kites
|
|
and hawks that prey upon them must be looked upon as an abomination
|
|
to God and man; for the condition of those that are persecuted for
|
|
righteousness' sake appears to an eye of faith every way better
|
|
than that of their persecutors. (2.) Others of them are solitary
|
|
birds, that abide in dark and desolate places, as the owl and the
|
|
pelican (<scripRef passage="Ps 102:6" id="Lev.xii-p5.4" parsed="|Ps|102|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.6">Ps. cii. 6</scripRef>), and
|
|
the cormorant and raven (<scripRef passage="Isa 34:11" id="Lev.xii-p5.5" parsed="|Isa|34|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.11">Isa. xxxiv.
|
|
11</scripRef>); for God's Israel should not be a melancholy people,
|
|
nor affect sadness and constant solitude. (3.) Others of them feed
|
|
upon that which is impure, as the stork on serpents, others of them
|
|
on worms; and we must not only abstain from all impurity ourselves,
|
|
but from communion with those that allow themselves in it. (4.)
|
|
Others of them were used by the Egyptians and other Gentiles in
|
|
their divinations. Some birds were reckoned fortunate, others
|
|
ominous; and their soothsayers had great regard to the flights of
|
|
these birds, all which therefore must be an abomination to God's
|
|
people, who must not learn the way of the heathen.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 11:20-42" id="Lev.xii-p5.6" parsed="|Lev|11|20|11|42" osisRef="Bible:Lev.11.20-Lev.11.42"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.11.20-Lev.11.42">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xii-p6">20 All fowls that creep, going upon <i>all</i>
|
|
four, <i>shall be</i> an abomination unto you.   21 Yet these
|
|
may ye eat of every flying creeping thing that goeth upon
|
|
<i>all</i> four, which have legs above their feet, to leap withal
|
|
upon the earth;   22 <i>Even</i> these of them ye may eat; the
|
|
locust after his kind, and the bald locust after his kind, and the
|
|
beetle after his kind, and the grasshopper after his kind.  
|
|
23 But all <i>other</i> flying creeping things, which have four
|
|
feet, <i>shall be</i> an abomination unto you.   24 And for
|
|
these ye shall be unclean: whosoever toucheth the carcase of them
|
|
shall be unclean until the even.   25 And whosoever beareth
|
|
<i>ought</i> of the carcase of them shall wash his clothes, and be
|
|
unclean until the even.   26 <i>The carcases</i> of every
|
|
beast which divideth the hoof, and <i>is</i> not clovenfooted, nor
|
|
cheweth the cud, <i>are</i> unclean unto you: every one that
|
|
toucheth them shall be unclean.   27 And whatsoever goeth upon
|
|
his paws, among all manner of beasts that go on <i>all</i> four,
|
|
those <i>are</i> unclean unto you: whoso toucheth their carcase
|
|
shall be unclean until the even.   28 And he that beareth the
|
|
carcase of them shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the
|
|
even: they <i>are</i> unclean unto you.   29 These also
|
|
<i>shall be</i> unclean unto you among the creeping things that
|
|
creep upon the earth; the weasel, and the mouse, and the tortoise
|
|
after his kind,   30 And the ferret, and the chameleon, and
|
|
the lizard, and the snail, and the mole.   31 These <i>are</i>
|
|
unclean to you among all that creep: whosoever doth touch them,
|
|
when they be dead, shall be unclean until the even.   32 And
|
|
upon whatsoever <i>any</i> of them, when they are dead, doth fall,
|
|
it shall be unclean; whether <i>it be</i> any vessel of wood, or
|
|
raiment, or skin, or sack, whatsoever vessel <i>it be,</i> wherein
|
|
<i>any</i> work is done, it must be put into water, and it shall be
|
|
unclean until the even; so it shall be cleansed.   33 And
|
|
every earthen vessel, whereinto <i>any</i> of them falleth,
|
|
whatsoever <i>is</i> in it shall be unclean; and ye shall break it.
|
|
  34 Of all meat which may be eaten, <i>that</i> on which
|
|
<i>such</i> water cometh shall be unclean: and all drink that may
|
|
be drunk in every <i>such</i> vessel shall be unclean.   35
|
|
And every <i>thing</i> whereupon <i>any part</i> of their carcase
|
|
falleth shall be unclean; <i>whether it be</i> oven, or ranges for
|
|
pots, they shall be broken down: <i>for</i> they <i>are</i>
|
|
unclean, and shall be unclean unto you.   36 Nevertheless a
|
|
fountain or pit, <i>wherein there is</i> plenty of water, shall be
|
|
clean: but that which toucheth their carcase shall be unclean.
|
|
  37 And if <i>any part</i> of their carcase fall upon any
|
|
sowing seed which is to be sown, it <i>shall be</i> clean.  
|
|
38 But if <i>any</i> water be put upon the seed, and <i>any
|
|
part</i> of their carcase fall thereon, it <i>shall be</i> unclean
|
|
unto you.   39 And if any beast, of which ye may eat, die; he
|
|
that toucheth the carcase thereof shall be unclean until the even.
|
|
  40 And he that eateth of the carcase of it shall wash his
|
|
clothes, and be unclean until the even: he also that beareth the
|
|
carcase of it shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the
|
|
even.   41 And every creeping thing that creepeth upon the
|
|
earth <i>shall be</i> an abomination; it shall not be eaten.  
|
|
42 Whatsoever goeth upon the belly, and whatsoever goeth upon
|
|
<i>all</i> four, or whatsoever hath more feet among all creeping
|
|
things that creep upon the earth, them ye shall not eat; for they
|
|
<i>are</i> an abomination.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xii-p7">Here is the law, 1. Concerning flying
|
|
insects, as flies, wasps, bees, &c.; these they might not eat
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 11:20" id="Lev.xii-p7.1" parsed="|Lev|11|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.11.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>), nor indeed
|
|
are they fit to be eaten; but there were several sorts of locusts
|
|
which in those countries were very good meat, and much used: John
|
|
Baptist lived upon them in the desert, and they are here allowed
|
|
them, <scripRef passage="Le 11:21,22" id="Lev.xii-p7.2" parsed="|Lev|11|21|11|22" osisRef="Bible:Lev.11.21-Lev.11.22"><i>v.</i> 21, 22</scripRef>.
|
|
2. Concerning the creeping things on the earth; these were all
|
|
forbidden (<scripRef passage="Le 11:29,30" id="Lev.xii-p7.3" parsed="|Lev|11|29|11|30" osisRef="Bible:Lev.11.29-Lev.11.30"><i>v.</i> 29,
|
|
30</scripRef>, and again, <scripRef passage="Le 11:41,42" id="Lev.xii-p7.4" parsed="|Lev|11|41|11|42" osisRef="Bible:Lev.11.41-Lev.11.42"><i>v.</i>
|
|
41, 42</scripRef>); for it was the curse of the serpent that
|
|
<i>upon his belly he should go,</i> and therefore between him and
|
|
man there was an enmity put (<scripRef passage="Ge 3:15" id="Lev.xii-p7.5" parsed="|Gen|3|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.15">Gen. iii.
|
|
15</scripRef>), which was preserved by this law. Dust is the meat
|
|
of the creeping things, and therefore they are not fit to be man's
|
|
meat. 3. Concerning the dead carcasses of all these unclean
|
|
animals. (1.) Every one that touched them was to be unclean until
|
|
the evening, <scripRef passage="Le 11:24-28" id="Lev.xii-p7.6" parsed="|Lev|11|24|11|28" osisRef="Bible:Lev.11.24-Lev.11.28"><i>v.</i>
|
|
24-28</scripRef>. This law is often repeated, to possess them with
|
|
a dread of every thing that was prohibited, though no particular
|
|
reason for the prohibition did appear, but only the will of the
|
|
Law-maker. Not that they were to be looked upon as defiling to the
|
|
conscience, or that it was a sin against God to touch them, unless
|
|
done in contempt of the law: in many cases, somebody must of
|
|
necessity touch them, to remove them; but it was a
|
|
<i>ceremonial</i> uncleanness they contracted, which for the time
|
|
forbade them to come into the tabernacle, or to eat of any of the
|
|
holy things, or so much as to converse familiarly with their
|
|
neighbours. But the uncleanness continued only till the evening, to
|
|
signify that all ceremonial pollutions were to come to an end by
|
|
the death of Christ in the evening of the world. And we must learn,
|
|
by daily renewing our repentance every night for the sins of the
|
|
day, to cleanse ourselves from the pollution we contract by them,
|
|
that we may not lie down in our uncleanness. Even unclean animals
|
|
they might touch while they were alive without contracting any
|
|
ceremonial uncleanness by it, as horses and dogs, because they were
|
|
allowed to use them for service; but they might not touch them when
|
|
they were dead, because they might not eat their flesh; and what
|
|
must not be eaten must not be touched, <scripRef passage="Ge 3:3" id="Lev.xii-p7.7" parsed="|Gen|3|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.3">Gen. iii. 3</scripRef>. (2.) Even the vessels, or other
|
|
things they fell upon, were thereby made unclean until the evening
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 11:32" id="Lev.xii-p7.8" parsed="|Lev|11|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.11.32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>), and if they
|
|
were earthen vessels they must be broken, <scripRef passage="Le 11:33" id="Lev.xii-p7.9" parsed="|Lev|11|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.11.33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>. This taught them carefully to
|
|
avoid every thing that was polluting, even in their common actions.
|
|
Not only the vessels of the sanctuary, but every pot in Jerusalem
|
|
and Judah, must be <i>holiness to the Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Zec 14:20,21" id="Lev.xii-p7.10" parsed="|Zech|14|20|14|21" osisRef="Bible:Zech.14.20-Zech.14.21">Zech. xiv. 20, 21</scripRef>. The laws in these
|
|
cases are very critical, and the observance of them would be
|
|
difficult, we should think, if every thing that a dead mouse or
|
|
rat, for instance, falls upon must be unclean; and if it were an
|
|
oven, or ranges for pots, they must all be broken down, <scripRef passage="Le 11:35" id="Lev.xii-p7.11" parsed="|Lev|11|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.11.35"><i>v.</i> 35</scripRef>. The exceptions also are
|
|
very nice, <scripRef passage="Le 11:36" id="Lev.xii-p7.12" parsed="|Lev|11|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.11.36"><i>v.</i> 36</scripRef>,
|
|
&c. All this was designed to exercise them to a constant care
|
|
and exactness in their obedience, and to teach us, who by Christ
|
|
are delivered from these burdensome observances, not to be less
|
|
circumspect in the more weighty matters of the law. We ought as
|
|
industriously to preserve our precious souls from the pollutions of
|
|
sin, and as speedily to cleanse them when they are polluted, as
|
|
they were to preserve and cleanse their bodies and household goods
|
|
from those ceremonial pollutions.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 11:43-47" id="Lev.xii-p7.13" parsed="|Lev|11|43|11|47" osisRef="Bible:Lev.11.43-Lev.11.47"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.11.43-Lev.11.47">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xii-p8">43 Ye shall not make yourselves abominable with
|
|
any creeping thing that creepeth, neither shall ye make yourselves
|
|
unclean with them, that ye should be defiled thereby.   44 For
|
|
I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xii-p8.1">Lord</span> your God: ye
|
|
shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I
|
|
<i>am</i> holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner
|
|
of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.   45 For I
|
|
<i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xii-p8.2">Lord</span> that bringeth you
|
|
up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be
|
|
holy, for I <i>am</i> holy.   46 This <i>is</i> the law of the
|
|
beasts, and of the fowl, and of every living creature that moveth
|
|
in the waters, and of every creature that creepeth upon the earth:
|
|
  47 To make a difference between the unclean and the clean,
|
|
and between the beast that may be eaten and the beast that may not
|
|
be eaten.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xii-p9">Here is, I. The exposition of this law, or
|
|
a key to let us into the meaning of it. It was not intended merely
|
|
for a bill of fare, or as the directions of a physician about their
|
|
diet, but God would hereby teach them to sanctify themselves and to
|
|
be holy, <scripRef passage="Le 11:44" id="Lev.xii-p9.1" parsed="|Lev|11|44|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.11.44"><i>v.</i> 44</scripRef>. That
|
|
is, 1. They must hereby learn to put a difference between good and
|
|
evil, and to reckon that it could not be all alike what they did,
|
|
when it was not all alike what they ate. 2. To maintain a constant
|
|
observance of the divine law, and to govern themselves by that in
|
|
all their actions, even those that are common, which ought to be
|
|
performed <i>after a godly sort,</i> <scripRef passage="3Jo 1:6" id="Lev.xii-p9.2" parsed="|3John|1|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:3John.1.6">3
|
|
John 6</scripRef>. Even eating and drinking must be by rule, and
|
|
<i>to the glory of God,</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 10:31" id="Lev.xii-p9.3" parsed="|1Cor|10|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.10.31">1 Cor. x.
|
|
31</scripRef>. 3. To distinguish themselves from all their
|
|
neighbours, as a people set apart for God, and obliged not to walk
|
|
as the Gentiles: and all this is holiness. Thus these <i>rudiments
|
|
of the world</i> were their tutors and governors (<scripRef passage="Ga 4:2,3" id="Lev.xii-p9.4" parsed="|Gal|4|2|4|3" osisRef="Bible:Gal.4.2-Gal.4.3">Gal. iv. 2, 3</scripRef>), to bring them to that
|
|
which is the revival of our first state in Adam and the earnest of
|
|
our best state with Christ, that is, <i>holiness,</i> without which
|
|
no man shall see the Lord. This is indeed the great design of all
|
|
the ordinances, that by them we may sanctify ourselves and learn to
|
|
be holy. Even This law concerning their food, which seemed to stoop
|
|
so very low, aimed thus high, for it was the statute-law of heaven,
|
|
under the Old Testament as well as the New, that <i>without
|
|
holiness no man shall see the Lord.</i> The caution therefore
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 11:43" id="Lev.xii-p9.5" parsed="|Lev|11|43|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.11.43"><i>v.</i> 43</scripRef>) is, <i>You
|
|
shall not make yourselves abominable.</i> Note, By having
|
|
fellowship with sin, which is abominable, we make ourselves
|
|
abominable. That man is truly miserable who is in the sight of God
|
|
abominable; and none are so but those that make themselves so. The
|
|
Jewish writers themselves suggest that the intention of this law
|
|
was to forbid them all communion by marriage, or otherwise, with
|
|
the heathen, <scripRef passage="De 7:2,3" id="Lev.xii-p9.6" parsed="|Deut|7|2|7|3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.2-Deut.7.3">Deut. vii. 2,
|
|
3</scripRef>. And thus the moral of it is obligatory on us,
|
|
forbidding us to <i>have fellowship with the unfruitful works of
|
|
darkness;</i> and, without this real holiness of the heart and
|
|
life, <i>he that offereth an oblation</i> is <i>as if he offered
|
|
swine's blood</i> (<scripRef passage="Isa 66:3" id="Lev.xii-p9.7" parsed="|Isa|66|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.66.3">Isa. lxvi.
|
|
3</scripRef>); and, if it was such a provocation for a man to eat
|
|
swine's flesh himself, much more it must be so to offer swine's
|
|
blood at God's altar; see <scripRef passage="Pr 15:8" id="Lev.xii-p9.8" parsed="|Prov|15|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.15.8">Prov. xv.
|
|
8</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xii-p10">II. The reasons of this law; and they are
|
|
all taken from the Law-maker himself, to whom we must have respect
|
|
in all acts of obedience. 1. <i>I am the Lord your God,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 11:44" id="Lev.xii-p10.1" parsed="|Lev|11|44|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.11.44"><i>v.</i> 44</scripRef>. "Therefore
|
|
you are bound to do thus, in pure obedience." God's sovereignty
|
|
over us, and propriety in us, oblige us to do whatever he commands
|
|
us, how much soever it crosses our inclinations. 2. <i>I am
|
|
holy,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 11:44" id="Lev.xii-p10.2" parsed="|Lev|11|44|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.11.44"><i>v.</i> 44</scripRef>, and
|
|
again, <scripRef passage="Le 11:45" id="Lev.xii-p10.3" parsed="|Lev|11|45|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.11.45"><i>v.</i> 45</scripRef>. If God
|
|
be holy, we must be so, else we cannot expect to be accepted of
|
|
him. His holiness is his glory (<scripRef passage="Ex 15:11" id="Lev.xii-p10.4" parsed="|Exod|15|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.11">Exod.
|
|
xv. 11</scripRef>), and therefore it <i>becomes his house for
|
|
ever,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 93:5" id="Lev.xii-p10.5" parsed="|Ps|93|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.93.5">Ps. xciii. 5</scripRef>. This
|
|
great precept, thus enforced, though it comes in here in the midst
|
|
of abrogated laws, is quoted and stamped for a gospel precept,
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Pe 1:16" id="Lev.xii-p10.6" parsed="|1Pet|1|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.1.16">1 Pet. i. 16</scripRef>, where it is
|
|
intimated that all these ceremonial restraints were designed to
|
|
teach us that we must not <i>fashion ourselves according to our
|
|
former lusts in our ignorance,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 11:14" id="Lev.xii-p10.7" parsed="|Lev|11|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.11.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. 3. <i>I am the Lord that
|
|
bringeth you out of the land of Egypt,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 11:45" id="Lev.xii-p10.8" parsed="|Lev|11|45|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.11.45"><i>v.</i> 45</scripRef>. This was a reason why they
|
|
should cheerfully submit to distinguishing laws, having of late
|
|
been so wonderfully dignified with distinguishing favours. He that
|
|
had done more for them than for any other people might justly
|
|
expect more from them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xii-p11">III. The conclusion of this statute:
|
|
<i>This is the law of the beasts, and of the fowl,</i> &c.,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 11:46,47" id="Lev.xii-p11.1" parsed="|Lev|11|46|11|47" osisRef="Bible:Lev.11.46-Lev.11.47"><i>v.</i> 46, 47</scripRef>. This
|
|
law was to them a statute for ever, that is, as long as that
|
|
economy lasted; but under the gospel we find it expressly repealed
|
|
by a voice from heaven to Peter (<scripRef passage="Ac 10:15" id="Lev.xii-p11.2" parsed="|Acts|10|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.10.15">Acts
|
|
x. 15</scripRef>), as it had before been virtually set aside by the
|
|
death of Christ, with the other ordinances that <i>perished in the
|
|
using: Touch not, taste not, handle not,</i> <scripRef passage="Col 2:21,22" id="Lev.xii-p11.3" parsed="|Col|2|21|2|22" osisRef="Bible:Col.2.21-Col.2.22">Col. ii. 21, 22</scripRef>. And now we are sure that
|
|
<i>meat commends us not to God</i> (<scripRef passage="1Co 8:8" id="Lev.xii-p11.4" parsed="|1Cor|8|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.8.8">1
|
|
Cor. viii. 8</scripRef>), and that <i>nothing is unclean of
|
|
itself</i> (<scripRef passage="Ro 14:14" id="Lev.xii-p11.5" parsed="|Rom|14|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.14.14">Rom. xiv. 14</scripRef>),
|
|
nor does that defile a man which goes into his mouth, but that
|
|
which comes out from the heart, <scripRef passage="Mt 15:11" id="Lev.xii-p11.6" parsed="|Matt|15|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.15.11">Matt.
|
|
xv. 11</scripRef>. Let us therefore, 1. Give thanks to God that we
|
|
are not under this yoke, but that to us every creature of God is
|
|
allowed as good, and nothing to be refused. 2. <i>Stand fast in the
|
|
liberty wherewith Christ has made us free,</i> and take heed of
|
|
those doctrines which <i>command to abstain from meats,</i> and so
|
|
would revive Moses again, <scripRef passage="1Ti 4:3,4" id="Lev.xii-p11.7" parsed="|1Tim|4|3|4|4" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.4.3-1Tim.4.4">1 Tim. iv.
|
|
3, 4</scripRef>. 3. Be strictly and conscientiously temperate in
|
|
the use of the good creatures God has allowed us. If God's law has
|
|
given us liberty, let us lay restraints upon ourselves, and never
|
|
feed ourselves without fear, lest our table be a snare. <i>Set a
|
|
knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite;</i> and
|
|
<i>be not desirous of dainties</i> or varieties, <scripRef passage="Pr 23:2,3" id="Lev.xii-p11.8" parsed="|Prov|23|2|23|3" osisRef="Bible:Prov.23.2-Prov.23.3">Prov. xxiii. 2, 3</scripRef>. Nature is content with
|
|
little, grace with less, but lust with nothing.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XII" n="xiii" progress="55.56%" prev="Lev.xii" next="Lev.xiv" id="Lev.xiii">
|
|
<h2 id="Lev.xiii-p0.1">L E V I T I C U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Lev.xiii-p0.2">CHAP. XII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Lev.xiii-p1">After the laws concerning clean and unclean food
|
|
come the laws concerning clean and unclean persons; and the first
|
|
is in this chapter concerning the ceremonial uncleanness of women
|
|
in child-birth, <scripRef passage="Le 12:1-5" id="Lev.xiii-p1.1" parsed="|Lev|12|1|12|5" osisRef="Bible:Lev.12.1-Lev.12.5">ver. 1-5</scripRef>.
|
|
And concerning their purification from that uncleanness, <scripRef passage="Le 12:6-8" id="Lev.xiii-p1.2" parsed="|Lev|12|6|12|8" osisRef="Bible:Lev.12.6-Lev.12.8">ver. 6</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 12" id="Lev.xiii-p1.3" parsed="|Lev|12|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.12"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 12:1-5" id="Lev.xiii-p1.4" parsed="|Lev|12|1|12|5" osisRef="Bible:Lev.12.1-Lev.12.5"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.12.1-Lev.12.5">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.xiii-p1.5">Ceremonial Purification. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xiii-p1.6">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xiii-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xiii-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   2 Speak unto the children of
|
|
Israel, saying, If a woman have conceived seed, and born a man
|
|
child: then she shall be unclean seven days; according to the days
|
|
of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean.   3
|
|
And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be
|
|
circumcised.   4 And she shall then continue in the blood of
|
|
her purifying three and thirty days; she shall touch no hallowed
|
|
thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying
|
|
be fulfilled.   5 But if she bear a maid child, then she shall
|
|
be unclean two weeks, as in her separation: and she shall continue
|
|
in the blood of her purifying threescore and six days.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xiii-p3">The law here pronounces women lying-in
|
|
ceremonially unclean. The Jews say, "The law extended even to an
|
|
abortion, if the child was so formed as that the sex was
|
|
distinguishable." 1. There was some time of strict separation
|
|
immediately after the birth, which continued seven days for a son
|
|
and fourteen for a daughter, <scripRef passage="Le 12:2,5" id="Lev.xiii-p3.1" parsed="|Lev|12|2|0|0;|Lev|12|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.12.2 Bible:Lev.12.5"><i>v.</i> 2, 5</scripRef>. During these days she was
|
|
separated from her husband and friends, and those that necessarily
|
|
attended her were ceremonially unclean, which was one reason why
|
|
the males were not circumcised till the eighth day, because they
|
|
participated in the mother's pollution during the days of her
|
|
separation. 2. There was also a longer time appointed for their
|
|
purifying; thirty-three days more (forty in all) if the birth were
|
|
a male, and double that time if a female, <scripRef passage="Le 12:4,5" id="Lev.xiii-p3.2" parsed="|Lev|12|4|12|5" osisRef="Bible:Lev.12.4-Lev.12.5"><i>v.</i> 4, 5</scripRef>. During this time they were
|
|
only separated from the sanctuary and forbidden to eat of the
|
|
passover, or peace-offerings, or, if a priest's wife, to eat of any
|
|
thing that was holy to the Lord. Why the time of both those was
|
|
double for a female to what it was for a male I can assign no
|
|
reason but the will of the Law-maker; in Christ Jesus no difference
|
|
is made of male and female, <scripRef passage="Ga 3:28,Col 3:11" id="Lev.xiii-p3.3" parsed="|Gal|3|28|0|0;|Col|3|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.3.28 Bible:Col.3.11">Gal. iii. 28; Col. iii. 11</scripRef>. But this
|
|
ceremonial uncleanness which the law laid women in child-bed under
|
|
was to signify the pollution of sin which we are all conceived and
|
|
born in, <scripRef passage="Ps 51:5" id="Lev.xiii-p3.4" parsed="|Ps|51|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.51.5">Ps. li. 5</scripRef>. For, if
|
|
the root be impure, so is the branch, <i>Who can bring a clean
|
|
thing out of an unclean?</i> If sin had not entered, nothing but
|
|
purity and honour had attended all the productions of that great
|
|
blessing, <i>Be fruitful and multiply;</i> but now that the nature
|
|
of man is degenerated the propagation of that nature is laid under
|
|
these marks of disgrace, because of the sin and corruption that are
|
|
propagated with it, and in remembrance of the curse upon the woman
|
|
that was first in the transgression. That <i>in sorrow</i> (to
|
|
which it is here further added <i>in shame</i>) she should <i>bring
|
|
forth children.</i> And the exclusion of the woman for so many days
|
|
from the sanctuary, and all participation of the holy things,
|
|
signified that our original corruption (that sinning sin which we
|
|
brought into the world with us) would have excluded us for ever
|
|
from the enjoyment of God and his favours if he had not graciously
|
|
provided for our purifying.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 12:6-8" id="Lev.xiii-p3.5" parsed="|Lev|12|6|12|8" osisRef="Bible:Lev.12.6-Lev.12.8"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.12.6-Lev.12.8">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xiii-p4">6 And when the days of her purifying are
|
|
fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of
|
|
the first year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon, or a
|
|
turtledove, for a sin offering, unto the door of the tabernacle of
|
|
the congregation, unto the priest:   7 Who shall offer it
|
|
before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xiii-p4.1">Lord</span>, and make an
|
|
atonement for her; and she shall be cleansed from the issue of her
|
|
blood. This <i>is</i> the law for her that hath born a male or a
|
|
female.   8 And if she be not able to bring a lamb, then she
|
|
shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons; the one for the
|
|
burnt offering, and the other for a sin offering: and the priest
|
|
shall make an atonement for her, and she shall be clean.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xiii-p5">A woman that had lain in, when the time set
|
|
for her return to the sanctuary had come, was not to attend there
|
|
empty, but must bring her offerings, <scripRef passage="Le 12:6" id="Lev.xiii-p5.1" parsed="|Lev|12|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.12.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. 1. A <i>burnt-offering;</i> a
|
|
lamb if she was able, if poor, a pigeon. This she was to offer in
|
|
thankfulness to God for his mercy to her, in bringing her safely
|
|
through the pains of child-bearing and all the perils of child-bed,
|
|
and in desire and hopes of God's further favour both to her and to
|
|
the child. When a child is born there is joy and there is hope, and
|
|
therefore it was proper to bring this offering, which was of a
|
|
general nature; for what we rejoice in we must give thanks for, and
|
|
what we are in hopes of we must pray for. But, besides this, 2. She
|
|
must offer a <i>sin-offering,</i> which must be the same for poor
|
|
and rich, a turtle-dove or a young pigeon; for, whatever difference
|
|
there may be between rich and poor in the sacrifices of
|
|
acknowledgment, that of atonement is the same for both. This
|
|
sin-offering was intended either, (1.) To complete her purification
|
|
from that ceremonial uncleanness which, though it was not in itself
|
|
sinful, yet was typical of moral pollution; or, (2.) To make
|
|
atonement for that which was really sin, either an inordinate
|
|
desire of the blessing of children or discontent or impatience
|
|
under the pains of child-bearing. It is only by Christ, the great
|
|
sin-offering, that the corruption of our nature is done away, and
|
|
to that it is owing that we are not for ever excluded by it from
|
|
the sanctuary, and from eating of the holy things. According to
|
|
this law, we find that the mother of our blessed Lord, though he
|
|
was not conceived in sin as others, yet <i>accomplished the days of
|
|
purification,</i> and then presented her son to the Lord, being a
|
|
first-born, and brought her own offering, <i>a pair of
|
|
turtle-doves,</i> <scripRef passage="Lu 2:22-24" id="Lev.xiii-p5.2" parsed="|Luke|2|22|2|24" osisRef="Bible:Luke.2.22-Luke.2.24">Luke ii.
|
|
22-24</scripRef>. So poor were Christ's parents that they were not
|
|
able to bring a lamb for a burnt-offering; and so early was Christ
|
|
<i>made under the law, to redeem those that were under it.</i> The
|
|
morality of this law obliges those women that have received mercy
|
|
from God in child-bearing with all thankfulness to own God's
|
|
goodness to them, acknowledging themselves unworthy of it, and
|
|
(which is the best purification of women that have been saved in
|
|
child-bearing, <scripRef passage="1Ti 2:15" id="Lev.xiii-p5.3" parsed="|1Tim|2|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.2.15">1 Tim. ii.
|
|
15</scripRef>) to <i>continue in faith, and charity, and holiness,
|
|
with sobriety;</i> for this shall please the Lord better than the
|
|
turtle-doves or the young pigeons.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XIII" n="xiv" progress="55.70%" prev="Lev.xiii" next="Lev.xv" id="Lev.xiv">
|
|
<h2 id="Lev.xiv-p0.1">L E V I T I C U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Lev.xiv-p0.2">CHAP. XIII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Lev.xiv-p1">The next ceremonial uncleanness is that of the
|
|
leprosy, concerning which the law was very large and particular; we
|
|
have the discovery of it in this chapter, and the cleansing of the
|
|
leper in the next. Scarcely any one thing in all the levitical law
|
|
takes up so much room as this. I. Rules are here given by which the
|
|
priest must judge whether the man had the leprosy or no, according
|
|
as the symptom was that appeared. 1. If it was a swelling, a scab,
|
|
or a bright spot, <scripRef passage="Le 13:1-17" id="Lev.xiv-p1.1" parsed="|Lev|13|1|13|17" osisRef="Bible:Lev.13.1-Lev.13.17">ver.
|
|
1-17</scripRef>. 2. If it was a bile, <scripRef passage="Le 13:18-23" id="Lev.xiv-p1.2" parsed="|Lev|13|18|13|23" osisRef="Bible:Lev.13.18-Lev.13.23">ver. 18-23</scripRef>. 3. If it was in inflammation,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 13:24-28" id="Lev.xiv-p1.3" parsed="|Lev|13|24|13|28" osisRef="Bible:Lev.13.24-Lev.13.28">ver. 24-28</scripRef>. 4. If it was
|
|
in the head or beard, <scripRef passage="Le 13:29-37" id="Lev.xiv-p1.4" parsed="|Lev|13|29|13|37" osisRef="Bible:Lev.13.29-Lev.13.37">ver.
|
|
29-37</scripRef>. 5. If it was a bright spot, <scripRef passage="Le 13:38,39" id="Lev.xiv-p1.5" parsed="|Lev|13|38|13|39" osisRef="Bible:Lev.13.38-Lev.13.39">ver. 38, 39</scripRef>. 6. If it was in a bald head,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 13:40-44" id="Lev.xiv-p1.6" parsed="|Lev|13|40|13|44" osisRef="Bible:Lev.13.40-Lev.13.44">ver. 40-44</scripRef>. II.
|
|
Direction is given how the leper must be disposed of, <scripRef passage="Le 13:45,46" id="Lev.xiv-p1.7" parsed="|Lev|13|45|13|46" osisRef="Bible:Lev.13.45-Lev.13.46">ver. 45, 46</scripRef>. III. Concerning the
|
|
leprosy in garments, <scripRef passage="Le 13:47-59" id="Lev.xiv-p1.8" parsed="|Lev|13|47|13|59" osisRef="Bible:Lev.13.47-Lev.13.59">ver.
|
|
47</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 13" id="Lev.xiv-p1.9" parsed="|Lev|13|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.13"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 13:1-17" id="Lev.xiv-p1.10" parsed="|Lev|13|1|13|17" osisRef="Bible:Lev.13.1-Lev.13.17"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.13.1-Lev.13.17">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.xiv-p1.11">The Law Concerning Leprosy. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xiv-p1.12">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xiv-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xiv-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses and Aaron, saying,   2 When a man shall have
|
|
in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or bright spot, and it
|
|
be in the skin of his flesh <i>like</i> the plague of leprosy; then
|
|
he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons
|
|
the priests:   3 And the priest shall look on the plague in
|
|
the skin of the flesh: and <i>when</i> the hair in the plague is
|
|
turned white, and the plague in sight <i>be</i> deeper than the
|
|
skin of his flesh, it <i>is</i> a plague of leprosy: and the priest
|
|
shall look on him, and pronounce him unclean.   4 If the
|
|
bright spot <i>be</i> white in the skin of his flesh, and in sight
|
|
<i>be</i> not deeper than the skin, and the hair thereof be not
|
|
turned white; then the priest shall shut up <i>him that hath</i>
|
|
the plague seven days:   5 And the priest shall look on him
|
|
the seventh day: and, behold, <i>if</i> the plague in his sight be
|
|
at a stay, <i>and</i> the plague spread not in the skin; then the
|
|
priest shall shut him up seven days more:   6 And the priest
|
|
shall look on him again the seventh day: and, behold, <i>if</i> the
|
|
plague <i>be</i> somewhat dark, <i>and</i> the plague spread not in
|
|
the skin, the priest shall pronounce him clean: it <i>is but</i> a
|
|
scab: and he shall wash his clothes, and be clean.   7 But if
|
|
the scab spread much abroad in the skin, after that he hath been
|
|
seen of the priest for his cleansing, he shall be seen of the
|
|
priest again:   8 And <i>if</i> the priest see that, behold,
|
|
the scab spreadeth in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him
|
|
unclean: it <i>is</i> a leprosy.   9 When the plague of
|
|
leprosy is in a man, then he shall be brought unto the priest;
|
|
  10 And the priest shall see <i>him</i>: and, behold,
|
|
<i>if</i> the rising <i>be</i> white in the skin, and it have
|
|
turned the hair white, and <i>there be</i> quick raw flesh in the
|
|
rising;   11 It <i>is</i> an old leprosy in the skin of his
|
|
flesh, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean, and shall not
|
|
shut him up: for he <i>is</i> unclean.   12 And if a leprosy
|
|
break out abroad in the skin, and the leprosy cover all the skin of
|
|
<i>him that hath</i> the plague from his head even to his foot,
|
|
wheresoever the priest looketh;   13 Then the priest shall
|
|
consider: and, behold, <i>if</i> the leprosy have covered all his
|
|
flesh, he shall pronounce <i>him</i> clean <i>that hath</i> the
|
|
plague: it is all turned white: he <i>is</i> clean.   14 But
|
|
when raw flesh appeareth in him, he shall be unclean.   15 And
|
|
the priest shall see the raw flesh, and pronounce him to be
|
|
unclean: <i>for</i> the raw flesh <i>is</i> unclean: it <i>is</i> a
|
|
leprosy.   16 Or if the raw flesh turn again, and be changed
|
|
unto white, he shall come unto the priest;   17 And the priest
|
|
shall see him: and, behold, <i>if</i> the plague be turned into
|
|
white; then the priest shall pronounce <i>him</i> clean <i>that
|
|
hath</i> the plague: he <i>is</i> clean.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xiv-p3">I. Concerning the plague of leprosy we may
|
|
observe in general, 1. That it was rather an uncleanness than a
|
|
disease; or, at least, so the law considered it, and therefore
|
|
employed not the physicians but the priests about it. Christ is
|
|
said to cleanse lepers, not to cure them. We do not read of any
|
|
that died of the leprosy, but it rather buried them alive, by
|
|
rendering them unfit for conversation with any but such as were
|
|
infected like themselves. Yet there is a tradition that Pharaoh,
|
|
who sought to kill Moses, was the first that ever was struck with
|
|
this disease, and that he died of it. It is said to have begun
|
|
first in Egypt, whence it spread into Syria. It was very well known
|
|
to Moses, when he put his own hand into his bosom and took it out
|
|
leprous. 2. That it was a plague inflicted immediately by the hand
|
|
of God, and came not from natural causes, as other diseases; and
|
|
therefore must be managed according to a divine law. Miriam's
|
|
leprosy, and Gehazi's, and king Uzziah's, were all the punishments
|
|
of particular sins: and, if generally it was so, no marvel there
|
|
was so much care taken to distinguish it from a common distemper,
|
|
that none might be looked upon as lying under this extraordinary
|
|
token of divine displeasure but those that really were so. 3. That
|
|
it is a plague not now known in the world; what is commonly called
|
|
the leprosy is of a quite different nature. This seems to have been
|
|
reserved as a particular scourge for the sinners of those times and
|
|
places. The Jews retained the idolatrous customs they had learnt in
|
|
Egypt, and therefore God justly caused this with some others of the
|
|
diseases of Egypt to follow them. Yet we read of Naaman the Syrian,
|
|
who was a leper, <scripRef passage="2Ki 5:1" id="Lev.xiv-p3.1" parsed="|2Kgs|5|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.5.1">2 Kings v.
|
|
1</scripRef>. 4. That there were other breakings-out in the body
|
|
which did very much resemble the leprosy, but were not it, which
|
|
might make a man sore and loathsome and yet not ceremonially
|
|
unclean. Justly are our bodies called vile bodies, which have in
|
|
them the seeds of so many diseases, by which the lives of so many
|
|
are made bitter to them. 5. That the judgment of it was referred to
|
|
the priests. Lepers were looked upon as stigmatized by the justice
|
|
of God, and therefore it was left to his servants the priests, who
|
|
might be presumed to know his mark best, to pronounce who were
|
|
lepers and who were not. All the Jews say, "Any priest, though
|
|
disabled by a blemish to attend the sanctuary, might be a judge of
|
|
the leprosy, provided the blemish were not in his eye. And he
|
|
might" (they say) "take a common person to assist him in the
|
|
search, but the priest only must pronounce the judgment." 6. That
|
|
it was a figure of the moral pollution of men's minds by sin, which
|
|
is the leprosy of the soul, defiling to the conscience, and from
|
|
which Christ alone can cleanse us; for herein the power of his
|
|
grace infinitely transcends that of the legal priesthood, that the
|
|
priest could only convict the leper (for by the law is the
|
|
knowledge of sin), but Christ can cure the leper, he can take away
|
|
sin. <i>Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean,</i> which was
|
|
more than the priests could do, <scripRef passage="Mt 8:2" id="Lev.xiv-p3.2" parsed="|Matt|8|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.8.2">Matt.
|
|
viii. 2</scripRef>. Some think that the leprosy signified, not so
|
|
much sin in general as a state of sin, by which men are separated
|
|
from God (their spot not being the spot of God's children), and
|
|
scandalous sin, for which men are to be shut out from the communion
|
|
of the faithful. It is a work of great importance, but of great
|
|
difficulty, to judge of our spiritual state: we have all cause to
|
|
suspect ourselves, being conscious to ourselves of sores and spots,
|
|
but whether clean or unclean is the question. A man might have a
|
|
scab (<scripRef passage="Le 13:6" id="Lev.xiv-p3.3" parsed="|Lev|13|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.13.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>) and yet
|
|
be clean: the best have their infirmities; but, as there were
|
|
certain marks by which to know that it was a leprosy, so there are
|
|
characters of such as are in the gall of bitterness, and the work
|
|
of ministers is to declare the judgment of leprosy and to assist
|
|
those that suspect themselves in the trial of their spiritual
|
|
state, remitting or retaining sin. And hence the keys of the
|
|
kingdom of heaven are said to be given to them, because they are to
|
|
separate between the precious and the vile, and to judge who are
|
|
fit as clean to partake of the holy things and who as unclean must
|
|
be debarred from them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xiv-p4">II. Several rules are here laid down by
|
|
which the judgment of the priest must be governed. 1. If the sore
|
|
was but <i>skin-deep,</i> it was to be hoped it was not the
|
|
<i>leprosy,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 13:4" id="Lev.xiv-p4.1" parsed="|Lev|13|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.13.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>.
|
|
But, if it was <i>deeper than the skin,</i> the man must be
|
|
pronounced unclean, <scripRef passage="Le 13:3" id="Lev.xiv-p4.2" parsed="|Lev|13|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.13.3"><i>v.</i>
|
|
3</scripRef>. The infirmities that consist with grace do not sink
|
|
deep into the soul, but <i>the mind</i> still <i>serves the law of
|
|
God,</i> and the <i>inward man delights in it,</i> <scripRef passage="Ro 7:22,25" id="Lev.xiv-p4.3" parsed="|Rom|7|22|0|0;|Rom|7|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.7.22 Bible:Rom.7.25">Rom. vii. 22, 25</scripRef>. But if the matter
|
|
be really worse than it shows, and the inwards be infected, the
|
|
case is dangerous. 2. If the sore <i>be at a stay,</i> and do not
|
|
<i>spread,</i> it is no leprosy, <scripRef passage="Le 13:4,5" id="Lev.xiv-p4.4" parsed="|Lev|13|4|13|5" osisRef="Bible:Lev.13.4-Lev.13.5"><i>v.</i> 4, 5</scripRef>. But if it <i>spread much
|
|
abroad,</i> and continue to do so after several inspections, the
|
|
case is bad, <scripRef passage="Le 13:7,8" id="Lev.xiv-p4.5" parsed="|Lev|13|7|13|8" osisRef="Bible:Lev.13.7-Lev.13.8"><i>v.</i> 7,
|
|
8</scripRef>. If men do not grow worse, but a stop be put to the
|
|
course of their sins and their corruptions be checked, it is to be
|
|
hoped they will grow better; but if sin get ground, and they become
|
|
worse every day, they are going downhill. 3. If there was <i>proud
|
|
raw flesh</i> in the rising, the priest needed not to wait any
|
|
longer, it was certainly a leprosy, <scripRef passage="Le 13:10,11" id="Lev.xiv-p4.6" parsed="|Lev|13|10|13|11" osisRef="Bible:Lev.13.10-Lev.13.11"><i>v.</i> 10, 11</scripRef>. Nor is there any surer
|
|
indication of the badness of a man's spiritual state than the
|
|
heart's rising in self-conceit, confidence in the flesh, and
|
|
resistance of the reproofs of the word and strivings of the Spirit.
|
|
4. If the eruption, whatever it was, <i>covered all the skin</i>
|
|
from head to foot, it was no leprosy (<scripRef passage="Le 13:12,13" id="Lev.xiv-p4.7" parsed="|Lev|13|12|13|13" osisRef="Bible:Lev.13.12-Lev.13.13"><i>v.</i> 12, 13</scripRef>); for it was an evidence
|
|
that the vitals were sound and strong, and nature hereby helped
|
|
itself, throwing out what was burdensome and pernicious. There is
|
|
hope in the small-pox when they come out well: so if men freely
|
|
confess their sins, and hide them not, there is no danger
|
|
comparable to theirs that cover their sins. Some gather this from
|
|
it, that there is more hope of the profane than of hypocrites. The
|
|
publicans and harlots went into the kingdom of heaven before
|
|
scribes and Pharisees. In one respect, the sudden breakings-out of
|
|
passion, though bad enough, are not so dangerous as malice
|
|
concealed. Others gather this, that, if we judge ourselves, we
|
|
shall not be judged; if we see and own that there is <i>no health
|
|
in us, no soundness in our flesh,</i> by reason of sin, we shall
|
|
<i>find grace in the eyes of the Lord.</i> 5. The priest must take
|
|
time in making his judgment, and not give it rashly. If the matter
|
|
looked suspicious, he must shut up the patient seven days, and then
|
|
seven days more, that his judgment might be <i>according to
|
|
truth.</i> This teaches all, both ministers and people, not to be
|
|
hasty in their censures, nor to judge any thing <i>before the
|
|
time.</i> If <i>some men's sins go before unto judgment,</i> the
|
|
sins of others <i>follow after,</i> and so men's good works;
|
|
therefore let nothing be done <i>suddenly,</i> <scripRef passage="1Ti 5:22,24,25" id="Lev.xiv-p4.8" parsed="|1Tim|5|22|0|0;|1Tim|5|24|0|0;|1Tim|5|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.5.22 Bible:1Tim.5.24 Bible:1Tim.5.25">1 Tim. v. 22, 24, 25</scripRef>. 6. If the person
|
|
suspected was found to be clean, yet he must <i>wash his
|
|
clothes</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 13:6" id="Lev.xiv-p4.9" parsed="|Lev|13|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.13.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>),
|
|
because he had been under the suspicion, and there had been in him
|
|
that which gave ground for the suspicion. Even the prisoner that is
|
|
acquitted must go down on his knees. We have need to be washed in
|
|
the blood of Christ from our spots, though they be not
|
|
leprosy-spots; for who can say, <i>I am pure from sin?</i> though
|
|
there are those who through grace are <i>innocent from the great
|
|
transgression.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 13" id="Lev.xiv-p4.10" parsed="|Lev|13|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.13"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 13:18-37" id="Lev.xiv-p4.11" parsed="|Lev|13|18|13|37" osisRef="Bible:Lev.13.18-Lev.13.37"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.13.18-Lev.13.37">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xiv-p5">18 The flesh also, in which, <i>even</i> in the
|
|
skin thereof, was a boil, and is healed,   19 And in the place
|
|
of the boil there be a white rising, or a bright spot, white, and
|
|
somewhat reddish, and it be showed to the priest;   20 And if,
|
|
when the priest seeth it, behold, it <i>be</i> in sight lower than
|
|
the skin, and the hair thereof be turned white; the priest shall
|
|
pronounce him unclean: it <i>is</i> a plague of leprosy broken out
|
|
of the boil.   21 But if the priest look on it, and, behold,
|
|
<i>there be</i> no white hairs therein, and <i>if</i> it <i>be</i>
|
|
not lower than the skin, but <i>be</i> somewhat dark; then the
|
|
priest shall shut him up seven days:   22 And if it spread
|
|
much abroad in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him
|
|
unclean: it <i>is</i> a plague.   23 But if the bright spot
|
|
stay in his place, <i>and</i> spread not, it <i>is</i> a burning
|
|
boil; and the priest shall pronounce him clean.   24 Or if
|
|
there be <i>any</i> flesh, in the skin whereof <i>there is</i> a
|
|
hot burning, and the quick <i>flesh</i> that burneth have a white
|
|
bright spot, somewhat reddish, or white;   25 Then the priest
|
|
shall look upon it: and, behold, <i>if</i> the hair in the bright
|
|
spot be turned white, and it <i>be in</i> sight deeper than the
|
|
skin; it <i>is</i> a leprosy broken out of the burning: wherefore
|
|
the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it <i>is</i> the plague of
|
|
leprosy.   26 But if the priest look on it, and, behold,
|
|
<i>there be</i> no white hair in the bright spot, and it <i>be</i>
|
|
no lower than the <i>other</i> skin, but <i>be</i> somewhat dark;
|
|
then the priest shall shut him up seven days:   27 And the
|
|
priest shall look upon him the seventh day: <i>and</i> if it be
|
|
spread much abroad in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him
|
|
unclean: it <i>is</i> the plague of leprosy.   28 And if the
|
|
bright spot stay in his place, <i>and</i> spread not in the skin,
|
|
but it <i>be</i> somewhat dark; it <i>is</i> a rising of the
|
|
burning, and the priest shall pronounce him clean: for it <i>is</i>
|
|
an inflammation of the burning.   29 If a man or woman have a
|
|
plague upon the head or the beard;   30 Then the priest shall
|
|
see the plague: and, behold, if it <i>be</i> in sight deeper than
|
|
the skin; <i>and there be</i> in it a yellow thin hair; then the
|
|
priest shall pronounce him unclean: it <i>is</i> a dry scall,
|
|
<i>even</i> a leprosy upon the head or beard.   31 And if the
|
|
priest look on the plague of the scall, and, behold, it <i>be</i>
|
|
not in sight deeper than the skin, and <i>that there is</i> no
|
|
black hair in it; then the priest shall shut up <i>him that
|
|
hath</i> the plague of the scall seven days:   32 And in the
|
|
seventh day the priest shall look on the plague: and, behold,
|
|
<i>if</i> the scall spread not, and there be in it no yellow hair,
|
|
and the scall <i>be</i> not in sight deeper than the skin;  
|
|
33 He shall be shaven, but the scall shall he not shave; and the
|
|
priest shall shut up <i>him that hath</i> the scall seven days
|
|
more:   34 And in the seventh day the priest shall look on the
|
|
scall: and, behold, <i>if</i> the scall be not spread in the skin,
|
|
nor <i>be</i> in sight deeper than the skin; then the priest shall
|
|
pronounce him clean: and he shall wash his clothes, and be clean.
|
|
  35 But if the scall spread much in the skin after his
|
|
cleansing;   36 Then the priest shall look on him: and,
|
|
behold, if the scall be spread in the skin, the priest shall not
|
|
seek for yellow hair; he <i>is</i> unclean.   37 But if the
|
|
scall be in his sight at a stay, and <i>that</i> there is black
|
|
hair grown up therein; the scall is healed, he <i>is</i> clean: and
|
|
the priest shall pronounce him clean.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xiv-p6">The priest is here instructed what judgment
|
|
to make if there was any appearance of a leprosy, either, 1. In an
|
|
old ulcer, or bile, that has been healed, <scripRef passage="Le 13:18" id="Lev.xiv-p6.1" parsed="|Lev|13|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.13.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>, &c. When old sores, that
|
|
seemed to be cured, break out again, it is to be feared there is a
|
|
leprosy in them; such is the danger of those who, having escaped
|
|
the pollutions of the world, are again <i>entangled therein and
|
|
overcome.</i> Or, 2. In a burn by accident, for this seems to be
|
|
meant, <scripRef passage="Le 13:24" id="Lev.xiv-p6.2" parsed="|Lev|13|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.13.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>,
|
|
&c. The burning of strife and contention often proves the
|
|
occasion of the rising up and breaking out of that corruption which
|
|
witnesses to men's faces that they are unclean. 3. In a scall-head.
|
|
And in this commonly the judgment turned upon a very small matter.
|
|
If the hair in the scall was black, it was a sign of soundness; if
|
|
yellow, it was an indication of a leprosy, <scripRef passage="Le 13:30-37" id="Lev.xiv-p6.3" parsed="|Lev|13|30|13|37" osisRef="Bible:Lev.13.30-Lev.13.37"><i>v.</i> 30-37</scripRef>. The other rules in these
|
|
cases are the same with those mentioned before. In reading of these
|
|
several sorts of ailments, it will be good for us, 1. To lament the
|
|
calamitous state of human life, which lies exposed to so many
|
|
grievances. What troops of diseases are we beset with on every
|
|
side! and they all entered by sin. 2. To give thanks to God if he
|
|
has never afflicted us with any of these sores: if the constitution
|
|
is healthful, and the body lively and easy, we are bound to glorify
|
|
God with our bodies.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 13:38-46" id="Lev.xiv-p6.4" parsed="|Lev|13|38|13|46" osisRef="Bible:Lev.13.38-Lev.13.46"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.13.38-Lev.13.46">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xiv-p7">38 If a man also or a woman have in the skin of
|
|
their flesh bright spots, <i>even</i> white bright spots;   39
|
|
Then the priest shall look: and, behold, <i>if</i> the bright spots
|
|
in the skin of their flesh <i>be</i> darkish white; it <i>is</i> a
|
|
freckled spot <i>that</i> groweth in the skin; he <i>is</i> clean.
|
|
  40 And the man whose hair is fallen off his head, he
|
|
<i>is</i> bald; <i>yet is</i> he clean.   41 And he that hath
|
|
his hair fallen off from the part of his head toward his face, he
|
|
<i>is</i> forehead bald: <i>yet is</i> he clean.   42 And if
|
|
there be in the bald head, or bald forehead, a white reddish sore;
|
|
it <i>is</i> a leprosy sprung up in his bald head, or his bald
|
|
forehead.   43 Then the priest shall look upon it: and,
|
|
behold, <i>if</i> the rising of the sore <i>be</i> white reddish in
|
|
his bald head, or in his bald forehead, as the leprosy appeareth in
|
|
the skin of the flesh;   44 He is a leprous man, he <i>is</i>
|
|
unclean: the priest shall pronounce him utterly unclean; his plague
|
|
<i>is</i> in his head.   45 And the leper in whom the plague
|
|
<i>is,</i> his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he
|
|
shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean,
|
|
unclean.   46 All the days wherein the plague <i>shall be</i>
|
|
in him he shall be defiled; he <i>is</i> unclean: he shall dwell
|
|
alone; without the camp <i>shall</i> his habitation <i>be.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xiv-p8">We have here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xiv-p9">I. Provisos that neither a <i>freckled
|
|
skin</i> nor a <i>bald head</i> should be mistaken for a leprosy,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 13:38-41" id="Lev.xiv-p9.1" parsed="|Lev|13|38|13|41" osisRef="Bible:Lev.13.38-Lev.13.41"><i>v.</i> 38-41</scripRef>. Every
|
|
deformity must not forthwith be made a ceremonial defilement.
|
|
Elisha was jeered for his <i>bald head</i> (<scripRef passage="2Ki 2:23" id="Lev.xiv-p9.2" parsed="|2Kgs|2|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.2.23">2 Kings ii. 23</scripRef>); but it was the children of
|
|
Bethel, that knew not the judgments of their God, who turned it to
|
|
his reproach.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xiv-p10">II. A particular brand set upon the leprosy
|
|
if at any time it did appear in a <i>bald head: The plague is in
|
|
his head, he is utterly unclean,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 13:44" id="Lev.xiv-p10.1" parsed="|Lev|13|44|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.13.44"><i>v.</i> 44</scripRef>. If the leprosy of sin have
|
|
seized the head, if the judgment be corrupted, and wicked
|
|
principles which countenance and support wicked practices, be
|
|
embraced, it is an <i>utter uncleanness,</i> from which few are
|
|
ever cleansed. Soundness in the faith keeps the leprosy from the
|
|
head, and saves conscience from being shipwrecked.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xiv-p11">III. Directions what must be done with the
|
|
convicted leper. When the priest, upon mature deliberation, had
|
|
solemnly pronounced him unclean,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xiv-p12">1. He must pronounce himself so, <scripRef passage="Le 13:45" id="Lev.xiv-p12.1" parsed="|Lev|13|45|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.13.45"><i>v.</i> 45</scripRef>. He must put himself
|
|
into the posture of a mourner and cry, <i>Unclean, unclean.</i> The
|
|
leprosy was not itself a sin, but it was a sad token of God's
|
|
displeasure and a sore affliction to him that was under it. It was
|
|
a reproach to his name, put a full stop to his business in the
|
|
world, cut him off from conversation with his friends and
|
|
relations, condemned him to banishment till he was cleansed, shut
|
|
him out from the sanctuary, and was, in effect, the ruin of all the
|
|
comfort he could have in this world. Heman, it would seem, either
|
|
was a leper or alludes to the melancholy condition of a leper,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 88:8-18" id="Lev.xiv-p12.2" parsed="|Ps|88|8|88|18" osisRef="Bible:Ps.88.8-Ps.88.18">Ps. lxxxviii. 8</scripRef>, &c.
|
|
He must therefore, (1.) Humble himself under the mighty hand of
|
|
God, not insisting upon his cleanness when the priest had
|
|
pronounced him unclean, but justifying God and accepting the
|
|
<i>punishment of his iniquity.</i> He must signify this by
|
|
<i>rending his clothes, uncovering</i> his head, and <i>covering
|
|
his upper lip,</i> all tokens of shame and confusion of face, and
|
|
very significant of that self-loathing and self-abasement which
|
|
should fill the hearts of penitents, the language of which is
|
|
self-judging. Thus must we take to ourselves the shame that belongs
|
|
to us, and with broken hearts call ourselves by our own name,
|
|
<i>Unclean, unclean</i>—heart unclean, life unclean, unclean by
|
|
original corruption, unclean by actual transgression—unclean, and
|
|
therefore worthy to be for ever excluded from communion with God,
|
|
and all hope of happiness in him. <i>We are all as an unclean
|
|
thing</i> (<scripRef passage="Isa 64:6" id="Lev.xiv-p12.3" parsed="|Isa|64|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.64.6">Isa. lxiv.
|
|
6</scripRef>)—unclean, and therefore undone, if infinite mercy do
|
|
not interpose. (2.) He must give warning to others to take heed of
|
|
coming near him. Wherever he went, he must cry to those he saw at a
|
|
distance, "<i>I am unclean, unclean,</i> take heed of touching me."
|
|
Not that the leprosy was catching, but by the touch of a leper
|
|
ceremonial uncleanness was contracted. Every one therefore was
|
|
concerned to avoid it; and the leper himself must give notice of
|
|
the danger. And this was all that the law could do, in that it was
|
|
weak through the flesh; it taught the leper to cry, <i>Unclean,
|
|
unclean,</i> but the gospel has put another cry into the lepers'
|
|
mouths, <scripRef passage="Lu 17:12,13" id="Lev.xiv-p12.4" parsed="|Luke|17|12|17|13" osisRef="Bible:Luke.17.12-Luke.17.13">Luke xvii. 12,
|
|
13</scripRef>, where we find ten lepers crying with a loud voice,
|
|
<i>Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.</i> The law only shows us our
|
|
disease; the gospel shows us our help in Christ.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xiv-p13">2. He must then be shut out of the camp,
|
|
and afterwards, when they came to Canaan, out of the city, town, or
|
|
village, where he lived, and <i>dwell alone</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 13:46" id="Lev.xiv-p13.1" parsed="|Lev|13|46|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.13.46"><i>v.</i> 46</scripRef>), associating with none but
|
|
those that were lepers like himself. When king Uzziah became a
|
|
leper, he was banished from his palace, and <i>dwelt in a separate
|
|
house,</i> <scripRef passage="2Ch 26:21" id="Lev.xiv-p13.2" parsed="|2Chr|26|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.26.21">2 Chron. xxvi.
|
|
21</scripRef>. And see <scripRef passage="2Ki 7:3" id="Lev.xiv-p13.3" parsed="|2Kgs|7|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.7.3">2 Kings vii.
|
|
3</scripRef>. This typified the purity which ought to be preserved
|
|
in the gospel church, by the solemn and authoritative exclusion of
|
|
scandalous sinners, that hate to be reformed, from the communion of
|
|
the faithful. <i>Put away from among yourselves that wicked
|
|
person,</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 5:13" id="Lev.xiv-p13.4" parsed="|1Cor|5|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.5.13">1 Cor. v.
|
|
13</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 13:47-59" id="Lev.xiv-p13.5" parsed="|Lev|13|47|13|59" osisRef="Bible:Lev.13.47-Lev.13.59"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.13.47-Lev.13.59">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xiv-p14">47 The garment also that the plague of leprosy
|
|
is in, <i>whether it be</i> a woollen garment, or a linen garment;
|
|
  48 Whether <i>it be</i> in the warp, or woof; of linen, or
|
|
of woollen; whether in a skin, or in any thing made of skin;  
|
|
49 And if the plague be greenish or reddish in the garment, or in
|
|
the skin, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in any thing of
|
|
skin; it <i>is</i> a plague of leprosy, and shall be showed unto
|
|
the priest:   50 And the priest shall look upon the plague,
|
|
and shut up <i>it that hath</i> the plague seven days:   51
|
|
And he shall look on the plague on the seventh day: if the plague
|
|
be spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in
|
|
a skin, <i>or</i> in any work that is made of skin; the plague
|
|
<i>is</i> a fretting leprosy; it <i>is</i> unclean.   52 He
|
|
shall therefore burn that garment, whether warp or woof, in woollen
|
|
or in linen, or any thing of skin, wherein the plague is: for it
|
|
<i>is</i> a fretting leprosy; it shall be burnt in the fire.  
|
|
53 And if the priest shall look, and, behold, the plague be not
|
|
spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in
|
|
any thing of skin;   54 Then the priest shall command that
|
|
they wash <i>the thing</i> wherein the plague <i>is,</i> and he
|
|
shall shut it up seven days more:   55 And the priest shall
|
|
look on the plague, after that it is washed: and, behold, <i>if</i>
|
|
the plague have not changed his colour, and the plague be not
|
|
spread; it <i>is</i> unclean; thou shalt burn it in the fire; it
|
|
<i>is</i> fret inward, <i>whether</i> it <i>be</i> bare within or
|
|
without.   56 And if the priest look, and, behold, the plague
|
|
<i>be</i> somewhat dark after the washing of it; then he shall rend
|
|
it out of the garment, or out of the skin, or out of the warp, or
|
|
out of the woof:   57 And if it appear still in the garment,
|
|
either in the warp, or in the woof, or in any thing of skin; it
|
|
<i>is</i> a spreading <i>plague</i>: thou shalt burn that wherein
|
|
the plague <i>is</i> with fire.   58 And the garment, either
|
|
warp, or woof, or whatsoever thing of skin <i>it be,</i> which thou
|
|
shalt wash, if the plague be departed from them, then it shall be
|
|
washed the second time, and shall be clean.   59 This
|
|
<i>is</i> the law of the plague of leprosy in a garment of woollen
|
|
or linen, either in the warp, or woof, or any thing of skins, to
|
|
pronounce it clean, or to pronounce it unclean.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xiv-p15">This is the law concerning the plague of
|
|
leprosy in a garment, whether linen or woollen. A leprosy in a
|
|
garment, with discernible indications of it, the colour changed by
|
|
it, the garment fretted, the nap worn off, and this in some one
|
|
particular part of the garment, and increasing when it was shut up,
|
|
and not to be got out by washing is a thing which to us now is
|
|
altogether unaccountable. The learned confess that it was a sign
|
|
and a miracle in Israel, an extraordinary punishment inflicted by
|
|
the divine power, as a token of great displeasure against a person
|
|
or family. 1. The process was much the same with that concerning a
|
|
leprous person. The garment suspected to be tainted was not to be
|
|
burnt immediately, though, it may be, there would have been no
|
|
great loss of it; for in no case must sentence be given merely upon
|
|
a surmise, but it must be <i>shown to the priest.</i> If, upon
|
|
search, it was found that there was a <i>leprous spot</i> (the Jews
|
|
say no bigger than a bean), it must be <i>burnt,</i> or at least
|
|
that part of the garment in which the spot was, <scripRef passage="Le 13:52,57" id="Lev.xiv-p15.1" parsed="|Lev|13|52|0|0;|Lev|13|57|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.13.52 Bible:Lev.13.57"><i>v.</i> 52, 57</scripRef>. If the cause of the
|
|
suspicion was gone, it must be <i>washed,</i> and then might be
|
|
used, <scripRef passage="Le 13:58" id="Lev.xiv-p15.2" parsed="|Lev|13|58|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.13.58"><i>v.</i> 58</scripRef>. 2. The
|
|
signification also was much the same, to intimate the great
|
|
malignity there is in sin: it not only defiles the sinner's
|
|
conscience, but it brings a stain upon all his employments and
|
|
enjoyments, all he has and all he does. <i>To those that are
|
|
defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure,</i> <scripRef passage="Tit 1:15" id="Lev.xiv-p15.3" parsed="|Titus|1|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Titus.1.15">Tit. i. 15</scripRef>. And we are taught hereby to hate
|
|
even <i>the garments spotted with the flesh,</i> <scripRef passage="Jude 1:23" id="Lev.xiv-p15.4" parsed="|Jude|1|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jude.1.23">Jude 23</scripRef>. Those that make their clothes
|
|
servants to their pride and lust may see them thereby tainted with
|
|
a leprosy, and doomed to the fire, <scripRef passage="Isa 3:18-24" id="Lev.xiv-p15.5" parsed="|Isa|3|18|3|24" osisRef="Bible:Isa.3.18-Isa.3.24">Isa. iii. 18-24</scripRef>. But the ornament of
|
|
<i>the hidden man of the heart is incorruptible,</i> <scripRef passage="1Pe 3:4" id="Lev.xiv-p15.6" parsed="|1Pet|3|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.3.4">1 Pet. iii. 4</scripRef>. The robes of
|
|
righteousness never fret nor are moth-eaten.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XIV" n="xv" progress="56.21%" prev="Lev.xiv" next="Lev.xvi" id="Lev.xv">
|
|
<h2 id="Lev.xv-p0.1">L E V I T I C U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Lev.xv-p0.2">CHAP. XIV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Lev.xv-p1">The former chapter directed the priests how to
|
|
convict a leper of ceremonial uncleanness. No prescriptions are
|
|
given for his cure; but, when God had cured him, the priests are in
|
|
this chapter directed how to cleanse him. The remedy here is only
|
|
adapted to the ceremonial part of his disease; but the authority
|
|
Christ gave to his ministers was to cure the lepers, and so to
|
|
cleanse them. We have here, I. The solemn declaration of the
|
|
leper's being clean, with the significant ceremony attending it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 14:1-9" id="Lev.xv-p1.1" parsed="|Lev|14|1|14|9" osisRef="Bible:Lev.14.1-Lev.14.9">ver. 1-9</scripRef>. II. The
|
|
sacrifices which he was to offer to God eight days after, <scripRef passage="Le 14:10-32" id="Lev.xv-p1.2" parsed="|Lev|14|10|14|32" osisRef="Bible:Lev.14.10-Lev.14.32">ver. 10-32</scripRef>. III. The management of
|
|
a house in which appeared signs of a leprosy, <scripRef passage="Le 14:33-53" id="Lev.xv-p1.3" parsed="|Lev|14|33|14|53" osisRef="Bible:Lev.14.33-Lev.14.53">ver. 33-53</scripRef>. And the conclusion and summary
|
|
of this whole matter, <scripRef passage="Le 14:54-57" id="Lev.xv-p1.4" parsed="|Lev|14|54|14|57" osisRef="Bible:Lev.14.54-Lev.14.57">ver.
|
|
54</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 14" id="Lev.xv-p1.5" parsed="|Lev|14|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.14"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 14:1-9" id="Lev.xv-p1.6" parsed="|Lev|14|1|14|9" osisRef="Bible:Lev.14.1-Lev.14.9"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.14.1-Lev.14.9">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.xv-p1.7">The Law Concerning Leprosy. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xv-p1.8">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xv-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xv-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   2 This shall be the law of the
|
|
leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the
|
|
priest:   3 And the priest shall go forth out of the camp; and
|
|
the priest shall look, and, behold, <i>if</i> the plague of leprosy
|
|
be healed in the leper;   4 Then shall the priest command to
|
|
take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive <i>and</i>
|
|
clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:   5 And the
|
|
priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen
|
|
vessel over running water:   6 As for the living bird, he
|
|
shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop,
|
|
and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird
|
|
<i>that was</i> killed over the running water:   7 And he
|
|
shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy
|
|
seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the
|
|
living bird loose into the open field.   8 And he that is to
|
|
be cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and
|
|
wash himself in water, that he may be clean: and after that he
|
|
shall come into the camp, and shall tarry abroad out of his tent
|
|
seven days.   9 But it shall be on the seventh day, that he
|
|
shall shave all his hair off his head and his beard and his
|
|
eyebrows, even all his hair he shall shave off: and he shall wash
|
|
his clothes, also he shall wash his flesh in water, and he shall be
|
|
clean.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xv-p3">Here, I. It is supposed that the plague of
|
|
the leprosy was not an incurable disease. Uzziah's indeed continued
|
|
to the day of his death, and Gehazi's was entailed upon his seed;
|
|
but Miriam's lasted only seven days: we may suppose that it often
|
|
wore off in process of time. Though God contend long, he will
|
|
<i>not contend for ever.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xv-p4">II. The judgment of the cure, as well as
|
|
that of the disease, was referred to the priest. He must go out of
|
|
the camp to the leper, to see whether his leprosy was healed,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 14:3" id="Lev.xv-p4.1" parsed="|Lev|14|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.14.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. And we may
|
|
suppose the priest did not contract any ceremonial uncleanness by
|
|
coming near the leper, as another person would. It was in mercy to
|
|
the poor lepers that the priests particularly had orders to attend
|
|
them, for <i>the priests' lips should keep knowledge;</i> and those
|
|
in affliction have need to be instructed both how to bear their
|
|
afflictions and how to reap benefit by them, have need of the word,
|
|
in concurrence with the rod, to bring them to repentance; therefore
|
|
it is well for those that are sick if they have these messengers of
|
|
the Lord of hosts with them, these interpreters, to <i>show unto
|
|
them God's uprightness,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 33:23" id="Lev.xv-p4.2" parsed="|Job|33|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.33.23">Job
|
|
xxxiii. 23</scripRef>. When the leper was shut out, and could not
|
|
go to the priests, it was well that the priests might come to him.
|
|
<i>Is any sick? Let him send for the elders,</i> the ministers,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Jam 5:14" id="Lev.xv-p4.3" parsed="|Jas|5|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jas.5.14">Jam. v. 14</scripRef>. If we apply it
|
|
to the spiritual leprosy of sin, it intimates that when we withdraw
|
|
from those who walk disorderly, that they may be ashamed, we must
|
|
not count them as enemies, but admonish them as brethren, <scripRef passage="2Th 3:15" id="Lev.xv-p4.4" parsed="|2Thess|3|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Thess.3.15">2 Thess. iii. 15</scripRef>. And also that when
|
|
God by his grace has brought those to repentance who were shut out
|
|
of communion for scandal, they ought with tenderness, and joy, and
|
|
sincere affection, to be received in again. Thus Paul orders
|
|
concerning the excommunicated Corinthian that when he had given
|
|
evidences of his repentance they should forgive him, and comfort
|
|
him, and <i>confirm their love towards him,</i> <scripRef passage="2Co 2:7,8" id="Lev.xv-p4.5" parsed="|2Cor|2|7|2|8" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.2.7-2Cor.2.8">2 Cor. ii. 7, 8</scripRef>. And ministers are entrusted
|
|
by our Master with the declarative power of loosing as well as
|
|
binding: both must be done with great caution and deliberation,
|
|
impartially and without respect of persons, with earnest prayer to
|
|
God for directions, and a sincere regard to the edification of the
|
|
body of Christ, due care being always taken that sinners may not be
|
|
encouraged by an excess of lenity, nor penitents discouraged by an
|
|
excess of severity. Wisdom and sincerity are profitable to direct
|
|
in this case.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xv-p5">III. If it was found that the leprosy was
|
|
healed, the priest must declare it with a particular solemnity. The
|
|
leper or his friends were to get ready two birds caught for this
|
|
purpose (any sort of wild birds that were clean), and cedar-wood,
|
|
and scarlet, and hyssop; for all these were to be used in the
|
|
ceremony. 1. A preparation was to be made of blood and water, with
|
|
which the leper must be sprinkled. One of the birds (and the Jews
|
|
say, if there was any difference, it must be the larger and better
|
|
of the two) was to be killed over an earthen cup of spring water,
|
|
so that the blood of the bird might discolour the water. This (as
|
|
some other types) had its accomplishment in the death of Christ,
|
|
when out of his pierced side there came water and blood, <scripRef passage="Joh 19:34" id="Lev.xv-p5.1" parsed="|John|19|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.19.34">John xix. 34</scripRef>. Thus Christ comes into
|
|
the soul for its cure and cleansing, <i>not by water only, but by
|
|
water and blood,</i> <scripRef passage="1Jo 5:6" id="Lev.xv-p5.2" parsed="|1John|5|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.5.6">1 John v.
|
|
6</scripRef>. 2. The living bird, with a little scarlet wool, and a
|
|
bunch of hyssop, must be fastened to a cedar stick, dipped in the
|
|
water and blood, which must be so sprinkled upon him that was to be
|
|
cleansed, <scripRef passage="Le 14:6,7" id="Lev.xv-p5.3" parsed="|Lev|14|6|14|7" osisRef="Bible:Lev.14.6-Lev.14.7"><i>v.</i> 6, 7</scripRef>.
|
|
The cedar-wood signified the restoring of the leper to his strength
|
|
and soundness, for that is a sort of wood not apt to putrefy. The
|
|
scarlet wool signified his recovering a florid colour again, for
|
|
the leprosy made him white as snow. And the hyssop intimated the
|
|
removing of the disagreeable scent which commonly attended the
|
|
leprosy. The cedar the stateliest plant, and hyssop the meanest,
|
|
are here used together in this service (see <scripRef passage="1Ki 4:33" id="Lev.xv-p5.4" parsed="|1Kgs|4|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.4.33">1 Kings iv. 33</scripRef>); for those of the lowest rank
|
|
in the church may be of use in their place, as well as those that
|
|
are most eminent, <scripRef passage="1Co 12:2" id="Lev.xv-p5.5" parsed="|1Cor|12|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.12.2">1 Cor. xii.
|
|
2</scripRef>. Some make the slain bird to typify Christ <i>dying
|
|
for our sins,</i> and the living bird Christ <i>rising again for
|
|
our justification.</i> The dipping of the living bird in the blood
|
|
of the slain bird intimated that the merit of Christ's death was
|
|
that which made his resurrection effectual for our justification.
|
|
He took his blood with him into the holy place, and there appeared
|
|
a lamb as it had been slain. The cedar, scarlet wool, and hyssop,
|
|
must all be dipped in the blood; for the word and ordinances, and
|
|
all the operations of the Spirit, receive their efficacy for our
|
|
cleansing from the blood of Christ. The leper must be sprinkled
|
|
<i>seven times,</i> to signify a complete purification, in allusion
|
|
to which David prays, <i>Wash me thoroughly,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 51:2" id="Lev.xv-p5.6" parsed="|Ps|51|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.51.2">Ps. li. 2</scripRef>. Naaman was directed to wash
|
|
<i>seven times,</i> <scripRef passage="2Ki 5:10" id="Lev.xv-p5.7" parsed="|2Kgs|5|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.5.10">2 Kings v.
|
|
10</scripRef>. 3. The living bird was then to be let loose in the
|
|
open field, to signify that the leper, being cleansed, was now no
|
|
longer under restraint and confinement, but might take his liberty
|
|
to go where he pleased. But this being signified by the flight of a
|
|
bird towards heaven was an intimation to him henceforward to seek
|
|
the things that are above, and not to spend this new life to which
|
|
God had restored him merely in the pursuit of earthly things. This
|
|
typified that glorious liberty of the children of God to which
|
|
those are advanced who through grace are sprinkled from an evil
|
|
conscience. Those whose souls before <i>bowed down to the dust</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ps 44:25" id="Lev.xv-p5.8" parsed="|Ps|44|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.44.25">Ps. xliv. 25</scripRef>), in grief
|
|
and fear, now fly in the open firmament of heaven, and soar upwards
|
|
upon the wings of faith and hope, and holy love and joy. 4. The
|
|
priest must, upon this, pronounce him clean. It was requisite that
|
|
this should be done with solemnity, that the leper might himself be
|
|
the more affected with the mercy of God to him in his recovery, and
|
|
that others might be satisfied to converse with him. Christ is our
|
|
priest, to whom the Father has committed all judgment, and
|
|
particularly the judgment of the leprosy. By his definitive
|
|
sentence impenitent sinners will have their everlasting portion
|
|
assigned them with the unclean (<scripRef passage="Job 36:14" id="Lev.xv-p5.9" parsed="|Job|36|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.36.14">Job
|
|
xxxvi. 14</scripRef>), out of the holy city; and all that by his
|
|
grace are cured and cleansed shall be received into the camp of the
|
|
saints, into which no unclean thing shall enter. Those are clean
|
|
indeed whom Christ pronounces so, and they need not regard what men
|
|
say of them. But, though Christ was the <i>end of this law for
|
|
righteousness,</i> yet being in the days of his flesh <i>made under
|
|
the law,</i> which as yet stood unrepealed, he ordered those lepers
|
|
whom he had cured miraculously to go and <i>show themselves to the
|
|
priest,</i> and <i>offer for their cleansing according to the
|
|
law,</i> <scripRef passage="Mt 8:4,Lu 17:14" id="Lev.xv-p5.10" parsed="|Matt|8|4|0|0;|Luke|17|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.8.4 Bible:Luke.17.14">Matt. viii. 4; Luke
|
|
xvii. 14</scripRef>. The type must be kept up till it was answered
|
|
by its antitype. 5. When the leper was pronounced clean, he must
|
|
wash his body and his clothes, and shave <i>off all his hair</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 14:8" id="Lev.xv-p5.11" parsed="|Lev|14|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.14.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>), must still
|
|
tarry seven days out of the camp, and on the seventh day must do it
|
|
again, <scripRef passage="Le 14:9" id="Lev.xv-p5.12" parsed="|Lev|14|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.14.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. The
|
|
priest having pronounced him clean from the disease, he must make
|
|
himself as clean as ever he could from all the remains of it, and
|
|
from all other defilements, and he must take time to do this. Thus
|
|
those who have the comfort of the remission of their sins, by the
|
|
sprinkling of the blood of Christ upon their consciences, must with
|
|
the utmost care and caution <i>cleanse themselves from all
|
|
filthiness both of flesh and spirit,</i> and thoroughly <i>purge
|
|
themselves from their old sins;</i> for <i>every one that hath this
|
|
hope in him will</i> be concerned to <i>purify himself.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 14" id="Lev.xv-p5.13" parsed="|Lev|14|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.14"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 14:10-20" id="Lev.xv-p5.14" parsed="|Lev|14|10|14|20" osisRef="Bible:Lev.14.10-Lev.14.20"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.14.10-Lev.14.20">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xv-p6">10 And on the eighth day he shall take two he
|
|
lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb of the first year without
|
|
blemish, and three tenth deals of fine flour <i>for</i> a meat
|
|
offering, mingled with oil, and one log of oil.   11 And the
|
|
priest that maketh <i>him</i> clean shall present the man that is
|
|
to be made clean, and those things, before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xv-p6.1">Lord</span>, <i>at</i> the door of the tabernacle of
|
|
the congregation:   12 And the priest shall take one he lamb,
|
|
and offer him for a trespass offering, and the log of oil, and wave
|
|
them <i>for</i> a wave offering before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xv-p6.2">Lord</span>:   13 And he shall slay the lamb in
|
|
the place where he shall kill the sin offering and the burnt
|
|
offering, in the holy place: for as the sin offering <i>is</i> the
|
|
priest's, <i>so is</i> the trespass offering: it <i>is</i> most
|
|
holy:   14 And the priest shall take <i>some</i> of the blood
|
|
of the trespass offering, and the priest shall put <i>it</i> upon
|
|
the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon
|
|
the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right
|
|
foot:   15 And the priest shall take <i>some</i> of the log of
|
|
oil, and pour <i>it</i> into the palm of his own left hand:  
|
|
16 And the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that
|
|
<i>is</i> in his left hand, and shall sprinkle of the oil with his
|
|
finger seven times before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xv-p6.3">Lord</span>:
|
|
  17 And of the rest of the oil that <i>is</i> in his hand
|
|
shall the priest put upon the tip of the right ear of him that is
|
|
to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the
|
|
great toe of his right foot, upon the blood of the trespass
|
|
offering:   18 And the remnant of the oil that <i>is</i> in
|
|
the priest's hand he shall pour upon the head of him that is to be
|
|
cleansed: and the priest shall make an atonement for him before the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xv-p6.4">Lord</span>.   19 And the priest shall
|
|
offer the sin offering, and make an atonement for him that is to be
|
|
cleansed from his uncleanness; and afterward he shall kill the
|
|
burnt offering:   20 And the priest shall offer the burnt
|
|
offering and the meat offering upon the altar: and the priest shall
|
|
make an atonement for him, and he shall be clean.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xv-p7">Observe, I. To complete the purification of
|
|
the leper, on the eighth day, after the former solemnity performed
|
|
without the camp, and, as it should seem, before he returned to his
|
|
own habitation, he was to attend <i>at the door of the
|
|
tabernacle,</i> and was there to be <i>presented to the Lord,</i>
|
|
with his offering, <scripRef passage="Le 14:11" id="Lev.xv-p7.1" parsed="|Lev|14|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.14.11"><i>v.</i>
|
|
11</scripRef>. Observe here, 1. That the mercies of God oblige us
|
|
to present ourselves to him, <scripRef passage="Ro 12:1" id="Lev.xv-p7.2" parsed="|Rom|12|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.12.1">Rom. xii.
|
|
1</scripRef>. 2. When God has restored us to the liberty of
|
|
ordinances again, after restraint by sickness, distance, or
|
|
otherwise, we should take the first opportunity of testifying our
|
|
respect to God, and our affection to his sanctuary, by a diligent
|
|
improvement of the liberty we are restored to. When Christ had
|
|
healed the impotent man, he soon after <i>found him in the
|
|
temple,</i> <scripRef passage="Joh 5:14" id="Lev.xv-p7.3" parsed="|John|5|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.5.14">John v. 14</scripRef>.
|
|
When Hezekiah asks, <i>What is the sign that I shall go up to the
|
|
house of the Lord?</i> he means, "What is the sign that I shall
|
|
recover?" intimating that if God restored him his health, so that
|
|
he should be able to go abroad, the house of the Lord should be the
|
|
first place he would go to. 3. When we present ourselves before the
|
|
Lord we must present our offerings, devoting to God with ourselves
|
|
all we have and can do. 4. Both we and our offerings must be
|
|
presented before the Lord by the priest that made us clean, even
|
|
our Lord Jesus, else neither we nor they can be accepted.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xv-p8">II. Three lambs the cleansed leper was to
|
|
bring, with a meat-offering, and a log of oil, which was about half
|
|
a pint. Now, 1. Most of the ceremony peculiar to this case was
|
|
about the trespass-offering, the lamb for which was offered first,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 14:12" id="Lev.xv-p8.1" parsed="|Lev|14|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.14.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. And, besides
|
|
the usual rites with which the trespass-offering was offered, some
|
|
of the blood was to be put upon the ear, and thumb, and great toe,
|
|
of the leper that was to be cleansed (<scripRef passage="Le 14:14" id="Lev.xv-p8.2" parsed="|Lev|14|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.14.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>), the very same ceremony that
|
|
was used in the consecration of the priests, <scripRef passage="Le 8:23,24" id="Lev.xv-p8.3" parsed="|Lev|8|23|8|24" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8.23-Lev.8.24"><i>ch.</i> viii. 23, 24</scripRef>. It was a
|
|
mortification to them to see the same purification necessary for
|
|
them that was for a leper. The Jews say that the leper stood
|
|
without the gate of the tabernacle and the priest within, and thus
|
|
the ceremony was performed through the gate, signifying that now he
|
|
was admitted with other Israelites to attend in the courts of the
|
|
Lord's house again, and was as welcome as ever; though he had been
|
|
a leper, and though perhaps the name might stick by him as long as
|
|
he lived (as we read of one who probably was cleansed by our Lord
|
|
Jesus, who yet afterwards is called <i>Simon the leper,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mt 26:6" id="Lev.xv-p8.4" parsed="|Matt|26|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.26.6">Matt. xxvi. 6</scripRef>), yet he was
|
|
as freely admitted as ever to communion with God and man. After the
|
|
blood of the offering had been put with the priest's finger upon
|
|
the extremities of the body, to include the whole, some of the oil
|
|
that he brought, which was first waved and then sprinkled before
|
|
the Lord, was in like manner put in the same places upon the blood.
|
|
"The blood" (says the learned bishop Patrick) "seems to have been a
|
|
token of forgiveness, the oil of healing," for God first
|
|
<i>forgiveth our iniquities</i> and then <i>healeth our
|
|
diseases,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 103:3" id="Lev.xv-p8.5" parsed="|Ps|103|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.103.3">Ps. ciii. 3</scripRef>.
|
|
See <scripRef passage="Isa 38:17" id="Lev.xv-p8.6" parsed="|Isa|38|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.38.17">Isa. xxxviii. 17</scripRef>.
|
|
Wherever the blood of Christ is applied for justification the oil
|
|
of the Spirit is applied for sanctification; for these two are
|
|
inseparable and both necessary to our acceptance with God. Nor
|
|
shall our former leprosy, if it be healed by repentance, be any bar
|
|
to these glorious privileges. Cleansed lepers are as welcome to the
|
|
blood and the oil as consecrated priests. <i>Such were some of you,
|
|
but you are washed.</i> When the leper was sprinkled the water must
|
|
have blood in it (<scripRef passage="Le 14:5" id="Lev.xv-p8.7" parsed="|Lev|14|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.14.5"><i>v.</i>
|
|
5</scripRef>), when he was anointed the oil must have blood under
|
|
it, to signify that all the graces and comforts of the Spirit, all
|
|
his purifying dignifying influences, are owing to the death of
|
|
Christ: it is by his blood alone that we are sanctified. 2. Besides
|
|
this there must be a sin-offering and a burnt-offering, a lamb for
|
|
each, <scripRef passage="Le 14:19,20" id="Lev.xv-p8.8" parsed="|Lev|14|19|14|20" osisRef="Bible:Lev.14.19-Lev.14.20"><i>v.</i> 19, 20</scripRef>.
|
|
By each of these offerings, it is said, the priests shall <i>make
|
|
atonement for him.</i> (1.) His moral guilt shall be removed; the
|
|
sin for which the leprosy was sent shall be pardoned, and all the
|
|
sins he had been guilty of in his afflicted state. Note, The
|
|
removal of any outward trouble is then doubly comfortable to us
|
|
when at the same time God gives us some assurance of the
|
|
forgiveness of our sins. If we <i>receive the atonement,</i> we
|
|
have reason to rejoice, <scripRef passage="Ro 5:11" id="Lev.xv-p8.9" parsed="|Rom|5|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.5.11">Rom. v.
|
|
11</scripRef>. (2.) His ceremonial pollution shall be removed,
|
|
which had kept him from the participation of the holy things. And
|
|
this is called <i>making an atonement for him,</i> because our
|
|
restoration to the privileges of God's children, typified hereby,
|
|
is owing purely to the great propitiation. When the atonement is
|
|
made for him he shall be clean, both to his own satisfaction and to
|
|
his reputation among his neighbours; he shall retrieve both his
|
|
credit and his comfort, and both these true penitents become
|
|
entitled to, both ease and honour, by their interest in the
|
|
atonement. The burnt-offering, besides the atonement that was made
|
|
by it, was a thankful acknowledgment of God's mercy to him: and the
|
|
more immediate the hand of God was both in the sickness and in the
|
|
cure the more reason he had thus to give glory to him, and thus, as
|
|
our Saviour speaks (<scripRef passage="Mk 1:44" id="Lev.xv-p8.10" parsed="|Mark|1|44|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mark.1.44">Mark i.
|
|
44</scripRef>), to <i>offer for his cleansing</i> all <i>those
|
|
things which Moses commanded for a testimony unto them.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 14:21-32" id="Lev.xv-p8.11" parsed="|Lev|14|21|14|32" osisRef="Bible:Lev.14.21-Lev.14.32"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.14.21-Lev.14.32">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xv-p9">21 And if he <i>be</i> poor, and cannot get so
|
|
much; then he shall take one lamb <i>for</i> a trespass offering to
|
|
be waved, to make an atonement for him, and one tenth deal of fine
|
|
flour mingled with oil for a meat offering, and a log of oil;
|
|
  22 And two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, such as he is
|
|
able to get; and the one shall be a sin offering, and the other a
|
|
burnt offering.   23 And he shall bring them on the eighth day
|
|
for his cleansing unto the priest, unto the door of the tabernacle
|
|
of the congregation, before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xv-p9.1">Lord</span>.   24 And the priest shall take the
|
|
lamb of the trespass offering, and the log of oil, and the priest
|
|
shall wave them <i>for</i> a wave offering before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xv-p9.2">Lord</span>:   25 And he shall kill the lamb of
|
|
the trespass offering, and the priest shall take <i>some</i> of the
|
|
blood of the trespass offering, and put <i>it</i> upon the tip of
|
|
the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of
|
|
his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot:   26
|
|
And the priest shall pour of the oil into the palm of his own left
|
|
hand:   27 And the priest shall sprinkle with his right finger
|
|
<i>some</i> of the oil that <i>is</i> in his left hand seven times
|
|
before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xv-p9.3">Lord</span>:   28 And the
|
|
priest shall put of the oil that <i>is</i> in his hand upon the tip
|
|
of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb
|
|
of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, upon
|
|
the place of the blood of the trespass offering:   29 And the
|
|
rest of the oil that <i>is</i> in the priest's hand he shall put
|
|
upon the head of him that is to be cleansed, to make an atonement
|
|
for him before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xv-p9.4">Lord</span>.   30
|
|
And he shall offer the one of the turtledoves, or of the young
|
|
pigeons, such as he can get;   31 <i>Even</i> such as he is
|
|
able to get, the one <i>for</i> a sin offering, and the other
|
|
<i>for</i> a burnt offering, with the meat offering: and the priest
|
|
shall make an atonement for him that is to be cleansed before the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xv-p9.5">Lord</span>.   32 This <i>is</i> the
|
|
law <i>of him</i> in whom <i>is</i> the plague of leprosy, whose
|
|
hand is not able to get <i>that which pertaineth</i> to his
|
|
cleansing.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xv-p10">We have here the gracious provision which
|
|
the law made for the cleansing of <i>poor lepers.</i> If they were
|
|
not able to bring three lambs, and three tenth-deals of flour, they
|
|
must bring one lamb, and one tenth-deal of flour, and, instead of
|
|
the other two lambs, two turtle-doves or two young pigeons,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 14:21,22" id="Lev.xv-p10.1" parsed="|Lev|14|21|14|22" osisRef="Bible:Lev.14.21-Lev.14.22"><i>v.</i> 21, 22</scripRef>. Here
|
|
see, 1. That the poverty of the person concerned would not excuse
|
|
him if he brought no offering at all. Let none think that because
|
|
they are poor God requires no service from them, since he has
|
|
considered them, and demands that which it is in the power of the
|
|
poorest to give. "<i>My son, give me thy heart,</i> and with that
|
|
the <i>calves of thy lips</i> shall be accepted instead of the
|
|
<i>calves of the stall.</i>" 2. That God expected from those who
|
|
were poor only according to their ability; <i>his commandments are
|
|
not grievous,</i> nor does he make us to <i>serve with an
|
|
offering.</i> The poor are as welcome to God's altar as the rich;
|
|
and, if there be first a willing mind and an honest heart, two
|
|
pigeons, when they are the utmost a man is able to get, are as
|
|
acceptable to God as two lambs; for he requires <i>according to
|
|
what a man has and not according to what he has not.</i> But it is
|
|
observable that though a meaner sacrifice was accepted from the
|
|
poor, yet the very same ceremony was used for them as was for the
|
|
rich; for their souls are as precious and Christ and his gospel are
|
|
the same to both. Let not us therefore have <i>the faith of our
|
|
Lord Jesus Christ with respect of persons,</i> <scripRef passage="Jam 2:1" id="Lev.xv-p10.2" parsed="|Jas|2|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jas.2.1">Jam. ii. 1</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 14:33-53" id="Lev.xv-p10.3" parsed="|Lev|14|33|14|53" osisRef="Bible:Lev.14.33-Lev.14.53"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.14.33-Lev.14.53">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xv-p11">33 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xv-p11.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,   34 When ye be come
|
|
into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and
|
|
I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your
|
|
possession;   35 And he that owneth the house shall come and
|
|
tell the priest, saying, It seemeth to me <i>there is</i> as it
|
|
were a plague in the house:   36 Then the priest shall command
|
|
that they empty the house, before the priest go <i>into it</i> to
|
|
see the plague, that all that <i>is</i> in the house be not made
|
|
unclean: and afterward the priest shall go in to see the house:
|
|
  37 And he shall look on the plague, and, behold, <i>if</i>
|
|
the plague <i>be</i> in the walls of the house with hollow strakes,
|
|
greenish or reddish, which in sight <i>are</i> lower than the wall;
|
|
  38 Then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of
|
|
the house, and shut up the house seven days:   39 And the
|
|
priest shall come again the seventh day, and shall look: and,
|
|
behold, <i>if</i> the plague be spread in the walls of the house;
|
|
  40 Then the priest shall command that they take away the
|
|
stones in which the plague <i>is,</i> and they shall cast them into
|
|
an unclean place without the city:   41 And he shall cause the
|
|
house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the
|
|
dust that they scrape off without the city into an unclean place:
|
|
  42 And they shall take other stones, and put <i>them</i> in
|
|
the place of those stones; and he shall take other mortar, and
|
|
shall plaster the house.   43 And if the plague come again,
|
|
and break out in the house, after that he hath taken away the
|
|
stones, and after he hath scraped the house, and after it is
|
|
plastered;   44 Then the priest shall come and look, and,
|
|
behold, <i>if</i> the plague be spread in the house, it <i>is</i> a
|
|
fretting leprosy in the house: it <i>is</i> unclean.   45 And
|
|
he shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber
|
|
thereof, and all the mortar of the house; and he shall carry
|
|
<i>them</i> forth out of the city into an unclean place.   46
|
|
Moreover he that goeth into the house all the while that it is shut
|
|
up shall be unclean until the even.   47 And he that lieth in
|
|
the house shall wash his clothes; and he that eateth in the house
|
|
shall wash his clothes.   48 And if the priest shall come in,
|
|
and look <i>upon it,</i> and, behold, the plague hath not spread in
|
|
the house, after the house was plastered: then the priest shall
|
|
pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed.   49
|
|
And he shall take to cleanse the house two birds, and cedar wood,
|
|
and scarlet, and hyssop:   50 And he shall kill the one of the
|
|
birds in an earthen vessel over running water:   51 And he
|
|
shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the
|
|
living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird, and in
|
|
the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times:   52
|
|
And he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, and with
|
|
the running water, and with the living bird, and with the cedar
|
|
wood, and with the hyssop, and with the scarlet:   53 But he
|
|
shall let go the living bird out of the city into the open fields,
|
|
and make an atonement for the house: and it shall be clean.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xv-p12">This is the law concerning the leprosy in a
|
|
house. Now that they were in the wilderness they dwelt in tents,
|
|
and had no houses, and therefore the law is made only an appendix
|
|
to the former laws concerning the leprosy, because it related, not
|
|
to their present state, but to their future settlement. The leprosy
|
|
in a house is as unaccountable as the leprosy in a garment; but, if
|
|
we see not what natural causes of it can be assigned, we may
|
|
resolve it into the power of the God of nature, who here says, <i>I
|
|
put the leprosy in a house</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 14:34" id="Lev.xv-p12.1" parsed="|Lev|14|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.14.34"><i>v.</i> 34</scripRef>), as his curse is said to
|
|
<i>enter into a house,</i> and <i>consume it with the timber and
|
|
stones thereof,</i> <scripRef passage="Zec 5:4" id="Lev.xv-p12.2" parsed="|Zech|5|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zech.5.4">Zech. v.
|
|
4</scripRef>. Now, 1. It is supposed that even in Canaan itself,
|
|
the land of promise, their houses might be infected with a leprosy.
|
|
Though it was a holy land, this would not secure them from this
|
|
plague, while the inhabitants were many of them so unholy. Thus a
|
|
place and a name in the visible church will not secure wicked
|
|
people from God's judgments. 2. It is likewise taken for granted
|
|
that the owner of the house will make the priest acquainted with
|
|
it, as soon as he sees the least cause to suspect the leprosy in
|
|
his house: <i>It seemeth to me there is as it were a plague in the
|
|
house,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 14:35" id="Lev.xv-p12.3" parsed="|Lev|14|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.14.35"><i>v.</i> 35</scripRef>.
|
|
Sin, where that reigns in a house, is a plague there, as it is in a
|
|
heart. And masters of families should be aware and afraid of the
|
|
first appearance of gross sin in their families, and put away the
|
|
iniquity, whatever it is, far from their tabernacles, <scripRef passage="Job 22:23" id="Lev.xv-p12.4" parsed="|Job|22|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.22.23">Job xxii. 23</scripRef>. They should be jealous
|
|
with a godly jealousy concerning those under their charge, lest
|
|
they be drawn into sin, and take early advice, if it but seem that
|
|
there is a plague in the house, lest the contagion spread, and many
|
|
be by it defiled and destroyed. 3. If the priest, upon search,
|
|
found that the leprosy had got into the house, he must try to cure
|
|
it, by taking gout that part of the building that was infected,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 14:40,41" id="Lev.xv-p12.5" parsed="|Lev|14|40|14|41" osisRef="Bible:Lev.14.40-Lev.14.41"><i>v.</i> 40, 41</scripRef>. This
|
|
was like cutting off a gangrened limb, for the preservation of the
|
|
rest of the body. Corruption should be purged out in time, before
|
|
it spread; for <i>a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. If thy
|
|
right hand offend thee, cut it off.</i> 4. If yet it remained in
|
|
the house, the whole house must be pulled down, and all the
|
|
materials carried to the dunghill, <scripRef passage="Le 14:44,45" id="Lev.xv-p12.6" parsed="|Lev|14|44|14|45" osisRef="Bible:Lev.14.44-Lev.14.45"><i>v.</i> 44, 45</scripRef>. The owner had better be
|
|
without a dwelling than live in one that was infected. Note, The
|
|
leprosy of sin, if it be obstinate under the methods of cure, will
|
|
at last be the ruin of families and churches. If Babylon will not
|
|
be healed, she shall be forsaken and abandoned, and (according to
|
|
the law respecting the leprous house), they shall not <i>take of
|
|
her a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Jer 51:9,26" id="Lev.xv-p12.7" parsed="|Jer|51|9|0|0;|Jer|51|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.51.9 Bible:Jer.51.26">Jer. li. 9, 26</scripRef>. The
|
|
remainders of sin and corruption in our mortal bodies are like this
|
|
leprosy in the house; after all our pains in scraping and
|
|
plastering, we shall never be quite clear of it, till the earthly
|
|
house of this tabernacle be dissolved and taken down; when we are
|
|
dead we shall be free from sin, and not till then, <scripRef passage="Ro 6:7" id="Lev.xv-p12.8" parsed="|Rom|6|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.7">Rom. vi. 7</scripRef>. 5. If the taking out the
|
|
infected stones cured the house, and the leprosy did not spread any
|
|
further, then the house must be cleansed; not only aired, that it
|
|
might be healthful, but purified from the ceremonial pollution,
|
|
that it might be fit to be the habitation of an Israelite. The
|
|
ceremony of its cleansing was much the same with that of cleansing
|
|
a leprous person, <scripRef passage="Le 14:49" id="Lev.xv-p12.9" parsed="|Lev|14|49|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.14.49"><i>v.</i>
|
|
49</scripRef>, &c. This intimated that the house was smitten
|
|
for the man's sake (as bishop Patrick expresses it), and he was to
|
|
look upon himself as preserved by divine mercy. The houses of
|
|
Israelites are said to be <i>dedicated</i> (<scripRef passage="De 20:5" id="Lev.xv-p12.10" parsed="|Deut|20|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20.5">Deut. xx. 5</scripRef>), for they were a holy nation, and
|
|
therefore they ought to keep their houses pure from all ceremonial
|
|
pollutions, that they might be fit for the service of that God to
|
|
whom they were devoted. And the same care should we take to reform
|
|
whatever is amiss in our families, that we and our houses may serve
|
|
the Lord; see <scripRef passage="Ge 35:2" id="Lev.xv-p12.11" parsed="|Gen|35|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.2">Gen. xxxv. 2</scripRef>.
|
|
Some have thought the leprosy in the house was typical of the
|
|
idolatry of the Jewish church, which did strangely cleave to it;
|
|
for, though some of the reforming kings took away the infected
|
|
stones, yet still it broke out again, till by the captivity of
|
|
Babylon God took down the house, and carried it to an unclean land;
|
|
and this proved an effectual cure of their inclination to idols and
|
|
idolatrous worships.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 14:54-57" id="Lev.xv-p12.12" parsed="|Lev|14|54|14|57" osisRef="Bible:Lev.14.54-Lev.14.57"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.14.54-Lev.14.57">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xv-p13">54 This <i>is</i> the law for all manner of
|
|
plague of leprosy, and scall,   55 And for the leprosy of a
|
|
garment, and of a house,   56 And for a rising, and for a
|
|
scab, and for a bright spot:   57 To teach when <i>it is</i>
|
|
unclean, and when <i>it is</i> clean: this <i>is</i> the law of
|
|
leprosy.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xv-p14">This is the conclusion of this law
|
|
concerning the leprosy. There is no repetition of it in
|
|
Deuteronomy, only a general memorandum given (<scripRef passage="De 24:8" id="Lev.xv-p14.1" parsed="|Deut|24|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24.8">Deut. xxiv. 8</scripRef>), <i>Take heed in the plague of
|
|
leprosy.</i> We may see in this law, 1. The gracious care God took
|
|
of his people Israel, for to them only this law pertained, and not
|
|
to the Gentiles. When Naaman the Syrian was cured of his leprosy he
|
|
was not bidden to show himself to the priest, though he was cured
|
|
in Jordan, as the Jews that were cured by our Saviour were. Thus
|
|
those who are entrusted with the key of discipline in the church
|
|
judge those only <i>that are within;</i> but <i>those that are
|
|
without God judgeth,</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 5:12,13" id="Lev.xv-p14.2" parsed="|1Cor|5|12|5|13" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.5.12-1Cor.5.13">1 Cor. v.
|
|
12, 13</scripRef>. 2. The religious care we ought to take of
|
|
ourselves, to keep our minds from the dominion of all sinful
|
|
affections and dispositions, which are both their disease and their
|
|
defilement, that we may be fit for the service of God. We ought
|
|
also to avoid all bad company, and, as much as may be, to avoid
|
|
coming within the danger of being infected by it. <i>Touch not the
|
|
unclean thing, saith the Lord, and I will receive you,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="2Co 6:17" id="Lev.xv-p14.3" parsed="|2Cor|6|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.6.17">2 Cor. vi. 17</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XV" n="xvi" progress="56.83%" prev="Lev.xv" next="Lev.xvii" id="Lev.xvi">
|
|
<h2 id="Lev.xvi-p0.1">L E V I T I C U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Lev.xvi-p0.2">CHAP. XV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Lev.xvi-p1">In this chapter we have laws concerning other
|
|
ceremonial uncleannesses contracted either by bodily disease like
|
|
that of the leper, or some natural incidents, and this either, I.
|
|
In men, <scripRef passage="Le 15:1-18" id="Lev.xvi-p1.1" parsed="|Lev|15|1|15|18" osisRef="Bible:Lev.15.1-Lev.15.18">ver. 1-18</scripRef>. Or,
|
|
II. In women, <scripRef passage="Le 15:19-33" id="Lev.xvi-p1.2" parsed="|Lev|15|19|15|33" osisRef="Bible:Lev.15.19-Lev.15.33">ver.
|
|
19-33</scripRef>. We need not be at all curious in explaining these
|
|
antiquated laws, it is enough if we observe the general intention;
|
|
but we have need to be very cautious lest sin take occasion by the
|
|
commandment to become more exceedingly sinful; and exceedingly
|
|
sinful it is when lust is kindled by sparks of fire from God's
|
|
altar. The case is bad with the soul when it is putrefied by that
|
|
which should purify it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 15" id="Lev.xvi-p1.3" parsed="|Lev|15|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.15"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 15:1-18" id="Lev.xvi-p1.4" parsed="|Lev|15|1|15|18" osisRef="Bible:Lev.15.1-Lev.15.18"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.15.1-Lev.15.18">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.xvi-p1.5">Ceremonial Purification. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xvi-p1.6">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xvi-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xvi-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses and to Aaron, saying,   2 Speak unto the
|
|
children of Israel, and say unto them, When any man hath a running
|
|
issue out of his flesh, <i>because of</i> his issue he <i>is</i>
|
|
unclean.   3 And this shall be his uncleanness in his issue:
|
|
whether his flesh run with his issue, or his flesh be stopped from
|
|
his issue, it <i>is</i> his uncleanness.   4 Every bed,
|
|
whereon he lieth that hath the issue, is unclean: and every thing,
|
|
whereon he sitteth, shall be unclean.   5 And whosoever
|
|
toucheth his bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe <i>himself</i>
|
|
in water, and be unclean until the even.   6 And he that
|
|
sitteth on <i>any</i> thing whereon he sat that hath the issue
|
|
shall wash his clothes, and bathe <i>himself</i> in water, and be
|
|
unclean until the even.   7 And he that toucheth the flesh of
|
|
him that hath the issue shall wash his clothes, and bathe
|
|
<i>himself</i> in water, and be unclean until the even.   8
|
|
And if he that hath the issue spit upon him that is clean; then he
|
|
shall wash his clothes, and bathe <i>himself</i> in water, and be
|
|
unclean until the even.   9 And what saddle soever he rideth
|
|
upon that hath the issue shall be unclean.   10 And whosoever
|
|
toucheth any thing that was under him shall be unclean until the
|
|
even: and he that beareth <i>any of</i> those things shall wash his
|
|
clothes, and bathe <i>himself</i> in water, and be unclean until
|
|
the even.   11 And whomsoever he toucheth that hath the issue,
|
|
and hath not rinsed his hands in water, he shall wash his clothes,
|
|
and bathe <i>himself</i> in water, and be unclean until the even.
|
|
  12 And the vessel of earth, that he toucheth which hath the
|
|
issue, shall be broken: and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in
|
|
water.   13 And when he that hath an issue is cleansed of his
|
|
issue; then he shall number to himself seven days for his
|
|
cleansing, and wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in running
|
|
water, and shall be clean.   14 And on the eighth day he shall
|
|
take to him two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, and come before
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xvi-p2.2">Lord</span> unto the door of the
|
|
tabernacle of the congregation, and give them unto the priest:
|
|
  15 And the priest shall offer them, the one <i>for</i> a sin
|
|
offering, and the other <i>for</i> a burnt offering; and the priest
|
|
shall make an atonement for him before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xvi-p2.3">Lord</span> for his issue.   16 And if any man's
|
|
seed of copulation go out from him, then he shall wash all his
|
|
flesh in water, and be unclean until the even.   17 And every
|
|
garment, and every skin, whereon is the seed of copulation, shall
|
|
be washed with water, and be unclean until the even.   18 The
|
|
woman also with whom man shall lie <i>with</i> seed of copulation,
|
|
they shall <i>both</i> bathe <i>themselves</i> in water, and be
|
|
unclean until the even.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xvi-p3">We have here the law concerning the
|
|
ceremonial uncleanness that was contracted by running issues in
|
|
men. It is called in the margin (<scripRef passage="Le 15:2" id="Lev.xvi-p3.1" parsed="|Lev|15|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.15.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>) the <i>running of the reins:</i>
|
|
a very grievous and loathsome disease, which was, usually the
|
|
effect and consequent of wantonness and uncleanness, and a
|
|
dissolute course of life, filling men's bones with the sins of
|
|
their youth, and leaving them to mourn at the last, when all the
|
|
pleasures of their wickedness have vanished, and nothing remains
|
|
but the pain and anguish of a rotten carcase and a wounded
|
|
conscience. And what fruit has the sinner then of those things
|
|
whereof he has so much reason to be ashamed? <scripRef passage="Ro 6:21" id="Lev.xvi-p3.2" parsed="|Rom|6|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.21">Rom. vi. 21</scripRef>. As modesty is <i>an ornament of
|
|
grace to the head and chains about the neck,</i> so chastity is
|
|
<i>health to the navel and marrow to the bones;</i> but uncleanness
|
|
is a <i>wound and dishonour,</i> the consumption of the flesh and
|
|
the body, and a sin which is often its own punishment more than any
|
|
other. It was also sometimes inflicted by the righteous hand of God
|
|
for other sins, as appears by David's imprecation of a curse upon
|
|
the family of Joab, for the murder of Abner. <scripRef passage="2Sa 3:29" id="Lev.xvi-p3.3" parsed="|2Sam|3|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.3.29">2 Sam. iii. 29</scripRef>, <i>Let there not fail from
|
|
the house of Joab one that hath an issue, or is a leper.</i> A vile
|
|
disease for vile deserts. Now whoever had this disease upon him, 1.
|
|
He was himself unclean, <scripRef passage="Le 15:2" id="Lev.xvi-p3.4" parsed="|Lev|15|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.15.2"><i>v.</i>
|
|
2</scripRef>. He must not dare to come near the sanctuary, it was
|
|
at his peril if he did, nor might he eat of the holy things. This
|
|
signified the filthiness of sin, and of all the productions of our
|
|
corrupt nature, which render us odious to God's holiness, and
|
|
utterly unfit for communion with him. Out of a pure heart well kept
|
|
are the issues of life (<scripRef passage="Pr 4:23" id="Lev.xvi-p3.5" parsed="|Prov|4|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.4.23">Prov. iv.
|
|
23</scripRef>), but out of an unclean heart comes that which is
|
|
defiling, <scripRef passage="Mt 12:34,35" id="Lev.xvi-p3.6" parsed="|Matt|12|34|12|35" osisRef="Bible:Matt.12.34-Matt.12.35">Matt. xii. 34,
|
|
35</scripRef>. 2. He made every person and thing unclean that he
|
|
touched, or that touched him, <scripRef passage="Le 15:4-12" id="Lev.xvi-p3.7" parsed="|Lev|15|4|15|12" osisRef="Bible:Lev.15.4-Lev.15.12"><i>v.</i> 4-12</scripRef>. His bed, and his chair, and
|
|
his saddle, and every thing that belonged to him, could not be
|
|
touched without a ceremonial uncleanness contracted, which a man
|
|
must remain conscious to himself of till sunset, and from which he
|
|
could not be cleansed without washing his clothes, and bathing his
|
|
flesh in water. This signified the contagion of sin, the danger we
|
|
are in of being polluted by conversing with those that are
|
|
polluted, and the need we have with the utmost circumspection to
|
|
<i>save ourselves from this untoward generation.</i> 3. When he was
|
|
cured of the disease, yet he could not be cleansed from the
|
|
pollution without a sacrifice, for which he was to prepare himself
|
|
by seven days' expectation after he was perfectly clear from his
|
|
distemper, and by bathing in spring water, <scripRef passage="Le 15:13-15" id="Lev.xvi-p3.8" parsed="|Lev|15|13|15|15" osisRef="Bible:Lev.15.13-Lev.15.15"><i>v.</i> 13-15</scripRef>. This signified the great
|
|
gospel duties of faith and repentance, and the great gospel
|
|
privileges of the application of Christ's blood to our souls for
|
|
our justification and his grace for our sanctification. God has
|
|
promised to sprinkle clean water upon us, and to cleanse us from
|
|
all our filthiness, and has appointed us by repentance to wash and
|
|
make ourselves clean: he has also provided a sacrifice of
|
|
atonement, and requires us by faith to interest ourselves in that
|
|
sacrifice; for it is <i>the blood of Christ his Son that cleanses
|
|
us from all sin,</i> and by which atonement is made for us, that we
|
|
may have admission into God's presence and may partake of his
|
|
favour.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 15" id="Lev.xvi-p3.9" parsed="|Lev|15|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.15"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 15:19-33" id="Lev.xvi-p3.10" parsed="|Lev|15|19|15|33" osisRef="Bible:Lev.15.19-Lev.15.33"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.15.19-Lev.15.33">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xvi-p4">19 And if a woman have an issue, <i>and</i> her
|
|
issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put apart seven days: and
|
|
whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even.   20
|
|
And every thing that she lieth upon in her separation shall be
|
|
unclean: every thing also that she sitteth upon shall be unclean.
|
|
  21 And whosoever toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes,
|
|
and bathe <i>himself</i> in water, and be unclean until the even.
|
|
  22 And whosoever toucheth any thing that she sat upon shall
|
|
wash his clothes, and bathe <i>himself</i> in water, and be unclean
|
|
until the even.   23 And if it <i>be</i> on <i>her</i> bed, or
|
|
on any thing whereon she sitteth, when he toucheth it, he shall be
|
|
unclean until the even.   24 And if any man lie with her at
|
|
all, and her flowers be upon him, he shall be unclean seven days;
|
|
and all the bed whereon he lieth shall be unclean.   25 And if
|
|
a woman have an issue of her blood many days out of the time of her
|
|
separation, or if it run beyond the time of her separation; all the
|
|
days of the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the days of her
|
|
separation: she <i>shall be</i> unclean.   26 Every bed
|
|
whereon she lieth all the days of her issue shall be unto her as
|
|
the bed of her separation: and whatsoever she sitteth upon shall be
|
|
unclean, as the uncleanness of her separation.   27 And
|
|
whosoever toucheth those things shall be unclean, and shall wash
|
|
his clothes, and bathe <i>himself</i> in water, and be unclean
|
|
until the even.   28 But if she be cleansed of her issue, then
|
|
she shall number to herself seven days, and after that she shall be
|
|
clean.   29 And on the eighth day she shall take unto her two
|
|
turtles, or two young pigeons, and bring them unto the priest, to
|
|
the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.   30 And the
|
|
priest shall offer the one <i>for</i> a sin offering, and the other
|
|
<i>for</i> a burnt offering; and the priest shall make an atonement
|
|
for her before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xvi-p4.1">Lord</span> for the
|
|
issue of her uncleanness.   31 Thus shall ye separate the
|
|
children of Israel from their uncleanness; that they die not in
|
|
their uncleanness, when they defile my tabernacle that <i>is</i>
|
|
among them.   32 This <i>is</i> the law of him that hath an
|
|
issue, and <i>of him</i> whose seed goeth from him, and is defiled
|
|
therewith;   33 And of her that is sick of her flowers, and of
|
|
him that hath an issue, of the man, and of the woman, and of him
|
|
that lieth with her that is unclean.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xvi-p5">This is concerning the ceremonial
|
|
uncleanness which women lay under from their issues, both those
|
|
that were regular and healthful, and according to the course of
|
|
nature (<scripRef passage="Le 15:19-24" id="Lev.xvi-p5.1" parsed="|Lev|15|19|15|24" osisRef="Bible:Lev.15.19-Lev.15.24"><i>v.</i>
|
|
19-24</scripRef>), and those that were unseasonable, excessive, and
|
|
the disease of the body; such was the bloody issue of that poor
|
|
woman who was suddenly cured by touching the hem of Christ's
|
|
garment, after she had lain twelve years under her distemper, and
|
|
had spent her estate upon physicians and physic in vain. This made
|
|
the woman that was afflicted with it unclean (<scripRef passage="Le 15:25" id="Lev.xvi-p5.2" parsed="|Lev|15|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.15.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>) and every thing she touched
|
|
unclean, <scripRef passage="Le 15:26,27" id="Lev.xvi-p5.3" parsed="|Lev|15|26|15|27" osisRef="Bible:Lev.15.26-Lev.15.27"><i>v.</i> 26,
|
|
27</scripRef>. And if she was cured, and found by seven days' trial
|
|
that she was perfectly free from her issue of blood, she was to be
|
|
cleansed by the offering of two turtle-doves or two young pigeons,
|
|
to make an atonement for her, <scripRef passage="Le 15:28,29" id="Lev.xvi-p5.4" parsed="|Lev|15|28|15|29" osisRef="Bible:Lev.15.28-Lev.15.29"><i>v.</i> 28, 29</scripRef>. All wicked courses,
|
|
particularly idolatries, are compared to the uncleanness of a
|
|
<i>removed woman</i> (<scripRef passage="Eze 36:17" id="Lev.xvi-p5.5" parsed="|Ezek|36|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.36.17">Ezek. xxxvi.
|
|
17</scripRef>), and, in allusion to this, it is said of Jerusalem
|
|
(<scripRef passage="La 1:9" id="Lev.xvi-p5.6" parsed="|Lam|1|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lam.1.9">Lam. i. 9</scripRef>), <i>Her
|
|
filthiness is in her skirts,</i> so that (as it follows, <scripRef passage="Le 15:17" id="Lev.xvi-p5.7" parsed="|Lev|15|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.15.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>) she was shunned as a
|
|
menstruous woman.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xvi-p6">I. The reasons given for all these laws
|
|
(which we are ready to think might very well have been spared) we
|
|
have, <scripRef passage="Le 15:31" id="Lev.xvi-p6.1" parsed="|Lev|15|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.15.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>. 1.
|
|
<i>Thus shall you separate the children of Israel</i> (for to them
|
|
only and their servants and proselytes these laws pertained)
|
|
<i>from their uncleanness;</i> that is, (1.) By these laws they
|
|
were taught their privilege and honour, that they were <i>purified
|
|
unto God a peculiar people,</i> and were intended by the holy God
|
|
for a kingdom of priests, a holy nation; for that was a defilement
|
|
to them which was not so to others. (2.) They were also taught
|
|
their duty, which was to preserve the honour of their purity, and
|
|
to keep themselves from all sinful pollutions. It was easy for them
|
|
to argue that if those pollutions which were natural, unavoidable,
|
|
involuntary, their affliction and not their sin, rendered them for
|
|
the time so odious that they were not fit for communion either with
|
|
God or man, much more abominable and filthy were they if they
|
|
sinned against the light and law of nature, by drunkenness,
|
|
adultery, fraud, and the like sins, which defile the very mind and
|
|
conscience. And, if these ceremonial pollutions could not be done
|
|
away but by sacrifice and offering, something greater and much more
|
|
valuable must be expected and depended upon for the purifying of
|
|
the soul from the uncleanness of sin. 2. Thus their dying in their
|
|
uncleanness by the hand of God's justice, if while they were under
|
|
any of these defilements they should come near the sanctuary, would
|
|
be prevented. Note, It is a dangerous thing to die in our
|
|
uncleanness; and it is our own fault if we do, since we have not
|
|
only fair warning given us, by God's law, against those things that
|
|
will defile us, but also such gracious provision made by his gospel
|
|
for our cleansing if at any time we be defiled. 3. In all these
|
|
laws there seems to be a special regard had to the honour of the
|
|
tabernacle, to which none must approach in their uncleanness, that
|
|
they <i>defile not my tabernacle.</i> Infinite Wisdom took this
|
|
course to preserve in the minds of that careless people a continual
|
|
dread of, and veneration for, the manifestations of God's glory and
|
|
presence among them in his sanctuary. Now that the tabernacle of
|
|
God was with men familiarity would be apt to breed contempt, and
|
|
therefore the law made so many things of frequent incidence to be
|
|
ceremonial pollutions, and to involve an incapacity of drawing near
|
|
to the sanctuary (making death the penalty), that so they might not
|
|
approach without great caution, and reverence, and serious
|
|
preparation, and fear of being found unfit. Thus they were taught
|
|
never to draw near to God but with an awful humble sense of their
|
|
distance and danger, and an exact observance of every thing that
|
|
was required in order to their safety and acceptance.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xvi-p7">II. And what duty must we learn from all
|
|
this? 1. Let us bless God that we are not under the yoke of these
|
|
carnal ordinances, that, as nothing can destroy us, so nothing can
|
|
defile us, but sin. Those may now partake of the Lord's supper who
|
|
durst not then eat of the peace-offerings. And the defilement we
|
|
contract by our sins of daily infirmity we may be cleansed from in
|
|
secret by the renewed acts of repentance and faith, without bathing
|
|
in water or bringing an offering to the door of the tabernacle. 2.
|
|
Let us carefully abstain from all sin, as defiling to the
|
|
conscience, and particularly from all fleshly lusts, <i>possessing
|
|
our vessel in sanctification and honour, and not in the lusts of
|
|
uncleanness,</i> which not only pollute the soul, but <i>war
|
|
against it,</i> and threaten its ruin. 3. Let us all see how
|
|
indispensably necessary real holiness is to our future happiness,
|
|
and get our hearts purified by faith, that we may see God. Perhaps
|
|
it is in allusion to these laws which forbade the unclean to
|
|
approach the sanctuary that when it is asked, <i>Who shall stand in
|
|
God's holy place?</i> it is answered, <i>He that hath clean hands
|
|
and a pure heart</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 24:3,4" id="Lev.xvi-p7.1" parsed="|Ps|24|3|24|4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.24.3-Ps.24.4">Ps. xxxiv. 3,
|
|
4</scripRef>); for <i>without holiness no man shall see the
|
|
Lord.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XVI" n="xvii" progress="57.12%" prev="Lev.xvi" next="Lev.xviii" id="Lev.xvii">
|
|
<h2 id="Lev.xvii-p0.1">L E V I T I C U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Lev.xvii-p0.2">CHAP. XVI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Lev.xvii-p1">In this chapter we have the institution of the
|
|
annual solemnity of the day of atonement, or expiation, which had
|
|
as much gospel in it as perhaps any of the appointments of the
|
|
ceremonial law, as appears by the reference the apostle makes to
|
|
it, <scripRef passage="Heb 9:7" id="Lev.xvii-p1.1" parsed="|Heb|9|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.9.7">Heb. ix. 7</scripRef>, &c. We
|
|
had before divers laws concerning sin-offerings for particular
|
|
persons, and to be offered upon particular occasions; but this is
|
|
concerning the stated sacrifice, in which the whole nation was
|
|
interested. The whole service of the day is committed to the high
|
|
priest. I. He must never come into the most holy place but upon
|
|
this day, <scripRef passage="Le 16:1,2" id="Lev.xvii-p1.2" parsed="|Lev|16|1|16|2" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.1-Lev.16.2">ver. 1, 2</scripRef>. II.
|
|
He must come dressed in linen garments, <scripRef passage="Le 16:4" id="Lev.xvii-p1.3" parsed="|Lev|16|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.4">ver. 4</scripRef>. III. He must bring a sin-offering and
|
|
a burnt-offering for himself (<scripRef passage="Le 16:3" id="Lev.xvii-p1.4" parsed="|Lev|16|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.3">ver.
|
|
3</scripRef>), offer his sin-offering (<scripRef passage="Le 16:6-11" id="Lev.xvii-p1.5" parsed="|Lev|16|6|16|11" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.6-Lev.16.11">ver. 6-11</scripRef>), then go within the veil with
|
|
some of the blood of his sin-offering, burn incense, and sprinkle
|
|
the blood before the mercy-seat, <scripRef passage="Le 16:12-14" id="Lev.xvii-p1.6" parsed="|Lev|16|12|16|14" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.12-Lev.16.14">ver. 12-14</scripRef>. IV. Two goats must be provided
|
|
for the people, lots cast upon them, and, 1. One of them must be a
|
|
sin-offering for the people (<scripRef passage="Le 16:5,7-9" id="Lev.xvii-p1.7" parsed="|Lev|16|5|0|0;|Lev|16|7|16|9" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.5 Bible:Lev.16.7-Lev.16.9">ver.
|
|
5, 7-9</scripRef>), and the blood of it must be sprinkled before
|
|
the mercy-seat (<scripRef passage="Le 16:15-17" id="Lev.xvii-p1.8" parsed="|Lev|16|15|16|17" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.15-Lev.16.17">ver.
|
|
15-17</scripRef>), and then some of the blood of both the
|
|
sin-offerings must be sprinkled upon the altar, <scripRef passage="Le 16:18,19" id="Lev.xvii-p1.9" parsed="|Lev|16|18|16|19" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.18-Lev.16.19">ver. 18, 19</scripRef>. 2. The other must be a
|
|
scape-goat (<scripRef passage="Le 16:10" id="Lev.xvii-p1.10" parsed="|Lev|16|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.10">ver. 10</scripRef>), the
|
|
sins of Israel must be confessed over him, and then he must be sent
|
|
away into the wilderness (<scripRef passage="Le 16:20-22" id="Lev.xvii-p1.11" parsed="|Lev|16|20|16|22" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.20-Lev.16.22">ver.
|
|
20-22</scripRef>), and he that brought him away must be
|
|
ceremonially unclean, <scripRef passage="Le 16:26" id="Lev.xvii-p1.12" parsed="|Lev|16|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.26">ver.
|
|
26</scripRef>. V. The burnt-offerings were then to be offered, the
|
|
fat of the sin-offerings burnt on the altar, and their flesh burnt
|
|
without the camp, <scripRef passage="Le 16:23-25,27,28" id="Lev.xvii-p1.13" parsed="|Lev|16|23|16|25;|Lev|16|27|0|0;|Lev|16|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.23-Lev.16.25 Bible:Lev.16.27 Bible:Lev.16.28">ver. 23-25,
|
|
27, 28</scripRef>. VI. The people were to observe the day
|
|
religiously by a holy rest and holy mourning for sin; and this was
|
|
to be a statute for ever, <scripRef passage="Le 16:29-34" id="Lev.xvii-p1.14" parsed="|Lev|16|29|16|34" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.29-Lev.16.34">ver.
|
|
29</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 16" id="Lev.xvii-p1.15" parsed="|Lev|16|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 16:1-4" id="Lev.xvii-p1.16" parsed="|Lev|16|1|16|4" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.1-Lev.16.4"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.16.1-Lev.16.4">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.xvii-p1.17">The Great Day of Atonement. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xvii-p1.18">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xvii-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xvii-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when
|
|
they offered before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xvii-p2.2">Lord</span>, and
|
|
died;   2 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xvii-p2.3">Lord</span> said
|
|
unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all
|
|
times into the holy <i>place</i> within the vail before the mercy
|
|
seat, which <i>is</i> upon the ark; that he die not: for I will
|
|
appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat.   3 Thus shall Aaron
|
|
come into the holy <i>place</i>: with a young bullock for a sin
|
|
offering, and a ram for a burnt offering.   4 He shall put on
|
|
the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his
|
|
flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with the linen
|
|
mitre shall he be attired: these <i>are</i> holy garments;
|
|
therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and <i>so</i> put them
|
|
on.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xvii-p3">Here is, I. The date of this law concerning
|
|
the day of atonement: it was <i>after the death of the two sons of
|
|
Aaron</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 16:1" id="Lev.xvii-p3.1" parsed="|Lev|16|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>),
|
|
which we read, <scripRef passage="Le 10:1" id="Lev.xvii-p3.2" parsed="|Lev|10|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.1"><i>ch.</i> x.
|
|
1</scripRef>. 1. Lest Aaron should fear that any remaining guilt of
|
|
that sin should cleave to his family, or (seeing the priests were
|
|
so apt to offend) that some after-sin of his other sons should be
|
|
the ruin of his family, he is directed how to make atonement for
|
|
his house, that it might keep in with God; for the atonement for it
|
|
would be the establishment of it, and preserve the entail of the
|
|
blessing upon it. 2. The priests being warned by the death of Nadab
|
|
and Abihu to approach to God with reverence and godly fear (without
|
|
which they came at their peril), directions are here given how the
|
|
nearest approach might be made, not only without peril, but to
|
|
unspeakable advantage and comfort, if the directions were observed.
|
|
When they were cut off for an undue approach, the rest must not
|
|
say, "Then we will not draw near at all," but, "Then we will do it
|
|
by rule." They died for their sin, therefore God graciously
|
|
provides for the rest, that they die not. Thus God's judgments on
|
|
some should be instructions to others.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xvii-p4">II. The design of this law. One intention
|
|
of it was to preserve a veneration for the most holy place, within
|
|
the veil, where the <i>Shechinah,</i> or divine glory, was pleased
|
|
to dwell between the cherubim: <i>Speak unto Aaron, that he come
|
|
not at all times into the holy place,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 16:2" id="Lev.xvii-p4.1" parsed="|Lev|16|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. Before the veil some of the
|
|
priests came every day to burn incense upon the golden altar, but
|
|
within the veil none must ever come but the high priest only, and
|
|
he but on one day in the year, and with great ceremony and caution.
|
|
That place where God manifested his special presence must not be
|
|
made common. If none must come into the presence-chamber of an
|
|
earthly king uncalled, no, not the queen herself, upon pain of
|
|
death (<scripRef passage="Es 4:11" id="Lev.xvii-p4.2" parsed="|Esth|4|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Esth.4.11">Esth. iv. 11</scripRef>), was it
|
|
not requisite that the same sacred respect should be paid to the
|
|
Kings of kings? But see what a blessed change is made by the gospel
|
|
of Christ; all good Christians have now <i>boldness to enter into
|
|
the holiest,</i> through the veil, every day (<scripRef passage="Heb 10:19,20" id="Lev.xvii-p4.3" parsed="|Heb|10|19|10|20" osisRef="Bible:Heb.10.19-Heb.10.20">Heb. x. 19, 20</scripRef>); and we <i>come
|
|
boldly</i> (not as Aaron must, with fear and trembling) to the
|
|
<i>throne of grace,</i> or mercy-seat, <scripRef passage="Heb 4:16" id="Lev.xvii-p4.4" parsed="|Heb|4|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.4.16">Heb. iv. 16</scripRef>. While the manifestations of
|
|
God's presence and grace were sensible, it was requisite that they
|
|
should thus be confined and upon reserve, because the objects of
|
|
sense the more familiar they are made the less awful or delightful
|
|
they become; but now that they are purely spiritual it is
|
|
otherwise, for the objects of faith the more they are conversed
|
|
with the more do they manifest of their greatness and goodness: now
|
|
therefore we are welcome to come at all times into the <i>holy
|
|
place not made with hands,</i> for we are made to <i>sit together
|
|
with Christ in heavenly places</i> by faith, <scripRef passage="Eph 2:6" id="Lev.xvii-p4.5" parsed="|Eph|2|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eph.2.6">Eph. ii. 6</scripRef>. Then Aaron must not come near at
|
|
all times, <i>lest he die;</i> we now must come near at all times
|
|
that we may live: it is distance only that is our death. Then God
|
|
appeared in the cloud upon the mercy-seat, but now with open face
|
|
we behold, not in a dark cloud, but in a clear glass, the glory of
|
|
the Lord, <scripRef passage="2Co 3:18" id="Lev.xvii-p4.6" parsed="|2Cor|3|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.3.18">2 Cor. iii.
|
|
18</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xvii-p5">III. The person to whom the work of this
|
|
day was committed, and that was the high priest only: <i>Thus shall
|
|
Aaron come into the holy place,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 16:3" id="Lev.xvii-p5.1" parsed="|Lev|16|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. He was to do all himself upon the
|
|
day of atonement: only there was a second provided to be his
|
|
substitute or supporter, in case any thing should befal him, either
|
|
of sickness or ceremonial uncleanness, that he could not perform
|
|
the service of the day. All Christians are spiritual priests, but
|
|
Christ only is the high priest, and he alone it is that makes
|
|
atonement, nor needed he either assistant or substitute.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xvii-p6">IV. The attire of the high priest in this
|
|
service. He was not to be dressed up in his rich garments that were
|
|
peculiar to himself: he was not to put on the ephod, with the
|
|
precious stones in it, but only the linen clothes which he wore in
|
|
common with the inferior priests, <scripRef passage="Le 16:4" id="Lev.xvii-p6.1" parsed="|Lev|16|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. That meaner dress did best become
|
|
him on this day of humiliation; and, being thinner and lighter, he
|
|
would in it be more expedite for the work or service of the day,
|
|
which was all to go through his hands. Christ, our high priest,
|
|
made atonement for sin in our nature; not in the robes of his own
|
|
peculiar glory, but the linen garments of our mortality, clean
|
|
indeed, but mean.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 16:5-14" id="Lev.xvii-p6.2" parsed="|Lev|16|5|16|14" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.5-Lev.16.14"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.16.5-Lev.16.14">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xvii-p7">5 And he shall take of the congregation of the
|
|
children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and
|
|
one ram for a burnt offering.   6 And Aaron shall offer his
|
|
bullock of the sin offering, which <i>is</i> for himself, and make
|
|
an atonement for himself, and for his house.   7 And he shall
|
|
take the two goats, and present them before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xvii-p7.1">Lord</span> <i>at</i> the door of the tabernacle of the
|
|
congregation.   8 And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two
|
|
goats; one lot for the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xvii-p7.2">Lord</span>, and the
|
|
other lot for the scapegoat.   9 And Aaron shall bring the
|
|
goat upon which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xvii-p7.3">Lord</span>'s lot fell,
|
|
and offer him <i>for</i> a sin offering.   10 But the goat, on
|
|
which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive
|
|
before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xvii-p7.4">Lord</span>, to make an
|
|
atonement with him, <i>and</i> to let him go for a scapegoat into
|
|
the wilderness.   11 And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the
|
|
sin offering, which <i>is</i> for himself, and shall make an
|
|
atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the
|
|
bullock of the sin offering which <i>is</i> for himself:   12
|
|
And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off
|
|
the altar before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xvii-p7.5">Lord</span>, and his
|
|
hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring <i>it</i>
|
|
within the vail:   13 And he shall put the incense upon the
|
|
fire before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xvii-p7.6">Lord</span>, that the cloud
|
|
of the incense may cover the mercy seat that <i>is</i> upon the
|
|
testimony, that he die not:   14 And he shall take of the
|
|
blood of the bullock, and sprinkle <i>it</i> with his finger upon
|
|
the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he
|
|
sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xvii-p8">The Jewish writers say that for seven days
|
|
before the day of expiation the high priest was to retire from his
|
|
own house, and to dwell in a chamber of the temple, that he might
|
|
prepare himself for the service of this great day. During those
|
|
seven days he himself did the work of the inferior priests about
|
|
the sacrifices, incense, &c., that he might have his hand in
|
|
for this day: he must have the institution read to him again and
|
|
again, that he might be fully apprised of the whole method. 1. He
|
|
was to begin the service of the day very early with the usual
|
|
morning sacrifice, after he had first washed his whole body before
|
|
he dressed himself, and his hands and feet again afterwards. He
|
|
then burned the daily incense, dressed the lamps, and offered the
|
|
extraordinary sacrifice appointed for this day (not here, but
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 29:8" id="Lev.xvii-p8.1" parsed="|Num|29|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.29.8">Num. xxix. 8</scripRef>), a bullock, a
|
|
ram, and seven lambs, all for burnt-offerings. This he is supposed
|
|
to have done in his high priest's garments. 2. He must now put off
|
|
his rich robes, bathe himself, put on the linen garments, and
|
|
present unto the Lord his own bullock, which was to be a
|
|
sin-offering for himself and his own house, <scripRef passage="Le 16:6" id="Lev.xvii-p8.2" parsed="|Lev|16|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. The bullock was set between the
|
|
temple and the altar, and the offering of him mentioned in this
|
|
verse was the making of a solemn confession of his sins and the
|
|
sins of his house, earnestly praying for the forgiveness of them,
|
|
and this with his hands on the head of the bullock. 3. He must then
|
|
cast lots upon the two goats, which were to make (both together)
|
|
one sin-offering for the congregation. One of these goats must be
|
|
slain, in token of a satisfaction to be made to God's justice for
|
|
sin, the other must be sent away, in token of the remission or
|
|
dismission of sin by the mercy of God. Both must be presented
|
|
together to God (<scripRef passage="Le 16:7" id="Lev.xvii-p8.3" parsed="|Lev|16|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.7"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7</scripRef>) before the lot was cast upon them, and afterwards the
|
|
scape-goat by itself, <scripRef passage="Le 16:10" id="Lev.xvii-p8.4" parsed="|Lev|16|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.10"><i>v.</i>
|
|
10</scripRef>. Some think that goats were chosen for the
|
|
sin-offering because, by the disagreeableness of their smell, the
|
|
offensiveness of sin is represented: others think, because it was
|
|
said that the demons which the heathens then worshipped often
|
|
appeared to their worshippers in the form of goats, God therefore
|
|
obliged his people to sacrifice goats, that they might never be
|
|
tempted to sacrifice to goats. 4. The next thing to be done was to
|
|
kill the bullock for the sin-offering for himself and his house,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 16:11" id="Lev.xvii-p8.5" parsed="|Lev|16|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. "Now," say
|
|
the Jews, "he must again put his hands on the head of the bullock,
|
|
and repeat the confession and supplication he had before made, and
|
|
kill the bullock with his own hands, to make atonement for himself
|
|
first (for how could he make reconciliation for the sins of the
|
|
people till he was himself first reconciled?) and for his house,
|
|
not only his own family, but all the priests, who are called the
|
|
<i>house of Aaron,</i>" <scripRef passage="Ps 135:19" id="Lev.xvii-p8.6" parsed="|Ps|135|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.135.19">Ps. cxxxv.
|
|
19</scripRef>. This charity must begin at home, though it must not
|
|
end there. The bullock being killed, he left one of the priests to
|
|
stir the blood, that it might not thicken, and then, 5. He took a
|
|
censer of burning coals (that would not smoke) in one hand, and a
|
|
dish full of the sweet incense in the other, and then went into the
|
|
holy of holies through the veil, and went up towards the ark, set
|
|
the coals down upon the floor, and scattered the incense upon them,
|
|
so that the room was immediately filled with smoke. The Jews say
|
|
that he was to go in <i>side-ways,</i> that he might not look
|
|
directly upon the ark where the divine glory was, till it was
|
|
covered with smoke; then he must come out <i>backwards,</i> out of
|
|
reverence to the divine majesty; and, after a short prayer, he was
|
|
to hasten out of the sanctuary, to show himself to the people, that
|
|
they might not suspect that he had misbehaved himself and died
|
|
before the Lord. 6. He then fetched the blood of the bullock from
|
|
the priest whom he had left stirring it, and took that in with him
|
|
the second time into the holy of holies, which was now filled with
|
|
the smoke of the incense, and sprinkled with his finger of that
|
|
blood upon, or rather towards, the mercy-seat, once over against
|
|
the top of it and then seven times towards the lower part of it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 16:14" id="Lev.xvii-p8.7" parsed="|Lev|16|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. But the drops
|
|
of blood (as the Jews expound it) all fell upon the ground, and
|
|
none touched the mercy-seat. Having done this, he came out of the
|
|
most holy place, set the basin of blood down in the sanctuary, and
|
|
went out.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 16" id="Lev.xvii-p8.8" parsed="|Lev|16|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 16:15-19" id="Lev.xvii-p8.9" parsed="|Lev|16|15|16|19" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.15-Lev.16.19"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.16.15-Lev.16.19">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xvii-p9">15 Then shall he kill the goat of the sin
|
|
offering, that <i>is</i> for the people, and bring his blood within
|
|
the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the
|
|
bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy
|
|
seat:   16 And he shall make an atonement for the holy
|
|
<i>place,</i> because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel,
|
|
and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall
|
|
he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among
|
|
them in the midst of their uncleanness.   17 And there shall
|
|
be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to
|
|
make an atonement in the holy <i>place,</i> until he come out, and
|
|
have made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and for
|
|
all the congregation of Israel.   18 And he shall go out unto
|
|
the altar that <i>is</i> before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xvii-p9.1">Lord</span>, and make an atonement for it; and shall
|
|
take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and
|
|
put <i>it</i> upon the horns of the altar round about.   19
|
|
And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven
|
|
times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the
|
|
children of Israel.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xvii-p10">When the priest had come out from the
|
|
sprinkling the blood of the bullock before the mercy-seat, 1. He
|
|
must next kill the goat which was the sin-offering for the people
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 16:15" id="Lev.xvii-p10.1" parsed="|Lev|16|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>) and go the
|
|
third time into the holy of holies, to sprinkle the blood of the
|
|
goat, as he had done that of the bullock; and thus he was to
|
|
<i>make atonement for the holy place</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 16:16" id="Lev.xvii-p10.2" parsed="|Lev|16|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>); that is, whereas the people by
|
|
their sins had provoked God to take away those tokens of his
|
|
favourable presence with them, and rendered even that holy place
|
|
unfit to be the habitation of the holy God, atonement was hereby
|
|
made for sin, that God, being reconciled to them, might continue
|
|
with them. 2. He must then do the same for the outward part of the
|
|
tabernacle that he had done for the inner room, by sprinkling the
|
|
blood of the bullock first, and then that of the goat, without the
|
|
veil, where the table and incense-altar stood, eight times each as
|
|
before. The reason intimated is <i>because the tabernacle remained
|
|
among them in the midst of their uncleanness,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 16:16" id="Lev.xvii-p10.3" parsed="|Lev|16|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. God would hereby show
|
|
them how much their hearts needed to be purified, when even the
|
|
tabernacle, only by standing in the midst of such an impure and
|
|
sinful people, needed this expiation; and also that even their
|
|
devotions and religious performances had much amiss in them, for
|
|
which it was necessary that atonement should be made. During this
|
|
solemnity, none of the inferior priests must come into the
|
|
tabernacle (<scripRef passage="Le 16:17" id="Lev.xvii-p10.4" parsed="|Lev|16|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>),
|
|
but, by standing without, must own themselves unworthy and unfit to
|
|
minister there, because their follies, and defects, and manifold
|
|
impurities in their ministry, had made this expiation of the
|
|
tabernacle necessary. 3. He must then put some of the blood, both
|
|
of the bullock and of the goat mixed together, upon the horns of
|
|
the altar that is before the Lord, <scripRef passage="Le 16:18,19" id="Lev.xvii-p10.5" parsed="|Lev|16|18|16|19" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.18-Lev.16.19"><i>v.</i> 18, 19</scripRef>. It is certain that the
|
|
altar of incense had this blood put upon it, for so it is expressly
|
|
ordered (<scripRef passage="Ex 30:10" id="Lev.xvii-p10.6" parsed="|Exod|30|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.10">Exod. xxx. 10</scripRef>);
|
|
but some think that this directs the high priest to the altar of
|
|
burnt-offerings, for that also is here called the <i>altar before
|
|
the Lord</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 16:12" id="Lev.xvii-p10.7" parsed="|Lev|16|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.12"><i>v.</i>
|
|
12</scripRef>), because he is said to <i>go out</i> to it, and
|
|
because it may be presumed that that also had need of an expiation;
|
|
for too that the gifts and offerings of the children of Israel were
|
|
all brought, from whose uncleanness the altar is here said to be
|
|
hallowed.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 16:20-28" id="Lev.xvii-p10.8" parsed="|Lev|16|20|16|28" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.20-Lev.16.28"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.16.20-Lev.16.28">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xvii-p11">20 And when he hath made an end of reconciling
|
|
the holy <i>place,</i> and the tabernacle of the congregation, and
|
|
the altar, he shall bring the live goat:   21 And Aaron shall
|
|
lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over
|
|
him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their
|
|
transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the
|
|
goat, and shall send <i>him</i> away by the hand of a fit man into
|
|
the wilderness:   22 And the goat shall bear upon him all
|
|
their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the
|
|
goat in the wilderness.   23 And Aaron shall come into the
|
|
tabernacle of the congregation, and shall put off the linen
|
|
garments, which he put on when he went into the holy <i>place,</i>
|
|
and shall leave them there:   24 And he shall wash his flesh
|
|
with water in the holy place, and put on his garments, and come
|
|
forth, and offer his burnt offering, and the burnt offering of the
|
|
people, and make an atonement for himself, and for the people.
|
|
  25 And the fat of the sin offering shall he burn upon the
|
|
altar.   26 And he that let go the goat for the scapegoat
|
|
shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward
|
|
come into the camp.   27 And the bullock <i>for</i> the sin
|
|
offering, and the goat <i>for</i> the sin offering, whose blood was
|
|
brought in to make atonement in the holy <i>place,</i> shall
|
|
<i>one</i> carry forth without the camp; and they shall burn in the
|
|
fire their skins, and their flesh, and their dung.   28 And he
|
|
that burneth them shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in
|
|
water, and afterward he shall come into the camp.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xvii-p12">The high priest having presented unto the
|
|
Lord the expiatory sacrifices, by the sprinkling of their blood,
|
|
the remainder of which, it is probable, he poured out at the foot
|
|
of the brazen altar, 1. He is next to confess the sins of Israel,
|
|
with both his hands upon the head of the scape-goat (<scripRef passage="Le 16:20,21" id="Lev.xvii-p12.1" parsed="|Lev|16|20|16|21" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.20-Lev.16.21"><i>v.</i> 20, 21</scripRef>); and whenever
|
|
hands were imposed upon the head of any sacrifice it was always
|
|
done with confession, according as the nature of the sacrifice was;
|
|
and, this being a sin-offering, it must be a confession of sin. In
|
|
the latter and more degenerate ages of the Jewish church they had a
|
|
set form of confession prepared for the high priest, but God here
|
|
prescribed none; for it might be supposed that the high priest was
|
|
so well acquainted with the state of the people, and had such a
|
|
tender concern for them, that he needed not any form. The
|
|
confession must be as particular as he could make it, not only of
|
|
<i>all the iniquities of the children of Israel,</i> but <i>all
|
|
their transgressions in all their sins.</i> In one sin there may be
|
|
many transgressions, from the several aggravating circumstances of
|
|
it; and in our confessions we should take notice of them, and not
|
|
only say, <i>I have sinned,</i> but, with Achan, "Thus and thus
|
|
have I done." By this confession he must <i>put the sins of Israel
|
|
upon the head of the goat;</i> that is, exercising faith upon the
|
|
divine appointment which constituted such a translation, he must
|
|
transfer the punishment incurred from the sinners to the sacrifice,
|
|
which would have been but a jest, nay, an affront to God, if he
|
|
himself had not ordained it. 2. The goat was then to be sent away
|
|
immediately by the hand of a fit person pitched upon for the
|
|
purpose, into a wilderness, a land not inhabited; and God allowed
|
|
them to make this construction of it, that the sending away of the
|
|
goat was the sending away of their sins, by a free and full
|
|
remission: <i>He shall bear upon him all their iniquities,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 16:22" id="Lev.xvii-p12.2" parsed="|Lev|16|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>. The losing of
|
|
the goat was a sign to them that <i>the sins of Israel should be
|
|
sought for, and not found,</i> <scripRef passage="Jer 50:20" id="Lev.xvii-p12.3" parsed="|Jer|50|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.50.20">Jer.
|
|
l. 20</scripRef>. The later Jews had a custom to tie one shred of
|
|
scarlet cloth to the horns of the goat and another to the gate of
|
|
the temple, or to the top of the rock where the goat was lost, and
|
|
they concluded that if it turned white, as they say it usually did,
|
|
the sins of Israel were forgiven, as it is written, <i>Though your
|
|
sins have been as scarlet, they shall be as wool:</i> and they add
|
|
that for forty years before the destruction of Jerusalem by the
|
|
Romans the scarlet cloth never changed colour at all, which is a
|
|
fair confession that, having rejected the substance, the shadow
|
|
stood them in no stead. 3. The high priest must then put off his
|
|
linen garments in the tabernacle, and leave them there, the Jews
|
|
say never to be worn again by himself or any other, for they made
|
|
new ones every year; and he must bathe himself in water, put on his
|
|
rich clothes, and then offer both his own and the people's
|
|
burnt-offerings, <scripRef passage="Le 16:23,24" id="Lev.xvii-p12.4" parsed="|Lev|16|23|16|24" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.23-Lev.16.24"><i>v.</i> 23,
|
|
24</scripRef>. When we have the comfort of our pardon God must have
|
|
the glory of it. If we have the benefit of the sacrifice of
|
|
atonement, we must not grudge the sacrifices of acknowledgment.
|
|
And, it should seem, the burning of the fat of the sin-offering was
|
|
deferred till now (<scripRef passage="Le 16:25" id="Lev.xvii-p12.5" parsed="|Lev|16|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.25"><i>v.</i>
|
|
25</scripRef>), that it might be consumed with the burnt-offerings.
|
|
4. The flesh of both those sin-offerings whose blood was taken
|
|
within the veil was to be all burnt, not upon the altar, but at a
|
|
distance without the camp, to signify both our putting away sin by
|
|
true repentance, and the spirit of burning, and God's putting it
|
|
away by a full remission, so that it shall never rise up in
|
|
judgment against us. 5. He that took the scape-goat into the
|
|
wilderness, and those that burned the sin-offering, were to be
|
|
looked upon as ceremonially unclean, and must not come into the
|
|
camp till they had washed their clothes and bathed their flesh in
|
|
water, which signified the defiling nature of sin; even the
|
|
sacrifice which was but made sin was defiling: also the
|
|
imperfection of the legal sacrifices; they were so far from taking
|
|
away sin that even <i>they</i> left some stain upon those that
|
|
touched them. 6. When all this was done, the high priest went again
|
|
into the most holy place to fetch his censer, and so returned to
|
|
his own house with joy, because he had done his duty, and died
|
|
not.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 16:29-34" id="Lev.xvii-p12.6" parsed="|Lev|16|29|16|34" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.29-Lev.16.34"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.16.29-Lev.16.34">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xvii-p13">29 And <i>this</i> shall be a statute for ever
|
|
unto you: <i>that</i> in the seventh month, on the tenth <i>day</i>
|
|
of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all,
|
|
<i>whether it be</i> one of your own country, or a stranger that
|
|
sojourneth among you:   30 For on that day shall <i>the
|
|
priest</i> make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, <i>that</i>
|
|
ye may be clean from all your sins before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xvii-p13.1">Lord</span>.   31 It <i>shall be</i> a sabbath of
|
|
rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for
|
|
ever.   32 And the priest, whom he shall anoint, and whom he
|
|
shall consecrate to minister in the priest's office in his father's
|
|
stead, shall make the atonement, and shall put on the linen
|
|
clothes, <i>even</i> the holy garments:   33 And he shall make
|
|
an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement
|
|
for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar, and he
|
|
shall make an atonement for the priests, and for all the people of
|
|
the congregation.   34 And this shall be an everlasting
|
|
statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel
|
|
for all their sins once a year. And he did as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xvii-p13.2">Lord</span> commanded Moses.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xvii-p14">I. We have here some additional directions
|
|
in reference to this great solemnity, particularly,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xvii-p15">1. The day appointed for this solemnity. It
|
|
must be observed yearly on <i>the tenth day of the seventh
|
|
month,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 16:29" id="Lev.xvii-p15.1" parsed="|Lev|16|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>.
|
|
The seventh had been reckoned the first month, till God appointed
|
|
that the month in which the children of Israel came out of Egypt
|
|
should thenceforward be accounted and called the first month. Some
|
|
have fancied that this tenth day of the seventh month was the day
|
|
of the year on which our first parents fell, and that it was kept
|
|
as a fast in remembrance of their fall. Dr. Lightfoot computes that
|
|
this was the day on which Moses came the last time down from the
|
|
mount, when he brought with him the renewed tables, and the
|
|
assurances of God's being reconciled to Israel, and his face shone:
|
|
that day must be a day of atonement throughout their generations;
|
|
for the remembrance of God's forgiving them their sin about the
|
|
golden calf might encourage them to hope that, upon their
|
|
repentance, he would forgive them all trespasses.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xvii-p16">2. The duty of the people on this day. (1.)
|
|
They must rest from all their labours: <i>It shall be a sabbath of
|
|
rest,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 16:31" id="Lev.xvii-p16.1" parsed="|Lev|16|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>. The
|
|
work of the day was itself enough, and a good day's work if it was
|
|
done well; therefore they must do no other work at all. The work of
|
|
humiliation for sin requires such a close application of mind, and
|
|
such a fixed engagement of the whole man, as will not allow us to
|
|
turn aside to any other work. The day of atonement seems to be that
|
|
sabbath spoken of by the prophet (<scripRef passage="Isa 58:13" id="Lev.xvii-p16.2" parsed="|Isa|58|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.58.13">Isa. lviii. 13</scripRef>), for it is the same with the
|
|
fast spoken of in the verses before. (2.) They must afflict their
|
|
souls. They must refrain from all bodily refreshments and delights,
|
|
in token of inward humiliation and contrition of soul for their
|
|
sins. They all fasted on this day from food (except the sick and
|
|
children), and laid aside their ornaments, and did not anoint
|
|
themselves, as Daniel, <scripRef passage="Le 10:3,12" id="Lev.xvii-p16.3" parsed="|Lev|10|3|0|0;|Lev|10|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.3 Bible:Lev.10.12"><i>ch.</i> x.
|
|
3, 12</scripRef>. <i>David chastened his soul with fasting,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 35:13" id="Lev.xvii-p16.4" parsed="|Ps|35|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.35.13">Ps. xxxv. 13</scripRef>. And it
|
|
signified the mortifying of sin and turning from it, <i>loosing the
|
|
bands of wickedness,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 58:6,7" id="Lev.xvii-p16.5" parsed="|Isa|58|6|58|7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.58.6-Isa.58.7">Isa. lviii.
|
|
6, 7</scripRef>. The Jewish doctors advised that they should not on
|
|
that day read those portions of scripture which were proper to
|
|
affect them with delight and joy, because it was a day to afflict
|
|
their souls.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xvii-p17">3. The perpetuity of this institution:
|
|
<i>It shall be a statute for ever,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 16:29,34" id="Lev.xvii-p17.1" parsed="|Lev|16|29|0|0;|Lev|16|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.29 Bible:Lev.16.34"><i>v.</i> 29, 34</scripRef>. It must not be
|
|
intermitted any year, nor ever let fall till that constitution
|
|
should be dissolved, and the type should be superseded by the
|
|
antitype. As long as we are continually sinning, we must be
|
|
continually repenting, and receiving the atonement. The law of
|
|
afflicting our souls for sin is a statute for ever, which will
|
|
continue in force till we arrive where all tears, even those of
|
|
repentance, will be wiped from our eyes. The apostle observes it as
|
|
an evidence of the insufficiency of the legal sacrifices to take
|
|
away sin, and purge the conscience from it, that in them there was
|
|
a <i>remembrance made of sin every year,</i> upon the day of
|
|
atonement, <scripRef passage="Heb 10:1-3" id="Lev.xvii-p17.2" parsed="|Heb|10|1|10|3" osisRef="Bible:Heb.10.1-Heb.10.3">Heb. x. 1-3</scripRef>.
|
|
The annual repetition of the sacrifices showed that there was in
|
|
them only a faint and feeble effort towards making atonement; it
|
|
could be done effectually only by the <i>offering up of the body of
|
|
Christ once for all,</i> and that once was sufficient; that
|
|
sacrifice needed not to be repeated.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xvii-p18">II. Let us see what there was of gospel in
|
|
all this.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xvii-p19">1. Here are typified the two great gospel
|
|
privileges of the remission of sin and access to God, both which we
|
|
owe to the mediation of our Lord Jesus. Here then let us see,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xvii-p20">(1.) The expiation of guilt which Christ
|
|
made for us. He is himself both the maker and the matter of the
|
|
atonement; for he is, [1.] The priest, the high priest, that
|
|
<i>makes reconciliation for the sins of the people,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 2:17" id="Lev.xvii-p20.1" parsed="|Heb|2|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.2.17">Heb. ii. 17</scripRef>. He, and he only, is
|
|
<i>par negotio—fit for the work</i> and worthy of the honour: he
|
|
is appointed by the Father to do it, who sanctified him, and sent
|
|
him into the world for this purpose, that <i>God might in him
|
|
reconcile the world to himself.</i> He undertook it, and for our
|
|
sakes sanctified himself, and set himself apart for it, <scripRef passage="Joh 17:19" id="Lev.xvii-p20.2" parsed="|John|17|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.17.19">John xvii. 19</scripRef>. The high priest's
|
|
frequently bathing himself on this day, and performing the service
|
|
of it in fine linen clean and white, signified the holiness of the
|
|
Lord Jesus, his perfect freedom from all sin, and his being
|
|
beautified and adorned with all grace. No man was to be with the
|
|
high priest when he made atonement (<scripRef passage="Le 16:17" id="Lev.xvii-p20.3" parsed="|Lev|16|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>); for our Lord Jesus was to
|
|
<i>tread the wine-press alone,</i> and of the people there must be
|
|
<i>none with him</i> (<scripRef passage="Isa 63:3" id="Lev.xvii-p20.4" parsed="|Isa|63|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.63.3">Isa. lxiii.
|
|
3</scripRef>); therefore, when he entered upon his sufferings,
|
|
<i>all his disciples forsook him and fled,</i> for it any of them
|
|
had been taken and put to death with him it would have looked as if
|
|
they had assisted in making the atonement; none but thieves,
|
|
concerning whom there could be no such suspicion, must suffer with
|
|
him. And observe what the extent of the atonement was which the
|
|
high priest made: it was <i>for the holy sanctuary, for the
|
|
tabernacle, for the altar, for the priests,</i> and <i>for all the
|
|
people,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 16:33" id="Lev.xvii-p20.5" parsed="|Lev|16|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>.
|
|
Christ's satisfaction is that which atones for the sins both of
|
|
ministers and people, the <i>iniquities of our holy</i> (and our
|
|
unholy) <i>things;</i> the title we have to the privileges of
|
|
ordinances, our comfort in them, and benefit by them, are all owing
|
|
to the atonement Christ made. But, whereas the atonement which the
|
|
high priest made pertained only to the congregation of Israel,
|
|
Christ is the propitiation, not for their sins only, that are Jews,
|
|
but for the sins of the whole Gentile world. And in this also
|
|
Christ infinitely excelled Aaron, that Aaron needed to offer
|
|
sacrifice for his own sin first, of which he was to make confession
|
|
upon the head of his sin-offering; but our Lord Jesus had no sin of
|
|
his own to answer for. <i>Such a high priest became us,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Heb 7:26" id="Lev.xvii-p20.6" parsed="|Heb|7|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.26">Heb. vii. 26</scripRef>. And
|
|
therefore, when he was baptized in Jordan, whereas others stood in
|
|
the water <i>confessing their sins</i> (<scripRef passage="Mt 3:6" id="Lev.xvii-p20.7" parsed="|Matt|3|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.3.6">Matt. iii. 6</scripRef>), he <i>went up straightway out of
|
|
the water</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 16:16" id="Lev.xvii-p20.8" parsed="|Lev|16|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.16"><i>v.</i>
|
|
16</scripRef>), having no sins to confess. [2.] As he is the high
|
|
priest, so he is the sacrifice with which atonement is made; for he
|
|
is all in all in our reconciliation to God. Thus he was prefigured
|
|
by the two goats, which both made one offering: the slain goat was
|
|
a type of Christ dying for our sins, the scape-goat a type of
|
|
Christ rising again for our justification. It was directed by lot,
|
|
the disposal whereof was of the Lord, which goat should be slain;
|
|
for Christ was delivered <i>by the determinate counsel and
|
|
foreknowledge of God. First,</i> The atonement is said to be
|
|
completed by putting the sins of Israel upon the head of the goat.
|
|
They deserved to have been abandoned and sent into a land of
|
|
forgetfulness, but that punishment was here transferred to the goat
|
|
that bore their sins, with reference to which God is said to have
|
|
laid upon our Lord Jesus (the substance of all these shadows)
|
|
<i>the iniquity of us all</i> (<scripRef passage="Isa 53:6" id="Lev.xvii-p20.9" parsed="|Isa|53|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.53.6">Isa.
|
|
liii. 6</scripRef>), and he is said to have <i>borne our sins,</i>
|
|
even the punishment of them, <i>in his own body upon the tree,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Pe 2:24" id="Lev.xvii-p20.10" parsed="|1Pet|2|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.2.24">1 Pet. ii. 24</scripRef>. Thus was he
|
|
made sin for us, that is, a sacrifice for sin, <scripRef passage="2Co 5:21" id="Lev.xvii-p20.11" parsed="|2Cor|5|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.5.21">2 Cor. v. 21</scripRef>. He suffered and died, not only
|
|
for our good, but in our stead, and was forsaken, and seemed to be
|
|
forgotten for a time, that we might not be forsaken and forgotten
|
|
for ever. Some learned men have computed that our Lord Jesus was
|
|
baptized of John in Jordan upon the tenth day of the seventh month,
|
|
which was the very day of atonement. Then he entered upon his
|
|
office as Mediator, and was immediately <i>driven of the Spirit
|
|
into the wilderness,</i> a land not inhabited. <i>Secondly,</i> The
|
|
consequence of this was that all the iniquities of Israel were
|
|
<i>carried into a land of forgetfulness.</i> Thus Christ, the Lamb
|
|
of God, <i>takes away the sin the of world,</i> by taking it upon
|
|
himself, <scripRef passage="Joh 1:29" id="Lev.xvii-p20.12" parsed="|John|1|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.1.29">John i. 29</scripRef>. And,
|
|
when God forgives sin, he is said to remember it no more (<scripRef passage="Heb 8:12" id="Lev.xvii-p20.13" parsed="|Heb|8|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.8.12">Heb. viii. 12</scripRef>), <i>to cast it behind
|
|
his back</i> (<scripRef passage="Isa 38:17" id="Lev.xvii-p20.14" parsed="|Isa|38|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.38.17">Isa. xxxviii.
|
|
17</scripRef>), <i>into the depths of the sea</i> (<scripRef passage="Mic 7:19" id="Lev.xvii-p20.15" parsed="|Mic|7|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mic.7.19">Mic. vii. 19</scripRef>), and to separate it
|
|
<i>as far as the east is from the west,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 103:12" id="Lev.xvii-p20.16" parsed="|Ps|103|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.103.12">Ps. ciii. 12</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xvii-p21">(2.) The entrance into heaven which Christ
|
|
made for us is here typified by the high priest's entrance into the
|
|
most holy place. This the apostle has expounded (<scripRef passage="Heb 9:7" id="Lev.xvii-p21.1" parsed="|Heb|9|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.9.7">Heb. ix. 7</scripRef>, &c.), and he shows, [1.] That
|
|
heaven is the holiest of all, but not of that building, and that
|
|
the way into it by faith, hope, and prayer, through a Mediator, was
|
|
not then so clearly manifested as it is to us now by the gospel.
|
|
[2.] That Christ our high priest entered into heaven at his
|
|
ascension once for all, and as a public person, in the name of all
|
|
his spiritual Israel, and through the veil of his flesh, which was
|
|
rent for that purpose, <scripRef passage="Heb 10:20" id="Lev.xvii-p21.2" parsed="|Heb|10|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.10.20">Heb. x.
|
|
20</scripRef>. [3.] That he entered <i>by his own blood</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Heb 9:12" id="Lev.xvii-p21.3" parsed="|Heb|9|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.9.12">Heb. ix. 12</scripRef>), taking with
|
|
him to heaven the virtues of the sacrifice he offered on earth, and
|
|
so sprinkling his blood, as it were, before the mercy-seat, where
|
|
it speaks better things than the blood of bulls and goats could do.
|
|
Hence he is said to appear in the midst of the throne as <i>a lamb
|
|
that had been slain,</i> <scripRef passage="Re 5:6" id="Lev.xvii-p21.4" parsed="|Rev|5|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.5.6">Rev. v.
|
|
6</scripRef>. And, though he had no sin of his own to expiate, yet
|
|
it was by his own merit that he obtained for himself a restoration
|
|
to his own ancient glory (<scripRef passage="Joh 17:4,5" id="Lev.xvii-p21.5" parsed="|John|17|4|17|5" osisRef="Bible:John.17.4-John.17.5">John xvii.
|
|
4, 5</scripRef>), as well as an eternal redemption for us,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Heb 9:12" id="Lev.xvii-p21.6" parsed="|Heb|9|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.9.12">Heb. ix. 12</scripRef>. [4.] The high
|
|
priest in the holy place burned incense, which typified the
|
|
intercession that Christ ever lives to make for us within the veil,
|
|
in virtue of his satisfaction. And we could not expect to live, no,
|
|
not before the mercy-seat, if it were not covered with the cloud of
|
|
this incense. Mere mercy itself will not save us, without the
|
|
interposition of a Mediator. The intercession of Christ is there
|
|
set forth before God as incense, as <i>this incense.</i> And as the
|
|
high priest interceded for himself first, then for his household,
|
|
and then for all Israel, so our Lord Jesus, in the <scripRef passage="Joh 17:1-26" id="Lev.xvii-p21.7" parsed="|John|17|1|17|26" osisRef="Bible:John.17.1-John.17.26">17th of St. John</scripRef> (which was a
|
|
specimen of the intercession he makes in heaven), recommended
|
|
himself first to his Father, then his disciples who were his
|
|
household, and then all that should believe on him through their
|
|
word, as all Israel; and, having thus adverted to the uses and
|
|
intentions of his offering, he was immediately seized and
|
|
crucified, pursuant to these intentions. [5.] Herein the entry
|
|
Christ made far exceeded Aaron's, that Aaron could not gain
|
|
admission, no, not for his own sons, into the most holy place; but
|
|
our Lord Jesus has consecrated for us also a <i>new and living way
|
|
into the holiest,</i> so that we also have <i>boldness to
|
|
enter,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 10:19,20" id="Lev.xvii-p21.8" parsed="|Heb|10|19|10|20" osisRef="Bible:Heb.10.19-Heb.10.20">Heb. x. 19,
|
|
20</scripRef>. [6.] The high priest was to come out again, but our
|
|
Lord Jesus ever lives, making intercession, and always appears in
|
|
the presence of God for us, whither as the forerunner he has for us
|
|
entered, and where as agent he continues for us to reside.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xvii-p22">2. Here are likewise typified the two great
|
|
gospel duties of faith and repentance, by which we are qualified
|
|
for the atonement, and come to be entitled to the benefit of it.
|
|
(1.) By faith we must put our hands upon the head of the offering,
|
|
relying on Christ as the Lord our Righteousness, pleading his
|
|
satisfaction as that which was alone able to atone for our sins and
|
|
procure us a pardon. "<i>Thou shalt answer, Lord, for me.</i> This
|
|
is all I have to say for myself, <i>Christ has died, yea, rather
|
|
has risen again;</i> to his grace and government I entirely submit
|
|
myself, and in him I <i>receive the atonement,</i>" <scripRef passage="Ro 5:11" id="Lev.xvii-p22.1" parsed="|Rom|5|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.5.11">Rom. v. 11</scripRef>. (2.) By repentance we must
|
|
afflict our souls; not only fasting for a time from the delights of
|
|
the body, but inwardly sorrowing for our sins, and living a life of
|
|
self-denial and mortification. We must also make a penitent
|
|
confession of sin, and this with an eye to Christ, whom we have
|
|
pierced, and mourning because of him; and with a hand of faith upon
|
|
the atonement, assuring ourselves that, <i>if we confess our sins,
|
|
God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us
|
|
from all unrighteousness.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xvii-p23">Lastly, In the year of jubilee, the trumpet
|
|
which proclaimed the liberty was ordered to be sounded in the close
|
|
of the <i>day of atonement,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 25:9" id="Lev.xvii-p23.1" parsed="|Lev|25|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.9"><i>ch.</i> xxv. 9</scripRef>. For the remission of our
|
|
debt, release from our bondage, and our return to our inheritance,
|
|
are all owing to the mediation and intercession of Jesus Christ. By
|
|
the atonement we obtain rest for our souls, and all the glorious
|
|
liberties of the children of God.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XVII" n="xviii" progress="57.86%" prev="Lev.xvii" next="Lev.xix" id="Lev.xviii">
|
|
<h2 id="Lev.xviii-p0.1">L E V I T I C U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Lev.xviii-p0.2">CHAP. XVII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Lev.xviii-p1">After the law concerning the atonement to be made
|
|
for all Israel by the high priest, at the tabernacle, with the
|
|
blood of bulls and goats, in this chapter we have two prohibitions
|
|
necessary for the preservation of the honour of that atonement. I.
|
|
That no sacrifice should be offered by any other than the priests,
|
|
nor anywhere but at the door of the tabernacle, and this upon pain
|
|
of death, <scripRef passage="Le 17:1-9" id="Lev.xviii-p1.1" parsed="|Lev|17|1|17|9" osisRef="Bible:Lev.17.1-Lev.17.9">ver. 1-9</scripRef>. II.
|
|
That no blood should be eaten, and this under the same penalty,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 17:10-16" id="Lev.xviii-p1.2" parsed="|Lev|17|10|17|16" osisRef="Bible:Lev.17.10-Lev.17.16">ver. 10</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 17" id="Lev.xviii-p1.3" parsed="|Lev|17|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.17"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 17:1-9" id="Lev.xviii-p1.4" parsed="|Lev|17|1|17|9" osisRef="Bible:Lev.17.1-Lev.17.9"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.17.1-Lev.17.9">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.xviii-p1.5">Directions Concerning
|
|
Sacrifices. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xviii-p1.6">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xviii-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xviii-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   2 Speak unto Aaron, and unto his
|
|
sons, and unto all the children of Israel, and say unto them; This
|
|
<i>is</i> the thing which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xviii-p2.2">Lord</span>
|
|
hath commanded, saying,   3 What man soever <i>there be</i> of
|
|
the house of Israel, that killeth an ox, or lamb, or goat, in the
|
|
camp, or that killeth <i>it</i> out of the camp,   4 And
|
|
bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the
|
|
congregation, to offer an offering unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xviii-p2.3">Lord</span> before the tabernacle of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xviii-p2.4">Lord</span>; blood shall be imputed unto that man; he
|
|
hath shed blood; and that man shall be cut off from among his
|
|
people:   5 To the end that the children of Israel may bring
|
|
their sacrifices, which they offer in the open field, even that
|
|
they may bring them unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xviii-p2.5">Lord</span>,
|
|
unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the
|
|
priest, and offer them <i>for</i> peace offerings unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xviii-p2.6">Lord</span>.   6 And the priest shall
|
|
sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xviii-p2.7">Lord</span> <i>at</i> the door of the tabernacle of the
|
|
congregation, and burn the fat for a sweet savour unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xviii-p2.8">Lord</span>.   7 And they shall no more
|
|
offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a
|
|
whoring. This shall be a statute for ever unto them throughout
|
|
their generations.   8 And thou shalt say unto them,
|
|
Whatsoever man <i>there be</i> of the house of Israel, or of the
|
|
strangers which sojourn among you, that offereth a burnt offering
|
|
or sacrifice,   9 And bringeth it not unto the door of the
|
|
tabernacle of the congregation, to offer it unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xviii-p2.9">Lord</span>; even that man shall be cut off from among
|
|
his people.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xviii-p3">This statute obliged all the people of
|
|
Israel to bring all their sacrifices to God's altar, to be offered
|
|
there. And as to this matter we must consider,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xviii-p4">I. How it stood before. 1. It was allowed
|
|
to all people to build altars, and offer sacrifices to God, where
|
|
they pleased. Wherever Abraham had a tent he built an altar, and
|
|
every master of a family was a priest to his own family, as
|
|
<scripRef passage="Job 1:5" id="Lev.xviii-p4.1" parsed="|Job|1|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.1.5">Job i. 5</scripRef>. 2. This liberty
|
|
had been an occasion of idolatry. When every man was his own
|
|
priest, and had an altar of his own, by degrees, as they became
|
|
vain in their imaginations, they invented gods of their own, <i>and
|
|
offered their sacrifices unto demons,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 17:7" id="Lev.xviii-p4.2" parsed="|Lev|17|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.17.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. The word signifies <i>rough</i>
|
|
or <i>hairy goats,</i> because it is probable that in the shape the
|
|
evil spirits often appeared to them, to invite their sacrifices and
|
|
to signify their acceptance of them. For the devil, ever since he
|
|
became a revolter from God and a rebel against him, has set up for
|
|
a rival with him, and coveted to have divine honours paid him: he
|
|
had the impudence to solicit our blessed Saviour to <i>fall down
|
|
and worship him.</i> The Israelites themselves had learned in Egypt
|
|
to sacrifice to demons. And some of them, it should seem, practised
|
|
it even since the God of Israel had so gloriously appeared for
|
|
them, and with them. They are said to <i>go a whoring after</i>
|
|
these demons; for it was such a breach of their covenant with God
|
|
as adultery is of the marriage covenant: and they were as strongly
|
|
addicted to their idolatrous worships, and as hard to be reclaimed
|
|
from them, as those that have given themselves over to fornication,
|
|
to <i>work all uncleanness with greediness;</i> and therefore it is
|
|
with reference to this that God calls himself <i>a jealous
|
|
God.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xviii-p5">II. How this law settled it. 1. Some think
|
|
that the children of Israel were by this law forbidden, while they
|
|
were in the wilderness, to kill any beef, or mutton, or veal, or
|
|
lamb, or goat, even for their common eating, but at the <i>door of
|
|
the tabernacle,</i> where the blood and the fat were to be offered
|
|
to God upon the altar, and the flesh to be returned back to the
|
|
offerer to be eaten as a peace-offering, according to the law. And
|
|
the statute is so worded (<scripRef passage="Le 17:3,4" id="Lev.xviii-p5.1" parsed="|Lev|17|3|17|4" osisRef="Bible:Lev.17.3-Lev.17.4"><i>v.</i>
|
|
3, 4</scripRef>) as to favour this opinion, for it speaks generally
|
|
of killing any ox, or lamb, or goat. The learned Dr. Cudworth puts
|
|
this sense upon it, and thinks that while they had their tabernacle
|
|
so near them in the midst of their camp they ate no flesh but what
|
|
had first been offered to God, but that when they were entering
|
|
Canaan this constitution was altered (<scripRef passage="De 12:21" id="Lev.xviii-p5.2" parsed="|Deut|12|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.21">Deut. xii. 21</scripRef>), and they were allowed to kill
|
|
their beasts of the flock and herd at home, as well as the roebuck
|
|
and the hart; only thrice a year they were to see God at his
|
|
tabernacle, and to eat and drink before him there. And it is
|
|
probable that in the wilderness they did not eat much flesh but
|
|
that of their peace-offerings, preserving what cattle they had, for
|
|
breed, against they came to Canaan; therefore they murmured for
|
|
flesh, being weary of manna; and Moses on that occasion speaks as
|
|
if they were very sparing of the <i>flocks and the herds,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 11:4,22" id="Lev.xviii-p5.3" parsed="|Num|11|4|0|0;|Num|11|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.4 Bible:Num.11.22">Num. xi. 4, 22</scripRef>. Yet it is
|
|
hard to construe this as a temporary law, when it is expressly said
|
|
to be a <i>statute for ever</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 17:7" id="Lev.xviii-p5.4" parsed="|Lev|17|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.17.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>); and therefore, 2. It should seem
|
|
rather to forbid only the killing of beasts for sacrifice any where
|
|
but at God's altar. They must not offer sacrifice, as they had
|
|
done, <i>in the open field</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 17:5" id="Lev.xviii-p5.5" parsed="|Lev|17|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.17.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), no, not to the true God, but it
|
|
must be brought to the priest, to be offered on the altar of the
|
|
Lord: and the solemnity they had lately witnessed, of consecrating
|
|
both the priests and the altar, would serve for a good reason why
|
|
they should confine themselves to both these that God had so
|
|
signally appointed and owned. This law obliged not only the
|
|
Israelites themselves, but the proselytes or strangers that were
|
|
circumcised and sojourned among them, who were in danger of
|
|
retaining an affection to their old ways of worship. If any should
|
|
transgress this law, and offer sacrifice any where but at the
|
|
tabernacle, (1.) The guilt was great: <i>Blood shall be imputed to
|
|
that man; he hath shed blood,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 17:4" id="Lev.xviii-p5.6" parsed="|Lev|17|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.17.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. Though it was but a beast he had
|
|
killed, yet, killing it otherwise than God had appointed, he was
|
|
looked upon as a murderer. It is by the divine grant that we have
|
|
the liberty to kill the inferior creatures, to the benefit of which
|
|
we are not entitled, unless we submit to the limitations of it,
|
|
which are that it be not done either with cruelty or with
|
|
superstition, <scripRef passage="Ge 9:3,4" id="Lev.xviii-p5.7" parsed="|Gen|9|3|9|4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.3-Gen.9.4">Gen. ix. 3,
|
|
4</scripRef>. Nor was there ever any greater abuse done to the
|
|
inferior creatures than when they were made either false gods or
|
|
sacrifices to false gods, to which the apostle perhaps has special
|
|
reference when he speaks of the vanity and bondage of corruption to
|
|
which the creature was made subject, <scripRef passage="Ro 8:20,21" id="Lev.xviii-p5.8" parsed="|Rom|8|20|8|21" osisRef="Bible:Rom.8.20-Rom.8.21">Rom. viii. 20, 21</scripRef>, and compare <scripRef passage="Le 1:23,25" id="Lev.xviii-p5.9" parsed="|Lev|1|23|0|0;|Lev|1|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.1.23 Bible:Lev.1.25"><i>ch.</i> i. 23, 25</scripRef>. Idolatrous
|
|
sacrifices were looked upon, not only as adultery, but as murder:
|
|
he that <i>offereth them is as if he slew a man,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 66:3" id="Lev.xviii-p5.10" parsed="|Isa|66|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.66.3">Isa. lxvi. 3</scripRef>. (2.) The punishment
|
|
should be severe: <i>That man shall be cut off from among his
|
|
people.</i> Either the magistrate must do it if it were manifest
|
|
and notorious, or, if not, God would take the work into his own
|
|
hands, and the offender should be cut off by some immediate stroke
|
|
of divine justice. The reasons why God thus strictly ordered all
|
|
their sacrifices to be offered at one place were, [1.] For the
|
|
preventing of idolatry and superstition. That sacrifices might be
|
|
offered to God, and according to the rule, and without innovations,
|
|
they must always be offered by the hands of the priests, who were
|
|
servants in God's house, and under the eye of the high priest, who
|
|
was ruler of the house, and took care to see every thing done
|
|
according to God's ordinance. [2.] For the securing of the honour
|
|
of God's temple and altar, the peculiar dignity of which would be
|
|
endangered if they might offer their sacrifices any where else as
|
|
well as there. [3.] For the preserving of unity and brotherly love
|
|
among the Israelites, that meeting all at one altar, as all the
|
|
children of the family meet daily at one table, they might live and
|
|
love as brethren, and be as one man, of one mind in the Lord.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xviii-p6">III. How this law was observed. 1. While
|
|
the Israelites kept their integrity they had a tender and very
|
|
jealous regard to this law, as appears by their zeal against the
|
|
altar which was erected by the two tribes and a half, which they
|
|
would by no means have left standing if they had not been satisfied
|
|
that it was never designed, nor should ever be used, for sacrifice
|
|
or offering, <scripRef passage="Jos 22:12" id="Lev.xviii-p6.1" parsed="|Josh|22|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.22.12">Josh. xxii.
|
|
12</scripRef>, &c. 2. The breach of this law was for many ages
|
|
the scandalous and incurable corruption of the Jewish church,
|
|
witness that complaint which so often occurs in the history even of
|
|
the good kings, <i>Howbeit the high places were not taken away;</i>
|
|
and it was an inlet to the grossest idolatries. 3. Yet this law
|
|
was, in extraordinary cases, dispensed with. Gideon's sacrifice
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Jdg 6:26" id="Lev.xviii-p6.2" parsed="|Judg|6|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.6.26">Judg. vi. 26</scripRef>), Manoah's
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Jdg 13:19" id="Lev.xviii-p6.3" parsed="|Judg|13|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.13.19">Judg. xiii. 19</scripRef>), Samuel's
|
|
(<scripRef passage="1Sa 7:9,9:13,11:15" id="Lev.xviii-p6.4" parsed="|1Sam|7|9|0|0;|1Sam|9|13|0|0;|1Sam|11|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.7.9 Bible:1Sam.9.13 Bible:1Sam.11.15">1 Sam. vii. 9; ix. 13; xi.
|
|
15</scripRef>), David's (<scripRef passage="2Sa 24:18" id="Lev.xviii-p6.5" parsed="|2Sam|24|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.24.18">2 Sam. xxiv.
|
|
18</scripRef>), and Elijah's (<scripRef passage="1Ki 18:23" id="Lev.xviii-p6.6" parsed="|1Kgs|18|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.18.23">1 Kings
|
|
xviii. 23</scripRef>), were accepted, though not offered at the
|
|
usual place: but these were all either ordered by angels or offered
|
|
by prophets; and some think that after the desolation of Shiloh,
|
|
and before the building of the temple, while the ark and altar were
|
|
unsettled, it was more allowable to offer sacrifice elsewhere.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xviii-p7">IV. How the matter stands now, and what use
|
|
we are to make of this law. 1. It is certain that the spiritual
|
|
sacrifices we are now to offer are not confined to any one place.
|
|
Our Saviour has made this clear (<scripRef passage="Joh 4:21" id="Lev.xviii-p7.1" parsed="|John|4|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.4.21">John
|
|
iv. 21</scripRef>), and the apostle (<scripRef passage="1Ti 2:8" id="Lev.xviii-p7.2" parsed="|1Tim|2|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.2.8">1
|
|
Tim. ii. 8</scripRef>), according to the prophecy, that <i>in every
|
|
place incense should be offered,</i> <scripRef passage="Mal 1:11" id="Lev.xviii-p7.3" parsed="|Mal|1|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mal.1.11">Mal. i. 11</scripRef>. We have now no temple nor altar
|
|
that sanctifies the gift, nor does the gospel unity lie in one
|
|
place, but in one heart, and the <i>unity of the spirit.</i> 2.
|
|
Christ is our altar, and the <i>true tabernacle</i> (<scripRef passage="Heb 8:2,13:10" id="Lev.xviii-p7.4" parsed="|Heb|8|2|0|0;|Heb|13|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.8.2 Bible:Heb.13.10">Heb. viii. 2; xiii. 10</scripRef>); in him
|
|
God dwells among us, and it is in him that our sacrifices are
|
|
acceptable to God, and in him only, <scripRef passage="1Pe 2:5" id="Lev.xviii-p7.5" parsed="|1Pet|2|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.2.5">1
|
|
Pet. ii. 5</scripRef>. To set up other mediators, or other altars,
|
|
or other expiatory sacrifices, is, in effect, to set up other gods.
|
|
He is the centre of unity, in whom all God's Israel meet. 3. Yet we
|
|
are to have respect to the public worship of God, not <i>forsaking
|
|
the assemblies of</i> his people, <scripRef passage="Heb 10:25" id="Lev.xviii-p7.6" parsed="|Heb|10|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.10.25">Heb. x. 25</scripRef>. The Lord loves <i>the gates of
|
|
Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob,</i> and so should we;
|
|
see <scripRef passage="Eze 20:40" id="Lev.xviii-p7.7" parsed="|Ezek|20|40|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.20.40">Ezek. xx. 40</scripRef>. Though
|
|
God will graciously accept our family offerings, we must not
|
|
therefore neglect the door of the tabernacle.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 17" id="Lev.xviii-p7.8" parsed="|Lev|17|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.17"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 17:10-16" id="Lev.xviii-p7.9" parsed="|Lev|17|10|17|16" osisRef="Bible:Lev.17.10-Lev.17.16"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.17.10-Lev.17.16">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.xviii-p7.10">The Eating of Blood
|
|
Forbidden. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xviii-p7.11">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xviii-p8">10 And whatsoever man <i>there be</i> of the
|
|
house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that
|
|
eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that
|
|
soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people.
|
|
  11 For the life of the flesh <i>is</i> in the blood: and I
|
|
have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your
|
|
souls: for it <i>is</i> the blood <i>that</i> maketh an atonement
|
|
for the soul.   12 Therefore I said unto the children of
|
|
Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger
|
|
that sojourneth among you eat blood.   13 And whatsoever man
|
|
<i>there be</i> of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that
|
|
sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl
|
|
that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and
|
|
cover it with dust.   14 For <i>it is</i> the life of all
|
|
flesh; the blood of it <i>is</i> for the life thereof: therefore I
|
|
said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no
|
|
manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh <i>is</i> the blood
|
|
thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.   15 And every
|
|
soul that eateth that which died <i>of itself,</i> or that which
|
|
was torn <i>with beasts, whether it be</i> one of your own country,
|
|
or a stranger, he shall both wash his clothes, and bathe
|
|
<i>himself</i> in water, and be unclean until the even: then shall
|
|
he be clean.   16 But if he wash <i>them</i> not, nor bathe
|
|
his flesh; then he shall bear his iniquity.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xviii-p9">We have here, I. A repetition and
|
|
confirmation of the law against eating blood. We have met with this
|
|
prohibition twice before in the levitical law (<scripRef passage="Le 3:17,7:26" id="Lev.xviii-p9.1" parsed="|Lev|3|17|0|0;|Lev|7|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.3.17 Bible:Lev.7.26"><i>ch.</i> iii. 17; vii. 26</scripRef>), besides the
|
|
place it had in the precepts of Noah, <scripRef passage="Ge 9:4" id="Lev.xviii-p9.2" parsed="|Gen|9|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.4">Gen. ix. 4</scripRef>. But here, 1. The prohibition is
|
|
repeated again and again, and reference had to the former laws to
|
|
this purport (<scripRef passage="Le 17:12" id="Lev.xviii-p9.3" parsed="|Lev|17|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.17.12"><i>v.</i>
|
|
12</scripRef>): <i>I said to the children of Israel, No soul of you
|
|
shall eat blood;</i> and again (<scripRef passage="Le 17:14" id="Lev.xviii-p9.4" parsed="|Lev|17|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.17.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>), <i>You shall eat the blood of
|
|
no manner of flesh.</i> A great stress is laid upon it, as a law
|
|
which has more in it than at first view one would think. 2. It is
|
|
made binding, not only on the <i>house of Israel,</i> but on <i>the
|
|
strangers that sojourned among them</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 17:10" id="Lev.xviii-p9.5" parsed="|Lev|17|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.17.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>), which perhaps was one reason
|
|
why it was thought advisable, for a time, to forbid blood to the
|
|
Gentile converts, <scripRef passage="Ac 15:29" id="Lev.xviii-p9.6" parsed="|Acts|15|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.15.29">Acts xv.
|
|
29</scripRef>. 3. The penalty annexed to this law is very severe
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 17:10" id="Lev.xviii-p9.7" parsed="|Lev|17|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.17.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>): <i>I will
|
|
even set my face against that soul that eateth blood,</i> if he do
|
|
it presumptuously, and <i>will cut him off;</i> and again
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 17:14" id="Lev.xviii-p9.8" parsed="|Lev|17|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.17.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>), <i>He shall
|
|
be cut off.</i> Note, God's wrath will be the sinner's ruin. Write
|
|
that man undone, for ever undone, against whom God sets his face;
|
|
for what creature is able to confront the Creator? 4. A reason is
|
|
given for this law (<scripRef passage="Le 17:11" id="Lev.xviii-p9.9" parsed="|Lev|17|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.17.11"><i>v.</i>
|
|
11</scripRef>): because <i>it is the blood that makes atonement for
|
|
the soul;</i> and <i>therefore</i> it was appointed to make
|
|
atonement with, because <i>the life of the flesh is the blood.</i>
|
|
The sinner deserved to die; therefore the sacrifice must die. Now,
|
|
the blood being so the life that ordinarily beasts were killed for
|
|
man's use by the drawing out of all their blood, God appointed the
|
|
sprinkling or pouring out of the blood of the sacrifice upon the
|
|
altar to signify that the life of the sacrifice was given to God
|
|
instead of the sinner's life, and as a ransom or counter-price for
|
|
it; therefore <i>without shedding of blood there was no
|
|
remission,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 9:22" id="Lev.xviii-p9.10" parsed="|Heb|9|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.9.22">Heb. ix. 22</scripRef>.
|
|
For this reason they must eat no blood, and, (1.) It was then a
|
|
very good reason; for God would by this means preserve the honour
|
|
of that way of atonement which he had instituted, and keep up in
|
|
the minds of the people a reverent regard to it. The blood of the
|
|
covenant being then a sensible object, no blood must be either
|
|
eaten or trodden under foot as a common thing, as they must have no
|
|
ointment nor perfume like that which God ordered them to make for
|
|
himself. But, (2.) This reason is now superseded, which intimates
|
|
that the law itself was ceremonial, and is now no longer in force:
|
|
the blood of Christ who has come (and we are to look for no other)
|
|
is that alone which makes atonement for the soul, and of which the
|
|
blood of the sacrifices was an imperfect type: the coming of the
|
|
substance supersedes the shadow. The blood of beasts is no longer
|
|
the ransom, but Christ's blood only; and therefore there is not now
|
|
that reason for abstaining from blood which there was then, and we
|
|
cannot suppose it was the will of God that the law should survive
|
|
the reason of it. The blood, provided it be so prepared as not to
|
|
be unwholesome, is now allowed for the nourishment of our bodies,
|
|
because it is no longer appointed to make an atonement for the
|
|
soul. (3.) Yet it has still useful significancy. The life is in the
|
|
blood; it is the vehicle of the animal spirits, and God would have
|
|
his people to regard the life even of their beasts, and not to be
|
|
cruel and hard-hearted, not to take delight in any thing that is
|
|
barbarous. They must not be a blood-thirsty people. The blood then
|
|
made atonement figuratively, now the blood of Christ makes
|
|
atonement really and effectually; to this therefore we must have a
|
|
reverent regard, and not use it as <i>a common thing,</i> for he
|
|
will set his face against those that do so, and they shall be cut
|
|
off, <scripRef passage="Heb 10:29" id="Lev.xviii-p9.11" parsed="|Heb|10|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.10.29">Heb. x. 29</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xviii-p10">II. Some other precepts are here given as
|
|
appendages to this law, and hedges about it, 1. They must cover the
|
|
blood of that which they <i>took in hunting,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 17:13" id="Lev.xviii-p10.1" parsed="|Lev|17|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.17.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. They must not only not eat it,
|
|
but must give it a decent burial, in token of some mystery which
|
|
they must believe lay hidden in this constitution. The Jews look
|
|
upon this as a very weighty precept and appoint that the blood
|
|
should be covered with these words, <i>Blessed be he that hath
|
|
sanctified us by his precepts, and commanded us to cover blood.</i>
|
|
2. They must not eat that which <i>died of itself</i> or was
|
|
<i>torn of beasts</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 17:15" id="Lev.xviii-p10.2" parsed="|Lev|17|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.17.15"><i>v.</i>
|
|
15</scripRef>), for the blood was either not at all, or not
|
|
regularly, drawn out of them. God would have them to be curious in
|
|
their diet, not with the curiosity that gratifies the sensual
|
|
appetite, but with that which checks and restrains it. God would
|
|
not have his children to eat every thing that came in their way
|
|
with greediness, but to consider diligently what was before them,
|
|
that they might learn in other things to ask questions for
|
|
conscience' sake. Those that <i>flew upon the spoiled</i> sinned,
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Sa 14:32,33" id="Lev.xviii-p10.3" parsed="|1Sam|14|32|14|33" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.14.32-1Sam.14.33">1 Sam. xiv. 32, 33</scripRef>. If
|
|
a man did, through ignorance or inconsideration, eat the flesh of
|
|
any beast not duly slain, he must <i>wash himself and his
|
|
clothes,</i> else he <i>bore his iniquity,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 17:15,16" id="Lev.xviii-p10.4" parsed="|Lev|17|15|17|16" osisRef="Bible:Lev.17.15-Lev.17.16"><i>v.</i> 15, 16</scripRef>. The pollution was
|
|
ceremonial, so was the purification from it; but if a man slighted
|
|
the prescribed method of cleansing, or would not submit, he thereby
|
|
contracted moral guilt. See the nature of a remedial law: he that
|
|
obeys it has the benefit of it; he that does not, not only remains
|
|
under his former guilt, but adds to that guilt of contemning the
|
|
provisions made by divine grace for his relief, and sins against
|
|
the remedy.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XVIII" n="xix" progress="58.22%" prev="Lev.xviii" next="Lev.xx" id="Lev.xix">
|
|
<h2 id="Lev.xix-p0.1">L E V I T I C U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Lev.xix-p0.2">CHAP. XVIII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Lev.xix-p1">Here is, I. A general law against all conformity
|
|
to the corrupt usages of the heathen, <scripRef passage="Le 18:1-5" id="Lev.xix-p1.1" parsed="|Lev|18|1|18|5" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.1-Lev.18.5">ver. 1-5</scripRef>. II. Particular laws, 1. Against
|
|
incest, <scripRef passage="Le 18:6-18" id="Lev.xix-p1.2" parsed="|Lev|18|6|18|18" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.6-Lev.18.18">ver. 6-18</scripRef>. 2.
|
|
Against beastly lusts, and barbarous idolatries, <scripRef passage="Le 18:19-23" id="Lev.xix-p1.3" parsed="|Lev|18|19|18|23" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.19-Lev.18.23">ver. 19-23</scripRef>. III. The enforcement of these
|
|
laws from the ruin of the Canaanites, <scripRef passage="Le 18:24-30" id="Lev.xix-p1.4" parsed="|Lev|18|24|18|30" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.24-Lev.18.30">ver. 24-30</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 18" id="Lev.xix-p1.5" parsed="|Lev|18|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 18:1-5" id="Lev.xix-p1.6" parsed="|Lev|18|1|18|5" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.1-Lev.18.5"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.18.1-Lev.18.5">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.xix-p1.7">Cautions against Idolatrous
|
|
Practices. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xix-p1.8">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xix-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xix-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   2 Speak unto the children of
|
|
Israel, and say unto them, I am the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xix-p2.2">Lord</span> your God.   3 After the doings of the
|
|
land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the
|
|
doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do:
|
|
neither shall ye walk in their ordinances.   4 Ye shall do my
|
|
judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I <i>am</i>
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xix-p2.3">Lord</span> your God.   5 Ye shall
|
|
therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he
|
|
shall live in them: I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xix-p2.4">Lord</span>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xix-p3">After divers ceremonial institutions, God
|
|
here returns to the enforcement of moral precepts. The former are
|
|
still of use to us as types, the latter still binding as laws. We
|
|
have here, 1. The sacred authority by which these laws are enacted:
|
|
<i>I am the Lord your God</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 18:1,4,30" id="Lev.xix-p3.1" parsed="|Lev|18|1|0|0;|Lev|18|4|0|0;|Lev|18|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.1 Bible:Lev.18.4 Bible:Lev.18.30"><i>v.</i> 1, 4, 30</scripRef>), and <i>I am the
|
|
Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 18:5,6,21" id="Lev.xix-p3.2" parsed="|Lev|18|5|18|6;|Lev|18|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.5-Lev.18.6 Bible:Lev.18.21"><i>v.</i> 5, 6,
|
|
21</scripRef>. "The Lord, who has a right to rule all; your God,
|
|
who has a peculiar right to rule you." Jehovah is the fountain of
|
|
being, and therefore the fountain of power, whose we are, whom we
|
|
are bound to serve, and who is able to punish all disobedience.
|
|
"Your God to whom you have consented, in whom you are happy, to
|
|
whom you lie under the highest obligations imaginable, and to whom
|
|
you are accountable." 2. A strict caution to take heed of retaining
|
|
the relics of the idolatries of Egypt, where they had dwelt, and of
|
|
receiving the infection of the idolatries of Canaan, whither they
|
|
were now going, <scripRef passage="Le 18:3" id="Lev.xix-p3.3" parsed="|Lev|18|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>.
|
|
Now that God was by Moses teaching them his ordinances there was
|
|
<i>aliquid dediscendum—something to be unlearned,</i> which they
|
|
had sucked in with their milk in Egypt, a country noted for
|
|
idolatry: <i>You shall not do after the doings of the land of
|
|
Egypt.</i> It would be the greatest absurdity in itself to retain
|
|
such an affection for their house of bondage as to be governed in
|
|
their devotions by the usages of it, and the greatest ingratitude
|
|
to God, who had so wonderfully and graciously delivered them. Nay,
|
|
as if governed by a spirit of contradiction, they would be in
|
|
danger, even after they had received these ordinances of God, of
|
|
admitting the wicked usages of the Canaanites and of inheriting
|
|
their vices with their land. Of this danger they are here warned,
|
|
<i>You shall not walk in their ordinances.</i> Such a tyrant is
|
|
custom that their practices are called <i>ordinances,</i> and they
|
|
became rivals even with God's ordinances, and God's professing
|
|
people were in danger of receiving law from them. 3. A solemn
|
|
charge to them to <i>keep God's judgments, statutes, and
|
|
ordinances,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 18:4,5" id="Lev.xix-p3.4" parsed="|Lev|18|4|18|5" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.4-Lev.18.5"><i>v.</i> 4,
|
|
5</scripRef>. To this charge, and many similar ones, David seems to
|
|
refer in the many prayers and professions he makes relating to
|
|
God's laws in the <scripRef passage="Ps 119" id="Lev.xix-p3.5" parsed="|Ps|119|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119">119th
|
|
Psalm</scripRef>. Observe here, (1.) The great rule of our
|
|
obedience—God's statutes and judgments. These we must <i>keep to
|
|
walk therein.</i> We must keep them in our books, and keep them in
|
|
our hands, that we may practise them in our hearts and lives.
|
|
<i>Remember God's commandments to do them,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 103:18" id="Lev.xix-p3.6" parsed="|Ps|103|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.103.18">Ps. ciii. 18</scripRef>. We must keep in them as our
|
|
way to travel in, keep to them as our rule to work by, keep them as
|
|
our treasure, as the apple of our eye, with the utmost care and
|
|
value. (2.) The great advantage of our obedience: <i>Which if a man
|
|
do, he shall live in them,</i> that is, "he shall be happy here and
|
|
hereafter." We have reason to thank God, [1.] That this is still in
|
|
force as a promise, with a very favourable construction of the
|
|
condition. If we keep God's commandments in sincerity, though we
|
|
come short of sinless perfection, we shall find that the way of
|
|
duty is the way of comfort, and will be the way to happiness.
|
|
Godliness has the <i>promise of life,</i> <scripRef passage="1Ti 4:8" id="Lev.xix-p3.7" parsed="|1Tim|4|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.4.8">1 Tim. iv. 8</scripRef>. Wisdom has said, <i>Keep my
|
|
commandments and live:</i> and <i>if through the Spirit we mortify
|
|
the deeds of the body</i> (which are to us as the usages of Egypt
|
|
were to Israel) <i>we shall live.</i> [2.] That it is not so in
|
|
force in the nature of a covenant as that the least transgression
|
|
shall for ever exclude us from this life. The apostle quotes this
|
|
twice as opposite to the faith which the gospel reveals. It is the
|
|
description of the <i>righteousness which is by the law, the man
|
|
that doeth them shall live</i> <b><i>en autois</i></b>—<i>in
|
|
them</i> (<scripRef passage="Ro 10:5" id="Lev.xix-p3.8" parsed="|Rom|10|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.10.5">Rom. x. 5</scripRef>), and is
|
|
urged to prove that <i>the law is not of faith,</i> <scripRef passage="Ga 3:12" id="Lev.xix-p3.9" parsed="|Gal|3|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.3.12">Gal. iii. 12</scripRef>. The alteration which the
|
|
gospel has made is in the last word: still <i>the man that does
|
|
them shall live,</i> but not live <i>in them;</i> for the law could
|
|
not give life, because we could not perfectly keep it; it was
|
|
<i>weak through the flesh,</i> not in itself; but now <i>the man
|
|
that does them</i> shall <i>live by the faith of the Son of
|
|
God.</i> He shall owe his life to the grace of Christ, and not to
|
|
the merit of his own works; see <scripRef passage="Ga 3:21,22" id="Lev.xix-p3.10" parsed="|Gal|3|21|3|22" osisRef="Bible:Gal.3.21-Gal.3.22">Gal.
|
|
iii. 21, 22</scripRef>. <i>The just shall live,</i> but they shall
|
|
live <i>by faith,</i> by virtue of their union with Christ, who is
|
|
their life.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 18:6-18" id="Lev.xix-p3.11" parsed="|Lev|18|6|18|18" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.6-Lev.18.18"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.18.6-Lev.18.18">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.xix-p3.12">Incest Defined and Forbidden; Against
|
|
Marrying Near Relations. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xix-p3.13">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xix-p4">6 None of you shall approach to any that is near
|
|
of kin to him, to uncover <i>their</i> nakedness: I <i>am</i> the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xix-p4.1">Lord</span>.   7 The nakedness of thy
|
|
father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she
|
|
<i>is</i> thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.  
|
|
8 The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover: it
|
|
<i>is</i> thy father's nakedness.   9 The nakedness of thy
|
|
sister, the daughter of thy father, or daughter of thy mother,
|
|
<i>whether she be</i> born at home, or born abroad, <i>even</i>
|
|
their nakedness thou shalt not uncover.   10 The nakedness of
|
|
thy son's daughter, or of thy daughter's daughter, <i>even</i>
|
|
their nakedness thou shalt not uncover: for theirs <i>is</i> thine
|
|
own nakedness.   11 The nakedness of thy father's wife's
|
|
daughter, begotten of thy father, she <i>is</i> thy sister, thou
|
|
shalt not uncover her nakedness.   12 Thou shalt not uncover
|
|
the nakedness of thy father's sister: she <i>is</i> thy father's
|
|
near kinswoman.   13 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of
|
|
thy mother's sister: for she <i>is</i> thy mother's near kinswoman.
|
|
  14 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's
|
|
brother, thou shalt not approach to his wife: she <i>is</i> thine
|
|
aunt.   15 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy
|
|
daughter in law: she <i>is</i> thy son's wife; thou shalt not
|
|
uncover her nakedness.   16 Thou shalt not uncover the
|
|
nakedness of thy brother's wife: it <i>is</i> thy brother's
|
|
nakedness.   17 Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of a
|
|
woman and her daughter, neither shalt thou take her son's daughter,
|
|
or her daughter's daughter, to uncover her nakedness; <i>for</i>
|
|
they <i>are</i> her near kinswomen: it <i>is</i> wickedness.  
|
|
18 Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to vex <i>her,</i>
|
|
to uncover her nakedness, beside the other in her life
|
|
<i>time.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xix-p5">These laws relate to the seventh
|
|
commandment, and, no doubt, are obligatory on us under the gospel,
|
|
for they are consonant to the very light and law of nature: one of
|
|
the articles, that of a man's having his father's wife, the apostle
|
|
speaks of as a sin <i>not so much as named among the Gentiles,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Co 5:1" id="Lev.xix-p5.1" parsed="|1Cor|5|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.5.1">1 Cor. v. 1</scripRef>. Though some of
|
|
the incests here forbidden were practised by some particular
|
|
persons among the heathen, yet they were disallowed and detested,
|
|
unless among those nations who had become barbarous, and were quite
|
|
given up to vile affections. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xix-p6">I. That which is forbidden as to the
|
|
relations here specified is <i>approaching to them to uncover their
|
|
nakedness,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 18:6" id="Lev.xix-p6.1" parsed="|Lev|18|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.6"><i>v.</i>
|
|
6</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xix-p7">1. It is chiefly intended to forbid the
|
|
marrying of any of these relations. Marriage is a divine
|
|
institution; this and the sabbath, the eldest of all, of equal
|
|
standing with man upon the earth: it is intended for the comfort of
|
|
human life, and the decent and honourable propagation of the human
|
|
race, such as became the dignity of man's nature above that of the
|
|
beasts. It is <i>honourable in all,</i> and these laws are for the
|
|
support of the honour of it. It was requisite that a divine
|
|
ordinance should be subject to divine rules and restraints,
|
|
especially because it concerns a thing wherein the corrupt nature
|
|
of man is as apt as in any thing to be wilful and impetuous in its
|
|
desires, and impatient of check. Yet these prohibitions, besides
|
|
their being enacted by an incontestable authority, are in
|
|
themselves highly reasonable and equitable. (1.) By marriage two
|
|
were to become one flesh, therefore those that before were in a
|
|
sense one flesh by nature could not, without the greatest
|
|
absurdity, become one flesh by institution; for the institution was
|
|
designed to unite those who before were not united. (2.) Marriage
|
|
puts an equality between husband and wife. "Is she not thy
|
|
companion taken out of thy side?" Therefore, if those who before
|
|
were superior and inferior should intermarry (which is the case in
|
|
most of the instances here laid down), the order of nature would be
|
|
taken away by a positive institution, which must by no means be
|
|
allowed. The inequality between master and servant, noble and
|
|
ignoble, is founded in consent and custom, and there is no harm
|
|
done if that be taken away by the equality of marriage; but the
|
|
inequality between parents and children, uncles and nieces, aunts
|
|
and nephews, either by blood or marriage, is founded in nature, and
|
|
is therefore perpetual, and cannot without confusion be taken away
|
|
by the equality of marriage, the institution of which, though
|
|
ancient, is subsequent to the order of nature. (3.) No relations
|
|
that are equals are forbidden, except brothers and sisters, by the
|
|
whole blood or half blood, or by marriage; and in this there is not
|
|
the same natural absurdity as in the former, for Adam's sons must
|
|
of necessity have married their own sisters; but it was requisite
|
|
that it should be made by a positive law unlawful and detestable,
|
|
for the preventing of sinful familiarities between those that in
|
|
the days of their youth are supposed to live in a house together,
|
|
and yet cannot intermarry without defeating one of the intentions
|
|
of marriage, which is the enlargement of friendship and interest.
|
|
If every man married his own sister (as they would be apt to do
|
|
from generation to generation if it were lawful), each family would
|
|
be a world to itself, and it would be forgotten that <i>we are
|
|
members one of another.</i> It is certain that this has always been
|
|
looked upon by the more sober heathen as a most infamous and
|
|
abominable thing; and those who had not this law yet were herein a
|
|
law to themselves. The making use of the ordinance of marriage for
|
|
the patronizing of incestuous mixtures is so far from justifying
|
|
them, or extenuating their guilt, that it adds the guilt of
|
|
profaning an ordinance of God, and prostituting that to the vilest
|
|
of purposes which was instituted for the noblest ends. But,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xix-p8">2. Uncleanness, committed with any of these
|
|
relations out of marriage, is likewise, without doubt, forbidden
|
|
here, and no less intended than the former: as also all lascivious
|
|
carriage, wanton dalliance, and every thing that has the appearance
|
|
of this evil. Relations must love one another, and are to have free
|
|
and familiar converse with each other, but it must be with all
|
|
purity; and the less it is suspected of evil by others the more
|
|
care ought the persons themselves to take that <i>Satan do not get
|
|
advantage against them,</i> for he is a very subtle enemy, and
|
|
seeks all occasions against us.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xix-p9">II. The relations forbidden are most of
|
|
them plainly described; and it is generally laid down as a rule
|
|
that what relations of a man's own he is bound up from marrying the
|
|
same relations of his wife he is likewise forbidden to marry, for
|
|
they two are one. That law which forbids marrying a brother's wife
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 18:16" id="Lev.xix-p9.1" parsed="|Lev|18|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>) had an
|
|
exception peculiar to the Jewish state, that, if a man died without
|
|
issue, his brother or next of kin should marry the widow, and raise
|
|
up seed to the deceased (<scripRef passage="De 25:5" id="Lev.xix-p9.2" parsed="|Deut|25|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.25.5">Deut. xxv.
|
|
5</scripRef>), for reasons which held good only in that
|
|
commonwealth; and therefore now that those reasons have ceased the
|
|
exception ceases, and the law is in force, that a man must in no
|
|
case marry his brother's widow. That article (<scripRef passage="Le 18:18" id="Lev.xix-p9.3" parsed="|Lev|18|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>) which forbids a man to <i>take
|
|
a wife to her sister</i> supposes a connivance at polygamy, as some
|
|
other laws then did (<scripRef passage="Ex 21:10,De 21:15" id="Lev.xix-p9.4" parsed="|Exod|21|10|0|0;|Deut|21|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.10 Bible:Deut.21.15">Exod.
|
|
xxi. 10; Deut. xxi. 15</scripRef>), but forbids a man's marrying
|
|
two sisters, as Jacob did, because between those who had before
|
|
been equal there would be apt to arise greater jealousies and
|
|
animosities than between wives that were not so nearly related. If
|
|
the sister of the wife be taken for the concubine, or secondary
|
|
wife, nothing can be more vexing in her life, or as long as she
|
|
lives.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 18" id="Lev.xix-p9.5" parsed="|Lev|18|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 18:19-30" id="Lev.xix-p9.6" parsed="|Lev|18|19|18|30" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.19-Lev.18.30"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.18.19-Lev.18.30">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.xix-p9.7">Laws against Iniquity. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xix-p9.8">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xix-p10">19 Also thou shalt not approach unto a woman to
|
|
uncover her nakedness, as long as she is put apart for her
|
|
uncleanness.   20 Moreover thou shalt not lie carnally with
|
|
thy neighbour's wife, to defile thyself with her.   21 And
|
|
thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through <i>the fire</i> to
|
|
Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I <i>am</i>
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xix-p10.1">Lord</span>.   22 Thou shalt not
|
|
lie with mankind, as with womankind: it <i>is</i> abomination.
|
|
  23 Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself
|
|
therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down
|
|
thereto: it <i>is</i> confusion.   24 Defile not ye yourselves
|
|
in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled
|
|
which I cast out before you:   25 And the land is defiled:
|
|
therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land
|
|
itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.   26 Ye shall therefore
|
|
keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit <i>any</i>
|
|
of these abominations; <i>neither</i> any of your own nation, nor
|
|
any stranger that sojourneth among you:   27 (For all these
|
|
abominations have the men of the land done, which <i>were</i>
|
|
before you, and the land is defiled;)   28 That the land spue
|
|
not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations
|
|
that <i>were</i> before you.   29 For whosoever shall commit
|
|
any of these abominations, even the souls that commit <i>them</i>
|
|
shall be cut off from among their people.   30 Therefore shall
|
|
ye keep mine ordinance, that <i>ye</i> commit not <i>any one</i> of
|
|
these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that
|
|
ye defile not yourselves therein: I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xix-p10.2">Lord</span> your God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xix-p11">Here is, I. A law to preserve the honour of
|
|
the marriage-bed, that it should not be unseasonably used
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 18:19" id="Lev.xix-p11.1" parsed="|Lev|18|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>), nor invaded
|
|
by an adulterer, <scripRef passage="Le 18:20" id="Lev.xix-p11.2" parsed="|Lev|18|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.20"><i>v.</i>
|
|
20</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xix-p12">II. A law against that which was the most
|
|
unnatural idolatry, causing their children to <i>pass through the
|
|
fire to Moloch,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 18:21" id="Lev.xix-p12.1" parsed="|Lev|18|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.21"><i>v.</i>
|
|
21</scripRef>. Moloch (as some think) was the idol in and by which
|
|
they worshipped the sun, that great fire of the world; and
|
|
therefore in the worship of it they made their own children either
|
|
sacrifices to this idol, burning them to death before it, or
|
|
devotees to it, causing them to pass between two fires, as some
|
|
think, or to be thrown through one, to the honour of this pretended
|
|
deity, imagining that the consecrating of but one of their children
|
|
in this manner to Moloch would procure good fortune for all the
|
|
rest of their children. Did idolaters thus give their own children
|
|
to false gods, and shall we think any thing too dear to be
|
|
dedicated to, or to be parted with for, the true God? See how this
|
|
sin of Israel (which they were afterwards guilty of,
|
|
notwithstanding this law) is aggravated by the relation which they
|
|
and their children stood in to God. <scripRef passage="Eze 16:20" id="Lev.xix-p12.2" parsed="|Ezek|16|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.20">Ezek. xvi. 20</scripRef>, <i>Thou hast taken thy sons
|
|
and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these thou
|
|
hast sacrificed.</i> Therefore it is here called <i>profaning the
|
|
name of their</i> God; for it looked as if they thought they were
|
|
under greater obligations to Moloch than to Jehovah; for to him
|
|
they offered their cattle only, but to Moloch their children.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xix-p13">III. A law against unnatural lusts, sodomy
|
|
and bestiality, sins not to be named nor thought of without the
|
|
utmost abhorrence imaginable, <scripRef passage="Le 18:22,23" id="Lev.xix-p13.1" parsed="|Lev|18|22|18|23" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.22-Lev.18.23"><i>v.</i> 22, 23</scripRef>. Other sins level men
|
|
with the beasts, but these sink them much lower. That ever there
|
|
should have been occasion for the making of these laws, and that
|
|
since they are published they should ever have been broken, is the
|
|
perpetual reproach and scandal of human nature; and the giving of
|
|
men up to these vile affections was frequently the punishment of
|
|
their idolatries; so the apostle shows, <scripRef passage="Ro 1:24" id="Lev.xix-p13.2" parsed="|Rom|1|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.1.24">Rom. i. 24</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xix-p14">IV. Arguments against these and the like
|
|
abominable wickednesses. He that has an indisputable right to
|
|
command us, yet because he will deal with us as men, and <i>draw
|
|
with the cords of a man,</i> condescends to reason with us. 1.
|
|
Sinners defile themselves with these abominations: <i>Defile not
|
|
yourselves in any of these things,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 18:24" id="Lev.xix-p14.1" parsed="|Lev|18|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. All sin is defiling to the
|
|
conscience, but these are sins that have a peculiar turpitude in
|
|
them. Our heavenly Father, in kindness to us, requires of us that
|
|
we keep ourselves clean, and do not wallow in the dirt. 2. <i>The
|
|
souls that commit them shall be cut off,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 18:29" id="Lev.xix-p14.2" parsed="|Lev|18|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>. And justly; for, <i>if any man
|
|
defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy,</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 3:17" id="Lev.xix-p14.3" parsed="|1Cor|3|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.3.17">1 Cor. iii. 17</scripRef>. Fleshly lusts war
|
|
against the soul, and will certainly be the ruin of it if God's
|
|
mercy and grace prevent not. 3. <i>The land is defiled,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 18:25" id="Lev.xix-p14.4" parsed="|Lev|18|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>. If such
|
|
wickednesses as these be practised and connived at, the land is
|
|
thereby made unfit to have God's tabernacle in it, and the pure and
|
|
holy God will withdraw the tokens of his gracious presence from it.
|
|
It is also rendered unwholesome to the inhabitants, who are hereby
|
|
infected with sin and exposed to plagues and it is really nauseous
|
|
and loathsome to all good men in it, as the wickedness of Sodom was
|
|
to the soul of righteous Lot. 4. These have been the abominations
|
|
of the former inhabitants, <scripRef passage="Le 18:24,27" id="Lev.xix-p14.5" parsed="|Lev|18|24|0|0;|Lev|18|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.24 Bible:Lev.18.27"><i>v.</i> 24, 27</scripRef>. Therefore it was
|
|
necessary that these laws should be made, as antidotes and
|
|
preservatives from the plague are necessary when we go into an
|
|
infected place. And therefore they should not practise any such
|
|
things, because the nations that had practised them now lay under
|
|
the curse of God, and were shortly to fall by the sword of Israel.
|
|
They could not but be sensible how odious those people had made
|
|
themselves who wallowed in this mire, and how they stank in the
|
|
nostrils of all good men; and shall a people sanctified and
|
|
dignified as Israel was make themselves thus vile? When we observe
|
|
how ill sin looks in others we should use this as an argument with
|
|
ourselves with the utmost care and caution to preserve our purity.
|
|
5. For these and the like sins the Canaanites were to be destroyed;
|
|
these filled the measure of the Amorites' iniquity (<scripRef passage="Ge 15:16" id="Lev.xix-p14.6" parsed="|Gen|15|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.16">Gen. xv. 16</scripRef>), and brought down that
|
|
destruction of so many populous kingdoms which the Israelites were
|
|
now shortly to be not only the spectators, but the instruments of:
|
|
<i>Therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 18:25" id="Lev.xix-p14.7" parsed="|Lev|18|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>. Note, The tremendous
|
|
judgments of God, executed on those that are daringly profane and
|
|
atheistical, are intended as warnings to those who profess religion
|
|
to take heed of every thing that has the least appearance of, or
|
|
tendency towards, profaneness or atheism. Even the ruin of the
|
|
Canaanites is an admonition to the Israelites not to do like them.
|
|
Nay, to show that not only the Creator is provoked, but the
|
|
creation burdened, by such abominations as these, it is added
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 18:25" id="Lev.xix-p14.8" parsed="|Lev|18|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>), <i>The land
|
|
itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.</i> The very ground they went
|
|
upon did, as it were, groan under them, and was sick of them, and
|
|
not easy till it had discharged itself of these <i>enemies of the
|
|
Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 1:24" id="Lev.xix-p14.9" parsed="|Isa|1|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.24">Isa. i. 24</scripRef>. This
|
|
bespeaks the extreme loathsomeness of sin; sinful man indeed
|
|
<i>drinks in iniquity like water,</i> but the harmless part of the
|
|
creation even heaves at it, and rises against it. Many a house and
|
|
many a town have spued out the wicked inhabitants, as it were, with
|
|
abhorrence, <scripRef passage="Re 3:16" id="Lev.xix-p14.10" parsed="|Rev|3|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.3.16">Rev. iii. 16</scripRef>.
|
|
Therefore take heed, saith God, <i>that the land spue not you out
|
|
also,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 18:28" id="Lev.xix-p14.11" parsed="|Lev|18|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>. It
|
|
was secured to them, and entailed upon them, and yet they must
|
|
expect that, if they made the vices of the Canaanites their own,
|
|
with their land their fate would be the same. Note, Wicked
|
|
Israelites are as abominable to God as wicked Canaanites, and more
|
|
so, and will be as soon spued out, or sooner. Such a warning as was
|
|
here given to the Israelites is given by the apostle to the Gentile
|
|
converts, with reference to the rejected Jews, in whose room they
|
|
were substituted (<scripRef passage="Ro 11:19" id="Lev.xix-p14.12" parsed="|Rom|11|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.11.19">Rom. xi.
|
|
19</scripRef>, &c.); they must take heed of falling <i>after
|
|
the same example of unbelief,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 4:11" id="Lev.xix-p14.13" parsed="|Heb|4|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.4.11">Heb.
|
|
iv. 11</scripRef>. Apply it more generally; and let it deter us
|
|
effectually from all sinful courses to consider how many they have
|
|
been the ruin of. Lay the ear of faith to the gates of the
|
|
bottomless pit, and hear the doleful shrieks and outcries of damned
|
|
sinners, whom earth has spued out and hell has swallowed, that find
|
|
themselves undone, for ever undone, by sin; and tremble lest this
|
|
be your portion at last. God's threatenings and judgments should
|
|
frighten us from sin.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xix-p15">V. The chapter concludes with a sovereign
|
|
antidote against this infection: <i>Therefore you shall keep my
|
|
ordinance that you commit not any one of these abominable
|
|
customs,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 18:30" id="Lev.xix-p15.1" parsed="|Lev|18|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>.
|
|
This is the remedy prescribed. Note, 1. Sinful customs are
|
|
abominable customs, and their being common and fashionable does not
|
|
make them at all the less abominable nor should we the less
|
|
abominate them, but the more; because the more customary they are
|
|
the more dangerous they are. 2. It is of pernicious consequence to
|
|
admit and allow of any one sinful custom, because one will make way
|
|
for many, <i>Uno absurdo dato, mille sequuntur—Admit but a single
|
|
absurdity, you invite a thousand.</i> The way of sin is downhill.
|
|
3. A close and constant adherence to God's ordinances is the most
|
|
effectual preservative from the infection of gross sin. The more we
|
|
taste of the sweetness and feel of the power of holy ordinances the
|
|
less inclination we shall have to the forbidden pleasures of
|
|
sinners' abominable customs. It is the grace of God only that will
|
|
secure us, and that grace is to be expected only in the use of the
|
|
means of grace. Nor does God ever leave any to their own hearts'
|
|
lusts till they have first left him and his institutions.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XIX" n="xx" progress="58.68%" prev="Lev.xix" next="Lev.xxi" id="Lev.xx">
|
|
<h2 id="Lev.xx-p0.1">L E V I T I C U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Lev.xx-p0.2">CHAP. XIX.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Lev.xx-p1">Some ceremonial precepts there are in this
|
|
chapter, but most of them are moral. One would wonder that when
|
|
some of the lighter matters of the law are greatly enlarged upon
|
|
(witness two long chapters concerning the leprosy) many of the
|
|
weightier matters are put into a little compass: divers of the
|
|
single verses of this chapter contain whole laws concerning
|
|
judgment and mercy; for these are things which are manifest in
|
|
every man's conscience; men's own thoughts are able to explain
|
|
these, and to comment upon them. I. The laws of this chapter, which
|
|
were peculiar to the Jews, are, 1. Concerning their
|
|
peace-offerings, <scripRef passage="Le 19:5-8" id="Lev.xx-p1.1" parsed="|Lev|19|5|19|8" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.5-Lev.19.8">ver. 5-8</scripRef>.
|
|
2. Concerning the gleanings of their fields, <scripRef passage="Le 19:9,10" id="Lev.xx-p1.2" parsed="|Lev|19|9|19|10" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.9-Lev.19.10">ver. 9, 10</scripRef>. 3. Against mixtures of their
|
|
cattle, seed, and cloth, <scripRef passage="Le 19:19" id="Lev.xx-p1.3" parsed="|Lev|19|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.19">ver.
|
|
19</scripRef>. 4. Concerning their trees, <scripRef passage="Le 19:23-25" id="Lev.xx-p1.4" parsed="|Lev|19|23|19|25" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.23-Lev.19.25">ver. 23-25</scripRef>. 5. Against some superstitious
|
|
usages, <scripRef passage="Le 19:26-28" id="Lev.xx-p1.5" parsed="|Lev|19|26|19|28" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.26-Lev.19.28">ver. 26-28</scripRef>. But,
|
|
II. Most of these precepts are binding on us, for they are
|
|
expositions of most of the ten commandments. 1. Here is the preface
|
|
to the ten commandments, "I am the Lord," repeated fifteen times.
|
|
2. A sum of the ten commandments. All the first table in this, "Be
|
|
you holy," <scripRef passage="Le 19:2" id="Lev.xx-p1.6" parsed="|Lev|19|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.2">ver. 2</scripRef>. All the
|
|
second table in this, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour" (<scripRef passage="Le 19:18" id="Lev.xx-p1.7" parsed="|Lev|19|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.18">ver. 18</scripRef>), and an answer to the
|
|
question, "Who is my neighbour?" <scripRef passage="Le 19:33,34" id="Lev.xx-p1.8" parsed="|Lev|19|33|19|34" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.33-Lev.19.34">ver. 33, 34</scripRef>. 3. Something of each
|
|
commandment. (1.) The first commandment implied in that which is
|
|
often repeated here, "I am your God." And here is a prohibition of
|
|
enchantment (<scripRef passage="Le 19:26" id="Lev.xx-p1.9" parsed="|Lev|19|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.26">ver. 26</scripRef>) and
|
|
witchcraft (<scripRef passage="Le 19:31" id="Lev.xx-p1.10" parsed="|Lev|19|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.31">ver. 31</scripRef>), which
|
|
make a god of the devil. (2.) Idolatry, against the second
|
|
commandment, is forbidden, <scripRef passage="Le 19:4" id="Lev.xx-p1.11" parsed="|Lev|19|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.4">ver.
|
|
4</scripRef>. (3.) Profanation of God's name, against the third,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 19:12" id="Lev.xx-p1.12" parsed="|Lev|19|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.12">ver. 12</scripRef>. (4.)
|
|
Sabbath-sanctification is pressed, <scripRef passage="Le 19:3,30" id="Lev.xx-p1.13" parsed="|Lev|19|3|0|0;|Lev|19|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.3 Bible:Lev.19.30">ver. 3, 30</scripRef>. (5.) Children are required to
|
|
honour their parents (<scripRef passage="Le 19:3" id="Lev.xx-p1.14" parsed="|Lev|19|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.3">ver.
|
|
3</scripRef>), and the aged, <scripRef passage="Le 19:32" id="Lev.xx-p1.15" parsed="|Lev|19|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.32">ver.
|
|
32</scripRef>. (6.) Hatred and revenge are here forbidden, against
|
|
the sixth commandment, <scripRef passage="Le 19:17,18" id="Lev.xx-p1.16" parsed="|Lev|19|17|19|18" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.17-Lev.19.18">ver. 17,
|
|
18</scripRef>. (7.) Adultery (<scripRef passage="Le 19:20-22" id="Lev.xx-p1.17" parsed="|Lev|19|20|19|22" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.20-Lev.19.22">ver.
|
|
20-22</scripRef>), and whoredom, <scripRef passage="Le 19:29" id="Lev.xx-p1.18" parsed="|Lev|19|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.29">ver.
|
|
29</scripRef>. (8.) Justice is here required in judgment (<scripRef passage="Le 19:15" id="Lev.xx-p1.19" parsed="|Lev|19|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.15">ver. 15</scripRef>), theft forbidden (<scripRef passage="Le 19:11" id="Lev.xx-p1.20" parsed="|Lev|19|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.11">ver. 11</scripRef>), fraud and withholding dues
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 19:13" id="Lev.xx-p1.21" parsed="|Lev|19|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.13">ver. 13</scripRef>), and false
|
|
weights, <scripRef passage="Le 19:35,36" id="Lev.xx-p1.22" parsed="|Lev|19|35|19|36" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.35-Lev.19.36">ver. 35, 36</scripRef>.
|
|
(9.) Lying, <scripRef passage="Le 19:11" id="Lev.xx-p1.23" parsed="|Lev|19|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.11">ver. 11</scripRef>.
|
|
Slandering, <scripRef passage="Le 19:14" id="Lev.xx-p1.24" parsed="|Lev|19|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.14">ver. 14</scripRef>.
|
|
Tale-bearing, and false-witness bearing, <scripRef passage="Le 19:16" id="Lev.xx-p1.25" parsed="|Lev|19|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.16">ver. 16</scripRef>. (10.) The tenth commandment laying a
|
|
restraint upon the heart, so does that (<scripRef passage="Le 19:17" id="Lev.xx-p1.26" parsed="|Lev|19|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.17">ver. 17</scripRef>), "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in
|
|
thy heart." And here is a solemn charge to observe all these
|
|
statutes, <scripRef passage="Le 19:37" id="Lev.xx-p1.27" parsed="|Lev|19|37|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.37">ver. 37</scripRef>. Now
|
|
these are things which need not much help for the understanding of
|
|
them, but require constant care and watchfulness for the observing
|
|
of them. "A good understanding have all those that do these
|
|
commandments."</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 19" id="Lev.xx-p1.28" parsed="|Lev|19|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 19:1-10" id="Lev.xx-p1.29" parsed="|Lev|19|1|19|10" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.1-Lev.19.10"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.19.1-Lev.19.10">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.xx-p1.30">Ceremonial and Moral Laws. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xx-p1.31">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xx-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xx-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   2 Speak unto all the congregation
|
|
of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for
|
|
I the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xx-p2.2">Lord</span> your God <i>am</i> holy.
|
|
  3 Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and
|
|
keep my sabbaths: I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xx-p2.3">Lord</span> your God.   4 Turn ye not unto idols,
|
|
nor make to yourselves molten gods: I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xx-p2.4">Lord</span> your God.   5 And if ye offer a
|
|
sacrifice of peace offerings unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xx-p2.5">Lord</span>, ye shall offer it at your own will.  
|
|
6 It shall be eaten the same day ye offer it, and on the morrow:
|
|
and if ought remain until the third day, it shall be burnt in the
|
|
fire.   7 And if it be eaten at all on the third day, it
|
|
<i>is</i> abominable; it shall not be accepted.   8 Therefore
|
|
<i>every one</i> that eateth it shall bear his iniquity, because he
|
|
hath profaned the hallowed thing of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xx-p2.6">Lord</span>: and that soul shall be cut off from among
|
|
his people.   9 And when ye reap the harvest of your land,
|
|
thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt
|
|
thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.   10 And thou shalt
|
|
not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather <i>every</i>
|
|
grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and
|
|
stranger: I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xx-p2.7">Lord</span> your
|
|
God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xx-p3">Moses is ordered to deliver the summary of
|
|
the laws <i>to all the congregation of the children of Israel</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 19:2" id="Lev.xx-p3.1" parsed="|Lev|19|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>); not to Aaron
|
|
and his sons only, but to all the people, for they were all
|
|
concerned to know their duty. Even in the darker ages of the law,
|
|
that religion could not be of God which boasted of ignorance as its
|
|
mother. Moses must make known God's statutes to all the
|
|
congregation, and proclaim them through the camp. These laws, it is
|
|
probable, he delivered himself to as many of the people as could be
|
|
within hearing at once, and so by degrees at several times to them
|
|
all. Many of the precepts here given they had received before, but
|
|
it was requisite that they should be repeated, that they might be
|
|
remembered. Precept must be upon precept, and line upon line, and
|
|
all little enough. In these verses,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xx-p4">I. It is required that Israel be a holy
|
|
people, because the God of Israel is a holy God, <scripRef passage="Le 19:2" id="Lev.xx-p4.1" parsed="|Lev|19|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. Their being distinguished from
|
|
all other people by peculiar laws and customs was intended to teach
|
|
them a real separation from the world and the flesh, and an entire
|
|
devotedness to God. And this is now the law of Christ (the Lord
|
|
bring every thought within us into obedience to it!) <i>You shall
|
|
be holy, for I am holy,</i> <scripRef passage="1Pe 1:15,16" id="Lev.xx-p4.2" parsed="|1Pet|1|15|1|16" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.1.15-1Pet.1.16">1 Pet.
|
|
i. 15, 16</scripRef>. We are the followers of the holy Jesus, and
|
|
therefore must be, according to our capacity, consecrated to God's
|
|
honour, and conformed to his nature and will. Israel was sanctified
|
|
by the types and shadows (<scripRef passage="Le 20:8" id="Lev.xx-p4.3" parsed="|Lev|20|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.8"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xx. 8</scripRef>), but we are <i>sanctified by the truth,</i> or
|
|
substance of all those shadows, <scripRef passage="Joh 17:17,Tit 2:14" id="Lev.xx-p4.4" parsed="|John|17|17|0|0;|Titus|2|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.17.17 Bible:Titus.2.14">John xvii. 17; Tit. ii. 14</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xx-p5">II. That children be obedient to their
|
|
parents: "<i>You shall fear every man his mother and his
|
|
father,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 19:3" id="Lev.xx-p5.1" parsed="|Lev|19|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. 1.
|
|
The fear here required is the same with the honour commanded by the
|
|
fifth commandment; see <scripRef passage="Mal 1:6" id="Lev.xx-p5.2" parsed="|Mal|1|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mal.1.6">Mal. i.
|
|
6</scripRef>. It includes inward reverence and esteem, outward
|
|
expressions of respect, obedience to the lawful commands of
|
|
parents, care and endeavour to please them and make them easy, and
|
|
to avoid every thing that may offend and grieve them, and incur
|
|
their displeasure. The Jewish doctors ask, "What is this fear that
|
|
is owing to a father?" And they answer, "It is not to stand in his
|
|
way nor to sit in his place, not to contradict what he says nor to
|
|
carp at it, not to call him by his name, either living or dead, but
|
|
'My Father,' or 'Sir;' it is to provide for him if he be poor, and
|
|
the like." 2. Children, when they grow up to be men, must not think
|
|
themselves discharged from this duty: every man, though he be a
|
|
wise man, and a great man, yet must reverence his parents, because
|
|
they are his parents. 3. The mother is put first, which is not
|
|
usual, to show that the duty is equally owing to both; if the
|
|
mother survive the father, still she must be reverenced and obeyed.
|
|
4. It is added, <i>and keep my sabbaths.</i> If God provides by his
|
|
law for the preserving of the honour of parents, parents must use
|
|
their authority over their children for the preserving of the
|
|
honour of God, particularly the honour of his sabbaths, the custody
|
|
of which is very much committed to parents by the fourth
|
|
commandment, <i>Thou, and thy son, and thy daughter.</i> The ruin
|
|
of young people has often been observed to begin in the contempt of
|
|
their parents and the profanation of the sabbath day. Fitly
|
|
therefore are these two precepts here put together in the beginning
|
|
of this abridgment of the statutes: "<i>You shall fear, every man,
|
|
his mother and his father, and keep my sabbaths.</i> Those are
|
|
hopeful children, and likely to do well, that make conscience of
|
|
honouring their parents and keeping holy the sabbath day. 5. The
|
|
reason added to both these precepts is, "<i>I am the Lord your
|
|
God;</i> the Lord of the sabbath and the God of your parents."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xx-p6">III. That God only be worshipped, and not
|
|
by images (<scripRef passage="Le 19:4" id="Lev.xx-p6.1" parsed="|Lev|19|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>):
|
|
"<i>Turn you not to idols,</i> to <i>Elilim,</i> to vanities,
|
|
things of no power, no value, gods that are no gods. Turn not from
|
|
the true God to false ones, from the mighty God to impotent ones,
|
|
from the God that will make you holy and happy to those that will
|
|
deceive you, debauch you, ruin you, and make you for ever
|
|
miserable. Turn not your eye to them, much less your heart. <i>Make
|
|
not to yourselves gods,</i> the creatures of your own fancy, nor
|
|
think to worship the Creator by molten gods. You are the work of
|
|
God's hands, be not so absurd as to worship gods <i>the work of
|
|
your own hands.</i>" Molten gods are specified for the sake of the
|
|
molten calf.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xx-p7">IV. That the sacrifices of their
|
|
peace-offerings should always be offered, and eaten, according to
|
|
the law, <scripRef passage="Le 19:5-8" id="Lev.xx-p7.1" parsed="|Lev|19|5|19|8" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.5-Lev.19.8"><i>v.</i> 5-8</scripRef>.
|
|
There was some particular reason, it is likely, for the repetition
|
|
of this law rather than any other relating to the sacrifices. The
|
|
eating of the peace-offerings was the people's part, and was done
|
|
from under the eye of the priests, and perhaps some of them had
|
|
kept the cold meat of their peace-offerings, as they had done the
|
|
manna (<scripRef passage="Ex 16:20" id="Lev.xx-p7.2" parsed="|Exod|16|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.20">Exod. xvi. 20</scripRef>),
|
|
longer than was appointed, which occasioned this caution; see the
|
|
law itself before, <scripRef passage="Le 7:16-18" id="Lev.xx-p7.3" parsed="|Lev|7|16|7|18" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.16-Lev.7.18"><i>ch.</i> vii.
|
|
16-18</scripRef>. God will have his own work done in his own time.
|
|
Though the sacrifice was offered according to the law, if it was
|
|
not eaten according to the law, it was not accepted. Though
|
|
ministers do their part, what the better if people do not theirs?
|
|
There is work to be done after our spiritual sacrifices, in a due
|
|
improvement of them; and, if this be neglected, all is in vain.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xx-p8">V. That they should leave the gleanings of
|
|
their harvest and vintage for the poor, <scripRef passage="Le 19:9,10" id="Lev.xx-p8.1" parsed="|Lev|19|9|19|10" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.9-Lev.19.10"><i>v.</i> 9, 10</scripRef>. Note, Works of piety must
|
|
be always attended with works of charity, according as our ability
|
|
is. When they gathered in their corn, they must leave some standing
|
|
in the corner of the field; the Jewish doctors say, "It should be a
|
|
sixtieth part of the field;" and they must also leave the gleanings
|
|
and the small clusters of their grapes, which at first were
|
|
overlooked. This law, though not binding now in the letter of it,
|
|
yet teaches us, 1. That we must not be covetous and griping, and
|
|
greedy of every thing we can lay any claim to; nor insist upon our
|
|
right in things small and trivial. 2. That we must be well pleased
|
|
to see the poor supplied and refreshed with the fruit of our
|
|
labours. We must not think every thing lost that goes beside
|
|
ourselves, nor any thing wasted that goes to the poor. 3. That
|
|
times of joy, such as harvest-time is, are proper times for
|
|
charity; that, when we rejoice, the poor may rejoice with us, and
|
|
when our hearts are blessing God their loins may bless us.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 19" id="Lev.xx-p8.2" parsed="|Lev|19|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 19:11-18" id="Lev.xx-p8.3" parsed="|Lev|19|11|19|18" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.11-Lev.19.18"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.19.11-Lev.19.18">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xx-p9">11 Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely,
|
|
neither lie one to another.   12 And ye shall not swear by my
|
|
name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I
|
|
<i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xx-p9.1">Lord</span>.   13 Thou
|
|
shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob <i>him</i>: the wages
|
|
of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the
|
|
morning.   14 Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a
|
|
stumbling block before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I
|
|
<i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xx-p9.2">Lord</span>.   15 Ye
|
|
shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the
|
|
person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: <i>but</i>
|
|
in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.   16 Thou
|
|
shalt not go up and down <i>as</i> a talebearer among thy people:
|
|
neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I
|
|
<i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xx-p9.3">Lord</span>.   17 Thou
|
|
shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise
|
|
rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.   18 Thou
|
|
shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy
|
|
people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I <i>am</i>
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xx-p9.4">Lord</span>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xx-p10">We are taught here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xx-p11">I. To be honest and true in all our
|
|
dealings, <scripRef passage="Le 19:11" id="Lev.xx-p11.1" parsed="|Lev|19|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>.
|
|
God, who has appointed every man's property by his providence,
|
|
forbids by his law the invading of that appointment, either by
|
|
downright theft, <i>You shall not steal,</i> or by fraudulent
|
|
dealing, "You shall not cheat, or deal falsely." Whatever we have
|
|
in the world, we must see to it that it be honestly come by, for we
|
|
cannot be truly rich, nor long rich, with that which is not. The
|
|
God of truth, who requires truth in the heart (<scripRef passage="Ps 51:6" id="Lev.xx-p11.2" parsed="|Ps|51|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.51.6">Ps. li. 6</scripRef>), requires it also in the tongue:
|
|
<i>Neither lie one to another,</i> either in bargaining or common
|
|
converse. This is one of the laws of Christianity (<scripRef passage="Col 3:9" id="Lev.xx-p11.3" parsed="|Col|3|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Col.3.9">Col. iii. 9</scripRef>): <i>Lie not one to
|
|
another.</i> Those that do not speak truth do not deserve to be
|
|
told truth; those that sin by lying justly suffer by it; therefore
|
|
we are forbidden to <i>lie one to another;</i> for, if we lie to
|
|
others, we teach them to lie to us.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xx-p12">II. To maintain a very reverent regard to
|
|
the sacred name of God (<scripRef passage="Le 19:12" id="Lev.xx-p12.1" parsed="|Lev|19|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.12"><i>v.</i>
|
|
12</scripRef>), and not to call him to be witness either, 1. To a
|
|
lie: <i>You shall not swear falsely.</i> It is bad to tell a lie,
|
|
but it is much worse to swear it. Or, 2. To a trifle, and every
|
|
impertinence: <i>Neither shalt thou profane the name of thy
|
|
God,</i> by alienating it to any other purpose than that for which
|
|
it is to be religiously used.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xx-p13">III. Neither to take nor keep any one's
|
|
right from him, <scripRef passage="Le 19:13" id="Lev.xx-p13.1" parsed="|Lev|19|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.13"><i>v.</i>
|
|
13</scripRef>. We must not take that which is none of our own,
|
|
either by fraud or robbery; nor detain that which belongs to
|
|
another, particularly the <i>wages of the hireling,</i> let it not
|
|
<i>abide with thee all night.</i> Let the day-labourer have his
|
|
wages as soon as he has done his day's work, if he desire it. It is
|
|
a great sin to deny the payment of it, nay, to defer it, to his
|
|
damage, a sin that cries to heaven for vengeance, <scripRef passage="Jam 5:4" id="Lev.xx-p13.2" parsed="|Jas|5|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jas.5.4">Jam. v. 4</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xx-p14">IV. To be particularly tender of the credit
|
|
and safety of those that cannot help themselves, <scripRef passage="Le 19:14" id="Lev.xx-p14.1" parsed="|Lev|19|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. 1. The credit of the deaf:
|
|
<i>Thou shalt not curse the deaf;</i> that is, not only those that
|
|
are naturally deaf, that cannot hear at all, but also those that
|
|
are absent, and at present out of hearing of the curse, and so
|
|
cannot show their resentment, return the affront, nor right
|
|
themselves, and those that are patient, that seem as if they heard
|
|
not, and are not willing to take notice of it, as David, <scripRef passage="Ps 38:13" id="Lev.xx-p14.2" parsed="|Ps|38|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.38.13">Ps. xxxviii. 13</scripRef>. Do not injure any
|
|
because they are unwilling, or unable, to avenge themselves, for
|
|
God sees and hears, though they do not. 2. The safety of the blind
|
|
we must likewise be tender of, and not put a stumbling-block before
|
|
them; for this is to add affliction to the afflicted, and to make
|
|
God's providence a servant to our malice. This prohibition implies
|
|
a precept to help the blind, and remove stumbling-blocks out of
|
|
their way. The Jewish writers, thinking it impossible that any
|
|
should be so barbarous as to put a <i>stumbling-block in the way of
|
|
the blind,</i> understood it figuratively, that it forbids giving
|
|
bad counsel to those that are simple and easily imposed upon, by
|
|
which they may be led to do something to their own prejudice. We
|
|
ought to take heed of doing any thing which may occasion our weak
|
|
brother to fall, <scripRef passage="Ro 14:13,1Co 8:9" id="Lev.xx-p14.3" parsed="|Rom|14|13|0|0;|1Cor|8|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.14.13 Bible:1Cor.8.9">Rom. xiv. 13;
|
|
1 Cor. viii. 9</scripRef>. It is added, as a preservative from
|
|
these sins, <i>but fear thou God.</i> "Thou dost not fear the deaf
|
|
and blind, they cannot right themselves; but remember it is the
|
|
glory of God to help the helpless, and he will plead their cause."
|
|
Note, The fear of God will restrain us from doing that which will
|
|
not expose us to men's resentments.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xx-p15">V. Judges and all in authority are here
|
|
commanded to give verdict and judgment without partiality
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 19:15" id="Lev.xx-p15.1" parsed="|Lev|19|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>); whether
|
|
they were constituted judges by commission or made so in a
|
|
particular case by the consent of both parties, as referees or
|
|
arbitrators, they must do no wrong to either side, but, to the
|
|
utmost of their skill, must go according to the rules of equity,
|
|
having respect purely to the merits of the cause, and not to the
|
|
characters of the person. Justice must never be perverted, either,
|
|
1. In pity to the poor: <i>Thou shalt not respect the person of the
|
|
poor,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 23:3" id="Lev.xx-p15.2" parsed="|Exod|23|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.3">Exod. xxiii. 3</scripRef>.
|
|
Whatever may be given to a poor man as an alms, yet let nothing be
|
|
awarded him as his right but what he is legally entitled to, nor
|
|
let his poverty excuse him from any just punishment for a fault.
|
|
Or, 2. In veneration or fear of the mighty, in whose favour judges
|
|
would be most frequently biased. The Jews say, "Judges were obliged
|
|
by this law to be so impartial as not to let one of the contending
|
|
parties sit while the other stood, nor permit one to say what he
|
|
pleased and bid the other be short; see <scripRef passage="Jam 2:1-4" id="Lev.xx-p15.3" parsed="|Jas|2|1|2|4" osisRef="Bible:Jas.2.1-Jas.2.4">James ii. 1-4</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xx-p16">VI. We are all forbidden to do any thing
|
|
injurious to our neighbour's good name (<scripRef passage="Le 19:16" id="Lev.xx-p16.1" parsed="|Lev|19|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>), either, 1. In common
|
|
conversation: <i>Thou shalt not go up and down as a
|
|
tale-bearer.</i> It is as bad an office as a man can put himself
|
|
into to be the publisher of every man's faults, divulging what was
|
|
secret, aggravating crimes, and making the worst of every thing
|
|
that was amiss, with design to blast and ruin men's reputation, and
|
|
to sow discord among neighbours. The word used for a tale-bearer
|
|
signifies a <i>pedlar,</i> or <i>petty chapman,</i> the interlopers
|
|
of trade; for tale-bearers pick up ill-natured stories at one house
|
|
and utter them at another, and commonly barter slanders by way of
|
|
exchange. See this sin condemned, <scripRef passage="Pr 11:13,20:19,Jer 9:4,Eze 22:9" id="Lev.xx-p16.2" parsed="|Prov|11|13|0|0;|Prov|20|19|0|0;|Jer|9|4|0|0;|Ezek|22|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.11.13 Bible:Prov.20.19 Bible:Jer.9.4 Bible:Ezek.22.9">Prov. xi. 13; xx. 19; Jer. ix. 4,
|
|
5; Ezek. xxii. 9</scripRef>. Or, 2, In witness-bearing: Neither
|
|
<i>shalt thou stand</i> as a witness <i>against the blood of thy
|
|
neighbour,</i> if his blood be innocent, nor join in confederacy
|
|
with such bloody men as those described," <scripRef passage="Pr 1:11,12" id="Lev.xx-p16.3" parsed="|Prov|1|11|1|12" osisRef="Bible:Prov.1.11-Prov.1.12">Prov. i. 11, 12</scripRef>. The Jewish doctors put
|
|
this further sense upon it: "Thou shalt not stand by and see thy
|
|
brother in danger, but thou shalt come in to his relief and
|
|
succour, though it be with the peril of thy own life or limb;" they
|
|
add, "He that can by his testimony clear one that is accused is
|
|
obliged by this law to do it;" see <scripRef passage="Pr 24:11,12" id="Lev.xx-p16.4" parsed="|Prov|24|11|24|12" osisRef="Bible:Prov.24.11-Prov.24.12">Prov. xxiv. 11, 12</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xx-p17">VII. We are commanded to rebuke our
|
|
neighbour in love (<scripRef passage="Le 19:17" id="Lev.xx-p17.1" parsed="|Lev|19|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.17"><i>v.</i>
|
|
17</scripRef>): <i>Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour.</i>
|
|
1. Rather rebuke him than hate him for an injury done to thyself.
|
|
If we apprehend that our neighbour has any way wronged us, we must
|
|
not conceive a secret grudge against him, and estrange ourselves
|
|
from him, speaking to him neither bad nor good, as the manner of
|
|
some is, who have the art of concealing their displeasure till they
|
|
have an opportunity of a full revenge (<scripRef passage="2Sa 13:22" id="Lev.xx-p17.2" parsed="|2Sam|13|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.13.22">2 Sam. xiii. 22</scripRef>); but we must rather give
|
|
vent to our resentments with the meekness of wisdom, endeavour to
|
|
convince our brother of the injury, reason the case fairly with
|
|
him, and so put an end to the disgust conceived: this is the rule
|
|
our Saviour gives in this case, <scripRef passage="Lu 17:3" id="Lev.xx-p17.3" parsed="|Luke|17|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.17.3">Luke
|
|
xvii. 3</scripRef>. 2. Therefore rebuke him for his sin against
|
|
God, because thou lovest him; endeavour to bring him to repentance,
|
|
that his sin may be pardoned, and he may turn from it, and it may
|
|
not be suffered to lie upon him. Note, Friendly reproof is a duty
|
|
we owe to one another, and we ought both to give it and take it in
|
|
love. <i>Let the righteous smite me, and it shall be a
|
|
kindness,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 141:5" id="Lev.xx-p17.4" parsed="|Ps|141|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.141.5">Ps. cxli. 5</scripRef>.
|
|
Faithful and useful are those <i>wounds of a friend,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 27:5,6" id="Lev.xx-p17.5" parsed="|Prov|27|5|27|6" osisRef="Bible:Prov.27.5-Prov.27.6">Prov. xxvii. 5, 6</scripRef>. It is here
|
|
strictly commanded, "<i>Thou shalt in any wise</i> do it, and not
|
|
omit it under any pretence." Consider, (1.) The guilt we incur by
|
|
not reproving: it is construed here into a hating of our brother.
|
|
We are ready to argue thus, "Such a one is a friend I love,
|
|
therefore I will not make him uneasy by telling him of his faults;"
|
|
but we should rather say, "therefore I will do him the kindness to
|
|
tell him of them." Love covers sin from others, but not from the
|
|
sinner himself. (2.) The mischief we do by not reproving: we
|
|
<i>suffer sin upon him.</i> Must we help the ass of an enemy that
|
|
has fallen under his burden, and shall we not help the soul of a
|
|
friend? <scripRef passage="Ex 23:5" id="Lev.xx-p17.6" parsed="|Exod|23|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.5">Exod. xxiii. 5</scripRef>. And
|
|
by <i>suffering sin upon him</i> we are in danger of <i>bearing sin
|
|
for him,</i> as the margin reads it. If we reprove not the
|
|
<i>unfruitful works of darkness,</i> we have fellowship with them,
|
|
and become accessaries <i>ex post facto—after the fact,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Eph 5:11" id="Lev.xx-p17.7" parsed="|Eph|5|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eph.5.11">Eph. v. 11</scripRef>. It is thy
|
|
brother, thy neighbour, that is concerned; and he was a Cain that
|
|
said, <i>Am I my brother's keeper?</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xx-p18">VIII. We are here required to put off all
|
|
malice, and to put on brotherly love, <scripRef passage="Le 19:18" id="Lev.xx-p18.1" parsed="|Lev|19|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. 1. We must be ill-affected to
|
|
none: <i>Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge;</i> to the
|
|
same purport with that <scripRef passage="Le 19:17" id="Lev.xx-p18.2" parsed="|Lev|19|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.17"><i>v.</i>
|
|
17</scripRef>, <i>Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart;</i>
|
|
for malice is murder begun. If our brother has done us an injury,
|
|
we must not return it upon him, that is avenging; we must not upon
|
|
every occasion upbraid him with it, that is bearing a grudge; but
|
|
we must both forgive it and forget it, for thus we are forgiven of
|
|
God. It is a most ill-natured thing, and the bane of friendship, to
|
|
retain the resentment of affronts and injuries, and to let that
|
|
<i>word devour for ever.</i> 2. We must be well-affected to all:
|
|
<i>Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.</i> We often wrong
|
|
ourselves, but we soon forgive ourselves those wrongs, and they do
|
|
not at all lessen our love to ourselves; and in like manner we
|
|
should love our neighbour. Our Saviour has made this the second
|
|
great commandment of the law (<scripRef passage="Mt 22:39" id="Lev.xx-p18.3" parsed="|Matt|22|39|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.39">Matt.
|
|
xxii. 39</scripRef>), and the apostle shows how it is the summary
|
|
of all the laws of the second table, <scripRef passage="Ro 13:9,10,Ga 5:14" id="Lev.xx-p18.4" parsed="|Rom|13|9|13|10;|Gal|5|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.13.9-Rom.13.10 Bible:Gal.5.14">Rom. xiii. 9, 10; Gal. v. 14</scripRef>. We
|
|
must love our neighbour as truly as we love ourselves, and without
|
|
dissimulation; we must evidence our love to our neighbour in the
|
|
same way as that by which we evidence our love to ourselves,
|
|
preventing his hurt, and procuring his good, to the utmost of our
|
|
power. We must do to our neighbour as we would be done to ourselves
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Mt 7:12" id="Lev.xx-p18.5" parsed="|Matt|7|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.7.12">Matt. vii. 12</scripRef>), putting
|
|
<i>our souls into his soul's stead,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 16:4,5" id="Lev.xx-p18.6" parsed="|Job|16|4|16|5" osisRef="Bible:Job.16.4-Job.16.5">Job xvi. 4, 5</scripRef>. Nay, we must in many cases
|
|
deny ourselves for the good of our neighbour, as Paul, <scripRef passage="1Co 9:19" id="Lev.xx-p18.7" parsed="|1Cor|9|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.9.19">1 Cor. ix. 19</scripRef>, &c. Herein the
|
|
gospel goes beyond even that excellent precept of the law; for
|
|
Christ, by laying down his life for us, has taught us even to
|
|
<i>lay down our lives for the brethren,</i> in some cases
|
|
(<scripRef passage="1Jo 3:16" id="Lev.xx-p18.8" parsed="|1John|3|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.3.16">1 John iii. 16</scripRef>), and so to
|
|
love our neighbour better than ourselves.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 19" id="Lev.xx-p18.9" parsed="|Lev|19|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 19:19-29" id="Lev.xx-p18.10" parsed="|Lev|19|19|19|29" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.19-Lev.19.29"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.19.19-Lev.19.29">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xx-p19">19 Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let
|
|
thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field
|
|
with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and
|
|
woollen come upon thee.   20 And whosoever lieth carnally with
|
|
a woman, that <i>is</i> a bondmaid, betrothed to an husband, and
|
|
not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her; she shall be scourged;
|
|
they shall not be put to death, because she was not free.   21
|
|
And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xx-p19.1">Lord</span>, unto the door of the tabernacle of the
|
|
congregation, <i>even</i> a ram for a trespass offering.   22
|
|
And the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the
|
|
trespass offering before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xx-p19.2">Lord</span>
|
|
for his sin which he hath done: and the sin which he hath done
|
|
shall be forgiven him.   23 And when ye shall come into the
|
|
land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then ye
|
|
shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised: three years shall
|
|
it be as uncircumcised unto you: it shall not be eaten of.  
|
|
24 But in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy to
|
|
praise the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xx-p19.3">Lord</span> <i>withal.</i>
|
|
  25 And in the fifth year shall ye eat of the fruit thereof,
|
|
that it may yield unto you the increase thereof: I <i>am</i> the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xx-p19.4">Lord</span> your God.   26 Ye shall
|
|
not eat <i>any thing</i> with the blood: neither shall ye use
|
|
enchantment, nor observe times.   27 Ye shall not round the
|
|
corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy
|
|
beard.   28 Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for
|
|
the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xx-p19.5">Lord</span>.   29 Do not prostitute thy
|
|
daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to
|
|
whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xx-p20">Here is, I. A law against mixtures,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 19:19" id="Lev.xx-p20.1" parsed="|Lev|19|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. God in the
|
|
beginning made the cattle <i>after their kind</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 1:25" id="Lev.xx-p20.2" parsed="|Gen|1|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.25">Gen. i. 25</scripRef>), and we must acquiesce in
|
|
the order of nature God hath established, believing that is best
|
|
and sufficient, and not covet monsters. <i>Add thou not unto his
|
|
works, lest he reprove thee;</i> for it is the excellency of the
|
|
work of God that nothing can, without making it worse, be either
|
|
put to it or taken from it, <scripRef passage="Ec 3:14" id="Lev.xx-p20.3" parsed="|Eccl|3|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.3.14">Eccl. iii.
|
|
14</scripRef>. As what God has joined we must not separate, so what
|
|
he has separated we must not join. The sowing of mingled corn and
|
|
the wearing of linsey-woolsey garments are forbidden, either as
|
|
superstitious customs of the heathen or to intimate how careful
|
|
they should be not to mingle themselves with the heathen nor to
|
|
weave any of the usages of the Gentiles into God's ordinances.
|
|
Ainsworth suggests that it was to lead Israel to the simplicity and
|
|
sincerity of religion, and to all the parts and doctrines of the
|
|
law and gospel in their distinct kinds. As faith is necessary, good
|
|
works are necessary, but to mingle these together in the cause of
|
|
our justification before God is forbidden, <scripRef passage="Ga 2:16" id="Lev.xx-p20.4" parsed="|Gal|2|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.2.16">Gal. ii. 16</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xx-p21">II. A law for punishing adultery committed
|
|
with one that was a bondmaid that was espoused, <scripRef passage="Le 19:20-22" id="Lev.xx-p21.1" parsed="|Lev|19|20|19|22" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.20-Lev.19.22"><i>v.</i> 20-22</scripRef>. If she had not been
|
|
espoused, the law appointed no punishment at all; being espoused,
|
|
if she had not been a bondmaid, the punishment had been no less
|
|
than death: but, being as yet a bondmaid (though before the
|
|
completing of her espousals she must have been made free), the
|
|
capital punishment is remitted, and they shall both be scourged;
|
|
or, as some think, the woman only, and the man was to bring a
|
|
sacrifice. It was for the honour of marriage, though but begun by
|
|
betrothing, that the crime should be punished; but it was for the
|
|
honour of freedom that it should not be punished as the debauching
|
|
of a free woman was, so great was the difference then made between
|
|
bond and free (<scripRef passage="Ga 4:30" id="Lev.xx-p21.2" parsed="|Gal|4|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.4.30">Gal. iv. 30</scripRef>);
|
|
but the gospel of Christ knows no such distinction, <scripRef passage="Col 3:11" id="Lev.xx-p21.3" parsed="|Col|3|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Col.3.11">Col. iii. 11</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xx-p22">III. A law concerning fruit-trees, that for
|
|
the first three years after they were planted, if they should
|
|
happen to be so forward as to bear in that time, yet no use should
|
|
be made of the fruit, <scripRef passage="Le 19:23-25" id="Lev.xx-p22.1" parsed="|Lev|19|23|19|25" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.23-Lev.19.25"><i>v.</i>
|
|
23-25</scripRef>. It was therefore the practice of the Jews to
|
|
pluck off the fruit, as soon as they perceived it knit, from their
|
|
young trees, as gardeners do sometimes, because their early bearing
|
|
hinders their growing. If any did come to perfection, it was not to
|
|
be used in the service either of God or man; but what they bore the
|
|
fourth year was to be holy to the Lord, either given to the
|
|
priests, or eaten before the Lord with joy, as their second tithe
|
|
was, and thenceforward it was all their own. Now, 1. Some think
|
|
this taught them not to follow the custom of the heathen, who, they
|
|
say, consecrated the very first products of their fruit-trees to
|
|
their idols, saying that otherwise all the fruits would be blasted.
|
|
2. This law in the case of fruit-trees seems to be parallel with
|
|
that in the case of animals, that no creature should be accepted as
|
|
an offering till it was past eight days old, nor till that day were
|
|
children to be circumcised; see <scripRef passage="Le 22:27" id="Lev.xx-p22.2" parsed="|Lev|22|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22.27"><i>ch.</i> xxii. 27</scripRef>. God would have the
|
|
first-fruits of their trees, but, because for the first three years
|
|
they were as inconsiderable as a lamb or a calf under eight days
|
|
old, therefore God would not have them, for it is fit he should
|
|
have every thing at its best; and yet he would not allow them to be
|
|
used, because his first-fruits were not as yet offered: they must
|
|
therefore be accounted as uncircumcised, that is, as an animal
|
|
under eight days' old, not fit for any use. 3. We are hereby taught
|
|
not to be over-hasty in catching at any comfort, but to be willing
|
|
with patience to wait the time for the enjoyment of it, and
|
|
particularly to acknowledge ourselves unworthy of the increase of
|
|
the earth, our right to the fruits of which was forfeited by our
|
|
first parents eating forbidden fruit, and we are restored to it
|
|
only <i>by the word of God and prayer,</i> <scripRef passage="1Ti 4:5" id="Lev.xx-p22.3" parsed="|1Tim|4|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.4.5">1 Tim. iv. 5</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xx-p23">IV. A law against the superstitious usages
|
|
of the heathen, <scripRef passage="Le 19:26-28" id="Lev.xx-p23.1" parsed="|Lev|19|26|19|28" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.26-Lev.19.28"><i>v.</i>
|
|
26-28</scripRef>. 1. Eating upon the blood, as the Gentiles did,
|
|
who gathered the blood of their sacrifices into a vessel for their
|
|
demons (as they fancied) to drink, and then sat about it, eating
|
|
the flesh themselves, signifying their communion with devils by
|
|
their feasting with them. Let not this custom be used, for the
|
|
blood of God's sacrifices was to be sprinkled on the altar, and
|
|
then poured at the foot of it, and conveyed away. 2. Enchantment
|
|
and divination, and a superstitious observation of the times, some
|
|
days and hours lucky and others unlucky. Curious arts of this kind,
|
|
it is likely, had been of late invented by the Egyptian priests, to
|
|
amuse the people, and support their own credit. The Israelites had
|
|
seen them practised, but must by no means imitate them. It would be
|
|
unpardonable in those <i>to whom were committed the oracles of
|
|
God</i> to ask counsel of the devil, and yet worse in Christians,
|
|
to whom <i>the Son of God is manifested,</i> who has <i>destroyed
|
|
the works of the devil.</i> For Christians to have their nativities
|
|
cast, and their fortunes told them, to use spells and charms for
|
|
the cure of diseases and the driving away of evil spirits, to be
|
|
affected with the falling of the salt, a hare crossing the way,
|
|
cross days, or the like, is an intolerable affront to the Lord
|
|
Jesus, a support of paganism and idolatry, and a reproach both to
|
|
themselves and to that worthy name by which they are called: and
|
|
those must be grossly ignorant, both of the law and the gospel,
|
|
that ask, "What harm is there in these things?" Is it no harm for
|
|
those that have fellowship with Christ to have fellowship with
|
|
devils, or to learn the ways of those that have? Surely <i>we have
|
|
not so learned Christ.</i> 3. There was a superstition even in
|
|
trimming themselves used by the heathen, which must not be imitated
|
|
by the people of God: <i>You shall not round the corners of your
|
|
heads.</i> Those that worshipped the hosts of heaven, in honour of
|
|
them, cut their hair so as that their heads might resemble the
|
|
celestial globe; but, as the custom was foolish itself, so, being
|
|
done with respect to their false gods, it was idolatrous. 4. The
|
|
rites and ceremonies by which they expressed their sorrow at their
|
|
funerals must not be imitated, <scripRef passage="Le 19:28" id="Lev.xx-p23.2" parsed="|Lev|19|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>. They must not make cuts or
|
|
prints in their flesh for the dead; for the heathen did so to
|
|
pacify the infernal deities they dreamt of, and to render them
|
|
propitious to their deceased friends. Christ by his sufferings has
|
|
altered the property of death, and made it a true friend to every
|
|
true Israelite; and now, as there needs nothing to make death
|
|
propitious to us (for, if God be so, death is so of course), so we
|
|
sorrow not as those that have no hope. Those whom the God of Israel
|
|
had set apart for himself must not receive the image and
|
|
superscription of these dunghill deities. <i>Lastly,</i> The
|
|
prostituting of their daughters to uncleanness, which is here
|
|
forbidden (<scripRef passage="Le 19:29" id="Lev.xx-p23.3" parsed="|Lev|19|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>),
|
|
seems to have been practised by the heathen in their idolatrous
|
|
worships, for with such abominations those unclean spirits which
|
|
they worshipped were well pleased. And when lewdness obtained as a
|
|
religious rite, and was committed in their temples, no marvel that
|
|
the land became full of that wickedness, which, when it entered at
|
|
the temple-doors, overspread the land like a mighty torrent, and
|
|
bore down all the fences of virtue and modesty. The devil himself
|
|
could not have brought such abominations into their lives if he had
|
|
not first brought them into their worships. And justly were those
|
|
given up to vile affections who forsook the holy God, and gave
|
|
divine honours to impure spirits. Those that dishonour God are thus
|
|
suffered to dishonour themselves and their families.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 19:30-37" id="Lev.xx-p23.4" parsed="|Lev|19|30|19|37" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.30-Lev.19.37"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.19.30-Lev.19.37">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.xx-p23.5">Moral Laws. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xx-p23.6">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xx-p24">30 Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my
|
|
sanctuary: I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xx-p24.1">Lord</span>.
|
|
  31 Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek
|
|
after wizards, to be defiled by them: I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xx-p24.2">Lord</span> your God.   32 Thou shalt rise up
|
|
before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear
|
|
thy God: I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xx-p24.3">Lord</span>.
|
|
  33 And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye
|
|
shall not vex him.   34 <i>But</i> the stranger that dwelleth
|
|
with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt
|
|
love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I
|
|
<i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xx-p24.4">Lord</span> your God.  
|
|
35 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in
|
|
weight, or in measure.   36 Just balances, just weights, a
|
|
just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xx-p24.5">Lord</span> your God, which brought you out of
|
|
the land of Egypt.   37 Therefore shall ye observe all my
|
|
statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xx-p24.6">Lord</span>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xx-p25">Here is, I. A law for the preserving of the
|
|
honour of the time and place appropriated to the service of God,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 19:30" id="Lev.xx-p25.1" parsed="|Lev|19|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>. This would be
|
|
a means to secure them both from the idolatries and superstitions
|
|
of the heathen and from all immoralities in conversation. 1.
|
|
Sabbaths must be religiously observed, and not those times
|
|
mentioned (<scripRef passage="Le 19:26" id="Lev.xx-p25.2" parsed="|Lev|19|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>) to
|
|
which the heathen had a superstitious regard. 2. The sanctuary must
|
|
be reverenced: great care must be taken to approach the tabernacle
|
|
with that purity and preparation which the law required, and to
|
|
attend there with that humility, decency, and closeness of
|
|
application which became them in the immediate presence of such an
|
|
awful majesty. Though now there is no place holy by divine
|
|
institution, as the tabernacle and temple then were, yet this law
|
|
obliges us to respect the solemn assemblies of Christians for
|
|
religious worship, as being held under a promise of Christ's
|
|
special presence in them, and to carry ourselves with a due decorum
|
|
while in those assemblies we attend the administration of holy
|
|
ordinances, <scripRef passage="Ec 5:1" id="Lev.xx-p25.3" parsed="|Eccl|5|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.5.1">Eccl. v. 1</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xx-p26">II. A caution against all communion with
|
|
witches, and those that were in league with familiar spirits:
|
|
"<i>Regard them not, seek not after them,</i> be not in fear of any
|
|
evil from them nor in hopes of any good from them. Regard not their
|
|
threatenings, or promises, or predictions; seek not to them for
|
|
discovery or advice, for, if you do, you are defiled by it, and
|
|
rendered abominable both to God and your own consciences." This was
|
|
the sin that completed Saul's wickedness, for which he was rejected
|
|
of God, <scripRef passage="1Ch 10:13" id="Lev.xx-p26.1" parsed="|1Chr|10|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Chr.10.13">1 Chron. x.
|
|
13</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xx-p27">III. A charge to young people to show
|
|
respect to the aged: <i>Thou shall rise up before the hoary
|
|
head,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 19:32" id="Lev.xx-p27.1" parsed="|Lev|19|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>. Age
|
|
is honourable, and he that is the Ancient of days requires that
|
|
honour be paid to it. <i>The hoary head is a crown of glory.</i>
|
|
Those whom God has honoured with the common blessing of long life
|
|
we ought to honour with the distinguishing expressions of civility;
|
|
and those who in age are wise and good are worthy of double honour:
|
|
more respect is owing to such old men than merely to rise up before
|
|
them; their credit and comfort must be carefully consulted, their
|
|
experience and observations improved, and their counsels asked and
|
|
hearkened to, <scripRef passage="Job 32:6,7" id="Lev.xx-p27.2" parsed="|Job|32|6|32|7" osisRef="Bible:Job.32.6-Job.32.7">Job xxxii. 6,
|
|
7</scripRef>. Some, by the old man whose face or presence is to be
|
|
honoured, understand the elder in office, as by the hoary head the
|
|
elder in age; both ought to be respected as fathers, and in the
|
|
fear of God, who has put some of his honour upon both. Note,
|
|
Religion teaches good manners, and obliges us to give honour to
|
|
those to whom honour is due. It is an instance of great degeneracy
|
|
and disorder in a land when <i>the child behaves himself proudly
|
|
against the ancient, and the base against the honourable,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 3:5,Job 30:1,12" id="Lev.xx-p27.3" parsed="|Isa|3|5|0|0;|Job|30|1|0|0;|Job|30|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.3.5 Bible:Job.30.1 Bible:Job.30.12">Isa. iii. 5; Job xxx. 1,
|
|
12</scripRef>. It becomes the aged to receive this honour, and the
|
|
younger to give it; for it is the ornament as well as duty of their
|
|
youth to <i>order themselves lowly and reverently to all their
|
|
betters.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xx-p28">IV. A charge to the Israelites to be very
|
|
tender of strangers, <scripRef passage="Le 19:33,34" id="Lev.xx-p28.1" parsed="|Lev|19|33|19|34" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.33-Lev.19.34"><i>v.</i> 33,
|
|
34</scripRef>. Both the law of God and his providence had vastly
|
|
dignified Israel above any other people, yet they must not
|
|
therefore think themselves authorized to trample upon all mankind
|
|
but those of their own nation, and to insult them at their
|
|
pleasure; no, "<i>Thou shall not vex a stranger, but love him as
|
|
thyself,</i> and as one of thy own people." It is supposed that
|
|
this stranger was not an idolater, but a worshipper of the God of
|
|
Israel, though not circumcised, a proselyte of the gate at least,
|
|
though not a proselyte of righteousness: if such a one sojourned
|
|
among them, they must not vex him, nor oppress, nor over-reach him
|
|
in a bargain, taking advantage of his ignorance of their laws and
|
|
customs; they must reckon it as great a sin to cheat a stranger as
|
|
to cheat an Israelite; "nay" (say the Jewish doctors) "they must
|
|
not so much as upbraid him with his being a stranger, and his
|
|
having been formerly an idolater." Strangers are God's particular
|
|
care, as the widow and the fatherless are, because it is his honour
|
|
to help the helpless, <scripRef passage="Ps 146:9" id="Lev.xx-p28.2" parsed="|Ps|146|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.146.9">Ps. cxlvi.
|
|
9</scripRef>. It is therefore at our peril if we do them any wrong,
|
|
or put any hardships upon them. Strangers shall be welcome to God's
|
|
grace, and therefore we should do what we can to invite them to it,
|
|
and to recommend religion to their good opinion. It argues a
|
|
generous disposition, and a pious regard to God, as a common
|
|
Father, to be kind to strangers; for those of different countries,
|
|
customs, and languages, are all made of one blood. But here is a
|
|
reason added peculiar to the Jews: "<i>For you were strangers in
|
|
the land of Egypt.</i> God then favoured you, therefore do you now
|
|
favour the strangers, and do to them as you then wished to be done
|
|
to. You were strangers, and yet are now thus highly advanced;
|
|
therefore you know not what these strangers may come to, whom you
|
|
are apt to despise."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xx-p29">V. Justice in weights and measures is here
|
|
commanded. That there should be no cheat in them, <scripRef passage="Le 19:35" id="Lev.xx-p29.1" parsed="|Lev|19|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.35"><i>v.</i> 35</scripRef>. That they should be
|
|
very exact, <scripRef passage="Le 19:36" id="Lev.xx-p29.2" parsed="|Lev|19|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.36"><i>v.</i> 36</scripRef>.
|
|
In weighing and measuring, we pretend a design to give all those
|
|
their own whom we deal with; but, if the weights and measures be
|
|
false, it is like a corruption in judgment, it cheats under colour
|
|
of justice; and thus to deceive a man to his damage is worse than
|
|
picking his pocket or robbing him on the highway. He that sells is
|
|
bound to give the full of the commodity, and he that buys the full
|
|
of the price agreed upon, which cannot be done without just
|
|
balances, weights, and measures. <i>Let no man go beyond or defraud
|
|
his brother,</i> for, though it be hidden from man, it will be
|
|
found that <i>God is the avenger of all such.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xx-p30">VI. The chapter concludes with a general
|
|
command (<scripRef passage="Le 19:37" id="Lev.xx-p30.1" parsed="|Lev|19|37|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.37"><i>v.</i> 37</scripRef>):
|
|
<i>You shall observe all my statutes, and do them.</i> Note, 1. We
|
|
are not likely to do God's statutes, unless we observe them with
|
|
great care and consideration. 2. Yet it is not enough barely to
|
|
observe God's precepts, but we must make conscience of obeying
|
|
them. What will it avail us to be critical in our notions, if we be
|
|
not conscientious in our conversations? 3. An upright heart has
|
|
respect to all God's commandments, <scripRef passage="Ps 119:6" id="Lev.xx-p30.2" parsed="|Ps|119|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119.6">Ps.
|
|
cxix. 6</scripRef>. Though in many instances the hand fails in
|
|
doing what should be done, yet the eye observes all God's statutes.
|
|
We are not allowed to pick and choose our duty, but must aim at
|
|
standing complete in all the will of God.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XX" n="xxi" progress="59.46%" prev="Lev.xx" next="Lev.xxii" id="Lev.xxi">
|
|
<h2 id="Lev.xxi-p0.1">L E V I T I C U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Lev.xxi-p0.2">CHAP. XX.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Lev.xxi-p1">The laws which before were made are in this
|
|
chapter repeated and penalties annexed to them, that those who
|
|
would not be deterred from sin by the fear of God might be deterred
|
|
from it by the fear of punishment. If we will not avoid such and
|
|
such practices because the law has made them sin (and it is most
|
|
acceptable when we go on that principle of religion), surely we
|
|
shall avoid them when the law has made them death, from a principle
|
|
of self-preservation. In this chapter we have, I. Many particular
|
|
crimes that are made capital. I. Giving their children to Moloch,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 20:1-5" id="Lev.xxi-p1.1" parsed="|Lev|20|1|20|5" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.1-Lev.20.5">ver. 1-5</scripRef>. 2. Consulting
|
|
witches, <scripRef passage="Le 20:6,27" id="Lev.xxi-p1.2" parsed="|Lev|20|6|0|0;|Lev|20|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.6 Bible:Lev.20.27">ver. 6, 27</scripRef>. 3.
|
|
Cursing parents, <scripRef passage="Le 20:9" id="Lev.xxi-p1.3" parsed="|Lev|20|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.9">ver. 9</scripRef>. 4.
|
|
Adultery, <scripRef passage="Le 20:10" id="Lev.xxi-p1.4" parsed="|Lev|20|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.10">ver. 10</scripRef>. 5.
|
|
Incest, <scripRef passage="Le 20:11,12,14,17,19-21" id="Lev.xxi-p1.5" parsed="|Lev|20|11|20|12;|Lev|20|14|0|0;|Lev|20|17|0|0;|Lev|20|19|20|21" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.11-Lev.20.12 Bible:Lev.20.14 Bible:Lev.20.17 Bible:Lev.20.19-Lev.20.21">ver. 11, 12,
|
|
14, 17, 19-21</scripRef>. 6. Unnatural lusts, <scripRef passage="Le 20:13,15,16,18" id="Lev.xxi-p1.6" parsed="|Lev|20|13|0|0;|Lev|20|15|0|0;|Lev|20|16|0|0;|Lev|20|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.13 Bible:Lev.20.15 Bible:Lev.20.16 Bible:Lev.20.18">ver. 13, 15, 16, 18</scripRef>. II. General
|
|
commands given to be holy, <scripRef passage="Le 20:7,8,22-26" id="Lev.xxi-p1.7" parsed="|Lev|20|7|20|8;|Lev|20|22|20|26" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.7-Lev.20.8 Bible:Lev.20.22-Lev.20.26">ver.
|
|
7, 8, 22-26</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 20" id="Lev.xxi-p1.8" parsed="|Lev|20|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 20:1-9" id="Lev.xxi-p1.9" parsed="|Lev|20|1|20|9" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.1-Lev.20.9"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.20.1-Lev.20.9">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.xxi-p1.10">Moral Laws. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxi-p1.11">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xxi-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxi-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   2 Again, thou shalt say to the
|
|
children of Israel, Whosoever <i>he be</i> of the children of
|
|
Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth
|
|
<i>any</i> of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to
|
|
death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones.   3
|
|
And I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from
|
|
among his people; because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, to
|
|
defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy name.   4 And if
|
|
the people of the land do any ways hide their eyes from the man,
|
|
when he giveth of his seed unto Molech, and kill him not:   5
|
|
Then I will set my face against that man, and against his family,
|
|
and will cut him off, and all that go a whoring after him, to
|
|
commit whoredom with Molech, from among their people.   6 And
|
|
the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and
|
|
after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face
|
|
against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.
|
|
  7 Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I
|
|
<i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxi-p2.2">Lord</span> your God.  
|
|
8 And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxi-p2.3">Lord</span> which sanctify you.   9 For
|
|
every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put
|
|
to death: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood
|
|
<i>shall be</i> upon him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p3">Moses is here directed to say that again to
|
|
the children of Israel which he had in effect said before,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 20:2" id="Lev.xxi-p3.1" parsed="|Lev|20|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. We are sure it
|
|
was no vain repetition, but very necessary, that they might <i>give
|
|
the more earnest heed to the things that were spoken,</i> and might
|
|
believe them to be of great consequence, being so often inculcated.
|
|
<i>God speaketh once, yea, twice,</i> and what he orders to be said
|
|
again we must be willing to hear again, because <i>for us it is
|
|
safe,</i> <scripRef passage="Php 3:1" id="Lev.xxi-p3.2" parsed="|Phil|3|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Phil.3.1">Phil. iii. 1</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p4">I. Three sins are in these verses
|
|
threatened with death:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p5">1. Parents abusing their children, by
|
|
sacrificing them to Moloch, <scripRef passage="Le 20:2,3" id="Lev.xxi-p5.1" parsed="|Lev|20|2|20|3" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.2-Lev.20.3"><i>v.</i>
|
|
2, 3</scripRef>. There is the grossest absurdity that can be in all
|
|
the rites of idolatry, and they are all a great reproach to men's
|
|
reason; but none trampled upon all the honours of human nature as
|
|
this did, the burning of children in the fire to the honour of a
|
|
dunghill-god. It was a plain evidence that their gods were devils,
|
|
who desired and delighted in the misery and ruin of mankind, and
|
|
that the worshippers were worse than the beasts that perish,
|
|
perfectly stripped, not only of reason, but of natural affection.
|
|
Abraham's offering Isaac could not give countenance, much less
|
|
could it give rise to this barbarous practice, since, though that
|
|
was commanded, it was immediately countermanded. Yet such was the
|
|
power of the god of this world over the children of disobedience
|
|
that this monstrous piece of inhumanity was generally practised;
|
|
and even the Israelites were in danger of being drawn into it,
|
|
which made it necessary that this severe law should be made against
|
|
it. It was not enough to tell them they might spare their children
|
|
(the fruit of their body should never be accepted for the sin of
|
|
their soul), but they must be told, (1.) That the criminal himself
|
|
should be put to death as a murderer: <i>The people of the land
|
|
shall stone him with stones</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 20:2" id="Lev.xxi-p5.2" parsed="|Lev|20|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), which was looked upon as the
|
|
worst of capital punishments among the Jews. If the children were
|
|
sacrificed to the malice of the devil, the parents must be
|
|
sacrificed to the justice of God. And, if either the fact could not
|
|
be proved or the magistrates did not do their duty, God would take
|
|
the work into his own hands: <i>I will cut him off,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 20:3" id="Lev.xxi-p5.3" parsed="|Lev|20|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. Note, Those that escape
|
|
punishment from men, yet shall not escape the righteous judgments
|
|
of God; so wretchedly do those deceive themselves that promise
|
|
themselves impunity in sin. How can those escape against whom God
|
|
sets his face, that is, whom he frowns upon, meets as an enemy, and
|
|
fights against? The heinousness of the crime is here set forth to
|
|
justify the doom: it <i>defiles the sanctuary,</i> and <i>profanes
|
|
the holy name</i> of God, for the honour of both which he is
|
|
jealous. Observe, The malignity of the sin is laid upon that in it
|
|
which was peculiar to Israel. When the Gentiles sacrificed their
|
|
children they were guilty of murder and idolatry; but, if the
|
|
Israelites did it, they incurred the additional guilt of defiling
|
|
the sanctuary (which they attended upon even when they lay under
|
|
this guilt, as if there might be an agreement between the temple of
|
|
God and idols), and of <i>profaning the holy name of God,</i> by
|
|
which they were called, as if he allowed his worshippers to do such
|
|
things, <scripRef passage="Ro 2:23" id="Lev.xxi-p5.4" parsed="|Rom|2|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.2.23">Rom. ii. 23, 24</scripRef>.
|
|
(2.) That all his aiders and abetters should be cut off likewise by
|
|
the righteous hand of God. If his neighbours concealed him, and
|
|
would not come in as witnesses against him,—if the magistrates
|
|
connived at him, and would not pass sentence upon him, rather
|
|
pitying his folly than hating his impiety,—God himself would
|
|
reckon with them, <scripRef passage="Le 20:4,5" id="Lev.xxi-p5.5" parsed="|Lev|20|4|20|5" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.4-Lev.20.5"><i>v.</i> 4,
|
|
5</scripRef>. Misprision of idolatry is a crime cognizable in the
|
|
court of heaven, and which shall not go unpunished: <i>I will set
|
|
my face against that man</i> (that magistrate, <scripRef passage="Jer 5:1" id="Lev.xxi-p5.6" parsed="|Jer|5|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.5.1">Jer. v. 1</scripRef>) <i>and against his family.</i>
|
|
Note, [1.] The wickedness of the master of a family often brings
|
|
ruin upon a family; and he that should be the house-keeper proves
|
|
the house-breaker. [2.] If magistrates will not do justice upon
|
|
offenders, God will do justice upon them, because there is danger
|
|
that many will <i>go a whoring after those</i> who do but
|
|
countenance sin by winking at it. And, if the sins of leaders be
|
|
leading sins, it is fit that their punishments should be exemplary
|
|
punishments.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p6">2. Children's abusing their parents, by
|
|
cursing them, <scripRef passage="Le 20:9" id="Lev.xxi-p6.1" parsed="|Lev|20|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>.
|
|
If children should speak ill of their parents, or wish ill to them,
|
|
or carry it scornfully or spitefully towards them, it was an
|
|
iniquity to be punished by the judges, who were employed as
|
|
conservators both of God's honour and of the public peace, which
|
|
were both attacked by this unnatural insolence. See <scripRef passage="Pr 30:17" id="Lev.xxi-p6.2" parsed="|Prov|30|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.30.17">Prov. xxx. 17</scripRef>, <i>The eye that mocks
|
|
at his father the ravens of the valley shall pick out,</i> which
|
|
intimates that such wicked children were in a fair way to be not
|
|
only hanged, but hanged in chains. This law of Moses Christ quotes
|
|
and confirms (<scripRef passage="Mt 15:4" id="Lev.xxi-p6.3" parsed="|Matt|15|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.15.4">Matt. xv. 4</scripRef>),
|
|
for it is as direct a breach of the fifth commandment as wilful
|
|
murder is of the sixth. The same law which requires parents to be
|
|
tender of their children requires children to be respectful to
|
|
their parents. He that despitefully uses his parents, the
|
|
instruments of his being, flies in the face of God himself, the
|
|
author of his being, who will not see the paternal dignity and
|
|
authority insulted and trampled upon.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p7">3. Persons abusing themselves by consulting
|
|
such as have <i>familiar spirits,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 20:6" id="Lev.xxi-p7.1" parsed="|Lev|20|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. By this, as much as any thing, a
|
|
man diminishes, disparages, and deceives himself, and so abuses
|
|
himself. What greater madness can there be than for a man to go to
|
|
a liar for information, and to an enemy for advice? Those do so who
|
|
turn after those that deal in the black art, and know the depths of
|
|
Satan. This is spiritual adultery as much as idolatry is, giving
|
|
that honour to the devil which is due to God only; and the jealous
|
|
God will give a bill of divorce to those that thus <i>go a whoring
|
|
from him,</i> and will <i>cut them off,</i> they having first cut
|
|
themselves off from him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p8">II. In the midst of these particular laws
|
|
comes in that general charge, <scripRef passage="Le 20:7,8" id="Lev.xxi-p8.1" parsed="|Lev|20|7|20|8" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.7-Lev.20.8"><i>v.</i> 7, 8</scripRef>, where we have,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p9">1. The duties required; and they are two:—
|
|
(1.) That in our principles, affections, and aims, we be holy:
|
|
<i>Sanctify yourselves and be you holy.</i> We must cleanse
|
|
ourselves from all the pollutions of sin, consecrate ourselves to
|
|
the service and honour of God, and conform ourselves in every thing
|
|
to his holy will and image: this is to <i>sanctify ourselves.</i>
|
|
(2.) That in all our actions, and in the whole course of our
|
|
conversation, we be obedient to the laws of God: <i>You shall keep
|
|
my statutes.</i> By this only can we make it to appear that we have
|
|
sanctified ourselves and are holy, even by our keeping God's
|
|
commandments; <i>the tree is known by its fruit.</i> Nor can we
|
|
<i>keep God's statutes,</i> as we ought, unless we first sanctify
|
|
ourselves, and be holy. Make the tree good, and the fruit will be
|
|
good.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p10">2. The reasons to enforce these duties.
|
|
(1.) "<i>I am the Lord your God;</i> therefore be holy, that you
|
|
may resemble him whose people you are, and may be pleasing to him.
|
|
Holiness becomes his house and household." (2.) <i>I am the Lord
|
|
who sanctifieth you.</i> God sanctified them by peculiar
|
|
privileges, laws, and favours, which distinguished them from all
|
|
other nations, and dignified them as a people set apart for God. He
|
|
gave them his word and ordinances to be means of their
|
|
sanctification, and his good Spirit to instruct them; therefore
|
|
they must be holy, else they received the grace of God herein in
|
|
vain. Note, [1.] God's people are, and must be, persons of
|
|
distinction. God has distinguished them by his holy covenant, and
|
|
therefore they ought to distinguish themselves by their holy
|
|
conversation. [2.] God's sanctifying us is a good reason why we
|
|
should sanctify ourselves, that we may comply with the designs of
|
|
his grace, and not walk contrary to them. If it be the Lord that
|
|
sanctifies us, we may hope the work shall be done, though it be
|
|
difficult: the manner of expression is like that, <scripRef passage="2Co 5:5" id="Lev.xxi-p10.1" parsed="|2Cor|5|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.5.5">2 Cor. v. 5</scripRef>, <i>He that hath wrought
|
|
us for the self-same thing is God.</i> And his grace is so far from
|
|
superseding our care and endeavour that it most strongly engages
|
|
and encourages them. <i>Work out your salvation, for it is God that
|
|
worketh in you.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 20" id="Lev.xxi-p10.2" parsed="|Lev|20|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 20:10-21" id="Lev.xxi-p10.3" parsed="|Lev|20|10|20|21" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.10-Lev.20.21"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.20.10-Lev.20.21">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xxi-p11">10 And the man that committeth adultery with
|
|
<i>another</i> man's wife, <i>even he</i> that committeth adultery
|
|
with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall
|
|
surely be put to death.   11 And the man that lieth with his
|
|
father's wife hath uncovered his father's nakedness: both of them
|
|
shall surely be put to death; their blood <i>shall be</i> upon
|
|
them.   12 And if a man lie with his daughter in law, both of
|
|
them shall surely be put to death: they have wrought confusion;
|
|
their blood <i>shall be</i> upon them.   13 If a man also lie
|
|
with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed
|
|
an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood
|
|
<i>shall be</i> upon them.   14 And if a man take a wife and
|
|
her mother, it <i>is</i> wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire,
|
|
both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you.   15
|
|
And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and
|
|
ye shall slay the beast.   16 And if a woman approach unto any
|
|
beast, and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman, and the
|
|
beast: they shall surely be put to death; their blood <i>shall
|
|
be</i> upon them.   17 And if a man shall take his sister, his
|
|
father's daughter, or his mother's daughter, and see her nakedness,
|
|
and she see his nakedness; it <i>is</i> a wicked thing; and they
|
|
shall be cut off in the sight of their people: he hath uncovered
|
|
his sister's nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity.   18 And
|
|
if a man shall lie with a woman having her sickness, and shall
|
|
uncover her nakedness; he hath discovered her fountain, and she
|
|
hath uncovered the fountain of her blood: and both of them shall be
|
|
cut off from among their people.   19 And thou shalt not
|
|
uncover the nakedness of thy mother's sister, nor of thy father's
|
|
sister: for he uncovereth his near kin: they shall bear their
|
|
iniquity.   20 And if a man shall lie with his uncle's wife,
|
|
he hath uncovered his uncle's nakedness: they shall bear their sin;
|
|
they shall die childless.   21 And if a man shall take his
|
|
brother's wife, it <i>is</i> an unclean thing: he hath uncovered
|
|
his brother's nakedness; they shall be childless.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p12">Sins against the seventh commandment are
|
|
here ordered to be severely punished. These are sins which, of all
|
|
others, fools are most apt to make a mock at; but God would teach
|
|
those the heinousness of the guilt by the extremity of the
|
|
punishment that would not otherwise be taught it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p13">I. Lying with another man's wife was made a
|
|
capital crime. The adulterer and the adulteress that had joined in
|
|
the sin must fall alike under the sentence: they shall both be
|
|
<i>put to death,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 20:10" id="Lev.xxi-p13.1" parsed="|Lev|20|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.10"><i>v.</i>
|
|
10</scripRef>. Long before this, even in Job's time, this was
|
|
reputed a <i>heinous crime</i> and an <i>iniquity to be punished by
|
|
the judges,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 31:11" id="Lev.xxi-p13.2" parsed="|Job|31|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.31.11">Job xxxi.
|
|
11</scripRef>. It is a presumptuous contempt of an ordinance of
|
|
God, and a violation of his covenant, <scripRef passage="Pr 2:17" id="Lev.xxi-p13.3" parsed="|Prov|2|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.2.17">Prov. ii. 17</scripRef>. It is an irreparable wrong to
|
|
the injured husband, and debauches the mind and conscience of both
|
|
the offenders as much as any thing. It is a sin which headstrong
|
|
and unbridled lusts hurry men violently to, and therefore it needs
|
|
such a powerful restraint as this. It is a sin which defiles a land
|
|
and brings down God's judgments upon it, which disquiets families,
|
|
and tends to the ruin of all virtue and religion, and therefore is
|
|
fit to be animadverted upon by the conservators of the public
|
|
peace: but see <scripRef passage="Joh 8:3-11" id="Lev.xxi-p13.4" parsed="|John|8|3|8|11" osisRef="Bible:John.8.3-John.8.11">John viii.
|
|
3-11</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p14">II. Incestuous connections, whether by
|
|
marriage or not. 1. Some of them were to be punished with death, as
|
|
a man's <i>lying with his father's wife,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 20:11" id="Lev.xxi-p14.1" parsed="|Lev|20|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. Reuben would have been put to
|
|
death for his crime (<scripRef passage="Ge 35:22" id="Lev.xxi-p14.2" parsed="|Gen|35|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.22">Gen. xxxv.
|
|
22</scripRef>) if this law had been then made. It was the sin of
|
|
the incestuous Corinthian, for which he was to be <i>delivered unto
|
|
Satan,</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 5:1,5" id="Lev.xxi-p14.3" parsed="|1Cor|5|1|0|0;|1Cor|5|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.5.1 Bible:1Cor.5.5">1 Cor. v. 1, 5</scripRef>.
|
|
A man's debauching his daughter-in-law, or his mother-in-law, or
|
|
his sister, was likewise to be punished with death, <scripRef passage="Le 20:12,14,17" id="Lev.xxi-p14.4" parsed="|Lev|20|12|0|0;|Lev|20|14|0|0;|Lev|20|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.12 Bible:Lev.20.14 Bible:Lev.20.17"><i>v.</i> 12, 14, 17</scripRef>. 2. Others
|
|
of them God would punish with the curse of barrenness, as a man's
|
|
defiling his aunt, or his brother's wife (<scripRef passage="Le 20:19-21" id="Lev.xxi-p14.5" parsed="|Lev|20|19|20|21" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.19-Lev.20.21"><i>v.</i> 19-21</scripRef>): <i>They shall die
|
|
childless.</i> Those that keep not within the divine rules of
|
|
marriage forfeit the blessings of marriage: <i>They shall commit
|
|
whoredom, and shall not increase,</i> <scripRef passage="Ho 4:10" id="Lev.xxi-p14.6" parsed="|Hos|4|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.4.10">Hos. iv. 10</scripRef>. Nay it is said, <i>They shall
|
|
bear their iniquity,</i> that is, though they be not immediately
|
|
cut off by the hand either of God or man for this sin, yet the
|
|
guilt of it shall lie upon them, to be reckoned for another day,
|
|
and not be purged with sacrifice or offering.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p15">III. The unnatural lusts of sodomy and
|
|
bestiality (sins not to be mentioned without horror) were to be
|
|
punished with death, as they are at this day by our law, <scripRef passage="Le 20:13,15,16" id="Lev.xxi-p15.1" parsed="|Lev|20|13|0|0;|Lev|20|15|0|0;|Lev|20|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.13 Bible:Lev.20.15 Bible:Lev.20.16"><i>v.</i> 13, 15, 16</scripRef>. Even the
|
|
beast that was thus abused was to be killed with the sinner, who
|
|
was thereby openly put to the greater shame: and the villany was
|
|
thus represented as in the highest degree execrable and abominable,
|
|
all occasions of the remembrance or mention of it being to be taken
|
|
away. Even the unseasonable use of the marriage, if presumptuous,
|
|
and in contempt of the law, would expose the offenders to the just
|
|
judgment of God: they <i>shall be cut off,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 20:18" id="Lev.xxi-p15.2" parsed="|Lev|20|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. For this is the will of God,
|
|
that <i>every man should possess his vessel</i> (and the wife is
|
|
called the weaker vessel) <i>in sanctification and honour,</i> as
|
|
becomes saints.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 20:22-27" id="Lev.xxi-p15.3" parsed="|Lev|20|22|20|27" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.22-Lev.20.27"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.20.22-Lev.20.27">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xxi-p16">22 Ye shall therefore keep all my statutes, and
|
|
all my judgments, and do them: that the land, whither I bring you
|
|
to dwell therein, spue you not out.   23 And ye shall not walk
|
|
in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they
|
|
committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them.  
|
|
24 But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I
|
|
will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk
|
|
and honey: I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxi-p16.1">Lord</span> your
|
|
God, which have separated you from <i>other</i> people.   25
|
|
Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean,
|
|
and between unclean fowls and clean: and ye shall not make your
|
|
souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living
|
|
thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you
|
|
as unclean.   26 And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxi-p16.2">Lord</span> <i>am</i> holy, and have severed you
|
|
from <i>other</i> people, that ye should be mine.   27 A man
|
|
also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard,
|
|
shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones:
|
|
their blood <i>shall be</i> upon them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p17">The last verse is a particular law, which
|
|
comes in after the general conclusion, as if omitted in its proper
|
|
place: it is for the putting of those to death that dealt with
|
|
familiar spirits, <scripRef passage="Le 20:27" id="Lev.xxi-p17.1" parsed="|Lev|20|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.27"><i>v.</i>
|
|
27</scripRef>. It would be an affront to God and to his lively
|
|
oracles, a scandal to the country, and a temptation to ignorant bad
|
|
people, to consult them, if such were known and suffered to live
|
|
among them. Those that are in league with the devil have in effect
|
|
made a covenant with death and an agreement with hell, and so shall
|
|
their doom be.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p18">The rest of these verses repeat and
|
|
inculcate what had been said before; for to that unthinking
|
|
forgetful people it was requisite that there should be line upon
|
|
line, and that general rules, with their reasons, should be
|
|
frequently insisted on, for the enforcement of particular laws, and
|
|
making them more effectual. Three things we are here reminded
|
|
of:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p19">I. Their dignity. 1. They had the <i>Lord
|
|
for their God,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 20:24" id="Lev.xxi-p19.1" parsed="|Lev|20|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.24"><i>v.</i>
|
|
24</scripRef>. They were his, his care, his choice, his treasure,
|
|
his jewels, his kingdom of priests (<scripRef passage="Le 20:26" id="Lev.xxi-p19.2" parsed="|Lev|20|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>): <i>That you should be
|
|
mine.</i> Happy the people, and truly great, that are in such a
|
|
case. 2. Their God was a holy God (<scripRef passage="Le 20:26" id="Lev.xxi-p19.3" parsed="|Lev|20|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>), infinitely advanced above all
|
|
others. His holiness is his glory, and it was their honour to be
|
|
related to him, while their neighbours were the infamous
|
|
worshippers of impure and filthy spirits. 3. The great God had
|
|
separated them from other people (<scripRef passage="Le 20:24" id="Lev.xxi-p19.4" parsed="|Lev|20|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>), and again, <scripRef passage="Le 20:26" id="Lev.xxi-p19.5" parsed="|Lev|20|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>. Other nations were the common;
|
|
they were the enclosure, beautified and enriched with peculiar
|
|
privileges, and designed for peculiar honours; let them therefore
|
|
value themselves accordingly, preserve their honour, and not lay it
|
|
in the dust, by walking in the way of the heathen.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p20">II. Their duty; this is inferred from their
|
|
dignity. God had done more for them than for others, and therefore
|
|
expected more from them than from others. And what is it that the
|
|
Lord their God requires, in consideration of the great things done
|
|
and designed? 1. <i>You shall keep all my statutes</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 20:22" id="Lev.xxi-p20.1" parsed="|Lev|20|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>); and there was all the
|
|
reason in the world that they should, for the statutes were their
|
|
honour, and obedience to them would be their lasting comfort. 2.
|
|
<i>You shall not walk in the manners of nations,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 20:23" id="Lev.xxi-p20.2" parsed="|Lev|20|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. Being separated from
|
|
them, they must not associate with them, nor learn their ways. The
|
|
manners of the nations were bad enough in them, but would be much
|
|
worse in God's people. 3. You shall <i>put a difference between
|
|
clean and unclean,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 20:25" id="Lev.xxi-p20.3" parsed="|Lev|20|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.25"><i>v.</i>
|
|
25</scripRef>. This is holiness, to discern between things that
|
|
differ, not to live at large, as if we might say and do any thing,
|
|
but to speak and act with caution. 4. <i>You shall not make your
|
|
souls abominable,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 20:25" id="Lev.xxi-p20.4" parsed="|Lev|20|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.25"><i>v.</i>
|
|
25</scripRef>. Our constant care must be to preserve the honour, by
|
|
preserving the purity, of our own souls, and never to do any thing
|
|
to make them abominable to God and to our own consciences.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxi-p21">III. Their danger. 1. They were going into
|
|
an infected place (<scripRef passage="Le 20:24" id="Lev.xxi-p21.1" parsed="|Lev|20|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.24"><i>v.</i>
|
|
24</scripRef>): <i>You shall inherit their land,</i> a land
|
|
<i>flowing with milk and honey,</i> which they would have the
|
|
comfort of if they kept their integrity; but, withal, it was a land
|
|
full of idols, idolatries, and superstitious usages, which they
|
|
would be apt to fall in love with, having brought from Egypt with
|
|
them a strange disposition to take that infection. 2. If they took
|
|
the infection, it would be of pernicious consequence to them. The
|
|
Canaanites were to be expelled for these very sins: <i>They
|
|
committed all these things, therefore I abhorred them,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 20:23" id="Lev.xxi-p21.2" parsed="|Lev|20|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. See what an
|
|
evil thing sin is; it provokes God to abhor his own creatures,
|
|
whereas otherwise he delights in the work of his hands. And, if the
|
|
Israelites trod in the steps of their impiety, they must expect
|
|
that the land would spue them out (<scripRef passage="Le 20:22" id="Lev.xxi-p21.3" parsed="|Lev|20|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>), as he had told them before,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 18:28" id="Lev.xxi-p21.4" parsed="|Lev|18|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.28"><i>ch.</i> xviii. 28</scripRef>. If
|
|
God spared not the natural branches, but broke them off, neither
|
|
would he spare those who were grafted in, if they degenerated. Thus
|
|
the rejection of the Jews stands for a warning to all Christian
|
|
churches to take heed lest the kingdom of God be taken from them.
|
|
Those that sin like others must expect to smart like them; and
|
|
their profession of relation to God will be no security to
|
|
them.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXI" n="xxii" progress="59.89%" prev="Lev.xxi" next="Lev.xxiii" id="Lev.xxii">
|
|
<h2 id="Lev.xxii-p0.1">L E V I T I C U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Lev.xxii-p0.2">CHAP. XXI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Lev.xxii-p1">This chapter might borrow its title from <scripRef passage="Mal 2:1" id="Lev.xxii-p1.1" parsed="|Mal|2|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mal.2.1">Mal. ii. 1</scripRef>, "And now, O you priests,
|
|
this commandment is for you." It is a law obliging priests with the
|
|
utmost care and jealousy to preserve the dignity of their
|
|
priesthood. I. The inferior priests are here charged both
|
|
concerning their mourning and concerning their marriages and their
|
|
children, <scripRef passage="Le 21:1-9" id="Lev.xxii-p1.2" parsed="|Lev|21|1|21|9" osisRef="Bible:Lev.21.1-Lev.21.9">ver. 1-9</scripRef>. II.
|
|
The high priest is restrained more than any of them, <scripRef passage="Le 21:10-15" id="Lev.xxii-p1.3" parsed="|Lev|21|10|21|15" osisRef="Bible:Lev.21.10-Lev.21.15">ver. 10-15</scripRef>. III. Neither the one
|
|
nor the other must have any blemish, <scripRef passage="Le 21:16-24" id="Lev.xxii-p1.4" parsed="|Lev|21|16|21|24" osisRef="Bible:Lev.21.16-Lev.21.24">ver. 16</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 21" id="Lev.xxii-p1.5" parsed="|Lev|21|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.21"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 21:1-9" id="Lev.xxii-p1.6" parsed="|Lev|21|1|21|9" osisRef="Bible:Lev.21.1-Lev.21.9"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.21.1-Lev.21.9">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.xxii-p1.7">Laws Concerning the Priests. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxii-p1.8">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xxii-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxii-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto Moses, Speak unto the priests the sons of Aaron, and say
|
|
unto them, There shall none be defiled for the dead among his
|
|
people:   2 But for his kin, that is near unto him, <i>that
|
|
is,</i> for his mother, and for his father, and for his son, and
|
|
for his daughter, and for his brother,   3 And for his sister
|
|
a virgin, that is nigh unto him, which hath had no husband; for her
|
|
may he be defiled.   4 <i>But</i> he shall not defile himself,
|
|
<i>being</i> a chief man among his people, to profane himself.
|
|
  5 They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither
|
|
shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any
|
|
cuttings in their flesh.   6 They shall be holy unto their
|
|
God, and not profane the name of their God: for the offerings of
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxii-p2.2">Lord</span> made by fire, <i>and</i>
|
|
the bread of their God, they do offer: therefore they shall be
|
|
holy.   7 They shall not take a wife <i>that is</i> a whore,
|
|
or profane; neither shall they take a woman put away from her
|
|
husband: for he <i>is</i> holy unto his God.   8 Thou shalt
|
|
sanctify him therefore; for he offereth the bread of thy God: he
|
|
shall be holy unto thee: for I the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxii-p2.3">Lord</span>, which sanctify you, <i>am</i> holy.  
|
|
9 And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing
|
|
the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with
|
|
fire.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxii-p3">It was before appointed that the priests
|
|
should teach the people the statutes God had given concerning the
|
|
<i>difference between clean and unclean,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 10:10,11" id="Lev.xxii-p3.1" parsed="|Lev|10|10|10|11" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.10-Lev.10.11"><i>ch.</i> x. 10, 11</scripRef>. Now here it is
|
|
provided that they should themselves observe what they were to
|
|
teach the people. Note, Those whose office it is to instruct must
|
|
do it by example as well as precept, <scripRef passage="1Ti 4:12" id="Lev.xxii-p3.2" parsed="|1Tim|4|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.4.12">1
|
|
Tim. iv. 12</scripRef>. The priests were to draw nearer to God than
|
|
any of the people, and to be more intimately conversant with sacred
|
|
things, and therefore it was required of them that they should keep
|
|
at a greater distance than others from every thing that was
|
|
defiling and might diminish the honour of their priesthood.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxii-p4">I. They must take care not to disparage
|
|
themselves in their mourning for the dead. All that mourned for the
|
|
dead were supposed to come near the body, if not to touch it: and
|
|
the Jews say, "It made a man ceremonially unclean to come within
|
|
six feet of a dead corpse;" nay, it is declared (<scripRef passage="Nu 19:14" id="Lev.xxii-p4.1" parsed="|Num|19|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.19.14">Num. xix. 14</scripRef>) that all who come into the tent
|
|
where the dead body lies shall be unclean seven days. Therefore all
|
|
the mourners that attended the funeral could not but defile
|
|
themselves, so as not to be fit to come into the sanctuary for
|
|
seven days: for this reason it is ordered, 1. That the priests
|
|
should never put themselves under this incapacity of coming into
|
|
the sanctuary, unless it were for one of their nearest relations,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 21:1-3" id="Lev.xxii-p4.2" parsed="|Lev|21|1|21|3" osisRef="Bible:Lev.21.1-Lev.21.3"><i>v.</i> 1-3</scripRef>. A priest
|
|
was permitted to do it for a parent or a child, for a brother or an
|
|
unmarried sister, and therefore, no doubt (though this is not
|
|
mentioned) for the wife of his bosom; for Ezekiel, a priest, would
|
|
have mourned for his wife if he had not been particularly
|
|
prohibited, <scripRef passage="Eze 24:17" id="Lev.xxii-p4.3" parsed="|Ezek|24|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.24.17">Ezek. xxiv.
|
|
17</scripRef>. By this allowance God put an honour upon natural
|
|
affection, and favoured it so far as to dispense with the
|
|
attendance of his servants for seven days, while they indulged
|
|
themselves in their sorrow for the death of their dear relations;
|
|
but, beyond this period, weeping must not hinder sowing, nor their
|
|
affection to their relations take them off from the service of the
|
|
sanctuary. Nor was it at all allowed for the death of any other,
|
|
no, not of a <i>chief man among the people,</i> as some read it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 21:4" id="Lev.xxii-p4.4" parsed="|Lev|21|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.21.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. They must not
|
|
defile themselves, no, nor for the high priest himself, unless thus
|
|
akin to them. Though <i>there is a friend that is nearer than a
|
|
brother,</i> yet the priests must not pay this respect to the best
|
|
friend they had, except he were a relation, lest, if it were
|
|
allowed for one, others should expect it, and so they should be
|
|
frequently taken off from their work: and it is hereby intimated
|
|
that there is a particular affection to be reserved for those that
|
|
are thus near akin to us; and, when any such are removed by death,
|
|
we ought to be affected with it, and lay it to heart, as the near
|
|
approach of death to ourselves, and an alarm to us to prepare to
|
|
follow. 2. That they must not be extravagant in the expressions of
|
|
their mourning, no, not for their dearest relations, <scripRef passage="Le 21:5" id="Lev.xxii-p4.5" parsed="|Lev|21|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.21.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. Their mourning must not
|
|
be either, (1.) Superstitious, according to the manner of the
|
|
heathen, who cut off their hair, and let out their blood, in honour
|
|
of the imaginary deities which presided (as they thought) in the
|
|
congregation of the dead, that they might engage them to be
|
|
propitious to their departed friends. Even the superstitious rites
|
|
used of old at funerals are an indication of the ancient belief of
|
|
the immortality of the soul, and its existence in a separate state:
|
|
and though the rites themselves were forbidden by the divine law,
|
|
because they were performed to false gods, yet the decent respect
|
|
which nature teaches and which the law allows to be paid to the
|
|
remains of our deceased friends, shows that we are not to look upon
|
|
them as lost. Nor, (2.) Must it be passionate or immoderate. Note,
|
|
God's ministers must be examples to others of patience under
|
|
affliction, particularly that which touches in a very tender part,
|
|
the death of their near relations. They are supposed to know more
|
|
than others of the reasons why we must <i>not sorrow as those that
|
|
have no hope</i> (<scripRef passage="1Th 4:13" id="Lev.xxii-p4.6" parsed="|1Thess|4|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Thess.4.13">1 Thess. iv.
|
|
13</scripRef>), and therefore they ought to be eminently calm and
|
|
composed, that they may be able to comfort others with the same
|
|
comforts wherewith they are themselves comforted of God. The people
|
|
were forbidden to mourn for the dead with superstitious rites
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 19:27,28" id="Lev.xxii-p4.7" parsed="|Lev|19|27|19|28" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.27-Lev.19.28"><i>ch.</i> xix. 27,
|
|
28</scripRef>), and what was unlawful to them was much more
|
|
unlawful to the priest. The reason given for their peculiar care
|
|
not to defile themselves we have (<scripRef passage="Le 21:6" id="Lev.xxii-p4.8" parsed="|Lev|21|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.21.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>): <i>Because</i> they offered
|
|
<i>the bread of their God,</i> even <i>the offerings of the Lord
|
|
made by fire,</i> which were the provisions of God's house and
|
|
table. They are highly honoured, and therefore must not stain their
|
|
honour by making themselves slaves to their passions; they are
|
|
continually employed in sacred service, and therefore must not be
|
|
either diverted from or disfitted for the services they were called
|
|
to. If they pollute themselves, they profane the name of their God
|
|
on whom they attend: if the servants are rude and of ill behaviour,
|
|
it is a reflection upon the master, as if he kept a loose and
|
|
disorderly house. Note, All that either offer or eat the bread of
|
|
our God must be holy in all manner of conversation, or else they
|
|
profane that name which they pretend to sanctify.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxii-p5">II. They must take care not to degrade
|
|
themselves in their marriage, <scripRef passage="Le 21:7" id="Lev.xxii-p5.1" parsed="|Lev|21|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.21.7"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7</scripRef>. A priest must not marry a woman of ill fame, that
|
|
either had been guilty or was suspected to have been guilty of
|
|
uncleanness. He must not only not marry a harlot, though ever so
|
|
great a penitent for her former whoredoms, but he must not marry
|
|
one that was profane, that is, of a light carriage or indecent
|
|
behaviour. Nay, he must not marry one that was divorced, because
|
|
there was reason to think it was for some fault she was divorced.
|
|
The priests were forbidden to undervalue themselves by such
|
|
marriages as these, which were allowed to others, 1. Lest it should
|
|
bring a present reproach upon their ministry, harden the profane in
|
|
their profaneness, and grieve the hearts of serious people: the New
|
|
Testament gives laws to ministers' wives (<scripRef passage="1Ti 3:11" id="Lev.xxii-p5.2" parsed="|1Tim|3|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.3.11">1 Tim. iii. 11</scripRef>), that they be <i>grave and
|
|
sober,</i> that <i>the ministry be not blamed.</i> 2. Lest it
|
|
should entail a reproach upon their families; for the work and
|
|
honour of the priesthood were to descend as an inheritance to their
|
|
children after them. Those do not consult the good of their
|
|
posterity as they ought who do not take care to marry such as are
|
|
of good report and character. He that would seek <i>a godly
|
|
seed</i> (as the expression is, <scripRef passage="Mal 2:15" id="Lev.xxii-p5.3" parsed="|Mal|2|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mal.2.15">Mal.
|
|
ii. 15</scripRef>) must first seek a godly wife, and take heed of a
|
|
corruption of blood. It is added here (<scripRef passage="Le 21:8" id="Lev.xxii-p5.4" parsed="|Lev|21|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.21.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>), <i>Thou shalt sanctify him,</i>
|
|
and <i>he shall be holy unto thee.</i> "Not only thou, O Moses, by
|
|
taking care that these laws be observed, but thou, O Israel, by all
|
|
endeavours possible to keep up the reputation of the priesthood,
|
|
which the priests themselves must do nothing to expose or forfeit.
|
|
<i>He is holy to his God</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 21:7" id="Lev.xxii-p5.5" parsed="|Lev|21|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.21.7"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7</scripRef>), therefore <i>he shall be holy unto thee.</i>" Note,
|
|
We must honour those whom our God puts honour upon. Gospel
|
|
ministers by this rule are to be <i>esteemed very highly in love
|
|
for their works' sake</i> (<scripRef passage="1Th 5:13" id="Lev.xxii-p5.6" parsed="|1Thess|5|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Thess.5.13">1 Thess. v.
|
|
13</scripRef>), and every Christian must look upon himself as
|
|
concerned to be the guardian of their honour.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxii-p6">III. Their children must be afraid of doing
|
|
any thing to disparage them (<scripRef passage="Le 21:9" id="Lev.xxii-p6.1" parsed="|Lev|21|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.21.9"><i>v.</i>
|
|
9</scripRef>): <i>If the daughter of any priest play the whore,</i>
|
|
her crime is great; she not only polluteth but <i>profaneth
|
|
herself:</i> other women have not that honour to lose that she has,
|
|
who, as one of a priest's family, has eaten of the holy things, and
|
|
is supposed to have been better educated than others. Nay, <i>she
|
|
profaneth her father;</i> he is reflected upon, and everybody will
|
|
be ready to ask, "Why did not he teach her better?" And the sinners
|
|
in Zion will insult and say, "Here is your priest's daughter." Her
|
|
punishment there must be peculiar: <i>She shall be burnt with
|
|
fire,</i> for a terror to all priests' daughters. Note, The
|
|
children of ministers ought, of all others, to take heed of doing
|
|
any thing that is scandalous, because in them it is doubly
|
|
scandalous, and will be punished accordingly by him whose name is
|
|
<i>Jealous.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 21" id="Lev.xxii-p6.2" parsed="|Lev|21|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.21"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 21:10-15" id="Lev.xxii-p6.3" parsed="|Lev|21|10|21|15" osisRef="Bible:Lev.21.10-Lev.21.15"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.21.10-Lev.21.15">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xxii-p7">10 And <i>he that is</i> the high priest among
|
|
his brethren, upon whose head the anointing oil was poured, and
|
|
that is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not uncover his
|
|
head, nor rend his clothes;   11 Neither shall he go in to any
|
|
dead body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother;
|
|
  12 Neither shall he go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the
|
|
sanctuary of his God; for the crown of the anointing oil of his God
|
|
<i>is</i> upon him: I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxii-p7.1">Lord</span>.   13 And he shall take a wife in her
|
|
virginity.   14 A widow, or a divorced woman, or profane,
|
|
<i>or</i> an harlot, these shall he not take: but he shall take a
|
|
virgin of his own people to wife.   15 Neither shall he
|
|
profane his seed among his people: for I the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxii-p7.2">Lord</span> do sanctify him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxii-p8">More was expected from a priest than from
|
|
other people, but more from the high priest than from other
|
|
priests, because upon his head the <i>anointing oil was poured,</i>
|
|
and he was <i>consecrated to put on the garments</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 21:10" id="Lev.xxii-p8.1" parsed="|Lev|21|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.21.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>), both which were
|
|
typical of the anointing and adorning of the Lord Jesus, with all
|
|
the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit, which he received without
|
|
measure. It is called <i>the crown of the anointing oil of his
|
|
God</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 21:12" id="Lev.xxii-p8.2" parsed="|Lev|21|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.21.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>); for
|
|
the anointing of the Spirit is, to all that have it, a <i>crown of
|
|
glory,</i> and a <i>diadem of beauty.</i> The high priest being
|
|
thus dignified,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxii-p9">I. He must not defile himself at all for
|
|
the dead, no, nor for his nearest relations, <i>his father or his
|
|
mother,</i> much less his child or brother, <scripRef passage="Le 21:11" id="Lev.xxii-p9.1" parsed="|Lev|21|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.21.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. 1. He must not use the common
|
|
expressions of sorrow on those occasions, such as <i>uncovering his
|
|
head, and rending his clothes</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 21:10" id="Lev.xxii-p9.2" parsed="|Lev|21|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.21.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>), so perfectly unconcerned must
|
|
he show himself in all the crosses and comforts of this life: even
|
|
his natural affection must be swallowed up in compassion to the
|
|
ignorant, and a feeling of their infirmities, and a tender concern
|
|
for the household of God, which he was made the ruler of. Thus
|
|
being the holy one that was entrusted with the <i>thummim and the
|
|
urim</i> he must not know <i>father or mother,</i> <scripRef passage="De 33:8,9" id="Lev.xxii-p9.3" parsed="|Deut|33|8|33|9" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.8-Deut.33.9">Deut. xxxiii. 8, 9</scripRef>. 2. He must not
|
|
<i>go in to any dead body,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 21:11" id="Lev.xxii-p9.4" parsed="|Lev|21|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.21.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. If any of the inferior priests
|
|
were under a ceremonial pollution, there were other priests that
|
|
might supply their places; but, if the high priest were defiled,
|
|
there would be a greater want of him. And the forbidding of him to
|
|
go to any house of mourning, or attend any funeral, would be an
|
|
indication to the people of the greatness of that dignity to which
|
|
he was advanced. Our Lord Jesus, the great high priest of our
|
|
profession, touched the dead body of Jairus's daughter, the bier of
|
|
the widow's son, and the grave of Lazarus, to show that he came to
|
|
altar the property of death, and to take off the terror of it, by
|
|
breaking the power of it. Now that it cannot destroy it does not
|
|
defile. 3. He must <i>not go out of the sanctuary</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 21:12" id="Lev.xxii-p9.5" parsed="|Lev|21|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.21.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>); that is, whenever he
|
|
was attending or officiating in the sanctuary, where usually he
|
|
tarried in his own apartment all day, he must not go out upon any
|
|
occasion whatsoever, nor cut short his attendance on the living
|
|
God, no, not to pay his last respects to a dying relation. It was a
|
|
profanation of the sanctuary to leave it, while his presence was
|
|
requisite there, upon any such occasion; for thereby he preferred
|
|
some other business before the service of God and the business of
|
|
his profession, to which he ought to make every thing else give
|
|
place. Thus our Lord Jesus would not leave off preaching to
|
|
<i>speak with his mother and brethren,</i> <scripRef passage="Mt 12:48" id="Lev.xxii-p9.6" parsed="|Matt|12|48|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.12.48">Matt. xii. 48</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxii-p10">II. He might not marry a widow (as other
|
|
priests might), much less one divorced, or a harlot, <scripRef passage="Le 21:13,14" id="Lev.xxii-p10.1" parsed="|Lev|21|13|21|14" osisRef="Bible:Lev.21.13-Lev.21.14"><i>v.</i> 13, 14</scripRef>. The reason of
|
|
this was to put a difference between him and other priests in this
|
|
matter; and (as some suggest) that he might be a type of Christ, to
|
|
whom the church was to be presented a <i>chaste virgin,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="2Co 11:2" id="Lev.xxii-p10.2" parsed="|2Cor|11|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.11.2">2 Cor. xi. 2</scripRef>. See <scripRef passage="Eze 44:22" id="Lev.xxii-p10.3" parsed="|Ezek|44|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.44.22">Ezek. xliv. 22</scripRef>. Christ must have our
|
|
first love, our pure love, our entire love; thus the <i>virgins
|
|
love thee</i> (<scripRef passage="So 1:3" id="Lev.xxii-p10.4" parsed="|Song|1|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Song.1.3">Cant. i. 3</scripRef>),
|
|
and such only are fit to <i>follow the Lamb,</i> <scripRef passage="Re 14:4" id="Lev.xxii-p10.5" parsed="|Rev|14|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.14.4">Rev. xiv. 4</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxii-p11">III. He might not profane his seed among
|
|
his people, <scripRef passage="Le 21:15" id="Lev.xxii-p11.1" parsed="|Lev|21|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.21.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>.
|
|
Some understand it as forbidding him to marry any of an inferior
|
|
rank, which would be a disparagement to his family. Jehoiada indeed
|
|
married of his own tribe, but then it was into the royal family,
|
|
<scripRef passage="2Ch 22:11" id="Lev.xxii-p11.2" parsed="|2Chr|22|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.22.11">2 Chron. xxii. 11</scripRef>. This
|
|
was not to teach him to be proud, but to teach him to be pure, and
|
|
to do nothing unbecoming his office and the worthy name by which he
|
|
was called. Or it may be a caution to him in disposing of his
|
|
children; he must not profane his seed by marrying them unsuitably.
|
|
Ministers' children are profaned if they be unequally yoked with
|
|
unbelievers.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 21" id="Lev.xxii-p11.3" parsed="|Lev|21|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.21"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 21:16-24" id="Lev.xxii-p11.4" parsed="|Lev|21|16|21|24" osisRef="Bible:Lev.21.16-Lev.21.24"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.21.16-Lev.21.24">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xxii-p12">16 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxii-p12.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   17 Speak unto Aaron, saying,
|
|
Whosoever <i>he be</i> of thy seed in their generations that hath
|
|
<i>any</i> blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his
|
|
God.   18 For whatsoever man <i>he be</i> that hath a blemish,
|
|
he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a
|
|
flat nose, or any thing superfluous,   19 Or a man that is
|
|
brokenfooted, or brokenhanded,   20 Or crookbackt, or a dwarf,
|
|
or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or
|
|
hath his stones broken;   21 No man that hath a blemish of the
|
|
seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxii-p12.2">Lord</span> made by fire: he hath a
|
|
blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God.
|
|
  22 He shall eat the bread of his God, <i>both</i> of the
|
|
most holy, and of the holy.   23 Only he shall not go in unto
|
|
the vail, nor come nigh unto the altar, because he hath a blemish;
|
|
that he profane not my sanctuaries: for I the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxii-p12.3">Lord</span> do sanctify them.   24 And Moses told
|
|
<i>it</i> unto Aaron, and to his sons, and unto all the children of
|
|
Israel.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxii-p13">The priesthood being confined to one
|
|
particular family, and entailed upon all the male issue of that
|
|
family throughout their generations, it was very likely that some
|
|
or other in after-ages that were born to the priesthood would have
|
|
natural blemishes and deformities: the honour of the priesthood
|
|
would not secure them from any of those calamities which are common
|
|
to men. Divers blemishes are here specified; some that were
|
|
ordinarily for life, as blindness; others that might be for a time,
|
|
as a scurf or scab, and, when they were gone, the disability
|
|
ceased. Now,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxii-p14">I. The law concerning priests that had
|
|
blemishes was, 1. That they might <i>live upon the altar</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 21:22" id="Lev.xxii-p14.1" parsed="|Lev|21|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.21.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>): <i>He shall
|
|
eat</i> of the sacrifices with the other priests, even the <i>most
|
|
holy things,</i> such as the show-bread and the sin-offerings, as
|
|
well as the <i>holy things,</i> such as the tithes and
|
|
first-fruits, and the priests' share of the peace-offerings. The
|
|
blemishes were such as they could not help, and therefore, though
|
|
they might not work, they must not starve. Note, None must be
|
|
abused for their natural infirmities. Even the deformed child in
|
|
the family must have its child's part. 2. Yet they must not
|
|
<i>serve at the altar,</i> at either of the altars, nor be admitted
|
|
to attend or assist the other priests in offering sacrifice or
|
|
burning incense, <scripRef passage="Le 21:17,21,23" id="Lev.xxii-p14.2" parsed="|Lev|21|17|0|0;|Lev|21|21|0|0;|Lev|21|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.21.17 Bible:Lev.21.21 Bible:Lev.21.23"><i>v.</i> 17,
|
|
21, 23</scripRef>. Great men choose to have such servants about
|
|
them as are sightly, and it was fit that the great God should have
|
|
such in his house then, when he was pleased to manifest his glory
|
|
in external indications of it. But it was especially requisite that
|
|
comely men should be chosen to minister about holy things, for the
|
|
sake of the people, who were apt to judge according to outward
|
|
appearance, and to think meanly of the service, how honourable
|
|
soever it was made by the divine institution, of those that
|
|
performed it looked despicably or went about it awkwardly. This
|
|
provision God made for the preserving of the reputation of his
|
|
altar, that it might not at any time fall under contempt. It was
|
|
for the credit of the sanctuary that none should appear there who
|
|
were any way disfigured, either by nature or accident.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxii-p15">II. Under the gospel, 1. Those that labour
|
|
under any such blemishes as these have reason to thank God that
|
|
they are not thereby excluded from offering spiritual sacrifices to
|
|
God; nor, if otherwise qualified for it, from the office of the
|
|
ministry. There is many a healthful beautiful soul lodged in a
|
|
crazy deformed body. Yet, 2. We ought to infer hence how incapable
|
|
those are to serve God acceptably whose minds are blemished and
|
|
deformed by any reigning vice. Those are unworthy to be called
|
|
Christians, and unfit to be employed as ministers, that are
|
|
spiritually blind, and lame, and crooked, whose sins render them
|
|
scandalous and deformed, so as that the offerings of the Lord are
|
|
abhorred for their sakes. The deformities of Hophni and Phinehas
|
|
were worse than any of the blemishes here mentioned. Let such
|
|
therefore as are openly vicious be put out of the priesthood as
|
|
polluted persons; and let all that are made to our God spiritual
|
|
priests be before him <i>holy and without blemish,</i> and comfort
|
|
themselves with this, that, though in this imperfect state they
|
|
have spots that are the spots of God's children, yet they shall
|
|
shortly appear before the throne of God <i>without spot, or
|
|
wrinkle, or any such thing.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXII" n="xxiii" progress="60.29%" prev="Lev.xxii" next="Lev.xxiv" id="Lev.xxiii">
|
|
<h2 id="Lev.xxiii-p0.1">L E V I T I C U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Lev.xxiii-p0.2">CHAP. XXII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Lev.xxiii-p1">In this chapter we have divers laws concerning the
|
|
priests and sacrifices all for the preserving of the honour of the
|
|
sanctuary. I. That the priests should not eat the holy things in
|
|
their uncleanness, <scripRef passage="Le 22:1-9" id="Lev.xxiii-p1.1" parsed="|Lev|22|1|22|9" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22.1-Lev.22.9">ver.
|
|
1-9</scripRef>. II. That no stranger who did not belong to some
|
|
family of the priests should eat of the holy things (<scripRef passage="Le 22:10-13" id="Lev.xxiii-p1.2" parsed="|Lev|22|10|22|13" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22.10-Lev.22.13">ver. 10-13</scripRef>), and, if he did it
|
|
unwittingly, he must make restitution,, <scripRef passage="Le 22:14-16" id="Lev.xxiii-p1.3" parsed="|Lev|22|14|22|16" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22.14-Lev.22.16">ver. 14-16</scripRef>. III. That the sacrifices which
|
|
were offered must be without blemish, <scripRef passage="Le 22:17-25" id="Lev.xxiii-p1.4" parsed="|Lev|22|17|22|25" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22.17-Lev.22.25">ver. 17-25</scripRef>. IV. That they must be more
|
|
than eight days old (<scripRef passage="Le 22:26-28" id="Lev.xxiii-p1.5" parsed="|Lev|22|26|22|28" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22.26-Lev.22.28">ver.
|
|
26-28</scripRef>), and that the sacrifices of thanksgiving must be
|
|
eaten the same day they were offered, <scripRef passage="Le 22:29-33" id="Lev.xxiii-p1.6" parsed="|Lev|22|29|22|33" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22.29-Lev.22.33">ver. 29</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 22" id="Lev.xxiii-p1.7" parsed="|Lev|22|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 22:1-9" id="Lev.xxiii-p1.8" parsed="|Lev|22|1|22|9" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22.1-Lev.22.9"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.22.1-Lev.22.9">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.xxiii-p1.9">Laws Concerning the Priests. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiii-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xxiii-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiii-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   2 Speak unto Aaron and to his
|
|
sons, that they separate themselves from the holy things of the
|
|
children of Israel, and that they profane not my holy name <i>in
|
|
those things</i> which they hallow unto me: I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiii-p2.2">Lord</span>.   3 Say unto them, Whosoever
|
|
<i>he be</i> of all your seed among your generations, that goeth
|
|
unto the holy things, which the children of Israel hallow unto the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiii-p2.3">Lord</span>, having his uncleanness upon
|
|
him, that soul shall be cut off from my presence: I <i>am</i> the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiii-p2.4">Lord</span>.   4 What man soever of
|
|
the seed of Aaron <i>is</i> a leper, or hath a running issue; he
|
|
shall not eat of the holy things, until he be clean. And whoso
|
|
toucheth any thing <i>that is</i> unclean <i>by</i> the dead, or a
|
|
man whose seed goeth from him;   5 Or whosoever toucheth any
|
|
creeping thing, whereby he may be made unclean, or a man of whom he
|
|
may take uncleanness, whatsoever uncleanness he hath;   6 The
|
|
soul which hath touched any such shall be unclean until even, and
|
|
shall not eat of the holy things, unless he wash his flesh with
|
|
water.   7 And when the sun is down, he shall be clean, and
|
|
shall afterward eat of the holy things; because it <i>is</i> his
|
|
food.   8 That which dieth of itself, or is torn <i>with
|
|
beasts,</i> he shall not eat to defile himself therewith: I
|
|
<i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiii-p2.5">Lord</span>.   9 They
|
|
shall therefore keep mine ordinance, lest they bear sin for it, and
|
|
die therefore, if they profane it: I the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiii-p2.6">Lord</span> do sanctify them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxiii-p3">Those that had a natural blemish, though
|
|
they were forbidden to do the priests' work, were yet allowed to
|
|
eat of the holy things: and the Jewish writers say that "to keep
|
|
them from idleness they were employed in the wood-room, to pick out
|
|
that which was worm-eaten, that it might not be used in the fire
|
|
upon the altar; they might also be employed in the judgment of
|
|
leprosy:" but,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxiii-p4">I. Those that were under any ceremonial
|
|
uncleanness, which possibly they contracted by their own fault,
|
|
might no so much as eat of the holy things while they continued in
|
|
their pollution. 1. Some pollutions were permanent, as a leprosy or
|
|
a running issue, <scripRef passage="Le 22:4" id="Lev.xxiii-p4.1" parsed="|Lev|22|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22.4"><i>v.</i>
|
|
4</scripRef>. These separated the people from the sanctuary, and
|
|
God would show that they were so far from being more excusable that
|
|
really they were more abominable in a priest. 2. Others were more
|
|
transient, as the touching of a dead body, or any thing else that
|
|
was unclean, from which, after a certain time, a man was cleansed
|
|
by bathing his flesh in water, <scripRef passage="Le 22:6" id="Lev.xxiii-p4.2" parsed="|Lev|22|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. But whoever was thus defiled
|
|
might not <i>eat of the holy things,</i> under pain of God's
|
|
highest displeasure, who said, and ratified the saying, <i>That
|
|
soul shall be cut off from my presence,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 22:3" id="Lev.xxiii-p4.3" parsed="|Lev|22|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. Our being in the presence of God,
|
|
and attending upon him, will be so far from securing us that it
|
|
will but the more expose us to God's wrath, if we dare to draw nigh
|
|
to him in our uncleanness. The destruction shall come <i>from the
|
|
presence of the Lord</i> (<scripRef passage="2Th 1:9" id="Lev.xxiii-p4.4" parsed="|2Thess|1|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Thess.1.9">2 Thess. i.
|
|
9</scripRef>), as the fire by which Nadab and Abihu died came
|
|
<i>from before the Lord.</i> Thus those who profane the holy word
|
|
of God will be cut off by that word which they make so light of; it
|
|
shall condemn them. They are again warned of their danger if they
|
|
eat the holy thing in their uncleanness (<scripRef passage="Le 22:9" id="Lev.xxiii-p4.5" parsed="|Lev|22|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>), <i>lest they bear sin, and die
|
|
therefore.</i> Note, (1.) Those contract great guilt who profane
|
|
sacred things, by touching them with unhallowed hands. Eating the
|
|
holy things signified an interest in the atonement; but, if they
|
|
ate of them in their uncleanness, they were so far from lessening
|
|
their guilt that they increased it: They shall <i>bear sin.</i>
|
|
(2.) Sin is a burden which, if infinite mercy prevent not, will
|
|
certainly sink those that bear it: They shall <i>die therefore.</i>
|
|
Even priests may be ruined by their pollutions and
|
|
presumptions.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxiii-p5">II. As to the design of this law we may
|
|
observe, 1. This obliged the priests carefully to preserve their
|
|
purity, and to dread every thing that would defile them. The holy
|
|
things were their livelihood; if they might not eat of them, how
|
|
must they subsist? The more we have to lose of comfort and honour
|
|
by our defilement, the more careful we should be to preserve our
|
|
purity. 2. This impressed the people with a reverence for the holy
|
|
things, when they saw the priests themselves <i>separated from
|
|
them</i> (as the expression is, <scripRef passage="Le 22:2" id="Lev.xxiii-p5.1" parsed="|Lev|22|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>) so long as they were in their
|
|
uncleanness. He is doubtless a God of infinite purity who kept his
|
|
immediate attendants under so strict a discipline. 3. This teaches
|
|
us carefully to watch against all moral pollutions, because by them
|
|
we are unfitted to receive the comfort of God's sanctuary. Though
|
|
we labour not under habitual deformities, yet actual defilements
|
|
deprive us of the pleasure of communion with God; and therefore
|
|
<i>he that is washed needeth to wash his feet</i> (<scripRef passage="Joh 13:10" id="Lev.xxiii-p5.2" parsed="|John|13|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.13.10">John xiii. 10</scripRef>), <i>to wash his
|
|
hands,</i> and so to <i>compass the altar,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 26:6" id="Lev.xxiii-p5.3" parsed="|Ps|26|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.26.6">Ps. xxvi. 6</scripRef>. Herein we have need to be jealous
|
|
over ourselves, lest (as it is observably expressed here) we
|
|
<i>profane God's holy name in those things which we hallow unto
|
|
him,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 22:2" id="Lev.xxiii-p5.4" parsed="|Lev|22|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. If we
|
|
affront God in those very performances wherein we pretend to honour
|
|
him, and provoke him instead of pleasing him, we shall make up but
|
|
a bad account shortly; yet thus we do if we profane God's name, by
|
|
doing that in our uncleanness which pretends to be hallowed to
|
|
him.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 22" id="Lev.xxiii-p5.5" parsed="|Lev|22|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 22:10-16" id="Lev.xxiii-p5.6" parsed="|Lev|22|10|22|16" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22.10-Lev.22.16"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.22.10-Lev.22.16">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xxiii-p6">10 There shall no stranger eat <i>of</i> the
|
|
holy thing: a sojourner of the priest, or an hired servant, shall
|
|
not eat <i>of</i> the holy thing.   11 But if the priest buy
|
|
<i>any</i> soul with his money, he shall eat of it, and he that is
|
|
born in his house: they shall eat of his meat.   12 If the
|
|
priest's daughter also be <i>married</i> unto a stranger, she may
|
|
not eat of an offering of the holy things.   13 But if the
|
|
priest's daughter be a widow, or divorced, and have no child, and
|
|
is returned unto her father's house, as in her youth, she shall eat
|
|
of her father's meat: but there shall no stranger eat thereof.
|
|
  14 And if a man eat <i>of</i> the holy thing unwittingly,
|
|
then he shall put the fifth <i>part</i> thereof unto it, and shall
|
|
give <i>it</i> unto the priest with the holy thing.   15 And
|
|
they shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel,
|
|
which they offer unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiii-p6.1">Lord</span>;
|
|
  16 Or suffer them to bear the iniquity of trespass, when
|
|
they eat their holy things: for I the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiii-p6.2">Lord</span> do sanctify them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxiii-p7">The holy things were to be eaten by the
|
|
priests and their families. Now,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxiii-p8">I. Here is a law that no stranger should
|
|
eat of them, that is, no person whatsoever but the priests only,
|
|
and those that pertained to them, <scripRef passage="Le 22:10" id="Lev.xxiii-p8.1" parsed="|Lev|22|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. The priests are charged with
|
|
this care, not to <i>profane the holy things</i> by permitting the
|
|
strangers to eat of them (<scripRef passage="Le 22:15" id="Lev.xxiii-p8.2" parsed="|Lev|22|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22.15"><i>v.</i>
|
|
15</scripRef>) or <i>suffer them to bear the iniquity of
|
|
trespass</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 22:16" id="Lev.xxiii-p8.3" parsed="|Lev|22|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22.16"><i>v.</i>
|
|
16</scripRef>); that is, suffer them to bring guilt upon
|
|
themselves, by meddling with that which they have no right to. Thus
|
|
it is commonly understood. Note, We must not only be careful that
|
|
we do not bear iniquity ourselves, but we must do what we can to
|
|
prevent others bearing it. We must not only not suffer sin to
|
|
<i>lie</i> upon our brother, but, if we can help it, we must not
|
|
suffer it to <i>come</i> upon him. But perhaps there is another
|
|
meaning of those words: the priests' eating the sin-offerings is
|
|
said to signify their <i>bearing the iniquity of the congregation,
|
|
to make an atonement for them,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 10:17" id="Lev.xxiii-p8.4" parsed="|Lev|10|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.17"><i>ch.</i> x. 17</scripRef>. Let not a stranger
|
|
therefore eat of that holy thing particularly, and so pretend to
|
|
<i>bear the iniquity of trespass;</i> for it is daring presumption
|
|
for any to do that, but such as are appointed to do it. Those that
|
|
set up other mediators besides Christ our priest, to <i>bear the
|
|
iniquity of trespass,</i> sacrilegiously rob Christ of his honour,
|
|
and invade his rights. When we warn people not to trust to their
|
|
own righteousness, nor dare to appear before God in it, but to rely
|
|
on Christ's righteousness only for peace and pardon, it is because
|
|
we dare not <i>suffer them to bear the iniquity of trespass,</i>
|
|
for we know it is too heavy for them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxiii-p9">II. Here is an explanation of the law,
|
|
showing who were to be looked upon as belonging to the priest's
|
|
family, and who not. 1. Sojourners and hired servants abode not in
|
|
the house for ever; they were in the family, but not of it; and
|
|
therefore they might not eat of the holy things (<scripRef passage="Le 22:10" id="Lev.xxiii-p9.1" parsed="|Lev|22|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22.10">v. 10</scripRef>): but the servant that was born in the
|
|
house or bought with money, being a heirloom to the family, though
|
|
a servant, yet might eat of the holy things, <scripRef passage="Le 22:11" id="Lev.xxiii-p9.2" parsed="|Lev|22|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. Note, Those only are entitled
|
|
to the comforts of God's house who make it their <i>rest for
|
|
ever,</i> and resolve to <i>dwell in it all the days of their
|
|
life.</i> As for those who for a time only believe, to serve a
|
|
present turn. They are looked upon but as sojourners and
|
|
mercenaries, and have <i>no part nor lot in the matter.</i> 2. As
|
|
to the children of the family, concerning the sons there could be
|
|
no dispute, they were themselves priests, but concerning the
|
|
daughters there was a distinction. While they continued in their
|
|
father's house they might eat of the holy things; but, if they
|
|
married such as were not priests, they lost their right (<scripRef passage="Le 22:12" id="Lev.xxiii-p9.3" parsed="|Lev|22|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), for now they were cut
|
|
off from the family of the priests. Yet if a priest's daughter
|
|
became a widow, and had no children in whom she might preserve a
|
|
distinct family, and returned to her father's house again, being
|
|
neither wife nor mother, she should again be looked upon as a
|
|
daughter, and might eat of the holy things. If those whom
|
|
Providence has made sorrowful widows, and who are dislodged from
|
|
the rest they had in the house of a husband, yet find it again in a
|
|
father's house, they have reason to be thankful to the widows' God,
|
|
who does not leave them comfortless. 3. Here is a demand of
|
|
restitution to be made by him that had no right to the holy things,
|
|
and yet should eat of them unwittingly, <scripRef passage="Le 22:14" id="Lev.xxiii-p9.4" parsed="|Lev|22|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. If he did it presumptuously,
|
|
and in contempt of the divine institution, he was liable to be cut
|
|
off by the hand of God, and to be beaten by the magistrate; but, if
|
|
he did it through weakness in inconsideration, he was to restore
|
|
the value, adding a fifth part to it, besides which he was to bring
|
|
an offering to atone for the trespass; see <scripRef passage="Le 5:15,16" id="Lev.xxiii-p9.5" parsed="|Lev|5|15|5|16" osisRef="Bible:Lev.5.15-Lev.5.16"><i>ch.</i> v. 15, 16</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxiii-p10">III. This law might be dispensed with in a
|
|
case of necessity, as it was when David and his men ate of the
|
|
show-bread, <scripRef passage="1Sa 21:6" id="Lev.xxiii-p10.1" parsed="|1Sam|21|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.21.6">1 Sam. xxi. 6</scripRef>.
|
|
And our Saviour justifies them, and gives a reason for it, which
|
|
furnishes us with a lasting rule in all such cases, that <i>God
|
|
will have mercy and not sacrifice,</i> <scripRef passage="Mt 12:3,4,7" id="Lev.xxiii-p10.2" parsed="|Matt|12|3|12|4;|Matt|12|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.12.3-Matt.12.4 Bible:Matt.12.7">Matt. xii. 3, 4, 7</scripRef>. Rituals must give way
|
|
to morals.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxiii-p11">IV. It is an instruction to gospel
|
|
ministers, who are <i>stewards of the mysteries of God,</i> not to
|
|
admit all, without distinction, to <i>eat of the holy things,</i>
|
|
but to take out the precious from the vile. Those that are
|
|
scandalously ignorant or profane are strangers and aliens to the
|
|
family of the Lord's priests; and it is not meet to take the
|
|
children's bread and to cast it to such. Holy things are for holy
|
|
persons, for those who are holy, at least, in profession, <scripRef passage="Mt 7:6" id="Lev.xxiii-p11.1" parsed="|Matt|7|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.7.6">Matt. vii. 6</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 22" id="Lev.xxiii-p11.2" parsed="|Lev|22|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 22:17-33" id="Lev.xxiii-p11.3" parsed="|Lev|22|17|22|33" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22.17-Lev.22.33"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.22.17-Lev.22.33">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.xxiii-p11.4">Laws Concerning Sacrifices. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiii-p11.5">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xxiii-p12">17 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiii-p12.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   18 Speak unto Aaron, and to his
|
|
sons, and unto all the children of Israel, and say unto them,
|
|
Whatsoever <i>he be</i> of the house of Israel, or of the strangers
|
|
in Israel, that will offer his oblation for all his vows, and for
|
|
all his freewill offerings, which they will offer unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiii-p12.2">Lord</span> for a burnt offering;   19 <i>Ye
|
|
shall offer</i> at your own will a male without blemish, of the
|
|
beeves, of the sheep, or of the goats.   20 <i>But</i>
|
|
whatsoever hath a blemish, <i>that</i> shall ye not offer: for it
|
|
shall not be acceptable for you.   21 And whosoever offereth a
|
|
sacrifice of peace offerings unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiii-p12.3">Lord</span> to accomplish <i>his</i> vow, or a freewill
|
|
offering in beeves or sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted;
|
|
there shall be no blemish therein.   22 Blind, or broken, or
|
|
maimed, or having a wen, or scurvy, or scabbed, ye shall not offer
|
|
these unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiii-p12.4">Lord</span>, nor make an
|
|
offering by fire of them upon the altar unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiii-p12.5">Lord</span>.   23 Either a bullock or a lamb that
|
|
hath any thing superfluous or lacking in his parts, that mayest
|
|
thou offer <i>for</i> a freewill offering; but for a vow it shall
|
|
not be accepted.   24 Ye shall not offer unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiii-p12.6">Lord</span> that which is bruised, or crushed, or
|
|
broken, or cut; neither shall ye make <i>any offering thereof</i>
|
|
in your land.   25 Neither from a stranger's hand shall ye
|
|
offer the bread of your God of any of these; because their
|
|
corruption <i>is</i> in them, <i>and</i> blemishes <i>be</i> in
|
|
them: they shall not be accepted for you.   26 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiii-p12.7">Lord</span> spake unto Moses, saying,   27
|
|
When a bullock, or a sheep, or a goat, is brought forth, then it
|
|
shall be seven days under the dam; and from the eighth day and
|
|
thenceforth it shall be accepted for an offering made by fire unto
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiii-p12.8">Lord</span>.   28 And <i>whether
|
|
it be</i> cow or ewe, ye shall not kill it and her young both in
|
|
one day.   29 And when ye will offer a sacrifice of
|
|
thanksgiving unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiii-p12.9">Lord</span>, offer
|
|
<i>it</i> at your own will.   30 On the same day it shall be
|
|
eaten up; ye shall leave none of it until the morrow: I <i>am</i>
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiii-p12.10">Lord</span>.   31 Therefore shall
|
|
ye keep my commandments, and do them: I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiii-p12.11">Lord</span>.   32 Neither shall ye profane my holy
|
|
name; but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel: I
|
|
<i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiii-p12.12">Lord</span> which hallow you,
|
|
  33 That brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your
|
|
God: I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiii-p12.13">Lord</span>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxiii-p13">Here are four laws concerning
|
|
sacrifices:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxiii-p14">I. Whatever was offered in sacrifice to God
|
|
should be without blemish, otherwise it should not be accepted.
|
|
This had often been mentioned in the particular institutions of the
|
|
several sorts of offerings. Now here they are told what was to be
|
|
accounted a blemish which rendered a beast unfit for sacrifice: if
|
|
it was blind, or lame, had a wen, or the mange (<scripRef passage="Le 22:22" id="Lev.xxiii-p14.1" parsed="|Lev|22|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>),—if it was bruised, or
|
|
crushed, or broken, or cut (<scripRef passage="Le 22:24" id="Lev.xxiii-p14.2" parsed="|Lev|22|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22.24"><i>v.</i>
|
|
24</scripRef>), that is, as the Jewish writers understand it, if it
|
|
was, in any of these ways, castrated, if bulls and rams were made
|
|
into oxen and weathers, they might not be offered. Moreover a
|
|
difference is made between what was brought as a free-will offering
|
|
and what was brought as a vow, <scripRef passage="Le 22:23" id="Lev.xxiii-p14.3" parsed="|Lev|22|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. And, though none that had any
|
|
of the forementioned blemishes might be brought for either, yet if
|
|
a beast had any thing superfluous or lacking (that is, as the Jews
|
|
understand it, if there was a disproportion or inequality between
|
|
those parts that are pairs, when one eye, or ear, or leg, was
|
|
bigger than it should be, or less than it should be)—if there was
|
|
no other blemish than this, it might be accepted for a free-will
|
|
offering, to which a man had not before laid himself, nor had the
|
|
divine law laid him, under any particular obligation; but for a vow
|
|
it might not be accepted. Thus God would teach us to make
|
|
conscience of performing our promises to him very exactly, and not
|
|
afterwards to abate in quantity or value of what we had solemnly
|
|
engaged to devote to him. What was, before the vow, in our own
|
|
power, as in the case of a free-will offering, afterwards is not,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ac 5:4" id="Lev.xxiii-p14.4" parsed="|Acts|5|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.5.4">Acts v. 4</scripRef>. It is again and
|
|
again declared that no sacrifice should be accepted if it was thus
|
|
blemished, <scripRef passage="Le 22:20,21" id="Lev.xxiii-p14.5" parsed="|Lev|22|20|22|21" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22.20-Lev.22.21"><i>v.</i> 20,
|
|
21</scripRef>. According to this law great care was taken to search
|
|
all the beasts that were brought to be sacrificed, that there
|
|
might, to a certainty, be no blemish in them. A blemished sacrifice
|
|
might not be accepted even <i>from the hand of a stranger,</i>
|
|
though to such all possible encouragement should be given to do
|
|
honour to the God of Israel, <scripRef passage="Le 22:25" id="Lev.xxiii-p14.6" parsed="|Lev|22|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22.25"><i>v.</i>
|
|
25</scripRef>. By this it appears that strangers were expected to
|
|
come to the house of God from a <i>far country</i> (<scripRef passage="1Ki 8:41,42" id="Lev.xxiii-p14.7" parsed="|1Kgs|8|41|8|42" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.8.41-1Kgs.8.42">1 Kings viii. 41, 42</scripRef>), and that
|
|
they should be welcome, and their offerings accepted, as those of
|
|
Darius, <scripRef passage="Ezr 6:9,10,Isa 56:6,7" id="Lev.xxiii-p14.8" parsed="|Ezra|6|9|6|10;|Isa|56|6|56|7" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.6.9-Ezra.6.10 Bible:Isa.56.6-Isa.56.7">Ezra vi. 9, 10;
|
|
Isa. lvi. 6, 7</scripRef>. The heathen priests were many of them
|
|
not so strict in this matter, but would receive sacrifices for
|
|
their gods that were ever so scandalous; but let strangers know
|
|
that the God of Israel would not be so served. Now, 1. This law was
|
|
then necessary for the preserving of the honour of the sanctuary,
|
|
and of the God that was there worshipped. It was fit that every
|
|
thing that was employed for his honour should be the best of the
|
|
kind; for, as he is the greatest and brightest, so he is the best
|
|
of beings; and he that is the best must have the best. See how
|
|
greatly and justly displeasing the breach of this law was to the
|
|
holy God, <scripRef passage="Mal 1:8,13,14" id="Lev.xxiii-p14.9" parsed="|Mal|1|8|0|0;|Mal|1|13|0|0;|Mal|1|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mal.1.8 Bible:Mal.1.13 Bible:Mal.1.14">Mal. i. 8, 13,
|
|
14</scripRef>. 2. This law made all the legal sacrifices the fitter
|
|
to be types of Christ, the great sacrifice from which all these
|
|
derived their virtue. In allusion to this law, he is said to be
|
|
<i>a Lamb without blemish</i> and <i>without spot,</i> <scripRef passage="1Pe 1:19" id="Lev.xxiii-p14.10" parsed="|1Pet|1|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.1.19">1 Pet. i. 19</scripRef>. As such a priest, so
|
|
such a sacrifice, became us, who was harmless and undefiled. When
|
|
Pilate declared, <i>I find no fault in this man,</i> he did thereby
|
|
in effect pronounce the sacrifice without blemish. The Jews say it
|
|
was the work of the sagan, or suffragan, high priest, to view the
|
|
sacrifices, and see whether they were without blemish or no; when
|
|
Christ suffered, Annas was in that office; but little did those who
|
|
brought Christ to Annas first, by whom he was sent bound to
|
|
Caiaphas, as a sacrifice fit to be offered (<scripRef passage="Joh 18:13,24" id="Lev.xxiii-p14.11" parsed="|John|18|13|0|0;|John|18|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.18.13 Bible:John.18.24">John xviii. 13, 24</scripRef>), think that they were
|
|
answering the type of this law. 3. It is an instruction to us to
|
|
offer to God the best we have in our spiritual sacrifices. If our
|
|
devotions are ignorant, and cold, and trifling, and full of
|
|
distractions, we offer <i>the blind, and the lame, and the sick,
|
|
for sacrifice;</i> but cursed be the deceiver that does so, for,
|
|
while he thinks to put a cheat upon God, he puts a damning cheat
|
|
upon his own soul.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxiii-p15">II. That no beast should be offered in
|
|
sacrifice before it was eight days old, <scripRef passage="Le 22:26,27" id="Lev.xxiii-p15.1" parsed="|Lev|22|26|22|27" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22.26-Lev.22.27"><i>v.</i> 26, 27</scripRef>. It was provided before
|
|
that the firstlings of their cattle, which were to be dedicated to
|
|
God, should not be brought to him till after the eighth day,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 22:30" id="Lev.xxiii-p15.2" parsed="|Exod|22|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.30">Exod. xxii. 30</scripRef>. Here it is
|
|
provided that no creature should be offered in sacrifice till it
|
|
was eight days old complete. Sooner than that it was not fit to be
|
|
used at men's tables, and therefore not a God's altar. The Jews
|
|
say, "It was because the sabbath sanctifies all things, and nothing
|
|
should be offered to God till at least one sabbath had passed over
|
|
it." It was in conformity to the law of circumcision, which
|
|
children were to receive on the eighth day. Christ was sacrificed
|
|
for us, not in his infancy, though then Herod sought to slay him,
|
|
but in the prime of his time.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxiii-p16">III. That the dam and her young should not
|
|
both be killed in one day, whether in sacrifice or for common use,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 22:28" id="Lev.xxiii-p16.1" parsed="|Lev|22|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>. There is such
|
|
a law as this concerning birds, <scripRef passage="De 22:6" id="Lev.xxiii-p16.2" parsed="|Deut|22|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.6">Deut.
|
|
xxii. 6</scripRef>. This was forbidden, not as evil in itself, but
|
|
because it looked barbarous and cruel to the brute creatures; like
|
|
the tyranny of the king of Babylon, that slew Zedekiah's sons
|
|
before his eyes, and then put out his eyes. It looked ill-natured
|
|
towards the species to kill two generations at once, as if one
|
|
designed the ruin of the kind.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxiii-p17">IV. That the flesh of their thank-offerings
|
|
should be eaten on the same day that they were sacrificed,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 22:29,30" id="Lev.xxiii-p17.1" parsed="|Lev|22|29|22|30" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22.29-Lev.22.30"><i>v.</i> 29, 30</scripRef>. This
|
|
is a repetition of what we had before, <scripRef passage="Le 7:15,19:6,7" id="Lev.xxiii-p17.2" parsed="|Lev|7|15|0|0;|Lev|19|6|19|7" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.15 Bible:Lev.19.6-Lev.19.7"><i>ch.</i> vii. 15; xix. 6, 7</scripRef>. The
|
|
chapter concludes with such a general charge as we have often met
|
|
with, to <i>keep God's commandments,</i> and not to <i>profane his
|
|
holy name,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 22:31,32" id="Lev.xxiii-p17.3" parsed="|Lev|22|31|22|32" osisRef="Bible:Lev.22.31-Lev.22.32"><i>v.</i> 31,
|
|
32</scripRef>. Those that profess God's name, if they do not make
|
|
conscience of keeping his commandments, do but profane his name.
|
|
The general reasons are added: God's authority over them—<i>I am
|
|
the Lord;</i> his interest in them—I am <i>your God;</i> the title
|
|
he had to them by redemption—"I <i>brought you out of the land of
|
|
Egypt,</i> on purpose that I might be your God;" the designs of his
|
|
grace concerning them—<i>I am the Lord that hallow you;</i> and
|
|
the resolutions of his justice, if he had not honour from them, to
|
|
<i>get himself honour</i> upon them—I will be <i>hallowed among
|
|
the children of Israel.</i> God will be a loser in his glory by no
|
|
man at last; but sooner or later will recover his right, either in
|
|
the repentance of sinners or in their ruin.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXIII" n="xxiv" progress="60.71%" prev="Lev.xxiii" next="Lev.xxv" id="Lev.xxiv">
|
|
<h2 id="Lev.xxiv-p0.1">L E V I T I C U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Lev.xxiv-p0.2">CHAP. XXIII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Lev.xxiv-p1">Hitherto the levitical law had been chiefly
|
|
conversant about holy persons, holy things, and holy places; in
|
|
this chapter we have the institution of holy times, many of which
|
|
had been mentioned occasionally before, but here they are all put
|
|
together, only the new moons are not mentioned. All the rest of the
|
|
feasts of the Lord are, I. The weekly feast of the sabbath,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 23:3" id="Lev.xxiv-p1.1" parsed="|Lev|23|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.3">ver. 3</scripRef>. II. The yearly
|
|
feasts, 1. The passover, and the feast of unleavened bread
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 23:4-8" id="Lev.xxiv-p1.2" parsed="|Lev|23|4|23|8" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.4-Lev.23.8">ver. 4-8</scripRef>), to which was
|
|
annexed the offering of the sheaf of firstfruits, <scripRef passage="Le 23:9-14" id="Lev.xxiv-p1.3" parsed="|Lev|23|9|23|14" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.9-Lev.23.14">ver. 9-14</scripRef>. 2. Pentecost, <scripRef passage="Le 23:15-22" id="Lev.xxiv-p1.4" parsed="|Lev|23|15|23|22" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.15-Lev.23.22">ver. 15-22</scripRef>. 3. The solemnities of
|
|
the seventh month. The feast of trumpets on the first day
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 23:23-25" id="Lev.xxiv-p1.5" parsed="|Lev|23|23|23|25" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.23-Lev.23.25">ver. 23-25</scripRef>), the day of
|
|
atonement on the tenth day (<scripRef passage="Le 23:26-32" id="Lev.xxiv-p1.6" parsed="|Lev|23|26|23|32" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.26-Lev.23.32">ver.
|
|
26-32</scripRef>), and the feast of tabernacles on the fifteenth,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 23:33-44" id="Lev.xxiv-p1.7" parsed="|Lev|23|33|23|44" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.33-Lev.23.44">ver. 33</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 23" id="Lev.xxiv-p1.8" parsed="|Lev|23|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 23:1-3" id="Lev.xxiv-p1.9" parsed="|Lev|23|1|23|3" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.1-Lev.23.3"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.23.1-Lev.23.3">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.xxiv-p1.10">Sundry Feasts. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p1.11">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xxiv-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   2 Speak unto the children of
|
|
Israel, and say unto them, <i>Concerning</i> the feasts of the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p2.2">Lord</span>, which ye shall proclaim <i>to
|
|
be</i> holy convocations, <i>even</i> these <i>are</i> my feasts.
|
|
  3 Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day <i>is</i>
|
|
the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work
|
|
<i>therein</i>: it <i>is</i> the sabbath of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p2.3">Lord</span> in all your dwellings.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxiv-p3">Here is, I. A general account of the holy
|
|
times which God appointed (<scripRef passage="Le 23:2" id="Lev.xxiv-p3.1" parsed="|Lev|23|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.2"><i>v.</i>
|
|
2</scripRef>), and it is only his appointment that can make time
|
|
holy; for he is the Lord of time, and as soon as ever he had set
|
|
its wheels a-going it was he that sanctified and blessed one day
|
|
above the rest, <scripRef passage="Ge 2:3" id="Lev.xxiv-p3.2" parsed="|Gen|2|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.2.3">Gen. ii. 3</scripRef>.
|
|
Man may by his appointment make a good day (<scripRef passage="Es 9:19" id="Lev.xxiv-p3.3" parsed="|Esth|9|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Esth.9.19">Esth. ix. 19</scripRef>), but it is God's prerogative to
|
|
make a holy day; nor is any thing sanctified but by the stamp of
|
|
his institution. As all inherent holiness comes from his special
|
|
grace, so all adherent holiness from his special appointment. Now,
|
|
concerning the holy times here ordained, observe, 1. They are
|
|
called <i>feasts.</i> The day of atonement, which was one of them,
|
|
was a fast; yet, because most of them were appointed for joy and
|
|
rejoicing, they are in the general called feasts. Some read it,
|
|
<i>These are my assemblies,</i> but that is co-incident with
|
|
<i>convocations.</i> I would rather read it, These are <i>my
|
|
solemnities;</i> so the word here used is translated (<scripRef passage="Isa 33:20" id="Lev.xxiv-p3.4" parsed="|Isa|33|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.33.20">Isa. xxxiii. 20</scripRef>), where Zion is
|
|
called the <i>city of our solemnities:</i> and, reading it so here,
|
|
the day of atonement was as great a solemnity as any of them. 2.
|
|
They are the feasts of the Lord (<i>my feasts</i>), observed to the
|
|
honour of his name, and in obedience to his command. 3. They were
|
|
proclaimed; for they were not to be observed by the priests only
|
|
that attended the sanctuary, but by all the people. And this
|
|
proclamation was the joyful sound concerning which we read,
|
|
<i>Blessed are the people that know it,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 89:15" id="Lev.xxiv-p3.5" parsed="|Ps|89|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.89.15">Ps. lxxxix. 15</scripRef>. 4. They were to be sanctified
|
|
and solemnized with holy convocations, that the services of these
|
|
feasts might appear the more honourable and august, and the people
|
|
the more unanimous in the performance of them; it was for the
|
|
honour of God and his institutions, which sought not corners and
|
|
the purity of which would be best preserved by the public
|
|
administration of them; it was also for the edification of the
|
|
people in love that the feasts were to be observed as holy
|
|
convocations.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxiv-p4">II. A repetition of the law of the sabbath
|
|
in the first place. Though the annual feasts were made more
|
|
remarkable by the general attendance at the sanctuary, yet these
|
|
must not eclipse the brightness of the sabbath, <scripRef passage="Le 23:3" id="Lev.xxiv-p4.1" parsed="|Lev|23|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. They are here told, 1. That on
|
|
that day they must withdraw themselves from all the affairs and
|
|
business of the world. It is a <i>sabbath of rest,</i> typifying
|
|
our spiritual rest from sin, and in God: <i>You shall do no work
|
|
therein.</i> On other holy days they were forbidden to do any
|
|
servile work (<scripRef passage="Le 23:7" id="Lev.xxiv-p4.2" parsed="|Lev|23|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>),
|
|
but on the sabbath, and the day of atonement (which is also called
|
|
a sabbath), they were to do no work at all, no, not the dressing of
|
|
meat. 2. On that day they must employ themselves in the service of
|
|
God. (1.) It is a <i>holy convocation;</i> that is, "If it lie
|
|
within your reach, you shall sanctify it in a religious assembly:
|
|
let as many as can come to the door of the tabernacle, and let
|
|
others meet elsewhere for prayer, and praise, and the reading of
|
|
the law," as in the schools of the prophets, while prophecy
|
|
continued, and afterwards in the synagogues. Christ appointed the
|
|
New-Testament sabbath to be a holy convocation, by meeting his
|
|
disciples once and again (and perhaps oftener) on the first day of
|
|
the week. (2.) "Whether you have opportunity of sanctifying it in a
|
|
holy convocation or not, yet let it be <i>the sabbath of the Lord
|
|
in all your dwellings.</i> Put a difference between that day and
|
|
other days in your families. It is the <i>sabbath of the Lord,</i>
|
|
the day on which he rested from the work of creation, and on which
|
|
he has appointed us to rest; let it be observed in all your
|
|
dwellings, even now that you dwell in tents." Note, God's sabbaths
|
|
are to be religiously observed in every private house, by every
|
|
family apart, as well as by many families together in holy
|
|
convocations. The sabbath of the Lord in our dwellings will be
|
|
their beauty, strength, and safety; it will sanctify, edify, and
|
|
glorify them.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 23:4-14" id="Lev.xxiv-p4.3" parsed="|Lev|23|4|23|14" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.4-Lev.23.14"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.23.4-Lev.23.14">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xxiv-p5">4 These <i>are</i> the feasts of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p5.1">Lord</span>, <i>even</i> holy convocations, which
|
|
ye shall proclaim in their seasons.   5 In the fourteenth
|
|
<i>day</i> of the first month at even <i>is</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p5.2">Lord</span>'s passover.   6 And on the fifteenth
|
|
day of the same month <i>is</i> the feast of unleavened bread unto
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p5.3">Lord</span>: seven days ye must eat
|
|
unleavened bread.   7 In the first day ye shall have an holy
|
|
convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.   8 But ye
|
|
shall offer an offering made by fire unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p5.4">Lord</span> seven days: in the seventh day <i>is</i> an
|
|
holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work <i>therein.</i>
|
|
  9 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p5.5">Lord</span> spake unto
|
|
Moses, saying,   10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say
|
|
unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and
|
|
shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the
|
|
firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:   11 And he shall
|
|
wave the sheaf before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p5.6">Lord</span>, to
|
|
be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest
|
|
shall wave it.   12 And ye shall offer that day when ye wave
|
|
the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt
|
|
offering unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p5.7">Lord</span>.   13
|
|
And the meat offering thereof <i>shall be</i> two tenth deals of
|
|
fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p5.8">Lord</span> <i>for</i> a sweet savour: and
|
|
the drink offering thereof <i>shall be</i> of wine, the fourth
|
|
<i>part</i> of an hin.   14 And ye shall eat neither bread,
|
|
nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye
|
|
have brought an offering unto your God: <i>it shall be</i> a
|
|
statute for ever throughout your generations in all your
|
|
dwellings.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxiv-p6">Here again the feasts are called the
|
|
<i>feasts of the Lord,</i> because he appointed them. Jeroboam's
|
|
feast, which he <i>devised of his own heart</i> (<scripRef passage="1Ki 12:33" id="Lev.xxiv-p6.1" parsed="|1Kgs|12|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.12.33">1 Kings xii. 33</scripRef>), was an affront to God, and
|
|
a reproach upon the people. These feasts were to be proclaimed in
|
|
their seasons (<scripRef passage="Le 23:4" id="Lev.xxiv-p6.2" parsed="|Lev|23|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>),
|
|
and the seasons God chose for them were in March, May and September
|
|
(according to our present computation), not in winter, because
|
|
travelling would then be uncomfortable, when the days were short,
|
|
and the ways foul; not in the middle of summer, because then in
|
|
those countries they were gathering in their harvest and vintage,
|
|
and could be ill spared from their country business. Thus
|
|
graciously does God consult our comfort in his appointments,
|
|
obliging us thereby religiously to regard his glory in our
|
|
observance of them, and not to complain of them as a burden. The
|
|
solemnities appointed them were, 1. Many and returned frequently,
|
|
which was intended to preserve in them a deep sense of God and
|
|
religion, and to prevent their inclining to the superstitions of
|
|
the heathen. God kept them fully employed in his service, that they
|
|
might not have time to hearken to the temptations of the idolatrous
|
|
neighbourhood they lived in. 2. They were most of them times of joy
|
|
and rejoicing. The weekly sabbath is so, and all their yearly
|
|
solemnities, except the day of atonement. God would thus teach them
|
|
that wisdom's ways are pleasantness, and engage them to his service
|
|
by encouraging them to be cheerful in it and to sing at their work.
|
|
Seven days were days of strict rest and holy convocations; the
|
|
first day and the seventh of the feast of unleavened bread, the day
|
|
of pentecost, the day of the feast of trumpets, the first day and
|
|
the eighth of the feast of tabernacles, and the day of atonement:
|
|
here were six for holy joy and one only for holy mourning. We are
|
|
commanded to <i>rejoice evermore,</i> but not to be evermore
|
|
weeping. Here is,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxiv-p7">I. A repetition of the law of the passover,
|
|
which was to be observed on the fourteenth day of the first month,
|
|
in remembrance of their deliverance out of Egypt and the
|
|
distinguishing preservation of their first-born, mercies never to
|
|
be forgotten. This feast was to begin with the killing of the
|
|
paschal lamb, <scripRef passage="Le 23:5" id="Lev.xxiv-p7.1" parsed="|Lev|23|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>.
|
|
It was to continue seven days, during all which time they were to
|
|
eat sad bread, that was unleavened (<scripRef passage="Le 23:6" id="Lev.xxiv-p7.2" parsed="|Lev|23|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), and the first and last day of
|
|
the seven were to be days of <i>holy rest</i> and <i>holy
|
|
convocations,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 23:7,8" id="Lev.xxiv-p7.3" parsed="|Lev|23|7|23|8" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.7-Lev.23.8"><i>v.</i> 7,
|
|
8</scripRef>. They were not idle days spent in sport and recreation
|
|
(as many that are called Christians spend their holy days), but
|
|
offerings were <i>made by fire unto the Lord</i> at his altar; and
|
|
we have reason to think that the people were taught to employ their
|
|
time in prayer, and praise, and godly meditation.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxiv-p8">II. An order for the offering of a sheaf of
|
|
the first-fruits, upon the second day of the feast of unleavened
|
|
bread; the first is called the <i>sabbath,</i> because it was
|
|
observed as a sabbath (<scripRef passage="Le 23:11" id="Lev.xxiv-p8.1" parsed="|Lev|23|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.11"><i>v.</i>
|
|
11</scripRef>), and, on the morrow after, they had this solemnity.
|
|
A sheaf or handful of new corn was brought to the priest, who was
|
|
to heave it up, in token of his presenting it to the God of Heaven,
|
|
and to wave it to and fro before the Lord, as the Lord of the whole
|
|
earth, and this should be accepted for them as a thankful
|
|
acknowledgment of God's mercy to them in clothing their fields with
|
|
corn, and of their dependence upon God, and desire towards him, for
|
|
the preserving of it to their use. For it was the expression both
|
|
of prayer and praise, <scripRef passage="Le 23:11" id="Lev.xxiv-p8.2" parsed="|Lev|23|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.11"><i>v.</i>
|
|
11</scripRef>. A lamb for a burnt-offering was to be offered with
|
|
it, <scripRef passage="Le 23:12" id="Lev.xxiv-p8.3" parsed="|Lev|23|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. As the
|
|
sacrifice of animals was generally attended with meat-offerings, so
|
|
this sacrifice of corn was attended with a burnt-offering, that
|
|
bread and flesh might be set together on God's table. They are
|
|
forbidden to eat of their new corn till this handful was offered to
|
|
God; for it was fit, if God and Israel feast together, that he
|
|
should be served first. And the offering of this sheaf of
|
|
first-fruits in the name of the whole congregation did, as it were,
|
|
sanctify to them their whole harvest, and give them a comfortable
|
|
use of all the rest; for then we may <i>eat our bread with joy</i>
|
|
when we have, in some measure, performed our duty to God, and God
|
|
has accepted our works, for thus all our enjoyments become clean to
|
|
us. Now, 1. This law was given now, though there was no occasion
|
|
for putting it in execution till they came to Canaan: in the
|
|
wilderness they sowed no corn; but God's feeding them there with
|
|
<i>bread from heaven</i> obliged them hereafter not to grudge him
|
|
his share of their bread out of the earth. We find that when they
|
|
came into Canaan the manna ceased upon the very day that the sheaf
|
|
of first-fruits was offered; they had eaten of the old corn the day
|
|
before (<scripRef passage="Jos 5:11" id="Lev.xxiv-p8.4" parsed="|Josh|5|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.5.11">Josh. v. 11</scripRef>), and
|
|
then on this day they offered the first-fruits, by which they
|
|
became entitled to the new corn, too (<scripRef passage="Le 23:12" id="Lev.xxiv-p8.5" parsed="|Lev|23|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), so that there was no more
|
|
occasion for manna. 1. This sheaf of first-fruits was typical of
|
|
our Lord Jesus, who has risen from the dead as the <i>first-fruits
|
|
of those that slept,</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 15:20" id="Lev.xxiv-p8.6" parsed="|1Cor|15|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.15.20">1 Cor. xv.
|
|
20</scripRef>. That <i>branch of the Lord</i> (<scripRef passage="Isa 4:2" id="Lev.xxiv-p8.7" parsed="|Isa|4|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.4.2">Isa. iv. 2</scripRef>) was then presented to him, in
|
|
virtue of the sacrifice of himself, the Lamb of God, and it was
|
|
accepted for us. It is very observable that our Lord Jesus rose
|
|
from the dead on the very day that the first-fruits were offered,
|
|
to show that he was the substance of this shadow. 3. We are taught
|
|
by this law to <i>honour the Lord with our substance, and with the
|
|
first-fruits of all our increase,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 3:9" id="Lev.xxiv-p8.8" parsed="|Prov|3|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.3.9">Prov. iii. 9</scripRef>. They were not to eat of their new
|
|
corn till God's part was offered to him out of it (<scripRef passage="Le 23:14" id="Lev.xxiv-p8.9" parsed="|Lev|23|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>), for we must always
|
|
begin with God, begin our lives with him, begin every day with him,
|
|
begin every meal with him, begin every affair and business with
|
|
him; <i>seek first the kingdom of God.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 23" id="Lev.xxiv-p8.10" parsed="|Lev|23|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 23:15-22" id="Lev.xxiv-p8.11" parsed="|Lev|23|15|23|22" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.15-Lev.23.22"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.23.15-Lev.23.22">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xxiv-p9">15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow
|
|
after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the
|
|
wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:   16 Even
|
|
unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty
|
|
days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p9.1">Lord</span>.   17 Ye shall bring out of your
|
|
habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of
|
|
fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; <i>they are</i> the
|
|
firstfruits unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p9.2">Lord</span>.   18
|
|
And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of
|
|
the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be
|
|
<i>for</i> a burnt offering unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p9.3">Lord</span>, with their meat offering, and their drink
|
|
offerings, <i>even</i> an offering made by fire, of sweet savour
|
|
unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p9.4">Lord</span>.   19 Then ye
|
|
shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two
|
|
lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings.  
|
|
20 And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits
|
|
<i>for</i> a wave offering before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p9.5">Lord</span>, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p9.6">Lord</span> for the priest.   21
|
|
And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, <i>that</i> it may be an
|
|
holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work <i>therein:
|
|
it shall be</i> a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout
|
|
your generations.   22 And when ye reap the harvest of your
|
|
land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy
|
|
field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of
|
|
thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the
|
|
stranger: I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p9.7">Lord</span> your
|
|
God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxiv-p10">Here is the institution of the feast of
|
|
<i>pentecost,</i> or <i>weeks,</i> as it is called (<scripRef passage="De 16:9" id="Lev.xxiv-p10.1" parsed="|Deut|16|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.16.9">Deut. xvi. 9</scripRef>), because it was observed
|
|
fifty days, or seven weeks, after the passover. It is also called
|
|
the <i>feast of harvest,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 23:16" id="Lev.xxiv-p10.2" parsed="|Exod|23|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.16">Exod.
|
|
xxiii. 16</scripRef>. For as the presenting of the sheaf of
|
|
first-fruits was an introduction to the harvest, and gave them
|
|
liberty to put in the sickle, so they solemnized the finishing of
|
|
their corn-harvest at this feast. 1. Then they offered a handful of
|
|
ears of barley, now they offered <i>two loaves of wheaten
|
|
bread,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 23:17" id="Lev.xxiv-p10.3" parsed="|Lev|23|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>.
|
|
This was leavened. At the passover they ate unleavened bread,
|
|
because it was in remembrance of the bread they ate when they came
|
|
out of Egypt, which was unleavened; but now at pentecost it was
|
|
leavened, because it was an acknowledgment of God's goodness to
|
|
them in their ordinary food, which was leavened. 2. With that sheaf
|
|
of first-fruits they offered only one lamb for a burnt-offering,
|
|
but with these loaves of first-fruits they offered seven lambs, two
|
|
rams, and one bullock, all for a burnt-offering, so giving glory to
|
|
God, as the Lord of their land and the Lord of their harvest, by
|
|
whose favour they lived and to whose praise they ought to live.
|
|
They offered likewise a kid for a sin-offering, so taking shame to
|
|
themselves as unworthy of the bread they ate, and imploring pardon
|
|
for their sins, by which they had forfeited their harvest-mercies,
|
|
and which they had been guilty of in the receiving of them. And
|
|
lastly, two lambs for a sacrifice of peace-offerings, to beg a
|
|
blessing upon the corn they had gathered in, which would be neither
|
|
sure nor sweet to them without that blessing, <scripRef passage="Hag 1:9" id="Lev.xxiv-p10.4" parsed="|Hag|1|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hag.1.9">Hag. i. 9</scripRef>. These were the only peace-offerings
|
|
that were offered on the behalf of the whole congregation, and they
|
|
were reckoned <i>most holy</i> offerings, whereas other
|
|
peace-offerings were but <i>holy.</i> All these offerings are here
|
|
appointed, <scripRef passage="Le 23:18-20" id="Lev.xxiv-p10.5" parsed="|Lev|23|18|23|20" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.18-Lev.23.20"><i>v.</i>
|
|
18-20</scripRef>. 3. That one day was to be kept with a holy
|
|
convocation, <scripRef passage="Le 23:21" id="Lev.xxiv-p10.6" parsed="|Lev|23|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>.
|
|
It was one of the days on which all Israel was to meet God and one
|
|
another, at the place which the Lord should choose. Some suggest
|
|
that whereas seven days were to make up the feast of unleavened
|
|
bread there was only one day appointed for the feast of pentecost,
|
|
because this was a busy time of the year with them, and God allowed
|
|
them speedily to return to their work in the country. This annual
|
|
feast was instituted in remembrance of the giving of the law upon
|
|
Mount Sinai, the fiftieth day after they came out of Egypt. That
|
|
was the feast which they were told in Egypt must be observed to God
|
|
in the wilderness, as a memorial of which ever after they kept this
|
|
feast. But the period and perfection of this feast was the pouring
|
|
out of the Spirit upon the apostles on the day of this feast
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ac 2:1" id="Lev.xxiv-p10.7" parsed="|Acts|2|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.2.1">Acts ii. 1</scripRef>), in which the
|
|
law of faith was given, fifty days after Christ our passover was
|
|
sacrificed for us. And on that day (as bishop Patrick well
|
|
expresses it) the apostles, having themselves received the
|
|
<i>first-fruits of the Spirit,</i> begat three thousand souls,
|
|
through the word of truth, and presented them, as the first-fruits
|
|
of the Christian church, to God and the Lamb.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxiv-p11">To the institution of the feast of
|
|
pentecost is annexed a repetition of that law which we had before
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 19:9" id="Lev.xxiv-p11.1" parsed="|Lev|19|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.9"><i>ch.</i> xix. 9</scripRef>), by
|
|
which they were required to leave the gleanings of their fields,
|
|
and the corn that grew on the ends of the butts, for the poor,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 23:22" id="Lev.xxiv-p11.2" parsed="|Lev|23|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>. Probably it
|
|
comes in here as a thing which the priests must take occasion to
|
|
remind the people of, when they brought their first-fruits,
|
|
intimating to them that to obey even in this small matter was
|
|
better than sacrifice, and that, unless they were obedient, their
|
|
offerings should not be accepted. It also taught them that the joy
|
|
of harvest should express itself in charity to the poor, who must
|
|
have their due out of what we have, as well as God his. Those that
|
|
are truly sensible of the mercy they receive from God will without
|
|
grudging show mercy to the poor.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 23:23-32" id="Lev.xxiv-p11.3" parsed="|Lev|23|23|23|32" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.23-Lev.23.32"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.23.23-Lev.23.32">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xxiv-p12">23 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p12.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   24 Speak unto the children of
|
|
Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first <i>day</i> of
|
|
the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of
|
|
trumpets, an holy convocation.   25 Ye shall do no servile
|
|
work <i>therein</i>: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire
|
|
unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p12.2">Lord</span>.   26 And the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p12.3">Lord</span> spake unto Moses, saying,
|
|
  27 Also on the tenth <i>day</i> of this seventh month
|
|
<i>there shall be</i> a day of atonement: it shall be an holy
|
|
convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an
|
|
offering made by fire unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p12.4">Lord</span>.
|
|
  28 And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it
|
|
<i>is</i> a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p12.5">Lord</span> your God.   29 For
|
|
whatsoever soul <i>it be</i> that shall not be afflicted in that
|
|
same day, he shall be cut off from among his people.   30 And
|
|
whatsoever soul <i>it be</i> that doeth any work in that same day,
|
|
the same soul will I destroy from among his people.   31 Ye
|
|
shall do no manner of work: <i>it shall be</i> a statute for ever
|
|
throughout your generations in all your dwellings.   32 It
|
|
<i>shall be</i> unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict
|
|
your souls: in the ninth <i>day</i> of the month at even, from even
|
|
unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxiv-p13">Here is, I. The institution of the feast of
|
|
trumpets, on the first day of the seventh month, <scripRef passage="Le 23:24,25" id="Lev.xxiv-p13.1" parsed="|Lev|23|24|23|25" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.24-Lev.23.25"><i>v.</i> 24, 25</scripRef>. That which was now the
|
|
seventh month had been reckoned the first month, and the year of
|
|
jubilee was still to begin with this month (<scripRef passage="Le 25:8" id="Lev.xxiv-p13.2" parsed="|Lev|25|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.8"><i>ch.</i> xxv. 8</scripRef>), so that this was their new
|
|
year's day. It was to be as their other yearly sabbaths, a day of
|
|
holy rest—<i>You shall do no servile work therein;</i> and a day
|
|
of holy work—<i>You shall offer an offering to the Lord;</i>
|
|
concerning these particular directions were afterwards given,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 29:1" id="Lev.xxiv-p13.3" parsed="|Num|29|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.29.1">Num. xxix. 1</scripRef>. That which is
|
|
here made peculiar to this festival is that it was <i>a memorial of
|
|
blowing of trumpets.</i> They blew the trumpet every new moon
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ps 81:3" id="Lev.xxiv-p13.4" parsed="|Ps|81|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.81.3">Ps. lxxxi. 3</scripRef>), but in the
|
|
new moon of the seventh month it was to be done with more than
|
|
ordinary solemnity; for they began to blow at sun-rise and
|
|
continued till sun-set. Now, 1. This is here said to be a
|
|
<i>memorial,</i> perhaps of the sound of the trumpet upon mount
|
|
Sinai when the law was given, which must never be forgotten. Some
|
|
think that it was a memorial of the creation of the world, which is
|
|
supposed to have been in autumn; for which reason this was, till
|
|
now, the first month. The mighty word by which God made the world
|
|
is called <i>the voice of his thunder</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 104:7" id="Lev.xxiv-p13.5" parsed="|Ps|104|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.104.7">Ps. civ. 7</scripRef>); fitly therefore was it
|
|
commemorated by blowing of trumpets, or a memorial of
|
|
<i>shouting,</i> as the Chaldee renders it; for, when the
|
|
<i>foundations of the earth were fastened, all the sons of God
|
|
shouted for joy,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 38:6,7" id="Lev.xxiv-p13.6" parsed="|Job|38|6|38|7" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.6-Job.38.7">Job xxxviii. 6,
|
|
7</scripRef>. 2. The Jewish writers suppose it to have a spiritual
|
|
signification. Now at the beginning of the year they were called by
|
|
this sound of trumpet to shake off their spiritual drowsiness, to
|
|
search and try their ways, and to amend them: the day of atonement
|
|
was the ninth day after this; and thus they were awakened to
|
|
prepare for that day, by sincere and serious repentance, that it
|
|
might be indeed to them a day of atonement. And they say, "The
|
|
devout Jews exercised themselves more in good works between the
|
|
feast of trumpets and the day of expiation than at any other time
|
|
of the year." 3. It was typical of the preaching of the gospel, by
|
|
which joyful sound souls were to be called in to serve God and keep
|
|
a spiritual feast to him. The conversion of the nations to the
|
|
faith of Christ is said to be by the <i>blowing of a great
|
|
trumpet,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 27:13" id="Lev.xxiv-p13.7" parsed="|Isa|27|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.27.13">Isa. xxvii.
|
|
13</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxiv-p14">II. A repetition of the law of the day of
|
|
atonement, that is, so much of it as concerned the people. 1. They
|
|
must on this day rest from all manner of work, and not only from
|
|
servile works as on other annual festivals; it must be as strict a
|
|
rest as that of the weekly sabbath, <scripRef passage="Le 23:28,30,31" id="Lev.xxiv-p14.1" parsed="|Lev|23|28|0|0;|Lev|23|30|0|0;|Lev|23|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.28 Bible:Lev.23.30 Bible:Lev.23.31"><i>v.</i> 28, 30, 31</scripRef>. The reason is:
|
|
<i>For it is a day of atonement.</i> Note, The humbling of our
|
|
souls for sin, and the making of our peace with God, is work that
|
|
requires the whole man, and the closest application of mind
|
|
imaginable, and all little enough. He that would do the work of a
|
|
day of atonement in its day, as it should be done, had need lay
|
|
aside the thoughts of every thing else. On that day God <i>spoke
|
|
peace unto his people, and unto his saints;</i> and therefore they
|
|
must lay aside all their worldly business, that they might the more
|
|
clearly and the more reverently hear that voice of joy and
|
|
gladness. Fasting days should be days of rest. 2. They must afflict
|
|
their souls, and this upon pain of being cut off by the hand of
|
|
God, <scripRef passage="Le 23:27,29,32" id="Lev.xxiv-p14.2" parsed="|Lev|23|27|0|0;|Lev|23|29|0|0;|Lev|23|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.27 Bible:Lev.23.29 Bible:Lev.23.32"><i>v.</i> 27, 29,
|
|
32</scripRef>. They must mortify the body, and deny the appetites
|
|
of it, in token of their sorrow for the sins they had committed,
|
|
and the mortifying of their indwelling corruptions. Every soul must
|
|
be afflicted, because every soul was polluted, and guilty before
|
|
God; while none have fulfilled the law of innocency none are exempt
|
|
from the law of repentance, besides that every man must sigh and
|
|
cry for the <i>abominations of the land.</i> 3. The entire day must
|
|
be observed: <i>From even to even you shall afflict your souls</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 23:32" id="Lev.xxiv-p14.3" parsed="|Lev|23|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>), that is,
|
|
"You shall begin your fast, and the expressions of your
|
|
humiliation, in the <i>ninth day of the month at even.</i>" They
|
|
were to leave off all their worldly labour, and compose themselves
|
|
to the work of the day approaching, some time before sun-set on the
|
|
ninth day, and not to take any food (except children and sick
|
|
people) till after sun-set on the tenth day. Note, The eves of
|
|
solemn days ought to be employed in solemn preparation. When work
|
|
for God and our souls is to be done, we should not straiten
|
|
ourselves in time for the doing of it; for how can we spend our
|
|
time better? Of this sabbath the rule here given is to be
|
|
understood: <i>From even unto even shall you celebrate your
|
|
sabbath.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 23:33-44" id="Lev.xxiv-p14.4" parsed="|Lev|23|33|23|44" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.33-Lev.23.44"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.23.33-Lev.23.44">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xxiv-p15">33 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p15.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   34 Speak unto the children of
|
|
Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month <i>shall
|
|
be</i> the feast of tabernacles <i>for</i> seven days unto the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p15.2">Lord</span>.   35 On the first day
|
|
<i>shall be</i> an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work
|
|
<i>therein.</i>   36 Seven days ye shall offer an offering
|
|
made by fire unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p15.3">Lord</span>: on the
|
|
eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall
|
|
offer an offering made by fire unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p15.4">Lord</span>: it <i>is</i> a solemn assembly; <i>and</i>
|
|
ye shall do no servile work <i>therein.</i>   37 These
|
|
<i>are</i> the feasts of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p15.5">Lord</span>,
|
|
which ye shall proclaim <i>to be</i> holy convocations, to offer an
|
|
offering made by fire unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p15.6">Lord</span>,
|
|
a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink
|
|
offerings, every thing upon his day:   38 Beside the sabbaths
|
|
of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p15.7">Lord</span>, and beside your gifts,
|
|
and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings,
|
|
which ye give unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p15.8">Lord</span>.  
|
|
39 Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have
|
|
gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p15.9">Lord</span> seven days: on the first day
|
|
<i>shall be</i> a sabbath, and on the eighth day <i>shall be</i> a
|
|
sabbath.   40 And ye shall take you on the first day the
|
|
boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of
|
|
thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p15.10">Lord</span> your God seven days.  
|
|
41 And ye shall keep it a feast unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p15.11">Lord</span> seven days in the year. <i>It shall be</i>
|
|
a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in
|
|
the seventh month.   42 Ye shall dwell in booths seven days;
|
|
all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths:   43 That
|
|
your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to
|
|
dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I
|
|
<i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p15.12">Lord</span> your God.  
|
|
44 And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxiv-p15.13">Lord</span>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxiv-p16">We have here, I. The institution of the
|
|
feast of tabernacles, which was one of the three great feasts at
|
|
which all the males were bound to attend, and celebrated with more
|
|
expressions of joy than any of them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxiv-p17">1. As to the directions for regulating this
|
|
feast, observe, (1.) It was to be observed <i>on the fifteenth day
|
|
of the seventh month</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 23:34" id="Lev.xxiv-p17.1" parsed="|Lev|23|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.34"><i>v.</i>
|
|
34</scripRef>), but five days after the day of atonement. We may
|
|
suppose, though they were not all bound to attend on the day of
|
|
atonement, as on the three great festivals, yet that many of the
|
|
devout Jews came up so many days before the feast of tabernacles as
|
|
to enjoy the opportunity of attending on the day of atonement. Now,
|
|
[1.] The afflicting of their souls on the day of atonement prepared
|
|
them for the joy of the feast of tabernacles. The more we are
|
|
grieved and humbled for sin, the better qualified we are for the
|
|
comforts of the Holy Ghost. [2.] The joy of this feast recompensed
|
|
them for the sorrow of that fast; for those that <i>sow in
|
|
tears</i> shall <i>reap in joy.</i> (2.) It was to continue eight
|
|
days, the first and last of which were to be observed as sabbaths,
|
|
days of holy rest and holy convocations, <scripRef passage="Le 23:35,36,39" id="Lev.xxiv-p17.2" parsed="|Lev|23|35|23|36;|Lev|23|39|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.35-Lev.23.36 Bible:Lev.23.39"><i>v.</i> 35, 36, 39</scripRef>. The sacrifices to
|
|
be offered on these eight days we have a very large appointment of,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 29:12-39" id="Lev.xxiv-p17.3" parsed="|Num|29|12|29|39" osisRef="Bible:Num.29.12-Num.29.39">Num. xxix. 12</scripRef>, &c.
|
|
(3.) During the first seven days of this feast all the people were
|
|
to leave their houses, and the women and children in them, and to
|
|
dwell in booths made of the boughs of thick trees, particularly
|
|
palm trees, <scripRef passage="Le 23:40,42" id="Lev.xxiv-p17.4" parsed="|Lev|23|40|0|0;|Lev|23|42|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.40 Bible:Lev.23.42"><i>v.</i> 40,
|
|
42</scripRef>. The Jews make the taking of the branches to be a
|
|
distinct ceremony from the making of the booths. It is said, indeed
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ne 8:15" id="Lev.xxiv-p17.5" parsed="|Neh|8|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Neh.8.15">Neh. viii. 15</scripRef>), that they
|
|
<i>made their booths of the branches of trees,</i> which they might
|
|
do, and yet use that further expression of joy, the carrying of
|
|
palm-branches in their hands, which appears to have been a token of
|
|
triumph upon other occasions (<scripRef passage="Joh 12:13" id="Lev.xxiv-p17.6" parsed="|John|12|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.12.13">John
|
|
xii. 13</scripRef>), and is alluded to, <scripRef passage="Re 7:9" id="Lev.xxiv-p17.7" parsed="|Rev|7|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.7.9">Rev. vii. 9</scripRef>. The eighth day some make a
|
|
distinct feast of itself, but it is called (<scripRef passage="Joh 7:37" id="Lev.xxiv-p17.8" parsed="|John|7|37|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.7.37">John vii. 37</scripRef>) <i>that great day of the
|
|
feast;</i> it was the day on which they returned from their booths,
|
|
to settle again in their own houses. (4.) They were to <i>rejoice
|
|
before the Lord God</i> during all the time of this feast,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 23:40" id="Lev.xxiv-p17.9" parsed="|Lev|23|40|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.40"><i>v.</i> 40</scripRef>. The tradition
|
|
of the Jews is that they were to express their joy by dancing, and
|
|
singing hymns of praise to God, with musical instruments: and not
|
|
the common people only, but the wise men of Israel, and their
|
|
elders, were to do it in the court of the sanctuary: for (say they)
|
|
the joy with which a man rejoices in doing a commandment is really
|
|
a great service.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxiv-p18">2. As to the design of this feast,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxiv-p19">(1.) It was to be kept in remembrance of
|
|
their dwelling in tents in the wilderness. Thus it is expounded
|
|
here (<scripRef passage="Le 23:43" id="Lev.xxiv-p19.1" parsed="|Lev|23|43|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.43"><i>v.</i> 43</scripRef>):
|
|
<i>That your generations may know,</i> not only by the written
|
|
history, but by this ocular tradition, <i>that I made the children
|
|
of Israel to dwell in booths.</i> Thus it kept in perpetual
|
|
remembrance, [1.] The meanness of their beginning, and the low and
|
|
desolate state out of which God advanced that people. Note, Those
|
|
that are comfortably fixed ought often to call to mind their former
|
|
unsettled state, when they were but little in their own eyes. [2.]
|
|
The mercy of God to them, that, when they dwelt in tabernacles, God
|
|
not only set up a tabernacle for himself among them, but, with the
|
|
utmost care and tenderness imaginable, hung a canopy over them,
|
|
even the cloud that sheltered them from the heat of the sun. God's
|
|
former mercies to us and our fathers ought to be kept in
|
|
everlasting remembrance. The eighth day was the great day of this
|
|
feast, because then they returned to their own houses again, and
|
|
remembered how, after they had long dwelt in tents in the
|
|
wilderness, at length they came to a happy settlement in the land
|
|
of promise, where they dwelt in goodly houses. And they would the
|
|
more sensibly value and be thankful for the comforts and
|
|
conveniences of their houses when they had been seven days dwelling
|
|
in booths. It is good for those that have ease and plenty sometimes
|
|
to learn what it is to endure hardness.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxiv-p20">(2.) It was a feast of in-gathering, so it
|
|
is called, <scripRef passage="Ex 23:16" id="Lev.xxiv-p20.1" parsed="|Exod|23|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.16">Exod. xxiii. 16</scripRef>.
|
|
When they had gathered in the <i>fruit of their land</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 23:39" id="Lev.xxiv-p20.2" parsed="|Lev|23|39|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.39"><i>v.</i> 39</scripRef>), the vintage as well as
|
|
the harvest, then they were to keep this feast in thankfulness to
|
|
God for all the increase of the year; and some think that the
|
|
eighth day of the feast had special reference to this ground of the
|
|
institution. Note, The joy of harvest ought to be improved for the
|
|
furtherance of our joy in God. <i>The earth is the Lord's and the
|
|
fulness thereof,</i> and therefore whatever we have the comfort of,
|
|
he must have the glory of, especially when any mercy is
|
|
perfected.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxiv-p21">(3.) It was a typical feast. It is supposed
|
|
by many that our blessed Saviour was born much about the time of
|
|
this feast; then he left his mansions of light above to
|
|
<i>tabernacle among us</i> (<scripRef passage="Joh 1:14" id="Lev.xxiv-p21.1" parsed="|John|1|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.1.14">John i.
|
|
14</scripRef>), and he dwelt in booths. And the worship of God
|
|
under the New Testament is prophesied of under the notion of
|
|
keeping the <i>feast of tabernacles,</i> <scripRef passage="Zec 14:16" id="Lev.xxiv-p21.2" parsed="|Zech|14|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zech.14.16">Zech. xiv. 16</scripRef>. For, [1.] The gospel of
|
|
Christ teaches us to dwell in tabernacles, to sit loose to this
|
|
world, as those that have here no continuing city, but by faith,
|
|
and hope and holy contempt of present things, to <i>go out to
|
|
Christ without the camp,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 13:13,14" id="Lev.xxiv-p21.3" parsed="|Heb|13|13|13|14" osisRef="Bible:Heb.13.13-Heb.13.14">Heb.
|
|
xiii. 13, 14</scripRef>. [2.] It teaches us to rejoice before the
|
|
Lord our God. Those are the circumcision, Israelites indeed, that
|
|
always <i>rejoice in Christ Jesus,</i> <scripRef passage="Php 3:3" id="Lev.xxiv-p21.4" parsed="|Phil|3|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Phil.3.3">Phil. iii. 3</scripRef>. And the more we are taken off
|
|
from this world the less liable we are to the interruption of our
|
|
joys.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxiv-p22">II. The summary and conclusion of these
|
|
institutions.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxiv-p23">1. God appointed these feasts (<scripRef passage="Le 23:37,38" id="Lev.xxiv-p23.1" parsed="|Lev|23|37|23|38" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.37-Lev.23.38"><i>v.</i> 37, 38</scripRef>), <i>besides the
|
|
sabbaths and your free-will offerings.</i> This teaches us, (1.)
|
|
That calls to extraordinary services will not excuse us from our
|
|
constant stated performances. Within the days of the feast of
|
|
tabernacles there must fall at least one sabbath, which must be as
|
|
strictly observed as any other. (2.) That God's institutions leave
|
|
room for free-will offerings. Not that we may invent what he never
|
|
instituted, but we may repeat what he has instituted, ordinarily,
|
|
the oftener the better. God is well pleased with a willing
|
|
people.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxiv-p24">2. Moses declared them to the children of
|
|
Israel, <scripRef passage="Le 23:44" id="Lev.xxiv-p24.1" parsed="|Lev|23|44|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.44"><i>v.</i> 44</scripRef>. He
|
|
let them know what God appointed, and neither more nor less. Thus
|
|
Paul delivered to the churches what he had <i>received from the
|
|
Lord.</i> We have reason to be thankful that the feasts of the
|
|
Lord, declared unto us, are not so numerous, nor the observance of
|
|
them so burdensome and costly, as theirs then were, but more
|
|
spiritual and significant, and surer sweeter earnests of the
|
|
everlasting feast, at the last in-gathering, which we hope to be
|
|
celebrating to eternity.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXIV" n="xxv" progress="61.38%" prev="Lev.xxiv" next="Lev.xxvi" id="Lev.xxv">
|
|
<h2 id="Lev.xxv-p0.1">L E V I T I C U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Lev.xxv-p0.2">CHAP. XXIV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Lev.xxv-p1">In this chapter we have, I. A repetition of the
|
|
laws concerning the lamps and the show-bread, <scripRef passage="Le 24:1-9" id="Lev.xxv-p1.1" parsed="|Lev|24|1|24|9" osisRef="Bible:Lev.24.1-Lev.24.9">ver. 1-9</scripRef>. II. A violation of the law against
|
|
blasphemy, with the imprisonment, trial, condemnation, and
|
|
execution, of the blasphemer, <scripRef passage="Le 24:10-14" id="Lev.xxv-p1.2" parsed="|Lev|24|10|24|14" osisRef="Bible:Lev.24.10-Lev.24.14">ver.
|
|
10-14</scripRef>, with <scripRef passage="Le 24:23" id="Lev.xxv-p1.3" parsed="|Lev|24|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.24.23">ver.
|
|
23</scripRef>. III. The law against blasphemy reinforced (<scripRef passage="Le 24:15,16" id="Lev.xxv-p1.4" parsed="|Lev|24|15|24|16" osisRef="Bible:Lev.24.15-Lev.24.16">ver. 15, 16</scripRef>), with sundry other
|
|
laws, <scripRef passage="Le 24:17-23" id="Lev.xxv-p1.5" parsed="|Lev|24|17|24|23" osisRef="Bible:Lev.24.17-Lev.24.23">ver. 17</scripRef>,
|
|
&c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 24" id="Lev.xxv-p1.6" parsed="|Lev|24|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.24"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 24:1-9" id="Lev.xxv-p1.7" parsed="|Lev|24|1|24|9" osisRef="Bible:Lev.24.1-Lev.24.9"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.24.1-Lev.24.9">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.xxv-p1.8">Laws Concerning the Lamps. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxv-p1.9">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xxv-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxv-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   2 Command the children of Israel,
|
|
that they bring unto thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to
|
|
cause the lamps to burn continually.   3 Without the vail of
|
|
the testimony, in the tabernacle of the congregation, shall Aaron
|
|
order it from the evening unto the morning before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxv-p2.2">Lord</span> continually: <i>it shall be</i> a statute
|
|
for ever in your generations.   4 He shall order the lamps
|
|
upon the pure candlestick before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxv-p2.3">Lord</span> continually.   5 And thou shalt take
|
|
fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof: two tenth deals shall be
|
|
in one cake.   6 And thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a
|
|
row, upon the pure table before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxv-p2.4">Lord</span>.   7 And thou shalt put pure
|
|
frankincense upon <i>each</i> row, that it may be on the bread for
|
|
a memorial, <i>even</i> an offering made by fire unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxv-p2.5">Lord</span>.   8 Every sabbath he shall set
|
|
it in order before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxv-p2.6">Lord</span>
|
|
continually, <i>being taken</i> from the children of Israel by an
|
|
everlasting covenant.   9 And it shall be Aaron's and his
|
|
sons'; and they shall eat it in the holy place: for it <i>is</i>
|
|
most holy unto him of the offerings of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxv-p2.7">Lord</span> made by fire by a perpetual statute.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxv-p3">Care is here taken, and orders are given,
|
|
for the decent furnishing of the candlestick and table in God's
|
|
house.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxv-p4">I. The lamps must always be kept burning.
|
|
The law for this we had before, <scripRef passage="Ex 27:20,21" id="Lev.xxv-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|27|20|27|21" osisRef="Bible:Exod.27.20-Exod.27.21">Exod. xxvii. 20, 21</scripRef>. It is here repeated,
|
|
probably because it now began to be put in execution, when other
|
|
things were settled. 1. The people were to provide oil (<scripRef passage="Le 24:2" id="Lev.xxv-p4.2" parsed="|Lev|24|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.24.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), and this, as every thing
|
|
else that was to be used in God's service, must be of the best,
|
|
<i>pure olive-oil, beaten,</i> probably it was double-strained.
|
|
This was to <i>cause the lamps to burn;</i> all our English copies
|
|
read it <i>lamps,</i> but in the original it is singular in
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 24:2" id="Lev.xxv-p4.3" parsed="|Lev|24|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.24.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>—to <i>cause the
|
|
lamp to burn;</i> but plural in <scripRef passage="Le 24:4" id="Lev.xxv-p4.4" parsed="|Lev|24|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.24.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>—<i>he shall order the lamps.</i>
|
|
The seven lamps made all one lamp, in allusion to which the blessed
|
|
Spirit of grace is represented by <i>seven lamps of fire before the
|
|
throne</i> (<scripRef passage="Re 4:5" id="Lev.xxv-p4.5" parsed="|Rev|4|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.4.5">Rev. iv. 5</scripRef>), for
|
|
there are <i>diversities of gifts, but one Spirit,</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 12:4" id="Lev.xxv-p4.6" parsed="|1Cor|12|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.12.4">1 Cor. xii. 4</scripRef>. Ministers are as
|
|
burning and shining lights in Christ's church, but it is the duty
|
|
of people to provide comfortably for them, as Israel for the lamps.
|
|
Scandalous maintenance makes a scandalous ministry. 2. The priests
|
|
were to tend the lamps; they must snuff them, clean the
|
|
candlestick, and supply them with oil, morning and evening,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 24:3,4" id="Lev.xxv-p4.7" parsed="|Lev|24|3|24|4" osisRef="Bible:Lev.24.3-Lev.24.4"><i>v.</i> 3, 4</scripRef>. Thus it is
|
|
the work of the ministers of the gospel to <i>hold forth that word
|
|
of life,</i> not to set up new lights, but, by expounding and
|
|
preaching the word, to make the light of it more clear and
|
|
extensive. This was the ordinary way of keeping the lamps burning;
|
|
but, when the church was poor and in distress, we find its lamps
|
|
fed constantly with <i>oil from the good olives</i> immediately,
|
|
without the ministry of priest or people (<scripRef passage="Zec 4:2,3" id="Lev.xxv-p4.8" parsed="|Zech|4|2|4|3" osisRef="Bible:Zech.4.2-Zech.4.3">Zech. iv. 2, 3</scripRef>); for, though God has tied us
|
|
to means, he has not tied himself to them, but will take effectual
|
|
care that his lamp never go out in the world for want of oil.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxv-p5">II. The table must always be kept spread.
|
|
This was appointed before, <scripRef passage="Ex 25:30" id="Lev.xxv-p5.1" parsed="|Exod|25|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.25.30">Exod. xxv.
|
|
30</scripRef>. And here also, 1. The table was furnished with
|
|
bread; not dainties nor varieties to gratify a luxurious palate,
|
|
but twelve loaves or cakes of bread, <scripRef passage="Le 24:5,6" id="Lev.xxv-p5.2" parsed="|Lev|24|5|24|6" osisRef="Bible:Lev.24.5-Lev.24.6"><i>v.</i> 5, 6</scripRef>. Where there is plenty of
|
|
bread there is no famine; and where bread is not there is no feast.
|
|
There was a loaf for every tribe, for <i>in our Father's house
|
|
there is bread enough.</i> They were all provided for by the divine
|
|
bounty, and were all welcome to the divine grace. Even after the
|
|
revolt of the ten tribes this number of loaves was continued
|
|
(<scripRef passage="2Ch 13:11" id="Lev.xxv-p5.3" parsed="|2Chr|13|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.13.11">2 Chron. xiii. 11</scripRef>), for
|
|
the sake of those few of each tribe that retained their affection
|
|
to the temple and continued their attendance on it. 2. A handful of
|
|
frankincense was put in a golden saucer, upon or by each row,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 24:7" id="Lev.xxv-p5.4" parsed="|Lev|24|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.24.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. When the bread
|
|
was removed, and given to the priests, this frankincense was burnt
|
|
upon the golden altar (I suppose) over and above the daily incense:
|
|
and this was for a memorial instead of the bread, an offering made
|
|
by fire, as the handful of the meat-offering which was burnt upon
|
|
the altar is called the <i>memorial thereof,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 2:2" id="Lev.xxv-p5.5" parsed="|Lev|2|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.2.2"><i>ch.</i> ii. 2</scripRef>. Thus a little was accepted as
|
|
a humble acknowledgment, and all the loaves were consigned to the
|
|
priests. All God's spiritual Israel, typified by the twelve loaves,
|
|
are made through Christ a sweet savour to him, and their prayers
|
|
are said to come up before God <i>for a memorial,</i> <scripRef passage="Ac 10:4" id="Lev.xxv-p5.6" parsed="|Acts|10|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.10.4">Acts x. 4</scripRef>. The word is borrowed from
|
|
the ceremonial law. 3. Every sabbath it was renewed. When the
|
|
loaves had stood there a week, the priests had them to eat with
|
|
other holy things that were to be eaten in the holy place
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 24:9" id="Lev.xxv-p5.7" parsed="|Lev|24|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.24.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>), and new ones
|
|
were provided at the public charge, and put in the room of them,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 24:8" id="Lev.xxv-p5.8" parsed="|Lev|24|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.24.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. The Jews say,
|
|
"The hands of those priests that put on were mixed with theirs that
|
|
took off, that the table might be never empty, but the bread might
|
|
be <i>before the Lord continually.</i>" God is never unprovided for
|
|
the entertainment of those that visit him, as men often are,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Lu 11:5" id="Lev.xxv-p5.9" parsed="|Luke|11|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.11.5">Luke xi. 5</scripRef>. Every one of
|
|
those cakes contained two tenth-deals, that is, two omers of fine
|
|
flour; just so much manna every Israelite gathered on the sixth day
|
|
for the sabbath, <scripRef passage="Ex 16:22" id="Lev.xxv-p5.10" parsed="|Exod|16|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.22">Exod. xvi.
|
|
22</scripRef>. Hence some infer that this show-bread, which was set
|
|
on the table on the sabbath, was intended as a memorial of the
|
|
manna wherewith they were fed in the wilderness. Christ's ministers
|
|
should provide new bread for his house every sabbath day, the
|
|
production of their fresh studies in the scripture, that <i>their
|
|
proficiency may appear to all,</i> <scripRef passage="1Ti 4:1,5" id="Lev.xxv-p5.11" parsed="|1Tim|4|1|0|0;|1Tim|4|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.4.1 Bible:1Tim.4.5">1
|
|
Tim. iv. 1, 5</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 24" id="Lev.xxv-p5.12" parsed="|Lev|24|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.24"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 24:10-23" id="Lev.xxv-p5.13" parsed="|Lev|24|10|24|23" osisRef="Bible:Lev.24.10-Lev.24.23"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.24.10-Lev.24.23">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.xxv-p5.14">The Blasphemy of Shelomith's Son; The
|
|
Punishment of Shelomith's Son. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxv-p5.15">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xxv-p6">10 And the son of an Israelitish woman, whose
|
|
father <i>was</i> an Egyptian, went out among the children of
|
|
Israel: and this son of the Israelitish <i>woman</i> and a man of
|
|
Israel strove together in the camp;   11 And the Israelitish
|
|
woman's son blasphemed the name <i>of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxv-p6.1">Lord</span>,</i> and cursed. And they brought him unto
|
|
Moses: (and his mother's name <i>was</i> Shelomith, the daughter of
|
|
Dibri, of the tribe of Dan:)   12 And they put him in ward,
|
|
that the mind of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxv-p6.2">Lord</span> might be
|
|
showed them.   13 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxv-p6.3">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   14 Bring forth him that hath
|
|
cursed without the camp; and let all that heard <i>him</i> lay
|
|
their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him.
|
|
  15 And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying,
|
|
Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin.   16 And he that
|
|
blasphemeth the name of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxv-p6.4">Lord</span>, he
|
|
shall surely be put to death, <i>and</i> all the congregation shall
|
|
certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in
|
|
the land, when he blasphemeth the name <i>of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxv-p6.5">Lord</span>,</i> shall be put to death.   17 And
|
|
he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death.   18 And
|
|
he that killeth a beast shall make it good; beast for beast.  
|
|
19 And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour; as he hath done,
|
|
so shall it be done to him;   20 Breach for breach, eye for
|
|
eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so
|
|
shall it be done to him <i>again.</i>   21 And he that killeth
|
|
a beast, he shall restore it: and he that killeth a man, he shall
|
|
be put to death.   22 Ye shall have one manner of law, as well
|
|
for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I <i>am</i>
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxv-p6.6">Lord</span> your God.   23 And
|
|
Moses spake to the children of Israel, that they should bring forth
|
|
him that had cursed out of the camp, and stone him with stones. And
|
|
the children of Israel did as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxv-p6.7">Lord</span> commanded Moses.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxv-p7">Evil manners, we say, beget good laws. We
|
|
have here an account of the evil manners of a certain nameless
|
|
mongrel Israelite, and the good laws occasioned thereby.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxv-p8">I. The offender was the son of an Egyptian
|
|
father and an Israelitish mother (<scripRef passage="Le 24:10" id="Lev.xxv-p8.1" parsed="|Lev|24|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.24.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>); his mother was of the tribe of
|
|
Dan, <scripRef passage="Le 24:11" id="Lev.xxv-p8.2" parsed="|Lev|24|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.24.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. Neither
|
|
he nor his father is named, but his mother only, who was an
|
|
Israelite. This notice is taken of his parentage either, 1. To
|
|
intimate what occasioned the quarrel he was engaged in. The Jews
|
|
say, "He offered to set up his tent among the Danites in the right
|
|
of his mother, but was justly opposed by some or other of that
|
|
tribe, and informed that his father being an Egyptian he had no
|
|
part nor lot in the matter, but must look upon himself as a
|
|
stranger." Or, 2. To show the common ill effect of such mixed
|
|
marriages. When a daughter of Israel would marry an idolatrous
|
|
malignant Egyptian, what could be the fruit of such a marriage but
|
|
a blasphemer? For the children will be apt to take after the worse
|
|
side, whichsoever it is, and will sooner learn of an Egyptian
|
|
father to blaspheme than of an Israelitish mother to pray and
|
|
praise.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxv-p9">II. The occasion of the offence was
|
|
contention: He <i>strove with a man of Israel.</i> The mixed
|
|
multitude of Egyptians that came up with Israel (<scripRef passage="Ex 12:38" id="Lev.xxv-p9.1" parsed="|Exod|12|38|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.38">Exod. xii. 38</scripRef>) were in many ways hurtful to
|
|
them, and this was one, they were often the authors of strife. The
|
|
way to preserve the peace of the church is to preserve the purity
|
|
of it. In this strife he broke out into ill language. Note, When
|
|
quarrels begin we know not what mischief they will make before they
|
|
end, nor how treat a matter a little fire may kindle. When men's
|
|
passion is up they are apt to forget both their reason and their
|
|
religion, which is a good reason why we should not be apt either to
|
|
give or to resent provocation, but leave off strife before it be
|
|
meddled with, because the beginning of it is <i>as the letting
|
|
forth of water.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxv-p10">III. The offence itself was blasphemy and
|
|
cursing, <scripRef passage="Le 24:11" id="Lev.xxv-p10.1" parsed="|Lev|24|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.24.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. It
|
|
is supposed that his cause came to be heard before the judges, who
|
|
determined that he had no right to the privileges of an Israelite,
|
|
his father being an Egyptian, and that, being enraged at the
|
|
sentence, 1. He <i>blasphemed the name of the Lord.</i> He
|
|
blasphemed <i>the name,</i> that is, he blasphemed God, who is
|
|
known by his name only, not by his nature, or any similitude. Not
|
|
as if God were a mere name, but his is a name above every name. The
|
|
translators add <i>of the Lord,</i> which is implied, but not
|
|
expressed, in the original, for the greater reverence of the divine
|
|
Majesty: it is a shame that it should be found on record that the
|
|
very name of Jehovah should be blasphemed; <i>tell it not in
|
|
Gath.</i> It is a fond conceit of the superstitious Jews that his
|
|
blasphemy was in pronouncing the name of <i>Jehovah,</i> which they
|
|
call ineffable: he that made himself known by that name never
|
|
forbade the calling of him by that name. It is probable that
|
|
finding himself aggrieved by the divine appointment, which
|
|
separated between the Israelites and strangers, he impudently
|
|
reproached both the law and the Law-maker, and set him at defiance.
|
|
2. He cursed either God himself (and then his cursing was the same
|
|
with blaspheming) or the person with whom he strove. Imprecations
|
|
of mischief are the hellish language of hasty passion, as well as
|
|
of rooted malice. Or perhaps he cursed the judges that gave
|
|
sentence against him; he flew in the face of the court, and
|
|
ridiculed the processes of it; thus he added sin to sin.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxv-p11">IV. The caution with which he was proceeded
|
|
against for this sin. The witnesses or inferior judges brought him
|
|
and his case (which was somewhat extraordinary) unto Moses
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 24:11" id="Lev.xxv-p11.1" parsed="|Lev|24|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.24.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>), according
|
|
to the order settled (<scripRef passage="Ex 18:22" id="Lev.xxv-p11.2" parsed="|Exod|18|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.22">Exod. xviii.
|
|
22</scripRef>), and Moses himself would not give judgment hastily,
|
|
but committed the offender into custody, till he had consulted the
|
|
oracle in this case. Note, Judges must deliberate; both those that
|
|
give the verdict and those that give the sentence must consider
|
|
diligently what they do, and do nothing rashly, for <i>the judgment
|
|
is God's</i> (<scripRef passage="De 1:17" id="Lev.xxv-p11.3" parsed="|Deut|1|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.17">Deut. i. 17</scripRef>),
|
|
and before him there will be a rehearing of the cause. They waited
|
|
to know what was <i>the mind of the Lord,</i> whether he was to be
|
|
put to death by the hand of the magistrate or to be left to the
|
|
judgment of God: or, rather, they wanted to know whether he should
|
|
be stoned, as those were to be that only cursed their
|
|
<i>parents</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 20:9" id="Lev.xxv-p11.4" parsed="|Lev|20|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.9"><i>ch.</i> xx.
|
|
9</scripRef>), or whether, the crime being so much greater, some
|
|
sorer punishment should be inflicted on him. Note, Those that sit
|
|
in judgment should sincerely desire, and by prayer and the use of
|
|
all good means should endeavour to <i>know the mind of the
|
|
Lord,</i> because they <i>judge for him</i> (<scripRef passage="2Ch 19:6" id="Lev.xxv-p11.5" parsed="|2Chr|19|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.19.6">2 Chron. xix. 6</scripRef>) and to him they are
|
|
accountable.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxv-p12">V. Sentence passed upon this offender by
|
|
the righteous Judge of heaven and earth himself: <i>Let all the
|
|
congregation stone him,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 24:14" id="Lev.xxv-p12.1" parsed="|Lev|24|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.24.14"><i>v.</i>
|
|
14</scripRef>. God could have cut him off by an immediate stroke
|
|
from heaven, but he would put this honour upon the institution of
|
|
magistracy to make use of it for the supporting and vindicating of
|
|
his own glory in the world. Observe, 1. The place of execution
|
|
appointed: <i>Bring him forth without the camp.</i> To signify
|
|
their detestation of the crime, they must thus cast out the
|
|
criminal as an abominable branch, and separate him from them as an
|
|
unclean thing and unworthy a place in the camp of Israel. 2. The
|
|
executioners: <i>Let all the congregation</i> do it, to show their
|
|
zeal for the honour of God's name. Every man should have a stone to
|
|
throw at him that blasphemes God, reckoning himself nearly
|
|
concerned in the reproaches cast on God, <scripRef passage="Ps 69:9" id="Lev.xxv-p12.2" parsed="|Ps|69|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.9">Ps. lxix. 9</scripRef>. Thus also the greater terror
|
|
would be cast upon the congregation; those that once helped to
|
|
stone a blasphemer would ever after dread every thing that bordered
|
|
upon blasphemy, that looked like it or looked towards it. 3. The
|
|
solemnity of the execution; before the congregation stoned him, the
|
|
witnesses were to <i>lay their hands upon his head.</i> The Jews
|
|
say that this was used in the execution of no criminals but
|
|
blasphemers; and that it was done with words to this purport,
|
|
"<i>Thy blood be upon thy own head, for thou thyself hast
|
|
occasioned it.</i> Let no blame be laid on the law, judges, juries,
|
|
or witnesses; <i>if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear
|
|
it.</i>"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxv-p13">VI. A standing law made upon this occasion
|
|
for the stoning of blasphemers, <scripRef passage="Le 24:15,16" id="Lev.xxv-p13.1" parsed="|Lev|24|15|24|16" osisRef="Bible:Lev.24.15-Lev.24.16"><i>v.</i> 15, 16</scripRef>. Magistrates are the
|
|
guardians of both tables, and ought to be as jealous for the honour
|
|
of God against those that speak contemptuously of his being and
|
|
government as for the public peace and safety against the
|
|
disturbers of them. 1. A great stress is laid upon this law, as in
|
|
no case to be dispensed with: <i>He shall surely be put to death;
|
|
they shall certainly stone him.</i> Those that lightly esteemed
|
|
God's honour might think it hard to make a man an offender for a
|
|
word (words are but wind); but God would let them know that they
|
|
must not make light of such words as these, which come from malice
|
|
against God in the heart of him that speaks, and must occasion
|
|
either great guilt or great grief to those that hear. 2. It is made
|
|
to extend to the strangers that sojourned among them, as well as
|
|
those that were born in the land. God never made any law to compel
|
|
strangers to be circumcised and embrace the Jewish religion
|
|
(proselytes made by force would be no honour to the God of Israel),
|
|
but he made a law to restrain strangers from speaking evil of the
|
|
God of Israel. 3. He that was put to death for blasphemy is said to
|
|
<i>bear his sin,</i> in the punishment of it; no sacrifice being
|
|
appointed, on the head of which the sin might be transferred, he
|
|
himself was to bear it upon his own head, as a sacrifice to divine
|
|
justice. So <i>his own tongue fell upon him</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 64:8" id="Lev.xxv-p13.2" parsed="|Ps|64|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.64.8">Ps. lxiv. 8</scripRef>), and the tongue of a blasphemer
|
|
will fall heavily.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxv-p14">VII. A repetition of some other laws
|
|
annexed to this new law. 1. That murder should be punished with
|
|
death (<scripRef passage="Le 24:17" id="Lev.xxv-p14.1" parsed="|Lev|24|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.24.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>, and
|
|
again <scripRef passage="Le 24:21" id="Lev.xxv-p14.2" parsed="|Lev|24|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.24.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>),
|
|
according to an ancient law in Noah's time (<scripRef passage="Ge 9:6" id="Lev.xxv-p14.3" parsed="|Gen|9|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.6">Gen. ix. 6</scripRef>), and the very law of nature,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 4:10" id="Lev.xxv-p14.4" parsed="|Gen|4|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.10">Gen. iv. 10</scripRef>. 2. That maimers
|
|
should in like manner be punished by the law of retaliation,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 24:19,20" id="Lev.xxv-p14.5" parsed="|Lev|24|19|24|20" osisRef="Bible:Lev.24.19-Lev.24.20"><i>v.</i> 19, 20</scripRef>. Not
|
|
that men might in these cases be their own avengers, but they might
|
|
appeal to the civil magistrate, who should award suffering to the
|
|
injurious and satisfaction to the injured as should be thought fit
|
|
in proportion to the hurt done. This law we had before, <scripRef passage="Ex 22:4,5" id="Lev.xxv-p14.6" parsed="|Exod|22|4|22|5" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.4-Exod.22.5">Exod. xxii. 4, 5</scripRef>. And it was more
|
|
agreeable to that dispensation, in which were revealed the rigour
|
|
of the law and what sin deserved, than to the dispensation we are
|
|
under, in which are revealed the grace of the gospel and the
|
|
remission of sins: and therefore our Saviour has set aside this law
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Mt 5:38,39" id="Lev.xxv-p14.7" parsed="|Matt|5|38|5|39" osisRef="Bible:Matt.5.38-Matt.5.39">Matt. v. 38, 39</scripRef>), not to
|
|
restrain magistrates from executing public justice, but to restrain
|
|
us all from returning personal injuries and to oblige us to forgive
|
|
as we are and hope to be forgiven. 3. That hurt done wilfully to a
|
|
neighbour's cattle should be punished by making good the damage,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 24:18,21" id="Lev.xxv-p14.8" parsed="|Lev|24|18|0|0;|Lev|24|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.24.18 Bible:Lev.24.21"><i>v.</i> 18, 21</scripRef>. Thus
|
|
the divine law took not only their lives, but their goods also
|
|
under its protection. Those beasts which belonged to no particular
|
|
person, but were, as our law speaks, <i>ferae naturae—of a wild
|
|
nature,</i> it was lawful for them to kill; but not those which any
|
|
man had a property in. Does God take care for oxen? Yes; for our
|
|
sakes he does. 4. That strangers, as well as native Israelites,
|
|
should be both entitled to the benefit of this law, so as not to
|
|
suffer wrong, and liable to the penalty of this law in case they
|
|
did wrong. And, it should seem, this is it that brings in these
|
|
laws here, to show how equitable it was that strangers as well as
|
|
Israelites should be punished for blasphemy, because strangers as
|
|
well as Israelites were punishable for other crimes. And there may
|
|
be this further reason for the recognition of these laws here, God
|
|
would hereby show what provision he had made for man's safety, in
|
|
punishing those that were injurious to him, which should be an
|
|
argument with magistrates to be jealous for his honour, and to
|
|
punish those that blasphemed his name. If God took care for their
|
|
comfort, they ought to take care for his glory.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxv-p15">VIII. The execution of the blasphemer.
|
|
Moses did, as it were, sign the warrant or it: He <i>spoke unto the
|
|
children of Israel</i> to do it, and they <i>did as the Lord
|
|
commanded Moses,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 24:23" id="Lev.xxv-p15.1" parsed="|Lev|24|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.24.23"><i>v.</i>
|
|
23</scripRef>. This teaches that death is the wages of sin, and
|
|
that blasphemy in particular is an <i>iniquity to be punished by
|
|
the judges.</i> But, if those who thus profane the name of God
|
|
escape punishment from men, yet the Lord our God will not suffer
|
|
them to escape his righteous judgments. This blasphemer was the
|
|
first that died by the law of Moses. Stephen, the first that died
|
|
for the gospel, died by the abuse of this law; the martyr and the
|
|
malefactor suffered the same death: but how vast the difference
|
|
between them!</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXV" n="xxvi" progress="61.76%" prev="Lev.xxv" next="Lev.xxvii" id="Lev.xxvi">
|
|
<h2 id="Lev.xxvi-p0.1">L E V I T I C U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Lev.xxvi-p0.2">CHAP. XXV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Lev.xxvi-p1">The law of this chapter concerns the lands and
|
|
estates of the Israelites in Canaan, the occupying and transferring
|
|
of which were to be under the divine direction, as well as the
|
|
management of religious worship; for, as the tabernacle was a holy
|
|
house, so Canaan was a holy land; and upon that account, as much as
|
|
any thing, it was the glory of all lands. In token of a peculiar
|
|
title which God had to this land, and a right to dispose of it, he
|
|
appointed, I. That every seventh year should be a year of rest from
|
|
occupying the land, a sabbatical year, <scripRef passage="Le 25:1-7" id="Lev.xxvi-p1.1" parsed="|Lev|25|1|25|7" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.1-Lev.25.7">ver. 1-7</scripRef>. In this God expected from them
|
|
extraordinary instances of faith and obedience, and they might
|
|
expect from God extraordinary instances of power and goodness in
|
|
providing for them, <scripRef passage="Le 25:18-22" id="Lev.xxvi-p1.2" parsed="|Lev|25|18|25|22" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.18-Lev.25.22">ver.
|
|
18-22</scripRef>. II. That every fiftieth year should be a year of
|
|
jubilee, that is, 1. A year of release of debts and mortgages, and
|
|
return to the possession of their alienated lands, <scripRef passage="Le 25:8-17" id="Lev.xxvi-p1.3" parsed="|Lev|25|8|25|17" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.8-Lev.25.17">ver. 8-17</scripRef>. Particular directions
|
|
are given, (1.) Concerning the sale and redemption of lands,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 25:23-28" id="Lev.xxvi-p1.4" parsed="|Lev|25|23|25|28" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.23-Lev.25.28">ver. 23-28</scripRef>. (2.) Of
|
|
houses in cities and villages, with a proviso for Levite-cities,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 25:29-34" id="Lev.xxvi-p1.5" parsed="|Lev|25|29|25|34" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.29-Lev.25.34">ver. 29-34</scripRef>. 2. A year of
|
|
release of servants and bond-slaves. (1.) Here is inserted a law
|
|
for the kind usage of poor debtors, <scripRef passage="Le 25:35-38" id="Lev.xxvi-p1.6" parsed="|Lev|25|35|25|38" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.35-Lev.25.38">ver. 35-38</scripRef>. (2.) Then comes the law for
|
|
the discharge of all Israelites that were sold for servants, in the
|
|
year of jubilee, if they were not redeemed before. [1.] If they
|
|
were sold to Israelites, <scripRef passage="Le 25:39-46" id="Lev.xxvi-p1.7" parsed="|Lev|25|39|25|46" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.39-Lev.25.46">ver.
|
|
39-46</scripRef>. And, [2.] If sold to proselytes, <scripRef passage="Le 25:47-55" id="Lev.xxvi-p1.8" parsed="|Lev|25|47|25|55" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.47-Lev.25.55">ver. 47-55</scripRef>. All these appointments
|
|
have something moral and of perpetual obligation in them, though in
|
|
the letter of them they were not only peculiar to the Jews, but to
|
|
them only while they were in Canaan.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 25" id="Lev.xxvi-p1.9" parsed="|Lev|25|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 25:1-7" id="Lev.xxvi-p1.10" parsed="|Lev|25|1|25|7" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.1-Lev.25.7"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.25.1-Lev.25.7">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.xxvi-p1.11">The Sabbatical Year. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxvi-p1.12">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xxvi-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxvi-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses in Mount Sinai, saying,   2 Speak unto the
|
|
children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land
|
|
which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxvi-p2.2">Lord</span>.   3 Six years thou shalt sow
|
|
thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather
|
|
in the fruit thereof;   4 But in the seventh year shall be a
|
|
sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxvi-p2.3">Lord</span>: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor
|
|
prune thy vineyard.   5 That which groweth of its own accord
|
|
of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of
|
|
thy vine undressed: <i>for</i> it is a year of rest unto the land.
|
|
  6 And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for
|
|
thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired
|
|
servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee,   7
|
|
And for thy cattle, and for the beast that <i>are</i> in thy land,
|
|
shall all the increase thereof be meat.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxvi-p3">The law of Moses laid a great deal of
|
|
stress upon the sabbath, the sanctification of which was the
|
|
earliest and most ancient of all divine institutions, designed for
|
|
the keeping up of the knowledge and worship of the Creator among
|
|
men; that law not only revived the observance of the weekly
|
|
sabbath, but, for the further advancement of the honour of them,
|
|
added the institution of a sabbatical year: <i>In the seventh year
|
|
shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 25:4" id="Lev.xxvi-p3.1" parsed="|Lev|25|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. And hence the Jews collect that
|
|
vulgar tradition that after the world has stood six thousand years
|
|
(a thousand years being to God as one day) it shall cease, and the
|
|
eternal sabbath shall succeed—a weak foundation on which to build
|
|
the fixing of that day and hour which it is God's prerogative to
|
|
know. This sabbatical year began in September, at the end of
|
|
harvest, the seventh month of their ecclesiastical year: and the
|
|
law was, 1. That at the seed-time, which immediately followed the
|
|
end of their in-gathering, they should sow no corn in their land,
|
|
and that they should not in the spring dress their vineyards, and
|
|
consequently that they should not expect either harvest or vintage
|
|
the next year. 2. That what their ground did produce of itself they
|
|
should not claim any property or use in, otherwise than from hand
|
|
to mouth, but leave it for the poor, servants, strangers, and
|
|
cattle, <scripRef passage="Le 25:5-7" id="Lev.xxvi-p3.2" parsed="|Lev|25|5|25|7" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.5-Lev.25.7"><i>v.</i> 5-7</scripRef>. It
|
|
must be a sabbath of rest to the land; they must neither do any
|
|
work about it, nor expect any fruit from it; all annual labours
|
|
must be intermitted in the seventh year, as much as daily labours
|
|
on the seventh day. The Jews say they "began not to reckon for the
|
|
sabbatical year till they had completed the conquest of Canaan,
|
|
which was in the eighth year of Joshua; the seventh year after that
|
|
was the first sabbatical year, and so the fiftieth year was the
|
|
jubilee." This year there was to be a general release of debts
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 15:1,2" id="Lev.xxvi-p3.3" parsed="|Deut|15|1|15|2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.1-Deut.15.2">Deut. xv. 1, 2</scripRef>), and a
|
|
public reading of the law in the feast (<scripRef passage="De 31:10,11" id="Lev.xxvi-p3.4" parsed="|Deut|31|10|31|11" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.10-Deut.31.11">Deut. xxxi. 10, 11</scripRef>), to make it the more
|
|
solemn. Now, (1.) God would hereby show them that he was their
|
|
landlord, and that they were tenants at will under him. Landlords
|
|
are wont to stipulate with their tenants when they shall break up
|
|
their ground, how long they shall till it, and when they shall let
|
|
it rest: God would thus give, grant, and convey, that good land to
|
|
them, under such provisos and limitations as should let them know
|
|
that they were not proprietors, but dependents on their Lord. (2.)
|
|
It was a kindness to their land to let it rest sometimes, and would
|
|
keep it <i>in heart</i> (as our husbandmen express it) for
|
|
posterity, whose satisfaction God would have them to consult, and
|
|
not to use the ground as if it were designed only for one age. (3.)
|
|
When they were thus for a whole year taken off from all country
|
|
business, they would have the more leisure to attend the exercises
|
|
of religion, and to get the knowledge of God and his law. (4.) They
|
|
were hereby taught to be charitable and generous, and not to
|
|
engross all to themselves, but to be willing that others should
|
|
share with them in the gifts of God's bounty, which the earth
|
|
brought forth of itself. (5.) They were brought to live in a
|
|
constant dependence upon the divine providence, finding that, as
|
|
man lives not by bread alone, so he has bread, not by his own
|
|
industry alone, but, if God pleases, by the word of blessing from
|
|
the mouth of God, without any care or pains of man, <scripRef passage="Mt 4:4" id="Lev.xxvi-p3.5" parsed="|Matt|4|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.4.4">Matt. iv. 4</scripRef>. (6.) They were reminded of
|
|
the easy life man lived in paradise, when he ate of every good
|
|
thing, not, as since, in the sweat of his face. Labour and toil
|
|
came in with sin. (7.) They were taught to consider how the poor
|
|
lived, that did neither sow nor reap, even by the blessing of God
|
|
upon a little. (8.) This year of rest typified the spiritual rest
|
|
which all believers enter into through Christ, our true Noah, who
|
|
giveth us comfort and rest <i>concerning our work, and the toil of
|
|
our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 5:29" id="Lev.xxvi-p3.6" parsed="|Gen|5|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5.29">Gen. v. 29</scripRef>. Through him we
|
|
are eased of the burden of worldly care and labour, both being
|
|
sanctified and sweetened to us, and we are enabled and encouraged
|
|
to live by faith. And, as the fruits of this sabbath of the land
|
|
were enjoyed in common, so the salvation wrought out by Christ is a
|
|
common salvation; and this sabbatical year seems to have been
|
|
revived in the Christian church, when the believers had <i>all
|
|
things common,</i> <scripRef passage="Ac 2:44" id="Lev.xxvi-p3.7" parsed="|Acts|2|44|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.2.44">Acts ii.
|
|
44</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 25:8-22" id="Lev.xxvi-p3.8" parsed="|Lev|25|8|25|22" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.8-Lev.25.22"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.25.8-Lev.25.22">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.xxvi-p3.9">Institution of the Jubilee; the Year of the
|
|
Jubilee. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxvi-p3.10">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xxvi-p4">8 And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years
|
|
unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven
|
|
sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years.   9
|
|
Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the
|
|
tenth <i>day</i> of the seventh month, in the day of atonement
|
|
shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.   10
|
|
And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty
|
|
throughout <i>all</i> the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it
|
|
shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his
|
|
possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.  
|
|
11 A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not
|
|
sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather
|
|
<i>the grapes</i> in it of thy vine undressed.   12 For it
|
|
<i>is</i> the jubilee; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the
|
|
increase thereof out of the field.   13 In the year of this
|
|
jubilee ye shall return every man unto his possession.   14
|
|
And if thou sell ought unto thy neighbour, or buyest <i>ought</i>
|
|
of thy neighbour's hand, ye shall not oppress one another:  
|
|
15 According to the number of years after the jubilee thou shalt
|
|
buy of thy neighbour, <i>and</i> according unto the number of years
|
|
of the fruits he shall sell unto thee:   16 According to the
|
|
multitude of years thou shalt increase the price thereof, and
|
|
according to the fewness of years thou shalt diminish the price of
|
|
it: for <i>according</i> to the number <i>of the years</i> of the
|
|
fruits doth he sell unto thee.   17 Ye shall not therefore
|
|
oppress one another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I <i>am</i>
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxvi-p4.1">Lord</span> your God.   18
|
|
Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do
|
|
them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety.   19 And the
|
|
land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell
|
|
therein in safety.   20 And if ye shall say, What shall we eat
|
|
the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our
|
|
increase:   21 Then I will command my blessing upon you in the
|
|
sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years.  
|
|
22 And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat <i>yet</i> of old
|
|
fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat
|
|
<i>of</i> the old <i>store.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxvi-p5">Here is, I. The general institution of the
|
|
jubilee, <scripRef passage="Le 25:8-22" id="Lev.xxvi-p5.1" parsed="|Lev|25|8|25|22" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.8-Lev.25.22"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>,
|
|
&c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxvi-p6">1. When it was to be observed: after
|
|
<i>seven sabbaths of years</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 25:8" id="Lev.xxvi-p6.1" parsed="|Lev|25|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>), whether the forty-ninth or
|
|
fiftieth is a great question among learned men: that it should be
|
|
the seventh sabbatical year, that is, the forty-ninth (which by a
|
|
very common form of speech is called the fiftieth), seems to me
|
|
most probable, and is, I think, made pretty clear and the
|
|
objections removed by that learned chronologer Calvisius; but this
|
|
is not a place for arguing the question. Seven sabbaths of weeks
|
|
were reckoned from the passover to the feast of pentecost (or
|
|
fiftieth day, for so pentecost signifies), and so seven sabbaths of
|
|
years from one jubilee to another, and the seventh is called the
|
|
fiftieth; and all this honour is put upon the sevenths for the sake
|
|
of God's resting the seventh day from the work of creation.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxvi-p7">2. How it was to be proclaimed, with sound
|
|
of trumpet in all parts of the country (<scripRef passage="Le 25:5" id="Lev.xxvi-p7.1" parsed="|Lev|25|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), both to give notice to all
|
|
persons of it, and to express their joy and triumph in it; and the
|
|
word <i>jobel,</i> or <i>jubilee,</i> is supposed to signify some
|
|
particular sound of the trumpet distinguishable from any other; for
|
|
the trumpet that gives an uncertain sound is of little service,
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Co 14:8" id="Lev.xxvi-p7.2" parsed="|1Cor|14|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.14.8">1 Cor. xiv. 8</scripRef>. The trumpet
|
|
was sounded in the close of the day of atonement; thence the
|
|
jubilee commenced, and very fitly; when they had been humbling and
|
|
afflicting their souls for sin, then they were made to hear this
|
|
voice of <i>joy and gladness,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 11:8" id="Lev.xxvi-p7.3" parsed="|Ps|11|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.11.8">Ps.
|
|
xi. 8</scripRef>. When their peace was made with God, then liberty
|
|
was proclaimed; for the removal of guilt is necessary to make way
|
|
for the entrance of all true comfort, <scripRef passage="Ro 5:1,2" id="Lev.xxvi-p7.4" parsed="|Rom|5|1|5|2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.5.1-Rom.5.2">Rom. v. 1, 2</scripRef>. In allusion to this solemn
|
|
proclamation of the jubilee, it was foretold concerning our Lord
|
|
Jesus that he should <i>preach the acceptable year of the Lord,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 61:2" id="Lev.xxvi-p7.5" parsed="|Isa|61|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.61.2">Isa. lxi. 2</scripRef>. He sent his
|
|
apostles to proclaim it with the trumpet of the everlasting gospel,
|
|
which they were to preach to every creature. And it stands still
|
|
foretold that at the last day the trumpet shall sound, which shall
|
|
release the dead out of the bondage of the grave, and restore us to
|
|
our possessions.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxvi-p8">3. What was to be done in that year
|
|
extraordinary; besides the common rest of the land, which was
|
|
observed every sabbatical year (<scripRef passage="Le 25:11,12" id="Lev.xxvi-p8.1" parsed="|Lev|25|11|25|12" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.11-Lev.25.12"><i>v.</i> 11, 12</scripRef>), and the release of
|
|
personal debts (<scripRef passage="De 15:2,3" id="Lev.xxvi-p8.2" parsed="|Deut|15|2|15|3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.2-Deut.15.3">Deut. xv. 2,
|
|
3</scripRef>), there was to be the legal restoration of every
|
|
Israelite to all the property, and all the liberty, which had been
|
|
alienated from him since the last jubilee; so that never was any
|
|
people so secured in their liberty and property (those glories of a
|
|
people) as Israel was. Effectual care was taken that while they
|
|
kept close to God these should not only not be taken from them by
|
|
the violence of others, but not thrown away by their own folly.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxvi-p9">(1.) The property which every man had in
|
|
his dividend of the land of Canaan could not be alienated any
|
|
longer than till the year of jubilee, and then he or his should
|
|
return to it, and have a title to it as undisputed, and the
|
|
possession of it as undisturbed, as ever (<scripRef passage="Le 25:10,13" id="Lev.xxvi-p9.1" parsed="|Lev|25|10|0|0;|Lev|25|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.10 Bible:Lev.25.13"><i>v.</i> 10, 13</scripRef>): "<i>You shall return
|
|
every man to his possession;</i> so that if a man had sold or
|
|
mortgaged his estate, or any part of it, it should then return to
|
|
him or his heirs, free of all charge and encumbrance. Now this was
|
|
no wrong to the purchaser, because the year of jubilee was fixed,
|
|
and every man knew when it would come, and made his bargain
|
|
accordingly. By our law indeed, if lands be granted to a man and
|
|
his heirs, upon condition that he should never sell or alienate
|
|
them, the grant is good, but the condition is void and repugnant:
|
|
<i>Iniquum est ingenuis hominibus</i> (say the lawyers) <i>non esse
|
|
liberam rerum suarum alienationem—It is unjust to prevent free men
|
|
from alienating their own possessions.</i> Yet it is agreed in the
|
|
books that if the king grant lands to a man in fee upon condition
|
|
he shall not alienate, the condition is good. Now God would show
|
|
his people Israel that their land was his, and they were his
|
|
tenants; and therefore he ties them up that they shall not have
|
|
power to sell, but only to make leases for any term of years, not
|
|
going beyond the next jubilee. By this means it was provided, [1.]
|
|
That their genealogies should be carefully preserved, which would
|
|
be of use for clearing our Saviour's pedigree. [2.] That the
|
|
distinction of tribes should be kept up; for, though a man might
|
|
purchase lands in another tribe, yet he could not retain them
|
|
longer than till the year of jubilee, and then they would revert of
|
|
course. [3.] That none should grow exorbitantly rich, by laying
|
|
<i>house to house, and field to field</i> (<scripRef passage="Isa 5:8" id="Lev.xxvi-p9.2" parsed="|Isa|5|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.8">Isa. v. 8</scripRef>), but should rather apply themselves
|
|
to the cultivating of what they had than the enlarging of their
|
|
possessions. The wisdom of the Roman commonwealth sometimes
|
|
provided that no man should be master of above 500 acres. [4.] That
|
|
no family should be sunk and ruined, and condemned to perpetual
|
|
poverty. This particular care God took for the support of the
|
|
honour of that people, and the preserving, not only of that good
|
|
land to the nation in general, but of every man's share to his
|
|
family in particular, for a perpetual inheritance, that it might
|
|
the better typify that good part which shall <i>never be taken
|
|
away</i> from those that have it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxvi-p10">(2.) The liberty which every man was born
|
|
to, if it were sold or forfeited, should likewise return at the
|
|
year of jubilee: <i>You shall return every man to his family,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 25:10" id="Lev.xxvi-p10.1" parsed="|Lev|25|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. Those that
|
|
were sold into other families thereby became strangers to their
|
|
own; but in this year of redemption they were to return. This was
|
|
typical of our redemption by Christ from the slavery of sin and
|
|
Satan, and our restoration to the glorious liberty of the children
|
|
of God. Some compute that the very year in which Christ died was a
|
|
year of jubilee, and the last that ever was kept. But, however that
|
|
be, we are sure it is the Son that <i>makes us free,</i> and then
|
|
we are <i>free indeed.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxvi-p11">II. A law upon this occasion against
|
|
oppression in buying and selling of land; neither the buyer nor the
|
|
seller must overreach, <scripRef passage="Le 25:14-17" id="Lev.xxvi-p11.1" parsed="|Lev|25|14|25|17" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.14-Lev.25.17"><i>v.</i>
|
|
14-17</scripRef>. In short, the buyer must not give less, nor the
|
|
seller take more, than the just value of the thing, considered as
|
|
necessarily returning at the year of jubilee. It must be settled
|
|
what the clear yearly value of the land was, and then how many
|
|
years' purchase it was worth till the year of jubilee. But they
|
|
must reckon only <i>the years of the fruits</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 25:15" id="Lev.xxvi-p11.2" parsed="|Lev|25|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>), and therefore must discount
|
|
for the sabbatical years. It is easy to observe that the nearer the
|
|
jubilee was the less must the value of the land be. <i>According to
|
|
the fewness of the years thou shalt diminish the price.</i> But we
|
|
do not find it so easy practically to infer thence that the nearer
|
|
the world comes to its period the less value we should put upon the
|
|
things of it: because <i>the time is short,</i> and the <i>fashion
|
|
of the world passeth away,</i> let those that <i>buy be as though
|
|
they possessed not.</i> One would put little value on an old house,
|
|
that is ready to drop down. All bargains ought to be made by this
|
|
rule, <i>You shall not oppress one another,</i> nor take advantage
|
|
of one another's ignorance or necessity, <i>but thou shalt fear thy
|
|
God.</i> Note, The fear of God reigning in the heart would
|
|
effectually restrain us from doing any wrong to our neighbour in
|
|
word or deed; for, though man be not, God is <i>the avenger</i> of
|
|
those that <i>go beyond or defraud</i> their brethren, <scripRef passage="1Th 4:6" id="Lev.xxvi-p11.3" parsed="|1Thess|4|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Thess.4.6">1 Thess. iv. 6</scripRef>. Perhaps Nehemiah
|
|
refers to this very law (<scripRef passage="Ne 5:15" id="Lev.xxvi-p11.4" parsed="|Neh|5|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Neh.5.15"><i>ch.</i> v.
|
|
15</scripRef>), where he tells us that he did not oppress those he
|
|
had under his power, <i>because of the fear of God.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxvi-p12">III. Assurance given them that they should
|
|
be no losers, but great gainers, by observing these years of rest.
|
|
It is promised, 1. That they should be safe: <i>You shall dwell in
|
|
the land in safety,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 25:18" id="Lev.xxvi-p12.1" parsed="|Lev|25|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.18"><i>v.</i>
|
|
18</scripRef>, and again, <scripRef passage="Le 25:19" id="Lev.xxvi-p12.2" parsed="|Lev|25|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.19"><i>v.</i>
|
|
19</scripRef>. The word signifies both outward safety and inward
|
|
security and confidence of spirit, that they should be quiet both
|
|
from evil and from the fear of evil. 2. That they should be rich:
|
|
<i>You shall eat your fill.</i> Note, If we be careful to do our
|
|
duty, we may cheerfully trust God with our comfort. 3. That they
|
|
should not want food convenient that year in which they did neither
|
|
sow nor reap: <i>I will command my blessing in the sixth year, and
|
|
it shall bring forth fruit for three years,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 25:21" id="Lev.xxvi-p12.3" parsed="|Lev|25|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. This was, (1.) A standing
|
|
miracle, that, whereas at other times one year did but serve to
|
|
bring in another, the productions of the sixth year should serve to
|
|
bring in the ninth. Note, The blessing of God upon our provision
|
|
will make a little go a great way, and <i>satisfy</i> even <i>the
|
|
poor with bread,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 131:15" id="Lev.xxvi-p12.4" parsed="|Ps|131|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.131.15">Ps. cxxxi.
|
|
15</scripRef>. (2.) A lasting memorial of the manna which was given
|
|
double on the sixth day for two days. (3.) It was intended for an
|
|
encouragement to all God's people, in all ages, to trust him in the
|
|
way of duty, and to cast their care upon him. There is nothing lost
|
|
by faith and self-denial in our obedience.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 25:23-38" id="Lev.xxvi-p12.5" parsed="|Lev|25|23|25|38" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.23-Lev.25.38"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.25.23-Lev.25.38">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xxvi-p13">23 The land shall not be sold for ever: for the
|
|
land <i>is</i> mine; for ye <i>are</i> strangers and sojourners
|
|
with me.   24 And in all the land of your possession ye shall
|
|
grant a redemption for the land.   25 If thy brother be waxen
|
|
poor, and hath sold away <i>some</i> of his possession, and if any
|
|
of his kin come to redeem it, then shall he redeem that which his
|
|
brother sold.   26 And if the man have none to redeem it, and
|
|
himself be able to redeem it;   27 Then let him count the
|
|
years of the sale thereof, and restore the overplus unto the man to
|
|
whom he sold it; that he may return unto his possession.   28
|
|
But if he be not able to restore <i>it</i> to him, then that which
|
|
is sold shall remain in the hand of him that hath bought it until
|
|
the year of jubilee: and in the jubilee it shall go out, and he
|
|
shall return unto his possession.   29 And if a man sell a
|
|
dwelling house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a
|
|
whole year after it is sold; <i>within</i> a full year may he
|
|
redeem it.   30 And if it be not redeemed within the space of
|
|
a full year, then the house that <i>is</i> in the walled city shall
|
|
be established for ever to him that bought it throughout his
|
|
generations: it shall not go out in the jubilee.   31 But the
|
|
houses of the villages which have no wall round about them shall be
|
|
counted as the fields of the country: they may be redeemed, and
|
|
they shall go out in the jubilee.   32 Notwithstanding the
|
|
cities of the Levites, <i>and</i> the houses of the cities of their
|
|
possession, may the Levites redeem at any time.   33 And if a
|
|
man purchase of the Levites, then the house that was sold, and the
|
|
city of his possession, shall go out in <i>the year of</i> jubilee:
|
|
for the houses of the cities of the Levites <i>are</i> their
|
|
possession among the children of Israel.   34 But the field of
|
|
the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it <i>is</i> their
|
|
perpetual possession.   35 And if thy brother be waxen poor,
|
|
and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve him: <i>yea,
|
|
though he be</i> a stranger, or a sojourner; that he may live with
|
|
thee.   36 Take thou no usury of him, or increase: but fear
|
|
thy God; that thy brother may live with thee.   37 Thou shalt
|
|
not give him thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for
|
|
increase.   38 I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxvi-p13.1">Lord</span> your God, which brought you forth out of
|
|
the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, <i>and</i> to be
|
|
your God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxvi-p14">Here is, I. A law concerning the real
|
|
estates of the Israelites in the land of Canaan, and the
|
|
transferring of them. 1. No land should be sold for ever from the
|
|
family to whose lot it fell in the division of the land. And the
|
|
reason given is, <i>The land is mine, and you are strangers and
|
|
sojourners with me,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 25:23" id="Lev.xxvi-p14.1" parsed="|Lev|25|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.23"><i>v.</i>
|
|
23</scripRef>. (1.) God having a particular propriety in this land,
|
|
he would by this restraint keep them sensible of it. The
|
|
possessions of good people, who, having given up themselves to God,
|
|
have therewith given up all they have to him, are in a particular
|
|
manner at his disposal, and his disposal of them must be submitted
|
|
to. (2.) They being <i>strangers and sojourners with him</i> in
|
|
that land, and having his tabernacle among them, to alienate their
|
|
part of that land would be in effect to cut themselves off from
|
|
their fellowship and communion with God, of which that was a token
|
|
and symbol, for which reason Naboth would rather incur the wrath of
|
|
a king than part with the inheritance of his fathers, <scripRef passage="1Ki 21:3" id="Lev.xxvi-p14.2" parsed="|1Kgs|21|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.21.3">1 Kings xxi. 3</scripRef>. 2. If a man was
|
|
constrained through poverty to sell his land for the subsistence of
|
|
his family, yet, if afterwards he was able, he might redeem it
|
|
before the year of jubilee (<scripRef passage="Le 25:24,26,27" id="Lev.xxvi-p14.3" parsed="|Lev|25|24|0|0;|Lev|25|26|0|0;|Lev|25|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.24 Bible:Lev.25.26 Bible:Lev.25.27"><i>v.</i> 24, 26, 27</scripRef>), and the price
|
|
must be settled according to the number of years since the sale and
|
|
before the jubilee. 3. If the person himself was not able to redeem
|
|
it, his next kinsman might (<scripRef passage="Le 25:25" id="Lev.xxvi-p14.4" parsed="|Lev|25|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.25"><i>v.</i>
|
|
25</scripRef>): <i>The redeemer thereof, he that is near unto him,
|
|
shall come and shall redeem,</i> so it might be read. The kinsman
|
|
is called <i>Goel,</i> the redeemer (<scripRef passage="Nu 5:8,Ru 3:9" id="Lev.xxvi-p14.5" parsed="|Num|5|8|0|0;|Ruth|3|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.8 Bible:Ruth.3.9">Num. v. 8; Ruth iii. 9</scripRef>), to whom
|
|
belonged the right of redeeming the land. And this typified Christ,
|
|
who assumed our nature, that he might be our <i>kinsman,</i> bone
|
|
of our bone and flesh of our flesh, and, being the only kinsman we
|
|
have that is able to do it, to him belonged the right of
|
|
redemption. As for all our other kinsmen, their shoe must be
|
|
plucked off (<scripRef passage="Ru 4:6,7" id="Lev.xxvi-p14.6" parsed="|Ruth|4|6|4|7" osisRef="Bible:Ruth.4.6-Ruth.4.7">Ruth iv. 6,
|
|
7</scripRef>); they cannot redeem. But Christ can and hath redeemed
|
|
the inheritance which we by sin had forfeited and alienated, and
|
|
made a new settlement of it upon all that by faith become allied to
|
|
him. We know that this <i>Redeemer liveth,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 19:25" id="Lev.xxvi-p14.7" parsed="|Job|19|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.25">Job xix. 25</scripRef>. And some make this duty of the
|
|
kinsman to signify the brotherly love that should be among
|
|
Christians, inclining them to recover those that are fallen, and to
|
|
restore them with the spirit of meekness. 4. If the land was not
|
|
redeemed before the year of jubilee, then it should return of
|
|
course to him that had sold or mortgaged it: <i>In the jubilee it
|
|
shall go out,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 25:28" id="Lev.xxvi-p14.8" parsed="|Lev|25|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.28"><i>v.</i>
|
|
28</scripRef>. This was a figure of the free grace of God towards
|
|
us in Christ, by which, and not by any price or merit of our own,
|
|
we are restored to the favour of God, and become entitled to
|
|
paradise, from which our first parents, and we in them, were
|
|
expelled for disobedience. 5. A difference was made between houses
|
|
in walled cities, and lands in the country, or houses in country
|
|
villages. Houses in walled cities were more the fruits of their own
|
|
industry than land in the country, which was the immediate gift of
|
|
God's bounty; and therefore, if a man sold a house in a city, he
|
|
might redeem it any time within a year after the sale, but
|
|
otherwise it was confirmed to the purchaser for ever, and should
|
|
not return, no, not at the year of the jubilee, <scripRef passage="Le 25:29,30" id="Lev.xxvi-p14.9" parsed="|Lev|25|29|25|30" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.29-Lev.25.30"><i>v.</i> 29, 30</scripRef>. This provision was made
|
|
to encourage strangers and proselytes to come and settle among
|
|
them. Though they could not purchase land in Canaan to them and
|
|
their heirs, yet they might purchase houses in walled cities, which
|
|
would be most convenient for those who were supposed to live by
|
|
trade. But country houses could be disposed of no otherwise than as
|
|
lands might. 6. A clause is added in favour of the Levites, by way
|
|
of exception from these rules. (1.) Dwelling houses in the cities
|
|
of the Levites might be redeemed at any time, and, if not redeemed,
|
|
should revert in the year of jubilee (<scripRef passage="Le 25:32,33" id="Lev.xxvi-p14.10" parsed="|Lev|25|32|25|33" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.32-Lev.25.33"><i>v.</i> 32, 33</scripRef>), because the Levites had
|
|
no other possessions than cities and their suburbs, and God would
|
|
show that the Levites were his peculiar care; and it was for the
|
|
interest of the public that they should not be impoverished, or
|
|
wormed out of their inheritances. (2.) The fields adjoining to
|
|
their cities (<scripRef passage="Nu 35:4,5" id="Lev.xxvi-p14.11" parsed="|Num|35|4|35|5" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.4-Num.35.5">Num. xxxv. 4,
|
|
5</scripRef>) might not be sold at any time, for they belonged, not
|
|
to particular Levites, but to the city of the Levites, as a
|
|
corporation, who could not alienate without a wrong to their tribe;
|
|
therefore, if any of those fields were sold, the bargain was void,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 25:34" id="Lev.xxvi-p14.12" parsed="|Lev|25|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.34"><i>v.</i> 34</scripRef>. Even the
|
|
Egyptians took care to preserve the <i>land of the priests,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 47:22" id="Lev.xxvi-p14.13" parsed="|Gen|47|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.22">Gen. xlvii. 22</scripRef>. And there
|
|
is no less reason for the taking of the maintenance of the gospel
|
|
ministry under the special protection of Christian governments.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxvi-p15">II. A law for the relief of the poor, and
|
|
the tender usage of poor debtors, and these are of more general and
|
|
perpetual obligation than the former.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxvi-p16">1. The poor must be relieved, <scripRef passage="Le 25:35" id="Lev.xxvi-p16.1" parsed="|Lev|25|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.35"><i>v.</i> 35</scripRef>. Here is, (1.) Our
|
|
brother's poverty and distress supposed: <i>If thy brother be waxen
|
|
poor;</i> not only thy brother by nation as a Jew, but thy brother
|
|
by nature as a man, for it follows, <i>though he be a stranger or a
|
|
sojourner.</i> All men are to be looked upon and treated as
|
|
brethren, for <i>we have all one Father,</i> <scripRef passage="Mal 2:10" id="Lev.xxvi-p16.2" parsed="|Mal|2|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mal.2.10">Mal. ii. 10</scripRef>. Though he is poor, yet still he
|
|
is thy brother, and is to be loved and owned as a brother. Poverty
|
|
does not destroy the relation. Though a son of Abraham, yet he may
|
|
wax poor and fall into decay. Note, Poverty and decay are great
|
|
grievances, and very common: <i>The poor you have always with
|
|
you.</i> (2.) Our duty enjoined: <i>Thou shalt relieve him.</i> By
|
|
sympathy, pitying the poor; by service, doing for them; and by
|
|
supply, giving to them according to their necessity and thy
|
|
ability.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxvi-p17">2. Poor debtors must not be oppressed:
|
|
<i>If thy brother be waxen poor,</i> and have occasion to borrow
|
|
money of thee for the necessary support of his family, <i>take thou
|
|
no usury of him,</i> either for money or victuals, <scripRef passage="Le 25:36,37" id="Lev.xxvi-p17.1" parsed="|Lev|25|36|25|37" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.36-Lev.25.37"><i>v.</i> 36, 37</scripRef>. And thus far
|
|
this law binds still, but could never be thought binding where
|
|
money is borrowed for purchase of lands, trade, or other
|
|
improvements; for there it is reasonable that the lender share with
|
|
the borrower in the profit. The law here is plainly intended for
|
|
the relief of the poor, to whom it is sometimes as great a charity
|
|
to lend freely as to give. Observe the arguments here used against
|
|
extortion. (1.) God patronizes the poor: "<i>Fear thy God,</i> who
|
|
will reckon with thee for all injuries done to the poor: thou
|
|
fearest not them, but fear him." (2.) Relieve the poor, <i>that
|
|
they may live with thee,</i> and some way or other they may be
|
|
serviceable to thee. The rich can as ill spare the hands of the
|
|
poor as the poor can the purses of the rich. (3.) The same argument
|
|
is used to enforce this precept that prefaces all the ten
|
|
commandments: <i>I am the Lord your God which brought you out of
|
|
Egypt,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 25:38" id="Lev.xxvi-p17.2" parsed="|Lev|25|38|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.38"><i>v.</i> 38</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, It becomes those that have received mercy to show mercy. If
|
|
God has been gracious to us, we ought not to be rigorous with our
|
|
brethren.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 25:39-55" id="Lev.xxvi-p17.3" parsed="|Lev|25|39|25|55" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.39-Lev.25.55"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.25.39-Lev.25.55">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.xxvi-p17.4">Oppression of Brethren
|
|
Forbidden. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxvi-p17.5">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xxvi-p18">39 And if thy brother <i>that dwelleth</i> by
|
|
thee be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee; thou shalt not compel
|
|
him to serve as a bondservant:   40 <i>But</i> as an hired
|
|
servant, <i>and</i> as a sojourner, he shall be with thee,
|
|
<i>and</i> shall serve thee unto the year of jubilee:   41 And
|
|
<i>then</i> shall he depart from thee, <i>both</i> he and his
|
|
children with him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto
|
|
the possession of his fathers shall he return.   42 For they
|
|
<i>are</i> my servants, which I brought forth out of the land of
|
|
Egypt: they shall not be sold as bondmen.   43 Thou shalt not
|
|
rule over him with rigour; but shalt fear thy God.   44 Both
|
|
thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, <i>shall
|
|
be</i> of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye
|
|
buy bondmen and bondmaids.   45 Moreover of the children of
|
|
the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and
|
|
of their families that <i>are</i> with you, which they begat in
|
|
your land: and they shall be your possession.   46 And ye
|
|
shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to
|
|
inherit <i>them for</i> a possession; they shall be your bondmen
|
|
for ever: but over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall
|
|
not rule one over another with rigour.   47 And if a sojourner
|
|
or stranger wax rich by thee, and thy brother <i>that dwelleth</i>
|
|
by him wax poor, and sell himself unto the stranger <i>or</i>
|
|
sojourner by thee, or to the stock of the stranger's family:  
|
|
48 After that he is sold he may be redeemed again; one of his
|
|
brethren may redeem him:   49 Either his uncle, or his uncle's
|
|
son, may redeem him, or <i>any</i> that is nigh of kin unto him of
|
|
his family may redeem him; or if he be able, he may redeem himself.
|
|
  50 And he shall reckon with him that bought him from the
|
|
year that he was sold to him unto the year of jubilee: and the
|
|
price of his sale shall be according unto the number of years,
|
|
according to the time of an hired servant shall it be with him.
|
|
  51 If <i>there be</i> yet many years <i>behind,</i>
|
|
according unto them he shall give again the price of his redemption
|
|
out of the money that he was bought for.   52 And if there
|
|
remain but few years unto the year of jubilee, then he shall count
|
|
with him, <i>and</i> according unto his years shall he give him
|
|
again the price of his redemption.   53 <i>And</i> as a yearly
|
|
hired servant shall he be with him: <i>and the other</i> shall not
|
|
rule with rigour over him in thy sight.   54 And if he be not
|
|
redeemed in these <i>years,</i> then he shall go out in the year of
|
|
jubilee, <i>both</i> he, and his children with him.   55 For
|
|
unto me the children of Israel <i>are</i> servants; they <i>are</i>
|
|
my servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: I
|
|
<i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxvi-p18.1">Lord</span> your God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxvi-p19">We have here the laws concerning servitude,
|
|
designed to preserve the honour of the Jewish nation as a free
|
|
people, and rescued by a divine power out of the house of bondage,
|
|
into the glorious liberty of God's sons, his first-born. Now the
|
|
law is,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxvi-p20">I. That a native Israelite should never be
|
|
made a bondman for perpetuity. If he was sold for debt, or for a
|
|
crime, by the house of judgment, he was to serve but six years, and
|
|
to go out the seventh; this was appointed, <scripRef passage="Ex 21:2" id="Lev.xxvi-p20.1" parsed="|Exod|21|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.2">Exod. xxi. 2</scripRef>. But if he sold himself through
|
|
extreme poverty, having nothing at all left him to preserve his
|
|
life, and if it was to one of his own nation that he sold himself,
|
|
in such a case it is here provided, 1. That he should not <i>serve
|
|
as a bond-servant</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 25:39" id="Lev.xxvi-p20.2" parsed="|Lev|25|39|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.39"><i>v.</i>
|
|
39</scripRef>), nor be <i>sold with the sale of a bondman</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 25:42" id="Lev.xxvi-p20.3" parsed="|Lev|25|42|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.42"><i>v.</i> 42</scripRef>); that is,
|
|
"it must not be looked upon that his master that bought him had as
|
|
absolute a property in him as in a captive taken in war, that might
|
|
be used, sold, and bequeathed, at pleasure, as much as a man's
|
|
cattle; no, he shall serve thee as a <i>hired servant,</i> whom the
|
|
master has the use of only, but not a despotic power over." And the
|
|
reason is, <i>They are my servants,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 25:42" id="Lev.xxvi-p20.4" parsed="|Lev|25|42|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.42"><i>v.</i> 42</scripRef>. God does not make his servants
|
|
slaves, and therefore their brethren must not. God had redeemed
|
|
them out of Egypt, and therefore they must never be exposed to sale
|
|
as bondmen. The apostle applies this spiritually (<scripRef passage="1Co 7:23" id="Lev.xxvi-p20.5" parsed="|1Cor|7|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.7.23">1 Cor. vii. 23</scripRef>), <i>You are bought
|
|
with a price, be not the servants of men,</i> that is, "of the
|
|
lusts of men, no, nor of your own lusts;" for, having <i>become the
|
|
servants of God,</i> we must not <i>let sin reign in our mortal
|
|
bodies,</i> <scripRef passage="Ro 6:12,22" id="Lev.xxvi-p20.6" parsed="|Rom|6|12|0|0;|Rom|6|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.12 Bible:Rom.6.22">Rom. vi. 12,
|
|
22</scripRef>. 2. That while he did serve he should not be ruled
|
|
with rigour, as the Israelites were in Egypt, <scripRef passage="Le 25:43" id="Lev.xxvi-p20.7" parsed="|Lev|25|43|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.43"><i>v.</i> 43</scripRef>. Both his work and his usage
|
|
must be such as were fitting for a son of Abraham. Masters are
|
|
still required to <i>give to their servants that which is just and
|
|
equal,</i> <scripRef passage="Col 4:1" id="Lev.xxvi-p20.8" parsed="|Col|4|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Col.4.1">Col. iv. 1</scripRef>. They
|
|
may be used, but must not be abused. Those masters that are always
|
|
hectoring and domineering over their servants, taunting them and
|
|
trampling upon them, that are unreasonable in exacting work and
|
|
giving rebukes, and that rule them with a high hand, forget that
|
|
their Master is in heaven; and what will they do when he rises up?
|
|
as holy Job reasons with himself, <scripRef passage="Job 31:13,14" id="Lev.xxvi-p20.9" parsed="|Job|31|13|31|14" osisRef="Bible:Job.31.13-Job.31.14">Job xxxi. 13, 14</scripRef>. 3. That at the year of
|
|
jubilee he should <i>go out free,</i> he <i>and his children,</i>
|
|
and should <i>return to his own family,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 25:41" id="Lev.xxvi-p20.10" parsed="|Lev|25|41|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.41"><i>v.</i> 41</scripRef>. This typified our redemption
|
|
from the service of sin and Satan by the grace of God in Christ,
|
|
whose <i>truth makes us free,</i> <scripRef passage="Joh 7:32" id="Lev.xxvi-p20.11" parsed="|John|7|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.7.32">John
|
|
vii. 32</scripRef>. The Jewish writers say that, for ten days
|
|
before the jubilee-trumpet sounded, the servants that were to be
|
|
discharged by it did express their great joy by feasting, and
|
|
wearing garlands on their heads: it is therefore called the
|
|
<i>joyful sound,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 89:15" id="Lev.xxvi-p20.12" parsed="|Ps|89|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.89.15">Ps. lxxxix.
|
|
15</scripRef>. And we are thus to rejoice in the liberty we have by
|
|
Christ.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxvi-p21">II. That they might purchase bondmen of the
|
|
heathen nations that were round about them, or of those strangers
|
|
that sojourned among them (except of those seven nations that were
|
|
to be destroyed); and might claim a dominion over them, and entail
|
|
them upon their families as an inheritance, for the year of jubilee
|
|
should give no discharge to them, <scripRef passage="Le 25:44,46" id="Lev.xxvi-p21.1" parsed="|Lev|25|44|0|0;|Lev|25|46|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.44 Bible:Lev.25.46"><i>v.</i> 44, 46</scripRef>. Thus in our English
|
|
plantations the <i>negroes</i> only are used as slaves; how much to
|
|
the credit of Christianity I shall not say. Now, 1. This authority
|
|
which they had over the bondmen whom they purchased from the
|
|
neighbouring nations was in pursuance of the blessing of Jacob,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 27:29" id="Lev.xxvi-p21.2" parsed="|Gen|27|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.29">Gen. xxvii. 29</scripRef>, <i>Let
|
|
people serve thee.</i> 2. It prefigured the bringing in of the
|
|
Gentiles to the service of Christ and his church. <i>Ask of me, and
|
|
I will give thee the heathen for thy inheritance,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 2:8" id="Lev.xxvi-p21.3" parsed="|Ps|2|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.2.8">Ps. ii. 8</scripRef>. And it is promised
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Isa 61:5" id="Lev.xxvi-p21.4" parsed="|Isa|61|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.61.5">Isa. lxi. 5</scripRef>), <i>Strangers
|
|
shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall
|
|
be your vine-dressers;</i> see <scripRef passage="Re 2:26,27" id="Lev.xxvi-p21.5" parsed="|Rev|2|26|2|27" osisRef="Bible:Rev.2.26-Rev.2.27">Rev.
|
|
ii. 26, 27</scripRef>. <i>The upright shall have the dominion in
|
|
the morning,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 49:14" id="Lev.xxvi-p21.6" parsed="|Ps|49|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.49.14">Ps. xlix.
|
|
14</scripRef>. 3. It intimates that none shall have the benefit of
|
|
the gospel jubilee but those only that are Israelites indeed, and
|
|
the children of Abraham by faith: as for those that continue
|
|
heathenish, they continue bondmen. See this turned upon the
|
|
unbelieving Jews themselves, <scripRef passage="Ga 4:25" id="Lev.xxvi-p21.7" parsed="|Gal|4|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.4.25">Gal. iv.
|
|
25</scripRef>, where Jerusalem, when she had rejected Christ, is
|
|
said to be <i>in bondage with her children.</i> Let me only add
|
|
here that, though they are not forbidden to rule their bondmen with
|
|
rigour, yet the Jewish doctors say, "It is the property of mercy,
|
|
and way of wisdom, that a man should be compassionate, and not make
|
|
his yoke heavy upon any servant that he has."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxvi-p22">III. That if an Israelite sold himself for
|
|
a servant to a wealthy proselyte that sojourned among them care
|
|
should be taken that he should have the same advantages as if he
|
|
had sold himself to an Israelite, and in some respects greater. 1.
|
|
That he should not serve as a bondman, but as a hired servant, and
|
|
not to be <i>ruled with rigour</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 25:53" id="Lev.xxvi-p22.1" parsed="|Lev|25|53|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.53"><i>v.</i> 53</scripRef>), <i>in thy sight,</i> which
|
|
intimated that the Jewish magistrates should particularly have an
|
|
eye to him, and, if he were abused, should take cognizance of it,
|
|
and redress his grievances, though the injured servant did not
|
|
himself complain. Also he was to go free at the year of jubilee,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 25:54" id="Lev.xxvi-p22.2" parsed="|Lev|25|54|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.54"><i>v.</i> 54</scripRef>. Though the
|
|
sons of strangers might serve them for ever, yet the sons of Israel
|
|
might not serve strangers for ever; yet the servant here, having
|
|
made himself a slave by his own act and deed, should not go out in
|
|
the seventh year of release, but in the jubilee only. 2. That he
|
|
should have this further advantage that he might be redeemed again
|
|
before the year of jubilee, <scripRef passage="Le 25:48,49" id="Lev.xxvi-p22.3" parsed="|Lev|25|48|25|49" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.48-Lev.25.49"><i>v.</i> 48, 49</scripRef>. He that had sold himself
|
|
to an Israelite might, if ever he was able, redeem himself, but his
|
|
relations had no right to redeem him. "But if a man sold himself to
|
|
a stranger," the Jews say, "his relations were urged to redeem him;
|
|
if they did not, it was fit that he should be redeemed at the
|
|
public charge," which we find done, <scripRef passage="Ne 5:8" id="Lev.xxvi-p22.4" parsed="|Neh|5|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Neh.5.8">Neh.
|
|
v. 8</scripRef>. The price of his ransom was to be computed
|
|
according to the prospect of the year of jubilee (<scripRef passage="Le 25:50-52" id="Lev.xxvi-p22.5" parsed="|Lev|25|50|25|52" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.50-Lev.25.52"><i>v.</i> 50-52</scripRef>), as in the
|
|
redemption of land, <scripRef passage="Le 25:15,16" id="Lev.xxvi-p22.6" parsed="|Lev|25|15|25|16" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.15-Lev.25.16"><i>v.</i> 15,
|
|
16</scripRef>. The learned bishop Patrick quotes one of the Jewish
|
|
rabbin for an evangelical exposition of that appointment (<scripRef passage="Le 25:48" id="Lev.xxvi-p22.7" parsed="|Lev|25|48|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.25.48"><i>v.</i> 48</scripRef>), <i>One of his brethren
|
|
shall redeem him.</i> "This Redeemer," says the rabbi, "<i>is the
|
|
Messiah, the Son of David.</i>" They expected this Messiah to be
|
|
their Redeemer out of their captivity, and to restore them to their
|
|
own land again; but we welcome him as the Redeemer who shall come
|
|
to Zion, and shall <i>turn away ungodliness from Jacob,</i> for he
|
|
shall <i>save his people from their sins;</i> and under this notion
|
|
there were those that <i>looked for redemption in
|
|
Jerusalem.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXVI" n="xxvii" progress="62.52%" prev="Lev.xxvi" next="Lev.xxviii" id="Lev.xxvii">
|
|
<h2 id="Lev.xxvii-p0.1">L E V I T I C U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Lev.xxvii-p0.2">CHAP. XXVI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Lev.xxvii-p1">This chapter is a solemn conclusion of the main
|
|
body of the levitical law. The precepts that follow in this and the
|
|
following book either relate to some particular matters or are
|
|
repetitions and explications of the foregoing institutions. Now
|
|
this chapter contains a general enforcement of all those laws by
|
|
promises of reward in case of obedience on the one hand, and
|
|
threatenings of punishment for disobedience on the other hand, the
|
|
former to work upon hope, the latter on fear, those two handles of
|
|
the soul, by which it is taken hold of and managed. Here is, I. A
|
|
repetition of two or three of the principal of the commandments,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 26:1,2" id="Lev.xxvii-p1.1" parsed="|Lev|26|1|26|2" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.1-Lev.26.2">ver. 1, 2</scripRef>. II. An inviting
|
|
promise of all good things, if they would but keep God's
|
|
commandments, <scripRef passage="Le 26:3-13" id="Lev.xxvii-p1.2" parsed="|Lev|26|3|26|13" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.3-Lev.26.13">ver. 3-13</scripRef>.
|
|
III. A terrible threatening of ruining judgments which would be
|
|
brought upon them if they were refractory and disobedient,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 26:14-39" id="Lev.xxvii-p1.3" parsed="|Lev|26|14|26|39" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.14-Lev.26.39">ver. 14-39</scripRef>. IV. A
|
|
gracious promise of the return of mercy to those of them that would
|
|
repent and reform, <scripRef passage="Le 26:40-46" id="Lev.xxvii-p1.4" parsed="|Lev|26|40|26|46" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.40-Lev.26.46">ver.
|
|
40</scripRef>, &c. <scripRef passage="De 28:1-20" id="Lev.xxvii-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|28|1|28|20" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.1-Deut.28.20">Deut.
|
|
xxviii</scripRef> is parallel to this.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 26" id="Lev.xxvii-p1.6" parsed="|Lev|26|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 26:1-13" id="Lev.xxvii-p1.7" parsed="|Lev|26|1|26|13" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.1-Lev.26.13"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.26.1-Lev.26.13">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.xxvii-p1.8">Promises. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxvii-p1.9">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xxvii-p2">1 Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image,
|
|
neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up
|
|
<i>any</i> image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I
|
|
<i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxvii-p2.1">Lord</span> your God.  
|
|
2 Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I
|
|
<i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxvii-p2.2">Lord</span>.   3 If ye
|
|
walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them;  
|
|
4 Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield
|
|
her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
|
|
  5 And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the
|
|
vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your
|
|
bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.   6 And I
|
|
will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall
|
|
make <i>you</i> afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land,
|
|
neither shall the sword go through your land.   7 And ye shall
|
|
chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.
|
|
  8 And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of
|
|
you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall
|
|
before you by the sword.   9 For I will have respect unto you,
|
|
and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant
|
|
with you.   10 And ye shall eat old store, and bring forth the
|
|
old because of the new.   11 And I will set my tabernacle
|
|
among you: and my soul shall not abhor you.   12 And I will
|
|
walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people.
|
|
  13 I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxvii-p2.3">Lord</span> your
|
|
God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye
|
|
should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your
|
|
yoke, and made you go upright.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxvii-p3">Here is, I. The inculcating of those
|
|
precepts of the law which were of the greatest consequence, and by
|
|
which were of the greatest consequence, and by which especially
|
|
their obedience would be tried, <scripRef passage="Le 26:1,2" id="Lev.xxvii-p3.1" parsed="|Lev|26|1|26|2" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.1-Lev.26.2"><i>v.</i> 1, 2</scripRef>. They are the abstract of the
|
|
second and fourth commandments, which, as they are by much the
|
|
largest in the decalogue, so they are most frequently insisted on
|
|
in other parts of the law. As, when a master has given many things
|
|
in charge to his servant, he concludes with the repetition of those
|
|
things which were of the greatest importance, and which the servant
|
|
was most in danger of neglecting, bidding him, whatever he did, be
|
|
sure to remember those, so here God by Moses, after many precepts,
|
|
closes all with a special charge to observe these two great
|
|
commandments. 1. "Be sure you never worship images, nor ever make
|
|
any sort of images or pictures for a religious use," <scripRef passage="Le 26:1" id="Lev.xxvii-p3.2" parsed="|Lev|26|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. No sin was more provoking
|
|
to God than this, and yet there was none that they were more
|
|
addicted to, and which afterwards proved of more pernicious
|
|
consequence to them. Next to God's being, unity, and universal
|
|
influence, it is necessary that we know and believe that he is an
|
|
infinite Spirit; and therefore to represent him by an image in the
|
|
making of it, to confine him to an image in the consecrating of it,
|
|
and to worship him by an image in bowing down to it, <i>changes his
|
|
truth into a lie</i> and <i>his glory into shame,</i> as much as
|
|
any thing. 2. "Be sure you keep up a great veneration for sabbaths
|
|
and religious assemblies," <scripRef passage="Le 26:2" id="Lev.xxvii-p3.3" parsed="|Lev|26|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.2"><i>v.</i>
|
|
2</scripRef>. As nothing tends more to corrupt religion than the
|
|
use of images in devotion, so nothing contributes more to the
|
|
support of it than <i>keeping the sabbaths</i> and <i>reverencing
|
|
the sanctuary.</i> These make up very much of the instrumental part
|
|
of religion, by which the essentials of it are kept up. Therefore
|
|
we find in the prophets that, next to the sin of idolatry, there is
|
|
no sin for which the Jews are more frequently reproved and
|
|
threatened than the profanation of the sabbath day.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxvii-p4">II. Great encouragements given them to live
|
|
in constant obedience to all God's commandments, largely and
|
|
strongly assuring them that if they did so they should be a happy
|
|
people, and should be blessed with all the good things they could
|
|
desire. Human governments enforce their laws with penalties to be
|
|
inflicted for the breach of them; but God will be known as <i>the
|
|
rewarder of those that seek and serve him.</i> Let us take a view
|
|
of these great and precious promises, which, though they relate
|
|
chiefly to the life which now is, and to the public national
|
|
concerns of that people, were typical of the spiritual blessings
|
|
entailed by the covenant of grace upon all believers through
|
|
Christ. 1. Plenty and abundance of the fruits of the earth. They
|
|
should have seasonable rain, neither too little nor too much, but
|
|
what was requisite for their land, which was watered with the dew
|
|
of heaven (<scripRef passage="De 11:10,11" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.1" parsed="|Deut|11|10|11|11" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.10-Deut.11.11">Deut. xi. 10,
|
|
11</scripRef>), that it might <i>yield its increase,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 26:4" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.2" parsed="|Lev|26|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. The dependence which the
|
|
fruitfulness of the earth beneath has upon the influences of heaven
|
|
above is a sensible intimation to us that every good and perfect
|
|
gift must be expected <i>from above,</i> from the <i>Father of
|
|
lights.</i> It is promised that the earth should produce its fruits
|
|
in such great abundance that they would be kept in full employment,
|
|
during both the harvest and the vintage, to gather it in, <scripRef passage="Le 26:5" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.3" parsed="|Lev|26|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. Before they had reaped
|
|
their corn and threshed it, the vintage would be ready; and, before
|
|
they had finished their vintage, it would be high time to begin
|
|
their sowing. Long harvests are often with us the consequences of
|
|
bad weather, but with them they should be the effects of a great
|
|
increase. This signified the abundance of grace which should be
|
|
poured out in gospel times, when the <i>ploughman should overtake
|
|
the reaper</i> (<scripRef passage="Am 9:13" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.4" parsed="|Amos|9|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Amos.9.13">Amos ix.
|
|
13</scripRef>), and a great harvest of souls should be gathered in
|
|
to Christ. The plenty should be so great that they should <i>bring
|
|
forth the old</i> to be given away to the poor <i>because of the
|
|
new,</i> to make room for it in their barns, which yet they would
|
|
not <i>pull down to build greater,</i> as that rich fool (<scripRef passage="Lu 12:18" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.5" parsed="|Luke|12|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.12.18">Luke xii. 18</scripRef>), for God gave them this
|
|
abundance to be laid out, not be hoarded up from one year to
|
|
another. <i>He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse
|
|
him,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 11:26" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.6" parsed="|Prov|11|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.11.26">Prov. xi. 26</scripRef>. That
|
|
promise (<scripRef passage="Mal 3:10" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.7" parsed="|Mal|3|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mal.3.10">Mal. iii. 10</scripRef>),
|
|
<i>I will pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room
|
|
enough to receive it,</i> explains this, <scripRef passage="Le 26:10" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.8" parsed="|Lev|26|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. And that which crowns this
|
|
blessing of plenty is (<scripRef passage="Le 26:5" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.9" parsed="|Lev|26|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.5"><i>v.</i>
|
|
5</scripRef>), You shall <i>eat your bread to the full,</i> which
|
|
intimates that they should have, not only abundance, but content
|
|
and satisfaction in it. They should have enough, and should know
|
|
when they had enough. Thus <i>the meek shall eat and be
|
|
satisfied,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 22:26" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.10" parsed="|Ps|22|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.22.26">Ps. xxii.
|
|
26</scripRef>. 2. Peace under the divine protection; "<i>You shall
|
|
dwell in your land safely</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 26:5" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.11" parsed="|Lev|26|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>); both really save, and safe in
|
|
your own apprehensions; you shall lie down to rest in the power and
|
|
promise of God, and not only none shall hurt you, but none shall so
|
|
much as <i>make you afraid,</i>" <scripRef passage="Le 26:6" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.12" parsed="|Lev|26|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. See <scripRef passage="Ps 4:8" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.13" parsed="|Ps|4|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.4.8">Ps. iv. 8</scripRef>. They should not be infested with
|
|
wild beasts, these should be <i>rid out of the land,</i> or, as it
|
|
is promised (<scripRef passage="Job 5:23" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.14" parsed="|Job|5|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.5.23">Job v. 23</scripRef>),
|
|
should <i>be at peace with them.</i> Nor should they be terrified
|
|
with the alarms of war: <i>Neither shall the sword go through your
|
|
land.</i> This holy security is promised to all the faithful,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 91:1-16" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.15" parsed="|Ps|91|1|91|16" osisRef="Bible:Ps.91.1-Ps.91.16">Ps. xci. 1</scripRef>, &c. Those
|
|
must needs dwell in safety that <i>dwell in God,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 9:18,19" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.16" parsed="|Job|9|18|9|19" osisRef="Bible:Job.9.18-Job.9.19">Job ix. 18, 19</scripRef>. 3. Victory and
|
|
success in their wars abroad, while they had peace and tranquility
|
|
at home, <scripRef passage="Le 26:7,8" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.17" parsed="|Lev|26|7|26|8" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.7-Lev.26.8"><i>v.</i> 7, 8</scripRef>.
|
|
They are assured that the hand of God should so signally appear
|
|
with them in their conquests that no disproportion of numbers
|
|
should make against them: <i>Five of you</i> shall have courage to
|
|
attack, and strength to <i>chase</i> and defeat, <i>a hundred,</i>
|
|
as Jonathan did (<scripRef passage="1Sa 14:12" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.18" parsed="|1Sam|14|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.14.12">1 Sam. xiv.
|
|
12</scripRef>), experiencing the truth of his own maxim (<scripRef passage="Le 26:6" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.19" parsed="|Lev|26|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), that it is all one with
|
|
the Lord to <i>save by many or by few.</i> 4. The increase of their
|
|
people: <i>I will make you fruitful and multiply you,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 26:9" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.20" parsed="|Lev|26|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. Thus the promise made to
|
|
Abraham must be fulfilled, that his seed should be <i>as the dust
|
|
of the earth;</i> and much more numerous they would have been if
|
|
they had by their sin cut themselves short. It is promised to the
|
|
gospel church that it shall be fruitful, <scripRef passage="Joh 15:16" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.21" parsed="|John|15|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.15.16">John xv. 16</scripRef>. 5. The favour of God, which is
|
|
the fountain of all good: <i>I will have respect unto you,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 26:9" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.22" parsed="|Lev|26|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. If the eye of
|
|
our faith be unto God, the eye of his favour will be unto us. More
|
|
is implied than is expressed in that promise, <i>My soul shall not
|
|
abhor you</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 26:11" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.23" parsed="|Lev|26|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.11"><i>v.</i>
|
|
11</scripRef>), as there is in that threatening, <i>My soul shall
|
|
have no pleasure in him,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 10:38" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.24" parsed="|Heb|10|38|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.10.38">Heb. x.
|
|
38</scripRef>. Though there was that among them which might justly
|
|
have alienated him from them, yet, if they would closely adhere to
|
|
his institutions, he would not abhor them. 6. Tokens of his
|
|
presence in and by his ordinances: <i>I will set my tabernacle
|
|
among you,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 26:11" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.25" parsed="|Lev|26|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.11"><i>v.</i>
|
|
11</scripRef>. It was their honour and advantage that God's
|
|
tabernacle was lately erected among them; but here he lets them
|
|
know that the continuance and establishment of it depended upon
|
|
their good behaviour. The tabernacle that was now set should be
|
|
settled if they would be obedient, else not. Note, The way to have
|
|
God's ordinances fixed among us, as a nail in a sure place, is to
|
|
cleave closely to the institution of them. It is added (<scripRef passage="Le 26:12" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.26" parsed="|Lev|26|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), "<i>I will walk among
|
|
you,</i> with delight and satisfaction, as a man in his garden; I
|
|
will keep up communion with you as a man walking with his friend."
|
|
This seems to be alluded to, <scripRef passage="Re 2:1" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.27" parsed="|Rev|2|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.2.1">Rev. ii.
|
|
1</scripRef>, where Christ is said to <i>walk in the midst of the
|
|
golden candlesticks.</i> 7. The grace of the covenant, as the
|
|
fountain and foundation, the sweetness and security, of all these
|
|
blessings: <i>I will establish my covenant with you,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 26:9" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.28" parsed="|Lev|26|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. Let them perform their
|
|
part of the covenant, and God would not fail to perform his. All
|
|
covenant-blessings are summed up in the covenant-relation
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 26:12" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.29" parsed="|Lev|26|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>): <i>I will
|
|
be your God, and you shall be my people;</i> and they are all
|
|
grounded upon their redemption: <i>I am your God,</i> because <i>I
|
|
brought you forth out of the land of Egypt,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 26:13" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.30" parsed="|Lev|26|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. Having purchased them, he would
|
|
own them, and never cast them off till they cast him off. He
|
|
<i>broke their yoke,</i> and <i>made them go upright,</i> that is,
|
|
their deliverance out of Egypt put them in a state both of ease and
|
|
honour, that, being delivered out of the hands of their enemies,
|
|
they might <i>serve God without fear,</i> each walking <i>in his
|
|
uprightness.</i> When Israel rejected Christ, and was therefore
|
|
rejected by him, their back is said to be <i>bowed down</i> always
|
|
under the burden of their guilt, which was heavier than that of
|
|
their bondage in Egypt, <scripRef passage="Ro 11:10" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.31" parsed="|Rom|11|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.11.10">Rom. xi.
|
|
10</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 26" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.32" parsed="|Lev|26|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 26:14-39" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.33" parsed="|Lev|26|14|26|39" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.14-Lev.26.39"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.26.14-Lev.26.39">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.xxvii-p4.34">Threatenings. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxvii-p4.35">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xxvii-p5">14 But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will
|
|
not do all these commandments;   15 And if ye shall despise my
|
|
statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not
|
|
do all my commandments, <i>but</i> that ye break my covenant:
|
|
  16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over
|
|
you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume
|
|
the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in
|
|
vain, for your enemies shall eat it.   17 And I will set my
|
|
face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they
|
|
that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none
|
|
pursueth you.   18 And if ye will not yet for all this hearken
|
|
unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.
|
|
  19 And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make
|
|
your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:   20 And your
|
|
strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her
|
|
increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits.
|
|
  21 And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken
|
|
unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according
|
|
to your sins.   22 I will also send wild beasts among you,
|
|
which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and
|
|
make you few in number; and your <i>high</i> ways shall be
|
|
desolate.   23 And if ye will not be reformed by me by these
|
|
things, but will walk contrary unto me;   24 Then will I also
|
|
walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for
|
|
your sins.   25 And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall
|
|
avenge the quarrel of <i>my</i> covenant: and when ye are gathered
|
|
together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you;
|
|
and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.   26
|
|
<i>And</i> when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women
|
|
shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver
|
|
<i>you</i> your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be
|
|
satisfied.   27 And if ye will not for all this hearken unto
|
|
me, but walk contrary unto me;   28 Then I will walk contrary
|
|
unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times
|
|
for your sins.   29 And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons,
|
|
and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.   30 And I will
|
|
destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your
|
|
carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor
|
|
you.   31 And I will make your cities waste, and bring your
|
|
sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of
|
|
your sweet odours.   32 And I will bring the land into
|
|
desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be
|
|
astonished at it.   33 And I will scatter you among the
|
|
heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall
|
|
be desolate, and your cities waste.   34 Then shall the land
|
|
enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye <i>be</i>
|
|
in your enemies' land; <i>even</i> then shall the land rest, and
|
|
enjoy her sabbaths.   35 As long as it lieth desolate it shall
|
|
rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon
|
|
it.   36 And upon them that are left <i>alive</i> of you I
|
|
will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their
|
|
enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they
|
|
shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none
|
|
pursueth.   37 And they shall fall one upon another, as it
|
|
were before a sword, when none pursueth: and ye shall have no power
|
|
to stand before your enemies.   38 And ye shall perish among
|
|
the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.  
|
|
39 And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity
|
|
in your enemies' lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers
|
|
shall they pine away with them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxvii-p6">After God had set the blessing before them
|
|
(the life and good which would make them a happy people if they
|
|
would be obedient), he here sets the curse before them, the death
|
|
and evil which would make them as miserable if they were
|
|
disobedient. Let them not think themselves so deeply rooted as that
|
|
God's power could not ruin them, nor so highly favoured as that his
|
|
justice would not ruin them if they revolted from him and rebelled
|
|
against him; no <i>You only have I known, therefore I will punish
|
|
you</i> soonest and sorest. <scripRef passage="Am 3:2" id="Lev.xxvii-p6.1" parsed="|Amos|3|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.2">Amos iii.
|
|
2</scripRef>. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxvii-p7">I. How their sin is described, which would
|
|
bring all this misery upon them. Not sins of ignorance and
|
|
infirmity; God had provided sacrifices for those. Not the sins they
|
|
repented of and forsook; but the sins that were presumptuously
|
|
committed, and obstinately persisted in. Two things would certainly
|
|
bring this ruin upon them:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxvii-p8">1. A contempt of God's commandments
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 26:14" id="Lev.xxvii-p8.1" parsed="|Lev|26|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>): "<i>If you
|
|
will not hearken to me</i> speaking to you by the law, nor <i>do
|
|
all these commandments,</i> that is, desire and endeavour to do
|
|
them, and, wherein you miss it, make use of the prescribed
|
|
remedies." Thus their sin is supposed to begin in mere
|
|
carelessness, and neglect, and omission. These are bad enough, but
|
|
they make way for worse; for the people are brought in (<scripRef passage="Le 26:15" id="Lev.xxvii-p8.2" parsed="|Lev|26|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>) as, (1.) <i>Despising
|
|
God's statutes,</i> both the duties enjoined and the authority
|
|
enjoining them, thinking meanly of the law and the Law-maker. Note,
|
|
Those are hastening apace to their own ruin who begin to think it
|
|
below them to be religious. (2.) <i>Abhorring his judgments,</i>
|
|
their very souls abhorring them. Note, Those that begin to despise
|
|
religion will come by degrees to loathe it; and mean thoughts of it
|
|
will ripen into ill thoughts of it; those that turn from it will
|
|
turn against it, and their hearts will rise at it. (3.) <i>Breaking
|
|
his covenant.</i> Though every breach of the commandment does not
|
|
amount to a breach of the covenant (we were undone if it did), yet,
|
|
when men have come to such a pitch of impiety as to despise and
|
|
abhor the commandment, the next step will be to disown God, and all
|
|
relation to him. Those that reject the precept will come at last to
|
|
renounce the covenant. Observe, It is God's covenant which they
|
|
break: he made it, but they break it. Note, If a covenant be made
|
|
and kept between God and man, God must have all the honour; but, if
|
|
ever it be broken, man must bear all the blame: on him shall this
|
|
breach be.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxvii-p9">2. A contempt of his corrections. Even
|
|
their disobedience would not have been their destruction if they
|
|
had not been obstinate and impenitent in it, notwithstanding the
|
|
methods God took to reclaim them. Their contempt of God's word
|
|
would not have brought them to ruin, if they had not added to that
|
|
a contempt of his rod, which should have brought them to
|
|
repentance. Three ways this is expressed:—(1.) "<i>If you will
|
|
not for all this hearken to me,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 26:18,21,27" id="Lev.xxvii-p9.1" parsed="|Lev|26|18|0|0;|Lev|26|21|0|0;|Lev|26|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.18 Bible:Lev.26.21 Bible:Lev.26.27"><i>v.</i> 18, 21, 27</scripRef>. If you will not
|
|
learn obedience by the things which you suffer, but be as deaf to
|
|
the loud alarms of God's judgments as you have been to the close
|
|
reasonings of his word and the secret whispers of your own
|
|
consciences, you are obstinate indeed." (2.) "<i>If you walk
|
|
contrary to me,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 26:21,23,27" id="Lev.xxvii-p9.2" parsed="|Lev|26|21|0|0;|Lev|26|23|0|0;|Lev|26|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.21 Bible:Lev.26.23 Bible:Lev.26.27"><i>v.</i>
|
|
21, 23, 27</scripRef>. All sinners walk contrary to God, to his
|
|
truths, laws, and counsels; but those especially that are
|
|
incorrigible under his judgments. The design of the rod is to
|
|
humble them, and soften them, and bring them to repentance; but,
|
|
instead of this, their hearts are more hardened and exasperated
|
|
against God, and <i>in their distress</i> they <i>trespass yet more
|
|
against him,</i> <scripRef passage="2Ch 28:22" id="Lev.xxvii-p9.3" parsed="|2Chr|28|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.28.22">2 Chron. xxviii.
|
|
22</scripRef>. This is walking contrary to God. Some read it, "If
|
|
you walk at all adventures with me, carelessly and presumptuously,
|
|
as if you heeded not either what you do, whether it be right or
|
|
wrong, or what God does with you, whether it be for you or against
|
|
you, blundering on in wilful ignorance." (3.) <i>If you will not be
|
|
reformed by these things.</i> God's design in punishing is to
|
|
reform, by giving men sensible convictions of the evil of sin, and
|
|
obliging them to seek unto him for relief: this is the primary
|
|
intention; but those that will not be reformed by the judgments of
|
|
God must expect to be ruined by them. Those have a great deal to
|
|
answer for that have been long and often under God's correcting
|
|
hand, and yet go on frowardly in a sinful way; sick and in pain,
|
|
and yet not reformed; crossed and impoverished, and yet not
|
|
reformed; broken with breach upon breach, yet <i>not returning to
|
|
the Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Am 4:6" id="Lev.xxvii-p9.4" parsed="|Amos|4|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Amos.4.6">Amos iv. 6</scripRef>,
|
|
&c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxvii-p10">II. How the misery is described which their
|
|
sin would bring upon them, under two heads:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxvii-p11">1. God himself would be against them; and
|
|
this is the root and cause of all their misery. (1.) <i>I will set
|
|
my face against you</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 26:17" id="Lev.xxvii-p11.1" parsed="|Lev|26|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.17"><i>v.</i>
|
|
17</scripRef>), that is, "I will set myself against you, set myself
|
|
to ruin you." These proud sinners God will resist, and face those
|
|
down that confront his authority. Or the face is put for the anger:
|
|
"I will show myself highly displeased at you." (2.) <i>I will walk
|
|
contrary to you</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 26:24,28" id="Lev.xxvii-p11.2" parsed="|Lev|26|24|0|0;|Lev|26|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.24 Bible:Lev.26.28"><i>v.</i> 24,
|
|
28</scripRef>); <i>with the forward he will wrestle,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 28:26" id="Lev.xxvii-p11.3" parsed="|Ps|28|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.28.26">Ps. xxviii. 26</scripRef> [margin]. When God in
|
|
his providence thwarts the designs of a people, which they thought
|
|
well laid, crosses their purposes, breaks their measures, blasts
|
|
their endeavours, and disappoints their expectations, then he walks
|
|
contrary to them. Note, There is nothing got by striving with God
|
|
Almighty, for he will break either the heart or the neck of those
|
|
that contend with him, will bring them either to repentance or
|
|
ruin. "I will walk at all adventures with you," so some read; "all
|
|
covenant loving-kindness shall be forgotten, and I will leave you
|
|
to common providence." Note, Those that cast off God deserve that
|
|
he should cast them off. (3.) As they continued obstinate, the
|
|
judgments should increase yet more upon them. If the first sensible
|
|
tokens of God's displeasures do not attain their end, to humble and
|
|
reform them, then (<scripRef passage="Le 26:18" id="Lev.xxvii-p11.4" parsed="|Lev|26|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.18"><i>v.</i>
|
|
18</scripRef>), <i>I will punish you seven times more,</i> and
|
|
again (<scripRef passage="Le 26:21" id="Lev.xxvii-p11.5" parsed="|Lev|26|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>), <i>I
|
|
will bring seven times more plagues,</i> and (<scripRef passage="Le 26:24" id="Lev.xxvii-p11.6" parsed="|Lev|26|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>), <i>I will punish you yet seven
|
|
times,</i> and (<scripRef passage="Le 26:28" id="Lev.xxvii-p11.7" parsed="|Lev|26|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.28"><i>v.</i>
|
|
28</scripRef>), <i>I, even I, will chastise you seven times for
|
|
your sins.</i> Note, If less judgments do not do their work, God
|
|
will send greater; for, when he <i>judges, he will overcome.</i> If
|
|
true repentance do not stay process, it will go on till execution
|
|
be taken out. Those that are obstinate and incorrigible, when they
|
|
have weathered one storm must expect another more violent; and, how
|
|
severely soever they are punished, till they are in hell they must
|
|
still say, "There is worse behind," unless they repent. If the
|
|
<i>founder have</i> hitherto <i>melted in vain</i> (<scripRef passage="Jer 6:29" id="Lev.xxvii-p11.8" parsed="|Jer|6|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.6.29">Jer. vi. 29</scripRef>), the furnace will be
|
|
heated <i>seven times hotter</i> (a proverbial expression, used
|
|
<scripRef passage="Da 3:19" id="Lev.xxvii-p11.9" parsed="|Dan|3|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.19">Dan. iii. 19</scripRef>), and again and
|
|
again <i>seven times hotter;</i> and who among us can dwell with
|
|
such devouring fire? God does not begin with the sorest judgments,
|
|
to show that he is patient, and delights not in the death of
|
|
sinners; but, if they repent not, he will proceed to the sorest, to
|
|
show that he is righteous, and that he will not be mocked or set at
|
|
defiance. (4.) Their misery is completed in that threatening: <i>My
|
|
soul shall abhor you,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 26:30" id="Lev.xxvii-p11.10" parsed="|Lev|26|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.30"><i>v.</i>
|
|
30</scripRef>. That man is as miserable as he can be whom God
|
|
abhors; for his resentments are just and effective. Thus <i>if any
|
|
man draw back,</i> as these are supposed to do, <i>God's soul shall
|
|
have no pleasure in him</i> (<scripRef passage="Heb 10:38" id="Lev.xxvii-p11.11" parsed="|Heb|10|38|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.10.38">Heb. x.
|
|
38</scripRef>), and he will <i>spue them out of his mouth,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Re 3:16" id="Lev.xxvii-p11.12" parsed="|Rev|3|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.3.16">Rev. iii. 16</scripRef>. It is spoken
|
|
of as strange, and yet too true, <i>Hath thy soul loathed Zion?</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Jer 14:19" id="Lev.xxvii-p11.13" parsed="|Jer|14|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.14.19">Jer. xiv. 19</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxvii-p12">2. The whole creation would be at war with
|
|
them. All God's sore judgments would be sent against them; for he
|
|
hath many arrows in his quiver. The threatenings here are very
|
|
particular, because really they were prophecies, and he that
|
|
foresaw all their rebellions knew they would prove so; see
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 31:16,29" id="Lev.xxvii-p12.1" parsed="|Deut|31|16|0|0;|Deut|31|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.16 Bible:Deut.31.29">Deut. xxxi. 16, 29</scripRef>. This
|
|
long roll of threatening shows that evil pursues sinners. We have
|
|
here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxvii-p13">(1.) Temporal judgments threatened. [1.]
|
|
Diseases of body, which should be epidemical: <i>I will appoint
|
|
over you,</i> as task-masters, to rule you with rigour, <i>terror,
|
|
consumption, and the burning ague,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 26:16" id="Lev.xxvii-p13.1" parsed="|Lev|26|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. What we translate
|
|
<i>terror,</i> some think, signifies a particular disease, probably
|
|
(says the learned bishop Patrick) the <i>falling sickness,</i>
|
|
which is terror indeed: all chronical diseases are included in the
|
|
consumption, and all acute diseases in the burning ague or fever.
|
|
These consume the eyes, and cause sorrow both to those that are
|
|
visited with them and to their friends and relations. Note, All
|
|
diseases are God's servants; they do what he appoints them, and are
|
|
often used as scourges wherewith he chastises a provoking people.
|
|
The pestilence is threatened (<scripRef passage="Le 26:25" id="Lev.xxvii-p13.2" parsed="|Lev|26|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>) to meet them, when they are
|
|
gathered together in their cities for fear of the sword. The
|
|
greater the concourse of people is, the greater desolation does the
|
|
pestilence make; and, when it gets among the soldiers that should
|
|
defend a place, it is of most fatal consequence. [2.] Famine and
|
|
scarcity of bread, which should be brought upon them several ways;
|
|
as, <i>First,</i> By plunder (<scripRef passage="Le 26:16" id="Lev.xxvii-p13.3" parsed="|Lev|26|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>): <i>Your enemies shall eat
|
|
it</i> up, and carry it off as the Midianites did, <scripRef passage="Jdg 6:5,6" id="Lev.xxvii-p13.4" parsed="|Judg|6|5|6|6" osisRef="Bible:Judg.6.5-Judg.6.6">Judg. vi. 5, 6</scripRef>. <i>Secondly,</i> By
|
|
unseasonable weather, especially the want of rain (<scripRef passage="Le 26:19" id="Lev.xxvii-p13.5" parsed="|Lev|26|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>): <i>I will make your
|
|
heaven as iron,</i> letting fall no rain, but reflecting heat, and
|
|
then the earth would of course be as dry and hard <i>as brass,</i>
|
|
and their labour in ploughing and sowing would <i>be in vain</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 26:20" id="Lev.xxvii-p13.6" parsed="|Lev|26|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>); for the
|
|
increase of the earth depends upon God's good providence more than
|
|
upon man's good husbandry. This should be the breaking of the
|
|
<i>staff of bread</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 26:26" id="Lev.xxvii-p13.7" parsed="|Lev|26|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.26"><i>v.</i>
|
|
26</scripRef>), which life leans upon, and is supported by, on
|
|
which perhaps they had leaned more than upon God's blessing. There
|
|
should be so great a dearth of corn that, whereas every family used
|
|
to fill an oven of their own with household bread, now ten families
|
|
should have to fill but one over, which would bring themselves and
|
|
their children and servants to short allowance, so that they should
|
|
<i>eat and not be satisfied.</i> The less they had the more craving
|
|
should their appetites be. <i>Thirdly,</i> By the besieging of
|
|
their cities, which would reduce them to such an extremity that
|
|
they should <i>eat the flesh of their sons and daughters,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 26:29" id="Lev.xxvii-p13.8" parsed="|Lev|26|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>. [3.] War, and
|
|
the prevailing of their enemies over them: "<i>You shall be slain
|
|
before your enemies,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 26:17" id="Lev.xxvii-p13.9" parsed="|Lev|26|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.17"><i>v.</i>
|
|
17</scripRef>. Your choice men shall die in battle, and <i>those
|
|
that hate you shall reign over you,</i> and justly, since you are
|
|
not willing that the God that loved you should reign over you;"
|
|
<scripRef passage="2Ch 12:8" id="Lev.xxvii-p13.10" parsed="|2Chr|12|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.12.8">2 Chron. xii. 8</scripRef>. Miserable
|
|
is that people whose enemies are their rulers and have got dominion
|
|
over them, or whose rulers have become their enemies and under-hand
|
|
seek the ruin of their interests. Thus God would <i>break the pride
|
|
of their power,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 26:19" id="Lev.xxvii-p13.11" parsed="|Lev|26|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.19"><i>v.</i>
|
|
19</scripRef>. God had given them power over the nations; but when
|
|
they, instead of being thankful for that power, and improving it
|
|
for the service of God's kingdom, grew proud of it, and perverted
|
|
the intentions of it, it was just with God to break it. Thus God
|
|
would <i>bring a sword upon them to avenge the quarrel of his
|
|
covenant,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 26:25" id="Lev.xxvii-p13.12" parsed="|Lev|26|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, God has a just quarrel with those that break covenant with
|
|
him, for he will not be mocked by the treachery of perfidious men;
|
|
and one way or other he will avenge this quarrel upon those that
|
|
play at fast and loose with him. [4.] Wild beasts, lions, bears,
|
|
and wolves, which should increase upon them, and tear in pieces all
|
|
that come in their way (<scripRef passage="Le 26:22" id="Lev.xxvii-p13.13" parsed="|Lev|26|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.22"><i>v.</i>
|
|
22</scripRef>), as we read of two bears that in an instant killed
|
|
forty-two children, <scripRef passage="2Ki 2:24" id="Lev.xxvii-p13.14" parsed="|2Kgs|2|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.2.24">2 Kings ii.
|
|
24</scripRef>. This is one of the four sore judgments threatened
|
|
<scripRef passage="Eze 14:21" id="Lev.xxvii-p13.15" parsed="|Ezek|14|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.14.21">Ezek. xiv. 21</scripRef>, which
|
|
plainly refers to this chapter. Man was made to have dominion over
|
|
the creatures, and, though many of them are stronger than he, yet
|
|
none of them could have hurt him, nay, all of them would have
|
|
served him, if he had not first shaken off God's dominion, and so
|
|
lost his own; and now the creatures are in rebellion against him
|
|
that is in rebellion against his Maker, and, when the Lord of those
|
|
hosts pleases, they are the executioners of his wrath and the
|
|
ministers of his justice. [5.] Captivity, or dispersion: <i>I will
|
|
scatter you among the heathen</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 26:33" id="Lev.xxvii-p13.16" parsed="|Lev|26|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>), <i>in your enemies' land,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 26:34" id="Lev.xxvii-p13.17" parsed="|Lev|26|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.34"><i>v.</i> 34</scripRef>. Never were
|
|
any people so incorporated and united among themselves as they
|
|
were; but for their sin God would scatter them, so that they should
|
|
be lost among the heathen, from whom God had graciously
|
|
distinguished them, but with whom they had wickedly mingled
|
|
themselves. Yet, when they were scattered, divine justice had not
|
|
done with them, but would draw out a sword after them, which would
|
|
find them out, and follow them wherever they were. God's judgments,
|
|
as they cannot be outfaced, so they cannot be outrun. [6.] The
|
|
utter ruin and desolation of their land, which should be so
|
|
remarkable that their very enemies themselves, who had helped it
|
|
forward, should in the review be astonished at it, <scripRef passage="Le 26:32" id="Lev.xxvii-p13.18" parsed="|Lev|26|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>. <i>First,</i> Their
|
|
cities should be waste, forsaken, uninhabited, and all the
|
|
buildings destroyed; those that escaped the desolations of war
|
|
should fall to decay of themselves. <i>Secondly,</i> Their
|
|
sanctuaries should be a desolation, that is, their synagogues where
|
|
they met for religious worship every sabbath, as well as their
|
|
tabernacle where they met thrice a year. <i>Thirdly,</i> The
|
|
country itself should be desolate, not tilled or husbanded
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 26:34,35" id="Lev.xxvii-p13.19" parsed="|Lev|26|34|26|35" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.34-Lev.26.35"><i>v.</i> 34, 35</scripRef>); then
|
|
the land should enjoy its sabbaths, because they had not
|
|
religiously observed the sabbatical years which God appointed them.
|
|
They tilled their ground when God would have them let it rest;
|
|
justly therefore were they driven out of it; and the expression
|
|
intimates that the ground itself was pleased and easy when it was
|
|
rid of the burden of such sinners, under which it had groaned,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ro 8:20" id="Lev.xxvii-p13.20" parsed="|Rom|8|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.8.20">Rom. viii. 20</scripRef>, &c. The
|
|
captivity in Babylon lasted seventy years, and so long the land
|
|
<i>enjoyed her sabbaths,</i> as is said (<scripRef passage="2Ch 36:21" id="Lev.xxvii-p13.21" parsed="|2Chr|36|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.36.21">2 Chron. xxxvi. 21</scripRef>) with reference to this.
|
|
[7.] The destruction of their idols, though rather a mercy than a
|
|
judgment, yet, being a necessary piece of justice, is here
|
|
mentioned, to show what would be the sin that would bring all these
|
|
miseries upon them: <i>I will destroy your high places,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 26:30" id="Lev.xxvii-p13.22" parsed="|Lev|26|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>. Those that
|
|
will not be parted from their sins by the commands of God shall be
|
|
parted from them by his judgments; since they would not destroy
|
|
their high places, God would. And, to upbraid them with the
|
|
unreasonable fondness they had shown for their idols, it is
|
|
foretold that their <i>carcases should be cast upon the carcases of
|
|
their idols.</i> Those that are wedded to their lusts will sooner
|
|
or later have enough of them. Their idols would not be able to help
|
|
either themselves or their worshippers; but, those that made them
|
|
being like them, they should both perish alike, and fall together
|
|
as blind into the ditch.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxvii-p14">(2.) Spiritual judgments are here
|
|
threatened. These should seize the mind; for he that made the mind
|
|
can, when he pleases, make his sword approach to it. It is here
|
|
threatened, [1.] That they should find no acceptance with God: <i>I
|
|
will not smell the savour of your sweet odours,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 26:31" id="Lev.xxvii-p14.1" parsed="|Lev|26|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>. Though the judgments of
|
|
God upon them did not separate them and their sins, yet they
|
|
extorted incense from them; but in vain—even their incense was an
|
|
abomination, <scripRef passage="Isa 1:13" id="Lev.xxvii-p14.2" parsed="|Isa|1|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.13">Isa. i. 13</scripRef>.
|
|
[2.] That they should have no courage in their wars, but should be
|
|
quite dispirited and disheartened. They should not only fear and
|
|
flee (<scripRef passage="Le 26:17" id="Lev.xxvii-p14.3" parsed="|Lev|26|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>), but
|
|
fear and <i>fall, when none pursued,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 26:36" id="Lev.xxvii-p14.4" parsed="|Lev|26|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.36"><i>v.</i> 36</scripRef>. A guilty conscience would be
|
|
their continual terror, so that not only the sound of a trumpet,
|
|
but the very <i>sound of a leaf, should chase them.</i> Note, Those
|
|
that cast off the fear of God expose themselves to the fear of
|
|
every thing else, <scripRef passage="Pr 28:1" id="Lev.xxvii-p14.5" parsed="|Prov|28|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.28.1">Prov. xxviii.
|
|
1</scripRef>. Their very fears should dash them <i>one against
|
|
another,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 26:37,38" id="Lev.xxvii-p14.6" parsed="|Lev|26|37|26|38" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.37-Lev.26.38"><i>v.</i> 37,
|
|
38</scripRef>. And those that had increased one another's guilt
|
|
would now increase one another's fears. [3.] That they should have
|
|
no hope of the forgiveness of their sins (<scripRef passage="Le 26:39" id="Lev.xxvii-p14.7" parsed="|Lev|26|39|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.39"><i>v.</i> 39</scripRef>): <i>They shall pine away in
|
|
their iniquity,</i> and <i>how should they then live?</i> <scripRef passage="Eze 33:10" id="Lev.xxvii-p14.8" parsed="|Ezek|33|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.33.10">Ezek. xxxiii. 10</scripRef>. Note, It is a
|
|
righteous thing with God to leave those to despair of pardon that
|
|
have presumed to sin; and it is owing to free grace if we are not
|
|
abandoned to pine away in the iniquity we were born in and have
|
|
lived in.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 26:40-46" id="Lev.xxvii-p14.9" parsed="|Lev|26|40|26|46" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.40-Lev.26.46"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.26.40-Lev.26.46">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.xxvii-p14.10">Threatenings and Promises. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxvii-p14.11">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xxvii-p15">40 If they shall confess their iniquity, and the
|
|
iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they
|
|
trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto
|
|
me;   41 And <i>that</i> I also have walked contrary unto
|
|
them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then
|
|
their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the
|
|
punishment of their iniquity:   42 Then will I remember my
|
|
covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my
|
|
covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the
|
|
land.   43 The land also shall be left of them, and shall
|
|
enjoy her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them: and they
|
|
shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity: because, even
|
|
because they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred
|
|
my statutes.   44 And yet for all that, when they be in the
|
|
land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I
|
|
abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with
|
|
them: for I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxvii-p15.1">Lord</span> their
|
|
God.   45 But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of
|
|
their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in
|
|
the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I <i>am</i>
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxvii-p15.2">Lord</span>.   46 These <i>are</i>
|
|
the statutes and judgments and laws, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxvii-p15.3">Lord</span> made between him and the children of Israel
|
|
in Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxvii-p16">Here the chapter concludes with gracious
|
|
promises of the return of God's favour to them upon their
|
|
repentance, that they might not (unless it were their own fault)
|
|
<i>pine away in their iniquity.</i> Behold, with wonder, the riches
|
|
of God's mercy to a people that had obstinately stood it out
|
|
against the judgments of God, and would never think of surrendering
|
|
till they were reduced to the last extremity. Yet <i>turn to
|
|
strong-hold, you prisoners of hope,</i> <scripRef passage="Zec 9:12" id="Lev.xxvii-p16.1" parsed="|Zech|9|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zech.9.12">Zech. ix. 12</scripRef>. As bad as things are, they may
|
|
be mended. <i>Yet there is hope in Israel.</i> Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxvii-p17">I. How the repentance which would qualify
|
|
them for this mercy is described, <scripRef passage="Le 26:40,41" id="Lev.xxvii-p17.1" parsed="|Lev|26|40|26|41" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.40-Lev.26.41"><i>v.</i> 40, 41</scripRef>. The instances of it are
|
|
three:—1. Confession, by which they must give glory to God, and
|
|
take shame to themselves. There must be a confession of sin, their
|
|
own and their fathers', which they must lament the guilt of because
|
|
they feel the smart of it; that thus they may cut off the entail of
|
|
wrath. They must in their confession put sin under its worst
|
|
character, as <i>walking contrary to God;</i> this is the
|
|
sinfulness of sin, the worst thing in it, and which in our
|
|
repentance we should especially bewail. There must also be a
|
|
confession of wrath; they must overlook the instruments of their
|
|
trouble and the second causes, and confess that God has <i>walked
|
|
contrary to them,</i> and so <i>dealt with them according to their
|
|
sins.</i> Such a confession as this we find made by Daniel just
|
|
before the dawning of the day of their deliverance (<scripRef passage="Da 9:1-27" id="Lev.xxvii-p17.2" parsed="|Dan|9|1|9|27" osisRef="Bible:Dan.9.1-Dan.9.27"><i>ch.</i> ix.</scripRef>), and the like,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ezr 9:1-15,Ne 9:2" id="Lev.xxvii-p17.3" parsed="|Ezra|9|1|9|15;|Neh|9|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.9.1-Ezra.9.15 Bible:Neh.9.2">Ezra ix. and Neh. ix.
|
|
2</scripRef>. Remorse and godly sorrow for sin: <i>If their
|
|
uncircumcised heart be humbled.</i> An impenitent, unbelieving,
|
|
unhumbled heart, is called an <i>uncircumcised</i> heart, the heart
|
|
of a Gentile that is a stranger to God, rather than the heart of an
|
|
Israelite in covenant with him. True circumcision is <i>of the
|
|
heart</i> (<scripRef passage="Ro 2:29" id="Lev.xxvii-p17.4" parsed="|Rom|2|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.2.29">Rom. ii. 29</scripRef>),
|
|
without which the circumcision of the flesh avails nothing,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Jer 9:26" id="Lev.xxvii-p17.5" parsed="|Jer|9|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.9.26">Jer. ix. 26</scripRef>. Now in
|
|
repentance this uncircumcised heart was humbled, that is, it was
|
|
truly broken and contrite for sin. Note, A humble heart under
|
|
humbling providences prepares for deliverance and true comfort. 3.
|
|
Submission to the justice of God in all his dealings; if they then
|
|
<i>accept of the punishment of their iniquity</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 26:41" id="Lev.xxvii-p17.6" parsed="|Lev|26|41|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.41"><i>v.</i> 41</scripRef> and again <scripRef passage="Le 26:43" id="Lev.xxvii-p17.7" parsed="|Lev|26|43|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.43"><i>v.</i> 43</scripRef>), that is, if they
|
|
justify God and condemn themselves, patiently bear the punishment
|
|
as that which they have well deserved, and carefully answer the
|
|
ends of it as that which God has well designed, accept it as a
|
|
kindness, take it as physic, and improve it, then they are
|
|
penitents indeed.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxvii-p18">II. How the mercy which they should obtain
|
|
upon their repentance is described. 1. They should not be
|
|
abandoned: <i>Though they have despised my judgments, yet, for all
|
|
that, I will not cast them away,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 26:43,44" id="Lev.xxvii-p18.1" parsed="|Lev|26|43|26|44" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.43-Lev.26.44"><i>v.</i> 43, 44</scripRef>. He speaks as a tender
|
|
Father that cannot find in his heart to disinherit a son that has
|
|
been very provoking. <i>How shall I do it?</i> <scripRef passage="Ho 11:8,9" id="Lev.xxvii-p18.2" parsed="|Hos|11|8|11|9" osisRef="Bible:Hos.11.8-Hos.11.9">Hos. xi. 8, 9</scripRef>. Till he had laid the
|
|
foundations of a church for himself in the Gentile world, the
|
|
Jewish church was not quite forsaken, nor cast away. 2. They should
|
|
be remembered: <i>I will remember the land</i> with favour, which
|
|
is grounded upon the promise before, <i>I will remember my
|
|
covenant</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 26:42" id="Lev.xxvii-p18.3" parsed="|Lev|26|42|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.42"><i>v.</i>
|
|
42</scripRef>), which is repeated, <scripRef passage="Le 26:45" id="Lev.xxvii-p18.4" parsed="|Lev|26|45|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.45"><i>v.</i> 45</scripRef>. God is said <i>to remember the
|
|
covenant</i> when he performs the promises of it, purely for his
|
|
faithfulness' sake; not because there is any thing in us to
|
|
recommend us to his favour, but because he will be as good as his
|
|
word. This is the church's plea. <scripRef passage="Ps 74:20" id="Lev.xxvii-p18.5" parsed="|Ps|74|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.74.20">Ps.
|
|
lxxiv. 20</scripRef>, <i>Have respect unto the covenant.</i> He
|
|
will remember the constitution of the covenant, which is such as
|
|
leaves room for repentance, and promises pardon upon repentance;
|
|
and the Mediator of the covenant, who was promised to Abraham,
|
|
Isaac, and Jacob, and was sent, when the fulness of time came, in
|
|
remembrance of that holy covenant. The word covenant is thrice
|
|
repeated, to intimate that God is ever mindful of it and would have
|
|
us to be so. The persons also with whom the covenant was made are
|
|
mentioned in an unusual manner, <i>per modum ascensus—in the
|
|
ascending line,</i> beginning with Jacob, to lead them gradually to
|
|
the most ancient promise, which was made to the father of the
|
|
faithful: thus (<scripRef passage="Mic 7:20" id="Lev.xxvii-p18.6" parsed="|Mic|7|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mic.7.20">Mic. vii.
|
|
20</scripRef>) he is said to perform the <i>truth to Jacob,</i> and
|
|
the <i>mercy to Abraham.</i> He will for their sakes (<scripRef passage="Le 26:45" id="Lev.xxvii-p18.7" parsed="|Lev|26|45|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.45"><i>v.</i> 45</scripRef>), not their merit's
|
|
sake, but their benefit's sake, remember the covenant of their
|
|
ancestors, and upon that score show kindness to them, though most
|
|
unworthy; they are therefore said to be, <i>as touching the
|
|
election, beloved for the fathers' sake,</i> <scripRef passage="Ro 11:28" id="Lev.xxvii-p18.8" parsed="|Rom|11|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.11.28">Rom. xi. 28</scripRef>. Note, When those that have
|
|
walked contrary to God in a way of sin return to him by sincere
|
|
repentance, though he has walked contrary to them in a way of
|
|
judgment he will return to them in a way of special mercy, pursuant
|
|
to the covenant of redemption and grace. None are so ready to
|
|
repent as God is to forgive upon repentance, through Christ, who is
|
|
given for a covenant.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxvii-p19"><i>Lastly,</i> These are said to be <i>the
|
|
laws which the Lord made between him and the children of
|
|
Israel,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 26:46" id="Lev.xxvii-p19.1" parsed="|Lev|26|46|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.46"><i>v.</i> 46</scripRef>.
|
|
His communion with his church is kept up by his law. He manifests
|
|
not only his dominion over them, but his favour to them, by giving
|
|
them his law; and they manifest not only their holy fear, but their
|
|
holy love, by the observance of it; and thus it is made between
|
|
them, rather as a covenant than a law; for he draws with the cords
|
|
of a man.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXVII" n="xxviii" progress="63.31%" prev="Lev.xxvii" next="Num" id="Lev.xxviii">
|
|
<h2 id="Lev.xxviii-p0.1">L E V I T I C U S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Lev.xxviii-p0.2">CHAP. XXVII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Lev.xxviii-p1">The <scripRef passage="Le 26:46" id="Lev.xxviii-p1.1" parsed="|Lev|26|46|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.46">last verse of the
|
|
foregoing chapter</scripRef> seemed to close up the statute-book;
|
|
yet this chapter is added as an appendix. Having given laws
|
|
concerning instituted services, here he directs concerning vows and
|
|
voluntary services, the free-will offerings of their mouth. Perhaps
|
|
some devout serious people among them might be so affected with
|
|
what Moses had delivered to them in the foregoing chapter as in a
|
|
pang of zeal to consecrate themselves, or their children, or
|
|
estates to him: this, because honestly meant, God would accept;
|
|
but, because men are apt to repent of such vows, he leaves room for
|
|
the redemption of what had been so consecrated, at a certain rate.
|
|
Here is, I. The law concerning what was sanctified to God, persons
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 27:2-8" id="Lev.xxviii-p1.2" parsed="|Lev|27|2|27|8" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.2-Lev.27.8">ver. 2-8</scripRef>), cattle, clean
|
|
or unclean (<scripRef passage="Le 27:9-13" id="Lev.xxviii-p1.3" parsed="|Lev|27|9|27|13" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.9-Lev.27.13">ver. 9-13</scripRef>),
|
|
houses and lands (<scripRef passage="Le 27:15-25" id="Lev.xxviii-p1.4" parsed="|Lev|27|15|27|25" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.15-Lev.27.25">ver.
|
|
15-25</scripRef>), with an exception of firstlings, <scripRef passage="Le 27:26,27" id="Lev.xxviii-p1.5" parsed="|Lev|27|26|27|27" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.26-Lev.27.27">ver. 26, 27</scripRef>. II. Concerning what
|
|
was devoted, <scripRef passage="Le 27:28,29" id="Lev.xxviii-p1.6" parsed="|Lev|27|28|27|29" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.28-Lev.27.29">ver. 28,
|
|
29</scripRef>. III. Concerning tithes, <scripRef passage="Le 27:30-34" id="Lev.xxviii-p1.7" parsed="|Lev|27|30|27|34" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.30-Lev.27.34">ver. 30</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 27" id="Lev.xxviii-p1.8" parsed="|Lev|27|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 27:1-13" id="Lev.xxviii-p1.9" parsed="|Lev|27|1|27|13" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.1-Lev.27.13"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.27.1-Lev.27.13">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.xxviii-p1.10">The Law Concerning Vows. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxviii-p1.11">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xxviii-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxviii-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   2 Speak unto the children of
|
|
Israel, and say unto them, When a man shall make a singular vow,
|
|
the persons <i>shall be</i> for the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxviii-p2.2">Lord</span> by thy estimation.   3 And thy
|
|
estimation shall be of the male from twenty years old even unto
|
|
sixty years old, even thy estimation shall be fifty shekels of
|
|
silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary.   4 And if it
|
|
<i>be</i> a female, then thy estimation shall be thirty shekels.
|
|
  5 And if <i>it be</i> from five years old even unto twenty
|
|
years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male twenty shekels,
|
|
and for the female ten shekels.   6 And if <i>it be</i> from a
|
|
month old even unto five years old, then thy estimation shall be of
|
|
the male five shekels of silver, and for the female thy estimation
|
|
<i>shall be</i> three shekels of silver.   7 And if <i>it
|
|
be</i> from sixty years old and above; if <i>it be</i> a male, then
|
|
thy estimation shall be fifteen shekels, and for the female ten
|
|
shekels.   8 But if he be poorer than thy estimation, then he
|
|
shall present himself before the priest, and the priest shall value
|
|
him; according to his ability that vowed shall the priest value
|
|
him.   9 And if <i>it be</i> a beast, whereof men bring an
|
|
offering unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxviii-p2.3">Lord</span>, all that
|
|
<i>any man</i> giveth of such unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxviii-p2.4">Lord</span> shall be holy.   10 He shall not alter
|
|
it, nor change it, a good for a bad, or a bad for a good: and if he
|
|
shall at all change beast for beast, then it and the exchange
|
|
thereof shall be holy.   11 And if <i>it be</i> any unclean
|
|
beast, of which they do not offer a sacrifice unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxviii-p2.5">Lord</span>, then he shall present the beast before the
|
|
priest:   12 And the priest shall value it, whether it be good
|
|
or bad: as thou valuest it, <i>who art</i> the priest, so shall it
|
|
be.   13 But if he will at all redeem it, then he shall add a
|
|
fifth <i>part</i> thereof unto thy estimation.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxviii-p3">This is part of the law concerning singular
|
|
vows, extraordinary ones, which though God did not expressly insist
|
|
on, yet, if they were consistent with and conformable to the
|
|
general precepts, he would be well pleased with. Note, We should
|
|
not only ask, What must we do, but, What may we do, for the glory
|
|
and honour of God? As the <i>liberal devises liberal things</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Isa 32:8" id="Lev.xxviii-p3.1" parsed="|Isa|32|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.32.8">Isa. xxxii. 8</scripRef>), so the
|
|
pious devises pious things, and the enlarged heart would willingly
|
|
do something extraordinary in the service of so good a Master as
|
|
God is. When we receive or expect some singular mercy it is good to
|
|
honour God with some singular vow.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxviii-p4">I. The case is here put of persons vowed to
|
|
God by a singular vow, <scripRef passage="Le 27:2" id="Lev.xxviii-p4.1" parsed="|Lev|27|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.2"><i>v.</i>
|
|
2</scripRef>. If a man consecrated himself, or a child, to the
|
|
service of the tabernacle, to be employed there in some inferior
|
|
office, as sweeping the floor, carrying out ashes, running of
|
|
errands, or the like, <i>the person</i> so consecrated <i>shall be
|
|
for the Lord,</i> that is, "God will graciously accept the
|
|
good-will." <i>Thou didst well that it was in thy heart,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="2Ch 6:8" id="Lev.xxviii-p4.2" parsed="|2Chr|6|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.6.8">2 Chron. vi. 8</scripRef>. But
|
|
forasmuch as he had no occasion to use their service about the
|
|
tabernacle, a whole tribe being appropriated to the use of it,
|
|
those that were thus vowed were to be redeemed, and the money paid
|
|
for their redemption was employed for the repair of the sanctuary,
|
|
or other uses of it, as appears by <scripRef passage="2Ki 12:14" id="Lev.xxviii-p4.3" parsed="|2Kgs|12|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.12.14">2
|
|
Kings xii. 14</scripRef>, where it is called, in the margin, the
|
|
<i>money of the souls of his estimation.</i> A book of rates is
|
|
accordingly provided, by which the priests were to go in their
|
|
estimation. Here is, 1. The rate of the middle-aged, between twenty
|
|
and threescore, these were valued highest, because most
|
|
serviceable; a male fifty shekels, and a female thirty, <scripRef passage="Le 27:3,4" id="Lev.xxviii-p4.4" parsed="|Lev|27|3|27|4" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.3-Lev.27.4"><i>v.</i> 3, 4</scripRef>. The females were
|
|
then less esteemed, but not so in Christ; for in <i>Christ Jesus
|
|
there is neither male nor female,</i> <scripRef passage="Ga 3:28" id="Lev.xxviii-p4.5" parsed="|Gal|3|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.3.28">Gal. iii. 28</scripRef>. Note, Those that are in the
|
|
prime of their time must look upon themselves as obliged to do more
|
|
in the service of God and their generation than can be expected
|
|
either from minors, that have not yet arrived to their usefulness,
|
|
or from the aged, that have survived it. 2. The rate of the youth
|
|
between five years old and twenty was less, because they were then
|
|
less capable of doing service, <scripRef passage="Le 27:5" id="Lev.xxviii-p4.6" parsed="|Lev|27|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. 3. Infants under five years old
|
|
were capable of being vowed to God by their parents, even before
|
|
they were born, as Samuel was, but not to be presented and redeemed
|
|
till a month old, that, as one sabbath passed over them before they
|
|
were circumcised, so one new moon might pass over them before they
|
|
were estimated; and their valuation was but small, <scripRef passage="Le 27:6" id="Lev.xxviii-p4.7" parsed="|Lev|27|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. Samuel, who was thus
|
|
vowed to God, was not redeemed, because he was a Levite, and a
|
|
particular favourite, and therefore was employed in his childhood
|
|
in the service of the tabernacle. 4. The aged are valued less than
|
|
youth, but more than children, <scripRef passage="Le 27:7" id="Lev.xxviii-p4.8" parsed="|Lev|27|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. And the Hebrews observe that the
|
|
rate of an aged woman is two parts of three to that of an aged man,
|
|
so that in that age the female came nearest to the value of the
|
|
male, which occasioned (as bishop Patrick quotes it here) this
|
|
saying among them, <i>That an old woman in a house is a treasure in
|
|
a house.</i> Paul sets a great value upon the aged women, when he
|
|
makes them <i>teachers of good things,</i> <scripRef passage="Tit 2:3" id="Lev.xxviii-p4.9" parsed="|Titus|2|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Titus.2.3">Tit. ii. 3</scripRef>. 5. The poor shall be valued
|
|
according to their ability, <scripRef passage="Le 27:8" id="Lev.xxviii-p4.10" parsed="|Lev|27|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.8"><i>v.</i>
|
|
8</scripRef>. Something they must pay, that they might learn not to
|
|
be rash in vowing to God, for <i>he hath no pleasure in fools,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ec 5:4" id="Lev.xxviii-p4.11" parsed="|Eccl|5|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.5.4">Eccl. v. 4</scripRef>. Yet not more than
|
|
their ability, but <i>secundum tenementum—according to their
|
|
possessions,</i> that they might not ruin themselves and their
|
|
families by their zeal. Note, God expects and requires from men
|
|
according to what they have, and not according to what they have
|
|
not, <scripRef passage="Lu 21:4" id="Lev.xxviii-p4.12" parsed="|Luke|21|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.21.4">Luke xxi. 4</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxviii-p5">II. The case is put of beasts vowed to God,
|
|
1. If it was a clean beast, such as was offered in sacrifice, it
|
|
must not be redeemed, nor any equivalent given for it: <i>It shall
|
|
be holy,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 27:9,10" id="Lev.xxviii-p5.1" parsed="|Lev|27|9|27|10" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.9-Lev.27.10"><i>v.</i> 9,
|
|
10</scripRef>. After it was vowed, it was not to be put to any
|
|
common use, nor changed upon second thoughts; but it must be either
|
|
offered upon the altar, or, if through any blemish it was not meet
|
|
to be offered, he that vowed it should not take advantage of that,
|
|
but the priests should have it for their own use (for they were
|
|
God's receivers), or it should be sold for the service of the
|
|
sanctuary. This teaches caution in making vows and constancy in
|
|
keeping them when they are made; for <i>it is a snare to a man to
|
|
devour that which is holy, and after vows to make enquiry,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Pr 20:25" id="Lev.xxviii-p5.2" parsed="|Prov|20|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.20.25">Prov. xx. 25</scripRef>. And to this
|
|
that rule of charity seems to allude (<scripRef passage="2Co 9:7" id="Lev.xxviii-p5.3" parsed="|2Cor|9|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.9.7">2
|
|
Cor. ix. 7</scripRef>), <i>Every man, according as he purposeth in
|
|
his heart, so let him give.</i> 2. If it was an unclean beast, it
|
|
should go to the use of the priest at such a value; but he that
|
|
vowed it, upon paying that value in money, and adding a fifth part
|
|
more to it, might redeem it if he pleased, <scripRef passage="Le 27:11-13" id="Lev.xxviii-p5.4" parsed="|Lev|27|11|27|13" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.11-Lev.27.13"><i>v.</i> 11-13</scripRef>. It was fit that men
|
|
should smart for their inconstancy. God has let us know his mind
|
|
concerning his service, and he is not pleased if we do not know our
|
|
own. God expects that those that deal with him should be at a
|
|
point, and way what they will stand to.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 27" id="Lev.xxviii-p5.5" parsed="|Lev|27|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 27:14-25" id="Lev.xxviii-p5.6" parsed="|Lev|27|14|27|25" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.14-Lev.27.25"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.27.14-Lev.27.25">
|
|
<h4 id="Lev.xxviii-p5.7">Concerning Things
|
|
Sanctified. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxviii-p5.8">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xxviii-p6">14 And when a man shall sanctify his house <i>to
|
|
be</i> holy unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxviii-p6.1">Lord</span>, then the
|
|
priest shall estimate it, whether it be good or bad: as the priest
|
|
shall estimate it, so shall it stand.   15 And if he that
|
|
sanctified it will redeem his house, then he shall add the fifth
|
|
<i>part</i> of the money of thy estimation unto it, and it shall be
|
|
his.   16 And if a man shall sanctify unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxviii-p6.2">Lord</span> <i>some part</i> of a field of his
|
|
possession, then thy estimation shall be according to the seed
|
|
thereof: an homer of barley seed <i>shall be valued</i> at fifty
|
|
shekels of silver.   17 If he sanctify his field from the year
|
|
of jubilee, according to thy estimation it shall stand.   18
|
|
But if he sanctify his field after the jubilee, then the priest
|
|
shall reckon unto him the money according to the years that remain,
|
|
even unto the year of the jubilee, and it shall be abated from thy
|
|
estimation.   19 And if he that sanctified the field will in
|
|
any wise redeem it, then he shall add the fifth <i>part</i> of the
|
|
money of thy estimation unto it, and it shall be assured to him.
|
|
  20 And if he will not redeem the field, or if he have sold
|
|
the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed any more.  
|
|
21 But the field, when it goeth out in the jubilee, shall be holy
|
|
unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxviii-p6.3">Lord</span>, as a field devoted;
|
|
the possession thereof shall be the priest's.   22 And if <i>a
|
|
man</i> sanctify unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxviii-p6.4">Lord</span> a
|
|
field which he hath bought, which <i>is</i> not of the fields of
|
|
his possession;   23 Then the priest shall reckon unto him the
|
|
worth of thy estimation, <i>even</i> unto the year of the jubilee:
|
|
and he shall give thine estimation in that day, <i>as</i> a holy
|
|
thing unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxviii-p6.5">Lord</span>.   24 In
|
|
the year of the jubilee the field shall return unto him of whom it
|
|
was bought, <i>even</i> to him to whom the possession of the land
|
|
<i>did belong.</i>   25 And all thy estimations shall be
|
|
according to the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs shall be
|
|
the shekel.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxviii-p7">Here is the law concerning real estates
|
|
dedicated to the service of God by a singular vow.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxviii-p8">I. Suppose a man, in his zeal for the
|
|
honour of God, should <i>sanctify his house to God</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 27:14" id="Lev.xxviii-p8.1" parsed="|Lev|27|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>), the house must be
|
|
valued by the priest, and the money got by the sale of it was to be
|
|
converted to the use of the sanctuary, which by degrees came to be
|
|
greatly enriched with <i>dedicated things,</i> <scripRef passage="1Ki 15:15" id="Lev.xxviii-p8.2" parsed="|1Kgs|15|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.15.15">1 Kings xv. 15</scripRef>. But, if the owner be
|
|
inclined to redeem it himself, he must not have it so cheap as
|
|
another, but must add a fifth part to the price, for he should have
|
|
considered before he had vowed it, <scripRef passage="Le 27:15" id="Lev.xxviii-p8.3" parsed="|Lev|27|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. To him that was necessitous God
|
|
would abate the estimation (<scripRef passage="Le 27:8" id="Lev.xxviii-p8.4" parsed="|Lev|27|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.8"><i>v.</i>
|
|
8</scripRef>); but to him that was fickle and humoursome, and whose
|
|
second thoughts inclined more to the world and his secular interest
|
|
than his first, God would rise in the price. Blessed be God, there
|
|
is a way of sanctifying our houses to be holy unto the Lord,
|
|
without either selling them or buying them. If we and our houses
|
|
serve the Lord, if religion rule in them, and we put away iniquity
|
|
far from them, and have a church in our house, holiness to the Lord
|
|
is written upon it, it is his, and he will dwell with us in it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxviii-p9">II. Suppose a man should sanctify some part
|
|
of his land to the Lord, giving it to pious uses, then a difference
|
|
must be made between land that came to the donor by descent and
|
|
that which came by purchase, and accordingly the case altered.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxviii-p10">1. If it was the inheritance of his
|
|
fathers, here called the <i>field of his possession,</i> which
|
|
pertained to his family from the first division of Canaan, he might
|
|
not give it all, no, not to the sanctuary; God would not admit such
|
|
a degree of zeal as ruined a man's family. But he might sanctify or
|
|
dedicate only some part of it, <scripRef passage="Le 27:16" id="Lev.xxviii-p10.1" parsed="|Lev|27|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. And in that case, (1.) The land
|
|
was to be valued (as our countrymen commonly compute land) by so
|
|
many measures' sowing of barley. So much land as would take a
|
|
<i>homer,</i> or <i>chomer,</i> of barley, which contained ten
|
|
ephahs, <scripRef passage="Eze 45:11" id="Lev.xxviii-p10.2" parsed="|Ezek|45|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.45.11">Ezek. xlv. 11</scripRef>
|
|
(not, as some have here mistaken it, an <i>omer,</i> which was but
|
|
a tenth part of an ephah, <scripRef passage="Ex 16:36" id="Lev.xxviii-p10.3" parsed="|Exod|16|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.36">Exod. xvi.
|
|
36</scripRef>), was valued at fifty shekels, a moderate price
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 27:16" id="Lev.xxviii-p10.4" parsed="|Lev|27|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>), and that if
|
|
it were sanctified immediately from the year of jubilee, <scripRef passage="Le 27:17" id="Lev.xxviii-p10.5" parsed="|Lev|27|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. But, if some years
|
|
after, there was to be a discount accordingly, even of that price,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 27:18" id="Lev.xxviii-p10.6" parsed="|Lev|27|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. And, (2.)
|
|
When the value was fixed, the donor might, if he pleased, redeem it
|
|
for sixty shekels the homer's sowing, which was with the addition
|
|
of a fifth part: the money then went to the sanctuary, and the land
|
|
reverted to him that had sanctified it, <scripRef passage="Le 27:19" id="Lev.xxviii-p10.7" parsed="|Lev|27|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. But if he would not redeem it,
|
|
and the priest sold it to another, then at the year of jubilee,
|
|
beyond which the sale could not go, the land came to the priests,
|
|
and was theirs for ever, <scripRef passage="Le 27:20,21" id="Lev.xxviii-p10.8" parsed="|Lev|27|20|27|21" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.20-Lev.27.21"><i>v.</i>
|
|
20, 21</scripRef>. Note, What is given to the Lord ought not to be
|
|
given with a power of revocation; what is devoted to the Lord must
|
|
be his for ever, by a perpetual covenant.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxviii-p11">2. If the land was his own purchase, and
|
|
came not to him from his ancestors, then not the land itself, but
|
|
the value of it was to be given to the priests for pious uses,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 27:22,24" id="Lev.xxviii-p11.1" parsed="|Lev|27|22|0|0;|Lev|27|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.22 Bible:Lev.27.24"><i>v.</i> 22, 24</scripRef>. It was
|
|
supposed that those who, by the blessing of God, had grown so rich
|
|
as to become purchasers would think themselves obliged in gratitude
|
|
to sanctify some part of their purchase, at least (and here they
|
|
are not limited, but they might, if they pleased, sanctify the
|
|
whole), to the service of God. For we ought to give <i>as God
|
|
prospers us,</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 16:2" id="Lev.xxviii-p11.2" parsed="|1Cor|16|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.16.2">1 Cor. xvi.
|
|
2</scripRef>. Purchasers are in a special manner bound to be
|
|
charitable. Now, forasmuch as purchased lands were by a former law
|
|
to return at the year of jubilee to the family from which they were
|
|
purchased, God would not have that law and the intentions of it
|
|
defeated by making the lands <i>corban, a gift,</i> <scripRef passage="Mk 7:11" id="Lev.xxviii-p11.3" parsed="|Mark|7|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mark.7.11">Mark vii. 11</scripRef>. But it was to be
|
|
computed how much the land was worth for so many years as were from
|
|
the vow to the jubilee; for only so long it was his own, and God
|
|
<i>hates robbery for burnt-offerings.</i> We can never acceptably
|
|
serve God with that of which we have wronged our neighbour. And so
|
|
much money he was to give for the present, and keep the land in his
|
|
own hands till the year of jubilee, when it was to return free of
|
|
all encumbrances, even that of its being dedicated to him of whom
|
|
it was bought. The value of the shekel by which all these
|
|
estimations were to be made is here ascertained (<scripRef passage="Le 27:25" id="Lev.xxviii-p11.4" parsed="|Lev|27|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>); it shall be twenty gerahs, and
|
|
every gerah was sixteen barley-corns. This was fixed before
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 30:13" id="Lev.xxviii-p11.5" parsed="|Exod|30|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.13">Exod. xxx. 13</scripRef>); and,
|
|
whereas there had been some alterations, it is again fixed in the
|
|
laws of Ezekiel's visionary temple (<scripRef passage="Eze 45:12" id="Lev.xxviii-p11.6" parsed="|Ezek|45|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.45.12">Ezek. xlv. 12</scripRef>), to denote that the gospel
|
|
should reduce things to their ancient standard.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Le 27:26-34" id="Lev.xxviii-p11.7" parsed="|Lev|27|26|27|34" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.26-Lev.27.34"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Lev.27.26-Lev.27.34">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Lev.xxviii-p12">26 Only the firstling of the beasts, which
|
|
should be the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxviii-p12.1">Lord</span>'s firstling, no
|
|
man shall sanctify it; whether <i>it be</i> ox, or sheep: it
|
|
<i>is</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxviii-p12.2">Lord</span>'s.   27 And
|
|
if <i>it be</i> of an unclean beast, then he shall redeem <i>it</i>
|
|
according to thine estimation, and shall add a fifth <i>part</i> of
|
|
it thereto: or if it be not redeemed, then it shall be sold
|
|
according to thy estimation.   28 Notwithstanding no devoted
|
|
thing, that a man shall devote unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxviii-p12.3">Lord</span> of all that he hath, <i>both</i> of man and
|
|
beast, and of the field of his possession, shall be sold or
|
|
redeemed: every devoted thing <i>is</i> most holy unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxviii-p12.4">Lord</span>.   29 None devoted, which shall
|
|
be devoted of men, shall be redeemed; <i>but</i> shall surely be
|
|
put to death.   30 And all the tithe of the land,
|
|
<i>whether</i> of the seed of the land, <i>or</i> of the fruit of
|
|
the tree, <i>is</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxviii-p12.5">Lord</span>'s:
|
|
<i>it is</i> holy unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxviii-p12.6">Lord</span>.
|
|
  31 And if a man will at all redeem <i>ought</i> of his
|
|
tithes, he shall add thereto the fifth <i>part</i> thereof.  
|
|
32 And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock,
|
|
<i>even</i> of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be
|
|
holy unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxviii-p12.7">Lord</span>.   33 He
|
|
shall not search whether it be good or bad, neither shall he change
|
|
it: and if he change it at all, then both it and the change thereof
|
|
shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.   34 These <i>are</i>
|
|
the commandments, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Lev.xxviii-p12.8">Lord</span>
|
|
commanded Moses for the children of Israel in Mount Sinai.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxviii-p13">Here is, I. A caution given that no man
|
|
should make such a jest of sanctifying things to the Lord as to
|
|
sanctify any firstling to him, for that was his already by the law,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 27:26" id="Lev.xxviii-p13.1" parsed="|Lev|27|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>. Though the
|
|
matter of a general vow be that which we were before obliged to, as
|
|
of our sacramental covenant, yet a singular vow should be of that
|
|
which we were not, in such circumstances and proportions,
|
|
antecedently bound to. The law concerning the firstlings of unclean
|
|
beasts (<scripRef passage="Le 27:27" id="Lev.xxviii-p13.2" parsed="|Lev|27|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>) is
|
|
the same with that before, <scripRef passage="Le 27:11,12" id="Lev.xxviii-p13.3" parsed="|Lev|27|11|27|12" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.11-Lev.27.12"><i>v.</i> 11, 12</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxviii-p14">II. Things or persons devoted are here
|
|
distinguished from things or persons that were only sanctified. 1.
|
|
Devoted things were most holy to the Lord, and could neither revert
|
|
nor be alienated, <scripRef passage="Le 27:28" id="Lev.xxviii-p14.1" parsed="|Lev|27|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.28"><i>v.</i>
|
|
28</scripRef>. They were of the same nature with those sacrifices
|
|
which were called most holy, which none might touch but only the
|
|
priests themselves. The difference between these and other
|
|
sanctified things arose from the different expression of the vow.
|
|
If a man dedicated any thing to God, binding himself with a solemn
|
|
curse never to alienate it to any other purpose, then it was a
|
|
thing devoted. 2. Devoted persons were to be put to death,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 27:29" id="Lev.xxviii-p14.2" parsed="|Lev|27|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>. Not that it
|
|
was in the power of any parent or master thus to devote a child or
|
|
a servant to death; but it must be meant of the public enemies of
|
|
Israel, who, either by the appointment of God or by the sentence of
|
|
the congregation, were devoted, as the seven nations with which
|
|
they must make no league. The city of Jericho in particular was
|
|
thus devoted, <scripRef passage="Jos 6:17" id="Lev.xxviii-p14.3" parsed="|Josh|6|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.6.17">Josh. vi. 17</scripRef>.
|
|
The inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead were put to death for violating
|
|
the curse pronounced upon those who came not up to Mizpeh,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Jdg 21:9,10" id="Lev.xxviii-p14.4" parsed="|Judg|21|9|21|10" osisRef="Bible:Judg.21.9-Judg.21.10">Judg. xxi. 9, 10</scripRef>. Some
|
|
think it was for want of being rightly informed of the true intent
|
|
and meaning of this law that Jephtha sacrificed his daughter as one
|
|
devoted, who might not be redeemed.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxviii-p15">III. A law concerning tithes, which were
|
|
paid for the service of God before the law, as appears by Abraham's
|
|
payment of them, (<scripRef passage="Ge 14:20" id="Lev.xxviii-p15.1" parsed="|Gen|14|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.20">Gen. xiv.
|
|
20</scripRef>), and Jacob's promise of them, <scripRef passage="Ge 28:22" id="Lev.xxviii-p15.2" parsed="|Gen|28|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.22">Gen. xxviii. 22</scripRef>. It is here appointed, 1.
|
|
That they should pay tithe of all their increase, their corn,
|
|
trees, and cattle, <scripRef passage="Le 27:30,32" id="Lev.xxviii-p15.3" parsed="|Lev|27|30|0|0;|Lev|27|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.30 Bible:Lev.27.32"><i>v.</i> 30,
|
|
32</scripRef>. Whatsoever productions they had the benefit of God
|
|
must be honoured with the tithe of, if it were titheable. Thus they
|
|
acknowledged God to be the owner of their land, the giver of its
|
|
fruits, and themselves to be his tenants, and dependents upon him.
|
|
Thus they gave him thanks for the plenty they enjoyed, and
|
|
supplicated his favour in the continuance of it. And we are taught
|
|
in general to <i>honour the Lord with our substance</i> (<scripRef passage="Pr 3:9" id="Lev.xxviii-p15.4" parsed="|Prov|3|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.3.9">Prov. iii. 9</scripRef>), and in particular to
|
|
support and maintain his ministers, and to be <i>ready to
|
|
communicate</i> to them, <scripRef passage="Ga 6:6,1Co 9:11" id="Lev.xxviii-p15.5" parsed="|Gal|6|6|0|0;|1Cor|9|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.6.6 Bible:1Cor.9.11">Gal.
|
|
vi. 6; 1 Cor. ix. 11</scripRef>. And how this may be done in a
|
|
fitter and more equal proportion than that of the tenth, which God
|
|
himself appointed of old, I cannot see. 2. That which was once
|
|
marked for tithe should not be altered, no, not for a better
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 27:33" id="Lev.xxviii-p15.6" parsed="|Lev|27|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>), for
|
|
Providence directed the rod that marked it. God would accept it
|
|
though it were not the best, and they must not grudge it though it
|
|
were, for it was what passed under the rod. 3. That it should not
|
|
be redeemed, unless the owner would give a fifth part more for its
|
|
ransom, <scripRef passage="Le 27:31" id="Lev.xxviii-p15.7" parsed="|Lev|27|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>. If
|
|
men had the curiosity to prefer what was marked for tithe before
|
|
any other part of their increase, it was fit that they should pay
|
|
for their curiosity.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Lev.xxviii-p16">IV. The <scripRef passage="Le 27:34" id="Lev.xxviii-p16.1" parsed="|Lev|27|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.27.34">last
|
|
verse</scripRef> seems to have reference to this whole book of
|
|
which it is the conclusion: <i>These are the commandments which the
|
|
Lord commanded Moses, for the children of Israel.</i> Many of these
|
|
commandments are moral, and of perpetual obligation; others of
|
|
them, which were ceremonial and peculiar to the Jewish economy,
|
|
have notwithstanding a spiritual significancy, and are instructive
|
|
to us who are furnished with a key to let us into the mysteries
|
|
contained in them; for <i>unto us,</i> by those institutions, <i>is
|
|
the gospel preached as well as unto them,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 4:2" id="Lev.xxviii-p16.2" parsed="|Heb|4|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.4.2">Heb. iv. 2</scripRef>. Upon the whole matter, we may see
|
|
cause to bless God that <i>we have not come to Mount Sinai,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Heb 12:18" id="Lev.xxviii-p16.3" parsed="|Heb|12|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.18">Heb. xii. 18</scripRef>. 1. That we
|
|
are not under the <i>dark shadows</i> of the law, but enjoy the
|
|
clear light of the gospel, which shows us <i>Christ the end of the
|
|
law for righteousness,</i> <scripRef passage="Ro 10:4" id="Lev.xxviii-p16.4" parsed="|Rom|10|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.10.4">Rom. x.
|
|
4</scripRef>. The doctrine of our reconciliation to God by a
|
|
Mediator is not clouded with the smoke of burning sacrifices, but
|
|
cleared by the knowledge of <i>Christ and him crucified.</i> 2.
|
|
That we are not under the <i>heavy yoke</i> of the law, and the
|
|
carnal ordinances of it (as the apostle calls them, <scripRef passage="Heb 9:10" id="Lev.xxviii-p16.5" parsed="|Heb|9|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.9.10">Heb. ix. 10</scripRef>), imposed till the time
|
|
of reformation, a yoke which <i>neither they nor their fathers were
|
|
able to bear</i> (<scripRef passage="Ac 15:10" id="Lev.xxviii-p16.6" parsed="|Acts|15|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.15.10">Acts xv.
|
|
10</scripRef>), but under the sweet and easy institutions of the
|
|
gospel, which pronounces those the <i>true worshippers that worship
|
|
the Father in spirit and truth,</i> by Christ only, and in his
|
|
name, who is our priest, temple, altar, sacrifice, purification,
|
|
and all. Let us not therefore think that because we are not tied to
|
|
the ceremonial cleansings, feasts, and oblations, a little care,
|
|
time, and expense, will serve to honour God with. No, but rather
|
|
have our hearts more enlarge with free-will offerings to his
|
|
praise, more inflamed with holy love and joy, and more engaged in
|
|
seriousness of thought and sincerity of intention. <i>Having
|
|
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, let us
|
|
draw near with a true heart, and full assurance of faith,</i>
|
|
worshipping God with so much the more cheerfulness and humble
|
|
confidence, still saying, <i>Blessed be God for Jesus
|
|
Christ!</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
</div1>
|
|
|
|
<div1 title="Numbers" n="iv" progress="63.75%" prev="Lev.xxviii" next="Num.i" id="Num">
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Introduction" n="i" progress="63.75%" prev="Num" next="Num.ii" id="Num.i">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.i-p0.1">Numbers</h2>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<hr/>
|
|
|
|
<pb n="562" id="Num.i-Page_562"/>
|
|
|
|
<div class="Center" id="Num.i-p0.3">
|
|
<p id="Num.i-p1"><b>AN</b></p>
|
|
|
|
<h3 id="Num.i-p1.1">EXPOSITION,</h3>
|
|
|
|
<h4 id="Num.i-p1.2">W I T H   P R A C T I C A L   O B S E
|
|
R V A T I O N S,</h4>
|
|
|
|
<h5 id="Num.i-p1.3">OF THE FOURTH BOOK OF MOSES, CALLED</h5>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Num.i-p1.4">N U M B E R S.</h2>
|
|
|
|
<hr style="width:2in"/>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.i-p2"><span class="smallcaps" id="Num.i-p2.1">The</span> titles
|
|
of the five books of Moses, which we use in our Bibles, are all
|
|
borrowed from the Greek translation of the Seventy, the most
|
|
ancient version of the Old Testament that we know of. But the title
|
|
of this book only we turn into English; in all the rest we retain
|
|
the Greek word itself, for which difference I know no reason but
|
|
that the Latin translators have generally done the same. Otherwise
|
|
this book might as well have been called <i>Arithmoi,</i> the Greek
|
|
title, as the first <i>Genesis,</i> and the second <i>Exodus;</i>
|
|
or these might as well have been translated, and called, the first
|
|
the <i>Generation,</i> or <i>Original,</i> the second the
|
|
<i>Out-let,</i> or <i>Escape,</i> as this <i>Numbers.</i>—This
|
|
book was thus entitled because of the numbers of the children of
|
|
Israel, so often mentioned in this book, and so well worthy to give
|
|
a title to it, because it was the remarkable accomplishment of
|
|
God's promise to Abraham that his seed should be as the stars of
|
|
heaven for multitude. It also relates to two numberings of them,
|
|
None at Mount Sinai (<scripRef passage="Nu 1:1-54" id="Num.i-p2.2" parsed="|Num|1|1|1|54" osisRef="Bible:Num.1.1-Num.1.54"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
i.</scripRef>), the other in the plains of Moab, thirty-nine years
|
|
after, <scripRef passage="Nu 26:1-65" id="Num.i-p2.3" parsed="|Num|26|1|26|65" osisRef="Bible:Num.26.1-Num.26.65"><i>ch.</i> xxvi</scripRef>.
|
|
And not three men the same in the last account that were in the
|
|
first. The book is almost equally divided between histories and
|
|
laws, intermixed.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.i-p3">We have here, I. The histories of the
|
|
numbering and marshalling of the tribes (<scripRef passage="Nu 1:1-4:49" id="Num.i-p3.1" parsed="|Num|1|1|4|49" osisRef="Bible:Num.1.1-Num.4.49"><i>ch.</i> i.-iv.</scripRef>), the dedication of the
|
|
altar and Levites (<scripRef passage="Nu 7:1-8:26" id="Num.i-p3.2" parsed="|Num|7|1|8|26" osisRef="Bible:Num.7.1-Num.8.26"><i>ch.</i> vii.
|
|
viii.</scripRef>), their march (<scripRef passage="Nu 9:1-10:36" id="Num.i-p3.3" parsed="|Num|9|1|10|36" osisRef="Bible:Num.9.1-Num.10.36"><i>ch.</i> ix. x.</scripRef>), their murmuring and
|
|
unbelief, for which they were sentenced to wander forty years in
|
|
the wilderness (<scripRef passage="Nu 11:1-14:45" id="Num.i-p3.4" parsed="|Num|11|1|14|45" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.1-Num.14.45"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xi.-xiv.</scripRef>), the rebellion of Korah (<scripRef passage="Nu 16:1-17:13" id="Num.i-p3.5" parsed="|Num|16|1|17|13" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.1-Num.17.13"><i>ch.</i> xvi. xvii.</scripRef>), the history of
|
|
the last year of the forty (<scripRef passage="Nu 20:1-26:65" id="Num.i-p3.6" parsed="|Num|20|1|26|65" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.1-Num.26.65"><i>ch.</i> xx.-xxvi.</scripRef>), the conquest of
|
|
Midian, and the settlement of the two tribes (<scripRef passage="Nu 31:1-32:42" id="Num.i-p3.7" parsed="|Num|31|1|32|42" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.1-Num.32.42"><i>ch.</i> xxxi. xxxii.</scripRef>), with an
|
|
account of their journeys, <scripRef passage="Nu 33:1-56" id="Num.i-p3.8" parsed="|Num|33|1|33|56" osisRef="Bible:Num.33.1-Num.33.56"><i>ch.</i> xxxiii</scripRef>. II. Divers laws about
|
|
the Nazarites, &c. (<scripRef passage="Nu 5:1-6:27" id="Num.i-p3.9" parsed="|Num|5|1|6|27" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.1-Num.6.27"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
v. vi.</scripRef>); and again about the priests' charge, &c.
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 18:1-19:22" id="Num.i-p3.10" parsed="|Num|18|1|19|22" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.1-Num.19.22"><i>ch.</i> xviii.
|
|
xix.</scripRef>), feasts (<scripRef passage="Nu 28:1-29:40" id="Num.i-p3.11" parsed="|Num|28|1|29|40" osisRef="Bible:Num.28.1-Num.29.40"><i>ch.</i> xxviii. xxix.</scripRef>), and vows
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 30:1-16" id="Num.i-p3.12" parsed="|Num|30|1|30|16" osisRef="Bible:Num.30.1-Num.30.16"><i>ch.</i> xxx.</scripRef>), and
|
|
relating to their settlement in Canaan, <scripRef passage="Nu 27:1-23,34:1-36:13" id="Num.i-p3.13" parsed="|Num|27|1|27|23;|Num|34|1|36|13" osisRef="Bible:Num.27.1-Num.27.23 Bible:Num.34.1-Num.36.13"><i>ch.</i> xxvii. xxxiv. xxxv.
|
|
xxxvi.</scripRef>. An abstract of much of this book we have in a
|
|
few words in <scripRef passage="Ps 95:10" id="Num.i-p3.14" parsed="|Ps|95|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.95.10">Ps. xcv. 10</scripRef>,
|
|
<i>Forty years long was I grieved with this generation;</i> and an
|
|
application of it to ourselves in <scripRef passage="Heb 4:1" id="Num.i-p3.15" parsed="|Heb|4|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.4.1">Heb.
|
|
iv. 1</scripRef>, <i>Let us fear lest we seem to come short.</i>
|
|
Many considerable nations there were now in being, that dwelt in
|
|
cities and fortified towns, of which no notice is taken, no account
|
|
kept, by the sacred history: but very exact records are kept of the
|
|
affairs of a handful of people, that dwelt in tents, and wandered
|
|
strangely in a wilderness, because they were the children of the
|
|
covenant. <i>For the Lord's portion is his people, Jacob is the lot
|
|
of his inheritance.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter I" n="ii" progress="63.81%" prev="Num.i" next="Num.iii" id="Num.ii">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.ii-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.ii-p0.2">CHAP. I.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.ii-p1">Israel was now to be formed into a commonwealth,
|
|
or rather a kingdom; for "the Lord was their King" (<scripRef passage="1Sa 12:12" id="Num.ii-p1.1" parsed="|1Sam|12|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.12.12">1 Sam. xii. 12</scripRef>), their government a
|
|
theocracy, and Moses under him was king in Jeshurun, <scripRef passage="De 33:5" id="Num.ii-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|33|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.5">Deut. xxxiii. 5</scripRef>. Now, for the right
|
|
settlement of this holy state, next to the institution of good laws
|
|
was necessary the institution of good order; and account therefore
|
|
must be taken of the subjects of this kingdom, which is done in
|
|
this chapter, where we have, I. Orders given to Moses to number the
|
|
people, <scripRef passage="Nu 1:1-4" id="Num.ii-p1.3" parsed="|Num|1|1|1|4" osisRef="Bible:Num.1.1-Num.1.4">ver. 1-4</scripRef>. II.
|
|
Persons nominated to assist him herein, <scripRef passage="Nu 1:5-16" id="Num.ii-p1.4" parsed="|Num|1|5|1|16" osisRef="Bible:Num.1.5-Num.1.16">ver. 5-16</scripRef>. III. The particular number of
|
|
each tribe, as it was given in to Moses, <scripRef passage="Nu 1:17-43" id="Num.ii-p1.5" parsed="|Num|1|17|1|43" osisRef="Bible:Num.1.17-Num.1.43">ver. 17-43</scripRef>. IV. The sum total of all
|
|
together, <scripRef passage="Nu 1:44-46" id="Num.ii-p1.6" parsed="|Num|1|44|1|46" osisRef="Bible:Num.1.44-Num.1.46">ver. 44-46</scripRef>. V.
|
|
An exception of the Levites, <scripRef passage="Nu 1:47-54" id="Num.ii-p1.7" parsed="|Num|1|47|1|54" osisRef="Bible:Num.1.47-Num.1.54">ver.
|
|
47</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 1" id="Num.ii-p1.8" parsed="|Num|1|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.1"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 1:1-16" id="Num.ii-p1.9" parsed="|Num|1|1|1|16" osisRef="Bible:Num.1.1-Num.1.16"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.1.1-Num.1.16">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.ii-p1.10">The Numbering of the
|
|
Israelites. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.ii-p1.11">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.ii-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.ii-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of
|
|
the congregation, on the first <i>day</i> of the second month, in
|
|
the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt,
|
|
saying,   2 Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the
|
|
children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their
|
|
fathers, with the number of <i>their</i> names, every male by their
|
|
polls;   3 From twenty years old and upward, all that are able
|
|
to go forth to war in Israel: thou and Aaron shall number them by
|
|
their armies.   4 And with you there shall be a man of every
|
|
tribe; every one head of the house of his fathers.   5 And
|
|
these <i>are</i> the names of the men that shall stand with you: of
|
|
<i>the tribe of</i> Reuben; Elizur the son of Shedeur.   6 Of
|
|
Simeon; Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai.   7 Of Judah;
|
|
Nahshon the son of Amminadab.   8 Of Issachar; Nethaneel the
|
|
son of Zuar.   9 Of Zebulun; Eliab the son of Helon.   10
|
|
Of the children of Joseph: of Ephraim; Elishama the son of Ammihud:
|
|
of Manasseh; Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur.   11 Of Benjamin;
|
|
Abidan the son of Gideoni.   12 Of Dan; Ahiezer the son of
|
|
Ammishaddai.   13 Of Asher; Pagiel the son of Ocran.   14
|
|
Of Gad; Eliasaph the son of Deuel.   15 Of Naphtali; Ahira the
|
|
son of Enan.   16 These <i>were</i> the renowned of the
|
|
congregation, princes of the tribes of their fathers, heads of
|
|
thousands in Israel.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.ii-p3">I. We have here a commission issued out for
|
|
the numbering of the people of Israel; and David, long after, paid
|
|
dearly for doing it without a commission. Here is,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.ii-p4">1. The date of this commission, <scripRef passage="Nu 1:1" id="Num.ii-p4.1" parsed="|Num|1|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.1.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. (1.) The place: it is
|
|
given at God's court <i>in the wilderness of Sinai,</i> from his
|
|
royal palace, <i>the tabernacle of the congregation.</i> (2.) The
|
|
time: <i>In the second year</i> after they came up out of Egypt; we
|
|
may call it the second year of that reign. The laws in Leviticus
|
|
were given in the first month of that year; these orders were given
|
|
in the beginning of the second month.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.ii-p5">2. The directions given for the execution
|
|
of it, <scripRef passage="Nu 1:2,3" id="Num.ii-p5.1" parsed="|Num|1|2|1|3" osisRef="Bible:Num.1.2-Num.1.3"><i>v.</i> 2, 3</scripRef>. (1.)
|
|
None were to be numbered but the males, and those only such as were
|
|
fit for war. None <i>under twenty years old;</i> for, though some
|
|
such might have bulk and strength enough for military service, yet,
|
|
in compassion to their tender years, God would not have them put
|
|
upon it to bear arms. (2.) Nor were any to be numbered who through
|
|
age, or bodily infirmity, blindness, lameness, or chronical
|
|
diseases, were unfit for war. The church being militant, those only
|
|
are reputed the true members of it that have enlisted themselves
|
|
soldiers of Jesus Christ; for our life, our Christian life, is a
|
|
warfare. (3.) The account was to be taken <i>according to their
|
|
families,</i> that it might not only be known how many they were,
|
|
and what were their names, but of what tribe and family, or clan,
|
|
nay, of what particular house every person was; or, reckoning it
|
|
the muster of an army, to what regiment every man belonged, that he
|
|
might know his place himself and the government might know where to
|
|
find him. They were numbered a little before this, when their
|
|
poll-money was paid for the service of the tabernacle, <scripRef passage="Ex 38:25,26" id="Num.ii-p5.2" parsed="|Exod|38|25|38|26" osisRef="Bible:Exod.38.25-Exod.38.26">Exod. xxxviii. 25, 26</scripRef>. But it
|
|
should seem they were not then registered <i>by the house of their
|
|
fathers,</i> as now they were. Their number was the same then that
|
|
it was now: 603,550 men; for as many as had died since then, and
|
|
were lost in the account, so many had arrived to be twenty years
|
|
old, and were added to the account. Note, As <i>one generation
|
|
passeth a way another generation cometh.</i> As vacancies are daily
|
|
made, so recruits are daily raised to fill up the vacancies, and
|
|
Providence takes care that, one time or other, in one place or
|
|
other, the births shall balance the burials, that the race of
|
|
mankind and the holy seed may not be cut off and become
|
|
extinct.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.ii-p6">3. Commissioners are named for the doing of
|
|
this work. Moses and Aaron were to preside (<scripRef passage="Nu 1:3" id="Num.ii-p6.1" parsed="|Num|1|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.1.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), and one man of every tribe, that
|
|
was renowned in his tribe, and was presumed to know it well, was to
|
|
assist in it—<i>the princes of the tribes,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 1:16" id="Num.ii-p6.2" parsed="|Num|1|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.1.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. Note, Those that are honourable
|
|
should study to be serviceable; he that is great, let him be your
|
|
minister, and show, by his knowing the public, that he deserves to
|
|
be publicly known. The charge of this muster was committed to him
|
|
who was the lord-lieutenant of that tribe. Now,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.ii-p7">II. Why was this account ordered to be
|
|
taken and kept? For several reasons. 1. To prove the accomplishment
|
|
of the promise made to Abraham, that God would <i>multiply his seed
|
|
exceedingly,</i> which promise was renewed to Jacob (<scripRef passage="Ge 28:14" id="Num.ii-p7.1" parsed="|Gen|28|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.14">Gen. xxviii. 14</scripRef>), that <i>his seed
|
|
should be as the dust of the earth.</i> Now it appears that there
|
|
did not fail one tittle of that good promise, which was an
|
|
encouragement to them to hope that the other promise of the land of
|
|
Canaan for an inheritance should also be fulfilled in its season.
|
|
When the number of a body of men is only guessed at, upon the view,
|
|
it is easy for one that is disposed to cavil to surmise that the
|
|
conjecture is mistaken, and that, if they were to be counted, they
|
|
would not be found half so many; therefore God would have Israel
|
|
numbered, that it might be upon record how vastly they were
|
|
increased in a little time, that the power of God's providence and
|
|
the truth of his promise may be seen and acknowledged by all. It
|
|
could not have been expected, in any ordinary course of nature,
|
|
that seventy-five souls (which was the number of Jacob's family
|
|
when he went down into Egypt) should in 215 years (and it was no
|
|
longer) multiply into so many hundred thousands. It is therefore to
|
|
be attributed to an extraordinary virtue in the divine promise and
|
|
blessing. 2. It was to intimate the particular care which God
|
|
himself would take of his Israel, and which Moses and the inferior
|
|
rulers were expected to take of them. God is called the <i>Shepherd
|
|
of Israel,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 80:1" id="Num.ii-p7.2" parsed="|Ps|80|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.80.1">Ps. lxxx. 1</scripRef>.
|
|
Now the shepherds always kept count of their flocks, and delivered
|
|
them by number to their under-shepherds, that they might know if
|
|
any were missing; in like manner God numbers his flock, that of all
|
|
which he took into his fold he might lose none but upon a valuable
|
|
consideration, even those that were sacrificed to his justice. 3.
|
|
It was to put a difference between the true born Israelites and the
|
|
mixed multitude that were among them; none were numbered but
|
|
Israelites: all the world is but lumber in comparison with those
|
|
jewels. Little account is made of others, but the saints God has a
|
|
particular property in and concern for. <i>The Lord knows those
|
|
that are his</i> (<scripRef passage="2Ti 2:19" id="Num.ii-p7.3" parsed="|2Tim|2|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Tim.2.19">2 Tim. ii.
|
|
19</scripRef>), <i>knows them by name,</i> <scripRef passage="Php 4:3" id="Num.ii-p7.4" parsed="|Phil|4|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Phil.4.3">Phil. iv. 3</scripRef>. The hairs of their head are
|
|
numbered; but he will say to others, "<i>I never knew you,</i>
|
|
never made any account of you." 4. It was in order to their being
|
|
marshalled into several districts, for the more easy administration
|
|
of justice, and their more regular march through the wilderness. It
|
|
is a rout and a rabble, not an army, that is not mustered and put
|
|
in order.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 1" id="Num.ii-p7.5" parsed="|Num|1|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.1"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 1:17-43" id="Num.ii-p7.6" parsed="|Num|1|17|1|43" osisRef="Bible:Num.1.17-Num.1.43"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.1.17-Num.1.43">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.ii-p8">17 And Moses and Aaron took these men which are
|
|
expressed by <i>their</i> names:   18 And they assembled all
|
|
the congregation together on the first <i>day</i> of the second
|
|
month, and they declared their pedigrees after their families, by
|
|
the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names,
|
|
from twenty years old and upward, by their polls.   19 As the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.ii-p8.1">Lord</span> commanded Moses, so he numbered
|
|
them in the wilderness of Sinai.   20 And the children of
|
|
Reuben, Israel's eldest son, by their generations, after their
|
|
families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of
|
|
the names, by their polls, every male from twenty years old and
|
|
upward, all that were able to go forth to war;   21 Those that
|
|
were numbered of them, <i>even</i> of the tribe of Reuben,
|
|
<i>were</i> forty and six thousand and five hundred.   22 Of
|
|
the children of Simeon, by their generations, after their families,
|
|
by the house of their fathers, those that were numbered of them,
|
|
according to the number of the names, by their polls, every male
|
|
from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to
|
|
war;   23 Those that were numbered of them, <i>even</i> of the
|
|
tribe of Simeon, <i>were</i> fifty and nine thousand and three
|
|
hundred.   24 Of the children of Gad, by their generations,
|
|
after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to
|
|
the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that
|
|
were able to go forth to war;   25 Those that were numbered of
|
|
them, <i>even</i> of the tribe of Gad, <i>were</i> forty and five
|
|
thousand six hundred and fifty.   26 Of the children of Judah,
|
|
by their generations, after their families, by the house of their
|
|
fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years
|
|
old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war;   27
|
|
Those that were numbered of them, <i>even</i> of the tribe of
|
|
Judah, <i>were</i> threescore and fourteen thousand and six
|
|
hundred.   28 Of the children of Issachar, by their
|
|
generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers,
|
|
according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and
|
|
upward, all that were able to go forth to war;   29 Those that
|
|
were numbered of them, <i>even</i> of the tribe of Issachar,
|
|
<i>were</i> fifty and four thousand and four hundred.   30 Of
|
|
the children of Zebulun, by their generations, after their
|
|
families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of
|
|
the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to
|
|
go forth to war;   31 Those that were numbered of them,
|
|
<i>even</i> of the tribe of Zebulun, <i>were</i> fifty and seven
|
|
thousand and four hundred.   32 Of the children of Joseph,
|
|
<i>namely,</i> of the children of Ephraim, by their generations,
|
|
after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to
|
|
the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that
|
|
were able to go forth to war;   33 Those that were numbered of
|
|
them, <i>even</i> of the tribe of Ephraim, <i>were</i> forty
|
|
thousand and five hundred.   34 Of the children of Manasseh,
|
|
by their generations, after their families, by the house of their
|
|
fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years
|
|
old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war;   35
|
|
Those that were numbered of them, <i>even</i> of the tribe of
|
|
Manasseh, <i>were</i> thirty and two thousand and two hundred.
|
|
  36 Of the children of Benjamin, by their generations, after
|
|
their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the
|
|
number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that
|
|
were able to go forth to war;   37 Those that were numbered of
|
|
them, <i>even</i> of the tribe of Benjamin, <i>were</i> thirty and
|
|
five thousand and four hundred.   38 Of the children of Dan,
|
|
by their generations, after their families, by the house of their
|
|
fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years
|
|
old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war;   39
|
|
Those that were numbered of them, <i>even</i> of the tribe of Dan,
|
|
<i>were</i> threescore and two thousand and seven hundred.  
|
|
40 Of the children of Asher, by their generations, after their
|
|
families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of
|
|
the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to
|
|
go forth to war;   41 Those that were numbered of them,
|
|
<i>even</i> of the tribe of Asher, <i>were</i> forty and one
|
|
thousand and five hundred.   42 Of the children of Naphtali,
|
|
throughout their generations, after their families, by the house of
|
|
their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty
|
|
years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war;  
|
|
43 Those that were numbered of them, <i>even</i> of the tribe of
|
|
Naphtali, <i>were</i> fifty and three thousand and four
|
|
hundred.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.ii-p9">We have here the speedy execution of the
|
|
orders given for the numbering of the people. It was begun the same
|
|
day that the orders were given, <i>The first day of the second
|
|
month;</i> compare <scripRef passage="Nu 1:1,18" id="Num.ii-p9.1" parsed="|Num|1|1|0|0;|Num|1|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.1.1 Bible:Num.1.18"><i>v.</i> 18 with
|
|
<i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. Note, When any work is to be done for God
|
|
it is good to set about it quickly, while the sense of duty is
|
|
strong and pressing. And, for aught that appears, it was but one
|
|
day's work, for many other things were done between this and the
|
|
twentieth day of this month, when they removed their camp,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 10:11" id="Num.ii-p9.2" parsed="|Num|10|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.10.11"><i>ch.</i> x. 11</scripRef>. Joab was
|
|
almost ten months numbering the people in David's time (<scripRef passage="2Sa 24:8" id="Num.ii-p9.3" parsed="|2Sam|24|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.24.8">2 Sam. xxiv. 8</scripRef>); but then they were
|
|
dispersed, now they lived closely together; then Satan proposed the
|
|
doing of it, now God commanded it. It was the sooner and more
|
|
easily done now because it had been done but a little while ago,
|
|
and they needed but review the old books, with the alterations
|
|
since made, which probably they had kept an account of as they
|
|
occurred.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.ii-p10">In the particulars here left upon record,
|
|
we may observe, 1. That the numbers are registered in words at
|
|
length (as I may say), and not in figures; to every one of the
|
|
twelve tribes it is repeated, for the greater ceremony and
|
|
solemnity of the account, that they were numbered <i>by their
|
|
generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers,
|
|
according to the number of the names,</i> to show that every tribe
|
|
took and gave in the account by the same rule and in the same
|
|
method, though so many hands were employed in it, setting down the
|
|
genealogy first, to show that their family descended from Israel,
|
|
then the families themselves in their order, then dividing each
|
|
family into the houses, or subordinate families, that branched from
|
|
it, and under these the names of the particular persons, according
|
|
to the rules of heraldry. Thus every man might know who were his
|
|
relations or next of kin, on which some laws we have already met
|
|
with did depend: besides that the nearer any are to us in relation
|
|
the more ready we should be to do them good. 2. That they all end
|
|
with hundreds, only Gad with fifty (<scripRef passage="Nu 1:25" id="Num.ii-p10.1" parsed="|Num|1|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.1.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>), but none of the numbers descend
|
|
to units or tens. Some think it was a special providence that
|
|
ordered all the tribes just at this time to be even numbers, and no
|
|
odd or broken numbers among them, to show them that there was
|
|
something more than ordinary designed in their increase, there
|
|
being this uncommon in the circumstance of it. It is rather
|
|
probable that Moses having some time before appointed rulers of
|
|
hundreds, and rulers of fifties (<scripRef passage="Ex 18:25" id="Num.ii-p10.2" parsed="|Exod|18|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.25">Exod.
|
|
xviii. 25</scripRef>), they numbered the people by their respective
|
|
rulers, which would bring the numbers to even hundreds or fifties.
|
|
3. That Judah is the must numerous of them all, more than double to
|
|
Benjamin and Manasseh, and almost 12,000 more than any other tribe,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 1:27" id="Num.ii-p10.3" parsed="|Num|1|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.1.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>. It was Judah
|
|
whom <i>his brethren must praise</i> because from him Messiah the
|
|
Prince was to descend; but, because that was a thing at a distance,
|
|
God did in many ways honour that tribe in the meantime,
|
|
particularly by the great increase of it, for his sake who was to
|
|
spring out of Judah (<scripRef passage="Heb 7:14" id="Num.ii-p10.4" parsed="|Heb|7|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.14">Heb. vii.
|
|
14</scripRef>) in the fulness of time. Judah was to lead the van
|
|
through the wilderness, and therefore was furnished accordingly
|
|
with greater strength than any other tribe. 4. Ephraim and
|
|
Manasseh, the sons of Joseph, are numbered as distinct tribes, and
|
|
both together made up almost as many as Judah; this was in
|
|
pursuance of Jacob's adoption of them, by which they were equalled
|
|
with their uncles Reuben and Simeon, <scripRef passage="Ge 48:5" id="Num.ii-p10.5" parsed="|Gen|48|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.5">Gen. xlviii. 5</scripRef>. It was also the effect of the
|
|
blessing of Joseph, who was to be a <i>fruitful bough,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 49:22" id="Num.ii-p10.6" parsed="|Gen|49|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.22">Gen. xlix. 22</scripRef>. And Ephraim
|
|
the younger is put first, and is more numerous than Manasseh, for
|
|
Jacob had crossed hands, and foreseen ten thousands of Ephraim and
|
|
thousands of Manasseh. The fulfilling of this confirms our faith in
|
|
the spirit of prophecy with which the patriarchs were endued. 5.
|
|
When they came down into Egypt Dan had but one son (<scripRef passage="Ge 46:23" id="Num.ii-p10.7" parsed="|Gen|46|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.46.23">Gen. xlvi. 23</scripRef>), and so his tribe was
|
|
but one family, <scripRef passage="Nu 26:42" id="Num.ii-p10.8" parsed="|Num|26|42|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.26.42"><i>ch.</i> xxvi.
|
|
42</scripRef>. Benjamin had then ten sons (<scripRef passage="Ge 46:21" id="Num.ii-p10.9" parsed="|Gen|46|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.46.21">Gen. xlvi. 21</scripRef>), yet now the tribe of Dan is
|
|
almost double in number to that of Benjamin. Note, The increasing
|
|
and diminishing of families do not always go by probabilities. Some
|
|
are multiplied greatly, and again are diminished, while others that
|
|
were poor have families made them like a flock, <scripRef passage="Ps 107:38,39,41" id="Num.ii-p10.10" parsed="|Ps|107|38|107|39;|Ps|107|41|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.107.38-Ps.107.39 Bible:Ps.107.41">Ps. cvii. 38, 39, 41</scripRef>; and see
|
|
<scripRef passage="Job 12:23" id="Num.ii-p10.11" parsed="|Job|12|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.12.23">Job xii. 23</scripRef>. 6. It is said
|
|
of each of the tribes that those were numbered who were able to go
|
|
forth to war, to remind them that they had wars before them, though
|
|
now they were in peace and met with no opposition. <i>Let not him
|
|
that girdeth on the harness boast as though he had put it
|
|
off.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 1:44-46" id="Num.ii-p10.12" parsed="|Num|1|44|1|46" osisRef="Bible:Num.1.44-Num.1.46"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.1.44-Num.1.46">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.ii-p11">44 These <i>are</i> those that were numbered,
|
|
which Moses and Aaron numbered, and the princes of Israel,
|
|
<i>being</i> twelve men: each one was for the house of his fathers.
|
|
  45 So were all those that were numbered of the children of
|
|
Israel, by the house of their fathers, from twenty years old and
|
|
upward, all that were able to go forth to war in Israel;   46
|
|
Even all they that were numbered were six hundred thousand and
|
|
three thousand and five hundred and fifty.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.ii-p12">We have here the sum total at the foot of
|
|
the account; they were in all 600,000 fighting men, and 3550 over.
|
|
Some think that when this was their number some months before
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 38:26" id="Num.ii-p12.1" parsed="|Exod|38|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.38.26">Exod. xxxviii. 26</scripRef>) the
|
|
Levites were reckoned with them, but now that tribe was separated
|
|
for the service of God, yet so many more had by this time attained
|
|
to the age of twenty years as that still they were the same number,
|
|
to show that whatever we part with for the honour and service of
|
|
God it shall certainly be made up to us one way of other. Now we
|
|
see what a vast body of men they were. Let us consider, 1. How much
|
|
went to maintain all these (besides twice as many more, no
|
|
question, of women and children, sick and aged, and the mixed
|
|
multitude) for forty years together in the wilderness; and they
|
|
were all at God's finding every day, having their food from the dew
|
|
of heaven, and not from the fatness of the earth. O what a great
|
|
and good housekeeper is our God, that has such numbers depending on
|
|
him and receiving from him every day! 2. What work sin makes with a
|
|
people; within forty years most of them would indeed have died of
|
|
course for the common sin of mankind; for, when sin entered into
|
|
the world, death came with it, and how great are the desolations
|
|
which it makes in the earth! But, for the particular sin of
|
|
unbelief and murmuring, all those that were now numbered, except
|
|
two, laid their bones under their iniquity, and perished in the
|
|
wilderness. 3. What a great multitude God's spiritual Israel will
|
|
amount to at last; though at one time, and in one place, they seem
|
|
to be but a little flock, yet when they come all together they
|
|
shall be a great multitude, innumerable, <scripRef passage="Re 7:9" id="Num.ii-p12.2" parsed="|Rev|7|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.7.9">Rev. vii. 9</scripRef>. And, though the church's beginning
|
|
be small, its latter end shall greatly increase. A little one shall
|
|
become a thousand.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 1:47-54" id="Num.ii-p12.3" parsed="|Num|1|47|1|54" osisRef="Bible:Num.1.47-Num.1.54"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.1.47-Num.1.54">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.ii-p13">47 But the Levites after the tribe of their
|
|
fathers were not numbered among them.   48 For the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.ii-p13.1">Lord</span> had spoken unto Moses, saying,  
|
|
49 Only thou shalt not number the tribe of Levi, neither take the
|
|
sum of them among the children of Israel:   50 But thou shalt
|
|
appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of testimony, and over all
|
|
the vessels thereof, and over all things that <i>belong</i> to it:
|
|
they shall bear the tabernacle, and all the vessels thereof; and
|
|
they shall minister unto it, and shall encamp round about the
|
|
tabernacle.   51 And when the tabernacle setteth forward, the
|
|
Levites shall take it down: and when the tabernacle is to be
|
|
pitched, the Levites shall set it up: and the stranger that cometh
|
|
nigh shall be put to death.   52 And the children of Israel
|
|
shall pitch their tents, every man by his own camp, and every man
|
|
by his own standard, throughout their hosts.   53 But the
|
|
Levites shall pitch round about the tabernacle of testimony, that
|
|
there be no wrath upon the congregation of the children of Israel:
|
|
and the Levites shall keep the charge of the tabernacle of
|
|
testimony.   54 And the children of Israel did according to
|
|
all that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.ii-p13.2">Lord</span> commanded Moses,
|
|
so did they.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.ii-p14">Care is here taken to distinguish from the
|
|
rest of the tribes the tribe of Levi, which, in the matter of the
|
|
golden calf, had distinguished itself, <scripRef passage="Ex 32:26" id="Num.ii-p14.1" parsed="|Exod|32|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.26">Exod. xxxii. 26</scripRef>. Note, Singular services
|
|
shall be recompensed with singular honours. Now,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.ii-p15">I. It was the honour of the Levites that
|
|
they were made guardians of the spiritualities; to them was
|
|
committed the care of the tabernacle and the treasures thereof,
|
|
both in their camps and in their marches. 1. When they moved the
|
|
Levites were to take down the tabernacle, to carry it and all that
|
|
belonged to it, and then to set it up again in the place appointed,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 1:50,51" id="Num.ii-p15.1" parsed="|Num|1|50|1|51" osisRef="Bible:Num.1.50-Num.1.51"><i>v.</i> 50, 51</scripRef>. It was
|
|
for the honour of the holy things that none should be permitted to
|
|
see them, or touch them, but those only who were called of God to
|
|
the service. Thus we all are unfit and unworthy to have fellowship
|
|
with God until we are first called by his grace <i>into the
|
|
fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord,</i> and so, being the
|
|
spiritual seed of that great high priest, are made <i>priests to
|
|
our God;</i> and it is promised that God would take Levites to
|
|
himself, even from the Gentiles, <scripRef passage="Isa 66:21" id="Num.ii-p15.2" parsed="|Isa|66|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.66.21">Isa.
|
|
lxvi. 21</scripRef>. 2. When they rested the Levites were to
|
|
<i>encamp round about the tabernacle</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 1:50,53" id="Num.ii-p15.3" parsed="|Num|1|50|0|0;|Num|1|53|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.1.50 Bible:Num.1.53"><i>v.</i> 50, 53</scripRef>), that they might be near
|
|
their work, and resident upon their charge, always ready to attend,
|
|
and that they might be a guard upon the tabernacle, to preserve it
|
|
from being either plundered or profaned. They must pitch round
|
|
about the tabernacle, <i>that there be no wrath upon the
|
|
congregation,</i> as there would be if the tabernacle and the
|
|
charge of it were neglected, or those crowded upon it that were not
|
|
allowed to come near. Note, Great care must be taken to prevent
|
|
sin, because the preventing of sin is the preventing of wrath.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.ii-p16">II. It was their further honour that as
|
|
Israel, being a holy people, was not <i>reckoned among the
|
|
nations,</i> so they, being a holy tribe, were not reckoned among
|
|
other Israelites, but numbered afterwards by themselves, <scripRef passage="Nu 1:49" id="Num.ii-p16.1" parsed="|Num|1|49|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.1.49"><i>v.</i> 49</scripRef>. The service which the
|
|
Levites were to do about the sanctuary is called (as we render it
|
|
in the margin) a <i>warfare,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 4:23" id="Num.ii-p16.2" parsed="|Num|4|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.4.23"><i>ch.</i> iv. 23</scripRef>. And, being engaged in that
|
|
warfare, they were discharged from military services, and therefore
|
|
not numbered with those that were to <i>go out to war.</i> Note,
|
|
Those that minister about holy things should neither entangle
|
|
themselves, nor be entangled, in secular affairs. The ministry is
|
|
itself work enough for a whole man, and all little enough to be
|
|
employed in it. It is an admonition to ministers to distinguish
|
|
themselves by their exemplary conversation from common Israelites,
|
|
not affecting to seem greater, but aiming to be really better,
|
|
every way better than others.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter II" n="iii" progress="64.29%" prev="Num.ii" next="Num.iv" id="Num.iii">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.iii-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.iii-p0.2">CHAP. II.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.iii-p1">The thousands of Israel, having been mustered in
|
|
the former chapter, in this are marshalled, and a regular
|
|
disposition is made of their camp, by a divine appointment. Here
|
|
is, I. A general order concerning it, <scripRef passage="Nu 2:1,2" id="Num.iii-p1.1" parsed="|Num|2|1|2|2" osisRef="Bible:Num.2.1-Num.2.2">ver. 1, 2</scripRef>. II. Particular directions for the
|
|
posting of each of the tribes, in four distinct squadrons, three
|
|
tribes in each squadron. 1. In the van-guard on the east were
|
|
posted Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun, <scripRef passage="Nu 2:3-9" id="Num.iii-p1.2" parsed="|Num|2|3|2|9" osisRef="Bible:Num.2.3-Num.2.9">ver. 3-9</scripRef>. 2. In the right wing, southward,
|
|
Reuben, Simeon, and Gad, <scripRef passage="Nu 2:10-16" id="Num.iii-p1.3" parsed="|Num|2|10|2|16" osisRef="Bible:Num.2.10-Num.2.16">ver.
|
|
10-16</scripRef>. 3. In the rear, westward, Ephraim, Manasseh, and
|
|
Benjamin, <scripRef passage="Nu 2:18-24" id="Num.iii-p1.4" parsed="|Num|2|18|2|24" osisRef="Bible:Num.2.18-Num.2.24">ver. 18-24</scripRef>. 4.
|
|
In the left wing, northward, Dan, Asher, and Naphtali, <scripRef passage="Nu 2:25-31" id="Num.iii-p1.5" parsed="|Num|2|25|2|31" osisRef="Bible:Num.2.25-Num.2.31">ver. 25-31</scripRef>. 5. The tabernacle in
|
|
the centre, <scripRef passage="Nu 2:17" id="Num.iii-p1.6" parsed="|Num|2|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.2.17">ver. 17</scripRef>. III.
|
|
The conclusion of this appointment, <scripRef passage="Nu 2:32" id="Num.iii-p1.7" parsed="|Num|2|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.2.32">ver. 32</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 2" id="Num.iii-p1.8" parsed="|Num|2|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.2"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 2:1-2" id="Num.iii-p1.9" parsed="|Num|2|1|2|2" osisRef="Bible:Num.2.1-Num.2.2"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.2.1-Num.2.2">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.iii-p1.10">The Stations of the Several
|
|
Tribes. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.iii-p1.11">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.iii-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.iii-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,   2 Every man of the
|
|
children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard, with the ensign
|
|
of their father's house: far off about the tabernacle of the
|
|
congregation shall they pitch.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.iii-p3">Here is the general appointment given both
|
|
for their orderly encampment where they rested and their orderly
|
|
march when they moved. Some order, it is possible, they had
|
|
observed hitherto; they came out of Egypt in rank and file
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 13:18" id="Num.iii-p3.1" parsed="|Exod|13|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.18">Exod. xiii. 18</scripRef>), but now
|
|
they were put into a better model. 1. They all dwelt in tents, and
|
|
when they marched carried all their tents along with them, for
|
|
<i>they found no city to dwell in,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 107:4" id="Num.iii-p3.2" parsed="|Ps|107|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.107.4">Ps. cvii. 4</scripRef>. This represents to us our state
|
|
in this world. It is a movable state (we are here to-day and gone
|
|
to-morrow); and it is a military state: is not our life a warfare?
|
|
We do but pitch our tents in this world, and have in it no
|
|
continuing city. Let us, therefore, while we are pitching in this
|
|
world, be pressing through it. 2. Those of a tribe were to pitch
|
|
together, <i>every man by his own standard.</i> Note, It is the
|
|
will of God that mutual love and affection, converse and communion,
|
|
should be kept up among relations. Those that are of kin to each
|
|
other should, as much as they can, be acquainted with each other;
|
|
and the bonds of nature should be improved for the strengthening of
|
|
the bonds of Christian communion. 3. Every one must know his place
|
|
and keep in it; they were not allowed to fix where they pleased,
|
|
nor to remove when they pleased, but God quarters them, with a
|
|
charge to abide in their quarters. Note, It is God that <i>appoints
|
|
us the bounds of our habitation,</i> and to him we must refer
|
|
ourselves. <i>He shall choose our inheritance for us</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 47:4" id="Num.iii-p3.3" parsed="|Ps|47|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.47.4">Ps. xlvii. 4</scripRef>), and in his choice we
|
|
must acquiesce, and not love to flit, nor be <i>as the bird that
|
|
wanders from her nest.</i> 4. Every tribe had its standard, flag,
|
|
or ensign, and it should seem every family had some particular
|
|
ensign of their father's house, which was carried as with us the
|
|
colours of each troop or company in a regiment are. These were of
|
|
use for the distinction of tribes and families, and the gathering
|
|
and keeping of them together, in allusion to which the preaching of
|
|
the gospel is said to <i>lift up an ensign, to which the Gentiles
|
|
shall seek,</i> and by which they shall pitch, <scripRef passage="Isa 11:10,12" id="Num.iii-p3.4" parsed="|Isa|11|10|0|0;|Isa|11|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.11.10 Bible:Isa.11.12">Isa. xi. 10, 12</scripRef>. Note, God is the God of
|
|
order, and not of confusion. These standards made this mighty army
|
|
seem more beautiful to its friends and more formidable to its
|
|
enemies. The church of Christ is said to be as <i>terrible as an
|
|
army with banners,</i> <scripRef passage="So 6:10" id="Num.iii-p3.5" parsed="|Song|6|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Song.6.10">Cant. vi.
|
|
10</scripRef>. It is uncertain how these standards were
|
|
distinguished: some conjecture that the standard of each tribe was
|
|
of the same colour with the precious stone in which the name of
|
|
that tribe was written in the high priest's ephod, and that this
|
|
was all the difference. Many of the modern Jews think there was
|
|
some coat of arms painted in each standard, which had reference to
|
|
the blessing of that tribe by Jacob. Judah bore a lion, Dan a
|
|
serpent, Naphtali a hind, Benjamin a wolf, &c. Some of them say
|
|
the four principal standards were, Judah a lion, Reuben a man,
|
|
Joseph an ox, and Dan an eagle, making the appearances in Ezekiel's
|
|
vision to allude it. Others say the name of each tribe was written
|
|
in its standard. Whatever it was, no doubt it gave a certain
|
|
direction. 5. They were to pitch about the tabernacle, which was to
|
|
be in the midst of them, as the tent of pavilion of a general in
|
|
the centre of an army. They must encamp round the tabernacle, (1.)
|
|
That it might be equally a comfort and joy to them all, as it was a
|
|
token of God's gracious presence with them. <scripRef passage="Ps 46:5" id="Num.iii-p3.6" parsed="|Ps|46|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.46.5">Ps. xlvi. 5</scripRef>, <i>God is in the midst of her,
|
|
she shall not be moved.</i> Their camp had reason to be hearty,
|
|
when thus they had God in the heart of them. To have bread from
|
|
heaven every day round about their camp, and fire from heaven, with
|
|
other tokens of God's favour, in the midst of their camp, was
|
|
abundantly sufficient to answer that question, <i>Is the Lord among
|
|
us, or is he not? Happy art thou, O Israel!</i> It is probable that
|
|
the doors of all their tents were made to look towards the
|
|
tabernacle from all sides, for every Israelite should have his eyes
|
|
always towards the Lord; therefore they worshipped at the
|
|
tent-door. The tabernacle was in the midst of the camp, that it
|
|
might be near to them; for it is a very desirable thing to have the
|
|
solemn administrations of holy ordinances near us and within our
|
|
reach. <i>The kingdom of God is among you.</i> (2.) That they might
|
|
be a guard and defence upon the tabernacle and the Levites on every
|
|
side. No invader could come near God's tabernacle without first
|
|
penetrating the thickest of their squadrons. Note, If God undertake
|
|
the protection of our comforts, we ought in our places to undertake
|
|
the protection of his institutions, and stand up in defence of his
|
|
honour, and interest, and ministers. 6. Yet they were to pitch afar
|
|
off, in reverence to the sanctuary, that it might not seem crowded
|
|
and thrust up among them, and that the common business of the camp
|
|
might be no annoyance to it. They were also taught to keep their
|
|
distance, lest too much familiarity should breed contempt. It is
|
|
supposed (from <scripRef passage="Jos 3:4" id="Num.iii-p3.7" parsed="|Josh|3|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.3.4">Joshua iii.
|
|
4</scripRef>) that the distance between the nearest part of the
|
|
camp and the tabernacle (or perhaps between them and the camp of
|
|
the Levites, who pitched near the tabernacle) was 2000 cubits, that
|
|
is, 1000 yards, little more than half a measured mile with us; but
|
|
the outer parts of the camp must needs be much further off. Some
|
|
compute that the extent of their camp could be no less than twelve
|
|
miles square; for it was like a movable city, with streets and
|
|
lanes, in which perhaps the manna fell, as well as on the outside
|
|
of the camp, that they might have it at their doors. In the
|
|
Christian church we read of a throne (as in the tabernacle there
|
|
was a mercy-seat) which is called a <i>glorious high throne from
|
|
the beginning</i> (<scripRef passage="Jer 17:12" id="Num.iii-p3.8" parsed="|Jer|17|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.17.12">Jer. xvii.
|
|
12</scripRef>), and that throne surrounded by spiritual Israelites,
|
|
twenty-four elders, double to the number of the tribes, <i>clothed
|
|
in white raiment</i> (<scripRef passage="Re 4:4" id="Num.iii-p3.9" parsed="|Rev|4|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.4.4">Rev. iv.
|
|
4</scripRef>), and the banner over them is <i>Love;</i> but we are
|
|
not ordered, as they were, to pitch afar off; no, we are invited to
|
|
draw near, and come boldly. The saints of the Most High are said to
|
|
be <i>round about him,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 76:11" id="Num.iii-p3.10" parsed="|Ps|76|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.76.11">Ps. lxxvi.
|
|
11</scripRef>. God by his grace keep us close to him!</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 2:3-34" id="Num.iii-p3.11" parsed="|Num|2|3|2|34" osisRef="Bible:Num.2.3-Num.2.34"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.2.3-Num.2.34">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.iii-p4">3 And on the east side toward the rising of the
|
|
sun shall they of the standard of the camp of Judah pitch
|
|
throughout their armies: and Nahshon the son of Amminadab <i>shall
|
|
be</i> captain of the children of Judah.   4 And his host, and
|
|
those that were numbered of them, <i>were</i> threescore and
|
|
fourteen thousand and six hundred.   5 And those that do pitch
|
|
next unto him <i>shall be</i> the tribe of Issachar: and Nethaneel
|
|
the son of Zuar <i>shall be</i> captain of the children of
|
|
Issachar.   6 And his host, and those that were numbered
|
|
thereof, <i>were</i> fifty and four thousand and four hundred.
|
|
  7 <i>Then</i> the tribe of Zebulun: and Eliab the son of
|
|
Helon <i>shall be</i> captain of the children of Zebulun.   8
|
|
And his host, and those that were numbered thereof, <i>were</i>
|
|
fifty and seven thousand and four hundred.   9 All that were
|
|
numbered in the camp of Judah <i>were</i> an hundred thousand and
|
|
fourscore thousand and six thousand and four hundred, throughout
|
|
their armies. These shall first set forth.   10 On the south
|
|
side <i>shall be</i> the standard of the camp of Reuben according
|
|
to their armies: and the captain of the children of Reuben <i>shall
|
|
be</i> Elizur the son of Shedeur.   11 And his host, and those
|
|
that were numbered thereof, <i>were</i> forty and six thousand and
|
|
five hundred.   12 And those which pitch by him <i>shall
|
|
be</i> the tribe of Simeon: and the captain of the children of
|
|
Simeon <i>shall be</i> Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai.   13
|
|
And his host, and those that were numbered of them, <i>were</i>
|
|
fifty and nine thousand and three hundred.   14 Then the tribe
|
|
of Gad: and the captain of the sons of Gad <i>shall be</i> Eliasaph
|
|
the son of Reuel.   15 And his host, and those that were
|
|
numbered of them, <i>were</i> forty and five thousand and six
|
|
hundred and fifty.   16 All that were numbered in the camp of
|
|
Reuben <i>were</i> an hundred thousand and fifty and one thousand
|
|
and four hundred and fifty, throughout their armies. And they shall
|
|
set forth in the second rank.   17 Then the tabernacle of the
|
|
congregation shall set forward with the camp of the Levites in the
|
|
midst of the camp: as they encamp, so shall they set forward, every
|
|
man in his place by their standards.   18 On the west side
|
|
<i>shall be</i> the standard of the camp of Ephraim according to
|
|
their armies: and the captain of the sons of Ephraim <i>shall
|
|
be</i> Elishama the son of Ammihud.   19 And his host, and
|
|
those that were numbered of them, <i>were</i> forty thousand and
|
|
five hundred.   20 And by him <i>shall be</i> the tribe of
|
|
Manasseh: and the captain of the children of Manasseh <i>shall
|
|
be</i> Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur.   21 And his host, and
|
|
those that were numbered of them, <i>were</i> thirty and two
|
|
thousand and two hundred.   22 Then the tribe of Benjamin: and
|
|
the captain of the sons of Benjamin <i>shall be</i> Abidan the son
|
|
of Gideoni.   23 And his host, and those that were numbered of
|
|
them, <i>were</i> thirty and five thousand and four hundred.  
|
|
24 All that were numbered of the camp of Ephraim <i>were</i> an
|
|
hundred thousand and eight thousand and an hundred, throughout
|
|
their armies. And they shall go forward in the third rank.  
|
|
25 The standard of the camp of Dan <i>shall be</i> on the north
|
|
side by their armies: and the captain of the children of Dan
|
|
<i>shall be</i> Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai.   26 And his
|
|
host, and those that were numbered of them, <i>were</i> threescore
|
|
and two thousand and seven hundred.   27 And those that encamp
|
|
by him <i>shall be</i> the tribe of Asher: and the captain of the
|
|
children of Asher <i>shall be</i> Pagiel the son of Ocran.  
|
|
28 And his host, and those that were numbered of them, <i>were</i>
|
|
forty and one thousand and five hundred.   29 Then the tribe
|
|
of Naphtali: and the captain of the children of Naphtali <i>shall
|
|
be</i> Ahira the son of Enan.   30 And his host, and those
|
|
that were numbered of them, <i>were</i> fifty and three thousand
|
|
and four hundred.   31 All they that were numbered in the camp
|
|
of Dan <i>were</i> an hundred thousand and fifty and seven thousand
|
|
and six hundred. They shall go hindmost with their standards.
|
|
  32 These <i>are</i> those which were numbered of the
|
|
children of Israel by the house of their fathers: all those that
|
|
were numbered of the camps throughout their hosts <i>were</i> six
|
|
hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty.
|
|
  33 But the Levites were not numbered among the children of
|
|
Israel; as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.iii-p4.1">Lord</span> commanded Moses.
|
|
  34 And the children of Israel did according to all that the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.iii-p4.2">Lord</span> commanded Moses: so they
|
|
pitched by their standards, and so they set forward, every one
|
|
after their families, according to the house of their fathers.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.iii-p5">We have here the particular distribution of
|
|
the twelve tribes into four squadrons, three tribes in a squadron,
|
|
one of which was to lead the other two. Observe, 1. God himself
|
|
appointed them their place, to prevent strife and envy among them.
|
|
Had they been left to determine precedency among themselves, they
|
|
would have been in danger of quarrelling with one another (as the
|
|
disciples who strove <i>which should be greatest</i>); each would
|
|
have had a pretence to be first, or at least not to be last. Had it
|
|
been left to Moses to determine, they would have quarrelled with
|
|
him, and charged him with partiality; therefore God does it, who is
|
|
himself the fountain and judge of honour, and in his appointment
|
|
all must acquiesce. If God in his providence advance others above
|
|
us, and abase us, we ought to be as well satisfied in his doing it
|
|
in that way as if he did it, as this was done here, by a voice out
|
|
of the tabernacle; and this consideration, that it appears to be
|
|
the will of God it should be so, should effectually silence all
|
|
envies and discontents. And as far as our place comes to be our
|
|
choice our Saviour has given us a rule in <scripRef passage="Lu 14:8" id="Num.iii-p5.1" parsed="|Luke|14|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.14.8">Luke xiv. 8</scripRef>, <i>Sit not down in the highest
|
|
room;</i> and another in <scripRef passage="Mt 20:27" id="Num.iii-p5.2" parsed="|Matt|20|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.20.27">Matt. xx.
|
|
27</scripRef>, <i>He that will be chief, let him be your
|
|
servant.</i> Those that are most humble and most serviceable are
|
|
really most honourable. 2. Every tribe had a captain, a prince, or
|
|
commander-in-chief, whom God himself nominated, the same that had
|
|
been appointed to number them, <scripRef passage="Nu 1:5" id="Num.iii-p5.3" parsed="|Num|1|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.1.5"><i>ch.</i> i. 5</scripRef>. Our being all the children of
|
|
one Adam is so far from justifying the levellers, and taking away
|
|
the distinction of place and honour, that even among the children
|
|
of the same Abraham, the same Jacob, the same Judah, God himself
|
|
appointed that one should be captain of all the rest. There are
|
|
<i>powers ordained of God,</i> and those to whom honour and fear
|
|
are due and must be paid. Some observe the significancy of the
|
|
names of these princes, at least, in general, how much God was in
|
|
the thoughts of those that gave them their names, for most of them
|
|
have <i>El, God,</i> at one end or other of their names.
|
|
<i>Nethaneel, the gift of God; Eliab, my God a Father; Elizur, my
|
|
God a rock; Shelumiel, God my peace; Eliasaph, God has added;
|
|
Elishama, my God has heard: Gamaliel, God my reward; Pagiel, God
|
|
has met me.</i> By this it appears that the Israelites in Egypt did
|
|
not quite forget the name of their God, but, when they wanted other
|
|
memorials, preserved the remembrance of it in the names of their
|
|
children, and therewith comforted themselves in their affliction.
|
|
3. Those tribes were placed together under the same standard that
|
|
were nearest of kin to each other; Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun,
|
|
were the three younger sons of Leah, and they were put together;
|
|
and Issachar and Zebulun would not grudge to be under Judah, since
|
|
they were his younger brethren. Reuben and Simeon would not have
|
|
been content in their place. Therefore Reuben, Jacob's eldest son,
|
|
is made chief of the next squadron; Simeon, no doubt, is willing to
|
|
be under him, and Gad, the son of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid, is fitly
|
|
added to them in Levi's room: Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin, are
|
|
all the posterity of Rachel. Dan, the eldest son of Bilhah, is made
|
|
a leading tribe, though the son of a concubine, that more abundant
|
|
honour might be bestowed on that which lacked; and it was said,
|
|
<i>Dan should judge his people,</i> and to him were added two
|
|
younger sons of the handmaids. Thus unexceptionable was the order
|
|
in which they were placed. 4. The tribe of Judah was in the first
|
|
post of honour, encamped towards the rising sun, and in their
|
|
marches led the van, not only because it was the most numerous
|
|
tribe, but chiefly because from that tribe Christ was to come, who
|
|
is the <i>Lion of the tribe of Judah,</i> and was to descend from
|
|
the loins of him who was now nominated chief captain of that tribe.
|
|
Nahshon is reckoned among the ancestors of Christ, <scripRef passage="Mt 1:4" id="Num.iii-p5.4" parsed="|Matt|1|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.1.4">Matt. i. 4</scripRef>. So that, when he went
|
|
before them, Christ himself went before them in effect, as their
|
|
leader. Judah was the first of the twelve sons of Jacob that was
|
|
blessed. Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, were censured by their dying
|
|
father; he therefore being first in blessing, though not in birth,
|
|
is put first, to teach children how to value the smiles of their
|
|
godly parents and dread their frowns. 5. The tribes of Levi pitched
|
|
closely about the tabernacle, within the rest of their tribes,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 2:17" id="Num.iii-p5.5" parsed="|Num|2|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.2.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. They must
|
|
defend the sanctuary, and then the rest of the tribes must defend
|
|
them. Thus, in the vision which John saw of the glory of heaven,
|
|
between the elders and the throne were four <i>living creatures
|
|
full of eyes,</i> <scripRef passage="Re 4:6,8" id="Num.iii-p5.6" parsed="|Rev|4|6|0|0;|Rev|4|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.4.6 Bible:Rev.4.8">Rev. iv. 6,
|
|
8</scripRef>. Civil powers should protect the religious interests
|
|
of a nation, and be a defence upon that glory. 6. The camp of Dan
|
|
(and so that tribe is called long after their settlement in Canaan
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Jdg 13:25" id="Num.iii-p5.7" parsed="|Judg|13|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.13.25">Judg. xiii. 25</scripRef>), because
|
|
celebrated for their military prowess), though posted in the left
|
|
wing when they encamped, was ordered in their march to bring up the
|
|
rear, <scripRef passage="Nu 2:31" id="Num.iii-p5.8" parsed="|Num|2|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.2.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>. They
|
|
were the most numerous, next to Judah, and therefore were ordered
|
|
into a post which, next to the front, required the most strength,
|
|
for as the strength is so shall the day be. <i>Lastly,</i> The
|
|
children of Israel observed the orders given them, and did <i>as
|
|
the Lord commanded Moses,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 2:34" id="Num.iii-p5.9" parsed="|Num|2|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.2.34"><i>v.</i>
|
|
34</scripRef>. They put themselves in the posts assigned them,
|
|
without murmuring or disputing, and, as it was their safety, so it
|
|
was their beauty; Balaam was charmed with the sight of it: <i>How
|
|
goodly are thy tents, O Jacob!</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 24:5" id="Num.iii-p5.10" parsed="|Num|24|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.5"><i>ch.</i> xxiv. 5</scripRef>. Thus the gospel church,
|
|
called the <i>camp of saints,</i> ought to be compact according to
|
|
the scripture model, every one knowing and keeping his place, and
|
|
then all that wish well to the church rejoice, <i>beholding their
|
|
order,</i> <scripRef passage="Col 2:5" id="Num.iii-p5.11" parsed="|Col|2|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Col.2.5">Col. ii. 5</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter III" n="iv" progress="64.64%" prev="Num.iii" next="Num.v" id="Num.iv">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.iv-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.iv-p0.2">CHAP. III.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.iv-p1">This chapter and the next are concerning the tribe
|
|
of Levi, which was to be mustered and marshalled by itself, and not
|
|
in common with the other tribes, intimating the particular honour
|
|
put upon them and the particular duty and service required from
|
|
them. The Levites are in this chapter considered, I. As attendants
|
|
on, and assistants to, the priests in the temple-service. And so we
|
|
have an account, 1. Of the priests themselves (<scripRef passage="Nu 3:1-4" id="Num.iv-p1.1" parsed="|Num|3|1|3|4" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.1-Num.3.4">ver. 1-4</scripRef>) and their work, <scripRef passage="Nu 3:10" id="Num.iv-p1.2" parsed="|Num|3|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.10">ver. 10</scripRef>. 2. Of the gift of the Levites to them
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 3:5-9" id="Num.iv-p1.3" parsed="|Num|3|5|3|9" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.5-Num.3.9">ver. 5-9</scripRef>), in order to
|
|
which they are mustered (<scripRef passage="Nu 3:14-16" id="Num.iv-p1.4" parsed="|Num|3|14|3|16" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.14-Num.3.16">ver.
|
|
14-16</scripRef>), and the sum of them taken, <scripRef passage="Nu 3:39" id="Num.iv-p1.5" parsed="|Num|3|39|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.39">ver. 39</scripRef>. Each particular family of them is
|
|
mustered, has its place assigned and its charge, the Gershonites
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 3:17-26" id="Num.iv-p1.6" parsed="|Num|3|17|3|26" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.17-Num.3.26">ver. 17-26</scripRef>), the
|
|
Kohathites (<scripRef passage="Nu 3:27-32" id="Num.iv-p1.7" parsed="|Num|3|27|3|32" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.27-Num.3.32">ver. 27-32</scripRef>),
|
|
the Merarites, <scripRef passage="Nu 3:33-39" id="Num.iv-p1.8" parsed="|Num|3|33|3|39" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.33-Num.3.39">ver.
|
|
33-39</scripRef>. II. As equivalents for the first-born, <scripRef passage="Nu 3:11-13" id="Num.iv-p1.9" parsed="|Num|3|11|3|13" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.11-Num.3.13">ver. 11-13</scripRef>. 1. The first-born are
|
|
numbered, and the Levites taken instead of them, as far as the
|
|
number of the Levites went, <scripRef passage="Nu 3:40-45" id="Num.iv-p1.10" parsed="|Num|3|40|3|45" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.40-Num.3.45">ver.
|
|
40-45</scripRef>. 2. What first-born there were more than the
|
|
Levites were redeemed, <scripRef passage="Nu 3:46-51" id="Num.iv-p1.11" parsed="|Num|3|46|3|51" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.46-Num.3.51">ver.
|
|
46</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 3" id="Num.iv-p1.12" parsed="|Num|3|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.3"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 3:1-13" id="Num.iv-p1.13" parsed="|Num|3|1|3|13" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.1-Num.3.13"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.3.1-Num.3.13">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.iv-p1.14">The Separation of the
|
|
Levites. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.iv-p1.15">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.iv-p2">1 These also <i>are</i> the generations of Aaron
|
|
and Moses in the day <i>that</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.iv-p2.1">Lord</span> spake with Moses in Mount Sinai.   2
|
|
And these <i>are</i> the names of the sons of Aaron; Nadab the
|
|
firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.   3 These
|
|
<i>are</i> the names of the sons of Aaron, the priests which were
|
|
anointed, whom he consecrated to minister in the priest's office.
|
|
  4 And Nadab and Abihu died before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.iv-p2.2">Lord</span>, when they offered strange fire before the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.iv-p2.3">Lord</span>, in the wilderness of Sinai,
|
|
and they had no children: and Eleazar and Ithamar ministered in the
|
|
priest's office in the sight of Aaron their father.   5 And
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.iv-p2.4">Lord</span> spake unto Moses, saying,
|
|
  6 Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before
|
|
Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him.   7 And
|
|
they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole
|
|
congregation before the tabernacle of the congregation, to do the
|
|
service of the tabernacle.   8 And they shall keep all the
|
|
instruments of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the charge
|
|
of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle.
|
|
  9 And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his
|
|
sons: they <i>are</i> wholly given unto him out of the children of
|
|
Israel.   10 And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and
|
|
they shall wait on their priest's office: and the stranger that
|
|
cometh nigh shall be put to death.   11 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.iv-p2.5">Lord</span> spake unto Moses, saying,   12 And I,
|
|
behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel
|
|
instead of all the firstborn that openeth the matrix among the
|
|
children of Israel: therefore the Levites shall be mine;   13
|
|
Because all the firstborn <i>are</i> mine; <i>for</i> on the day
|
|
that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto
|
|
me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast: mine shall they
|
|
be: I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.iv-p2.6">Lord</span>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.iv-p3">Here, I. The family of Aaron is confirmed
|
|
in the priests' office, <scripRef passage="Nu 3:10" id="Num.iv-p3.1" parsed="|Num|3|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.10"><i>v.</i>
|
|
10</scripRef>. They had been called to it before, and consecrated;
|
|
here they are appointed to <i>wait on their priests' office:</i>
|
|
the apostle uses this phrase (<scripRef passage="Ro 12:7" id="Num.iv-p3.2" parsed="|Rom|12|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.12.7">Rom. xii.
|
|
7</scripRef>), <i>Let us wait on our ministry.</i> The office of
|
|
the ministry requires a constant attendance and great diligence; so
|
|
frequent are the returns of its work, and yet so transient its
|
|
favourable opportunities, that it must be waited on. Here is
|
|
repeated what was said before (<scripRef passage="Nu 1:51" id="Num.iv-p3.3" parsed="|Num|1|51|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.1.51"><i>ch.</i> i. 51</scripRef>): <i>The stranger that cometh
|
|
nigh shall be put to death,</i> which forbids the invading of the
|
|
priest's office by any other person whatsoever; none must come nigh
|
|
to minister but Aaron and his sons only, all others are strangers.
|
|
It also lays a charge on the priests, as door-keepers in God's
|
|
house, to take care that none should come near who were forbidden
|
|
by the law; they must keep off all intruders, whose approach would
|
|
be to the profanation of the holy things, telling them that if they
|
|
came near it was at their peril, they would <i>die by the hand of
|
|
God,</i> as Uzza did. The Jews say that afterwards there was hung
|
|
over the door of the temple a golden sword (perhaps alluding to
|
|
that flaming sword at the entrance of the garden of Eden), on which
|
|
was engraven, <i>The stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to
|
|
death.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.iv-p4">II. A particular account is given of this
|
|
family of Aaron; what we have met with before concerning them is
|
|
here repeated. 1. The consecration of the sons of Aaron, <scripRef passage="Nu 3:3" id="Num.iv-p4.1" parsed="|Num|3|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. They were all anointed to
|
|
minister before the Lord, though it appeared afterwards, and God
|
|
knew it, that two of them were wise and two were foolish. 2. The
|
|
fall of the two elder (<scripRef passage="Nu 3:4" id="Num.iv-p4.2" parsed="|Num|3|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.4"><i>v.</i>
|
|
4</scripRef>): they <i>offered strange fire,</i> and died for so
|
|
doing, <i>before the Lord.</i> This is mentioned here in the
|
|
preamble to the law concerning the priesthood, for a warning to all
|
|
succeeding priests; let them know, by this example, that God is a
|
|
jealous God, and will not be mocked; the holy anointing oil was an
|
|
honour to the obedient, but not a shelter to the disobedient. It is
|
|
here said, <i>They had no children,</i> Providence so ordering it,
|
|
for their greater punishment, that none of their descendants should
|
|
remain to be priests, and so bear up their name who had profaned
|
|
God's name. 3. The continuance of the two younger: Eleazar and
|
|
Ithamar ministered <i>in the sight of Aaron.</i> It intimates, (1.)
|
|
The care they took about their ministration not to make any
|
|
blunders; they kept under their father's eye, and took instruction
|
|
from him in all they did, because, probably, Nadab and Abihu got
|
|
out of their father's sight when they offered strange fire. Note,
|
|
It is good for young people to act under the direction and
|
|
inspection of those that are aged and experienced. (2.) The comfort
|
|
Aaron took in it; it pleased him to see his younger sons behave
|
|
themselves prudently and gravely, when his two elder had
|
|
miscarried. Note, It is a great satisfaction to parents to <i>see
|
|
their children walk in the truth,</i> <scripRef passage="3Jo 1:4" id="Num.iv-p4.3" parsed="|3John|1|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:3John.1.4">3
|
|
John 4</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.iv-p5">III. A grant is made of the Levites to be
|
|
assistants to the priests in their work: <i>Give the Levites to
|
|
Aaron,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 3:9" id="Num.iv-p5.1" parsed="|Num|3|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. Aaron
|
|
was to have a greater propriety in, and power over, the tribe of
|
|
Levi than any other of the prices had in and over their respective
|
|
tribes. There was a great deal of work belonging to the priests'
|
|
office, and there were now only three pairs of hands to do it all,
|
|
Aaron's and his two sons'; for it does not appear that they had
|
|
either of them any children at this time, at least not any that
|
|
were of age to minister, therefore God appoints the Levites to
|
|
attend upon them. Note, Those whom God finds work for his will find
|
|
help for. Here is, 1. The service for which the Levites were
|
|
designed: they were to <i>minister to the priests</i> in their
|
|
ministration to the Lord (<scripRef passage="Nu 3:6" id="Num.iv-p5.2" parsed="|Num|3|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.6"><i>v.</i>
|
|
6</scripRef>), and to <i>keep Aaron's charge</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 3:7" id="Num.iv-p5.3" parsed="|Num|3|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>), as the deacons to the
|
|
bishops in the evangelical constitution, serving at tables, while
|
|
the bishops waited on their ministry. The Levites killed the
|
|
sacrifices, and then the priests needed only to sprinkle the blood
|
|
and burn the fat: the Levites prepared the incense, the priests
|
|
burnt it. They were to keep, not only Aaron's charge, but the
|
|
<i>charge of the whole congregation.</i> Note, It is a great trust
|
|
that is reposed in ministers, not only for the glory of Christ, but
|
|
for the good of his church; so that they must not only keep the
|
|
charge of the great high priest, but must also be faithful to the
|
|
souls of men, in trust for whom a dispensation is committed to
|
|
them. 2. The consideration upon which the Levites were demanded;
|
|
they were taken instead of the first-born. The preservation of the
|
|
first-born of Israel, when all the first-born of the Egyptians
|
|
(with whom they were many of them mingled) were destroyed, was
|
|
looked upon by him who never makes any unreasonable demands as
|
|
cause sufficient of the appropriating of all the first-born
|
|
thenceforward to himself (<scripRef passage="Nu 3:13" id="Num.iv-p5.4" parsed="|Num|3|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.13"><i>v.</i>
|
|
13</scripRef>): <i>All the first-born are mine.</i> That was
|
|
sufficient to make them his, though he had given no reason for it,
|
|
for he is the sole fountain and Lord of all beings and powers; but
|
|
because all obedience must flow from love, and acts of duty must be
|
|
acts of gratitude, before they were challenged into peculiar
|
|
services they were crowned with peculiar favours. Note, When he
|
|
that made us saves us we are thereby laid under further obligations
|
|
to serve him and live to him. God's right to us by redemption
|
|
corroborates the right he has to us by creation. Now because the
|
|
first-born of a family are generally the favourites, and some would
|
|
think it a disparagement to have their eldest sons servants to the
|
|
priests, and attending before the door of the tabernacle, God took
|
|
the tribe of Levi entire for his own, in lieu of the first-born,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 3:12" id="Num.iv-p5.5" parsed="|Num|3|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. Note, God's
|
|
institutions put no hardships upon men in any of their just
|
|
interests or reasonable affections. It was presumed that the
|
|
Israelites would rather part with the Levites than with the
|
|
first-born, and therefore God graciously ordered the exchange; yet
|
|
for us he <i>spared not his own Son.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 3" id="Num.iv-p5.6" parsed="|Num|3|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.3"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 3:14-39" id="Num.iv-p5.7" parsed="|Num|3|14|3|39" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.14-Num.3.39"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.3.14-Num.3.39">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.iv-p6">14 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.iv-p6.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying,   15
|
|
Number the children of Levi after the house of their fathers, by
|
|
their families: every male from a month old and upward shalt thou
|
|
number them.   16 And Moses numbered them according to the
|
|
word of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.iv-p6.2">Lord</span>, as he was
|
|
commanded.   17 And these were the sons of Levi by their
|
|
names; Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari.   18 And these
|
|
<i>are</i> the names of the sons of Gershon by their families;
|
|
Libni, and Shimei.   19 And the sons of Kohath by their
|
|
families; Amram, and Izehar, Hebron, and Uzziel.   20 And the
|
|
sons of Merari by their families; Mahli, and Mushi. These
|
|
<i>are</i> the families of the Levites according to the house of
|
|
their fathers.   21 Of Gershon <i>was</i> the family of the
|
|
Libnites, and the family of the Shimites: these <i>are</i> the
|
|
families of the Gershonites.   22 Those that were numbered of
|
|
them, according to the number of all the males, from a month old
|
|
and upward, <i>even</i> those that were numbered of them
|
|
<i>were</i> seven thousand and five hundred.   23 The families
|
|
of the Gershonites shall pitch behind the tabernacle westward.
|
|
  24 And the chief of the house of the father of the
|
|
Gershonites <i>shall be</i> Eliasaph the son of Lael.   25 And
|
|
the charge of the sons of Gershon in the tabernacle of the
|
|
congregation <i>shall be</i> the tabernacle, and the tent, the
|
|
covering thereof, and the hanging for the door of the tabernacle of
|
|
the congregation,   26 And the hangings of the court, and the
|
|
curtain for the door of the court, which <i>is</i> by the
|
|
tabernacle, and by the altar round about, and the cords of it for
|
|
all the service thereof.   27 And of Kohath <i>was</i> the
|
|
family of the Amramites, and the family of the Izeharites, and the
|
|
family of the Hebronites, and the family of the Uzzielites: these
|
|
<i>are</i> the families of the Kohathites.   28 In the number
|
|
of all the males, from a month old and upward, <i>were</i> eight
|
|
thousand and six hundred, keeping the charge of the sanctuary.
|
|
  29 The families of the sons of Kohath shall pitch on the
|
|
side of the tabernacle southward.   30 And the chief of the
|
|
house of the father of the families of the Kohathites <i>shall
|
|
be</i> Elizaphan the son of Uzziel.   31 And their charge
|
|
<i>shall be</i> the ark, and the table, and the candlestick, and
|
|
the altars, and the vessels of the sanctuary wherewith they
|
|
minister, and the hanging, and all the service thereof.   32
|
|
And Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest <i>shall be</i> chief over
|
|
the chief of the Levites, <i>and have</i> the oversight of them
|
|
that keep the charge of the sanctuary.   33 Of Merari
|
|
<i>was</i> the family of the Mahlites, and the family of the
|
|
Mushites: these <i>are</i> the families of Merari.   34 And
|
|
those that were numbered of them, according to the number of all
|
|
the males, from a month old and upward, <i>were</i> six thousand
|
|
and two hundred.   35 And the chief of the house of the father
|
|
of the families of Merari <i>was</i> Zuriel the son of Abihail:
|
|
<i>these</i> shall pitch on the side of the tabernacle northward.
|
|
  36 And <i>under</i> the custody and charge of the sons of
|
|
Merari <i>shall be</i> the boards of the tabernacle, and the bars
|
|
thereof, and the pillars thereof, and the sockets thereof, and all
|
|
the vessels thereof, and all that serveth thereto,   37 And
|
|
the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their
|
|
pins, and their cords.   38 But those that encamp before the
|
|
tabernacle toward the east, <i>even</i> before the tabernacle of
|
|
the congregation eastward, <i>shall be</i> Moses, and Aaron and his
|
|
sons, keeping the charge of the sanctuary for the charge of the
|
|
children of Israel; and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put
|
|
to death.   39 All that were numbered of the Levites, which
|
|
Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.iv-p6.3">Lord</span>, throughout their families, all the males
|
|
from a month old and upward, <i>were</i> twenty and two
|
|
thousand.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.iv-p7">The Levites being granted to Aaron to
|
|
minister to him, they are here delivered to him by tale, that he
|
|
might know what he had, and employ them accordingly. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.iv-p8">I. By what rule they were numbered:
|
|
<i>Every male from a month old and upward,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 3:15" id="Num.iv-p8.1" parsed="|Num|3|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. The rest of the tribes were
|
|
numbered only from twenty years old and upwards, and of them those
|
|
only that were <i>able to go forth to war;</i> but into the number
|
|
of the Levites they must take in both infants, and infirm; being
|
|
exempted from the war, it was not insisted upon that they should be
|
|
of age and strength for the wars. Though it appears afterwards that
|
|
little more than a third part of the Levites were fit to be
|
|
employed in the service of the tabernacle (about 8000 out of
|
|
22,000, <scripRef passage="Nu 4:47,48" id="Num.iv-p8.2" parsed="|Num|4|47|4|48" osisRef="Bible:Num.4.47-Num.4.48"><i>ch.</i> iv. 47,
|
|
48</scripRef>), yet God would have them all numbered as retainers
|
|
to his family; that none may think themselves disowned and rejected
|
|
of God because they are not in a capacity of doing him that service
|
|
which they see others do him. The Levites of a month old could not
|
|
honour God and serve the tabernacle, as those that had grown up;
|
|
yet out of the mouths of babes and sucklings the Levites' praise
|
|
was perfected. Let not little children be hindered from being
|
|
enrolled among the disciples of Christ, for such was the tribe of
|
|
Levi, of such is the kingdom of heaven, that kingdom of priests.
|
|
The redemption of the first-born was reckoned from a month old
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 18:15,16" id="Num.iv-p8.3" parsed="|Num|18|15|18|16" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.15-Num.18.16"><i>ch.</i> xviii. 15,
|
|
16</scripRef>), therefore from that age the Levites were numbered.
|
|
They were numbered <i>after the house of their fathers,</i> not
|
|
their <i>mothers,</i> for, if the daughter of a Levite married one
|
|
of another tribe, her son was not a Levite; but we read of a
|
|
spiritual priest to out God who inherited the unfeigned faith which
|
|
dwelt in his mother and grandmother, <scripRef passage="2Ti 1:5" id="Num.iv-p8.4" parsed="|2Tim|1|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Tim.1.5">2
|
|
Tim. i. 5</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.iv-p9">II. How they were distributed into three
|
|
classes, according to the number of the sons of Levi, Gershon,
|
|
Kohath, and Merari, and these subdivided into several families,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 3:17-20" id="Num.iv-p9.1" parsed="|Num|3|17|3|20" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.17-Num.3.20"><i>v.</i> 17-20</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.iv-p10">1. Concerning each of these three classes
|
|
we have an account, (1.) Of their number. The Gershonites were
|
|
7500. The Kohathites were 8600. The Merarites were 6200. The rest
|
|
of the tribes had not their subordinate families numbered by
|
|
themselves as those of Levi; this honour God put upon his own
|
|
tribe. (2.) Of their post about the tabernacle on which they were
|
|
to attend. The Gershonites pitched behind the tabernacle, westward,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 3:23" id="Num.iv-p10.1" parsed="|Num|3|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. The Kohathites
|
|
on the right hand, southward, <scripRef passage="Nu 3:29" id="Num.iv-p10.2" parsed="|Num|3|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.29"><i>v.</i>
|
|
29</scripRef>. The Merarites on the left hand, northward, <scripRef passage="Nu 3:35" id="Num.iv-p10.3" parsed="|Num|3|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.35"><i>v.</i> 35</scripRef>. And, to complete the
|
|
square, Moses and Aaron, with the priests, encamped in the front,
|
|
eastward, <scripRef passage="Nu 3:38" id="Num.iv-p10.4" parsed="|Num|3|38|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.38"><i>v.</i> 38</scripRef>. Thus
|
|
was the tabernacle surrounded with its guards; and thus does the
|
|
<i>angel of the Lord encamp round about those that fear him,</i>
|
|
those living temples, <scripRef passage="Ps 34:7" id="Num.iv-p10.5" parsed="|Ps|34|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.34.7">Ps. xxxiv.
|
|
7</scripRef>. Every one knew his place, and must therein abide with
|
|
God. (3.) Of their chief or head. As each class had its own place,
|
|
so each had its own prince. The commander of the Gershonites was
|
|
Eliasaph (<scripRef passage="Nu 3:24" id="Num.iv-p10.6" parsed="|Num|3|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>); of
|
|
the Kohathites Elizaphan (<scripRef passage="Nu 3:30" id="Num.iv-p10.7" parsed="|Num|3|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.30"><i>v.</i>
|
|
30</scripRef>), of whom we read (<scripRef passage="Le 10:4" id="Num.iv-p10.8" parsed="|Lev|10|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.10.4">Lev.
|
|
x. 4</scripRef>) that he was one of the bearers at the funeral of
|
|
Nadab and Abihu; of the Merarites Zuriel, <scripRef passage="Nu 3:35" id="Num.iv-p10.9" parsed="|Num|3|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.35"><i>v.</i> 35</scripRef>. (4.) Of their charge, when the
|
|
camp moved. Each class knew their own business; it was requisite
|
|
they should, for that which is everybody's work often proves
|
|
nobody's work. The Gershonites were charged with the custody and
|
|
carriage of all the curtains and hangings and coverings of the
|
|
tabernacle and court (<scripRef passage="Nu 3:25,26" id="Num.iv-p10.10" parsed="|Num|3|25|3|26" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.25-Num.3.26"><i>v.</i> 25,
|
|
26</scripRef>), the Kohathites of all the furniture of the
|
|
tabernacle—the ark, altar, table, &c. (<scripRef passage="Nu 3:31,32" id="Num.iv-p10.11" parsed="|Num|3|31|3|32" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.31-Num.3.32"><i>v.</i> 31, 32</scripRef>), the Merarites of the
|
|
heavy carriage, boards, bars, pillars, &c., <scripRef passage="Nu 3:36,37" id="Num.iv-p10.12" parsed="|Num|3|36|3|37" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.36-Num.3.37"><i>v.</i> 36, 37</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.iv-p11">2. Here we may observe, (1.) That the
|
|
Kohathites, though they were the second house, yet were preferred
|
|
before the elder family of the Gershonites. Besides that Aaron and
|
|
the priests were of that family, they were more numerous, and their
|
|
post and charge more honourable, which probably was ordered to put
|
|
an honour upon Moses, who was of that family. Yet, (2.) The
|
|
posterity of Moses were not at all dignified or privileged, but
|
|
stood upon the level with other Levites, that it might appear he
|
|
did not seek the advancement of his own family, nor to entail any
|
|
honours upon it either in church or state; he that had honour
|
|
enough himself coveted not to have his name shine by that borrowed
|
|
light, but rather to have the Levites borrow honour from his name.
|
|
Let none think contemptibly of the Levites, though inferior to the
|
|
priests, for Moses himself though it preferment enough for his sons
|
|
to be Levites. Probably it was because the family of Moses were
|
|
Levites only that in the title of this chapter, which is concerning
|
|
that tribe (<scripRef passage="Nu 3:1" id="Num.iv-p11.1" parsed="|Num|3|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>),
|
|
Aaron is put before Moses.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.iv-p12">III. The sum total of the numbers of this
|
|
tribe. They are computed in all 22,000, <scripRef passage="Nu 3:39" id="Num.iv-p12.1" parsed="|Num|3|39|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.39"><i>v.</i> 39</scripRef>. The sum of the particular
|
|
families amounts to 300 more; if this had been added to the sum
|
|
total, the Levites, instead of being 273 fewer than the first-born,
|
|
as they were (<scripRef passage="Nu 3:43" id="Num.iv-p12.2" parsed="|Num|3|43|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.43"><i>v.</i> 43</scripRef>),
|
|
would have been twenty-seven more, and so the balance would have
|
|
fallen the other way; but it is supposed that the 300 which were
|
|
struck off from the account when the exchange was to be made were
|
|
the first-born of the Levites themselves, born since their coming
|
|
out of Egypt, which could not be put into the exchange, because
|
|
they were already sanctified to God. But that which is especially
|
|
observable here is that the tribe of Levi was by much the least of
|
|
all the tribes. Note, God's part in the world is too often the
|
|
smallest part. His chosen are comparatively a little flock.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 3:40-51" id="Num.iv-p12.3" parsed="|Num|3|40|3|51" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.40-Num.3.51"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.3.40-Num.3.51">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.iv-p13">40 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.iv-p13.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto Moses, Number all the firstborn of the males of the
|
|
children of Israel from a month old and upward, and take the number
|
|
of their names.   41 And thou shalt take the Levites for me (I
|
|
<i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.iv-p13.2">Lord</span>) instead of all
|
|
the firstborn among the children of Israel; and the cattle of the
|
|
Levites instead of all the firstlings among the cattle of the
|
|
children of Israel.   42 And Moses numbered, as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.iv-p13.3">Lord</span> commanded him, all the firstborn
|
|
among the children of Israel.   43 And all the firstborn males
|
|
by the number of names, from a month old and upward, of those that
|
|
were numbered of them, were twenty and two thousand two hundred and
|
|
threescore and thirteen.   44 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.iv-p13.4">Lord</span> spake unto Moses, saying,   45 Take
|
|
the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of
|
|
Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle; and
|
|
the Levites shall be mine: I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.iv-p13.5">Lord</span>.   46 And for those that are to be
|
|
redeemed of the two hundred and threescore and thirteen of the
|
|
firstborn of the children of Israel, which are more than the
|
|
Levites;   47 Thou shalt even take five shekels apiece by the
|
|
poll, after the shekel of the sanctuary shalt thou take
|
|
<i>them:</i> (the shekel <i>is</i> twenty gerahs:)   48 And
|
|
thou shalt give the money, wherewith the odd number of them is to
|
|
be redeemed, unto Aaron and to his sons.   49 And Moses took
|
|
the redemption money of them that were over and above them that
|
|
were redeemed by the Levites:   50 Of the firstborn of the
|
|
children of Israel took he the money; a thousand three hundred and
|
|
threescore and five <i>shekels,</i> after the shekel of the
|
|
sanctuary:   51 And Moses gave the money of them that were
|
|
redeemed unto Aaron and to his sons, according to the word of the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.iv-p13.6">Lord</span>, as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.iv-p13.7">Lord</span> commanded Moses.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.iv-p14">Here is the exchange made of the Levites
|
|
for the first-born. 1. The first-born were numbered from a month
|
|
old, <scripRef passage="Nu 3:42,43" id="Num.iv-p14.1" parsed="|Num|3|42|3|43" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.42-Num.3.43"><i>v.</i> 42, 43</scripRef>.
|
|
Those certainly were not reckoned who, though first-born, had
|
|
become heads of families themselves, but those only that were under
|
|
age; and the learned bishop Patrick is decidedly of opinion that
|
|
none were numbered but those only that were born since their coming
|
|
out of Egypt, when the first-born were sanctified, <scripRef passage="Ex 13:2" id="Num.iv-p14.2" parsed="|Exod|13|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.2">Exod. xiii. 2</scripRef>. If there were 22,000
|
|
first-born males, we may suppose as many females, and all these
|
|
brought forth in the first year after they came out of Egypt, we
|
|
must hence infer that in the last year of their servitude, even
|
|
when it was in the greatest extremity, there were abundance of
|
|
marriages made among the Israelites; they were not discouraged by
|
|
the present distress, but married in faith, expecting that God
|
|
would shortly visit them with mercy, and that their children,
|
|
though born in bondage, should live in liberty and honour. And it
|
|
was a token of good to them, an evidence that they were blessed of
|
|
the Lord, that they were not only kept alive, but greatly
|
|
increased, in a barren wilderness. 2. The number of the first-born,
|
|
and that of the Levites, by a special providence, came pretty near
|
|
to each other; thus, when he <i>divided the nations, he set the
|
|
bounds of the people according to the number of the children of
|
|
Israel,</i> <scripRef passage="De 32:8" id="Num.iv-p14.3" parsed="|Deut|32|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.8">Deut. xxxii. 8</scripRef>.
|
|
Known unto God are all his works beforehand, and there is an exact
|
|
proportion between them, and so it will appear when they come to be
|
|
compared. The Levites' cattle are said to be taken instead of the
|
|
firstlings <i>of the cattle of the children of Israel,</i> that is,
|
|
the Levites, with all their possessions, were devoted to God
|
|
instead of the first-born and all theirs; for, when we give
|
|
ourselves to God, all we have passes as appurtenances with the
|
|
premises. 3. The small number of first-born which exceeded the
|
|
number of the Levites (273 in all) were to be redeemed, at five
|
|
shekels apiece, and the redemption-money given to Aaron; for it
|
|
would not do well to have them added to the Levites. It is probable
|
|
that in the exchange they began with the eldest of the first-born,
|
|
and so downward, so that those were to be redeemed with money who
|
|
were the 273 youngest of the first-born; more likely so than either
|
|
that it was determined by lot or that the money was paid out of the
|
|
public stock. The church is called the church of the
|
|
<i>first-born,</i> which is redeemed, not as these were, with
|
|
silver and gold, but, being devoted by sin to the justice of God,
|
|
is ransomed with <i>the precious blood of the Son of God.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter IV" n="v" progress="65.11%" prev="Num.iv" next="Num.vi" id="Num.v">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.v-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.v-p0.2">CHAP. IV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.v-p1">In the former chapter an account was taken of the
|
|
whole tribe of Levi, in this we have an account of those of that
|
|
tribe who were in the prime of their time for service, betwixt
|
|
thirty and fifty years old. I. The serviceable men of the
|
|
Kohathites are ordered to be numbered, and their charges are given
|
|
them, <scripRef passage="Nu 4:2-20" id="Num.v-p1.1" parsed="|Num|4|2|4|20" osisRef="Bible:Num.4.2-Num.4.20">ver. 2-20</scripRef>. II. Of
|
|
the Gershonites, <scripRef passage="Nu 4:24-28" id="Num.v-p1.2" parsed="|Num|4|24|4|28" osisRef="Bible:Num.4.24-Num.4.28">ver.
|
|
24-28</scripRef>. III. Of the Merarites, <scripRef passage="Nu 4:29-33" id="Num.v-p1.3" parsed="|Num|4|29|4|33" osisRef="Bible:Num.4.29-Num.4.33">ver. 29-33</scripRef>. IV. The numbers of each, and
|
|
the sum total at last, are recorded, <scripRef passage="Nu 4:34-49" id="Num.v-p1.4" parsed="|Num|4|34|4|49" osisRef="Bible:Num.4.34-Num.4.49">ver. 34</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 4" id="Num.v-p1.5" parsed="|Num|4|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.4"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 4:1-20" id="Num.v-p1.6" parsed="|Num|4|1|4|20" osisRef="Bible:Num.4.1-Num.4.20"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.4.1-Num.4.20">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.v-p1.7">The Office of the Levites. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.v-p1.8">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.v-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.v-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,   2 Take the sum of
|
|
the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, after their
|
|
families, by the house of their fathers,   3 From thirty years
|
|
old and upward even until fifty years old, all that enter into the
|
|
host, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation.  
|
|
4 This <i>shall be</i> the service of the sons of Kohath in the
|
|
tabernacle of the congregation, <i>about</i> the most holy things:
|
|
  5 And when the camp setteth forward, Aaron shall come, and
|
|
his sons, and they shall take down the covering vail, and cover the
|
|
ark of testimony with it:   6 And shall put thereon the
|
|
covering of badgers' skins, and shall spread over <i>it</i> a cloth
|
|
wholly of blue, and shall put in the staves thereof.   7 And
|
|
upon the table of showbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and
|
|
put thereon the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and covers
|
|
to cover withal: and the continual bread shall be thereon:   8
|
|
And they shall spread upon them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the
|
|
same with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put in the staves
|
|
thereof.   9 And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover
|
|
the candlestick of the light, and his lamps, and his tongs, and his
|
|
snuffdishes, and all the oil vessels thereof, wherewith they
|
|
minister unto it:   10 And they shall put it and all the
|
|
vessels thereof within a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put
|
|
<i>it</i> upon a bar.   11 And upon the golden altar they
|
|
shall spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of
|
|
badgers' skins, and shall put to the staves thereof:   12 And
|
|
they shall take all the instruments of ministry, wherewith they
|
|
minister in the sanctuary, and put <i>them</i> in a cloth of blue,
|
|
and cover them with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put
|
|
<i>them</i> on a bar:   13 And they shall take away the ashes
|
|
from the altar, and spread a purple cloth thereon:   14 And
|
|
they shall put upon it all the vessels thereof, wherewith they
|
|
minister about it, <i>even</i> the censers, the fleshhooks, and the
|
|
shovels, and the basons, all the vessels of the altar; and they
|
|
shall spread upon it a covering of badgers' skins, and put to the
|
|
staves of it.   15 And when Aaron and his sons have made an
|
|
end of covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the
|
|
sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward; after that, the sons of
|
|
Kohath shall come to bear <i>it:</i> but they shall not touch
|
|
<i>any</i> holy thing, lest they die. These <i>things are</i> the
|
|
burden of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation.
|
|
  16 And to the office of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest
|
|
<i>pertaineth</i> the oil for the light, and the sweet incense, and
|
|
the daily meat offering, and the anointing oil, <i>and</i> the
|
|
oversight of all the tabernacle, and of all that therein <i>is,</i>
|
|
in the sanctuary, and in the vessels thereof.   17 And the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.v-p2.2">Lord</span> spake unto Moses and unto
|
|
Aaron, saying,   18 Cut ye not off the tribe of the families
|
|
of the Kohathites from among the Levites:   19 But thus do
|
|
unto them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach unto
|
|
the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in, and appoint
|
|
them every one to his service and to his burden:   20 But they
|
|
shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they
|
|
die.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.v-p3">We have here a second muster of the tribe
|
|
of Levi. As that tribe was taken out of all Israel to be God's
|
|
peculiar, so the middle-aged men of that tribe were taken from
|
|
among the rest to be actually employed in the service of the
|
|
tabernacle. Now observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.v-p4">I. Who were to be taken into this number.
|
|
All the males from thirty years old to fifty. Of the other tribes,
|
|
those that were numbered to go forth to war were from twenty years
|
|
old and upward, but of the Levites only from thirty to fifty; for
|
|
the service of God requires the best of our strength, and the prime
|
|
of our time, which cannot be better spent than to the honour of him
|
|
who is the first and best. And a man may make a good soldier much
|
|
sooner than a good minister. Now,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.v-p5">1. They were not to be employed till they
|
|
were thirty years old, because till then they were in danger of
|
|
retaining something childish and youthful and had not gravity
|
|
enough to do the service, and wear the honour, of a Levite. They
|
|
were entered as probationers at twenty-five years old, (<scripRef passage="Nu 8:24" id="Num.v-p5.1" parsed="|Num|8|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.8.24"><i>ch.</i> viii. 24</scripRef>), and in David's
|
|
time, when there was more work to be done, at twenty (<scripRef passage="1Ch 23:24" id="Num.v-p5.2" parsed="|1Chr|23|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Chr.23.24">1 Chron. xxiii. 24</scripRef>, and so <scripRef passage="Ezr 3:8" id="Num.v-p5.3" parsed="|Ezra|3|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.3.8">Ezra iii. 8</scripRef>); but they must be five
|
|
years learning and waiting, and so fitting themselves for service;
|
|
nay, in David's time they were ten years in preparation, from
|
|
twenty to thirty. John Baptist began his public ministry, and
|
|
Christ his, at thirty years old. This is not in the letter of it
|
|
obligatory on gospel ministers now, as if they must either not
|
|
begin their work till thirty years old or must leave off at fifty;
|
|
but it gives us two good rules:—(1.) That ministers must not be
|
|
novices, <scripRef passage="1Ti 3:6" id="Num.v-p5.4" parsed="|1Tim|3|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.3.6">1 Tim. iii. 6</scripRef>. It
|
|
is a work that requires ripeness of judgment and great steadiness,
|
|
and therefore those are very unfit for it who are but babes in
|
|
knowledge and have not put away childish things. (2.) That they
|
|
must learn before they teach, serve before they rule, and must
|
|
<i>first be proved,</i> <scripRef passage="1Ti 3:10" id="Num.v-p5.5" parsed="|1Tim|3|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.3.10">1 Tim. iii.
|
|
10</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.v-p6">2. They were discharged at fifty years old
|
|
from the toilsome part of the service, particularly that of
|
|
carrying the tabernacle; for that is the special service to which
|
|
they are here ordained, and which there was most occasion for while
|
|
they were in the wilderness. When they began to enter upon old age,
|
|
they were dismissed, (1.) In favour to them, that they might not be
|
|
over-toiled when their strength began to decay. Twenty years' good
|
|
service was thought pretty well for one man. (2.) In honour to the
|
|
work, that it might not be done by those who, through the
|
|
infirmities of age, were slow and heavy. The service of God should
|
|
be done when we are in the most lively active frame. Those do not
|
|
consider this who put off their repentance to old age, and so leave
|
|
the best work to be done in the worst time.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.v-p7">II. How their work is described. They are
|
|
said to <i>enter into the host,</i> or warfare, <i>to do the work
|
|
in the tabernacle.</i> The ministry is <i>a good work</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="1Ti 3:1" id="Num.v-p7.1" parsed="|1Tim|3|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.3.1">1 Tim. iii. 1</scripRef>): ministers
|
|
are not ordained to the honour only, but to the labour, not only to
|
|
have the wages, but to do the work. It is also a <i>good
|
|
warfare,</i> <scripRef passage="1Ti 1:18" id="Num.v-p7.2" parsed="|1Tim|1|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.1.18">1 Tim. i. 18</scripRef>.
|
|
Those that enter into the ministry must look upon themselves as
|
|
entered into the <i>host,</i> and approve themselves <i>good
|
|
soldiers,</i> <scripRef passage="2Ti 2:3" id="Num.v-p7.3" parsed="|2Tim|2|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Tim.2.3">2 Tim. ii. 3</scripRef>.
|
|
Now, as to the sons of Kohath in particular, here is,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.v-p8">1. Their service appointed them, in the
|
|
removes of the tabernacle. Afterwards, when the tabernacle was
|
|
fixed, they had other work assigned them; but this was the work of
|
|
the day, which was to be done in its day. Observe, Wherever the
|
|
camp of Israel went, the tabernacle of the Lord went with them, and
|
|
care must be taken for the carriage of it. Note, Wherever we go, we
|
|
must see to it that we take our religion along with us, and not
|
|
forget that or any part of it. Now the Kohathites were to carry all
|
|
the holy things of the tabernacle. They were charged with those
|
|
things before (<scripRef passage="Nu 3:31" id="Num.v-p8.1" parsed="|Num|3|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.31"><i>ch.</i> iii.
|
|
31</scripRef>), but here they have more particular instructions
|
|
given them. (1.) Aaron, and his sons the priests, must pack up the
|
|
things which the Kohathites were to carry, as here directed,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 4:5" id="Num.v-p8.2" parsed="|Num|4|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.4.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>, &c. God had
|
|
before appointed that none should come into the most holy place,
|
|
but only Aaron once a year with a cloud of incense (<scripRef passage="Le 16:2" id="Num.v-p8.3" parsed="|Lev|16|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.2">Lev. xvi. 2</scripRef>); and yet, the necessity
|
|
of their unsettled state requiring it, that law is here dispensed
|
|
with; for every time they removed Aaron and his sons went in to
|
|
take down the ark, and make it up for carriage; for (as the learned
|
|
bishop Patrick suggests) the <i>shechinah,</i> or display of the
|
|
divine majesty, which was over the mercy-seat, removed for the
|
|
present in the pillar of cloud, which was taken up, and then the
|
|
ark was not dangerous to be approached. (2.) All the holy things
|
|
must be covered, the ark and table with three coverings, all the
|
|
rest with two. Even the ashes of the altar, in which the holy fire
|
|
was carefully preserved and raked up, must have a purple cloth
|
|
spread over them, <scripRef passage="Nu 4:13" id="Num.v-p8.4" parsed="|Num|4|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.4.13"><i>v.</i>
|
|
13</scripRef>. Even the brazen altar, though in the court of the
|
|
sanctuary it stood open to the view of all, yet was covered in the
|
|
carriage of it. All these coverings were designed, [1.] For safety,
|
|
that these holy things might not be ruffled with the wind, sullied
|
|
with the rain, nor tarnished with the sun, but that they might be
|
|
preserved in their beauty; for <i>on all the glory shall be a
|
|
defence.</i> The coverings of badgers' skins, being thick and
|
|
strong, would keep out wet; and, while we are in our passage
|
|
through the wilderness of this world, it concerns us to be fenced
|
|
<i>for all weathers,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 4:5,6" id="Num.v-p8.5" parsed="|Isa|4|5|4|6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.4.5-Isa.4.6">Isa. iv. 5,
|
|
6</scripRef>. [2.] For decency and ornament. Most of these things
|
|
had a cloth of blue, or purple, or scarlet, spread outmost; and the
|
|
ark was covered with a cloth <i>wholly of blue</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 4:6" id="Num.v-p8.6" parsed="|Num|4|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.4.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), an emblem (say some) of
|
|
the azure skies, which are spread like a curtain between us and the
|
|
Majesty on high, <scripRef passage="Job 26:9" id="Num.v-p8.7" parsed="|Job|26|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.26.9">Job xxvi.
|
|
9</scripRef>. Those that are faithful to God should endeavour
|
|
likewise to appear beautiful before men, that they may <i>adorn the
|
|
doctrine of God our Saviour.</i> [3.] For concealment. It signified
|
|
the darkness of that dispensation. That which is now brought to
|
|
light by the gospel, and revealed to babes, was then hidden from
|
|
the wise and prudent. They saw only the coverings, not the holy
|
|
things themselves (<scripRef passage="Heb 10:1" id="Num.v-p8.8" parsed="|Heb|10|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.10.1">Heb. x.
|
|
1</scripRef>); but now Christ has <i>destroyed the face of the
|
|
covering,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 25:7" id="Num.v-p8.9" parsed="|Isa|25|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.25.7">Isa. xxv. 7</scripRef>.
|
|
(3.) When all the holy things were covered, then the Kohathites
|
|
were to carry them on their shoulders. These things that had staves
|
|
were carried by their staves (<scripRef passage="Nu 4:6,8,11,14" id="Num.v-p8.10" parsed="|Num|4|6|0|0;|Num|4|8|0|0;|Num|4|11|0|0;|Num|4|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.4.6 Bible:Num.4.8 Bible:Num.4.11 Bible:Num.4.14"><i>v.</i> 6, 8, 11, 14</scripRef>); those that had
|
|
not were carried upon a bar, or bier, or bearing barrow, <scripRef passage="Nu 4:10,12" id="Num.v-p8.11" parsed="|Num|4|10|0|0;|Num|4|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.4.10 Bible:Num.4.12"><i>v.</i> 10, 12</scripRef>. See how the
|
|
tokens of God's presence in this world are movable things; but we
|
|
look for a kingdom that cannot be moved.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.v-p9">2. Eleazar, now the eldest son of Aaron, is
|
|
appointed overseer of the Kohathites in this service (<scripRef passage="Nu 4:16" id="Num.v-p9.1" parsed="|Num|4|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.4.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>); he must take care that
|
|
nothing was forgotten, left behind, or displaced. As a priest he
|
|
had more honour than the Levites, but then he had more care; and
|
|
that care was a heavier burden, no doubt, upon his heart, than all
|
|
the burdens that were laid upon their shoulders. It is much easier
|
|
to do the work of the tabernacle than to discharge the trusts of
|
|
it, to obey than to rule.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.v-p10">3. Great care must be taken to preserve the
|
|
lives of these Levites, by preventing their unseasonable irreverent
|
|
approach to the most holy things: <i>Cut you not off the
|
|
Kohathites,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 4:18" id="Num.v-p10.1" parsed="|Num|4|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.4.18"><i>v.</i>
|
|
18</scripRef>. Note, Those who do not what they can to keep others
|
|
from sin do what they can to cut them off. [1.] The Kohathites must
|
|
not see the holy things till the priests had covered them,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 4:20" id="Num.v-p10.2" parsed="|Num|4|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.4.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. Even those
|
|
that bore the vessels of the Lord saw not what they bore, so much
|
|
were even those in the dark concerning the gospel whose office it
|
|
was to expound the law. And, [2.] When the holy things were
|
|
covered, they might not touch them, at least not the ark, called
|
|
here <i>the holy thing,</i> upon pain of death, <scripRef passage="Nu 4:15" id="Num.v-p10.3" parsed="|Num|4|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.4.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. Uzza was struck dead for the
|
|
breach of this law. Thus were the Lord's ministers themselves then
|
|
kept in fear, and that was a dispensation of terror, as well as
|
|
darkness; but now, through Christ, the case is altered; we have
|
|
<i>seen with our eyes,</i> and our <i>hands have handles, the word
|
|
of life</i> (<scripRef passage="1Jo 1:1" id="Num.v-p10.4" parsed="|1John|1|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.1">1 John i. 1</scripRef>),
|
|
and we are encouraged to <i>come boldly to the throne of
|
|
grace.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 4:21-33" id="Num.v-p10.5" parsed="|Num|4|21|4|33" osisRef="Bible:Num.4.21-Num.4.33"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.4.21-Num.4.33">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.v-p11">21 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.v-p11.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   22 Take also the sum of the sons
|
|
of Gershon, throughout the houses of their fathers, by their
|
|
families;   23 From thirty years old and upward until fifty
|
|
years old shalt thou number them; all that enter in to perform the
|
|
service, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation.
|
|
  24 This <i>is</i> the service of the families of the
|
|
Gershonites, to serve, and for burdens:   25 And they shall
|
|
bear the curtains of the tabernacle, and the tabernacle of the
|
|
congregation, his covering, and the covering of the badgers' skins
|
|
that <i>is</i> above upon it, and the hanging for the door of the
|
|
tabernacle of the congregation,   26 And the hangings of the
|
|
court, and the hanging for the door of the gate of the court, which
|
|
<i>is</i> by the tabernacle and by the altar round about, and their
|
|
cords, and all the instruments of their service, and all that is
|
|
made for them: so shall they serve.   27 At the appointment of
|
|
Aaron and his sons shall be all the service of the sons of the
|
|
Gershonites, in all their burdens, and in all their service: and ye
|
|
shall appoint unto them in charge all their burdens.   28 This
|
|
<i>is</i> the service of the families of the sons of Gershon in the
|
|
tabernacle of the congregation: and their charge <i>shall be</i>
|
|
under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.   29 As
|
|
for the sons of Merari, thou shalt number them after their
|
|
families, by the house of their fathers;   30 From thirty
|
|
years old and upward even unto fifty years old shalt thou number
|
|
them, every one that entereth into the service, to do the work of
|
|
the tabernacle of the congregation.   31 And this <i>is</i>
|
|
the charge of their burden, according to all their service in the
|
|
tabernacle of the congregation; the boards of the tabernacle, and
|
|
the bars thereof, and the pillars thereof, and sockets thereof,
|
|
  32 And the pillars of the court round about, and their
|
|
sockets, and their pins, and their cords, with all their
|
|
instruments, and with all their service: and by name ye shall
|
|
reckon the instruments of the charge of their burden.   33
|
|
This <i>is</i> the service of the families of the sons of Merari,
|
|
according to all their service, in the tabernacle of the
|
|
congregation, under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the
|
|
priest.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.v-p12">We have here the charge of the other two
|
|
families of the Levites, which, though not so honourable as the
|
|
first, yet was necessary, and was to be done regularly. 1. The
|
|
Gershonites were charged with all the drapery of the tabernacle,
|
|
the curtains, and hangings, and the coverings of badgers' skins,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 4:22-26" id="Num.v-p12.1" parsed="|Num|4|22|4|26" osisRef="Bible:Num.4.22-Num.4.26"><i>v.</i> 22-26</scripRef>. These
|
|
they were to take down when the cloud removed, and the ark and the
|
|
rest of the holy things were carried away, to pack up and bring
|
|
with them, and then to set up again, where the cloud rested. Aaron
|
|
and his sons allotted to them their respective charge: "You shall
|
|
take care of such a curtain, and you of such a hanging, that every
|
|
one may know his work, and there may be no confusion," <scripRef passage="Nu 4:27" id="Num.v-p12.2" parsed="|Num|4|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.4.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>. Ithamar particularly was
|
|
to take the oversight of them, <scripRef passage="Nu 4:28" id="Num.v-p12.3" parsed="|Num|4|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.4.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>. 2. The Merarites were charged
|
|
with the heavy carriage, the boards and bars, the pillars and
|
|
sockets, the pins and cords, and these were delivered to them by
|
|
name, <scripRef passage="Nu 4:31,32" id="Num.v-p12.4" parsed="|Num|4|31|4|32" osisRef="Bible:Num.4.31-Num.4.32"><i>v.</i> 31, 32</scripRef>.
|
|
An inventory was given them of every particular, that it might be
|
|
forthcoming, and nothing to seek, when the tabernacle was to be set
|
|
up again. Though these seemed of less importance than the other
|
|
things pertaining to the sanctuary, yet there was this care taken
|
|
of them, to teach us with the greatest exactness to preserve pure
|
|
and entire all divine institutions, and to take care that nothing
|
|
be lost. It also intimates the care God takes of his church, and
|
|
every member of it; the good Shepherd <i>calls his own sheep by
|
|
name,</i> <scripRef passage="Joh 10:3" id="Num.v-p12.5" parsed="|John|10|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.10.3">John x. 3</scripRef>. Here
|
|
were thousands of men employed about these services, though a much
|
|
less number would have served for the bearing of those burdens; but
|
|
it was requisite that the tabernacle should be taken down, and set
|
|
up, with great expedition, and many hands would make quick work,
|
|
especially when every one knew his work. They had tents of their
|
|
own to take care of, and to take along with them, but the young men
|
|
under thirty, and the old men above fifty, might serve for them;
|
|
nor is there any mention of them, for God's house must always be
|
|
preferred before our own. Their care was preposterous who built and
|
|
ceiled their own houses while God's house lay waste, <scripRef passage="Hag 1:4,9" id="Num.v-p12.6" parsed="|Hag|1|4|0|0;|Hag|1|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hag.1.4 Bible:Hag.1.9">Hag. i. 4, 9</scripRef>. The death of the
|
|
saints is represented as the taking down of the tabernacle
|
|
(<scripRef passage="2Co 5:1" id="Num.v-p12.7" parsed="|2Cor|5|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.5.1">2 Cor. v. 1</scripRef>), and the
|
|
putting of it off, <scripRef passage="2Pe 1:14" id="Num.v-p12.8" parsed="|2Pet|1|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.1.14">2 Pet. i.
|
|
14</scripRef>. The immortal soul, like the most holy things, is
|
|
first covered and taken away, carried by angels, unseen, under the
|
|
inspection of the Lord Jesus, our Eleazar. Care is also taken of
|
|
the body—the skin and flesh, which are as the curtains, the bones
|
|
and sinews which are as the bars and pillars; none of these shall
|
|
be lost; commandment is given concerning the bones, a covenant made
|
|
with the dust; these are in safe custody, and shall all be produced
|
|
in the great day, when this tabernacle shall be set up again, and
|
|
these vile bodies made like the glorious body of Jesus Christ.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 4:34-49" id="Num.v-p12.9" parsed="|Num|4|34|4|49" osisRef="Bible:Num.4.34-Num.4.49"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.4.34-Num.4.49">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.v-p13">34 And Moses and Aaron and the chief of the
|
|
congregation numbered the sons of the Kohathites after their
|
|
families, and after the house of their fathers,   35 From
|
|
thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old, every one
|
|
that entereth into the service, for the work in the tabernacle of
|
|
the congregation:   36 And those that were numbered of them by
|
|
their families were two thousand seven hundred and fifty.   37
|
|
These <i>were</i> they that were numbered of the families of the
|
|
Kohathites, all that might do service in the tabernacle of the
|
|
congregation, which Moses and Aaron did number according to the
|
|
commandment of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.v-p13.1">Lord</span> by the hand
|
|
of Moses.   38 And those that were numbered of the sons of
|
|
Gershon, throughout their families, and by the house of their
|
|
fathers,   39 From thirty years old and upward even unto fifty
|
|
years old, every one that entereth into the service, for the work
|
|
in the tabernacle of the congregation,   40 Even those that
|
|
were numbered of them, throughout their families, by the house of
|
|
their fathers, were two thousand and six hundred and thirty.  
|
|
41 These <i>are</i> they that were numbered of the families of the
|
|
sons of Gershon, of all that might do service in the tabernacle of
|
|
the congregation, whom Moses and Aaron did number according to the
|
|
commandment of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.v-p13.2">Lord</span>.   42
|
|
And those that were numbered of the families of the sons of Merari,
|
|
throughout their families, by the house of their fathers,   43
|
|
From thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old, every
|
|
one that entereth into the service, for the work in the tabernacle
|
|
of the congregation,   44 Even those that were numbered of
|
|
them after their families, were three thousand and two hundred.
|
|
  45 These <i>be</i> those that were numbered of the families
|
|
of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to
|
|
the word of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.v-p13.3">Lord</span> by the hand of
|
|
Moses.   46 All those that were numbered of the Levites, whom
|
|
Moses and Aaron and the chief of Israel numbered, after their
|
|
families, and after the house of their fathers,   47 From
|
|
thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old, every one
|
|
that came to do the service of the ministry, and the service of the
|
|
burden in the tabernacle of the congregation,   48 Even those
|
|
that were numbered of them, were eight thousand and five hundred
|
|
and fourscore.   49 According to the commandment of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.v-p13.4">Lord</span> they were numbered by the hand of
|
|
Moses, every one according to his service, and according to his
|
|
burden: thus were they numbered of him, as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.v-p13.5">Lord</span> commanded Moses.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.v-p14">We have here a particular account of the
|
|
numbers of the three families of the Levites respectively, that is,
|
|
of the effective men, between thirty years old and fifty. Observe,
|
|
1. The Kohathites were, in all, 8600 from a month old and upwards;
|
|
but of these there were but 2750 serviceable men, not a third part.
|
|
The Gershonites, in all, 7500, and of them but 2630 serviceable
|
|
men, little more than a third part. Note, Of the many that add to
|
|
the numbers of the church, there are comparatively but few that
|
|
contribute to the service of it. So it has been, and so it is; many
|
|
have a place in the tabernacle that do but little of the work of
|
|
the tabernacle, <scripRef passage="Php 2:20,21" id="Num.v-p14.1" parsed="|Phil|2|20|2|21" osisRef="Bible:Phil.2.20-Phil.2.21">Phil. ii. 20,
|
|
21</scripRef>. 2. That the Merarites were but 6200 in all, and yet
|
|
of these there were 3200 serviceable men, that is, more than half.
|
|
The greatest burden lay upon that family, the boards, and pillars,
|
|
and sockets; and God so ordered it that, though they were the
|
|
fewest in number, yet they should have the most able men among
|
|
them; for whatever service God calls men to he will furnish them
|
|
for it, and give strength in proportion to the work, grace
|
|
sufficient. 3. The whole number of the able men of the tribe of
|
|
Levi who entered into God's host to war his warfare was but 8580,
|
|
whereas the able men of the other tribes that entered into the host
|
|
of Israel to war their warfare were many more. The least of the
|
|
tribes had almost four times as many able men as the Levites, and
|
|
some of them more than eight times as many; for those that are
|
|
engaged in the service of this world, and war after the flesh, are
|
|
many more than those that are devoted to the service of God, and
|
|
<i>fight the good fight of faith.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter V" n="vi" progress="65.55%" prev="Num.v" next="Num.vii" id="Num.vi">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.vi-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.vi-p0.2">CHAP. V.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.vi-p1">In this chapter we have, I. An order, pursuant to
|
|
the laws already made, for the removing of the unclean out of the
|
|
camp, <scripRef passage="Nu 5:1-4" id="Num.vi-p1.1" parsed="|Num|5|1|5|4" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.1-Num.5.4">ver. 1-4</scripRef>. II. A
|
|
repetition of the laws concerning restitution, in case of wrong
|
|
done to a neighbour (<scripRef passage="Nu 5:5-8" id="Num.vi-p1.2" parsed="|Num|5|5|5|8" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.5-Num.5.8">ver.
|
|
5-8</scripRef>), and concerning the appropriating of the hallowed
|
|
things to the priests, <scripRef passage="Nu 5:9,10" id="Num.vi-p1.3" parsed="|Num|5|9|5|10" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.9-Num.5.10">ver. 9,
|
|
10</scripRef>. III. A new law made concerning the trial of a wife
|
|
suspected of adultery, by the waters of jealousy, <scripRef passage="Nu 5:11-31" id="Num.vi-p1.4" parsed="|Num|5|11|5|31" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.11-Num.5.31">ver. 11</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 5" id="Num.vi-p1.5" parsed="|Num|5|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.5"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 5:1-10" id="Num.vi-p1.6" parsed="|Num|5|1|5|10" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.1-Num.5.10"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.5.1-Num.5.10">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.vi-p1.7">The Unclean to Be Removed. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vi-p1.8">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.vi-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vi-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   2 Command the children of Israel,
|
|
that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath
|
|
an issue, and whosoever is defiled by the dead:   3 Both male
|
|
and female shall ye put out, without the camp shall ye put them;
|
|
that they defile not their camps, in the midst whereof I dwell.
|
|
  4 And the children of Israel did so, and put them out
|
|
without the camp: as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vi-p2.2">Lord</span> spake
|
|
unto Moses, so did the children of Israel.   5 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vi-p2.3">Lord</span> spake unto Moses, saying,   6
|
|
Speak unto the children of Israel, When a man or woman shall commit
|
|
any sin that men commit, to do a trespass against the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vi-p2.4">Lord</span>, and that person be guilty;   7 Then
|
|
they shall confess their sin which they have done: and he shall
|
|
recompense his trespass with the principal thereof, and add unto it
|
|
the fifth <i>part</i> thereof, and give <i>it</i> unto <i>him</i>
|
|
against whom he hath trespassed.   8 But if the man have no
|
|
kinsman to recompense the trespass unto, let the trespass be
|
|
recompensed unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vi-p2.5">Lord</span>,
|
|
<i>even</i> to the priest; beside the ram of the atonement, whereby
|
|
an atonement shall be made for him.   9 And every offering of
|
|
all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they bring
|
|
unto the priest, shall be his.   10 And every man's hallowed
|
|
things shall be his: whatsoever any man giveth the priest, it shall
|
|
be his.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.vi-p3">Here is, I. A command for the purifying of
|
|
the camp, by turning out from within its lines all those that were
|
|
ceremonially unclean, by issues, leprosies, or the touch of dead
|
|
bodies, until they were cleansed according to the law, <scripRef passage="Nu 5:2-3" id="Num.vi-p3.1" parsed="|Num|5|2|5|3" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.2-Num.5.3"><i>v.</i> 2, 3</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.vi-p4">1. These orders are executed immediately,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Num 5:4" id="Num.vi-p4.1" parsed="|Num|5|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. (1.) The camp
|
|
was now newly-modelled and put in order, and therefore, to complete
|
|
the reformation of it, it is next to be cleansed. Note, The purity
|
|
of the church must be as carefully consulted and preserved as the
|
|
peace and order of it. It is requisite, not only that every
|
|
Israelite be confined to his own standard, but that every polluted
|
|
Israelite be separated from it. <i>The wisdom from above is first
|
|
pure, then peaceable.</i> (2.) God's tabernacle was now fixed in
|
|
the midst of their camp, and therefore they must be careful to keep
|
|
it clean. Note, The greater profession of religion any house or
|
|
family make the more they are obliged to <i>put away iniquity far
|
|
from their tabernacle,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 22:23" id="Num.vi-p4.2" parsed="|Job|22|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.22.23">Job xxii.
|
|
23</scripRef>. The person, the place, <i>in the midst of which God
|
|
dwells,</i> must not be defiled; for, if it be, he will be
|
|
affronted, offended, and provoked to withdraw, <scripRef passage="1Co 3:16,17" id="Num.vi-p4.3" parsed="|1Cor|3|16|3|17" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.3.16-1Cor.3.17">1 Cor. iii. 16, 17</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.vi-p5">2. This expulsion of the unclean out of the
|
|
camp was to signify, (1.) What the governors of the church ought to
|
|
do: they must <i>separate between the precious and the vile,</i>
|
|
and purge out scandalous persons, as old leaven (<scripRef passage="1Co 5:8,13" id="Num.vi-p5.1" parsed="|1Cor|5|8|0|0;|1Cor|5|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.5.8 Bible:1Cor.5.13">1 Cor. v. 8, 13</scripRef>), lest others should be
|
|
infected and defiled, <scripRef passage="Heb 12:15" id="Num.vi-p5.2" parsed="|Heb|12|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.15">Heb. xii.
|
|
15</scripRef>. It is for the glory of Christ and the edification of
|
|
his church that those who are openly and incorrigibly profane and
|
|
vicious should be put out and kept from Christian communion till
|
|
they repent. (2.) What God himself will do in the great day: he
|
|
will <i>thoroughly purge his floor,</i> and <i>gather out of his
|
|
kingdom all things that offend.</i> As here the unclean were shut
|
|
out of the camp, so into the new Jerusalem <i>no unclean thing
|
|
shall enter,</i> <scripRef passage="Re 21:27" id="Num.vi-p5.3" parsed="|Rev|21|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.21.27">Rev. xxi.
|
|
27</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.vi-p6">II. A law concerning restitution, in case
|
|
of wrong done to a neighbour. It is called <i>a sin that men
|
|
commit</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 5:6" id="Num.vi-p6.1" parsed="|Num|5|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>),
|
|
because it is common among men; <i>a sin of man,</i> that is, <i>a
|
|
sin against man,</i> so it is thought it should be translated and
|
|
understood. If a man overreach or defraud his brother in any
|
|
matter, it is to be looked upon as a trespass against the Lord, who
|
|
is the protector of right, the punisher of wrong, and who strictly
|
|
charges and commands us to do justly. Now what is to be done when a
|
|
man's awakened conscience charges him with guilt of this kind, and
|
|
brings it to his remembrance though done long ago? 1. He must
|
|
<i>confess his sin,</i> confess it to God, confess it to his
|
|
neighbour, and so take shame to himself. If he have denied it
|
|
before, though it go against the grain to own himself in a lie, yet
|
|
he must do it; because his heart was hardened he denied it,
|
|
therefore he has no other way of making it appear that his heart is
|
|
now softened but by confessing it. 2. He must bring a sacrifice, a
|
|
<i>ram of atonement,</i> <scripRef passage="Num 5:8" id="Num.vi-p6.2" parsed="|Num|5|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.8"><i>v.</i>
|
|
8</scripRef>. Satisfaction must be made for the offence done to
|
|
God, whose law is broken, as well as for the loss sustained by our
|
|
neighbour; restitution in this case is not sufficient without faith
|
|
and repentance. 3. Yet the sacrifices would not be accepted till
|
|
full amends were made to the party wronged, not only the principal,
|
|
but a fifth part added to it, <scripRef passage="Num 5:7" id="Num.vi-p6.3" parsed="|Num|5|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.7"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7</scripRef>. It is certain that while that which is got by
|
|
injustice is knowingly retained in the hands the guilt of the
|
|
injustice remains upon the conscience, and is not purged by
|
|
sacrifice nor offering, prayers not tears, for it is one and the
|
|
same continued act of sin persisted in. This law we had before
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 6:4" id="Num.vi-p6.4" parsed="|Lev|6|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.4">Lev. vi. 4</scripRef>), and it is here
|
|
added that if the party wronged was dead, and he had no near
|
|
kinsman who was entitled to the debt, or if it was any way
|
|
uncertain to whom the restitution should be made, this should not
|
|
serve for an excuse to detain what was unjustly gotten; to
|
|
whomsoever it pertained, it was certainly none of his that got it
|
|
by sin, and therefore it must be given to the priest, <scripRef passage="Num 5:8" id="Num.vi-p6.5" parsed="|Num|5|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. If there were any that
|
|
could make out a title to it, it must not be given to the priest
|
|
(God hates robbery for burnt-offerings); but, if there were not,
|
|
then it lapsed to the great Lord (<i>ob defectum sanguinis—for
|
|
want of issue</i>), and the priests were his receivers. Note, Some
|
|
work of piety or charity is a piece of necessary justice to be done
|
|
by those who are conscience to themselves that they have done
|
|
wrong, but know not how otherwise to make restitution; what is not
|
|
our property will never be our profit.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.vi-p7">III. A general rule concerning hallowed
|
|
things given upon this occasion, that, whatever was given to the
|
|
priest, <i>his it shall be,</i> <scripRef passage="Num 5:9,10" id="Num.vi-p7.1" parsed="|Num|5|9|5|10" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.9-Num.5.10"><i>v.</i> 9, 10</scripRef>. 1. He that gave it was not
|
|
to receive his gift again upon any pretence whatsoever. This law
|
|
ratifies and confirms all grants for pious uses, that people might
|
|
not give things to the priests in a fit of zeal, and then recall
|
|
them in a fit of vexation. 2. The other priests should not come in
|
|
sharers with that priest who then officiated, and to whom the
|
|
hallowed thing, whatever it was, was given. Let him that was most
|
|
ready and diligent in attending fare the better for it: if he do
|
|
the work, let him have the pay, and much good may it do him.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 5" id="Num.vi-p7.2" parsed="|Num|5|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.5"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 5:11-31" id="Num.vi-p7.3" parsed="|Num|5|11|5|31" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.11-Num.5.31"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.5.11-Num.5.31">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.vi-p7.4">The Bitter Water of
|
|
Jealousy. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vi-p7.5">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.vi-p8">11 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vi-p8.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   12 Speak unto the children of
|
|
Israel, and say unto them, If any man's wife go aside, and commit a
|
|
trespass against him,   13 And a man lie with her carnally,
|
|
and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close, and
|
|
she be defiled, and <i>there be</i> no witness against her, neither
|
|
she be taken <i>with the manner;</i>   14 And the spirit of
|
|
jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be
|
|
defiled: or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be
|
|
jealous of his wife, and she be not defiled:   15 Then shall
|
|
the man bring his wife unto the priest, and he shall bring her
|
|
offering for her, the tenth <i>part</i> of an ephah of barley meal;
|
|
he shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it
|
|
<i>is</i> an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial,
|
|
bringing iniquity to remembrance.   16 And the priest shall
|
|
bring her near, and set her before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vi-p8.2">Lord</span>:   17 And the priest shall take holy
|
|
water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is in the floor of
|
|
the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put <i>it</i> into the
|
|
water:   18 And the priest shall set the woman before the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vi-p8.3">Lord</span>, and uncover the woman's head,
|
|
and put the offering of memorial in her hands, which <i>is</i> the
|
|
jealousy offering: and the priest shall have in his hand the bitter
|
|
water that causeth the curse:   19 And the priest shall charge
|
|
her by an oath, and say unto the woman, If no man have lain with
|
|
thee, and if thou hast not gone aside to uncleanness <i>with
|
|
another</i> instead of thy husband, be thou free from this bitter
|
|
water that causeth the curse:   20 But if thou hast gone aside
|
|
<i>to another</i> instead of thy husband, and if thou be defiled,
|
|
and some man have lain with thee beside thine husband:   21
|
|
Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and
|
|
the priest shall say unto the woman, The <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vi-p8.4">Lord</span> make thee a curse and an oath among thy
|
|
people, when the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vi-p8.5">Lord</span> doth make thy
|
|
thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell;   22 And this water that
|
|
causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels, to make <i>thy</i>
|
|
belly to swell, and <i>thy</i> thigh to rot: And the woman shall
|
|
say, Amen, amen.   23 And the priest shall write these curses
|
|
in a book, and he shall blot <i>them</i> out with the bitter water:
|
|
  24 And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water
|
|
that causeth the curse: and the water that causeth the curse shall
|
|
enter into her, <i>and become</i> bitter.   25 Then the priest
|
|
shall take the jealousy offering out of the woman's hand, and shall
|
|
wave the offering before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vi-p8.6">Lord</span>,
|
|
and offer it upon the altar:   26 And the priest shall take an
|
|
handful of the offering, <i>even</i> the memorial thereof, and burn
|
|
<i>it</i> upon the altar, and afterward shall cause the woman to
|
|
drink the water.   27 And when he hath made her to drink the
|
|
water, then it shall come to pass, <i>that,</i> if she be defiled,
|
|
and have done trespass against her husband, that the water that
|
|
causeth the curse shall enter into her, <i>and become</i> bitter,
|
|
and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot: and the woman
|
|
shall be a curse among her people.   28 And if the woman be
|
|
not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall
|
|
conceive seed.   29 This <i>is</i> the law of jealousies, when
|
|
a wife goeth aside <i>to another</i> instead of her husband, and is
|
|
defiled;   30 Or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon him,
|
|
and he be jealous over his wife, and shall set the woman before the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vi-p8.7">Lord</span>, and the priest shall execute
|
|
upon her all this law.   31 Then shall the man be guiltless
|
|
from iniquity, and this woman shall bear her iniquity.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.vi-p9">We have here the law concerning the solemn
|
|
trial of a wife whose husband was jealous of her. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.vi-p10">I. What was the case supposed: That a man
|
|
had some reason to suspect his wife to have committed adultery,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Num 5:12-14" id="Num.vi-p10.1" parsed="|Num|5|12|5|14" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.12-Num.5.14"><i>v.</i> 12-14</scripRef>. Here, 1.
|
|
The sin of adultery is justly represented as an exceedingly sinful
|
|
sin; it is going aside from God and virtue, and the good way,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Pr 2:17" id="Num.vi-p10.2" parsed="|Prov|2|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.2.17">Prov. ii. 17</scripRef>. It is
|
|
committing a trespass against the husband, robbing him of his
|
|
honour, alienating his right, introducing a spurious breed into his
|
|
family to share with his children in his estate, and violating her
|
|
covenant with him. It is being defiled; for nothing pollutes the
|
|
mind and conscience more than this sin does. 2. It is supposed to
|
|
be a sin which great care is taken by the sinners to conceal, which
|
|
there is no witness of. <i>The eye of the adulterer waits for the
|
|
twilight,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 24:15" id="Num.vi-p10.3" parsed="|Job|24|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.24.15">Job xxiv.
|
|
15</scripRef>. And the adulteress takes her opportunity when <i>the
|
|
good man is not at home,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 7:19" id="Num.vi-p10.4" parsed="|Prov|7|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.7.19">Prov. vii.
|
|
19</scripRef>. It would not covet to be secret if it were not
|
|
shameful; and the devil who draws sinners to this sin teaches them
|
|
how to cover it. 3. The <i>spirit of jealousy</i> is supposed to
|
|
come upon the husband, of which Solomon says, It is the <i>rage of
|
|
a man</i> (<scripRef passage="Pr 6:34" id="Num.vi-p10.5" parsed="|Prov|6|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.6.34">Prov. vi. 34</scripRef>),
|
|
and that it is <i>cruel as the grave,</i> <scripRef passage="So 8:6" id="Num.vi-p10.6" parsed="|Song|8|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Song.8.6">Cant. viii. 6</scripRef>. 4. "Yet" (say the Jewish
|
|
writers) "he must make it appear that he has some just cause for
|
|
the suspicion." The rule they give is, "If the husband have said
|
|
unto his wife before witnesses, 'Be not thou in secret with such a
|
|
man;' and, notwithstanding that admonition, it is afterwards proved
|
|
that she was in secret with that man, though her father or her
|
|
brother, then he may compel her to drink the bitter water." But the
|
|
law here does not tie him to that particular method of proving the
|
|
just cause of his suspicion; it might be otherwise proved. In case
|
|
it could be proved that she had committed adultery, she was to be
|
|
put to death (<scripRef passage="Le 20:10" id="Num.vi-p10.7" parsed="|Lev|20|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.10">Lev. xx. 10</scripRef>);
|
|
but, if it was uncertain, then this law took place. Hence, (1.) Let
|
|
all wives be admonished not to give any the least occasion for the
|
|
suspicion of their chastity; it is not enough that they abstain
|
|
from the evil of uncleanness, but they must abstain from all
|
|
appearance of it, from every thing that looks like it, or leads to
|
|
it, or may give the least umbrage to jealousy; for <i>how great a
|
|
matter</i> may a <i>little fire kindle!</i> (2.) Let all husbands
|
|
be admonished not to entertain any causeless or unjust suspicions
|
|
of their wives. If charity in general, much more conjugal
|
|
affection, teaches to <i>think no evil,</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 13:5" id="Num.vi-p10.8" parsed="|1Cor|13|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.13.5">1 Cor. xiii. 5</scripRef>. It is the happiness of the
|
|
virtuous woman that <i>the heart of her husband does safely trust
|
|
in her,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 31:11" id="Num.vi-p10.9" parsed="|Prov|31|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.31.11">Prov. xxxi.
|
|
11</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.vi-p11">II. What was the course prescribed in this
|
|
case, that, if the suspected wife was innocent, she might not
|
|
continue under the reproach and uneasiness of her husband's
|
|
jealousy, and, if guilty, her sin might find her out, and others
|
|
might hear, and fear, and take warning.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.vi-p12">1. The process of the trial must be thus:—
|
|
(1.) Her husband must <i>bring her to the priest,</i> with the
|
|
witnesses that could prove the ground of his suspicion, and desire
|
|
that she might be put upon her trial. The Jews say that the priest
|
|
was first to endeavour to persuade her to confess the truth, saying
|
|
to this purport, "Dear daughter, perhaps thou wast overtaken by
|
|
drinking wine, or wast carried away by the heat of youth or the
|
|
examples of bad neighbours; come, confess the truth, for the sake
|
|
of his great name which is described in the most sacred ceremony,
|
|
and do not let it be blotted out with the bitter water." If she
|
|
confessed, saying, "I am defiled," she was not put to death, but
|
|
was divorced and lost her dowry; if she said, "I am pure," then
|
|
they proceeded. (2.) He must bring a coarse offering of
|
|
barley-meal, without oil or frankincense, agreeably to the present
|
|
afflicted state of his family; for a great affliction it was either
|
|
to have cause to be jealous or to be jealous without cause. It is
|
|
an <i>offering of memorial,</i> to signify that what was to be done
|
|
was intended as a religious appeal to the omniscience and justice
|
|
of God. (3.) The priest was to prepare the water of jealousy, the
|
|
holy water out of the laver at which the priests were to wash when
|
|
they ministered; this must be brought in an <i>earthen vessel,</i>
|
|
containing (they say) about a pint; and it must be an
|
|
<i>earthen</i> vessel, because the coarser and plainer every thing
|
|
was the more agreeable it was to the occasion. <i>Dust</i> must be
|
|
put into the water, to signify the reproach she lay under, and the
|
|
shame she ought to take to herself, putting her mouth in the dust;
|
|
but dust from <i>the floor of the tabernacle,</i> to put an honour
|
|
upon every thing that pertained to the place God had chosen to put
|
|
his name there, and to keep up in the people a reverence for it;
|
|
see <scripRef passage="Joh 8:6" id="Num.vi-p12.1" parsed="|John|8|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.8.6">John viii. 6</scripRef>. (4.) The
|
|
woman was to be <i>set before the Lord,</i> at the east gate of the
|
|
temple-court (say the Jews), and her head was to be uncovered, in
|
|
token of her sorrowful condition; and there she stood for a
|
|
spectacle to the world, that other women might learn not to do
|
|
<i>after her lewdness,</i> <scripRef passage="Eze 23:48" id="Num.vi-p12.2" parsed="|Ezek|23|48|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.23.48">Ezek.
|
|
xxiii. 48</scripRef>. Only the Jews say, "Her own servants were not
|
|
to be present, that she might not seem vile in their sight, who
|
|
were to give honour to her; her husband also must be dismissed."
|
|
(5.) The priest was to adjure her to tell the truth, and to
|
|
denounce the curse of God against her if she were guilty, and to
|
|
declare what would be the effect of her drinking the water of
|
|
jealousy, <scripRef passage="Num 5:19-22" id="Num.vi-p12.3" parsed="|Num|5|19|5|22" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.19-Num.5.22"><i>v.</i>
|
|
19-22</scripRef>. He must assure her that, if she were innocent,
|
|
the water would do her no harm, <scripRef passage="Num 5:19" id="Num.vi-p12.4" parsed="|Num|5|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. None need fear the curse of the
|
|
law if they have not broken the commands of the law. But, if she
|
|
were guilty, this water would be poison to her, it would make her
|
|
<i>belly to swell and her thigh to rot,</i> and she should be a
|
|
curse or abomination among her people, <scripRef passage="Num 5:21,22" id="Num.vi-p12.5" parsed="|Num|5|21|5|22" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.21-Num.5.22"><i>v.</i> 21, 22</scripRef>. To this she must say,
|
|
<i>Amen,</i> as Israel must do to the curses pronounced on mount
|
|
Ebal, <scripRef passage="De 27:15-26" id="Num.vi-p12.6" parsed="|Deut|27|15|27|26" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.15-Deut.27.26">Deut. xxvii.
|
|
15-26</scripRef>. Some think the <i>Amen,</i> being doubled,
|
|
respects both parts of the adjuration, both that which freed her if
|
|
innocent and that which condemned her if guilty. No woman, if she
|
|
were guilty, could say <i>Amen</i> to this adjuration, and drink
|
|
the water upon it, unless she disbelieved the truth of God or
|
|
defied his justice, and had come to such a pitch of impudence and
|
|
hard-heartedness in sin as to challenge God Almighty to do his
|
|
worst, and choose rather to venture upon his curse than to give him
|
|
glory by making confession; thus has whoredom <i>taken away the
|
|
heart.</i> (6.) The priest was to write this curse in a scrip or
|
|
scroll of parchment, <i>verbatim—word for word,</i> as he had
|
|
expressed it, and then to wipe or scrape out what he had written
|
|
into the water (<scripRef passage="Num 5:23" id="Num.vi-p12.7" parsed="|Num|5|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.23"><i>v.</i>
|
|
23</scripRef>), to signify that it was that curse which impregnated
|
|
the water, and gave it its strength to effect what was intended. It
|
|
signified that, if she were innocent, the curse should be blotted
|
|
out and never appear against her, as it is written, <scripRef passage="Isa 43:25" id="Num.vi-p12.8" parsed="|Isa|43|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.43.25">Isa. xliii. 25</scripRef>, <i>I am he that
|
|
blotteth out thy transgression,</i> and <scripRef passage="Ps 51:9" id="Num.vi-p12.9" parsed="|Ps|51|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.51.9">Ps. li. 9</scripRef>, <i>Blot out my iniquities;</i> but
|
|
that, if she were guilty, the curse, as it was written, being
|
|
infused into the water, would enter into her bowels with the water,
|
|
even <i>like oil into her bones</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 109:18" id="Num.vi-p12.10" parsed="|Ps|109|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.18">Ps. cix. 18</scripRef>), as we read of a curse entering
|
|
into a house, <scripRef passage="Zec 5:4" id="Num.vi-p12.11" parsed="|Zech|5|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zech.5.4">Zech. v. 4</scripRef>.
|
|
(7.) The woman must then drink the water (<scripRef passage="Num 5:24" id="Num.vi-p12.12" parsed="|Num|5|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>); it is called <i>the bitter
|
|
water,</i> some think because they put wormwood in it to make it
|
|
bitter, or rather because it caused the curse. Thus sin is called
|
|
<i>an evil thing and a bitter</i> for the same reason, because it
|
|
<i>causeth the curse,</i> <scripRef passage="Jer 2:19" id="Num.vi-p12.13" parsed="|Jer|2|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.2.19">Jer. ii.
|
|
19</scripRef>. If she had been guilty (and otherwise it did not
|
|
cause the curse), she was made to know that though her stolen
|
|
waters had been sweet, and her <i>bread eaten in secret
|
|
pleasant,</i> yet the end was <i>bitter as wormwood,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 9:17" id="Num.vi-p12.14" parsed="|Prov|9|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.9.17">Prov. ix. 17</scripRef>, and <scripRef passage="Nu 5:4" id="Num.vi-p12.15" parsed="|Num|5|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.4"><i>ch.</i> v. 4</scripRef>. Let all that meddle with
|
|
forbidden pleasures know that they will be bitterness in the latter
|
|
end. The Jews say that if, upon denouncing the curse, the woman was
|
|
so terrified that she durst not drink the water, but confessed she
|
|
was defiled, the priest flung down the water, and cast her offering
|
|
among the ashes, and she was divorced without dowry: if she
|
|
confessed not, and yet would not drink, they forced her to it; and,
|
|
if she was ready to throw it up again, they hastened her away, that
|
|
she might not pollute the holy place. (8.) Before she drank the
|
|
water, the jealousy-offering was waved and offered upon the altar
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Num 5:25,26" id="Num.vi-p12.16" parsed="|Num|5|25|5|26" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.25-Num.5.26"><i>v.</i> 25, 26</scripRef>); a
|
|
handful of it was burnt for a memorial, and the remainder of it
|
|
eaten by the priest, unless the husband was a priest, and then it
|
|
was scattered among the ashes. This offering in the midst of the
|
|
transaction signified that the whole was an appeal to God, as a God
|
|
that knows all things, and <i>from whom no secret is hid.</i> (9.)
|
|
All things being thus performed according to the law, they were to
|
|
wait the issue. The water, with a little dust put into it, and the
|
|
scrapings of a written parchment, had no natural tendency at all to
|
|
do either good or hurt; but if God was thus appealed to in the way
|
|
of an instituted ordinance, though otherwise the innocent might
|
|
have continued under suspicion and the guilty undiscovered, yet God
|
|
would so far own his own institution as that in a little time, by
|
|
the miraculous operation of Providence, the innocency of the
|
|
innocent should be cleared, and the sin of the guilty should find
|
|
them out. [1.] If the suspected woman was really guilty, the water
|
|
she drank would be poison to her (<scripRef passage="Num 5:27" id="Num.vi-p12.17" parsed="|Num|5|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>), her belly would swell and her
|
|
thigh rot by a vile disease for vile deserts, and she would
|
|
<i>mourn at the last when her flesh and body were consumed,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Pr 5:11" id="Num.vi-p12.18" parsed="|Prov|5|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.11">Prov. v. 11</scripRef>. Bishop Patrick
|
|
says, from some of the Jewish writers, that the effect of these
|
|
waters appeared immediately, she grew pale, and her eyes ready to
|
|
start out of her head. Dr. Lightfoot says that sometimes it
|
|
appeared not for two or three years, but she bore no children, was
|
|
sickly, languished, and rotted at last; it is probable that some
|
|
indications appeared immediately. The rabbin say that the adulterer
|
|
also died in the same day and hour that the adulteress did, and in
|
|
the same manner too, that he belly swelled, and his secret parts
|
|
rotted: a disease perhaps not much unlike that which in these
|
|
latter ages the avenging hand of a righteous God has made the
|
|
scourge of uncleanness, and with which whores and whoremongers
|
|
infect, and plague, and ruin one another, since they escape
|
|
punishment from men. The Jewish doctors add that the waters had
|
|
this effect upon the adulteress only in case the husband had never
|
|
offended in the same kind; but that, if he had at any time defiled
|
|
the marriage-bed, God did not thus right him against his injurious
|
|
wife; and that therefore in the latter and degenerate ages of the
|
|
Jewish church, when uncleanness did abound, this way of trial was
|
|
generally disused and laid aside; men, knowing their own crimes,
|
|
were content not to know their wives' crimes. And to this perhaps
|
|
may refer the threatening (<scripRef passage="Ho 4:14" id="Num.vi-p12.19" parsed="|Hos|4|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.4.14">Hos. iv.
|
|
14</scripRef>), <i>I will not punish your spouses when they commit
|
|
adultery, for you yourselves are separated with whores.</i> [2.] If
|
|
she were innocent, the water she drank would be physic to her:
|
|
<i>She shall be free, and shall conceive seed,</i> <scripRef passage="Num 5:28" id="Num.vi-p12.20" parsed="|Num|5|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>. The Jewish writers
|
|
magnify the good effects of this water to the innocent woman, that,
|
|
to recompense her for the wrong done to her by the suspicion, she
|
|
should, after the drinking of these waters, be stronger and look
|
|
better than ever; if she was sickly, she should become healthful,
|
|
should bear a man-child, and have easy labour.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.vi-p13">2. From the whole we may learn, (1.) That
|
|
secret sins are known to God, and sometimes are strangely brought
|
|
to light in this life; however, there is a day coming when God
|
|
will, by Jesus Christ, as here by the priest, judge the <i>secrets
|
|
of men according to the gospel,</i> <scripRef passage="Ro 2:16" id="Num.vi-p13.1" parsed="|Rom|2|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.2.16">Rom. ii. 16</scripRef>. (2.) That, in particular,
|
|
<i>Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.</i> The violation of
|
|
conjugal faith and chastity is highly provoking to the God of
|
|
heaven, and sooner or later it will be reckoned for. Though we have
|
|
not now the waters of jealousy to be a sensible terror to the
|
|
unclean, yet we have a word from God which ought to be as great a
|
|
terror, that if <i>any man defile the temple of God, him shall God
|
|
destroy,</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 3:17" id="Num.vi-p13.2" parsed="|1Cor|3|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.3.17">1 Cor. iii.
|
|
17</scripRef>. (3.) That God will find out some way or other to
|
|
clear the innocency of the innocent, and to bring forth their
|
|
righteousness as the light. (4.) That to <i>the pure all things are
|
|
pure,</i> but <i>to the defiled nothing</i> is so, <scripRef passage="Tit 1:15" id="Num.vi-p13.3" parsed="|Titus|1|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Titus.1.15">Tit. i. 15</scripRef>. The same word is to some
|
|
a <i>savour of life unto life, to others a savour of death unto
|
|
death,</i> like those waters of jealousy, according as they receive
|
|
it; the same providence is for good to some and for hurt to others,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Jer 24:5,8,9" id="Num.vi-p13.4" parsed="|Jer|24|5|0|0;|Jer|24|8|0|0;|Jer|24|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.24.5 Bible:Jer.24.8 Bible:Jer.24.9">Jer. xxiv. 5, 8, 9</scripRef>.
|
|
And, whatsoever it is intended for, it <i>shall not return
|
|
void.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter VI" n="vii" progress="66.03%" prev="Num.vi" next="Num.viii" id="Num.vii">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.vii-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.vii-p0.2">CHAP. VI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.vii-p1">In this chapter we have, I. The law concerning
|
|
Nazarites, 1. What it was to which the vow of a Nazarite obliged
|
|
him, <scripRef passage="Nu 6:1-8" id="Num.vii-p1.1" parsed="|Num|6|1|6|8" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.1-Num.6.8">ver. 1-8</scripRef>. 2. A
|
|
remedial law in case a Nazarite happened to be polluted by the
|
|
touch of a dead body, <scripRef passage="Nu 6:9-12" id="Num.vii-p1.2" parsed="|Num|6|9|6|12" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.9-Num.6.12">ver.
|
|
9-12</scripRef>. 3. The solemnity of his discharge when his time
|
|
was up, <scripRef passage="Nu 6:13-21" id="Num.vii-p1.3" parsed="|Num|6|13|6|21" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.13-Num.6.21">ver. 13-21</scripRef>. II.
|
|
Instructions given to the priests how they should bless the people,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 6:22-27" id="Num.vii-p1.4" parsed="|Num|6|22|6|27" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.22-Num.6.27">ver. 22</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 6" id="Num.vii-p1.5" parsed="|Num|6|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.6"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 6:1-21" id="Num.vii-p1.6" parsed="|Num|6|1|6|21" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.1-Num.6.21"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.6.1-Num.6.21">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.vii-p1.7">The Law Concerning
|
|
Nazarites. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vii-p1.8">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.vii-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vii-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   2 Speak unto the children of
|
|
Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate
|
|
<i>themselves</i> to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate
|
|
<i>themselves</i> unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vii-p2.2">Lord</span>:
|
|
  3 He shall separate <i>himself</i> from wine and strong
|
|
drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong
|
|
drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist
|
|
grapes, or dried.   4 All the days of his separation shall he
|
|
eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to
|
|
the husk.   5 All the days of the vow of his separation there
|
|
shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in
|
|
the which he separateth <i>himself</i> unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vii-p2.3">Lord</span>, he shall be holy, <i>and</i> shall let the
|
|
locks of the hair of his head grow.   6 All the days that he
|
|
separateth <i>himself</i> unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vii-p2.4">Lord</span> he shall come at no dead body.   7 He
|
|
shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother,
|
|
for his brother, or for his sister, when they die: because the
|
|
consecration of his God <i>is</i> upon his head.   8 All the
|
|
days of his separation he <i>is</i> holy unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vii-p2.5">Lord</span>.   9 And if any man die very suddenly
|
|
by him, and he hath defiled the head of his consecration; then he
|
|
shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing, on the seventh
|
|
day shall he shave it.   10 And on the eighth day he shall
|
|
bring two turtles, or two young pigeons, to the priest, to the door
|
|
of the tabernacle of the congregation:   11 And the priest
|
|
shall offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt
|
|
offering, and make an atonement for him, for that he sinned by the
|
|
dead, and shall hallow his head that same day.   12 And he
|
|
shall consecrate unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vii-p2.6">Lord</span> the
|
|
days of his separation, and shall bring a lamb of the first year
|
|
for a trespass offering: but the days that were before shall be
|
|
lost, because his separation was defiled.   13 And this
|
|
<i>is</i> the law of the Nazarite, when the days of his separation
|
|
are fulfilled: he shall be brought unto the door of the tabernacle
|
|
of the congregation:   14 And he shall offer his offering unto
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vii-p2.7">Lord</span>, one he lamb of the first
|
|
year without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb of the
|
|
first year without blemish for a sin offering, and one ram without
|
|
blemish for peace offerings,   15 And a basket of unleavened
|
|
bread, cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, and wafers of
|
|
unleavened bread anointed with oil, and their meat offering, and
|
|
their drink offerings.   16 And the priest shall bring
|
|
<i>them</i> before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vii-p2.8">Lord</span>, and
|
|
shall offer his sin offering, and his burnt offering:   17 And
|
|
he shall offer the ram <i>for</i> a sacrifice of peace offerings
|
|
unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vii-p2.9">Lord</span>, with the basket of
|
|
unleavened bread: the priest shall offer also his meat offering,
|
|
and his drink offering.   18 And the Nazarite shall shave the
|
|
head of his separation <i>at</i> the door of the tabernacle of the
|
|
congregation, and shall take the hair of the head of his
|
|
separation, and put <i>it</i> in the fire which <i>is</i> under the
|
|
sacrifice of the peace offerings.   19 And the priest shall
|
|
take the sodden shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake out of
|
|
the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put <i>them</i>
|
|
upon the hands of the Nazarite, after <i>the hair of</i> his
|
|
separation is shaven:   20 And the priest shall wave them
|
|
<i>for</i> a wave offering before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vii-p2.10">Lord</span>: this <i>is</i> holy for the priest, with
|
|
the wave breast and heave shoulder: and after that the Nazarite may
|
|
drink wine.   21 This <i>is</i> the law of the Nazarite who
|
|
hath vowed, <i>and of</i> his offering unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vii-p2.11">Lord</span> for his separation, beside <i>that</i> that
|
|
his hand shall get: according to the vow which he vowed, so he must
|
|
do after the law of his separation.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.vii-p3">After the law for the discovery and shame
|
|
of those that by sin had made themselves vile, fitly follows this
|
|
for the direction and encouragement of those who by their eminent
|
|
piety and devotion had made themselves honourable, and
|
|
distinguished themselves from their neighbours. It is very probable
|
|
that there were those before the making of this law who went under
|
|
the character of <i>Nazarites,</i> and were celebrated by that
|
|
title as persons professing greater strictness and zeal in religion
|
|
than other people; for the vow of a Nazarite is spoken of here as a
|
|
thing already well known, but the obligation of it is reduced to a
|
|
greater certainty than hitherto it had been. Joseph is called a
|
|
Nazarite among his brethren (<scripRef passage="Ge 49:26" id="Num.vii-p3.1" parsed="|Gen|49|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.26">Gen.
|
|
xlix. 26</scripRef>), not only because separate from them, but
|
|
because eminent among them. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.vii-p4">I. The general character of a Nazarite: it
|
|
is a person <i>separated unto the Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Num 6:2" id="Num.vii-p4.1" parsed="|Num|6|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. Some were Nazarites for life,
|
|
either by divine designation, as Samson (<scripRef passage="Jdg 13:5" id="Num.vii-p4.2" parsed="|Judg|13|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.13.5">Judg. xiii. 5</scripRef>), and John Baptist (<scripRef passage="Lu 1:15" id="Num.vii-p4.3" parsed="|Luke|1|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.1.15">Luke i. 15</scripRef>), or by their parents' vow
|
|
concerning them, as Samuel, <scripRef passage="1Sa 1:11" id="Num.vii-p4.4" parsed="|1Sam|1|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.1.11">1 Sam. i.
|
|
11</scripRef>. Of these this law speaks not. Others were so for a
|
|
certain time, and by their own voluntary engagement, and concerning
|
|
them rules are given by this law. A woman might bind herself with
|
|
the vow of a Nazarite, under the limitations we find, <scripRef passage="Nu 30:3" id="Num.vii-p4.5" parsed="|Num|30|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.30.3"><i>ch.</i> xxx. 3</scripRef>, where the vow which
|
|
the woman is supposed to vow unto the Lord seems to be meant
|
|
especially of this vow. The Nazarites were, 1. Devoted to the Lord
|
|
during the time of their Nazariteship, and, it is probable, spent
|
|
much of their time in the study of the law, in acts of devotion,
|
|
and instructing others. An air of piety was thereby put upon them,
|
|
and upon their whole conversation. 2. They were separated from
|
|
common persons and common things. Those that are consecrated to God
|
|
must not be conformed to this world. They distinguished themselves,
|
|
not only from others, but from what they themselves were before and
|
|
after. 3. They separated themselves by vowing a vow. Every
|
|
Israelite was bound by the divine law to love God with all his
|
|
heart, but the Nazarites by their own act and deed bound themselves
|
|
to some religious observances, as fruits and expressions of that
|
|
love, which other Israelites were not bound to. Some such there
|
|
were, whose spirits God stirred up to be in their day the ornaments
|
|
of the church, the standard-bearers of religion, and patterns of
|
|
piety. It is spoken of as a great favour to their nation that God
|
|
<i>raised up of their young men for Nazarites,</i> <scripRef passage="Am 2:11" id="Num.vii-p4.6" parsed="|Amos|2|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Amos.2.11">Amos ii. 11</scripRef>. The Nazarites were known
|
|
in the streets and respected as <i>purer than snow, whiter than
|
|
milk,</i> <scripRef passage="La 4:7" id="Num.vii-p4.7" parsed="|Lam|4|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.7">Lam. iv. 7</scripRef>. Christ
|
|
was called in reproach a Nazarene, so were his followers: but he
|
|
was no Nazarite according to this law; he drank wine, and touched
|
|
dead bodies, yet in his this type had its accomplishment, for in
|
|
him all purity and perfection met; and every true Christian is a
|
|
spiritual Nazarite, separated by vow unto the Lord. We find St.
|
|
Paul, by the persuasion of his friends, in complaisance to the
|
|
Jews, submitting to this law of the Nazarites; but at the same time
|
|
it is declared that the Gentiles should <i>observe no such
|
|
thing,</i> <scripRef passage="Ac 21:24,25" id="Num.vii-p4.8" parsed="|Acts|21|24|21|25" osisRef="Bible:Acts.21.24-Acts.21.25">Acts xxi. 24,
|
|
25</scripRef>. It was looked upon as a great honour to a man to be
|
|
a Nazarite, and therefore if a man speak of it as a punishment,
|
|
saying for instance, "I will be a Nazarite rather than do so or
|
|
so," he is (say the Jews) a wicked man; but he that vows unto the
|
|
Lord in the way of holiness to be a Nazarite, lo, <i>the crown of
|
|
his God is upon his head.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.vii-p5">II. The particular obligations that the
|
|
Nazarites lay under. That the fancies of superstitious men might
|
|
not multiply their restraints endlessly, God himself lays down the
|
|
law for them, and gives them the rule of their profession.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.vii-p6">1. They must have nothing to do with <i>the
|
|
fruit of the vine,</i> <scripRef passage="Num 6:3,4" id="Num.vii-p6.1" parsed="|Num|6|3|6|4" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.3-Num.6.4"><i>v.</i> 3,
|
|
4</scripRef>. They must drink no wine nor string drink, nor eat
|
|
grapes, no, not the kernel nor the husk; they might not so much as
|
|
eat a raisin. The learned Dr. Lightfoot has a conjecture (Hor. Heb.
|
|
in Luc. 1. 15), that, as the ceremonial pollutions by leprosy and
|
|
otherwise represented the sinful state of fallen man, so the
|
|
institution of the order of Nazarites was designed to represent the
|
|
pure and perfect state of man in innocency, and that the tree of
|
|
knowledge, forbidden to Adam, was the vine, and for that reason it
|
|
was forbidden to the Nazarites, and all the produce of it. Those
|
|
who gave the Nazarites wine to drink did the tempter's work
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Am 2:12" id="Num.vii-p6.2" parsed="|Amos|2|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Amos.2.12">Amos ii. 12</scripRef>), persuading
|
|
them to that forbidden fruit. That it was reckoned a perfection and
|
|
praise not to drink wine appears from the instance of the
|
|
Rechabites, <scripRef passage="Jer 35:6" id="Num.vii-p6.3" parsed="|Jer|35|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.35.6">Jer. xxxv. 6</scripRef>.
|
|
They were to <i>drink no wine,</i> (1.) That they might be examples
|
|
of temperance and mortification. Those that separate themselves to
|
|
God and to his honour must not gratify the desires of the body, but
|
|
keep it under and bring it into subjection. Drinking <i>a little
|
|
wine for the stomach's sake</i> is allowed, to help that, <scripRef passage="1Ti 5:23" id="Num.vii-p6.4" parsed="|1Tim|5|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.5.23">1 Tim. v. 23</scripRef>. But drinking much wine
|
|
for the <i>palate's sake,</i> to please that, does by no means
|
|
become those who profess to walk not <i>after the flesh, but after
|
|
the Spirit.</i> (2.) That they might be qualified to employ
|
|
themselves in the service of God. They must not drink, lest they
|
|
should <i>forget the law</i> (<scripRef passage="Pr 31:5" id="Num.vii-p6.5" parsed="|Prov|31|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.31.5">Prov.
|
|
xxxi. 5</scripRef>), lest they should <i>err through wine,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 28:7" id="Num.vii-p6.6" parsed="|Isa|28|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.28.7">Isa. xxviii. 7</scripRef>. Let all
|
|
Christians oblige themselves to be very moderate in the use of wine
|
|
and strong drink; for, if the love of these once gets the mastery
|
|
of a man, he becomes a very easy prey to Satan. It is observable
|
|
that because they were to drink no wine (which was the thing mainly
|
|
intended) they were to eat nothing that came of the vine, to teach
|
|
us with the utmost care and caution to avoid sin and every thing
|
|
that borders upon it and leads to it, or may be a temptation to us.
|
|
<i>Abstain from all appearance of evil,</i> <scripRef passage="1Th 5:22" id="Num.vii-p6.7" parsed="|1Thess|5|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Thess.5.22">1 Thess. v. 22</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.vii-p7">2. They must not <i>cut their hair,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Num 6:5" id="Num.vii-p7.1" parsed="|Num|6|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. They must
|
|
neither poll their heads nor shave their beards; this was that mark
|
|
of Samson's Nazariteship which we often read of in his story. Now,
|
|
(1.) This signified a noble neglect of the body and the ease and
|
|
ornament of it, which became those who, being separated to God,
|
|
ought to be wholly taken up with their souls, to secure their peace
|
|
and beauty. It signified that they had, for the present, renounced
|
|
all sorts of sensual pleasures and delights, and resolved to live a
|
|
life of self-denial and mortification. Mephibosheth in sorrow
|
|
<i>trimmed not his beard,</i> <scripRef passage="2Sa 19:24" id="Num.vii-p7.2" parsed="|2Sam|19|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.19.24">2 Sam.
|
|
xix. 24</scripRef>. (2.) Some observe that long hair is spoken of
|
|
as a badge of subjection (<scripRef passage="1Co 11:5" id="Num.vii-p7.3" parsed="|1Cor|11|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.11.5">1 Cor. xi.
|
|
5</scripRef>, &c.); so that the long hair of the Nazarites
|
|
denoted their subjection to God, and their putting themselves under
|
|
his dominion. (3.) By this they were known to all that met them to
|
|
be Nazarites, and so it commanded respect. It made them look great
|
|
without art; it was nature's crown to the head, and a testimony for
|
|
them that they had preserved their purity. For, if they had been
|
|
defiled, their hair must have been cut, <scripRef passage="Num 6:9" id="Num.vii-p7.4" parsed="|Num|6|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. See <scripRef passage="Jer 7:29" id="Num.vii-p7.5" parsed="|Jer|7|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.7.29">Jer. vii. 29</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.vii-p8">3. They must not come near any dead body,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Num 6:6,7" id="Num.vii-p8.1" parsed="|Num|6|6|6|7" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.6-Num.6.7"><i>v.</i> 6, 7</scripRef>. Others
|
|
might touch dead bodies, and contracted only a ceremonial pollution
|
|
by it for some time; some must do it, else the dead must be
|
|
unburied; but the Nazarites must not do it, upon pain of forfeiting
|
|
all the honour of their Nazariteship. They must not attend the
|
|
funeral of any relation, no, not father nor mother, any more than
|
|
the high priest himself, because <i>the consecration of his God is
|
|
upon his head.</i> Those that separate themselves to God must
|
|
learn, (1.) To distinguish themselves, and do more than others.
|
|
(2.) To keep their consciences pure from dead works, and not to
|
|
touch the unclean thing. The greater profession of religion we
|
|
make, and the more eminent we appear, the greater care we must take
|
|
to avoid all sin, for we have so much the more honour to lose by
|
|
it. (3.) To moderate their affections even to their near relations,
|
|
so as not to let their sorrow for the loss of them break in upon
|
|
their joy in God and submission to his will. See <scripRef passage="Mt 8:21,22" id="Num.vii-p8.2" parsed="|Matt|8|21|8|22" osisRef="Bible:Matt.8.21-Matt.8.22">Matt. viii. 21, 22</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.vii-p9">4. All <i>the days of their separation</i>
|
|
they must be <i>holy to the Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Num 6:8" id="Num.vii-p9.1" parsed="|Num|6|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. This was the meaning of those
|
|
external observances, and without this they were of no account. The
|
|
Nazarites must be devoted to God, employed for him, and their minds
|
|
intent upon him; they must keep themselves pure in heart and life,
|
|
and be in every thing conformable to the divine image and will;
|
|
this is to be holy, this is to be a Nazarite indeed.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.vii-p10">III. The provision that was made for the
|
|
cleansing of a Nazarite, if he happened unavoidably to contract a
|
|
ceremonial pollution by the touch of a dead body. No penalty is
|
|
ordered by this law for the wilful breach of the foregoing laws;
|
|
for it was not supposed that a man who had so much religion as to
|
|
make that vow could have so little as to break it presumptuously:
|
|
nor could it be supposed that he should drink wine, or have his
|
|
hair cut, but by his own fault; but purely by the providence of
|
|
God, without any fault of his own, he might be near a dead body,
|
|
and that is the case put (<scripRef passage="Num 6:9" id="Num.vii-p10.1" parsed="|Num|6|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.9"><i>v.</i>
|
|
9</scripRef>): <i>If a man die very suddenly by him, he has defiled
|
|
the head of his consecration.</i> Note, Death sometimes takes men
|
|
away very suddenly, and without any previous warning. A man might
|
|
be well and dead in so little a time that the most careful Nazarite
|
|
could not avoid being polluted by the dead body; so short a step is
|
|
it sometimes, and so soon taken, from time to eternity. God prepare
|
|
us for sudden death! In this case, 1. He must be purified from the
|
|
ceremonial pollution he had contracted, as others must, upon the
|
|
seventh day, <scripRef passage="Num 6:9" id="Num.vii-p10.2" parsed="|Num|6|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>.
|
|
Nay, more was required for the purifying of the Nazarite than of
|
|
any other person that had touched a dead body; he must bring a
|
|
sin-offering and a burnt-offering, and an atonement must be <i>made
|
|
for him,</i> <scripRef passage="Num 6:10,11" id="Num.vii-p10.3" parsed="|Num|6|10|6|11" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.10-Num.6.11"><i>v.</i> 10,
|
|
11</scripRef>. This teaches us that sins of infirmity, and the
|
|
faults we are overtaken in by surprise, must be seriously repented
|
|
of, and that an application must be made of the virtue of Christ's
|
|
sacrifice to our souls for the forgiveness of them every day,
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Jo 2:1,2" id="Num.vii-p10.4" parsed="|1John|2|1|2|2" osisRef="Bible:1John.2.1-1John.2.2">1 John ii. 1, 2</scripRef>. It
|
|
teaches us also that, if those who make an eminent profession of
|
|
religion do any thing to sully the reputation of their profession,
|
|
more is expected from them than others, for the retrieving both of
|
|
their peace and of their credit. 2. He must begin the days of his
|
|
separation again; for all that were past before his pollution,
|
|
though coming ever so near the period of his time set, were lost,
|
|
and not reckoned to him, <scripRef passage="Num 6:12" id="Num.vii-p10.5" parsed="|Num|6|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.12"><i>v.</i>
|
|
12</scripRef>. This obliged them to be very careful not to defile
|
|
themselves by the dead, for that was the only thing that made them
|
|
lose their time, and it teaches us that <i>if a righteous man turn
|
|
away from his righteousness,</i> and defile himself with dead
|
|
works, all his righteousness that he has done shall be lost to him,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Eze 33:13" id="Num.vii-p10.6" parsed="|Ezek|33|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.33.13">Ezek. xxxiii. 13</scripRef>. It is
|
|
all lost, all in vain, if he do not persevere, <scripRef passage="Ga 3:4" id="Num.vii-p10.7" parsed="|Gal|3|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.3.4">Gal. iii. 4</scripRef>. He must begin again, and do his
|
|
first works.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.vii-p11">IV. The law for the solemn discharge of a
|
|
Nazarite from his vow, when he had completed the time he fixed to
|
|
himself. Before the expiration of that term he could not be
|
|
discharged; before he vowed, it was in his own power, but it was
|
|
too late after the vow to make enquiry. The Jews say that the time
|
|
of a Nazarite's vow could not be less than thirty days; and if a
|
|
man said, "I will be a Nazarite but for two days," yet he was bound
|
|
for thirty; but it should seem Paul's vow was for only seven days
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ac 21:27" id="Num.vii-p11.1" parsed="|Acts|21|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.21.27">Acts xxi. 27</scripRef>), or, rather,
|
|
then he observed the ceremony of finishing that vow of Nazariteship
|
|
from which, being at a distance from the temple, he had discharged
|
|
himself some years before at Cenchrea only by the ceremony of
|
|
cutting his hair, <scripRef passage="Ac 18:18" id="Num.vii-p11.2" parsed="|Acts|18|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.18.18">Acts xviii.
|
|
18</scripRef>. When the time of the vowed separation was out, he
|
|
was to be made free, 1. Publicly, <i>at the door of the
|
|
tabernacle</i> (<scripRef passage="Num 6:13" id="Num.vii-p11.3" parsed="|Num|6|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.13"><i>v.</i>
|
|
13</scripRef>), that all might take notice of the finishing of his
|
|
vow, and none might be offended if they saw him now drink wine, who
|
|
had so lately refused. 2. It was to be done with sacrifices,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Num 6:14" id="Num.vii-p11.4" parsed="|Num|6|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. Lest he should
|
|
think that by this eminent piece of devotion he had made God a
|
|
debtor to him, he is appointed, even when he had finished his vow,
|
|
to bring an offering to God; for, when we have done our utmost in
|
|
duty to God, still we must own ourselves behind-hand with him. He
|
|
must bring one of each sort of the instituted offerings. (1.) A
|
|
burnt-offering, as an acknowledgment of God's sovereign dominion
|
|
over him and all he had still, notwithstanding his discharge from
|
|
this particular vow. (2.) A sin-offering. This, though mentioned
|
|
second (<scripRef passage="Num 6:14" id="Num.vii-p11.5" parsed="|Num|6|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>), yet
|
|
seems to have been offered first (<scripRef passage="Num 6:16" id="Num.vii-p11.6" parsed="|Num|6|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>), for atonement must be made for
|
|
our sins before any of our sacrifices can be accepted. And it is
|
|
very observable that even the Nazarite, who in the eye of men was
|
|
<i>purer than snow</i> and <i>whiter than milk,</i> yet durst not
|
|
appear before the holy God without a sin-offering. Though he had
|
|
fulfilled the vow of his separation without any pollution, yet he
|
|
must bring a sacrifice for sin; for there is guilt insensibly
|
|
contracted by the best of men, even in their best works—some good
|
|
omitted, some ill admitted, which, if we were dealt with in strict
|
|
justice, would be our ruin, and in consequence of which it is
|
|
necessary for us to receive the atonement, and plead it as our
|
|
righteousness before God. (3.) A peace-offering, in thankfulness to
|
|
God who had enabled him to fulfil his vow, and in supplication to
|
|
God for grace to preserve him from ever doing any thing unbecoming
|
|
one that had been once a Nazarite, remembering that, though he was
|
|
now freed from the bonds of his own vow, he still remained under
|
|
the bonds of the divine law. (4.) To these were added the
|
|
meat-offerings and drink-offerings, according to the manner
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Num 6:15,17" id="Num.vii-p11.7" parsed="|Num|6|15|0|0;|Num|6|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.15 Bible:Num.6.17"><i>v.</i> 15, 17</scripRef>), for
|
|
these always accompanied the burnt-offerings and peace-offerings:
|
|
and, besides these, a basket of unleavened cakes, and wafers. (5.)
|
|
Part of the peace-offering, with a cake and wafer, was to be waved
|
|
for a wave-offering (<scripRef passage="Num 6:19,20" id="Num.vii-p11.8" parsed="|Num|6|19|6|20" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.19-Num.6.20"><i>v.</i> 19,
|
|
20</scripRef>); and this was a gratuity to the priest, who had it
|
|
for his pains, after it had been first presented to God. (6.)
|
|
Besides all this, he might bring his free-will offerings, <i>such
|
|
as his hand shall get,</i> <scripRef passage="Num 6:21" id="Num.vii-p11.9" parsed="|Num|6|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.21"><i>v.</i>
|
|
21</scripRef>. More than this he might bring, but not less. And, to
|
|
grace the solemnity, it was common upon this occasion to have their
|
|
friends to be at <i>charges with them,</i> <scripRef passage="Ac 21:24" id="Num.vii-p11.10" parsed="|Acts|21|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.21.24">Acts xxi. 24</scripRef>. <i>Lastly,</i> One ceremony
|
|
more was appointed, which was like the cancelling of the bond when
|
|
the condition is performed, and that was the <i>cutting off of his
|
|
hair,</i> which had been suffered to grow all the time of his being
|
|
a Nazarite, and burning it in the fire over which the
|
|
peace-offerings were boiling, <scripRef passage="Num 6:18" id="Num.vii-p11.11" parsed="|Num|6|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.18"><i>v.</i>
|
|
18</scripRef>. This intimated that his full performance of his vow
|
|
was acceptable to God in Christ the great sacrifice, and not
|
|
otherwise. Learn hence to <i>vow and pay to the Lord our God,</i>
|
|
for <i>he has no pleasure in fools.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 6:22-27" id="Num.vii-p11.12" parsed="|Num|6|22|6|27" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.22-Num.6.27"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.6.22-Num.6.27">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.vii-p11.13">A Form of Benediction
|
|
Appointed. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vii-p11.14">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.vii-p12">22 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vii-p12.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   23 Speak unto Aaron and unto his
|
|
sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel,
|
|
saying unto them,   24 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vii-p12.2">Lord</span>
|
|
bless thee, and keep thee:   25 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vii-p12.3">Lord</span> make his face shine upon thee, and be
|
|
gracious unto thee:   26 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vii-p12.4">Lord</span> lift up his countenance upon thee, and give
|
|
thee peace.   27 And they shall put my name upon the children
|
|
of Israel; and I will bless them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.vii-p13">Here, I. The priests, among other good
|
|
offices which they were to do, are appointed solemnly to bless the
|
|
people in the <i>name of the Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Num 6:23" id="Num.vii-p13.1" parsed="|Num|6|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. It was part of their work,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 21:5" id="Num.vii-p13.2" parsed="|Deut|21|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21.5">Deut. xxi. 5</scripRef>. Hereby God put
|
|
an honour upon the priests, for <i>the less is blessed of the
|
|
better;</i> and hereby he gave great comfort and satisfaction to
|
|
the people, who looked upon the priest as God's mouth to them.
|
|
Though the priests of himself could do no more than beg a blessing,
|
|
yet being an intercessor by office, and doing that in his name who
|
|
commands the blessing, the prayer carried with it a promise, and he
|
|
pronounced it as one having authority with his hands lifted up and
|
|
his face towards the people. Now, 1. This was a type of Christ's
|
|
errand into the world, which was to <i>bless us</i> (<scripRef passage="Ac 3:26" id="Num.vii-p13.3" parsed="|Acts|3|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.3.26">Acts iii. 26</scripRef>), as the high priest of
|
|
our profession. The last thing he did on earth was with uplifted
|
|
hands to bless his disciples, <scripRef passage="Num 24:50,51" id="Num.vii-p13.4" parsed="|Num|24|50|24|51" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.50-Num.24.51">Num
|
|
xxiv. 50, 51</scripRef>. The learned bishop Pearson observes it as
|
|
a tradition of the Jews that the priests blessed the people only at
|
|
the close of the morning sacrifice, not of the evening sacrifice,
|
|
to show (says he) that in the last days, the days of the Messiah,
|
|
which are (as it were) the evening of the world, the benediction of
|
|
the law should cease, and the blessing of Christ should take place.
|
|
2. It was a pattern to gospel ministers, the masters of assemblies,
|
|
who are in like manner to dismiss their solemn assemblies with a
|
|
blessing. The same that are God's mouth to his people, to teach and
|
|
command them, are his mouth likewise to bless them; and those that
|
|
receive the law shall receive the blessing. The Hebrew doctors warn
|
|
the people that they say not, "What availeth the blessing of this
|
|
poor simple priest? "For," say they, "the receiving of the blessing
|
|
depends, not on the priest, but on the holy blessed God."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.vii-p14">II. A form of blessing is here prescribed
|
|
them. In their other devotions no form was prescribed, but this
|
|
being God's command concerning benediction, that it might not look
|
|
like any thing of their own, he puts the very words in their
|
|
mouths, <scripRef passage="Num 6:24-26" id="Num.vii-p14.1" parsed="|Num|6|24|6|26" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.24-Num.6.26"><i>v.</i> 24-26</scripRef>.
|
|
Here observe, 1. That the blessing is commanded upon each
|
|
particular person: <i>The Lord bless thee.</i> They must each of
|
|
them prepare themselves to receive the blessing, and then they
|
|
should find enough in it to make them every man happy. <i>Blessed
|
|
shalt thou be,</i> <scripRef passage="De 28:3" id="Num.vii-p14.2" parsed="|Deut|28|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.3">Deut. xxviii.
|
|
3</scripRef>. If we take the law to ourselves, we may take the
|
|
blessing to ourselves, as if our names were inserted. 2. That the
|
|
name <i>Jehovah</i> is three times repeated in it, and (as the
|
|
critics observe) each with a different accent in the original; the
|
|
Jews themselves think there is some mystery in this, and we know
|
|
what it is, the New Testament having explained it, which directs us
|
|
to expect the blessing from <i>the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
|
|
the love of the Father, and the communion of the Holy Ghost,</i>
|
|
each of which persons is Jehovah, and yet they are "not three
|
|
Lords, but one Lord," <scripRef passage="2Co 13:14" id="Num.vii-p14.3" parsed="|2Cor|13|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.13.14">2 Cor. xiii.
|
|
14</scripRef>. 3. That the favour of God is all in all in this
|
|
blessing, for that is the fountain of all good. (1.) <i>The Lord
|
|
bless thee!</i> Our blessing God is only our speaking well of him;
|
|
his blessing us is doing well for us; those whom he blesses are
|
|
blessed indeed. (2.) <i>The Lord make his face shine upon thee,</i>
|
|
alluding to the shining of the sun upon the earth, to enlighten and
|
|
comfort it, and to renew the face of it. "The Lord love thee and
|
|
cause thee to know that he loves thee." We cannot but be happy if
|
|
we have God's love; and we cannot but be easy if we know that we
|
|
have it. (3.) <i>The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee.</i>
|
|
This is to the same purport with the former, and it seems to allude
|
|
to the smiles of a father upon his child, or of a man upon his
|
|
friend whom he takes pleasure in. If God give us the assurances of
|
|
his special favour and his acceptance of us, this will <i>put
|
|
gladness into the heart,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 4:7,8" id="Num.vii-p14.4" parsed="|Ps|4|7|4|8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.4.7-Ps.4.8">Ps. iv.
|
|
7, 8</scripRef>. 4. That the fruits of this favour conveyed by this
|
|
blessing are protection, pardon, and peace. (1.) Protection from
|
|
evil, <scripRef passage="Num 6:24" id="Num.vii-p14.5" parsed="|Num|6|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. The Lord
|
|
<i>keep thee,</i> for it is he that keeps Israel, and neither
|
|
<i>slumbers nor sleeps</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 121:4" id="Num.vii-p14.6" parsed="|Ps|121|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.121.4">Ps. cxxi.
|
|
4</scripRef>), and all believers are <i>kept by the power of
|
|
God.</i> (2.) Pardon of sin, <scripRef passage="Num 6:25" id="Num.vii-p14.7" parsed="|Num|6|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.25"><i>v.</i>
|
|
25</scripRef>. The Lord be <i>gracious,</i> or <i>merciful,</i>
|
|
unto thee. (3.) Peace (<scripRef passage="Num 6:26" id="Num.vii-p14.8" parsed="|Num|6|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.26"><i>v.</i>
|
|
26</scripRef>), including all that good which goes to make up a
|
|
complete happiness.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.vii-p15">III. God here promises to ratify and
|
|
confirm the blessing: <i>They shall put my name upon the children
|
|
of Israel,</i> <scripRef passage="Num 6:27" id="Num.vii-p15.1" parsed="|Num|6|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>.
|
|
God gives them leave to make use of his name in blessing the
|
|
people, and to bless them as his people, called by his name. This
|
|
included all the blessings they could pronounce upon them, to mark
|
|
them for God's peculiar, the people of his choice and love. God's
|
|
name upon them was their honour, their comfort, their safety, their
|
|
plea. <i>We are called by thy name, leave us not.</i> It is added,
|
|
<i>and I will bless them.</i> Note, A divine blessing goes along
|
|
with divine institutions, and puts virtue and efficacy into them.
|
|
What Christ says of the peace is true of the blessing, "Peace to
|
|
this congregation," if the sons of peace and heirs of blessing be
|
|
there, the peace, the blessing, shall rest upon them, <scripRef passage="Lu 10:5,6" id="Num.vii-p15.2" parsed="|Luke|10|5|10|6" osisRef="Bible:Luke.10.5-Luke.10.6">Luke x. 5, 6</scripRef>. For in <i>every place
|
|
where God records his name</i> he will <i>meet his people and bless
|
|
them.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter VII" n="viii" progress="66.54%" prev="Num.vii" next="Num.ix" id="Num.viii">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.viii-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.viii-p0.2">CHAP. VII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.viii-p1">God having set up house (as it were) in the midst
|
|
of the camp of Israel, the princes of Israel here come a visiting
|
|
with their presents, as tenants to their landlord, in the name of
|
|
their respective tribes. I. They brought presents, 1. Upon the
|
|
dedication of the tabernacle, for the service of that, <scripRef passage="Nu 7:1-9" id="Num.viii-p1.1" parsed="|Num|7|1|7|9" osisRef="Bible:Num.7.1-Num.7.9">ver. 1-9</scripRef>. 2. Upon the dedication of
|
|
the altar, for the use of that, <scripRef passage="Nu 7:10-88" id="Num.viii-p1.2" parsed="|Num|7|10|7|88" osisRef="Bible:Num.7.10-Num.7.88">ver.
|
|
10-88</scripRef>. And, II. God graciously signified his acceptance
|
|
of them, <scripRef passage="Nu 7:89" id="Num.viii-p1.3" parsed="|Num|7|89|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.7.89">ver. 89</scripRef>. The two
|
|
foregoing chapters were the records of additional laws which God
|
|
gave to Israel, this is the history of the additional services
|
|
which Israel performed to God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 7" id="Num.viii-p1.4" parsed="|Num|7|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.7"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 7:1-9" id="Num.viii-p1.5" parsed="|Num|7|1|7|9" osisRef="Bible:Num.7.1-Num.7.9"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.7.1-Num.7.9">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.viii-p1.6">The Offerings of the
|
|
Princes. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.viii-p1.7">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.viii-p2">1 And it came to pass on the day that Moses had
|
|
fully set up the tabernacle, and had anointed it, and sanctified
|
|
it, and all the instruments thereof, both the altar and all the
|
|
vessels thereof, and had anointed them, and sanctified them;  
|
|
2 That the princes of Israel, heads of the house of their fathers,
|
|
who <i>were</i> the princes of the tribes, and were over them that
|
|
were numbered, offered:   3 And they brought their offering
|
|
before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.viii-p2.1">Lord</span>, six covered
|
|
waggons, and twelve oxen; a waggon for two of the princes, and for
|
|
each one an ox: and they brought them before the tabernacle.  
|
|
4 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.viii-p2.2">Lord</span> spake unto Moses,
|
|
saying,   5 Take <i>it</i> of them, that they may be to do the
|
|
service of the tabernacle of the congregation; and thou shalt give
|
|
them unto the Levites, to every man according to his service.
|
|
  6 And Moses took the waggons and the oxen, and gave them
|
|
unto the Levites.   7 Two waggons and four oxen he gave unto
|
|
the sons of Gershon, according to their service:   8 And four
|
|
waggons and eight oxen he gave unto the sons of Merari, according
|
|
unto their service, under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the
|
|
priest.   9 But unto the sons of Kohath he gave none: because
|
|
the service of the sanctuary belonging unto them <i>was that</i>
|
|
they should bear upon their shoulders.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.viii-p3">Here is the offering of the princes to the
|
|
service of the tabernacle. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.viii-p4">I. When it was; not till it was <i>fully
|
|
set up,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 7:1" id="Num.viii-p4.1" parsed="|Num|7|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.7.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. When
|
|
all things were done both about the tabernacle itself, and the camp
|
|
of Israel which surrounded it, according to the directions given,
|
|
then they began their presents, probably about the eighth day of
|
|
the second month. Note, Necessary observances must always take
|
|
place of free-will offerings: first those, and then these.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.viii-p5">II. Who it was that offered: <i>The princes
|
|
of Israel, heads of the house of their fathers,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 7:2" id="Num.viii-p5.1" parsed="|Num|7|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.7.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. Note, Those that are above
|
|
others in power and dignity ought to go before others, and
|
|
endeavour to go beyond them, in every thing that is good. The more
|
|
any are advanced the more is expected from them, on account of the
|
|
greater opportunity they have of serving God and their generation.
|
|
What are wealth and authority good for, but as they enable a man to
|
|
do so much the more good in the world?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.viii-p6">III. What was offered: six wagons, with
|
|
each of them a yoke of oxen to draw them, <scripRef passage="Nu 7:3" id="Num.viii-p6.1" parsed="|Num|7|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.7.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. Doubtless these wagons were
|
|
agreeable to the rest of the furniture of the tabernacle and its
|
|
appurtenances, the best of the kind, like the carriages which great
|
|
princes use when they go in procession. Some think that God, by
|
|
Moses, intimated to them what they should bring, or their own
|
|
consideration perhaps suggested to them to make this present.
|
|
Though God's wisdom had ordained all the essentials of the
|
|
tabernacle, yet it seems these accidental conveniences were left to
|
|
be provided by their own discretion, which was to set in order that
|
|
which was wanting (<scripRef passage="Tit 1:5" id="Num.viii-p6.2" parsed="|Titus|1|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Titus.1.5">Tit. i.
|
|
5</scripRef>), and these wagons were not refused, though no pattern
|
|
of them was shown to Moses in the mount. Note, It must not be
|
|
expected that the divine institution of ordinances should descend
|
|
to all those circumstances which are determinable, and are fit to
|
|
be left alterable, by human prudence, that wisdom which is
|
|
profitable to direct. Observe, No sooner is the tabernacle fully
|
|
set up than this provision is made for the removal of it. Note,
|
|
Even when we are but just settled in the world, and think we are
|
|
beginning to take root, we must be preparing for changes and
|
|
removes, especially for the great change. While we are here in this
|
|
world, every thing must be accommodated to a militant and movable
|
|
state. When the tabernacle was framing, the princes were very
|
|
generous in their offerings, for then they brought <i>precious
|
|
stones, and stones to be set</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 35:27" id="Num.viii-p6.3" parsed="|Exod|35|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.35.27">Exod. xxxv. 27</scripRef>), yet now they bring more
|
|
presents. Note, Those that have done good should study to abound
|
|
therein yet more and more, and not be <i>weary of
|
|
well-doing.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.viii-p7">IV. How the offering was disposed of, and
|
|
what use was made of it: the wagons and oxen were given to the
|
|
Levites, to be used in carrying the tabernacle, both for their ease
|
|
(for God would not have any of his servants overburdened with
|
|
work), and for the more safe and right conveyance of the several
|
|
parts of the tabernacle, which would be best kept together, and
|
|
sheltered from the weather, in wagons. 1. The Gershonites, that had
|
|
the light carriage, the curtains and hangings, had but two wagons,
|
|
and two yoke of oxen (<scripRef passage="Nu 7:7" id="Num.viii-p7.1" parsed="|Num|7|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.7.7"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7</scripRef>); when they had loaded these, they must carry the
|
|
rest, if any remained, upon their shoulders. 2. The Merarites, that
|
|
had the heavy carriage, and that which was most unwieldy, the
|
|
boards, pillars, sockets, &c., had four wagons, and four yoke
|
|
of oxen allotted them (<scripRef passage="Nu 7:8" id="Num.viii-p7.2" parsed="|Num|7|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.7.8"><i>v.</i>
|
|
8</scripRef>); and yet, if they had not more wagons of their own,
|
|
they would be obliged to carry a great deal upon their backs too,
|
|
for the silver sockets alone weighed 100 talents, which was above
|
|
four tons, and that was enough to load four wagons that were drawn
|
|
but by one yoke of oxen a-piece. But each socket being a talent
|
|
weight, which is about a man's burden (as appears, <scripRef passage="2Ki 5:23" id="Num.viii-p7.3" parsed="|2Kgs|5|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.5.23">2 Kings v. 23</scripRef>) probably they carried
|
|
those on their backs, and put the boards and pillars into the
|
|
wagons. Observe here, How God wisely and graciously ordered the
|
|
most strength to those that had the most work. Each had wagons
|
|
<i>according to their service.</i> Whatever burden God in his
|
|
providence lays upon us, he will by his sufficient grace proportion
|
|
the strength to it, <scripRef passage="1Co 10:13" id="Num.viii-p7.4" parsed="|1Cor|10|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.10.13">1 Cor. x.
|
|
13</scripRef>. 3. The Kohathites, that had the most sacred
|
|
carriage, had no wagons at all, because they were to carry their
|
|
charge upon their shoulders (<scripRef passage="Nu 7:9" id="Num.viii-p7.5" parsed="|Num|7|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.7.9"><i>v.</i>
|
|
9</scripRef>), with a particular care and veneration. When in
|
|
David's time they carried the ark in a cart, God made them to know
|
|
to their terror, by the death of Uzza, that they did not <i>seek
|
|
him in the due order.</i> See <scripRef passage="1Ch 15:13" id="Num.viii-p7.6" parsed="|1Chr|15|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Chr.15.13">1
|
|
Chron. xv. 13</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 7" id="Num.viii-p7.7" parsed="|Num|7|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.7"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 7:10-89" id="Num.viii-p7.8" parsed="|Num|7|10|7|89" osisRef="Bible:Num.7.10-Num.7.89"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.7.10-Num.7.89">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.viii-p8">10 And the princes offered for dedicating of the
|
|
altar in the day that it was anointed, even the princes offered
|
|
their offering before the altar.   11 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.viii-p8.1">Lord</span> said unto Moses, They shall offer their
|
|
offering, each prince on his day, for the dedicating of the altar.
|
|
  12 And he that offered his offering the first day was
|
|
Nahshon the son of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah:   13 And
|
|
his offering <i>was</i> one silver charger, the weight thereof
|
|
<i>was</i> an hundred and thirty <i>shekels,</i> one silver bowl of
|
|
seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary; both of them
|
|
<i>were</i> full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meat
|
|
offering:   14 One spoon of ten <i>shekels</i> of gold, full
|
|
of incense:   15 One young bullock, one ram, one lamb of the
|
|
first year, for a burnt offering:   16 One kid of the goats
|
|
for a sin offering:   17 And for a sacrifice of peace
|
|
offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he goats, five lambs of the
|
|
first year: this <i>was</i> the offering of Nahshon the son of
|
|
Amminadab.   18 On the second day Nethaneel the son of Zuar,
|
|
prince of Issachar, did offer:   19 He offered <i>for</i> his
|
|
offering one silver charger, the weight whereof <i>was</i> an
|
|
hundred and thirty <i>shekels,</i> one silver bowl of seventy
|
|
shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary; both of them full of
|
|
fine flour mingled with oil for a meat offering:   20 One
|
|
spoon of gold of ten <i>shekels,</i> full of incense:   21 One
|
|
young bullock, one ram, one lamb of the first year, for a burnt
|
|
offering:   22 One kid of the goats for a sin offering:  
|
|
23 And for a sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams,
|
|
five he goats, five lambs of the first year: this <i>was</i> the
|
|
offering of Nethaneel the son of Zuar.   24 On the third day
|
|
Eliab the son of Helon, prince of the children of Zebulun, <i>did
|
|
offer:</i>   25 His offering <i>was</i> one silver charger,
|
|
the weight whereof <i>was</i> an hundred and thirty <i>shekels,</i>
|
|
one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the
|
|
sanctuary; both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a
|
|
meat offering:   26 One golden spoon of ten <i>shekels,</i>
|
|
full of incense:   27 One young bullock, one ram, one lamb of
|
|
the first year, for a burnt offering:   28 One kid of the
|
|
goats for a sin offering:   29 And for a sacrifice of peace
|
|
offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he goats, five lambs of the
|
|
first year: this <i>was</i> the offering of Eliab the son of Helon.
|
|
  30 On the fourth day Elizur the son of Shedeur, prince of
|
|
the children of Reuben, <i>did offer:</i>   31 His offering
|
|
<i>was</i> one silver charger of the weight of an hundred and
|
|
thirty <i>shekels,</i> one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after
|
|
the shekel of the sanctuary; both of them full of fine flour
|
|
mingled with oil for a meat offering:   32 One golden spoon of
|
|
ten <i>shekels,</i> full of incense:   33 One young bullock,
|
|
one ram, one lamb of the first year, for a burnt offering:  
|
|
34 One kid of the goats for a sin offering:   35 And for a
|
|
sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he goats,
|
|
five lambs of the first year: this <i>was</i> the offering of
|
|
Elizur the son of Shedeur.   36 On the fifth day Shelumiel the
|
|
son of Zurishaddai, prince of the children of Simeon, <i>did
|
|
offer:</i>   37 His offering <i>was</i> one silver charger,
|
|
the weight whereof <i>was</i> an hundred and thirty <i>shekels,</i>
|
|
one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the
|
|
sanctuary; both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a
|
|
meat offering:   38 One golden spoon of ten <i>shekels,</i>
|
|
full of incense:   39 One young bullock, one ram, one lamb of
|
|
the first year, for a burnt offering:   40 One kid of the
|
|
goats for a sin offering:   41 And for a sacrifice of peace
|
|
offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he goats, five lambs of the
|
|
first year: this <i>was</i> the offering of Shelumiel the son of
|
|
Zurishaddai.   42 On the sixth day Eliasaph the son of Deuel,
|
|
prince of the children of Gad, <i>offered:</i>   43 His
|
|
offering <i>was</i> one silver charger of the weight of an hundred
|
|
and thirty <i>shekels,</i> a silver bowl of seventy shekels, after
|
|
the shekel of the sanctuary; both of them full of fine flour
|
|
mingled with oil for a meat offering:   44 One golden spoon of
|
|
ten <i>shekels,</i> full of incense:   45 One young bullock,
|
|
one ram, one lamb of the first year, for a burnt offering:  
|
|
46 One kid of the goats for a sin offering:   47 And for a
|
|
sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he goats,
|
|
five lambs of the first year: this <i>was</i> the offering of
|
|
Eliasaph the son of Deuel.   48 On the seventh day Elishama
|
|
the son of Ammihud, prince of the children of Ephraim,
|
|
<i>offered:</i>   49 His offering <i>was</i> one silver
|
|
charger, the weight whereof <i>was</i> an hundred and thirty
|
|
<i>shekels,</i> one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the
|
|
shekel of the sanctuary; both of them full of fine flour mingled
|
|
with oil for a meat offering:   50 One golden spoon of ten
|
|
<i>shekels,</i> full of incense:   51 One young bullock, one
|
|
ram, one lamb of the first year, for a burnt offering:   52
|
|
One kid of the goats for a sin offering:   53 And for a
|
|
sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he goats,
|
|
five lambs of the first year: this <i>was</i> the offering of
|
|
Elishama the son of Ammihud.   54 On the eighth day
|
|
<i>offered</i> Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur, prince of the children
|
|
of Manasseh:   55 His offering <i>was</i> one silver charger
|
|
of the weight of an hundred and thirty <i>shekels,</i> one silver
|
|
bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary; both of
|
|
them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meat offering:
|
|
  56 One golden spoon of ten <i>shekels,</i> full of incense:
|
|
  57 One young bullock, one ram, one lamb of the first year,
|
|
for a burnt offering:   58 One kid of the goats for a sin
|
|
offering:   59 And for a sacrifice of peace offerings, two
|
|
oxen, five rams, five he goats, five lambs of the first year: this
|
|
<i>was</i> the offering of Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur.   60
|
|
On the ninth day Abidan the son of Gideoni, prince of the children
|
|
of Benjamin, <i>offered:</i>   61 His offering <i>was</i> one
|
|
silver charger, the weight whereof <i>was</i> an hundred and thirty
|
|
<i>shekels,</i> one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the
|
|
shekel of the sanctuary; both of them full of fine flour mingled
|
|
with oil for a meat offering:   62 One golden spoon of ten
|
|
<i>shekels,</i> full of incense:   63 One young bullock, one
|
|
ram, one lamb of the first year, for a burnt offering:   64
|
|
One kid of the goats for a sin offering:   65 And for a
|
|
sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he goats,
|
|
five lambs of the first year: this <i>was</i> the offering of
|
|
Abidan the son of Gideoni.   66 On the tenth day Ahiezer the
|
|
son of Ammishaddai, prince of the children of Dan, <i>offered:</i>
|
|
  67 His offering <i>was</i> one silver charger, the weight
|
|
whereof <i>was</i> an hundred and thirty <i>shekels,</i> one silver
|
|
bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary; both of
|
|
them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meat offering:
|
|
  68 One golden spoon of ten <i>shekels,</i> full of incense:
|
|
  69 One young bullock, one ram, one lamb of the first year,
|
|
for a burnt offering:   70 One kid of the goats for a sin
|
|
offering:   71 And for a sacrifice of peace offerings, two
|
|
oxen, five rams, five he goats, five lambs of the first year: this
|
|
<i>was</i> the offering of Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai.  
|
|
72 On the eleventh day Pagiel the son of Ocran, prince of the
|
|
children of Asher, <i>offered:</i>   73 His offering
|
|
<i>was</i> one silver charger, the weight whereof <i>was</i> an
|
|
hundred and thirty <i>shekels,</i> one silver bowl of seventy
|
|
shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary; both of them full of
|
|
fine flour mingled with oil for a meat offering:   74 One
|
|
golden spoon of ten <i>shekels,</i> full of incense:   75 One
|
|
young bullock, one ram, one lamb of the first year, for a burnt
|
|
offering:   76 One kid of the goats for a sin offering:  
|
|
77 And for a sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams,
|
|
five he goats, five lambs of the first year: this <i>was</i> the
|
|
offering of Pagiel the son of Ocran.   78 On the twelfth day
|
|
Ahira the son of Enan, prince of the children of Naphtali,
|
|
<i>offered:</i>   79 His offering <i>was</i> one silver
|
|
charger, the weight whereof <i>was</i> an hundred and thirty
|
|
<i>shekels,</i> one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the
|
|
shekel of the sanctuary; both of them full of fine flour mingled
|
|
with oil for a meat offering:   80 One golden spoon of ten
|
|
<i>shekels,</i> full of incense:   81 One young bullock, one
|
|
ram, one lamb of the first year, for a burnt offering:   82
|
|
One kid of the goats for a sin offering:   83 And for a
|
|
sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he goats,
|
|
five lambs of the first year: this <i>was</i> the offering of Ahira
|
|
the son of Enan.   84 This <i>was</i> the dedication of the
|
|
altar, in the day when it was anointed, by the princes of Israel:
|
|
twelve chargers of silver, twelve silver bowls, twelve spoons of
|
|
gold:   85 Each charger of silver <i>weighing</i> an hundred
|
|
and thirty <i>shekels,</i> each bowl seventy: all the silver
|
|
vessels <i>weighed</i> two thousand and four hundred
|
|
<i>shekels,</i> after the shekel of the sanctuary:   86 The
|
|
golden spoons <i>were</i> twelve, full of incense, <i>weighing</i>
|
|
ten <i>shekels</i> apiece, after the shekel of the sanctuary: all
|
|
the gold of the spoons <i>was</i> an hundred and twenty
|
|
<i>shekels.</i>   87 All the oxen for the burnt offering
|
|
<i>were</i> twelve bullocks, the rams twelve, the lambs of the
|
|
first year twelve, with their meat offering: and the kids of the
|
|
goats for sin offering twelve.   88 And all the oxen for the
|
|
sacrifice of the peace offerings <i>were</i> twenty and four
|
|
bullocks, the rams sixty, the he goats sixty, the lambs of the
|
|
first year sixty. This <i>was</i> the dedication of the altar,
|
|
after that it was anointed.   89 And when Moses was gone into
|
|
the tabernacle of the congregation to speak with him, then he heard
|
|
the voice of one speaking unto him from off the mercy seat that
|
|
<i>was</i> upon the ark of testimony, from between the two
|
|
cherubims: and he spake unto him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.viii-p9">We have here an account of the great
|
|
solemnity of dedicating the altars, both that of burnt-offerings
|
|
and that of incense; they had been sanctified before, when they
|
|
were anointed (<scripRef passage="Le 8:10,11" id="Num.viii-p9.1" parsed="|Lev|8|10|8|11" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8.10-Lev.8.11">Lev. viii. 10,
|
|
11</scripRef>), but now they were handselled, as it were, by the
|
|
princes, with their free-will offerings. They began the use of them
|
|
with rich presents, great expressions of joy and gladness, and
|
|
extraordinary respect to those tokens of God's presence with them.
|
|
Now observe here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.viii-p10">I. That the princes and great men were
|
|
first and forwardest in the service of God. Those that are entitled
|
|
to precedency should go before in good works, and that is true
|
|
honour. Here is an example to the nobility and gentry, those that
|
|
are in authority and of the first rank in their country; they ought
|
|
to improve their honour and power, their estate and interest, for
|
|
the promoting of religion, and the service of God, in the places
|
|
where they live. It is justly expected that those who have more
|
|
than others should do more good than others with what they have,
|
|
else they are unfaithful stewards, and will not make up their
|
|
<i>account with joy.</i> Nay, great men must not only with their
|
|
wealth and power assist and protect those that serve God, but they
|
|
must make conscience of being devout and religious themselves, and
|
|
employing themselves in the exercises of piety, which will greatly
|
|
redound to the honour of God (<scripRef passage="Ps 138:4,5" id="Num.viii-p10.1" parsed="|Ps|138|4|138|5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.138.4-Ps.138.5">Ps.
|
|
cxxxviii. 4, 5</scripRef>), and have a good influence upon others,
|
|
who will be the more easily persuaded to acts of devotion when they
|
|
see them thus brought into reputation. It is certain that the
|
|
greatest of men is less than the least of the ordinances of God;
|
|
nor are the meanest services of religion any disparagement to those
|
|
that make the greatest figure in the world.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.viii-p11">II. The offerings they brought were very
|
|
rich and valuable, so rich that some think there was not so great a
|
|
difference in estate between them and others as that they were able
|
|
to bear the expense of them themselves, but that the heads of each
|
|
tribe contributed to the offering which their prince brought.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.viii-p12">1. They brought some things to remain for
|
|
standing service, twelve large silver dishes, each about sixty
|
|
ounces weight, as many large silver cups, or bowls, of about
|
|
thirty-five ounces—the former to be used for the meat-offerings,
|
|
the latter for the drink-offerings—the former for the flesh of the
|
|
sacrifices, the latter for the blood. The latter was God's table
|
|
(as it were), and it was fit that so great a King should be served
|
|
in plate. The golden spoons being filled with incense were
|
|
intended, it is probable, for the service of the golden altar, for
|
|
both the altars were anointed at the same time. Note, In works of
|
|
piety and charity we ought to be generous according as our ability
|
|
is. He that is the best should be served with the best we have. The
|
|
Israelites indeed might well afford to part with their gold and
|
|
silver in abundance to the service of the sanctuary, for they
|
|
needed it not to buy meat and victual their camp, being daily fed
|
|
with bread from heaven; nor did they need it to buy land, or pay
|
|
their army, for they were shortly to be put in possession of
|
|
Canaan.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.viii-p13">2. They brought some things to be used
|
|
immediately, offerings of each sort, burnt-offerings,
|
|
sin-offerings, and a great many peace-offerings (on part of which
|
|
they were to feast with their friends), and the meat-offerings that
|
|
were to be annexed to them. Hereby they signified their thankful
|
|
acceptance of, and cheerful submission to, all those laws
|
|
concerning the sacrifices which God had lately by Moses delivered
|
|
to them. And, though it was a time of joy and rejoicing, yet it is
|
|
observable that still in the midst of their sacrifices we find a
|
|
<i>sin-offering.</i> Since in our best services we are conscious to
|
|
ourselves that there is a mixture of sin, it is fit that there
|
|
should be even in our most joyful services a mixture of repentance.
|
|
In all our approaches to God, we must by faith have an eye to
|
|
Christ as the great sin-offering, and make mention of him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.viii-p14">3. They brought their offerings each on a
|
|
separate day, in the order that they had been lately put into, so
|
|
that the solemnity lasted twelve days. So God appointed (<scripRef passage="Nu 7:11" id="Num.viii-p14.1" parsed="|Num|7|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.7.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>): <i>They shall bring
|
|
their offering, each prince on his day,</i> and so they did. One
|
|
sabbath must needs fall within the twelve days, if not two, but it
|
|
should seem they did not intermit on the sabbath, for it was holy
|
|
work, proper enough for a holy day. God appointed that it should
|
|
thus be done on several days, (1.) That solemnity might be
|
|
prolonged, and so might be universally taken notice of by all
|
|
Israel, and the remembrance of it more effectually preserved. (2.)
|
|
That an equal honour might thereby be put upon each tribe
|
|
respectively; in Aaron's breast-plate each had his precious stone,
|
|
so in this offering each had his day. (3.) Thus it would be done
|
|
more decently and in order; God's work should not be done
|
|
confusedly, and in a hurry; take time, and we shall have done the
|
|
sooner, or at least we shall have done the better. (4.) God hereby
|
|
signified how much pleased he is, and how much pleased we should
|
|
be, with the exercises of piety and devotion. The repetition of
|
|
them should be a continual pleasure to us, and we must not be weary
|
|
of well doing. If extraordinary service be required to be done for
|
|
twelve days together, we must not shrink from it, nor call it a
|
|
task and a burden. (5.) The priests and Levites, having this
|
|
occasion to offer the same sacrifices, and those some of every
|
|
sort, every day, for so many days together, would have their hands
|
|
well set in, and would be well versed in the laws concerning them.
|
|
(6.) The peace-offerings were all to be eaten the same day they
|
|
were offered, and two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five
|
|
lambs, were enough for one day's festival; had there been more,
|
|
especially if all had been brought on one day, there might have
|
|
been danger of excess. The virtue of temperance must not be left,
|
|
under pretence of the religion of feasting.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.viii-p15">4. All their offerings were exactly the
|
|
same, without any variation, though it is probable that neither the
|
|
princes nor the tribes were all alike rich; but thus it was
|
|
intimated that all the tribes of Israel had an equal share in the
|
|
altar, and an equal interest in the sacrifices that were offered
|
|
upon it. Though one tribe was posted more honourably in the camp
|
|
than another, yet they and their services were all alike acceptable
|
|
to God. Nor must we have faith of our Lord Jesus Christ <i>with
|
|
respect to persons,</i> <scripRef passage="Jam 2:1" id="Num.viii-p15.1" parsed="|Jas|2|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jas.2.1">Jam. ii.
|
|
1</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.viii-p16">5. Nahshon, the prince of the tribe of
|
|
Judah, offered first, because God had given that tribe the first
|
|
post of honour in the camp; and the rest of the tribes acquiesced,
|
|
and offered in the same order in which God had appointed them to
|
|
encamp. Judah, of which tribe Christ came, first, and then the
|
|
rest; thus, in the dedication of souls to God, every man is
|
|
presented in his own order, <i>Christ the first-fruits,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Co 15:23" id="Num.viii-p16.1" parsed="|1Cor|15|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.15.23">1 Cor. xv. 23</scripRef>. Some
|
|
observe that Nahshon is the only one that is not expressly called a
|
|
prince (<scripRef passage="Nu 7:12" id="Num.viii-p16.2" parsed="|Num|7|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.7.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), which
|
|
the Jews give this account of: he is not called a prince, that he
|
|
might not be puffed up because he offered first; and all the others
|
|
are called princes because they (though some of them of the elder
|
|
house) submitted, and offered after him. Or, because the title of
|
|
prince of Judah did more properly belong to Christ, for <i>unto him
|
|
shall the gathering of the people be.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.viii-p17">6. Though the offerings were all the same,
|
|
yet the account of them is repeated at large for each tribe, in the
|
|
same words. We are sure there are no vain repetitions in scripture;
|
|
what then shall we make of these repetitions? Might it not have
|
|
served to say of this noble jury that the same offering which their
|
|
foreman brought each on his day brought likewise? No, God would
|
|
have it specified for each tribe: and why so? (1.) It was for the
|
|
encouragement of these princes, and of their respective tribes,
|
|
that each of their offerings being recorded at large no slight
|
|
might seem to be put upon them; for rich and poor meet together
|
|
before God. (2.) It was for the encouragement of all generous acts
|
|
of piety and charity, by letting us know that what is so given is
|
|
lent to the Lord, and he carefully records it, with every one's
|
|
name prefixed to his gift, because what is so given he will pay
|
|
again, and even a <i>cup of cold water</i> shall have its
|
|
<i>reward.</i> He is not unrighteous, to forget either the cost or
|
|
the <i>labour of love,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 6:10" id="Num.viii-p17.1" parsed="|Heb|6|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.6.10">Heb. vi.
|
|
10</scripRef>. We find Christ taking particular notice of what was
|
|
cast into the treasury, <scripRef passage="Mk 12:41" id="Num.viii-p17.2" parsed="|Mark|12|41|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mark.12.41">Mark xii.
|
|
41</scripRef>. Though what is offered be but little, though it be a
|
|
contribution to the charity of others, yet if it be according to
|
|
our ability it shall be recorded, that it may be recompensed in the
|
|
resurrection of the just.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.viii-p18">7. The sum total is added at the foot of
|
|
the account (<scripRef passage="Nu 7:84-88" id="Num.viii-p18.1" parsed="|Num|7|84|7|88" osisRef="Bible:Num.7.84-Num.7.88"><i>v.</i>
|
|
84-88</scripRef>), to show how much God was pleased with the
|
|
mention of his freewill-offerings, and what a great deal they
|
|
amounted to in the whole, when every prince brought in his quota!
|
|
How greatly would the sanctuary of God be enriched and beautified
|
|
if all would in their places do their part towards it, by exemplary
|
|
purity and devotion, extensive charity, and universal
|
|
usefulness!</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.viii-p19">8. God signified his gracious acceptance of
|
|
these presents that were brought him, by speaking familiarly to
|
|
Moses, as a man speaks to his friend, from off the mercy-seat
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 7:89,12:8" id="Num.viii-p19.1" parsed="|Num|7|89|0|0;|Num|12|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.7.89 Bible:Num.12.8"><i>v.</i> 89, <i>ch.</i> xii.
|
|
8</scripRef>); and in speaking to him he did in effect speak to all
|
|
Israel, showing them this token for good, <scripRef passage="Ps 103:7" id="Num.viii-p19.2" parsed="|Ps|103|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.103.7">Ps. ciii. 7</scripRef>. Note, By this we may know that
|
|
God hears and accepts our prayers if he gives us grace to hear and
|
|
receive his word, for thus our communion with him is maintained and
|
|
kept up. I know not why we may not suppose that upon each of the
|
|
days on which these offerings were brought (probably while the
|
|
priests and offerers were feasting upon the peace-offerings) Moses
|
|
was in the tabernacle, receiving some of those laws and orders
|
|
which we have already met with in this and the foregoing book. And
|
|
here the excellent bishop Patrick observes that God's speaking to
|
|
Moses thus by an audible articulate voice, as if he had been
|
|
clothed with a holy body, might be looked upon as an earnest of the
|
|
incarnation of the Son of God in the fulness of time, when the Word
|
|
should be made flesh, and speak in the language of the sons of men.
|
|
For, however God <i>at sundry times and in divers manners spoke
|
|
unto the fathers, he has in these last days spoken unto us by his
|
|
Son.</i> And that he who now spoke to Moses, as the
|
|
<i>shechinah</i> or divine Majesty, from between the cherubim, was
|
|
the eternal Word, the second person in the Trinity, was the pious
|
|
conjecture of many of the ancients; for all God's communion with
|
|
man is by his Son, by whom he made the world, and rules the church,
|
|
and who <i>is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter VIII" n="ix" progress="67.10%" prev="Num.viii" next="Num.x" id="Num.ix">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.ix-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.ix-p0.2">CHAP. VIII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.ix-p1">This chapter is concerning the lamps or lights of
|
|
the sanctuary. I. The burning lamps in the candlestick, which the
|
|
priests were charged to tend, <scripRef passage="Nu 8:1-4" id="Num.ix-p1.1" parsed="|Num|8|1|8|4" osisRef="Bible:Num.8.1-Num.8.4">ver.
|
|
1-4</scripRef>. II. The living lamps (if I may so call them), The
|
|
Levites, who as ministers were burning and shining lights. The
|
|
ordination of the priests we had an account of, <scripRef passage="Le 8:1-36" id="Num.ix-p1.2" parsed="|Lev|8|1|8|36" osisRef="Bible:Lev.8.1-Lev.8.36">Lev. viii</scripRef>. Here we have an account of the
|
|
ordination of the Levites, the inferior clergy. 1. How they were
|
|
purified, <scripRef passage="Nu 8:5-8" id="Num.ix-p1.3" parsed="|Num|8|5|8|8" osisRef="Bible:Num.8.5-Num.8.8">ver. 5-8</scripRef>. 2. How
|
|
they were parted with by the people, <scripRef passage="Nu 8:9-10" id="Num.ix-p1.4" parsed="|Num|8|9|8|10" osisRef="Bible:Num.8.9-Num.8.10">ver. 9, 10</scripRef>. 3. How they were presented to
|
|
God in lieu of the firstborn, <scripRef passage="Nu 8:11-18" id="Num.ix-p1.5" parsed="|Num|8|11|8|18" osisRef="Bible:Num.8.11-Num.8.18">ver.
|
|
11-18</scripRef>. 4. How they were consigned to Aaron and his sons,
|
|
to be ministers to them, <scripRef passage="Nu 8:19" id="Num.ix-p1.6" parsed="|Num|8|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.8.19">ver.
|
|
19</scripRef>. 5. How all these orders were duly executed,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 8:20-22" id="Num.ix-p1.7" parsed="|Num|8|20|8|22" osisRef="Bible:Num.8.20-Num.8.22">ver. 20-22</scripRef>. And, lastly,
|
|
the age appointed for their ministration, <scripRef passage="Nu 8:23-26" id="Num.ix-p1.8" parsed="|Num|8|23|8|26" osisRef="Bible:Num.8.23-Num.8.26">ver. 23</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 8" id="Num.ix-p1.9" parsed="|Num|8|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.8"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 8:1-4" id="Num.ix-p1.10" parsed="|Num|8|1|8|4" osisRef="Bible:Num.8.1-Num.8.4"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.8.1-Num.8.4">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.ix-p1.11">The Lights of the Sanctuary. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.ix-p1.12">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.ix-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.ix-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   2 Speak unto Aaron, and say unto
|
|
him, When thou lightest the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light
|
|
over against the candlestick.   3 And Aaron did so; he lighted
|
|
the lamps thereof over against the candlestick, as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.ix-p2.2">Lord</span> commanded Moses.   4 And this work of
|
|
the candlestick <i>was of</i> beaten gold, unto the shaft thereof,
|
|
unto the flowers thereof, <i>was</i> beaten work: according unto
|
|
the pattern which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.ix-p2.3">Lord</span> had
|
|
showed Moses, so he made the candlestick.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.ix-p3">Directions were given long before this for
|
|
the making of the golden candlestick (<scripRef passage="Ex 25:31" id="Num.ix-p3.1" parsed="|Exod|25|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.25.31">Exod. xxv. 31</scripRef>), and it was made according to
|
|
the pattern shown to Moses in the mount, <scripRef passage="Ex 38:17" id="Num.ix-p3.2" parsed="|Exod|38|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.38.17">Exod. xxxviii. 17</scripRef>. But now it was that the
|
|
lamps were first ordered to be lighted, when other things began to
|
|
be used. Observe, 1. Who must light the lamps; Aaron himself, he
|
|
<i>lighted the lamps,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 8:3" id="Num.ix-p3.3" parsed="|Num|8|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.8.3"><i>v.</i>
|
|
3</scripRef>. As the people's representative to God, he thus did
|
|
the office of a servant in God's house, lighting his Master's
|
|
candle; as the representative of God to the people, he thus gave
|
|
them the intimations of God's will and favour, thus expressed
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ps 18:28" id="Num.ix-p3.4" parsed="|Ps|18|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.18.28">Ps. xviii. 28</scripRef>), <i>Thou
|
|
wilt light my candle;</i> and thus Aaron himself was now lately
|
|
directed to bless the people, <i>The Lord make his face to shine
|
|
upon thee,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 6:25" id="Num.ix-p3.5" parsed="|Num|6|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.25"><i>ch.</i> vi.
|
|
25</scripRef>. The commandment is a <i>lamp,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 6:23" id="Num.ix-p3.6" parsed="|Prov|6|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.6.23">Prov. vi. 23</scripRef>. The scripture is <i>a light
|
|
shining in a dark place,</i> <scripRef passage="2Pe 1:19" id="Num.ix-p3.7" parsed="|2Pet|1|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.1.19">2 Pet. i.
|
|
19</scripRef>. And a dark place indeed even the church would be
|
|
without it, as the tabernacle (which had no window in it) without
|
|
the lamps. Now the work of ministers is to light these lamps, by
|
|
expounding and applying the word of God. The priest lighted the
|
|
middle lamp from the fire of the altar, and the rest of the lamps
|
|
he lighted one from another, which (says Mr. Ainsworth) signifies
|
|
that the fountain of all light and knowledge is in Christ, who has
|
|
the <i>seven spirits of God</i> figured by the <i>seven lamps of
|
|
fire</i> (<scripRef passage="Re 4:5" id="Num.ix-p3.8" parsed="|Rev|4|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.4.5">Rev. iv. 5</scripRef>), but
|
|
that in the expounding of scripture one passage must borrow light
|
|
from another. He also supposes that, <i>seven</i> being a number of
|
|
perfection, by the seven branches of the candlestick is shown the
|
|
full perfection of the scriptures, which are able to make us wise
|
|
to salvation. 2. To what end the lamps were lighted, that they
|
|
might give light <i>over against the candlestick,</i> that is, to
|
|
that part of the tabernacle where the table stood, with the
|
|
show-bread upon it, over against the candlestick. They were not
|
|
lighted like tapers in an urn, to burn to themselves, but to give
|
|
light to the other side of the tabernacle, for therefore candles
|
|
are lighted, <scripRef passage="Mt 5:15" id="Num.ix-p3.9" parsed="|Matt|5|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.5.15">Matt. v. 15</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, The lights of the world, the lights of the church, must shine
|
|
as lights. Therefore we have light, that we may give light.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 8:5-26" id="Num.ix-p3.10" parsed="|Num|8|5|8|26" osisRef="Bible:Num.8.5-Num.8.26"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.8.5-Num.8.26">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.ix-p3.11">The Consecration of the
|
|
Levites. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.ix-p3.12">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.ix-p4">5 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.ix-p4.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   6 Take the Levites from among the
|
|
children of Israel, and cleanse them.   7 And thus shalt thou
|
|
do unto them, to cleanse them: Sprinkle water of purifying upon
|
|
them, and let them shave all their flesh, and let them wash their
|
|
clothes, and <i>so</i> make themselves clean.   8 Then let
|
|
them take a young bullock with his meat offering, <i>even</i> fine
|
|
flour mingled with oil, and another young bullock shalt thou take
|
|
for a sin offering.   9 And thou shalt bring the Levites
|
|
before the tabernacle of the congregation: and thou shalt gather
|
|
the whole assembly of the children of Israel together:   10
|
|
And thou shalt bring the Levites before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.ix-p4.2">Lord</span>: and the children of Israel shall put their
|
|
hands upon the Levites:   11 And Aaron shall offer the Levites
|
|
before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.ix-p4.3">Lord</span> <i>for</i> an
|
|
offering of the children of Israel, that they may execute the
|
|
service of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.ix-p4.4">Lord</span>.   12 And
|
|
the Levites shall lay their hands upon the heads of the bullocks:
|
|
and thou shalt offer the one <i>for</i> a sin offering, and the
|
|
other <i>for</i> a burnt offering, unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.ix-p4.5">Lord</span>, to make an atonement for the Levites.
|
|
  13 And thou shalt set the Levites before Aaron, and before
|
|
his sons, and offer them <i>for</i> an offering unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.ix-p4.6">Lord</span>.   14 Thus shalt thou separate
|
|
the Levites from among the children of Israel: and the Levites
|
|
shall be mine.   15 And after that shall the Levites go in to
|
|
do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation: and thou
|
|
shalt cleanse them, and offer them <i>for</i> an offering.  
|
|
16 For they <i>are</i> wholly given unto me from among the children
|
|
of Israel; instead of such as open every womb, <i>even instead
|
|
of</i> the firstborn of all the children of Israel, have I taken
|
|
them unto me.   17 For all the firstborn of the children of
|
|
Israel <i>are</i> mine, <i>both</i> man and beast: on the day that
|
|
I smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for
|
|
myself.   18 And I have taken the Levites for all the
|
|
firstborn of the children of Israel.   19 And I have given the
|
|
Levites <i>as</i> a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the
|
|
children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in
|
|
the tabernacle of the congregation, and to make an atonement for
|
|
the children of Israel: that there be no plague among the children
|
|
of Israel, when the children of Israel come nigh unto the
|
|
sanctuary.   20 And Moses, and Aaron, and all the congregation
|
|
of the children of Israel, did to the Levites according unto all
|
|
that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.ix-p4.7">Lord</span> commanded Moses
|
|
concerning the Levites, so did the children of Israel unto them.
|
|
  21 And the Levites were purified, and they washed their
|
|
clothes; and Aaron offered them <i>as</i> an offering before the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.ix-p4.8">Lord</span>; and Aaron made an atonement
|
|
for them to cleanse them.   22 And after that went the Levites
|
|
in to do their service in the tabernacle of the congregation before
|
|
Aaron, and before his sons: as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.ix-p4.9">Lord</span> had commanded Moses concerning the Levites,
|
|
so did they unto them.   23 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.ix-p4.10">Lord</span> spake unto Moses, saying,   24 This
|
|
<i>is it</i> that <i>belongeth</i> unto the Levites: from twenty
|
|
and five years old and upward they shall go in to wait upon the
|
|
service of the tabernacle of the congregation:   25 And from
|
|
the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting upon the service
|
|
<i>thereof,</i> and shall serve no more:   26 But shall
|
|
minister with their brethren in the tabernacle of the congregation,
|
|
to keep the charge, and shall do no service. Thus shalt thou do
|
|
unto the Levites touching their charge.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.ix-p5">We read before of the separating of the
|
|
Levites from among the children of Israel when they were numbered,
|
|
and the numbering of them by themselves (<scripRef passage="Nu 3:6,15" id="Num.ix-p5.1" parsed="|Num|3|6|0|0;|Num|3|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.6 Bible:Num.3.15"><i>ch.</i> iii. 6, 15</scripRef>), that they might be
|
|
employed in the service of the tabernacle. Now here we have
|
|
directions given for their solemn ordination (<scripRef passage="Nu 8:6" id="Num.ix-p5.2" parsed="|Num|8|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.8.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), and the performance of it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 8:20" id="Num.ix-p5.3" parsed="|Num|8|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.8.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. All Israel
|
|
must know that they took not this honour to themselves, but were
|
|
called of God to it; nor was it enough that they were distinguished
|
|
from their neighbours, but they must be solemnly devoted to God.
|
|
Note, All that are employed for God must be dedicated to him,
|
|
according as the degree of employment is. Christian musts be
|
|
baptized, ministers must be ordained; we must first give ourselves
|
|
unto the Lord, and then our services. Observe in what method this
|
|
was done:</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.ix-p6">I. The Levites must be cleansed, and were
|
|
so. The rites and ceremonies of their cleansing were to be
|
|
performed, 1. By themselves. They must <i>wash their clothes,</i>
|
|
and not only bathe, but <i>shave all their flesh,</i> as the leper
|
|
was to do when he was cleansed, <scripRef passage="Le 14:8" id="Num.ix-p6.1" parsed="|Lev|14|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.14.8">Lev.
|
|
xiv. 8</scripRef>. They must <i>cause a razor to pass over all
|
|
their flesh,</i> to clear themselves from that defilement which
|
|
would not wash off. Jacob, whom God loved, was a smooth man; it was
|
|
Esau that was hairy. The great pains they were to take with
|
|
themselves to make themselves clean teaches all Christians, and
|
|
ministers particularly, by repentance and mortification, to
|
|
<i>cleanse themselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit,</i>
|
|
that they may <i>perfect holiness.</i> Those must be clean that
|
|
bear the vessels of the Lord. 2. By Moses. He must <i>sprinkle the
|
|
water of purifying upon them,</i> which was prepared by divine
|
|
direction. This signified the application of the blood of Christ to
|
|
our souls by faith, to purify us from an evil conscience, that we
|
|
may be fit to serve the living God. It is our duty to cleanse
|
|
ourselves, and God's promise that he will cleanse us.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.ix-p7">II. The Levites, being thus prepared, must
|
|
be brought before the Lord in a solemn assembly of all Israel, and
|
|
the <i>children of Israel</i> must <i>put their hands upon them</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 8:10" id="Num.ix-p7.1" parsed="|Num|8|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.8.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>), so
|
|
transferring their interest in them and in their service (to which,
|
|
as a part, the whole body of the people was entitled) to God and to
|
|
his sanctuary. They presented them to God <i>as living sacrifices,
|
|
holy and acceptable,</i> to perform a <i>reasonable service;</i>
|
|
and therefore, as the offerers in all other cases did, <i>they laid
|
|
their hands upon them,</i> desiring that their service might be
|
|
accepted in lieu of the attendance of the whole congregation,
|
|
particularly the first-born, which they acknowledge God might have
|
|
insisted on. This will not serve to prove a power in the people to
|
|
ordain ministers; for this imposition of hands by the children of
|
|
Israel upon the Levites did not make them ministers of the
|
|
sanctuary, but only signified the people's parting with that tribe
|
|
out of their militia, and civil incorporations, in order to their
|
|
being made ministers by Aaron, who was to offer them before the
|
|
Lord. All the congregation of the children of Israel could not lay
|
|
hands on them, but it is probable that the rulers and elders did it
|
|
as the representative body of the people. Some think that the
|
|
first-born did it because in their stead the Levites were
|
|
consecrated to God. Whatever God calls for from us to serve his own
|
|
glory by, we must cheerfully resign it, lay our hands upon it, not
|
|
to detain it but to surrender it, and let it go to him that is
|
|
entitled to it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.ix-p8">III. Sacrifices were to be offered for
|
|
them, a sin-offering first (<scripRef passage="Nu 8:12" id="Num.ix-p8.1" parsed="|Num|8|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.8.12"><i>v.</i>
|
|
12</scripRef>), and then a burnt-offering, to make an <i>atonement
|
|
for the Levites,</i> who, as the parties concerned, were to lay
|
|
their hands upon the head of the sacrifices. See here, 1. That we
|
|
are all utterly unworthy and unfit to be admitted into and employed
|
|
in the service of God, till atonement be made for sin, and thereby
|
|
our peace made with God. That interposing cloud must be scattered
|
|
before there can be any comfortable communion settled between God
|
|
and our souls. 2. That it is by sacrifice, by Christ the great
|
|
sacrifice, that we are reconciled to God, and made fit to be
|
|
offered to him. It is by him that Christians are sanctified to the
|
|
work of their Christianity, and ministers to the work of their
|
|
ministry. The learned bishop Patrick's notion of the sacrifice
|
|
offered by the Levites is that the Levites were themselves
|
|
considered as an expiatory sacrifice, for they were given to
|
|
<i>make atonement for the children of Israel,</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 8:19" id="Num.ix-p8.2" parsed="|Num|8|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.8.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>), and yet not being
|
|
devoted to death, any more than the first-born were, these two
|
|
sacrifices were substituted in their stead, upon which therefore
|
|
they were to lay their hands, that the sin which the children of
|
|
Israel laid upon them (<scripRef passage="Nu 8:10" id="Num.ix-p8.3" parsed="|Num|8|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.8.10"><i>v.</i>
|
|
10</scripRef>) might be transferred to these beasts.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.ix-p9">IV. The Levites themselves were <i>offered
|
|
before the Lord</i> for an <i>offering of the children of
|
|
Israel,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 8:11" id="Num.ix-p9.1" parsed="|Num|8|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.8.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>.
|
|
Aaron gave them up to God, as being first given up by themselves,
|
|
and by the children of Israel. The original word signifies a
|
|
<i>wave-offering,</i> not that they were actually waved, but they
|
|
were presented to God as the God of heaven, and the Lord of the
|
|
whole earth, as the wave-offerings were. And in calling them
|
|
wave-offerings it was intimated to them that they must continually
|
|
lift up themselves towards God in his service, lift up their eyes,
|
|
lift up their hearts, and must move to and fro with readiness in
|
|
the business of their profession. They were not ordained to be
|
|
idle, but to be active and stirring.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.ix-p10">V. God here declares his acceptance of
|
|
them: <i>The Levites shall be mine,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 8:14" id="Num.ix-p10.1" parsed="|Num|8|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.8.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. God took them instead of the
|
|
first-born (<scripRef passage="Nu 8:16-18" id="Num.ix-p10.2" parsed="|Num|8|16|8|18" osisRef="Bible:Num.8.16-Num.8.18"><i>v.</i>
|
|
16-18</scripRef>), of which before, <scripRef passage="Nu 3:4" id="Num.ix-p10.3" parsed="|Num|3|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.4"><i>ch.</i> iii. 41</scripRef>. Note, What is in sincerity
|
|
offered to God shall be graciously owned and accepted by him. And
|
|
his ministers who have obtained mercy of him to be faithful have
|
|
particular marks of favour and honour put upon them: <i>they shall
|
|
be mine,</i> and then (<scripRef passage="Nu 8:15" id="Num.ix-p10.4" parsed="|Num|8|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.8.15"><i>v.</i>
|
|
15</scripRef>) they shall <i>go in to do the service of the
|
|
tabernacle.</i> God takes them for his own, that they may serve
|
|
him. All that expect to share in the privileges of the tabernacle
|
|
must resolve to do the service of the tabernacle. As, on the one
|
|
hand, none of God's creatures are his necessary servants (he needs
|
|
not the service of any of them), so, on the other hand, none are
|
|
taken merely as honorary servants, to do nothing. All whom God owns
|
|
he employs; angels themselves have their services.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.ix-p11">VI. They are then given as a gift to Aaron
|
|
and his sons (<scripRef passage="Nu 8:19" id="Num.ix-p11.1" parsed="|Num|8|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.8.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>),
|
|
yet so as that the benefit accrued to the children of Israel. 1.
|
|
The Levites must act under the priests as attendants on them, and
|
|
assistants to them, in the service of the sanctuary. Aaron offers
|
|
them to God (<scripRef passage="Nu 8:11" id="Num.ix-p11.2" parsed="|Num|8|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.8.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>),
|
|
and then God gives them back to Aaron, <scripRef passage="Nu 8:19" id="Num.ix-p11.3" parsed="|Num|8|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.8.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. Note, Whatever we give up to
|
|
God, he will give back to us unspeakably to our advantage. Our
|
|
hearts, our children, our estates, are never more ours, more truly,
|
|
more comfortably ours, than when we have offered them up to God. 2.
|
|
They must act for the people. They were taken to <i>do the service
|
|
of the children of Israel,</i> that is, not only to do the service
|
|
which they should do, but to serve their interests, and do that
|
|
which would really redound to the honour, safety, and prosperity of
|
|
the whole nation. Note, Those that faithfully perform the service
|
|
of God do one of the best services that can be done to the public;
|
|
God's ministers, while they keep within the sphere of their office
|
|
and conscientiously discharge the duty of it, must be looked upon
|
|
as some of the most useful servants of their country. The children
|
|
of Israel can as ill spare the tribe of Levi as any of their
|
|
tribes. But what is the service they do the children of Israel? It
|
|
follows, it is to <i>make an atonement for them, that there be no
|
|
plague among them.</i> It was the priests' work to make atonement
|
|
by sacrifice, but the Levites made atonement by attendance, and
|
|
preserved the peace with heaven which was made by sacrifice. If the
|
|
service of the priests in the tabernacle had been left to all the
|
|
first-born of Israel promiscuously, it would have been either
|
|
neglected or done unskillfully and irreverently, being done by
|
|
those that were not so closely tied to it, nor so diligently
|
|
trained to it, nor so constantly used to it, as the Levites were;
|
|
and this would bring <i>a plague among the children of
|
|
Israel</i>—meaning, perhaps, the death of the first-born
|
|
themselves, which was the last and greatest of the plagues of
|
|
Egypt. To prevent this, and to preserve the atonement, the Levites
|
|
were appointed to do this service, who should be bred up to it
|
|
under their parents from their infancy, and therefore would be well
|
|
versed in it; and so the children of Israel, that is, the
|
|
first-born, should not need to come nigh to the sanctuary; or, when
|
|
any Israelites had occasion, the Levites would be ready to instruct
|
|
them, and introduce them, and so prevent any fatal miscarriage or
|
|
mistake. Note, It is a very great kindness to the church that
|
|
ministers are appointed to go before the people in the things of
|
|
God, as guides, overseers, and rulers, in religious worship, and to
|
|
make that their business. When Christ ascended on high, he <i>gave
|
|
these gifts,</i> <scripRef passage="Eph 4:8,11,12" id="Num.ix-p11.4" parsed="|Eph|4|8|0|0;|Eph|4|11|0|0;|Eph|4|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eph.4.8 Bible:Eph.4.11 Bible:Eph.4.12">Eph. iv. 8, 11,
|
|
12</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.ix-p12">VII. The time of their ministration is
|
|
fixed. 1. They were to enter upon the service at twenty-five years
|
|
old, <scripRef passage="Nu 8:24" id="Num.ix-p12.1" parsed="|Num|8|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.8.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. They were
|
|
not charged with the carrying of the tabernacle and the utensils of
|
|
it till they were thirty years old, <scripRef passage="Nu 4:3" id="Num.ix-p12.2" parsed="|Num|4|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.4.3"><i>ch.</i> iv. 3</scripRef>. But they were entered to be
|
|
otherwise serviceable at twenty-five years old, a very good age for
|
|
ministers to begin their public work at. The work then required
|
|
that strength of body and the work now requires that maturity of
|
|
judgment and steadiness of behaviour which men rarely arrive at
|
|
till about that age; and novices are in danger of being lifted up
|
|
with pride. 2. They were to have a writ of ease at fifty years old;
|
|
then they were to return from the warfare, as the phrase is
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 8:25" id="Num.ix-p12.3" parsed="|Num|8|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.8.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>), not
|
|
cashiered with disgrace, but preferred rather to the rest which
|
|
their age required, to be loaded with the honours of their office,
|
|
as hitherto they had been with the burdens of it. They shall
|
|
<i>minister with their brethren in the tabernacle,</i> to direct
|
|
the junior Levites, and set them in; and they shall <i>keep the
|
|
charge,</i> as guards upon the avenues of the tabernacle, to see
|
|
that no stranger intruded, nor any person in his uncleanness, but
|
|
they shall not be put upon any service which may be a fatigue to
|
|
them. If God's grace provide that men shall have ability according
|
|
to their work, man's prudence should take care that men have work
|
|
only according to their ability. The aged are most fit for trusts,
|
|
and to keep the charge; the younger are most fit for work, and to
|
|
do the service. Those that have <i>used the office of a servant
|
|
well purchase to themselves a good degree,</i> <scripRef passage="1Ti 3:13" id="Num.ix-p12.4" parsed="|1Tim|3|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.3.13">1 Tim. iii. 13</scripRef>. Yet indeed gifts are not tied
|
|
to ages (<scripRef passage="Job 32:9" id="Num.ix-p12.5" parsed="|Job|32|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.32.9">Job xxxii. 9</scripRef>), but
|
|
<i>all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit.</i> Thus
|
|
was the affair of the Levites settled.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter IX" n="x" progress="67.47%" prev="Num.ix" next="Num.xi" id="Num.x">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.x-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.x-p0.2">CHAP. IX.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.x-p1">This chapter is, I. Concerning the great ordinance
|
|
of the passover; 1. Orders given for the observance of it, at the
|
|
return of the year, <scripRef passage="Nu 9:1-5" id="Num.x-p1.1" parsed="|Num|9|1|9|5" osisRef="Bible:Num.9.1-Num.9.5">ver.
|
|
1-5</scripRef>. 2. Provisos added in regard to such as should be
|
|
ceremonially unclean, or otherwise disabled, at the time when the
|
|
passover was to be kept, <scripRef passage="Nu 9:6-14" id="Num.x-p1.2" parsed="|Num|9|6|9|14" osisRef="Bible:Num.9.6-Num.9.14">ver.
|
|
6-14</scripRef>. II. Concerning the great favour of the pillar of
|
|
cloud, which was a guide to Israel through the wilderness,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 9:15" id="Num.x-p1.3" parsed="|Num|9|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.9.15">ver. 15</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 9" id="Num.x-p1.4" parsed="|Num|9|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.9"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 9:1-14" id="Num.x-p1.5" parsed="|Num|9|1|9|14" osisRef="Bible:Num.9.1-Num.9.14"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.9.1-Num.9.14">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.x-p1.6">The Law of the Passover. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.x-p1.7">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.x-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.x-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of
|
|
the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt,
|
|
saying,   2 Let the children of Israel also keep the passover
|
|
at his appointed season.   3 In the fourteenth day of this
|
|
month, at even, ye shall keep it in his appointed season: according
|
|
to all the rites of it, and according to all the ceremonies
|
|
thereof, shall ye keep it.   4 And Moses spake unto the
|
|
children of Israel, that they should keep the passover.   5
|
|
And they kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month
|
|
at even in the wilderness of Sinai: according to all that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.x-p2.2">Lord</span> commanded Moses, so did the children
|
|
of Israel.   6 And there were certain men, who were defiled by
|
|
the dead body of a man, that they could not keep the passover on
|
|
that day: and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day:
|
|
  7 And those men said unto him, We <i>are</i> defiled by the
|
|
dead body of a man: wherefore are we kept back, that we may not
|
|
offer an offering of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.x-p2.3">Lord</span> in his
|
|
appointed season among the children of Israel?   8 And Moses
|
|
said unto them, Stand still, and I will hear what the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.x-p2.4">Lord</span> will command concerning you.   9 And
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.x-p2.5">Lord</span> spake unto Moses, saying,
|
|
  10 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If any man of
|
|
you or of your posterity shall be unclean by reason of a dead body,
|
|
or <i>be</i> in a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the passover
|
|
unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.x-p2.6">Lord</span>.   11 The
|
|
fourteenth day of the second month at even they shall keep it,
|
|
<i>and</i> eat it with unleavened bread and bitter <i>herbs.</i>
|
|
  12 They shall leave none of it unto the morning, nor break
|
|
any bone of it: according to all the ordinances of the passover
|
|
they shall keep it.   13 But the man that <i>is</i> clean, and
|
|
is not in a journey, and forbeareth to keep the passover, even the
|
|
same soul shall be cut off from among his people: because he
|
|
brought not the offering of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.x-p2.7">Lord</span>
|
|
in his appointed season, that man shall bear his sin.   14 And
|
|
if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep the passover
|
|
unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.x-p2.8">Lord</span>; according to the
|
|
ordinance of the passover, and according to the manner thereof, so
|
|
shall he do: ye shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger,
|
|
and for him that was born in the land.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.x-p3">Here we have,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.x-p4">I. An order given for the solemnization of
|
|
the passover, the day twelvemonth after they came out of Egypt, on
|
|
the fourteenth day of the first month of the second year, some days
|
|
before they were numbered, for that was done in the beginning of
|
|
the second month. Observe, 1. God gave particular orders for the
|
|
keeping of this passover, otherwise (it should seem) they would not
|
|
have kept it, for, in the first institution of this ordinance, it
|
|
was appointed to be kept when they should <i>come into the land of
|
|
promise,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 12:25" id="Num.x-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|12|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.25">Exod. xii. 25</scripRef>.
|
|
And, no passover till they came to Canaan, <scripRef passage="Jos 5:10" id="Num.x-p4.2" parsed="|Josh|5|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.5.10">Josh. v. 10</scripRef>. This was an early indication of
|
|
the abolishing of the ceremonial institutions at last, that, so
|
|
soon after they were first appointed, some of them were suffered to
|
|
lie asleep for so many years. The ordinance of the Lord's supper
|
|
(which came in the room of the passover) was not thus intermitted
|
|
or set aside in the first days of the Christian church, though
|
|
those were days of greater difficulty and distress than Israel knew
|
|
in the wilderness; nay, in the times of persecution, the Lord's
|
|
supper was celebrated more frequently than afterwards. The
|
|
Israelites in the wilderness could not forget their deliverance out
|
|
of Egypt, their present state was a constant memorandum of it to
|
|
them. All the danger was when they came to Canaan; there therefore
|
|
they had need to be reminded of the <i>rock out of which they were
|
|
hewn.</i> However, because the first passover was celebrated in a
|
|
hurry, and was rather the substance itself than the sign, it was
|
|
the will of God that at the return of the year, when they were more
|
|
composed, and better acquainted with the divine law, they should
|
|
observe it again, that their children might more distinctly
|
|
understand the solemnity and the better remember it hereafter.
|
|
Calvin supposes that they were obliged to keep it now, and notes it
|
|
as an instance of their carelessness that they had need to be
|
|
reminded of an institution which they so lately received. 2. Moses
|
|
faithfully transmitted to the people the orders given him,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 9:4" id="Num.x-p4.3" parsed="|Num|9|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.9.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. Thus Paul
|
|
delivered to the churches what he <i>received of the Lord</i>
|
|
concerning the gospel passover, <scripRef passage="1Co 11:23" id="Num.x-p4.4" parsed="|1Cor|11|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.11.23">1
|
|
Cor. xi. 23</scripRef>. Note, Magistrates must be monitors, and
|
|
ministers must <i>stir up men's minds by way of remembrance</i> to
|
|
that which is good. 3. The people observed the orders given them,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 9:5" id="Num.x-p4.5" parsed="|Num|9|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.9.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. Though they had
|
|
lately kept the feast of dedication (<scripRef passage="Nu 7:1-89" id="Num.x-p4.6" parsed="|Num|7|1|7|89" osisRef="Bible:Num.7.1-Num.7.89"><i>ch.</i> vii.</scripRef>), yet they did not desire to
|
|
excuse themselves with that from keeping this feast. Note,
|
|
Extraordinary performances must not supersede or jostle out or
|
|
stated services. They kept the passover even in the wilderness:
|
|
though our condition be solitary and unsettled, yet we must keep up
|
|
our attendance on God by holy ordinances as we have opportunity,
|
|
for in them we may find the best conversation and the best repose.
|
|
Thus is God' Israel provided for in a desert.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.x-p5">II. Instructions given concerning those
|
|
that were ceremonially unclean when they were to eat the passover.
|
|
The law of the passover required every Israelite to eat of it. Some
|
|
subsequent laws had forbidden those that had contracted any
|
|
ceremonial pollution to eat of the holy things; those whose minds
|
|
and consciences are defiled by sin are utterly unfit for communion
|
|
with God, and cannot partake, with any true comfort, of the gospel
|
|
passover, till they are cleansed by true repentance and faith: and
|
|
a sad dilemma they are in; if they come not to holy ordinances,
|
|
they are guilty of a contempt of them; if they do come in their
|
|
pollution, they are guilty of a profanation of them. They must
|
|
therefore wash, and then <i>compass God's altar.</i> Now,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.x-p6">1. Here is the case that happened in Israel
|
|
when this passover was to be kept: <i>Certain men were defiled by
|
|
the dead body of a man</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 9:6" id="Num.x-p6.1" parsed="|Num|9|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.9.6"><i>v.</i>
|
|
6</scripRef>), and they lay under that defilement seven days
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 19:11" id="Num.x-p6.2" parsed="|Num|19|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.19.11"><i>ch.</i> xix. 11</scripRef>), and
|
|
in that time might not eat of the holy things, <scripRef passage="Le 7:20" id="Num.x-p6.3" parsed="|Lev|7|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.20">Lev. vii. 20</scripRef>. This was not their iniquity, but
|
|
their infelicity: some persons must touch dead bodies, to bury them
|
|
out of sight, and therefore they could, with the better grace,
|
|
bring their complaint to Moses.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.x-p7">2. The application made to Moses by the
|
|
person concerned, <scripRef passage="Nu 9:7" id="Num.x-p7.1" parsed="|Num|9|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.9.7"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7</scripRef>. Note, It is people's wisdom, in difficult cases
|
|
concerning sin and duty, to consult with their ministers whom God
|
|
has set over them, and to <i>ask the law at their mouth,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mal 2:7" id="Num.x-p7.2" parsed="|Mal|2|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mal.2.7">Mal. ii. 7</scripRef>. These means we
|
|
must use in pursuance of our prayers to God to lead us in a plain
|
|
path. Observe with what trouble and concern these men complained
|
|
that they were kept back from offering to the Lord. They did not
|
|
complain of the law as unjust, but lamented their unhappiness that
|
|
they fell under the restraint of it at this time, and desired some
|
|
expedient might be found out for their relief. Note, It is a
|
|
blessed thing to see people hungering and thirsting after God's
|
|
ordinances, and to hear them complaining of that which prevents
|
|
their enjoyment of them. It should be a trouble to us when by any
|
|
occasion we are kept back from bringing our offering in the
|
|
solemnities of a sabbath or a sacrament, as it was to David when he
|
|
was banished from the altar, <scripRef passage="Ps 42:1,2" id="Num.x-p7.3" parsed="|Ps|42|1|42|2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.42.1-Ps.42.2">Ps.
|
|
xlii. 1, 2</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.x-p8">3. The deliberation of Moses in resolving
|
|
this case. Here seemed to be law against law; and, though it is a
|
|
rule that the latter law must explain the former, yet he pitied
|
|
these Israelites that were thus deprived of the privilege of the
|
|
passover, and therefore took time to consult the oracles, and to
|
|
know what was the mind of God in this case: <i>I will hear what the
|
|
Lord will command concerning you,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 9:8" id="Num.x-p8.1" parsed="|Num|9|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.9.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. Ministers must take example hence
|
|
in resolving cases of conscience. (1.) They must not determine
|
|
rashly, but take time to consider, that every circumstance may be
|
|
duly weighted, the case viewed in a true light, and spiritual
|
|
things compared with spiritual. (2.) They must ask counsel at God's
|
|
mouth, and not determine according to the bias of their own fancy
|
|
or affection, but impartially, according to the mind of God, to the
|
|
best of their knowledge. We have no such oracle to consult as Moses
|
|
had, but we must have recourse to <i>the law and the testimony,</i>
|
|
and speak according to that rule; and if, in difficult cases, we
|
|
take time to spread the matter in particular before God by humble
|
|
believing prayer, we have reason to hope that the Spirit who is
|
|
promised to <i>lead us into all truth</i> will enable us to direct
|
|
others <i>in the good and right way.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.x-p9">4. The directions which God gave in this
|
|
case, and in other similar cases, explanatory of the law of the
|
|
passover. The disagreeable accident produced good laws. (1.) Those
|
|
that happened to be ceremonially unclean at the time when the
|
|
passover should be eaten were allowed to eat it that day month,
|
|
when they were clean; so were those that happened to be <i>in a
|
|
journey afar off,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 9:10,11" id="Num.x-p9.1" parsed="|Num|9|10|9|11" osisRef="Bible:Num.9.10-Num.9.11"><i>v.</i> 10,
|
|
11</scripRef>. See here, [1.] That when we are to attend upon God
|
|
in solemn ordinances it is very necessary both that we be clean and
|
|
that we be composed. [2.] That that may excuse the deferring of a
|
|
duty for a time which yet will not justify us in the total neglect
|
|
and omission of it. He that is at variance with his brother may
|
|
<i>leave his gift before the altar,</i> while he goes to be
|
|
<i>reconciled to his brother;</i> but when he has done his part
|
|
towards it, whether it be effected or no, he must <i>come again and
|
|
offer his gift,</i> <scripRef passage="Mt 5:23,24" id="Num.x-p9.2" parsed="|Matt|5|23|5|24" osisRef="Bible:Matt.5.23-Matt.5.24">Matt. v. 23,
|
|
24</scripRef>. This secondary passover was to be kept on the same
|
|
day of the month with the first, because the ordinance was a
|
|
memorial of their deliverance on that day of the month. Once we
|
|
find the whole congregation keeping the passover on this fourteenth
|
|
day of the second month, in Hezekiah's time (<scripRef passage="2Ch 30:15" id="Num.x-p9.3" parsed="|2Chr|30|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.30.15">2 Chron. xxx. 15</scripRef>), which perhaps may help to
|
|
account for the admission of some that were not clean to the eating
|
|
of it. Had the general passover been kept in the first month, the
|
|
unclean might have been put off till the second; but, that being
|
|
kept in the second month, they had no warrant to eat it in the
|
|
third month, and therefore, rather than not eat of it at all, they
|
|
were admitted, though not cleansed <i>according to the purification
|
|
of the sanctuary,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 9:19,20" id="Num.x-p9.4" parsed="|Num|9|19|9|20" osisRef="Bible:Num.9.19-Num.9.20"><i>v.</i> 19,
|
|
20</scripRef>. (2.) Whenever the passover was kept in the second
|
|
month, all the rites and ceremonies of it must be strictly
|
|
observed, <scripRef passage="Nu 9:12" id="Num.x-p9.5" parsed="|Num|9|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.9.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. They
|
|
must not think that, because the time was dispensed with, any part
|
|
of the solemnity of it might be abated; when we cannot do as we
|
|
would we must do the utmost we can in the service of God. (3.) This
|
|
allowance in a case of necessity would be no means countenance or
|
|
indulge any in their neglect to keep the passover at the time
|
|
appointed, when they were not under the necessity, <scripRef passage="Nu 9:13" id="Num.x-p9.6" parsed="|Num|9|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.9.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. When a person is under
|
|
no incapacity to eat the passover in the appointed time, if he
|
|
neglects it then, upon the presumption of the liberty granted by
|
|
this law, he puts an affront upon God, impiously abuses his
|
|
kindness, and he shall certainly <i>bear his sin,</i> and <i>be cut
|
|
off from his people.</i> Note, As those who against their minds are
|
|
forced to absent themselves from God's ordinances may comfortably
|
|
expect the favours of God's grace under their affliction, so those
|
|
who of choice absent themselves may justly expect the tokens of
|
|
God's wrath for their sin. <i>Be not deceived, God is not
|
|
mocked.</i> (4.) Here is a clause added in favour of strangers,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 9:14" id="Num.x-p9.7" parsed="|Num|9|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.9.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. Though it was
|
|
requisite that the stranger who would join with them in eating the
|
|
passover should be circumcised as a proselyte to their religion
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 12:48,49" id="Num.x-p9.8" parsed="|Exod|12|48|12|49" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.48-Exod.12.49">Exod. xii. 48, 49</scripRef>), yet
|
|
this kind admission of those that were not native Israelites to eat
|
|
the passover was an intimation of the favour designed for the poor
|
|
Gentiles by Christ. As then there was one law, so in the days of
|
|
the Messiah there should be one gospel, for the stranger and for
|
|
him that was born in the land; for <i>in every nation he that fears
|
|
God and works righteousness is accepted of him,</i> and this was a
|
|
truth before Peter perceived it, <scripRef passage="Ac 10:34,35" id="Num.x-p9.9" parsed="|Acts|10|34|10|35" osisRef="Bible:Acts.10.34-Acts.10.35">Acts x. 34, 35</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 9" id="Num.x-p9.10" parsed="|Num|9|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.9"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 9:15-23" id="Num.x-p9.11" parsed="|Num|9|15|9|23" osisRef="Bible:Num.9.15-Num.9.23"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.9.15-Num.9.23">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.x-p9.12">The Pillar of Cloud and
|
|
Fire. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.x-p9.13">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.x-p10">15 And on the day that the tabernacle was reared
|
|
up the cloud covered the tabernacle, <i>namely,</i> the tent of the
|
|
testimony: and at even there was upon the tabernacle as it were the
|
|
appearance of fire, until the morning.   16 So it was alway:
|
|
the cloud covered it <i>by day,</i> and the appearance of fire by
|
|
night.   17 And when the cloud was taken up from the
|
|
tabernacle, then after that the children of Israel journeyed: and
|
|
in the place where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel
|
|
pitched their tents.   18 At the commandment of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.x-p10.1">Lord</span> the children of Israel journeyed, and
|
|
at the commandment of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.x-p10.2">Lord</span> they
|
|
pitched: as long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle they rested
|
|
in their tents.   19 And when the cloud tarried long upon the
|
|
tabernacle many days, then the children of Israel kept the charge
|
|
of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.x-p10.3">Lord</span>, and journeyed not.
|
|
  20 And <i>so</i> it was, when the cloud was a few days upon
|
|
the tabernacle; according to the commandment of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.x-p10.4">Lord</span> they abode in their tents, and according to
|
|
the commandment of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.x-p10.5">Lord</span> they
|
|
journeyed.   21 And <i>so</i> it was, when the cloud abode
|
|
from even unto the morning, and <i>that</i> the cloud was taken up
|
|
in the morning, then they journeyed: whether <i>it was</i> by day
|
|
or by night that the cloud was taken up, they journeyed.   22
|
|
Or <i>whether it were</i> two days, or a month, or a year, that the
|
|
cloud tarried upon the tabernacle, remaining thereon, the children
|
|
of Israel abode in their tents, and journeyed not: but when it was
|
|
taken up, they journeyed.   23 At the commandment of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.x-p10.6">Lord</span> they rested in the tents, and at the
|
|
commandment of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.x-p10.7">Lord</span> they
|
|
journeyed: they kept the charge of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.x-p10.8">Lord</span>, at the commandment of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.x-p10.9">Lord</span> by the hand of Moses.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.x-p11">We have here the history of the cloud; not
|
|
a natural history: <i>who knows the balancings of the clouds?</i>
|
|
but a divine history of a cloud that was appointed to be the
|
|
visible sign and symbol of God's presence with Israel.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.x-p12">I. When the tabernacle was finished this
|
|
cloud, which before had hung on high over their camp, settled upon
|
|
the tabernacle, and covered it, to show that God manifests his
|
|
presence with his people in and by his ordinances; there he makes
|
|
himself known, and to them we must look if we would <i>see the
|
|
beauty of the Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 27:4,Eze 37:26,27" id="Num.x-p12.1" parsed="|Ps|27|4|0|0;|Ezek|37|26|37|27" osisRef="Bible:Ps.27.4 Bible:Ezek.37.26-Ezek.37.27">Ps. xxvii. 4; Ezek. xxxvii. 26,
|
|
27</scripRef>. Thus God glorified his own appointments, and
|
|
signified his acceptance of his people's love and obedience.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.x-p13">II. That which appeared as a cloud by day
|
|
appeared as a fire all night. Had it been a cloud only, it would
|
|
not have been visible by night; and, had it been a fire only, it
|
|
would have been scarcely discernible by day; but God would give
|
|
them sensible demonstrations of the constancy of his presence with
|
|
them, and his care of them, and that he <i>kept them night and
|
|
day,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 27:3,Ps 121:6" id="Num.x-p13.1" parsed="|Isa|27|3|0|0;|Ps|121|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.27.3 Bible:Ps.121.6">Isa. xxvii. 3; Ps.
|
|
cxxi. 6</scripRef>. And thus we are taught to <i>set God always
|
|
before us,</i> and to see him near us both night and day. Something
|
|
of the nature of that divine revelation which the Old-Testament
|
|
church was governed by might also be signified by these visible
|
|
signs of God's presence, the cloud denoting the darkness and the
|
|
fire the terror of that dispensation, in comparison with the more
|
|
clear and comfortable discoveries God has made of his glory in the
|
|
face of Jesus Christ.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.x-p14">III. This pillar of cloud and fire directed
|
|
and determined all the motions, marches, and encampments, of Israel
|
|
in the wilderness. 1. As long as the cloud rested upon the
|
|
tabernacle, so long they continued in the same place, and never
|
|
stirred; though no doubt they were very desirous to be pressing
|
|
forward in their journey towards Canaan, where they longed to be
|
|
and hoped to be quickly, yet as long as the cloud rested, if it was
|
|
a month or a year, so long they rested, <scripRef passage="Nu 9:22" id="Num.x-p14.1" parsed="|Num|9|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.9.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>. Note, He that believeth doth not
|
|
make haste. There is no time lost while we are waiting God's time.
|
|
It is as acceptable a piece of submission to the will of God to sit
|
|
still contentedly when our lot requires it as to work for him when
|
|
we are called to it. 2. When the cloud was taken up, they removed,
|
|
how comfortably soever they were encamped, <scripRef passage="Nu 9:17" id="Num.x-p14.2" parsed="|Num|9|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.9.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. Whether it moved by day or
|
|
night, they delayed not to attend its motions (<scripRef passage="Nu 9:21" id="Num.x-p14.3" parsed="|Num|9|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.9.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>), and probably there were some
|
|
appointed to stand sentinel day and night within sight of it, to
|
|
give timely notice to the camp of its beginning to stir, and this
|
|
called <i>keeping the charge of the Lord.</i> The people, being
|
|
thus kept at a constant uncertainty, and having no time fixed for
|
|
stopping or removing, were obliged to hold themselves in constant
|
|
readiness to march upon very short warning. And for the same reason
|
|
we are kept at uncertainty concerning the time of our putting off
|
|
the earthly house of this tabernacle, that we may be always ready
|
|
to <i>remove at the commandment of the Lord.</i> 3. As long and as
|
|
far as the cloud moved, so long and so far they marched, and just
|
|
where it abode they pitched their tents about it, and God's tent
|
|
under it, <scripRef passage="Nu 9:17" id="Num.x-p14.4" parsed="|Num|9|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.9.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, It is uncomfortable staying when God has departed, but very
|
|
safe and pleasant going when we see God go before us and resting
|
|
where he appoints us to rest. This is repeated again and again in
|
|
these verses, because it was a constant miracle, and often
|
|
repeated, and what never failed in all their travels, and because
|
|
it is a matter which we should take particular notice of as very
|
|
significant and instructive. It is mentioned long after by David
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ps 105:39" id="Num.x-p14.5" parsed="|Ps|105|39|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.105.39">Ps. cv. 39</scripRef>), and by the
|
|
people of God after their captivity, <scripRef passage="Neh 9:19" id="Num.x-p14.6" parsed="|Neh|9|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Neh.9.19">Neh. ix. 19</scripRef>. And the guidance of this cloud
|
|
is spoken of as signifying the guidance of the blessed Spirit.
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 63:14" id="Num.x-p14.7" parsed="|Isa|63|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.63.14">Isa. lxiii. 14</scripRef>, <i>The
|
|
Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest, and so didst thou lead thy
|
|
people.</i> This teaches us, (1.) The particular care God takes of
|
|
his people. Nothing could be more expressive and significant of
|
|
God's tenderness of Israel than the guidance of this cloud was; it
|
|
led them by the <i>right way</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 107:7" id="Num.x-p14.8" parsed="|Ps|107|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.107.7">Ps.
|
|
cvii. 7</scripRef>), went on their pace: God did by it, as it were,
|
|
cover them with his feathers. We are not now to expect such
|
|
sensible tokens of the divine presence and guidance as this was,
|
|
but the promise is sure to all God's spiritual Israel that he will
|
|
<i>guide them by his counsel</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 73:24" id="Num.x-p14.9" parsed="|Ps|73|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.73.24">Ps.
|
|
lxxiii. 24</scripRef>), <i>even unto death</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 48:14" id="Num.x-p14.10" parsed="|Ps|48|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.48.14">Ps. xlviii. 14</scripRef>), that all the children of God
|
|
shall be <i>led by the Spirit of God</i> (<scripRef passage="Ro 8:14" id="Num.x-p14.11" parsed="|Rom|8|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.8.14">Rom. viii. 14</scripRef>), that he will <i>direct the
|
|
paths</i> of those who in <i>all their ways acknowledge him,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Pr 3:6" id="Num.x-p14.12" parsed="|Prov|3|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.3.6">Prov. iii. 6</scripRef>. There is a
|
|
particular providence conversant about all their affairs, to direct
|
|
and overrule them for the best. <i>The steps of a good man are
|
|
ordered by the Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 37:23" id="Num.x-p14.13" parsed="|Ps|37|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.37.23">Ps. xxxvii.
|
|
23</scripRef>. (2.) The particular regard we ought to have to God
|
|
in all our ways. In our affections and actions we must follow the
|
|
direction of his word and Spirit; all the motions of our souls must
|
|
be guided by the divine will; at the commandment of the Lord our
|
|
hearts should always move and rest; in all our affairs we must
|
|
follow Providence, reconciling ourselves to all its disposals, and
|
|
bringing our mind to our condition, whatever it is. The people of
|
|
Israel, having the cloud for their guide, were eased of the trouble
|
|
of holding councils of war, to consider when and whither they
|
|
should march, which might have occasioned strifes and debates among
|
|
them: nor needed they to send spies before to inform them of the
|
|
posture of the country, or pioneers to clear the way, or officers
|
|
to mark out their camp; the pillar of cloud did all this for them:
|
|
and those that by faith commit their works to the Lord, though they
|
|
are bound to the prudent use of means, yet may in like manner be
|
|
easy in the expectation of the event. <i>"Father, thy will be
|
|
done;</i> dispose of me and mine as thou pleasest; here I am,
|
|
desirous to be found <i>waiting on my God continually,</i> to
|
|
journey and rest at <i>the commandment of the Lord.</i> What thou
|
|
wilt, and where thou wilt, only let me be thine, and always in the
|
|
way of my duty."</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter X" n="xi" progress="67.89%" prev="Num.x" next="Num.xii" id="Num.xi">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.xi-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.xi-p0.2">CHAP. X.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.xi-p1">In this chapter we have, I. Orders given about the
|
|
making and using of silver trumpets, which seems to have been the
|
|
last of all the commandments God gave upon Mount Sinai, and one of
|
|
the least, yet not without its significancy, <scripRef passage="Nu 10:1-10" id="Num.xi-p1.1" parsed="|Num|10|1|10|10" osisRef="Bible:Num.10.1-Num.10.10">ver. 1-10</scripRef>. II. The history of the removal
|
|
of Israel's camp from Mount Sinai, and their orderly march into the
|
|
wilderness of Paran, <scripRef passage="Nu 10:11-28" id="Num.xi-p1.2" parsed="|Num|10|11|10|28" osisRef="Bible:Num.10.11-Num.10.28">ver.
|
|
11-28</scripRef>. III. Moses's treaty with Hobab, his
|
|
brother-in-law, <scripRef passage="Nu 10:29-32" id="Num.xi-p1.3" parsed="|Num|10|29|10|32" osisRef="Bible:Num.10.29-Num.10.32">ver.
|
|
29-32</scripRef>. IV. Moses's prayer at the removing and resting of
|
|
the ark, <scripRef passage="Nu 10:33" id="Num.xi-p1.4" parsed="|Num|10|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.10.33">ver. 33</scripRef>,
|
|
&c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 10" id="Num.xi-p1.5" parsed="|Num|10|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.10"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 10:1-10" id="Num.xi-p1.6" parsed="|Num|10|1|10|10" osisRef="Bible:Num.10.1-Num.10.10"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.10.1-Num.10.10">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xi-p1.7">The Moving of the Camp. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xi-p1.8">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xi-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xi-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   2 Make thee two trumpets of
|
|
silver; of a whole piece shalt thou make them: that thou mayest use
|
|
them for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the
|
|
camps.   3 And when they shall blow with them, all the
|
|
assembly shall assemble themselves to thee at the door of the
|
|
tabernacle of the congregation.   4 And if they blow
|
|
<i>but</i> with one <i>trumpet,</i> then the princes, <i>which
|
|
are</i> heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves
|
|
unto thee.   5 When ye blow an alarm, then the camps that lie
|
|
on the east parts shall go forward.   6 When ye blow an alarm
|
|
the second time, then the camps that lie on the south side shall
|
|
take their journey: they shall blow an alarm for their journeys.
|
|
  7 But when the congregation is to be gathered together, ye
|
|
shall blow, but ye shall not sound an alarm.   8 And the sons
|
|
of Aaron, the priests, shall blow with the trumpets; and they shall
|
|
be to you for an ordinance for ever throughout your generations.
|
|
  9 And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that
|
|
oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and
|
|
ye shall be remembered before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xi-p2.2">Lord</span> your God, and ye shall be saved from your
|
|
enemies.   10 Also in the day of your gladness, and in your
|
|
solemn days, and in the beginnings of your months, ye shall blow
|
|
with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the
|
|
sacrifices of your peace offerings; that they may be to you for a
|
|
memorial before your God: I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xi-p2.3">Lord</span> your God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xi-p3">We have here directions concerning the
|
|
public notices that were to be given to the people upon several
|
|
occasions by sound of trumpet. In a thing of this nature, one would
|
|
think, Moses needed not to have been taught of God: his own reason
|
|
might teach him the conveniency of trumpets; but the constitution
|
|
of Israel was to be in every thing divine, and therefore even in
|
|
this matter, small as it seems. Moses is here directed, 1. About
|
|
the making of them. They must be made of silver; not cast but of
|
|
beaten work (as some read it), the matter and shape, no doubt, very
|
|
fit for the purpose. He was now ordered to make but two, because
|
|
there were but two priests to use them. But in Solomon's time we
|
|
read of 120 <i>priests sounding with trumpets,</i> <scripRef passage="2Ch 5:12" id="Num.xi-p3.1" parsed="|2Chr|5|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.5.12">2 Chron. v. 12</scripRef>. The form of these
|
|
trumpets is supposed to have been much like ours at this day. 2.
|
|
Who were to make use of them; not any inferior person, but the
|
|
priests themselves, the <i>sons of Aaron,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 10:8" id="Num.xi-p3.2" parsed="|Num|10|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.10.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. As great as they were, they must
|
|
not think it a disparagement to them to be trumpeters in the house
|
|
of God; the meanest office there was honourable. This signified
|
|
that the Lord's ministers should <i>lift up their voice like a
|
|
trumpet,</i> to show people their sins (<scripRef passage="Isa 58:1" id="Num.xi-p3.3" parsed="|Isa|58|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.58.1">Isa. lviii. 1</scripRef>), to call them to Christ,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 27:13" id="Num.xi-p3.4" parsed="|Isa|27|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.27.13">Isa. xxvii. 13</scripRef>. 3. Upon
|
|
what occasions the trumpets were to be sounded. (1.) For the
|
|
<i>calling of assemblies,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 10:2" id="Num.xi-p3.5" parsed="|Num|10|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.10.2"><i>v.</i>
|
|
2</scripRef>. Thus they are told to blow the trumpet in Zion for
|
|
the calling of a solemn assembly together, to sanctify a fast,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Joe 2:15" id="Num.xi-p3.6" parsed="|Joel|2|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Joel.2.15">Joel ii. 15</scripRef>. Public notice
|
|
ought to be given of the time and place of religious assemblies;
|
|
for the invitation to the benefit or ordinances is general:
|
|
<i>whoever will, let him come.</i> wisdom cries in the chief places
|
|
of concourse. But, that the trumpet might not <i>give an uncertain
|
|
sound,</i> they are directed, if only the princes and elders were
|
|
to meet, to blow but one of the trumpets; less should serve to call
|
|
<i>them</i> together, who ought to be examples of forwardness in
|
|
any thing that is good: but, if the body of the people were to be
|
|
called together, both the trumpets must be sounded, that they might
|
|
be heard at the greater distance. In allusion to this, they are
|
|
said to be blessed that <i>hear the joyful sound</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 89:15" id="Num.xi-p3.7" parsed="|Ps|89|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.89.15">Ps. lxxxix. 15</scripRef>), that is, that are
|
|
invited and called upon to wait upon God in public ordinances,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 122:1" id="Num.xi-p3.8" parsed="|Ps|122|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.122.1">Ps. cxxii. 1</scripRef>. And the
|
|
general assembly at the great day will be summoned by <i>the sound
|
|
of the archangel's trumpet,</i> <scripRef passage="Mt 24:31" id="Num.xi-p3.9" parsed="|Matt|24|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.24.31">Matt.
|
|
xxiv. 31</scripRef>. (2.) For the <i>journeying of the camps,</i>
|
|
to give notice when each squadron must move; for no man's voice
|
|
could reach to give the word of command: soldiers with us that are
|
|
well disciplined may be exercised by beat of drums. When the
|
|
trumpets were blown for this purpose, they must <i>sound an
|
|
alarm</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 10:5" id="Num.xi-p3.10" parsed="|Num|10|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.10.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), a
|
|
broken, quavering, interrupted sound, which was proper to excite
|
|
and encourage the minds of people in their marches against their
|
|
enemies; whereas a continued equal sound was more proper for the
|
|
calling of the assembly together (<scripRef passage="Nu 10:7" id="Num.xi-p3.11" parsed="|Num|10|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.10.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>): yet when the people were called
|
|
together to deprecate God's judgments we find an alarm sounded,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Joe 2:1" id="Num.xi-p3.12" parsed="|Joel|2|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Joel.2.1">Joel ii. 1</scripRef>. At the first
|
|
sounding, Judah's squadron marched, at the second Reuben's, at the
|
|
third Ephraim's, at the fourth Dan's, <scripRef passage="Nu 10:5,6" id="Num.xi-p3.13" parsed="|Num|10|5|10|6" osisRef="Bible:Num.10.5-Num.10.6"><i>v.</i> 5, 6</scripRef>. And some think that this was
|
|
intended to sanctify their marches, for thus were proclaimed by the
|
|
priests, who were God's mouth to the people, not only the divine
|
|
orders given them to move, but the divine blessing upon them in all
|
|
their motions. He that hath ears, let him hear that <i>God is with
|
|
them of a truth.</i> King Abijah valued himself and his army very
|
|
much upon this (<scripRef passage="2Ch 13:12" id="Num.xi-p3.14" parsed="|2Chr|13|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.13.12">2 Chron. xiii.
|
|
12</scripRef>), <i>God himself is with us for our captain and his
|
|
priests with sounding trumpets.</i> (3.) For the animating and
|
|
encouraging of their armies, when they went out in battle
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 10:9" id="Num.xi-p3.15" parsed="|Num|10|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.10.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): "<i>If you go
|
|
to war, blow with the trumpets,</i> signifying thereby your appeal
|
|
to heaven for the decision of the controversy, and your prayer to
|
|
God to give you victory; and God will own this his own institution,
|
|
and <i>you shall be remembered before the Lord your God.</i>" God
|
|
will take notice of this sound of the trumpet, and be engaged to
|
|
fight their battles, and let all the people take notice of it, and
|
|
be encouraged to fight his, as David, when he heard <i>a sound of a
|
|
going upon the tops of the mulberry trees.</i> Not that God needed
|
|
to be awaked by sound of trumpet any more than Christ needed to be
|
|
awaked by his disciples in the storm, <scripRef passage="Mt 8:25" id="Num.xi-p3.16" parsed="|Matt|8|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.8.25">Matt. viii. 25</scripRef>. But where he intends mercy it
|
|
is his will that we should solicit it; ministers must stir up the
|
|
good soldiers of Jesus Christ to fight manfully against sin, the
|
|
world, and the devil, by assuring them that Christ is the
|
|
<i>captain of their salvation,</i> and will <i>tread Satan under
|
|
their feet.</i> (4.) For the solemnizing of their sacred feasts,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 10:10" id="Num.xi-p3.17" parsed="|Num|10|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.10.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. One of their
|
|
feasts was called <i>a memorial of the blowing of trumpets,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 23:23-25" id="Num.xi-p3.18" parsed="|Lev|23|23|23|25" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.23-Lev.23.25">Lev. xxiii. 23</scripRef>, &c.
|
|
And it should seem they were thus to grace the solemnity of all
|
|
their feasts (<scripRef passage="Ps 81:3" id="Num.xi-p3.19" parsed="|Ps|81|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.81.3">Ps. lxxxi. 3</scripRef>),
|
|
and their sacrifices (<scripRef passage="2Ch 29:27" id="Num.xi-p3.20" parsed="|2Chr|29|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.29.27">2 Chron. xxix.
|
|
27</scripRef>), to intimate with what joy and delight they
|
|
performed their duty to God, and to raise the minds of those that
|
|
attended the services to a holy triumph in the God they worshipped.
|
|
And then their performances were for a <i>memorial before God;</i>
|
|
for he takes pleasure in our religious exercises when we take
|
|
pleasure in them. Holy work should be done with holy joy.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 10" id="Num.xi-p3.21" parsed="|Num|10|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.10"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 10:11-28" id="Num.xi-p3.22" parsed="|Num|10|11|10|28" osisRef="Bible:Num.10.11-Num.10.28"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.10.11-Num.10.28">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xi-p3.23">The Removal of the Camp. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xi-p3.24">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xi-p4">11 And it came to pass on the twentieth
|
|
<i>day</i> of the second month, in the second year, that the cloud
|
|
was taken up from off the tabernacle of the testimony.   12
|
|
And the children of Israel took their journeys out of the
|
|
wilderness of Sinai; and the cloud rested in the wilderness of
|
|
Paran.   13 And they first took their journey according to the
|
|
commandment of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xi-p4.1">Lord</span> by the hand
|
|
of Moses.   14 In the first <i>place</i> went the standard of
|
|
the camp of the children of Judah according to their armies: and
|
|
over his host <i>was</i> Nahshon the son of Amminadab.   15
|
|
And over the host of the tribe of the children of Issachar
|
|
<i>was</i> Nethaneel the son of Zuar.   16 And over the host
|
|
of the tribe of the children of Zebulun <i>was</i> Eliab the son of
|
|
Helon.   17 And the tabernacle was taken down; and the sons of
|
|
Gershon and the sons of Merari set forward, bearing the tabernacle.
|
|
  18 And the standard of the camp of Reuben set forward
|
|
according to their armies: and over his host <i>was</i> Elizur the
|
|
son of Shedeur.   19 And over the host of the tribe of the
|
|
children of Simeon <i>was</i> Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai.
|
|
  20 And over the host of the tribe of the children of Gad
|
|
<i>was</i> Eliasaph the son of Deuel.   21 And the Kohathites
|
|
set forward, bearing the sanctuary: and <i>the other</i> did set up
|
|
the tabernacle against they came.   22 And the standard of the
|
|
camp of the children of Ephraim set forward according to their
|
|
armies: and over his host <i>was</i> Elishama the son of Ammihud.
|
|
  23 And over the host of the tribe of the children of
|
|
Manasseh <i>was</i> Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur.   24 And
|
|
over the host of the tribe of the children of Benjamin <i>was</i>
|
|
Abidan the son of Gideoni.   25 And the standard of the camp
|
|
of the children of Dan set forward, <i>which was</i> the rereward
|
|
of all the camps throughout their hosts: and over his host
|
|
<i>was</i> Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai.   26 And over the
|
|
host of the tribe of the children of Asher <i>was</i> Pagiel the
|
|
son of Ocran.   27 And over the host of the tribe of the
|
|
children of Naphtali <i>was</i> Ahira the son of Enan.   28
|
|
Thus <i>were</i> the journeyings of the children of Israel
|
|
according to their armies, when they set forward.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xi-p5">Here is, I. A general account of the
|
|
removal of the camp of Israel from Mount Sinai, before which
|
|
mountain it had lain now about a year, in which time and place a
|
|
great deal of memorable business was done. Of this removal, it
|
|
should seem, God gave them notice some time before (<scripRef passage="De 1:6,7" id="Num.xi-p5.1" parsed="|Deut|1|6|1|7" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.6-Deut.1.7">Deut. i. 6, 7</scripRef>): <i>You have dwelt
|
|
long enough in this mountain, turn you and take your journey
|
|
towards the land of promise.</i> The apostle tells us that <i>mount
|
|
Sinai genders to bondage</i> (<scripRef passage="Ga 4:24" id="Num.xi-p5.2" parsed="|Gal|4|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.4.24">Gal. iv.
|
|
24</scripRef>), and signifies the law there given, which is of use
|
|
indeed as a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, yet we must not
|
|
rest in it, but advance towards the joys and liberties of the
|
|
children of God, for our happiness is conferred not by the law, but
|
|
by promise. Observe, 1. The signal given (<scripRef passage="Nu 10:11" id="Num.xi-p5.3" parsed="|Num|10|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.10.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>): <i>The cloud was taken up,</i>
|
|
and we may suppose it stood for some time, till they were ready to
|
|
march; and a great deal of work it was to take down all those
|
|
tents, and pack up all those goods that they had there; but every
|
|
family being employed about its own, and all at the same time, many
|
|
hands made quick work of it. 2. The march began: <i>They took their
|
|
journey according to the commandment of the Lord,</i> and just as
|
|
the cloud led them, <scripRef passage="Nu 10:13" id="Num.xi-p5.4" parsed="|Num|10|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.10.13"><i>v.</i>
|
|
13</scripRef>. Some think that mention is thus frequently made in
|
|
this and the foregoing chapter of the <i>commandment of the
|
|
Lord,</i> guiding and governing them in all their travels, to
|
|
obviate the calumny and reproach which were afterwards thrown upon
|
|
Israel, that they tarried so long in the wilderness, because they
|
|
had lost themselves there, and could not find the way out. No, the
|
|
matter was not so; in every stage, in every step, they were under
|
|
divine direction; and, if they knew not where they were, yet he
|
|
that led them knew. Note, Those that have given up themselves to
|
|
the direction of God's word and Spirit steer a steady course, even
|
|
when they seem to be bewildered. While they are sure they cannot
|
|
lose their God and guide, they need not fear losing their way. 3.
|
|
The place they rested in, after three days' march: They went <i>out
|
|
of the wilderness of Sinai,</i> and rested <i>in the wilderness of
|
|
Paran.</i> Note, All our removals in this world are but from one
|
|
wilderness to another. The changes which we think will be for the
|
|
better do not always prove so; while we carry about with us,
|
|
wherever we go, the common infirmities of human nature, we must
|
|
expect, wherever we go, to meet with its common calamities; we
|
|
shall never be at rest, never at home, till we come to heaven, and
|
|
all will be well there.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xi-p6">II. A particular draught of the order of
|
|
their march, according to the late model. 1. Judah's squadron
|
|
marched first, <scripRef passage="Nu 10:14-16" id="Num.xi-p6.1" parsed="|Num|10|14|10|16" osisRef="Bible:Num.10.14-Num.10.16"><i>v.</i>
|
|
14-16</scripRef>. The leading standard, now lodged with that tribe,
|
|
was an earnest of the sceptre which in David's time should be
|
|
committed to it, and looked further to the captain of our
|
|
salvation, of whom it was likewise foretold that <i>unto him should
|
|
the gathering of the people be.</i> 2. Then came those two families
|
|
of the Levites which were entrusted to carry the tabernacle. As
|
|
soon as ever the cloud was taken up, the tabernacle was taken down,
|
|
and packed up for removing, <scripRef passage="Nu 10:17" id="Num.xi-p6.2" parsed="|Num|10|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.10.17"><i>v.</i>
|
|
17</scripRef>. And here the six wagons came laden with the more
|
|
bulky part of the tabernacle. This frequent removing of the
|
|
tabernacle in all their journeys signified the movableness of that
|
|
ceremonial dispensation. That which was so often shifted would at
|
|
length vanish away, <scripRef passage="Heb 8:13" id="Num.xi-p6.3" parsed="|Heb|8|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.8.13">Heb. viii.
|
|
13</scripRef>. 3. Reuben's squadron marched forward next, taking
|
|
place after Judah, <i>according to the commandment of the Lord,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 10:18-20" id="Num.xi-p6.4" parsed="|Num|10|18|10|20" osisRef="Bible:Num.10.18-Num.10.20"><i>v.</i> 18-20</scripRef>. 4. Then
|
|
the Kohathites followed with their charge, the sacred furniture of
|
|
the tabernacle, <i>in the midst of the camp,</i> the safest and
|
|
most honourable place, <scripRef passage="Nu 10:21" id="Num.xi-p6.5" parsed="|Num|10|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.10.21"><i>v.</i>
|
|
21</scripRef>. And they (that is, says the margin, the Gershonites
|
|
and Merarites) did <i>set up the tabernacle against they came;</i>
|
|
and perhaps it is expressed thus generally because, if there was
|
|
occasion, not those Levites only, but the other Israelites that
|
|
were in the first squadron, lent a hand to the tabernacle to hasten
|
|
the rearing of it up, even before they set up their own tents. 5.
|
|
Ephraim's squadron followed next after the ark (<scripRef passage="Nu 10:22-24" id="Num.xi-p6.6" parsed="|Num|10|22|10|24" osisRef="Bible:Num.10.22-Num.10.24"><i>v.</i> 22-24</scripRef>), to which some think the
|
|
psalmist alludes when he prays (<scripRef passage="Ps 80:2" id="Num.xi-p6.7" parsed="|Ps|80|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.80.2">Ps.
|
|
lxxx. 2</scripRef>), <i>Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh,</i>
|
|
the three tribes that composed this squadron, <i>stir up thy
|
|
strength</i> (and the ark is called his strength, <scripRef passage="Ps 78:61" id="Num.xi-p6.8" parsed="|Ps|78|61|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.78.61">Ps. lxxviii. 61</scripRef>), <i>and come and
|
|
save us.</i> 6. Dan's squadron followed last, <scripRef passage="Nu 10:25-27" id="Num.xi-p6.9" parsed="|Num|10|25|10|27" osisRef="Bible:Num.10.25-Num.10.27"><i>v.</i> 25-27</scripRef>. It is called the
|
|
<i>rearward,</i> or <i>gathering host,</i> of all the camps,
|
|
because it gathered up all that were left behind; not the women and
|
|
children (these we may suppose were taken care of by the heads of
|
|
their families in their respective tribes), but all the unclean,
|
|
the mixed multitude, and all that were weak and feeble, and cast
|
|
behind in their march. Note, He that leadeth Joseph like a flock
|
|
has a tender regard to the hindmost (<scripRef passage="Eze 34:16" id="Num.xi-p6.10" parsed="|Ezek|34|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.34.16">Ezek. xxxiv. 16</scripRef>), that cannot keep pace with
|
|
the rest, and <i>of all that are given him he will lose none,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Joh 17:11" id="Num.xi-p6.11" parsed="|John|17|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.17.11">John xvii. 11</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 10:29-36" id="Num.xi-p6.12" parsed="|Num|10|29|10|36" osisRef="Bible:Num.10.29-Num.10.36"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.10.29-Num.10.36">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xi-p6.13">Moses's Request to Hobab. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xi-p6.14">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xi-p7">29 And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Raguel
|
|
the Midianite, Moses' father in law, We are journeying unto the
|
|
place of which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xi-p7.1">Lord</span> said, I will
|
|
give it you: come thou with us, and we will do thee good: for the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xi-p7.2">Lord</span> hath spoken good concerning
|
|
Israel.   30 And he said unto him, I will not go; but I will
|
|
depart to mine own land, and to my kindred.   31 And he said,
|
|
Leave us not, I pray thee; forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to
|
|
encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes.
|
|
  32 And it shall be, if thou go with us, yea, it shall be,
|
|
that what goodness the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xi-p7.3">Lord</span> shall do
|
|
unto us, the same will we do unto thee.   33 And they departed
|
|
from the mount of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xi-p7.4">Lord</span> three
|
|
days' journey: and the ark of the covenant of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xi-p7.5">Lord</span> went before them in the three days'
|
|
journey, to search out a resting place for them.   34 And the
|
|
cloud of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xi-p7.6">Lord</span> <i>was</i> upon
|
|
them by day, when they went out of the camp.   35 And it came
|
|
to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xi-p7.7">Lord</span>, and let thine enemies be scattered;
|
|
and let them that hate thee flee before thee.   36 And when it
|
|
rested, he said, Return, <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xi-p7.8">O Lord</span>,
|
|
unto the many thousands of Israel.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xi-p8">Here is, I. An account of what passed
|
|
between Moses and Hobab, now upon this advance which the camp of
|
|
Israel made towards Canaan. Some think that Hobab was the same with
|
|
Jethro, Moses's father-in-law, and that the story, <scripRef passage="Ex 18:1-27" id="Num.xi-p8.1" parsed="|Exod|18|1|18|27" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.1-Exod.18.27">Exod. xviii.</scripRef>, should come in here;
|
|
it seems more probable that Hobab was the son of Jethro,
|
|
<i>alias</i> Reuel, or Raguel (<scripRef passage="Ex 2:18" id="Num.xi-p8.2" parsed="|Exod|2|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.18">Exod.
|
|
ii. 18</scripRef>), and that when the father, being aged, went to
|
|
his own land (<scripRef passage="Ex 18:27" id="Num.xi-p8.3" parsed="|Exod|18|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.27">Exod. xviii.
|
|
27</scripRef>), he left his son Hobab with Moses, as Barzillai left
|
|
Chimham with David; and the same word signifies both a
|
|
<i>father-in-law</i> and a <i>brother-in-law.</i> Now this Hobab
|
|
staid contentedly with Israel while they encamped at Mount Sinai,
|
|
near his own country; but, now that they were removing, he was for
|
|
going back to his own country and kindred, and his father's house.
|
|
Here is, 1. The kind invitation Moses gives him to go forward with
|
|
them to Canaan, <scripRef passage="Nu 10:29" id="Num.xi-p8.4" parsed="|Num|10|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.10.29"><i>v.</i>
|
|
29</scripRef>. He tempts him with a promise that they would
|
|
certainly be kind to him, and puts God's word in for security:
|
|
<i>The Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel.</i> As if he had
|
|
said, "Come, cast in thy lot among us, and thou shalt fare as we
|
|
fare; and we have the promise of God that we shall fare well."
|
|
Note, Those that are bound for the heavenly Canaan should invite
|
|
and encourage all their friends to go along with them, for we shall
|
|
have never the less of the treasures of the covenant, and the joys
|
|
of heaven, for others coming in to share with us. And what argument
|
|
can be more powerful with us to take God's people for our people
|
|
than this, that God <i>hath spoken good concerning them?</i> It is
|
|
good having fellowship with those that have fellowship with God
|
|
(<scripRef passage="1Jo 1:3" id="Num.xi-p8.5" parsed="|1John|1|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.3">1 John i. 3</scripRef>), and going
|
|
with those with whom God is, <scripRef passage="Zec 8:23" id="Num.xi-p8.6" parsed="|Zech|8|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zech.8.23">Zech.
|
|
viii. 23</scripRef>. 2. Hobab's inclination, and present
|
|
resolution, to go back to his own country, <scripRef passage="Nu 10:30" id="Num.xi-p8.7" parsed="|Num|10|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.10.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>. One would have thought that he
|
|
who had seen so much of the special presence of God with Israel,
|
|
and such surprising tokens of his favour to them, would not have
|
|
needed much invitation to embark with them. But his refusal must be
|
|
imputed to the affection he had for his native air and soil, which
|
|
was not overpowered, as it ought to have been, by a believing
|
|
regard to the promise of God and a value for covenant blessings. He
|
|
was indeed a son of Abraham's loins (for the Midianites descended
|
|
from Abraham by Keturah), but not an heir of Abraham's faith
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Heb 11:8" id="Num.xi-p8.8" parsed="|Heb|11|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.8">Heb. xi. 8</scripRef>), else he would
|
|
not have given Moses this answer. Note, The things of this world,
|
|
which are seen, draw strongly from the pursuit of the things of the
|
|
other world, which are not seen. The magnetic virtue of this earth
|
|
prevails with most people above the attractives of heaven itself.
|
|
3. The great importunity Moses used with him to alter his
|
|
resolution, <scripRef passage="Nu 10:31,32" id="Num.xi-p8.9" parsed="|Num|10|31|10|32" osisRef="Bible:Num.10.31-Num.10.32"><i>v.</i> 31,
|
|
32</scripRef>. He urges, (1.) That he might be serviceable to them:
|
|
"<i>We are to encamp in the wilderness</i>" (a country well known
|
|
to Hobab), "<i>and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes,</i> not to
|
|
show us where we must encamp, nor what way we must march" (which
|
|
the cloud was to direct), "but to show us the conveniences and
|
|
inconveniences of the place we march through and encamp in, that we
|
|
may make the best use we can of the conveniences, and the best
|
|
fence we can against the inconveniences." Note, It will very well
|
|
consist with our trust in God's providence to make use of the help
|
|
of our friends in those things wherein they are capable of being
|
|
serviceable to us. Even those that were led by miracle must not
|
|
slight the ordinary means of direction. Some think that Moses
|
|
suggests this to Hobab, not because he expected much benefit from
|
|
his information, but to please him with the thought of being some
|
|
way useful to so great a body, and so to draw him on with them, by
|
|
inspiring him with an ambition to obtain that honour. Calvin gives
|
|
quite another sense of this place, very agreeably with the
|
|
original, which yet I do not find taken notice of by any since.
|
|
"<i>Leave us not, I pray thee,</i> but come along, to share with us
|
|
in the promised land, <i>for therefore hast thou known our
|
|
encampment in the wilderness, and hast been to us instead of
|
|
eyes;</i> and we cannot make thee amends for sharing with us in our
|
|
hardships, and doing us so many good offices, unless thou go with
|
|
us to Canaan. Surely for this reason thou didst set out with us
|
|
that thou mightest go on with us." Note, Those that have begun well
|
|
should use that as a reason for their persevering, because
|
|
otherwise they lose the benefit and recompence of all they have
|
|
done and suffered. (2.) That they would be kind to him: <i>What
|
|
goodness the Lord shall do to us, the same we will do to thee,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 10:32" id="Num.xi-p8.10" parsed="|Num|10|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.10.32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>. Note, [1.] We
|
|
can give only what we receive. We can do no more service and
|
|
kindness to our friends than God is pleased to put it into the
|
|
power of our hand to do. This is all we dare promise, to do good as
|
|
God shall enable us. [2.] Those that share with God's Israel in
|
|
their labours and hardships shall share with them in their comforts
|
|
and honours. Those that are willing to take their lot with them in
|
|
the wilderness shall have their lot with them in Canaan; <i>if we
|
|
suffer with them we shall reign with them,</i> <scripRef passage="2Ti 2:12,Lu 22:28,29" id="Num.xi-p8.11" parsed="|2Tim|2|12|0|0;|Luke|22|28|22|29" osisRef="Bible:2Tim.2.12 Bible:Luke.22.28-Luke.22.29">2 Tim. ii. 12; Luke xxii. 28,
|
|
29</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xi-p9">We do not find any reply that Hobab here
|
|
made to Moses, and therefore we hope that his silence gave consent,
|
|
and he did not leave them, but that, when he perceived he might be
|
|
useful, he preferred that before the gratifying of his own
|
|
inclination; in this case he left us a good example. And we find
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Jdg 1:16,1Sa 15:6" id="Num.xi-p9.1" parsed="|Judg|1|16|0|0;|1Sam|15|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.1.16 Bible:1Sam.15.6">Judg. i. 16; 1 Sam. xv.
|
|
6</scripRef>) that his family was no loser by it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xi-p10">II. An account of the communion between God
|
|
and Israel in this removal. They left <i>the mount of the Lord</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 10:33" id="Num.xi-p10.1" parsed="|Num|10|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.10.33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>), that Mount
|
|
Sinai where they had seen his glory and heard his voice, and had
|
|
been taken into covenant with him (they must not expect that such
|
|
appearances of God to them as they had there been blessed with
|
|
should be constant); they departed from that celebrated mountain,
|
|
which we never read of in scripture any more, unless with reference
|
|
to these past stories; now farewell, Sinai; <i>Zion</i> is the
|
|
mountain of which God has said. <i>This is my rest for ever</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ps 132:14" id="Num.xi-p10.2" parsed="|Ps|132|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.132.14">Ps. cxxxii. 14</scripRef>), and of
|
|
which we must say so. But when they left the <i>mount of the
|
|
Lord</i> they took with them the <i>ark of the covenant of the
|
|
Lord,</i> by which their stated communion with God was to be kept
|
|
up. For,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xi-p11">1. By it God did <i>direct their paths.</i>
|
|
The ark of the covenant went before them, some think in
|
|
<i>place,</i> at least in this removal; others think only in
|
|
<i>influence;</i> though it was carried in the midst of the camp,
|
|
yet the cloud that hovered over it directed all their motions. The
|
|
ark (that is, the God of the ark) is said to <i>search out a
|
|
resting place</i> for them; not that God's infinite wisdom and
|
|
knowledge need to make searches, but every place they were directed
|
|
to was as convenient for them as if the wisest man they had among
|
|
them had been employed to go before them, and mark out their camp
|
|
to the best advantage. thus Canaan is said to be a land which God
|
|
<i>spied out,</i> <scripRef passage="Eze 20:6" id="Num.xi-p11.1" parsed="|Ezek|20|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.20.6">Ezek. xx.
|
|
6</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xi-p12">2. By it they did <i>in all their ways
|
|
acknowledge God,</i> looking upon it as a token of God's presence;
|
|
when that moved, or rested, they had their eye up unto God. Moses,
|
|
as the mouth of the congregation, lifted up a prayer, both at the
|
|
removing and at the resting of the ark; thus their going out and
|
|
coming in were sanctified by prayer, and it is an example to us to
|
|
begin and end every day's journey, and every day's work, with
|
|
prayer.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xi-p13">(1.) Here is his prayer when the ark set
|
|
forward: <i>Rise up, Lord, and let thy enemies be scattered,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 10:35" id="Num.xi-p13.1" parsed="|Num|10|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.10.35"><i>v.</i> 35</scripRef>. They were now
|
|
in a desolate country, but they were marching towards an enemy's
|
|
country, and their dependence was upon God for success and victory
|
|
in their wars, as well as for direction and supply in the
|
|
wilderness. David used this prayer long after (<scripRef passage="Ps 68:1" id="Num.xi-p13.2" parsed="|Ps|68|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.68.1">Ps. lxviii. 1</scripRef>), for he also fought the Lord's
|
|
battles. Note, [1.] There are those in the world that are enemies
|
|
to God, and haters of him: secret and open enemies; enemies to his
|
|
truths, his laws, his ordinances, his people. [2.] The scattering
|
|
and defeating of God's enemies is a thing to be earnestly desired,
|
|
and believingly expected, by all the Lord's people. This prayer is
|
|
a prophecy. Those that persist in rebellion against God are hasting
|
|
towards their own ruin. [3.] For the scattering and defeating of
|
|
God's enemies, there needs no more but God's arising. <i>When God
|
|
arose to judgment,</i> the work was soon done, <scripRef passage="Ps 76:8,9" id="Num.xi-p13.3" parsed="|Ps|76|8|76|9" osisRef="Bible:Ps.76.8-Ps.76.9">Ps. lxxvi. 8, 9</scripRef>. "Rise, Lord, as the sun
|
|
riseth to scatter the shadows of the night." Christ's rising from
|
|
the dead scattered his enemies, <scripRef passage="Ps 68:18" id="Num.xi-p13.4" parsed="|Ps|68|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.68.18">Ps.
|
|
lxviii. 18</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xi-p14">(2.) His prayer when the ark rested,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 10:36" id="Num.xi-p14.1" parsed="|Num|10|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.10.36"><i>v.</i> 36</scripRef>. [1.] That God
|
|
would cause his people to rest. So some read it, "<i>Return, O
|
|
Lord, the many thousands of Israel,</i> return them to their rest
|
|
again after this fatigue." Thus it is said (<scripRef passage="Isa 63:14" id="Num.xi-p14.2" parsed="|Isa|63|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.63.14">Isa. lxiii. 14</scripRef>), <i>The Spirit of the Lord
|
|
caused him to rest.</i> Thus he prays that God would give Israel
|
|
success and victory abroad, and peace and tranquillity at home.
|
|
[2.] That God himself would take up his rest among them. So we read
|
|
it: <i>Return to the thousands of Israel,</i> the <i>ten thousand
|
|
thousand,</i> so the word is. Note, <i>First,</i> The church of God
|
|
is a great body; there are many thousands belonging to God's
|
|
Israel. <i>Secondly,</i> We ought in our prayers to concern
|
|
ourselves for this body. <i>Thirdly,</i> The welfare and happiness
|
|
of the Israel of God consist in the continual presence of God among
|
|
them. Their safety consists not in their numbers, though they are
|
|
thousands, many thousands, but in the favour of God, and his
|
|
gracious return to them and residence with them. These thousands
|
|
are cyphers; he is the figure: and upon this account, <i>Happy art
|
|
thou, O Israel! who is like unto thee, O people!</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XI" n="xii" progress="68.42%" prev="Num.xi" next="Num.xiii" id="Num.xii">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.xii-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.xii-p0.2">CHAP. XI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.xii-p1">Hitherto things had gone pretty well in Israel;
|
|
little interruption had been given to the methods of God's favour
|
|
to them since the matter of the golden calf; the people seemed
|
|
teachable in marshalling and purifying the camp, the princes devout
|
|
and generous in dedicating the altar, and there was good hope that
|
|
they would be in Canaan presently. But at this chapter begins a
|
|
melancholy scene; the measures are all broken, God has turned to be
|
|
their enemy, and fights against them—and it is sin that makes all
|
|
this mischief. I. Their murmurings kindled a fire among them, which
|
|
yet was soon quenched by the prayer of Moses, <scripRef passage="Nu 11:1-3" id="Num.xii-p1.1" parsed="|Num|11|1|11|3" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.1-Num.11.3">ver. 1-3</scripRef>. II. No sooner was the fire of
|
|
judgment quenched than the fire of sin breaks out again, and God
|
|
takes occasion from it to magnify both his mercy and his justice.
|
|
1. The people fret for want of flesh, <scripRef passage="Nu 11:4-9" id="Num.xii-p1.2" parsed="|Num|11|4|11|9" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.4-Num.11.9">ver. 4-9</scripRef>. 2. Moses frets for want of help,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 11:10-15" id="Num.xii-p1.3" parsed="|Num|11|10|11|15" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.10-Num.11.15">ver. 10-15</scripRef>. Now, (1.)
|
|
God promises to gratify them both, to appoint help for Moses
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 11:16,17" id="Num.xii-p1.4" parsed="|Num|11|16|11|17" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.16-Num.11.17">ver. 16, 17</scripRef>), and to
|
|
give the people flesh, <scripRef passage="Nu 11:18-23" id="Num.xii-p1.5" parsed="|Num|11|18|11|23" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.18-Num.11.23">ver.
|
|
18-23</scripRef>. And, (2.) He presently makes good both these
|
|
promises. For, [1.] The Spirit of God qualifies the seventy elders
|
|
for the government, <scripRef passage="Nu 11:24-30" id="Num.xii-p1.6" parsed="|Num|11|24|11|30" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.24-Num.11.30">ver.
|
|
24-30</scripRef>. [2.] The power of God brings quails to feast the
|
|
people, <scripRef passage="Nu 11:31,32" id="Num.xii-p1.7" parsed="|Num|11|31|11|32" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.31-Num.11.32">ver. 31, 32</scripRef>. Yet
|
|
[3.] The justice of God plagued them for their murmurings,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 11:33-35" id="Num.xii-p1.8" parsed="|Num|11|33|11|35" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.33-Num.11.35">ver. 33</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 11" id="Num.xii-p1.9" parsed="|Num|11|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.11"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 11:1-3" id="Num.xii-p1.10" parsed="|Num|11|1|11|3" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.1-Num.11.3"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.11.1-Num.11.3">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xii-p1.11">The Murmurings of the
|
|
Israelites. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xii-p1.12">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xii-p2">1 And <i>when</i> the people complained, it
|
|
displeased the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xii-p2.1">Lord</span>: and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xii-p2.2">Lord</span> heard <i>it;</i> and his anger was
|
|
kindled; and the fire of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xii-p2.3">Lord</span>
|
|
burnt among them, and consumed <i>them that were</i> in the
|
|
uttermost parts of the camp.   2 And the people cried unto
|
|
Moses; and when Moses prayed unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xii-p2.4">Lord</span>, the fire was quenched.   3 And he
|
|
called the name of the place Taberah: because the fire of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xii-p2.5">Lord</span> burnt among them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xii-p3">Here is, I. The people's sin. They
|
|
<i>complained,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 11:1" id="Num.xii-p3.1" parsed="|Num|11|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.1"><i>v.</i>
|
|
1</scripRef>. <i>They were, as it were, complainers.</i> So it is
|
|
in the margin. There were some secret grudgings and discontents
|
|
among them, which as yet did not break out in an open mutiny. But
|
|
how great a matter did this little fire kindle! They had received
|
|
from God excellent laws and ordinances, and yet no sooner had they
|
|
departed from the mount of the Lord than they began to quarrel with
|
|
God himself. See in this, 1. The sinfulness of sin, which takes
|
|
occasion from the commandment to be the more provoking. 2. The
|
|
weakness of the law through the flesh, <scripRef passage="Ro 8:3" id="Num.xii-p3.2" parsed="|Rom|8|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.8.3">Rom. viii. 3</scripRef>. The law discovered sin, but could
|
|
not destroy it; checked it, but could not conquer it. They
|
|
<i>complained.</i> Interpreters enquire what they complained of;
|
|
and truly, when they were furnished with so much matter for
|
|
thanksgiving, one may justly wonder where they found any matter for
|
|
complaint; it is probable that those who complained did not all
|
|
agree in the cause. Some perhaps complained that they were removed
|
|
from Mount Sinai, where they had been at rest so long, others that
|
|
they did not remove sooner: some complained of the weather, others
|
|
of the ways: some perhaps thought three days' journey was too long
|
|
a march, others thought it not long enough, because it did not
|
|
bring them into Canaan. When we consider how their camp was guided,
|
|
guarded, graced, what good victuals they had and good company, and
|
|
what care was taken of them in their marches that their feet should
|
|
not swell nor their clothes wear (<scripRef passage="De 8:4" id="Num.xii-p3.3" parsed="|Deut|8|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.4">Deut.
|
|
viii. 4</scripRef>), we may ask, "What could have been done more
|
|
for a people to make them easy?" And yet they complained. Note,
|
|
Those that are of a fretful discontented spirit will always find
|
|
something or other to quarrel with, though the circumstances of
|
|
their outward condition be ever so favourable.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xii-p4">II. God's just resentment of the affront
|
|
given to him by this sin: <i>The Lord heard it,</i> though it does
|
|
not appear that Moses did. Note, God is acquainted with the secret
|
|
frettings and murmurings of the heart, though they are
|
|
industriously concealed from men. What he took notice of his was
|
|
much displeased with, and his <i>anger was kindled.</i> Note,
|
|
Though God graciously gives us leave to complain to him when there
|
|
is cause (<scripRef passage="Ps 142:2" id="Num.xii-p4.1" parsed="|Ps|142|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.142.2">Ps. cxlii. 2</scripRef>),
|
|
yet he is justly provoked, and takes it very ill, if we complain of
|
|
him when there is no cause: such conduct in our inferiors provokes
|
|
us.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xii-p5">III. The judgment wherewith God chastised
|
|
them for this sin: <i>The fire of the Lord burnt among them,</i>
|
|
such flashes of fire from the cloud as had consumed Nadab and
|
|
Abihu. The fire of their wrath against God burned in their minds
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ps 39:3" id="Num.xii-p5.1" parsed="|Ps|39|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.39.3">Ps. xxxix. 3</scripRef>), and justly
|
|
does the fire of God's wrath fasten upon their bodies. We read of
|
|
their murmurings several times, when they came first out of Egypt,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 15:1-17:16" id="Num.xii-p5.2" parsed="|Exod|15|1|17|16" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.1-Exod.17.16">Exod. xv., and xvi., and
|
|
xvii.</scripRef>. But we do not read of any plagues inflicted on
|
|
them for their murmurings, as there were now; for now they had had
|
|
great experience of God's care of them, and therefore now to
|
|
distrust him was so much the more inexcusable. Now a <i>fire was
|
|
kindled against Jacob</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 78:21" id="Num.xii-p5.3" parsed="|Ps|78|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.78.21">Ps.
|
|
lxxviii. 21</scripRef>), but, to show how unwilling God was to
|
|
contend with them, it fastened on those only that were <i>in the
|
|
uttermost parts of the camp.</i> Thus God's judgments came upon
|
|
them gradually, that they might take warning.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xii-p6">IV. Their cry to Moses, who was their tried
|
|
intercessor, <scripRef passage="Nu 11:2" id="Num.xii-p6.1" parsed="|Num|11|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>.
|
|
<i>When he slew them, then they sought him,</i> and made their
|
|
application to Moses to stand their friend. Note, 1. When we
|
|
complain without cause, it is just with God to give us cause to
|
|
complain. 2. Those that slight God's friends when they are in
|
|
prosperity would be glad to make them their friends when they are
|
|
in distress. <i>Father Abraham, send Lazarus.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xii-p7">V. The prevalency of Moses's intercession
|
|
for them: <i>When Moses prayed unto the Lord</i> (he was always
|
|
ready to stand in the gap to turn away the wrath of God) God had
|
|
respect to him and his offering, and <i>the fire was quenched.</i>
|
|
By this it appears that God delights not in punishing, for, when he
|
|
has begun his controversy, he is soon prevailed with to let it
|
|
fall. Moses was one of those worthies who <i>by faith quenched the
|
|
violence of fire.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xii-p8">VI. A new name given hereupon to the place,
|
|
to perpetuate the shame of a murmuring people and the honour of a
|
|
righteous God; the place was called <i>Taberah,</i> a
|
|
<i>burning</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 11:3" id="Num.xii-p8.1" parsed="|Num|11|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.3"><i>v.</i>
|
|
3</scripRef>), that others might hear, and fear, and take warning
|
|
not to sin as they did, lest they should smart as they did,
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Co 10:10" id="Num.xii-p8.2" parsed="|1Cor|10|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.10.10">1 Cor. x. 10</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 11:4-15" id="Num.xii-p8.3" parsed="|Num|11|4|11|15" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.4-Num.11.15"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.11.4-Num.11.15">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xii-p9">4 And the mixt multitude that <i>was</i> among
|
|
them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again,
|
|
and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?   5 We remember the
|
|
fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the
|
|
melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick:   6
|
|
But now our soul <i>is</i> dried away: <i>there is</i> nothing at
|
|
all, beside this manna, <i>before</i> our eyes.   7 And the
|
|
manna <i>was</i> as coriander seed, and the colour thereof as the
|
|
colour of bdellium.   8 <i>And</i> the people went about, and
|
|
gathered <i>it,</i> and ground <i>it</i> in mills, or beat
|
|
<i>it</i> in a mortar, and baked <i>it</i> in pans, and made cakes
|
|
of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil.   9
|
|
And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell
|
|
upon it.   10 Then Moses heard the people weep throughout
|
|
their families, every man in the door of his tent: and the anger of
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xii-p9.1">Lord</span> was kindled greatly; Moses
|
|
also was displeased.   11 And Moses said unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xii-p9.2">Lord</span>, Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant?
|
|
and wherefore have I not found favour in thy sight, that thou
|
|
layest the burden of all this people upon me?   12 Have I
|
|
conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that thou
|
|
shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father
|
|
beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto
|
|
their fathers?   13 Whence should I have flesh to give unto
|
|
all this people? for they weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh, that
|
|
we may eat.   14 I am not able to bear all this people alone,
|
|
because <i>it is</i> too heavy for me.   15 And if thou deal
|
|
thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found
|
|
favour in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xii-p10">These verses represent things sadly
|
|
unhinged and out of order in Israel, both the people and the prince
|
|
uneasy.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xii-p11">I. Here is the people fretting, and
|
|
speaking against God himself (as it is interpreted, <scripRef passage="Ps 78:19" id="Num.xii-p11.1" parsed="|Ps|78|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.78.19">Ps. lxxviii. 19</scripRef>), notwithstanding his
|
|
glorious appearances both to them and for them. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xii-p12">1. Who were the criminals. (1.) The
|
|
<i>mixed multitude</i> began, they <i>fell a lusting,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 11:4" id="Num.xii-p12.1" parsed="|Num|11|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. The rabble that came with
|
|
them out of Egypt, expecting only the land of promise, but not a
|
|
state of probation in the way to it. They were hangers on, who took
|
|
hold of the skirts of the Jews, and would go with them only because
|
|
they knew not how to live at home, and were disposed to seek their
|
|
fortunes (as we say) abroad. These were the scabbed sheep that
|
|
infected the flock, the leaven that leavened the whole lump. Note,
|
|
A few factious, discontented, ill-natured people, may do a great
|
|
deal of mischief in the best societies, if great care be not taken
|
|
to discountenance them. Such as these are an <i>untoward
|
|
generation,</i> from which it is our wisdom to <i>save
|
|
ourselves,</i> <scripRef passage="Ac 2:40" id="Num.xii-p12.2" parsed="|Acts|2|40|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.2.40">Acts ii. 40</scripRef>.
|
|
(2.) Even <i>the children of Israel</i> took the infection, as we
|
|
are informed, <scripRef passage="Nu 11:4" id="Num.xii-p12.3" parsed="|Num|11|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>.
|
|
The holy seed joined themselves to the people of these
|
|
abominations. The mixed multitude here spoken of were not numbered
|
|
with the children of Israel, but were set aside as a people God
|
|
made no account of; and yet the children of Israel, forgetting
|
|
their own character and distinction, herded themselves with them
|
|
and learned their way, as if the scum and outcasts of the camp were
|
|
to be the privy-counsellors of it. The children of Israel, a people
|
|
near to God and highly privileged, yet drawn into rebellion against
|
|
him! O how little honour has God in the world, when even the people
|
|
which he formed for himself, to show forth his praise, were so much
|
|
a dishonour to him! Therefore let none think that their external
|
|
professions and privileges will be their security either against
|
|
Satan's temptations to sin or God's judgments for sin. See
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Co 10:1,2,12" id="Num.xii-p12.4" parsed="|1Cor|10|1|10|2;|1Cor|10|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.10.1-1Cor.10.2 Bible:1Cor.10.12">1 Cor. x. 1, 2,
|
|
12</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xii-p13">2. What was the crime: they lusted and
|
|
murmured. Though they had been lately corrected for this sin, and
|
|
many of them overthrown for it, as God overthrew Sodom and
|
|
Gomorrah, and the smell of the fire was still in their nostrils,
|
|
yet they returned to it. See <scripRef passage="Pr 27:22" id="Num.xii-p13.1" parsed="|Prov|27|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.27.22">Prov.
|
|
xxvii. 22</scripRef>. (1.) They magnified the plenty and dainties
|
|
they had had in Egypt (<scripRef passage="Nu 11:5" id="Num.xii-p13.2" parsed="|Num|11|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.5"><i>v.</i>
|
|
5</scripRef>), as if God had done them a great deal of wrong in
|
|
taking them thence. While they were in Egypt they sighed by reason
|
|
of their burdens, for their lives were made bitter to them with
|
|
hard bondage; and yet now they talk of Egypt as if they had all
|
|
lived like princes there, when this serves as a colour for their
|
|
present discontent. But with what face can they talk of eating fish
|
|
in Egypt freely, or for nought, as if it cost them nothing, when
|
|
they paid so dearly for it with their hard service? They
|
|
<i>remember the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the
|
|
onions, and the garlick</i> (precious stuff indeed to be fond of!),
|
|
but they do not remember the brick-kilns and the task-masters, the
|
|
voice of the oppressor and the smart of the whip. No, these are
|
|
forgotten by these ungrateful people. (2.) They were sick of the
|
|
good provision God had made for them, <scripRef passage="Nu 11:6" id="Num.xii-p13.3" parsed="|Num|11|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. It was bread from heaven, angels'
|
|
food. To show how unreasonable their complaint was, it is here
|
|
described, <scripRef passage="Nu 11:7-9" id="Num.xii-p13.4" parsed="|Num|11|7|11|9" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.7-Num.11.9"><i>v.</i> 7-9</scripRef>.
|
|
It was good for food, and pleasant to the eye, every grain like an
|
|
orient pearl; it was wholesome food and nourishing; it was not to
|
|
be called <i>dry bread,</i> for it tasted like fresh oil; it was
|
|
agreeable (the Jews say, <scripRef passage="Wisd. xvi. 20" id="Num.xii-p13.5" parsed="|Wis|16|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Wis.16.20">Wisd. xvi. 20</scripRef>) to every man's
|
|
palate, and tasted as he would have it; and, though it was still
|
|
the same, yet, by the different ways of dressing it, it yielded
|
|
them a grateful variety; it cost them no money, nor care, for it
|
|
fell in the night, while they slept; and the labour of gathering it
|
|
was not worth speaking of; they lived upon free quarter, and yet
|
|
could talk of Egypt's cheapness and the fish they ate there freely.
|
|
Nay, which was much more valuable than all this, the manna came
|
|
from the immediate power and bounty of God, not from common
|
|
providence, but from special favour. It was, as God's compassion,
|
|
new every morning, always fresh, not as their food who live on
|
|
shipboard. While they lived on manna, they seemed to be exempted
|
|
from the curse which sin has brought on man, that in the <i>sweat
|
|
of his face should he eat bread.</i> And yet they speak of manna
|
|
with such scorn, as if it were not good enough to be meat for
|
|
swine: <i>Our soul is dried away.</i> They speak as if God dealt
|
|
hardly with them in allowing them no better food. At first they
|
|
admired it (<scripRef passage="Ex 16:15" id="Num.xii-p13.6" parsed="|Exod|16|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.15">Exod. xvi. 15</scripRef>):
|
|
<i>What is this?</i> "What a curious precious thing is this!" But
|
|
now they despised it. Note, Peevish discontented minds will find
|
|
fault with that which has no fault in it but that it is too good
|
|
for them. It is very provoking to God to undervalue his favours,
|
|
and to put a <i>but</i> upon our common mercies. Nothing but manna!
|
|
Those that might be very happy often make themselves very miserable
|
|
by their discontents. (3.) They could not be satisfied unless they
|
|
had flesh to eat. They brought flocks and herds with them in great
|
|
abundance out of Egypt; but either they were covetous, and could
|
|
not find in their hearts to kill them, lest they should lessen
|
|
their flocks (they must have flesh as cheap as they had bread, or
|
|
they would not be pleased), or else they were curious, beef and
|
|
mutton would not please them; they must have something more nice
|
|
and delicate, like the fish they did eat in Egypt. Food would not
|
|
serve; they must be feasted. They had feasted with God upon the
|
|
peace-offerings which they had their share of; but it seems God did
|
|
not keep a table good enough for them, they must have daintier bits
|
|
than any that came to his altar. Note, It is an evidence of the
|
|
dominion of the carnal mind when we are solicitous to have all the
|
|
delights and satisfactions of sense wound up to the height of
|
|
pleasurableness. <i>Be not desirous of dainties,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 23:1-3" id="Num.xii-p13.7" parsed="|Prov|23|1|23|3" osisRef="Bible:Prov.23.1-Prov.23.3">Prov. xxiii. 1-3</scripRef>. If God gives us
|
|
food convenient, we ought to be thankful, though we do not eat the
|
|
fat and drink the sweet. (4.) They distrusted the power and
|
|
goodness of God as insufficient for their supply: <i>Who will give
|
|
us flesh to eat?</i> taking it for granted that God could not. Thus
|
|
this question is commented up on, <scripRef passage="Ps 78:19,20" id="Num.xii-p13.8" parsed="|Ps|78|19|78|20" osisRef="Bible:Ps.78.19-Ps.78.20">Ps. lxxviii. 19, 20</scripRef>, <i>Can he provide
|
|
flesh also?</i> though he had given them flesh with their bread
|
|
once, when he saw fit (<scripRef passage="Ex 16:13" id="Num.xii-p13.9" parsed="|Exod|16|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.13">Exod. xvi.
|
|
13</scripRef>), and they might have expected that he would do it
|
|
again, and in mercy, if, instead of murmuring, they had prayed.
|
|
Note, It is an offence to God to let our desires go beyond our
|
|
faith. (5.) They were eager and importunate in their desires; they
|
|
<i>lusted a lust,</i> so the word is, lusted greatly and greedily,
|
|
till they wept again for vexation. So childish were the children of
|
|
Israel, and so humoursome, that they cried because they had not
|
|
what they would have and when they would have it. They did not
|
|
offer up this desire to God, but would rather be beholden to any
|
|
one else than to him. We should not indulge ourselves in any desire
|
|
which we cannot in faith turn into prayer, as we cannot when we
|
|
<i>ask meat for our lust,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 78:18" id="Num.xii-p13.10" parsed="|Ps|78|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.78.18">Ps.
|
|
lxxviii. 18</scripRef>. For this sin the <i>anger of the Lord was
|
|
kindled greatly against them,</i> which is written for our
|
|
admonition, that we should not <i>lust after evil things as they
|
|
lusted,</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 10:6" id="Num.xii-p13.11" parsed="|1Cor|10|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.10.6">1 Cor. x. 6</scripRef>.
|
|
(6.) Flesh is good food, and may lawfully be eaten; yet they are
|
|
said to lust after evil things. What is lawful of itself becomes
|
|
evil to us when it is what God does not allot to us and yet we
|
|
eagerly desire it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xii-p14">II. Moses himself, though so meek and good
|
|
a man, is uneasy upon this occasion: <i>Moses also was
|
|
displeased.</i> Now, 1. It must be confessed that the provocation
|
|
was very great. These murmurings of theirs reflected great
|
|
dishonour upon God, and Moses laid to heart the reproaches cast on
|
|
himself; they knew that he did his utmost for their good, and that
|
|
he neither did nor could do any thing without a divine appointment;
|
|
and yet to be thus continually teased and clamoured against by an
|
|
unreasonable ungrateful people would break in upon the temper even
|
|
of Moses himself. God considered this, and therefore we do not find
|
|
that he chided him for his uneasiness. 2. Yet Moses expressed
|
|
himself otherwise than became him upon this provocation, and came
|
|
short of his duty both to God and Israel in these expostulations.
|
|
(1.) He undervalues the honour God had put upon him, in making him
|
|
the illustrious minister of his power and grace, in the deliverance
|
|
and guidance of that peculiar people, which might have been
|
|
sufficient to balance the burden. (2.) He complains too much of a
|
|
sensible grievance, and lays too near his heart a little noise and
|
|
fatigue. If he could not bear the toil of government, which was but
|
|
running with the footman, how would he bear the terrors of war,
|
|
which was contending with horses? He might easily have furnished
|
|
himself with considerations enough to enable him to slight their
|
|
clamours, and make nothing of them. (3.) He magnifies his own
|
|
performances, that <i>all the burden of the people lay upon
|
|
him;</i> whereas God himself did in effect ease him of all the
|
|
burden. Moses needed not to be in care to provide quarters for
|
|
them, or victuals; God did all. And, if any difficult case
|
|
happened, he needed not to be in any perplexity, while he had the
|
|
oracle to consult, and in it the divine wisdom to direct him, the
|
|
divine authority to back him and bear him out, and almighty power
|
|
itself to dispense rewards and punishments. (4.) He is not so
|
|
sensible as he ought to be of the obligation he lay under, by
|
|
virtue of the divine commission and command, to do the utmost he
|
|
could for his people, when he suggests that because they were not
|
|
the children of his body therefore he was not concerned to take a
|
|
fatherly care of them, though God himself, who might employ him as
|
|
he pleased, had appointed him to be a father to them. (5.) He takes
|
|
too much to himself when he asks, <i>Whence should I have flesh to
|
|
give them</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 11:13" id="Num.xii-p14.1" parsed="|Num|11|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.13"><i>v.</i>
|
|
13</scripRef>), as if he were the housekeeper, and not God.
|
|
<i>Moses gave them not the bread,</i> <scripRef passage="Joh 6:32" id="Num.xii-p14.2" parsed="|John|6|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.6.32">John vi. 32</scripRef>. Nor was it expected that he
|
|
should give them the flesh, but as an instrument in God's hand; and
|
|
if he meant, "Whence should God have it for them?" he too much
|
|
limited the power of the Holy One of Israel. (6.) He speaks
|
|
distrustfully of the divine grace when he despairs of being <i>able
|
|
to bear all this people,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 11:14" id="Num.xii-p14.3" parsed="|Num|11|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.14"><i>v.</i>
|
|
14</scripRef>. Had the work been much less, he could not have gone
|
|
through it in his own strength; but had it been much greater,
|
|
through God strengthening him, he might have done it. (7.) It was
|
|
worst of all passionately to wish for death, and desire to be
|
|
killed out of hand, because just at this time his life was made a
|
|
little uneasy to him, <scripRef passage="Nu 11:15" id="Num.xii-p14.4" parsed="|Num|11|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.15"><i>v.</i>
|
|
15</scripRef>. Is this Moses? Is this the meekest of all the men on
|
|
the earth? The best have their infirmities, and fail sometimes in
|
|
the exercise of that grace for which they are most eminent. But God
|
|
graciously overlooked Moses's passion at this time, and therefore
|
|
we must not be severe in our animadversions upon it, but pray,
|
|
<i>Lord, lead us not into temptation.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 11" id="Num.xii-p14.5" parsed="|Num|11|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.11"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 11:16-23" id="Num.xii-p14.6" parsed="|Num|11|16|11|23" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.16-Num.11.23"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.11.16-Num.11.23">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xii-p14.7">Assistance Provided for
|
|
Moses. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xii-p14.8">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xii-p15">16 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xii-p15.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of
|
|
Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and
|
|
officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the
|
|
congregation, that they may stand there with thee.   17 And I
|
|
will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the
|
|
spirit which <i>is</i> upon thee, and will put <i>it</i> upon them;
|
|
and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou
|
|
bear <i>it</i> not thyself alone.   18 And say thou unto the
|
|
people, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow, and ye shall eat
|
|
flesh: for ye have wept in the ears of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xii-p15.2">Lord</span>, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat?
|
|
for <i>it was</i> well with us in Egypt: therefore the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xii-p15.3">Lord</span> will give you flesh, and ye shall eat.
|
|
  19 Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days,
|
|
neither ten days, nor twenty days;   20 <i>But</i> even a
|
|
whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be
|
|
loathsome unto you: because that ye have despised the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xii-p15.4">Lord</span> which <i>is</i> among you, and have wept
|
|
before him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt?   21 And
|
|
Moses said, The people, among whom I <i>am,</i> <i>are</i> six
|
|
hundred thousand footmen; and thou hast said, I will give them
|
|
flesh, that they may eat a whole month.   22 Shall the flocks
|
|
and the herds be slain for them, to suffice them? or shall all the
|
|
fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice them?
|
|
  23 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xii-p15.5">Lord</span> said unto
|
|
Moses, Is the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xii-p15.6">Lord</span>'s hand waxed
|
|
short? thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto
|
|
thee or not.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xii-p16">We have here God's gracious answer to both
|
|
the foregoing complaints, wherein his goodness takes occasion from
|
|
man's badness to appear so much the more illustrious.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xii-p17">I. Provision is made for the redress of the
|
|
grievances Moses complains of. If he find the weight of government
|
|
lie too heavy upon him, though he was a little too passionate in
|
|
his remonstrance, yet he shall be eased, not by being discarded
|
|
from the government himself, as he justly might have been if God
|
|
had been extreme to mark what he said amiss, but by having
|
|
assistants appointed him, who should be, as the apostle speaks
|
|
(<scripRef passage="1Co 12:28" id="Num.xii-p17.1" parsed="|1Cor|12|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.12.28">1 Cor. xii. 28</scripRef>),
|
|
<i>helps, governments</i> (that is, helps in government), not at
|
|
all to lesson or eclipse his honour, but to make the work more easy
|
|
to him, and to <i>bear the burden of the people with him.</i> And
|
|
that this provision might be both agreeable and really
|
|
serviceable,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xii-p18">1. Moses is directed to nominate the
|
|
persons, <scripRef passage="Nu 11:16" id="Num.xii-p18.1" parsed="|Num|11|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. The
|
|
people were too hot and heady and tumultuous to be entrusted with
|
|
the election; Moses must please himself in the choice, that he may
|
|
not afterwards complain. The number he is to choose is seventy men,
|
|
according to the number of the souls that went down into Egypt. He
|
|
must choose such as he knew to be elders, that is, wise and
|
|
experienced men. Those that had acquitted themselves best, as
|
|
<i>rulers of thousands and hundreds</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 18:25" id="Num.xii-p18.2" parsed="|Exod|18|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.18.25">Exod. xviii. 25</scripRef>), purchase to themselves now
|
|
this good degree. "Choose such as thou knowest to be elders indeed,
|
|
and not in name only, officers that execute their office." We read
|
|
of the same number of elders (<scripRef passage="Ex 24:1" id="Num.xii-p18.3" parsed="|Exod|24|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.1">Exod.
|
|
xxiv. 1</scripRef>) that went up with Moses to Mount Sinai, but
|
|
they were distinguished only for that occasion, these for a
|
|
perpetuity; and, according to this constitution, the Sanhedrim, or
|
|
great council of the Jews, which in after ages sat at Jerusalem,
|
|
and was the highest court of judgment among them, consisted of
|
|
seventy men. Our Saviour seems to have had an eye to it in the
|
|
choice of seventy disciples, who were to be assistants to the
|
|
apostles, <scripRef passage="Lu 10:1-24" id="Num.xii-p18.4" parsed="|Luke|10|1|10|24" osisRef="Bible:Luke.10.1-Luke.10.24">Luke x.</scripRef></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xii-p19">2. God promises to qualify them. If they
|
|
were not found fit for the employ, they should be made fit, else
|
|
they might prove more a hindrance than a help to Moses, <scripRef passage="Nu 11:17" id="Num.xii-p19.1" parsed="|Num|11|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. Though Moses had talked
|
|
too boldly with God, yet God does not therefore break off communion
|
|
with him; he bears a great deal with us, and we must with one
|
|
another: <i>I will come down</i> (said God) <i>and talk with
|
|
thee,</i> when thou art more calm and composed; <i>and I will take
|
|
of the same spirit</i> of wisdom, and piety, and courage, <i>that
|
|
is upon thee,</i> and <i>put it upon them.</i> Not that Moses had
|
|
the less of the Spirit for their sharing, nor that they were hereby
|
|
made equal with him; Moses was still unequalled (<scripRef passage="De 34:10" id="Num.xii-p19.2" parsed="|Deut|34|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.34.10">Deut. xxxiv. 10</scripRef>), but they were clothed with
|
|
a spirit of government proportionable to their place, and with a
|
|
spirit of prophecy to prove their divine call to it, the government
|
|
being a Theocracy. Note, (1.) Those whom God employs in any service
|
|
he qualifies for it, and those that are not in some measure
|
|
qualified cannot think themselves duly called. (2.) All good
|
|
qualifications are from God; every <i>perfect gift is from the
|
|
Father of lights.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xii-p20">II. Even the humour of the discontented
|
|
people shall be gratified too, that every mouth may be stopped.
|
|
They are ordered to <i>sanctify themselves</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 11:18" id="Num.xii-p20.1" parsed="|Num|11|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>), that is, to put themselves
|
|
into a posture to receive such a proof of God's power as should be
|
|
a token both of mercy and judgment. <i>Prepare to meet thy God, O
|
|
Israel,</i> <scripRef passage="Am 4:12" id="Num.xii-p20.2" parsed="|Amos|4|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Amos.4.12">Amos iv. 12</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xii-p21">1. God promises (shall I say?)—he
|
|
threatens rather, that they shall have their fill of flesh, that
|
|
for a month together they shall not only be fed, but feasted, with
|
|
flesh, besides their daily manna; and, if they have not a better
|
|
government of their appetites than now it appears they have they
|
|
shall be surfeited with it (<scripRef passage="Nu 11:19,20" id="Num.xii-p21.1" parsed="|Num|11|19|11|20" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.19-Num.11.20"><i>v.</i> 19, 20</scripRef>): You shall eat <i>till
|
|
it come out at your nostrils, and become loathsome to you.</i> See
|
|
here, (1.) The vanity of all the delights of sense; they will cloy,
|
|
but not satisfy: spiritual pleasures are the contrary. As the world
|
|
passes away, so do the lusts of it, <scripRef passage="1Jo 2:17" id="Num.xii-p21.2" parsed="|1John|2|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.2.17">1
|
|
John ii. 17</scripRef>. What was greedily coveted in a little time
|
|
comes to be nauseated. (2.) What brutish sins (and worse than
|
|
brutish) gluttony and drunkenness are; they put a force upon
|
|
nature, and make that the sickness of the body which should be its
|
|
health; they are sins that are their own punishments, and yet not
|
|
the worst that attend them. (3.) What a righteous thing it is with
|
|
God to make that loathsome to men which they have inordinately
|
|
lusted after. God could make them despise flesh as much as they had
|
|
despised manna.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xii-p22">2. Moses objects the improbability of
|
|
making good this word, <scripRef passage="Nu 11:21,22" id="Num.xii-p22.1" parsed="|Num|11|21|11|22" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.21-Num.11.22"><i>v.</i>
|
|
21, 22</scripRef>. It is an objection like that which the disciples
|
|
made, <scripRef passage="Mk 8:4" id="Num.xii-p22.2" parsed="|Mark|8|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mark.8.4">Mark viii. 4</scripRef>, <i>Whence
|
|
can a man satisfy these men?</i> Some excuse Moses here, and
|
|
construe what he says as only a modest enquiry which way the supply
|
|
must be expected; but it savours too much of diffidence and
|
|
distrust of God to be justified. He objects the number of the
|
|
people, as if he that provided bread for them all could not, by the
|
|
same unlimited power, provide flesh, too. He reckons it must be the
|
|
flesh either of beasts or fishes, because they are the most bulky
|
|
animals, little thinking that the flesh of birds, little birds,
|
|
should serve the purpose. God sees not as man sees, but his
|
|
thoughts are above ours. He objects the greediness of the people's
|
|
desires in that word, <i>to suffice them.</i> Note, Even true and
|
|
great believers sometimes find it hard to trust God under the
|
|
discouragements of second causes, and <i>against hope to believe in
|
|
hope.</i> Moses himself could scarcely forbear saying, <i>Can God
|
|
furnish a table in the wilderness?</i> when this had become the
|
|
common cry. No doubt this was his infirmity.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xii-p23">3. God gives a short but sufficient answer
|
|
to the objection in that question, <i>Has the Lord's hand waxed
|
|
short?</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 11:23" id="Num.xii-p23.1" parsed="|Num|11|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. If
|
|
Moses had remembered <i>the years of the right hand of the Most
|
|
High,</i> he would not have started all these difficulties;
|
|
therefore God reminds him of them, intimating that this objection
|
|
reflected upon the divine power, of which he himself had been so
|
|
often, not only the witness, but the instrument. Had he forgotten
|
|
what wonders the divine power had wrought for that people, when it
|
|
inflicted the plagues of Egypt, divided the sea, broached the rock,
|
|
and rained bread from heaven? Had that power abated? Was God weaker
|
|
than he used to be? Or was he tired with what he had done? Whatever
|
|
our unbelieving hearts may suggest to the contrary, it is certain,
|
|
(1.) That God's hand is not short; his power cannot be restrained
|
|
in the exerting of itself by any thing but his own will; with him
|
|
nothing is impossible. That hand is not short which measures the
|
|
waters, metes out the heavens (<scripRef passage="Isa 40:12" id="Num.xii-p23.2" parsed="|Isa|40|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.40.12">Isa.
|
|
xl. 12</scripRef>), and grasps the winds, <scripRef passage="Pr 30:4" id="Num.xii-p23.3" parsed="|Prov|30|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.30.4">Prov. xxx. 4</scripRef>. (2.) That it has not waxed
|
|
short. He is as strong as ever he was, <i>fainteth not, neither is
|
|
weary.</i> And this is sufficient to silence all our distrusts when
|
|
means fail us, <i>Is any thing too hard for the Lord?</i> God here
|
|
brings Moses to this first principle, sets him back in his lesson,
|
|
to learn the ancient name of God, <i>The Lord God Almighty,</i> and
|
|
puts the proof upon the issue: <i>Thou shalt see whether my word
|
|
shall come to pass or not.</i> This magnifies God's word above all
|
|
his name, that his works never come short of it. If he speaks, it
|
|
is done.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 11:24-30" id="Num.xii-p23.4" parsed="|Num|11|24|11|30" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.24-Num.11.30"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.11.24-Num.11.30">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xii-p23.5">God Promises the People Flesh; The Case of
|
|
Eldad and Medad. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xii-p23.6">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xii-p24">24 And Moses went out, and told the people the
|
|
words of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xii-p24.1">Lord</span>, and gathered the
|
|
seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round about
|
|
the tabernacle.   25 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xii-p24.2">Lord</span> came down in a cloud, and spake unto him,
|
|
and took of the spirit that <i>was</i> upon him, and gave <i>it</i>
|
|
unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, <i>that,</i> when the
|
|
spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease.  
|
|
26 But there remained two <i>of the</i> men in the camp, the name
|
|
of the one <i>was</i> Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and
|
|
the spirit rested upon them; and they <i>were</i> of them that were
|
|
written, but went not out unto the tabernacle: and they prophesied
|
|
in the camp.   27 And there ran a young man, and told Moses,
|
|
and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp.   28 And
|
|
Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, <i>one</i> of his
|
|
young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them.   29
|
|
And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that
|
|
all the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xii-p24.3">Lord</span>'s people were prophets,
|
|
<i>and</i> that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xii-p24.4">Lord</span> would put
|
|
his spirit upon them!   30 And Moses gat him into the camp, he
|
|
and the elders of Israel.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xii-p25">We have here the performance of God's word
|
|
to Moses, that he should have help in the government of Israel.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xii-p26">I. Here is the case of the seventy
|
|
privy-counsellors in general. Moses, though a little disturbed by
|
|
the tumult of the people, yet was thoroughly composed by the
|
|
communion he had with God, and soon came to himself again. And
|
|
according as the matter was concerted, 1. He did his part; he
|
|
presented the seventy elders before the Lord, round the tabernacle
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 11:24" id="Num.xii-p26.1" parsed="|Num|11|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>), that they
|
|
might there stand ready to receive the grace of God, in the place
|
|
where he manifested himself, and that the people also might be
|
|
witnesses of their solemn call. Note, Those that expect favour from
|
|
God must humbly offer themselves and their service to him. 2. God
|
|
was not wanting to do his part. <i>He gave of his Spirit to the
|
|
seventy elders</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 11:25" id="Num.xii-p26.2" parsed="|Num|11|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.25"><i>v.</i>
|
|
25</scripRef>), which enabled those whose capacities and education
|
|
set them but on a level with their neighbours of a sudden to say
|
|
and do that which was extraordinary, and which proved them to be
|
|
actuated by divine inspiration: they prophesied, and did not cease
|
|
all that day, and (some think) only that day. They discoursed to
|
|
the people of the things of God, and perhaps commented upon the law
|
|
they had lately received with admirable clearness, and fulness, and
|
|
readiness, and aptness of expression, so that all who heard them
|
|
might see and say that <i>God was with them of a truth;</i> see
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Co 14:24,25" id="Num.xii-p26.3" parsed="|1Cor|14|24|14|25" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.14.24-1Cor.14.25">1 Cor. xiv. 24, 25</scripRef>.
|
|
Thus, long afterwards, Saul was marked for the government by the
|
|
gift of prophecy, which came upon him for a day and a night,
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Sa 10:6,11" id="Num.xii-p26.4" parsed="|1Sam|10|6|0|0;|1Sam|10|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.10.6 Bible:1Sam.10.11">1 Sam. x. 6, 11</scripRef>. When
|
|
Moses was to fetch Israel out of Egypt, Aaron was appointed to be
|
|
his prophet, <scripRef passage="Ex 7:1" id="Num.xii-p26.5" parsed="|Exod|7|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.7.1">Exod. vii. 1</scripRef>.
|
|
But, now that God had called Aaron to other work, in his room Moses
|
|
has seventy prophets to attend him. Note, Those are fittest to rule
|
|
in God's Israel that are well acquainted with divine things and are
|
|
apt to teach to edification.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xii-p27">II. Here is the particular case of two of
|
|
them, <i>Eldad</i> and <i>Medad,</i> probably two brothers.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xii-p28">1. They were nominated by Moses to be
|
|
assistants in the government, but they <i>went not out unto the
|
|
tabernacle</i> as the rest did, <scripRef passage="Nu 11:26" id="Num.xii-p28.1" parsed="|Num|11|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>. Calvin conjectures that the
|
|
summons was sent them, but that it did not find them, they being
|
|
somewhere out of the way; so that, though they were written, yet
|
|
they were not called. Most think that they declined coming to the
|
|
tabernacle out of an excess of modesty and humility; being sensible
|
|
of their own weakness and unworthiness, they desired to be excused
|
|
from coming into the government. Their principle was their praise,
|
|
but their practice in not obeying orders was their fault.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xii-p29">2. The Spirit of God found them out in the
|
|
camp, where they were hidden among the stuff, and there they
|
|
prophesied, that is, they exercised their gift of praying,
|
|
preaching, and praising God, in some private tent. Note, The Spirit
|
|
of God is not tied to the tabernacle, but, <i>like the wind, blows
|
|
where he listeth,</i> <scripRef passage="Joh 3:8" id="Num.xii-p29.1" parsed="|John|3|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.3.8">John iii.
|
|
8</scripRef>. <i>Whither can we go from that Spirit?</i> There was
|
|
a special providence in it that these two should be absent, for
|
|
thus it appeared that it was indeed a divine Spirit which the
|
|
elders were actuated by, and that Moses gave them not that Spirit,
|
|
but God himself. They modestly declined preferment, but God forced
|
|
it upon them; nay, they have the honour of being <i>named,</i>
|
|
which the rest have not: for those that humble themselves shall be
|
|
exalted, and those are most fit for government who are least
|
|
ambitious of it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xii-p30">3. Information of this was given to Moses
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 11:27" id="Num.xii-p30.1" parsed="|Num|11|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>): "<i>Eldad
|
|
and Medad do prophesy in the camp;</i> there is a conventicle in
|
|
such a tent, and Eldad and Medad are holding forth there, from
|
|
under the inspection and presidency of Moses, and out of the
|
|
communion of the rest of the elders." Whoever the person was that
|
|
brought the tidings, he seems to have looked upon it as an
|
|
irregularity.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xii-p31">4. Joshua moved to have them silenced:
|
|
<i>My lord Moses, forbid them,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 11:28" id="Num.xii-p31.1" parsed="|Num|11|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>. It is probable that Joshua
|
|
himself was one of the seventy, which made him the more jealous for
|
|
the honour of their order. He takes it for granted that they were
|
|
not under any necessitating impulse, <i>for the spirit of the
|
|
prophets is subject to the prophets,</i> and therefore he would
|
|
have them either not to prophesy at all or to come to the
|
|
tabernacle and prophesy in concert with the rest. He does not
|
|
desire that they should be punished for what they had done, but
|
|
only restrained for the future. This motion he made from a good
|
|
principle, not out of any personal dislike to Eldad and Medad, but
|
|
out of an honest zeal for that which he apprehended to be the unity
|
|
of the church, and concern for the honour of God and Moses.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xii-p32">5. Moses rejected the motion, and reproved
|
|
him that made it (<scripRef passage="Nu 11:29" id="Num.xii-p32.1" parsed="|Num|11|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.29"><i>v.</i>
|
|
29</scripRef>): "<i>Enviest thou for my sake?</i> Thou knowest not
|
|
what manner of spirit thou art of." Though Joshua was Moses's
|
|
particular friend and confidant, though he said this out of a
|
|
respect to Moses, whose honour he was very loth to see lessened by
|
|
the call of those elders, yet Moses reproves him, and in him all
|
|
that show such a spirit. (1.) We must not secretly grieve at the
|
|
gifts, graces, and usefulness of others. It was the fault of John's
|
|
disciples that they envied Christ's honour because it shaded their
|
|
master's, <scripRef passage="Joh 3:26-36" id="Num.xii-p32.2" parsed="|John|3|26|3|36" osisRef="Bible:John.3.26-John.3.36">John iii. 26</scripRef>,
|
|
&c. (2.) We must not be transported into heats against the
|
|
weaknesses and infirmities of others. Granting that Eldad and Medad
|
|
were guilty of an irregularity, yet Joshua was too quick and too
|
|
warm upon them. Our zeal must always be tempered with the meekness
|
|
of wisdom: the righteousness of God needs not the wrath of man,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Jam 1:20" id="Num.xii-p32.3" parsed="|Jas|1|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jas.1.20">Jam. i. 20</scripRef>. (3.) We must
|
|
not make even the best and most useful men heads of a party. Paul
|
|
would not have his name made use of to patronise a faction,
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Co 1:12,13" id="Num.xii-p32.4" parsed="|1Cor|1|12|1|13" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.1.12-1Cor.1.13">1 Cor. i. 12, 13</scripRef>. (4.)
|
|
We must not be forward to condemn and silence those that differ
|
|
from us, as if they did not follow Christ because they do not
|
|
follow <i>him with us,</i> <scripRef passage="Mk 9:38" id="Num.xii-p32.5" parsed="|Mark|9|38|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mark.9.38">Mark ix.
|
|
38</scripRef>. Shall we reject those whom Christ has owned, or
|
|
restrain any from doing good because they are not in every thing of
|
|
our mind? Moses was of another spirit; so far from silencing these
|
|
two, and quenching the Spirit in them, he wished <i>all the Lord's
|
|
people were prophets,</i> that is, that he would <i>put his Spirit
|
|
upon them.</i> Not that he would have any set up for prophets that
|
|
were not duly qualified, or that he expected that the Spirit of
|
|
prophecy should be made thus common; but thus he expresses the love
|
|
and esteem he had for <i>all the Lord's people,</i> the complacency
|
|
he took in the gifts of others, and how far he was from being
|
|
displeased at Eldad and Medad's prophesying from under his eye.
|
|
Such an excellent spirit as this blessed Paul was of, rejoicing
|
|
that Christ was preached, though it was by those who therein
|
|
intended to <i>add affliction to his bonds,</i> <scripRef passage="Php 1:16" id="Num.xii-p32.6" parsed="|Phil|1|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Phil.1.16">Phil. i. 16</scripRef>. We ought to be pleased that God
|
|
is served and glorified, and good done, though to the lessening of
|
|
our credit and the credit of our way.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xii-p33">6. The elders, now newly ordained,
|
|
immediately entered upon their administration (<scripRef passage="Nu 11:30" id="Num.xii-p33.1" parsed="|Num|11|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>); when their call was
|
|
sufficiently attested by their prophesying, they went with Moses to
|
|
the camp, and applied themselves to business. Having received the
|
|
gift, they <i>ministered the same as good stewards.</i> And now
|
|
Moses was pleased that he had so many to share with him in his work
|
|
and honour. And, (1.) Let the testimony of Moses be credited by
|
|
those who desire to be in power, that government is a burden. It is
|
|
a burden of care and trouble to those who make conscience of the
|
|
duty of it; and to those who do not it will prove a heavier burden
|
|
in the day of account, when they fall under the doom of the
|
|
unprofitable servant that buried his talent. (2.) Let the example
|
|
of Moses be imitated by those that are in power; let them not
|
|
despise the advice and assistance of others, but desire it, and be
|
|
thankful for it, not coveting to monopolize wisdom and power. In
|
|
the multitude of counsellors there is safety.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 11:31-35" id="Num.xii-p33.2" parsed="|Num|11|31|11|35" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.31-Num.11.35"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.11.31-Num.11.35">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xii-p33.3">The Quails. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xii-p33.4">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xii-p34">31 And there went forth a wind from the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xii-p34.1">Lord</span>, and brought quails from the sea, and
|
|
let <i>them</i> fall by the camp, as it were a day's journey on
|
|
this side, and as it were a day's journey on the other side, round
|
|
about the camp, and as it were two cubits <i>high</i> upon the face
|
|
of the earth.   32 And the people stood up all that day, and
|
|
all <i>that</i> night, and all the next day, and they gathered the
|
|
quails: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread
|
|
<i>them</i> all abroad for themselves round about the camp.  
|
|
33 And while the flesh <i>was</i> yet between their teeth, ere it
|
|
was chewed, the wrath of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xii-p34.2">Lord</span>
|
|
was kindled against the people, and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xii-p34.3">Lord</span> smote the people with a very great plague.
|
|
  34 And he called the name of that place Kibroth-hattaavah:
|
|
because there they buried the people that lusted.   35
|
|
<i>And</i> the people journeyed from Kibroth-hattaavah unto
|
|
Hazeroth; and abode at Hazeroth.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xii-p35">God, having performed his promise to Moses
|
|
by giving him assessors in the government, thereby proving the
|
|
power he has over the spirits of men by his Spirit, he here
|
|
performs his promise to the people by giving them flesh, proving
|
|
thereby his power over the inferior creatures and his dominion in
|
|
the kingdom of nature. Observe, 1. How the people were gratified
|
|
with flesh in abundance: <i>A wind</i> (a south-east wind, as
|
|
appears, <scripRef passage="Ps 78:26" id="Num.xii-p35.1" parsed="|Ps|78|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.78.26">Ps. lxxviii. 26</scripRef>)
|
|
<i>brought quails,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 11:31" id="Num.xii-p35.2" parsed="|Num|11|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.31"><i>v.</i>
|
|
31</scripRef>. It is uncertain what sort of animals they were; the
|
|
psalmist calls them <i>feathered fowl,</i> or <i>fowl of wing.</i>
|
|
The learned bishop Patrick inclines to agree with some modern
|
|
writers, who think they were <i>locusts,</i> a delicious sort of
|
|
food well known in those parts, the rather because they were
|
|
brought with a wind, lay in heaps, and were dried in the sun for
|
|
use. Whatever they were, they answered the intention, they served
|
|
for a month's feast for Israel, such an indulgent Father was God to
|
|
his froward family. Locusts, that had been a plague to fruitful
|
|
Egypt, feeding upon the fruits, were a blessing to a barren
|
|
wilderness, being themselves fed upon. 2. How greedy they were of
|
|
this flesh that God sent them. They <i>flew upon the spoil</i> with
|
|
an unsatiable appetite, not regarding what Moses had told them from
|
|
God, that they would surfeit upon it, <scripRef passage="Nu 11:32" id="Num.xii-p35.3" parsed="|Num|11|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>. Two days and a night they were
|
|
at it, gathering flesh, till every master of a family had brought
|
|
home ten homers (that is, ten ass-loads) at least. David longed for
|
|
the water of the well of Bethlehem, but would not drink it when he
|
|
had it, because it was obtained by venturing; much more reason
|
|
these Israelites had to refuse this flesh, which was obtained by
|
|
murmuring, and which, they might easily perceive, by what Moses
|
|
said, was given them in anger; but those that are under the power
|
|
of a carnal mind will have their lusts fulfilled, though it be to
|
|
the certain damage and ruin of their precious souls. 3. How dearly
|
|
they paid for their feasts, when it came into the reckoning: <i>The
|
|
Lord smote them with a very great plague</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 11:33" id="Num.xii-p35.4" parsed="|Num|11|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>), some bodily disease, which
|
|
probably was the effect of their surfeit, and was the death of many
|
|
of them, and those, it is likely, the ringleaders in the mutiny.
|
|
Note, God often grants the desires of his own people in love. He
|
|
<i>gave them their request,</i> but <i>sent leanness into their
|
|
soul,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 16:15" id="Num.xii-p35.5" parsed="|Ps|16|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.16.15">Ps. xvi. 15</scripRef>. By
|
|
all that was said to them they <i>were not estranged from their
|
|
lusts,</i> and therefore, <i>while the meat was in their mouths,
|
|
the wrath of God came upon them,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 78:30,31" id="Num.xii-p35.6" parsed="|Ps|78|30|78|31" osisRef="Bible:Ps.78.30-Ps.78.31">Ps. lxxviii. 30, 31</scripRef>. What we inordinately
|
|
desire, if we obtain it (we have reason to fear), will be some way
|
|
or other a grief and cross to us. God satiated them first, and then
|
|
plagued them, (1.) To save the reputation of his own power, that it
|
|
might not be said, "He would not have cut them off had he been able
|
|
to supply them." And, (2.) To show us the meaning of the prosperity
|
|
of sinners; it is their preparation for ruin, they are fed as an ox
|
|
for the slaughter. <i>Lastly,</i> The remembrance of this is
|
|
preserved in the name given to the place, <scripRef passage="Nu 11:34" id="Num.xii-p35.7" parsed="|Num|11|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.34"><i>v.</i> 34</scripRef>. Moses called it
|
|
<i>Kibroth-hattaavah,</i> the <i>graves of lusters</i> or <i>of
|
|
lust.</i> And well it had been if these graves of Israel's lusters
|
|
had proved the graves of Israel's lust: the warning was designed to
|
|
be so, but it had not its due effect, for it follows (<scripRef passage="Ps 78:32" id="Num.xii-p35.8" parsed="|Ps|78|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.78.32">Ps. lxxviii. 32</scripRef>), <i>For all this,
|
|
they sinned still.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XII" n="xiii" progress="69.27%" prev="Num.xii" next="Num.xiv" id="Num.xiii">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.xiii-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.xiii-p0.2">CHAP. XII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.xiii-p1">In the foregoing chapter we had the vexation which
|
|
the people gave to Moses; in this we have his patience tried by his
|
|
own relations. I. Miriam and Aaron, his own brother and sister,
|
|
affronted him, <scripRef passage="Nu 12:1-3" id="Num.xiii-p1.1" parsed="|Num|12|1|12|3" osisRef="Bible:Num.12.1-Num.12.3">ver. 1-3</scripRef>.
|
|
II. God called them to an account for it, <scripRef passage="Nu 12:4-9" id="Num.xiii-p1.2" parsed="|Num|12|4|12|9" osisRef="Bible:Num.12.4-Num.12.9">ver. 4-9</scripRef>. III. Miriam was smitten with a
|
|
leprosy for it, <scripRef passage="Nu 12:10" id="Num.xiii-p1.3" parsed="|Num|12|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.12.10">ver. 10</scripRef>.
|
|
IV. Aaron submits, and Moses meekly intercedes for Miriam,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 12:11-13" id="Num.xiii-p1.4" parsed="|Num|12|11|12|13" osisRef="Bible:Num.12.11-Num.12.13">ver. 11-13</scripRef>. V. She is
|
|
healed, but put to shame for seven days, <scripRef passage="Nu 12:14-16" id="Num.xiii-p1.5" parsed="|Num|12|14|12|16" osisRef="Bible:Num.12.14-Num.12.16">ver. 14-16</scripRef>. And this is recorded to show
|
|
that the best persons and families have both their follies and
|
|
their crosses.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 12" id="Num.xiii-p1.6" parsed="|Num|12|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.12"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 12:1-3" id="Num.xiii-p1.7" parsed="|Num|12|1|12|3" osisRef="Bible:Num.12.1-Num.12.3"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.12.1-Num.12.3">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xiii-p1.8">Murmuring of Miriam and
|
|
Aaron. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xiii-p1.9">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xiii-p2">1 And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses
|
|
because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had
|
|
married an Ethiopian woman.   2 And they said, Hath the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xiii-p2.1">Lord</span> indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he
|
|
not spoken also by us? And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xiii-p2.2">Lord</span>
|
|
heard <i>it.</i>   3 (Now the man Moses <i>was</i> very meek,
|
|
above all the men which <i>were</i> upon the face of the
|
|
earth.)</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xiii-p3">Here is, I. The unbecoming passion of Aaron
|
|
and Miriam: they <i>spoke against Moses,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 12:1" id="Num.xiii-p3.1" parsed="|Num|12|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.12.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. If Moses, that received so much
|
|
honour from God, yet received so many slights and affronts from
|
|
men, shall any of us think such trials either strange or hard, and
|
|
be either provoked or discouraged by them? But who would have
|
|
thought that disturbance should be created to Moses, 1. From those
|
|
that were themselves serious and good; nay, that were eminent in
|
|
religion, Miriam a prophetess, Aaron the high priest, both of them
|
|
joint-commissioners with Moses for the deliverance of Israel?
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mic 6:4" id="Num.xiii-p3.2" parsed="|Mic|6|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mic.6.4">Mic. vi. 4</scripRef>, <i>I sent before
|
|
thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.</i> 2. From those that were his
|
|
nearest relations, his own brother and sister, who shone so much by
|
|
rays borrowed from him? Thus the spouse complains (<scripRef passage="So 1:6" id="Num.xiii-p3.3" parsed="|Song|1|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Song.1.6">Cant. i. 6</scripRef>), <i>My mother's children
|
|
were angry with me;</i> and quarrels among relations are in a
|
|
special manner grievous. <i>A brother offended is harder to be won
|
|
than a strong city.</i> Yet this helps to confirm the call of
|
|
Moses, and shows that his advancement was purely by the divine
|
|
favour, and not by any compact or collusion with his kindred, who
|
|
themselves grudged his advancement. Neither did many of our
|
|
Saviour's kindred believe on him, <scripRef passage="Joh 7:5" id="Num.xiii-p3.4" parsed="|John|7|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.7.5">John
|
|
vii. 5</scripRef>. It should seem that Miriam began the quarrel,
|
|
and Aaron, not having been employed or consulted in the choice of
|
|
the seventy elders, was for the present somewhat disgusted, and so
|
|
was the sooner drawn in to take his sister's part. It would grieve
|
|
one to see the hand of Aaron in so many trespasses, but it shows
|
|
that <i>the law made men priests who had infirmity.</i> Satan
|
|
prevailed first with Eve, and by her with Adam; see what need we
|
|
have to take heed of being drawn into quarrels by our relations,
|
|
for we know not how great a matter a little fire may kindle. Aaron
|
|
ought to have remembered how Moses stood his friend when God was
|
|
angry with him for making the golden calf (<scripRef passage="De 9:20" id="Num.xiii-p3.5" parsed="|Deut|9|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.20">Deut. ix. 20</scripRef>), and not to have rendered him
|
|
evil for good. Two things they quarrelled with Moses about:—(1.)
|
|
About his marriage: some think a late marriage with a Cushite or
|
|
Arabian; others because of Zipporah, whom on this occasion they
|
|
called, in scorn, an Ethiopian woman, and who, they insinuated, had
|
|
too great an influence upon Moses in the choice of these seventy
|
|
elders. Perhaps there was some private falling out between Zipporah
|
|
and Miriam, which occasioned some hot words, and one peevish
|
|
reflection introduced another, till Moses and Aaron came to be
|
|
interested. (2.) About his government; not the mismanagement of it,
|
|
but the monopolizing of it (<scripRef passage="Nu 12:2" id="Num.xiii-p3.6" parsed="|Num|12|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.12.2"><i>v.</i>
|
|
2</scripRef>): "<i>Hath the Lord spoken only by Moses?</i> Must
|
|
<i>he</i> alone have the choice of the persons on whom the spirit
|
|
of prophecy shall come? <i>Hath he not spoken also by us?</i> Might
|
|
not we have had a hand in that affair, and preferred our friends,
|
|
as well as Moses his?" They could not deny that God had spoken by
|
|
Moses, but it was plain he had sometimes spoken also by them; and
|
|
that which they intended was to make themselves equal with him,
|
|
though God had so many ways distinguished him. Note, Striving to be
|
|
greatest is a sin which easily besets disciples themselves, and it
|
|
is exceedingly sinful. Even those that are well preferred are
|
|
seldom pleased if others be better preferred. Those that excel are
|
|
commonly envied.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xiii-p4">II. The wonderful patience of Moses under
|
|
this provocation. <i>The Lord heard it</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 12:2" id="Num.xiii-p4.1" parsed="|Num|12|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.12.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), but Moses himself took no notice
|
|
of it, for (<scripRef passage="Nu 12:3" id="Num.xiii-p4.2" parsed="|Num|12|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.12.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>) he
|
|
was very meek. He had a great deal of reason to resent the affront;
|
|
it was ill-natured and ill-timed, when the people were disposed to
|
|
mutiny, and had lately given him a great deal of vexation with
|
|
their murmurings, which would be in danger of breaking out again
|
|
when thus headed and countenanced by Aaron and Miriam; but he,
|
|
<i>as a deaf man, heard not.</i> When God's honour was concerned,
|
|
as in the case of the golden calf, no man more zealous than Moses;
|
|
but, when his own honour was touched, no man more meek: as bold as
|
|
a lion in the cause of God, but as mild as a lamb in his own cause.
|
|
God's people are the <i>meek of the earth</i> (<scripRef passage="Zep 2:3" id="Num.xiii-p4.3" parsed="|Zeph|2|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zeph.2.3">Zeph. ii. 3</scripRef>), but some are more remarkable
|
|
than others for this grace, as Moses, who was thus fitted for the
|
|
work he was called to, which required all the meekness he had and
|
|
sometimes more. And sometimes the unkindness of our friends is a
|
|
greater trial of our meekness than the malice of our enemies.
|
|
Christ himself records his own meekness (<scripRef passage="Mt 11:29" id="Num.xiii-p4.4" parsed="|Matt|11|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.11.29">Matt. xi. 29</scripRef>, <i>I am meek and lowly in
|
|
heart</i>), and the copy of meekness which Christ has set was
|
|
without a blot, but that of Moses was not.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 12:4-9" id="Num.xiii-p4.5" parsed="|Num|12|4|12|9" osisRef="Bible:Num.12.4-Num.12.9"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.12.4-Num.12.9">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xiii-p5">4 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xiii-p5.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, Come
|
|
out ye three unto the tabernacle of the congregation. And they
|
|
three came out.   5 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xiii-p5.2">Lord</span> came down in the pillar of the cloud, and
|
|
stood <i>in</i> the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and
|
|
Miriam: and they both came forth.   6 And he said, Hear now my
|
|
words: If there be a prophet among you, <i>I</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xiii-p5.3">Lord</span> will make myself known unto him in a
|
|
vision, <i>and</i> will speak unto him in a dream.   7 My
|
|
servant Moses <i>is</i> not so, who <i>is</i> faithful in all mine
|
|
house.   8 With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even
|
|
apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xiii-p5.4">Lord</span> shall he behold: wherefore then
|
|
were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?   9 And
|
|
the anger of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xiii-p5.5">Lord</span> was kindled
|
|
against them; and he departed.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xiii-p6">Moses did not resent the injury done him,
|
|
nor complain of it to God, nor make any appeal to him; but God
|
|
resented it. He hears all we say in our passion, and is a swift
|
|
witness of our hasty speeches, which is a reason why we should
|
|
resolutely bridle our tongues, that we speak not ill of others, and
|
|
why we should patiently stop our ears, and not take notice of it,
|
|
if others speak ill of us. <i>I heard not, for thou wilt hear,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 38:13-15" id="Num.xiii-p6.1" parsed="|Ps|38|13|38|15" osisRef="Bible:Ps.38.13-Ps.38.15">Ps. xxxviii. 13-15</scripRef>. The
|
|
more silent we are in our own cause the more is God engaged to
|
|
plead it. The accused innocent needs to say little if he knows the
|
|
judge himself will be his advocate.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xiii-p7">I. The cause is called, and the parties are
|
|
summoned forthwith to attend at the door of the tabernacle,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 12:4,5" id="Num.xiii-p7.1" parsed="|Num|12|4|12|5" osisRef="Bible:Num.12.4-Num.12.5"><i>v.</i> 4, 5</scripRef>. Moses had
|
|
often shown himself jealous for God's honour, and now God showed
|
|
himself jealous for his reputation; for <i>those that honour God he
|
|
will honour,</i> nor will he ever be behind-hand with any that
|
|
appear for him. Judges of old sat in the gate of the city to try
|
|
causes, and so on this occasion the <i>shechinah</i> in the cloud
|
|
of glory stood <i>at the door of the tabernacle,</i> and Aaron and
|
|
Miriam, as delinquents, were called to the bar.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xiii-p8">II. Aaron and Miriam were made to know that
|
|
great as they were they must not pretend to be equal to Moses, nor
|
|
set up as rivals with him, <scripRef passage="Nu 12:6-8" id="Num.xiii-p8.1" parsed="|Num|12|6|12|8" osisRef="Bible:Num.12.6-Num.12.8"><i>v.</i>
|
|
6-8</scripRef>. Were they prophets of the Lord? Of Moses it might
|
|
be truly said, <i>He more.</i> 1. It was true that God put a great
|
|
deal of honour upon the prophets. However men mocked them and
|
|
misused them, they were the favourites and intimates of heaven. God
|
|
<i>made himself known to them,</i> either by dreams when they were
|
|
asleep or by visions when they were awake, and by them made himself
|
|
known to others. And those are happy, those are great, truly great,
|
|
truly happy, to whom God <i>makes himself known,</i> Now he does it
|
|
not by dreams and visions, as of old, but by the <i>Spirit of
|
|
wisdom and revelation,</i> who makes known those things to babes
|
|
which <i>prophets and kings</i> desired to see and might not. Hence
|
|
in the last days, the days of the Messiah, the <i>sons and
|
|
daughters</i> are said to <i>prophesy</i> (<scripRef passage="Joe 2:28" id="Num.xiii-p8.2" parsed="|Joel|2|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Joel.2.28">Joel ii. 28</scripRef>), because they shall be better
|
|
acquainted with the mysteries of the kingdom of grace than even the
|
|
prophets themselves were; see <scripRef passage="Heb 1:1,2" id="Num.xiii-p8.3" parsed="|Heb|1|1|1|2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.1.1-Heb.1.2">Heb. i.
|
|
1, 2</scripRef>. 2. Yet the honour put upon Moses was far greater
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 12:7" id="Num.xiii-p8.4" parsed="|Num|12|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.12.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>): <i>My servant
|
|
Moses is not so,</i> he excels them all. To recompense Moses for
|
|
his meekly and patiently bearing the affronts which Miriam and
|
|
Aaron gave him, God not only cleared him, but praised him; and took
|
|
that occasion to give him an encomium which remains upon record to
|
|
his immortal honour; and thus shall those that are reviled and
|
|
persecuted for righteousness' sake have a <i>great reward in
|
|
heaven,</i> Christ will confess them before his Father and the holy
|
|
angels. (1.) Moses was a man of great integrity and tried fidelity.
|
|
He is <i>faithful in all my house.</i> This is put first in his
|
|
character, because grace excels gifts, love excels knowledge, and
|
|
sincerity in the service of God puts a greater honour upon a man
|
|
and recommends him to the divine favour more than learning,
|
|
abstruse speculations, and an ability to <i>speak with tongues.</i>
|
|
This is that part of Moses's character which the apostle quotes
|
|
when he would show that Christ was greater than Moses, making it
|
|
out that he was so in this chief instance of his greatness; for
|
|
Moses was faithful only <i>as a servant,</i> but Christ <i>as a
|
|
son,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 3:2,5,6" id="Num.xiii-p8.5" parsed="|Heb|3|2|0|0;|Heb|3|5|0|0;|Heb|3|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.3.2 Bible:Heb.3.5 Bible:Heb.3.6">Heb. iii. 2, 5,
|
|
6</scripRef>. God entrusted Moses to deliver his mind in all things
|
|
to Israel; Israel entrusted him to treat for them with God; and he
|
|
was faithful to both. He said and did every thing in the management
|
|
of that great affair as became an honest good man, that aimed at
|
|
nothing else but the honour of God and the welfare of Israel. (2.)
|
|
Moses was therefore honoured with clearer discoveries of God's
|
|
mind, and a more intimate communion with God, than any other
|
|
prophet whatsoever. He shall, [1.] Hear more from God than any
|
|
other prophet, more clearly and distinctly: <i>With him will I
|
|
speak mouth to mouth,</i> or <i>face to face</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 30:11" id="Num.xiii-p8.6" parsed="|Exod|30|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.30.11">Exod. xxx. 11</scripRef>), <i>as a man speaks to
|
|
his friend,</i> whom he discourses with freely and familiarly, and
|
|
without any confusion or consternation, such as sometimes other
|
|
prophets were under; as Ezekiel, and John himself, when God spoke
|
|
to them. By other prophets God sent to his people reproofs, and
|
|
predictions of good or evil, which were properly enough delivered
|
|
in dark speeches, figures, types, and parables; but by Moses he
|
|
gave laws to his people, and the institution of holy ordinances,
|
|
which could by no means be delivered by dark speeches, but must be
|
|
expressed in the plainest and most intelligible manner. [2.] He
|
|
shall see more of God than any other prophet: <i>The similitude of
|
|
the Lord shall behold,</i> as he hath seen it in Horeb, when God
|
|
proclaimed his name before him. Yet he saw only the similitude of
|
|
the Lord, angels and glorified saints always behold the face of our
|
|
Father. Moses had the spirit of prophecy in a way peculiar to
|
|
himself, and which set him far above all other prophets; yet <i>he
|
|
that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he,</i> much
|
|
more does our Lord Jesus infinitely excel him, <scripRef passage="Heb 3:1-6" id="Num.xiii-p8.7" parsed="|Heb|3|1|3|6" osisRef="Bible:Heb.3.1-Heb.3.6">Heb. iii. 1</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xiii-p9">Now let Miriam and Aaron consider who it
|
|
was that they insulted: <i>Were you not afraid to speak against my
|
|
servant Moses? Against my servant, against Moses?</i> so it runs in
|
|
the original. "How dare you abuse any servant of mine, especially
|
|
such a servant as Moses, who is a friend, a confidant, and steward
|
|
of the house?" How durst they speak to the grief and reproach of
|
|
one whom God had so much to say in commendation of? Might they not
|
|
expect that God would resent it, and take it as an affront to
|
|
himself? Note, We have reason to be afraid of saying or doing any
|
|
thing against the servants of God; it is at our peril if we do, for
|
|
God will plead their cause, and reckon that what <i>touches them
|
|
touches the apple of his eye.</i> It is a dangerous thing to
|
|
<i>offend Christ's little ones,</i> <scripRef passage="Mt 18:6" id="Num.xiii-p9.1" parsed="|Matt|18|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.18.6">Matt. xviii. 6</scripRef>. Those are presumptuous indeed
|
|
that <i>are not afraid to speak evil of dignities,</i> <scripRef passage="2Pe 2:10" id="Num.xiii-p9.2" parsed="|2Pet|2|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.2.10">2 Pet. ii. 10</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xiii-p10">III. God, having thus shown them their
|
|
fault and folly, next shows them his displeasure (<scripRef passage="Nu 12:9" id="Num.xiii-p10.1" parsed="|Num|12|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.12.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): <i>The anger of the Lord
|
|
was kindled against them,</i> of which perhaps some sensible
|
|
indications were given in the change of the colour of the cloud, or
|
|
some flashes of lightning from it. But indeed it was indication
|
|
enough of his displeasure that he departed, and would not so much
|
|
as hear their excuse, for he needed not, <i>understanding their
|
|
thoughts afar off;</i> and thus he would show that he was
|
|
displeased. Note, The removal of God's presence from us is the
|
|
surest and saddest token of God's displeasure against us. Woe unto
|
|
us if he depart; and he never departs till we by our sin and folly
|
|
drive him from us.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 12" id="Num.xiii-p10.2" parsed="|Num|12|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.12"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 12:10-16" id="Num.xiii-p10.3" parsed="|Num|12|10|12|16" osisRef="Bible:Num.12.10-Num.12.16"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.12.10-Num.12.16">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xiii-p10.4">Miriam Smitten with Leprosy. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xiii-p10.5">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xiii-p11">10 And the cloud departed from off the
|
|
tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam <i>became</i> leprous, <i>white</i>
|
|
as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, <i>she was</i>
|
|
leprous.   11 And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas, my lord, I
|
|
beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done
|
|
foolishly, and wherein we have sinned.   12 Let her not be as
|
|
one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of
|
|
his mother's womb.   13 And Moses cried unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xiii-p11.1">Lord</span>, saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech
|
|
thee.   14 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xiii-p11.2">Lord</span> said
|
|
unto Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not
|
|
be ashamed seven days? let her be shut out from the camp seven
|
|
days, and after that let her be received in <i>again.</i>   15
|
|
And Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days: and the people
|
|
journeyed not till Miriam was brought in <i>again.</i>   16
|
|
And afterward the people removed from Hazeroth, and pitched in the
|
|
wilderness of Paran.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xiii-p12">Here is, I. God's judgment upon Miriam
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 12:10" id="Num.xiii-p12.1" parsed="|Num|12|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.12.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>): <i>The
|
|
cloud departed from off</i> that part of <i>the tabernacle,</i> in
|
|
token of God's displeasure, and presently Miriam became leprous;
|
|
when God goes, evil comes; expect no good when God departs. The
|
|
leprosy was a disease often inflicted by the immediate hand of God
|
|
as the punishment of some particular sin, as on Gehazi for lying,
|
|
on Uzziah for invading the priest's office, and here on Miriam for
|
|
scolding and making mischief among relations. The plague of the
|
|
leprosy, it is likely, appeared in her face, so that it appeared to
|
|
all that saw her that she was struck with it, with the worst of it,
|
|
she was leprous as snow; not only so white, but so soft, the solid
|
|
flesh losing its consistency, as that which putrefies does. Her
|
|
foul tongue (says bishop Hall) is justly punished with a foul face,
|
|
and her folly in pretending to be a rival with Moses is made
|
|
manifest to all men, for every one sees his face to be glorious,
|
|
and hers to be leprous. While Moses needs a veil to hide his glory,
|
|
Miriam needs one to hide her shame. Note, Those distempers which
|
|
any way deform us ought to be construed as a rebuke to our pride,
|
|
and improved for the cure of it, and under such humbling
|
|
providences we ought to be very humble. It is a sign that the heart
|
|
is hard indeed if the flesh be mortified, and yet the lusts of the
|
|
flesh remain unmortified. It should seem that this plague upon
|
|
Miriam was designed for an exposition of the law concerning the
|
|
leprosy (<scripRef passage="Le 13:1-59" id="Num.xiii-p12.2" parsed="|Lev|13|1|13|59" osisRef="Bible:Lev.13.1-Lev.13.59">Lev. xiii.</scripRef>), for
|
|
it is referred to upon the rehearsal of that law, <scripRef passage="De 24:8,9" id="Num.xiii-p12.3" parsed="|Deut|24|8|24|9" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24.8-Deut.24.9">Deut. xxiv. 8, 9</scripRef>. Miriam was struck
|
|
with a leprosy, but not Aaron, because she was first in the
|
|
transgression, and God would put a difference between those that
|
|
mislead and those that are misled. Aaron's office, though it saved
|
|
him not from God's displeasure, yet helped to secure him from this
|
|
token of his displeasure, which would not only have suspended him
|
|
for the present from officiating, when (there being no priests but
|
|
himself and his two sons) he could ill be spared, but it would have
|
|
rendered him and his office mean, and would have been a lasting
|
|
blot upon his family. Aaron as priest was to be the judge of the
|
|
leprosy, and his performing that part of his office upon this
|
|
occasion, when he <i>looked upon Miriam, and behold she was
|
|
leprous,</i> was a sufficient mortification to him. He was struck
|
|
through her side, and could not pronounce her leprous without
|
|
blushing and trembling, knowing himself to be equally obnoxious.
|
|
This judgment upon Miriam is improvable by us as a warning to take
|
|
heed of putting any affront upon our Lord Jesus. If she was thus
|
|
chastised for speaking against Moses, what will become of those
|
|
that sin against Christ?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xiii-p13">II. Aaron's submission hereupon (<scripRef passage="Nu 12:11,12" id="Num.xiii-p13.1" parsed="|Num|12|11|12|12" osisRef="Bible:Num.12.11-Num.12.12"><i>v.</i> 11, 12</scripRef>); he humbles
|
|
himself to Moses, confesses his fault, and begs pardon. He that but
|
|
just now joined with his sister in speaking against Moses is here
|
|
forced for himself and his sister to make a penitent address to
|
|
him, and in the highest degree to magnify him (as if he had the
|
|
power of God to forgive and heal) whom he had so lately vilified.
|
|
Note, Those that trample upon the saints and servants of God will
|
|
one day be glad to make court to them; at furthest, in the other
|
|
world, as the foolish virgins to the wise for a little oil, and the
|
|
rich man to Lazarus for a little water; and perhaps in this world,
|
|
as Job's friend to him for his prayers, and here Aaron to Moses.
|
|
<scripRef passage="Re 3:9" id="Num.xiii-p13.2" parsed="|Rev|3|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.3.9">Rev. iii. 9</scripRef>. In his
|
|
submission, 1. He confesses his own and his sister's sin, <scripRef passage="Nu 12:11" id="Num.xiii-p13.3" parsed="|Num|12|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.12.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. He speaks respectfully
|
|
to Moses, of whom he had spoken slightly, calls him his lord, and
|
|
now turns the reproach upon himself, speaks as one ashamed of what
|
|
he had said: <i>We have sinned, we have done foolishly.</i> Those
|
|
sin, and do foolishly, who revile and speak evil of any, especially
|
|
of good people or of those in authority. Repentance is the unsaying
|
|
of that which we have said amiss, and it had better be unsaid than
|
|
that we be undone by it. 2. He begs Moses's pardon: <i>Lay not this
|
|
sin upon us.</i> Aaron was to bring his gift to the altar, but,
|
|
knowing that his brother had something against him, he of all men
|
|
was concerned to reconcile himself to his brother, that he might be
|
|
qualified to offer his gift. Some think that this speedy submission
|
|
which God saw him ready to make was that which prevented his being
|
|
struck with a leprosy as his sister was. 3. He recommends the
|
|
deplorable condition of his sister to Moses's compassionate
|
|
consideration (<scripRef passage="Nu 12:12" id="Num.xiii-p13.4" parsed="|Num|12|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.12.12"><i>v.</i>
|
|
12</scripRef>): <i>Let her not be as one dead,</i> that is, "Let
|
|
her not continue so separated from conversation, defiling all she
|
|
touches, and even to putrefy above ground as one dead." He
|
|
eloquently describes the misery of her case, to move his pity.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xiii-p14">III. The intercession made for Miriam
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 12:13" id="Num.xiii-p14.1" parsed="|Num|12|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.12.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>): He <i>cried
|
|
unto the Lord</i> with a loud voice, because the cloud, the symbol
|
|
of his presence, was removed and stood at some distance, and to
|
|
express his fervency in this request, <i>Heal her now, O Lord, I
|
|
beseech thee.</i> By this he made it to appear that he did heartily
|
|
forgive her the injury she had one him, that he had not accused her
|
|
to God, nor called for justice against her; so far from this that,
|
|
when God in tenderness to his honour had chastised her insolence,
|
|
he was the first that moved for reversing the judgment. By this
|
|
example we are taught to <i>pray for those that despitefully use
|
|
us;</i> and not to take pleasure in the most righteous punishment
|
|
inflicted either by God or man on those that have been injurious to
|
|
us. Jeroboam's withered hand was restored at the special instance
|
|
and request of the prophet against whom it had been stretched out,
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Ki 13:6" id="Num.xiii-p14.2" parsed="|1Kgs|13|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.13.6">1 Kings xiii. 6</scripRef>. So Miriam
|
|
here was healed by the prayer of Moses, whom she had abused, and
|
|
Abimelech by the prayer of Abraham, <scripRef passage="Ge 20:17" id="Num.xiii-p14.3" parsed="|Gen|20|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.17">Gen. xx. 17</scripRef>. Moses might have stood off, and
|
|
have said, "She is served well enough, let her govern her tongue
|
|
better next time;" but, not content with being able to say that he
|
|
had not prayed for the inflicting of the judgment, he prays
|
|
earnestly for the removal of it. This pattern of Moses, and that of
|
|
our Saviour, <i>Father, forgive them,</i> we must study to conform
|
|
to.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xiii-p15">IV. The accommodating of this matter so as
|
|
that mercy and justice might meet together. 1. Mercy takes place so
|
|
far as that Miriam shall be healed; Moses forgives her, and God
|
|
will. See <scripRef passage="2Co 2:10" id="Num.xiii-p15.1" parsed="|2Cor|2|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.2.10">2 Cor. ii. 10</scripRef>.
|
|
But, 2. Justice takes place so far as that Miriam shall be humbled
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 12:14" id="Num.xiii-p15.2" parsed="|Num|12|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.12.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>): <i>Let her
|
|
be shut out from the camp seven days,</i> that she herself might be
|
|
made more sensible of her fault and penitent for it, and that her
|
|
punishment might be the more public, and all Israel might take
|
|
notice of it and take warning by it not to mutiny. If Miriam the
|
|
prophetess be put under such marks of humiliation for one hasty
|
|
word spoken against Moses, what may we expect for our murmurings?
|
|
<i>If this be done in a green tree, what shall be done in the
|
|
dry?</i> See how people debase and diminish themselves by sin,
|
|
stain their glory, and lay their honour in the dust. When Miriam
|
|
praised God, we find her at the head of the congregation and one of
|
|
the brightest ornaments of it, <scripRef passage="Ex 15:20" id="Num.xiii-p15.3" parsed="|Exod|15|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.20">Exod.
|
|
xv. 20</scripRef>. Now that she quarrelled with God we find her
|
|
expelled as the filth and off-scouring of it. A reason is given for
|
|
her being put out of the camp for seven days, because thus she
|
|
ought to <i>accept of the punishment of her iniquity.</i> If her
|
|
father, her earthly father, had but spit in her face, and so
|
|
signified his displeasure against her, would she not be so troubled
|
|
and concerned at it, and so sorry that she had deserved it, as to
|
|
shut herself up for some time in her room, and not come into his
|
|
presence, or show her face in the family, being ashamed of her own
|
|
folly and unhappiness? If such reverence as this be owing to the
|
|
fathers of our flesh, when they correct us, much more ought we to
|
|
humble ourselves under the mighty hand of the Father of spirits,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Heb 12:9" id="Num.xiii-p15.4" parsed="|Heb|12|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.9">Heb. xii. 9</scripRef>. Note, When we
|
|
are under the tokens of God's displeasure for sin, it becomes us to
|
|
take shame to ourselves, and to lie down in that shame, owning that
|
|
<i>to us belongs confusion of face.</i> If by our own fault and
|
|
folly we expose ourselves to the reproach and contempt of men, the
|
|
just censures of the church, or the rebukes of the divine
|
|
Providence, we must confess that our Father justly spits in our
|
|
face, and be ashamed.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xiii-p16">V. The hindrance that this gave to the
|
|
people's progress: <i>The people journeyed not till Miriam was
|
|
brought in again,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 12:15" id="Num.xiii-p16.1" parsed="|Num|12|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.12.15"><i>v.</i>
|
|
15</scripRef>. God did not remove the cloud, and therefore they did
|
|
not remove their camp. This was intended, 1. As a rebuke to the
|
|
people, who were conscious to themselves of having sinned after the
|
|
similitude of Miriam's transgression, in speaking against Moses:
|
|
thus far therefore they shall share in her punishment, that it
|
|
shall retard their march forward towards Canaan. Many things oppose
|
|
us, but nothing hinders us in the way to heaven as sin does. 2. As
|
|
a mark of respect to Miriam. If the camp had removed during the
|
|
days of her suspension, her trouble and shame had been the greater;
|
|
therefore, in compassion to her, they shall stay till her
|
|
excommunication be taken off, and she taken in again, it is
|
|
probable with the usual ceremonies of the cleansing of lepers.
|
|
Note, Those that are under censure and rebuke for sin ought to be
|
|
treated with a great deal of tenderness, and not be over-loaded,
|
|
no, not with the shame they have deserved, not <i>counted as
|
|
enemies</i> (<scripRef passage="2Th 3:15" id="Num.xiii-p16.2" parsed="|2Thess|3|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Thess.3.15">2 Thess. iii.
|
|
15</scripRef>), but <i>forgiven and comforted,</i> <scripRef passage="2Co 2:7" id="Num.xiii-p16.3" parsed="|2Cor|2|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.2.7">2 Cor. ii. 7</scripRef>. Sinners must be cast out
|
|
with grief, and penitents taken in with joy. When Miriam was
|
|
absolved and re-admitted, the people went forward into the
|
|
wilderness of Paran, which joined up to the south border of Canaan,
|
|
and thither their next remove would have been if they had not put a
|
|
bar in their own way.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XIII" n="xiv" progress="69.76%" prev="Num.xiii" next="Num.xv" id="Num.xiv">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.xiv-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.xiv-p0.2">CHAP. XIII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.xiv-p1">It is a memorable and very melancholy story which
|
|
is related in this and the following chapter, of the turning back
|
|
of Israel from the borders of Canaan, when they were just ready to
|
|
set foot in it, and the sentencing of them to wander and perish in
|
|
the wilderness for their unbelief and murmuring. It is referred to
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 95:7-11" id="Num.xiv-p1.1" parsed="|Ps|95|7|95|11" osisRef="Bible:Ps.95.7-Ps.95.11">Ps. xcv. 7</scripRef>, &c., and
|
|
improved for warning to Christians, <scripRef passage="Heb 3:7-19" id="Num.xiv-p1.2" parsed="|Heb|3|7|3|19" osisRef="Bible:Heb.3.7-Heb.3.19">Heb. iii. 7</scripRef>, &c. In this chapter we
|
|
have, I. The sending of twelve spies before them into Canaan,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 13:1-16" id="Num.xiv-p1.3" parsed="|Num|13|1|13|16" osisRef="Bible:Num.13.1-Num.13.16">ver. 1-16</scripRef>. II. The
|
|
instructions given to these spies, <scripRef passage="Nu 13:17-20" id="Num.xiv-p1.4" parsed="|Num|13|17|13|20" osisRef="Bible:Num.13.17-Num.13.20">ver. 17-20</scripRef>. III. Their executing their
|
|
commission according to their instructions, and their return from
|
|
the search, <scripRef passage="Nu 13:21-25" id="Num.xiv-p1.5" parsed="|Num|13|21|13|25" osisRef="Bible:Num.13.21-Num.13.25">ver. 21-25</scripRef>.
|
|
IV. The report they brought back to the camp of Israel, <scripRef passage="Nu 13:26-33" id="Num.xiv-p1.6" parsed="|Num|13|26|13|33" osisRef="Bible:Num.13.26-Num.13.33">ver. 26</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 13" id="Num.xiv-p1.7" parsed="|Num|13|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.13"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 13:1-20" id="Num.xiv-p1.8" parsed="|Num|13|1|13|20" osisRef="Bible:Num.13.1-Num.13.20"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.13.1-Num.13.20">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xiv-p1.9">Missions of the Twelve
|
|
Spies. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xiv-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xiv-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xiv-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   2 Send thou men, that they may
|
|
search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of
|
|
Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every
|
|
one a ruler among them.   3 And Moses by the commandment of
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xiv-p2.2">Lord</span> sent them from the
|
|
wilderness of Paran: all those men <i>were</i> heads of the
|
|
children of Israel.   4 And these <i>were</i> their names: of
|
|
the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur.   5 Of the
|
|
tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori.   6 Of the tribe of
|
|
Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh.   7 Of the tribe of
|
|
Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph.   8 Of the tribe of Ephraim,
|
|
Oshea the son of Nun.   9 Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the
|
|
son of Raphu.   10 Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of
|
|
Sodi.   11 Of the tribe of Joseph, <i>namely,</i> of the tribe
|
|
of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi.   12 Of the tribe of Dan,
|
|
Ammiel the son of Gemalli.   13 Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur
|
|
the son of Michael.   14 Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the
|
|
son of Vophsi.   15 Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of
|
|
Machi.   16 These <i>are</i> the names of the men which Moses
|
|
sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun
|
|
Jehoshua.   17 And Moses sent them to spy out the land of
|
|
Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this <i>way</i> southward,
|
|
and go up into the mountain:   18 And see the land, what it
|
|
<i>is;</i> and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they
|
|
<i>be</i> strong or weak, few or many;   19 And what the land
|
|
<i>is</i> that they dwell in, whether it <i>be</i> good or bad; and
|
|
what cities <i>they be</i> that they dwell in, whether in tents, or
|
|
in strong holds;   20 And what the land <i>is,</i> whether it
|
|
<i>be</i> fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And
|
|
be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the
|
|
time <i>was</i> the time of the firstripe grapes.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xiv-p3">Here we have, I. Orders given to send spies
|
|
to search out the land of Canaan. It is here said, God directed
|
|
Moses to send them (<scripRef passage="Nu 13:1,2" id="Num.xiv-p3.1" parsed="|Num|13|1|13|2" osisRef="Bible:Num.13.1-Num.13.2"><i>v.</i> 1,
|
|
2</scripRef>), but it appears by the repetition of the story
|
|
afterwards (<scripRef passage="De 1:22" id="Num.xiv-p3.2" parsed="|Deut|1|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.22">Deut. i. 22</scripRef>)
|
|
that the motion came originally from the people; they came to
|
|
Moses, and said, <i>We will send men before us;</i> and it was the
|
|
fruit of their unbelief. They would not take God's word that it was
|
|
a good land, and that he would, without fail, put them in
|
|
possession of it. They could not trust the pillar of cloud and fire
|
|
to show them the way to it, but had a better opinion of their own
|
|
politics than of God's wisdom. How absurd was it for them to send
|
|
to spy out a land which God himself had spied out for them, to
|
|
enquire the way into it when God himself had undertaken to show
|
|
them the way! But thus we ruin ourselves by giving more credit to
|
|
the reports and representations of sense than to divine revelation;
|
|
we walk by sight, not by faith; whereas, <i>if we</i> will
|
|
<i>receive the witness of men,</i> without doubt <i>the witness of
|
|
God is greater.</i> The people making this motion to Moses, he
|
|
(perhaps not aware of the unbelief at the bottom of it) consulted
|
|
God in the case, who bade him gratify the people in this matter,
|
|
and send spies before them: "Let them walk in their own counsels."
|
|
Yet God was no way accessory to the sin that followed, for the
|
|
sending of these spies was so far from being the cause of the sin
|
|
that if the spies had done their duty, and the people theirs, it
|
|
might have been the confirmation of their faith, and of good
|
|
service to them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xiv-p4">II. The persons nominated that were to be
|
|
employed in this service (<scripRef passage="Nu 13:4-15" id="Num.xiv-p4.1" parsed="|Num|13|4|13|15" osisRef="Bible:Num.13.4-Num.13.15"><i>v.</i>
|
|
4</scripRef>, &c.), one of each tribe, that it might appear to
|
|
be the act of the people in general; and rulers, person of figure
|
|
in their respective tribes, some of the rulers of thousands or
|
|
hundreds, to put the greater credit upon their embassy. This was
|
|
designed for the best, but it proved to have this ill effect that
|
|
the quality of the persons occasioned the evil report they brought
|
|
up to be the more credited and the people to be the more influenced
|
|
by it. Some think that they are all named for the sake of two good
|
|
ones that were among them, Caleb and Joshua. Notice is taken of the
|
|
change of Joshua's name upon this occasion, <scripRef passage="Nu 13:16" id="Num.xiv-p4.2" parsed="|Num|13|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.13.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. He was Moses's minister, but
|
|
had been employed, though of the tribe of Ephraim, as general of
|
|
the forces that were sent out against Amalek. The name by which he
|
|
was generally called and known in his own tribe was <i>Oshea,</i>
|
|
but Moses called him <i>Joshua,</i> in token of his affection to
|
|
him and power over him; and now, it should seem, he ordered others
|
|
to call him so, and fixed that to be his name henceforward.
|
|
<i>Oshea</i> signifies a prayer for salvation, <i>Save thou;
|
|
Joshua</i> signifies a promise of salvation, <i>He will save,</i>
|
|
in answer to that prayer: so near is the relation between prayers
|
|
and promises. Prayers prevail for promises, and promises direct and
|
|
encourage prayers. Some think that Moses designed, by taking the
|
|
first syllable of the name Jehovah and prefixing it to his name,
|
|
which turned <i>Hoshea</i> into <i>Jehoshua,</i> to put an honour
|
|
upon him, and to encourage him in this and all his future services
|
|
with the assurances of God's presence. Yet after this he is called
|
|
<i>Hoshea,</i> <scripRef passage="De 32:44" id="Num.xiv-p4.3" parsed="|Deut|32|44|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.44">Deut. xxxii.
|
|
44</scripRef>. <i>Jesus</i> is the same name with <i>Joshua,</i>
|
|
and it is the name of our Lord Christ, of whom Joshua was a type as
|
|
successor to Moses, Israel's captain, and conqueror of Canaan.
|
|
There was another of the same name, who was also a type of Christ,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Zec 6:11" id="Num.xiv-p4.4" parsed="|Zech|6|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zech.6.11">Zech. vi. 11</scripRef>. Joshua was
|
|
the saviour of God's people from the powers of Canaan, but Christ
|
|
is their Saviour from the powers of hell.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xiv-p5">III. The instructions given to those spies.
|
|
They were sent into the land of Canaan the nearest way, to traverse
|
|
the country, and to take account of its present state, <scripRef passage="Nu 13:17" id="Num.xiv-p5.1" parsed="|Num|13|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.13.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. Two heads of enquiry
|
|
were given them in charge, 1. Concerning the land itself: <i>See
|
|
what that is</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 13:18" id="Num.xiv-p5.2" parsed="|Num|13|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.13.18"><i>v.</i>
|
|
18</scripRef>, and again, <scripRef passage="Nu 13:19" id="Num.xiv-p5.3" parsed="|Num|13|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.13.19"><i>v.</i>
|
|
19</scripRef>), see whether it be <i>good or bad,</i> and
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 13:20" id="Num.xiv-p5.4" parsed="|Num|13|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.13.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>) <i>whether
|
|
it be fat or lean.</i> All parts of the earth do not share alike in
|
|
the blessing of fruitfulness; some countries are blessed with a
|
|
richer soil than others. Moses himself was well satisfied that
|
|
Canaan was a very good land, but he sent these spies to bring an
|
|
account of it for the satisfaction of the people; as John Baptist
|
|
sent to Jesus, to ask whether he was the Christ, not to inform
|
|
himself, but to inform those he sent. They must take notice whether
|
|
the air was healthful or no, what the soil was, and what the
|
|
productions; and, for the better satisfaction of the people, they
|
|
must bring with them some of the fruits. 2. Concerning the
|
|
inhabitants—their number, few or many—their size and stature,
|
|
whether strong able-bodied men or weak,—their habitations, whether
|
|
they lived in tents or houses, whether in open villages or in
|
|
walled towns,—whether the woods were standing as in those
|
|
countries that are uncultivated, through the unskillfulness and
|
|
slothfulness of the inhabitants, or whether the woods were cut
|
|
down, and the country made champaign, for the convenience of
|
|
tillage. These were the things they were to enquire about. Perhaps
|
|
there had not been of late years such commerce between Egypt and
|
|
Canaan as there was in Jacob's time, else they might have informed
|
|
themselves of these things without sending men on purpose to
|
|
search. See the advantage we may derive from books and learning,
|
|
which acquaint those that are curious and inquisitive with the
|
|
state of foreign countries, at a much greater distance than Canaan
|
|
was now from Israel, without this trouble and expense.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xiv-p6">IV. Moses dismisses the spies with this
|
|
charge, <i>Be of good courage,</i> intimating, not only that they
|
|
should be themselves encouraged against the difficulties of this
|
|
expedition, but that they should bring an encouraging account to
|
|
the people and make the best of every thing. It was not only a
|
|
great undertaking they were put upon, which required good
|
|
management and resolution, but it was a great trust that was
|
|
reposed in them, which required that they should be faithful.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 13:21-25" id="Num.xiv-p6.1" parsed="|Num|13|21|13|25" osisRef="Bible:Num.13.21-Num.13.25"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.13.21-Num.13.25">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xiv-p7">21 So they went up, and searched the land from
|
|
the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath.   22
|
|
And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman,
|
|
Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, <i>were.</i> (Now Hebron
|
|
was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)   23 And they
|
|
came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch
|
|
with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a
|
|
staff; and <i>they brought</i> of the pomegranates, and of the
|
|
figs.   24 The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of
|
|
the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from
|
|
thence.   25 And they returned from searching of the land
|
|
after forty days.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xiv-p8">We have here a short account of the survey
|
|
which the spies made of the promised land. 1. They went quite
|
|
through it, from Zin in the south, to Rehob, near Hamath, in the
|
|
north, <scripRef passage="Nu 13:21" id="Num.xiv-p8.1" parsed="|Num|13|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.13.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. See
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 34:3,8" id="Num.xiv-p8.2" parsed="|Num|34|3|0|0;|Num|34|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.34.3 Bible:Num.34.8"><i>ch.</i> xxxiv. 3, 8</scripRef>. It
|
|
is probable that they did not go altogether in a body, lest they
|
|
should be suspected and taken up, which there would be the more
|
|
danger of if the Canaanites knew (and one would think they could
|
|
not but know) how near the Israelites were to them; but they
|
|
divided themselves into several companies, and so passed
|
|
unsuspected, as way-faring men. 2. They took particular notice of
|
|
Hebron (<scripRef passage="Nu 13:22" id="Num.xiv-p8.3" parsed="|Num|13|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.13.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>),
|
|
probably because near there was the field of Machpelah, where the
|
|
patriarchs were buried (<scripRef passage="Ge 23:2" id="Num.xiv-p8.4" parsed="|Gen|23|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.23.2">Gen. xxiii.
|
|
2</scripRef>), whose dead bodies did, as it were, keep possession
|
|
of that land for their posterity. To this sepulchre they made a
|
|
particular visit, and found the adjoining city in the possession of
|
|
the sons of Anak, who are here named. In that place where they
|
|
expected the greatest encouragements they met with the greatest
|
|
discouragements. Where the bodies of their ancestors kept
|
|
possession for them the giants kept possession against them.
|
|
<i>They ascended by the south, and came to Hebron,</i> that is,
|
|
"Caleb," say the Jews, "in particular," for to his being there we
|
|
find express reference, <scripRef passage="Jos 14:9,12,13" id="Num.xiv-p8.5" parsed="|Josh|14|9|0|0;|Josh|14|12|0|0;|Josh|14|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.14.9 Bible:Josh.14.12 Bible:Josh.14.13">Josh.
|
|
xiv. 9, 12, 13</scripRef>. But that others of the spies were there
|
|
too appears by their description of the Anakim, <scripRef passage="Nu 13:33" id="Num.xiv-p8.6" parsed="|Num|13|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.13.33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>. 3. They brought a bunch of
|
|
grapes with them, and some other of the fruits of the land, as a
|
|
proof of the extraordinary goodness of the country. Probably they
|
|
furnished themselves with these fruits when they were leaving the
|
|
country and returning. The cluster of grapes was so large and so
|
|
heavy that they hung it upon a bar, and carried it between two of
|
|
them, <scripRef passage="Nu 13:23,24" id="Num.xiv-p8.7" parsed="|Num|13|23|13|24" osisRef="Bible:Num.13.23-Num.13.24"><i>v.</i> 23, 24</scripRef>.
|
|
The place whence they took it was, from this circumstance, called
|
|
the <i>valley of the cluster,</i> that famous cluster which was to
|
|
Israel both the earnest and the specimen of all the fruits of
|
|
Canaan. Such are the present comforts which we have in communion
|
|
with God, foretastes of the fulness of joy we expect in the
|
|
heavenly Canaan. We may see by them what heaven is.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 13:26-33" id="Num.xiv-p8.8" parsed="|Num|13|26|13|33" osisRef="Bible:Num.13.26-Num.13.33"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.13.26-Num.13.33">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xiv-p9">26 And they went and came to Moses, and to
|
|
Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto
|
|
the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto
|
|
them, and unto all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of
|
|
the land.   27 And they told him, and said, We came unto the
|
|
land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and
|
|
honey; and this <i>is</i> the fruit of it.   28 Nevertheless
|
|
the people <i>be</i> strong that dwell in the land, and the cities
|
|
<i>are</i> walled, <i>and</i> very great: and moreover we saw the
|
|
children of Anak there.   29 The Amalekites dwell in the land
|
|
of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the
|
|
Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the
|
|
sea, and by the coast of Jordan.   30 And Caleb stilled the
|
|
people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess
|
|
it; for we are well able to overcome it.   31 But the men that
|
|
went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people;
|
|
for they <i>are</i> stronger than we.   32 And they brought up
|
|
an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the
|
|
children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to
|
|
search it, <i>is</i> a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof;
|
|
and all the people that we saw in it <i>are</i> men of a great
|
|
stature.   33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak,
|
|
<i>which come</i> of the giants: and we were in our own sight as
|
|
grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xiv-p10">It is a wonder how the people of Israel had
|
|
patience to stay forty days for the return of their spies, when
|
|
they were just ready to enter Canaan, under all the assurances of
|
|
success they could have from the divine power, and a constant
|
|
series of miracles that had hitherto attended them; but they
|
|
distrusted God's power and promise, and were willing to be held in
|
|
suspense by their own counsels, rather than be brought to a
|
|
certainty by God's covenant. How much do we stand in our own light
|
|
by our unbelief! Well, at length the messengers return, but they
|
|
agree not in their report.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xiv-p11">I. The major part discourage the people
|
|
from going forward to Canaan; and justly are the Israelites left to
|
|
this temptation, for putting so much confidence in the judgment of
|
|
men, when they had the word of God to trust to. It is a righteous
|
|
thing with God to give those up to strong delusions who will not
|
|
receive his truth in the love of it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xiv-p12">1. Observe their report. (1.) They could
|
|
not deny but that the land of Canaan was a very fruitful land; the
|
|
bunch of grapes they brought with them was an ocular demonstration
|
|
of it, <scripRef passage="Nu 13:27" id="Num.xiv-p12.1" parsed="|Num|13|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.13.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>. God
|
|
had promised them a land flowing with milk and honey, and the evil
|
|
spies themselves own that it is such a land. Thus even out of the
|
|
mouth of adversaries will God be glorified and the truth of his
|
|
promise attested. And yet afterwards they contradict themselves,
|
|
when they say (<scripRef passage="Nu 13:32" id="Num.xiv-p12.2" parsed="|Num|13|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.13.32"><i>v.</i>
|
|
32</scripRef>), <i>It is a land that eateth up the inhabitants
|
|
thereof;</i> as if, though it had milk, and honey, and grapes, yet
|
|
it wanted other necessary provision; some think that there was a
|
|
great plague in the country at the time they surveyed it, which
|
|
they ought to have imputed to the wisdom of the divine Providence,
|
|
which thus lessened the numbers of their enemies, to facilitate
|
|
their conquests; but they invidiously imputed it to the
|
|
unwholesomeness of the air, and thence took occasion to disparage
|
|
the country. For this unreasonable fear of a plague in Canaan, they
|
|
were justly cut off immediately by a <i>plague in the
|
|
wilderness,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 14:37" id="Num.xiv-p12.3" parsed="|Num|14|37|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.37"><i>ch.</i> xiv.
|
|
37</scripRef>. But, (2.) They represented the conquest of it as
|
|
altogether impracticable, and that it was to no purpose to attempt
|
|
it. The people are strong (<scripRef passage="Nu 13:28" id="Num.xiv-p12.4" parsed="|Num|13|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.13.28"><i>v.</i>
|
|
28</scripRef>), men of a <i>great stature</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 13:32" id="Num.xiv-p12.5" parsed="|Num|13|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.13.32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>), <i>stronger than we,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 13:31" id="Num.xiv-p12.6" parsed="|Num|13|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.13.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>. The cities
|
|
are represented as impregnable fortresses: they <i>are walled</i>
|
|
and <i>very great,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 13:28" id="Num.xiv-p12.7" parsed="|Num|13|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.13.28"><i>v.</i>
|
|
28</scripRef>. But nothing served their ill purpose more than a
|
|
description of the giants, on whom they lay a great stress: <i>We
|
|
saw the children of Anak there</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 13:28" id="Num.xiv-p12.8" parsed="|Num|13|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.13.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>), and again, we <i>saw the
|
|
giants,</i> those men of a prodigious size, the <i>sons of
|
|
Anak,</i> who <i>come of the giants,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 13:33" id="Num.xiv-p12.9" parsed="|Num|13|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.13.33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>. They spoke as if they were
|
|
ready to tremble at the mention of them, as they had done at the
|
|
sight of them. "O these tremendous giants! when we were near them,
|
|
<i>we were in our own sight as grasshoppers,</i> not only little
|
|
and weak, but trembling and daunted." Compare <scripRef passage="Job 39:20" id="Num.xiv-p12.10" parsed="|Job|39|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.39.20">Job xxxix. 20</scripRef>, <i>Canst thou make him afraid
|
|
as a grasshopper?</i> "Nay, and <i>so we were in their sight;</i>
|
|
they looked upon us with as much scorn and disdain as we did upon
|
|
them with fear and trembling." So that upon the whole matter they
|
|
gave it in as their judgment, <i>We are not able to go up against
|
|
them</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 13:31" id="Num.xiv-p12.11" parsed="|Num|13|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.13.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>),
|
|
and therefore must think of taking some other course.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xiv-p13">2. Now, even if they had been to judge only
|
|
by human probabilities, they could not have been excused from the
|
|
imputation of cowardice. Were not the hosts of Israel very
|
|
numerous? 600,000 effective men, well marshalled and modelled,
|
|
closely embodied, and entirely united in interest and affection,
|
|
constituted as formidable an army as perhaps was ever brought into
|
|
the field; many a less has done more than perhaps the conquering of
|
|
Canaan was, witness Alexander's army. Moses, their
|
|
commander-in-chief, was wise and brave; and if the people had put
|
|
on resolution, and behaved themselves valiantly, what could have
|
|
stood before them? It is true the Canaanites were strong, but they
|
|
were dispersed (<scripRef passage="Nu 13:29" id="Num.xiv-p13.1" parsed="|Num|13|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.13.29"><i>v.</i>
|
|
29</scripRef>): <i>Some dwell in the south and others in the
|
|
mountains;</i> so that by reason of their distance they could not
|
|
soon get together, and by reason of their divided interests they
|
|
could not long keep together, to oppose Israel. The country being
|
|
plentiful would subsist an army, and, though the cities were
|
|
walled, if they could beat them in the field the strong-holds would
|
|
fall of course into their hands. And, lastly, as for the giants,
|
|
their overgrown stature would but make them the better mark, and
|
|
the bulkiest men have not always the best mettle.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xiv-p14">3. But, though they deserved to be posted
|
|
for cowards, this was not the worst, the scripture brands them for
|
|
unbelievers. It was not any human probabilities they were required
|
|
to depend upon, but, (1.) They had the manifest and sensible tokens
|
|
of God's presence with them, and the engagement of his power for
|
|
them. The Canaanites were stronger than Israel; suppose they were,
|
|
but were they stronger than the God of Israel? We are not able to
|
|
deal with them, but is not God Almighty able? Have we not him in
|
|
the midst of us? Does not he go before us? And is any thing too
|
|
hard for him? Were we as grasshoppers before the giants, and are
|
|
not they less than grasshoppers before God? Their cities are walled
|
|
against us, but can they be walled against heaven? Besides this,
|
|
(2.) They had had very great experience of the length and strength
|
|
of God's arm, lifted up and made bare on their behalf. Were not the
|
|
Egyptians as much stronger than they as the Canaanites were? And
|
|
yet, without a sword drawn by Israel or a stroke struck, the
|
|
chariots and horsemen of Egypt were quite routed and ruined; the
|
|
Amalekites took them at great disadvantages, and yet they were
|
|
discomfited. Miracles were at this time their daily bread; were
|
|
there nothing else, an army so well victualled as theirs was, so
|
|
constantly, so plentifully, and all on free cost, would have a
|
|
might advantage against any other force. Nay, (3.) They had
|
|
particular promises made them of victory and success in their wars
|
|
against the Canaanites. God had given Abraham all possible
|
|
assurances that he would put his seed into possession of that land,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 15:18,17:8" id="Num.xiv-p14.1" parsed="|Gen|15|18|0|0;|Gen|17|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.18 Bible:Gen.17.8">Gen. xv. 18; xvii. 8</scripRef>.
|
|
He had expressly promised them by Moses that he would <i>drive out
|
|
the Canaanites</i> from <i>before them</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 33:2" id="Num.xiv-p14.2" parsed="|Exod|33|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.33.2">Exod. xxxiii. 2</scripRef>), and that he would do it
|
|
<i>by little and little,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 23:30" id="Num.xiv-p14.3" parsed="|Exod|23|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.30">Exod.
|
|
xxiii. 30</scripRef>. And, after all this, for them to say, <i>We
|
|
are not able to go up against them,</i> was in effect to say, "God
|
|
himself is not able to make his words good." It was in effect to
|
|
give him the lie, and to tell him he had undertaken more than he
|
|
could perform. We have a short account of their sin, with which
|
|
they infected the whole congregation, <scripRef passage="Ps 106:24" id="Num.xiv-p14.4" parsed="|Ps|106|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.24">Ps. cvi. 24</scripRef>. They <i>despised the land, they
|
|
believed not his word.</i> Though, upon search, they had found it
|
|
as good as he had said, <i>a land flowing with milk and honey,</i>
|
|
yet they would not believe it as sure as he had said, but despaired
|
|
of having it, though eternal truth itself had engaged it to them.
|
|
And now this is the representation of the evil spies.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xiv-p15">II. Caleb encouraged them to go forward,
|
|
though he was seconded by Joshua only (<scripRef passage="Nu 13:30" id="Num.xiv-p15.1" parsed="|Num|13|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.13.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>): <i>Caleb stilled the
|
|
people,</i> whom he saw already put into a ferment even <i>before
|
|
Moses</i> himself, whose shining face could not daunt them, when
|
|
they began to grow unruly. <i>Caleb</i> signifies <i>all heart,</i>
|
|
and he answered his name, was hearty himself, and would have made
|
|
the people so if they would have hearkened to him. If Joshua had
|
|
begun to stem the tide, he would have been suspected of partiality
|
|
to Moses, whose minister he was; and therefore he prudently left it
|
|
to Caleb's management at first, who was of the tribe of Judah, the
|
|
leading tribe, and therefore the fittest to be heard. Caleb had
|
|
seen and observed the strength of the inhabitants as much as his
|
|
fellows, and upon the whole matter, 1. He speaks very confidently
|
|
of success: <i>We are well able to overcome them,</i> as strong as
|
|
they are. 2. He animates the people to go on, and, his lot lying in
|
|
the van, he speaks as one resolved to lead them on with bravery:
|
|
"<i>Let us go up at once,</i> one bold step, one bold stroke more,
|
|
will do our business; it is all our own if we have but courage to
|
|
make it so: <i>Let us go up and possess it.</i>" He does not say,
|
|
"Let us go up and conquer it;" he looks upon that to be as good as
|
|
done already; but, "Let us go up and possess it; there is nothing
|
|
to be done but to enter, and take the possession which God our
|
|
great Lord is ready to give us." Note, <i>The righteous are bold as
|
|
a lion.</i> Difficulties that lie in the way of salvation dwindle
|
|
and vanish before a lively active faith in the power and promise of
|
|
God. <i>All things are possible,</i> if they be but promised, <i>to
|
|
him that believes.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XIV" n="xv" progress="70.21%" prev="Num.xiv" next="Num.xvi" id="Num.xv">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.xv-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.xv-p0.2">CHAP. XIV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.xv-p1">This chapter gives us an account of that fatal
|
|
quarrel between God and Israel upon which, for their murmuring and
|
|
unbelief, he swore in his wrath that they should not enter into his
|
|
rest. Here is, I. The mutiny and rebellion of Israel against God,
|
|
upon the report of the evil spies, <scripRef passage="Nu 14:1-4" id="Num.xv-p1.1" parsed="|Num|14|1|14|4" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.1-Num.14.4">ver. 1-4</scripRef>. II. The fruitless endeavour of
|
|
Moses and Aaron, Caleb and Joshua, to still the tumult, <scripRef passage="Nu 14:5-10" id="Num.xv-p1.2" parsed="|Num|14|5|14|10" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.5-Num.14.10">ver. 5-10</scripRef>. III. Their utter ruin
|
|
justly threatened by an offended God, <scripRef passage="Nu 14:11,12" id="Num.xv-p1.3" parsed="|Num|14|11|14|12" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.11-Num.14.12">ver. 11, 12</scripRef>. IV. The humble intercession
|
|
of Moses for them, <scripRef passage="Nu 14:13-19" id="Num.xv-p1.4" parsed="|Num|14|13|14|19" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.13-Num.14.19">ver.
|
|
13-19</scripRef>. V. A mitigation of the sentence in answer to the
|
|
prayer of Moses; they shall not all be cut off, but the decree goes
|
|
forth ratified with an oath, published to the people, again and
|
|
again repeated, that this whole congregation should perish in the
|
|
wilderness, and none of them enter Canaan but Caleb and Joshua
|
|
only, <scripRef passage="Nu 14:20-35" id="Num.xv-p1.5" parsed="|Num|14|20|14|35" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.20-Num.14.35">ver. 20-35</scripRef>. VI.
|
|
The present death of the evil spies, <scripRef passage="Nu 14:36-39" id="Num.xv-p1.6" parsed="|Num|14|36|14|39" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.36-Num.14.39">ver. 36-39</scripRef>. VII. The rebuke given to those
|
|
who attempted to go forward notwithstanding, <scripRef passage="Nu 14:40-45" id="Num.xv-p1.7" parsed="|Num|14|40|14|45" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.40-Num.14.45">ver. 40-45</scripRef>. And this is written for our
|
|
admonition, that we "fall not after the same example of
|
|
unbelief."</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 14" id="Num.xv-p1.8" parsed="|Num|14|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 14:1-4" id="Num.xv-p1.9" parsed="|Num|14|1|14|4" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.1-Num.14.4"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.14.1-Num.14.4">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xv-p1.10">The Murmuring of the
|
|
Israelites. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xv-p1.11">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xv-p2">1 And all the congregation lifted up their
|
|
voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.   2 And all
|
|
the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron:
|
|
and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had
|
|
died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this
|
|
wilderness!   3 And wherefore hath the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xv-p2.1">Lord</span> brought us unto this land, to fall by the
|
|
sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it
|
|
not better for us to return into Egypt?   4 And they said one
|
|
to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into
|
|
Egypt.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p3">Here we see what mischief the evil spies
|
|
made by their unfair representation. We may suppose that these
|
|
twelve that were impanelled to enquire concerning Canaan had talked
|
|
it over among themselves before they brought in their report in
|
|
public; and Caleb and Joshua, it is likely, had done their utmost
|
|
to bring the rest over to be of their mind, and if they would but
|
|
have agreed that Caleb, according to his pose, should have spoken
|
|
for them all, as their foreman, all had been well; but the evil
|
|
spies, it should seem, wilfully designed to raise this mutiny,
|
|
purely in opposition to Moses and Aaron, though they could not
|
|
propose any advantage to themselves by it, unless they hoped to be
|
|
captains and commanders of the retreat into Egypt they were now
|
|
meditating. But what came of it? Here in these verses we find those
|
|
whom they studied to humour put into a vexation, and, before the
|
|
end of the chapter, brought to ruin. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p4">I. How the people fretted themselves:
|
|
<i>They lifted up their voices and cried</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 14:1" id="Num.xv-p4.1" parsed="|Num|14|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>); giving credit to the report of
|
|
the spies rather than to the word of God, and imagining their
|
|
condition desperate, they laid the reins on the neck of their
|
|
passions, and could keep no manner of temper. Like foolish froward
|
|
children, they fall a crying, yet know not what they cry for. It
|
|
would have been time enough to cry out when the enemy had beaten up
|
|
their quarters, and they had seen the sons of Anak at the gate of
|
|
their camp; but those that cried when nothing hurt them deserved to
|
|
have something given them to cry for. And, as if all had been
|
|
already gone, they sat down and <i>wept that night.</i> Note,
|
|
Unbelief, or distrust of God, is a sin that is its own punishment.
|
|
Those that do not trust God are continually vexing themselves. The
|
|
world's mourners are more than God's, and the <i>sorrow of the
|
|
world worketh death.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p5">II. How they flew in the face of their
|
|
governors—<i>murmured against Moses and Aaron,</i> and in them
|
|
reproached the Lord, <scripRef passage="Nu 14:2,3" id="Num.xv-p5.1" parsed="|Num|14|2|14|3" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.2-Num.14.3"><i>v.</i> 2,
|
|
3</scripRef>. The congregation of elders began the discontent
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 14:1" id="Num.xv-p5.2" parsed="|Num|14|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>), but the
|
|
contagion soon spread through the whole camp, for <i>the children
|
|
of Israel murmured.</i> Jealousies and discontents spread like
|
|
wildfire among the unthinking multitude, who are easily taught to
|
|
<i>despise dominions, and to speak evil of dignities.</i> 1. They
|
|
look back with a causeless discontent. They wish that they had died
|
|
in Egypt with the first-born that were slain there, or in the
|
|
wilderness with those that lately died of the plague for lusting.
|
|
See the prodigious madness of unbridled passions, which make men
|
|
prodigal even of that which nature accounts most dear, life itself.
|
|
Never were so many months spent so pleasantly as these which they
|
|
had spent since they came out of Egypt, loaded with honours,
|
|
compassed with favours, and continually entertained with something
|
|
or other that was surprising; and yet, as if all these things had
|
|
not made it worth their while to live, they wished they had died in
|
|
Egypt. And such a light opinion they had of God's tremendous
|
|
judgments executed on their neighbours for their sin that they
|
|
wished they had shared with them in their plagues, rather than run
|
|
the hazard of making a descent upon Canaan. They wish rather to die
|
|
criminals under God's justice than live conquerors in his favour.
|
|
Some read it, <i>O that we had died in Egypt, or in the wilderness!
|
|
O that we might die!</i> They wish to die, for fear of dying; and
|
|
have not sense enough to reason as the poor lepers, when rather
|
|
than die upon the spot they ventured into an enemy's camp, <i>If
|
|
they kill us, we shall but die,</i> <scripRef passage="2Ki 7:4" id="Num.xv-p5.3" parsed="|2Kgs|7|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.7.4">2
|
|
Kings vii. 4</scripRef>. How base were the spirits of these
|
|
degenerate Israelites, who, rather than die (if it come to the
|
|
worst) like soldiers on the bed of honour, with their swords in
|
|
their hands, desire to die like rotten sheep in the wilderness. 2.
|
|
They look forward with a groundless despair, taking it for granted
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 14:3" id="Num.xv-p5.4" parsed="|Num|14|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>) that if they
|
|
went on they must fall by the sword, and pretend to lay the cause
|
|
of their fear upon the great care they had for their wives and
|
|
children, who, they conclude, will be a prey to the Canaanites. And
|
|
here is a most wicked blasphemous reflection upon God himself, as
|
|
if he had brought them hither on purpose that they might fall by
|
|
the sword, and that their wives and children, those poor innocents,
|
|
should be a prey. Thus do they, in effect, charge that God who is
|
|
love itself with the worst of malice, and eternal Truth with the
|
|
basest hypocrisy, suggesting that all the kind things he had said
|
|
to them, and done for them, hitherto, were intended only to decoy
|
|
them into a snare, and to cover a secret design carried on all
|
|
along to ruin them. Daring impudence! But what will not that tongue
|
|
speak against heaven that is set on fire of hell? The devil keeps
|
|
up his interest in the hearts of men by insinuating to them ill
|
|
thoughts of God, as if he desired the death of sinners, and
|
|
delighted in the hardships and sufferings of his own servants,
|
|
whereas he knows his thoughts to us-ward (whether we know them so
|
|
or no) to be <i>thoughts of good, and not of evil,</i> <scripRef passage="Jer 29:11" id="Num.xv-p5.5" parsed="|Jer|29|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.29.11">Jer. xxix. 11</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p6">III. How they came at last to this
|
|
desperate resolve, that, instead of going forward to Canaan, they
|
|
would go back again to Egypt. The motion is first made by way of
|
|
query only (<scripRef passage="Nu 14:3" id="Num.xv-p6.1" parsed="|Num|14|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>):
|
|
<i>Were it not better for us to return into Egypt?</i> But the
|
|
ferment being high, and the spirits of the people being disposed to
|
|
entertain any thing that was perverse, it soon ripened to a
|
|
resolution, without a debate (<scripRef passage="Nu 14:4" id="Num.xv-p6.2" parsed="|Num|14|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.4"><i>v.</i>
|
|
4</scripRef>): <i>Let us make a captain and return to Egypt;</i>
|
|
and it is lamented long after (<scripRef passage="Ne 9:17" id="Num.xv-p6.3" parsed="|Neh|9|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Neh.9.17">Neh. ix.
|
|
17</scripRef>) that <i>in their rebellion they appointed a captain
|
|
to return to their bondage;</i> for they knew Moses would not be
|
|
their captain in this retreat. Now, 1. It was the greatest folly in
|
|
the world to wish themselves in Egypt, or to think that if they
|
|
were there it would be better with them than it was. If they durst
|
|
not go forward to Canaan, yet better be as they were than go back
|
|
to Egypt. What did they want? What had they to complain of? They
|
|
had plenty, and peace, and rest, were under a good government, had
|
|
good company, had the tokens of God's presence with them, and
|
|
enough to make them easy even in the wilderness, if they had but
|
|
hearts to be content. But whither were they thus eager to go to
|
|
better themselves? To Egypt! Had they so soon forgotten the sore
|
|
bondage they were in there? Would they be again under the tyranny
|
|
of their taskmasters, and at the drudgery of making brick? And,
|
|
after all the plagues which Egypt had suffered for their sakes,
|
|
could they expect any better treatment there than they had
|
|
formerly, and not rather much worse? In how little time (not a year
|
|
and a half) have they forgotten all the sighs of their bondage, and
|
|
all the songs of their deliverance! Like brute-beasts, they mind
|
|
only what is present, and their memories, with the other powers of
|
|
reason, are sacrificed to their passions. See <scripRef passage="Ps 106:7" id="Num.xv-p6.4" parsed="|Ps|106|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.7">Ps. cvi. 7</scripRef>. We find it threatened (<scripRef passage="De 28:68" id="Num.xv-p6.5" parsed="|Deut|28|68|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.68">Deut. xxviii. 68</scripRef>), as the completing
|
|
of their misery, that they should be brought into Egypt again, and
|
|
yet this is what they here wish for. Sinners are enemies to
|
|
themselves; and those that walk not in God's counsels consult their
|
|
own mischief and ruin. 2. It was a most senseless ridiculous thing
|
|
to talk of returning thither through the wilderness. Could they
|
|
expect that God's cloud would lead them or his manna attend them?
|
|
And, if they did not, the thousands of Israel must unavoidably be
|
|
lost and perish in the wilderness. Suppose the difficulties of
|
|
conquering Canaan were as great as they imagined, those of
|
|
returning to Egypt were much greater. In this let us see, (1.) The
|
|
folly of discontent and impatience under the crosses of our outward
|
|
condition. We are uneasy at that which is, complain of our place
|
|
and lot, and we would shift; but is there any place or condition in
|
|
this world that has not something in it to make us uneasy if we are
|
|
disposed to be so? The way to better our condition is to get our
|
|
spirits into a better frame; and instead of asking, "Were it not
|
|
better to go to Egypt?" ask, "Were it not better to be content, and
|
|
make the best of that which is?" (2.) The folly of apostasy from
|
|
the ways of God. Heaven is the Canaan set before us, a land flowing
|
|
with milk and honey; those that bring up ever so ill a report of it
|
|
cannot but say that it is indeed a good land, only it is hard to
|
|
get to it. Strict and serious godliness is looked upon as an
|
|
impracticable thing, and this deters many who began well from going
|
|
on; rather than undergo the imaginary hardships of a religious
|
|
life, they run themselves upon the certain fatal consequences of a
|
|
sinful course; and so they transcribe the folly of Israel, who,
|
|
when they were within a step of Canaan, would make a captain, and
|
|
return to Egypt.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 14:5-10" id="Num.xv-p6.6" parsed="|Num|14|5|14|10" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.5-Num.14.10"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.14.5-Num.14.10">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xv-p6.7">The Expostulation of Joshua and
|
|
Caleb. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xv-p6.8">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xv-p7">5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces
|
|
before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of
|
|
Israel.   6 And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of
|
|
Jephunneh, <i>which were</i> of them that searched the land, rent
|
|
their clothes:   7 And they spake unto all the company of the
|
|
children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to
|
|
search it, <i>is</i> an exceeding good land.   8 If the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xv-p7.1">Lord</span> delight in us, then he will bring us
|
|
into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and
|
|
honey.   9 Only rebel not ye against the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xv-p7.2">Lord</span>, neither fear ye the people of the land;
|
|
for they <i>are</i> bread for us: their defence is departed from
|
|
them, and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xv-p7.3">Lord</span> <i>is</i> with
|
|
us: fear them not.   10 But all the congregation bade stone
|
|
them with stones. And the glory of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xv-p7.4">Lord</span> appeared in the tabernacle of the
|
|
congregation before all the children of Israel.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p8">The friends of Israel here interpose to
|
|
save them if possible from ruining themselves, but in vain. The
|
|
physicians of their state would have healed them, but they would
|
|
not be healed; their watchmen gave them warning, but they would not
|
|
take warning, and so their blood is upon their own heads.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p9">I. The best endeavours were used to still
|
|
the tumult, and, if now at last they would have understood the
|
|
things that belonged to their peace, all the following mischief
|
|
would have been prevented.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p10">1. Moses and Aaron did their part,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 14:5" id="Num.xv-p10.1" parsed="|Num|14|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. Though it was
|
|
against them that they murmured (<scripRef passage="Nu 14:2" id="Num.xv-p10.2" parsed="|Num|14|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), yet they bravely overlooked the
|
|
affront and injury done them, and approved themselves faithful
|
|
friends to those who were outrageous enemies to them. The clamour
|
|
and noise of the people were so great that Moses and Aaron could
|
|
not be heard; should they order any of their servants to proclaim
|
|
silence, the angry multitude would perhaps be the more clamorous;
|
|
and therefore, to gain audience in the sight of all the assembly,
|
|
they fell on their faces, thus expressing, (1.) Their humble
|
|
prayers to God to still the noise of this sea, the noise of its
|
|
waves, even the tumult of the people. (2.) The great trouble and
|
|
concern of their own spirits. They fell down as men astonished and
|
|
even thunder-struck, amazed to see a people throw away their own
|
|
mercies: to see those so ill-humoured who were so well taught. And,
|
|
(3.) Their great earnestness with the people to cease their
|
|
murmurings; they hoped to work upon them by this humble posture,
|
|
and to prevail with them not to persist in their rebellion; Moses
|
|
and Aaron beseech them, as though by them God himself did beseech
|
|
them, to be reconciled unto God. What they said to the people Moses
|
|
relates in the repetition of this story. <scripRef passage="De 1:29,30" id="Num.xv-p10.3" parsed="|Deut|1|29|1|30" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.29-Deut.1.30">Deut. i. 29, 30</scripRef>, <i>Be not afraid; the Lord
|
|
your God shall fight for you.</i> Note, Those that are zealous
|
|
friends to precious souls will stoop to any thing for their
|
|
salvation. Moses and Aaron, notwithstanding the posts of honour
|
|
they are in, prostrate themselves to the people to beg of them not
|
|
to ruin themselves.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p11">2. Caleb and Joshua did their part: they
|
|
rent their clothes in a holy indignation at the sin of the people,
|
|
and a holy dread of the wrath of God, which they saw ready to break
|
|
out against them. It was the greater trouble to these good men
|
|
because the tumult was occasioned by those spies with whom they had
|
|
been joined in commission; and therefore they thought themselves
|
|
obliged to do what they could to still the storm which their
|
|
fellows had raised. No reasoning could be more pertinent and
|
|
pathetic than theirs was (<scripRef passage="Nu 14:7-9" id="Num.xv-p11.1" parsed="|Num|14|7|14|9" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.7-Num.14.9"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7-9</scripRef>), and they spoke as with authority.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p12">(1.) They assured them of the goodness of
|
|
the land they had surveyed, and that it was really worth venturing
|
|
for, and not a land that <i>ate up the inhabitants,</i> as the evil
|
|
spies had represented it. It is an <i>exceedingly good land</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 14:7" id="Num.xv-p12.1" parsed="|Num|14|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>); it is
|
|
<i>very, very good,</i> so the word is; so that they had no reason
|
|
to <i>despise this pleasant land.</i> Note, If men were but
|
|
thoroughly convinced of the desirableness of the gains of religion,
|
|
they would not stick at the services of it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p13">(2.) They made nothing of the difficulties
|
|
that seemed to lie in the way of their gaining the possession of
|
|
it: "<i>Fear not the people of the land,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 14:9" id="Num.xv-p13.1" parsed="|Num|14|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. Whatever formidable ideas have
|
|
been given you of them, the lion is not so fierce as he is painted.
|
|
<i>They are bread for us,</i>" that is, "they are set before us
|
|
rather to be fed upon than to be fought with, so easily, so
|
|
pleasantly, and with so much advantage to ourselves shall we master
|
|
them." Pharaoh is said to have been given them for meat (<scripRef passage="Ps 74:14" id="Num.xv-p13.2" parsed="|Ps|74|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.74.14">Ps. lxxiv. 14</scripRef>), and the Canaanites
|
|
will be so, too. They show that, whatever was suggested to the
|
|
contrary, the advantage was clear on Israel's side. For, [1.]
|
|
Though the Canaanites dwell in walled cities, they are naked:
|
|
<i>Their defence has departed from them;</i> that common providence
|
|
which preserves the rights of nations has abandoned them, and will
|
|
be no shelter nor protection to them. The other spies took notice
|
|
of their strength, but these of their wickedness, and thence
|
|
inferred that God had forsaken them, and therefore <i>their defence
|
|
had departed.</i> No people can be safe when they have provoked God
|
|
to leave them. [2.] Though Israel dwell in tents they are
|
|
fortified: <i>The Lord is with us,</i> and his name is a strong
|
|
tower; <i>fear them not.</i> Note, While we have the presence of
|
|
God with us, we need not fear the most powerful force against
|
|
us.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p14">(3.) They showed them plainly that all the
|
|
danger they were in was from their own discontents, and that they
|
|
would succeed against all their enemies if they did not make God
|
|
their enemy. On this point alone the cause would turn (<scripRef passage="Nu 14:8" id="Num.xv-p14.1" parsed="|Num|14|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>): "<i>If the Lord delight
|
|
in us,</i> as certainly he does, and will if we do not provoke him,
|
|
<i>he will bring us into this good land;</i> we shall without fail
|
|
get it in possession by his favour, and the light of his
|
|
countenance (<scripRef passage="Ps 44:3" id="Num.xv-p14.2" parsed="|Ps|44|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.44.3">Ps. xliv. 3</scripRef>),
|
|
if we do not forfeit his favour and by our own follies turn away
|
|
our own mercies." It has come to this issue (<scripRef passage="Nu 14:9" id="Num.xv-p14.3" parsed="|Num|14|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): <i>Only rebel not you against
|
|
the Lord.</i> Note, Nothing can ruin sinners but their own
|
|
rebellion. If God leave them, it is because they drive him from
|
|
them; and they die because they will die. None are excluded the
|
|
heavenly Canaan but those that exclude themselves. And, now, could
|
|
the case have been made more plain? could it have been urged more
|
|
closely? But what was the effect?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p15">II. It was all to no purpose; they were
|
|
deaf to this fair reasoning; nay, they were exasperated by it, and
|
|
grew more outrageous: <i>All the congregation bade stone them with
|
|
stones,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 14:10" id="Num.xv-p15.1" parsed="|Num|14|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>.
|
|
The rulers of the congregation, and the great men (so bishop
|
|
Patrick), ordered the common people to fall upon them, and knock
|
|
their brains out. Their case was sad indeed when their leaders thus
|
|
<i>caused them to err.</i> Note, It is common for those whose
|
|
hearts are <i>fully set in them to do evil</i> to rage at those who
|
|
give them good counsel. Those who hate to be reformed hate those
|
|
that would reform them, and count them their enemies because they
|
|
tell them the truth. Thus early did Israel begin to misuse the
|
|
prophets, and <i>stone those that were sent to them,</i> and it was
|
|
this that filled the measure of their sin, <scripRef passage="Mt 23:37" id="Num.xv-p15.2" parsed="|Matt|23|37|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.37">Matt. xxiii. 37</scripRef>. <i>Stone them with
|
|
stones!</i> Why, what evil have they done? No crime can be laid to
|
|
their charge; but the truth is <i>these two witnesses tormented
|
|
those</i> that were obstinate in their infidelity, <scripRef passage="Re 11:10" id="Num.xv-p15.3" parsed="|Rev|11|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.11.10">Rev. xi. 10</scripRef>. Caleb and Joshua had but
|
|
just said, <i>The Lord is with us; fear them not</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 14:9" id="Num.xv-p15.4" parsed="|Num|14|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): and, if Israel will not
|
|
apply those encouraging words to their own fears, those that
|
|
uttered them know how to encourage themselves with them against
|
|
this enraged multitude that spoke of stoning them, as David in a
|
|
like cause, <scripRef passage="1Sa 30:6" id="Num.xv-p15.5" parsed="|1Sam|30|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.30.6">1 Sam. xxx. 6</scripRef>.
|
|
Those that cannot prevail to edify others with their counsels and
|
|
comforts should endeavour at least to edify themselves. Caleb and
|
|
Joshua knew they appeared for God and his glory, and therefore
|
|
doubted not but God would appear for them and their safety. And
|
|
they were not disappointed, for immediately <i>the glory of the
|
|
Lord appeared,</i> to the terror and confusion of those that were
|
|
for stoning the servants of God. When they reflected upon God
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 14:3" id="Num.xv-p15.6" parsed="|Num|14|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), his glory
|
|
appeared not to silence their blasphemies; but, when they
|
|
threatened Caleb and Joshua, they touched the apple of his eye, and
|
|
his glory appeared immediately. Note, Those who faithfully expose
|
|
themselves for God are sure to be taken under his special
|
|
protection, and shall be hidden from the rage of men, either under
|
|
heaven or in heaven.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 14" id="Num.xv-p15.7" parsed="|Num|14|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 14:11-19" id="Num.xv-p15.8" parsed="|Num|14|11|14|19" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.11-Num.14.19"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.14.11-Num.14.19">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xv-p15.9">The Intercession of Moses. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xv-p15.10">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xv-p16">11 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xv-p16.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long
|
|
will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have
|
|
showed among them?   12 I will smite them with the pestilence,
|
|
and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and
|
|
mightier than they.   13 And Moses said unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xv-p16.2">Lord</span>, Then the Egyptians shall hear <i>it,</i>
|
|
(for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;)
|
|
  14 And they will tell <i>it</i> to the inhabitants of this
|
|
land: <i>for</i> they have heard that thou <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xv-p16.3">Lord</span> <i>art</i> among this people, that thou
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xv-p16.4">Lord</span> art seen face to face, and
|
|
<i>that</i> thy cloud standeth over them, and <i>that</i> thou
|
|
goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a
|
|
pillar of fire by night.   15 Now <i>if</i> thou shalt kill
|
|
<i>all</i> this people as one man, then the nations which have
|
|
heard the fame of thee will speak, saying,   16 Because the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xv-p16.5">Lord</span> was not able to bring this
|
|
people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath
|
|
slain them in the wilderness.   17 And now, I beseech thee,
|
|
let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken,
|
|
saying,   18 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xv-p16.6">Lord</span> <i>is</i>
|
|
longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and
|
|
transgression, and by no means clearing <i>the guilty,</i> visiting
|
|
the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and
|
|
fourth <i>generation.</i>   19 Pardon, I beseech thee, the
|
|
iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy,
|
|
and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until
|
|
now.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p17">Here is, I. The righteous sentence which
|
|
God gave against Israel for their murmuring and unbelief, which,
|
|
though afterwards mitigated, showed what was the desert of their
|
|
sin and the demand of injured justice, and what would have been
|
|
done if Moses had not interposed. When the glory of the Lord
|
|
<i>appeared in the tabernacle</i> we may suppose that Moses took it
|
|
for a call to him immediately to come and attend there, as before
|
|
the tabernacle was erected he went up to the mount in a similar
|
|
case, <scripRef passage="Ex 32:30" id="Num.xv-p17.1" parsed="|Exod|32|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.30">Exod. xxxii. 30</scripRef>.
|
|
Thus, while the people were studying to disgrace him, God publicly
|
|
put honour upon him, as the man of his counsel. Now here we are
|
|
told what God said to him there.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p18">1. He showed him the great evil of the
|
|
people's sin, <scripRef passage="Nu 14:11" id="Num.xv-p18.1" parsed="|Num|14|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>.
|
|
What passed between God and Israel went through the hands of Moses:
|
|
when they were displeased with God they told Moses of it (<scripRef passage="Nu 14:2" id="Num.xv-p18.2" parsed="|Num|14|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>); when God was displeased
|
|
with them he told Moses, too, <i>revealing his secret to his servant
|
|
the prophet,</i> <scripRef passage="Am 3:7" id="Num.xv-p18.3" parsed="|Amos|3|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.7">Amos iii. 7</scripRef>.
|
|
Two things God justly complains of to Moses:—(1.) Their sin. They
|
|
<i>provoke me,</i> or (as the word signifies) they <i>reject,
|
|
reproach, despise</i> me, for <i>they will not believe me.</i> This
|
|
was the bitter root which bore the gall and wormwood. It was their
|
|
unbelief that made this a day of provocation in the wilderness,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Heb 3:8" id="Num.xv-p18.4" parsed="|Heb|3|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.3.8">Heb. iii. 8</scripRef>. Note, Distrust
|
|
of God, of his power and promise, is itself a very great
|
|
provocation, and at the bottom of many other provocations. Unbelief
|
|
is a great sin (<scripRef passage="1Jo 5:10" id="Num.xv-p18.5" parsed="|1John|5|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.5.10">1 John v.
|
|
10</scripRef>), and a root sin, <scripRef passage="Heb 3:12" id="Num.xv-p18.6" parsed="|Heb|3|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.3.12">Heb.
|
|
iii. 12</scripRef>. (2.) Their continuance in it: <i>How long will
|
|
they do so?</i> Note, The God of heaven keeps an account how long
|
|
sinners persist in their provocations; and the longer they persist
|
|
the more he is displeased. The aggravations of their sin were, [1.]
|
|
Their relation to God: <i>This people,</i> a peculiar people, a
|
|
professing people. The nearer any are to God in name and
|
|
profession, the more he is provoked by their sins, especially their
|
|
unbelief. [2.] The experience they had had of God's power and
|
|
goodness, in <i>all the signs</i> which he <i>had shown among
|
|
them,</i> by which, one would think, he had effectually obliged
|
|
them to trust him and follow him. The more God has done for us the
|
|
greater is the provocation if we distrust him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p19">2. He showed him the sentence which justice
|
|
passed upon them for it, <scripRef passage="Nu 14:12" id="Num.xv-p19.1" parsed="|Num|14|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.12"><i>v.</i>
|
|
12</scripRef>. "What remains now but that I should make a full end
|
|
of them? It will soon be done. <i>I will smite them with the
|
|
pestilence,</i> not leave a man of them alive, but wholly blot out
|
|
their name and race, and so disinherit them, and be no more
|
|
troubled with them. <i>Ah, I will ease me of my adversaries.</i>
|
|
They wish to die; and let them die, and neither root nor branch be
|
|
left of them. Such rebellious children deserve to be disinherited."
|
|
And if it be asked, "What will become of God's covenant with
|
|
Abraham then?" here is an answer, "I shall be preserved in the
|
|
family of Moses: <i>I will make of thee a greater nation.</i>"
|
|
Thus, (1.) God would try Moses, whether he still continued that
|
|
affection for Israel which he formerly expressed upon a like
|
|
occasion, in preferring their interests before the advancement of
|
|
his own family; and it is proved that Moses was still of the same
|
|
public spirit, and could not bear the thought of raising his own
|
|
name upon the ruin of the name of Israel. (2.) God would teach us
|
|
that he will not be a loser by the ruin of sinners. If Adam and Eve
|
|
had been cut off and disinherited, he could have made another Adam
|
|
and another Eve, and have glorified his mercy in them, as here he
|
|
could have glorified his mercy in Moses, though Israel had been
|
|
ruined.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p20">II. The humble intercession Moses made for
|
|
them. Their sin had made a fatal breach in the wall of their
|
|
defence, at which destruction would certainly have entered if Moses
|
|
had not seasonably stepped in and made it good. Here he was a type
|
|
of Christ, who interceded for his persecutors, and <i>prayed for
|
|
those</i> that <i>despitefully used</i> him, leaving us an example
|
|
to his own rule, <scripRef passage="Mt 5:44" id="Num.xv-p20.1" parsed="|Matt|5|44|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.5.44">Matt. v.
|
|
44</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p21">1. The prayer of his petition is, in one
|
|
word, <i>Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 14:19" id="Num.xv-p21.1" parsed="|Num|14|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>), that is,
|
|
"Do not bring upon them the ruin they deserve." This was Christ's
|
|
prayer for those that crucified him, <i>Father forgive them.</i>
|
|
The pardon of a national sin, as such, consists in the turning away
|
|
of the national punishment; and that is it for which Moses is here
|
|
so earnest.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p22">2. The pleas are many, and strongly
|
|
urged.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p23">(1.) He insists most upon the plea that is
|
|
taken from the glory of God, <scripRef passage="Nu 14:13-16" id="Num.xv-p23.1" parsed="|Num|14|13|14|16" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.13-Num.14.16"><i>v.</i> 13-16</scripRef>. With this he begins, and
|
|
somewhat abruptly, taking occasion from that dreadful word, <i>I
|
|
will disinherit them. Lord</i> (says he), <i>then the Egyptians
|
|
shall hear it.</i> God's honour lay nearer to his heart than any
|
|
interests of his own. Observe how he <i>orders this cause</i>
|
|
before God. He pleads, [1.] That the eyes both of Egypt and Canaan
|
|
were upon them, and great expectations were raised concerning them.
|
|
They could not but have heard <i>that thou, Lord, art among this
|
|
people,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 14:14" id="Num.xv-p23.2" parsed="|Num|14|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>.
|
|
The neighbouring countries rang of it, how much this people were
|
|
the particular care of heaven, so as never any people under the sun
|
|
were. [2.] That if they should be cut off great notice would be
|
|
taken of it. "The <i>Egyptians will hear it</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 14:13" id="Num.xv-p23.3" parsed="|Num|14|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>), for they have their spies
|
|
among us, and they will <i>tell it to the inhabitants of the
|
|
land</i>" (<scripRef passage="Nu 14:14" id="Num.xv-p23.4" parsed="|Num|14|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>);
|
|
for there was great correspondence between Egypt and Canaan,
|
|
although not by the way of this wilderness. "If this people that
|
|
have made so great a noise be all consumed, if their mighty
|
|
pretensions come to nothing, and their light go out in a snuff, it
|
|
will be told with pleasure in Gath, and published in the streets of
|
|
Askelon; and what construction will the heathen put upon it? It
|
|
will be impossible to make them understand it as an act of God's
|
|
justice, and as such redounding to God's honour; <i>brutish men
|
|
know not this</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 92:6" id="Num.xv-p23.5" parsed="|Ps|92|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.92.6">Ps. xcii.
|
|
6</scripRef>): but they will impute it to the failing of God's
|
|
power, and so turn it to his reproach, <scripRef passage="Nu 14:16" id="Num.xv-p23.6" parsed="|Num|14|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. They will say, He slew them in
|
|
the wilderness because he was not able to bring them to Canaan, his
|
|
arm being shortened, and his stock of miracles being spent. Now,
|
|
Lord, let not one attribute be glorified at the expense of another;
|
|
rather let mercy <i>rejoice against judgment</i> than that almighty
|
|
power should be impeached." Note, The best pleas in prayer are
|
|
those that are taken from God's honour; for they agree with the
|
|
first petition of the Lord's Prayer, <i>Hallowed be thy name. Do
|
|
not disgrace the throne of thy glory.</i> God pleads it with
|
|
himself (<scripRef passage="De 32:27" id="Num.xv-p23.7" parsed="|Deut|32|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.27">Deut. xxxii. 27</scripRef>),
|
|
<i>I feareth the wrath of the enemy;</i> and we should use it as an
|
|
argument with ourselves to walk so in every thing as to give no
|
|
occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, <scripRef passage="1Ti 6:1" id="Num.xv-p23.8" parsed="|1Tim|6|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.6.1">1 Tim. vi. 1</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p24">(2.) He pleads God's proclamation of his
|
|
name at Horeb (<scripRef passage="Nu 14:17,18" id="Num.xv-p24.1" parsed="|Num|14|17|14|18" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.17-Num.14.18"><i>v.</i> 17,
|
|
18</scripRef>): <i>Let the power of the Lord be great.</i> Power is
|
|
here put for pardoning mercy; it is his power over his own anger.
|
|
If he should destroy them, God's power would be questioned; if he
|
|
should continue and complete their salvation, notwithstanding the
|
|
difficulties that arose, not only from the strength of their
|
|
enemies, but from their own provocations, this would greatly
|
|
magnify the divine power: what cannot he do who could make so weak
|
|
a people conquerors and such an unworthy people favourites? The
|
|
more danger there is of others reproaching God's power the more
|
|
desirous we should be to see it glorified. To enforce this
|
|
petition, he refers to the word which God had spoken: <i>The Lord
|
|
is long-suffering and of great mercy.</i> God's goodness had there
|
|
been spoken of as his glory; God gloried in it, <scripRef passage="Ex 34:6,7" id="Num.xv-p24.2" parsed="|Exod|34|6|34|7" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.6-Exod.34.7">Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7</scripRef>. Now here he prays that
|
|
upon this occasion he would glorify it. Note, We must take our
|
|
encouragement in prayer from the word of God, upon which he has
|
|
<i>caused us to hope,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 119:49" id="Num.xv-p24.3" parsed="|Ps|119|49|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119.49">Ps. cxix.
|
|
49</scripRef>. "Lord, be and do <i>according as thou hast
|
|
spoken;</i> for hast thou spoken, and wilt thou not make it good?"
|
|
Three things God had solemnly made a declaration of, which Moses
|
|
here fastens upon, and improves for the enforcing of his
|
|
petition:—[1.] The goodness of God's nature in general, that he
|
|
is long-suffering, or slow to anger, and of great mercy; not soon
|
|
provoked, but tender and compassionate towards offenders. [2.] His
|
|
readiness in particular to pardon sin: <i>Forgiving iniquity and
|
|
transgression,</i> sins of all sorts. [3.] His unwillingness to
|
|
proceed to extremity, even when he does punish. For in this sense
|
|
the following words may be read: <i>That will by no means make
|
|
quite desolate, in visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the
|
|
children.</i> God had indeed said in the second commandment that he
|
|
would thus visit, but here he promises not to make a full end of
|
|
families, churches, and nations, at once; and so it is very
|
|
applicable to this occasion, for Moses cannot beg that God would
|
|
not at all punish this sin (it would be too great an encouragement
|
|
to rebellion if he should set no mark of his displeasure upon it),
|
|
but that he would not <i>kill all this people as one man,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 14:15" id="Num.xv-p24.4" parsed="|Num|14|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. He does not
|
|
ask that they may not be corrected, but that they may not be
|
|
disinherited. And this proclamation of God's name was the more
|
|
apposite to his purpose because it was made upon occasion of the
|
|
pardoning of their sin in making the golden calf. This sin which
|
|
they had now fallen into was bad enough, but it was not
|
|
idolatry.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p25">(3.) He pleads past experience: <i>As thou
|
|
hast forgiven this people from Egypt,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 14:19" id="Num.xv-p25.1" parsed="|Num|14|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. This seemed to make against
|
|
him. Why should those be forgiven any more who, after they had been
|
|
so often forgiven, revolted yet more and more, and seemed hardened
|
|
and encouraged in their rebellion by the lenity and patience of
|
|
their God, and the frequent pardons they had obtained? Among men it
|
|
would have been thought impolitic to take notice of such a
|
|
circumstance in a request of this nature, as it might operate to
|
|
the prejudice of the petitioner: but, as in other things so in
|
|
pardoning sin, God's thoughts and ways are infinitely above ours,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 55:9" id="Num.xv-p25.2" parsed="|Isa|55|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.55.9">Isa. lv. 9</scripRef>. Moses looks
|
|
upon it as a good plea, <i>Lord, forgive, as thou hast
|
|
forgiven.</i> It will be no more a reproach to thy justice, nor any
|
|
less the praise of thy mercy, to forgive now, than it has been
|
|
formerly. Therefore the <i>sons of Jacob are not consumed,</i>
|
|
because they have to do with a <i>God that changes not,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mal 3:6" id="Num.xv-p25.3" parsed="|Mal|3|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mal.3.6">Mal. iii. 6</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 14:20-35" id="Num.xv-p25.4" parsed="|Num|14|20|14|35" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.20-Num.14.35"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.14.20-Num.14.35">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xv-p25.5">God's Answer to Moses; The Israelites
|
|
Threatened. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xv-p25.6">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xv-p26">20 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xv-p26.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said, I have pardoned according to thy word:   21 But
|
|
<i>as</i> truly <i>as</i> I live, all the earth shall be filled
|
|
with the glory of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xv-p26.2">Lord</span>.  
|
|
22 Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles,
|
|
which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now
|
|
these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;   23
|
|
Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their
|
|
fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:  
|
|
24 But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him,
|
|
and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land
|
|
whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.   25 (Now
|
|
the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.) To morrow
|
|
turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red
|
|
sea.   26 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xv-p26.3">Lord</span> spake
|
|
unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,   27 How long <i>shall I
|
|
bear with</i> this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I
|
|
have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they
|
|
murmur against me.   28 Say unto them, <i>As truly as</i> I
|
|
live, saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xv-p26.4">Lord</span>, as ye have
|
|
spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you:   29 Your carcases
|
|
shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you,
|
|
according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward,
|
|
which have murmured against me,   30 Doubtless ye shall not
|
|
come into the land, <i>concerning</i> which I sware to make you
|
|
dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son
|
|
of Nun.   31 But your little ones, which ye said should be a
|
|
prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye
|
|
have despised.   32 But <i>as for</i> you, your carcases, they
|
|
shall fall in this wilderness.   33 And your children shall
|
|
wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms,
|
|
until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.   34 After
|
|
the number of the days in which ye searched the land, <i>even</i>
|
|
forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities,
|
|
<i>even</i> forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.
|
|
  35 I the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xv-p26.5">Lord</span> have said, I
|
|
will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are
|
|
gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be
|
|
consumed, and there they shall die.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p27">We have here God's answer to the prayer of
|
|
Moses, which sings both of mercy and judgment. It is given
|
|
privately to Moses (<scripRef passage="Nu 14:20-25" id="Num.xv-p27.1" parsed="|Num|14|20|14|25" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.20-Num.14.25"><i>v.</i>
|
|
20-25</scripRef>), and then directed to be made public to the
|
|
people, <scripRef passage="Nu 14:26-35" id="Num.xv-p27.2" parsed="|Num|14|26|14|35" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.26-Num.14.35"><i>v.</i> 26-35</scripRef>.
|
|
The frequent repetitions of the same things in it speak these
|
|
resolves to be unalterable. Let us see the particulars.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p28">I. The extremity of the sentence is receded
|
|
from (<scripRef passage="Nu 14:20" id="Num.xv-p28.1" parsed="|Num|14|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>): "<i>I
|
|
have pardoned,</i> so as not to cut them all off at once, and
|
|
disinherit them." See the power of prayer, and the delight God
|
|
takes in putting an honour upon it. He designed a pardon, but Moses
|
|
shall have the praise of obtaining it by prayer: it shall be done
|
|
<i>according to thy word;</i> thus, as a prince, he has power with
|
|
God, and prevails. See what countenance and encouragement God gives
|
|
to our intercessions for others, that we may be public-spirited in
|
|
prayer. Here is a whole nation rescued from ruin by the effectual
|
|
fervent prayer of one righteous man. See how ready God is to
|
|
forgive sin, and how easy to be entreated: <i>Pardon,</i> says
|
|
Moses (<scripRef passage="Nu 14:19" id="Num.xv-p28.2" parsed="|Num|14|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>); <i>I
|
|
have pardoned,</i> says God, <scripRef passage="Nu 14:20" id="Num.xv-p28.3" parsed="|Num|14|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.20"><i>v.</i>
|
|
20</scripRef>. David found him thus swift to show mercy, <scripRef passage="Ps 32:5" id="Num.xv-p28.4" parsed="|Ps|32|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.32.5">Ps. xxxii. 5</scripRef>. <i>He deals not with us
|
|
after our sins,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 103:10" id="Num.xv-p28.5" parsed="|Ps|103|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.103.10">Ps. ciii.
|
|
10</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p29">II. The glorifying of God's name is, in the
|
|
general, resolved upon, <scripRef passage="Nu 14:21" id="Num.xv-p29.1" parsed="|Num|14|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.21"><i>v.</i>
|
|
21</scripRef>. It is said, it is sworn, <i>All the earth shall be
|
|
filled with the glory of the Lord.</i> Moses in his prayer had
|
|
shown a great concern for the glory of God. "Let me alone," says
|
|
God, "to secure that effectually, and to advance it, by this
|
|
dispensation." All the world shall see how God hates sin even in
|
|
his own people, and will reckon for it, and yet how gracious and
|
|
merciful he is, and how slow to anger. Thus when our Saviour
|
|
prayed, <i>Father, glorify thy name,</i> he was immediately
|
|
answered, <i>I have glorified it, and will glorify it yet
|
|
again,</i> <scripRef passage="Joh 12:28" id="Num.xv-p29.2" parsed="|John|12|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.12.28">John xii. 28</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, Those that sincerely seek God's glory may be sure of what
|
|
they seek. God having turned this prayer for the glorifying of
|
|
himself into a promise, we may turn it into praise, in concert with
|
|
the angels, <scripRef passage="Isa 6:3" id="Num.xv-p29.3" parsed="|Isa|6|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.3">Isa. vi. 3</scripRef>,
|
|
<i>The earth is full of his glory.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p30">III. The sin of this people which provoked
|
|
God to proceed against them is here aggravated, <scripRef passage="Nu 14:22,27" id="Num.xv-p30.1" parsed="|Num|14|22|0|0;|Num|14|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.22 Bible:Num.14.27"><i>v.</i> 22, 27</scripRef>. It is not made worse
|
|
than really it was, but is shown to be exceedingly sinful. It was
|
|
an evil congregation, each bad, but altogether in congregation,
|
|
very bad. 1. They tempted God—tempted his power, whether he could
|
|
help them in their straits—his goodness, whether he would—and his
|
|
faithfulness, whether his promise would be performed. They tempted
|
|
his justice, whether he would resent their provocations and punish
|
|
them or no. They dared him, and in effect challenged him, as God
|
|
does the idols (<scripRef passage="Isa 41:23" id="Num.xv-p30.2" parsed="|Isa|41|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.41.23">Isa. xli.
|
|
23</scripRef>), to do <i>good,</i> or do <i>evil.</i> 2. They
|
|
murmured against him. This is much insisted on, <scripRef passage="Nu 14:27" id="Num.xv-p30.3" parsed="|Num|14|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>. As they questioned what he
|
|
would do, so they quarrelled with him for every thing he did or had
|
|
done, continually fretting and finding fault. It does not appear
|
|
that they murmured at any of the laws or ordinances that God gave
|
|
them (though they proved a heavy yoke), but they murmured at the
|
|
conduct they were under, and the provision made for them. Note, It
|
|
is much easier to bring ourselves to the external services of
|
|
religion, and observe all the formalities of devotion, than to live
|
|
a life of dependence upon, and submission to, the divine Providence
|
|
in the course of our conversation. 3. They did this after they had
|
|
seen God's miracles in Egypt and in the wilderness, <scripRef passage="Nu 14:2" id="Num.xv-p30.4" parsed="|Num|14|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. They would not believe
|
|
their own eyes, which were witnesses for God that he was in the
|
|
midst of them of a truth. 4. They had repeated the provocations ten
|
|
times, that is, very often: the Jewish writers reckon this exactly
|
|
the tenth time that the body of the congregation had provoked God.
|
|
First, at the Red Sea, <scripRef passage="Ex 14:11" id="Num.xv-p30.5" parsed="|Exod|14|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.11">Exod. xiv.
|
|
11</scripRef>. In Marah, <scripRef passage="Ex 15:23,24" id="Num.xv-p30.6" parsed="|Exod|15|23|15|24" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.23-Exod.15.24">Exod. xv.
|
|
23, 24</scripRef>. In the wilderness of Sin, <scripRef passage="Ex 16:2" id="Num.xv-p30.7" parsed="|Exod|16|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.2">Exod. xvi. 2</scripRef>. At Rephidim, <scripRef passage="Ex 17:1,2" id="Num.xv-p30.8" parsed="|Exod|17|1|17|2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.1-Exod.17.2">Exod. xvii. 1, 2</scripRef>. The golden calf, <scripRef passage="Ex 32:1-35" id="Num.xv-p30.9" parsed="|Exod|32|1|32|35" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.1-Exod.32.35">Exod. xxxii</scripRef>. Then at Taberah. Then
|
|
at Kibroth-Hattaavah, <scripRef passage="Nu 11:1-35" id="Num.xv-p30.10" parsed="|Num|11|1|11|35" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.1-Num.11.35"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xi</scripRef>. And so this was the tenth. Note, God keeps an
|
|
account how often we repeat our provocations, and will sooner or
|
|
later set them in order before us. 5. They had not hearkened to his
|
|
voice, though he had again and again admonished them of their
|
|
sin.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p31">IV. The sentence passed upon them for this
|
|
sin. 1. That they should not see the promised land (<scripRef passage="Nu 14:23" id="Num.xv-p31.1" parsed="|Num|14|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>), nor <i>come into
|
|
it,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 14:30" id="Num.xv-p31.2" parsed="|Num|14|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>. <i>He
|
|
swore in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 95:11" id="Num.xv-p31.3" parsed="|Ps|95|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.95.11">Ps. xcv. 11</scripRef>. Note,
|
|
Disbelief of the promise is a forfeiture of the benefit of it.
|
|
Those that despise the pleasant land shall be shut out of it. The
|
|
promise of God should be fulfilled to their posterity, but not to
|
|
them. 2. That they should immediately <i>turn back into the
|
|
wilderness,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 14:25" id="Num.xv-p31.4" parsed="|Num|14|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.25"><i>v.</i>
|
|
25</scripRef>. Their next remove should be a retreat. They must
|
|
face about, and instead of going forward to Canaan, on the very
|
|
borders of which they now were, they must withdraw towards the Red
|
|
Sea again. <i>To-morrow turn you;</i> that is, "Very shortly you
|
|
shall be brought back to that vast howling wilderness which you are
|
|
so weary of. And it is time to shift for your own safety, for
|
|
<i>the Amalekites lie in wait in the valley,</i> ready to attack
|
|
you if you march forward." Of them they had been distrustfully
|
|
afraid (<scripRef passage="Nu 13:29" id="Num.xv-p31.5" parsed="|Num|13|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.13.29"><i>ch.</i> xiii.
|
|
29</scripRef>), and now with them God justly frightened them.
|
|
<i>The fear of the wicked shall come upon him.</i> 3. That all
|
|
those who had now grown up to men's estate should die in the
|
|
wilderness, not all at once, but by degrees. They wished that they
|
|
might die in the wilderness, and God said <i>Amen</i> to their
|
|
passionate wish, and made their sin their ruin, <i>snared them</i>
|
|
in the <i>words of their mouth,</i> and <i>caused their own tongue
|
|
to fall upon them,</i> took them at their word, and determined that
|
|
their <i>carcases should fall in the wilderness,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 14:28,29" id="Num.xv-p31.6" parsed="|Num|14|28|14|29" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.28-Num.14.29"><i>v.</i> 28, 29</scripRef>, and again,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 14:32,35" id="Num.xv-p31.7" parsed="|Num|14|32|0|0;|Num|14|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.32 Bible:Num.14.35"><i>v.</i> 32, 35</scripRef>. See
|
|
with what contempt they are spoken of, now that they had by their
|
|
sin made themselves vile; the mighty men of valour were but
|
|
carcases, when the Spirit of the Lord had departed from them. They
|
|
were all as dead men. Their fathers had such a value for Canaan
|
|
that they desired to have their dead bodies carried thither to be
|
|
buried, in token of their dependence upon God's promise that they
|
|
should have that land for a possession: but these, having despised
|
|
that good land and disbelieved the promise of it, shall not have
|
|
the honour to be buried in it, but shall have their graves in the
|
|
wilderness. 4. That in pursuance of this sentence they should
|
|
wander to and fro in the wilderness, like travellers that have lost
|
|
themselves, for forty years; that is, so long as to make it full
|
|
forty years from their coming out of Egypt to their entrance into
|
|
Canaan, <scripRef passage="Nu 14:33,34" id="Num.xv-p31.8" parsed="|Num|14|33|14|34" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.33-Num.14.34"><i>v.</i> 33,
|
|
34</scripRef>. Thus long they were kept wandering, (1.) To answer
|
|
the number of the days in which the spies were searching the land.
|
|
They were content to wait forty days for the testimony of men,
|
|
because they could not take God's word; and therefore justly are
|
|
they kept forty years waiting for the performance of God's promise.
|
|
(2.) That hereby they might be brought to repentance, and find
|
|
mercy with God in the other world, whatever became of them in this.
|
|
Now they had time to bethink themselves, and to consider their
|
|
ways; and the inconveniences of the wilderness would help to humble
|
|
them and prove them, and <i>show them what was in their heart,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 8:2" id="Num.xv-p31.9" parsed="|Deut|8|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.2">Deut. viii. 2</scripRef>. Thus long they
|
|
<i>bore their iniquities,</i> feeling the weight of God's wrath in
|
|
the punishment. They were made to groan under the burden of their
|
|
own sin that brought it upon them, which was <i>too heavy for them
|
|
to bear.</i> (3.) That they might sensibly feel what a dangerous
|
|
thing it is for God's covenant-people to break with him: "<i>You
|
|
shall know my breach of promise,</i> both the causes of it, that it
|
|
is procured by your sin" (for God never leaves any till they first
|
|
leave him), "and the consequences of it, that it will produce your
|
|
ruin; you are quite undone when you are thrown out of covenant."
|
|
(4.) That a new generation might in this time be raised up, which
|
|
could not be done all of a sudden. And the children, being brought
|
|
up under the tokens of God's displeasure against their fathers, and
|
|
so <i>bearing their whoredoms</i> (that is, the punishment of their
|
|
sins, especially their idolatry about the golden calf, which God
|
|
now remembered against them), might take warning not to tread in
|
|
the steps of their fathers' disobedience. And their wandering so
|
|
long in the wilderness would make Canaan at last the more welcome
|
|
to them. It should seem that upon occasion of this sentence Moses
|
|
penned the <scripRef passage="Ps 90:1-17" id="Num.xv-p31.10" parsed="|Ps|90|1|90|17" osisRef="Bible:Ps.90.1-Ps.90.17">ninetieth
|
|
Psalm</scripRef>, which is very apposite to the present state of
|
|
Israel, and wherein they are taught to pray that since this
|
|
sentence could not be reversed it might be sanctified, and they
|
|
might learn to <i>apply their hearts unto wisdom.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p32">V. The mercy that was mixed with this
|
|
severe sentence.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p33">1. Mercy to Caleb and Joshua, that though
|
|
they should wander with the rest in the wilderness, yet they, and
|
|
only they of all that were now above twenty years old, should
|
|
survive the years of banishment, and live to enter Canaan. Caleb
|
|
only is spoken of (<scripRef passage="Nu 14:24" id="Num.xv-p33.1" parsed="|Num|14|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.24"><i>v.</i>
|
|
24</scripRef>), and a particular mark of honour put upon him, both,
|
|
(1.) In the character given of him: he had <i>another spirit,</i>
|
|
different from the rest of the spies, an <i>after-spirit,</i> which
|
|
furnished him with second thoughts, and he <i>followed the Lord
|
|
fully,</i> kept close to his duty, and went through with it, though
|
|
deserted and threatened; and, (2.) In the recompence promised to
|
|
him: <i>Him will I bring in due time into the land whereinto he
|
|
went.</i> Note, [1.] It ought to be the great care and endeavour of
|
|
every one of us to follow the Lord fully. We must, in a course of
|
|
obedience to God's will and of service to his honour, follow him
|
|
universally, without dividing,—uprightly, without
|
|
dissembling,—cheerfully, without disputing,—and constantly,
|
|
without declining; and this is following him fully. [2.] Those that
|
|
would follow God fully must have another spirit, another from the
|
|
spirit of the world, and another from what their own spirit has
|
|
been. They must have the spirit of Caleb. [3.] Those that follow
|
|
God fully in times of general apostasy God will own and honour by
|
|
singular preservations in times of general calamity. The heavenly
|
|
Canaan shall be the everlasting inheritance of those that follow
|
|
the Lord fully. When Caleb is again mentioned (<scripRef passage="Nu 14:30" id="Num.xv-p33.2" parsed="|Num|14|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>) Joshua stands with him,
|
|
compassed with the same favours and crowned with the same honours,
|
|
having stood with him in the same services.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p34">2. Mercy to the children even of these
|
|
rebels. They should have a seed preserved, and Canaan secured to
|
|
that seed: <i>Your little ones,</i> now under twenty years old,
|
|
<i>which you,</i> in your unbelief, <i>said should be a prey, them
|
|
will I bring in,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 14:31" id="Num.xv-p34.1" parsed="|Num|14|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.31"><i>v.</i>
|
|
31</scripRef>. They had invidiously charged God with a design to
|
|
ruin their children, <scripRef passage="Nu 14:3" id="Num.xv-p34.2" parsed="|Num|14|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.3"><i>v.</i>
|
|
3</scripRef>. But God will let them know that he can put a
|
|
difference between the guilty and the innocent, and cut them off
|
|
without touching their children. Thus the promise made to Abraham,
|
|
though it seemed to fail for a time, was kept from failing for
|
|
evermore; and, though God chastened their transgressions with a
|
|
rod, yet his <i>loving kindness he would not utterly take
|
|
away.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 14:36-45" id="Num.xv-p34.3" parsed="|Num|14|36|14|45" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.36-Num.14.45"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.14.36-Num.14.45">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xv-p34.4">Death of the Evil Spies. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xv-p34.5">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xv-p35">36 And the men, which Moses sent to search the
|
|
land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against
|
|
him, by bringing up a slander upon the land,   37 Even those
|
|
men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the
|
|
plague before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xv-p35.1">Lord</span>.   38
|
|
But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, <i>which
|
|
were</i> of the men that went to search the land, lived
|
|
<i>still.</i>   39 And Moses told these sayings unto all the
|
|
children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly.   40 And
|
|
they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of
|
|
the mountain, saying, Lo, we <i>be here,</i> and will go up unto
|
|
the place which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xv-p35.2">Lord</span> hath
|
|
promised: for we have sinned.   41 And Moses said, Wherefore
|
|
now do ye transgress the commandment of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xv-p35.3">Lord</span>? but it shall not prosper.   42 Go not
|
|
up, for the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xv-p35.4">Lord</span> <i>is</i> not among
|
|
you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies.   43 For the
|
|
Amalekites and the Canaanites <i>are</i> there before you, and ye
|
|
shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned away from the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xv-p35.5">Lord</span>, therefore the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xv-p35.6">Lord</span> will not be with you.   44 But they
|
|
presumed to go up unto the hill top: nevertheless the ark of the
|
|
covenant of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xv-p35.7">Lord</span>, and Moses,
|
|
departed not out of the camp.   45 Then the Amalekites came
|
|
down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them,
|
|
and discomfited them, <i>even</i> unto Hormah.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p36">Here is, I. The sudden death of the ten
|
|
evil spies. While the sentence was passing upon the people, before
|
|
it was published, they <i>died of the plague before the Lord,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 14:36,37" id="Num.xv-p36.1" parsed="|Num|14|36|14|37" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.36-Num.14.37"><i>v.</i> 36, 37</scripRef>.
|
|
Now,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p37">1. God hereby showed his particular
|
|
displeasure against those who <i>sinned and made Israel to sin.</i>
|
|
(1.) They sinned themselves, in bringing up a slander upon the land
|
|
of promise. Note, Those greatly provoke God who misrepresent
|
|
religion, cast reproach upon it, and raise prejudices in men's
|
|
minds against it, or give occasion to those to do so who seek
|
|
occasion. Those that represent the service of God as mean and
|
|
despicable, melancholy and uncomfortable, hard and impracticable,
|
|
needless and unprofitable, bring up an <i>evil report</i> upon the
|
|
good land, <i>pervert the right ways of the Lord,</i> and in effect
|
|
give him the lie. (2.) They <i>made Israel to sin.</i> They
|
|
designedly <i>made all the congregation murmur</i> against God.
|
|
Note, Ring-leaders in sin may expect to fall under particular marks
|
|
of the wrath of God, who will severely reckon for the blood of
|
|
souls, which is thus spilt.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p38">2. God hereby showed what he could have
|
|
done with the whole congregation, and gave an earnest of the
|
|
execution of the sentence now passed upon them. He that thus cut
|
|
off one of a tribe could have cut off their whole tribes suddenly,
|
|
and would do it gradually. Note, The remarkable deaths of notorious
|
|
sinners are earnests of the final perdition of ungodly men,
|
|
<scripRef passage="2Pe 2:5,6" id="Num.xv-p38.1" parsed="|2Pet|2|5|2|6" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.2.5-2Pet.2.6">2 Pet. ii. 5, 6</scripRef>. Thus the
|
|
wrath of God is revealed, that sinners may hear and fear.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p39">II. The special preservation of Caleb and
|
|
Joshua: <i>They lived still,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 14:38" id="Num.xv-p39.1" parsed="|Num|14|38|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.38"><i>v.</i> 38</scripRef>. It is probable that all the
|
|
twelve spies stood together, for the eyes of all Israel were now
|
|
upon them; and therefore it is taken notice of as very remarkable,
|
|
and which could not but be affecting to the whole congregation,
|
|
that when the ten evil spies fell down dead of the plague, a
|
|
malignant infectious distemper, yet these two that stood among them
|
|
lived, and were well. God hereby confirmed their testimony, and put
|
|
those to confusion that spoke of stoning them. He likewise gave
|
|
them an assurance of their continued preservation in the
|
|
wilderness, when thousands should fall on their right hand and on
|
|
their left, <scripRef passage="Ps 91:7" id="Num.xv-p39.2" parsed="|Ps|91|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.91.7">Ps. xci. 7</scripRef>.
|
|
Death never misses his mark, nor takes any by oversight that were
|
|
designed for life, though in the midst of those that were to
|
|
die.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p40">III. The publication of the sentence to all
|
|
the people, <scripRef passage="Nu 14:36" id="Num.xv-p40.1" parsed="|Num|14|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.36"><i>v.</i> 36</scripRef>.
|
|
He told them all what the decree was which had gone forth
|
|
concerning them, and which could not be reversed, that they must
|
|
all die in the wilderness, and Canaan must be reserved for the next
|
|
generation. It was a very great disappointment, we may well think,
|
|
to Moses himself, who longed to be in Canaan, as well as to all the
|
|
people; yet he acquiesced, but they wept and mourned greatly. The
|
|
assurance which Moses had of God's being glorified by this sentence
|
|
gave him satisfaction, while the consciousness of their own guilt,
|
|
and their having procured it to themselves, gave them the greatest
|
|
vexation. They wept for nothing (<scripRef passage="Nu 14:1" id="Num.xv-p40.2" parsed="|Num|14|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>), and now they have cause given
|
|
them to weep; so justly are murmurers made mourners. If they had
|
|
mourned for the sin when they were faithfully reproved for it
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 14:9" id="Num.xv-p40.3" parsed="|Num|14|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>), the sentence
|
|
would have been prevented; but now that they mourned for the
|
|
judgment only their grief came too late, and did them no service;
|
|
they <i>found no place for repentance, though they sought it
|
|
carefully with tears,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 12:17" id="Num.xv-p40.4" parsed="|Heb|12|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.17">Heb. xii.
|
|
17</scripRef>. Such mourning as this there is in hell, but the
|
|
tears will not quench the flames, no, nor cool the tongue.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p41">IV. The foolish fruitless attempts of some
|
|
of the Israelites to enter Canaan, notwithstanding the
|
|
sentence.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p42">1. They were now eager to go forward
|
|
towards Canaan, <scripRef passage="Nu 14:40" id="Num.xv-p42.1" parsed="|Num|14|40|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.40"><i>v.</i>
|
|
40</scripRef>. They were up early, mustered all their force, got
|
|
together in a body, and begged of Moses to lead them on against the
|
|
enemy, and now there is no more talk among them of making a captain
|
|
to return into Egypt. They confess their fault: <i>We have
|
|
sinned;</i> they profess reformation: <i>Lo, we be here, and will
|
|
go up.</i> They now desire the land which they had despised, and
|
|
put a confidence in the promise which they had distrusted. Thus
|
|
when God judges he will overcome, and, first or last, will convince
|
|
sinners of the evil of all their ungodly deeds, and hard speeches,
|
|
and force them to recall their own words. But, though God was
|
|
glorified by this recantation of theirs, they were not benefited by
|
|
it, because it came too late. The decree had gone forth, the
|
|
consumption was determined; they did not seek the Lord while he
|
|
might be found, and now he would not be found. O, if men would but
|
|
be as earnest for heaven while their day of grace lasts as they
|
|
will be when it is over, would be as solicitous to provide
|
|
themselves with oil while the bridegroom tarries as they will be
|
|
when the bridegroom comes, how well were it for them!</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p43">2. Moses utterly disallows their motion,
|
|
and forbids the expedition they were meditating: <i>Go not up,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 14:41-43" id="Num.xv-p43.1" parsed="|Num|14|41|14|43" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.41-Num.14.43"><i>v.</i> 41-43</scripRef>. (1.) He
|
|
gives them warning of the sin; it is <i>transgressing the
|
|
commandment of the Lord,</i> who had expressly ordered them, when
|
|
they did move, to move back towards the Red Sea. Note, That which
|
|
has been duty, in its season, when it comes to be mistimed may be
|
|
turned into sin. It is true the command he refers to was in the
|
|
nature of a punishment, but he that has not obeyed the law is
|
|
obliged to submit to the penalty, for the Lord is our Judge as well
|
|
as Lawgiver. (2.) He gives them this warning of the danger: "<i>It
|
|
shall not prosper,</i> never expect it." Note, It is folly to
|
|
promise ourselves success in that which we undertake contrary to
|
|
the mind of God. "<i>The Canaanites are before you</i> to attack
|
|
you, and <i>the Lord is not among you</i> to protect you and fight
|
|
for you, and therefore look to yourselves <i>that you be not
|
|
smitten before your enemies.</i>" Those that are out of the way of
|
|
their duty are from under God's protection, and go at their peril.
|
|
It is dangerous going where we cannot expect God should go along
|
|
with us. Nay, he plainly foresees and foretells their defeat: <i>You
|
|
shall fall by the sword</i> of the Amalekites and Canaanites (who
|
|
were to have fallen by their sword); <i>Because you are turned away
|
|
from the Lord,</i> from following the guidance of his precept and
|
|
promise, <i>therefore the Lord will not be with you.</i> Note, God
|
|
will certainly leave those that leave him; and those that are left
|
|
of him lie exposed to all misery.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p44">3. They venture notwithstanding. Never was
|
|
people so perverse and so desperately resolved in every thing to
|
|
walk contrary to God. God bade them go, and they would not; he
|
|
forbade them, and they would. Thus is the <i>carnal mind enmity to
|
|
God: They presumed to go up unto the hill-top,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 14:44" id="Num.xv-p44.1" parsed="|Num|14|44|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.44"><i>v.</i> 44</scripRef>. Here, (1.) They
|
|
struggled against the sentence of divine justice, and would press
|
|
on in defiance of it. (2.) They slighted the tokens of God's
|
|
presence, for they would go though they left Moses and the ark of
|
|
the covenant behind them. They had distrusted God's strength, and
|
|
now they presume upon their own without his.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xv-p45">4. The expedition speeds accordingly,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 14:45" id="Num.xv-p45.1" parsed="|Num|14|45|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.45"><i>v.</i> 45</scripRef>. The enemy had
|
|
posted themselves upon the top of the hill, to make good that pass
|
|
against the invaders, and, being informed by their scouts of their
|
|
approach, sallied out upon them, and defeated them, and it is
|
|
probable that many of the Israelites were killed. Now the sentence
|
|
began to be executed that their <i>carcases should fall in the
|
|
wilderness.</i> Note, That affair can never end well that begins
|
|
with sin. The way to obtain peace with our friends, and success
|
|
against our enemies, is to make God our friend, and keep ourselves
|
|
in his love. The Jews, like these their ancestors, when they had
|
|
rejected Christ's righteousness, attempted to establish their own,
|
|
and it sped as this.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XV" n="xvi" progress="71.31%" prev="Num.xv" next="Num.xvii" id="Num.xvi">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.xvi-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.xvi-p0.2">CHAP. XV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.xvi-p1">This chapter, which is mostly concerning sacrifice
|
|
and offering, comes in between the story of two rebellions (one
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 14:1-45" id="Num.xvi-p1.1" parsed="|Num|14|1|14|45" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.1-Num.14.45"><i>ch.</i> xiv.</scripRef> the other
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 16:1-50" id="Num.xvi-p1.2" parsed="|Num|16|1|16|50" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.1-Num.16.50"><i>ch.</i> xvi.</scripRef>), to
|
|
signify that these legal institutions were typical of the gifts
|
|
which Christ was to receive even for the rebellious, <scripRef passage="Ps 68:18" id="Num.xvi-p1.3" parsed="|Ps|68|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.68.18">Ps. lxviii. 18</scripRef>. In the foregoing
|
|
chapter, upon Israel's provocation, God had determined to destroy
|
|
them, and in token of his wrath had sentenced them to perish in the
|
|
wilderness. But, upon Moses' intercession, he said, "I have
|
|
pardoned;" and, in token of that mercy, in this chapter he repeats
|
|
and explains some of the laws concerning offerings, to show that he
|
|
was reconciled to them, notwithstanding the severe dispensation
|
|
they were under, and would not unchurch them. Here is, I. The law
|
|
concerning the meat-offerings and drink-offerings (<scripRef passage="Nu 15:1-12" id="Num.xvi-p1.4" parsed="|Num|15|1|15|12" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.1-Num.15.12">ver. 1-12</scripRef>) both for Israelites and
|
|
for strangers (<scripRef passage="Nu 15:13-16" id="Num.xvi-p1.5" parsed="|Num|15|13|15|16" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.13-Num.15.16">ver.
|
|
13-16</scripRef>), and a law concerning the heave-offerings of the
|
|
first of their dough, <scripRef passage="Nu 15:17-21" id="Num.xvi-p1.6" parsed="|Num|15|17|15|21" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.17-Num.15.21">ver.
|
|
17-21</scripRef>. II. The law concerning sacrifices for sins of
|
|
ignorance, <scripRef passage="Nu 15:22-29" id="Num.xvi-p1.7" parsed="|Num|15|22|15|29" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.22-Num.15.29">ver. 22-29</scripRef>.
|
|
III. The punishment of presumptuous sins (<scripRef passage="Nu 15:30,31" id="Num.xvi-p1.8" parsed="|Num|15|30|15|31" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.30-Num.15.31">ver. 30, 31</scripRef>), and an instance given in the
|
|
sabbath-breaker, <scripRef passage="Nu 15:32-36" id="Num.xvi-p1.9" parsed="|Num|15|32|15|36" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.32-Num.15.36">ver.
|
|
32-36</scripRef>. IV. A law concerning fringes, for memorandums,
|
|
upon the borders of their garments, <scripRef passage="Nu 15:37-41" id="Num.xvi-p1.10" parsed="|Num|15|37|15|41" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.37-Num.15.41">ver. 37</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 15" id="Num.xvi-p1.11" parsed="|Num|15|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.15"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 15:1-21" id="Num.xvi-p1.12" parsed="|Num|15|1|15|21" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.1-Num.15.21"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.15.1-Num.15.21">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xvi-p1.13">Laws Concerning Sacrifices. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvi-p1.14">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xvi-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvi-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   2 Speak unto the children of
|
|
Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land of your
|
|
habitations, which I give unto you,   3 And will make an
|
|
offering by fire unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvi-p2.2">Lord</span>, a
|
|
burnt offering, or a sacrifice in performing a vow, or in a
|
|
freewill offering, or in your solemn feasts, to make a sweet savour
|
|
unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvi-p2.3">Lord</span>, of the herd, or of
|
|
the flock:   4 Then shall he that offereth his offering unto
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvi-p2.4">Lord</span> bring a meat offering of a
|
|
tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth <i>part</i> of an hin
|
|
of oil.   5 And the fourth <i>part</i> of an hin of wine for a
|
|
drink offering shalt thou prepare with the burnt offering or
|
|
sacrifice, for one lamb.   6 Or for a ram, thou shalt prepare
|
|
<i>for</i> a meat offering two tenth deals of flour mingled with
|
|
the third <i>part</i> of an hin of oil.   7 And for a drink
|
|
offering thou shalt offer the third <i>part</i> of an hin of wine,
|
|
<i>for</i> a sweet savour unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvi-p2.5">Lord</span>.   8 And when thou preparest a bullock
|
|
<i>for</i> a burnt offering, or <i>for</i> a sacrifice in
|
|
performing a vow, or peace offerings unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvi-p2.6">Lord</span>:   9 Then shall he bring with a
|
|
bullock a meat offering of three tenth deals of flour mingled with
|
|
half an hin of oil.   10 And thou shalt bring for a drink
|
|
offering half an hin of wine, <i>for</i> an offering made by fire,
|
|
of a sweet savour unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvi-p2.7">Lord</span>.
|
|
  11 Thus shall it be done for one bullock, or for one ram, or
|
|
for a lamb, or a kid.   12 According to the number that ye
|
|
shall prepare, so shall ye do to every one according to their
|
|
number.   13 All that are born of the country shall do these
|
|
things after this manner, in offering an offering made by fire, of
|
|
a sweet savour unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvi-p2.8">Lord</span>.  
|
|
14 And if a stranger sojourn with you, or whosoever <i>be</i> among
|
|
you in your generations, and will offer an offering made by fire,
|
|
of a sweet savour unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvi-p2.9">Lord</span>; as
|
|
ye do, so he shall do.   15 One ordinance <i>shall be both</i>
|
|
for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that
|
|
sojourneth <i>with you,</i> an ordinance for ever in your
|
|
generations: as ye <i>are,</i> so shall the stranger be before the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvi-p2.10">Lord</span>.   16 One law and one
|
|
manner shall be for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with
|
|
you.   17 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvi-p2.11">Lord</span> spake
|
|
unto Moses, saying,   18 Speak unto the children of Israel,
|
|
and say unto them, When ye come into the land whither I bring you,
|
|
  19 Then it shall be, that, when ye eat of the bread of the
|
|
land, ye shall offer up an heave offering unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvi-p2.12">Lord</span>.   20 Ye shall offer up a cake of the
|
|
first of your dough <i>for</i> an heave offering: as <i>ye do</i>
|
|
the heave offering of the threshingfloor, so shall ye heave it.
|
|
  21 Of the first of your dough ye shall give unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvi-p2.13">Lord</span> an heave offering in your
|
|
generations.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvi-p3">Here we have,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvi-p4">I. Full instructions given concerning the
|
|
meat-offerings and drink-offerings, which were appendages to all
|
|
the sacrifices of animals. The beginning of this law is very
|
|
encouraging: <i>When you come into the land of your habitation
|
|
which I give unto you,</i> they you shall do so and so, <scripRef passage="Nu 15:2" id="Num.xvi-p4.1" parsed="|Num|15|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. This was a plain
|
|
intimation, not only that God was reconciled to them
|
|
notwithstanding the sentence he had passed upon them, but that he
|
|
would secure the promised land to their seed notwithstanding their
|
|
proneness to rebel against him. They might think some time or other
|
|
they should be guilty of a misdemeanour that would be fatal to
|
|
them, and would exclude them for ever, as the last had done for one
|
|
generation; but this intimates an assurance that they should be
|
|
kept from provoking God to such a degree as would amount to a
|
|
forfeiture; for this statute takes it for granted that there were
|
|
some of them that should in due time come into Canaan. The
|
|
meat-offerings were of two sorts; some were offered alone, and we
|
|
have the law concerning those, <scripRef passage="Le 2:1-16" id="Num.xvi-p4.2" parsed="|Lev|2|1|2|16" osisRef="Bible:Lev.2.1-Lev.2.16">Lev.
|
|
ii. 1</scripRef>, &c. Others were added to the burnt-offerings
|
|
and peace-offerings, and constantly attended them, and about these
|
|
direction is here given. It was requisite, since the sacrifices of
|
|
acknowledgment (specified in <scripRef passage="Nu 15:3" id="Num.xvi-p4.3" parsed="|Num|15|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.3"><i>v.</i>
|
|
3</scripRef>) were intended as the food of God's table, that there
|
|
should be a constant provision of bread, oil, and wine, whatever
|
|
the flesh-meat was. The caterers or purveyors for Solomon's temple
|
|
provided <i>fine flour,</i> <scripRef passage="1Ki 4:22" id="Num.xvi-p4.4" parsed="|1Kgs|4|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.4.22">1 Kings
|
|
iv. 22</scripRef>. And it was fit that God should keep a good
|
|
house, that his table should be furnished with bread as well as
|
|
flesh, and that his cup should run over. In my Father's house there
|
|
is bread enough. Now the intent of this law is to direct what
|
|
proportion the meat-offering and drink-offering should bear to
|
|
several sacrifices to which they were annexed. If the sacrifice was
|
|
a lamb or a kid, then the meat-offering must be a tenth-deal of
|
|
flour, that is, an omer, which contained about five pints; this
|
|
must be mingled with oil, the fourth part of a hin (a hin contained
|
|
about five quarts), and the drink-offering must be the same
|
|
quantity of wine, about a quart and half a pint, <scripRef passage="Nu 15:3-5" id="Num.xvi-p4.5" parsed="|Num|15|3|15|5" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.3-Num.15.5"><i>v.</i> 3-5</scripRef>. If it was a ram, the
|
|
meat-offering was doubled, two tenth-deals of flour, about five
|
|
quarts, and a third part of a hin of oil (which was to them as
|
|
butter is to us) mingled with it; and the same quantity of wine for
|
|
a drink-offering, <scripRef passage="Nu 15:6,7" id="Num.xvi-p4.6" parsed="|Num|15|6|15|7" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.6-Num.15.7"><i>v.</i> 6,
|
|
7</scripRef>. If the sacrifice was a bullock, the meat-offering was
|
|
to be trebled, three omers, with five pints of oil, and the same
|
|
quantity of wine for a drink-offering, <scripRef passage="Nu 15:8-10" id="Num.xvi-p4.7" parsed="|Num|15|8|15|10" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.8-Num.15.10"><i>v.</i> 8-10</scripRef>. And thus for each
|
|
sacrifice, whether offered by a particular person or at the common
|
|
charge. Note, Our religious services should be governed, as by
|
|
other rules, so by the rule of proportion.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvi-p5">II. Natives and strangers are here set upon
|
|
a level, in this as in other matters (<scripRef passage="Nu 15:13-16" id="Num.xvi-p5.1" parsed="|Num|15|13|15|16" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.13-Num.15.16"><i>v.</i> 13-16</scripRef>): "<i>One law shall be for
|
|
you and for the stranger</i> that is proselyted to the Jewish
|
|
religion." Now, 1. This was an invitation to the Gentiles to become
|
|
proselytes, and to embrace the faith and worship of the true God.
|
|
In civil things there was a difference between strangers and
|
|
true-born Israelites, but not in the things of God; <i>as you are,
|
|
so shall the stranger be before the Lord,</i> for with him there is
|
|
no respect of persons. See <scripRef passage="Isa 56:3" id="Num.xvi-p5.2" parsed="|Isa|56|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.56.3">Isa. lvi.
|
|
3</scripRef>. 2. This was an obligation upon the Jews to be kind to
|
|
strangers, and not to oppress them, because they saw them owned and
|
|
accepted of God. Communion in religion is a great engagement to
|
|
mutual affection, and should slay all enmities. 3. It was a
|
|
mortification to the pride of the Jews, who are apt to be puffed up
|
|
with their birthright privileges. "We are Abraham's seed." God let
|
|
them know that the sons of the stranger were as welcome to him as
|
|
the sons of Jacob; no man's birth or parentage shall turn either to
|
|
his advantage or his prejudice in his acceptance with God. This
|
|
likewise intimated that, as believing strangers should be accounted
|
|
Israelites, so unbelieving Israelites should be accounted
|
|
strangers. 4. It was a happy presage of the calling of the
|
|
Gentiles, and of their admission into the church. If the law made
|
|
so little difference between Jew and Gentile, much less would the
|
|
gospel make, which broke down the partition-wall, and reconciled
|
|
both to God in one sacrifice, without the observance of the legal
|
|
ceremonies.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvi-p6">III. A law for the offering of the first of
|
|
their dough unto the Lord. This, as the former, goes upon the
|
|
comfortable supposition of their having <i>come into the promised
|
|
land,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 15:18" id="Num.xvi-p6.1" parsed="|Num|15|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. Now
|
|
that they lived upon manna they needed not such an express
|
|
acknowledgment of God's title to their daily bread, and their
|
|
dependence upon him for it, the thing spoke for itself; but in
|
|
Canaan, where they should eat the fruit of their own industry, God
|
|
required that he should be owned as their landlord and their great
|
|
benefactor. They must not only offer him the first-fruits and
|
|
tenths of the corn in their fields (these had already been
|
|
reserved); but when they had it in their houses, in their kneading
|
|
trough, when it was almost ready to be set upon their tables, God
|
|
must have a further tribute of acknowledgment, part of their dough
|
|
(the Jews say a fortieth part, at least, of the whole lump) must be
|
|
heaved or offered up to God (<scripRef passage="Nu 15:20,21" id="Num.xvi-p6.2" parsed="|Num|15|20|15|21" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.20-Num.15.21"><i>v.</i> 20, 21</scripRef>), and the priest must
|
|
have it for the use of his family. Thus they must own their
|
|
dependence upon God for their daily bread, even when they had it in
|
|
the house with them; they must then wait on God for the comfortable
|
|
use of it; for we read of that which was brought home, and yet God
|
|
did blow upon it, and it came to little, <scripRef passage="Hag 1:9" id="Num.xvi-p6.3" parsed="|Hag|1|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hag.1.9">Hag. i. 9</scripRef>. Christ has taught us to pray not,
|
|
<i>Give us this year our yearly harvest,</i> but <i>Give us this
|
|
day our daily bread.</i> God by this law said to the people, as the
|
|
prophet long afterwards said to the widow of Sarepta (<scripRef passage="1Ki 17:13" id="Num.xvi-p6.4" parsed="|1Kgs|17|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.17.13">1 Kings xvii. 13</scripRef>), <i>Only make me
|
|
thereof a little cake first.</i> This offering was expressly kept
|
|
up by the laws of Ezekiel's visionary temple, and it is a
|
|
commandment with promise of family-mercies (<scripRef passage="Eze 44:30" id="Num.xvi-p6.5" parsed="|Ezek|44|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.44.30">Ezek. xliv. 30</scripRef>): <i>You shall give unto the
|
|
priest the first of your dough, that he may cause the blessing to
|
|
rest in thy house;</i> for, when God has had his dues out of our
|
|
estates, we may expect the comfort of what falls to our share.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 15:22-29" id="Num.xvi-p6.6" parsed="|Num|15|22|15|29" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.22-Num.15.29"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.15.22-Num.15.29">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xvi-p6.7">Sacrifices for Sins of
|
|
Ignorance. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvi-p6.8">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xvi-p7">22 And if ye have erred, and not observed all
|
|
these commandments, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvi-p7.1">Lord</span>
|
|
hath spoken unto Moses,   23 <i>Even</i> all that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvi-p7.2">Lord</span> hath commanded you by the hand of
|
|
Moses, from the day that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvi-p7.3">Lord</span>
|
|
commanded <i>Moses,</i> and henceforward among your generations;
|
|
  24 Then it shall be, if <i>ought</i> be committed by
|
|
ignorance without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the
|
|
congregation shall offer one young bullock for a burnt offering,
|
|
for a sweet savour unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvi-p7.4">Lord</span>,
|
|
with his meat offering, and his drink offering, according to the
|
|
manner, and one kid of the goats for a sin offering.   25 And
|
|
the priest shall make an atonement for all the congregation of the
|
|
children of Israel, and it shall be forgiven them; for it <i>is</i>
|
|
ignorance: and they shall bring their offering, a sacrifice made by
|
|
fire unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvi-p7.5">Lord</span>, and their sin
|
|
offering before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvi-p7.6">Lord</span>, for their
|
|
ignorance:   26 And it shall be forgiven all the congregation
|
|
of the children of Israel, and the stranger that sojourneth among
|
|
them; seeing all the people <i>were</i> in ignorance.   27 And
|
|
if any soul sin through ignorance, then he shall bring a she goat
|
|
of the first year for a sin offering.   28 And the priest
|
|
shall make an atonement for the soul that sinneth ignorantly, when
|
|
he sinneth by ignorance before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvi-p7.7">Lord</span>, to make an atonement for him; and it shall
|
|
be forgiven him.   29 Ye shall have one law for him that
|
|
sinneth through ignorance, <i>both for</i> him that is born among
|
|
the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among
|
|
them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvi-p8">We have here the laws concerning sacrifices
|
|
for sins of ignorance; the Jews understand it of idolatry, or false
|
|
worship, through the error of their teachers. The case here
|
|
supposed is that they <i>had not observed all these
|
|
commandments,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 15:22,23" id="Num.xvi-p8.1" parsed="|Num|15|22|15|23" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.22-Num.15.23"><i>v.</i> 22,
|
|
23</scripRef>. If they had failed in the offerings of their
|
|
acknowledgment, and had not brought them according to the law, then
|
|
they must bring an offering of atonement, yea, though the omission
|
|
had been through forgetfulness or mistake. If they failed in one
|
|
part of the ceremony, they must make it up by the observance of
|
|
another part, which was in the nature of a remedial law. 1. The
|
|
case is put of a national sin, committed through ignorance, and
|
|
become customary through a vulgar error (<scripRef passage="Nu 15:24" id="Num.xvi-p8.2" parsed="|Num|15|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>)—<i>the congregation,</i> that
|
|
is, the body of the people, for so it is explained (<scripRef passage="Nu 15:25" id="Num.xvi-p8.3" parsed="|Num|15|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>): <i>All the
|
|
congregation of the children of Israel.</i> The ceremonial
|
|
observances were so numerous, and so various, that, it might easily
|
|
be supposed, some of them by degrees would be forgotten and
|
|
disused, as particularly that immediately before concerning the
|
|
heave-offering of their dough: now if, in process of time, upon
|
|
consulting the law, there should appear to have been a general
|
|
neglect of that or any other appointment, then a sacrifice must be
|
|
offered for the whole congregation, and the oversight shall be
|
|
forgiven (<scripRef passage="Nu 15:25,26" id="Num.xvi-p8.4" parsed="|Num|15|25|15|26" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.25-Num.15.26"><i>v.</i> 25,
|
|
26</scripRef>) and not punished, as it deserved, with some national
|
|
judgment. The offering of the sacrifice <i>according to the
|
|
manner,</i> or <i>ordinance,</i> plainly refers to a former
|
|
statute, of which this is the repetition; and the same bullock
|
|
which is there called <i>a sin-offering</i> (<scripRef passage="Le 4:13,21" id="Num.xvi-p8.5" parsed="|Lev|4|13|0|0;|Lev|4|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.4.13 Bible:Lev.4.21">Lev. iv. 13, 21</scripRef>) is here called <i>a
|
|
burnt-offering</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 15:24" id="Num.xvi-p8.6" parsed="|Num|15|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.24"><i>v.</i>
|
|
24</scripRef>), because it was wholly burnt, though not upon the
|
|
altar, yet without the camp. And here is the addition of a <i>kid
|
|
of the goats for a sin-offering.</i> According to this law, we find
|
|
that Hezekiah made atonement for the errors of his father's reign,
|
|
by <i>seven bullocks, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven
|
|
he-goats,</i> which he offered as a <i>sin-offering for the
|
|
kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Judah</i> (<scripRef passage="2Ch 29:21" id="Num.xvi-p8.7" parsed="|2Chr|29|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.29.21">2 Chron. xxix. 21</scripRef>), and <i>for all
|
|
Israel,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 15:24" id="Num.xvi-p8.8" parsed="|Num|15|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>.
|
|
And we find the like done after the return out of captivity,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ezr 8:35" id="Num.xvi-p8.9" parsed="|Ezra|8|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.8.35">Ezra viii. 35</scripRef>. 2. It is
|
|
likewise supposed to be the case of a particular person: <i>If any
|
|
soul sin through ignorance</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 15:27" id="Num.xvi-p8.10" parsed="|Num|15|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>), neglecting any part of his
|
|
duty, he must bring his offering, as was appointed, <scripRef passage="Le 4:27-35" id="Num.xvi-p8.11" parsed="|Lev|4|27|4|35" osisRef="Bible:Lev.4.27-Lev.4.35">Lev. iv. 27</scripRef>, &c. Thus atonement
|
|
shall be made <i>for the soul that sins, when he sins through
|
|
ignorance,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 15:28" id="Num.xvi-p8.12" parsed="|Num|15|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.28"><i>v.</i>
|
|
28</scripRef>. Observe, (1.) Sins committed ignorantly need to have
|
|
atonement made for them; for, though ignorance will in a degree
|
|
excuse, it will not justify those that might have known their
|
|
Lord's will and did it not. David prayed to be cleansed from his
|
|
<i>secret faults,</i> that is, those sins which he himself was not
|
|
aware of, the errors he did not understand, <scripRef passage="Ps 19:12" id="Num.xvi-p8.13" parsed="|Ps|19|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.19.12">Ps. xix. 12</scripRef>. (2.) Sins committed ignorantly
|
|
shall be forgiven, through Christ the great sacrifice, who, when he
|
|
offered up himself once for all upon the cross, seemed to explain
|
|
the intention of his offering in that prayer, <i>Father, forgive
|
|
them, for they know not what they do.</i> And Paul seems to allude
|
|
to this law concerning sins of ignorance (<scripRef passage="1Ti 1:13" id="Num.xvi-p8.14" parsed="|1Tim|1|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.1.13">1 Tim. i. 13</scripRef>), <i>I obtained mercy, because I
|
|
did it ignorantly and in unbelief.</i> And it looked favourable
|
|
upon the Gentiles that this law of atoning for sins of ignorance is
|
|
expressly made to extend to those who were strangers to the
|
|
commonwealth of Israel (<scripRef passage="Nu 15:29" id="Num.xvi-p8.15" parsed="|Num|15|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.29"><i>v.</i>
|
|
29</scripRef>), but supposed to be <i>proselytes of
|
|
righteousness.</i> Thus the blessing of Abraham comes upon the
|
|
Gentiles.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 15:30-36" id="Num.xvi-p8.16" parsed="|Num|15|30|15|36" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.30-Num.15.36"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.15.30-Num.15.36">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xvi-p8.17">Doom of Presumptuous
|
|
Sinners. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvi-p8.18">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xvi-p9">30 But the soul that doeth <i>ought</i>
|
|
presumptuously, <i>whether he be</i> born in the land, or a
|
|
stranger, the same reproacheth the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvi-p9.1">Lord</span>; and that soul shall be cut off from among
|
|
his people.   31 Because he hath despised the word of the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvi-p9.2">Lord</span>, and hath broken his
|
|
commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off; his iniquity
|
|
<i>shall be</i> upon him.   32 And while the children of
|
|
Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered
|
|
sticks upon the sabbath day.   33 And they that found him
|
|
gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the
|
|
congregation.   34 And they put him in ward, because it was
|
|
not declared what should be done to him.   35 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvi-p9.3">Lord</span> said unto Moses, The man shall be
|
|
surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with
|
|
stones without the camp.   36 And all the congregation brought
|
|
him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvi-p9.4">Lord</span> commanded Moses.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvi-p10">Here is, I. The general doom passed upon
|
|
presumptuous sinners. 1. Those are to be reckoned presumptuous
|
|
sinners that sin <i>with a high hand,</i> as the original phrase is
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 15:30" id="Num.xvi-p10.1" parsed="|Num|15|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>), that is,
|
|
that avowedly confront God's authority, and set up their own lust
|
|
in competition with it, that sin for sinning-sake, in contradiction
|
|
to the precept of the law, and in defiance of the penalty, that
|
|
fight against God, and dare him to do his worst; see <scripRef passage="Job 15:25" id="Num.xvi-p10.2" parsed="|Job|15|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.15.25">Job xv. 25</scripRef>. It is not only to sin
|
|
against knowledge, but to sin designedly against God's will and
|
|
glory. 2. Sins thus committed are exceedingly sinful. He that thus
|
|
breaks the commandment, (1.) <i>Reproaches the Lord</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 15:30" id="Num.xvi-p10.3" parsed="|Num|15|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>); he says the worst he
|
|
can of him, and most unjustly. The language of presumptuous sin is,
|
|
"Eternal truth is not fit to be believed, the Lord of all not fit
|
|
to be obeyed, and almighty power not fit to be either feared or
|
|
trusted." It imputes folly to Infinite Wisdom, and iniquity to the
|
|
righteous Judge of heaven and earth; such is the malignity of
|
|
wilful sin. (2.) He <i>despises the word of the Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 15:31" id="Num.xvi-p10.4" parsed="|Num|15|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>. There are those who, in
|
|
many instances, come short of fulfilling the word, and yet have a
|
|
great value for it, and count the law honourable; but presumptuous
|
|
sinners despise it, thinking themselves too great, too good, and
|
|
too wise, to be ruled by it. <i>What is the Almighty that we should
|
|
serve him?</i> Whatever the sin itself is, it is contumacy that
|
|
incurs the anathema. It is rebellion added to the sin that is as
|
|
witch-craft, and stubbornness as idolatry. 3. The sentence passed
|
|
on such is dreadful. There remains no sacrifice for those sins; the
|
|
law provided none: <i>That soul shall be cut off from among his
|
|
people</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 15:30" id="Num.xvi-p10.5" parsed="|Num|15|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>),
|
|
<i>utterly cut off</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 15:31" id="Num.xvi-p10.6" parsed="|Num|15|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.31"><i>v.</i>
|
|
31</scripRef>); and that God may be for ever justified, and the
|
|
sinner for ever confounded, <i>his iniquity shall be upon him,</i>
|
|
and there needs no more to sink him to the lowest hell. Thus the
|
|
Jewish doctors understand it, that <i>the iniquity shall cleave to
|
|
the soul, after it is cut off, and that man shall give an account
|
|
of his sin at the great day of judgment.</i> Perhaps the kind of
|
|
offence might be such as did not expose the offender to the censure
|
|
of the civil magistrate, but, if it was done presumptuously, God
|
|
himself would take the punishment of it into his own hands, and
|
|
into them it is a fearful thing to fall. In the New Testament we
|
|
find the like sentence of exclusion from all benefit by the great
|
|
sacrifice passed upon the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, and a
|
|
total apostasy from Christianity.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvi-p11">II. A particular instance of presumption in
|
|
the sin of sabbath-breaking. 1. The offence was the gathering of
|
|
sticks on the sabbath day (<scripRef passage="Nu 15:32" id="Num.xvi-p11.1" parsed="|Num|15|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.32"><i>v.</i>
|
|
32</scripRef>), which, it is probable, were designed to make a fire
|
|
of, whereas they were commanded to bake and seeth what they had
|
|
occasion for the day before, <scripRef passage="Ex 16:23" id="Num.xvi-p11.2" parsed="|Exod|16|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.23">Exod.
|
|
xvi. 23</scripRef>. This seemed but a small offence, but it was a
|
|
violation of the law of the sabbath, and so was a tacit contempt of
|
|
the Creator, to whose honour the sabbath was dedicated, and an
|
|
incursion upon the whole law, which the sabbath was intended as a
|
|
hedge about. And it appears by the context to have been done
|
|
presumptuously, and in affront both of the law and to the
|
|
Law-maker. 2. The offender was secured, <scripRef passage="Nu 15:33,34" id="Num.xvi-p11.3" parsed="|Num|15|33|15|34" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.33-Num.15.34"><i>v.</i> 33, 34</scripRef>. Those that found him
|
|
<i>gathering sticks,</i> in their zeal for the honour of the
|
|
sabbath, <i>brought him to Moses and Aaron, and all the
|
|
congregation,</i> which intimates that being the sabbath day the
|
|
congregation was at that time gathered to Moses and Aaron, to
|
|
receive instruction from them, and to join with them in religious
|
|
worship. It seems, even common Israelites, though there was much
|
|
amiss among them, yet would not contentedly see the sabbath
|
|
profaned, which was a good sign that they had not quite forsaken
|
|
God, nor were utterly forsaken of him. 3. God was consulted,
|
|
<i>because it was not declared what should be done to him.</i> The
|
|
law had already made the profanation of the sabbath a capital crime
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 31:14,Nu 35:2" id="Num.xvi-p11.4" parsed="|Exod|31|14|0|0;|Num|35|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.31.14 Bible:Num.35.2">Exod. xxxi. 14, <i>ch.</i>
|
|
xxxv. 2</scripRef>); but they were in doubt, either concerning the
|
|
offence (whether this that he had done should be deemed a
|
|
profanation or no) or concerning the punishment, which death he
|
|
should die. God was the Judge, and before him they brought this
|
|
cause. 4. Sentence was passed; the prisoner was adjudged a
|
|
sabbath-breaker, according to the intent of that law, and as such
|
|
he must be put to death; and to show how great the crime was, and
|
|
how displeasing to God, and that others might hear and fear and not
|
|
do in like manner presumptuously, that death is appointed him which
|
|
was looked upon as most terrible: He must be <i>stoned with
|
|
stones,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 15:35" id="Num.xvi-p11.5" parsed="|Num|15|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.35"><i>v.</i> 35</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, God is jealous for the honour of his sabbaths, and will not
|
|
hold those guiltless, whatever men do, that profane them. 5.
|
|
Execution was done pursuant to the sentence, <scripRef passage="Nu 15:36" id="Num.xvi-p11.6" parsed="|Num|15|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.36"><i>v.</i> 36</scripRef>. He was <i>stoned</i> to death
|
|
<i>by the congregation.</i> As many as could were employed in the
|
|
execution, that those, at least, might be afraid of breaking the
|
|
sabbath, who had thrown a stone at this sabbath-breaker. This
|
|
intimates that the open profanation of the sabbath is a sin which
|
|
ought to be punished and restrained by the civil magistrate, who,
|
|
as far as overt acts go, is keeper of both tables. See <scripRef passage="Ne 13:17" id="Num.xvi-p11.7" parsed="|Neh|13|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Neh.13.17">Neh. xiii. 17</scripRef>. One would think there
|
|
could be no great harm in gathering a few sticks, on what day
|
|
soever it was, but God intended the exemplary punishment of him
|
|
that did so for a standing warning to us all, to make conscience of
|
|
keeping holy the sabbath.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 15:37-41" id="Num.xvi-p11.8" parsed="|Num|15|37|15|41" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.37-Num.15.41"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.15.37-Num.15.41">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xvi-p11.9">The Law Concerning Fringes. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvi-p11.10">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xvi-p12">37 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvi-p12.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   38 Speak unto the children of
|
|
Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of
|
|
their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon
|
|
the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue:   39 And it shall
|
|
be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember
|
|
all the commandments of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvi-p12.2">Lord</span>,
|
|
and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own
|
|
eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring:   40 That ye may
|
|
remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God.
|
|
  41 I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvi-p12.3">Lord</span> your
|
|
God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I
|
|
<i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvi-p12.4">Lord</span> your God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvi-p13">Provision had been just now made by the law
|
|
for the pardon of sins of ignorance and infirmity; now here is an
|
|
expedient provided for the preventing of such sins. They are
|
|
ordered to make fringes upon the borders of their garments, which
|
|
were to be memorandums to them of their duty, that they might not
|
|
sin through forgetfulness. 1. The sign appointed is a fringe of
|
|
silk, or thread, or worsted, or the garment itself ravelled at the
|
|
bottom, and a blue riband bound on the top of it to keep it tight,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 15:38" id="Num.xvi-p13.1" parsed="|Num|15|38|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.38"><i>v.</i> 38</scripRef>. The Jews
|
|
being a peculiar people, they were thus distinguished from their
|
|
neighbours in their dress, as well as in their diet, and taught by
|
|
such little instances of singularity not to be conformed to the way
|
|
of the heathen in greater things. Thus likewise they proclaimed
|
|
themselves Jews wherever they were, as those that were not ashamed
|
|
of God and his law. Our Saviour, being made under the law, wore
|
|
these fringes; hence we read of the hem or border, of his garment,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mt 9:20" id="Num.xvi-p13.2" parsed="|Matt|9|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.9.20">Matt. ix. 20</scripRef>. These borders
|
|
the Pharisees enlarged, that they might be thought more holy and
|
|
devout than other people. The phylacteries were different things;
|
|
these were their own invention, the fringes were a divine
|
|
institution. The Jews at this day wear them, saying, when they put
|
|
them on, <i>Blessed be he who has sanctified us unto himself, and
|
|
commanded us to wear fringes.</i> 2. The intention of it was to
|
|
remind them that they were a peculiar people. They were not
|
|
appointed for the trimming and adorning of their clothes, but <i>to
|
|
stir up their pure minds by way of remembrance</i> (<scripRef passage="2Pe 3:1" id="Num.xvi-p13.3" parsed="|2Pet|3|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.3.1">2 Pet. iii. 1</scripRef>), that they might
|
|
<i>look upon the fringe and remember the commandments.</i> Many
|
|
look upon their ornaments to feed their pride, but they must look
|
|
upon these ornaments to awaken their consciences to a sense of
|
|
their duty, that their religion might constantly beset them, and
|
|
that they might carry it about with them, as they did their
|
|
clothes, wherever they went. If they were tempted to sin, the
|
|
fringe would be a monitor to them not to break God's commandments:
|
|
If a duty was forgotten to be done in its season, the fringe would
|
|
remind them of it. This institution, though it is not an imposition
|
|
upon us, is an instruction to us, always to <i>remember the
|
|
commandments of the Lord our God,</i> that we <i>may do them,</i>
|
|
to treasure them up in our memories, and to apply them to
|
|
particular cases as there is occasion to use them. It was intended
|
|
particularly to be a preservative from idolatry: that you <i>seek
|
|
not after your own heart, and your own eyes,</i> in your religious
|
|
worship. Yet it may extend also to the whole conversation, for
|
|
nothing is more contrary to God's honour, and our own true
|
|
interest, than to <i>walk in the way of our heart</i> and in <i>the
|
|
sight of our eyes;</i> for the <i>imagination of the heart is
|
|
evil,</i> and so is the <i>lust of the eyes.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvi-p14">After the repetition of some ceremonial
|
|
appointments, the chapter closes with that great and fundamental
|
|
law of religion, <i>Be holy unto your God,</i> purged from sin, and
|
|
sincerely devoted to his service; and that great reason for all the
|
|
commandments is again and again inculcated, <i>I am the Lord your
|
|
God.</i> Did we more firmly believe, and more frequently and
|
|
seriously consider, that God is the Lord, and our God and Redeemer,
|
|
we should see ourselves bound in duty, interest, and gratitude, to
|
|
keep all his commandments.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XVI" n="xvii" progress="71.84%" prev="Num.xvi" next="Num.xviii" id="Num.xvii">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.xvii-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.xvii-p0.2">CHAP. XVI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.xvii-p1">The date of the history contained in this chapter
|
|
is altogether uncertain. Probably these mutinies happened after
|
|
their removal back again from Kadesh-barnea, when they were fixed
|
|
(if I may so speak) for their wandering in the wilderness, and
|
|
began to look upon that as their settlement. Presently after new
|
|
laws given follows the story of a new rebellion, as if sin took
|
|
occasion from the commandment to become more exceedingly sinful.
|
|
Here is, I. A daring and dangerous rebellion raised against Moses
|
|
and Aaron, by Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, <scripRef passage="Nu 16:1-15" id="Num.xvii-p1.1" parsed="|Num|16|1|16|15" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.1-Num.16.15">ver. 1-15</scripRef>. 1. Korah and his accomplices
|
|
contend for the priesthood against Aaron, <scripRef passage="Nu 16:3" id="Num.xvii-p1.2" parsed="|Num|16|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.3">ver. 3</scripRef>. Moses reasons with them, and appeals
|
|
to God for a decision of the controversy, <scripRef passage="Nu 16:4-11" id="Num.xvii-p1.3" parsed="|Num|16|4|16|11" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.4-Num.16.11">ver. 4-11</scripRef>. 2. Dathan and Abiram quarrel
|
|
with Moses, and refuse to obey his summons, which greatly grieves
|
|
him, <scripRef passage="Nu 16:12-15" id="Num.xvii-p1.4" parsed="|Num|16|12|16|15" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.12-Num.16.15">ver. 12-15</scripRef>. II. A
|
|
solemn appearance of the pretenders to the priesthood before God,
|
|
according to order, and a public appearance of the glory of the
|
|
Lord, which would have consumed the whole congregation if Moses and
|
|
Aaron had not interceded, <scripRef passage="Nu 16:16-22" id="Num.xvii-p1.5" parsed="|Num|16|16|16|22" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.16-Num.16.22">ver.
|
|
16-22</scripRef>. III. The deciding of the controversy, and the
|
|
crushing of the rebellion, by the cutting off of the rebels. 1.
|
|
Those in their tents were buried alive, <scripRef passage="Nu 16:23-34" id="Num.xvii-p1.6" parsed="|Num|16|23|16|34" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.23-Num.16.34">ver. 23-34</scripRef>. 2. Those at the door of the
|
|
tabernacle were consumed by fire (<scripRef passage="Nu 16:35" id="Num.xvii-p1.7" parsed="|Num|16|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.35">ver.
|
|
35</scripRef>), and their censers preserved for a memorial,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 16:37-40" id="Num.xvii-p1.8" parsed="|Num|16|37|16|40" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.37-Num.16.40">ver. 37-40</scripRef>. IV. A new
|
|
insurrection of the people, <scripRef passage="Nu 16:41-43" id="Num.xvii-p1.9" parsed="|Num|16|41|16|43" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.41-Num.16.43">ver.
|
|
41-43</scripRef>. 1. God stayed in the insurrection by a plague,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 16:45" id="Num.xvii-p1.10" parsed="|Num|16|45|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.45">ver. 45</scripRef>. 2. Aaron stayed
|
|
the plague by offering incense, <scripRef passage="Nu 16:46-50" id="Num.xvii-p1.11" parsed="|Num|16|46|16|50" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.46-Num.16.50">ver. 46-50</scripRef>. The manner and method of
|
|
recording this story plainly show the ferment to have been very
|
|
great.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 16" id="Num.xvii-p1.12" parsed="|Num|16|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 16:1-11" id="Num.xvii-p1.13" parsed="|Num|16|1|16|11" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.1-Num.16.11"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.16.1-Num.16.11">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xvii-p1.14">Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvii-p1.15">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xvii-p2">1 Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of
|
|
Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab,
|
|
and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took <i>men:</i>  
|
|
2 And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of
|
|
Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in
|
|
the congregation, men of renown:   3 And they gathered
|
|
themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto
|
|
them, <i>Ye take</i> too much upon you, seeing all the congregation
|
|
<i>are</i> holy, every one of them, and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvii-p2.1">Lord</span> <i>is</i> among them: wherefore then lift
|
|
ye up yourselves above the congregation of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvii-p2.2">Lord</span>?   4 And when Moses heard <i>it,</i>
|
|
he fell upon his face:   5 And he spake unto Korah and unto
|
|
all his company, saying, Even to morrow the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvii-p2.3">Lord</span> will show who <i>are</i> his, and <i>who
|
|
is</i> holy; and will cause <i>him</i> to come near unto him: even
|
|
<i>him</i> whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him.
|
|
  6 This do; Take you censers, Korah, and all his company;
|
|
  7 And put fire therein, and put incense in them before the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvii-p2.4">Lord</span> to morrow: and it shall be
|
|
<i>that</i> the man whom the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvii-p2.5">Lord</span>
|
|
doth choose, he <i>shall be</i> holy: <i>ye take</i> too much upon
|
|
you, ye sons of Levi.   8 And Moses said unto Korah, Hear, I
|
|
pray you, ye sons of Levi:   9 <i>Seemeth it but</i> a small
|
|
thing unto you, that the God of Israel hath separated you from the
|
|
congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself to do the
|
|
service of the tabernacle of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvii-p2.6">Lord</span>, and to stand before the congregation to
|
|
minister unto them?   10 And he hath brought thee near <i>to
|
|
him,</i> and all thy brethren the sons of Levi with thee: and seek
|
|
ye the priesthood also?   11 For which cause <i>both</i> thou
|
|
and all thy company <i>are</i> gathered together against the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvii-p2.7">Lord</span>: and what <i>is</i> Aaron, that ye
|
|
murmur against him?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvii-p3">Here is, I. An account of the rebels, who
|
|
and what they were, not, as formerly, the mixed multitude and the
|
|
dregs of the people, who are therefore never named, but men of
|
|
distinction and quality, that made a figure. Korah was the
|
|
ring-leader: he formed and headed the faction; therefore it is
|
|
called <i>the gainsaying of Korah,</i> <scripRef passage="Jude 1:11" id="Num.xvii-p3.1" parsed="|Jude|1|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jude.1.11">Jude 11</scripRef>. He was cousin-german to Moses, they
|
|
were brothers' children, yet the nearness of the relation could not
|
|
restrain him from being insolent and rude to Moses. Think it not
|
|
strange if a man's foes be <i>those of his own house.</i> With him
|
|
joined Dathan and Abiram, chief men of the tribe of Reuben, the
|
|
eldest son of Jacob. Probably Korah was disgusted both at the
|
|
preferment of Aaron to the priesthood and the constituting of
|
|
Elizaphan to the head of the Kohathites (<scripRef passage="Nu 3:30" id="Num.xvii-p3.2" parsed="|Num|3|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.3.30"><i>ch.</i> iii. 30</scripRef>); and perhaps the
|
|
Reubenites were angry that the tribe of Judah had the first post of
|
|
honour in the camp. <i>On</i> is mentioned (<scripRef passage="Nu 16:1" id="Num.xvii-p3.3" parsed="|Num|16|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>) as one of the heads of the
|
|
faction, but never after in the whole story, either because, as
|
|
some think, he repented and left them, or because he did not make
|
|
himself so remarkable as Dathan and Abiram did. The Kohathites
|
|
encamped on the same side of the tabernacle that the Reubenites
|
|
did, which perhaps gave Korah an opportunity of drawing them in,
|
|
whence the Jews say, <i>Woe to the wicked man, and woe to his
|
|
neighbour,</i> who is in danger of being infected by him. And,
|
|
these being themselves <i>men of renown,</i> they seduced into the
|
|
conspiracy <i>two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 16:2" id="Num.xvii-p3.4" parsed="|Num|16|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>); probably they
|
|
were first-born, or at least heads of families, who, before the
|
|
elevation of Aaron, had themselves ministered in holy things. Note,
|
|
The pride, ambition, and emulation, of great men, have always been
|
|
the occasion of a great deal of mischief both in churches and
|
|
states. God by his grace make great men humble, and so give peace
|
|
in our time, O Lord! Famous men, and men of renown, as these are
|
|
described to be, were the great sinners of the old world, <scripRef passage="Ge 6:4" id="Num.xvii-p3.5" parsed="|Gen|6|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.4">Gen. vi. 4</scripRef>. The fame and renown which
|
|
they had did not content them; they were high, but would be higher,
|
|
and thus the famous men became infamous.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvii-p4">II. The rebels' remonstrance, <scripRef passage="Nu 16:3" id="Num.xvii-p4.1" parsed="|Num|16|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. That which they quarrel
|
|
with is the settlement of the priesthood upon Aaron and his family,
|
|
which they think an honour too great for Moses to give and Aaron to
|
|
accept, and so they are both charged with usurpation: <i>You take
|
|
too much upon you;</i> or, "Let it suffice you to have domineered
|
|
thus long, and now think of resigning your places to those who have
|
|
as good a title to them and are as well able to manage them." 1.
|
|
They proudly boast of the holiness of the congregation, and the
|
|
presence of God in it. "They are <i>holy, every one of them,</i>
|
|
and as fit to be employed in offering sacrifice as Aaron is, and as
|
|
masters of families formerly were, and <i>the Lord is among
|
|
them,</i> to direct and own them." Small reason they had to boast
|
|
of the people's purity, or of God's favour, as the people had been
|
|
so frequently and so lately polluted with sin, and were now under
|
|
the marks of God's displeasure, which should have made them
|
|
thankful for priests to mediate between them and God; but, instead
|
|
of that, they envy them. 2. They unjustly charge Moses and Aaron
|
|
with taking the honour they had to themselves, whereas it was
|
|
evident, beyond contradiction, that they were called of God to it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Heb 5:4" id="Num.xvii-p4.2" parsed="|Heb|5|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.5.4">Heb. v. 4</scripRef>. So that they
|
|
would either have no priests at all, nor any government, none to
|
|
preside either in civil or sacred things, none over the
|
|
congregation, none above it, or they would not acquiesce in that
|
|
constitution of the government which God had appointed. See here,
|
|
(1.) What spirit levellers are of, and those that despise
|
|
dominions, and resist the powers that God has set over them; they
|
|
are proud, envious, ambitious, turbulent, wicked, and unreasonable
|
|
men. (2.) What usage even the best and most useful men may expect,
|
|
even from those they have been serviceable to. If those be
|
|
represented as usurpers that have the best titles, and those as
|
|
tyrants that govern best, let them recollect that Moses and Aaron
|
|
were thus abused.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvii-p5">III. Moses's conduct when their
|
|
remonstrance was published against him. How did he take it?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvii-p6">1. He <i>fell on his face</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 16:4" id="Num.xvii-p6.1" parsed="|Num|16|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>), as before, <scripRef passage="Nu 14:5" id="Num.xvii-p6.2" parsed="|Num|14|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.5"><i>ch.</i> xiv. 5</scripRef>. Thus he showed how
|
|
willing he would have been to yield to them, and how gladly he
|
|
would have resigned his government, if it would have consisted with
|
|
his duty to God and his fidelity to the trust reposed in him. Thus
|
|
also he applied to God, by prayer, for direction what to say and to
|
|
do upon this sad occasion. He would not speak to them till he had
|
|
thus humbled and composed his own spirit (which could not but begin
|
|
to be heated), and had received instruction from God. The <i>heart
|
|
of the wise</i> in such a case <i>studies to answer,</i> and asks
|
|
counsel at God's mouth.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvii-p7">2. He agrees to refer the case to God, and
|
|
leave it to him to decide it, as one well assured of the goodness
|
|
of his title, and yet well content to resign, if God thought fit,
|
|
to gratify this discontented people with another nomination. An
|
|
honest cause fears not a speedy trial; even to-morrow let it be
|
|
brought on, <scripRef passage="Nu 16:5-7" id="Num.xvii-p7.1" parsed="|Num|16|5|16|7" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.5-Num.16.7"><i>v.</i> 5-7</scripRef>.
|
|
Let Korah and his partisans bring their censers, and offer incense
|
|
before the Lord, and, if he testify his acceptance of them, well
|
|
and good; Moses is now as willing that all the Lord's people should
|
|
be priests, if God so pleased, as before that they should all be
|
|
prophets, <scripRef passage="Nu 11:29" id="Num.xvii-p7.2" parsed="|Num|11|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.29"><i>ch.</i> xi.
|
|
29</scripRef>. But if God, upon an appeal to him, determine (as no
|
|
doubt he would) for Aaron, they would find it highly dangerous to
|
|
make the experiment: and therefore he puts it off till to-morrow,
|
|
to try whether, when they had slept upon it, they would desist, and
|
|
let fall their pretensions.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvii-p8">3. He argues the case fairly with them, to
|
|
still the mutiny with fair reasoning, if possible, before the
|
|
appeal came to God's tribunal, for then he knew it would end in the
|
|
confusion of the complainants.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvii-p9">(1.) He calls them <i>the sons of Levi,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 16:7" id="Num.xvii-p9.1" parsed="|Num|16|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>, and again
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 16:8" id="Num.xvii-p9.2" parsed="|Num|16|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. They were of
|
|
his own tribe, nay, they were of God's tribe; it was therefore the
|
|
worse in them thus to mutiny both against God and against him. It
|
|
was not long since the sons of Levi had bravely appeared on God's
|
|
side, in the matter of the golden calf, and got immortal honour by
|
|
it; and shall those that were then the only innocents now be the
|
|
leading criminals, and lose all the honour they had won? Could
|
|
there be such chaff on God's floor? Levites, and yet rebels?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvii-p10">(2.) He retorts their charge upon
|
|
themselves. They had unjustly charged Moses and Aaron with taking
|
|
too much upon them, though they had done no more than what God put
|
|
upon them; nay, says Moses, <i>You take too much upon you, you sons
|
|
of Levi.</i> Note, Those that take upon them to control and
|
|
contradict God's appointment take too much upon them. It is enough
|
|
for us to submit; it is too much to prescribe.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvii-p11">(3.) He shows them the privilege they had
|
|
as Levites, which was sufficient for them, they needed not to
|
|
aspire to the honour of the priesthood, <scripRef passage="Nu 16:9,10" id="Num.xvii-p11.1" parsed="|Num|16|9|16|10" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.9-Num.16.10"><i>v.</i> 9, 10</scripRef>. He reminds them how great
|
|
the honour was to which they were preferred, as Levites. [1.] They
|
|
were <i>separated from the congregation of Israel,</i>
|
|
distinguished from them, dignified above them; instead of
|
|
complaining that Aaron's family was advanced above theirs, they
|
|
ought to have been thankful that their tribe was advanced above the
|
|
rest of the tribes, though they had been in all respects upon the
|
|
level with them. Note, It will help to keep us from envying those
|
|
that are above us duly to consider how many there are below us.
|
|
Instead of fretting that any are preferred before us in honour,
|
|
power, estate, or interest, in gifts, graces, or usefulness, we
|
|
have reason to bless God if we, who are less than the least, are
|
|
not put among the very last. Many perhaps who deserve better are
|
|
not preferred so well. [2.] They were separated to very great and
|
|
valuable honours, <i>First,</i> To <i>draw near to God,</i> nearer
|
|
than the common Israelites, though they also were a people near
|
|
unto him; the nearer any are to God the greater is their honour.
|
|
<i>Secondly, To do the service of the tabernacle.</i> It is honour
|
|
enough to bear the vessels of the sanctuary, and to be employed in
|
|
any part of the service of the tabernacle. God's service is not
|
|
only perfect freedom, but high preferment. <i>Thirdly,</i> To
|
|
<i>stand before the congregation to minister unto them.</i> Note,
|
|
Those are truly great that serve the public, and it is the honour
|
|
of God's ministers to be the church's ministers; nay, which adds to
|
|
the dignity put upon them, [3.] It was the God of Israel himself
|
|
that separated them. It was his act and deed to put them into their
|
|
place, and therefore they ought not to have been discontented: and
|
|
he it was likewise that put Aaron into his place, and therefore
|
|
they ought not to have envied him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvii-p12">(4.) He convicts them of the sin of
|
|
undervaluing those privileges: <i>Seemeth it a small thing unto
|
|
you?</i> As if he had said, "It ill becomes you of all men to
|
|
grudge Aaron the priesthood, when at the same time that he was
|
|
advanced to that honour you were designed for another honour
|
|
dependent upon it, and shine with rays borrowed from him." Note,
|
|
[1.] The privilege of drawing near to the God of Israel is not a
|
|
small thing in itself, and therefore must not appear small to us.
|
|
To those who neglect opportunities of drawing near to God, who are
|
|
careless and formal in it, to whom it is a task and not a pleasure,
|
|
we may properly put this question: "Seemeth it a small thing to you
|
|
that God has made you a people near unto him?" [2.] Those who
|
|
aspire after and usurp the honours forbidden them put a great
|
|
contempt upon the honours allowed them. We have each of us as good
|
|
a share of reputation as God sees fit for us, and sees us fit for,
|
|
and much better than we deserve; and we ought to rest satisfied
|
|
with it, and not, as these, <i>exercise ourselves in things too
|
|
high for us: Seek you the priesthood also?</i> They would not
|
|
<i>own</i> that they sought it, but Moses saw that they had this in
|
|
their eye; the law had provided very well for those that served at
|
|
the altar, and therefore they would put in for the office.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvii-p13">(5.) He interprets their mutiny to be a
|
|
rebellion against God (<scripRef passage="Nu 16:11" id="Num.xvii-p13.1" parsed="|Num|16|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.11"><i>v.</i>
|
|
11</scripRef>); while they pretended to assert the holiness and
|
|
liberty of the Israel of God, they really took up arms against the
|
|
God of Israel: <i>You are gathered together against the Lord.</i>
|
|
Note, Those that strive against God's ordinances and providences,
|
|
whatever they pretend, and whether they are aware of it or no, do
|
|
indeed strive with their Maker. Those resist the prince who resist
|
|
those that are commissioned by him: for, alas! says Moses, <i>What
|
|
is Aaron, that you murmur against him?</i> If murmurers and
|
|
complainers would consider that the instruments they quarrel with
|
|
are but instruments whom God employs, and that they are but what he
|
|
makes them, and neither more nor less, better nor worse, they would
|
|
not be so bold and free in their censures and reproaches as they
|
|
are. Those that found the priesthood, as it was settled, a
|
|
blessing, must give all the praise to God; but if any found it a
|
|
burden they must not therefore quarrel with Aaron, who is but what
|
|
he is made, and does but as he is bidden. Thus he interested God in
|
|
the cause, and so might be sure of speeding well in his appeal.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 16" id="Num.xvii-p13.2" parsed="|Num|16|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 16:12-22" id="Num.xvii-p13.3" parsed="|Num|16|12|16|22" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.12-Num.16.22"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.16.12-Num.16.22">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xvii-p14">12 And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the
|
|
sons of Eliab: which said, We will not come up:   13 <i>Is
|
|
it</i> a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land
|
|
that floweth with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness,
|
|
except thou make thyself altogether a prince over us?   14
|
|
Moreover thou hast not brought us into a land that floweth with
|
|
milk and honey, or given us inheritance of fields and vineyards:
|
|
wilt thou put out the eyes of these men? we will not come up.
|
|
  15 And Moses was very wroth, and said unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvii-p14.1">Lord</span>, Respect not thou their offering: I have
|
|
not taken one ass from them, neither have I hurt one of them.
|
|
  16 And Moses said unto Korah, Be thou and all thy company
|
|
before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvii-p14.2">Lord</span>, thou, and they, and
|
|
Aaron, to morrow:   17 And take every man his censer, and put
|
|
incense in them, and bring ye before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvii-p14.3">Lord</span> every man his censer, two hundred and fifty
|
|
censers; thou also, and Aaron, each <i>of you</i> his censer.
|
|
  18 And they took every man his censer, and put fire in them,
|
|
and laid incense thereon, and stood in the door of the tabernacle
|
|
of the congregation with Moses and Aaron.   19 And Korah
|
|
gathered all the congregation against them unto the door of the
|
|
tabernacle of the congregation: and the glory of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvii-p14.4">Lord</span> appeared unto all the congregation.  
|
|
20 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvii-p14.5">Lord</span> spake unto Moses and
|
|
unto Aaron, saying,   21 Separate yourselves from among this
|
|
congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.   22 And
|
|
they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits
|
|
of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all
|
|
the congregation?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvii-p15">Here is, I. The insolence of Dathan and
|
|
Abiram, and their treasonable remonstrance. Moses had heard what
|
|
Korah had to say, and had answered it; now he summons Dathan and
|
|
Abiram to bring in their complaints (<scripRef passage="Nu 16:12" id="Num.xvii-p15.1" parsed="|Num|16|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>); but they would not obey his
|
|
summons, either because they could not for shame say that to his
|
|
face which they were resolved to say, and then it is an instance of
|
|
some remains of modesty in them; or, rather, because they would not
|
|
so far own his authority, and then it is an instance of the highest
|
|
degree of impudence. They spoke the language of Pharaoh himself,
|
|
who set Moses at defiance, but they forgot how dearly he paid for
|
|
it. Had not their heads been wretchedly heated, and their hearts
|
|
hardened, they might have considered that, if they regarded not
|
|
these messengers, Moses could soon in God's name send messengers of
|
|
death for them. But thus the God of this world <i>blinds the minds
|
|
of those that believe not.</i> But by the same messengers they send
|
|
their articles of impeachment against Moses; and the charge runs
|
|
very high. 1. They charge him with having done them a great deal of
|
|
wrong in bringing them out of Egypt, invidiously calling that <i>a
|
|
land flowing with milk and honey,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 16:13" id="Num.xvii-p15.2" parsed="|Num|16|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. Onions, and garlick, and fish,
|
|
they had indeed plenty of in Egypt, but it never pretended to milk
|
|
and honey; only they would thus banter the promise of Canaan.
|
|
Ungrateful wretches, to represent that as an injury to them which
|
|
was really the greatest favour that ever was bestowed upon any
|
|
people! 2. They charge him with a design upon their lives, that he
|
|
intended to <i>kill them in the wilderness,</i> though they were so
|
|
well provided for. And, if they were sentenced to die in the
|
|
wilderness, they must thank themselves. Moses would have healed
|
|
them, and they would not be healed. 3. They charge him with a
|
|
design upon their liberties, that he meant to enslave them, by
|
|
<i>making himself a prince over them.</i> A prince over them! Was
|
|
he not a tender father to them? nay, their devoted servant for the
|
|
Lord's sake? Had they not their properties secured, their order
|
|
preserved, and justice impartially administered? Did they not live
|
|
in ease and honour? And yet they complain as if Moses's yoke were
|
|
heavier than Pharaoh's. And did Moses make himself a prince? Far
|
|
from it. How gladly would he have declined the office at first! How
|
|
gladly would he have resigned it many a time since! And yet he is
|
|
thus put under the blackest characters of a tyrant and a usurper.
|
|
4. They charge him with cheating them, raising their expectations
|
|
of a good land, and then defeating them (<scripRef passage="Nu 16:14" id="Num.xvii-p15.3" parsed="|Num|16|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>): <i>Thou hast not brought
|
|
us,</i> as thou promisedst us, <i>into a land that floweth with
|
|
milk and honey;</i> and pray whose fault was that? He had brought
|
|
them to the borders of it, and was just ready, under God, to put
|
|
them in possession of it; but they thrust it away from them, and
|
|
shut the door against themselves; so that it was purely their own
|
|
fault that they were not now in Canaan, and yet Moses must bear the
|
|
blame. Thus when the <i>foolishness of man perverteth his way his
|
|
heart fretteth against the Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 19:3" id="Num.xvii-p15.4" parsed="|Prov|19|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.19.3">Prov. xix. 3</scripRef>. 5. They charge him in the
|
|
general with unfair dealing, that he put <i>out the eyes of these
|
|
men,</i> and then meant to lead them blindfold as he pleased. The
|
|
design of all he did for them was to open their eyes, and yet they
|
|
insinuate that he intended to put out their eyes, that they might
|
|
not see themselves imposed upon. Note, The wisest and best cannot
|
|
please everybody, nor gain the good word of all. Those often fall
|
|
under the heaviest censures who have merited the highest applause.
|
|
Many a good work Moses had shown them from the Father, and for
|
|
which of these do they reproach him?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvii-p16">II. Moses's just resentment of their
|
|
insolence, <scripRef passage="Nu 16:15" id="Num.xvii-p16.1" parsed="|Num|16|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>.
|
|
Moses, though the meekest man, yet, finding God reproached in him,
|
|
<i>was very wroth;</i> he could not bear to see a people ruining
|
|
themselves for whose salvation he had done so much. In this
|
|
discomposure,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvii-p17">1. He appeals to God concerning his own
|
|
integrity; whereas they basely reflected upon him as ambitious,
|
|
covetous, and oppressive, in making himself a prince over them, God
|
|
was his witness, (1.) That he never got any thing by them: <i>I
|
|
have not taken one ass from them,</i> not only not by way of
|
|
bribery and extortion, but not by way of recompence or gratuity for
|
|
all the good offices he had done them; he never took the pay of a
|
|
general, or the salary of a judge, much less the tribute of a
|
|
prince. He got more in his estate when he kept Jethro's flock than
|
|
when he came to be king in Jeshurun. (2.) That they never lost any
|
|
thing by him: <i>Neither have I hurt any one of them,</i> no, not
|
|
the least, no, not the worst, no, not those that had been most
|
|
peevish and provoking to him: he never abused his power to the
|
|
support of wrong. Note, Those that have never blemished themselves
|
|
need not fear being slurred by others: when men condemn us we may
|
|
be easy, if our own hearts condemn us not.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvii-p18">2. He begs of God to plead his cause, and
|
|
clear him, by showing his displeasure at the incense which Korah
|
|
and his company were to offer, with whom Dathan and Abiram were in
|
|
confederacy. Lord, says he, <i>Respect not thou their offering.</i>
|
|
Herein he seems to refer to the history of Cain, lately written by
|
|
his own hand, of whom it is said that to him and his offering God
|
|
had not respect, <scripRef passage="Ge 4:5" id="Num.xvii-p18.1" parsed="|Gen|4|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.5">Gen. iv. 5</scripRef>.
|
|
These that <i>followed the gainsaying of Korah walked in the way of
|
|
Cain</i> (these are put together, <scripRef passage="Jude 1:11" id="Num.xvii-p18.2" parsed="|Jude|1|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jude.1.11">Jude 11</scripRef>), and therefore he prays that they
|
|
might be frowned upon as Cain was, and put to the same
|
|
confusion.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvii-p19">III. Issue joined between Moses and his
|
|
accusers. 1. Moses challenges them to appear with Aaron next
|
|
morning, at the time of offering up the morning incense, and refer
|
|
the matter to God's judgment, <scripRef passage="Nu 16:16,17" id="Num.xvii-p19.1" parsed="|Num|16|16|16|17" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.16-Num.16.17"><i>v.</i> 16, 17</scripRef>. Since he could not
|
|
convince them by his calm and affectionate reasoning, he is ready
|
|
to enter into bonds to stand God's award, not doubting but that God
|
|
would appear, to decide the controversy. This reference he had
|
|
agreed to before (<scripRef passage="Nu 16:6,7" id="Num.xvii-p19.2" parsed="|Num|16|6|16|7" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.6-Num.16.7"><i>v.</i> 6,
|
|
7</scripRef>), and here adds only one clause, which bespeaks his
|
|
great condescension to the plaintiffs, that Aaron, against whose
|
|
advancement they excepted, though now advanced by the divine
|
|
institution to the honour of burning incense within the tabernacle,
|
|
yet, upon this trial, should put himself into the place of a
|
|
probationer, and stand upon the level with Korah, at the door of
|
|
the tabernacle; nay, and Moses himself would stand with them, so
|
|
that the complainant shall have all the fair dealing he can desire;
|
|
and thus <i>every mouth shall be stopped.</i> 2. Korah accepts the
|
|
challenge, and makes his appearance with Moses and Aaron <i>at the
|
|
door of the tabernacle,</i> to make good his pretensions, <scripRef passage="Nu 16:18,19" id="Num.xvii-p19.3" parsed="|Num|16|18|16|19" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.18-Num.16.19"><i>v.</i> 18, 19</scripRef>. If he had not
|
|
had a very great stock of impudence, he could not have carried on
|
|
the matter thus far. Had not he lately seen Nadab and Abihu, the
|
|
consecrated priests, struck dead for daring to offer incense with
|
|
unhallowed fire? and could he and his accomplices expect to fare
|
|
any better in offering incense with unhallowed hands? Yet, to
|
|
confront Moses and Aaron, in the height of his pride he thus bids
|
|
defiance to Heaven, and pretends to demand the divine acceptance
|
|
without a divine warrant; thus wretchedly is the heart hardened
|
|
through the deceitfulness of sin. They <i>took every man his
|
|
censer.</i> Perhaps these were some of the censers which these
|
|
heads of families had made use of at their family-altars, before
|
|
this part of religious service was confined to the priesthood and
|
|
the altar in the tabernacle (and they would bring them into use and
|
|
reputation again); or they might be common chafing-dishes, which
|
|
were for their ordinary use. Now to attend the solemn trial, and to
|
|
be witness of the issue, one would have thought Moses should have
|
|
<i>gathered the congregation against the rebels,</i> but it seems
|
|
Korah gathered them against Moses (<scripRef passage="Nu 16:19" id="Num.xvii-p19.4" parsed="|Num|16|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>), which intimates that a great
|
|
part of the congregation sided with Korah, were at his beck, and
|
|
wished him success, and that Korah's hopes were very high of
|
|
carrying the point against Aaron; for, had he suspected the event,
|
|
he would not have coveted to make the trial thus public: but little
|
|
did he think that he was now calling the congregation together to
|
|
be the witnesses of his own confusion! Note, Proud and ambitious
|
|
men, while they are projecting their own advancement, often prove
|
|
to have been hurrying on their own shameful fall.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvii-p20">IV. The judgment set, and the Judge taking
|
|
the tribunal, and threatening to give sentence against the whole
|
|
congregation. 1. The <i>glory of the Lord appeared,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 16:19" id="Num.xvii-p20.1" parsed="|Num|16|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. The same glory that
|
|
appeared to instal Aaron in his office at first (<scripRef passage="Le 9:23" id="Num.xvii-p20.2" parsed="|Lev|9|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.9.23">Lev. ix. 23</scripRef>) now appeared to confirm him in
|
|
it, and to confound those that oppose him, and set up themselves in
|
|
competition with him. The <i>Shechinah,</i> or divine Majesty, the
|
|
glory of the eternal Word, which ordinarily dwelt between the
|
|
cherubim within the veil, now was publicly seen over the door of
|
|
the tabernacle, to the terror of the whole congregation; for,
|
|
though they saw no manner of similitude, yet probably the
|
|
appearances of the light and fire were such as plainly showed God
|
|
to be angry with them; as when he appeared, <scripRef passage="Nu 14:10" id="Num.xvii-p20.3" parsed="|Num|14|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.10"><i>ch.</i> xiv. 10</scripRef>. Nothing is more terrible
|
|
to those who are conscious of guilt than the appearances of divine
|
|
glory; for such a glorious Being must needs be a formidable enemy.
|
|
2. God threatened to <i>consume them all in a moment,</i> and, in
|
|
order to that, bade Moses and Aaron stand from among them,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 16:21" id="Num.xvii-p20.4" parsed="|Num|16|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. God thus
|
|
showed what their sin deserved, and how very provoking it was to
|
|
him. See what a dangerous thing it is to have fellowship with
|
|
sinners, and in the least to partake with them. Many of the
|
|
congregation, it is likely, came only for company, following the
|
|
crowd, or for curiosity, to see the issue, yet not coming, as they
|
|
ought to have done, to bear their testimony against the rebels, and
|
|
openly to declare for God and Moses, they had like to have been all
|
|
consumed in a moment. If we follow the herd into which the devil
|
|
has entered, it is at our peril.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvii-p21">V. The humble intercession of Moses and
|
|
Aaron for the congregation, <scripRef passage="Nu 16:22" id="Num.xvii-p21.1" parsed="|Num|16|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.22"><i>v.</i>
|
|
22</scripRef>. 1. Their posture was importuning: they <i>fell on
|
|
their faces,</i> prostrating themselves before God, as supplicants
|
|
in good earnest, that they might prevail for sparing mercy. Though
|
|
the people had treacherously deserted them, and struck in with
|
|
those that were in arms against them, yet they approved themselves
|
|
faithful to the trusts reposed in them, as shepherds of Israel, who
|
|
were to stand in the breach when they saw the flock in danger.
|
|
Note, If others fail in their duty to us, this does not discharge
|
|
us from our duty to them, nor take off the obligations we lie under
|
|
to seek their welfare. 2. Their prayer was a pleading prayer, and
|
|
it proved a prevailing one. Now God would have <i>destroyed
|
|
them</i> if Moses had not <i>turned away his wrath</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 106:23" id="Num.xvii-p21.2" parsed="|Ps|106|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.23">Ps. cvi. 23</scripRef>); yet far be it from us
|
|
to imagine that Moses was more considerate or more compassionate
|
|
than God in such a case as this: but God saw fit to show his just
|
|
displeasure against the sin of sinners by the sentence, and at the
|
|
same time to show his gracious condescension to the prayers of the
|
|
saints, by the revocation of the sentence at the intercession of
|
|
Moses. Observe in the prayer, (1.) The title they give to God:
|
|
<i>The God of the spirits of all flesh.</i> See what man is; he is
|
|
a spirit in flesh, a soul embodied, a creature wonderfully
|
|
compounded of heaven and earth. See what God is; he is the God of
|
|
the spirits of all mankind. <i>He forms the spirit,</i> <scripRef passage="Zec 12:1" id="Num.xvii-p21.3" parsed="|Zech|12|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zech.12.1">Zech. xii. 1</scripRef>. He <i>fathers it,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Heb 12:9" id="Num.xvii-p21.4" parsed="|Heb|12|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.9">Heb. xii. 9</scripRef>. He has an
|
|
ability to fashion it (<scripRef passage="Ps 33:15" id="Num.xvii-p21.5" parsed="|Ps|33|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.33.15">Ps. xxxiii.
|
|
15</scripRef>), and authority to dispose of it, for he has said,
|
|
<i>All souls are mine,</i> <scripRef passage="Eze 18:4" id="Num.xvii-p21.6" parsed="|Ezek|18|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.18.4">Ezek.
|
|
xviii. 4</scripRef>. They insinuate hereby that though, as <i>the
|
|
God of the spirits of all flesh,</i> he might in sovereignty
|
|
consume this congregation in a moment, yet it was to be hoped that
|
|
he would in mercy spare them, not only because they were the work
|
|
of his own hands, and he had a propriety in them, but because,
|
|
being the <i>God of spirits,</i> he knew their frame, and could
|
|
distinguish between the leaders and the led, between those who
|
|
sinned maliciously and those who were drawn in by their wiles, and
|
|
would make a difference accordingly in his judgments. (2.) The
|
|
argument they insist on; it is much the same with that which
|
|
Abraham urged in his intercession for Sodom (<scripRef passage="Ge 18:23" id="Num.xvii-p21.7" parsed="|Gen|18|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.23">Gen. xviii. 23</scripRef>): <i>Wilt thou destroy the
|
|
righteous with the wicked?</i> Such is the plea here: <i>Shall one
|
|
man sin and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation?</i> Not
|
|
but that it was the sin of them all to join in this matter, but the
|
|
great transgression was his that first hatched the treason. Note,
|
|
Whatever God may do in sovereignty and strict justice, we have
|
|
reason to hope that he will not destroy a congregation for the sin
|
|
of one, but that, <i>righteousness and peace</i> having <i>kissed
|
|
each other</i> in the undertaking of the Redeemer, <i>mercy shall
|
|
rejoice against judgment.</i> Moses knew that all the congregation
|
|
must perish in the wilderness by degrees, yet he is thus earnest in
|
|
prayer that they might not be consumed at once, and would reckon it
|
|
a favour to obtain a reprieve. <i>Lord, let it alone this
|
|
year.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 16:23-34" id="Num.xvii-p21.8" parsed="|Num|16|23|16|34" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.23-Num.16.34"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.16.23-Num.16.34">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xvii-p22">23 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvii-p22.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   24 Speak unto the congregation,
|
|
saying, Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and
|
|
Abiram.   25 And Moses rose up and went unto Dathan and
|
|
Abiram; and the elders of Israel followed him.   26 And he
|
|
spake unto the congregation, saying, Depart, I pray you, from the
|
|
tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be
|
|
consumed in all their sins.   27 So they gat up from the
|
|
tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side: and Dathan
|
|
and Abiram came out, and stood in the door of their tents, and
|
|
their wives, and their sons, and their little children.   28
|
|
And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvii-p22.2">Lord</span> hath sent me to do all these works; for
|
|
<i>I have</i> not <i>done them</i> of mine own mind.   29 If
|
|
these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited
|
|
after the visitation of all men; <i>then</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvii-p22.3">Lord</span> hath not sent me.   30 But if the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvii-p22.4">Lord</span> make a new thing, and the earth
|
|
open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that <i>appertain</i>
|
|
unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall
|
|
understand that these men have provoked the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvii-p22.5">Lord</span>.   31 And it came to pass, as he had
|
|
made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave
|
|
asunder that <i>was</i> under them:   32 And the earth opened
|
|
her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men
|
|
that <i>appertained</i> unto Korah, and all <i>their</i> goods.
|
|
  33 They, and all that <i>appertained</i> to them, went down
|
|
alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they
|
|
perished from among the congregation.   34 And all Israel that
|
|
<i>were</i> round about them fled at the cry of them: for they
|
|
said, Lest the earth swallow us up <i>also.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvii-p23">We have here the determining of the
|
|
controversy with Dathan and Abiram, who rebelled against Moses, as
|
|
in the next paragraph the determining of the controversy with Korah
|
|
and his company, who would be rivals with Aaron. It should seem
|
|
that Dathan and Abiram had set up a spacious tabernacle in the
|
|
midst of the tents of their families, where they kept court, met in
|
|
council, and hung out their flag of defiance against Moses; it is
|
|
here called <i>the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 16:24,27" id="Num.xvii-p23.1" parsed="|Num|16|24|0|0;|Num|16|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.24 Bible:Num.16.27"><i>v.</i> 24, 27</scripRef>. There,
|
|
as in the place of rendezvous, Dathan and Abiram staid, when Korah
|
|
and his friends went up to the tabernacle of the Lord, waiting the
|
|
issue of their trial; but here we are told how they had their
|
|
business done, before that trial was over. For God will take what
|
|
method he pleases in his judgments.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvii-p24">I. Public warning is given to the
|
|
congregation to withdraw immediately from the tents of the rebels.
|
|
1. God bids Moses speak to this purport, <scripRef passage="Nu 16:24" id="Num.xvii-p24.1" parsed="|Num|16|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. This was in answer to Moses's
|
|
prayer. He had begged that God would not <i>destroy the whole
|
|
congregation.</i> "Well," says God, "I will not, provided they be
|
|
so wise as to shift for their own safety, and get out of the way of
|
|
danger. If they will quit the rebels, well and good, they shall not
|
|
perish with them; otherwise, let them take what follows." Note, We
|
|
cannot expect to reap benefit by the prayers of our friends for our
|
|
salvation, unless we ourselves be diligent and faithful in making
|
|
use of the means of salvation; for God never promised to save by
|
|
miracles those that would not save themselves by means. Moses that
|
|
had prayed for them must preach this to them, and warn them to
|
|
<i>flee from this wrath to come.</i> 2. Moses accordingly repairs
|
|
to the head-quarters of the rebels, leaving Aaron at the door of
|
|
the tabernacle, <scripRef passage="Nu 16:25" id="Num.xvii-p24.2" parsed="|Num|16|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.25"><i>v.</i>
|
|
25</scripRef>. Dathan and Abiram had contumaciously refused to come
|
|
up to him (<scripRef passage="Nu 16:12" id="Num.xvii-p24.3" parsed="|Num|16|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>),
|
|
yet he humbly condescends to go down to them, to try if he could
|
|
yet convince and reclaim them. Ministers must thus with meekness
|
|
instruct those that oppose themselves, and not think it below them
|
|
to stoop to those that are most stubborn, for their good. Christ
|
|
himself stretches out his hand to a rebellious and gainsaying
|
|
people. The seventy elders of Israel attend Moses and his guard, to
|
|
secure him from the insolence of the rabble, and by their presence
|
|
to put an honour upon him, and if possible to strike an awe upon
|
|
the rebels. It is our duty to contribute all we can to the
|
|
countenance and support of injured innocency and honour. 3.
|
|
Proclamation is made that all manner of persons, as they tendered
|
|
their own safety, should forthwith <i>depart from the tents of
|
|
these wicked men</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 16:26" id="Num.xvii-p24.4" parsed="|Num|16|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.26"><i>v.</i>
|
|
26</scripRef>), and thus should signify that they deserted their
|
|
cause and interest, detested their crimes and counsels, and dreaded
|
|
the punishment coming upon them. Note, Those that would not perish
|
|
with sinners must <i>come out from among them,</i> and be separate.
|
|
In vain do we pray, <i>Gather not our souls with sinners,</i> if we
|
|
save not ourselves from the <i>untoward generation.</i> God's
|
|
people are called out of Babylon, lest they share both in her sins
|
|
and in her plagues, <scripRef passage="Re 18:4" id="Num.xvii-p24.5" parsed="|Rev|18|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.18.4">Rev. xviii.
|
|
4</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvii-p25">II. The congregation takes the warning, but
|
|
the rebels themselves continue obstinate, <scripRef passage="Nu 16:27" id="Num.xvii-p25.1" parsed="|Num|16|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>. 1. God, in mercy, inclined the
|
|
people to forsake the rebels: <i>They got up from the tabernacle of
|
|
Korah, Dathan, and Abiram,</i> both those whose lot it was to pitch
|
|
near them (who doubtless with themselves removed their families,
|
|
and all their effects) and those also who had come from all parts
|
|
of their camp to see the issue. It was in answer to the prayer of
|
|
Moses that God thus stirred up the hearts of the congregation to
|
|
shift for their own preservation. Note, To those whom God will save
|
|
he gives repentance, that they may <i>recover themselves out of the
|
|
snare of the devil.</i> Grace to separate from evil doers is one of
|
|
the things that accompany salvation. 2. God, in justice, left the
|
|
rebels to the obstinacy and hardness of their own hearts. Though
|
|
they saw themselves abandoned by all their neighbours, and set up
|
|
as a mark to the arrows of God's justice, yet instead of falling
|
|
down and humbling themselves before God and Moses, owning their
|
|
crime and begging pardon, instead of fleeing and dispersing
|
|
themselves to seek for shelter in the crowd, they impudently
|
|
<i>stood in the doors of their tents,</i> as if they would out-face
|
|
God himself, and dare him to his worst. Thus were their hearts
|
|
hardened to their own destruction, and they were fearless when
|
|
their case was most fearful. But what a pity was it that their
|
|
little children, who were not capable of guilt or fear, should by
|
|
the presumption of their parents be put in this audacious posture!
|
|
Happy they who are taught betimes to bow before God, and not as
|
|
those unhappy little ones to stand it out against him!</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvii-p26">III. Sentence is solemnly pronounced upon
|
|
them by Moses in the name of the Lord, and the decision of the
|
|
controversy is put upon the execution of that sentence by the
|
|
almighty power of God. Moses, by divine instinct and direction,
|
|
when the eyes of all Israel were fastened upon him, waiting the
|
|
event, moved with a just and holy indignation at the impudence of
|
|
the rebels, boldly puts the whole matter to a surprising issue,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 16:28-30" id="Num.xvii-p26.1" parsed="|Num|16|28|16|30" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.28-Num.16.30"><i>v.</i> 28-30</scripRef>. 1. If
|
|
the rebels die a common death, he will be content to be called and
|
|
counted an impostor; not only if they die a natural death, but if
|
|
they die by any sort of judgment that has formerly been executed on
|
|
other malefactors. "If they die by the plague, or by fire from
|
|
heaven, or by the sword, then say, God has disowned Moses;" but, 2.
|
|
"If the earth open and swallow them up" (a punishment without
|
|
precedent), "then let all the house of Israel know assuredly that I
|
|
am God's servant, sent by him, and employed for him, and that those
|
|
that fight against me fight against him." The judgment itself would
|
|
have been proof enough of God's displeasure against the rebels, and
|
|
would have given all men to <i>understand that they had provoked
|
|
the Lord;</i> but when it was thus solemnly foretold and appealed
|
|
to by Moses beforehand, when there was not the least previous
|
|
indication of it from without, the convincing evidence of it was
|
|
much the stronger, and it was put beyond dispute that he was not
|
|
only a servant but a favourite of Heaven, who was so intimately
|
|
acquainted with the divine counsels, and could obtain such
|
|
extraordinary appearances of the divine power in his
|
|
vindication.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvii-p27">IV. Execution is immediately done. It
|
|
appeared that God and his servant Moses understood one another very
|
|
well; for, as soon as ever Moses had spoken the word, God did the
|
|
work, the earth <i>clave asunder</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 16:31" id="Num.xvii-p27.1" parsed="|Num|16|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>), <i>opened her mouth, and
|
|
swallowed them all up,</i> them and theirs (<scripRef passage="Nu 16:32" id="Num.xvii-p27.2" parsed="|Num|16|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>), and then <i>closed upon
|
|
them,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 16:33" id="Num.xvii-p27.3" parsed="|Num|16|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>.
|
|
This judgment was, 1. Unparalleled. God, in it, <i>created a new
|
|
thing,</i> did what he never did before; for he has many arrows in
|
|
his quiver; and there are diversities of operations in wrath as
|
|
well as mercy. Dathan and Abiram thought themselves safe because
|
|
they were at a distance from the <i>shechinah,</i> whence the fire
|
|
of the Lord had sometimes issued, <i>qui procul à Jove</i> (they
|
|
say) <i>procul à fulmine—he who is far from Jove is far from the
|
|
thunderbolt.</i> But God made them to know that he was not tied up
|
|
to one way of punishing; the earth, when he pleases, shall serve
|
|
his justice as effectually as the fire. 2. It was very terrible to
|
|
the sinners themselves to go down alive into their own graves, to
|
|
be dead and buried in an instant, to go down thus to the bars of
|
|
the pit when they were in their <i>full strength wholly at ease and
|
|
quiet.</i> 3. It was severe upon their poor children, who, for the
|
|
greater terror of the judgment, and fuller indication of the divine
|
|
wrath, perished as parts of their parents, in which, though we
|
|
cannot particularly tell how bad they might be to deserve it or how
|
|
good God might be otherwise to them to compensate it, yet of this
|
|
we are sure in the general, that Infinite Justice did them no
|
|
wrong. <i>Far be it from God that he should do iniquity.</i> 4. It
|
|
was altogether miraculous. The cleaving of the earth was as
|
|
wonderful, and as much above the power of nature, as the cleaving
|
|
of the sea, and the closing of the earth again more so than the
|
|
closing of the waters. God has all the creatures at his command,
|
|
and can make any of them, when he pleases, instruments of his
|
|
justice; nor will any of them be our friends if he be our enemy.
|
|
God now confirmed to Israel what Moses had lately taught them in
|
|
that prayer of his, <scripRef passage="Ps 90:11" id="Num.xvii-p27.4" parsed="|Ps|90|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.90.11">Ps. xc.
|
|
11</scripRef>, <i>Who knows the power of thy anger?</i> He has,
|
|
when he pleases, <i>strange punishments for the workers of
|
|
iniquity,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 31:3" id="Num.xvii-p27.5" parsed="|Job|31|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.31.3">Job xxxi. 3</scripRef>.
|
|
Let us therefore conclude, <i>Who is able to stand before this holy
|
|
Lord God?</i> 5. It was very significant. They <i>set their mouths
|
|
against the heavens,</i> and <i>their throat was an open
|
|
sepulchre;</i> justly therefore does the earth open her mouth upon
|
|
them and swallow them up. They made a rent in the congregation;
|
|
justly therefore is the earth rent under them. Presumptuous
|
|
sinners, that hate to be reformed, are a burden to the earth, the
|
|
whole creation groans under them, which here was signified by this,
|
|
that the earth sunk under these rebels, as weary of bearing them
|
|
and being under them. And, considering how the earth is still in
|
|
like manner loaded with the weight of iniquity, we have reason to
|
|
wonder that this was the only time it ever sunk under its load. 6.
|
|
It was typical of the eternal ruin of sinners who die impenitent,
|
|
who, perhaps in allusion to this, are said to <i>sink down into the
|
|
pit</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 9:15" id="Num.xvii-p27.6" parsed="|Ps|9|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.9.15">Ps. ix. 15</scripRef>) and to
|
|
<i>go down quickly into hell,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 55:15" id="Num.xvii-p27.7" parsed="|Ps|55|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.55.15">Ps.
|
|
lv. 15</scripRef>. But David, even when he <i>sinks in deep
|
|
mire,</i> yet prays in faith, <i>Let not the pit shut her mouth
|
|
upon me,</i> as it does on the damned, between whom and life there
|
|
is a gulf fixed, <scripRef passage="Ps 69:2-15" id="Num.xvii-p27.8" parsed="|Ps|69|2|69|15" osisRef="Bible:Ps.69.2-Ps.69.15">Ps. lxix.
|
|
2-15</scripRef>. His case was bad, but not, like this,
|
|
desperate.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvii-p28">V. All Israel is alarmed at the judgment:
|
|
<i>They fled at the cry of them,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 16:34" id="Num.xvii-p28.1" parsed="|Num|16|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.34"><i>v.</i> 34</scripRef>. They cried for help when it was
|
|
too late. Their doleful shrieks, instead of fetching their
|
|
neighbours in to their relief, drove them so much the further off;
|
|
for knowing their own guilt, and one another's, they hastened one
|
|
another, saying, <i>Lest the earth swallow us up also.</i> Note,
|
|
Others' ruins should be our warnings. Could we by faith hear the
|
|
outcries of those that have gone down to the bottomless pit, we
|
|
should give more diligence than we do to escape for our lives, lest
|
|
we also come into that condemnation.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 16:35-40" id="Num.xvii-p28.2" parsed="|Num|16|35|16|40" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.35-Num.16.40"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.16.35-Num.16.40">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xvii-p29">35 And there came out a fire from the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvii-p29.1">Lord</span>, and consumed the two hundred and
|
|
fifty men that offered incense.   36 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvii-p29.2">Lord</span> spake unto Moses, saying,   37 Speak
|
|
unto Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, that he take up the
|
|
censers out of the burning, and scatter thou the fire yonder; for
|
|
they are hallowed.   38 The censers of these sinners against
|
|
their own souls, let them make them broad plates <i>for</i> a
|
|
covering of the altar: for they offered them before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvii-p29.3">Lord</span>, therefore they are hallowed: and
|
|
they shall be a sign unto the children of Israel.   39 And
|
|
Eleazar the priest took the brazen censers, wherewith they that
|
|
were burnt had offered; and they were made broad <i>plates for</i>
|
|
a covering of the altar:   40 <i>To be</i> a memorial unto the
|
|
children of Israel, that no stranger, which <i>is</i> not of the
|
|
seed of Aaron, come near to offer incense before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvii-p29.4">Lord</span>; that he be not as Korah, and as his
|
|
company: as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvii-p29.5">Lord</span> said to him by
|
|
the hand of Moses.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvii-p30">We must now look back to the door of the
|
|
tabernacle, where we left the pretenders to the priesthood with
|
|
their censers in their hands ready to offer incense; and here we
|
|
find,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvii-p31">I. Vengeance taken on them, <scripRef passage="Nu 16:35" id="Num.xvii-p31.1" parsed="|Num|16|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.35"><i>v.</i> 35</scripRef>. It is probable that
|
|
when the earth opened in the camp to swallow up Dathan and Abiram
|
|
<i>a fire went out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men that
|
|
offered incense,</i> while Aaron that stood with them was preserved
|
|
alive. This punishment was not indeed so new a thing as the former,
|
|
for Nadab and Abihu thus died; but it was not less strange or
|
|
dreadful, and in it it appeared, 1. That <i>our God is a consuming
|
|
fire.</i> Is thunder a sensible indication of the terror of his
|
|
voice? Lightning is also the power of his hand. We must see in this
|
|
his fiery indignation which devours the adversaries, and infer from
|
|
it what a fearful thing it is to <i>fall into the hands of the
|
|
living God,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 10:27-31" id="Num.xvii-p31.2" parsed="|Heb|10|27|10|31" osisRef="Bible:Heb.10.27-Heb.10.31">Heb. x.
|
|
27-31</scripRef>. 2. That it is at our peril if we meddle with that
|
|
which does not belong to us. God is jealous of the honour of his
|
|
own institutions, and will not have them invaded. It is most
|
|
probable that Korah himself was consumed with those 250 that
|
|
presumed to offer incense; for the priesthood was the thing he
|
|
aimed at, and therefore we have reason to think that he would not
|
|
quit his post at the door of the tabernacle. But, behold, those are
|
|
made sacrifices to the justice of God who flattered themselves with
|
|
the hopes of being priests. Had they been content with their office
|
|
as Levites, which was sacred and honourable, and better than they
|
|
deserved, they might have lived and died with joy and reputation;
|
|
but, like the angels that sinned, <i>leaving their first
|
|
estate,</i> and aiming at the honours that were not appointed them,
|
|
they were thrust down to <i>Hades,</i> their censers struck out of
|
|
their hands, and their breath out of their bodies, by a burning
|
|
which typified <i>the vengeance of eternal fire.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvii-p32">II. Care is taken to perpetuate the
|
|
remembrance of this vengeance. No mention is made of the taking up
|
|
of their carcases: the scripture leaves them as dung upon the face
|
|
of the earth; but orders are given about their censers, 1. That
|
|
they be secured, because they are hallowed. Eleazar is charged with
|
|
this, <scripRef passage="Nu 16:37" id="Num.xvii-p32.1" parsed="|Num|16|37|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.37"><i>v.</i> 37</scripRef>. Those
|
|
invaders of the priesthood had proceeded so far, by the divine
|
|
patience and submission, as to kindle their incense with fire from
|
|
off the altar, which they were suffered to use by way of
|
|
experiment: but, as soon as they had kindled their fire, God
|
|
kindled another, which put a fatal final period to their
|
|
pretensions; now Eleazar is ordered to scatter the fire, with the
|
|
incense that was kindled with it, in some unclean place without the
|
|
camp, to signify God's abhorrence of their offering as a polluted
|
|
thing: <i>The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the
|
|
Lord.</i> But he is to gather up the censers out of the mingled
|
|
burning, God's fire and theirs, because <i>they are hallowed.</i>
|
|
Having been once put to a holy use, and that by God's own order
|
|
(though only for trial), they must not return to common service; so
|
|
some understand it: rather, <i>they are devoted,</i> they are an
|
|
anathema; and therefore, as all devoted things, they must be made
|
|
some way or other serviceable to the glory of God. 2. That they be
|
|
used in the service of the sanctuary, not as censers, which would
|
|
rather have put honour upon the usurpers whose disgrace was
|
|
intended; nor was there occasion for brazen censers, the golden
|
|
altar was served with golden ones; but they must be beaten into
|
|
<i>broad plates for a covering of the brazen altar,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 16:38-40" id="Num.xvii-p32.2" parsed="|Num|16|38|16|40" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.38-Num.16.40"><i>v.</i> 38-40</scripRef>. These pretenders
|
|
thought to have ruined the altar, by laying the priesthood in
|
|
common again; but to show that Aaron's office was so far from being
|
|
shaken by their impotent malice that it was rather confirmed by it,
|
|
their censers, which offered to rival his, were used both for the
|
|
adorning and for the preserving of the altar at which he
|
|
ministered. Yet this was not all; this covering of the altar must
|
|
be a <i>memorial to the children of Israel,</i> throughout their
|
|
generations, of this great event. Though there was so much in it
|
|
astonishing, and though Moses was to record it in his history, yet
|
|
there was danger of its being forgotten in process of time;
|
|
impressions that seem deep are not always durable; therefore it was
|
|
necessary to appoint this record of the judgment, that the Levites
|
|
who attended this altar, and had their inferior services appointed
|
|
them, might learn to keep within their bounds, and be afraid of
|
|
transgressing them, lest they should be made like Korah and his
|
|
company, who were Levites, and would have been priests. These
|
|
censers were preserved <i>in terrorem,</i> that others might hear
|
|
and fear, and do no more presumptuously. Thus God has provided that
|
|
his wonderful works, both in mercy and judgment, should be had in
|
|
everlasting remembrance, that the end of them may be answered, and
|
|
they may serve for instruction and admonition to those <i>on whom
|
|
the ends of the world are come.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 16:41-50" id="Num.xvii-p32.3" parsed="|Num|16|41|16|50" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.41-Num.16.50"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.16.41-Num.16.50">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xvii-p33">41 But on the morrow all the congregation of the
|
|
children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron,
|
|
saying, Ye have killed the people of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvii-p33.1">Lord</span>.   42 And it came to pass, when the
|
|
congregation was gathered against Moses and against Aaron, that
|
|
they looked toward the tabernacle of the congregation: and, behold,
|
|
the cloud covered it, and the glory of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvii-p33.2">Lord</span> appeared.   43 And Moses and Aaron
|
|
came before the tabernacle of the congregation.   44 And the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvii-p33.3">Lord</span> spake unto Moses, saying,
|
|
  45 Get you up from among this congregation, that I may
|
|
consume them as in a moment. And they fell upon their faces.  
|
|
46 And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein
|
|
from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the
|
|
congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is wrath
|
|
gone out from the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xvii-p33.4">Lord</span>; the plague
|
|
is begun.   47 And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into
|
|
the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun
|
|
among the people: and he put on incense, and made an atonement for
|
|
the people.   48 And he stood between the dead and the living;
|
|
and the plague was stayed.   49 Now they that died in the
|
|
plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, beside them that
|
|
died about the matter of Korah.   50 And Aaron returned unto
|
|
Moses unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and the
|
|
plague was stayed.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvii-p34">Here is, I. A new rebellion raised the very
|
|
next day against Moses and Aaron. Be astonished, O heavens, at
|
|
this, and wonder, O earth! Was there ever such an instance of the
|
|
incurable corruption of sinners? <i>On the morrow</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 16:41" id="Num.xvii-p34.1" parsed="|Num|16|41|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.41"><i>v.</i> 41</scripRef>) the body of the people
|
|
mutinied. 1. Though they were so lately terrified by the sight of
|
|
the punishment of the rebels. The shrieks of those sinking sinners,
|
|
those sinners against their own souls, were yet sounding in their
|
|
ears, the smell of the fire yet remained, and the gaping earth was
|
|
scarcely thoroughly closed, and yet the same sins were re-acted and
|
|
all these warnings slighted. 2. Though they were so lately saved
|
|
from sharing in the same punishment, and the survivors were <i>as
|
|
brands plucked out of the burning,</i> yet they fly in the face of
|
|
Moses and Aaron, to whose intercession they owed their
|
|
preservation. Their charge runs very high: <i>You have killed the
|
|
people of the Lord.</i> Could any thing have been said more
|
|
unjustly and maliciously? They canonize the rebels, calling those
|
|
the people of the Lord who died in arms against him. They
|
|
stigmatize divine justice itself. It was plain enough that Moses
|
|
and Aaron had no hand in their death (they did what they could to
|
|
save them), so that in charging them with murder they did in effect
|
|
charge God himself with it. The continued obstinacy of this people,
|
|
notwithstanding the terrors of God's law as it was given on Mount
|
|
Sinai, and the terrors of his judgments as they were here executed
|
|
on the disobedient, shows how necessary the grace of God is to the
|
|
effectual change of men's hearts and lives, without which the most
|
|
likely means will never attain the end. Love will do what fear
|
|
could not.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvii-p35">II. God's speedy appearance against the
|
|
rebels. When they had <i>gathered against Moses and Aaron,</i>
|
|
perhaps with a design to depose or murder them, they <i>looked
|
|
towards the tabernacle,</i> as if their misgiving consciences
|
|
expected some frowns thence, and, <i>behold, the glory of the Lord
|
|
appeared</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 16:42" id="Num.xvii-p35.1" parsed="|Num|16|42|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.42"><i>v.</i>
|
|
42</scripRef>), for the protection of his servants, and the
|
|
confusion of his and their accusers and adversaries. Moses and
|
|
Aaron thereupon came before the tabernacle, partly for their own
|
|
safety (there they took sanctuary from the strife of tongues,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 27:5,31:20" id="Num.xvii-p35.2" parsed="|Ps|27|5|0|0;|Ps|31|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.27.5 Bible:Ps.31.20">Ps. xxvii. 5; xxxi.
|
|
20</scripRef>), and partly for advice, to know what was the mind of
|
|
God upon this occasion, <scripRef passage="Nu 16:43" id="Num.xvii-p35.3" parsed="|Num|16|43|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.43"><i>v.</i>
|
|
43</scripRef>. Justice hereupon declares that they deserve to be
|
|
<i>consumed in a moment,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 16:45" id="Num.xvii-p35.4" parsed="|Num|16|45|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.45"><i>v.</i>
|
|
45</scripRef>. Why should those live another day who hate to be
|
|
reformed, and whose rebellions are their daily practices? Let just
|
|
vengeance take place and do its work, and the trouble will soon be
|
|
over; only Moses and Aaron must first be secured.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvii-p36">III. The intercession which Moses and Aaron
|
|
made for them. Though they had as much reason, one would think, as
|
|
Elias had to make intercession against Israel (<scripRef passage="Ro 11:2" id="Num.xvii-p36.1" parsed="|Rom|11|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.11.2">Rom. xi. 2</scripRef>), yet they forgive and forget the
|
|
indignities offered them, and are the best friends their enemies
|
|
have. 1. They both <i>fell on their faces,</i> humbly to intercede
|
|
with God for mercy, knowing how great the provocation was. This
|
|
they had done several times before, upon similar occasions; and,
|
|
though the people had basely requited them for it, yet, God having
|
|
graciously accepted them, they still have recourse to the same
|
|
method. This is praying always. 2. Moses, perceiving that the
|
|
<i>plague had begun in the congregation</i> of the rebels (that is,
|
|
that body of them which was gathered against Moses), sent Aaron by
|
|
an act of his priestly office to make atonement for them, <scripRef passage="Nu 16:46" id="Num.xvii-p36.2" parsed="|Num|16|46|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.46"><i>v.</i> 46</scripRef>. And Aaron readily went
|
|
and burned incense between the living and the dead, not to purify
|
|
the infected air, but to pacify an offended God, and so stayed the
|
|
progress of the judgment. By this it appeared, (1.) That Aaron was
|
|
a very good man, and a man that had a true love for the children of
|
|
his people, though they hated and envied him. Though God was now
|
|
avenging his quarrel and pleading the cause of his priesthood, yet
|
|
he interposes to turn away God's wrath. Nay, forgetting his age and
|
|
gravity, he ran into the midst of the congregation to help them. He
|
|
did not say, "Let them smart awhile, and then, when I come, I shall
|
|
be the more welcome;" but, as one tender of the life of every
|
|
Israelite, he makes all possible speed into the gap at which death
|
|
was entering. Moses and Aaron, who had been charged with killing
|
|
the people of the Lord, might justly have upbraided them now; could
|
|
they expect those to be their saviours whom they had so invidiously
|
|
called their murderers? But those good men have taught us here by
|
|
their example not to be sullen towards those that are peevish with
|
|
us, nor to take the advantage which men give us by their provoking
|
|
language to deny them any real kindness which it is in the power of
|
|
our hands to do them. We must render good for evil. (2.) That Aaron
|
|
was a very bold man—bold to venture into the midst of an enraged
|
|
rabble that were gathered together against him, and who, for aught
|
|
he knew, might be the more exasperated by the plague that had
|
|
begun—bold to venture into the midst of the infection, where the
|
|
arrows of death flew thickest, and hundreds, nay thousands, were
|
|
falling on the right hand and on the left. To save their lives he
|
|
put his own into his hand, not counting it dear to him, so that he
|
|
might but fulfil his ministry. (3.) That Aaron was a man of God,
|
|
and <i>ordained for men, in things pertaining to God.</i> His call
|
|
to the priesthood was hereby abundantly confirmed and set above all
|
|
contradiction; God had not only saved his life when the intruders
|
|
were cut off, but now made him an instrument for saving Israel.
|
|
Compare the censer of Aaron here with the <i>censers of those
|
|
sinners against their own souls.</i> Those provoked God's anger,
|
|
this pacified it; those destroyed men's lives, this saved them; no
|
|
room therefore is left to doubt of Aaron's call to the priesthood.
|
|
Note, Those make out the best title to public honours that lay out
|
|
themselves the most for public good and obtain mercy of the Lord to
|
|
be faithful and useful. If any man will be great, let him make
|
|
himself the servant of all. (4.) That Aaron was a type of Christ,
|
|
who came into the world to make an atonement for sin and to turn
|
|
away the wrath of God from us, and who, by his mediation and
|
|
intercession, <i>stands between the living and the dead,</i> to
|
|
secure his chosen Israel to himself, and save them out of the midst
|
|
of a world infected with sin and the curse.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xvii-p37">IV. The result and issue of the whole
|
|
matter. 1. God's justice was glorified in the death of some. Great
|
|
execution the sword of the Lord did in a very little time. Though
|
|
Aaron made all the haste he could, yet, before he could reach his
|
|
post of service, there were 14,700 men laid dead upon the spot,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 16:49" id="Num.xvii-p37.1" parsed="|Num|16|49|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.49"><i>v.</i> 49</scripRef>. There were
|
|
but few comparatively that died about the matter of Korah, the
|
|
ring-leaders only were made examples; but, the people not being led
|
|
to repentance by the patience and forbearance of God with them,
|
|
justice is not now so sparing of the blood of Israelites. They
|
|
complained of the death of a few hundreds as an unmerciful
|
|
slaughter made among the <i>people of the Lord,</i> but here God
|
|
silences that complaint by the slaughter of many thousands. Note,
|
|
Those that quarrel with less judgments prepare greater for
|
|
themselves; for when God judges he will overcome. 2. His mercy was
|
|
glorified in the preservation of the rest. God showed them what he
|
|
could do by his power, and what he might do in justice, but then
|
|
showed them what he would do in his love and pity: he would,
|
|
notwithstanding all this, preserve them a people to himself in and
|
|
by a mediator. The cloud of Aaron's incense coming from his hand
|
|
stayed the plague. Note, It is much for the glory of God's goodness
|
|
that many a time even in wrath he remembers mercy. And, even when
|
|
judgments have been begun, prayer puts a stop to them; so ready is
|
|
he to forgive, and so little pleasure does he take in the death of
|
|
sinners.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XVII" n="xviii" progress="73.01%" prev="Num.xvii" next="Num.xix" id="Num.xviii">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.xviii-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.xviii-p0.2">CHAP. XVII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.xviii-p1">Enough had been done in the chapter before to
|
|
quash all pretensions of the families of the tribe of Levi that
|
|
would set up in competition with Aaron, and to make it appear that
|
|
Aaron was the head of the tribe; but it seems, when that matter was
|
|
settled, the princes of the rest of the tribes began to murmur. If
|
|
the head of a tribe must be a priest, why not the head of some
|
|
other tribe than that of Levi? He that searches the heart knew this
|
|
thought to be in the breast of some of them, and before it broke
|
|
out into any overt act graciously anticipated it, to prevent
|
|
bloodshed; and it is done by miracle in this chapter, not a miracle
|
|
of wrath, as before, but of grace. I. The matter is put upon trial
|
|
by the bringing of twelve rods, one for each prince, before the
|
|
Lord, <scripRef passage="Nu 17:1-7" id="Num.xviii-p1.1" parsed="|Num|17|1|17|7" osisRef="Bible:Num.17.1-Num.17.7">ver. 1-7</scripRef>. II. Upon
|
|
trial, the matter is determined by the miraculous blossoming of
|
|
Aaron's rod, <scripRef passage="Nu 17:8,9" id="Num.xviii-p1.2" parsed="|Num|17|8|17|9" osisRef="Bible:Num.17.8-Num.17.9">ver. 8, 9</scripRef>.
|
|
III. The decision of the controversy is registered by the
|
|
preservation of the rod, <scripRef passage="Nu 17:10,11" id="Num.xviii-p1.3" parsed="|Num|17|10|17|11" osisRef="Bible:Num.17.10-Num.17.11">ver. 10,
|
|
11</scripRef>. IV. The people acquiesce in it with some reluctance,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 17:12,13" id="Num.xviii-p1.4" parsed="|Num|17|12|17|13" osisRef="Bible:Num.17.12-Num.17.13">ver. 12, 13</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 17" id="Num.xviii-p1.5" parsed="|Num|17|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.17"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 17:1-7" id="Num.xviii-p1.6" parsed="|Num|17|1|17|7" osisRef="Bible:Num.17.1-Num.17.7"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.17.1-Num.17.7">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xviii-p1.7">The Blossoming of Aaron's
|
|
Rod. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xviii-p1.8">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xviii-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xviii-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   2 Speak unto the children of
|
|
Israel, and take of every one of them a rod according to the house
|
|
of <i>their</i> fathers, of all their princes according to the
|
|
house of their fathers twelve rods: write thou every man's name
|
|
upon his rod.   3 And thou shalt write Aaron's name upon the
|
|
rod of Levi: for one rod <i>shall be</i> for the head of the house
|
|
of their fathers.   4 And thou shalt lay them up in the
|
|
tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I will
|
|
meet with you.   5 And it shall come to pass, <i>that</i> the
|
|
man's rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom: and I will make to
|
|
cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, whereby
|
|
they murmur against you.   6 And Moses spake unto the children
|
|
of Israel, and every one of their princes gave him a rod apiece,
|
|
for each prince one, according to their fathers' houses,
|
|
<i>even</i> twelve rods: and the rod of Aaron <i>was</i> among
|
|
their rods.   7 And Moses laid up the rods before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xviii-p2.2">Lord</span> in the tabernacle of witness.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xviii-p3">Here we have, I. Orders given for the
|
|
bringing in of a rod for every tribe (which was peculiarly
|
|
significant, for the word here used for a rod sometimes signifies a
|
|
tribe, as particularly <scripRef passage="Nu 34:13" id="Num.xviii-p3.1" parsed="|Num|34|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.34.13"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xxxiv. 13</scripRef>), that God by a miracle, wrought on purpose,
|
|
might make it known on whom he had conferred the honour of the
|
|
priesthood. 1. It seems then the priesthood was a preferment worth
|
|
seeking and striving for, even by the princes of the tribes. It is
|
|
an honour to the greatest of men to be employed in the service of
|
|
God. Yet perhaps these contended for it rather for the sake of the
|
|
profit and power that attended the office than for the sake of that
|
|
in it which was divine and sacred. 2. It seems likewise, after all
|
|
that had been done to settle this matter, there were those who
|
|
would be ready upon any occasion to contest it. They would not
|
|
acquiesce in the divine appointment, but would make an interest in
|
|
opposition to it. They strive with God for the dominion; and the
|
|
question is whose will shall stand. God will rule, but Israel will
|
|
not be ruled; and this is the quarrel. 3. It is an instance of the
|
|
grace of God that, having wrought divers miracles to punish sin, he
|
|
would work one more on purpose to prevent it. God has effectually
|
|
provided that the obstinate shall be left inexcusable, and every
|
|
mouth shall be stopped. Israel were very prone to murmur both
|
|
against God and against their governors. "Now," said God, "<i>I
|
|
will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of
|
|
Israel,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 17:5" id="Num.xviii-p3.2" parsed="|Num|17|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.17.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. If
|
|
any thing will convince them, they shall be convinced; and, if this
|
|
will not convince them, nothing will." This was to be to them, as
|
|
Christ said the sign of the prophet Jonas (that is, his own
|
|
resurrection) should be to the men of that generation, the highest
|
|
proof of his mission that should be given them. The directions are,
|
|
(1.) That twelve rods or staves should be brought in. It is
|
|
probable that they were not now fresh cut out of a tree, for then
|
|
the miracle would not have been so great; but that they were the
|
|
staves which the princes ordinarily used as ensigns of their
|
|
authority (of which we read <scripRef passage="Nu 21:18" id="Num.xviii-p3.3" parsed="|Num|21|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.18"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xxi. 18</scripRef>), old dry staves, that had no sap in them, and
|
|
it is probable that they were all made of the almond-tree. It
|
|
should seem they were but twelve in all, with Aaron's, for, when
|
|
Levi comes into the account, Ephraim and Manasseh make but one,
|
|
under the name of Joseph. (2.) That the name of each prince should
|
|
be written upon his rod, that every man might know his own, and to
|
|
prevent contests. Writing is often a good preservative against
|
|
strife, for what is written may be appealed to. (3.) That they
|
|
should be laid up in the tabernacle, for one night, before the
|
|
testimony, that is, before the ark, which, with its mercy seat, was
|
|
a symbol, token, or testimony, of God's presence with them. (4.)
|
|
They were to expect, being told it before, that the rod of the
|
|
tribe, or prince, whom God chose to the priesthood, should bud and
|
|
blossom, <scripRef passage="Nu 17:5" id="Num.xviii-p3.4" parsed="|Num|17|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.17.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. It was
|
|
requisite that they should be told of it, that it might appear not
|
|
to be casual, but according to the counsel and will of God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xviii-p4">II. The preparing of the rods accordingly.
|
|
The princes brought them in, some of them perhaps fondly expecting
|
|
that the choice would fall upon them, and all of them thinking it
|
|
honour enough to be competitors with Aaron, and to stand
|
|
candidates, even for the priesthood (<scripRef passage="Nu 17:7" id="Num.xviii-p4.1" parsed="|Num|17|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.17.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>); and <i>Moses laid them up before
|
|
the Lord.</i> He did not object that the matter was sufficiently
|
|
settled already, and enough done to convince those that were not
|
|
invincibly hardened in their prejudices. He did not undertake to
|
|
determine the controversy himself, though it might easily have been
|
|
done; nor did he suggest that it would be to no purpose to offer
|
|
satisfaction to a people that were willingly blind. But, since God
|
|
will have it so, he did his part, and lodged the case before the
|
|
Lord, to whom the appeal was made by consent, and left it with
|
|
him.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 17:8-13" id="Num.xviii-p4.2" parsed="|Num|17|8|17|13" osisRef="Bible:Num.17.8-Num.17.13"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.17.8-Num.17.13">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xviii-p5">8 And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses
|
|
went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron
|
|
for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and
|
|
bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds.   9 And Moses brought
|
|
out all the rods from before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xviii-p5.1">Lord</span> unto all the children of Israel: and they
|
|
looked, and took every man his rod.   10 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xviii-p5.2">Lord</span> said unto Moses, Bring Aaron's rod again
|
|
before the testimony, to be kept for a token against the rebels;
|
|
and thou shalt quite take away their murmurings from me, that they
|
|
die not.   11 And Moses did <i>so:</i> as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xviii-p5.3">Lord</span> commanded him, so did he.   12 And the
|
|
children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we die, we
|
|
perish, we all perish.   13 Whosoever cometh any thing near
|
|
unto the tabernacle of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xviii-p5.4">Lord</span>
|
|
shall die: shall we be consumed with dying?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xviii-p6">Here is, I. The final determination of the
|
|
controversy concerning the priesthood by a miracle, <scripRef passage="Nu 17:8,9" id="Num.xviii-p6.1" parsed="|Num|17|8|17|9" osisRef="Bible:Num.17.8-Num.17.9"><i>v.</i> 8, 9</scripRef>. The rods or staves
|
|
were brought out from the most holy place where they were laid up,
|
|
and publicly produced before the people; and, while all the rest of
|
|
the rods remained as they were, Aaron's rod only, of a dry stick,
|
|
became a living branch, budded, and blossomed, and yielded almonds.
|
|
In some places there were buds, in others blossoms, in others
|
|
fruit, at the same time. This was miraculous, and took away all
|
|
suspicion of a fraud, as if in the night Moses had taken away
|
|
Aaron's rod, and put a living branch of an almond tree in the room
|
|
of it; for no ordinary branch would have buds, blossoms, and fruits
|
|
upon it, all at once. Now,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xviii-p7">1. This was a plain indication to the
|
|
people that Aaron was chosen to the priesthood, and not any other
|
|
of the princes of the tribes. Thus he was distinguished from them
|
|
and manifested to be under the special blessing of heaven, which
|
|
sometimes yields increase where there is neither planting nor
|
|
watering by the hand of man. Bishop Hall here observes that
|
|
fruitfulness is the best evidence of a divine call, and that the
|
|
plants of God's setting, and the boughs cut off from them, will
|
|
flourish. See <scripRef passage="Ps 92:12-14" id="Num.xviii-p7.1" parsed="|Ps|92|12|92|14" osisRef="Bible:Ps.92.12-Ps.92.14">Ps. xcii.
|
|
12-14</scripRef>. The trees of the Lord, though they seem dry
|
|
trees, are full of sap.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xviii-p8">2. It was a very proper sign to represent
|
|
the priesthood itself, which was hereby confirmed to Aaron. (1.)
|
|
That it should be fruitful and serviceable to the church of God. It
|
|
produced not only blossoms, but almonds; for the priesthood was
|
|
designed, not only for an honour to Aaron, but for a blessing to
|
|
Israel. Thus Christ ordained his apostles and ministers that they
|
|
should go and bring forth fruit, and that their <i>fruit should
|
|
remain,</i> <scripRef passage="Joh 15:16" id="Num.xviii-p8.1" parsed="|John|15|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.15.16">John xv. 16</scripRef>.
|
|
(2.) That there should be a succession of priests. Here were not
|
|
only almonds for the present, but buds and blossoms promising more
|
|
hereafter. Thus has Christ provided in his church that a seed
|
|
should serve him from generation to generation. (3.) That yet this
|
|
priesthood should not be perpetual, but in process of time, like
|
|
the branches and blossoms of a tree, should fail and wither. The
|
|
flourishing of the almond-tree is mentioned as one of the signs of
|
|
old age, <scripRef passage="Ec 12:5" id="Num.xviii-p8.2" parsed="|Eccl|12|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.12.5">Eccl. xii. 5</scripRef>. This
|
|
character was betimes put upon the Mosaic priesthood, which soon
|
|
became old and <i>ready to vanish away,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 8:13" id="Num.xviii-p8.3" parsed="|Heb|8|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.8.13">Heb. viii. 13</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xviii-p9">3. It was a type and figure of Christ and
|
|
his priesthood: for he is <i>the man, the branch,</i> that is to be
|
|
<i>a priest upon his throne,</i> as it follows (<scripRef passage="Zec 6:12" id="Num.xviii-p9.1" parsed="|Zech|6|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zech.6.12">Zech. vi. 12</scripRef>); and he was to <i>grow up
|
|
before God,</i> as this before the ark, <i>like a tender plant, and
|
|
a root out of a dry ground,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 53:2" id="Num.xviii-p9.2" parsed="|Isa|53|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.53.2">Isa.
|
|
liii. 2</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xviii-p10">II. The record of this determination, by
|
|
the preserving of the rod before the testimony, <i>in perpetuam rei
|
|
memoriam—that it might be had in perpetual remembrance,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 17:10,11" id="Num.xviii-p10.1" parsed="|Num|17|10|17|11" osisRef="Bible:Num.17.10-Num.17.11"><i>v.</i> 10, 11</scripRef>. It is
|
|
probable that the buds, and blossoms, and fruit, continued fresh;
|
|
the same divine power that produced them in a night preserved them
|
|
for ages, at least so long as it was necessary for a token against
|
|
the rebels. So it was a standing miracle, and the continuance of it
|
|
was an undeniable proof of the truth of it. Even the leaf of God's
|
|
trees shall not wither, <scripRef passage="Ps 1:3" id="Num.xviii-p10.2" parsed="|Ps|1|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.1.3">Ps. i.
|
|
3</scripRef>. This rod was preserved, as the censers were, to
|
|
<i>take away their murmurings, that they die not.</i> Note, 1. The
|
|
design of God in all his providences, both mercies and judgments,
|
|
and in the memorials of them, is to take away sin, and to prevent
|
|
it. These things are done, these things written, <i>that we sin
|
|
not,</i> <scripRef passage="1Jo 2:1" id="Num.xviii-p10.3" parsed="|1John|2|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.2.1">1 John ii. 1</scripRef>.
|
|
Christ was <i>manifested to take away sin.</i> 2. What God does for
|
|
the taking away of sin is done in real kindness to us, <i>that we
|
|
die not.</i> All the bitter potions he gives, and all the sharp
|
|
methods he uses with us, are for the cure of a disease which
|
|
otherwise would certainly be fatal. Bishop Hall observes here that
|
|
the tables of the law, the pot of manna, and Aaron's rod, were
|
|
preserved together in or about the ark (the apostle takes notice of
|
|
them all three together, <scripRef passage="Heb 9:4" id="Num.xviii-p10.4" parsed="|Heb|9|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.9.4">Heb. ix.
|
|
4</scripRef>), to show to after-ages how the ancient church was
|
|
taught, and fed, and ruled; and he infers how precious the
|
|
doctrine, sacraments, and government, of the church are to God and
|
|
should be to us. The rod of Moses was used in working many
|
|
miracles, yet we do not find that this was preserved, for the
|
|
keeping of it would serve only to gratify men's curiosity; but the
|
|
rod of Aaron, which carried its miracle along with it, was
|
|
carefully preserved, because that would be of standing use to
|
|
convince men's consciences, to silence all disputes about the
|
|
priesthood, and to confirm the faith of God's Israel in his
|
|
institutions. Such is the difference between the sacraments which
|
|
Christ has appointed for edification and the relics which men have
|
|
devised for superstition.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xviii-p11">III. The outcry of the people hereupon
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 17:12,13" id="Num.xviii-p11.1" parsed="|Num|17|12|17|13" osisRef="Bible:Num.17.12-Num.17.13"><i>v.</i> 12, 13</scripRef>):
|
|
<i>Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish. Shall we be consumed
|
|
with dying?</i> This may be considered as the language either, 1.
|
|
Of a repining people quarrelling with the judgments of God, which,
|
|
by their own pride and obstinacy, they had brought upon themselves.
|
|
They seem to speak despairingly, as if God was a hard Master, that
|
|
sought advantage against them, and took all occasions to pick
|
|
quarrels with them, so that if they trod every so little awry, if
|
|
they stepped ever so little beyond their bounds, they must die,
|
|
they must perish, they must all perish, basely insinuating that God
|
|
would never be satisfied with their blood and ruin, till he had
|
|
made an end of them all and they were consumed with dying. Thus
|
|
they seem to be like a <i>wild bull in a net, full of the fury of
|
|
the Lord</i> (<scripRef passage="Isa 51:20" id="Num.xviii-p11.2" parsed="|Isa|51|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.51.20">Isa. li.
|
|
20</scripRef>), fretting that God was too hard for them and that
|
|
they were forced to submit, which they did only because they could
|
|
not help it. Note, It is a very wicked thing to fret against God
|
|
when we are in affliction, and in our distress thus to trespass yet
|
|
more. If we die, if we perish, it is owing to ourselves, and the
|
|
blame will lie upon our own heads. Or, 2. Of a repenting people.
|
|
Many interpreters take it as expressing their submission: "Now we
|
|
see that it is the will of God we should keep our distance, and
|
|
that it is at our peril if we draw nearer than is appointed. We
|
|
submit to the divine will in this appointment; we will not contend
|
|
any more, lest we all perish:" and they engage Moses to intercede
|
|
for them, that they may not be all consumed with dying. Thus the
|
|
point was gained, and in this matter God quite took away their
|
|
murmurings, and henceforward they acquiesced. Note, When God judges
|
|
he will over come, and, one way or other, will oblige the most
|
|
obstinate gainsayers to confess their folly sooner or later, and
|
|
that wherein they dealt proudly he was above them. <i>Vicisti
|
|
Galilæe—O Galilæan, thou hast conquered!</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XVIII" n="xix" progress="73.30%" prev="Num.xviii" next="Num.xx" id="Num.xix">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.xix-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.xix-p0.2">CHAP. XVIII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.xix-p1">Aaron being now fully established in the
|
|
priesthood abundantly to his own satisfaction, and to the
|
|
satisfaction of the people (which was the good that God brought out
|
|
of the evil opposition made to him), in this chapter God gives him
|
|
full instructions concerning his office or rather repeats those
|
|
which he had before given him. He tells him, I. What must be his
|
|
work and the care and charge committed to him, and what assistance
|
|
he should have the Levites in that work, <scripRef passage="Nu 18:1-7" id="Num.xix-p1.1" parsed="|Num|18|1|18|7" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.1-Num.18.7">ver. 1-7</scripRef>. II. What should be his and the
|
|
Levites' wages for this work. 1. The perquisites or fees peculiar
|
|
to the priests, <scripRef passage="Nu 18:8-19" id="Num.xix-p1.2" parsed="|Num|18|8|18|19" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.8-Num.18.19">ver.
|
|
8-19</scripRef>. 2. The settled maintenance of the Levites,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 18:20-24" id="Num.xix-p1.3" parsed="|Num|18|20|18|24" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.20-Num.18.24">ver. 20-24</scripRef>. III. The
|
|
portion which must be paid to the priests out of the Levites'
|
|
maintenance, <scripRef passage="Nu 18:25-32" id="Num.xix-p1.4" parsed="|Num|18|25|18|32" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.25-Num.18.32">ver. 25-32</scripRef>.
|
|
Thus every one knew what he had to do, and what he had to live
|
|
upon.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 18" id="Num.xix-p1.5" parsed="|Num|18|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.18"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 18:1-7" id="Num.xix-p1.6" parsed="|Num|18|1|18|7" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.1-Num.18.7"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.18.1-Num.18.7">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xix-p1.7">The Service of the Priests and
|
|
Levites. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xix-p1.8">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xix-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xix-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto Aaron, Thou and thy sons and thy father's house with thee
|
|
shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary: and thou and thy sons
|
|
with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.   2 And
|
|
thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father,
|
|
bring thou with thee, that they may be joined unto thee, and
|
|
minister unto thee: but thou and thy sons with thee <i>shall
|
|
minister</i> before the tabernacle of witness.   3 And they
|
|
shall keep thy charge, and the charge of all the tabernacle: only
|
|
they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary and the
|
|
altar, that neither they, nor ye also, die.   4 And they shall
|
|
be joined unto thee, and keep the charge of the tabernacle of the
|
|
congregation, for all the service of the tabernacle: and a stranger
|
|
shall not come nigh unto you.   5 And ye shall keep the charge
|
|
of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar: that there be no
|
|
wrath any more upon the children of Israel.   6 And I, behold,
|
|
I have taken your brethren the Levites from among the children of
|
|
Israel: to you <i>they are</i> given <i>as</i> a gift for the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xix-p2.2">Lord</span>, to do the service of the tabernacle
|
|
of the congregation.   7 Therefore thou and thy sons with thee
|
|
shall keep your priest's office for every thing of the altar, and
|
|
within the vail; and ye shall serve: I have given your priest's
|
|
office <i>unto you</i> as a service of gift: and the stranger that
|
|
cometh nigh shall be put to death.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xix-p3">The coherence of this chapter with that
|
|
foregoing is very observable.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xix-p4">I. The people, in the close of that
|
|
chapter, had complained of the difficulty and peril that there were
|
|
in drawing near to God, which put them under some dreadful
|
|
apprehensions that the tabernacle in the midst of them, which they
|
|
hoped would have been their joy and glory, would rather be their
|
|
terror and ruin. Now, in answer to this complaint, God here gives
|
|
them to understand by Aaron that the priests should come near for
|
|
them as their representatives; so that, though the people were
|
|
obliged to keep their distance, yet that should not at all redound
|
|
to their disgrace or prejudice, but their comfortable communion
|
|
with God should be kept up by the interposition of the priests.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xix-p5">II. A great deal of honour God had now
|
|
lately put upon Aaron; his rod had budded and blossomed, when the
|
|
rods of the rest of the princes remained dry, and destitute both of
|
|
fruit and ornament. Now lest Aaron should be puffed up with the
|
|
abundance of the favours that were done him, and the miracles that
|
|
were wrought for the support of him in his high station, God comes
|
|
to him to remind him of the burden that was laid upon him, and the
|
|
duty required from him as a priest. He would see reason not to be
|
|
proud of his preferment, but to receive the honours of his office
|
|
with reverence and holy trembling, when he considered how great was
|
|
the charge committed to him, and how hard it would be for him to
|
|
give a good account of it. <i>Be not high-minded, but fear.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xix-p6">1. God tells him of the danger that
|
|
attended his dignity, <scripRef passage="Nu 18:1" id="Num.xix-p6.1" parsed="|Num|18|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.1"><i>v.</i>
|
|
1</scripRef>. (1.) That both the priests and Levites (<i>thou, and
|
|
thy sons, and thy father's house</i>) should <i>bear the iniquity
|
|
of the sanctuary;</i> that is, if the sanctuary were profaned by
|
|
the intrusion of strangers, or persons in their uncleanness, the
|
|
blame should lie upon the Levites and priests, who ought to have
|
|
kept them off. Though the sinner that thrust in presumptuously
|
|
should die in his iniquity, yet his blood should be required at the
|
|
hands of the watchmen. Or it may be taken more generally: "If any
|
|
of the duties or offices of the sanctuary be neglected, if any
|
|
service be not done in its season or not according to the law, if
|
|
any thing be lost or misplaced in the removal of the sanctuary, you
|
|
shall be accountable for it, and answer it at your peril." (2.)
|
|
That the priests should themselves <i>bear the iniquity of the
|
|
priesthood;</i> that is, if they either neglected any part of their
|
|
work or permitted any other persons to invade their office, and
|
|
take their work out of their hands, they should bear the blame of
|
|
it. Note, The greater the trust is of work and power that is
|
|
committed to us the greater is our danger of contracting guilt, by
|
|
falsifying and betraying that trust. This is a good reason why we
|
|
should neither be envious at others' honours nor ambitious
|
|
ourselves of high places, because great dignity exposes us to great
|
|
iniquity. Those that are entrusted with the charge of the sanctuary
|
|
will have a great deal to answer for. Who would covet the care of
|
|
souls who considers the account that must be given of that
|
|
care?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xix-p7">2. He tells him of the duty that attended
|
|
his dignity. (1.) That he and his sons must <i>minister before the
|
|
tabernacle of witness</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 18:2" id="Num.xix-p7.1" parsed="|Num|18|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.2"><i>v.</i>
|
|
2</scripRef>); that is (as bishop Patrick explains it), <i>before
|
|
the most holy place,</i> in which the ark was, on the outside of
|
|
the veil of that tabernacle, but within the door of the tabernacle,
|
|
of the congregation. They were to attend the golden altar, the
|
|
table, and candlestick, which no Levite might approach to. <i>You
|
|
shall serve,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 18:7" id="Num.xix-p7.2" parsed="|Num|18|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.7"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7</scripRef>. Not, "You shall rule" (it was never intended that
|
|
they should lord it over God's heritage), but "You shall serve God
|
|
and the congregation." Note, The priesthood is a service. <i>If any
|
|
desire the office of a bishop he desires a good work.</i> Ministers
|
|
must remember that they are ministers, that is, servants, of whom
|
|
it is required that they be humble, diligent, and faithful. (2.)
|
|
That the Levites must assist him and his sons, and minister to them
|
|
in all the <i>service of the tabernacle</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 18:2-4" id="Num.xix-p7.3" parsed="|Num|18|2|18|4" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.2-Num.18.4"><i>v.</i> 2-4</scripRef>), though they must by no means
|
|
come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary, nor at the altar meddle
|
|
with the great services of burning the fat and sprinkling the
|
|
blood. Aaron's family was very small, and, as it increased, the
|
|
rest of the families of Israel would increase likewise, so that the
|
|
hands of the priests neither were now nor were likely to be
|
|
sufficient for all the service of the tabernacle; therefore (says
|
|
God) <i>the Levites shall be joined to thee,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 18:2" id="Num.xix-p7.4" parsed="|Num|18|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>, and again <scripRef passage="Nu 18:4" id="Num.xix-p7.5" parsed="|Num|18|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>, where there seems to be an
|
|
allusion to the name of Levi, which signifies <i>joined.</i> Many
|
|
of the Levites had of late set themselves against Aaron, but
|
|
henceforward God promises that they should be heartily joined to
|
|
him in interest and affection, and should no more contest with him.
|
|
It was a good sign to Aaron that God owned him when he inclined the
|
|
hearts of those concerned to own him too. The Levites are said to
|
|
be given as a gift to the priests, <scripRef passage="Nu 18:6" id="Num.xix-p7.6" parsed="|Num|18|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. Note, We are to value it as a
|
|
great gift of the divine bounty to have those joined to us that
|
|
will be helpful and serviceable to us in the service of God. (3.)
|
|
That both priests and Levites must carefully watch against the
|
|
profanation of sacred things. The Levites must <i>keep the charge
|
|
of the tabernacle,</i> that <i>no stranger</i> (that is, none who
|
|
upon any account was forbidden to come) might <i>come nigh</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 18:4" id="Num.xix-p7.7" parsed="|Num|18|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>), and that upon
|
|
pain of death, <scripRef passage="Nu 18:7" id="Num.xix-p7.8" parsed="|Num|18|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>.
|
|
And the priests must <i>keep the charge of the sanctuary</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 18:5" id="Num.xix-p7.9" parsed="|Num|18|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), must instruct
|
|
the people, and admonish them concerning the due distance they were
|
|
to keep, and not suffer them to break the bounds set them, as
|
|
Korah's company had done, that there be <i>no wrath any more upon
|
|
the children of Israel.</i> Note, The preventing of sin is the
|
|
preventing of wrath; and the mischief sin has done should be a
|
|
warning to us for the future to watch against it both in ourselves
|
|
and others.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 18:8-19" id="Num.xix-p7.10" parsed="|Num|18|8|18|19" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.8-Num.18.19"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.18.8-Num.18.19">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xix-p8">8 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xix-p8.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Aaron, Behold, I also have given thee the charge of mine
|
|
heave offerings of all the hallowed things of the children of
|
|
Israel; unto thee have I given them by reason of the anointing, and
|
|
to thy sons, by an ordinance for ever.   9 This shall be thine
|
|
of the most holy things, <i>reserved</i> from the fire: every
|
|
oblation of theirs, every meat offering of theirs, and every sin
|
|
offering of theirs, and every trespass offering of theirs, which
|
|
they shall render unto me, <i>shall be</i> most holy for thee and
|
|
for thy sons.   10 In the most holy <i>place</i> shalt thou
|
|
eat it; every male shall eat it: it shall be holy unto thee.  
|
|
11 And this <i>is</i> thine; the heave offering of their gift, with
|
|
all the wave offerings of the children of Israel: I have given them
|
|
unto thee, and to thy sons and to thy daughters with thee, by a
|
|
statute for ever: every one that is clean in thy house shall eat of
|
|
it.   12 All the best of the oil, and all the best of the
|
|
wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall
|
|
offer unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xix-p8.2">Lord</span>, them have I
|
|
given thee.   13 <i>And</i> whatsoever is first ripe in the
|
|
land, which they shall bring unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xix-p8.3">Lord</span>, shall be thine; every one that is clean in
|
|
thine house shall eat <i>of</i> it.   14 Every thing devoted
|
|
in Israel shall be thine.   15 Every thing that openeth the
|
|
matrix in all flesh, which they bring unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xix-p8.4">Lord</span>, <i>whether it be</i> of men or beasts,
|
|
shall be thine: nevertheless the firstborn of man shalt thou surely
|
|
redeem, and the firstling of unclean beasts shalt thou redeem.
|
|
  16 And those that are to be redeemed from a month old shalt
|
|
thou redeem, according to thine estimation, for the money of five
|
|
shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, which <i>is</i> twenty
|
|
gerahs.   17 But the firstling of a cow, or the firstling of a
|
|
sheep, or the firstling of a goat, thou shalt not redeem; they
|
|
<i>are</i> holy: thou shalt sprinkle their blood upon the altar,
|
|
and shalt burn their fat <i>for</i> an offering made by fire, for a
|
|
sweet savour unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xix-p8.5">Lord</span>.  
|
|
18 And the flesh of them shall be thine, as the wave breast and as
|
|
the right shoulder are thine.   19 All the heave offerings of
|
|
the holy things, which the children of Israel offer unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xix-p8.6">Lord</span>, have I given thee, and thy sons and
|
|
thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: it <i>is</i> a
|
|
covenant of salt for ever before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xix-p8.7">Lord</span> unto thee and to thy seed with thee.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xix-p9">The priest's service is called a
|
|
<i>warfare;</i> and who goes a warfare at his own charges? As they
|
|
were well employed, so they were well provided for, and well paid.
|
|
None shall serve God for nought. All believers are spiritual
|
|
priests, and God has promised to take care of them; they shall
|
|
<i>dwell in the land,</i> and <i>verily they shall be fed,</i> and
|
|
shall not <i>want any good thing.</i> Godliness has the <i>promise
|
|
of the life that now is.</i> And from this plentiful provision here
|
|
made for the priests the apostle infers that it is the duty of
|
|
Christian churches to maintain their ministers; those that
|
|
<i>served at the altar lived upon the altar.</i> So those that
|
|
preach the gospel should <i>live upon the gospel,</i> and live
|
|
comfortably, <scripRef passage="1Co 9:13,14" id="Num.xix-p9.1" parsed="|1Cor|9|13|9|14" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.9.13-1Cor.9.14">1 Cor. ix. 13,
|
|
14</scripRef>. Scandalous maintenance makes scandalous ministers.
|
|
Now observe, 1. That much of the provision that was made for them
|
|
arose out of the sacrifices which they themselves were employed to
|
|
offer. They had the skins of almost all the sacrifices, which they
|
|
might sell, and they had a considerable share out of the
|
|
meat-offerings, sin-offerings, &c. Those that had the charge of
|
|
the offerings had the benefit, <scripRef passage="Nu 18:8" id="Num.xix-p9.2" parsed="|Num|18|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. Note, God's work is its own
|
|
wages, and his service carries its recompence along with it. Even
|
|
in keeping God's commandments there is great reward. The present
|
|
pleasures of religion are part of its pay. 2. That they had not
|
|
only a good table kept for them, but money likewise in their
|
|
pockets for the redemption of the first-born, and those firstlings
|
|
of cattle which might not be offered in sacrifice. Thus their
|
|
maintenance was such as left them altogether <i>disentangled from
|
|
the affairs of this life;</i> they had no grounds to occupy, no
|
|
land to till, no vineyards to dress, no cattle to tend, no visible
|
|
estate to take care of, and yet had a more plentiful income than
|
|
any other families whatsoever. Thus God ordered it that they might
|
|
be the more entirely addicted to their ministry, and not diverted
|
|
from it, nor disturbed in it, by any worldly care or business (the
|
|
ministry requires a whole man); and that they might be examples of
|
|
living by faith, not only in God's providence, but in his
|
|
ordinance. They lived from hand to mouth, that they might learn to
|
|
take no thought for the morrow; sufficient for the day would be the
|
|
provision thereof: and they had no estates to leave their children,
|
|
that they might by faith leave their children, that they might by
|
|
faith leave them to the care of that God who had <i>fed them all
|
|
their lives long.</i> 3. Of the provision that was made for their
|
|
tables some is said to be <i>most holy</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 18:9,10" id="Num.xix-p9.3" parsed="|Num|18|9|18|10" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.9-Num.18.10"><i>v.</i> 9, 10</scripRef>), which was to be eaten by
|
|
the priests themselves, and in the court of the tabernacle only;
|
|
but other perquisites were less holy, of which their families might
|
|
eat, at their own houses, provided they were clean, <scripRef passage="Nu 18:11-13" id="Num.xix-p9.4" parsed="|Num|18|11|18|13" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.11-Num.18.13"><i>v.</i> 11-13</scripRef>. See <scripRef passage="Le 21:10-12" id="Num.xix-p9.5" parsed="|Lev|21|10|21|12" osisRef="Bible:Lev.21.10-Lev.21.12">Lev. xxi. 10</scripRef>, &c. 4. It is
|
|
commanded that the <i>best of the oil,</i> and <i>the best of the
|
|
wine and wheat,</i> should be offered for the <i>first-fruits unto
|
|
the Lord,</i> which the priest were to have, <scripRef passage="Nu 18:12" id="Num.xix-p9.6" parsed="|Num|18|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. Note, We must always serve and
|
|
honour God with the best we have, for he is the best, and best
|
|
deserves it; he is the first, and therefore must have the first
|
|
ripe. Those that think to save charges by putting God off with the
|
|
refuse do but deceive themselves, for <i>God is not mocked.</i> 5.
|
|
All this is given to the priests <i>by reason of the anointing,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 18:8" id="Num.xix-p9.7" parsed="|Num|18|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. It was not for
|
|
the sake of their personal merits above other Israelites that they
|
|
had these tributes paid to them, be it known unto them; but purely
|
|
for the sake of the office to which they were anointed. Thus all
|
|
the comforts that are given to the Lord's people are given them by
|
|
reason of the anointing which they have received. It is said to be
|
|
given them <i>by an ordinance for ever</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 18:8" id="Num.xix-p9.8" parsed="|Num|18|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>), and it is a <i>covenant of salt
|
|
for ever,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 18:19" id="Num.xix-p9.9" parsed="|Num|18|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>.
|
|
As long as the priesthood should continue this should continue to
|
|
be the maintenance of it, that this lamp might not go out for want
|
|
of oil to keep it burning. Thus provision is made that a gospel
|
|
ministry should continue till Christ comes, by an ordinance for
|
|
ever. <i>Lo, I am with you</i> (that is their maintenance and
|
|
support) <i>always, even to the end of the world.</i> Thanks be to
|
|
the Redeemer, it is the word which he has <i>commanded to a
|
|
thousand generations.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 18:20-32" id="Num.xix-p9.10" parsed="|Num|18|20|18|32" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.20-Num.18.32"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.18.20-Num.18.32">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xix-p9.11">The Priests and Levites Provided
|
|
For. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xix-p9.12">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xix-p10">20 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xix-p10.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land,
|
|
neither shalt thou have any part among them: I <i>am</i> thy part
|
|
and thine inheritance among the children of Israel.   21 And,
|
|
behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel
|
|
for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, <i>even</i>
|
|
the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.   22
|
|
Neither must the children of Israel henceforth come nigh the
|
|
tabernacle of the congregation, lest they bear sin, and die.  
|
|
23 But the Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the
|
|
congregation, and they shall bear their iniquity: <i>it shall
|
|
be</i> a statute for ever throughout your generations, that among
|
|
the children of Israel they have no inheritance.   24 But the
|
|
tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer <i>as</i> an
|
|
heave offering unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xix-p10.2">Lord</span>, I have
|
|
given to the Levites to inherit: therefore I have said unto them,
|
|
Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.  
|
|
25 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xix-p10.3">Lord</span> spake unto Moses,
|
|
saying,   26 Thus speak unto the Levites, and say unto them,
|
|
When ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have
|
|
given you from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer up an
|
|
heave offering of it for the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xix-p10.4">Lord</span>,
|
|
<i>even</i> a tenth <i>part</i> of the tithe.   27 And
|
|
<i>this</i> your heave offering shall be reckoned unto you, as
|
|
though <i>it were</i> the corn of the threshingfloor, and as the
|
|
fulness of the winepress.   28 Thus ye also shall offer an
|
|
heave offering unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xix-p10.5">Lord</span> of all
|
|
your tithes, which ye receive of the children of Israel; and ye
|
|
shall give thereof the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xix-p10.6">Lord</span>'s heave
|
|
offering to Aaron the priest.   29 Out of all your gifts ye
|
|
shall offer every heave offering of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xix-p10.7">Lord</span>, of all the best thereof, <i>even</i> the
|
|
hallowed part thereof out of it.   30 Therefore thou shalt say
|
|
unto them, When ye have heaved the best thereof from it, then it
|
|
shall be counted unto the Levites as the increase of the
|
|
threshingfloor, and as the increase of the winepress.   31 And
|
|
ye shall eat it in every place, ye and your households: for it
|
|
<i>is</i> your reward for your service in the tabernacle of the
|
|
congregation.   32 And ye shall bear no sin by reason of it,
|
|
when ye have heaved from it the best of it: neither shall ye
|
|
pollute the holy things of the children of Israel, lest ye die.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xix-p11">Here is a further account of the provision
|
|
that was made both for the Levites and for the priests, out of the
|
|
country.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xix-p12">I. They must have <i>no inheritance in the
|
|
land;</i> only cities to dwell in were afterwards allowed them, but
|
|
no ground to occupy: <i>Thou shalt not have any part among
|
|
them,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 18:20" id="Num.xix-p12.1" parsed="|Num|18|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. It
|
|
is repeated again <scripRef passage="Nu 18:23" id="Num.xix-p12.2" parsed="|Num|18|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.23"><i>v.</i>
|
|
23</scripRef>, and again <scripRef passage="Nu 18:24" id="Num.xix-p12.3" parsed="|Num|18|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.24"><i>v.</i>
|
|
24</scripRef>, <i>Among the children of Israel they shall have no
|
|
inheritance,</i> either by purchase or descent. God would have them
|
|
comfortably provided for, but would not have their families
|
|
over-rich, lest they should think themselves above that work which
|
|
their wages supposed and obliged them constantly to attend upon. As
|
|
Israel was a peculiar people, and not to be numbered among the
|
|
nations, so Levi was a peculiar tribe, and not to be settled as the
|
|
rest of the tribes, but in all respects distinguished from them. A
|
|
good reason is given why they must have <i>no inheritance in the
|
|
land,</i> for, says God, <i>I am thy part, and thy inheritance.</i>
|
|
Note, Those that have God for their inheritance and their portion
|
|
for ever ought to look with a holy contempt and indifference upon
|
|
the inheritances of this world, and not covet their portion in it.
|
|
"<i>The Lord is my portion, therefore will I hope in him,</i> and
|
|
not depend upon any thing I have on this earth," <scripRef passage="La 3:24" id="Num.xix-p12.4" parsed="|Lam|3|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.24">Lam. iii. 24</scripRef>. The Levites shall have no
|
|
inheritance, and yet they shall live very comfortably and
|
|
plentifully—to teach us that Providence has various ways of
|
|
supporting those that live in a dependence upon it; the fowls reap
|
|
not, and yet are fed, the lilies spin not, and yet are clothed, the
|
|
Levites have no inheritance in Israel, and yet live better than any
|
|
other tribe. The repetition of that caution, that <i>no Israelite
|
|
should approach the tabernacle,</i> comes in suitable, though
|
|
somewhat abruptly, <scripRef passage="Nu 18:22" id="Num.xix-p12.5" parsed="|Num|18|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.22"><i>v.</i>
|
|
22</scripRef>. It seems set in opposition to that order concerning
|
|
the priests and Levites that they should have <i>no inheritance in
|
|
Israel,</i> to show how God dispenses his favours variously. The
|
|
Levites have the honour of attending the tabernacle, which is
|
|
denied the Israelites; but then the Israelites have the honour of
|
|
inheritances in Canaan, which is denied the Levites; thus each is
|
|
kept from either envying or despising the other, and both have
|
|
reason to rejoice in their lot. The Israelites must not <i>come
|
|
nigh the tabernacle,</i> but then the Levites must have <i>no
|
|
inheritance in the land;</i> if ministers expect that people should
|
|
keep in their sphere, and not intermeddle with sacred offices, let
|
|
them keep in theirs, and not entangle themselves in secular
|
|
affairs.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xix-p13">II. But they must both have tithes of the
|
|
land. Besides the first-fruits which were appropriated to the
|
|
priests, which, the Jews say, were to be a fiftieth part, or at
|
|
least a sixtieth, the tithe also was appropriated. 1. The Levites
|
|
had the tithes of the people's increase (<scripRef passage="Nu 18:21" id="Num.xix-p13.1" parsed="|Num|18|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>): <i>I have given</i> (whose the
|
|
whole is) <i>all the tenths in Israel,</i> of all the productions
|
|
of the land, to <i>the children of Levi,</i> to be divided among
|
|
them in just proportions, <i>for their service which they
|
|
serve.</i> The Levites were the smallest tribe of the twelve, and
|
|
yet, besides all other advantages, they had a tenth part of the
|
|
yearly profits, without the trouble and expense of ploughing and
|
|
sowing; such care did God take of those that were devoted to his
|
|
service; not only that they might be well maintained, but that they
|
|
might be honoured with a national acknowledgment of the good
|
|
services they did to the public, and owned as God's agents and
|
|
receivers; for that which was a heave-offering, or an offering
|
|
lifted heavenward unto the Lord, was by him consigned to the
|
|
Levites. 2. The priests had the tenths of the Levites' tithes
|
|
settled upon them. The order for this Moses is directed to give to
|
|
the Levites, whom God would have to pay it with cheerfulness,
|
|
rather than the priests to demand it with authority: <i>Speak to
|
|
the Levites</i> that it be <i>offered by them,</i> rather than
|
|
levied upon them. Now observe, (1.) The Levites were to give God
|
|
his dues out of their tithes, as well as the Israelites out of
|
|
their increase. They were God's tenants, and rent was expected from
|
|
them, nor were they exempted by their office. Thus now, ministers
|
|
must be charitable out of what they receive; and the more freely
|
|
they have received the more freely they must give, and be examples
|
|
of liberality. <i>You shall offer a heave-offering to the Lord,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 18:26" id="Num.xix-p13.2" parsed="|Num|18|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>. Those that
|
|
are employed to assist the devotions of others must be sure to pay
|
|
their own, as a heave-offering to the Lord. Prayers and praises
|
|
lifted up to God, or rather the heart lifted up in them, are now
|
|
our heave-offerings. This (says God) shall be <i>reckoned to you as
|
|
though it were the corn of the threshing-floor;</i> that is, though
|
|
it was not the fruit of their ground, nor of their own labour, as
|
|
the tithes of other Israelites were, yet being of such as they had
|
|
it should be accepted, to the sanctifying of all the rest. (2.)
|
|
This was to be given <i>to Aaron the priest</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 18:28" id="Num.xix-p13.3" parsed="|Num|18|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>), and to his successors the high
|
|
priests, to be divided and disposed of in such proportions as they
|
|
should think fit among the inferior priests. Most of the profits of
|
|
the priests' office, which were appointed in the former part of the
|
|
chapter, arising from the sacrifices, those priests had the benefit
|
|
of who constantly attended at the altar; but, forasmuch as there
|
|
were many priests employed in the country to teach and rule, those
|
|
tithes taken by the Levites, it is probable, were directed by the
|
|
high priest for their maintenance. It is the probable conjecture of
|
|
the learned bishop Patrick that the tenth of this last tenth was
|
|
reserved for the high priest himself, to support his state and
|
|
dignity; for otherwise we read not of any peculiar provision made
|
|
for him. (3.) When the Levites had thus paid the tenth of their
|
|
income, as a heave-offering to the Lord, they had themselves the
|
|
comfortable enjoyment of the other nine parts (<scripRef passage="Nu 18:30" id="Num.xix-p13.4" parsed="|Num|18|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>): "When you have thus <i>heaved
|
|
the best from it</i> (for still God's part must be the best) then
|
|
you shall <i>eat the rest,</i> not as a holy thing, but with the
|
|
same freedom that the other Israelites eat their part with, <i>in
|
|
every place, you and your households,</i>" <scripRef passage="Nu 18:31" id="Num.xix-p13.5" parsed="|Num|18|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>. See here what is the way to
|
|
have the comfort of all our worldly possessions so as to bear no
|
|
sin by reason of them, as it follows, <scripRef passage="Nu 18:32" id="Num.xix-p13.6" parsed="|Num|18|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>. [1.] We must be sure that what
|
|
we have be got honestly and in the service of God. It is <i>your
|
|
reward for your service;</i> that meat is the best eating that is
|
|
first earned; but, if any <i>will not work, neither shall he
|
|
eat,</i> <scripRef passage="2Th 3:10" id="Num.xix-p13.7" parsed="|2Thess|3|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Thess.3.10">2 Thess. iii. 10</scripRef>.
|
|
And that seems to be spoken of as having a particular comfort and
|
|
satisfaction in it which is the reward of faithful service done in
|
|
the tabernacle of the congregation. [2.] We must be sure that God
|
|
has his dues out of it. Then we have the comfort of our substance
|
|
when we have honoured the Lord with it. The <i>you shall bear no
|
|
sin by reason of it,</i> when <i>you have heaved the best from
|
|
it.</i> This intimates that we must never feed ourselves without
|
|
fear, lest our table become a snare, and we bear sin by reason of
|
|
it; and that therefore we are concerned to <i>give alms of such
|
|
things as we have,</i> that all may be clean and comfortable to
|
|
us.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XIX" n="xx" progress="73.80%" prev="Num.xix" next="Num.xxi" id="Num.xx">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.xx-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.xx-p0.2">CHAP. XIX.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.xx-p1">This chapter is only concerning the preparing and
|
|
using of the ashes which were to impregnate the water of
|
|
purification. The people had complained of the strictness of the
|
|
law, which forbade their near approach to the tabernacle, <scripRef passage="Nu 17:13" id="Num.xx-p1.1" parsed="|Num|17|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.17.13"><i>ch.</i> xvii. 13</scripRef>. In answer to
|
|
this complaint, they are here directed to purify themselves, so as
|
|
that they might come as far as they had occasion without fear. Here
|
|
is, I. The method of preparing these ashes, by the burning of a red
|
|
heifer, with a great deal of ceremony, <scripRef passage="Nu 19:1-10" id="Num.xx-p1.2" parsed="|Num|19|1|19|10" osisRef="Bible:Num.19.1-Num.19.10">ver. 1-10</scripRef>. II. The way of using them. 1.
|
|
They were designed to purify persons from the pollution contracted
|
|
by a dead body, <scripRef passage="Nu 19:11-16" id="Num.xx-p1.3" parsed="|Num|19|11|19|16" osisRef="Bible:Num.19.11-Num.19.16">ver.
|
|
11-16</scripRef>. 2. They were to be put into running water (a
|
|
small quantity of them), with which the person to be cleansed must
|
|
be purified, <scripRef passage="Nu 19:17-22" id="Num.xx-p1.4" parsed="|Num|19|17|19|22" osisRef="Bible:Num.19.17-Num.19.22">ver. 17-22</scripRef>.
|
|
And that this ceremonial purification was a type and figure of the
|
|
cleansing of the consciences of believers from the pollutions of
|
|
sin appears by the apostle's discourse, <scripRef passage="Heb 9:13,14" id="Num.xx-p1.5" parsed="|Heb|9|13|9|14" osisRef="Bible:Heb.9.13-Heb.9.14">Heb. ix. 13, 14</scripRef>, where he compares the
|
|
efficacy of the blood of Christ with the sanctifying virtue that
|
|
was in "the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean."</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 19" id="Num.xx-p1.6" parsed="|Num|19|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.19"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 19:1-10" id="Num.xx-p1.7" parsed="|Num|19|1|19|10" osisRef="Bible:Num.19.1-Num.19.10"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.19.1-Num.19.10">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xx-p1.8">The Ashes of Purification. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xx-p1.9">b. c.</span> 1471.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xx-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xx-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,   2 This <i>is</i>
|
|
the ordinance of the law which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xx-p2.2">Lord</span> hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the
|
|
children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot,
|
|
wherein <i>is</i> no blemish, <i>and</i> upon which never came
|
|
yoke:   3 And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that
|
|
he may bring her forth without the camp, and <i>one</i> shall slay
|
|
her before his face:   4 And Eleazar the priest shall take of
|
|
her blood with his finger, and sprinkle of her blood directly
|
|
before the tabernacle of the congregation seven times:   5 And
|
|
<i>one</i> shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her
|
|
flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn:   6 And
|
|
the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast
|
|
<i>it</i> into the midst of the burning of the heifer.   7
|
|
Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his
|
|
flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the
|
|
priest shall be unclean until the even.   8 And he that
|
|
burneth her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in
|
|
water, and shall be unclean until the even.   9 And a man
|
|
<i>that is</i> clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and
|
|
lay <i>them</i> up without the camp in a clean place, and it shall
|
|
be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water
|
|
of separation: it <i>is</i> a purification for sin.   10 And
|
|
he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes,
|
|
and be unclean until the even: and it shall be unto the children of
|
|
Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among them, for a
|
|
statute for ever.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xx-p3">We have here the divine appointment
|
|
concerning the solemn burning of a red heifer to ashes, and the
|
|
preserving of the ashes, that of them might be made, not a
|
|
beautifying, but a purifying, water, for that was the utmost the
|
|
law reached to; it offered not to adorn as the gospel does, but to
|
|
cleanse only. This burning of the heifer, though it was not
|
|
properly a sacrifice of expiation, being not performed at the
|
|
altar, yet was typical of the death and sufferings of Christ, by
|
|
which he intended, not only to satisfy God's justice, but to purify
|
|
and pacify our consciences, that we may have peace with God and
|
|
also peace in our own bosoms, to prepare for which Christ died, not
|
|
only like the bulls and goats at the altar, but like the heifer
|
|
without the camp.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xx-p4">I. There was a great deal of care employed
|
|
in the choice of the heifer that was to be burnt, much more than in
|
|
the choice of any other offering, <scripRef passage="Nu 19:2" id="Num.xx-p4.1" parsed="|Num|19|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.19.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. It must not only be without
|
|
blemish, typifying the spotless purity and sinless perfection of
|
|
the Lord Jesus, but it must a red heifer, because of the rarity of
|
|
the colour, that it might be the more remarkable: the Jews say, "If
|
|
but two hairs were black or white, it was unlawful." Christ, as
|
|
man, was the Son of Adam, <i>red earth,</i> and we find him red in
|
|
his apparel, red with his own blood, and red with the blood of his
|
|
enemies. And it must be one on which never came yoke, which was not
|
|
insisted on in other sacrifices, but thus was typified the
|
|
voluntary offer of the Lord Jesus, when he said, <i>Lo, I come,</i>
|
|
He was bound and held with no other cords than those of his own
|
|
love. This heifer was to be provided at the expense of the
|
|
congregation, because they were all to have a joint interest in it;
|
|
and so all believers have in Christ.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xx-p5">II. There was to be a great deal of
|
|
ceremony in the burning of it. The care of doing it was committed
|
|
to Eleazar, not to Aaron himself, because it was not fit that he
|
|
should do any thing to render himself ceremonially unclean, no, not
|
|
so much as <i>till the evening</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 19:8" id="Num.xx-p5.1" parsed="|Num|19|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.19.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>); yet it being an affair of great
|
|
concern especially in the significancy of it, it was to be
|
|
performed by him that was next to Aaron in dignity. The chief
|
|
priests of that time had the principal hand in the death of Christ.
|
|
Now,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xx-p6">1. The heifer was to be slain without the
|
|
camp, as an impure thing, which bespeaks the insufficiency of the
|
|
methods prescribed by the ceremonial law to take away sin. So far
|
|
were they from cleansing effectually that they were themselves
|
|
unclean; as if the pollution that was laid upon them continued to
|
|
cleave to them. Yet, to answer this type, our Lord Jesus, being
|
|
made sin and a curse for us, <i>suffered without the gate,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Heb 13:12" id="Num.xx-p6.1" parsed="|Heb|13|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.13.12">Heb. xiii. 12</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xx-p7">2. Eleazar was to <i>sprinkle the blood
|
|
directly before the door of the tabernacle,</i> and looking
|
|
steadfastly towards it, <scripRef passage="Nu 19:4" id="Num.xx-p7.1" parsed="|Num|19|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.19.4"><i>v.</i>
|
|
4</scripRef>. This made it in some sort an expiation; for the
|
|
sprinkling of the blood before the Lord was the chief solemnity in
|
|
all the sacrifices of atonement; therefore, though this was not
|
|
done at the altar, yet, being done towards the sanctuary, it was
|
|
intimated that the virtue and validity of it depended upon the
|
|
sanctuary, and were derived from it. This signified the
|
|
satisfaction that was made to God by the death of Christ, our great
|
|
high priest, who <i>by the eternal Spirit</i> (and the Spirit is
|
|
called the finger of God, as Ainsworth observes, <scripRef passage="Lu 11:20" id="Num.xx-p7.2" parsed="|Luke|11|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.11.20">Luke xi. 20</scripRef>) <i>offered himself without spot
|
|
unto God;</i> directly before the sanctuary, when he said,
|
|
<i>Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.</i> It also signifies
|
|
how necessary it was to the purifying of our hearts that
|
|
satisfaction should be made to divine justice. This sprinkling of
|
|
the blood put virtue into the ashes.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xx-p8">3. The heifer was to be <i>wholly
|
|
burnt,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 19:5" id="Num.xx-p8.1" parsed="|Num|19|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.19.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. This
|
|
typified the extreme sufferings of our Lord Jesus, both in soul and
|
|
body, as a sacrifice made by fire. The priest was to cast into the
|
|
fire, while it was burning, cedarwood, hyssop, and scarlet, which
|
|
were used in the cleansing of lepers (<scripRef passage="Le 14:6,7" id="Num.xx-p8.2" parsed="|Lev|14|6|14|7" osisRef="Bible:Lev.14.6-Lev.14.7">Lev. xiv. 6, 7</scripRef>), that the ashes of these
|
|
might be mingled with the ashes of the heifer, because they were
|
|
designed for purification.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xx-p9">4. The ashes of the heifer (separated as
|
|
well as they could from the ashes of the wood wherewith it was
|
|
burnt) were to be carefully gathered up by the hand of a clean
|
|
person, and (as the Jews say) pounded and sifted, and so laid up
|
|
for the use of the congregation, as there was occasion (<scripRef passage="Nu 19:9" id="Num.xx-p9.1" parsed="|Num|19|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.19.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>), not only for that
|
|
generation, but for posterity; for the ashes of this one heifer
|
|
were sufficient to season as many vessels of water as the people of
|
|
Israel would need for many ages. The Jews say that this one served
|
|
till the captivity, nearly 1000 years, and that there was never
|
|
another heifer burnt till Ezra's time, after their return, to which
|
|
tradition of theirs, grounded (I suppose) only upon the silence of
|
|
their old records, I see no reason we have to give credit, since in
|
|
the later times of their church, of which they had more full
|
|
records, they find eight burnt between Ezra's time and the
|
|
destruction of the second temple, which was about 500 years, These
|
|
ashes are said to be laid up here as <i>a purification for sin,</i>
|
|
because, though they were intended to purify only from ceremonial
|
|
uncleanness, yet they were a type of that purification for sin
|
|
which our Lord Jesus made by his death. Ashes mixed with water are
|
|
used in scouring, but these had their virtue purely from the divine
|
|
institution, and their accomplishment and perfection in Christ, who
|
|
is <i>the end of this law for righteousness.</i> Now observe, (1.)
|
|
That the water of purification was made so by the ashes of a
|
|
heifer, whose blood was sprinkled before the sanctuary; so that
|
|
which cleanses our consciences is the abiding virtue of the death
|
|
of Christ; it is his blood that <i>cleanses from all sin,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Jo 1:7" id="Num.xx-p9.2" parsed="|1John|1|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.1.7">1 John i. 7</scripRef>. (2.) That the
|
|
ashes were sufficient for all the people. There needed not to be a
|
|
fresh heifer slain for every person or family that had occasion to
|
|
be purified, but this one was enough for all, even for the
|
|
strangers that sojourned among them (<scripRef passage="Nu 19:10" id="Num.xx-p9.3" parsed="|Num|19|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.19.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>); so there is virtue enough in
|
|
the blood of Christ for all that repent and believe the gospel, for
|
|
every Israelite, and not for their sins only, but for <i>the sins
|
|
of the whole world,</i> <scripRef passage="1Jo 2:2" id="Num.xx-p9.4" parsed="|1John|2|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.2.2">1 John ii.
|
|
2</scripRef>. (3.) That these ashes were capable of being preserved
|
|
without waste to many ages. No bodily substance is so incorruptible
|
|
as ashes are, which (says bishop Patrick) made these a very fit
|
|
emblem of the everlasting efficacy of the sacrifice of Christ. He
|
|
is able to save, and, in order to that, able to cleanse, to the
|
|
uttermost, both of person and times. (4.) These ashes were laid up
|
|
as a stock or treasure, for the constant purification of Israel
|
|
from their pollutions; so the blood of Christ is laid up for us in
|
|
the word and sacraments, as an inexhaustible fountain of merit, to
|
|
which by faith we may have recourse daily for the purging of our
|
|
consciences; see <scripRef passage="Zec 13:1" id="Num.xx-p9.5" parsed="|Zech|13|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zech.13.1">Zech. xiii.
|
|
1</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xx-p10">5. All those that were employed in this
|
|
service were made ceremonially unclean by it; even Eleazar himself,
|
|
though he did but sprinkle the blood, <scripRef passage="Nu 19:7" id="Num.xx-p10.1" parsed="|Num|19|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.19.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. <i>He that burned the heifer was
|
|
unclean</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 19:8" id="Num.xx-p10.2" parsed="|Num|19|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.19.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>),
|
|
and he that <i>gathered up the ashes</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 19:10" id="Num.xx-p10.3" parsed="|Num|19|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.19.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>); so all that had a hand in
|
|
putting Christ to death contracted guilt by it: his betrayer, his
|
|
prosecutors, his judge, his executioner, all did what they did with
|
|
wicked hands, though it was <i>by the determinate counsel and
|
|
foreknowledge of God</i> (<scripRef passage="Ac 2:23" id="Num.xx-p10.4" parsed="|Acts|2|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.2.23">Acts ii.
|
|
23</scripRef>); yet some of them were, and all might have been
|
|
cleansed by the virtue of that same blood which they had brought
|
|
themselves under the guilt of. Some make this to signify the
|
|
imperfection of the legal services, and their insufficiency to take
|
|
away sin, inasmuch as those who prepared for the purifying of
|
|
others were themselves polluted by the preparation. The Jews say,
|
|
This is a mystery which Solomon himself did not understand, that
|
|
the same thing should pollute those that were clean and purify
|
|
those that were unclean. But (says bishop Patrick) it is not
|
|
strange to those who consider that all the sacrifices which were
|
|
offered for sin were therefore looked upon as impure, because the
|
|
sins of men were laid upon them, as all our sins were upon Christ,
|
|
who therefore is said to be <i>made sin for us,</i> <scripRef passage="2Co 5:21" id="Num.xx-p10.5" parsed="|2Cor|5|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.5.21">2 Cor. v. 21</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 19" id="Num.xx-p10.6" parsed="|Num|19|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.19"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 19:11-22" id="Num.xx-p10.7" parsed="|Num|19|11|19|22" osisRef="Bible:Num.19.11-Num.19.22"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.19.11-Num.19.22">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xx-p11">11 He that toucheth the dead body of any man
|
|
shall be unclean seven days.   12 He shall purify himself with
|
|
it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean: but
|
|
if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he
|
|
shall not be clean.   13 Whosoever toucheth the dead body of
|
|
any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, defileth the
|
|
tabernacle of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xx-p11.1">Lord</span>; and that
|
|
soul shall be cut off from Israel: because the water of separation
|
|
was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness
|
|
<i>is</i> yet upon him.   14 This <i>is</i> the law, when a
|
|
man dieth in a tent: all that come into the tent, and all that
|
|
<i>is</i> in the tent, shall be unclean seven days.   15 And
|
|
every open vessel, which hath no covering bound upon it, <i>is</i>
|
|
unclean.   16 And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a
|
|
sword in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a
|
|
grave, shall be unclean seven days.   17 And for an unclean
|
|
<i>person</i> they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of
|
|
purification for sin, and running water shall be put thereto in a
|
|
vessel:   18 And a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip
|
|
<i>it</i> in the water, and sprinkle <i>it</i> upon the tent, and
|
|
upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and
|
|
upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a
|
|
grave:   19 And the clean <i>person</i> shall sprinkle upon
|
|
the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the
|
|
seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and
|
|
bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even.   20 But
|
|
the man that shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that
|
|
soul shall be cut off from among the congregation, because he hath
|
|
defiled the sanctuary of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xx-p11.2">Lord</span>:
|
|
the water of separation hath not been sprinkled upon him; he
|
|
<i>is</i> unclean.   21 And it shall be a perpetual statute
|
|
unto them, that he that sprinkleth the water of separation shall
|
|
wash his clothes; and he that toucheth the water of separation
|
|
shall be unclean until even.   22 And whatsoever the unclean
|
|
<i>person</i> toucheth shall be unclean; and the soul that toucheth
|
|
<i>it</i> shall be unclean until even.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xx-p12">Directions are here given concerning the
|
|
use and application of the ashes which were prepared for
|
|
purification. they were laid up to be laid out; and therefore,
|
|
though now one place would serve to keep them in, while all Israel
|
|
lay so closely encamped, yet it is probable that afterwards, when
|
|
they came to Canaan, some of these ashes were kept in every town,
|
|
for there would be daily use for them. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xx-p13">I. In what cases there needed a
|
|
purification with these ashes. No other is mentioned here than the
|
|
ceremonial uncleanness that was contracted by the touch of a dead
|
|
body, or of the bone or grave of a dead man, or being in the tent
|
|
or house where a dead body lay, <scripRef passage="Nu 19:11,14-16" id="Num.xx-p13.1" parsed="|Num|19|11|0|0;|Num|19|14|19|16" osisRef="Bible:Num.19.11 Bible:Num.19.14-Num.19.16"><i>v.</i> 11, 14-16</scripRef>. This I look upon
|
|
to have been one of the greatest burdens of the ceremonial law, and
|
|
one of the most unaccountable. He that touched the carcase of an
|
|
unclean beast, or any living man under the greatest ceremonial
|
|
uncleanness, was made unclean by it only <i>till the evening,</i>
|
|
and needed only common water to purify himself with; but he that
|
|
came near the dead body of man, woman, or child, much bear the
|
|
reproach of his uncleanness seven days, must twice be purified with
|
|
the water of separation, which he could not obtain without trouble
|
|
and charge, and till he was purified must not come near the
|
|
sanctuary upon pain of death.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xx-p14">1. This was strange, considering, (1.) that
|
|
whenever any died (and we are in deaths oft) several persons must
|
|
unavoidable contract this pollution, the body must be stripped,
|
|
washed, wound up, carried out, and buried, and this could not be
|
|
done without many hands, and yet all defiled, which signifies that
|
|
in our corrupt and fallen state there is none that lives and sins
|
|
not; we cannot avoid being polluted by the defiling world we pass
|
|
through, and we offend daily, yet the impossibility of our being
|
|
sinless does not make sin the less polluting. (2.) that taking care
|
|
of the dead, to see them decently buried, is not only necessary,
|
|
but a very good office, and an act of kindness, both to the honour
|
|
of the dead and the comfort of the living, and yet uncleanness was
|
|
contracted by it, which intimates that the pollutions of sin mix
|
|
with and cleave to our best services. <i>There is not a just man
|
|
upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not;</i> we are apt some way
|
|
or other to do amiss even in our doing good. (3.) That this
|
|
pollution was contracted by what was done privately in their own
|
|
houses, which intimates (as bishop Patrick observes) that God sees
|
|
what is done in secret, and nothing can be concealed from the
|
|
divine Majesty. (4.) This pollution might be contracted, and yet a
|
|
man might never know it, as by the touch of a grave which appeared
|
|
not, of which our Saviour says, Those that <i>walk over it are not
|
|
aware of it</i> (<scripRef passage="Lu 11:44" id="Num.xx-p14.1" parsed="|Luke|11|44|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.11.44">Luke xi.
|
|
44</scripRef>), which intimates the defilement of the conscience by
|
|
sins of ignorance, and the cause we have to cry out, "Who can
|
|
understand his errors?" and to pray, "Cleanse us from secret
|
|
faults, faults which we ourselves do not see ourselves guilty
|
|
of."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xx-p15">2. But why did the law make a dead corpse
|
|
such a defiling thing? (1.) Because death is the <i>wages of sin,
|
|
entered into the world</i> by it, and reigns by the power of it.
|
|
Death to mankind is another thing from what it is to other
|
|
creatures: it is a curse, it is the execution of the law, and
|
|
therefore the defilement of death signifies the defilement of sin.
|
|
(2.) Because the law could not conquer death, nor abolish it and
|
|
alter the property of it, as the gospel does by bringing life and
|
|
immortality to light, and so introducing a better hope. Since our
|
|
Redeemer was dead and buried, death is no more destroying to the
|
|
Israel of God, and therefore dead bodies are no more defiling; but
|
|
while the church was under the law, to show that it <i>made not the
|
|
comers thereunto perfect,</i> the pollution contracted by dead
|
|
bodies could not but form in their minds melancholy and
|
|
uncomfortable notions concerning death, while believers now through
|
|
Christ can triumph over it. <i>O grave! where is thy victory?</i>
|
|
Where is thy pollution?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xx-p16">II. How the ashes were to be used and
|
|
applied in these cases. 1. A small quantity of the ashes must be
|
|
put into a cup of spring water, and mixed with the water, which
|
|
thereby was made, as it is here called, a <i>water of
|
|
separation,</i> because it was to be sprinkled on those who were
|
|
separated or removed from the sanctuary by their uncleanness. As
|
|
the ashes of the heifer signified the merit of Christ, so the
|
|
running water signified the power and grace of the blessed Spirit,
|
|
who is compared to rivers of living water; and it is by his
|
|
operation that the righteousness of Christ is applied to us for our
|
|
cleansing. Hence we are said to be washed, that is, sanctified and
|
|
justified, not only in the name of the Lord Jesus, but by the
|
|
<i>Spirit of our God,</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 6:11,1Pe 1:2" id="Num.xx-p16.1" parsed="|1Cor|6|11|0|0;|1Pet|1|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.6.11 Bible:1Pet.1.2">1
|
|
Cor. vi. 11; 1 Pet. i. 2</scripRef>. Those that promise themselves
|
|
benefit by the righteousness of Christ, while they submit not to
|
|
the grace and influence of the Spirit, do but deceive themselves,
|
|
for we cannot put asunder what God has joined, nor be purified by
|
|
the ashes otherwise than in the running water. 2. This water must
|
|
be applied by a bunch of hyssop dipped in it, with which the person
|
|
or thing to be cleansed must be sprinkled (<scripRef passage="Nu 19:18" id="Num.xx-p16.2" parsed="|Num|19|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.19.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>), in allusion to which David
|
|
prays, <i>Purge me with hyssop.</i> Faith is the bunch of hyssop
|
|
wherewith the conscience is sprinkled and the heart purified. Many
|
|
might be sprinkled at once, and the water with which the ashes were
|
|
mingled might serve for many sprinklings, till it was all spent;
|
|
and a very little lighting upon a man served to purify him, if done
|
|
with that intention. In allusion to this application of the water
|
|
of separation by sprinkling, the blood of Christ is said to be the
|
|
<i>blood of sprinkling</i> (<scripRef passage="Heb 12:24" id="Num.xx-p16.3" parsed="|Heb|12|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.24">Heb. xii.
|
|
24</scripRef>), and with it were are said to be <i>sprinkled from
|
|
an evil conscience</i> (<scripRef passage="Heb 10:22" id="Num.xx-p16.4" parsed="|Heb|10|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.10.22">Heb. x.
|
|
22</scripRef>), that is, we are freed from the uneasiness that
|
|
arises from a sense of our guilt. And it is foretold that Christ,
|
|
by his baptism, shall <i>sprinkle many nations,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 52:15" id="Num.xx-p16.5" parsed="|Isa|52|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.52.15">Isa. lii. 15</scripRef>. 3. The unclean person
|
|
must be sprinkled with this water on <i>the third day</i> after his
|
|
pollution, and <i>on the seventh day,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 19:12-19" id="Num.xx-p16.6" parsed="|Num|19|12|19|19" osisRef="Bible:Num.19.12-Num.19.19"><i>v.</i> 12-19</scripRef>. The days were reckoned
|
|
(we may suppose) from the last time of his touching or coming near
|
|
the dead body; for he would not begin the days of his cleansing
|
|
while he was still under a necessity of repeating the pollution;
|
|
but when the dead body was buried, so that there was no further
|
|
occasion of meddling with it, then he began to reckon his days.
|
|
Then, and then only, we may with comfort apply Christ's merit to
|
|
our souls, when we have forsaken sin, and cease all <i>fellowship
|
|
with the unfruitful works of</i> death and <i>darkness.</i> The
|
|
repetition of the sprinkling teaches us often to renew the actings
|
|
of repentance and faith, wash as Naaman, <i>seven times;</i> we
|
|
need to do that often which is so necessary to be well done. 4.
|
|
Though the pollution contracted was only ceremonial, yet the
|
|
neglect of the purification prescribed would turn into moral guilt:
|
|
<i>He that shall be unclean</i> and shall <i>not purify himself,
|
|
that soul shall be cut off,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 19:20" id="Num.xx-p16.7" parsed="|Num|19|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.19.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. Note, It is a dangerous thing
|
|
to contemn divine institutions, though they may seem minute. A
|
|
slight wound, if neglected, may prove fatal; a sin we call little,
|
|
if not repented of, will be our ruin, when great sinners that
|
|
repent shall find mercy. Our uncleanness separates us from God, but
|
|
it is our being unclean and not purifying ourselves that will
|
|
separate us for ever from him: it is not the wound that is fatal,
|
|
so much as the contempt of the remedy. 5. Even he that <i>sprinkled
|
|
the water of separation,</i> or <i>touched</i> it, or <i>touched
|
|
the unclean person,</i> must be <i>unclean till the evening,</i>
|
|
that is, must not come near the sanctuary on that day, <scripRef passage="Nu 19:21,22" id="Num.xx-p16.8" parsed="|Num|19|21|19|22" osisRef="Bible:Num.19.21-Num.19.22"><i>v.</i> 21, 22</scripRef>. Thus God would
|
|
show them the imperfection of those services, and their
|
|
insufficiency to purify the conscience, that they might look for
|
|
the Messiah, who in the fulness of time should by the eternal
|
|
Spirit offer himself without spot unto God, and so <i>purge our
|
|
consciences from dead works</i> (that is, from sin, which defiles
|
|
like a dead body, and is therefore called a <i>body of death</i>),
|
|
that we may have liberty of access to the sanctuary, to serve the
|
|
living God with living sacrifices.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XX" n="xxi" progress="74.24%" prev="Num.xx" next="Num.xxii" id="Num.xxi">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.xxi-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.xxi-p0.2">CHAP. XX.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.xxi-p1">At this chapter begins the history of the fortieth
|
|
year (which was the last year) of the Israelites' wandering in the
|
|
wilderness. And since the beginning of their second year, when they
|
|
were sentenced to perform their quarantine in the desert, there to
|
|
wear away the tedious revolution of forty years, there is little
|
|
recorded concerning them till this last year, which brought them to
|
|
the borders of Canaan, and the history of this year is almost as
|
|
large as the history of the first year. This chapter gives an
|
|
account of, I. The death of Miriam, <scripRef passage="Nu 20:1" id="Num.xxi-p1.1" parsed="|Num|20|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.1">ver. 1</scripRef>. II. The fetching of water out of the
|
|
rock, in which observe, 1. The distress Israel was in, for want of
|
|
water, <scripRef passage="Nu 20:2" id="Num.xxi-p1.2" parsed="|Num|20|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.2">ver. 2</scripRef>. 2. Their
|
|
discontent and murmuring in that distress, <scripRef passage="Nu 20:3-5" id="Num.xxi-p1.3" parsed="|Num|20|3|20|5" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.3-Num.20.5">ver. 3-5</scripRef>. 3. God's pity and power engaged
|
|
for their supply with water out of the rock, <scripRef passage="Nu 20:6-9" id="Num.xxi-p1.4" parsed="|Num|20|6|20|9" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.6-Num.20.9">ver. 6-9</scripRef>. 4. The infirmity of Moses and
|
|
Aaron upon this occasion, <scripRef passage="Nu 20:10,11" id="Num.xxi-p1.5" parsed="|Num|20|10|20|11" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.10-Num.20.11">ver. 10,
|
|
11</scripRef>. 5. God's displeasure against them, <scripRef passage="Nu 20:12,13" id="Num.xxi-p1.6" parsed="|Num|20|12|20|13" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.12-Num.20.13">ver. 12, 13</scripRef>. III. The negotiation
|
|
with the Edomites. Israel's request (<scripRef passage="Nu 20:14-17" id="Num.xxi-p1.7" parsed="|Num|20|14|20|17" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.14-Num.20.17">ver. 14-17</scripRef>), and the repulse the Edomites
|
|
gave them, <scripRef passage="Nu 20:18-21" id="Num.xxi-p1.8" parsed="|Num|20|18|20|21" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.18-Num.20.21">ver. 18-21</scripRef>.
|
|
IV. The death of Aaron the high priest upon Mount Hor, the
|
|
instalment of Eleazar in his room, and the people's mourning for
|
|
him, <scripRef passage="Nu 20:22" id="Num.xxi-p1.9" parsed="|Num|20|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.22">ver. 22</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 20" id="Num.xxi-p1.10" parsed="|Num|20|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 20:1-13" id="Num.xxi-p1.11" parsed="|Num|20|1|20|13" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.1-Num.20.13"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.20.1-Num.20.13">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxi-p1.12">The Death of Miriam; The Water of Meribah;
|
|
Moses and Aaron Reproved. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxi-p1.13">b. c.</span> 1453.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxi-p2">1 Then came the children of Israel, <i>even</i>
|
|
the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month:
|
|
and the people abode in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was
|
|
buried there.   2 And there was no water for the congregation:
|
|
and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against
|
|
Aaron.   3 And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying,
|
|
Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxi-p2.1">Lord</span>!   4 And why have ye brought up
|
|
the congregation of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxi-p2.2">Lord</span> into
|
|
this wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there?   5
|
|
And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us
|
|
in unto this evil place? it <i>is</i> no place of seed, or of figs,
|
|
or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither <i>is</i> there any water
|
|
to drink.   6 And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of
|
|
the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation,
|
|
and they fell upon their faces: and the glory of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxi-p2.3">Lord</span> appeared unto them.   7 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxi-p2.4">Lord</span> spake unto Moses, saying,   8
|
|
Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and
|
|
Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes;
|
|
and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to
|
|
them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and
|
|
their beasts drink.   9 And Moses took the rod from before the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxi-p2.5">Lord</span>, as he commanded him.   10
|
|
And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the
|
|
rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you
|
|
water out of this rock?   11 And Moses lifted up his hand, and
|
|
with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out
|
|
abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts
|
|
<i>also.</i>   12 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxi-p2.6">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify
|
|
me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not
|
|
bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.
|
|
  13 This <i>is</i> the water of Meribah; because the children
|
|
of Israel strove with the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxi-p2.7">Lord</span>, and
|
|
he was sanctified in them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxi-p3">After thirty-eight years' tedious marches,
|
|
or rather tedious rests, in the wilderness, backward towards the
|
|
Red Sea, the armies of Israel now at length set their faces towards
|
|
Canaan again, and had come not far off from the place where they
|
|
were when, by the righteous sentence of divine Justice, they were
|
|
made to begin their wanderings. Hitherto they had been led about as
|
|
in a maze or labyrinth, while execution was doing upon the rebels
|
|
that were sentenced; but they were now brought into the right way
|
|
again: they abode in Kadesh (<scripRef passage="Nu 20:1" id="Num.xxi-p3.1" parsed="|Num|20|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.1"><i>v.</i>
|
|
1</scripRef>), not Kadesh-barnea, which was near the borders of
|
|
Canaan, but another Kadesh on the confines of Edom, further off
|
|
from the land of promise, yet in the way to it from the Red Sea, to
|
|
which they had been hurried back. Now,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxi-p4">I. Here dies Miriam, the sister of Moses
|
|
and Aaron, and as it should seem older than either of them. She
|
|
must have been so if she was that sister that was set to watch
|
|
Moses when he was put into the ark of bulrushes, <scripRef passage="Ex 2:4" id="Num.xxi-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|2|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.2.4">Exod. ii. 4</scripRef>. <i>Miriam died there,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 20:1" id="Num.xxi-p4.2" parsed="|Num|20|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. She was a
|
|
prophetess, and had been an instrument of much good to Israel,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mic 6:4" id="Num.xxi-p4.3" parsed="|Mic|6|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mic.6.4">Mic. vi. 4</scripRef>. When Moses and
|
|
Aaron with their rod went before them, to work wonders for them,
|
|
Miriam with her timbrel went before them in praising God for these
|
|
wondrous works (<scripRef passage="Ex 15:20" id="Num.xxi-p4.4" parsed="|Exod|15|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.20">Exod. xv.
|
|
20</scripRef>), and therein did them real service; yet she had once
|
|
been a murmurer (<scripRef passage="Nu 12:1" id="Num.xxi-p4.5" parsed="|Num|12|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.12.1"><i>ch.</i> xii.
|
|
1</scripRef>), and must not enter Canaan.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxi-p5">II. Here there is another Meribah. one
|
|
place we met with before of that name, in the beginning of their
|
|
march through the wilderness, which was so called <i>because of the
|
|
chiding of the children of Israel,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 17:7" id="Num.xxi-p5.1" parsed="|Exod|17|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.7">Exod. xvii. 7</scripRef>. And now we have another place,
|
|
at the latter end of their march, which bears the same name for the
|
|
same reason: <i>This is the water of Meribah,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 20:13" id="Num.xxi-p5.2" parsed="|Num|20|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. What was there done was
|
|
here re-acted.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxi-p6">1. <i>There was no water for the
|
|
congregation,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 20:2" id="Num.xxi-p6.1" parsed="|Num|20|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.2"><i>v.</i>
|
|
2</scripRef>. The water out of the rock of Rephidim had followed
|
|
them while there was need of it; but it is probable that for some
|
|
time they had been in a country where they were supplied in an
|
|
ordinary way, and when common providence supplied them it was fit
|
|
that the miracle should cease. But in this place it fell out that
|
|
there was no water, or not sufficient for the congregation. Note,
|
|
We live in a wanting world, and, wherever we are, must expect to
|
|
meet with some inconvenience or other. It is a great mercy to have
|
|
plenty of water, a mercy which if we found the want of we should
|
|
own the worth of.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxi-p7">2. Hereupon they murmured, mutinied
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 20:2" id="Num.xxi-p7.1" parsed="|Num|20|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), <i>gathered
|
|
themselves together,</i> and took up arms <i>against Moses and
|
|
Aaron.</i> They chid with them (<scripRef passage="Nu 20:3" id="Num.xxi-p7.2" parsed="|Num|20|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), spoke the same absurd and
|
|
brutish language that their fathers had done before them. (1.) They
|
|
wished they had died as malefactors by the hands of divine justice,
|
|
rather than thus seem for a while neglected by the divine mercy:
|
|
<i>Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the
|
|
Lord!</i> Instead of giving God thanks, as they ought to have done,
|
|
for sparing them, they not only despise the mercy of their
|
|
reprieve, but quarrel with it, as if God had done them a great deal
|
|
of wrong in giving them their lives for a prey, and snatching them
|
|
as brands out of the burning. But they need not wish that they had
|
|
died with their brethren, they are here taking the ready way to die
|
|
like their brethren in a little while. <i>Woe unto those that
|
|
desire the day of the Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Am 5:18" id="Num.xxi-p7.3" parsed="|Amos|5|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.18">Amos v.
|
|
18</scripRef>. (2.) They were angry that they were brought out of
|
|
Egypt, and led through this wilderness, <scripRef passage="Nu 20:4,5" id="Num.xxi-p7.4" parsed="|Num|20|4|20|5" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.4-Num.20.5"><i>v.</i> 4, 5</scripRef>. They quarrelled with Moses
|
|
for that which they knew was the Lord's doing; they represented
|
|
that as an injury which was the greatest favour that ever was done
|
|
to any people. They prefer slavery before liberty, the house of
|
|
bondage before the land of promise; and though, the present want
|
|
was of water only, yet, now that they are disposed to find fault,
|
|
it shall be looked upon as an insufferable hardship put upon them
|
|
that they have not vines and figs. It was an aggravation of their
|
|
crime, [1.] that they had smarted so long for the discontents and
|
|
distrusts of their fathers. <i>They had borne their whoredoms</i>
|
|
now almost <i>forty years in the wilderness</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 14:33" id="Num.xxi-p7.5" parsed="|Num|14|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.33"><i>ch.</i> xiv. 33</scripRef>); and yet they ventured in
|
|
the same steps, and, as is charged upon Belshazzar, <i>humbled not
|
|
their hearts, though they knew all this,</i> <scripRef passage="Da 5:22" id="Num.xxi-p7.6" parsed="|Dan|5|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.5.22">Dan. v. 22</scripRef>. [2.] That they had had such long
|
|
and constant experience of God's goodness to them, and of the
|
|
tenderness and faithfulness of Moses and Aaron. [3.] That Miriam
|
|
was now lately dead; and, having lost one of their leaders, they
|
|
ought to have been more respectful to those that were left; but, as
|
|
if they were resolved to provoke God to leave them as sheep without
|
|
any shepherd, they grow outrageous against them: instead of
|
|
condoling with Moses and Aaron for the death of their sister, they
|
|
add affliction to their grief.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxi-p8">3. Moses and Aaron made them no reply, but
|
|
retired to the door of the tabernacle to know God's mind in this
|
|
case, <scripRef passage="Nu 20:6" id="Num.xxi-p8.1" parsed="|Num|20|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. There
|
|
they <i>fell on their faces,</i> as formerly on the like occasion,
|
|
to deprecate the wrath of God and to entreat direction from him.
|
|
Here is no mention of any thing they said; they knew that God heard
|
|
the murmurings of the people, and before him they humbly prostrate
|
|
themselves, making intercessions with <i>groanings that cannot be
|
|
uttered.</i> There they lay waiting for orders <i>Speak, Lord, for
|
|
thy servants hear.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxi-p9">4. God appeared, to determine the matter;
|
|
not on his tribunal of justice, to sentence the rebels according to
|
|
their deserts; no, he <i>will not return to destroy Ephraim</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ho 11:9" id="Num.xxi-p9.1" parsed="|Hos|11|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.11.9">Hosea xi. 9</scripRef>), will <i>not
|
|
always chide;</i> see <scripRef passage="Ge 8:21" id="Num.xxi-p9.2" parsed="|Gen|8|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.8.21">Gen. viii.
|
|
21</scripRef>. But he appeared, (1.) On his throne of glory, to
|
|
silence their unjust murmuring (<scripRef passage="Nu 20:6" id="Num.xxi-p9.3" parsed="|Num|20|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>): The <i>glory of the Lord
|
|
appeared,</i> to <i>still the tumult of the people,</i> by striking
|
|
an awe upon them. Note, A believing sight of the glory of the Lord
|
|
would be an effectual check to our lusts and passions, and would
|
|
keep our mouths as with a bridle. (2.) On his throne of grace, to
|
|
satisfy their just desires. It was requisite that they should have
|
|
water, and therefore, thought the manner of their petitioning for
|
|
it was irregular and disorderly, yet God did not take that
|
|
advantage against them to deny it to them, but gave immediate
|
|
orders for their supply, <scripRef passage="Nu 20:8" id="Num.xxi-p9.4" parsed="|Num|20|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.8"><i>v.</i>
|
|
8</scripRef>. Moses must a second time in God's name command water
|
|
out of a rock for them, to show that God is as able as ever to
|
|
supply his people with good things, even in their greatest straits
|
|
an in the utmost failure of second causes. Almighty power can bring
|
|
water out of a rock, has done it, and can again, for his arm is not
|
|
shortened. Lest it should be thought that there was some thing
|
|
peculiar in the former rock itself, some secret spring which nature
|
|
hid before in it, God here bids him broach another, and does not,
|
|
as then, direct him which he must apply to, but lets him make use
|
|
of which he pleased, or the first he came to; all alike to
|
|
Omnipotence. [1.] God bids him take the rod, that famous rod with
|
|
which he summoned the plagues of Egypt, and divided the sea, that,
|
|
having that in his hand, both he and the people might be reminded
|
|
of the great things God had formerly done for them, and might be
|
|
encouraged to trust in him now. This rod, it seems, was kept in the
|
|
tabernacle (<scripRef passage="Nu 20:9" id="Num.xxi-p9.5" parsed="|Num|20|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>),
|
|
for it was the <i>rod of God,</i> the <i>rod of his strength,</i>
|
|
as the gospel is called (<scripRef passage="Ps 110:2" id="Num.xxi-p9.6" parsed="|Ps|110|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.110.2">Ps. cx.
|
|
2</scripRef>), perhaps in allusion to it. [2.] God bids him gather
|
|
the assembly, not the elders only, but the people, to be witnesses
|
|
of what was done, that by their own eyes they might be convinced
|
|
and made ashamed of their unbelief. There is no fallacy in God's
|
|
works of wonder, and therefore they shun not the light, nor the
|
|
inspection and enquiry of many witnesses. [3.] He bids him speak to
|
|
the rock, which would do as it was bidden, to shame the people who
|
|
had been so often spoken to, and would not hear nor obey. Their
|
|
hearts were harder than this rock, not so tender, not so yielding,
|
|
not so obedient. [4.] He promises that the rock should give forth
|
|
water (<scripRef passage="Nu 20:8" id="Num.xxi-p9.7" parsed="|Num|20|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>), and it
|
|
did so (<scripRef passage="Nu 20:11" id="Num.xxi-p9.8" parsed="|Num|20|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>):
|
|
<i>The water came out abundantly.</i> This is an instance, not only
|
|
of the power of God, that he could thus fetch <i>honey out of the
|
|
rock,</i> and <i>oil out of the flinty rock,</i> but of his mercy
|
|
and grace, that he would do it for such a provoking people. This
|
|
was a new generation (most of the old stock were by this time worn
|
|
off), yet they were as bad as those that went before them;
|
|
murmuring ran in the blood, yet the entail of the divine favour was
|
|
not cut off, but in this instance of it the divine patience shines
|
|
as brightly as the divine power. He is God and not man, in sparing
|
|
and pardoning; nay, he not only here gave them the drink which they
|
|
drank of in common with their beasts (<scripRef passage="Nu 20:8" id="Num.xxi-p9.9" parsed="|Num|20|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.8"><i>v.</i> 8, 11</scripRef>), but in it he made them to
|
|
drink spiritual drink, which typified spiritual blessings, <i>for
|
|
that rock was Christ.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxi-p10">5. Moses and Aaron acted improperly in the
|
|
management of this matter, so much so that God in displeasure told
|
|
them immediately that they should not have the honour of bringing
|
|
Israel into Canaan, <scripRef passage="Nu 20:10-12" id="Num.xxi-p10.1" parsed="|Num|20|10|20|12" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.10-Num.20.12"><i>v.</i>
|
|
10-12</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxi-p11">(1.) This is a strange passage of story,
|
|
yet very instructive. [1.] It is certain that God was greatly
|
|
offended, and justly, for he is never angry without cause. Though
|
|
they were his servants, and had obtained mercy to be faithful,
|
|
though they were his favourites, and such as he had highly
|
|
honoured, yet for something they thought, or said, or did, upon
|
|
this occasion, he put them under the disgrace and mortification of
|
|
dying, as other unbelieving Israelites did, short of Canaan. And no
|
|
doubt the crime deserved the punishment. [2.] Yet it is uncertain
|
|
what it was in this management that was so provoking to God. The
|
|
fault was complicated. <i>First,</i> They did not punctually
|
|
observe their orders, but in some things varied from their
|
|
commission; God bade them <i>speak to the rock,</i> and they spoke
|
|
<i>to the people,</i> and <i>smote the rock,</i> which at this time
|
|
they were not ordered to do, but they thought speaking would not
|
|
do. When, in distrust of the power of the word, we have recourse to
|
|
the secular power in matters of pure conscience, we do, as Moses
|
|
here, smite the rock to which we should only speak,
|
|
<i>Secondly,</i> They assumed too much of the glory of this work of
|
|
wonder to themselves: <i>Must we fetch water?</i> as if it were
|
|
done by some power or worthiness of theirs. Therefore it is charged
|
|
upon them (<scripRef passage="Nu 20:12" id="Num.xxi-p11.1" parsed="|Num|20|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>)
|
|
that <i>they did not sanctify God,</i> that is, they did not give
|
|
him that glory of this miracle which was due unto his name.
|
|
<i>Thirdly,</i> Unbelief was the great transgression (<scripRef passage="Nu 20:12" id="Num.xxi-p11.2" parsed="|Num|20|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>): <i>You believed me
|
|
not;</i> nay, it is called <i>rebelling against God's
|
|
commandment,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 27:14" id="Num.xxi-p11.3" parsed="|Num|27|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.27.14"><i>ch.</i> xxvii.
|
|
14</scripRef>. The command was to bring water out of the rock, but
|
|
they rebelled against this command, by distrusting it, and doubting
|
|
whether it would take effect or no. They speak doubtfully: <i>Must
|
|
we fetch water?</i> And probably they did in some other ways
|
|
discover an uncertainty in their own minds whether water would come
|
|
or no for such a rebellious generation as this was. And perhaps
|
|
they the rather questioned it, though God had promised it, because
|
|
the glory of the Lord did not appear before them upon this rock, as
|
|
it had done upon the rock in Rephidim, <scripRef passage="Ex 17:6" id="Num.xxi-p11.4" parsed="|Exod|17|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.6">Exod. xvii. 6</scripRef>. They would not take God's word
|
|
without a sign. Dr. Lightfoot's notion of their unbelief is that
|
|
they doubted whether now at last, when the forty years had expired,
|
|
they should enter Canaan, and whether they must not for the
|
|
murmurings of the people be condemned to another period of toil,
|
|
because a new rock was now opened for their supply, which they took
|
|
for an indication of their longer stay. And, if so, justly were
|
|
they kept out of Canaan themselves, while the people entered at the
|
|
time appointed. <i>Fourthly,</i> They said and did all in heat and
|
|
passion; this is the account given of the sin (<scripRef passage="Ps 106:33" id="Num.xxi-p11.5" parsed="|Ps|106|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.33">Ps. cvi. 33</scripRef>): <i>They provoked his spirit,
|
|
so that he spoke unadvisedly with his lips.</i> It was in his
|
|
passion that he called them <i>rebels.</i> It is true they were so;
|
|
God had called them so; and Moses afterwards, in the way of a just
|
|
reproof (<scripRef passage="De 9:24" id="Num.xxi-p11.6" parsed="|Deut|9|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.24">Deut. ix. 24</scripRef>),
|
|
calls them so without offence; but now it came from a provoked
|
|
spirit, and was spoken unadvisedly: it was too much like
|
|
<i>Raca,</i> and <i>Thou fool.</i> His smiting the rock twice (it
|
|
should seem, not waiting at all for the eruption of the water upon
|
|
the first stroke) shows that he was in a heat. The same thing said
|
|
and done with meekness may be justifiable which when said and done
|
|
in anger may be highly culpable; see <scripRef passage="Jam 1:20" id="Num.xxi-p11.7" parsed="|Jas|1|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jas.1.20">Jam. i. 20</scripRef>. <i>Fifthly,</i> That which
|
|
aggravated all the rest, and made it the more provoking, was that
|
|
it was public, <i>before the eyes of the children of Israel,</i> to
|
|
whom they should have been examples of faith, and hope, and
|
|
meekness. We find Moses guilty of sinful distrust, <scripRef passage="Nu 11:22,23" id="Num.xxi-p11.8" parsed="|Num|11|22|11|23" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.22-Num.11.23"><i>ch.</i> xi. 22, 23</scripRef>. That was
|
|
private between God and him, and therefore was only checked. But
|
|
his was public; it dishonoured God before Israel, as if he grudged
|
|
them his favours, and discouraged the people's hope in God, and
|
|
therefore this was severely punished, and the more because of the
|
|
dignity and eminency of those that offended.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxi-p12">(2.) From the whole we may learn, [1.] That
|
|
the best of men have their failings, even in those graces that they
|
|
are most eminent for. The man Moses was very meek, and yet here he
|
|
sinned in passion; wherefore <i>let him that thinks he stands take
|
|
heed lest he fall.</i> [2.] That God judges not as man judges
|
|
concerning sins; we might think that there was not much amiss in
|
|
what Moses said and did, yet God saw cause to animadvert severely
|
|
upon it. He knows the frame of men's spirits, what temper they are
|
|
of, and what temper they are in upon particular occasions, and from
|
|
what thoughts and intents words and actions do proceed; and we are
|
|
sure that therefore <i>his judgment is according to truth,</i> when
|
|
it agrees not with ours. [3.] that God not only takes notice of,
|
|
and is displeased with, the sins of his people, but that the nearer
|
|
any are to him the more offensive are their sins, <scripRef passage="Am 3:2" id="Num.xxi-p12.1" parsed="|Amos|3|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.2">Amos iii. 2</scripRef>. It should seem, the
|
|
Psalmist refers to this sin of Moses and Aaron (<scripRef passage="Ps 99:8" id="Num.xxi-p12.2" parsed="|Ps|99|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.99.8">Ps. xcix. 8</scripRef>): <i>Thou wast a God that
|
|
forgavest them, though thou tookest vengeance on their
|
|
inventions.</i> As many are spared in this life and punished in the
|
|
other, so many are punished in this life and saved in the other.
|
|
[4.] That, when our heart is hot within us, we are concerned to
|
|
take heed that we offend not with our tongue. Yet, [5.] It is an
|
|
evidence of the sincerity of Moses, and his impartiality in
|
|
writing, that he himself left this upon record concerning himself,
|
|
and drew not a veil over his own infirmity, by which it appeared
|
|
that in what he wrote, as well as what he did, he sought God's
|
|
glory more than his own.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxi-p13"><i>Lastly,</i> The place is hereupon called
|
|
<i>Meribah,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 20:13" id="Num.xxi-p13.1" parsed="|Num|20|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.13"><i>v.</i>
|
|
13</scripRef>. It is called <i>Meribah-Kadesh</i> (<scripRef passage="De 32:51" id="Num.xxi-p13.2" parsed="|Deut|32|51|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.51">Deut. xxxii. 51</scripRef>), to distinguish it
|
|
from the other Meribah. It is the <i>water of strife;</i> to
|
|
perpetuate the remembrance of the people's sin, and Moses's, and
|
|
yet of God's mercy, who supplied them with water, and owned and
|
|
honoured Moses notwithstanding. Thus he was sanctified in the, as
|
|
the <i>Holy One of Israel,</i> so he is called when his mercy
|
|
rejoices against judgment, <scripRef passage="Ho 11:9" id="Num.xxi-p13.3" parsed="|Hos|11|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.11.9">Hos. xi.
|
|
9</scripRef>. Moses and Aaron did not sanctify God as they ought in
|
|
the eyes of Israel (<scripRef passage="Nu 20:12" id="Num.xxi-p13.4" parsed="|Num|20|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.12"><i>v.</i>
|
|
12</scripRef>), but God was sanctified in them; for he will not be
|
|
a loser in his honour by any man. If he be not glorified by us, he
|
|
will be glorified upon us.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 20" id="Num.xxi-p13.5" parsed="|Num|20|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 20:14-21" id="Num.xxi-p13.6" parsed="|Num|20|14|20|21" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.14-Num.20.21"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.20.14-Num.20.21">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxi-p13.7">Ambassadors Sent to Edom. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxi-p13.8">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxi-p14">14 And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto
|
|
the king of Edom, Thus saith thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all
|
|
the travail that hath befallen us:   15 How our fathers went
|
|
down into Egypt, and we have dwelt in Egypt a long time; and the
|
|
Egyptians vexed us, and our fathers:   16 And when we cried
|
|
unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxi-p14.1">Lord</span>, he heard our voice,
|
|
and sent an angel, and hath brought us forth out of Egypt: and,
|
|
behold, we <i>are</i> in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of thy
|
|
border:   17 Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy country: we
|
|
will not pass through the fields, or through the vineyards, neither
|
|
will we drink <i>of</i> the water of the wells: we will go by the
|
|
king's <i>high</i> way, we will not turn to the right hand nor to
|
|
the left, until we have passed thy borders.   18 And Edom said
|
|
unto him, Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee
|
|
with the sword.   19 And the children of Israel said unto him,
|
|
We will go by the high way: and if I and my cattle drink of thy
|
|
water, then I will pay for it: I will only, without <i>doing</i>
|
|
any thing <i>else,</i> go through on my feet.   20 And he
|
|
said, Thou shalt not go through. And Edom came out against him with
|
|
much people, and with a strong hand.   21 Thus Edom refused to
|
|
give Israel passage through his border: wherefore Israel turned
|
|
away from him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxi-p15">We have here the application made by Israel
|
|
to the Edomites. The nearest way to Canaan from the place where
|
|
Israel now lay encamped was through the country of Edom. Now,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxi-p16">I. Moses sends ambassadors to treat with
|
|
the king of Edom for leave to pass through his country, and gives
|
|
them instructions what to say, <scripRef passage="Nu 20:14-17" id="Num.xxi-p16.1" parsed="|Num|20|14|20|17" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.14-Num.20.17"><i>v.</i> 14-17</scripRef>. 1. They are to claim
|
|
kindred with the Edomites: <i>Thus saith thy brother Israel.</i>
|
|
Both nations descended from Abraham and Isaac, their common
|
|
ancestors; Esau and Jacob, the two fathers of their respective
|
|
nations, were twin-brothers; and therefore, for relation-sake, they
|
|
might reasonably expect this kindness from them; nor needed the
|
|
Edomites to fear that their brother Israel had any ill design upon
|
|
them, or would take any advantages against them. 2. They are to
|
|
give a short account of the history and present state of Israel,
|
|
which, they take it for granted, the Edomites were no strangers to.
|
|
And in this there was a double plea:—(1.) Israel had been abused
|
|
by the Egyptians, and therefore ought to be pitied and succoured by
|
|
their relations: "<i>The Egyptians vexed us and our fathers,</i>
|
|
but we may hope our brethren the Edomites will not be so
|
|
vexatious." (2.) Israel had been wonderfully saved by the Lord, and
|
|
therefore ought to be countenanced and favoured (<scripRef passage="Nu 20:16" id="Num.xxi-p16.2" parsed="|Num|20|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>): "<i>We cried unto the Lord,
|
|
and he sent an angel,</i> the angel of his presence, the angel of
|
|
the covenant, the eternal Word, who had <i>brought us forth out of
|
|
Egypt,</i> and led us hither." It was therefore the interest of the
|
|
Edomites to ingratiate themselves with a people that had so great
|
|
an interest in heaven and were so much its favourites, and it was
|
|
at their peril if they offered them any injury. It is our wisdom
|
|
and duty to be kind to those whom God is pleased to own, and to
|
|
take his people for our people. <i>Come in, thou blessed of the
|
|
Lord.</i> 3. They are humbly to beg a passport through their
|
|
country. Though God himself, in the pillar of cloud and fire, was
|
|
Israel's guide, in following which they might have justified their
|
|
passing through any man's ground against all the world, yet God
|
|
would have this respect paid to the Edomites, to show that no man's
|
|
property ought to be invaded under colour of religion. Dominion is
|
|
founded in providence, not in grace. Thus when Christ was to pass
|
|
through a village of the Samaritans, to whom his coming was likely
|
|
to be offensive, he <i>sent messengers before his face</i> to ask
|
|
leave, <scripRef passage="Lu 9:52" id="Num.xxi-p16.3" parsed="|Luke|9|52|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.9.52">Luke ix. 52</scripRef>. Those
|
|
that would receive kindness must not disdain to request it. 4. They
|
|
are to give security for the good behaviour of the Israelites in
|
|
this march, that they would keep in the king's high road, that they
|
|
would commit no trespass upon any man's property, either in ground
|
|
or water, that they would not so much as make use of a well without
|
|
paying for it, and that they would make all convenient speed, as
|
|
fast as they could well go on their feet, <scripRef passage="Nu 20:17,19" id="Num.xxi-p16.4" parsed="|Num|20|17|0|0;|Num|20|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.17 Bible:Num.20.19"><i>v.</i> 17, 19</scripRef>. Nothing could be offered
|
|
more fair and neighbourly.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxi-p17">II. The ambassadors returned with a denial,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 20:18" id="Num.xxi-p17.1" parsed="|Num|20|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. Edom, that
|
|
is, the king of Edom, as protector of his country, said, <i>Thou
|
|
shalt not pass by me;</i> and, when the ambassadors urged it
|
|
further, he repeated the denial (<scripRef passage="Nu 20:20" id="Num.xxi-p17.2" parsed="|Num|20|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>) and threatened, if they offered
|
|
to enter his country, it should be at their peril; he raised his
|
|
trained bands to oppose them. <i>Thus Edom refused to give Israel
|
|
passage.</i> This was owing, 1. To their jealousy of the
|
|
Israelites; they feared they should receive promises. And truly,
|
|
had this numerous army been under any other discipline and command
|
|
than that of the righteous God himself, who would no more suffer
|
|
them to do wrong than to take wrong, there might have been cause
|
|
for this jealousy; but what could they fear from a nation that had
|
|
<i>statutes and judgments so righteous?</i> 2. It was owing to the
|
|
old enmity which Esau bore to Israel. If they had no reason to fear
|
|
damage by them, yet they were not willing to show so much kindness
|
|
to them. Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing, and now the
|
|
hatred revived, when the blessing was ready to be inherited. God
|
|
would hereby discover the ill-nature of the Edomites to their
|
|
shame, and try the good-nature of the Israelites to their honour:
|
|
they <i>turned away from him,</i> and did not take this occasion to
|
|
quarrel with him. Note, We must not think it strange if the most
|
|
reasonable requests be denied by unreasonable men, and if those be
|
|
affronted by men whom God favours. <i>I as a deaf man heard
|
|
not.</i> After this indignity which the Edomites offered to Israel
|
|
God gave them a particular caution <i>not to abhor an Edomite</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 23:7" id="Num.xxi-p17.3" parsed="|Deut|23|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.23.7">Deut. xxiii. 7</scripRef>), though the
|
|
Edomites had shown such an abhorrence of them, to teach us in such
|
|
cases not to meditate revenge.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 20:22-29" id="Num.xxi-p17.4" parsed="|Num|20|22|20|29" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.22-Num.20.29"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.20.22-Num.20.29">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxi-p17.5">The Edomites Refuse a Passage to Israel; The
|
|
Death of Aaron. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxi-p17.6">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxi-p18">22 And the children of Israel, <i>even</i> the
|
|
whole congregation, journeyed from Kadesh, and came unto mount Hor.
|
|
  23 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxi-p18.1">Lord</span> spake unto
|
|
Moses and Aaron in mount Hor, by the coast of the land of Edom,
|
|
saying,   24 Aaron shall be gathered unto his people: for he
|
|
shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children
|
|
of Israel, because ye rebelled against my word at the water of
|
|
Meribah.   25 Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them
|
|
up unto mount Hor:   26 And strip Aaron of his garments, and
|
|
put them upon Eleazar his son: and Aaron shall be gathered <i>unto
|
|
his people,</i> and shall die there.   27 And Moses did as the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxi-p18.2">Lord</span> commanded: and they went up
|
|
into mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation.   28 And
|
|
Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his
|
|
son; and Aaron died there in the top of the mount: and Moses and
|
|
Eleazar came down from the mount.   29 And when all the
|
|
congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty
|
|
days, <i>even</i> all the house of Israel.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxi-p19">The chapter began with the funeral of
|
|
Miriam, and it ends with the funeral of her brother Aaron. When
|
|
death comes into a family, it often strikes double. Israel had not
|
|
improved the former affliction they were under, by the death of the
|
|
prophetess, and therefore, soon after, God took away their priest,
|
|
to try if they would lay that to heart. This happened at the very
|
|
next stage, when they removed to Mount Hor, fetching a compass
|
|
round the Edomites' country, leaving it on their left hand.
|
|
Wherever we go, death attends us, and the graves are ready for
|
|
us.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxi-p20">I. God bids Aaron die, <scripRef passage="Nu 20:24" id="Num.xxi-p20.1" parsed="|Num|20|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. God takes Moses and Aaron
|
|
aside, and tells them, <i>Aaron shall be gathered to his
|
|
people.</i> These two dear brothers are told that they must part.
|
|
Aaron the elder must die first, but Moses is not likely to be long
|
|
after him; so that it is but for a while, a little while, that they
|
|
are parted. 1. There is something of displeasure in these orders.
|
|
Aaron must not enter Canaan, because he had failed in his duty at
|
|
the waters of strife. The mention of this, no doubt, went to the
|
|
heart of Moses, who knew himself, perhaps, at that time, to be the
|
|
guiltier of the two. 2. There is much of mercy in them. Aaron,
|
|
though he dies for his transgression, is not put to death as a
|
|
malefactor, by a plague, or fire from heaven, but dies with ease
|
|
and in honour. He is not <i>cut off from his people,</i> as the
|
|
expression usually is concerning those that die by the hand of
|
|
divine justice, but he is <i>gathered to his people,</i> as one
|
|
that died in the arms of divine grace. 3. There is much of type and
|
|
significancy in them. Aaron must not enter Canaan, to show that the
|
|
Levitical priesthood could make nothing perfect: that must be done
|
|
by the bringing in of a better hope. Those priests could not
|
|
continue by reason of sin and death, but the priesthood of Christ,
|
|
being undefiled, is unchangeable, and to this, which abides for
|
|
ever, Aaron must resign all his honour, <scripRef passage="Heb 7:23-25" id="Num.xxi-p20.2" parsed="|Heb|7|23|7|25" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.23-Heb.7.25">Heb. vii. 23-25</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxi-p21">II. Aaron submits, and dies in the method
|
|
and manner appointed, and, for aught that appears, with as much
|
|
cheerfulness as if he had been going to bed.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxi-p22">1. He puts on his holy garments to take his
|
|
leave of them, and goes up with his brother and son to the top of
|
|
Mount Hor, and probably some of the elders of Israel with him,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 20:27" id="Num.xxi-p22.1" parsed="|Num|20|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>. They went up
|
|
<i>in the sight of all the congregation,</i> who, it is likely,
|
|
were told on what errand they went up; by this solemn procession
|
|
Aaron lets Israel know that he is neither afraid nor ashamed to
|
|
die, but, when the bridegroom comes, can trim his lamp and go forth
|
|
to meet him. His going up the hill to die signified that the death
|
|
of saints (and Aaron is called <i>the saint of the Lord</i>) is
|
|
their ascension; they rather go up than go down to death.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxi-p23">2. Moses, whose hands had first clothed
|
|
Aaron with his priestly garments, now strips him of them; for, in
|
|
reverence to the priesthood, it was not fit that he should die in
|
|
them. Note, Death will strip us; naked we came into the world, and
|
|
naked we must go out. We shall see little reason to be proud of our
|
|
clothes, our ornaments, or marks of honour, if we consider how soon
|
|
death will strip us of our glory, divest us of all our offices and
|
|
honours, and take the crown off from our head.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxi-p24">3. Moses immediately puts the priestly
|
|
garments upon Eleazar his son, clothes him with his father's robe,
|
|
and <i>strengthens him with his girdle,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 22:21" id="Num.xxi-p24.1" parsed="|Isa|22|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.22.21">Isa. xxii. 21</scripRef>. Now, (1.) This was a great
|
|
comfort to Moses, by whose hand the law of the priesthood was given
|
|
to see that it should be kept up in a succession, and that a lamp
|
|
was ordained for the anointed, which should not be extinguished by
|
|
death itself. This was a happy earnest and indication to the church
|
|
of the care God would take that as one generation of ministers and
|
|
Christians (spiritual priests) passes away another generation
|
|
should come up instead of it. (2.) It was a great satisfaction to
|
|
Aaron to see his son, who was dear to him, thus preferred, and his
|
|
office, which was dearer, thus preserved and secured, and
|
|
especially to see in this a figure of Christ's everlasting
|
|
priesthood, in which alone his would be perpetuated. <i>Now,</i>
|
|
Lord, might Aaron say, <i>let thy servant depart in peace, for my
|
|
eyes have seen thy salvation.</i> (3.) It was a great kindness to
|
|
the people. The installing of Eleazar before Aaron was dead would
|
|
prevent those who bore ill-will to Aaron's family from attempting
|
|
to set up another upon his death, in competition with his son. What
|
|
could they do when the matter was already settled? It would
|
|
likewise encourage those among them that feared God, and be a token
|
|
for good to them, that he would not leave them, nor suffer his
|
|
faithfulness to fail.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxi-p25">4. <i>Aaron died there.</i> Quickly after
|
|
he was stripped of his priestly garments, he laid himself down and
|
|
died contentedly; for a good man would desire, if it were the will
|
|
of God, not to outlive his usefulness. Why should we covet to
|
|
continue any longer in this world than while we may do God and our
|
|
generation some service in it?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxi-p26">5. Moses and Eleazar, with those that
|
|
attended them, buried Aaron where he died, as appears by <scripRef passage="De 10:6" id="Num.xxi-p26.1" parsed="|Deut|10|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.6">Deut. x. 6</scripRef>, and then <i>came down from
|
|
the mount.</i> And now, when they came down, and had left Aaron
|
|
behind, it might be proper for them to think that he had rather
|
|
gone up to the better world and had left them behind.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxi-p27">6. All the congregation <i>mourned for
|
|
Aaron thirty days,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 20:29" id="Num.xxi-p27.1" parsed="|Num|20|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.29"><i>v.</i>
|
|
29</scripRef>. Though the loss was well made up in Eleazar, who,
|
|
being in the prime of life, was fitter from public service that
|
|
Aaron would have been if he had lived, yet it was a debt owing to
|
|
their deceased high priest to mourn for him. While he lived, they
|
|
were murmuring at him upon all occasions, but now that he was dead
|
|
they mourned for him. Thus many are taught to lament the loss of
|
|
those mercies which they would not learn to be thankful for the
|
|
enjoyment of. Many good men have had more honour done to their
|
|
memories than ever they had to their persons, witness those that
|
|
were persecuted while they lived, but when they were dead had their
|
|
sepulchres garnished.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXI" n="xxii" progress="74.90%" prev="Num.xxi" next="Num.xxiii" id="Num.xxii">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.xxii-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.xxii-p0.2">CHAP. XXI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.xxii-p1">The armies of Israel now begin to emerge out of
|
|
the wilderness, and to come into a land inhabited, to enter upon
|
|
action, and take possession of the frontiers of the land of
|
|
promise. A glorious campaign this chapter gives us the history of,
|
|
especially in the latter part of it. Here is, I. The defeat of Arad
|
|
the Canaanite, <scripRef passage="Nu 21:1-3" id="Num.xxii-p1.1" parsed="|Num|21|1|21|3" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.1-Num.21.3">ver. 1-3</scripRef>.
|
|
II. The chastisement of the people with fiery serpents for their
|
|
murmurings, and the relief granted them upon their submission by a
|
|
brazen serpent, <scripRef passage="Nu 21:4-9" id="Num.xxii-p1.2" parsed="|Num|21|4|21|9" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.4-Num.21.9">ver. 4-9</scripRef>.
|
|
III. Several marches forward, and some occurrences by the way,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 21:10-20" id="Num.xxii-p1.3" parsed="|Num|21|10|21|20" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.10-Num.21.20">ver. 10-20</scripRef>. IV. The
|
|
celebrated conquest of Sihon king of the Amorites (<scripRef passage="Nu 21:21-32" id="Num.xxii-p1.4" parsed="|Num|21|21|21|32" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.21-Num.21.32">ver. 21-32</scripRef>), and of Og king of
|
|
Bashan (<scripRef passage="Nu 21:33-35" id="Num.xxii-p1.5" parsed="|Num|21|33|21|35" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.33-Num.21.35">ver. 33-35</scripRef>), and
|
|
possession taken of their land.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 21" id="Num.xxii-p1.6" parsed="|Num|21|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.21"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 21:1-3" id="Num.xxii-p1.7" parsed="|Num|21|1|21|3" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.1-Num.21.3"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.21.1-Num.21.3">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxii-p1.8">Arad Subdued. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxii-p1.9">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxii-p2">1 And <i>when</i> king Arad the Canaanite, which
|
|
dwelt in the south, heard tell that Israel came by the way of the
|
|
spies; then he fought against Israel, and took <i>some</i> of them
|
|
prisoners.   2 And Israel vowed a vow unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxii-p2.1">Lord</span>, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this
|
|
people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.
|
|
  3 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxii-p2.2">Lord</span> hearkened to
|
|
the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and they
|
|
utterly destroyed them and their cities: and he called the name of
|
|
the place Hormah.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxii-p3">Here is, 1. The descent which Arad the
|
|
Canaanite made upon the camp of Israel, hearing that they came
|
|
<i>by the way of the spies;</i> for, though the spies which Moses
|
|
had sent thirty-eight years before then passed and repassed
|
|
unobserved, yet their coming, and their errand, it is likely, were
|
|
afterwards known to the Canaanites, gave them an alarm, and induced
|
|
them to keep an eye upon Israel and get intelligence of all their
|
|
motions. Now, when they understood that they were facing about
|
|
towards Canaan, this Arad, thinking it policy to keep the war at a
|
|
distance, made an onset upon them and fought with them. But it
|
|
proved that he meddled to his own hurt; had he sat still, his
|
|
people might have been last destroyed of all the Canaanites, but
|
|
now they were the first. Thus those that are <i>overmuch wicked die
|
|
before their time,</i> <scripRef passage="Ec 7:17" id="Num.xxii-p3.1" parsed="|Eccl|7|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.7.17">Eccl. vii.
|
|
17</scripRef>. 2. His success at first in this attempt. His
|
|
advance-guards picked up some straggling Israelites, and took them
|
|
prisoners, <scripRef passage="Nu 21:1" id="Num.xxii-p3.2" parsed="|Num|21|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>.
|
|
This, no doubt, puffed him up, and he began to think that he should
|
|
have the honour of crushing this formidable body, and saving his
|
|
country from the ruin which it threatened. It was likewise a trial
|
|
to the faith of the Israelites and a check to them for their
|
|
distrusts and discontents. 3. Israel's humble address to God upon
|
|
this occasion, <scripRef passage="Nu 21:2" id="Num.xxii-p3.3" parsed="|Num|21|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>.
|
|
It was a temptation to them to murmur as their fathers did, and to
|
|
despair of getting possession of Canaan; but God, who thus tried
|
|
them by his providence, enabled them by his grace to quit
|
|
themselves well in the trial, and to trust in him for relief
|
|
against this fierce and powerful assailant. They, by their elders,
|
|
in prayer for success, <i>vowed a vow.</i> Note, When we are
|
|
desiring and expecting mercy from God we should bind our souls with
|
|
a bond that we will faithfully do our duty to him, particularly
|
|
that we will honour him with the mercy we are in the pursuit of.
|
|
Thus Israel here promised to destroy the cities of these
|
|
Canaanites, as devoted to God, and not to take the spoil of them to
|
|
their own use. If God would give them victory, he should have all
|
|
the praise, and they would not make a gain of it to themselves.
|
|
When we are in this frame we are prepared to receive mercy. 4. The
|
|
victory which the Israelites obtained over the Canaanites,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 21:3" id="Num.xxii-p3.4" parsed="|Num|21|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. A strong party
|
|
was sent out, probably under the command of Joshua, which not only
|
|
drove back these Canaanites, but followed them to their cities,
|
|
which probably lay on the edge of the wilderness, and utterly
|
|
destroyed them, and so returned to the camp. <i>Vincimur in prælie,
|
|
sed non in bello—We lose a battle, but we finally triumph.</i>
|
|
What is said of the tribe of God is true of all God's Israel, a
|
|
troop may overcome them, but they shall overcome at the last. The
|
|
place was called <i>Hormah,</i> as a memorial of the destruction,
|
|
for the terror of the Canaanites, and probably for warning to
|
|
posterity not to attempt the rebuilding of these cities, which were
|
|
destroyed as devoted to God and sacrifices to divine justice. And
|
|
it appears from the instance of Jericho that the law concerning
|
|
such cities was that they should never be rebuilt. There seems to
|
|
be an allusion to this name in the prophecy of the fall of the New
|
|
Testament Babylon (<scripRef passage="Re 16:16" id="Num.xxii-p3.5" parsed="|Rev|16|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.16.16">Rev. xvi.
|
|
16</scripRef>), where its forces are said to be gathered together
|
|
to a place called <i>Armageddon—the destruction of a
|
|
troop.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 21:4-9" id="Num.xxii-p3.6" parsed="|Num|21|4|21|9" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.4-Num.21.9"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.21.4-Num.21.9">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxii-p3.7">The Brazen Serpent. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxii-p3.8">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxii-p4">4 And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way
|
|
of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the
|
|
people was much discouraged because of the way.   5 And the
|
|
people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye
|
|
brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for <i>there
|
|
is</i> no bread, neither <i>is there any</i> water; and our soul
|
|
loatheth this light bread.   6 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxii-p4.1">Lord</span> sent fiery serpents among the people, and
|
|
they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.   7
|
|
Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for
|
|
we have spoken against the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxii-p4.2">Lord</span>, and
|
|
against thee; pray unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxii-p4.3">Lord</span>,
|
|
that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the
|
|
people.   8 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxii-p4.4">Lord</span> said
|
|
unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and
|
|
it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he
|
|
looketh upon it, shall live.   9 And Moses made a serpent of
|
|
brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a
|
|
serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he
|
|
lived.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxii-p5">Here is, I. The fatigue of Israel by a long
|
|
march round the land of Edom, because they could not obtain passage
|
|
through it the nearest way: <i>The soul of the people was much
|
|
discouraged because of the way,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 21:4" id="Num.xxii-p5.1" parsed="|Num|21|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. Perhaps the way was rough and
|
|
uneven, or foul and dirty; or it fretted them to go far about, and
|
|
that they were not permitted to force their passage through the
|
|
Edomites' country. Those that are of a fretful discontented spirit
|
|
will always find something or other to make them uneasy.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxii-p6">II. Their unbelief and murmuring upon this
|
|
occasion, <scripRef passage="Nu 21:5" id="Num.xxii-p6.1" parsed="|Num|21|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>.
|
|
Though they had just now obtained a glorious victory over the
|
|
Canaanites, and were going on conquering and to conquer, yet they
|
|
speak very discontentedly of what God had done for them and
|
|
distrustfully of what he would do, vexed that they were brought out
|
|
of Egypt, that they had not bread and water as other people had by
|
|
their own care and industry, but by miracle, they knew not how.
|
|
They have <i>bread enough and to spare;</i> and yet they complain
|
|
<i>there is no bread,</i> because, though they eat angels' food,
|
|
yet they are weary of it; manna itself is loathed, and called
|
|
<i>light bread,</i> fit for children, not for men and soldiers.
|
|
What will those be pleased with whom manna will not please? Those
|
|
that are disposed to quarrel will find fault where there is no
|
|
fault to be found. Thus those who have long enjoyed the means of
|
|
grace are apt to surfeit even on the heavenly manna, and to call it
|
|
light bread. But let not the contempt which some cast upon the word
|
|
of God cause us to value it the less: it is the bread of life,
|
|
substantial bread, and will nourish those who by faith feed upon it
|
|
to eternal life, whoever calls it light bread.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxii-p7">III. The righteous judgment which God
|
|
brought upon them for their murmuring, <scripRef passage="Nu 21:6" id="Num.xxii-p7.1" parsed="|Num|21|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. He sent <i>fiery serpents among
|
|
them,</i> which bit or stung many of them to death. The wilderness
|
|
through which they had passed was all along infested with those
|
|
fiery serpents, as appears, <scripRef passage="De 8:15" id="Num.xxii-p7.2" parsed="|Deut|8|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.15">Deut. viii.
|
|
15</scripRef>. But hitherto God had wonderfully preserved his
|
|
people from receiving hurt by them, till now that they murmured, to
|
|
chastise them for which these animals, which hitherto had shunned
|
|
their camp, now invade it. Justly are those made to feel God's
|
|
judgments that are not thankful for his mercies. These serpents are
|
|
called <i>fiery,</i> from their colour, or from their rage, or from
|
|
the effects of their bitings, inflaming the body, putting it
|
|
immediately into a high fever, scorching it with an insatiable
|
|
thirst. They had unjustly complained for want of water (<scripRef passage="Nu 21:5" id="Num.xxii-p7.3" parsed="|Num|21|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), to chastise them for
|
|
which God sends upon them this thirst, which no water would quench.
|
|
Those that cry without cause have justly cause given them to cry
|
|
out. They distrustfully concluded that they must <i>die in the
|
|
wilderness,</i> and God took them at their word, chose their
|
|
delusions, and brought their unbelieving fears upon them; many of
|
|
them did die. They had impudently flown in the face of God himself,
|
|
and the <i>poison of asps was under their lips,</i> and now these
|
|
fiery serpents (which, it should seem, were flying serpents,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 14:29" id="Num.xxii-p7.4" parsed="|Isa|14|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.29">Isa. xiv. 29</scripRef>) flew in
|
|
their faces and poisoned them. They in their pride had lifted
|
|
themselves up against God and Moses, and now God humbled and
|
|
mortified them, by making these despicable animals a plague to
|
|
them. That artillery is now turned against them which had formerly
|
|
been made use of in their defence against the Egyptians. He that
|
|
brought quails to feast them let them know that he could bring
|
|
serpents to bite them; the whole creation is at war with those that
|
|
are in arms against God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxii-p8">IV. Their repentance and supplication to
|
|
God under this judgment, <scripRef passage="Nu 21:7" id="Num.xxii-p8.1" parsed="|Num|21|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.7"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7</scripRef>. They confess their fault: <i>We have sinned.</i> They
|
|
are particular in their confession: <i>We have spoken against the
|
|
Lord, and against thee.</i> It is to be feared that they would not
|
|
have owned the sin if they had not felt the smart; but they relent
|
|
under the rod; <i>when he slew them, then they sought him.</i> They
|
|
beg the prayers of Moses for them, as conscious to themselves of
|
|
their own unworthiness to be heard, and convinced of the great
|
|
interest which Moses had in heaven. How soon is their tone altered!
|
|
Those who had just before quarrelled with him as their worst enemy
|
|
now make their court to him as their best friend, and choose him
|
|
for their advocate with God. Afflictions often change men's
|
|
sentiments concerning God's people, and teach them to value those
|
|
prayers which, at a former period, they had scorned. Moses, to show
|
|
that he had heartily forgiven them, blesses those who had cursed
|
|
him, and <i>prays for those who had despitefully used him</i>
|
|
Herein he was a type of Christ, who interceded for his persecutors,
|
|
and a pattern to us to go and do likewise, and thus to show that we
|
|
<i>love our enemies.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxii-p9">V. The wonderful provision which God made
|
|
for their relief. He did not employ Moses in summoning the
|
|
judgment, but, that he might recommend him to the good affection of
|
|
the people, he made him instrumental in their relief, <scripRef passage="Nu 21:8,9" id="Num.xxii-p9.1" parsed="|Num|21|8|21|9" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.8-Num.21.9"><i>v.</i> 8, 9</scripRef>. God ordered Moses to
|
|
make the representation of a fiery serpent, which he did, in brass,
|
|
and set it up on a very long pole, so that it might be seen from
|
|
all parts of the camp, and every one that was stung with a fiery
|
|
serpent was healed by looking up to this serpent of brass. The
|
|
people prayed that God would <i>take away the serpents from
|
|
them</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 21:7" id="Num.xxii-p9.2" parsed="|Num|21|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>), but
|
|
God saw fit not to do this: for he gives effectual relief in the
|
|
best way, though not in our way. Thus those who did not die for
|
|
their murmuring were yet made to smart for it, that they might the
|
|
more feelingly repent and humble themselves for it; they were
|
|
likewise made to receive their cure from God, by the hand of Moses,
|
|
that they might be taught, if possible, never again to speak
|
|
against God and Moses. This method of cure was altogether
|
|
miraculous, and the more wonderful if what some naturalists say be
|
|
true, that looking upon bright and burnished brass is hurtful to
|
|
those that are stung with fiery serpents. God can bring about his
|
|
purposes by contrary means. The Jews themselves say that it was not
|
|
the sight of the brazen serpent that cured them, but, in looking up
|
|
to it, they looked up to God as the Lord that healed them. But
|
|
there was much of gospel in this appointment. Our Saviour has told
|
|
us so (<scripRef passage="Joh 3:14,15" id="Num.xxii-p9.3" parsed="|John|3|14|3|15" osisRef="Bible:John.3.14-John.3.15">John iii. 14,
|
|
15</scripRef>), that <i>as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
|
|
wilderness so the Son of man must be lifted up,</i> that
|
|
<i>whosoever believeth in him should not perish.</i> Observe then a
|
|
resemblance,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxii-p10">1. Between their disease and ours. The
|
|
devil is the old serpent, a fiery serpent, hence he appears
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Re 12:3" id="Num.xxii-p10.1" parsed="|Rev|12|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.12.3">Rev. xii. 3</scripRef>) as a <i>great
|
|
red dragon.</i> Sin is the biting of this fiery serpent; it is
|
|
painful to the startled conscience, and poisonous to the seared
|
|
conscience. Satan's temptations are called his <i>fiery darts,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Eph 6:16" id="Num.xxii-p10.2" parsed="|Eph|6|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eph.6.16">Eph. vi. 16</scripRef>. Lust and
|
|
passion inflame the soul, so do the terrors of the Almighty, when
|
|
they <i>set themselves in array.</i> At the last, sin <i>bites like
|
|
a serpent</i> and <i>stings like an adder;</i> and even its sweets
|
|
are turned into the gall of asps.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxii-p11">2. Between their remedy and ours. (1.) It
|
|
was God himself that devised and prescribed this antidote against
|
|
the fiery serpents; so our salvation by Christ was the contrivance
|
|
of Infinite Wisdom; God himself has found the ransom. (2.) It was a
|
|
very unlikely method of cure; so our salvation by the death of
|
|
Christ is <i>to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks
|
|
foolishness.</i> It was Moses that <i>lifted up the serpent in the
|
|
wilderness,</i> so the law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ,
|
|
and Moses wrote of him, <scripRef passage="Joh 5:4-6" id="Num.xxii-p11.1" parsed="|John|5|4|5|6" osisRef="Bible:John.5.4-John.5.6">John v.
|
|
4-6</scripRef>. Christ was lifted up by the rulers of the Jews, who
|
|
were the successors of Moses. (3.) That which cured was shaped in
|
|
the likeness of that which wounded. So Christ, though perfectly
|
|
free from sin himself, yet was <i>made in the likeness of sinful
|
|
flesh</i> (<scripRef passage="Ro 8:3" id="Num.xxii-p11.2" parsed="|Rom|8|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.8.3">Rom. viii. 3</scripRef>), so
|
|
like that it was taken for granted that this man was a sinner,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Joh 9:24" id="Num.xxii-p11.3" parsed="|John|9|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.9.24">John ix. 24</scripRef>. (4.) The
|
|
brazen serpent was lifted up; so was Christ. He was lifted up upon
|
|
the cross (<scripRef passage="Joh 12:33,34" id="Num.xxii-p11.4" parsed="|John|12|33|12|34" osisRef="Bible:John.12.33-John.12.34">John xii. 33,
|
|
34</scripRef>), for his was made a spectacle to the world. He was
|
|
lifted up by the preaching of the gospel. The word here used for a
|
|
<i>pole</i> signifies a <i>banner,</i> or <i>ensign,</i> for Christ
|
|
crucified <i>stands for an ensign of the people,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 11:10" id="Num.xxii-p11.5" parsed="|Isa|11|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.11.10">Isa. xi. 10</scripRef>. Some make the lifting
|
|
up of the serpent to be a figure of Christ's triumphing over Satan,
|
|
the old serpent, whose head he bruised, when in his cross he made
|
|
an open show of the principalities and powers which he had spoiled
|
|
and destroyed, <scripRef passage="Col 2:15" id="Num.xxii-p11.6" parsed="|Col|2|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Col.2.15">Col. ii.
|
|
15</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxii-p12">3. Between the application of their remedy
|
|
and ours. They looked and lived, and we, if we believe, shall not
|
|
perish; it is by faith that we look unto Jesus, <scripRef passage="Heb 12:2" id="Num.xxii-p12.1" parsed="|Heb|12|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.2">Heb. xii. 2</scripRef>. <i>Look unto me, and be you
|
|
saved,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 45:22" id="Num.xxii-p12.2" parsed="|Isa|45|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.45.22">Isa. xlv. 22</scripRef>.
|
|
We must be sensible of our wound and of our danger by it, receive
|
|
the record which God has given concerning his Son, and rely upon
|
|
the assurance he has given us that we shall be healed and saved by
|
|
him if we resign ourselves to his direction. The brazen serpent's
|
|
being lifted up would not cure if it was not looked upon. If any
|
|
pored on their wound, and would not look up to the brazen serpent,
|
|
they inevitably died. If they slighted this method of cure, and had
|
|
recourse to natural medicines, and trusted to them, they justly
|
|
perished; so if sinners either despise Christ's righteousness or
|
|
despair of benefit by it their wound will, without doubt, be fatal.
|
|
But whoever looked up to this healing sign, though from the outmost
|
|
part of the camp, though with a weak and weeping eye, was certainly
|
|
healed; so whosoever believes in Christ, though as yet but weak in
|
|
faith, shall not perish. There are weak brethren <i>for whom Christ
|
|
died.</i> Perhaps for some time after the serpent was set up the
|
|
camp of Israel was molested by the fiery serpents; and it is the
|
|
probable conjecture of some that they carried this brazen serpent
|
|
along with them through the rest of their journey, and set it up
|
|
wherever they encamped, and, when they settled in Canaan, fixed it
|
|
somewhere within the borders of the land; for it is not likely that
|
|
the children of Israel went so far off as this was into the
|
|
wilderness to burn incense to it, as we find they did, <scripRef passage="2Ki 18:4" id="Num.xxii-p12.3" parsed="|2Kgs|18|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.18.4">2 Kings xviii. 4</scripRef>. Even those that are
|
|
delivered from the eternal death which is the wages of sin must
|
|
expect to feel the pain and smart of it as long as they are here in
|
|
this world; but, if it be not our own fault, we may have the brazen
|
|
serpent to accompany us, to be still looked up to upon all
|
|
occasions, by bearing about with us continually the dying of the
|
|
Lord Jesus.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 21" id="Num.xxii-p12.4" parsed="|Num|21|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.21"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 21:10-20" id="Num.xxii-p12.5" parsed="|Num|21|10|21|20" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.10-Num.21.20"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.21.10-Num.21.20">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxii-p12.6">The Removal of the Camp. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxii-p12.7">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxii-p13">10 And the children of Israel set forward, and
|
|
pitched in Oboth.   11 And they journeyed from Oboth, and
|
|
pitched at Ije-abarim, in the wilderness which <i>is</i> before
|
|
Moab, toward the sunrising.   12 From thence they removed, and
|
|
pitched in the valley of Zared.   13 From thence they removed,
|
|
and pitched on the other side of Arnon, which <i>is</i> in the
|
|
wilderness that cometh out of the coasts of the Amorites: for Arnon
|
|
<i>is</i> the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.  
|
|
14 Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxii-p13.1">Lord</span>, What he did in the Red sea, and in the
|
|
brooks of Arnon,   15 And at the stream of the brooks that
|
|
goeth down to the dwelling of Ar, and lieth upon the border of
|
|
Moab.   16 And from thence <i>they went</i> to Beer: that
|
|
<i>is</i> the well whereof the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxii-p13.2">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them
|
|
water.   17 Then Israel sang this song, Spring up, O well;
|
|
sing ye unto it:   18 The princes digged the well, the nobles
|
|
of the people digged it, by <i>the direction of</i> the lawgiver,
|
|
with their staves. And from the wilderness <i>they went</i> to
|
|
Mattanah:   19 And from Mattanah to Nahaliel: and from
|
|
Nahaliel to Bamoth:   20 And from Bamoth <i>in</i> the valley,
|
|
that <i>is</i> in the country of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, which
|
|
looketh toward Jeshimon.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxii-p14">We have here an account of the several
|
|
stages and removals of the children of Israel, till they came into
|
|
the plains of Moab, out of which they at length passed over Jordan
|
|
into Canaan, as we read in the beginning of Joshua. Natural motions
|
|
are quicker the nearer they are to their centre. The Israelites
|
|
were now drawing near to the promised rest, and now they <i>set
|
|
forward,</i> as the expression is, <scripRef passage="Nu 21:10" id="Num.xxii-p14.1" parsed="|Num|21|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. It were well if we would do
|
|
thus in our way to heaven, rid ground in the latter end of our
|
|
journey, and the nearer we come to heaven be so much the more
|
|
active and abundant in the work of the Lord. Two things especially
|
|
are observable in the brief account here given of these
|
|
removals:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxii-p15">1. The wonderful success which God blessed
|
|
his people with, near the brooks of Arnon, <scripRef passage="Nu 21:13-15" id="Num.xxii-p15.1" parsed="|Num|21|13|21|15" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.13-Num.21.15"><i>v.</i> 13-15</scripRef>. They had now compassed
|
|
the land of Edom (which they were not to invade, nor so much as to
|
|
disturb, <scripRef passage="De 2:4,5" id="Num.xxii-p15.2" parsed="|Deut|2|4|2|5" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.4-Deut.2.5">Deut. ii. 4, 5</scripRef>),
|
|
and had come to the border of Moab. It is well that there are more
|
|
ways than one to Canaan. The enemies of God's people may retard
|
|
their passage, but cannot prevent their entrance into the promised
|
|
rest. Care is taken to let us know that the Israelites in their
|
|
march religiously observed the orders which God gave them to use no
|
|
hostility against the Moabites (<scripRef passage="De 2:9" id="Num.xxii-p15.3" parsed="|Deut|2|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.9">Deut.
|
|
ii. 9</scripRef>), because they were the posterity of righteous
|
|
Lot; therefore they pitched on the other side of Arnon (<scripRef passage="Nu 21:13" id="Num.xxii-p15.4" parsed="|Num|21|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>), that side which was
|
|
now in the possession of the Amorites, one of the devoted nations,
|
|
though formerly it had belonged to Moab, as appears here, <scripRef passage="Nu 21:26,27" id="Num.xxii-p15.5" parsed="|Num|21|26|21|27" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.26-Num.21.27"><i>v.</i> 26, 27</scripRef>. This care of
|
|
theirs not to offer violence to the Moabites is pleaded by Jephtha
|
|
long afterwards, in his remonstrance against the Ammonites
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Jdg 11:15-23" id="Num.xxii-p15.6" parsed="|Judg|11|15|11|23" osisRef="Bible:Judg.11.15-Judg.11.23">Judg. xi. 15</scripRef>,
|
|
&c.), and turned to them for a testimony. What their
|
|
achievements were, now that they pitched on the banks of the river
|
|
Arnon, we are not particularly told, but are referred to the
|
|
<i>book of the wars of the Lord,</i> perhaps that book which was
|
|
begun with the history of the war with the Amalekites, <scripRef passage="Ex 17:14" id="Num.xxii-p15.7" parsed="|Exod|17|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.14">Exod. xvii. 14</scripRef>. <i>Write it</i> (said
|
|
God) <i>for a memorial in a book,</i> to which were added all the
|
|
other battles which Israel fought, in order, and, among the rest,
|
|
their actions on the river Arnon, at <i>Vaheb</i> in <i>Suphah</i>
|
|
(as our margin reads it) and other places on that river. Or, <i>it
|
|
shall be said</i> (as some read it) <i>in the rehearsal,</i> or
|
|
commemoration, <i>of the wars of the Lord, what he did in the Red
|
|
Sea,</i> when he brought Israel out of Egypt, and what he did <i>in
|
|
the brooks of Arnon,</i> just before he brought them into Canaan.
|
|
Note, In celebrating the memorials of God's favours to us, it is
|
|
good to observe the series of them, and how divine goodness and
|
|
mercy have constantly followed us, even from the Red Sea to the
|
|
brooks of Arnon. In every stage of our lives, nay, in every step,
|
|
we should take notice of what God has wrought for us; what he did
|
|
at such a time, and what in such a place, ought to be distinctly
|
|
remembered.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxii-p16">2. The wonderful supply which God blessed
|
|
his people with at <i>Beer</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 21:16" id="Num.xxii-p16.1" parsed="|Num|21|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>), which signifies the
|
|
<i>well</i> or <i>fountain.</i> It is said (<scripRef passage="Nu 21:10" id="Num.xxii-p16.2" parsed="|Num|21|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>) they pitched in <i>Oboth,</i>
|
|
which signifies <i>bottles,</i> so called perhaps because there
|
|
they filled their bottles with water, which should last them for
|
|
some time; but by this time, we may suppose, it was with them as it
|
|
was with Hagar (<scripRef passage="Ge 21:15" id="Num.xxii-p16.3" parsed="|Gen|21|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.15">Gen. xxi.
|
|
15</scripRef>), <i>The water was spent in the bottle;</i> yet we do
|
|
not find that they murmured, and therefore God, in compassion to
|
|
them, brought them to a well of water, to encourage them to wait on
|
|
him in humble silence and expectation and to believe that he would
|
|
graciously take cognizance of their wants, though they did not
|
|
complain of them. In this world, we do at the best but pitch in
|
|
<i>Oboth,</i> where our comforts lie in close and scanty vessels;
|
|
when we come to heaven we shall remove to <i>Beer,</i> the well of
|
|
life, the fountain of living waters. Hitherto we have found, when
|
|
they were supplied with water, they asked it in unjust discontent,
|
|
and God gave it in just displeasure; but here we find, (1.) That
|
|
God gave it in love (<scripRef passage="Nu 21:16" id="Num.xxii-p16.4" parsed="|Num|21|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.16"><i>v.</i>
|
|
16</scripRef>): <i>Gather the people together,</i> to be witnesses
|
|
of the wonder, and joint-sharers in the favour, <i>and I will give
|
|
them water.</i> Before they prayed, God granted, and anticipated
|
|
them with the blessings of his goodness. (2.) That they received it
|
|
with joy and thankfulness, which made the mercy doubly sweet to
|
|
them, <scripRef passage="Nu 21:17" id="Num.xxii-p16.5" parsed="|Num|21|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. Then
|
|
they sang this song, to the glory of God and the encouragement of
|
|
one another, <i>Spring up, O well!</i> Thus they pray that it may
|
|
spring up, for promised mercies must be fetched in by prayer; they
|
|
triumph that it does spring up, and meet it with their joyful
|
|
acclamations. With joy must we <i>draw water out of the wells of
|
|
salvation,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 11:3" id="Num.xxii-p16.6" parsed="|Isa|11|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.11.3">Isa. xi. 3</scripRef>.
|
|
As the brazen serpent was a figure of Christ, who is lifted up for
|
|
our cure, so is this well a figure of the Spirit, who is poured
|
|
forth for our comfort, and from whom flow to us <i>rivers of living
|
|
waters,</i> <scripRef passage="Joh 7:38" id="Num.xxii-p16.7" parsed="|John|7|38|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.7.38">John vii. 38</scripRef>.
|
|
Does this well spring up in our souls? We should sing to it; take
|
|
the comfort to ourselves, and give the glory to God; stir up this
|
|
gift, sing to it, <i>Spring up, O well!</i> thou <i>fountain of
|
|
gardens,</i> to water my soul (<scripRef passage="So 4:15" id="Num.xxii-p16.8" parsed="|Song|4|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Song.4.15">Cant.
|
|
iv. 15</scripRef>), plead the promise, which perhaps alludes to
|
|
this story (<scripRef passage="Isa 41:17,18" id="Num.xxii-p16.9" parsed="|Isa|41|17|41|18" osisRef="Bible:Isa.41.17-Isa.41.18">Isa. xli. 17,
|
|
18</scripRef>), <i>I will make the wilderness wells of water.</i>
|
|
(3.) That whereas before the remembrance of the miracle was
|
|
perpetuated in the names given to the places, which signified the
|
|
people's strife and murmuring, now it was perpetuated in a song of
|
|
praise, which preserved on record the manner in which it was done
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 21:18" id="Num.xxii-p16.10" parsed="|Num|21|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>): <i>The
|
|
princes digged the well,</i> the seventy elders, it is probable,
|
|
<i>by direction of the lawgiver</i> (that is, Moses, under God)
|
|
<i>with their staves;</i> that is, with their staves they made
|
|
holes in the soft and sandy ground, and God caused the water
|
|
miraculously to spring up in the holes which they made. Thus the
|
|
pious Israelites long afterwards, <i>passing through the valley of
|
|
Baca,</i> a dry and thirsty place, made wells, and God by rain from
|
|
heaven filled the pools, <scripRef passage="Ps 84:6" id="Num.xxii-p16.11" parsed="|Ps|84|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.84.6">Ps. lxxxiv.
|
|
6</scripRef>. Observe, [1.] God promised to give them water, but
|
|
they must open the ground to receive it, and give it vent. God's
|
|
favours must be expected in the use of such means as lie within our
|
|
power, but still the excellency of the power is of God. [2.] The
|
|
nobles of Israel were forward to set their hands to this work, and
|
|
used their staves, probable those that were the ensigns of their
|
|
honour and power, for the public service, and it is upon record to
|
|
their honour. And we may suppose that it was a great confirmation
|
|
to them in their offices, and a great comfort to the people, that
|
|
they were made use of by the divine power as instruments to this
|
|
miraculous supply. By this it appeared that the spirit of Moses,
|
|
who must shortly die, rested in some measure upon the nobles of
|
|
Israel. Moses did not strike the ground himself, as formerly the
|
|
rock, but gave them direction to do it, that their staves might
|
|
share in the honour of his rod, and they might comfortably hope
|
|
that when he should leave them yet God would not, but that they
|
|
also in their generation should be public blessings, and might
|
|
expect the divine presence with them as long as they acted by the
|
|
direction of the lawgiver. For comfort must be looked for only in
|
|
the way of duty; and, if we would share in divine joys, we must
|
|
carefully follow the divine direction.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 21:21-35" id="Num.xxii-p16.12" parsed="|Num|21|21|21|35" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.21-Num.21.35"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.21.21-Num.21.35">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxii-p16.13">Sihon and Og Overthrown. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxii-p16.14">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxii-p17">21 And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of
|
|
the Amorites, saying,   22 Let me pass through thy land: we
|
|
will not turn into the fields, or into the vineyards; we will not
|
|
drink <i>of</i> the waters of the well: <i>but</i> we will go along
|
|
by the king's <i>high</i> way, until we be past thy borders.  
|
|
23 And Sihon would not suffer Israel to pass through his border:
|
|
but Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against
|
|
Israel into the wilderness: and he came to Jahaz, and fought
|
|
against Israel.   24 And Israel smote him with the edge of the
|
|
sword, and possessed his land from Arnon unto Jabbok, even unto the
|
|
children of Ammon: for the border of the children of Ammon
|
|
<i>was</i> strong.   25 And Israel took all these cities: and
|
|
Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in
|
|
all the villages thereof.   26 For Heshbon <i>was</i> the city
|
|
of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the
|
|
former king of Moab, and taken all his land out of his hand, even
|
|
unto Arnon.   27 Wherefore they that speak in proverbs say,
|
|
Come into Heshbon, let the city of Sihon be built and prepared:
|
|
  28 For there is a fire gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the
|
|
city of Sihon: it hath consumed Ar of Moab, <i>and</i> the lords of
|
|
the high places of Arnon.   29 Woe to thee, Moab! thou art
|
|
undone, O people of Chemosh: he hath given his sons that escaped,
|
|
and his daughters, into captivity unto Sihon king of the Amorites.
|
|
  30 We have shot at them; Heshbon is perished even unto
|
|
Dibon, and we have laid them waste even unto Nophah, which
|
|
<i>reacheth</i> unto Medeba.   31 Thus Israel dwelt in the
|
|
land of the Amorites.   32 And Moses sent to spy out Jaazer,
|
|
and they took the villages thereof, and drove out the Amorites that
|
|
<i>were</i> there.   33 And they turned and went up by the way
|
|
of Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he, and
|
|
all his people, to the battle at Edrei.   34 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxii-p17.1">Lord</span> said unto Moses, Fear him not: for I
|
|
have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land;
|
|
and thou shalt do to him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the
|
|
Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon.   35 So they smote him, and
|
|
his sons, and all his people, until there was none left him alive:
|
|
and they possessed his land.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxii-p18">We have here an account of the victories
|
|
obtained by Israel over Sihon and Og, which must be distinctly
|
|
considered, not only because they are here distinctly related, but
|
|
because long afterwards the memorial of them is distinctly
|
|
celebrated, and they are severally assigned as instances of
|
|
everlasting mercy. He slew <i>Sihon king of the Amorites, for his
|
|
mercy endureth for ever, and Og the king of Bashan, for his mercy
|
|
endureth for ever,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 136:19,20" id="Num.xxii-p18.1" parsed="|Ps|136|19|136|20" osisRef="Bible:Ps.136.19-Ps.136.20">Ps. cxxxvi.
|
|
19, 20</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxii-p19">I. Israel sent a peaceable message to Sihon
|
|
king of the Amorites (<scripRef passage="Nu 21:21" id="Num.xxii-p19.1" parsed="|Num|21|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.21"><i>v.</i>
|
|
21</scripRef>), but received an unpeaceable return, worse than that
|
|
of the Edomites to the like message, <scripRef passage="Nu 20:18,20" id="Num.xxii-p19.2" parsed="|Num|20|18|0|0;|Num|20|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.18 Bible:Num.20.20"><i>ch.</i> xx. 18, 20</scripRef>. For the Edomites
|
|
only refused them a passage, and stood upon their own defence to
|
|
keep them out; but Sihon went out with his forces <i>against Israel
|
|
in the wilderness,</i> out of his own borders, without any
|
|
provocation given him (<scripRef passage="Nu 21:23" id="Num.xxii-p19.3" parsed="|Num|21|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.23"><i>v.</i>
|
|
23</scripRef>), and so ran himself upon his own ruin. Jephtha
|
|
intimates that he was prompted by his politics to do this
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Jdg 11:20" id="Num.xxii-p19.4" parsed="|Judg|11|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.11.20">Judg. xi. 20</scripRef>), <i>Sihon
|
|
trusted not Israel to pass through his coast;</i> but his politics
|
|
deceived him, for Moses says, <i>God hardened his spirit and made
|
|
his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into the hand of
|
|
Israel,</i> <scripRef passage="De 2:30" id="Num.xxii-p19.5" parsed="|Deut|2|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.30">Deut. ii. 30</scripRef>.
|
|
The enemies of God's church are often infatuated in those very
|
|
counsels which they think most wisely taken. Sihon's army was
|
|
routed, and not only so, but all his country came into the
|
|
possession of Israel, <scripRef passage="Nu 21:24,25" id="Num.xxii-p19.6" parsed="|Num|21|24|21|25" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.24-Num.21.25"><i>v.</i> 24,
|
|
25</scripRef>. This seizure is justified, 1. Against the Amorites
|
|
themselves, for they were the aggressors, and provoked the
|
|
Israelites to battle; and yet, perhaps, that would not have been
|
|
sufficient to entitle Israel to their land, but that God himself,
|
|
the King of nations, the Lord of the whole earth, had given them a
|
|
grant of it. The Amorites formed one of the devoted nations whose
|
|
land God had promised to Abraham and his seed, which promise should
|
|
be performed when the iniquity of the Amorites should be full,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 15:16" id="Num.xxii-p19.7" parsed="|Gen|15|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.16">Gen. xv. 16</scripRef>. Jephtha
|
|
insists upon this grant as their title, <scripRef passage="Jdg 11:23,24" id="Num.xxii-p19.8" parsed="|Judg|11|23|11|24" osisRef="Bible:Judg.11.23-Judg.11.24">Judg. xi. 23, 24</scripRef>. The victory which God
|
|
gave them over the Amorites put them in possession, and then, the
|
|
promise made to their fathers having given them a right, by virtue
|
|
of that they kept possession. 2. Against the Moabites, who had
|
|
formerly been the lords-proprietors of this country. If they should
|
|
ever lay claim to it, and should plead that God himself had
|
|
provided that <i>none of their land should be given to Israel for a
|
|
possession</i> (<scripRef passage="De 2:9" id="Num.xxii-p19.9" parsed="|Deut|2|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.9">Deut. ii. 9</scripRef>),
|
|
Moses here furnishes posterity with a replication to their plea,
|
|
and Jephtha makes use of it against the Amorites 260 years
|
|
afterwards, when Israel's title to this country was questioned.
|
|
(1.) The justification itself is that though it was true this
|
|
country had belonged to the Moabites, yet the Amorites had taken it
|
|
from them some time before, and were now in full and quiet
|
|
possession of it, <scripRef passage="Nu 21:26" id="Num.xxii-p19.10" parsed="|Num|21|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.26"><i>v.</i>
|
|
26</scripRef>. The Israelites did not take it out of the hands of
|
|
the Moabites, they had before lost it to the Amorites, and were
|
|
constrained to give up their pretensions to it; and, when Israel
|
|
had taken it from the Amorites, they were under no obligation to
|
|
restore it to the Moabites, whose title to it was long since
|
|
extinguished. See here the uncertainty of worldly possessions, how
|
|
often they change their owners, and how soon we may be deprived of
|
|
them, even when we think ourselves most sure of them; <i>they make
|
|
themselves wings.</i> It is our wisdom therefore to secure the good
|
|
part which cannot be taken away from us. See also the wisdom of the
|
|
divine Providence and its perfect foresight, by which preparation
|
|
is made long before for the accomplishment of all God's purposes in
|
|
their season. This country being designed in due time for Israel,
|
|
it is beforehand put into the hand of the Amorites, who little
|
|
think that they have it but as trustees till Israel come of age,
|
|
and then must surrender it. We understand not the vast reaches of
|
|
Providence, but known unto God are all his works, as appears in
|
|
this instance, that he <i>set the bounds of the people according to
|
|
the number of the children of Israel,</i> <scripRef passage="De 32:8" id="Num.xxii-p19.11" parsed="|Deut|32|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.8">Deut. xxxii. 8</scripRef>. All that land which he
|
|
intended for his chosen people he put into the possession of the
|
|
devoted nations, that were to be driven out. (2.) For proof of the
|
|
allegation, he refers to the authentic records of the country, for
|
|
so their proverbs or songs were, one of which he quotes some
|
|
passages out of (<scripRef passage="Nu 21:27-30" id="Num.xxii-p19.12" parsed="|Num|21|27|21|30" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.27-Num.21.30"><i>v.</i>
|
|
27-30</scripRef>), which sufficiently proves what is vouched for,
|
|
namely, [1.] That such and such places that are here named, though
|
|
they had been in the possession of the Moabites, had by right of
|
|
war become the dominion of Sihon king of the Amorites. Heshbon had
|
|
become his city, and he obtained such a quiet possession of it that
|
|
it was built and prepared for him (<scripRef passage="Nu 21:27" id="Num.xxii-p19.13" parsed="|Num|21|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>), and the country to Dibon and
|
|
Nophah was likewise subdued, and annexed to the kingdom of the
|
|
Amorites, <scripRef passage="Nu 21:30" id="Num.xxii-p19.14" parsed="|Num|21|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>.
|
|
[2.] That the Moabites were utterly disabled ever to regain the
|
|
possession. Even Ar of Moab, though not taken or attempted by
|
|
Sihon, but still remaining the metropolis of Moab, yet was so
|
|
wasted by this loss that is would never be able to make head,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 21:28" id="Num.xxii-p19.15" parsed="|Num|21|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>. The Moabites
|
|
were undone, and even Chemosh their god had given them up, as
|
|
unable to rescue them out of the hands of Sihon, <scripRef passage="Nu 21:29" id="Num.xxii-p19.16" parsed="|Num|21|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>. By all this it appears that the
|
|
Moabites' claim to this country was barred for ever. There may be a
|
|
further reason for inserting this Amorite poem, namely, to show
|
|
that the triumphing of the wicked is short. Those that had
|
|
conquered the Moabites, and insulted over them, were now themselves
|
|
conquered and insulted over by the Israel of God. It is very
|
|
probable that the same Sihon, king of the Amorites, that had got
|
|
this country from the Moabites, now lost it to the Israelites; for,
|
|
though it is said to be taken from a former king of Moab (<scripRef passage="Nu 21:26" id="Num.xxii-p19.17" parsed="|Num|21|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>), yet not by a former
|
|
king of the Amorites; and then it shows how sometimes justice makes
|
|
men to see the loss of that which they got by violence, and were
|
|
puffed up with the gain of. They are <i>exalted but for a little
|
|
while,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 24:24" id="Num.xxii-p19.18" parsed="|Job|24|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.24.24">Job xxiv.
|
|
24</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxii-p20">II. Og king of Bashan, instead of being
|
|
warned by the fate of his neighbours to make peace with Israel, is
|
|
instigated by it to make war with them, which proves in like manner
|
|
to be his destruction. Og was also an Amorite, and therefore
|
|
perhaps thought himself better able to deal with Israel than his
|
|
neighbours were, and more likely to prevail, because of his own
|
|
gigantic strength and stature, which Moses takes notice of,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 3:11" id="Num.xxii-p20.1" parsed="|Deut|3|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.3.11">Deut. iii. 11</scripRef>, where he
|
|
gives a more full account of this story. Here observe, 1. That the
|
|
Amorite begins the war (<scripRef passage="Nu 21:33" id="Num.xxii-p20.2" parsed="|Num|21|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.33"><i>v.</i>
|
|
33</scripRef>): He <i>went out to battle against Israel.</i> His
|
|
country was very rich and pleasant. Bashan was famous for the best
|
|
timber (witness the oaks of Bashan), and the best breed of cattle,
|
|
witness the bulls and kine of Bashan, and the lambs and rams of
|
|
that country, which are celebrated, <scripRef passage="De 32:14" id="Num.xxii-p20.3" parsed="|Deut|32|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.14">Deut. xxxii. 14</scripRef>. Wicked men do their utmost
|
|
to secure themselves and their possessions against the judgments of
|
|
God, but all in vain, when their day comes, on which they must
|
|
fall. 2. That God interests himself in the cause, bids Israel not
|
|
to fear this threatening force, and promises a complete victory:
|
|
"<i>I have delivered him into thy hand</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 21:34" id="Num.xxii-p20.4" parsed="|Num|21|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.34"><i>v.</i> 34</scripRef>); the thing is as good as done
|
|
already, it is all thy own, enter and take possession." Giants are
|
|
but worms before God's power. 3. That Israel is more than a
|
|
conqueror, not only routs the enemies' army, but gains the enemies'
|
|
country, which afterwards was part of the inheritance of the two
|
|
tribes and a half that were first seated on the other side Jordan.
|
|
God gave Israel these successes, while Moses was yet with them,
|
|
both for his comfort (that he might see the beginning of that
|
|
glorious work, which he must not live to see the finishing of) and
|
|
for the encouragement of the people in the war of Canaan under
|
|
Joshua. Though this was to them in comparison but as the day of
|
|
small things, yet it was an earnest of great things.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXII" n="xxiii" progress="75.62%" prev="Num.xxii" next="Num.xxiv" id="Num.xxiii">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.xxiii-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.xxiii-p0.2">CHAP. XXII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.xxiii-p1">At this chapter begins the famous story of Balak
|
|
and Balaam, their attempt to curse Israel, and the baffling of that
|
|
attempt; God's people are long afterwards told to remember what
|
|
Balak the king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor
|
|
answered him, that they might know the righteousness of the Lord,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mic 6:5" id="Num.xxiii-p1.1" parsed="|Mic|6|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mic.6.5">Mic. vi. 5</scripRef>. In this chapter
|
|
we have, I. Balak's fear of Israel, and the plot he had to get them
|
|
cursed, <scripRef passage="Nu 22:1-4" id="Num.xxiii-p1.2" parsed="|Num|22|1|22|4" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.1-Num.22.4">ver. 1-4</scripRef>. II. The
|
|
embassy he sent to Balaam, a conjurer, to fetch him for that
|
|
purpose, and the disappointment he met with in the first embassy,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 22:5-14" id="Num.xxiii-p1.3" parsed="|Num|22|5|22|14" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.5-Num.22.14">ver. 5-14</scripRef>. III. Balaam's
|
|
coming to him upon his second message, <scripRef passage="Nu 22:15-21" id="Num.xxiii-p1.4" parsed="|Num|22|15|22|21" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.15-Num.22.21">ver. 15-21</scripRef>. IV. The opposition Balaam met
|
|
with by the way, <scripRef passage="Nu 22:22-35" id="Num.xxiii-p1.5" parsed="|Num|22|22|22|35" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.22-Num.22.35">ver.
|
|
22-35</scripRef>. V. The interview at length between Balak and
|
|
Balaam, <scripRef passage="Nu 22:36-41" id="Num.xxiii-p1.6" parsed="|Num|22|36|22|41" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.36-Num.22.41">ver. 36</scripRef>,
|
|
&c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 22" id="Num.xxiii-p1.7" parsed="|Num|22|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 22:1-14" id="Num.xxiii-p1.8" parsed="|Num|22|1|22|14" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.1-Num.22.14"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.22.1-Num.22.14">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxiii-p1.9">Balak Sends for Balaam. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxiii-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxiii-p2">1 And the children of Israel set forward, and
|
|
pitched in the plains of Moab on this side Jordan <i>by</i>
|
|
Jericho.   2 And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel
|
|
had done to the Amorites.   3 And Moab was sore afraid of the
|
|
people, because they <i>were</i> many: and Moab was distressed
|
|
because of the children of Israel.   4 And Moab said unto the
|
|
elders of Midian, Now shall this company lick up all <i>that
|
|
are</i> round about us, as the ox licketh up the grass of the
|
|
field. And Balak the son of Zippor <i>was</i> king of the Moabites
|
|
at that time.   5 He sent messengers therefore unto Balaam the
|
|
son of Beor to Pethor, which <i>is</i> by the river of the land of
|
|
the children of his people, to call him, saying, Behold, there is a
|
|
people come out from Egypt: behold, they cover the face of the
|
|
earth, and they abide over against me:   6 Come now therefore,
|
|
I pray thee, curse me this people; for they <i>are</i> too mighty
|
|
for me: peradventure I shall prevail, <i>that</i> we may smite
|
|
them, and <i>that</i> I may drive them out of the land: for I wot
|
|
that he whom thou blessest <i>is</i> blessed, and he whom thou
|
|
cursest is cursed.   7 And the elders of Moab and the elders
|
|
of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand;
|
|
and they came unto Balaam, and spake unto him the words of Balak.
|
|
  8 And he said unto them, Lodge here this night, and I will
|
|
bring you word again, as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxiii-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
shall speak unto me: and the princes of Moab abode with Balaam.
|
|
  9 And God came unto Balaam, and said, What men <i>are</i>
|
|
these with thee?   10 And Balaam said unto God, Balak the son
|
|
of Zippor, king of Moab, hath sent unto me, <i>saying,</i>  
|
|
11 Behold, <i>there is</i> a people come out of Egypt, which
|
|
covereth the face of the earth: come now, curse me them;
|
|
peradventure I shall be able to overcome them, and drive them out.
|
|
  12 And God said unto Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them;
|
|
thou shalt not curse the people: for they <i>are</i> blessed.
|
|
  13 And Balaam rose up in the morning, and said unto the
|
|
princes of Balak, Get you into your land: for the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxiii-p2.2">Lord</span> refuseth to give me leave to go with you.
|
|
  14 And the princes of Moab rose up, and they went unto
|
|
Balak, and said, Balaam refuseth to come with us.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiii-p3">The children of Israel have at length
|
|
finished their wanderings in the wilderness, out of which they went
|
|
up (<scripRef passage="Nu 21:18" id="Num.xxiii-p3.1" parsed="|Num|21|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.21.18"><i>ch.</i> xxi. 18</scripRef>),
|
|
and are now encamped in the plains of Moab near Jordan, where they
|
|
continued till they passed through Jordan under Joshua, after the
|
|
death of Moses. Now we have here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiii-p4">I. The fright which the Moabites were in
|
|
upon the approach of Israel, <scripRef passage="Nu 22:2-4" id="Num.xxiii-p4.1" parsed="|Num|22|2|22|4" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.2-Num.22.4"><i>v.</i> 2-4</scripRef>. They needed not to fear any
|
|
harm from them if they knew (and it is probable that Moses let them
|
|
know) the orders God had given to Israel not to contend with the
|
|
Moabites, nor to use any hostility against them, <scripRef passage="De 2:9" id="Num.xxiii-p4.2" parsed="|Deut|2|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.9">Deut. ii. 9</scripRef>. But, if they had any notice of
|
|
this, they were jealous that it was but a sham, to make them
|
|
secure, that they might be the more easily conquered.
|
|
Notwithstanding the old friendship between Abraham and Lot, the
|
|
Moabites resolved to ruin Israel if they could, and therefore they
|
|
will take it for granted, without any ground for the suspicion,
|
|
that Israel resolves to ruin them. Thus it is common for those that
|
|
design mischief to pretend that mischief is designed against them;
|
|
and their groundless jealousies must be the colour of their
|
|
causeless malice. They hear of their triumphs over the Amorites
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 22:2" id="Num.xxiii-p4.3" parsed="|Num|22|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), and think
|
|
that their own house is in danger when their neighbour's is on
|
|
fire. They observe their multitudes (<scripRef passage="Nu 22:3" id="Num.xxiii-p4.4" parsed="|Num|22|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>): <i>They were many;</i> and hence
|
|
infer how easily they would conquer their country, and all about
|
|
them if some speedy and effectual course were not taken to stop the
|
|
progress of their victorious arms: "They shall <i>lick up</i> or
|
|
devour us, and <i>all that are round about us,</i> as speedily and
|
|
irresistibly <i>as the ox eats up the grass</i>" (<scripRef passage="Nu 22:4" id="Num.xxiii-p4.5" parsed="|Num|22|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>), owning themselves to be
|
|
an unequal match for so formidable an enemy. Therefore they were
|
|
sorely afraid and distressed themselves; thus were the wicked <i>in
|
|
great fear where no fear was,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 53:5" id="Num.xxiii-p4.6" parsed="|Ps|53|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.53.5">Ps.
|
|
liii. 5</scripRef>. These fears they communicated to their
|
|
neighbours, the elders of Midian, that some measures might be
|
|
concerted between them for their common safety; for, if the kingdom
|
|
of Moab fall, the republic of Midian cannot stand long. The
|
|
Moabites, if they had pleased, might have made a good use of the
|
|
advances of Israel, and their successes against the Amorites. They
|
|
had reason to rejoice, and give God and Israel thanks for freeing
|
|
them from the threatening power of Sihon king of the Amorites, who
|
|
had taken from them part of their country, and was likely to
|
|
overrun the rest. They had reason likewise to court Israel's
|
|
friendship, and to come in to their assistance; but having forsaken
|
|
the religion of their father Lot, and being sunk into idolatry,
|
|
they hated the people of the God of Abraham, and were justly
|
|
infatuated in their counsels and given up to distress.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiii-p5">II. The project which the king of Moab
|
|
formed to get the people of Israel cursed, that is, to set God
|
|
against them, who, he perceived, hitherto fought for them. He
|
|
trusted more to his arts than to his arms, and had a notion that if
|
|
he could but get some prophet or other, with his powerful charms,
|
|
to imprecate evil upon them, and to pronounce a blessing upon
|
|
himself and his forces, then, though otherwise too weak, he should
|
|
be able to deal with them. This notion arose, 1. Out of the remains
|
|
of some religion; for it owns a dependence upon some visible
|
|
sovereign powers that rule in the affairs of the children of men
|
|
and determine them, and an obligation upon us to make application
|
|
to these powers. 2. Out of the ruins of the true religion; for if
|
|
the Midianites and Moabites had not wretchedly degenerated from the
|
|
faith and worship of their pious ancestors, Abraham and Lot, they
|
|
could not have imagined it possible to do any mischief with their
|
|
curses to a people who alone adhered to the service of the true
|
|
God, from whose service they had themselves revolted.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiii-p6">III. The court which he made to Balaam the
|
|
son of Beor, a famous conjurer, to engage him to curse Israel. The
|
|
Balaam lived a great way off, in that country whence Abraham came,
|
|
and where Laban lived; but, though it was probable that there were
|
|
many nearer home that were pretenders to divination, yet none had
|
|
so great a reputation for success as Balaam, and Balak will employ
|
|
the best he can hear of, though he send a great way for him, so
|
|
much is his heart upon this project. And to gain him, 1. He makes
|
|
him his friend, complaining to him, as his confidant, of the danger
|
|
he was in from the numbers and neighbourhood of the camp of Israel:
|
|
<i>They cover the face of the earth,</i> and they <i>abide over
|
|
against me,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 22:5" id="Num.xxiii-p6.1" parsed="|Num|22|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>.
|
|
2. In effect he makes him his god, by the great power he attributes
|
|
to his word: <i>He whom thou blessest is blessed,</i> and <i>he
|
|
whom thou cursest is cursed,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 22:6" id="Num.xxiii-p6.2" parsed="|Num|22|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. The learned bishop Patrick
|
|
inclines to think, with many of the Jewish writers, that Balaam had
|
|
been a great prophet, who, for the accomplishment of his
|
|
predictions and the answers of his prayers, both for good and evil,
|
|
had been looked upon justly as a man of great interest with God;
|
|
but that, growing proud and covetous, God departed from him, and
|
|
then, to support his sinking credit, he betook himself to
|
|
diabolical arts. He is called a <i>prophet</i> (<scripRef passage="2Pe 2:16" id="Num.xxiii-p6.3" parsed="|2Pet|2|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.2.16">2 Pet. ii. 16</scripRef>,) because he had been one, or
|
|
perhaps he had raised his reputation from the first by his magical
|
|
charms, as Simon Magus, who bewitched the people so far that he was
|
|
called <i>the great power of God,</i> <scripRef passage="Ac 8:10" id="Num.xxiii-p6.4" parsed="|Acts|8|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.8.10">Acts viii. 10</scripRef>. Curses pronounced by God's
|
|
prophets in the name of the Lord have wonderful effects, as Noah's
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 9:25" id="Num.xxiii-p6.5" parsed="|Gen|9|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.25">Gen. ix. 25</scripRef>), and Elisha's,
|
|
<scripRef passage="2Ki 2:24" id="Num.xxiii-p6.6" parsed="|2Kgs|2|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.2.24">2 Kings ii. 24</scripRef>. But the
|
|
curse <i>causeless shall not come</i> (<scripRef passage="Pr 26:2" id="Num.xxiii-p6.7" parsed="|Prov|26|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.26.2">Prov. xxvi. 2</scripRef>), no more than Goliath's, when
|
|
he <i>cursed David by his gods,</i> <scripRef passage="1Sa 17:43" id="Num.xxiii-p6.8" parsed="|1Sam|17|43|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.17.43">1
|
|
Sam. xvii. 43</scripRef>. Let us desire to have the prayers of
|
|
God's ministers and people for us, and dread having them against
|
|
us; for they are greatly regarded by him who blesseth indeed and
|
|
curseth indeed. But Balak cannot rely upon these compliments as
|
|
sufficient to prevail with Balaam, the main inducement is yet
|
|
behind (<scripRef passage="Nu 22:7" id="Num.xxiii-p6.9" parsed="|Num|22|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>): they
|
|
took <i>the rewards of divination in their hand, the wages of
|
|
unrighteousness,</i> which he <i>loved,</i> <scripRef passage="2Pe 2:15" id="Num.xxiii-p6.10" parsed="|2Pet|2|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.2.15">2 Pet. ii. 15</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiii-p7">IV. The restraint God lays upon Balaam,
|
|
forbidding him to curse Israel. It is very probable that Balaam,
|
|
being a curious inquisitive man, was no stranger to Israel's case
|
|
and character, but had heard that God was with them of a truth, so
|
|
that he ought to have given the messengers their answer
|
|
immediately, that he would never curse a people whom God had
|
|
blessed; but he lodges the messengers, and takes a night's time to
|
|
consider what he shall do, and to receive instructions from God,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 22:8" id="Num.xxiii-p7.1" parsed="|Num|22|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. When we enter
|
|
into a parley with temptations we are in great danger of being
|
|
overcome by them. In the night God comes to him, probably in a
|
|
dream, and enquires what business those strangers had with him. He
|
|
knows it, but he will know it from him. Balaam gives him an account
|
|
of their errand (<scripRef passage="Nu 22:9-11" id="Num.xxiii-p7.2" parsed="|Num|22|9|22|11" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.9-Num.22.11"><i>v.</i>
|
|
9-11</scripRef>), and God thereupon charges him not to go with
|
|
them, or attempt to curse that blessed people, <scripRef passage="Nu 22:12" id="Num.xxiii-p7.3" parsed="|Num|22|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. Thus God sometimes, for the
|
|
preservation of his people, was pleased to speak to bad men, as to
|
|
Abimelech (<scripRef passage="Ge 20:3" id="Num.xxiii-p7.4" parsed="|Gen|20|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.3">Gen. xx. 3</scripRef>), and
|
|
to Laban, <scripRef passage="Ge 31:24" id="Num.xxiii-p7.5" parsed="|Gen|31|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.24">Gen. xxxi. 24</scripRef>.
|
|
And we read of some that were workers of iniquity, and yet in
|
|
Christ's name prophesied, and <i>did many wondrous works.</i>
|
|
Balaam is charged not only not to go to Balak, but not to offer to
|
|
curse this people, which he might have attempted at a distance; and
|
|
the reason is given: <i>They are blessed.</i> This was part of the
|
|
blessing of Abraham (<scripRef passage="Ge 12:3" id="Num.xxiii-p7.6" parsed="|Gen|12|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.3">Gen. xii.
|
|
3</scripRef>), <i>I will curse him that curseth thee;</i> so that
|
|
an attempt to curse them would be not only fruitless, but perilous.
|
|
Israel had often provoked God in the wilderness, yet he will not
|
|
suffer their enemies to curse them, for he <i>rewards them not
|
|
according to their iniquities.</i> The blessedness of those whose
|
|
sin is covered comes upon them, <scripRef passage="Ro 4:6,7" id="Num.xxiii-p7.7" parsed="|Rom|4|6|4|7" osisRef="Bible:Rom.4.6-Rom.4.7">Rom.
|
|
iv. 6, 7</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiii-p8">V. The return of the messengers without
|
|
Balaam. 1. Balaam is not faithful in returning God's answer to the
|
|
messengers, <scripRef passage="Nu 22:13" id="Num.xxiii-p8.1" parsed="|Num|22|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>.
|
|
He only tells them, <i>the Lord refuseth to give me leave to go
|
|
with you.</i> He did not tell them, as he ought to have done, that
|
|
Israel was a blessed people, and must by no means be cursed; for
|
|
then the design would have been crushed, and the temptation would
|
|
not have been renewed: but he, in effect, desired them to give his
|
|
humble service to Balak, and let him know that he applauded his
|
|
project, and would have been very glad to gratify him, but that
|
|
truly he had the character of a prophet, and must not go without
|
|
leave from God, which he had not yet obtained, and therefore for
|
|
the present he must be excused. Note, Those are a fair mark for
|
|
Satan's temptation that speak diminishingly of divine prohibitions,
|
|
as if they amounted to no more than the denial of a permission, and
|
|
as if to go against God's law were only to go without his leave. 2.
|
|
The messengers are not faithful in returning Balaam's answer to
|
|
Balak. All the account they give of it is, <i>Balaam refuseth to
|
|
come with us</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 22:14" id="Num.xxiii-p8.2" parsed="|Num|22|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.14"><i>v.</i>
|
|
14</scripRef>), intimating that he only wanted more courtship and
|
|
higher proffers; but they are not willing Balak should know that
|
|
God had signified his disallowance of the attempt. Thus are great
|
|
men wretchedly abused by the flatteries of those about them, who do
|
|
all they can to prevent their seeing their own faults and
|
|
follies.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 22" id="Num.xxiii-p8.3" parsed="|Num|22|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 22:15-21" id="Num.xxiii-p8.4" parsed="|Num|22|15|22|21" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.15-Num.22.21"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.22.15-Num.22.21">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxiii-p8.5">Balak's Second Message to
|
|
Balaam. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxiii-p8.6">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxiii-p9">15 And Balak sent yet again princes, more, and
|
|
more honourable than they.   16 And they came to Balaam, and
|
|
said to him, Thus saith Balak the son of Zippor, Let nothing, I
|
|
pray thee, hinder thee from coming unto me:   17 For I will
|
|
promote thee unto very great honour, and I will do whatsoever thou
|
|
sayest unto me: come therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people.
|
|
  18 And Balaam answered and said unto the servants of Balak,
|
|
If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot
|
|
go beyond the word of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxiii-p9.1">Lord</span> my
|
|
God, to do less or more.   19 Now therefore, I pray you, tarry
|
|
ye also here this night, that I may know what the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxiii-p9.2">Lord</span> will say unto me more.   20 And God
|
|
came unto Balaam at night, and said unto him, If the men come to
|
|
call thee, rise up, <i>and</i> go with them; but yet the word which
|
|
I shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do.   21 And Balaam
|
|
rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the
|
|
princes of Moab.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiii-p10">We have here a second embassy sent to
|
|
Balaam, to fetch him over to curse Israel. It were well for us if
|
|
we were as earnest and constant in prosecuting a good work,
|
|
notwithstanding disappointments, as Balak was in pursuing this ill
|
|
design. The enemies of the church are restless and unwearied in
|
|
their attempts against it; but he that sits in heaven laughs at
|
|
them. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiii-p11">I. The temptation Balak laid before Balaam.
|
|
He contrived to make this assault more vigorous than the former. It
|
|
is very probable that he sent double money in the hands of his
|
|
messengers; but, besides that, now he tempted him with honours,
|
|
laid a bait not only for his covetousness, but for his pride and
|
|
ambition. How earnestly should we beg of God daily to mortify in us
|
|
these two limbs of the old man! Those that know how to look with a
|
|
holy contempt upon worldly wealth and preferment will find it not
|
|
so hard a matter as most men do to keep a good conscience. See how
|
|
artfully Balak managed the temptation. 1. The messengers he sent
|
|
were <i>more,</i> and <i>more honourable,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 22:15" id="Num.xxiii-p11.1" parsed="|Num|22|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. He sent to this conjurer with
|
|
as great respect and deference to his quality as if he had been a
|
|
sovereign prince, apprehending perhaps that Balaam had thought
|
|
himself slighted in the fewness and meanness of the former
|
|
messengers. 2. The request was very urgent. This powerful prince
|
|
becomes a suitor to him: "<i>Let nothing, I pray thee, hinder
|
|
thee</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 22:16" id="Num.xxiii-p11.2" parsed="|Num|22|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>),
|
|
no, not God, nor conscience, nor any fear either of sin or shame."
|
|
3. The proffers were high: "<i>I will promote thee to very great
|
|
honour</i> among the princes of Moab;" nay, he gives him a blank,
|
|
and he shall write his own terms: <i>I will do whatsoever thou
|
|
sayest,</i> that is, "I will give thee whatever thou desirest, and
|
|
observe whatever thou orderest; thy word shall be a law to me,"
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 22:17" id="Num.xxiii-p11.3" parsed="|Num|22|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. Thus sinners
|
|
stick at no pains, spare no cost, and care not how low they stoop,
|
|
for the gratifying either of their luxury or of their malice; shall
|
|
we then be stiff and strait-handed in our compliance with the laws
|
|
of virtue? God forbid.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiii-p12">II. Balaam's seeming resistance of, but
|
|
real yielding to, this temptation. We may here discern in Balaam a
|
|
struggle between his convictions and his corruptions. 1. His
|
|
convictions charged him to adhere to the command of God, and he
|
|
spoke their language, <scripRef passage="Nu 22:18" id="Num.xxiii-p12.1" parsed="|Num|22|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.18"><i>v.</i>
|
|
18</scripRef>. Nor could any man have said better: "<i>If Balak
|
|
would give me his house full of silver and gold,</i> and that is
|
|
more than he can give or I can ask, <i>I cannot go beyond the word
|
|
of the Lord my God.</i>" See how honourably he speaks of God; he is
|
|
<i>Jehovah, my God.</i> Note, Many call God theirs that are not
|
|
his, not <i>truly</i> because not <i>only</i> his; <i>they swear by
|
|
the Lord, and by Malcham.</i> See how respectfully he speaks of the
|
|
word of God, as one resolved to stick to it, and in nothing to vary
|
|
from it, and how slightly of the wealth of this world, as if gold
|
|
and silver were nothing to him in comparison with the favour of
|
|
God; and yet, at the same time, the searcher of hearts knew that he
|
|
loved the wages of unrighteousness. Note, It is an easy thing for
|
|
bad men to speak very good words, and with their mouth to make a
|
|
show of piety. There is no judging of men by their words. God knows
|
|
the heart. 2. His corruptions at the same time strongly inclined
|
|
him to go contrary to the command. He seemed to refuse the
|
|
temptation, <scripRef passage="Nu 22:18" id="Num.xxiii-p12.2" parsed="|Num|22|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>.
|
|
But even then he expressed no abhorrence of it, as Christ did when
|
|
he had the kingdoms of the world offered him (<i>Get thee hence
|
|
Satan</i>), and as Peter did when Simon Magus offered him money:
|
|
<i>Thy money perish with thee.</i> But it appears (<scripRef passage="Nu 22:19" id="Num.xxiii-p12.3" parsed="|Num|22|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>) that he had a strong
|
|
inclination to accept the proffer; for he would further attend, to
|
|
know what God would say to him, hoping that he might alter his mind
|
|
and give him leave to go. This was a vile reflection upon God
|
|
Almighty, as if he could change his mind, and now at last suffer
|
|
those to be cursed whom he had pronounced blessed, and as if he
|
|
would be brought to allow what he had already declared to be evil.
|
|
Surely he thought God <i>altogether such a one as himself.</i> He
|
|
had already been told what the will of God was, in which he ought
|
|
to have acquiesced, and not to have desired a re-hearing of that
|
|
cause which was already so plainly determined. Note, It is a very
|
|
great affront to God, and a certain evidence of the dominion of
|
|
corruption in the heart, to beg leave to sin.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiii-p13">III. The permission God gave him to go,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 22:20" id="Num.xxiii-p13.1" parsed="|Num|22|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. God came to
|
|
him, probably by an anger, and told him he might, if he pleased, go
|
|
with Balak's messengers. <i>So he gave him up to his own heart's
|
|
lust.</i> "Since thou hast such a mind to go, even go, yet know
|
|
that <i>the journey thou undertakest shall not be for thy
|
|
honour;</i> for, though thou hast leave to go, thou shalt not, as
|
|
thou hopest, have leave to curse, <i>for the word which I shall say
|
|
unto thee, that thou shalt do.</i>" Note, God has wicked men in a
|
|
chain; <i>hitherto they shall come</i> by his permission, but no
|
|
further that he does permit them. Thus he makes the wrath of man to
|
|
praise him, yet, at the same time, restrains the remainder of it.
|
|
It was in anger that God said to Balaam, "Go with them," and we
|
|
have reason to think that Balaam himself so understood it, for we
|
|
do not find him pleading this allowance when God reproved him for
|
|
going. Note, As God sometimes denies the prayers of his people in
|
|
love, so sometimes he grants the desires of the wicked in
|
|
wrath.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiii-p14">IV. His setting out in the journey,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 22:21" id="Num.xxiii-p14.1" parsed="|Num|22|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. God gave him
|
|
leave to go <i>if the men called him,</i> but he was so fond of the
|
|
journey that we do not find he staid for their calling him, but he
|
|
himself <i>rose up in the morning,</i> got every thing ready with
|
|
all speed, and <i>went with the princes of Moab,</i> who were proud
|
|
enough that they had carried their point. The apostle describes
|
|
Balaam's sin here to be that he <i>ran greedily into an error for
|
|
reward,</i> <scripRef passage="Jude 1:11" id="Num.xxiii-p14.2" parsed="|Jude|1|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jude.1.11">Jude 11</scripRef>. The
|
|
love of money is the root of all evil.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 22:22-35" id="Num.xxiii-p14.3" parsed="|Num|22|22|22|35" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.22-Num.22.35"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.22.22-Num.22.35">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxiii-p14.4">God's Displeasure against Balaam;
|
|
Remonstrance of Balaam's Ass; The Angel Appears to
|
|
Balaam. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxiii-p14.5">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxiii-p15">22 And God's anger was kindled because he went:
|
|
and the angel of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxiii-p15.1">Lord</span> stood in
|
|
the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his
|
|
ass, and his two servants <i>were</i> with him.   23 And the
|
|
ass saw the angel of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxiii-p15.2">Lord</span>
|
|
standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and the ass
|
|
turned aside out of the way, and went into the field: and Balaam
|
|
smote the ass, to turn her into the way.   24 But the angel of
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxiii-p15.3">Lord</span> stood in a path of the
|
|
vineyards, a wall <i>being</i> on this side, and a wall on that
|
|
side.   25 And when the ass saw the angel of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxiii-p15.4">Lord</span>, she thrust herself unto the wall, and
|
|
crushed Balaam's foot against the wall: and he smote her again.
|
|
  26 And the angel of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxiii-p15.5">Lord</span>
|
|
went further, and stood in a narrow place, where <i>was</i> no way
|
|
to turn either to the right hand or to the left.   27 And when
|
|
the ass saw the angel of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxiii-p15.6">Lord</span>,
|
|
she fell down under Balaam: and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he
|
|
smote the ass with a staff.   28 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxiii-p15.7">Lord</span> opened the mouth of the ass, and she said
|
|
unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me
|
|
these three times?   29 And Balaam said unto the ass, Because
|
|
thou hast mocked me: I would there were a sword in mine hand, for
|
|
now would I kill thee.   30 And the ass said unto Balaam,
|
|
<i>Am</i> not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since
|
|
<i>I was</i> thine unto this day? was I ever wont to do so unto
|
|
thee? And he said, Nay.   31 Then the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxiii-p15.8">Lord</span> opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the
|
|
angel of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxiii-p15.9">Lord</span> standing in the
|
|
way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and he bowed down his head,
|
|
and fell flat on his face.   32 And the angel of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxiii-p15.10">Lord</span> said unto him, Wherefore hast thou
|
|
smitten thine ass these three times? behold, I went out to
|
|
withstand thee, because <i>thy</i> way is perverse before me:
|
|
  33 And the ass saw me, and turned from me these three times:
|
|
unless she had turned from me, surely now also I had slain thee,
|
|
and saved her alive.   34 And Balaam said unto the angel of
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxiii-p15.11">Lord</span>, I have sinned; for I knew
|
|
not that thou stoodest in the way against me: now therefore, if it
|
|
displease thee, I will get me back again.   35 And the angel
|
|
of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxiii-p15.12">Lord</span> said unto Balaam, Go
|
|
with the men: but only the word that I shall speak unto thee, that
|
|
thou shalt speak. So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiii-p16">We have here an account of the opposition
|
|
God gave to Balaam in his journey towards Moab; probably the
|
|
princes had gone before, or gone some other way, and Balaam had
|
|
pointed out where he would meet them, or where they should stay for
|
|
him, for we read nothing of them in this part of our narrative,
|
|
only that Balaam, like a person of some quality, was attended with
|
|
his two men-honour enough, one would think, for such a man, he
|
|
needed not be beholden to Balak for promotion.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiii-p17">I. Here is God's displeasure against Balaam
|
|
for undertaking this journey: God's <i>anger was kindled because he
|
|
went,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 22:22" id="Num.xxiii-p17.1" parsed="|Num|22|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, 1. The sin of sinners is not to be thought the less provoking
|
|
to God because he permits it. We must not think that, because God
|
|
does not by his providence restrain men from sin, therefore he
|
|
approves of it, or that it is therefore not hateful to him; he
|
|
suffers sin, and yet is angry at it. 2. Nothing is more displeasing
|
|
to God than malicious designs against his people; he that touches
|
|
them touches the apple of his eye.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiii-p18">II. The way God took to let Balaam know his
|
|
displeasure against him: <i>An angel stood in the way for an
|
|
adversary.</i> Now God fulfilled his promise to Israel (<scripRef passage="Ex 23:22" id="Num.xxiii-p18.1" parsed="|Exod|23|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.22">Exod. xxiii. 22</scripRef>), <i>I will be an
|
|
enemy to thy enemies.</i> The holy angels are adversaries to sin,
|
|
and perhaps are employed more than we are aware of in preventing
|
|
it, particularly in opposing those that have any ill designs
|
|
against God's church and people, for whom Michael our prince stands
|
|
up, <scripRef passage="Da 12:1,Da 10:21" id="Num.xxiii-p18.2" parsed="|Dan|12|1|0|0;|Dan|10|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.12.1 Bible:Dan.10.21">Dan. xii. 1; x.
|
|
21</scripRef>. What a comfort is this to all that wish well to the
|
|
Israel of God, that he never suffers wicked men to form an attempt
|
|
against them, without sending his holy angels forth to break the
|
|
attempt and secure his little ones! When the prophet saw the four
|
|
horns that scattered Judah, at the same time he saw four carpenters
|
|
that were to fray those horns, <scripRef passage="Zec 1:18-21" id="Num.xxiii-p18.3" parsed="|Zech|1|18|1|21" osisRef="Bible:Zech.1.18-Zech.1.21">Zech. i. 18</scripRef>, &c. When the <i>enemy
|
|
comes in like a flood the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a
|
|
standard against him.</i> This angel was an adversary to Balaam,
|
|
because Balaam counted him his adversary; otherwise those are
|
|
really our best friends, and we are so to reckon them, that stop
|
|
our progress in a sinful way. The angel stood with his sword drawn
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 22:23" id="Num.xxiii-p18.4" parsed="|Num|22|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>), <i>a
|
|
flaming sword,</i> like that in the hands of the cherubim
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 3:24" id="Num.xxiii-p18.5" parsed="|Gen|3|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.24">Gen. iii. 24</scripRef>), <i>turning
|
|
every way.</i> Note, The holy angels are at war with those with
|
|
whom God is angry, for they are the ministers of his justice.
|
|
Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiii-p19">1. Balaam had notice given him of God's
|
|
displeasure, by the ass, and this <i>did not startle him.</i> The
|
|
<i>ass saw the angel,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 22:23" id="Num.xxiii-p19.1" parsed="|Num|22|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.23"><i>v.</i>
|
|
23</scripRef>. How vainly did Balaam boast that he was a man whose
|
|
<i>eyes were open,</i> and that he <i>saw the visions of the
|
|
Almighty</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 24:3,4" id="Num.xxiii-p19.2" parsed="|Num|24|3|24|4" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.3-Num.24.4"><i>ch.</i> xxiv. 3,
|
|
4</scripRef>), when the ass he rode on saw more than he did, his
|
|
eyes being blinded with covetousness and ambition and dazzled with
|
|
the rewards of divination! Note, Many have God against them, and
|
|
his holy angels, but are not aware of it. The <i>ass knows his
|
|
owner,</i> sees his danger, but Balaam does <i>not know, does not
|
|
consider,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 1:3" id="Num.xxiii-p19.3" parsed="|Isa|1|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.3">Isa. i. 3</scripRef>.
|
|
<i>Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 26:11" id="Num.xxiii-p19.4" parsed="|Isa|26|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.26.11">Isa. xxvi. 11</scripRef>. Let none be
|
|
puffed up with a conceit of visions and revelations, when even an
|
|
ass saw an angel; yet let those be ashamed of their own
|
|
sottishness, worse than that of the beasts that perish, who, when
|
|
they are told of the sword of God's wrath drawn against them, while
|
|
they persist in wicked ways, yet will go on: the ass understood the
|
|
law of self-preservation better than so; for, to save both herself
|
|
and her senseless rider, (1.) She <i>turned aside out of the
|
|
way,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 22:23" id="Num.xxiii-p19.5" parsed="|Num|22|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>.
|
|
Balaam should have taken the hint of this, and considered whether
|
|
he was not out of the way of his duty; but, instead of this, he
|
|
<i>beat her into the way again.</i> Thus those who by wilful sin
|
|
are running headlong into perdition are angry at those that would
|
|
prevent their ruin. (2.) She had not gone much further before she
|
|
saw the angel again, and the, to avoid him, <i>ran up to a
|
|
wall,</i> and <i>crushed her rider's foot,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 22:24,25" id="Num.xxiii-p19.6" parsed="|Num|22|24|22|25" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.24-Num.22.25"><i>v.</i> 24, 25</scripRef>. How many ill accidents
|
|
are we liable to in travelling upon the road, from which if we are
|
|
preserved we must own our obligations to the divine Providence,
|
|
which by the ministry of angels <i>keeps us in all our ways, lest
|
|
we dash our foot against a stone;</i> but, if we at any time meet
|
|
with a disaster, it should put us upon enquiring whether our way be
|
|
right in the sight of God or no. The crushing of Balaam's foot,
|
|
though it was the saving of his life, provoked him so much that he
|
|
smote his ass the second time, so angry are we apt to be at that
|
|
which, though a present uneasiness, yet is a real kindness. (3.)
|
|
Upon the next encounter with the angel, the ass fell down under
|
|
Balaam, <scripRef passage="Nu 22:26,27" id="Num.xxiii-p19.7" parsed="|Num|22|26|22|27" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.26-Num.22.27"><i>v.</i> 26,
|
|
27</scripRef>. He ought to have considered that there was certainly
|
|
something extraordinary in this; for his ass was not restive, nor
|
|
did she use to serve him thus: but it is common for those whose
|
|
hearts are <i>fully set in them to do evil</i> to push on
|
|
violently, and break through all the difficulties which Providence
|
|
lays in their way to give check to them and to stop them in their
|
|
career. Balaam the third time smote his ass, though she had now
|
|
done him the best piece of service that ever she did him, saving
|
|
him from the sword of the angel, and by her falling down teaching
|
|
him to do likewise. (4.) When all this would not work upon him, God
|
|
opened the mouth of the ass, and she spoke to him once and again;
|
|
and yet neither did this move him: <i>The Lord opened the mouth of
|
|
the ass,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 22:28" id="Num.xxiii-p19.8" parsed="|Num|22|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>.
|
|
This was a great miracle, quite above the power of nature, and
|
|
wrought by the power of the God of nature, who made man's mouth,
|
|
and taught him to speak, for otherwise (since we learn to speak
|
|
purely by imitation, and therefore those that are born deaf are
|
|
consequently dumb) the first man would never have spoken, nor any
|
|
of his seed. He that made man speak could, when he pleased, make
|
|
the ass to <i>speak with man's voice,</i> <scripRef passage="2Pe 2:16" id="Num.xxiii-p19.9" parsed="|2Pet|2|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.2.16">2 Pet. ii. 16</scripRef>. Here Mr. Ainsworth observes
|
|
that the devil, when he tempted our first parents to sin, employed
|
|
a subtle serpent, but that God, when he would convince Balaam,
|
|
employed a silly ass, a creature dull and sottish to a proverb; for
|
|
Satan corrupts men's minds by the <i>craftiness of those that lie
|
|
in wait to deceive,</i> but Christ has <i>chosen the foolish things
|
|
of the world to confound the wise.</i> By a dumb ass God rebukes
|
|
the madness of the prophet, for he will never want reprovers, but
|
|
when he pleases can make the stones cry out as witnesses to him,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Lu 19:40,Hab 2:11" id="Num.xxiii-p19.10" parsed="|Luke|19|40|0|0;|Hab|2|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.19.40 Bible:Hab.2.11">Luke xix. 40; Hab. ii.
|
|
11</scripRef>. [1.] The ass complained of Balaam's cruelty
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 22:28" id="Num.xxiii-p19.11" parsed="|Num|22|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>): <i>What
|
|
have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me?</i> Note, The
|
|
righteous God will not see the meanest and weakest abused; but
|
|
either they shall be enabled to speak in their own defence or he
|
|
will some way or other speak for them. If God would not suffer a
|
|
beast to be wronged, much less a man, a Christian, a child of his
|
|
own. We cannot <i>open the mouth of the dumb,</i> as God did here,
|
|
but we may and must <i>open our mouth for the dumb,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 31:8,Job 31:13" id="Num.xxiii-p19.12" parsed="|Prov|31|8|0|0;|Job|31|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.31.8 Bible:Job.31.13">Prov. xxxi. 8; Job xxxi. 13</scripRef>.
|
|
The ass's complaint was just: <i>What have I done?</i> Note, When
|
|
we are prompted to smite any with hand or tongue, we should
|
|
consider what they have done unto us, and what provocation they
|
|
have given us. We hear it not, but thus the whole creation groans,
|
|
being burdened, <scripRef passage="Ro 8:22" id="Num.xxiii-p19.13" parsed="|Rom|8|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.8.22">Rom. viii.
|
|
22</scripRef>. It was much that Balaam was not astonished to hear
|
|
his ass speak, and put to confusion: but some think that it was no
|
|
new thing to him (being a conjurer) to be thus spoken to by his
|
|
familiars; others rather think that his brutish head-strong passion
|
|
so blinded him that he could not observe or consider the
|
|
strangeness of the thing. Nothing besots men worse than unbridled
|
|
anger. Balaam in his fury <i>wished he had a sword to kill his ass
|
|
with,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 22:29" id="Num.xxiii-p19.14" parsed="|Num|22|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>. See
|
|
his impotency; can he think by his curses to do mischief to Israel
|
|
that has it not in his power to kill his own ass? This he cannot
|
|
do, yet he fain would; and what would he get by that, but make
|
|
himself so much the poorer (as many do), to gratify his passion and
|
|
revenge? Such was the madness of this false prophet. Here bishop
|
|
Hall observes, It is ill falling into the hands of those whom the
|
|
brute-creatures find unmerciful; for <i>a good man regardeth the
|
|
life of his beast.</i> [2.] The ass reasoned with him, <scripRef passage="Nu 22:30" id="Num.xxiii-p19.15" parsed="|Num|22|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>. God enabled not only a
|
|
dumb creature to speak, but a dull creature to speak to the
|
|
purpose. Three things she argues with him from:—<i>First,</i> His
|
|
propriety in her: <i>Am not I thy ass?</i> Note, 1. God has given
|
|
to man a dominion over the creatures: they are <i>delivered into
|
|
his hand</i> to be used, and <i>put under his feet</i> to be ruled.
|
|
2. Even wicked people have a title to the possessions God gives to
|
|
them, which they are not to be wronged of. 3. The dominion God has
|
|
given us over the creatures is a good reason why we should not
|
|
abuse them. We are their lords, and therefore must not be tyrants.
|
|
<i>Secondly,</i> Her serviceableness to him: <i>On which thou hast
|
|
ridden.</i> Note, It is good for us often to consider how useful
|
|
the inferior creatures are, and have been, to us, that we may be
|
|
thankful to God, and tender of them. <i>Thirdly,</i> That she was
|
|
not wont to do so by him, and had never before crushed his foot,
|
|
nor fallen down under him; he might therefore conclude there was
|
|
something more than ordinary that made her do so now. Note, 1. The
|
|
rare occurrence of an offence should moderate our displeasure
|
|
against an offender. 2. When the creatures depart from their wonted
|
|
obedience to us, we should enquire the cause within ourselves, and
|
|
be humbled for our sin.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiii-p20">2. Balaam at length had notice of God's
|
|
displeasure by the angel, and this did startle him. When God opened
|
|
his eyes <i>he saw the angel</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 22:31" id="Num.xxiii-p20.1" parsed="|Num|22|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>), and then he himself <i>fell
|
|
flat upon his face,</i> in reverence of that glorious messenger,
|
|
and in fear of the sword he saw in his hand. God has many ways of
|
|
breading and bringing down the hard and unhumbled heart. (1.) The
|
|
angel reproved him for his outrageousness (<scripRef passage="Nu 22:32,33" id="Num.xxiii-p20.2" parsed="|Num|22|32|22|33" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.32-Num.22.33"><i>v.</i> 32, 33</scripRef>): <i>Wherefore hast thou
|
|
smitten thy ass?</i> Whether we consider it or no, it is certain
|
|
that God will call us to account for the abuses done to his
|
|
creatures. Nay, he shows him how much more reason he had to smite
|
|
upon his breast, and to condemn himself, than to fly out thus
|
|
against his ass ("<i>Thy way is perverse before me,</i> and then
|
|
how canst thou expect to prosper?"), and how much wiser his ass was
|
|
than himself, and how much beholden he was to her that she turned
|
|
aside; it was for his safety, and not for her own, for had she gone
|
|
on he had been slain, and she had been saved alive. Note, When our
|
|
eyes are opened we shall see what danger we are in in a sinful way,
|
|
and how much it was for our advantage to be crossed in it, and what
|
|
fools we were to quarrel with our crosses which helped to save our
|
|
lives. (2.) Balaam then seemed to relent (<scripRef passage="Nu 22:34" id="Num.xxiii-p20.3" parsed="|Num|22|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.34"><i>v.</i> 34</scripRef>): "<i>I have sinned,</i> sinned
|
|
in undertaking this journey, sinned in pushing on so violently;"
|
|
but he excused it with this, that he saw not the angel; yet, now
|
|
that he did see him, he was willing to go back again. That which
|
|
was displeasing to God was not so much his going as his going with
|
|
a malicious design against Israel, and a secret hope that
|
|
notwithstanding the proviso with which his permission was clogged
|
|
he might prevail to curse them, and so gratify Balak, and get
|
|
preferment under him. It does not appear that he was sensible of
|
|
this wickedness of his heart, or willing to own it, but, when he
|
|
finds he cannot go forward, he will be content (since there is no
|
|
remedy) to go back. Here is no sign that his heart is turned, but,
|
|
if his hands are tied, he cannot help it. Thus many leave their
|
|
sins only because their sins have left them. There seems to be a
|
|
reformation of the life, but what will this avail if there be no
|
|
renovation of the heart? (3.) The angel however continued his
|
|
permission: "<i>Go with the men,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 22:35" id="Num.xxiii-p20.4" parsed="|Num|22|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.35"><i>v.</i> 35</scripRef>. Go, if thou hast a mind to be
|
|
made a fool of, and to be shamed before Balak, and all the princes
|
|
of Moab. <i>Go, only the word that I shall speak unto thee, that
|
|
thou shalt speak,</i> whether thou wilt or no," for this seems not
|
|
to be a precept, but a prediction of the event, that he should not
|
|
only not be able to curse Israel, but should be forced to bless
|
|
them, which would be more for the glory of God and his own
|
|
confusion than if he had turned back. Thus God gave him fair
|
|
warning, but he would not take it; he <i>went with the princes of
|
|
Balak.</i> For the iniquity of Balaam's covetousness God was wroth,
|
|
and smote him, but he <i>went on frowardly,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 57:17" id="Num.xxiii-p20.5" parsed="|Isa|57|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.57.17">Isa. lvii. 17</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 22:36-41" id="Num.xxiii-p20.6" parsed="|Num|22|36|22|41" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.36-Num.22.41"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.22.36-Num.22.41">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxiii-p20.7">Meeting between Balak and
|
|
Balaam. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxiii-p20.8">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxiii-p21">36 And when Balak heard that Balaam was come, he
|
|
went out to meet him unto a city of Moab, which <i>is</i> in the
|
|
border of Arnon, which <i>is</i> in the utmost coast.   37 And
|
|
Balak said unto Balaam, Did I not earnestly send unto thee to call
|
|
thee? wherefore camest thou not unto me? am I not able indeed to
|
|
promote thee to honour?   38 And Balaam said unto Balak, Lo, I
|
|
am come unto thee: have I now any power at all to say any thing?
|
|
the word that God putteth in my mouth, that shall I speak.  
|
|
39 And Balaam went with Balak, and they came unto Kirjath-huzoth.
|
|
  40 And Balak offered oxen and sheep, and sent to Balaam, and
|
|
to the princes that <i>were</i> with him.   41 And it came to
|
|
pass on the morrow, that Balak took Balaam, and brought him up into
|
|
the high places of Baal, that thence he might see the utmost
|
|
<i>part</i> of the people.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiii-p22">We have here the meeting between Balak and
|
|
Balaam, confederate enemies to God's Israel; but here they seem to
|
|
differ in their expectations of the success. 1. Balak speaks of it
|
|
with confidence, not doubting but to gain his point now that Balaam
|
|
had come. In expectation of this, he went out to meet him, even to
|
|
the utmost border of his country (<scripRef passage="Nu 22:36" id="Num.xxiii-p22.1" parsed="|Num|22|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.36"><i>v.</i> 36</scripRef>), partly to gratify his own
|
|
impatient desire to see one he had such great expectations from,
|
|
and partly to do honour to Balaam, and so to engage him with his
|
|
utmost power to serve him. See what respect heathen princes paid to
|
|
those that had but the name and face of prophets, and pretended to
|
|
have any interest in heaven; and how welcome one was that came with
|
|
his mouth full of curses. What a shame is it then that the
|
|
ambassadors of Christ are so little respected by most, so much
|
|
despised by some, and that those are so coldly entertained who
|
|
bring tidings of peace and a blessing! Balak has now nothing to
|
|
complain of but that Balaam did not come sooner, <scripRef passage="Nu 22:37" id="Num.xxiii-p22.2" parsed="|Num|22|37|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.37"><i>v.</i> 37</scripRef>. And he thinks that he should
|
|
have considered the importunity Balak had used, <i>Did I not
|
|
earnestly send to thee?</i> (and the importunity of people inferior
|
|
to kings has prevailed with many against their inclinations), and
|
|
that he should also have considered Balak's intentions concerning
|
|
him: <i>Am not I able to promote thee to honour?</i> Balak, as
|
|
king, was in his own kingdom the fountain of honour, and Balaam
|
|
should have his choice of all the preferments that were in his
|
|
gift; he therefore thinks himself affronted by Balaam's delays,
|
|
which looked as if he thought the honours he prepared not worthy
|
|
his acceptance. Note, Promotion to honour is a very tempting bait
|
|
to many people; and it were well if we would be drawn into the
|
|
service of God by the honour he sets before us. Why do we delay to
|
|
come unto him? Is <i>not he able to promote us to honour?</i> 2.
|
|
Balaam speaks doubtfully of the issue, and bids Balak not depend to
|
|
much upon him (<scripRef passage="Nu 22:38" id="Num.xxiii-p22.3" parsed="|Num|22|38|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.38"><i>v.</i>
|
|
38</scripRef>): "<i>Have I now any power at all to say any
|
|
thing?</i> I have come, but what the nearer am I? Gladly would I
|
|
curse Israel; but I must not, I cannot, God will not suffer me." He
|
|
seems to speak with vexation at the hook in his nose and the bridle
|
|
in his jaws, such as Sennacherib was tied up with, <scripRef passage="Isa 37:29" id="Num.xxiii-p22.4" parsed="|Isa|37|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.37.29">Isa. xxxvii. 29</scripRef>. 3. They address
|
|
themselves with all speed to the business. Balaam is nobly
|
|
entertained over night, a sacrifice of thanksgiving is offered to
|
|
the gods of Moab, for the safe arrival of this welcome guest, and
|
|
his is treated with a feast upon the sacrifice, <scripRef passage="Nu 22:40" id="Num.xxiii-p22.5" parsed="|Num|22|40|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.40"><i>v.</i> 40</scripRef>. And the next morning, that no
|
|
time might be lost, Balak takes Balaam in his chariot to the high
|
|
places of his kingdom, not only because their holiness (such as it
|
|
was), he thought, might give some advantage to his divinations, but
|
|
their height might give him a convenient prospect of the camp of
|
|
Israel, which was to be the butt or mark at which he must shoot his
|
|
envenomed arrows. And now Balaam is really as solicitous to please
|
|
Balak as ever he had pretended to be to please God. See what need
|
|
we have to pray every day, <i>Our Father in heaven, lead us not
|
|
into temptation.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXIII" n="xxiv" progress="76.40%" prev="Num.xxiii" next="Num.xxv" id="Num.xxiv">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.xxiv-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.xxiv-p0.2">CHAP. XXIII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.xxiv-p1">In this chapter we have Balak and Balaam busy at
|
|
work to do Israel a mischief, and, for ought that appears, neither
|
|
Moses nor the elders of Israel know any thing of the matter, nor
|
|
are in a capacity to break the snare; but God, who keeps Israel,
|
|
and neither slumbers nor sleeps, baffles the attempt, without any
|
|
intercession or contrivance of theirs. Here is, I. The first
|
|
attempt to curse Israel. 1. The preparation made for it by
|
|
sacrifice, <scripRef passage="Nu 23:1-3" id="Num.xxiv-p1.1" parsed="|Num|23|1|23|3" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.1-Num.23.3">ver. 1-3</scripRef>. 2.
|
|
The contrary instruction God gave Balaam, <scripRef passage="Nu 23:4,5" id="Num.xxiv-p1.2" parsed="|Num|23|4|23|5" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.4-Num.23.5">ver. 4, 5</scripRef>. 3. The blessing Balaam was
|
|
compelled to pronounce upon Israel, instead of a curse, <scripRef passage="Nu 23:7-10" id="Num.xxiv-p1.3" parsed="|Num|23|7|23|10" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.7-Num.23.10">ver. 7-10</scripRef>. 4. The great
|
|
disappointment of Balak, <scripRef passage="Nu 23:11,12" id="Num.xxiv-p1.4" parsed="|Num|23|11|23|12" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.11-Num.23.12">ver. 11,
|
|
12</scripRef>. II. The second attempt, in the same manner made, and
|
|
in the same manner frustrated, <scripRef passage="Nu 23:13-26" id="Num.xxiv-p1.5" parsed="|Num|23|13|23|26" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.13-Num.23.26">ver.
|
|
13-26</scripRef>. III. Preparations made for a third attempt
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 23:27-30" id="Num.xxiv-p1.6" parsed="|Num|23|27|23|30" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.27-Num.23.30">ver. 27-30</scripRef>), the issue
|
|
of which we have in the next chapter.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 23" id="Num.xxiv-p1.7" parsed="|Num|23|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.23"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 23:1-12" id="Num.xxiv-p1.8" parsed="|Num|23|1|23|12" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.1-Num.23.12"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.23.1-Num.23.12">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxiv-p1.9">Balaam Constrained to Bless Israel; The
|
|
Blessing Pronounced on Israel. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxiv-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxiv-p2">1 And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here
|
|
seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams. 2 And
|
|
Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on
|
|
<i>every</i> altar a bullock and a ram. 3 And Balaam said unto
|
|
Balak, Stand by thy burnt offering, and I will go: peradventure the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxiv-p2.1">Lord</span> will come to meet me: and
|
|
whatsoever he showeth me I will tell thee. And he went to an high
|
|
place. 4 And God met Balaam: and he said unto him, I have prepared
|
|
seven altars, and I have offered upon <i>every</i> altar a bullock
|
|
and a ram. 5 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxiv-p2.2">Lord</span> put a word
|
|
in Balaam's mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt
|
|
speak. 6 And he returned unto him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt
|
|
sacrifice, he, and all the princes of Moab. 7 And he took up his
|
|
parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from
|
|
Aram, out of the mountains of the east, <i>saying,</i> Come, curse
|
|
me Jacob, and come, defy Israel. 8 How shall I curse, whom God hath
|
|
not cursed? or how shall I defy, <i>whom</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxiv-p2.3">Lord</span> hath not defied? 9 For from the top of the
|
|
rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people
|
|
shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. 10
|
|
Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth
|
|
<i>part</i> of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and
|
|
let my last end be like his! 11 And Balak said unto Balaam, What
|
|
hast thou done unto me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and,
|
|
behold, thou hast blessed <i>them</i> altogether. 12 And he
|
|
answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxiv-p2.4">Lord</span> hath put in my mouth?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiv-p3">Here is, I. Great preparation made for the
|
|
cursing of Israel. That which was aimed at was to engage the God of
|
|
Israel to forsake them, and either to be on Moab's side or to stand
|
|
neuter. O the sottishness of superstition, to imagine that God will
|
|
be at men's beck! Balaam and Balak think to bribe him with altars
|
|
and sacrifices, offered without any warrant or institution of his:
|
|
as if he would <i>eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of
|
|
goats.</i> Ridiculous nonsense, to think that these would please
|
|
God, and gain his favour, when there could be in them no exercise
|
|
either of faith or obedience! Yet, it should seem, they offered
|
|
these sacrifices to the God of heaven the supreme
|
|
<i>Numen—Divinity,</i> and not to any of their local deities. But
|
|
the multiplying of altars was an instance of their degeneracy from
|
|
the religion of their ancestors, and their apostasy to idolatry;
|
|
for those that multiplied altars multiplied gods. <i>Ephraim made
|
|
many altars to sin,</i> <scripRef passage="Ho 8:11" id="Num.xxiv-p3.1" parsed="|Hos|8|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.11">Hos. viii.
|
|
11</scripRef>. <i>Thus they liked not to retain God in their
|
|
knowledge, but became vain in their imaginations;</i> and yet
|
|
presumptuously expected hereby to gain God over to them from
|
|
Israel, who had his sanctuary among them, and his anointed altar.
|
|
Observe here, 1. How very imperious Balaam was, proud to have the
|
|
command of a king and to give law to princes. Such is the spirit of
|
|
that wicked one who exalts himself above all that is called God, or
|
|
that is worshipped. With what authority does Balaam give orders!
|
|
<i>Build me here</i> (in the place I have pitched upon) <i>seven
|
|
altars,</i> of stone or turf. Thus he covers his malice against
|
|
Israel with a show of devotion, but his sacrifice was an
|
|
abomination, being brought with such a <i>wicked mind,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Pr 21:27" id="Num.xxiv-p3.2" parsed="|Prov|21|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.21.27">Prov. xxi. 27</scripRef>. That which
|
|
he aimed at was not to honour God with the sacrifices of
|
|
righteousness, but to enrich himself with the wages of
|
|
unrighteousness. 2. How very obsequious Balak was. The altars were
|
|
presently built, and the sacrifices prepared, the best of the sort,
|
|
<i>seven bullocks and seven rams.</i> Balak makes no objection to
|
|
the charge, nor does he snuff at it, or think it either a weariness
|
|
or a disparagement to <i>stand by his burnt-offering</i> as Balaam
|
|
ordered him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiv-p4">II. The turning of the curse into a
|
|
blessing, by the overruling power of God, in love to Israel, which
|
|
is the account Moses gives of it, <scripRef passage="De 23:5" id="Num.xxiv-p4.1" parsed="|Deut|23|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.23.5">Deut.
|
|
xxiii. 5</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiv-p5">1. God puts the blessing into the mouth of
|
|
Balaam. While the sacrifices were burning, Balaam retired; he
|
|
<i>went solitary,</i> into some dark grove on the top of the high
|
|
place, <scripRef passage="Nu 23:3" id="Num.xxiv-p5.1" parsed="|Num|23|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>, marg.
|
|
Thus much he knew, that solitude gives a good opportunity for
|
|
communion with God; those that would meet with him must retire from
|
|
the world, and the business and conversation of it, and love to be
|
|
private, reckoning themselves never less alone than when alone,
|
|
because the Father is with them. Enter therefore into thy closet,
|
|
and shut the door, and be assured that God will meet thee if thou
|
|
<i>seek him in the due order.</i> But Balaam retired with a
|
|
peradventure only, having some thoughts that God might meet him;
|
|
but being conscious to himself of guilt, and knowing that God had
|
|
lately met him in anger, he had reason to speak doubtfully:
|
|
<i>Peradventure the Lord will come to meet me,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 23:3" id="Num.xxiv-p5.2" parsed="|Num|23|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. <i>But let not such a man
|
|
think that he shall receive any</i> favour from God. Nay, it should
|
|
seem, though he pretended to go and meet with God, he really
|
|
designed to use enchantments; see <scripRef passage="Nu 24:1" id="Num.xxiv-p5.3" parsed="|Num|24|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.1"><i>ch.</i> xxiv. 1</scripRef>. But, whatever he intended.
|
|
God designed to serve his own glory by him, and therefore <i>met
|
|
Balaam,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 23:4" id="Num.xxiv-p5.4" parsed="|Num|23|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>.
|
|
<i>What communion has light with darkness?</i> No friendly
|
|
communion, we may be sure. Balaam's way was still perverse, and God
|
|
was still an adversary to him; but, Balak having chosen him for his
|
|
oracle, God would constrain him to utter such a confession, to the
|
|
honour of God and Israel, as should render those for ever
|
|
inexcusable who should appear in arms against them. When Balaam was
|
|
aware that God met him, probably by an angel, he boasted of his
|
|
performances: <i>I have prepared seven altars, and offered upon
|
|
every altar a bullock and a ram.</i> How had he done it? It cost
|
|
him nothing; it was done at Balak's expense; yet, (1.) He boasts of
|
|
it, as if he had done some mighty thing. The acts of devotion which
|
|
are done in hypocrisy are commonly reflected upon with pride and
|
|
vain glory. Thus the Pharisee went up to the temple to boast of his
|
|
religion, <scripRef passage="Lu 18:11,12" id="Num.xxiv-p5.5" parsed="|Luke|18|11|18|12" osisRef="Bible:Luke.18.11-Luke.18.12">Luke xviii. 11,
|
|
12</scripRef>. (2.) He insists upon it as a reason why God should
|
|
gratify him in his desire to curse Israel, as if now he had made
|
|
God his debtor, and might draw upon him for what he pleased. He
|
|
thinks God is so much beholden to him for these sacrifices that the
|
|
least he can do in recompense for them is to sacrifice his Israel
|
|
to the malice of the king of Moab. Note, It is a common cheat that
|
|
wicked people put upon themselves, to think that by the shows of
|
|
piety they may prevail with God to countenance them, and connive at
|
|
them, in their greatest immoralities, especially in persecution,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 66:5" id="Num.xxiv-p5.6" parsed="|Isa|66|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.66.5">Isa. lxvi. 5</scripRef>. However,
|
|
thought the sacrifice was an abomination, God took the occasion of
|
|
Balaam's expectation to <i>put a word into his mouth</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 23:5" id="Num.xxiv-p5.7" parsed="|Num|23|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>); <i>for the answer of the
|
|
tongue if from the Lord,</i> and thus he would show how much those
|
|
are mistaken who say, <i>With our tongue we will prevail, our lips
|
|
are our own,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 12:4" id="Num.xxiv-p5.8" parsed="|Ps|12|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.12.4">Ps. xii. 4</scripRef>.
|
|
He that made man's mouth knows how to manage it, and to serve his
|
|
own purposes by it. This speaks terror to daring sinners, that
|
|
<i>set their mouth against the heavens. God can make their own
|
|
tongues to fall upon them,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 64:8" id="Num.xxiv-p5.9" parsed="|Ps|64|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.64.8">Ps.
|
|
lxiv. 8</scripRef>. And it speaks comfort to God's witnesses, whom
|
|
at any time he calls out to appear for him; if God put a word into
|
|
the mouth of Balaam, who would have defied God and Israel, surely
|
|
he will not be wanting to those who desire to glorify God and edify
|
|
his people by their testimony, but it <i>shall be given them in
|
|
that same hour what they should speak.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiv-p6">2. Balaam pronounces the blessing in the
|
|
ears of Balak. He found him <i>standing by his burnt-sacrifice</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 23:6" id="Num.xxiv-p6.1" parsed="|Num|23|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), closely
|
|
attending it, and earnestly expecting the success. Those that would
|
|
have an answer of peace from God must abide by the sacrifice, and
|
|
<i>attend on the Lord without distraction, not weary in well
|
|
doing.</i> Balaam, having fixed himself in the place appointed for
|
|
his denouncing curses against Israel, which perhaps he had drawn up
|
|
in form ready to deliver, takes up his parable, and it proves a
|
|
blessing, <scripRef passage="Nu 23:7" id="Num.xxiv-p6.2" parsed="|Num|23|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. He
|
|
pronounces Israel safe and happy, and so blesses them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiv-p7">(1.) He pronounces them safe, and out of
|
|
the reach of his envenomed darts. [1.] He owns that the design was
|
|
to curse them, that Balak sent for him out of his own country, and
|
|
that he came, with that intent, <scripRef passage="Nu 23:7" id="Num.xxiv-p7.1" parsed="|Num|23|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. The message sent to him was,
|
|
<i>Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel.</i> Balak intended
|
|
to make war upon them, and he would have Balaam to bless his arms,
|
|
and to prophesy and pray for the ruin of Israel. [2.] He owns the
|
|
design defeated, and his own inability to accomplish it. He could
|
|
not so much as give them an ill word or an ill wish: <i>How shall I
|
|
curse those whom God has not cursed?</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 23:8" id="Num.xxiv-p7.2" parsed="|Num|23|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. Not that therefore he would not
|
|
do it, but therefore he could not do it. This is a fair confession,
|
|
<i>First,</i> Of the weakness and impotency of his own magic skill,
|
|
for which others valued him so much, and doubtless he valued
|
|
himself no less. He was the most celebrated man of that profession,
|
|
and yet owns himself baffled. God had warned the Israelites not to
|
|
use divination (<scripRef passage="Le 19:31" id="Num.xxiv-p7.3" parsed="|Lev|19|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.31">Lev. xix.
|
|
31</scripRef>), and this providence gave them a reason for that
|
|
law, by showing them the weakness and folly of it. As they had seen
|
|
the magicians of Egypt befooled, so, here, the great conjurer of
|
|
the east. See <scripRef passage="Isa 47:12-14" id="Num.xxiv-p7.4" parsed="|Isa|47|12|47|14" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.12-Isa.47.14">Isa. xlvii.
|
|
12-14</scripRef>. <i>Secondly,</i> It is a confession of the
|
|
sovereignty and dominion of the divine power. He owns that he could
|
|
do no more than God would suffer him to do, for God could overrule
|
|
all his purposes, and turn his counsels headlong. <i>Thirdly,</i>
|
|
It is a confession of the inviolable security of the people of God.
|
|
Note, 1. God's Israel are owned and blessed of him. He has not
|
|
cursed them, for they are delivered from the curse of the law; he
|
|
has not defied them, nor rejected or abandoned them, though mean
|
|
and vile. 2. Those that have the good-will of Heaven have the
|
|
ill-will of hell; the serpent and this seed have an enmity to them.
|
|
3. Though the enemies of God's people may prevail far against them,
|
|
yet they cannot curse them; that is, they cannot do them any real
|
|
mischief, much less a ruining mischief, for they cannot <i>separate
|
|
them from the love of God,</i> <scripRef passage="Ro 8:39" id="Num.xxiv-p7.5" parsed="|Rom|8|39|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.8.39">Rom.
|
|
viii. 39</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiv-p8">(2.) He pronounces them happy in three
|
|
things:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiv-p9">[1.] Happy in their peculiarity, and
|
|
distinction from the rest of the nations: <i>From the top of the
|
|
rock I see him,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 23:9" id="Num.xxiv-p9.1" parsed="|Num|23|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.9"><i>v.</i>
|
|
9</scripRef>. And it seems to have been a great surprise to him
|
|
that whereas, it is probable, they were represented to him as a
|
|
rude and disorderly rabble, that infested the countries round about
|
|
in rambling parties, he was them a regular incorporated camp, in
|
|
which appeared all the marks of discipline and good order; he saw
|
|
them a people dwelling alone, and foresaw they would continue so,
|
|
and their singularity would be their unspeakable honour. Persons of
|
|
quality we call person of <i>distinction;</i> this was Israel's
|
|
praise, though their enemies turned it to their reproach, that they
|
|
differed from all the neighbouring nations, not only in their
|
|
religion and sacred rites, but in their diet, and dress, and common
|
|
usages, as a people called out of the world, and not to be
|
|
conformed to it. They never lost their reputation till they
|
|
<i>mingled among the heathen,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 106:35" id="Num.xxiv-p9.2" parsed="|Ps|106|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.35">Ps.
|
|
cvi. 35</scripRef>. Note, It is the duty and honour of those that
|
|
are dedicated to God to be separated from the world, and not to
|
|
walk according to the course and custom of it. Those who make
|
|
conscience of peculiar duties may take the comfort of peculiar
|
|
privileges, which it is probable Balaam has an eye to here. God's
|
|
Israel shall not stand upon a level with other nations, but be
|
|
dignified above them all, as a people near to God, and set apart
|
|
for him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiv-p10">[2.] Happy in their numbers, not so few and
|
|
despicable as they were represented to him, but an innumerable
|
|
company, which made them both honourable and formidable (<scripRef passage="Nu 23:10" id="Num.xxiv-p10.1" parsed="|Num|23|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>): <i>Who can count the
|
|
dust of Jacob?</i> The number of the people was the thing that
|
|
Balak was vexed at (<scripRef passage="Nu 22:3" id="Num.xxiv-p10.2" parsed="|Num|22|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.3"><i>ch.</i> xxii.
|
|
3</scripRef>): <i>Moab was afraid of them, because they were
|
|
many;</i> and God does here by Balaam promote that fear and
|
|
vexation, foretelling their further increase. Balak would have him
|
|
see <i>the utmost part of the people</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 22:41" id="Num.xxiv-p10.3" parsed="|Num|22|41|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.41"><i>ch.</i> xxii. 41</scripRef>), hoping the more he saw
|
|
of them the more he would be exasperated against them, and throw
|
|
about his curses with the more keenness and rage; but it proved
|
|
quite contrary: instead of being angry at their numbers, he admired
|
|
them. The better acquainted we are with God's people the better
|
|
opinion we have of them. He takes notice of the number,
|
|
<i>First,</i> Of the <i>dust of Jacob;</i> that is, the people of
|
|
Jacob, concerning whom it was foretold that they should be as the
|
|
dust for number, <scripRef passage="Ge 28:14" id="Num.xxiv-p10.4" parsed="|Gen|28|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.28.14">Gen. xxviii.
|
|
14</scripRef>. Thus he owns the fulfilling of the promise made to
|
|
the fathers, and expects that it should be yet further
|
|
accomplished. Perhaps it was part of David's fault in numbering the
|
|
people that he offered to count the dust of Jacob, which God had
|
|
said should be innumerable. <i>Secondly,</i> Of the <i>fourth part
|
|
of Israel,</i> alluding to the form of their camp, which was cast
|
|
into four squadrons, under four standards. Note, God's Israel are a
|
|
very great body, his spiritual Israel are so, and they will appear
|
|
to be so when they shall all be gathered together unto him in the
|
|
great day, <scripRef passage="Re 7:9" id="Num.xxiv-p10.5" parsed="|Rev|7|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.7.9">Rev. vii. 9</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiv-p11">[3.] Happy in their end: <i>Let me die the
|
|
death of the righteous</i> Israelites, that are in covenant with
|
|
God, and let my <i>last end, or future state, be like theirs, or my
|
|
recompence,</i> namely, in the other world. Here, <i>First,</i> It
|
|
is taken for granted that death is the end of all men; the
|
|
righteous themselves must die: and it is good for us to think of
|
|
this with application, as Balaam himself does here, speaking of his
|
|
own death. <i>Secondly,</i> he goes upon the supposition of the
|
|
soul's immortality, and a different state on the other side death,
|
|
to which this is a noble testimony, and an evidence of its being
|
|
anciently known and believed. For how could the death of the
|
|
righteous be more desirable than the death of the wicked upon any
|
|
other account than as it involved happiness in another world, since
|
|
in the manner and circumstances of dying we see <i>all things come
|
|
alike to all? Thirdly,</i> He pronounces the righteous truly
|
|
blessed, not only while they live, but when they die, which makes
|
|
their death not only more desirable than the death of others, but
|
|
even more desirable than life itself; for in that sense his wish
|
|
may be taken. Not only, "When I do die, let me die the death of the
|
|
righteous;" but, "I could even now be willing to die, on condition
|
|
that I might <i>die the death of the righteous,</i> and reach my
|
|
end this moment, provided it might be like his." Very near the
|
|
place where Balaam now was, on one of the mountains of Moab, not
|
|
long after this, Moses died, and to that perhaps God, who put this
|
|
word into his mouth, designed it should have a reference, that by
|
|
it Moses might be encouraged to go up and die such a death as
|
|
Balaam himself wished to die. <i>Fourthly,</i> He shows his opinion
|
|
of religion to be better than his resolution; there are many who
|
|
desire to die the death of the righteous, but do not endeavour to
|
|
live the life of the righteous. Gladly would they have their end
|
|
like theirs, but not their way. They would be saints in heaven, but
|
|
not saints on earth. This is the <i>desire of the slothful, which
|
|
kills him, because his hands refuse to labour.</i> This of Balaam's
|
|
is only a wish, not a prayer, and it is a vain wish, being only a
|
|
wish for the end, without any care for the means. Thus far this
|
|
blessing goes, even to death, and beyond it, as far as the last
|
|
end. Now,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiv-p12">III. We are told, 1. How Balak fretted at
|
|
it, <scripRef passage="Nu 23:11" id="Num.xxiv-p12.1" parsed="|Num|23|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. He
|
|
pretended to honour the Lord with his sacrifices, and to wait for
|
|
the answer God would send him; and yet, when it did not prove
|
|
according to his mind, he forgot God, and flew into a great passion
|
|
against Balaam, as if it had been purely his doing: "<i>What hast
|
|
thou done unto me!</i> How hast thou disappointed me!" Sometimes
|
|
God makes the enemies of his church a vexation one to another,
|
|
while he that sits in heaven laughs at them, and the efforts of
|
|
their impotent malice. 2. How Balaam was forced to acquiesce in it.
|
|
He submits because he cannot help it, and yet humours the thing
|
|
with no small address, as if he had been peculiarly conscientious,
|
|
answering Balak with the gravity of a prophet: <i>Must I not take
|
|
heed to speak that which the Lord has put in my mouth?</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 23:12" id="Num.xxiv-p12.2" parsed="|Num|23|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. Thus a
|
|
confession of God's overruling power is extorted from a wicked
|
|
prophet, to the further confusion of a wicked prince.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 23" id="Num.xxiv-p12.3" parsed="|Num|23|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.23"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 23:13-30" id="Num.xxiv-p12.4" parsed="|Num|23|13|23|30" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.13-Num.23.30"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.23.13-Num.23.30">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxiv-p12.5">Balaam Again Blesses Israel. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxiv-p12.6">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxiv-p13">13 And Balak said unto him, Come, I pray thee,
|
|
with me unto another place, from whence thou mayest see them: thou
|
|
shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all:
|
|
and curse me them from thence. 14 And he brought him into the field
|
|
of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and
|
|
offered a bullock and a ram on <i>every</i> altar. 15 And he said
|
|
unto Balak, Stand here by thy burnt offering, while I meet <i>the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxiv-p13.1">Lord</span></i> yonder. 16 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxiv-p13.2">Lord</span> met Balaam, and put a word in his
|
|
mouth, and said, Go again unto Balak, and say thus. 17 And when he
|
|
came to him, behold, he stood by his burnt offering, and the
|
|
princes of Moab with him. And Balak said unto him, What hath the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxiv-p13.3">Lord</span> spoken? 18 And he took up his
|
|
parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou
|
|
son of Zippor: 19 God <i>is</i> not a man, that he should lie;
|
|
neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and
|
|
shall he not do <i>it?</i> or hath he spoken, and shall he not make
|
|
it good? 20 Behold, I have received <i>commandment</i> to bless:
|
|
and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it. 21 He hath not beheld
|
|
iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxiv-p13.4">Lord</span> his God <i>is</i> with him, and
|
|
the shout of a king <i>is</i> among them. 22 God brought them out
|
|
of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn. 23 Surely
|
|
<i>there is</i> no enchantment against Jacob, neither <i>is
|
|
there</i> any divination against Israel: according to this time it
|
|
shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought! 24
|
|
Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up
|
|
himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down until he eat
|
|
<i>of</i> the prey, and drink the blood of the slain. 25 And Balak
|
|
said unto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.
|
|
26 But Balaam answered and said unto Balak, Told not I thee,
|
|
saying, All that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxiv-p13.5">Lord</span> speaketh,
|
|
that I must do? 27 And Balak said unto Balaam, Come, I pray thee, I
|
|
will bring thee unto another place; peradventure it will please God
|
|
that thou mayest curse me them from thence. 28 And Balak brought
|
|
Balaam unto the top of Peor, that looketh toward Jeshimon. 29 And
|
|
Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me
|
|
here seven bullocks and seven rams. 30 And Balak did as Balaam had
|
|
said, and offered a bullock and a ram on <i>every</i> altar.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiv-p14">Here is, I. Preparation made the second
|
|
time, as before, for the cursing of Israel. 1. The place is
|
|
changed, <scripRef passage="Nu 23:13" id="Num.xxiv-p14.1" parsed="|Num|23|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>.
|
|
Balak fancied that Balaam, having so full a prospect of the whole
|
|
camp of Israel, <i>from the top of the rocks</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 23:9" id="Num.xxiv-p14.2" parsed="|Num|23|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>), was either so enamoured
|
|
with the beauty of it that he would not curse them or so affrighted
|
|
with the terror of it that he durst not; and therefore he would
|
|
bring him to another place, form which he might see only some part
|
|
of them, which would appear more despicable, and that part at least
|
|
which would lie in view he hoped he might obtain leave to curse,
|
|
and so by degrees he should get ground against them, intending, no
|
|
doubt, if he had gained this point, to make his attack on that part
|
|
of the camp of Israel which Balaam now had in his eye, and into
|
|
which he was to throw the fireballs of his curses. See how restless
|
|
and unwearied the church's enemies are in their malicious attempts
|
|
to ruin it; they leave no stone unturned, no project untried, to
|
|
compass it. O that we were as full of contrivance and resolution in
|
|
prosecuting good designs for the glory of God! 2. The sacrifices
|
|
are repeated, new altars are built, a bullock and a ram offered on
|
|
every altar, and Balak attends his sacrifice as closely as ever,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 23:14,15" id="Num.xxiv-p14.3" parsed="|Num|23|14|23|15" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.14-Num.23.15"><i>v.</i> 14, 15</scripRef>. Were
|
|
we thus earnest to obtain the blessing as Balak was to procure a
|
|
curse (designedly upon Israel, but really upon himself and his
|
|
people), we should not grudge the return both of the charge and of
|
|
the labour of religious exercises. 3. Balaam renews his attendance
|
|
on God, and God meets him the second time, and puts another word
|
|
into his mouth, not to reverse the former, but to ratify it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 23:16,17" id="Num.xxiv-p14.4" parsed="|Num|23|16|23|17" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.16-Num.23.17"><i>v.</i> 16, 17</scripRef>. If God
|
|
said not to Balaam, <i>Seek in vain,</i> much less will he say so
|
|
to <i>any of the seed of Jacob,</i> who shall surely find him, not
|
|
only as Balaam, their instructor and oracle, but their bountiful
|
|
rewarder. When Balaam returned Balak was impatient to know what
|
|
message he had: "<i>What hath the Lord spoken?</i> Are there any
|
|
better tidings yet, any hopes of speeding?" This should be our
|
|
enquiry when we come to hear the word of God. See <scripRef passage="Jer 23:35" id="Num.xxiv-p14.5" parsed="|Jer|23|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.23.35">Jer. xxiii. 35</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiv-p15">II. A second conversion of the curse into a
|
|
blessing by the overruling power of God; and this blessing is both
|
|
larger and stronger than the former, and quite cuts off all hopes
|
|
of altering it. Balak having been so forward to ask what the Lord
|
|
had spoken (<scripRef passage="Nu 23:17" id="Num.xxiv-p15.1" parsed="|Num|23|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>),
|
|
Balaam now addresses himself particularly to him (<scripRef passage="Nu 23:18" id="Num.xxiv-p15.2" parsed="|Num|23|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>): <i>Rise up, Balak, and
|
|
hear.</i> It was a message from God that he had to deliver, and it
|
|
is required of Balak, though a king, that he attend (<i>hear</i>
|
|
and <i>hearken,</i> with a close application of mind, let not a
|
|
word slip), and also that he attend with reverence: <i>Rise up, and
|
|
hear.</i> His successor Eglon, when he was to receive a message
|
|
from God, <i>rose out of his seat,</i> <scripRef passage="Jdg 3:20" id="Num.xxiv-p15.3" parsed="|Judg|3|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.3.20">Judg. iii. 20</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiv-p16">1. Two things Balaam in this discourse
|
|
informs Balak of, sorely to his grief and disappointment:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiv-p17">(1.) That he had no reason to hope that he
|
|
should ruin Israel.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiv-p18">[1.] It would be to no purpose to attempt
|
|
to ruin them, and he would deceive himself if he expected it, for
|
|
three reasons:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiv-p19"><i>First,</i> Because God is unchangeable:
|
|
<i>God is not a man that he should lie,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 23:19" id="Num.xxiv-p19.1" parsed="|Num|23|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. Men change their minds, and
|
|
therefore break their words; they lie, because they repent. But God
|
|
does neither. He never changes his mind, and therefore never
|
|
recalls his promise. Balaam had owned (<scripRef passage="Nu 23:8" id="Num.xxiv-p19.2" parsed="|Num|23|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>) that he could not alter God's
|
|
counsel, and thence he infers here that God himself would not alter
|
|
it; such is the imperfection of man, and such the perfection of
|
|
God. It is impossible for God to lie, <scripRef passage="Heb 6:18" id="Num.xxiv-p19.3" parsed="|Heb|6|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.6.18">Heb. vi. 18</scripRef>. And, when in scripture he is
|
|
said to <i>repent,</i> it is not meant of any change of his mind
|
|
(for <i>he is in one mind, and who can turn him?</i>) but only of
|
|
the change of his way. This is a great truth, that with God there
|
|
is no <i>variableness nor shadow of turning.</i> Now here, 1. He
|
|
appeals to Balak himself concerning it: "<i>Hath he said, and shall
|
|
he not do it?</i> Said it in his own purpose, and shall he not
|
|
perform it in his providence, according to the counsel of his will?
|
|
Hath he spoken in his word, in his promise, and shall he not make
|
|
it good? Can we think otherwise of God than that he is unchangeably
|
|
one with himself and true to his word? All his decrees are
|
|
unalterable, and all his promises inviolable." 2. He applies this
|
|
general truth to the case in hand (<scripRef passage="Nu 23:20" id="Num.xxiv-p19.4" parsed="|Num|23|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>): <i>He hath blessed and I
|
|
cannot reverse it,</i> that is, "I cannot prevail with him to
|
|
reverse it." Israel were of old a blessed people, a seed that the
|
|
Lord had blessed; the blessing of Abraham came upon them; they were
|
|
born under the blessing of the covenant, and born to the blessing
|
|
of Canaan, and therefore they could not be cursed, unless you could
|
|
suppose that the God of eternal truth should break his word, and
|
|
become false to himself and his people.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiv-p20"><i>Secondly,</i> Because Israel are at
|
|
present unblamable: <i>he has not beheld iniquity in Jacob,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 23:21" id="Num.xxiv-p20.1" parsed="|Num|23|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. Not but that
|
|
there was iniquity in Jacob, and God saw it; but, 1. There was not
|
|
such a degree of iniquity as might provoke God to abandon them and
|
|
give them up to ruin. As bad as they were, they were not so bad as
|
|
this. 2. There was no idolatry among them, which is in a particular
|
|
manner called iniquity and perverseness; we have found nothing of
|
|
that kind in Israel since the golden calf, and therefore, though
|
|
they were in other instances very provoking, yet God would not cast
|
|
them off. Balaam knew that nothing would separate between them and
|
|
God but sin. While God saw no reigning sin among them, he would
|
|
send no destroying curse among them; and therefore, as long as they
|
|
kept in with God, he despaired of ever doing them any mischief.
|
|
Note, While we keep from sin we keep from harm. Some give another
|
|
sense of those words; they read it thus: <i>He has not beheld wrong
|
|
offered to Jacob, nor will he see any grievance done to Israel,</i>
|
|
that is, "He has not nor will he permit it, or allow it; he will
|
|
not see Israel injured, but he will right them, and avenge their
|
|
quarrel." Note, God will not bear to see any injury done to his
|
|
church and people; for what is done against them he takes as done
|
|
against himself, and will reckon for it accordingly.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiv-p21"><i>Thirdly,</i> Because the power of both
|
|
was irresistible. He shows Balak that there was no contending with
|
|
them, it was to no purpose to attempt it; for, 1. They had the
|
|
presence of God with them: "<i>The Lord his God is with him</i> in
|
|
a particular manner, and not provoked to withdraw from him." 2.
|
|
They had the joy of that presence, and were always made to triumph
|
|
in it: <i>The shout</i> or alarm <i>of a king is among them.</i>
|
|
They shout against their enemies, as sure of victory and success,
|
|
glorying continually in God as their King and conqueror for them.
|
|
3. They had had the experience of the benefit of God's presence
|
|
with them, and his power engaged for them; for God <i>brought them
|
|
out of Egypt,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 23:22" id="Num.xxiv-p21.1" parsed="|Num|23|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.22"><i>v.</i>
|
|
22</scripRef>. The power which had done that could never be
|
|
restrained, never resisted; and, having begun so gloriously, he
|
|
would no doubt finish gloriously. 4. While they had God's presence
|
|
with them they had the strength of a unicorn, able to make head
|
|
against all that opposed them. See <scripRef passage="Nu 24:8" id="Num.xxiv-p21.2" parsed="|Num|24|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.8"><i>ch.</i> xxiv. 8</scripRef>. Such is the strength which
|
|
the God of Israel gives unto his people.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiv-p22">[2.] From all this he infers that it was to
|
|
no purpose for him to think of doing them a mischief by all the
|
|
arts he could use, <scripRef passage="Nu 23:23" id="Num.xxiv-p22.1" parsed="|Num|23|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.23"><i>v.</i>
|
|
23</scripRef>. <i>First,</i> He owns himself baffled. Surely there
|
|
is no enchantment against Jacob so as to prevail. The curses of
|
|
hell can never take place against the blessings of heaven. Not but
|
|
that attempts of this kind would be made, but they would certainly
|
|
be fruitless and ineffectual. Some observe that <i>Jacob</i>
|
|
denotes the church low and afflicted, <i>Israel</i> denotes it
|
|
prosperous and advanced; but be the church high or low, be her
|
|
friends few or many, let second causes smile or frown, it comes all
|
|
to one: no weapon formed against it shall prosper. Note, God easily
|
|
can, and certainly will, baffle and disappoint all the devices and
|
|
designs of the powers of darkness against his church, so that they
|
|
shall not prevail to destroy it. <i>Secondly,</i> He foresees that
|
|
this would be remembered in time to come. <i>According to this
|
|
time,</i> that is, with reference to this we are now about, it
|
|
shall be said concerning Jacob and Israel, and said by them,
|
|
<i>What hath God wrought!</i> What great things hath God done for
|
|
his people! It shall be said with wonder, joy, and thankfulness,
|
|
and a challenge to the neighbouring nations to produce any similar
|
|
instances of the care of their gods for them. Note, The defeating
|
|
of the designs of the church's enemies ought to be had in
|
|
everlasting remembrance to the glory of God. <i>There is none like
|
|
unto the God of Jeshurun.</i> What Balaam says here concerning the
|
|
pre-eminence of the God of Israel above all the gods of the
|
|
Gentiles perhaps Moses refers to when he says (<scripRef passage="De 32:31" id="Num.xxiv-p22.2" parsed="|Deut|32|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.31">Deut. xxxii. 31</scripRef>), <i>Their rock is not as our
|
|
rock, even our enemies themselves being judges,</i> Balaam
|
|
particularly. Balak therefore has no hopes of ruining Israel.
|
|
But,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiv-p23">(2.) Balaam shows him that he had more
|
|
reason to fear being ruined by them, for they were likely to make
|
|
bloody work among his neighbours; and, if he and his country
|
|
escaped, it was not because he was too great for them to meddle
|
|
with, but because he fell not within their commission <scripRef passage="Nu 23:24" id="Num.xxiv-p23.1" parsed="|Num|23|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. Behold, and tremble;
|
|
the people that now have lain for some time closely encamped do but
|
|
repose themselves for a while like a lion couchant, but shortly
|
|
they <i>shall rise up as a great lion,</i> a lion rampant, that
|
|
<i>shall not lie down till he eat of the prey, and drink the blood
|
|
of the slain.</i> This seems to point at the victories he foresaw
|
|
they would obtain over the Canaanites, that they would never lay
|
|
down their arms till they had made a complete conquest of the land
|
|
they had now in view; and, when his neighbour's house was on fire,
|
|
he had reason to think his own in danger.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiv-p24">2. Now what was the issue of this
|
|
disappointment?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiv-p25">(1.) Balak and Balaam were both of them
|
|
sick of the cause. [1.] Balak is now willing to have his conjurer
|
|
silenced. Since he cannot say what he would have him, he wishes him
|
|
to say nothing: "<i>Neither curse them at all nor bless them at
|
|
all,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 23:25" id="Num.xxiv-p25.1" parsed="|Num|23|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>. If
|
|
thou canst not curse them, I beseech thee not to bless them. If
|
|
thou canst no assist and encourage my forces, yet do not oppose and
|
|
dispirit them" Note, God can make those that depart from him weary
|
|
of the <i>multitude of their counsels,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 47:13,57:10" id="Num.xxiv-p25.2" parsed="|Isa|47|13|0|0;|Isa|57|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.13 Bible:Isa.57.10">Isa. xlvii. 13; lvii. 10</scripRef>. [2.] Balaam
|
|
is still willing to own himself overruled, and appeals to what he
|
|
had said in the beginning of this enterprise (<scripRef passage="Nu 22:38" id="Num.xxiv-p25.3" parsed="|Num|22|38|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.38"><i>ch.</i> xxii. 38</scripRef>): <i>All that the Lord
|
|
speaketh, that I must do,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 23:26" id="Num.xxiv-p25.4" parsed="|Num|23|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>. This sows, <i>First,</i> In
|
|
general, that the way of man is not in himself; there are many
|
|
devices in man's heart, but God's counsels shall stand.
|
|
<i>Secondly,</i> In particular, that, as no weapon formed against
|
|
the church shall prosper, so every tongue that rises against her in
|
|
judgment God will control and condemn, <scripRef passage="Isa 54:17" id="Num.xxiv-p25.5" parsed="|Isa|54|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.17">Isa. liv. 17</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxiv-p26">(2.) Yet they resolve to make another
|
|
attempt. They think it scorn to be baffled, and therefore pursue
|
|
the design, though it be only to their further confusion. And now
|
|
the third time, [1.] They change the place. Balak is at last
|
|
convinced that it is not Balaam's fault, on whom, before, he had
|
|
laid the blame, but that really he was under a divine check, and
|
|
therefore now he hopes to bring him to a place whence God might at
|
|
least permit him to curse them, <scripRef passage="Nu 23:27" id="Num.xxiv-p26.1" parsed="|Num|23|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>. Probably he and Balaam were the
|
|
more encouraged thus to repeat their attempt because God had the
|
|
second time allowed Balaam to go, though he had forbidden him the
|
|
first time. Since by repeated trials they had carried that point,
|
|
they hope in like manner to carry this. Thus because sinners are
|
|
borne with, and sentence against their evil works is not executed
|
|
speedily, their hearts are the more fully set in them to do evil.
|
|
The place to which Balak now took Balaam was the top of Peor, the
|
|
most eminent high place in all his country, where, it is probable,
|
|
Baal was worshipped, and it was thence called <i>Baal-peor.</i> He
|
|
chose this place with a hope, either, <i>First,</i> That it being
|
|
the residence (as he fancied) of Baal, the god of Moab, Jehovah the
|
|
God of Israel would not, or could not, come hither to hinder the
|
|
operation; or, <i>Secondly,</i> That, it being a place acceptable
|
|
to his god, it would be so to the Lord, and there he would be
|
|
brought into a good humour. Such idle conceits have foolish men of
|
|
God, and so vain are their imaginations concerning him. Thus the
|
|
Syrians fancied the Lord to be God of the hills, but not of the
|
|
valleys (<scripRef passage="1Ki 20:28" id="Num.xxiv-p26.2" parsed="|1Kgs|20|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.20.28">1 Kings xx. 28</scripRef>),
|
|
as if he were more powerful in one place than he is in every place.
|
|
[2.] They repeat their sacrifice, seven bullocks and seven rams,
|
|
upon seven altars, <scripRef passage="Nu 23:29,30" id="Num.xxiv-p26.3" parsed="|Num|23|29|23|30" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.29-Num.23.30"><i>v.</i> 29,
|
|
30</scripRef>. Thus do they persevere in their expensive oblations,
|
|
though they had no promise on which to build their hopes of
|
|
speeding. Let not us therefore, who have a promise that the vision
|
|
at the end shall speak and not lie, be discouraged by delays, but
|
|
continue instant in prayer, and not faint, <scripRef passage="Lu 18:1" id="Num.xxiv-p26.4" parsed="|Luke|18|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.18.1">Luke xviii. 1</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXIV" n="xxv" progress="77.08%" prev="Num.xxiv" next="Num.xxvi" id="Num.xxv">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.xxv-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.xxv-p0.2">CHAP. XXIV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.xxv-p1">This chapter continues and concludes the history
|
|
of the defeat of the counsels of Balak and Balaam against Israel,
|
|
not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts;
|
|
and as great an instance it is of God's power over the children of
|
|
men, and his favour towards his own children, as any of the
|
|
victories recorded in the book of the wars of the Lord. What
|
|
preparation was made the third time for the cursing of Israel we
|
|
read of in the close of the foregoing chapter. In this chapter we
|
|
are told, I. What the blessing was into which that intended curse
|
|
was turned, <scripRef passage="Nu 24:1-9" id="Num.xxv-p1.1" parsed="|Num|24|1|24|9" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.1-Num.24.9">ver. 1-9</scripRef>. II.
|
|
How Balak dismissed Balaam from his service thereupon, <scripRef passage="Nu 24:10-13" id="Num.xxv-p1.2" parsed="|Num|24|10|24|13" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.10-Num.24.13">ver. 10-13</scripRef>. III. The predictions
|
|
Balaam left behind him concerning Israel, and some of the
|
|
neighbouring nations, <scripRef passage="Nu 24:14-25" id="Num.xxv-p1.3" parsed="|Num|24|14|24|25" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.14-Num.24.25">ver.
|
|
14</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 24" id="Num.xxv-p1.4" parsed="|Num|24|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 24:1-9" id="Num.xxv-p1.5" parsed="|Num|24|1|24|9" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.1-Num.24.9"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.24.1-Num.24.9">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxv-p1.6">Balaam Blesses Israel a Third
|
|
Time. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxv-p1.7">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxv-p2">1 And when Balaam saw that it pleased the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxv-p2.1">Lord</span> to bless Israel, he went not, as at
|
|
other times, to seek for enchantments, but he set his face toward
|
|
the wilderness. 2 And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel
|
|
abiding <i>in his tents</i> according to their tribes; and the
|
|
spirit of God came upon him. 3 And he took up his parable, and
|
|
said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are
|
|
open hath said: 4 He hath said, which heard the words of God, which
|
|
saw the vision of the Almighty, falling <i>into a trance,</i> but
|
|
having his eyes open: 5 How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob,
|
|
<i>and</i> thy tabernacles, O Israel! 6 As the valleys are they
|
|
spread forth, as gardens by the river's side, as the trees of lign
|
|
aloes which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxv-p2.2">Lord</span> hath planted,
|
|
<i>and</i> as cedar trees beside the waters. 7 He shall pour the
|
|
water out of his buckets, and his seed <i>shall be</i> in many
|
|
waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom
|
|
shall be exalted. 8 God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as
|
|
it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his
|
|
enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce <i>them</i>
|
|
through with his arrows. 9 He couched, he lay down as a lion, and
|
|
as a great lion: who shall stir him up? Blessed <i>is</i> he that
|
|
blesseth thee, and cursed <i>is</i> he that curseth thee.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxv-p3">The blessing itself which Balaam here
|
|
pronounces upon Israel is much the same with the two we had in the
|
|
foregoing chapter; but the introduction to it is different.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxv-p4">I. The method of proceeding here varies
|
|
much in several instances. 1. Balaam laid aside the enchantments
|
|
which he had hitherto depended on, used no spells, or charms, or
|
|
magic arts, finding they did him no service; it was to no purpose
|
|
to deal with the devil for a curse, when it was plain that God was
|
|
determined immovably to bless, <scripRef passage="Nu 24:1" id="Num.xxv-p4.1" parsed="|Num|24|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. Sooner or later God will convince
|
|
men of their folly in seeking after lying vanities, which cannot
|
|
profit. To what purpose should he seek for enchantment? He knew
|
|
that God was out of the reach of them. 2. He did not now retire
|
|
into a solitary place as before, but set his face directly towards
|
|
the wilderness where Israel lay encamped; and, since there is no
|
|
remedy, but they must be blessed, he will design nothing else, but
|
|
will submit by compulsion. 3. Now <i>the Spirit of God came upon
|
|
him,</i> that is, the Spirit of prophecy, as upon Saul to prevent
|
|
him from taking David, <scripRef passage="1Sa 19:23" id="Num.xxv-p4.2" parsed="|1Sam|19|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.19.23">1 Sam. xix.
|
|
23</scripRef>. He spoke not his own sense, but the language of the
|
|
Spirit that came upon him. 4. He used a different preface now from
|
|
what he had used before (<scripRef passage="Nu 24:3,4" id="Num.xxv-p4.3" parsed="|Num|24|3|24|4" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.3-Num.24.4"><i>v.</i> 3,
|
|
4</scripRef>), much like that of David (<scripRef passage="2Sa 23:1-3" id="Num.xxv-p4.4" parsed="|2Sam|23|1|23|3" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.23.1-2Sam.23.3">2 Sam. xxiii. 1-3</scripRef>), yet savouring very much
|
|
(as some think) of pride and vain-glory, taking all the praise of
|
|
this prophecy to himself, and magnifying himself as one of the
|
|
cabinet-council of heaven. Two things he boasts of:—(1.) The
|
|
favour God did him in making known himself to him. He <i>heard the
|
|
words of God, and saw the vision of the Almighty.</i> God himself
|
|
had met him and spoken to him (<scripRef passage="Nu 23:16" id="Num.xxv-p4.5" parsed="|Num|23|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.16"><i>ch.</i> xxiii. 16</scripRef>), and with this he was
|
|
greatly puffed up. Paul speaks with humility of his visions and
|
|
revelations (<scripRef passage="2Co 12:1" id="Num.xxv-p4.6" parsed="|2Cor|12|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.12.1">2 Cor. xii.
|
|
1</scripRef>), but Balaam speaks of his with pride. (2.) His own
|
|
power to receive and bear those revelations. He fell into a trance
|
|
indeed, as other prophets did, but he had his eyes open. This he
|
|
mentions twice; but the words in the original are not the same. The
|
|
<i>man whose eyes were shut,</i> some think it may be read so
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 24:3-9" id="Num.xxv-p4.7" parsed="|Num|24|3|24|9" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.3-Num.24.9"><i>v.</i> 3-9</scripRef>), but now
|
|
<i>having his eyes open,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 24:4" id="Num.xxv-p4.8" parsed="|Num|24|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.4"><i>v.</i>
|
|
4</scripRef>. When he attempted to curse Israel, he owns, he was in
|
|
a mistake, but now he began to see his error, and yet still he
|
|
remained blinded by covetousness and ambition, those foolish and
|
|
hurtful lusts. Note, [1.] Those that oppose God and his people will
|
|
sooner or later be made to see themselves wretchedly deceived. [2.]
|
|
Many have their eyes open that have not their hearts open, are
|
|
enlightened, but not sanctified; and that knowledge which puffs men
|
|
up with pride will but serve to light them to hell, whither many go
|
|
with their eyes open.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxv-p5">II. Yet the blessing is for substance the
|
|
same with those before. Several things he admires in Israel:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxv-p6">1. Their beauty (<scripRef passage="Nu 24:5" id="Num.xxv-p6.1" parsed="|Num|24|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>): <i>How goodly are thy tents, O
|
|
Jacob!</i> Though they dwelt not in stately palaces, but in coarse
|
|
and homely tents, and these, no doubt, sadly weather-beaten, yet
|
|
Balaam sees a beauty in those tents, because of their admirable
|
|
order, according to their tribes, <scripRef passage="Nu 24:2" id="Num.xxv-p6.2" parsed="|Num|24|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. Nothing recommends religion more
|
|
to the good opinion of those that look upon it at a distance than
|
|
the unity and harmony of its professors, <scripRef passage="Ps 133:1" id="Num.xxv-p6.3" parsed="|Ps|133|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.133.1">Ps. cxxxiii. 1</scripRef>. The amiableness of this
|
|
people, and the great reputation they should gain among their
|
|
neighbours, are compared (<scripRef passage="Nu 24:6" id="Num.xxv-p6.4" parsed="|Num|24|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.6"><i>v.</i>
|
|
6</scripRef>) to the beauty and sweetness of fruitful valleys and
|
|
fine gardens, flourishing trees and fragrant spices. Note, Those
|
|
whose eyes are open see the saints on the earth to be excellent
|
|
ones, and their delight is accordingly in them. <i>The
|
|
righteous,</i> doubtless, <i>is more excellent than his
|
|
neighbour.</i> They are <i>trees which the Lord has planted;</i>
|
|
that is their excellency. The branches of righteousness are the
|
|
planting of the Lord. See <scripRef passage="Ho 14:5-7" id="Num.xxv-p6.5" parsed="|Hos|14|5|14|7" osisRef="Bible:Hos.14.5-Hos.14.7">Hos. xiv.
|
|
5-7</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxv-p7">2. Their fruitfulness and increase. This
|
|
may be intended by those similitudes (<scripRef passage="Nu 24:6" id="Num.xxv-p7.1" parsed="|Num|24|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>) of the valleys, gardens, and
|
|
trees, as well as by those expressions (<scripRef passage="Nu 24:7" id="Num.xxv-p7.2" parsed="|Num|24|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>), <i>He shall pour the water out
|
|
of his buckets;</i> that is, God shall water them with his blessing
|
|
like rain from heaven, and then his <i>seed shall be in many
|
|
waters.</i> Compare <scripRef passage="Ho 2:23" id="Num.xxv-p7.3" parsed="|Hos|2|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.2.23">Hos. ii.
|
|
23</scripRef>, <i>I will sow her unto me in the earth.</i> And
|
|
waters are in scripture put for <i>peoples, and multitudes, and
|
|
nations.</i> This has been fulfilled in the wonderful increase of
|
|
that nation and their vast multitude even in their dispersion.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxv-p8">3. Their honour and advancement. As the
|
|
multitude of the people is the honour of the prince, so the
|
|
magnificence of the prince is the honour of the people; Balaam
|
|
therefore foretells that their <i>king shall be higher than
|
|
Agag.</i> Agag, it is probable, was the most potent monarch in
|
|
those parts; Balaam knew of none more considerable than he was; he
|
|
rose above the rest of his neighbours. But Balaam foretells that
|
|
Israel's chief commander, who, after Moses, was Joshua, should be
|
|
more great and honourable than ever Agag was, and make a far better
|
|
figure in history. Saul, their first king, triumphed over Agag,
|
|
though, it is said, <i>he came delicately.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxv-p9">4. Their power and victory, <scripRef passage="Nu 24:8" id="Num.xxv-p9.1" parsed="|Num|24|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. (1.) He looks back upon
|
|
what they had done, or rather what had been done for them: <i>God
|
|
brought them forth out of Egypt;</i> this he had spoken of before,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 23:22" id="Num.xxv-p9.2" parsed="|Num|23|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.22"><i>ch.</i> xxiii. 22</scripRef>. The
|
|
wonders that attended their deliverance out of Egypt contributed
|
|
more to their honour, and the terror of their adversaries, than any
|
|
thing else, <scripRef passage="Jos 2:10" id="Num.xxv-p9.3" parsed="|Josh|2|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.2.10">Josh. ii. 10</scripRef>.
|
|
He that brought them out of Egypt will not fail to bring them into
|
|
Canaan, for, <i>as for God, his work is perfect.</i> (2.) He looks
|
|
down upon their present strength. Israel hath, as it were, <i>the
|
|
strength of a unicorn,</i> of which creature it is said (<scripRef passage="Job 39:9,10" id="Num.xxv-p9.4" parsed="|Job|39|9|39|10" osisRef="Bible:Job.39.9-Job.39.10">Job xxxix. 9, 10</scripRef>), <i>Will he be
|
|
willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib? Canst thou bind him
|
|
with his band in the furrow?</i> "No, Israel is too powerful to be
|
|
checked or held in by my curses or thy armies." (3.) He looks
|
|
forward to their future conquests: <i>He shall eat up the nations
|
|
his enemies;</i> that is, "he shall not only destroy and devour
|
|
them as easily and irresistibly as a lion does his prey, but he
|
|
shall himself be strengthened, and fattened, and enriched, by their
|
|
spoils."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxv-p10">5. Their courage and security: <i>He lay
|
|
down as a lion, as a great lion,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 24:9" id="Num.xxv-p10.1" parsed="|Num|24|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. Now he does so in the plains of
|
|
Moab, and asks no leave of the king of Moab, nor is he in fear of
|
|
him; shortly will he do so in Canaan. When he has torn his prey, he
|
|
will take his repose, <i>quiet from the fear of evil,</i> and bid
|
|
defiance to all his neighbours; for who shall stir up a sleeping
|
|
lion? It is observed of lions (as the learned bishop Patrick takes
|
|
notice here) that they do not retire into places of shelter to
|
|
sleep, but lie down any where, knowing that none dares meddle with
|
|
them: thus secure were Israel in Canaan, chiefly in the days of
|
|
David and Solomon; and thus is <i>the righteous bold as a lion</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Pr 28:1" id="Num.xxv-p10.2" parsed="|Prov|28|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.28.1">Prov. xxviii. 1</scripRef>), not to
|
|
assault others, but to repose themselves, because <i>God maketh
|
|
them to dwell in safety,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 4:8" id="Num.xxv-p10.3" parsed="|Ps|4|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.4.8">Ps. iv.
|
|
8</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxv-p11">6. Their interest, and influence upon their
|
|
neighbours. Their friends, and those in alliance with them, were
|
|
happy: <i>Blessed is he that blesseth thee;</i> those that do them
|
|
any kindness will certainly fare the better for it. But their
|
|
enemies, and those in arms against them, were certainly miserable:
|
|
<i>Cursed is he that curseth thee;</i> those that do them any
|
|
injury do it at their peril; for God takes what is done to them,
|
|
whether good or evil, as done to himself. Thus he confirms the
|
|
blessing of Abraham (<scripRef passage="Ge 12:3" id="Num.xxv-p11.1" parsed="|Gen|12|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.3">Gen. xii.
|
|
3</scripRef>), and speaks as if <i>therefore</i> he did at this
|
|
time bless Israel, and not curse them, because he desired to share
|
|
in the blessing of Israel's friends and dreaded the curse on
|
|
Israel's enemies.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 24" id="Num.xxv-p11.2" parsed="|Num|24|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 24:10-14" id="Num.xxv-p11.3" parsed="|Num|24|10|24|14" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.10-Num.24.14"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.24.10-Num.24.14">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxv-p11.4">Balak's Remonstrance. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxv-p11.5">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxv-p12">10 And Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam,
|
|
and he smote his hands together: and Balak said unto Balaam, I
|
|
called thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast
|
|
altogether blessed <i>them</i> these three times. 11 Therefore now
|
|
flee thou to thy place: I thought to promote thee unto great
|
|
honour; but, lo, the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxv-p12.1">Lord</span> hath kept
|
|
thee back from honour. 12 And Balaam said unto Balak, Spake I not
|
|
also to thy messengers which thou sentest unto me, saying, 13 If
|
|
Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go
|
|
beyond the commandment of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxv-p12.2">Lord</span>,
|
|
to do <i>either</i> good or bad of mine own mind; <i>but</i> what
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxv-p12.3">Lord</span> saith, that will I speak?
|
|
14 And now, behold, I go unto my people: come <i>therefore, and</i>
|
|
I will advertise thee what this people shall do to thy people in
|
|
the latter days.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxv-p13">We have here the conclusion of this vain
|
|
attempt to curse Israel, and the total abandonment of it. 1. Balak
|
|
made the worst of it. He broke out into a rage against Balaam
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 24:10" id="Num.xxv-p13.1" parsed="|Num|24|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>), expressed
|
|
both in words and gesture the highest degree of vexation at the
|
|
disappointment; he smote his hands together, for indignation, to
|
|
see all his measures thus broken, and his project baffled. He
|
|
charged Balaam with putting upon him the basest affront and cheat
|
|
imaginable: "<i>I called thee to curse my enemies,</i> and thou
|
|
hast shown thyself in league with them, and in their interests, for
|
|
thou hast <i>blessed them these three times,</i> though, by
|
|
appointing the altars to be built and sacrifices to be offered,
|
|
thou madest be believe thou wouldest certainly curse them."
|
|
Hereupon he forbade him his presence, expelled him his country,
|
|
upbraided him with the preferments he had designed to bestow upon
|
|
him, but now would not (<scripRef passage="Nu 24:11" id="Num.xxv-p13.2" parsed="|Num|24|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.11"><i>v.</i>
|
|
11</scripRef>): "<i>The Lord hath kept thee back from honour.</i>
|
|
See what thou gettest by pleasing the Lord, instead of pleasing me;
|
|
thou has hindered thy preferment by it." Thus those who are any way
|
|
losers by their duty are commonly upbraided with it, as fools, for
|
|
preferring it before their interest in the world. Whereas, if
|
|
Balaam had been voluntary and sincere in his adherence to the word
|
|
of the Lord, though he lost the honour Balak designed him by it,
|
|
God would have made that loss up to him abundantly to his
|
|
advantage. 2. Balaam made the best if it. (1.) He endeavours to
|
|
excuse the disappointment. And a very good excuse he has for it,
|
|
that God restrained him from saying what he would have said, and
|
|
constrained him to say what he would not; and that this was what
|
|
Balak ought not to be displeased at, not only because he could not
|
|
help it, but because he had told Balak before what he must depend
|
|
upon, <scripRef passage="Nu 24:12,13" id="Num.xxv-p13.3" parsed="|Num|24|12|24|13" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.12-Num.24.13"><i>v.</i> 12, 13</scripRef>.
|
|
Balak could not say that he had cheated him, since he had given him
|
|
fair notice of the check he found himself under. (2.) He endeavours
|
|
to atone for it, <scripRef passage="Nu 24:14" id="Num.xxv-p13.4" parsed="|Num|24|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.14"><i>v.</i>
|
|
14</scripRef>. Though he cannot do what Balak would have him do,
|
|
yet, [1.] He will gratify his curiosity with some predictions
|
|
concerning the nations about him. It is natural to us to be pleased
|
|
with prophecy, and with this he hopes to pacify the angry prince.
|
|
[2.] He will satisfy him with an assurance that, whatever this
|
|
formidable people should do to his people, it should not be till
|
|
the latter days; so that he, for his part, needed not to fear any
|
|
mischief or molestation from them; the <i>vision was for a great
|
|
while to come,</i> but in his days there should be peace. [3.] He
|
|
will put him into a method of doing Israel a mischief without the
|
|
ceremonies of enchantment and execration. This seems to be implied
|
|
in that word: <i>I will advertise thee;</i> for it properly
|
|
signifies, <i>I will counsel thee.</i> What the counsel was is not
|
|
set down here, because it was given privately, but we are told
|
|
afterwards what it was, <scripRef passage="Nu 31:16" id="Num.xxv-p13.5" parsed="|Num|31|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.16"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xxxi. 16</scripRef>. He counselled him to entice the Israelites to
|
|
idolatry, <scripRef passage="Re 2:14" id="Num.xxv-p13.6" parsed="|Rev|2|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.2.14">Rev. ii. 14</scripRef>. Since
|
|
he could not have leave from God to curse them, he puts him in a
|
|
way of getting help from the devil to tempt them. <i>Flectere si
|
|
nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo—If I cannot move heaven, I will
|
|
solicit hell.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 24" id="Num.xxv-p13.7" parsed="|Num|24|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 24:15-25" id="Num.xxv-p13.8" parsed="|Num|24|15|24|25" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.15-Num.24.25"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.24.15-Num.24.25">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxv-p13.9">Balaam's Prophecy. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxv-p13.10">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxv-p14">15 And he took up his parable, and said, Balaam
|
|
the son of Beor hath said, and the man whose eyes are open hath
|
|
said: 16 He hath said, which heard the words of God, and knew the
|
|
knowledge of the most High, <i>which</i> saw the vision of the
|
|
Almighty, falling <i>into a trance,</i> but having his eyes open:
|
|
17 I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh:
|
|
there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out
|
|
of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the
|
|
children of Sheth. 18 And Edom shall be a possession, Seir also
|
|
shall be a possession for his enemies; and Israel shall do
|
|
valiantly. 19 Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion,
|
|
and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city. 20 And when he
|
|
looked on Amalek, he took up his parable, and said, Amalek
|
|
<i>was</i> the first of the nations; but his latter end <i>shall
|
|
be</i> that he perish for ever. 21 And he looked on the Kenites,
|
|
and took up his parable, and said, Strong is thy dwellingplace, and
|
|
thou puttest thy nest in a rock. 22 Nevertheless the Kenite shall
|
|
be wasted, until Asshur shall carry thee away captive. 23 And he
|
|
took up his parable, and said, Alas, who shall live when God doeth
|
|
this! 24 And ships <i>shall come</i> from the coast of Chittim, and
|
|
shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber, and he also shall
|
|
perish for ever. 25 And Balaam rose up, and went and returned to
|
|
his place: and Balak also went his way.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxv-p15">The office of prophets was both to bless
|
|
and to prophesy in the name of the Lord. Balaam, as a prophet, per
|
|
force had blessed Israel; here he foretells future events.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxv-p16">I. His preface is much the same as that,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 24:3,4" id="Num.xxv-p16.1" parsed="|Num|24|3|24|4" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.3-Num.24.4"><i>v.</i> 3, 4</scripRef>. He
|
|
personates a true prophet admirably well, God permitting and
|
|
directing him to do so, because, whatever he was, the prophecy
|
|
itself was a true prophecy. He boasts, 1. That his <i>eyes are
|
|
open</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 24:15" id="Num.xxv-p16.2" parsed="|Num|24|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>),
|
|
for prophets were <i>in old time called seers</i> (<scripRef passage="1Sa 9:9" id="Num.xxv-p16.3" parsed="|1Sam|9|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.9.9">1 Sam. ix. 9</scripRef>), because they must speak
|
|
what they had seen, and therefore, before they opened their lips,
|
|
it was necessary that they should have their eyes open. 2. That he
|
|
has <i>heard the words of God,</i> which many do that do not heed
|
|
them, nor hear God in them. 3. That he <i>knew the knowledge of the
|
|
Most High;</i> this is added here. A man may be full of the
|
|
knowledge of God and yet utterly destitute of the grace of God, may
|
|
receive the truth in the light of it and yet be a stranger to the
|
|
love of it. 4. That <i>he saw the vision of the Almighty,</i> but
|
|
not so as to be <i>changed into the same image.</i> He calls God
|
|
the <i>Most High,</i> and the <i>Almighty;</i> no man could speak
|
|
more honourably of him, nor seem to put a greater value upon his
|
|
acquaintance with him, and yet he had no true fear of him, love to
|
|
him, or faith in him, so far may a man go towards heaven, and yet
|
|
come short.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxv-p17">II. Here is his prophecy concerning him
|
|
that should be the crown and glory of his people Israel, who is, 1.
|
|
David in the type, who <i>not now,</i> not quickly, but in process
|
|
of time, should <i>smite the corners of Moab.</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 24:17" id="Num.xxv-p17.1" parsed="|Num|24|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>), and take possession of
|
|
Mount Seir, and under whom the forces of Israel should <i>do
|
|
valiantly,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 24:18" id="Num.xxv-p17.2" parsed="|Num|24|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.18"><i>v.</i>
|
|
18</scripRef>. This was fulfilled when David smote Moab, and
|
|
<i>measured them with a line,</i> so that <i>the Moabites became
|
|
David's servants,</i> <scripRef passage="2Sa 8:2" id="Num.xxv-p17.3" parsed="|2Sam|8|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.8.2">2 Sam. viii.
|
|
2</scripRef>. And at the same time the Edomites likewise were
|
|
brought into obedience to Israel, <scripRef passage="Nu 24:14" id="Num.xxv-p17.4" parsed="|Num|24|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. But, 2. Our Lord Jesus, the
|
|
promised Messiah, is chiefly pointed at in the antitype, and of him
|
|
it is an illustrious prophecy; it was the will of God that notice
|
|
should thus be given of his coming, a great while before, not only
|
|
to the people of the Jews, but to other nations, because his gospel
|
|
and kingdom were to extend themselves so far beyond the borders of
|
|
the land of Israel. It is here foretold, (1.) That while: "<i>I
|
|
shall see him, but not now;</i> I do see him in vision, but at a
|
|
very great distance, through the interposing space of 1500 years at
|
|
least." Or understand it thus:—Balaam, a wicked man, shall see
|
|
Christ, but shall not see him nigh, nor see him as Job, who saw him
|
|
<i>as his Redeemer,</i> and saw him for himself, <scripRef passage="Job 19:25" id="Num.xxv-p17.5" parsed="|Job|19|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.19.25">Job xix. 25, 27</scripRef>. When he comes in the clouds
|
|
<i>every eye shall see him,</i> but many will see him (as the rich
|
|
man in hell saw Abraham) <i>afar off.</i> (2.) That he shall come
|
|
out of Jacob, and Israel, as a star and a sceptre, the former
|
|
denoting his glory and lustre, and the <i>bright and morning
|
|
star,</i> the latter his power and authority; it is <i>he that
|
|
shall have dominion.</i> Perhaps this prophecy of Balaam (one of
|
|
the children of the east) concerning a star that should arise out
|
|
of Jacob, as the indication of a sceptre arising in Israel, being
|
|
preserved by a tradition of that country, gave occasion to the wise
|
|
men, who were of the east too, upon the sight of an unusual star
|
|
over the land of Judea, to enquire for him that was <i>born king of
|
|
the Jews,</i> <scripRef passage="Mt 2:2" id="Num.xxv-p17.6" parsed="|Matt|2|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.2.2">Matt. ii. 2</scripRef>.
|
|
(3.) That his kingdom shall be universal, and victorious over all
|
|
opposition, which was typified by David's victories over Moab and
|
|
Edom. But the Messiah shall destroy, or, as some read it, <i>shall
|
|
rule over, all the children of Seth.</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 24:17" id="Num.xxv-p17.7" parsed="|Num|24|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>), that is, all the children of
|
|
men, who descend from Seth, the son of Adam, the descendants of the
|
|
rest of Adam's sons being cut off by the deluge. Christ shall be
|
|
king, not only of Jacob and Israel, but of all the world; so that
|
|
all the children of Seth shall be either governed by his golden
|
|
sceptre or dashed in pieces by his iron rod. He shall set up a
|
|
universal rule, authority, and power, of his own, and shall put
|
|
down all opposing rule, <scripRef passage="1Co 15:24" id="Num.xxv-p17.8" parsed="|1Cor|15|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.15.24">1 Cor. xv.
|
|
24</scripRef>. He shall <i>unwall all the children of Seth;</i> so
|
|
some read it. He shall take down all their defences and carnal
|
|
confidences, so that they shall either admit his government or lie
|
|
open to his judgments. (4.) That his Israel shall do valiantly; the
|
|
subjects of Christ, animated by his might, shall maintain a
|
|
spiritual war with the powers of darkness, and be more than
|
|
conquerors. <i>The people that do know their God shall be strong,
|
|
and do exploits,</i> <scripRef passage="Da 11:32" id="Num.xxv-p17.9" parsed="|Dan|11|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.11.32">Dan. xi.
|
|
32</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxv-p18">III. Here is his prophecy concerning the
|
|
Amalekites and Kenites, part of whose country, it is probable, he
|
|
had now in view. 1. The Amalekites were now the <i>chief of the
|
|
nations</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 24:20" id="Num.xxv-p18.1" parsed="|Num|24|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>),
|
|
therefore Agag was spoken of (<scripRef passage="Nu 24:7" id="Num.xxv-p18.2" parsed="|Num|24|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.7"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7</scripRef>) as an eminent prince, and they were the first that
|
|
engaged Israel when they came out of Egypt; but the time will come
|
|
when that nation, as great as it looks now, will be totally ruined
|
|
and rooted out: <i>His latter end shall be that he perish for
|
|
ever.</i> Here Balaam confirms that doom of Amalek which Moses had
|
|
read (<scripRef passage="Ex 15:14,16" id="Num.xxv-p18.3" parsed="|Exod|15|14|0|0;|Exod|15|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.14 Bible:Exod.15.16">Exod. xv. 14, 16</scripRef>),
|
|
where God had sworn that he would have <i>perpetual war with
|
|
Amalek.</i> Note, Those whom God is at war with will certainly
|
|
perish for ever; for when God judges he will overcome. 2. The
|
|
Kenites were now the securest of the nations; their situation was
|
|
such as that nature was their engineer, and had strongly fortified
|
|
them: "<i>Thou puttest thy nest</i> (like the eagle) <i>in a
|
|
rock,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 24:21" id="Num.xxv-p18.4" parsed="|Num|24|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>.
|
|
Thou thinkest thyself safe, and yet the <i>Kenites shall be
|
|
wasted</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 24:22" id="Num.xxv-p18.5" parsed="|Num|24|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>)
|
|
and gradually brought to decay, till they be carried away captive
|
|
by the Assyrians," which was done at the captivity of the ten
|
|
tribes. Note, Bodies politic, like natural bodies, though of the
|
|
strongest constitutions, will gradually decay, and come to ruin at
|
|
last; even a nest in a rock will be no perpetual security.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxv-p19">IV. Here is a prophecy that looks as far
|
|
forward as the Greeks and Romans, for theirs is supposed to be
|
|
meant by the <i>coast of Chittim,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 24:24" id="Num.xxv-p19.1" parsed="|Num|24|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxv-p20">1. The introduction to this parable; this
|
|
article of his prophecy is very observable (<scripRef passage="Nu 24:23" id="Num.xxv-p20.1" parsed="|Num|24|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>): <i>Alas! who shall live when
|
|
God doeth this?</i> Here he acknowledges all the revolutions of
|
|
states and kingdoms to be the Lord's doing: <i>God doeth this;</i>
|
|
whoever are the instruments, he is the supreme director. But he
|
|
speaks mournfully concerning them, and has a very melancholy
|
|
prospect of these events: <i>Who shall live?</i> Either, (1.) These
|
|
events are so distant, and so far off to come, that it is hard to
|
|
say <i>who shall live till they come;</i> but, whoever shall live
|
|
to see them, there will be amazing turns. Or, (2.) They will be so
|
|
dismal, and make such desolations, that scarcely any will escape or
|
|
be left alive; who shall live when death rides in triumph?
|
|
<scripRef passage="Re 6:8" id="Num.xxv-p20.2" parsed="|Rev|6|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.6.8">Rev. vi. 8</scripRef>. Those that live
|
|
then will be as brands plucked out of the fire, and will have their
|
|
lives given them as a prey. God fit us for the worst of times!</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxv-p21">2. The prophecy itself is observable. Both
|
|
Greece and Italy lie much upon the sea, and therefore their armies
|
|
were sent forth mostly in ships. Now he seems here to foretell,
|
|
(1.) That the forces of the Grecians should humble and bring down
|
|
the Assyrians, who were united with the Persians, which was
|
|
fulfilled when the eastern country was overcome, or overrun rather,
|
|
by Alexander. (2.) That theirs and the Roman forces should afflict
|
|
the Hebrews, or Jews, who were called <i>the children of Eber;</i>
|
|
this was fulfilled in part when the Grecian empire was oppressive
|
|
to the Jewish nation, but chiefly when the Roman empire ruined it
|
|
and put a period to it. But, (3.) That Chittim, that is, the Roman
|
|
empire, in which the Grecian was at length swallowed up, should
|
|
itself perish for ever, when the stone cut out of the mountain
|
|
without hands shall consume all these kingdoms, and particularly
|
|
the <i>feet of iron and clay,</i> <scripRef passage="Da 2:34" id="Num.xxv-p21.1" parsed="|Dan|2|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.34">Dan.
|
|
ii. 34</scripRef>. Thus (says Dr. Lightfoot) Balaam, instead of
|
|
cursing the church, curses Amalek the first, and Rome the last,
|
|
enemy of the church. And <i>so let all thy enemies perish, O
|
|
Lord!</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXV" n="xxvi" progress="77.56%" prev="Num.xxv" next="Num.xxvii" id="Num.xxvi">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.xxvi-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.xxvi-p0.2">CHAP. XXV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.xxvi-p1">Israel, having escaped the curse of Balaam, here
|
|
sustains a great deal of damage and reproach by the counsel of
|
|
Balaam, who, it seems, before he left Balak, put him into a more
|
|
effectual way than that which Balak thought of to separate between
|
|
the Israelites and their God. "The Lord will not be prevailed with
|
|
by Balaam's charms to ruin them; try if they will not be prevailed
|
|
with by the charms of the daughters of Moab to ruin themselves."
|
|
None are more fatally bewitched than those that are bewitched by
|
|
their own lusts. Here is, I. The sin of Israel; they were enticed
|
|
by the daughters of Moab both to whoredom and to idolatry,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 25:1-3" id="Num.xxvi-p1.1" parsed="|Num|25|1|25|3" osisRef="Bible:Num.25.1-Num.25.3">ver. 1-3</scripRef>. II. The
|
|
punishment of this sin by the hand of the magistrate (<scripRef passage="Nu 25:4,5" id="Num.xxvi-p1.2" parsed="|Num|25|4|25|5" osisRef="Bible:Num.25.4-Num.25.5">ver. 4, 5</scripRef>) and by the immediate hand
|
|
of God, <scripRef passage="Nu 25:9" id="Num.xxvi-p1.3" parsed="|Num|25|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.25.9">ver. 9</scripRef>. III. The
|
|
pious zeal of Phinehas in slaying Zimri and Cozbi, two impudent
|
|
sinners, <scripRef passage="Nu 25:6,8,14,15" id="Num.xxvi-p1.4" parsed="|Num|25|6|0|0;|Num|25|8|0|0;|Num|25|14|0|0;|Num|25|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.25.6 Bible:Num.25.8 Bible:Num.25.14 Bible:Num.25.15">ver. 6, 8, 14,
|
|
15</scripRef>. IV. God's commendation of the zeal of Phinehas,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 25:10-13" id="Num.xxvi-p1.5" parsed="|Num|25|10|25|13" osisRef="Bible:Num.25.10-Num.25.13">ver. 10-13</scripRef>. V. Enmity
|
|
put between the Israelites and the Midianites, their tempters, as
|
|
at first between the woman and the serpent, <scripRef passage="Nu 25:16-18" id="Num.xxvi-p1.6" parsed="|Num|25|16|25|18" osisRef="Bible:Num.25.16-Num.25.18">ver. 16</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 25" id="Num.xxvi-p1.7" parsed="|Num|25|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.25"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 25:1-5" id="Num.xxvi-p1.8" parsed="|Num|25|1|25|5" osisRef="Bible:Num.25.1-Num.25.5"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.25.1-Num.25.5">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxvi-p1.9">The Sin of Israel. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxvi-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxvi-p2">1 And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people
|
|
began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab.   2 And
|
|
they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the
|
|
people did eat, and bowed down to their gods.   3 And Israel
|
|
joined himself unto Baal-peor: and the anger of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxvi-p2.1">Lord</span> was kindled against Israel.   4 And
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxvi-p2.2">Lord</span> said unto Moses, Take all
|
|
the heads of the people, and hang them up before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxvi-p2.3">Lord</span> against the sun, that the fierce anger of
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxvi-p2.4">Lord</span> may be turned away from
|
|
Israel.   5 And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye
|
|
every one his men that were joined unto Baal-peor.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxvi-p3">Here is, I. The sin of Israel, to which
|
|
they were enticed by the daughters of Moab and Midian; they were
|
|
guilty both of corporal and spiritual whoredoms, for <i>Israel
|
|
joined himself unto Baal-peor,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 25:3" id="Num.xxvi-p3.1" parsed="|Num|25|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.25.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. Not all, nor the most, but very
|
|
many, were taken in this snare. Now concerning this observe, 1.
|
|
That Balak, by the advice of Balaam, <i>cast this stumbling-block
|
|
before the children of Israel,</i> <scripRef passage="Re 2:14" id="Num.xxvi-p3.2" parsed="|Rev|2|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.2.14">Rev.
|
|
ii. 14</scripRef>. Note, Those are our worst enemies that draw us
|
|
to sin, for that is the greatest mischief any man can do us. If
|
|
Balak had drawn out his armed men against them to fight them,
|
|
Israel had bravely resisted, and no doubt had been more than
|
|
conquerors; but now that he sends his beautiful women among them,
|
|
and invites them to his idolatrous feasts, the Israelites basely
|
|
yield, and are shamefully overcome: those are smitten with this
|
|
harlots that could not be smitten with his sword. Note, We are more
|
|
endangered by the charms of a smiling world than by the terrors of
|
|
a frowning world. 2. That the daughters of Moab were their tempters
|
|
and conquerors. Ever since Eve was first in the transgression the
|
|
fairer sex, though the weaker, has been a snare to many; yea strong
|
|
men have been wounded and slain by the lips of the strange woman
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Pr 7:26" id="Num.xxvi-p3.3" parsed="|Prov|7|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.7.26">Prov. vii. 26</scripRef>), witness
|
|
Solomon, whose wives were shares and nets to him <scripRef passage="Ec 7:26" id="Num.xxvi-p3.4" parsed="|Eccl|7|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.7.26">Eccl. vii. 26</scripRef>. 3. That whoredom and idolatry
|
|
went together. They first defiled and debauched their consciences,
|
|
by committing lewdness with the women, and then were easily drawn,
|
|
in complaisance to them, and in contempt of the God of Israel, to
|
|
bow down to their idols. And they were more likely to do so if, as
|
|
it is commonly supposed, and seems probable by the joining of them
|
|
together, the uncleanness committed was a part of the worship and
|
|
service performed to Baal-peor. Those that have broken the fences
|
|
of modesty will never be held by the bonds of piety, and those that
|
|
have dishonoured themselves by fleshly lusts will not scruple to
|
|
dishonour God by idolatrous worships, and for this they are justly
|
|
given up yet further to vile affections. 4. That by eating of the
|
|
idolatrous sacrifices they <i>joined themselves to Baal-peor</i> to
|
|
whom they were offered, which the apostle urges as a reason why
|
|
Christians should not <i>eat things offered to idols,</i> because
|
|
thereby they had fellowship with the devils to whom they were
|
|
offered, <scripRef passage="1Co 10:20" id="Num.xxvi-p3.5" parsed="|1Cor|10|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.10.20">1 Cor. x. 20</scripRef>. It
|
|
is called <i>eating the sacrifices of the dead</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 106:28" id="Num.xxvi-p3.6" parsed="|Ps|106|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.28">Ps. cvi. 28</scripRef>), not only because the
|
|
idol itself was a dead thing, but because the person represented by
|
|
it was some great hero, who since his death was deified, as saints
|
|
in the Roman church are canonized. 5. It was great aggravation of
|
|
the sin that <i>Israel abode in Shittim,</i> where they had the
|
|
land of Canaan in view, and were just ready to enter and take
|
|
possession of it. It was the highest degree of treachery and
|
|
ingratitude to be false to their God, whom they had found so
|
|
faithful to them, and to eat of idol-sacrifices when they were
|
|
ready to be feasted so richly on God's favours.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxvi-p4">II. God's just displeasure against them for
|
|
this sin. Israel's whoredoms did that which all Balaam's
|
|
enchantments could not do, they set God against them; now he was
|
|
<i>turned to be their enemy, and fought against them.</i> So many
|
|
of the people, nay, so many of the princes, were guilty, that the
|
|
sin became national, and for it God was wroth with the whole
|
|
congregation. 1. A plague immediately broke out, for we read of the
|
|
staying of it (<scripRef passage="Nu 25:8" id="Num.xxvi-p4.1" parsed="|Num|25|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.25.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>),
|
|
and of the number that died of it (<scripRef passage="Nu 25:9" id="Num.xxvi-p4.2" parsed="|Num|25|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.25.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>), but no mention of the beginning
|
|
of it, which therefore must be implied in those words (<scripRef passage="Nu 25:3" id="Num.xxvi-p4.3" parsed="|Num|25|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.25.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), <i>The anger of the Lord
|
|
was kindled against Israel.</i> It is said expressly (<scripRef passage="Ps 106:29" id="Num.xxvi-p4.4" parsed="|Ps|106|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.29">Ps. cvi. 29</scripRef>), <i>The plague broke
|
|
in.</i> Note, Epidemical diseases are the fruits of God's anger,
|
|
and the just punishments of epidemical sins; one infection follows
|
|
the other. The plague, no doubt, fastened on those that were most
|
|
guilty, who were soon made to pay dearly for their forbidden
|
|
pleasures; and though now God does not always plague such sinners,
|
|
as he did here, yet that word of God will be fulfilled, <i>If any
|
|
man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy,</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 3:17" id="Num.xxvi-p4.5" parsed="|1Cor|3|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.3.17">1 Cor. iii. 17</scripRef>. 2. The ringleaders
|
|
are ordered to be put to death by the hand of public justice, which
|
|
will be the only way to stay the plague (<scripRef passage="Nu 25:4" id="Num.xxvi-p4.6" parsed="|Num|25|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.25.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>): <i>Take the heads of the
|
|
people</i> (that is, of that part of the people that went out of
|
|
the camp of Israel into the country of Moab, to join in their
|
|
idolatries)—<i>take them and hang them up before the sun,</i> as
|
|
sacrifices to God's justice, and for a terror to the rest of the
|
|
people. The judges must first order them to be <i>slain with the
|
|
sword</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 25:5" id="Num.xxvi-p4.7" parsed="|Num|25|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.25.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), and
|
|
their dead bodies must be hanged up, that the stupid Israelites,
|
|
seeing their leaders and princes so severely punished for their
|
|
whoredom and idolatry, without any regard to their quality, might
|
|
be possessed with a sense of the evil of the sin and the terror of
|
|
God's wrath against them. Ringleaders in sin ought to be made
|
|
examples of justice.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 25:6-15" id="Num.xxvi-p4.8" parsed="|Num|25|6|25|15" osisRef="Bible:Num.25.6-Num.25.15"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.25.6-Num.25.15">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxvi-p4.9">The Zeal of Phinehas. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxvi-p4.10">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxvi-p5">6 And, behold, one of the children of Israel
|
|
came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight
|
|
of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children
|
|
of Israel, who <i>were</i> weeping <i>before</i> the door of the
|
|
tabernacle of the congregation.   7 And when Phinehas, the son
|
|
of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw <i>it,</i> he rose up
|
|
from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand;  
|
|
8 And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust
|
|
both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her
|
|
belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.  
|
|
9 And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.
|
|
  10 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxvi-p5.1">Lord</span> spake unto
|
|
Moses, saying,   11 Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of
|
|
Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of
|
|
Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I
|
|
consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy.   12
|
|
Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace:  
|
|
13 And he shall have it, and his seed after him, <i>even</i> the
|
|
covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for
|
|
his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel.  
|
|
14 Now the name of the Israelite that was slain, <i>even</i> that
|
|
was slain with the Midianitish woman, <i>was</i> Zimri, the son of
|
|
Salu, a prince of a chief house among the Simeonites.   15 And
|
|
the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain <i>was</i> Cozbi,
|
|
the daughter of Zur; he <i>was</i> head over a people, <i>and</i>
|
|
of a chief house in Midian.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxvi-p6">Here is a remarkable contest between
|
|
wickedness and righteousness, which shall be most bold and
|
|
resolute; and righteousness carries the day, as no doubt it will at
|
|
last.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxvi-p7">I. Never was vice more daring than it was
|
|
in Zimri, <i>a prince of a chief house</i> in the tribe of Simeon.
|
|
Such a degree of impudence in wickedness had he arrived at that he
|
|
publicly appeared leading a Midianitish harlot (and a harlot of
|
|
quality too like himself, a <i>daughter of a chief house in
|
|
Midian</i>) in the sight of Moses, and all the good people of
|
|
Israel. He did not think it enough to go out with his harlot to
|
|
worship the gods of Moab, but, when he had done that, he brought
|
|
her with him to dishonour the God of Israel. He not only owned her
|
|
publicly as his friend, and higher in his favour than any of the
|
|
daughters of Israel, but openly went with her <i>into the tent,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 25:8" id="Num.xxvi-p7.1" parsed="|Num|25|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.25.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. The word
|
|
signifies such a booth or place of retirement as was designed and
|
|
fitted up for lewdness. Thus he <i>declared his sin as Sodom,</i>
|
|
as was so far from blushing for it that he rather prided himself in
|
|
it, and gloried in his shame. All the circumstances concurred to
|
|
make it exceedingly sinful, exceedingly shameful. 1. It was an
|
|
affront to the justice of the nation, and bade defiance to that.
|
|
The judges were ordered to put the criminals to death, but he
|
|
thought himself too great for them to meddle with, and, in effect,
|
|
bade them touch him if they durst. He had certainly cast off all
|
|
fear of God who stood in no awe of the powers which he had ordained
|
|
to be <i>a terror to evil-doers.</i> 2. It was an affront to the
|
|
religion of the nation, and put a contempt upon that. Moses, and
|
|
the main body of the congregation, who kept their integrity,
|
|
<i>were weeping at the door of the tabernacle,</i> lamenting the
|
|
sin committed and deprecating the plague begun; they were
|
|
<i>sanctifying a fast</i> in a solemn assembly, weeping <i>between
|
|
the porch and the altar,</i> to turn away the wrath of God from the
|
|
congregation. Then comes Zimri among them, with his harlot in his
|
|
hand, to banter them, and, in effect, to tell them that he was
|
|
resolved to fill the measure of sin as fast as they emptied it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxvi-p8">II. Never was virtue more daring than it
|
|
was in Phinehas. Being aware of the insolence of Zimri, which it is
|
|
probable, all the congregation took notice of, in a holy
|
|
indignation at the offenders he rises up from his prayers, takes
|
|
his sword or half-pike, follows those impudent sinners into their
|
|
tent, and stabs them both, <scripRef passage="Nu 25:7,8" id="Num.xxvi-p8.1" parsed="|Num|25|7|25|8" osisRef="Bible:Num.25.7-Num.25.8"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7, 8</scripRef>. It is not at all difficult to justify Phinehas in
|
|
what he did; for, being now heir-apparent to the high-priesthood,
|
|
no doubt he was one of those judges of Israel whom Moses had
|
|
ordered, by the divine appointment, to slay all those whom they
|
|
knew to have joined themselves to Baal-peor, so that this gives no
|
|
countenance at all to private persons, under pretence of zeal
|
|
against sin, to put offenders to death, who ought to be prosecuted
|
|
by due course of law. The civil magistrate is the avenger, to
|
|
<i>execute wrath upon him that doeth evil,</i> and no private
|
|
person may take his work out of his hand. Two ways God testified
|
|
his acceptance of the pious zeal of Phinehas:—1. He immediately
|
|
put a stop to the plague, <scripRef passage="Nu 25:8" id="Num.xxvi-p8.2" parsed="|Num|25|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.25.8"><i>v.</i>
|
|
8</scripRef>. Their weeping and praying prevailed not till this
|
|
piece of necessary justice was done. If magistrates do not take
|
|
care to punish sin, God will; but their justice will be the best
|
|
prevention of his judgment, as in the case of Achan, <scripRef passage="Jos 7:13" id="Num.xxvi-p8.3" parsed="|Josh|7|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.7.13">Josh. vii. 13</scripRef>. 2. He put an honour
|
|
upon Phinehas. Though he did no more than it was his duty to do as
|
|
a judge, yet because he did it with extraordinary zeal against sin,
|
|
and for the honour of God and Israel, and did it when the other
|
|
judges, out of respect to Zimri's character as a prince, were
|
|
afraid, and declined doing it, therefore God showed himself
|
|
particularly well pleased with him, and it <i>was counted to him
|
|
for righteousness,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 106:31" id="Num.xxvi-p8.4" parsed="|Ps|106|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.31">Ps. cvi.
|
|
31</scripRef>. There is nothing lost by venturing for God. If
|
|
Zimri's relations bore him a grudge for it, and his friends might
|
|
censure him as indiscreet in this violent and hasty execution, what
|
|
needed he care, while God accepted him? In a good thing we should
|
|
be zealously affected. (1.) Phinehas, upon this occasion, though a
|
|
young man, is pronounced his country's patriot and best friend,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 25:11" id="Num.xxvi-p8.5" parsed="|Num|25|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.25.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. He has
|
|
<i>turned away my wrath from the children of Israel.</i> So much
|
|
does God delight in showing mercy that he is well pleased with
|
|
those that are instrumental in turning away his wrath. This is the
|
|
best service we can do to our people; and we may contribute
|
|
something towards it by our prayers, and by our endeavours in our
|
|
places to <i>bring the wickedness of the wicked to an end.</i> (2.)
|
|
The priesthood is entailed by covenant upon his family. It was
|
|
designed him before, but now it was confirmed to him, and, which
|
|
added much to the comfort and honour of it, it was made the
|
|
recompence of his pious zeal, <scripRef passage="Nu 25:12,13" id="Num.xxvi-p8.6" parsed="|Num|25|12|25|13" osisRef="Bible:Num.25.12-Num.25.13"><i>v.</i> 12, 13</scripRef>. It is here called <i>an
|
|
everlasting priesthood,</i> because it should continue to the
|
|
period of the Old-Testament dispensation, and should then have its
|
|
perfection and perpetuity in the unchangeable priesthood of Christ,
|
|
who is <i>consecrated for evermore.</i> By the <i>covenant of
|
|
peace</i> given him, some understand in general a promise of long
|
|
life and prosperity, and all good; it seems rather to be meant
|
|
particularly of the covenant of priesthood, for that is called the
|
|
<i>covenant of life and peace</i> (<scripRef passage="Mal 2:5" id="Num.xxvi-p8.7" parsed="|Mal|2|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mal.2.5">Mal.
|
|
ii. 5</scripRef>), and was made for the preservation of peace
|
|
between God and his people. Observe how the reward answered the
|
|
service. By executing justice he had <i>made an atonement for the
|
|
children of Israel</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 25:13" id="Num.xxvi-p8.8" parsed="|Num|25|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.25.13"><i>v.</i>
|
|
13</scripRef>), and therefore he and his shall henceforward be
|
|
employed in making atonement by sacrifice. He <i>was zealous for
|
|
his God,</i> and therefore he shall have the covenant of <i>an
|
|
everlasting priesthood.</i> Note, It is requisite that ministers
|
|
should be not only for God, but zealous for God. It is required of
|
|
them that they do more than others for the support and advancement
|
|
of the interests of God's kingdom among men.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 25" id="Num.xxvi-p8.9" parsed="|Num|25|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.25"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 25:16-18" id="Num.xxvi-p8.10" parsed="|Num|25|16|25|18" osisRef="Bible:Num.25.16-Num.25.18"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.25.16-Num.25.18">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxvi-p9">16 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxvi-p9.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   17 Vex the Midianites, and smite
|
|
them:   18 For they vex you with their wiles, wherewith they
|
|
have beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of
|
|
Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister, which was
|
|
slain in the day of the plague for Peor's sake.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxvi-p10">God had punished the Israelites for their
|
|
sin with a plague; as a Father he corrected his own children with a
|
|
rod. But we read not that any of the Midianites died of the plague;
|
|
God took another course with them, and punished them with the sword
|
|
of an enemy, not with the rod of a father. 1. Moses, though the
|
|
meekest man, and far from a spirit of revenge, is ordered to <i>vex
|
|
the Midianites and smite them,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 25:17" id="Num.xxvi-p10.1" parsed="|Num|25|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.25.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. Note, We must set ourselves
|
|
against that, whatever it is, which is an occasion of sin to us,
|
|
though it be a right eye or a right hand that thus offends us,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mt 5:29,30" id="Num.xxvi-p10.2" parsed="|Matt|5|29|5|30" osisRef="Bible:Matt.5.29-Matt.5.30">Matt. v. 29, 30</scripRef>. This is
|
|
that holy indignation and revenge which godly sorrow worketh,
|
|
<scripRef passage="2Co 7:11" id="Num.xxvi-p10.3" parsed="|2Cor|7|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.7.11">2 Cor. vii. 11</scripRef>. 2. The
|
|
reason given for the meditating of this revenge is because they
|
|
<i>vex you with their wiles,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 25:18" id="Num.xxvi-p10.4" parsed="|Num|25|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.25.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. Note, Whatever draws us to sin
|
|
should be a vexation to us, as a thorn in the flesh. The mischief
|
|
which the Midianites did to Israel by enticing them to whoredom
|
|
must be remembered and punished with as much severity as that which
|
|
the Amalekites did in fighting with them when they came out of
|
|
Egypt, <scripRef passage="Ex 17:14" id="Num.xxvi-p10.5" parsed="|Exod|17|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.14">Exod. xvii. 14</scripRef>. God
|
|
will certainly reckon with those that do the devil's work in
|
|
tempting men to sin. See further orders given in this matter,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 31:2" id="Num.xxvi-p10.6" parsed="|Num|31|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.2"><i>ch.</i> xxxi. 2</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXVI" n="xxvii" progress="77.89%" prev="Num.xxvi" next="Num.xxviii" id="Num.xxvii">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.xxvii-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.xxvii-p0.2">CHAP. XXVI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.xxvii-p1">This book is called Numbers, from the numberings
|
|
of the children of Israel, of which it gives an account. Once they
|
|
were numbered at Mount Sinai, in the first year after they came out
|
|
of Egypt, which we had an account of, <scripRef passage="Nu 1:1-2:34" id="Num.xxvii-p1.1" parsed="|Num|1|1|2|34" osisRef="Bible:Num.1.1-Num.2.34"><i>ch.</i> i. and ii.</scripRef>. And now a second
|
|
time they were numbered in the plains of Moab, just before they
|
|
entered Canaan, and of this we have an account in this chapter. We
|
|
have, I. Orders given for the doing of it, <scripRef passage="Nu 26:1-4" id="Num.xxvii-p1.2" parsed="|Num|26|1|26|4" osisRef="Bible:Num.26.1-Num.26.4">ver. 1-4</scripRef>. II. A register of the families and
|
|
numbers of each tribe (<scripRef passage="Nu 26:5-50" id="Num.xxvii-p1.3" parsed="|Num|26|5|26|50" osisRef="Bible:Num.26.5-Num.26.50">ver.
|
|
5-50</scripRef>), and the sum total, <scripRef passage="Nu 26:51" id="Num.xxvii-p1.4" parsed="|Num|26|51|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.26.51">ver. 51</scripRef>. III. Direction given to divide the
|
|
land among them, <scripRef passage="Nu 26:52-56" id="Num.xxvii-p1.5" parsed="|Num|26|52|26|56" osisRef="Bible:Num.26.52-Num.26.56">ver.
|
|
52-56</scripRef>. IV. The families and numbers of the Levites by
|
|
themselves, <scripRef passage="Nu 26:57-62" id="Num.xxvii-p1.6" parsed="|Num|26|57|26|62" osisRef="Bible:Num.26.57-Num.26.62">ver. 57-62</scripRef>.
|
|
V. Notice taken of the fulfilling of the threatening in the death
|
|
of all those that were first numbered, <scripRef passage="Nu 26:63-65" id="Num.xxvii-p1.7" parsed="|Num|26|63|26|65" osisRef="Bible:Num.26.63-Num.26.65">ver. 63-65</scripRef>), and to this there seems to
|
|
have been a special regard in the taking and keeping of this
|
|
account.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 26" id="Num.xxvii-p1.8" parsed="|Num|26|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.26"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 26:1-4" id="Num.xxvii-p1.9" parsed="|Num|26|1|26|4" osisRef="Bible:Num.26.1-Num.26.4"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.26.1-Num.26.4">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxvii-p1.10">The Numbering of the People. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxvii-p1.11">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxvii-p2">1 And it came to pass after the plague, that the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxvii-p2.1">Lord</span> spake unto Moses and unto
|
|
Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, saying,   2 Take the sum
|
|
of all the congregation of the children of Israel, from twenty
|
|
years old and upward, throughout their fathers' house, all that are
|
|
able to go to war in Israel.   3 And Moses and Eleazar the
|
|
priest spake with them in the plains of Moab by Jordan <i>near</i>
|
|
Jericho, saying,   4 <i>Take the sum of the people,</i> from
|
|
twenty years old and upward; as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxvii-p2.2">Lord</span> commanded Moses and the children of Israel,
|
|
which went forth out of the land of Egypt.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxvii-p3">Observe here, 1. That Moses did not number
|
|
the people but when God commanded him. David in his time did it
|
|
without a command, and paid dearly for it. God was Israel's king,
|
|
and he would not have this act of authority done but by his express
|
|
orders. Moses, perhaps, by this time, had heard of the blessing
|
|
with which Balaam was constrained, sorely against his will, to
|
|
bless Israel, and particularly the notice he took of their numbers;
|
|
and he was sufficiently pleased with that general testimony borne
|
|
to this instance of their strength and honour by an adversary,
|
|
though he knew not their numbers exactly, till God now appointed
|
|
him to take the sum of them. 2. Eleazar was joined in commission
|
|
with him, as Aaron had been before, by which God honoured Eleazar
|
|
before the elders of his people, and confirmed his succession. 3.
|
|
It was presently after the plague that this account was ordered to
|
|
be taken, to show that though God had in justice contended with
|
|
them by that sweeping pestilence, yet he had not made a full end,
|
|
nor would he utterly cast them off. God's Israel shall not be
|
|
ruined, though it be severely rebuked. 4. They were now to go by
|
|
the same rule that they had gone by in the former numbering,
|
|
counting those only that were able to go forth to war, for this was
|
|
the service now before them.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 26:5-51" id="Num.xxvii-p3.1" parsed="|Num|26|5|26|51" osisRef="Bible:Num.26.5-Num.26.51"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.26.5-Num.26.51">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxvii-p4">5 Reuben, the eldest son of Israel: the children
|
|
of Reuben; Hanoch, <i>of whom cometh</i> the family of the
|
|
Hanochites: of Pallu, the family of the Palluites:   6 Of
|
|
Hezron, the family of the Hezronites: of Carmi, the family of the
|
|
Carmites.   7 These <i>are</i> the families of the Reubenites:
|
|
and they that were numbered of them were forty and three thousand
|
|
and seven hundred and thirty.   8 And the sons of Pallu;
|
|
Eliab.   9 And the sons of Eliab; Nemuel, and Dathan, and
|
|
Abiram. This <i>is that</i> Dathan and Abiram, <i>which were</i>
|
|
famous in the congregation, who strove against Moses and against
|
|
Aaron in the company of Korah, when they strove against the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxvii-p4.1">Lord</span>:   10 And the earth opened her
|
|
mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korah, when that company
|
|
died, what time the fire devoured two hundred and fifty men: and
|
|
they became a sign.   11 Notwithstanding the children of Korah
|
|
died not.   12 The sons of Simeon after their families: of
|
|
Nemuel, the family of the Nemuelites: of Jamin, the family of the
|
|
Jaminites: of Jachin, the family of the Jachinites:   13 Of
|
|
Zerah, the family of the Zarhites: of Shaul, the family of the
|
|
Shaulites.   14 These <i>are</i> the families of the
|
|
Simeonites, twenty and two thousand and two hundred.   15 The
|
|
children of Gad after their families: of Zephon, the family of the
|
|
Zephonites: of Haggi, the family of the Haggites: of Shuni, the
|
|
family of the Shunites:   16 Of Ozni, the family of the
|
|
Oznites: of Eri, the family of the Erites:   17 Of Arod, the
|
|
family of the Arodites: of Areli, the family of the Arelites.
|
|
  18 These <i>are</i> the families of the children of Gad
|
|
according to those that were numbered of them, forty thousand and
|
|
five hundred.   19 The sons of Judah <i>were</i> Er and Onan:
|
|
and Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan.   20 And the sons
|
|
of Judah after their families were; of Shelah, the family of the
|
|
Shelanites: of Pharez, the family of the Pharzites: of Zerah, the
|
|
family of the Zarhites.   21 And the sons of Pharez were; of
|
|
Hezron, the family of the Hezronites: of Hamul, the family of the
|
|
Hamulites.   22 These <i>are</i> the families of Judah
|
|
according to those that were numbered of them, threescore and
|
|
sixteen thousand and five hundred.   23 <i>Of</i> the sons of
|
|
Issachar after their families: <i>of</i> Tola, the family of the
|
|
Tolaites: of Pua, the family of the Punites:   24 Of Jashub,
|
|
the family of the Jashubites: of Shimron, the family of the
|
|
Shimronites.   25 These <i>are</i> the families of Issachar
|
|
according to those that were numbered of them, threescore and four
|
|
thousand and three hundred.   26 <i>Of</i> the sons of Zebulun
|
|
after their families: of Sered, the family of the Sardites: of
|
|
Elon, the family of the Elonites: of Jahleel, the family of the
|
|
Jahleelites.   27 These <i>are</i> the families of the
|
|
Zebulunites according to those that were numbered of them,
|
|
threescore thousand and five hundred.   28 The sons of Joseph
|
|
after their families <i>were</i> Manasseh and Ephraim.   29 Of
|
|
the sons of Manasseh: of Machir, the family of the Machirites: and
|
|
Machir begat Gilead: of Gilead <i>come</i> the family of the
|
|
Gileadites.   30 These <i>are</i> the sons of Gilead:
|
|
<i>of</i> Jeezer, the family of the Jeezerites: of Helek, the
|
|
family of the Helekites:   31 And <i>of</i> Asriel, the family
|
|
of the Asrielites: and <i>of</i> Shechem, the family of the
|
|
Shechemites:   32 And <i>of</i> Shemida, the family of the
|
|
Shemidaites: and <i>of</i> Hepher, the family of the Hepherites.
|
|
  33 And Zelophehad the son of Hepher had no sons, but
|
|
daughters: and the names of the daughters of Zelophehad <i>were</i>
|
|
Mahlah, and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.   34 These
|
|
<i>are</i> the families of Manasseh, and those that were numbered
|
|
of them, fifty and two thousand and seven hundred.   35 These
|
|
<i>are</i> the sons of Ephraim after their families: of Shuthelah,
|
|
the family of the Shuthalhites: of Becher, the family of the
|
|
Bachrites: of Tahan, the family of the Tahanites.   36 And
|
|
these <i>are</i> the sons of Shuthelah: of Eran, the family of the
|
|
Eranites.   37 These <i>are</i> the families of the sons of
|
|
Ephraim according to those that were numbered of them, thirty and
|
|
two thousand and five hundred. These <i>are</i> the sons of Joseph
|
|
after their families.   38 The sons of Benjamin after their
|
|
families: of Bela, the family of the Belaites: of Ashbel, the
|
|
family of the Ashbelites: of Ahiram, the family of the Ahiramites:
|
|
  39 Of Shupham, the family of the Shuphamites: of Hupham, the
|
|
family of the Huphamites.   40 And the sons of Bela were Ard
|
|
and Naaman: <i>of Ard,</i> the family of the Ardites: <i>and</i> of
|
|
Naaman, the family of the Naamites.   41 These <i>are</i> the
|
|
sons of Benjamin after their families: and they that were numbered
|
|
of them <i>were</i> forty and five thousand and six hundred.  
|
|
42 These <i>are</i> the sons of Dan after their families: of
|
|
Shuham, the family of the Shuhamites. These <i>are</i> the families
|
|
of Dan after their families.   43 All the families of the
|
|
Shuhamites, according to those that were numbered of them,
|
|
<i>were</i> threescore and four thousand and four hundred.  
|
|
44 <i>Of</i> the children of Asher after their families: of Jimna,
|
|
the family of the Jimnites: of Jesui, the family of the Jesuites:
|
|
of Beriah, the family of the Beriites.   45 Of the sons of
|
|
Beriah: of Heber, the family of the Heberites: of Malchiel, the
|
|
family of the Malchielites.   46 And the name of the daughter
|
|
of Asher <i>was</i> Sarah.   47 These <i>are</i> the families
|
|
of the sons of Asher according to those that were numbered of them;
|
|
<i>who were</i> fifty and three thousand and four hundred.  
|
|
48 <i>Of</i> the sons of Naphtali after their families: of Jahzeel,
|
|
the family of the Jahzeelites: of Guni, the family of the Gunites:
|
|
  49 Of Jezer, the family of the Jezerites: of Shillem, the
|
|
family of the Shillemites.   50 These <i>are</i> the families
|
|
of Naphtali according to their families: and they that were
|
|
numbered of them <i>were</i> forty and five thousand and four
|
|
hundred.   51 These <i>were</i> the numbered of the children
|
|
of Israel, six hundred thousand and a thousand seven hundred and
|
|
thirty.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxvii-p5">This is the register of the tribes as they
|
|
were now enrolled, in the same order that they were numbered in
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 1:1-54" id="Num.xxvii-p5.1" parsed="|Num|1|1|1|54" osisRef="Bible:Num.1.1-Num.1.54"><i>ch.</i> i</scripRef>. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxvii-p6">I. The account that is here kept of the
|
|
families of each tribe, which must not be understood of such as we
|
|
call families, those that live in a house together, but such as
|
|
were the descendants of the several sons of the patriarchs, by
|
|
whose names, in honour of them, their posterity distinguished
|
|
themselves and one another. The families of the twelve tribes are
|
|
thus numbered:—Of Dan but one, for Dan had but one son, and yet
|
|
that tribe was the most numerous of all except Judah, <scripRef passage="Nu 26:42,43" id="Num.xxvii-p6.1" parsed="|Num|26|42|26|43" osisRef="Bible:Num.26.42-Num.26.43"><i>v.</i> 42, 43</scripRef>. Its beginning
|
|
was small, but its latter end greatly increased. Zebulun was
|
|
divided into three families, Ephraim into four, Issachar into four,
|
|
Naphtali into four, and Reuben into four; Judah, Simeon, and Asher,
|
|
had five families apiece, Gad and Benjamin seven apiece, and
|
|
Manasseh eight. Benjamin brought ten sons into Egypt (<scripRef passage="Ge 46:21" id="Num.xxvii-p6.2" parsed="|Gen|46|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.46.21">Gen. xlvi. 21</scripRef>), but three of them, it
|
|
seems either died childless or their families were extinct, for
|
|
here we find seven only of those names preserved, and that whole
|
|
tribe none of the most numerous; for Providence, in the building up
|
|
of families and nations, does not tie itself to probabilities.
|
|
<i>The barren hath borne seven, and she that hath many children has
|
|
waxed feeble,</i> <scripRef passage="1Sa 2:5" id="Num.xxvii-p6.3" parsed="|1Sam|2|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.2.5">1 Sam. ii.
|
|
5</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxvii-p7">II. The numbers of each tribe. And here our
|
|
best entertainment will be to compare these numbers with those when
|
|
they were numbered at Mount Sinai. The sum total was nearly the
|
|
same; they were now 1820 fewer than they were then; yet seven of
|
|
the tribes had increased in number. Judah had increased 1900,
|
|
Issachar 9900, Zebulun 3100, Manasseh 20, 500, Benjamin 10,200, <scripRef passage="Dan 1700" id="Num.xxvii-p7.1" parsed="|Dan|1700|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.1700">Dan
|
|
1700</scripRef>, and Asher 11,900. But the other five had decreased more than
|
|
to balance that increase. Reuben had decreased 2770, Simeon 37,100,
|
|
Gad 5150, Ephraim 8000, and Naphtali 8000. In this account we may
|
|
observe, 1. That all the three tribes that were encamped under the
|
|
standard of Judah, who was the ancestor of Christ, had increased,
|
|
for his church shall be edified and multiplied. 2. That none of the
|
|
tribes had increased so much as that of Manasseh, which in the
|
|
former account was the smallest of all the tribes, only 32,200,
|
|
while here it is one of the most considerable; and that of his
|
|
brother Ephraim, which there was numerous, is here one of the
|
|
least. Jacob had crossed hands upon their heads, and had preferred
|
|
Ephraim before Manasseh, which perhaps the Ephraimites had prided
|
|
themselves too much in, and had trampled upon their brethren the
|
|
Manassites; but, when the Lord saw that Manasseh was despised, he
|
|
thus multiplied him exceedingly, for it is his glory to help the
|
|
weakest, and raise up those that are cast down. 3. That none of the
|
|
tribes decreased so much as Simeon did; from 59,300, it such to
|
|
22,200, little more than a third part of what it was. One whole
|
|
family of that tribe (namely Ohad, mentioned <scripRef passage="Ex 6:15" id="Num.xxvii-p7.2" parsed="|Exod|6|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.15">Exod. vi. 15</scripRef>) was extinct in the wilderness.
|
|
Hence Simeon is not mentioned in Moses's blessing (<scripRef passage="De 33:1-29" id="Num.xxvii-p7.3" parsed="|Deut|33|1|33|29" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.1-Deut.33.29">Deut. xxxiii.</scripRef>), and the lot of that
|
|
tribe in Canaan was inconsiderable, only a canton out of Judah's
|
|
lot, <scripRef passage="Jos 19:9" id="Num.xxvii-p7.4" parsed="|Josh|19|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.19.9">Josh. xix. 9</scripRef>. Some
|
|
conjecture that most of those 24,000 who were cut off by the plague
|
|
for the iniquity of Peor were of that tribe; for Zimri, who was a
|
|
ringleader in that iniquity, was a prince of that tribe, many of
|
|
whom therefore were influenced by his example to <i>follow his
|
|
pernicious ways.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxvii-p8">III. In the account of the tribe of Reuben
|
|
mention is made of the rebellion of Dathan and Abiram, who were of
|
|
that tribe, in confederacy with Korah a Levite, <scripRef passage="Nu 26:9-11" id="Num.xxvii-p8.1" parsed="|Num|26|9|26|11" osisRef="Bible:Num.26.9-Num.26.11"><i>v.</i> 9-11</scripRef>. Though the story had been
|
|
largely related but a few chapters before, yet here it comes in
|
|
again, as fit to be had in remembrance and thought of by posterity,
|
|
whenever they looked into their pedigree and pleased themselves
|
|
with the antiquity of their families and the glory of their
|
|
ancestors, that they might call themselves a seed of evil doers.
|
|
Two things are here said of them:—1. That they had been <i>famous
|
|
in the congregation,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 26:9" id="Num.xxvii-p8.2" parsed="|Num|26|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.26.9"><i>v.</i>
|
|
9</scripRef>. Probably they were remarkable for their ingenuity,
|
|
activity, and fitness for business:—<i>That Dathan and Abiram</i>
|
|
that might have been advanced in due time under God and Moses; but
|
|
their ambitious spirits put them upon striving against God and
|
|
Moses, and when they quarrelled with the one they quarrelled with
|
|
the other. And what was the issue? 2. Those that might have been
|
|
famous were made infamous: they <i>became a sign,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 26:10" id="Num.xxvii-p8.3" parsed="|Num|26|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.26.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. They were made
|
|
monuments of divine justice; God, in their ruin, showed himself
|
|
glorious in holiness, and so they were set up for a warning to all
|
|
others, in all ages, to take heed of treading in the steps of their
|
|
pride and rebellion. Notice is here taken of the preservation of
|
|
the <i>children of Korah</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 26:11" id="Num.xxvii-p8.4" parsed="|Num|26|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.26.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>); they <i>died not,</i> as the
|
|
children of Dathan and Abiram did, doubtless because they kept
|
|
themselves pure from the infection, and would not join, no, not
|
|
with their own father, in rebellion. If we partake not of the sins
|
|
of sinners, we shall not partake of their plagues. These sons of
|
|
Korah were afterwards, in their posterity, eminently serviceable to
|
|
the church, being employed by David as singers in the house of the
|
|
Lord; hence many psalms are said to be for <i>the sons of
|
|
Korah:</i> and perhaps they were made to bear his name so long
|
|
after, rather than the name of any other of their ancestors, for
|
|
warning to themselves, and as an instance of the power of God,
|
|
which brought those choice fruits even out of that bitter root. The
|
|
children of families that have been stigmatized should endeavour,
|
|
by their eminent virtues, to roll away the reproach of their
|
|
fathers.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 26:52-56" id="Num.xxvii-p8.5" parsed="|Num|26|52|26|56" osisRef="Bible:Num.26.52-Num.26.56"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.26.52-Num.26.56">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxvii-p9">52 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxvii-p9.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   53 Unto these the land shall be
|
|
divided for an inheritance according to the number of names.  
|
|
54 To many thou shalt give the more inheritance, and to few thou
|
|
shalt give the less inheritance: to every one shall his inheritance
|
|
be given according to those that were numbered of him.   55
|
|
Notwithstanding the land shall be divided by lot: according to the
|
|
names of the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit.   56
|
|
According to the lot shall the possession thereof be divided
|
|
between many and few.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxvii-p10">If any ask why such a particular account is
|
|
kept of the tribes, and families, and numbers, of the people of
|
|
Israel, here is an answer for them; as they were multiplied, so
|
|
they were portioned, not by common providence, but by promise; and,
|
|
for the support of the honour of divine revelation, God will have
|
|
the fulfilling of the promise taken notice of both in their
|
|
increase and in their inheritance. When Moses had numbered the
|
|
people God did not say, <i>By these shall the land be
|
|
conquered;</i> but, taking that for granted, he tells him, <i>Unto
|
|
these shall the land be divided.</i> "These that are now registered
|
|
as the sons of Israel shall be admitted (as it were by copy of
|
|
court-roll) heirs of the land of Canaan." Now, in the distributing,
|
|
or quartering, of these tribes, 1. The general rule of equity is
|
|
here prescribed to Moses, that to many he should give more, and to
|
|
few he should give less (<scripRef passage="Nu 26:54" id="Num.xxvii-p10.1" parsed="|Num|26|54|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.26.54"><i>v.</i>
|
|
54</scripRef>); yet, alas! <i>he</i> was so far from giving any to
|
|
others that he must not have any himself, but this direction given
|
|
to him was intended for Joshua his successor. 2. The application of
|
|
this general rule was to be determined <i>by lot</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 26:55" id="Num.xxvii-p10.2" parsed="|Num|26|55|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.26.55"><i>v.</i> 55</scripRef>); notwithstanding it
|
|
seems thus to be left to the prudence of their prince, yet the
|
|
matter must be finally reserved to the providence of their God, in
|
|
which they must all acquiesce, how much soever it contradicted
|
|
their policies or inclination: <i>According to the lot shall the
|
|
possession be divided.</i> As the God of nations, so the God of
|
|
Israel in particular, reserves it to himself to <i>appoint the
|
|
bounds of our habitation.</i> And thus Christ, our Joshua, when he
|
|
was urged to appoint one of his disciples <i>to his right hand,</i>
|
|
another <i>to his left</i> in his kingdom, acknowledged the
|
|
sovereignty of his Father in the disposal: <i>It is not mine to
|
|
give.</i> Joshua must not dispose of inheritances in Canaan
|
|
according to his own mind. <i>But it shall be given to those for
|
|
whom it is prepared of my Father.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 26:57-62" id="Num.xxvii-p10.3" parsed="|Num|26|57|26|62" osisRef="Bible:Num.26.57-Num.26.62"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.26.57-Num.26.62">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxvii-p11">57 And these <i>are</i> they that were numbered
|
|
of the Levites after their families: of Gershon, the family of the
|
|
Gershonites: of Kohath, the family of the Kohathites: of Merari,
|
|
the family of the Merarites.   58 These <i>are</i> the
|
|
families of the Levites: the family of the Libnites, the family of
|
|
the Hebronites, the family of the Mahlites, the family of the
|
|
Mushites, the family of the Korathites. And Kohath begat Amram.
|
|
  59 And the name of Amram's wife <i>was</i> Jochebed, the
|
|
daughter of Levi, whom <i>her mother</i> bare to Levi in Egypt: and
|
|
she bare unto Amram Aaron and Moses, and Miriam their sister.
|
|
  60 And unto Aaron was born Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and
|
|
Ithamar.   61 And Nadab and Abihu died, when they offered
|
|
strange fire before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxvii-p11.1">Lord</span>.  
|
|
62 And those that were numbered of them were twenty and three
|
|
thousand, all males from a month old and upward: for they were not
|
|
numbered among the children of Israel, because there was no
|
|
inheritance given them among the children of Israel.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxvii-p12">Levi was God's tribe, a tribe that was to
|
|
have no inheritance with the rest in the land of Canaan, and
|
|
therefore was not numbered with the rest, but by itself; so it had
|
|
been numbered in the beginning of this book at Mount Sinai, and
|
|
therefore came not under the sentence passed upon all that were
|
|
then numbered, that none of them should enter Canaan but Caleb and
|
|
Joshua; for of the Levites that were not numbered with them, nor
|
|
were to go forth to war, Eleazar and Ithamar, and perhaps others
|
|
who were above twenty years old then (as appears, <scripRef passage="Nu 4:16,28" id="Num.xxvii-p12.1" parsed="|Num|4|16|0|0;|Num|4|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.4.16 Bible:Num.4.28"><i>ch.</i> iv. 16, 28</scripRef>), entered
|
|
Canaan; and yet this tribe, now at its second numbering, had
|
|
increased but 1000, and was still one of the smallest tribes.
|
|
Mention is made here of the death of Nadab and Abihu for offering
|
|
strange fire, as before of the sin and punishment of Korah, because
|
|
<i>these things happened to them for ensamples.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 26:63-65" id="Num.xxvii-p12.2" parsed="|Num|26|63|26|65" osisRef="Bible:Num.26.63-Num.26.65"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.26.63-Num.26.65">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxvii-p13">63 These <i>are</i> they that were numbered by
|
|
Moses and Eleazar the priest, who numbered the children of Israel
|
|
in the plains of Moab by Jordan <i>near</i> Jericho.   64 But
|
|
among these there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron the
|
|
priest numbered, when they numbered the children of Israel in the
|
|
wilderness of Sinai.   65 For the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxvii-p13.1">Lord</span> had said of them, They shall surely die in
|
|
the wilderness. And there was not left a man of them, save Caleb
|
|
the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxvii-p14">That which is observable in this conclusion
|
|
of the account is the execution of the sentence passed upon the
|
|
murmurers (<scripRef passage="Nu 14:29" id="Num.xxvii-p14.1" parsed="|Num|14|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.29"><i>ch.</i> xiv.
|
|
29</scripRef>), that not one of those who <i>were numbered from
|
|
twenty years old and upwards</i> (and that the Levites were not,
|
|
but either from a month old or from thirty years old to fifty)
|
|
should enter Canaan, except Caleb and Joshua. In the muster now
|
|
made particular directions, no doubt, were given to those of each
|
|
tribe that were employed in taking the account, to compare these
|
|
rolls with the former, and to observe whether there were any now
|
|
left of those that were numbered at Mount Sinai, and it appeared
|
|
that there was not one man numbered now that was numbered then
|
|
except Caleb and Joshua, <scripRef passage="Nu 26:64,65" id="Num.xxvii-p14.2" parsed="|Num|26|64|26|65" osisRef="Bible:Num.26.64-Num.26.65"><i>v.</i>
|
|
64, 65</scripRef>. Herein appeared, 1. The righteousness of God,
|
|
and his faithfulness to his threatenings, when once the <i>decree
|
|
has gone forth.</i> He <i>swore in his wrath,</i> and what he had
|
|
sworn he performed. Better all those carcasses, had they been ten
|
|
times as many, should fall to the ground, than the word of God.
|
|
Though the rising generation was mixed with them, and many of the
|
|
|
|
guilty and condemned criminals long survived the sentence, even to
|
|
the last year of the forty, yet they were cut off by some means or
|
|
other before this muster was made. Those whom God has condemned
|
|
cannot escape either by losing themselves in a crowd or by the
|
|
delay of execution. 2. The goodness of God to this people,
|
|
notwithstanding their provocations. Though that murmuring race was
|
|
cut off, yet God raised up another generation, which was as
|
|
numerous as they, that, though they perished, yet the name of
|
|
Israel might not be cut off, lest the inheritance of the promise
|
|
should be lost for want of heirs. And, though the number fell a
|
|
little short what it was at Mount Sinai, yet those now numbered had
|
|
this advantage, that they were all middle-aged men, between twenty
|
|
and sixty, in the prime of their time for service; and during the
|
|
thirty-eight years of their wandering and wasting in the wilderness
|
|
they had an opportunity of acquainting themselves with the laws and
|
|
ordinances of God, having no business, civil or military, to divert
|
|
them from those sacred studies, and having Moses and Aaron to
|
|
instruct them, and God's good Spirit, <scripRef passage="Ne 9:20" id="Num.xxvii-p14.3" parsed="|Neh|9|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Neh.9.20">Neh. ix. 20</scripRef>. 3. The truth of God, in
|
|
performing his promise made to Caleb and Joshua. They were to be
|
|
preserved from falling in this common ruin, and they were so. The
|
|
arrows of death, though they fly in the dark, do not fly at random,
|
|
even when they fly thickest, but are directed to the mark intended,
|
|
and no other. All that are written among the living shall have
|
|
their lives given them for a prey, in the most dangerous times.
|
|
Thousands may fall on their right hand, and ten thousands on their
|
|
left, but they shall escape.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXVII" n="xxviii" progress="78.34%" prev="Num.xxvii" next="Num.xxix" id="Num.xxviii">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.xxviii-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.xxviii-p0.2">CHAP. XXVII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.xxviii-p1">Here is, I. The case of Zelophehad's daughters
|
|
determined, <scripRef passage="Nu 27:1-11" id="Num.xxviii-p1.1" parsed="|Num|27|1|27|11" osisRef="Bible:Num.27.1-Num.27.11">ver. 1-11</scripRef>.
|
|
II. Notice given to Moses of his death approaching, <scripRef passage="Nu 27:12-14" id="Num.xxviii-p1.2" parsed="|Num|27|12|27|14" osisRef="Bible:Num.27.12-Num.27.14">ver. 12-14</scripRef>. III. Provision made of
|
|
a successor in the government, 1. By the prayer of Moses, <scripRef passage="Nu 27:15-17" id="Num.xxviii-p1.3" parsed="|Num|27|15|27|17" osisRef="Bible:Num.27.15-Num.27.17">ver. 15-17</scripRef>. 2. By the appointment
|
|
of God, <scripRef passage="Nu 27:18-23" id="Num.xxviii-p1.4" parsed="|Num|27|18|27|23" osisRef="Bible:Num.27.18-Num.27.23">ver. 18</scripRef>,
|
|
&c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 27" id="Num.xxviii-p1.5" parsed="|Num|27|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.27"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 27:1-11" id="Num.xxviii-p1.6" parsed="|Num|27|1|27|11" osisRef="Bible:Num.27.1-Num.27.11"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.27.1-Num.27.11">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxviii-p1.7">The Daughters of Zelophehad. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxviii-p1.8">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxviii-p2">1 Then came the daughters of Zelophehad, the son
|
|
of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of
|
|
Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph: and these
|
|
<i>are</i> the names of his daughters; Mahlah, Noah, and Hoglah,
|
|
and Milcah, and Tirzah.   2 And they stood before Moses, and
|
|
before Eleazar the priest, and before the princes and all the
|
|
congregation, <i>by</i> the door of the tabernacle of the
|
|
congregation, saying,   3 Our father died in the wilderness,
|
|
and he was not in the company of them that gathered themselves
|
|
together against the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxviii-p2.1">Lord</span> in the
|
|
company of Korah; but died in his own sin, and had no sons.  
|
|
4 Why should the name of our father be done away from among his
|
|
family, because he hath no son? Give unto us <i>therefore</i> a
|
|
possession among the brethren of our father.   5 And Moses
|
|
brought their cause before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxviii-p2.2">Lord</span>.
|
|
  6 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxviii-p2.3">Lord</span> spake unto
|
|
Moses, saying,   7 The daughters of Zelophehad speak right:
|
|
thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among
|
|
their father's brethren; and thou shalt cause the inheritance of
|
|
their father to pass unto them.   8 And thou shalt speak unto
|
|
the children of Israel, saying, If a man die, and have no son, then
|
|
ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter.   9
|
|
And if he have no daughter, then ye shall give his inheritance unto
|
|
his brethren.   10 And if he have no brethren, then ye shall
|
|
give his inheritance unto his father's brethren.   11 And if
|
|
his father have no brethren, then ye shall give his inheritance
|
|
unto his kinsman that is next to him of his family, and he shall
|
|
possess it: and it shall be unto the children of Israel a statute
|
|
of judgment, as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxviii-p2.4">Lord</span> commanded
|
|
Moses.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxviii-p3">Mention is made of the case of these
|
|
daughters of Zelophehad in the chapter before, <scripRef passage="Nu 27:33" id="Num.xxviii-p3.1" parsed="|Num|27|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.27.33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>. It should seem, by the
|
|
particular notice taken of it, that it was a singular case, and
|
|
that the like did not at this time occur in all Israel, that the
|
|
head of a family had no sons, but daughters only. Their case is
|
|
again debated (<scripRef passage="Nu 36:1-13" id="Num.xxviii-p3.2" parsed="|Num|36|1|36|13" osisRef="Bible:Num.36.1-Num.36.13"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xxxvi.</scripRef>) upon another article of it; and, according to
|
|
the judgments given in their case, we find them put in possession,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Jos 17:3,4" id="Num.xxviii-p3.3" parsed="|Josh|17|3|17|4" osisRef="Bible:Josh.17.3-Josh.17.4">Josh. xvii. 3, 4</scripRef>. One
|
|
would suppose that their personal character was such as added
|
|
weight to their case, and caused it to be so often taken notice
|
|
of.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxviii-p4">Here is, I. Their case stated by
|
|
themselves, and their petition upon it presented to the highest
|
|
court of judicature, which consisted of Moses as king, the princes
|
|
as lords, and the congregation, or elders of the people who were
|
|
chose their representatives, as the commons, <scripRef passage="Nu 27:2" id="Num.xxviii-p4.1" parsed="|Num|27|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.27.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. This august assembly sat near the
|
|
<i>door of the tabernacle,</i> that in difficult cases they might
|
|
consult the oracle. To them these young ladies made their
|
|
application; for it is the duty of magistrates to <i>defend the
|
|
fatherless,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 82:3" id="Num.xxviii-p4.2" parsed="|Ps|82|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.82.3">Ps. lxxxii.
|
|
3</scripRef>. We find not that the had any advocate to speak for
|
|
them, but they managed their own cause ingeniously enough, which
|
|
they could do the better because it was plain and honest, and spoke
|
|
for itself. Now observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxviii-p5">1. What it is they petition for: That they
|
|
might have a possession in the land of <i>Canaan, among the
|
|
brethren of their father,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 27:4" id="Num.xxviii-p5.1" parsed="|Num|27|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.27.4"><i>v.</i>
|
|
4</scripRef>. What God had said to Moses (<scripRef passage="Nu 26:53" id="Num.xxviii-p5.2" parsed="|Num|26|53|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.26.53"><i>ch.</i> xxvi. 53</scripRef>) he had faithfully made
|
|
known to the people, that the land of Canaan was to be divided
|
|
among those that were now numbered; these daughters knew that they
|
|
were not numbered, and therefore by this rule must expect no
|
|
inheritance, and the family of their father must be looked upon as
|
|
extinct, and written childless, though he had all these daughters:
|
|
this they thought hard, and therefore prayed to be admitted heirs
|
|
to their father, and to have an inheritance in his right. If they
|
|
had had a brother, they would not have applied to Moses (as one did
|
|
to Christ, <scripRef passage="Lu 12:13" id="Num.xxviii-p5.3" parsed="|Luke|12|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.12.13">Luke xii. 13</scripRef>)
|
|
for an order to inherit with him. But, having no brother, they beg
|
|
for a possession. Herein they discovered, (1.) A strong faith in
|
|
the power and promise of God concerning the giving of the land of
|
|
Canaan to Israel. Though it was yet unconquered, untouched, and in
|
|
the full possession of the natives, yet they petition for their
|
|
share in it as if it were all their own already. See <scripRef passage="Ps 60:6,7" id="Num.xxviii-p5.4" parsed="|Ps|60|6|60|7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.60.6-Ps.60.7">Ps. lx. 6, 7</scripRef>, <i>God has spoken in
|
|
his holiness,</i> and the <i>Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mane.</i>
|
|
(2.) An earnest desire of a place and name in the land of promise,
|
|
which was a type of heaven; and if they had, as some think, an eye
|
|
to that, and by this claim laid hold on eternal life, they were
|
|
five wise virgins indeed; and their example should quicken us with
|
|
all possible diligence to make sure our title to the heavenly
|
|
inheritance, in the disposal of which, by the covenant of grace, no
|
|
difference is made between male and female, <scripRef passage="Ga 3:28" id="Num.xxviii-p5.5" parsed="|Gal|3|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.3.28">Gal. iii. 28</scripRef>. (3.) A true respect and honour
|
|
for their father, whose name was dear and precious to them now that
|
|
he was gone, and they were therefore solicitous that it should not
|
|
be <i>done away from among his family.</i> There is a debt which
|
|
children owe to the memory of their parents, required by the fifth
|
|
commandment: <i>Honour thy father and mother.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxviii-p6">2. What their plea is: That their father
|
|
did not die under any attainder which might be thought to have
|
|
corrupted his blood and forfeited his estate, but he <i>died in his
|
|
own sin</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 27:3" id="Num.xxviii-p6.1" parsed="|Num|27|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.27.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>),
|
|
not engaged in any mutiny or rebellion against Moses, particularly
|
|
not in that of Korah and his company, nor in any way concerned in
|
|
the sins of others, but chargeable only with the common iniquities
|
|
of mankind, for which to his own Master he was to stand or fall,
|
|
but laid not himself open to any judicial process before Moses and
|
|
the princes. He was never convicted of any thing that might be a
|
|
bar to his children's claim. It is a comfort to parents, when they
|
|
come to die, if, though they smart themselves for their own sin,
|
|
yet they are not conscious to themselves of any of those iniquities
|
|
which God visits upon the children.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxviii-p7">II. Their case determined by the divine
|
|
oracle. Moses did not presume to give judgment himself, because,
|
|
though their pretensions seemed just and reasonable, yet his
|
|
express orders were to divide the land among those that were
|
|
numbered, who were the males only; he therefore <i>brings their
|
|
cause before the Lord,</i> and waits for his decision (<scripRef passage="Nu 27:5" id="Num.xxviii-p7.1" parsed="|Num|27|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.27.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), and God himself gives
|
|
the judgment upon it. He takes cognizance of the affairs, not only
|
|
of nations, but of private families, and orders them in judgment,
|
|
according to the counsel of his own will. 1. The petition is
|
|
granted (<scripRef passage="Nu 27:7" id="Num.xxviii-p7.2" parsed="|Num|27|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.27.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>):
|
|
<i>They speak right, give them a possession.</i> Those that seek an
|
|
inheritance in the land of promise shall have what they seek, and
|
|
other things shall be added to them. These are claims which God
|
|
will countenance and crown. 2. The point is settled for all future
|
|
occasions. These daughters of Zelophehad consulted, not only their
|
|
own comfort and the credit of their family, but the honour and
|
|
happiness of their sex likewise; for on this particular occasion a
|
|
general law was made that, in case a man had no son, his estate
|
|
should go to his daughters (<scripRef passage="Nu 27:8" id="Num.xxviii-p7.3" parsed="|Num|27|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.27.8"><i>v.</i>
|
|
8</scripRef>); not to the eldest, as the eldest son, but to them
|
|
all in copartnership, share and share alike. Those that in such a
|
|
case deprive their daughters of their right, purely to keep up the
|
|
name of their family, unless a valuable consideration be allowed
|
|
them, may make the entail of their lands surer than the entail of a
|
|
blessing with them. Further directions are given for the disposal
|
|
of inheritances, <scripRef passage="Nu 27:9-11" id="Num.xxviii-p7.4" parsed="|Num|27|9|27|11" osisRef="Bible:Num.27.9-Num.27.11"><i>v.</i>
|
|
9-11</scripRef>. "If a man have no issue at all, his estate shall
|
|
go to his brethren; if no brethren, then to his father's brethren;
|
|
and, if there be no such, then to his next kinsman." With this the
|
|
rules of our law exactly agree: and though the Jewish doctors here
|
|
will have it understood that if a man have no children his estate
|
|
shall go to his father, if living, before his brethren, yet there
|
|
is nothing of that in the law, and our common law has an express
|
|
rule against it, That an estate cannot ascend lineally; so that if
|
|
a person purchase lands in fee-simple, and die without issue in the
|
|
life-time of his father, his father cannot be his heir. See how God
|
|
makes heirs, and in his disposal we must acquiesce.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 27" id="Num.xxviii-p7.5" parsed="|Num|27|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.27"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 27:12-14" id="Num.xxviii-p7.6" parsed="|Num|27|12|27|14" osisRef="Bible:Num.27.12-Num.27.14"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.27.12-Num.27.14">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxviii-p7.7">Moses Warned of His Death. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxviii-p7.8">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxviii-p8">12 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxviii-p8.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto Moses, Get thee up into this mount Abarim, and see the
|
|
land which I have given unto the children of Israel.   13 And
|
|
when thou hast seen it, thou also shalt be gathered unto thy
|
|
people, as Aaron thy brother was gathered.   14 For ye
|
|
rebelled against my commandment in the desert of Zin, in the strife
|
|
of the congregation, to sanctify me at the water before their eyes:
|
|
that <i>is</i> the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of
|
|
Zin.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxviii-p9">Here, 1. God tells Moses of his fault, his
|
|
speaking unadvisedly with his lips at the waters of strife, where
|
|
he did not express, so carefully as he ought to have done, a regard
|
|
to the honour both of God and Israel, <scripRef passage="Nu 27:14" id="Num.xxviii-p9.1" parsed="|Num|27|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.27.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. Though Moses was a servant of
|
|
the Lord, a faithful servant, yet once he <i>rebelled against God's
|
|
commandment,</i> and failed in his duty; and though a very
|
|
honourable servant, and highly favoured, yet he shall hear of his
|
|
miscarriage, and all the world shall hear of it too, again and
|
|
again; for God will show his displeasure against sin, even in those
|
|
that are nearest and dearest to him. Those that are <i>in
|
|
reputation for wisdom and honour</i> have need to be constantly
|
|
careful of their words and ways, lest at any time they say or do
|
|
that which may be a diminution to their comfort, or to their
|
|
credit, or both, a great while after. 2. He tells Moses of his
|
|
death. His death was the punishment of his sin, and yet notice is
|
|
given him of it in such a manner as might best serve to sweeten and
|
|
mollify the sentence, and reconcile him to it. (1.) Moses must die,
|
|
but he shall first have the satisfaction of seeing the land of
|
|
promise, <scripRef passage="Nu 27:12" id="Num.xxviii-p9.2" parsed="|Num|27|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.27.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. God
|
|
did not intend with this sight of Canaan to tantalize him, or
|
|
upbraid him with his folly in doing that which cut him short of it,
|
|
nor had it any impression of that kind upon him, but God appointed
|
|
it and Moses accepted it as a favour, his sight (we have reason to
|
|
think) being wonderfully strengthened and enlarged to take such a
|
|
full and distinct view of it as did abundantly gratify his innocent
|
|
curiosity. This sight of Canaan signified his believing prospect of
|
|
the better country, that is, the heavenly, which is very
|
|
comfortable to dying saints. (2.) Moses must die, but death does
|
|
not <i>cut him off;</i> it only gathers him to his people, brings
|
|
him to rest with the holy patriarchs that had gone before him.
|
|
Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, were <i>his people,</i> the people
|
|
of his choice and love, and to them death gathered him. (3.) Moses
|
|
must die, but only as Aaron died before him, <scripRef passage="Nu 27:13" id="Num.xxviii-p9.3" parsed="|Num|27|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.27.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. And Moses had seen how easily
|
|
and cheerfully Aaron had put off the priesthood first and then the
|
|
body; let not Moses therefore be afraid of dying; it was but to be
|
|
<i>gathered to his people,</i> as Aaron was gathered. Thus the
|
|
death of our near and dear relations should be improved by us, [1.]
|
|
As an engagement to us to think often of dying. We are not better
|
|
than our fathers or brethren; if they are gone, we are going; if
|
|
they are gathered already, we must be gathered very shortly. [2.]
|
|
As an encouragement to us to think of death without terror, and
|
|
even to please ourselves with the thoughts of it. It is but to die
|
|
as such and such died, if we live as they lived; and their <i>end
|
|
was peace, they finished their course with joy;</i> why then should
|
|
we fear any evil in that melancholy valley?</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 27" id="Num.xxviii-p9.4" parsed="|Num|27|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.27"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 27:15-23" id="Num.xxviii-p9.5" parsed="|Num|27|15|27|23" osisRef="Bible:Num.27.15-Num.27.23"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.27.15-Num.27.23">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxviii-p9.6">Joshua Named as Moses's
|
|
Successor. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxviii-p9.7">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxviii-p10">15 And Moses spake unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxviii-p10.1">Lord</span>, saying,   16 Let the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxviii-p10.2">Lord</span>, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a
|
|
man over the congregation,   17 Which may go out before them,
|
|
and which may go in before them, and which may lead them out, and
|
|
which may bring them in; that the congregation of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxviii-p10.3">Lord</span> be not as sheep which have no shepherd.
|
|
  18 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxviii-p10.4">Lord</span> said unto
|
|
Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom <i>is</i> the
|
|
spirit, and lay thine hand upon him;   19 And set him before
|
|
Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation; and give him a
|
|
charge in their sight.   20 And thou shalt put <i>some</i> of
|
|
thine honour upon him, that all the congregation of the children of
|
|
Israel may be obedient.   21 And he shall stand before Eleazar
|
|
the priest, who shall ask <i>counsel</i> for him after the judgment
|
|
of Urim before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxviii-p10.5">Lord</span>: at his word
|
|
shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, <i>both</i>
|
|
he, and all the children of Israel with him, even all the
|
|
congregation.   22 And Moses did as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxviii-p10.6">Lord</span> commanded him: and he took Joshua, and set
|
|
him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation:
|
|
  23 And he laid his hands upon him, and gave him a charge, as
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxviii-p10.7">Lord</span> commanded by the hand of
|
|
Moses.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxviii-p11">Here, I. Moses prays for a successor. When
|
|
God had told him that he must die, though it appears elsewhere that
|
|
he solicited for a reprieve for himself (<scripRef passage="De 3:24,25" id="Num.xxviii-p11.1" parsed="|Deut|3|24|3|25" osisRef="Bible:Deut.3.24-Deut.3.25">Deut. iii. 24, 25</scripRef>), yet, when this could
|
|
not be obtained, he begged earnestly that the work of God might be
|
|
carried on, though he might not have the honour of finishing it.
|
|
Envious spirits do not love their successors, but Moses was not one
|
|
of these. We should concern ourselves, both in our prayers and in
|
|
our endeavours, for the rising generation, that religion may
|
|
flourish, and the interests of God's kingdom among men may be
|
|
maintained and advanced, when we are in our graves. In this prayer
|
|
Moses expresses, 1. A tender concern for the people of Israel:
|
|
<i>That the congregation of the Lord be not as sheep which have no
|
|
shepherd.</i> Our Saviour uses this comparison in his compassions
|
|
for the people when they wanted good ministers, <scripRef passage="Mt 9:36" id="Num.xxviii-p11.2" parsed="|Matt|9|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.9.36">Matt. ix. 36</scripRef>. Magistrates and ministers are
|
|
the shepherds of a people; if these be wanting, or be not as they
|
|
should be, people are apt to wander and be scattered abroad, are
|
|
exposed to enemies, and in danger of wanting food and of hurting
|
|
one another, <i>as sheep having no shepherd.</i> 2. A believing
|
|
dependence upon God, as the <i>God of the spirits of all flesh.</i>
|
|
He is both the former and the searcher of spirits, and therefore
|
|
can either find men fit or make them fit to serve his purposes, for
|
|
the good of his church. Moses prays to God, not to send an angel,
|
|
but to <i>set a man over the congregation,</i> that is, to nominate
|
|
and appoint one whom he would qualify and own as ruler of his
|
|
people Israel. Before God gave this blessing to Israel, he stirred
|
|
up Moses to pray for it: thus Christ, before he sent forth his
|
|
apostles, called to those about him <i>to pray the Lord of the
|
|
harvest that he would send forth labourers into his harvest,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mt 9:38" id="Num.xxviii-p11.3" parsed="|Matt|9|38|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.9.38">Matt. ix. 38</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxviii-p12">II. God, in answer to his prayer, appoints
|
|
him a successor, even Joshua, who had long since signalized himself
|
|
by his courage in fighting Amalek, his humility in ministering to
|
|
Moses, and his faith and sincerity in witnessing against the report
|
|
of the evil spies; this is the man whom God pitches upon to succeed
|
|
Moses: <i>A man in whom is the Spirit, the Spirit of grace</i> (he
|
|
is a good man, fearing God and hating covetousness, and acting from
|
|
principle), the <i>spirit of government</i> (he is fit to do the
|
|
work and discharge the trusts of his place), a spirit of conduct
|
|
and courage; and he had also the <i>spirit of prophecy,</i> for the
|
|
Lord often <i>spoke unto him,</i> <scripRef passage="Jos 4:1,6:2,7:10" id="Num.xxviii-p12.1" parsed="|Josh|4|1|0|0;|Josh|6|2|0|0;|Josh|7|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.4.1 Bible:Josh.6.2 Bible:Josh.7.10">Josh. iv. 1; vi. 2; vii. 10</scripRef>. Now
|
|
here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxviii-p13">1. God directs Moses how to secure the
|
|
succession to Joshua. (1.) He must ordain him: <i>Lay thy hand upon
|
|
him,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 27:18" id="Num.xxviii-p13.1" parsed="|Num|27|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.27.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. This
|
|
was done in token of Moses' transferring the government to him, as
|
|
the laying of hands on the sacrifice put the offering in the place
|
|
and stead of the offerer; also in token of God's conferring the
|
|
blessing of the Spirit upon him, which Moses obtained by prayer. It
|
|
is said (<scripRef passage="De 34:9" id="Num.xxviii-p13.2" parsed="|Deut|34|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.34.9">Deut. xxxiv. 9</scripRef>),
|
|
<i>Joshua was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his
|
|
hands on him.</i> This rite of imposing hands we find used in the
|
|
New Testament in the setting apart of gospel ministers, denoting a
|
|
solemn designation of them to the office and an earnest desire that
|
|
God would qualify them for it and own them in it. It is the
|
|
offering of them to Christ and his church for living sacrifices.
|
|
(2.) He must present him to Eleazar and the people, set him before
|
|
them, that they might know him to be designed of God for this great
|
|
trust and consent to that designation. (3.) He must <i>give him a
|
|
charge,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 27:19" id="Num.xxviii-p13.3" parsed="|Num|27|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.27.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>.
|
|
He must be charged with the people of Israel, who were delivered
|
|
into his hand as sheep into the hand of a shepherd, and for whom he
|
|
must be accountable. He must be strictly charged to do his duty to
|
|
them; though they were under his command, he was under God's
|
|
command, and from him must receive charge. The highest must know
|
|
that there is a higher than they. This charge must be given him
|
|
<i>in their sight,</i> that it might be the more affecting to
|
|
Joshua, and that the people, seeing the work and care of their
|
|
prince, might be the more engaged to assist and encourage him. (4.)
|
|
He must <i>put some of his honour upon him,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 27:20" id="Num.xxviii-p13.4" parsed="|Num|27|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.27.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. Joshua at the most had but some
|
|
of the honour of Moses, and in many instances came short of him;
|
|
but this seems to be meant of his taking him now, while he lived,
|
|
into partnership with him in the government and admitting him to
|
|
act with authority as his assistant. It is an honour to be employed
|
|
for God and his church; some of this honour must be put upon
|
|
Joshua, that the people, being used to obey him while Moses lived,
|
|
might the more cheerfully do it afterwards. (5.) He must appoint
|
|
Eleazar the high priest, with this breast-plate of judgment, to be
|
|
his privy-council (<scripRef passage="Nu 27:21" id="Num.xxviii-p13.5" parsed="|Num|27|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.27.21"><i>v.</i>
|
|
21</scripRef>): <i>He shall stand before Eleazar,</i> by him to
|
|
consult the oracle, ready to receive and observe all the
|
|
instructions that should be given him by it. This was a direction
|
|
to Joshua. Though he was full of the Spirit, and had all this
|
|
honour put upon him, yet he must do nothing without asking counsel
|
|
of God, not leaning to his own understanding. It was also a great
|
|
encouragement to him. To govern Israel, and to conquer Canaan, were
|
|
two hard tasks, but God assures him that in both he should be under
|
|
a divine conduct; and in every difficult case God would advise him
|
|
to that which should be for the best. Moses had recourse to the
|
|
oracle of God himself, but Joshua and the succeeding judges must
|
|
use the ministry of the high priest, and consult the judgment of
|
|
urim, which, the Jews say, might not be enquired of but by the king
|
|
or the head of the sanhedrim, or by the agent or representative of
|
|
the people, for them, and in their name. Thus the government of
|
|
Israel was now purely divine, for both the designation and
|
|
direction of their princes were entirely so. <i>At the word of the
|
|
priest,</i> according to the <i>judgment of urim,</i> Joshua and
|
|
all Israel must go out and come in; and no doubt God, who thus
|
|
guided, would preserve both their going out and their coming in.
|
|
Those are safe, and may be easy, that follow God, and in all their
|
|
ways acknowledge him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxviii-p14">2. Moses does according to these
|
|
directions, <scripRef passage="Nu 27:22,23" id="Num.xxviii-p14.1" parsed="|Num|27|22|27|23" osisRef="Bible:Num.27.22-Num.27.23"><i>v.</i> 22,
|
|
23</scripRef>. He cheerfully ordained Joshua, (1.) Though it was a
|
|
present lessening to himself, and amounted almost to a resignation
|
|
of the government. He was very willing that the people should look
|
|
off from him, and gaze on the rising sun. (2.) Though it might
|
|
appear a perpetual slur upon his family. It would not have been so
|
|
much his praise if he had thus resigned his honour to a son of his
|
|
own; but with his own hands first to ordain Eleazar high priest,
|
|
and then Joshua, one of another tribe, chief ruler, while his own
|
|
children had no preferment at all, but were left in the rank of
|
|
common Levites, this was such an instance of self-denial and
|
|
submission to the will of God as was more his glory than the
|
|
highest advancement of his family could have been; for it confirms
|
|
his character as the meekest man upon earth, and faithful to him
|
|
that appointed him in all his house. This (says the excellent
|
|
bishop Patrick) shows him to have had a principle which raised him
|
|
above all other lawgivers, who always took care to establish their
|
|
families in some share of that greatness which they themselves
|
|
possessed; but hereby it appeared that Moses acted not from
|
|
himself, because he acted not for himself.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXVIII" n="xxix" progress="78.76%" prev="Num.xxviii" next="Num.xxx" id="Num.xxix">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.xxix-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.xxix-p0.2">CHAP. XXVIII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.xxix-p1">Now that the people were numbered, orders given
|
|
for the dividing of the land, and a general of the forces nominated
|
|
and commissioned, one would have expected that the next chapter
|
|
should begin the history of the campaign, or at least should give
|
|
us an account of the ordinances of war; no, it contains the
|
|
ordinances of worship, and provides that now, as they were on the
|
|
point of entering Canaan, they should be sure to take their
|
|
religion along with them, and not forget this, in the prosecution
|
|
of their wars, <scripRef passage="Nu 28:1,2" id="Num.xxix-p1.1" parsed="|Num|28|1|28|2" osisRef="Bible:Num.28.1-Num.28.2">ver. 1, 2</scripRef>.
|
|
The laws are here repeated and summed up concerning the sacrifices
|
|
that were to be offered, I. Daily, <scripRef passage="Nu 28:3-8" id="Num.xxix-p1.2" parsed="|Num|28|3|28|8" osisRef="Bible:Num.28.3-Num.28.8">ver. 3-8</scripRef>. II. Weekly, <scripRef passage="Nu 28:9,10" id="Num.xxix-p1.3" parsed="|Num|28|9|28|10" osisRef="Bible:Num.28.9-Num.28.10">ver. 9, 10</scripRef>. III. Monthly, <scripRef passage="Nu 28:11-15" id="Num.xxix-p1.4" parsed="|Num|28|11|28|15" osisRef="Bible:Num.28.11-Num.28.15">ver. 11-15</scripRef>. IV. Yearly. 1. At the
|
|
passover, <scripRef passage="Nu 28:16-25" id="Num.xxix-p1.5" parsed="|Num|28|16|28|25" osisRef="Bible:Num.28.16-Num.28.25">ver. 16-25</scripRef>. 2.
|
|
At pentecost, <scripRef passage="Nu 28:26-31" id="Num.xxix-p1.6" parsed="|Num|28|26|28|31" osisRef="Bible:Num.28.26-Num.28.31">ver.
|
|
26-31</scripRef>. And the <!-- <a href="MHC04029.HTM" id="Num.xxix-p1.7"> -->next chapter<!-- </a> -->
|
|
is concerning the annual solemnities of the seventh month.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 28" id="Num.xxix-p1.8" parsed="|Num|28|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.28"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 28:1-8" id="Num.xxix-p1.9" parsed="|Num|28|1|28|8" osisRef="Bible:Num.28.1-Num.28.8"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.28.1-Num.28.8">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxix-p1.10">Laws Concerning Sacrifices. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxix-p1.11">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxix-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxix-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   2 Command the children of Israel,
|
|
and say unto them, My offering, <i>and</i> my bread for my
|
|
sacrifices made by fire, <i>for</i> a sweet savour unto me, shall
|
|
ye observe to offer unto me in their due season.   3 And thou
|
|
shalt say unto them, This <i>is</i> the offering made by fire which
|
|
ye shall offer unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxix-p2.2">Lord</span>; two
|
|
lambs of the first year without spot day by day, <i>for</i> a
|
|
continual burnt offering.   4 The one lamb shalt thou offer in
|
|
the morning, and the other lamb shalt thou offer at even;   5
|
|
And a tenth <i>part</i> of an ephah of flour for a meat offering,
|
|
mingled with the fourth <i>part</i> of an hin of beaten oil.  
|
|
6 <i>It is</i> a continual burnt offering, which was ordained in
|
|
Mount Sinai for a sweet savour, a sacrifice made by fire unto the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxix-p2.3">Lord</span>.   7 And the drink
|
|
offering thereof <i>shall be</i> the fourth <i>part</i> of an hin
|
|
for the one lamb: in the holy <i>place</i> shalt thou cause the
|
|
strong wine to be poured unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxix-p2.4">Lord</span> <i>for</i> a drink offering.   8 And
|
|
the other lamb shalt thou offer at even: as the meat offering of
|
|
the morning, and as the drink offering thereof, thou shalt offer
|
|
<i>it,</i> a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxix-p2.5">Lord</span>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxix-p3">Here is, I. A general order given
|
|
concerning the offerings of the Lord, which were to be brought in
|
|
their season, <scripRef passage="Nu 28:2" id="Num.xxix-p3.1" parsed="|Num|28|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.28.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>.
|
|
These laws are here given afresh, not because the observance of
|
|
them was wholly disused during their thirty-eight years' wandering
|
|
in the wilderness (we cannot think that they were so long without
|
|
any public worship, but that at least the daily lamb was offered
|
|
morning and evening, and doubled on the sabbath day; so bishop
|
|
Patrick conjectures); but that many of the sacrifices were then
|
|
omitted is plainly intimated, <scripRef passage="Am 5:25" id="Num.xxix-p3.2" parsed="|Amos|5|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.25">Amos v.
|
|
25</scripRef>, quoted by Stephen, <scripRef passage="Ac 7:42" id="Num.xxix-p3.3" parsed="|Acts|7|42|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.42">Acts
|
|
vii. 42</scripRef>. <i>Did you offer unto me sacrifices and
|
|
offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?</i> It
|
|
is implied, "No, you did not." But, whether the course of
|
|
sacrifices had been interrupted or no, God saw fit now to repeat
|
|
the law of sacrifices, 1. Because this was a new generation of men,
|
|
that were most of them unborn when the former laws were given;
|
|
therefore, that they might be left without excuse, they have not
|
|
only these laws written, to be read to them, but again repeated
|
|
from God himself, and put into a less compass and a plainer method.
|
|
2. Because they were now entering upon war, and might be tempted to
|
|
think that while they were engaged in that they should be excused
|
|
from offering sacrifices. <i>Inter arma silent leges—law is little
|
|
regarded amidst the clash of arms.</i> No, says God, <i>my bread
|
|
for my sacrifices</i> even now <i>shall you observe to offer,</i>
|
|
and that <i>in the due season.</i> They were peculiarly concerned
|
|
to keep their peace with God when they were at war with their
|
|
enemies. In the wilderness they were solitary, and quite separate
|
|
from all other people, and therefore there they needed not so much
|
|
their distinguishing badges, nor would their omission of sacrifices
|
|
be so scandalous as when they came into Canaan, when they mingled
|
|
with other people. 3. Because possession was now to be given them
|
|
of the land of promise, that land flowing with milk and honey,
|
|
where they would have plenty of all good things. "Now" (says God),
|
|
"When you are feasting yourselves, forget not to offer the bread of
|
|
your God." Canaan was given to them upon this condition, that they
|
|
should <i>observe God's statutes,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 105:44,45" id="Num.xxix-p3.4" parsed="|Ps|105|44|105|45" osisRef="Bible:Ps.105.44-Ps.105.45">Ps. cv. 44, 45</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxix-p4">II. The particular law of the daily
|
|
sacrifice, a lamb in the morning and a lamb in the evening, which,
|
|
for the constancy of it as duly as the day came, is called a
|
|
<i>continual burnt-offering</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 28:3" id="Num.xxix-p4.1" parsed="|Num|28|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.28.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), which intimates that when we are
|
|
bidden to <i>pray always, and to pray without ceasing,</i> it is
|
|
intended that at least every morning and every evening we offer up
|
|
our solemn prayers and praises to God. This is said to be
|
|
<i>ordained in Mount Sinai</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 28:6" id="Num.xxix-p4.2" parsed="|Num|28|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.28.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), when the other laws were given.
|
|
The institution of it we have, <scripRef passage="Ex 29:38" id="Num.xxix-p4.3" parsed="|Exod|29|38|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.29.38">Exod.
|
|
xxix. 38</scripRef>. Nothing is here added in the repetition of the
|
|
law, but that the wine to be poured out in the drink-offering is
|
|
ordered to be <i>strong wine</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 28:7" id="Num.xxix-p4.4" parsed="|Num|28|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.28.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>), the riches and most generous and
|
|
best-bodied wine they could get. Though it was to be poured out
|
|
upon the altar, and not drunk (they therefore might be ready to
|
|
think the worst would serve to be so thrown away), yet God requires
|
|
the strongest, to teach us to serve God with the best we have. The
|
|
wine must be strong (says Ainsworth) because it was a figure of the
|
|
blood of Christ, the memorial of which is still left to the church
|
|
in wine, and of the blood of the martyrs, which was poured out as a
|
|
drink-offering upon the <i>sacrifice and service of our faith,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Php 2:17" id="Num.xxix-p4.5" parsed="|Phil|2|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Phil.2.17">Phil. ii. 17</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 28:9-15" id="Num.xxix-p4.6" parsed="|Num|28|9|28|15" osisRef="Bible:Num.28.9-Num.28.15"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.28.9-Num.28.15">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxix-p5">9 And on the sabbath day two lambs of the first
|
|
year without spot, and two tenth deals of flour <i>for</i> a meat
|
|
offering, mingled with oil, and the drink offering thereof:  
|
|
10 <i>This is</i> the burnt offering of every sabbath, beside the
|
|
continual burnt offering, and his drink offering.   11 And in
|
|
the beginnings of your months ye shall offer a burnt offering unto
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxix-p5.1">Lord</span>; two young bullocks, and
|
|
one ram, seven lambs of the first year without spot;   12 And
|
|
three tenth deals of flour <i>for</i> a meat offering, mingled with
|
|
oil, for one bullock; and two tenth deals of flour <i>for</i> a
|
|
meat offering, mingled with oil, for one ram;   13 And a
|
|
several tenth deal of flour mingled with oil <i>for</i> a meat
|
|
offering unto one lamb; <i>for</i> a burnt offering of a sweet
|
|
savour, a sacrifice made by fire unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxix-p5.2">Lord</span>.   14 And their drink offerings shall
|
|
be half an hin of wine unto a bullock, and the third <i>part</i> of
|
|
an hin unto a ram, and a fourth <i>part</i> of an hin unto a lamb:
|
|
this <i>is</i> the burnt offering of every month throughout the
|
|
months of the year.   15 And one kid of the goats for a sin
|
|
offering unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxix-p5.3">Lord</span> shall be
|
|
offered, beside the continual burnt offering, and his drink
|
|
offering.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxix-p6">The new moons and the sabbaths are often
|
|
spoken of together, as great solemnities in the Jewish church, very
|
|
comfortable to the saints then, and typical of gospel grace. Now we
|
|
have here the sacrifices appointed, 1. For the sabbaths. Every
|
|
sabbath day the offering must be doubled; besides the two lambs
|
|
offered for the daily burnt-offering, there must be two more
|
|
offered, one (it is probable) added to the morning sacrifice, and
|
|
the other to the evening, <scripRef passage="Nu 28:9,10" id="Num.xxix-p6.1" parsed="|Num|28|9|28|10" osisRef="Bible:Num.28.9-Num.28.10"><i>v.</i>
|
|
9, 10</scripRef>. This teaches us to double our devotions on
|
|
sabbath days, for so the duty of the day requires. The sabbath rest
|
|
is to be observed, in order to a more close application to the
|
|
sabbath work, which ought to fill up sabbath time. In Ezekiel's
|
|
temple-service, which points at gospel times, the sabbath offerings
|
|
were to be six lambs and a ram, with their meat-offerings, and
|
|
drink-offerings (<scripRef passage="Eze 46:4,5" id="Num.xxix-p6.2" parsed="|Ezek|46|4|46|5" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.46.4-Ezek.46.5">Ezek. xlvi. 4,
|
|
5</scripRef>), to intimate not only the continuance, but the
|
|
advancement, of sabbath sanctification in the days of the Messiah.
|
|
This is <i>the burnt-offering of the sabbath in his sabbath,</i> so
|
|
it is in the original, <scripRef passage="Nu 28:10" id="Num.xxix-p6.3" parsed="|Num|28|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.28.10"><i>v.</i>
|
|
10</scripRef>. We must do every sabbath day's work in its day,
|
|
studying to redeem every minute of sabbath time as those that
|
|
believe it precious; and not thinking to put off one sabbath's work
|
|
to another, for sufficient to every sabbath is the service thereof.
|
|
2. For the new moons. Some suggest that, as the sabbath was kept
|
|
with an eye to the creation of the world, so the new moons were
|
|
sanctified with an eye to the divine providence, which <i>appoints
|
|
the moon for seasons,</i> guiding the revolutions of time by its
|
|
changes, and governing sublunary bodies (as many think) by its
|
|
influences. Though we observe not any feast of new moons, yet we
|
|
must not forget to give God the glory of all the precious things
|
|
put forth by the moon which he has <i>established for ever, a
|
|
faithful witness in heaven,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 89:37" id="Num.xxix-p6.4" parsed="|Ps|89|37|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.89.37">Ps.
|
|
lxxxix. 37</scripRef>. The offerings in the new moons were very
|
|
considerable, two bullocks, a ram, and seven lambs, with the
|
|
meat-offerings and drink-offerings that were to attend them
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 28:11-15" id="Num.xxix-p6.5" parsed="|Num|28|11|28|15" osisRef="Bible:Num.28.11-Num.28.15"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>, &c.),
|
|
besides a sin-offering, <scripRef passage="Nu 28:15" id="Num.xxix-p6.6" parsed="|Num|28|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.28.15"><i>v.</i>
|
|
15</scripRef>. For, when we give glory to God by confessing his
|
|
mercies, we must give glory to him likewise by confessing our own
|
|
sins; and, when we rejoice in the gifts of common providence, we
|
|
must make the sacrifice of Christ, that great gift of special
|
|
grace, the fountain and spring-head of our joy. Some have
|
|
questioned whether the new moons were to be reckoned among their
|
|
feasts; but why should they not, when, besides the special
|
|
sacrifices which were then to be offered, they rested from servile
|
|
works (<scripRef passage="Am 8:5" id="Num.xxix-p6.7" parsed="|Amos|8|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Amos.8.5">Amos viii. 5</scripRef>), <i>blew
|
|
the trumpets</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 10:10" id="Num.xxix-p6.8" parsed="|Num|10|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.10.10"><i>ch.</i> x.
|
|
10</scripRef>), and went to the prophets <i>to hear the word?</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="2Ki 4:23" id="Num.xxix-p6.9" parsed="|2Kgs|4|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.4.23">2 Kings iv. 23</scripRef>. And the
|
|
worship performed in the new moons is made typical of gospel
|
|
solemnities, <scripRef passage="Isa 66:23" id="Num.xxix-p6.10" parsed="|Isa|66|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.66.23">Isa. lxvi.
|
|
23</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 28" id="Num.xxix-p6.11" parsed="|Num|28|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.28"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 28:16-31" id="Num.xxix-p6.12" parsed="|Num|28|16|28|31" osisRef="Bible:Num.28.16-Num.28.31"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.28.16-Num.28.31">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxix-p7">16 And in the fourteenth day of the first month
|
|
<i>is</i> the passover of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxix-p7.1">Lord</span>.
|
|
  17 And in the fifteenth day of this month <i>is</i> the
|
|
feast: seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten.   18 In the
|
|
first day <i>shall be</i> an holy convocation; ye shall do no
|
|
manner of servile work <i>therein:</i>   19 But ye shall offer
|
|
a sacrifice made by fire <i>for</i> a burnt offering unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxix-p7.2">Lord</span>; two young bullocks, and one ram, and
|
|
seven lambs of the first year: they shall be unto you without
|
|
blemish:   20 And their meat offering <i>shall be of</i> flour
|
|
mingled with oil: three tenth deals shall ye offer for a bullock,
|
|
and two tenth deals for a ram;   21 A several tenth deal shalt
|
|
thou offer for every lamb, throughout the seven lambs:   22
|
|
And one goat <i>for</i> a sin offering, to make an atonement for
|
|
you.   23 Ye shall offer these beside the burnt offering in
|
|
the morning, which <i>is</i> for a continual burnt offering.  
|
|
24 After this manner ye shall offer daily, throughout the seven
|
|
days, the meat of the sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour
|
|
unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxix-p7.3">Lord</span>: it shall be offered
|
|
beside the continual burnt offering, and his drink offering.  
|
|
25 And on the seventh day ye shall have an holy convocation; ye
|
|
shall do no servile work.   26 Also in the day of the
|
|
firstfruits, when ye bring a new meat offering unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxix-p7.4">Lord</span>, after your weeks <i>be out,</i> ye
|
|
shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work:  
|
|
27 But ye shall offer the burnt offering for a sweet savour unto
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxix-p7.5">Lord</span>; two young bullocks, one
|
|
ram, seven lambs of the first year;   28 And their meat
|
|
offering of flour mingled with oil, three tenth deals unto one
|
|
bullock, two tenth deals unto one ram,   29 A several tenth
|
|
deal unto one lamb, throughout the seven lambs;   30
|
|
<i>And</i> one kid of the goats, to make an atonement for you.
|
|
  31 Ye shall offer <i>them</i> beside the continual burnt
|
|
offering, and his meat offering, (they shall be unto you without
|
|
blemish) and their drink offerings.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxix-p8">Here is, I. The appointment of the
|
|
pass-over sacrifices; not that which was the chief, the paschal
|
|
lamb (sufficient instructions had formerly been given concerning
|
|
that), but those which were to be offered upon the seven days of
|
|
unleavened bread, which followed it, <scripRef passage="Nu 28:17-25" id="Num.xxix-p8.1" parsed="|Num|28|17|28|25" osisRef="Bible:Num.28.17-Num.28.25"><i>v.</i> 17-25</scripRef>. The first and last of
|
|
those seven days were to be sanctified as sabbaths, by a holy rest
|
|
and a holy convocation, and on each of the seven days they were to
|
|
be liberal in their sacrifices, in token of their great and
|
|
constant thankfulness for their deliverance out of Egypt: <i>Two
|
|
bullocks, a ram, and seven lambs.</i> A gospel conversation, in
|
|
gratitude for <i>Christ our passover</i> who was sacrificed, is
|
|
called the <i>keeping of this feast</i> (<scripRef passage="1Co 5:8" id="Num.xxix-p8.2" parsed="|1Cor|5|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.5.8">1 Cor. v. 8</scripRef>); for it is not enough that we
|
|
purge out the <i>leavened bread</i> of malice and wickedness, but
|
|
we must <i>offer the bread of our God, even the sacrifice of
|
|
praise, continually,</i> and continue herein unto the end. 2. The
|
|
sacrifices are likewise appointed which were to be offered at the
|
|
feast of pentecost, here called the <i>day of the first-fruits,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 28:26" id="Num.xxix-p8.3" parsed="|Num|28|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.28.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>. In the feast
|
|
of unleavened bread they offered a <i>sheaf of their
|
|
first-fruits</i> of barley (which with them was first ripe) to the
|
|
priest (<scripRef passage="Le 23:10" id="Num.xxix-p8.4" parsed="|Lev|23|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.10">Lev. xxiii. 10</scripRef>), as
|
|
an introduction to the harvest; but now, about seven weeks after,
|
|
they were to bring a <i>new meat-offering to the Lord,</i> at the
|
|
end of harvest, in thankfulness to God, who had not only given,
|
|
<i>but preserved to their use, the kindly fruits of the earth, so
|
|
as that in due time they did enjoy them.</i> It was at this feast
|
|
that <i>the Spirit was poured out</i> (<scripRef passage="Ac 2:1-13" id="Num.xxix-p8.5" parsed="|Acts|2|1|2|13" osisRef="Bible:Acts.2.1-Acts.2.13">Acts ii. 1</scripRef>, &c.), and thousands were
|
|
converted by the preaching of the apostles, and were presented to
|
|
Christ, to be <i>a kind of first-fruits of his creatures.</i> The
|
|
sacrifice that was to be offered with the loaves of the
|
|
first-fruits was appointed, <scripRef passage="Le 23:18" id="Num.xxix-p8.6" parsed="|Lev|23|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.18">Lev.
|
|
xxiii. 18</scripRef>. But over and above, besides that and besides
|
|
the daily offerings, they were to offer <i>two bullocks, one ram,
|
|
and seven lambs, with a kid for a sin-offering,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 28:27-30" id="Num.xxix-p8.7" parsed="|Num|28|27|28|30" osisRef="Bible:Num.28.27-Num.28.30"><i>v.</i> 27-30</scripRef>. When God sows
|
|
plentifully upon us he expects to reap accordingly from us. Bishop
|
|
Patrick observes that no <i>peace-offerings</i> are appointed in
|
|
this chapter, which were chiefly for the benefit of the offerers,
|
|
and therefore in them they were left more to themselves; but
|
|
<i>burnt-offerings</i> were purely for the honour of God, were
|
|
confessions of his dominion, and typified evangelical piety and
|
|
devotion, by which the soul is wholly offered up to God in the
|
|
flames of holy love; and <i>sin-offerings</i> were typical of
|
|
Christ's sacrifice of himself, <i>by which we and our services are
|
|
perfected and sanctified.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXIX" n="xxx" progress="79.05%" prev="Num.xxix" next="Num.xxxi" id="Num.xxx">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.xxx-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.xxx-p0.2">CHAP. XXIX.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.xxx-p1">This chapter appoints the offerings that were to
|
|
be made by fire unto the Lord in the three great solemnities of the
|
|
seventh month. I. In the feast of trumpets on the first day of that
|
|
month, <scripRef passage="Nu 29:1-6" id="Num.xxx-p1.1" parsed="|Num|29|1|29|6" osisRef="Bible:Num.29.1-Num.29.6">ver. 1-6</scripRef>. II. In
|
|
the day of atonement on the tenth day, <scripRef passage="Nu 29:7-11" id="Num.xxx-p1.2" parsed="|Num|29|7|29|11" osisRef="Bible:Num.29.7-Num.29.11">ver. 7-11</scripRef>. III. In the feast of tabernacles
|
|
on the fifteenth day and the seven days following, <scripRef passage="Nu 29:12-38" id="Num.xxx-p1.3" parsed="|Num|29|12|29|38" osisRef="Bible:Num.29.12-Num.29.38">ver. 12-38</scripRef>. And then the
|
|
conclusion of these ordinances, <scripRef passage="Nu 29:39,40" id="Num.xxx-p1.4" parsed="|Num|29|39|29|40" osisRef="Bible:Num.29.39-Num.29.40">ver. 39, 40</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 29" id="Num.xxx-p1.5" parsed="|Num|29|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.29"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 29:1-11" id="Num.xxx-p1.6" parsed="|Num|29|1|29|11" osisRef="Bible:Num.29.1-Num.29.11"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.29.1-Num.29.11">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxx-p1.7">Solemnities of the Seventh
|
|
Month. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxx-p1.8">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxx-p2">1 And in the seventh month, on the first
|
|
<i>day</i> of the month, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye
|
|
shall do no servile work: it is a day of blowing the trumpets unto
|
|
you.   2 And ye shall offer a burnt offering for a sweet
|
|
savour unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxx-p2.1">Lord</span>; one young
|
|
bullock, one ram, <i>and</i> seven lambs of the first year without
|
|
blemish:   3 And their meat offering <i>shall be of</i> flour
|
|
mingled with oil, three tenth deals for a bullock, <i>and</i> two
|
|
tenth deals for a ram,   4 And one tenth deal for one lamb,
|
|
throughout the seven lambs:   5 And one kid of the goats
|
|
<i>for</i> a sin offering, to make an atonement for you:   6
|
|
Beside the burnt offering of the month, and his meat offering, and
|
|
the daily burnt offering, and his meat offering, and their drink
|
|
offerings, according unto their manner, for a sweet savour, a
|
|
sacrifice made by fire unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxx-p2.2">Lord</span>.   7 And ye shall have on the tenth
|
|
<i>day</i> of this seventh month an holy convocation; and ye shall
|
|
afflict your souls: ye shall not do any work <i>therein:</i>  
|
|
8 But ye shall offer a burnt offering unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxx-p2.3">Lord</span> <i>for</i> a sweet savour; one young
|
|
bullock, one ram, <i>and</i> seven lambs of the first year; they
|
|
shall be unto you without blemish:   9 And their meat offering
|
|
<i>shall be of</i> flour mingled with oil, three tenth deals to a
|
|
bullock, <i>and</i> two tenth deals to one ram,   10 A several
|
|
tenth deal for one lamb, throughout the seven lambs:   11 One
|
|
kid of the goats <i>for</i> a sin offering; beside the sin offering
|
|
of atonement, and the continual burnt offering, and the meat
|
|
offering of it, and their drink offerings.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxx-p3">There were more sacred solemnities in the
|
|
seventh month than in any other month of the year, not only because
|
|
it had been the first month till the deliverance of Israel out of
|
|
Egypt (which, falling in the month Abib, occasioned that to be
|
|
thenceforth made the <i>beginning of the months</i> in all
|
|
ecclesiastical computations), but because still it continued the
|
|
first month in the civil reckonings of the jubilees and years of
|
|
release, and also because it was the time of vacation between
|
|
harvest and seedtime, when they had most leisure to attend the
|
|
sanctuary, which intimates that, though God will dispense with
|
|
sacrifices in consideration of works of necessity and mercy, yet
|
|
the more leisure we have from the pressing occasions of this life
|
|
the more time we should spend in the immediate service of God. 1.
|
|
We have here the appointment of the sacrifices that were to be
|
|
offered on the first day of the month, the day of <i>blowing the
|
|
trumpets,</i> which was a preparative for the two great solemnities
|
|
of holy mourning on the day of atonement and of holy joy in the
|
|
feast of tabernacles. The intention of divine institutions is well
|
|
answered when one religious service helps to fit us for another and
|
|
all for heaven. The <i>blowing of the trumpets</i> was appointed,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 23:24" id="Num.xxx-p3.1" parsed="|Lev|23|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.24">Lev. xxiii. 24</scripRef>. Here the
|
|
people are directed what sacrifices to offer on that day, of which
|
|
there was not then any mention made. Note, Those who would know the
|
|
mind of God in the scripture must compare one part of the scripture
|
|
with another, and put those parts together that have reference to
|
|
the same thing, for the latter discoveries of divine light explain
|
|
what was dark and supply what was defective in the former, <i>that
|
|
the man of God may be perfect.</i> The sacrifices then to be
|
|
offered are particularly ordered here (<scripRef passage="Nu 29:2-6" id="Num.xxx-p3.2" parsed="|Num|29|2|29|6" osisRef="Bible:Num.29.2-Num.29.6"><i>v.</i> 2-6</scripRef>), and care taken that these
|
|
should not supersede the daily oblation and that of the new moon.
|
|
It is hereby intimated that we must not seek occasions to abate our
|
|
zeal in God's service, nor be glad of an excuse to omit a good
|
|
duty, but rather rejoice in an opportunity of accumulating and
|
|
doing more than ordinary in religion. If we perform family-worship,
|
|
we must not think that this will excuse us from our secret
|
|
devotions; nor that on the days we go to church we need not worship
|
|
God alone and with our families; but we should <i>always abound in
|
|
the work of the Lord.</i> 2. On the <i>day of atonement.</i>
|
|
Besides all the services of that day, which we had the institution
|
|
of, <scripRef passage="Le 16:1-34" id="Num.xxx-p3.3" parsed="|Lev|16|1|16|34" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.1-Lev.16.34">Lev. xvi.</scripRef>, and which,
|
|
one would think, required trouble and charge enough, here are
|
|
burnt-offerings ordered to be offered, <scripRef passage="Nu 29:8-10" id="Num.xxx-p3.4" parsed="|Num|29|8|29|10" osisRef="Bible:Num.29.8-Num.29.10"><i>v.</i> 8-10</scripRef>. For in our faith and
|
|
repentance, those two great gospel graces which were signified by
|
|
that day's performances, we must have an eye to the glory and
|
|
honour of God, which was purely intended in the burnt-offerings;
|
|
there was likewise to be a <i>kid of the goats for a sin-offering,
|
|
besides the great sin-offering of atonement</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 29:11" id="Num.xxx-p3.5" parsed="|Num|29|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.29.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>), which intimates that there are
|
|
so many defects and faults, even in the exercises and expressions
|
|
of our repentance, that we have need of an interest in a sacrifice
|
|
to expiate the guilt even of that part of our holy things. Though
|
|
we must not repent that we have repented, yet we must repent that
|
|
we have not repented better. It likewise intimated the imperfection
|
|
of the legal sacrifices, and their insufficiency to take away sin,
|
|
that on the very day the <i>sin-offering of atonement</i> was
|
|
offered, yet there must be another sin-offering. But <i>what the
|
|
law could not do, in that it was weak,</i> that Christ has
|
|
done.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 29" id="Num.xxx-p3.6" parsed="|Num|29|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.29"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 29:12-40" id="Num.xxx-p3.7" parsed="|Num|29|12|29|40" osisRef="Bible:Num.29.12-Num.29.40"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.29.12-Num.29.40">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxx-p4">12 And on the fifteenth day of the seventh month
|
|
ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work, and
|
|
ye shall keep a feast unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxx-p4.1">Lord</span>
|
|
seven days:   13 And ye shall offer a burnt offering, a
|
|
sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxx-p4.2">Lord</span>; thirteen young bullocks, two rams,
|
|
<i>and</i> fourteen lambs of the first year; they shall be without
|
|
blemish:   14 And their meat offering <i>shall be of</i> flour
|
|
mingled with oil, three tenth deals unto every bullock of the
|
|
thirteen bullocks, two tenth deals to each ram of the two rams,
|
|
  15 And a several tenth deal to each lamb of the fourteen
|
|
lambs:   16 And one kid of the goats <i>for</i> a sin
|
|
offering; beside the continual burnt offering, his meat offering,
|
|
and his drink offering.   17 And on the second day <i>ye shall
|
|
offer</i> twelve young bullocks, two rams, fourteen lambs of the
|
|
first year without spot:   18 And their meat offering and
|
|
their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the
|
|
lambs, <i>shall be</i> according to their number, after the manner:
|
|
  19 And one kid of the goats <i>for</i> a sin offering;
|
|
beside the continual burnt offering, and the meat offering thereof,
|
|
and their drink offerings.   20 And on the third day eleven
|
|
bullocks, two rams, fourteen lambs of the first year without
|
|
blemish;   21 And their meat offering and their drink
|
|
offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs,
|
|
<i>shall be</i> according to their number, after the manner:  
|
|
22 And one goat <i>for</i> a sin offering; beside the continual
|
|
burnt offering, and his meat offering, and his drink offering.
|
|
  23 And on the fourth day ten bullocks, two rams, <i>and</i>
|
|
fourteen lambs of the first year without blemish:   24 Their
|
|
meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the
|
|
rams, and for the lambs, <i>shall be</i> according to their number,
|
|
after the manner:   25 And one kid of the goats <i>for</i> a
|
|
sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, his meat
|
|
offering, and his drink offering.   26 And on the fifth day
|
|
nine bullocks, two rams, <i>and</i> fourteen lambs of the first
|
|
year without spot:   27 And their meat offering and their
|
|
drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs,
|
|
<i>shall be</i> according to their number, after the manner:  
|
|
28 And one goat <i>for</i> a sin offering; beside the continual
|
|
burnt offering, and his meat offering, and his drink offering.
|
|
  29 And on the sixth day eight bullocks, two rams, <i>and</i>
|
|
fourteen lambs of the first year without blemish:   30 And
|
|
their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for
|
|
the rams, and for the lambs, <i>shall be</i> according to their
|
|
number, after the manner:   31 And one goat <i>for</i> a sin
|
|
offering; beside the continual burnt offering, his meat offering,
|
|
and his drink offering.   32 And on the seventh day seven
|
|
bullocks, two rams, <i>and</i> fourteen lambs of the first year
|
|
without blemish:   33 And their meat offering and their drink
|
|
offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs,
|
|
<i>shall be</i> according to their number, after the manner:  
|
|
34 And one goat <i>for</i> a sin offering; beside the continual
|
|
burnt offering, his meat offering, and his drink offering.  
|
|
35 On the eighth day ye shall have a solemn assembly: ye shall do
|
|
no servile work <i>therein:</i>   36 But ye shall offer a
|
|
burnt offering, a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxx-p4.3">Lord</span>: one bullock, one ram,
|
|
seven lambs of the first year without blemish:   37 Their meat
|
|
offering and their drink offerings for the bullock, for the ram,
|
|
and for the lambs, <i>shall be</i> according to their number, after
|
|
the manner:   38 And one goat <i>for</i> a sin offering;
|
|
beside the continual burnt offering, and his meat offering, and his
|
|
drink offering.   39 These <i>things</i> ye shall do unto the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxx-p4.4">Lord</span> in your set feasts, beside your
|
|
vows, and your freewill offerings, for your burnt offerings, and
|
|
for your meat offerings, and for your drink offerings, and for your
|
|
peace offerings.   40 And Moses told the children of Israel
|
|
according to all that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxx-p4.5">Lord</span>
|
|
commanded Moses.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxx-p5">Soon after the day of atonement, that day
|
|
in which men were to afflict their souls, followed the feast of
|
|
tabernacles, in which they were to rejoice before the Lord; for
|
|
those that <i>sow in tears</i> shall soon <i>reap in joy.</i> To
|
|
the former laws about this feast, which we had, <scripRef passage="Le 23:34-44" id="Num.xxx-p5.1" parsed="|Lev|23|34|23|44" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.34-Lev.23.44">Lev. xxiii. 34</scripRef>, &c., here are added
|
|
directions about the <i>offerings by fire,</i> which they were to
|
|
offer unto the Lord during the <i>seven days of that feast,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 33:36" id="Num.xxx-p5.2" parsed="|Lev|33|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.33.36">Lev. xxiii. 36</scripRef>. Observe
|
|
here, 1. Their days of rejoicing were to be days of sacrifices. A
|
|
disposition to be cheerful does us no harm, nor is any bad symptom,
|
|
when it is so far from unfitting us for the duties of God's
|
|
immediate service that it encourages and enlarges our hearts in
|
|
them. 2. All the days of their dwelling in booths they must offer
|
|
sacrifices. While we are here in a tabernacle-state, it is our
|
|
interest as well as duty constantly to keep up communion with God;
|
|
nor will the unsettledness of our outward condition excuse us in
|
|
our neglect of the duties of God's worship. 3. The sacrifices for
|
|
each of the seven days, though differing in nothing but the number
|
|
of the bullocks, are severally and particularly appointed, which
|
|
yet is no vain repetition; for God would thus teach them to be very
|
|
exact in those observances, and to keep an eye of faith fixed upon
|
|
the institution in every day's work. It likewise intimates that the
|
|
repetition of the same services, if performed with an upright
|
|
heart, and with a continued fire of pious and devout affection, is
|
|
no weariness to God, and therefore we ought not to snuff at it, or
|
|
to say, <i>Behold, what a weariness it is to us!</i> 4. The number
|
|
of bullocks (which were the most costly part of the sacrifice)
|
|
decreased every day. On the first day of the feast they were to
|
|
offer thirteen, on the second day but twelve, on the third day
|
|
eleven, &c. So that on the seventh they offered seven; and the
|
|
last day, though it was the great day of the feast, and celebrated
|
|
with a holy convocation, yet they were to offer but one bullock;
|
|
and, whereas on all the other days they offered two rams and
|
|
fourteen lambs, on this they offered but one ram and seven lambs.
|
|
Such was the will of the Law-maker, and that is reason enough for
|
|
the law. Some suggest that God herein considered the infirmity of
|
|
the flesh, which is apt to grudge the charge and expense of
|
|
religion; it is therefore ordered to grow less and less, that they
|
|
might not complain as if God had <i>made them to serve with an
|
|
offering,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 43:23" id="Num.xxx-p5.3" parsed="|Isa|43|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.43.23">Isa. xliii.
|
|
23</scripRef>. Or it is hereby intimated to them that the legal
|
|
dispensation should wax old, and vanish away at last; and the
|
|
multitude of their sacrifices should end in one great sacrifice,
|
|
infinitely more worthy than all of them. It was on the last day of
|
|
the feast, after all these sacrifices had been ordered, that our
|
|
Lord Jesus stood and cried to those who still thirsted after
|
|
righteousness (being sensible of the insufficiency of these
|
|
sacrifices to justify them) <i>to come unto him and drink,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Joh 7:37" id="Num.xxx-p5.4" parsed="|John|7|37|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.7.37">John vii. 37</scripRef>. 5. The
|
|
meat-offerings and drink-offerings attended all the sacrifices,
|
|
<i>according to their number, after the manner.</i> Be there ever
|
|
so much flesh, it is no feast without bread and drink, therefore
|
|
these must never be omitted at God's altar, which was his table. We
|
|
must not think that doing much in religion will be accepted if we
|
|
do not do it well, and after the manner that God has appointed. 6.
|
|
Every day there must be a sin-offering presented, as we observed in
|
|
the other feasts. Our burnt-offerings of praise cannot be accepted
|
|
of God unless we have an interest in the great sacrifice of
|
|
propitiation which Christ offered when for us he made himself a
|
|
sin-offering. 7. Even when all these sacrifices were offered, yet
|
|
the continual burnt-offering must not be omitted either morning or
|
|
evening, but each day this must be offered first in the morning and
|
|
last in the evening. No extraordinary services should jostle out
|
|
our stated devotions. 8. Though all these sacrifices were required
|
|
to be presented by the body of the congregation, at the common
|
|
charge, yet, besides these, particular persons were to glorify God
|
|
with their vows and their free-will offerings, <scripRef passage="Nu 29:39" id="Num.xxx-p5.5" parsed="|Num|29|39|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.29.39"><i>v.</i> 39</scripRef>. When God commanded that this
|
|
<i>they must do,</i> he left room for the generosity of their
|
|
devotion, a great deal more they <i>might do,</i> not inventing
|
|
other worships, but abounding in these, as <scripRef passage="2Ch 30:23,24" id="Num.xxx-p5.6" parsed="|2Chr|30|23|30|24" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.30.23-2Chr.30.24">2 Chron. xxx. 23, 24</scripRef>. Large directions
|
|
had been given in Leviticus concerning the offerings of all sorts
|
|
that should be brought by particular persons according to the
|
|
providences of God concerning them and the graces of God in them.
|
|
Though every Israelite had an interest in these common sacrifices,
|
|
yet he must not think that these will serve instead of his vows and
|
|
his free-will offerings. Thus our ministers' praying with us and
|
|
for us will not excuse us from praying for ourselves.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXX" n="xxxi" progress="79.35%" prev="Num.xxx" next="Num.xxxii" id="Num.xxxi">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.xxxi-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.xxxi-p0.2">CHAP. XXX.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.xxxi-p1">In this chapter we have a law concerning vows,
|
|
which had been mentioned in the close of the foregoing chapter. I.
|
|
Here is a general rule laid down that all vows must be carefully
|
|
performed, <scripRef passage="Nu 30:1,2" id="Num.xxxi-p1.1" parsed="|Num|30|1|30|2" osisRef="Bible:Num.30.1-Num.30.2">ver. 1, 2</scripRef>. II.
|
|
Some particular exceptions to this rule. 1. That the vows of
|
|
daughters should not be binding unless allowed by the father,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 30:3-5" id="Num.xxxi-p1.2" parsed="|Num|30|3|30|5" osisRef="Bible:Num.30.3-Num.30.5">ver. 3-5</scripRef>. Nor, 2. The vows
|
|
of wives unless allowed by the husband, <scripRef passage="Nu 30:6-16" id="Num.xxxi-p1.3" parsed="|Num|30|6|30|16" osisRef="Bible:Num.30.6-Num.30.16">ver. 6</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 30" id="Num.xxxi-p1.4" parsed="|Num|30|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.30"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 30:1-2" id="Num.xxxi-p1.5" parsed="|Num|30|1|30|2" osisRef="Bible:Num.30.1-Num.30.2"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.30.1-Num.30.2">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxxi-p1.6">Concerning Vows. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxi-p1.7">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxxi-p2">1 And Moses spake unto the heads of the tribes
|
|
concerning the children of Israel, saying, This <i>is</i> the thing
|
|
which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxi-p2.1">Lord</span> hath commanded.
|
|
  2 If a man vow a vow unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxi-p2.2">Lord</span>, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a
|
|
bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all
|
|
that proceedeth out of his mouth.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxi-p3">This law was delivered to the heads of the
|
|
tribes that they might instruct those who were under their charge,
|
|
explain the law to them, give then necessary cautions, and call
|
|
them to account, if there were occasion, for the breach of their
|
|
vows. Perhaps the heads of the tribes had, upon some emergency of
|
|
this kind, consulted Moses, and desired by him to know the mind of
|
|
God, and here they are told it: <i>This is the thing which the Lord
|
|
has commanded</i> concerning vows, and it is a command still in
|
|
force.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxi-p4">1. The case supposed is that a person vows
|
|
a vow unto the Lord, making God a party to the promise, and
|
|
designing his honour and glory in it. The matter of the vow is
|
|
supposed to be something lawful: no man can be by his own promise
|
|
bound to do that which he is already by the divine precept
|
|
prohibited from doing. Yet it is supposed to be something which, in
|
|
such and such measures and degrees, was not a necessary duty
|
|
antecedent to the vow. A person might vow to bring such and such
|
|
sacrifices at certain times, to give such and such a sum or such a
|
|
proportion in alms, to forbear such meats and drinks which the law
|
|
allowed, to fast and afflict the soul (which is specified <scripRef passage="Nu 30:13" id="Num.xxxi-p4.1" parsed="|Num|30|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.30.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>) at other times besides
|
|
the day of atonement. And many similar vows might be made in an
|
|
extraordinary heat of holy zeal, in humiliation for some sin
|
|
committed or for the prevention of sin, in the pursuit of some
|
|
mercy desired or in gratitude for some mercy received. It is of
|
|
great use to make such vows as these, provided they be made in
|
|
sincerity with due caution. Vows (say the Jewish doctors) are
|
|
<i>the hedge of separation,</i> that is, a fence to religion. He
|
|
that vows is here said to <i>bind his soul with a bond.</i> It is a
|
|
vow to God, who is a spirit, and to him the soul, with all its
|
|
powers, must be bound. A promise to man is a bond upon the estate,
|
|
but a promise to God is a bond upon the soul. Our sacramental vows,
|
|
by which we are bound to no more than what was before our duty, and
|
|
which neither father nor husband can disannul, are bonds upon the
|
|
soul, and by them we must feel ourselves bound out from all sin and
|
|
bound up to the whole will of God. Our occasional vows concerning
|
|
that which before was <i>in our own power</i> (<scripRef passage="Ac 5:4" id="Num.xxxi-p4.2" parsed="|Acts|5|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.5.4">Acts v. 4</scripRef>), when they are made, are bonds upon
|
|
the soul likewise. 2. The command given is that these vows be
|
|
conscientiously performed: <i>He shall not break his word,</i>
|
|
though afterwards he may change his mind, but he shall do according
|
|
to what he has said. <i>Margin, He shall not profane his word.</i>
|
|
Vowing is an ordinance of God; if we vow in hypocrisy we profane
|
|
that ordinance: it is plainly determined, <i>Better not vow than
|
|
vow and not pay,</i> <scripRef passage="Ec 5:5" id="Num.xxxi-p4.3" parsed="|Eccl|5|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.5.5">Eccl. v.
|
|
5</scripRef>. <i>Be not deceived, God is not mocked.</i> His
|
|
promises to us are <i>yea and amen,</i> let not ours to him be
|
|
<i>yea and nay.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 30:3-16" id="Num.xxxi-p4.4" parsed="|Num|30|3|30|16" osisRef="Bible:Num.30.3-Num.30.16"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.30.3-Num.30.16">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxxi-p5">3 If a woman also vow a vow unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxi-p5.1">Lord</span>, and bind herself by a bond,
|
|
<i>being</i> in her father's house in her youth;   4 And her
|
|
father hear her vow, and her bond wherewith she hath bound her
|
|
soul, and her father shall hold his peace at her: then all her vows
|
|
shall stand, and every bond wherewith she hath bound her soul shall
|
|
stand.   5 But if her father disallow her in the day that he
|
|
heareth; not any of her vows, or of her bonds wherewith she hath
|
|
bound her soul, shall stand: and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxi-p5.2">Lord</span> shall forgive her, because her father
|
|
disallowed her.   6 And if she had at all an husband, when she
|
|
vowed, or uttered ought out of her lips, wherewith she bound her
|
|
soul;   7 And her husband heard <i>it,</i> and held his peace
|
|
at her in the day that he heard <i>it:</i> then her vows shall
|
|
stand, and her bonds wherewith she bound her soul shall stand.
|
|
  8 But if her husband disallowed her on the day that he heard
|
|
<i>it;</i> then he shall make her vow which she vowed, and that
|
|
which she uttered with her lips, wherewith she bound her soul, of
|
|
none effect: and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxi-p5.3">Lord</span> shall
|
|
forgive her.   9 But every vow of a widow, and of her that is
|
|
divorced, wherewith they have bound their souls, shall stand
|
|
against her.   10 And if she vowed in her husband's house, or
|
|
bound her soul by a bond with an oath;   11 And her husband
|
|
heard <i>it,</i> and held his peace at her, <i>and</i> disallowed
|
|
her not: then all her vows shall stand, and every bond wherewith
|
|
she bound her soul shall stand.   12 But if her husband hath
|
|
utterly made them void on the day he heard <i>them; then</i>
|
|
whatsoever proceeded out of her lips concerning her vows, or
|
|
concerning the bond of her soul, shall not stand: her husband hath
|
|
made them void; and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxi-p5.4">Lord</span> shall
|
|
forgive her.   13 Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict
|
|
the soul, her husband may establish it, or her husband may make it
|
|
void.   14 But if her husband altogether hold his peace at her
|
|
from day to day; then he establisheth all her vows, or all her
|
|
bonds, which <i>are</i> upon her: he confirmeth them, because he
|
|
held his peace at her in the day that he heard <i>them.</i>  
|
|
15 But if he shall any ways make them void after that he hath heard
|
|
<i>them;</i> then he shall bear her iniquity.   16 These
|
|
<i>are</i> the statutes, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxi-p5.5">Lord</span> commanded Moses, between a man and his
|
|
wife, between the father and his daughter, <i>being yet</i> in her
|
|
youth in her father's house.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxi-p6">It is here taken for granted that all such
|
|
persons as are <i>sui juris—at their own disposal,</i> and are
|
|
likewise of sound understanding and memory, are bound to perform
|
|
whatever they vow that is lawful and possible; but, if the person
|
|
vowing be under the dominion and at the disposal of another, the
|
|
case is different. Two cases much alike are here put and
|
|
determined:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxi-p7">I. The case of a daughter in her father's
|
|
house: and some think, probably enough, that it extends to a son
|
|
likewise, while he is at home with his father, and under tutors and
|
|
governors. Whether the exception may thus be stretched I cannot
|
|
say. <i>Non est distinguendum, ubi lex non distinguit—We are not
|
|
allowed to make distinctions which the law does not.</i> The rule
|
|
is general, If a man vow, he must pay. But for a daughter it is
|
|
express: her vow is nugatory or in suspense till her father knows
|
|
it, and (it is supposed) knows it from her; for, when it comes to
|
|
his knowledge, it is in his power either to ratify or nullify it.
|
|
But in favour of the vow, 1. Even his silence shall suffice to
|
|
ratify it: If he <i>hold his peace, her vows shall stand,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 30:4" id="Num.xxxi-p7.1" parsed="|Num|30|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.30.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. <i>Qui tacet,
|
|
consentire videtur—Silence gives consent.</i> Hereby he allows his
|
|
daughter the liberty she has assumed, and, as long as he says
|
|
nothing against her vow, she shall be bound by it. But, 2. His
|
|
protestation against it shall perfectly disannul it, because it is
|
|
possible that such vow may by prejudicial to the affairs of the
|
|
family, break the father's measures, perplex the provision made for
|
|
his table if the vow related to meats, or lessen the provision made
|
|
for his children if the vow would be more expensive than his estate
|
|
would bear; however, it was certain that it was an infringement of
|
|
his authority over his child, and therefore, if he disallow it, she
|
|
is discharged, and <i>the Lord shall forgive her,</i> that is, she
|
|
shall not be charged with the guilt of violating her vow; she
|
|
showed her good-will in making the vow, and, if her intentions
|
|
therein were sincere, she shall be accounted better than sacrifice.
|
|
This shows how great a deference children owe to their parents, and
|
|
how much they ought to honour them and be obedient to them. It is
|
|
for the interest of the public that the paternal authority be
|
|
supported; for, when children are countenanced in their
|
|
disobedience to their parents (as they were by the tradition of the
|
|
elders, <scripRef passage="Mt 15:5,6" id="Num.xxxi-p7.2" parsed="|Matt|15|5|15|6" osisRef="Bible:Matt.15.5-Matt.15.6">Matt. xv. 5, 6</scripRef>),
|
|
they soon become in other things <i>children of Belial.</i> If this
|
|
law be not to be extended to children's marrying without their
|
|
parents' consent so far as to put it in parents' power to annul the
|
|
marriage and dissolve the obligation (as some have thought it
|
|
does), yet certainly it proves the sinfulness of it, and obliges
|
|
the children that have thus done foolishly to repent and humble
|
|
themselves before God and their parents.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxi-p8">II. The case of a wife is much the same. As
|
|
for a woman that is a widow or divorced, she has neither father nor
|
|
husband to control her, so that, whatever vows she binds her soul
|
|
with, they shall <i>stand against her</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 30:9" id="Num.xxxi-p8.1" parsed="|Num|30|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.30.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>), it is at her peril if she run
|
|
back; but a wife, who has nothing that she can strictly call her
|
|
own, but with her husband's allowance, cannot, without that, make
|
|
any such vow. 1. The law is plain in case of a wife that continues
|
|
so long after the vow. If her husband allow her vow, though only by
|
|
silence, it must stand, <scripRef passage="Nu 30:6,7" id="Num.xxxi-p8.2" parsed="|Num|30|6|30|7" osisRef="Bible:Num.30.6-Num.30.7"><i>v.</i> 6,
|
|
7</scripRef>. If he disallow it, since her obligation to that which
|
|
she had vowed arose purely from her own act, and not from any prior
|
|
command of God, her obligation to her husband shall take place of
|
|
it, for to him she ought to be in subjection <i>as unto the
|
|
Lord;</i> and now it is so far from being her duty to fulfil her
|
|
vow that it would be her sin to disobey her husband, whose consent
|
|
perhaps she ought to have asked before she made the vow; therefore
|
|
she needs <i>forgiveness,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 30:8" id="Num.xxxi-p8.3" parsed="|Num|30|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.30.8"><i>v.</i>
|
|
8</scripRef>. 2. The law is the same in case of a wife that soon
|
|
after becomes a widow, or is put away. Though, if she return to her
|
|
father's house, she does not therefore so come again under his
|
|
authority as that he has power to disannul her vows (<scripRef passage="Nu 30:9" id="Num.xxxi-p8.4" parsed="|Num|30|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.30.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>), yet if the vow was made
|
|
while she was in the house of her husband, and her husband
|
|
disallowed it, it was made void and of no effect for ever, and she
|
|
does not return under the law of her vow when she is loosed from
|
|
the law of her husband. This seems to be the distinct meaning of
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 30:10-14" id="Num.xxxi-p8.5" parsed="|Num|30|10|30|14" osisRef="Bible:Num.30.10-Num.30.14"><i>v.</i> 10-14</scripRef>, which
|
|
otherwise would be but a repetition of <scripRef passage="Nu 30:6-8" id="Num.xxxi-p8.6" parsed="|Num|30|6|30|8" osisRef="Bible:Num.30.6-Num.30.8"><i>v.</i> 6-8</scripRef>. But it is added (<scripRef passage="Nu 30:15" id="Num.xxxi-p8.7" parsed="|Num|30|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.30.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>) that, if the husband
|
|
make void the vows of his wife, he shall <i>bear her iniquity;</i>
|
|
that is, if the thing she had vowed was really good, for the honour
|
|
of God and the prosperity of her own soul, and the husband
|
|
disallowed it out of covetousness, or humour, or to show his
|
|
authority, though she be discharged from the obligation of her vow,
|
|
yet he will have a great deal to answer for. Now here it is very
|
|
observable how carefully the divine law consults the good order of
|
|
families, and preserves the power of superior relations, and the
|
|
duty and reverence of inferiors. It is fit that every man should
|
|
<i>bear rule in his own house,</i> and have his wife and children
|
|
in subjection with all gravity; and rather than this great rule
|
|
should be broken, or any encouragement given to inferior relations
|
|
to break those bonds asunder, God himself would quit his right, and
|
|
release the obligations even of a solemn vow; so much does religion
|
|
strengthen the ties of all relations, and secure the welfare of all
|
|
societiesd, that in it the <i>families of the earth are
|
|
blessed.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXXI" n="xxxii" progress="79.59%" prev="Num.xxxi" next="Num.xxxiii" id="Num.xxxii">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.xxxii-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.xxxii-p0.2">CHAP. XXXI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.xxxii-p1">This chapter belongs to "the book of the wars of
|
|
the Lord," in which it is probable it was inserted. It is the
|
|
history of a holy war, a war with Midian. Here is, I. A divine
|
|
command for the war, <scripRef passage="Nu 31:1,2" id="Num.xxxii-p1.1" parsed="|Num|31|1|31|2" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.1-Num.31.2">ver. 1,
|
|
2</scripRef>. II. The undertaking of the war, <scripRef passage="Nu 31:3-6" id="Num.xxxii-p1.2" parsed="|Num|31|3|31|6" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.3-Num.31.6">ver. 3-6</scripRef>. III. The glorious success of it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 31:7-12" id="Num.xxxii-p1.3" parsed="|Num|31|7|31|12" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.7-Num.31.12">ver. 7-12</scripRef>. IV. Their
|
|
triumphant return from the war. 1. The respect Moses paid to the
|
|
soldiers, <scripRef passage="Nu 31:13" id="Num.xxxii-p1.4" parsed="|Num|31|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.13">ver. 13</scripRef>. 2. The
|
|
rebuke he gave them for sparing the women, <scripRef passage="Nu 31:14-18" id="Num.xxxii-p1.5" parsed="|Num|31|14|31|18" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.14-Num.31.18">ver. 14-18</scripRef>. 3. The directions he gave them
|
|
for the purifying of themselves and their effects, <scripRef passage="Nu 31:19-24" id="Num.xxxii-p1.6" parsed="|Num|31|19|31|24" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.19-Num.31.24">ver. 19-24</scripRef>. 4. The distribution of
|
|
the spoil they had taken, one half to the soldiers, the other to
|
|
the congregation, and a tribute to the Lord out of each, <scripRef passage="Nu 31:25-47" id="Num.xxxii-p1.7" parsed="|Num|31|25|31|47" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.25-Num.31.47">ver. 25-47</scripRef>. 5. The free-will
|
|
offering of the officers, <scripRef passage="Nu 31:48-54" id="Num.xxxii-p1.8" parsed="|Num|31|48|31|54" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.48-Num.31.54">ver.
|
|
48</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 31" id="Num.xxxii-p1.9" parsed="|Num|31|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.31"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 31:1-6" id="Num.xxxii-p1.10" parsed="|Num|31|1|31|6" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.1-Num.31.6"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.31.1-Num.31.6">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxxii-p1.11">The Slaughter of the
|
|
Midianites. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxii-p1.12">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxxii-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxii-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   2 Avenge the children of Israel of
|
|
the Midianites: afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people.
|
|
  3 And Moses spake unto the people, saying, Arm some of
|
|
yourselves unto the war, and let them go against the Midianites,
|
|
and avenge the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxii-p2.2">Lord</span> of Midian.
|
|
  4 Of every tribe a thousand, throughout all the tribes of
|
|
Israel, shall ye send to the war.   5 So there were delivered
|
|
out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of <i>every</i> tribe,
|
|
twelve thousand armed for war.   6 And Moses sent them to the
|
|
war, a thousand of <i>every</i> tribe, them and Phinehas the son of
|
|
Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the holy instruments, and the
|
|
trumpets to blow in his hand.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxii-p3">Here, I. The Lord of hosts gives orders to
|
|
Moses to make war upon the Midianites, and his commission no doubt
|
|
justified this war, though it will not serve to justify the like
|
|
without such commission. The Midianites were the posterity of
|
|
Abraham by Keturah, <scripRef passage="Ge 25:2" id="Num.xxxii-p3.1" parsed="|Gen|25|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.25.2">Gen. xxv.
|
|
2</scripRef>. Some of them settled south of Canaan, among whom
|
|
Jethro lived, and they retained the worship of the true God; but
|
|
these were settled east of Canaan, and had fallen into idolatry,
|
|
neighbours to, and in confederacy with, the Moabites. Their land
|
|
was not designed to be given to Israel, nor would Israel have
|
|
meddled with them if they had not made themselves obnoxious to
|
|
their resentment by sending their bad women among them to draw them
|
|
to whoredom and idolatry. This was the provocation, this was the
|
|
quarrel. For this (says God) <i>avenge Israel of the
|
|
Midianites,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 31:2" id="Num.xxxii-p3.2" parsed="|Num|31|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>.
|
|
1. God would have the Midianites chastised, an inroad made upon
|
|
that part of their country which lay next to the camp of Israel,
|
|
and which was probably more concerned in that mischief than the
|
|
Moabites, who therefore were let alone. God will have us to reckon
|
|
those our worst enemies that draw us to sin, and to avoid them; and
|
|
since <i>every man is tempted when he is drawn aside of his own
|
|
lusts,</i> and these are the Midianites which ensnare us with their
|
|
wiles, on them we should avenge ourselves, not only make no league
|
|
with them, but make war upon them by living a life of
|
|
mortification. God had taken vengeance on his own people for
|
|
yielding to the Midianites' temptations; now the Midianites, that
|
|
gave the temptation, must be reckoned with, for <i>the deceived and
|
|
the deceiver are his</i> (<scripRef passage="Job 12:16" id="Num.xxxii-p3.3" parsed="|Job|12|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.12.16">Job xii.
|
|
16</scripRef>), both accountable to his tribunal; and, though
|
|
<i>judgment begin at the house of God,</i> it shall not end there,
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Pe 4:17" id="Num.xxxii-p3.4" parsed="|1Pet|4|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.4.17">1 Pet. iv. 17</scripRef>. There is a
|
|
day coming when vengeance will be taken on those that have
|
|
introduced errors and corruptions into the church, and the devil
|
|
that deceived men will be <i>cast into the lake of fire.</i>
|
|
Israel's quarrel with Amalek, that fought against them, was not
|
|
avenged till long after: but their quarrel with Midian, that
|
|
debauched them, was speedily avenged, for they were looked upon as
|
|
much more the dangerous and malicious enemies. 2. God would have it
|
|
done by Moses, in his life-time, that he who had so deeply resented
|
|
that injury might have the satisfaction of seeing it avenged. "See
|
|
this execution done upon the enemies of God and Israel, and
|
|
<i>afterwards thou shalt be gathered to thy people.</i>" This was
|
|
the only piece of service of this kind that Moses must further do,
|
|
and then he has accomplished, as a hireling, his day, and shall
|
|
have his <i>quietus—enter into rest:</i> hitherto his usefulness
|
|
must come, and no further; the wars of Canaan must be carried on by
|
|
another hand. Note, God sometimes removes useful men when we think
|
|
they can be ill spared; but this ought to satisfy us, that they are
|
|
never removed till they have done the work which was appointed
|
|
them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxii-p4">II. Moses gives orders to the people to
|
|
prepare for this expedition, <scripRef passage="Nu 31:3" id="Num.xxxii-p4.1" parsed="|Num|31|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.3"><i>v.</i>
|
|
3</scripRef>. He would not have the whole body of the camp to stir,
|
|
but they must <i>arm some of themselves to the war,</i> such as
|
|
were either most fit or most forward, and <i>avenge the Lord of
|
|
Midian.</i> God said, <i>Avenge Israel;</i> Moses says, <i>Avenge
|
|
the Lord;</i> for the interests of God and Israel are united, and
|
|
the cause of both is one and the same. And if God, in what he does,
|
|
shows himself jealous for the honour of Israel, surely Israel, in
|
|
what they do, ought to show themselves jealous for the glory of
|
|
God. Then only we can justify the avenging of ourselves when it is
|
|
the vengeance of the Lord that we engage in. Nay, for this reason
|
|
we are forbidden to avenge ourselves, because God has said,
|
|
<i>Vengeance is mine, I will repay.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxii-p5">III. A detachment is drawn out accordingly
|
|
for this service, 1000 <i>out of every tribe,</i> 12,000 in all, a
|
|
small number in comparison with what they could have sent, and it
|
|
is probable small in comparison with the number of the enemies they
|
|
were sent against. But God would teach them that it is all one to
|
|
him <i>to save by many or by few,</i> <scripRef passage="1Sa 14:6" id="Num.xxxii-p5.1" parsed="|1Sam|14|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.14.6">1 Sam. xiv. 6</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxii-p6">IV. Phinehas the son of Eleazar is sent
|
|
along with them. It is strange that no mention is made of Joshua in
|
|
this great action. If he was general of these forces, who do we not
|
|
find him leading them out? If he tarried at home, why do we not
|
|
find him meeting them with Moses at their return? It is probable,
|
|
each tribe having a captain of its own thousand, there was no
|
|
general, but they proceeded in the order of their march through the
|
|
wilderness, Judah first, and the rest in their posts, under the
|
|
command of their respective captains, spoken of <scripRef passage="Nu 31:48" id="Num.xxxii-p6.1" parsed="|Num|31|48|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.48"><i>v.</i> 48</scripRef>. But, the war being a holy war,
|
|
Phinehas was their common head, not to supply the place of a
|
|
general, but, by the oracle of God, to determine the resolves of
|
|
their counsels of war, in which the captains of thousands would all
|
|
acquiesce, and according to which they would act in conjunction. He
|
|
therefore took with him the holy instruments or vessels, probably
|
|
the breast-plate of judgment, by which God might he consulted in
|
|
any emergency. Though he was not yet the high priest, yet he might
|
|
be delegated <i>pro hac vice—for this particular occasion,</i> to
|
|
bear the urim and thummim, as <scripRef passage="1Sa 23:6" id="Num.xxxii-p6.2" parsed="|1Sam|23|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.23.6">1 Sam.
|
|
xxiii. 6</scripRef>. And there was a particular reason for sending
|
|
Phinehas to preside in this expedition; he has already signalized
|
|
himself for his zeal against the Midianites and their cursed arts
|
|
to ensnare Israel when he slew Cozbi, a daughter of a chief house
|
|
in Midian, for her impudence in the matter of Peor, <scripRef passage="Nu 25:15" id="Num.xxxii-p6.3" parsed="|Num|25|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.25.15"><i>ch.</i> xxv. 15</scripRef>. He that had so
|
|
well used the sword of justice against a particular criminal was
|
|
best qualified to guide the sword of war against the whole nation.
|
|
<i>Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee
|
|
ruler over many things.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 31:7-12" id="Num.xxxii-p6.4" parsed="|Num|31|7|31|12" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.7-Num.31.12"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.31.7-Num.31.12">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxxii-p7">7 And they warred against the Midianites, as the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxii-p7.1">Lord</span> commanded Moses; and they slew
|
|
all the males.   8 And they slew the kings of Midian, beside
|
|
the rest of them that were slain; <i>namely,</i> Evi, and Rekem,
|
|
and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian: Balaam also the
|
|
son of Beor they slew with the sword.   9 And the children of
|
|
Israel took <i>all</i> the women of Midian captives, and their
|
|
little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their
|
|
flocks, and all their goods.   10 And they burnt all their
|
|
cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fire.
|
|
  11 And they took all the spoil, and all the prey,
|
|
<i>both</i> of men and of beasts.   12 And they brought the
|
|
captives, and the prey, and the spoil, unto Moses, and Eleazar the
|
|
priest, and unto the congregation of the children of Israel, unto
|
|
the camp at the plains of Moab, which <i>are</i> by Jordan
|
|
<i>near</i> Jericho.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxii-p8">Here is, 1. The descent which this little
|
|
army of Israelites made, under the divine commission, conduct, and
|
|
command, upon the country of Midian. They <i>warred against the
|
|
Midianites.</i> It is very probable that they first published their
|
|
manifesto, showing the reasons of the war, and requiring them to
|
|
give up the ringleaders of the mischief to justice; for such
|
|
afterwards was the <i>law</i> (<scripRef passage="De 20:10" id="Num.xxxii-p8.1" parsed="|Deut|20|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20.10">Deut.
|
|
xx. 10</scripRef>), and such the <i>practice,</i> <scripRef passage="Jdg 20:12,13" id="Num.xxxii-p8.2" parsed="|Judg|20|12|20|13" osisRef="Bible:Judg.20.12-Judg.20.13">Judg. xx. 12, 13</scripRef>. But the
|
|
Midianites justifying what they had done, and standing by those
|
|
that had done it, the Israelites attacked them with fire and sword,
|
|
and all the pious fury with which their zeal for God and their
|
|
people inspired them. 2. The execution (the military execution)
|
|
they did in this descent. (1.) <i>They slew all the males</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 31:7" id="Num.xxxii-p8.3" parsed="|Num|31|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>), that is, all
|
|
they met with as far as they went; they put them all to the sword,
|
|
and gave no quarter. But that they did not slay all the males of
|
|
the nation is certain, for we find the Midianites a powerful and
|
|
formidable enemy to Israel in the days of Gideon; and they were the
|
|
Midianites of this country, for they are reckoned with the
|
|
<i>children of the east,</i> <scripRef passage="Jdg 6:3" id="Num.xxxii-p8.4" parsed="|Judg|6|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.6.3">Judg. vi.
|
|
3</scripRef>. (2.) They <i>slew the kings of Midian</i> the same
|
|
that are called <i>elders of Midian</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 22:4" id="Num.xxxii-p8.5" parsed="|Num|22|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.4"><i>ch.</i> xxii. 4</scripRef>), and the <i>dukes of
|
|
Sihon,</i> <scripRef passage="Jos 13:21" id="Num.xxxii-p8.6" parsed="|Josh|13|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.13.21">Josh. xiii. 21</scripRef>.
|
|
Five of these princes are here named, one of whom is <i>Zur,</i>
|
|
probably the same Zur whose daughter Cosbi was, <scripRef passage="Nu 25:15" id="Num.xxxii-p8.7" parsed="|Num|25|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.25.15"><i>ch.</i> xxv. 15</scripRef>. (3.) They slew Balaam.
|
|
Many conjectures there are as to what brought Balaam among the
|
|
Midianites at this time; it is probable that the Midianites, having
|
|
intelligence of the march of this army of Israelites against them,
|
|
hired Balaam to come and assist them with his enchantments, that if
|
|
he could not prevail to act offensively in their favour, by cursing
|
|
the armies of Israel, yet he might act defensively, by blessing the
|
|
country of Midian. Whatever was the occasion of his being there,
|
|
God's overruling providence brought him thither, and there his just
|
|
vengeance found him. Had he himself believed what he said of the
|
|
happy state of Israel, he would not have herded thus with the
|
|
enemies of Israel; but justly does he die the death of the wicked
|
|
(though he pretended to desire that of the righteous), and go
|
|
<i>down slain to the pit with the uncircumcised,</i> who rebelled
|
|
thus against the convictions of his own conscience. The Midianites'
|
|
wiles were Balaam's projects, it was therefore just that he should
|
|
perish with them, <scripRef passage="Ho 4:5" id="Num.xxxii-p8.8" parsed="|Hos|4|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.4.5">Hos. iv. 5</scripRef>.
|
|
Now was <i>his</i> folly made manifest to all men, who foretold the
|
|
fate of others, but foresaw not his own. (4.) They took all the
|
|
<i>women and children captives,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 31:9" id="Num.xxxii-p8.9" parsed="|Num|31|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. (5.) They <i>burnt their cities
|
|
and goodly castles</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 31:10" id="Num.xxxii-p8.10" parsed="|Num|31|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.10"><i>v.</i>
|
|
10</scripRef>), not designing to inhabit them themselves (that
|
|
country was out of their line), but they thus prevented those who
|
|
had made their escape from sheltering themselves in their own
|
|
country and settling there again. Some understand it of their
|
|
idol-temples; it was fit that they should share in this vengeance.
|
|
(6.) They plundered the country, and carried off all the cattle and
|
|
valuable goods, and so returned to the camp of Israel laden with a
|
|
very rich booty, <scripRef passage="Nu 31:9,11,12" id="Num.xxxii-p8.11" parsed="|Num|31|9|0|0;|Num|31|11|0|0;|Num|31|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.9 Bible:Num.31.11 Bible:Num.31.12"><i>v.</i> 9, 11,
|
|
12</scripRef>. Thus (as when they came out of Egypt) they were
|
|
enriched with the spoils of their enemies, and furnished with stock
|
|
for the good land into which God was bringing them.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 31" id="Num.xxxii-p8.12" parsed="|Num|31|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.31"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 31:13-24" id="Num.xxxii-p8.13" parsed="|Num|31|13|31|24" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.13-Num.31.24"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.31.13-Num.31.24">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxxii-p9">13 And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all
|
|
the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them without
|
|
the camp.   14 And Moses was wroth with the officers of the
|
|
host, <i>with</i> the captains over thousands, and captains over
|
|
hundreds, which came from the battle.   15 And Moses said unto
|
|
them, Have ye saved all the women alive?   16 Behold, these
|
|
caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to
|
|
commit trespass against the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxii-p9.1">Lord</span> in
|
|
the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation
|
|
of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxii-p9.2">Lord</span>.   17 Now therefore
|
|
kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that
|
|
hath known man by lying with him.   18 But all the women
|
|
children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive
|
|
for yourselves.   19 And do ye abide without the camp seven
|
|
days: whosoever hath killed any person, and whosoever hath touched
|
|
any slain, purify <i>both</i> yourselves and your captives on the
|
|
third day, and on the seventh day.   20 And purify all
|
|
<i>your</i> raiment, and all that is made of skins, and all work of
|
|
goats' <i>hair,</i> and all things made of wood.   21 And
|
|
Eleazar the priest said unto the men of war which went to the
|
|
battle, This <i>is</i> the ordinance of the law which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxii-p9.3">Lord</span> commanded Moses;   22 Only the
|
|
gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead,
|
|
  23 Every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make
|
|
<i>it</i> go through the fire, and it shall be clean: nevertheless
|
|
it shall be purified with the water of separation: and all that
|
|
abideth not the fire ye shall make go through the water.   24
|
|
And ye shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and ye shall be
|
|
clean, and afterward ye shall come into the camp.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxii-p10">We have here the triumphant return of the
|
|
army of Israel from the war with Midian, and here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxii-p11">I. They were met with great respect,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 31:13" id="Num.xxxii-p11.1" parsed="|Num|31|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. Moses
|
|
himself, notwithstanding his age and gravity, walked out of the
|
|
camp to congratulate them on their victory, and to grace the
|
|
solemnity of their triumphs. Public successes should be publicly
|
|
acknowledged, to the glory of God, and the encouragement of those
|
|
that have jeoparded their lives in their country's cause.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxii-p12">II. They were severely reproved for saving
|
|
the women alive. It is very probable that Moses had commanded them
|
|
to kill the women, at least this was implied in the general order
|
|
to avenge Israel of the Midianites; the execution having reference
|
|
to that crime, their drawing them in to the worship of Peor, it was
|
|
easy to conclude that the women, who were the principal criminals,
|
|
must not be spared. What! says Moses, <i>have you saved the women
|
|
alive?</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 31:15" id="Num.xxxii-p12.1" parsed="|Num|31|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. He
|
|
was moved with a holy indignation at the sight of them. <i>These
|
|
were those that caused the children of Israel to commit this
|
|
trespass;</i> and therefore, 1. It is just that they should die.
|
|
The law in case of whoredom was, <i>The adulterer and adulteress
|
|
should surely be put to death.</i> God had put to death the
|
|
adulterers of Israel by the plague, and now it was fit that the
|
|
adulteresses of Midian, especially since they had been the
|
|
tempters, should be put to death by the sword. 2. "It is dangerous
|
|
to let them live; they will be still tempting the Israelites to
|
|
uncleanness, and so your captives will be your conquerors and a
|
|
second time your destroyers." Severe orders are therefore given
|
|
that all the grown women should be slain in cold blood, and only
|
|
the female children spared.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxii-p13">III. They were obliged to purify
|
|
themselves, according to the ceremony of the law, and to abide
|
|
without the camp seven days, till their purification was
|
|
accomplished. For, 1. They had imbrued their hands in blood, by
|
|
which though they had not contracted any moral guilt, the war being
|
|
just and lawful, yet they were brought under a ceremonial
|
|
uncleanness, which rendered them unfit to come near the tabernacle
|
|
till they were purified. Thus God would preserve in their minds a
|
|
dread and detestation of murder. David must not build the temple
|
|
because he had been a <i>man of war, and had shed blood,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Ch 28:3" id="Num.xxxii-p13.1" parsed="|1Chr|28|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Chr.28.3">1 Chron. xxviii. 3</scripRef>. 2. They
|
|
could not but have touched dead bodies, by which they were
|
|
polluted, and that required they should be purified with the water
|
|
of separation, <scripRef passage="Nu 31:19,20,24" id="Num.xxxii-p13.2" parsed="|Num|31|19|31|20;|Num|31|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.19-Num.31.20 Bible:Num.31.24"><i>v.</i> 19, 20,
|
|
24</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxii-p14">IV. They must likewise purify the spoil
|
|
they had taken, the captives (<scripRef passage="Nu 31:19" id="Num.xxxii-p14.1" parsed="|Num|31|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>) and all the goods, <scripRef passage="Nu 31:21-23" id="Num.xxxii-p14.2" parsed="|Num|31|21|31|23" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.21-Num.31.23"><i>v.</i> 21-23</scripRef>. What would bear
|
|
the fire must pass through the fire, and what would not must be
|
|
washed with water. These things had been use by Midianites, and,
|
|
having now come into the possession of Israelites, it was fit that
|
|
they should be sanctified to the service of that holy nation and
|
|
the honour of their holy God. To us now every thing is sanctified
|
|
by the word and prayer, if we are sanctified by the Spirit, who is
|
|
compared both to fire and water. <i>To the pure all things are
|
|
pure.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 31:25-47" id="Num.xxxii-p14.3" parsed="|Num|31|25|31|47" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.25-Num.31.47"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.31.25-Num.31.47">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxxii-p14.4">Distribution of the Spoil. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxii-p14.5">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxxii-p15">25 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxii-p15.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   26 Take the sum of the prey that
|
|
was taken, <i>both</i> of man and of beast, thou, and Eleazar the
|
|
priest, and the chief fathers of the congregation:   27 And
|
|
divide the prey into two parts; between them that took the war upon
|
|
them, who went out to battle, and between all the congregation:
|
|
  28 And levy a tribute unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxii-p15.2">Lord</span> of the men of war which went out to battle:
|
|
one soul of five hundred, <i>both</i> of the persons, and of the
|
|
beeves, and of the asses, and of the sheep:   29 Take
|
|
<i>it</i> of their half, and give it unto Eleazar the priest,
|
|
<i>for</i> an heave offering of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxii-p15.3">Lord</span>.   30 And of the children of Israel's
|
|
half, thou shalt take one portion of fifty, of the persons, of the
|
|
beeves, of the asses, and of the flocks, of all manner of beasts,
|
|
and give them unto the Levites, which keep the charge of the
|
|
tabernacle of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxii-p15.4">Lord</span>.   31
|
|
And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxii-p15.5">Lord</span> commanded Moses.   32 And the booty,
|
|
<i>being</i> the rest of the prey which the men of war had caught,
|
|
was six hundred thousand and seventy thousand and five thousand
|
|
sheep,   33 And threescore and twelve thousand beeves,  
|
|
34 And threescore and one thousand asses,   35 And thirty and
|
|
two thousand persons in all, of women that had not known man by
|
|
lying with him.   36 And the half, <i>which was</i> the
|
|
portion of them that went out to war, was in number three hundred
|
|
thousand and seven and thirty thousand and five hundred sheep:
|
|
  37 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxii-p15.6">Lord</span>'s tribute of
|
|
the sheep was six hundred and threescore and fifteen.   38 And
|
|
the beeves <i>were</i> thirty and six thousand; of which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxii-p15.7">Lord</span>'s tribute <i>was</i> threescore and
|
|
twelve.   39 And the asses <i>were</i> thirty thousand and
|
|
five hundred; of which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxii-p15.8">Lord</span>'s
|
|
tribute <i>was</i> threescore and one.   40 And the persons
|
|
<i>were</i> sixteen thousand; of which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxii-p15.9">Lord</span>'s tribute <i>was</i> thirty and two
|
|
persons.   41 And Moses gave the tribute, <i>which was</i> the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxii-p15.10">Lord</span>'s heave offering, unto Eleazar
|
|
the priest, as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxii-p15.11">Lord</span> commanded
|
|
Moses.   42 And of the children of Israel's half, which Moses
|
|
divided from the men that warred,   43 (Now the half <i>that
|
|
pertained unto</i> the congregation was three hundred thousand and
|
|
thirty thousand <i>and</i> seven thousand and five hundred sheep,
|
|
  44 And thirty and six thousand beeves,   45 And thirty
|
|
thousand asses and five hundred,   46 And sixteen thousand
|
|
persons;)   47 Even of the children of Israel's half, Moses
|
|
took one portion of fifty, <i>both</i> of man and of beast, and
|
|
gave them unto the Levites, which kept the charge of the tabernacle
|
|
of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxii-p15.12">Lord</span>; as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxii-p15.13">Lord</span> commanded Moses.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxii-p16">We have here the distribution of the spoil
|
|
which was taken in this expedition against Midian. God himself
|
|
directed how it should be distributed, and Moses and Eleazar did
|
|
according to the directions, and thus unhappy contests among
|
|
themselves were prevented and the victory was made to turn to the
|
|
common benefit. It was fit that he who gave them the prey should
|
|
order the disposal of it. All we have is from God, and therefore
|
|
must be subject to his will.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxii-p17">I. The prey is ordered to be divided into
|
|
two parts, one for the 12,000 men that undertook the war, and the
|
|
other for the congregation. The prey that was divided seems to have
|
|
been only the captives and the cattle; as for the plate, and
|
|
jewels, and other goods, every man kept what he took, as is
|
|
intimated, <scripRef passage="Nu 31:50-53" id="Num.xxxii-p17.1" parsed="|Num|31|50|31|53" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.50-Num.31.53"><i>v.</i>
|
|
50-53</scripRef>. That only was distributed which would be of use
|
|
for the stocking of that good land into which they were going. Now
|
|
observe, 1. That the one half of the prey was given to the whole
|
|
congregation, Moses allotting to each tribe its share, and then
|
|
leaving it to the heads of the tribes to divide their respective
|
|
shares among themselves, according to their families. The war was
|
|
undertaken on the behalf of the whole congregation; they would all
|
|
have been ready to <i>go to the help of the Lord against the
|
|
mighty,</i> if they had been so ordered, and they did help, it is
|
|
likely, by their prayers; and therefore God appoints that those
|
|
that <i>tarried at home should divide the spoil,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 68:12" id="Num.xxxii-p17.2" parsed="|Ps|68|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.68.12">Ps. lxviii. 12</scripRef>. David, in his time,
|
|
made it a <i>statute and an ordinance for Israel,</i> that, as his
|
|
part is that <i>goes down to the battle, so shall his part be that
|
|
tarrieth by the stuff,</i> <scripRef passage="1Sa 30:24,25" id="Num.xxxii-p17.3" parsed="|1Sam|30|24|30|25" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.30.24-1Sam.30.25">1 Sam.
|
|
xxx. 24, 25</scripRef>. Those that are employed in public trusts
|
|
must not think to benefit themselves only by their toils and
|
|
hazards, but must aim at the advantage of the community. 2. That
|
|
yet the 12,000 that went to the battle had as much for their share
|
|
as the whole congregation (which were fifty times as many) had for
|
|
theirs; so that the particular persons of the soldiery had a much
|
|
better share than any of their brethren that tarried at home: and
|
|
good reason they should. The greater pains we take, and the greater
|
|
hazards we run, in the service of God and our generation, the
|
|
greater will our recompence be at last; for <i>God is not
|
|
unrighteous to forget the work and labour of love.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxii-p18">II. God was to have a tribute out of it, as
|
|
an acknowledgment of his sovereignty over them in general, and that
|
|
he was their king to whom <i>tribute was due,</i> and particularly
|
|
of his interest in this war and the gains of it, he having given
|
|
them their success; and that the priests, the Lord's receivers,
|
|
might have something added to the provision made for their
|
|
maintenance. Note, Whatever we have, God must have his dues out of
|
|
it. And here (as before) the soldiers are favoured above the rest
|
|
of the congregation, for out of the people's share God required one
|
|
in fifty, but out of the soldier's share only one in 500, because
|
|
the people got theirs easily, without any peril or fatigue. The
|
|
less opportunity we have of honouring God with our personal
|
|
services the more it is expected we should honour him with our
|
|
substance. The tribute out of the soldiers' half was given to the
|
|
priests (<scripRef passage="Nu 31:29" id="Num.xxxii-p18.1" parsed="|Num|31|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>),
|
|
that out of the people's half was given to the Levites, <scripRef passage="Nu 31:30" id="Num.xxxii-p18.2" parsed="|Num|31|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>. For the priests were
|
|
taken from among the Levites, as these soldiers from among the
|
|
people, for special and hazardous service, and their pay was
|
|
proportioned accordingly.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 31:48-54" id="Num.xxxii-p18.3" parsed="|Num|31|48|31|54" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.48-Num.31.54"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.31.48-Num.31.54">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxxii-p19">48 And the officers which <i>were</i> over
|
|
thousands of the host, the captains of thousands, and captains of
|
|
hundreds, came near unto Moses:   49 And they said unto Moses,
|
|
Thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war which <i>are</i>
|
|
under our charge, and there lacketh not one man of us.   50 We
|
|
have therefore brought an oblation for the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxii-p19.1">Lord</span>, what every man hath gotten, of jewels of
|
|
gold, chains, and bracelets, rings, earrings, and tablets, to make
|
|
an atonement for our souls before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxii-p19.2">Lord</span>.   51 And Moses and Eleazar the priest
|
|
took the gold of them, <i>even</i> all wrought jewels.   52
|
|
And all the gold of the offering that they offered up to the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxii-p19.3">Lord</span>, of the captains of thousands, and of
|
|
the captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and
|
|
fifty shekels.   53 (<i>For</i> the men of war had taken
|
|
spoil, every man for himself.)   54 And Moses and Eleazar the
|
|
priest took the gold of the captains of thousands and of hundreds,
|
|
and brought it into the tabernacle of the congregation, <i>for</i>
|
|
a memorial for the children of Israel before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxii-p19.4">Lord</span>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxii-p20">Here is a great example of piety and
|
|
devotion in the officers of the army, the colonels, that are called
|
|
<i>captains of thousands,</i> and the inferior officers that were
|
|
<i>captains of hundreds;</i> they came to Moses as their general
|
|
and commander-in-chief, and, though he was now going off the stage
|
|
they very humbly and respectfully addressed themselves to him,
|
|
calling themselves his <i>servants;</i> the honours they had won
|
|
did not puff them up, so as to make them forget their duty to him.
|
|
Observe in their address to them, 1. The pious notice they take of
|
|
God's wonderful goodness to them in this late expedition, in
|
|
preserving not only their own lives, but the lives of all the men
|
|
of war that they had under their charge; so that, upon the review
|
|
of their muster-roll, it appeared there was not one missing,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 31:49" id="Num.xxxii-p20.1" parsed="|Num|31|49|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.49"><i>v.</i> 49</scripRef>. This was very
|
|
extraordinary, and perhaps cannot be paralleled in any history. So
|
|
many thousands of lives jeoparded in the high places of the field,
|
|
and not one lost, either by the sword of the enemy or by any
|
|
disease or disaster. This was <i>the Lord's doing,</i> and cannot
|
|
but be marvellous in the eyes of those that consider how the lives
|
|
of all men, especially soldiers, are continually in their hands. It
|
|
is an evidence of the tender feeling which these commanders had for
|
|
their soldiers, and that their lives were very precious to them,
|
|
that they looked upon it as a mercy to themselves that none of
|
|
those under their charge miscarried. <i>Of all that were given them
|
|
they had lost none;</i> so precious also is the blood of Christ's
|
|
subjects and soldiers to him, <scripRef passage="Ps 72:14" id="Num.xxxii-p20.2" parsed="|Ps|72|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.72.14">Ps.
|
|
lxxii. 14</scripRef>. 2. The pious acknowledgment they make for
|
|
this favour: <i>Therefore we have brought an oblation to the
|
|
Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 31:50" id="Num.xxxii-p20.3" parsed="|Num|31|50|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.50"><i>v.</i> 50</scripRef>. The
|
|
oblation they brought was out of that which <i>every man had
|
|
gotten,</i> and it was gotten honestly by a divine warrant. Thus
|
|
every man should lay by <i>according as God has prospered him,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Co 16:2" id="Num.xxxii-p20.4" parsed="|1Cor|16|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.16.2">1 Cor. xvi. 2</scripRef>. For where
|
|
God sows plentifully in the gifts of his bounty he expects to reap
|
|
accordingly in the fruits of our piety and charity. The tabernacle
|
|
first, and the temple afterwards, were beautified and enriched with
|
|
the spoils taken from the enemies of Israel; as by David (<scripRef passage="2Sa 8:11,12" id="Num.xxxii-p20.5" parsed="|2Sam|8|11|8|12" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.8.11-2Sam.8.12">2 Sam. viii. 11, 12</scripRef>), and his
|
|
captains, <scripRef passage="1Ch 26:26,27" id="Num.xxxii-p20.6" parsed="|1Chr|26|26|26|27" osisRef="Bible:1Chr.26.26-1Chr.26.27">1 Chron. xxvi. 26,
|
|
27</scripRef>. We should never take any thing to ourselves, in war
|
|
or trade, which we cannot in faith consecrate a part of to God, who
|
|
<i>hates robbery for burnt-offerings;</i> but, when God has
|
|
remarkably preserved and prospered us, he expects that we should
|
|
make some particular return of gratitude to him. As to this
|
|
oblation, (1.) The captains offered it to <i>make an atonement for
|
|
their souls,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 31:50" id="Num.xxxii-p20.7" parsed="|Num|31|50|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.50"><i>v.</i>
|
|
50</scripRef>. Instead of coming to Moses to demand a recompence
|
|
for the good service they had done in <i>avenging the Lord of
|
|
Midian,</i> or to set up trophies of their victory for the
|
|
immortalizing of their own names, they bring an oblation to <i>make
|
|
atonement for their souls,</i> being conscious to themselves, as
|
|
the best men must be even in their best services, that they had
|
|
been defective in their duty, not only in that instance for which
|
|
they were reproved (<scripRef passage="Nu 31:14" id="Num.xxxii-p20.8" parsed="|Num|31|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.14"><i>v.</i>
|
|
14</scripRef>), but in many others; <i>for there is not a just man
|
|
upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not.</i> (2.) Moses
|
|
accepted it, and laid it up in the tabernacle <i>as a memorial for
|
|
the children of Israel</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 31:54" id="Num.xxxii-p20.9" parsed="|Num|31|54|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.54"><i>v.</i>
|
|
54</scripRef>), that is, a monument of God's goodness to them, that
|
|
they might be encouraged to trust in him in their further wars, and
|
|
a monument of their gratitude to God (sacrifices are said to be
|
|
memorials), that he, being well pleased with this thankful
|
|
acknowledgment of favours bestowed, might continue and repeat his
|
|
mercies to them.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXXII" n="xxxiii" progress="80.14%" prev="Num.xxxii" next="Num.xxxiv" id="Num.xxxiii">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.xxxiii-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.xxxiii-p0.2">CHAP. XXXII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.xxxiii-p1">In this chapter we have, I. The humble request of
|
|
the tribes of Reuben and Gad for an inheritance on that side Jordan
|
|
where Israel now lay encamped, <scripRef passage="Nu 32:1-5" id="Num.xxxiii-p1.1" parsed="|Num|32|1|32|5" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.1-Num.32.5">ver.
|
|
1-5</scripRef>. II. Moses's misinterpretation of their request,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 32:6-15" id="Num.xxxiii-p1.2" parsed="|Num|32|6|32|15" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.6-Num.32.15">ver. 6-15</scripRef>. III. Their
|
|
explication of it, and stating it aright, <scripRef passage="Nu 32:16-19" id="Num.xxxiii-p1.3" parsed="|Num|32|16|32|19" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.16-Num.32.19">ver. 16-19</scripRef>. IV. The grant of their
|
|
petition under the provisos and limitations which they themselves
|
|
proposed, <scripRef passage="Nu 32:20-42" id="Num.xxxiii-p1.4" parsed="|Num|32|20|32|42" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.20-Num.32.42">ver. 20</scripRef>,
|
|
&c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 32" id="Num.xxxiii-p1.5" parsed="|Num|32|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.32"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 32:1-15" id="Num.xxxiii-p1.6" parsed="|Num|32|1|32|15" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.1-Num.32.15"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.32.1-Num.32.15">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxxiii-p1.7">The Request of the
|
|
Reubenites. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxiii-p1.8">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxxiii-p2">1 Now the children of Reuben and the children of
|
|
Gad had a very great multitude of cattle: and when they saw the
|
|
land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, that, behold, the place
|
|
<i>was</i> a place for cattle;   2 The children of Gad and the
|
|
children of Reuben came and spake unto Moses, and to Eleazar the
|
|
priest, and unto the princes of the congregation, saying,   3
|
|
Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jazer, and Nimrah, and Heshbon, and
|
|
Elealeh, and Shebam, and Nebo, and Beon,   4 <i>Even</i> the
|
|
country which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxiii-p2.1">Lord</span> smote before
|
|
the congregation of Israel, <i>is</i> a land for cattle, and thy
|
|
servants have cattle:   5 Wherefore, said they, if we have
|
|
found grace in thy sight, let this land be given unto thy servants
|
|
for a possession, <i>and</i> bring us not over Jordan.   6 And
|
|
Moses said unto the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben,
|
|
Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here?   7 And
|
|
wherefore discourage ye the heart of the children of Israel from
|
|
going over into the land which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxiii-p2.2">Lord</span> hath given them?   8 Thus did your
|
|
fathers, when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land.
|
|
  9 For when they went up unto the valley of Eshcol, and saw
|
|
the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel,
|
|
that they should not go into the land which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxiii-p2.3">Lord</span> had given them.   10 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxiii-p2.4">Lord</span>'s anger was kindled the same time,
|
|
and he sware, saying,   11 Surely none of the men that came up
|
|
out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land
|
|
which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; because
|
|
they have not wholly followed me:   12 Save Caleb the son of
|
|
Jephunneh the Kenezite, and Joshua the son of Nun: for they have
|
|
wholly followed the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxiii-p2.5">Lord</span>.   13
|
|
And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxiii-p2.6">Lord</span>'s anger was kindled
|
|
against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty
|
|
years, until all the generation, that had done evil in the sight of
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxiii-p2.7">Lord</span>, was consumed.   14
|
|
And, behold, ye are risen up in your fathers' stead, an increase of
|
|
sinful men, to augment yet the fierce anger of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxiii-p2.8">Lord</span> toward Israel.   15 For if ye turn
|
|
away from after him, he will yet again leave them in the
|
|
wilderness; and ye shall destroy all this people.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxiii-p3">Israel's tents were now pitched in the
|
|
plains of Moab, where they continued many months, looking back upon
|
|
the conquests they had already made of the land of Sihon and Og,
|
|
and looking forward to Canaan, which they hoped in a little while
|
|
to make themselves masters of. While they made this stand, and were
|
|
at a pause, this great affair of the disposal of the conquests they
|
|
had already made was here concerted and settled, not by any
|
|
particular order or appointment of God, but at the special instance
|
|
and request of two of the tribes, to which Moses, after a long
|
|
debate that arose upon it, consented. For even <i>then,</i> when so
|
|
much was done by the extraordinary appearances of divine
|
|
Providence, many things were left to the direction of human
|
|
prudence; for God, in governing both the world and the church,
|
|
makes use of the reason of men, and serves his own purposes by
|
|
it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxiii-p4">I. Here is a motion made by the Reubenites
|
|
and the Gadites, that the land which they had lately possessed
|
|
themselves of, and which in the right of conquest belonged to
|
|
Israel in common, might be assigned to them in particular for their
|
|
inheritance: upon the general idea they had of the land of promise,
|
|
they supposed this would be about their proportion. Reuben and Gad
|
|
were encamped under the same standard, and so had the better
|
|
opportunity of comparing notes, and settling this matter between
|
|
themselves. In the <scripRef passage="Nu 32:1" id="Num.xxxiii-p4.1" parsed="|Num|32|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.1">first
|
|
verse</scripRef> the children of Reuben are named first, but
|
|
afterwards the children of Gad (<scripRef passage="Nu 32:2,25,31" id="Num.xxxiii-p4.2" parsed="|Num|32|2|0|0;|Num|32|25|0|0;|Num|32|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.2 Bible:Num.32.25 Bible:Num.32.31"><i>v.</i> 2, 25, 31</scripRef>), either because the
|
|
Gadites made the first motion and were most forward for it, or
|
|
because they were the better spokesmen and had more of the art of
|
|
management, Reuben's tribe still lying under Jacob's sentence,
|
|
<i>he shall not excel.</i> Two things common in the world induced
|
|
these tribes to make this choice and this motion upon it, the
|
|
<i>lust of the eye</i> and the <i>pride of life,</i> <scripRef passage="1Jo 2:16" id="Num.xxxiii-p4.3" parsed="|1John|2|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.2.16">1 John ii. 16</scripRef>. 1. The <i>lust of the
|
|
eye.</i> This land which they coveted was not only beautiful for
|
|
situation, and pleasant to the eye, but it was good for food, food
|
|
for cattle; and they had a great multitude of cattle, above the
|
|
rest of the tribes, it is supposed because they brought more out of
|
|
Egypt, than the rest did; but that was forty years before, and
|
|
stocks of cattle increase and decrease in less time than that;
|
|
therefore I rather think they had been better husbands of their
|
|
cattle in the wilderness, had tended them better, had taken more
|
|
care of the breed, and not been so profuse as their neighbours in
|
|
eating the <i>lambs out of the flock</i> and the <i>calves out of
|
|
the midst of the stall.</i> Now they, having these large stocks,
|
|
coveted land proportionable. Many scriptures speak of Bashan and
|
|
Gilead as places famous for cattle; they had been so already, and
|
|
therefore these tribes hoped they would be so to them, and whatever
|
|
comes of it here they desire to take their lot. The judicious
|
|
Calvin thinks there was much amiss in the principle they went upon,
|
|
and that they consulted their own private convenience more than the
|
|
public good, that they had not such regard to the honour and
|
|
interest of Israel, and the promise made to Abraham of the land of
|
|
Canaan (strictly so called), as they ought to have had. And still
|
|
it is too true that many <i>seek their own things</i> more than the
|
|
<i>things of Jesus Christ</i> (<scripRef passage="Php 2:21" id="Num.xxxiii-p4.4" parsed="|Phil|2|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Phil.2.21">Phil.
|
|
ii. 21</scripRef>), and that many are influenced by their secular
|
|
interest and advantage to take up short of the heavenly Canaan.
|
|
Their spirits agree too well with this world, and with the things
|
|
that are seen, that are temporal; and they say, "It is good to be
|
|
here," and so lose what is hereafter for want of seeking it. Lot
|
|
thus chose <i>by the sight of the eye,</i> and smarted for his
|
|
choice. Would we choose our portion aright we must look above the
|
|
things that are seen. 2. Perhaps there was something of the
|
|
<i>pride of life</i> in it. Reuben was the first-born of Israel,
|
|
but he had lost his birthright. Several of the tribes, and Judah
|
|
especially, had risen above him, so that he could not expect the
|
|
best lot in Canaan; and therefore, to save the shadow of a
|
|
birthright, when he had forfeited the substance, he here catches at
|
|
the first lot, though it was out of Canaan, and far off from the
|
|
tabernacle. Thus Esau sold his birthright, and yet got to be served
|
|
first with an inheritance in Mount Seir. The tribe of Gad descended
|
|
from the first-born of Zilpah, and were like pretenders with the
|
|
Reubenites; and Manasseh too was a first-born, but knew he must be
|
|
eclipsed by Ephraim his younger brother, and therefore he also
|
|
coveted to get precedency.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxiii-p5">II. Moses's dislike of this motion, and the
|
|
severe rebuke he gives to it, as a faithful prince and prophet.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxiii-p6">1. It must be confessed that <i>prima
|
|
facie—at first sight,</i> the thing looked ill, especially the
|
|
closing words of their petition: <i>Bring us not over Jordan,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 32:5" id="Num.xxxiii-p6.1" parsed="|Num|32|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. (1.) It seems
|
|
to proceed from a bad principle, a contempt of the land of promise,
|
|
which Moses himself was so desirous of a sight of, a distrust too
|
|
of the power of God to dispossess the Canaanites, as if a lot in a
|
|
land which they knew, and which was already conquered, was more
|
|
desirable than a lot in a land they knew not, and which was yet to
|
|
be conquered: one bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. There
|
|
seemed also to be covetousness in it; for that which they insisted
|
|
on was that it was convenient for their cattle. It argued likewise
|
|
a neglect of their brethren, as if they cared not what became of
|
|
Israel, while they themselves were well provided for. (2.) It might
|
|
have been of bad consequence. The people might have taken improper
|
|
hints from it, and have suggested that they were few enough, when
|
|
they had their whole number, to deal with the Canaanites, but how
|
|
unequal would the match be if they should drop two tribes and a
|
|
half (above a fifth part of their strength) on this side Jordan. It
|
|
would likewise be a bad precedent; if they must have the land thus
|
|
granted them as soon as it was conquered, other tribes might make
|
|
the same pretensions and claims, and so the regular disposition of
|
|
the land by lot would be anticipated.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxiii-p7">2. Moses is therefore very warm upon them,
|
|
which is to be imputed to his pious zeal against sin, and not to
|
|
any peevishness, the effect of old age, for his meekness abated
|
|
not, any more than his natural force. (1.) He shows them what he
|
|
apprehended to be evil in this motion, that it would discharge the
|
|
heart of their brethren, <scripRef passage="Nu 32:6,7" id="Num.xxxiii-p7.1" parsed="|Num|32|6|32|7" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.6-Num.32.7"><i>v.</i> 6,
|
|
7</scripRef>. "What!" (says he, with a holy indignation at their
|
|
selfishness) "<i>shall your brethren go to war,</i> and expose
|
|
themselves to all the hardships and hazards of the field, and
|
|
<i>shall you sit here</i> at your ease? No, do not deceive
|
|
yourselves, you shall never be indulged by me in this sloth and
|
|
cowardice." It ill becomes any of God's Israel to sit down
|
|
unconcerned in the difficult and perilous concernments of their
|
|
brethren, whether public or personal. (2.) He reminds them of the
|
|
fatal consequences of the unbelief and faint-heartedness of their
|
|
fathers, when they were just ready to enter Canaan, as they
|
|
themselves now were. He recites the story very particularly
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 32:8-13" id="Num.xxxiii-p7.2" parsed="|Num|32|8|32|13" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.8-Num.32.13"><i>v.</i> 8-13</scripRef>):
|
|
"<i>Thus did your fathers,</i> whose punishment should be a warning
|
|
to you to take heed of sinning after the similitude of their
|
|
transgression." (3.) He gives them fair warning of the mischief
|
|
that would be likely to follow upon this separation which they were
|
|
about to make from the camp of Israel; they would be in danger of
|
|
bringing wrath upon the whole congregation, and hurrying them all
|
|
back again into the wilderness (<scripRef passage="Nu 32:14,15" id="Num.xxxiii-p7.3" parsed="|Num|32|14|32|15" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.14-Num.32.15"><i>v.</i> 14, 15</scripRef>): "<i>You have risen up
|
|
in your fathers' stead</i> to despise the pleasant land and reject
|
|
it as they did, when we hoped you had risen up in their stead to
|
|
possess it." It was an encouragement to Moses to see what an
|
|
increase of men there was in these tribes, but a discouragement to
|
|
see that it was withal an increase of sinful men, treading in the
|
|
steps of their fathers' impiety. It is sad to see the rising
|
|
generation in families and countries not only no better, but worse
|
|
than that which went before it; and what comes of it? Why, <i>it
|
|
augments the fierce anger of the Lord;</i> not only continues that
|
|
fire, but increases it, and fills the measure, often till it
|
|
overflows in a deluge of desolation. Note, If men did but consider
|
|
as they ought, what would be the end of sin, they would be afraid
|
|
of the beginnings of it.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 32" id="Num.xxxiii-p7.4" parsed="|Num|32|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.32"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 32:16-27" id="Num.xxxiii-p7.5" parsed="|Num|32|16|32|27" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.16-Num.32.27"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.32.16-Num.32.27">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxxiii-p8">16 And they came near unto him, and said, We
|
|
will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our
|
|
little ones:   17 But we ourselves will go ready armed before
|
|
the children of Israel, until we have brought them unto their
|
|
place: and our little ones shall dwell in the fenced cities because
|
|
of the inhabitants of the land.   18 We will not return unto
|
|
our houses, until the children of Israel have inherited every man
|
|
his inheritance.   19 For we will not inherit with them on
|
|
yonder side Jordan, or forward; because our inheritance is fallen
|
|
to us on this side Jordan eastward.   20 And Moses said unto
|
|
them, If ye will do this thing, if ye will go armed before the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxiii-p8.1">Lord</span> to war,   21 And will go
|
|
all of you armed over Jordan before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxiii-p8.2">Lord</span>, until he hath driven out his enemies from
|
|
before him,   22 And the land be subdued before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxiii-p8.3">Lord</span>: then afterward ye shall return, and
|
|
be guiltless before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxiii-p8.4">Lord</span>, and
|
|
before Israel; and this land shall be your possession before the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxiii-p8.5">Lord</span>.   23 But if ye will not
|
|
do so, behold, ye have sinned against the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxiii-p8.6">Lord</span>: and be sure your sin will find you out.
|
|
  24 Build you cities for your little ones, and folds for your
|
|
sheep; and do that which hath proceeded out of your mouth.  
|
|
25 And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben spake unto
|
|
Moses, saying, Thy servants will do as my lord commandeth.  
|
|
26 Our little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all our cattle,
|
|
shall be there in the cities of Gilead:   27 But thy servants
|
|
will pass over, every man armed for war, before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxiii-p8.7">Lord</span> to battle, as my lord saith.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxiii-p9">We have here the accommodating of the
|
|
matter between Moses and the two tribes, about their settlement on
|
|
this side Jordan. Probably the petitioners withdrew, and considered
|
|
with themselves what answer they should return to the severe
|
|
reproof Moses had given them; and, after some consultation, they
|
|
return with this proposal, that their men of war should go and
|
|
assist their brethren in the conquest of Canaan, and they would
|
|
leave their families and flocks behind them in this land: and thus
|
|
they might have their request, and no harm would be done. Now it is
|
|
uncertain whether they designed this at first when they brought
|
|
their petition or no. If they did, it is an instance how often that
|
|
which is honestly meant is unhappily misinterpreted; yet Moses
|
|
herein was excusable, for he had reason to suspect the worst of
|
|
them, and the rebuke he gave them was from the abundance of his
|
|
care to prevent sin. But, if they did not, it is an instance of the
|
|
good effect of plain dealing; Moses, by showing them their sin, and
|
|
the danger of it, brought them to their duty without murmuring or
|
|
disputing. They object not that their brethren were able to contend
|
|
with the Canaanites without their help, especially since they were
|
|
sure of God's fighting for them; but engage themselves to stand by
|
|
them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxiii-p10">I. Their proposal is very fair and
|
|
generous, and such as, instead of disheartening, would rather
|
|
encourage their brethren. 1. That their <i>men of war,</i> who were
|
|
fit for service, would go <i>ready armed before the children of
|
|
Israel</i> into the land of Canaan. So far would they be from
|
|
deserting them that, if it were thought fit, they would lead them
|
|
on, and be foremost is all dangerous enterprises. So far were they
|
|
from either distrusting or despising the conquest of Canaan that
|
|
they would assist in it with the utmost readiness and resolution.
|
|
2. That they would leave behind them their families and cattle
|
|
(which would otherwise be but the incumbrance of their camp), and
|
|
so they would be the more serviceable to their brethren, <scripRef passage="Nu 32:16" id="Num.xxxiii-p10.1" parsed="|Num|32|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. 3. That they would not
|
|
return to their possessions till the conquest of Canaan was
|
|
completed, <scripRef passage="Nu 32:18" id="Num.xxxiii-p10.2" parsed="|Num|32|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>.
|
|
Their brethren should have their best help as long as they needed
|
|
it. 4. That yet they would not expect any share of the land that
|
|
was yet to be conquered (<scripRef passage="Nu 32:19" id="Num.xxxiii-p10.3" parsed="|Num|32|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.19"><i>v.</i>
|
|
19</scripRef>): "<i>We will not desire to inherit with them,</i>
|
|
nor, under colour of assisting them in the war, put in for a share
|
|
with them in the land; no, we will be content with our inheritance
|
|
on this side Jordan, and there will be so much the more on yonder
|
|
side for them."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxiii-p11">II. Moses thereupon grants their request,
|
|
upon consideration that they would adhere to their proposals. 1. He
|
|
insists much upon it that they should never lay down their arms
|
|
till their brethren laid down theirs. They promised to go armed
|
|
<i>before the children of Israel,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 32:17" id="Num.xxxiii-p11.1" parsed="|Num|32|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. "Nay," says Moses, "you shall
|
|
go armed <i>before the Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 32:20,21" id="Num.xxxiii-p11.2" parsed="|Num|32|20|32|21" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.20-Num.32.21"><i>v.</i> 20, 21</scripRef>. It is God's cause more
|
|
than your brethren's, and to him you must have an eye, and not to
|
|
them only." <i>Before the Lord,</i> that is, before the ark of the
|
|
Lord, the token of his presence, which, it should seem, they
|
|
carried about with them in the wars of Canaan, and immediately
|
|
before which these two tribes were posted, as we find in the order
|
|
of their march, <scripRef passage="Nu 2:10,17" id="Num.xxxiii-p11.3" parsed="|Num|2|10|0|0;|Num|2|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.2.10 Bible:Num.2.17"><i>ch.</i> ii. 10,
|
|
17</scripRef>. 2. Upon this condition he grants them this land for
|
|
their possession, and tells them they shall be <i>guiltless before
|
|
the Lord and before Israel,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 32:22" id="Num.xxxiii-p11.4" parsed="|Num|32|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>. They should have the land, and
|
|
neither sin nor blame should cleave to it, neither sin before God
|
|
nor blame before Israel; and, whatever possessions we have, it is
|
|
desirable thus to come guiltless to them. But, 3. He warns them of
|
|
the danger of breaking their word: "If you fail, you <i>sin against
|
|
the Lord</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 32:23" id="Num.xxxiii-p11.5" parsed="|Num|32|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.23"><i>v.</i>
|
|
23</scripRef>), and not against your brethren only, and <i>be sure
|
|
your sin will find you out;</i>" that is, "God will certainly
|
|
reckon with you for it, though you may make a light matter of it."
|
|
Note, Sin will, without doubt, find out the sinner sooner or later.
|
|
It concerns us therefore to find our sins out, that we may repent
|
|
of them and forsake them, lest our sins find us out to our ruin and
|
|
confusion.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxiii-p12">III. They unanimously agree to the provisos
|
|
and conditions of the grant, and do, as it were, give bond for
|
|
performance, by a solemn promise: <i>Thy servants will do as my
|
|
lord commandeth,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 32:25" id="Num.xxxiii-p12.1" parsed="|Num|32|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.25"><i>v.</i>
|
|
25</scripRef>. Their brethren had all contributed their assistance
|
|
to the conquest of this country, which they desired for a
|
|
possession, and therefore they owned themselves obliged in justice
|
|
to help them in the conquest of that which was to be their
|
|
possession. Having received kindness, we ought to return it, though
|
|
it was not so conditioned when we received it. We may suppose that
|
|
this promise was understood, on both sides, so as not to oblige all
|
|
that were numbered of these tribes to go over armed, but those only
|
|
that were fittest for the expedition, who would be most
|
|
serviceable, while it was necessary that some should be left to
|
|
till the ground and guard the country; and accordingly we find that
|
|
about 40,000 of the two tribes and a half went over armed
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Jos 4:13" id="Num.xxxiii-p12.2" parsed="|Josh|4|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.4.13">Josh. iv. 13</scripRef>), whereas
|
|
their whole number was about 100,000.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 32:28-42" id="Num.xxxiii-p12.3" parsed="|Num|32|28|32|42" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.28-Num.32.42"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.32.28-Num.32.42">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxxiii-p12.4">Inheritance of the
|
|
Reubenites. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxiii-p12.5">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxxiii-p13">28 So concerning them Moses commanded Eleazar
|
|
the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the chief fathers of the
|
|
tribes of the children of Israel:   29 And Moses said unto
|
|
them, If the children of Gad and the children of Reuben will pass
|
|
with you over Jordan, every man armed to battle, before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxiii-p13.1">Lord</span>, and the land shall be subdued before
|
|
you; then ye shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession:
|
|
  30 But if they will not pass over with you armed, they shall
|
|
have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.   31 And the
|
|
children of Gad and the children of Reuben answered, saying, As the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxiii-p13.2">Lord</span> hath said unto thy servants, so
|
|
will we do.   32 We will pass over armed before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxiii-p13.3">Lord</span> into the land of Canaan, that the
|
|
possession of our inheritance on this side Jordan <i>may be</i>
|
|
ours.   33 And Moses gave unto them, <i>even</i> to the
|
|
children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, and unto half the
|
|
tribe of Ephraim the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon king of
|
|
the Amorites, and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land, with
|
|
the cities thereof in the coasts, <i>even</i> the cities of the
|
|
country round about.   34 And the children of Gad built Dibon,
|
|
and Ataroth, and Aroer,   35 And Atroth, Shophan, and Jaazer,
|
|
and Jogbehah,   36 And Beth-nimrah, and Beth-haran, fenced
|
|
cities: and folds for sheep.   37 And the children of Reuben
|
|
built Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Kirjathaim,   38 And Nebo, and
|
|
Baal-meon, (their names being changed,) and Shibmah: and gave other
|
|
names unto the cities which they builded.   39 And the
|
|
children of Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead, and took it,
|
|
and dispossessed the Amorite which <i>was</i> in it.   40 And
|
|
Moses gave Gilead unto Machir the son of Manasseh; and he dwelt
|
|
therein.   41 And Jair the son of Manasseh went and took the
|
|
small towns thereof, and called them Havoth-jair.   42 And
|
|
Nobah went and took Kenath, and the villages thereof, and called it
|
|
Nobah, after his own name.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxiii-p14">Here, 1. Moses settles this matter with
|
|
Eleazar, and with Joshua who was to be his successor, knowing that
|
|
he himself must not live to see it perfected, <scripRef passage="Nu 32:28-30" id="Num.xxxiii-p14.1" parsed="|Num|32|28|32|30" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.28-Num.32.30"><i>v.</i> 28-30</scripRef>. He gives them an estate
|
|
upon condition, leaving it to Joshua, if they fulfilled the
|
|
condition, to declare the estate absolute: "If <i>they will not go
|
|
over with you,</i>" he does not say "you shall give them no
|
|
inheritance at all," but "you shall not give them this inheritance
|
|
which they covet. If their militia will not come over with you,
|
|
compel the whole tribes to come over, and let them take their lot
|
|
with their brethren, and fare as they fare; <i>they shall have
|
|
possessions in Canaan,</i> and let them not expect that the lot
|
|
will favour them." Hereupon they repeat their promise to adhere to
|
|
their brethren, <scripRef passage="Nu 32:31,32" id="Num.xxxiii-p14.2" parsed="|Num|32|31|32|32" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.31-Num.32.32"><i>v.</i> 31,
|
|
32</scripRef>. 2. Moses settles them in the land they desired. He
|
|
gave it to them for a possession, <scripRef passage="Nu 32:33" id="Num.xxxiii-p14.3" parsed="|Num|32|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>. Here is the first mention of
|
|
the half tribe of Manasseh coming in with them for a share;
|
|
probably they had not joined with them in the petition, but, the
|
|
land when it came to be apportioned proving to be too much for
|
|
them, this half tribe had a lot among them, perhaps at their
|
|
request, or by divine direction, or because they had signalized
|
|
themselves in the conquest of this country: for the children of
|
|
Machir, a stout and warlike family, had taken Gilead and
|
|
dispossessed the Amorites, <scripRef passage="Nu 32:39" id="Num.xxxiii-p14.4" parsed="|Num|32|39|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.39"><i>v.</i>
|
|
39</scripRef>. "Let them win it and wear it, get it and take it."
|
|
And, they being celebrated for their courage and bravery, it was
|
|
for the common safety to put them in this frontier-country.
|
|
Concerning the settlement of these tribes observe, (1.) They built
|
|
the cities, that is, repaired them, because either they had been
|
|
damaged by the war or the Amorites had suffered them to go to
|
|
decay. (2.) They changed the names of them (<scripRef passage="Nu 32:38" id="Num.xxxiii-p14.5" parsed="|Num|32|38|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.38"><i>v.</i> 38</scripRef>), either to show their
|
|
authority, that the change of the names might signify the change of
|
|
their owners, or because their names were idolatrous, and carried
|
|
in them a respect to the dunghill-deities that were there
|
|
worshipped. Nebo and Baal were names of their gods, which they were
|
|
forbidden to make mention of (<scripRef passage="Ex 23:13" id="Num.xxxiii-p14.6" parsed="|Exod|23|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.13">Exod.
|
|
xxiii. 13</scripRef>), and which, by changing the names of these
|
|
cities, they endeavoured to bury in oblivion; and God promises to
|
|
take away the names of Baalim out of the mouths of his people,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ho 2:17" id="Num.xxxiii-p14.7" parsed="|Hos|2|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.2.17">Hos. ii. 17</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxiii-p15"><i>Lastly,</i> It is observable that, as
|
|
these tribes were now first placed before the other tribes, so,
|
|
long afterwards, they were displaced before the other tribes. We
|
|
find that they were carried captive into Assyria some years before
|
|
the other tribes, <scripRef passage="2Ki 15:29" id="Num.xxxiii-p15.1" parsed="|2Kgs|15|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.15.29">2 Kings xv.
|
|
29</scripRef>. Such a proportion does Providence sometimes observe
|
|
in balancing prosperity and adversity; he sets the one over-against
|
|
the other.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXXIII" n="xxxiv" progress="80.60%" prev="Num.xxxiii" next="Num.xxxv" id="Num.xxxiv">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.xxxiv-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.xxxiv-p0.2">CHAP. XXXIII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.xxxiv-p1">In this chapter we have, I. A particular account
|
|
of the removals and encampments of the children of Israel, from
|
|
their escape out of Egypt to their entrance into Canaan, forty-two
|
|
in all, with some remarkable events that happened at some of those
|
|
places, <scripRef passage="Nu 33:1-49" id="Num.xxxiv-p1.1" parsed="|Num|33|1|33|49" osisRef="Bible:Num.33.1-Num.33.49">ver. 1-49</scripRef>. II. A
|
|
strict command given them to drive out all the inhabitants of the
|
|
land of Canaan, which they were not going to conquer and take
|
|
possession of, <scripRef passage="Nu 33:50-56" id="Num.xxxiv-p1.2" parsed="|Num|33|50|33|56" osisRef="Bible:Num.33.50-Num.33.56">ver.
|
|
50-56</scripRef>. So that the former part of the chapter looks back
|
|
upon their march through the wilderness, the latter looks forward
|
|
to their settlement in Canaan.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 33" id="Num.xxxiv-p1.3" parsed="|Num|33|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.33"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 33:1-49" id="Num.xxxiv-p1.4" parsed="|Num|33|1|33|49" osisRef="Bible:Num.33.1-Num.33.49"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.33.1-Num.33.49">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxxiv-p1.5">Encampments of the
|
|
Israelites. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxiv-p1.6">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxxiv-p2">1 These <i>are</i> the journeys of the children
|
|
of Israel, which went forth out of the land of Egypt with their
|
|
armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron.   2 And Moses wrote
|
|
their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxiv-p2.1">Lord</span>: and these <i>are</i> their
|
|
journeys according to their goings out.   3 And they departed
|
|
from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first
|
|
month; on the morrow after the passover the children of Israel went
|
|
out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians.   4
|
|
For the Egyptians buried all <i>their</i> firstborn, which the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxiv-p2.2">Lord</span> had smitten among them: upon
|
|
their gods also the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxiv-p2.3">Lord</span> executed
|
|
judgments.   5 And the children of Israel removed from
|
|
Rameses, and pitched in Succoth.   6 And they departed from
|
|
Succoth, and pitched in Etham, which <i>is</i> in the edge of the
|
|
wilderness.   7 And they removed from Etham, and turned again
|
|
unto Pi-hahiroth, which <i>is</i> before Baal-zephon: and they
|
|
pitched before Migdol.   8 And they departed from before
|
|
Pi-hahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the
|
|
wilderness, and went three days' journey in the wilderness of
|
|
Etham, and pitched in Marah.   9 And they removed from Marah,
|
|
and came unto Elim: and in Elim <i>were</i> twelve fountains of
|
|
water, and threescore and ten palm trees; and they pitched there.
|
|
  10 And they removed from Elim, and encamped by the Red sea.
|
|
  11 And they removed from the Red sea, and encamped in the
|
|
wilderness of Sin.   12 And they took their journey out of the
|
|
wilderness of Sin, and encamped in Dophkah.   13 And they
|
|
departed from Dophkah, and encamped in Alush.   14 And they
|
|
removed from Alush, and encamped at Rephidim, where was no water
|
|
for the people to drink.   15 And they departed from Rephidim,
|
|
and pitched in the wilderness of Sinai.   16 And they removed
|
|
from the desert of Sinai, and pitched at Kibroth-hattaavah.  
|
|
17 And they departed from Kibroth-hattaavah, and encamped at
|
|
Hazeroth.   18 And they departed from Hazeroth, and pitched in
|
|
Rithmah.   19 And they departed from Rithmah, and pitched at
|
|
Rimmon-parez.   20 And they departed from Rimmon-parez, and
|
|
pitched in Libnah.   21 And they removed from Libnah, and
|
|
pitched at Rissah.   22 And they journeyed from Rissah, and
|
|
pitched in Kehelathah.   23 And they went from Kehelathah, and
|
|
pitched in mount Shapher.   24 And they removed from mount
|
|
Shapher, and encamped in Haradah.   25 And they removed from
|
|
Haradah, and pitched in Makheloth.   26 And they removed from
|
|
Makheloth, and encamped at Tahath.   27 And they departed from
|
|
Tahath, and pitched at Tarah.   28 And they removed from
|
|
Tarah, and pitched in Mithcah.   29 And they went from
|
|
Mithcah, and pitched in Hashmonah.   30 And they departed from
|
|
Hashmonah, and encamped at Moseroth.   31 And they departed
|
|
from Moseroth, and pitched in Bene-jaakan.   32 And they
|
|
removed from Bene-jaakan, and encamped at Hor-hagidgad.   33
|
|
And they went from Hor-hagidgad, and pitched in Jotbathah.  
|
|
34 And they removed from Jotbathah, and encamped at Ebronah.  
|
|
35 And they departed from Ebronah, and encamped at Ezion-gaber.
|
|
  36 And they removed from Ezion-gaber, and pitched in the
|
|
wilderness of Zin, which <i>is</i> Kadesh.   37 And they
|
|
removed from Kadesh, and pitched in mount Hor, in the edge of the
|
|
land of Edom.   38 And Aaron the priest went up into mount Hor
|
|
at the commandment of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxiv-p2.4">Lord</span>, and
|
|
died there, in the fortieth year after the children of Israel were
|
|
come out of the land of Egypt, in the first <i>day</i> of the fifth
|
|
month.   39 And Aaron <i>was</i> an hundred and twenty and
|
|
three years old when he died in mount Hor.   40 And king Arad
|
|
the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south in the land of Canaan,
|
|
heard of the coming of the children of Israel.   41 And they
|
|
departed from mount Hor, and pitched in Zalmonah.   42 And
|
|
they departed from Zalmonah, and pitched in Punon.   43 And
|
|
they departed from Punon, and pitched in Oboth.   44 And they
|
|
departed from Oboth, and pitched in Ije-abarim, in the border of
|
|
Moab.   45 And they departed from Iim, and pitched in
|
|
Dibon-gad.   46 And they removed from Dibon-gad, and encamped
|
|
in Almon-diblathaim.   47 And they removed from
|
|
Almon-diblathaim, and pitched in the mountains of Abarim, before
|
|
Nebo.   48 And they departed from the mountains of Abarim, and
|
|
pitched in the plains of Moab by Jordan <i>near</i> Jericho.  
|
|
49 And they pitched by Jordan, from Beth-jesimoth <i>even</i> unto
|
|
Abel-shittim in the plains of Moab.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxiv-p3">This is a review and brief rehearsal of the
|
|
travels of the children of Israel through the wilderness. It was a
|
|
memorable history and well worthy to be thus abridged, and the
|
|
abridgment thus preserved, to the honour of God that led them and
|
|
for the encouragement of the generations that followed. Observe
|
|
here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxiv-p4">I. How the account was kept: <i>Moses wrote
|
|
their goings out,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 33:2" id="Num.xxxiv-p4.1" parsed="|Num|33|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.33.2"><i>v.</i>
|
|
2</scripRef>. When they began this tedious march, God ordered him
|
|
to keep a journal or diary, and to insert in it all the remarkable
|
|
occurrences of their way, that it might be a satisfaction to
|
|
himself in the review and an instruction to others when it should
|
|
be published. It may be of good use to private Christians, but
|
|
especially to those in public stations, to preserve in writing an
|
|
account of the providences of God concerning them, the constant
|
|
series of mercies they have experienced, especially those turns and
|
|
changes which have made some days of their lives more remarkable.
|
|
Our memories are deceitful and need this help, that we may
|
|
<i>remember all the way which the Lord our God has led us in this
|
|
wilderness,</i> <scripRef passage="De 8:2" id="Num.xxxiv-p4.2" parsed="|Deut|8|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.2">Deut. viii.
|
|
2</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxiv-p5">II. What the account itself was. It began
|
|
with their departure out of Egypt, continued with their march
|
|
through the wilderness, and ended in the plains of Moab, where they
|
|
now lay encamped.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxiv-p6">1. Some things are observed here concerning
|
|
their departure out of Egypt, which they are reminded of upon all
|
|
occasions, as a work of wonder never to be forgotten. (1.) That
|
|
they <i>went forth with their armies</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 33:1" id="Num.xxxiv-p6.1" parsed="|Num|33|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.33.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>), rank and file, as an army with
|
|
banners. (2.) Under the hand of Moses and Aaron, their guides,
|
|
overseers, and rulers, under God. (3.) <i>With a high hand,</i>
|
|
because God's hand was high that wrought for them, <i>and in the
|
|
sight of all the Egyptians,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 33:3" id="Num.xxxiv-p6.2" parsed="|Num|33|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.33.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. They did not steal away
|
|
clandestinely (<scripRef passage="Isa 52:12" id="Num.xxxiv-p6.3" parsed="|Isa|52|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.52.12">Isa. lii.
|
|
12</scripRef>), but in defiance of their enemies, to whom God had
|
|
made them such a burdensome stone that they neither could, nor
|
|
would, nor durst, oppose them. (4.) They went forth while the
|
|
Egyptians were burying, or at least preparing to bury, their
|
|
first-born, <scripRef passage="Nu 33:4" id="Num.xxxiv-p6.4" parsed="|Num|33|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.33.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>.
|
|
They had a mind good enough, or rather bad enough, still to have
|
|
detained the Israelites their prisoners, but God found them other
|
|
work to do. They would have God's first-born buried alive, but God
|
|
set them a burying their own first-born. (5.) To all the plagues of
|
|
Egypt it is added here that <i>on their gods also the Lord executed
|
|
judgments.</i> Their idols which they worshipped, it is probable,
|
|
were broken down, as Dagon afterwards before the ark, so that they
|
|
could not consult them about this great affair. To this perhaps
|
|
there is reference, <scripRef passage="Isa 19:1" id="Num.xxxiv-p6.5" parsed="|Isa|19|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.19.1">Isa. xix.
|
|
1</scripRef>, <i>The idols of Egypt shall be moved at his
|
|
presence.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxiv-p7">2. Concerning their travels towards Canaan.
|
|
Observe, (1.) They were continually upon the remove. When they had
|
|
pitched a little while in one place they departed from that to
|
|
another. Such is our state in this world; we have here no
|
|
continuing city. (2.) Most of their way lay through a wilderness,
|
|
uninhabited, untracked, unfurnished even with the necessaries of
|
|
human life, which magnifies the wisdom and power of God, by whose
|
|
wonderful conduct and bounty the thousands of Israel not only
|
|
subsisted for forty years in that desolate place, but came out at
|
|
least as numerous and vigorous as they went in. At first they
|
|
pitched <i>in the edge of the wilderness</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 33:6" id="Num.xxxiv-p7.1" parsed="|Num|33|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.33.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), but afterwards in the heart of
|
|
it; by less difficulties God prepares his people for greater. We
|
|
find them in the wilderness of Etham (<scripRef passage="Nu 33:8" id="Num.xxxiv-p7.2" parsed="|Num|33|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.33.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>), of Sin (<scripRef passage="Nu 33:11" id="Num.xxxiv-p7.3" parsed="|Num|33|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.33.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>), of Sinai, <scripRef passage="Nu 33:15" id="Num.xxxiv-p7.4" parsed="|Num|33|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.33.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. Our removals in this world are
|
|
but from one wilderness to another. (3.) They were led to and fro,
|
|
forward and backward, as in a maze or labyrinth, and yet were all
|
|
the while under the direction of the pillar of cloud and fire. He
|
|
led them about (<scripRef passage="De 32:10" id="Num.xxxiv-p7.5" parsed="|Deut|32|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.10">Deut. xxxii.
|
|
10</scripRef>), and yet led them the right way, <scripRef passage="Ps 107:7" id="Num.xxxiv-p7.6" parsed="|Ps|107|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.107.7">Ps. cvii. 7</scripRef>. The way which God takes in
|
|
bringing his people to himself is always the best way, though it
|
|
does not always seem to us the nearest way. (4.) Some events are
|
|
mentioned in this journal, as their want of water at Rephidim
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 33:14" id="Num.xxxiv-p7.7" parsed="|Num|33|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.33.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>), the death
|
|
of Aaron (<scripRef passage="Nu 33:38,39" id="Num.xxxiv-p7.8" parsed="|Num|33|38|33|39" osisRef="Bible:Num.33.38-Num.33.39"><i>v.</i> 38,
|
|
39</scripRef>), the insult of Arad (<scripRef passage="Nu 33:40" id="Num.xxxiv-p7.9" parsed="|Num|33|40|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.33.40"><i>v.</i> 40</scripRef>); and the very name of
|
|
<i>Kibroth-hattaavah—the graves of lusts</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 33:16" id="Num.xxxiv-p7.10" parsed="|Num|33|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.33.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>), has a story depending upon it.
|
|
Thus we ought to keep in mind the providences of God concerning us
|
|
and our families, us and our land, and the many instances of that
|
|
divine care which has led us, and fed us, and kept us, all our days
|
|
hitherto. Shittim, the place where the people sinned in the matter
|
|
of Peor (<scripRef passage="Nu 25:1" id="Num.xxxiv-p7.11" parsed="|Num|25|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.25.1"><i>ch.</i> xxv. 1</scripRef>),
|
|
is here called <i>Abel-shittim. Abel</i> signifies <i>mourning</i>
|
|
(as <scripRef passage="Ge 50:11" id="Num.xxxiv-p7.12" parsed="|Gen|50|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.50.11">Gen. l. 11</scripRef>), and
|
|
probably this place was so called from the mourning of the good
|
|
people of Israel on account of that sin and of God's wrath against
|
|
them for it. It was so great a mourning that it gave a name to the
|
|
place.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 33:50-56" id="Num.xxxiv-p7.13" parsed="|Num|33|50|33|56" osisRef="Bible:Num.33.50-Num.33.56"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.33.50-Num.33.56">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxxiv-p7.14">The Canaanites Doomed. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxiv-p7.15">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxxiv-p8">50 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxiv-p8.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan <i>near</i>
|
|
Jericho, saying,   51 Speak unto the children of Israel, and
|
|
say unto them, When ye are passed over Jordan into the land of
|
|
Canaan;   52 Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of
|
|
the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and
|
|
destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their
|
|
high places:   53 And ye shall dispossess <i>the
|
|
inhabitants</i> of the land, and dwell therein: for I have given
|
|
you the land to possess it.   54 And ye shall divide the land
|
|
by lot for an inheritance among your families: <i>and</i> to the
|
|
more ye shall give the more inheritance, and to the fewer ye shall
|
|
give the less inheritance: every man's <i>inheritance</i> shall be
|
|
in the place where his lot falleth; according to the tribes of your
|
|
fathers ye shall inherit.   55 But if ye will not drive out
|
|
the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to
|
|
pass, that those which ye let remain of them <i>shall be</i> pricks
|
|
in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the
|
|
land wherein ye dwell.   56 Moreover it shall come to pass,
|
|
<i>that</i> I shall do unto you, as I thought to do unto them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxiv-p9">While the children of Israel were in the
|
|
wilderness their total separation from all other people kept them
|
|
out of the way of temptation to idolatry, and perhaps this was one
|
|
thing intended by their long confinement in the wilderness, that
|
|
thereby the idols of Egypt might be forgotten, and the people aired
|
|
(as it were) and purified from that infection, and the generation
|
|
that entered Canaan might be such as never knew those depths of
|
|
Satan. But now that they were to pass over Jordan they were
|
|
entering again into that temptation, and therefore, 1. They are
|
|
here strictly charged utterly to destroy all remnants of idolatry.
|
|
They must not only <i>drive out the inhabitants of the land,</i>
|
|
that they may possess their country, but they must deface all their
|
|
idolatrous pictures and images, and <i>pull down all their high
|
|
places,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 33:52" id="Num.xxxiv-p9.1" parsed="|Num|33|52|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.33.52"><i>v.</i> 52</scripRef>.
|
|
They must not preserve any of them, no, not as monuments of
|
|
antiquity to gratify the curious, nor as ornaments of their houses,
|
|
nor toys for their children to play with, but they must destroy
|
|
all, both in token of their abhorrence and detestation of idolatry
|
|
and to prevent their being tempted to worship those images, and the
|
|
false gods represented by them, or to worship the God of Israel by
|
|
such images or representations. 2. They were assured that, if they
|
|
did so, God would by degrees put them in full possession of the
|
|
land of promise, <scripRef passage="Nu 33:53,54" id="Num.xxxiv-p9.2" parsed="|Num|33|53|33|54" osisRef="Bible:Num.33.53-Num.33.54"><i>v.</i> 53,
|
|
54</scripRef>. If they would keep themselves pure from the idols of
|
|
Canaan, God would enrich them with the wealth of Canaan. Learn not
|
|
their way, and then fear not their power. 3. They were threatened
|
|
that, if they spared either the idols or the idolaters, they should
|
|
be beaten with their own rod and their sin would certainly be their
|
|
punishment. (1.) They would foster snakes in their own bosoms,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 33:55" id="Num.xxxiv-p9.3" parsed="|Num|33|55|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.33.55"><i>v.</i> 55</scripRef>. The remnant
|
|
of the Canaanites, if they made any league with them, though it
|
|
were but a cessation of arms, would be <i>pricks in their eyes and
|
|
thorns in their sides,</i> that is, they would be upon all
|
|
occasions vexatious to them, insulting them, robbing them, and, to
|
|
the utmost of their power, making mischief among them. We must
|
|
expect trouble and affliction from that, whatever it is, which we
|
|
sinfully indulge; that which we are willing should tempt us we
|
|
shall find will vex us. (2.) The righteous God would turn that
|
|
wheel upon the Israelites which was to have crushed the Canaanites:
|
|
<i>I shall do to you as I thought to do unto them,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 33:56" id="Num.xxxiv-p9.4" parsed="|Num|33|56|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.33.56"><i>v.</i> 56</scripRef>. It was intended that
|
|
the Canaanites should be dispossessed; but if the Israelites fell
|
|
in with them, and learned their way, they should be dispossessed,
|
|
for God's displeasure would justly be greater against them than
|
|
against the Canaanites themselves. Let us hear this, and fear. If
|
|
we do not drive sin out, sin will drive us out; if we be not the
|
|
death of our lusts, our lusts will be the death of our souls.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXXIV" n="xxxv" progress="80.89%" prev="Num.xxxiv" next="Num.xxxvi" id="Num.xxxv">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.xxxv-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.xxxv-p0.2">CHAP. XXXIV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.xxxv-p1">In this chapter God directs Moses, and he is to
|
|
direct Israel, I. Concerning the bounds and borders of the land of
|
|
Canaan, <scripRef passage="Nu 34:1-15" id="Num.xxxv-p1.1" parsed="|Num|34|1|34|15" osisRef="Bible:Num.34.1-Num.34.15">ver. 1-15</scripRef>. II.
|
|
Concerning the division and distribution of it to the tribes of
|
|
Israel, <scripRef passage="Nu 34:16-29" id="Num.xxxv-p1.2" parsed="|Num|34|16|34|29" osisRef="Bible:Num.34.16-Num.34.29">ver. 16</scripRef>,
|
|
&c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 34" id="Num.xxxv-p1.3" parsed="|Num|34|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.34"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 34:1-15" id="Num.xxxv-p1.4" parsed="|Num|34|1|34|15" osisRef="Bible:Num.34.1-Num.34.15"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.34.1-Num.34.15">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxxv-p1.5">The Boundaries of Canaan. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxv-p1.6">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxxv-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxv-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   2 Command the children of Israel,
|
|
and say unto them, When ye come into the land of Canaan; (this
|
|
<i>is</i> the land that shall fall unto you for an inheritance,
|
|
<i>even</i> the land of Canaan with the coasts thereof:)   3
|
|
Then your south quarter shall be from the wilderness of Zin along
|
|
by the coast of Edom, and your south border shall be the outmost
|
|
coast of the salt sea eastward:   4 And your border shall turn
|
|
from the south to the ascent of Akrabbim, and pass on to Zin: and
|
|
the going forth thereof shall be from the south to Kadesh-barnea,
|
|
and shall go on to Hazar-addar, and pass on to Azmon:   5 And
|
|
the border shall fetch a compass from Azmon unto the river of
|
|
Egypt, and the goings out of it shall be at the sea.   6 And
|
|
<i>as for</i> the western border, ye shall even have the great sea
|
|
for a border: this shall be your west border.   7 And this
|
|
shall be your north border: from the great sea ye shall point out
|
|
for you mount Hor:   8 From mount Hor ye shall point out
|
|
<i>your border</i> unto the entrance of Hamath; and the goings
|
|
forth of the border shall be to Zedad:   9 And the border
|
|
shall go on to Ziphron, and the goings out of it shall be at
|
|
Hazar-enan: this shall be your north border.   10 And ye shall
|
|
point out your east border from Hazar-enan to Shepham:   11
|
|
And the coast shall go down from Shepham to Riblah, on the east
|
|
side of Ain; and the border shall descend, and shall reach unto the
|
|
side of the sea of Chinnereth eastward:   12 And the border
|
|
shall go down to Jordan, and the goings out of it shall be at the
|
|
salt sea: this shall be your land with the coasts thereof round
|
|
about.   13 And Moses commanded the children of Israel,
|
|
saying, This <i>is</i> the land which ye shall inherit by lot,
|
|
which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxv-p2.2">Lord</span> commanded to give
|
|
unto the nine tribes, and to the half tribe:   14 For the
|
|
tribe of the children of Reuben according to the house of their
|
|
fathers, and the tribe of the children of Gad according to the
|
|
house of their fathers, have received <i>their inheritance;</i> and
|
|
half the tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance:  
|
|
15 The two tribes and the half tribe have received their
|
|
inheritance on this side Jordan <i>near</i> Jericho eastward,
|
|
toward the sunrising.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxv-p3">We have here a particular draught of the
|
|
line by which the land of Canaan was meted, and bounded, on all
|
|
sides. God directs Moses to settle it here, not as a geographer in
|
|
his map, merely to please the curious, but as a prince in his
|
|
grant, that it may be certainly known what passes, and is conveyed,
|
|
by the grant. There was a much larger possession promised them,
|
|
which in due time they would have possessed if they had been
|
|
obedient, reaching even to the river Euphrates, <scripRef passage="Da 11:24" id="Num.xxxv-p3.1" parsed="|Dan|11|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.11.24">Deut. xi. 24</scripRef>. And even so far the dominion of
|
|
Israel did extend in David's time and Solomon's, <scripRef passage="2Ch 9:26" id="Num.xxxv-p3.2" parsed="|2Chr|9|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.9.26">2 Chron. ix. 26</scripRef>. But this which is here
|
|
described is Canaan only, which was the lot of the nine tribes and
|
|
a half, for the other two and a half were already settled,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 34:14,15" id="Num.xxxv-p3.3" parsed="|Num|34|14|34|15" osisRef="Bible:Num.34.14-Num.34.15"><i>v.</i> 14, 15</scripRef>. Now
|
|
concerning the limits of Canaan observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxv-p4">I. That it was limited within certain
|
|
bounds: for God <i>appoints the bounds of our habitation,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ac 17:26" id="Num.xxxv-p4.1" parsed="|Acts|17|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.17.26">Acts xvii. 26</scripRef>. The borders
|
|
are set them, 1. That they might know whom they were to dispossess,
|
|
and how far the commission which was given them extended (<scripRef passage="Nu 33:53" id="Num.xxxv-p4.2" parsed="|Num|33|53|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.33.53"><i>ch.</i> xxxiii. 53</scripRef>), that they
|
|
should <i>drive out the inhabitants.</i> Those that lay within
|
|
these borders, and those only, they must destroy; hitherto their
|
|
bloody sword must go, and no further. 2. That they might know what
|
|
to expect the possession of themselves. God would not have his
|
|
people to enlarge their desire of worldly possessions, but to know
|
|
when they have enough, and to rest satisfied with it. The
|
|
Israelites themselves must not be <i>placed alone in the midst of
|
|
the earth,</i> but must leave room for their neighbours to live by
|
|
them. God sets bounds to our lot; let us then set bounds to our
|
|
desires, and bring our mind to our condition.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxv-p5">II. That it lay comparatively in a very
|
|
little compass: as it is here bounded, it is reckoned to be but
|
|
about 160 miles in length and about fifty in breadth; perhaps it
|
|
did not contain more than half as much ground as England, and yet
|
|
this is the country which was promised to the father of the
|
|
faithful and was the possession of the seed of Israel. This was
|
|
that little spot of ground in which only, for many ages, <i>God was
|
|
known, and his name was great,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 76:1" id="Num.xxxv-p5.1" parsed="|Ps|76|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.76.1">Ps.
|
|
lxxvi. 1</scripRef>. This was the vineyard of the Lord, the garden
|
|
enclosed; but, as it is with gardens and vineyards, the narrowness
|
|
of the extent was abundantly compensated by the extraordinary
|
|
fruitfulness of the soil, otherwise it could not have subsisted so
|
|
numerous a nation as did inhabit it. See here then, 1. How small a
|
|
part of the world God has for himself. Though the <i>earth is his,
|
|
and the fullness thereof,</i> yet few have the knowledge of him and
|
|
serve him; but those few are happy, very happy, because fruitful to
|
|
God. 2. How small a share of the world God often gives to his own
|
|
people. Those that have their portion in heaven have reason to be
|
|
content with a small pittance of this earth; but, as here, what is
|
|
wanting in quantity is made up in quality; <i>a little that a
|
|
righteous man has,</i> having it from the love of God and with his
|
|
blessing, is far better and more comfortable <i>than the riches of
|
|
many wicked,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 37:16" id="Num.xxxv-p5.2" parsed="|Ps|37|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.37.16">Ps. xxxvii.
|
|
16</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxv-p6">III. It is observable what the bounds and
|
|
limits of it were. 1. Canaan was itself a <i>pleasant land</i> (so
|
|
it is called <scripRef passage="Da 8:9" id="Num.xxxv-p6.1" parsed="|Dan|8|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.8.9">Dan. viii. 9</scripRef>),
|
|
and yet it bordered upon wilderness and seas, and was surrounded
|
|
with divers melancholy prospects. Thus the vineyard of the church
|
|
is compassed on all hands with the desert of this world, which
|
|
serves as a foil to it, to make it appear the more beautiful for
|
|
situation. 2. Many of its borders were its defences and natural
|
|
fortifications, to render the access of enemies the more difficult,
|
|
and to intimate to Israel that the God of nature was their
|
|
protector, and with his favour would <i>compass them as with a
|
|
shield.</i> 3. The border reached to the <i>river of Egypt</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 34:5" id="Num.xxxv-p6.2" parsed="|Num|34|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.34.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), that the
|
|
sight of that country which they could look into out of their own
|
|
might remind them of their bondage there, and their wonderful
|
|
deliverance thence. 4. Their border is here made to begin at the
|
|
<i>Salt Sea</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 34:3" id="Num.xxxv-p6.3" parsed="|Num|34|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.34.3"><i>v.</i>
|
|
3</scripRef>), and there it ends, <scripRef passage="Nu 34:12" id="Num.xxxv-p6.4" parsed="|Num|34|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.34.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. This was the remaining lasting
|
|
monument of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. That pleasant
|
|
fruitful vale in which these cities stood became a lake, which was
|
|
never stirred by any wind, bore no vessels, was replenished with no
|
|
fish, no living creature of any sort being found in it, therefore
|
|
called the <i>Dead Sea.</i> This was part of their border, that it
|
|
might be a constant warning to them to take heed of those sins
|
|
which had been the ruin of Sodom; yet the iniquity of Sodom was
|
|
afterwards found in Israel (<scripRef passage="Eze 16:49" id="Num.xxxv-p6.5" parsed="|Ezek|16|49|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.49">Ezek.
|
|
xvi. 49</scripRef>), for which Canaan was made, though not a salt
|
|
sea as Sodom, yet a barren soil, and continues so to this day. 5.
|
|
Their western border was the <i>Great Sea</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 34:6" id="Num.xxxv-p6.6" parsed="|Num|34|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.34.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), which is now called the
|
|
<i>Mediterranean.</i> Some consider this sea itself to have been a
|
|
part of their possession, and that by virtue of this grant, they
|
|
had the dominion of it, and, if they had not forfeited it by sin,
|
|
might have rode masters of it.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 34" id="Num.xxxv-p6.7" parsed="|Num|34|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.34"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 34:16-29" id="Num.xxxv-p6.8" parsed="|Num|34|16|34|29" osisRef="Bible:Num.34.16-Num.34.29"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.34.16-Num.34.29">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxxv-p7">16 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxv-p7.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   17 These <i>are</i> the names of
|
|
the men which shall divide the land unto you: Eleazar the priest,
|
|
and Joshua the son of Nun.   18 And ye shall take one prince
|
|
of every tribe, to divide the land by inheritance.   19 And
|
|
the names of the men <i>are</i> these: Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb
|
|
the son of Jephunneh.   20 And of the tribe of the children of
|
|
Simeon, Shemuel the son of Ammihud.   21 Of the tribe of
|
|
Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chislon.   22 And the prince of
|
|
the tribe of the children of Dan, Bukki the son of Jogli.   23
|
|
The prince of the children of Joseph, for the tribe of the children
|
|
of Manasseh, Hanniel the son of Ephod.   24 And the prince of
|
|
the tribe of the children of Ephraim, Kemuel the son of Shiphtan.
|
|
  25 And the prince of the tribe of the children of Zebulun,
|
|
Elizaphan the son of Parnach.   26 And the prince of the tribe
|
|
of the children of Issachar, Paltiel the son of Azzan.   27
|
|
And the prince of the tribe of the children of Asher, Ahihud the
|
|
son of Shelomi.   28 And the prince of the tribe of the
|
|
children of Naphtali, Pedahel the son of Ammihud.   29 These
|
|
<i>are they</i> whom the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxv-p7.2">Lord</span>
|
|
commanded to divide the inheritance unto the children of Israel in
|
|
the land of Canaan.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxv-p8">God here appoints commissioners for the
|
|
dividing of the land to them. The conquest of it is taken for
|
|
granted, though as yet there was never a stroke struck towards it.
|
|
Here is no nomination of the generals and commanders-in-chief that
|
|
should carry on the war; for they were to get the land in
|
|
possession, <i>not by their own sword or bow, but by the power and
|
|
favour of God;</i> and so confident must they be of victory and
|
|
success while God fought for them that the persons must now be
|
|
named who should be entrusted with the dividing of the land, that
|
|
is, who should preside in casting the lots, and determine
|
|
controversies that might arise, and see that all was done fairly.
|
|
1. The principal commissioners, who were of the <i>quorum,</i> were
|
|
Eleazar and Joshua (<scripRef passage="Nu 34:17" id="Num.xxxv-p8.1" parsed="|Num|34|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.34.17"><i>v.</i>
|
|
17</scripRef>), typifying Christ, who, as priest and king, divides
|
|
the heavenly Canaan to the spiritual Israel; yet, as they were to
|
|
go by the lot, so Christ acknowledges the disposal must be by the
|
|
will of the Father, <scripRef passage="Mt 20:23" id="Num.xxxv-p8.2" parsed="|Matt|20|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.20.23">Matt. xx.
|
|
23</scripRef>. Compare, <scripRef passage="Eph 1:11" id="Num.xxxv-p8.3" parsed="|Eph|1|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eph.1.11">Eph. i.
|
|
11</scripRef>. 2. Besides these, that there might be no suspicion
|
|
of partiality, a prince of each tribe was appointed to inspect this
|
|
matter, and to see that the tribe he served for was in no respect
|
|
injured. Public affairs should be so managed as not only to give
|
|
their right to all, but, if possible, to give satisfaction to all
|
|
that they have justice done them., It is a happiness to a land to
|
|
have the princes of their people meet together, some out of every
|
|
tribe, to concert the affairs that are of common concern, a
|
|
constitution which is the abundant honour, ease, and safety, of the
|
|
nation that is blessed with it. 3. Some observe that the order of
|
|
the tribes here very much differs from that in which they hitherto,
|
|
upon all occasions, been named, and agrees with the neighbourhood
|
|
of their lots in the division of the land. Judah, Simeon, and
|
|
Benjamin, the first three here named, lay close together; the
|
|
inheritance of Dan lay next them on one side, that of Ephraim and
|
|
Manasseh on another side; Zebulun and Issachar lay abreast more
|
|
northerly, and, lastly, Asher and Naphtali most northward of all,
|
|
as is easy to observe in looking over a map of Canaan; this (says
|
|
bishop Patrick) is an evidence that Moses was guided by a divine
|
|
Spirit in his writings. Known unto God are all his works
|
|
beforehand, and what is new and surprising to us he perfectly
|
|
foresaw, without any confusion or uncertainty.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXXV" n="xxxvi" progress="81.12%" prev="Num.xxxv" next="Num.xxxvii" id="Num.xxxvi">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.xxxvi-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.xxxvi-p0.2">CHAP. XXXV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.xxxvi-p1">Orders having been given before for the dividing
|
|
of the land of Canaan among the lay-tribes (as I may call them),
|
|
care is here taken for a competent provision for the clergy, the
|
|
tribe of Levi, which ministered in holy things. I. Forty-eight
|
|
cities were to be assigned them, with their suburbs, some in every
|
|
tribe, <scripRef passage="Nu 35:1-8" id="Num.xxxvi-p1.1" parsed="|Num|35|1|35|8" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.1-Num.35.8">ver. 1-8</scripRef>. II. Six
|
|
cities out of these were to be for cities of refuge, for any man
|
|
that killed another unawares, <scripRef passage="Nu 35:9-15" id="Num.xxxvi-p1.2" parsed="|Num|35|9|35|15" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.9-Num.35.15">ver.
|
|
9-15</scripRef>. In the law concerning these observe, 1. In what
|
|
case sanctuary was not allowed, namely, that of wilful murder,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 35:16-21" id="Num.xxxvi-p1.3" parsed="|Num|35|16|35|21" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.16-Num.35.21">ver. 16-21</scripRef>. 2. In what
|
|
cases it was allowed, <scripRef passage="Nu 35:22-24" id="Num.xxxvi-p1.4" parsed="|Num|35|22|35|24" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.22-Num.35.24">ver.
|
|
22-24</scripRef>. 3. What was the law concerning those that took
|
|
shelter in these cities of refuge, <scripRef passage="Nu 35:25-34" id="Num.xxxvi-p1.5" parsed="|Num|35|25|35|34" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.25-Num.35.34">ver. 25</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 35" id="Num.xxxvi-p1.6" parsed="|Num|35|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.35"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 35:1-8" id="Num.xxxvi-p1.7" parsed="|Num|35|1|35|8" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.1-Num.35.8"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.35.1-Num.35.8">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxxvi-p1.8">The Cities of the Levites. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxvi-p1.9">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxxvi-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxvi-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan <i>near</i>
|
|
Jericho, saying,   2 Command the children of Israel, that they
|
|
give unto the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities
|
|
to dwell in; and ye shall give <i>also</i> unto the Levites suburbs
|
|
for the cities round about them.   3 And the cities shall they
|
|
have to dwell in; and the suburbs of them shall be for their
|
|
cattle, and for their goods, and for all their beasts.   4 And
|
|
the suburbs of the cities, which ye shall give unto the Levites,
|
|
<i>shall reach</i> from the wall of the city and outward a thousand
|
|
cubits round about.   5 And ye shall measure from without the
|
|
city on the east side two thousand cubits, and on the south side
|
|
two thousand cubits, and on the west side two thousand cubits, and
|
|
on the north side two thousand cubits; and the city <i>shall be</i>
|
|
in the midst: this shall be to them the suburbs of the cities.
|
|
  6 And among the cities which ye shall give unto the Levites
|
|
<i>there shall be</i> six cities for refuge, which ye shall appoint
|
|
for the manslayer, that he may flee thither: and to them ye shall
|
|
add forty and two cities.   7 <i>So</i> all the cities which
|
|
ye shall give to the Levites <i>shall be</i> forty and eight
|
|
cities: them <i>shall ye give</i> with their suburbs.   8 And
|
|
the cities which ye shall give <i>shall be</i> of the possession of
|
|
the children of Israel: from <i>them that have</i> many ye shall
|
|
give many; but from <i>them that have</i> few ye shall give few:
|
|
every one shall give of his cities unto the Levites according to
|
|
his inheritance which he inheriteth.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxvi-p3">The laws about the tithes and offerings had
|
|
provided very plentifully for the maintenance of the Levites, but
|
|
it was not to be thought, nor indeed was it for the public good,
|
|
that when they came to Canaan they should all live about the
|
|
tabernacle, as they had done in the wilderness, and therefore care
|
|
must be taken to provide habitations for them, in which they might
|
|
live comfortably and usefully. It is this which is here taken care
|
|
of.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxvi-p4">I. Cities were allotted them, with their
|
|
suburbs, <scripRef passage="Nu 35:2" id="Num.xxxvi-p4.1" parsed="|Num|35|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. They
|
|
were not to have any ground for tillage; they needed not to <i>sow,
|
|
nor reap, nor gather into barns,</i> for their heavenly Father fed
|
|
them with the tithe of the increase of other people's labours, that
|
|
they might the more closely attend to the study of the law, and
|
|
might have more leisure to teach the people; for they were not fed
|
|
thus easily that they might live in idleness, but that they might
|
|
give themselves wholly to the business of their profession, and not
|
|
be entangled in the affairs of this life. 1. Cities were allotted
|
|
them, that they might live near together, and converse with one
|
|
another about the law, to their mutual edification; and that in
|
|
doubtful cases they might consult one another, and in all cases
|
|
strengthen one another's hands. 2. These cities had suburbs annexed
|
|
to them for their cattle (<scripRef passage="Nu 35:3" id="Num.xxxvi-p4.2" parsed="|Num|35|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.3"><i>v.</i>
|
|
3</scripRef>), a thousand cubits from the wall was allowed them for
|
|
out-houses to keep their cattle in, and then two thousand more for
|
|
fields to graze their cattle in, <scripRef passage="Nu 35:4,5" id="Num.xxxvi-p4.3" parsed="|Num|35|4|35|5" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.4-Num.35.5"><i>v.</i> 4, 5</scripRef>. Thus was care taken that
|
|
they should not only live, but live plentifully, and have all
|
|
desirable conveniences about them, that they might not be looked
|
|
upon with contempt by their neighbours.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxvi-p5">II. These cities were to be assigned them
|
|
out of the possessions of each tribe, <scripRef passage="Nu 35:8" id="Num.xxxvi-p5.1" parsed="|Num|35|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. 1. That each tribe might thus
|
|
make a grateful acknowledgment to God out of their real as well as
|
|
out of their personal estates (for what was given to the Levites
|
|
was accepted as given to the Lord) and thus their possessions were
|
|
sanctified to them. 2. That each tribe might have the benefit of
|
|
the Levites' dwelling among them, to <i>teach them the good
|
|
knowledge of the Lord;</i> thus that light was diffused through all
|
|
parts of the country, and none were left to sit in darkness,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 33:10" id="Num.xxxvi-p5.2" parsed="|Deut|33|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.10">Deut. xxxiii. 10</scripRef>, <i>They
|
|
shall teach Jacob thy judgments.</i> Jacob's curse on Levi's anger
|
|
was, <i>I will scatter them in Israel,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 49:7" id="Num.xxxvi-p5.3" parsed="|Gen|49|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.7">Gen. xlix. 7</scripRef>. But that curse was turned into a
|
|
blessing, and the Levites, by being thus scattered, were put into a
|
|
capacity of doing so much the more good. It is a great mercy to a
|
|
country to be replenished in all parts with faithful ministers.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxvi-p6">III. The number allotted them was
|
|
forty-eight in all, four out of each of the twelve tribes, one with
|
|
another. Out of the united tribes of Simeon and Judah nine, out of
|
|
Naphtali three, and four apiece out of the rest, as appears,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Jos 21:1-45" id="Num.xxxvi-p6.1" parsed="|Josh|21|1|21|45" osisRef="Bible:Josh.21.1-Josh.21.45">Josh. xxi</scripRef>. Thus were
|
|
they blessed with a good ministry, and that ministry with a
|
|
comfortable maintenance, not only in tithes, but in glebe-lands.
|
|
And, though the gospel is not so particular as the law was in this
|
|
matter, yet it expressly provides that he that is <i>taught in the
|
|
word</i> should <i>communicate unto him that teaches in all good
|
|
things,</i> <scripRef passage="Ga 6:6" id="Num.xxxvi-p6.2" parsed="|Gal|6|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.6.6">Gal. vi. 6</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 35:9-34" id="Num.xxxvi-p6.3" parsed="|Num|35|9|35|34" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.9-Num.35.34"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.35.9-Num.35.34">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxxvi-p6.4">The Cities of Refuge. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxvi-p6.5">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxxvi-p7">9 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxvi-p7.1">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto Moses, saying,   10 Speak unto the children of
|
|
Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come over Jordan into the
|
|
land of Canaan;   11 Then ye shall appoint you cities to be
|
|
cities of refuge for you; that the slayer may flee thither, which
|
|
killeth any person at unawares.   12 And they shall be unto
|
|
you cities for refuge from the avenger; that the manslayer die not,
|
|
until he stand before the congregation in judgment.   13 And
|
|
of these cities which ye shall give six cities shall ye have for
|
|
refuge.   14 Ye shall give three cities on this side Jordan,
|
|
and three cities shall ye give in the land of Canaan, <i>which</i>
|
|
shall be cities of refuge.   15 These six cities shall be a
|
|
refuge, <i>both</i> for the children of Israel, and for the
|
|
stranger, and for the sojourner among them: that every one that
|
|
killeth any person unawares may flee thither.   16 And if he
|
|
smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he <i>is</i>
|
|
a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.   17
|
|
And if he smite him with throwing a stone, wherewith he may die,
|
|
and he die, he <i>is</i> a murderer: the murderer shall surely be
|
|
put to death.   18 Or <i>if</i> he smite him with an hand
|
|
weapon of wood, wherewith he may die, and he die, he <i>is</i> a
|
|
murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.   19 The
|
|
revenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer: when he meeteth
|
|
him, he shall slay him.   20 But if he thrust him of hatred,
|
|
or hurl at him by laying of wait, that he die;   21 Or in
|
|
enmity smite him with his hand, that he die: he that smote
|
|
<i>him</i> shall surely be put to death; <i>for</i> he <i>is</i> a
|
|
murderer: the revenger of blood shall slay the murderer, when he
|
|
meeteth him.   22 But if he thrust him suddenly without
|
|
enmity, or have cast upon him any thing without laying of wait,
|
|
  23 Or with any stone, wherewith a man may die, seeing
|
|
<i>him</i> not, and cast <i>it</i> upon him, that he die, and
|
|
<i>was</i> not his enemy, neither sought his harm:   24 Then
|
|
the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the revenger of
|
|
blood according to these judgments:   25 And the congregation
|
|
shall deliver the slayer out of the hand of the revenger of blood,
|
|
and the congregation shall restore him to the city of his refuge,
|
|
whither he was fled: and he shall abide in it unto the death of the
|
|
high priest, which was anointed with the holy oil.   26 But if
|
|
the slayer shall at any time come without the border of the city of
|
|
his refuge, whither he was fled;   27 And the revenger of
|
|
blood find him without the borders of the city of his refuge, and
|
|
the revenger of blood kill the slayer; he shall not be guilty of
|
|
blood:   28 Because he should have remained in the city of his
|
|
refuge until the death of the high priest: but after the death of
|
|
the high priest the slayer shall return into the land of his
|
|
possession.   29 So these <i>things</i> shall be for a statute
|
|
of judgment unto you throughout your generations in all your
|
|
dwellings.   30 Whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall
|
|
be put to death by the mouth of witnesses: but one witness shall
|
|
not testify against any person <i>to cause him</i> to die.  
|
|
31 Moreover ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a
|
|
murderer, which <i>is</i> guilty of death: but he shall be surely
|
|
put to death.   32 And ye shall take no satisfaction for him
|
|
that is fled to the city of his refuge, that he should come again
|
|
to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest.   33 So
|
|
ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye <i>are:</i> for blood it
|
|
defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood
|
|
that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it.  
|
|
34 Defile not therefore the land which ye shall inhabit, wherein I
|
|
dwell: for I the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxvi-p7.2">Lord</span> dwell among
|
|
the children of Israel.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxvi-p8">We have here the orders given concerning
|
|
the cities of refuge, fitly annexed to what goes before, because
|
|
they were all Levites' cities. In this part of the constitution
|
|
there is a great deal both of good law and pure gospel.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxvi-p9">I. Here is a great deal of good law, in the
|
|
case of murder and manslaughter, a case of which the laws of all
|
|
nations have taken particular cognizance. It is here enacted and
|
|
provided, consonant to natural equity,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxvi-p10">1. That wilful murder should be punished
|
|
with death, and in that case no sanctuary should be allowed, no
|
|
ransom taken, nor any commutation of the punishment accepted: The
|
|
<i>murderer shall surely be put to death,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 35:16" id="Num.xxxvi-p10.1" parsed="|Num|35|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. It is supposed to be done <i>of
|
|
hatred</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 35:20" id="Num.xxxvi-p10.2" parsed="|Num|35|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>),
|
|
or <i>in enmity</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 35:21" id="Num.xxxvi-p10.3" parsed="|Num|35|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.21"><i>v.</i>
|
|
21</scripRef>), upon a sudden provocation (for our Saviour makes
|
|
rash anger, as well as malice prepense, to be murder, <scripRef passage="Mt 5:21,22" id="Num.xxxvi-p10.4" parsed="|Matt|5|21|5|22" osisRef="Bible:Matt.5.21-Matt.5.22">Matt. v. 21, 22</scripRef>), whether the
|
|
person be murdered with an instrument of iron (<scripRef passage="Nu 35:16" id="Num.xxxvi-p10.5" parsed="|Num|35|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>) or wood (<scripRef passage="Nu 35:18" id="Num.xxxvi-p10.6" parsed="|Num|35|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>), or with a stone thrown at him
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 35:17,20" id="Num.xxxvi-p10.7" parsed="|Num|35|17|0|0;|Num|35|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.17 Bible:Num.35.20"><i>v.</i> 17, 20</scripRef>); nay,
|
|
if he smite him with his hand in enmity, and death ensue, it is
|
|
murder (<scripRef passage="Nu 35:21" id="Num.xxxvi-p10.8" parsed="|Num|35|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>); and
|
|
it was an ancient law, consonant to the law of nature, that
|
|
<i>whoso sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 9:6" id="Num.xxxvi-p10.9" parsed="|Gen|9|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.6">Gen. ix. 6</scripRef>. Where wrong has
|
|
been done restitution must be made; and, since the murderer cannot
|
|
restore the life he has wrongfully taken away, his own must be
|
|
exacted from him in lieu of it, not (as some have fancied) to
|
|
satisfy the manes or ghost of the person slain, but to satisfy the
|
|
law and the justice of a nation; and to be a warning to all others
|
|
not to do likewise. It is here said, and it is well worthy the
|
|
consideration of all princes and states, <i>that blood defiles</i>
|
|
not only the conscience of the murderer, who is thereby proved
|
|
<i>not to have eternal life abiding in him</i> (<scripRef passage="1Jo 3:15" id="Num.xxxvi-p10.10" parsed="|1John|3|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.3.15">1 John iii. 15</scripRef>), but also the land in which
|
|
it is shed; so very offensive is it to God and all good men, and
|
|
the worst of nuisances. And it is added that <i>the land cannot be
|
|
cleansed</i> from the blood of the murdered, but by the blood of
|
|
the murderer, <scripRef passage="Nu 35:33" id="Num.xxxvi-p10.11" parsed="|Num|35|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>.
|
|
If murderers escape punishment from men, those that suffer them to
|
|
escape will have a great deal to answer for, and God will
|
|
nevertheless not suffer them to escape his righteous judgments.
|
|
Upon the same principle it is provided that no satisfaction should
|
|
be taken for the <i>life of a murderer</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 35:31" id="Num.xxxvi-p10.12" parsed="|Num|35|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>): <i>If a man would give all the
|
|
substance of his house</i> to the judges, to the country, or to the
|
|
avenger of blood, to atone for his crime, it must <i>utterly be
|
|
contemned.</i> The redemption of the life is so precious that it
|
|
cannot be obtained by the <i>multitude of riches</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 49:6-8" id="Num.xxxvi-p10.13" parsed="|Ps|49|6|49|8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.49.6-Ps.49.8">Ps. xlix. 6-8</scripRef>), which perhaps may
|
|
allude to this law. A rule of law comes in here (which is a rule of
|
|
our law in cases of treason only) that no man shall be put to death
|
|
upon the testimony of one witness, but it was necessary there
|
|
should be two (<scripRef passage="Nu 35:30" id="Num.xxxvi-p10.14" parsed="|Num|35|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.30"><i>v.</i>
|
|
30</scripRef>); this law is settled in all capital cases, <scripRef passage="De 17:6,19:15" id="Num.xxxvi-p10.15" parsed="|Deut|17|6|0|0;|Deut|19|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.6 Bible:Deut.19.15">Deut. xvii. 6; xix. 15</scripRef>. And,
|
|
<i>lastly,</i> not only the prosecution, but the execution, of the
|
|
murderer, is committed to the next of kin, who, as he was to be the
|
|
redeemer of his kinsman's estate if it were mortgaged, so he was to
|
|
be the <i>avenger of his blood if he were murdered</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 35:19" id="Num.xxxvi-p10.16" parsed="|Num|35|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>): <i>The avenger of
|
|
blood himself shall slay the murderer,</i> if he be convicted by
|
|
the <i>notorious evidence of the fact,</i> and he needed not to
|
|
have recourse by a judicial process to the court of judgment. But
|
|
if it were uncertain who the murderer was, and the proof doubtful,
|
|
we cannot think that his bare suspicion, or surmise, would empower
|
|
him to do that which the judges themselves could not do but upon
|
|
the testimony of two witnesses. Only if the fact were plain then
|
|
the next heir of the person slain might himself, in a just
|
|
indignation, slay the murderer wherever he met him. Some think this
|
|
must be understood to be after the lawful judgment of the
|
|
magistrate, and so the Chaldee says, "He shall slay him, <i>when he
|
|
shall be condemned unto him by judgment;</i>" but it should seem,
|
|
by <scripRef passage="Nu 35:24" id="Num.xxxvi-p10.17" parsed="|Num|35|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>, that the
|
|
judges interposed only in a doubtful case, and that if the person
|
|
on whom he took vengeance was indeed the murderer, and a wilful
|
|
murderer, the avenger was innocent (<scripRef passage="Nu 35:27" id="Num.xxxvi-p10.18" parsed="|Num|35|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>), only, if it proved otherwise,
|
|
it was at his peril. Our law allows an appeal to be brought against
|
|
a murderer by the widow, or next heir, of the person murdered, yea,
|
|
though the murderer have been acquitted upon an indictment; and, if
|
|
the murderer be found guilty upon that appeal, execution shall be
|
|
awarded at the suit of the appellant, who may properly be called
|
|
<i>the avenger of blood.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxvi-p11">2. But if the homicide was not voluntary,
|
|
nor done designedly, if it was <i>without enmity, or lying in
|
|
wait</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 35:22" id="Num.xxxvi-p11.1" parsed="|Num|35|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>),
|
|
not <i>seeing</i> the person or not <i>seeking his harm</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 35:23" id="Num.xxxvi-p11.2" parsed="|Num|35|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>), which our
|
|
law calls chance-medley, or homicide <i>per infortunium—through
|
|
misfortune,</i> in this case there were cities of refuge appointed
|
|
for the manslayer to flee to. By our law this incurs a forfeiture
|
|
of goods, but a pardon is granted of course upon the special matter
|
|
found. Concerning the cities of refuge the law was, (1.) That, if a
|
|
man killed another, in these cities he was safe, and under the
|
|
protection of the law, till he had his trial <i>before the
|
|
congregation,</i> that is, before the judges in open court. If he
|
|
neglected thus to surrender himself, it was at his peril; if the
|
|
avenger of blood met him elsewhere, or overtook him loitering in
|
|
his way to the city of refuge, and slew him, his blood was upon his
|
|
own head, because he did not make use of the security which God had
|
|
provided for him. (2.) If, upon trial, it were found to be willful
|
|
murder, the city of refuge should no longer be a protection to him;
|
|
it was already determined: <i>Thou shalt take him from my altar,
|
|
that he may die,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 21:14" id="Num.xxxvi-p11.3" parsed="|Exod|21|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.14">Exod. xxi.
|
|
14</scripRef>. (3.) But if it were found to be by error or
|
|
accident, and that the stroke was given without any design upon the
|
|
life of the person slain or any other, then the man-slayer should
|
|
continue safe in <i>the city of refuge,</i> and the avenger of
|
|
blood might not meddle with him, <scripRef passage="Nu 35:25" id="Num.xxxvi-p11.4" parsed="|Num|35|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>. There he was to remain in
|
|
banishment from his own house and patrimony <i>till the death of
|
|
the high priest;</i> and, if at any time he went out of that city
|
|
or the suburbs of it, he put himself out of the protection of the
|
|
law, and the avenger of blood, if he met him, might slay him,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 35:26-28" id="Num.xxxvi-p11.5" parsed="|Num|35|26|35|28" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.26-Num.35.28"><i>v.</i> 26-28</scripRef>. Now,
|
|
[1.] By the preservation of the life of the man-slayer God would
|
|
teach us that men ought not to suffer for that which is rather
|
|
their unhappiness than their crime, rather the act of Providence
|
|
than their own act, for <i>God delivered him into his hand,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 21:13" id="Num.xxxvi-p11.6" parsed="|Exod|21|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.13">Exod. xxi. 13</scripRef>. [2.] By the
|
|
banishment of the man-slayer from his own city, and his confinement
|
|
to the city of refuge, where he was in a manner a prisoner, God
|
|
would teach us to conceive a dread and horror of the guilt of
|
|
blood, and to be very careful of life, and always afraid lest by
|
|
oversight or negligence we occasion the death of any. [3.] By the
|
|
limiting of the time of the offender's banishment to the death of
|
|
the high priest, an honour was put upon that sacred office. The
|
|
high priest was to be looked upon as so great a blessing to his
|
|
country that when he died their sorrow upon that occasion should
|
|
swallow up all other resentments. The cities of refuge being all of
|
|
them Levites' cities, and the high priest being the head of that
|
|
tribe, and consequently having a peculiar dominion over these
|
|
cites, those that were confined to them might properly be looked
|
|
upon as his prisoners, and so his death must be their discharge; it
|
|
was, as it were, at his suit that the delinquent was imprisoned,
|
|
and therefore at his death it fell. <i>Actio moritur cum
|
|
persona—The suit expires with the party.</i> Anisworth has another
|
|
notion of it, That as the high priests, while they lived, by their
|
|
service and sacrificing made atonement for sin, wherein they
|
|
prefigured Christ's satisfaction, so, at their death, those were
|
|
released that had been exiled for casual murder, which typified
|
|
redemption in Israel. [4.] By the abandoning of the prisoner to the
|
|
avenger of blood, in case he at any time went out of the limits of
|
|
the city of refuge, they were taught to adhere to the methods which
|
|
Infinite Wisdom prescribed for their security. It was for the
|
|
honour of a remedial law that it should be so strictly observed.
|
|
How can we expect to be saved if we neglect the salvation, which is
|
|
indeed a great salvation!</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxvi-p12">II. Here is a great deal of good gospel
|
|
couched under the type and figure of the cities of refuge; and to
|
|
them the apostle seems to allude when he speaks of our <i>fleeing
|
|
for refuge to the hope set before is</i> (<scripRef passage="Heb 6:18" id="Num.xxxvi-p12.1" parsed="|Heb|6|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.6.18">Heb. vi. 18</scripRef>), and being <i>found in
|
|
Christ,</i> <scripRef passage="Php 3:9" id="Num.xxxvi-p12.2" parsed="|Phil|3|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Phil.3.9">Phil. iii. 9</scripRef>. We
|
|
never read in the history of the Old Testament of any use made of
|
|
these cities of refuge, any more than of other such institutions,
|
|
which yet, no doubt, were made use of upon the occasions intended;
|
|
only we read of those that, in dangerous cases, took hold of <i>the
|
|
horns of the altar</i> (<scripRef passage="1Ki 1:50,2:28" id="Num.xxxvi-p12.3" parsed="|1Kgs|1|50|0|0;|1Kgs|2|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.1.50 Bible:1Kgs.2.28">1 Kings
|
|
i. 50; ii. 28</scripRef>); for the altar, wherever that stood, was,
|
|
as it were the capital <i>city of refuge.</i> But the law
|
|
concerning these cities was designed both to raise and to encourage
|
|
the expectations of those who looked for redemption in Israel,
|
|
which should be to those who were convinced of sin, and in terror
|
|
by reason of it, as the cities of refuge were to the man-slayer.
|
|
Observe, 1. There were several cities of refuge, and they were so
|
|
appointed in several parts of the country that the man-slayer,
|
|
wherever he dwelt in the land of Israel, might in half a day reach
|
|
one or other of them; so, though there is but one Christ appointed
|
|
for our refuge, yet, wherever we are, he is a refuge at hand, a
|
|
very present help, for <i>the word is nigh us</i> and Christ in the
|
|
word. 2. The man-slayer was safe in any of these cities; so in
|
|
Christ believers that flee to him, and rest in him, are protected
|
|
from the wrath of God and the curse of the law. <i>There is no
|
|
condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus,</i> <scripRef passage="Ro 8:1" id="Num.xxxvi-p12.4" parsed="|Rom|8|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.8.1">Rom. viii. 1</scripRef>. Who shall condemn those
|
|
that are thus sheltered? 3. They were all Levites' cities; it was a
|
|
kindness to the poor prisoner that though he might not go up to the
|
|
place where the ark was, yet he was in the midst of Levites, who
|
|
would teach him the good knowledge of the Lord, and instruct him
|
|
how to improve the providence he was now under. It might also be
|
|
expected that the Levites would comfort and encourage him, and bid
|
|
him welcome; so it is the work of gospel ministers to bid poor
|
|
sinners welcome to Christ, and to assist and counsel those that
|
|
through grace are in him. 4. Even strangers and sojourners, though
|
|
they were not native Israelites, might take the benefit of these
|
|
cities of refuge, <scripRef passage="Nu 35:15" id="Num.xxxvi-p12.5" parsed="|Num|35|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.15"><i>v.</i>
|
|
15</scripRef>. So in Christ Jesus no difference in made between
|
|
Greek and Jew; even the <i>sons of the stranger</i> that by faith
|
|
flee to Christ shall be safe in him. 5. Even the suburbs or borders
|
|
of the city were a sufficient security to the offender, <scripRef passage="Nu 35:26,27" id="Num.xxxvi-p12.6" parsed="|Num|35|26|35|27" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.26-Num.35.27"><i>v.</i> 26, 27</scripRef>. So there is
|
|
virtue even in the hem of Christ's garment for the healing and
|
|
saving of poor sinners. If we cannot reach to a full assurance, we
|
|
may comfort ourselves in a good hope through grace. 6. The
|
|
protection which the man-slayer found in the city of refuge was not
|
|
owing to the strength of its walls, or gates, or bars, but purely
|
|
to the divine appointment; so it is the word of the gospel that
|
|
gives souls safety in Christ, <i>for him hath God the Father
|
|
sealed.</i> 7. If the offender was ever caught struggling out of
|
|
the borders of his city of refuge, or stealing home to his house
|
|
again, he lost the benefit of his protection, and lay exposed to
|
|
the avenger of blood; so those that are in Christ must abide in
|
|
Christ, for it is at their peril if they forsake him and wander
|
|
from him. <i>Drawing back is to perdition.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXXVI" n="xxxvii" progress="81.55%" prev="Num.xxxvi" next="Deu" id="Num.xxxvii">
|
|
<h2 id="Num.xxxvii-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Num.xxxvii-p0.2">CHAP. XXXVI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Num.xxxvii-p1">We have in this chapter the determination of
|
|
another question that arose upon the case of the daughters of
|
|
Zelophehad. God had appointed that they should inherit, <scripRef passage="Nu 27:7" id="Num.xxxvii-p1.1" parsed="|Num|27|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.27.7"><i>ch.</i> xxvii. 7</scripRef>. Now here, I. An
|
|
inconvenience is suggested, in case they should marry into any
|
|
other tribe, <scripRef passage="Nu 36:1-4" id="Num.xxxvii-p1.2" parsed="|Num|36|1|36|4" osisRef="Bible:Num.36.1-Num.36.4">ver. 1-4</scripRef>. II.
|
|
It is prevented by a divine appointment that they should marry in
|
|
their own tribe and family (<scripRef passage="Nu 36:5-7" id="Num.xxxvii-p1.3" parsed="|Num|36|5|36|7" osisRef="Bible:Num.36.5-Num.36.7">ver.
|
|
5-7</scripRef>), and this is settled for a rule in like cases
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 36:8,9" id="Num.xxxvii-p1.4" parsed="|Num|36|8|36|9" osisRef="Bible:Num.36.8-Num.36.9">ver. 8, 9</scripRef>); and they did
|
|
marry accordingly to some of their own relations (<scripRef passage="Nu 36:10-12" id="Num.xxxvii-p1.5" parsed="|Num|36|10|36|12" osisRef="Bible:Num.36.10-Num.36.12">ver. 10-12</scripRef>), and with this the
|
|
book concludes, <scripRef passage="Nu 36:13" id="Num.xxxvii-p1.6" parsed="|Num|36|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.36.13">ver.
|
|
13</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 36" id="Num.xxxvii-p1.7" parsed="|Num|36|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.36"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 36:1-4" id="Num.xxxvii-p1.8" parsed="|Num|36|1|36|4" osisRef="Bible:Num.36.1-Num.36.4"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.36.1-Num.36.4">
|
|
<h4 id="Num.xxxvii-p1.9">The Law of Inheritance. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxvii-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1452.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxxvii-p2">1 And the chief fathers of the families of the
|
|
children of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the
|
|
families of the sons of Joseph, came near, and spake before Moses,
|
|
and before the princes, the chief fathers of the children of
|
|
Israel:   2 And they said, The <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxvii-p2.1">Lord</span> commanded my lord to give the land for an
|
|
inheritance by lot to the children of Israel: and my lord was
|
|
commanded by the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxvii-p2.2">Lord</span> to give the
|
|
inheritance of Zelophehad our brother unto his daughters.   3
|
|
And if they be married to any of the sons of the <i>other</i>
|
|
tribes of the children of Israel, then shall their inheritance be
|
|
taken from the inheritance of our fathers, and shall be put to the
|
|
inheritance of the tribe whereunto they are received: so shall it
|
|
be taken from the lot of our inheritance.   4 And when the
|
|
jubilee of the children of Israel shall be, then shall their
|
|
inheritance be put unto the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they
|
|
are received: so shall their inheritance be taken away from the
|
|
inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxvii-p3">We have here the humble address which the
|
|
heads of the tribe of Manasseh made to Moses and the princes, on
|
|
occasion of the order lately made concerning the daughters of
|
|
Zelophehad. The family they belonged to was part of that half of
|
|
the tribe of Manasseh which we yet to have their lot within Jordan,
|
|
not that half that was already settled; and yet they speak of the
|
|
land of their possession, and the inheritance of their fathers,
|
|
with as great assurance as if they had it already in their hands,
|
|
knowing whom they had trusted. In their appeal observe, 1. They
|
|
fairly recite the former order made in this case, and do not move
|
|
to have that set aside, but are very willing to acquiesce in it
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 36:2" id="Num.xxxvii-p3.1" parsed="|Num|36|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.36.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>): <i>The Lord
|
|
commanded to give the inheritance of Zelophehad to his
|
|
daughters;</i> and they are very well pleased that it should be so,
|
|
none of them knowing but that hereafter it might be the case of
|
|
their own families, and then their daughters would have the benefit
|
|
of this law. 2. They represent the inconvenience which might,
|
|
possibly, follow hereupon, if the daughters of Zelophehad should
|
|
see cause to marry into any other tribes, <scripRef passage="Nu 36:3" id="Num.xxxvii-p3.2" parsed="|Num|36|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.36.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. And it is probable that this was
|
|
not a bare surmise, or supposition, but that they knew, at this
|
|
time, great court was made to them by some young gentlemen of other
|
|
tribes, because they were heiresses, that they might get footing in
|
|
this tribe, and so enlarge their own inheritance. This truly is
|
|
often aimed at more than it should be in making marriages, not the
|
|
meetness of the person, but the convenience of the estate, to
|
|
<i>lay house to house, and field to field. Wisdom indeed is good
|
|
with an inheritance;</i> but what is an inheritance good for in
|
|
that relation without wisdom? But here, we may presume, the
|
|
personal merit of these daughters recommended them as well as their
|
|
fortunes; however, the heads of their tribe foresaw the mischief
|
|
that would follow, and brought the case to Moses, that he might
|
|
consult the oracle of God concerning it. The difficulty they start
|
|
God could have obviated and provided against in the former order
|
|
given in this case; but to teach us that we must, in our affairs,
|
|
not only attend God's providence, but make use of our own prudence,
|
|
God did not direct in it till the themselves that were concerned
|
|
wisely foresaw the inconvenience, and piously applied to Moses for
|
|
a rule in it. For though they were chief fathers in their families,
|
|
and might have assumed a power to overrule these daughters of
|
|
Zelophehad in disposing of themselves, especially their father
|
|
being dead and the common interest of their tribe being concerned
|
|
in it, yet they chose rather to refer the matter to Moses, and it
|
|
issued well. We should not covet to be judges in our own case, for
|
|
it is difficult to be so without being partial. It is easier in
|
|
many cases to take good advice than to give it, and it is a
|
|
satisfaction to be under direction. Two things they aimed at in
|
|
their representation:—(1.) To preserve the divine appointment of
|
|
inheritances. They urged the command (<scripRef passage="Nu 36:2" id="Num.xxxvii-p3.3" parsed="|Num|36|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.36.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), that the land should be given by
|
|
lot to the respective tribes, and urged that it would break in upon
|
|
the divine appointment if such a considerable part of the lot of
|
|
Manasseh should, by their marriage, be transferred to any other
|
|
tribe; for the issue would be denominated from the father's tribe,
|
|
not the mother's. This indeed would not lessen the lot of the
|
|
particular persons of that tribe (they would have their own still),
|
|
but it would lessen the lot of the tribe in general, and render it
|
|
less strong and considerable; they therefore thought themselves
|
|
concerned for the reputation of their tribe, and perhaps were the
|
|
more jealous for it because it was already very much weakened by
|
|
the sitting down of the one half of it on this side Jordan. (2.) To
|
|
prevent contests and quarrels among posterity. If those of other
|
|
tribes should come among them perhaps it might occasion some
|
|
contests. They would be apt to give and receive disturbance, and
|
|
their title might, in process of time, come to be questioned; and
|
|
how great a matter would this fire kindle! It is the wisdom and
|
|
duty of those that have estates in the world to settle them, and
|
|
dispose of them, so as that no strife and contention may arise
|
|
about them among posterity.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="Nu 36:5-13" id="Num.xxxvii-p3.4" parsed="|Num|36|5|36|13" osisRef="Bible:Num.36.5-Num.36.13"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.36.5-Num.36.13">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Num.xxxvii-p4">5 And Moses commanded the children of Israel
|
|
according to the word of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxvii-p4.1">Lord</span>,
|
|
saying, The tribe of the sons of Joseph hath said well.   6
|
|
This <i>is</i> the thing which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxvii-p4.2">Lord</span> doth command concerning the daughters of
|
|
Zelophehad, saying, Let them marry to whom they think best; only to
|
|
the family of the tribe of their father shall they marry.   7
|
|
So shall not the inheritance of the children of Israel remove from
|
|
tribe to tribe: for every one of the children of Israel shall keep
|
|
himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.   8
|
|
And every daughter, that possesseth an inheritance in any tribe of
|
|
the children of Israel, shall be wife unto one of the family of the
|
|
tribe of her father, that the children of Israel may enjoy every
|
|
man the inheritance of his fathers.   9 Neither shall the
|
|
inheritance remove from <i>one</i> tribe to another tribe; but
|
|
every one of the tribes of the children of Israel shall keep
|
|
himself to his own inheritance.   10 Even as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxvii-p4.3">Lord</span> commanded Moses, so did the daughters of
|
|
Zelophehad:   11 For Mahlah, Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milcah,
|
|
and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married unto their
|
|
father's brothers' sons:   12 <i>And</i> they were married
|
|
into the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and
|
|
their inheritance remained in the tribe of the family of their
|
|
father.   13 These <i>are</i> the commandments and the
|
|
judgments, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.xxxvii-p4.4">Lord</span> commanded
|
|
by the hand of Moses unto the children of Israel in the plains of
|
|
Moab by Jordan <i>near</i> Jericho.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxvii-p5">Here is, I. The matter settled by express
|
|
order from God between the daughters of Zelophehad and the rest of
|
|
the tribe of Manasseh. The petition is assented to, and care taken
|
|
to prevent the inconvenience feared: <i>The tribe of the sons of
|
|
Joseph hath said well,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 36:5" id="Num.xxxvii-p5.1" parsed="|Num|36|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.36.5"><i>v.</i>
|
|
5</scripRef>. Thus those that consult the oracles of God concerning
|
|
the making of their heavenly inheritance sure shall not only be
|
|
directed what to do, but their enquiries shall be graciously
|
|
accepted, and they shall have not only their <i>well done,</i> but
|
|
their <i>well said,</i> good and faithful servant. Now the matter
|
|
is thus accommodated: these heiresses must be obliged to marry, not
|
|
only within their own tribe of Manasseh, but within the particular
|
|
family of the Hepherites, to which they did belong. 1. They are not
|
|
determined to any particular persons; there was choice enough in
|
|
the family of their father: <i>Let them marry to whom they think
|
|
best.</i> As children must preserve the authority of their parents,
|
|
and not marry against their minds, so parents must consult the
|
|
affections of their children in disposing of them, and not compel
|
|
them to marry such as they cannot love. Forced marriages are not
|
|
likely to prove blessings. 2. Yet they are confined to their own
|
|
relations, that their inheritance may not go to another family. God
|
|
would have them know that the land being to be divided by lot, the
|
|
disposal whereof was of the Lord, they could not mend, and
|
|
therefore should not alter, his appointment. The inheritances must
|
|
not <i>remove from tribe to tribe</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 36:7" id="Num.xxxvii-p5.2" parsed="|Num|36|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.36.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>), lest there should be confusion
|
|
among them, their estates entangled, and their genealogies
|
|
perplexed. God would not have one tribe to be enriched by the
|
|
straitening and impoverishing of another, since they were all alike
|
|
the seed of Abraham his friend.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxvii-p6">II. The law, in this particular case, was
|
|
made perpetual, and to be observed whenever hereafter the like case
|
|
should happen, <scripRef passage="Nu 36:8" id="Num.xxxvii-p6.1" parsed="|Num|36|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.36.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>.
|
|
Those that were not heiresses might marry into what tribe they
|
|
pleased (though we may suppose that, ordinarily, they kept within
|
|
their own tribe), but those that were must either quit their claim
|
|
to the inheritance or marry one of their own family, that each of
|
|
the tribes might keep to its own inheritance, and one tribe might
|
|
not encroach upon another, but throughout their generations there
|
|
might remain immovable the ancient landmarks, set, not by their
|
|
fathers, but by the <i>God of their fathers.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxvii-p7">III. The submission of the daughters of
|
|
Zelophehad to this appointment. How could they but marry well, and
|
|
to their satisfaction, when God himself directed them? They married
|
|
their father's brothers' sons, <scripRef passage="Nu 36:10-12" id="Num.xxxvii-p7.1" parsed="|Num|36|10|36|12" osisRef="Bible:Num.36.10-Num.36.12"><i>v.</i> 10-12</scripRef>. By this it appears, 1.
|
|
That the marriage of cousin-germans is not in itself unlawful, nor
|
|
within the degrees prohibited, for then God would not have
|
|
countenanced these marriages. But, 2. That ordinarily it is not
|
|
advisable; for, if there had not been a particular reason for it
|
|
(which cannot hold in any case now, inheritances being not disposed
|
|
of as then by the special designation of Heaven), they would not
|
|
have married such near relations. The world is wide, and he that
|
|
walks uprightly will endeavour to walk surely.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Num.xxxvii-p8">IV. The conclusion of this whole book,
|
|
referring to the latter part of it: <i>These are the judgments
|
|
which the Lord commanded in the plains of Moab</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 36:13" id="Num.xxxvii-p8.1" parsed="|Num|36|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.36.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>), these foregoing, ever
|
|
since <scripRef passage="Nu 26:1-3" id="Num.xxxvii-p8.2" parsed="|Num|26|1|26|3" osisRef="Bible:Num.26.1-Num.26.3"><i>ch.</i> xxvi.</scripRef>,
|
|
most of which related to their settlement in Canaan, into which
|
|
they were now entering. Whatever new condition God is by his
|
|
providence bringing us into, we must beg of him to teach us the
|
|
duty of it, and to enable us to do it, that we may do the work of
|
|
the day in its day, of the place in its place.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
</div1>
|
|
|
|
<div1 title="Deuteronomy" n="v" progress="81.78%" prev="Num.xxxvii" next="Deu.i" id="Deu">
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Introduction" n="i" progress="81.78%" prev="Deu" next="Deu.ii" id="Deu.i">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.i-p0.1">Deuteronomy</h2>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<hr/>
|
|
|
|
<pb n="562" id="Deu.i-Page_562"/>
|
|
|
|
<div class="Center" id="Deu.i-p0.3">
|
|
<p id="Deu.i-p1"><b>AN</b></p>
|
|
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.i-p1.1">EXPOSITION,</h3>
|
|
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.i-p1.2">W I T H   P R A C T I C A L   O B S E
|
|
R V A T I O N S,</h4>
|
|
|
|
<h5 id="Deu.i-p1.3">OF THE FIFTH BOOK OF MOSES, CALLED</h5>
|
|
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.i-p1.4">D E U T E R O N O M Y.</h2>
|
|
|
|
<hr style="width:2in"/>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.i-p2"><span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.i-p2.1">This</span> book is
|
|
a repetition of very much both of the history and of the laws
|
|
contained in the three foregoing books, which repetition Moses
|
|
delivered to Israel (both by word of mouth, that it might affect,
|
|
and by writing, that it might abide) a little before his death.
|
|
There is no new history in it but that of the death of Moses in the
|
|
last chapter, nor any new revelation to Moses, for aught that
|
|
appears, and therefore the style here is not, as before, <i>The
|
|
Lord spoke unto Moses, saying.</i> But the former laws are repeated
|
|
and commented upon, explained and enlarged, and some particular
|
|
precepts added to them, with copious reasonings for the enforcing
|
|
of them: in this Moses was divinely inspired and assisted, so that
|
|
this is as truly the word of the Lord by Moses as that which was
|
|
spoken to him with an audible voice <i>out of the tabernacle of the
|
|
congregation</i>, <scripRef passage="Le 1:1" id="Deu.i-p2.2" parsed="|Lev|1|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.1.1">Lev. i. 1</scripRef>.
|
|
The Greek interpreters call it <i>Deuteronomy,</i> which signifies
|
|
the <i>second law,</i> or a <i>second edition of the law,</i> not
|
|
with amendments, for there needed none, but with additions, for the
|
|
further direction of the people in divers cases not mentioned
|
|
before. Now, I. It was much for the honour of the divine law that
|
|
it should be thus repeated; how great were the things of that law
|
|
which was thus inculcated, and how inexcusable would those be by
|
|
whom they were <i>counted as a strange thing!</i> <scripRef passage="Ho 8:12" id="Deu.i-p2.3" parsed="|Hos|8|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.12">Hos. viii. 12</scripRef>. II. There might be a
|
|
particular reason for the repeating of it now; the men of that
|
|
generation to which the law was first given were all dead, and a
|
|
new generation had sprung up, to whom God would have it repeated by
|
|
Moses himself, that, if possible, it might make a lasting
|
|
impression upon them. Now that they were just going to take
|
|
possession of the land of Canaan, Moses must read the articles of
|
|
agreement to them, that they might know upon what terms and
|
|
conditions they were to hold and enjoy that land, and might
|
|
understand that they were upon their good behaviour in it. III. It
|
|
would be of great use to the people to have those parts of the law
|
|
thus gathered up and put together which did more immediately
|
|
concern them and their practice; for the laws which concerned the
|
|
priests and Levites, and the execution of their offices, are not
|
|
repeated: it was enough for them that they were once delivered.
|
|
But, in compassion to the infirmities of the people, the laws of
|
|
more common concern are delivered a second time. <i>Precept must be
|
|
upon precept, and line upon line,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 28:10" id="Deu.i-p2.4" parsed="|Isa|28|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.28.10">Isa. xxviii. 10</scripRef>. The great and needful
|
|
truths of the gospel should be often pressed upon people by the
|
|
ministers of Christ. <i>To write the same things</i> (says Paul,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Php 3:1" id="Deu.i-p2.5" parsed="|Phil|3|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Phil.3.1">Phil. iii. 1</scripRef>) <i>to me
|
|
indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.</i> What God has
|
|
spoken once we have need to hear twice, to hear many times, and it
|
|
is well if, after all, it be duly perceived and regarded. In three
|
|
ways this book of Deuteronomy was magnified and made honourable:—
|
|
1. The king was to write a copy of it with his own hand, and to
|
|
read therein all the days of his life, <scripRef passage="De 17:1-19:21" id="Deu.i-p2.6" parsed="|Deut|17|1|19|21" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.1-Deut.19.21"><i>ch.</i> xvii. xviii. xix.</scripRef> 2. It was
|
|
to be written upon great stones plastered, at their passing over
|
|
Jordan, <scripRef passage="De 27:2,3" id="Deu.i-p2.7" parsed="|Deut|27|2|27|3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.2-Deut.27.3"><i>ch.</i> xxvii. 2,
|
|
3</scripRef>. 3. It was to be read publicly every seventh year, at
|
|
the feast of tabernacles, by the priests, in the audience of all
|
|
Israel, <scripRef passage="De 31:9-13" id="Deu.i-p2.8" parsed="|Deut|31|9|31|13" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.9-Deut.31.13"><i>ch.</i> xxxi.
|
|
9</scripRef>, &c. The gospel is a kind of Deuteronomy, a second
|
|
law, a remedial law, a spiritual law, a law of faith; by it we are
|
|
under the law of Christ, and it is a law that <i>makes the comers
|
|
thereunto perfect.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.i-p3">This book of Deuteronomy begins with a
|
|
brief rehearsal of the most remarkable events that had befallen the
|
|
Israelites since they came from Mount Sinai. In the fourth chapter
|
|
we have a most pathetic exhortation to obedience. In the twelfth
|
|
chapter, and so on to the twenty-seventh, are repeated many
|
|
particular laws, which are enforced (<scripRef passage="De 27:1-28:68" id="Deu.i-p3.1" parsed="|Deut|27|1|28|68" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.1-Deut.28.68"><i>ch.</i> xxvii. and xxviii.</scripRef>) with
|
|
promises and threatenings, blessings and curses, formed into a
|
|
covenant, <scripRef passage="De 29:1-30:20" id="Deu.i-p3.2" parsed="|Deut|29|1|30|20" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.1-Deut.30.20"><i>ch.</i> xxix. and
|
|
xxx.</scripRef> Care is taken to perpetuate the remembrance of
|
|
these things among them (<scripRef passage="De 31:1-29" id="Deu.i-p3.3" parsed="|Deut|31|1|31|29" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.1-Deut.31.29"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xxxi.</scripRef>), particularly by a song (<scripRef passage="De 32:1-52" id="Deu.i-p3.4" parsed="|Deut|32|1|32|52" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.1-Deut.32.52"><i>ch.</i> xxxii.</scripRef>), and so Moses concludes
|
|
with a blessing, <scripRef passage="De 33:1-29" id="Deu.i-p3.5" parsed="|Deut|33|1|33|29" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.1-Deut.33.29"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xxxiii</scripRef>. All this was delivered by Moses to Israel in the
|
|
last month of his life. The whole book contains the history but of
|
|
two months; compare <scripRef passage="De 1:3,Jos 4:19" id="Deu.i-p3.6" parsed="|Deut|1|3|0|0;|Josh|4|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.3 Bible:Josh.4.19"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
i. 3 with Josh. iv. 19</scripRef>, the latter of which was the
|
|
thirty days of Israel's mourning for Moses; see how busy that great
|
|
and good man was to do good when he knew that his time was short,
|
|
how quick his motion when he drew near his rest. Thus we have more
|
|
recorded of what our blessed Saviour said and did in the last week
|
|
of his life than in any other. The last words of eminent persons
|
|
make or should make deep impressions. Observe, for the honour of
|
|
this book, that when our Saviour would answer the devil's
|
|
temptations with, <i>It is written,</i> he fetched all his
|
|
quotations out of this book, <scripRef passage="Mt 4:4,7,10" id="Deu.i-p3.7" parsed="|Matt|4|4|0|0;|Matt|4|7|0|0;|Matt|4|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.4.4 Bible:Matt.4.7 Bible:Matt.4.10">Matt.
|
|
iv. 4, 7, 10</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter I" n="ii" progress="81.89%" prev="Deu.i" next="Deu.iii" id="Deu.ii">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.ii-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.ii-p0.2">CHAP. I.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.ii-p1">The first part of Moses's farewell sermon to
|
|
Israel begins with this chapter, and is continued to the latter end
|
|
of the fourth chapter. In the first five verses of this chapter we
|
|
have the date of the sermon, the place where it was preached
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 1:1,2,5" id="Deu.ii-p1.1" parsed="|Deut|1|1|1|2;|Deut|1|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.1-Deut.1.2 Bible:Deut.1.5">ver. 1, 2, 5</scripRef>), and the
|
|
time when, <scripRef passage="De 1:3,4" id="Deu.ii-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|1|3|1|4" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.3-Deut.1.4">ver. 3, 4</scripRef>. The
|
|
narrative in this chapter reminds them, I. Of the promise God made
|
|
them of the land of Canaan, <scripRef passage="De 1:6-8" id="Deu.ii-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|1|6|1|8" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.6-Deut.1.8">ver.
|
|
6-8</scripRef>. II. Of the provision made of judges for them,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 1:9-18" id="Deu.ii-p1.4" parsed="|Deut|1|9|1|18" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.9-Deut.1.18">ver. 9-18</scripRef>. III. Of their
|
|
unbelief and murmuring upon the report of the spies, <scripRef passage="De 1:19-33" id="Deu.ii-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|1|19|1|33" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.19-Deut.1.33">ver. 19-33</scripRef>. IV. Of the sentence
|
|
passed upon them for it, and the ratification of that sentence,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 1:34-46" id="Deu.ii-p1.6" parsed="|Deut|1|34|1|46" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.34-Deut.1.46">ver. 34</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 1" id="Deu.ii-p1.7" parsed="|Deut|1|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 1:1-8" id="Deu.ii-p1.8" parsed="|Deut|1|1|1|8" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.1-Deut.1.8"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.1.1-Deut.1.8">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.ii-p1.9">Israel's History Repeated. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ii-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.ii-p2">1 These <i>be</i> the words which Moses spake
|
|
unto all Israel on this side Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain
|
|
over against the Red <i>sea,</i> between Paran, and Tophel, and
|
|
Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab.   2 (<i>There are</i> eleven
|
|
days' <i>journey</i> from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto
|
|
Kadesh-barnea.)   3 And it came to pass in the fortieth year,
|
|
in the eleventh month, on the first <i>day</i> of the month,
|
|
<i>that</i> Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto
|
|
all that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ii-p2.1">Lord</span> had given him in
|
|
commandment unto them;   4 After he had slain Sihon the king
|
|
of the Amorites, which dwelt in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan,
|
|
which dwelt at Astaroth in Edrei:   5 On this side Jordan, in
|
|
the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law, saying,   6
|
|
The <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ii-p2.2">Lord</span> our God spake unto us in
|
|
Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount:   7
|
|
Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the
|
|
Amorites, and unto all <i>the places</i> nigh thereunto, in the
|
|
plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the
|
|
sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the
|
|
great river, the river Euphrates.   8 Behold, I have set the
|
|
land before you: go in and possess the land which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ii-p2.3">Lord</span> sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac,
|
|
and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ii-p3">We have here, I. The date of this sermon
|
|
which Moses preached to the people of Israel. A great auditory, no
|
|
question, he had, as many as could crowd within hearing, and
|
|
particularly all the elders and officers, the representatives of
|
|
the people; and, probably, it was on the sabbath day that he
|
|
delivered this to them. 1. The place were they were now encamped
|
|
was <i>in the plain, in the land of Moab</i> (<scripRef passage="De 1:1,5" id="Deu.ii-p3.1" parsed="|Deut|1|1|0|0;|Deut|1|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.1 Bible:Deut.1.5"><i>v.</i> 1, 5</scripRef>), where they were just ready
|
|
to enter Canaan, and engage in a war with the Canaanites. Yet he
|
|
discourses not to them concerning military affairs, the arts and
|
|
stratagems of war, but concerning their duty to God; for, if they
|
|
kept themselves in his fear and favour, he would secure to them the
|
|
conquest of the land: their religion would be their best policy. 2.
|
|
The time was near the end of the fortieth year since they came out
|
|
of Egypt. So long God had <i>borne their manners,</i> and they had
|
|
<i>borne their own iniquity</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 14:34" id="Deu.ii-p3.2" parsed="|Num|14|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.34">Num.
|
|
xiv. 34</scripRef>), and now that a new and more pleasant scene was
|
|
to be introduced, as a token for good, Moses repeats the law to
|
|
them. Thus, after God's controversy with them on account of the
|
|
golden calf, the first and surest sign of God's being reconciled to
|
|
them was the <i>renewing of the tables.</i> There is no better
|
|
evidence and earnest of God's favour than his putting his law in
|
|
our hearts, <scripRef passage="Ps 147:19,20" id="Deu.ii-p3.3" parsed="|Ps|147|19|147|20" osisRef="Bible:Ps.147.19-Ps.147.20">Ps. cxlvii. 19,
|
|
20</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ii-p4">II. The discourse itself. In general, Moses
|
|
spoke unto them <i>all that the Lord had given him in
|
|
commandment</i> (<scripRef passage="De 1:3" id="Deu.ii-p4.1" parsed="|Deut|1|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.3"><i>v.</i>
|
|
3</scripRef>), which intimates, not only that what he now delivered
|
|
was for substance the same with what had formerly been commanded,
|
|
but that it was what God now commanded him to repeat. He gave them
|
|
this rehearsal and exhortation purely by divine direction; God
|
|
appointed him to leave this legacy to the church. He begins his
|
|
narrative with their removal from Mount Sinai (<scripRef passage="De 1:6" id="Deu.ii-p4.2" parsed="|Deut|1|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), and relates here, 1. The orders
|
|
which God gave them to decamp, and proceed in their march
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 1:6,7" id="Deu.ii-p4.3" parsed="|Deut|1|6|1|7" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.6-Deut.1.7"><i>v.</i> 6, 7</scripRef>): <i>You
|
|
have dwelt long enough in this mount.</i> This was the mount
|
|
<i>that burned with fire</i> (<scripRef passage="Heb 12:18" id="Deu.ii-p4.4" parsed="|Heb|12|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.18">Heb.
|
|
xii. 18</scripRef>), and <i>gendered to bondage,</i> <scripRef passage="Ga 4:24" id="Deu.ii-p4.5" parsed="|Gal|4|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.4.24">Gal. iv. 24</scripRef>. Thither God brought them
|
|
to humble them, and by the terrors of the law to prepare them for
|
|
the land of promise. There he kept them about a year, and then told
|
|
them they had <i>dwelt long enough</i> there, they must go forward.
|
|
Though God brings his people into trouble and affliction, into
|
|
spiritual trouble and affliction of mind, he knows when they have
|
|
dwelt long enough in it, and will certainly find a time, the
|
|
fittest time, to advance them from the terrors of the spirit of
|
|
adoption. See <scripRef passage="Ro 8:15" id="Deu.ii-p4.6" parsed="|Rom|8|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.8.15">Rom. viii. 15</scripRef>.
|
|
2. The prospect which he gave them of a happy and early settlement
|
|
in Canaan: <i>Go to the land of the Canaanites</i> (<scripRef passage="De 1:7" id="Deu.ii-p4.7" parsed="|Deut|1|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>); enter and take
|
|
possession, it is all your own. <i>Behold I have set the land
|
|
before you,</i> <scripRef passage="De 1:8" id="Deu.ii-p4.8" parsed="|Deut|1|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>.
|
|
When God commands us to go forward in our Christian course he sets
|
|
the heavenly Canaan before us for our encouragement.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 1:9-18" id="Deu.ii-p4.9" parsed="|Deut|1|9|1|18" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.9-Deut.1.18"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.1.9-Deut.1.18">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.ii-p4.10">The Charge to Magistrates. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ii-p4.11">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.ii-p5">9 And I spake unto you at that time, saying, I
|
|
am not able to bear you myself alone:   10 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ii-p5.1">Lord</span> your God hath multiplied you, and, behold,
|
|
ye <i>are</i> this day as the stars of heaven for multitude.  
|
|
11 (The <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ii-p5.2">Lord</span> God of your fathers
|
|
make you a thousand times so many more as ye <i>are,</i> and bless
|
|
you, as he hath promised you!)   12 How can I myself alone
|
|
bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife?   13
|
|
Take you wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes,
|
|
and I will make them rulers over you.   14 And ye answered me,
|
|
and said, The thing which thou hast spoken <i>is</i> good <i>for
|
|
us</i> to do.   15 So I took the chief of your tribes, wise
|
|
men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over
|
|
thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties,
|
|
and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes.   16
|
|
And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear <i>the
|
|
causes</i> between your brethren, and judge righteously between
|
|
<i>every</i> man and his brother, and the stranger <i>that is</i>
|
|
with him.   17 Ye shall not respect persons in judgment;
|
|
<i>but</i> ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall
|
|
not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment <i>is</i> God's:
|
|
and the cause that is too hard for you, bring <i>it</i> unto me,
|
|
and I will hear it.   18 And I commanded you at that time all
|
|
the things which ye should do.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ii-p6">Moses here reminds them of the happy
|
|
constitution of their government, which was such as might make them
|
|
all safe and easy if it was not their own fault. When good laws
|
|
were given them good men were entrusted with the execution of them,
|
|
which, as it was an instance of God's goodness to them, so it was
|
|
of the care of Moses concerning them; and, it should seem, he
|
|
mentions it here to recommend himself to them as a man that
|
|
sincerely sought their welfare, and so to make way for what he was
|
|
about to say to them, wherein he aimed at nothing but their good.
|
|
In this part of his narrative he insinuates to them,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ii-p7">I. That he greatly rejoiced in the increase
|
|
of their numbers. He owns the accomplishment of God's promise to
|
|
Abraham (<scripRef passage="De 1:10" id="Deu.ii-p7.1" parsed="|Deut|1|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>):
|
|
<i>You are as the stars of heaven for multitude;</i> and prays for
|
|
the further accomplishment of it (<scripRef passage="De 1:11" id="Deu.ii-p7.2" parsed="|Deut|1|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>): <i>God make you a thousand
|
|
times more.</i> This prayer comes in in a parenthesis, and a good
|
|
prayer prudently put in cannot be impertinent in any discourse of
|
|
divine things, nor will a pious ejaculation break the coherence,
|
|
but rather strengthen and adorn it. But how greatly are his desires
|
|
enlarged when he prays that they might be made a thousand times
|
|
more than they were! We are not straitened in the power and
|
|
goodness of God, why should we be straitened in our own faith and
|
|
hope, which ought to be as large as the promise? larger they need
|
|
not be. It is from the promise that Moses here takes the measures
|
|
of his prayer: <i>The Lord bless you as he hath promised you.</i>
|
|
And why might he not hope that they might become a thousand times
|
|
more than they were now when they were now ten thousand times more
|
|
than they were when they went down into Egypt, about 250 years ago?
|
|
Observe, When they were under the government of Pharaoh the
|
|
increase of their numbers was envied, and complained of as a
|
|
grievance (<scripRef passage="Ex 1:9" id="Deu.ii-p7.3" parsed="|Exod|1|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.1.9">Exod. i. 9</scripRef>); but
|
|
now, under the government of Moses, it was rejoiced in, and prayed
|
|
for as a blessing. The consideration of this might give them
|
|
occasion to reflect with shame upon their own folly when they had
|
|
talked of making a captain and returning to Egypt.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ii-p8">II. That he was not ambitious of
|
|
monopolizing the honour of the government, and ruling them himself
|
|
alone, as an absolute monarch, <scripRef passage="De 1:9" id="Deu.ii-p8.1" parsed="|Deut|1|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.9"><i>v.</i>
|
|
9</scripRef>. Though he was a man as well worthy of that honour,
|
|
and as well qualified for the business, as ever any man was, yet he
|
|
was desirous that others might be taken in as assistants to him in
|
|
the business and consequently sharers with him in the honour: <i>I
|
|
cannot myself alone bear the burden,</i> <scripRef passage="De 1:12" id="Deu.ii-p8.2" parsed="|Deut|1|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. Magistracy is a burden. Moses
|
|
himself, though eminently gifted for it, found it lay heavily on
|
|
his shoulders; nay, the best magistrates complain most of the
|
|
burden, and are most desirous of help, and most afraid of
|
|
undertaking more than they can perform.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ii-p9">III. That he was not desirous to prefer his
|
|
own creatures, or such as should underhand have a dependence upon
|
|
him; for he leaves it to the people to choose their own judges, to
|
|
whom he would grant commissions, not <i>durant bene placito—to be
|
|
turned out when he pleased;</i> but <i>quam diu se bene
|
|
gesserint—to continue so long as they approved themselves
|
|
faithful. Take you wise men, that are known to be so among your
|
|
tribes, and I will make them rulers,</i> <scripRef passage="De 1:13" id="Deu.ii-p9.1" parsed="|Deut|1|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. Thus the apostles directed the
|
|
multitude to choose overseers of the poor, and then they ordained
|
|
them,. <scripRef passage="Ac 6:3,6" id="Deu.ii-p9.2" parsed="|Acts|6|3|0|0;|Acts|6|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.6.3 Bible:Acts.6.6">Acts vi. 3, 6</scripRef>. He
|
|
directs them to <i>take wise men and understanding,</i> whose
|
|
personal merit would recommend them. The rise and origin of this
|
|
nation were so late that none of them could pretend to antiquity of
|
|
race, and nobility of birth, above their brethren; and, having all
|
|
lately come out of slavery in Egypt, it is probable that one family
|
|
was not much richer than another; so that their choice must be
|
|
directed purely by the qualifications of wisdom, experience, and
|
|
integrity. "Choose those," says Moses, "whose praise is in your
|
|
tribes, and with all my heart <i>I will make them rulers.</i>" We
|
|
must not grudge that God's work be done by other hands than ours,
|
|
provided it be done by good hands.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ii-p10">IV. That he was in this matter very willing
|
|
to please the people; and, though he did not in any thing aim at
|
|
their applause, yet in a thing of this nature he would not act
|
|
without their approbation. And they agreed to the proposal: <i>The
|
|
thing which thou hast spoken is good,</i> <scripRef passage="De 1:14" id="Deu.ii-p10.1" parsed="|Deut|1|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. This he mentions to aggravate
|
|
the sin of their mutinies and discontents after this, that the
|
|
government they quarrelled with was what they themselves had
|
|
consented to; Moses would have pleased them if they would have been
|
|
pleased.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ii-p11">V. That he aimed to edify them as well as
|
|
to gratify them; for,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ii-p12">1. He appointed men of good characters
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 1:15" id="Deu.ii-p12.1" parsed="|Deut|1|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>), <i>wise men
|
|
and men known,</i> men that would be faithful to their trust and to
|
|
the public interest.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ii-p13">2. He gave them a good charge, <scripRef passage="De 1:16,17" id="Deu.ii-p13.1" parsed="|Deut|1|16|1|17" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.16-Deut.1.17"><i>v.</i> 16, 17</scripRef>. Those that are
|
|
advanced to honour must know that they are charged with business,
|
|
and must give account another day of their charge. (1.) He charges
|
|
them to be diligent and patient: <i>Hear the causes.</i> Hear both
|
|
sides, hear them fully, hear them carefully; for nature has
|
|
provided us with two ears, and <i>he that answereth a matter before
|
|
he heareth it, it is folly and shame to him.</i> The ear of the
|
|
learner is necessary to the tongue of the learned, <scripRef passage="Isa 50:4" id="Deu.ii-p13.2" parsed="|Isa|50|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.50.4">Isa. l. 4</scripRef>. (2.) To be just and
|
|
impartial: <i>Judge righteously.</i> Judgment must be given
|
|
according to the merits of the cause, without regard to the quality
|
|
of the parties. The natives must not be suffered to abuse the
|
|
strangers any more that the strangers to insult the natives or to
|
|
encroach upon them; the great must not be suffered to oppress the
|
|
small, nor to crush them, any more than the small, to rob the
|
|
great, or to affront them. No faces must be known in judgment, but
|
|
unbribed unbiased equity must always pass sentence. (3.) To be
|
|
resolute and courageous: "<i>You shall not be afraid of the face of
|
|
man;</i> be not overawed to do an ill thing, either by the clamours
|
|
of the crowd or by the menaces of those that have power in their
|
|
hands." And he gave them a good reason to enforce this charge:
|
|
"<i>For the judgment is God's.</i> You are God's vicegerents, you
|
|
act for him, and therefore must act like him; you are his
|
|
representatives, but if you judge unrighteously, you misrepresent
|
|
him. The judgment is his, and therefore he will protect you in
|
|
doing right, and will certainly call you to account if you do
|
|
wrong."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ii-p14">3. He allowed them to bring all difficult
|
|
cases to him, and he would always be ready to hear and determine,
|
|
and to make both the judges and the people easy. <i>Happy art thou.
|
|
O Israel!</i> in such praise as Moses was.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 1" id="Deu.ii-p14.1" parsed="|Deut|1|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 1:19-46" id="Deu.ii-p14.2" parsed="|Deut|1|19|1|46" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.19-Deut.1.46"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.1.19-Deut.1.46">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.ii-p14.3">Israel's Sin at Kadesh. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ii-p14.4">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.ii-p15">19 And when we departed from Horeb, we went
|
|
through all that great and terrible wilderness, which ye saw by the
|
|
way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ii-p15.1">Lord</span> our God commanded us; and we came to
|
|
Kadesh-barnea.   20 And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the
|
|
mountain of the Amorites, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ii-p15.2">Lord</span> our God doth give unto us.   21
|
|
Behold, the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ii-p15.3">Lord</span> thy God hath set
|
|
the land before thee: go up <i>and</i> possess <i>it,</i> as the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ii-p15.4">Lord</span> God of thy fathers hath said
|
|
unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged.   22 And ye came
|
|
near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before
|
|
us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again
|
|
by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come.
|
|
  23 And the saying pleased me well: and I took twelve men of
|
|
you, one of a tribe:   24 And they turned and went up into the
|
|
mountain, and came unto the valley of Eshcol, and searched it out.
|
|
  25 And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands,
|
|
and brought <i>it</i> down unto us, and brought us word again, and
|
|
said, <i>It is</i> a good land which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ii-p15.5">Lord</span> our God doth give us.   26
|
|
Notwithstanding ye would not go up, but rebelled against the
|
|
commandment of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ii-p15.6">Lord</span> your God:
|
|
  27 And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ii-p15.7">Lord</span> hated us, he hath brought us
|
|
forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the
|
|
Amorites, to destroy us.   28 Whither shall we go up? our
|
|
brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people <i>is</i>
|
|
greater and taller than we; the cities <i>are</i> great and walled
|
|
up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims
|
|
there.   29 Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid
|
|
of them.   30 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ii-p15.8">Lord</span> your God
|
|
which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all
|
|
that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes;   31 And in the
|
|
wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ii-p15.9">Lord</span> thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his
|
|
son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place.
|
|
  32 Yet in this thing ye did not believe the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ii-p15.10">Lord</span> your God,   33 Who went in the way
|
|
before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents
|
|
<i>in,</i> in fire by night, to show you by what way ye should go,
|
|
and in a cloud by day.   34 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ii-p15.11">Lord</span> heard the voice of your words, and was
|
|
wroth, and sware, saying,   35 Surely there shall not one of
|
|
these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware
|
|
to give unto your fathers,   36 Save Caleb the son of
|
|
Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he
|
|
hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly
|
|
followed the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ii-p15.12">Lord</span>.   37 Also
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ii-p15.13">Lord</span> was angry with me for your
|
|
sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither.   38
|
|
<i>But</i> Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he
|
|
shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to
|
|
inherit it.   39 Moreover your little ones, which ye said
|
|
should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no
|
|
knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto
|
|
them will I give it, and they shall possess it.   40 But <i>as
|
|
for</i> you, turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness by
|
|
the way of the Red sea.   41 Then ye answered and said unto
|
|
me, We have sinned against the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ii-p15.14">Lord</span>,
|
|
we will go up and fight, according to all that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ii-p15.15">Lord</span> our God commanded us. And when ye had
|
|
girded on every man his weapons of war, ye were ready to go up into
|
|
the hill.   42 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ii-p15.16">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto me, Say unto them, Go not up, neither fight; for I
|
|
<i>am</i> not among you; lest ye be smitten before your enemies.
|
|
  43 So I spake unto you; and ye would not hear, but rebelled
|
|
against the commandment of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ii-p15.17">Lord</span>,
|
|
and went presumptuously up into the hill.   44 And the
|
|
Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and
|
|
chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, <i>even</i> unto
|
|
Hormah.   45 And ye returned and wept before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ii-p15.18">Lord</span>; but the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ii-p15.19">Lord</span> would not hearken to your voice, nor give
|
|
ear unto you.   46 So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according
|
|
unto the days that ye abode <i>there.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ii-p16">Moses here makes a large rehearsal of the
|
|
fatal turn which was given to their affairs by their own sins, and
|
|
God's wrath, when, from the very borders of Canaan, the honour of
|
|
conquering it, and the pleasure of possessing it, the whole
|
|
generation was hurried back into the wilderness, and their carcases
|
|
fell there. It was a memorable story; we read it <scripRef passage="Nu 13:1-14:45" id="Deu.ii-p16.1" parsed="|Num|13|1|14|45" osisRef="Bible:Num.13.1-Num.14.45">Num. 13 and 14</scripRef>, but divers circumstances
|
|
are found here which are not related there.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ii-p17">I. He reminds them of their march from
|
|
Horeb to Kadesh-barnea (<scripRef passage="De 1:19" id="Deu.ii-p17.1" parsed="|Deut|1|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.19"><i>v.</i>
|
|
19</scripRef>), through <i>that great and terrible wilderness.</i>
|
|
This he takes notice of, 1. To make them sensible of the great
|
|
goodness of God to them, in guiding them through so great a
|
|
wilderness, and protecting them from the mischiefs they were
|
|
surrounded with in such a terrible wilderness. The remembrance of
|
|
our dangers should make us thankful for our deliverances. 2. To
|
|
aggravate the folly of those who, in their discontent, would have
|
|
gone back to Egypt through the wilderness, though they had
|
|
forfeited, and had no reason to expect, the divine guidance, in
|
|
such a retrograde motion.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ii-p18">II. He shows them how fair they stood for
|
|
Canaan at that time, <scripRef passage="De 1:20,21" id="Deu.ii-p18.1" parsed="|Deut|1|20|1|21" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.20-Deut.1.21"><i>v.</i> 20,
|
|
21</scripRef>. He told them with triumph, the land is <i>set before
|
|
you, go up and possess it.</i> He lets them see how near they were
|
|
to a happy settlement when they put a bar in their own door, that
|
|
their sin might appear the more exceedingly sinful. It will
|
|
aggravate the eternal ruin of hypocrites that they were <i>not far
|
|
from the kingdom of God</i> and yet came short, <scripRef passage="Mk 12:34" id="Deu.ii-p18.2" parsed="|Mark|12|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mark.12.34">Mark xii. 34</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ii-p19">III. He lays the blame of sending the spies
|
|
upon them, which did not appear in Numbers, there it is said
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 13:1,2" id="Deu.ii-p19.1" parsed="|Deut|13|1|13|2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.13.1-Deut.13.2"><i>ch.</i> xiii. 1, 2</scripRef>)
|
|
that the Lord directed the sending of them, but here we find that
|
|
the people first desired it, and God, in permitting it, gave them
|
|
up to their counsels: <i>You said, We will send men before us,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 1:22" id="Deu.ii-p19.2" parsed="|Deut|1|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>. Moses had
|
|
given them God's word (<scripRef passage="De 1:20,21" id="Deu.ii-p19.3" parsed="|Deut|1|20|1|21" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.20-Deut.1.21"><i>v.</i> 20,
|
|
21</scripRef>), but they could not find in their hearts to rely
|
|
upon that: human policy goes further with them than divine wisdom,
|
|
and they will needs light a candle to the sun. As if it were not
|
|
enough that they were sure of a God before them, they must send men
|
|
before them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ii-p20">IV. He repeats the report which the spies
|
|
brought of the goodness of the land which they were sent to survey,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 1:24,25" id="Deu.ii-p20.1" parsed="|Deut|1|24|1|25" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.24-Deut.1.25"><i>v.</i> 24, 25</scripRef>. The
|
|
blessings which God has promised are truly valuable and desirable,
|
|
even the unbelievers themselves being judges: never any looked into
|
|
the holy land, but they must own it a good land. Yet they
|
|
represented the difficulties of conquering it as insuperable
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 1:28" id="Deu.ii-p20.2" parsed="|Deut|1|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>); as if it
|
|
were in vain to think of attacking them either by battle, "for the
|
|
people are taller than we," or by siege, "for the cities are walled
|
|
up to heaven," an hyperbole which they made use of to serve their
|
|
ill purpose, which was to dishearten the people, and perhaps they
|
|
intended to reflect on the God of heaven himself, as if they were
|
|
able to defy him, like the Babel-builders, the top of whose tower
|
|
must reach to heaven, <scripRef passage="Ge 11:4" id="Deu.ii-p20.3" parsed="|Gen|11|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.4">Gen. xi.
|
|
4</scripRef>. Those places only are walled up to heaven that are
|
|
compassed with God's favour as with a shield.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ii-p21">V. He tells them what pains he took with
|
|
them to encourage them, when their brethren had said so much to
|
|
discourage them (<scripRef passage="De 1:29" id="Deu.ii-p21.1" parsed="|Deut|1|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.29"><i>v.</i>
|
|
29</scripRef>): <i>Then I said unto you, Dread not.</i> Moses
|
|
suggested enough to have stilled the tumult, and to have kept them
|
|
with their faces towards Canaan. He assured them that God was
|
|
present with them, and president among them, and would certainly
|
|
<i>fight for them,</i> <scripRef passage="De 1:30" id="Deu.ii-p21.2" parsed="|Deut|1|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.30"><i>v.</i>
|
|
30</scripRef>. And for proof of his power over their enemies he
|
|
refers them to what they had seen done in Egypt, where their
|
|
enemies had all possible advantages against them and yet were
|
|
humbled and forced to yield, <scripRef passage="De 1:30" id="Deu.ii-p21.3" parsed="|Deut|1|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.30"><i>v.</i>
|
|
30</scripRef>. And for proof of God's goodwill to them, and the
|
|
real kindness which he intended them, he refers them to what
|
|
<i>they had seen in the wilderness</i> (<scripRef passage="De 1:31,33" id="Deu.ii-p21.4" parsed="|Deut|1|31|0|0;|Deut|1|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.31 Bible:Deut.1.33"><i>v.</i> 31, 33</scripRef>), through which they had
|
|
been guided by the eye of divine wisdom in a pillar of cloud and
|
|
fire (which guided both their motions and their rests), and had
|
|
been carried in the arms of divine grace with as much care and
|
|
tenderness as were ever shown to any child borne in the arms of a
|
|
nursing father. And was there any room left to distrust this God?
|
|
Or were they not the most ungrateful people in the world, who,
|
|
after such sensible proofs of the divine goodness, <i>hardened
|
|
their hearts in the day of temptation?</i> Moses had complained
|
|
once that God had charged him to carry this people <i>as a nursing
|
|
father doth the sucking child</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 11:12" id="Deu.ii-p21.5" parsed="|Num|11|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.11.12">Num. xi. 12</scripRef>); but here he owns that it was
|
|
God that so carried them, and perhaps this is alluded to (<scripRef passage="Ac 13:18" id="Deu.ii-p21.6" parsed="|Acts|13|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.13.18">Acts xiii. 18</scripRef>), where he is said to
|
|
<i>bear them,</i> or to <i>suffer their manners.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ii-p22">VI. He charges them with the sin which they
|
|
were guilty of upon this occasion. Though those to whom he was now
|
|
speaking were a new generation, yet he lays it upon them: <i>You
|
|
rebelled, and you murmured;</i> for many of these were then in
|
|
being, though under twenty years old, and perhaps were engaged in
|
|
the riot; and the rest inherited their fathers' vices, and smarted
|
|
for them. Observe what he lays to their charge. 1. Disobedience and
|
|
rebellion against God's law: <i>You would not go up, but
|
|
rebelled,</i> <scripRef passage="De 1:26" id="Deu.ii-p22.1" parsed="|Deut|1|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>.
|
|
The rejecting of God's favours is really a rebelling against his
|
|
authority. 2. Invidious reflections upon God's goodness. They
|
|
basely suggested: <i>Because the Lord hated us, he brought us out
|
|
of Egypt,</i> <scripRef passage="De 1:27" id="Deu.ii-p22.2" parsed="|Deut|1|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>.
|
|
What could have been more absurd, more disingenuous, and more
|
|
reproachful to God? 3. An unbelieving heart at the bottom of all
|
|
this: <i>You did not believe the Lord your God,</i> <scripRef passage="De 1:32" id="Deu.ii-p22.3" parsed="|Deut|1|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>. All your disobedience to
|
|
God's laws, and distrust of his power and goodness, flow from a
|
|
disbelief of his word. A sad pass it has come to with us when the
|
|
God of eternal truth cannot be believed.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ii-p23">VII. He repeats the sentence passed upon
|
|
them for this sin, which now they had seen the execution of. 1.
|
|
They were all condemned to die in the wilderness, and none of them
|
|
must be suffered to enter Canaan except Caleb and Joshua, <scripRef passage="De 1:34-38" id="Deu.ii-p23.1" parsed="|Deut|1|34|1|38" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.34-Deut.1.38"><i>v.</i> 34-38</scripRef>. So long they must
|
|
continue in their wanderings in the wilderness that most of them
|
|
would drop off of course, and the youngest of them should be cut
|
|
off. Thus <i>they could not enter in because of unbelief.</i> It
|
|
was not the breach of any of the commands of the law that shut them
|
|
out of Canaan, no, not the golden calf, but their disbelief of that
|
|
promise which was typical of gospel grace, to signify that no sin
|
|
will ruin us but unbelief, which is a sin against the remedy. 2.
|
|
Moses himself afterwards fell under God's displeasure for a hasty
|
|
word which they provoked him to speak: <i>The Lord was angry with
|
|
me for your sakes,</i> <scripRef passage="De 1:37" id="Deu.ii-p23.2" parsed="|Deut|1|37|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.37"><i>v.</i>
|
|
37</scripRef>. Because all the old stock must go off, Moses himself
|
|
must not stay behind. Their unbelief let death into the camp, and,
|
|
having entered, even Moses falls within his commission. 3. Yet here
|
|
is mercy mixed with wrath. (1.) That, though Moses might not bring
|
|
them into Canaan, Joshua should (<scripRef passage="De 1:38" id="Deu.ii-p23.3" parsed="|Deut|1|38|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.38"><i>v.</i> 38</scripRef>): <i>Encourage him;</i> for he
|
|
would be discouraged from taking up a government which he saw Moses
|
|
himself fall under the weight of; but let him be assured that he
|
|
shall accomplish that for which he is raised up: <i>He shall cause
|
|
Israel to inherit it.</i> Thus <i>what the law could not do, in
|
|
that it was weak,</i> Jesus, our Joshua, does by bringing in the
|
|
better hope. (2.) That, though this generation should not enter
|
|
into Canaan, the next should, <scripRef passage="De 1:39" id="Deu.ii-p23.4" parsed="|Deut|1|39|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.39"><i>v.</i>
|
|
39</scripRef>. As they had been chosen for their fathers' sakes, so
|
|
their children might justly have been rejected for their sakes. But
|
|
<i>mercy rejoiceth against judgement.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ii-p24">VIII. He reminds them of their foolish and
|
|
fruitless attempt to get this sentence reversed when it was too
|
|
late. 1. They tried it by their reformation in this particular;
|
|
whereas they had refused to go up against the Canaanites, now they
|
|
would go up, aye, that they would, in all haste, and they girded on
|
|
their weapons of war for that purpose, <scripRef passage="De 1:41" id="Deu.ii-p24.1" parsed="|Deut|1|41|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.41"><i>v.</i> 41</scripRef>. Thus, when the door is shut, and
|
|
the day of grace is over, there will be found those that stand
|
|
without and knock. But this, which looked like a reformation,
|
|
proved but a further rebellion. God, by Moses, prohibited the
|
|
attempt (<scripRef passage="De 1:42" id="Deu.ii-p24.2" parsed="|Deut|1|42|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.42"><i>v.</i> 42</scripRef>):
|
|
<i>yet they went presumptuously up to the hill</i> (<scripRef passage="De 1:43" id="Deu.ii-p24.3" parsed="|Deut|1|43|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.43"><i>v.</i> 43</scripRef>), acting now in contempt
|
|
of the threatening, as before in contempt of the promise, as if
|
|
they were governed by a spirit of contradiction; and it sped
|
|
accordingly (<scripRef passage="De 1:44" id="Deu.ii-p24.4" parsed="|Deut|1|44|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.44"><i>v.</i> 44</scripRef>):
|
|
they were chased and destroyed; and, by this defeat which they
|
|
suffered when they provoked God to leave them, they were taught
|
|
what success they might have had if they had kept themselves in his
|
|
love. 2. They tried by their prayers and tears to get the sentence
|
|
reversed: <i>They returned and wept before the Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="De 1:45" id="Deu.ii-p24.5" parsed="|Deut|1|45|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.45"><i>v.</i> 45</scripRef>. While they were fretting
|
|
and quarrelling, it is said (<scripRef passage="Nu 14:1" id="Deu.ii-p24.6" parsed="|Num|14|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.1">Num. xiv.
|
|
1</scripRef>): <i>They wept that night;</i> those were tears of
|
|
rebellion <i>against</i> God, these were tears of repentance and
|
|
humiliation <i>before</i> God. Note, Tears of discontent must be
|
|
wept over again; the sorrow of the world worketh death, and is to
|
|
be repented of; it is not so with godly sorrow, <i>that</i> will
|
|
end in joy. But their weeping was all to no purpose. <i>The Lord
|
|
would not harken to your voice,</i> because you would not harken to
|
|
his; the decree had gone forth, and, like Esau, they found no place
|
|
of repentance, though they sought it carefully with tears.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter II" n="iii" progress="82.43%" prev="Deu.ii" next="Deu.iv" id="Deu.iii">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.iii-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.iii-p0.2">CHAP. II.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.iii-p1">Moses, in this chapter, proceeds in the rehearsal
|
|
of God's providences concerning Israel in their way to Canaan, yet
|
|
preserves not the record of any thing that happened during their
|
|
tedious march back to the Red Sea, in which they wore out almost
|
|
thirty-eight years, but passes that over in silence as a dark time,
|
|
and makes his narrative to begin again when they faced about
|
|
towards Canaan (<scripRef passage="De 2:1-3" id="Deu.iii-p1.1" parsed="|Deut|2|1|2|3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.1-Deut.2.3">ver. 1-3</scripRef>),
|
|
and drew towards the countries that were inhabited, concerning
|
|
which God here gives them direction, I. What nations they must not
|
|
give any disturbance to. 1. Not to the Edomites, <scripRef passage="De 2:4-8" id="Deu.iii-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|2|4|2|8" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.4-Deut.2.8">ver. 4-8</scripRef>. 2. Not to the Moabites (<scripRef passage="De 2:9" id="Deu.iii-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|2|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.9">ver. 9</scripRef>), of the antiquities of whose
|
|
country, with that of the Edomites, he gives some account,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 2:10-12" id="Deu.iii-p1.4" parsed="|Deut|2|10|2|12" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.10-Deut.2.12">ver. 10-12</scripRef>. And here
|
|
comes in an account of their passing the river Zered, <scripRef passage="De 2:13-16" id="Deu.iii-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|2|13|2|16" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.13-Deut.2.16">ver. 13-16</scripRef>. 3. Not to the
|
|
Ammonites, of whose country here is some account given, <scripRef passage="De 2:17-23" id="Deu.iii-p1.6" parsed="|Deut|2|17|2|23" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.17-Deut.2.23">ver. 17-23</scripRef>. II. What nations they
|
|
should attack and conquer. They must begin with Sihon, king of the
|
|
Amorites, <scripRef passage="De 2:24,25" id="Deu.iii-p1.7" parsed="|Deut|2|24|2|25" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.24-Deut.2.25">ver. 24, 25</scripRef>.
|
|
And accordingly, 1. They had a fair occasion of quarrelling with
|
|
him, <scripRef passage="De 2:26-32" id="Deu.iii-p1.8" parsed="|Deut|2|26|2|32" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.26-Deut.2.32">ver. 26-32</scripRef>. 2. God
|
|
gave them a complete victory over him, <scripRef passage="De 2:33-37" id="Deu.iii-p1.9" parsed="|Deut|2|33|2|37" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.33-Deut.2.37">ver. 33</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 2" id="Deu.iii-p1.10" parsed="|Deut|2|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 2:1-7" id="Deu.iii-p1.11" parsed="|Deut|2|1|2|7" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.1-Deut.2.7"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.2.1-Deut.2.7">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.iii-p1.12">The Seed of Esau and Lot
|
|
Spared. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.iii-p1.13">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.iii-p2">1 Then we turned, and took our journey into the
|
|
wilderness by the way of the Red sea, as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.iii-p2.1">Lord</span> spake unto me: and we compassed mount Seir
|
|
many days.   2 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.iii-p2.2">Lord</span>
|
|
spake unto me, saying,   3 Ye have compassed this mountain
|
|
long enough: turn you northward.   4 And command thou the
|
|
people, saying, Ye <i>are</i> to pass through the coast of your
|
|
brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir; and they shall
|
|
be afraid of you: take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore:
|
|
  5 Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their
|
|
land, no, not so much as a foot breadth; because I have given mount
|
|
Seir unto Esau <i>for</i> a possession.   6 Ye shall buy meat
|
|
of them for money, that ye may eat; and ye shall also buy water of
|
|
them for money, that ye may drink.   7 For the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.iii-p2.3">Lord</span> thy God hath blessed thee in all the works
|
|
of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness:
|
|
these forty years the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.iii-p2.4">Lord</span> thy God
|
|
<i>hath been</i> with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.iii-p3">Here is, I. A short account of the long
|
|
stay of Israel in the wilderness: <i>We compassed Mount Seir many
|
|
days,</i> <scripRef passage="De 2:1" id="Deu.iii-p3.1" parsed="|Deut|2|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. Nearly
|
|
<i>thirty-eight</i> years they wandered in the deserts of Seir;
|
|
probably in some of their rests they staid several years, and never
|
|
stirred; God by this not only chastised them for their murmuring
|
|
and unbelief, but, 1. Prepared them for Canaan, by humbling them
|
|
for sin, teaching them to mortify their lusts, to follow God, and
|
|
to comfort themselves in him. It is a work of time to make souls
|
|
meet for heaven, and it must be done by a long train of exercises.
|
|
2. He prepared the Canaanites for destruction. All this time the
|
|
measure of their iniquity was filling up; and, though it might have
|
|
been improved by them as a space to repent in, it was abused by
|
|
them to the hardening of their hearts. Now that the host of Israel
|
|
was once repulsed, and after that was so long entangled and
|
|
seemingly lost in the wilderness, they were secure, and thought the
|
|
danger was over from that quarter, which would make the next
|
|
attempt of Israel upon them the more dreadful.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.iii-p4">II. Orders given them to turn towards
|
|
Canaan. Though God contend long, he will not contend for ever.
|
|
Though Israel may be long kept waiting for deliverance or
|
|
enlargement, it will come at last: <i>The vision is for an
|
|
appointed time, and at the end it shall speak, and not lie.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.iii-p5">III. A charge given them not to annoy the
|
|
Edomites.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.iii-p6">1. They must not offer any hostility to
|
|
them as enemies: <i>Meddle not with them,</i> <scripRef passage="De 2:4,5" id="Deu.iii-p6.1" parsed="|Deut|2|4|2|5" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.4-Deut.2.5"><i>v.</i> 4, 5</scripRef>. (1.) They must not improve
|
|
the advantage they had against them, by the fright they would be
|
|
put into upon Israel's approach: "<i>They shall be afraid of
|
|
you,</i> knowing your strength and numbers, and the power of God
|
|
engaged for you; but think not that, because their fears make them
|
|
an easy prey, you may therefore prey upon them; no, <i>take heed to
|
|
yourselves.</i>" There is need of great caution and a strict
|
|
government of our own spirits, to keep ourselves from injuring
|
|
those against whom we have an advantage. Or this caution is given
|
|
to the princes; they must not only not meddle with the Edomites
|
|
themselves, but not permit any of the soldiers to meddle with them.
|
|
(2.) They must not avenge upon the Edomites the affront they gave
|
|
them in refusing them passage through their country, <scripRef passage="Nu 20:21" id="Deu.iii-p6.2" parsed="|Num|20|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.21">Num. xx. 21</scripRef>. Thus, before God brought
|
|
Israel to destroy their enemies in Canaan, he taught them to
|
|
forgive their enemies in Edom. (3.) They must not expect to have
|
|
any part of their land given them for a possession: Mount Seir was
|
|
already settled upon the Edomites, and they must not, under
|
|
pretence of God's covenant and conduct, think to seize for
|
|
themselves all they could lay hands on. Dominion is not founded in
|
|
grace. God's Israel shall be well placed, but must not expect to be
|
|
<i>placed alone in the midst of the earth,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 5:8" id="Deu.iii-p6.3" parsed="|Isa|5|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.8">Isa. v. 8</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.iii-p7">2. They must trade with them as neighbours,
|
|
buy meat and water of them, and pay for what they bought, <scripRef passage="De 2:6" id="Deu.iii-p7.1" parsed="|Deut|2|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. Religion must never be
|
|
made a cloak for injustice. The reason given (<scripRef passage="De 2:7" id="Deu.iii-p7.2" parsed="|Deut|2|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>), is, "God hath blessed thee, and
|
|
hitherto thou hast lacked nothing; and therefore," (1.) "Thou
|
|
needest not beg; scorn to be beholden to Edomites, when thou hast a
|
|
God all-sufficient to depend upon. Thou hast wherewithal to pay for
|
|
what thou callest for (thanks to the divine blessing!); use
|
|
therefore what thou hast, use it cheerfully, and do not sponge upon
|
|
the Edomites." (2.) "Therefore thou must not steal. Thou hast
|
|
experienced the care of the divine providence concerning thee, in
|
|
confidence of which for the future, and in a firm belief of its
|
|
sufficiency, never use any indirect methods for thy supply. Live by
|
|
the faith and not by thy sword."</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 2:8-23" id="Deu.iii-p7.3" parsed="|Deut|2|8|2|23" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.8-Deut.2.23"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.2.8-Deut.2.23">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.iii-p8">8 And when we passed by from our brethren the
|
|
children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir, through the way of the plain
|
|
from Elath, and from Ezion-gaber, we turned and passed by the way
|
|
of the wilderness of Moab.   9 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.iii-p8.1">Lord</span> said unto me, Distress not the Moabites,
|
|
neither contend with them in battle: for I will not give thee of
|
|
their land <i>for</i> a possession; because I have given Ar unto
|
|
the children of Lot <i>for</i> a possession.   10 The Emims
|
|
dwelt therein in times past, a people great, and many, and tall, as
|
|
the Anakims;   11 Which also were accounted giants, as the
|
|
Anakims; but the Moabites call them Emims.   12 The Horims
|
|
also dwelt in Seir beforetime; but the children of Esau succeeded
|
|
them, when they had destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in
|
|
their stead; as Israel did unto the land of his possession, which
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.iii-p8.2">Lord</span> gave unto them.   13
|
|
Now rise up, <i>said I,</i> and get you over the brook Zered. And
|
|
we went over the brook Zered.   14 And the space in which we
|
|
came from Kadesh-barnea, until we were come over the brook Zered,
|
|
<i>was</i> thirty and eight years; until all the generation of the
|
|
men of war were wasted out from among the host, as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.iii-p8.3">Lord</span> sware unto them.   15 For indeed the
|
|
hand of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.iii-p8.4">Lord</span> was against them,
|
|
to destroy them from among the host, until they were consumed.
|
|
  16 So it came to pass, when all the men of war were consumed
|
|
and dead from among the people,   17 That the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.iii-p8.5">Lord</span> spake unto me, saying,   18 Thou art
|
|
to pass over through Ar, the coast of Moab, this day:   19 And
|
|
<i>when</i> thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon,
|
|
distress them not, nor meddle with them: for I will not give thee
|
|
of the land of the children of Ammon <i>any</i> possession; because
|
|
I have given it unto the children of Lot <i>for</i> a possession.
|
|
  20 (That also was accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt
|
|
therein in old time; and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims;  
|
|
21 A people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; but the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.iii-p8.6">Lord</span> destroyed them before them; and
|
|
they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead:   22 As he did
|
|
to the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir, when he destroyed the
|
|
Horims from before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in
|
|
their stead even unto this day:   23 And the Avims which dwelt
|
|
in Hazerim, <i>even</i> unto Azzah, the Caphtorims, which came
|
|
forth out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and dwelt in their
|
|
stead.)</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.iii-p9">It is observable here that Moses, speaking
|
|
of the Edomites (<scripRef passage="De 2:8" id="Deu.iii-p9.1" parsed="|Deut|2|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.8"><i>v.</i>
|
|
8</scripRef>), calls them, "<i>our brethren, the children of
|
|
Esau.</i>" Though they had been unkind to Israel, in refusing them
|
|
a peaceable passage through their country, yet he calls them
|
|
brethren. For, though our relations fail in their duty to us, we
|
|
must retain a sense of the relation, and not be wanting in our duty
|
|
to them, as there is occasion. Now in these verses we have,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.iii-p10">I. The account which Moses gives of the
|
|
origin of the nations of which he had here occasion to speak, the
|
|
Moabites, Edomites, and Ammonites. We know very well, from other
|
|
parts of his history, whose posterity they were; but here he tells
|
|
us how they came to those countries in which Israel found them;
|
|
they were not the <i>aborigines,</i> or first planters. But, 1. The
|
|
Moabites dwelt in a country which had belonged to a numerous race
|
|
of giants, called <i>Emim</i> (that is, <i>terrible ones</i>), as
|
|
tall as the Anakim, and perhaps more fierce, <scripRef passage="De 2:10,11" id="Deu.iii-p10.1" parsed="|Deut|2|10|2|11" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.10-Deut.2.11"><i>v.</i> 10, 11</scripRef>. 2. The Edomites in like
|
|
manner dispossessed the Horim from Mount Seir, and took their
|
|
country (<scripRef passage="De 2:12" id="Deu.iii-p10.2" parsed="|Deut|2|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. and
|
|
again <scripRef passage="De 2:22" id="Deu.iii-p10.3" parsed="|Deut|2|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>), of
|
|
which we read, <scripRef passage="Ge 36:20" id="Deu.iii-p10.4" parsed="|Gen|36|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.36.20">Gen. xxxvi.
|
|
20</scripRef>. 3. The Ammonites likewise got possession of a
|
|
country that had formerly been inhabited by giants, called
|
|
<i>Zamzummim, crafty men,</i> or <i>wicked men</i> (<scripRef passage="De 2:20,21" id="Deu.iii-p10.5" parsed="|Deut|2|20|2|21" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.20-Deut.2.21"><i>v.</i> 20, 21</scripRef>), probably the
|
|
same that are called <i>Zuzim,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 14:5" id="Deu.iii-p10.6" parsed="|Gen|14|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.5">Gen.
|
|
xiv. 5</scripRef>. He illustrates these remarks by an instance
|
|
older than any of these; the Caphtorim (who were akin to the
|
|
Philistines, <scripRef passage="Ge 10:14" id="Deu.iii-p10.7" parsed="|Gen|10|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10.14">Gen. x. 14</scripRef>)
|
|
drove the Avim out of their country, and took possession of it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 2:23" id="Deu.iii-p10.8" parsed="|Deut|2|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. The learned
|
|
bishop Patrick supposes these Avites, being expelled hence, to have
|
|
settled in Assyria, and to be the same people we read of under that
|
|
name, <scripRef passage="2Ki 17:31" id="Deu.iii-p10.9" parsed="|2Kgs|17|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.17.31">2 Kings xvii. 31</scripRef>.
|
|
Now these revolutions are recorded, (1.) To show how soon the world
|
|
was peopled after the flood, so well peopled that, when a family
|
|
grew numerous, they could not find a place to settle in, at least
|
|
in that part of the world, but they must drive out those that were
|
|
already settled. (2.) To show that the race is not to the swift,
|
|
nor the battle to the strong. Giants were expelled by those of
|
|
ordinary stature; for probably these giants, like those before the
|
|
flood (<scripRef passage="Ge 6:4" id="Deu.iii-p10.10" parsed="|Gen|6|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.4">Gen. vi. 4</scripRef>), were
|
|
notorious for impiety and oppression, which brought the judgments
|
|
of God upon them, against which their great strength would be on
|
|
defence. (3.) To show what uncertain things worldly possessions
|
|
are, and how often they change their owners; it was so of old, and
|
|
ever will be so. Families decline, and from them estates are
|
|
transferred to families that increase; so little constancy or
|
|
continuance is there in these things. (4.) To encourage the
|
|
children of Israel, who were now going to take possession of
|
|
Canaan, against the difficulties they would meet with, and to show
|
|
the unbelief of those that were afraid of the sons of Anak, to whom
|
|
the giants, here said to be conquered, are compared, <scripRef passage="De 2:11,21" id="Deu.iii-p10.11" parsed="|Deut|2|11|0|0;|Deut|2|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.11 Bible:Deut.2.21"><i>v.</i> 11, 21</scripRef>. If the providence
|
|
of God had done this for the Moabites and Ammonites, much more
|
|
would his promise do it for Israel his peculiar people.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.iii-p11">II. The advances which Israel made towards
|
|
Canaan. They <i>passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 2:8" id="Deu.iii-p11.1" parsed="|Deut|2|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>), and then went
|
|
over the brook or vale of Zered (<scripRef passage="De 2:13" id="Deu.iii-p11.2" parsed="|Deut|2|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>), and there Moses takes notice of
|
|
the fulfilling of the word which God had spoken concerning them,
|
|
that none of those that were numbered at Mount Sinai should see the
|
|
land that God had promised, <scripRef passage="Nu 14:23" id="Deu.iii-p11.3" parsed="|Num|14|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.14.23">Num. xiv.
|
|
23</scripRef>. According to that sentence, now that they began to
|
|
set their faces towards Canaan, and to have it in their eye, notice
|
|
is taken of their being all destroyed and consumed, and not a man
|
|
of them left, <scripRef passage="De 2:14" id="Deu.iii-p11.4" parsed="|Deut|2|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>.
|
|
Common providence, we may observe, in about thirty-eight years,
|
|
ordinarily raises a new generation, so that in that time few remain
|
|
of the old one; but here it was entirely new, and none at all
|
|
remained but Caleb and Joshua: <i>for indeed the hand of the Lord
|
|
was against them,</i> <scripRef passage="De 2:15" id="Deu.iii-p11.5" parsed="|Deut|2|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.15"><i>v.</i>
|
|
15</scripRef>. Those cannot but waste, until they were consumed,
|
|
who have the hand of God against them. Observe, Israel is not
|
|
called to engage with the Canaanites till all the men of war, the
|
|
veteran regiments, that had been used to hardship, and had learned
|
|
the art of war from the Egyptians, <i>were consumed and dead from
|
|
among the people</i> (<scripRef passage="De 2:16" id="Deu.iii-p11.6" parsed="|Deut|2|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.16"><i>v.</i>
|
|
16</scripRef>), that the conquest of Canaan, being effected by a
|
|
host of new-raised men, trained up in a wilderness, the excellency
|
|
of the power might the more plainly appear to be <i>of God and not
|
|
of men.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.iii-p12">III. The caution given them not to meddle
|
|
with the Moabites or Ammonites, whom they must not disseize, nor so
|
|
much as disturb in their possessions: <i>Distress them not, nor
|
|
contend with them,</i> <scripRef passage="De 2:9" id="Deu.iii-p12.1" parsed="|Deut|2|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.9"><i>v.</i>
|
|
9</scripRef>. Though the Moabites aimed to ruin Israel (<scripRef passage="Nu 22:6" id="Deu.iii-p12.2" parsed="|Num|22|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.22.6">Num. xxii. 6</scripRef>), yet Israel must not aim
|
|
to ruin them. If others design us a mischief, this will not justify
|
|
us in designing them a mischief. But why must not the Moabites and
|
|
Ammonites be meddled with? 1. Because they were the <i>children of
|
|
Lot</i> (<scripRef passage="De 2:9,19" id="Deu.iii-p12.3" parsed="|Deut|2|9|0|0;|Deut|2|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.9 Bible:Deut.2.19"><i>v.</i> 9, 19</scripRef>),
|
|
righteous Lot, who kept his integrity in Sodom. Note, Children
|
|
often fare the better in this world for the piety of their
|
|
ancestors: the seed of the upright, though they degenerate, yet are
|
|
blessed with temporal good things. 2. Because the land they were
|
|
possessed of was what God had given them, and he did not design it
|
|
for Israel. Even wicked men have a right to their worldly
|
|
possessions, and must not be wronged. The tares are allowed their
|
|
place in the field, and must not be rooted out until the harvest.
|
|
God gives and preserves outward blessings to wicked men, to show
|
|
that these are not the best things, but he has better in store for
|
|
his own children.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 2:24-37" id="Deu.iii-p12.4" parsed="|Deut|2|24|2|37" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.24-Deut.2.37"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.2.24-Deut.2.37">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.iii-p12.5">History of the Moabites. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.iii-p12.6">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.iii-p13">24 Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over
|
|
the river Arnon: behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the
|
|
Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land: begin to possess <i>it,</i>
|
|
and contend with him in battle.   25 This day will I begin to
|
|
put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the nations <i>that
|
|
are</i> under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and
|
|
shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee.   26 And I
|
|
sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth unto Sihon king
|
|
of Heshbon with words of peace, saying,   27 Let me pass
|
|
through thy land: I will go along by the high way, I will neither
|
|
turn unto the right hand nor to the left.   28 Thou shalt sell
|
|
me meat for money, that I may eat; and give me water for money,
|
|
that I may drink: only I will pass through on my feet;   29
|
|
(As the children of Esau which dwell in Seir, and the Moabites
|
|
which dwell in Ar, did unto me;) until I shall pass over Jordan
|
|
into the land which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.iii-p13.1">Lord</span> our God
|
|
giveth us.   30 But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us
|
|
pass by him: for the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.iii-p13.2">Lord</span> thy God
|
|
hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might
|
|
deliver him into thy hand, as <i>appeareth</i> this day.   31
|
|
And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.iii-p13.3">Lord</span> said unto me, Behold, I
|
|
have begun to give Sihon and his land before thee: begin to
|
|
possess, that thou mayest inherit his land.   32 Then Sihon
|
|
came out against us, he and all his people, to fight at Jahaz.
|
|
  33 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.iii-p13.4">Lord</span> our God
|
|
delivered him before us; and we smote him, and his sons, and all
|
|
his people.   34 And we took all his cities at that time, and
|
|
utterly destroyed the men, and the women, and the little ones, of
|
|
every city, we left none to remain:   35 Only the cattle we
|
|
took for a prey unto ourselves, and the spoil of the cities which
|
|
we took.   36 From Aroer, which <i>is</i> by the brink of the
|
|
river of Arnon, and <i>from</i> the city that <i>is</i> by the
|
|
river, even unto Gilead, there was not one city too strong for us:
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.iii-p13.5">Lord</span> our God delivered all unto
|
|
us:   37 Only unto the land of the children of Ammon thou
|
|
camest not, <i>nor</i> unto any place of the river Jabbok, nor unto
|
|
the cities in the mountains, nor unto whatsoever the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.iii-p13.6">Lord</span> our God forbad us.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.iii-p14">God having tried the self-denial of his
|
|
people in forbidding them to meddle with the Moabites and
|
|
Ammonites, and they having quietly passed by those rich countries,
|
|
and, though superior in number, not made any attack upon them, here
|
|
he recompenses them for their obedience by giving them possession
|
|
of the country of Sihon king of the Amorites. If we forbear what
|
|
God forbids, we shall receive what he promises, and shall be no
|
|
losers at last by our obedience, though it may seem for the present
|
|
to be to our loss. Wrong not others, and God shall right thee.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.iii-p15">I. God gives them commission to seize upon
|
|
the country of Sihon king of Heshbon, <scripRef passage="De 2:24,25" id="Deu.iii-p15.1" parsed="|Deut|2|24|2|25" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.24-Deut.2.25"><i>v.</i> 24, 25</scripRef>. This was then God's way
|
|
of disposing of kingdoms, but such particular grants are not now
|
|
either to be expected or pretended. In this commission observe, 1.
|
|
Though God assured them that the land should be their own, yet they
|
|
must bestir themselves, and contend in battle with the enemy. What
|
|
God gives we must endeavour to get. 2. God promises that when they
|
|
fight he will fight for them. Do you <i>begin to possess it, and I
|
|
will begin to put the dread of you</i> upon them. God would
|
|
dispirit the enemy and so destroy them, would magnify Israel and so
|
|
terrify all those against whom they were commissioned. See
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 15:14" id="Deu.iii-p15.2" parsed="|Exod|15|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.14">Exod. xv. 14</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.iii-p16">II. Moses sends to Sihon a message of
|
|
peace, and only begs a passage through his land, with a promise to
|
|
give his country no disturbance, but the advantage of trading for
|
|
ready money with so great a body, <scripRef passage="De 2:26-29" id="Deu.iii-p16.1" parsed="|Deut|2|26|2|29" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.26-Deut.2.29"><i>v.</i> 26-29</scripRef>. Moses herein did neither
|
|
disobey God, who bade him contend with Sihon, nor dissemble with
|
|
Sihon; but doubtless it was by divine direction that he did it,
|
|
that Sihon might be left inexcusable, though God hardened his
|
|
heart. This may illustrate the method of God's dealing with those
|
|
to whom he gives his gospel, but does not give grace to believe
|
|
it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.iii-p17">III. Sihon began the war (<scripRef passage="De 2:32" id="Deu.iii-p17.1" parsed="|Deut|2|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>), God having <i>made his
|
|
heart obstinate,</i> and hidden from his eyes the thing that
|
|
belonged to his peace (<scripRef passage="De 2:30" id="Deu.iii-p17.2" parsed="|Deut|2|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.30"><i>v.</i>
|
|
30</scripRef>), that he might deliver him into the hand of Israel.
|
|
Those that meddle with the people of God meddle to their own hurt;
|
|
and God sometimes ruins his enemies by their own resolves. See
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mic 4:11-13,Re 16:14" id="Deu.iii-p17.3" parsed="|Mic|4|11|4|13;|Rev|16|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mic.4.11-Mic.4.13 Bible:Rev.16.14">Mic. iv. 11-13; Rev. xvi.
|
|
14</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.iii-p18">IV. Israel was victorious. 1. They put all
|
|
the Amorites to the sword, men, women, and children (<scripRef passage="De 2:33,34" id="Deu.iii-p18.1" parsed="|Deut|2|33|2|34" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.33-Deut.2.34"><i>v.</i> 33, 34</scripRef>); this they did as
|
|
the executioners of God's wrath; now the measure of the Amorites'
|
|
iniquity was full (<scripRef passage="Ge 15:16" id="Deu.iii-p18.2" parsed="|Gen|15|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.16">Gen. xv.
|
|
16</scripRef>), and the longer it was in the filling the sorer was
|
|
the reckoning at last. This was one of the devoted nations. They
|
|
died, not as Israel's enemies, but as sacrifices to divine justice,
|
|
in the offering of which sacrifices Israel was employed, as a
|
|
kingdom of priests. The case being therefore extraordinary, it
|
|
ought not to be drawn into a precedent for military executions,
|
|
which make no distinction and give no quarter: those will have
|
|
<i>judgment without mercy that show no mercy.</i> 2. They took
|
|
possession of all they had; their cities (<scripRef passage="De 2:34" id="Deu.iii-p18.3" parsed="|Deut|2|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.34"><i>v.</i> 34</scripRef>), their goods (<scripRef passage="De 2:35" id="Deu.iii-p18.4" parsed="|Deut|2|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.35"><i>v.</i> 35</scripRef>), and their land, <scripRef passage="De 2:36" id="Deu.iii-p18.5" parsed="|Deut|2|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.36"><i>v.</i> 36</scripRef>. The wealth of the sinner
|
|
is laid up for the just. What a new world did Israel now come into!
|
|
Most of them were born, and had lived all their days, in a vast
|
|
howling wilderness, where they knew not what either fields or
|
|
cities were, had no houses to dwell in, and neither sowed nor
|
|
reaped; and now of a sudden to become masters of a country so well
|
|
built, so well husbanded, this made them amends for their long
|
|
waiting, and yet it was but the earnest of a great deal more. Much
|
|
more joyful will the change be which holy souls will experience
|
|
when they remove out of the wilderness of this world to the
|
|
<i>better country, that is, the heavenly, to the city that has
|
|
foundations.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter III" n="iv" progress="82.83%" prev="Deu.iii" next="Deu.v" id="Deu.iv">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.iv-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.iv-p0.2">CHAP. III.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.iv-p1">Moses, in this chapter, relates, I. The conquest
|
|
of Og, king of Bashan, and the seizing of his country, <scripRef passage="De 3:1-11" id="Deu.iv-p1.1" parsed="|Deut|3|1|3|11" osisRef="Bible:Deut.3.1-Deut.3.11">ver. 1-11</scripRef>. II. The distribution of
|
|
these new conquests to the two tribes and a half, <scripRef passage="De 3:12-17" id="Deu.iv-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|3|12|3|17" osisRef="Bible:Deut.3.12-Deut.3.17">ver. 12-17</scripRef>. Under certain provisos
|
|
and limitations, <scripRef passage="De 3:18-20" id="Deu.iv-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|3|18|3|20" osisRef="Bible:Deut.3.18-Deut.3.20">ver.
|
|
18-20</scripRef>. III. The encouragement given to Joshua to carry
|
|
on the war which was so gloriously begun, <scripRef passage="De 3:21,22" id="Deu.iv-p1.4" parsed="|Deut|3|21|3|22" osisRef="Bible:Deut.3.21-Deut.3.22">ver. 21, 22</scripRef>. IV. Moses's request to go over
|
|
into Canaan (<scripRef passage="De 3:23-25" id="Deu.iv-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|3|23|3|25" osisRef="Bible:Deut.3.23-Deut.3.25">ver. 23-25</scripRef>),
|
|
with the denial of that request, but the grant of an equivalent,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 3:26-29" id="Deu.iv-p1.6" parsed="|Deut|3|26|3|29" osisRef="Bible:Deut.3.26-Deut.3.29">ver. 26</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 3" id="Deu.iv-p1.7" parsed="|Deut|3|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.3"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 3:1-11" id="Deu.iv-p1.8" parsed="|Deut|3|1|3|11" osisRef="Bible:Deut.3.1-Deut.3.11"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.3.1-Deut.3.11">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.iv-p1.9">Sihon and Og Subdued. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.iv-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.iv-p2">1 Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan:
|
|
and Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his
|
|
people, to battle at Edrei.   2 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.iv-p2.1">Lord</span> said unto me, Fear him not: for I will
|
|
deliver him, and all his people, and his land, into thy hand; and
|
|
thou shalt do unto him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the
|
|
Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon.   3 So the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.iv-p2.2">Lord</span> our God delivered into our hands Og also,
|
|
the king of Bashan, and all his people: and we smote him until none
|
|
was left to him remaining.   4 And we took all his cities at
|
|
that time, there was not a city which we took not from them,
|
|
threescore cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in
|
|
Bashan.   5 All these cities <i>were</i> fenced with high
|
|
walls, gates, and bars; beside unwalled towns a great many.  
|
|
6 And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of
|
|
Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children, of every
|
|
city.   7 But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we
|
|
took for a prey to ourselves.   8 And we took at that time out
|
|
of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites the land that
|
|
<i>was</i> on this side Jordan, from the river of Arnon unto mount
|
|
Hermon;   9 (<i>Which</i> Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion;
|
|
and the Amorites call it Shenir;)   10 All the cities of the
|
|
plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, unto Salchah and Edrei,
|
|
cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.   11 For only Og king
|
|
of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead
|
|
<i>was</i> a bedstead of iron; <i>is</i> it not in Rabbath of the
|
|
children of Ammon? nine cubits <i>was</i> the length thereof, and
|
|
four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.iv-p3">We have here another brave country
|
|
delivered into the hand of Israel, that of Bashan; the conquest of
|
|
Sihon is often mentioned together with that of Og, to the praise of
|
|
God, the rather because in these Israel's triumphs began, <scripRef passage="Ps 135:11,136:19,20" id="Deu.iv-p3.1" parsed="|Ps|135|11|0|0;|Ps|136|19|136|20" osisRef="Bible:Ps.135.11 Bible:Ps.136.19-Ps.136.20">Ps. cxxxv. 11; cxxxvi. 19,
|
|
20</scripRef>. See,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.iv-p4">I. How they got the mastery of Og, a very
|
|
formidable prince, 1. Very strong, for he was of the remnant of the
|
|
giants (<scripRef passage="De 3:11" id="Deu.iv-p4.1" parsed="|Deut|3|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.3.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>); his
|
|
personal strength was extraordinary, a monument of which was
|
|
preserved by the Ammonites in his bedstead, which was shown as a
|
|
rarity in their chief city. You might guess at his weight by the
|
|
materials of his bedstead; it was iron, as if a bedstead of wood
|
|
were too weak for him to trust to: and you might guess at his
|
|
stature by the dimensions of it; it was nine cubits long and four
|
|
cubits broad, which, supposing a cubit to be but half a yard (and
|
|
some learned men have made it appear to be somewhat more), was four
|
|
yards and a half long, and two yards broad; and if we allow his
|
|
bedstead to be two cubits longer than himself, and that is as much
|
|
as we need allow, he was three yards and a half high, double the
|
|
stature of an ordinary man, and every way proportionable, yet they
|
|
smote him, <scripRef passage="De 3:3" id="Deu.iv-p4.2" parsed="|Deut|3|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.3.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. Note,
|
|
when God pleads his people's cause he can deal with giants as with
|
|
grasshoppers. No man's might can secure him against the Almighty.
|
|
The army of Og was very powerful, for he had the command of sixty
|
|
fortified cities, besides the unwalled towns, <scripRef passage="De 3:5" id="Deu.iv-p4.3" parsed="|Deut|3|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.3.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. Yet all this was nothing before
|
|
God's Israel, when they came with commission to destroy him. 2. He
|
|
was very bold and daring: He <i>came out against Israel to
|
|
battle,</i> <scripRef passage="De 3:1" id="Deu.iv-p4.4" parsed="|Deut|3|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.3.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. It
|
|
was wonderful that he did not take warning by the ruin of Sihon,
|
|
and send to desire conditions of peace; but he trusted to his own
|
|
strength, and so was hardened to his destruction. Note, Those that
|
|
are not awakened by the judgments of God upon others, but persist
|
|
in their defiance of heaven, are ripening apace for the like
|
|
judgments upon themselves, <scripRef passage="Jer 3:8" id="Deu.iv-p4.5" parsed="|Jer|3|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.3.8">Jer. iii.
|
|
8</scripRef>. God bade Moses not fear him, <scripRef passage="De 3:2" id="Deu.iv-p4.6" parsed="|Deut|3|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.3.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. If Moses himself was so strong in
|
|
faith as not to need the caution, yet it is probable that the
|
|
people needed it, and for them these fresh assurances are designed;
|
|
"<i>I will deliver him into thy hand;</i> not only deliver thee out
|
|
of his hand, that he shall not be thy ruin, but deliver him <i>into
|
|
thy hand,</i> that thou shalt be his ruin, and make him pay dearly
|
|
for his attempt." He adds, <i>Thou shalt do to him as thou didst to
|
|
Sihon,</i> intimating that they ought to be encouraged by their
|
|
former victory to trust in God for another victory, for he is God,
|
|
and changeth not.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.iv-p5">II. How they got possession of Bashan, a
|
|
very desirable country. They took all the cities (<scripRef passage="De 3:4" id="Deu.iv-p5.1" parsed="|Deut|3|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.3.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>), and all the spoil of
|
|
them, <scripRef passage="De 3:7" id="Deu.iv-p5.2" parsed="|Deut|3|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.3.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. They made
|
|
them all their own, <scripRef passage="De 3:10" id="Deu.iv-p5.3" parsed="|Deut|3|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.3.10"><i>v.</i>
|
|
10</scripRef>. So that now they had in their hands all that
|
|
fruitful country which lay east of Jordan, from <i>the river Arnon
|
|
unto Hermon,</i> <scripRef passage="De 3:8" id="Deu.iv-p5.4" parsed="|Deut|3|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.3.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>.
|
|
Their conquering and possessing these countries was intended, not
|
|
only for the encouragement of Israel in the wars of Canaan, but for
|
|
the satisfaction of Moses before his death. Since he must not live
|
|
to see the completing of their victory and settlement, God thus
|
|
gives him a specimen of it. Thus the Spirit is given to those that
|
|
believe as the <i>earnest of their inheritance,</i> until the
|
|
redemption of the purchased possession.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 3" id="Deu.iv-p5.5" parsed="|Deut|3|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.3"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 3:12-20" id="Deu.iv-p5.6" parsed="|Deut|3|12|3|20" osisRef="Bible:Deut.3.12-Deut.3.20"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.3.12-Deut.3.20">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.iv-p5.7">Allotment of the Conquered
|
|
Lands. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.iv-p5.8">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.iv-p6">12 And this land, <i>which</i> we possessed at
|
|
that time, from Aroer, which <i>is</i> by the river Arnon, and half
|
|
mount Gilead, and the cities thereof, gave I unto the Reubenites
|
|
and to the Gadites.   13 And the rest of Gilead, and all
|
|
Bashan, <i>being</i> the kingdom of Og, gave I unto the half tribe
|
|
of Manasseh; all the region of Argob, with all Bashan, which was
|
|
called the land of giants.   14 Jair the son of Manasseh took
|
|
all the country of Argob unto the coasts of Geshuri and Maachathi;
|
|
and called them after his own name, Bashan-havoth-jair, unto this
|
|
day.   15 And I gave Gilead unto Machir.   16 And unto
|
|
the Reubenites and unto the Gadites I gave from Gilead even unto
|
|
the river Arnon half the valley, and the border even unto the river
|
|
Jabbok, <i>which is</i> the border of the children of Ammon;  
|
|
17 The plain also, and Jordan, and the coast <i>thereof,</i> from
|
|
Chinnereth even unto the sea of the plain, <i>even</i> the salt
|
|
sea, under Ashdoth-pisgah eastward.   18 And I commanded you
|
|
at that time, saying, The <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.iv-p6.1">Lord</span> your
|
|
God hath given you this land to possess it: ye shall pass over
|
|
armed before your brethren the children of Israel, all <i>that
|
|
are</i> meet for the war.   19 But your wives, and your little
|
|
ones, and your cattle, (<i>for</i> I know that ye have much
|
|
cattle,) shall abide in your cities which I have given you;  
|
|
20 Until the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.iv-p6.2">Lord</span> have given rest
|
|
unto your brethren, as well as unto you, and <i>until</i> they also
|
|
possess the land which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.iv-p6.3">Lord</span> your
|
|
God hath given them beyond Jordan: and <i>then</i> shall ye return
|
|
every man unto his possession, which I have given you.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.iv-p7">Having shown how this country which they
|
|
were now in was conquered, in these verses he shows how it was
|
|
settled upon the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of
|
|
Manasseh, which we had the story of before, <scripRef passage="Nu 32:1-42" id="Deu.iv-p7.1" parsed="|Num|32|1|32|42" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.1-Num.32.42">Num. xxxii.</scripRef> Here is the rehearsal. 1. Moses
|
|
specifies the particular parts of the country that were allotted to
|
|
each tribe, especially the distribution of the lot to the half
|
|
tribe of Manasseh, the subdividing of which tribe is observable.
|
|
Joseph was divided into Ephraim and Manasseh; Manasseh was divided
|
|
into one half on the one side Jordan and the other half on the
|
|
other side: that on the east side Jordan was again divided into two
|
|
great families, which had their several allotments: Jair, <scripRef passage="De 3:14" id="Deu.iv-p7.2" parsed="|Deut|3|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.3.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>, Machir, <scripRef passage="De 3:15" id="Deu.iv-p7.3" parsed="|Deut|3|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.3.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. And perhaps Jacob's
|
|
prediction of the smallness of that tribe was now accomplished in
|
|
these divisions and subdivisions. Observe that Bashan is here
|
|
called <i>the land of the giants,</i> because it had been in their
|
|
possession, but Og was the last of them. These giants, it seems,
|
|
had lost their country, and were rooted out of it sooner than any
|
|
of their neighbours; for those who, presuming upon their strength
|
|
and stature, had their hand against every man, had every man's hand
|
|
against them, and went down slain to the pit, though they were the
|
|
terror of the mighty in the land of the living. 2. He repeats the
|
|
condition of the grant which they had already agreed to, <scripRef passage="De 3:18-20" id="Deu.iv-p7.4" parsed="|Deut|3|18|3|20" osisRef="Bible:Deut.3.18-Deut.3.20"><i>v.</i> 18-20</scripRef>. That they should
|
|
send a strong detachment over Jordan to lead the van in the
|
|
conquest of Canaan, who should not return to their families, at
|
|
least not to settle (though for a time they might retire thither
|
|
into winter quarters, at the end of a campaign), till they had seen
|
|
their brethren in as full possession of their respective allotments
|
|
as they themselves were now in of theirs. They must hereby be
|
|
taught not to <i>look at their own things only, but at the things
|
|
of others,</i> <scripRef passage="Php 2:4" id="Deu.iv-p7.5" parsed="|Phil|2|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Phil.2.4">Phil. ii. 4</scripRef>.
|
|
It ill becomes an Israelite to be selfish, and to prefer any
|
|
private interest before the public welfare. When we are rest we
|
|
should desire to see our brethren at rest too, and should be ready
|
|
to do what we can towards it; for we are not born for ourselves,
|
|
but are members one of another. A good man cannot rejoice much in
|
|
the comforts of his family unless withal he sees <i>peace upon
|
|
Israel,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 128:6" id="Deu.iv-p7.6" parsed="|Ps|128|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.128.6">Ps. cxxviii.
|
|
6</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 3:21-29" id="Deu.iv-p7.7" parsed="|Deut|3|21|3|29" osisRef="Bible:Deut.3.21-Deut.3.29"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.3.21-Deut.3.29">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.iv-p7.8">Joshua Named as Moses's
|
|
Successor. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.iv-p7.9">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.iv-p8">21 And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying,
|
|
Thine eyes have seen all that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.iv-p8.1">Lord</span> your God hath done unto these two kings: so
|
|
shall the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.iv-p8.2">Lord</span> do unto all the
|
|
kingdoms whither thou passest.   22 Ye shall not fear them:
|
|
for the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.iv-p8.3">Lord</span> your God he shall fight
|
|
for you.   23 And I besought the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.iv-p8.4">Lord</span> at that time, saying,   24 O Lord
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.iv-p8.5">God</span>, thou hast begun to show thy
|
|
servant thy greatness, and thy mighty hand: for what God <i>is
|
|
there</i> in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy
|
|
works, and according to thy might?   25 I pray thee, let me go
|
|
over, and see the good land that <i>is</i> beyond Jordan, that
|
|
goodly mountain, and Lebanon.   26 But the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.iv-p8.6">Lord</span> was wroth with me for your sakes, and would
|
|
not hear me: and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.iv-p8.7">Lord</span> said unto
|
|
me, Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of this matter.
|
|
  27 Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine
|
|
eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and
|
|
behold <i>it</i> with thine eyes: for thou shalt not go over this
|
|
Jordan.   28 But charge Joshua, and encourage him, and
|
|
strengthen him: for he shall go over before this people, and he
|
|
shall cause them to inherit the land which thou shalt see.  
|
|
29 So we abode in the valley over against Beth-peor.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.iv-p9">Here is I. The encouragement which Moses
|
|
gave to Joshua, who was to succeed him in the government, <scripRef passage="De 3:21,22" id="Deu.iv-p9.1" parsed="|Deut|3|21|3|22" osisRef="Bible:Deut.3.21-Deut.3.22"><i>v.</i> 21, 22</scripRef>. He commanded him
|
|
not to fear. Thus those that are aged and experienced in the
|
|
service of God should do all they can to strengthen the hands of
|
|
those that are young, and setting out in religion. Two things he
|
|
would have him consider for his encouragement:—1. What God has
|
|
done. Joshua had seen what a total defeat God had given by the
|
|
forces of Israel to these two kings, and thence he might easily
|
|
infer, <i>so shall the Lord do to all the rest of the kingdoms</i>
|
|
upon which we are to make war. He must not only infer thence that
|
|
thus the Lord can do with them all, for his arm is not shortened,
|
|
but thus he will do, for his purpose is not changed; he that has
|
|
begun will finish; <i>as for God, his work is perfect.</i> Joshua
|
|
had seen it with his own eyes. And the more we have seen of the
|
|
instances of divine wisdom, power, and goodness, the more
|
|
inexcusable we are if we <i>fear what flesh can do unto us.</i> 2.
|
|
What God had promised. The <i>Lord your God he shall fight for
|
|
you;</i> and that cause cannot but be victorious which the Lord of
|
|
hosts fights for. <i>If God be for us, who can be against us</i> so
|
|
as to prevail? We reproach our leader if we follow him
|
|
trembling.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.iv-p10">II. The prayer which Moses made for
|
|
himself, and the answer which God gave to that prayer.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.iv-p11">1. His prayer was that, if it were God's
|
|
will, he might go before Israel over Jordan into Canaan. At that
|
|
time, when he had been encouraging Joshua to fight Israel's
|
|
battles, taking it for granted that he must be their leader, he was
|
|
touched with an earnest desire to go over himself, which expresses
|
|
itself not in any passionate and impatient complaints, or
|
|
reflections upon the sentence he was under, but in humble prayers
|
|
to God for a gracious reversing of it. <i>I besought the Lord.</i>
|
|
Note, We should never allow any desires in our hearts which we
|
|
cannot in faith offer up to God by prayer; and what desires are
|
|
innocent, let them be presented to God. We have not because we ask
|
|
not. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.iv-p12">(1.) What he pleads here. Two things:—
|
|
[1.] The great experience which he had had of God's goodness to him
|
|
in what he had done for Israel: "<i>Thou hast begun to show thy
|
|
servant thy greatness.</i> Lord, perfect what thou hast begun. Thou
|
|
hast given me to see thy glory in the conquest of these two kings,
|
|
and the sight has affected me with wonder and thankfulness. O let
|
|
me see more of the outgoings of my God, my King! This great work,
|
|
no doubt, will be carried on and completed; let me have the
|
|
satisfaction of seeing it." Note, the more we see of God's glory in
|
|
his works the more we shall desire to see. <i>The works of the Lord
|
|
are great,</i> and therefore are sought out more and more <i>of all
|
|
those that have pleasure therein.</i> [2.] The good impressions
|
|
that had been made upon his heart by what he had seen: For <i>what
|
|
God is there in heaven or earth that can do according to thy
|
|
works?</i> The more we are affected with what we have seen of God,
|
|
of his wisdom, power, and goodness, the better we are prepared for
|
|
further discoveries. Those shall see the works of God that admire
|
|
him in them. Moses had thus expressed himself concerning God and
|
|
his works long before (<scripRef passage="Ex 15:11" id="Deu.iv-p12.1" parsed="|Exod|15|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.11">Exod. xv.
|
|
11</scripRef>), and he still continues of the same mind, that there
|
|
are no works worthy to be compared with God's works, <scripRef passage="Ps 86:8" id="Deu.iv-p12.2" parsed="|Ps|86|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.86.8">Ps. lxxxvi. 8</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.iv-p13">(2.) What he begs: <i>I pray thee let me go
|
|
over,</i> <scripRef passage="De 3:25" id="Deu.iv-p13.1" parsed="|Deut|3|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.3.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>. God
|
|
had said he should not go over; yet he prays that he might, not
|
|
knowing but that the threatening was conditional, for it was not
|
|
ratified with an oath, as that concerning the people was, that they
|
|
should not enter. Thus Hezekiah prayed for his own life, and David
|
|
for the life of his child, after both had been expressly threatened;
|
|
and the former prevailed, though the latter did not. Moses
|
|
remembered the time when he had by prayer prevailed with God to
|
|
recede from the declarations which he had made of his wrath against
|
|
Israel, <scripRef passage="Ex 32:14" id="Deu.iv-p13.2" parsed="|Exod|32|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.14">Exod. xxxii. 14</scripRef>.
|
|
And why might he not hope in like manner to prevail for himself?
|
|
<i>Let me go over and see the good land.</i> Not, "Let me go over
|
|
and be a prince and a ruler there;" he seeks not his own honour, is
|
|
content to resign the government to Joshua; but, "Let me go to be a
|
|
spectator of thy kindness to Israel, to see what I believe
|
|
concerning the goodness of the land of promise." How pathetically
|
|
does he speak of Canaan, that <i>good land,</i> that <i>goodly
|
|
mountain!</i> Note, Those may hope to obtain and enjoy God's
|
|
favours that know how to value them. What he means by <i>that
|
|
goodly mountain</i> we may learn from <scripRef passage="Ps 78:54" id="Deu.iv-p13.3" parsed="|Ps|78|54|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.78.54">Ps. lxxviii. 54</scripRef>, where it is said of God's
|
|
Israel that <i>he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even
|
|
to this mountain which his right hand had purchased,</i> where it
|
|
is plainly to be understood of the whole land of Canaan, yet with
|
|
an eye to the sanctuary, the glory of it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.iv-p14">2. God's answer to this prayer had in it a
|
|
mixture of mercy and judgment, that he might sing unto God of
|
|
both.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.iv-p15">(1.) There was judgment in the denial of
|
|
his request, and that in something of anger too: <i>The Lord was
|
|
wroth with me for your sakes,</i> <scripRef passage="De 3:26" id="Deu.iv-p15.1" parsed="|Deut|3|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.3.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>. God not only sees sin in his
|
|
people, but is much displeased with it; and even those that are
|
|
delivered from the wrath to come may yet lie under the tokens of
|
|
God's wrath in this world, and may be denied some particular favour
|
|
which their hearts are much set upon. God is a gracious, tender,
|
|
loving Father; but he is angry with his children when they do
|
|
amiss, and denies them many a thing that they desire and are ready
|
|
to cry for. But how was he wroth with Moses <i>for the sake of
|
|
Israel?</i> Either, [1.] For that sin which they provoked him to;
|
|
see <scripRef passage="Ps 106:32,33" id="Deu.iv-p15.2" parsed="|Ps|106|32|106|33" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.32-Ps.106.33">Ps. cvi. 32, 33</scripRef>.
|
|
Or, [2.] The removal of Moses at that time, when he could so ill be
|
|
spared, was a rebuke to all Israel, and a punishment of their sin.
|
|
Or, [3.] It was for their sakes, that it might be a warning to them
|
|
to take heed of offending God by passionate and unbelieving
|
|
speeches at any time, after the similitude of his transgression;
|
|
for, if <i>this were done to such a green tree, what should be done
|
|
to the dry?</i> He acknowledges that God would not hear him. God
|
|
had often heard him for Israel, yet he would not hear him for
|
|
himself. It was the prerogative of Christ, the great Intercessor,
|
|
to be heard always; yet of him his enemies said, <i>He saved
|
|
others, himself he could not save,</i> which the Jews would not
|
|
have upbraided him with had they considered that Moses, their great
|
|
prophet, prevailed for others, but for himself he could not
|
|
prevail. Though Moses, being one of the wrestling seed of Jacob,
|
|
did not seek in vain, yet he had not the thing itself which he
|
|
sought for. God may accept our prayers, and yet not grant us the
|
|
very thing we pray for.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.iv-p16">(2.) Here is mercy mixed with this wrath in
|
|
several things:—[1.] God quieted the spirit of Moses under the
|
|
decree that had gone forth by that word (<scripRef passage="De 3:26" id="Deu.iv-p16.1" parsed="|Deut|3|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.3.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>), <i>Let it suffice thee.</i>
|
|
With this word, no doubt, a divine power went to reconcile Moses to
|
|
the will of God, and to bring him to acquiesce in it. If God does
|
|
not by his providence give us what we desire, yet, if by his grace
|
|
he makes us content without it, it comes much to one. "<i>Let it
|
|
suffice thee</i> to have God for thy father, and heaven for thy
|
|
portion, though thou hast not every thing thou wouldest have in
|
|
this world. Be satisfied with this, <i>God is all-sufficient.</i>"
|
|
[2.] He put an honour upon his prayer in directing him not to
|
|
insist upon this request: <i>Speak no more to me of this
|
|
matter.</i> It intimates that what God does not think fit to grant
|
|
we should not think fit to ask, and that God takes such a pleasure
|
|
in the prayer of the upright that it is no pleasure to him, no, not
|
|
in any particular instance, to give a denial to it. [3.] He
|
|
promised him a sight of Canaan <i>from the top of Pisgah,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 3:27" id="Deu.iv-p16.2" parsed="|Deut|3|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.3.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>. Though he
|
|
should not have the possession of it, he should have the prospect
|
|
of it; not to tantalize him, but such a sight of it as would yield
|
|
him true satisfaction, and would enable him to form a very clear
|
|
and pleasing idea of that promised land. Probably Moses had not
|
|
only his sight preserved for other purposes, but greatly enlarged
|
|
for this purpose; for, if he had not had such a sight of it as
|
|
others could not have from the same place, it would have been no
|
|
particular favour to Moses, nor the matter of a promise. Even great
|
|
believers, in this present state, see heaven but at a distance.
|
|
[4.] He provided him a successor, one who should support the honour
|
|
of Moses and carry on and complete that glorious work which the
|
|
heart of Moses was so much upon, the bringing of Israel to Canaan,
|
|
and settling them there (<scripRef passage="De 3:28" id="Deu.iv-p16.3" parsed="|Deut|3|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.3.28"><i>v.</i>
|
|
28</scripRef>): <i>Charge Joshua and encourage him</i> in this
|
|
work. Those to whom God gives a charge, he will be sure to give
|
|
encouragement to. And it is a comfort to the church's friends (when
|
|
they are dying and going off) to see God's work likely to be
|
|
carried on by other hands, when they are silent in the dust.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter IV" n="v" progress="83.24%" prev="Deu.iv" next="Deu.vi" id="Deu.v">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.v-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.v-p0.2">CHAP. IV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.v-p1">In this chapter we have, I. A most earnest and
|
|
pathetic exhortation to obedience, both in general, and in some
|
|
particular instances, backed with a great variety of very pressing
|
|
arguments, repeated again and again, and set before them in the
|
|
most moving and affectionate manner imaginable, <scripRef passage="De 4:1-40" id="Deu.v-p1.1" parsed="|Deut|4|1|4|40" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.1-Deut.4.40">ver. 1-40</scripRef>. II. The appointing of the cities
|
|
of refuge on that side Jordan, <scripRef passage="De 4:41-43" id="Deu.v-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|4|41|4|43" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.41-Deut.4.43">ver.
|
|
41-43</scripRef>. III. The particular description of the place
|
|
where Moses delivered the following repetition of the law,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 4:44-49" id="Deu.v-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|4|44|4|49" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.44-Deut.4.49">ver. 44</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 4" id="Deu.v-p1.4" parsed="|Deut|4|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 4:1-40" id="Deu.v-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|4|1|4|40" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.1-Deut.4.40"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.4.1-Deut.4.40">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.v-p1.6">Exhortations and Arguments. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.v-p1.7">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.v-p2">1 Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the
|
|
statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do
|
|
<i>them,</i> that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.v-p2.1">Lord</span> God of your fathers giveth
|
|
you.   2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you,
|
|
neither shall ye diminish <i>ought</i> from it, that ye may keep
|
|
the commandments of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.v-p2.2">Lord</span> your
|
|
God which I command you.   3 Your eyes have seen what the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.v-p2.3">Lord</span> did because of Baal-peor: for
|
|
all the men that followed Baal-peor, the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.v-p2.4">Lord</span> thy God hath destroyed them from among you.
|
|
  4 But ye that did cleave unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.v-p2.5">Lord</span> your God <i>are</i> alive every one of you
|
|
this day.   5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and
|
|
judgments, even as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.v-p2.6">Lord</span> my God
|
|
commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to
|
|
possess it.   6 Keep therefore and do <i>them;</i> for this
|
|
<i>is</i> your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the
|
|
nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this
|
|
great nation <i>is</i> a wise and understanding people.   7
|
|
For what nation <i>is there so</i> great, who <i>hath</i> God
|
|
<i>so</i> nigh unto them, as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.v-p2.7">Lord</span> our God <i>is</i> in all <i>things that</i>
|
|
we call upon him <i>for?</i>   8 And what nation <i>is there
|
|
so</i> great, that hath statutes and judgments <i>so</i> righteous
|
|
as all this law, which I set before you this day?   9 Only
|
|
take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou
|
|
forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart
|
|
from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons,
|
|
and thy sons' sons;   10 <i>Specially</i> the day that thou
|
|
stoodest before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.v-p2.8">Lord</span> thy God in
|
|
Horeb, when the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.v-p2.9">Lord</span> said unto me,
|
|
Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words,
|
|
that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live
|
|
upon the earth, and <i>that</i> they may teach their children.
|
|
  11 And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the
|
|
mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness,
|
|
clouds, and thick darkness.   12 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.v-p2.10">Lord</span> spake unto you out of the midst of the
|
|
fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only
|
|
<i>ye heard</i> a voice.   13 And he declared unto you his
|
|
covenant, which he commanded you to perform, <i>even</i> ten
|
|
commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.   14
|
|
And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.v-p2.11">Lord</span> commanded me at that
|
|
time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in
|
|
the land whither ye go over to possess it.   15 Take ye
|
|
therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of
|
|
similitude on the day <i>that</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.v-p2.12">Lord</span> spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of
|
|
the fire:   16 Lest ye corrupt <i>yourselves,</i> and make you
|
|
a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male
|
|
or female,   17 The likeness of any beast that <i>is</i> on
|
|
the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,
|
|
  18 The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground,
|
|
the likeness of any fish that <i>is</i> in the waters beneath the
|
|
earth:   19 And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and
|
|
when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, <i>even</i>
|
|
all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and
|
|
serve them, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.v-p2.13">Lord</span> thy God
|
|
hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.   20 But
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.v-p2.14">Lord</span> hath taken you, and brought
|
|
you forth out of the iron furnace, <i>even</i> out of Egypt, to be
|
|
unto him a people of inheritance, as <i>ye are</i> this day.  
|
|
21 Furthermore the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.v-p2.15">Lord</span> was angry
|
|
with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over Jordan,
|
|
and that I should not go in unto that good land, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.v-p2.16">Lord</span> thy God giveth thee <i>for</i> an
|
|
inheritance:   22 But I must die in this land, I must not go
|
|
over Jordan: but ye shall go over, and possess that good land.
|
|
  23 Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.v-p2.17">Lord</span> your God, which he made
|
|
with you, and make you a graven image, <i>or</i> the likeness of
|
|
any <i>thing,</i> which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.v-p2.18">Lord</span> thy
|
|
God hath forbidden thee.   24 For the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.v-p2.19">Lord</span> thy God <i>is</i> a consuming fire,
|
|
<i>even</i> a jealous God.   25 When thou shalt beget
|
|
children, and children's children, and ye shall have remained long
|
|
in the land, and shall corrupt <i>yourselves,</i> and make a graven
|
|
image, <i>or</i> the likeness of any <i>thing,</i> and shall do
|
|
evil in the sight of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.v-p2.20">Lord</span> thy
|
|
God, to provoke him to anger:   26 I call heaven and earth to
|
|
witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish
|
|
from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye
|
|
shall not prolong <i>your</i> days upon it, but shall utterly be
|
|
destroyed.   27 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.v-p2.21">Lord</span>
|
|
shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in
|
|
number among the heathen, whither the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.v-p2.22">Lord</span> shall lead you.   28 And there ye
|
|
shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which
|
|
neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.   29 But if from
|
|
thence thou shalt seek the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.v-p2.23">Lord</span> thy
|
|
God, thou shalt find <i>him,</i> if thou seek him with all thy
|
|
heart and with all thy soul.   30 When thou art in
|
|
tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, <i>even</i>
|
|
in the latter days, if thou turn to the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.v-p2.24">Lord</span> thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his
|
|
voice;   31 (For the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.v-p2.25">Lord</span> thy
|
|
God <i>is</i> a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither
|
|
destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware
|
|
unto them.   32 For ask now of the days that are past, which
|
|
were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the
|
|
earth, and <i>ask</i> from the one side of heaven unto the other,
|
|
whether there hath been <i>any such thing</i> as this great thing
|
|
<i>is,</i> or hath been heard like it?   33 Did <i>ever</i>
|
|
people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire,
|
|
as thou hast heard, and live?   34 Or hath God assayed to go
|
|
<i>and</i> take him a nation from the midst of <i>another</i>
|
|
nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and
|
|
by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors,
|
|
according to all that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.v-p2.26">Lord</span> your
|
|
God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?   35 Unto thee it
|
|
was showed, that thou mightest know that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.v-p2.27">Lord</span> he <i>is</i> God; <i>there is</i> none else
|
|
beside him.   36 Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice,
|
|
that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he showed thee his
|
|
great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the
|
|
fire.   37 And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he
|
|
chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with
|
|
his mighty power out of Egypt;   38 To drive out nations from
|
|
before thee greater and mightier than thou <i>art,</i> to bring
|
|
thee in, to give thee their land <i>for</i> an inheritance, as
|
|
<i>it is</i> this day.   39 Know therefore this day, and
|
|
consider <i>it</i> in thine heart, that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.v-p2.28">Lord</span> he <i>is</i> God in heaven above, and upon
|
|
the earth beneath: <i>there is</i> none else.   40 Thou shalt
|
|
keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command
|
|
thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children
|
|
after thee, and that thou mayest prolong <i>thy</i> days upon the
|
|
earth, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.v-p2.29">Lord</span> thy God giveth
|
|
thee, for ever.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.v-p3">This most lively and excellent discourse is
|
|
so entire, and the particulars of it are so often repeated, that we
|
|
must take it altogether in the exposition of it, and endeavour to
|
|
digest it into proper heads, for we cannot divide it into
|
|
paragraphs.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.v-p4">I. In general, it is the use and
|
|
application of the foregoing history; it comes in by way of
|
|
inference from it: <i>Now therefore harken, O Israel,</i> <scripRef passage="De 4:1" id="Deu.v-p4.1" parsed="|Deut|4|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. This use we should make of
|
|
the review of God's providences concerning us, we should by them be
|
|
quickened and engaged to duty and obedience. The histories of the
|
|
years of ancient times should in like manner be improved by us.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.v-p5">II. The scope and drift of his discourse is
|
|
to persuade them to keep close to God and to his service, and not
|
|
to forsake him for any other god, nor in any instance to decline
|
|
from their duty to him. Now observe what he says to them, with a
|
|
great deal of divine rhetoric, both by way of exhortation and
|
|
direction, and also by way of motive and argument to enforce his
|
|
exhortations.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.v-p6">1. See here how he charges and commands
|
|
them, and shows them <i>what is good, and what the Lord requires of
|
|
them.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.v-p7">(1.) He demands their diligent attention to
|
|
the word of God, and to the statutes and judgments that were taught
|
|
them: <i>Hearken, O Israel.</i> He means, not only that they must
|
|
now give him the hearing, but that whenever the book of the law was
|
|
read to them, or read by them, they should be attentive to it.
|
|
"Hearken to the statutes, as containing the great commands of God
|
|
and the great concerns of your own souls, and therefore challenging
|
|
your utmost attention." At Horeb God had <i>made them hear his
|
|
words</i> (<scripRef passage="De 4:10" id="Deu.v-p7.1" parsed="|Deut|4|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>),
|
|
hear them with a witness; the attention which was then constrained
|
|
by the circumstances of the delivery ought ever after to be engaged
|
|
by the excellency of the things themselves. What God so <i>spoke
|
|
once,</i> we should <i>hear twice,</i> hear often.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.v-p8">(2.) He charges them to preserve the divine
|
|
law pure and entire among them, <scripRef passage="De 4:2" id="Deu.v-p8.1" parsed="|Deut|4|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. Keep it pure, and do not add to
|
|
it; keep it entire, and do not diminish from it. Not in practice,
|
|
so some: "You shall not add by committing the evil which the law
|
|
forbids, nor diminish by omitting the good which the law requires."
|
|
Not in opinion, so others: "You shall not add your own inventions,
|
|
as if the divine institutions were defective, nor introduce, much
|
|
less impose, any rites of religious worship other than what God has
|
|
appointed; nor shall you diminish, or set aside, any thing that is
|
|
appointed, as needless or superfluous." God's work is perfect,
|
|
nothing can be put to it, nor taken from it, without making it the
|
|
worse. See <scripRef passage="Ec 3:14" id="Deu.v-p8.2" parsed="|Eccl|3|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.3.14">Eccl. iii. 14</scripRef>.
|
|
The Jews understand it as prohibiting the alteration of the text or
|
|
letter of the law, even in the least jot or tittle; and to their
|
|
great care and exactness herein we are very much indebted, under
|
|
God, for the purity and integrity of the Hebrew code. We find a
|
|
fence like this made about the New Testament in the close of it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Re 22:18,19" id="Deu.v-p8.3" parsed="|Rev|22|18|22|19" osisRef="Bible:Rev.22.18-Rev.22.19">Rev. xxii. 18, 19</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.v-p9">(3.) He charges them to keep God's
|
|
<i>commandments</i> (<scripRef passage="De 4:2" id="Deu.v-p9.1" parsed="|Deut|4|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.2"><i>v.</i>
|
|
2</scripRef>), to <i>do them</i> (<scripRef passage="De 4:5,14" id="Deu.v-p9.2" parsed="|Deut|4|5|0|0;|Deut|4|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.5 Bible:Deut.4.14"><i>v.</i> 5, 14</scripRef>), to <i>keep and do them</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 4:6" id="Deu.v-p9.3" parsed="|Deut|4|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), to <i>perform
|
|
the covenant,</i> <scripRef passage="De 4:13" id="Deu.v-p9.4" parsed="|Deut|4|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.13"><i>v.</i>
|
|
13</scripRef>. Hearing must be in order to doing, knowledge in
|
|
order to practice. God's commandments were the way they must keep
|
|
in, the rule they must keep to; they must govern themselves by the
|
|
moral precepts, perform their devotion according to the divine
|
|
ritual, and administer justice according to the judicial law. He
|
|
concludes his discourse (<scripRef passage="De 4:40" id="Deu.v-p9.5" parsed="|Deut|4|40|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.40"><i>v.</i>
|
|
40</scripRef>) with this repeated charge: <i>Thou shalt keep his
|
|
statutes and his commandments which I command thee.</i> What are
|
|
laws made for but to be observed and obeyed?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.v-p10">(4.) He charges them to be very strict and
|
|
careful in their observance of the law (<scripRef passage="De 4:9" id="Deu.v-p10.1" parsed="|Deut|4|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): <i>Only take heed to thyself, and
|
|
keep thy soul diligently;</i> and (<scripRef passage="De 4:15" id="Deu.v-p10.2" parsed="|Deut|4|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>), <i>Take you therefore good heed
|
|
unto yourselves;</i> and again (<scripRef passage="De 4:23" id="Deu.v-p10.3" parsed="|Deut|4|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>), <i>Take heed to yourselves.</i>
|
|
Those that would be religious must be very cautious, and walk
|
|
circumspectly. Considering how many temptations we are compassed
|
|
about with, and what corrupt inclinations we have in our own
|
|
bosoms, we have great need to look about us and to keep our hearts
|
|
with all diligence. Those cannot walk aright that walk carelessly
|
|
and at all adventures.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.v-p11">(5.) He charges them particularly to take
|
|
heed of the sin of idolatry, that sin which of all others they
|
|
would be most tempted to by the customs of the nations, which they
|
|
were most addicted to by the corruption of their hearts, and which
|
|
would be most provoking to God and of the most pernicious
|
|
consequences to themselves: <i>Take good heed,</i> lest in this
|
|
matter <i>you corrupt yourselves,</i> <scripRef passage="De 4:15,16" id="Deu.v-p11.1" parsed="|Deut|4|15|4|16" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.15-Deut.4.16"><i>v.</i> 15, 16</scripRef>. Two sorts of idolatry he
|
|
cautions them against:—[1.] The worship of images, however by
|
|
them they might intend to worship the true God, as they had done in
|
|
the golden calf, so changing the <i>truth of God into a lie</i> and
|
|
his <i>glory into shame.</i> The second commandment is expressly
|
|
directed against this, and is here enlarged upon, <scripRef passage="De 4:15-18" id="Deu.v-p11.2" parsed="|Deut|4|15|4|18" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.15-Deut.4.18"><i>v.</i> 15-18</scripRef>. "Take heed <i>lest
|
|
you corrupt yourselves,</i>" that is, "lest you debauch
|
|
yourselves;" for those that think to make images of God form in
|
|
their minds such notions of him as must needs be an inlet to all
|
|
impieties; and it is intimated that it is a spiritual adultery.
|
|
"And take heed lest you destroy yourselves. If any thing ruin you,
|
|
this will be it. Whatever you do, make no similitude of God, either
|
|
in a human shape, <i>male of female,</i> or in the shape of any
|
|
<i>beast or fowl, serpent or fish;</i>" for the heathen worshipped
|
|
their gods by images of all these kinds, being either not able to
|
|
form, or not willing to admit, that plain demonstration which we
|
|
find, <scripRef passage="Ho 8:6" id="Deu.v-p11.3" parsed="|Hos|8|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.6">Hos. viii. 6</scripRef>: <i>The
|
|
workman made it, therefore it is not God.</i> To represent an
|
|
infinite Spirit by an image, and the great Creator by the image of
|
|
a creature, is the greatest affront we can put upon God and the
|
|
greatest cheat we can put upon ourselves. As an argument against
|
|
their making images of God, he urges it very much upon them that
|
|
when God made himself known to them at Horeb he did it by a voice
|
|
of words which sounded in their ears, to teach them that <i>faith
|
|
comes by hearing,</i> and God in the word is nigh us; but no image
|
|
was presented to their eye, for to see God as he is is reserved for
|
|
our happiness in the other world, and to see him as he is not will
|
|
do us hurt and no good in this world. You saw <i>no similitude</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 4:12" id="Deu.v-p11.4" parsed="|Deut|4|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), <i>no manner
|
|
of similitude,</i> <scripRef passage="De 4:15" id="Deu.v-p11.5" parsed="|Deut|4|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.15"><i>v.</i>
|
|
15</scripRef>. Probably they expected to have seen some similitude,
|
|
for they were ready to <i>break through unto the Lord to gaze,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 19:21" id="Deu.v-p11.6" parsed="|Exod|19|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.21">Exod. xix. 21</scripRef>. But all they
|
|
saw was <i>light</i> and <i>fire,</i> and nothing that they could
|
|
make an image of, God an infinite wisdom so ordering his
|
|
manifestation of himself because of the <i>peril of idolatry.</i>
|
|
It is said indeed of Moses that he <i>beheld the similitude of the
|
|
Lord</i> (<scripRef passage="Nu 12:8" id="Deu.v-p11.7" parsed="|Num|12|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.12.8">Num. xii. 8</scripRef>), God
|
|
allowing him that favour because he was above the temptation of
|
|
idolatry; but for the people who had lately come from admiring the
|
|
idols of Egypt, they must see no resemblance of God, lest they
|
|
should have pretended to copy it, and so should have received the
|
|
second commandment in vain; "for" (says bishop Patrick) "they would
|
|
have thought that this forbade them only to make any representation
|
|
of God besides that wherein he showed himself to them, in which
|
|
they would have concluded it lawful to represent him." Let this be
|
|
a caution to us to take heed of making images of God in our fancy
|
|
and imagination when we are worshipping him, lest thereby we
|
|
corrupt ourselves. There may be idols in the heart, where there are
|
|
none in the sanctuary. [2.] The worship of the sun, moon, and
|
|
stars, is another sort of idolatry which they were cautioned
|
|
against, <scripRef passage="De 4:19" id="Deu.v-p11.8" parsed="|Deut|4|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. This
|
|
was the most ancient species of idolatry and the most plausible,
|
|
drawing the adoration to those creatures that not only are in a
|
|
situation above us, but are most sensibly glorious in themselves
|
|
and most generally serviceable to the world. And the plausibleness
|
|
of it made it the more dangerous. It is intimated here,
|
|
<i>First,</i> How strong the temptation is to sense; for the
|
|
caution is, <i>Lest thou shouldest be driven to worship them</i> by
|
|
the strong impulse of a vain imagination and the impetuous torrent
|
|
of the customs of the nations. The heart is supposed to <i>walk
|
|
after the eye,</i> which, in our corrupt and degenerate state, it
|
|
is very apt to do. "<i>When thou seest the sun, moon, and
|
|
stars,</i> thou wilt so admire their height and brightness, their
|
|
regular motion and powerful influence, that thou wilt be strongly
|
|
tempted to give that glory to them which is due to him that made
|
|
them, and made them what they are to us—gave them their beings,
|
|
and made them blessings to the world." It seems there was need of a
|
|
great deal of resolution to arm them against this temptation, so
|
|
weak was their faith in an invisible God and an invisible world.
|
|
<i>Secondly,</i> Yet he shows how weak the temptation would be to
|
|
those that would use their reason; for these pretended deities, the
|
|
<i>sun, moon, and stars,</i> were only blessings which the Lord
|
|
their God, whom they were obliged to worship, had imparted to all
|
|
nations. It is absurd to worship them, for they are man's servants,
|
|
were made and ordained to give light on earth; and shall we serve
|
|
those that were made to serve us? The sun, in Hebrew is called
|
|
<i>shemesh,</i> which signifies a <i>servant,</i> for it is the
|
|
minister-general of this visible world, and holds the candle to all
|
|
mankind; let it not then be worshipped as a lord. Moreover, they
|
|
are God's gifts; he has imparted them; whatever benefit we have by
|
|
them, we owe it to him; it is therefore highly injurious to him to
|
|
give that honour and praise to them which is due to him only.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.v-p12">(6.) He charges them to teach their
|
|
children to observe the laws of God: <i>Teach them to thy sons, and
|
|
thy sons' sons</i> (<scripRef passage="De 4:9" id="Deu.v-p12.1" parsed="|Deut|4|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.9"><i>v.</i>
|
|
9</scripRef>), <i>that they may teach their children,</i> <scripRef passage="De 4:10" id="Deu.v-p12.2" parsed="|Deut|4|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. [1.] Care must be taken
|
|
in general to preserve the entail of religion among them, and to
|
|
transmit the knowledge and worship of God to posterity; for the
|
|
kingdom of God in Israel was designed to be perpetual, if they did
|
|
not forfeit the privilege of it. [2.] Parents must, in order
|
|
hereunto, particularly take care to teach their own children the
|
|
fear of God, and to train them up in an observance of all his
|
|
commandments.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.v-p13">(7.) He charges them never to forget their
|
|
duty: <i>Take heed lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your
|
|
God,</i> <scripRef passage="De 4:23" id="Deu.v-p13.1" parsed="|Deut|4|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>.
|
|
Though God is ever mindful of the covenant, we are apt to forget
|
|
it; and this is at the bottom of all our departures from God. We
|
|
have need therefore to watch against all those things which would
|
|
put the covenant out of our minds, and to watch over our own
|
|
hearts, lest at any time we let it slip; and so we must take heed
|
|
lest at any time we forget our religion, lest we lose it or leave
|
|
it off. Care and caution, and holy watchfulness, are the best helps
|
|
against a bad memory. These are the directions and commands he
|
|
gives them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.v-p14">2. Let us see now what are the motives or
|
|
arguments with which he backs these exhortations. How does he order
|
|
the cause before them, and fill his mouth with arguments! He has a
|
|
great deal to say on God's behalf. Some of his topics are indeed
|
|
peculiar to that people, yet applicable to us. But, upon the whole,
|
|
it is evident that religion has reason on its side, the powerful
|
|
charms of which all that are irreligious wilfully stop their ears
|
|
against.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.v-p15">(1.) He urges the greatness, glory, and
|
|
goodness, of God. Did we consider what a God he is with whom we
|
|
have to do, we should surely make conscience of our duty to him and
|
|
not dare to sin against him. He reminds them here, [1.] That the
|
|
Lord Jehovah is the <i>one and only living and true God.</i> This
|
|
they must <i>know and consider,</i> <scripRef passage="De 4:39" id="Deu.v-p15.1" parsed="|Deut|4|39|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.39"><i>v.</i> 39</scripRef>. There are many things which we
|
|
know, but are not the better for, because we do not consider them,
|
|
we do not apply them to ourselves, nor draw proper inferences from
|
|
them. This is a truth so evident that it cannot but be known, and
|
|
so influential that, if it were duly considered, it would
|
|
effectually reform the world, <i>That the Lord Jehovah he is
|
|
God,</i> an infinite and eternal Being, self-existent and
|
|
self-sufficient, and the fountain of all being, power, and
|
|
motion—that he is <i>God in heaven above,</i> clothed with all the
|
|
glory and Lord of all the hosts of the upper world, and that he is
|
|
God <i>upon earth beneath,</i> which, though distant from the
|
|
throne of his glory, is not out of the reach of his sight or power,
|
|
and though despicable and mean is not below his care and
|
|
cognizance. And <i>there is none else,</i> no true and living God
|
|
but himself. All the deities of the heathen were counterfeits and
|
|
usurpers; nor did any of them so much as pretend to be universal
|
|
monarchs in heaven and earth, but only local deities. The
|
|
Israelites, who worshipped no other than the supreme
|
|
<i>Numen—Divinity,</i> were for ever inexcusable if they either
|
|
changed their God or neglected him. [2.] That he is a <i>consuming
|
|
fire, a jealous God,</i> <scripRef passage="De 4:24" id="Deu.v-p15.2" parsed="|Deut|4|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.24"><i>v.</i>
|
|
24</scripRef>. Take heed of offending him, for, <i>First,</i> He
|
|
has a jealous eye to discern an affront; he must have your entire
|
|
affection and adoration, and will by no means endure a rival. God's
|
|
jealousy over us is a good reason for our godly jealousy over
|
|
ourselves. <i>Secondly,</i> He has a heavy hand to punish an
|
|
affront, especially in his worship, for therein he is in a special
|
|
manner jealous. He is a <i>consuming fire;</i> his wrath against
|
|
sinners is so; it is dreadful and destroying, it is a <i>fiery
|
|
indignation</i> which will <i>devour the adversaries,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 10:27" id="Deu.v-p15.3" parsed="|Heb|10|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.10.27">Heb. x. 27</scripRef>. Fire consumes that only
|
|
which is fuel for it, so the wrath of God fastens upon those only
|
|
who, by their own sin, have fitted themselves for destruction,
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Co 3:13,Isa 27:4" id="Deu.v-p15.4" parsed="|1Cor|3|13|0|0;|Isa|27|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.3.13 Bible:Isa.27.4">1 Cor. iii. 13; Isa. xxvii.
|
|
4</scripRef>. Even in the New Testament we find the same argument
|
|
urged upon us as a reason why we should serve <i>God with
|
|
reverence</i> (<scripRef passage="Heb 12:28,29" id="Deu.v-p15.5" parsed="|Heb|12|28|12|29" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.28-Heb.12.29">Heb. xii. 28,
|
|
29</scripRef>), because though he is our God, and a rejoicing light
|
|
to those that serve him faithfully, yet he is a consuming fire to
|
|
those that trifle with him. <i>Thirdly,</i> That yet he is <i>a
|
|
merciful God,</i> <scripRef passage="De 4:31" id="Deu.v-p15.6" parsed="|Deut|4|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.31"><i>v.</i>
|
|
31</scripRef>. It comes in here as an encouragement to repentance,
|
|
but might serve as an inducement to obedience, and a consideration
|
|
proper to prevent their apostasy. Shall we forsake a merciful God,
|
|
who will never forsake us, as it follows here, if we be faithful
|
|
unto him? Whither can we go to better ourselves? Shall we forget
|
|
the covenant of our God, who will not <i>forget the covenant of our
|
|
fathers?</i> Let us be held to our duty by the bonds of love, and
|
|
prevailed with by the mercies of God to cleave to him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.v-p16">(2.) He urges their relation to this God,
|
|
his authority over them and their obligations to him. "The
|
|
commandments you are to keep and do are not mine," says Moses, "not
|
|
my inventions, not my injunctions, but they are the commandments of
|
|
the Lord, framed by infinite wisdom, enacted by sovereign power. He
|
|
is the <i>Lord God of your fathers</i> (<scripRef passage="De 4:1" id="Deu.v-p16.1" parsed="|Deut|4|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>), so that you are his by
|
|
inheritance: your fathers were his, and you were born in his house.
|
|
He is the <i>Lord your God</i> (<scripRef passage="De 4:2" id="Deu.v-p16.2" parsed="|Deut|4|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), so that you are his by your own
|
|
consent. He is the <i>Lord my God</i> (<scripRef passage="De 4:5" id="Deu.v-p16.3" parsed="|Deut|4|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), so that I treat with you as his
|
|
agent and ambassador;" and in his name Moses delivered unto them
|
|
all that, and that only, which he had received from the Lord.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.v-p17">(3.) He urges the wisdom of being
|
|
religious: <i>For this is your wisdom in the sight of the
|
|
nations,</i> <scripRef passage="De 4:6" id="Deu.v-p17.1" parsed="|Deut|4|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. In
|
|
keeping God's commandments, [1.] They would act wisely for
|
|
themselves; <i>This is your wisdom.</i> It is not only agreeable to
|
|
right reason, but highly conducive to our true interest; this is
|
|
one of the first and most ancient maxims of divine revelation.
|
|
<i>The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 28:28" id="Deu.v-p17.2" parsed="|Job|28|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.28.28">Job xxviii. 28</scripRef>. [2.] They would answer the
|
|
expectations of their neighbours, who, upon reading or hearing the
|
|
precepts of the law that was given them, would conclude that
|
|
certainly the people that were governed by this law were a wise and
|
|
understanding people. Great things may justly be looked for from
|
|
those who are guided by divine revelation, and unto whom are
|
|
committed the oracles of God. They must needs be wiser and better
|
|
than other people; and so they are if they are ruled by the rules
|
|
that are given them; and if they are not, though reproach may for
|
|
their sakes be cast upon the religion they profess, yet it will in
|
|
the end certainly return upon themselves to their eternal
|
|
confusion. Those that enjoy the benefit of divine light and laws
|
|
ought to conduct themselves so as to support their own reputation
|
|
for wisdom and honour (see <scripRef passage="Ec 10:1" id="Deu.v-p17.3" parsed="|Eccl|10|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.10.1">Eccl. x.
|
|
1</scripRef>), that God may be glorified thereby.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.v-p18">(4.) He urges the singular advantages which
|
|
they enjoyed by virtue of the happy establishment they were under,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 4:7,8" id="Deu.v-p18.1" parsed="|Deut|4|7|4|8" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.7-Deut.4.8"><i>v.</i> 7, 8</scripRef>. Our
|
|
communion with God (which is the highest honour and happiness we
|
|
are capable of in this world) is kept up by the word and prayer; in
|
|
both these Israel were happy above any people under heaven. [1.]
|
|
Never were any people so privileged in speaking to God, <scripRef passage="De 4:7" id="Deu.v-p18.2" parsed="|Deut|4|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. He was nigh unto them in
|
|
all that they called upon him for, ready to answer their enquiries
|
|
and resolve them by his oracle, ready to answer their requests and
|
|
to grant them by a particular providence. When they had cried unto
|
|
God for bread, for water, for healing, they had found him near
|
|
them, to succour and relieve them, a very present help, and in the
|
|
midst of them (<scripRef passage="Ps 46:1,5" id="Deu.v-p18.3" parsed="|Ps|46|1|0|0;|Ps|46|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.46.1 Bible:Ps.46.5">Ps. xlvi. 1,
|
|
5</scripRef>), his ear open to their prayers. Observe,
|
|
<i>First,</i> It is the character of God's Israel that on all
|
|
occasions they call upon him, in every thing they make their
|
|
requests known to God. They do nothing but what they consult him
|
|
in, they desire nothing but what they come to him for.
|
|
<i>Secondly,</i> Those that call upon God shall certainly find him
|
|
within call, and ready to give an answer of peace to every prayer
|
|
of faith; see <scripRef passage="Isa 58:9" id="Deu.v-p18.4" parsed="|Isa|58|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.58.9">Isa. lviii.
|
|
9</scripRef>, "<i>Thou shalt cry,</i> as the child for a nurse,
|
|
<i>and he shall say, Here I am,</i> what does my dear child cry
|
|
for?" <i>Thirdly,</i> This is a privilege which makes the Israel of
|
|
God truly great and honourable. What can go further than this to
|
|
magnify a people or a person? Is any name more illustrious than
|
|
that of Israel, <i>a prince with God? What nation is there so
|
|
great?</i> Other nations might boast of greater numbers, larger
|
|
territories, and more ancient incorporations; but none could boast
|
|
of such an interest in heaven as Israel had. They had their gods,
|
|
but not so nigh to them as Israel's God was; they could not help
|
|
them in a time of need, as <scripRef passage="1Ki 18:27" id="Deu.v-p18.5" parsed="|1Kgs|18|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.18.27">1 Kings
|
|
xviii. 27</scripRef>. [2.] Never were any people so privileged in
|
|
hearing from God, by the statutes and judgments which were set
|
|
before them, <scripRef passage="De 4:8" id="Deu.v-p18.6" parsed="|Deut|4|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>.
|
|
This also was the grandeur of Israel above any people. <i>What
|
|
nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so
|
|
righteous?</i> Observe, <i>First,</i> That all these statutes and
|
|
judgments of the divine law are infinitely just and righteous,
|
|
above the statutes and judgments of any of the nations. The law of
|
|
God is far more excellent that the law of nations. No law so
|
|
consonant to natural equity and the unprejudiced dictates of right
|
|
reason, so consistent with itself in all the parts of it, and so
|
|
conducive to the welfare and interest of mankind, as the
|
|
scripture-law is, <scripRef passage="Ps 119:128" id="Deu.v-p18.7" parsed="|Ps|119|128|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119.128">Ps. cxix.
|
|
128</scripRef>. <i>Secondly,</i> The having of these statutes and
|
|
judgments set before them is the true and transcendent greatness of
|
|
any nation or people. See <scripRef passage="Ps 147:19,20" id="Deu.v-p18.8" parsed="|Ps|147|19|147|20" osisRef="Bible:Ps.147.19-Ps.147.20">Ps.
|
|
cxlvii. 19, 20</scripRef>. It is an honour to us that we have the
|
|
Bible in reputation and power among us. It is an evidence of a
|
|
people's being high in the favour of God, and a means of making
|
|
them high among the nations. Those that magnify the law shall be
|
|
magnified by it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.v-p19">(5.) He urges God's glorious appearances to
|
|
them at Mount Sinai, when he gave them this law. This he insists
|
|
much upon. Take heed <i>lest thou forget the day that thou stoodest
|
|
before the Lord thy God in Horeb,</i> <scripRef passage="De 4:10" id="Deu.v-p19.1" parsed="|Deut|4|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. Some of them were now alive that
|
|
could remember it, though they were then under twenty years of age,
|
|
and the rest of them might be said to stand there in the loins of
|
|
their fathers, who received the law and entered into covenant
|
|
there, not for themselves only, but for their children, to whom God
|
|
had an eye particularly in giving the law, that they might teach it
|
|
to their children. Two things they must remember, and, one would
|
|
think, they could never forget them:—[1.] What they saw at Mount
|
|
Sinai, <scripRef passage="De 4:11" id="Deu.v-p19.2" parsed="|Deut|4|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. They
|
|
saw a strange composition of fire and darkness, both dreadful and
|
|
very awful; and they must needs be a striking foil to each other;
|
|
the darkness made the fire in the midst of it look the more
|
|
dreadful. Fires in the night are the most frightful, and the fire
|
|
made the darkness that surrounded it look the more awful; for it
|
|
must needs be a strong darkness which such a fire did not disperse.
|
|
In allusion to this appearance upon Mount Sinai, God is said to
|
|
show himself for his people, and against his and their enemies, in
|
|
fire and darkness together, <scripRef passage="Ps 18:8,9" id="Deu.v-p19.3" parsed="|Ps|18|8|18|9" osisRef="Bible:Ps.18.8-Ps.18.9">Ps.
|
|
xviii. 8, 9</scripRef>. He tells them again (<scripRef passage="De 4:36" id="Deu.v-p19.4" parsed="|Deut|4|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.36"><i>v.</i> 36</scripRef>) what they saw, for he would have
|
|
them never forget it: <i>He showed thee his great fire.</i> One
|
|
flash of lightning, that fire from heaven, strikes an awe upon us;
|
|
and some have observed that most creatures naturally turn their
|
|
faces towards the lightning, as ready to receive the impressions of
|
|
it; but how dreadful then must a constant fire from heaven be! It
|
|
gave an earnest of the day of judgment, in which <i>the Lord Jesus
|
|
shall be revealed in flaming fire.</i> As he reminds them of what
|
|
they saw, so he tells them what they saw not; no manner of
|
|
similitude, from which they might form either an idea of God in
|
|
their fancies or an image of God in their high places. By what we
|
|
see of God sufficient ground is given us to believe him to be a
|
|
Being of infinite power and perfection, but no occasion given us to
|
|
suspect him to have a body such as we have. [2.] What they heard at
|
|
Mount Sinai (<scripRef passage="De 4:12" id="Deu.v-p19.5" parsed="|Deut|4|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>):
|
|
"<i>The Lord spoke unto you</i> with an intelligible voice, in your
|
|
own language, and you heard it." This he enlarges upon towards the
|
|
close of his discourse, <scripRef passage="De 4:32,33,36" id="Deu.v-p19.6" parsed="|Deut|4|32|4|33;|Deut|4|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.32-Deut.4.33 Bible:Deut.4.36"><i>v.</i>
|
|
32, 33, 36</scripRef>. <i>First, They heard the voice of God,
|
|
speaking out of heaven.</i> God manifests himself to all the world
|
|
in the works of creation, without speech or language, and yet their
|
|
voice is heard (<scripRef passage="Ps 19:1-3" id="Deu.v-p19.7" parsed="|Ps|19|1|19|3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.19.1-Ps.19.3">Ps. xix.
|
|
1-3</scripRef>); but to Israel he made himself known by speech and
|
|
language, condescending to the weakness of the church's infant
|
|
state. Here was the <i>voice of one crying in the wilderness, to
|
|
prepare the way of the Lord. Secondly,</i> They heard it <i>out of
|
|
the midst of the fire,</i> which showed that it was God himself
|
|
that spoke to them, for who else could dwell with devouring fire?
|
|
God spoke to Job out of the whirlwind, which was terrible; but to
|
|
Israel out of the fire, which was more terrible. We have reason to
|
|
be thankful that he does not thus speak to us, but by men like
|
|
ourselves, <i>whose terror shall not make us afraid,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 33:6,7" id="Deu.v-p19.8" parsed="|Job|33|6|33|7" osisRef="Bible:Job.33.6-Job.33.7">Job xxxiii. 6, 7</scripRef>. <i>Thirdly,</i>
|
|
They heard it and yet lived, <scripRef passage="De 4:33" id="Deu.v-p19.9" parsed="|Deut|4|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.33"><i>v.</i>
|
|
33</scripRef>. It was a wonder of mercy that the fire did not
|
|
devour them, or that they did not die for fear, when Moses himself
|
|
trembled. <i>Fourthly,</i> Never any people heard the like. He bids
|
|
them enquire of former days and distant places, and they would find
|
|
this favour of God to Israel without precedent or parallel,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 4:32" id="Deu.v-p19.10" parsed="|Deut|4|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>. This singular
|
|
honour done them called for singular obedience from them. It might
|
|
justly be expected that they should do more for God than other
|
|
people, since God had done so much more for them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.v-p20">(6.) He urges God's gracious appearances
|
|
for them, in bringing them out of Egypt, from the iron furnace,
|
|
where they laboured in the fire, forming them into a people, and
|
|
then taking them to be his own people, a <i>people of
|
|
inheritance</i> (<scripRef passage="De 4:20" id="Deu.v-p20.1" parsed="|Deut|4|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.20"><i>v.</i>
|
|
20</scripRef>); this he mentions again, <scripRef passage="De 4:34,37,28" id="Deu.v-p20.2" parsed="|Deut|4|34|0|0;|Deut|4|37|0|0;|Deut|4|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.34 Bible:Deut.4.37 Bible:Deut.4.28"><i>v.</i> 34, 37, 38</scripRef>. Never did God do
|
|
such a thing for any people; the rise of this nation was quite
|
|
different from that of all other nations. [1.] They were thus
|
|
dignified and distinguished, not for any thing in them that was
|
|
deserving or inviting, but because God had a kindness for their
|
|
fathers: he chose them. See the reasons of free grace; we are not
|
|
beloved for our own sakes, but for his sake who is the great
|
|
trustee of the covenant. [2.] They were delivered out of Egypt by
|
|
miracles and signs, in mercy to them and in judgment upon the
|
|
Egyptians, against whom God stretched out his arm, which was
|
|
signified by Moses's stretching out his hand in summoning the
|
|
plagues. [3.] They were designed for a happy settlement in Canaan,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 4:38" id="Deu.v-p20.3" parsed="|Deut|4|38|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.38"><i>v.</i> 38</scripRef>. Nations must
|
|
be driven out from before them, to make room for them, to show how
|
|
much dearer they were to God than any other people were. Egyptians
|
|
and Canaanites must both be sacrificed to Israel's honour and
|
|
interest. Those that stand in Israel's light, in Israel's way,
|
|
shall find it is at their peril.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.v-p21">(7.) He urges God's righteous appearance
|
|
against them sometimes for their sins. He specifies particularly
|
|
the matter of Peor, <scripRef passage="De 4:3,4" id="Deu.v-p21.1" parsed="|Deut|4|3|4|4" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.3-Deut.4.4"><i>v.</i> 3,
|
|
4</scripRef>. This had happened very lately: their eyes had seen
|
|
but the other day the sudden destruction of those that joined
|
|
themselves to Baal-peor and the preservation of those that clave to
|
|
the Lord, from which they might easily infer the danger of apostasy
|
|
from God and the benefit of adherence to him. He also takes notice
|
|
again of God's displeasure against himself: <i>The Lord was angry
|
|
with me for your sakes,</i> <scripRef passage="De 4:21,22" id="Deu.v-p21.2" parsed="|Deut|4|21|4|22" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.21-Deut.4.22"><i>v.</i> 21, 22</scripRef>. He mentions this to try
|
|
their ingenuousness, whether they would really be troubled for the
|
|
great prejudice which they had occasioned to their faithful friend
|
|
and leader. Others' sufferings for our sakes should grieve us more
|
|
than our own.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.v-p22">(8.) He urges the certain advantage of
|
|
obedience. This argument he begins with (<scripRef passage="De 4:1" id="Deu.v-p22.1" parsed="|Deut|4|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>): <i>That you may live, and go in
|
|
and possess the land;</i> and this he concludes with (<scripRef passage="De 4:40" id="Deu.v-p22.2" parsed="|Deut|4|40|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.40"><i>v.</i> 40</scripRef>): <i>That it may go well
|
|
with thee, and with thy children after thee.</i> He reminds them
|
|
that they were upon their good behaviour, that their prosperity
|
|
would depend upon their piety. If they kept God's precepts, he
|
|
would undoubtedly fulfil his promises.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.v-p23">(9.) He urges the fatal consequences of
|
|
their apostasy from God, that it would undoubtedly be the ruin of
|
|
their nation. This he enlarges upon, <scripRef passage="De 4:25-31" id="Deu.v-p23.1" parsed="|Deut|4|25|4|31" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.25-Deut.4.31"><i>v.</i> 25-31</scripRef>. Here, [1.] He foresees
|
|
their revolt from God to idols, that in process of time, when they
|
|
had remained long in the land and were settled upon their lees,
|
|
they <i>would corrupt themselves, and make a graven image;</i> this
|
|
was the sin that would most easily beset them, <scripRef passage="De 4:25" id="Deu.v-p23.2" parsed="|Deut|4|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>. [2.] He foretells the judgments
|
|
of God upon them for this: <i>You shall utterly be destroyed</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 4:26" id="Deu.v-p23.3" parsed="|Deut|4|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>), <i>scattered
|
|
among the nations,</i> <scripRef passage="De 4:27" id="Deu.v-p23.4" parsed="|Deut|4|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.27"><i>v.</i>
|
|
27</scripRef>. And their sin should be made their punishment
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 4:28" id="Deu.v-p23.5" parsed="|Deut|4|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>): "<i>There
|
|
shall you serve gods, the work of men's hands,</i> be compelled to
|
|
serve them, whether you will or no, or, through your own
|
|
sottishness and stupidity, you will find no better succours to
|
|
apply yourselves in your captivity." Those that cast off the duties
|
|
of religion in their prosperity cannot expect the comforts of it
|
|
when they come to be in distress. Justly are they then sent to the
|
|
<i>gods whom they have served,</i> <scripRef passage="Jdg 10:14" id="Deu.v-p23.6" parsed="|Judg|10|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.10.14">Judg. x. 14</scripRef>. [3.] Yet he encourages them to
|
|
hope that God would reserve mercy for them in the latter days, that
|
|
he would by his judgments upon them bring them to repentance, and
|
|
take them again into covenant with himself, <scripRef passage="De 4:29-31" id="Deu.v-p23.7" parsed="|Deut|4|29|4|31" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.29-Deut.4.31"><i>v.</i> 29-31</scripRef>. Here observe,
|
|
<i>First,</i> That whatever place we are in we may <i>thence seek
|
|
the Lord our God,</i> though ever so remote from our own land or
|
|
from his holy temple. There is no part of this earth that has a
|
|
gulf fixed between it and heaven. <i>Secondly,</i> Those, and those
|
|
only, shall find God to their comfort, who seek him with all their
|
|
heart, that is, who are entirely devoted to him, earnestly desirous
|
|
of his favour and solicitous to obtain it. <i>Thirdly,</i>
|
|
Afflictions are sent to engage and quicken us to see God, and, by
|
|
the grace of God working with them, many are thus reduced to their
|
|
right mind, "When these things shall come upon thee, it is to be
|
|
hoped that thou wilt <i>turn to the Lord thy God,</i> for thou
|
|
seest what comes of turning from him;" see <scripRef passage="Da 9:11,12" id="Deu.v-p23.8" parsed="|Dan|9|11|9|12" osisRef="Bible:Dan.9.11-Dan.9.12">Dan. ix. 11, 12</scripRef>. <i>Fourthly,</i> God's
|
|
faithfulness to his covenant encourages us to hope that he will not
|
|
reject us, though we be driven to him by affliction. If we at
|
|
length remember the covenant, we shall find that he has not
|
|
forgotten it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.v-p24">Now let all these arguments be laid
|
|
together, and then say whether religion has not reason on its side.
|
|
None cast off the government of their God but those that have first
|
|
abandoned the understanding of a man.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 4:41-49" id="Deu.v-p24.1" parsed="|Deut|4|41|4|49" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.41-Deut.4.49"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.4.41-Deut.4.49">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.v-p25">41 Then Moses severed three cities on this side
|
|
Jordan toward the sunrising;   42 That the slayer might flee
|
|
thither, which should kill his neighbour unawares, and hated him
|
|
not in times past; and that fleeing unto one of these cities he
|
|
might live:   43 <i>Namely,</i> Bezer in the wilderness, in
|
|
the plain country, of the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, of the
|
|
Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, of the Manassites.   44 And this
|
|
<i>is</i> the law which Moses set before the children of Israel:
|
|
  45 These <i>are</i> the testimonies, and the statutes, and
|
|
the judgments, which Moses spake unto the children of Israel, after
|
|
they came forth out of Egypt,   46 On this side Jordan, in the
|
|
valley over against Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon king of the
|
|
Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of
|
|
Israel smote, after they were come forth out of Egypt:   47
|
|
And they possessed his land, and the land of Og king of Bashan, two
|
|
kings of the Amorites, which <i>were</i> on this side Jordan toward
|
|
the sunrising;   48 From Aroer, which <i>is</i> by the bank of
|
|
the river Arnon, even unto mount Sion, which <i>is</i> Hermon,
|
|
  49 And all the plain on this side Jordan eastward, even unto
|
|
the sea of the plain, under the springs of Pisgah.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.v-p26">Here is, 1. The nomination of the cities of
|
|
refuge on that side Jordan where Israel now lay encamped. Three
|
|
cities were appointed for that purpose, one in the lot of Reuben,
|
|
another in that of Gad, and another in that of the half tribe of
|
|
Manasseh, <scripRef passage="De 4:41-43" id="Deu.v-p26.1" parsed="|Deut|4|41|4|43" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.41-Deut.4.43"><i>v.</i>
|
|
41-43</scripRef>. What Moses could do for that people while he was
|
|
yet with them he did, to give example to the rulers who were
|
|
settled that they might observe them the better when he was gone.
|
|
2. The introduction to another sermon that Moses preached to
|
|
Israel, which we have in the following chapters. Probably it was
|
|
preached the next sabbath day after, when the congregation attended
|
|
to receive instruction. He had in general exhorted them to
|
|
obedience in the former chapter; here he comes to repeat the law
|
|
which they were to observe, for he demands a universal but not an
|
|
implicit obedience. How can we do our duty if we do not know it?
|
|
Here therefore he sets the law before them as the rule they were to
|
|
work by, the way they were to walk in, sets it before them as the
|
|
glass in which they were to see their natural face, that, looking
|
|
into this perfect law of liberty, they might continue therein.
|
|
<i>These are the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments,</i>
|
|
the moral, ceremonial, and judicial laws, which had been enacted
|
|
before, when Israel had newly come out of Egypt, and were now
|
|
repeated, <i>on this side Jordan,</i> <scripRef passage="De 4:44-46" id="Deu.v-p26.2" parsed="|Deut|4|44|4|46" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.44-Deut.4.46"><i>v.</i> 44-46</scripRef>. The place where Moses gave
|
|
them these laws in charge is here particularly described. (1.) It
|
|
was over-against Beth-peor, an idol-temple of the Moabites, which
|
|
perhaps Moses sometimes looked towards, with a particular caution
|
|
to them against the infection of that and other such like dangerous
|
|
places. (2.) It was upon their new conquests, in the very land
|
|
which they had got out of the hands of Sihon and Og, and were now
|
|
actually in possession of, <scripRef passage="De 4:47" id="Deu.v-p26.3" parsed="|Deut|4|47|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.47"><i>v.</i>
|
|
47</scripRef>. Their present triumphs herein were a powerful
|
|
argument for obedience.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter V" n="vi" progress="84.04%" prev="Deu.v" next="Deu.vii" id="Deu.vi">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.vi-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.vi-p0.2">CHAP. V.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.vi-p1">In this chapter we have the second edition of the
|
|
ten commandments. I. The general intent of them; they were in the
|
|
nature of a covenant between God and Israel, <scripRef passage="De 5:1-5" id="Deu.vi-p1.1" parsed="|Deut|5|1|5|5" osisRef="Bible:Deut.5.1-Deut.5.5">ver. 1-5</scripRef>. II. The particular precepts are
|
|
repeated (<scripRef passage="De 5:6-21" id="Deu.vi-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|5|6|5|21" osisRef="Bible:Deut.5.6-Deut.5.21">ver. 6-21</scripRef>), with
|
|
the double delivery of them, both by word and writing, <scripRef passage="De 5:22" id="Deu.vi-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|5|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.5.22">ver. 22</scripRef>. III. The settling of the
|
|
correspondence thenceforward between God and Israel, by the
|
|
mediation and ministry of Moses. 1. It was Israel's humble petition
|
|
that it might be so, <scripRef passage="De 5:23-27" id="Deu.vi-p1.4" parsed="|Deut|5|23|5|27" osisRef="Bible:Deut.5.23-Deut.5.27">ver.
|
|
23-27</scripRef>. 2. It was God's gracious grant that it should be
|
|
so, <scripRef passage="De 5:28-31" id="Deu.vi-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|5|28|5|31" osisRef="Bible:Deut.5.28-Deut.5.31">ver. 28-31</scripRef>. And hence
|
|
he infers the obligation they were under to obedience, <scripRef passage="De 5:32,33" id="Deu.vi-p1.6" parsed="|Deut|5|32|5|33" osisRef="Bible:Deut.5.32-Deut.5.33">ver. 32, 33</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 5" id="Deu.vi-p1.7" parsed="|Deut|5|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.5"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 5:1-5" id="Deu.vi-p1.8" parsed="|Deut|5|1|5|5" osisRef="Bible:Deut.5.1-Deut.5.5"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.5.1-Deut.5.5">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.vi-p1.9">The Decalogue Repeated. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vi-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.vi-p2">1 And Moses called all Israel, and said unto
|
|
them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in
|
|
your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them.
|
|
  2 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vi-p2.1">Lord</span> our God made a
|
|
covenant with us in Horeb.   3 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vi-p2.2">Lord</span> made not this covenant with our fathers,
|
|
but with us, <i>even</i> us, who <i>are</i> all of us here alive
|
|
this day.   4 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vi-p2.3">Lord</span> talked
|
|
with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire,
|
|
  5 (I stood between the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vi-p2.4">Lord</span>
|
|
and you at that time, to show you the word of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vi-p2.5">Lord</span>: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire,
|
|
and went not up into the mount;) saying,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.vi-p3">Here, 1. Moses summons the assembly. He
|
|
<i>called all Israel;</i> not only the elders, but, it is likely,
|
|
as many of the people as could come within hearing, <scripRef passage="De 5:1" id="Deu.vi-p3.1" parsed="|Deut|5|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.5.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. The greatest of them were
|
|
not above God's command, nor the meanest of them below his
|
|
cognizance; but they were all bound to do. 2. He demands attention:
|
|
"<i>Hear, O Israel;</i> hear and heed, hear and remember, hear,
|
|
that you may learn, and keep, and do; else your hearing is to no
|
|
purpose." When we hear the word of God we must set ourselves to
|
|
learn it, that we may have it ready to us upon all occasions, and
|
|
what we have learned we must put in practice, for that is the end
|
|
of hearing and learning; not to fill our heads with notions, or our
|
|
mouths with talk, but to rectify and direct our affections and
|
|
conversations. 3. He refers them to the covenant made with them in
|
|
Horeb, as that which they must govern themselves by. See the
|
|
wonderful condescension of divine grace in turning the command into
|
|
a covenant, that we might be the more strongly bound to obedience
|
|
by our own consent and the more encouraged in it by the divine
|
|
promise, both which are supposed in the covenant. The promises and
|
|
threatenings annexed to some of the precepts, as to the second,
|
|
third, and fifth, make them amount to a covenant. Observe, (1.) The
|
|
parties to this covenant. God made it, <i>not with our fathers,</i>
|
|
not with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; to them God gave the
|
|
<i>covenant of circumcision</i> (<scripRef passage="Ac 7:8" id="Deu.vi-p3.2" parsed="|Acts|7|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.8">Acts
|
|
vii. 8</scripRef>), but not that of the ten commandments. The light
|
|
of divine revelation shone gradually, and the children were made to
|
|
know more of God's mind than their fathers had done. "The covenant
|
|
was made with us, or our immediate parents that represented us,
|
|
before Mount Sinai, and transacted for us." (2.) The publication of
|
|
this covenant. God himself did, as it were, read the articles to
|
|
them (<scripRef passage="De 5:4" id="Deu.vi-p3.3" parsed="|Deut|5|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.5.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>): He
|
|
<i>talked with you face to face; word to word,</i> so the Chaldee.
|
|
Not in dark visions, as of old he spoke to the fathers (<scripRef passage="Job 4:12,13" id="Deu.vi-p3.4" parsed="|Job|4|12|4|13" osisRef="Bible:Job.4.12-Job.4.13">Job iv. 12, 13</scripRef>), but openly and
|
|
clearly, and so that all the thousands of Israel might hear and
|
|
understand. He spoke to them, and then received the answer they
|
|
returned to him: thus was it transacted <i>face to face.</i> (3.)
|
|
The mediator of the covenant: <i>Moses stood between God and
|
|
them,</i> at the foot of the mount (<scripRef passage="De 5:5" id="Deu.vi-p3.5" parsed="|Deut|5|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.5.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), and carried messages between them
|
|
both for the settling of the preliminaries (<scripRef passage="Ex 19:1-25" id="Deu.vi-p3.6" parsed="|Exod|19|1|19|25" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.1-Exod.19.25">Exod. xix.</scripRef>) and for the changing of the
|
|
ratifications, <scripRef passage="Ex 24:1-8" id="Deu.vi-p3.7" parsed="|Exod|24|1|24|8" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.1-Exod.24.8">Exod. xxiv.</scripRef>
|
|
Herein Moses was a type of Christ, who <i>stands between God and
|
|
man, to show us the word of the Lord,</i> a blessed days-man, that
|
|
has laid his hand upon us both, so that we may both hear from God
|
|
and speak to him without trembling.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 5:6-22" id="Deu.vi-p3.8" parsed="|Deut|5|6|5|22" osisRef="Bible:Deut.5.6-Deut.5.22"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.5.6-Deut.5.22">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.vi-p4">6 I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vi-p4.1">Lord</span> thy God, which brought thee out of the land
|
|
of Egypt, from the house of bondage.   7 Thou shalt have none
|
|
other gods before me.   8 Thou shalt not make thee <i>any</i>
|
|
graven image, <i>or</i> any likeness <i>of any thing</i> that
|
|
<i>is</i> in heaven above, or that <i>is</i> in the earth beneath,
|
|
or that <i>is</i> in the waters beneath the earth:   9 Thou
|
|
shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vi-p4.2">Lord</span> thy God <i>am</i> a jealous
|
|
God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto
|
|
the third and fourth <i>generation</i> of them that hate me,  
|
|
10 And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep
|
|
my commandments.   11 Thou shalt not take the name of the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vi-p4.3">Lord</span> thy God in vain: for the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vi-p4.4">Lord</span> will not hold <i>him</i> guiltless
|
|
that taketh his name in vain.   12 Keep the sabbath day to
|
|
sanctify it, as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vi-p4.5">Lord</span> thy God
|
|
hath commanded thee.   13 Six days thou shalt labour, and do
|
|
all thy work:   14 But the seventh day <i>is</i> the sabbath
|
|
of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vi-p4.6">Lord</span> thy God: <i>in it</i>
|
|
thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter,
|
|
nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine
|
|
ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that <i>is</i> within
|
|
thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well
|
|
as thou.   15 And remember that thou wast a servant in the
|
|
land of Egypt, and <i>that</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vi-p4.7">Lord</span> thy God brought thee out thence through a
|
|
mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vi-p4.8">Lord</span> thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath
|
|
day.   16 Honour thy father and thy mother, as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vi-p4.9">Lord</span> thy God hath commanded thee; that thy
|
|
days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the
|
|
land which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vi-p4.10">Lord</span> thy God giveth
|
|
thee.   17 Thou shalt not kill.   18 Neither shalt thou
|
|
commit adultery.   19 Neither shalt thou steal.   20
|
|
Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.  
|
|
21 Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife, neither shalt
|
|
thou covet thy neighbour's house, his field, or his manservant, or
|
|
his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any <i>thing</i> that
|
|
<i>is</i> thy neighbour's.   22 These words the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vi-p4.11">Lord</span> spake unto all your assembly in the mount
|
|
out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick
|
|
darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote
|
|
them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.vi-p5">Here is the repetition of the ten
|
|
commandments, in which observe, 1. Though they had been spoken
|
|
before, and written, yet they are again rehearsed; for precept must
|
|
be upon precept, and line upon line, and all little enough to keep
|
|
the word of God in our minds and to preserve and renew the
|
|
impressions of it. We have need to have the same things often
|
|
inculcated upon us. See <scripRef passage="Php 3:1" id="Deu.vi-p5.1" parsed="|Phil|3|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Phil.3.1">Phil. iii.
|
|
1</scripRef>. 2. There is some variation here from that record
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 20:1-26" id="Deu.vi-p5.2" parsed="|Exod|20|1|20|26" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.1-Exod.20.26">Exod. xx.</scripRef>), as there is
|
|
between the Lord's prayer as it is in <scripRef passage="Mt 6:9-13" id="Deu.vi-p5.3" parsed="|Matt|6|9|6|13" osisRef="Bible:Matt.6.9-Matt.6.13">Matt. vi.</scripRef> and as it is <scripRef passage="Lu 11:2-4" id="Deu.vi-p5.4" parsed="|Luke|11|2|11|4" osisRef="Bible:Luke.11.2-Luke.11.4">Luke xi.</scripRef> In both it is more necessary that
|
|
we tie ourselves to the things than to the words unalterably. 3.
|
|
The most considerable variation is in the fourth commandment. In
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 20:8-11" id="Deu.vi-p5.5" parsed="|Exod|20|8|20|11" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.8-Exod.20.11">Exod. xx.</scripRef> the reason
|
|
annexed is taken from the creation of the world; here it is taken
|
|
from their deliverance out of Egypt, because that was typical of
|
|
our redemption by Jesus Christ, in remembrance of which the
|
|
Christian sabbath was to be observed: <i>Remember that thou wast a
|
|
servant, and God brought thee out,</i> <scripRef passage="De 5:15" id="Deu.vi-p5.6" parsed="|Deut|5|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.5.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. And Therefore, (1.) "It is fit
|
|
that thy servants should be favoured by the sabbath-rest; for thou
|
|
knowest the heart of a servant, and how welcome one day's ease will
|
|
be after six days' labour." (2.) "It is fit that thy God should be
|
|
honoured by the sabbath-work, and the religious services of the
|
|
day, in consideration of the great things he has done for thee." In
|
|
the resurrection of Christ we were brought into the glorious
|
|
liberty of the children of God, <i>with a mighty hand and an
|
|
outstretched arm;</i> therefore, by the gospel-edition of the law,
|
|
we are directed to observe the first day of the week, in
|
|
remembrance of that glorious work of power and grace. 4. It is
|
|
added in the fifth commandment, <i>That it may go well with
|
|
thee,</i> which addition the apostle quotes, and puts first
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Eph 6:3" id="Deu.vi-p5.7" parsed="|Eph|6|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eph.6.3">Eph. vi. 3</scripRef>), <i>that it may
|
|
be well with thee, and that thou mayest live long.</i> If there be
|
|
instances of some that have been very dutiful to their parents, and
|
|
yet have not lived long upon earth, we may reconcile it to the
|
|
promise by this explication of it, Whether they live long or no, it
|
|
shall go well with them, either in this world or in a better. See
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ec 8:12" id="Deu.vi-p5.8" parsed="|Eccl|8|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.8.12">Eccl. viii. 12</scripRef>. 5. The last
|
|
five commandments are connected or coupled together, which they are
|
|
not in Exodus: <i>Neither shalt thou commit adultery, neither shalt
|
|
thou steal, &c.,</i> which intimate that God's commands are all
|
|
of a piece: the same authority that obliges us to one obliges us to
|
|
another; and we must not be partial in the law, but have respect to
|
|
all God's commandments, for he that <i>offends in one point is
|
|
guilty of all,</i> <scripRef passage="Jam 2:10,11" id="Deu.vi-p5.9" parsed="|Jas|2|10|2|11" osisRef="Bible:Jas.2.10-Jas.2.11">Jam. ii. 10,
|
|
11</scripRef>. 6. That these commandments were given with a great
|
|
deal of awful solemnity, <scripRef passage="De 5:22" id="Deu.vi-p5.10" parsed="|Deut|5|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.5.22"><i>v.</i>
|
|
22</scripRef>. (1.) They were spoken with <i>a great voice out of
|
|
the fire, and thick darkness.</i> That was a dispensation of
|
|
terror, designed to make the gospel of grace the more welcome, and
|
|
to be a specimen of the terrors of the judgment-day, <scripRef passage="Ps 50:3,4" id="Deu.vi-p5.11" parsed="|Ps|50|3|50|4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.50.3-Ps.50.4">Ps. l. 3, 4</scripRef>. (2.) <i>He added no
|
|
more.</i> What other laws he gave them were sent by Moses, but no
|
|
more were spoken in the same manner that the ten commandments were.
|
|
<i>He added no more,</i> therefore we must not add: the law of the
|
|
Lord is perfect. (3.) <i>He wrote them in two tables of stone,</i>
|
|
that they might be preserved from corruption, and might be
|
|
transmitted pure and entire to posterity, for whose use they were
|
|
intended, as well as for the present generation. These being the
|
|
heads of the covenant, the chest in which the written tables were
|
|
deposited was called the <i>ark of the covenant.</i> See <scripRef passage="Re 11:19" id="Deu.vi-p5.12" parsed="|Rev|11|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.11.19">Rev. xi. 19</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 5:23-33" id="Deu.vi-p5.13" parsed="|Deut|5|23|5|33" osisRef="Bible:Deut.5.23-Deut.5.33"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.5.23-Deut.5.33">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.vi-p6">23 And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice
|
|
out of the midst of the darkness, (for the mountain did burn with
|
|
fire,) that ye came near unto me, <i>even</i> all the heads of your
|
|
tribes, and your elders;   24 And ye said, Behold, the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vi-p6.1">Lord</span> our God hath showed us his glory and
|
|
his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the
|
|
fire: we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and he
|
|
liveth.   25 Now therefore why should we die? for this great
|
|
fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vi-p6.2">Lord</span> our God any more, then we shall die.  
|
|
26 For who <i>is there of</i> all flesh, that hath heard the voice
|
|
of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we
|
|
<i>have,</i> and lived?   27 Go thou near, and hear all that
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vi-p6.3">Lord</span> our God shall say: and
|
|
speak thou unto us all that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vi-p6.4">Lord</span>
|
|
our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear <i>it,</i> and do
|
|
<i>it.</i>   28 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vi-p6.5">Lord</span>
|
|
heard the voice of your words, when ye spake unto me; and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vi-p6.6">Lord</span> said unto me, I have heard the voice
|
|
of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee: they
|
|
have well said all that they have spoken.   29 O that there
|
|
were such a heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my
|
|
commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with
|
|
their children for ever!   30 Go say to them, Get you into
|
|
your tents again.   31 But as for thee, stand thou here by me,
|
|
and I will speak unto thee all the commandments, and the statutes,
|
|
and the judgments, which thou shalt teach them, that they may do
|
|
<i>them</i> in the land which I give them to possess it.   32
|
|
Ye shall observe to do therefore as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vi-p6.7">Lord</span> your God hath commanded you: ye shall not
|
|
turn aside to the right hand or to the left.   33 Ye shall
|
|
walk in all the ways which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vi-p6.8">Lord</span>
|
|
your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and <i>that it may
|
|
be</i> well with you, and <i>that</i> ye may prolong <i>your</i>
|
|
days in the land which ye shall possess.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.vi-p7">Here, I. Moses reminds them of the
|
|
agreement of both the parties that were now treating, in the
|
|
mediation of Moses.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.vi-p8">1. Here is the consternation that the
|
|
people were put into by that extreme terror with which the law was
|
|
given. They owned that they could not bear it any more: "<i>This
|
|
great fire will consume us;</i> this dreadful voice will be fatal
|
|
to us; we shall certainly die if we hear it any more," <scripRef passage="De 5:25" id="Deu.vi-p8.1" parsed="|Deut|5|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.5.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>. They wondered that they
|
|
were not already struck dead with it, and took it for an
|
|
extraordinary instance of the divine power and goodness, not only
|
|
that they were thus spoken to, but that they were enabled to bear
|
|
it. For <i>who ever heard the voice of the living God, as we have,
|
|
and lived?</i> God's appearances have always been terrible to man,
|
|
ever since the fall: but Christ, having taken away sin, invites us
|
|
to come boldly to the throne of grace.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.vi-p9">2. Their earnest request that God would
|
|
henceforth speak to them by Moses, with a promise that they would
|
|
hear what he said as from God himself, and do it, <scripRef passage="De 5:27" id="Deu.vi-p9.1" parsed="|Deut|5|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.5.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>. It seems by this, (1.)
|
|
That they expected to receive further commands from God and were
|
|
willing to hear more from him. (2.) That they thought Moses able to
|
|
bear those discoveries of the divine glory which they by reason of
|
|
guilt were sensible of their inability to stand up under. They
|
|
believed him to be a favourite of Heaven, and also one that would
|
|
be faithful to them; yet at other times they murmured at him, and
|
|
but a little before this were ready to stone him, <scripRef passage="Ex 17:4" id="Deu.vi-p9.2" parsed="|Exod|17|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.4">Exod. xvii. 4</scripRef>. See how men's
|
|
convictions correct their passions. (3.) That now they were in a
|
|
good mind, under the strong convictions of the word they heard.
|
|
Many have their consciences startled by the law that have them not
|
|
purified; fair promises are extorted from them, but no good
|
|
principles fixed and rooted in them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.vi-p10">3. God's approbation of their request. (1.)
|
|
He commends what they said, <scripRef passage="De 5:28" id="Deu.vi-p10.1" parsed="|Deut|5|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.5.28"><i>v.</i>
|
|
28</scripRef>. They spoke it to Moses, but God took notice of it;
|
|
for there is not a word in our tongue but he knows it. He
|
|
acknowledges, <i>They have well said.</i> Their owning the
|
|
necessity of a mediator to deal between them and God was well said.
|
|
Their desire to receive further directions from God by Moses, and
|
|
their promise to observe what directions should be given them, were
|
|
well said. And what is well said shall have its praise with God,
|
|
and should have with us. What is good, as far as it goes, let it be
|
|
commended. (2.) He wishes they were but sincere in it: <i>O that
|
|
there were such a heart in them!</i> <scripRef passage="De 5:29" id="Deu.vi-p10.2" parsed="|Deut|5|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.5.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>. [1.] Such a heart as they should
|
|
have, a heart to fear God, and keep his commandments for ever.
|
|
Note, The God of heaven is truly and earnestly desirous of the
|
|
welfare and salvation of poor sinners. He has given abundant proof
|
|
that he is so: he gives us time and space to repent, by his mercies
|
|
invites us to repentance, and waits to be gracious; he has sent his
|
|
Son to redeem us, published a general offer of pardon and life,
|
|
promised his Spirit to those that pray for him, and has said and
|
|
sworn that he has no pleasure in the ruin of sinners. [2.] Such a
|
|
heart as they now had, or one would think they had. Note, It would
|
|
be well with many if there were always such a heart in them as
|
|
there seems to be sometimes, when they are under conviction of sin,
|
|
or the rebukes of Providence, or when they come to look death in
|
|
the face: <i>How gracious will they be when these pangs come upon
|
|
them!</i> O that there were always such a heart in them! (3.) He
|
|
appoints Moses to be his messenger to them, to receive the law from
|
|
his mouth and to communicate it to them, <scripRef passage="De 5:31" id="Deu.vi-p10.3" parsed="|Deut|5|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.5.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>. Here the matter was settled by
|
|
consent of both parties that God should hence-forward speak to us
|
|
by men like ourselves, by Moses and the prophets, by the apostles
|
|
and the evangelists, and, if we believe not these, neither should
|
|
we be persuaded though God should speak to us as he did to Israel
|
|
at Mount Sinai, or send expresses from heaven or hell.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.vi-p11">II. Hence he infers a charge to them to
|
|
observe and do all that God had commanded them, <scripRef passage="De 5:32,33" id="Deu.vi-p11.1" parsed="|Deut|5|32|5|33" osisRef="Bible:Deut.5.32-Deut.5.33"><i>v.</i> 32, 33</scripRef>. Seeing God had shown
|
|
himself so tender of them, and so willing to consider their frame
|
|
and gratify them in what they desired, and withal so ready to make
|
|
the best of them,—seeing they themselves had desired to have Moses
|
|
for their teacher, who was now teaching them,—and seeing they had
|
|
promised so solemnly, and under the influence of so many good
|
|
causes and considerations, that they would hear and do, he charges
|
|
them to <i>walk in all the ways that God had commanded them,</i>
|
|
assuring them that it would be highly for their advantage to do so.
|
|
The only way to be happy is to be holy. <i>Say to the righteous, It
|
|
shall be well with them.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter VI" n="vii" progress="84.37%" prev="Deu.vi" next="Deu.viii" id="Deu.vii">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.vii-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.vii-p0.2">CHAP. VI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.vii-p1">Moses, in this chapter, goes on with his charge to
|
|
Israel, to be sure to keep up their religion in Canaan. It is much
|
|
the same with <scripRef passage="De 4:1-40" id="Deu.vii-p1.1" parsed="|Deut|4|1|4|40" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.1-Deut.4.40"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
iv.</scripRef> I. His preface is a persuasive to obedience,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 6:1-3" id="Deu.vii-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|6|1|6|3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.1-Deut.6.3">ver. 1-3</scripRef>. II. He lays down
|
|
the great principles of obedience. The first truth to be believed,
|
|
That God is one, <scripRef passage="De 6:4" id="Deu.vii-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|6|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.4">ver. 4</scripRef>. The
|
|
first duty to be done, To love him with all our heart, <scripRef passage="De 6:5" id="Deu.vii-p1.4" parsed="|Deut|6|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.5">ver. 5</scripRef>. III. He prescribes the means
|
|
for keeping up religion, <scripRef passage="De 6:6-9" id="Deu.vii-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|6|6|6|9" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.6-Deut.6.9">ver.
|
|
6-9</scripRef>. IV. He cautions them against those things which
|
|
would be the ruin of religion—abuse of plenty (<scripRef passage="De 6:10-24" id="Deu.vii-p1.6" parsed="|Deut|6|10|6|24" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.10-Deut.6.24">ver. 10-12</scripRef>), inclination to idolatry
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 6:14,15" id="Deu.vii-p1.7" parsed="|Deut|6|14|6|15" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.14-Deut.6.15">ver. 14, 15</scripRef>), and gives
|
|
them some general precepts, <scripRef passage="De 6:13,16-18" id="Deu.vii-p1.8" parsed="|Deut|6|13|0|0;|Deut|6|16|6|18" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.13 Bible:Deut.6.16-Deut.6.18">ver.
|
|
13, 16-18</scripRef>. V. He directs them what instructions to give
|
|
their children, <scripRef passage="De 6:20-25" id="Deu.vii-p1.9" parsed="|Deut|6|20|6|25" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.20-Deut.6.25">ver. 20</scripRef>,
|
|
&c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 6" id="Deu.vii-p1.10" parsed="|Deut|6|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 6:1-3" id="Deu.vii-p1.11" parsed="|Deut|6|1|6|3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.1-Deut.6.3"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.6.1-Deut.6.3">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.vii-p1.12">Summary of Religion. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vii-p1.13">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.vii-p2">1 Now these <i>are</i> the commandments, the
|
|
statutes, and the judgments, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vii-p2.1">Lord</span> your God commanded to teach you, that ye
|
|
might do <i>them</i> in the land whither ye go to possess it:
|
|
  2 That thou mightest fear the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vii-p2.2">Lord</span> thy God, to keep all his statutes and his
|
|
commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy
|
|
son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be
|
|
prolonged.   3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do
|
|
<i>it;</i> that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase
|
|
mightily, as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vii-p2.3">Lord</span> God of thy
|
|
fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and
|
|
honey.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.vii-p3">Observe here, 1. That Moses taught the
|
|
people all that, and that only, which God commanded him to teach
|
|
them, <scripRef passage="De 6:1" id="Deu.vii-p3.1" parsed="|Deut|6|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. Thus
|
|
Christ's ministers are to teach his churches <i>all that he has
|
|
commanded,</i> and neither more nor less, <scripRef passage="Mt 28:20" id="Deu.vii-p3.2" parsed="|Matt|28|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.28.20">Matt. xxviii. 20</scripRef>. 2. That the end of their
|
|
being taught was that they might do as they were taught (<scripRef passage="De 6:1" id="Deu.vii-p3.3" parsed="|Deut|6|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>), might <i>keep God's
|
|
statutes</i> (<scripRef passage="De 6:2" id="Deu.vii-p3.4" parsed="|Deut|6|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>),
|
|
and <i>observe to do them,</i> <scripRef passage="De 6:3" id="Deu.vii-p3.5" parsed="|Deut|6|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.3"><i>v.</i>
|
|
3</scripRef>. Good instructions from parents and ministers will but
|
|
aggravate our condemnation if we do not live up to them. 3. That
|
|
Moses carefully endeavoured to fix them for God and godliness, now
|
|
that they were entering upon the land of Canaan, that they might be
|
|
prepared for the comforts of that land, and fortified against the
|
|
snares of it, and now that they were setting out in the world might
|
|
set out well. 4. That the fear of God in the heart will be the most
|
|
powerful principle of obedience: <i>That thou mightest fear the
|
|
Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes,</i> <scripRef passage="De 6:2" id="Deu.vii-p3.6" parsed="|Deut|6|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. 5. The entail of religion in a
|
|
family, or country, is the best entail: it is highly desirable that
|
|
not we only, but our children, and our children's children, may
|
|
fear the Lord. 6. Religion and righteousness advance and secure the
|
|
prosperity of any people. Fear God, and it shall be well with thee.
|
|
Those that are well taught, if they do what they are taught, shall
|
|
be well fed too, as Israel in the <i>land flowing with milk and
|
|
honey,</i> <scripRef passage="De 6:3" id="Deu.vii-p3.7" parsed="|Deut|6|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 6:4-16" id="Deu.vii-p3.8" parsed="|Deut|6|4|6|16" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.4-Deut.6.16"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.6.4-Deut.6.16">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.vii-p3.9">Cautions and Precepts. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vii-p3.10">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.vii-p4">4 Hear, O Israel: The <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vii-p4.1">Lord</span> our God <i>is</i> one <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vii-p4.2">Lord</span>:   5 And thou shalt love the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vii-p4.3">Lord</span> thy God with all thine heart, and
|
|
with all thy soul, and with all thy might.   6 And these
|
|
words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
|
|
  7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children,
|
|
and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when
|
|
thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou
|
|
risest up.   8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine
|
|
hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.   9
|
|
And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy
|
|
gates.   10 And it shall be, when the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vii-p4.4">Lord</span> thy God shall have brought thee into the
|
|
land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to
|
|
Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst
|
|
not,   11 And houses full of all good <i>things,</i> which
|
|
thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not,
|
|
vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou
|
|
shalt have eaten and be full;   12 <i>Then</i> beware lest
|
|
thou forget the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vii-p4.5">Lord</span>, which brought
|
|
thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
|
|
  13 Thou shalt fear the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vii-p4.6">Lord</span>
|
|
thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.   14 Ye
|
|
shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which
|
|
<i>are</i> round about you;   15 (For the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vii-p4.7">Lord</span> thy God <i>is</i> a jealous God among you)
|
|
lest the anger of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vii-p4.8">Lord</span> thy God
|
|
be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the
|
|
earth.   16 Ye shall not tempt the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vii-p4.9">Lord</span> your God, as ye tempted <i>him</i> in
|
|
Massah.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.vii-p5">Here is, I. A brief summary of religion,
|
|
containing the first principles of faith and obedience, <scripRef passage="De 6:4,5" id="Deu.vii-p5.1" parsed="|Deut|6|4|6|5" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.4-Deut.6.5"><i>v.</i> 4, 5</scripRef>. These two verses the
|
|
Jews reckon one of the choicest portions of scripture: they write
|
|
it in their phylacteries, and think themselves not only obliged to
|
|
say it at least twice every day, but very happy in being so
|
|
obliged, having this saying among them, <i>Blessed are we, who
|
|
every morning and evening say, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is
|
|
one Lord.</i> But more blessed are we if we duly consider and
|
|
improve,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.vii-p6">1. What we are here taught to believe
|
|
concerning God: that <i>Jehovah our God is one Jehovah.</i> (1.)
|
|
That the God whom we serve is Jehovah, a Being infinitely and
|
|
eternally perfect, self-existent, and self-sufficient. (2.) That he
|
|
is the one only living and true God; he only is God, and he is but
|
|
one. The firm belief of this self-evident truth would effectually
|
|
arm them against all idolatry, which was introduced by that
|
|
fundamental error, that there are gods many. It is past dispute
|
|
that there is one God, and there <i>is no other but he,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mk 12:32" id="Deu.vii-p6.1" parsed="|Mark|12|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mark.12.32">Mark xii. 32</scripRef>. Let us
|
|
therefore have no other, nor desire to have any other. Some have
|
|
thought there is here a plain intimation of the trinity of persons
|
|
in the unity of the Godhead; for here is the name of God three
|
|
times, and yet all declared to be one. Happy they that have this
|
|
one Lord for their God; for they have but one master to please, but
|
|
one benefactor to seek to. It is better to have one fountain that a
|
|
thousand cisterns, one all-sufficient God than a thousand
|
|
insufficient ones.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.vii-p7">2. What we are here taught concerning the
|
|
duty which God requires of man. It is all summed up in this as its
|
|
principle, <i>Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
|
|
heart.</i> He had undertaken (<scripRef passage="De 6:2" id="Deu.vii-p7.1" parsed="|Deut|6|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.2"><i>v.</i>
|
|
2</scripRef>) to teach them to fear God; and, in pursuance of his
|
|
undertaking, he here teaches them to love him, for the warmer our
|
|
affection to him the greater will be our veneration for him; the
|
|
child that honours his parents no doubt loves them. Did ever any
|
|
prince make a law that his subjects should love him? Yet such is
|
|
the condescension of the divine grace that this is made the first
|
|
and great commandment of God's law, that we love him, and that we
|
|
perform all other parts of our duty to him from a principle of
|
|
love. <i>My son, give me thy heart.</i> We must highly esteem him,
|
|
be well pleased that there is such a Being, well pleased in all his
|
|
attributes, and relations to us: our desire must be towards him,
|
|
our delight in him, our dependence upon him, and to him we must be
|
|
entirely devoted. It must be a constant pleasure to us to think of
|
|
him, hear from him, speak to him, and serve him. We must love him,
|
|
(1.) As the Lord, the best of beings, most excellent and amiable in
|
|
himself. (2.) As our God, a God in covenant with us, our Father,
|
|
and the most kind and bountiful of friends and benefactors. We are
|
|
also commanded to love God <i>with all our heart, and soul, and
|
|
might;</i> that is, we must love him, [1.] With a sincere love; not
|
|
in word and tongue only, saying we love him when our hearts are not
|
|
with him, but inwardly, and in truth, solacing ourselves in him.
|
|
[2.] With a strong love; the heart must be carried out towards him
|
|
with great ardour and fervency of affection. Some have hence though
|
|
that we should avoid saying (as we commonly express ourselves) that
|
|
we will do this or that with all our heart, for we must not do any
|
|
thing with all our heart but love God; and that this phrase, being
|
|
here used concerning that sacred fire, should not be unhallowed. He
|
|
that is our all must have our all, and none but he. [3.] With a
|
|
superlative love; we must love God above any creature whatsoever,
|
|
and love nothing besides him but what we love for him and in
|
|
subordination to him. [4.] With an intelligent love; for so it is
|
|
explained, <scripRef passage="Mk 12:33" id="Deu.vii-p7.2" parsed="|Mark|12|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mark.12.33">Mark xii. 33</scripRef>. To
|
|
love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, we
|
|
must know him, and therefore love him as those that see good cause
|
|
to love him. [5.] With an entire love; he is one, and therefore our
|
|
hearts must be united in this love, and the whole stream of our
|
|
affections must run towards him. O that this love of God may be
|
|
shed abroad in our hearts!</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.vii-p8">II. Means are here prescribed for the
|
|
maintaining and keeping up of religion in our hearts and houses,
|
|
that it might not wither and go to decay. And they are these:—1.
|
|
Meditation: <i>These words which I command thee shall be in thy
|
|
heart,</i> <scripRef passage="De 6:6" id="Deu.vii-p8.1" parsed="|Deut|6|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>.
|
|
Though the words alone without the things will do us no good, yet
|
|
we are in danger of losing the things if we neglect the words, by
|
|
which ordinarily divine light and power are conveyed to the heart.
|
|
God's words must be laid up on our heart, that our thoughts may be
|
|
daily conversant with them and employed about them, and thereby the
|
|
whole soul may be brought to abide and act under the influence and
|
|
impression of them. This immediately follows upon the law of loving
|
|
God with all your heart; for those that do so will lay up his word
|
|
in their hearts both as an evidence and effect of that love and as
|
|
a means to preserve and increase it. He that loves God loves his
|
|
Bible. 2. The religious education of children (<scripRef passage="De 6:7" id="Deu.vii-p8.2" parsed="|Deut|6|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>): "<i>Thou shalt teach them
|
|
diligently to thy children;</i> and by communicating thy knowledge
|
|
thou wilt increase it." Those that love the Lord God themselves
|
|
should do what they can to engage the affections of their children
|
|
to him, and so to preserve the entail of religion in their families
|
|
from being cut off. <i>Thou shalt whet them diligently upon thy
|
|
children,</i> so some read it; frequently repeat these things to
|
|
them, try all ways of instilling them into their minds, and making
|
|
them pierce into their hearts; as, in whetting a knife, it is
|
|
turned first on this side, then on that. "Be careful and exact in
|
|
teaching thy children; and aim, as by whetting, to sharpen them,
|
|
and put an edge upon them. Teach them to thy children, not only
|
|
those of thy own body" (say the Jews) "but all those that are
|
|
anyway under thy care and tuition." Bishop Patrick well observes
|
|
here that Moses thought his law so very plain and easy that every
|
|
father might be able to instruct his sons in it and every mother
|
|
her daughters. Thus that good thing which is committed to us we
|
|
must carefully transmit to those that come after us, that it may be
|
|
perpetuated. 3. Pious discourse. "Thou shalt talk of these things,
|
|
with due reverence and seriousness, for the benefit not only of thy
|
|
children, but of thy other domestics, thy friends and companions,
|
|
as thou sittest in thy house at work, or at meat, or at rest, or to
|
|
receive visits, and when thou walkest by the way for diversion, or
|
|
for conversation, of in journeys, when at night thou art retiring
|
|
from thy family to lie down for sleep, and when in the morning thou
|
|
hast risen up and returnest to thy family again. Take all occasions
|
|
to discourse with those about thee of divine things; not of
|
|
unrevealed mysteries, or matters of doubtful disputation, but of
|
|
the plain truths and laws of God, and the things that belong to our
|
|
peace." So far is it from being reckoned a diminution to the honour
|
|
of sacred things to make them subject of our familiar discourse
|
|
that they are recommended to us to be talked of; for the more
|
|
conversant we are with them the more we shall admire them and be
|
|
affected with them, and may thereby be instrumental to communicate
|
|
divine light and heat. 4. Frequent reading of the word: <i>They
|
|
shall be as frontlets between thy eyes, and thou shalt write them
|
|
upon the posts of thy house,</i> <scripRef passage="De 6:8,9" id="Deu.vii-p8.3" parsed="|Deut|6|8|6|9" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.8-Deut.6.9"><i>v.</i> 8, 9</scripRef>. It is probable that at that
|
|
time there were few written copies of the whole law, only at the
|
|
feasts of tabernacles the people had it read to them; and therefore
|
|
God appointed them, at least for the present, to write some select
|
|
sentences of the law, that were most weighty and comprehensive,
|
|
upon their walls, or in scrolls of parchment to be worn about their
|
|
wrists; and some think that hence the phylacteries so much used
|
|
among the Jews took rise. Christ blames the Pharisees, not for
|
|
wearing them, but for affecting to have them broader than other
|
|
people's, <scripRef passage="Mt 23:5" id="Deu.vii-p8.4" parsed="|Matt|23|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.5">Matt. xxiii. 5</scripRef>.
|
|
But when Bibles came to be common among them there was less
|
|
occasion for this expedient. It was prudently and piously provided
|
|
by the first reformers of the English church that then, when Bibles
|
|
were scarce, some select portions of scripture should be written on
|
|
the walls and pillars of the churches, which the people might make
|
|
familiar to them, in conformity to this direction, which seems to
|
|
have been binding in the letter of it to the Jews as it is to us in
|
|
the intent of it, which is that we should endeavour by all means
|
|
possible to make the word of God familiar to us, that we may have
|
|
it ready to us upon all occasions, for our restraint from sin and
|
|
our direction and excitement to our duty. It must be as that which
|
|
is <i>graven on the palms of our hands,</i> always before our eyes.
|
|
See <scripRef passage="Pr 7:1-3" id="Deu.vii-p8.5" parsed="|Prov|7|1|7|3" osisRef="Bible:Prov.7.1-Prov.7.3">Prov. vii. 1-3</scripRef>. It is
|
|
also intimated that we must never be ashamed to own our religion,
|
|
nor to own ourselves under the check and government of it. Let it
|
|
be written on our gates, and let every one that goes by our door
|
|
read it, that we believe Jehovah to be God alone, and believe
|
|
ourselves bound to <i>love him with all our hearts.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.vii-p9">III. A caution is here given not to forget
|
|
God in a day of prosperity and plenty, <scripRef passage="De 6:10-12" id="Deu.vii-p9.1" parsed="|Deut|6|10|6|12" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.10-Deut.6.12"><i>v.</i> 10-12</scripRef>. Here, 1. He raises their
|
|
expectations of the goodness of their God, taking it for granted
|
|
that he would bring them into the good land that he had promised
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 6:10" id="Deu.vii-p9.2" parsed="|Deut|6|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>), that they
|
|
should no longer dwell in tents as shepherds and poor travellers,
|
|
but should settle in great and goodly cities, should no longer
|
|
wander in a barren wilderness, but should enjoy houses well
|
|
furnished and gardens well planted (<scripRef passage="De 6:11" id="Deu.vii-p9.3" parsed="|Deut|6|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>), and all this without any care
|
|
and expense of their own, which he here lays a great stress
|
|
upon—<i>Cities which thou buildest not, houses which thou filledst
|
|
not, &c.,</i> both because it made the mercy really much more
|
|
valuable that what they had come to them so cheaply, and yet, if
|
|
they did not actually consider it, the mercy would be the less
|
|
esteemed, for we are most sensible of the value of that which has
|
|
cost us dear. When they came so easily by the gift they would be
|
|
apt to grow secure, and unmindful of the giver. 2. He engages their
|
|
watchfulness against the badness of their own hearts: <i>Then
|
|
beware,</i> when thou liest safe and soft, <i>lest thou forget the
|
|
Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="De 6:12" id="Deu.vii-p9.4" parsed="|Deut|6|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, (1.) In a day of prosperity we are in great danger of
|
|
forgetting God, our dependence upon him, our need of him, and our
|
|
obligations to him. When the world smiles we are apt to make our
|
|
court to it, and expect our happiness in it, and so we forget him
|
|
that his our only portion and rest. Agur prays against this
|
|
temptation (<scripRef passage="Pr 30:9" id="Deu.vii-p9.5" parsed="|Prov|30|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.30.9">Prov. xxx. 9</scripRef>):
|
|
<i>Lest I be full and deny thee.</i> (2.) There is therefore need
|
|
of great care and caution at such a time, and a strict watch over
|
|
our own hearts. "<i>Then beware;</i> being warned of your danger,
|
|
stand upon your guard against it. <i>Bind the words of God for a
|
|
sign upon thy hand,</i> for this end to prevent thy forgetting God.
|
|
When thou art settled in Canaan forget not thy deliverance out of
|
|
Egypt; but look to the <i>rock out of which thou wast hewn.</i>
|
|
When thy latter end has greatly increased, remember the smallness
|
|
of thy beginnings."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.vii-p10">IV. Some special precepts and prohibitions
|
|
are here given, which are of great consequence. 1. They must upon
|
|
all occasions give honour to God <scripRef passage="De 6:13" id="Deu.vii-p10.1" parsed="|Deut|6|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.13">(<i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>): <i>Fear him and serve him</i>
|
|
(for, if he be a Master, we must both reverence him and do his
|
|
work); <i>and swear by his name,</i> that is, they must not upon
|
|
any occasion appeal to any other, as the discerner of truth and
|
|
avenger of wrong. Swear by him only, and not by an idol, or any
|
|
other creature. Swear by his name in all treaties and covenants
|
|
with the neighbouring nations, and do not compliment them so far as
|
|
to swear by their gods. Swearing by his name is sometimes put for
|
|
an open profession of his name. <scripRef passage="Isa 45:23" id="Deu.vii-p10.2" parsed="|Isa|45|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.45.23">Isa.
|
|
xlv. 23</scripRef>, <i>Every tongue shall swear,</i> is expounded
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ro 14:11" id="Deu.vii-p10.3" parsed="|Rom|14|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.14.11">Rom. xiv. 11</scripRef>), <i>Every
|
|
tongue shall confess to God.</i> 2. They must not upon any occasion
|
|
give that honour to other gods (<scripRef passage="De 6:14" id="Deu.vii-p10.4" parsed="|Deut|6|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>): <i>You shall not go after other
|
|
gods,</i> that is, "You shall not serve nor worship them;" for
|
|
therein they went astray, they went a whoring from the true God,
|
|
who in this, more than in any thing, is <i>jealous god</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 6:15" id="Deu.vii-p10.5" parsed="|Deut|6|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>): and the
|
|
learned bishop Patrick observes here, out of Maimonides, that we
|
|
never find, either in the law or the prophets, <i>anger,</i> or
|
|
<i>fury,</i> or <i>jealousy,</i> or <i>indignation,</i> attributed
|
|
to God but upon occasion of idolatry. 3. They must take heed of
|
|
dishonouring God by <i>tempting him</i> (<scripRef passage="De 6:16" id="Deu.vii-p10.6" parsed="|Deut|6|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>): <i>You shall not tempt the Lord
|
|
your God,</i> that is, "You shall not in any exigence distrust the
|
|
power, presence, and providence of God, nor quarrel with him,"
|
|
which, if they indulged an evil heart of unbelief, they would take
|
|
occasion to do in Canaan as well as in the wilderness. No change of
|
|
condition will cure a disposition of murmur and fret. Our Saviour
|
|
uses this caution as an answer to one of Satan's temptations, with
|
|
application to himself, <scripRef passage="Mt 4:7" id="Deu.vii-p10.7" parsed="|Matt|4|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.4.7">Matt. iv.
|
|
7</scripRef>, <i>Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God,</i> either
|
|
by despairing of his power and goodness while we keep in the way of
|
|
our duty, or by presuming upon it when we turn aside out of that
|
|
way.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 6" id="Deu.vii-p10.8" parsed="|Deut|6|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 6:17-25" id="Deu.vii-p10.9" parsed="|Deut|6|17|6|25" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.17-Deut.6.25"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.6.17-Deut.6.25">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.vii-p10.10">A Charge to Israel. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vii-p10.11">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.vii-p11">17 Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vii-p11.1">Lord</span> your God, and his
|
|
testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee.  
|
|
18 And thou shalt do <i>that which is</i> right and good in the
|
|
sight of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vii-p11.2">Lord</span>: that it may be
|
|
well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good
|
|
land which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vii-p11.3">Lord</span> sware unto thy
|
|
fathers,   19 To cast out all thine enemies from before thee,
|
|
as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vii-p11.4">Lord</span> hath spoken.   20
|
|
<i>And</i> when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What
|
|
<i>mean</i> the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments,
|
|
which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vii-p11.5">Lord</span> our God hath
|
|
commanded you?   21 Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were
|
|
Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt; and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vii-p11.6">Lord</span> brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand:
|
|
  22 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vii-p11.7">Lord</span> showed signs
|
|
and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all
|
|
his household, before our eyes:   23 And he brought us out
|
|
from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which
|
|
he sware unto our fathers.   24 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vii-p11.8">Lord</span> commanded us to do all these statutes, to
|
|
fear the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vii-p11.9">Lord</span> our God, for our good
|
|
always, that he might preserve us alive, as <i>it is</i> at this
|
|
day.   25 And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to
|
|
do all these commandments before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.vii-p11.10">Lord</span> our God, as he hath commanded us.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.vii-p12">Here, I. Moses charges them to keep God's
|
|
commandments themselves: <i>You shall diligently keep God's
|
|
commandments,</i> <scripRef passage="De 6:17-19" id="Deu.vii-p12.1" parsed="|Deut|6|17|6|19" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.17-Deut.6.19"><i>v.</i>
|
|
17-19</scripRef>. Note, It requires a great deal of care and pains
|
|
to keep up religion in the power of it in our hearts and lives.
|
|
Negligence will ruin us; but we cannot be saved without diligence.
|
|
To induce them to this, he here shows them, 1. That this would be
|
|
very acceptable to God: it is <i>right and good in the sight of the
|
|
Lord;</i> and that is right and good indeed that is, so in <i>God's
|
|
sight.</i> If we have any regard to the favour of our Creator as
|
|
our felicity, and the law of our creation as our rule, we shall be
|
|
religious. 2. That it would be very advantageous and profitable to
|
|
themselves. It would secure to them the possession of the land of
|
|
Canaan, prosperity there, and constant victory over those that
|
|
stood in their way. In short, "Do well, and it shall be <i>well
|
|
with thee.</i>"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.vii-p13">II. He charges them to instruct their
|
|
children in the commands of God, not only that they might in their
|
|
tender years intelligently and affectionately join in religious
|
|
services, but that afterwards they might in their day keep up
|
|
religion, and convey it to those that should come after them.
|
|
Now,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.vii-p14">1. Here is a proper question which it is
|
|
supposed the children would ask (<scripRef passage="De 6:20" id="Deu.vii-p14.1" parsed="|Deut|6|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>): "<i>What mean the testimonies
|
|
and the statutes?</i> What is the meaning of the feasts we observe,
|
|
the sacrifices we offer, and the many peculiar customs we keep up?"
|
|
Observe, (1.) All divine institutions have a certain meaning, and
|
|
there is something great designed in them. (2.) It concerns us to
|
|
know and understand the meaning of them, that we may perform a
|
|
reasonable service and may not <i>offer the blind for
|
|
sacrifice.</i> (3.) It is good for children betimes to enquire into
|
|
the true intent and meaning of the religious observances they are
|
|
trained up in. If any are thus inquisitive in divine things it is a
|
|
good sign that they are concerned about them, and a good means of
|
|
their attaining to a great acquaintance with them. <i>Then shall we
|
|
know</i> if thus we <i>follow on to know.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.vii-p15">2. Here is a full answer put into the
|
|
parents' mouths to be given to this good question. Parents and
|
|
teachers must give instruction to those under their charge, though
|
|
they do not ask it, nay, though they have an aversion to it; much
|
|
more must they be ready to answer questions, and to give
|
|
instruction when it is desired; for it may be hoped that those who
|
|
ask it will be willing to receive it. Did the children ask the
|
|
meaning of God's laws? Let them be told that they were to be
|
|
observed, (1.) In a grateful remembrance of God's former favours to
|
|
them, especially their deliverance out of Egypt, <scripRef passage="De 6:21-23" id="Deu.vii-p15.1" parsed="|Deut|6|21|6|23" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.21-Deut.6.23"><i>v.</i> 21-23</scripRef>. The children must be often
|
|
told of the deplorable state their ancestors were in when they were
|
|
bondmen in Egypt, the great salvation God wrought for them in
|
|
fetching them out thence, and that God, in giving them these
|
|
peculiar statutes, meant to perpetuate the memorial of that work of
|
|
wonder, by which they were formed into a peculiar people. (2.) As
|
|
the prescribed condition of his further favours (<scripRef passage="De 6:24" id="Deu.vii-p15.2" parsed="|Deut|6|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>): <i>The Lord commanded us all
|
|
these statutes for our good.</i> Note, God commands us nothing but
|
|
what is really for our good. It is our interest as well as our duty
|
|
to be religious. [1.] It will be our life: <i>That he might
|
|
preserve us alive,</i> which is a great favour, and more than we
|
|
could expect, considering how often we have forfeited life itself.
|
|
Godliness has the promise of the continuance and comfort of the
|
|
life that now is as far as it is for God's glory. [2.] It will be
|
|
our righteousness. Could we perfectly fulfil but that one command
|
|
of loving God with all our heart, soul, and might, and could we
|
|
say, "We have never done otherwise," this would be so our
|
|
righteousness as to entitle us to the benefits of the covenant of
|
|
innocency; had we continued in every thing that is written in the
|
|
book of the law to do it, the law would have justified us. But this
|
|
we cannot pretend to, therefore our sincere obedience shall be
|
|
accepted through a Mediator to denominate us, as Noah was,
|
|
<i>righteous before God,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 7:1,Lu 1:6,1Jo 3:7" id="Deu.vii-p15.3" parsed="|Gen|7|1|0|0;|Luke|1|6|0|0;|1John|3|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.7.1 Bible:Luke.1.6 Bible:1John.3.7">Gen. vii. 1; Luke i. 6; and 1 John iii.
|
|
7</scripRef>. The Chaldee reads it, <i>There shall be a reward to
|
|
us if we observe to do these commandments;</i> for, without doubt,
|
|
in keeping God's commandments there is great reward.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter VII" n="viii" progress="84.85%" prev="Deu.vii" next="Deu.ix" id="Deu.viii">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.viii-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.viii-p0.2">CHAP. VII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.viii-p1">Moses in this chapter exhorts Israel, I. In
|
|
general, to keep God's commandments, <scripRef passage="De 8:11,12" id="Deu.viii-p1.1" parsed="|Deut|8|11|8|12" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.11-Deut.8.12">ver. 11, 12</scripRef>. II. In particular, and in
|
|
order to that, to keep themselves pure from all communion with
|
|
idolaters. 1. They must utterly destroy the seven devoted nations,
|
|
and not spare them, or make leagues with them, <scripRef passage="De 8:1,2,16,24" id="Deu.viii-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|8|1|8|2;|Deut|8|16|0|0;|Deut|8|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.1-Deut.8.2 Bible:Deut.8.16 Bible:Deut.8.24">ver. 1, 2, 16, 24</scripRef>. 2. They must by no
|
|
means marry with the remainders of them, <scripRef passage="De 8:3,4" id="Deu.viii-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|8|3|8|4" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.3-Deut.8.4">ver. 3, 4</scripRef>. 3. They must deface and consume
|
|
their altars and images, and not so much as take the silver and
|
|
gold of them to their own use, <scripRef passage="De 8:5,25,26" id="Deu.viii-p1.4" parsed="|Deut|8|5|0|0;|Deut|8|25|0|0;|Deut|8|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.5 Bible:Deut.8.25 Bible:Deut.8.26">ver. 5, 25, 26</scripRef>. To enforce this charge,
|
|
he shows that they were bound to do so, (1.) In duty. Considering
|
|
[1.] Their election to God, <scripRef passage="De 8:6" id="Deu.viii-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|8|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.6">ver.
|
|
6</scripRef>. [2.] The reason of that election, <scripRef passage="De 8:7,8" id="Deu.viii-p1.6" parsed="|Deut|8|7|8|8" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.7-Deut.8.8">ver. 7, 8</scripRef>. [3.] The terms they stood upon
|
|
with God, <scripRef passage="De 8:9,10" id="Deu.viii-p1.7" parsed="|Deut|8|9|8|10" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.9-Deut.8.10">ver. 9, 10</scripRef>. (2.)
|
|
In interest. It is here promised, [1.] In general, that, if they
|
|
would serve God, he would bless and prosper them, <scripRef passage="De 8:12-15" id="Deu.viii-p1.8" parsed="|Deut|8|12|8|15" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.12-Deut.8.15">ver. 12-15</scripRef>. [2.] In particular,
|
|
that if they would drive out the nations, that they might not be a
|
|
temptation to them, God would drive them out, that they should not
|
|
be any vexation to them, <scripRef passage="De 8:17-26" id="Deu.viii-p1.9" parsed="|Deut|8|17|8|26" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.17-Deut.8.26">ver.
|
|
17</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 7" id="Deu.viii-p1.10" parsed="|Deut|7|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 7:1-11" id="Deu.viii-p1.11" parsed="|Deut|7|1|7|11" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.1-Deut.7.11"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.7.1-Deut.7.11">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.viii-p1.12">A Caution Against Idolatry. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.viii-p1.13">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.viii-p2">1 When the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.viii-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to
|
|
possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the
|
|
Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the
|
|
Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites,
|
|
seven nations greater and mightier than thou;   2 And when the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.viii-p2.2">Lord</span> thy God shall deliver them
|
|
before thee; thou shalt smite them, <i>and</i> utterly destroy
|
|
them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto
|
|
them:   3 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy
|
|
daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt
|
|
thou take unto thy son.   4 For they will turn away thy son
|
|
from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the
|
|
anger of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.viii-p2.3">Lord</span> be kindled against
|
|
you, and destroy thee suddenly.   5 But thus shall ye deal
|
|
with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their
|
|
images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images
|
|
with fire.   6 For thou <i>art</i> a holy people unto the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.viii-p2.4">Lord</span> thy God: the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.viii-p2.5">Lord</span> thy God hath chosen thee to be a special
|
|
people unto himself, above all people that <i>are</i> upon the face
|
|
of the earth.   7 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.viii-p2.6">Lord</span> did
|
|
not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in
|
|
number than any people; for ye <i>were</i> the fewest of all
|
|
people:   8 But because the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.viii-p2.7">Lord</span> loved you, and because he would keep the
|
|
oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.viii-p2.8">Lord</span> brought you out with a mighty hand, and
|
|
redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh
|
|
king of Egypt.   9 Know therefore that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.viii-p2.9">Lord</span> thy God, he <i>is</i> God, the faithful
|
|
God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and
|
|
keep his commandments to a thousand generations;   10 And
|
|
repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will
|
|
not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face.
|
|
  11 Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the
|
|
statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do
|
|
them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.viii-p3">Here is, I. A very strict caution against
|
|
all friendship and fellowship with idols and idolaters. Those that
|
|
are taken into communion with God must have no communication with
|
|
the unfruitful works of darkness. These things they are charged
|
|
about for the preventing of this snare now before them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.viii-p4">1. They must <i>show them no mercy,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 7:1,2" id="Deu.viii-p4.1" parsed="|Deut|7|1|7|2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.1-Deut.7.2"><i>v.</i> 1, 2</scripRef>. Bloody work
|
|
is here appointed them, and yet it is God's work, and good work,
|
|
and in its time and place needful, acceptable, and honourable.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.viii-p5">(1.) God here engages to do his part. It is
|
|
spoken of as a thing taken for granted that God would <i>bring them
|
|
into the land of promise,</i> that he would cast out the nations
|
|
before them, who were the present occupants of that land; no room
|
|
was left to doubt of that. His power is irresistible, and therefore
|
|
he can do it; his promise is inviolable, and therefore he will do
|
|
it. Now, [1.] These devoted nations are here named and numbered
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 7:1" id="Deu.viii-p5.1" parsed="|Deut|7|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>), <i>seven</i>
|
|
in all, and seven to one are great odds. They are specified, that
|
|
Israel might know the bounds and limits of their commission:
|
|
hitherto their severity must come, but no further; nor must they,
|
|
under colour of this commission, kill all that came in their way;
|
|
no, here must its waves be stayed. The confining of this commission
|
|
to the nations here mentioned plainly intimates that after-ages
|
|
were not to draw this into a precedent; this will not serve to
|
|
justify those barbarous laws which give no quarter. How agreeable
|
|
soever this method might be, when God himself prescribed it, to
|
|
that dispensation under which such multitudes of beasts were killed
|
|
and burned in sacrifice, now that all sacrifices of atonement are
|
|
perfected in, and superseded by, the great propitiation made by the
|
|
blood of Christ, human blood has become perhaps more precious than
|
|
it was, and those that have most power yet must not be prodigal of
|
|
it. [2.] They are here owned to be greater and mightier than
|
|
Israel. They had been long rooted in this land, to which Israel
|
|
came strangers; they were more numerous, had men much more bulky
|
|
and more expert in war than Israel had; yet all this shall not
|
|
prevent their being cast out before Israel. The strength of
|
|
Israel's enemies magnifies the power of Israel's God, who will
|
|
certainly be too hard for them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.viii-p6">(2.) He engages them to do their part. Thou
|
|
shalt <i>smite them, and utterly destroy them,</i> <scripRef passage="De 7:2" id="Deu.viii-p6.1" parsed="|Deut|7|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. If God cast them out,
|
|
Israel must not take them in, no, not as tenants, nor tributaries,
|
|
nor servants. Not covenant of any kind must be made with them, no
|
|
mercy must be shown them. This severity was appointed, [1.] By way
|
|
of punishment for the wickedness they and their fathers had been
|
|
guilty of. The iniquity of the Amorites was now full, and the
|
|
longer it had been in the filling the sorer was the vengeance when
|
|
it came at last. [2.] In order to prevent the mischiefs they would
|
|
do to God's Israel if they were left alive. The people of these
|
|
abominations must not be mingled with the holy seed, lest they
|
|
corrupt them. Better that all these lives should be lost from the
|
|
earth than that religion and the true worship of God should be lost
|
|
in Israel. Thus we must deal with our lusts that was against our
|
|
souls; God has delivered them into our hands by that promise,
|
|
<i>Sin shall not have dominion over you,</i> unless it be your own
|
|
faults; let not us them make covenants with them, nor show them any
|
|
mercy, but mortify and crucify them, and utterly destroy them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.viii-p7">2. They must make no marriages with those
|
|
of them that escaped the sword, <scripRef passage="De 7:3,4" id="Deu.viii-p7.1" parsed="|Deut|7|3|7|4" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.3-Deut.7.4"><i>v.</i> 3, 4</scripRef>. The families of the
|
|
Canaanites were ancient, and it is probable that some of them were
|
|
called <i>honourable,</i> which might be a temptation to the
|
|
Israelites, especially those of them that were of least note in
|
|
their tribes, to court an alliance with them, to ennoble their
|
|
blood; and the rather because their acquaintance with the country
|
|
might be serviceable to them in the improvement of it: but
|
|
religion, and the fear of God, must overrule all these
|
|
considerations. To intermarry with them was <i>therefore</i>
|
|
unlawful, because it was dangerous; this very thing had proved of
|
|
fatal consequence to the old world (<scripRef passage="Ge 6:2" id="Deu.viii-p7.2" parsed="|Gen|6|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.2">Gen.
|
|
vi. 2</scripRef>), and thousands in the world that now is have been
|
|
undone by irreligious ungodly marriages; for there is more ground
|
|
of fear in mixed marriages that the good will be perverted than of
|
|
hope that the bad will be converted. The event proved the
|
|
reasonableness of this warning: <i>They will turn away thy son from
|
|
following me.</i> Solomon paid dearly for his folly herein. We find
|
|
a national repentance for this sin of marrying strange wives, and
|
|
care taken to reform (<scripRef passage="Ezr 9:1-10:44,Ne 13:1-31" id="Deu.viii-p7.3" parsed="|Ezra|9|1|10|44;|Neh|13|1|13|31" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.9.1-Ezra.10.44 Bible:Neh.13.1-Neh.13.31">Ezra ix. x., and Neh. xiii.</scripRef>),
|
|
and a New-Testament caution not to be <i>unequally yoked with
|
|
unbelievers,</i> <scripRef passage="2Co 6:14" id="Deu.viii-p7.4" parsed="|2Cor|6|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.6.14">2 Cor. vi.
|
|
14</scripRef>. Those that in choosing yokefellows keep not at least
|
|
within the bounds of a justifiable profession of religion cannot
|
|
promise themselves helps meet for them. One of the Chaldee
|
|
paraphrases adds here, as a reason of this command (<scripRef passage="De 7:3" id="Deu.viii-p7.5" parsed="|Deut|7|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), <i>For he that marries
|
|
with idolaters does in effect marry with their idols.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.viii-p8">3. They must destroy all the relics of
|
|
their idolatry, <scripRef passage="De 7:5" id="Deu.viii-p8.1" parsed="|Deut|7|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>.
|
|
Their altars and pillars, their groves and graven images, all must
|
|
be destroyed, both in a holy indignation against idolatry and to
|
|
prevent infection. This command was given before, <scripRef passage="Ex 23:24,34:13" id="Deu.viii-p8.2" parsed="|Exod|23|24|0|0;|Exod|34|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.24 Bible:Exod.34.13">Exod. xxiii. 24; xxxiv. 13</scripRef>. A
|
|
great deal of good work of this kind was done by the people, in
|
|
their pious zeal (<scripRef passage="2Ch 31:1" id="Deu.viii-p8.3" parsed="|2Chr|31|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.31.1">2 Chron. xxxi.
|
|
1</scripRef>), and by good Josiah (<scripRef passage="2Ch 34:3,7" id="Deu.viii-p8.4" parsed="|2Chr|34|3|0|0;|2Chr|34|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.3 Bible:2Chr.34.7">2
|
|
Chron. xxxiv. 3, 7</scripRef>), and with this may be compared the
|
|
burning of the conjuring books, <scripRef passage="Ac 19:19" id="Deu.viii-p8.5" parsed="|Acts|19|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.19.19">Acts
|
|
xix. 19</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.viii-p9">II. Here are very good reasons to enforce
|
|
this caution.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.viii-p10">1. The choice which God had made of this
|
|
people for his own, <scripRef passage="De 7:6" id="Deu.viii-p10.1" parsed="|Deut|7|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.6"><i>v.</i>
|
|
6</scripRef>. There was such a covenant and communion established
|
|
between God and Israel as was not between him and any other people
|
|
in the world. Shall they by their idolatries dishonour him who had
|
|
thus honoured them? Shall they slight him who had thus testified
|
|
his kindness for them? Shall they put themselves upon the level
|
|
with other people, when God had thus dignified and advanced them
|
|
above all people? Had God taken them to be a special people to him,
|
|
and no other but them, and will not they take God to be a special
|
|
God to them, and no other but him?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.viii-p11">2. The freeness of that grace which made
|
|
this choice. (1.) There was nothing in them to recommend or entitle
|
|
them to this favour. <i>In multitude of the people is the king's
|
|
honour,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 14:28" id="Deu.viii-p11.1" parsed="|Prov|14|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.14.28">Prov. xiv. 28</scripRef>.
|
|
But their number was inconsiderable; they were only seventy souls
|
|
when they went down into Egypt, and, though greatly increased
|
|
there, yet there were many other nations more numerous: <i>You were
|
|
the fewest of all people,</i> <scripRef passage="De 7:7" id="Deu.viii-p11.2" parsed="|Deut|7|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.7"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7</scripRef>. The author of the Jerusalem Targum passes too great a
|
|
compliment upon his nation in his reading this, <i>You were humble
|
|
in spirit, and meek above all people;</i> quite contrary: they were
|
|
rather stiff-necked and ill-natured above all people. (2.) God
|
|
fetched the reason of it purely from himself, <scripRef passage="De 7:8" id="Deu.viii-p11.3" parsed="|Deut|7|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. [1.] He loved you <i>because he
|
|
would love you.</i> Even so, Father, because it seemed good in thy
|
|
eyes. All that God loves he loves freely, <scripRef passage="Hos 14:4" id="Deu.viii-p11.4" parsed="|Hos|14|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.14.4">Hos. xiv. 4</scripRef>. Those that perish perish by
|
|
their own merits, but all that are saved are saved by prerogative.
|
|
[2.] He has done his work because he would keep his word. "He has
|
|
brought you out of Egypt in pursuance of the oath sworn to your
|
|
fathers." Nothing in them, or done by them, did or could make God a
|
|
debtor to them; but he had made himself a debtor to his own
|
|
promise, which he would perform notwithstanding their
|
|
unworthiness.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.viii-p12">3. The tenour of the covenant into which
|
|
they were taken; it was in short this, That as they were to God so
|
|
God would be to them. They should certainly find him, (1.) Kind to
|
|
his friends, <scripRef passage="De 7:9" id="Deu.viii-p12.1" parsed="|Deut|7|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>.
|
|
"The Lord thy God is not like the gods of the nations, the
|
|
creatures of fancy, subjects fit enough for loose poetry, but no
|
|
proper objects of serious devotion; no, he is God, God indeed, God
|
|
alone, the faithful God, able and ready not only to fulfil his own
|
|
promises, but to answer all the just expectations of his
|
|
worshippers, and he will certainly keep covenant and mercy," that
|
|
is, "show mercy according to covenant, to <i>those that love him
|
|
and keep his commandments</i>" (and in vain do we pretend to love
|
|
him if we do not make conscience of his commandments); "and this"
|
|
(as is here added for the explication of the promise in the second
|
|
commandment) "not only to thousands of persons, but to thousands of
|
|
generations—so inexhaustible is the fountain, so constant are the
|
|
streams!" (2.) Just to his enemies: He <i>repays those that hate
|
|
him,</i> <scripRef passage="De 7:10" id="Deu.viii-p12.2" parsed="|Deut|7|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. Note,
|
|
[1.] Wilful sinners are haters of God; for the carnal mind is
|
|
enmity against him. Idolaters are so in a special manner, for they
|
|
are in league with his rivals. [2.] Those that hate God cannot hurt
|
|
him, but certainly ruin themselves. He will repay them to their
|
|
face, in defiance of them and all their impotent malice. His arrows
|
|
are said to be <i>made ready against the face of them,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 21:12" id="Deu.viii-p12.3" parsed="|Ps|21|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.21.12">Ps. xxi. 12</scripRef>. Or, He will
|
|
bring those judgments upon them which shall appear to themselves to
|
|
be the just punishment of their idolatry. Compare <scripRef passage="Job 21:19" id="Deu.viii-p12.4" parsed="|Job|21|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.19">Job xxi. 19</scripRef>, <i>He rewardeth him, and
|
|
he shall know it.</i> Though vengeance seem to be slow, yet it is
|
|
not slack. The wicked and sinner shall be <i>recompensed in the
|
|
earth,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 11:31" id="Deu.viii-p12.5" parsed="|Prov|11|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.11.31">Prov. xi. 31</scripRef>. I
|
|
cannot pass the gloss of the Jerusalem Targum upon this place,
|
|
because it speaks the faith of the Jewish church concerning a
|
|
future state: <i>He recompenses to those that hate him the reward
|
|
of their good works in this world, that he may destroy them in the
|
|
world to come.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 7" id="Deu.viii-p12.6" parsed="|Deut|7|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 7:12-26" id="Deu.viii-p12.7" parsed="|Deut|7|12|7|26" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.12-Deut.7.26"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.7.12-Deut.7.26">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.viii-p13">12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye
|
|
hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.viii-p13.1">Lord</span> thy God shall keep unto thee the
|
|
covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers:   13
|
|
And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will
|
|
also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy
|
|
corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and
|
|
the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy
|
|
fathers to give thee.   14 Thou shalt be blessed above all
|
|
people: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or
|
|
among your cattle.   15 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.viii-p13.2">Lord</span> will take away from thee all sickness, and
|
|
will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest,
|
|
upon thee; but will lay them upon all <i>them</i> that hate thee.
|
|
  16 And thou shalt consume all the people which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.viii-p13.3">Lord</span> thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye
|
|
shall have no pity upon them: neither shalt thou serve their gods;
|
|
for that <i>will be</i> a snare unto thee.   17 If thou shalt
|
|
say in thine heart, These nations <i>are</i> more than I; how can I
|
|
dispossess them?   18 Thou shalt not be afraid of them:
|
|
<i>but</i> shalt well remember what the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.viii-p13.4">Lord</span> thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all
|
|
Egypt;   19 The great temptations which thine eyes saw, and
|
|
the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the stretched
|
|
out arm, whereby the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.viii-p13.5">Lord</span> thy God
|
|
brought thee out: so shall the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.viii-p13.6">Lord</span>
|
|
thy God do unto all the people of whom thou art afraid.   20
|
|
Moreover the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.viii-p13.7">Lord</span> thy God will send
|
|
the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide
|
|
themselves from thee, be destroyed.   21 Thou shalt not be
|
|
affrighted at them: for the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.viii-p13.8">Lord</span> thy
|
|
God <i>is</i> among you, a mighty God and terrible.   22 And
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.viii-p13.9">Lord</span> thy God will put out those
|
|
nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume
|
|
them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.
|
|
  23 But the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.viii-p13.10">Lord</span> thy God shall
|
|
deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty
|
|
destruction, until they be destroyed.   24 And he shall
|
|
deliver their kings into thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their
|
|
name from under heaven: there shall no man be able to stand before
|
|
thee, until thou have destroyed them.   25 The graven images
|
|
of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the
|
|
silver or gold <i>that is</i> on them, nor take <i>it</i> unto
|
|
thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it <i>is</i> an abomination
|
|
to the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.viii-p13.11">Lord</span> thy God.   26
|
|
Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou
|
|
be a cursed thing like it: <i>but</i> thou shalt utterly detest it,
|
|
and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it <i>is</i> a cursed
|
|
thing.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.viii-p14">Here, I. The caution against idolatry is
|
|
repeated, and against communion with idolaters: "Thou shalt consume
|
|
the people, and not serve their gods." <scripRef passage="De 7:16" id="Deu.viii-p14.1" parsed="|Deut|7|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. We are in danger of having
|
|
fellowship with the works of darkness if we take pleasure in
|
|
fellowship with those that do those works. Here is also a
|
|
repetition of the charge to destroy the images, <scripRef passage="De 7:25,26" id="Deu.viii-p14.2" parsed="|Deut|7|25|7|26" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.25-Deut.7.26"><i>v.</i> 25, 26</scripRef>. The idols which the
|
|
heathen had worshipped were an abomination to God, and therefore
|
|
must be so to them: all that truly love God hates what he hates.
|
|
Observe how this is urged upon them: <i>Thou shalt utterly detest
|
|
it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it;</i> such a holy indignation as
|
|
this must we conceive against sin, that <i>abominable thing which
|
|
the Lord hates.</i> They must not retain the images to gratify
|
|
their covetousness: <i>Thou shalt not desire the silver nor gold
|
|
that is on them,</i> nor think it a pity to have that destroyed.
|
|
Achan paid dearly for converting that to his own use which was an
|
|
anathema. Nor must they retain them to gratify their curiosity:
|
|
"Neither shalt thou bring it into thy house, to be hung up as an
|
|
ornament, or preserved as a monument of antiquity. No, to the fire
|
|
with it, that is the fittest place for it." Two reasons are given
|
|
for this caution:—1. <i>Lest thou be snared therein</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 7:25" id="Deu.viii-p14.3" parsed="|Deut|7|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>), that is,
|
|
"Lest thou be drawn, ere thou art aware, to like it and love it, to
|
|
fancy it and pay respect to it" 2. <i>Lest thou be a cursed thing
|
|
like it,</i> <scripRef passage="De 7:26" id="Deu.viii-p14.4" parsed="|Deut|7|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>.
|
|
Those that make images are said to be like the, stupid and
|
|
senseless; here they are said to be in a worse sense like them,
|
|
accursed of God and devoted to destruction. Compare these two
|
|
reasons together, and observe that whatever brings us into a snare
|
|
brings us under a curse.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.viii-p15">II. The promise of God's favour to them, if
|
|
they would be obedient, is enlarged upon with a most affecting
|
|
copiousness and fluency of expression, which intimates how much it
|
|
is both God's desire and our own interest that we be religious. All
|
|
possible assurance is here given them,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.viii-p16">1. That, if they would sincerely endeavour
|
|
to do their part of the covenant, God would certainly perform his
|
|
part. He shall <i>keep the mercy which he swore to thy fathers,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 7:12" id="Deu.viii-p16.1" parsed="|Deut|7|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. Let us be
|
|
constant in our duty, and we cannot question the constancy of God's
|
|
mercy.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.viii-p17">2. That if they would love God and serve
|
|
him, and devote themselves and theirs to him, he would love them,
|
|
and bless them, and multiply them greatly, <scripRef passage="De 7:13,14" id="Deu.viii-p17.1" parsed="|Deut|7|13|7|14" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.13-Deut.7.14"><i>v.</i> 13, 14</scripRef>. What could they desire
|
|
more to make them happy? (1.) "<i>He will love thee.</i>" He began
|
|
in love to us (<scripRef passage="1Jo 4:10" id="Deu.viii-p17.2" parsed="|1John|4|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.4.10">1 John iv.
|
|
10</scripRef>), and, if we return his love in filial duty, then,
|
|
and then only, we may expect the continuance of it, <scripRef passage="Joh 14:21" id="Deu.viii-p17.3" parsed="|John|14|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.14.21">John xiv. 21</scripRef>. (2.) "He will bless
|
|
thee with the tokens of his love above all people." If they would
|
|
distinguish themselves from their neighbours by singular services,
|
|
God would dignify them above their neighbours by singular
|
|
blessings. (3.) "He will <i>multiply thee.</i>" Increase was the
|
|
ancient blessing for the peopling of the world, once and again
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 1:28,9:1" id="Deu.viii-p17.4" parsed="|Gen|1|28|0|0;|Gen|9|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.28 Bible:Gen.9.1">Gen. i. 28; ix. 1</scripRef>), and
|
|
here for the peopling of Canaan, that little world by itself. The
|
|
increase both of their families and of their stock is promised:
|
|
they should neither have estates without heirs nor heirs without
|
|
estates, but should have the complete satisfaction of having many
|
|
children and plentiful provisions and portions for them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.viii-p18">3. That, if they would keep themselves pure
|
|
from the idolatries of Egypt, God would keep them clear from the
|
|
<i>diseases of Egypt,</i> <scripRef passage="De 7:15" id="Deu.viii-p18.1" parsed="|Deut|7|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.15"><i>v.</i>
|
|
15</scripRef>. It seems to refer not only to those plagues of Egypt
|
|
by the force of which they were delivered, but to some other
|
|
epidemical country disease (as we call it), which they remembered
|
|
the prevalency of among the Egyptians, and by which God had
|
|
chastised them for their national sins. Diseases are God's
|
|
servants; they go where he sends them, and do what he bids them. It
|
|
is therefore good for the health of our bodies to mortify the sin
|
|
of our souls.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.viii-p19">4. That, if they <i>would</i> cut off the
|
|
devoted nations, they <i>should</i> cut them off, and none should
|
|
be able to stand before them. Their duty in this matter would
|
|
itself be their advantage: <i>Thou shalt consume all the people
|
|
which the Lord thy God shall deliver thee</i>—this is the precept
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 7:16" id="Deu.viii-p19.1" parsed="|Deut|7|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>); and <i>the
|
|
Lord thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy
|
|
them</i>—this is the promise, <scripRef passage="De 7:23" id="Deu.viii-p19.2" parsed="|Deut|7|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. Thus we are commanded not to let
|
|
sin reign, not to indulge ourselves in it nor give countenance to
|
|
it, but to hate it and strive against it; and then God has promised
|
|
that <i>sin shall not have dominion over us</i> (<scripRef passage="Ro 6:12,14" id="Deu.viii-p19.3" parsed="|Rom|6|12|0|0;|Rom|6|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.12 Bible:Rom.6.14">Rom. vi. 12, 14</scripRef>), but that we shall be more
|
|
than conquerors over it. The difficulty and doubtfulness of the
|
|
conquest of Canaan having been a stone of stumbling to their
|
|
fathers, Moses here animates them against those things which were
|
|
most likely to discourage them, bidding them not to be <i>afraid of
|
|
them,</i> <scripRef passage="De 7:18" id="Deu.viii-p19.4" parsed="|Deut|7|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>, and
|
|
again, <scripRef passage="De 7:21" id="Deu.viii-p19.5" parsed="|Deut|7|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. (1.)
|
|
Let them not be disheartened by the number and strength of their
|
|
enemies: <i>Say not, They are more than I, how can I dispossess
|
|
them?</i> <scripRef passage="De 7:17" id="Deu.viii-p19.6" parsed="|Deut|7|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. We
|
|
are apt to think that the most numerous must needs be victorious:
|
|
but, to fortify Israel against this temptation, Moses reminds them
|
|
of the destruction of Pharaoh and all the power of Egypt, <scripRef passage="De 7:18,19" id="Deu.viii-p19.7" parsed="|Deut|7|18|7|19" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.18-Deut.7.19"><i>v.</i> 18, 19</scripRef>. They had seen the
|
|
great <i>temptations,</i> or <i>miracles</i> (so the Chaldee reads
|
|
it), the signs and wonders, wherewith God had brought them out of
|
|
Egypt, in order to his bringing them into Canaan, and thence might
|
|
easily infer that God <i>could</i> dispossess the Canaanites (who,
|
|
though formidable enough, had not such advantages against Israel as
|
|
the Egyptians had; he that had done the greater could do the less),
|
|
and that he <i>would</i> dispossess them, otherwise his bringing
|
|
Israel out of Egypt had been no kindness to them. He that begun
|
|
would finish. Thou shalt therefore <i>well remember</i> this,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 7:18" id="Deu.viii-p19.8" parsed="|Deut|7|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. The word and
|
|
works of God are well remembered when they are improved as helps to
|
|
our faith and obedience. That is well laid up which is ready to us
|
|
when we have occasion to use it. (2.) Let them not be disheartened
|
|
by the weakness and deficiency of their own forces; for God will
|
|
send them in auxiliary troops of <i>hornets,</i> or <i>wasps,</i>
|
|
as some read it (<scripRef passage="De 7:20" id="Deu.viii-p19.9" parsed="|Deut|7|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.20"><i>v.</i>
|
|
20</scripRef>), probably larger than ordinary, which would so
|
|
terrify and molest their enemies (and perhaps be the death of many
|
|
to them) that their most numerous armies would become an easy prey
|
|
to Israel. God plagued the Egyptians with flies, but the Canaanites
|
|
with hornets. Those who take not warning by less judgments on
|
|
others may expect greater on themselves. But the great
|
|
encouragement of Israel was that they had God among them, a
|
|
<i>mighty God and terrible,</i> <scripRef passage="De 7:21" id="Deu.viii-p19.10" parsed="|Deut|7|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. And if God be for us, if God be
|
|
with us, we need not fear the power of any creature against us.
|
|
(3.) Let them not be disheartened by the slow progress of their
|
|
arms, nor think that the Canaanites would never be subdued if they
|
|
were not expelled the first year; no, they must be <i>put out by
|
|
little and little,</i> and not <i>all at once,</i> <scripRef passage="De 7:22" id="Deu.viii-p19.11" parsed="|Deut|7|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>. Note, We must not think
|
|
that, because the deliverance of the church and the destruction of
|
|
its enemies are not effected immediately, therefore they will never
|
|
be effected. God will do his own work in his own method and time,
|
|
and we may be sure that they are always the best. Thus corruption
|
|
is driven out of the hearts of believers <i>by little and
|
|
little.</i> The work of sanctification is carried on gradually; but
|
|
that judgment will at length be brought forth into a complete
|
|
victory. The reason here given (as before, <scripRef passage="Ex 23:29,30" id="Deu.viii-p19.12" parsed="|Exod|23|29|23|30" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.29-Exod.23.30">Exod. xxiii. 29, 30</scripRef>) is, <i>Lest the beast
|
|
of the field increase upon thee.</i> The earth God has given to the
|
|
children of men; and therefore there shall rather be a remainder of
|
|
Canaanites to keep possession till Israel become numerous enough to
|
|
replenish it than that it should be a habitation of dragons, and a
|
|
court for <i>the wild beasts of the desert,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 34:13,14" id="Deu.viii-p19.13" parsed="|Isa|34|13|34|14" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.13-Isa.34.14">Isa. xxxiv. 13, 14</scripRef>. Yet God could have
|
|
prevented this mischief from the beasts, <scripRef passage="Le 26:6" id="Deu.viii-p19.14" parsed="|Lev|26|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.6">Lev. xxvi. 6</scripRef>. But pride and security, and
|
|
other sins that are the common effects of a settled prosperity,
|
|
were enemies more dangerous than the beasts of the field, and these
|
|
would be apt to increase upon them. See <scripRef passage="Jdg 3:1,4" id="Deu.viii-p19.15" parsed="|Judg|3|1|0|0;|Judg|3|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.3.1 Bible:Judg.3.4">Judges iii. 1, 4</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter VIII" n="ix" progress="85.34%" prev="Deu.viii" next="Deu.x" id="Deu.ix">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.ix-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.ix-p0.2">CHAP. VIII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.ix-p1">Moses had charged parents in teaching their
|
|
children to whet the word of God upon them (<scripRef passage="De 6:7" id="Deu.ix-p1.1" parsed="|Deut|6|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.7"><i>ch.</i> vi. 7</scripRef>) by frequent repetition of the
|
|
same things over and over again; and here he himself takes the same
|
|
method of instructing the Israelites as his children, frequently
|
|
inculcating the same precepts and cautions, with the same motives
|
|
or arguments to enforce them, that what they heard so often might
|
|
abide with them. In this chapter Moses gives them, I. General
|
|
exhortations to obedience, <scripRef passage="De 8:1,6" id="Deu.ix-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|8|1|0|0;|Deut|8|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.1 Bible:Deut.8.6">ver. 1,
|
|
6</scripRef>. II. A review of the great things God had done for
|
|
them in the wilderness, as a good argument for obedience, <scripRef passage="De 8:2-5,15,16" id="Deu.ix-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|8|2|8|5;|Deut|8|15|0|0;|Deut|8|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.2-Deut.8.5 Bible:Deut.8.15 Bible:Deut.8.16">ver. 2-5, 15, 16</scripRef>. III. A
|
|
prospect of the good land into which God would now bring them,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 8:7-9" id="Deu.ix-p1.4" parsed="|Deut|8|7|8|9" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.7-Deut.8.9">ver. 7-9</scripRef>. IV. A necessary
|
|
caution against the temptations of a prosperous condition,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 8:10-14,17,18" id="Deu.ix-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|8|10|8|14;|Deut|8|17|0|0;|Deut|8|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.10-Deut.8.14 Bible:Deut.8.17 Bible:Deut.8.18">ver. 10-14, and 17,
|
|
18</scripRef>. V. A fair warning of the fatal consequences of
|
|
apostasy from God, <scripRef passage="De 8:19,20" id="Deu.ix-p1.6" parsed="|Deut|8|19|8|20" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.19-Deut.8.20">ver. 19,
|
|
20</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 8" id="Deu.ix-p1.7" parsed="|Deut|8|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 8:1-9" id="Deu.ix-p1.8" parsed="|Deut|8|1|8|9" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.1-Deut.8.9"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.8.1-Deut.8.9">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.ix-p1.9">A Charge to Israel; Israel's
|
|
Retrospect. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ix-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.ix-p2">1 All the commandments which I command thee this
|
|
day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go
|
|
in and possess the land which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ix-p2.1">Lord</span> sware unto your fathers.   2 And thou
|
|
shalt remember all the way which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ix-p2.2">Lord</span> thy God led thee these forty years in the
|
|
wilderness, to humble thee, <i>and</i> to prove thee, to know what
|
|
<i>was</i> in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his
|
|
commandments, or no.   3 And he humbled thee, and suffered
|
|
thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not,
|
|
neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man
|
|
doth not live by bread only, but by every <i>word</i> that
|
|
proceedeth out of the mouth of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ix-p2.3">Lord</span> doth man live.   4 Thy raiment waxed
|
|
not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.
|
|
  5 Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man
|
|
chasteneth his son, <i>so</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ix-p2.4">Lord</span> thy God chasteneth thee.   6 Therefore
|
|
thou shalt keep the commandments of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ix-p2.5">Lord</span> thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear
|
|
him.   7 For the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ix-p2.6">Lord</span> thy God
|
|
bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of
|
|
fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;   8
|
|
A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and
|
|
pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;   9 A land
|
|
wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not
|
|
lack any <i>thing</i> in it; a land whose stones <i>are</i> iron,
|
|
and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ix-p3">The charge here given them is the same as
|
|
before, to keep and do all God's commandments. Their obedience must
|
|
be, 1. Careful: <i>Observe to do.</i> 2. Universal: To <i>do all
|
|
the commandments,</i> <scripRef passage="De 8:1" id="Deu.ix-p3.1" parsed="|Deut|8|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.1"><i>v.</i>
|
|
1</scripRef>. And, 3. From a good principle, with a regard to God
|
|
as the Lord, and their God, and particularly with a holy fear of
|
|
him (<scripRef passage="De 8:6" id="Deu.ix-p3.2" parsed="|Deut|8|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), from a
|
|
reverence of his majesty, a submission to his authority, and a
|
|
dread of his wrath. To engage them to this obedience, besides the
|
|
great advantages of it, which he sets before them (that they should
|
|
<i>live and multiply,</i> and all should be well with them,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 8:1" id="Deu.ix-p3.3" parsed="|Deut|8|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>), he directs
|
|
them,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ix-p4">I. To look back upon the wilderness through
|
|
which God had now brought them: <i>Thou shalt remember all the way
|
|
which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the
|
|
wilderness,</i> <scripRef passage="De 8:2" id="Deu.ix-p4.1" parsed="|Deut|8|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>.
|
|
Now that they had come of age, and were entering upon their
|
|
inheritance, they must be reminded of the discipline they had been
|
|
under during their minority and the method God had taken to train
|
|
them up for himself. The wilderness was the school in which they
|
|
had been for forty years boarded and taught, under tutors and
|
|
governors; and this was a time to bring it all to remembrance. The
|
|
occurrences of these last forty years were very memorable and well
|
|
worthy to be remembered, very useful and profitable to be
|
|
remembered, as yielding a complication of arguments for obedience;
|
|
and they were recorded on purpose that they might be remembered. As
|
|
the feast of the passover was a memorial of their deliverance out
|
|
of Egypt, so was the feast of tabernacles of their passage through
|
|
the wilderness. Note, It is very good for us to remember all the
|
|
ways both of God's providence and grace, by which he has led us
|
|
hitherto through this wilderness, that we may be prevailed with
|
|
cheerfully to serve him and trust in him. Here let us set up our
|
|
Ebenezer.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ix-p5">1. They must remember the straits they were
|
|
sometimes brought into, (1.) For the mortifying of their pride; it
|
|
was to <i>humble</i> them, that they might not be exalted above
|
|
measure with the abundance of miracles that were wrought in their
|
|
favor, and that they might not be secure, and confident of being in
|
|
Canaan immediately. (2.) For the manifesting of their perverseness:
|
|
to <i>prove</i> them, that they and others might know (for God
|
|
himself perfectly knew it before) all that was in their heart, and
|
|
might see that God chose them not for any thing in them that might
|
|
recommend them to his favour, for their whole carriage was untoward
|
|
and provoking. Many commandments God gave them which there would
|
|
have been no occasion for if they had not been led through the
|
|
wilderness, as those relating to the manna (<scripRef passage="Ex 16:28" id="Deu.ix-p5.1" parsed="|Exod|16|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.28">Exod. xvi. 28</scripRef>); and God thereby tried them,
|
|
as our first parents were tried by the trees of the garden, whether
|
|
they would keep God's commandments or not. Or God thereby proved
|
|
them whether they would trust his promises, the word which he
|
|
commanded to a thousand generations, and, in dependence on his
|
|
promises, obey his precepts.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ix-p6">2. They must remember the supplies which
|
|
were always granted them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ix-p7">(1.) God himself took particular care of
|
|
their food, raiment, and health; and what would they have more?
|
|
[1.] They had manna for food (<scripRef passage="De 8:3" id="Deu.ix-p7.1" parsed="|Deut|8|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.3"><i>v.</i>
|
|
3</scripRef>): <i>God suffered them to hunger,</i> and the <i>fed
|
|
them with manna,</i> that the extremity of their want might make
|
|
the supply the more acceptable, and God's goodness to them therein
|
|
the more remarkable. God often brings his people low, that he may
|
|
have the honour of helping them. And thus the manna of heavenly
|
|
comforts is given to those that <i>hunger and thirst after
|
|
righteousness,</i> <scripRef passage="Mt 5:6" id="Deu.ix-p7.2" parsed="|Matt|5|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.5.6">Matt. v.
|
|
6</scripRef>. <i>To the hungry soul every bitter thing is
|
|
sweet.</i> It is said of the manna that it was a sort of food which
|
|
neither <i>they nor their fathers knew.</i> And again, <scripRef passage="De 8:16" id="Deu.ix-p7.3" parsed="|Deut|8|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. If they knew there was
|
|
such a thing that fell sometimes with the dew in those countries,
|
|
as some think they did, yet it was never known to fall in such vast
|
|
quantities, so constantly, and at all seasons of the year, so long,
|
|
and only about a certain place. These things were altogether
|
|
miraculous, and without precedent; <i>the Lord created a new
|
|
thing</i> for their supply. And hereby he taught them the <i>man
|
|
liveth not by bread alone.</i> Though God has appointed bread for
|
|
the strengthening of man's heart, and that is ordinarily made the
|
|
staff of life, yet God can, when he pleases, command support and
|
|
nourishment without it, and make something else, very unlikely, to
|
|
answer the intention as well. We might live upon air if it were
|
|
sanctified for that use by <i>the word of God;</i> for the means
|
|
God ordinarily uses he is not tied to, but can perform his kind
|
|
purposes to his people without them. Our Saviour quotes this
|
|
scripture in answer to that temptation of Satan, <i>Command that
|
|
these stones be made bread.</i> "What need of that?" says Christ;
|
|
"my heavenly Father can keep me alive without bread," <scripRef passage="Mt 4:3,4" id="Deu.ix-p7.4" parsed="|Matt|4|3|4|4" osisRef="Bible:Matt.4.3-Matt.4.4">Matt. iv. 3, 4</scripRef>. Let none of God's
|
|
children distrust their Father, nor take any sinful indirect course
|
|
for the supply of their own necessities; some way or other, God
|
|
will provide for them in the way of duty and honest diligence,
|
|
<i>and verily they shall be fed.</i> It may be applied spiritually;
|
|
the <i>word of God,</i> as it is the revelation of God's will and
|
|
grace duly received and entertained by faith, is the food of the
|
|
soul, the life which is supported by that is the life of the man,
|
|
and not only that life which is supported by bread. The manna
|
|
typified Christ, <i>the bread of life.</i> He is <i>the Word of
|
|
God;</i> by him we live. The Lord evermore give us that bread which
|
|
endures to eternal life, and let us not be put off with the <i>meat
|
|
that perisheth!</i> [2.] The same clothes served them from Egypt to
|
|
Canaan, at least the generality of them. Though they had no change
|
|
of raiment, yet it was always new, and waxed not old upon them,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 8:4" id="Deu.ix-p7.5" parsed="|Deut|8|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. This was a
|
|
standing miracle, and the greater if, as the Jews say, they grew
|
|
with them, so as to be always fit for them. But it is plain that
|
|
they brought out of Egypt bundles of clothes on their shoulders
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 12:34" id="Deu.ix-p7.6" parsed="|Exod|12|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.34">Exod. xii. 34</scripRef>), which they
|
|
might barter with each other as there was occasion; and these, with
|
|
what they wore, sufficed till they came into a country where they
|
|
could furnish themselves with new clothes.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ix-p8">(2.) By the method God took of providing
|
|
food and raiment for them [1.] He humbled them. It was a
|
|
mortification to them to be tied for forty years together to the
|
|
same meat, without any varieties, and to the same clothes, in the
|
|
same fashion. Thus he taught them that the good things he designed
|
|
for them were figures of better things, and that the happiness of
|
|
man consists not in being clothed in <i>purple or fine linen,</i>
|
|
and in <i>faring sumptuously every day,</i> but in being taken into
|
|
covenant and communion with God, and in <i>learning his righteous
|
|
judgements.</i> God's law, which was given to Israel in the
|
|
wilderness, must be to them instead of food and raiment. [2.] He
|
|
proved them, whether they could trust him to provide for them when
|
|
means and second causes failed. Thus he taught them to live in a
|
|
dependence upon Providence, and not to perplex themselves with care
|
|
<i>what they should eat and drink,</i> and <i>wherewithal they
|
|
should be clothed.</i> Christ would have his disciples learn the
|
|
same lesson (<scripRef passage="Mt 6:25" id="Deu.ix-p8.1" parsed="|Matt|6|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.6.25">Matt. vi. 25</scripRef>),
|
|
and took a like method to teach it to them, when he <i>sent them
|
|
out without purse or scrip,</i> and yet took care that they
|
|
<i>lacked nothing,</i> <scripRef passage="Lu 22:35" id="Deu.ix-p8.2" parsed="|Luke|22|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.22.35">Luke xxii.
|
|
35</scripRef>. [3.] God took care of their health and ease. Though
|
|
they travelled on foot in a dry country, the way rough and
|
|
untrodden, yet their <i>feet swelled not.</i> God preserved them
|
|
from taking hurt by the inconveniences of their journey; and
|
|
mercies of this kind we ought to acknowledge. Note, Those that
|
|
follow God's conduct are not only safe but easy. Our feet swell not
|
|
while we keep in the way of duty; it is the <i>way of
|
|
transgression</i> that <i>is hard,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 13:15" id="Deu.ix-p8.3" parsed="|Prov|13|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.13.15">Prov. xiii. 15</scripRef>. God had promised to <i>keep
|
|
the feet of his saints,</i> <scripRef passage="1Sa 2:9" id="Deu.ix-p8.4" parsed="|1Sam|2|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.2.9">1 Sam. ii.
|
|
9</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ix-p9">3. They must also remember the rebukes they
|
|
had been under, <scripRef passage="De 8:6" id="Deu.ix-p9.1" parsed="|Deut|8|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.6"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>.
|
|
During these years of their education they had been kept under a
|
|
strict discipline, and not without need. <i>As a man chasteneth his
|
|
son,</i> for his good, and because he loves him, <i>so the Lord thy
|
|
God chasteneth thee.</i> God is a loving tender Father to all his
|
|
children, yet when there is occasion they shall feel the smart of
|
|
the rod. Israel did so: they were chastened that they might not be
|
|
condemned, chastened with the rod of men. Not as a man wounds and
|
|
slays his enemies whose destruction he aims at, but as a man
|
|
chastens his son whose happiness and welfare he designs: so did
|
|
their God chasten them; he chastened and taught them, <scripRef passage="Ps 94:12" id="Deu.ix-p9.2" parsed="|Ps|94|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.94.12">Ps. xciv. 12</scripRef>. This they must
|
|
<i>consider in their heart,</i> that is, they must own it from
|
|
their own experience that God had corrected them with a fatherly
|
|
love, for which they must return to him a filial reverence and
|
|
compliance. Because God has chastened thee as a father,
|
|
<i>therefore</i> (<scripRef passage="De 8:6" id="Deu.ix-p9.3" parsed="|Deut|8|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.6"><i>v.</i>
|
|
6</scripRef>) <i>thou shalt keep his commandments.</i> This use we
|
|
should make of all our afflictions; by them let us be engaged and
|
|
quickened to our duty. Thus they are directed to look back upon the
|
|
wilderness.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ix-p10">II. He directs them to look forward to
|
|
Canaan, into which God was now bringing them. Look which way we
|
|
will, both our reviews and our prospects will furnish us with
|
|
arguments for obedience. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ix-p11">1. The land which they were now going to
|
|
take possession of is here described to be a very good land, having
|
|
every thing in it that was desirable, <scripRef passage="De 8:7-9" id="Deu.ix-p11.1" parsed="|Deut|8|7|8|9" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.7-Deut.8.9"><i>v.</i> 7-9</scripRef>. (1.) It was <i>well-watered,
|
|
like Eden, the garden of the Lord.</i> It was <i>a land of brooks
|
|
of water, of fountains and depths,</i> which contributed to the
|
|
fruitfulness of the soil. Perhaps there was a greater plenty of
|
|
water there now than in Abraham's time, the Canaanites having found
|
|
and digged wells; so that Israel reaped the fruit of their industry
|
|
as well as of God's bounty. (2.) The ground produced great plenty
|
|
of all good things, not only for the necessary support, but for the
|
|
convenience and comfort of human life. In their fathers' land they
|
|
had bread enough; it was corn land, a land of wheat and barley,
|
|
where, with the common care and labour of the husbandman, they
|
|
might eat bread without scarceness. It was a fruitful land, that
|
|
was never turned into barrenness but for the iniquity of those that
|
|
dwelt therein. They had not only water enough to quench their
|
|
thirst, but vines, the fruit whereof was ordained to make glad the
|
|
heart. And, if they were desirous of dainties, they needed not to
|
|
send to far countries for them, when their own was so well stocked
|
|
with fig-trees, and pomegranates, olives of the best kind, and
|
|
honey, or <i>date-trees,</i> as some think it should be read. (3.)
|
|
Even the bowels of its earth were very rich, though it should seem
|
|
that <i>silver and gold they had none;</i> of these the princes of
|
|
Sheba should bring presents (<scripRef passage="Ps 72:10,15" id="Deu.ix-p11.2" parsed="|Ps|72|10|0|0;|Ps|72|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.72.10 Bible:Ps.72.15">Ps.
|
|
lxxii. 10, 15</scripRef>); yet they had plenty of those more
|
|
serviceable metals, iron and brass. Iron-stone and mines of brass
|
|
were found in their hills. See <scripRef passage="Job 28:2" id="Deu.ix-p11.3" parsed="|Job|28|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.28.2">Job
|
|
xxviii. 2</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ix-p12">2. These things are mentioned, (1.) To show
|
|
the great difference between that wilderness through which God had
|
|
led them and the good land into which he was bringing them. Note,
|
|
Those that bear the inconveniences of an afflicted state with
|
|
patience and submission, are humbled by them and prove well under
|
|
them, are best prepared for better circumstances. (2.) To show what
|
|
obligations they lay under to keep God's commandments, both in
|
|
gratitude for his favours to them and from a regard to their own
|
|
interest, that the favours might be continued. The only way to keep
|
|
possession of this good land would be to keep in the way of their
|
|
duty. (3.) To show what a figure it was of good things to come.
|
|
Whatever others saw, it is probable that Moses in it saw a type of
|
|
the better country: The gospel church is the New-Testament Canaan,
|
|
watered with the Spirit in his gifts and graces, planted with the
|
|
trees of righteousness, bearing the fruits of righteousness. Heaven
|
|
is the good land, in which there is nothing wanting, and where
|
|
there is a fulness of joy.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 8" id="Deu.ix-p12.1" parsed="|Deut|8|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 8:10-20" id="Deu.ix-p12.2" parsed="|Deut|8|10|8|20" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.10-Deut.8.20"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.8.10-Deut.8.20">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.ix-p12.3">Cautions Relating to Worldly
|
|
Prosperity. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ix-p12.4">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.ix-p13">10 When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou
|
|
shalt bless the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ix-p13.1">Lord</span> thy God for the
|
|
good land which he hath given thee.   11 Beware that thou
|
|
forget not the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ix-p13.2">Lord</span> thy God, in not
|
|
keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes,
|
|
which I command thee this day:   12 Lest <i>when</i> thou hast
|
|
eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt
|
|
<i>therein;</i>   13 And <i>when</i> thy herds and thy flocks
|
|
multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that
|
|
thou hast is multiplied;   14 Then thine heart be lifted up,
|
|
and thou forget the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ix-p13.3">Lord</span> thy God,
|
|
which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house
|
|
of bondage;   15 Who led thee through that great and terrible
|
|
wilderness, <i>wherein were</i> fiery serpents, and scorpions, and
|
|
drought, where <i>there was</i> no water; who brought thee forth
|
|
water out of the rock of flint;   16 Who fed thee in the
|
|
wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might
|
|
humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy
|
|
latter end;   17 And thou say in thine heart, My power and the
|
|
might of <i>mine</i> hand hath gotten me this wealth.   18 But
|
|
thou shalt remember the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ix-p13.4">Lord</span> thy
|
|
God: for <i>it is</i> he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that
|
|
he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as
|
|
<i>it is</i> this day.   19 And it shall be, if thou do at all
|
|
forget the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ix-p13.5">Lord</span> thy God, and walk
|
|
after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify
|
|
against you this day that ye shall surely perish.   20 As the
|
|
nations which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ix-p13.6">Lord</span> destroyeth
|
|
before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be
|
|
obedient unto the voice of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.ix-p13.7">Lord</span>
|
|
your God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ix-p14">Moses, having mentioned the great plenty
|
|
they would find in the land of Canaan, finds it necessary to
|
|
caution them against the abuse of that plenty, which was a sin they
|
|
would be the more prone to now that they came into the vineyard of
|
|
the Lord, immediately out of a barren desert.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ix-p15">I. He directs them to the duty of a
|
|
prosperous condition, <scripRef passage="De 8:10" id="Deu.ix-p15.1" parsed="|Deut|8|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.10"><i>v.</i>
|
|
10</scripRef>. They are allowed to eat even to fulness, not to
|
|
surfeiting no excess; but let them always remember their
|
|
benefactor, the founder of their feast, and never fail to give
|
|
thanks after meat: <i>Then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God.</i>
|
|
1. They must take heed of eating or drinking so much as to
|
|
indispose themselves for this duty of blessing God, rather aiming
|
|
to serve God therein with so much the more cheerfulness and
|
|
enlargement. 2. They must not have any fellowship with those that,
|
|
when they had eaten and were full, blessed false gods, as the
|
|
Israelites themselves had done in their worship of the golden calf,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 32:6" id="Deu.ix-p15.2" parsed="|Exod|32|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.6">Exod. xxxii. 6</scripRef>. 3. Whatever
|
|
they had the comfort of God must have the glory of. As our Saviour
|
|
has taught us to bless before we eat (<scripRef passage="Mt 14:19,20" id="Deu.ix-p15.3" parsed="|Matt|14|19|14|20" osisRef="Bible:Matt.14.19-Matt.14.20">Matt. xiv. 19, 20</scripRef>), so we are here taught
|
|
to bless after meat. That is our <i>Hosannah—God bless;</i> this
|
|
is our <i>Hallelujah—Blessed be God. In every thing we must give
|
|
thanks.</i> From this law the religious Jews took up a laudable
|
|
usage of blessing God, not only at their solemn meals, but upon
|
|
other occasions; if they drank a cup of wine they lifted up their
|
|
hands and said, <i>Blessed be he that created the fruit of the vine
|
|
to make glad the heart.</i> If they did but smell at a flower, they
|
|
said, <i>Blessed be he that made this flower sweet.</i> 4. When
|
|
they gave thanks for the fruits of the land they must give thanks
|
|
for the fruits of the land itself, which was given them by promise
|
|
From all our comfortable enjoyments we must take occasion to thank
|
|
God for our comfortable settlements; and I know not but we of this
|
|
nation have as much reason as they had to give thanks for a good
|
|
land.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ix-p16">II. He arms them against the temptations of
|
|
a prosperous condition, and charges them to stand upon their guard
|
|
against them: "When thou art settled in goodly houses of thy own
|
|
building," <scripRef passage="De 8:12" id="Deu.ix-p16.1" parsed="|Deut|8|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef> (for
|
|
though God gave them houses which they builded not, <scripRef passage="De 6:10" id="Deu.ix-p16.2" parsed="|Deut|6|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.10"><i>ch.</i> vi. 10</scripRef>, these would not
|
|
serve them, they must have larger and finer),—"and when thou hast
|
|
grown <i>rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold</i> (<scripRef passage="De 8:13" id="Deu.ix-p16.3" parsed="|Deut|8|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>), as Abraham (<scripRef passage="Ge 13:2" id="Deu.ix-p16.4" parsed="|Gen|13|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.2">Gen. xiii. 2</scripRef>),—when <i>all thou hast
|
|
is multiplied,</i>" 1. "Then take heed of pride. Beware <i>lest
|
|
then thy heart be lifted up,</i>" <scripRef passage="De 8:14" id="Deu.ix-p16.5" parsed="|Deut|8|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. When the estate rises, the mind
|
|
is apt to rise with it, in self-conceit, self-complacency, and
|
|
self-confidence. Let us therefore strive to keep the spirit low in
|
|
a high condition; humility is both the ease and the ornament of
|
|
prosperity. Take heed of saying, so much as in thy heart, that
|
|
proud word, <i>My power, even the might of my hand, hath gotten me
|
|
this wealth,</i> <scripRef passage="De 8:17" id="Deu.ix-p16.6" parsed="|Deut|8|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.17"><i>v.</i>
|
|
17</scripRef>. Note, We must never take the praise of our
|
|
prosperity to ourselves, nor attribute it to our ingenuity or
|
|
industry; for bread is not always <i>to the wise,</i> nor <i>riches
|
|
to men of understanding,</i> <scripRef passage="Ec 9:11" id="Deu.ix-p16.7" parsed="|Eccl|9|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.9.11">Eccl. ix.
|
|
11</scripRef>. It is spiritual idolatry thus to <i>sacrifice to our
|
|
own net,</i> <scripRef passage="Hab 1:16" id="Deu.ix-p16.8" parsed="|Hab|1|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hab.1.16">Hab. i. 16</scripRef>. 2.
|
|
"Then take heed of forgetting God." This follows upon the
|
|
<i>lifting up on the heart;</i> for it is <i>through the pride of
|
|
the countenance</i> that the <i>wicked seek not after God,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 10:4" id="Deu.ix-p16.9" parsed="|Ps|10|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.10.4">Ps. x. 4</scripRef>. Those that admire
|
|
themselves despise God. (1.) "Forget not thy duty to God."
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 8:11" id="Deu.ix-p16.10" parsed="|Deut|8|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. We forget God
|
|
if we keep not his commandments; we forget his authority over us,
|
|
and our obligations to him and expectations from him, if we are not
|
|
obedient to his laws. When men grow rich they are tempted to think
|
|
religion a needless thing. They are happy without it, think it a
|
|
thing below them and too hard upon them. Their dignity forbids them
|
|
to stoop, and their liberty forbids them to serve. But we are
|
|
basely ungrateful if the better God is to us the worse we are to
|
|
him. (2.) "Forget not God's former dealings with thee. Thy
|
|
deliverance out of Egypt, <scripRef passage="De 8:14" id="Deu.ix-p16.11" parsed="|Deut|8|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.14"><i>v.</i>
|
|
14</scripRef>. The provision he made for thee in the wilderness,
|
|
that great and terrible wilderness." They must never forget the
|
|
impressions which the horror of that wilderness made upon them; see
|
|
<scripRef passage="Jer 2:6" id="Deu.ix-p16.12" parsed="|Jer|2|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.2.6">Jer. ii. 6</scripRef>, where it is
|
|
called the very <i>shadow of death.</i> There God preserved them
|
|
from being destroyed by the fiery serpents and scorpions, though
|
|
sometimes he made use of them for their correction: there he kept
|
|
them from perishing for want of water, following them with water
|
|
out of a rock of flint (<scripRef passage="De 8:15" id="Deu.ix-p16.13" parsed="|Deut|8|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.15"><i>v.</i>
|
|
15</scripRef>), out of which (says bishop Patrick) one would rather
|
|
have expected fire than water. There he fed them with manna, of
|
|
which before (<scripRef passage="De 8:3" id="Deu.ix-p16.14" parsed="|Deut|8|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>),
|
|
taking care to keep them alive, that he might <i>do them good at
|
|
their latter end,</i> <scripRef passage="De 8:16" id="Deu.ix-p16.15" parsed="|Deut|8|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.16"><i>v.</i>
|
|
16</scripRef>. Note, God reserves the best till the last for his
|
|
Israel. However he may seem to deal hardly with them by the way, he
|
|
will not fail to do them good at their latter end. (3.) "Forget not
|
|
God's hand in thy present prosperity, <scripRef passage="De 8:18" id="Deu.ix-p16.16" parsed="|Deut|8|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. Remember it is he that giveth
|
|
thee wealth; for he <i>giveth thee power to get wealth.</i>" See
|
|
here how God's giving and our getting are reconciled, and apply it
|
|
to spiritual wealth. It is our duty to get wisdom, and above all
|
|
our gettings to get understanding; and yet it is God's grace that
|
|
gives wisdom, and when we have got it we must not say, It was the
|
|
might of our hand that got it, but must own it was God that gave us
|
|
power to get it, and therefore to him we must give the praise and
|
|
consecrate the use of it. The <i>blessing of the Lord</i> on the
|
|
<i>hand of the diligent</i> makes rich both for this world and for
|
|
the other. He <i>giveth thee power to get wealth,</i> not so much
|
|
to gratify thee, and make thee easy, as that he may establish his
|
|
covenant. All God's gifts are in pursuance of his promises.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.ix-p17">III. He repeats the fair warning he had
|
|
often given them of the fatal consequences of their apostasy from
|
|
God, <scripRef passage="De 8:19,20" id="Deu.ix-p17.1" parsed="|Deut|8|19|8|20" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.19-Deut.8.20"><i>v.</i> 19, 20</scripRef>.
|
|
Observe, 1. How he describes the sin; it is forgetting God, and
|
|
then worshipping other gods. What wickedness will not those fall
|
|
into that keep thoughts of God out of their minds? And, when once
|
|
the affections are displaced from God, they will soon be misplaced
|
|
upon lying vanities. 2. How he denounces wrath and ruin against
|
|
them for it: "If you do so, <i>you shall surely perish,</i> and the
|
|
power and might of your hands, which you are so proud of, cannot
|
|
help you. Nay, you shall perish as the nations that are driven out
|
|
before you. God will make no more account of you, notwithstanding
|
|
his covenant with you and your relation to him, than he does of
|
|
them, if you will not be obedient and faithful to him." Those that
|
|
follow others in sin will certainly follow them to destruction. If
|
|
we do as sinners do, we must expect to fare as sinners fare.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter IX" n="x" progress="85.81%" prev="Deu.ix" next="Deu.xi" id="Deu.x">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.x-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.x-p0.2">CHAP. IX.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.x-p1">The design of Moses in this chapter is to convince
|
|
the people of Israel of their utter unworthiness to receive from
|
|
God those great favours that were now to be conferred upon them,
|
|
writing this, as it were, in capital letters at the head of their
|
|
charter, "Not for your sake, be it known unto you," <scripRef passage="Eze 36:32" id="Deu.x-p1.1" parsed="|Ezek|36|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.36.32">Ezek. xxxvi. 32</scripRef>. I. He assures them
|
|
of victory over their enemies, <scripRef passage="De 9:1-3" id="Deu.x-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|9|1|9|3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.1-Deut.9.3">ver.
|
|
1-3</scripRef>. II. He cautions them not to attribute their
|
|
successes to their own merit, but to God's justice, which was
|
|
engaged against their enemies, and his faithfulness, which was
|
|
engaged to their fathers, <scripRef passage="De 9:4-6" id="Deu.x-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|9|4|9|6" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.4-Deut.9.6">ver.
|
|
4-6</scripRef>. III. To make it evident that they had no reason to
|
|
boast of their own righteousness, he mentions their faults, shows
|
|
Israel their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins. In
|
|
general, they had been all along a provoking people, <scripRef passage="De 9:7-24" id="Deu.x-p1.4" parsed="|Deut|9|7|9|24" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.7-Deut.9.24">ver. 7-24</scripRef>. In particular, 1. In the
|
|
matter of the golden calf, the story of which he largely relates,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 9:8-21" id="Deu.x-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|9|8|9|21" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.8-Deut.9.21">ver. 8-21</scripRef>. 2. He mentions
|
|
some other instances of their rebellion, <scripRef passage="De 9:22,23" id="Deu.x-p1.6" parsed="|Deut|9|22|9|23" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.22-Deut.9.23">ver. 22, 23</scripRef>. And, 3. Returns, at <scripRef passage="De 9:25" id="Deu.x-p1.7" parsed="|Deut|9|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.25">ver. 25</scripRef>, to speak of the intercession
|
|
he had made for them at Horeb, to prevent their being ruined for
|
|
the golden calf.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 9" id="Deu.x-p1.8" parsed="|Deut|9|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 9:1-6" id="Deu.x-p1.9" parsed="|Deut|9|1|9|6" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.1-Deut.9.6"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.9.1-Deut.9.6">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.x-p1.10">Victory Promised. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p1.11">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.x-p2">1 Hear, O Israel: Thou <i>art</i> to pass over
|
|
Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier
|
|
than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven,   2 A
|
|
people great and tall, the children of the Anakims, whom thou
|
|
knowest, and <i>of whom</i> thou hast heard <i>say,</i> Who can
|
|
stand before the children of Anak!   3 Understand therefore
|
|
this day, that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p2.1">Lord</span> thy God
|
|
<i>is</i> he which goeth over before thee; <i>as</i> a consuming
|
|
fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy
|
|
face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p2.2">Lord</span> hath said unto thee.  
|
|
4 Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p2.3">Lord</span> thy God hath cast them out from before
|
|
thee, saying, For my righteousness the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p2.4">Lord</span> hath brought me in to possess this land:
|
|
but for the wickedness of these nations the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p2.5">Lord</span> doth drive them out from before thee.
|
|
  5 Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine
|
|
heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness
|
|
of these nations the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p2.6">Lord</span> thy God
|
|
doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the
|
|
word which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p2.7">Lord</span> sware unto thy
|
|
fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.   6 Understand therefore,
|
|
that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p2.8">Lord</span> thy God giveth thee
|
|
not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou
|
|
<i>art</i> a stiffnecked people.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.x-p3">The call to attention (<scripRef passage="De 9:1" id="Deu.x-p3.1" parsed="|Deut|9|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>), <i>Hear, O Israel,</i> intimates
|
|
that this was a new discourse, delivered at some distance of time
|
|
after the former, probably the next sabbath day.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.x-p4">I. Moses represents to the people the
|
|
formidable strength of the enemies which they were now to
|
|
encounter, <scripRef passage="De 9:1" id="Deu.x-p4.1" parsed="|Deut|9|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. The
|
|
nations they were to dispossess were mightier than themselves, not
|
|
a rude and undisciplined rout, like the natives of America, that
|
|
were easily made a prey of. But, should they besiege them, they
|
|
would find their cities well fortified, according as the art of
|
|
fortification then was; should they engage them in the field, they
|
|
would find the people great and tall, of whom common fame had
|
|
reported that there was no standing before them, <scripRef passage="De 9:2" id="Deu.x-p4.2" parsed="|Deut|9|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. This representation is much the
|
|
same with that which the evil spies had made (<scripRef passage="Nu 13:28,33" id="Deu.x-p4.3" parsed="|Num|13|28|0|0;|Num|13|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.13.28 Bible:Num.13.33">Num. xiii. 28, 33</scripRef>), but made with a very
|
|
different intention: that was designed to drive them from God and
|
|
to discourage their hope in him; this to drive them to God and to
|
|
engage their hope in him, since no power less than that which is
|
|
almighty could secure and prosper them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.x-p5">II. He assures them of victory, by the
|
|
presence of God with them, notwithstanding the strength of the
|
|
enemy, <scripRef passage="De 9:3" id="Deu.x-p5.1" parsed="|Deut|9|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>.
|
|
"Understand therefore what thou must trust to for success, and
|
|
which way thou must look; it is the Lord thy God that goes before
|
|
thee, not only as thy captain, or commander-in-chief, to give
|
|
direction, but as a consuming fire, to do execution among them.
|
|
Observe, He shall destroy them, and then thou shalt drive them out.
|
|
Thou canst not drive them out, unless he destroy them and bring
|
|
them down. But he will not destroy them and bring them down, unless
|
|
thou set thyself in good earnest to drive them out." We must do our
|
|
endeavour in dependence upon God's grace, and we shall have that
|
|
grace if we do our endeavour.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.x-p6">III. He cautions them not to entertain the
|
|
least thought of their own righteousness, as if that had procured
|
|
them this favour at God's hand: "Say not. <i>For my
|
|
righteousness</i> (either with regard to my good character or in
|
|
recompence for any good service) <i>the Lord hath brought me in to
|
|
possess this land</i> (<scripRef passage="De 9:4" id="Deu.x-p6.1" parsed="|Deut|9|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.4"><i>v.</i>
|
|
4</scripRef>); never think it is for thy righteousness or the
|
|
uprightness of thy heart, that it is in consideration either of thy
|
|
good conversation or of thy good disposition," <scripRef passage="De 9:5" id="Deu.x-p6.2" parsed="|Deut|9|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. And again (<scripRef passage="De 9:6" id="Deu.x-p6.3" parsed="|Deut|9|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>) it is insisted on, because it is
|
|
hard to bring people from a conceit of their own merit, and yet
|
|
very necessary that it be done: "<i>Understand</i> (know it, and
|
|
believe it, and consider it) that <i>the Lord thy God giveth thee
|
|
not this land for thy righteousness.</i> Hadst thou been to come to
|
|
it upon that condition, thou wouldst have been for ever shut out of
|
|
it, <i>for thou art a stiff-necked people.</i>" Note, Our gaining
|
|
possession of the heavenly Canaan, as it must be attributed to
|
|
God's power and not to our own might, so it must be ascribed to
|
|
God's grace and not to our own merit: in Christ we have both
|
|
righteousness and strength; in him therefore we must glory, and not
|
|
in ourselves, or any sufficiency of our own.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.x-p7">IV. He intimates to them the true reasons
|
|
why God would take this good land out of the hands of the
|
|
Canaanites, and settle it upon Israel, and they are borrowed from
|
|
his own honour, not from Israel's deserts. 1. He will be honoured
|
|
in the destruction of idolaters; they are justly looked upon as
|
|
haters of him, and therefore he will visit their iniquity upon
|
|
them. It is <i>for the wickedness of these nations</i> that God
|
|
<i>drives them out,</i> <scripRef passage="De 9:4" id="Deu.x-p7.1" parsed="|Deut|9|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.4"><i>v.</i>
|
|
4</scripRef>, and again, <scripRef passage="De 9:5" id="Deu.x-p7.2" parsed="|Deut|9|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.5"><i>v.</i>
|
|
5</scripRef>. All those whom God rejects are rejected for their own
|
|
wickedness: but none of those whom he accepts are accepted for
|
|
their own righteousness. 2. He will be honoured in the performance
|
|
of his promise to those that are in covenant with him: God swore to
|
|
the patriarchs, who loved him and left all to follow him, that he
|
|
would give this land to their seed; and therefore he would <i>keep
|
|
that promised mercy for thousands of those that loved him and kept
|
|
his commandments;</i> he would not suffer his promise to fail. It
|
|
was for their fathers' sakes that they were beloved, <scripRef passage="Ro 11:28" id="Deu.x-p7.3" parsed="|Rom|11|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.11.28">Rom. xi. 28</scripRef>. Thus boasting is for
|
|
ever excluded. See <scripRef passage="Eph 1:9,11" id="Deu.x-p7.4" parsed="|Eph|1|9|0|0;|Eph|1|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eph.1.9 Bible:Eph.1.11">Eph. i. 9,
|
|
11</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 9:7-29" id="Deu.x-p7.5" parsed="|Deut|9|7|9|29" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.7-Deut.9.29"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.9.7-Deut.9.29">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.x-p7.6">Cautions Against Self-Righteousness; Israel
|
|
Reminded of Their Rebellions. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p7.7">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.x-p8">7 Remember, <i>and</i> forget not, how thou
|
|
provokedst the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p8.1">Lord</span> thy God to wrath
|
|
in the wilderness: from the day that thou didst depart out of the
|
|
land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been
|
|
rebellious against the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p8.2">Lord</span>.  
|
|
8 Also in Horeb ye provoked the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p8.3">Lord</span>
|
|
to wrath, so that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p8.4">Lord</span> was angry
|
|
with you to have destroyed you.   9 When I was gone up into
|
|
the mount to receive the tables of stone, <i>even</i> the tables of
|
|
the covenant which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p8.5">Lord</span> made
|
|
with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights, I
|
|
neither did eat bread nor drink water:   10 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p8.6">Lord</span> delivered unto me two tables of stone
|
|
written with the finger of God; and on them <i>was written</i>
|
|
according to all the words, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p8.7">Lord</span> spake with you in the mount out of the
|
|
midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.   11 And it came
|
|
to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, <i>that</i> the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p8.8">Lord</span> gave me the two tables of
|
|
stone, <i>even</i> the tables of the covenant.   12 And the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p8.9">Lord</span> said unto me, Arise, get thee
|
|
down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought
|
|
forth out of Egypt have corrupted <i>themselves;</i> they are
|
|
quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they
|
|
have made them a molten image.   13 Furthermore the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p8.10">Lord</span> spake unto me, saying, I have seen
|
|
this people, and, behold, it <i>is</i> a stiffnecked people:  
|
|
14 Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name
|
|
from under heaven: and I will make of thee a nation mightier and
|
|
greater than they.   15 So I turned and came down from the
|
|
mount, and the mount burned with fire: and the two tables of the
|
|
covenant <i>were</i> in my two hands.   16 And I looked, and,
|
|
behold, ye had sinned against the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p8.11">Lord</span> your God, <i>and</i> had made you a molten
|
|
calf: ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p8.12">Lord</span> had commanded you.   17 And I
|
|
took the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and brake
|
|
them before your eyes.   18 And I fell down before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p8.13">Lord</span>, as at the first, forty days and
|
|
forty nights: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of
|
|
all your sins which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p8.14">Lord</span>, to provoke him to anger.
|
|
  19 For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure,
|
|
wherewith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p8.15">Lord</span> was wroth against
|
|
you to destroy you. But the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p8.16">Lord</span>
|
|
hearkened unto me at that time also.   20 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p8.17">Lord</span> was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed
|
|
him: and I prayed for Aaron also the same time.   21 And I
|
|
took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire,
|
|
and stamped it, <i>and</i> ground <i>it</i> very small, <i>even</i>
|
|
until it was as small as dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the
|
|
brook that descended out of the mount.   22 And at Taberah,
|
|
and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah, ye provoked the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p8.18">Lord</span> to wrath.   23 Likewise when the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p8.19">Lord</span> sent you from Kadesh-barnea,
|
|
saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you; then ye
|
|
rebelled against the commandment of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p8.20">Lord</span> your God, and ye believed him not, nor
|
|
hearkened to his voice.   24 Ye have been rebellious against
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p8.21">Lord</span> from the day that I knew
|
|
you.   25 Thus I fell down before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p8.22">Lord</span> forty days and forty nights, as I fell down
|
|
<i>at the first;</i> because the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p8.23">Lord</span> had said he would destroy you.   26 I
|
|
prayed therefore unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p8.24">Lord</span>, and
|
|
said, O Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p8.25">God</span>, destroy not thy
|
|
people and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy
|
|
greatness, which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty
|
|
hand.   27 Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob;
|
|
look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their
|
|
wickedness, nor to their sin:   28 Lest the land whence thou
|
|
broughtest us out say, Because the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.x-p8.26">Lord</span> was not able to bring them into the land
|
|
which he promised them, and because he hated them, he hath brought
|
|
them out to slay them in the wilderness.   29 Yet they
|
|
<i>are</i> thy people and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest
|
|
out by thy mighty power and by thy stretched out arm.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.x-p9">That they might have no pretence to think
|
|
that God brought them to Canaan <i>for their righteousness,</i>
|
|
Moses here shows them what a miracle of mercy it was that they had
|
|
not long ere this been destroyed in the wilderness: "<i>Remember,
|
|
and forget not, how thou provokedst the Lord thy God</i> (<scripRef passage="De 9:7" id="Deu.x-p9.1" parsed="|Deut|9|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>); so far from purchasing
|
|
his favour, thou hast many a time laid thyself open to his
|
|
displeasure." Their fathers' provocations are here charged upon
|
|
them; for, if God had dealt with their fathers according to their
|
|
deserts, this generation would never have been, much less would
|
|
they have entered Canaan. We are apt to forget our provocations,
|
|
especially when the smart of the rod is over, and have need to be
|
|
often put in mind of them, that we may never entertain any conceit
|
|
of our own righteousness. Paul argues from the guilt which all
|
|
mankind is under to prove that we cannot be <i>justified before
|
|
God</i> by our own works, <scripRef passage="Ro 3:19,20" id="Deu.x-p9.2" parsed="|Rom|3|19|3|20" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.19-Rom.3.20">Rom. iii.
|
|
19, 20</scripRef>. If our works condemn us, they will not justify
|
|
us. Observe, 1. They had been a provoking people ever since they
|
|
came out of Egypt, <scripRef passage="De 9:7" id="Deu.x-p9.3" parsed="|Deut|9|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.7"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7</scripRef>. <i>Forty years long,</i> from first to last, were God
|
|
and Moses grieved with them. It is a very sad character Moses now
|
|
at parting leaves of them: <i>You have been rebellious since the
|
|
day I knew you,</i> <scripRef passage="De 9:24" id="Deu.x-p9.4" parsed="|Deut|9|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.24"><i>v.</i>
|
|
24</scripRef>. No sooner were they formed into a people than there
|
|
was a faction formed among them, which upon all occasions made head
|
|
against God and his government. Though the Mosaic history records
|
|
little more than the occurrences of the first and last year of the
|
|
forty, yet it seems by this general account that the rest of the
|
|
years were not much better, but one continued provocation. 2. Even
|
|
in Horeb they made a calf and worshipped it, <scripRef passage="De 9:8" id="Deu.x-p9.5" parsed="|Deut|9|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>, &c. That was a sin so heinous,
|
|
and by several aggravations made so exceedingly sinful, that they
|
|
deserved upon all occasions to be upbraided with it. It was done in
|
|
the very place where the law was given by which they were expressly
|
|
forbidden to worship God by images, and while the mountain was yet
|
|
burning before their eyes, and Moses had gone up to fetch them the
|
|
law in writing. They <i>turned aside quickly,</i> <scripRef passage="De 9:16" id="Deu.x-p9.6" parsed="|Deut|9|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. 3. God was very angry
|
|
with them for their sin. Let them not think that God overlooked
|
|
what they did amiss, and gave them Canaan for what was good among
|
|
them. No, God had determined to destroy them (<scripRef passage="De 9:8" id="Deu.x-p9.7" parsed="|Deut|9|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>), could easily have done it, and
|
|
would have been no loser by it; he even desired Moses to let him
|
|
alone that he might do it, <scripRef passage="De 9:13,14" id="Deu.x-p9.8" parsed="|Deut|9|13|9|14" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.13-Deut.9.14"><i>v.</i>
|
|
13, 14</scripRef>. By this it appeared how heinous their sin was,
|
|
for God is never angry with any above what there is cause for, as
|
|
men often are. Moses himself, though a friend and favourite,
|
|
trembled at the revelation of God's wrath from heaven against their
|
|
ungodliness and unrighteousness (<scripRef passage="De 9:19" id="Deu.x-p9.9" parsed="|Deut|9|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>): <i>I was afraid of the anger of
|
|
the Lord,</i> afraid perhaps not for them only, but for himself,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 119:120" id="Deu.x-p9.10" parsed="|Ps|119|120|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119.120">Ps. cxix. 120</scripRef>. 4. They
|
|
had by their sin broken covenant with God, and forfeited all the
|
|
privileges of the covenant, which Moses signified to them by
|
|
<i>breaking the tables,</i> <scripRef passage="De 9:17" id="Deu.x-p9.11" parsed="|Deut|9|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.17"><i>v.</i>
|
|
17</scripRef>. A bill of divorce was given them, and thenceforward
|
|
they might justly have been abandoned for ever, so that their mouth
|
|
was certainly stopped from pleading any righteousness of their own.
|
|
God had, in effect, disowned them, when he said to Moses (<scripRef passage="De 9:12" id="Deu.x-p9.12" parsed="|Deut|9|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), "They are thy people,
|
|
they are none of mine, nor shall they be dealt with as mine." 5.
|
|
Aaron himself fell under God's displeasure for it, though he was
|
|
the saint of the Lord, and was only brought by surprise or terror
|
|
to be confederate with them in the sin: <i>The Lord was very angry
|
|
with Aaron,</i> <scripRef passage="De 9:20" id="Deu.x-p9.13" parsed="|Deut|9|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.20"><i>v.</i>
|
|
20</scripRef>. No man's place or character can shelter him from the
|
|
wrath of God if he have <i>fellowship with the unfruitful works of
|
|
darkness.</i> Aaron, that should have made atonement for them if
|
|
the iniquity could have been purged away by sacrifice and offering,
|
|
did himself fall under the wrath of God: so little did they
|
|
consider what they did when they drew him in. 6. It was with great
|
|
difficulty and very long attendance that Moses himself prevailed to
|
|
turn away the wrath of God, and prevent their utter ruin. He fasted
|
|
and prayed full forty days and forty nights before he could obtain
|
|
their pardon, <scripRef passage="De 9:18" id="Deu.x-p9.14" parsed="|Deut|9|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>.
|
|
And some think twice forty days (<scripRef passage="De 9:25" id="Deu.x-p9.15" parsed="|Deut|9|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>), because it is said, <i>as I
|
|
fell down before,</i> whereas his errand in the first forty was not
|
|
of that nature. Others think it was but one forty, though twice
|
|
mentioned (as also in <scripRef passage="De 10:10" id="Deu.x-p9.16" parsed="|Deut|10|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.10"><i>ch.</i> x.
|
|
10</scripRef>); but this was enough to make them sensible how great
|
|
God's displeasure was against them, and what a narrow escape they
|
|
had for their lives. And in this appears the greatness of God's
|
|
anger against all mankind that no less a person than his Son, and
|
|
no less a price than his own blood, would serve to turn it away.
|
|
Moses here tells them the substance of his intercession for them.
|
|
He was obliged to own their stubbornness, and their wickedness, and
|
|
their sin, <scripRef passage="De 9:27" id="Deu.x-p9.17" parsed="|Deut|9|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>.
|
|
Their character was bad indeed when he that appeared an advocate
|
|
for them could not give them a good word, and had nothing else to
|
|
say in their behalf but that God had done great things for them,
|
|
which really did but aggravate their crime (<scripRef passage="De 9:26" id="Deu.x-p9.18" parsed="|Deut|9|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>),—that they were the posterity
|
|
of good ancestors (<scripRef passage="De 9:27" id="Deu.x-p9.19" parsed="|Deut|9|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.27"><i>v.</i>
|
|
27</scripRef>), which might also have been turned upon him, as
|
|
making the matter worse and not better,—and that the Egyptians
|
|
would reproach God, if he should destroy them, as unable to perfect
|
|
what he had wrought for them (<scripRef passage="De 9:28" id="Deu.x-p9.20" parsed="|Deut|9|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.28"><i>v.</i>
|
|
28</scripRef>), a plea which might easily enough have been
|
|
answered: no matter what the Egyptians say, while the heavens
|
|
declare God's righteousness; so that the saving of them from ruin
|
|
at that time was owing purely to the mercy of God, and the
|
|
importunity of Moses, and not to any merit of theirs, that could be
|
|
offered so much as in mitigation of their offence. 7. To affect
|
|
them the more with the destruction they were then at the brink of,
|
|
he describes very particularly the destruction of the calf they had
|
|
made, <scripRef passage="De 9:21" id="Deu.x-p9.21" parsed="|Deut|9|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. He calls
|
|
it their <i>sin:</i> perhaps not only because it had been the
|
|
matter of their sin, but because the destroying of it was intended
|
|
for a testimony against their sin, and an indication to them what
|
|
the sinners themselves did deserve. Those that made it were like
|
|
unto it, and would have had no wrong done them if they had been
|
|
thus stamped to dust, and consumed, and scattered, and no remains
|
|
of them left. It was infinite mercy that accepted the destruction
|
|
of the idol instead of the destruction of the idolaters. 8. Even
|
|
after this fair escape that they had, in many other instances they
|
|
provoked the Lord again and again. He needed only to name the
|
|
places, for they carried the memorials either of the sin or of the
|
|
punishment in their names (<scripRef passage="De 9:22" id="Deu.x-p9.22" parsed="|Deut|9|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.22"><i>v.</i>
|
|
22</scripRef>): at <i>Taberah, burning,</i> where God set fire to
|
|
them for their murmuring,—at <i>Massah, the temptation,</i> where
|
|
they challenged almighty power to help them,—and at
|
|
<i>Kibroth-hattaavah, the graves of lusters,</i> where the dainties
|
|
they coveted were their poison; and, after these, their unbelief
|
|
and distrust at Kadesh-barnea, of which he had already told them
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 1:1-46" id="Deu.x-p9.23" parsed="|Deut|1|1|1|46" osisRef="Bible:Deut.1.1-Deut.1.46"><i>ch.</i> i.</scripRef>), and which
|
|
he here mentions again (<scripRef passage="De 9:23" id="Deu.x-p9.24" parsed="|Deut|9|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.23"><i>v.</i>
|
|
23</scripRef>), would certainly have completed their ruin if they
|
|
had been dealt with according to their own merits.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.x-p10">Now let them lay all this together, and it
|
|
will appear that whatever favour God should hereafter show them, in
|
|
subduing their enemies and putting them in possession of the land
|
|
of Canaan, it was not for their righteousness. It is good for us
|
|
often to remember against ourselves, with sorrow and shame, our
|
|
former sins, and to review the records conscience keeps of them,
|
|
that we may see how much we are indebted to free grace, and may
|
|
humbly own that we never merited at God's hand any thing but wrath
|
|
and the curse.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter X" n="xi" progress="86.18%" prev="Deu.x" next="Deu.xii" id="Deu.xi">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.xi-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.xi-p0.2">CHAP. X.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.xi-p1">Moses having, in the foregoing chapter, reminded
|
|
them of their own sin, as a reason why they should not depend upon
|
|
their own righteousness, in this chapter he sets before them God's
|
|
great mercy to them, notwithstanding their provocations, as a
|
|
reason why they should be more obedient for the future. I. He
|
|
mentions divers tokens of God's favour and reconciliation to them,
|
|
never to be forgotten. (1.) The renewing of the tables of the
|
|
covenant, <scripRef passage="De 10:1-5" id="Deu.xi-p1.1" parsed="|Deut|10|1|10|5" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.1-Deut.10.5">ver. 1-5</scripRef>. (2.)
|
|
Giving orders for their progress towards Canaan, <scripRef passage="De 10:6,7" id="Deu.xi-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|10|6|10|7" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.6-Deut.10.7">ver. 6, 7</scripRef>. (3.) Choosing the tribe of Levi
|
|
for his own, <scripRef passage="De 10:8,9" id="Deu.xi-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|10|8|10|9" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.8-Deut.10.9">ver. 8, 9</scripRef>.
|
|
(4.) And continuing the priesthood after the death of Aaron,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 10:6" id="Deu.xi-p1.4" parsed="|Deut|10|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.6">ver. 6</scripRef>. (5.) Owning and
|
|
accepting the intercession of Moses for them, <scripRef passage="De 10:10,11" id="Deu.xi-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|10|10|10|11" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.10-Deut.10.11">ver. 10, 11</scripRef>. II. Hence he infers what
|
|
obligations they lay under to fear, and love, and serve God, which
|
|
he presses upon them with many motives, <scripRef passage="De 10:12-22" id="Deu.xi-p1.6" parsed="|Deut|10|12|10|22" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.12-Deut.10.22">ver. 12</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 10" id="Deu.xi-p1.7" parsed="|Deut|10|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 10:1-11" id="Deu.xi-p1.8" parsed="|Deut|10|1|10|11" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.1-Deut.10.11"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.10.1-Deut.10.11">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xi-p1.9">God's Great Kindness to
|
|
Israel. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xi-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xi-p2">1 At that time the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xi-p2.1">Lord</span> said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone
|
|
like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make
|
|
thee an ark of wood.   2 And I will write on the tables the
|
|
words that were in the first tables which thou brakest, and thou
|
|
shalt put them in the ark.   3 And I made an ark <i>of</i>
|
|
shittim wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first,
|
|
and went up into the mount, having the two tables in mine hand.
|
|
  4 And he wrote on the tables, according to the first
|
|
writing, the ten commandments, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xi-p2.2">Lord</span> spake unto you in the mount out of the
|
|
midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xi-p2.3">Lord</span> gave them unto me.   5 And I turned
|
|
myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark
|
|
which I had made; and there they be, as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xi-p2.4">Lord</span> commanded me.   6 And the children of
|
|
Israel took their journey from Beeroth of the children of Jaakan to
|
|
Mosera: there Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his
|
|
son ministered in the priest's office in his stead.   7 From
|
|
thence they journeyed unto Gudgodah; and from Gudgodah to Jotbath,
|
|
a land of rivers of waters.   8 At that time the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xi-p2.5">Lord</span> separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the
|
|
ark of the covenant of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xi-p2.6">Lord</span>, to
|
|
stand before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xi-p2.7">Lord</span> to minister
|
|
unto him, and to bless in his name, unto this day.   9
|
|
Wherefore Levi hath no part nor inheritance with his brethren; the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xi-p2.8">Lord</span> <i>is</i> his inheritance,
|
|
according as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xi-p2.9">Lord</span> thy God
|
|
promised him.   10 And I stayed in the mount, according to the
|
|
first time, forty days and forty nights; and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xi-p2.10">Lord</span> hearkened unto me at that time also,
|
|
<i>and</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xi-p2.11">Lord</span> would not
|
|
destroy thee.   11 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xi-p2.12">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto me, Arise, take <i>thy</i> journey before the people,
|
|
that they may go in and possess the land, which I sware unto their
|
|
fathers to give unto them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xi-p3">There were four things in and by which God
|
|
showed himself reconciled to Israel and made them truly great and
|
|
happy, and in which God's goodness took occasion from their badness
|
|
to make him the more illustrious:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xi-p4">I. He gave them his law, gave it to them in
|
|
writing, as a standing pledge of his favour. Though the tables that
|
|
were first written were broken, because Israel had broken the
|
|
commandments, and God might justly break the covenant, yet when his
|
|
anger was turned away the tables were renewed, <scripRef passage="De 10:1,2" id="Deu.xi-p4.1" parsed="|Deut|10|1|10|2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.1-Deut.10.2"><i>v.</i> 1, 2</scripRef>. Note, God's putting his law
|
|
in our hearts, and writing it in our inward parts, furnish the surest evidence of our reconciliation to God and the best earnest of our happiness
|
|
in him. Moses is told to hew the tables; for the law prepares the
|
|
heart by conviction and humiliation for the grace of God, but it is
|
|
only that grace that then writes the law in it. Moses made <i>an
|
|
ark of shittim-wood</i> (<scripRef passage="De 10:3" id="Deu.xi-p4.2" parsed="|Deut|10|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.3"><i>v.</i>
|
|
3</scripRef>), a plain chest, the same, I suppose, in which the
|
|
tables were afterwards preserved: but Bezaleel is said to make it
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 37:1" id="Deu.xi-p4.3" parsed="|Exod|37|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.37.1">Exod. xxxvii. 1</scripRef>), because
|
|
he afterwards finished it up and overlaid it with gold. Or Moses is
|
|
said to make it because, when he went up the second time into the
|
|
mount, he ordered it to be made by Bezaleel against he came down.
|
|
And it is observable that for this reason the ark was the first
|
|
thing that God gave orders about, <scripRef passage="Ex 25:10" id="Deu.xi-p4.4" parsed="|Exod|25|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.25.10">Exod. xxv. 10</scripRef>. And this left an earnest to
|
|
the congregation that the tables should not miscarry this second
|
|
time, as they had done the first. God will send his law and gospel
|
|
to those whose hearts are prepared as arks to receive them. Christ
|
|
is the ark in which now our salvation is kept safely, that it may
|
|
not be lost as it was in the first Adam, when he had it in his own
|
|
hand. Observe, 1. What it was that God wrote on the two tables, the
|
|
ten commandments (<scripRef passage="De 10:4" id="Deu.xi-p4.5" parsed="|Deut|10|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.4"><i>v.</i>
|
|
4</scripRef>), or <i>ten words,</i> intimating in how little a
|
|
compass they were contained: they were not ten volumes, but ten
|
|
words: it was the same with the first writing, and both the same
|
|
that he spoke in the mount. The second edition needed no correction
|
|
nor amendment, nor did what he wrote differ form what he spoke. The
|
|
written word is as truly the word of God as that which he spoke to
|
|
his servants the prophets. 2. What care was taken of it. These two
|
|
tables, thus engraven, were faithfully laid up in the ark. <i>And
|
|
there they be,</i> said Moses, pointing it is probable towards the
|
|
sanctuary, <scripRef passage="De 10:5" id="Deu.xi-p4.6" parsed="|Deut|10|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. That
|
|
good thing which was committed to him he transmitted to them, and
|
|
left it pure and entire in their hands; now let them look to it at
|
|
their peril. Thus we may say to the rising generation, "God has
|
|
entrusted us with Bibles, sabbaths, sacraments, &c., as tokens
|
|
of his presence and favour, and there they be; we lodge them with
|
|
you," <scripRef passage="2Ti 1:13,14" id="Deu.xi-p4.7" parsed="|2Tim|1|13|1|14" osisRef="Bible:2Tim.1.13-2Tim.1.14">2 Tim. i. 13,
|
|
14</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xi-p5">II. He led them forward towards Canaan,
|
|
though they in their hearts turned back towards Egypt, and he might
|
|
justly have chosen their delusions, <scripRef passage="De 10:6,7" id="Deu.xi-p5.1" parsed="|Deut|10|6|10|7" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.6-Deut.10.7"><i>v.</i> 6, 7</scripRef>. He brought them to a land of
|
|
<i>rivers of waters,</i> out of a dry and barren wilderness.
|
|
Sometimes God supplied their wants by the ordinary course of
|
|
nature: when that failed, then by miracles; and yet after this,
|
|
when they were brought into a little distress, we find them
|
|
distrusting God and murmuring, <scripRef passage="Nu 20:3,4" id="Deu.xi-p5.2" parsed="|Num|20|3|20|4" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.3-Num.20.4">Num.
|
|
xx. 3, 4</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xi-p6">III. He appointed a standing ministry among
|
|
them, to deal for them in holy things. At that time when Moses went
|
|
up a second time to the mount, or soon after, he had orders to
|
|
separate the tribe of Levi to God, and to his immediate service,
|
|
they having distinguished themselves by their zeal against the
|
|
worshippers of the golden calf, <scripRef passage="De 10:8,9" id="Deu.xi-p6.1" parsed="|Deut|10|8|10|9" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.8-Deut.10.9"><i>v.</i> 8, 9</scripRef>. The Kohathites carried the
|
|
ark; they and the other Levites stood <i>before the Lord,</i> to
|
|
minister to him in all the offices of the tabernacle; and the
|
|
priests, who were of that tribe, were to bless the people. This was
|
|
a standing ordinance, which had now continued almost forty years,
|
|
even unto this day; and provision was made for the perpetuating of
|
|
it by the settled maintenance of that tribe, which was such as gave
|
|
them great encouragement in their work, and no diversion from it.
|
|
<i>The Lord is his inheritance.</i> Note, A settled ministry is a
|
|
great blessing to a people, and a special token of God's favour.
|
|
And, since the particular priests could not continue by reason of
|
|
death, God showed his care of the people in securing a succession,
|
|
which Moses takes notice of here, <scripRef passage="De 10:6" id="Deu.xi-p6.2" parsed="|Deut|10|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. When <i>Aaron died,</i> the
|
|
priesthood did not die with him, but <i>Eleazar his son ministered
|
|
in his stead,</i> and took care of the ark, in which the tables of
|
|
stone, those precious stones, were deposited, that they should
|
|
suffer no damage; there they be, and he has the custody of them.
|
|
Under the law, a succession in the ministry was kept up, by an
|
|
entail of the office on a certain tribe and family. But now, under
|
|
the gospel, when the effusion of the Spirit is more plentiful and
|
|
powerful, the succession is kept up by the Spirit's operation on
|
|
men's hearts, qualifying men for, and inclining men to, that work,
|
|
some in every age, that the name of Israel may not be blotted
|
|
out.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xi-p7">IV. He accepted Moses as an advocate or
|
|
intercessor for them, and therefore constituted him their prince
|
|
and leader (<scripRef passage="De 10:10,11" id="Deu.xi-p7.1" parsed="|Deut|10|10|10|11" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.10-Deut.10.11"><i>v.</i> 10,
|
|
11</scripRef>): <i>The Lord hearkened to me and said, Arise, go
|
|
before the people.</i> It was a mercy to them that they had such a
|
|
friend, so faithful both to him that appointed him and to those for
|
|
whom he was appointed. It was fit that he who had saved them from
|
|
ruin, by his intercession with heaven, should have the conduct and
|
|
command of them. And herein he was a type of Christ, who, as he
|
|
ever lives making intercession for us, so he has <i>all power both
|
|
in heaven and in earth.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 10" id="Deu.xi-p7.2" parsed="|Deut|10|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 10:12-22" id="Deu.xi-p7.3" parsed="|Deut|10|12|10|22" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.12-Deut.10.22"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.10.12-Deut.10.22">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xi-p7.4">Exhortation to Obedience. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xi-p7.5">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xi-p8">12 And now, Israel, what doth the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xi-p8.1">Lord</span> thy God require of thee, but to fear the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xi-p8.2">Lord</span> thy God, to walk in all his
|
|
ways, and to love him, and to serve the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xi-p8.3">Lord</span> thy God with all thy heart and with all thy
|
|
soul,   13 To keep the commandments of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xi-p8.4">Lord</span>, and his statutes, which I command thee
|
|
this day for thy good?   14 Behold, the heaven and the heaven
|
|
of heavens <i>is</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xi-p8.5">Lord</span>'s thy
|
|
God, the earth <i>also,</i> with all that therein <i>is.</i>  
|
|
15 Only the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xi-p8.6">Lord</span> had a delight in
|
|
thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them,
|
|
<i>even</i> you above all people, as <i>it is</i> this day.  
|
|
16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more
|
|
stiffnecked.   17 For the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xi-p8.7">Lord</span>
|
|
your God <i>is</i> God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a
|
|
mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh
|
|
reward:   18 He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless
|
|
and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.
|
|
  19 Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in
|
|
the land of Egypt.   20 Thou shalt fear the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xi-p8.8">Lord</span> thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him
|
|
shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.   21 He <i>is</i>
|
|
thy praise, and he <i>is</i> thy God, that hath done for thee these
|
|
great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen.   22
|
|
Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons;
|
|
and now the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xi-p8.9">Lord</span> thy God hath made
|
|
thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xi-p9">Here is a most pathetic exhortation to
|
|
obedience, inferred from the premises, and urged with very powerful
|
|
arguments and a great deal of persuasive rhetoric. Moses brings it
|
|
in like an orator, with an appeal to his auditors <i>And now,
|
|
Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee?</i> <scripRef passage="De 10:12" id="Deu.xi-p9.1" parsed="|Deut|10|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. Ask what he requires;
|
|
as David (<scripRef passage="Ps 116:12" id="Deu.xi-p9.2" parsed="|Ps|116|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.116.12">Ps. cxvi. 12</scripRef>),
|
|
<i>What shall I render?</i> When we have received mercy from God it
|
|
becomes us to enquire what returns we shall make to him. Consider
|
|
what he requires, and you will find it is nothing but what is
|
|
highly just and reasonable in itself and of unspeakable benefit and
|
|
advantage to you. Let us see here what he does require, and what
|
|
abundant reason there is why we should do what he requires.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xi-p10">I. We are here most plainly directed in our
|
|
duty to God, to our neighbour, and to ourselves.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xi-p11">1. We are here taught our duty to God, both
|
|
in the dispositions and affections of our souls and in the actions
|
|
of our lives, our principles and our practices. (1.) We must
|
|
<i>fear the Lord our God,</i> <scripRef passage="De 10:12" id="Deu.xi-p11.1" parsed="|Deut|10|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>, and again <scripRef passage="De 10:20" id="Deu.xi-p11.2" parsed="|Deut|10|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. We must adore his majesty,
|
|
acknowledge his authority, stand in awe of his power, and dread his
|
|
wrath. This is gospel duty, <scripRef passage="Re 14:6,7" id="Deu.xi-p11.3" parsed="|Rev|14|6|14|7" osisRef="Bible:Rev.14.6-Rev.14.7">Rev. xiv.
|
|
6, 7</scripRef>. (2.) We must love him, be well pleased that he is,
|
|
desire that he may be ours, and delight in the contemplation of him
|
|
and in communion with him. Fear him as a great God, and our Lord,
|
|
love him as a good God, and our Father and benefactor. (3.) We must
|
|
walk in his ways, that is, the ways which he has appointed us to
|
|
walk in. The whole course of our conversation must be conformable
|
|
to his holy will. (4.) We must <i>serve him</i> (<scripRef passage="De 10:20" id="Deu.xi-p11.4" parsed="|Deut|10|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>), <i>serve him with all our
|
|
heart and soul</i> (<scripRef passage="De 10:12" id="Deu.xi-p11.5" parsed="|Deut|10|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.12"><i>v.</i>
|
|
12</scripRef>), devote ourselves to his honour, put ourselves under
|
|
his government, and lay out ourselves to advance all the interests
|
|
of his kingdom among men. And we must be hearty and zealous in his
|
|
service, engage and employ our inward man in his work, and what we
|
|
do for him we must do cheerfully and with a good will. (5.) We must
|
|
<i>keep his commandments and his statutes,</i> <scripRef passage="De 10:13" id="Deu.xi-p11.6" parsed="|Deut|10|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. Having given up ourselves to
|
|
his service, we must make his revealed will our rule in every
|
|
thing, perform all he prescribes, forbear all the forbids, firmly
|
|
believing that all the statutes he commands us are for our good.
|
|
Besides the reward of obedience, which will be our unspeakable
|
|
gain, there are true honour and pleasure in obedience. It is really
|
|
for our present good to be meek and humble, chaste and sober, just
|
|
and charitable, patient and contented; these make us easy, and
|
|
safe, and pleasant, and truly great. (6.) We must give honour to
|
|
God, in swearing by <i>his name</i> (<scripRef passage="De 10:20" id="Deu.xi-p11.7" parsed="|Deut|10|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>); so give him the honour of his
|
|
omniscience, his sovereignty, his justice, as well as of his
|
|
necessary existence. <i>Swear by his name,</i> and not by the name
|
|
of any creature, or false god, whenever an oath for confirmation is
|
|
called for. (7.) To him we must cleave, <scripRef passage="De 10:20" id="Deu.xi-p11.8" parsed="|Deut|10|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. Having chosen him for our God,
|
|
we must faithfully and constantly abide with him and never forsake
|
|
him. Cleave to him as one we love and delight in, trust and confide
|
|
in, and from whom we have great expectations.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xi-p12">2. We are here taught our duty to our
|
|
neighbour (<scripRef passage="De 10:19" id="Deu.xi-p12.1" parsed="|Deut|10|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>):
|
|
<i>Love the stranger;</i> and, if the stranger, much more our
|
|
brethren, as ourselves. If the Israelites that were such a peculiar
|
|
people, so particularly distinguished from all people, must be kind
|
|
to strangers, much more must we, that are not enclosed in such a
|
|
pale; we must have a tender concern for all that share with us in
|
|
the human nature, and <i>as we have opportunity;</i> (that is,
|
|
according to their necessities and our abilities) we must <i>do
|
|
good to all men.</i> Two arguments are here urged to enforce this
|
|
duty:—(1.) God's common providence, which extends itself to all
|
|
nations of men, they being all <i>made of one blood.</i> God
|
|
<i>loveth the stranger</i> (<scripRef passage="De 10:18" id="Deu.xi-p12.2" parsed="|Deut|10|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.18"><i>v.</i>
|
|
18</scripRef>), that is, he gives to all life, and breath, and all
|
|
things, even to those that are Gentiles, and <i>strangers to the
|
|
commonwealth of Israel</i> and to Israel's God. He knows those
|
|
perfectly whom we know nothing of. He gives <i>food and raiment</i>
|
|
even to those to whom he has not shown his word and statutes. God's
|
|
common gifts to mankind oblige us to honour all men. Or the
|
|
expression denotes the particular care which Providence takes of
|
|
strangers in distress, which we ought to praise him for (<scripRef passage="Ps 146:9" id="Deu.xi-p12.3" parsed="|Ps|146|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.146.9">Ps. cxlvi. 9</scripRef>, The <i>Lord preserveth
|
|
the strangers</i>), and to imitate him, to serve him, and concur
|
|
with him therein, being forward to make ourselves instruments in
|
|
his hand of kindness to strangers. (2.) The afflicted condition
|
|
which the Israelites themselves had been in, when they were
|
|
strangers in Egypt. Those that have themselves been in distress,
|
|
and have found mercy with God, should sympathize most feelingly
|
|
with those that are in the like distress and be ready to show
|
|
kindness to them. The people of the Jews, notwithstanding these
|
|
repeated commands given them to be kind to strangers, conceived a
|
|
rooted antipathy to the Gentiles, whom they looked upon with the
|
|
utmost disdain, which made them envy the grace of God and the
|
|
gospel of Christ, and this brought a final ruin upon
|
|
themselves.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xi-p13">3. We are here taught our duty to ourselves
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 10:16" id="Deu.xi-p13.1" parsed="|Deut|10|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>):
|
|
<i>Circumcise the foreskin of your hearts.</i> that is, "Cast away
|
|
from you all corrupt affections and inclinations, which hinder you
|
|
from fearing and loving God. <i>Mortify the flesh</i> with the
|
|
lusts of it. Away with all filthiness and superfluity of
|
|
naughtiness, which obstruct the free course of the word of God to
|
|
your hearts. Rest not in the circumcision of the body, which was
|
|
only the sign, but be circumcised in heart, which is the thing
|
|
signified." See <scripRef passage="Ro 2:29" id="Deu.xi-p13.2" parsed="|Rom|2|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.2.29">Rom. ii. 29</scripRef>.
|
|
The command of Christ goes further than this, and obliges us not
|
|
only to cut off the foreskin of the heart, which may easily be
|
|
spared, but to cut off the right hand and to pluck out the right
|
|
eye that is an offence to us; the more spiritual the dispensation
|
|
is the more spiritual we are obliged to be, and to go the closer in
|
|
mortifying sin. And <i>be no more stiff-necked,</i> as they had
|
|
been hitherto, <scripRef passage="De 9:24" id="Deu.xi-p13.3" parsed="|Deut|9|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.24"><i>ch.</i> ix.
|
|
24</scripRef>. "Be not any longer obstinate against divine commands
|
|
and corrections, but ready to comply with the will of God in both."
|
|
The circumcision of the heart makes it ready to yield to God, and
|
|
draw in his yoke.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xi-p14">II. We are here most pathetically persuaded
|
|
to our duty. Let but reason rule us, and religion will.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xi-p15">1. Consider the greatness and glory of God,
|
|
and therefore fear him, and from that principle serve and obey him.
|
|
What is it that is thought to make a man great, but great honour,
|
|
power, and possessions? Think then how great the Lord our God is,
|
|
and greatly to be feared. (1.) He has great honour, a name above
|
|
every name. He is <i>God of gods,</i> and <i>Lord of lords,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 10:17" id="Deu.xi-p15.1" parsed="|Deut|10|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. Angels are
|
|
called <i>gods,</i> so are magistrates, and the Gentiles had
|
|
<i>gods many, and lords many,</i> the creatures of their own fancy;
|
|
but God is infinitely above all these nominal deities. What an
|
|
absurdity would it be for them to worship other gods when the God
|
|
to whom they had sworn allegiance was the God of gods! (2.) He has
|
|
great power. He is a <i>mighty God and terrible</i> (<scripRef passage="De 10:17" id="Deu.xi-p15.2" parsed="|Deut|10|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>), <i>who regardeth not
|
|
persons.</i> He has the power of a conqueror, and so he is terrible
|
|
to those that resist him and rebel against him. He has the power of
|
|
a judge, and so he is just to all those that appeal to him or
|
|
appear before him. And it is as much the greatness and honour of a
|
|
judge to be impartial in his justice, without respect to persons or
|
|
bribes, as it is to a general to be terrible to the enemy. Our God
|
|
is both. (3.) He has great possessions. Heaven and earth are his
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 10:14" id="Deu.xi-p15.3" parsed="|Deut|10|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>), and all the
|
|
hosts and stars of both. Therefore he is able to bear us out in his
|
|
service, and to make up the losses we sustain in discharging our
|
|
duty to him. And yet therefore he has no need of us, nor any thing
|
|
we have or can do; we are undone without him, but he is happy
|
|
without us, which makes the condescensions of his grace, in
|
|
accepting us and our services, truly admirable. Heaven and earth
|
|
are his possession, and yet <i>the Lord's portion is his
|
|
people.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xi-p16">2. Consider the goodness and grace of God,
|
|
and therefore love him, and from that principle serve and obey him.
|
|
His goodness is his glory as much as his greatness. (1.) He is good
|
|
to all. Whomsoever he finds miserable, to them he will be found
|
|
merciful: He <i>executes the judgment of the fatherless and
|
|
widow,</i> <scripRef passage="De 10:18" id="Deu.xi-p16.1" parsed="|Deut|10|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. It
|
|
is his honour to help the helpless, and to succour those that most
|
|
need relief and that men are apt to do injury to, or at least to
|
|
put a light upon. See <scripRef passage="Ps 68:4,5,146:7,9" id="Deu.xi-p16.2" parsed="|Ps|68|4|68|5;|Ps|146|7|0|0;|Ps|146|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.68.4-Ps.68.5 Bible:Ps.146.7 Bible:Ps.146.9">Ps.
|
|
lxviii. 4, 5; cxlvi. 7, 9</scripRef>. (2.) But <i>truly God is good
|
|
to Israel</i> in a special obligations to him: "<i>He is thy
|
|
praise, and he is thy God,</i> <scripRef passage="De 10:21" id="Deu.xi-p16.3" parsed="|Deut|10|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. <i>Therefore</i> love him and
|
|
serve him, because of the relation wherein he stands to thee. He is
|
|
thy God, a God in covenant with thee, and as such he is thy
|
|
praise," that is [1.] "He puts honour upon thee; he is the God in
|
|
whom, all the day long, thou mayest boast that thou knowest him,
|
|
and art known of him. If he is thy God, he is thy glory." [2.] "He
|
|
expects honour from thee. <i>He is thy praise,</i>" that is "he is
|
|
the God whom thou art bound to praise; if he has not praise from
|
|
thee, whence may he expect it?" He <i>inhabits the praises of
|
|
Israel.</i> Consider, <i>First,</i> The gracious choice he made of
|
|
Israel, <scripRef passage="De 10:15" id="Deu.xi-p16.4" parsed="|Deut|10|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. "He
|
|
had a delight in thy fathers, and therefore chose their seed." Not
|
|
that there was any thing in them to merit his favour, or to
|
|
recommend them to it, but so it seemed good in his eyes. He would
|
|
be kind to them, though he had no need of them. <i>Secondly,</i>
|
|
The great things he had done for Israel, <scripRef passage="De 10:21,22" id="Deu.xi-p16.5" parsed="|Deut|10|21|10|22" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.21-Deut.10.22"><i>v.</i> 21, 22</scripRef>. He reminds them not only
|
|
of what they had heard with their ears, and which their fathers had
|
|
told them of, but of what they had seen with their eyes, and which
|
|
they must tell their children of, particularly that within a few
|
|
generations seventy souls (for they were no more when Jacob went
|
|
down into Egypt) increased to a great nation, <i>as the stars of
|
|
heaven for multitude.</i> And the more they were in number the more
|
|
praise and service God expected from them; yet it proved, as in the
|
|
old world, that when they began to multiply they corrupted
|
|
themselves.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XI" n="xii" progress="86.59%" prev="Deu.xi" next="Deu.xiii" id="Deu.xii">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.xii-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.xii-p0.2">CHAP. XI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.xii-p1">With this chapter Moses concludes his preface to
|
|
the repetition of the statutes and judgments which they must
|
|
observe to do. He repeats the general charge (<scripRef passage="De 11:1" id="Deu.xii-p1.1" parsed="|Deut|11|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.1">ver. 1</scripRef>), and, having in the close of the
|
|
foregoing chapter begun to mention the great things God had done
|
|
among them, in this, I. He specifies several of the great works God
|
|
had done before their eyes, <scripRef passage="De 11:2-7" id="Deu.xii-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|11|2|11|7" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.2-Deut.11.7">ver.
|
|
2-7</scripRef>. II. He sets before them, for the future, life and
|
|
death, the blessing and the curse, according as they did, or did
|
|
not, keep God's commandments, that they should certainly prosper if
|
|
they were obedient, should be blessed with plenty of all good
|
|
things (<scripRef passage="De 11:8-15" id="Deu.xii-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|11|8|11|15" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.8-Deut.11.15">ver. 8-15</scripRef>), and
|
|
with victory over their enemies, and the enlargement of their coast
|
|
thereby, <scripRef passage="De 11:22-25" id="Deu.xii-p1.4" parsed="|Deut|11|22|11|25" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.22-Deut.11.25">ver. 22-25</scripRef>. But
|
|
their disobedience would undoubtedly be their ruin, <scripRef passage="De 11:16,17" id="Deu.xii-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|11|16|11|17" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.16-Deut.11.17">ver. 16, 17</scripRef>. III. He directs them
|
|
what means to use that they might keep in mind the law of God,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 11:18-21" id="Deu.xii-p1.6" parsed="|Deut|11|18|11|21" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.18-Deut.11.21">ver. 18-21</scripRef>. And, IV.
|
|
Concludes all with solemnly charging them to choose which they
|
|
would have, the blessing or the curse, <scripRef passage="De 11:26-32" id="Deu.xii-p1.7" parsed="|Deut|11|26|11|32" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.26-Deut.11.32">ver. 26</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 11" id="Deu.xii-p1.8" parsed="|Deut|11|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 11:1-7" id="Deu.xii-p1.9" parsed="|Deut|11|1|11|7" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.1-Deut.11.7"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.11.1-Deut.11.7">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xii-p1.10">Persuasives to Obedience. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xii-p1.11">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xii-p2">1 Therefore thou shalt love the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xii-p2.1">Lord</span> thy God, and keep his charge, and his
|
|
statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway.   2
|
|
And know ye this day: for <i>I speak</i> not with your children
|
|
which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xii-p2.2">Lord</span> your God, his greatness,
|
|
his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm,   3 And his
|
|
miracles, and his acts, which he did in the midst of Egypt unto
|
|
Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land;   4 And what
|
|
he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and to their
|
|
chariots; how he made the water of the Red sea to overflow them as
|
|
they pursued after you, and <i>how</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xii-p2.3">Lord</span> hath destroyed them unto this day;   5
|
|
And what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came into this
|
|
place;   6 And what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of
|
|
Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened her mouth, and
|
|
swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all
|
|
the substance that <i>was</i> in their possession, in the midst of
|
|
all Israel:   7 But your eyes have seen all the great acts of
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xii-p2.4">Lord</span> which he did.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xii-p3">Because <i>God has made thee as the stars
|
|
of heaven for multitude</i> (so the preceding chapter concludes),
|
|
<i>therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God</i> (so this begins).
|
|
Those whom God has built up into families, whose beginning was
|
|
small, but whose latter end greatly increases, should use that as
|
|
an argument with themselves why they should serve God. Thou shalt
|
|
<i>keep his charge,</i> that is, the oracles of his word and
|
|
ordinances of his worship, with which they were entrusted and for
|
|
which they were accountable. It is a phrase often used concerning
|
|
the office of the priests and Levites, for all Israel was a kingdom
|
|
of priests, a holy nation. Observe the connection of these two:
|
|
<i>Thou shalt love the Lord</i> and <i>keep his charge,</i> since
|
|
love will work in obedience, and that only is acceptable obedience
|
|
which flows from a principle of love. <scripRef passage="1Jo 5:3" id="Deu.xii-p3.1" parsed="|1John|5|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.5.3">1
|
|
John v. 3</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xii-p4">Mention is made of the great and terrible
|
|
works of God which their <i>eyes had seen,</i> <scripRef passage="De 11:7" id="Deu.xii-p4.1" parsed="|Deut|11|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. This part of his discourse Moses
|
|
addresses to the <i>seniors</i> among the people, the elders in
|
|
age; and probably the elders in office were so, and were now his
|
|
immediate auditors: there were some among them that could remember
|
|
their deliverance out of Egypt, all above fifty, and to them he
|
|
speaks this, not to the children, who knew it by hearsay only,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 11:2" id="Deu.xii-p4.2" parsed="|Deut|11|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. Note, God's
|
|
mercies to us when we were young we should remember and retain the
|
|
impressions of when we are old; what our eyes have seen, especially
|
|
in our early days, has affected us, and should be improved by us
|
|
long after. They had seen what terrible judgments God had executed
|
|
upon the enemies of Israel's peace, 1. Upon Pharaoh and the
|
|
Egyptians that enslaved them. What a fine country was ruined and
|
|
laid waste by one plague after another, to force Israel's
|
|
enlargement! <scripRef passage="De 11:3" id="Deu.xii-p4.3" parsed="|Deut|11|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>.
|
|
What a fine army was entirely drowned in the Red Sea, to prevent
|
|
Israel's being re-enslaved! <scripRef passage="De 11:4" id="Deu.xii-p4.4" parsed="|Deut|11|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.4"><i>v.</i>
|
|
4</scripRef>. Thus did he give <i>Egypt for their ransom,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 43:3" id="Deu.xii-p4.5" parsed="|Isa|43|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.43.3">Isa. xliii. 3</scripRef>. Rather shall
|
|
that famous kingdom be destroyed than that Israel shall not be
|
|
delivered. 2. Upon Dathan and Abiram that embroiled them. Remember
|
|
<i>what he did in the wilderness</i> (<scripRef passage="De 11:5" id="Deu.xii-p4.6" parsed="|Deut|11|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), by how many necessary
|
|
<i>chastisements</i> (as they are called, <scripRef passage="De 11:2" id="Deu.xii-p4.7" parsed="|Deut|11|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>) they were kept from ruining
|
|
themselves, particularly when those daring Reubenites defied the
|
|
authority of Moses and headed a dangerous rebellion against God
|
|
himself, which threatened the ruin of a whole nation, and might
|
|
have ended in that if the divine power had not immediately crushed
|
|
the rebellion by burying the rebels alive, them and <i>all that was
|
|
in their possession,</i> <scripRef passage="De 11:6" id="Deu.xii-p4.8" parsed="|Deut|11|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.6"><i>v.</i>
|
|
6</scripRef>. What was done against them, though misinterpreted by
|
|
the disaffected party (<scripRef passage="Nu 16:41" id="Deu.xii-p4.9" parsed="|Num|16|41|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.41">Num. xvi.
|
|
41</scripRef>), was really done in mercy to Israel. To be saved
|
|
from the mischiefs of insurrections at home is as great a kindness
|
|
to a people, and therefore lays them under as strong obligations,
|
|
as protection from the invasion of enemies abroad.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 11:8-17" id="Deu.xii-p4.10" parsed="|Deut|11|8|11|17" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.8-Deut.11.17"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.11.8-Deut.11.17">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xii-p5">8 Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments
|
|
which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and
|
|
possess the land, whither ye go to possess it;   9 And that ye
|
|
may prolong <i>your</i> days in the land, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xii-p5.1">Lord</span> sware unto your fathers to give unto them
|
|
and to their seed, a land that floweth with milk and honey.  
|
|
10 For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, <i>is</i> not
|
|
as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst
|
|
thy seed, and wateredst <i>it</i> with thy foot, as a garden of
|
|
herbs:   11 But the land, whither ye go to possess it,
|
|
<i>is</i> a land of hills and valleys, <i>and</i> drinketh water of
|
|
the rain of heaven:   12 A land which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xii-p5.2">Lord</span> thy God careth for: the eyes of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xii-p5.3">Lord</span> thy God <i>are</i> always upon it,
|
|
from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.
|
|
  13 And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently
|
|
unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xii-p5.4">Lord</span> your God, and to serve him with
|
|
all your heart and with all your soul,   14 That I will give
|
|
<i>you</i> the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain
|
|
and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy
|
|
wine, and thine oil.   15 And I will send grass in thy fields
|
|
for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full.   16 Take
|
|
heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn
|
|
aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;   17 And
|
|
<i>then</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xii-p5.5">Lord</span>'s wrath be
|
|
kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no
|
|
rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and <i>lest</i> ye
|
|
perish quickly from off the good land which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xii-p5.6">Lord</span> giveth you.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xii-p6">Still Moses urges the same subject, as loth
|
|
to conclude till he had gained his point. "<i>If thou wilt enter
|
|
into life,</i> if thou wilt enter into Canaan, a type of that life,
|
|
and find it a good land indeed to thee, <i>keep the commandments:
|
|
Keep all the commandments which I command you this day;</i> love
|
|
God, and serve him with all your heart."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xii-p7">I. Because this was the way to get and keep
|
|
possession of the promised land. 1. It was the way to get
|
|
possession (<scripRef passage="De 11:8" id="Deu.xii-p7.1" parsed="|Deut|11|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>):
|
|
<i>That you may be strong</i> for war, and so <i>go in and possess
|
|
it.</i> So little did they know either of hardship or hazard in the
|
|
wars of Canaan that he does not say they should go in and fight for
|
|
it; no, they had nothing in effect to do but go in and possess it.
|
|
He does not go about to teach them the art of war, how to draw the
|
|
bow, and use the sword, and keep ranks, that they might be strong,
|
|
and go in and possess the land; no, but let them keep God's
|
|
commandments, and their religion, while they are true to it, will
|
|
be their strength, and secure their success. (2.) It was the way to
|
|
keep possession (<scripRef passage="De 11:9" id="Deu.xii-p7.2" parsed="|Deut|11|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.9"><i>v.</i>
|
|
9</scripRef>): <i>That you may prolong your days in this land</i>
|
|
that your eye is upon. Sin tends to the shortening of the days of
|
|
particular persons and to the shortening of the days of a people's
|
|
prosperity; but obedience will be a lengthening out of their
|
|
tranquillity.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xii-p8">II. Because the land of Canaan, into which
|
|
they were going, had a more sensible dependence upon the blessing
|
|
of heaven than the land of Egypt had, <scripRef passage="De 11:10-12" id="Deu.xii-p8.1" parsed="|Deut|11|10|11|12" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.10-Deut.11.12"><i>v.</i> 10-12</scripRef>. Egypt was a country
|
|
fruitful enough, but it was all flat, and was watered, not as other
|
|
countries with rain (it is said of Egypt, <scripRef passage="Zec 14:18" id="Deu.xii-p8.2" parsed="|Zech|14|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zech.14.18">Zech. xiv. 18</scripRef>, that it <i>has no rain</i>),
|
|
but by the overflowing of the river Nile at a certain season of the
|
|
year, to the improving of which there was necessary a great deal of
|
|
the art and labour of the husbandman, so that in Egypt a man must
|
|
bestow as much cost and pains upon a field as upon a garden of
|
|
herbs. And this made them the more apt to imagine that the power of
|
|
their own hands got them this wealth. But the land of Canaan was an
|
|
uneven country, a land of hills and valleys, which not only gave a
|
|
more pleasing prospect to the eye, but yielded a greater variety of
|
|
soils for the several purposes of the husbandman. It was a land
|
|
that had no great rivers in it, except Jordan, but <i>drank water
|
|
of the rain of heaven,</i> and so, 1. Saved them a great deal of
|
|
labour. While the Egyptians were ditching and guttering in the
|
|
fields, up to the knees in mud, to bring water to their land, which
|
|
otherwise would soon become like the heath in the wilderness, the
|
|
Israelites could sit in their houses, warm and easy, and leave it
|
|
to God to water their land with the former and the latter rain,
|
|
which is called <i>the river of God</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 65:9" id="Deu.xii-p8.3" parsed="|Ps|65|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.9">Ps. lxv. 9</scripRef>), perhaps in allusion to, and
|
|
contempt of, the river of Egypt, which that nation was so proud of.
|
|
Note, The better God has provided, by our outward condition, for
|
|
our ease and convenience, the more we should abound in his service:
|
|
the less we have to do for our bodies the more we should do for God
|
|
and our souls. 2. So he directed them to look upwards to God, who
|
|
<i>giveth us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons</i> (<scripRef passage="Ac 14:17" id="Deu.xii-p8.4" parsed="|Acts|14|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.14.17">Acts xiv. 17</scripRef>), and promised to be
|
|
himself as <i>the dew unto Israel,</i> <scripRef passage="Ho 14:5" id="Deu.xii-p8.5" parsed="|Hos|14|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.14.5">Hos. xiv. 5</scripRef>. Note, (1.) Mercies bring with
|
|
them the greatest comfort and sweetness when we see them coming
|
|
from heaven, the immediate gifts of divine Providence. (2.) The
|
|
closer dependence we have upon God the more cheerful we should be
|
|
in our obedience to him. See how Moses here magnifies the land of
|
|
Canaan above all other lands, that the <i>eyes of God were always
|
|
upon it,</i> that is, they should be so, to see that nothing was
|
|
wanting, while they kept close to God and duty; its fruitfulness
|
|
should be not so much the happy effect of its soil as the immediate
|
|
fruit of the divine blessing; this may be inferred from its present
|
|
state, for it is said to be at this day, now that God has departed
|
|
from it, as barren a spot of ground as perhaps any under heaven.
|
|
Call it not <i>Naomi:</i> call it <i>Marah.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xii-p9">III. Because God would certainly bless them
|
|
with an abundance of all good things if they would love him and
|
|
serve him (<scripRef passage="De 11:13-15" id="Deu.xii-p9.1" parsed="|Deut|11|13|11|15" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.13-Deut.11.15"><i>v.</i>
|
|
13-15</scripRef>): <i>I will give you the rain of your land in due
|
|
season,</i> so that they should neither want it when the ground
|
|
called for it nor have it in excess; but they should have the
|
|
former rain, which fell at seed-time, and the latter rain, which
|
|
fell before the harvest, <scripRef passage="Am 4:7" id="Deu.xii-p9.2" parsed="|Amos|4|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Amos.4.7">Amos iv.
|
|
7</scripRef>. This represented all the seasonable blessings which
|
|
God would bestow upon them, especially spiritual comforts, which
|
|
should come <i>as the latter and former, rain,</i> <scripRef passage="Ho 6:3" id="Deu.xii-p9.3" parsed="|Hos|6|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.6.3">Hos. vi. 3</scripRef>. And the earth thus watered
|
|
produced, 1. Fruits for the service of man, <i>corn and wine, and
|
|
oil,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 104:13-15" id="Deu.xii-p9.4" parsed="|Ps|104|13|104|15" osisRef="Bible:Ps.104.13-Ps.104.15">Ps. civ.
|
|
13-15</scripRef>. 2. Grass for the cattle, that they also might be
|
|
serviceable to man, that <i>he might eat of them and be full,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 11:15" id="Deu.xii-p9.5" parsed="|Deut|11|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. Godliness
|
|
hath here the <i>promise of the life that now is;</i> but the
|
|
favour of God shall put gladness into the heart, more than the
|
|
increase of corn, and wine, and oil will.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xii-p10">IV. Because their revolt from God to idols.
|
|
would certainly be their ruin: <i>Take heed that your hearts be not
|
|
deceived,</i> <scripRef passage="De 11:16,17" id="Deu.xii-p10.1" parsed="|Deut|11|16|11|17" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.16-Deut.11.17"><i>v.</i> 16,
|
|
17</scripRef>. All that forsake God to set their affection upon, or
|
|
pay their devotion to, any creature, will find themselves
|
|
wretchedly deceived to their own destruction; and this will
|
|
aggravate it that it was purely for want of taking heed. A little
|
|
care would have prevented their being imposed upon by the great
|
|
deceiver. To awaken them to take heed, Moses here tells them
|
|
plainly that if they should <i>turn aside to other gods,</i> 1.
|
|
They would provoke the wrath of God against them; and <i>who knows
|
|
the power of that anger?</i> 2. Good things would be turned away
|
|
from them; the heaven would withhold its rain, and then of course
|
|
the earth would not yield its fruit. 3. Evil things would come upon
|
|
them; they would perish quickly from off this good land. And the
|
|
better the land was the more grievous it would be to perish from
|
|
it. The goodness of the land would not be their security, when the
|
|
badness of the inhabitants had made them ripe for ruin.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 11" id="Deu.xii-p10.2" parsed="|Deut|11|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 11:18-25" id="Deu.xii-p10.3" parsed="|Deut|11|18|11|25" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.18-Deut.11.25"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.11.18-Deut.11.25">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xii-p11">18 Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in
|
|
your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your
|
|
hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.   19
|
|
And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou
|
|
sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou
|
|
liest down, and when thou risest up.   20 And thou shalt write
|
|
them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:  
|
|
21 That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children,
|
|
in the land which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xii-p11.1">Lord</span> sware
|
|
unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the
|
|
earth.   22 For if ye shall diligently keep all these
|
|
commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xii-p11.2">Lord</span> your God, to walk in all his ways,
|
|
and to cleave unto him;   23 Then will the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xii-p11.3">Lord</span> drive out all these nations from before
|
|
you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than
|
|
yourselves.   24 Every place whereon the soles of your feet
|
|
shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from
|
|
the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall
|
|
your coast be.   25 There shall no man be able to stand before
|
|
you: <i>for</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xii-p11.4">Lord</span> your God
|
|
shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land
|
|
that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xii-p12">Here, I. Moses repeats the directions he
|
|
had given for the guidance and assistance of the people in their
|
|
obedience, and for the keeping up of religion among them (<scripRef passage="De 11:18-20" id="Deu.xii-p12.1" parsed="|Deut|11|18|11|20" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.18-Deut.11.20"><i>v.</i> 18-20</scripRef>), which is much to
|
|
the same purport with what we had before, <scripRef passage="De 6:6" id="Deu.xii-p12.2" parsed="|Deut|6|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.6"><i>ch.</i> vi. 6</scripRef>, &c. Let us all be
|
|
directed by the three rules here given:—1. Let our hearts be
|
|
filled with the word of God: <i>Lay up these words in your heart
|
|
and in your soul.</i> The heart must be the treasury or store-house
|
|
in which the word of God must be laid up, to be used upon all
|
|
occasions. We cannot expect good practices in the conversation,
|
|
unless there be good thoughts, good affections, and good
|
|
principles, in the heart. 2. Let our eyes be fixed upon the word of
|
|
God. "Bind these words for a sign <i>upon your hand,</i> which is
|
|
always in view (<scripRef passage="Isa 49:16" id="Deu.xii-p12.3" parsed="|Isa|49|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.49.16">Isa. xlix.
|
|
16</scripRef>), <i>and as frontlets between your eyes,</i> which
|
|
you cannot avoid the sight of; let them be as ready and familiar to
|
|
you, and have your eye as constantly upon them, as if they were
|
|
<i>written upon your door-posts,</i> and could not be overlooked
|
|
either when you go out or when you come in." Thus we must <i>lay
|
|
God's judgments before us,</i> having a constant regard to them, as
|
|
the guide of our way, as the rule of our work, <scripRef passage="Ps 119:30" id="Deu.xii-p12.4" parsed="|Ps|119|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119.30">Ps. cxix. 30</scripRef>. 3. Let our tongues be employed
|
|
about the word of God. Let it be the subject of our familiar
|
|
discourse, wherever we are; especially with our children, who must
|
|
be taught the service of God, as the one thing needful, much more
|
|
needful than either the rules of decency or the calling they must
|
|
live by in this world. Great care and pains must be taken to
|
|
acquaint children betimes, and to affect them, with the word of God
|
|
and the wondrous things of his law. Nor will any thing contribute
|
|
more to the prosperity and perpetuity of religion in a nation than
|
|
the good education of children: if the seed be holy, it is the
|
|
substance of a land.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xii-p13">II. He repeats the assurances he had before
|
|
given them, in God's name, of prosperity and success if they were
|
|
obedient. 1. They should have a happy settlement, <scripRef passage="De 11:21" id="Deu.xii-p13.1" parsed="|Deut|11|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. Their days should be
|
|
multiplied; and, when they were fulfilled, the days of their
|
|
children likewise should be many, as the days of heaven, that is,
|
|
Canaan should be sure to them and their heirs for ever, as long as
|
|
the world stands, if they did not by their own sin throw themselves
|
|
out of it. 2. It should not be in the power of their enemies to
|
|
give them any disturbance, nor make them upon any account uneasy.
|
|
"If you will <i>keep God's commandments,</i> and be careful to do
|
|
your duty (<scripRef passage="De 11:22" id="Deu.xii-p13.2" parsed="|Deut|11|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>),
|
|
God will not only crown the labours of the husbandman with plenty
|
|
of the fruits of the earth, but he will own and succeed the more
|
|
glorious undertakings of the men of war. Victory shall attend your
|
|
arms; which way soever they turn, God will drive out these nations,
|
|
and put you in possession of their land," <scripRef passage="De 11:23,24" id="Deu.xii-p13.3" parsed="|Deut|11|23|11|24" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.23-Deut.11.24"><i>v.</i> 23, 24</scripRef>. Their territories should
|
|
be enlarged to the utmost extent of the promise, <scripRef passage="Ge 15:18" id="Deu.xii-p13.4" parsed="|Gen|15|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.18">Gen. xv. 18</scripRef>. And all their neighbours should
|
|
stand in awe of them, <scripRef passage="De 11:25" id="Deu.xii-p13.5" parsed="|Deut|11|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.25"><i>v.</i>
|
|
25</scripRef>. Nothing contributes more to the making of a nation
|
|
considerable abroad, valuable to its friends and formidable to its
|
|
enemies, than religion reigning in it; for who can be against those
|
|
that have God for them? And he is certainly for those that are
|
|
sincerely for him, <scripRef passage="Pr 14:34" id="Deu.xii-p13.6" parsed="|Prov|14|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.14.34">Prov. xiv.
|
|
34</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 11:26-32" id="Deu.xii-p13.7" parsed="|Deut|11|26|11|32" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.26-Deut.11.32"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.11.26-Deut.11.32">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xii-p13.8">The Blessing and the Curse. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xii-p13.9">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xii-p14">26 Behold, I set before you this day a blessing
|
|
and a curse;   27 A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xii-p14.1">Lord</span> your God, which I command
|
|
you this day:   28 And a curse, if ye will not obey the
|
|
commandments of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xii-p14.2">Lord</span> your God,
|
|
but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go
|
|
after other gods, which ye have not known.   29 And it shall
|
|
come to pass, when the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xii-p14.3">Lord</span> thy God
|
|
hath brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess
|
|
it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the
|
|
curse upon mount Ebal.   30 <i>Are</i> they not on the other
|
|
side Jordan, by the way where the sun goeth down, in the land of
|
|
the Canaanites, which dwell in the champaign over against Gilgal,
|
|
beside the plains of Moreh?   31 For ye shall pass over Jordan
|
|
to go in to possess the land which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xii-p14.4">Lord</span> your God giveth you, and ye shall possess
|
|
it, and dwell therein.   32 And ye shall observe to do all the
|
|
statutes and judgments which I set before you this day.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xii-p15">Here Moses concludes his general
|
|
exhortations to obedience; and his management is very affecting,
|
|
and such as, one would think, should have engaged them for ever to
|
|
God, and should have left impressions upon them never to be worn
|
|
out.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xii-p16">I. He sums up all his arguments for
|
|
obedience in two words, <i>the blessing and the curse</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 11:26" id="Deu.xii-p16.1" parsed="|Deut|11|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>), that is,
|
|
the rewards and the punishments, as they stand in the promises and
|
|
the threatenings, which are the great sanctions of the law, taking
|
|
hold of hope and fear, those two handles of the soul, by which it
|
|
is caught, held, and managed. These two, the blessing and the
|
|
curse, he set before them, that is, 1. He explained them, that they
|
|
might know them; he enumerated the particulars contained both in
|
|
the blessing and in the curse, that they might see the more fully
|
|
how desirable the blessing was, and how dreadful the curse. 2. He
|
|
confirmed them, that they might believe them, made it evident to
|
|
them, by the proofs he produced of his own commission, that the
|
|
blessing was not a fool's paradise, nor the curse a bugbear, but
|
|
that both were real declarations of the purpose of God concerning
|
|
them. 3. He charged them to choose which of these they would have,
|
|
so fairly does he deal with them, and so far is he from <i>putting
|
|
out the eyes of these men,</i> as he was charged, <scripRef passage="Nu 16:14" id="Deu.xii-p16.2" parsed="|Num|16|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.14">Num. xvi. 14</scripRef>. They and we are plainly
|
|
told on what terms we stand with Almighty God. (1.) If we be
|
|
obedient to his laws, we may be sure of a blessing, <scripRef passage="De 11:27" id="Deu.xii-p16.3" parsed="|Deut|11|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>. But, (2.) If we be
|
|
disobedient, we may be as sure of a curse, <scripRef passage="De 11:28" id="Deu.xii-p16.4" parsed="|Deut|11|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>. <i>Say you to the righteous</i>
|
|
(for God has said it, and all the world cannot unsay it) that <i>it
|
|
shall be well with them: but woe to the wicked, it shall be ill
|
|
with them.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xii-p17">II. He appoints a public and solemn
|
|
proclamation to be made of the blessing and curse which he had set
|
|
before them, upon the two mountains of Gerizim and Ebal, <scripRef passage="De 11:29,30" id="Deu.xii-p17.1" parsed="|Deut|11|29|11|30" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.29-Deut.11.30"><i>v.</i> 29, 30</scripRef>. We have more
|
|
particular directions for this solemnity in <scripRef passage="De 27:11" id="Deu.xii-p17.2" parsed="|Deut|27|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.11"><i>ch.</i> xxvii. 11</scripRef>, &c., and an account
|
|
of the performance of it, <scripRef passage="Joh 8:33" id="Deu.xii-p17.3" parsed="|John|8|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.8.33">Josh. viii.
|
|
33</scripRef>, &c. It was to be done, and was done, immediately
|
|
upon their coming into Canaan, that when they first took possession
|
|
of that land they might know upon what terms they stood. The place
|
|
where this was to be done is particularly described by Moses,
|
|
though he never saw it, which is one circumstance among many that
|
|
evidences his divine instructions. It is said be near the
|
|
<i>plain,</i> or <i>oaks,</i> or <i>meadows,</i> of <i>Moreh,</i>
|
|
which was one of the first places that Abraham came to in Canaan;
|
|
so that in sending them thither, to hear the blessing and the
|
|
curse, God reminded them of the promise he made to Abraham in that
|
|
very place, <scripRef passage="Ge 12:6,7" id="Deu.xii-p17.4" parsed="|Gen|12|6|12|7" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.6-Gen.12.7">Gen. xii. 6,
|
|
7</scripRef>. The mention of this appointment here serves, 1. For
|
|
the encouragement of their faith in the promise of God, that they
|
|
should be masters of Canaan quickly. Do it (says Moses) on the
|
|
other side Jordan (<scripRef passage="De 11:30" id="Deu.xii-p17.5" parsed="|Deut|11|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.30"><i>v.</i>
|
|
30</scripRef>), for you may be confident <i>you shall pass over
|
|
Jordan,</i> <scripRef passage="De 11:31" id="Deu.xii-p17.6" parsed="|Deut|11|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>.
|
|
The institution of this service to be done in Canaan was an
|
|
assurance to them that they should be brought into possession of
|
|
it, and a token like that which God gave to Moses (<scripRef passage="Ex 3:12" id="Deu.xii-p17.7" parsed="|Exod|3|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.12">Exod. iii. 12</scripRef>): <i>You shall serve God
|
|
upon this mountain.</i> And, 2. It serves for an engagement upon
|
|
them to be obedient, that they might escape that curse, and obtain
|
|
that blessing, which, besides what they had already heard, they
|
|
must shortly be witnesses to the solemn publication of (<scripRef passage="De 11:32" id="Deu.xii-p17.8" parsed="|Deut|11|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>): "<i>You shall observe
|
|
to do the statutes and judgements,</i> that you may not in that
|
|
solemnity be witnesses against yourselves."</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XII" n="xiii" progress="87.05%" prev="Deu.xii" next="Deu.xiv" id="Deu.xiii">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.xiii-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.xiii-p0.2">CHAP. XII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.xiii-p1">Moses at this chapter comes to the particular
|
|
statues which he had to give in charge to Israel, and he begins
|
|
with those which relate to the worship of God, and particularly
|
|
those which explain the second commandment, about which God is in a
|
|
special manner jealous. I. They must utterly destroy all relics and
|
|
remains of idolatry, <scripRef passage="De 12:1-3" id="Deu.xiii-p1.1" parsed="|Deut|12|1|12|3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.1-Deut.12.3">ver.
|
|
1-3</scripRef>. II. They must keep close to the tabernacle,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 12:4,5" id="Deu.xiii-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|12|4|12|5" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.4-Deut.12.5">ver. 4, 5</scripRef>. The former
|
|
precept was intended to prevent all false worship, the latter to
|
|
preserve the worship God had instituted. By this latter law, 1.
|
|
They are commanded to bring all their offerings to the altar of
|
|
God, and all their holy things to the place which he should choose,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 12:6,7,11,12,14,18,26-28" id="Deu.xiii-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|12|6|12|7;|Deut|12|11|0|0;|Deut|12|12|0|0;|Deut|12|14|0|0;|Deut|12|18|0|0;|Deut|12|26|12|28" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.6-Deut.12.7 Bible:Deut.12.11 Bible:Deut.12.12 Bible:Deut.12.14 Bible:Deut.12.18 Bible:Deut.12.26-Deut.12.28">ver. 6, 7, 11, 12,
|
|
14, 18, 26-28</scripRef>. 2. They are forbidden, in general, to do
|
|
as they now did in the wilderness (<scripRef passage="De 12:8-11" id="Deu.xiii-p1.4" parsed="|Deut|12|8|12|11" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.8-Deut.12.11">ver. 8-11</scripRef>), and as the Canaanites had done
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 12:29-32" id="Deu.xiii-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|12|29|12|32" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.29-Deut.12.32">ver. 29-32</scripRef>), and, in
|
|
particular, to eat the hallowed things at their own houses
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 12:13,17,18" id="Deu.xiii-p1.6" parsed="|Deut|12|13|0|0;|Deut|12|17|0|0;|Deut|12|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.13 Bible:Deut.12.17 Bible:Deut.12.18">ver. 13, 17, 18</scripRef>), or
|
|
to forsake the instituted ministry, <scripRef passage="De 12:19" id="Deu.xiii-p1.7" parsed="|Deut|12|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.19">ver. 19</scripRef>. 3. They are permitted to eat flesh
|
|
as common food at their own houses, provided they do not eat the
|
|
blood, <scripRef passage="De 12:15,16" id="Deu.xiii-p1.8" parsed="|Deut|12|15|12|16" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.15-Deut.12.16">ver. 15, 16</scripRef>, and
|
|
again, <scripRef passage="De 12:20-26" id="Deu.xiii-p1.9" parsed="|Deut|12|20|12|26" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.20-Deut.12.26">ver. 20-26</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 12" id="Deu.xiii-p1.10" parsed="|Deut|12|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 12:1-4" id="Deu.xiii-p1.11" parsed="|Deut|12|1|12|4" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.1-Deut.12.4"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.12.1-Deut.12.4">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xiii-p1.12">Relics of Idolatry to Be
|
|
Destroyed. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiii-p1.13">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xiii-p2">1 These <i>are</i> the statutes and judgments,
|
|
which ye shall observe to do in the land, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiii-p2.1">Lord</span> God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess
|
|
it, all the days that ye live upon the earth.   2 Ye shall
|
|
utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall
|
|
possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the
|
|
hills, and under every green tree:   3 And ye shall overthrow
|
|
their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with
|
|
fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and
|
|
destroy the names of them out of that place.   4 Ye shall not
|
|
do so unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiii-p2.2">Lord</span> your God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xiii-p3">From those great original truths, That
|
|
there is a God, and that there is but one God, arise those great
|
|
fundamental laws, That that God is to be worshipped, and he only,
|
|
and that therefore we are to have no other God before him: this is
|
|
the first commandment, and the second is a guard upon it, or a
|
|
hedge about it. To prevent a revolt to false gods, we are forbidden
|
|
to worship the true God in such a way and manner as the false gods
|
|
were worshipped in, and are commanded to observe the instituted
|
|
ordinances of worship that we may adhere to the proper object of
|
|
worship. For this reason Moses is very large in his exposition of
|
|
the second commandment. What is contained in this and the four
|
|
following chapters mostly refers to that. <i>These are statutes and
|
|
judgments</i> which they must <i>observe to do</i> (<scripRef passage="De 12:1" id="Deu.xiii-p3.1" parsed="|Deut|12|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>), 1. In the days of their
|
|
rest and prosperity, when they should be masters of Canaan. We must
|
|
not think that our religion is instituted only to be our work in
|
|
the years of our servitude, our entertainment in the places of our
|
|
solitude, and our consolation in affliction; no, when we come to
|
|
possess a good land, still we must keep up the worship of God in
|
|
Canaan as well as in a wilderness, when we have grown up as well as
|
|
when we are children, when we are full of business as well as when
|
|
we have nothing else to do. 2. <i>All the days,</i> as long as you
|
|
<i>live upon the earth.</i> While we are here in our state of
|
|
trial, we must continue in our obedience, even to the end, and
|
|
never leave our duty, nor grow weary of well-doing. Now,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xiii-p4">I. They are here charged to abolish and
|
|
extirpate all those things that the Canaanites had served their
|
|
idol-gods with, <scripRef passage="De 12:2,3" id="Deu.xiii-p4.1" parsed="|Deut|12|2|12|3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.2-Deut.12.3"><i>v.</i> 2,
|
|
3</scripRef>. Here is no mention of idol-temples, which
|
|
countenances the opinion some have, that the tabernacle Moses
|
|
reared in the wilderness was the first habitation that ever was
|
|
made for religious uses, and that from it temples took their rise.
|
|
But the places that had been used, and were now to be levelled,
|
|
were enclosures for their worship on <i>mountains and hills</i> (as
|
|
if the height of the ground would give advantage to the ascent of
|
|
their devotions), and under green trees, either because pleasant or
|
|
because awful: whatever makes the mind easy and reverent, contracts
|
|
and composes it, was thought to befriend devotion. The solemn shade
|
|
and silence of a grove are still admired by those that are disposed
|
|
to contemplation. But the advantage which these retirements gave to
|
|
the Gentiles in the worship of their idols was that they concealed
|
|
those works of darkness which could not bear the light; and
|
|
therefore they must all be destroyed, with the altars, pillars, and
|
|
images, that had been used by the natives in the worship of their
|
|
gods, so as that the very names of them might be buried in
|
|
oblivion, and not only not be remembered with respect, but not
|
|
remembered at all. They must thus consult, 1. The reputation of
|
|
their land; let it never be said of this holy land that it had been
|
|
thus polluted, but let all these dunghills be carried away, as
|
|
things they were ashamed of. 2. The safety of their religion; let
|
|
none be left remaining, lest profane unthinking people, especially
|
|
in degenerate ages, should make use of them in the service of the
|
|
God of Israel. Let these pest-houses be demolished, as things they
|
|
were afraid of. He begins the statutes that relate to divine
|
|
worship with this, because there must first be an abhorrence of
|
|
that which is evil before there can be a steady adherence to that
|
|
which is good, <scripRef passage="Ro 12:9" id="Deu.xiii-p4.2" parsed="|Rom|12|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.12.9">Rom. xii. 9</scripRef>.
|
|
The kingdom of God must be set up, both in persons and places, upon
|
|
the ruins of the devil's kingdom; for they cannot stand together,
|
|
nor can there be any communion between Christ and Belial.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xiii-p5">II. They are charged not to transfer the
|
|
rites and usages of idolaters into he worship of God; no, not under
|
|
colour of beautifying and improving it (<scripRef passage="De 12:4" id="Deu.xiii-p5.1" parsed="|Deut|12|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>): <i>You shall not do so to the
|
|
Lord your god,</i> that is, "you must not think to do honour to him
|
|
by offering sacrifices on mountains and hills, erecting pillars,
|
|
planting groves, and setting up images; no, you must not indulge a
|
|
luxurious fancy in your worship, nor think that whatever pleases
|
|
that will please God: <i>he is above all gods,</i> and will not be
|
|
worshipped as other gods are."</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 12:5-32" id="Deu.xiii-p5.2" parsed="|Deut|12|5|12|32" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.5-Deut.12.32"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.12.5-Deut.12.32">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xiii-p5.3">Where Sacrifices Must Be Offered; Ceremonial
|
|
Observances; Cautions Against Idolatrous Rites. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiii-p5.4">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xiii-p6">5 But unto the place which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiii-p6.1">Lord</span> your God shall choose out of all your
|
|
tribes to put his name there, <i>even</i> unto his habitation shall
|
|
ye seek, and thither thou shalt come:   6 And thither ye shall
|
|
bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes,
|
|
and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill
|
|
offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks:
|
|
  7 And there ye shall eat before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiii-p6.2">Lord</span> your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that
|
|
ye put your hand unto, ye and your households, wherein the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiii-p6.3">Lord</span> thy God hath blessed thee.   8
|
|
Ye shall not do after all <i>the things</i> that we do here this
|
|
day, every man whatsoever <i>is</i> right in his own eyes.   9
|
|
For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance,
|
|
which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiii-p6.4">Lord</span> your God giveth you.
|
|
  10 But <i>when</i> ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land
|
|
which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiii-p6.5">Lord</span> your God giveth you
|
|
to inherit, and <i>when</i> he giveth you rest from all your
|
|
enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety;   11 Then
|
|
there shall be a place which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiii-p6.6">Lord</span> your God shall choose to cause his name to
|
|
dwell there; thither shall ye bring all that I command you; your
|
|
burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave
|
|
offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye vow unto
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiii-p6.7">Lord</span>:   12 And ye shall
|
|
rejoice before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiii-p6.8">Lord</span> your God,
|
|
ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your menservants, and
|
|
your maidservants, and the Levite that <i>is</i> within your gates;
|
|
forasmuch as he hath no part nor inheritance with you.   13
|
|
Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in
|
|
every place that thou seest:   14 But in the place which the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiii-p6.9">Lord</span> shall choose in one of thy
|
|
tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou
|
|
shalt do all that I command thee.   15 Notwithstanding thou
|
|
mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates, whatsoever thy soul
|
|
lusteth after, according to the blessing of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiii-p6.10">Lord</span> thy God which he hath given thee: the
|
|
unclean and the clean may eat thereof, as of the roebuck, and as of
|
|
the hart.   16 Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour
|
|
it upon the earth as water.   17 Thou mayest not eat within
|
|
thy gates the tithe of thy corn, or of thy wine, or of thy oil, or
|
|
the firstlings of thy herds or of thy flock, nor any of thy vows
|
|
which thou vowest, nor thy freewill offerings, or heave offering of
|
|
thine hand:   18 But thou must eat them before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiii-p6.11">Lord</span> thy God in the place which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiii-p6.12">Lord</span> thy God shall choose, thou, and thy
|
|
son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and
|
|
the Levite that <i>is</i> within thy gates: and thou shalt rejoice
|
|
before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiii-p6.13">Lord</span> thy God in all that
|
|
thou puttest thine hands unto.   19 Take heed to thyself that
|
|
thou forsake not the Levite as long as thou livest upon the earth.
|
|
  20 When the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiii-p6.14">Lord</span> thy God
|
|
shall enlarge thy border, as he hath promised thee, and thou shalt
|
|
say, I will eat flesh, because thy soul longeth to eat flesh; thou
|
|
mayest eat flesh, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after.   21 If
|
|
the place which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiii-p6.15">Lord</span> thy God
|
|
hath chosen to put his name there be too far from thee, then thou
|
|
shalt kill of thy herd and of thy flock, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiii-p6.16">Lord</span> hath given thee, as I have commanded thee,
|
|
and thou shalt eat in thy gates whatsoever thy soul lusteth after.
|
|
  22 Even as the roebuck and the hart is eaten, so thou shalt
|
|
eat them: the unclean and the clean shall eat <i>of</i> them alike.
|
|
  23 Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood
|
|
<i>is</i> the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the
|
|
flesh.   24 Thou shalt not eat it; thou shalt pour it upon the
|
|
earth as water.   25 Thou shalt not eat it; that it may go
|
|
well with thee, and with thy children after thee, when thou shalt
|
|
do <i>that which is</i> right in the sight of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiii-p6.17">Lord</span>.   26 Only thy holy things which thou
|
|
hast, and thy vows, thou shalt take, and go unto the place which
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiii-p6.18">Lord</span> shall choose:   27 And
|
|
thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, upon
|
|
the altar of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiii-p6.19">Lord</span> thy God: and
|
|
the blood of thy sacrifices shall be poured out upon the altar of
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiii-p6.20">Lord</span> thy God, and thou shalt eat
|
|
the flesh.   28 Observe and hear all these words which I
|
|
command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children
|
|
after thee for ever, when thou doest <i>that which is</i> good and
|
|
right in the sight of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiii-p6.21">Lord</span> thy
|
|
God.   29 When the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiii-p6.22">Lord</span> thy God
|
|
shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to
|
|
possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land;
|
|
  30 Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following
|
|
them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou
|
|
enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve
|
|
their gods? even so will I do likewise.   31 Thou shalt not do
|
|
so unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiii-p6.23">Lord</span> thy God: for every
|
|
abomination to the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiii-p6.24">Lord</span>, which he
|
|
hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and
|
|
their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.  
|
|
32 What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt
|
|
not add thereto, nor diminish from it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xiii-p7">There is not any one particular precept (as
|
|
I remember) in all the law of Moses so largely pressed and
|
|
inculcated as this, by which they are all tied to bring their
|
|
sacrifices to that one altar which was set up in the court of the
|
|
tabernacle, and there to perform all the rituals of their religion;
|
|
for, as to moral services, then, no doubt, as now, men might pray
|
|
everywhere, as they did in their synagogues. The command to do
|
|
this, and the prohibition of the contrary, are here repeated again
|
|
and again, as we teach children: and yet we are sure that there is
|
|
in scripture no vain repetition; but all this stress is laid upon
|
|
it, 1. Because of the strange proneness there was in the hearts of
|
|
the people to idolatry and superstition, and the danger of their
|
|
being seduced by the many temptations which they would be
|
|
surrounded with. 2. Because of the great use which the observance
|
|
of this appointment would be of to them, both to prevent the
|
|
introducing of corrupt customs into their worship and to preserve
|
|
among them unity and brotherly love, that, meeting all in one
|
|
place, they might continue both of one way and of one heart. 3.
|
|
Because of the significancy of this appointment. They must keep to
|
|
one place, in token of their belief of those two great truths,
|
|
which we find together (<scripRef passage="1Ti 2:5" id="Deu.xiii-p7.1" parsed="|1Tim|2|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.2.5">1 Tim. ii.
|
|
5</scripRef>), That <i>there is one God,</i> and <i>one Mediator
|
|
between God and man.</i> It not only served to keep up the notion
|
|
of the unity of the Godhead, but was an intimation to them (though
|
|
they could not stedfastly discern it) of the one only way of
|
|
approach to God and communion with him, in and by the Messiah.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xiii-p8">Let us now reduce this long charge to its
|
|
proper heads.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xiii-p9">I. It is here promised that when they were
|
|
settled in Canaan, when they had <i>rest from their enemies, and
|
|
dwelt in safety,</i> God would choose a certain place, which he
|
|
would appoint to be the centre of their unity, to which they should
|
|
bring all their offerings, <scripRef passage="De 12:10,11" id="Deu.xiii-p9.1" parsed="|Deut|12|10|12|11" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.10-Deut.12.11"><i>v.</i> 10, 11</scripRef>. Observe, 1. If they just
|
|
be tied to one place, they should not be left in doubt concerning
|
|
it, but should certainly know what place it was. Had Christ
|
|
intended, under the gospel, to make any one place such a seat of
|
|
power as Rome pretends to be, we should not have been left so
|
|
destitute of instruction as we are concerning the appointed place.
|
|
2. God does not leave it to them to choose the place, lest the
|
|
tribes should have quarrelled about it, each striving, for their
|
|
secular advantage, to have it among them; but he reserves the
|
|
choice to himself, as he does the designation of the Redeemer and
|
|
the institution of holy ordinances. 3. He does not appoint the
|
|
place now, as he had appointed mounts Gerizim and Ebal, for the
|
|
pronouncing of the blessings and curses (<scripRef passage="De 11:29" id="Deu.xiii-p9.2" parsed="|Deut|11|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.29"><i>ch.</i> xi. 29</scripRef>), but reserves the doing of
|
|
it till hereafter, that hereby they might be made to expect further
|
|
directions from heaven, and a divine conduct, after Moses should be
|
|
removed. The place which God would choose is said to be the place
|
|
where he would put his name, that is, which he would have to be
|
|
called his, where his honour should dwell, where he would manifest
|
|
himself to his people, and make himself known, as men do by their
|
|
names, and where he would receive addresses, by which his name is
|
|
both praised and called upon. It was to be his habitation, where,
|
|
as King of Israel, he would keep court, and be found by all those
|
|
that reverently sought him. The ark was the token of God's
|
|
presence, and where that was put there God put his name, and that
|
|
was his habitation. It contained the tables of the law; for none
|
|
must expect to receive favours from God's hand but those that are
|
|
willing to <i>receive the law from his mouth.</i> The place which
|
|
God first chose for the ark to reside in was Shiloh; and, after
|
|
that place had sinned away its honours, we find the ark at
|
|
Kirjath-jearim and other places; but at length, in David's time, it
|
|
was fixed at Jerusalem, and God said concerning Solomon's temple,
|
|
more expressly than ever he had said concerning any other place,
|
|
<i>This I have chosen for a house of sacrifice,</i> <scripRef passage="2Ch 7:12" id="Deu.xiii-p9.3" parsed="|2Chr|7|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.7.12">2 Chron. vii. 12</scripRef>. Compare <scripRef passage="2Ch 6:5" id="Deu.xiii-p9.4" parsed="|2Chr|6|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.6.5">2 Chron. vi. 5</scripRef>. Now, under the gospel,
|
|
we have no temple that sanctifies the gold, no altar that
|
|
sanctifies the gift, but Christ only; and, as to the places of
|
|
worship, the prophets foretold that <i>in every place</i> the
|
|
spiritual <i>incense should be offered,</i> <scripRef passage="Mal 1:11" id="Deu.xiii-p9.5" parsed="|Mal|1|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mal.1.11">Mal. i. 11</scripRef>. And our Saviour has declared that
|
|
those are accepted as true worshippers who worship God in sincerity
|
|
and truth, without regard either to this mountain or Jerusalem,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Joh 4:23" id="Deu.xiii-p9.6" parsed="|John|4|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.4.23">John iv. 23</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xiii-p10">II. They are commanded to bring all their
|
|
burnt-offerings and sacrifices to this place that God would choose
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 12:6" id="Deu.xiii-p10.1" parsed="|Deut|12|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef> and again
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 12:11" id="Deu.xiii-p10.2" parsed="|Deut|12|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>): <i>Thither
|
|
shall you bring all that I command you;</i> and (<scripRef passage="De 12:14" id="Deu.xiii-p10.3" parsed="|Deut|12|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>), <i>There thou shalt offer thy
|
|
burnt offerings;</i> and (<scripRef passage="De 12:27" id="Deu.xiii-p10.4" parsed="|Deut|12|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.27"><i>v.</i>
|
|
27</scripRef>), <i>The flesh and the blood must be offered upon the
|
|
altar of the Lord thy God.</i> And of their peace-offerings, here
|
|
called their <i>sacrifices,</i> though they were to <i>eat the
|
|
flesh,</i> yet <i>the blood</i> was to be <i>poured out upon the
|
|
altar.</i> By this they were taught that sacrifices and offerings
|
|
God did not desire, nor accept, for their own sake, nor for any
|
|
intrinsic worth in them, as natural expressions of homage and
|
|
adoration; but that they received their virtue purely from that
|
|
altar on which they were offered, as it typified Christ; whereas
|
|
prayers and praises, as much more necessary and valuable, were to
|
|
be offered every day by the people of God wherever they were. A
|
|
devout Israelite might honour God, and keep up communion with him,
|
|
and obtain mercy from him, though he had not an opportunity,
|
|
perhaps, for many months together, of bringing a sacrifice to his
|
|
altar. But this signified the obligation we Christians are under to
|
|
offer up all our spiritual sacrifices to God in the name of Jesus
|
|
Christ, hoping for acceptance only upon the score of his mediation,
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Pe 2:5" id="Deu.xiii-p10.5" parsed="|1Pet|2|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.2.5">1 Pet. ii. 5</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xiii-p11">III. They are commanded to feast upon their
|
|
hallowed things before the Lord, with holy joy. They must not only
|
|
bring to the altar the sacrifices which were to be offered to God,
|
|
but hey must bring to the place of the altar all those things which
|
|
they were appointed by the law to eat and drink, to the honour of
|
|
God, in token of their communion with him, <scripRef passage="De 12:6" id="Deu.xiii-p11.1" parsed="|Deut|12|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. Their, <i>tithes, and
|
|
heave-offerings of their hand,</i> that is, their first-fruits,
|
|
their vows, and <i>free-will-offerings,</i> and firstlings, all
|
|
those things which were to be religiously made use of either by
|
|
themselves or by the priests and Levites, must be brought to the
|
|
place which God would choose; as all the revenues of the crown,
|
|
from all parts of the kingdom, are brought into the exchequer. And
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 12:7" id="Deu.xiii-p11.2" parsed="|Deut|12|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>): <i>There you
|
|
shall eat before the Lord, and rejoice in all that you put your
|
|
hands unto;</i> and again (<scripRef passage="De 12:12" id="Deu.xiii-p11.3" parsed="|Deut|12|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.12"><i>v.</i>
|
|
12</scripRef>), <i>You shall rejoice before the Lord, you, and your
|
|
sons, and your daughters.</i> Observe here, 1. That what we do in
|
|
the service of God and to his glory redounds to our benefit, if it
|
|
be not our own fault. Those that sacrifice to God are welcome to
|
|
eat before him, and to feast upon their sacrifices: he <i>sups with
|
|
us,</i> and <i>we with him,</i> <scripRef passage="Re 3:20" id="Deu.xiii-p11.4" parsed="|Rev|3|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.3.20">Rev.
|
|
iii. 20</scripRef>. If we glorify God, we edify ourselves, and
|
|
cultivate our own minds, through the grace of God, by the increase
|
|
of our knowledge and faith, the enlivening of devout affections,
|
|
and the confirming of gracious habits and resolutions: thus is the
|
|
soul nourished. 2. That work for God should be done with holy joy
|
|
and cheerfulness. You shall <i>eat and rejoice,</i> <scripRef passage="De 12:7" id="Deu.xiii-p11.5" parsed="|Deut|12|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>, and again, <scripRef passage="De 12:12" id="Deu.xiii-p11.6" parsed="|Deut|12|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef> and <scripRef passage="De 12:18" id="Deu.xiii-p11.7" parsed="|Deut|12|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. (1.) Now while they were before
|
|
the Lord they must rejoice, <scripRef passage="De 12:12" id="Deu.xiii-p11.8" parsed="|Deut|12|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.12"><i>v.</i>
|
|
12</scripRef>. It is the will of God that we should serve him with
|
|
gladness; none displeased him more than those that <i>covered his
|
|
altar with tears.</i> <scripRef passage="Mal 2:13" id="Deu.xiii-p11.9" parsed="|Mal|2|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mal.2.13">Mal. ii.
|
|
13</scripRef>. See what a good Master we serve, who has made it our
|
|
duty to sing at our work. Even the children and servants must
|
|
rejoice with them before God, that the services of religion might
|
|
be a pleasure to them, and not a task or drudgery. (2.) They must
|
|
<i>carry away with them</i> the grateful relish of that delight
|
|
which they found in communion with God; they must rejoice in all
|
|
that they <i>put their hands unto,</i> <scripRef passage="De 12:7" id="Deu.xiii-p11.10" parsed="|Deut|12|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. Some of the comfort which they
|
|
must take with them into their common employments; and, being thus
|
|
strengthened in soul, whatever they did they must do it heartily
|
|
and cheerfully. And this holy pious joy in God and his goodness,
|
|
with which we are to rejoice evermore, would be the best
|
|
preservative against the sin and snare of <i>vain and carnal
|
|
mirth</i> and a relief against the <i>sorrows of the world.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xiii-p12">IV. They are commanded to be kind to the
|
|
Levites. Did they feast with joy? The Levites must feast with them,
|
|
and rejoice with them, <scripRef passage="De 12:12" id="Deu.xiii-p12.1" parsed="|Deut|12|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.12"><i>v.</i>
|
|
12</scripRef>, and again, <scripRef passage="De 12:18" id="Deu.xiii-p12.2" parsed="|Deut|12|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.18"><i>v.</i>
|
|
18</scripRef>; and a general caution (<scripRef passage="De 12:19" id="Deu.xiii-p12.3" parsed="|Deut|12|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>), <i>Take heed that thou forsake
|
|
not the Levite as long as thou livest.</i> There were Levites that
|
|
attended the altar as assistants to the priests, and these must not
|
|
be forsaken, that is, the service they performed must be constantly
|
|
adhered to; no other altar must be set up than that which God
|
|
appointed; for that would be to forsake the Levites. But this seems
|
|
to be spoken of the Levites that were dispersed in the country to
|
|
instruct the people in the law of God, and to assist them in their
|
|
devotions; for it is <i>the Levite within their gates</i> that they
|
|
are here commanded to make much of. It is a great mercy to have
|
|
Levites near us, within our gates, that we may ask the law at their
|
|
mouth, and at our feasts to be a check upon us, to restrain
|
|
excesses. And it is the duty of people to be kind to their
|
|
ministers that give them good instructions and set them good
|
|
examples. As long as we live we shall need their assistance, till
|
|
we come to that world where ordinances will be superseded; and
|
|
therefore <i>as long as we live</i> we must not forsake the
|
|
Levites. The reason given (<scripRef passage="De 12:12" id="Deu.xiii-p12.4" parsed="|Deut|12|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.12"><i>v.</i>
|
|
12</scripRef>) is because <i>the Levite has no part nor inheritance
|
|
with you,</i> so that he cannot grow rich by husbandry or trade;
|
|
let him therefore share with you in the comfort of your riches.
|
|
They must give the Levites their tithes and offerings, settled on
|
|
them by the law, because they had no other maintenance.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xiii-p13">V. They are allowed to eat common flesh,
|
|
but not the flesh of their offerings, in their own houses, wherever
|
|
they dwelt. What was any way devoted to God they must not eat at
|
|
home, <scripRef passage="De 12:13,17" id="Deu.xiii-p13.1" parsed="|Deut|12|13|0|0;|Deut|12|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.13 Bible:Deut.12.17"><i>v.</i> 13, 17</scripRef>.
|
|
But what was not so devoted they might kill and eat of at their
|
|
pleasure, <scripRef passage="De 12:15" id="Deu.xiii-p13.2" parsed="|Deut|12|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. And
|
|
this permission is again repeated, <scripRef passage="De 12:20-22" id="Deu.xiii-p13.3" parsed="|Deut|12|20|12|22" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.20-Deut.12.22"><i>v.</i> 20-22</scripRef>. It should seem that while
|
|
they were in the wilderness they did not eat the flesh of any of
|
|
those kinds of beasts that were used in sacrifice, but what was
|
|
killed at the door of the tabernacle, and part of it presented to
|
|
God as a peace-offering, <scripRef passage="Le 17:3,4" id="Deu.xiii-p13.4" parsed="|Lev|17|3|17|4" osisRef="Bible:Lev.17.3-Lev.17.4">Lev. xvii.
|
|
3, 4</scripRef>. But when they came to Canaan, where they must live
|
|
at a great distance from the tabernacle, they might kill what they
|
|
pleased for their own use of their flocks and herds, without
|
|
bringing part to the altar. This allowance is very express, and
|
|
repeated, lest Satan should take occasion from that law which
|
|
forbade the eating of their sacrifices at their own houses to
|
|
suggest to them, as he did to our first parents, hard thoughts of
|
|
God, as if he grudged them: <i>Thou mayest eat whatsoever thy soul
|
|
lusteth after.</i> There is a natural regular appetite, which it is
|
|
lawful to gratify with temperance and sobriety, not taking too
|
|
great a pleasure in the gratification, nor being uneasy if it be
|
|
crossed. The unclean, who might not eat of the holy things, yet
|
|
might eat of the same sort of flesh when it was only used as common
|
|
food. The distinction between clean persons and unclean was sacred,
|
|
and designed for the preserving of the honour of their holy feasts,
|
|
and therefore must not be brought into their ordinary meals. This
|
|
permission has a double restriction:—1. They must eat according
|
|
to the blessing which God had given them, <scripRef passage="De 12:15" id="Deu.xiii-p13.5" parsed="|Deut|12|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. Note, It is not only our
|
|
wisdom, but our duty, to live according to our estates, and not to
|
|
spend above what we have. As it is unjust on the one hand to hoard
|
|
what should be laid out, so it is much more unjust to lay out more
|
|
than we have; for what is not our own must needs be another's, who
|
|
is thereby robbed and defrauded. And this, I say, is much more
|
|
unjust, because it is easier afterwards to distribute what has been
|
|
unduly spared, and so to make a sort of restitution for the wrong,
|
|
than it is to repay to wife, and children, and creditors, what has
|
|
been unduly spent. Between these two extremes let wisdom find the
|
|
mean, and then let watchfulness and resolution keep it. 2. They
|
|
must not eat blood (<scripRef passage="De 12:16" id="Deu.xiii-p13.6" parsed="|Deut|12|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.16"><i>v.</i>
|
|
16</scripRef>, and again, <scripRef passage="De 12:23" id="Deu.xiii-p13.7" parsed="|Deut|12|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.23"><i>v.</i>
|
|
23</scripRef>): <i>Only be sure that thou eat not the blood</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 12:24" id="Deu.xiii-p13.8" parsed="|Deut|12|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>), <i>Thou
|
|
shalt not eat it;</i> and (<scripRef passage="De 12:25" id="Deu.xiii-p13.9" parsed="|Deut|12|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.25"><i>v.</i>
|
|
25</scripRef>), <i>Thou shalt not eat it, that it may go well with
|
|
thee.</i> When they could not bring the blood to the altar, to pour
|
|
it out there before the Lord, as belonging to him, they must pour
|
|
it out upon the earth, as not belonging to them, because it was the
|
|
life, and therefore, as an acknowledgment, belonged to him who
|
|
gives life, and, as an atonement, belonged to him to whom life is
|
|
forfeited. Bishop Patrick thinks one reason why they were forbidden
|
|
thus strictly the eating of blood was to prevent the superstitions
|
|
of the old idolaters about the blood of their sacrifices, which
|
|
they thought their demons delighted in, and by eating of which they
|
|
imagined that they had communion with them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xiii-p14">VI. They are forbidden to keep up either
|
|
their own corrupt usages in the wilderness or the corrupt usages of
|
|
their predecessors in the land of Canaan.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xiii-p15">1. They must not keep up those improper
|
|
customs which they had got into in the wilderness, and which were
|
|
connived at in consideration of the present unsettledness of their
|
|
condition (<scripRef passage="De 12:8,9" id="Deu.xiii-p15.1" parsed="|Deut|12|8|12|9" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.8-Deut.12.9"><i>v.</i> 8,
|
|
9</scripRef>): <i>You shall not do after all the things that we do
|
|
here this day.</i> Never was there a better governor than Moses,
|
|
and one would think never a better opportunity of keeping up good
|
|
order and discipline than now among the people of Israel, when they
|
|
lay so closely encamped under the eye of their governor; and yet it
|
|
seems there was much amiss and many irregularities had crept in
|
|
among them. We must never expect to see any society perfectly pure
|
|
and right, and as it should be till we come to the heavenly Canaan.
|
|
They had sacrifices and religious worship, courts of justice and
|
|
civil government, and, by the stoning of the man that <i>gathered
|
|
sticks on the sabbath day,</i> it appears there was great
|
|
strictness used in guarding the most weighty matters of the law;
|
|
but being frequently upon the remove, and always at uncertainty,
|
|
(1.) They could none of them observe the solemn feasts, and the
|
|
rites of cleansing, with the exactness that the law required. And,
|
|
(2.) Those among them that were disposed to do amiss had
|
|
opportunity given them to do it unobserved by the frequent
|
|
interruptions which their removals gave to the administration of
|
|
justice. But (says Moses) when you come to Canaan, you <i>shall not
|
|
do as we do here.</i> Note, When the people of God are in an
|
|
unsettled condition, that may be tolerated and dispensed with which
|
|
would by no means be allowed at another time. Cases of necessity
|
|
are to be considered while the necessity continues; but that must
|
|
not be done in Canaan which was done in the wilderness. While a
|
|
house is in the building a great deal of dirt and rubbish are
|
|
suffered to lie by it, which must all be taken away when the house
|
|
is built. Moses was now about to lay down his life and government,
|
|
and it was a comfort to him to foresee that Israel would be better
|
|
in the next reign than they had been in his.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xiii-p16">2. They must not worship the Lord by any of
|
|
those rites or ceremonies which the notions of Canaan had made use
|
|
of in the service of their gods, <scripRef passage="De 12:29-32" id="Deu.xiii-p16.1" parsed="|Deut|12|29|12|32" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.29-Deut.12.32"><i>v.</i> 29-32</scripRef>. They must not so much as
|
|
enquire into the modes and forms of idolatrous worship. What good
|
|
would it do to them to <i>know those depths of Satan?</i> <scripRef passage="Re 2:24" id="Deu.xiii-p16.2" parsed="|Rev|2|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.2.24">Rev. ii. 24</scripRef>. It is best to be ignorant
|
|
of that which there is danger of being infected by. They must not
|
|
introduce the customs of idolaters, (1.) Because it would be absurd
|
|
to make those their patterns whom God had made their slaves and
|
|
captives, cut off, and destroyed from before them. The Canaanites
|
|
had not flourished and prospered so much in the service of their
|
|
gods as that the Israelites should be invited to take up their
|
|
customs. Those are wretchedly besotted indeed who will walk in the
|
|
way of sinners, after they have seen their end. (2.) Because some
|
|
of their customs were most barbarous and inhuman, and such as
|
|
trampled, not only upon the light and law of nature, but upon
|
|
natural affection itself, as <i>burning their sons and their
|
|
daughters in the fire to their gods</i> (<scripRef passage="De 12:31" id="Deu.xiii-p16.3" parsed="|Deut|12|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>), the very mention of which is
|
|
sufficient to make it odious, and possess us with a horror of it.
|
|
(3.) Because their idolatrous customs were an abomination to the
|
|
Lord, and the translating of them into his worship would make even
|
|
that an abomination and an affront to him by which they should give
|
|
him honour, and by which they hoped to obtain his favour. The case
|
|
is bad indeed when the sacrifice itself has become an abomination,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Pr 15:8" id="Deu.xiii-p16.4" parsed="|Prov|15|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.15.8">Prov. xv. 8</scripRef>. He therefore
|
|
concludes (<scripRef passage="De 12:32" id="Deu.xiii-p16.5" parsed="|Deut|12|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>)
|
|
with the same caution concerning the worship of God which he had
|
|
before given concerning the word of God (<scripRef passage="De 4:2" id="Deu.xiii-p16.6" parsed="|Deut|4|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.2"><i>ch.</i> iv. 2</scripRef>): "<i>You shall not add
|
|
thereto</i> any inventions of your own, under pretence of making
|
|
the ordinance either more significant or more magnificent, <i>nor
|
|
diminish from it,</i> under pretence of making it more easy and
|
|
practicable, or of setting aside that which may be spared; but
|
|
observe to do all that, and that only, which God has commanded." We
|
|
may then hope in our religious worship to obtain the divine
|
|
acceptance when we observe the divine appointment. God will have
|
|
his own work done in his own way.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XIII" n="xiv" progress="87.64%" prev="Deu.xiii" next="Deu.xv" id="Deu.xiv">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.xiv-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.xiv-p0.2">CHAP. XIII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.xiv-p1">Moses is still upon that necessary subject
|
|
concerning the peril of idolatry. In the close of the foregoing
|
|
chapter he had cautioned them against the peril that might arise
|
|
from their predecessors the Canaanites. In this chapter he cautions
|
|
them against the rise of idolatry from among themselves; they must
|
|
take heed lest any should draw them to idolatry, I. By the pretence
|
|
of prophecy, <scripRef passage="De 13:1-5" id="Deu.xiv-p1.1" parsed="|Deut|13|1|13|5" osisRef="Bible:Deut.13.1-Deut.13.5">ver. 1-5</scripRef>. II.
|
|
By the pretence of friendship and relation, <scripRef passage="De 13:6-11" id="Deu.xiv-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|13|6|13|11" osisRef="Bible:Deut.13.6-Deut.13.11">ver. 6-11</scripRef>. III. By the pretence of numbers,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 13:12-18" id="Deu.xiv-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|13|12|13|18" osisRef="Bible:Deut.13.12-Deut.13.18">ver. 12-18</scripRef>. But in all
|
|
these cases the temptation must be resolutely resisted and the
|
|
tempters punished and cut off.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 13" id="Deu.xiv-p1.4" parsed="|Deut|13|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.13"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 13:1-5" id="Deu.xiv-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|13|1|13|5" osisRef="Bible:Deut.13.1-Deut.13.5"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.13.1-Deut.13.5">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xiv-p1.6">Cautions Against Idolatry. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiv-p1.7">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xiv-p2">1 If there arise among you a prophet, or a
|
|
dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,   2 And
|
|
the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee,
|
|
saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and
|
|
let us serve them;   3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words
|
|
of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiv-p2.1">Lord</span> your God proveth you, to know whether ye
|
|
love the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiv-p2.2">Lord</span> your God with all your
|
|
heart and with all your soul.   4 Ye shall walk after the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiv-p2.3">Lord</span> your God, and fear him, and
|
|
keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him,
|
|
and cleave unto him.   5 And that prophet, or that dreamer of
|
|
dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn
|
|
<i>you</i> away from the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiv-p2.4">Lord</span> your
|
|
God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you
|
|
out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiv-p2.5">Lord</span> thy God commanded thee to
|
|
walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of
|
|
thee.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xiv-p3">Here is, I. A very strange supposition,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 13:1,2" id="Deu.xiv-p3.1" parsed="|Deut|13|1|13|2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.13.1-Deut.13.2"><i>v.</i> 1, 2</scripRef>. 1. It is
|
|
strange that there should arise any among themselves, especially
|
|
any pretending to vision and prophecy, who should instigate them to
|
|
<i>go and serve other gods.</i> Was it possible that any who had so
|
|
much knowledge of the methods of divine revelation as to be able to
|
|
personate a prophet should yet have so little knowledge of the
|
|
divine nature and will as to go himself and entice his neighbours
|
|
<i>after other gods?</i> Could an Israelite ever be guilty of such
|
|
impiety? Could a man of sense ever be guilty of such absurdity? We
|
|
see it in our own day, and therefore may think it the less strange;
|
|
multitudes that profess both learning and religion yet exciting
|
|
both themselves and others, not only to worship God by images, but
|
|
to give divine honour to saints and angels, which is no better than
|
|
<i>going after other gods to serve them;</i> such is the power of
|
|
strong delusions. 2. It is yet more strange that the sign or wonder
|
|
given for the confirmation of this false doctrine should come to
|
|
pass. Can it be thought that God himself should give any
|
|
countenance to such a vile proceeding? Did ever a false prophet
|
|
work a true miracle? It is only supposed here for two reasons:—
|
|
(1.) To strengthen the caution here given against hearkening to
|
|
such a one. "Though it were possible that he should work a true
|
|
miracle, yet you must not believe him if he tell you that you must
|
|
serve other gods, for the divine law against that is certainly
|
|
perpetual and unalterable." The supposition is like that in
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ga 1:8" id="Deu.xiv-p3.2" parsed="|Gal|1|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.1.8">Gal. i. 8</scripRef>, <i>If we, or an
|
|
angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you</i>—which does
|
|
not prove it possible that an angel should preach another gospel,
|
|
but strongly expresses the certainty and perpetuity of that which
|
|
we have received. So here, (2.) It is to fortify them against the
|
|
danger of impostures and lying wonders (<scripRef passage="2Th 2:9" id="Deu.xiv-p3.3" parsed="|2Thess|2|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Thess.2.9">2 Thess. ii. 9</scripRef>): "Suppose the credentials he
|
|
produces be so artfully counterfeited that you cannot discern the
|
|
cheat, nor disprove them, yet, if they are intended to draw you to
|
|
the service of other gods, that alone is sufficient to disprove
|
|
them; no evidence can be admitted against so clear a truth as that
|
|
of the unity of the Godhead, and so plain a law as that of
|
|
worshipping the <i>one only living and true God.</i>" We cannot
|
|
suppose that the God of truth should set his seal of miracles to a
|
|
lie, to so gross a lie as is supposed in that temptation, <i>Let us
|
|
go after other gods.</i> But if it be asked, Why is this false
|
|
prophet permitted to counterfeit this broad seal? It is answered
|
|
here (<scripRef passage="De 13:3" id="Deu.xiv-p3.4" parsed="|Deut|13|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.13.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>): "<i>The
|
|
Lord your God proveth you.</i> He suffers you to be set upon by such
|
|
a temptation to try your constancy, that both those that are
|
|
perfect and those that are false and corrupt may be made manifest.
|
|
It is to prove you; therefore see that you acquit yourselves well
|
|
in the trial, and stand your ground."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xiv-p4">II. Here is a very necessary charge given
|
|
in this case,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xiv-p5">1. Not to yield to the temptation: "<i>Thou
|
|
shalt not hearken to the worlds of that prophet,</i> <scripRef passage="De 13:3" id="Deu.xiv-p5.1" parsed="|Deut|13|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.13.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. Not only thou shalt not
|
|
do the thing he tempts thee to, but thou shalt not so much as
|
|
patiently hear the temptation, but reject it with the utmost
|
|
disdain and detestation. Such a suggestion as this is not to be so
|
|
much as parleyed with, but the ear must be stopped against it.
|
|
<i>Get thee behind me, Satan.</i>" Some temptations are so grossly
|
|
vile that they will not bear a debate, nor may we so much as give
|
|
them the hearing. What follows (<scripRef passage="De 13:4" id="Deu.xiv-p5.2" parsed="|Deut|13|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.13.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>), <i>You shall walk after the
|
|
Lord,</i> may be looked upon, (1.) As prescribing a preservative
|
|
from the temptation: "Keep close to your duty, and you keep out of
|
|
harm's way. God never leaves us till we leave him." Or, (2.) As
|
|
furnishing us with an answer to the temptation; say, "It is
|
|
written, <i>Thou shalt walk after the Lord,</i> and <i>cleave unto
|
|
him;</i> and therefore what have I to do with idols?"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xiv-p6">2. Not to spare the tempter, <scripRef passage="De 13:5" id="Deu.xiv-p6.1" parsed="|Deut|13|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.13.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. That prophet shall be
|
|
<i>put to death,</i> both to punish him for the attempt he has made
|
|
(the seducer must die, though none were seduced by him—a design
|
|
upon the crown is treason) and to prevent his doing further
|
|
mischief. This is called <i>putting away the evil.</i> There is no
|
|
way of removing the guilt but by removing the guilty; if such a
|
|
criminal be not punished, those that should punish him make
|
|
themselves responsible. And thus the <i>mischief must be put
|
|
away;</i> the infection must be kept from spreading by cutting off
|
|
the gangrened limb, and putting away the mischief-makers. such
|
|
Dangerous diseases as these must be taken in time.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 13:6-11" id="Deu.xiv-p6.2" parsed="|Deut|13|6|13|11" osisRef="Bible:Deut.13.6-Deut.13.11"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.13.6-Deut.13.11">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xiv-p7">6 If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy
|
|
son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend,
|
|
which <i>is</i> as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying,
|
|
Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou,
|
|
nor thy fathers;   7 <i>Namely,</i> of the gods of the people
|
|
which <i>are</i> round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from
|
|
thee, from the <i>one</i> end of the earth even unto the
|
|
<i>other</i> end of the earth;   8 Thou shalt not consent unto
|
|
him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him,
|
|
neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him:   9
|
|
But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him
|
|
to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.
|
|
  10 And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die;
|
|
because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiv-p7.1">Lord</span> thy God, which brought thee out of the land
|
|
of Egypt, from the house of bondage.   11 And all Israel shall
|
|
hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is
|
|
among you.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xiv-p8">Further provision is made by this branch of
|
|
the statute against receiving the infection of idolatry from those
|
|
that are near and dear to us.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xiv-p9">I. It is the policy of the tempter to send
|
|
his solicitations by the hand of those whom we love, whom we least
|
|
suspect of any ill design upon us, and whom we are desirous to
|
|
please and apt to conform ourselves to. The enticement here is
|
|
supposed to come from a brother or child that are near by nature,
|
|
from a wife or friend that are near by choice, and are to us <i>as
|
|
our own souls,</i> <scripRef passage="De 13:6" id="Deu.xiv-p9.1" parsed="|Deut|13|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.13.6"><i>v.</i>
|
|
6</scripRef>. Satan tempted Adam by Eve and Christ by Peter. We are
|
|
therefore concerned to stand upon our guard against a bad proposal
|
|
when the person that makes it can pretend to an interest in us,
|
|
that we many never sin against God in compliment to the best friend
|
|
we have in the world. The temptation is supposed to be private: he
|
|
will <i>entice thee secretly,</i> implying that idolatry is a work
|
|
of darkness, which dreads the light and covets to be concealed, and
|
|
in which the sinner promises himself, and the tempter promises him,
|
|
secrecy and security. Concerning the false gods proposed to be
|
|
served, 1. The tempter suggests that the worshipping of these gods
|
|
was the common practice of the world; and, if they limited their
|
|
adorations to an invisible Deity, they were singular, and like
|
|
nobody, for these gods were the <i>gods of the people round about
|
|
them,</i> and indeed of all the nations of the earth, <scripRef passage="De 13:7" id="Deu.xiv-p9.2" parsed="|Deut|13|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.13.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. This suggestion draws
|
|
many away from religion and godliness, that it is an unfashionable
|
|
thing; and they make their court to the world and the flesh because
|
|
these are the <i>gods of the people that are round about them.</i>
|
|
2. Moses suggests, in opposition to this, that it had not been the
|
|
practice of their ancestors; they are gods which <i>thou hast not
|
|
known, thou nor thy fathers.</i> Those that are born of godly
|
|
parents, and have been educated in pious exercises, when they are
|
|
enticed to a vain, loose, careless way of living should remember
|
|
that those are ways which <i>they have not known, they nor their
|
|
fathers.</i> And will they thus degenerate?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xiv-p10">II. It is our duty to prefer God and
|
|
religion before the best friends we have in the world. 1. We must
|
|
not, in complaisance to our friends, break God's law (<scripRef passage="De 13:8" id="Deu.xiv-p10.1" parsed="|Deut|13|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.13.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>): "<i>Thou shalt not
|
|
consent to him.</i> nor go with him to his idolatrous worship, no,
|
|
not for company, or curiosity, or to gain a better interest in is
|
|
affections." It is a general rule, <i>If sinners entice thee,
|
|
consent thou not,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 1:10" id="Deu.xiv-p10.2" parsed="|Prov|1|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.1.10">Prov. i.
|
|
10</scripRef>. 2. We must not, in compassion to our friends,
|
|
obstruct the course of God's justice. He that attempts such a thing
|
|
must not only be looked upon as an enemy, or dangerous person, whom
|
|
one should be afraid of, and swear the peace against, but as a
|
|
criminal or traitor, whom, in zeal for our sovereign Lord, his
|
|
crown and dignity, we are bound to inform against, and cannot
|
|
conceal without incurring the guilt of a great misprision
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 13:9" id="Deu.xiv-p10.3" parsed="|Deut|13|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.13.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): <i>Thou shalt
|
|
surely kill him.</i> By this law the persons enticed were bound to
|
|
the seducer, and to give evidence against him before the proper
|
|
judges, that he might suffer the penalty of the law, and that
|
|
without delay, which the Jews say is here intended in that phrase,
|
|
as it is in the Hebrew, <i>killing thou shalt kill him.</i> Neither
|
|
the prosecution nor the execution must be deferred; and he that was
|
|
first in the former must be first in the latter, to show that he
|
|
stood to his testimony: "<i>Thy hand shall be first upon him,</i>
|
|
to mark him out as an anathema, and then the hands of all the
|
|
people, to put him away as an accursed thing." The death he must
|
|
die was that which was looked upon among the Jews as the severest
|
|
of all deaths. He must be stoned: and his accusation written is
|
|
that he has sought to thrust thee away, by a kind of violence,
|
|
<i>from the Lord thy God,</i> <scripRef passage="De 13:10" id="Deu.xiv-p10.4" parsed="|Deut|13|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.13.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. Those are certainly our worst
|
|
enemies that would <i>thrust us from God,</i> our best friend; and
|
|
whatever draws us to sin, separates between us and God, is a design
|
|
upon our life, and to be resented accordingly, And, lastly, here is
|
|
the good effect of this necessary execution (<scripRef passage="De 13:11" id="Deu.xiv-p10.5" parsed="|Deut|13|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.13.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>): <i>All Israel shall hear and
|
|
fear.</i> They <i>ought to hear and fear;</i> for the punishment of
|
|
crimes committed is designed <i>in terrorem—to terrify,</i> and so
|
|
to prevent their repetition. And it is to be hoped they will hear
|
|
and fear, and by the severity of the punishment, especially when it
|
|
is at the prosecution of a father, a brother, or a friend, will be
|
|
made to conceive a horror of the sin, as exceedingly sinful, and to
|
|
be afraid of incurring the like punishment themselves. <i>Smite the
|
|
scorner</i> that sins presumptuously, <i>and the simple,</i> that
|
|
is in danger of sinning carelessly, <i>will beware.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 13" id="Deu.xiv-p10.6" parsed="|Deut|13|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.13"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 13:12-18" id="Deu.xiv-p10.7" parsed="|Deut|13|12|13|18" osisRef="Bible:Deut.13.12-Deut.13.18"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.13.12-Deut.13.18">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xiv-p11">12 If thou shalt hear <i>say</i> in one of thy
|
|
cities, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiv-p11.1">Lord</span> thy God hath
|
|
given thee to dwell there, saying,   13 <i>Certain</i> men,
|
|
the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have
|
|
withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and
|
|
serve other gods, which ye have not known;   14 Then shalt
|
|
thou enquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold,
|
|
<i>if it be</i> truth, <i>and</i> the thing certain, <i>that</i>
|
|
such abomination is wrought among you;   15 Thou shalt surely
|
|
smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword,
|
|
destroying it utterly, and all that <i>is</i> therein, and the
|
|
cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword.   16 And thou
|
|
shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street
|
|
thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil
|
|
thereof every whit, for the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiv-p11.2">Lord</span> thy
|
|
God: and it shall be a heap for ever; it shall not be built again.
|
|
  17 And there shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to
|
|
thine hand: that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiv-p11.3">Lord</span> may turn
|
|
from the fierceness of his anger, and show thee mercy, and have
|
|
compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy
|
|
fathers;   18 When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiv-p11.4">Lord</span> thy God, to keep all his
|
|
commandments which I command thee this day, to do <i>that which
|
|
is</i> right in the eyes of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xiv-p11.5">Lord</span>
|
|
thy God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xiv-p12">Here the case is put of a city revolting
|
|
from its allegiance to the God of Israel, <i>and serving other
|
|
gods.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xiv-p13">I. The crime is supposed to be committed,
|
|
1. By one of the cities of Israel, that lay within the jurisdiction
|
|
of their courts. The church then <i>judged those only that were
|
|
within,</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 5:12,13" id="Deu.xiv-p13.1" parsed="|1Cor|5|12|5|13" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.5.12-1Cor.5.13">1 Cor. v. 12,
|
|
13</scripRef>. And, even when they were ordered to preserve their
|
|
religion in the first principles of it by fire and sword to
|
|
propagate it. Those that are born within the allegiance of a
|
|
prince, if they take up arms against him, are dealt with as
|
|
traitors, but foreign invaders are not so. The city that is here
|
|
supposed to have become idolatrous is one that formerly worshipped
|
|
the true God, but had now withdrawn to other gods, which intimates
|
|
how great the crime is, and how sore the punishment will be, of
|
|
those that, <i>after they have known the way of righteousness, turn
|
|
aside from it,</i> <scripRef passage="2Pe 2:21" id="Deu.xiv-p13.2" parsed="|2Pet|2|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.2.21">2 Pet. ii.
|
|
21</scripRef>. 2. It is supposed to be committed by the generality
|
|
of the inhabitants of the city, for we may conclude that, if a
|
|
considerable number did retain their integrity, those only that
|
|
were guilty were to be destroyed, and the city was to be spared for
|
|
the sake of the righteous in it; for <i>will not the Judge of all
|
|
the earth do right?</i> No doubt he will. 3. They are supposed to
|
|
be drawn to idolatry by <i>certain men, the children of Belial,</i>
|
|
men that would endure no yoke (so it signifies), that neither fear
|
|
God nor regard man, but shake off all restraints of law and
|
|
conscience, and are perfectly lost to all manner of virtue; these
|
|
are those that say, "Let us serve other gods," that will not only
|
|
allow, but will countenance and encourage, our immoralities. Belial
|
|
is put for <i>the devil</i> (<scripRef passage="2Co 6:15" id="Deu.xiv-p13.3" parsed="|2Cor|6|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.6.15">2 Cor.
|
|
vi. 15</scripRef>), and the children of Belial are his children.
|
|
These withdraw the inhabitants of the city; for a little of this
|
|
old leaven, when it is entertained, soon leavens the whole
|
|
lump.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xiv-p14">II. The cause is ordered to be tried with a
|
|
great deal of care (<scripRef passage="De 13:14" id="Deu.xiv-p14.1" parsed="|Deut|13|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.13.14"><i>v.</i>
|
|
14</scripRef>): <i>Thou shalt enquire and make search.</i> They
|
|
must not proceed upon common fame, or take the information by
|
|
hearsay, but must examine the proofs, and not give judgment against
|
|
them unless the evidence was clear and the charge fully made out.
|
|
God himself, before he destroyed Sodom, is said to have come down
|
|
to see whether its crimes were according to the clamour, <scripRef passage="Ge 18:21" id="Deu.xiv-p14.2" parsed="|Gen|18|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.21">Gen. xviii. 21</scripRef>. In judicial processes
|
|
it is requisite that time, and care, and pains, be taken to find
|
|
out the truth, and that search be made without any passion,
|
|
prejudice, or partiality. The Jewish writers say that, though
|
|
particular persons who were idolaters might be judged by the
|
|
inferior courts, the defection of a city was to be tried by the
|
|
great Sanhedrim; and, if it appeared that they were thrust away to
|
|
idolatry, two learned men were sent to them to admonish and reclaim
|
|
them. If they repented, all would be well; if not, then all Israel
|
|
must go up to war against them, to testify their indignation
|
|
against idolatry and to stop the spreading of the contagion.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xiv-p15">III. If the crime were proved, and the
|
|
criminals were incorrigible, the city was to be wholly destroyed.
|
|
If there were a few righteous men in it, no doubt they would remove
|
|
themselves and their families out of such a dangerous place, and
|
|
then all the inhabitants, men, women, and children, must be put to
|
|
the sword (<scripRef passage="De 13:15" id="Deu.xiv-p15.1" parsed="|Deut|13|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.13.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>),
|
|
all the spoil of the city, both shop-goods and the furniture of
|
|
houses, must be brought into the marketplace and burned, and the
|
|
city itself must be laid in ashes and never built again, <scripRef passage="De 13:16" id="Deu.xiv-p15.2" parsed="|Deut|13|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.13.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. The soldiers are
|
|
forbidden, upon pain of death, to convert any of the plunder to
|
|
their own use, <scripRef passage="De 13:17" id="Deu.xiv-p15.3" parsed="|Deut|13|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.13.17"><i>v.</i>
|
|
17</scripRef>. It was a devoted thing, and dangerous to meddle
|
|
with, as we find in the case of Achan. Now, 1. God enjoins this
|
|
severity of show what a jealous God he is in the matters of his
|
|
worship, and how great a crime it is to serve other gods. Let men
|
|
know that God will not give his glory to another, nor his praise to
|
|
graven images. 2. He expects that magistrates, having their honour
|
|
and power from him, should be concerned for his honour, and use
|
|
their power for <i>terror to evil doers,</i> else they bear the
|
|
sword in vain. 3. The faithful worshippers of the true God must
|
|
take all occasions to show their just indignation against idolatry,
|
|
much more against atheism, infidelity, and irreligion. 4. It is
|
|
here intimated that the best expedient for the turning away of
|
|
God's anger from a land is to execute justice upon the <i>wicked of
|
|
the land</i> (<scripRef passage="De 13:17" id="Deu.xiv-p15.4" parsed="|Deut|13|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.13.17"><i>v.</i>
|
|
17</scripRef>), that the Lord may <i>turn from the fierceness of
|
|
his anger,</i> which was ready to break out against the whole
|
|
nation, for the wickedness of that one apostate city. It is
|
|
promised that, if they would thus root wickedness out of their
|
|
land, God would multiply them. They might think it impolitic, and
|
|
against the interest of their nation, to ruin a whole city for a
|
|
crime relating purely to religion, and that they should be more
|
|
sparing of the blood of Israelites: "Fear not that" (says Moses),
|
|
"God will multiply you the more; the body of your nation will lose
|
|
nothing by the letting out of this corrupt blood." <i>Lastly,</i>
|
|
Though we do not find this law put in execution in all the history
|
|
of the Jewish church (Gibeah was destroyed, not for idolatry, but
|
|
immorality), yet for the neglect of the execution of it upon the
|
|
inferior cities that served idols God himself, by the army of the
|
|
Chaldeans, put it in execution upon Jerusalem, the head city,
|
|
which, for is apostasy from God, was utterly destroyed and laid
|
|
waste, and lay in ruins seventy years. Though idolaters may escape
|
|
punishment from men (nor is this law in the letter of it binding
|
|
now, under the gospel), yet the Lord our God will not suffer them
|
|
to escape his righteous judgements. The New Testament speaks of
|
|
communion with idolaters as a sin which, above any other,
|
|
<i>provokes the Lord to jealousy,</i> and dares him as if we were
|
|
<i>stronger than he,</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 10:21,22" id="Deu.xiv-p15.5" parsed="|1Cor|10|21|10|22" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.10.21-1Cor.10.22">1 Cor. x.
|
|
21, 22</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XIV" n="xv" progress="88.03%" prev="Deu.xiv" next="Deu.xvi" id="Deu.xv">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.xv-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.xv-p0.2">CHAP. XIV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.xv-p1">Moses in this chapter teaches them, I. To
|
|
distinguish themselves from their neighbours by a singularity, 1.
|
|
In their mourning, <scripRef passage="De 14:1,2" id="Deu.xv-p1.1" parsed="|Deut|14|1|14|2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.14.1-Deut.14.2">ver. 1,
|
|
2</scripRef>. 2. In their meat, <scripRef passage="De 14:3-21" id="Deu.xv-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|14|3|14|21" osisRef="Bible:Deut.14.3-Deut.14.21">ver.
|
|
3-21</scripRef>. II. To devote themselves unto God, and, in token
|
|
of that, to give him his dues out of their estates, the yearly
|
|
tithe, and that every third year, for the maintenance of their
|
|
religious feasts, the Levites, and the poor, <scripRef passage="De 14:22-29" id="Deu.xv-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|14|22|14|29" osisRef="Bible:Deut.14.22-Deut.14.29">ver. 22</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 14" id="Deu.xv-p1.4" parsed="|Deut|14|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.14"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 14:1-21" id="Deu.xv-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|14|1|14|21" osisRef="Bible:Deut.14.1-Deut.14.21"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.14.1-Deut.14.21">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xv-p1.6">What Might Be Eaten, and What
|
|
Not. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xv-p1.7">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xv-p2">1 Ye <i>are</i> the children of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xv-p2.1">Lord</span> your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor
|
|
make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.   2 For thou
|
|
<i>art</i> a holy people unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xv-p2.2">Lord</span> thy God, and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xv-p2.3">Lord</span> hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people
|
|
unto himself, above all the nations that <i>are</i> upon the earth.
|
|
  3 Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing.   4 These
|
|
<i>are</i> the beasts which ye shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and
|
|
the goat,   5 The hart, and the roebuck, and the fallow deer,
|
|
and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the wild ox, and the
|
|
chamois.   6 And every beast that parteth the hoof, and
|
|
cleaveth the cleft into two claws, <i>and</i> cheweth the cud among
|
|
the beasts, that ye shall eat.   7 Nevertheless these ye shall
|
|
not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the
|
|
cloven hoof; <i>as</i> the camel, and the hare, and the coney: for
|
|
they chew the cud, but divide not the hoof; <i>therefore</i> they
|
|
<i>are</i> unclean unto you.   8 And the swine, because it
|
|
divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it <i>is</i> unclean
|
|
unto you: ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead
|
|
carcase.   9 These ye shall eat of all that <i>are</i> in the
|
|
waters: all that have fins and scales shall ye eat:   10 And
|
|
whatsoever hath not fins and scales ye may not eat; it <i>is</i>
|
|
unclean unto you.   11 <i>Of</i> all clean birds ye shall eat.
|
|
  12 But these <i>are they</i> of which ye shall not eat: the
|
|
eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray,   13 And the glede,
|
|
and the kite, and the vulture after his kind,   14 And every
|
|
raven after his kind,   15 And the owl, and the night hawk,
|
|
and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind,   16 The little
|
|
owl, and the great owl, and the swan,   17 And the pelican,
|
|
and the gier eagle, and the cormorant,   18 And the stork, and
|
|
the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat.   19
|
|
And every creeping thing that flieth <i>is</i> unclean unto you:
|
|
they shall not be eaten.   20 <i>But of</i> all clean fowls ye
|
|
may eat.   21 Ye shall not eat <i>of</i> any thing that dieth
|
|
of itself: thou shalt give it unto the stranger that <i>is</i> in
|
|
thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto an
|
|
alien: for thou <i>art</i> a holy people unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xv-p2.4">Lord</span> thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his
|
|
mother's milk.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xv-p3">Moses here tells the people of Israel,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xv-p4">I. How God had dignified them, as a
|
|
peculiar people, with three distinguishing privileges, which were
|
|
their honour, and figures of those spiritual blessings in heavenly
|
|
things with which God has in Christ blessed us. 1. Here is
|
|
election: <i>The Lord hath chosen thee,</i> <scripRef passage="De 14:2" id="Deu.xv-p4.1" parsed="|Deut|14|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.14.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. Not for their own merit, nor for
|
|
any good works foreseen, but because he would magnify the riches of
|
|
his power and grace among them. He did not choose them because they
|
|
were by their own dedication and subjection a peculiar people to
|
|
him above other nations, but he chose them that they might be so by
|
|
his grace; and thus were believers chosen, <scripRef passage="Eph 1:4" id="Deu.xv-p4.2" parsed="|Eph|1|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eph.1.4">Eph. i. 4</scripRef>. 2. Here is adoption (<scripRef passage="De 14:1" id="Deu.xv-p4.3" parsed="|Deut|14|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.14.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>): "<i>You are the children
|
|
of the Lord your God,</i> formed by him into a people, owned by him
|
|
as his people, nay, his family, <i>a people near unto him,</i>
|
|
nearer than any other." <i>Israel is my son, my first-born;</i> not
|
|
because he needed children, but because they were orphans, and
|
|
needed a father. Every Israelite is indeed a child of God, a
|
|
partaker of his nature and favour, his love and blessing <i>Behold
|
|
what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us!</i> 3. Here is
|
|
sanctification (<scripRef passage="De 14:2" id="Deu.xv-p4.4" parsed="|Deut|14|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.14.2"><i>v.</i>
|
|
2</scripRef>): "<i>Thou art a holy people,</i> separated and set
|
|
apart for God, devoted to his service, designed for his praise,
|
|
governed by a holy law, graced by a holy tabernacle, and the holy
|
|
ordinances relating to it." God's people are under the strongest
|
|
obligations to be holy, and, if they are holy, are indebted to the
|
|
grace of God that makes them so. The Lord has set them apart for
|
|
himself, and qualified them for his service and the enjoyment of
|
|
him, and so has made them holy to himself.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xv-p5">II. How they ought to distinguish
|
|
themselves by a sober singularity from all the nations that were
|
|
about them. And, God having thus advanced them, let not them debase
|
|
themselves by admitting the superstitious customs of idolaters,
|
|
and, by making themselves like them, put themselves upon the level
|
|
with them. <i>Be you the children of the Lord your God;</i> so the
|
|
Seventy read it, as a command, that is, "Carry yourselves as
|
|
becomes the children of God, and do nothing to disgrace the honour
|
|
and forfeit the privileges of the relation." In two things
|
|
particularly they must distinguish themselves:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xv-p6">1. In their mourning: <i>You shall not cut
|
|
yourselves,</i> <scripRef passage="De 14:1" id="Deu.xv-p6.1" parsed="|Deut|14|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.14.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>.
|
|
This forbids (as some think), not only their cutting themselves at
|
|
their funerals, either to express their grief or with their own
|
|
blood to appease the infernal deities, but their wounding and
|
|
mangling themselves in the worship of their gods, as Baal's
|
|
prophets did (<scripRef passage="1Ki 18:28" id="Deu.xv-p6.2" parsed="|1Kgs|18|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.18.28">1 Kings xviii.
|
|
28</scripRef>), or their marking themselves by incisions in their
|
|
flesh for such and such deities, which in them, above any, would be
|
|
an inexcusable crime, who in the sign of circumcision bore about
|
|
with them in their bodies the marks of the Lord Jehovah. So that,
|
|
(1.) They are forbidden to deform or hurt their own bodies upon any
|
|
account. Methinks this is like a parent's change to his little
|
|
children, that are foolish, careless, and wilful, and are apt to
|
|
play with knives: <i>Children, you shall not cut yourselves.</i>
|
|
This is the intention of those commands which oblige us to deny
|
|
ourselves; the true meaning of them, if we understood them aright,
|
|
would appear to be, <i>Do yourselves no harm.</i> And this also is
|
|
the design of those providences which most cross us, to remove from
|
|
us those things by which we are in danger of doing ourselves harm.
|
|
Knives are taken from us, lest we should cut ourselves. Those that
|
|
are dedicated to God as a holy people must do nothing to disfigure
|
|
themselves; the body is for the Lord, and is to be used
|
|
accordingly. (2.) They are forbidden to disturb and afflict their
|
|
own minds with inordinate grief for the loss of near and dear
|
|
relations: "You shall not express or exasperate your sorrow, even
|
|
upon the most mournful occasions, by cutting yourselves, and making
|
|
baldness between your eyes, like men enraged, or resolvedly
|
|
hardened in sorrow for the dead, as those that have no hope,"
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Th 4:13" id="Deu.xv-p6.3" parsed="|1Thess|4|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Thess.4.13">1 Thess. iv. 13</scripRef>. It is an
|
|
excellent passage which Mr. Ainsworth here quotes from one of the
|
|
Jewish writers, who understands this as a law against immoderate
|
|
grief for the death of our relations. <i>If your father</i> (for
|
|
instance) <i>die, you shall not cut yourselves,</i> that is, <i>you
|
|
shall not sorrow more than is meet, for you are not fatherless, you
|
|
have a Father, who is great, living, and permanent, even the holy
|
|
blessed God,</i> whose children you are, <scripRef passage="De 14:1" id="Deu.xv-p6.4" parsed="|Deut|14|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.14.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. <i>But an infidel</i> (says he),
|
|
<i>when his father dies, hath no father that can help him in time
|
|
of need; for he hath said to a stock, Thou art my father, and to a
|
|
stone, Thou hast brought me forth</i> (<scripRef passage="Jer 2:27" id="Deu.xv-p6.5" parsed="|Jer|2|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.2.27">Jer. ii. 27</scripRef>); <i>therefore he weeps, cuts
|
|
himself, and makes himself bald.</i> We that have a God to hope in,
|
|
and a heaven to hope for, must bear up ourselves with that hope
|
|
under every burden of this kind.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xv-p7">2. They must be singular in their meat.
|
|
Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xv-p8">(1.) Many sorts of flesh which were
|
|
wholesome enough, and which other people did commonly eat, they
|
|
must religiously abstain from as unclean. This law we had before
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 11:2" id="Deu.xv-p8.1" parsed="|Lev|11|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.11.2">Lev. xi. 2</scripRef>, where it was
|
|
largely opened. It seems plainly, by the connection here, to be
|
|
intended as a mark of peculiarity; for their observance of it would
|
|
cause them to be taken notice of in all mixed companies as a
|
|
separate people, and would preserve them from mingling themselves
|
|
with, and conforming themselves to, their idolatrous neighbours.
|
|
[1.] Concerning beasts, here is a more particular enumeration of
|
|
those which they were allowed to eat then was in Leviticus, to show
|
|
that they had no reason to complain of their being restrained from
|
|
eating swines' flesh, and hares, and rabbits (which were all that
|
|
were then forbidden, but are now commonly used), when they were
|
|
allowed so great a variety, not only of that which we call
|
|
butcher's meat (<scripRef passage="De 14:4" id="Deu.xv-p8.2" parsed="|Deut|14|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.14.4"><i>v.</i>
|
|
4</scripRef>), which alone was offered in sacrifice, but of
|
|
venison, which they had great plenty of in Canaan, <i>the hart, and
|
|
the roe-buck, and the fallow deer</i> (<scripRef passage="De 14:5" id="Deu.xv-p8.3" parsed="|Deut|14|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.14.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), which, though never brought to
|
|
God's altar, was allowed them at their own table. See <scripRef passage="De 12:22" id="Deu.xv-p8.4" parsed="|Deut|12|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.22"><i>ch.</i> xii. 22</scripRef>. When of all these
|
|
(as Adam of <i>every tree of the garden</i>) they might freely eat,
|
|
those were inexcusable who, to gratify a perverse appetite, or (as
|
|
should seem) in honour of their idols, and in participation of
|
|
their idolatrous sacrifices, <i>ate swines' flesh, and had broth of
|
|
abominable things</i> (made so by this law) <i>in their
|
|
vessels,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 65:4" id="Deu.xv-p8.5" parsed="|Isa|65|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.4">Isa. lxv. 4</scripRef>.
|
|
[2.] Concerning fish there is only one general rule given, that
|
|
whatsoever had not fins and scales (as shell-fish and eels, besides
|
|
leeches and other animals in the water that are not proper food)
|
|
was <i>unclean and forbidden,</i> <scripRef passage="De 14:9,10" id="Deu.xv-p8.6" parsed="|Deut|14|9|14|10" osisRef="Bible:Deut.14.9-Deut.14.10"><i>v.</i> 9, 10</scripRef>. [3.] No general rule is
|
|
given concerning fowl, but those are particularly mentioned that
|
|
were to be unclean to them, and there are few or none of them which
|
|
are here forbidden that are now commonly eaten; and whatsoever is
|
|
not expressly forbidden is allowed, <scripRef passage="De 14:11-20" id="Deu.xv-p8.7" parsed="|Deut|14|11|14|20" osisRef="Bible:Deut.14.11-Deut.14.20"><i>v.</i> 11-20</scripRef>. <i>Of all clean fowls you
|
|
may eat.</i> [4.] They are further forbidden, <i>First,</i> To eat
|
|
the flesh of any creature that died of itself, because the blood
|
|
was not separated from it, and, besides the ceremonial uncleanness
|
|
which it lay under (from <scripRef passage="Le 11:39" id="Deu.xv-p8.8" parsed="|Lev|11|39|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.11.39">Lev. xi.
|
|
39</scripRef>), it is not wholesome food, nor ordinarily used among
|
|
us, except by the poor. <i>Secondly,</i> To <i>seethe a kid in its
|
|
mother's milk,</i> either to gratify their own luxury, supposing it
|
|
a dainty bit, or in conformity to some superstitious custom of the
|
|
heathen. The Chaldee paraphrasts read it, <i>Thou shalt not eat
|
|
flesh—meats and milk—meats together;</i> and so it would forbid
|
|
the use of butter as sauce to any flesh.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xv-p9">(2.) Now as to all these precepts
|
|
concerning their food, [1.] It is plain in the law itself that they
|
|
belonged only to the Jews, and were not moral, nor of perpetual
|
|
use, because not of universal obligation; for what they might not
|
|
eat themselves they might give to a stranger, a proselyte of the
|
|
gate, that had renounced idolatry, and therefore was permitted to
|
|
live among them, though not circumcised; or they might sell it to
|
|
an alien, a mere Gentile, that came into their country for trade,
|
|
but might not settle it, <scripRef passage="De 14:21" id="Deu.xv-p9.1" parsed="|Deut|14|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.14.21"><i>v.</i>
|
|
21</scripRef>. They might feed upon that which an Israelite might
|
|
not touch, which is a plain instance of their peculiarity, and
|
|
their being a holy people. [2.] It is plain in the gospel that they
|
|
are now antiquated and repealed. For <i>every creature of God is
|
|
good, and nothing now to be refused,</i> or <i>called common and
|
|
unclean,</i> <scripRef passage="1Ti 4:4" id="Deu.xv-p9.2" parsed="|1Tim|4|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.4.4">1 Tim. iv.
|
|
4</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 14:22-29" id="Deu.xv-p9.3" parsed="|Deut|14|22|14|29" osisRef="Bible:Deut.14.22-Deut.14.29"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.14.22-Deut.14.29">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xv-p9.4">Tithes for Feasting and
|
|
Charity. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xv-p9.5">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xv-p10">22 Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of
|
|
thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year.   23 And
|
|
thou shalt eat before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xv-p10.1">Lord</span> thy
|
|
God, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there,
|
|
the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the
|
|
firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn
|
|
to fear the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xv-p10.2">Lord</span> thy God always.
|
|
  24 And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not
|
|
able to carry it; <i>or</i> if the place be too far from thee,
|
|
which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xv-p10.3">Lord</span> thy God shall choose
|
|
to set his name there, when the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xv-p10.4">Lord</span>
|
|
thy God hath blessed thee:   25 Then shalt thou turn <i>it</i>
|
|
into money, and bind up the money in thine hand, and shalt go unto
|
|
the place which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xv-p10.5">Lord</span> thy God
|
|
shall choose:   26 And thou shalt bestow that money for
|
|
whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for
|
|
wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and
|
|
thou shalt eat there before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xv-p10.6">Lord</span>
|
|
thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household,  
|
|
27 And the Levite that <i>is</i> within thy gates; thou shalt not
|
|
forsake him; for he hath no part nor inheritance with thee.  
|
|
28 At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe
|
|
of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay <i>it</i> up within
|
|
thy gates:   29 And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor
|
|
inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and
|
|
the widow, which <i>are</i> within thy gates, shall come, and shall
|
|
eat and be satisfied; that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xv-p10.7">Lord</span>
|
|
thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou
|
|
doest.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xv-p11">We have here a part of the statute
|
|
concerning tithes. The productions of the ground were twice tithed,
|
|
so that, putting both together, a fifth part was devoted to God out
|
|
of their increase, and only four parts of five were for their own
|
|
common use; and they could not but own they paid an easy rent,
|
|
especially since God's part was disposed of to their own benefit
|
|
and advantage. The first tithe was for the maintenance of their
|
|
Levites, who taught them the good knowledge of God, and ministered
|
|
to them in holy things; this is supposed as anciently due, and is
|
|
entailed upon the Levites as an inheritance, by that law, <scripRef passage="Nu 18:24" id="Deu.xv-p11.1" parsed="|Num|18|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.24">Num. xviii. 24</scripRef>, &c. But it is the
|
|
second tithe that is here spoken of, which was to be taken out of
|
|
the remainder when the Levites had had theirs.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xv-p12">I. They are here charged to separate it,
|
|
and set it apart for God: <i>Thou shalt truly tithe all the
|
|
increase of they seed,</i> <scripRef passage="De 14:22" id="Deu.xv-p12.1" parsed="|Deut|14|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.14.22"><i>v.</i>
|
|
22</scripRef>. The Levites took care of their own, but the
|
|
separating of this was left to the owners themselves, the law
|
|
encouraging them to be honest by reposing a confidence in them, and
|
|
so trying their fear of God. They are commanded to tithe
|
|
<i>truly,</i> that is, to be sure to do it, and to do it faithfully
|
|
and carefully, that God's part might not be diminished either with
|
|
design or by oversight. Note, We must be sure to give God his full
|
|
dues out of our estates; for, being but stewards of them, it is
|
|
required that we be faithful, as those that must give account.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xv-p13">II. They are here directed how to dispose
|
|
of it when they had separated it. Let every man lay by as God
|
|
prospers him and gives him success, and then let him lay out in
|
|
pious uses as God gives him opportunity; and it will be the easier
|
|
to lay out, and the proportion will be more satisfying, when first
|
|
we have laid by. This second tithe may be disposed of,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xv-p14">1. In works of piety, for the first two
|
|
years after the year of release. They must bring it up, either in
|
|
kind or in the full value of it, to the place of the sanctuary, and
|
|
there must spend it in holy feasting before the Lord. If they could
|
|
do it with any convenience, they must bring it in kind (<scripRef passage="De 14:23" id="Deu.xv-p14.1" parsed="|Deut|14|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.14.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>); but, if not, they
|
|
might turn it into money (<scripRef passage="De 14:24,25" id="Deu.xv-p14.2" parsed="|Deut|14|24|14|25" osisRef="Bible:Deut.14.24-Deut.14.25"><i>v.</i>
|
|
24, 25</scripRef>), and that money must be laid out in something to
|
|
feast upon before the Lord. The comfortable cheerful using of what
|
|
God has given us, with temperance and sobriety, is really the
|
|
honouring of God with it. Contentment, holy joy, and thankfulness,
|
|
make every meal a religious feast. The end of this law we have
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 14:23" id="Deu.xv-p14.3" parsed="|Deut|14|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.14.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>): <i>That
|
|
thou mayest learn to fear the Lord thy God always;</i> it was to
|
|
keep them right and firm to their religion, (1.) By acquainting
|
|
them with the sanctuary, the holy things, and the solemn services
|
|
that were there performed. What they read the appointment of their
|
|
Bibles, it would do them good to see the observance of in the
|
|
tabernacle; it would make a deeper impression upon them, which
|
|
would keep them out of the snares of the idolatrous customs. Note,
|
|
It will have a good influence upon our constancy in religion
|
|
<i>never to forsake the assembling of ourselves together,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Heb 10:25" id="Deu.xv-p14.4" parsed="|Heb|10|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.10.25">Heb. x. 25</scripRef>. By the comfort
|
|
of the communion of saints, we may be kept to our communion with
|
|
God. (2.) By using them to the most pleasant and delightful
|
|
services of religion. Let them <i>rejoice before the Lord, that
|
|
they may learn to fear him always.</i> The more pleasure we find in
|
|
the ways of religion the more likely we shall be to persevere in
|
|
those ways. One thing they must remember in their pious
|
|
entertainments—to bid their Levites welcome to them. Thou shalt
|
|
not <i>forsake the Levites</i> (<scripRef passage="De 14:27" id="Deu.xv-p14.5" parsed="|Deut|14|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.14.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>): "Let him never be a stranger
|
|
to thy table, especially when thou eatest before the Lord."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xv-p15">2. Every third year this tithe must be
|
|
disposed of at home in works of charity (<scripRef passage="De 14:28,29" id="Deu.xv-p15.1" parsed="|Deut|14|28|14|29" osisRef="Bible:Deut.14.28-Deut.14.29"><i>v.</i> 28, 29</scripRef>): <i>Lay it up within
|
|
they own gates,</i> and let it be given to the poor, who, knowing
|
|
the provision this law had made for them, no doubt would come to
|
|
seek it; and, that they might make the poor familiar to them and
|
|
not disdain their company, they are here directed to welcome them
|
|
to their houses. "Thither let them come, and eat and be satisfied."
|
|
In this charitable distribution of the second tithe they must have
|
|
an eye to the poor ministers and add to their encouragement by
|
|
entertaining them, then to poor strangers (not only for the supply
|
|
of their necessities, but to put a respect upon them, and so to
|
|
invite them to turn proselytes), and then to the fatherless and
|
|
widow, who, though perhaps they might have a competent maintenance
|
|
left them, yet could not be supposed to live so plentifully and
|
|
comfortably as they had done in months past, and therefore they
|
|
were to countenance them, and help to make them easy by inviting
|
|
them to this entertainment. God has a particular care for widows
|
|
and fatherless, and he requires that we should have the same. It is
|
|
his honour, and will be ours, to help the helpless. And if we thus
|
|
serve God, and do good with what we have, it is promised here that
|
|
the Lord our God will <i>bless us in all the work of our hand.</i>
|
|
Note, (1.) The blessing of God is all in all to our outward
|
|
prosperity, and, without that blessing, the work of our hands which
|
|
we do will bring nothing to pass. (2.) The way to obtain that
|
|
blessing is to be diligent and charitable. The blessing descends
|
|
upon the working hand: "Except not that God should bless thee in
|
|
thy idleness and love of ease, but in all the work of thy hand."
|
|
It is the hand of the diligent, with the blessing of God upon it,
|
|
that makes rich, <scripRef passage="Pr 10:4,22" id="Deu.xv-p15.2" parsed="|Prov|10|4|0|0;|Prov|10|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.10.4 Bible:Prov.10.22">Prov. x. 4,
|
|
22</scripRef>. And it descends upon the giving hand; he that thus
|
|
scatters certainly increases, and the liberal soul will be made
|
|
fat. It is an undoubted truth, though little believed, that to be
|
|
charitable to the poor, and to be free and generous in the support
|
|
of religion and any good work, is the surest and safest way of
|
|
thriving. What is lent to the Lord will be repaid with abundant
|
|
interest. See <scripRef passage="Eze 44:30" id="Deu.xv-p15.3" parsed="|Ezek|44|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.44.30">Ezek. xliv.
|
|
30</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XV" n="xvi" progress="88.42%" prev="Deu.xv" next="Deu.xvii" id="Deu.xvi">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.xvi-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.xvi-p0.2">CHAP. XV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.xvi-p1">In this chapter Moses gives orders, I. Concerning
|
|
the release of debts, every seventh year (<scripRef passage="De 15:1-6" id="Deu.xvi-p1.1" parsed="|Deut|15|1|15|6" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.1-Deut.15.6">ver. 1-6</scripRef>), with a caution that this should
|
|
be no hindrance to charitable lending, <scripRef passage="De 15:7-11" id="Deu.xvi-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|15|7|15|11" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.7-Deut.15.11">ver. 7-11</scripRef>. II. Concerning the release of
|
|
servants after seven years' service, <scripRef passage="De 15:12-18" id="Deu.xvi-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|15|12|15|18" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.12-Deut.15.18">ver. 12-18</scripRef>. III. Concerning the
|
|
sanctification of the firstlings of cattle to God, <scripRef passage="De 15:19-23" id="Deu.xvi-p1.4" parsed="|Deut|15|19|15|23" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.19-Deut.15.23">ver. 19</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 15" id="Deu.xvi-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|15|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 15:1-11" id="Deu.xvi-p1.6" parsed="|Deut|15|1|15|11" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.1-Deut.15.11"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.15.1-Deut.15.11">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xvi-p1.7">The Year of Release. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvi-p1.8">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xvi-p2">1 At the end of <i>every</i> seven years thou
|
|
shalt make a release.   2 And this <i>is</i> the manner of the
|
|
release: Every creditor that lendeth <i>ought</i> unto his
|
|
neighbour shall release <i>it;</i> he shall not exact <i>it</i> of
|
|
his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvi-p2.1">Lord</span>'s release.   3 Of a foreigner
|
|
thou mayest exact <i>it again:</i> but <i>that</i> which is thine
|
|
with thy brother thine hand shall release;   4 Save when there
|
|
shall be no poor among you; for the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvi-p2.2">Lord</span> shall greatly bless thee in the land which
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvi-p2.3">Lord</span> thy God giveth thee
|
|
<i>for</i> an inheritance to possess it:   5 Only if thou
|
|
carefully hearken unto the voice of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvi-p2.4">Lord</span> thy God, to observe to do all these
|
|
commandments which I command thee this day.   6 For the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvi-p2.5">Lord</span> thy God blesseth thee, as he promised
|
|
thee: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not
|
|
borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not
|
|
reign over thee.   7 If there be among you a poor man of one
|
|
of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvi-p2.6">Lord</span> thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not
|
|
harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother:
|
|
  8 But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt
|
|
surely lend him sufficient for his need, <i>in that</i> which he
|
|
wanteth.   9 Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked
|
|
heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand;
|
|
and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him
|
|
nought; and he cry unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvi-p2.7">Lord</span>
|
|
against thee, and it be sin unto thee.   10 Thou shalt surely
|
|
give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest
|
|
unto him: because that for this thing the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvi-p2.8">Lord</span> thy God shall bless thee in all thy works,
|
|
and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto.   11 For the
|
|
poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee,
|
|
saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy
|
|
poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xvi-p3">Here is, I. A law for the relief of poor
|
|
debtors, such (we may suppose) as were insolvent. Every seventh
|
|
year was a year of release, in which the ground rested from being
|
|
tilled and servants were discharged from their services; and, among
|
|
other acts of grace, this was one, that those who had borrowed
|
|
money, and had not been able to pay it before, should this year be
|
|
released from it; and though, if they were able, they were
|
|
afterwards bound in conscience to repay it, yet thenceforth the
|
|
creditor should never recover it by law. Many good expositors think
|
|
it only forbids the exacting of the debt in the year of release,
|
|
because, no harvest being gathered in that year, it could not be
|
|
expected that men should pay their debts then, but that afterwards
|
|
it might be sued for and recovered: so that the release did not
|
|
extinguish the debt, but only stayed the process for a time. But
|
|
others think it was a release of the debt for ever, and this seems
|
|
more probable, yet under certain limitations expressed or implied.
|
|
It is supposed (<scripRef passage="De 15:3" id="Deu.xvi-p3.1" parsed="|Deut|15|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>)
|
|
that the debtor was an Israelite (an alien could not take the
|
|
benefit of this law) and that he was poor (<scripRef passage="De 15:4" id="Deu.xvi-p3.2" parsed="|Deut|15|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>), that he did not borrow for trade
|
|
or purchase, but for the subsistence of his family, and that now he
|
|
could not pay it without reducing himself to poverty and coming
|
|
under a necessity of seeking relief in other countries, which might
|
|
be his temptation to revolt from God. The law is not that the
|
|
creditor shall not receive the debt if the debtor, or his friends
|
|
for him, can pay it; but he shall not exact it by a legal process.
|
|
The reasons of this law are, 1. To put an honour upon the
|
|
sabbatical year: <i>Because it is called the Lord's release,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 15:2" id="Deu.xvi-p3.3" parsed="|Deut|15|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. That was God's
|
|
year for their land, as the weekly sabbath was God's day for
|
|
themselves, their servants, and cattle; and, as by the resting of
|
|
their ground, so by the release of their debts, God would teach
|
|
them to depend upon his providence. This year of release typified
|
|
the grace of the gospel, in which is proclaimed the acceptable year
|
|
of the Lord, and by which we obtain the release of our debts, that
|
|
is, the pardon of our sins, and we are taught to forgive injuries,
|
|
as we are and hope to be forgiven of God. 2. It was to prevent the
|
|
falling of any Israelite into extreme poverty: so the margin reads
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 15:4" id="Deu.xvi-p3.4" parsed="|Deut|15|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>), <i>To the end
|
|
there shall be no poor among you,</i> none miserably and
|
|
scandalously poor, to the reproach of their nation and religion,
|
|
the reputation of which they ought to preserve. 3. God's security
|
|
is here given by a divine promise that, whatever they lost by their
|
|
poor debtors, it should be made up to them in the blessing of God
|
|
upon all they had and did, <scripRef passage="De 15:4-6" id="Deu.xvi-p3.5" parsed="|Deut|15|4|15|6" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.4-Deut.15.6"><i>v.</i>
|
|
4-6</scripRef>. Let them take care to do their duty, and then God
|
|
would bless them with such great increase that what they might lose
|
|
by bad debts, if they generously remitted them, should not be
|
|
missed out of their stock at the year's end. Not only, <i>the Lord
|
|
shall bless thee</i> (<scripRef passage="De 15:4" id="Deu.xvi-p3.6" parsed="|Deut|15|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.4"><i>v.</i>
|
|
4</scripRef>), but he <i>doth bless thee,</i> <scripRef passage="De 15:6" id="Deu.xvi-p3.7" parsed="|Deut|15|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. It is altogether inexcusable if,
|
|
though God had given us abundance, so that we have not only enough
|
|
but to spare, yet we are rigorous and server in our demands from
|
|
our poor brethren; for our abundance should be the supply of their
|
|
wants, that at least there may not be such an inequality as is
|
|
between two extremes, <scripRef passage="2Co 8:14" id="Deu.xvi-p3.8" parsed="|2Cor|8|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.8.14">2 Cor. viii.
|
|
14</scripRef>. They must also consider that their land was God's
|
|
gift to them, that all their increase was the fruit of God's
|
|
blessing upon them, and therefore they were bound in duty to him to
|
|
use and dispose of their estates as he should order and direct
|
|
them. And, <i>lastly,</i> If they would remit what little sums they
|
|
had lent to their poor brethren, it is promised that they should be
|
|
able to lend great sums to their rich neighbours, <i>even to many
|
|
nations</i> (<scripRef passage="De 15:6" id="Deu.xvi-p3.9" parsed="|Deut|15|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>),
|
|
and should be enriched by those loans. Thus the nations should
|
|
become subject to them, and dependent on them, as <i>the borrower
|
|
is servant to the lender,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 22:7" id="Deu.xvi-p3.10" parsed="|Prov|22|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.22.7">Prov.
|
|
xxii. 7</scripRef>. To be able to lend, and not to have need to
|
|
borrow, we must look upon as a great mercy, and a good reason why
|
|
we should do good with what we have, lest we provoke God to turn
|
|
the scales.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xvi-p4">II. Here is a law in favour of poor
|
|
borrowers, that they might not suffer damage by the former law. Men
|
|
would be apt to argue, <i>If the case of a man be so with his
|
|
debtor</i> that if the debt be not paid before the year of release
|
|
it shall be lost, it were better not to lend. "No," says this
|
|
branch of the statute, "thou shalt not think such a thought." 1. It
|
|
is taken for granted that there would be poor among them, who would
|
|
have occasion to borrow (<scripRef passage="De 15:7" id="Deu.xvi-p4.1" parsed="|Deut|15|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.7"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7</scripRef>), and that there would never cease to be some such
|
|
objects of charity (<scripRef passage="De 15:7" id="Deu.xvi-p4.2" parsed="|Deut|15|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.7"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7</scripRef>), and that there would never cease to be some such
|
|
objects of charity (<scripRef passage="De 15:11" id="Deu.xvi-p4.3" parsed="|Deut|15|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.11"><i>v.</i>
|
|
11</scripRef>): <i>The poor shall never cease out of thy land,</i>
|
|
though not such as were reduced to extreme poverty, yet such as
|
|
would be behind-hand, and would have occasion to borrow; of such
|
|
poor he here speaks, and such we have always with us, so that a
|
|
charitable disposition may soon find a charitable occasion. 2. In
|
|
such a case we are here commanded to lend or give, according to our
|
|
ability and the necessity of the case: <i>Thou shalt not harden thy
|
|
heart, nor shut thy hand,</i> <scripRef passage="De 15:7" id="Deu.xvi-p4.4" parsed="|Deut|15|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.7"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7</scripRef>. If the hand be shut, it is a sign the heart is
|
|
hardened; for, <i>if the clouds were full of rain, they would empty
|
|
themselves,</i> <scripRef passage="Ec 11:3" id="Deu.xvi-p4.5" parsed="|Eccl|11|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.11.3">Eccl. xi. 3</scripRef>.
|
|
Bowels of compassion would produce liberal distributions, <scripRef passage="Jam 2:15,16" id="Deu.xvi-p4.6" parsed="|Jas|2|15|2|16" osisRef="Bible:Jas.2.15-Jas.2.16">Jam. ii. 15, 16</scripRef>. Thou shalt not
|
|
only stretch out thy hand to him to reach him something, but thou
|
|
shalt <i>open thy hand wide unto him,</i> to <i>lend him
|
|
sufficient,</i> <scripRef passage="De 15:8" id="Deu.xvi-p4.7" parsed="|Deut|15|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>.
|
|
Sometimes there is as much charity in prudent lending as in giving,
|
|
as it obliges the borrower to industry and honesty and may put him
|
|
into a way of helping himself. We are sometimes tempted to think,
|
|
when an object of charity presents itself, we may choose whether we
|
|
will give any thing or nothing, little or much; whereas it is here
|
|
an express precept (<scripRef passage="De 15:11" id="Deu.xvi-p4.8" parsed="|Deut|15|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.11"><i>v.</i>
|
|
11</scripRef>), <i>I command thee,</i> not only to give, but to
|
|
<i>open thy hand wide,</i> to give liberally. 3. Here is a caveat
|
|
against that objection which might arise against charitable lending
|
|
from the foregoing law for the release of debts (<scripRef passage="De 15:9" id="Deu.xvi-p4.9" parsed="|Deut|15|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): <i>Beware that there be not a
|
|
thought,</i> a covetous ill-natured thought, <i>in thy Belial
|
|
heart, "The year of release is at hand,</i> and therefore I will
|
|
not lend what I must then be sure to lose;" lest thy poor brother,
|
|
whom thou refusest to lend to, complain to God, and it will be a
|
|
sin, a great sin, to thee. Note, (1.) The law is spiritual and lays
|
|
a restraint upon the thoughts of the heart. We mistake if we think
|
|
thoughts are free from the divine cognizance and check. (2.) That
|
|
is a wicked heart indeed that raises evil thoughts from the good
|
|
law of God, as theirs did who, because God had obliged them to the
|
|
charity of forgiving, denied the charity of giving. (3.) We must
|
|
carefully watch against all those secret suggestions which would
|
|
divert us from our duty or discourage us in it. Those that would
|
|
keep from the act of sin must keep out of their minds the very
|
|
thought of sin. (4.) When we have an occasion of charitable
|
|
lending, if we cannot trust the borrower, we must trust God, and
|
|
lend, hoping for nothing again in this world, but expecting it will
|
|
be recompensed in the resurrection of the just, <scripRef passage="Lu 6:35,14:14" id="Deu.xvi-p4.10" parsed="|Luke|6|35|0|0;|Luke|14|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.6.35 Bible:Luke.14.14">Luke vi. 35; xiv. 14</scripRef>. (5.) It is a
|
|
dreadful thing to have the cry of the poor against us, for God has
|
|
his ear open to that cry, and, in compassion to them, will be sue
|
|
to reckon with those that deal hardly with them. (6.) That which we
|
|
think is our prudence often proves sin to us; he that refused to
|
|
lend because the year of release was at hand thought he did wisely,
|
|
and that men would <i>praise him as doing well for himself,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 49:18" id="Deu.xvi-p4.11" parsed="|Ps|49|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.49.18">Ps. xlix. 18</scripRef>. But he is
|
|
here told that he did wickedly, and that God would condemn him as
|
|
doing ill to his brother; and we are sure that the <i>judgment of
|
|
God is according to truth,</i> and that what he says is sin to us
|
|
will certainly be ruin to us if it be not repented of.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xvi-p5">III. Here is a command to give cheerfully
|
|
whatever we give in charity: "<i>Thy heart shall not be grieved
|
|
when thou givest,</i> <scripRef passage="De 15:10" id="Deu.xvi-p5.1" parsed="|Deut|15|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.10"><i>v.</i>
|
|
10</scripRef>. Be not loth to part with thy money on so good an
|
|
account, nor think it lost; grudge not a kindness to they brother;
|
|
and distrust not the providence of God, as if thou shouldest want
|
|
that thyself which thou givest in charity; but, on the contrary,
|
|
let it be a pleasure and a satisfaction of soul to thee to think
|
|
that thou art honouring God with thy substance, doing good, making
|
|
thy brother easy, and laying up for thyself a good security for the
|
|
time to come. What thou doest do freely, for God <i>loves a
|
|
cheerful giver,</i>" <scripRef passage="2Co 9:7" id="Deu.xvi-p5.2" parsed="|2Cor|9|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.9.7">2 Cor. ix.
|
|
7</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xvi-p6">IV. Here is a promise of a recompence in
|
|
this life: "<i>For this thing the Lord thy God shall bless
|
|
thee.</i>" Covetous people say "Giving undoes us;" no, giving
|
|
cheerfully in charity will enrich us, it will <i>fill the barns
|
|
with plenty</i> (<scripRef passage="Pr 3:10" id="Deu.xvi-p6.1" parsed="|Prov|3|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.3.10">Prov. iii.
|
|
10</scripRef>) and the soul with true comfort, <scripRef passage="Isa 58:10,11" id="Deu.xvi-p6.2" parsed="|Isa|58|10|58|11" osisRef="Bible:Isa.58.10-Isa.58.11">Isa. lviii. 10, 11</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 15" id="Deu.xvi-p6.3" parsed="|Deut|15|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 15:12-18" id="Deu.xvi-p6.4" parsed="|Deut|15|12|15|18" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.12-Deut.15.18"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.15.12-Deut.15.18">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xvi-p7">  12 <i>And</i> if thy brother, a Hebrew
|
|
man, or a Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six
|
|
years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from
|
|
thee.   13 And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou
|
|
shalt not let him go away empty:   14 Thou shalt furnish him
|
|
liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy
|
|
winepress: <i>of that</i> wherewith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvi-p7.1">Lord</span> thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give
|
|
unto him.   15 And thou shalt remember that thou wast a
|
|
bondman in the land of Egypt, and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvi-p7.2">Lord</span> thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command
|
|
thee this thing to day.   16 And it shall be, if he say unto
|
|
thee, I will not go away from thee; because he loveth thee and
|
|
thine house, because he is well with thee;   17 Then thou
|
|
shalt take an awl, and thrust <i>it</i> through his ear unto the
|
|
door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also unto thy
|
|
maidservant thou shalt do likewise.   18 It shall not seem
|
|
hard unto thee, when thou sendest him away free from thee; for he
|
|
hath been worth a double hired servant <i>to thee,</i> in serving
|
|
thee six years: and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvi-p7.3">Lord</span> thy God
|
|
shall bless thee in all that thou doest.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xvi-p8">Here is, I. A repetition of the law that
|
|
had been given concerning Hebrew servants who had sold themselves
|
|
for servants, or were sold by their parents through extreme
|
|
poverty, or were sold by the court of judgment for some crime
|
|
committed. The law was, 1. That they should serve but six years,
|
|
and in the seventh should go out free, <scripRef passage="De 15:12" id="Deu.xvi-p8.1" parsed="|Deut|15|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. Compare <scripRef passage="Ex 21:2" id="Deu.xvi-p8.2" parsed="|Exod|21|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.2">Exod. xxi. 2</scripRef>. And, if the year of jubilee
|
|
happened before they served out their time, that would be their
|
|
discharge. God's Israel were a free people, and must not be
|
|
compelled to perpetual slavery; thus are God's spiritual Israel
|
|
called unto liberty. 2. That if, when their six years' service had
|
|
expired, they had no mind to go out free, but would rather continue
|
|
in service, as having less care, though taking more pains, than
|
|
their masters, in this case they must lay themselves under an
|
|
obligation to serve for ever, that is, for life, by having <i>their
|
|
ears bored to the door-posts,</i> <scripRef passage="De 15:16,17" id="Deu.xvi-p8.3" parsed="|Deut|15|16|15|17" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.16-Deut.15.17"><i>v.</i> 16, 17</scripRef>. Compare <scripRef passage="Ex 21:6" id="Deu.xvi-p8.4" parsed="|Exod|21|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.6">Exod. xxi. 6</scripRef>. If hereby a man
|
|
disgraced himself with some, as of a mean and servile spirit, that
|
|
had not a due sense of the honour and pleasure of liberty, yet, we
|
|
may suppose, with others he got reputation, as of a quiet contented
|
|
spirit, humble, and diligent, and loving, and not <i>given to
|
|
change.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xvi-p9">II. Here is an addition to this law,
|
|
requiring them to put some small stock into their servants' hands
|
|
to set up with for themselves, when they sent them out of their
|
|
service, <scripRef passage="De 15:13,14" id="Deu.xvi-p9.1" parsed="|Deut|15|13|15|14" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.13-Deut.15.14"><i>v.</i> 13,
|
|
14</scripRef>. It was to be supposed that they had nothing of their
|
|
own, and that their friends had little or nothing for them, else
|
|
they else they would have been redeemed before they were discharged
|
|
by law; they had no wages for their service, and all they got by
|
|
their labour was their masters', so that their liberty would do
|
|
them little good, having nothing to begin the world with; therefore
|
|
their masters are here commanded to furnish them liberally with
|
|
corn and cattle. No certain measure is prescribed: that is left to
|
|
the generosity of the master, who probably would have respect to
|
|
the servant's merit and necessity; but the Jewish writers say, "He
|
|
could not give less than the value of thirty shekels of silver, but
|
|
as much more as he pleased" The maid-servants, though they were not
|
|
to have their ears bored if they were disposed to stay, yet, if
|
|
they went out free, they were to have a gratuity given them; for to
|
|
this those words refer, <i>Unto thy maid-servant thou shalt do
|
|
likewise,</i> <scripRef passage="De 15:17" id="Deu.xvi-p9.2" parsed="|Deut|15|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>.
|
|
The reasons for this are taken from the law of gratitude. They must
|
|
do it, 1. In gratitude to God, who had not only brought them out of
|
|
Egypt (<scripRef passage="De 15:15" id="Deu.xvi-p9.3" parsed="|Deut|15|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>), but
|
|
brought them out greatly enriched with the spoils of the Egyptians.
|
|
Let them not send their servants out empty, for they were not sent
|
|
empty out of the house of bondage. God's tender care of us and
|
|
kindness to us oblige us to be careful of, and kind to, those that
|
|
have a dependence upon us. Thus we must <i>render according to the
|
|
benefit done unto us.</i> 2. In gratitude to their servants,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 15:18" id="Deu.xvi-p9.4" parsed="|Deut|15|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. "Grudge not
|
|
to give him a little out of thy abundance, for <i>he has been worth
|
|
a double hired servant unto thee.</i> The days of the hireling at
|
|
most were but three years (<scripRef passage="Isa 16:14" id="Deu.xvi-p9.5" parsed="|Isa|16|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.16.14">Isa. xvi.
|
|
14</scripRef>), but he has served thee six years, and, unlike the
|
|
hired servant, without any wages." Masters and landlords ought to
|
|
consider what need they have of, and what ease and advantage they
|
|
have by, their servants and tenants, and should not only be just
|
|
but kind to them. To these reasons it is added, as before in this
|
|
chapter (<scripRef passage="De 15:4,6,10" id="Deu.xvi-p9.6" parsed="|Deut|15|4|0|0;|Deut|15|6|0|0;|Deut|15|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.4 Bible:Deut.15.6 Bible:Deut.15.10"><i>v.</i> 4, 6,
|
|
10</scripRef>), <i>The Lord thy God shall bless thee.</i> Then we
|
|
may expect family blessings, the springs of family-prosperity, when
|
|
we make conscience of our duty to our family-relations.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 15" id="Deu.xvi-p9.7" parsed="|Deut|15|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 15:19-23" id="Deu.xvi-p9.8" parsed="|Deut|15|19|15|23" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.19-Deut.15.23"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.15.19-Deut.15.23">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xvi-p10">19 All the firstling males that come of thy herd
|
|
and of thy flock thou shalt sanctify unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvi-p10.1">Lord</span> thy God: thou shalt do no work with the
|
|
firstling of thy bullock, nor shear the firstling of thy sheep.
|
|
  20 Thou shalt eat <i>it</i> before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvi-p10.2">Lord</span> thy God year by year in the place which the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvi-p10.3">Lord</span> shall choose, thou and thy
|
|
household.   21 And if there be <i>any</i> blemish therein,
|
|
<i>as if it be</i> lame, or blind, <i>or have</i> any ill blemish,
|
|
thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvi-p10.4">Lord</span> thy God.   22 Thou shalt eat it within
|
|
thy gates: the unclean and the clean <i>person shall eat it</i>
|
|
alike, as the roebuck, and as the hart.   23 Only thou shalt
|
|
not eat the blood thereof; thou shalt pour it upon the ground as
|
|
water.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xvi-p11">Here is, 1. A repetition of the law
|
|
concerning the firstlings of their cattle, that, if they were
|
|
males, they were to be <i>sanctified to the Lord</i> (<scripRef passage="De 15:19" id="Deu.xvi-p11.1" parsed="|Deut|15|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>), in remembrance of, and
|
|
in thankfulness for, the sparing of the first-born of Israel, when
|
|
the first-born of the Egyptians, both of man and beast, were slain
|
|
by the destroying angel (<scripRef passage="Ex 13:2,15" id="Deu.xvi-p11.2" parsed="|Exod|13|2|0|0;|Exod|13|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.13.2 Bible:Exod.13.15">Exod. xiii.
|
|
2, 15</scripRef>); on the eighth day it was to be given to God (
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 22:30" id="Deu.xvi-p11.3" parsed="|Exod|22|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.30">Exod. xxii. 30</scripRef>), and to be
|
|
divided between the priest and the altar, <scripRef passage="Nu 18:17,18" id="Deu.xvi-p11.4" parsed="|Num|18|17|18|18" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.17-Num.18.18">Num. xviii. 17, 18</scripRef>. 2. An addition to that
|
|
law, for the further explication of it, directing them what to do
|
|
with the firstlings, (1.) That were females: "Thou shalt <i>do no
|
|
work with the</i> female <i>firstlings of the cow,</i> nor shear
|
|
those of the sheep" (<scripRef passage="De 15:19" id="Deu.xvi-p11.5" parsed="|Deut|15|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.19"><i>v.</i>
|
|
19</scripRef>); of them the learned bishop Patrick understands it.
|
|
Though the female firstlings were not so entirely sanctified to God
|
|
as the males, nor so early as at eight days old, yet they were not
|
|
to be converted by the owners to their own use as the other cattle,
|
|
but must be offered to God as peace-offerings, or used in a
|
|
religious feast, at the year's end, <scripRef passage="De 15:20" id="Deu.xvi-p11.6" parsed="|Deut|15|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. <i>Thou shalt eat it before the
|
|
Lord thy God,</i> as directed <scripRef passage="De 12:18" id="Deu.xvi-p11.7" parsed="|Deut|12|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.18"><i>ch.</i> xii. 18</scripRef>. (2.) But what must they
|
|
do with that which was blemished, ill-blemished? <scripRef passage="De 15:21" id="Deu.xvi-p11.8" parsed="|Deut|15|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. Were it male or female, it must
|
|
not be brought near the sanctuary, nor used either for sacrifice or
|
|
for holy feasting, for it would not be fit to honour God with, nor
|
|
to typify Christ, who is a <i>Lamb without blemish;</i> yet it must
|
|
not be reared, but killed and eaten at their own houses as common
|
|
food (<scripRef passage="De 15:22" id="Deu.xvi-p11.9" parsed="|Deut|15|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>), only
|
|
they must be sure <i>not to eat it with the blood,</i> <scripRef passage="De 15:23" id="Deu.xvi-p11.10" parsed="|Deut|15|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.15.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. The frequent repetition
|
|
of this caution intimates what need the people had of it, and what
|
|
stress God laid upon it. What a mercy it is that we are not under
|
|
this yoke! We are not dieted as they were; we make no difference
|
|
between a first calf, or lamb, and the rest that follow. Let us
|
|
therefore realize the gospel meaning of this law, devoting
|
|
ourselves and the first of our time and strength to God, as a kind
|
|
of first-fruits of his creatures, and using all our comforts and
|
|
enjoyments to his praise and under the direction of his law, as we
|
|
have them all by his gift.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XVI" n="xvii" progress="88.81%" prev="Deu.xvi" next="Deu.xviii" id="Deu.xvii">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.xvii-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.xvii-p0.2">CHAP. XVI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.xvii-p1">In this chapter we have, I. A repetition of the
|
|
laws concerning the three yearly feasts; in particular, that of the
|
|
passover, <scripRef passage="De 16:1-8" id="Deu.xvii-p1.1" parsed="|Deut|16|1|16|8" osisRef="Bible:Deut.16.1-Deut.16.8">ver. 1-8</scripRef>. That
|
|
of pentecost, <scripRef passage="De 16:9-12" id="Deu.xvii-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|16|9|16|12" osisRef="Bible:Deut.16.9-Deut.16.12">ver. 9-12</scripRef>.
|
|
That of tabernacles, <scripRef passage="De 16:13-15" id="Deu.xvii-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|16|13|16|15" osisRef="Bible:Deut.16.13-Deut.16.15">ver.
|
|
13-15</scripRef>. And the general law concerning the people's
|
|
attendance on them, <scripRef passage="De 16:16,17" id="Deu.xvii-p1.4" parsed="|Deut|16|16|16|17" osisRef="Bible:Deut.16.16-Deut.16.17">ver. 16,
|
|
17</scripRef>. II. The institution of an inferior magistracy, and
|
|
general rules of justice given to those that were called into
|
|
office, <scripRef passage="De 16:18-20" id="Deu.xvii-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|16|18|16|20" osisRef="Bible:Deut.16.18-Deut.16.20">ver. 18-20</scripRef>. III.
|
|
A caveat against groves and images, <scripRef passage="De 16:21,22" id="Deu.xvii-p1.6" parsed="|Deut|16|21|16|22" osisRef="Bible:Deut.16.21-Deut.16.22">ver. 21, 22</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 16" id="Deu.xvii-p1.7" parsed="|Deut|16|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.16"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 16:1-17" id="Deu.xvii-p1.8" parsed="|Deut|16|1|16|17" osisRef="Bible:Deut.16.1-Deut.16.17"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.16.1-Deut.16.17">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xvii-p1.9">Yearly Release. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvii-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xvii-p2">1 Observe the month of Abib, and keep the
|
|
passover unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvii-p2.1">Lord</span> thy God: for
|
|
in the month of Abib the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvii-p2.2">Lord</span> thy
|
|
God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.   2 Thou shalt
|
|
therefore sacrifice the passover unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvii-p2.3">Lord</span> thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the
|
|
place which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvii-p2.4">Lord</span> shall choose to
|
|
place his name there.   3 Thou shalt eat no leavened bread
|
|
with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith,
|
|
<i>even</i> the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of
|
|
the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when
|
|
thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy
|
|
life.   4 And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee
|
|
in all thy coast seven days; neither shall there <i>any thing</i>
|
|
of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst the first day at even, remain
|
|
all night until the morning.   5 Thou mayest not sacrifice the
|
|
passover within any of thy gates, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvii-p2.5">Lord</span> thy God giveth thee:   6 But at the
|
|
place which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvii-p2.6">Lord</span> thy God shall
|
|
choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the
|
|
passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that
|
|
thou camest forth out of Egypt.   7 And thou shalt roast and
|
|
eat <i>it</i> in the place which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvii-p2.7">Lord</span> thy God shall choose: and thou shalt turn
|
|
in the morning, and go unto thy tents.   8 Six days thou shalt
|
|
eat unleavened bread: and on the seventh day <i>shall be</i> a
|
|
solemn assembly to the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvii-p2.8">Lord</span> thy God:
|
|
thou shalt do no work <i>therein.</i>   9 Seven weeks shalt
|
|
thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks from <i>such
|
|
time as</i> thou beginnest <i>to put</i> the sickle to the corn.
|
|
  10 And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvii-p2.9">Lord</span> thy God with a tribute of a freewill
|
|
offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give <i>unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvii-p2.10">Lord</span> thy God,</i> according as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvii-p2.11">Lord</span> thy God hath blessed thee:   11
|
|
And thou shalt rejoice before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvii-p2.12">Lord</span> thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy
|
|
daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite
|
|
that <i>is</i> within thy gates, and the stranger, and the
|
|
fatherless, and the widow, that <i>are</i> among you, in the place
|
|
which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvii-p2.13">Lord</span> thy God hath chosen
|
|
to place his name there.   12 And thou shalt remember that
|
|
thou wast a bondman in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these
|
|
statutes.   13 Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles
|
|
seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine:
|
|
  14 And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son,
|
|
and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the
|
|
Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that
|
|
<i>are</i> within thy gates.   15 Seven days shalt thou keep a
|
|
solemn feast unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvii-p2.14">Lord</span> thy God
|
|
in the place which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvii-p2.15">Lord</span> shall
|
|
choose: because the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvii-p2.16">Lord</span> thy God
|
|
shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of
|
|
thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice.   16 Three
|
|
times in a year shall all thy males appear before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvii-p2.17">Lord</span> thy God in the place which he shall choose;
|
|
in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in
|
|
the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvii-p2.18">Lord</span> empty:   17 Every man
|
|
<i>shall give</i> as he is able, according to the blessing of the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvii-p2.19">Lord</span> thy God which he hath given
|
|
thee.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xvii-p3">Much of the communion between God and his
|
|
people Israel was kept up, and a face of religion preserved in the
|
|
nation, by the three yearly feasts, the institution of which, and
|
|
the laws concerning them, we have several times met with already;
|
|
and here they are repeated.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xvii-p4">I. The law of the passover, so great a
|
|
solemnity that it made the whole month, in the midst of which it
|
|
was placed, considerable: <i>Observe the month Abib,</i> <scripRef passage="De 16:1" id="Deu.xvii-p4.1" parsed="|Deut|16|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.16.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. Though one week only of
|
|
this month was to be kept as a festival, yet their preparations
|
|
before must be so solemn, and their reflections upon it and
|
|
improvements of it afterwards so serious, as to amount to an
|
|
observance of the whole month. The month of Abib, or of <i>new
|
|
fruits,</i> as the Chaldee translates it, answers to our March (or
|
|
part of March and part of April), and was by a special order from
|
|
God, in remembrance of the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, made
|
|
the <i>beginning of their year</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 12:2" id="Deu.xvii-p4.2" parsed="|Exod|12|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.2">Exod. xii. 2</scripRef>), which before was reckoned to
|
|
begin in September. This month they were to keep the passover, in
|
|
remembrance of their being <i>brought out of Egypt by night,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 16:1" id="Deu.xvii-p4.3" parsed="|Deut|16|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.16.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. The Chaldee
|
|
paraphrasts expound it, "Because they came out of Egypt by
|
|
daylight," there being an express order that they should not stir
|
|
out of their doors till morning, <scripRef passage="Ex 12:22" id="Deu.xvii-p4.4" parsed="|Exod|12|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.22">Exod.
|
|
xii. 22</scripRef>. One of them expounds it thus: "<i>He brought
|
|
thee out of Egypt,</i> and did wonders <i>by night.</i>" The other,
|
|
"and thou shalt eat the passover <i>by night.</i>" The laws
|
|
concerning it are, 1. That they must be sure to sacrifice the
|
|
passover in the place that God should choose (<scripRef passage="De 16:2" id="Deu.xvii-p4.5" parsed="|Deut|16|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.16.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), and in no other place, <scripRef passage="De 16:5-7" id="Deu.xvii-p4.6" parsed="|Deut|16|5|16|7" osisRef="Bible:Deut.16.5-Deut.16.7"><i>v.</i> 5-7</scripRef>. The passover was
|
|
itself a sacrifice; hence Christ, as our passover, is said to be
|
|
<i>sacrificed for us</i> (<scripRef passage="1Co 5:7" id="Deu.xvii-p4.7" parsed="|1Cor|5|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.5.7">1 Cor. v.
|
|
7</scripRef>), and many other sacrifices were offered during the
|
|
seven days of the feast (<scripRef passage="Nu 28:19" id="Deu.xvii-p4.8" parsed="|Num|28|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.28.19">Num. xxviii.
|
|
19</scripRef>, &c.), which are included here, for they are said
|
|
to be sacrificed <i>of the flock and the herd,</i> whereas the
|
|
passover itself was only of the flock, either a lamb or a kid: now
|
|
no sacrifice was accepted but from the altar that sanctified it; it
|
|
was therefore necessary that they should go up to the place of the
|
|
altar, for, though the paschal lamb was entirely eaten by the
|
|
owners, yet it must be killed in the court, the blood sprinkled,
|
|
and the inwards burned upon the altar. By confining them to the
|
|
appointed rule, from which they would have been apt to vary, and to
|
|
introduce foolish inventions of their own, had they been permitted
|
|
to offer these sacrifices within their own gates, from under the
|
|
inspection of the priests. They were also hereby directed to have
|
|
their eye up unto God in the solemnity, and the <i>desire of their
|
|
hearts towards the remembrance of his name,</i> being appointed to
|
|
attend where he had chosen <i>to place his name,</i> <scripRef passage="De 16:2,6" id="Deu.xvii-p4.9" parsed="|Deut|16|2|0|0;|Deut|16|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.16.2 Bible:Deut.16.6"><i>v.</i> 2 and 6</scripRef>. But, when the
|
|
solemnity was over, they might <i>turn and go unto their tents,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 16:7" id="Deu.xvii-p4.10" parsed="|Deut|16|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.16.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. Some think that
|
|
they might, if they pleased, return the very morning after the
|
|
paschal lamb was killed and eaten, the priests and Levites being
|
|
sufficient to carry on the rest of the week's work; but the first
|
|
day of the seven is so far from being the day of their dispersion
|
|
that it is expressly appointed for a <i>holy convocation</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 23:7,Nu 28:18" id="Deu.xvii-p4.11" parsed="|Lev|23|7|0|0;|Num|28|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.7 Bible:Num.28.18">Lev. xxiii. 7; Num. xxviii.
|
|
18</scripRef>); therefore we must take it as Jonathan's paraphrase
|
|
expounds it, <i>in the morning after the end of the feast thou
|
|
shalt go to thy cities.</i> And it was the practice to keep
|
|
together the whole week, <scripRef passage="2Ch 35:17" id="Deu.xvii-p4.12" parsed="|2Chr|35|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.35.17">2 Chron.
|
|
xxxv. 17</scripRef>. 2. That they must eat unleavened bread for
|
|
seven days, and no leavened bread must be seen in all their coasts,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 16:3,4,8" id="Deu.xvii-p4.13" parsed="|Deut|16|3|16|4;|Deut|16|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.16.3-Deut.16.4 Bible:Deut.16.8"><i>v.</i> 3, 4, 8</scripRef>. The
|
|
bread they were confined to is here called <i>bread of
|
|
affliction,</i> because neither grateful to the taste nor easy of
|
|
digestion, and therefore proper to signify the heaviness of their
|
|
spirits in their bondage and to keep in remembrance the haste in
|
|
which they came out, the case being so urgent that they could not
|
|
stay for the leavening of the bread they took with them for their
|
|
march. The Jewish writers tell us that the custom at the passover
|
|
supper was that the master of the family broke this unleavened
|
|
bread, and gave to every one a piece of it, saying, <i>This is</i>
|
|
(that is, this signifies, represents, or commemorates, which
|
|
explains that saying of our Saviour, <i>This is my body</i>) <i>the
|
|
bread of affliction which your fathers did eat in the land of
|
|
Egypt.</i> The gospel meaning of this feast of unleavened bread the
|
|
apostle gives us, <scripRef passage="1Co 5:7" id="Deu.xvii-p4.14" parsed="|1Cor|5|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.5.7">1 Cor. v.
|
|
7</scripRef>. <i>Christ our passover being sacrificed for us,</i>
|
|
and we having participated in the blessed fruits of that sacrifice
|
|
to our comfort, <i>let us keep the feast</i> in a holy
|
|
conversation, free from <i>the leaven of malice</i> towards our
|
|
brethren and hypocrisy towards God, and <i>with the unleavened
|
|
bread of sincerity</i> and love. <i>Lastly,</i> Observe, concerning
|
|
the passover, for what end it was instituted: "<i>That thou mayest
|
|
remember the day when thou camest forth out of Egypt,</i> not only
|
|
on the day of the passover, or during the seven days of the feast,
|
|
but <i>all the days of thy life</i> (<scripRef passage="De 16:3" id="Deu.xvii-p4.15" parsed="|Deut|16|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.16.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), as a constant inducement to
|
|
obedience." Thus we celebrate the memorial of Christ's death at
|
|
certain times, that we may remember it at all times, as a reason
|
|
why we should <i>live to him that died for us and rose
|
|
again.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xvii-p5">II. Seven weeks after the passover the
|
|
feast of pentecost was to be observed, concerning which they are
|
|
here directed, 1. Whence to number their seven weeks, <i>from the
|
|
time thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn</i> (<scripRef passage="De 16:9" id="Deu.xvii-p5.1" parsed="|Deut|16|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.16.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>), that is, from the morrow
|
|
after the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, for on that
|
|
day (though it is probable the people did not begin their harvest
|
|
till the feast was ended) messengers were sent to reap a sheaf of
|
|
barley, which was to be offered to God as the first-fruits,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 23:10" id="Deu.xvii-p5.2" parsed="|Lev|23|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.10">Lev. xxiii. 10</scripRef>. Some think
|
|
it implies a particular care which Providence would take of their
|
|
land with respect to the weather, that their harvest should be
|
|
always ripe and ready for the sickle just at the same time. 2. How
|
|
they were to keep this feast. (1.) They must <i>bring an offering
|
|
unto God,</i> <scripRef passage="De 16:10" id="Deu.xvii-p5.3" parsed="|Deut|16|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.16.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>.
|
|
It is here called a <i>tribute of a free-will-offering.</i> It was
|
|
required of them as a tribute to their Sovereign Lord and owner,
|
|
under whom they held all they had; and yet because the law did not
|
|
determine the <i>quantum,</i> but it was left to every man's
|
|
generosity to bring what he chose, and whatever he brought he must
|
|
give cheerfully, it is therefore called a <i>free-will
|
|
offering.</i> It was a grateful acknowledgment of the goodness of
|
|
God to them in the mercies of these corn-harvests now finished, and
|
|
therefore must be <i>according as God had blessed them.</i> Where
|
|
God sows plentifully he expects to reap accordingly. (2.) They must
|
|
rejoice before God, <scripRef passage="De 16:11" id="Deu.xvii-p5.4" parsed="|Deut|16|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.16.11"><i>v.</i>
|
|
11</scripRef>. Holy joy is the heart and soul of thankful praises,
|
|
which are as the language and expression of holy joy. They must
|
|
rejoice in their receivings from God, and in their returns of
|
|
service and sacrifice to him; our duty must be our delight as well
|
|
as our enjoyments. They must have their very servants to rejoice
|
|
with them, "for remember (<scripRef passage="De 16:12" id="Deu.xvii-p5.5" parsed="|Deut|16|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.16.12"><i>v.</i>
|
|
12</scripRef>) that <i>thou wast a bond-man,</i> and wouldest have
|
|
been very thankful if thy taskmasters would have given thee some
|
|
time and cause for rejoicing; and thy God did bring thee out to
|
|
keep a feast with gladness; therefore be pleasant with thy
|
|
servants, and make them easy." And, it should seem, those general
|
|
words, <i>thou shalt observe and do these statutes,</i> are added
|
|
here for a particular reason, because this feast was kept in
|
|
remembrance of the giving of the law upon Mount Sinai, fifty days
|
|
after they came out of Egypt; now the best way of expressing our
|
|
thankfulness to God for his favour to us in giving us his law is to
|
|
<i>observe and do according to the precepts</i> of it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xvii-p6">III. They must keep the feast of
|
|
tabernacles, <scripRef passage="De 16:13-15" id="Deu.xvii-p6.1" parsed="|Deut|16|13|16|15" osisRef="Bible:Deut.16.13-Deut.16.15"><i>v.</i>
|
|
13-15</scripRef>. Here is no repetition of the law concerning the
|
|
sacrifices that were to be offered in great abundance at this feast
|
|
(which we had at large, <scripRef passage="Nu 29:12" id="Deu.xvii-p6.2" parsed="|Num|29|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.29.12">Num. xxix.
|
|
12</scripRef>, &c.), because the care of these belonged to the
|
|
priests and Levites, who had not so much need of a repetition as
|
|
the people had, and because the spiritual part of the service,
|
|
which consisted in holy joy, was most pleasing to God, and was to
|
|
be the perpetual duty of a gospel conversation, of which this feast
|
|
was typical. Observe what stress is laid upon it here: <i>Thou
|
|
shalt rejoice in thy feast</i> (<scripRef passage="De 16:14" id="Deu.xvii-p6.3" parsed="|Deut|16|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.16.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>), <i>and, because the Lord shall
|
|
bless thee, thou shalt surely rejoice,</i> <scripRef passage="De 16:15" id="Deu.xvii-p6.4" parsed="|Deut|16|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.16.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. Note, 1. It is the will of God
|
|
that his people should be a cheerful people. If those that were
|
|
under the law must rejoice before God, much more must we that are
|
|
under the grace of the gospel, which makes it our duty, not only as
|
|
here to rejoice in our feasts, but to <i>rejoice evermore, to
|
|
rejoice in the Lord always.</i> 2. When we rejoice in God ourselves
|
|
we should do what we can to assist others also to rejoice in him,
|
|
by comforting the mourners and supplying the necessitous, that even
|
|
<i>the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow may rejoice with
|
|
us.</i> See <scripRef passage="Job 29:13" id="Deu.xvii-p6.5" parsed="|Job|29|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.29.13">Job xxix. 13</scripRef>.
|
|
3. We must rejoice in God, not only because of what we have
|
|
received and are receiving from him daily, but because of what he
|
|
has promised, and we expect to receive yet further from him:
|
|
because <i>he shall bless thee,</i> therefore <i>thou shalt
|
|
rejoice.</i> Those that make God their joy may <i>rejoice in
|
|
hope,</i> for he is faithful that has promised.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xvii-p7">IV. The laws concerning the three solemn
|
|
feasts are summed up (<scripRef passage="De 16:16,17" id="Deu.xvii-p7.1" parsed="|Deut|16|16|16|17" osisRef="Bible:Deut.16.16-Deut.16.17"><i>v.</i> 16,
|
|
17</scripRef>), as often before, <scripRef passage="Ex 23:16,34:23" id="Deu.xvii-p7.2" parsed="|Exod|23|16|0|0;|Exod|34|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.16 Bible:Exod.34.23">Exod. xxiii. 16, 17; xxxiv. 23</scripRef>. The
|
|
general commands concerning them are, 1. That all the males must
|
|
then make their personal appearance before God, that by their
|
|
frequent meeting to worship God, at the same place, and by the same
|
|
rule, they might be kept faithful and constant to that holy
|
|
religion which was established among them. 2. That none must appear
|
|
before God empty, but every man must bring some offering or other,
|
|
in token of a dependence upon God and gratitude to him. And God was
|
|
not unreasonable in his demands; let every man but give as he was
|
|
able, and no more was expected. The same is still the rule of
|
|
charity, <scripRef passage="1Co 16:2" id="Deu.xvii-p7.3" parsed="|1Cor|16|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.16.2">1 Cor. xvi. 2</scripRef>.
|
|
Those that give to their power shall be accepted, but those that
|
|
give beyond their power are accounted worthy of double honour
|
|
(<scripRef passage="2Co 8:3" id="Deu.xvii-p7.4" parsed="|2Cor|8|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.8.3">2 Cor. viii. 3</scripRef>), as the
|
|
poor widow that gave <i>all she had,</i> <scripRef passage="Lu 21:4" id="Deu.xvii-p7.5" parsed="|Luke|21|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.21.4">Luke xxi. 4</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 16" id="Deu.xvii-p7.6" parsed="|Deut|16|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.16"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 16:18-22" id="Deu.xvii-p7.7" parsed="|Deut|16|18|16|22" osisRef="Bible:Deut.16.18-Deut.16.22"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.16.18-Deut.16.22">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xvii-p8">18 Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in
|
|
all thy gates, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvii-p8.1">Lord</span> thy
|
|
God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the
|
|
people with just judgment.   19 Thou shalt not wrest judgment;
|
|
thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift
|
|
doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the
|
|
righteous.   20 That which is altogether just shalt thou
|
|
follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvii-p8.2">Lord</span> thy God giveth thee.   21 Thou
|
|
shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvii-p8.3">Lord</span> thy God, which thou shalt
|
|
make thee.   22 Neither shalt thou set thee up <i>any</i>
|
|
image; which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xvii-p8.4">Lord</span> thy God
|
|
hateth.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xvii-p9">Here is, I. Care taken for the due
|
|
administration of justice among them, that controversies might be
|
|
determined, matters in variance adjusted, the injured redressed,
|
|
and the injurious punished. While they were encamped in the
|
|
wilderness, they had <i>judges and officers</i> according to their
|
|
numbers, rulers of thousands and hundreds, <scripRef passage="Ex 17:25" id="Deu.xvii-p9.1" parsed="|Exod|17|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.25">Exod. xvii. 25</scripRef>. When they came to Canaan,
|
|
they must have them according to their towns and cities, in all
|
|
their gates; for the courts of judgment sat in the gates. Now, 1.
|
|
Here is a commission given to these inferior magistrates: "Judges
|
|
to try and pass sentence, and officers to execute their sentences,
|
|
shalt thou make thee." However the persons were pitched upon,
|
|
whether by the nomination of their sovereign or by the election of
|
|
the people, <i>the power were ordained of God,</i> <scripRef passage="Ro 13:1" id="Deu.xvii-p9.2" parsed="|Rom|13|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.13.1">Rom. xiii. 1</scripRef>. And it was a great mercy
|
|
to the people thus to have justice brought to their doors, that it
|
|
might be more expeditious and less expensive, a blessing which we
|
|
of this nation ought to be very thankful for. Pursuant to this law,
|
|
besides the great sanhedrim that sat at the sanctuary, consisting
|
|
of seventy elders and a president, there was in the larger cities,
|
|
such as had in them above 120 families, a court of twenty-three
|
|
judges, in the smaller cities a court of three judges. See this law
|
|
revived by Jehoshaphat, <scripRef passage="2Ch 19:5,8" id="Deu.xvii-p9.3" parsed="|2Chr|19|5|0|0;|2Chr|19|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.19.5 Bible:2Chr.19.8">2 Chron.
|
|
xix. 5, 8</scripRef>. 2. Here is a command given to these
|
|
magistrates to do justice in the execution of the trust reposed in
|
|
them. Better not judge at all than not judge with just judgment,
|
|
according to the direction of the law and the evidence of the fact.
|
|
(1.) The judges are here cautioned not to do wrong to any
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 16:19" id="Deu.xvii-p9.4" parsed="|Deut|16|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.16.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>), nor to take
|
|
any gifts, which would tempt them to do wrong. This law had been
|
|
given before, <scripRef passage="Ex 23:8" id="Deu.xvii-p9.5" parsed="|Exod|23|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.8">Exod. xxiii.
|
|
8</scripRef>. (2.) They are charged to do justice to all: "<i>That
|
|
which is altogether just shalt thou follow,</i> <scripRef passage="De 16:20" id="Deu.xvii-p9.6" parsed="|Deut|16|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.16.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. Adhere to the principles of
|
|
justice, act by the rules of justice, countenance the demands of
|
|
justice, imitate the patterns of justice, and pursue with
|
|
resolution that which appears to be just. <i>Justice, justice,
|
|
shalt thou follow.</i>" This is that which the magistrate is to
|
|
have in his eye, on this he must be intent, and to this all
|
|
personal regards must be sacrificed, to do <i>right to all</i> and
|
|
<i>wrong to none.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xvii-p10">II. Care taken for the preventing of all
|
|
conformity to the idolatrous customs of the heathen, <scripRef passage="De 16:21,22" id="Deu.xvii-p10.1" parsed="|Deut|16|21|16|22" osisRef="Bible:Deut.16.21-Deut.16.22"><i>v.</i> 21, 22</scripRef>. They must not
|
|
only not join with the idolaters in their worships, not visit their
|
|
groves, nor bow before the images which they had set up, but, 1.
|
|
They must not plant a grove, nor so much as a tree, near God's
|
|
altar lest they should make it look like the altars of the false
|
|
gods. They made groves the places of their worship either to make
|
|
it secret (but that which is true and good desires the light
|
|
rather), or to make it solemn, but the worship of the true God has
|
|
enough in itself to make it so and needs not the advantage of such
|
|
a circumstance. 2. They must not set up any image, statue, or
|
|
pillar, to the honour of God, for it is a thing which the Lord
|
|
hates; nothing belies or reproaches him more, or tends more to
|
|
corrupt and debauch the minds of men, than representing and
|
|
worshipping by an image that God who is an infinite and eternal
|
|
Spirit.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XVII" n="xviii" progress="89.18%" prev="Deu.xvii" next="Deu.xix" id="Deu.xviii">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.xviii-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.xviii-p0.2">CHAP. XVII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.xviii-p1">The charge of this chapter is, I. Concerning the
|
|
purity and perfection of all those animals that were offered in
|
|
sacrifice, <scripRef passage="De 17:1" id="Deu.xviii-p1.1" parsed="|Deut|17|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.1">ver. 1</scripRef>. II.
|
|
Concerning the punishment of those that worshipped idols, <scripRef passage="De 17:2-7" id="Deu.xviii-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|17|2|17|7" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.2-Deut.17.7">ver. 2-7</scripRef>. III. Concerning appeals
|
|
from the inferior courts to the great sanhedrim, <scripRef passage="De 17:8-13" id="Deu.xviii-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|17|8|17|13" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.8-Deut.17.13">ver. 8-13</scripRef>. IV. Concerning the choice and
|
|
duty of a king, <scripRef passage="De 17:14-20" id="Deu.xviii-p1.4" parsed="|Deut|17|14|17|20" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.14-Deut.17.20">ver. 14</scripRef>,
|
|
&c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 17" id="Deu.xviii-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|17|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 17:1-7" id="Deu.xviii-p1.6" parsed="|Deut|17|1|17|7" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.1-Deut.17.7"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.17.1-Deut.17.7">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xviii-p1.7">The Punishment of Idolatry. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xviii-p1.8">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xviii-p2">1 Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xviii-p2.1">Lord</span> thy God <i>any</i> bullock, or sheep,
|
|
wherein is blemish, <i>or</i> any evilfavouredness: for that
|
|
<i>is</i> an abomination unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xviii-p2.2">Lord</span> thy God.   2 If there be found among
|
|
you, within any of thy gates which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xviii-p2.3">Lord</span> thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that
|
|
hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xviii-p2.4">Lord</span> thy God, in transgressing his covenant,
|
|
  3 And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them,
|
|
either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have
|
|
not commanded;   4 And it be told thee, and thou hast heard
|
|
<i>of it,</i> and enquired diligently, and, behold, <i>it be</i>
|
|
true, <i>and</i> the thing certain, <i>that</i> such abomination is
|
|
wrought in Israel:   5 Then shalt thou bring forth that man or
|
|
that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates,
|
|
<i>even</i> that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with
|
|
stones, till they die.   6 At the mouth of two witnesses, or
|
|
three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death;
|
|
<i>but</i> at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to
|
|
death.   7 The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him
|
|
to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So
|
|
thou shalt put the evil away from among you.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xviii-p3">Here is, I. A law for preserving the honour
|
|
of God's worship, by providing that no creature that had any
|
|
blemish should be offered in sacrifice to him, <scripRef passage="De 17:1" id="Deu.xviii-p3.1" parsed="|Deut|17|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. This caveat we have often met
|
|
with: <i>Thou shalt not sacrifice that which has any blemish,</i>
|
|
which renders it unsightly, or <i>any evil matter or thing</i> (as
|
|
the following word night better be rendered), any sickness or
|
|
weakness, though not discernible at first view; it is an
|
|
abomination to God. God is the best of beings, and therefore
|
|
whatsoever he is served with ought to be the best in its kind. And
|
|
the Old-Testament sacrifices in a special manner must be so,
|
|
because they were types of Christ, who is a <i>Lamb without blemish
|
|
or spot</i> (<scripRef passage="1Pe 1:19" id="Deu.xviii-p3.2" parsed="|1Pet|1|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.1.19">1 Pet. i. 19</scripRef>),
|
|
perfectly pure from all sin and all appearance of it. In the latter
|
|
times of the Jewish church, when by the captivity in Babylon they
|
|
were cured of idolatry, yet they were charged with profaneness in
|
|
the breach of this law, with <i>offering the blind, and the lame,
|
|
and the sick for sacrifice,</i> <scripRef passage="Mal 1:8" id="Deu.xviii-p3.3" parsed="|Mal|1|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mal.1.8">Mal. i.
|
|
8</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xviii-p4">II. A law for the punishing of those that
|
|
worshipped false gods. It was made a capital crime to seduce others
|
|
to idolatry (<scripRef passage="De 13:1-18" id="Deu.xviii-p4.1" parsed="|Deut|13|1|13|18" osisRef="Bible:Deut.13.1-Deut.13.18"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xiii.</scripRef>), here it is made no less to be seduced. If the
|
|
<i>blind thus mislead the blind, both must fall into the ditch.</i>
|
|
Thus God would possess them with a dread of that sin, which they
|
|
must conclude exceedingly sinful when so many sanguinary laws were
|
|
made against it, and would deter those from it that would not
|
|
otherwise be persuaded against it; and yet the law, which works
|
|
death, proved ineffectual. See here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xviii-p5">1. What the crime was against which this
|
|
law was levelled, serving or worshipping other gods, <scripRef passage="De 17:3" id="Deu.xviii-p5.1" parsed="|Deut|17|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. That which was the most
|
|
ancient and plausible idolatry is specified, worshipping the sun,
|
|
moon, and stars; and, if that was so detestable a thing, much more
|
|
was it so to worship stocks and stones, or the representations of
|
|
mean and contemptible animals. Of this it is said, (1.) That it is
|
|
what God had not commanded. He had again and again forbidden it;
|
|
but it is thus expressed to intimate that, if there had been no
|
|
more against it, this had been enough (for in the worship of God
|
|
his institution and appointment must be our rule and warrant), and
|
|
that God never commanded his worshippers to debase themselves so
|
|
far as to do homage to their fellow-creatures: had God commanded
|
|
them to do it, they might justly have complained of it as a
|
|
reproach and disparagement to them; yet, when he has forbidden it,
|
|
they will, from a spirit of contradiction, put this indignity upon
|
|
themselves. (2.) That it is <i>wickedness in the sight of God,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 17:2" id="Deu.xviii-p5.2" parsed="|Deut|17|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. Be it ever so
|
|
industriously concealed, he sees it, and, be it ever so ingeniously
|
|
palliated, he hates it: it is a sin in itself exceedingly heinous,
|
|
and the highest affront that can be offered to Almighty God. (3.)
|
|
That it is a transgression of the covenant. It was on this
|
|
condition that God took them to be his peculiar people, that they
|
|
should serve and worship him only as their God, so that if they
|
|
gave to any other the honour which was due to him alone that
|
|
covenant was void, and all the benefit of it forfeited. Other sins
|
|
were transgressions of the command, but this was a transgression of
|
|
the covenant. It was spiritual adultery, which breaks them marriage
|
|
bond. (4.) That it is abomination in Israel, <scripRef passage="De 17:4" id="Deu.xviii-p5.3" parsed="|Deut|17|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. Idolatry was bad enough in any,
|
|
but it was particularly abominable in Israel, a people so blessed
|
|
with peculiar discoveries of the will and favour of the only true
|
|
and living God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xviii-p6">2. How it must be tried. Upon information
|
|
given of it, or any ground of suspicion that any person whatsoever,
|
|
man or woman, had served other gods, (1.) Enquiry must be made,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 17:4" id="Deu.xviii-p6.1" parsed="|Deut|17|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. Though it
|
|
appears not certain at first, it may afterwards upon search appear
|
|
so; and, if it can possibly be discovered, it must not be
|
|
unpunished; if not, yet the very enquiry concerning it would
|
|
possess the country with a dread of it. (2.) Evidence must be given
|
|
in, <scripRef passage="De 17:6" id="Deu.xviii-p6.2" parsed="|Deut|17|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. How heinous
|
|
and dangerous soever the crime is, yet they must not punish any for
|
|
it, unless there were good proof against them, by two witnesses at
|
|
least. They must not, under pretence of honouring God, wrong an
|
|
innocent man. This law, which requires two witnesses in case of
|
|
life, we had before, <scripRef passage="Nu 35:30" id="Deu.xviii-p6.3" parsed="|Num|35|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.30">Num. xxxv.
|
|
30</scripRef>; it is quoted, <scripRef passage="Mt 18:16" id="Deu.xviii-p6.4" parsed="|Matt|18|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.18.16">Matt.
|
|
xviii. 16</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xviii-p7">3. What sentence must be passed and
|
|
executed. So great a punishment as death, so great a death as
|
|
stoning, must be inflicted on the idolater, whether man or woman,
|
|
for the infirmity of the weaker sex would be no excuse, <scripRef passage="De 17:5" id="Deu.xviii-p7.1" parsed="|Deut|17|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. The place of execution
|
|
must be the gate of the city, that the shame might be the greater
|
|
to the criminal and the warning the more public to all others. The
|
|
hands of the witnesses, in this as in other cases, must be first
|
|
upon him, that is, they must cast the first stone at him, thereby
|
|
avowing their testimony, and solemnly imprecating the guilt of his
|
|
blood upon themselves if their evidence were false. This custom
|
|
might be of use to deter men from false-witness bearing. The
|
|
witnesses are really, and therefore it was required that they
|
|
should be actually, the death of the malefactor. But they must be
|
|
followed, and the execution completed, by the hands of all the
|
|
people, who were thus to testify their detestation of the crime and
|
|
to <i>put the evil away from among them,</i> as before, <scripRef passage="De 13:9" id="Deu.xviii-p7.2" parsed="|Deut|13|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.13.9"><i>ch.</i> xiii. 9</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 17:8-13" id="Deu.xviii-p7.3" parsed="|Deut|17|8|17|13" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.8-Deut.17.13"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.17.8-Deut.17.13">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xviii-p7.4">The Authority of the Judges. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xviii-p7.5">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xviii-p8">8 If there arise a matter too hard for thee in
|
|
judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and
|
|
between stroke and stroke, <i>being</i> matters of controversy
|
|
within thy gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up into the
|
|
place which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xviii-p8.1">Lord</span> thy God shall
|
|
choose;   9 And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites,
|
|
and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and enquire; and
|
|
they shall show thee the sentence of judgment:   10 And thou
|
|
shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place which
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xviii-p8.2">Lord</span> shall choose shall show
|
|
thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they
|
|
inform thee:   11 According to the sentence of the law which
|
|
they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they
|
|
shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the
|
|
sentence which they shall show thee, <i>to</i> the right hand, nor
|
|
<i>to</i> the left.   12 And the man that will do
|
|
presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth
|
|
to minister there before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xviii-p8.3">Lord</span>
|
|
thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt
|
|
put away the evil from Israel.   13 And all the people shall
|
|
hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xviii-p9">Courts of judgment were ordered to be
|
|
erected in every city (<scripRef passage="De 16:18" id="Deu.xviii-p9.1" parsed="|Deut|16|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.16.18"><i>ch.</i> xvi.
|
|
18</scripRef>), and they were empowered to hear and determine
|
|
causes according to law, both those which we call pleas of the
|
|
crown and those between party and party; and we may suppose that
|
|
ordinarily they ended the matters that were brought before them,
|
|
and their sentence was definitive; but, 1. It is here taken for
|
|
granted that sometimes a case might come into their court too
|
|
difficult for those inferior judges to determine, who could not be
|
|
thought to be so learned in the laws as those that presided in the
|
|
higher courts; so that (to speak in the language of our law) they
|
|
must find a special verdict, and take time to advise before the
|
|
giving of judgment (<scripRef passage="De 17:8" id="Deu.xviii-p9.2" parsed="|Deut|17|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.8"><i>v.</i>
|
|
8</scripRef>): <i>If there arise a matter too hard for thee in
|
|
judgment,</i> which it would be no dishonour to the judges to own
|
|
the difficulty of,—suppose it between <i>blood and blood,</i> the
|
|
blood of a person which cried and the blood of him that was charged
|
|
with the murder which was demanded, when it was doubtful upon the
|
|
evidence whether it was wilful or casual,—or between <i>plea and
|
|
plea,</i> the plea (that is, the bill or declaration) of the
|
|
plaintiff and the plea of the defendant,—or between <i>stroke and
|
|
stroke,</i> in actions of assault and battery; in these and similar
|
|
cases, thought the evidence were plain, yet doubts might arise
|
|
about the sense and meaning of the law and the application of it to
|
|
the particular case. 2. These difficult cases, which hitherto had
|
|
been brought to Moses, according to Jethro's advice, were, after
|
|
his death, to be brought to the supreme power, wherever it was
|
|
lodged, whether in a judge (when there was such an extraordinary
|
|
person raised up and qualified for that great service, as Othniel,
|
|
Deborah, Gideon, &c.) or in the high-priest (when he was by the
|
|
eminency of his gifts called of God to preside in public affairs,
|
|
as Eli), or, if no single person were marked by heaven for this
|
|
honour, then in the priests and Levites (or in the priests, who
|
|
were Levites of course), who not only attended the sanctuary, but
|
|
met in council to receive appeals from the inferior courts, who
|
|
might reasonably be supposed, not only to be best qualified by
|
|
their learning and experience, but to have the best assistance of
|
|
the divine Spirit for the deciding of doubts, <scripRef passage="De 17:9,11,12" id="Deu.xviii-p9.3" parsed="|Deut|17|9|0|0;|Deut|17|11|0|0;|Deut|17|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.9 Bible:Deut.17.11 Bible:Deut.17.12"><i>v.</i> 9, 11, 12</scripRef>. They are not
|
|
appointed to consult the urim and thummim, for it is supposed that
|
|
these were to be consulted only in cases relating to the public,
|
|
either the body of the people or the prince; but in ordinary cases
|
|
the wisdom and integrity of those that sat at the stern must be
|
|
relied on, their judgment had not the divine authority of an
|
|
oracle, yet besides the moral certainty it had, as the judgment of
|
|
knowing, prudent, and experienced men, it had the advantage of a
|
|
divine promise, implied in those words (<scripRef passage="De 17:9" id="Deu.xviii-p9.4" parsed="|Deut|17|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>), <i>They shall show thee the
|
|
sentence of judgment;</i> it had also the support of a divine
|
|
institution, by which they were made the supreme judicature of the
|
|
nation. 3. The definitive sentence given by the judge, priest, or
|
|
great council, must be obeyed by the parties concerned, upon pain
|
|
of death: <i>Thou shalt do according to their sentence</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 17:10" id="Deu.xviii-p9.5" parsed="|Deut|17|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>); thou shalt
|
|
observe to do it, thou shalt not <i>decline from it</i> (<scripRef passage="De 17:11" id="Deu.xviii-p9.6" parsed="|Deut|17|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>), <i>to the right hand
|
|
nor to the left.</i> Note, It is for the honour of God and the
|
|
welfare of a people that the authority of the higher power be
|
|
supported and the due order of government observed, that those be
|
|
obeyed who are appointed to rule, and that every soul be subject to
|
|
them in all those things that fall within their commission. Though
|
|
the party thought himself injured by the sentence (as every man is
|
|
apt to be partial in is own cause), yet he must needs be subject,
|
|
must stand to the award, how unpleasing soever, and bear, or lose,
|
|
or pay, according to it, not only for wrath, but also for
|
|
conscience' sake. But if an inferior judge contradict the sentence
|
|
of the higher court and will not execute the orders of it, or a
|
|
private person refuse to conform to their sentence, the contumacy
|
|
must be punished with death, though the matter were ever so small
|
|
in which the opposition was made: <i>That man shall die, and all
|
|
the people shall hear and fear,</i> <scripRef passage="De 17:12,13" id="Deu.xviii-p9.7" parsed="|Deut|17|12|17|13" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.12-Deut.17.13"><i>v.</i> 12, 13</scripRef>. See here, (1.) The evil
|
|
of disobedience. Rebellion and stubbornness, from a spirit of
|
|
contradiction and opposition of God, or those in authority under
|
|
him, from a principle of contempt and self-willedness, are as
|
|
witchcraft and idolatry. To differ in opinion from weakness and
|
|
infirmity may be excused and must be borne with; but to do so
|
|
presumptuously, in pride and wickedness (as the ancient
|
|
translations explain it), this is to take up arms against the
|
|
government, and is an affront to him by whom the powers that be are
|
|
ordained. (2.) The design of punishment: that others may hear and
|
|
fear, and not do the like. Some would be so considerate as to infer
|
|
the heinousness of the offence from the grievousness of the
|
|
penalty, and therefore would detest it; and others would so far
|
|
consult their own safety as to cross their humours by conforming to
|
|
the sentence rather than to sin against their own heads, and
|
|
forfeit their lives by going contrary to it. From this law the
|
|
apostle infers the greatness of the punishment of which those will
|
|
be thought worthy that trample on the authority of the Son of God,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Heb 10:28,29" id="Deu.xviii-p9.8" parsed="|Heb|10|28|10|29" osisRef="Bible:Heb.10.28-Heb.10.29">Heb. x. 28, 29</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 17" id="Deu.xviii-p9.9" parsed="|Deut|17|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 17:14-20" id="Deu.xviii-p9.10" parsed="|Deut|17|14|17|20" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.14-Deut.17.20"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.17.14-Deut.17.20">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xviii-p9.11">The Choice of a King. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xviii-p9.12">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xviii-p10">14 When thou art come unto the land which the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xviii-p10.1">Lord</span> thy God giveth thee, and shalt
|
|
possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a
|
|
king over me, like as all the nations that <i>are</i> about me;
|
|
  15 Thou shalt in any wise set <i>him</i> king over thee,
|
|
whom the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xviii-p10.2">Lord</span> thy God shall choose:
|
|
<i>one</i> from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee:
|
|
thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which <i>is</i> not thy
|
|
brother.   16 But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor
|
|
cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should
|
|
multiply horses: forasmuch as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xviii-p10.3">Lord</span> hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth
|
|
return no more that way.   17 Neither shall he multiply wives
|
|
to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly
|
|
multiply to himself silver and gold.   18 And it shall be,
|
|
when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write
|
|
him a copy of this law in a book out of <i>that which is</i> before
|
|
the priests the Levites:   19 And it shall be with him, and he
|
|
shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to
|
|
fear the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xviii-p10.4">Lord</span> his God, to keep all
|
|
the words of this law and these statutes, to do them:   20
|
|
That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he
|
|
turn not aside from the commandment, <i>to</i> the right hand, or
|
|
<i>to</i> the left: to the end that he may prolong <i>his</i> days
|
|
in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xviii-p11">After the laws which concerned subjects
|
|
fitly followed the laws which concern kings; for those that rule
|
|
others must themselves remember that they are under command. Here
|
|
are laws given,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xviii-p12">I. To the electors of the empire, what
|
|
rules they must go by in making their choice, <scripRef passage="De 17:14,15" id="Deu.xviii-p12.1" parsed="|Deut|17|14|17|15" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.14-Deut.17.15"><i>v.</i> 14, 15</scripRef>. 1. It is here supposed
|
|
that the people would, in process of time, be desirous of a king,
|
|
whose royal pomp and power would be thought to make their nation
|
|
look great among their neighbours. Their having a king is neither
|
|
promised as a mercy nor commanded as a duty (nothing could be
|
|
better for them than the divine regimen they were under), but it is
|
|
permitted them if they desired it. If they would but take care to
|
|
have the ends of government answered, and God's laws duly observed
|
|
and put in execution, they should not be tied to any one form of
|
|
government, but should be welcome to have a king. Though something
|
|
irregular is supposed to be the principle of the desire, that they
|
|
might be like the nations (whereas God in many ways distinguished
|
|
them from the nations), yet God would indulge them in it, because
|
|
he intended to serve his own purposes by it, in making the regal
|
|
government typical of the kingdom of the Messiah. 2. They are
|
|
directed in their choice. If they will have a king over them, as
|
|
God foresaw they would (though it does not appear that ever the
|
|
motion was made till almost 400 years after), then they must, (1.)
|
|
Ask counsel at God's mouth, and make him king whom God shall
|
|
choose; and happy it was for them that they had an oracle to
|
|
consult in so weighty an affair, and a God to choose for them who
|
|
knows infallibly what every man is and will be. Kings are God's
|
|
vicegerents, and therefore it is fit that he should have the
|
|
choosing of them: God had himself been in a particular manner
|
|
Israel's King, and if they set another over them, under him, it was
|
|
necessary that he should nominate the person. Accordingly, when the
|
|
people desired a king, they applied to Samuel a prophet of the
|
|
Lord; and afterwards David, Solomon, Jeroboam, Jehu, and others,
|
|
were chosen by the prophets; and the people are reproved for not
|
|
observing this law, <scripRef passage="Ho 8:4" id="Deu.xviii-p12.2" parsed="|Hos|8|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.8.4">Hos. viii.
|
|
4</scripRef>: <i>They have set up kings but not by me.</i> In all
|
|
cases God's choice, if we can but know it, should direct,
|
|
determine, and overrule ours. (2.) They must not choose a foreigner
|
|
under pretence of strengthening their alliances, or of the
|
|
extraordinary fitness of the person, lest a strange king should
|
|
introduce strange customs of usages, contrary to those that were
|
|
established by the divine law; but he must be <i>one from among thy
|
|
brethren,</i> that he may be a type of Christ, who is bone of our
|
|
bone, <scripRef passage="Heb 2:14" id="Deu.xviii-p12.3" parsed="|Heb|2|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.2.14">Heb. ii. 14</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xviii-p13">II. Laws are here given to the prince that
|
|
should be elected for the due administration of the government.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xviii-p14">1. He must carefully avoid every thing that
|
|
would divert him from God and religion. Riches, honours, and
|
|
pleasures are the three great hindrances of godliness (<i>the lusts
|
|
of the flesh, the lusts of the eye, and the pride of life</i>),
|
|
especially to those in high stations: against these therefore the
|
|
king is here warned. (1.) He must not gratify the love of honour by
|
|
multiplying horses, <scripRef passage="De 17:16" id="Deu.xviii-p14.1" parsed="|Deut|17|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.16"><i>v.</i>
|
|
16</scripRef>. He that rode upon a horse (a stately creature) in a
|
|
country where asses and mules were generally used looked very
|
|
great; and therefore though he might have horses for his own
|
|
saddle, and chariots, yet he must not set <i>servants on
|
|
horseback</i> (<scripRef passage="Ec 10:7" id="Deu.xviii-p14.2" parsed="|Eccl|10|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.10.7">Eccl. x. 7</scripRef>)
|
|
nor have many horses for his officers and guards (when God was
|
|
their King, his judges rode on asses, <scripRef passage="Jdg 5:10,12:14" id="Deu.xviii-p14.3" parsed="|Judg|5|10|0|0;|Judg|12|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.5.10 Bible:Judg.12.14">Judg. v. 10; xii. 14</scripRef>), nor must he
|
|
multiply horses for war, lest he should trust too much to them,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 20:7,33:17,Ho 14:3" id="Deu.xviii-p14.4" parsed="|Ps|20|7|0|0;|Ps|33|17|0|0;|Hos|14|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.20.7 Bible:Ps.33.17 Bible:Hos.14.3">Ps. xx. 7; xxxiii. 17;
|
|
Hos. xiv. 3</scripRef>. The reason here given against his
|
|
multiplying horses is because it would produce a greater
|
|
correspondence with Egypt (which furnished Canaan with horses,
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Ki 10:28,29" id="Deu.xviii-p14.5" parsed="|1Kgs|10|28|10|29" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.10.28-1Kgs.10.29">1 Kings x. 28, 29</scripRef>) than
|
|
it was fit the Israel of God should have, who were brought thence
|
|
with such a high hand: <i>You shall return no more that way,</i>
|
|
for fear of being infected with the idolatries of Egypt (<scripRef passage="Le 18:3" id="Deu.xviii-p14.6" parsed="|Lev|18|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.3">Lev. xviii. 3</scripRef>), to which they were
|
|
very prone. Note, We should take heed of that commerce or
|
|
conversation by which we are in danger of being drawn into sin. If
|
|
Israel must not return to Egypt, they must not trade with Egypt;
|
|
Solomon got no good by it. (2.) He must not gratify the love of
|
|
pleasure by multiplying wives (<scripRef passage="De 17:17" id="Deu.xviii-p14.7" parsed="|Deut|17|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>), as Solomon did to his undoing
|
|
(<scripRef passage="1Ki 11:1" id="Deu.xviii-p14.8" parsed="|1Kgs|11|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.11.1">1 Kings xi. 1</scripRef>), that his
|
|
heart, being set upon them, turn not away from business, and every
|
|
thing that is serious, and especially from the exercise of piety
|
|
and devotion, to which nothing is a greater enemy than the
|
|
indulgence of the flesh. (3.) He must not gratify the love of
|
|
riches by greatly multiplying silver and gold. A competent treasure
|
|
is allowed him, and he is not forbidden to be good husband of it,
|
|
but, [1.] He must not greatly multiply money, so as to oppress his
|
|
people by raising it (as Solomon seems to have done, <scripRef passage="1Ki 12:4" id="Deu.xviii-p14.9" parsed="|1Kgs|12|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.12.4">1 Kings xii. 4</scripRef>), nor so as to deceive
|
|
himself, by trusting to it, and setting his heart upon it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 62:10" id="Deu.xviii-p14.10" parsed="|Ps|62|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.62.10">Ps. lxii. 10</scripRef>. [2.] He must
|
|
not multiply it to himself. David multiplied silver and gold, but
|
|
it was for the service of God (<scripRef passage="1Ch 29:4" id="Deu.xviii-p14.11" parsed="|1Chr|29|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Chr.29.4">1
|
|
Chron. xxix. 4</scripRef>), not for himself; for his people, not
|
|
for his own family.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xviii-p15">2. He must carefully apply himself to the
|
|
law of God, and make that his rule. This must be to him better than
|
|
all riches, honours, and pleasures, than many horses or many wives,
|
|
better than thousands of gold and silver.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xviii-p16">(1.) He must write himself a copy of the
|
|
law out of the original, which was in the custody of the priests
|
|
that attended the sanctuary, <scripRef passage="De 17:18" id="Deu.xviii-p16.1" parsed="|Deut|17|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.18"><i>v.</i>
|
|
18</scripRef>. Some think that he was to write only this book of
|
|
Deuteronomy, which is an abstract of the law, and the precepts of
|
|
which, being mostly moral and judicial, concerned the king more
|
|
than the laws in Leviticus and Numbers, which, being ceremonial,
|
|
concerned chiefly the priests. Others think that he was to
|
|
transcribe all the five books of Moses, which are called <i>the
|
|
law,</i> and which were preserved together as the foundation of
|
|
their religion. Now, [1.] Though the king might be presumed to have
|
|
very fair copies by him from his ancestors, yet, besides those, he
|
|
must have one of his own: it might be presumed that theirs were
|
|
worn with constant use; he must have a fresh one to begin the world
|
|
with. [2.] Though he had secretaries about him whom he might employ
|
|
to write this copy, and who perhaps could write a better hand than
|
|
he, yet he must do it himself, with his own hand, for the honour of
|
|
the law, and that he might think no act of religion below him, to
|
|
inure himself to labour and study, and especially that he might
|
|
thereby be obliged to take particular notice of every part of the
|
|
law and by writing it might imprint it in his mind. Note, It is of
|
|
great use for each of us to write down what we observe as most
|
|
affecting and edifying to us, out of the scriptures and good books,
|
|
and out of the sermons we hear. A prudent pen may go far towards
|
|
making up the deficiencies of the memory, and the furnishing of the
|
|
treasures of the good householder with things new and old. [3.] He
|
|
must do this even when he sits upon the throne of his kingdom,
|
|
provided that he had not done it before. When he begins to apply
|
|
himself to business, he must apply himself to this in the first
|
|
place. He that sits upon the throne of a kingdom cannot but have
|
|
his hands full. The affairs of his kingdom both at home and abroad
|
|
call for a large share of his time and thoughts, and yet he must
|
|
write himself a copy of the law. Let not those who call themselves
|
|
men of business think that this will excuse them from making
|
|
religion their business; nor let great men think it any
|
|
disparagement to them to write for themselves those <i>great things
|
|
of God's law which he hath written to them,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 8:12" id="Deu.xviii-p16.2" parsed="|Heb|8|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.8.12">Hos. viii. 12</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xviii-p17">(2.) Having a Bible by him of his own
|
|
writing, he must not think it enough to keep it in his cabinet, but
|
|
he must <i>read therein all the days of his life,</i> <scripRef passage="De 17:19" id="Deu.xviii-p17.1" parsed="|Deut|17|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. It is not enough to
|
|
have Bibles, but we must use them, use them daily, as the duty and
|
|
necessity of everyday require: our souls must have their constant
|
|
meals of that manna; and, if well digested, it will be true
|
|
nourishment and strength to them. As the body is receiving benefit
|
|
by its food continually, and not only when it is eating, so is the
|
|
soul, by the word of God, if it <i>meditate therein day and
|
|
night,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 1:2" id="Deu.xviii-p17.2" parsed="|Ps|1|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.1.2">Ps. i. 2</scripRef>. And we
|
|
must persevere in the use of the written word of God as long as we
|
|
live. Christ's scholars never learn above their Bibles, but will
|
|
have a constant occasion for them till they come to that world
|
|
where knowledge and love will both be made perfect.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xviii-p18">(3.) His writing and reading were all
|
|
nothing if he did not reduce to practice what he wrote and read,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 17:19,20" id="Deu.xviii-p18.1" parsed="|Deut|17|19|17|20" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.19-Deut.17.20"><i>v.</i> 19, 20</scripRef>. The
|
|
word of God is not designed merely to be and entertaining subject
|
|
of speculation, but to be a commanding rule of conversation. Let
|
|
him know, [1.] What dominion his religion must have over him, and
|
|
what influence it must have upon him. <i>First,</i> It must possess
|
|
him with a very reverent and awful regard to the divine majesty and
|
|
authority. He must learn (and thus the most learned must by ever
|
|
learning) <i>to fear the Lord his God;</i> and, as high as he is,
|
|
he must remember that God is above him, and, whatever fear his
|
|
subjects owe to him, that, and much more, he owes to God as his
|
|
King. <i>Secondly,</i> It must engage him to a constant observance
|
|
of the law of God, and a conscientious obedience to it, as the
|
|
effect of that fear. He must keep <i>all the words of this law</i>
|
|
(he is <i>custos utriusque tabulae—the keeper of both tables</i>),
|
|
not only take care that others do them, but do them himself as a
|
|
humble servant to the God of heaven and a good example to his
|
|
inferiors. <i>Thirdly,</i> It must keep him humble. How much soever
|
|
he is advanced, let him keep his spirit low, and let the <i>fear of
|
|
his God prevent the contempt of his brethren;</i> and let not his
|
|
heart <i>be lifted up above them,</i> so as to carry himself
|
|
haughtily or disdainfully towards them, and to trample upon them.
|
|
Let him not conceit himself better than they because he is greater
|
|
and makes a fairer show; but let him remember that he is the
|
|
<i>minister of God to them for good</i> (<i>major singulis,</i> but
|
|
<i>minor universis</i>—<i>greater than any one,</i> but <i>less
|
|
than the whole</i>). It must prevent his errors, either <i>on he
|
|
right hand or on the left</i> (for there are errors on both hands),
|
|
and keep him right, in all instances, to his God and to his duty.
|
|
[2.] What advantage his religion would be of to him. Those that
|
|
fear God and keep his commandments will certainly fare the better
|
|
for it in this world. The greatest monarch in the world may receive
|
|
more benefit by religion than by all the wealth and power of his
|
|
monarchy. It will be of advantage, <i>First,</i> To his person:
|
|
<i>He shall prolong his days in his kingdom.</i> We find in the
|
|
history of the kings of Judah that, generally, the best reigns were
|
|
the longest, except when God shortened them for the punishment of
|
|
the people, as Josiah's. <i>Secondly,</i> To his family: his
|
|
children shall also prosper. Entail religion upon posterity, and
|
|
God will entail a blessing upon it.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XVIII" n="xix" progress="89.72%" prev="Deu.xviii" next="Deu.xx" id="Deu.xix">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.xix-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.xix-p0.2">CHAP. XVIII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.xix-p1">In this chapter, I. The rights and revenues of the
|
|
church are settled, and rules given concerning the Levites'
|
|
ministration and maintenance, <scripRef passage="De 18:1-8" id="Deu.xix-p1.1" parsed="|Deut|18|1|18|8" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18.1-Deut.18.8">ver.
|
|
1-8</scripRef>. II. The caution against the idolatrous abominable
|
|
customs of the heathen is repeated, <scripRef passage="De 18:9-14" id="Deu.xix-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|18|9|18|14" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18.9-Deut.18.14">ver. 9-14</scripRef>. III. A promise is given them of
|
|
the spirit of prophecy to continue among them, and to centre at
|
|
last in Christ the great prophet, <scripRef passage="De 18:15-18" id="Deu.xix-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|18|15|18|18" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18.15-Deut.18.18">ver. 15-18</scripRef>. IV. Wrath threatened against
|
|
those that despise prophecy (<scripRef passage="De 18:19" id="Deu.xix-p1.4" parsed="|Deut|18|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18.19">ver.
|
|
19</scripRef>) or counterfeit it (<scripRef passage="De 18:20" id="Deu.xix-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|18|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18.20">ver.
|
|
20</scripRef>), and a rule given for the trial of it, <scripRef passage="De 18:21,22" id="Deu.xix-p1.6" parsed="|Deut|18|21|18|22" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18.21-Deut.18.22">ver. 21, 22</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 18" id="Deu.xix-p1.7" parsed="|Deut|18|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 18:1-8" id="Deu.xix-p1.8" parsed="|Deut|18|1|18|8" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18.1-Deut.18.8"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.18.1-Deut.18.8">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xix-p1.9">Maintenance of the Levites. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xix-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xix-p2">1 The priests the Levites, <i>and</i> all the
|
|
tribe of Levi, shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel: they
|
|
shall eat the offerings of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xix-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
made by fire, and his inheritance.   2 Therefore shall they
|
|
have no inheritance among their brethren: the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xix-p2.2">Lord</span> <i>is</i> their inheritance, as he hath
|
|
said unto them.   3 And this shall be the priest's due from
|
|
the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether <i>it be</i>
|
|
ox or sheep; and they shall give unto the priest the shoulder, and
|
|
the two cheeks, and the maw.   4 The firstfruits <i>also</i>
|
|
of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the first of the
|
|
fleece of thy sheep, shalt thou give him.   5 For the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xix-p2.3">Lord</span> thy God hath chosen him out of all
|
|
thy tribes, to stand to minister in the name of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xix-p2.4">Lord</span>, him and his sons for ever.   6 And if
|
|
a Levite come from any of thy gates out of all Israel, where he
|
|
sojourned, and come with all the desire of his mind unto the place
|
|
which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xix-p2.5">Lord</span> shall choose;  
|
|
7 Then he shall minister in the name of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xix-p2.6">Lord</span> his God, as all his brethren the Levites
|
|
<i>do,</i> which stand there before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xix-p2.7">Lord</span>.   8 They shall have like portions to
|
|
eat, beside that which cometh of the sale of his patrimony.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xix-p3">Magistracy and ministry are two divine
|
|
institutions of admirable use for the support and advancement of
|
|
the <i>kingdom of God among men.</i> Laws concerning the former we
|
|
had in the close of the foregoing chapter, directions are in this
|
|
given concerning the latter. Land-marks are here set between the
|
|
estates of the priests and those of the people.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xix-p4">I. Care is taken that the priests entangle
|
|
not themselves with the affairs of this life, nor enrich themselves
|
|
with the wealth of this world; they have better things to mind.
|
|
They <i>shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel,</i> that
|
|
is, no share either in the spoils taken in war or in the land that
|
|
was to be divided by lot, <scripRef passage="De 18:1" id="Deu.xix-p4.1" parsed="|Deut|18|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18.1"><i>v.</i>
|
|
1</scripRef>. Their warfare and husbandry are both spiritual, and
|
|
enough to fill their hands both with work and profit and to content
|
|
them. <i>The Lord is their inheritance,</i> <scripRef passage="De 18:2" id="Deu.xix-p4.2" parsed="|Deut|18|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. Note, Those that have God for
|
|
their inheritance, according to the new covenant, should not be
|
|
greedy of great things in the world, neither gripe what they have
|
|
nor grasp at more, but look upon all present things with the
|
|
indifference which becomes those that believe God to be
|
|
all-sufficient.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xix-p5">II. Care is likewise taken that they want
|
|
not any of the comforts and conveniences of this life. Though God,
|
|
who is a Spirit, is their inheritance, it does not therefore follow
|
|
that they must live upon the air; no,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xix-p6">1. The people must provide for them. They
|
|
must have their <i>due from the people,</i> <scripRef passage="De 18:3" id="Deu.xix-p6.1" parsed="|Deut|18|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. Their maintenance must not depend
|
|
upon the generosity of the people, but they must be by law entitled
|
|
to it. He that is taught in the word ought in justice to
|
|
communicate to him that teaches him; and he that has the benefit of
|
|
solemn religious assemblies ought to contribute to the comfortable
|
|
support of those that preside in such assemblies. (1.) The priests
|
|
who in their courses served at the altar had their share of the
|
|
sacrifices, namely, the peace-offerings, that were brought while
|
|
they were in waiting: besides the breast and shoulder, which were
|
|
appointed them before (<scripRef passage="Le 7:32-34" id="Deu.xix-p6.2" parsed="|Lev|7|32|7|34" osisRef="Bible:Lev.7.32-Lev.7.34">Lev. vii.
|
|
32-34</scripRef>), the cheeks and maw are here ordered to be given
|
|
them; so far was the law from diminishing what was already granted
|
|
that it gave them an augmentation (2.) The first-fruits which arose
|
|
within such a precinct were brought in, as it should seem, to the
|
|
priests that resided among them, for their maintenance in the
|
|
country; the first of their corn and wine for food, and the first
|
|
of their fleece for clothing (<scripRef passage="De 18:4" id="Deu.xix-p6.3" parsed="|Deut|18|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18.4"><i>v.</i>
|
|
4</scripRef>); for the priests who were employed to teach others
|
|
ought themselves to learn, having food and raiment, to be therewith
|
|
content. The first-fruits were devoted to God, and he constituted
|
|
the priests his receivers; and if God reckons what is, in general,
|
|
given to the poor, lent to him, to be repaid with interest, much
|
|
more what is, in particular, given to the poor, lent to him, to be
|
|
repaid with interest, much more what is, in particular, given to
|
|
poor ministers. There is a good reason given for this constant
|
|
charge upon their estates (<scripRef passage="De 18:5" id="Deu.xix-p6.4" parsed="|Deut|18|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18.5"><i>v.</i>
|
|
5</scripRef>), because the Levites were <i>chosen of God,</i> and
|
|
his choice must be owned and countenanced, and those honoured by us
|
|
whom he honours; and <i>because they stood to minister,</i> and
|
|
ought to be recompensed for their attendance and labour, especially
|
|
since it was <i>in the name of the Lord,</i> by his warrant, in his
|
|
service, and for his praise, and this charge entailed upon their
|
|
seed for ever; those who were thus engaged and thus employed ought
|
|
to have all due encouragement given them, as some of the most
|
|
needful useful members of their commonwealth.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xix-p7">2. The priests must not themselves stand in
|
|
one another's light. If a priest that by the law was obliged to
|
|
serve at the altar only in his turn, and was paid for that, should,
|
|
out of his great affection to the sanctuary, devote himself to a
|
|
constant attendance there, and quit the ease and pleasure of the
|
|
city in which he had his lot for the satisfaction of serving the
|
|
altar, the priests whose turn it was to attend must admit him both
|
|
to join in the work and to share in the wages, and not grudge him
|
|
either the honour of the one or the profit of the other, though it
|
|
might seem to break in upon them, <scripRef passage="De 18:6-8" id="Deu.xix-p7.1" parsed="|Deut|18|6|18|8" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18.6-Deut.18.8"><i>v.</i> 6-8</scripRef>. Note, A hearty pious zeal to
|
|
serve God and his church, though it may a little encroach upon a
|
|
settled order, and there may be somewhat in it that looks
|
|
irregular, yet ought to be gratified and not discouraged. He that
|
|
appears to have a hearty affection to the sanctuary, and loves
|
|
dearly to be employed in the service of it, <i>in God's name let
|
|
him minister;</i> he shall be as welcome to God as the Levites
|
|
whose course it was to minister, and should be so to them. The
|
|
settling of the courses was intended rather to secure those to the
|
|
work that were not willing to do so much than to exclude any that
|
|
were willing to do more. And he that thus serves as a volunteer
|
|
shall have as good pay as the pressed men, <i>besides that which
|
|
comes of the sale of his patrimony.</i> The church of Rome obliges
|
|
those who leave their estates to go into a monastery to bring the
|
|
produce of their estates with them into the common stock of the
|
|
monastery, for gain is their godliness; but here it is ordered that
|
|
the pious devotee should reserve to himself the produce of his
|
|
patrimony, for religion and the ministry were never appointed of
|
|
God, however they have been abused by men, to serve a secular
|
|
interest.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 18:9-14" id="Deu.xix-p7.2" parsed="|Deut|18|9|18|14" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18.9-Deut.18.14"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.18.9-Deut.18.14">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xix-p7.3">Idolatrous Customs of the
|
|
Canaanites. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xix-p7.4">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xix-p8">9 When thou art come into the land which the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xix-p8.1">Lord</span> thy God giveth thee, thou shalt
|
|
not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.   10
|
|
There shall not be found among you <i>any one</i> that maketh his
|
|
son or his daughter to pass through the fire, <i>or</i> that useth
|
|
divination, <i>or</i> an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a
|
|
witch,   11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar
|
|
spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.   12 For all that do
|
|
these things <i>are</i> an abomination unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xix-p8.2">Lord</span>: and because of these abominations the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xix-p8.3">Lord</span> thy God doth drive them out
|
|
from before thee.   13 Thou shalt be perfect with the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xix-p8.4">Lord</span> thy God.   14 For these nations,
|
|
which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and
|
|
unto diviners: but as for thee, the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xix-p8.5">Lord</span> thy God hath not suffered thee so <i>to
|
|
do.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xix-p9">One would not think there had been so much
|
|
need as it seems there was to arm the people of Israel against the
|
|
infection of the idolatrous customs of the Canaanites. Was it
|
|
possible that a people so blessed with divine institutions should
|
|
ever admit the brutish and barbarous inventions of men and devils?
|
|
Were they in any danger of making those their tutors and directors
|
|
in religion whom God had made their captives and tributaries? It
|
|
seems they were in danger, and therefore, after many similar
|
|
cautions, they are here charged not to do after the abominations of
|
|
those nations, <scripRef passage="De 18:9" id="Deu.xix-p9.1" parsed="|Deut|18|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18.9"><i>v.</i>
|
|
9</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xix-p10">I. Some particulars are specified; as, 1.
|
|
The consecrating of their children to Moloch, an idol that
|
|
represented the sun, by making them to <i>pass through the
|
|
fire,</i> and sometimes consuming them as sacrifices in the fire,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 18:10" id="Deu.xix-p10.1" parsed="|Deut|18|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. See the law
|
|
against this before, <scripRef passage="Le 18:21" id="Deu.xix-p10.2" parsed="|Lev|18|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.21">Lev. xviii.
|
|
21</scripRef>. 2. Using arts of divination, to get the unnecessary
|
|
knowledge of things to come, <i>enchantments, witchcrafts, charms,
|
|
&c.,</i> by which the power and knowledge peculiar to God were
|
|
attributed to the devil, to the great reproach both of God's
|
|
counsels and of his providence, <scripRef passage="De 18:10,11" id="Deu.xix-p10.3" parsed="|Deut|18|10|18|11" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18.10-Deut.18.11"><i>v.</i> 10, 11</scripRef>. One would wonder that
|
|
such arts and works of darkness, so senseless and absurd, so
|
|
impious and profane, could be found in a country where divine
|
|
revelation shone so clearly; yet we find remains of them even where
|
|
Christ's holy religion is known and professed; such are the powers
|
|
and policies of the <i>rulers of the darkness of this world.</i>
|
|
But let those give heed to fortune-tellers, or go to wizards for
|
|
the discovery of things secret, that use spells for the cure of
|
|
diseases, are in any league or acquaintance with familiar spirits,
|
|
or form a confederacy with those that are—let them know that they
|
|
can have no fellowship with God while thus they have fellowship
|
|
with devils. It is amazing to think that there should by any
|
|
pretenders of this kind in such a land and day of light as we live
|
|
in.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xix-p11">II. Some reasons are given against their
|
|
conformity to the customs of the Gentiles. 1. Because it would make
|
|
them abominable to God. The things themselves being hateful to him,
|
|
those that do them are an abomination; and miserable is that
|
|
creature that has become odious to its Creator, <scripRef passage="De 18:12" id="Deu.xix-p11.1" parsed="|Deut|18|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. See the malignity and
|
|
mischievousness of sin; that must needs be an evil thing indeed
|
|
which provokes the God of mercy to detest the work of his own
|
|
hands. 2. Because these abominable practices had been the ruin of
|
|
the Canaanites, of which ruin they were not only the witnesses but
|
|
the instruments. It would be the most inexcusable folly, as well as
|
|
the most unpardonable impiety, for them to practise themselves
|
|
those very things for which they had been employed so severely to
|
|
chastise others. Did the land spue out the abominations of the
|
|
Canaanites, and shall Israel lick up the vomit? 3. Because they
|
|
were <i>better taught,</i> <scripRef passage="De 18:13,14" id="Deu.xix-p11.2" parsed="|Deut|18|13|18|14" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18.13-Deut.18.14"><i>v.</i> 13, 14</scripRef>. It is an argument like
|
|
that of the apostle against Christians walking as the Gentiles
|
|
walked (<scripRef passage="Eph 4:17,18,20" id="Deu.xix-p11.3" parsed="|Eph|4|17|4|18;|Eph|4|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eph.4.17-Eph.4.18 Bible:Eph.4.20">Eph. iv. 17, 18,
|
|
20</scripRef>): <i>You have not so learned Christ.</i> "It is true
|
|
these nations, whom God <i>gave up to their own hearts' lusts, and
|
|
suffered to walk in their own ways</i> (<scripRef passage="Ac 14:16" id="Deu.xix-p11.4" parsed="|Acts|14|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.14.16">Acts xiv. 16</scripRef>), did thus corrupt themselves;
|
|
but thou art not thus abandoned by the grace of God: <i>the Lord
|
|
thy God had not suffered thee to do so;</i> thou art instructed in
|
|
divine things, and hast fair warning given thee of the evil of
|
|
those practices; and therefore, whatever others do, it is expected
|
|
that thou shouldest be <i>perfect with the Lord thy God,</i>" that
|
|
is, "that thou shouldest give divine honours to him, to him only,
|
|
and to no other, and not mix any of the superstitious customs of
|
|
the heathen with his institutions." One of the Chaldee paraphrasts
|
|
here takes notice of God's furnishing them with the oracle of urim
|
|
and thummim, as a preservative from all unlawful arts of
|
|
divination. Those were fools indeed who would go to consult the
|
|
father of lies when they had such a ready way of consulting the God
|
|
of truth.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 18" id="Deu.xix-p11.5" parsed="|Deut|18|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 18:15-22" id="Deu.xix-p11.6" parsed="|Deut|18|15|18|22" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18.15-Deut.18.22"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.18.15-Deut.18.22">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xix-p11.7">The Great Prophet; False
|
|
Prophets. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xix-p11.8">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xix-p12">15 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xix-p12.1">Lord</span> thy
|
|
God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of
|
|
thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;   16
|
|
According to all that thou desiredst of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xix-p12.2">Lord</span> thy God in Horeb in the day of the
|
|
assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xix-p12.3">Lord</span> my God, neither let me see this great
|
|
fire any more, that I die not.   17 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xix-p12.4">Lord</span> said unto me, They have well <i>spoken
|
|
that</i> which they have spoken.   18 I will raise them up a
|
|
Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my
|
|
words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall
|
|
command him.   19 And it shall come to pass, <i>that</i>
|
|
whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my
|
|
name, I will require <i>it</i> of him.   20 But the prophet,
|
|
which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not
|
|
commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other
|
|
gods, even that prophet shall die.   21 And if thou say in
|
|
thine heart, How shall we know the word which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xix-p12.5">Lord</span> hath not spoken?   22 When a prophet
|
|
speaketh in the name of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xix-p12.6">Lord</span>, if
|
|
the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that <i>is</i> the thing
|
|
which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xix-p12.7">Lord</span> hath not spoken,
|
|
<i>but</i> the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt
|
|
not be afraid of him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xix-p13">Here is, I. The promise of the great
|
|
prophet, with a command to receive him, and hearken to him.
|
|
Now,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xix-p14">1. Some think it is the promise of a
|
|
succession of prophets, that should for many ages be kept up in
|
|
Israel. Besides the priests and Levites, their ordinary ministers,
|
|
whose office it was to teach Jacob God's law, they should have
|
|
prophets, extraordinary ministers, to reprove them for their
|
|
faults, remind them of their duty, and foretel things to come,
|
|
judgments for warning and deliverances for their comfort. Having
|
|
these prophets, (1.) They need not use divinations, nor consult
|
|
with familiar spirits, for they might enquire of God's prophets
|
|
even concerning their private affairs, as Saul did when he was in
|
|
quest of his father's asses, <scripRef passage="1Sa 9:6" id="Deu.xix-p14.1" parsed="|1Sam|9|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.9.6">1 Sam. ix.
|
|
6</scripRef>. (2.) They could not miss the way of their duty
|
|
through ignorance or mistake, nor differ in their opinions about
|
|
it, having prophets among them, whom, in every difficult doubtful
|
|
case, they might advise with and appeal to. These prophets were
|
|
like unto Moses in some respects, though far inferior to him,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 34:10" id="Deu.xix-p14.2" parsed="|Deut|34|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.34.10">Deut. xxxiv. 10</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xix-p15">2. Whether a succession of prophets be
|
|
included in this promise or not, we are sure that it is primarily
|
|
intended as a promise of Christ, and it is the clearest promise of
|
|
him that is in all the law of Moses. It is expressly applied to our
|
|
Lord Jesus as the Messiah promised (<scripRef passage="Ac 3:22,7:37" id="Deu.xix-p15.1" parsed="|Acts|3|22|0|0;|Acts|7|37|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.3.22 Bible:Acts.7.37">Acts iii. 22; vii. 37</scripRef>), and the people
|
|
had an eye to this promise when they said concerning him, <i>This
|
|
is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Joh 6:14" id="Deu.xix-p15.2" parsed="|John|6|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.6.14">John vi. 14</scripRef>); and it was
|
|
his Spirit that spoke in all the other prophets, <scripRef passage="1Pe 1:11" id="Deu.xix-p15.3" parsed="|1Pet|1|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.1.11">1 Pet. i. 11</scripRef>. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xix-p16">(1.) What it is that is here promised
|
|
concerning Christ. What God promised Moses at Mount Sinai (which he
|
|
relates, <scripRef passage="De 18:18" id="Deu.xix-p16.1" parsed="|Deut|18|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>), he
|
|
promised the people (<scripRef passage="De 18:15" id="Deu.xix-p16.2" parsed="|Deut|18|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18.15"><i>v.</i>
|
|
15</scripRef>) in God's name. [1.] That there should come a
|
|
prophet, great above all the prophets, by whom God would make known
|
|
himself and his will to the children of men more fully and clearly
|
|
than ever he had done before. He is the <i>light of the world,</i>
|
|
as prophecy was of the Jewish church, <scripRef passage="Joh 8:12" id="Deu.xix-p16.3" parsed="|John|8|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.8.12">John viii. 12</scripRef>. He is the Word, by whom God
|
|
speaks to us, <scripRef passage="Joh 1:1,Heb 1:2" id="Deu.xix-p16.4" parsed="|John|1|1|0|0;|Heb|1|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.1.1 Bible:Heb.1.2">John i. 1; Heb.
|
|
i. 2</scripRef>. [2.] That God would <i>raise him up from the midst
|
|
of them.</i> In his birth he should be one of that nation, should
|
|
live among them and be sent to them. In his resurrection he should
|
|
be <i>raised up at Jerusalem,</i> and thence his doctrine should go
|
|
forth to all the world: thus God, having raised up his Son Christ
|
|
Jesus, sent him to bless us. [3.] That he should be like unto
|
|
Moses, only as much above him as the other prophets came short of
|
|
him. Moses was such a prophet as was a law-giver to Israel and
|
|
their deliverer out of Egypt, and so was Christ: he not only
|
|
teaches, but rules and saves. Moses was the founder of a new
|
|
dispensation by signs and wonders and mighty deeds, and so was
|
|
Christ, by which he proved himself a teacher come from God. Was
|
|
Moses faithful? So was Christ; Moses as a servant, but Christ as a
|
|
Son. [4.] That God would put his words in his mouth, <scripRef passage="De 18:18" id="Deu.xix-p16.5" parsed="|Deut|18|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. What messages God had
|
|
to send to the children of men he would send them by him, and give
|
|
him full instructions what to say and do as a prophet. Hence our
|
|
Saviour says, <i>My doctrine is not mine</i> originally, <i>but his
|
|
that sent me,</i> <scripRef passage="Joh 7:16" id="Deu.xix-p16.6" parsed="|John|7|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.7.16">John vii.
|
|
16</scripRef>. So that this great promise is performed; this
|
|
Prophet has come, even Jesus; it is he that should come, and we are
|
|
to look for no other.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xix-p17">(2.) The agreeableness of this designed
|
|
dispensation to the people's avowed choice and desire at Mount
|
|
Sinai, <scripRef passage="De 18:16,17" id="Deu.xix-p17.1" parsed="|Deut|18|16|18|17" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18.16-Deut.18.17"><i>v.</i> 16, 17</scripRef>.
|
|
There God had spoken to them in thunder and lightning, out of the
|
|
midst of the fire and thick darkness. Every word made their ears
|
|
tingle and their hearts tremble, so that the whole congregation was
|
|
ready to die with fear. In this fright, they begged hard that God
|
|
would not speak to them in this manner any more (they could not
|
|
bear it, it would overwhelm and distract them), but that he would
|
|
speak to them by men like themselves, by Moses now, and afterwards
|
|
by other prophets like unto him. "Well," says God, "it shall be so;
|
|
they shall be spoken to by men, whose <i>terrors shall not make
|
|
them afraid;</i>" and, to crown the favour beyond what they were
|
|
able to ask or think, in the fulness of time the Word itself was
|
|
made flesh, and they saw his glory as of the <i>only-begotten of
|
|
the Father,</i> not, as at Mount Sinai, full of majesty and terror,
|
|
<i>but full of grace and truth,</i> <scripRef passage="Joh 1:14" id="Deu.xix-p17.2" parsed="|John|1|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.1.14">John i. 14</scripRef>. Thus, in answer to the request of
|
|
those who were struck with amazement by the law, God promised the
|
|
incarnation of his Son, though we may suppose it far from the
|
|
thoughts of those that made that request.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xix-p18">(3.) A charge and command given to all
|
|
people to hear and believe, hear and obey, this great prophet here
|
|
promised: <i>Unto him you shall hearken</i> (<scripRef passage="De 18:15" id="Deu.xix-p18.1" parsed="|Deut|18|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>); and whoever will not hearken
|
|
to him shall be surely and severely reckoned with for his contempt
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 18:19" id="Deu.xix-p18.2" parsed="|Deut|18|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>): <i>I will
|
|
require it of him.</i> God himself applied this to our Lord Jesus
|
|
in the <i>voice that came out of the excellent glory,</i> <scripRef passage="Mt 17:5" id="Deu.xix-p18.3" parsed="|Matt|17|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.17.5">Matt. xvii. 5</scripRef>, <i>Hear you him,</i>
|
|
that is, this is he concerning whom it was said by Moses of old,
|
|
<i>Unto him you shall hearken;</i> and Moses and Elias then stood
|
|
by and assented to it. The sentence here passed on those that
|
|
hearken not to this prophet is repeated and ratified in the New
|
|
Testament. <i>He that believeth not the Son, the wrath of God
|
|
abideth on him,</i> <scripRef passage="Joh 3:36" id="Deu.xix-p18.4" parsed="|John|3|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.3.36">John iii.
|
|
36</scripRef>. <i>And how shall we escape if we turn away from him
|
|
that speaketh from heaven?</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 12:25" id="Deu.xix-p18.5" parsed="|Heb|12|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.25">Heb.
|
|
xii. 25</scripRef>. The Chaldee paraphrase here reads it, <i>My
|
|
Word shall require it of him,</i> which can be no other than a
|
|
divine person, Christ the eternal Word, to whom the Father has
|
|
committed all judgement, and by whom he will at the last day judge
|
|
the world. Whoever turns a deaf ear to Jesus Christ shall find that
|
|
it is at his peril; the same that is the prophet is to be his
|
|
judge, <scripRef passage="Joh 12:48" id="Deu.xix-p18.6" parsed="|John|12|48|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.12.48">John xii. 48</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xix-p19">II. Here is a caution against false
|
|
prophets, 1. By way of threatening against the pretenders
|
|
themselves, <scripRef passage="De 18:20" id="Deu.xix-p19.1" parsed="|Deut|18|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>.
|
|
Whoever sets up for a prophet, and produces either a commission
|
|
from the true God, shall be deemed and adjudged guilty of high
|
|
treason against the crown and dignity of the King of kings, and
|
|
that traitor shall be put to death (<scripRef passage="De 18:20" id="Deu.xix-p19.2" parsed="|Deut|18|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>), namely, by the judgment of the
|
|
great sanhedrim, which, in process of time, sat at Jerusalem; and
|
|
therefore our Saviour says that a prophet could not perish but at
|
|
Jerusalem, and lays the blood of the prophets at Jerusalem's door
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Lu 13:33,34" id="Deu.xix-p19.3" parsed="|Luke|13|33|13|34" osisRef="Bible:Luke.13.33-Luke.13.34">Luke xiii. 33, 34</scripRef>),
|
|
whom therefore God himself would punish; yet <i>there</i> false
|
|
prophets were supported. 2. By way of direction to the people, that
|
|
they might not be imposed upon by pretenders, of which there were
|
|
many, as appears, <scripRef passage="Jer 23:25,Eze 13:6,1Ki 22:6" id="Deu.xix-p19.4" parsed="|Jer|23|25|0|0;|Ezek|13|6|0|0;|1Kgs|22|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.23.25 Bible:Ezek.13.6 Bible:1Kgs.22.6">Jer. xxiii. 25; Ezek. xiii. 6; 1
|
|
Kings xxii. 6</scripRef>. It is a very proper question which they
|
|
are supposed to ask, <scripRef passage="De 18:21" id="Deu.xix-p19.5" parsed="|Deut|18|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18.21"><i>v.</i>
|
|
21</scripRef>. Since it is so great a duty to hearken to the true
|
|
prophets, and yet there is so much danger of being misled by false
|
|
prophets, <i>how shall we know the word which the Lord has not
|
|
spoken?</i> By what marks may we discover a cheat? Note, It highly
|
|
concerns us to have a right touchstone wherewith to try the word we
|
|
hear, that we may know what that word is which the Lord has not
|
|
spoken. Whatever is directly repugnant to sense, to the light and
|
|
law of nature, and to the plain meaning of the written word, we may
|
|
be sure is not that which the Lord has spoken; nor that which gives
|
|
countenance and encouragement to sin, or has a manifest tendency to
|
|
the destruction of piety or charity: far be it from God that he
|
|
should contradict himself. The rule here given in answer to this
|
|
enquiry was adapted chiefly to that state, <scripRef passage="De 18:22" id="Deu.xix-p19.6" parsed="|Deut|18|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>. If there was any cause to
|
|
suspect the sincerity of a prophet, let them observe that if he
|
|
gave them any sign, or foretold something to come, and the event
|
|
was not according to his prediction, they might be sure he was not
|
|
sent of God. This does not refer so much to the foretelling of
|
|
mercies and judgments (though as to these, and the difference
|
|
between the predictions of mercies and judgments, there is a rule
|
|
of discerning between truth and falsehood laid down by the prophet,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Jer 28:8,9" id="Deu.xix-p19.7" parsed="|Jer|28|8|28|9" osisRef="Bible:Jer.28.8-Jer.28.9">Jer. xxviii. 8, 9</scripRef>), but
|
|
rather to the giving of signs on purpose to confirm their mission.
|
|
Though the sign did come to pass, yet this would not serve to prove
|
|
their mission if they called them to serve other gods; this point
|
|
had been already settled, <scripRef passage="De 13:1-3" id="Deu.xix-p19.8" parsed="|Deut|13|1|13|3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.13.1-Deut.13.3">Deut. xiii.
|
|
1-3</scripRef>. But, if the sign did not come to pass, this would
|
|
serve to disprove their mission. "When Moses cast his rod upon the
|
|
ground (it is bishop Patrick's explanation of this), and said it
|
|
would become a serpent, if it had not accordingly been turned into
|
|
a serpent, Moses had been a false prophet: if, when Elijah called
|
|
for fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice, none had come, he
|
|
had been no better than the prophets of Baal." Samuel's mission was
|
|
proved by this, that <i>God let none of his words fall to the
|
|
ground,</i> <scripRef passage="1Sa 3:19,20" id="Deu.xix-p19.9" parsed="|1Sam|3|19|3|20" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.3.19-1Sam.3.20">1 Sam. iii. 19,
|
|
20</scripRef>. And by the miracles Christ wrought, especially by
|
|
that great sign he gave of his resurrection the third day, which
|
|
came to pass as he foretold, it appeared that he was a teacher come
|
|
from God. <i>Lastly,</i> They are directed not to be afraid of a
|
|
false prophet; that is, not to be afraid of the judgments such a
|
|
one might denounce to amuse people and strike terror upon them; nor
|
|
to be afraid of executing the law upon him when, upon a strict and
|
|
impartial scrutiny, it appeared that he was a false prophet. This
|
|
command not to fear a false prophet implies that a true prophet,
|
|
who proved his commission by clear and undeniable proofs, was to be
|
|
feared, and it was at their peril if they offered him any violence
|
|
or put any slight upon him.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XIX" n="xx" progress="90.19%" prev="Deu.xix" next="Deu.xxi" id="Deu.xx">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.xx-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.xx-p0.2">CHAP. XIX.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.xx-p1">The laws which Moses had hitherto been repeating
|
|
and urging mostly concerned the acts of religion and devotion
|
|
towards God; but here he comes more fully to press the duties of
|
|
righteousness between man and man. This chapter relates, I. To the
|
|
sixth commandment, "Thou shalt not kill," <scripRef passage="De 19:1-13" id="Deu.xx-p1.1" parsed="|Deut|19|1|19|13" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.1-Deut.19.13">ver. 1-13</scripRef>. II. To the eighth commandment,
|
|
"Thou shalt not steal," <scripRef passage="De 19:14" id="Deu.xx-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|19|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.14">ver.
|
|
14</scripRef>. III. To the ninth commandment, "Thou shalt not bear
|
|
false witness," <scripRef passage="De 19:15-21" id="Deu.xx-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|19|15|19|21" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.15-Deut.19.21">ver. 15</scripRef>,
|
|
&c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 19" id="Deu.xx-p1.4" parsed="|Deut|19|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 19:1-13" id="Deu.xx-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|19|1|19|13" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.1-Deut.19.13"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.19.1-Deut.19.13">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xx-p1.6">The Cities of Refuge. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xx-p1.7">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xx-p2">1 When the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xx-p2.1">Lord</span>
|
|
thy God hath cut off the nations, whose land the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xx-p2.2">Lord</span> thy God giveth thee, and thou succeedest
|
|
them, and dwellest in their cities, and in their houses;   2
|
|
Thou shalt separate three cities for thee in the midst of thy land,
|
|
which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xx-p2.3">Lord</span> thy God giveth thee
|
|
to possess it.   3 Thou shalt prepare thee a way, and divide
|
|
the coasts of thy land, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xx-p2.4">Lord</span> thy God giveth thee to inherit, into three
|
|
parts, that every slayer may flee thither.   4 And this
|
|
<i>is</i> the case of the slayer, which shall flee thither, that he
|
|
may live: Whoso killeth his neighbour ignorantly, whom he hated not
|
|
in time past;   5 As when a man goeth into the wood with his
|
|
neighbour to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe
|
|
to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth from the helve, and
|
|
lighteth upon his neighbour, that he die; he shall flee unto one of
|
|
those cities, and live:   6 Lest the avenger of the blood
|
|
pursue the slayer, while his heart is hot, and overtake him,
|
|
because the way is long, and slay him; whereas he <i>was</i> not
|
|
worthy of death, inasmuch as he hated him not in time past.  
|
|
7 Wherefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt separate three
|
|
cities for thee.   8 And if the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xx-p2.5">Lord</span> thy God enlarge thy coast, as he hath sworn
|
|
unto thy fathers, and give thee all the land which he promised to
|
|
give unto thy fathers;   9 If thou shalt keep all these
|
|
commandments to do them, which I command thee this day, to love the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xx-p2.6">Lord</span> thy God, and to walk ever in
|
|
his ways; then shalt thou add three cities more for thee, beside
|
|
these three:   10 That innocent blood be not shed in thy land,
|
|
which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xx-p2.7">Lord</span> thy God giveth thee
|
|
<i>for</i> an inheritance, and <i>so</i> blood be upon thee.  
|
|
11 But if any man hate his neighbour, and lie in wait for him, and
|
|
rise up against him, and smite him mortally that he die, and fleeth
|
|
into one of these cities:   12 Then the elders of his city
|
|
shall send and fetch him thence, and deliver him into the hand of
|
|
the avenger of blood, that he may die.   13 Thine eye shall
|
|
not pity him, but thou shalt put away <i>the guilt of</i> innocent
|
|
blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xx-p3">It was one of the precepts given to the
|
|
sons of Noah that <i>whoso sheddeth man's blood by man shall his
|
|
blood be shed,</i> that is, by the avenger of blood, <scripRef passage="Ge 9:6" id="Deu.xx-p3.1" parsed="|Gen|9|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.6">Gen. ix. 6</scripRef>. Now here we have the law
|
|
settled between blood and blood, between the blood of the murdered
|
|
and the blood of the murderer, and effectual provision made,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xx-p4">I. That the cities of refuge should be a
|
|
protection to him that slew another casually, so that he should not
|
|
die for that as a crime which was not his voluntary act, but only
|
|
his unhappiness. The appointment of these cities of refuge we had
|
|
before (<scripRef passage="Ex 21:13" id="Deu.xx-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|21|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.13">Exod. xxi. 13</scripRef>), and
|
|
the law laid down concerning them at large, <scripRef passage="Nu 35:10-15" id="Deu.xx-p4.2" parsed="|Num|35|10|35|15" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.10-Num.35.15">Num. xxxv. 10</scripRef>, &c. It is here
|
|
repeated, and direction is given concerning three things:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xx-p5">1. The appointing of three cities in Canaan
|
|
for this purpose. Moses had already appointed three on that side
|
|
Jordan which he saw the conquest of; and now he bids them, when
|
|
they should be settled in the other part of the country, to appoint
|
|
three more, <scripRef passage="De 19:1-3,7" id="Deu.xx-p5.1" parsed="|Deut|19|1|19|3;|Deut|19|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.1-Deut.19.3 Bible:Deut.19.7"><i>v.</i> 1-3,
|
|
7</scripRef>. The country was to be divided into three districts,
|
|
as near by as might be equal, and a city of refuge in the centre of
|
|
each so that every corner of the land might have one within reach.
|
|
Thus Christ is not a refuge at a distance, which we must ascend to
|
|
heaven or go down to the deep for, but the word is nigh us, and
|
|
Christ in the word, <scripRef passage="Ro 10:8" id="Deu.xx-p5.2" parsed="|Rom|10|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.10.8">Rom. x.
|
|
8</scripRef>. The gospel brings salvation <i>to our door,</i> and
|
|
there it knocks for admission. To make the flight of the delinquent
|
|
the more easy, the way must be prepared that led to the city of
|
|
refuge. Probably they had causeways or street-ways leading to those
|
|
cities, and the Jews say that the magistrates of Israel, upon one
|
|
certain day in the year, sent out messengers to see that those
|
|
roads were in good repair, and they were to remove
|
|
stumbling-blocks, mend bridges that were broken, and, where two
|
|
ways met, they were to set up a Mercurial post, with a finger to
|
|
point the right way, on which was engraven in great letters,
|
|
<i>Miklat, Miklat—Refuge, Refuge.</i> In allusion to this, gospel
|
|
ministers are to show people the way to Christ, and to assist and
|
|
direct them in flying by faith to him for refuge. They must be
|
|
ready to remove their prejudices, and help them over their
|
|
difficulties. And, blessed be God, <i>the way of holiness,</i> to
|
|
all that seek it faithfully, is a highway so plain that <i>the
|
|
wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xx-p6">2. The use to be made of these cities,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 19:4-6" id="Deu.xx-p6.1" parsed="|Deut|19|4|19|6" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.4-Deut.19.6"><i>v.</i> 4-6</scripRef>. (1.) It is
|
|
supposed that it might so happen that a man might be the death of
|
|
his neighbour without any design upon him either from a sudden
|
|
passion or malice prepense, but purely by accident, as by the
|
|
flying off of an axe-head, which is the instance here given, with
|
|
which every case of this kind was to be compared, and by it
|
|
adjudged. See how human life lies exposed daily, and what deaths we
|
|
are often in, and what need therefore we have to be always ready,
|
|
our souls being continually in our hands. How are the sons of men
|
|
<i>snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly upon them!</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ec 9:12" id="Deu.xx-p6.2" parsed="|Eccl|9|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.9.12">Eccl. ix. 12</scripRef>. An evil time
|
|
indeed it is when this happens not only to the slain but to the
|
|
slayer. (2.) It is supposed that the relations of the person slain
|
|
would be forward to avenge the blood, in affection to their friend
|
|
and in zeal for public justice. Though the law did not allow the
|
|
avenging of any other affront or injury with death, yet the avenger
|
|
of blood, the blood of a relation, shall have great allowances made
|
|
for the heat of his heart upon such a provocation as that, and his
|
|
killing only, should not be accounted murder if he did it before he
|
|
got to the city of refuge, though it is owned he was not worthy of
|
|
death. Thus would God possess people with a great horror and dread
|
|
of the sin of murder: if mere chance-medley did thus expose a man,
|
|
surely he that wilfully does violence to the blood of any person,
|
|
whether from an old grudge or upon a sudden provocation, must flee
|
|
to the pit, and <i>let no man stay him</i> (<scripRef passage="Pr 28:17" id="Deu.xx-p6.3" parsed="|Prov|28|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.28.17">Prov. xxviii. 17</scripRef>); yet the New Testament
|
|
represents the sin of murder as more heinous and more dangerous
|
|
than even this law does. <scripRef passage="1Jo 3:15" id="Deu.xx-p6.4" parsed="|1John|3|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.3.15">1 John iii.
|
|
15</scripRef>, <i>You know that no murderer has eternal life
|
|
abiding in him.</i> (3.) It is provided that, if an avenger of
|
|
blood should be so unreasonable as to demand satisfaction for blood
|
|
shed by accident only, then the city of refuge should protect the
|
|
slayer. Sins of ignorance indeed do expose us to the wrath of God,
|
|
but there is relief provided, if by faith and repentance we make
|
|
use of it. Paul that had been a persecutor obtained mercy, because
|
|
he did it ignorantly; and Christ prayed for his crucifiers,
|
|
<i>Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xx-p7">3. The appointing of three cities more for
|
|
this use in case God should hereafter enlarge their territories and
|
|
the dominion of their religion, that all those places which came
|
|
under the government of the law of Moses in other instances might
|
|
enjoy the benefit of that law in this instance, <scripRef passage="De 19:8-10" id="Deu.xx-p7.1" parsed="|Deut|19|8|19|10" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.8-Deut.19.10"><i>v.</i> 8-10</scripRef>. Here is, (1.) An intimation
|
|
of God's gracious intention to enlarge their coast, as he had
|
|
promised to their fathers, if they did not by their disobedience
|
|
forfeit the promise, the condition of which is here carefully
|
|
repeated, that, if it were not performed, the reproach might lie
|
|
upon them, and not on God. He promised to give it, <i>if thou shalt
|
|
keep all these commandments;</i> not otherwise. (2.) A direction to
|
|
them to appoint three cities more in their new conquests, which,
|
|
the number intimates, should be as large as their first conquests
|
|
were; wherever the border of Israel went this privilege must attend
|
|
it, that <i>innocent blood be not shed,</i> <scripRef passage="De 19:10" id="Deu.xx-p7.2" parsed="|Deut|19|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. Though God is the saviour and
|
|
preserver of all men, and has a tender regard to all lives, yet the
|
|
blood of Israelites is in a particular manner precious to him,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 72:14" id="Deu.xx-p7.3" parsed="|Ps|72|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.72.14">Ps. lxxii. 14</scripRef>. The learned
|
|
Ainsworth observes that the Jewish writers themselves own that, the
|
|
condition not being performed, the promise of the enlarging of
|
|
their coast was never fulfilled; so that there was no occasion for
|
|
ever adding these three cities of refuge; yet the holy blessed God
|
|
(say they) <i>did not command it in vain, for in the days of
|
|
Messiah the prince</i> three other cities shall be added to these
|
|
six: they expect it to be fulfilled in the letter, but we know that
|
|
in Christ it has its spiritual accomplishment, for the borders of
|
|
the gospel Israel are enlarged according to the promise, and in
|
|
Christ, <i>the Lord our righteousness,</i> refuge is provided for
|
|
those that by faith flee to him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xx-p8">II. It is provided that the cities of
|
|
refuge should be no sanctuary or shelter to a wilful murderer, but
|
|
even thence he should be fetched, and delivered to the avenger of
|
|
blood, <scripRef passage="De 19:11-13" id="Deu.xx-p8.1" parsed="|Deut|19|11|19|13" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.11-Deut.19.13"><i>v.</i> 11-13</scripRef>.
|
|
1. This shows that wilful murder must never be protected by the
|
|
civil magistrate; he bears the sword of justice in vain if he
|
|
suffers those to escape the edge of it that lie under the guilt of
|
|
blood, which he by office is the avenger of. During the dominion of
|
|
the papacy in our own land, before the Reformation, there were some
|
|
churches and religious houses (as they called them) that were made
|
|
sanctuaries for the protection of all sorts of criminals that fled
|
|
to them, wilful murderers not excepted, so that (as Stamford says,
|
|
in his <i>Pleas of the Crown, lib.</i> II. <i>c.</i> xxxviii.) the
|
|
government follows not Moses but Romulus, and it was not till about
|
|
the latter end of Henry VIII's time that this privilege of
|
|
sanctuary for wilful murder was taken away, when in that, as in
|
|
other cases, the word of God came to be regarded more than the
|
|
dictates of the see of Rome. And some have thought it would be a
|
|
completing of that instance of reformation if the benefit of clergy
|
|
were taken away for man-slaughter, that is, the killing of a man
|
|
upon a small provocation, since this law allowed refuge only in
|
|
case of that which our law calls chance-medley. 2. It may be
|
|
alluded to to show that in Jesus Christ there is no refuge for
|
|
presumptuous sinners, that <i>go on still in their trespasses.</i>
|
|
If we thus <i>sin wilfully,</i> sin and go on in it, there
|
|
<i>remains no sacrifice,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 10:26" id="Deu.xx-p8.2" parsed="|Heb|10|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.10.26">Heb. x.
|
|
26</scripRef>. Those that flee to Christ from their sins shall be
|
|
safe in him, but not those that expect to be sheltered by him in
|
|
their sins. Salvation itself cannot save such: divine justice will
|
|
fetch them even from the city of refuge, the protection of which
|
|
they are not entitled to.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 19" id="Deu.xx-p8.3" parsed="|Deut|19|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 19:14-21" id="Deu.xx-p8.4" parsed="|Deut|19|14|19|21" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.14-Deut.19.21"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.19.14-Deut.19.21">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xx-p8.5">False Witnesses. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xx-p8.6">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xx-p9">14 Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour's
|
|
landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance,
|
|
which thou shalt inherit in the land that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xx-p9.1">Lord</span> thy God giveth thee to possess it.  
|
|
15 One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or
|
|
for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two
|
|
witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be
|
|
established.   16 If a false witness rise up against any man
|
|
to testify against him <i>that which is</i> wrong;   17 Then
|
|
both the men, between whom the controversy <i>is,</i> shall stand
|
|
before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xx-p9.2">Lord</span>, before the priests
|
|
and the judges, which shall be in those days;   18 And the
|
|
judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, <i>if</i> the
|
|
witness <i>be</i> a false witness, <i>and</i> hath testified
|
|
falsely against his brother;   19 Then shall ye do unto him,
|
|
as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put
|
|
the evil away from among you.   20 And those which remain
|
|
shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such
|
|
evil among you.   21 And thine eye shall not pity; <i>but</i>
|
|
life <i>shall go</i> for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand
|
|
for hand, foot for foot.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xx-p10">Here is a statute for the preventing of
|
|
frauds and perjuries; for the divine law takes care of men's rights
|
|
and properties, and has made a hedge about them. Such a friend is
|
|
it to human society and men's civil interest.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xx-p11">I. A law against frauds, <scripRef passage="De 19:14" id="Deu.xx-p11.1" parsed="|Deut|19|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. 1. Here is an implicit
|
|
direction given to the first planters of Canaan to fix land-marks,
|
|
according to the distribution of the land to the several tribes and
|
|
families by lot. Note, It is the will of God that every one should
|
|
know his own, and that all good means should be used to prevent
|
|
encroachments and the doing and suffering of wrong. When right is
|
|
settled, care must be taken that it be not afterwards unsettled,
|
|
and that, if possible, no occasion of dispute may arise. 2. An
|
|
express law to posterity not to remove those land-marks which were
|
|
thus fixed at first, by which a man secretly got that to himself
|
|
which was his neighbour's. This, without doubt, is a moral precept,
|
|
and still binding, and to us it forbids, (1.) The invading of any
|
|
man's right, and taking to ourselves that which is not our own, by
|
|
any fraudulent arts or practices, as by forging, concealing,
|
|
destroying, or altering deeds and writings (which are our
|
|
land-marks, to which appeals are made), or by shifting hedges,
|
|
meer-stones, and boundaries. Though the land-marks were set by the
|
|
hand of man, yet he was a thief and a robber by the law of God that
|
|
removed them. Let every man be content with his own lot, and just
|
|
to his neighbours, and then we shall have no land-marks removed.
|
|
(2.) It forbids the sowing of discord among neighbours, and doing
|
|
any thing to occasion strife and law-suits, which is done (and it
|
|
is very ill done) by confounding those things which should
|
|
determine disputes and decide controversies. And, (3.) It forbids
|
|
breaking in upon the settled order and constitution of civil
|
|
government, and the altering of ancient usages without just cause.
|
|
This law supports the honour of prescriptions. <i>Consuetudo facit
|
|
jus—Custom is to be held as law.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xx-p12">II. A law against perjuries, which enacts
|
|
two things:—1. That a single witness should never be admitted to
|
|
give evidence in a criminal cause, so as that sentence should be
|
|
passed upon his testimony, <scripRef passage="De 19:15" id="Deu.xx-p12.1" parsed="|Deut|19|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.15"><i>v.</i>
|
|
15</scripRef>. This law we had before, <scripRef passage="Nu 35:30" id="Deu.xx-p12.2" parsed="|Num|35|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.35.30">Num. xxxv. 30</scripRef>, and in this book, <scripRef passage="De 17:6" id="Deu.xx-p12.3" parsed="|Deut|17|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.6"><i>ch.</i> xvii. 6</scripRef>. This was enacted
|
|
in favour to the prisoner, whose life and honour should not lie at
|
|
the mercy of a particular person that had a pique against him, and
|
|
for caution to the accuser not to say that which he could not
|
|
corroborate by the testimony of another. It is a just shame which
|
|
this law puts upon mankind as false and not to be trusted; every
|
|
man is by it suspected: and it is the honour of God's grace that
|
|
the record he has given concerning his Son is confirmed both in
|
|
heaven and in earth by <i>three witnesses,</i> <scripRef passage="1Jo 5:7" id="Deu.xx-p12.4" parsed="|1John|5|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.5.7">1 John v. 7</scripRef>. <i>Let God be true and every man
|
|
a liar,</i> <scripRef passage="Ro 3:4" id="Deu.xx-p12.5" parsed="|Rom|3|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.4">Rom. iii. 4</scripRef>. 2.
|
|
That a false witness should incur the same punishment which was to
|
|
have been inflicted upon the person he accused. <i>If two, or
|
|
three,</i> or many witnesses, concurred in a false testimony, they
|
|
were all liable to be prosecuted upon this law. (2.) The person
|
|
wronged or brought into peril by the false testimony is supposed to
|
|
be the appellant, <scripRef passage="De 19:17" id="Deu.xx-p12.6" parsed="|Deut|19|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.17"><i>v.</i>
|
|
17</scripRef>. And yet if the person were put to death upon the
|
|
evidence, and afterwards it appeared to be false, any other person,
|
|
or the judges themselves, <i>ex officio—by virtue of their
|
|
office,</i> might call the false witness to account. (3.) Causes of
|
|
this kind, having more than ordinary difficulty in them, were to be
|
|
brought before the supreme court, <i>The priests and judges,</i>
|
|
who are said to be <i>before the Lord,</i> because, as other judges
|
|
sat in the gates of their cities, so these at the gate of the
|
|
sanctuary, <scripRef passage="De 17:12" id="Deu.xx-p12.7" parsed="|Deut|17|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.12"><i>ch.</i> xvii.
|
|
12</scripRef>. (4.) There must be great care in the trial,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 19:18" id="Deu.xx-p12.8" parsed="|Deut|19|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. A diligent
|
|
inquisition must be made into the characters of the persons, and
|
|
all the circumstances of the case, which must be compared, that the
|
|
truth might be found out, which, where it is thus faithfully and
|
|
impartially enquired into, Providence, it may be hoped, will
|
|
particularly advance the discovery of. (5.) If it appeared that a
|
|
man had knowingly and maliciously borne false witness against his
|
|
neighbour, though the mischief he designed him thereby was not
|
|
effected, he must undergo the same penalty which his evidence would
|
|
have brought his neighbour under, <scripRef passage="De 19:19" id="Deu.xx-p12.9" parsed="|Deut|19|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. <i>Nec lex est justior
|
|
ulla—Nor could any law be more just.</i> If the crime he accused
|
|
his neighbour of was to be punished with death, the false witness
|
|
must be put to death; if with stripes, he must be beaten; if with a
|
|
pecuniary mulct, he was to be fined the sum. And because to those
|
|
who considered not the heinousness of the crime, and the necessity
|
|
of making this provision against it, it might seem hard to punish a
|
|
man so severely for a few words' speaking, especially when no
|
|
mischief did actually follow, it is added: <i>Thy eye shall not
|
|
pity,</i> <scripRef passage="De 19:21" id="Deu.xx-p12.10" parsed="|Deut|19|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. No
|
|
man needs to be more merciful than God. The benefit that will
|
|
accrue to the public from this severity will abundantly recompense
|
|
it: <i>Those that remain shall hear and fear,</i> <scripRef passage="De 19:20" id="Deu.xx-p12.11" parsed="|Deut|19|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. Such exemplary
|
|
punishments will be warnings to others not to attempt any such
|
|
mischief, when they see how he that <i>made the pit and digged it
|
|
has fallen into the ditch which he made.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XX" n="xxi" progress="90.55%" prev="Deu.xx" next="Deu.xxii" id="Deu.xxi">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.xxi-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.xxi-p0.2">CHAP. XX.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.xxi-p1">This chapter settles the militia, and establishes
|
|
the laws and ordinances of war, I. Relating to the soldiers. 1.
|
|
Those must be encouraged that were drawn up to battle, <scripRef passage="De 20:1-4" id="Deu.xxi-p1.1" parsed="|Deut|20|1|20|4" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20.1-Deut.20.4">ver. 1-4</scripRef>. 2. Those must be dismissed
|
|
and sent back again whose private affairs called for their
|
|
attendance at home (<scripRef passage="De 20:5-7" id="Deu.xxi-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|20|5|20|7" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20.5-Deut.20.7">ver.
|
|
5-7</scripRef>), or whose weakness and timidity unfitted them for
|
|
service in the field, <scripRef passage="De 20:8,9" id="Deu.xxi-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|20|8|20|9" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20.8-Deut.20.9">ver. 8,
|
|
9</scripRef>. II. Relating to the enemies they made war with. 1.
|
|
The treaties they must make with the cities that were far off,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 20:10-15" id="Deu.xxi-p1.4" parsed="|Deut|20|10|20|15" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20.10-Deut.20.15">ver. 10-15</scripRef>. 2. The
|
|
destruction they must make of the people into whose land they were
|
|
going, <scripRef passage="De 20:16-18" id="Deu.xxi-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|20|16|20|18" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20.16-Deut.20.18">ver. 16-18</scripRef>. 3.
|
|
The care they must take, in besieging cities, not to destroy the
|
|
fruit-trees, <scripRef passage="De 20:19,20" id="Deu.xxi-p1.6" parsed="|Deut|20|19|20|20" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20.19-Deut.20.20">ver. 19,
|
|
20</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 20" id="Deu.xxi-p1.7" parsed="|Deut|20|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 20:1-9" id="Deu.xxi-p1.8" parsed="|Deut|20|1|20|9" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20.1-Deut.20.9"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.20.1-Deut.20.9">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxi-p1.9">Directions Concerning War; Persons Excused
|
|
from War. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxi-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxi-p2">1 When thou goest out to battle against thine
|
|
enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, <i>and</i> a people more
|
|
than thou, be not afraid of them: for the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxi-p2.1">Lord</span> thy God <i>is</i> with thee, which brought
|
|
thee up out of the land of Egypt.   2 And it shall be, when ye
|
|
are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and
|
|
speak unto the people,   3 And shall say unto them, Hear, O
|
|
Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let
|
|
not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye
|
|
terrified because of them;   4 For the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxi-p2.2">Lord</span> your God <i>is</i> he that goeth with you,
|
|
to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.   5 And
|
|
the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man <i>is
|
|
there</i> that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it?
|
|
let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and
|
|
another man dedicate it.   6 And what man <i>is he</i> that
|
|
hath planted a vineyard, and hath not <i>yet</i> eaten of it? let
|
|
him <i>also</i> go and return unto his house, lest he die in the
|
|
battle, and another man eat of it.   7 And what man <i>is
|
|
there</i> that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let
|
|
him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and
|
|
another man take her.   8 And the officers shall speak further
|
|
unto the people, and they shall say, What man <i>is there that
|
|
is</i> fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return unto his
|
|
house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart.  
|
|
9 And it shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking
|
|
unto the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to
|
|
lead the people.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxi-p3">Israel was at this time to be considered
|
|
rather as a camp than as a kingdom, entering upon an enemy's
|
|
country, and not yet settled in a country of their own; and,
|
|
besides the war they were now entering upon in order to their
|
|
settlement, even after their settlement they could neither protect
|
|
nor enlarge their coast without hearing the alarms of war. It was
|
|
therefore needful that they should have directions given them in
|
|
their military affairs; and in these verses they are directed in
|
|
managing, marshalling, and drawing up their own forces. And it is
|
|
observable that the discipline of war here prescribed is so far
|
|
from having any thing in it harsh or severe, as is usual in martial
|
|
law, that the intent of the whole is, on the contrary, to encourage
|
|
the soldiers, and to make their service easy to them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxi-p4">I. Those that were disposed to fight must
|
|
be encouraged and animated against their fears.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxi-p5">1. Moses here gives a general
|
|
encouragement, which the leaders and commanders in the war must
|
|
take to themselves: "<i>Be not afraid of them,</i> <scripRef passage="De 20:1" id="Deu.xxi-p5.1" parsed="|Deut|20|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. Though the enemy have
|
|
ever so much the advantage by their numbers (being more than thou),
|
|
and by their cavalry (their armies being much made up of horses and
|
|
chariots, which thou art not allowed to multiply), yet decline not
|
|
coming to a battle with them, dread not the issue, nor doubt of
|
|
success." Two things they must encourage themselves with in their
|
|
wars, provided they kept close to their God and their religion,
|
|
otherwise they forfeited these encouragements:—(1.) The presence
|
|
of God with them: "<i>The Lord thy God is with thee,</i> and
|
|
therefore thou art not in danger, nor needest thou be afraid." See
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 41:10" id="Deu.xxi-p5.2" parsed="|Isa|41|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.41.10">Isa. xli. 10</scripRef>. (2.) The
|
|
experience they and their fathers had had of God's power and
|
|
goodness in <i>bringing them out of the land of Egypt,</i> in
|
|
defiance of Pharaoh and all his hosts, which was not only in
|
|
general a proof of the divine omnipotence, but to them in
|
|
particular a pledge of what God would do further for them. He that
|
|
saved them from those greater enemies would not suffer them to be
|
|
run down by those that were every way less considerable, and thus
|
|
to have all he had done for them undone again.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxi-p6">2. This encouragement must be particularly
|
|
addressed to the common soldiers by a priest appointed, and, the
|
|
Jews say, anointed, for that purpose, whom they call <i>the
|
|
anointed of the war,</i> a very proper title for our anointed
|
|
Redeemer, the captain of our salvation: This priest, in God's name,
|
|
was to animate the people; and who so fit to do that as he whose
|
|
office it was as priest to pray for them? For the best
|
|
encouragements arise from the precious promises made to the prayer
|
|
of faith. This priest must, (1.) Charge them not to be afraid
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 20:3" id="Deu.xxi-p6.1" parsed="|Deut|20|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), for nothing
|
|
weakens the hands so much as that which makes the heart tremble,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 20:3" id="Deu.xxi-p6.2" parsed="|Deut|20|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. There is need
|
|
of precept upon precept to this purport, as there is here: <i>Let
|
|
not your hearts be tender</i> (so the word is), to receive all the
|
|
impressions of fear, but let a believing confidence in the power
|
|
and promise of God harden them. <i>Fear not, and do not make
|
|
haste</i> (so the word is), for he that believeth doth not make
|
|
more haste than good speed. "Do not make haste either rashly to
|
|
anticipate your advantages or basely to fly off upon every
|
|
disadvantage." (2.) He must assure them of the presence of God with
|
|
them, to own and plead their righteous cause, and not only to save
|
|
them from their enemies, but to give them victory over them,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 20:4" id="Deu.xxi-p6.3" parsed="|Deut|20|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. Note, Those
|
|
have no reason to fear that have God with them. The giving of this
|
|
encouragement by a priest, one of the Lord's ministers, intimates,
|
|
[1.] That it is very fit that armies should have chaplains, not
|
|
only to pray for them, but to preach to them, both to reprove that
|
|
which would hinder their success and to raise their hopes of it.
|
|
[2.] That it is the work of Christ's ministers to encourage his
|
|
good soldiers in their spiritual conflict with the world and the
|
|
flesh, and to assure them of a conquest, yea, more than a conquest,
|
|
through Christ that loved us.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxi-p7">II. Those that were indisposed to fight
|
|
must be discharged, whether the indisposition did arise,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxi-p8">1. From the circumstances of a man's
|
|
outward condition; as, (1.) If he had lately built or purchased a
|
|
new house, and had not taken possession of it, had not dedicated it
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 20:5" id="Deu.xxi-p8.1" parsed="|Deut|20|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), that is, made
|
|
a solemn festival for the entertainment of his friends, that came
|
|
to him to welcome him to his house; let him go home and take the
|
|
comfort of that which God had blessed him with, till, by enjoying
|
|
it for some time, he become less fond of it, and consequently less
|
|
disturbed in the war by the thoughts of it, and more willing to lie
|
|
and leave it. For this is the nature of all our worldly enjoyments,
|
|
that they please us best at first; after a while we see the vanity
|
|
of them. Some think that this dedication of their houses was a
|
|
religious act, and that they took possession of them with prayers
|
|
and praises, with a solemn devoting of themselves and all their
|
|
enjoyments to the service and honour of God. David penned the
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 30:1-12" id="Deu.xxi-p8.2" parsed="|Ps|30|1|30|12" osisRef="Bible:Ps.30.1-Ps.30.12">30th Psalm</scripRef> on such an
|
|
occasion, as appears by the title. Note, He that has a house of his
|
|
own should dedicate it to God by setting up and keeping up the fear
|
|
and worship of God in it, that he may have a church in his house;
|
|
and nothing should be suffered to divert a man from this. Or, (2.)
|
|
If a man had been at a great expense to <i>plant a vineyard,</i>
|
|
and longed to <i>eat of the fruit</i> of it, which for the first
|
|
three years he was forbidden to do by the law (<scripRef passage="Le 19:23-25" id="Deu.xxi-p8.3" parsed="|Lev|19|23|19|25" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.23-Lev.19.25">Lev. xix. 23</scripRef>, &c.), let him go home,
|
|
if he has a mind, and gratify his own humour with the fruits of it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 20:6" id="Deu.xxi-p8.4" parsed="|Deut|20|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. See how
|
|
indulgent God is to his people in innocent things, and how far from
|
|
being a hard Master. Since we naturally covet to eat the labour of
|
|
our hands, rather than an Israelite should be crossed therein, his
|
|
service in war shall be dispensed with., Or, (3.) If a man had made
|
|
up his mind to be married, and the marriage were not solemnized, he
|
|
was at liberty to return (<scripRef passage="De 20:7" id="Deu.xxi-p8.5" parsed="|Deut|20|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20.7"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7</scripRef>), as also to tarry at home for one year after marriage
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 24:5" id="Deu.xxi-p8.6" parsed="|Deut|24|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24.5"><i>ch.</i> xxiv. 5</scripRef>), for
|
|
the terrors of war would be disagreeable to a man who had just
|
|
welcomed the soft scene of domestic attachment. And God would not
|
|
be served in his wars by pressed men, that were forced into the
|
|
army against their will, but they must all be perfectly volunteers.
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 110:3" id="Deu.xxi-p8.7" parsed="|Ps|110|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.110.3">Ps. cx. 3</scripRef>, <i>Thy people
|
|
shall be willing.</i> In running the Christian race, and fighting
|
|
the good fight of faith, we must <i>lay aside every weight,</i> and
|
|
all that which would clog and divert our minds and make us
|
|
unwilling. The Jewish writers agree that this liberty to return was
|
|
allowed only in those wars which they made voluntarily (as bishop
|
|
Patrick expresses it), not those which were made by the divine
|
|
command against Amalek and the Canaanites, in which every man was
|
|
bound to fight.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxi-p9">2. If a man's indisposition to fight arose
|
|
from the weakness and timidity of his own spirit, he had leave to
|
|
return from the war, <scripRef passage="De 20:8" id="Deu.xxi-p9.1" parsed="|Deut|20|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20.8"><i>v.</i>
|
|
8</scripRef>. This proclamation Gideon made to his army, and it
|
|
detached above two-thirds of them, <scripRef passage="Jdg 7:3" id="Deu.xxi-p9.2" parsed="|Judg|7|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.7.3">Judg. vii. 3</scripRef>. Some make the fearfulness and
|
|
faintheartedness here supposed to arise from the terrors of an evil
|
|
conscience, which would make a man afraid to look death and danger
|
|
in the face. It was then thought that men of loose and profligate
|
|
lives would not be good soldiers, but must needs be both cowards in
|
|
an army and curses to it, the shame and trouble of the camp; and
|
|
therefore those who were conscious to themselves of notorious guilt
|
|
were shaken off. But it seems rather to be meant of a natural
|
|
fearfulness. It was partly in kindness to them that they had their
|
|
discharge (for, though shamed, they were eased); but much more in
|
|
kindness to the rest of the army, who were hereby freed from the
|
|
incumbrance of such as were useless and unserviceable, while the
|
|
danger of infection from their cowardice and flight was prevented.
|
|
This is the reason here given: <i>Lest his brethren's heart fail as
|
|
well as his heart.</i> Fear is catching, and in an army is of most
|
|
pernicious consequence. We must take heed that we <i>fear not the
|
|
fear of those that are afraid,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 8:12" id="Deu.xxi-p9.3" parsed="|Isa|8|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.8.12">Isa. viii. 12</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxi-p10">III. It is here ordered that, when all the
|
|
cowards were dismissed, then captains should be nominated
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 20:9" id="Deu.xxi-p10.1" parsed="|Deut|20|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>), for it was in
|
|
a special manner necessary that the leaders and commanders should
|
|
be men of courage. That reform therefore must be made when the army
|
|
was first mustered and marshalled. The soldiers of Christ have need
|
|
of courage, that they may quit themselves like men, and endure
|
|
hardness like good soldiers, especially the officers of his
|
|
army.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 20" id="Deu.xxi-p10.2" parsed="|Deut|20|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 20:10-20" id="Deu.xxi-p10.3" parsed="|Deut|20|10|20|20" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20.10-Deut.20.20"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.20.10-Deut.20.20">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxi-p10.4">Proclamations of War; Directions Concerning
|
|
War. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxi-p10.5">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxi-p11">10 When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight
|
|
against it, then proclaim peace unto it.   11 And it shall be,
|
|
if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall
|
|
be, <i>that</i> all the people <i>that is</i> found therein shall
|
|
be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee.   12 And
|
|
if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee,
|
|
then thou shalt besiege it:   13 And when the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxi-p11.1">Lord</span> thy God hath delivered it into thine hands,
|
|
thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:
|
|
  14 But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and
|
|
all that is in the city, <i>even</i> all the spoil thereof, shalt
|
|
thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine
|
|
enemies, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxi-p11.2">Lord</span> thy God hath
|
|
given thee.   15 Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities
|
|
<i>which are</i> very far off from thee, which <i>are</i> not of
|
|
the cities of these nations.   16 But of the cities of these
|
|
people, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxi-p11.3">Lord</span> thy God doth
|
|
give thee <i>for</i> an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing
|
|
that breatheth:   17 But thou shalt utterly destroy them;
|
|
<i>namely,</i> the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and
|
|
the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxi-p11.4">Lord</span> thy God hath commanded thee:   18 That
|
|
they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they
|
|
have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxi-p11.5">Lord</span> your God.   19 When thou shalt
|
|
besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it,
|
|
thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against
|
|
them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down
|
|
(for the tree of the field <i>is</i> man's <i>life</i>) to employ
|
|
<i>them</i> in the siege:   20 Only the trees which thou
|
|
knowest that they <i>be</i> not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy
|
|
and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city
|
|
that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxi-p12">They are here directed what method to take
|
|
in dealing with the cities (these only are mentioned, <scripRef passage="De 20:10" id="Deu.xxi-p12.1" parsed="|Deut|20|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>, but doubtless the
|
|
armies in the field, and the nations they had occasion to deal
|
|
with, are likewise intended) upon which they made war. They must
|
|
not make a descent upon any of their neighbours till they had first
|
|
given them fair notice, by a public manifesto, or remonstrance,
|
|
stating the ground of their quarrel with them. In dealing with the
|
|
worst of enemies, the laws of justice and honour must be observed;
|
|
and, as the sword must never be taken in hand without cause, so not
|
|
without cause shown. War is an appeal, in which the merits of the
|
|
cause must be set forth.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxi-p13">I. Even to the proclamation of war must be
|
|
subjoined a tender of peace, if they would accept of it upon
|
|
reasonable terms. That is (say the Jewish writers), "upon condition
|
|
that they renounce idolatry, worship the God of Israel, as
|
|
proselytes of the gate that were not circumcised, pay to their new
|
|
masters a yearly tribute, and submit to their government:" on these
|
|
terms the process of war should be stayed, and their conquerors,
|
|
upon this submission, were to be their protectors, <scripRef passage="De 20:10,11" id="Deu.xxi-p13.1" parsed="|Deut|20|10|20|11" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20.10-Deut.20.11"><i>v.</i> 10, 11</scripRef>. Some think that
|
|
even the seven nations of Canaan were to have this offer of peace
|
|
made to them; and the offer was no jest or mockery, though <i>it
|
|
was of the Lord to harden their hearts</i> that they should not
|
|
accept it, <scripRef passage="Jos 11:20" id="Deu.xxi-p13.2" parsed="|Josh|11|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.11.20">Josh. xi. 20</scripRef>.
|
|
Others think that they are excluded (<scripRef passage="De 20:16" id="Deu.xxi-p13.3" parsed="|Deut|20|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>) not only from the benefit of
|
|
that law (<scripRef passage="De 20:13" id="Deu.xxi-p13.4" parsed="|Deut|20|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>)
|
|
which confines military execution to the males only, but from the
|
|
benefit of this also, which allows not to make war till peace was
|
|
refused. And I see not how they could proclaim peace to those who
|
|
by the law were to be utterly rooted out, and to whom they were to
|
|
show no mercy, <scripRef passage="De 7:2" id="Deu.xxi-p13.5" parsed="|Deut|7|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.2"><i>ch.</i> vii.
|
|
2</scripRef>. But for any other nation which they made war upon,
|
|
for the enlarging of their coast, the avenging of any wrong done,
|
|
or the recovery of any right denied, they must first proclaim peace
|
|
to them. Let this show, 1. God's grace in dealing with sinners:
|
|
though he might most justly and easily destroy them, yet, having no
|
|
pleasure in their ruin, he proclaims peace, and beseeches them to
|
|
be reconciled; so that those who lie most obnoxious to his justice,
|
|
and ready to fall as sacrifices to it, if they make him an answer
|
|
of peace, and open to him, upon condition that they will be
|
|
tributaries and servants to him, shall not only be saved from ruin,
|
|
but incorporated with his Israel, as fellow-citizens with the
|
|
saints. 2. Let it show us our duty in dealing with our brethren: if
|
|
any quarrel happen, let us not only be ready to hearken to the
|
|
proposals of peace, but forward to make such proposals. We should
|
|
never make use of the law till we have first tried to accommodate
|
|
matters in variance amicably, and without expense and vexation.
|
|
<i>We</i> must be for peace, whoever are for war.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxi-p14">II. If the offers of peace were not
|
|
accepted, then they must proceed to push on the war. And let those
|
|
to whom God offers peace know that if they reject the offer, and
|
|
take not the benefit of it within the time limited, judgment will
|
|
rejoice against mercy in the execution as much as now mercy
|
|
rejoices against judgment in the reprieve. In this case, 1. There
|
|
is a promise implied that they should be victorious. It is taken
|
|
for granted that <i>the Lord their God would deliver it into their
|
|
hands,</i> <scripRef passage="De 20:13" id="Deu.xxi-p14.1" parsed="|Deut|20|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, Those enterprises which we undertake by a divine warrant, and
|
|
prosecute by divine direction, we may expect to succeed in. If we
|
|
take God's method, we shall have his blessing. 2. They are ordered,
|
|
in honour to the public justice, to put all the soldiers to the
|
|
sword, for them I understand by <i>every male</i> (<scripRef passage="De 20:13" id="Deu.xxi-p14.2" parsed="|Deut|20|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>), all that bore arms (as
|
|
all then did that were able); but the spoil they are allowed to
|
|
take to themselves (<scripRef passage="De 20:14" id="Deu.xxi-p14.3" parsed="|Deut|20|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20.14"><i>v.</i>
|
|
14</scripRef>), in which were reckoned the women and children.
|
|
Note, A justifiable property is acquired in that which is won in
|
|
lawful war. God himself owns the title: <i>The Lord thy God gives
|
|
it thee;</i> and therefore he must be owned in it, <scripRef passage="Ps 44:3" id="Deu.xxi-p14.4" parsed="|Ps|44|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.44.3">Ps. xliv. 3</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxi-p15">III. The nations of Canaan are excepted
|
|
from the merciful provisions made by this law. Remnants might be
|
|
left of the cities that were very far off (<scripRef passage="De 20:15" id="Deu.xxi-p15.1" parsed="|Deut|20|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>), because by them they were not
|
|
in so much danger of being infected with idolatry, nor was their
|
|
country so directly and immediately intended in the promise; but of
|
|
the cities which were given to Israel for an inheritance no
|
|
remnants must be left of their inhabitants (<scripRef passage="De 20:16" id="Deu.xxi-p15.2" parsed="|Deut|20|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>), for it put a slight upon the
|
|
promise to admit Canaanites to share with them in the peculiar land
|
|
of promise; and for another reason they must be utterly destroyed
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 20:17" id="Deu.xxi-p15.3" parsed="|Deut|20|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>), because,
|
|
since it could not be expected that they should be cured of their
|
|
idolatry, if they were left with that plague-sore upon them they
|
|
would be in danger of infecting God's Israel, who were too apt to
|
|
take the infection: <i>They will teach you to do after their
|
|
abominations</i> (<scripRef passage="De 20:18" id="Deu.xxi-p15.4" parsed="|Deut|20|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20.18"><i>v.</i>
|
|
18</scripRef>), to introduce their customs into the worship of the
|
|
God of Israel, and by degrees to forsake him and to worship false
|
|
gods; for those that dare violate the second commandment will not
|
|
long keep to the first. Strange worships open the door to strange
|
|
deities.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxi-p16">IV. Care is here taken that in the
|
|
besieging of cities there should not be any destruction made of
|
|
fruit-trees, <scripRef passage="De 20:19-20" id="Deu.xxi-p16.1" parsed="|Deut|20|19|20|20" osisRef="Bible:Deut.20.19-Deut.20.20"><i>v.</i>
|
|
19-20</scripRef>. In those times, when besiegers forced their way,
|
|
not as now with bombs and cannon-ball, but with battering rams,
|
|
they had occasion for much timber in carrying on their sieges: now
|
|
because, in the heat of war, men are not apt to consider, as they
|
|
ought, the public good, it is expressly provided that fruit-trees
|
|
should not be used as timber-trees. That reason, <i>for the tree of
|
|
the field is man's</i> (the word <i>life</i> we supply), all the
|
|
ancient versions, the Septuagint, Targums, &c., read, <i>For is
|
|
the tree of the field a man?</i> Or <i>the tree of the field is not
|
|
a man, that it should come against thee in the siege,</i> or
|
|
<i>retire from thee into the bulwark.</i> "Do not brutishly vent
|
|
thy rage against the trees that can do thee no harm." But our
|
|
translation seems most agreeable to the intent of the law, and it
|
|
teaches us, 1. That God is a better friend to man than man is to
|
|
himself; and God's law, which we are apt to complain of as a heavy
|
|
yoke, consults our interest and comfort, while our own appetites
|
|
and passions, of which we are so indulgent, are really enemies to
|
|
our welfare. The intent of many of the divine precepts is to
|
|
restrain us from destroying that which is our life and food. 2.
|
|
That armies and their commanders are not allowed to make what
|
|
desolation they please in the countries that are the seat of war.
|
|
Military rage must always be checked and ruled with reason. War,
|
|
though carried on with ever so much caution, is destructive enough,
|
|
and should not be made more so than is absolutely necessary.
|
|
Generous spirits will show themselves tender, not only of men's
|
|
lives, but of their livelihoods; for, though <i>the life is more
|
|
than meat,</i> yet it will soon be nothing without meat. 3. The
|
|
Jews understand this as a prohibition of all wilful waste upon any
|
|
account whatsoever. No fruit-tree is to be destroyed unless it be
|
|
barren, and cumber the ground. "Nay," they maintain, "whoso
|
|
wilfully breaks vessels, tears clothes, stops wells, pulls down
|
|
buildings, or destroys meat, transgresses this law: <i>Thou shalt
|
|
not destroy.</i>" Christ took care that the broken meat should be
|
|
gathered up, that nothing might be lost. Every creature of God is
|
|
good, and, as nothing is to be refused, so nothing is to be abused.
|
|
We may live to want what we carelessly waste.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXI" n="xxii" progress="90.97%" prev="Deu.xxi" next="Deu.xxiii" id="Deu.xxii">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.xxii-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.xxii-p0.2">CHAP. XXI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.xxii-p1">In this chapter provision is made, I. For the
|
|
putting away of the guilt of blood from the land, when he that shed
|
|
it had fled from justice, <scripRef passage="De 21:1-9" id="Deu.xxii-p1.1" parsed="|Deut|21|1|21|9" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21.1-Deut.21.9">ver.
|
|
1-9</scripRef>. II. For the preserving of the honour of a captive
|
|
maid, <scripRef passage="De 21:10-14" id="Deu.xxii-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|21|10|21|14" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21.10-Deut.21.14">ver. 10-14</scripRef>. III.
|
|
For the securing of the right of a first-born son, though he were
|
|
not a favourite, <scripRef passage="De 21:15-17" id="Deu.xxii-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|21|15|21|17" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21.15-Deut.21.17">ver.
|
|
15-17</scripRef>. IV. For the restraining and punishing of a
|
|
rebellious son, <scripRef passage="De 21:18-21" id="Deu.xxii-p1.4" parsed="|Deut|21|18|21|21" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21.18-Deut.21.21">ver.
|
|
18-21</scripRef>. V. For the maintaining of the honour of human
|
|
bodies, which must not be hanged in chains, but decently buried,
|
|
even the bodies of the worst malefactors, <scripRef passage="De 21:22,23" id="Deu.xxii-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|21|22|21|23" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21.22-Deut.21.23">ver. 22, 23</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 21" id="Deu.xxii-p1.6" parsed="|Deut|21|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 21:1-9" id="Deu.xxii-p1.7" parsed="|Deut|21|1|21|9" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21.1-Deut.21.9"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.21.1-Deut.21.9">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxii-p1.8">Undetected Murder. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxii-p1.9">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxii-p2">1 If <i>one</i> be found slain in the land which
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxii-p2.1">Lord</span> thy God giveth thee to
|
|
possess it, lying in the field, <i>and</i> it be not known who hath
|
|
slain him:   2 Then thy elders and thy judges shall come
|
|
forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which <i>are</i>
|
|
round about him that is slain:   3 And it shall be,
|
|
<i>that</i> the city <i>which is</i> next unto the slain man, even
|
|
the elders of that city shall take a heifer, which hath not been
|
|
wrought with, <i>and</i> which hath not drawn in the yoke;   4
|
|
And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a
|
|
rough valley, which is neither eared nor sown, and shall strike off
|
|
the heifer's neck there in the valley:   5 And the priests the
|
|
sons of Levi shall come near; for them the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxii-p2.2">Lord</span> thy God hath chosen to minister unto him,
|
|
and to bless in the name of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxii-p2.3">Lord</span>; and by their word shall every controversy
|
|
and every stroke be <i>tried:</i>   6 And all the elders of
|
|
that city, <i>that are</i> next unto the slain <i>man,</i> shall
|
|
wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley:
|
|
  7 And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed
|
|
this blood, neither have our eyes seen <i>it.</i>   8 Be
|
|
merciful, <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxii-p2.4">O Lord</span>, unto thy people
|
|
Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto
|
|
thy people of Israel's charge. And the blood shall be forgiven
|
|
them.   9 So shalt thou put away the <i>guilt of</i> innocent
|
|
blood from among you, when thou shalt do <i>that which is</i> right
|
|
in the sight of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxii-p2.5">Lord</span>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxii-p3">Care had been taken by some preceding laws
|
|
for the vigorous and effectual persecution of a wilful murderer
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 19:11-13" id="Deu.xxii-p3.1" parsed="|Deut|19|11|19|13" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.11-Deut.19.13"><i>ch.</i> xix. 11</scripRef>,
|
|
&c.), the putting of whom to death was the putting away of the
|
|
guilt of blood from the land; but if this could not be done, the
|
|
murderer not being discovered, they must not think that the land
|
|
was in no danger of contracting any pollution because it was not
|
|
through any neglect of theirs that the murderer was unpunished; no,
|
|
a great solemnity is here provided for the putting away of the
|
|
guilt, as an expression of their dread and detestation of that
|
|
sin.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxii-p4">I. The case supposed is that <i>one is
|
|
found slain, and it is not known who slew him,</i> <scripRef passage="De 21:1" id="Deu.xxii-p4.1" parsed="|Deut|21|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. The providence of God has
|
|
sometimes wonderfully brought to light these hidden works of
|
|
darkness, and by strange occurrences the sin of the guilty has
|
|
found them out, insomuch that it has become a proverb, <i>Murder
|
|
will out.</i> But it is not always so; now and then the devil's
|
|
promises of secresy and impunity in this world are made good; yet
|
|
it is but for a while: there is a time coming when secret murders
|
|
will be discovered; the <i>earth shall disclose her blood</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Isa 26:21" id="Deu.xxii-p4.2" parsed="|Isa|26|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.26.21">Isa. xxvi. 21</scripRef>), upon the
|
|
inquisition which justice makes for it; and there is an eternity
|
|
coming when those that escaped punishment from men will lie under
|
|
the righteous judgment of God. And the impunity with which so many
|
|
murders and other wickednesses are committed in this world makes it
|
|
necessary that there should be a day of judgment, to <i>require
|
|
that which is past,</i> <scripRef passage="Ec 3:15" id="Deu.xxii-p4.3" parsed="|Eccl|3|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.3.15">Eccl. iii.
|
|
15</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxii-p5">II. Directions are given concerning what is
|
|
to be done in this case. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxii-p6">1. It is taken for granted that a diligent
|
|
search had been made for the murderer, witnesses examined, and
|
|
circumstances strictly enquired into, that if possible they might
|
|
find out the guilty person; but if, after all, they could not trace
|
|
it out, not fasten the charge upon any, then, (1.) The <i>elders of
|
|
the next city</i> (that had a court of three and twenty in it) were
|
|
to concern themselves about this matter. If it were doubtful which
|
|
city was next, the great sanhedrim were to send commissioners to
|
|
determine that matter by an exact measure, <scripRef passage="De 21:2,3" id="Deu.xxii-p6.1" parsed="|Deut|21|2|21|3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21.2-Deut.21.3"><i>v.</i> 2, 3</scripRef>. Note, Public persons must be
|
|
solicitous about the public good; and those that are in power and
|
|
reputation in cities must lay out themselves to redress grievances,
|
|
and reform what is amiss in the country and neighbourhood that lie
|
|
about them. Those that are next to them should have the largest
|
|
share of their good influence, as ministers of God for good. (2.)
|
|
The priests and Levites must assist and preside in this solemnity
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 21:5" id="Deu.xxii-p6.2" parsed="|Deut|21|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), that they
|
|
might direct the management of it in all points according to the
|
|
law, and particularly might be the people's mouth to God in the
|
|
prayer that was to be put up on this sad occasion, <scripRef passage="De 21:8" id="Deu.xxii-p6.3" parsed="|Deut|21|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. God being Israel's King,
|
|
his ministers must be their magistrates, and by their word, as the
|
|
mouth of the court and learned in the laws, every controversy must
|
|
be tried. It was Israel's privilege that they had such guides,
|
|
overseers, and rulers, and their duty to make use of them upon all
|
|
occasions, especially in sacred things, as this was. (3.) They were
|
|
to bring a heifer down into a rough and unoccupied valley, and to
|
|
kill it there, <scripRef passage="De 21:3,4" id="Deu.xxii-p6.4" parsed="|Deut|21|3|21|4" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21.3-Deut.21.4"><i>v.</i> 3,
|
|
4</scripRef>. This was not a sacrifice (for it was not brought to
|
|
the altar), but a solemn protestation that thus they would put the
|
|
murderer to death if they had him in their hands. The heifer must
|
|
be one that had not drawn in the yoke, to signify (say some) that
|
|
the murderer was a son of Belial; it must be brought into a rough
|
|
valley, to signify the horror of the fact, and that the defilement
|
|
which blood brings upon a land turns it into barrenness. And the
|
|
Jews say that unless, after this, the murderer was found out, this
|
|
valley where the heifer was killed was never to be tilled nor sown.
|
|
(4.) The elders were to <i>wash their hands in water</i> over the
|
|
heifer that was killed, and to profess, not only that they had not
|
|
shed this innocent blood themselves, but that they knew not who had
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 21:6,7" id="Deu.xxii-p6.5" parsed="|Deut|21|6|21|7" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21.6-Deut.21.7"><i>v.</i> 6, 7</scripRef>), nor had
|
|
knowingly concealed the murderer, helped him to make his escape, or
|
|
been any way aiding or abetting. To this custom David alludes,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 26:6" id="Deu.xxii-p6.6" parsed="|Ps|26|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.26.6">Ps. xxvi. 6</scripRef>, <i>I will wash
|
|
my hands in innocency;</i> but if Pilate had any eye to it
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Mt 27:24" id="Deu.xxii-p6.7" parsed="|Matt|27|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.27.24">Matt. xxvii. 24</scripRef>) he
|
|
wretchedly misapplied it when he condemned Christ, knowing him to
|
|
be innocent, and yet acquitted himself from the guilt of innocent
|
|
blood. <i>Protestatio non valet contra factum—Protestations are of
|
|
no avail when contradicted by fact.</i> (5.) The priests were to
|
|
pray to God for the country and nation, that God would be merciful
|
|
to them, and not bring upon them the judgments which the connivance
|
|
at the sin of murder would deserve. It might be presumed that the
|
|
murderer was either one of their city or was now harboured in their
|
|
city; and therefore they must pray that they might not fare the
|
|
worse for his being among them, <scripRef passage="Nu 16:22" id="Deu.xxii-p6.8" parsed="|Num|16|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.16.22">Num.
|
|
xvi. 22</scripRef>. <i>Be merciful, O Lord, to thy people
|
|
Israel,</i> <scripRef passage="De 21:8" id="Deu.xxii-p6.9" parsed="|Deut|21|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, When we hear of the wickedness of the wicked we have need to
|
|
cry earnestly to God for mercy for our land, which groans and
|
|
trembles under it. We must empty the measure by our prayers which
|
|
others are filling by their sins. Now,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxii-p7">2. This solemnity was appointed, (1.) That
|
|
it might give occasion to common and public discourse concerning
|
|
the murder, which perhaps might some way or other occasion the
|
|
discovery of it. (2.) That it might possess people with a dread of
|
|
the guilt of blood, which defiles not only the conscience of him
|
|
that sheds it (this should engage us all to pray with David,
|
|
<i>Deliver me from blood—guiltiness</i>), but the land in which it
|
|
is shed; it cries to the magistrate for justice on the criminal,
|
|
and, if that cry be not heard, it cries to heaven for judgment on
|
|
the land. If there must be so much care employed to save the land
|
|
from guilt when the murderer was not known, it was certainly
|
|
impossible to secure it from guilt if the murderer was known and
|
|
yet protected. All would be taught, by this solemnity, to use their
|
|
utmost care and diligence to prevent, discover, and punish murder.
|
|
Even the heathen mariners dreaded the guilt of blood, <scripRef passage="Jon 1:14" id="Deu.xxii-p7.1" parsed="|Jonah|1|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.1.14">Jon. i. 14</scripRef>. (3.) That we might all
|
|
learn to take heed of partaking in other men's sins, and making
|
|
ourselves accessory to them <i>ex post facto—after the fact,</i>
|
|
by countenancing the sin or sinner, and not witnessing against it
|
|
in our places. We have <i>fellowship with the unfruitful works of
|
|
darkness</i> if we do not reprove them rather, and bear our
|
|
testimony against them. The repentance of the church of Corinth for
|
|
the sin of one of their members produced such a carefulness, such a
|
|
clearing of themselves, such a holy indignation, fear, and revenge
|
|
(<scripRef passage="2Co 7:11" id="Deu.xxii-p7.2" parsed="|2Cor|7|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.7.11">2 Cor. vii. 11</scripRef>), as were
|
|
signified by the solemnity here appointed.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 21" id="Deu.xxii-p7.3" parsed="|Deut|21|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 21:10-14" id="Deu.xxii-p7.4" parsed="|Deut|21|10|21|14" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21.10-Deut.21.14"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.21.10-Deut.21.14">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxii-p7.5">The Case of Captive Women. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxii-p7.6">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxii-p8">10 When thou goest forth to war against thine
|
|
enemies, and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxii-p8.1">Lord</span> thy God hath
|
|
delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive,
|
|
  11 And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast
|
|
a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife;  
|
|
12 Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; and she shall
|
|
shave her head, and pare her nails;   13 And she shall put the
|
|
raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine
|
|
house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after
|
|
that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall
|
|
be thy wife.   14 And it shall be, if thou have no delight in
|
|
her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt
|
|
not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not make merchandise of
|
|
her, because thou hast humbled her.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxii-p9">By this law a soldier is allowed to marry
|
|
his captive if he pleased. For the hardness of their hearts Moses
|
|
gave them this permission, lest, if they had not had liberty given
|
|
them to marry such, they should have taken liberty to defile
|
|
themselves with them, and by such wickedness the camp would have
|
|
been troubled. The man is supposed to have a wife already, and to
|
|
take this wife for a secondary wife, as the Jews called them. This
|
|
indulgence of men's inordinate desires, in which their hearts
|
|
walked after their eyes, is by no means agreeable to the law of
|
|
Christ, which therefore in this respect, among others, far exceeds
|
|
in glory the law of Moses. The gospel permits not him that has one
|
|
wife to take another, for <i>from the beginning it was not so.</i>
|
|
The gospel forbids looking upon a woman, though a beautiful one, to
|
|
lust after her, and commands the mortifying and denying of all
|
|
irregular desires, though it be as uneasy as the cutting off of a
|
|
right hand; so much does our holy religion, more than that of the
|
|
Jews, advance the honour and support the dominion of the soul over
|
|
the body, the spirit over the flesh, consonant to the glorious
|
|
discovery it makes of life and immortality, and the better
|
|
hope.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxii-p10">But, though military men were allowed this
|
|
liberty, yet care is here taken that they should not abuse it, that
|
|
is,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxii-p11">I. That they should not abuse themselves by
|
|
doing it too hastily, though the captive was ever so desirable:
|
|
"<i>If thou wouldest have her to thy wife</i> (<scripRef passage="De 21:10,11" id="Deu.xxii-p11.1" parsed="|Deut|21|10|21|11" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21.10-Deut.21.11"><i>v.</i> 10, 11</scripRef>), it is true thou needest
|
|
not ask her parents' consent, for she is thy captive, and is at thy
|
|
disposal. But, 1. Thou shalt have no familiar intercourse till thou
|
|
hast married her." This allowance was designed to gratify, not a
|
|
filthy brutish lust, in the heat and fury of its rebellion against
|
|
reason and virtue, but an honourable and generous affection to a
|
|
comely and amiable person, though in distress; therefore he may
|
|
make her his wife if he will, but he must not <i>deal with her as
|
|
with a harlot.</i> 2. "Thou shalt not marry her of a sudden, but
|
|
keep her a full month in thy house," <scripRef passage="De 21:12,13" id="Deu.xxii-p11.2" parsed="|Deut|21|12|21|13" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21.12-Deut.21.13"><i>v.</i> 12, 13</scripRef>. This he must do either,
|
|
(1.) That he may try to take his affection off from her; for he
|
|
must know that, though in marrying her he does not do ill (so the
|
|
law then stood), yet in letting her alone he does much better. Let
|
|
her therefore shave her head, that he might not be enamoured with
|
|
her locks, and <i>let her nails grow</i> (so the margin reads it),
|
|
to spoil the beauty of her hand. <i>Quisquid amas cupias non
|
|
placuisse nimis—We should moderate our affection for those things
|
|
which we are tempted to love inordinately.</i> Or rather, (2.) This
|
|
was done in token of her renouncing idolatry, and becoming a
|
|
proselyte to the Jewish religion. The shaving of her head, the
|
|
paring of her nails, and the changing of her apparel, signified her
|
|
putting off her former conversation, which was corrupt in her
|
|
ignorance, that she might become a new creature. She must remain in
|
|
his house to be taught the good knowledge of the Lord and the
|
|
worship of him: and the Jews say that if she refused, and continued
|
|
obstinate in idolatry, he must not marry her. Note, The professors
|
|
of religion must not be unequally yoked with unbelievers, <scripRef passage="2Co 6:14" id="Deu.xxii-p11.3" parsed="|2Cor|6|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.6.14">2 Cor. vi. 14</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxii-p12">II. That they should not abuse the poor
|
|
captive. 1. She must have time to <i>bewail her father and
|
|
mother,</i> from whom she was separated, and without whose consent
|
|
and blessing she is now likely to be married, and perhaps to a
|
|
common soldier of Israel, though in her country ever so nobly born
|
|
and bred. To force a marriage till these sorrows were digested, and
|
|
in some measure got over, and she was better reconciled to the land
|
|
of her captivity by being better acquainted with it, would be very
|
|
unkind. She must not bewail her idols, but be glad to part with
|
|
them; to her near and dear relations only her affection must be
|
|
thus indulged. 2. If, upon second thoughts, he that had brought her
|
|
to his house with a purpose to marry her changed his mind and would
|
|
not marry her, he might not make merchandise of her, as of his
|
|
other prisoners, but must give her liberty to return, if she
|
|
pleased, to her own country, because he had humbled her and
|
|
afflicted her, by raising expectations and then disappointing them
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 21:14" id="Deu.xxii-p12.1" parsed="|Deut|21|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>); having made
|
|
a fool of her, he might not make a prey of her. This intimates how
|
|
binding the laws of justice and honour are, particularly in the
|
|
pretensions of love, the courting of affections, and the promises
|
|
of marriage, which are to be looked upon as solemn things, that
|
|
have something sacred in them, and therefore are not to be jested
|
|
with.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 21" id="Deu.xxii-p12.2" parsed="|Deut|21|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 21:15-17" id="Deu.xxii-p12.3" parsed="|Deut|21|15|21|17" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21.15-Deut.21.17"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.21.15-Deut.21.17">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxii-p12.4">The Right of the Firstborn. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxii-p12.5">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxii-p13">15 If a man have two wives, one beloved, and
|
|
another hated, and they have born him children, <i>both</i> the
|
|
beloved and the hated; and <i>if</i> the firstborn son be hers that
|
|
was hated:   16 Then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to
|
|
inherit <i>that</i> which he hath, <i>that</i> he may not make the
|
|
son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, <i>which
|
|
is indeed</i> the firstborn:   17 But he shall acknowledge the
|
|
son of the hated <i>for</i> the firstborn, by giving him a double
|
|
portion of all that he hath: for he <i>is</i> the beginning of his
|
|
strength; the right of the firstborn <i>is</i> his.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxii-p14">This law restrains men from disinheriting
|
|
their eldest sons out of mere caprice, and without just
|
|
provocation.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxii-p15">I. The case here put (<scripRef passage="De 21:15" id="Deu.xxii-p15.1" parsed="|Deut|21|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>) is very instructive. 1. It
|
|
shows the great mischief of having more wives than one, which the
|
|
law of Moses did not restrain, probably in hopes that men's own
|
|
experience of the great inconvenience of it in families would at
|
|
last put an end to it and make them a law to themselves. Observe
|
|
the supposition here: If a man have two wives, it is a thousand to
|
|
one but one of them is beloved and the other hated (that is,
|
|
manifestly loved less) as Leah was by Jacob, and the effect of this
|
|
cannot but be strifes and jealousies, envy, confusion, and every
|
|
evil work, which could not but create a constant uneasiness and
|
|
vexation to the husband, and involve him both in sin and trouble.
|
|
Those do much better consult their own ease and satisfaction who
|
|
adhere to God's law than those who indulge their own lusts. 2. It
|
|
shows how Providence commonly sides with the weakest, and <i>gives
|
|
more abundant honour to that part which lacked;</i> for the
|
|
first-born son is here supposed to be <i>hers that was hated;</i>
|
|
it was so in Jacob's family: because <i>the Lord saw that Leah was
|
|
hated,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 29:31" id="Deu.xxii-p15.2" parsed="|Gen|29|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.29.31">Gen. xxix. 31</scripRef>.
|
|
The great householder wisely gives to each his dividend of comfort;
|
|
if one had the honour to be the beloved wife, it often proved that
|
|
the other had the honour to be the mother of the first-born.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxii-p16">II. The law in this case is still binding
|
|
on parents; they must give their children their right without
|
|
partiality. In the case supposed, the eldest son, though the son of
|
|
the less-beloved wife, must have his birthright privilege, which
|
|
was a double portion of the father's estate, because he was the
|
|
beginning of his strength that is, in him his family began to be
|
|
strengthened and his quiver began to be filled with the <i>arrows
|
|
of a mighty man</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 127:4" id="Deu.xxii-p16.1" parsed="|Ps|127|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.127.4">Ps. cxxvii.
|
|
4</scripRef>), and therefore the right of the first-born is his,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 21:16,17" id="Deu.xxii-p16.2" parsed="|Deut|21|16|21|17" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21.16-Deut.21.17"><i>v.</i> 16, 17</scripRef>. Jacob
|
|
had indeed deprived Reuben of his birthright, and given it to
|
|
Joseph, but it was because Reuben had forfeited the birthright by
|
|
his incest, not because he was the <i>son of the hated;</i> now,
|
|
lest that which Jacob did justly should be drawn into a precedent
|
|
for others to do the same thing unjustly, it is here provided that
|
|
when the father makes his will, or otherwise settled his estate,
|
|
the child shall not fare the worse for the mother's unhappiness in
|
|
having less of her husband's love, for that was not the child's
|
|
fault. Note, (1.) Parents ought to make no other difference in
|
|
dispensing their affections among their children than what they see
|
|
plainly God makes in dispensing his grace among them. (2.) Since it
|
|
is the providence of God that makes heirs, the disposal of
|
|
providence in that matter must be acquiesced in and not opposed. No
|
|
son should be abandoned by his father till he manifestly appear to
|
|
be abandoned of God, which is hard to say of any while there is
|
|
life.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 21" id="Deu.xxii-p16.3" parsed="|Deut|21|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 21:18-23" id="Deu.xxii-p16.4" parsed="|Deut|21|18|21|23" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21.18-Deut.21.23"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.21.18-Deut.21.23">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxii-p16.5">Punishment of a Rebellious Son; Burial of
|
|
Malefactors. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxii-p16.6">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxii-p17">18 If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son,
|
|
which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his
|
|
mother, and <i>that,</i> when they have chastened him, will not
|
|
hearken unto them:   19 Then shall his father and his mother
|
|
lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and
|
|
unto the gate of his place;   20 And they shall say unto the
|
|
elders of his city, This our son <i>is</i> stubborn and rebellious,
|
|
he will not obey our voice; <i>he is</i> a glutton, and a drunkard.
|
|
  21 And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones,
|
|
that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all
|
|
Israel shall hear, and fear.   22 And if a man have committed
|
|
a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang
|
|
him on a tree:   23 His body shall not remain all night upon
|
|
the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he
|
|
that is hanged <i>is</i> accursed of God;) that thy land be not
|
|
defiled, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxii-p17.1">Lord</span> thy God
|
|
giveth thee <i>for</i> an inheritance.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxii-p18">Here is, I. A law for the punishing of a
|
|
rebellious son. Having in the former law provided that parents
|
|
should not deprive their children of their right, it was fit that
|
|
it should next be provided that children withdraw not the honour
|
|
and duty which are owing to their parents, for there is no
|
|
partiality in the divine law. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxii-p19">1. How the criminal is here described. He
|
|
is a <i>stubborn and rebellious son,</i> <scripRef passage="De 21:18" id="Deu.xxii-p19.1" parsed="|Deut|21|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. No child was to fare the worse
|
|
for the weakness of his capacity, the slowness or dulness of his
|
|
understanding, but for his wilfulness and obstinacy. If he carry
|
|
himself proudly and insolently towards his parents, contemn their
|
|
authority, slight their reproofs and admonitions, disobey the
|
|
express commands they give him for his own good, hate to be
|
|
reformed by the correction they give him, shame their family,
|
|
grieve their hearts, waste their substance, and threaten to ruin
|
|
their estate by riotous living—this is a <i>stubborn and
|
|
rebellious son.</i> He is particularly supposed (<scripRef passage="De 21:20" id="Deu.xxii-p19.2" parsed="|Deut|21|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>) to be a <i>glutton or a
|
|
drunkard.</i> This intimates either, (1.) That these were sins
|
|
which his parents did in a particular manner warn him against, and
|
|
therefore that in these instances there was a plain evidence that
|
|
he did not obey their voice. Lemuel had this charge from his
|
|
mother, <scripRef passage="Pr 31:4" id="Deu.xxii-p19.3" parsed="|Prov|31|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.31.4">Prov. xxxi. 4</scripRef>. Note,
|
|
In the education of children, great care should be taken to
|
|
suppress all inclinations to drunkenness, and to keep them out of
|
|
the way of temptations to it; in order hereunto they should be
|
|
possessed betimes with a dread and detestation of that beastly sin,
|
|
and taught betimes to deny themselves. Or, (2.) That his being a
|
|
<i>glutton and a drunkard</i> was the cause of his insolence and
|
|
obstinacy towards his parents. Note, There is nothing that draws
|
|
men into all manner of wickedness, and hardens them in it, more
|
|
certainly and fatally than drunkenness does. When men take to drink
|
|
they forget the law, they forget all law (<scripRef passage="Pr 31:5" id="Deu.xxii-p19.4" parsed="|Prov|31|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.31.5">Prov. xxxi. 5</scripRef>), even that fundamental law of
|
|
honouring parents.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxii-p20">2. How this criminal is to be proceeded
|
|
against. His own father and mother are to be his prosecutors,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 21:19,20" id="Deu.xxii-p20.1" parsed="|Deut|21|19|21|20" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21.19-Deut.21.20"><i>v.</i> 19, 20</scripRef>. They
|
|
might not put him to death themselves, but they must complain of
|
|
him to the elders of the city, and the complaint must needs be made
|
|
with a sad heart: <i>This our son is stubborn and rebellious.</i>
|
|
Note, Those that give up themselves to vice and wickedness, and
|
|
will not be reclaimed, forfeit their interest in the natural
|
|
affections of the nearest relations; the instruments of their being
|
|
justly become the instruments of their destruction. The children
|
|
that forget their duty must thank themselves and not blame their
|
|
parents if they are regarded with less and less affection. And, how
|
|
difficult soever tender parents now find it to reconcile themselves
|
|
to the just punishment of their rebellious children, in the day of
|
|
the revelation of the righteous judgment of God all natural
|
|
affection will be so entirely swallowed up in divine love that they
|
|
will acquiesce even in the condemnation of those children, because
|
|
God will be therein for ever glorified.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxii-p21">3. What judgment is to be executed upon
|
|
him: he must publicly <i>stoned to death by the men of his
|
|
city,</i> <scripRef passage="De 21:21" id="Deu.xxii-p21.1" parsed="|Deut|21|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. And
|
|
thus, (1.) The paternal authority was supported, and God, our
|
|
common Father, showed himself jealous for it, it being one of the
|
|
first and most ancient streams derived from him that is the
|
|
fountain of all power. (2.) This law, if duly executed, would
|
|
<i>early destroy the wicked of the land.</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 101:8" id="Deu.xxii-p21.2" parsed="|Ps|101|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.101.8">Ps. ci. 8</scripRef>), and prevent the spreading of the
|
|
gangrene, by cutting off the corrupt part betimes; for those that
|
|
were bad members of families would never make good members of the
|
|
commonwealth. (3.) It would strike an awe upon children, and
|
|
frighten them into obedience to their parents, if they would not
|
|
otherwise be brought to their duty and kept in it: <i>All Israel
|
|
shall hear.</i> The Jews say, "The elders that condemned him were
|
|
to send notice of it in writing all the nation over, <i>In such a
|
|
court, such a day, we stoned such a one, because he was a stubborn
|
|
and rebellious son.</i>" And I have sometimes wished that as in all
|
|
our courts there is an exact record kept of the condemnation of
|
|
criminals, <i>in perpetuam rei memoriam—that the memorial may
|
|
never be lost,</i> so there might be public and authentic notice
|
|
given in print to the kingdom of such condemnations, and the
|
|
executions upon them, by the elders themselves, <i>in
|
|
terrorem—that all may hear and fear.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxii-p22">II. A law for the burying of the bodies of
|
|
malefactors that were hanged, <scripRef passage="De 21:22" id="Deu.xxii-p22.1" parsed="|Deut|21|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.21.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>. The hanging of them by the neck
|
|
till the body was dead was not used at all among the Jews, as with
|
|
us; but of such as were stoned to death, if it were for blasphemy,
|
|
or some other very execrable crime, it was usual, by order of the
|
|
judges, to hang up the dead bodies upon a post for some time, as a
|
|
spectacle to the world, to express the ignominy of the crime, and
|
|
to strike the greater terror upon others, that they might not only
|
|
hear and fear, but see and fear. Now it is here provided that,
|
|
whatever time of the day they were thus hanged up, at sun-set they
|
|
should be taken down and buried, and not left to hang out all
|
|
night; sufficient (says the law) <i>to such a man is this
|
|
punishment;</i> hitherto let it go, but no further. Let the
|
|
malefactor and his crime be hidden in the grave. Now, 1. God would
|
|
thus preserve the honour of human bodies and tenderness towards the
|
|
worst of criminals. The time of exposing dead bodies thus is
|
|
limited for the same reason that the number of stripes was limited
|
|
by another law: <i>Lest thy brother seem vile unto thee.</i>
|
|
Punishing beyond death God reserves to himself; as for man, there
|
|
is no more that he can do. Whether therefore the hanging of
|
|
malefactors in chains, and setting up their heads and quarters, be
|
|
decent among Christians that look for the resurrection of the body,
|
|
may perhaps be worth considering. 2. Yet it is plain there was
|
|
something ceremonial in it; by the law of Moses the touch of a dead
|
|
body was defiling, and therefore dead bodies must not be left
|
|
hanging up in the country, because, by the same rule, this would
|
|
defile the land. But, 3. There is one reason here given which has
|
|
reference to Christ. <i>He that is hanged is accursed of God,</i>
|
|
that is, it is the highest degree of disgrace and reproach that can
|
|
be done to a man, and proclaims him under the curse of God as much
|
|
as any external punishment can. Those that see him thus hang
|
|
between heaven and earth will conclude him abandoned of both and
|
|
unworthy of either; and therefore let him not hang all night, for
|
|
that would carry it too far. Now the apostle, showing how Christ
|
|
has redeemed us from the curse of the law by being himself made a
|
|
curse for us, illustrates it by comparing the brand here put on him
|
|
that was hanged on a tree with the death of Christ, <scripRef passage="Ga 3:13" id="Deu.xxii-p22.2" parsed="|Gal|3|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.3.13">Gal. iii. 13</scripRef>. Moses, by the Spirit,
|
|
uses this phrase of being <i>accursed of God,</i> when he means no
|
|
more than being treated most ignominiously, that it might
|
|
afterwards be applied to the death of Christ, and might show that
|
|
in it he underwent the curse of the law for us, which is a great
|
|
enhancement of his love and a great encouragement to our faith in
|
|
him. And (as the excellent bishop Patrick well observes) this
|
|
passage is applied to the death of Christ, not only because he bore
|
|
our sins and was exposed to shame, as these malefactors were that
|
|
were accursed of God, but because he was in the evening taken down
|
|
from the cursed tree and buried (and that by the particular care of
|
|
the Jews, with an eye to this law, <scripRef passage="Joh 19:31" id="Deu.xxii-p22.3" parsed="|John|19|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.19.31">John xix. 31</scripRef>), in token that now, the guilt
|
|
being removed, the law was satisfied, as it was when the malefactor
|
|
had hanged till sun-set; it demanded no more. Then he ceased to be
|
|
a curse, and those that were his. And, as the land of Israel was
|
|
pure and clean when the dead body was buried, so the church is
|
|
washed and cleansed by the complete satisfaction which thus Christ
|
|
made.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXII" n="xxiii" progress="91.53%" prev="Deu.xxii" next="Deu.xxiv" id="Deu.xxiii">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.xxiii-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.xxiii-p0.2">CHAP. XXII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.xxiii-p1">The laws of this chapter provide, I. For the
|
|
preservation of charity and good neighbourship, in the care of
|
|
strayed or fallen cattle, <scripRef passage="De 22:1-4" id="Deu.xxiii-p1.1" parsed="|Deut|22|1|22|4" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.1-Deut.22.4">ver.
|
|
1-4</scripRef>. II. For the preservation of order and distinction,
|
|
that men and women should not wear one another's clothes (<scripRef passage="De 22:5" id="Deu.xxiii-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|22|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.5">ver. 5</scripRef>), and that other needless
|
|
mixtures should be avoided, <scripRef passage="De 22:9-11" id="Deu.xxiii-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|22|9|22|11" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.9-Deut.22.11">ver.
|
|
9-11</scripRef>. III. For the preservation of birds, <scripRef passage="De 22:6,7" id="Deu.xxiii-p1.4" parsed="|Deut|22|6|22|7" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.6-Deut.22.7">ver. 6, 7</scripRef>. IV. Of life, <scripRef passage="De 22:8" id="Deu.xxiii-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|22|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.8">ver. 8</scripRef>. V. Of the commandments,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 22:12" id="Deu.xxiii-p1.6" parsed="|Deut|22|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.12">ver. 12</scripRef>. VI. Of the
|
|
reputation of a wife abused, if she were innocent (<scripRef passage="De 22:13-19" id="Deu.xxiii-p1.7" parsed="|Deut|22|13|22|19" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.13-Deut.22.19">ver. 13-19</scripRef>), but for her
|
|
punishment if guilty, <scripRef passage="De 22:20,21" id="Deu.xxiii-p1.8" parsed="|Deut|22|20|22|21" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.20-Deut.22.21">ver. 20,
|
|
21</scripRef>. VII. For the preservation of the chastity of wives,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 22:22" id="Deu.xxiii-p1.9" parsed="|Deut|22|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.22">ver. 22</scripRef>. Virgins betrothed
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 22:23-27" id="Deu.xxiii-p1.10" parsed="|Deut|22|23|22|27" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.23-Deut.22.27">ver. 23-27</scripRef>), or not
|
|
betrothed, <scripRef passage="De 22:28,29" id="Deu.xxiii-p1.11" parsed="|Deut|22|28|22|29" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.28-Deut.22.29">ver. 28, 29</scripRef>.
|
|
And, lastly, against incest, <scripRef passage="De 22:30" id="Deu.xxiii-p1.12" parsed="|Deut|22|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.30">ver.
|
|
30</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 22" id="Deu.xxiii-p1.13" parsed="|Deut|22|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 22:1-4" id="Deu.xxiii-p1.14" parsed="|Deut|22|1|22|4" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.1-Deut.22.4"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.22.1-Deut.22.4">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxiii-p1.15">Kindness and Humanity. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxiii-p1.16">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxiii-p2">1 Thou shalt not see thy brother's ox or his
|
|
sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt in any case
|
|
bring them again unto thy brother.   2 And if thy brother
|
|
<i>be</i> not nigh unto thee, or if thou know him not, then thou
|
|
shalt bring it unto thine own house, and it shall be with thee
|
|
until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him
|
|
again.   3 In like manner shalt thou do with his ass; and so
|
|
shalt thou do with his raiment; and with all lost thing of thy
|
|
brother's, which he hath lost, and thou hast found, shalt thou do
|
|
likewise: thou mayest not hide thyself.   4 Thou shalt not see
|
|
thy brother's ass or his ox fall down by the way, and hide thyself
|
|
from them: thou shalt surely help him to lift <i>them</i> up
|
|
again.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxiii-p3">The kindness that was commanded to be shown
|
|
in reference to an enemy (<scripRef passage="Ex 23:4,5" id="Deu.xxiii-p3.1" parsed="|Exod|23|4|23|5" osisRef="Bible:Exod.23.4-Exod.23.5">Exod.
|
|
xxxiii. 4</scripRef>, &c.) is here required to be much more
|
|
done for a neighbour, though he were not an Israelite, for the law
|
|
is consonant to natural equity. 1. That strayed cattle should be
|
|
brought back, either to the owner or to the pasture out of which
|
|
they had gone astray, <scripRef passage="De 22:1,2" id="Deu.xxiii-p3.2" parsed="|Deut|22|1|22|2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.1-Deut.22.2"><i>v.</i> 1,
|
|
2</scripRef>. This must be done in pity to the very cattle, which,
|
|
while they wandered, were exposed; and in civility and respect to
|
|
the owner, nay, and in justice to him, for it was doing as we would
|
|
be done by, which is one of the fundamental laws of equity. Note,
|
|
Religion teaches us to be neighbourly, and to be ready to do all
|
|
good offices, as we have opportunity, to all men. In doing this,
|
|
(1.) They must not mind trouble, but, if they knew who the owner
|
|
was, must take it back themselves; for, if they should only send
|
|
notice to the owner to come and look after it himself, some
|
|
mischief might befal it ere he could reach it. (2.) They must not
|
|
mind expense, but, if they knew not who the owner was, must take it
|
|
home and feed it till the owner was found. If such care must be
|
|
taken of a neighbour's ox or ass going astray, much more of himself
|
|
going astray from God and his duty; we should do our utmost to
|
|
convert him (<scripRef passage="Jam 5:19" id="Deu.xxiii-p3.3" parsed="|Jas|5|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jas.5.19">Jam. v. 19</scripRef>),
|
|
and restore him, considering ourselves, <scripRef passage="Ga 6:1" id="Deu.xxiii-p3.4" parsed="|Gal|6|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.6.1">Gal. vi. 1</scripRef>. 2. That lost goods should be
|
|
brought to the owner, <scripRef passage="De 22:3" id="Deu.xxiii-p3.5" parsed="|Deut|22|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.3"><i>v.</i>
|
|
3</scripRef>. The Jews say, "He that found the lost goods was to
|
|
give public notice of them by the common crier three or four
|
|
times," according to the usage with us; if the owner could not be
|
|
found, he that found the goods might convert them to his own use;
|
|
but (say some learned writers in this case) he would do very well
|
|
to give the value of the goods to the poor. 3. That cattle in
|
|
distress should be helped, <scripRef passage="De 22:4" id="Deu.xxiii-p3.6" parsed="|Deut|22|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.4"><i>v.</i>
|
|
4</scripRef>. This must be done both in compassion to the
|
|
brute-creatures (for a <i>merciful man regardeth the life of a
|
|
beast,</i> though it be not his own) and in love and friendship to
|
|
our neighbour, not knowing how soon we may have occasion for his
|
|
help. If one member may say to another, "I have at present no need
|
|
of thee," it cannot say, "I never shall."</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 22:5-12" id="Deu.xxiii-p3.7" parsed="|Deut|22|5|22|12" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.5-Deut.22.12"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.22.5-Deut.22.12">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxiii-p3.8">Various Prohibitions. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxiii-p3.9">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxiii-p4">5 The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth
|
|
unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all
|
|
that do so <i>are</i> abomination unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxiii-p4.1">Lord</span> thy God.   6 If a bird's nest chance
|
|
to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground,
|
|
<i>whether they be</i> young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting
|
|
upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with
|
|
the young:   7 <i>But</i> thou shalt in any wise let the dam
|
|
go, and take the young to thee; that it may be well with thee, and
|
|
<i>that</i> thou mayest prolong <i>thy</i> days.   8 When thou
|
|
buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy
|
|
roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall
|
|
from thence.   9 Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers
|
|
seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the
|
|
fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled.   10 Thou shalt not plow
|
|
with an ox and an ass together.   11 Thou shalt not wear a
|
|
garment of divers sorts, <i>as</i> of woollen and linen together.
|
|
  12 Thou shalt make thee fringes upon the four quarters of
|
|
thy vesture, wherewith thou coverest <i>thyself.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxiii-p5">Here are several laws in these verses which
|
|
seem to stoop very low, and to take cognizance of things mean and
|
|
minute. Men's laws commonly do not so: <i>De minimis non curat
|
|
lex—The law takes no cognizance of little things;</i> but because
|
|
God's providence extends itself to the smallest affairs, his
|
|
precepts do so, that even in them we may be <i>in the fear of the
|
|
Lord,</i> as we are under his eye and care. And yet the
|
|
significancy and tendency of these statutes, which seem little, are
|
|
such that, notwithstanding their minuteness, being fond among the
|
|
things of God's law, which he has written to us, they are to be
|
|
accounted great things.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxiii-p6">I. The distinction of sexes by the apparel
|
|
is to be kept up, for the preservation of our own and our
|
|
neighbour's chastity, <scripRef passage="De 22:5" id="Deu.xxiii-p6.1" parsed="|Deut|22|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.5"><i>v.</i>
|
|
5</scripRef>. <i>Nature itself teaches</i> that a difference be
|
|
made between them in <i>their hair</i> (<scripRef passage="1Co 11:14" id="Deu.xxiii-p6.2" parsed="|1Cor|11|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.11.14">1 Cor. xi. 14</scripRef>), and by the same rule in
|
|
their clothes, which therefore ought not to be confounded, either
|
|
in ordinary wear or occasionally. To befriend a lawful escape or
|
|
concealment it may be done, but whether for sport or in the acting
|
|
of plays is justly questionable. 1. Some think it refers to the
|
|
idolatrous custom of the Gentiles: in the worship of Venus, women
|
|
appeared in armour, and men in women's clothes; this, as other such
|
|
superstitious usages, is here said to be <i>an abomination to the
|
|
Lord.</i> 2. It forbids the confounding of the dispositions and
|
|
affairs of the sexes: men must not be effeminate, nor do the
|
|
women's work in the house, nor must women be viragos, pretend to
|
|
<i>teach, or usurp authority,</i> <scripRef passage="1Ti 2:11,12" id="Deu.xxiii-p6.3" parsed="|1Tim|2|11|2|12" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.2.11-1Tim.2.12">1
|
|
Tim. ii. 11, 12</scripRef>. Probably this confounding of garments
|
|
had been used to gain opportunity of committing uncleanness, and is
|
|
therefore forbidden; for those that would be kept from sin must
|
|
keep themselves from all occasions of it and approaches to it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxiii-p7">II. In taking a bird's-nest, the dam must
|
|
be let go, <scripRef passage="De 22:6,7" id="Deu.xxiii-p7.1" parsed="|Deut|22|6|22|7" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.6-Deut.22.7"><i>v.</i> 6, 7</scripRef>.
|
|
The Jews say, "This is the least of all the commandments of the law
|
|
of Moses," and yet the same promise is here made to the observance
|
|
of it that is made to the keeping of the fifth commandment, which
|
|
is one of the greatest, <i>that it may be well with thee, and that
|
|
thou mayest prolong thy days;</i> for, as disobedience in a small
|
|
matter shows a very great contempt of the law, so obedience in a
|
|
small matter shows a very great regard to it. He that let go a bird
|
|
out of his hand (which was worth two in the bush) purely because
|
|
God bade him, in that made it to appear that he <i>esteemed all
|
|
God's precepts concerning all things to be right,</i> and that he
|
|
could deny himself rather than sin against God. But <i>doth God
|
|
take care</i> for birds? <scripRef passage="1Co 9:9" id="Deu.xxiii-p7.2" parsed="|1Cor|9|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.9.9">1 Cor. ix.
|
|
9</scripRef>. Yes, certainly; and perhaps to this law our Saviour
|
|
alludes. <scripRef passage="Lu 12:6" id="Deu.xxiii-p7.3" parsed="|Luke|12|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.12.6">Luke xii. 6</scripRef>, <i>Are
|
|
not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is
|
|
forgotten before God?</i> This law, 1. Forbids us to be cruel to
|
|
the brute-creatures, or to take a pleasure in destroying them.
|
|
Though God has made us <i>wiser than the fowls of heaven,</i> and
|
|
given us <i>dominion over them,</i> yet we must not abuse them nor
|
|
rule them with rigour. <i>Let go the dam</i> to breed again;
|
|
<i>destroy it not, for a blessing is in it,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 65:8" id="Deu.xxiii-p7.4" parsed="|Isa|65|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.8">Isa. lxv. 8</scripRef>. 2. It teaches us compassion to
|
|
those of our own kind, and to abhor the thought of every thing that
|
|
looks barbarous, and cruel, and ill-natured, especially towards
|
|
those of the weaker and tender sex, which always ought to be
|
|
treated with the utmost respect, in consideration of the sorrows
|
|
wherein they bring forth children. It is spoken of as an instance
|
|
of the most inhuman cruelty that <i>the mother was dashed to pieces
|
|
upon her children</i> (<scripRef passage="Ho 10:14" id="Deu.xxiii-p7.5" parsed="|Hos|10|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.10.14">Hos. x.
|
|
14</scripRef>), and that the <i>women with child were ripped
|
|
open,</i> <scripRef passage="Am 1:13" id="Deu.xxiii-p7.6" parsed="|Amos|1|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Amos.1.13">Amos i. 13</scripRef>. 3. It
|
|
further intimates that we must not take advantage against any, from
|
|
their natural affection and the tenderness of their disposition, to
|
|
do them an injury. The dam could not have been taken if her concern
|
|
for her eggs or young (unlike to the ostrich) had not detained her
|
|
upon the next when otherwise she could easily have secured herself
|
|
by flight. Now, since it is a thousand pities that she should fare
|
|
the worse for that which is her praise, the law takes care that she
|
|
shall be let go. The remembrance of this may perhaps, some time or
|
|
other, keep us from doing a hard or unkind thing to those whom we
|
|
have at our mercy.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxiii-p8">III. In building a house, care must be
|
|
taken to make it safe, that none might receive mischief by falling
|
|
from it, <scripRef passage="De 22:8" id="Deu.xxiii-p8.1" parsed="|Deut|22|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. The
|
|
roofs of their houses were flat for people to walk on, as appears
|
|
by many scriptures; now lest any, through carelessness, should fall
|
|
off them, they must compass them with battlements, which (the Jews
|
|
say) must be three feet and a half high; if this were not done, and
|
|
mischief followed, the owner, by his neglect, brought the guilt of
|
|
blood upon his house. See here, 1. How precious men's lives are to
|
|
God, who protects them, not only by his providence, but by his law.
|
|
2. How precious, therefore, they ought to be to us, and what care
|
|
we should take to prevent hurt from coming to any person. The Jews
|
|
say that by the equity of this law they were obliged (and so are we
|
|
too) to fence, or remove, every thing by which life may be
|
|
endangered, as to cover draw-wells, keep bridges in repair, and the
|
|
like, lest, if any perish through our omission, their blood be
|
|
required at our hand.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxiii-p9">IV. Odd mixtures are here forbidden,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 22:9,10" id="Deu.xxiii-p9.1" parsed="|Deut|22|9|22|10" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.9-Deut.22.10"><i>v.</i> 9, 10</scripRef>. Much of
|
|
this we met with before, <scripRef passage="Le 19:19" id="Deu.xxiii-p9.2" parsed="|Lev|19|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.19">Lev. xix.
|
|
19</scripRef>. There appears not any thing at all of moral evil in
|
|
these things, and therefore we now make no conscience of sowing
|
|
wheat and rye together, ploughing with horses and oxen together,
|
|
and of wearing linsey-woolsey garments; but hereby is forbidden
|
|
either, 1. A conformity to some idolatrous customs of the heathen.
|
|
Or, 2. That which is contrary to the plainness and purity of an
|
|
Israelite. They must not gratify their own vanity and curiosity by
|
|
putting those things together which the Creator in infinite wisdom
|
|
had made asunder: they must not be unequally yoked with
|
|
unbelievers, nor mingle themselves with the unclean, as an ox with
|
|
an ass. Nor must their profession and appearance in the world be
|
|
motley, or party-coloured, but all of a piece, all of a kind.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxiii-p10">V. The law concerning fringes upon their
|
|
garments, and memorandums of the commandments, which we had before
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Nu 15:38,39" id="Deu.xxiii-p10.1" parsed="|Num|15|38|15|39" osisRef="Bible:Num.15.38-Num.15.39">Num. xv. 38, 39</scripRef>), is
|
|
here repeated, <scripRef passage="De 22:12" id="Deu.xxiii-p10.2" parsed="|Deut|22|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.12"><i>v.</i>
|
|
12</scripRef>. By these they were distinguished from other people,
|
|
so that it might be said, upon the first sight, There goes an
|
|
Israelite, which taught them not to be ashamed of their country,
|
|
nor the peculiarities of their religion, how much soever their
|
|
neighbours looked upon them and it with contempt: and they were
|
|
also put in mind of the precepts upon the particular occasions to
|
|
which they had reference; and perhaps this law is repeated here
|
|
because the precepts immediately foregoing seemed so minute that
|
|
they were in danger of being overlooked and forgotten. The fringes
|
|
will remind you not to make your garments of linen and woollen,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 22:11" id="Deu.xxiii-p10.3" parsed="|Deut|22|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 22" id="Deu.xxiii-p10.4" parsed="|Deut|22|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 22:13-30" id="Deu.xxiii-p10.5" parsed="|Deut|22|13|22|30" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.13-Deut.22.30"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.22.13-Deut.22.30">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxiii-p10.6">The Punishment of
|
|
Fornication. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxiii-p10.7">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxiii-p11">13 If any man take a wife, and go in unto her,
|
|
and hate her,   14 And give occasions of speech against her,
|
|
and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and
|
|
when I came to her, I found her not a maid:   15 Then shall
|
|
the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth
|
|
<i>the tokens of</i> the damsel's virginity unto the elders of the
|
|
city in the gate:   16 And the damsel's father shall say unto
|
|
the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth
|
|
her;   17 And, lo, he hath given occasions of speech
|
|
<i>against her,</i> saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and
|
|
yet these <i>are the tokens of</i> my daughter's virginity. And
|
|
they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.  
|
|
18 And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise
|
|
him;   19 And they shall amerce him in a hundred
|
|
<i>shekels</i> of silver, and give <i>them</i> unto the father of
|
|
the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin
|
|
of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all
|
|
his days.   20 But if this thing be true, <i>and the tokens
|
|
of</i> virginity be not found for the damsel:   21 Then they
|
|
shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and
|
|
the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die:
|
|
because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her
|
|
father's house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you.  
|
|
22 If a man be found lying with a woman married to a husband, then
|
|
they shall both of them die, <i>both</i> the man that lay with the
|
|
woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.
|
|
  23 If a damsel <i>that is</i> a virgin be betrothed unto a
|
|
husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her;  
|
|
24 Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city,
|
|
and ye shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel,
|
|
because she cried not, <i>being</i> in the city; and the man,
|
|
because he hath humbled his neighbour's wife: so thou shalt put
|
|
away evil from among you.   25 But if a man find a betrothed
|
|
damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her: then
|
|
the man only that lay with her shall die:   26 But unto the
|
|
damsel thou shalt do nothing; <i>there is</i> in the damsel no sin
|
|
<i>worthy</i> of death: for as when a man riseth against his
|
|
neighbour, and slayeth him, even so <i>is</i> this matter:  
|
|
27 For he found her in the field, <i>and</i> the betrothed damsel
|
|
cried, and <i>there was</i> none to save her.   28 If a man
|
|
find a damsel <i>that is</i> a virgin, which is not betrothed, and
|
|
lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found;   29
|
|
Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father
|
|
fifty <i>shekels</i> of silver, and she shall be his wife; because
|
|
he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days.  
|
|
30 A man shall not take his father's wife, nor discover his
|
|
father's skirt.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxiii-p12">These laws relate to the seventh
|
|
commandment, laying a restraint by laying a penalty upon those
|
|
fleshly lusts which war against the soul.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxiii-p13">I. If a man, lusting after another woman,
|
|
to get rid of his wife slander her and falsely accuse her, as not
|
|
having the virginity she pretended to when he married her, upon the
|
|
disproof of his slander he must be punished, <scripRef passage="De 22:13-19" id="Deu.xxiii-p13.1" parsed="|Deut|22|13|22|19" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.13-Deut.22.19"><i>v.</i> 13-19</scripRef>. What the meaning of that
|
|
evidence is by which the husband's accusation was to be proved
|
|
false the learned are not agreed, nor is it at all necessary to
|
|
enquire—those for whom this law was intended, no doubt, understood
|
|
it: it is sufficient for us to know that this wicked husband, who
|
|
had thus endeavoured to ruin the reputation of his own wife, was to
|
|
be scourged, and fined, and bound out from ever divorcing the wife
|
|
he had thus abused, <scripRef passage="De 22:18,19" id="Deu.xxiii-p13.2" parsed="|Deut|22|18|22|19" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.18-Deut.22.19"><i>v.</i> 18,
|
|
19</scripRef>. Upon his dislike of her he might have divorced her
|
|
if he had pleased, by the permission of the law (<scripRef passage="De 24:1" id="Deu.xxiii-p13.3" parsed="|Deut|24|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24.1"><i>ch.</i> xxiv. 1</scripRef>), but then he must have
|
|
given her her dowry: if therefore to save that, and to do her the
|
|
greater mischief, he would thus destroy her good name, it was fit
|
|
that he should be severely punished for it, and for ever after
|
|
forfeit the permission to divorce her. Observe, 1. The nearer any
|
|
are in relation to us the greater sin it is to belie them and
|
|
blemish their reputation. It is spoken of as a crime of the highest
|
|
nature to <i>slander thy own mother's son</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 50:20" id="Deu.xxiii-p13.4" parsed="|Ps|50|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.50.20">Ps. l. 20</scripRef>), who is next to thyself, much more
|
|
to slander thy own wife, or thy own husband, that is thyself: it is
|
|
an ill bird indeed that defiles its own nest. 2. Chastity is honour
|
|
as well as virtue, and that which gives occasion for the suspicion
|
|
of it is as great a reproach and disgrace as any whatsoever: in
|
|
this matter therefore, above any thing, we should be highly tender
|
|
both of our own good name and that of others. 3. Parents must look
|
|
upon themselves as concerned to vindicate the reputation of their
|
|
children, for it is a branch of their own.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxiii-p14">II. If the woman that was married as a
|
|
virgin was not found to be one she was to be stoned to death at her
|
|
father's door, <scripRef passage="De 22:20,21" id="Deu.xxiii-p14.1" parsed="|Deut|22|20|22|21" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.20-Deut.22.21"><i>v.</i> 20,
|
|
21</scripRef>. If the uncleanness had been committed before she was
|
|
betrothed it would not have been punished as a capital crime; but
|
|
she must die for the abuse she put upon him whom she married, being
|
|
conscious to herself of being defiled, while she made him believe
|
|
her to be a chaste and modest woman. But some think that her
|
|
uncleanness was punished with death only in case it was committed
|
|
after she was betrothed, supposing there were few come to maturity
|
|
but what were betrothed, though not yet married. Now, 1. This gave
|
|
a powerful caution to young women to flee fornication, since,
|
|
however concealed before, so as not to mar their marriage, it would
|
|
very likely be discovered afterwards, to their perpetual infamy and
|
|
utter ruin. 2. It is intimated to parents that they must by all
|
|
means possible preserve their children's chastity, by giving them
|
|
good advice and admonition, setting them good examples, keeping
|
|
them from bad company, praying for them, and laying them under
|
|
needful restraints, because, if the children committed lewdness,
|
|
the parents must have the grief and shame of the execution at their
|
|
own door. That phrase of <i>folly wrought in Israel</i> was used
|
|
concerning this very crime in the case of Dinah, <scripRef passage="Ge 34:7" id="Deu.xxiii-p14.2" parsed="|Gen|34|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.34.7">Gen. xxxiv. 7</scripRef>. All sin is folly, uncleanness
|
|
especially; but, above all, uncleanness in Israel, by profession a
|
|
holy people.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxiii-p15">III. If any man, single or married, lay
|
|
with a married woman, they were both to be put to death, <scripRef passage="De 22:22" id="Deu.xxiii-p15.1" parsed="|Deut|22|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>. This law we had before,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Le 20:10" id="Deu.xxiii-p15.2" parsed="|Lev|20|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.10">Lev. xx. 10</scripRef>. For a married
|
|
man to lie with a single woman was not a crime of so high a nature,
|
|
nor was it punished with death, because not introducing a spurious
|
|
brood into families under the character of legitimate children.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxiii-p16">IV. If a damsel were betrothed and not
|
|
married, she was from under the eye of her intended husband, and
|
|
therefore she and her chastity were taken under the special
|
|
protection of the law. 1. If her chastity were violated by her own
|
|
consent, she was to be put to death, and her adulterer with her,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 22:23,24" id="Deu.xxiii-p16.1" parsed="|Deut|22|23|22|24" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.23-Deut.22.24"><i>v.</i> 23, 24</scripRef>. And it
|
|
shall be presumed that she consented if it were done in the city,
|
|
or in any place where, had she cried out, help might speedily have
|
|
come in to prevent the injury offered her. <i>Qui tacet, consentire
|
|
videtur—Silence implies consent.</i> Note, It may be presumed that
|
|
those willingly yield to a temptation (whatever they pretend) who
|
|
will not use the means and helps they might be furnished with to
|
|
avoid and overcome it. Nay, her being found in the city, a place of
|
|
company and diversion, when she should have kept under the
|
|
protection of her father's house, was an evidence against her that
|
|
she had not that dread of the sin and the danger of it which became
|
|
a modest woman. Note, Those that needlessly expose themselves to
|
|
temptation justly suffer for the same, if, ere they are aware, they
|
|
be surprised and caught by it. Dinah lost her honour to gratify her
|
|
curiosity with a sight of the <i>daughters of the land.</i> By this
|
|
law the Virgin Mary was in danger of being made a public example,
|
|
that is, of being stoned to death, but that God, by an angel,
|
|
cleared the matter to Joseph. 2. If she were forced, and never
|
|
consented, he that committed the rape was to be put to death, but
|
|
the damsel was to be acquitted, <scripRef passage="De 22:24-27" id="Deu.xxiii-p16.2" parsed="|Deut|22|24|22|27" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.24-Deut.22.27"><i>v.</i> 24-27</scripRef>. Now if it were done in
|
|
the field, out of the hearing of neighbours, it shall be presumed
|
|
that she cried out, but there was none to save her; and, besides,
|
|
her going into the field, a place of solitude, did not so much
|
|
expose her. Now by this law it is intimated to us, (1.) That we
|
|
shall suffer only for the wickedness we do, not for that which is
|
|
done to us. That is no sin which has not more or less of the will
|
|
in it. (2.) That we must presume the best concerning all persons,
|
|
unless the contrary do appear; not only charity, but equity teaches
|
|
us to do so. Though none heard her cry, yet, because none could
|
|
hear it if she did, it shall be taken for granted that she did.
|
|
This rule we should go by in judging of persons and actions:
|
|
<i>believe all things, and hope all things.</i> (3.) That our
|
|
chastity should be as dear to us as our life when that is
|
|
assaulted, it is not at all improper to cry <i>murder, murder,</i>
|
|
for, <i>as when a man riseth against his neighbour and slayeth him,
|
|
even so is this matter.</i> (4.) By way of allusion to this, see
|
|
what we are to do when Satan sets upon us with his temptations:
|
|
wherever we are, let us cry aloud to heaven for help (<i>Succurre,
|
|
Domine, vim patior—Help me, O Lord, for I suffer violence</i>),
|
|
and there we may be sure to be heard, and answered, as Paul was,
|
|
<i>My grace is sufficient for thee.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxiii-p17">V. If a damsel not betrothed were thus
|
|
abused by violence, he that abused her should be fined, the father
|
|
should have the fine, and, if he and the damsel did consent, he
|
|
should be bound to marry her, and never to divorce her, how much
|
|
soever she was below him, and how unpleasing soever she might
|
|
afterwards be to him, as Tamar was to Amnon after he had forced
|
|
her, <scripRef passage="De 22:28,29" id="Deu.xxiii-p17.1" parsed="|Deut|22|28|22|29" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.28-Deut.22.29"><i>v.</i> 28, 29</scripRef>.
|
|
This was to deter men from such vicious practices, which it is a
|
|
shame that we are necessitated to read and write of.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxiii-p18">VI. The law against a man's marrying his
|
|
father's widow, or having any undue familiarity with his father's
|
|
wife, is here repeated (<scripRef passage="De 22:30" id="Deu.xxiii-p18.1" parsed="|Deut|22|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.30"><i>v.</i>
|
|
30</scripRef>) from <scripRef passage="Le 18:8" id="Deu.xxiii-p18.2" parsed="|Lev|18|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.8">Lev. xviii.
|
|
8</scripRef>. And, probably, it is intended (as bishop Patrick
|
|
notes) for a short memorandum to them carefully to observe all the
|
|
laws there made against incestuous marriages, that being specified
|
|
which is the most detestable of all; it is that of which the
|
|
apostle says, <i>It is not so much as named among the Gentiles,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Co 5:1" id="Deu.xxiii-p18.3" parsed="|1Cor|5|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.5.1">1 Cor. v. 1</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXIII" n="xxiv" progress="91.98%" prev="Deu.xxiii" next="Deu.xxv" id="Deu.xxiv">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.xxiv-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.xxiv-p0.2">CHAP. XXIII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.xxiv-p1">The laws of this chapter provide, I. For the
|
|
preserving of the purity and honour of the families of Israel, by
|
|
excluding such as would be a disgrace to them, <scripRef passage="De 23:1-8" id="Deu.xxiv-p1.1" parsed="|Deut|23|1|23|8" osisRef="Bible:Deut.23.1-Deut.23.8">ver. 1-8</scripRef>. II. For the preserving of the
|
|
purity and honour of the camp of Israel when it was abroad,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 23:9-14" id="Deu.xxiv-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|23|9|23|14" osisRef="Bible:Deut.23.9-Deut.23.14">ver. 9-14</scripRef>. III. For the
|
|
encouraging and entertaining of slaves who fled to them, <scripRef passage="De 23:15" id="Deu.xxiv-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|23|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.23.15">ver. 15, 16</scripRef>. IV. Against whoredom,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 23:17,18" id="Deu.xxiv-p1.4" parsed="|Deut|23|17|23|18" osisRef="Bible:Deut.23.17-Deut.23.18">ver. 17, 18</scripRef>. V. Against
|
|
usury, <scripRef passage="De 23:19,20" id="Deu.xxiv-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|23|19|23|20" osisRef="Bible:Deut.23.19-Deut.23.20">ver. 19, 20</scripRef>. IV.
|
|
Against the breach of vows, <scripRef passage="De 23:21-23" id="Deu.xxiv-p1.6" parsed="|Deut|23|21|23|23" osisRef="Bible:Deut.23.21-Deut.23.23">ver.
|
|
21-23</scripRef>. VII. What liberty a man might take in his
|
|
neighbour's field and vineyard, and what not, <scripRef passage="De 23:23,25" id="Deu.xxiv-p1.7" parsed="|Deut|23|23|0|0;|Deut|23|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.23.23 Bible:Deut.23.25">ver. 23, 25</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 23" id="Deu.xxiv-p1.8" parsed="|Deut|23|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.23"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 23:1-8" id="Deu.xxiv-p1.9" parsed="|Deut|23|1|23|8" osisRef="Bible:Deut.23.1-Deut.23.8"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.23.1-Deut.23.8">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxiv-p1.10">Laws of Separation. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxiv-p1.11">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxiv-p2">1 He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his
|
|
privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxiv-p2.1">Lord</span>.   2 A bastard shall not
|
|
enter into the congregation of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxiv-p2.2">Lord</span>; even to his tenth generation shall he not
|
|
enter into the congregation of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxiv-p2.3">Lord</span>.   3 An Ammonite or Moabite shall not
|
|
enter into the congregation of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxiv-p2.4">Lord</span>; even to their tenth generation shall they
|
|
not enter into the congregation of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxiv-p2.5">Lord</span> for ever:   4 Because they met you not
|
|
with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of
|
|
Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor
|
|
of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee.   5 Nevertheless the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxiv-p2.6">Lord</span> thy God would not hearken unto
|
|
Balaam; but the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxiv-p2.7">Lord</span> thy God turned
|
|
the curse into a blessing unto thee, because the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxiv-p2.8">Lord</span> thy God loved thee.   6 Thou shalt not
|
|
seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever.  
|
|
7 Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he <i>is</i> thy brother:
|
|
thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian; because thou wast a stranger in
|
|
his land.   8 The children that are begotten of them shall
|
|
enter into the congregation of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxiv-p2.9">Lord</span> in their third generation.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxiv-p3">Interpreters are not agreed what is here
|
|
meant by <i>entering into the congregation of the Lord,</i> which
|
|
is here forbidden to eunuchs and to bastards, Ammonites and
|
|
Moabites, for ever, but to Edomites and Egyptians only till the
|
|
third generation. 1. Some think they are hereby excluded from
|
|
communicating with the people of God in their religious services.
|
|
Though eunuchs and bastards were owned as members of the church,
|
|
and the Ammonites and Moabites might be circumcised and proselyted
|
|
to the Jewish religion, yet they and their families must lie for
|
|
some time under marks of disgrace, remembering the rock whence they
|
|
were hewn, and must not come so near the sanctuary as others might,
|
|
nor have so free a communion with Israelites. 2. Others think they
|
|
are hereby excluded from bearing office in the congregation: none
|
|
of these must be elders or judges, lest the honour of the
|
|
magistracy should thereby be stained. 3. Others think they are
|
|
excluded only from marrying with Israelites. Thus the learned
|
|
bishop Patrick inclines to understand it; yet we find that when
|
|
this law was put in execution after the captivity they separated
|
|
from Israel, not only the strange wives, but all the mixed
|
|
multitude, see <scripRef passage="Ne 13:1-2" id="Deu.xxiv-p3.1" parsed="|Neh|13|1|13|2" osisRef="Bible:Neh.13.1-Neh.13.2">Neh. xiii.
|
|
1-2</scripRef>. With the daughters of these nations (though out of
|
|
the nations of Canaan), it should seem, the men of Israel might
|
|
marry, if they were completely proselyted to the Jewish religion;
|
|
but with the men of these nations the daughters of Israel might not
|
|
marry, nor could the men be naturalized otherwise than as here
|
|
provided.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxiv-p4">It is plain, in general, that disgrace is
|
|
here put,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxiv-p5">I. Upon bastards and eunuchs, <scripRef passage="De 23:1,2" id="Deu.xxiv-p5.1" parsed="|Deut|23|1|23|2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.23.1-Deut.23.2"><i>v.</i> 1, 2</scripRef>. By bastards here the
|
|
Jewish writers understand, not all that were born of fornication,
|
|
or out of marriage, but all the issue of those incestuous mixtures
|
|
which are forbidden, <scripRef passage="Le 18:1-30" id="Deu.xxiv-p5.2" parsed="|Lev|18|1|18|30" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.1-Lev.18.30">Lev.
|
|
xviii</scripRef>. And, though it was not the fault of the issue,
|
|
yet, to deter people from those unlawful marriages and unlawful
|
|
lusts, it was very convenient that their posterity should thus be
|
|
made infamous. By this rule Jephthah, though the son of a harlot, a
|
|
strange woman (<scripRef passage="Jdg 11:1,2" id="Deu.xxiv-p5.3" parsed="|Judg|11|1|11|2" osisRef="Bible:Judg.11.1-Judg.11.2">Judg. xi. 1,
|
|
2</scripRef>), yet was not a bastard in the sense of this law. And
|
|
as for the eunuchs, though by this law they seemed to be cast out
|
|
of the vineyard as dry trees, which they complain of (<scripRef passage="Isa 56:3" id="Deu.xxiv-p5.4" parsed="|Isa|56|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.56.3">Isa. lvi. 3</scripRef>), yet it is here promised
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 23:5" id="Deu.xxiv-p5.5" parsed="|Deut|23|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.23.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>) that if they
|
|
took care of their duty to God, as far as they were admitted, by
|
|
keeping his sabbaths and choosing the things that pleased him, the
|
|
want of this privilege should be made up to them with such
|
|
spiritual blessings as would entitle them to an everlasting
|
|
name.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxiv-p6">II. Upon Ammonites and Moabites, the
|
|
posterity of Lot, who, for his outward convenience, had separated
|
|
himself from Abraham, <scripRef passage="Ge 13:11" id="Deu.xxiv-p6.1" parsed="|Gen|13|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.11">Gen. xiii.
|
|
11</scripRef>. And we do not find that he or his ever joined
|
|
themselves again to the children of the covenant. They are here cut
|
|
off <i>to the tenth generation,</i> that is, (as some think it is
|
|
explained), for ever. Compare <scripRef passage="Ne 13:1" id="Deu.xxiv-p6.2" parsed="|Neh|13|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Neh.13.1">Neh.
|
|
xiii. 1</scripRef>. The reason of this quarrel which Israel must
|
|
have with them, so as not to <i>seek their peace</i> (<scripRef passage="De 23:6" id="Deu.xxiv-p6.3" parsed="|Deut|23|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.23.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), is because of the
|
|
unkindness they had now lately done to the camp of Israel,
|
|
notwithstanding the orders God had given not to distress or vex
|
|
them, <scripRef passage="De 2:9,19" id="Deu.xxiv-p6.4" parsed="|Deut|2|9|0|0;|Deut|2|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.2.9 Bible:Deut.2.19"><i>ch.</i> ii. 9,
|
|
19</scripRef>. 1. It was bad enough that they did not <i>meet them
|
|
with bread and water in the way</i> (<scripRef passage="De 23:4" id="Deu.xxiv-p6.5" parsed="|Deut|23|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.23.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>), that they did not as allies, or
|
|
at least as neutral states, bring victuals into their camp, which
|
|
they should have been duly paid for. It was well that God's Israel
|
|
did not need their kindness, God himself following them with bread
|
|
and water. However this omission of the Ammonites should be
|
|
remembered against their nation in future ages. Note, God will
|
|
certainly reckon, not only with those that oppose his people, but
|
|
with those that do not help and further them, when it is in the
|
|
power of their hand to do it. The charge at the great day is for an
|
|
omission: <i>I was hungry, and you gave me no meat.</i> 2. The
|
|
Moabites had done worse, they hired Balaam to curse Israel,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 23:4" id="Deu.xxiv-p6.6" parsed="|Deut|23|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.23.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. It is true
|
|
<i>God turned the curse into a blessing</i> (<scripRef passage="De 23:5" id="Deu.xxiv-p6.7" parsed="|Deut|23|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.23.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), not only changing the word in
|
|
Balaam's mouth, but making that really turn to the honour and
|
|
advantage of Israel which was designed for their ruin. But though
|
|
the design was defeated, and overruled for good, the Moabites'
|
|
wickedness was not the less provoking. God will deal with sinners,
|
|
but according to their endeavours, <scripRef passage="Ps 28:4" id="Deu.xxiv-p6.8" parsed="|Ps|28|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.28.4">Ps.
|
|
xxviii. 4</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxiv-p7">III. The Edomites and Egyptians had not so
|
|
deep a mark of displeasure put upon them as the Moabites and
|
|
Ammonites had. If an Edomite or Egyptian turned proselyte, his
|
|
grand-children should be looked upon as members of the congregation
|
|
of the Lord to all intents and purposes, <scripRef passage="De 23:7,8" id="Deu.xxiv-p7.1" parsed="|Deut|23|7|23|8" osisRef="Bible:Deut.23.7-Deut.23.8"><i>v.</i> 7, 8</scripRef>. We should think that the
|
|
Edomites had been more injurious to the Israelites than the
|
|
Ammonites, and deserved as little favour from them (<scripRef passage="Nu 20:20" id="Deu.xxiv-p7.2" parsed="|Num|20|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.20">Num. xx. 20</scripRef>), and yet "<i>Thou shalt
|
|
not abhor an Edomite,</i> as thou must an Ammonite, for he is thy
|
|
brother." Note, The unkindness of near relations, though by many
|
|
worst taken, yet should with us, for that reason, because of the
|
|
relation, be first forgiven. And then, as to the Egyptians, here is
|
|
a strange reason given why they must not be abhorred: "<i>Thou wast
|
|
a stranger in their land,</i> and therefore, though hardly used
|
|
there, be civil to them, for old acquaintance' sake." They must not
|
|
remember their bondage in Egypt for the keeping up of any ill will
|
|
to the Egyptians, but only for the magnifying of Gods power and
|
|
goodness in their deliverance.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 23:9-14" id="Deu.xxiv-p7.3" parsed="|Deut|23|9|23|14" osisRef="Bible:Deut.23.9-Deut.23.14"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.23.9-Deut.23.14">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxiv-p7.4">Moral and Ceremonial Purity
|
|
Enjoined. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxiv-p7.5">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxiv-p8">9 When the host goeth forth against thine
|
|
enemies, then keep thee from every wicked thing.   10 If there
|
|
be among you any man, that is not clean by reason of uncleanness
|
|
that chanceth him by night, then shall he go abroad out of the
|
|
camp, he shall not come within the camp:   11 But it shall be,
|
|
when evening cometh on, he shall wash <i>himself</i> with water:
|
|
and when the sun is down, he shall come into the camp <i>again.</i>
|
|
  12 Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither
|
|
thou shalt go forth abroad:   13 And thou shalt have a paddle
|
|
upon thy weapon; and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself
|
|
abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover
|
|
that which cometh from thee:   14 For the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxiv-p8.1">Lord</span> thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp,
|
|
to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee;
|
|
therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in
|
|
thee, and turn away from thee.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxiv-p9">Israel was now encamped, and this vast army
|
|
was just entering upon action, which was likely to keep them
|
|
together for a long time, and therefore it was fit to give them
|
|
particular directions for the good ordering of their camp. And the
|
|
charge is in one word to be <i>clean.</i> They must take care to
|
|
keep their camp pure from moral, ceremonial, and natural
|
|
pollution.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxiv-p10">I. From moral pollution (<scripRef passage="De 23:9" id="Deu.xxiv-p10.1" parsed="|Deut|23|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.23.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): <i>When the host goes forth
|
|
against thy enemy</i> then look upon thyself as in a special manner
|
|
engaged to <i>keep thyself from every evil thing.</i> 1. The
|
|
soldiers themselves must take heed of sin, for sin takes off the
|
|
edge of valour; guilt makes men cowards. Those that put their lives
|
|
in their hands are concerned to make and keep their peace with God,
|
|
and preserve a conscience void of offence; then may they look death
|
|
in the face without terror. Soldiers, in executing their
|
|
commission, must keep themselves from gratifying the lusts of
|
|
malice, covetousness, or uncleanness, for these are wicked
|
|
things—must keep themselves from the idols, or accursed things,
|
|
they found in the camps they plundered. 2. Even those that tarried
|
|
at home, the body of the people, and every particular person, must
|
|
at that time especially keep from every wicked thing, lest by sin
|
|
they provoke God to withdraw his presence from the host, and give
|
|
victory to the enemy for the correcting of his own people. Times of
|
|
war should be times of reformation, else how can we expect God
|
|
should hear and answer our prayers for success? <scripRef passage="Ps 66:18" id="Deu.xxiv-p10.2" parsed="|Ps|66|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.66.18">Ps. lxvi. 18</scripRef>. See <scripRef passage="1Sa 7:3" id="Deu.xxiv-p10.3" parsed="|1Sam|7|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.7.3">1 Sam. vii. 3</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxiv-p11">II. From ceremonial pollution, which might
|
|
befal a person when unconscious of it, for which he was bound to
|
|
wash his flesh in water, and look upon himself as <i>unclean until
|
|
the evening,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 15:16" id="Deu.xxiv-p11.1" parsed="|Lev|15|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.15.16">Lev. xv.
|
|
16</scripRef>. A soldier, notwithstanding the constant service and
|
|
duty he had to do in the camp, must be so far from looking upon
|
|
himself as discharged from the observance of this ceremony that
|
|
more was required from him than at another time; had he been at his
|
|
own house, he needed only to wash his flesh, but, being in the
|
|
army, he must go abroad out of the camp, as one concerned to keep
|
|
it pure and ashamed of his own impurity, and not return till after
|
|
sunset, <scripRef passage="De 23:10,11" id="Deu.xxiv-p11.2" parsed="|Deut|23|10|23|11" osisRef="Bible:Deut.23.10-Deut.23.11"><i>v.</i> 10,
|
|
11</scripRef>. By this trouble and reproach, which even involuntary
|
|
pollutions exposed men to, they were taught to keep up a very great
|
|
dread of all fleshly lusts. It were well if military men would
|
|
consider this.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxiv-p12">III. From natural pollution; the camp of
|
|
the Lord must have nothing offensive in it, <scripRef passage="De 23:12-14" id="Deu.xxiv-p12.1" parsed="|Deut|23|12|23|14" osisRef="Bible:Deut.23.12-Deut.23.14"><i>v.</i> 12-14</scripRef>. It is strange that the
|
|
divine law, or at least the solemn order and direction of Moses,
|
|
should extend to a thing of this nature; but the design of it was
|
|
to teach them, 1. Modesty and decorum; nature itself teaches them
|
|
thus to distinguish themselves from beasts that know no shame. 2.
|
|
Cleanliness, and, though not niceness, yet neatness, even in their
|
|
camp. Filthiness is offensive to the senses God has endued us with,
|
|
prejudicial to the health, a wrong to the comfort of human life,
|
|
and an evidence of a careless slothful temper of mind. 3. Purity
|
|
from the pollutions of sin; if there must be this care taken to
|
|
preserve the body clean and sweet, much more should we be
|
|
solicitous to keep the mind so. 4. A reverence of the divine
|
|
majesty. This is the reason here given: <i>For the Lord thy God
|
|
walketh</i> by his ark, the special token of his presence, <i>in
|
|
the midst of thy camp;</i> with respect to that external symbol
|
|
this external purity is required, which (though not insisted on in
|
|
the letter when that reason ceases) teaches us to preserve inward
|
|
purity of soul, in consideration of the eye of God, which is always
|
|
upon us. By this expression of respect to the presence of God among
|
|
them, they were taught both to fortify themselves against sin and
|
|
to encourage themselves against their enemies with the
|
|
consideration of that presence. 5. A regard one to another. The
|
|
filthiness of one is noisome to many; this law of cleanliness
|
|
therefore teaches us not to do that which will be justly offensive
|
|
to our brethren and grieve them. It is a law against nuisances.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 23" id="Deu.xxiv-p12.2" parsed="|Deut|23|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.23"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 23:15-25" id="Deu.xxiv-p12.3" parsed="|Deut|23|15|23|25" osisRef="Bible:Deut.23.15-Deut.23.25"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.23.15-Deut.23.25">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxiv-p12.4">Protection of Fugitives; The Law Concerning
|
|
Usury. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxiv-p12.5">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxiv-p13">15 Thou shalt not deliver unto his master the
|
|
servant which is escaped from his master unto thee:   16 He
|
|
shall dwell with thee, <i>even</i> among you, in that place which
|
|
he shall choose in one of thy gates, where it liketh him best: thou
|
|
shalt not oppress him.   17 There shall be no whore of the
|
|
daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel.  
|
|
18 Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog,
|
|
into the house of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxiv-p13.1">Lord</span> thy God
|
|
for any vow: for even both these <i>are</i> abomination unto the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxiv-p13.2">Lord</span> thy God.   19 Thou shalt
|
|
not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of
|
|
victuals, usury of any thing that is lent upon usury:   20
|
|
Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto thy brother
|
|
thou shalt not lend upon usury: that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxiv-p13.3">Lord</span> thy God may bless thee in all that thou
|
|
settest thine hand to in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
|
|
  21 When thou shalt vow a vow unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxiv-p13.4">Lord</span> thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it:
|
|
for the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxiv-p13.5">Lord</span> thy God will surely
|
|
require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee.   22 But if
|
|
thou shalt forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee.   23
|
|
That which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt keep and perform;
|
|
<i>even</i> a freewill offering, according as thou hast vowed unto
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxiv-p13.6">Lord</span> thy God, which thou hast
|
|
promised with thy mouth.   24 When thou comest into thy
|
|
neighbour's vineyard, then thou mayest eat grapes thy fill at thine
|
|
own pleasure; but thou shalt not put <i>any</i> in thy vessel.
|
|
  25 When thou comest into the standing corn of thy neighbour,
|
|
then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand; but thou shalt not
|
|
move a sickle unto thy neighbour's standing corn.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxiv-p14">Orders are here given about five several
|
|
things which have no relation one to another:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxiv-p15">I. The land of Israel is here made a
|
|
sanctuary, or city of refuge, for servants that were wronged and
|
|
abused by their masters, and fled thither for shelter from the
|
|
neighbouring countries, <scripRef passage="De 23:15,16" id="Deu.xxiv-p15.1" parsed="|Deut|23|15|23|16" osisRef="Bible:Deut.23.15-Deut.23.16"><i>v.</i>
|
|
15, 16</scripRef>. We cannot suppose that they were hereby obliged
|
|
to give entertainment to all the unprincipled men that ran from
|
|
service; Israel needed not (as Rome at first did) to be thus
|
|
peopled. But, 1. They must not deliver up the trembling servant to
|
|
his enraged master, till upon trial it appeared that the servant
|
|
has wronged his master and was justly liable to punishment. Note,
|
|
It is an honourable thing to shelter and protect the weak, provided
|
|
they be not wicked. God allows his people to patronise the
|
|
oppressed. The angel bid Hagar return to her mistress, and Paul
|
|
sent Onesimus back to his master Philemon, because they had neither
|
|
of them any cause to go away, nor was either of them exposed to any
|
|
danger in returning. But the servant here is supposed to escape,
|
|
that is, to run for his life, to the people of Israel, of whom he
|
|
had heard (as Benhadad of the kings of Israel, <scripRef passage="1Ki 20:31" id="Deu.xxiv-p15.2" parsed="|1Kgs|20|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.20.31">1 Kings xx. 31</scripRef>) that they were a merciful
|
|
people, to save himself from the fury of a tyrant; and in that case
|
|
to deliver him up is to throw a lamb into the mouth of a lion. 2.
|
|
If it appeared that the servant was abused, they must not only
|
|
protect him, but, supposing him willing to embrace their religion,
|
|
they must give him all the encouragement that might be to settle
|
|
among them. Care is taken both that he should not be imposed up on
|
|
in the place of his settlement—let it be <i>that which he shall
|
|
choose</i> and <i>where it liketh him best,</i> and that he should
|
|
not exchange one hard master for many—<i>thou shalt not oppress
|
|
him.</i> Thus would he soon find a comfortable difference between
|
|
the land of Israel and other lands, and would choose it to be his
|
|
rest for ever. Note, Proselytes and converts to the truth should be
|
|
treated with particular tenderness, that they may have no
|
|
temptation to return.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxiv-p16">II. The land of Israel must be no shelter
|
|
for the unclean; no whore, no Sodomite, must be suffered to live
|
|
among them (<scripRef passage="De 23:17,18" id="Deu.xxiv-p16.1" parsed="|Deut|23|17|23|18" osisRef="Bible:Deut.23.17-Deut.23.18"><i>v.</i> 17,
|
|
18</scripRef>), neither a whore nor a whoremonger. No houses of
|
|
uncleanness must be kept either by men or women. Here is, 1. A good
|
|
reason intimated why there should be no such wickedness tolerated
|
|
among them: they were Israelites. This seems to have an emphasis
|
|
laid upon it. For a daughter of Israel to be a whore, or a son of
|
|
Israel a whoremaster, is to reproach the stock they are come of,
|
|
the people they belong to, and the God they worship. It is bad in
|
|
any, but worst in Israelites, a holy nation, <scripRef passage="2Sa 13:12" id="Deu.xxiv-p16.2" parsed="|2Sam|13|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.13.12">2 Sam. xiii. 12</scripRef>. 2. A just mark of
|
|
displeasure put upon this wickedness, that the hire of a whore,
|
|
that is, the money she gets by her whoring, and the price of a dog,
|
|
that is, of the Sodomite, pimp, or whoremaster (so I incline to
|
|
understand it, for such are called <i>dogs,</i> <scripRef passage="Re 22:15" id="Deu.xxiv-p16.3" parsed="|Rev|22|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.22.15">Rev. xxii. 15</scripRef>), the money he gets by his lewd
|
|
and villainous practices, no part of it shall be <i>brought into
|
|
the house of the Lord</i> (as the hire of prostitutes among the
|
|
Gentiles was into their temples) <i>for any vow.</i> This
|
|
intimates, (1.) That God would not accept of any offering at all
|
|
from such wicked people; they had nothing to bring an offering of
|
|
but what they got by their wickedness, and therefore their
|
|
sacrifice could not but be <i>an abomination to the Lord,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Pr 15:8" id="Deu.xxiv-p16.4" parsed="|Prov|15|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.15.8">Prov. xv. 8</scripRef>. (2.) That they
|
|
should not think, by making and paying vows, and bringing offerings
|
|
to the Lord, to obtain leave to go on in this sin, as (it should
|
|
seem) some that followed that trade suggested to themselves, when
|
|
their offerings were admitted. <scripRef passage="Pr 7:14,15" id="Deu.xxiv-p16.5" parsed="|Prov|7|14|7|15" osisRef="Bible:Prov.7.14-Prov.7.15">Prov.
|
|
vii. 14, 15</scripRef>, <i>This day have I paid my vows, therefore
|
|
came I forth to meet thee.</i> Nothing should be accepted in
|
|
commutation of penance. (3.) That we cannot honour God with our
|
|
substance unless it be honestly and honourably come by. It must not
|
|
only be considered what we give, but how we got it; God hates
|
|
robbery for burnt-offerings, and uncleanness too.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxiv-p17">III. The matter of usury is here settled,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 23:19,20" id="Deu.xxiv-p17.1" parsed="|Deut|23|19|23|20" osisRef="Bible:Deut.23.19-Deut.23.20"><i>v.</i> 19, 20</scripRef>. (1.)
|
|
They must not lend upon usury to an Israelite. They had and held
|
|
their estates immediately from and under God, who, while he
|
|
distinguished them from all other people, might have ordered, had
|
|
he so pleased, that they should have all things in common among
|
|
themselves; but instead of that, and in token of their joint
|
|
interest in the good land he had given them, he only appointed
|
|
them, as there was occasion, to lend to one another without
|
|
interest, which among them would be little or no loss to the
|
|
lender, because their land was so divided, their estates were so
|
|
settled, and there was so little of merchandise among them, that it
|
|
was seldom or never that they had occasion to borrow any great
|
|
sums, only what was necessary for the subsistence of their families
|
|
when the fruits of their ground had met with any disaster, or the
|
|
like; and, in such a case, for a small matter to insist upon usury
|
|
would have been very barbarous. Where the borrower gets, or hopes
|
|
to get, it is just that the lender should share in the gain; but to
|
|
him that borrows for his necessary food pity must be shown, and we
|
|
must lend, hoping for nothing again, if we have wherewithal to do
|
|
it, <scripRef passage="Lu 6:35" id="Deu.xxiv-p17.2" parsed="|Luke|6|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.6.35">Luke vi. 35</scripRef>. (2.) They
|
|
might lend upon usury to a stranger, who was supposed to live by
|
|
trade, and (as we say) by turning the penny, and therefore got by
|
|
what he borrowed, and came among them in hopes to do so. By this it
|
|
appears that usury is not in itself oppressive; for they must not
|
|
oppress a stranger, and yet might exact usury from him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxiv-p18">IV. The performance of the vows wherewith
|
|
we have bound our souls is here required; and it is a branch of the
|
|
law of nature, <scripRef passage="De 23:21-23" id="Deu.xxiv-p18.1" parsed="|Deut|23|21|23|23" osisRef="Bible:Deut.23.21-Deut.23.23"><i>v.</i>
|
|
21-23</scripRef>. (1.) We are here left at our liberty whether we
|
|
will make vows or no: <i>If thou shalt forbear to vow</i> (some
|
|
particular sacrifice and offering, more than was commanded by the
|
|
law), <i>it shall be no sin to thee.</i> God had already signified
|
|
his readiness to accept a free-will offering thus vowed, though it
|
|
were but a little fine flour (<scripRef passage="Le 2:4-7" id="Deu.xxiv-p18.2" parsed="|Lev|2|4|2|7" osisRef="Bible:Lev.2.4-Lev.2.7">Lev. ii.
|
|
4</scripRef>, &c.), which was encouragement enough to those who
|
|
were so inclined. But lest the priests, who had the largest share
|
|
of those vows and voluntary offerings, should sponge upon the
|
|
people, by pressing it upon them as their duty to make such vows,
|
|
beyond their ability and inclination, they are here expressly told
|
|
that it should not be reckoned a sin in them if they did not make
|
|
any such vows, as it would be if they omitted any of the sacrifices
|
|
that God had particularly required. For (as bishop Patrick well
|
|
expresses it) God would have men to be easy in his service, and all
|
|
their offerings to be free and cheerful. (2.) We are here laid
|
|
under the highest obligations, when we have made a vow, to perform
|
|
it, and to perform it speedily: "<i>Thou shalt not be slack to pay
|
|
it,</i> lest if it be delayed beyond the first opportunity the zeal
|
|
abate, the vow be forgotten, or something happen to disable thee
|
|
for the performance of it. <i>That which has gone out of thy
|
|
lips</i> as a solemn and deliberate vow must not be recalled, but
|
|
<i>thou shalt keep and perform it,</i> punctually and fully." The
|
|
rule of the gospel goes somewhat further than this. <scripRef passage="2Co 9:7" id="Deu.xxiv-p18.3" parsed="|2Cor|9|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.9.7">2 Cor. ix. 7</scripRef>, <i>Every one, according
|
|
as he purposeth in his heart,</i> though it have not gone out of
|
|
his lips, <i>so let him give.</i> Here is a good reason why we
|
|
should pay our vows, that if we do not <i>God will require it of
|
|
us,</i> will surely and severely reckon with us, not only for
|
|
lying, but for going about to mock him, who cannot be mocked. See
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ec 5:4" id="Deu.xxiv-p18.4" parsed="|Eccl|5|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.5.4">Eccl. v. 4</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxiv-p19">V. Allowance is here given, when they
|
|
passed through a cornfield or vineyard, to pluck and eat of the
|
|
corn or grapes that grew by the road-side, whether it was done for
|
|
necessity or delight, only they must carry none away with them,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 23:24,25" id="Deu.xxiv-p19.1" parsed="|Deut|23|24|23|25" osisRef="Bible:Deut.23.24-Deut.23.25"><i>v.</i> 24, 25</scripRef>.
|
|
Therefore the disciples were not censured for plucking the ears of
|
|
corn (it was well enough known that the law allowed it), but for
|
|
doing it on the sabbath day, which the tradition of the elders had
|
|
forbidden. Now, 1. This law intimated to them what great plenty of
|
|
corn and wine they should have in Canaan, so much that a little
|
|
would not be missed out of their fruits: they should have enough
|
|
for themselves and all their friends. 2. It provided for the
|
|
support of poor travellers, to relieve the fatigue of their
|
|
journey, and teaches us to be kind to such. The Jews say, "This law
|
|
was chiefly intended in favour of labourers, who were employed in
|
|
gathering in their harvest and vintage; their mouths must not be
|
|
muzzled any more than that of the ox when he treads out the corn."
|
|
3. It teaches us not to insist upon property in a small matter, of
|
|
which it is easy to say, <i>What is that between me and thee?</i>
|
|
It was true the grapes which the passenger ate were none of his
|
|
own, nor did the proprietor give them to him; but the thing was of
|
|
so small value that he had reason to think were he present, he
|
|
would not deny them to him, anymore than he himself would grudge
|
|
the like courtesy, and therefore it was no theft to take them. 4.
|
|
It used them to hospitality, and teaches us to be ready to
|
|
distribute, willing to communicate, and not to think every thing
|
|
lost that is given away. Yet, 5. It forbids us to abuse the
|
|
kindness of our friends, and to take the advantage of fair
|
|
concessions to make unreasonable encroachments: we must not draw an
|
|
ell from those that give but an inch. They may eat of their
|
|
neighbour's grapes; but it does not therefore follow that they may
|
|
carry away.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXIV" n="xxv" progress="92.47%" prev="Deu.xxiv" next="Deu.xxvi" id="Deu.xxv">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.xxv-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.xxv-p0.2">CHAP. XXIV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.xxv-p1">In this chapter we have, I. The toleration of
|
|
divorce, <scripRef passage="De 24:1-4" id="Deu.xxv-p1.1" parsed="|Deut|24|1|24|4" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24.1-Deut.24.4">ver. 1-4</scripRef>. II. A
|
|
discharge of new-married men from the war, <scripRef passage="De 24:5" id="Deu.xxv-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|24|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24.5">ver. 5</scripRef>. III. Laws concerning pledges,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 24:6,10-13,17" id="Deu.xxv-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|24|6|0|0;|Deut|24|10|24|13;|Deut|24|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24.6 Bible:Deut.24.10-Deut.24.13 Bible:Deut.24.17">ver. 6, 10-13, 17</scripRef>.
|
|
IV. Against man-stealing, <scripRef passage="De 24:7" id="Deu.xxv-p1.4" parsed="|Deut|24|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24.7">ver.
|
|
7</scripRef>. V. Concerning the leprosy, <scripRef passage="De 24:8,9" id="Deu.xxv-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|24|8|24|9" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24.8-Deut.24.9">ver. 8, 9</scripRef>. VI. Against the injustice of
|
|
masters towards their servants, <scripRef passage="De 24:14,15" id="Deu.xxv-p1.6" parsed="|Deut|24|14|24|15" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24.14-Deut.24.15">ver. 14, 15</scripRef>. Judges in capital causes
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 24:16" id="Deu.xxv-p1.7" parsed="|Deut|24|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24.16">ver. 16</scripRef>), and civil
|
|
concerns, <scripRef passage="De 24:17,18" id="Deu.xxv-p1.8" parsed="|Deut|24|17|24|18" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24.17-Deut.24.18">ver. 17, 18</scripRef>.
|
|
VII. Of charity to the poor, <scripRef passage="De 24:19" id="Deu.xxv-p1.9" parsed="|Deut|24|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24.19">ver.
|
|
19</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 24" id="Deu.xxv-p1.10" parsed="|Deut|24|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 24:1-4" id="Deu.xxv-p1.11" parsed="|Deut|24|1|24|4" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24.1-Deut.24.4"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.24.1-Deut.24.4">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxv-p1.12">The Law Concerning Divorce. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxv-p1.13">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxv-p2">1 When a man hath taken a wife, and married her,
|
|
and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he
|
|
hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill
|
|
of divorcement, and give <i>it</i> in her hand, and send her out of
|
|
his house.   2 And when she is departed out of his house, she
|
|
may go and be another man's <i>wife.</i>   3 And <i>if</i> the
|
|
latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and
|
|
giveth <i>it</i> in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or
|
|
if the latter husband die, which took her <i>to be</i> his wife;
|
|
  4 Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her
|
|
again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that <i>is</i>
|
|
abomination before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxv-p2.1">Lord</span>: and
|
|
thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxv-p2.2">Lord</span> thy God giveth thee <i>for</i> an
|
|
inheritance.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxv-p3">This is that permission which the Pharisees
|
|
erroneously referred to as a precept, <scripRef passage="Mt 19:7" id="Deu.xxv-p3.1" parsed="|Matt|19|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.19.7">Matt. xix. 7</scripRef>, <i>Moses commanded to give a
|
|
writing of divorcement.</i> It was not so; our Saviour told them
|
|
that he only suffered it because of the hardness of their hearts,
|
|
lest, if they had not had liberty to divorce their wives, they
|
|
should have ruled them with rigour, and it may be, have been the
|
|
death of them. It is probable that divorces were in use before
|
|
(they are taken for granted, <scripRef passage="Le 21:14" id="Deu.xxv-p3.2" parsed="|Lev|21|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.21.14">Lev. xxi.
|
|
14</scripRef>), and Moses thought it needful here to give some
|
|
rules concerning them. 1. That a man might not divorce his wife
|
|
unless he <i>found some uncleanness in her,</i> <scripRef passage="De 24:1" id="Deu.xxv-p3.3" parsed="|Deut|24|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. It was not sufficient to say that
|
|
he did not like her, or that he liked another better, but he must
|
|
show cause for his dislike; something that made her disagreeable
|
|
and unpleasant to him, though it might not make her so to another.
|
|
This uncleanness must mean something less than adultery; for, for
|
|
that, she was to die; and less than the suspicion of it, for in
|
|
that case he might give her the waters of jealousy; but it means
|
|
either a light carriage, or a cross froward disposition, or some
|
|
loathsome sore or disease; nay, some of the Jewish writers suppose
|
|
that an offensive breath might be a just ground for divorce.
|
|
Whatever is meant by it, doubtless it was something considerable;
|
|
so that their modern doctors erred who allowed divorce for every
|
|
cause, though ever so trivial, <scripRef passage="Mt 19:3" id="Deu.xxv-p3.4" parsed="|Matt|19|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.19.3">Matt.
|
|
xix. 3</scripRef>. 2. That it must be done, not by word of mouth,
|
|
for that might be spoken hastily, but by writing, and that put in
|
|
due form, and solemnly declared, before witnesses, to be his own
|
|
act and deed, which was a work of time, and left room for
|
|
consideration, that it might not be done rashly. 3. That the
|
|
husband must give it into the hand of his wife, and send her away,
|
|
which some think obliged him to endow her and make provision for
|
|
her, according to her quality and such as might help to marry her
|
|
again; and good reason he should do this, since the cause of
|
|
quarrel was not her fault, but her infelicity. 4. That being
|
|
divorced it was lawful for her to marry another husband, <scripRef passage="De 24:2" id="Deu.xxv-p3.5" parsed="|Deut|24|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. The divorce had dissolved
|
|
the bond of marriage as effectually as death could dissolve it; so
|
|
that she was as free to marry again as if her first husband had
|
|
been naturally dead. 5. That if her second husband died, or
|
|
divorced her, then still she might marry a third, but her first
|
|
husband should never take her again (<scripRef passage="De 24:3,4" id="Deu.xxv-p3.6" parsed="|Deut|24|3|24|4" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24.3-Deut.24.4"><i>v.</i> 3, 4</scripRef>), which he might have done if
|
|
she had not married another; for by that act of her own she had
|
|
perfectly renounced him for ever, and, as to him was looked upon as
|
|
defiled, though not as to another person. The Jewish writers say
|
|
that this was to prevent a most vile and wicked practice which the
|
|
Egyptians had of changing wives; or perhaps it was intended to
|
|
prevent men's rashness in putting away their wives; for the wife
|
|
that was divorced would be apt, in revenge, to marry another
|
|
immediately, and perhaps the husband that divorced her, how much
|
|
soever he though to better himself by another choice, would find
|
|
the next worse, and something in her more disagreeable, so that he
|
|
would wish for his first wife again. "No" (says this law) "you
|
|
shall not have her, you should have kept her when you had her."
|
|
Note, It is best to be content with such things as we have, since
|
|
changes made by discontent often prove for the worse. The
|
|
uneasiness we know is commonly better, though we are apt to think
|
|
it worse, than that which we do not know. By the strictness of this
|
|
law God illustrates the riches of his grace in his willingness to
|
|
be reconciled to his people that had gone a whoring from him.
|
|
<scripRef passage="Jer 3:1" id="Deu.xxv-p3.7" parsed="|Jer|3|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.3.1">Jer. iii. 1</scripRef>, <i>Thou hast
|
|
played the harlot with many lovers, yet return again to me.</i> For
|
|
his thoughts and ways are above ours.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 24:5-13" id="Deu.xxv-p3.8" parsed="|Deut|24|5|24|13" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24.5-Deut.24.13"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.24.5-Deut.24.13">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxv-p3.9">The Law of Divorce. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxv-p3.10">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxv-p4">5 When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not
|
|
go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business:
|
|
<i>but</i> he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up
|
|
his wife which he hath taken.   6 No man shall take the nether
|
|
or the upper millstone to pledge: for he taketh <i>a man's</i> life
|
|
to pledge.   7 If a man be found stealing any of his brethren
|
|
of the children of Israel, and maketh merchandise of him, or
|
|
selleth him; then that thief shall die; and thou shalt put evil
|
|
away from among you.   8 Take heed in the plague of leprosy,
|
|
that thou observe diligently, and do according to all that the
|
|
priests the Levites shall teach you: as I commanded them, <i>so</i>
|
|
ye shall observe to do.   9 Remember what the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxv-p4.1">Lord</span> thy God did unto Miriam by the way, after
|
|
that ye were come forth out of Egypt.   10 When thou dost lend
|
|
thy brother any thing, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch
|
|
his pledge.   11 Thou shalt stand abroad, and the man to whom
|
|
thou dost lend shall bring out the pledge abroad unto thee.  
|
|
12 And if the man <i>be</i> poor, thou shalt not sleep with his
|
|
pledge:   13 In any case thou shalt deliver him the pledge
|
|
again when the sun goeth down, that he may sleep in his own
|
|
raiment, and bless thee: and it shall be righteousness unto thee
|
|
before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxv-p4.2">Lord</span> thy God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxv-p5">Here is, I. Provision made for the
|
|
preservation and confirmation of love between new-married people,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 24:5" id="Deu.xxv-p5.1" parsed="|Deut|24|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. This fitly
|
|
follows upon the laws concerning divorce, which would be prevented
|
|
if their affection to each other were well settled at first. If the
|
|
husband were much abroad from his wife the first year, his love to
|
|
her would be in danger of cooling, and of being drawn aside to
|
|
others whom he would meet with abroad; therefore his service to his
|
|
country in war, embassies, or other public business that would call
|
|
him from home, shall be dispensed with, <i>that he may cheer up the
|
|
wife that he has taken.</i> Note, 1. It is of great consequence
|
|
that love be kept up between husband and wife, and that every thing
|
|
be very carefully avoided which might make them strange one to
|
|
another, especially at first; for in that relation, where there is
|
|
not the love that should be, there is an inlet ready to abundance
|
|
of guilt and grief. 2. One of the duties of that relation is to
|
|
cheer up one another under the cares and crosses that happen, as
|
|
helpers of each other's joy; for a cheerful heart does good like a
|
|
medicine.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxv-p6">II. A law against man-stealing, <scripRef passage="De 24:7" id="Deu.xxv-p6.1" parsed="|Deut|24|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. It was not death by the
|
|
law of Moses to steal cattle or goods; but to steal a child, or a
|
|
weak and simple man, or one that a man had in his power, and to
|
|
make merchandize of him, this was a capital crime, and could not be
|
|
expiated, as other thefts, by restitution—so much is <i>a man
|
|
better than a sheep,</i> <scripRef passage="Mt 12:12" id="Deu.xxv-p6.2" parsed="|Matt|12|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.12.12">Matt. xii.
|
|
12</scripRef>. It was a very heinous offence, for, 1. It was
|
|
robbing the public of one of its members. 2. It was taking away a
|
|
man's liberty, the liberty of a free-born Israelite, which was next
|
|
in value to his life. 3. It was driving a man out from the
|
|
inheritance of the land, to the privileges of which he was
|
|
entitled, and bidding him go serve other gods, as David complains
|
|
against Saul, <scripRef passage="1Sa 26:19" id="Deu.xxv-p6.3" parsed="|1Sam|26|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.26.19">1 Sam. xxvi.
|
|
19</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxv-p7">III. A memorandum concerning the leprosy,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 24:8,9" id="Deu.xxv-p7.1" parsed="|Deut|24|8|24|9" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24.8-Deut.24.9"><i>v.</i> 8, 9</scripRef>. 1. The
|
|
laws concerning it must be carefully observed. The laws concerning
|
|
it we had, <scripRef passage="Le 13:14" id="Deu.xxv-p7.2" parsed="|Lev|13|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.13.14">Lev. xiii. 14</scripRef>.
|
|
They are here said to be commanded to the <i>priests and
|
|
Levites,</i> and therefore are not repeated in a discourse to the
|
|
people; but the people are here charged, in case of leprosy, to
|
|
apply to the priest according to the law, and to abide by his
|
|
judgment, so far as it agreed with the law and the plain matter of
|
|
fact. The plague of leprosy being usually a particular mark of
|
|
God's displeasure for sin, he in whom the signs of it did appear
|
|
ought not to conceal it, nor cut out the signs of it, nor apply to
|
|
the physician for relief; but he must go to the priest, and follow
|
|
his directions. Thus those that feel their consciences under guilt
|
|
and wrath must not cover it, nor endeavour to shake off their
|
|
convictions, but by repentance, and prayer, and humble confession,
|
|
take the appointed way to peace and pardon. 2. The particular case
|
|
of Miriam, who was smitten with leprosy for quarrelling with Moses,
|
|
must not be forgotten. It was an explication of the law concerning
|
|
the leprosy. Remember that, and, (1.) "Take heed of sinning after
|
|
the similitude of her transgression, by despising dominions and
|
|
speaking evil of dignities, lest you thereby bring upon yourselves
|
|
the same judgment." (2.) "If any of you be smitten with a leprosy,
|
|
expect not that the law should be dispensed with, nor think it hard
|
|
to be shut out of the camp and so made a spectacle; there is no
|
|
remedy: Miriam herself, though a prophetess and the sister of
|
|
Moses, was not exempted, but was forced to submit to this severe
|
|
discipline when she was under this divine rebuke." Thus David,
|
|
Hezekiah, Peter, and other great men, when they had sinned, humbled
|
|
themselves, and took to themselves shame and grief; let us not
|
|
expect to be reconciled upon easier terms.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxv-p8">IV. Some necessary orders given about
|
|
pledges for the security of money lent. They are not forbidden to
|
|
take such securities as would save the lender from loss, and oblige
|
|
the borrower to be honest; but, 1. They must not take the millstone
|
|
for a pledge (<scripRef passage="De 24:6" id="Deu.xxv-p8.1" parsed="|Deut|24|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>),
|
|
for with that they ground the corn that was to be bread for their
|
|
families, or, if it were a public mill, with it the miller got his
|
|
livelihood; and so it forbids the taking of any thing for a pledge
|
|
by the want of which a man was in danger of being undone. Consonant
|
|
to this is the ancient common law of England, which provides that
|
|
no man be distrained of the utensils or instruments of his trade or
|
|
profession, as the axe of a carpenter, or the books of a scholar,
|
|
or beasts belonging to the plough, as long as there are other
|
|
beasts of which distress may be made (<i>Coke, 1 Inst. fol.</i>
|
|
47). This teaches us to consult the comfort and subsistence of
|
|
others as much as our own advantage. That creditor who cares not
|
|
though his debtor and his family starve, nor is at all concerned
|
|
what become of them, so he may but get his money or secure it, goes
|
|
contrary, not only to the law of Christ, but even to the law of
|
|
Moses too. 2. They must not go into the borrower's house to fetch
|
|
the pledge, but must stand without, and he must bring it, <scripRef passage="De 24:10,11" id="Deu.xxv-p8.2" parsed="|Deut|24|10|24|11" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24.10-Deut.24.11"><i>v.</i> 10, 11</scripRef>. <i>The
|
|
borrower</i> (says Solomon) <i>is servant to the lender;</i>
|
|
therefore lest the lender should abuse the advantage he has against
|
|
him, and improve it for his own interest, it is provided that he
|
|
shall take not what he pleases, but what the borrower can best
|
|
spare. A man's house is his castle, even the poor man's house is
|
|
so, and is here taken under the protection of the law. 3. That a
|
|
poor man's bed-clothes should never be taken for a pledge,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 24:12,13" id="Deu.xxv-p8.3" parsed="|Deut|24|12|24|13" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24.12-Deut.24.13"><i>v.</i> 12, 13</scripRef>. This
|
|
we had before, <scripRef passage="Ex 22:26,27" id="Deu.xxv-p8.4" parsed="|Exod|22|26|22|27" osisRef="Bible:Exod.22.26-Exod.22.27">Exod. xxii. 26,
|
|
27</scripRef>. If they were taken in the morning, they must be
|
|
brought back again at night, which is in effect to say that they
|
|
must not be taken at all. "Let the poor debtor sleep in his own
|
|
raiment, and bless thee," that is, "pray for thee, and praise God
|
|
for thy kindness to him." Note, Poor debtors ought to be sensible
|
|
(more sensible than commonly they are) of the goodness of those
|
|
creditors that do not take all the advantage of the law against
|
|
them, and to repay their kindnesses by their prayers for them, when
|
|
they are not in a capacity to repay it in any other way. "Nay, thou
|
|
shalt not only have the prayers and good wishes of thy poor
|
|
brother, but <i>it shall be righteousness to thee before the Lord
|
|
thy God,</i>" that is, "It shall be accepted and rewarded as an act
|
|
of mercy to thy brother and obedience to thy God, and an evidence
|
|
of thy sincere conformity to the law. Though it may be looked upon
|
|
by men as an act of weakness to deliver up the securities thou hast
|
|
for thy debt, yet it shall be looked upon by thy God as an act of
|
|
goodness, which shall in no wise lose its reward."</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 24" id="Deu.xxv-p8.5" parsed="|Deut|24|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 24:14-22" id="Deu.xxv-p8.6" parsed="|Deut|24|14|24|22" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24.14-Deut.24.22"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.24.14-Deut.24.22">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxv-p8.7">Justice and Generosity. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxv-p8.8">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxv-p9">14 Thou shalt not oppress a hired servant
|
|
<i>that is</i> poor and needy, <i>whether he be</i> of thy
|
|
brethren, or of thy strangers that <i>are</i> in thy land within
|
|
thy gates:   15 At his day thou shalt give <i>him</i> his
|
|
hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he <i>is</i> poor,
|
|
and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxv-p9.1">Lord</span>, and it be sin unto thee.
|
|
  16 The fathers shall not be put to death for the children,
|
|
neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every
|
|
man shall be put to death for his own sin.   17 Thou shalt not
|
|
pervert the judgment of the stranger, <i>nor</i> of the fatherless;
|
|
nor take a widow's raiment to pledge:   18 But thou shalt
|
|
remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxv-p9.2">Lord</span> thy God redeemed thee thence: therefore I
|
|
command thee to do this thing.   19 When thou cuttest down
|
|
thine harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a sheaf in the field,
|
|
thou shalt not go again to fetch it: it shall be for the stranger,
|
|
for the fatherless, and for the widow: that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxv-p9.3">Lord</span> thy God may bless thee in all the work of
|
|
thine hands.   20 When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou
|
|
shalt not go over the boughs again: it shall be for the stranger,
|
|
for the fatherless, and for the widow.   21 When thou
|
|
gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard, thou shalt not glean
|
|
<i>it</i> afterward: it shall be for the stranger, for the
|
|
fatherless, and for the widow.   22 And thou shalt remember
|
|
that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt: therefore I command
|
|
thee to do this thing.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxv-p10">Here, I. Masters are commanded to be just
|
|
to their poor servants, <scripRef passage="De 24:14,15" id="Deu.xxv-p10.1" parsed="|Deut|24|14|24|15" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24.14-Deut.24.15"><i>v.</i>
|
|
14, 15</scripRef>. 1. They must not oppress them, by overloading
|
|
them with work, by giving them undue and unreasonable rebukes, or
|
|
by withholding from them proper maintenance. A servant, though a
|
|
stranger to the commonwealth of Israel, must not be abused: "For
|
|
<i>thou wast a bondman</i> in the land where thou wast a stranger
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 24:18" id="Deu.xxv-p10.2" parsed="|Deut|24|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>), and thou
|
|
knowest what a grievous thing it is to be oppressed by a
|
|
task-master, and therefore, in tenderness to those that are
|
|
servants and strangers, and in gratitude to that God who set thee
|
|
at liberty and settled thee in a country of thy own, <i>thou shalt
|
|
not oppress a servant.</i>" Let not masters be tyrants to their
|
|
servants, for their Master is in heaven. See <scripRef passage="Job 31:13" id="Deu.xxv-p10.3" parsed="|Job|31|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.31.13">Job xxxi. 13</scripRef>. 2. They must be faithful and
|
|
punctual in paying them their wages: "<i>At his day thou shalt give
|
|
him his hire,</i> not only pay it in time, without further delay.
|
|
As soon as he had done his day's work, if he desire it, let him
|
|
have his day's wages," as those labourers (<scripRef passage="Mt 20:8" id="Deu.xxv-p10.4" parsed="|Matt|20|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.20.8">Matt. xx. 8</scripRef>) <i>when evening had come.</i> He
|
|
that works by day-wages is supposed to live from hand to mouth, and
|
|
cannot have to-morrow's bread for his family till he is paid for
|
|
this day's labour. If the wages be withheld, (1.) It will be grief
|
|
to the servant, for, poor man, he <i>sets his heart upon it,</i>
|
|
or, as the word is, he <i>lifts up his soul to it,</i> he is
|
|
earnestly desirous of it, as the reward of his work (<scripRef passage="Job 7:2" id="Deu.xxv-p10.5" parsed="|Job|7|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.2">Job vii. 2</scripRef>), and depends upon it as
|
|
the gift of God's providence for the maintenance of his family. A
|
|
compassionate master, though it should be somewhat inconvenient to
|
|
himself, would not disappoint the expectation of a poor servant
|
|
that was so fond to think of receiving his wages. But that is not
|
|
the worst. (2.) It will be guilt to the master. "The injured
|
|
servant will cry against thee to the Lord; since he has no one else
|
|
to appeal to, he will lodge his appeal in the court of heaven, and
|
|
it will be sin to thee." Or, if he do not complain, the cause will
|
|
speak for itself, the "<i>hire of the labourers which is kept back
|
|
by fraud</i> will itself <i>cry,</i>" <scripRef passage="Jam 5:4" id="Deu.xxv-p10.6" parsed="|Jas|5|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jas.5.4">Jam. v. 4</scripRef>. It is a greater sin than most
|
|
people think it is, and will be found so in the great day, to put
|
|
hardships upon poor servants, labourers, and workmen, that we
|
|
employ. God will do them right if men do not.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxv-p11">II. Magistrates and judges are commanded to
|
|
be just in their administrations. 1. In those which we call
|
|
<i>pleas of the crown</i> a standing rule is here given, that
|
|
<i>the fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the
|
|
children for the fathers,</i> <scripRef passage="De 24:16" id="Deu.xxv-p11.1" parsed="|Deut|24|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. If the children make themselves
|
|
obnoxious to the law, let them suffer for it, but let not the
|
|
parents suffer either for them or with them; it is grief enough to
|
|
them to see their children suffer: if the parents be guilty, let
|
|
them die for their own sin; but though God, the sovereign Lord of
|
|
life, sometimes visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the
|
|
children, especially the sin of idolatry, and when he deals with
|
|
nations in their national capacity, yet he does not allow men to do
|
|
so. Accordingly, we find Amaziah sparing the children, even when
|
|
the fathers were put to death for killing the king, <scripRef passage="2Ki 14:6" id="Deu.xxv-p11.2" parsed="|2Kgs|14|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.14.6">2 Kings xiv. 6</scripRef>. It was in an
|
|
extraordinary case, and no doubt by special direction from heaven,
|
|
that Saul's sons were put to death for his offence, and they died
|
|
rather as sacrifices than as malefactors, <scripRef passage="2Sa 21:9,14" id="Deu.xxv-p11.3" parsed="|2Sam|21|9|0|0;|2Sam|21|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.21.9 Bible:2Sam.21.14">2 Sam. xxi. 9, 14</scripRef>. 2. In common pleas
|
|
between party and party, great care must be taken that none whose
|
|
cause was just should fare the worse for their weakness, nor for
|
|
their being destitute of friends, as strangers, fatherless, and
|
|
widows (<scripRef passage="De 24:17" id="Deu.xxv-p11.4" parsed="|Deut|24|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>):
|
|
"<i>Thou shalt not pervert their judgment,</i> nor force them to
|
|
give their very raiment for a pledge, by defrauding them of their
|
|
right." Judges must be advocates for those that cannot speak for
|
|
themselves and have no friends to speak for them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxv-p12">III. The rich are commanded to be kind and
|
|
charitable to the poor. Many ways they are ordered to be so by the
|
|
law of Moses. The particular instance of charity here prescribed is
|
|
that they should not be greedy in gathering in their corn, and
|
|
grapes, and olives, so as to be afraid of leaving any behind them,
|
|
but be willing to overlook some, and let the poor have the
|
|
gleanings, <scripRef passage="De 24:19-22" id="Deu.xxv-p12.1" parsed="|Deut|24|19|24|22" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24.19-Deut.24.22"><i>v.</i>
|
|
19-22</scripRef>. 1. "Say not, 'It is all my own, and why should
|
|
not I have it?' But learn a generous contempt of property in small
|
|
matters. One sheaf or two forgotten will make thee never the poorer
|
|
at the year's end, and it will do somebody good, if thou have it
|
|
not." 2. "Say not, '<i>What I give I will give,</i> and know whom I
|
|
give it to, why should I leave it to be gathered by I know not
|
|
whom, that will never thank me.' But trust God's providence with
|
|
the disposal of thy charity, perhaps that will direct it to the
|
|
most necessitous." Or, "Thou mayest reasonably think it will come
|
|
to the hands of the most industrious, that are forward to seek and
|
|
gather that which this law provides for them." 3. "Say not, 'What
|
|
should the poor do with grapes and olives? It is enough for them to
|
|
have bread and water;' for, since they have the same senses that
|
|
the rich have, why should not they have some little share of the
|
|
delights of sense?" Boaz ordered handfuls of corn to be left on
|
|
purpose for Ruth, and God blessed him. All that is left is not
|
|
lost.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXV" n="xxvi" progress="92.88%" prev="Deu.xxv" next="Deu.xxvii" id="Deu.xxvi">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.xxvi-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.xxvi-p0.2">CHAP. XXV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.xxvi-p1">Here is, I. A law to moderate the scourging of
|
|
malefactors, <scripRef passage="De 25:1-3" id="Deu.xxvi-p1.1" parsed="|Deut|25|1|25|3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.25.1-Deut.25.3">ver. 1-3</scripRef>. II.
|
|
A law in favour of the ox that treads out the corn, <scripRef passage="De 25:4" id="Deu.xxvi-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|25|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.25.4">ver. 4</scripRef>. III. For the disgracing of him
|
|
that refused to marry his brother's widow, <scripRef passage="De 25:5-10" id="Deu.xxvi-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|25|5|25|10" osisRef="Bible:Deut.25.5-Deut.25.10">ver. 5-10</scripRef>. IV. For the punishment of an
|
|
immodest woman, <scripRef passage="De 25:11,12" id="Deu.xxvi-p1.4" parsed="|Deut|25|11|25|12" osisRef="Bible:Deut.25.11-Deut.25.12">ver. 11,
|
|
12</scripRef>. V. For just weights and measures, <scripRef passage="De 25:13-16" id="Deu.xxvi-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|25|13|25|16" osisRef="Bible:Deut.25.13-Deut.25.16">ver. 13-16</scripRef>. VI. For the destroying of
|
|
Amalek, <scripRef passage="De 25:17-19" id="Deu.xxvi-p1.6" parsed="|Deut|25|17|25|19" osisRef="Bible:Deut.25.17-Deut.25.19">ver. 17</scripRef>,
|
|
&c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 25" id="Deu.xxvi-p1.7" parsed="|Deut|25|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.25"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 25:1-4" id="Deu.xxvi-p1.8" parsed="|Deut|25|1|25|4" osisRef="Bible:Deut.25.1-Deut.25.4"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.25.1-Deut.25.4">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxvi-p1.9">Stripes Not to Exceed Forty. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxvi-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxvi-p2">1 If there be a controversy between men, and
|
|
they come unto judgment, that <i>the judges</i> may judge them;
|
|
then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked.
|
|
  2 And it shall be, if the wicked man <i>be</i> worthy to be
|
|
beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be
|
|
beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain
|
|
number.   3 Forty stripes he may give him, <i>and</i> not
|
|
exceed: lest, <i>if</i> he should exceed, and beat him above these
|
|
with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee.
|
|
  4 Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out <i>the
|
|
corn.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxvi-p3">Here is, I. A direction to the judges in
|
|
scourging malefactors, <scripRef passage="De 25:1-3" id="Deu.xxvi-p3.1" parsed="|Deut|25|1|25|3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.25.1-Deut.25.3"><i>v.</i>
|
|
1-3</scripRef>. 1. It is here supposed that, if a man be charged
|
|
with a crime, the accuser and the accused (<i>Actor</i> and
|
|
<i>Reus</i>) should be brought face to face before the judges, that
|
|
the controversy may be determined. 2. If a man were accused of a
|
|
crime, and the proof fell short, so that the charge could not be
|
|
made out against him by the evidence, then he was to be acquitted:
|
|
"<i>Thou shalt justify the righteous,</i>" that is, "him that
|
|
appears to the court to be so." If the accusation be proved, then
|
|
the conviction of the accused is a justification of the accuser, as
|
|
righteous in the prosecution. 3. If the accused were found guilty,
|
|
judgment must be given against him: "Thou shalt <i>condemn the
|
|
wicked;</i>" for to justify the wicked is as much an abomination to
|
|
the Lord as it is to condemn the righteous, <scripRef passage="Pr 17:15" id="Deu.xxvi-p3.2" parsed="|Prov|17|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.17.15">Prov. xvii. 15</scripRef>. 4. If the crime were not made
|
|
capital by the law, then the criminal must be beaten. A great many
|
|
precepts we have met with which have not any particular penalty
|
|
annexed to them, the violation of most of which, according to the
|
|
constant practice of the Jews, was punished by scourging, from
|
|
which no person's rank or quality did exempt him if he were a
|
|
delinquent, but with this proviso, that he should never be
|
|
upbraided with it, nor should it be looked upon as leaving any mark
|
|
of infamy or disgrace upon him. The directions here given for the
|
|
scourging of criminals are, (1.) That it be done solemnly; not
|
|
tumultuously through the streets, but in open court before the
|
|
judge's face, and with so much deliberation as that the stripes
|
|
might be numbered. The Jews say that while execution was in doing
|
|
the chief justice of the court read with a loud voice <scripRef passage="De 28:58,59,29:9" id="Deu.xxvi-p3.3" parsed="|Deut|28|58|28|59;|Deut|29|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.58-Deut.28.59 Bible:Deut.29.9">Deut. xxviii. 58, 59, and xxix.
|
|
9</scripRef>, and concluded with those words (<scripRef passage="Ps 78:38" id="Deu.xxvi-p3.4" parsed="|Ps|78|38|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.78.38">Ps. lxxviii. 38</scripRef>), <i>But he, being full of
|
|
compassion, forgave their iniquity.</i> Thus it was made a sort of
|
|
religious act, and so much the more likely to reform the offender
|
|
himself and to be a warning to others. (2.) That it be done in
|
|
proportion to the crime, <i>according to his fault,</i> that some
|
|
crimes might appear, as they are, more heinous than others, the
|
|
criminal being <i>beaten with many stripes,</i> to which perhaps
|
|
there is an allusion, <scripRef passage="Lu 12:47,48" id="Deu.xxvi-p3.5" parsed="|Luke|12|47|12|48" osisRef="Bible:Luke.12.47-Luke.12.48">Luke xii. 47,
|
|
48</scripRef>. (3.) That how great soever the crime were the number
|
|
of stripes should never exceed <i>forty,</i> <scripRef passage="De 25:3" id="Deu.xxvi-p3.6" parsed="|Deut|25|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.25.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. Forty <i>save one</i> was the
|
|
common usage, as appears, <scripRef passage="2Co 11:24" id="Deu.xxvi-p3.7" parsed="|2Cor|11|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.11.24">2 Cor. xi.
|
|
24</scripRef>. It seems, they always gave Paul as many stripes as
|
|
ever they gave to any malefactor whatsoever. They abated one for
|
|
fear of having miscounted (though one of the judges was appointed
|
|
to number the stripes), or because they would never go to the
|
|
utmost rigour, or because the execution was usually done with a
|
|
whip of three lashes, so that thirteen stripes (each one being
|
|
counted for three) made up thirty-nine, but one more by that
|
|
reckoning would have been forty-two. The reason given for this is,
|
|
<i>lest thy brother should seem vile unto thee.</i> He must still
|
|
be looked upon as <i>a brother</i> (<scripRef passage="2Th 3:15" id="Deu.xxvi-p3.8" parsed="|2Thess|3|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Thess.3.15">2
|
|
Thess. iii. 15</scripRef>), and his reputation as such was
|
|
preserved by this merciful limitation of his punishment. It saves
|
|
him from seeming vile to his brethren, when God himself by his law
|
|
takes this care of him. Men must not be treated as dogs; nor must
|
|
those seem vile in our sight to whom, for aught we know, God may
|
|
yet give grace to make them precious in his sight.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxvi-p4">II. A charge to husbandmen not to hinder
|
|
their cattle from eating when they were working, if meat were
|
|
within their reach, <scripRef passage="De 25:4" id="Deu.xxvi-p4.1" parsed="|Deut|25|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.25.4"><i>v.</i>
|
|
4</scripRef>. This instance of the beast that trod out the corn (to
|
|
which there is an allusion in that of the prophet, <scripRef passage="Ho 10:11" id="Deu.xxvi-p4.2" parsed="|Hos|10|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.10.11">Hos. x. 11</scripRef>) is put for all similar
|
|
instances. That which makes this law very remarkable above its
|
|
fellows (and which countenances the like application of other such
|
|
laws) is that it is twice quoted in the New Testament to show that
|
|
it is the duty of the people to give their ministers a comfortable
|
|
maintenance, <scripRef passage="1Co 9:9,10" id="Deu.xxvi-p4.3" parsed="|1Cor|9|9|9|10" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.9.9-1Cor.9.10">1 Cor. ix. 9,
|
|
10</scripRef>, and <scripRef passage="1Ti 5:17,18" id="Deu.xxvi-p4.4" parsed="|1Tim|5|17|5|18" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.5.17-1Tim.5.18">1 Tim. v. 17,
|
|
18</scripRef>. It teaches us in the letter of it to make much of
|
|
the brute-creatures that serve us, and to allow them not only the
|
|
necessary supports for their life, but the advantages of their
|
|
labour; and thus we must learn not only to be just, but kind, to
|
|
all that are employed for our good, not only to maintain but to
|
|
encourage them, especially those that labour among us in the word
|
|
and doctrine, and so are employed for the good of our better
|
|
part.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 25:5-12" id="Deu.xxvi-p4.5" parsed="|Deut|25|5|25|12" osisRef="Bible:Deut.25.5-Deut.25.12"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.25.5-Deut.25.12">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxvi-p4.6">Marriage of a Brother's
|
|
Wife. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxvi-p4.7">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxvi-p5">5 If brethren dwell together, and one of them
|
|
die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry
|
|
without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto
|
|
her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of a
|
|
husband's brother unto her.   6 And it shall be, <i>that</i>
|
|
the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his
|
|
brother <i>which is</i> dead, that his name be not put out of
|
|
Israel.   7 And if the man like not to take his brother's
|
|
wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the gate unto the
|
|
elders, and say, My husband's brother refuseth to raise up unto his
|
|
brother a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of my
|
|
husband's brother.   8 Then the elders of his city shall call
|
|
him, and speak unto him: and <i>if</i> he stand <i>to it,</i> and
|
|
say, I like not to take her;   9 Then shall his brother's wife
|
|
come unto him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe
|
|
from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say,
|
|
So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his
|
|
brother's house.   10 And his name shall be called in Israel,
|
|
The house of him that hath his shoe loosed.   11 When men
|
|
strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draweth
|
|
near for to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth
|
|
him, and putteth forth her hand, and taketh him by the secrets:
|
|
  12 Then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall not
|
|
pity <i>her.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxvi-p6">Here is, I. The law settled concerning the
|
|
marrying of the brother's widow. It appears from the story of
|
|
Judah's family that this had been an ancient usage (<scripRef passage="Ge 38:8" id="Deu.xxvi-p6.1" parsed="|Gen|38|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.38.8">Gen. xxxviii. 8</scripRef>), for the keeping up
|
|
of distinct families. The case put is a case that often happens, of
|
|
a man's dying without issue, it may be in the prime of his time,
|
|
soon after his marriage, and while his brethren were yet so young
|
|
as to be unmarried. Now in this case, 1. The widow was not to marry
|
|
again into any other family, unless all the relations of her
|
|
husband did refuse her, that the estate she was endowed with might
|
|
not be alienated. 2. The husband's brother, or next of kin, must
|
|
marry her, partly out of respect to her, who, having forgotten her
|
|
own people and her father's house, should have all possible
|
|
kindness shown her by the family into which she was married; and
|
|
partly out of respect to the deceased husband, that though he was
|
|
dead and gone he might not be forgotten, nor lost out of the
|
|
genealogies of his tribe; for the first-born child, which the
|
|
brother or next kinsman should have by the widow, should be
|
|
denominated from him that was dead, and entered in the genealogy as
|
|
his child, <scripRef passage="De 25:5,6" id="Deu.xxvi-p6.2" parsed="|Deut|25|5|25|6" osisRef="Bible:Deut.25.5-Deut.25.6"><i>v.</i> 5, 6</scripRef>.
|
|
Under that dispensation we have reason to think men had not so
|
|
clear and certain a prospect of living themselves on the other side
|
|
death as we have now, to whom <i>life and immortality are brought
|
|
to light by the gospel;</i> and therefore they could not but be the
|
|
more desirous to live in their posterity, which innocent desire was
|
|
in some measure gratified by this law, an expedient being found out
|
|
that, though a man had no child by his wife, yet <i>his name should
|
|
not be put out of Israel,</i> that is, out of the pedigree, or,
|
|
which is equivalent, remain there under the brand of childlessness.
|
|
The Sadducees put a case to our Saviour upon this law, with a
|
|
design to perplex the doctrine of the resurrection by it (<scripRef passage="Mt 22:24-33" id="Deu.xxvi-p6.3" parsed="|Matt|22|24|22|33" osisRef="Bible:Matt.22.24-Matt.22.33">Matt. xxii. 24</scripRef>, &c.), perhaps
|
|
insinuating that there was no need of maintaining the immortality
|
|
of the soul and a future state, since the law had so well provided
|
|
for the perpetuating of men's names and families in the world. But,
|
|
3. If the brother, or next of kin, declined to do this good office
|
|
to the memory of him that was gone, what must be done in that case?
|
|
Why, (1.) He shall not be compelled to do it, <scripRef passage="De 25:7" id="Deu.xxvi-p6.4" parsed="|Deut|25|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.25.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. If he like her not, he is at
|
|
liberty to refuse her, which, some think, was not permitted in this
|
|
case before this law of Moses. Affection is all in all to the
|
|
comfort of the conjugal relation; this is a thing which cannot be
|
|
forced, and therefore the relation should not be forced without it.
|
|
(2.) Yet he shall be publicly disgraced for not doing it. The
|
|
widow, as the person most concerned for the name and honour of the
|
|
deceased, was to complain to the elders of his refusal; if he
|
|
persist in it, she must <i>pluck off his shoe, and spit in his
|
|
face,</i> in open court (or, as the Jewish doctors moderate it,
|
|
spit <i>before</i> his face), thus to fasten a mark of infamy upon
|
|
him, which was to remain with his family after him, <scripRef passage="De 25:8-10" id="Deu.xxvi-p6.5" parsed="|Deut|25|8|25|10" osisRef="Bible:Deut.25.8-Deut.25.10"><i>v.</i> 8-10</scripRef>. Note, Those justly
|
|
suffer in their own reputation who do not do what they ought to
|
|
preserve the name and honour of others. He that would not build up
|
|
his brother's house deserved to have this blemish put upon his own,
|
|
that it should be called <i>the house of him that had his shoe
|
|
loosed,</i> in token that he deserved to go barefoot. In the case
|
|
of Ruth we find this law executed (<scripRef passage="Ru 4:7" id="Deu.xxvi-p6.6" parsed="|Ruth|4|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ruth.4.7">Ruth
|
|
iv. 7</scripRef>), but because, upon the refusal of the next
|
|
kinsman, there was another ready to perform the duty of a husband's
|
|
brother, it was that other that plucked off the shoe, and not the
|
|
widow—Boaz, and not Ruth.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxvi-p7">II. A law for the punishing of an immodest
|
|
woman, <scripRef passage="De 25:11,12" id="Deu.xxvi-p7.1" parsed="|Deut|25|11|25|12" osisRef="Bible:Deut.25.11-Deut.25.12"><i>v.</i> 11, 12</scripRef>.
|
|
The woman that by the foregoing law was to complain against her
|
|
husband's brother for not marrying her, and to spit in his face
|
|
before the elders, needed a good measure of assurance; but, lest
|
|
the confidence which that law supported should grow to an excess
|
|
unbecoming the sex, here is a very severe but just law to punish
|
|
impudence and immodesty. 1. The instance of it is confessedly
|
|
scandalous to the highest degree. A woman could not do it unless
|
|
she were perfectly lost to all virtue and honour. 2. The occasion
|
|
is such as might in part excuse it; it was to help her husband out
|
|
of the hands of one that was too hard for him. Now if the doing of
|
|
it in a passion, and with such a good intention, was to be so
|
|
severely punished, much more when it was done wantonly and in lust.
|
|
3. The punishment was that her hand should be cut off; and the
|
|
magistrates must not pretend to be more merciful than God: <i>Thy
|
|
eye shall not pity her.</i> Perhaps our Saviour alludes to this law
|
|
when he commands us to <i>cut off the right hand</i> that
|
|
<i>offends us,</i> or is an occasion of sin to us. Better put the
|
|
greatest hardships that can be upon the body than ruin the soul for
|
|
ever. Modesty is the hedge of chastity, and therefore ought to be
|
|
very carefully preserved and kept up by both sexes.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 25" id="Deu.xxvi-p7.2" parsed="|Deut|25|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.25"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 25:13-19" id="Deu.xxvi-p7.3" parsed="|Deut|25|13|25|19" osisRef="Bible:Deut.25.13-Deut.25.19"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.25.13-Deut.25.19">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxvi-p7.4">Amalek to Be Destroyed. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxvi-p7.5">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxvi-p8">13 Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers
|
|
weights, a great and a small.   14 Thou shalt not have in
|
|
thine house divers measures, a great and a small.   15
|
|
<i>But</i> thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and
|
|
just measure shalt thou have: that thy days may be lengthened in
|
|
the land which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxvi-p8.1">Lord</span> thy God
|
|
giveth thee.   16 For all that do such things, <i>and</i> all
|
|
that do unrighteously, <i>are</i> an abomination unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxvi-p8.2">Lord</span> thy God.   17 Remember what
|
|
Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of
|
|
Egypt;   18 How he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost
|
|
of thee, <i>even</i> all <i>that were</i> feeble behind thee, when
|
|
thou <i>wast</i> faint and weary; and he feared not God.   19
|
|
Therefore it shall be, when the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxvi-p8.3">Lord</span>
|
|
thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in
|
|
the land which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxvi-p8.4">Lord</span> thy God
|
|
giveth thee <i>for</i> an inheritance to possess it, <i>that</i>
|
|
thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven;
|
|
thou shalt not forget <i>it.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxvi-p9">Here is, I. A law against deceitful weights
|
|
and measures: they must not only not use them, but they must not
|
|
have them, not have them in the bag, not have them in the house
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 25:13,14" id="Deu.xxvi-p9.1" parsed="|Deut|25|13|25|14" osisRef="Bible:Deut.25.13-Deut.25.14"><i>v.</i> 13, 14</scripRef>); for,
|
|
if they had them, they would be strongly tempted to use them. They
|
|
must not have a great weight and measure to buy by and a small one
|
|
to sell by, for that was to cheat both ways, when either was bad
|
|
enough; as we read of those that made the <i>ephah</i> small, in
|
|
which they measured the corn they sold, and the <i>shekel</i>
|
|
great, by which they weighed the money they received for it,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Am 8:5" id="Deu.xxvi-p9.2" parsed="|Amos|8|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Amos.8.5">Amos viii. 5</scripRef>. But <i>thou
|
|
shalt have a perfect and just weight,</i> <scripRef passage="De 25:15" id="Deu.xxvi-p9.3" parsed="|Deut|25|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.25.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. That which is the rule of
|
|
justice must itself be just; if that be otherwise, it is a constant
|
|
cheat. This had been taken care of before, <scripRef passage="Le 19:35,36" id="Deu.xxvi-p9.4" parsed="|Lev|19|35|19|36" osisRef="Bible:Lev.19.35-Lev.19.36">Lev. xix. 35, 36</scripRef>. This law is enforced
|
|
with two very good reasons:—1. That justice and equity will bring
|
|
down upon us the blessing of God. The way to have our days
|
|
lengthened, and to prosper, is to be just and fair in all our
|
|
dealings <i>Honesty is the best policy.</i> 2. That fraud and
|
|
injustice will expose us to the curse of God, <scripRef passage="De 25:16" id="Deu.xxvi-p9.5" parsed="|Deut|25|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.25.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. Not only unrighteousness
|
|
itself, but all that do unrighteously, are an <i>abomination to the
|
|
Lord.</i> And miserable is that man who is abhorred by his Maker.
|
|
How hateful, particularly, all the arts of deceit are to God,
|
|
Solomon several times observes, <scripRef passage="Pr 11:1,20:10,23" id="Deu.xxvi-p9.6" parsed="|Prov|11|1|0|0;|Prov|20|10|0|0;|Prov|20|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.11.1 Bible:Prov.20.10 Bible:Prov.20.23">Prov. xi. 1; xx. 10, 23</scripRef>; and the
|
|
apostle tells us <i>that the Lord is the avenger of all such</i> as
|
|
overreach and <i>defraud in any matter,</i> <scripRef passage="1Th 4:6" id="Deu.xxvi-p9.7" parsed="|1Thess|4|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Thess.4.6">1 Thess. iv. 6</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxvi-p10">II. A law for the rooting out of Amalek.
|
|
Here is a <i>just weight</i> and a <i>just measure,</i> that, as
|
|
Amalek had measured to Israel, so it should be measure to Amalek
|
|
again.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxvi-p11">1. The mischief Amalek did to Israel must
|
|
be here remembered, <scripRef passage="De 25:17,18" id="Deu.xxvi-p11.1" parsed="|Deut|25|17|25|18" osisRef="Bible:Deut.25.17-Deut.25.18"><i>v.</i> 17,
|
|
18</scripRef>. When it was first done it was ordered to be recorded
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 17:14-16" id="Deu.xxvi-p11.2" parsed="|Exod|17|14|17|16" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.14-Exod.17.16">Exod. xvii. 14-16</scripRef>), and
|
|
here the remembrance of it is ordered to be preserved, not in
|
|
personal revenge (for that generation which suffered by the
|
|
Amalekites was gone, so that those who now lived, and their
|
|
posterity, could not have any personal resentment of the injury),
|
|
but in a zeal for the glory of God (which was insulted by the
|
|
Amalekites), that <i>throne of the Lord</i> against which the hand
|
|
of Amalek was stretched out. The carriage of the Amalekites towards
|
|
Israel is here represented, (1.) As very base and disingenuous.
|
|
They had no occasion at all to quarrel with Israel, nor did they
|
|
give them any notice, by a manifesto or declaration of war; but
|
|
took them at an advantage, when they had just come out of the house
|
|
of bondage, and, for aught that appeared to them, were only going
|
|
to <i>sacrifice to God in the wilderness.</i> (2.) As very
|
|
barbarous and cruel; for they smote those that were more feeble,
|
|
whom they should have succoured. The greatest cowards are commonly
|
|
the most cruel; while those that have the courage of a man will
|
|
have the compassion of a man. (3.) As very impious and profane:
|
|
they feared not God. If they had had any reverence for the majesty
|
|
of the God of Israel, which they saw a token of in the cloud, or
|
|
any dread of his wrath, which they lately heard of the power of
|
|
over Pharaoh, they durst not have made this assault upon Israel.
|
|
Well, here was the ground of the quarrel: and it shows how God
|
|
takes what is done against his people as done against himself, and
|
|
that he will particularly reckon with those that discourage and
|
|
hinder young beginners in religion, that (as Satan's agents) set
|
|
upon the weak and feeble, either to divert them or to disquiet
|
|
them, and offend his little ones.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxvi-p12">2. This mischief must in due time be
|
|
revenged, <scripRef passage="De 25:19" id="Deu.xxvi-p12.1" parsed="|Deut|25|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.25.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>.
|
|
When their wars were finished, by which they were to settle their
|
|
kingdom and enlarge their coast, then they must <i>make war upon
|
|
Amalek</i> (<scripRef passage="De 25:19" id="Deu.xxvi-p12.2" parsed="|Deut|25|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.25.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>),
|
|
not merely to chase them, but to consume them, to <i>blot out the
|
|
remembrance of Amalek.</i> It was an instance of God's patience
|
|
that he deferred the vengeance so long, which should have led the
|
|
Amalekites to repentance; yet an instance of fearful retribution
|
|
that the posterity of Amalek, so long after, were destroyed for the
|
|
mischief done by their ancestors to the Israel of God, that all the
|
|
world might see, and say, that he who <i>toucheth them toucheth the
|
|
apple of his eye.</i> It was nearly 400 years after this that Saul
|
|
was ordered to put this sentence in execution (<scripRef passage="1Sa 15:1-35" id="Deu.xxvi-p12.3" parsed="|1Sam|15|1|15|35" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.15.1-1Sam.15.35">1 Sam. xv.</scripRef>), and was rejected of God
|
|
because he did not do it effectually, but spared some of that
|
|
devoted nation, in contempt, not only of the particular orders he
|
|
received from Samuel, but of this general command here given by
|
|
Moses, which he could not be ignorant of. David afterwards made
|
|
some destruction of them; and the Simeonites, in Hezekiah's time,
|
|
smote the rest that remained (<scripRef passage="1Ch 4:43" id="Deu.xxvi-p12.4" parsed="|1Chr|4|43|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Chr.4.43">1 Chron.
|
|
iv. 43</scripRef>); for when God judges he will overcome.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXVI" n="xxvii" progress="93.24%" prev="Deu.xxvi" next="Deu.xxviii" id="Deu.xxvii">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.xxvii-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.xxvii-p0.2">CHAP. XXVI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.xxvii-p1">With this chapter Moses concludes the particular
|
|
statutes which he thought fit to give Israel in charge at his
|
|
parting with them; what follows is by way of sanction and
|
|
ratification. In this chapter, I. Moses gives them a form of
|
|
confession to be made by him that offered the basket of his
|
|
first-fruits, <scripRef passage="De 26:1-11" id="Deu.xxvii-p1.1" parsed="|Deut|26|1|26|11" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26.1-Deut.26.11">ver. 1-11</scripRef>.
|
|
II. The protestation and prayer to be made after the disposal of
|
|
the third year's tithe, <scripRef passage="De 26:12-15" id="Deu.xxvii-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|26|12|26|15" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26.12-Deut.26.15">ver.
|
|
12-15</scripRef>. III. He binds on all the precepts he had given
|
|
them, 1. By the divine authority: "Not I, but the Lord thy God has
|
|
commanded thee to do these statutes," <scripRef passage="De 26:16" id="Deu.xxvii-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|26|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26.16">ver. 16</scripRef>. 2. By the mutual covenant between
|
|
God and them, <scripRef passage="De 26:17-19" id="Deu.xxvii-p1.4" parsed="|Deut|26|17|26|19" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26.17-Deut.26.19">ver. 17</scripRef>,
|
|
&c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 26" id="Deu.xxvii-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|26|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 26:1-11" id="Deu.xxvii-p1.6" parsed="|Deut|26|1|26|11" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26.1-Deut.26.11"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.26.1-Deut.26.11">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxvii-p1.7">The Offering of
|
|
First-Fruits. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxvii-p1.8">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxvii-p2">1 And it shall be, when thou <i>art</i> come in
|
|
unto the land which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxvii-p2.1">Lord</span> thy God
|
|
giveth thee <i>for</i> an inheritance, and possessest it, and
|
|
dwellest therein;   2 That thou shalt take of the first of all
|
|
the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxvii-p2.2">Lord</span> thy God giveth thee, and shalt
|
|
put <i>it</i> in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxvii-p2.3">Lord</span> thy God shall choose to place
|
|
his name there.   3 And thou shalt go unto the priest that
|
|
shall be in those days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxvii-p2.4">Lord</span> thy God, that I am come
|
|
unto the country which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxvii-p2.5">Lord</span>
|
|
sware unto our fathers for to give us.   4 And the priest
|
|
shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it down before the
|
|
altar of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxvii-p2.6">Lord</span> thy God.   5
|
|
And thou shalt speak and say before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxvii-p2.7">Lord</span> thy God, A Syrian ready to perish
|
|
<i>was</i> my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned
|
|
there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and
|
|
populous:   6 And the Egyptians evil entreated us, and
|
|
afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage:   7 And when we
|
|
cried unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxvii-p2.8">Lord</span> God of our
|
|
fathers, the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxvii-p2.9">Lord</span> heard our voice,
|
|
and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression:
|
|
  8 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxvii-p2.10">Lord</span> brought us
|
|
forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched
|
|
arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders:
|
|
  9 And he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us
|
|
this land, <i>even</i> a land that floweth with milk and honey.
|
|
  10 And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the
|
|
land, which thou, <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxvii-p2.11">O Lord</span>, hast given
|
|
me. And thou shalt set it before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxvii-p2.12">Lord</span> thy God, and worship before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxvii-p2.13">Lord</span> thy God:   11 And thou shalt
|
|
rejoice in every good <i>thing</i> which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxvii-p2.14">Lord</span> thy God hath given unto thee, and unto
|
|
thine house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that <i>is</i>
|
|
among you.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxvii-p3">Here is, I. A good work ordered to be done,
|
|
and that is the presenting of a basket of their first-fruits to God
|
|
every year, <scripRef passage="De 26:1,2" id="Deu.xxvii-p3.1" parsed="|Deut|26|1|26|2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26.1-Deut.26.2"><i>v.</i> 1,
|
|
2</scripRef>. Besides the <i>sheaf of first-fruits,</i> which was
|
|
offered for the whole land, on the morrow after the passover
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Le 23:10" id="Deu.xxvii-p3.2" parsed="|Lev|23|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.10">Lev. xxiii. 10</scripRef>), every man
|
|
was to bring for himself a basket of first-fruits at the feast of
|
|
pentecost, when the harvest was ended, which is therefore called
|
|
the <i>feast of first-fruits</i> (<scripRef passage="Ex 34:22" id="Deu.xxvii-p3.3" parsed="|Exod|34|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.22">Exod. xxxiv. 22</scripRef>), and is said to be kept with
|
|
a <i>tribute of free-will-offering,</i> <scripRef passage="De 16:10" id="Deu.xxvii-p3.4" parsed="|Deut|16|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.16.10">Deut. xvi. 10</scripRef>. But the Jews say, "The
|
|
first-fruits, if not brought then, might be brought any time after,
|
|
between that and winter." When a man went into the field or
|
|
vineyard at the time when the fruits were ripening, he was to mark
|
|
that which he observed most forward, and to lay it by for
|
|
first-fruits, wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives,
|
|
and dates, some of each sort must be put in the same basket, with
|
|
leaves between them, and presented to God in the place which he
|
|
should choose. Now from this law we may learn, 1. To acknowledge
|
|
God as the giver of all those good things which are the support and
|
|
comfort of our natural life, and therefore to serve and honour him
|
|
with them. 2. To deny ourselves. What is first ripe we are most
|
|
fond of; those that are nice and curious expect to be served with
|
|
each fruit at its first coming in. <i>My soul desired the first
|
|
ripe fruits,</i> <scripRef passage="Mic 7:1" id="Deu.xxvii-p3.5" parsed="|Mic|7|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mic.7.1">Micah vii.
|
|
1</scripRef>. When therefore God appointed them to lay those by for
|
|
him he taught them to prefer the glorifying of his name before the
|
|
gratifying of their own appetites and desires. 3. To give to God
|
|
the first and best we have, as those that believe him to be the
|
|
first and best of beings. Those that consecrate the days of their
|
|
youth, and the prime of their time, to the service and honour of
|
|
God, bring him their first-fruits, and with such offerings he is
|
|
well pleased. <i>I remember the kindness of thy youth.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxvii-p4">II. Good words put into their mouths to be
|
|
said in the doing of this good work, as an explication of the
|
|
meaning of this ceremony, that it might be a reasonable service.
|
|
The offerer must begin his acknowledgment before he delivered his
|
|
basket to the priest, and then must go on with it, when the priest
|
|
had set down the basket before the altar, as a present to God their
|
|
great landlord, <scripRef passage="De 26:3,4" id="Deu.xxvii-p4.1" parsed="|Deut|26|3|26|4" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26.3-Deut.26.4"><i>v.</i> 3,
|
|
4</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxvii-p5">1. He must begin with a receipt in full for
|
|
the good land which God had given them (<scripRef passage="De 26:3" id="Deu.xxvii-p5.1" parsed="|Deut|26|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>): <i>I profess that I have
|
|
come</i> now at last, after forty years' wandering, <i>unto the
|
|
country which the Lord swore to give us.</i> This was most proper
|
|
to be said when they came first into Canaan; probably when they had
|
|
been long settled there they varied from this form. Note, When God
|
|
has made good his promises to us he expects that we should own it,
|
|
to the honour of his faithfulness; this is like giving up the bond,
|
|
as Solomon does, <scripRef passage="1Ki 8:56" id="Deu.xxvii-p5.2" parsed="|1Kgs|8|56|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.8.56">1 Kings viii.
|
|
56</scripRef>, <i>There has not failed one word of all his good
|
|
promise.</i> And our creature-comforts are doubly sweet to us when
|
|
we see them flowing from the fountain of the promise.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxvii-p6">2. He must remember and own the mean origin
|
|
of that nation of which he was a member. How great soever they were
|
|
now, and he himself with them, their beginning was very small,
|
|
which ought thus to be kept in mind throughout all the ages of
|
|
their church by this public confession, that they might not be
|
|
proud of their privileges and advantages, but might for ever be
|
|
thankful to that God whose grace chose them when they were so low
|
|
and raised them so high. Two things they must own for this
|
|
purpose:—(1.) The meanness of their common ancestor: <i>A Syrian
|
|
ready to perish was my father,</i> <scripRef passage="De 26:5" id="Deu.xxvii-p6.1" parsed="|Deut|26|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. Jacob is here called an
|
|
<i>Aramite,</i> or <i>Syrian,</i> because he lived twenty years in
|
|
Padan-Aram; his wives were of that country, and his children were
|
|
all born there, except Benjamin; and perhaps the confessor means
|
|
not Jacob himself, but that son of Jacob who was the father of his
|
|
tribe. However it be, both father and sons were more than once
|
|
ready to perish, by Laban's severity, Esau's cruelty, and the
|
|
famine in the land, which last was the occasion of their going down
|
|
into Egypt. <i>Laban the Syrian sought to destroy my father</i> (so
|
|
the Chaldee), <i>had almost destroyed him,</i> so the Arabic. (2.)
|
|
The miserable condition of their nation in its infancy. They
|
|
sojourned in Egypt as strangers, they served there as slaves
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 26:6" id="Deu.xxvii-p6.2" parsed="|Deut|26|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), and that a
|
|
great while: as their father was called a <i>Syrian,</i> they might
|
|
be called <i>Egyptians;</i> so that their possession of Canaan
|
|
being so long discontinued they could not pretend any tenant-right
|
|
to it. A poor, despised, oppressed people they were in Egypt, and
|
|
therefore, though now rich and great, had no reason to be proud, or
|
|
secure, or forgetful of God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxvii-p7">3. He must thankfully acknowledge God's
|
|
great goodness, not only to himself in particular, but to Israel in
|
|
general. (1.) In bringing them out of Egypt, <scripRef passage="De 26:7,8" id="Deu.xxvii-p7.1" parsed="|Deut|26|7|26|8" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26.7-Deut.26.8"><i>v.</i> 7, 8</scripRef>. It is spoken of here as an
|
|
act of pity—<i>he looked on our affliction;</i> and an act of
|
|
power—he <i>brought us forth with a mighty hand.</i> This was a
|
|
great salvation, fit to be remembered upon all occasions, and
|
|
particularly upon this; they need not grudge to bring a basket of
|
|
first-fruits to God, for to him they owed it that they were not now
|
|
bringing in the tale of bricks to their cruel task-masters. (2.) In
|
|
settling them in Canaan: <i>He hath given us this land,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 26:9" id="Deu.xxvii-p7.2" parsed="|Deut|26|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. Observe, He
|
|
must not only give thanks for his own lot, but for the land in
|
|
general which was given to Israel; not only for this year's
|
|
profits, but for the ground itself which produced them, which God
|
|
had graciously granted to his ancestors and entailed upon his
|
|
posterity. Note, The comfort we have in particular enjoyments
|
|
should lead us to be thankful for our share in public peace and
|
|
plenty; and with present mercies we should bless God for the former
|
|
mercies we remember and the further mercies we expect and hope
|
|
for.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxvii-p8">4. He must offer to God his basket of
|
|
first-fruits (<scripRef passage="De 26:10" id="Deu.xxvii-p8.1" parsed="|Deut|26|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26.10"><i>v.</i>
|
|
10</scripRef>): "I have <i>brought the first-fruits of the land</i>
|
|
(like a pepper-corn) as a quit-rent for <i>the land which thou hast
|
|
given me.</i>" Note, Whatever we give to God, it is but <i>of his
|
|
own</i> that we <i>give him,</i> <scripRef passage="1Ch 29:14" id="Deu.xxvii-p8.2" parsed="|1Chr|29|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Chr.29.14">1
|
|
Chron. xxix. 14</scripRef>. And it becomes us, who receive so much
|
|
from him, to study what we shall render to him. The basket he set
|
|
before God; and the priests, as God's receivers, had the
|
|
first-fruits, as perquisites of their place and fees for attending,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 18:12" id="Deu.xxvii-p8.3" parsed="|Num|18|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.18.12">Num. xviii. 12</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxvii-p9">III. The offerer is here appointed, when he
|
|
has finished the service, 1. To give glory to God: <i>Thou shalt
|
|
worship the Lord thy God.</i> His first-fruits were not accepted
|
|
without further acts of adoration. A humble, reverent, thankful
|
|
heart is that which God looks at and requires, and, without this,
|
|
all we can put in a basket will not avail. <i>If a man would give
|
|
all the substance of his house</i> to be excused from this, or in
|
|
lieu of it, <i>it would utterly be contemned.</i> 2. To take the
|
|
comfort of it to himself and family: <i>Thou shalt rejoice in every
|
|
good thing,</i> <scripRef passage="De 26:11" id="Deu.xxvii-p9.1" parsed="|Deut|26|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26.11"><i>v.</i>
|
|
11</scripRef>. It is the will of God that we should be cheerful,
|
|
not only in our attendance upon his holy ordinances, but in our
|
|
enjoyments of the gifts of his providence. Whatever good thing God
|
|
gives us, it is his will that we should make the most comfortable
|
|
use we can of it, yet still tracing the streams to the fountain of
|
|
all comfort and consolation.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 26" id="Deu.xxvii-p9.2" parsed="|Deut|26|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 26:12-15" id="Deu.xxvii-p9.3" parsed="|Deut|26|12|26|15" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26.12-Deut.26.15"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.26.12-Deut.26.15">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxvii-p9.4">Appropriation of Tithes. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxvii-p9.5">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxvii-p10">12 When thou hast made an end of tithing all the
|
|
tithes of thine increase the third year, <i>which is</i> the year
|
|
of tithing, and hast given <i>it</i> unto the Levite, the stranger,
|
|
the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates,
|
|
and be filled;   13 Then thou shalt say before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxvii-p10.1">Lord</span> thy God, I have brought away the
|
|
hallowed things out of <i>mine</i> house, and also have given them
|
|
unto the Levite, and unto the stranger, to the fatherless, and to
|
|
the widow, according to all thy commandments which thou hast
|
|
commanded me: I have not transgressed thy commandments, neither
|
|
have I forgotten <i>them:</i>   14 I have not eaten thereof in
|
|
my mourning, neither have I taken away <i>ought</i> thereof for
|
|
<i>any</i> unclean <i>use,</i> nor given <i>ought</i> thereof for
|
|
the dead: <i>but</i> I have hearkened to the voice of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxvii-p10.2">Lord</span> my God, <i>and</i> have done
|
|
according to all that thou hast commanded me.   15 Look down
|
|
from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel,
|
|
and the land which thou hast given us, as thou swarest unto our
|
|
fathers, a land that floweth with milk and honey.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxvii-p11">Concerning the disposal of their tithe the
|
|
third year we had the law before, <scripRef passage="De 14:28,29" id="Deu.xxvii-p11.1" parsed="|Deut|14|28|14|29" osisRef="Bible:Deut.14.28-Deut.14.29"><i>ch.</i> xiv. 28, 29</scripRef>. The second tithe,
|
|
which in the other two years was to be spent in extraordinaries at
|
|
the feasts, was to be spent the third year at home, in entertaining
|
|
the poor. Now because this was done from under the eye of the
|
|
priests, and a great confidence was put in the people's honesty,
|
|
that they would dispose of it according to the law, to <i>the
|
|
Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless</i> (<scripRef passage="De 26:12" id="Deu.xxvii-p11.2" parsed="|Deut|26|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), it is therefore required that
|
|
when at the next feast after they appeared <i>before the Lord</i>
|
|
they should there testify (as it were) upon oath, in a religious
|
|
manner, that they had fully administered, and been true to their
|
|
trust.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxvii-p12">I. They must make a solemn protestation to
|
|
this purport, <scripRef passage="De 26:13,14" id="Deu.xxvii-p12.1" parsed="|Deut|26|13|26|14" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26.13-Deut.26.14"><i>v.</i> 13,
|
|
14</scripRef>. 1. That no hallowed things were hoarded up: "<i>I
|
|
have brought them away out of my house,</i> nothing now remains
|
|
there but my own part." 2. That the poor, and particularly poor
|
|
ministers, poor strangers, and poor widows, had had their part
|
|
according to the commandment. It is fit that God, who by his
|
|
providence gives us all we have, should by his law direct the using
|
|
of it, and, though we are not now under such particular
|
|
appropriations of our revenue as they then were, yet, in general,
|
|
we are commanded to give alms of such things as we have; and then,
|
|
and not otherwise, all things are clean to us. <i>Then</i> we may
|
|
take the comfort of our enjoyments, when God has thus had his dues
|
|
out of them. This is a commandment which must not be transgressed,
|
|
no, not with an excuse of its being forgotten, <scripRef passage="De 26:13" id="Deu.xxvii-p12.2" parsed="|Deut|26|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. 3. That none of this tithe had
|
|
been misapplied to any common use, much less to any ill use. This
|
|
seems to refer to the tithe of the other two years, which was to be
|
|
eaten by the owners themselves; they must profess, (1.) That they
|
|
had not eaten of it in their mourning, when, by their mourning for
|
|
the dead, they were commonly unclean; or they had not eaten of it
|
|
grudgingly, as those that all their days eat in darkness. (2.) That
|
|
they had not sacrilegiously alienated it to any common use, for it
|
|
was not their own. And, (3.) That they had not given it for the
|
|
dead, for the honour of their dead gods, or in hope of making it
|
|
beneficial to their dead friends. Now the obliging of them to make
|
|
this solemn protestation at the three years' end would be an
|
|
obligation upon them to deal faithfully, knowing that they must be
|
|
called upon thus to purge themselves. It is our wisdom to keep
|
|
conscience clear at all times, that when we come to give up our
|
|
account we may lift up our face without spot. The Jews say that
|
|
this protestation of their integrity was to be made with a low
|
|
voice, because it looked like a self-commendation, but that the
|
|
foregoing confession of God's goodness was to be made with a loud
|
|
voice to his glory. He that durst not make this protestation must
|
|
bring his <i>trespass-offering,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 5:15" id="Deu.xxvii-p12.3" parsed="|Lev|5|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.5.15">Lev. v. 15</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxvii-p13">II. To this solemn protestation they must
|
|
add a <i>solemn prayer</i> (<scripRef passage="De 26:15" id="Deu.xxvii-p13.1" parsed="|Deut|26|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26.15"><i>v.</i>
|
|
15</scripRef>), not particularly for themselves, but for <i>God's
|
|
people Israel;</i> for in the common peace and prosperity every
|
|
particular person prospers and has peace. We must learn hence to be
|
|
public-spirited in prayer, and to wrestle with God for blessings
|
|
for the land and nation, our English Israel, and for the universal
|
|
church, which we are directed to have an eye to in our prayers, as
|
|
the <i>Israel of God,</i> <scripRef passage="Ga 6:16" id="Deu.xxvii-p13.2" parsed="|Gal|6|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.6.16">Gal. vi.
|
|
16</scripRef>. In this prayer we are taught, 1. To look up to God
|
|
as in a holy habitation, and thence to infer that holiness becomes
|
|
his house, and that he will be sanctified in those that are about
|
|
him. 2. To depend upon the favour of God, and his gracious
|
|
cognizance, as sufficient to make us and our people happy. 3. To
|
|
reckon it wonderful condescension in God to case an eye even upon
|
|
so great and honourable a body as Israel was. It is looking down.
|
|
4. To be earnest with God for a blessing upon his people Israel,
|
|
and upon the <i>land which he has given us.</i> For how should the
|
|
earth yield its increase, or, if it does, what comfort can we take
|
|
in it, unless therewith <i>God, even our own God, gives us his
|
|
blessing?</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 67:6" id="Deu.xxvii-p13.3" parsed="|Ps|67|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.67.6">Ps. lxvii.
|
|
6</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 26" id="Deu.xxvii-p13.4" parsed="|Deut|26|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 26:16-19" id="Deu.xxvii-p13.5" parsed="|Deut|26|16|26|19" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26.16-Deut.26.19"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.26.16-Deut.26.19">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxvii-p13.6">Israel Reminded of the
|
|
Covenant. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxvii-p13.7">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxvii-p14">16 This day the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxvii-p14.1">Lord</span> thy God hath commanded thee to do these
|
|
statutes and judgments: thou shalt therefore keep and do them with
|
|
all thine heart, and with all thy soul.   17 Thou hast
|
|
avouched the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxvii-p14.2">Lord</span> this day to be thy
|
|
God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his
|
|
commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice:
|
|
  18 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxvii-p14.3">Lord</span> hath avouched
|
|
thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee,
|
|
and that <i>thou</i> shouldest keep all his commandments;   19
|
|
And to make thee high above all nations which he hath made, in
|
|
praise, and in name, and in honour; and that thou mayest be an holy
|
|
people unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxvii-p14.4">Lord</span> thy God, as he
|
|
hath spoken.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxvii-p15">Two things Moses here urges to enforce all
|
|
these precepts:—1. That they were the commands of God, <scripRef passage="De 26:16" id="Deu.xxvii-p15.1" parsed="|Deut|26|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. They were not the
|
|
dictates of his own wisdom, nor were they enacted by any authority
|
|
of his own, but infinite wisdom framed them, and the power of the
|
|
King of kings made them binding to them: "<i>The Lord thy God
|
|
commands thee,</i> therefore thou art bound in duty and gratitude
|
|
to obey him, and it is at thy peril if thou disobey. They are his
|
|
laws, therefore thou shalt do them, for to that end were they given
|
|
thee: do them and not dispute them, do them and not draw back from
|
|
them; do them not carelessly and hypocritically, but with thy heart
|
|
and soul, thy whole heart and thy whole soul." 2. That their
|
|
covenant with God obliged them to keep these commands. He insists
|
|
not only upon God's sovereignty over them, but his propriety in
|
|
them, and the relation wherein they stood to him. The covenant is
|
|
mutual, and it binds to obedience both ways. (1.) That we may
|
|
perform our part of the covenant, and answer the intentions of that
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 26:17" id="Deu.xxvii-p15.2" parsed="|Deut|26|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>): "<i>Thou
|
|
hast avouched</i> and solemnly owned and confessed <i>the Lord
|
|
Jehovah to be thy God,</i> thy Prince and Ruler. As he is so by an
|
|
incontestable right, so he is by thy own consent." They did this
|
|
implicitly by their attendance on his word, had done it expressly
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 24:1-8" id="Deu.xxvii-p15.3" parsed="|Exod|24|1|24|8" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.1-Exod.24.8">Exod. xxiv.</scripRef>), and were
|
|
now to do it again before they parted, <scripRef passage="De 29:1" id="Deu.xxvii-p15.4" parsed="|Deut|29|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.1"><i>ch.</i> xxix. 1</scripRef>. Now this obliges us, in
|
|
fidelity to our word, as well as in duty to our Sovereign, to
|
|
<i>keep his statutes and his commandments.</i> We really forswear
|
|
ourselves, and perfidiously violate the most sacred engagements,
|
|
if, when we have taken the Lord to be our God, we do not make
|
|
conscience of obeying his commands. (2.) That God's part of the
|
|
covenant also may be made good, and the intentions of that answered
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 26:18,19" id="Deu.xxvii-p15.5" parsed="|Deut|26|18|26|19" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26.18-Deut.26.19"><i>v.</i> 18, 19</scripRef>): The
|
|
<i>Lord has avouched,</i> not only taken, but publicly owned thee
|
|
to be his <i>segullah,</i> his <i>peculiar people, as he has
|
|
promised thee,</i> that is, according to the true intent and
|
|
meaning of the promise. Now their obedience was not only the
|
|
condition of this favour, and of the continuance of it (if they
|
|
were not obedient, God would disown them, and cast them off), but
|
|
it was also the principal design of this favour. "He has avouched
|
|
thee on purpose <i>that thou shouldest keep his commandments,</i>
|
|
that thou mightest have both the best directions and the best
|
|
encouragements in religion." Thus we are <i>elected to
|
|
obedience</i> (<scripRef passage="1Pe 1:2" id="Deu.xxvii-p15.6" parsed="|1Pet|1|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.1.2">1 Pet. i. 2</scripRef>),
|
|
<i>chosen that we should be holy</i> (<scripRef passage="Eph 1:4" id="Deu.xxvii-p15.7" parsed="|Eph|1|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eph.1.4">Eph. i. 4</scripRef>), purified, a peculiar people, that
|
|
we might not only do good works, but be zealous in them, <scripRef passage="Tit 2:14" id="Deu.xxvii-p15.8" parsed="|Titus|2|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Titus.2.14">Tit. ii. 14</scripRef>. Two things God is here
|
|
said to design in avouching them to be his peculiar people
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 26:19" id="Deu.xxvii-p15.9" parsed="|Deut|26|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>), to make
|
|
them high, and, in order to that, to make them holy; for holiness
|
|
is true honour, and the only way to everlasting honour. [1.] To
|
|
make them high above all nations. The greatest honour we are
|
|
capable of in this world is to be taken into covenant with God, and
|
|
to live in his service. They should be, <i>First,</i> High <i>in
|
|
praise;</i> for God would accept them, which is true praise,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ro 2:29" id="Deu.xxvii-p15.10" parsed="|Rom|2|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.2.29">Rom. ii. 29</scripRef>. Their friends
|
|
would admire them, <scripRef passage="Zep 3:19,20" id="Deu.xxvii-p15.11" parsed="|Zeph|3|19|3|20" osisRef="Bible:Zeph.3.19-Zeph.3.20">Zeph. iii. 19,
|
|
20</scripRef>. <i>Secondly,</i> High <i>in name,</i> which, some
|
|
think, denotes the continuance and perpetuity of that praise, <i>a
|
|
name that shall not be cut off. Thirdly,</i> High <i>in honour,</i>
|
|
that is, in all the advantages of wealth and power, which would
|
|
make them great above their neighbours. See <scripRef passage="Jer 13:11" id="Deu.xxvii-p15.12" parsed="|Jer|13|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.13.11">Jer. xiii. 11</scripRef>. [2.] That they might be a
|
|
holy people, separated for God, devoted to him, and employed
|
|
continually in his service. This God aimed at in taking them to be
|
|
his people; so that, if they did not keep his commandments, they
|
|
received all this grace in vain.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXVII" n="xxviii" progress="93.64%" prev="Deu.xxvii" next="Deu.xxix" id="Deu.xxviii">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.xxviii-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.xxviii-p0.2">CHAP. XXVII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.xxviii-p1">Moses having very largely and fully set before the
|
|
people their duty, both to God and one another, in general and in
|
|
particular instances,—having shown them plainly what is good, and
|
|
what the law requires of them,—and having in the close of the
|
|
foregoing chapter laid them under the obligation both of the
|
|
command and the covenant, he comes in this chapter to prescribe
|
|
outward means, I. For the helping of their memories, that they
|
|
might not forget the law as a strange thing. They must write all
|
|
the words of this law upon stones, <scripRef passage="De 27:1-10" id="Deu.xxviii-p1.1" parsed="|Deut|27|1|27|10" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.1-Deut.27.10">ver. 1-10</scripRef>. II. For the moving of their
|
|
affections, that they might not be indifferent to the law as a
|
|
light thing. Whey they came into Canaan, the blessings and curses
|
|
which were the sanctions of the law, were to be solemnly pronounced
|
|
in the hearing of all Israel, who were to say Amen to them,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 27:11-26" id="Deu.xxviii-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|27|11|27|26" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.11-Deut.27.26">ver. 11-26</scripRef>. And if such
|
|
a solemnity as this would not make a deep impression upon them, and
|
|
affect them with the great things of God's law, nothing would.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 27" id="Deu.xxviii-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|27|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 27:1-10" id="Deu.xxviii-p1.4" parsed="|Deut|27|1|27|10" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.1-Deut.27.10"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.27.1-Deut.27.10">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxviii-p1.5">The Exhibition of the Law. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxviii-p1.6">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxviii-p2">1 And Moses with the elders of Israel commanded
|
|
the people, saying, Keep all the commandments which I command you
|
|
this day.   2 And it shall be on the day when ye shall pass
|
|
over Jordan unto the land which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxviii-p2.1">Lord</span> thy God giveth thee, that thou shalt set
|
|
thee up great stones, and plaster them with plaster:   3 And
|
|
thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art
|
|
passed over, that thou mayest go in unto the land which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxviii-p2.2">Lord</span> thy God giveth thee, a land that
|
|
floweth with milk and honey; as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxviii-p2.3">Lord</span> God of thy fathers hath promised thee.
|
|
  4 Therefore it shall be when ye be gone over Jordan,
|
|
<i>that</i> ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this
|
|
day, in mount Ebal, and thou shalt plaster them with plaster.
|
|
  5 And there shalt thou build an altar unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxviii-p2.4">Lord</span> thy God, an altar of stones: thou shalt not
|
|
lift up <i>any</i> iron <i>tool</i> upon them.   6 Thou shalt
|
|
build the altar of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxviii-p2.5">Lord</span> thy God
|
|
of whole stones: and thou shalt offer burnt offerings thereon unto
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxviii-p2.6">Lord</span> thy God:   7 And thou
|
|
shalt offer peace offerings, and shalt eat there, and rejoice
|
|
before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxviii-p2.7">Lord</span> thy God.   8
|
|
And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law very
|
|
plainly.   9 And Moses and the priests the Levites spake unto
|
|
all Israel, saying, Take heed, and hearken, O Israel; this day thou
|
|
art become the people of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxviii-p2.8">Lord</span>
|
|
thy God.   10 Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxviii-p2.9">Lord</span> thy God, and do his commandments and
|
|
his statutes, which I command thee this day.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxviii-p3">Here is, I. A general charge to the people
|
|
to keep God's commandments; for in vain did they know them, unless
|
|
they would do them. This is pressed upon them, 1. With all
|
|
authority. <i>Moses with the elders of Israel,</i> the rulers of
|
|
each tribe (<scripRef passage="De 27:1" id="Deu.xxviii-p3.1" parsed="|Deut|27|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>),
|
|
and again, <i>Moses and the priests the Levites</i> (<scripRef passage="De 27:9" id="Deu.xxviii-p3.2" parsed="|Deut|27|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>); so that the charge is
|
|
given by Moses who was king in Jeshurun, and by their lords, both
|
|
spiritual and temporal, in concurrence with him. Lest they should
|
|
think that it was Moses only, an old and dying man, that made such
|
|
ado about religion, or the priests and Levites only, whose trade it
|
|
was to attend religion and who had their maintenance out of it, the
|
|
elders of Israel, whom God had placed in honour and power over
|
|
them, and who were men of business in the world and likely to be so
|
|
long so when Moses was gone, <i>they</i> commanded their people to
|
|
<i>keep God's law.</i> Moses, having put some of his honour upon
|
|
them, joins them in commission with himself, in giving this charge,
|
|
as Paul sometimes in his epistles joins with himself Silvanus and
|
|
Timotheus. Note, All that have any interest in others, or power
|
|
over them, should use it for the support and furtherance of
|
|
religion among them. Though the supreme power of a nation provide
|
|
ever so good laws for this purpose, if inferior magistrates in
|
|
their places, and ministers in theirs, and masters of families in
|
|
theirs, do not execute their offices, it will all be to little
|
|
effect. 2. With all importunity. They press it upon them with the
|
|
utmost earnestness (<scripRef passage="De 27:9" id="Deu.xxviii-p3.3" parsed="|Deut|27|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.9"><i>v.</i> 9,
|
|
10</scripRef>): <i>Take heed and hearken, O Israel.</i> It is a
|
|
thing that requires and deserves the highest degree of caution and
|
|
attention. They tell them of their privilege and honour: "<i>This
|
|
day thou hast become the people of the Lord thy God,</i> the Lord
|
|
having avouched thee to be his own, and being now about to put thee
|
|
in possession of Canaan which he had long promised as <i>thy
|
|
God</i> (<scripRef passage="Ge 17:7,8" id="Deu.xxviii-p3.4" parsed="|Gen|17|7|17|8" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.7-Gen.17.8">Gen. xvii. 7, 8</scripRef>),
|
|
and which if he had failed to do in due time, he would have been
|
|
ashamed to be called thy God, <scripRef passage="Heb 11:16" id="Deu.xxviii-p3.5" parsed="|Heb|11|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.16">Heb.
|
|
xi. 16</scripRef>. Now thou art more than ever his people,
|
|
therefore <i>obey his voice.</i>" Privileges should be improved as
|
|
engagements to duty. Should not a people be ruled by their God?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxviii-p4">II. A particular direction to them with
|
|
great solemnity to register <i>the words of this law,</i> as soon
|
|
as they came into Canaan. It was to be done but once, and at their
|
|
entrance into the land of promise, in token of their taking
|
|
possession of it under the several provisos and conditions
|
|
contained in this law. There was a solemn ratification of the
|
|
covenant between God and Israel at Mount Sinai, when an altar was
|
|
erected, with twelve pillars, and the book of the covenant was
|
|
produced, <scripRef passage="Ex 24:4" id="Deu.xxviii-p4.1" parsed="|Exod|24|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.4">Exod. xxiv. 4</scripRef>.
|
|
That which is here appointed is a somewhat similar solemnity.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxviii-p5">1. They must set up a monument on which
|
|
they must <i>write the words of this law.</i> (1.) The monument
|
|
itself was to be very mean, only rough unhewn stone plastered over;
|
|
not polished marble or alabaster, nor brass tables, but common
|
|
plaster upon stone, <scripRef passage="De 27:2" id="Deu.xxviii-p5.1" parsed="|Deut|27|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.2"><i>v.</i>
|
|
2</scripRef>. The command is repeated (<scripRef passage="De 27:4" id="Deu.xxviii-p5.2" parsed="|Deut|27|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>), and orders are given that it be
|
|
written, not very finely, to be admired by the curious, but very
|
|
plainly, that he who runs may read it, <scripRef passage="Hab 2:2" id="Deu.xxviii-p5.3" parsed="|Hab|2|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hab.2.2">Hab. ii. 2</scripRef>. The word of God needs not to be
|
|
set off by the art of man, nor embellished with the <i>enticing
|
|
words of man's wisdom.</i> But, (2.) The inscription was to be very
|
|
great: <i>All the words of this law,</i> <scripRef passage="De 27:3" id="Deu.xxviii-p5.4" parsed="|Deut|27|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>, and again, <scripRef passage="De 27:8" id="Deu.xxviii-p5.5" parsed="|Deut|27|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. Some understand it only of the
|
|
covenant between God and Israel, mentioned <scripRef passage="De 26:17,18" id="Deu.xxviii-p5.6" parsed="|Deut|26|17|26|18" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26.17-Deut.26.18"><i>ch.</i> xxvi. 17, 18</scripRef>. Let this help be
|
|
set up for a witness, like that memorial of the covenant between
|
|
Laban and Jacob, which was nothing but a heap of stones thrown
|
|
hastily together, upon which they did eat together in token of
|
|
friendship (<scripRef passage="Ge 31:46,47" id="Deu.xxviii-p5.7" parsed="|Gen|31|46|31|47" osisRef="Bible:Gen.31.46-Gen.31.47">Gen. xxxi. 46,
|
|
47</scripRef>), and that stone which Joshua set up, <scripRef passage="Jos 24:26" id="Deu.xxviii-p5.8" parsed="|Josh|24|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.24.26">Josh. xxiv. 26</scripRef>. Others think that
|
|
the curses of the covenant in this chapter were written upon this
|
|
monument, the rather because it was set up in Mount Ebal, <scripRef passage="De 27:4" id="Deu.xxviii-p5.9" parsed="|Deut|27|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. Others think that the
|
|
whole book of Deuteronomy was written upon this monument, or at
|
|
least the statutes and judgments from <scripRef passage="De 12:1-26:19" id="Deu.xxviii-p5.10" parsed="|Deut|12|1|26|19" osisRef="Bible:Deut.12.1-Deut.26.19"><i>ch.</i> xii. to the end of <i>ch.</i>
|
|
xxvi.</scripRef> And it is not improbable that the heap might be so
|
|
large as, taking in all the sides of it, to contain so copious an
|
|
inscription, unless we will suppose (as some do) that the ten
|
|
commandments only were here written, as an authentic copy of the
|
|
close rolls which were laid up in the ark. They must write this
|
|
when they had gone into Canaan, and yet Moses says (<scripRef passage="De 27:3" id="Deu.xxviii-p5.11" parsed="|Deut|27|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), "<i>Write it that thou
|
|
mayest go in,</i>" that is, "that thou mayest go in with comfort,
|
|
and assurance of success and settlement, otherwise it were well for
|
|
thee not to go in at all. Write it as the conditions of thy entry,
|
|
and own that thou comest in upon these terms and no other: since
|
|
Canaan is given by promise, it must beheld by obedience."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxviii-p6">2. They must also set up an altar. By the
|
|
words of the law which were written upon the plaster, God <i>spoke
|
|
to them;</i> by the altar, and the sacrifices offered upon it, they
|
|
spoke to God; and thus was communion kept up between them and God.
|
|
The word and prayer must go together. Though they might not, of
|
|
their own heads, set up any altar besides that at the tabernacle,
|
|
yet, by the appointment of God, they might upon a special
|
|
occasion. Elijah built a temporary altar of twelve unhewn stones,
|
|
similar to this, when he brought Israel back to the covenant which
|
|
was now made, <scripRef passage="1Ki 18:31,32" id="Deu.xxviii-p6.1" parsed="|1Kgs|18|31|18|32" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.18.31-1Kgs.18.32">1 Kings xviii. 31,
|
|
32</scripRef>. Now, (1.) This altar must be made of such stones as
|
|
they found ready upon the field, not newly cut out of the rock,
|
|
much less squared artificially: <i>Thou shalt not lift up any iron
|
|
tool upon them,</i> <scripRef passage="De 27:5" id="Deu.xxviii-p6.2" parsed="|Deut|27|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.5"><i>v.</i>
|
|
5</scripRef>. Christ, our altar, is a <i>stone cut out of the
|
|
mountain without hands</i> (<scripRef passage="Da 2:34,35" id="Deu.xxviii-p6.3" parsed="|Dan|2|34|2|35" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.34-Dan.2.35">Dan. ii.
|
|
34, 35</scripRef>), and therefore <i>refused by the builders,</i>
|
|
as having no form or comeliness, but accepted of God the Father,
|
|
and made the head of the corner. (2.) Burnt-offerings and
|
|
peace-offerings must be offered upon this altar (<scripRef passage="De 27:6,7" id="Deu.xxviii-p6.4" parsed="|Deut|27|6|27|7" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.6-Deut.27.7"><i>v.</i> 6, 7</scripRef>), that by them they might
|
|
give glory to God and obtain favour. Where the law was written, an
|
|
altar was set up close by it, to signify that we could not look
|
|
with any comfort upon the law, being conscious to ourselves of the
|
|
violation of it, if it were not for the great sacrifice by which
|
|
atonement is made for sin; and the altar was set up on Mount Ebal,
|
|
the mount on which those tribes stood that said <i>Amen</i> to the
|
|
curses, to intimate that through Christ we are <i>redeemed from the
|
|
curse of the law.</i> In the Old Testament the words of the law are
|
|
written, with the curse annexed, which would fill us with horror
|
|
and amazement if we had not in the New Testament (which is bound up
|
|
with it) an altar erected close by it, which gives us everlasting
|
|
consolation. (3.) They must eat there, and <i>rejoice before the
|
|
Lord their God,</i> <scripRef passage="De 27:7" id="Deu.xxviii-p6.5" parsed="|Deut|27|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.7"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7</scripRef>. This signified, [1.] The consent they gave to the
|
|
covenant; for the parties to a covenant ratified the covenant by
|
|
feasting together. They were partakers of the altar, which was
|
|
God's table, as his servants and tenants, and such they
|
|
acknowledged themselves, and, being put in possession of this good
|
|
land, bound themselves to pay the rent and to do the services
|
|
reserved by the royal grant. [2.] The comfort they took in the
|
|
covenant; they had reason to rejoice in the law, when they had an
|
|
altar, a remedial law, so near it. It was a great favour to them,
|
|
and a token for good, that God <i>gave them his statutes;</i> and
|
|
that they were owned as the people of God, and the <i>children of
|
|
the promise,</i> was what they had reason to rejoice in, though,
|
|
when this solemnity was to be performed, they were not put in full
|
|
possession of Canaan; but God has <i>spoken in his holiness,</i>
|
|
and then <i>I will rejoice, Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine;</i>
|
|
all my own.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 27" id="Deu.xxviii-p6.6" parsed="|Deut|27|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 27:11-26" id="Deu.xxviii-p6.7" parsed="|Deut|27|11|27|26" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.11-Deut.27.26"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.27.11-Deut.27.26">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxviii-p6.8">The Curses from Ebal. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxviii-p6.9">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxviii-p7">11 And Moses charged the people the same day,
|
|
saying,   12 These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the
|
|
people, when ye are come over Jordan; Simeon, and Levi, and Judah,
|
|
and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin:   13 And these shall
|
|
stand upon mount Ebal to curse; Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and
|
|
Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.   14 And the Levites shall speak,
|
|
and say unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice,   15
|
|
Cursed <i>be</i> the man that maketh <i>any</i> graven or molten
|
|
image, an abomination unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxviii-p7.1">Lord</span>,
|
|
the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth <i>it</i> in
|
|
<i>a</i> secret <i>place.</i> And all the people shall answer and
|
|
say, Amen.   16 Cursed <i>be</i> he that setteth light by his
|
|
father or his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen.   17
|
|
Cursed <i>be</i> he that removeth his neighbour's landmark. And all
|
|
the people shall say, Amen.   18 Cursed <i>be</i> he that
|
|
maketh the blind to wander out of the way. And all the people shall
|
|
say, Amen.   19 Cursed <i>be</i> he that perverteth the
|
|
judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people
|
|
shall say, Amen.   20 Cursed <i>be</i> he that lieth with his
|
|
father's wife; because he uncovereth his father's skirt. And all
|
|
the people shall say, Amen.   21 Cursed <i>be</i> he that
|
|
lieth with any manner of beast. And all the people shall say, Amen.
|
|
  22 Cursed <i>be</i> he that lieth with his sister, the
|
|
daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother. And all the
|
|
people shall say, Amen.   23 Cursed <i>be</i> he that lieth
|
|
with his mother in law. And all the people shall say, Amen.  
|
|
24 Cursed <i>be</i> he that smiteth his neighbour secretly. And all
|
|
the people shall say, Amen.   25 Cursed <i>be</i> he that
|
|
taketh reward to slay an innocent person. And all the people shall
|
|
say, Amen.   26 Cursed <i>be</i> he that confirmeth not
|
|
<i>all</i> the words of this law to do them. And all the people
|
|
shall say, Amen.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxviii-p8">When the law was written, to be <i>seen and
|
|
read by all men,</i> the sanctions of it were to be published,
|
|
which, to complete the solemnity of their covenanting with God,
|
|
they were deliberately to declare their approbation of. This they
|
|
were before directed to do (<scripRef passage="De 11:29,30" id="Deu.xxviii-p8.1" parsed="|Deut|11|29|11|30" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.29-Deut.11.30"><i>ch.</i> xi. 29, 30</scripRef>), and therefore the
|
|
appointment here begins somewhat abruptly, <scripRef passage="De 27:12" id="Deu.xxviii-p8.2" parsed="|Deut|27|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. There were, it seems, in
|
|
Canaan, that part of it which afterwards fell to the lot of Ephraim
|
|
(Joshua's tribe), two mountains that lay near together, with a
|
|
valley between, one called <i>Gerizim</i> and the other
|
|
<i>Ebal.</i> On the sides of these two mountains, which faced one
|
|
another, all the tribes were to be drawn up, six on one side and
|
|
six on the other, so that in the valley, at the foot of each
|
|
mountain, they came pretty near together, so near as that the
|
|
priests standing betwixt them might be heard by those that were
|
|
next them on both sides; then when silence was proclaimed, and
|
|
attention commanded, one of the priests, or perhaps more at some
|
|
distance from each other, pronounced with a loud voice one of the
|
|
curses here following, and all the people that stood on the side
|
|
and foot of Mount Ebal (those that stood further off taking the
|
|
signal from those that stood nearer and within hearing) said
|
|
<i>Amen;</i> then the contrary blessing was pronounced, "Blessed is
|
|
he that doth not so or so," and then those that stood on the side,
|
|
and at the foot, of Mount Gerizim, said <i>Amen.</i> This could not
|
|
but affect them very much with the blessings and curses, the
|
|
promises and threatenings, of the law, and not only acquaint all
|
|
the people with them, but teach them to apply them to
|
|
themselves.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxviii-p9">I. Something is to be observed, in general,
|
|
concerning this solemnity, which was to be done, but once and not
|
|
repeated, but would be talked of to posterity,. 1. God appointed
|
|
which tribes should stand upon Mount Gerizim and which on Mount
|
|
Ebal (<scripRef passage="De 27:12,13" id="Deu.xxviii-p9.1" parsed="|Deut|27|12|27|13" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.12-Deut.27.13"><i>v.</i> 12, 13</scripRef>),
|
|
to prevent the disputes that might have arisen if they had been
|
|
left to dispose of themselves. The six tribes that were appointed
|
|
for blessing were all the children of the free women, for to such
|
|
the promise belongs, <scripRef passage="Ga 4:31" id="Deu.xxviii-p9.2" parsed="|Gal|4|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.4.31">Gal. iv.
|
|
31</scripRef>. Levi is here put among the rest, to teach ministers
|
|
to apply to themselves the blessing and curse which they preach to
|
|
others, and by faith to set their own <i>Amen</i> to it. 2. Of
|
|
those tribes that were to say <i>Amen</i> to the blessings it is
|
|
said, <i>They stood to bless the people,</i> but of the other,
|
|
<i>They stood to curse,</i> not mentioning the people, as loth to
|
|
suppose that any of this people whom God had taken for his own
|
|
should lay themselves under the curse. Or, perhaps, the different
|
|
mode of expression intimates that there was to be but one blessing
|
|
pronounced in general upon the people of Israel, as a happy people,
|
|
and that should ever be so, <i>if they were obedient;</i> and to
|
|
this blessing the tribes on Mount Gerizim were to say
|
|
<i>Amen</i>—"Happy art thou, O Israel, and mayest thou ever be
|
|
so;" but then the curses come in as exceptions from the general
|
|
rule, and we know <i>exceptio firmat regulam—the exception
|
|
confirms the rule.</i> Israel is a blessed people, but, if there be
|
|
any particular persons even among them that do such and such things
|
|
as are mentioned, let them know that they have no part nor lot in
|
|
the matter, but are under a curse. This shows how ready God is to
|
|
bestow the blessing; if any fall under the curse, they may thank
|
|
themselves, they bring it upon their own heads. 3. The Levites or
|
|
priests, such of them as were appointed for that purpose, were to
|
|
pronounce the curses as well as the blessings. They were ordained
|
|
to bless (<scripRef passage="De 10:8" id="Deu.xxviii-p9.3" parsed="|Deut|10|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.10.8"><i>ch.</i> x. 8</scripRef>),
|
|
the priests did it daily, <scripRef passage="Nu 6:23" id="Deu.xxviii-p9.4" parsed="|Num|6|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.23">Num. vi.
|
|
23</scripRef>. But they <i>must separate between the precious and
|
|
the vile;</i> they must not give that blessing promiscuously, but
|
|
must declare it to whom it did not belong, lest those who had no
|
|
right to it themselves should think to share in it by being in the
|
|
crowd. Note, Ministers must preach the terrors of the law as well
|
|
as the comforts of the gospel; must not only allure people to their
|
|
duty with the promises of a blessing, but awe them to it with the
|
|
threatenings of a curse. 4. The curses are here expressed, but not
|
|
the blessings; for as many as were under the law were under the
|
|
curse, but it was a honour reserved for Christ to bless us, and so
|
|
to do that for us which <i>the law could not do, in that it was
|
|
weak.</i> In Christ's sermon upon the mount, which was the true
|
|
Mount Gerizim, we have blessings only, <scripRef passage="Mt 5:3-11" id="Deu.xxviii-p9.5" parsed="|Matt|5|3|5|11" osisRef="Bible:Matt.5.3-Matt.5.11">Matt. v. 3</scripRef>, &c. 5. To each of the curses
|
|
the people were to say <i>Amen.</i> It is easy to understand the
|
|
meaning of <i>Amen</i> to the blessings. The Jews have a saying to
|
|
encourage people to say <i>Amen</i> to the public prayers,
|
|
<i>Whosoever answereth</i> Amen, <i>after him that blesseth, he is
|
|
as he that blesseth.</i> But how could they say <i>Amen</i> to the
|
|
curses? (1.) It was a profession of their faith in the truth of
|
|
them, that these and the like curses were not bug-bears to frighten
|
|
children and fools, but the real declarations of the wrath of God
|
|
against the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, not one
|
|
<i>iota</i> of which shall fall to the ground. (2.) It was an
|
|
acknowledgment of the equity of these curses; when they said
|
|
<i>Amen,</i> they did in effect say, not only, <i>It is certain it
|
|
shall be so,</i> but, <i>It is just it should be so.</i> Those who
|
|
do such things deserve to fall and lie under the curse. (3.) It was
|
|
such an imprecation upon themselves as strongly obliged them to
|
|
have nothing to do with those evil practices upon which the curse
|
|
is here entailed. "Let God's wrath fall upon us if ever we do such
|
|
things." We read of those that entered into a curse (and with us
|
|
that is the usual form of a solemn oath) to <i>walk in God's
|
|
law</i> <scripRef passage="Ne 10:29" id="Deu.xxviii-p9.6" parsed="|Neh|10|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Neh.10.29">Neh. x. 29</scripRef>. Nay,
|
|
the Jews say (as the learned bishop Patrick quotes them), "All the
|
|
people, by saying this <i>Amen,</i> became bound for one another,
|
|
that they would observe God's laws, by which every man was obliged,
|
|
as far as he could, to prevent his neighbour from breaking these
|
|
laws, and to reprove those that had offended, lest they should bear
|
|
sin and the curse for them."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxviii-p10">II. Let us now observe what are the
|
|
particular sins against which the curses are here denounced.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxviii-p11">1. Sins against the second commandment.
|
|
This flaming sword is set to keep that commandment first, <scripRef passage="De 27:15" id="Deu.xxviii-p11.1" parsed="|Deut|27|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. Those are here cursed,
|
|
not only that worship images, but that make them or keep them, if
|
|
they be such (or like such) as idolaters used in the service of
|
|
their gods. Whether it be a graven image or a molten image, it
|
|
comes all to one, <i>it is an abomination to the Lord,</i> even
|
|
though it be not set up in public, but in a secret place,—though
|
|
it be not actually worshipped, nor is it said to be designed for
|
|
worship, but reserved there with respect and a constant temptation.
|
|
He that does this may perhaps escape punishment from men, but he
|
|
cannot escape the curse of God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxviii-p12">2. Against the fifth commandment, <scripRef passage="De 27:16" id="Deu.xxviii-p12.1" parsed="|Deut|27|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. The contempt of parents
|
|
is a sin so heinous that it is put next to the contempt of God
|
|
himself. If a man abused his parents, either in word or deed, he
|
|
fell under the sentence of the magistrate, and must be <i>put to
|
|
death,</i> <scripRef passage="Ex 21:15,17" id="Deu.xxviii-p12.2" parsed="|Exod|21|15|0|0;|Exod|21|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.21.15 Bible:Exod.21.17">Exod. xxi. 15,
|
|
17</scripRef>. But to set light by them in his heart was a thing
|
|
which the magistrate could not take cognizance of, and therefore it
|
|
is here laid under the curse of God, who knows the heart. Those are
|
|
cursed children that carry themselves scornfully and insolently
|
|
towards their parents.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxviii-p13">3. Against the eighth commandment. The
|
|
curse of God is here fastened, (1.) Upon an unjust neighbour that
|
|
<i>removes the land-marks,</i> <scripRef passage="De 27:17" id="Deu.xxviii-p13.1" parsed="|Deut|27|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. See <scripRef passage="De 19:14" id="Deu.xxviii-p13.2" parsed="|Deut|19|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.19.14"><i>ch.</i> xix. 14</scripRef>. Upon an unjust
|
|
counsellor, who, when his advice is asked, maliciously directs his
|
|
friend to that which he knows will be to his prejudice, which is
|
|
<i>making the blind to wander out of the way,</i> under pretence of
|
|
directing him in the way, than which nothing can be either more
|
|
barbarous or more treacherous, <scripRef passage="De 27:18" id="Deu.xxviii-p13.3" parsed="|Deut|27|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. Those that seduce others from
|
|
the way of God's commandments, and entice them to sin, bring this
|
|
curse upon themselves, which our Saviour has explained, <scripRef passage="Mt 15:14" id="Deu.xxviii-p13.4" parsed="|Matt|15|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.15.14">Matt. xv. 14</scripRef>, <i>The blind lead the
|
|
blind, and both shall fall into the ditch.</i> (3.) Upon an unjust
|
|
judge, that <i>perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless,
|
|
and widow,</i> whom he should protect and vindicate, <scripRef passage="De 27:19" id="Deu.xxviii-p13.5" parsed="|Deut|27|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. These are supposed to
|
|
be poor and friendless (nothing to be got by doing them a kindness,
|
|
nor any thing lost by disobliging them), and therefore judges may
|
|
be tempted to side with their adversaries against right and equity;
|
|
but cursed are such judges.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxviii-p14">4. Against the seventh commandment. Incest
|
|
is a cursed sin, with a <i>sister, a father's wife, or a
|
|
mother-in-law,</i> <scripRef passage="De 27:20,22,23" id="Deu.xxviii-p14.1" parsed="|Deut|27|20|0|0;|Deut|27|22|0|0;|Deut|27|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.20 Bible:Deut.27.22 Bible:Deut.27.23"><i>v.</i> 20,
|
|
22, 23</scripRef>. These crimes not only exposed men to the sword
|
|
of the magistrate (<scripRef passage="Le 20:11" id="Deu.xxviii-p14.2" parsed="|Lev|20|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.11">Lev. xx.
|
|
11</scripRef>), but, which is more dreadful, to the wrath of God;
|
|
bestiality likewise, <scripRef passage="De 27:21" id="Deu.xxviii-p14.3" parsed="|Deut|27|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.21"><i>v.</i>
|
|
21</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxviii-p15">5. Against the sixth commandment. Two of
|
|
the worst kinds of murder are here specified:—(1.) Murder unseen,
|
|
when a man does not set upon his neighbour as a fair adversary,
|
|
giving him an opportunity to defend himself, but <i>smites him
|
|
secretly</i> (<scripRef passage="De 27:24" id="Deu.xxviii-p15.1" parsed="|Deut|27|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.24"><i>v.</i>
|
|
24</scripRef>), as by poison or otherwise, when he sees not who
|
|
hurts him. See <scripRef passage="Ps 10:8,9" id="Deu.xxviii-p15.2" parsed="|Ps|10|8|10|9" osisRef="Bible:Ps.10.8-Ps.10.9">Ps. x. 8,
|
|
9</scripRef>. Though such secret murders may go undiscovered and
|
|
unpunished, yet the curse of God will follow them. (2.) Murder
|
|
under colour of law, which is the greatest affront to God, for it
|
|
makes an ordinance of his to patronise the worst of villains, and
|
|
the greatest wrong to our neighbour, for it ruins his honour as
|
|
well as his life: cursed therefore is he that will be hired, or
|
|
bribed, to accuse, or to convict, or to condemn, and so <i>to slay,
|
|
an innocent person,</i> <scripRef passage="De 27:25" id="Deu.xxviii-p15.3" parsed="|Deut|27|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.25"><i>v.</i>
|
|
25</scripRef>. See <scripRef passage="Ps 15:5" id="Deu.xxviii-p15.4" parsed="|Ps|15|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.15.5">Ps. xv.
|
|
5</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxviii-p16">6. The solemnity concludes with a general
|
|
curse upon him <i>that confirmeth not,</i> or, as it might be read,
|
|
that <i>performeth not, all the words of this law to do them,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 27:26" id="Deu.xxviii-p16.1" parsed="|Deut|27|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>. By our
|
|
obedience to the law we set our seal to it, and so confirm it, as
|
|
by our disobedience we do what lies in us to disannul it, <scripRef passage="Ps 119:126" id="Deu.xxviii-p16.2" parsed="|Ps|119|126|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119.126">Ps. cxix. 126</scripRef>. The apostle,
|
|
following all the ancient versions, reads it, <i>Cursed is every
|
|
one that continues not,</i> <scripRef passage="Ga 3:10" id="Deu.xxviii-p16.3" parsed="|Gal|3|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.3.10">Gal. iii.
|
|
10</scripRef>. Lest those who were guilty of other sins, not
|
|
mentioned in this commination, should think themselves safe from
|
|
the curse, this last reaches all; not only those who do the evil
|
|
which the law forbids, but those also who omit the good which the
|
|
law requires: to this we must all say <i>Amen,</i> owning ourselves
|
|
under the curse, justly to have deserved it, and that we must
|
|
certainly have perished for ever under it, if Christ had not
|
|
<i>redeemed us from the curse of the law, by being made a curse for
|
|
us.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXVIII" n="xxix" progress="94.11%" prev="Deu.xxviii" next="Deu.xxx" id="Deu.xxix">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.xxix-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.xxix-p0.2">CHAP. XXVIII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.xxix-p1">This chapter is a very large exposition of two
|
|
words in the foregoing chapter, the blessing and the curse. Those
|
|
were pronounced blessed in general that were obedient, and those
|
|
cursed that were disobedient; but, because generals are not so
|
|
affecting, Moses here descends to particulars, and describes the
|
|
blessing and the curse, not in their fountains (these are out of
|
|
sight, and therefore the most considerable, yet least considered,
|
|
the favour of God the spring of all the blessings, and the wrath of
|
|
God the spring of all the curses), but in their streams, the
|
|
sensible effects of the blessing and the curse, for they are real
|
|
things and have real effects. I. He describes the blessings that
|
|
should come upon them if they were obedient; personal, family, and
|
|
especially national, for in that capacity especially they are here
|
|
treated with, <scripRef passage="De 28:1-14" id="Deu.xxix-p1.1" parsed="|Deut|28|1|28|14" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.1-Deut.28.14">ver. 1-14</scripRef>.
|
|
II. He more largely describes the curses which would come upon them
|
|
if they were disobedient; such as would be, 1. Their extreme
|
|
vexation, <scripRef passage="De 28:15-44" id="Deu.xxix-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|28|15|28|44" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.15-Deut.28.44">ver. 15-44</scripRef>. 2.
|
|
Their utter ruin and destruction at last, <scripRef passage="De 28:45-68" id="Deu.xxix-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|28|45|28|68" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.45-Deut.28.68">ver. 45-68</scripRef>. This chapter is much to the
|
|
same purport with <scripRef passage="Le 26:1-46" id="Deu.xxix-p1.4" parsed="|Lev|26|1|26|46" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.1-Lev.26.46">Lev.
|
|
xxvi.</scripRef>, setting before them life and death, good and
|
|
evil; and the promise, in the close of that chapter, of their
|
|
restoration, upon their repentance, is here likewise more largely
|
|
repeated, <scripRef passage="De 30:1-20" id="Deu.xxix-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|30|1|30|20" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.1-Deut.30.20"><i>ch.</i> xxx.</scripRef>
|
|
Thus, as they had precept upon precept in the repetition of the
|
|
law, so they had line upon line in the repetition of the promises
|
|
and threatenings. And these are both there and here delivered, not
|
|
only as sanctions of the law, what should be conditionally, but as
|
|
predictions of the event, what would be certainly, that for a while
|
|
the people of Israel would be happy in their obedience, but that at
|
|
length they would be undone by their disobedience; and therefore it
|
|
is said (<scripRef passage="De 30:1" id="Deu.xxix-p1.6" parsed="|Deut|30|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.1"><i>ch.</i> xxx. 1</scripRef>)
|
|
that all those things would come upon them, both the blessing and
|
|
the curse.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 28" id="Deu.xxix-p1.7" parsed="|Deut|28|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 28:1-14" id="Deu.xxix-p1.8" parsed="|Deut|28|1|28|14" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.1-Deut.28.14"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.28.1-Deut.28.14">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxix-p1.9">Promises. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxix-p2">1 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt
|
|
hearken diligently unto the voice of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p2.1">Lord</span> thy God, to observe <i>and</i> to do all
|
|
his commandments which I command thee this day, that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p2.2">Lord</span> thy God will set thee on high above
|
|
all nations of the earth:   2 And all these blessings shall
|
|
come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the
|
|
voice of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p2.3">Lord</span> thy God.   3
|
|
Blessed <i>shalt</i> thou <i>be</i> in the city, and blessed
|
|
<i>shalt</i> thou <i>be</i> in the field.   4 Blessed <i>shall
|
|
be</i> the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the
|
|
fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of
|
|
thy sheep.   5 Blessed <i>shall be</i> thy basket and thy
|
|
store.   6 Blessed <i>shalt</i> thou <i>be</i> when thou
|
|
comest in, and blessed <i>shalt</i> thou <i>be</i> when thou goest
|
|
out.   7 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p2.4">Lord</span> shall cause
|
|
thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy
|
|
face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before
|
|
thee seven ways.   8 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p2.5">Lord</span>
|
|
shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all
|
|
that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the
|
|
land which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p2.6">Lord</span> thy God giveth
|
|
thee.   9 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p2.7">Lord</span> shall
|
|
establish thee a holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto
|
|
thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p2.8">Lord</span> thy God, and walk in his ways.   10
|
|
And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the
|
|
name of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p2.9">Lord</span>; and they shall be
|
|
afraid of thee.   11 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p2.10">Lord</span> shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the
|
|
fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit
|
|
of thy ground, in the land which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p2.11">Lord</span> sware unto thy fathers to give thee.  
|
|
12 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p2.12">Lord</span> shall open unto thee his
|
|
good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his
|
|
season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt
|
|
lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.   13 And
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p2.13">Lord</span> shall make thee the head,
|
|
and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not
|
|
be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p2.14">Lord</span> thy God, which I command thee this
|
|
day, to observe and to do <i>them:</i>   14 And thou shalt not
|
|
go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day,
|
|
<i>to</i> the right hand, or <i>to</i> the left, to go after other
|
|
gods to serve them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxix-p3">The blessings are here put before the
|
|
curses, to intimate, 1. That God is slow to anger, but swift to
|
|
show mercy: he has said it, and sworn, that he would much rather we
|
|
would obey and live than sin and die. It is his delight to bless.
|
|
2. That though both the promises and the threatenings are designed
|
|
to bring and hold us to our duty, yet it is better that we be
|
|
allured to that which is good by a filial hope of God's favour than
|
|
that we be frightened to it by a servile fear of his wrath. That
|
|
obedience pleases best which comes from a principle of delight in
|
|
God's goodness. Now,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxix-p4">I. We have here the conditions upon which
|
|
the blessing is promised. 1. It is upon condition that they
|
|
<i>diligently hearken to the voice of God</i> (<scripRef passage="De 28:1,2" id="Deu.xxix-p4.1" parsed="|Deut|28|1|28|2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.1-Deut.28.2"><i>v.</i> 1, 2</scripRef>), that they hear God speaking
|
|
to them by his word, and use their utmost endeavours to acquaint
|
|
themselves with his will, <scripRef passage="De 28:13" id="Deu.xxix-p4.2" parsed="|Deut|28|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.13"><i>v.</i>
|
|
13</scripRef>. 2. Upon condition that they <i>observe and do all
|
|
his commandments</i> (and in order to obedience there is need of
|
|
observation) and that they <i>keep the commandments of God</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 28:9" id="Deu.xxix-p4.3" parsed="|Deut|28|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>) <i>and walk in
|
|
his ways.</i> Not only do them for once, but keep them for ever;
|
|
not only set out in his ways, but walk in them to the end. 3. Upon
|
|
condition that they should not <i>go aside either to the right hand
|
|
or to the left,</i> either to superstition on the one hand, or
|
|
profaneness on the other; and particularly that they should not go
|
|
after other gods (<scripRef passage="De 28:14" id="Deu.xxix-p4.4" parsed="|Deut|28|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.14"><i>v.</i>
|
|
14</scripRef>), which was the sin that of all others they were most
|
|
prone to, and God would be most displeased with. Let them take care
|
|
to keep up religion, both the form and power of it, in their
|
|
families and nation, and God would not fail to bless them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxix-p5">II. The particulars of this blessing.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxix-p6">1. It is promised that the providence of
|
|
God should prosper them in all their outward concerns. These
|
|
blessings are said to <i>overtake them,</i> <scripRef passage="De 28:2" id="Deu.xxix-p6.1" parsed="|Deut|28|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. Good people sometimes, under the
|
|
sense of their unworthiness, are ready to fly from the blessing and
|
|
to conclude that it belongs not to them; but the blessing shall
|
|
find them out and follow them notwithstanding. Thus in the great
|
|
day the blessing will overtake the righteous that say, <i>Lord,
|
|
when saw we thee hungry and fed thee?</i> <scripRef passage="Mt 25:37" id="Deu.xxix-p6.2" parsed="|Matt|25|37|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.25.37">Matt. xxv. 37</scripRef>. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxix-p7">(1.) Several things are enumerated in which
|
|
God by his providence would bless them:—[1.] They should be safe
|
|
and easy; a blessing should rest upon their persons wherever they
|
|
were, <i>in the city,</i> or <i>in the field,</i> <scripRef passage="De 28:3" id="Deu.xxix-p7.1" parsed="|Deut|28|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. Whether their habitation
|
|
was in town or country, whether they were husbandmen or tradesmen,
|
|
whether their business called them into the city or into the field,
|
|
they should be preserved from the dangers and have the comforts of
|
|
their condition. This blessing should attend them in their
|
|
journeys, going out and coming in, <scripRef passage="De 28:6" id="Deu.xxix-p7.2" parsed="|Deut|28|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. Their persons should be
|
|
protected, and the affair they went about should succeed well.
|
|
Observe here, What a necessary and constant dependence we have upon
|
|
God both for the continuance and comfort of this life. We need him
|
|
at every turn, in all the various movements of life; we cannot be
|
|
safe if he withdraw his protection, nor easy if he suspend his
|
|
favour; but, if he bless us, go where we will it is well with us.
|
|
[2.] Their families should be built up in a numerous issue: blessed
|
|
<i>shall be the fruit of thy body</i> (<scripRef passage="De 28:4" id="Deu.xxix-p7.3" parsed="|Deut|28|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>), and in that the Lord shall
|
|
<i>make thee plenteous</i> (<scripRef passage="De 28:11" id="Deu.xxix-p7.4" parsed="|Deut|28|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.11"><i>v.</i>
|
|
11</scripRef>), in pursuance of the promise made to Abraham, that
|
|
his seed should be <i>as the stars of heaven</i> for multitude, and
|
|
that God would be a God to them, than which a greater blessing, and
|
|
more comprehensive, could not be entailed upon the fruit of their
|
|
body. See <scripRef passage="Isa 61:9" id="Deu.xxix-p7.5" parsed="|Isa|61|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.61.9">Isa. lxi. 9</scripRef>. [3.]
|
|
They should be rich, and have an abundance of all the good things
|
|
of this life, which are promised them, not merely that they might
|
|
have the pleasure of enjoying them, but (as bishop Patrick observes
|
|
out of one of the Jewish writers) that they might have wherewithal
|
|
to honour God, and might be helped and encouraged to serve him
|
|
cheerfully and to proceed and persevere in their obedience to him.
|
|
A blessing is promised, <i>First,</i> On all they had without
|
|
doors, corn and cattle in the field (<scripRef passage="De 28:4,11" id="Deu.xxix-p7.6" parsed="|Deut|28|4|0|0;|Deut|28|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.4 Bible:Deut.28.11"><i>v.</i> 4, 11</scripRef>), their cows and sheep
|
|
particularly, which would be blessed for the owners' sakes, and
|
|
made blessings to them. In order to this, it is promised that God
|
|
would give them <i>rain in due season,</i> which is called his
|
|
<i>good treasure</i> (<scripRef passage="De 28:12" id="Deu.xxix-p7.7" parsed="|Deut|28|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.12"><i>v.</i>
|
|
12</scripRef>), because with this river of God the earth is
|
|
enriched, <scripRef passage="Ps 65:9" id="Deu.xxix-p7.8" parsed="|Ps|65|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.9">Ps. lxv. 9</scripRef>. Our
|
|
constant supplies we must see coming from God's good treasure, and
|
|
own our obligations to him for them; if he withhold his rain, the
|
|
fruits both of the ground and of the cattle soon perish.
|
|
<i>Secondly,</i> On all they had within doors, the basket and the
|
|
store (<scripRef passage="De 28:5" id="Deu.xxix-p7.9" parsed="|Deut|28|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), the
|
|
store-houses or barns, <scripRef passage="De 28:8" id="Deu.xxix-p7.10" parsed="|Deut|28|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.8"><i>v.</i>
|
|
8</scripRef>. When it is brought home, God will bless it, and not
|
|
blow upon it as sometimes he does, <scripRef passage="Hag 1:6,9" id="Deu.xxix-p7.11" parsed="|Hag|1|6|0|0;|Hag|1|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hag.1.6 Bible:Hag.1.9">Hag. i. 6, 9</scripRef>. We depend upon God and his
|
|
blessing, not only for our yearly corn out of the field, but for
|
|
our daily bread out of our basket and store, and therefore are
|
|
taught to pray for it every day. [4.] They should have success in
|
|
all their employments, which would be a constant satisfaction to
|
|
them: "<i>The Lord shall command the blessing</i> (and it is he
|
|
only that can command it) upon thee, not only in all thou hast, but
|
|
in all thou doest, all <i>that thou settest thy hand to,</i>"
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 28:8" id="Deu.xxix-p7.12" parsed="|Deut|28|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. This intimated
|
|
that even when they were rich they must not be idle, but must find
|
|
some good employment or other to set their hand to, and God would
|
|
own their industry, and <i>bless the work of their hand</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 28:12" id="Deu.xxix-p7.13" parsed="|Deut|28|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>); for that
|
|
which <i>makes rich,</i> and keeps so, is <i>the blessing of the
|
|
Lord</i> upon <i>the hand of the diligent,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 10:4,22" id="Deu.xxix-p7.14" parsed="|Prov|10|4|0|0;|Prov|10|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.10.4 Bible:Prov.10.22">Prov. x. 4, 22</scripRef>. [5.] They should have
|
|
honour among their neighbours (<scripRef passage="De 28:1" id="Deu.xxix-p7.15" parsed="|Deut|28|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>): <i>The Lord thy God will set
|
|
thee on high above all nations.</i> He made them so, by taking them
|
|
into covenant with himself, <scripRef passage="De 26:19" id="Deu.xxix-p7.16" parsed="|Deut|26|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26.19"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xxvi. 19</scripRef>. And he would make them more and more so by
|
|
their outward prosperity, if they would not by sin disparage
|
|
themselves. Two things should help to make them great among the
|
|
nations:—<i>First,</i> Their wealth (<scripRef passage="De 28:12" id="Deu.xxix-p7.17" parsed="|Deut|28|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>): "<i>Thou shalt lend to many
|
|
nations</i> upon interest" (which they were allowed to take form
|
|
the neighbouring nations), "but thou shalt not have occasion to
|
|
borrow." This would give them great influence with all about them;
|
|
for the borrower is servant to the lender. It may be meant of trade
|
|
and commerce, that they should export abundantly more than they
|
|
should import, which would keep the balance on their side.
|
|
<i>Secondly,</i> Their power (<scripRef passage="De 28:13" id="Deu.xxix-p7.18" parsed="|Deut|28|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>): "<i>The Lord shall make thee
|
|
the head,</i> to give law to all about thee, to exact tribute, and
|
|
to arbitrate all controversies." Every sheaf should bow to theirs,
|
|
which would make them so considerable that <i>all the people of the
|
|
earth</i> would be <i>afraid of them</i> (<scripRef passage="De 28:10" id="Deu.xxix-p7.19" parsed="|Deut|28|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>), that is, would reverence their
|
|
true grandeur, and dread making them their enemies. The flourishing
|
|
of religion among them, and the blessing of God upon them, would
|
|
make them formidable to all their neighbours, terrible as an army
|
|
with banners. [6.] They should be victorious over their enemies,
|
|
and prosper in all their wars. If any were so daring as to rise up
|
|
against them to oppress them, or encroach upon them, it should be
|
|
at their peril, they should certainly fall before them, <scripRef passage="De 28:7" id="Deu.xxix-p7.20" parsed="|Deut|28|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. The forces of the enemy,
|
|
though entirely drawn up to come against them one way, should be
|
|
entirely routed, and flee before them seven ways, each making the
|
|
best of his way.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxix-p8">(2.) From the whole we learn (though it
|
|
were well if men would believe it) that religion and piety are the
|
|
best friends to outward prosperity. Though temporal blessings do
|
|
not take up so much room in the promises of the New Testament as
|
|
they do in those of the Old, yet it is enough that our Lord Jesus
|
|
has given us his word (and surely we may take his word) that if we
|
|
<i>seek first the kingdom of God, and the righteousness thereof,
|
|
all other things</i> shall be added to us, as far as Infinite
|
|
Wisdom sees good; and who can desire them further? <scripRef passage="Mt 6:33" id="Deu.xxix-p8.1" parsed="|Matt|6|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.6.33">Matt. vi. 33</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxix-p9">2. It is likewise promised that the grace
|
|
of God should <i>establish them a holy people,</i> <scripRef passage="De 28:9" id="Deu.xxix-p9.1" parsed="|Deut|28|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. Having taken them into
|
|
covenant with himself, he would keep them in covenant; and,
|
|
provided they used the means of stedfastness, he would give them
|
|
the grace of stedfastness, that they should not depart from him.
|
|
Note, Those that are sincere in holiness God will establish in
|
|
holiness; and he is <i>of power to do it,</i> <scripRef passage="Ro 16:25" id="Deu.xxix-p9.2" parsed="|Rom|16|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.16.25">Rom. xvi. 25</scripRef>. He that is holy shall be holy
|
|
still; and those whom God establishes in holiness he thereby
|
|
establishes a people to himself, for a long as we keep close to God
|
|
he will never forsake us. This establishment of their religion
|
|
would be the establishment of their reputation (<scripRef passage="De 28:10" id="Deu.xxix-p9.3" parsed="|Deut|28|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>): <i>All the people of the earth
|
|
shall see,</i> and own, <i>that thou art called by the name of the
|
|
Lord,</i> that is, "that thou art a most excellent and glorious
|
|
people, under the particular care and countenance of the great God.
|
|
They shall be made to know that a people called by the name Jehovah
|
|
are without doubt the happiest people under the sun, even their
|
|
enemies themselves being judges." The favourites of Heaven are
|
|
truly great, and, first or last, it will be made to appear that
|
|
they are so, if not in this world, yet at that day when those who
|
|
confess Christ now shall be confessed by him before men and angels,
|
|
as those whom he delights to honour.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 28" id="Deu.xxix-p9.4" parsed="|Deut|28|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 28:15-44" id="Deu.xxix-p9.5" parsed="|Deut|28|15|28|44" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.15-Deut.28.44"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.28.15-Deut.28.44">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxix-p9.6">Threatenings. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p9.7">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxix-p10">15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not
|
|
hearken unto the voice of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p10.1">Lord</span>
|
|
thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes
|
|
which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come
|
|
upon thee, and overtake thee:   16 Cursed <i>shalt</i> thou
|
|
<i>be</i> in the city, and cursed <i>shalt</i> thou <i>be</i> in
|
|
the field.   17 Cursed <i>shall be</i> thy basket and thy
|
|
store.   18 Cursed <i>shall be</i> the fruit of thy body, and
|
|
the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of
|
|
thy sheep.   19 Cursed <i>shalt</i> thou <i>be</i> when thou
|
|
comest in, and cursed <i>shalt</i> thou <i>be</i> when thou goest
|
|
out.   20 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p10.2">Lord</span> shall send
|
|
upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest
|
|
thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou
|
|
perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby
|
|
thou hast forsaken me.   21 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p10.3">Lord</span> shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee,
|
|
until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest
|
|
to possess it.   22 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p10.4">Lord</span>
|
|
shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an
|
|
inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and
|
|
with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until
|
|
thou perish.   23 And thy heaven that <i>is</i> over thy head
|
|
shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee <i>shall be</i>
|
|
iron.   24 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p10.5">Lord</span> shall make
|
|
the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come
|
|
down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.   25 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p10.6">Lord</span> shall cause thee to be smitten before thine
|
|
enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven
|
|
ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the
|
|
earth.   26 And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of
|
|
the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray
|
|
<i>them</i> away.   27 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p10.7">Lord</span>
|
|
will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and
|
|
with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.
|
|
  28 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p10.8">Lord</span> shall smite thee
|
|
with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart:   29
|
|
And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness,
|
|
and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only
|
|
oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save <i>thee.</i>
|
|
  30 Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with
|
|
her: thou shalt build a house, and thou shalt not dwell therein:
|
|
thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes
|
|
thereof.   31 Thine ox <i>shall be</i> slain before thine
|
|
eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thine ass <i>shall be</i>
|
|
violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be
|
|
restored to thee: thy sheep <i>shall be</i> given unto thine
|
|
enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue <i>them.</i>   32
|
|
Thy sons and thy daughters <i>shall be</i> given unto another
|
|
people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail <i>with longing</i> for
|
|
them all the day long: and <i>there shall be</i> no might in thine
|
|
hand.   33 The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a
|
|
nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only
|
|
oppressed and crushed alway:   34 So that thou shalt be mad
|
|
for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.   35 The
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p10.9">Lord</span> shall smite thee in the knees,
|
|
and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the
|
|
sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head.   36 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p10.10">Lord</span> shall bring thee, and thy king which
|
|
thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy
|
|
fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and
|
|
stone.   37 And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb,
|
|
and a byword, among all nations whither the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p10.11">Lord</span> shall lead thee.   38 Thou shalt carry
|
|
much seed out into the field, and shalt gather <i>but</i> little
|
|
in; for the locust shall consume it.   39 Thou shalt plant
|
|
vineyards, and dress <i>them,</i> but shalt neither drink <i>of</i>
|
|
the wine, nor gather <i>the grapes;</i> for the worms shall eat
|
|
them.   40 Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy
|
|
coasts, but thou shalt not anoint <i>thyself</i> with the oil; for
|
|
thine olive shall cast <i>his fruit.</i>   41 Thou shalt beget
|
|
sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall
|
|
go into captivity.   42 All thy trees and fruit of thy land
|
|
shall the locust consume.   43 The stranger that <i>is</i>
|
|
within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come
|
|
down very low.   44 He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not
|
|
lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxix-p11">Having viewed the bright side of the cloud,
|
|
which is towards the obedient, we have now presented to us the dark
|
|
side, which is towards the disobedient. If we do not keep God's
|
|
commandments, we not only come short of the blessing promised, but
|
|
we lay ourselves under the curse, which is as comprehensive of all
|
|
misery as the blessing is of all happiness. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxix-p12">I. The equity of this curse. It is not a
|
|
curse causeless, nor for some light cause; God seeks not occasion
|
|
against us, nor is he apt to quarrel with us. That which is here
|
|
mentioned as bringing the curse is, 1. Despising God, refusing to
|
|
<i>hearken to his voice</i> (<scripRef passage="De 28:15" id="Deu.xxix-p12.1" parsed="|Deut|28|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.15"><i>v.</i>
|
|
15</scripRef>), which bespeaks the highest contempt imaginable, as
|
|
if what he said were not worth the heeding, or we were not under
|
|
any obligation to him. 2. Disobeying him, <i>not doing his
|
|
commandments,</i> or not observing to do them. None fall under his
|
|
curse but those that rebel against his command. 3. Deserting him.
|
|
"It is because of the <i>wickedness of thy doings,</i> not only
|
|
whereby thou hast slighted me, but <i>whereby thou hast forsaken
|
|
me,</i>" <scripRef passage="De 28:20" id="Deu.xxix-p12.2" parsed="|Deut|28|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. God
|
|
never casts us off till we first cast him off. It intimates that
|
|
their idolatry, by which they forsook the true God for false gods,
|
|
would be their destroying sin more than any other.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxix-p13">II. The extent and efficacy of this
|
|
curse.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxix-p14">1. In general, it is declared, "<i>All
|
|
these curses shall come upon thee</i> from above, <i>and shall
|
|
overtake thee;</i> though thou endeavour to escape them, it is to
|
|
no purpose to attempt it, they shall follow thee whithersoever thou
|
|
goest, and seize thee, overtake thee, and overcome thee," <scripRef passage="De 28:15" id="Deu.xxix-p14.1" parsed="|Deut|28|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. It is said of the
|
|
sinner, when God's wrath is in pursuit of him, that he <i>would
|
|
fain flee out of his hand</i> (<scripRef passage="Job 27:22" id="Deu.xxix-p14.2" parsed="|Job|27|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.27.22">Job
|
|
xxvii. 22</scripRef>), but he cannot; if he <i>flee from the iron
|
|
weapon,</i> yet <i>the bow of steel shall</i> reach him and
|
|
<i>strike him through.</i> There is no running from God but by
|
|
running to him, no fleeing from his justice but by fleeing to his
|
|
mercy. See <scripRef passage="Ps 21:7,8" id="Deu.xxix-p14.3" parsed="|Ps|21|7|21|8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.21.7-Ps.21.8">Ps. xxi. 7, 8</scripRef>.
|
|
(1.) Wherever the sinner goes, the curse of God follows him;
|
|
wherever he is, it rests upon him. He is cursed <i>in the city</i>
|
|
and <i>in the field,</i> <scripRef passage="De 28:16" id="Deu.xxix-p14.4" parsed="|Deut|28|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.16"><i>v.</i>
|
|
16</scripRef>. The strength of the city cannot shelter him from it,
|
|
the pleasant air of the country is no fence against these
|
|
pestilential steams. He is cursed (<scripRef passage="De 28:19" id="Deu.xxix-p14.5" parsed="|Deut|28|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>) when he comes in, for the curse
|
|
is <i>upon the house of the wicked</i> (<scripRef passage="Pr 3:33" id="Deu.xxix-p14.6" parsed="|Prov|3|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.3.33">Prov. iii. 33</scripRef>), and he is cursed when he goes
|
|
out, for he cannot leave that curse behind him, nor get rid of it,
|
|
which has entered into his bowels like water and like oil into his
|
|
bones. (2.) Whatever he has is under a curse: <i>Cursed is the
|
|
ground for his sake,</i> and all that is on it, or comes out of it,
|
|
and so he is cursed from the ground, as Cain, <scripRef passage="Ge 4:11" id="Deu.xxix-p14.7" parsed="|Gen|4|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.11">Gen. iv. 11</scripRef>. The <i>basket and store</i> are
|
|
cursed, <scripRef passage="De 28:17,18" id="Deu.xxix-p14.8" parsed="|Deut|28|17|28|18" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.17-Deut.28.18"><i>v.</i> 17,
|
|
18</scripRef>. All his enjoyments being forfeited by him are in a
|
|
manner forbidden to him, as cursed things, which he has no title
|
|
to. To those whose <i>mind and conscience are defiled</i> every
|
|
thing else is so, <scripRef passage="Tit 1:15" id="Deu.xxix-p14.9" parsed="|Titus|1|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Titus.1.15">Tit. i.
|
|
15</scripRef>. They are all embittered to him; he cannot take any
|
|
true comfort in them, for the wrath of God mixes itself with them,
|
|
and he is so far from having any security of the continuance of
|
|
them that, if his eyes be open, he may see them all condemned and
|
|
ready to be confiscated, and with them all his joys and all his
|
|
hopes gone for ever. (3.) Whatever he does is under a curse, too. It
|
|
is a curse in all that <i>he sets his hand to</i> (<scripRef passage="De 28:20" id="Deu.xxix-p14.10" parsed="|Deut|28|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>), a constant
|
|
disappointment, which those are subject to that set their hearts
|
|
upon the world, and expect their happiness in it, and which cannot
|
|
but be a constant vexation. This curse is just the reverse of the
|
|
blessing in the former part of the chapter. Thus whatever bliss
|
|
there is in heaven there is not only the want of it, but the
|
|
contrary to it, in hell. <scripRef passage="Isa 65:13" id="Deu.xxix-p14.11" parsed="|Isa|65|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.13">Isa. lxv.
|
|
13</scripRef>, <i>My servants shall eat, but you shall be
|
|
hungry.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxix-p15">2. Many particular judgments are here
|
|
enumerated, which would be the fruits of the curse, and with which
|
|
God would punish the people of the Jews for their apostasy and
|
|
disobedience. These judgments threatened are of divers kinds, for
|
|
God has many arrows in his quiver, <i>four sore judgments</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Eze 14:21" id="Deu.xxix-p15.1" parsed="|Ezek|14|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.14.21">Ezek. xiv. 21</scripRef>), and many
|
|
more. They are represented as very terrible, and the descriptions
|
|
of them are exceedingly lively and affecting, that men, knowing
|
|
these terrors of the Lord, might, if possible, be persuaded. The
|
|
threatenings of the same judgment are several times repeated, that
|
|
they might make the more deep and lasting impressions, and to
|
|
intimate that, if men persisted in their disobedience, the judgment
|
|
which they thought was over, and of which they said, "Surely the
|
|
bitterness of it is past," would return with double force; for when
|
|
God judges he will overcome. (1.) Bodily diseases are here
|
|
threatened, that they should be epidemical in their land. These God
|
|
sometimes makes use of for the chastisement and improvement of his
|
|
own people. <i>Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.</i> But
|
|
here they are threatened to be brought upon his enemies as tokens
|
|
of his wrath, and designed for their ruin. So that according to the
|
|
temper of our spirits, under sickness, accordingly it is to us a
|
|
blessing or a curse. But, whatever sickness may be to particular
|
|
persons, it is certain that epidemical diseases raging among a
|
|
people are national judgments, and are so to be accounted. He here
|
|
threatens, [1.] Painful diseases (<scripRef passage="De 28:35" id="Deu.xxix-p15.2" parsed="|Deut|28|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.35"><i>v.</i> 35</scripRef>), a sore botch, beginning in the
|
|
legs and knees, but spreading, like Job's boils, from heat to foot.
|
|
[2.] Shameful diseases (<scripRef passage="De 28:27" id="Deu.xxix-p15.3" parsed="|Deut|28|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.27"><i>v.</i>
|
|
27</scripRef>), the botch of Egypt (such boils and blains as the
|
|
Egyptians had been plagued with, when God brought Israel from among
|
|
them), and the emerods and scab, vile diseases, the just punishment
|
|
of those who by sin had made themselves vile. [3.] Mortal diseases,
|
|
the pestilence (<scripRef passage="De 28:21" id="Deu.xxix-p15.4" parsed="|Deut|28|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.21"><i>v.</i>
|
|
21</scripRef>), the consumption (put for all chronical diseases),
|
|
and the fever (for all acute diseases), <scripRef passage="De 28:22" id="Deu.xxix-p15.5" parsed="|Deut|28|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>. See <scripRef passage="Le 26:16" id="Deu.xxix-p15.6" parsed="|Lev|26|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.16">Lev. xxvi. 16</scripRef>. And all incurable, <scripRef passage="De 28:27" id="Deu.xxix-p15.7" parsed="|Deut|28|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>. (2.) Famine, and
|
|
scarcity of provisions; and this, [1.] For want of rain (<scripRef passage="De 28:23,24" id="Deu.xxix-p15.8" parsed="|Deut|28|23|28|24" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.23-Deut.28.24"><i>v.</i> 23, 24</scripRef>): <i>Thy heaven
|
|
over thy head,</i> that part that is over thy land, <i>shall be
|
|
as</i> dry <i>as brass,</i> while the heavens over other countries
|
|
shall distil their dews; and, when the heaven is as brass, the
|
|
earth of course will be as iron, so hard and unfruitful. Instead of
|
|
rain, the dust shall be blown out of the highways into the field,
|
|
and spoil the little that there is of the fruits of the earth. [2.]
|
|
By destroying insects. The locust should destroy the corn, so that
|
|
they should not have so much as their <i>seed again,</i> <scripRef passage="De 28:38,42" id="Deu.xxix-p15.9" parsed="|Deut|28|38|0|0;|Deut|28|42|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.38 Bible:Deut.28.42"><i>v.</i> 38, 42</scripRef>. And the fruit of
|
|
the vine, which should make glad their hearts, should all be
|
|
worm-eaten, <scripRef passage="De 28:39" id="Deu.xxix-p15.10" parsed="|Deut|28|39|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.39"><i>v.</i> 39</scripRef>.
|
|
And the olive, some way or other, should be made to <i>cast its
|
|
fruit,</i> <scripRef passage="De 28:40" id="Deu.xxix-p15.11" parsed="|Deut|28|40|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.40"><i>v.</i> 40</scripRef>.
|
|
The heathen use many superstitious customs in honour of their
|
|
idol-gods for preserving the fruits of the earth; but Moses tells
|
|
Israel that the only way they had to preserve them was to keep
|
|
God's commandments; for he is a God that will not be sported with,
|
|
like their idols, but will be served in spirit and truth. This
|
|
threatening we find fulfilled in Israel, <scripRef passage="1Ki 17:1,Jer 14:1,Joe 1:4" id="Deu.xxix-p15.12" parsed="|1Kgs|17|1|0|0;|Jer|14|1|0|0;|Joel|1|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.17.1 Bible:Jer.14.1 Bible:Joel.1.4">1 Kings xvii. 1; Jer. xiv. 1, &c.;
|
|
Joel i. 4</scripRef>. (3.) That they should be smitten before their
|
|
enemies in war, who, it is likely, would be the more cruel to them,
|
|
when they had them at their mercy, for the severity they had used
|
|
against the nations of Canaan, which their neighbours in after-ages
|
|
would be apt to remember against them, <scripRef passage="De 28:25" id="Deu.xxix-p15.13" parsed="|Deut|28|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>. It would make their flight the
|
|
more shameful, and the more grievous, that they might have
|
|
triumphed over their enemies if they had but been faithful to their
|
|
God. The carcases of those that were slain in war, or died in
|
|
captivity among strangers, should be <i>meat for the fowls</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 28:26" id="Deu.xxix-p15.14" parsed="|Deut|28|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>); and an
|
|
Israelite, having forfeited the favour of his God, should have so
|
|
little humanity shown him as that <i>no man should drive them
|
|
away,</i> so odious would God's curse make him to all mankind. (4.)
|
|
That they should be infatuated in all their counsels, so as not to
|
|
discern their own interest, nor bring any thing to pass for the
|
|
public good: <i>The Lord shall smite thee with madness and
|
|
blindness,</i> <scripRef passage="De 28:28,29" id="Deu.xxix-p15.15" parsed="|Deut|28|28|28|29" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.28-Deut.28.29"><i>v.</i> 28,
|
|
29</scripRef>. Note, God's judgments can reach the minds of men to
|
|
fill them with darkness and horror, as well as their bodies and
|
|
estates; and those are the sorest of all judgments which make men a
|
|
terror to themselves, and their own destroyers. That which they
|
|
contrived to secure themselves by should still turn to their
|
|
prejudice. Thus we often find that the allies they confided in
|
|
<i>distressed them</i> and <i>strengthened them not,</i> <scripRef passage="2Ch 28:20" id="Deu.xxix-p15.16" parsed="|2Chr|28|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.28.20">2 Chron. xxviii. 20</scripRef>. Those that will
|
|
not walk in God's counsels are justly left to be ruined by their
|
|
own; and those that are wilfully blind to their duty deserve to be
|
|
made blind to their interest, and, seeing they <i>loved darkness
|
|
rather than light,</i> let them <i>grope at noon-day</i> as in the
|
|
dark. (5.) That they should be plundered of all their enjoyments,
|
|
stripped of all by the proud and imperious conqueror, such as
|
|
Benhadad was to Ahab, <scripRef passage="1Ki 20:5,6" id="Deu.xxix-p15.17" parsed="|1Kgs|20|5|20|6" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.20.5-1Kgs.20.6">1 Kings xx. 5,
|
|
6</scripRef>. Not only their houses and vineyards should be taken
|
|
from them, but their wives and children, <scripRef passage="De 28:30,32" id="Deu.xxix-p15.18" parsed="|Deut|28|30|0|0;|Deut|28|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.30 Bible:Deut.28.32"><i>v.</i> 30, 32</scripRef>. Their dearest comforts,
|
|
which they took most pleasure in, and promised themselves most
|
|
from, should be the entertainment and triumph of their enemies. As
|
|
they had dwelt in houses which they built not, and eaten of
|
|
vineyards which they planted not (<scripRef passage="De 6:10,11" id="Deu.xxix-p15.19" parsed="|Deut|6|10|6|11" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.10-Deut.6.11"><i>ch.</i> vi. 10, 11</scripRef>), so others should do
|
|
by them. Their oxen, asses, and sheep, like Job's, should be taken
|
|
away before their eyes, and they should not be able to recover
|
|
them, <scripRef passage="De 28:31" id="Deu.xxix-p15.20" parsed="|Deut|28|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>. And all
|
|
the fruit of their land and labours should be devoured and eaten up
|
|
by the enemy; so that they and theirs would want necessaries, while
|
|
their enemies were revelling with that which they had laboured for.
|
|
(6.) That they should be carried captives into a far country; nay,
|
|
into <i>all the kingdoms of the earth,</i> <scripRef passage="De 28:25" id="Deu.xxix-p15.21" parsed="|Deut|28|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>. Their sons and daughters, whom
|
|
they promised themselves comfort in, should go into captivity
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 28:41" id="Deu.xxix-p15.22" parsed="|Deut|28|41|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.41"><i>v.</i> 41</scripRef>), and they
|
|
themselves at length, and their king in whom they promised
|
|
themselves safety and settlement, <scripRef passage="De 28:36" id="Deu.xxix-p15.23" parsed="|Deut|28|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.36"><i>v.</i> 36</scripRef>. This was fully accomplished
|
|
when the ten tribes first were carried captive into Assyria
|
|
(<scripRef passage="2Ki 17:6" id="Deu.xxix-p15.24" parsed="|2Kgs|17|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.17.6">2 Kings xvii. 6</scripRef>), and not
|
|
long after the two tribes into Babylon, and two of their kings,
|
|
<scripRef passage="2Ki 24:15,15,25:7,21" id="Deu.xxix-p15.25" parsed="|2Kgs|24|15|0|0;|2Kgs|24|15|0|0;|2Kgs|25|7|0|0;|2Kgs|25|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.24.15 Bible:2Kgs.24.15 Bible:2Kgs.25.7 Bible:2Kgs.25.21">2 Kings xxiv. 14, 15; xxv.
|
|
7, 21</scripRef>. That which is mentioned as an aggravation of
|
|
their captivity is that they should go into an unknown country, the
|
|
language and customs of which would be very uncouth, and their
|
|
treatment among them barbarous, and there they should <i>serve
|
|
other gods,</i> that is, be compelled to do so by their enemies, as
|
|
they were in Babylon, <scripRef passage="Da 3:6" id="Deu.xxix-p15.26" parsed="|Dan|3|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.3.6">Dan. iii.
|
|
6</scripRef>. Note, God often makes men's sin their punishment, and
|
|
chooses their delusions. You shall <i>serve other gods,</i> that
|
|
is, "You shall serve those that do serve them;" a nation is often
|
|
in scripture called by the name of its gods, as <scripRef passage="Jer 48:7" id="Deu.xxix-p15.27" parsed="|Jer|48|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.48.7">Jer. xlviii. 7</scripRef>. They had made idolaters their
|
|
associates, and now god made idolaters their oppressors. (7.) That
|
|
those who remained should be insulted and tyrannized over by
|
|
strangers, <scripRef passage="De 28:43,44" id="Deu.xxix-p15.28" parsed="|Deut|28|43|28|44" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.43-Deut.28.44"><i>v.</i> 43,
|
|
44</scripRef>. So the ten tribes were by the colonies which the
|
|
king of Assyria sent to take possession of their land, <scripRef passage="2Ki 17:24" id="Deu.xxix-p15.29" parsed="|2Kgs|17|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.17.24">2 Kings xvii. 24</scripRef>. Or this may be
|
|
meant of the gradual encroachments which the strangers within their
|
|
gates should make upon them, so as insensibly to worm them out of
|
|
their estates. We read of the fulfilling of this, <scripRef passage="Ho 7:9" id="Deu.xxix-p15.30" parsed="|Hos|7|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.7.9">Hos. vii. 9</scripRef>, <i>Strangers have devoured
|
|
his strength.</i> Foreigners ate the bread out of the mouths of
|
|
trueborn Israelites, by which they were justly chastised for
|
|
introducing strange gods. (8.) That their reputation among their
|
|
neighbours should be quite sunk, and those that had been a name,
|
|
and a praise, should be an astonishment, a proverb, and a by-word,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 28:37" id="Deu.xxix-p15.31" parsed="|Deut|28|37|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.37"><i>v.</i> 37</scripRef>. Some have
|
|
observed the fulfilling of this threatening in their present state;
|
|
for, when we would express the most perfidious and barbarous
|
|
treatment, we say, <i>None but a Jew would have done so.</i> Thus
|
|
is sin a reproach to any people. (9.) To complete their misery, it
|
|
is threatened that they should be put quite out of the possession
|
|
of their minds by all these troubles (<scripRef passage="De 28:34" id="Deu.xxix-p15.32" parsed="|Deut|28|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.34"><i>v.</i> 34</scripRef>): <i>Thou shalt be mad for the
|
|
sight of thy eyes,</i> that is, quite bereaved of all comfort and
|
|
hope, and abandoned to utter despair. Those that walk by sight, and
|
|
not by faith, are in danger of losing reason itself, when every
|
|
thing about them looks frightful; and their condition is woeful
|
|
indeed that are <i>mad for the sight of their eyes.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 28:45-68" id="Deu.xxix-p15.33" parsed="|Deut|28|45|28|68" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.45-Deut.28.68"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.28.45-Deut.28.68">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxix-p16">45 Moreover all these curses shall come upon
|
|
thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be
|
|
destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p16.1">Lord</span> thy God, to keep his commandments and
|
|
his statutes which he commanded thee:   46 And they shall be
|
|
upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever.
|
|
  47 Because thou servedst not the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p16.2">Lord</span> thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness
|
|
of heart, for the abundance of all <i>things;</i>   48
|
|
Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p16.3">Lord</span> shall send against thee, in hunger, and in
|
|
thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all <i>things:</i> and he
|
|
shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed
|
|
thee.   49 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p16.4">Lord</span> shall bring
|
|
a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, <i>as
|
|
swift</i> as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not
|
|
understand;   50 A nation of fierce countenance, which shall
|
|
not regard the person of the old, nor show favour to the young:
|
|
  51 And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit
|
|
of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which <i>also</i> shall not
|
|
leave thee <i>either</i> corn, wine, or oil, <i>or</i> the increase
|
|
of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee.
|
|
  52 And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy
|
|
high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout
|
|
all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout
|
|
all thy land, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p16.5">Lord</span> thy God
|
|
hath given thee.   53 And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine
|
|
own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p16.6">Lord</span> thy God hath given thee, in the
|
|
siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall
|
|
distress thee:   54 <i>So that</i> the man <i>that is</i>
|
|
tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward
|
|
his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the
|
|
remnant of his children which he shall leave:   55 So that he
|
|
will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he
|
|
shall eat: because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and in
|
|
the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all
|
|
thy gates.   56 The tender and delicate woman among you, which
|
|
would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for
|
|
delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the
|
|
husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter,
|
|
  57 And toward her young one that cometh out from between her
|
|
feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall
|
|
eat them for want of all <i>things</i> secretly in the siege and
|
|
straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.
|
|
  58 If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law
|
|
that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious
|
|
and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD;   59 Then the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p16.7">Lord</span> will make thy plagues wonderful, and the
|
|
plagues of thy seed, <i>even</i> great plagues, and of long
|
|
continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.  
|
|
60 Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt,
|
|
which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee.  
|
|
61 Also every sickness, and every plague, which <i>is</i> not
|
|
written in the book of this law, them will the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p16.8">Lord</span> bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
|
|
  62 And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as
|
|
the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey
|
|
the voice of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p16.9">Lord</span> thy God.
|
|
  63 And it shall come to pass, <i>that</i> as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p16.10">Lord</span> rejoiced over you to do you good, and
|
|
to multiply you; so the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p16.11">Lord</span> will
|
|
rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye
|
|
shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess
|
|
it.   64 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p16.12">Lord</span> shall
|
|
scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even
|
|
unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which
|
|
neither thou nor thy fathers have known, <i>even</i> wood and
|
|
stone.   65 And among these nations shalt thou find no ease,
|
|
neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p16.13">Lord</span> shall give thee there a trembling heart,
|
|
and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind:   66 And thy life
|
|
shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night,
|
|
and shalt have none assurance of thy life:   67 In the morning
|
|
thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say,
|
|
Would God it were morning! for the fear of thine heart wherewith
|
|
thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt
|
|
see.   68 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p16.14">Lord</span> shall
|
|
bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake
|
|
unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be
|
|
sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall
|
|
buy <i>you.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxix-p17">One would have thought that enough had been
|
|
said to possess them with a dread of that <i>wrath of God</i> which
|
|
is <i>revealed from heaven against the ungodliness and
|
|
unrighteousness of men.</i> But to show how deep the treasures of
|
|
that wrath are, and that still there is more and worse behind,
|
|
Moses, when one would have thought that he had concluded this
|
|
dismal subject, begins again, and adds to this roll of curses many
|
|
similar words: as Jeremiah did to his, <scripRef passage="Jer 36:32" id="Deu.xxix-p17.1" parsed="|Jer|36|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.36.32">Jer. xxxvi. 32</scripRef>. It should seem that in the
|
|
former part of this commination Moses foretells their captivity in
|
|
Babylon, and the calamities which introduced and attended that, by
|
|
which, even after their return, they were brought to that low and
|
|
poor condition which is described, <scripRef passage="De 28:44" id="Deu.xxix-p17.2" parsed="|Deut|28|44|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.44"><i>v.</i> 44</scripRef>. That their enemies should be
|
|
<i>the head,</i> and they <i>the tail:</i> but here, in this latter
|
|
part, he foretells their last destruction by the Romans and their
|
|
dispersion thereupon. And the present deplorable state of the
|
|
Jewish nation, and of all that have incorporated themselves with
|
|
them, by embracing their religion, does so fully and exactly answer
|
|
to the prediction in these verses that it serves for an
|
|
incontestable proof of the truth of prophecy, and consequently of
|
|
the divine authority of the scripture. And, this last destruction
|
|
being here represented as more dreadful than the former, it shows
|
|
that their sin, in rejecting Christ and his gospel, was more
|
|
heinous and more provoking to God than idolatry itself, and left
|
|
them more under the power of Satan; for their captivity in Babylon
|
|
cured them effectually of their idolatry in seventy years' time;
|
|
but under this last destruction now for above 1600 years they
|
|
continue incurably averse to the Lord Jesus. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxix-p18">I. What is here said in general of the
|
|
wrath of God, which should light and lie upon them for their
|
|
sins.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxix-p19">1. That, if they would not be <i>ruled by
|
|
the commands of God,</i> they should certainly be <i>ruined by his
|
|
curse,</i> <scripRef passage="De 28:45,46" id="Deu.xxix-p19.1" parsed="|Deut|28|45|28|46" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.45-Deut.28.46"><i>v.</i> 45,
|
|
46</scripRef>. Because thou didst not <i>keep his commandments</i>
|
|
(especially that of hearing and obeying the great prophet),
|
|
<i>these curses shall come upon thee,</i> as upon a people
|
|
appointed to destruction, the generation of God's wrath: and they
|
|
shall be <i>for a sign</i> and <i>for a wonder.</i> It is amazing
|
|
to think that a people so long the favourites of Heaven should be
|
|
so perfectly abandoned and cast off, that a people so closely
|
|
incorporated should be so universally dispersed, and yet that a
|
|
people so scattered in all nations should preserve themselves
|
|
distinct and not mix with any, but like Cain be fugitives and
|
|
vagabonds, and yet marked to be known.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxix-p20">2. That, if they would not serve God with
|
|
cheerfulness, they should be compelled to <i>serve their
|
|
enemies</i> (<scripRef passage="De 28:47,48" id="Deu.xxix-p20.1" parsed="|Deut|28|47|28|48" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.47-Deut.28.48"><i>v.</i> 47,
|
|
48</scripRef>), that they might know the difference (<scripRef passage="2Ch 12:8" id="Deu.xxix-p20.2" parsed="|2Chr|12|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.12.8">2 Chron. xii. 8</scripRef>), which, some think,
|
|
is the meaning of <scripRef passage="Ex 20:24,25" id="Deu.xxix-p20.3" parsed="|Exod|20|24|20|25" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.24-Exod.20.25">Ezek. xx. 24,
|
|
25</scripRef>, <i>Because they despised my statutes, I gave them
|
|
statutes that were not good.</i> Observe here, (1.) It is justly
|
|
expected from those to whom God gives an abundance of the good
|
|
things of this life that they should serve him. What does he
|
|
maintain us for out that we may do his work, and be some way
|
|
serviceable to his honour? (2.) The more God gives us the more
|
|
cheerfully we should serve him; our abundance should be oil to the
|
|
wheels of our obedience. God is a Master that will be served with
|
|
gladness, and delights to hear us sing at our work. (3.) If, when
|
|
we receive the gifts of God's bounty, we either do not serve him at
|
|
all or serve him with reluctance, it is a righteous thing with him
|
|
to make us know the hardships of want and servitude. Those deserve
|
|
to have cause given them to complain who complain without a cause.
|
|
<i>Tristis es et felix—Happy, and yet not easy!</i> Blush at thy
|
|
own folly and ingratitude.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxix-p21">3. That, if they would not <i>give glory to
|
|
God</i> by a reverential obedience, he would get <i>him honour upon
|
|
them</i> by <i>wonderful</i> plagues, <scripRef passage="De 28:58,59" id="Deu.xxix-p21.1" parsed="|Deut|28|58|28|59" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.58-Deut.28.59"><i>v.</i> 58, 59</scripRef>. Note, (1.) God justly
|
|
expects from us that we should fear his fearful name; and, which is
|
|
strange, that name which is here proposed as the object of our fear
|
|
is, <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxix-p21.2">The Lord thy God</span>, which is very
|
|
fitly here put in our Bibles in capital letters; for nothing can
|
|
sound more truly august. As nothing is more comfortable, so nothing
|
|
more awful, than this, that he with whom we have to do is Jehovah,
|
|
a being infinitely perfect and blessed, and the author of all
|
|
being; and that he is our God, our rightful Lord and owner, from
|
|
whom we are to receive laws and to whom we are to give account:
|
|
this is great, and greatly to be feared. (2.) We may justly expect
|
|
from God that, if we do not fear his fearful name, we shall feel
|
|
his fearful plagues; for one way or other God will be feared. All
|
|
God's plagues are dreadful, but some are wonderful, carrying in
|
|
them extraordinary signatures of divine power and justice, so that
|
|
a man, upon the first view of them, may say, <i>Verily, there is a
|
|
God that judgeth in the earth.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxix-p22">II. How the destruction threatened is
|
|
described. Moses is here upon the same melancholy subject that our
|
|
Saviour is discoursing of to his disciples in his farewell sermon
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Mt 24:4-28" id="Deu.xxix-p22.1" parsed="|Matt|24|4|24|28" osisRef="Bible:Matt.24.4-Matt.24.28">Matt. xxiv.</scripRef>), namely,
|
|
The destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish nation. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxix-p23">1. Five things are here foretold as steps
|
|
to their ruin:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxix-p24">(1.) That they should be invaded by a
|
|
foreign enemy (<scripRef passage="De 28:49,50" id="Deu.xxix-p24.1" parsed="|Deut|28|49|28|50" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.49-Deut.28.50"><i>v.</i> 49,
|
|
50</scripRef>): <i>A nation from far,</i> namely, the Romans, <i>as
|
|
swift as the eagle</i> hastening to the prey. Our Saviour makes use
|
|
of this similitude, in foretelling this destruction, that <i>where
|
|
the carcase is there will the eagles be gathered together,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mt 24:28" id="Deu.xxix-p24.2" parsed="|Matt|24|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.24.28">Matt. xxiv. 28</scripRef>. And bishop
|
|
Patrick observes (to make the accomplishment the more remarkable)
|
|
that the ensign of the Roman armies was an eagle. This nation is
|
|
said to be of a fierce countenance, an indication of a fierce
|
|
nature, stern and severe, that would not pity the weakness and
|
|
infirmity either of little children or of old people.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxix-p25">(2.) That the country should be laid waste,
|
|
and all the fruits of it eaten up by this army of foreigners, which
|
|
is the natural consequence of an invasion, especially when it is
|
|
made, as that by the Romans was, for the chastisement of rebels: He
|
|
<i>shall eat the fruits of thy cattle and land</i> (<scripRef passage="De 28:51" id="Deu.xxix-p25.1" parsed="|Deut|28|51|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.51"><i>v.</i> 51</scripRef>), so that the
|
|
inhabitants should be starved, while the invaders were fed to the
|
|
full.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxix-p26">(3.) That their cities should be besieged,
|
|
and that such would be the obstinacy of the besieged, and such the
|
|
vigour of the besiegers, that they would be reduced to the last
|
|
extremity, and at length fall into the hands of the enemy,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 28:52" id="Deu.xxix-p26.1" parsed="|Deut|28|52|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.52"><i>v.</i> 52</scripRef>. No place,
|
|
though ever so well fortified, no, not Jerusalem itself, though it
|
|
held out long, would escape. Two of the common consequences of a
|
|
long siege are here foretold:—[1.] A miserable famine, which
|
|
would prevail to such a degree that, for want of food, they should
|
|
<i>kill and eat their own children,</i> <scripRef passage="De 28:53" id="Deu.xxix-p26.2" parsed="|Deut|28|53|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.53"><i>v.</i> 53</scripRef>. Men should do so,
|
|
notwithstanding their hardiness, and ability to bear hunger; and,
|
|
though obliged by the law of nature to provide for their own
|
|
families, yet should refuse to give to the wife and children that
|
|
were starving any of the child that was barbarously butchered,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 28:54,55" id="Deu.xxix-p26.3" parsed="|Deut|28|54|28|55" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.54-Deut.28.55"><i>v.</i> 54, 55</scripRef>. Nay,
|
|
women, ladies of quality, notwithstanding their natural niceness
|
|
about their food, and their natural affection to their children,
|
|
yet, for want of food, should so far forget all humanity as to kill
|
|
and eat them, <scripRef passage="De 28:56,57" id="Deu.xxix-p26.4" parsed="|Deut|28|56|28|57" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.56-Deut.28.57"><i>v.</i> 56,
|
|
57</scripRef>. Let us observe, by the way, how hard this fate must
|
|
needs be to the tender and delicate women, and learn not to indulge
|
|
ourselves in tenderness and delicacy, because we know not what we
|
|
may be reduced to before we die; the more nice we are, the harder
|
|
it will be to us to bear want, and the more danger we shall be in
|
|
or sacrificing reason, and religion, and natural affection itself,
|
|
to the clamours and cravings of an unmortified and ungoverned
|
|
appetite. This threatening was fulfilled in the letter of it, more
|
|
than once, to the perpetual reproach of the Jewish nation: never
|
|
was the like done either by Greek or barbarian, but in the siege of
|
|
Samaria, a woman <i>boiled her own son,</i> <scripRef passage="2Ki 6:28,29" id="Deu.xxix-p26.5" parsed="|2Kgs|6|28|6|29" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.6.28-2Kgs.6.29">2 Kings vi. 28, 29</scripRef>. And it is spoken of as
|
|
commonly done among them in the siege of Jerusalem by the
|
|
Babylonians, <scripRef passage="La 4:10" id="Deu.xxix-p26.6" parsed="|Lam|4|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.10">Lam. iv. 10</scripRef>.
|
|
And, in the last siege by the Romans, Josephus tells us of a noble
|
|
woman that killed and ate her own child, through the extremity of
|
|
the famine, and when she had eaten one half secretly (<scripRef passage="De 28:57" id="Deu.xxix-p26.7" parsed="|Deut|28|57|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.57"><i>v.</i> 57</scripRef>), that she might have it
|
|
to herself, the mob, smelling meat, got into the house, to whom she
|
|
showed the other half, which she had kept till another time,
|
|
inviting them to share with her. What is too barbarous for those to
|
|
do that are abandoned of God! [2.] Sickness is another common
|
|
effect of a strait and long siege, and that is here threatened:
|
|
<i>Sore sickness, and of long continuance,</i> <scripRef passage="De 28:59" id="Deu.xxix-p26.8" parsed="|Deut|28|59|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.59"><i>v.</i> 59</scripRef>. These should attend the Jews
|
|
wherever they went afterwards, the diseases of Egypt, leprosies,
|
|
botches, and foul ulcers, <scripRef passage="De 28:60" id="Deu.xxix-p26.9" parsed="|Deut|28|60|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.60"><i>v.</i>
|
|
60</scripRef>. Nay, as if the particular miseries here threatened
|
|
were not enough, he concludes with an <i>et cetera,</i> <scripRef passage="De 28:61" id="Deu.xxix-p26.10" parsed="|Deut|28|61|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.61"><i>v.</i> 61</scripRef>. The Lord will bring
|
|
upon thee every sickness, and every plague, though it be <i>not
|
|
written in the book of this law.</i> Those that fall under the
|
|
curse of God will find that the one half was not told them of the
|
|
weight and terror of that curse.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxix-p27">(4.) That multitudes of them should perish,
|
|
so that they should become <i>few in number,</i> <scripRef passage="De 28:62" id="Deu.xxix-p27.1" parsed="|Deut|28|62|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.62"><i>v.</i> 62</scripRef>. It was a nation that God had
|
|
wonderfully increased, so that they were <i>as the stars of heaven
|
|
for multitude;</i> but, for their sin, they were <i>diminished and
|
|
brought low,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 107:38,39" id="Deu.xxix-p27.2" parsed="|Ps|107|38|107|39" osisRef="Bible:Ps.107.38-Ps.107.39">Ps. cvii. 38,
|
|
39</scripRef>. It is computed that in the destruction of the Jewish
|
|
nation by the Romans, as appears by the account Josephus gives of
|
|
it, above two millions fell by the sword at several places, besides
|
|
what perished by famine and pestilence; so that the whole country
|
|
was laid waste and turned into a wilderness. That is a terrible
|
|
word (<scripRef passage="De 28:63" id="Deu.xxix-p27.3" parsed="|Deut|28|63|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.63"><i>v.</i> 63</scripRef>), <i>As
|
|
the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, so he will rejoice over
|
|
you to destroy you.</i> Behold here <i>the goodness and severity of
|
|
God:</i> mercy here shines brightly in the pleasure God takes in
|
|
doing good—he rejoices in it; yet justice here appears no less
|
|
illustrious in the pleasure he takes in destroying the impenitent;
|
|
not as it is the making of his creatures miserable, but as it is
|
|
the asserting of his own honour and the securing of the ends of his
|
|
government. See what a malignant mischievous thing sin is, which
|
|
(as I may say) makes it necessary for the God of infinite goodness
|
|
to rejoice in the destruction of his own creatures, even those that
|
|
had been favourites.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxix-p28">(5.) That the remnant should be scattered
|
|
throughout the nations. This completes their woe: <i>The Lord shall
|
|
scatter thee among all people,</i> <scripRef passage="De 28:64" id="Deu.xxix-p28.1" parsed="|Deut|28|64|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.64"><i>v.</i> 64</scripRef>. This is remarkably fulfilled in
|
|
their present dispersion, for there are Jews to be found almost in
|
|
all countries that are possessed either by Christians or
|
|
Mahometans, and in such numbers that it has been said, If they
|
|
could unite in one common interest, they would be a very formidable
|
|
body, and able to deal with the most powerful states and princes;
|
|
but they abide under the power of this curse, and are so scattered
|
|
that they are not able to incorporate. It is here foretold that in
|
|
this dispersion, [1.] They should have no religion, or none to any
|
|
purpose, should have no temple, nor altar, nor priesthood, for they
|
|
should <i>serve other gods.</i> Some think this has been fulfilled
|
|
in the force put upon the Jews in popish countries to worship the
|
|
images that are used in the Romish church, to their great vexation.
|
|
[2.] They should have no rest, no rest of body: <i>The sole of thy
|
|
foot shall not have rest</i> (<scripRef passage="De 28:65" id="Deu.xxix-p28.2" parsed="|Deut|28|65|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.65"><i>v.</i> 65</scripRef>), but be continually upon the
|
|
remove, either in hope of gain or fear of persecution; all
|
|
wandering Jews: no rest of the mind (which is much worse), but a
|
|
<i>trembling heart</i> (<scripRef passage="De 28:65" id="Deu.xxix-p28.3" parsed="|Deut|28|65|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.65"><i>v.</i>
|
|
65</scripRef>); <i>no assurance of life</i> (<scripRef passage="De 28:66" id="Deu.xxix-p28.4" parsed="|Deut|28|66|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.66"><i>v.</i> 66</scripRef>); weary both of light and
|
|
darkness, which are, in their turns, both welcome to a quiet mind,
|
|
but to them both day and night would be a terror, <scripRef passage="De 28:67" id="Deu.xxix-p28.5" parsed="|Deut|28|67|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.67"><i>v.</i> 67</scripRef>. Such was once the
|
|
condition of Job (<scripRef passage="Job 7:4" id="Deu.xxix-p28.6" parsed="|Job|7|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.7.4">Job vii.
|
|
4</scripRef>), but to them this should be constant and perpetual;
|
|
that blindness and darkness which the apostle speaks of as having
|
|
happened to Israel, and that guilt which <i>bowed down their back
|
|
always</i> (<scripRef passage="Ro 11:8-10" id="Deu.xxix-p28.7" parsed="|Rom|11|8|11|10" osisRef="Bible:Rom.11.8-Rom.11.10">Rom. xi.
|
|
8-10</scripRef>), must needs occasion a constant restlessness and
|
|
amazement. Those are a torment to themselves, and to all about
|
|
them, that fear day and night and are always uneasy. Let good
|
|
people strive against it, and not give way to that fear which has
|
|
torment; and let wicked people not be secure in their wickedness,
|
|
for their hearts cannot endure, nor can their hands be strong, when
|
|
the terrors of God set themselves in array against them. Those that
|
|
say <i>in the morning, O that it were evening,</i> and <i>in the
|
|
evening, O that it were morning,</i> show, <i>First,</i> A constant
|
|
fret and vexation, chiding the hours for lingering and complaining
|
|
of the length of every minute. Let time be precious to us when we
|
|
are in prosperity, and then it will not be so tedious to us when we
|
|
are in afflictions as otherwise it would. <i>Secondly,</i> A
|
|
constant fright and terror, afraid in the morning of the <i>arrow
|
|
that flieth by day,</i> and therefore wishing the day over; but
|
|
what will this do for them? When evening comes, the trembling heart
|
|
is no less apprehensive of the <i>terror by night,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 91:5,6" id="Deu.xxix-p28.8" parsed="|Ps|91|5|91|6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.91.5-Ps.91.6">Ps. xci. 5, 6</scripRef>. Happy they whose
|
|
minds, being stayed on God, are <i>quiet from the fear of evil!</i>
|
|
Observe here, The terror arises not only from the sight of the
|
|
eyes, but from the fear of the heart, not only from real dangers,
|
|
but from imaginary ones; the causes of fear, when they come to be
|
|
enquired into, often prove to be only the creatures of the
|
|
fancy.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxix-p29">2. In the close, God threatens to leave
|
|
them as he found them, in a <i>house of bondage</i> (<scripRef passage="De 28:68" id="Deu.xxix-p29.1" parsed="|Deut|28|68|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.68"><i>v.</i> 68</scripRef>): <i>The Lord shall
|
|
bring thee into Egypt again,</i> that is into such a miserable
|
|
state as they were in when they were slaves to the Egyptians, and
|
|
ruled by them with rigour. God had brought them out of Egypt, and
|
|
had said, <i>They shall see it no more again</i> (<scripRef passage="De 17:16" id="Deu.xxix-p29.2" parsed="|Deut|17|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.16"><i>ch.</i> xvii. 16</scripRef>); but now they
|
|
should be reduced to the same state of slavery that they had been
|
|
in there. To be sold to strangers would be bad enough, but much
|
|
worse to be sold to their enemies. Even slaves may be valued as
|
|
such, but a Jew should have so ill a name for all that is base that
|
|
when he was exposed to sale no man would buy him, which would make
|
|
his master that had him to sell the more severe with him. Thirty
|
|
Jews (they say) have been sold for one small piece of money, as
|
|
they sold our Saviour for thirty pieces.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxix-p30">3. Upon the whole matter, (1.) The
|
|
accomplishment of these predictions upon the Jewish nation shows
|
|
that Moses spoke by the Spirit of God, who certainly foresees the
|
|
ruin of sinners, and gives them warning of it, that they may
|
|
prevent it by a true and timely repentance, or else be left
|
|
inexcusable. (2.) Let us all hence learn to stand in awe and not to
|
|
sin. I have heard of a wicked man, who, upon reading the
|
|
threatenings of this chapter, was so enraged that he tore the leaf
|
|
out of the Bible, as Jehoiakim cut Jeremiah's roll; but to what
|
|
purpose is it to deface a copy, while the original remains upon
|
|
record in the divine counsels, by which it is unalterably
|
|
determined that <i>the wages of sin is death,</i> whether men will
|
|
hear or whether they will forbear?</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXIX" n="xxx" progress="95.14%" prev="Deu.xxix" next="Deu.xxxi" id="Deu.xxx">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.xxx-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.xxx-p0.2">CHAP. XXIX.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.xxx-p1">The first words of this chapter are the contents
|
|
of it, "These are the words of the covenant" (<scripRef passage="De 29:1" id="Deu.xxx-p1.1" parsed="|Deut|29|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.1">ver. 1</scripRef>), that is, these that follow. Here is,
|
|
I. A recital of God's dealings with them, in order to the bringing
|
|
of them into this covenant, <scripRef passage="De 29:2-8" id="Deu.xxx-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|29|2|29|8" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.2-Deut.29.8">ver.
|
|
2-8</scripRef>. II. A solemn charge to them to keep the covenant,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 29:9" id="Deu.xxx-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|29|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.9">ver. 9</scripRef>. III. An abstract of
|
|
the covenant itself, <scripRef passage="De 29:12,13" id="Deu.xxx-p1.4" parsed="|Deut|29|12|29|13" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.12-Deut.29.13">ver. 12,
|
|
13</scripRef>. IV. A specification of the persons taken into the
|
|
covenant, <scripRef passage="De 29:10,11,14,15" id="Deu.xxx-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|29|10|29|11;|Deut|29|14|0|0;|Deut|29|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.10-Deut.29.11 Bible:Deut.29.14 Bible:Deut.29.15">ver. 10, 11, 14,
|
|
15</scripRef>. V. An intimation of the great design of this
|
|
covenant against idolatry, in a parenthesis, <scripRef passage="De 29:16,17" id="Deu.xxx-p1.6" parsed="|Deut|29|16|29|17" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.16-Deut.29.17">ver. 16, 17</scripRef>. VI. A most solemn and
|
|
dreadful denunciation of the wrath of God against such persons as
|
|
promise themselves peace in a sinful way, <scripRef passage="De 29:18-28" id="Deu.xxx-p1.7" parsed="|Deut|29|18|29|28" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.18-Deut.29.28">ver. 18-28</scripRef>. VII. The conclusion of this
|
|
treaty, with a distinction between things secret and things
|
|
revealed, <scripRef passage="De 29:29" id="Deu.xxx-p1.8" parsed="|Deut|29|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.29">ver. 29</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 29" id="Deu.xxx-p1.9" parsed="|Deut|29|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 29:1-9" id="Deu.xxx-p1.10" parsed="|Deut|29|1|29|9" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.1-Deut.29.9"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.29.1-Deut.29.9">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxx-p1.11">Mercies Called to
|
|
Remembrance. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p1.12">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxx-p2">1 These <i>are</i> the words of the covenant,
|
|
which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p2.1">Lord</span> commanded Moses to
|
|
make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the
|
|
covenant which he made with them in Horeb.   2 And Moses
|
|
called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p2.2">Lord</span> did before your eyes in the
|
|
land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all
|
|
his land;   3 The great temptations which thine eyes have
|
|
seen, the signs, and those great miracles:   4 Yet the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p2.3">Lord</span> hath not given you a heart to
|
|
perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.  
|
|
5 And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes
|
|
are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy
|
|
foot.   6 Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine
|
|
or strong drink: that ye might know that I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p2.4">Lord</span> your God.   7 And when ye came
|
|
unto this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of
|
|
Bashan, came out against us unto battle, and we smote them:  
|
|
8 And we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance unto the
|
|
Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half tribe of Manasseh.
|
|
  9 Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them,
|
|
that ye may prosper in all that ye do.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p3">Now that Moses had largely repeated the
|
|
commands which the people were to observe as their part of the
|
|
covenant, and the promises and threatenings which God would make
|
|
good (according as they behaved themselves) as part of the
|
|
covenant, the whole is here summed up in a federal transaction. The
|
|
covenant formerly made is here renewed, and Moses, who was before,
|
|
is still, the mediator of it (<scripRef passage="De 29:1" id="Deu.xxx-p3.1" parsed="|Deut|29|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.1"><i>v.</i>
|
|
1</scripRef>): <i>The Lord commanded Moses to make it.</i> Moses
|
|
himself, though king in Jeshurun, could not make the covenant any
|
|
otherwise than as God gave him instructions. It does not lie in the
|
|
power of ministers to fix the terms of the covenant; they are only
|
|
to dispense the seals of it. This is said to be <i>besides the
|
|
covenant made in Horeb;</i> for, though the covenant was the same,
|
|
yet it was a new promulgation and ratification of it. It is
|
|
probable that some now living, though not of age to be mustered,
|
|
were of age to consent for themselves to the covenant made at
|
|
Horeb, and yet it is here renewed. Note, Those that have solemnly
|
|
covenanted with God should take all opportunities to do it again,
|
|
as those that like their choice too well to change. But the far
|
|
greater part were a new generation, and therefore the covenant must
|
|
be made afresh with them, for it is fit that the covenant should be
|
|
renewed to the children of the covenant.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p4">I. It is usual for indentures to begin with
|
|
a recital; this does so, with a rehearsal of the great things God
|
|
had done for them, 1. As an encouragement to them to believe that
|
|
God would indeed be to them a God, for he would not have done so
|
|
much for them if he had not designed more, to which all he had
|
|
hitherto done was but a preface (as it were) or introduction; nay,
|
|
he had shown himself a God in what he had hitherto done for them,
|
|
which might raise their expectations of something great and
|
|
answering the vast extent and compass of that pregnant promise,
|
|
that God would be to them a God. 2. As an engagement upon them to
|
|
be to him an obedient people, in consideration of what he had done
|
|
for them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p5">II. For the proof of what he here advances
|
|
he appeals to their own eyes (<scripRef passage="De 29:2" id="Deu.xxx-p5.1" parsed="|Deut|29|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.2"><i>v.</i>
|
|
2</scripRef>): <i>You have seen all that the Lord did.</i> Their
|
|
own senses were incontestable evidence of the matter of fact, that
|
|
God had done great things for them; and then their own reason was a
|
|
no less competent judge of the equity of his inference from it:
|
|
<i>Keep therefore the words of this covenant,</i> <scripRef passage="De 29:9" id="Deu.xxx-p5.2" parsed="|Deut|29|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p6">III. These things he specifies, to show the
|
|
power and goodness of God in his appearances for them. 1. Their
|
|
deliverance out of Egypt, <scripRef passage="De 29:2,3" id="Deu.xxx-p6.1" parsed="|Deut|29|2|29|3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.2-Deut.29.3"><i>v.</i>
|
|
2, 3</scripRef>. The amazing signs and miracles by which Pharaoh
|
|
was plagued and compelled to dismiss them, and Israel was tried
|
|
(for they are called <i>temptations</i>) whether they would trust
|
|
God to secure them from, and save them by, those plagues. 2. Their
|
|
conduct through the wilderness for forty years, <scripRef passage="De 29:5,6" id="Deu.xxx-p6.2" parsed="|Deut|29|5|29|6" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.5-Deut.29.6"><i>v.</i> 5, 6</scripRef>. There they were led, and
|
|
clad, and fed, by miracles; though the paths of the wilderness were
|
|
not only unknown but untrodden, yet God kept them from being lost
|
|
there; and (as bishop Patrick observes) those very shoes which by
|
|
the appointment of God they put on in Egypt, at the passover, when
|
|
the were ready to march (<scripRef passage="Ex 12:11" id="Deu.xxx-p6.3" parsed="|Exod|12|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.11">Exod. xii.
|
|
11</scripRef>), never wore out, but served them to Canaan: and
|
|
though they lived not upon bread which strengthens the heart, and
|
|
wine which rejoices it, but upon manna and rock-water, yet they
|
|
were men of strength and courage, mighty men, and able to go forth
|
|
to war. By these miracles they were made to know that the Lord was
|
|
God, and by these mercies that he was their God. 3. The victory
|
|
they had lately obtained of Sihon and Og, and that good land which
|
|
they had taken possession of, <scripRef passage="De 29:7,8" id="Deu.xxx-p6.4" parsed="|Deut|29|7|29|8" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.7-Deut.29.8"><i>v.</i> 7, 8</scripRef>. Both former mercies and
|
|
fresh mercies should be improved by us as inducements to
|
|
obedience.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p7">IV. By way of inference from these
|
|
memoirs,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p8">1. Moses laments their stupidity: <i>Yet
|
|
the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive,</i> <scripRef passage="De 29:4" id="Deu.xxx-p8.1" parsed="|Deut|29|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. This does not lay the
|
|
blame of their senselessness, and sottishness, and unbelief, upon
|
|
God, as if they had stood ready to receive his grace and had begged
|
|
for it, but he had denied them; no, but it fastens the guilt upon
|
|
themselves. "The Lord, who is the Father of spirits, a God in
|
|
covenant with you, and who had always been so rich in mercy to you,
|
|
no doubt would have crowned all his other gifts with this, he would
|
|
have given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see if you had not
|
|
by your own frowardness and perverseness frustrated his kind
|
|
intentions, and received his grace in vain." Note, (1.) The hearing
|
|
ear, the seeing eye, and the understanding heart, are the gift of
|
|
God. All that have them have them from him. (2.) God gives not only
|
|
food and raiment, but wealth and large possessions, to many to whom
|
|
he does not give grace. Many enjoy the gifts who have not hearts to
|
|
perceive the giver, nor the true intention and use of the gifts.
|
|
(3.) God's readiness to do us good in other things is a plain
|
|
evidence that if we have not grace, that best of gifts, it is our
|
|
own fault and not his; he would have gathered us and we would
|
|
not.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p9">2. Moses charges them to be obedient:
|
|
<i>Keep therefore, and do,</i> <scripRef passage="De 29:9" id="Deu.xxx-p9.1" parsed="|Deut|29|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. Note, We are bound in gratitude
|
|
and interest, as well as duty and faithfulness, to <i>keep the
|
|
words of the covenant.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 29" id="Deu.xxx-p9.2" parsed="|Deut|29|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 29:10-29" id="Deu.xxx-p9.3" parsed="|Deut|29|10|29|29" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.10-Deut.29.29"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.29.10-Deut.29.29">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxx-p9.4">The Covenant Renewed. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p9.5">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxx-p10">10 Ye stand this day all of you before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p10.1">Lord</span> your God; your captains of your
|
|
tribes, your elders, and your officers, <i>with</i> all the men of
|
|
Israel,   11 Your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger
|
|
that <i>is</i> in thy camp, from the hewer of thy wood unto the
|
|
drawer of thy water:   12 That thou shouldest enter into
|
|
covenant with the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p10.2">Lord</span> thy God, and
|
|
into his oath, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p10.3">Lord</span> thy
|
|
God maketh with thee this day:   13 That he may establish thee
|
|
to day for a people unto himself, and <i>that</i> he may be unto
|
|
thee a God, as he hath said unto thee, and as he hath sworn unto
|
|
thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.   14 Neither
|
|
with you only do I make this covenant and this oath;   15 But
|
|
with <i>him</i> that standeth here with us this day before the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p10.4">Lord</span> our God, and also with
|
|
<i>him</i> that <i>is</i> not here with us this day:   16 (For
|
|
ye know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt; and how we came
|
|
through the nations which ye passed by;   17 And ye have seen
|
|
their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and
|
|
gold, which <i>were</i> among them:)   18 Lest there should be
|
|
among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth
|
|
away this day from the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p10.5">Lord</span> our God,
|
|
to go <i>and</i> serve the gods of these nations; lest there should
|
|
be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood;   19 And
|
|
it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he
|
|
bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I
|
|
walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to
|
|
thirst:   20 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p10.6">Lord</span> will not
|
|
spare him, but then the anger of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p10.7">Lord</span> and his jealousy shall smoke against that
|
|
man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie
|
|
upon him, and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p10.8">Lord</span> shall blot
|
|
out his name from under heaven.   21 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p10.9">Lord</span> shall separate him unto evil out of all the
|
|
tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that
|
|
are written in this book of the law:   22 So that the
|
|
generation to come of your children that shall rise up after you,
|
|
and the stranger that shall come from a far land, shall say, when
|
|
they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses which the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p10.10">Lord</span> hath laid upon it;   23
|
|
<i>And that</i> the whole land thereof <i>is</i> brimstone, and
|
|
salt, <i>and</i> burning, <i>that</i> it is not sown, nor beareth,
|
|
nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and
|
|
Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p10.11">Lord</span> overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath:
|
|
  24 Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p10.12">Lord</span> done thus unto this land? what
|
|
<i>meaneth</i> the heat of this great anger?   25 Then men
|
|
shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p10.13">Lord</span> God of their fathers, which he made
|
|
with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt:
|
|
  26 For they went and served other gods, and worshipped them,
|
|
gods whom they knew not, and <i>whom</i> he had not given unto
|
|
them:   27 And the anger of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p10.14">Lord</span> was kindled against this land, to bring
|
|
upon it all the curses that are written in this book:   28 And
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p10.15">Lord</span> rooted them out of their
|
|
land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast
|
|
them into another land, as <i>it is</i> this day.   29 The
|
|
secret <i>things belong</i> unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxx-p10.16">Lord</span> our God: but those <i>things which are</i>
|
|
revealed <i>belong</i> unto us and to our children for ever, that
|
|
<i>we</i> may do all the words of this law.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p11">It appears by the length of the sentences
|
|
here, and by the copiousness and pungency of the expressions, that
|
|
Moses, now that he was drawing near to the close of his discourse,
|
|
was very warm and zealous, and very desirous to impress what he
|
|
said upon the minds of this unthinking people. To bind them the
|
|
faster to God and duty, he here, with great solemnity of expression
|
|
(to make up the want of the external ceremony that was used
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 24:4-8" id="Deu.xxx-p11.1" parsed="|Exod|24|4|24|8" osisRef="Bible:Exod.24.4-Exod.24.8">Exod. xxiv. 4</scripRef>, &c.),
|
|
concludes a bargain (as it were) between them and God, an
|
|
everlasting covenant, which God would not forget and they must not.
|
|
He requires not their explicit consent, but lays the matter plainly
|
|
before them, and then leaves it between God and their own
|
|
consciences. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p12">I. The parties to this covenant. 1. It is
|
|
the Lord their God they are to covenant with, <scripRef passage="De 29:12" id="Deu.xxx-p12.1" parsed="|Deut|29|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. To him they must give up
|
|
themselves, to him they must join themselves. "It is his oath; he
|
|
has drawn up the covenant and settled it; he requires your consent
|
|
to it; he has sworn to you and to him you must be sworn." This
|
|
requires us to be sincere and serious, humble and reverent, in our
|
|
covenant-transactions with God, remembering how great a God he is
|
|
with whom we are covenanting, who has a perfect knowledge of us and
|
|
an absolute dominion over us. 2. They are all to be taken into
|
|
covenant with him. They were all summoned to attend (<scripRef passage="De 29:2" id="Deu.xxx-p12.2" parsed="|Deut|29|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), and did accordingly, and
|
|
are told (<scripRef passage="De 29:10" id="Deu.xxx-p12.3" parsed="|Deut|29|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>)
|
|
what was the design of their appearing before God now in a
|
|
body—they were to enter into covenant with him. (1.) Even their
|
|
great men, the captains of their tribes, their elders and officers,
|
|
must not think it any disparagement to their honour, or any
|
|
diminution of their power, to put their necks under the yoke of
|
|
this covenant, and to draw in it. They must rather enter into the
|
|
covenant first, to set a good example to their inferiors. (2.) Not
|
|
the men only, but their wives and children, must come into this
|
|
covenant; though they were not numbered and mustered, yet they must
|
|
be <i>joined to the Lord,</i> <scripRef passage="De 29:11" id="Deu.xxx-p12.4" parsed="|Deut|29|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. Observe, Even little ones are
|
|
capable of being taken into covenant with God, and are to be
|
|
admitted with their parents. Little children, so little as to be
|
|
carried in arms, must be brought to Christ, and shall be blessed by
|
|
him, for <i>of such</i> was and <i>is the kingdom of God.</i> (3.)
|
|
Not the men of Israel only, but the stranger that was in their
|
|
camp, provided he was so far proselyted to their religion as to
|
|
renounce all false gods, was taken into this covenant with the God
|
|
of Israel, forasmuch as he also, though a stranger, was to be
|
|
looked upon in this matter as a <i>son of Abraham,</i> <scripRef passage="Lu 19:9" id="Deu.xxx-p12.5" parsed="|Luke|19|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.19.9">Luke xix. 9</scripRef>. This was an early
|
|
indication of favour to the Gentiles, and of the kindness God had
|
|
in store for them. (4.) Not the freemen only, but the hewers of
|
|
wood and drawers of water, the meanest drudge they had among them.
|
|
Note, As none are too great to come under the bonds of the
|
|
covenant, so none are too mean to inherit the blessings of the
|
|
covenant. In Christ no difference is made between <i>bond and
|
|
free,</i> <scripRef passage="Col 3:11" id="Deu.xxx-p12.6" parsed="|Col|3|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Col.3.11">Col. iii. 11</scripRef>.
|
|
<i>Art thou called being a servant? Care not for it,</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 7:21" id="Deu.xxx-p12.7" parsed="|1Cor|7|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.7.21">1 Cor. vii. 21</scripRef>. (5.) Not only those
|
|
that were now present before God in this solemn assembly, but those
|
|
also that were not here with them were taken into covenant
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 29:15" id="Deu.xxx-p12.8" parsed="|Deut|29|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>): <i>As with
|
|
him that standeth here with us</i> (so bishop Patrick thinks it
|
|
should be rendered) <i>so also with him, that is not here with us
|
|
this day;</i> that is, [1.] Those that tarried at home were
|
|
included; though detained either by sickness or necessary business,
|
|
they must not therefore think themselves disengaged; no, every
|
|
Israelite shares in the common blessings. Those that tarry at home
|
|
divide the spoil, and therefore every Israelite must own himself
|
|
bound by the consent of the representative body. Those who cannot
|
|
go up to the house of the Lord must keep up a spiritual communion
|
|
with those that do, and be present in spirit when they are absent
|
|
in body. [2.] The generations to come are included. Nay, one of the
|
|
Chaldee paraphrasts reads it, <i>All the generations that have been
|
|
from the first days of the world, and all that shall arise to the
|
|
end of the whole world, stand with us here this day.</i> And so,
|
|
taking this covenant as a typical dispensation of the covenant of
|
|
grace, it is a noble testimony to the Mediator of that covenant,
|
|
who is <i>the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p13">II. The summary of this covenant. All the
|
|
precepts and all the promises of the covenant are included in the
|
|
covenant-relation between God and them, <scripRef passage="De 29:13" id="Deu.xxx-p13.1" parsed="|Deut|29|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. That they should be appointed,
|
|
raised up, <i>established, for a people to him,</i> to observe and
|
|
obey him, to be devoted to him and dependent on him, and that he
|
|
should be to them a God, according to the tenour of the covenant
|
|
made with their fathers, to make them holy, high, and happy. Their
|
|
fathers are here named, <i>Abraham, Isaac,</i> and <i>Jacob,</i> as
|
|
examples of piety, which those were to set themselves to imitate
|
|
who expected any benefit from the covenant made with them. Note, A
|
|
due consideration of the relation we stand in to God as our God,
|
|
and of the obligation we lie under as a people to him, is enough to
|
|
bring us to all the duties and all the comforts of the
|
|
covenant.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p14">III. The principal design of the renewing
|
|
of this covenant at this time was to fortify them against
|
|
temptations to idolatry. Though other sins will be the sinner's
|
|
ruin, yet this was the sin that was likely to be <i>their</i> ruin.
|
|
Now concerning this he shows,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p15">1. The danger they were in of being tempted
|
|
to it (<scripRef passage="De 29:16,17" id="Deu.xxx-p15.1" parsed="|Deut|29|16|29|17" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.16-Deut.29.17"><i>v.</i> 16,
|
|
17</scripRef>): "<i>You know we have dwelt in the land of
|
|
Egypt,</i> a country addicted to idolatry; and it were well if
|
|
there were not among you some remains of the infection of that
|
|
idolatry; we have <i>passed by other nations, the Edomites,
|
|
Moabites, &c.</i> and have <i>seen their abominations</i> and
|
|
<i>their idols,</i> and some among you, it may be, have liked them
|
|
too well, and still hanker after them, and would rather worship a
|
|
wooden god that they can see than an infinite Spirit whom they
|
|
never saw." It is to be hoped that there were those among them who,
|
|
the more they saw of these abominations and idols, the more they
|
|
hated them; but there were those that were smitten with the sight
|
|
of them, saw the accursed things and coveted them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p16">2. The danger they were in if they yielded
|
|
to the temptation. He gives them fair warning: it was at their
|
|
peril if they forsook God to serve idols. If they would not be
|
|
bound and held by the precepts of the covenant, they would find
|
|
that the curses of the covenant would be strong enough to bind and
|
|
hold them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p17">(1.) Idolatry would be the ruin of
|
|
particular persons and their families, <scripRef passage="De 29:18-21" id="Deu.xxx-p17.1" parsed="|Deut|29|18|29|21" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.18-Deut.29.21"><i>v.</i> 18-21</scripRef>, where observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p18">[1.] The sinner described, <scripRef passage="De 29:18" id="Deu.xxx-p18.1" parsed="|Deut|29|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. <i>First,</i> He is one
|
|
whose <i>heart turns away from his God;</i> there the mischief
|
|
begins, in the <i>evil heart of unbelief,</i> which inclines men to
|
|
<i>depart from the living God</i> to dead idols. Even to this sin
|
|
men are tempted when they are drawn aside by their own lusts and
|
|
fancies. Those that begin to turn from God, by neglecting their
|
|
duty to him, are easily drawn to other gods: and those that serve
|
|
other gods do certainly turn away from the true God; for he will
|
|
admit of no rivals: he will be all or nothing. <i>Secondly,</i> He
|
|
is <i>a root that bears gall and wormwood;</i> that is, he is a
|
|
dangerous man, who, being himself poisoned with bad principles and
|
|
inclinations, with a secret contempt of the God of Israel and his
|
|
institutions and a veneration for the gods of the nations,
|
|
endeavours, by all arts possible, to corrupt and poison others and
|
|
draw them to idolatry: this is a man whose fruit is <i>hemlock</i>
|
|
(so the word is translated, <scripRef passage="Ho 10:4" id="Deu.xxx-p18.2" parsed="|Hos|10|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.10.4">Hos. x.
|
|
4</scripRef>) and <i>wormwood;</i> it is very displeasing to God,
|
|
and will be, to all that are seduced by him, <i>bitterness in the
|
|
latter end.</i> This is referred to by the apostle, <scripRef passage="Heb 12:15" id="Deu.xxx-p18.3" parsed="|Heb|12|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.15">Heb. xii. 15</scripRef>, where he is in like
|
|
manner cautioning us to take heed of those that would seduce us
|
|
from the Christian faith; they are the weeds or tares in a field,
|
|
which, if let alone, will overspread the whole field. A little of
|
|
this leaven will be in danger of infecting the whole lump.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p19">[2.] His security in the sun. He promises
|
|
himself impunity, though he persists in his impiety, <scripRef passage="De 29:19" id="Deu.xxx-p19.1" parsed="|Deut|29|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. Though he <i>hears the
|
|
words of the curse,</i> so that he cannot plead ignorance of the
|
|
danger, as other idolaters, yet even then he <i>blesses himself in
|
|
his own heart,</i> thinks himself safe from the wrath of the God of
|
|
Israel, under the protection of his idol-gods, and <i>therefore
|
|
says, "I shall have peace,</i> though I be governed in my religion,
|
|
not by God's institution, but by my own imagination, to add
|
|
drunkenness to thirst, one act of wickedness to another." Idolaters
|
|
were like drunkards, violently set upon their idols themselves and
|
|
industrious to draw others in with them. Revellings commonly
|
|
accompanied their idolatries (<scripRef passage="1Pe 4:3" id="Deu.xxx-p19.2" parsed="|1Pet|4|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.4.3">1 Pet.
|
|
iv. 3</scripRef>), so that this speaks a woe to drunkards
|
|
(especially the drunkards of Ephraim), who, when they are awake,
|
|
being thirsty, <i>seek it yet again,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 23:35" id="Deu.xxx-p19.3" parsed="|Prov|23|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.23.35">Prov. xxiii. 35</scripRef>. And those that made
|
|
themselves drunk in honour of their idols were the worst of
|
|
drunkards. Note, <i>First,</i> There are many who are under the
|
|
curse of God and yet bless themselves; but it will soon be found
|
|
that in blessing themselves they do but deceive themselves.
|
|
<i>Secondly,</i> Those are ripe for ruin, and there is little hope
|
|
of their repentance, who have made themselves believe that they
|
|
shall have peace though they go on in a sinful way. <i>Thirdly,</i>
|
|
Drunkenness is a sin that hardens the heart, and debauches the
|
|
conscience, as much as any other, a sin to which men are strangely
|
|
tempted themselves even when they have lately felt the mischiefs of
|
|
it, and to which they are strangely fond of drawing others,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Hab 2:15" id="Deu.xxx-p19.4" parsed="|Hab|2|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hab.2.15">Hab. ii. 15</scripRef>. And such an
|
|
ensnaring sin is idolatry.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p20">[3.] God's just severity against him for
|
|
the sin, and for the impious affront he put upon God in saying he
|
|
should have peace though he went on, so giving the lie to eternal
|
|
truth, <scripRef passage="Ge 3:4" id="Deu.xxx-p20.1" parsed="|Gen|3|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.4">Gen. iii. 4</scripRef>. There is
|
|
scarcely a threatening in all the book of God that sounds more
|
|
dreadful than this. O that presumptuous sinners would read it and
|
|
tremble! For it is not a bug-bear to frighten children and fools,
|
|
but a real declaration of the wrath of God against the ungodliness
|
|
and the unrighteousness of men, <scripRef passage="De 29:20,21" id="Deu.xxx-p20.2" parsed="|Deut|29|20|29|21" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.20-Deut.29.21"><i>v.</i> 20, 21</scripRef>. <i>First, The Lord shall
|
|
not spare him.</i> The days of his reprieve, which he abuses, will
|
|
be shortened, and no mercy remembered in the midst of judgment.
|
|
<i>Secondly,</i> The <i>anger of the Lord, and his jealousy,</i>
|
|
which is the fiercest anger, <i>shall smoke against him,</i> like
|
|
the smoke of a furnace. <i>Thirdly,</i> The <i>curses written</i>
|
|
shall <i>lie upon him,</i> not only light upon him to terrify him,
|
|
but abide upon him, to sink him to the lowest hell, <scripRef passage="Joh 3:36" id="Deu.xxx-p20.3" parsed="|John|3|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.3.36">John iii. 36</scripRef>. <i>Fourthly, His name
|
|
shall be blotted out,</i> that is, he himself shall be cut off, and
|
|
his memory shall rot and perish with him. <i>Fifthly,</i> He shall
|
|
be <i>separated unto evil,</i> which is the most proper notion of a
|
|
curse; he shall be cut off from all happiness and all hope of it,
|
|
and marked out for misery without remedy. And (<i>lastly</i>) All
|
|
this <i>according to the curses of the covenant,</i> which are the
|
|
most fearful curses, being the just revenges of abused grace.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p21">(2.) Idolatry would be the ruin of their
|
|
nation; it would bring plagues upon the land that connived at this
|
|
root of bitterness and received the infection; as far as the sin
|
|
spread, the judgment should spread likewise.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p22">[1.] The ruin is described. It begins with
|
|
plagues and sicknesses (<scripRef passage="De 29:22" id="Deu.xxx-p22.1" parsed="|Deut|29|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.22"><i>v.</i>
|
|
22</scripRef>), to try if they will be reclaimed by less judgments;
|
|
but, if not, it ends in a total overthrow, like that of Sodom,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 29:23" id="Deu.xxx-p22.2" parsed="|Deut|29|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. As that
|
|
valley, which had been like the garden of the Lord for
|
|
fruitfulness, was turned into a lake of salt and sulphur, so should
|
|
the land of Canaan be made desolate and barren, as it has been ever
|
|
since the last destruction of it by the Romans. The lake of Sodom
|
|
bordered closely upon the land of Israel, that by it they might be
|
|
warned against the iniquity of Sodom; but, not taking the warning,
|
|
they were made as like to Sodom in ruin as they had been in
|
|
sin.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p23">[2.] The reason of it is enquired into, and
|
|
assigned. <i>First,</i> It would be enquired into by the
|
|
<i>generations to come</i> (<scripRef passage="De 29:22" id="Deu.xxx-p23.1" parsed="|Deut|29|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.22"><i>v.</i>
|
|
22</scripRef>), who would find the state of their nation in all
|
|
respects the reverse of what it had been, and, when they read both
|
|
the history and the promise, would be astonished at the change. The
|
|
stranger likewise, and the nations about them, as well as
|
|
particular persons, would ask, <i>Wherefore hath the Lord done thus
|
|
unto this land?</i> <scripRef passage="De 29:24" id="Deu.xxx-p23.2" parsed="|Deut|29|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.24"><i>v.</i>
|
|
24</scripRef>. Great desolations are thus represented elsewhere as
|
|
striking the spectators with amazement, <scripRef passage="1Ki 9:8,9,Jer 22:8,9" id="Deu.xxx-p23.3" parsed="|1Kgs|9|8|9|9;|Jer|22|8|22|9" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.9.8-1Kgs.9.9 Bible:Jer.22.8-Jer.22.9">1 Kings ix. 8, 9; Jer. xxii. 8,
|
|
9</scripRef>. It was time for the neighbours to tremble when
|
|
judgment thus <i>began at the house of God,</i> <scripRef passage="1Pe 4:17" id="Deu.xxx-p23.4" parsed="|1Pet|4|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.4.17">1 Pet. iv. 17</scripRef>. The emphasis of the question
|
|
is to be laid upon <i>this land,</i> the land of Canaan, this good
|
|
land, the glory of all lands, this land flowing with milk and
|
|
honey. A thousand pities that such a good land as this should be
|
|
made desolate, but this is not all; it is this <i>holy</i> land,
|
|
the land of Israel, a people in covenant with God; it is Immanuel's
|
|
land, a land where God was known and worshipped, and yet thus
|
|
wasted. Note, 1. It is no new thing for God to bring desolating
|
|
judgments upon a people that in profession are near to him,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Am 3:2" id="Deu.xxx-p23.5" parsed="|Amos|3|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.2">Amos iii. 2</scripRef>. 2. He never does
|
|
this without a good reason. 3. It concerns us to enquire into the
|
|
reason, that we may give glory to God and take warning to
|
|
ourselves. <i>Secondly,</i> The reason is here assigned, in answer
|
|
to that enquiry. The matter would be so plain that all men would
|
|
say, It was because they <i>forsook the covenant of the Lord God of
|
|
their fathers,</i> <scripRef passage="De 29:25" id="Deu.xxx-p23.6" parsed="|Deut|29|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.25"><i>v.</i>
|
|
25</scripRef>. Note, God never forsakes any till they first forsake
|
|
him. But those that desert the God of their fathers are justly cast
|
|
out of the inheritance of their fathers. They went and <i>served
|
|
other gods</i> (<scripRef passage="De 29:26" id="Deu.xxx-p23.7" parsed="|Deut|29|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.26"><i>v.</i>
|
|
26</scripRef>), gods that they had no acquaintance with, nor lay
|
|
under any obligation to either in duty of gratitude; for God has
|
|
not given the creatures to be served by us, but to serve us; nor
|
|
have they done any good to us (as some read it), more than what God
|
|
has enabled them to do; to the Creator therefore we are debtors,
|
|
and not to the creatures. It was for this that God was angry with
|
|
them (<scripRef passage="De 29:27" id="Deu.xxx-p23.8" parsed="|Deut|29|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>), and
|
|
<i>rooted them out in anger,</i> <scripRef passage="De 29:28" id="Deu.xxx-p23.9" parsed="|Deut|29|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>. So that, how dreadful soever
|
|
the desolation was, the Lord was righteous in it, which is
|
|
acknowledged, <scripRef passage="Da 9:11-14" id="Deu.xxx-p23.10" parsed="|Dan|9|11|9|14" osisRef="Bible:Dan.9.11-Dan.9.14">Dan. ix.
|
|
11-14</scripRef>. "Thus" (says Mr. Ainsworth) "the law of Moses
|
|
leaves sinners under the curse, and <i>rooted out of the Lord's
|
|
land;</i> but the grace of Christ towards penitent believing
|
|
sinners plants them again <i>upon their land, and they shall no
|
|
more be pulled up,</i> being kept by the power of God," <scripRef passage="Am 9:15" id="Deu.xxx-p23.11" parsed="|Amos|9|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Amos.9.15">Amos ix. 15</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxx-p24">[3.] He concludes his prophecy of the Jews'
|
|
rejection just as St. Paul concludes his discourse on the same
|
|
subject, when it began to be fulfilled (<scripRef passage="Ro 11:33" id="Deu.xxx-p24.1" parsed="|Rom|11|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.11.33">Rom. xi. 33</scripRef>), <i>How unsearchable are God's
|
|
judgments, and his ways past finding out!</i> So here (<scripRef passage="De 29:29" id="Deu.xxx-p24.2" parsed="|Deut|29|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>), <i>Secret things
|
|
belong to the Lord our God.</i> Some make it to be one sentence,
|
|
<i>The secret things of the Lord our God are revealed to us and to
|
|
our children,</i> as far as we are concerned to know them, and
|
|
<i>he hath not dealt so with other nations:</i> but we make it two
|
|
sentences, by which, <i>First,</i> We are forbidden curiously to
|
|
enquire into the secret counsels of God and to determine concerning
|
|
them. A full answer is given to that question, <i>Wherefore has the
|
|
Lord done thus to this land?</i> sufficient to justify God and
|
|
admonish us. But if any ask further why God would be at such a vast
|
|
expense of miracles to form such a people, whose apostasy and ruin
|
|
he plainly foresaw, why he did not by his almighty grace prevent
|
|
it, or what he intends yet to do with them, let such know that
|
|
these are questions which cannot be answered, and therefore are not
|
|
fit to be asked. It is presumption in us to pry into the <i>Arcana
|
|
imperii—the mysteries of government,</i> and to enquire into the
|
|
reasons of state which <i>it is not for us to know.</i> See
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ac 1:7,Joh 21:22,Col 2:18" id="Deu.xxx-p24.3" parsed="|Acts|1|7|0|0;|John|21|22|0|0;|Col|2|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.1.7 Bible:John.21.22 Bible:Col.2.18">Acts i. 7; John xxi.
|
|
22; Col. ii. 18</scripRef>. <i>Secondly,</i> We are directed and
|
|
encouraged diligently to enquire into that which God has made
|
|
known: things <i>revealed belong to us and to our children.</i>
|
|
Note, 1. Though God has kept much of his counsel secret, yet there
|
|
is enough revealed to satisfy and save us. He has <i>kept back
|
|
nothing that is profitable for us,</i> but that only which it is
|
|
good for us to be ignorant of. 2. We ought to acquaint ourselves,
|
|
and our children, too, with the things of God that are revealed. We
|
|
are not only allowed to search into them, but are concerned to do
|
|
so. They are things which we and ours are nearly interested in.
|
|
They are the rules we are to live by, the grants we are to live
|
|
upon; and therefore we are to learn them diligently ourselves, and
|
|
to teach them diligently to our children. 3. All our knowledge must
|
|
be in order to practice, for this is the end of all divine
|
|
revelation, not to furnish us with curious subjects of speculation
|
|
and discourse, with which to entertain ourselves and our friends,
|
|
<i>but that we may do all the words of this law,</i> and be blessed
|
|
in our deed.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXX" n="xxxi" progress="95.71%" prev="Deu.xxx" next="Deu.xxxii" id="Deu.xxxi">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.xxxi-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.xxxi-p0.2">CHAP. XXX.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.xxxi-p1">One would have thought that the threatenings in
|
|
the close of the foregoing chapter had made a full end of the
|
|
people of Israel, and had left their case for ever desperate; but
|
|
in this chapter we have a plain intimation of the mercy God had in
|
|
store for them in the latter days, so that mercy at length rejoices
|
|
against judgment, and has the last word. Here we have, I.
|
|
Exceedingly great and precious promises made to them, upon their
|
|
repentance and return to God, <scripRef passage="De 30:1-10" id="Deu.xxxi-p1.1" parsed="|Deut|30|1|30|10" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.1-Deut.30.10">ver.
|
|
1-10</scripRef>. II. The righteousness of faith set before them in
|
|
the plainness and easiness of the commandment that was now given
|
|
them, <scripRef passage="De 30:11-14" id="Deu.xxxi-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|30|11|30|14" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.11-Deut.30.14">ver. 11-14</scripRef>. III. A
|
|
fair reference of the whole matter to their choice, <scripRef passage="De 30:15-20" id="Deu.xxxi-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|30|15|30|20" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.15-Deut.30.20">ver. 15</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 30" id="Deu.xxxi-p1.4" parsed="|Deut|30|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 30:1-10" id="Deu.xxxi-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|30|1|30|10" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.1-Deut.30.10"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.30.1-Deut.30.10">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxxi-p1.6">Promises to the Penitent. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxi-p1.7">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxxi-p2">1 And it shall come to pass, when all these
|
|
things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have
|
|
set before thee, and thou shalt call <i>them</i> to mind among all
|
|
the nations, whither the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxi-p2.1">Lord</span> thy
|
|
God hath driven thee,   2 And shalt return unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxi-p2.2">Lord</span> thy God, and shalt obey his voice
|
|
according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy
|
|
children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;   3
|
|
That then the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxi-p2.3">Lord</span> thy God will turn
|
|
thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and
|
|
gather thee from all the nations, whither the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxi-p2.4">Lord</span> thy God hath scattered thee.   4 If
|
|
<i>any</i> of thine be driven out unto the outmost <i>parts</i> of
|
|
heaven, from thence will the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxi-p2.5">Lord</span>
|
|
thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee:   5
|
|
And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxi-p2.6">Lord</span> thy God will bring thee
|
|
into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess
|
|
it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers.
|
|
  6 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxi-p2.7">Lord</span> thy God will
|
|
circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxi-p2.8">Lord</span> thy God with all thine heart,
|
|
and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.   7 And the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxi-p2.9">Lord</span> thy God will put all these
|
|
curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which
|
|
persecuted thee.   8 And thou shalt return and obey the voice
|
|
of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxi-p2.10">Lord</span>, and do all his
|
|
commandments which I command thee this day.   9 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxi-p2.11">Lord</span> thy God will make thee plenteous in
|
|
every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the
|
|
fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxi-p2.12">Lord</span> will again rejoice over
|
|
thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers:   10 If thou
|
|
shalt hearken unto the voice of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxi-p2.13">Lord</span> thy God, to keep his commandments and his
|
|
statutes which are written in this book of the law, <i>and</i> if
|
|
thou turn unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxi-p2.14">Lord</span> thy God with
|
|
all thine heart, and with all thy soul.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxi-p3">These verses may be considered either as a
|
|
conditional promise or as an absolute prediction.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxi-p4">I. They are chiefly to be considered as a
|
|
conditional promise, and so they belong to all persons and all
|
|
people, and not to Israel only; and the design of them is to assure
|
|
us that the greatest sinners, if they repent and be converted,
|
|
shall have their sins pardoned, and be restored to God's favour.
|
|
This is the purport of the covenant of grace, it leaves room for
|
|
repentance in case of misdemeanour, and promises pardon upon
|
|
repentance, which the covenant of innocency did not. Now observe
|
|
here,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxi-p5">1. How the repentance is described which is
|
|
the condition of these promises. (1.) It begins in <i>serious
|
|
consideration,</i> <scripRef passage="De 30:1" id="Deu.xxxi-p5.1" parsed="|Deut|30|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.1"><i>v.</i>
|
|
1</scripRef>. "Thou shalt call to mind that which thou hadst
|
|
forgotten or not regarded." Note, Consideration is the first step
|
|
towards conversion. <scripRef passage="Isa 46:8" id="Deu.xxxi-p5.2" parsed="|Isa|46|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.46.8">Isa. xlvi.
|
|
8</scripRef>, <i>Bring to mind, O you transgressors.</i> The
|
|
prodigal son came to himself first, and then to his father. That
|
|
which they should call to mind is the blessing and the curse. If
|
|
sinners would but seriously consider the happiness they have lost
|
|
by sin and the misery they have brought themselves into, and that
|
|
by repentance they may escape that misery and recover that
|
|
happiness, they would not delay to <i>return to the Lord their
|
|
God.</i> The prodigal <i>called to mind the blessing and the
|
|
curse</i> when he considered his present poverty and the plenty of
|
|
bread <i>in his father's house,</i> <scripRef passage="Lu 15:17" id="Deu.xxxi-p5.3" parsed="|Luke|15|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.15.17">Luke xv. 17</scripRef>. (2.) It consists in sincere
|
|
conversion. The effect of the consideration cannot but be godly
|
|
sorrow and shame, <scripRef passage="Eze 6:9,7:16" id="Deu.xxxi-p5.4" parsed="|Ezek|6|9|0|0;|Ezek|7|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.6.9 Bible:Ezek.7.16">Ezek. vi. 9;
|
|
vii. 16</scripRef>. But that which is the life and soul of
|
|
repentance, and without which the most passionate expressions are
|
|
but a jest, is <i>returning to the Lord our God,</i> <scripRef passage="De 30:2" id="Deu.xxxi-p5.5" parsed="|Deut|30|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. If thou turn (<scripRef passage="De 30:10" id="Deu.xxxi-p5.6" parsed="|Deut|30|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>) <i>with all thy heart
|
|
and with all thy soul.</i> We must return to our allegiance to God
|
|
as our Lord and ruler, our dependence upon him as our Father and
|
|
benefactor, our devotedness to him as our highest end, and our
|
|
communion with him as our God in covenant. We must return to God
|
|
from all that which stands in opposition to him or competition with
|
|
him. In this return to God we must be upright—with the heart and
|
|
soul, and universal—with all the heart and all the soul. (3.) It
|
|
is evidenced by a constant obedience to the holy will of God: If
|
|
thou shalt <i>obey his voice</i> (<scripRef passage="De 30:2" id="Deu.xxxi-p5.7" parsed="|Deut|30|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), <i>thou and thy children;</i>
|
|
for it is not enough that we do our duty ourselves, but we must
|
|
train up and engage our children to do it. Or this comes in as the
|
|
condition of the entail of the blessing upon their children,
|
|
provided their children kept close to their duty. [1.] This
|
|
obedience must be with an eye to God: Thou shalt <i>obey his
|
|
voice</i> (<scripRef passage="De 30:8" id="Deu.xxxi-p5.8" parsed="|Deut|30|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>), and
|
|
hearken to it, <scripRef passage="De 30:10" id="Deu.xxxi-p5.9" parsed="|Deut|30|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.10"><i>v.</i>
|
|
10</scripRef>. [2.] It must be sincere, and cheerful, and entire:
|
|
<i>With all thy heart, and with all thy soul,</i> <scripRef passage="De 30:2" id="Deu.xxxi-p5.10" parsed="|Deut|30|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. [3.] It must be from a
|
|
principle of love, and that love must be <i>with all thy heart and
|
|
with all thy soul,</i> <scripRef passage="De 30:6" id="Deu.xxxi-p5.11" parsed="|Deut|30|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.6"><i>v.</i>
|
|
6</scripRef>. It is the heart and soul that God looks at and
|
|
requires; he will have these or nothing, and these entire or not at
|
|
all. [4.] It must be universal: <i>According to all that I command
|
|
thee,</i> <scripRef passage="De 30:2" id="Deu.xxxi-p5.12" parsed="|Deut|30|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>, and
|
|
again <scripRef passage="De 30:8" id="Deu.xxxi-p5.13" parsed="|Deut|30|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>, <i>to do
|
|
all his commandments;</i> for he that allows himself in the breach
|
|
of one commandment involves himself in the guilt of contemning them
|
|
all, <scripRef passage="Jam 2:10" id="Deu.xxxi-p5.14" parsed="|Jas|2|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jas.2.10">James ii. 10</scripRef>. An
|
|
upright heart has <i>respect to all God's commandments,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 119:6" id="Deu.xxxi-p5.15" parsed="|Ps|119|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119.6">Ps. cxix. 6</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxi-p6">2. What the favour is which is promised
|
|
upon this repentance. Though they are brought to God by their
|
|
trouble and distress, in the nations whither they were driven
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 30:1" id="Deu.xxxi-p6.1" parsed="|Deut|30|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>), yet God will
|
|
graciously accept of them notwithstanding; for on this errand
|
|
afflictions are sent, to bring us to repentance. Though they are
|
|
<i>driven out to the utmost parts of heaven,</i> yet thence their
|
|
penitent prayers shall reach God's gracious ear, and there his
|
|
favour shall find them out, <scripRef passage="De 30:4" id="Deu.xxxi-p6.2" parsed="|Deut|30|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.4"><i>v.</i>
|
|
4</scripRef>. <i>Undique ad cælos tantundem est viæ—From every
|
|
place there is the same way to heaven.</i> This promise Nehemiah
|
|
pleads in his prayer for dispersed Israel, <scripRef passage="Ne 1:9" id="Deu.xxxi-p6.3" parsed="|Neh|1|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Neh.1.9">Neh. i. 9</scripRef>. It is here promised, (1.) That God
|
|
would have compassion upon them, as proper objects of his pity,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 30:3" id="Deu.xxxi-p6.4" parsed="|Deut|30|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. Against sinners
|
|
that go on in sin God has indignation (<scripRef passage="De 29:20" id="Deu.xxxi-p6.5" parsed="|Deut|29|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.29.20"><i>ch.</i> xxix. 20</scripRef>), but on those that
|
|
repent and bemoan themselves he has compassion, <scripRef passage="Jer 31:18,20" id="Deu.xxxi-p6.6" parsed="|Jer|31|18|0|0;|Jer|31|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.31.18 Bible:Jer.31.20">Jer. xxxi. 18, 20</scripRef>. True penitents may
|
|
take great encouragement from the compassions and tender mercies of
|
|
our God, which never fail, but overflow. (2.) That he would <i>turn
|
|
their captivity, and gather them from the nations whither they were
|
|
scattered</i> (<scripRef passage="De 30:3" id="Deu.xxxi-p6.7" parsed="|Deut|30|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>),
|
|
though ever so remote, <scripRef passage="De 30:4" id="Deu.xxxi-p6.8" parsed="|Deut|30|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.4"><i>v.</i>
|
|
4</scripRef>. One of the Chaldee paraphrasts applies this to the
|
|
Messiah, explaining it thus: <i>The word of the Lord shall gather
|
|
you by the hand of Elias the great priest, and shall bring you by
|
|
the hand of the king Messiah;</i> for this was God's covenant with
|
|
him, that he should <i>restore the preserved of Israel,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 49:6" id="Deu.xxxi-p6.9" parsed="|Isa|49|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.49.6">Isa. xlix. 6</scripRef>. And this was
|
|
the design of his death, to <i>gather into one the children of God
|
|
that were scattered abroad,</i> <scripRef passage="Joh 11:51,52" id="Deu.xxxi-p6.10" parsed="|John|11|51|11|52" osisRef="Bible:John.11.51-John.11.52">John xi. 51, 52</scripRef>. <i>To him shall the
|
|
gathering of the people be.</i> (3.) That he would <i>bring them
|
|
into their land again,</i> <scripRef passage="De 30:5" id="Deu.xxxi-p6.11" parsed="|Deut|30|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.5"><i>v.</i>
|
|
5</scripRef>. Note, Penitent sinners are not only delivered out of
|
|
their misery, but restored to true happiness in the favour of God.
|
|
The land they are brought into to possess it is , though not the
|
|
same, yet in some respects better than that which our first father
|
|
Adam possessed, and out of which he was expelled. (4.) That he
|
|
would <i>do them good</i> (<scripRef passage="De 30:5" id="Deu.xxxi-p6.12" parsed="|Deut|30|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.5"><i>v.</i>
|
|
5</scripRef>) and <i>rejoice over them for good,</i> <scripRef passage="De 30:9" id="Deu.xxxi-p6.13" parsed="|Deut|30|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. For there is joy in
|
|
heaven upon the repentance and conversion of sinners: the father of
|
|
the prodigal <i>rejoiced over him for good.</i> (5.) That he would
|
|
multiply them (<scripRef passage="De 30:5" id="Deu.xxxi-p6.14" parsed="|Deut|30|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>),
|
|
and that, when they grew numerous, every mouth might have meat: he
|
|
would <i>make them plenteous in every work of their hand,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 30:9" id="Deu.xxxi-p6.15" parsed="|Deut|30|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. National
|
|
repentance and reformation bring national plenty, peace, and
|
|
prosperity. It is promised, <i>The Lord will make thee
|
|
plenteous</i> in the fruit of thy cattle and land, for good. Many
|
|
have plenty for hurt; the prosperity of fools destroys them. Then
|
|
it is for good when with it God gives us grace to use it for his
|
|
glory. (6.) That he would transfer the curses they had been under
|
|
to their enemies, <scripRef passage="De 30:7" id="Deu.xxxi-p6.16" parsed="|Deut|30|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.7"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7</scripRef>. When God was gathering them in to re-establish them
|
|
they would meet with much opposition; but the same curses that had
|
|
been a burden upon them should become a defence to them, by being
|
|
turned upon their adversaries. The cup of trembling should be taken
|
|
out of their hand, and put into the hand of those that afflicted
|
|
them, <scripRef passage="Isa 51:22,23" id="Deu.xxxi-p6.17" parsed="|Isa|51|22|51|23" osisRef="Bible:Isa.51.22-Isa.51.23">Isa. li. 22, 23</scripRef>.
|
|
(7.) That he would give them his grace to change their hearts, and
|
|
rule there (<scripRef passage="De 30:6" id="Deu.xxxi-p6.18" parsed="|Deut|30|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>):
|
|
<i>The Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart, to love the
|
|
Lord.</i> Note, [1.] The heart must be circumcised to love God. The
|
|
filth of the flesh must be put away; and the foolishness of the
|
|
heart, as the Chaldee paraphrase expounds it. See <scripRef passage="Col 2:11,12,Ro 2:29" id="Deu.xxxi-p6.19" parsed="|Col|2|11|2|12;|Rom|2|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Col.2.11-Col.2.12 Bible:Rom.2.29">Col. ii. 11, 12; Rom. ii.
|
|
29</scripRef>. Circumcision was a seal of the covenant; the heart
|
|
is then <i>circumcised to love God</i> when it is strongly engaged
|
|
and held by that bond to this duty. [2.] It is the work of God's
|
|
grace to circumcise the heart, and to shed abroad the love of God
|
|
there; and this grace is given to all that repent and seek it
|
|
carefully. Nay, that seems to be rather a promise than a precept
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 30:8" id="Deu.xxxi-p6.20" parsed="|Deut|30|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>): <i>Thou shalt
|
|
return and obey the voice of the Lord.</i> He that requires us to
|
|
return promises grace to enable us to return: and it is our fault
|
|
if that grace be not effectual. herein the covenant of grace is
|
|
well ordered, that whatsoever is required in the covenant is
|
|
promised. <i>Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my
|
|
Spirit,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 1:23" id="Deu.xxxi-p6.21" parsed="|Prov|1|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.1.23">Prov. i. 23</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxi-p7">3. It is observable how Moses here calls
|
|
God <i>the Lord thy God</i> twelve times in <scripRef passage="De 30:1-10" id="Deu.xxxi-p7.1" parsed="|Deut|30|1|30|10" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.1-Deut.30.10">these ten verses</scripRef>, intimating, (1.) That
|
|
penitents may take direction and encouragement in their return to
|
|
God from their relation to him. <scripRef passage="Jer 3:22" id="Deu.xxxi-p7.2" parsed="|Jer|3|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.3.22">Jer.
|
|
iii. 22</scripRef>, "<i>Behold, we come unto thee, for thou art the
|
|
Lord our God;</i> therefore to thee we are bound to come, whither
|
|
else should we go? And therefore we hope to find favour with thee."
|
|
(2.) That those who have revolted from God, if they return to him
|
|
and do their first works, shall be restored to their former state
|
|
of honour and happiness. <i>Bring hither the first robe.</i> In the
|
|
threatenings of the former chapter he is all along called the
|
|
<i>Lord,</i> a God of power and the Judge of all: but, in the
|
|
promises of this chapter, <i>the Lord thy God,</i> a God of grace,
|
|
and in covenant with thee.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxi-p8">II. This may also be considered as a
|
|
prediction of the repentance and restoration of the Jews: <i>When
|
|
all these things shall have come upon thee</i> (<scripRef passage="De 30:1" id="Deu.xxxi-p8.1" parsed="|Deut|30|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>), the blessing first, and after
|
|
that the curse, then the mercy in reserve shall take place. Though
|
|
their hearts were wretchedly hardened, yet the grace of God could
|
|
soften and change them; and then, though their case was deplorably
|
|
miserable, the providence of God would redress all their
|
|
grievances. Now, 1. It is certain that this was fulfilled in their
|
|
return from their captivity in Babylon. It was a wonderful instance
|
|
of their repentance and reformation that Ephraim, who had been
|
|
joined to idols, renounced them, and said, <i>What have I to do any
|
|
more with idols?</i> That captivity effectually cured them of
|
|
idolatry; and then God planted them again in their own land and did
|
|
them good. But, 2. Some think that it is yet further to be
|
|
accomplished in the conversion of the Jews who are now dispersed,
|
|
their repentance for the sin of their fathers in crucifying Christ,
|
|
their return to God through him, and their accession to the
|
|
Christian church. But, <i>alas! who shall live when God doth
|
|
this?</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 30" id="Deu.xxxi-p8.2" parsed="|Deut|30|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 30:11-14" id="Deu.xxxi-p8.3" parsed="|Deut|30|11|30|14" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.11-Deut.30.14"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.30.11-Deut.30.14">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxxi-p8.4">The Advantages of
|
|
Revelation. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxi-p8.5">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxxi-p9">11 For this commandment which I command thee
|
|
this day, it <i>is</i> not hidden from thee, neither <i>is</i> it
|
|
far off.   12 It <i>is</i> not in heaven, that thou shouldest
|
|
say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that
|
|
we may hear it, and do it?   13 Neither <i>is</i> it beyond
|
|
the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us,
|
|
and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?   14 But
|
|
the word <i>is</i> very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy
|
|
heart, that thou mayest do it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxi-p10">Moses here urges them to obedience from the
|
|
consideration of the plainness and easiness of the command.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxi-p11">I. This is true of the law of Moses. They
|
|
could never plead in excuse of their disobedience that God had
|
|
enjoined them that which was either unintelligible or
|
|
impracticable, impossible to be known or to be done (<scripRef passage="De 30:11" id="Deu.xxxi-p11.1" parsed="|Deut|30|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>): <i>It is not hidden
|
|
from thee.</i> That is, not send messengers to heaven (<scripRef passage="De 30:12" id="Deu.xxxi-p11.2" parsed="|Deut|30|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), to enquire what thou
|
|
must do to please God; nor needest thou <i>go beyond sea</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 30:13" id="Deu.xxxi-p11.3" parsed="|Deut|30|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>), as the
|
|
philosophers did, that travelled through many and distant regions
|
|
in pursuit of learning; no, thou art not put to that labour and
|
|
expense; nor is the commandment within the reach of those only that
|
|
have a great estate or a refined genius, but it is <i>very nigh
|
|
unto thee,</i> <scripRef passage="De 30:14" id="Deu.xxxi-p11.4" parsed="|Deut|30|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.14"><i>v.</i>
|
|
14</scripRef>. It is written in thy books, made plain upon tables,
|
|
so that he that runs may read it; thy priests' lips keep this
|
|
knowledge, and, when any difficulty arises, thou mayest <i>ask the
|
|
law at their mouth,</i> <scripRef passage="Mal 2:7" id="Deu.xxxi-p11.5" parsed="|Mal|2|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mal.2.7">Mal. ii.
|
|
7</scripRef>. It is not communicated in a strange language; but it
|
|
is in thy mouth, that is, in the vulgar tongue that is commonly
|
|
used by thee, in which thou mayest hear it read, and talk of it
|
|
familiarly among thy children. It is not wrapped up in obscure
|
|
phrases or figures to puzzle and amuse thee, or in hieroglyphics,
|
|
but it is in thy heart; it is delivered in such a manner as that it
|
|
is level to thy capacity, even to the capacity of the meanest." 2.
|
|
"It is not too <i>hard</i> nor <i>heavy</i> for thee:" so the
|
|
Septuagint reads it, <scripRef passage="De 30:11" id="Deu.xxxi-p11.6" parsed="|Deut|30|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.11"><i>v.</i>
|
|
11</scripRef>. Thou needest not say, "As good attempt to climb to
|
|
heaven, or flee upon the wings of the morning to the uttermost part
|
|
of the sea, as go about to do all the words of this law:" no, the
|
|
matter is not so; it is no such intolerable yoke as some ill-minded
|
|
people represent it. It was indeed a heavy yoke in comparison with
|
|
that of Christ (<scripRef passage="Ac 15:10" id="Deu.xxxi-p11.7" parsed="|Acts|15|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.15.10">Acts xv.
|
|
10</scripRef>), but not in comparison with the idolatrous services
|
|
of the neighbouring nations. God appeals to themselves that he had
|
|
not <i>made them to serve with an offering, nor wearied them with
|
|
incense,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 43:23,Mic 6:3" id="Deu.xxxi-p11.8" parsed="|Isa|43|23|0|0;|Mic|6|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.43.23 Bible:Mic.6.3">Isa. xliii. 23;
|
|
Mic. vi. 3</scripRef>. But he speaks especially of the moral law,
|
|
and its precepts: "That is very nigh thee, consonant to the law of
|
|
nature, which would have been found in every man's heart, and every
|
|
man's mouth, if he would but have attended to it. There is that in
|
|
thee which <i>consents to the law that it is good,</i> <scripRef passage="Ro 7:16" id="Deu.xxxi-p11.9" parsed="|Rom|7|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.7.16">Rom. vii. 16</scripRef>. Thou hast therefore no
|
|
reason to complain of any insuperable difficulty in the observance
|
|
of it."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxi-p12">II. This is true of the gospel of Christ,
|
|
to which the apostle applies it, and makes it the language of the
|
|
<i>righteousness which is of faith,</i> <scripRef passage="Ro 10:6-8" id="Deu.xxxi-p12.1" parsed="|Rom|10|6|10|8" osisRef="Bible:Rom.10.6-Rom.10.8">Rom. x. 6-8</scripRef>. And many think this is
|
|
principally intended by Moses here; for he <i>wrote of Christ,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Joh 5:46" id="Deu.xxxi-p12.2" parsed="|John|5|46|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.5.46">John v. 46</scripRef>. This is God's
|
|
commandment now under the gospel that we <i>believe in the name of
|
|
his Son Jesus Christ,</i> <scripRef passage="1Jo 3:23" id="Deu.xxxi-p12.3" parsed="|1John|3|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1John.3.23">1 John iii.
|
|
23</scripRef>. If we ask, as the blind man did, <i>Lord, who is
|
|
he?</i> or where is he, that we may believe on him? (<scripRef passage="Joh 9:36" id="Deu.xxxi-p12.4" parsed="|John|9|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.9.36">John ix. 36</scripRef>), this scripture gives an
|
|
answer, We need not go up to heaven, to fetch him thence, for he
|
|
has come down thence in his incarnation; nor down to the deep, to
|
|
fetch him thence, for thence he has come up in his resurrection.
|
|
But the word is nigh us, and Christ in that word; so that if we
|
|
believe with the heart that the promises of the incarnation and
|
|
resurrection of the Messiah are fulfilled in our Lord Jesus, and
|
|
receive him accordingly, and confess him with our mouth, we have
|
|
then Christ with us, and we shall be saved. He is near, very near,
|
|
that justifies us. The law was plain and easy, but the gospel much
|
|
more so.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 30" id="Deu.xxxi-p12.5" parsed="|Deut|30|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 30:15-20" id="Deu.xxxi-p12.6" parsed="|Deut|30|15|30|20" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.15-Deut.30.20"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.30.15-Deut.30.20">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxxi-p13">15 See, I have set before thee this day life and
|
|
good, and death and evil;   16 In that I command thee this day
|
|
to love the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxi-p13.1">Lord</span> thy God, to walk in
|
|
his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his
|
|
judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxi-p13.2">Lord</span> thy God shall bless thee in the land
|
|
whither thou goest to possess it.   17 But if thine heart turn
|
|
away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and
|
|
worship other gods, and serve them;   18 I denounce unto you
|
|
this day, that ye shall surely perish, <i>and that</i> ye shall not
|
|
prolong <i>your</i> days upon the land, whither thou passest over
|
|
Jordan to go to possess it.   19 I call heaven and earth to
|
|
record this day against you, <i>that</i> I have set before you life
|
|
and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both
|
|
thou and thy seed may live:   20 That thou mayest love the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxi-p13.3">Lord</span> thy God, <i>and</i> that thou
|
|
mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he
|
|
<i>is</i> thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest
|
|
dwell in the land which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxi-p13.4">Lord</span>
|
|
sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give
|
|
them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxi-p14">Moses here concludes with a very bright
|
|
light, and a very strong fire, that, if possible, what he had been
|
|
preaching of might find entrance into the understanding and
|
|
affections of this unthinking people. What could be said more
|
|
moving, and more likely to make deep and lasting impressions? The
|
|
manner of his treating with them is so rational, so prudent, so
|
|
affectionate, and every way so apt to gain the point, that it
|
|
abundantly shows him to be in earnest, and leaves them inexcusable
|
|
in their disobedience.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxi-p15">I. He states the case very fairly. He
|
|
appeals to themselves concerning it whether he had not laid the
|
|
matter as plainly as they could wish before them. 1. Every man
|
|
covets to obtain life and good, and to escape death and evil,
|
|
desires happiness and dreads misery. "Well," says he, "I have shown
|
|
you the way to obtain all the happiness you can desire and to avoid
|
|
all misery. Be obedient, and all shall be well, and nothing amiss."
|
|
Our first parents ate the forbidden fruit, in hopes of getting
|
|
thereby the knowledge of good and evil; but it was a miserable
|
|
knowledge they got, of good by the loss of it, and of evil by the
|
|
sense of it; yet such is the compassion of God towards man that,
|
|
instead of giving him to his own delusion, he has favoured him by
|
|
his word with such a knowledge of good and evil as will make him
|
|
for ever happy if it be not his own fault. 2. Every man is moved
|
|
and governed in his actions by hope and fear, hope of good and fear
|
|
of evil, real of apparent. "Now," says Moses, "I have tried both
|
|
ways; if you will be either drawn to obedience by the certain
|
|
prospect of advantage by it, or driven to obedience by the no less
|
|
certain prospect of ruin in case you be disobedient—if you will be
|
|
wrought upon either way, you will be kept close to God and your
|
|
duty; but, if you will not, you are utterly inexcusable." Let us,
|
|
then, hear the conclusion of the whole matter. (1.) If they and
|
|
theirs would love God and serve him, they should live and be happy,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 30:16" id="Deu.xxxi-p15.1" parsed="|Deut|30|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. If they would
|
|
love God, and evidence the sincerity of their love by keeping his
|
|
commandments—if they would make conscience of keeping his
|
|
commandments, and do it from a principle of love—then God would do
|
|
them good, and they should be as happy as his love and blessing
|
|
could make them. (2.) If they or theirs should at any time turn
|
|
from God, desert his service, and worship other gods this would
|
|
certainly be their ruin, <scripRef passage="De 30:17,18" id="Deu.xxxi-p15.2" parsed="|Deut|30|17|30|18" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.17-Deut.30.18"><i>v.</i>
|
|
17, 18</scripRef>. Observe, It is not for every failure in the
|
|
particulars of their duty that ruin is threatened, but for apostasy
|
|
and idolatry: though every violation of the command deserved the
|
|
curse, yet the nation would be destroyed by that only which is the
|
|
violation of the marriage covenant. The purport of the New
|
|
Testament is much the same; this, in like manner, sets before us
|
|
life and death, good and evil; <i>He that believes shall be saved;
|
|
he that believes not shall be damned,</i> <scripRef passage="Mk 16:16" id="Deu.xxxi-p15.3" parsed="|Mark|16|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mark.16.16">Mark xvi. 16</scripRef>. And this faith includes love
|
|
and obedience. <i>To those who by patient continuance in well doing
|
|
seek for glory, honour, and immortality,</i> God will give
|
|
<i>eternal life. But to those that are contentious, and do not obey
|
|
the truth, but obey unrighteousness</i> (and so, in effect, worship
|
|
other gods and serve them), will be rendered the indignation and
|
|
wrath of an immortal God, the consequence of which must needs be
|
|
the tribulation and anguish of an immortal soul, <scripRef passage="Ro 2:7-9" id="Deu.xxxi-p15.4" parsed="|Rom|2|7|2|9" osisRef="Bible:Rom.2.7-Rom.2.9">Rom. ii. 7-9</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxi-p16">II. Having thus stated the case, he fairly
|
|
puts them to their choice, with a direction to them to choose well.
|
|
He appeals to heaven and earth concerning his fair and faithful
|
|
dealing with them, <scripRef passage="De 30:19" id="Deu.xxxi-p16.1" parsed="|Deut|30|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.19"><i>v.</i>
|
|
19</scripRef>. They could not but own that whatever was the issue
|
|
he had delivered his soul; therefore, that they might deliver
|
|
theirs, he bids them choose life, that is, choose to do their duty,
|
|
which would be their life. Note, 1. Those shall have life that
|
|
choose it: those that choose the favour of God and communion with
|
|
him for their felicity, and prosecute their choice as they ought,
|
|
shall have what they choose. 2. Those that come short of life and
|
|
happiness must thank themselves; they would have had it if they had
|
|
chosen it when it was put to their choice: but they die because
|
|
they <i>will</i> die; that is, because they do not like the life
|
|
promised upon the terms proposed.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxi-p17">III. In the <scripRef passage="De 30:20" id="Deu.xxxi-p17.1" parsed="|Deut|30|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.30.20">last verse</scripRef>, 1. He shows them, in short, what
|
|
their duty is, <i>to love God,</i> and to love him as <i>the
|
|
Lord,</i> a Being most amiable, and as <i>their God,</i> a God in
|
|
covenant with them; and, as an evidence of this love, to <i>obey
|
|
his voice</i> in every thing, and by a constancy in this love and
|
|
obedience to <i>cleave to him,</i> and never to forsake him in
|
|
affection or practice. 2. He shows them what reason there was for
|
|
this duty, inconsideration, (1.) Of their dependence upon God:
|
|
<i>He is thy life, and the length of thy days.</i> He gives life,
|
|
preserves life, restores life, and prolongs it by his power though
|
|
it is a frail life, and by his patience though it is a forfeited
|
|
life: he sweetens life with his comforts, and is the sovereign Lord
|
|
of life; <i>in his hand our breath is.</i> Therefore we are
|
|
concerned to keep ourselves in his love; for it is good having him
|
|
our friend, and bad having him our enemy. (2.) Of their obligation
|
|
to him for the promise of Canaan made to their fathers and ratified
|
|
with an oath. And, (3.) Of their expectations from him in
|
|
performance of that promise: "Love God, and serve him, that thou
|
|
mayest dwell in that land of promise which thou mayest be sure he
|
|
can give, and uphold to thee who is <i>thy life and the length of
|
|
thy days.</i>" All these are arguments to us to continue in love
|
|
and obedience to the God of our mercies.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXXI" n="xxxii" progress="96.19%" prev="Deu.xxxi" next="Deu.xxxiii" id="Deu.xxxii">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.xxxii-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.xxxii-p0.2">CHAP. XXXI.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.xxxii-p1">In this chapter Moses, having finished his sermon,
|
|
I. Encourages both the people who were now to enter Canaan
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 31:1-6" id="Deu.xxxii-p1.1" parsed="|Deut|31|1|31|6" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.1-Deut.31.6">ver. 1-6</scripRef>), and Joshua who
|
|
was to lead them, <scripRef passage="De 31:7,8,23" id="Deu.xxxii-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|31|7|31|8;|Deut|31|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.7-Deut.31.8 Bible:Deut.31.23">ver. 7, 8,
|
|
23</scripRef>. And, II. He takes care for the keeping of these
|
|
things always in their remembrance after his decease, 1. By the
|
|
book of the law which was, (1.) Written. (2.) Delivered into the
|
|
custody of the priests, <scripRef passage="De 31:9,24-27" id="Deu.xxxii-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|31|9|0|0;|Deut|31|24|31|27" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.9 Bible:Deut.31.24-Deut.31.27">ver. 9,
|
|
and 24-27</scripRef>. (3.) Ordered to be publicly read every
|
|
seventh year, <scripRef passage="De 31:10-13" id="Deu.xxxii-p1.4" parsed="|Deut|31|10|31|13" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.10-Deut.31.13">ver.
|
|
10-13</scripRef>. 2. By a song which God orders Moses to prepare
|
|
for their instruction and admonition. (1.) He calls Moses and
|
|
Joshua to the door of the tabernacle, <scripRef passage="De 31:14,15" id="Deu.xxxii-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|31|14|31|15" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.14-Deut.31.15">ver. 14, 15</scripRef>. (2.) He foretells the apostasy
|
|
of Israel in process of time, and the judgments they would thereby
|
|
bring upon themselves, <scripRef passage="De 31:16-18" id="Deu.xxxii-p1.6" parsed="|Deut|31|16|31|18" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.16-Deut.31.18">ver.
|
|
16-18</scripRef>. (3.) He prescribes the following song to be a
|
|
witness against them, <scripRef passage="De 31:19-21" id="Deu.xxxii-p1.7" parsed="|Deut|31|19|31|21" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.19-Deut.31.21">ver.
|
|
19-21</scripRef>. (4.) Moses wrote it, <scripRef passage="De 31:22" id="Deu.xxxii-p1.8" parsed="|Deut|31|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.22">ver. 22</scripRef>. And delivered it to Israel, with an
|
|
intimation of the design of it, as he had received it from the
|
|
Lord, <scripRef passage="De 31:28-30" id="Deu.xxxii-p1.9" parsed="|Deut|31|28|31|30" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.28-Deut.31.30">ver. 28</scripRef>,
|
|
&c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 31" id="Deu.xxxii-p1.10" parsed="|Deut|31|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 31:1-8" id="Deu.xxxii-p1.11" parsed="|Deut|31|1|31|8" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.1-Deut.31.8"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.31.1-Deut.31.8">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxxii-p1.12">Solemn Warnings; Joshua
|
|
Encouraged. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxii-p1.13">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxxii-p2">1 And Moses went and spake these words unto all
|
|
Israel.   2 And he said unto them, I <i>am</i> a hundred and
|
|
twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in: also
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxii-p2.1">Lord</span> hath said unto me, Thou
|
|
shalt not go over this Jordan.   3 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxii-p2.2">Lord</span> thy God, he will go over before thee,
|
|
<i>and</i> he will destroy these nations from before thee, and thou
|
|
shalt possess them: <i>and</i> Joshua, he shall go over before
|
|
thee, as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxii-p2.3">Lord</span> hath said.  
|
|
4 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxii-p2.4">Lord</span> shall do unto them as
|
|
he did to Sihon and to Og, kings of the Amorites, and unto the land
|
|
of them, whom he destroyed.   5 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxii-p2.5">Lord</span> shall give them up before your face, that
|
|
ye may do unto them according unto all the commandments which I
|
|
have commanded you.   6 Be strong and of a good courage, fear
|
|
not, nor be afraid of them: for the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxii-p2.6">Lord</span> thy God, he <i>it is</i> that doth go with
|
|
thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.   7 And Moses
|
|
called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel,
|
|
Be strong and of a good courage: for thou must go with this people
|
|
unto the land which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxii-p2.7">Lord</span> hath
|
|
sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause them to
|
|
inherit it.   8 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxii-p2.8">Lord</span>,
|
|
he <i>it is</i> that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he
|
|
will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be
|
|
dismayed.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxii-p3"><i>Loth to part</i> (we say) <i>bids oft
|
|
farewell.</i> Moses does so to the children of Israel: not because
|
|
he was loth to go to God, but because he was loth to leave them,
|
|
fearing that when he had left them they would leave God. He had
|
|
finished what he had to say to them by way of counsel and
|
|
exhortation: here he calls them together to give them a word of
|
|
encouragement, especially with reference to the wars of Canaan, in
|
|
which they were now to engage. It was a discouragement to them that
|
|
Moses was to be removed at a time when he could so ill be spared:
|
|
though Joshua was continued to fight for them in the valley, they
|
|
would want Moses to intercede for them on the hill, as he did,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ex 17:10" id="Deu.xxxii-p3.1" parsed="|Exod|17|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.10">Exod. xvii. 10</scripRef>. But there
|
|
is no remedy: <i>Moses can no more go out and come in,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 31:2" id="Deu.xxxii-p3.2" parsed="|Deut|31|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. Not that he was
|
|
disabled by any decay either of body or mind; for his <i>natural
|
|
force was not abated,</i> <scripRef passage="De 24:7" id="Deu.xxxii-p3.3" parsed="|Deut|24|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.24.7"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xxiv. 7</scripRef>. But he cannot any longer discharge his office;
|
|
for, 1. He is 120 <i>years old,</i> and it is time for him to think
|
|
of resigning his honour and returning to his rest. He that had
|
|
arrived at so great an age then, when seventy or eighty was the
|
|
ordinary stint, as appears by the prayer of Moses (<scripRef passage="Ps 90:10" id="Deu.xxxii-p3.4" parsed="|Ps|90|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.90.10">Ps. xc. 10</scripRef>), might well think that he
|
|
had accomplished as a hireling his day. 2. He is under a divine
|
|
sentence: <i>Thou shalt not go over Jordan.</i> Thus a full stop
|
|
was put to his usefulness; hitherto he must go, hitherto he must
|
|
serve, but no further. So God had appointed it and Moses
|
|
acquiesces: for I know not why we should any of us desire to live a
|
|
day longer than while God has work for us to do; nor shall we be
|
|
accountable for more time than is allotted us. But, though Moses
|
|
must not go over himself, he is anxious to encourage those that
|
|
must.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxii-p4">I. He encourages the people; and never
|
|
could any general animate his soldiers upon such good grounds as
|
|
those on which Moses here encourages Israel. 1. He assures them of
|
|
the constant presence of God with them (<scripRef passage="De 31:3" id="Deu.xxxii-p4.1" parsed="|Deut|31|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>): <i>The Lord thy God.</i> that
|
|
has led thee and kept thee hitherto <i>will go over before
|
|
thee;</i> and those might follow boldly who were sure that they had
|
|
God for their leader. He repeats it again (<scripRef passage="De 31:6" id="Deu.xxxii-p4.2" parsed="|Deut|31|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>) with an emphasis: "<i>The Lord
|
|
thy God,</i> the great Jehovah, who is thine in covenant, <i>he it
|
|
is,</i> he and no less, he and no other, <i>that goes before
|
|
thee;</i> not only who by his promise has assured thee that he
|
|
<i>will go before thee;</i> but by his ark, the visible token of
|
|
his presence, shows thee that he <i>does</i> actually <i>go before
|
|
thee.</i>" And he repeats it with enlargement: "Not only he goes
|
|
over before thee at first, to bring thee in, but he will continue
|
|
with thee all along, with thee and thine; <i>he will not fail thee
|
|
nor forsake thee;</i> he will not disappoint thy expectations in
|
|
any strait, nor will he ever desert thy interest; be constant to
|
|
him, and he will be so to thee." This is applied by the apostle to
|
|
all God's spiritual Israel, for the encouragement of their faith
|
|
and hope; unto us is this gospel preached, as well as unto them
|
|
<i>He will never fail thee, nor forsake thee,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 13:5" id="Deu.xxxii-p4.3" parsed="|Heb|13|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.13.5">Heb. xiii. 5</scripRef>. 2. He commends Joshua
|
|
to them for a leader: <i>Joshua, he shall go over before thee,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 31:3" id="Deu.xxxii-p4.4" parsed="|Deut|31|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. One whose
|
|
conduct, and courage, and sincere affection to their interest, they
|
|
had had long experience of; and one whom God had ordained and
|
|
appointed to be their leader, and therefore, no doubt, would own
|
|
and bless, and make a blessing to them. See <scripRef passage="Nu 27:18" id="Deu.xxxii-p4.5" parsed="|Num|27|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.27.18">Num. xxvii. 18</scripRef>. Note, It is a great
|
|
encouragement to a people when, instead of some useful instruments
|
|
that are removed, God raises up others to carry on his work. 3. He
|
|
ensures their success. The greatest generals, supported with the
|
|
greatest advantages, must yet own the issues of war to be doubtful
|
|
and uncertain; the battle is not always to the strong nor to the
|
|
bold; an ill accident unthought of may turn the scale against the
|
|
highest hopes. But Moses had warrant from God to assure Israel
|
|
that, notwithstanding the disadvantages they laboured under, they
|
|
should certainly be victorious. A coward will fight when he is sure
|
|
to be a conqueror. God undertakes to do the work—<i>he will
|
|
destroy these nations;</i> and Israel shall do little else than
|
|
divide the spoil—<i>thou shalt possess them,</i> <scripRef passage="De 31:3" id="Deu.xxxii-p4.6" parsed="|Deut|31|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. Two things might
|
|
encourage their hopes of this:—(1.) The victories they had
|
|
already obtained over Sihon and Og (<scripRef passage="De 31:4" id="Deu.xxxii-p4.7" parsed="|Deut|31|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>), from which they might infer both
|
|
the power of God, that he could do what he had done, and the
|
|
purpose of God, that he would finish what he had begun to do. Thus
|
|
must we improve our experience. (2.) The command God had given them
|
|
to destroy the Canaanites (<scripRef passage="De 7:2,12:2" id="Deu.xxxii-p4.8" parsed="|Deut|7|2|0|0;|Deut|12|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.2 Bible:Deut.12.2"><i>ch.</i> vii. 2; xii. 2</scripRef>), to which he
|
|
refers here (<scripRef passage="De 31:5" id="Deu.xxxii-p4.9" parsed="|Deut|31|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>,
|
|
that you <i>may do unto them according to all which I have
|
|
commanded you</i>), and from which they might infer that, if God
|
|
had commanded them to destroy the Canaanites, no doubt he would put
|
|
it into the power of their hands to do it. Note, What God has made
|
|
our duty we have reason to expect opportunity and assistance from
|
|
him for the doing of. So that from all this he had reason enough to
|
|
bid them <i>be strong and of a good courage,</i> <scripRef passage="De 31:6" id="Deu.xxxii-p4.10" parsed="|Deut|31|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. While they had the power of God
|
|
engaged for them they had no reason to fear all the powers of
|
|
Canaan engaged against them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxii-p5">II. He encourages Joshua, <scripRef passage="De 31:7,8" id="Deu.xxxii-p5.1" parsed="|Deut|31|7|31|8" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.7-Deut.31.8"><i>v.</i> 7, 8</scripRef>. Observe, 1. Though
|
|
Joshua was an experienced general, and a man of approved gallantry
|
|
and resolution, who had already signalized himself in many brave
|
|
actions, yet Moses saw cause to bid him <i>be of good courage,</i>
|
|
now that he was entering upon a new scene of action; and Joshua was
|
|
far from taking it as an affront, or as a tacit questioning of his
|
|
courage, to be thus charged, as sometimes we find proud and peevish
|
|
spirits invidiously taking exhortations and admonitions for
|
|
reproaches and reflections. Joshua himself is very well pleased to
|
|
be admonished by Moses to be strong and of good courage. 2. He
|
|
gives him this charge <i>in the sight of all Israel,</i> that they
|
|
might be the more observant of him whom they saw thus solemnly
|
|
inaugurated, and that he might set himself the more to be an
|
|
example of courage to the people who were witnesses to this charge
|
|
here given to him as well as to themselves. 3. He gives him the
|
|
same assurances of the divine presence, and consequently of a
|
|
glorious success, that he had given the people. God would be with
|
|
him, would not forsake him, and therefore he should certainly
|
|
accomplish the glorious enterprise to which he was called and
|
|
commissioned: <i>Thou shalt cause them to inherit the land</i> of
|
|
promise. Note, Those shall speed well that have God with them; and
|
|
therefore they ought to <i>be of good courage.</i> Through God let
|
|
us do valiantly, for through him we shall do victoriously; if we
|
|
resist the devil, he shall flee, and God shall <i>shortly tread him
|
|
under our feet.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 31:9-13" id="Deu.xxxii-p5.2" parsed="|Deut|31|9|31|13" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.9-Deut.31.13"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.31.9-Deut.31.13">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxxii-p5.3">The Reading of the Law. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxii-p5.4">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxxii-p6">9 And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it
|
|
unto the priests the sons of Levi, which bare the ark of the
|
|
covenant of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxii-p6.1">Lord</span>, and unto all
|
|
the elders of Israel.   10 And Moses commanded them, saying,
|
|
At the end of <i>every</i> seven years, in the solemnity of the
|
|
year of release, in the feast of tabernacles,   11 When all
|
|
Israel is come to appear before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxii-p6.2">Lord</span> thy God in the place which he shall choose,
|
|
thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing.  
|
|
12 Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and
|
|
thy stranger that <i>is</i> within thy gates, that they may hear,
|
|
and that they may learn, and fear the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxii-p6.3">Lord</span> your God, and observe to do all the words
|
|
of this law:   13 And <i>that</i> their children, which have
|
|
not known <i>any thing,</i> may hear, and learn to fear the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxii-p6.4">Lord</span> your God, as long as ye live in the
|
|
land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxii-p7">The law was given by Moses; so it is said,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Joh 1:17" id="Deu.xxxii-p7.1" parsed="|John|1|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.1.17">John i. 17</scripRef>. He was not only
|
|
entrusted to deliver it to that generation, but to transmit it to
|
|
the generations to come; and here it appears that he was faithful
|
|
to that trust.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxii-p8">I. <i>Moses wrote this law,</i> <scripRef passage="De 31:9" id="Deu.xxxii-p8.1" parsed="|Deut|31|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. The learned bishop
|
|
Patrick understands this of all the five books of Moses, which are
|
|
often called the <i>law;</i> he supposes that though Moses had
|
|
written most of the Pentateuch before, yet he did not finish it
|
|
till now; now he put his last hand to that sacred volume. Many
|
|
think that the law here (especially since it is called <i>this
|
|
law,</i> this grand abridgment of the law) is to be understood of
|
|
this book of Deuteronomy; all those discourses to the people which
|
|
have taken up this whole book, he, being in them divinely inspired,
|
|
wrote them as the word of God. He wrote this law, 1. That those who
|
|
had heard it might often review it themselves, and call it to mind.
|
|
2. That it might be the more safely handed down to posterity. Note,
|
|
The church has received abundance of advantage from the writing, as
|
|
well as from the preaching, of divine things; faith comes not only
|
|
by hearing, but by reading. The same care that was taken of the
|
|
law, thanks be to God, is taken of the gospel too; soon after it
|
|
was preached it was written, that it might reach to those on whom
|
|
the ends of the world shall come.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxii-p9">II. Having written it, he committed it to
|
|
the care and custody of the priests and elders. He delivered one
|
|
authentic copy to the priests, to be laid up by the ark (<scripRef passage="De 31:26" id="Deu.xxxii-p9.1" parsed="|Deut|31|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>), there to remain as a
|
|
standard by which all other copies must be tried. And it is
|
|
supposed that he gave another copy to the elders of each tribe, to
|
|
be transcribed by all of that tribe that were so disposed. Some
|
|
observe that the elders, as well as the priests, were entrusted
|
|
with the law, to intimate that magistrates by the power, as well as
|
|
ministers by their doctrine, are to maintain religion, and to take
|
|
care that the law be not broken nor lost.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxii-p10">III. He appointed the public reading of
|
|
this law in a general assembly of all Israel every seventh year.
|
|
The pious Jews (it is very probable) read the laws daily in their
|
|
families, and <i>Moses of old time was read in the synagogue every
|
|
sabbath day,</i> <scripRef passage="Ac 15:21" id="Deu.xxxii-p10.1" parsed="|Acts|15|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.15.21">Acts xv.
|
|
21</scripRef>. But once in seven years, that the law might be the
|
|
more magnified and made honourable, it must be read in a general
|
|
assembly. Though we read the word in private, we must not think it
|
|
needless to hear it read in public. Now here he give direction,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxii-p11">1. When this solemn reading of the law must
|
|
be, that the time might add to the solemnity; it must be done, (1.)
|
|
In the year of release. In that year the land rested, so that they
|
|
could the better spare time to attend this service. Servants who
|
|
were then discharged, and poor debtors who were then acquitted from
|
|
their debts, must know that, having the benefit of the law, it was
|
|
justly expected they should yield obedience to it, and therefore
|
|
give up themselves to be God's servants, because he had loosed
|
|
their bonds. The year of release was typical of gospel grace, which
|
|
therefore is called the <i>acceptable year of the Lord;</i> for our
|
|
remission and liberty by Christ engage us to keep his commandments,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Lu 1:74,75" id="Deu.xxxii-p11.1" parsed="|Luke|1|74|1|75" osisRef="Bible:Luke.1.74-Luke.1.75">Luke i. 74, 75</scripRef>. (2.) At
|
|
the feast of tabernacles in that year. In that feast they were
|
|
particularly required to <i>rejoice before God,</i> <scripRef passage="Le 23:40" id="Deu.xxxii-p11.2" parsed="|Lev|23|40|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lev.23.40">Lev. xxiii. 40</scripRef>. Therefore then they
|
|
must read the law, both to qualify their mirth and keep it in due
|
|
bounds, and to sanctify their mirth, that they might make the law
|
|
of God the matter of their rejoicing, and might read it with
|
|
pleasure and not as a task.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxii-p12">2. To whom it must be read: To <i>all
|
|
Israel</i> (<scripRef passage="De 31:11" id="Deu.xxxii-p12.1" parsed="|Deut|31|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>),
|
|
<i>men, women, and children, and the strangers,</i> <scripRef passage="De 31:12" id="Deu.xxxii-p12.2" parsed="|Deut|31|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. The women and children
|
|
were not obliged to go up to the other feasts, but to this only in
|
|
which the law was read. Note, It is the will of God that all people
|
|
should acquaint themselves with his word. It is a rule to all, and
|
|
therefore should be read to all. It is supposed that, since all
|
|
Israel could not possibly meet in one place, nor could one man's
|
|
voice reach them all, as many as the courts of the Lord's house
|
|
would hold met there, and the rest at the same time in their
|
|
synagogues. The Jewish doctors say that the hearers were bound to
|
|
<i>prepare their hearts,</i> and to hear <i>with fear and
|
|
reverence, and with joy and trembling,</i> as in the day <i>when
|
|
the law was given on Mount Sinai;</i> and, though there were
|
|
<i>great and wise men who knew the whole law very well,</i> yet
|
|
they were bound to <i>hear with great attention;</i> for he that
|
|
<i>reads is the messenger of the congregation to cause the words of
|
|
God to be heard.</i> I wish those that hear the gospel read and
|
|
preached would consider this.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxii-p13">3. By whom it must be read: <i>Thou shalt
|
|
read it</i> (<scripRef passage="De 31:11" id="Deu.xxxii-p13.1" parsed="|Deut|31|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>),
|
|
"Thou, O Israel," by a proper person appointed for that purpose;
|
|
or, "Thou, O Joshua," their chief ruler; accordingly we find that
|
|
he did read the law himself, <scripRef passage="Jos 8:34,35" id="Deu.xxxii-p13.2" parsed="|Josh|8|34|8|35" osisRef="Bible:Josh.8.34-Josh.8.35">Josh.
|
|
viii. 34, 35</scripRef>. So did Josiah, <scripRef passage="2Ch 34:30" id="Deu.xxxii-p13.3" parsed="|2Chr|34|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.30">2 Chron. xxxiv. 30</scripRef>, and Ezra, <scripRef passage="Ne 8:3" id="Deu.xxxii-p13.4" parsed="|Neh|8|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Neh.8.3">Neh. viii. 3</scripRef>. And the Jews say that the
|
|
king himself (when they had one) was the person that read in the
|
|
courts of the temple, that a pulpit was set up for that purpose in
|
|
the midst of the court, in which the king stood, that the book of
|
|
the law was delivered to him by the high priest, that he stood up
|
|
to receive it, uttered a prayer (as every one did that was to read
|
|
the law in public) before he read; and then, if he pleased, he
|
|
might sit down and read. But if he read standing it was thought the
|
|
more commendable, as (they say) king Agrippa did. Here let me offer
|
|
it as a conjecture that Solomon is called the <i>preacher,</i> in
|
|
his Ecclesiastes, because he delivered the substance of that book
|
|
in a discourse to the people, after his public reading of the law
|
|
in the feast of tabernacles, according to this appointment
|
|
here.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxii-p14">4. For what end it must be thus solemnly
|
|
read. (1.) That the present generation might hereby keep up their
|
|
acquaintance with the law of God, <scripRef passage="De 31:12" id="Deu.xxxii-p14.1" parsed="|Deut|31|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. They must hear, that they may
|
|
learn, and <i>fear God, and observe to do their duty.</i> See here
|
|
what we are to aim at in hearing the word; we must hear, that we
|
|
may learn and grow in knowledge; and every time we read the
|
|
scriptures we shall find that there is still more and more to be
|
|
learned out of them. We must learn, that we may fear God, that is,
|
|
that we may be duly affected with divine things; and must fear God,
|
|
that we may <i>observe and do the words of his law;</i> for in vain
|
|
do we pretend to fear him if we do not obey him. (2.) That the
|
|
rising generation might betimes be leavened with religion
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 31:13" id="Deu.xxxii-p14.2" parsed="|Deut|31|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>); not only
|
|
that those who know something may thus know more, but that <i>the
|
|
children who have not known any thing</i> may betimes know this,
|
|
how much it is their interest as well as duty to fear God.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 31" id="Deu.xxxii-p14.3" parsed="|Deut|31|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 31:14-21" id="Deu.xxxii-p14.4" parsed="|Deut|31|14|31|21" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.14-Deut.31.21"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.31.14-Deut.31.21">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxxii-p14.5">Apostasy Foretold. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxii-p14.6">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxxii-p15">14 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxii-p15.1">Lord</span>
|
|
said unto Moses, Behold, thy days approach that thou must die: call
|
|
Joshua, and present yourselves in the tabernacle of the
|
|
congregation, that I may give him a charge. And Moses and Joshua
|
|
went, and presented themselves in the tabernacle of the
|
|
congregation.   15 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxii-p15.2">Lord</span>
|
|
appeared in the tabernacle in a pillar of a cloud: and the pillar
|
|
of the cloud stood over the door of the tabernacle.   16 And
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxii-p15.3">Lord</span> said unto Moses, Behold,
|
|
thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up,
|
|
and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land,
|
|
whither they go <i>to be</i> among them, and will forsake me, and
|
|
break my covenant which I have made with them.   17 Then my
|
|
anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake
|
|
them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be
|
|
devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that
|
|
they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us,
|
|
because our God <i>is</i> not among us?   18 And I will surely
|
|
hide my face in that day for all the evils which they shall have
|
|
wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods.   19 Now
|
|
therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of
|
|
Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for
|
|
me against the children of Israel.   20 For when I shall have
|
|
brought them into the land which I sware unto their fathers, that
|
|
floweth with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten and filled
|
|
themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn unto other gods, and
|
|
serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant.   21 And it
|
|
shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them,
|
|
that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it
|
|
shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know
|
|
their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have
|
|
brought them into the land which I sware.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxii-p16">Here, I. Moses and Joshua are summoned to
|
|
attend the divine majesty at the door of the tabernacle, <scripRef passage="De 31:14" id="Deu.xxxii-p16.1" parsed="|Deut|31|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. Moses is told again
|
|
that he must shortly die; even those that are most ready and
|
|
willing to die have need to be often reminded of the approach of
|
|
death. In consideration of this, he must come himself to meet God;
|
|
for whatever improves our communion with God furthers our
|
|
preparation for death. He must also bring Joshua with him to be
|
|
presented to God for a successor, and to receive his commission and
|
|
charge. Moses readily obeys the summons, for he was not one of
|
|
those that look with an evil eye upon their successors, but, on the
|
|
contrary, rejoiced in him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxii-p17">II. God graciously gives them the meeting:
|
|
<i>He appeared in the tabernacle</i> (as the shechinah used to
|
|
appear) <i>in a pillar of a cloud,</i> <scripRef passage="De 31:15" id="Deu.xxxii-p17.1" parsed="|Deut|31|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. This is the only time in all
|
|
this book that we read of the glory of God appearing, whereas we
|
|
often read of it in the three foregoing books, which perhaps
|
|
signifies that in the latter days, under the evangelical law, such
|
|
visible appearances as these of the divine glory are not to be
|
|
expected, but we must take heed to the more sure word of
|
|
prophecy.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxii-p18">III. He tells Moses that, after his death,
|
|
the covenant which he had taken so much pains to make between
|
|
Israel and their God would certainly be broken. 1. That Israel
|
|
would <i>forsake God,</i> <scripRef passage="De 31:16" id="Deu.xxxii-p18.1" parsed="|Deut|31|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.16"><i>v.</i>
|
|
16</scripRef>. And we may be sure that if the covenant between God
|
|
and man be broken the blame must lie on man, it is he that breaks
|
|
it; we have often observed it, That God never leaves any till they
|
|
first leave him. Worshipping the gods of the Canaanites (who had
|
|
been the natives, but henceforward were to be looked upon as the
|
|
strangers of that land) would undoubtedly be counted a deserting of
|
|
God, and, like adultery, a violation of the covenant. Thus still
|
|
those are revolters from Christ, and will be so adjudged, who
|
|
either make a god of their money by reigning covetousness or a god
|
|
of their belly by reigning sensuality. Those that <i>turn to other
|
|
gods</i> (<scripRef passage="De 31:18" id="Deu.xxxii-p18.2" parsed="|Deut|31|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>)
|
|
forsake their own mercies. This apostasy of theirs is foretold to
|
|
be the effect of their prosperity (<scripRef passage="De 31:20" id="Deu.xxxii-p18.3" parsed="|Deut|31|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>): <i>They shall have eaten and
|
|
filled themselves;</i> this is all they will aim at in eating, to
|
|
gratify their own appetites, and then they will wax fat, grow
|
|
secure and sensual; their security will take off their dread of God
|
|
and his judgments; and their sensuality will incline them to the
|
|
idolatries of the heathen, which <i>made provision for the flesh to
|
|
fulfil the lusts of it.</i> Note, God has a clear and infallible
|
|
foresight of all the wickedness of the wicked, and has often
|
|
covenanted with those who <i>he knew would deal very
|
|
treacherously</i> (<scripRef passage="Isa 48:8" id="Deu.xxxii-p18.4" parsed="|Isa|48|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.48.8">Isa. xlviii.
|
|
8</scripRef>), and conferred many favours on those who he knew
|
|
would deal very ungratefully. 2. That then God would forsake
|
|
Israel; and justly does he cast those off who had so unjustly cast
|
|
him off (<scripRef passage="De 31:17" id="Deu.xxxii-p18.5" parsed="|Deut|31|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>):
|
|
<i>My anger shall be kindled against them, and I will forsake
|
|
them.</i> His providence would forsake them, no longer to protect
|
|
and prosper them, and then they would become a prey to all their
|
|
neighbours. His spirit and grace would forsake them, no longer to
|
|
teach and guide them, and then they would be more and more bigoted,
|
|
besotted, and hardened in their idolatries. Thus <i>many evils and
|
|
troubles would befal them.</i> (<scripRef passage="De 31:17,21" id="Deu.xxxii-p18.6" parsed="|Deut|31|17|0|0;|Deut|31|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.17 Bible:Deut.31.21"><i>v.</i> 17, 21</scripRef>), which would be such
|
|
manifest indications of God's displeasure against them that they
|
|
themselves would be constrained to own it: <i>Have not these evils
|
|
come upon us because our God is not among us?</i> Those that have
|
|
sinned away their God will find that thereby they pull all
|
|
mischiefs upon their own heads. But that which completed their
|
|
misery was that God would <i>hide his face from them in that
|
|
day,</i> that day of their trouble and distress, <scripRef passage="De 31:18" id="Deu.xxxii-p18.7" parsed="|Deut|31|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. Whatever outward troubles we
|
|
are in, if we have but the light of God's countenance, we may be
|
|
easy. But, if God hide his face from us and our prayers, we are
|
|
undone.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxii-p19">IV. He directs Moses to deliver them a
|
|
song, in the composing of which he should be divinely inspired, and
|
|
which should remain a standing testimony for God as faithful to
|
|
them in giving them warning, and against them as persons false to
|
|
themselves in not taking the warning, <scripRef passage="De 31:19" id="Deu.xxxii-p19.1" parsed="|Deut|31|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. The written word in general, as
|
|
well as this song in particular, is a witness for God against all
|
|
those that break covenant with him. It shall be for a testimony,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mt 24:14" id="Deu.xxxii-p19.2" parsed="|Matt|24|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.24.14">Matt. xxiv. 14</scripRef>. The wisdom
|
|
of man has devised many ways of conveying the knowledge of good and
|
|
evil, by laws, histories, prophecies, proverbs, and, among the
|
|
rest, by songs; each has its advantages. And the wisdom of God has
|
|
in the scripture made use of them all, that ignorant and careless
|
|
men might be left inexcusable. 1. This song, if rightly improved,
|
|
might be a means to prevent their apostasy; for in the inditing of
|
|
it God had an eye to their present imagination, now, <i>before they
|
|
were brought into the land of promise,</i> <scripRef passage="De 31:21" id="Deu.xxxii-p19.3" parsed="|Deut|31|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. God knew very well that there
|
|
were in their hearts such gross conceits of the deity, and such
|
|
inclinations of idolatry, that they would be tinder to the sparks
|
|
of that temptation; and therefore in this song he gives them
|
|
warning of their danger that way. Note, The word of God is a
|
|
<i>discerner of the thoughts and intents of men's hearts,</i> and
|
|
meets with them strangely by its reproofs and corrections,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Heb 4:12" id="Deu.xxxii-p19.4" parsed="|Heb|4|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.4.12">Heb. iv. 12</scripRef>. Compare
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Co 14:25" id="Deu.xxxii-p19.5" parsed="|1Cor|14|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.14.25">1 Cor. xiv. 25</scripRef>. Ministers
|
|
who preach the word know not the imaginations men go about, but
|
|
God, whose word it is, knows perfectly. 2. If this song did not
|
|
prevent their apostasy, yet it might help to bring them to
|
|
repentance, and to recover them from their apostasy. When their
|
|
troubles come upon them, this <i>song shall not be forgotten,</i>
|
|
but may serve as a glass to show them their own faces, that they
|
|
may humble themselves, and return to him from whom they have
|
|
revolted. Note, Those for whom God has mercy in store he may leave
|
|
to fall, yet he will provide means for their recovery. Medicines
|
|
are prepared before-hand for their cure.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 31:22-30" id="Deu.xxxii-p19.6" parsed="|Deut|31|22|31|30" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.22-Deut.31.30"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.31.22-Deut.31.30">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxxii-p19.7">The Song of Moses. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxii-p19.8">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxxii-p20">22 Moses therefore wrote this song the same day,
|
|
and taught it the children of Israel.   23 And he gave Joshua
|
|
the son of Nun a charge, and said, Be strong and of a good courage:
|
|
for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I
|
|
sware unto them: and I will be with thee.   24 And it came to
|
|
pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law
|
|
in a book, until they were finished,   25 That Moses commanded
|
|
the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxii-p20.1">Lord</span>, saying,   26 Take this book of the
|
|
law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxii-p20.2">Lord</span> your God, that it may be there for a
|
|
witness against thee.   27 For I know thy rebellion, and thy
|
|
stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have
|
|
been rebellious against the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxii-p20.3">Lord</span>;
|
|
and how much more after my death?   28 Gather unto me all the
|
|
elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these
|
|
words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to record against
|
|
them.   29 For I know that after my death ye will utterly
|
|
corrupt <i>yourselves,</i> and turn aside from the way which I have
|
|
commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because
|
|
ye will do evil in the sight of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxii-p20.4">Lord</span>, to provoke him to anger through the work
|
|
of your hands.   30 And Moses spake in the ears of all the
|
|
congregation of Israel the words of this song, until they were
|
|
ended.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxii-p21">Here, I. The charge is given to Joshua,
|
|
which God has said (<scripRef passage="De 31:14" id="Deu.xxxii-p21.1" parsed="|Deut|31|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.14"><i>v.</i>
|
|
14</scripRef>) he would give him. The same in effect that Moses had
|
|
given him. The same in effect that Moses had given him (<scripRef passage="De 31:7" id="Deu.xxxii-p21.2" parsed="|Deut|31|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>): <i>Be strong and of a
|
|
good courage,</i> <scripRef passage="De 31:23" id="Deu.xxxii-p21.3" parsed="|Deut|31|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.23"><i>v.</i>
|
|
23</scripRef>. Joshua had now heard from God so much of the
|
|
wickedness of the people whom he was to have the conduct of as
|
|
could not but be a discouragement to him: "Nay," says God, "how bad
|
|
soever they are, thou shalt go through thy understanding, for <i>I
|
|
will be with thee.</i> Thou shalt put them into possession of
|
|
Canaan. If they afterwards by their sin throw themselves out of it
|
|
again, that will be no fault of thine, nor any dishonour to thee,
|
|
therefore <i>be of good courage.</i>"</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxii-p22">II. The solemn delivery of the book of the
|
|
law to the Levites, to be deposited in the side of the ark, is here
|
|
again related (<scripRef passage="De 31:24-26" id="Deu.xxxii-p22.1" parsed="|Deut|31|24|31|26" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.24-Deut.31.26"><i>v.</i>
|
|
24-26</scripRef>), of which before, <scripRef passage="De 31:9" id="Deu.xxxii-p22.2" parsed="|Deut|31|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. Only they are here directed where
|
|
to treasure up this precious original, not in the ark (there only
|
|
the two tables were preserved), but in another box <i>by the side
|
|
of the ark.</i> It is probable that this was the very book that was
|
|
found in the house of the Lord (having been somehow or other
|
|
misplaced) in the days of Josiah (<scripRef passage="2Ch 34:14" id="Deu.xxxii-p22.3" parsed="|2Chr|34|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.34.14">2
|
|
Chron. xxxiv. 14</scripRef>), and so perhaps the following words
|
|
here, <i>that it may be a witness against thee,</i> may
|
|
particularly point at that event, which happened so long after; for
|
|
the finding of this very book occasioned the public reading of it
|
|
by Josiah himself, for a witness against a people who were then
|
|
almost ripe for their ruin by the Babylonians.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxii-p23">III. The song which follows in the next
|
|
chapter is here delivered to Moses, and by him to the people. He
|
|
wrote it first (<scripRef passage="De 31:22" id="Deu.xxxii-p23.1" parsed="|Deut|31|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.22"><i>v.</i>
|
|
22</scripRef>), as the Spirit of God indited it, and then <i>spoke
|
|
it in the ears of all the congregation</i> (<scripRef passage="De 31:30" id="Deu.xxxii-p23.2" parsed="|Deut|31|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>), and taught it to them
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 31:22" id="Deu.xxxii-p23.3" parsed="|Deut|31|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>), that is,
|
|
gave out copies of it, and ordered the people to learn it by heart.
|
|
It was delivered by word of mouth first, and afterwards in writing,
|
|
to the elders and officers, as the representatives of their
|
|
respective tribes (<scripRef passage="De 31:28" id="Deu.xxxii-p23.4" parsed="|Deut|31|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.28"><i>v.</i>
|
|
28</scripRef>), by them to be transmitted to their several families
|
|
and households. It was delivered to them with a solemn appeal to
|
|
heaven and earth concerning the fair warning which was given them
|
|
by it of the fatal consequences of their apostasy from God, and
|
|
with a declaration of the little joy and little hope Moses had in
|
|
and concerning them. 1. He declares what little joy he had had of
|
|
them while he was with them, <scripRef passage="De 31:27" id="Deu.xxxii-p23.5" parsed="|Deut|31|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.27"><i>v.</i>
|
|
27</scripRef>. It is not in a passion that he says, <i>I know thy
|
|
rebellion</i> (as once he said unadvisedly, <i>Hear now, you
|
|
rebels</i>), but it is the result of a long acquaintance with them:
|
|
<i>you have been rebellious against the Lord.</i> Their rebellions
|
|
against himself he makes no mention of: these he had long since
|
|
forgiven and forgotten; but they must be made to hear of their
|
|
rebellions against God, that they may be ever repented of and never
|
|
repeated. 2. What little hopes he had of them now that he was
|
|
leaving them. From what God had now said to him (<scripRef passage="De 31:16" id="Deu.xxxii-p23.6" parsed="|Deut|31|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>) more than from his own
|
|
experience of them, though that was discouraging enough, he tells
|
|
them (<scripRef passage="De 31:29" id="Deu.xxxii-p23.7" parsed="|Deut|31|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>), <i>I
|
|
know that after my death you will utterly corrupt yourselves.</i>
|
|
Many a sad thought, no doubt, it occasioned to this good man, to
|
|
foresee the apostasy and ruin of a people he had taken so much
|
|
pains with, in order to them good and make them happy; but this was
|
|
his comfort, that he had done his duty, and that God would be
|
|
glorified, if not in their settlement, yet in their dispersion.
|
|
Thus our Lord Jesus, a little before his death, foretold the rise
|
|
of false Christs and false prophets (<scripRef passage="Mt 24:24" id="Deu.xxxii-p23.8" parsed="|Matt|24|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.24.24">Matt. xxiv. 24</scripRef>), notwithstanding which, and
|
|
all the apostasies of the latter times, we may be confident that
|
|
<i>the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church,</i> for
|
|
the <i>foundation of God stands sure.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXXII" n="xxxiii" progress="96.80%" prev="Deu.xxxii" next="Deu.xxxiv" id="Deu.xxxiii">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.xxxiii-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.xxxiii-p0.2">CHAP. XXXII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.xxxiii-p1">In this chapter we have, I. The song which Moses,
|
|
by the appointment of God, delivered to the children of Israel, for
|
|
a standing admonition to them, to take heed of forsaking God. This
|
|
takes up most of the chapter, in which we have, 1. The preface,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 32:1,2" id="Deu.xxxiii-p1.1" parsed="|Deut|32|1|32|2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.1-Deut.32.2">ver. 1, 2</scripRef>. 2. A high
|
|
character of God, and, in opposition to that, a bad character of
|
|
the people of Israel, <scripRef passage="De 32:3-6" id="Deu.xxxiii-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|32|3|32|6" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.3-Deut.32.6">ver.
|
|
3-6</scripRef>. 3. A rehearsal of the great things God had done for
|
|
them, and in opposition to that an account of their ill carriage
|
|
towards him, <scripRef passage="De 32:7-18" id="Deu.xxxiii-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|32|7|32|18" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.7-Deut.32.18">ver. 7-18</scripRef>.
|
|
4. A prediction of the wasting destroying judgments which God would
|
|
bring upon them for their sins, in which God is here justified by
|
|
the many aggravations of their impieties, <scripRef passage="De 32:19-33" id="Deu.xxxiii-p1.4" parsed="|Deut|32|19|32|33" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.19-Deut.32.33">ver. 19-33</scripRef>. 5. A promise of the
|
|
destruction of their enemies and oppressors at last, and the
|
|
glorious deliverance of a remnant of Israel, <scripRef passage="De 32:36-43" id="Deu.xxxiii-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|32|36|32|43" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.36-Deut.32.43">ver. 36-43</scripRef>. II. The exhortation with which
|
|
Moses delivered this song to them, <scripRef passage="De 32:41-47" id="Deu.xxxiii-p1.6" parsed="|Deut|32|41|32|47" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.41-Deut.32.47">ver. 41-47</scripRef>. III. The orders God gives to
|
|
Moses to go up to Mount Nebo and die, <scripRef passage="De 32:48-52" id="Deu.xxxiii-p1.7" parsed="|Deut|32|48|32|52" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.48-Deut.32.52">ver. 48</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 32" id="Deu.xxxiii-p1.8" parsed="|Deut|32|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 32:1-6" id="Deu.xxxiii-p1.9" parsed="|Deut|32|1|32|6" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.1-Deut.32.6"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.32.1-Deut.32.6">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxxiii-p1.10">The Song of Moses. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxiii-p1.11">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxxiii-p2">1 Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and
|
|
hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.   2 My doctrine shall
|
|
drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small
|
|
rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:
|
|
  3 Because I will publish the name of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxiii-p2.1">Lord</span>: ascribe ye greatness unto our God.  
|
|
4 <i>He is</i> the Rock, his work <i>is</i> perfect: for all his
|
|
ways <i>are</i> judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just
|
|
and right <i>is</i> he.   5 They have corrupted themselves,
|
|
their spot <i>is</i> not <i>the spot</i> of his children: <i>they
|
|
are</i> a perverse and crooked generation.   6 Do ye thus
|
|
requite the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxiii-p2.2">Lord</span>, O foolish people
|
|
and unwise? <i>is</i> not he thy father <i>that</i> hath bought
|
|
thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p3">Here is, I. A commanding preface or
|
|
introduction to this song of Moses, <scripRef passage="De 32:1,2" id="Deu.xxxiii-p3.1" parsed="|Deut|32|1|32|2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.1-Deut.32.2"><i>v.</i> 1, 2</scripRef>. He begins, 1. With a solemn
|
|
appeal to heaven and earth concerning the truth and importance of
|
|
what he was about to say, and the justice of the divine proceedings
|
|
against a rebellious and backsliding people, for he had said
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 31:28" id="Deu.xxxiii-p3.2" parsed="|Deut|31|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.28"><i>ch.</i> xxxi. 28</scripRef>) that
|
|
he would in this song call heaven and earth to record against them.
|
|
Heaven and earth would sooner hear than this perverse and
|
|
unthinking people; for they revolt not from the obedience to their
|
|
Creator, but <i>continue to this day, according to his ordinances,
|
|
as his servants</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 119:89-91" id="Deu.xxxiii-p3.3" parsed="|Ps|119|89|119|91" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119.89-Ps.119.91">Ps. cxix.
|
|
89-91</scripRef>), and therefore will rise up in judgment against
|
|
rebellious Israel. Heaven and earth will be witnesses against
|
|
sinners, witnesses of the warning given them and of their refusal
|
|
to take the warning (see <scripRef passage="Job 20:27" id="Deu.xxxiii-p3.4" parsed="|Job|20|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.27">Job xx.
|
|
27</scripRef>); the <i>heaven shall reveal his iniquity, and the
|
|
earth shall rise up against him.</i> Or heaven and earth are here
|
|
put for the inhabitants of both, angels and men; both shall agree
|
|
to justify God in his proceedings against Israel, and to <i>declare
|
|
his righteousness,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 50:6" id="Deu.xxxiii-p3.5" parsed="|Ps|50|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.50.6">Ps. l.
|
|
6</scripRef>; see <scripRef passage="Re 19:1,2" id="Deu.xxxiii-p3.6" parsed="|Rev|19|1|19|2" osisRef="Bible:Rev.19.1-Rev.19.2">Rev. xix. 1,
|
|
2</scripRef>. 2. he begins with a solemn application of what he was
|
|
about to say to the people (<scripRef passage="De 32:2" id="Deu.xxxiii-p3.7" parsed="|Deut|32|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.2"><i>v.</i>
|
|
2</scripRef>): <i>My doctrine shall drop as the rain.</i> "It shall
|
|
be a beating sweeping rain to the rebellious;" so one of the
|
|
Chaldee paraphrasts expounds the first clause. Rain is sometimes
|
|
sent for judgment, witness that with which the world was deluged;
|
|
and so the word of God, while to some it is reviving and
|
|
refreshing—a <i>savour of life unto life,</i> is to others
|
|
terrifying and killing—a <i>savour of death unto death.</i> It
|
|
shall be as a sweet and comfortable dew to those who are rightly
|
|
prepared to receive it. Observe, (1.) The subject of this song is
|
|
doctrine; he had given them a song of praise and thanksgiving
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 15:1-21" id="Deu.xxxiii-p3.8" parsed="|Exod|15|1|15|21" osisRef="Bible:Exod.15.1-Exod.15.21">Exod. xv.</scripRef>), but this is
|
|
a song of instruction, for in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual
|
|
songs, we are not only to give glory to God, but to <i>teach and
|
|
admonish one another,</i> <scripRef passage="Col 3:16" id="Deu.xxxiii-p3.9" parsed="|Col|3|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Col.3.16">Col. iii.
|
|
16</scripRef>. Hence many of David's psalms are entitled
|
|
<i>Maschil—to give instruction.</i> (2.) This doctrine is fitly
|
|
compared to rain and showers which come from above, to make the
|
|
earth fruitful, and <i>accomplish that for which they are sent.</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Isa 55:10,11" id="Deu.xxxiii-p3.10" parsed="|Isa|55|10|55|11" osisRef="Bible:Isa.55.10-Isa.55.11">Isa. lv. 10, 11</scripRef>), and
|
|
depend not upon the wisdom or will of man, <scripRef passage="Mic 5:7" id="Deu.xxxiii-p3.11" parsed="|Mic|5|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mic.5.7">Mic. v. 7</scripRef>. It is a mercy to have this rain
|
|
come often upon us, and our duty to <i>drink it in,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 6:7" id="Deu.xxxiii-p3.12" parsed="|Heb|6|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.6.7">Heb. vi. 7</scripRef>. (3.) He promises that his
|
|
doctrine shall drop and distil as the dew, and the small rain,
|
|
which descend silently and without noise. The word preached is
|
|
likely to profit when it comes gently, and sweetly insinuates
|
|
itself into the hearts and affections of the hearers. (4.) He
|
|
bespeaks their acceptance and entertainment of it, and that it
|
|
might be as sweet, and pleasant, and welcome to them as rain to the
|
|
<i>thirsty earth,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 72:6" id="Deu.xxxiii-p3.13" parsed="|Ps|72|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.72.6">Ps. lxxii.
|
|
6</scripRef>. And the word of God is likely to do us good when it
|
|
is thus acceptable. (5.) The learned bishop Patrick understands it
|
|
as a prayer that his words which were sent from heaven to them
|
|
might sink into their hearts and soften them, as the rain softens
|
|
the earth, and so make them fruitful in obedience.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p4">II. An awful declaration of the greatness
|
|
and righteousness of God, <scripRef passage="De 32:3,4" id="Deu.xxxiii-p4.1" parsed="|Deut|32|3|32|4" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.3-Deut.32.4"><i>v.</i>
|
|
3, 4</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p5">1. He begins with this, and lays it down as
|
|
his first principle, (1.) To preserve the honour of God, that no
|
|
reproach might be cast upon him for the sake of the wickedness of
|
|
his people Israel; how wicked and corrupt soever those are who are
|
|
called by his name, he is just, and right, and all that is good,
|
|
and is not to be thought the worse of for their badness. (2.) To
|
|
aggravate the wickedness of Israel, who knew and worshipped such a
|
|
holy god, and yet were themselves so unholy. And, (3.) To justify
|
|
God in his dealings with them; we must abide by it, that God is
|
|
righteous, even when his <i>judgments are a great deep,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Jer 12:1,Ps 36:6" id="Deu.xxxiii-p5.1" parsed="|Jer|12|1|0|0;|Ps|36|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.12.1 Bible:Ps.36.6">Jer. xii. 1; Ps. xxxvi.
|
|
6</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p6">2. Moses here sets himself to <i>publish
|
|
the name of the Lord</i> (<scripRef passage="De 32:3" id="Deu.xxxiii-p6.1" parsed="|Deut|32|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.3"><i>v.</i>
|
|
3</scripRef>), that Israel, knowing what a God he is whom they had
|
|
avouched for theirs, might never be such fools as to exchange him
|
|
for a false god, a dunghill god. He calls upon them therefore to
|
|
ascribe greatness to him. It will be of great use to us for the
|
|
preventing of sin, and the preserving of us in the way of our duty,
|
|
always to keep up high and honourable thoughts of God, and to take
|
|
all occasions to express them: <i>Ascribe greatness to our God.</i>
|
|
We cannot add to his greatness, for it is infinite; but we must
|
|
acknowledge it, and give him the glory of it. Now, when Moses would
|
|
set forth the greatness of God, he does it, not by explaining his
|
|
eternity and immensity, or describing the brightness of his glory
|
|
in the upper world, but by showing the faithfulness of his word,
|
|
the perfection of his works, and the wisdom and equity of all the
|
|
administrations of his government; for in these his glory shines
|
|
most clearly to us, and these are the things revealed concerning
|
|
him, which <i>belong to us and our children,</i> <scripRef passage="De 32:4" id="Deu.xxxiii-p6.2" parsed="|Deut|32|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. (1.) <i>He is the rock.</i> So he
|
|
is called six times in this chapter, and the LXX. all along
|
|
translates it <b><i>Theos,</i></b> <i>God.</i> The learned Mr. Hugh
|
|
Broughton reckons that God is called the <i>rock</i> eighteen times
|
|
(besides in this chapter) in the Old Testament (though in some
|
|
places we translate it <i>strength</i>), and charges it therefore
|
|
upon the papists that they make St. Peter a god when they make him
|
|
the rock on which the church is built. God is the rock, for he is
|
|
in himself immutable immovable, and he is to all that seek him and
|
|
fly to him an impenetrable shelter, and to all that trust in him an
|
|
everlasting foundation. (2.) <i>His work is perfect.</i> His work
|
|
of creation was so, <i>all very good;</i> his works of providence
|
|
are so, or will be so in due time, and when the mystery of God
|
|
shall be finished the perfection of his works will appear to all
|
|
the world. Nothing that God does can be mended, <scripRef passage="Ec 3:14" id="Deu.xxxiii-p6.3" parsed="|Eccl|3|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.3.14">Eccl. iii. 14</scripRef>. God was now perfecting what he
|
|
had promised and begun for his people Israel, and from the
|
|
perfection of this work they must take occasion to give him the
|
|
glory of the perfection of all his works. The best of men's works
|
|
are imperfect, they have their flaws and defects, and are left
|
|
unfinished; but, <i>as for God, his work is perfect;</i> if he
|
|
begin, he will make an end. (3.) <i>All his ways are judgment.</i>
|
|
The ends of his ways are all righteous, and he is wise in the
|
|
choice of the means in order to those ends. <i>Judgment</i>
|
|
signifies both <i>prudence</i> and <i>justice. The ways of the Lord
|
|
are right,</i> <scripRef passage="Ho 14:9" id="Deu.xxxiii-p6.4" parsed="|Hos|14|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.14.9">Hos. xiv. 9</scripRef>.
|
|
(4.) He is <i>a God of truth,</i> whose word we may take and rely
|
|
upon, for he cannot lie who is faithful to all his promises, nor
|
|
shall his threatenings fall to the ground. (5.) He is <i>without
|
|
iniquity,</i> one who never cheated any that trusted in him, never
|
|
wronged any that appealed to his justice, nor ever was hard upon
|
|
any that cast themselves upon his mercy. (6.) <i>Just and right is
|
|
he.</i> As he will not wrong any by punishing them more than they
|
|
deserve, so he will not fail to recompense all those that serve him
|
|
or suffer for him. He is indeed just and right; for he will
|
|
effectually take care that none shall lose by him. Now what a
|
|
bright and amiable idea does this <scripRef passage="De 34:4" id="Deu.xxxiii-p6.5" parsed="|Deut|34|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.34.4">one
|
|
verse</scripRef> give us of the God whom we worship; and what
|
|
reason have we then to love him and fear him, to live a life of
|
|
delight in him, dependence on him, and devotedness to him! This is
|
|
<i>our rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him;</i> nor can
|
|
there be, <scripRef passage="Ps 92:15" id="Deu.xxxiii-p6.6" parsed="|Ps|92|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.92.15">Ps. xcii. 15</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p7">III. A high charge exhibited against the
|
|
Israel of God, whose character was in all respects the reverse of
|
|
that of the <i>God of Israel,</i> <scripRef passage="De 32:5" id="Deu.xxxiii-p7.1" parsed="|Deut|32|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. 1. <i>They have corrupted
|
|
themselves.</i> Or, <i>It has corrupted itself;</i> the body of the
|
|
people has: <i>the whole head sick, and the whole heart faint.</i>
|
|
God did not corrupt them, for <i>just and right is he;</i> but they
|
|
are themselves the sole authors of their own sin and ruin; and both
|
|
are included in this word. <i>They have debauched themselves;</i>
|
|
for every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust. And
|
|
<i>they have destroyed themselves,</i> <scripRef passage="Ho 13:9" id="Deu.xxxiii-p7.2" parsed="|Hos|13|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.13.9">Hos. xiii. 9</scripRef>. If thou scornest, thou alone
|
|
shalt bear the guilt and grief, <scripRef passage="Pr 9:12" id="Deu.xxxiii-p7.3" parsed="|Prov|9|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.9.12">Prov.
|
|
ix. 12</scripRef>. 2. <i>Their spot is not the spot of his
|
|
children.</i> Even God's children have their spots, while they are
|
|
in this imperfect state; for if we say we have no sin, no spot, we
|
|
deceive ourselves. But the sin of Israel was none of those; it was
|
|
not an infirmity which they strove against, watched and prayed
|
|
against, but an evil which their hearts were fully set in them to
|
|
do. For, 3. They were a <i>perverse and crooked generation,</i>
|
|
that were actuated by a spirit of contradiction, and therefore
|
|
would do what was forbidden because it was forbidden, would set up
|
|
their own humour and fancy in opposition to the will of God, were
|
|
impatient of reproof, hated to be reformed, and <i>went on
|
|
frowardly in the way of their heart.</i> The Chaldee paraphrase
|
|
reads <scripRef passage="De 32:5" id="Deu.xxxiii-p7.4" parsed="|Deut|32|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.5">this verse</scripRef> thus:
|
|
<i>They have scattered</i> or changed <i>themselves, and not him,
|
|
even the children that served idols, a generation that has depraved
|
|
its own works, and alienated itself.</i> Idolaters cannot hurt God,
|
|
nor do any damage to his works, nor make him a stranger to this
|
|
world. See <scripRef passage="Job 35:6" id="Deu.xxxiii-p7.5" parsed="|Job|35|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.35.6">Job xxxv. 6</scripRef>. No,
|
|
all the hurt they do is to themselves and their own works. The
|
|
learned bishop Patrick gives another reading of it: <i>Did he do
|
|
him any hurt?</i> That is, "Is God the rock to be blamed for the
|
|
evils that should befal Israel? No, <i>His children are their
|
|
blot,</i>" that is, "All the evil that comes upon them is the fruit
|
|
of their children's wickedness; for the whole generation of them is
|
|
crooked and perverse." All that are ruined ruin themselves; they
|
|
die because they will die.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p8">IV. A pathetic expostulation with this
|
|
provoking people for their ingratitude (<scripRef passage="De 32:6" id="Deu.xxxiii-p8.1" parsed="|Deut|32|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>): "<i>Do you thus requite the
|
|
Lord?</i> Surely you will not hereafter be so base and disingenuous
|
|
in your carriage towards him as you have been." 1. He reminds them
|
|
of the obligations God had laid upon them to serve him, and to
|
|
cleave to him. He had been a Father to them, had begotten them, fed
|
|
them, carried them, nursed them, and borne their manners; and would
|
|
they spurn at the bowels of a Father? He had bought them, had been
|
|
at a vast expense of miracles to bring them out of Egypt, had given
|
|
<i>men for them,</i> and <i>people for their life,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 43:4" id="Deu.xxxiii-p8.2" parsed="|Isa|43|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.43.4">Isa. xliii. 4</scripRef>. "<i>Is not he thy
|
|
Father, thy owner</i> (so some), that has an incontestable
|
|
propriety in thee?" and <i>the ox knoweth his owner.</i> "he has
|
|
made thee, and brought thee into being, established thee and kept
|
|
thee in being; has he not done so? Can you deny the engagements you
|
|
lie under to him, in consideration of the great things he has done
|
|
and designed for you?" And are not our obligations, as baptized
|
|
Christians, equally great and strong to our Creator that made us,
|
|
our Redeemer that bought us, and our Sanctifier that has
|
|
established us. 2. Hence he infers the evil of deserting him and
|
|
rebelling against him. For, (1.) It was base ingratitude: "<i>Do
|
|
you thus require the Lord?</i> Are these the returns you make him
|
|
for all his favours to you? The powers you have from him will you
|
|
employ them against him?" See <scripRef passage="Mic 6:3,Joh 10:32" id="Deu.xxxiii-p8.3" parsed="|Mic|6|3|0|0;|John|10|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mic.6.3 Bible:John.10.32">Mic. vi. 3, 4; John x. 32</scripRef>. This is
|
|
such monstrous villany as all the world will cry shame of: call a
|
|
man ungrateful, and you can call him no worse. (2.) It was
|
|
prodigious madness: <i>O foolish people and unwise!</i> Fools, and
|
|
double fools! <i>who has bewitched you?</i> <scripRef passage="Ga 3:1" id="Deu.xxxiii-p8.4" parsed="|Gal|3|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.3.1">Gal. iii. 1</scripRef>. "Fools indeed, to disoblige one on
|
|
whom you have such a necessary dependence! To forsake your own
|
|
mercies for lying vanities!" Note, All wilful sinners, especially
|
|
sinners in Israel, are the most unwise and the most ungrateful
|
|
people in the world.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 32:7-14" id="Deu.xxxiii-p8.5" parsed="|Deut|32|7|32|14" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.7-Deut.32.14"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.32.7-Deut.32.14">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxxiii-p9">7 Remember the days of old, consider the years
|
|
of many generations: ask thy father, and he will show thee; thy
|
|
elders, and they will tell thee.   8 When the most High
|
|
divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the
|
|
sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the
|
|
number of the children of Israel.   9 For the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxiii-p9.1">Lord</span>'s portion <i>is</i> his people; Jacob
|
|
<i>is</i> the lot of his inheritance.   10 He found him in a
|
|
desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about,
|
|
he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.   11
|
|
As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young,
|
|
spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:
|
|
  12 <i>So</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxiii-p9.2">Lord</span> alone
|
|
did lead him, and <i>there was</i> no strange god with him.  
|
|
13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might
|
|
eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out
|
|
of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;   14 Butter of
|
|
kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed
|
|
of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou
|
|
didst drink the pure blood of the grape.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p10">Moses, having in general represented God to
|
|
them as their great benefactor, whom they were bound in gratitude
|
|
to observe and obey, in these verses gives particular instances of
|
|
God's kindness to them and concern for them. 1. Some instances were
|
|
ancient, and for proof of them he appeals to the records (<scripRef passage="De 32:7" id="Deu.xxxiii-p10.1" parsed="|Deut|32|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>): <i>Remember the days of
|
|
old;</i> that is, "Keep in remembrance the history of those days,
|
|
and of the wonderful providences of God concerning the old world,
|
|
and concerning your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; you will
|
|
find a constant series of mercies attending them, and how long
|
|
since things were working towards that which has now come to pass."
|
|
Note, The authentic histories of ancient times are of singular use,
|
|
and especially the history of the church in its infancy, both the
|
|
Old-Testament and the New-Testament church. 2. Others were more
|
|
modern, and for proof of them he appeals to their fathers and
|
|
elders that were now alive and with them. Parents must diligently
|
|
teach their children, not only the word of God, his laws (<scripRef passage="De 6:7" id="Deu.xxxiii-p10.2" parsed="|Deut|6|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.6.7"><i>ch.</i> vi. 7</scripRef>), and the meaning of
|
|
his ordinances (<scripRef passage="Ex 12:26,27" id="Deu.xxxiii-p10.3" parsed="|Exod|12|26|12|27" osisRef="Bible:Exod.12.26-Exod.12.27">Exod. xii. 26,
|
|
27</scripRef>), but his works also, and the methods of his
|
|
providence. See <scripRef passage="Ps 78:3,4,6,7" id="Deu.xxxiii-p10.4" parsed="|Ps|78|3|78|4;|Ps|78|6|0|0;|Ps|78|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.78.3-Ps.78.4 Bible:Ps.78.6 Bible:Ps.78.7">Ps. lxxviii. 3,
|
|
4, 6, 7</scripRef>. And children should desire the knowledge of
|
|
those things which will be of use to engage them to their duty and
|
|
to direct them in it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p11">Three things are here enlarged upon as
|
|
instances of God's kindness to his people Israel, and strong
|
|
obligations upon them never to forsake him:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p12">I. The early designation of the land of
|
|
Canaan for their inheritance; for herein it was a type and figure
|
|
of our heavenly inheritance, that it was of old ordained and
|
|
prepared in the divine counsels, <scripRef passage="De 32:8" id="Deu.xxxiii-p12.1" parsed="|Deut|32|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p13">1. When the earth was divided among the
|
|
sons of men, in the days of Peleg, after the flood, and each family
|
|
had its lot, in which it must settle, and by degrees grow up into a
|
|
nation, then God had Israel in his thoughts and in his eye; for,
|
|
designing this good land into which they were now going to be in
|
|
due time an inheritance for them, he ordered that the posterity of
|
|
Canaan, rather than any other of the families then in being, should
|
|
be planted there in the meantime, to keep possession, as it were,
|
|
till Israel was ready for it, because those families were under the
|
|
curse of Noah, by which they were condemned to servitude and ruin
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ge 9:25" id="Deu.xxxiii-p13.1" parsed="|Gen|9|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.25">Gen. ix. 25</scripRef>), and therefore
|
|
would be the more justly, honourably, easily, and effectually,
|
|
rooted out, when the fulness of time should come that Israel should
|
|
take possession. Thus he set the bounds of that people with an eye
|
|
to the designed number of the children of Israel, that they might
|
|
have just as much as would serve their turn. And some observe that
|
|
Canaan himself, and his eleven sons (<scripRef passage="Ge 10:15-18" id="Deu.xxxiii-p13.2" parsed="|Gen|10|15|10|18" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10.15-Gen.10.18">Gen. x. 15</scripRef>, &c.), make up just the
|
|
number of the twelve tribes of Israel. Note, (1.) The wisdom of God
|
|
has appointed the bounds of men's habitation, and determined both
|
|
the place and time of our living in the world, <scripRef passage="Ac 17:26" id="Deu.xxxiii-p13.3" parsed="|Acts|17|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.17.26">Acts xvii. 26</scripRef>. When he <i>gave the earth to
|
|
the children of men</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 115:16" id="Deu.xxxiii-p13.4" parsed="|Ps|115|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.115.16">Ps. cxv.
|
|
16</scripRef>), it was not that every man might catch as he could;
|
|
no, he divides to nations their inheritance, and will have every
|
|
one to know his own, and not to invade another's property. (2.)
|
|
Infinite wisdom has a vast reach, and designs beforehand what is
|
|
brought to pass long after. <i>Known unto God are all his works</i>
|
|
from the beginning to the end (<scripRef passage="Ac 15:18" id="Deu.xxxiii-p13.5" parsed="|Acts|15|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.15.18">Acts
|
|
xv. 18</scripRef>), but they are not so to us, <scripRef passage="Ec 3:11" id="Deu.xxxiii-p13.6" parsed="|Eccl|3|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.3.11">Eccl. iii. 11</scripRef>. (3.) The great God, in
|
|
governing the world, and ordering the affairs of states and
|
|
kingdoms, has a special regard to his church and people, and
|
|
consults their good in all. See <scripRef passage="2Ch 16:9,Isa 45:4" id="Deu.xxxiii-p13.7" parsed="|2Chr|16|9|0|0;|Isa|45|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.16.9 Bible:Isa.45.4">2 Chron. xvi. 9, and Isa. xlv. 4</scripRef>.
|
|
The Canaanites thought they had as good and sure a title to their
|
|
land as any of their neighbours had to theirs; but God intended
|
|
that they should only be tenants, till the Israelites, their
|
|
landlords, came. Thus God serves his own purposes of kindness to
|
|
his people, by those that neither know him nor love him, <i>who
|
|
mean not so, neither doth their heart think so,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 10:7,Mic 4:12" id="Deu.xxxiii-p13.8" parsed="|Isa|10|7|0|0;|Mic|4|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.10.7 Bible:Mic.4.12">Isa. x. 7; Mic. iv. 12</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p14">2. The reason given for the particular care
|
|
God took for this people, so long before they were either born or
|
|
thought of (as I may say), in our world, does yet more magnify the
|
|
kindness, and make it obliging beyond expression (<scripRef passage="De 32:9" id="Deu.xxxiii-p14.1" parsed="|Deut|32|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): <i>For the Lord's
|
|
portion is his people.</i> All the world is his. He is owner and
|
|
possessor of heaven and earth, but his church is his in a peculiar
|
|
manner. It is his demesne, his vineyard, his garden enclosed. He
|
|
has a particular delight in it: it is the beloved of his soul, in
|
|
it he walks, he dwells, it is his rest for ever. He has a
|
|
particular concern for it, keeps it as the apple of his eye. He has
|
|
particular expectations from it, as a man has from his portion, has
|
|
a much greater rent of honour, glory, and worship, from that
|
|
distinguished remnant, than from all the world besides. That God
|
|
should be his people's portion is easy to be accounted for, for he
|
|
is their joy and felicity; but how they should be his portion, who
|
|
neither needs them nor can be benefited by them, must be resolved
|
|
into the wondrous condescensions of free grace. <i>Even so, Father,
|
|
because it seemed good in thy eyes</i> so to call and to account
|
|
them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p15">II. The forming of them into a people, that
|
|
they might be fit to enter upon this inheritance, like an heir of
|
|
age, at the time appointed of the Father. And herein also Canaan
|
|
was a figure of the heavenly inheritance; for, as it was from
|
|
eternity proposed and designed for all God's spiritual Israel, so
|
|
they are, in time (and it is a work of time), fitted and made meet
|
|
for it, <scripRef passage="Col 1:12" id="Deu.xxxiii-p15.1" parsed="|Col|1|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Col.1.12">Col. i. 12</scripRef>. The
|
|
deliverance of Israel out of slavery, by the destruction of their
|
|
oppressors, was attended with so many wonders obvious to sense, and
|
|
had been so often spoken of, that it needed not to be mentioned in
|
|
this song; but the gracious works God wrought upon them would be
|
|
less taken notice of than the glorious works he had wrought for
|
|
them, and therefore he chooses rather to advert to them. A great
|
|
deal was done to model this people, to cast them into some shape,
|
|
and to fit them for the great things designed for them in the land
|
|
of promise; and it is here most elegantly described.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p16">1. <i>He found him in a desert land,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 32:10" id="Deu.xxxiii-p16.1" parsed="|Deut|32|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. This refers,
|
|
no doubt, to the wilderness through which God brought them to
|
|
Canaan, and in which he took so much pains with them; it is called
|
|
<i>the church in the wilderness,</i> <scripRef passage="Ac 7:38" id="Deu.xxxiii-p16.2" parsed="|Acts|7|38|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.38">Acts vii. 38</scripRef>. There it was born, and nursed,
|
|
and educated, that all might appear to be divine and from heaven,
|
|
since they had there no communication with any part of this earth
|
|
either for food or learning. But, because he is said to <i>find</i>
|
|
them there, it seems designed also to represent both the bad state
|
|
and the bad character of that people when God began first to appear
|
|
for them. (1.) Their condition was forlorn. Egypt was to them a
|
|
desert land, and a waste howling wilderness, for they were
|
|
bond-slaves in it, and cried by reason of their oppression, and
|
|
were perfectly bewildered and at a loss for relief; there God found
|
|
them, and thence he fetched them. And, (2.) Their disposition was
|
|
very unpromising. So ignorant were the generality of them in divine
|
|
things, so stupid and unapt to receive the impressions of them, so
|
|
peevish and humoursome, so froward and quarrelsome, and withal so
|
|
strangely addicted to the idolatries of Egypt, that they might well
|
|
be said to be found in a desert land; for one might as reasonably
|
|
expect a crop of corn from a barren wilderness as any good fruit of
|
|
service to God from a people of such a character. Those that are
|
|
renewed and sanctified by grace should often remember what they
|
|
were by nature.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p17">2. <i>He led him about and instructed
|
|
him.</i> When God had them in the wilderness he did not bring them
|
|
directly to Canaan, but made them go a great way about, and so he
|
|
instructed them; that is, (1.) by this means he took time to
|
|
instruct them, and gave them commandments as they were able to
|
|
receive them. Those whose business it is to instruct others must
|
|
not expect it will be done of a sudden; learners must have time to
|
|
learn. (2.) By this means he tried their faith, and patience, and
|
|
dependence upon God, and inured them to the hardships of the
|
|
wilderness, and so instructed them. Every stage had something in it
|
|
that was instructive; even when he chastened them, he thereby
|
|
<i>taught them out of his law.</i> It is said (<scripRef passage="Ps 107:7" id="Deu.xxxiii-p17.1" parsed="|Ps|107|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.107.7">Ps. cvii. 7</scripRef>) that he <i>led them forth by the
|
|
right way;.</i> and yet here that he <i>led them about;</i> for God
|
|
always leads his people the right way, however to us it may seem
|
|
circuitous: so that the furthest way about proves, if not the
|
|
nearest way, yet the best way home to Canaan. How God instructed
|
|
them is explained long after (<scripRef passage="Ne 9:13" id="Deu.xxxiii-p17.2" parsed="|Neh|9|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Neh.9.13">Neh. ix.
|
|
13</scripRef>), <i>Thou gavest them right judgments and true laws,
|
|
good statutes, and commandments;</i> and especially (<scripRef passage="De 32:20" id="Deu.xxxiii-p17.3" parsed="|Deut|32|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>), <i>Thou gavest them
|
|
also thy good Spirit to instruct them;</i> and he instructs
|
|
effectually. We may well imagine how unfit that people would have
|
|
been for Canaan had they not first gone through the discipline of
|
|
the wilderness.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p18">3. <i>He kept him as the apple of his
|
|
eye,</i> with all the care and tenderness that could be, from the
|
|
malignant influences of an open sky and air, and all the perils of
|
|
an inhospitable desert. The pillar of cloud and fire was both a
|
|
guide and a guard to them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p19">4. He did that for them which the eagle
|
|
does for her nest of young ones, <scripRef passage="De 32:11,12" id="Deu.xxxiii-p19.1" parsed="|Deut|32|11|32|12" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.11-Deut.32.12"><i>v.</i> 11, 12</scripRef>. The similitude was
|
|
touched, <scripRef passage="Ex 19:4" id="Deu.xxxiii-p19.2" parsed="|Exod|19|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.19.4">Exod. xix. 4</scripRef>, <i>I
|
|
bore you on eagles' wings;</i> here it is enlarged upon. The eagle
|
|
is observed to have a strong affection for her young, and to show
|
|
it, not only as other creatures by protecting them and making
|
|
provision for them, but by educating them and teaching them to fly.
|
|
For this purpose she stirs them out of the nest where they lie
|
|
dozing, flutters over them, to show them how they must use their
|
|
wings, and then accustoms them to fly upon her wings till they have
|
|
learnt to fly upon their own. This, by the way, is an example to
|
|
parents to train up their children to business, and not to indulge
|
|
them in idleness and the love of ease. God did thus by Israel; when
|
|
they were in love with their slavery, and loth to leave it, God, by
|
|
Moses, stirred them up to aspire after liberty, and many a time
|
|
kept them from returning to the house of bondage. He carried them
|
|
out of Egypt, led them into the wilderness, and now at length had
|
|
led them through it. <i>The Lord alone did lead him,</i> he needed
|
|
not any assistance, nor did he take any to be partner with him in
|
|
the achievement, which was a good reason why they should serve the
|
|
Lord only and no other, so much as in partnership, much less in
|
|
rivalship with him. There was no strange god with him to contribute
|
|
to Israel's salvation, and therefore there should be none to share
|
|
in Israel's homage and adoration, <scripRef passage="Ps 81:9" id="Deu.xxxiii-p19.3" parsed="|Ps|81|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.81.9">Ps.
|
|
lxxxi. 9</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p20">III. The settling of them in a good land.
|
|
This was done in part already, in the happy planting of the two
|
|
tribes and a half, an earnest of what would speedily and certainly
|
|
be done for the rest of the tribes. 1. They were blessed with
|
|
glorious victories over their enemies (<scripRef passage="De 32:13" id="Deu.xxxiii-p20.1" parsed="|Deut|32|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>): <i>He made him ride on the
|
|
high places of the earth,</i> that is, he brought him on with
|
|
conquest, and brought him home with triumph. he rode over the high
|
|
places or strong holds that were kept against him, sat in ease and
|
|
honour upon the fruitful hills of Canaan. In Egypt they looked
|
|
mean, and were so, in poverty and disgrace; but in Canaan they
|
|
looked great, and were so, advanced and enriched; they rode in
|
|
state, as a people whom the King of kings delighted to honour. 2.
|
|
With great plenty of all good things. Not only the ordinary
|
|
increase of the field, but, which was uncommon, <i>Honey out of the
|
|
rock, and oil out of the flinty rock,</i> which may refer either,
|
|
(1.) To their miraculous supply of fresh water out of the rock that
|
|
followed them in the wilderness, which is called <i>honey and
|
|
oil,</i> because the necessity they were reduced to made it as
|
|
sweet and acceptable as honey and oil at another time. Or, (2.) To
|
|
the great abundance of honey and oil they should find in Canaan,
|
|
even in those parts that were least fertile. The rocks in Canaan
|
|
should yield a better increase than the fields and meadows of other
|
|
countries. Other productions of Canaan are mentioned, <scripRef passage="De 32:14" id="Deu.xxxiii-p20.2" parsed="|Deut|32|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. Such abundance and such
|
|
variety of wholesome food (and every thing the best in its kind)
|
|
that every meal might be a feast if they pleased: excellent bread
|
|
made of the best corn, here called the <i>kidneys of the wheat</i>
|
|
(for a grain of wheat is not unlike a kidney), butter and milk in
|
|
abundance, the flesh of cattle well fed, and for their drink, no
|
|
worse than the <i>pure blood of the grape;</i> so indulgent a
|
|
Father was God to them, and so kind a benefactor. Ainsworth makes
|
|
the plenty of good things in Canaan to be a figure of the
|
|
fruitfulness of Christ's kingdom, and the heavenly comforts of his
|
|
word and Spirit: for the children of his kingdom he has butter and
|
|
milk, the sincere milk of the word; and strong meat for strong men,
|
|
with the wine that makes glad the heart.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 32" id="Deu.xxxiii-p20.3" parsed="|Deut|32|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 32:15-18" id="Deu.xxxiii-p20.4" parsed="|Deut|32|15|32|18" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.15-Deut.32.18"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.32.15-Deut.32.18">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxxiii-p21">15 But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art
|
|
waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered <i>with
|
|
fatness;</i> then he forsook God <i>which</i> made him, and lightly
|
|
esteemed the Rock of his salvation.   16 They provoked him to
|
|
jealousy with strange <i>gods,</i> with abominations provoked they
|
|
him to anger.   17 They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to
|
|
gods whom they knew not, to new <i>gods that</i> came newly up,
|
|
whom your fathers feared not.   18 Of the Rock <i>that</i>
|
|
begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed
|
|
thee.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p22">We have here a description of the apostasy
|
|
of Israel from God, which would shortly come to pass, and to which
|
|
already they had a disposition. One would have thought that a
|
|
people under so many obligations to their God, in duty, gratitude,
|
|
and interest, would never have turned from him; but, alas! they
|
|
<i>turned aside quickly.</i> Here are two great instances of their
|
|
wickedness, and each of them amounted to an apostasy from
|
|
God:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p23">I. Security and sensuality, pride and
|
|
insolence, and the other common abuses of plenty and prosperity,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 32:15" id="Deu.xxxiii-p23.1" parsed="|Deut|32|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. These people
|
|
were called <i>Jeshurun—an upright people</i> (so some), <i>a
|
|
seeing people,</i> so others: but they soon lost the reputation
|
|
both of their knowledge and of their righteousness; for, being
|
|
well-fed, 1. They <i>waxed fat,</i> and <i>grew thick,</i> that is,
|
|
they indulged themselves in all manner of luxury and gratifications
|
|
of their appetites, as if they had nothing to do but to <i>make
|
|
provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts of it.</i> They
|
|
<i>grew fat,</i> that is, they grew big and unwieldy, unmindful of
|
|
business, and unfit for it; dull and stupid, careless and
|
|
senseless; and this was the effect of their plenty. Thus <i>the
|
|
prosperity of fools destroys them,</i> <scripRef passage="Pr 1:32" id="Deu.xxxiii-p23.2" parsed="|Prov|1|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Prov.1.32">Prov. i. 32</scripRef>. Yet this was not the worst of it.
|
|
2. They <i>kicked;</i> they grew proud and insolent, and <i>lifted
|
|
up the heel</i> even against God himself. If God rebuked them,
|
|
either by his prophets or by his providence, they <i>kicked against
|
|
the goad,</i> as an <i>untamed heifer,</i> or a <i>bullock
|
|
unaccustomed to the yoke,</i> and in their rage persecuted the
|
|
prophets, and flew in the face of providence itself. And thus he
|
|
<i>forsook God that made him</i> (not paying due respect to his
|
|
creator, nor answering the ends of his creation), and put an
|
|
intolerable contempt upon <i>the rock of his salvation,</i> as if
|
|
he were not indebted to him for any past favours, nor had any
|
|
dependence upon him for the future. Those that make a god of
|
|
themselves and a god of their bellies, in pride and wantonness, and
|
|
cannot bear to be told of it, certainly thereby forsake God and
|
|
show how lightly they esteem him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p24">II. Idolatry was the great instance of
|
|
their apostasy, and which the former led them to, as it made them
|
|
sick of their religion, self-willed, and fond of changes.
|
|
Observe,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p25">1. What sort of gods they chose and offered
|
|
sacrifice to, when they forsook the God that made them, <scripRef passage="De 32:16,17" id="Deu.xxxiii-p25.1" parsed="|Deut|32|16|32|17" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.16-Deut.32.17"><i>v.</i> 16, 17</scripRef>. This aggravated
|
|
their sin that those very services which they should have done to
|
|
the true God they did, (1.) To <i>strange gods,</i> that could not
|
|
pretend to have done them any kindness, or laid them under any
|
|
obligation to them, gods that they had no knowledge of, nor could
|
|
expect any benefit by, for they were strangers. Or they are called
|
|
<i>strange gods,</i> because they were other than the one only true
|
|
God, to whom they were betrothed and ought to have been faithful.
|
|
(2.) To <i>new gods, that came newly up;</i> for even in religion,
|
|
the antiquity of which is one of its honours, vain minds have
|
|
strangely affected novelty, and, in contempt of the Ancient of
|
|
days, have been fond of new gods. A new god! can there be a more
|
|
monstrous absurdity? Would we find the right way to rest, we must
|
|
ask for the <i>good old way,</i> <scripRef passage="Jer 6:16" id="Deu.xxxiii-p25.2" parsed="|Jer|6|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.6.16">Jer.
|
|
vi. 16</scripRef>. It was true their fathers had worshipped
|
|
<i>other gods</i> (<scripRef passage="Jos 24:2" id="Deu.xxxiii-p25.3" parsed="|Josh|24|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.24.2">Josh. xxiv.
|
|
2</scripRef>), and perhaps it had been some little excuse if the
|
|
children had returned to them; but to serve <i>new gods whom their
|
|
fathers feared not,</i> and to like them the better for being new,
|
|
was to open a door to endless idolatries. (3.) They were such as
|
|
were no gods at all, but mere counterfeits and pretenders; their
|
|
names the invention of men's fancies, and their images the work of
|
|
men's hands. Nay, (4.) They were devils. So far from being <i>gods,
|
|
fathers</i> and <i>benefactors</i> to mankind, they really were
|
|
<i>destroyers</i> (so the word signifies), such as aimed to do
|
|
mischief. If there were any spirits or invisible powers that
|
|
possessed their idol-temples and images, they were evil spirits and
|
|
malignant powers, whom yet they did not need to worship for fear
|
|
they should hurt them, as they say the Indians do; for those that
|
|
faithfully worship God are out of the devil's reach: nay, the devil
|
|
can destroy those only that sacrifice to him. How mad are
|
|
idolaters, who forsake the <i>rock of salvation</i> to run
|
|
themselves upon the <i>rock of perdition!</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p26">2. What a great affront this was to Jehovah
|
|
their God. (1.) It was justly interpreted a forgetting of him
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 32:18" id="Deu.xxxiii-p26.1" parsed="|Deut|32|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>): <i>Of the
|
|
Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful.</i> Mindfulness of God
|
|
would prevent sin, but, when the world is served and the flesh
|
|
indulged, God is forgotten; and can any thing be more base and
|
|
unworthy than to forget the God that is the author of our being, by
|
|
whom we subsist, and in whom we live and move? And see what comes
|
|
of it, <scripRef passage="Isa 17:10,11" id="Deu.xxxiii-p26.2" parsed="|Isa|17|10|17|11" osisRef="Bible:Isa.17.10-Isa.17.11">Isa. xvii. 10,
|
|
11</scripRef>, <i>Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy
|
|
salvation, and hast not been mindful of the Rock of thy
|
|
strength,</i> though the strange slips be pleasant plants at first,
|
|
yet the harvest at last <i>will be a heap in the day of grief and
|
|
of desperate sorrow.</i> There is nothing got by forgetting God.
|
|
(2.) It was justly resented as an inexcusable offence: <i>They
|
|
provoked him to jealousy and to anger</i> (<scripRef passage="De 32:16" id="Deu.xxxiii-p26.3" parsed="|Deut|32|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>), for their idols were
|
|
abominations to him. See here God's displeasure against idols,
|
|
whether they be set up in the heart or in the sanctuary. [1.] He is
|
|
jealous of them, as rivals with him for the throne in the heart.
|
|
[2.] He hates them, as enemies to his crown and government. [3.] He
|
|
is, and will be, very angry with those that have any respect or
|
|
affection for them. Those consider not what they do that provoke
|
|
God; for <i>who knows the power of his anger?</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 32" id="Deu.xxxiii-p26.4" parsed="|Deut|32|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 32:19-25" id="Deu.xxxiii-p26.5" parsed="|Deut|32|19|32|25" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.19-Deut.32.25"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.32.19-Deut.32.25">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxxiii-p27">19 And when the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxiii-p27.1">Lord</span> saw <i>it,</i> he abhorred <i>them,</i>
|
|
because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.  
|
|
20 And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what
|
|
their end <i>shall be:</i> for they <i>are</i> a very froward
|
|
generation, children in whom <i>is</i> no faith.   21 They
|
|
have moved me to jealousy with <i>that which is</i> not God; they
|
|
have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them
|
|
to jealousy with <i>those which are</i> not a people; I will
|
|
provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.   22 For a fire
|
|
is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and
|
|
shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the
|
|
foundations of the mountains.   23 I will heap mischiefs upon
|
|
them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.   24 <i>They shall
|
|
be</i> burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with
|
|
bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them,
|
|
with the poison of serpents of the dust.   25 The sword
|
|
without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and
|
|
the virgin, the suckling <i>also</i> with the man of gray
|
|
hairs.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p28">The method of this song follows the method
|
|
of the predictions in the foregoing chapter, and therefore, after
|
|
the revolt of Israel from God, described in the <scripRef passage="De 32:15,16" id="Deu.xxxiii-p28.1" parsed="|Deut|32|15|32|16" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.15-Deut.32.16">foregoing verses</scripRef>, here follow immediately
|
|
the resolves of divine Justice concerning them; we deceive
|
|
ourselves if we think that God will be thus mocked by a foolish
|
|
faithless people, that play fast and loose with him.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p29">I. He had delighted in them, but now he
|
|
would reject them with detestation and disdain, <scripRef passage="De 32:19" id="Deu.xxxiii-p29.1" parsed="|Deut|32|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. When the Lord saw their
|
|
treachery, and folly, and base ingratitude, he abhorred them, he
|
|
despised them, so some read it. Sin makes us odious in the sight of
|
|
the holy God; and no sinners are so loathsome to him as those that
|
|
he has called, and that have called themselves, his sons and his
|
|
daughters, and yet have been provoking to him. Note, The nearer any
|
|
are to God in profession the more noisome are they to him if they
|
|
are defiled in a sinful way, <scripRef passage="Ps 106:39,40" id="Deu.xxxiii-p29.2" parsed="|Ps|106|39|106|40" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.39-Ps.106.40">Ps.
|
|
cvi. 39, 40</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p30">II. He had given them the tokens of his
|
|
presence with them and his favour to them; but now he would
|
|
withdraw and <i>hide his face from them,</i> <scripRef passage="De 32:20" id="Deu.xxxiii-p30.1" parsed="|Deut|32|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. His <i>hiding his face</i>
|
|
signifies his great displeasure; they had <i>turned their back</i>
|
|
upon God, and now God would turn his back upon them (compare
|
|
<scripRef passage="Jer 18:17,Jer 2:27" id="Deu.xxxiii-p30.2" parsed="|Jer|18|17|0|0;|Jer|2|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.18.17 Bible:Jer.2.27">Jer. xviii. 17 with Jer. ii.
|
|
27</scripRef>); but here it denotes also the slowness of God's
|
|
proceedings against them in a way of judgment. They began in their
|
|
apostasy with omissions of good, and so proceeded to commissions of
|
|
evil. In like manner God will first suspend his favours, and let
|
|
them see what the issue of that will be, what a friend they lose
|
|
when they provoke God to depart, and will try whether this will
|
|
bring them to repentance. Thus we find God hiding himself, as it
|
|
were, in expectation of the event, <scripRef passage="Isa 57:17" id="Deu.xxxiii-p30.3" parsed="|Isa|57|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.57.17">Isa. lvii. 17</scripRef>. To justify himself in leaving
|
|
them he shows that they were such as there was no dealing with;
|
|
for, 1. They were froward and a people that could not be pleased,
|
|
or obstinate in sin, and that could not be convinced and reclaimed.
|
|
2. They were faithless, and a people that could not be trusted.
|
|
When he saved them, and took them into covenant, he said, <i>Surely
|
|
they are children that will not lie</i> (<scripRef passage="Isa 63:8" id="Deu.xxxiii-p30.4" parsed="|Isa|63|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.63.8">Isa. lxiii. 8</scripRef>); but when they proved
|
|
otherwise, <i>children in whom is no faith,</i> they deserved to be
|
|
abandoned, and that the God of truth should have no more to do with
|
|
them.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p31">III. He had done every thing to make them
|
|
easy and to please them, but now he would do that against them
|
|
which should be most vexatious to them. The punishment here answers
|
|
the sin, <scripRef passage="De 32:21" id="Deu.xxxiii-p31.1" parsed="|Deut|32|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. 1.
|
|
They had provoked God with despicable deities which were not gods
|
|
at all, but vanities, creatures of their own imagination, that
|
|
could not pretend either to merit or to repay the respects of their
|
|
worshippers; the more vain and vile the gods were after which they
|
|
went a whoring the greater was the offence to that great and good
|
|
God whom they set them up in competition with and contradiction to.
|
|
This put two great evils into their idolatry, <scripRef passage="Jer 2:13" id="Deu.xxxiii-p31.2" parsed="|Jer|2|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.2.13">Jer. ii. 13</scripRef>. 2. God would therefore plague
|
|
them with despicable enemies, that were worthless, weak, and
|
|
inconsiderable, and not deserving the name of a people, which was a
|
|
great mortification to them, and aggravated the oppressions they
|
|
groaned under. The more base the people were that tyrannised over
|
|
them the more barbarous they would be (none so insolent as a beggar
|
|
on horseback), besides that it would be infamous to Israel, who had
|
|
so often triumphed over great and mighty nations, to be themselves
|
|
trampled upon by the weak and foolish, and to come under the curse
|
|
of Canaan, who was to be a servant of servants. But God can make
|
|
the weakest instrument a scourge to the strongest sinner; and those
|
|
that by sin insult their might Creator are justly insulted by the
|
|
meanest of their fellow-creatures. This was remarkably fulfilled in
|
|
the days of the judges, when they were sometimes oppressed by the
|
|
very Canaanites themselves, whom they had subdued, <scripRef passage="Jdg 4:2" id="Deu.xxxiii-p31.3" parsed="|Judg|4|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.4.2">Judg. iv. 2</scripRef>. But the apostle applies
|
|
it to the conversion of the Gentiles, who had been a people not in
|
|
covenant with God, and foolish in divine things, yet were brought
|
|
into the church, sorely to the grief of the Jews, who upon all
|
|
occasions showed a great indignation at it, which was both their
|
|
sin and their punishment, as envy always is, <scripRef passage="Ro 10:19" id="Deu.xxxiii-p31.4" parsed="|Rom|10|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.10.19">Rom. x. 19</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p32">IV. He had planted them in a good land, and
|
|
replenished them with all good things; but now he would strip them
|
|
of all their comforts, and bring them to ruin. The judgments
|
|
threatened are very terrible, <scripRef passage="De 32:22-25" id="Deu.xxxiii-p32.1" parsed="|Deut|32|22|32|25" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.22-Deut.32.25"><i>v.</i> 22-25</scripRef>. 1. The fire of God's
|
|
anger shall consume them, <scripRef passage="De 32:22" id="Deu.xxxiii-p32.2" parsed="|Deut|32|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.22"><i>v.</i>
|
|
22</scripRef>. Are they proud of their plenty? It shall burn up the
|
|
increase of the earth. Are they confident of their strength? It
|
|
shall destroy the very foundations of their mountains: there is no
|
|
fence against the judgments of God when they come with commission
|
|
to lay all waste. It shall burn to the lowest hell, that is, it
|
|
shall bring them to the very depth of misery in this world, which
|
|
yet would be but a faint resemblance of the complete and endless
|
|
misery of sinners in the other world. The damnation of hell (as our
|
|
Saviour calls it) is the fire of God's anger, fastening upon the
|
|
guilty conscience of a sinner, to its inexpressible and everlasting
|
|
torment, <scripRef passage="Isa 30:33" id="Deu.xxxiii-p32.3" parsed="|Isa|30|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.30.33">Isa. xxx. 33</scripRef>. 2.
|
|
The arrows of God's judgments shall be spent upon them, till his
|
|
quiver is quite exhausted, <scripRef passage="De 32:23" id="Deu.xxxiii-p32.4" parsed="|Deut|32|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.23"><i>v.</i>
|
|
23</scripRef>. The judgments of God, like arrows, fly swiftly
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ps 64:7" id="Deu.xxxiii-p32.5" parsed="|Ps|64|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.64.7">Ps. lxiv. 7</scripRef>), reaching
|
|
those at a distance who flatter themselves with hopes of escaping
|
|
them, <scripRef passage="Ps 21:8,12" id="Deu.xxxiii-p32.6" parsed="|Ps|21|8|0|0;|Ps|21|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.21.8 Bible:Ps.21.12">Ps. xxi. 8, 12</scripRef>.
|
|
They come from an unseen hand, but wound mortally, for God never
|
|
misses his mark, <scripRef passage="1Ki 22:34" id="Deu.xxxiii-p32.7" parsed="|1Kgs|22|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.22.34">1 Kings xxii.
|
|
34</scripRef>. The particular judgments here threatened are, (1.)
|
|
Famine: <i>they shall be burnt,</i> or <i>parched, with hunger.</i>
|
|
(2.) Pestilence and other diseases, here called <i>burning heat and
|
|
bitter destruction.</i> (3.) The insults of the inferior creatures:
|
|
<i>the teeth of beasts and the poison of serpents,</i> <scripRef passage="De 32:24" id="Deu.xxxiii-p32.8" parsed="|Deut|32|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. (4.) War and the fatal
|
|
consequences of it, <scripRef passage="De 32:25" id="Deu.xxxiii-p32.9" parsed="|Deut|32|25|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.25"><i>v.</i>
|
|
25</scripRef>. [1.] Perpetual frights. When the <i>sword is
|
|
without,</i> there cannot but be <i>terror within.</i> <scripRef passage="2Co 7:5" id="Deu.xxxiii-p32.10" parsed="|2Cor|7|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.7.5">2 Cor. vii. 5</scripRef>, <i>Without were
|
|
fightings, within were fears.</i> Those who cast off the fear of
|
|
God are justly exposed to the fear of enemies. [2.] Universal
|
|
deaths. The sword of the Lord, when it is sent to lay all waste,
|
|
will destroy without distinction; neither the strength of the young
|
|
man nor the beauty of the virgin, neither the innocency of the
|
|
suckling nor the gravity or infirmity of the man of gray hairs,
|
|
will be their security from the sword when it devours one as well
|
|
as another. Such devastation does war make, especially when it is
|
|
pushed on by men as ravenous as wild beasts and as venomous as
|
|
serpents, <scripRef passage="De 32:24" id="Deu.xxxiii-p32.11" parsed="|Deut|32|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>. See
|
|
here what mischief sin does, and reckon those fools that make a
|
|
mock at it.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 32:26-38" id="Deu.xxxiii-p32.12" parsed="|Deut|32|26|32|38" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.26-Deut.32.38"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.32.26-Deut.32.38">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxxiii-p33">26 I said, I would scatter them into corners, I
|
|
would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:  
|
|
27 Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their
|
|
adversaries should behave themselves strangely, <i>and</i> lest
|
|
they should say, Our hand <i>is</i> high, and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxiii-p33.1">Lord</span> hath not done all this.   28 For they
|
|
<i>are</i> a nation void of counsel, neither <i>is there any</i>
|
|
understanding in them.   29 O that they were wise, <i>that</i>
|
|
they understood this, <i>that</i> they would consider their latter
|
|
end!   30 How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten
|
|
thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxiii-p33.2">Lord</span> had shut them up?   31 For their
|
|
rock <i>is</i> not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves
|
|
<i>being</i> judges.   32 For their vine <i>is</i> of the vine
|
|
of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes <i>are</i>
|
|
grapes of gall, their clusters <i>are</i> bitter:   33 Their
|
|
wine <i>is</i> the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.
|
|
  34 <i>Is</i> not this laid up in store with me, <i>and</i>
|
|
sealed up among my treasures?   35 To me <i>belongeth</i>
|
|
vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in <i>due</i>
|
|
time: for the day of their calamity <i>is</i> at hand, and the
|
|
things that shall come upon them make haste.   36 For the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxiii-p33.3">Lord</span> shall judge his people, and
|
|
repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that <i>their</i>
|
|
power is gone, and <i>there is</i> none shut up, or left.   37
|
|
And he shall say, Where <i>are</i> their gods, <i>their</i> rock in
|
|
whom they trusted,   38 Which did eat the fat of their
|
|
sacrifices, <i>and</i> drank the wine of their drink offerings? let
|
|
them rise up and help you, <i>and</i> be your protection.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p34">After many terrible threatenings of
|
|
deserved wrath and vengeance, we have here surprising intimations
|
|
of mercy, undeserved mercy, which rejoices against judgment, and by
|
|
which it appears that God has <i>no pleasure in the death of
|
|
sinners,</i> but would rather they should <i>turn and live.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p35">I. In jealousy for his own honour, he will
|
|
not <i>make a full end</i> of them, <scripRef passage="De 32:26-28" id="Deu.xxxiii-p35.1" parsed="|Deut|32|26|32|28" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.26-Deut.32.28"><i>v.</i> 26-28</scripRef>. 1. It cannot be denied
|
|
but that they deserved to be utterly ruined, and that their
|
|
<i>remembrance should be made to cease from among men,</i> so that
|
|
the name of an Israelite should never be known but in history;
|
|
<i>for they were a nation void of counsel</i> (<scripRef passage="De 32:28" id="Deu.xxxiii-p35.2" parsed="|Deut|32|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>), the most sottish inconsiderate
|
|
people that ever were, that would not believe the gory of God,
|
|
though they saw it, nor understand his loving kindness, though they
|
|
tasted it and lived upon it. Of those who could cast off such a
|
|
God, such a law, such a covenant, for vain and dunghill-deities, it
|
|
might truly be said, There is <i>no understanding in them.</i> 2.
|
|
It would have been an easy thing with God to ruin them and blot out
|
|
the remembrance of them; when the greatest part of them were cut
|
|
off by the sword, it was but scattering the remnant into some
|
|
remote obscure corners of the earth, where they should never have
|
|
been heard of any more, and the thing had been done. See <scripRef passage="Eze 5:12" id="Deu.xxxiii-p35.3" parsed="|Ezek|5|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.5.12">Ezek. v. 12</scripRef>. God can destroy those
|
|
that are most strongly fortified, disperse those that are most
|
|
closely united, and bury those names in perpetual oblivion that
|
|
have been most celebrated. 3. Justice demanded it: <i>I said I
|
|
would scatter them.</i> It is fit those should be cut off from the
|
|
earth that have cut themselves off from their God; why should they
|
|
not be dealt with according to their deserts? 4. Wisdom considered
|
|
the pride and insolence of the enemy, which would take occasion
|
|
from the ruin of a people that had been so dear to God, and for
|
|
whom he had done such great things, to reflect upon God and to
|
|
imagine that because they had got the better of Israel they had
|
|
carried the day against the God of Israel: The <i>adversaries will
|
|
say, Our hand is high,</i> high indeed, when it has been too high
|
|
for those whom God himself fought for; nor will they consider that
|
|
<i>the Lord has done all this,</i> but will dream that they have
|
|
done it in despite of him, as if the God of Israel were as weak and
|
|
impotent, and as easily run down, as the pretended deities of other
|
|
nations. 5. In consideration of this, Mercy prevails for the
|
|
sparing of a remnant and the saving of that unworthy people from
|
|
utter ruin: <i>I feared the wrath of the enemy.</i> It is an
|
|
expression after the manner of men; it is certain that God fears no
|
|
man's wrath, but he acted in this matter as if he had feared it.
|
|
Those few good people in Israel that had a concern for the honour
|
|
of God's name <i>feared the wrath of the enemy</i> in this instance
|
|
more than in any other, as Joshua (<scripRef passage="Jos 7:9" id="Deu.xxxiii-p35.4" parsed="|Josh|7|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.7.9">Josh. vii. 9</scripRef>), and David often; and, because
|
|
they feared it, God himself is said to fear it. He needed not Moses
|
|
to plead it with him, but reminded himself of it: <i>What will the
|
|
Egyptians say?</i> Let all those whose hearts tremble for the ark
|
|
of God and his Israel comfort themselves with this, that God will
|
|
<i>work for his own name,</i> and will not suffer it to be profaned
|
|
and polluted: how much soever we deserve to be disgraced, God will
|
|
never <i>disgrace the throne of his glory.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p36">II. In concern for their welfare, he
|
|
earnestly desires their conversion; and, in order to that, their
|
|
serious consideration of their latter end, <scripRef passage="De 32:29" id="Deu.xxxiii-p36.1" parsed="|Deut|32|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>. Observe, 1. Though God had
|
|
pronounced them a foolish people and of no understanding, yet he
|
|
wishes they were wise, as <scripRef passage="De 5:29" id="Deu.xxxiii-p36.2" parsed="|Deut|5|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.5.29">Deut. v.
|
|
29</scripRef>, <i>O that there were such a heart in them!</i> and
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 94:8" id="Deu.xxxiii-p36.3" parsed="|Ps|94|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.94.8">Ps. xciv. 8</scripRef>, <i>You fools,
|
|
when will you be wise?</i> God delights not to see sinners ruin
|
|
themselves, but desires they will help themselves; and, if they
|
|
will, he is ready to help them. 2. It is a great piece of wisdom,
|
|
and will contribute much to the return of sinners to God, seriously
|
|
to consider the latter end, or the future state. It is here meant
|
|
particularly of that which God by Moses had foretold concerning
|
|
this people in the latter days: but it may be applied more
|
|
generally. We ought to understand and consider, (1.) The latter end
|
|
of life, and the future state of the soul. To think of death as our
|
|
removal from a world of sense to a world of spirits, the final
|
|
period of our state of trial and probation, and our entrance upon
|
|
an unchangeable state of recompence and retribution. (2.) The
|
|
latter end of sin, and the future state of those that live and die
|
|
in it. O that men would consider the happiness they will lose, and
|
|
the misery they will certainly plunge themselves into, if they
|
|
<i>go on still in their trespasses, what will be in the end
|
|
thereof,</i> <scripRef passage="Jer 5:31" id="Deu.xxxiii-p36.4" parsed="|Jer|5|31|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.5.31">Jer. v. 31</scripRef>.
|
|
Jerusalem forgot this, and therefore <i>came down wonderfully,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="La 1:9" id="Deu.xxxiii-p36.5" parsed="|Lam|1|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lam.1.9">Lam. i. 9</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p37">III. He calls to mind the great things he
|
|
had done for them formerly, as a reason why he should not quite
|
|
cast them off. This seems to be the meaning of that (<scripRef passage="De 32:30,31" id="Deu.xxxiii-p37.1" parsed="|Deut|32|30|32|31" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.30-Deut.32.31"><i>v.</i> 30, 31</scripRef>), "How should one
|
|
Israelite have been too hard for a thousand Canaanites, as they
|
|
have been many a time, but that God, who is greater than all gods,
|
|
fought for them!" And so it corresponds with that, <scripRef passage="Isa 63:10,11" id="Deu.xxxiii-p37.2" parsed="|Isa|63|10|63|11" osisRef="Bible:Isa.63.10-Isa.63.11">Isa. lxiii. 10, 11</scripRef>. When he was
|
|
<i>turned to be their enemy,</i> as here, <i>and fought against
|
|
them</i> for their sins, <i>then he remembered the days of old,</i>
|
|
saying, <i>Where is he that brought them out of the sea?</i> So
|
|
here, his arm begins to awake as in the days of old <i>against the
|
|
wrath of the enemy,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 138:7" id="Deu.xxxiii-p37.3" parsed="|Ps|138|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.138.7">Ps. cxxxviii.
|
|
7</scripRef>. There was a time when the enemies of Israel were sold
|
|
by their own rock, that is, their own idol-gods, who could not help
|
|
them, but betrayed them, because Jehovah, the God of Israel, had
|
|
shut them up as sheep for the slaughter. For the enemies themselves
|
|
must own that their gods were a very unequal match for the God of
|
|
Israel. <i>For their vine is of the vine of Sodom,</i> <scripRef passage="De 32:32,33" id="Deu.xxxiii-p37.4" parsed="|Deut|32|32|32|33" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.32-Deut.32.33"><i>v.</i> 32, 33</scripRef>. This must be
|
|
meant of the enemies of Israel, who fell so easily before the sword
|
|
of Israel because they were ripe for ruin, and the measure of their
|
|
iniquity was full. Yet these verses may be understood of the
|
|
strange prevalency of the enemies of Israel against them, when God
|
|
made use of them as the <i>rod of his anger,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 10:5,6" id="Deu.xxxiii-p37.5" parsed="|Isa|10|5|10|6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.10.5-Isa.10.6">Isa. x. 5, 6</scripRef>. "How should one Canaanite
|
|
chase a thousand Israelites" (as it is threatened against those
|
|
that trust to Egypt for help, <scripRef passage="Isa 30:17" id="Deu.xxxiii-p37.6" parsed="|Isa|30|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.30.17">Isa.
|
|
xxx. 17</scripRef>, <i>One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of
|
|
one</i>) "unless Israel's rock had deserted them and given them
|
|
up." For otherwise, however they may impute their power <i>to their
|
|
gods</i> (<scripRef passage="Hab 1:11" id="Deu.xxxiii-p37.7" parsed="|Hab|1|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hab.1.11">Hab. i. 11</scripRef>), as
|
|
the Philistines imputed their victory to Dagon, it is certain the
|
|
enemies' rock could not have prevailed against the rock of Israel;
|
|
God would soon have subdued their enemies (<scripRef passage="Ps 81:14" id="Deu.xxxiii-p37.8" parsed="|Ps|81|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.81.14">Ps. lxxxi. 14</scripRef>), but that the wickedness of
|
|
Israel delivered them into their hands. For their vine, that is,
|
|
Israel's, is of the <i>vine of Sodom,</i> <scripRef passage="De 32:32,33" id="Deu.xxxiii-p37.9" parsed="|Deut|32|32|32|33" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.32-Deut.32.33"><i>v.</i> 32, 33</scripRef>. They were planted a
|
|
choice vine, wholly a right seed, but by sin had become the
|
|
<i>degenerate plant of a strange vine</i> (<scripRef passage="Jer 2:21" id="Deu.xxxiii-p37.10" parsed="|Jer|2|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.2.21">Jer. ii. 21</scripRef>), and not only transcribed the
|
|
iniquity of Sodom, but outdid it, <scripRef passage="Eze 16:48" id="Deu.xxxiii-p37.11" parsed="|Ezek|16|48|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.48">Ezek. xvi. 48</scripRef>. God called them his
|
|
<i>vineyard,</i> his <i>pleasant plant,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 5:7" id="Deu.xxxiii-p37.12" parsed="|Isa|5|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.7">Isa. v. 7</scripRef>. But their fruits were, 1. Very
|
|
offensive, and displeasing to God, bitter as gall. 2 Very
|
|
malignant, and pernicious one to another, <i>like the cruel venom
|
|
of asps.</i> Some understand this of their punishment; their sin
|
|
would be <i>bitterness in the latter end</i> (<scripRef passage="2Sa 2:26" id="Deu.xxxiii-p37.13" parsed="|2Sam|2|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.2.26">2 Sam. ii. 26</scripRef>), it would <i>bite like a
|
|
serpent and sting like an adder,</i> <scripRef passage="Job 20:14,Pr 23:32" id="Deu.xxxiii-p37.14" parsed="|Job|20|14|0|0;|Prov|23|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.14 Bible:Prov.23.32">Job xx. 14; Prov. xxiii. 32</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p38">IV. He resolves upon the destruction of
|
|
those at last that had been their persecutors and oppressors. When
|
|
the cup of trembling goes round, the king of Babel shall pledge it
|
|
at last, <scripRef passage="Jer 25:26" id="Deu.xxxiii-p38.1" parsed="|Jer|25|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.25.26">Jer. xxv. 26</scripRef>, and
|
|
see <scripRef passage="Isa 51:22,23" id="Deu.xxxiii-p38.2" parsed="|Isa|51|22|51|23" osisRef="Bible:Isa.51.22-Isa.51.23">Isa. li. 22, 23</scripRef>.
|
|
The day is coming when the judgment that began at the house of God
|
|
shall end with the sinner and ungodly, <scripRef passage="1Pe 4:17,18" id="Deu.xxxiii-p38.3" parsed="|1Pet|4|17|4|18" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.4.17-1Pet.4.18">1 Pet. iv. 17, 18</scripRef>. God will in due time
|
|
bring down the church's enemies.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p39">1. In displeasure against their wickedness,
|
|
which he takes notice of, and keeps an account of, <scripRef passage="De 32:34,35" id="Deu.xxxiii-p39.1" parsed="|Deut|32|34|32|35" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.34-Deut.32.35"><i>v.</i> 34, 35</scripRef>. "Is not this
|
|
implacable fury of theirs against Israel <i>laid up in store with
|
|
me,</i> to be reckoned for hereafter, when it shall be made to
|
|
appear that <i>to me belongs vengeance?</i>" Some understand it of
|
|
the sin of Israel, especially their persecuting the prophets, which
|
|
was laid up in store against them from the <i>blood of righteous
|
|
Abel,</i> <scripRef passage="Mt 23:35" id="Deu.xxxiii-p39.2" parsed="|Matt|23|35|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.35">Matt. xxiii. 35</scripRef>.
|
|
However it teaches us that the wickedness of the wicked is all laid
|
|
up in store with God. (1.) He observes it, <scripRef passage="Ps 90:8" id="Deu.xxxiii-p39.3" parsed="|Ps|90|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.90.8">Ps. xc. 8</scripRef>. He knows both what the vine is and
|
|
what the grapes are, what is the temper of the mind and what are
|
|
the actions of life. (2.) He keeps a record of it both in his own
|
|
omniscience and in the sinner's conscience; and this is <i>sealed
|
|
up among his treasures,</i> which denotes both safety and secresy:
|
|
these books cannot be lost, nor will they be opened till the great
|
|
day. See <scripRef passage="Ho 13:12" id="Deu.xxxiii-p39.4" parsed="|Hos|13|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.13.12">Hos. xiii. 12</scripRef>.
|
|
(3.) He often delays the punishment of sin for a great while; it is
|
|
laid up in store, till the measure be full, and the day of divine
|
|
patience has expired. See <scripRef passage="Job 21:28-30" id="Deu.xxxiii-p39.5" parsed="|Job|21|28|21|30" osisRef="Bible:Job.21.28-Job.21.30">Job xxi.
|
|
28-30</scripRef>. (4.) There is a day of reckoning coming, when all
|
|
the treasures of guilt and wrath will be broken up, and the sin of
|
|
sinners shall surely find them out. [1.] The thing itself will
|
|
certainly be done, for the Lord is a <i>God to whom vengeance
|
|
belongs,</i> and therefore he will repay, <scripRef passage="Isa 59:18" id="Deu.xxxiii-p39.6" parsed="|Isa|59|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.18">Isa. lix. 18</scripRef>. This is quoted by the apostle
|
|
to show the severity of God's wrath against those that revolt from
|
|
the faith of Christ, <scripRef passage="Heb 10:30" id="Deu.xxxiii-p39.7" parsed="|Heb|10|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.10.30">Heb. x.
|
|
30</scripRef>. [2.] It will be done in due time, in the best time;
|
|
nay, it will be done in a short time. <i>The day of their calamity
|
|
is at hand;</i> and, though it may seem to tarry, it lingers not,
|
|
it slumbers not, but makes haste. <i>In one hour,</i> shall the
|
|
judgment of Babylon come.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p40">2. He will do it in compassion to his own
|
|
people, who, though they had greatly provoked him, yet stood in
|
|
relation to him, and their misery appealed to his mercy (<scripRef passage="De 32:36" id="Deu.xxxiii-p40.1" parsed="|Deut|32|36|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.36"><i>v.</i> 36</scripRef>): <i>The Lord shall
|
|
judge his people,.</i> that is, judge for them against their
|
|
enemies, plead their cause, and break the yoke of oppression under
|
|
which they had long groaned, <i>repenting himself for his
|
|
servants;</i> not changing his mind, but changing his way, and
|
|
fighting for them, as he had fought against them, <i>when he sees
|
|
that their power is gone.</i> This plainly points at the
|
|
deliverances God wrought for Israel by the judges out of the hands
|
|
of those to whom he had sold them for their sins (see <scripRef passage="Jdg 2:11-18" id="Deu.xxxiii-p40.2" parsed="|Judg|2|11|2|18" osisRef="Bible:Judg.2.11-Judg.2.18">Judg. ii. 11-18</scripRef>), and how <i>his
|
|
soul was grieved for the misery of Israel</i> (<scripRef passage="Jdg 10:16" id="Deu.xxxiii-p40.3" parsed="|Judg|10|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.10.16">Judg. x. 16</scripRef>), and this when they were
|
|
reduced to the last extremity. God helped them when they could not
|
|
help themselves; for there was <i>none shut up or left;</i> that
|
|
is, none that dwelt either in cities or walled towns, in which they
|
|
were shut up, nor any that dwelt in scattered houses in the
|
|
country, in which they were left at a distance from neighbours.
|
|
Note, God's time to appear for the deliverance of his people is
|
|
when things are at the worst with them. God tries his people's
|
|
faith, and stirs up prayer, by letting things go to the worst, and
|
|
then magnifies his own power, and fills the faces of his enemies
|
|
with shame and the hearts of his people with so much the greater
|
|
joy, by rescuing them out of extremity as <i>brands out of the
|
|
burning.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p41">3. He will do it in contempt and to the
|
|
reproach of idol-gods, <scripRef passage="De 32:37,38" id="Deu.xxxiii-p41.1" parsed="|Deut|32|37|32|38" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.37-Deut.32.38"><i>v.</i>
|
|
37, 38</scripRef>. <i>Where are their gods?</i> Two ways it may be
|
|
understood: (1.) That God would do that for his people which the
|
|
idols they had served could not do for them. They had forsaken God,
|
|
and been very liberal in their sacrifices to idols, had brought to
|
|
their altars the <i>fat of their sacrifices</i> and the <i>wine of
|
|
their drink-offerings,</i> which they supposed their deities to
|
|
feed upon and on which they feasted with them. "Now," says God,
|
|
"will these gods you have made your court to, at so great an
|
|
expense, help you in your distress, and so repay you for all your
|
|
charges in their service? <i>Go get you to the gods you have
|
|
served, and let them deliver you,</i> <scripRef passage="Jdg 10:14" id="Deu.xxxiii-p41.2" parsed="|Judg|10|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.10.14">Judg. x. 14</scripRef>. This is intended to convince
|
|
them of their folly in forsaking a God that could help them for
|
|
gods that could not, and so to bring them to repentance and qualify
|
|
them for deliverance. When the adulteress shall <i>follow after her
|
|
lovers</i> and <i>not overtake them,</i> pray to her idols and
|
|
receive no kindness from them, <i>then she shall say, I will go and
|
|
return to my first husband,</i> <scripRef passage="Ho 2:7" id="Deu.xxxiii-p41.3" parsed="|Hos|2|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hos.2.7">Hos. ii.
|
|
7</scripRef>. See <scripRef passage="Isa 16:12,Jer 2:27,28" id="Deu.xxxiii-p41.4" parsed="|Isa|16|12|0|0;|Jer|2|27|2|28" osisRef="Bible:Isa.16.12 Bible:Jer.2.27-Jer.2.28">Isa.
|
|
xvi. 12; Jer. ii. 27, 28</scripRef>. Or, (2.) That God would do
|
|
that against his enemies which the idols they had served could not
|
|
save them from, Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar boldly challenged
|
|
the God of Israel to deliver his worshippers (<scripRef passage="Isa 37:10,Da 3:15" id="Deu.xxxiii-p41.5" parsed="|Isa|37|10|0|0;|Dan|3|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.37.10 Bible:Dan.3.15">Isa. xxxvii. 10; Dan. iii. 15</scripRef>), and
|
|
he did deliver them, to the confusion of their enemies. But the God
|
|
of Israel challenged Bel and Nebo to deliver their worshippers, to
|
|
rise up and help them, and to be their protection (<scripRef passage="Isa 47:12,13" id="Deu.xxxiii-p41.6" parsed="|Isa|47|12|47|13" osisRef="Bible:Isa.47.12-Isa.47.13">Isa. xlvii. 12, 13</scripRef>); but they
|
|
were so far from helping them that they themselves, that is, their
|
|
images, which was all that was of them, <i>went into captivity,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 46:1,2" id="Deu.xxxiii-p41.7" parsed="|Isa|46|1|46|2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.46.1-Isa.46.2">Isa. xlvi. 1, 2</scripRef>. Note,
|
|
Those who trust to any rock but God will find it sand in the day of
|
|
their distress; it will fail them when they most need it.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 32:39-43" id="Deu.xxxiii-p41.8" parsed="|Deut|32|39|32|43" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.39-Deut.32.43"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.32.39-Deut.32.43">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxxiii-p42">39 See now that I, <i>even</i> I, <i>am</i> he,
|
|
and <i>there is</i> no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I
|
|
wound, and I heal: neither <i>is there any</i> that can deliver out
|
|
of my hand.   40 For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I
|
|
live for ever.   41 If I whet my glittering sword, and mine
|
|
hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine
|
|
enemies, and will reward them that hate me.   42 I will make
|
|
mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh;
|
|
<i>and that</i> with the blood of the slain and of the captives,
|
|
from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.   43 Rejoice, O
|
|
ye nations, <i>with</i> his people: for he will avenge the blood of
|
|
his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and
|
|
will be merciful unto his land, <i>and</i> to his people.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p43">This conclusion of the song speaks three
|
|
things:</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p44">I. Glory to God, <scripRef passage="De 32:39" id="Deu.xxxiii-p44.1" parsed="|Deut|32|39|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.39"><i>v.</i> 39</scripRef>. "See now upon the whole matter,
|
|
<i>that I, even I, am he.</i> Learn this from the destruction of
|
|
idolaters, and the inability of their idols to help them." The
|
|
great God here demands the glory, 1. Of a self-existence: <i>I,
|
|
even I, am he.</i> Thus Moses concludes with that name of God by
|
|
which he was first made to know him (<scripRef passage="Ex 3:14" id="Deu.xxxiii-p44.2" parsed="|Exod|3|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.14">Exod. iii. 14</scripRef>), "<i>I am that I am.</i> I am
|
|
he that I have been, that I will be, that I have promised to be,
|
|
that I have threatened to be; all shall find me true to my word."
|
|
The Targum of Uzzielides paraphrases it thus: <i>When the Word of
|
|
the Lord shall reveal himself to redeem his people, he shall say to
|
|
all people, See that I now am what I am, and have been, and I am
|
|
what I will be,</i> which we know very well how to apply to him who
|
|
said to John, <i>I am he who is, and was, and is to come,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Re 1:8" id="Deu.xxxiii-p44.3" parsed="|Rev|1|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.1.8">Rev. i. 8</scripRef>. These words, <i>I
|
|
even I, am he,</i> we meet with often in those chapters of Isaiah
|
|
where God is encouraging his people to hope for their deliverance
|
|
out of Babylon, <scripRef passage="Isa 41:4,43:11,13,15,25,46:4" id="Deu.xxxiii-p44.4" parsed="|Isa|41|4|0|0;|Isa|43|11|0|0;|Isa|43|13|0|0;|Isa|43|15|0|0;|Isa|43|25|0|0;|Isa|46|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.41.4 Bible:Isa.43.11 Bible:Isa.43.13 Bible:Isa.43.15 Bible:Isa.43.25 Bible:Isa.46.4">Isa. xli. 4; xliii. 11, 13, 25;
|
|
xlvi. 4</scripRef>. 2. Of a sole supremacy. "There <i>is no god
|
|
with me.</i> None to help with me, none to cope with me." See
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 43:10,11" id="Deu.xxxiii-p44.5" parsed="|Isa|43|10|43|11" osisRef="Bible:Isa.43.10-Isa.43.11">Isa. xliii. 10, 11</scripRef>. 3.
|
|
Of an absolute sovereignty, a universal agency: <i>I kill, and I
|
|
make alive;</i> that is, all evil and all good come from his hand
|
|
to providence; he forms both the light of life and the darkness of
|
|
death, <scripRef passage="Isa 45:7,La 3:37,38" id="Deu.xxxiii-p44.6" parsed="|Isa|45|7|0|0;|Lam|3|37|3|38" osisRef="Bible:Isa.45.7 Bible:Lam.3.37-Lam.3.38">Isa. xlv. 7; Lam.
|
|
iii. 37, 38</scripRef>. Or, He kills and wounds his enemies, but
|
|
heals and makes alive his own people, kills and wounds with his
|
|
judgments those that revolt from him and rebel against him; but,
|
|
when they return and repent, he heals them, and makes them alive
|
|
with his mercy and grace. Or it denotes his incontestable authority
|
|
to dispose of all his creatures, and the beings he has given them,
|
|
so as to serve his own purposes by them: <i>Whom he will he slays,
|
|
and whom he will he keeps alive,</i> when his judgments are abroad.
|
|
Or thus, Though he kill, yet he makes alive again: <i>though he
|
|
cause grief, yet will he have compassion,</i> <scripRef passage="La 3:32" id="Deu.xxxiii-p44.7" parsed="|Lam|3|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.32">Lam. iii. 32</scripRef>. Though he have <i>torn,</i> he
|
|
will <i>heal us,</i> <scripRef passage="Ho 6:1,2" id="Deu.xxxiii-p44.8" parsed="|Hos|6|1|6|2" osisRef="Bible:Hos.6.1-Hos.6.2">Hos. vi. 1,
|
|
2</scripRef>. The Jerusalem Targum reads it, <i>I kill those that
|
|
are alive in this world, and make those alive in the other world
|
|
that are dead.</i> And some of the Jewish doctors themselves have
|
|
observed that death, and a life after it, that is, eternal life, is
|
|
intimated in these words. 4. Of an irresistible power, which cannot
|
|
be controlled: <i>Neither is there any that can deliver out of my
|
|
hand</i> those that I have marked for destruction. As no exception
|
|
can be made against the sentence of God's justice, so no escape can
|
|
be made from the executions of his power.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p45">II. Terror to his enemies, <scripRef passage="De 32:40-42" id="Deu.xxxiii-p45.1" parsed="|Deut|32|40|32|42" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.40-Deut.32.42"><i>v.</i> 40-42</scripRef>. Terror indeed to
|
|
those that hate him, as all those do that serve other gods, that
|
|
persist in wilful disobedience to the divine law, and that malign
|
|
and persecute his faithful servants. These are those to whom God
|
|
will render vengeance, those his enemies that will not have him to
|
|
reign over them. In order to alarm such in time to repent and
|
|
return to their allegiance, the wrath of God is here revealed from
|
|
heaven against them. 1. The divine sentence is ratified with an
|
|
oath (<scripRef passage="De 32:40" id="Deu.xxxiii-p45.2" parsed="|Deut|32|40|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.40"><i>v.</i> 40</scripRef>): He
|
|
<i>lifts up his hand to heaven,</i> the habitation of his holiness;
|
|
this was an ancient and very significant sign used in swearing,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 14:22" id="Deu.xxxiii-p45.3" parsed="|Gen|14|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.22">Gen. xiv. 22</scripRef>. And, since he
|
|
could swear by no greater, he swears by himself and his own life.
|
|
Those are miserable without remedy that have the word and oath of
|
|
God against them. The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, that
|
|
the sin of sinners shall be their ruin if they go on in it. 2.
|
|
Preparation is made for the execution: The <i>glittering sword is
|
|
whet.</i> See <scripRef passage="Ps 7:12" id="Deu.xxxiii-p45.4" parsed="|Ps|7|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.7.12">Ps. vii. 12</scripRef>.
|
|
It is a sword <i>bathed in heaven,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 34:5" id="Deu.xxxiii-p45.5" parsed="|Isa|34|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.5">Isa. xxxiv. 5</scripRef>. While the sword is in
|
|
whetting, space is given to the sinner to repent and make his
|
|
peace, which, if he neglects, will render the wound the deeper.
|
|
And, as the sword is whet, so the hand that is to wield it takes
|
|
hold on judgment with a resolution to go through with it. 3. The
|
|
execution itself will be very terrible: The <i>sword shall devour
|
|
flesh</i> in abundance, and the <i>arrows</i> be made <i>drunk with
|
|
blood,</i> such vast quantities of it shall be shed, the blood of
|
|
the slain in battle, and of the captives, to whom no quarter shall
|
|
be given, but who shall be put under military execution. When he
|
|
begins revenge he will make an end; for in this also his work is
|
|
perfect. The critics are much perplexed with the last clause,
|
|
<i>From the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.</i> The learned
|
|
bishop Patrick (that great master) thinks it may admit this
|
|
reading, <i>From the king to the slave of the enemies,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Jer 50:35-37" id="Deu.xxxiii-p45.6" parsed="|Jer|50|35|50|37" osisRef="Bible:Jer.50.35-Jer.50.37">Jer. l. 35-37</scripRef>. When the
|
|
sword of God's wrath is drawn it will make bloody work, blood to
|
|
the horse-bridles, <scripRef passage="Re 14:20" id="Deu.xxxiii-p45.7" parsed="|Rev|14|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.14.20">Rev. xiv.
|
|
20</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p46">III. Comfort to his own people (<scripRef passage="De 32:43" id="Deu.xxxiii-p46.1" parsed="|Deut|32|43|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.43"><i>v.</i> 43</scripRef>): <i>Rejoice, O you
|
|
nations, with his people.</i> He concludes the song with words of
|
|
joy; for in God's Israel there is a remnant whose end will be
|
|
peace. God's people will rejoice at last, will rejoice
|
|
everlastingly. Three things are here mentioned as the matter of
|
|
joy:—1. The enlarging of the church's bounds. The apostle applies
|
|
the first words of this verse to the conversion of the Gentiles.
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ro 15:10" id="Deu.xxxiii-p46.2" parsed="|Rom|15|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.15.10">Rom. xv. 10</scripRef>, <i>Rejoice you
|
|
Gentiles with his people.</i> See what the grace of God does in the
|
|
conversion of souls, it brings them to rejoice with the people of
|
|
God; for true religion brings us acquainted with true joy, so great
|
|
a mistake are those under that think it tends to make men
|
|
melancholy. 2. The avenging of the church's controversies upon her
|
|
adversaries. He will make inquisition for <i>the blood of his
|
|
servants,</i> and it shall appear how precious it is to him; for
|
|
those that spilt it shall have blood given them to drink. 3. The
|
|
mercy God has in store for his church, and for all that belong to
|
|
it: He will be <i>merciful to his land, and to his people,</i> that
|
|
is, to all everywhere that fear and serve him. Whatever judgments
|
|
are brought upon sinners, it shall go well with the people of God;
|
|
in this let Jews and Gentiles rejoice together.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 32:44-52" id="Deu.xxxiii-p46.3" parsed="|Deut|32|44|32|52" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.44-Deut.32.52"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.32.44-Deut.32.52">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxxiii-p47">44 And Moses came and spake all the words of
|
|
this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun.
|
|
  45 And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all
|
|
Israel:   46 And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all
|
|
the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall
|
|
command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law.
|
|
  47 For it <i>is</i> not a vain thing for you; because it
|
|
<i>is</i> your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong
|
|
<i>your</i> days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess
|
|
it.   48 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxiii-p47.1">Lord</span> spake
|
|
unto Moses that selfsame day, saying,   49 Get thee up into
|
|
this mountain Abarim, <i>unto</i> mount Nebo, which <i>is</i> in
|
|
the land of Moab, that <i>is</i> over against Jericho; and behold
|
|
the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a
|
|
possession:   50 And die in the mount whither thou goest up,
|
|
and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount
|
|
Hor, and was gathered unto his people:   51 Because ye
|
|
trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of
|
|
Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me
|
|
not in the midst of the children of Israel.   52 Yet thou
|
|
shalt see the land before <i>thee;</i> but thou shalt not go
|
|
thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p48">Here is, I. The solemn delivery of this
|
|
song to the children of Israel, <scripRef passage="De 32:44,45" id="Deu.xxxiii-p48.1" parsed="|Deut|32|44|32|45" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.44-Deut.32.45"><i>v.</i> 44, 45</scripRef>. Moses spoke it to as
|
|
many as could hear him, while Joshua, in another assembly, at the
|
|
same time, delivered it to as many as his voice would reach. Thus
|
|
coming to them from the mouth of both their governors, Moses who
|
|
was laying down the government, and Joshua who was taking it up,
|
|
they would see they were both in the same mind, and that, though
|
|
they changed their commander, there was no change in the divine
|
|
command; Joshua, as well as Moses, would be a witness against them
|
|
if ever they forsook God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p49">II. An earnest charge to them to mind these
|
|
and all the rest of the good words that Moses had said to them. How
|
|
earnestly does he long after them all, how very desirous that the
|
|
word of God might make deep and lasting impressions upon them, how
|
|
jealous over them with a godly jealousy, lest they should at any
|
|
time let slip these great things!</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p50">1. The duties he charges upon them are,
|
|
(1.) Carefully to attend to these themselves: "Set your hearts both
|
|
to the laws, and to the promises and threatenings, the blessings
|
|
and curses, and now at last to this song. Let the mind be closely
|
|
applied to the consideration of these things; be affected with
|
|
them; be intent upon your duty, and cleave to it with full purpose
|
|
of heart." (2.) Faithfully to transmit these things to those that
|
|
should come after them: "What interest you have in your children,
|
|
or influence upon them, use it for this purpose; and <i>command
|
|
them</i> (as your father Abraham did, <scripRef passage="Ge 18:19" id="Deu.xxxiii-p50.1" parsed="|Gen|18|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.19">Gen. xviii. 19</scripRef>) <i>to observe to do all the
|
|
words of this law.</i>" Those that are good themselves cannot but
|
|
desire that their children may be so likewise, and that posterity
|
|
may keep up religion in their day and the entail of it may not be
|
|
cut off.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p51">2. The arguments he uses to persuade them
|
|
to make religion their business and to persevere in it are, (1.)
|
|
The vast importance of the things themselves which he had charged
|
|
upon them (<scripRef passage="De 32:47" id="Deu.xxxiii-p51.1" parsed="|Deut|32|47|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.47"><i>v.</i> 47</scripRef>):
|
|
"<i>It is not a vain thing, because it is your life.</i> It is not
|
|
an indifferent thing, but of absolute necessity; it is not a
|
|
trifle, but a matter of consequence, a matter of life and death;
|
|
mind it, and you are made for ever; neglect it, and you are for
|
|
ever undone." O that men were but fully persuaded of this, that
|
|
religion is their life, even the life of their souls! (2.) The vast
|
|
advantage it would be of to them: <i>Through this thing you shall
|
|
prolong your days</i> in Canaan, which is a typical promise of that
|
|
eternal life which Christ has assured us those shall enter into
|
|
that keep the commandments of God, <scripRef passage="Mt 19:17" id="Deu.xxxiii-p51.2" parsed="|Matt|19|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.19.17">Matt. xix. 17</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiii-p52">III. Orders given to Moses concerning his
|
|
death. Now that this renowned witness for God had finished his
|
|
testimony, he must go up to Mount Nebo and die; in the prophecy of
|
|
Christ's two witnesses there is a plain allusion to Moses and Elias
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Re 11:6" id="Deu.xxxiii-p52.1" parsed="|Rev|11|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.11.6">Rev. xi. 6</scripRef>), and perhaps
|
|
their removal, being by martyrdom, is no less glorious than the
|
|
removal either of Moses or Elias. Orders were given to Moses that
|
|
self-same day, <scripRef passage="De 32:48" id="Deu.xxxiii-p52.2" parsed="|Deut|32|48|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.48"><i>v.</i>
|
|
48</scripRef>. Now that he had done his work, why should he desire
|
|
to live a day longer? He had indeed formerly prayed that he might
|
|
go over Jordan, but now he is entirely satisfied, and, as God had
|
|
bidden him, <i>saith no more of that matter.</i> 1. God here
|
|
reminds him of the sin he had been guilty of, for which he was
|
|
excluded Canaan (<scripRef passage="De 32:51" id="Deu.xxxiii-p52.3" parsed="|Deut|32|51|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.51"><i>v.</i>
|
|
51</scripRef>), that he might the more patiently bear the rebuke
|
|
because he had sinned, and that now he might renew his sorrow for
|
|
that unadvised word, for it is good for the best of men to die
|
|
repenting of the infirmities they are conscious to themselves of.
|
|
It was an omission that was thus displeasing to God; he did <i>not
|
|
sanctify God,</i> as he ought to have done, <i>before the children
|
|
of Israel,</i> he did not carry himself with a due decorum in
|
|
executing the orders he had then received. 2. He reminds him of the
|
|
death of his brother Aaron (<scripRef passage="De 32:50" id="Deu.xxxiii-p52.4" parsed="|Deut|32|50|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.50"><i>v.</i>
|
|
50</scripRef>), to make his own the more familiar and the less
|
|
formidable. Note, It is a great encouragement to us, when we die,
|
|
to think of our friends that have gone before us through that
|
|
darksome valley, especially of Christ, our elder brother and great
|
|
high priest. 3. He sends him up to a high hill, thence to take a
|
|
view of the land of Canaan and then die, <scripRef passage="De 32:49,50" id="Deu.xxxiii-p52.5" parsed="|Deut|32|49|32|50" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.49-Deut.32.50"><i>v.</i> 49, 50</scripRef>. The remembrance of his
|
|
sin might make death terrible, but the sight God gave him of Canaan
|
|
took off the terror of it, as it was a token of God's being
|
|
reconciled to him, and a plain indication to him that though his
|
|
sin shut him out of the earthly Canaan, yet it should not deprive
|
|
him of that better country which in this world can only be seen,
|
|
and that with an eye of faith. Note, Those may die with comfort and
|
|
ease whenever God calls for them (notwithstanding the sins they
|
|
remember against themselves) who have a believing prospect and a
|
|
well-grounded hope of eternal life beyond death.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXXIII" n="xxxiv" progress="98.22%" prev="Deu.xxxiii" next="Deu.xxxv" id="Deu.xxxiv">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.xxxiv-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.xxxiv-p0.2">CHAP. XXXIII.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.xxxiv-p1">Yet Moses has not done with the children of
|
|
Israel; he seemed to have taken final leave of them in the close of
|
|
the foregoing chapter, but still he has something more to say. He
|
|
had preached them a farewell sermon, a very copious and pathetic
|
|
discourse. After sermon he had given out a psalm, a long psalm; and
|
|
now nothing remains but to dismiss them with a blessing; that
|
|
blessing he pronounces in this chapter in the name of the Lord, and
|
|
so leaves them. I. He pronounces them all blessed in what God had
|
|
done for them already, especially in giving them his law, <scripRef passage="De 33:2-5" id="Deu.xxxiv-p1.1" parsed="|Deut|33|2|33|5" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.2-Deut.33.5">ver. 2-5</scripRef>. II. He pronounces a
|
|
blessing upon each tribe, which is both a prayer for and a prophecy
|
|
of their felicity. 1. Reuben, <scripRef passage="De 33:6" id="Deu.xxxiv-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|33|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.6">ver.
|
|
6</scripRef>. 2. Judah, <scripRef passage="De 33:7" id="Deu.xxxiv-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|33|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.7">ver.
|
|
7</scripRef>. 3. Levi, <scripRef passage="De 33:8-11" id="Deu.xxxiv-p1.4" parsed="|Deut|33|8|33|11" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.8-Deut.33.11">ver.
|
|
8-11</scripRef>. 4. Benjamin, <scripRef passage="De 33:42" id="Deu.xxxiv-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|33|42|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.42">ver.
|
|
42</scripRef>. 5. Joseph, <scripRef passage="De 33:13-17" id="Deu.xxxiv-p1.6" parsed="|Deut|33|13|33|17" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.13-Deut.33.17">ver.
|
|
13-17</scripRef>. 6. Zebulun and Issachar, <scripRef passage="De 33:18,19" id="Deu.xxxiv-p1.7" parsed="|Deut|33|18|33|19" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.18-Deut.33.19">ver. 18, 19</scripRef>. 7. Gad, <scripRef passage="De 33:20,21" id="Deu.xxxiv-p1.8" parsed="|Deut|33|20|33|21" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.20-Deut.33.21">ver. 20, 21</scripRef>. 8. Dan, <scripRef passage="De 33:22" id="Deu.xxxiv-p1.9" parsed="|Deut|33|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.22">ver. 22</scripRef>. 9. Naphtali, <scripRef passage="De 33:23" id="Deu.xxxiv-p1.10" parsed="|Deut|33|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.23">ver. 23</scripRef>. 10. Asher, <scripRef passage="De 33:24,25" id="Deu.xxxiv-p1.11" parsed="|Deut|33|24|33|25" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.24-Deut.33.25">ver. 24, 25</scripRef>. III. He pronounces them all
|
|
in general blessed upon the account of what God would be to them,
|
|
and do for them if they were obedient, <scripRef passage="De 33:26-29" id="Deu.xxxiv-p1.12" parsed="|Deut|33|26|33|29" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.26-Deut.33.29">ver. 26</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 33" id="Deu.xxxiv-p1.13" parsed="|Deut|33|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 33:1-5" id="Deu.xxxiv-p1.14" parsed="|Deut|33|1|33|5" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.1-Deut.33.5"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.33.1-Deut.33.5">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxxiv-p1.15">Moses's Blessing on Israel. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxiv-p1.16">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxxiv-p2">1 And this <i>is</i> the blessing, wherewith
|
|
Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his
|
|
death.   2 And he said, The <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxiv-p2.1">Lord</span> came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto
|
|
them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten
|
|
thousands of saints: from his right hand <i>went</i> a fiery law
|
|
for them.   3 Yea, he loved the people; all his saints
|
|
<i>are</i> in thy hand: and they sat down at thy feet; <i>every
|
|
one</i> shall receive of thy words.   4 Moses commanded us a
|
|
law, <i>even</i> the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob.
|
|
  5 And he was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people
|
|
<i>and</i> the tribes of Israel were gathered together.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p3">The <scripRef passage="De 33:1" id="Deu.xxxiv-p3.1" parsed="|Deut|33|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.1">first
|
|
verse</scripRef> is the title of the chapter: it is a blessing. In
|
|
the foregoing chapter he had thundered out the terrors of the Lord
|
|
against Israel for their sin; it was a chapter like Ezekiel's roll,
|
|
full of lamentation, and mourning, and woe. Now to soften that, and
|
|
that he might not seem to part in anger, he here subjoins a
|
|
blessing, and leaves his peace, which should descend and rest upon
|
|
all those among them that were the sons of peace. Thus Christ's
|
|
last work on earth was to bless his disciples (<scripRef passage="Lu 24:50" id="Deu.xxxiv-p3.2" parsed="|Luke|24|50|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.24.50">Luke xxiv. 50</scripRef>), like Moses here, in token of
|
|
parting as friends. Moses blessed them, 1. As a prophet—a <i>man
|
|
of God.</i> Note, It is a very desirable thing to have an interest
|
|
in the prayers of those that have an interest in heaven; it is a
|
|
<i>prophet's reward.</i> In this blessing Moses not only expresses
|
|
his good wishes to this people, but by the spirit of prophecy
|
|
foretells things to come concerning them. 2. As a parent to Israel;
|
|
for so good princes are to their subjects. Jacob upon his death-bed
|
|
blessed his sons (<scripRef passage="Ge 49:1" id="Deu.xxxiv-p3.3" parsed="|Gen|49|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.1">Gen. xlix.
|
|
1</scripRef>), in conformity to whose example Moses here blesses
|
|
the tribes that were descended from them, to show that though they
|
|
had been very provoking yet the entail of the blessing was not cut
|
|
off. The doing of this immediately before his death would not only
|
|
be the more likely to leave an impression upon them, but would be
|
|
an indication of the great good-will of Moses to them, that he
|
|
desired their happiness, though he must die and not share in
|
|
it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p4">He begins his blessing with a lofty
|
|
description of the glorious appearances of God to them in giving
|
|
them the law, and the great advantage they had by it.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p5">I. There was a visible and illustrious
|
|
discovery of the divine majesty, enough to convince and for ever
|
|
silence atheists and infidels, to awaken and affect those that were
|
|
most stupid and careless, and to put to shame all secret
|
|
inclinations to other gods, <scripRef passage="De 33:2" id="Deu.xxxiv-p5.1" parsed="|Deut|33|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.2"><i>v.</i>
|
|
2</scripRef>. 1. His appearance was glorious: he shone forth like
|
|
the sun when he goes forth in his strength. Even Seir and Paran,
|
|
two mountains at some distance, were illuminated by the divine
|
|
glory which appeared on Mount Sinai, and reflected some of the rays
|
|
of it, so bright was the appearance, and so much taken notice of by
|
|
the adjacent countries. To this the prophet alludes, to set forth
|
|
the wonders of the divine providence, <scripRef passage="Hab 3:3,4,Ps 18:7-9" id="Deu.xxxiv-p5.2" parsed="|Hab|3|3|3|4;|Ps|18|7|18|9" osisRef="Bible:Hab.3.3-Hab.3.4 Bible:Ps.18.7-Ps.18.9">Hab. iii. 3, 4; Ps. xviii. 7-9</scripRef>.
|
|
The Jerusalem Targum has a strange gloss upon this, that, "when God
|
|
came down to give the law, he offered it on Mount Seir to the
|
|
Edomites, but they refused it, because they found in it, <i>Thou
|
|
shalt not kill.</i> Then he offered it on Mount Paran to the
|
|
Ishmaelites, but they also refused it, because they found in it,
|
|
<i>Thou shalt not steal;</i> and then he came to Mount Sinai and
|
|
offered it to Israel, and they said, <i>All that the Lord shall say
|
|
we will do.</i>" I would not have transcribed so groundless a
|
|
conceit but for the antiquity of it. 2. His retinue was glorious;
|
|
he came with his holy myriads, as Enoch had long since foretold he
|
|
should come in the last day to judge the world, <scripRef passage="Jude 1:14" id="Deu.xxxiv-p5.3" parsed="|Jude|1|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jude.1.14">Jude 14</scripRef>. These were the angels, those
|
|
<i>chariots of God in the midst of which</i> the Lord was, on
|
|
<i>that holy place,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 68:17" id="Deu.xxxiv-p5.4" parsed="|Ps|68|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.68.17">Ps. lxviii.
|
|
17</scripRef>. They attended the divine majesty, and were employed
|
|
as his ministers in the solemnities of the day. Hence the law is
|
|
said to <i>be given by the disposition of angels,</i> <scripRef passage="Ac 7:53,Heb 2:2" id="Deu.xxxiv-p5.5" parsed="|Acts|7|53|0|0;|Heb|2|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.53 Bible:Heb.2.2">Acts vii. 53; Heb. ii. 2</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p6">II. He gave them his law, which is, 1.
|
|
Called <i>a fiery law,</i> because it was given them <i>out of the
|
|
midst of the fire</i> (<scripRef passage="De 4:33" id="Deu.xxxiv-p6.1" parsed="|Deut|4|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.33">Deut. iv.
|
|
33</scripRef>), and because it works like fire; if it be received,
|
|
it is melting, warming, purifying, and burns up the dross of
|
|
corruption; if it be rejected, it hardens, sears, torments, and
|
|
destroys. The Spirit descended in cloven tongues as of fire; for
|
|
the gospel also is a fiery law. 2. It is said to <i>go from his
|
|
right hand,</i> either because he wrote it on tables of stone, or
|
|
to denote the power and energy of the law and the divine strength
|
|
that goes along with it, that it may not return void. Or it came as
|
|
a gift to them, and a precious gift it was, a right-hand blessing.
|
|
3. It was an instance of the special kindness he had for them:
|
|
<i>Yea, he loved the people</i> (<scripRef passage="De 33:32" id="Deu.xxxiv-p6.2" parsed="|Deut|33|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>), and therefore, though it was a
|
|
fiery law, yet it is said to <i>go for them</i> (<scripRef passage="De 33:2" id="Deu.xxxiv-p6.3" parsed="|Deut|33|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), that is, in favour to them.
|
|
Note, The law of God written in the heart is a certain evidence of
|
|
the love of God shed abroad there: we must reckon God's law one of
|
|
the gifts of his grace. Yea, he embraced the people, or <i>laid
|
|
them in his bosom;</i> so the word signifies, which denotes not
|
|
only the dearest love, but the most tender and careful protection.
|
|
<i>All his saints are in his hand.</i> Some understand it
|
|
particularly of his supporting them and preserving them alive at
|
|
Mount Sinai, when the terror was so great that Moses himself
|
|
quaked; they heard the voice of God and lived, <scripRef passage="De 4:33" id="Deu.xxxiv-p6.4" parsed="|Deut|4|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.33"><i>ch.</i> iv. 33</scripRef>. Or it denotes his forming
|
|
them into a people by his law; he moulded and fashioned them as a
|
|
potter does the clay. Or they were in his hand to be covered and
|
|
protected, used and disposed of, as the seven stars were in the
|
|
hand of Christ, <scripRef passage="Re 1:16" id="Deu.xxxiv-p6.5" parsed="|Rev|1|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.1.16">Rev. i. 16</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, God has all his saints in his hand; and, though there are
|
|
<i>ten thousands of his saints</i> (<scripRef passage="De 33:2" id="Deu.xxxiv-p6.6" parsed="|Deut|33|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), yet his hand, with which he
|
|
measures the waters, is large enough, and strong enough, to hold
|
|
them all, and we may be sure that <i>none can pluck them out of his
|
|
hand,</i> <scripRef passage="Joh 10:28" id="Deu.xxxiv-p6.7" parsed="|John|10|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.10.28">John x. 28</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p7">III. He disposed them to receive the law
|
|
which he gave them: <i>They sat down at thy feet,</i> as scholars
|
|
at the feet of their master, in token of reverence, in attendance
|
|
and humble submission to what is taught; so Israel sat at the foot
|
|
of Mount Sinai, and promised to hear and do whatever God should
|
|
say. They were <i>struck to thy feet,</i> so some read it; namely,
|
|
by the terrors of Mount Sinai, which greatly humbled them for the
|
|
present, <scripRef passage="Ex 20:19" id="Deu.xxxiv-p7.1" parsed="|Exod|20|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.20.19">Exod. xx. 19</scripRef>.
|
|
Every one then stood ready to receive God's words, and did so again
|
|
when the law was publicly read to them, as <scripRef passage="Joh 8:34" id="Deu.xxxiv-p7.2" parsed="|John|8|34|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.8.34">Josh. viii. 34</scripRef>. It is a great privilege when
|
|
we have heard the words of God to have opportunity of hearing them
|
|
again. <scripRef passage="Joh 17:26" id="Deu.xxxiv-p7.3" parsed="|John|17|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.17.26">John xvii. 26</scripRef>, <i>I
|
|
have declared thy name, and will declare it.</i> So Israel not only
|
|
had received the law, but should still receive it by their prayers,
|
|
and other lively oracles. The people are taught (<scripRef passage="De 33:4,5" id="Deu.xxxiv-p7.4" parsed="|Deut|33|4|33|5" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.4-Deut.33.5"><i>v.</i> 4, 5</scripRef>), in gratitude for the law of
|
|
God, always to keep up an honourable remembrance both of the law
|
|
itself and of Moses by whom it was given. Two of the Chaldee
|
|
paraphrasts read it, <i>The children of Israel said, Moses
|
|
commanded us a law.</i> And the Jews say that as soon as a child
|
|
was able to speak his father was obliged to teach him these words:
|
|
<i>Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the
|
|
congregation of Jacob.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p8">1. They are taught to speak with great
|
|
respect of the law, and to call it <i>the inheritance of the
|
|
congregation of Jacob.</i> They looked upon it, (1.) As peculiar to
|
|
them, and that by which they were distinguished from other nations,
|
|
who neither had the knowledge of it (<scripRef passage="Ps 147:20" id="Deu.xxxiv-p8.1" parsed="|Ps|147|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.147.20">Ps. cxlvii. 20</scripRef>), nor, if they had, were
|
|
under those obligations to observe it that Israel were under: and
|
|
therefore (says bishop Patrick), "when the Jews conquered any
|
|
country, they did not force any to embrace the law of Moses, but
|
|
only to submit to the seven precepts of Noah." (2.) As entailed
|
|
upon them; for so inheritances are to be transmitted to their
|
|
posterity. And, (3.) As their wealth and true treasure. Those that
|
|
enjoy the word of God and the means of grace have reason to say, We
|
|
have a goodly heritage. He is indeed a rich man in whom the word of
|
|
Christ dwells richly. Perhaps the law is called their
|
|
<i>inheritance</i> because it was given them with their
|
|
inheritance, and we so annexed to it that the forsaking of the law
|
|
would be a forfeiture of the inheritance. See <scripRef passage="Ps 119:111" id="Deu.xxxiv-p8.2" parsed="|Ps|119|111|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119.111">Ps. cxix. 111</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p9">2. They are taught to speak with great
|
|
respect of Moses; and they were the more obliged to keep up his
|
|
name because he had not provided for the keeping of it up in his
|
|
family; his posterity were never called the <i>sons of Moses,</i>
|
|
as the priests were the <i>sons of Aaron.</i> (1.) They must own
|
|
Moses a great benefactor to their nation, in that he <i>commanded
|
|
them the law;</i> for, though it came from the hand of God, it went
|
|
through the hand of Moses. (2.) <i>He was king in Jeshurun. Having
|
|
commanded them the law,</i> as long as he lived he took care to see
|
|
it observed and put in execution; and they were very happy in
|
|
having such a king, who ruled them, and went in and out before them
|
|
at all times, but did in a special manner look great when the
|
|
<i>heads of the people were gathered together</i> in parliament, as
|
|
it were, and Moses was president among them. Some understand this
|
|
of God himself; he did then declare himself their King when he gave
|
|
them the law, and he continued so long as they were
|
|
<i>Jeshurun,</i> an upright people, and till they rejected him,
|
|
<scripRef passage="1Sa 12:12" id="Deu.xxxiv-p9.1" parsed="|1Sam|12|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.12.12">1 Sam. xii. 12</scripRef>. But it
|
|
seems rather to be understood of Moses. A good government is a
|
|
great blessing to any people, and what they have reason to be very
|
|
thankful for; and that constitution is very happy which as
|
|
Israel's, which as ours, divides the power between the king in
|
|
Jeshurun and the heads of the tribes, when they are gathered
|
|
together.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 33:6-7" id="Deu.xxxiv-p9.2" parsed="|Deut|33|6|33|7" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.6-Deut.33.7"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.33.6-Deut.33.7">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxxiv-p10">6 Let Reuben live, and not die; and let
|
|
<i>not</i> his men be few.   7 And this <i>is the blessing</i>
|
|
of Judah: and he said, Hear, <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxiv-p10.1">Lord</span>,
|
|
the voice of Judah, and bring him unto his people: let his hands be
|
|
sufficient for him; and be thou a help <i>to him</i> from his
|
|
enemies.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p11">Here is, I. The blessing of Reuben. Though
|
|
Reuben had lost the honour of his birthright, yet Moses begins with
|
|
him; for we should not insult over those that are disgraced, nor
|
|
desire to perpetuate marks of infamy upon any, though ever so
|
|
justly fastened at first, <scripRef passage="De 33:6" id="Deu.xxxiv-p11.1" parsed="|Deut|33|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.6"><i>v.</i>
|
|
6</scripRef>. Moses desires and foretells, 1. The preserving of this
|
|
tribe. Though a frontier tribe on the other side Jordan, yet,
|
|
"<i>Let it live,</i> and not be either ruined by its neighbours or
|
|
lost among them." And perhaps he refers to those chosen men of that
|
|
tribe who, having had their lot assigned them already, left their
|
|
families in it, and were now ready to <i>go over armed before their
|
|
brethren,</i> <scripRef passage="Nu 32:27" id="Deu.xxxiv-p11.2" parsed="|Num|32|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.27">Num. xxxii.
|
|
27</scripRef>. "Let them be protected in this noble expedition, and
|
|
have their heads covered in the day of battle." 2. Let it be a
|
|
numerous tribe; though their other honours be lost, so that they
|
|
shall not excel, yet let them multiply." <i>Let Reuben live and not
|
|
die, though his men be few;</i> so bishop Patrick, thinks it may be
|
|
rendered. "Though he must not expect to flourish (<scripRef passage="Ge 49:4" id="Deu.xxxiv-p11.3" parsed="|Gen|49|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.4">Gen. xlix. 4</scripRef>), yet let him not
|
|
perish." All the Chaldee paraphrasts refer this to the other world:
|
|
<i>Let Reuben live in life eternal, and not die the second
|
|
death,</i> so Onkelos. <i>Let Reuben live in this world, and not
|
|
die that death which the wicked die in the world to come,</i> so
|
|
Jonathan and the Jerusalem Targum.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p12">II. The blessing of Judah, which is put
|
|
before Levi because our <i>Loud sprang out of Judah,</i> and (as
|
|
Dr. Lightfoot says) because of the dignity of the kingdom above the
|
|
priesthood. The blessing (<scripRef passage="De 33:7" id="Deu.xxxiv-p12.1" parsed="|Deut|33|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.7"><i>v.</i>
|
|
7</scripRef>) may refer either, 1. To the whole tribe in general.
|
|
Moses prays for, and prophesies, the great prosperity of that
|
|
tribe. That God would hear his prayers (see an instance, <scripRef passage="2Ch 13:14,15" id="Deu.xxxiv-p12.2" parsed="|2Chr|13|14|13|15" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.13.14-2Chr.13.15">2 Chron. xiii. 14, 15</scripRef>), settle
|
|
him in his lot, prosper him in all his affairs, and give him
|
|
victory over his enemies. It is taken for granted that the tribe of
|
|
Judah would be both a praying tribe and an active tribe. "Lord,"
|
|
says Moses, "hear his prayers, and give success to all his
|
|
undertakings: <i>let his hands be sufficient for him</i> both in
|
|
husbandry and in war." The voice of prayer should always be
|
|
attended with the hand of endeavour, and then we may expect
|
|
prosperity. Or, 2. It may refer in particular to David, as a type
|
|
of Christ, that God <i>would hear his prayers,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 20:1" id="Deu.xxxiv-p12.3" parsed="|Ps|20|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.20.1">Ps. xx. 1</scripRef> (and Christ was <i>heard
|
|
always,</i> <scripRef passage="Joh 11:42" id="Deu.xxxiv-p12.4" parsed="|John|11|42|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.11.42">John xi. 42</scripRef>),
|
|
that he would give him victory over his enemies, and success in his
|
|
great undertakings. See <scripRef passage="Ps 89:20-28" id="Deu.xxxiv-p12.5" parsed="|Ps|89|20|89|28" osisRef="Bible:Ps.89.20-Ps.89.28">Ps. lxxxix.
|
|
20</scripRef>, &c. And that prayer that God would <i>bring him
|
|
to his people</i> seems to refer to Jacob's prophecy concerning
|
|
Shiloh, That <i>to him should the gathering of the people be,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ge 49:10" id="Deu.xxxiv-p12.6" parsed="|Gen|49|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.10">Gen. xlix. 10</scripRef>. The tribe of
|
|
Simeon is omitted in the blessing, because Jacob had left it under
|
|
a brand, and it had never done any thing, as Levi had done, to
|
|
retrieve its honour. It was lessened in the wilderness more than
|
|
any other of the tribes; and Zimri, who was so notoriously guilty
|
|
in the matter of Peor but the other day, was of that tribe. Or,
|
|
because the lot of Simeon was an appendage to that of Judah, that
|
|
tribe is included in the blessing of Judah. Some copies of the LXX.
|
|
join Simeon with Reuben: <i>Let Reuben live and not die; and let
|
|
Simeon be many in number.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 33:8-11" id="Deu.xxxiv-p12.7" parsed="|Deut|33|8|33|11" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.8-Deut.33.11"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.33.8-Deut.33.11">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxxiv-p13">8 And of Levi he said, <i>Let</i> thy Thummim
|
|
and thy Urim <i>be</i> with thy holy one, whom thou didst prove at
|
|
Massah, <i>and with</i> whom thou didst strive at the waters of
|
|
Meribah;   9 Who said unto his father and to his mother, I
|
|
have not seen him; neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor
|
|
knew his own children: for they have observed thy word, and kept
|
|
thy covenant.   10 They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and
|
|
Israel thy law: they shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt
|
|
sacrifice upon thine altar.   11 Bless, <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxiv-p13.1">Lord</span>, his substance, and accept the work of his
|
|
hands: smite through the loins of them that rise against him, and
|
|
of them that hate him, that they rise not again.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p14">In blessing the tribe of Levi, Moses
|
|
expresses himself more at large, not so much because it was his own
|
|
tribe (for he takes no notice of his relation to it) as because it
|
|
was God's tribe. The blessing of Levi has reference.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p15">I. To the high priest, here called God's
|
|
<i>holy one</i> (<scripRef passage="De 33:8" id="Deu.xxxiv-p15.1" parsed="|Deut|33|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.8"><i>v.</i>
|
|
8</scripRef>), because his office was holy, in token of which,
|
|
<i>Holiness to the Lord</i> was written upon his forehead. 1. He
|
|
seems to acknowledge that God might justly have displaced Aaron and
|
|
his seed, for his sin at Meribah, (<scripRef passage="Ex 17:7" id="Deu.xxxiv-p15.2" parsed="|Exod|17|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.7">Exod. xvii. 7</scripRef>), which might be very
|
|
remarkable, and which God might have an eye to in conferring the
|
|
priesthood upon him, though no mention is made of it there. All the
|
|
Chaldee paraphrasts agree that it was a trial in which he was
|
|
<i>found perfect and faithful,</i> and <i>stood in the trial;</i>
|
|
therefore not that, <scripRef passage="Nu 20:2" id="Deu.xxxiv-p15.3" parsed="|Num|20|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.20.2">Num. xx.
|
|
2</scripRef>. He prays that the office of the high priest might
|
|
ever remain: <i>Let thy thummim and thy urim be with him.</i> It
|
|
was given him for some eminent piece of service, as appears,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Mal 2:5" id="Deu.xxxiv-p15.4" parsed="|Mal|2|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mal.2.5">Mal. ii. 5</scripRef>. "Lord, let it
|
|
never be taken from him." Notwithstanding this blessing, the urim
|
|
and thummim were lost in the captivity, and never restored under
|
|
the second temple. But this prayer has its full accomplishment in
|
|
Jesus Christ, God's Holy One, and our great high priest, of whom
|
|
Aaron was a type: with him who had lain in the Father's bosom from
|
|
eternity the urim and thummim shall remain; for he is the wonderful
|
|
and everlasting counsellor. Some translate the thummim and urim
|
|
appellatively, the rather because the usual order is here inverted,
|
|
and here only. <i>Thummim</i> signifies <i>integrity,</i> and
|
|
<i>Urim illumination:</i> Let these be with thy holy one, that is,
|
|
"Lord, let the high priest ever be both an upright man and an
|
|
understanding man." A good prayer to be put up for the ministers of
|
|
the gospel, that they may have clear heads and honest hearts; light
|
|
and sincerity make a complete minister.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p16">II. To the inferior priests and Levites,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 33:9-11" id="Deu.xxxiv-p16.1" parsed="|Deut|33|9|33|11" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.9-Deut.33.11"><i>v.</i> 9-11</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p17">1. He commends the zeal of this tribe for
|
|
God when they sided with Moses (and so with God) against the
|
|
worshippers of the golden calf (<scripRef passage="Ex 32:26-28" id="Deu.xxxiv-p17.1" parsed="|Exod|32|26|32|28" osisRef="Bible:Exod.32.26-Exod.32.28">Exod. xxxii. 26</scripRef>, &c.), and, being
|
|
employed in cutting off the ring-leaders in that wickedness, they
|
|
did it impartially: the best friends they had in the world, though
|
|
as dear to them as their next relations, they did not spare if they
|
|
were idolaters. Note, Our regard to God and to his glory ought
|
|
always to prevail above our regard to any creature whatsoever. And
|
|
those who not only keep themselves pure from the common iniquities
|
|
of the times and places in which they live, but, as they are
|
|
capable, bear testimony against them, and <i>stand up for God
|
|
against the evil-doers,</i> shall have special marks of honour put
|
|
upon them. Perhaps Moses may have an eye to the sons of Korah, who
|
|
refused to join with their father in his gain-saying, <scripRef passage="Nu 26:11" id="Deu.xxxiv-p17.2" parsed="|Num|26|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.26.11">Num. xxvi. 11</scripRef>. Also to Phinehas, who
|
|
<i>executed judgment,</i> and <i>stayed the plague.</i> And indeed
|
|
the office of the priests and Levites, which engaged their constant
|
|
attendance, at least in their turns, at God's altar, laid them
|
|
under a necessity of being frequently absent from their families,
|
|
which they could not take such care of, nor make such provision
|
|
for, as other Israelites might. This was the constant self-denial
|
|
they submitted to, that they might <i>observe God's word,</i> and
|
|
keep the <i>covenant of priesthood.</i> Note, Those that are called
|
|
to minister in holy things must sit loose to the relations and
|
|
interests that are dearest to them in this world, and prefer the
|
|
gratifying of the best friend they have, <scripRef passage="Ac 21:13,Ac 20:24" id="Deu.xxxiv-p17.3" parsed="|Acts|21|13|0|0;|Acts|20|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.21.13 Bible:Acts.20.24">Acts xxi. 13; xx. 24</scripRef>. Our Lord Jesus
|
|
knew not his mother and his brethren when they would have taken him
|
|
off from his work, <scripRef passage="Mt 12:48" id="Deu.xxxiv-p17.4" parsed="|Matt|12|48|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.12.48">Matt. xii.
|
|
48</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p18">2. He confirms the commission granted to
|
|
this tribe to minister in holy things, which was the recompence of
|
|
their zeal and fidelity, <scripRef passage="De 33:10" id="Deu.xxxiv-p18.1" parsed="|Deut|33|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.10"><i>v.</i>
|
|
10</scripRef>. (1.) They were to deal for God with the people:
|
|
"<i>They shall teach Jacob thy judgments and Israel thy laws,</i>
|
|
both as preachers in thy religious assemblies, reading and
|
|
expounding the law (<scripRef passage="Ne 8:7,8" id="Deu.xxxiv-p18.2" parsed="|Neh|8|7|8|8" osisRef="Bible:Neh.8.7-Neh.8.8">Neh. viii. 7,
|
|
8</scripRef>), and as judges, determining doubtful and difficult
|
|
cases that were brought before them," <scripRef passage="2Ch 17:8,9" id="Deu.xxxiv-p18.3" parsed="|2Chr|17|8|17|9" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.17.8-2Chr.17.9">2 Chron. xvii. 8, 9</scripRef>. The priests' lips kept
|
|
this knowledge for the use of the people, who were to ask the law
|
|
at their mouth, <scripRef passage="Mal 2:7" id="Deu.xxxiv-p18.4" parsed="|Mal|2|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mal.2.7">Mal. ii. 7</scripRef>.
|
|
Even Haggai, a prophet, consulted the priests in a case of
|
|
conscience, <scripRef passage="Hag 2:11-13" id="Deu.xxxiv-p18.5" parsed="|Hag|2|11|2|13" osisRef="Bible:Hag.2.11-Hag.2.13">Hag. ii. 11</scripRef>,
|
|
&c. Note, Preaching is necessary, not only for the first
|
|
planting of churches, but for the preserving and edifying of
|
|
churches when they are planted. See <scripRef passage="Eze 44:23,24" id="Deu.xxxiv-p18.6" parsed="|Ezek|44|23|44|24" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.44.23-Ezek.44.24">Ezek. xliv. 23, 24</scripRef>. (2.) They were to
|
|
deal for the people with God, in burning incense to the praise and
|
|
glory of God, and offering sacrifices to make atonement for sin and
|
|
to obtain the divine favour. This was the work of the priests, but
|
|
the Levites attended and assisted in it. Those that would have
|
|
benefit by their incense and offerings must diligently and
|
|
faithfully observe their instructions.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p19">3. He prays for them, <scripRef passage="De 33:11" id="Deu.xxxiv-p19.1" parsed="|Deut|33|11|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. (1.) That God would prosper
|
|
them in their estates, and make that which was allotted them for
|
|
their maintenance comfortable to them. <i>Bless, Lord, his
|
|
substance.</i> The provision made for them was very plentiful, and
|
|
came to them easily, and yet they could have no joy of it unless
|
|
God blessed it to them; and, since God himself was their portion, a
|
|
particular blessing might be expected to attend this portion.
|
|
<i>Bless, Lord, his virtue;</i> so some read it. "Lord, increase
|
|
thy graces in them, and make them more and more fit for their
|
|
work." (2.) That he would accept them in their services: "<i>Accept
|
|
the work of his hands,</i> both for himself and for the people for
|
|
whom he ministers." Acceptance with God is that which we should all
|
|
aim at, and be ambitious of, in all our devotions, whether men
|
|
accept us or no (<scripRef passage="2Co 5:9" id="Deu.xxxiv-p19.2" parsed="|2Cor|5|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.5.9">2 Cor. v.
|
|
9</scripRef>), and it is the most valuable blessing we can desire
|
|
either for ourselves or others. (3.) That he would take his part
|
|
against all his enemies: <i>Smite through the loins of those that
|
|
rise against him.</i> He supposes that God's ministers would have
|
|
many enemies: some would hate their persons for their faithfulness,
|
|
and would endeavour to do them a mischief; others would envy them
|
|
their maintenance, and endeavour sacrilegiously to deprive them of
|
|
it; others would oppose them in the execution of their office and
|
|
not submit to the sentence of the priests; and some would aim to
|
|
overthrow the office itself. Now he prays that God would blast all
|
|
such attempts, and return the mischief upon the heads of the
|
|
authors. This prayer is a prophecy that God will certainly reckon
|
|
with those that are enemies to his ministers, and will keep up a
|
|
ministry in his church to the end of time, in spite of all the
|
|
designs of the gates of hell against it. Saul rose up against the
|
|
Lord's priests (<scripRef passage="1Sa 22:18" id="Deu.xxxiv-p19.3" parsed="|1Sam|22|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.22.18">1 Sam. xxii.
|
|
18</scripRef>), and this filled the measure of his sin.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 33" id="Deu.xxxiv-p19.4" parsed="|Deut|33|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 33:12-17" id="Deu.xxxiv-p19.5" parsed="|Deut|33|12|33|17" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.12-Deut.33.17"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.33.12-Deut.33.17">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxxiv-p20">12 <i>And</i> of Benjamin he said, The beloved
|
|
of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxiv-p20.1">Lord</span> shall dwell in safety by
|
|
him; <i>and the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxiv-p20.2">Lord</span></i> shall cover
|
|
him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders.
|
|
  13 And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxiv-p20.3">Lord</span> <i>be</i> his land, for the precious things
|
|
of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath,
|
|
  14 And for the precious fruits <i>brought forth</i> by the
|
|
sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon,   15
|
|
And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the
|
|
precious things of the lasting hills,   16 And for the
|
|
precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and <i>for</i>
|
|
the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let <i>the
|
|
blessing</i> come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the
|
|
head of him <i>that was</i> separated from his brethren.   17
|
|
His glory <i>is like</i> the firstling of his bullock, and his
|
|
horns <i>are like</i> the horns of unicorns: with them he shall
|
|
push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they
|
|
<i>are</i> the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they <i>are</i> the
|
|
thousands of Manasseh.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p21">Here is, I. The blessing of Benjamin,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 33:12" id="Deu.xxxiv-p21.1" parsed="|Deut|33|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. Benjamin is
|
|
put next to Levi, because the temple, where the priests' work lay,
|
|
was just upon the edge of the lot of this tribe; and it is put
|
|
before Joseph because of the dignity of Jerusalem (part of which
|
|
was in this tribe) above Samaria, which was in the tribe of
|
|
Ephraim, and because Benjamin adhered to the house of David, and to
|
|
the temple of the Lord, when the rest of the tribes deserted both
|
|
with Jeroboam. 1. Benjamin is here called the <i>beloved of the
|
|
Lord,</i> and the father of this tribe was Jacob's beloved son, the
|
|
<i>son of his right hand.</i> Note, Those are blessed indeed that
|
|
are beloved of the Lord. Saul the first king, and Paul the great
|
|
apostle, were both of this tribe. 2. He is here assured of the
|
|
divine protection: he shall <i>dwell safely.</i> Note, Those are
|
|
safe whom God loves, <scripRef passage="Ps 91:1" id="Deu.xxxiv-p21.2" parsed="|Ps|91|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.91.1">Ps. xci.
|
|
1</scripRef>. 3. It is here intimated that the temple in which God
|
|
would dwell should be built in the borders of this tribe. Jerusalem
|
|
the holy city was in the lot of this tribe (<scripRef passage="Jos 18:28" id="Deu.xxxiv-p21.3" parsed="|Josh|18|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.18.28">Josh. xviii. 28</scripRef>); and though Zion, the city
|
|
of David, is supposed to belong to Judah, yet Mount Moriah, on
|
|
which the temple was built, was in Benjamin's lot. God is
|
|
<i>therefore</i> said to dwell <i>between his shoulders,</i>
|
|
because the temple stood on that mount, as the head of a man upon
|
|
his shoulders. And by this means Benjamin was covered all the day
|
|
long under the protection of the sanctuary (<scripRef passage="Ps 125:2" id="Deu.xxxiv-p21.4" parsed="|Ps|125|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.125.2">Ps. cxxv. 2</scripRef>), which is often spoken of as a
|
|
place of refuge, <scripRef passage="Ps 27:4,5,Ne 6:10" id="Deu.xxxiv-p21.5" parsed="|Ps|27|4|27|5;|Neh|6|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.27.4-Ps.27.5 Bible:Neh.6.10">Ps. xxvii.
|
|
4, 5; Neh. vi. 10</scripRef>. Benjamin, dwelling by the temple of
|
|
God, <i>dwelt in safety by him.</i> Note, It is a happy thing to be
|
|
in the neighbourhood of the temple. This situation of Benjamin, it
|
|
is likely, was the only thing that kept that tribe in adherence
|
|
with Judah to the divine institutions, when the other ten tribes
|
|
apostatized. Those have corrupt and wicked hearts indeed who, the
|
|
nearer they are to the church, are so much the further from
|
|
God.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p22">II. The blessing of Joseph, including both
|
|
Manasseh and Ephraim. In Jacob's blessing (<scripRef passage="Ge 49:1-27" id="Deu.xxxiv-p22.1" parsed="|Gen|49|1|49|27" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.1-Gen.49.27">Gen. xlix.</scripRef>) that of Joseph is the largest,
|
|
and so it is here; and thence Moses here borrows the title he gives
|
|
to Joseph (<scripRef passage="De 33:16" id="Deu.xxxiv-p22.2" parsed="|Deut|33|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>),
|
|
that he was <i>separated from his brethren,</i> or, as it might be
|
|
read, <i>a Nazarite among them,</i> both in regard of his piety,
|
|
wherein it appears, by many instances, he excelled them all, and of
|
|
his dignity in Egypt, where he was both their ruler and benefactor.
|
|
His brethren separated him from them by making him a slave, but God
|
|
distinguished him from them by making him a prince. Now the
|
|
blessings here prayed for, and prophesied of, for this tribe, are
|
|
great plenty and great power.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p23">1. Great plenty, <scripRef passage="De 33:13-16" id="Deu.xxxiv-p23.1" parsed="|Deut|33|13|33|16" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.13-Deut.33.16"><i>v.</i> 13-16</scripRef>. In general: <i>Blessed of
|
|
the Lord be his land.</i> Those were very fruitful countries that
|
|
fell into the lot of Ephraim and Manasseh, yet Moses prays they
|
|
might be watered with the blessing of God, which makes rich, and on
|
|
which all fruitfulness depends. Now,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p24">(1.) He enumerates many particulars which
|
|
he prays may contribute to the wealth and abundance of those two
|
|
tribes, looking up to the Creator for the benefit and
|
|
serviceableness of all the inferior creatures, for they are all
|
|
that to us which he makes them to be. He prays, [1.] For seasonable
|
|
rains and dews, <i>the precious things of heaven;</i> and so
|
|
precious they are, though but pure water, that without them the
|
|
fruits of the earth would all fail and be cut off. [2.] For
|
|
plentiful springs, which help to make the earth fruitful, called
|
|
here <i>the deep that coucheth beneath;</i> both are the <i>rivers
|
|
of God</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 65:9" id="Deu.xxxiv-p24.1" parsed="|Ps|65|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.65.9">Ps. lxv. 9</scripRef>), and
|
|
he made particularly the <i>fountains of waters,</i> <scripRef passage="Re 14:7" id="Deu.xxxiv-p24.2" parsed="|Rev|14|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rev.14.7">Rev. xiv. 7</scripRef>. [3.] For the benign
|
|
influences of the heavenly bodies (<scripRef passage="De 33:14" id="Deu.xxxiv-p24.3" parsed="|Deut|33|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>), <i>for the precious fruits</i>
|
|
(the word signifies that which is most excellent, and the best in
|
|
its kind) put forth by the quickening heat of the sun, and the
|
|
cooling moisture of the moon. "Let them have the yearly fruits in
|
|
their several months, according to the course of nature, in one
|
|
month olives, in another dates," &c. So some understand it.
|
|
[4.] For the fruitfulness even of their hills and mountains, which
|
|
in other countries used to be barren (<scripRef passage="De 33:15" id="Deu.xxxiv-p24.4" parsed="|Deut|33|15|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>): Let them have <i>the chief
|
|
things of the ancient mountains;</i> and, if the mountains be
|
|
fruitful, the fruits on them will be first and best ripened. They
|
|
are called ancient mountains, not because prior in time to other
|
|
mountains, but because, like the first-born, they were superior in
|
|
worth and excellency; and lasting hills, not only because as other
|
|
mountains they were immovable (<scripRef passage="Hab 3:6" id="Deu.xxxiv-p24.5" parsed="|Hab|3|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hab.3.6">Hab.
|
|
iii. 6</scripRef>), but because the fruitfulness of them should
|
|
continue. [5.] For the productions of the lower grounds (<scripRef passage="De 33:16" id="Deu.xxxiv-p24.6" parsed="|Deut|33|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>): <i>For the precious
|
|
things of the earth.</i> Though the earth itself seems a useless
|
|
worthless lump of matter, yet there are precious things produced
|
|
out of it, for the support and comfort of human life. <scripRef passage="Job 28:5" id="Deu.xxxiv-p24.7" parsed="|Job|28|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Job.28.5">Job xxviii. 5</scripRef>. <i>Out of it cometh
|
|
bread,</i> because out of it came our bodies, and to it they must
|
|
return. But what are the <i>precious things of the earth</i> to a
|
|
soul that came from God and must return to him? Or what is its
|
|
fulness to the fulness that is in Christ, whence we receive grace
|
|
for grace? Some make these precious things here prayed for to be
|
|
figures of <i>spiritual blessings in heavenly things by Christ,</i>
|
|
the gifts, graces, and comforts of the Spirit.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p25">(2.) He crowns all with the good-will, or
|
|
favourable acceptance, of him that <i>dwelt in the bush</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="De 33:16" id="Deu.xxxiv-p25.1" parsed="|Deut|33|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>), that is, of
|
|
God, that God who appeared to Moses in the bush that burned and was
|
|
not consumed (<scripRef passage="Ex 3:2" id="Deu.xxxiv-p25.2" parsed="|Exod|3|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.2">Exod. iii. 2</scripRef>),
|
|
to give him his commission for the bringing of Israel out of Egypt.
|
|
Though God's glory appeared there but for a while, yet it is said
|
|
to dwell there, because it continued as long as there was occasion
|
|
for it: <i>the good-will of the shechinah in the bush;</i> so it
|
|
might be read, for <i>shechinah</i> signifies <i>that which
|
|
dwelleth;</i> and, though it was but a little while a dweller in
|
|
the bush, yet it continued to dwell with the people of Israel.
|
|
<i>My dweller in the bush;</i> so it should be rendered; that was
|
|
an appearance of the divine Majesty to Moses only, in token of the
|
|
particular interest he had in God, which he desires to improve for
|
|
the good of this tribe. Many a time God has appeared to Moses, but
|
|
now that he is just dying he seems to have the most pleasing
|
|
remembrance of that which was the first time, when his acquaintance
|
|
with the visions of the Almighty first began, and his
|
|
correspondence with heaven was first settled: that was a time of
|
|
love never to be forgotten. It was at the bush that God declared
|
|
himself <i>the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,</i> and so
|
|
confirmed the promise made to the fathers, that promise which
|
|
reached as far as the resurrection of the body and eternal life, as
|
|
appears by our Saviour's argument from it, <scripRef passage="Lu 20:37" id="Deu.xxxiv-p25.3" parsed="|Luke|20|37|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.20.37">Luke xx. 37</scripRef>. So that, when he prays for the
|
|
good-will of him that <i>dwelt in the bush,</i> he has an eye to
|
|
the covenant then and there renewed, on which all our hopes of
|
|
God's favour must be bottomed. Now he concludes this large blessing
|
|
with a prayer for the favour or good-will of God, [1.] Because that
|
|
is the fountain and spring-head of all these blessings; they are
|
|
gifts of God's good-will; they are so to his own people, whatever
|
|
they are to others. Indeed when Ephraim (a descendant from Joseph)
|
|
slid back from God, <i>as a backsliding heifer,</i> those fruits of
|
|
his country were so far from being the gifts of God's good-will
|
|
that they were intended but to fatten him for the slaughter, <i>as
|
|
a lamb in a large place,</i> <scripRef passage="Ho 4:16,17" id="Deu.xxxiv-p25.4" parsed="|Hos|4|16|4|17" osisRef="Bible:Hos.4.16-Hos.4.17">Hos.
|
|
iv. 16, 17</scripRef>. [2.] Because that is the comfort and
|
|
sweetness of all these blessings; then we have joy of them when we
|
|
taste God's good-will in them. [3.] Because that is better than all
|
|
these, infinitely better; for if we have but the favour and
|
|
good-will of God we are happy, and may be easy in the want of all
|
|
these things, and may rejoice in the God of our salvation <i>though
|
|
the fig-tree do not blossom, and there be no fruit in the vine,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Hab 3:17,18" id="Deu.xxxiv-p25.5" parsed="|Hab|3|17|3|18" osisRef="Bible:Hab.3.17-Hab.3.18">Hab. iii. 17, 18</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p26">2. Great power Joseph is here blessed with,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 33:17" id="Deu.xxxiv-p26.1" parsed="|Deut|33|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. Here are
|
|
three instances of his power foretold: (1.) His authority among his
|
|
brethren: <i>His glory is like the firstling of his bullock,</i> or
|
|
young bull, which is a stately creature, and therefore was formerly
|
|
used as an emblem of royal majesty. Joshua, who was to succeed
|
|
Moses, was of the tribe of Ephraim the son of Joseph, and his glory
|
|
was indeed illustrious, and he was an honour to his tribe. In
|
|
Ephraim was the royal city of the ten tribes afterwards. And of
|
|
Manasseh were Gideon, Jephthah, and Jair, who were all ornaments
|
|
and blessings to their country. Some think he is compared to the
|
|
firstling of the bullock because the birthright which Reuben lost
|
|
devolved upon Joseph (<scripRef passage="1Ch 5:1,2" id="Deu.xxxiv-p26.2" parsed="|1Chr|5|1|5|2" osisRef="Bible:1Chr.5.1-1Chr.5.2">1 Chron. v. 1,
|
|
2</scripRef>), and to the firstling of <i>his</i> bullock, because
|
|
Bashan, which was in the lot of Manasseh, was famous for bulls and
|
|
cows, <scripRef passage="Ps 22:12,Am 4:1" id="Deu.xxxiv-p26.3" parsed="|Ps|22|12|0|0;|Amos|4|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.22.12 Bible:Amos.4.1">Ps. xxii. 12; Amos iv.
|
|
1</scripRef>. (2.) His force against his enemies and victory over
|
|
them: <i>His horns are like the horn of a unicorn,</i> that is,
|
|
"The forces he shall bring into the field shall be very strong and
|
|
formidable, and <i>with them he shall push the people,</i>" that
|
|
is, "He shall overcome all that stand in his way." It appears from
|
|
the Ephraimites' contests, both with Gideon (<scripRef passage="Jdg 8:1" id="Deu.xxxiv-p26.4" parsed="|Judg|8|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.8.1">Judg. viii. 1</scripRef>) and with Jephthah (<scripRef passage="Jdg 12:1" id="Deu.xxxiv-p26.5" parsed="|Judg|12|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.12.1">Judg. xii. 1</scripRef>), that they were a
|
|
warlike tribe and fierce. Yet we find the children of Ephraim, when
|
|
they had forsaken the covenant of God, though they were <i>armed,
|
|
turning back in the day of battle</i> (<scripRef passage="Ps 78:9,10" id="Deu.xxxiv-p26.6" parsed="|Ps|78|9|78|10" osisRef="Bible:Ps.78.9-Ps.78.10">Ps. lxxviii. 9, 10</scripRef>); for, though here
|
|
pronounced <i>strong and bold as unicorns,</i> when God had
|
|
departed from them they became as weak as other men. (3.) The
|
|
numbers of his people, in which Ephraim, though the younger house,
|
|
exceeded, Jacob having, in the foresight of the same thing, crossed
|
|
hands, <scripRef passage="Ge 48:19" id="Deu.xxxiv-p26.7" parsed="|Gen|48|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.19">Gen. xlviii. 19</scripRef>.
|
|
<i>They are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and the thousands of
|
|
Manasseh.</i> Jonathan's Targum applies it to the ten thousands of
|
|
Canaanites conquered by Joshua, who was of the tribe of Ephraim.
|
|
And the gloss of the Jerusalem Targum upon the former part of
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 33:17" id="Deu.xxxiv-p26.8" parsed="|Deut|33|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.17">this verse</scripRef> is observable,
|
|
that "as the firstlings of the bullock were never to be worked, nor
|
|
could the unicorn ever be tamed, so Joseph should continue free;
|
|
and they would have continued free if they had not by sin sold
|
|
themselves."</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 33" id="Deu.xxxiv-p26.9" parsed="|Deut|33|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 33:18-21" id="Deu.xxxiv-p26.10" parsed="|Deut|33|18|33|21" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.18-Deut.33.21"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.33.18-Deut.33.21">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxxiv-p27">18 And of Zebulun he said, Rejoice, Zebulun, in
|
|
thy going out; and, Issachar, in thy tents.   19 They shall
|
|
call the people unto the mountain; there they shall offer
|
|
sacrifices of righteousness: for they shall suck <i>of</i> the
|
|
abundance of the seas, and <i>of</i> treasures hid in the sand.
|
|
  20 And of Gad he said, Blessed <i>be</i> he that enlargeth
|
|
Gad: he dwelleth as a lion, and teareth the arm with the crown of
|
|
the head.   21 And he provided the first part for himself,
|
|
because there, <i>in</i> a portion of the lawgiver, <i>was he</i>
|
|
seated; and he came with the heads of the people, he executed the
|
|
justice of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxiv-p27.1">Lord</span>, and his
|
|
judgments with Israel.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p28">Here we have, I. The blessings of Zebulun
|
|
and Issachar put together, for they were both the sons of Jacob by
|
|
Leah, and by their lot in Canaan they were neighbours; it is
|
|
foretold,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p29">1. That they should both have a comfortable
|
|
settlement and employment, <scripRef passage="De 33:18" id="Deu.xxxiv-p29.1" parsed="|Deut|33|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.18"><i>v.</i>
|
|
18</scripRef>. Zebulun must rejoice, for he shall have cause to
|
|
rejoice; and Moses prays that he may have cause in his going out,
|
|
either to war (for <i>Zebulun jeoparded their lives in the high
|
|
places of the field,</i> <scripRef passage="Jdg 5:18" id="Deu.xxxiv-p29.2" parsed="|Judg|5|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.5.18">Judg. v.
|
|
18</scripRef>), or rather to sea, for Zebulun was a <i>haven of
|
|
ships,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 49:13" id="Deu.xxxiv-p29.3" parsed="|Gen|49|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.13">Gen. xlix. 13</scripRef>.
|
|
And Issachar must rejoice in his tents, that is, in his business at
|
|
home, his husbandry, to which the men of that tribe generally
|
|
confined themselves, because they saw that rest was good, and when
|
|
the sea was rough the land was pleasant, <scripRef passage="Ge 49:14,15" id="Deu.xxxiv-p29.4" parsed="|Gen|49|14|49|15" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.14-Gen.49.15">Gen. xlix. 14, 15</scripRef>. Observe here, (1.) That
|
|
the providence of God, as it variously appoints the bounds of men's
|
|
habitation, some in the city and some in the country, some in the
|
|
seaports and some in the inland towns, so it wisely disposes men's
|
|
inclinations to different employments for the good of the public,
|
|
as each member of the body is situated and qualified for the
|
|
service of the whole. The genius of some men leads them to a book,
|
|
of others to the sea, of others to the sword; some are inclined to
|
|
rural affairs, others to trade, and some have a turn for mechanics;
|
|
and it is well it is so. <i>If the whole body were an eye, where
|
|
were the hearing?</i> <scripRef passage="1Co 12:17" id="Deu.xxxiv-p29.5" parsed="|1Cor|12|17|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.12.17">1 Cor. xii.
|
|
17</scripRef>. It was for the common good of Israel that the men of
|
|
Zebulun were merchants and that the men of Issachar were
|
|
husbandmen. (2.) That whatever our place and business are it is our
|
|
wisdom and duty to accommodate ourselves to them, and it is a great
|
|
happiness to be well pleased with them. Let Zebulun rejoice in his
|
|
going out; let him thank God for the gains and make the best of the
|
|
losses and inconveniences of his merchandise, and not despise the
|
|
meanness, nor envy the quietness, of Issachar's tents. Let
|
|
<i>Issachar rejoice in his tents,</i> let him be well pleased with
|
|
the retirements and content with the small profits of his country
|
|
seats, and not grudge that he has not Zebulun's pleasure of
|
|
travelling and profit of trading. Every business has both its
|
|
conveniences and inconveniences, and therefore whatever Providence
|
|
has made our business we ought to bring our minds to it; and it is
|
|
really a great happiness, whatever our lot is, to be easy with it.
|
|
<i>This is the gift of God,</i> <scripRef passage="Ec 5:19" id="Deu.xxxiv-p29.6" parsed="|Eccl|5|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.5.19">Eccl.
|
|
v. 19</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p30">2. That they should both be serviceable in
|
|
their places to the honour of God and the interests of religion in
|
|
the nation (<scripRef passage="De 33:19" id="Deu.xxxiv-p30.1" parsed="|Deut|33|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>):
|
|
<i>They shall call the people to the mountain,</i> that is, to the
|
|
<i>temple,</i> which Moses foresaw should be built upon a mountain.
|
|
I see not why this should be confined (as it is by most
|
|
interpreters) to Zebulun; if both Zebulun and Issachar received the
|
|
comforts of their respective employments, why may we not suppose
|
|
that they both took care to give God the glory of them? Two things
|
|
they shall do for God:—</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p31">(1.) They shall invite others to his
|
|
service. <i>Call the people to the mountain.</i> [1.] Zebulun shall
|
|
improve his acquaintance and commerce with the neighbouring
|
|
nations, to whom he goes out, for this noble purpose, to propagate
|
|
religion among them, and to invite them into the service of the God
|
|
of Israel. Note, Men of great business, or large conversation,
|
|
should wisely and zealously endeavour to recommend the practice of
|
|
serious godliness to those with whom they converse and among whom
|
|
their business lies. Such are blessed, for they are blessings. It
|
|
were well if the enlargement of trade with foreign countries might
|
|
be made to contribute to the spreading of the gospel. This prophecy
|
|
concerning Zebulun perhaps looks as far as the preaching of Christ
|
|
and his apostles, which began in the land of Zebulun (<scripRef passage="Mt 4:14,15" id="Deu.xxxiv-p31.1" parsed="|Matt|4|14|4|15" osisRef="Bible:Matt.4.14-Matt.4.15">Matt. iv. 14, 15</scripRef>); then they
|
|
<i>called the people to the mountain,</i> that is, to the kingdom
|
|
of the Messiah, which is called the <i>mountain of the Lord's
|
|
house,</i> <scripRef passage="Isa 2:2" id="Deu.xxxiv-p31.2" parsed="|Isa|2|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.2.2">Isa. ii. 2</scripRef>. [2.]
|
|
Issachar that tarries at home, and dwells in tents, shall call upon
|
|
his neighbours to go up to the sanctuary at the times appointed for
|
|
their solemn feasts, either because they should be more zealous and
|
|
forward than their neighbours (and it has been often observed that
|
|
though those that with Zebulun dwell in the haven of ships, which
|
|
are places of concourse, have commonly more of the <i>light</i> of
|
|
religion, those that with Issachar dwell in tents in the country
|
|
have more of the <i>life</i> and <i>heat</i> of it), and may
|
|
therefore with their zeal provoke those to a holy emulation that
|
|
have more knowledge (<scripRef passage="Ps 122:1" id="Deu.xxxiv-p31.3" parsed="|Ps|122|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.122.1">Ps. cxxii.
|
|
1</scripRef>); or because they were more observant of the times
|
|
appointed for their feasts than others were. One of the Chaldee
|
|
paraphrasts reads the foregoing verse, <i>Rejoice, Issachar, in the
|
|
tents of thy schools,</i> supposing they would many of them be
|
|
scholars, and would use their learning for that purpose, according
|
|
to the revolutions of the year, to give notice of the times of the
|
|
feasts; for almanacs were not then so common as they are now. And
|
|
Onkelos more particularly, <i>Rejoice, Issachar, when thou goest to
|
|
compute the times of the solemnities at Jerusalem;</i> for then
|
|
<i>the tribes of Israel shall be gathered to the mountain of the
|
|
house of the sanctuary.</i> So he reads the beginning of this
|
|
verse; and many think this is the meaning of that character of the
|
|
men of Issachar in David's time, That <i>they had understanding of
|
|
the times to know what Israel ought to do,</i> <scripRef passage="1Ch 12:32" id="Deu.xxxiv-p31.4" parsed="|1Chr|12|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Chr.12.32">1 Chron. xii. 32</scripRef>. And the character which
|
|
follows (<scripRef passage="De 33:33" id="Deu.xxxiv-p31.5" parsed="|Deut|33|33|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.33"><i>v.</i> 33</scripRef>) of
|
|
the men of Zebulun, that they were such as <i>went forth to battle,
|
|
expert in war,</i> perhaps may explain the blessing of that tribe
|
|
here. Note, Those that have not opportunity as Zebulun had of
|
|
bringing into the church those that are without may yet be very
|
|
serviceable to its interest by helping to quicken, encourage, and
|
|
build up, those that are within. And it is good work to call people
|
|
to God's ordinances, to put those in remembrance that are
|
|
forgetful, and to stir up those that are slothful, who will follow,
|
|
but care not to lead.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p32">(2.) They shall not only invite others to
|
|
the service of God, but they shall abound in it themselves:
|
|
<i>There they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness.</i> They
|
|
shall not send others to the temple and stay at home themselves,
|
|
under pretence that they cannot leave their business; but, when
|
|
they stir up others to <i>go speedily to pray before the Lord,</i>
|
|
they shall say, <i>We will go also,</i> as it is <scripRef passage="Zec 8:21" id="Deu.xxxiv-p32.1" parsed="|Zech|8|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Zech.8.21">Zech. viii. 21</scripRef>. Note, The good we exhort
|
|
others to we should ourselves be examples of. And, when they come
|
|
to the temple, they shall not appear before the Lord empty, but
|
|
shall bring for the honour and service of God according as he has
|
|
prospered them, <scripRef passage="1Co 16:2" id="Deu.xxxiv-p32.2" parsed="|1Cor|16|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.16.2">1 Cor. xvi.
|
|
2</scripRef>. [1.] It is here foretold that both these tribes
|
|
should grow rich. Zebulun that goes abroad shall <i>suck of the
|
|
abundance of the seas,</i> which are full breasts to the merchants,
|
|
while Issachar, that tarries at home, shall enrich himself with
|
|
<i>treasures hid in the sands,</i> either the fruits of the earth
|
|
or the underground treasures of metals and minerals, or (because
|
|
the word for sand here signifies properly the sand of the sea) the
|
|
rich things thrown up by the sea, for the lot of Issachar reached
|
|
to the sea-side. Perhaps their success in <i>calling the people to
|
|
the mount</i> is intimated by their <i>sucking of the abundance of
|
|
the seas,</i> for we have a like phrase used for the bringing in of
|
|
the nations to the church (<scripRef passage="Isa 60:5" id="Deu.xxxiv-p32.3" parsed="|Isa|60|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.60.5">Isa. lx.
|
|
5</scripRef>), <i>The abundance of the sea shall be converted unto
|
|
thee,</i> and (<scripRef passage="De 33:16" id="Deu.xxxiv-p32.4" parsed="|Deut|33|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.16"><i>v.</i>
|
|
16</scripRef>), <i>Thou shalt suck the milk of the Gentiles.</i> It
|
|
is foretold, [2.] That these tribes, being thus enriched, should
|
|
<i>consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their substance unto
|
|
the Lord of the whole earth,</i> <scripRef passage="Mic 4:13" id="Deu.xxxiv-p32.5" parsed="|Mic|4|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mic.4.13">Mic.
|
|
iv. 13</scripRef>. The <i>merchandise</i> of Zebulun, and the
|
|
<i>hire</i> of Issachar, shall be <i>holiness to the Lord</i>
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Isa 23:18" id="Deu.xxxiv-p32.6" parsed="|Isa|23|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.23.18">Isa. xxiii. 18</scripRef>), for
|
|
thereof they shall <i>offer sacrifices of righteousness,</i> that
|
|
is, sacrifices according to the law. Note, We must serve and honour
|
|
God with what we have; and where he sows plentifully he expects to
|
|
reap accordingly. Those that <i>suck of the abundance of the seas,
|
|
and of the treasures hid in the sand,</i> ought to offer sacrifices
|
|
of righteousness proportionable.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p33">II. The blessing of the tribe of Gad comes
|
|
next, <scripRef passage="De 33:20,21" id="Deu.xxxiv-p33.1" parsed="|Deut|33|20|33|21" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.20-Deut.33.21"><i>v.</i> 20, 21</scripRef>.
|
|
This was one of the tribes that was already seated on that side
|
|
Jordan where Moses now was. Now,</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p34">1. He foretells what this tribe would be,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 33:20" id="Deu.xxxiv-p34.1" parsed="|Deut|33|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. (1.) That it
|
|
would be enlarged, as at present it had a spacious allotment; and
|
|
he gives God the glory both of its present and of its future
|
|
extent: <i>Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad.</i> We find how this
|
|
tribe was enlarged by their success in a war which it seems they
|
|
carried on very religiously against the Hagarites, <scripRef passage="1Ch 5:19,20,22" id="Deu.xxxiv-p34.2" parsed="|1Chr|5|19|5|20;|1Chr|5|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Chr.5.19-1Chr.5.20 Bible:1Chr.5.22">1 Chron. v. 19, 20, 22</scripRef>. Note,
|
|
God is to have the glory of all our enlargements. (2.) That it
|
|
would be a valiant and victorious tribe, would, if let alone, dwell
|
|
secure and fearless as a lion; but, if provoked, would, like a
|
|
lion, <i>tear the arm with the crown of the head;</i> that is,
|
|
would pull in pieces all that stood in his way, both the arm (that
|
|
is, the strength) and the crown of the head (that is, the policy
|
|
and authority) of his enemies. In David's time there were Gadites
|
|
whose faces were <i>as the faces of lions,</i> <scripRef passage="1Ch 12:8" id="Deu.xxxiv-p34.3" parsed="|1Chr|12|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:1Chr.12.8">1 Chron. xii. 8</scripRef>. Some reckon Jehu to be of
|
|
this tribe, because the first mention we have of him is at Ramoth
|
|
Gilead, which belonged to Gad, and they think this may refer to his
|
|
valiant acts.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p35">2. He commends this tribe for what they had
|
|
done and were now doing, <scripRef passage="De 33:21" id="Deu.xxxiv-p35.1" parsed="|Deut|33|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.21"><i>v.</i>
|
|
21</scripRef>. (1.) They had done very wisely for themselves, when
|
|
they chose their lot with the first, in a country already
|
|
conquered: <i>He provided the first part for himself;</i> though he
|
|
had a concern for his brethren, yet his charity began at home, and
|
|
he was willing to see himself first served, first settled. The
|
|
Gadites were the first and most active movers for an allotment on
|
|
that side Jordan, and therefore are still mentioned before the
|
|
Reubenites in the history of that affair, <scripRef passage="Nu 32:2" id="Deu.xxxiv-p35.2" parsed="|Num|32|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.2">Num. xxxii. 2</scripRef>. And thus, while the other
|
|
tribes had their portion assigned them by Joshua the conqueror, Gad
|
|
and his companions had theirs from Moses the law-giver, and in it
|
|
they were seated by law; or (as the word is) <i>covered</i> or
|
|
protected by a special providence which watched over those that
|
|
were left behind, while the men of war went forward with their
|
|
brethren. Note, <i>Men will praise thee when thou doest well for
|
|
thyself</i> (when thou providest first for thyself, as Gad did),
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 49:18" id="Deu.xxxiv-p35.3" parsed="|Ps|49|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.49.18">Ps. xlix. 18</scripRef>. And God will
|
|
praise thee when thou doest well for thy soul, which is indeed
|
|
thyself, and providest the first part for that in a portion from
|
|
the law-giver. (2.) They were now doing honestly and bravely for
|
|
their brethren; for they <i>came with the heads of the people,</i>
|
|
before whom they went armed over Jordan, to <i>execute the justice
|
|
of the Lord</i> upon the Canaanites, under the conduct of Joshua,
|
|
to whom we afterwards find they solemnly vowed obedience, <scripRef passage="Jos 1:12,16" id="Deu.xxxiv-p35.4" parsed="|Josh|1|12|0|0;|Josh|1|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.1.12 Bible:Josh.1.16">Josh. i. 12, 16</scripRef>. This was what
|
|
they undertook to do when they had their lot assigned them,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 32:27" id="Deu.xxxiv-p35.5" parsed="|Num|32|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.27">Num. xxxii. 27</scripRef>. This they
|
|
did, <scripRef passage="Jos 4:12" id="Deu.xxxiv-p35.6" parsed="|Josh|4|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.4.12">Josh. iv. 12</scripRef>. And,
|
|
when the wars of Canaan were ended, Joshua dismissed them with a
|
|
blessing, <scripRef passage="Jos 22:7" id="Deu.xxxiv-p35.7" parsed="|Josh|22|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.22.7">Josh. xxii. 7</scripRef>.
|
|
Note, It is a blessed and honourable thing to be helpful to our
|
|
brethren in their affairs, and particularly to assist in executing
|
|
the justice of the Lord by suppressing that which is provoking to
|
|
him: it was this that was counted to Phinehas for
|
|
righteousness.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 33:22-25" id="Deu.xxxiv-p35.8" parsed="|Deut|33|22|33|25" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.22-Deut.33.25"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.33.22-Deut.33.25">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxxiv-p36">22 And of Dan he said, Dan <i>is</i> a lion's
|
|
whelp: he shall leap from Bashan.   23 And of Naphtali he
|
|
said, O Naphtali, satisfied with favour, and full with the blessing
|
|
of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxiv-p36.1">Lord</span>: possess thou the west
|
|
and the south.   24 And of Asher he said, <i>Let</i> Asher
|
|
<i>be</i> blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his
|
|
brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil.   25 Thy shoes
|
|
<i>shall be</i> iron and brass; and as thy days, <i>so shall</i>
|
|
thy strength <i>be.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p37">Here is, I. The blessing of Dan, <scripRef passage="De 33:22" id="Deu.xxxiv-p37.1" parsed="|Deut|33|22|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>. Jacob in his blessing
|
|
had compared him to a serpent for subtlety; Moses compares him to a
|
|
lion for courage and resolution: and what could stand before those
|
|
that had the head of a serpent and the heart of a lion? He is
|
|
compared to the lions that leaped from Bashan, a mountain noted for
|
|
fierce lions, whence they came down to leap upon their prey in the
|
|
plains. This may refer either, 1. To the particular victories
|
|
obtained by Samson (who was of this tribe) over the Philistines.
|
|
<i>The Spirit of the Lord began to move him in the camp of Dan</i>
|
|
when he was very young, as <i>a lion's whelp,</i> so that in his
|
|
attacks upon the Philistines he surprised them, and overpowered
|
|
them by main strength, as a lion does his prey; and one of his
|
|
first exploits was the rending of a lion. Or, 2. To a more general
|
|
achievement of that tribe, when a party of them, upon information
|
|
brought them of the security of Laish, which lay in the furthest
|
|
part of the land of Canaan from them, surprised it, and soon made
|
|
themselves masters of it. See <scripRef passage="Jdg 18:27" id="Deu.xxxiv-p37.2" parsed="|Judg|18|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Judg.18.27">Judg.
|
|
xviii. 27</scripRef>. And, the mountains of Bashan lying not far
|
|
from that city, probably thence they made their descent upon it;
|
|
and therefore are here said to <i>leap from Bashan.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p38">II. The blessing of Naphtali, <scripRef passage="De 33:23" id="Deu.xxxiv-p38.1" parsed="|Deut|33|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>. He looks upon this
|
|
tribe with wonder, and applauds it: "O Naphtali, thou art happy,
|
|
thou shalt be so, mayest thou be ever so!" Three things make up the
|
|
happiness of this tribe:—1. Be thou <i>satisfied with favour.</i>
|
|
Some understand it of the favour of men, their good-will and good
|
|
word. Jacob had described this tribe to be, generally, courteous
|
|
obliging people, giving goodly words, as the loving hind, <scripRef passage="Ge 49:21" id="Deu.xxxiv-p38.2" parsed="|Gen|49|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.21">Gen. xlix. 21</scripRef>. Now what should they
|
|
get by being so? Moses here tells them they should have an interest
|
|
in the affections of their neighbours, and be satisfied with
|
|
favour. Those that are loving shall be beloved. But others
|
|
understand it of the favour of God, and with good reason; for that
|
|
only is the favour that is satisfying to the soul and puts true
|
|
gladness into the heart. Those are happy indeed that have the
|
|
favour of God; and those shall have it that place their
|
|
satisfaction in it, and reckon that, in having that, they have
|
|
enough and desire no more. 2. Be thou <i>full with the blessing of
|
|
the Lord,</i> that is, not only with those good things that are the
|
|
fruits of the blessing (corn, and wine, and oil), but with the
|
|
blessing itself; that is, the grace of God, according to his
|
|
promise and covenant. Those who have that blessing may well reckon
|
|
themselves full: they need nothing else to make them happy. "The
|
|
portion of the tribe of Naphtali" (the Jews say) "was so fruitful,
|
|
and the productions so forward, though it lay north, that those of
|
|
that tribe were generally the first that brought their first-fruits
|
|
to the temple; and so they had first the blessing from the priest,
|
|
which was the blessing of the Lord." Capernaum, in which Christ
|
|
chiefly resided, lay in this tribe. 3. Be thou <i>in possession of
|
|
the sea and the south;</i> so it may be read, that is, of that sea
|
|
which shall lie south of thy lot, that was the sea of Galilee,
|
|
which we so often read of in the gospels, directly north of which
|
|
the lot of this tribe lay, and which was of great advantage to this
|
|
tribe, witness the wealth of Capernaum and Bethsaida, which lay
|
|
within this tribe, and upon the shore of that sea. See how Moses
|
|
was guided by a spirit of prophesy in these blessings; for before
|
|
the lot was cast into the lap he foresaw and foretold how the
|
|
disposal of it would be.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p39">III. The blessing of Asher, <scripRef passage="De 33:24,25" id="Deu.xxxiv-p39.1" parsed="|Deut|33|24|33|25" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.24-Deut.33.25"><i>v.</i> 24, 25</scripRef>. Four things he
|
|
prays for and prophecies concerning this tribe, which carries
|
|
blessedness in its name; for Leah called the father of it
|
|
<i>Asher,</i> saying <i>Happy am I,</i> <scripRef passage="Ge 30:13" id="Deu.xxxiv-p39.2" parsed="|Gen|30|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.30.13">Gen. xxx. 13</scripRef>. 1. The increase of their
|
|
numbers. They were now a numerous tribe, <scripRef passage="Nu 26:47" id="Deu.xxxiv-p39.3" parsed="|Num|26|47|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.26.47">Num. xxvi. 47</scripRef>. "Let it be more so: <i>Let
|
|
Asher be blessed with children.</i>" Note, Children, especially
|
|
children of the covenant, are blessings, not burdens. 2. Their
|
|
interest in their neighbours: <i>Let him be acceptable to his
|
|
brethren.</i> Note, It is a very desirable thing to have the love
|
|
and good-will of those we live among: it is what we should pray to
|
|
God for, who has all hearts in his hand; and what we should
|
|
endeavour to gain by meekness and humility, and a readiness, as we
|
|
have ability and opportunity, to do good to all men. 3. The
|
|
richness of their land. (1.) Above ground: <i>Let him dip his foot
|
|
in oil,</i> that is, "Let him have such plenty of it in his lot
|
|
that he may not only anoint his head with it, but, if he please,
|
|
wash his feet in it," which was not commonly done; yet we find our
|
|
blessed Saviour so acceptable to his brethren that his feet were
|
|
anointed with the most precious ointment, <scripRef passage="Lu 7:46" id="Deu.xxxiv-p39.4" parsed="|Luke|7|46|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Luke.7.46">Luke vii. 46</scripRef>. (2.) Under ground: <i>Thy shoes
|
|
shall be iron and brass,</i> that is, "Thou shalt have great plenty
|
|
of these metals (mines of them) in thy own ground, which by an
|
|
uncommon blessing shall have both its surface and its bowels rich:"
|
|
or, if they had them not as the productions of their own country,
|
|
they should have them imported from abroad; for the lot of this
|
|
tribe lay on the sea-coast. The Chaldee paraphrasts understand this
|
|
figuratively: "Thou shalt be strong and bright, as iron and brass."
|
|
4. The continuance of their strength and vigour: <i>As thy days, so
|
|
shall thy strength be.</i> Many paraphrase it thus, "The strength
|
|
of thy old age shall be like that of thy youth; thou shalt not feel
|
|
a decay, nor be the worse for the wearing, but shalt renew thy
|
|
youth; as if not thy shoes only, but thy bones, were iron and
|
|
brass." The day is often in scripture put for the events of the
|
|
day; and, taking it so here, it is a promise that God would
|
|
graciously support them under their trials and troubles, whatever
|
|
they were. And so it is a promise sure to all the spiritual seed of
|
|
Abraham, that God will wisely proportion their graces and comforts
|
|
to the services and sufferings he calls them out to. Have they work
|
|
appointed them? They shall have strength to do it. Have they
|
|
burdens appointed them? They shall have strength to bear them; and
|
|
never be <i>tempted above that they are able.</i> Faithful is he
|
|
that has thus promised, and hath caused us to hope in this
|
|
promise.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 33:26-29" id="Deu.xxxiv-p39.5" parsed="|Deut|33|26|33|29" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.26-Deut.33.29"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.33.26-Deut.33.29">
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxxiv-p40">26 <i>There is</i> none like unto the God of
|
|
Jeshurun, <i>who</i> rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his
|
|
excellency on the sky.   27 The eternal God <i>is thy</i>
|
|
refuge, and underneath <i>are</i> the everlasting arms: and he
|
|
shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy
|
|
<i>them.</i>   28 Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: the
|
|
fountain of Jacob <i>shall be</i> upon a land of corn and wine;
|
|
also his heavens shall drop down dew.   29 Happy <i>art</i>
|
|
thou, O Israel: who <i>is</i> like unto thee, O people saved by the
|
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxiv-p40.1">Lord</span>, the shield of thy help, and
|
|
who <i>is</i> the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall
|
|
be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high
|
|
places.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p41">These are the last words of all that ever
|
|
Moses, that great writer, that great dictator, either wrote himself
|
|
or had written from his dictation; they are therefore very
|
|
remarkable, and no doubt we shall find them very improving. Moses,
|
|
the man of God (who had as much reason as ever any mere man had to
|
|
know both), with his last breath magnifies both the God of Israel
|
|
and the Israel of God. They are both incomparable in his eye; and
|
|
we are sure that in this his judgment of both his eye did not wax
|
|
dim.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p42">I. No God like the God of Israel. None of
|
|
the gods of the nations were capable of doing that for their
|
|
worshippers which Jehovah did for his: <i>There is none like unto
|
|
the God of Jeshurun,</i> <scripRef passage="De 33:26" id="Deu.xxxiv-p42.1" parsed="|Deut|33|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.26"><i>v.</i>
|
|
26</scripRef>. Note, When we are expecting that God should bless us
|
|
in doing well for us we must bless him by speaking well of him: and
|
|
one of the most solemn ways of praising God is by acknowledging
|
|
that there is none like him. Now, 1. This was the honour of Israel.
|
|
Every nation boasted of its god; but none had such a God to boast
|
|
of as Israel had. 2. It was their happiness that they were taken
|
|
into covenant with such a God. Two things he takes notice of as
|
|
proofs of the incontestable pre-eminence of the God of Jeshurun
|
|
above all other gods: (1.) His sovereign power and authority: <i>He
|
|
rides upon the heavens,</i> and with the greatest state and
|
|
magnificence on the skies. Riding on the heavens denotes his
|
|
greatness and glory, in which he manifests himself to the upper
|
|
world, and the use he makes of the influences of heaven, and the
|
|
productions of the clouds, in bringing to pass his own counsels in
|
|
this lower world: he manages and directs them as a man does the
|
|
horse he rides on. When he has any thing to do for his people he
|
|
<i>rides upon the heavens</i> to do it; for he does it swiftly and
|
|
strongly: no enemy can either anticipate or obstruct the progress
|
|
of him that rides on the heavens. (2.) His boundless eternity; he
|
|
is the eternal God, and his arms are <i>everlasting,</i> <scripRef passage="De 33:27" id="Deu.xxxiv-p42.2" parsed="|Deut|33|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>. The gods of the heathen
|
|
were but lately invented, and would shortly perish; but the God of
|
|
Jeshurun is eternal: he was before all worlds, and will be when
|
|
time and days shall be no more. See <scripRef passage="Hab 1:12" id="Deu.xxxiv-p42.3" parsed="|Hab|1|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Hab.1.12">Hab. i. 12</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p43">II. No people like the Israel of God.
|
|
Having pronounced each tribe happy, in the close he pronounces all
|
|
together very happy, so happy in all respects that there was no
|
|
nation under the sun comparable to them (<scripRef passage="De 33:29" id="Deu.xxxiv-p43.1" parsed="|Deut|33|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>): <i>Happy art thou, O
|
|
Israel,</i> a people whose God is the Lord, on that account truly
|
|
happy, and <i>none like unto thee.</i> If Israel honour God as a
|
|
non-such God, he will favour them so as to make them a non-such
|
|
people, the envy of all their neighbours and the joy of all their
|
|
well-wishers. <i>Who is like unto thee, O people? Behold, thou art
|
|
fair, my love,</i> says Christ of his spouse. To which she
|
|
presently returns, <i>Behold thou art fair, my beloved. What one
|
|
nation</i> (no, not all the nations together) is <i>like thy people
|
|
Israel?</i> <scripRef passage="2Sa 7:23" id="Deu.xxxiv-p43.2" parsed="|2Sam|7|23|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.7.23">2 Sam. vii. 23</scripRef>.
|
|
What is here said of the church of Israel and the honours and
|
|
privileges of it is certainly to be applied to <i>the church of the
|
|
first-born,</i> that are written in heaven. The Christian church is
|
|
the Israel of God, as the apostle calls it (<scripRef passage="Ga 6:16" id="Deu.xxxiv-p43.3" parsed="|Gal|6|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gal.6.16">Gal. vi. 16</scripRef>), on which there shall be peace,
|
|
and which is dignified above all societies in the world, as Israel
|
|
was.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p44">1. Never were people so well seated and
|
|
sheltered (<scripRef passage="De 33:27" id="Deu.xxxiv-p44.1" parsed="|Deut|33|27|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>):
|
|
<i>The eternal God is thy refuge.</i> Or, as the word signifies,
|
|
"thy <i>habitation,</i> or <i>mansion-house,</i> in which thou art
|
|
safe, and easy, and at rest, as a man in his own house." Every
|
|
Israelite indeed is at home in God; the soul returns to him, and
|
|
reposes in him as its resting-place (<scripRef passage="Ps 116:7" id="Deu.xxxiv-p44.2" parsed="|Ps|116|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.116.7">Ps. cxvi. 7</scripRef>), its hiding-place, <scripRef passage="Ps 32:7" id="Deu.xxxiv-p44.3" parsed="|Ps|32|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.32.7">Ps. xxxii. 7</scripRef>. And those that make him
|
|
their habitation shall have all the comforts and benefits of a
|
|
habitation in him, <scripRef passage="Ps 91:1" id="Deu.xxxiv-p44.4" parsed="|Ps|91|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.91.1">Ps. xci.
|
|
1</scripRef>. Moses had an eye to God as the habitation of Israel
|
|
when they were wandering in the wilderness (<scripRef passage="Ps 90:1" id="Deu.xxxiv-p44.5" parsed="|Ps|90|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.90.1">Ps. xc. 1</scripRef>): <i>Lord, thou hast been our
|
|
dwelling-place in all generations.</i> And now that they were going
|
|
to settle in Canaan they must not change their habitation; still
|
|
they will need, and still they shall have, the eternal God for
|
|
their dwelling-place; without him Canaan itself would be a
|
|
wilderness, and a land of darkness.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p45">2. Never were people so well supported and
|
|
borne up: <i>Underneath are the everlasting arms;</i> that is, the
|
|
almighty power of God is engaged for the protection and consolation
|
|
of all that trust in him, in their greatest straits and distresses,
|
|
and under the heaviest burdens. The everlasting arms shall support,
|
|
(1.) The interests of the church in general, that they shall not
|
|
sink, or be run down; underneath the church is that rock of ages on
|
|
which it is built, and against which the gates of hell shall never
|
|
prevail, <scripRef passage="Mt 16:18" id="Deu.xxxiv-p45.1" parsed="|Matt|16|18|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Matt.16.18">Matt. xvi. 18</scripRef>.
|
|
(2.) The spirits or particular believers, so that, though they may
|
|
be oppressed, they shall not be overwhelmed by any trouble. How low
|
|
soever the people of God are at any time brought, everlasting arms
|
|
are underneath them to keep the spirit from sinking, from fainting,
|
|
and the faith from failing, even when they are pressed above
|
|
measure. The everlasting covenant, and the everlasting consolations
|
|
that flow from it, are indeed everlasting arms, with which
|
|
believers have been wonderfully sustained, and kept cheerful in the
|
|
worst of times; divine grace is sufficient for them, <scripRef passage="2Co 12:9" id="Deu.xxxiv-p45.2" parsed="|2Cor|12|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.12.9">2 Cor. xii. 9</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p46">3. Never were people so well commanded and
|
|
led on to battle: "<i>He shall thrust out the enemy from before
|
|
thee</i> by his almighty power, which will make room for thee; and
|
|
by a commission which will bear thee out he shall say, <i>Destroy
|
|
them.</i>" They were now entering upon a land that was in the full
|
|
possession of a strong and formidable people, and who, being its
|
|
first planters, looked upon themselves as its rightful owners; how
|
|
shall Israel justify, and how shall they accomplish, the expulsion
|
|
of them? (1.) God will give them a commission to destroy the
|
|
Canaanites, and that will justify them, and bear them out in it,
|
|
against all the world. He that is sovereign Lord of all lives and
|
|
all lands not only allowed and permitted, but expressly commanded
|
|
and appointed the children of Israel both to take possession of the
|
|
land of Canaan and to put the sword to the people of Canaan, which,
|
|
being thus authorized, they might not only lawfully but honourably
|
|
do, without incurring the least stain or imputation of theft by the
|
|
one or murder by the other. (2.) God will give them power and
|
|
ability to destroy them; nay, he will in effect do it to their
|
|
hands: he will <i>thrust out the enemy from before them;</i> for
|
|
the very fear of Israel shall put them to flight. God <i>drive out
|
|
the heathen to plant his people,</i> <scripRef passage="Ps 44:2" id="Deu.xxxiv-p46.1" parsed="|Ps|44|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.44.2">Ps. xliv. 2</scripRef>. Thus believers are more than
|
|
conquerors over their spiritual enemies, through Christ that loved
|
|
them. The captain of our salvation <i>thrust out the enemy from
|
|
before us</i> when he overcame the world and spoiled principalities
|
|
and powers on the cross; and the word of command to us is,
|
|
"<i>Destroy them;</i> pursue the victory, and you shall divide the
|
|
spoil."</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p47">4. Never were people so well secured and
|
|
protected (<scripRef passage="De 33:28" id="Deu.xxxiv-p47.1" parsed="|Deut|33|28|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>):
|
|
<i>Israel shall then dwell in safety alone.</i> Those that dwell in
|
|
God, and make his name their strong tower, <i>dwell in safety;</i>
|
|
the <i>place of their defence is the munitions of rocks,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Isa 33:16" id="Deu.xxxiv-p47.2" parsed="|Isa|33|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.33.16">Isa. xxxiii. 16</scripRef>. They
|
|
shall dwell in safety alone. (1.) Though alone. Though they
|
|
contract no alliances with their neighbours, nor have any reason to
|
|
expect help or succour from any of them, yet they shall dwell in
|
|
safety; they shall really be safe, and they shall think themselves
|
|
so. (2.) Because alone. They shall dwell in safety as long as they
|
|
continue pure, and unmixed with the heathen, a singular and
|
|
peculiar people. Their distinction from other nations, though it
|
|
made them <i>like a speckled bird</i> (<scripRef passage="Jer 12:9" id="Deu.xxxiv-p47.3" parsed="|Jer|12|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.12.9">Jer. xii. 9</scripRef>), and exposed them to the
|
|
ill-will of those about them, yet was really their preservation
|
|
from the mischief their neighbours wished them, as it kept them
|
|
under the divine protection. All that keep close to God shall be
|
|
kept safely by him. It is promised that in the kingdom of Christ
|
|
<i>Israel shall dwell safely,</i> <scripRef passage="Jer 23:6" id="Deu.xxxiv-p47.4" parsed="|Jer|23|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jer.23.6">Jer.
|
|
xxiii. 6</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p48">5. Never were people so well provided for:
|
|
<i>The fountain of Jacob</i> (that is, the present generation of
|
|
that people, which is as the fountain to all the streams that shall
|
|
hereafter descend and be derived from it) shall now presently be
|
|
fixed upon a good land. <i>The eye of Jacob</i> (so it might be
|
|
read, for the same word signifies a fountain and an eye) <i>is upon
|
|
the land of corn and wine,</i> that is, where they now lay encamped
|
|
they had Canaan in their eye, it was just before their faces, on
|
|
the other side the river, and they would have it in their hands and
|
|
under their feet quickly. This land upon which they had set their
|
|
eye was blessed both with the fatness of the earth and the dew of
|
|
heaven; it was a <i>land of corn and wine,</i> substantial and
|
|
useful productions: also his heavens (as if the heavens were
|
|
particularly designed to be blessings to that land) <i>shall drop
|
|
down dew,</i> without which, though the soil were ever so good, the
|
|
corn and wine would soon fail. Every Israelite indeed has his eye,
|
|
the eye of faith, upon the better country, the heavenly Canaan,
|
|
which is richly replenished with better things than corn and
|
|
wine.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p49">6. Never were people so well helped. If
|
|
they were in any strait, God himself rode upon the heavens for
|
|
<i>their help,</i> <scripRef passage="De 33:26" id="Deu.xxxiv-p49.1" parsed="|Deut|33|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.26"><i>v.</i>
|
|
26</scripRef>. And they were <i>a people saved by the Lord,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 33:29" id="Deu.xxxiv-p49.2" parsed="|Deut|33|29|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.33.29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>. If they were
|
|
in danger of any harm, or in want of any good, they had an eternal
|
|
God to go to, an almighty power to trust to; nothing could hurt
|
|
those whom God helped, nor was it possible that the people should
|
|
perish which <i>was saved by the Lord.</i> Those that are added to
|
|
the gospel Israel are <i>such as shall be saved,</i> <scripRef passage="Ac 2:47" id="Deu.xxxiv-p49.3" parsed="|Acts|2|47|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.2.47">Acts ii. 47</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p50">7. Never were people so well armed. God
|
|
himself was the shield of their help by whom they were armed
|
|
defensively, and sufficiently guarded against all assailants: and
|
|
he was the <i>sword of their excellency,</i> by whom they were
|
|
armed offensively, and made both formidable and successful in all
|
|
their wars. God is called the <i>sword of their excellency</i>
|
|
because, in fighting for them, he made them to excel other people,
|
|
or because in all he did for them he had an eye to his sanctuary
|
|
among them, which is called the <i>excellency of Jacob,</i>
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ps 47:4,Eze 24:21,Am 6" id="Deu.xxxiv-p50.1" parsed="|Ps|47|4|0|0;|Ezek|24|21|0|0;|Amos|24|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.47.4 Bible:Ezek.24.21 Bible:Amos.24.6">Ps. xlvii. 4; Ezek.
|
|
xxiv. 21; Amos vi. 8</scripRef>. Those in whose hearts is the
|
|
excellency of holiness have God himself for their shield and
|
|
sword—are defended by the whole armour of God; his word is their
|
|
sword, and faith in it is their shield, <scripRef passage="Eph 6:16,17" id="Deu.xxxiv-p50.2" parsed="|Eph|6|16|6|17" osisRef="Bible:Eph.6.16-Eph.6.17">Eph. vi. 16, 17</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p51">8. Never were people so well assured of
|
|
victory over their enemies: <i>They shall be found liars unto
|
|
thee;</i> That is, "shall be forced to submit to thee sorely
|
|
against their will, so that it will be but a counterfeit
|
|
submission; yet the point shall be gained, for thou shalt <i>tread
|
|
upon their necks</i>" (so the LXX.), which we find done, <scripRef passage="Jos 10:24" id="Deu.xxxiv-p51.1" parsed="|Josh|10|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Josh.10.24">Josh. x. 24</scripRef>. "Thou shalt tread down
|
|
their strong-holds, be they ever so high, and trample upon their
|
|
palaces and temples, though esteemed ever so sacred. <i>If thy
|
|
enemies be found liars to thee</i>" (so some read it), "<i>thou
|
|
shalt tread upon their high places;</i> if they will not be held by
|
|
the bonds of leagues and treaties, they shall be broken by the
|
|
force of war." Thus shall the God of peace tread Satan under the
|
|
feet of all believers, and shall <i>do it shortly,</i> <scripRef passage="Ro 16:20" id="Deu.xxxiv-p51.2" parsed="|Rom|16|20|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.16.20">Rom. xvi. 20</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxiv-p52">Now lay all this together, and then you
|
|
will say, <i>Happy art thou, O Israel! Who is like unto thee, O
|
|
people!</i> Thrice happy the people whose God is the Lord.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Chapter XXXIV" n="xxxv" progress="99.54%" prev="Deu.xxxiv" next="viii" id="Deu.xxxv">
|
|
<h2 id="Deu.xxxv-p0.1">D E U T E R O N O M Y</h2>
|
|
<h3 id="Deu.xxxv-p0.2">CHAP. XXXIV.</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<p class="intro" id="Deu.xxxv-p1">Having read how Moses finished his testimony, we
|
|
are told here how he immediately after finished his life. This
|
|
chapter could not be written by Moses himself, but was added by
|
|
Joshua or Eleazar, or, as bishop Patrick conjectures, by Samuel,
|
|
who was a prophet, and wrote by divine authority what he found in
|
|
the records of Joshua, and his successors the judges. We have had
|
|
an account of his dying words, here we have an account of his dying
|
|
work, and that is work we must all do shortly, and it had need be
|
|
well done. Here is, I. The view Moses had of the land of Canaan
|
|
just before he died, <scripRef passage="De 34:1-4" id="Deu.xxxv-p1.1" parsed="|Deut|34|1|34|4" osisRef="Bible:Deut.34.1-Deut.34.4">ver.
|
|
1-4</scripRef>. II. His death and burial, <scripRef passage="De 34:5,6" id="Deu.xxxv-p1.2" parsed="|Deut|34|5|34|6" osisRef="Bible:Deut.34.5-Deut.34.6">ver. 5, 6</scripRef>. III. His age, <scripRef passage="De 34:7" id="Deu.xxxv-p1.3" parsed="|Deut|34|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.34.7">ver. 7</scripRef>. IV. Israel's mourning for him,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 34:8" id="Deu.xxxv-p1.4" parsed="|Deut|34|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.34.8">ver. 8</scripRef>. V. His successor,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 34:9" id="Deu.xxxv-p1.5" parsed="|Deut|34|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.34.9">ver. 9</scripRef>. VI. His character,
|
|
<scripRef passage="De 34:10-12" id="Deu.xxxv-p1.6" parsed="|Deut|34|10|34|12" osisRef="Bible:Deut.34.10-Deut.34.12">ver. 10</scripRef>, &c.</p>
|
|
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 34" id="Deu.xxxv-p1.7" parsed="|Deut|34|0|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.34"/>
|
|
<scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 34:1-4" id="Deu.xxxv-p1.8" parsed="|Deut|34|1|34|4" osisRef="Bible:Deut.34.1-Deut.34.4"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.34.1-Deut.34.4">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxxv-p1.9">Moses on Mount Pisgah. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxv-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxxv-p2">1 And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto
|
|
the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that <i>is</i> over
|
|
against Jericho. And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxv-p2.1">Lord</span> showed
|
|
him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan,   2 And all Naphtali,
|
|
and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah,
|
|
unto the utmost sea,   3 And the south, and the plain of the
|
|
valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar.   4 And
|
|
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxv-p2.2">Lord</span> said unto him, This
|
|
<i>is</i> the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto
|
|
Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to
|
|
see <i>it</i> with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over
|
|
thither.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxv-p3">Here is, I. Moses climbing upwards towards
|
|
heaven, as high as the top of Pisgah, there to die; for that was
|
|
the place appointed, <scripRef passage="De 32:49,50" id="Deu.xxxv-p3.1" parsed="|Deut|32|49|32|50" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.49-Deut.32.50"><i>ch.</i>
|
|
xxxii. 49, 50</scripRef>. Israel lay encamped upon the flat grounds
|
|
in the plains of Moab, and thence he went up, according to order,
|
|
to the mountain of Nebo, to the highest point or ridge of that
|
|
mountain, which was called <i>Pisgah,</i> <scripRef passage="De 34:1" id="Deu.xxxv-p3.2" parsed="|Deut|34|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.34.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. Pisgah is an appellative name for
|
|
all such eminences. It should seem, Moses went up alone to the top
|
|
of Pisgah, <i>alone without help</i>—a sign that his natural force
|
|
was not abated when on the last day of his life he could walk up to
|
|
the top of a high hill without such supporters as once he had when
|
|
his hands were heavy (<scripRef passage="Ex 17:12" id="Deu.xxxv-p3.3" parsed="|Exod|17|12|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.17.12">Exod. xvii.
|
|
12</scripRef>), <i>alone without company.</i> When he had made an
|
|
end of blessing Israel, we may suppose, he solemnly took leave of
|
|
Joshua, and Eleazar, and the rest of his friends, who probably
|
|
brought him to the foot of the hill; but then he gave them such a
|
|
charge as Abraham gave to his servants at the foot of another hill:
|
|
<i>Tarry you here while I go yonder and die:</i> they must not see
|
|
him die, because they must not know of his sepulchre. But, whether
|
|
this were so or not, he went up to the top of Pisgah, 1. To show
|
|
that he was willing to die. When he knew the place of his death, he
|
|
was so far from avoiding it that he cheerfully mounted a steep hill
|
|
to come at it. Note, Those that through grace are well acquainted
|
|
with another world, and have been much conversant with it, need not
|
|
be afraid to leave this. 2. To show that he looked upon death as
|
|
his ascension. The soul of a man, of a good man, when it leaves the
|
|
body, <i>goes upwards</i> (<scripRef passage="Ec 3:21" id="Deu.xxxv-p3.4" parsed="|Eccl|3|21|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.3.21">Eccl. iii.
|
|
21</scripRef>), in conformity to which motion of the soul, the body
|
|
of Moses shall go along with it as far upwards as its earth will
|
|
carry it. When God's servants are sent for out of the world, the
|
|
summons runs thus, <i>Go up and die.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxv-p4">II. Moses looking downward again towards
|
|
this earth, to see the earthly Canaan into which he must never
|
|
enter, but therein by faith looking forwards to the heavenly Canaan
|
|
into which he should now immediately enter. God had threatened that
|
|
he should not come into the possession of Canaan, and the
|
|
threatening is fulfilled. But he had also promised that he should
|
|
have a prospect of it, and the promise is here performed: <i>The
|
|
Lord showed him</i> all that good land, <scripRef passage="De 34:1" id="Deu.xxxv-p4.1" parsed="|Deut|34|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.34.1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. 1. If he went up alone to the top
|
|
of Pisgah, yet he <i>was not alone, for the Father was with
|
|
him,</i> <scripRef passage="Joh 16:32" id="Deu.xxxv-p4.2" parsed="|John|16|32|0|0" osisRef="Bible:John.16.32">John xvi. 32</scripRef>. If
|
|
a man has any friends, he will have them about him when he lies a
|
|
dying. But if, either through God's providence or their unkindness,
|
|
it should so happen that we should then be alone, we need <i>fear
|
|
no evil</i> if the great and good Shepherd be with us, <scripRef passage="Ps 23:4" id="Deu.xxxv-p4.3" parsed="|Ps|23|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.23.4">Ps. xxiii. 4</scripRef>. 2. Though his sight was
|
|
very good, and he had all the advantage of high ground that he
|
|
could desire for the prospect, yet he could not have seen what he
|
|
now saw, all Canaan from end to end (reckoned about fifty or sixty
|
|
miles), if his sight had not been miraculously assisted and
|
|
enlarged, and therefore it is said, <i>The Lord showed it to
|
|
him.</i> Note, All the pleasant prospects we have of the better
|
|
country we are beholden to the grace of God for; it is he that
|
|
gives the <i>spirit of wisdom</i> as well as the <i>spirit of
|
|
revelation,</i> the eye as well as the object. This sight which God
|
|
here gave Moses of Canaan, probably, the devil designed to mimic,
|
|
and pretended to out-do, when in an airy phantom he showed to our
|
|
Saviour, whom he had placed like Moses upon an <i>exceedingly high
|
|
mountain,</i> all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them,
|
|
not gradually, as here, first one country and then another, but all
|
|
in a moment of time. 3. He saw it at a distance. Such a sight the
|
|
Old-Testament saints had of the kingdom of the Messiah; they <i>saw
|
|
it afar off.</i> Thus Abraham, long before this, saw Christ's day;
|
|
and, being fully persuaded of it, embraced it in the promise,
|
|
leaving others to embrace it in the performance, <scripRef passage="Heb 11:13" id="Deu.xxxv-p4.4" parsed="|Heb|11|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.13">Heb. xi. 13</scripRef>. Such a sight believers now
|
|
have, through grace, of the bliss and glory of their future state.
|
|
The word and ordinances are to them what Mount Pisgah was to Moses;
|
|
from them they have comfortable prospects of the glory to be
|
|
revealed, and rejoice in hope of it. 4. He saw it, but must never
|
|
enjoy it. As God sometimes takes his people away from the evil to
|
|
come, so at other times he takes them away from the good to come,
|
|
that is, the good which shall be enjoyed by the church in the
|
|
present world. Glorious things are spoken of the kingdom of Christ
|
|
in the latter days, its advancement, enlargement, and flourishing
|
|
state; we foresee it, but we are not likely to live to see it.
|
|
Those that shall come after us, we hope will enter that promised
|
|
land, which is a comfort to us when we find our own carcases
|
|
falling in this wilderness. See <scripRef passage="2Ki 7:2" id="Deu.xxxv-p4.5" parsed="|2Kgs|7|2|0|0" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.7.2">2 Kings
|
|
vii. 2</scripRef>. 5. He saw all this just before his death.
|
|
Sometimes God reserves the brightest discoveries of his grace to
|
|
his people to be the support of their dying moments. Canaan was
|
|
<i>Immanuel's land</i> (<scripRef passage="Isa 8:8" id="Deu.xxxv-p4.6" parsed="|Isa|8|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.8.8">Isa. viii.
|
|
8</scripRef>), so that in viewing it he had a view of the blessings
|
|
we enjoy by Christ. It was a type of heaven (<scripRef passage="Heb 11:16" id="Deu.xxxv-p4.7" parsed="|Heb|11|16|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.16">Heb. xi. 16</scripRef>), which faith is the substance
|
|
and evidence of. Note, Those may leave this world with a great deal
|
|
of cheerfulness that die in the faith of Christ, and in the hope of
|
|
heaven, and with Canaan in their eye. Having thus seen the
|
|
salvation of God, we may well say, <i>Lord, now let thou thy
|
|
servant depart in peace.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 34:5-8" id="Deu.xxxv-p4.8" parsed="|Deut|34|5|34|8" osisRef="Bible:Deut.34.5-Deut.34.8"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.34.5-Deut.34.8">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxxv-p4.9">The Death of Moses. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxv-p4.10">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxxv-p5">5 So Moses the servant of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxv-p5.1">Lord</span> died there in the land of Moab, according
|
|
to the word of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxv-p5.2">Lord</span>.   6
|
|
And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against
|
|
Beth-peor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.
|
|
  7 And Moses <i>was</i> a hundred and twenty years old when
|
|
he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.  
|
|
8 And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab
|
|
thirty days: so the days of weeping <i>and</i> mourning for Moses
|
|
were ended.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxv-p6">Here is, I. The death of Moses (<scripRef passage="De 34:5" id="Deu.xxxv-p6.1" parsed="|Deut|34|5|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.34.5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>): <i>Moses the servant of
|
|
the Lord died.</i> God told him he must not go over Jordan, and,
|
|
though at first he prayed earnestly for the reversing of the
|
|
sentence yet God's answer to his prayer sufficed him, and now he
|
|
<i>spoke no more of that matter,</i> <scripRef passage="De 3:26" id="Deu.xxxv-p6.2" parsed="|Deut|3|26|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.3.26"><i>ch.</i> iii. 26</scripRef>. Thus our blessed Saviour
|
|
prayed that the cup might pass from him, yet, since it might not,
|
|
he acquiesced with, <i>Father, thy will be done.</i> Moses had
|
|
reason to desire to live a while longer in the world. He was old,
|
|
it is true, but he had not yet <i>attained to the years of the life
|
|
of his fathers;</i> his father Amram lived to be 137; his
|
|
grandfather Kohath 133; his great grandfather Levi 137; <scripRef passage="Ex 6:16-20" id="Deu.xxxv-p6.3" parsed="|Exod|6|16|6|20" osisRef="Bible:Exod.6.16-Exod.6.20">Exod. vi. 16-20</scripRef>. And why must
|
|
Moses, whose life was more serviceable than any of theirs, die at
|
|
120, especially since he felt not the decays of age, but was as fit
|
|
for service as ever? Israel could ill spare him at this time; his
|
|
conduct and his converse with God would be as great a happiness to
|
|
them in the conquest of Canaan as the courage of Joshua. It bore
|
|
hard upon Moses himself, when he had gone through all the fatigues
|
|
of the wilderness, to be prevented from enjoying the pleasures of
|
|
Canaan; when he had borne the burden and heat of the day, to resign
|
|
the honour of finishing the work to another, and that not his son,
|
|
but his servant, who must enter into his labours. We may suppose
|
|
that this was not pleasant to flesh and blood. But <i>the man Moses
|
|
was very meek;</i> God will have it so, and he cheerfully submits.
|
|
1. He is here called <i>the servant of the Lord,</i> not only as a
|
|
good man (all the saints are God's servants), but as a useful man,
|
|
eminently useful, who had served God's counsels in bringing Israel
|
|
out of Egypt, and leading them through the wilderness. It was more
|
|
his honour to be the <i>servant of the Lord</i> than to be king in
|
|
Jeshurun. 2. Yet he dies. Neither his piety nor his usefulness
|
|
would exempt him from the stroke of death. God's servants must die
|
|
that they may rest from their labours, receive their recompense,
|
|
and make room for others. When God's servants are removed, and must
|
|
serve him no longer on earth, they go to serve him better, to serve
|
|
him <i>day and night in his temple.</i> 3. He dies in the land of
|
|
Moab, short of Canaan, while as yet he and his people were in an
|
|
unsettled condition and had not entered into their rest. In the
|
|
heavenly Canaan there will be no more death. 4. He dies
|
|
<i>according to the word of the Lord. At the mouth of the Lord;</i>
|
|
so the word is. The Jews say, "with a kiss from the mouth of God."
|
|
No doubt, he died very easily (it was an
|
|
<b><i>euthanasia</i></b>—<i>a delightful death</i>), there were no
|
|
bands in his death; and he had in his death a most pleasing taste
|
|
of the love of God to him: but that he <i>died at the mouth of the
|
|
Lord</i> means no more but that he died in compliance with the will
|
|
of God. Note, The servants of the Lord, when they have done all
|
|
their other work, must die at last, in obedience to their Master,
|
|
and be freely willing to go home whenever he sends for them,
|
|
<scripRef passage="Ac 21:13" id="Deu.xxxv-p6.4" parsed="|Acts|21|13|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Acts.21.13">Acts xxi. 13</scripRef>.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxv-p7">II. His burial, <scripRef passage="De 34:6" id="Deu.xxxv-p7.1" parsed="|Deut|34|6|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.34.6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. It is a groundless conceit of
|
|
some of the Jews that Moses was translated to heaven as Elijah was,
|
|
for it is expressly said that he <i>died and was buried;</i> yet
|
|
probably he was raised to meet Elias, to grace the solemnity of
|
|
Christ's transfiguration. 1. God himself buried him, namely, by the
|
|
ministry of angels, which made this funeral, though very private,
|
|
yet very magnificent. Note, God takes care of the dead bodies of
|
|
his servants; as their death is precious, so is their dust, not a
|
|
grain of it shall be lost, but the covenant with it shall be
|
|
remembered. When Moses was dead, God buried him; when Christ was
|
|
dead, God raised him, for the law of Moses was to have an end, but
|
|
not the gospel of Christ. Believers are dead to the law that they
|
|
might be married to another, even <i>to him who is raised from the
|
|
dead,</i> <scripRef passage="Ro 7:4" id="Deu.xxxv-p7.2" parsed="|Rom|7|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.7.4">Rom. vii. 4</scripRef>. It
|
|
should seem Michael, that is, Christ (as some think), had the
|
|
burying of Moses, for by him the Mosaical ordinances were abolished
|
|
and taken out of the way, <i>nailed to his cross,</i> and buried in
|
|
his grave, <scripRef passage="Col 2:14" id="Deu.xxxv-p7.3" parsed="|Col|2|14|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Col.2.14">Col. ii. 14</scripRef>. 2.
|
|
He was buried in a valley <i>over against Beth-peor.</i> How easily
|
|
could the angels that buried him have conveyed him over Jordan and
|
|
buried him with the patriarchs in the cave of Machpelah! But we
|
|
must learn not be over-solicitous about the place of our burial. If
|
|
the soul be at rest with God, the matter is not great where the
|
|
body rests. One of the Chaldee paraphrasts says, "He was buried
|
|
over against Beth-peor, that, whenever Baal-peor boasted of the
|
|
Israelites being joined to him, the grave of Moses over against his
|
|
temple might be a check to him." 3. The particular place was not
|
|
known, lest the children of Israel, who were so very prone to
|
|
idolatry, should have enshrined and worshipped the dead body of
|
|
Moses, that great founder and benefactor of their nation. It is
|
|
true that we read not, among all the instances of their idolatry,
|
|
that they worshipped relics, the reason of which perhaps was
|
|
because they were thus prevented from worshipping Moses, and so
|
|
could not for shame worship any other. Some of the Jewish writers
|
|
say that the body of Moses was concealed, that necromancers, who
|
|
enquired of the dead, might not disquiet him, as the witch of Endor
|
|
did Samuel, to <i>bring him up.</i> God would not have the name and
|
|
memory of his servant Moses thus abused. Many think this was the
|
|
contest between Michael and the devil about the body of Moses,
|
|
mentioned <scripRef passage="Jude 1:9" id="Deu.xxxv-p7.4" parsed="|Jude|1|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Jude.1.9">Jude 9</scripRef>. The devil
|
|
would make the place known that it might be a snare to the people,
|
|
and Michael would not let him. Those therefore who are for giving
|
|
divine honours to the relics of departed saints side with the devil
|
|
against Michael our prince.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxv-p8">III. His age, <scripRef passage="De 34:7" id="Deu.xxxv-p8.1" parsed="|Deut|34|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.34.7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. His life was prolonged, 1. To old
|
|
age. He was 120 years old, which, though far short of the years of
|
|
the patriarchs, yet much exceeded the years of most of his
|
|
contemporaries, for the ordinary age of man had been lately reduced
|
|
to seventy, <scripRef passage="Ps 90:10" id="Deu.xxxv-p8.2" parsed="|Ps|90|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Ps.90.10">Ps. xc. 10</scripRef>. The
|
|
years of the life of Moses were three forties. The first forty he
|
|
lived a courtier, at ease and in honour in Pharaoh's court; the
|
|
second forty he lived a poor desolate shepherd in Midian; the third
|
|
forty he lived a king in Jeshurun, in honour and power, but
|
|
encumbered with a great deal of care and toil: so changeable is the
|
|
world we live in, and alloyed with such mixtures; but the world
|
|
before us is unmixed and unchangeable. 2. To a good old age: <i>His
|
|
eye was not dim</i> (as Isaac's, <scripRef passage="Ge 27:1" id="Deu.xxxv-p8.3" parsed="|Gen|27|1|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.1">Gen.
|
|
xxvii. 1</scripRef>, and Jacob's, <scripRef passage="Ge 48:10" id="Deu.xxxv-p8.4" parsed="|Gen|48|10|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Gen.48.10">Gen.
|
|
xlviii. 10</scripRef>), <i>nor was his natural force abated;</i>
|
|
there was no decay either of the strength of his body or of the
|
|
vigour and activity of his mind, but he could still speak, and
|
|
write, and walk as well as ever. His understanding was as clear,
|
|
and his memory as strong, as ever. "His visage was not wrinkled,"
|
|
say some of the Jewish writers; "he had lost never a tooth," say
|
|
others; and many of them expound it of the shining of his face
|
|
(<scripRef passage="Ex 34:30" id="Deu.xxxv-p8.5" parsed="|Exod|34|30|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Exod.34.30">Exod. xxxiv. 30</scripRef>), that
|
|
that continued to the last. This was the general reward of his
|
|
services; and it was in particular the effect of his extraordinary
|
|
meekness, for that is a grace which is, as much as any other,
|
|
<i>health to the navel and marrow to the bones.</i> Of the moral
|
|
law which was given by Moses, though the condemning power be
|
|
vacated to true believers, yet the commands are still binding, and
|
|
will be to the end of the world; the eye of them is not waxen dim,
|
|
for they shall discern the thoughts and intents of the heart, nor
|
|
is their natural force or obligation abated but still we are
|
|
<i>under the law to Christ.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxv-p9">IV. The solemn mourning that there was for
|
|
him, <scripRef passage="De 34:8" id="Deu.xxxv-p9.1" parsed="|Deut|34|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.34.8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. It is a
|
|
debt owing to the surviving honour of deceased worthies to follow
|
|
them with our tears, as those who loved and valued them, are
|
|
sensible of our loss of them, and are truly humbled for those sins
|
|
which have provoked God to deprive us of them; for penitential
|
|
tears very fitly mix with these. Observe, 1. Who the mourners were:
|
|
<i>The children of Israel.</i> They all conformed to the ceremony,
|
|
whatever it was, though some of them perhaps, who were ill-affected
|
|
to his government, were but mock-mourners; yet we may suppose there
|
|
were those among them who had formerly quarrelled with him and his
|
|
government, and perhaps had been of those who spoke of stoning him,
|
|
who now were sensible of their loss, and heartily lamented him when
|
|
he was removed from them, though they knew not how to value him
|
|
when he was with them. Thus those who had murmured were made to
|
|
learn doctrine, <scripRef passage="Isa 29:24" id="Deu.xxxv-p9.2" parsed="|Isa|29|24|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.29.24">Isa. xxix.
|
|
24</scripRef>. Note, The loss of good men, especially good
|
|
governors, is to be much lamented and laid to heart: those are
|
|
stupid who do not consider it. 2. How long they mourned: <i>Thirty
|
|
days.</i> So long the formality lasted, and we may suppose there
|
|
were some in whom the mourning continued much longer. Yet the
|
|
<i>ending of the days of weeping and mourning</i> for Moses is an
|
|
intimation that, how great soever our losses have been, we must not
|
|
abandon ourselves to perpetual grief; we must suffer the wound at
|
|
least to heal up in time. If we hope to go to heaven rejoicing, why
|
|
should we resolve to go to the grave mourning? The ceremonial law
|
|
of Moses is dead and buried in the grave of Christ; but the Jews
|
|
have not yet ended the days of their mourning for it.</p>
|
|
|
|
</div><scripCom type="Commentary" passage="De 34:9-12" id="Deu.xxxv-p9.3" parsed="|Deut|34|9|34|12" osisRef="Bible:Deut.34.9-Deut.34.12"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Deut.34.9-Deut.34.12">
|
|
<h4 id="Deu.xxxv-p9.4">The Character of Moses. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxv-p9.5">b. c.</span> 1451.)</h4>
|
|
|
|
<p class="passage" id="Deu.xxxv-p10">9 And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the
|
|
spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him: and the
|
|
children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxv-p10.1">Lord</span> commanded Moses.   10 And there arose
|
|
not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxv-p10.2">Lord</span> knew face to face,   11 In all
|
|
the signs and the wonders, which the <span class="smallcaps" id="Deu.xxxv-p10.3">Lord</span> sent him to do in the land of Egypt to
|
|
Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land,   12
|
|
And in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which
|
|
Moses showed in the sight of all Israel.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxv-p11">We have here a very honourable encomium
|
|
passed both on Moses and Joshua; each has his praise, and should
|
|
have. It is ungrateful so to magnify our living friends as to
|
|
forget the merits of those that are gone, to whose memories there
|
|
is a debt of honour due: all the respect must not be paid to the
|
|
rising sun; and, on the other hand, it is unjust so to cry up the
|
|
merits of those that are gone as to despise the benefit we have in
|
|
those that survive and succeed them. Let God be glorified in both,
|
|
as here.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxv-p12">I. Joshua is praised as a man admirably
|
|
qualified for the work to which he was called, <scripRef passage="De 34:9" id="Deu.xxxv-p12.1" parsed="|Deut|34|9|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Deut.34.9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. Moses brought Israel to the
|
|
borders of Canaan and then died and left them, to signify that
|
|
<i>the law made nothing perfect,</i> <scripRef passage="Heb 7:19" id="Deu.xxxv-p12.2" parsed="|Heb|7|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Heb.7.19">Heb. vii. 19</scripRef>. It brings men into a wilderness
|
|
of conviction, but not into the Canaan of rest and settled peace.
|
|
It is an honour reserved for Joshua (our Lord Jesus, of whom Joshua
|
|
was a type) to do that for us which <i>the law could not do, in
|
|
that it was weak through the flesh,</i> <scripRef passage="Ro 8:3" id="Deu.xxxv-p12.3" parsed="|Rom|8|3|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Rom.8.3">Rom. viii. 3</scripRef>. Through him we enter into rest,
|
|
the spiritual rest of conscience and eternal rest in heaven. Three
|
|
things concurred to clear Joshua's call to this great
|
|
undertaking:—1. God fitted him for it: <i>He was full of the
|
|
spirit of wisdom;</i> and so he had need who had such a peevish
|
|
people to rule, and such a politic people to conquer. Conduct is as
|
|
requisite in a general as courage. Herein Joshua was a type of
|
|
Christ, in whom are hidden the treasures of wisdom. 2. Moses, by
|
|
the divine appointment, had ordained him to it: <i>He had laid his
|
|
hands upon him,</i> so substituting him to be his successor, and
|
|
praying to God to qualify him for the service to which he had
|
|
called him; and this comes in as a reason why God gave him a more
|
|
than ordinary <i>spirit of wisdom,</i> because his designation to
|
|
the government was God's own act (those whom God employs he will in
|
|
some measure make fit for the employment) and because this was the
|
|
thing that Moses had asked of God for him when he laid his hands on
|
|
him. When the bodily presence of Christ withdrew from his church,
|
|
he prayed the Father to send another Comforter, and obtained what
|
|
he prayed for. 3. The people cheerfully owned him and submitted to
|
|
him. Note, An interest in the affections of people is a great
|
|
advantage, and a great encouragement to those that are called to
|
|
public trusts of what kind soever. It was also a great mercy to the
|
|
people that when Moses was dead they were not as sheep having no
|
|
shepherd, but had one ready among them in whom they did
|
|
unanimously, and might with the highest satisfaction,
|
|
acquiesce.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxv-p13">II. Moses is praised (<scripRef passage="De 34:10-12" id="Deu.xxxv-p13.1" parsed="|Deut|34|10|34|12" osisRef="Bible:Deut.34.10-Deut.34.12"><i>v.</i> 10-12</scripRef>), and with good
|
|
reason.</p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxv-p14">1. He was indeed a very great man,
|
|
especially upon two accounts:—(1.) His intimacy with the God of
|
|
nature: <i>God knew him face to face,</i> and so he knew God. See
|
|
<scripRef passage="Nu 12:8" id="Deu.xxxv-p14.1" parsed="|Num|12|8|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Num.12.8">Num. xii. 8</scripRef>. He saw more of
|
|
the glory of God than any (at least of the Old-Testament saints)
|
|
ever did. He had more free and frequent access to God, and was
|
|
spoken to not in dreams, and visions, and slumberings on the bed,
|
|
but when he was awake and standing before the cherubim. Other
|
|
prophets, when God appeared and spoke to them, were struck with
|
|
terror (<scripRef passage="Da 10:7" id="Deu.xxxv-p14.2" parsed="|Dan|10|7|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Dan.10.7">Dan. x. 7</scripRef>), but
|
|
Moses, whenever he received a divine revelation, preserved his
|
|
tranquillity. (2.) His interest and power in the kingdom of nature.
|
|
The miracles of judgment he wrought in Egypt before Pharaoh, and
|
|
the miracles of mercy he wrought in the wilderness before Israel,
|
|
served to demonstrate that he was a particular favourite of Heaven,
|
|
and had an extra-ordinary commission to act as he did on this
|
|
earth. Never was there any man whom Israel had more reason to love,
|
|
or whom the enemies of Israel had more reason to fear. Observe, The
|
|
historian calls the miracles Moses wrought <i>signs and
|
|
wonders,</i> done with <i>a mighty hand and great terror,</i> which
|
|
may refer to the terrors of Mount Sinai, by which God fully
|
|
ratified Moses's commission and demonstrated it beyond exception to
|
|
be divine, and this <i>in the sight of all Israel.</i></p>
|
|
|
|
<p class="indent" id="Deu.xxxv-p15">2. He was greater than any other of the
|
|
prophets of the Old Testament. Though they were men of great
|
|
interest in heaven and great influence upon earth, yet they were
|
|
none of them to be compared with this great man; none of them
|
|
either so evidenced or executed a commission from heaven as Moses
|
|
did. This encomium of Moses seems to have been written long after
|
|
his death, yet then there had not arisen any prophet <i>like unto
|
|
Moses,</i> nor did there arise any such between that period and the
|
|
<i>sealing up of the vision and prophecy</i> by Moses God gave the
|
|
law, and moulded and formed the Jewish church; by the other
|
|
prophets he only sent particular reproofs, directions, and
|
|
predictions. The last of the prophets concludes with a charge <i>to
|
|
remember the law of Moses,</i> <scripRef passage="Mal 4:4" id="Deu.xxxv-p15.1" parsed="|Mal|4|4|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Mal.4.4">Mal. iv.
|
|
4</scripRef>. Christ himself often appealed to the writings of
|
|
Moses, and vouched him for a witness, as one that <i>saw his
|
|
day</i> at a distance <i>and spoke of him.</i> But, as far as the
|
|
other prophets came short of him, our Lord Jesus went beyond him.
|
|
His doctrine was more excellent, his miracles were more
|
|
illustrious, and his communion with his Father was more intimate,
|
|
for he <i>had lain in his bosom from eternity,</i> and by him God
|
|
does now in these last days speak to us. Moses was faithful as a
|
|
servant, but Christ as a Son. The history of Moses leaves him
|
|
buried in the plains of Moab, and concludes with the period of his
|
|
government; but the history of our Saviour leaves him sitting <i>at
|
|
the right hand of the Majesty on high,</i> and we are assured that
|
|
<i>of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no
|
|
end.</i> The apostle, in his epistle to the Hebrews, largely proves
|
|
the pre-eminence of Christ above Moses, as a good reason why we
|
|
that are Christians should be obedient, faithful, and constant, to
|
|
that holy religion which we make profession of. God, by his grace,
|
|
make us all so!</p>
|
|
|
|
</div></div2>
|
|
</div1>
|
|
|
|
|
|
<div1 title="Indexes" prev="Deu.xxxv" next="viii.i" id="viii">
|
|
<h1 id="viii-p0.1">Indexes</h1>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Index of Scripture References" prev="viii" next="viii.ii" id="viii.i">
|
|
<h2 id="viii.i-p0.1">Index of Scripture References</h2>
|
|
<insertIndex type="scripRef" id="viii.i-p0.2"/>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<div class="Index">
|
|
<p class="bbook">Genesis</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=1#Gen.ii-p5.1">1:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=1#Gen.ii-p1.3">1:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=1#Gen.ii-p2.1">1:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=1#ii-p4.4">1:1-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=2#Gen.ii-p12.1">1:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=2#Gen.ii-p21.1">1:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=2#Gen.ii-p22.2">1:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=3#Gen.ii-p25.2">1:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=3#Gen.ii-p2.2">1:3-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=4#Ex.xv-p17.2">1:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=6#Gen.ii-p2.3">1:6-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=9#Gen.viii-p16.3">1:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=9#Gen.vii-p31.1">1:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=9#Gen.ix-p6.5">1:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=9#Gen.ii-p2.4">1:9-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=10#Gen.ii-p13.1">1:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=11#Gen.iv-p48.1">1:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=11#Gen.ii-p22.1">1:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=14#Gen.ii-p25.1">1:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=14#Gen.ii-p18.1">1:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=14#Gen.ii-p2.5">1:14-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=16#Gen.ii-p27.3">1:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=16#Gen.ii-p26.1">1:16-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=18#Gen.ii-p27.3">1:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=20#Gen.ii-p18.2">1:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=20#Gen.ii-p30.1">1:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=20#Gen.ii-p2.6">1:20-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=21#Gen.viii-p21.1">1:21-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=22#Gen.ii-p30.4">1:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=22#Gen.iv-p35.3">1:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=24#Gen.ii-p2.7">1:24-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=25#Lev.xx-p20.2">1:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=26#Gen.ii-p2.8">1:26-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=27#Gen.iii-p38.1">1:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=28#Gen.vii-p3.1">1:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=28#Gen.x-p7.2">1:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=28#Gen.xviii-p23.2">1:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=28#Deu.viii-p17.4">1:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=29#Gen.ii-p42.1">1:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=29#Gen.iv-p48.1">1:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=29#Gen.x-p8.2">1:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=29#Gen.ii-p2.9">1:29-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=30#Gen.ii-p43.1">1:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=31#Gen.ii-p2.10">1:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Gen.iii-p3.1">2:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Gen.iii-p1.1">2:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Gen.iii-p1.2">2:1-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=3#Lev.xxiv-p3.2">2:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=3#Gen.iii-p4.1">2:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=3#Ex.xxi-p14.3">2:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=3#Ex.xvii-p14.1">2:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=4#Ex.vii-p5.2">2:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=5#Gen.iii-p7.1">2:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=6#Gen.iii-p9.1">2:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=7#Gen.iii-p8.1">2:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=8#Gen.iii-p20.1">2:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=8#Gen.iii-p1.3">2:8-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=9#Gen.iii-p26.2">2:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=9#Gen.iv-p18.2">2:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=10#Gen.iii-p18.1">2:10-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=12#Gen.iii-p18.7">2:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=15#Gen.iii-p19.1">2:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=15#Gen.iii-p20.1">2:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=16#Gen.iii-p32.2">2:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=18#Gen.iii-p32.1">2:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=18#Gen.iii-p1.4">2:18-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=19#Gen.iii-p35.1">2:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=20#Lev.xii-p5.3">2:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=21#Gen.xvi-p25.1">2:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=21#Gen.ii-p38.1">2:21-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=23#Gen.iii-p39.1">2:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=23#Gen.iii-p40.3">2:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=24#Gen.iii-p40.1">2:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=25#Gen.iii-p41.1">2:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=1#Gen.iv-p8.5">3:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=1#Gen.iv-p12.2">3:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=1#Gen.iv-p35.4">3:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=1#Gen.iv-p1.2">3:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=2#Gen.iv-p11.1">3:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=3#Lev.xii-p7.7">3:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=4#Deu.xxx-p20.1">3:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=4#Gen.iv-p8.6">3:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=4#Gen.iv-p12.1">3:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=5#Gen.iv-p8.7">3:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=5#Gen.iv-p13.1">3:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=6#Gen.iv-p1.3">3:6-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=7#Gen.iv-p21.1">3:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=8#Gen.iv-p24.1">3:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=9#Gen.iv-p1.4">3:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=10#Gen.iv-p28.1">3:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=11#Gen.iv-p31.1">3:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=11#Gen.iv-p1.5">3:11-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=13#Gen.iv-p31.2">3:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=14#Gen.iv-p48.4">3:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=14#Gen.iv-p1.6">3:14-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=15#Gen.xxvi-p14.1">3:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=15#Lev.xii-p7.5">3:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=16#Gen.xxxvi-p14.1">3:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=17#Gen.iv-p51.1">3:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=17#Gen.iv-p46.1">3:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=17#Gen.ix-p23.3">3:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=19#Gen.iv-p50.1">3:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=19#Gen.iv-p51.2">3:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=20#Gen.iv-p1.7">3:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=21#Lev.viii-p3.5">3:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=22#Gen.iii-p26.3">3:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=22#Gen.iv-p1.8">3:22-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=23#Gen.iv-p66.1">3:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=24#Num.xxiii-p18.5">3:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=24#Gen.v-p42.2">3:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=24#Gen.iv-p66.2">3:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=1#Gen.v-p1.1">4:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=3#Lev.iii-p3.3">4:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=3#Gen.v-p1.2">4:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=5#Num.xvii-p18.1">4:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=5#Gen.v-p1.3">4:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=5#Gen.v-p1.4">4:5-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=7#Gen.xxxiv-p6.2">4:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=8#Gen.v-p1.5">4:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=9#Gen.v-p1.6">4:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=9#Gen.v-p1.7">4:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=10#Lev.xxv-p14.4">4:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=10#Gen.v-p29.1">4:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=10#Gen.v-p1.8">4:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=11#Deu.xxix-p14.7">4:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=11#Gen.v-p29.4">4:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=11#Gen.v-p30.1">4:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=11#Gen.v-p1.9">4:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=13#Gen.v-p1.10">4:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=14#Gen.li-p8.2">4:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=15#Gen.v-p37.1">4:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=15#Gen.v-p50.4">4:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=15#Gen.v-p1.11">4:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=15#Gen.v-p1.12">4:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=16#Gen.v-p40.1">4:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=17#Gen.v-p43.1">4:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=17#Gen.xii-p5.1">4:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=17#Gen.v-p1.13">4:17-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=18#Gen.vi-p9.1">4:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=24#Gen.v-p50.1">4:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=24#Gen.v-p50.3">4:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=25#Gen.v-p54.1">4:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=25#Gen.v-p1.14">4:25-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=26#Gen.v-p54.3">4:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=26#Gen.v-p55.1">4:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=5&scrV=0#Gen.xii-p25.2">5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=5&scrV=1#Gen.vi-p4.1">5:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=5&scrV=1#Gen.vi-p1.3">5:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=5&scrV=1#Gen.v-p44.3">5:1-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=5&scrV=2#Gen.vi-p4.2">5:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=5&scrV=3#Gen.vi-p5.1">5:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=5&scrV=4#Gen.v-p3.1">5:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=5&scrV=6#Gen.vi-p1.4">5:6-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=5&scrV=8#Gen.vi-p10.1">5:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=5&scrV=9#Gen.vi-p1.5">5:9-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=5&scrV=12#Gen.vi-p1.6">5:12-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=5&scrV=15#Gen.vi-p1.7">5:15-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=5&scrV=18#Gen.vi-p1.8">5:18-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=5&scrV=21#Gen.vi-p17.1">5:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=5&scrV=21#Gen.vi-p1.9">5:21-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=5&scrV=22#Gen.v-p44.1">5:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=5&scrV=22#Gen.vi-p15.1">5:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=5&scrV=22#Gen.vi-p17.2">5:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=5&scrV=23#Gen.x-p23.1">5:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=5&scrV=24#Gen.vi-p15.2">5:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=5&scrV=24#Gen.vi-p19.1">5:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=5&scrV=25#Gen.vi-p1.10">5:25-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=5&scrV=28#Gen.vi-p1.11">5:28-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=5&scrV=29#Lev.xxvi-p3.6">5:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=5&scrV=29#Gen.vii-p29.1">5:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=1#Gen.vii-p1.1">6:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=2#Gen.vii-p3.5">6:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=2#Deu.viii-p7.2">6:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=4#Num.xvii-p3.5">6:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=4#Gen.xi-p5.2">6:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=4#Deu.iii-p10.10">6:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=5#Gen.vii-p12.1">6:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=5#Gen.vii-p19.2">6:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=5#Gen.ix-p23.4">6:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=6#Gen.ix-p23.1">6:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=6#Gen.vii-p1.3">6:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=7#Gen.vii-p15.1">6:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=8#Gen.vii-p17.1">6:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=8#Gen.vii-p1.4">6:8-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=8#Gen.vii-p21.1">6:8-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=9#Gen.vii-p17.3">6:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=9#Gen.x-p21.3">6:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=11#Gen.vii-p19.1">6:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=11#Gen.vii-p1.2">6:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=13#Gen.vii-p1.5">6:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=13#Gen.vii-p23.1">6:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=13#Gen.vii-p26.1">6:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=14#Gen.vii-p1.6">6:14-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=14#Gen.vii-p27.1">6:14-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=17#Gen.vii-p1.5">6:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=17#Gen.vii-p24.1">6:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=18#Gen.vii-p25.1">6:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=18#Gen.vii-p28.1">6:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=18#Gen.ix-p16.4">6:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=18#Gen.vii-p1.7">6:18-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=19#Gen.vii-p29.4">6:19-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=20#Gen.vii-p29.5">6:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=21#Gen.vii-p29.6">6:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=22#Gen.vii-p1.8">6:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=1#Gen.viii-p1.2">7:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=1#Gen.viii-p3.1">7:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=1#Gen.ix-p16.2">7:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=1#Deu.vii-p15.3">7:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=2#Lev.xii-p3.3">7:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=2#Gen.viii-p1.3">7:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=2#Gen.viii-p6.1">7:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=2#Gen.ix-p19.2">7:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=4#Gen.viii-p1.4">7:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=4#Gen.viii-p7.1">7:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=4#Gen.ix-p11.1">7:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=5#Gen.viii-p1.5">7:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=6#Gen.viii-p1.6">7:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=8#Gen.viii-p1.7">7:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=10#Gen.vi-p23.1">7:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=10#Gen.viii-p1.9">7:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=11#Gen.viii-p1.10">7:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=12#Gen.viii-p16.7">7:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=13#Gen.viii-p1.8">7:13-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=16#Gen.viii-p23.1">7:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=17#Gen.viii-p27.1">7:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=17#Gen.viii-p29.1">7:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=17#Gen.viii-p1.11">7:17-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=18#Gen.viii-p29.2">7:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=21#Gen.viii-p32.1">7:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=21#Gen.viii-p33.1">7:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=21#Gen.viii-p1.12">7:21-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=22#Gen.viii-p32.2">7:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=23#Gen.viii-p32.3">7:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=23#Gen.viii-p33.2">7:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=23#Gen.viii-p35.1">7:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=24#Gen.viii-p1.13">7:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=8&scrV=1#Gen.ix-p6.3">8:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=8&scrV=1#Gen.ix-p1.1">8:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=8&scrV=3#Gen.ix-p1.2">8:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=8&scrV=3#Gen.ix-p6.4">8:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=8&scrV=4#Gen.ix-p1.3">8:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=8&scrV=5#Gen.ix-p1.4">8:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=8&scrV=6#Gen.ix-p1.5">8:6-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=8&scrV=13#Gen.ix-p14.1">8:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=8&scrV=13#Gen.ix-p1.6">8:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=8&scrV=14#Gen.ix-p14.3">8:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=8&scrV=14#Gen.ix-p1.7">8:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=8&scrV=15#Gen.ix-p16.1">8:15-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=8&scrV=15#Gen.ix-p1.8">8:15-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=8&scrV=20#Gen.viii-p6.3">8:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=8&scrV=20#Gen.ix-p19.1">8:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=8&scrV=20#Gen.x-p3.4">8:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=8&scrV=20#Gen.ix-p1.9">8:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=8&scrV=20#Lev.v-p3.1">8:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=8&scrV=21#Num.xxi-p9.2">8:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=8&scrV=21#Gen.ix-p21.1">8:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=8&scrV=21#Gen.ix-p1.10">8:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=8&scrV=22#Gen.ix-p24.1">8:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=1#Gen.xi-p1.2">9:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=1#Gen.xii-p11.1">9:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=1#Gen.x-p1.2">9:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=1#Gen.x-p3.1">9:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=1#Gen.x-p6.1">9:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=1#Deu.viii-p17.4">9:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=1#Gen.x-p1.1">9:1-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=2#Gen.x-p1.3">9:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=2#Gen.x-p7.1">9:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=3#Gen.ii-p42.2">9:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=3#Gen.x-p8.1">9:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=3#Gen.x-p1.4">9:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=3#Lev.xviii-p5.7">9:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=4#Gen.x-p10.1">9:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=4#Lev.xviii-p9.2">9:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=5#Gen.x-p11.1">9:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=5#Gen.x-p1.6">9:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=5#Gen.xxiii-p12.1">9:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=5#Ex.xxi-p19.2">9:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=6#Lev.xxv-p14.3">9:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=6#Num.xxxvi-p10.9">9:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=6#Deu.xx-p3.1">9:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=6#Gen.ii-p37.4">9:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=6#Gen.v-p26.1">9:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=6#Gen.x-p13.2">9:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=6#Ex.xxii-p9.2">9:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=7#Gen.xi-p1.2">9:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=7#Gen.x-p1.2">9:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=7#Gen.x-p6.2">9:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=8#Gen.vii-p25.2">9:8-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=8#Gen.x-p1.5">9:8-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=9#Gen.x-p15.1">9:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=12#Gen.x-p18.5">9:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=12#Gen.x-p1.7">9:12-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=13#Gen.x-p18.3">9:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=13#Lev.xii-p3.1">9:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=14#Gen.x-p18.4">9:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=15#Gen.x-p18.6">9:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=16#Gen.x-p18.7">9:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=18#Gen.x-p20.1">9:18-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=19#Gen.xi-p1.1">9:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=20#Gen.x-p1.8">9:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=21#Gen.x-p1.11">9:21-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=22#Gen.xi-p14.3">9:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=22#Gen.x-p1.9">9:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=22#Gen.x-p22.1">9:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=23#Gen.x-p1.10">9:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=25#Num.xxiii-p6.5">9:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=25#Deu.xxxiii-p13.1">9:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=25#Gen.x-p27.1">9:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=25#Gen.xvi-p28.3">9:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=25#Gen.l-p1.1">9:25-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=26#Gen.vi-p27.2">9:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=26#Gen.x-p29.1">9:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=26#Gen.x-p30.6">9:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=27#Gen.x-p30.1">9:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=28#Gen.x-p1.12">9:28-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=10&scrV=1#Ex.ii-p3.4">10:1-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=10&scrV=2#Gen.xi-p1.3">10:2-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=10&scrV=5#Gen.xi-p3.1">10:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=10&scrV=5#Gen.xii-p23.2">10:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=10&scrV=6#Gen.xi-p1.4">10:6-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=10&scrV=8#Gen.xi-p1.5">10:8-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=10&scrV=8#Gen.xi-p5.1">10:8-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=10&scrV=10#Gen.xi-p7.1">10:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=10&scrV=11#Gen.xi-p8.1">10:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=10&scrV=14#Deu.iii-p10.7">10:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=10&scrV=15#Deu.xxxiii-p13.2">10:15-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=10&scrV=20#Gen.xii-p23.2">10:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=10&scrV=21#Gen.vi-p27.1">10:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=10&scrV=21#Gen.xi-p1.6">10:21-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=10&scrV=25#Gen.xi-p16.1">10:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=10&scrV=31#Gen.xii-p23.2">10:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=11&scrV=1#Gen.xii-p4.1">11:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=11&scrV=1#Gen.xii-p1.2">11:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=11&scrV=1#Gen.xii-p1.1">11:1-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=11&scrV=2#Gen.xii-p4.2">11:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=11&scrV=3#Gen.xii-p6.1">11:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=11&scrV=4#Gen.xii-p6.2">11:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=11&scrV=4#Deu.ii-p20.3">11:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=11&scrV=5#Gen.xii-p14.1">11:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=11&scrV=5#Gen.xii-p1.3">11:5-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=11&scrV=6#Gen.xii-p18.1">11:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=11&scrV=7#Gen.xii-p19.1">11:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=11&scrV=8#Gen.xii-p20.1">11:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=11&scrV=8#Gen.xii-p23.1">11:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=11&scrV=10#Gen.xii-p1.4">11:10-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=11&scrV=10#Gen.xii-p25.2">11:10-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=11&scrV=14#Gen.xxv-p4.1">11:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=11&scrV=18#Gen.xxv-p4.1">11:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=11&scrV=22#Gen.xxv-p4.1">11:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=11&scrV=24#Gen.xxv-p4.1">11:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=11&scrV=26#Gen.xii-p29.2">11:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=11&scrV=27#Gen.xii-p1.5">11:27-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=11&scrV=28#Gen.xii-p29.5">11:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=11&scrV=31#Gen.xiii-p21.1">11:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=11&scrV=32#Gen.xii-p29.3">11:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=1#Gen.xiii-p4.1">12:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=1#Gen.xiv-p24.1">12:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=1#Gen.xiii-p1.1">12:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=1#Gen.xii-p30.1">12:1-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=2#Gen.xvi-p11.5">12:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=2#Gen.xlvii-p10.11">12:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=2#Gen.xxii-p25.1">12:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=2#Ex.xiii-p23.8">12:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=3#Num.xxiii-p7.6">12:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=3#Num.xxv-p11.1">12:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=3#Gen.xxviii-p15.9">12:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=4#Gen.xiv-p8.2">12:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=4#Gen.xiii-p1.2">12:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=6#Gen.xiii-p24.1">12:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=6#Gen.xiii-p24.5">12:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=6#Deu.xii-p17.4">12:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=6#Gen.xiii-p1.3">12:6-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=7#Gen.xiv-p15.4">12:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=7#Gen.xvi-p42.1">12:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=7#Gen.xxix-p23.2">12:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=7#Gen.xiii-p27.1">12:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=8#Gen.xiii-p24.2">12:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=8#Gen.xiii-p24.6">12:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=8#Gen.xiv-p6.1">12:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=9#Gen.xiii-p24.3">12:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=10#Gen.xiii-p1.4">12:10-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=13#Gen.xxi-p3.2">12:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=14#Gen.xvii-p6.1">12:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=14#Gen.xiii-p1.5">12:14-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=16#Gen.xiii-p33.2">12:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=17#Gen.xiii-p38.4">12:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=19#Gen.xiii-p38.1">12:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=20#Gen.xiii-p38.3">12:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=1#Gen.xiv-p1.1">13:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=1#Gen.xiv-p3.1">13:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=1#Gen.xiv-p8.1">13:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=2#Deu.ix-p16.4">13:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=2#Gen.xiv-p1.2">13:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=2#Gen.xiv-p4.1">13:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=2#Gen.xiv-p9.1">13:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=2#Gen.xxiv-p9.4">13:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=3#Gen.xiv-p1.1">13:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=3#Gen.xiv-p5.1">13:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=4#Gen.xiv-p1.1">13:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=4#Gen.xiv-p1.3">13:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=5#Gen.xiv-p9.2">13:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=5#Gen.xiv-p1.4">13:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=7#Gen.xiv-p1.5">13:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=7#Gen.xiv-p10.1">13:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=8#Gen.xiv-p12.1">13:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=8#Gen.xiv-p1.6">13:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=9#Gen.xiv-p15.1">13:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=10#Gen.iii-p18.2">13:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=10#Gen.xiv-p24.2">13:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=10#Gen.xiv-p18.1">13:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=10#Gen.xiv-p1.7">13:10-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=11#Deu.xxiv-p6.1">13:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=13#Gen.xiv-p19.1">13:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=13#Gen.xx-p7.1">13:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=14#Gen.xiv-p1.8">13:14-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=15#Gen.xiv-p24.3">13:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=15#Gen.xvi-p42.1">13:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=16#Gen.xiv-p25.1">13:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=16#Gen.xvi-p11.6">13:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=16#Gen.xvi-p12.6">13:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=16#Gen.xvii-p25.5">13:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=17#Gen.xiv-p24.4">13:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=17#Gen.xiv-p24.6">13:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=18#Gen.xiv-p1.1">13:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=18#Gen.xiv-p1.3">13:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=18#Gen.xiv-p26.1">13:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=1#Gen.xv-p1.1">14:1-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=2#Gen.xx-p18.1">14:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=5#Deu.iii-p10.6">14:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=5#Gen.xv-p6.1">14:5-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=6#Gen.xxxvii-p7.2">14:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=10#Gen.xv-p6.2">14:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=10#Gen.xv-p23.1">14:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=11#Gen.xv-p6.3">14:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=12#Gen.xv-p1.2">14:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=12#Gen.xv-p6.5">14:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=13#Gen.xi-p14.1">14:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=13#Gen.xv-p1.3">14:13-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=15#Gen.xxxiii-p8.2">14:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=15#Gen.xv-p13.1">14:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=16#Gen.xv-p15.1">14:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=16#Gen.xvii-p1.1">14:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=16#Gen.xxi-p19.2">14:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=17#Gen.xv-p1.4">14:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=18#Gen.xv-p1.5">14:18-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=19#Gen.xv-p20.2">14:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=19#Gen.xv-p26.2">14:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=19#Gen.xv-p20.1">14:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=20#Lev.xxviii-p15.1">14:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=20#Gen.xv-p20.4">14:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=21#Gen.xv-p24.1">14:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=21#Gen.xv-p1.6">14:21-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=22#Deu.xxxiii-p45.3">14:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=22#Gen.xv-p26.1">14:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=23#Gen.xxiv-p9.6">14:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=24#Gen.xv-p28.1">14:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=1#Gen.xvi-p1.1">15:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=1#Gen.xxiii-p6.1">15:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=2#Gen.xvi-p12.1">15:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=2#Gen.xvi-p13.6">15:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=2#Gen.xvi-p11.1">15:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=2#Gen.xvi-p1.2">15:2-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=3#Gen.xvi-p11.3">15:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=3#Gen.xvi-p12.2">15:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=4#Gen.xvi-p12.3">15:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=5#Gen.xvi-p12.4">15:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=5#Gen.xvi-p24.2">15:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=6#Gen.xvi-p13.1">15:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=6#Gen.xvi-p16.2">15:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=6#Gen.xvi-p20.2">15:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=7#Gen.xvi-p16.1">15:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=7#Gen.xvi-p1.3">15:7-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=8#Gen.xvi-p20.1">15:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=9#Gen.xvi-p21.1">15:9-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=11#Gen.xvi-p21.4">15:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=13#Gen.xvi-p27.1">15:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=13#Gen.xlvii-p7.2">15:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=13#Gen.xxii-p14.3">15:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=13#Gen.li-p13.3">15:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=14#Gen.xvi-p30.1">15:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=15#Gen.xvi-p33.1">15:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=16#Num.xxii-p19.7">15:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=16#Gen.xvi-p32.1">15:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=16#Deu.iii-p18.2">15:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=16#Lev.xix-p14.6">15:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=17#Gen.xvi-p37.1">15:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=17#Ex.iv-p5.2">15:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=18#Num.xiv-p14.1">15:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=18#Deu.xii-p13.4">15:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=18#Gen.xvi-p41.1">15:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=18#Gen.xvi-p43.1">15:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=18#Gen.xviii-p1.1">15:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=18#Gen.xviii-p15.3">15:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=19#Gen.xvi-p43.2">15:19-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=16&scrV=1#Gen.xvii-p1.2">16:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=16&scrV=2#Gen.xvii-p4.1">16:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=16&scrV=4#Gen.xvii-p12.1">16:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=16&scrV=4#Gen.xvii-p1.3">16:4-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=16&scrV=5#Gen.xvii-p13.1">16:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=16&scrV=6#Gen.xvii-p14.1">16:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=16&scrV=7#Gen.xvii-p17.1">16:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=16&scrV=7#Gen.xvii-p1.4">16:7-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=16&scrV=8#Gen.xvii-p18.1">16:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=16&scrV=9#Gen.xvii-p22.1">16:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=16&scrV=9#Gen.xvii-p24.1">16:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=16&scrV=10#Gen.xvii-p25.4">16:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=16&scrV=10#Gen.xxvi-p9.6">16:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=16&scrV=11#Gen.xvii-p25.2">16:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=16&scrV=12#Gen.xvii-p25.6">16:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=16&scrV=12#Gen.xxii-p23.2">16:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=16&scrV=12#Gen.xxvi-p9.10">16:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=16&scrV=12#Gen.xxvii-p18.3">16:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=16&scrV=13#Gen.xv-p18.2">16:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=16&scrV=13#Gen.xxii-p22.2">16:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=16&scrV=13#Gen.xxix-p21.2">16:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=16&scrV=13#Ex.xxxiv-p19.13">16:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=16&scrV=13#Gen.xvii-p26.1">16:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=16&scrV=14#Gen.xvii-p29.1">16:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=16&scrV=15#Gen.xvii-p1.5">16:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=1#Gen.xviii-p1.2">17:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=1#Gen.xviii-p1.4">17:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=1#Gen.xviii-p6.1">17:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=1#Gen.xxiii-p6.2">17:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=1#Gen.xxv-p21.3">17:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=1#Gen.xlix-p11.2">17:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=1#Gen.xix-p16.1">17:1-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=2#Gen.xviii-p10.1">17:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=3#Gen.xviii-p1.3">17:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=3#Gen.xviii-p5.1">17:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=4#Gen.xviii-p1.5">17:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=5#Gen.xviii-p1.6">17:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=6#Gen.xviii-p1.5">17:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=7#Deu.xxviii-p3.4">17:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=7#Gen.xviii-p1.7">17:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=7#Gen.xviii-p15.1">17:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=8#Num.xiv-p14.1">17:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=8#Gen.xviii-p15.2">17:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=9#Gen.xviii-p16.2">17:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=9#Gen.xviii-p1.8">17:9-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=12#Gen.xviii-p16.9">17:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=14#Gen.xviii-p16.11">17:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=15#Gen.xviii-p19.1">17:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=15#Gen.xviii-p1.9">17:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=16#Gen.xviii-p18.1">17:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=17#Gen.xxxiii-p18.4">17:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=17#Gen.xviii-p1.10">17:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=17#Gen.xviii-p20.1">17:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=17#Gen.xix-p10.2">17:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=17#Gen.xxii-p6.2">17:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=18#Gen.xviii-p1.11">17:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=18#Gen.xviii-p21.1">17:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=18#Gen.xxvi-p9.9">17:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=19#Gen.xviii-p24.1">17:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=19#Gen.xxiii-p7.2">17:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=19#Gen.xviii-p1.12">17:19-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=20#Gen.xi-p14.4">17:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=20#Gen.xviii-p23.1">17:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=21#Gen.xviii-p24.1">17:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=23#Gen.xviii-p26.1">17:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=23#Gen.xviii-p1.13">17:23-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=26#Gen.xviii-p26.1">17:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=1#Gen.xix-p4.1">18:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=1#Gen.xix-p1.1">18:1-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=1#Gen.xx-p1.2">18:1-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=3#Gen.xix-p4.2">18:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=3#Gen.xix-p5.1">18:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=9#Gen.xix-p8.2">18:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=9#Gen.xix-p1.2">18:9-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=10#Gen.xix-p9.1">18:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=12#Gen.xix-p10.1">18:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=12#Gen.xxiv-p3.2">18:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=13#Gen.xix-p4.3">18:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=13#Gen.xix-p11.1">18:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=14#Gen.xix-p9.2">18:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=15#Gen.xix-p12.1">18:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=16#Gen.xix-p14.2">18:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=16#Gen.xix-p1.3">18:16-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=17#Gen.vii-p22.1">18:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=17#Gen.xix-p17.1">18:17-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=19#Deu.xxxiii-p50.1">18:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=19#Gen.v-p7.4">18:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=19#Gen.xix-p19.1">18:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=19#Gen.xxv-p10.1">18:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=19#Gen.xxxvi-p4.4">18:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=20#Gen.xix-p20.1">18:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=21#Deu.xiv-p14.2">18:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=21#Gen.xix-p20.2">18:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=22#Gen.xix-p14.4">18:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=23#Num.xvii-p21.7">18:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=23#Gen.xix-p14.6">18:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=23#Gen.xix-p23.1">18:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=23#Gen.xix-p27.1">18:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=23#Gen.xxi-p7.3">18:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=23#Gen.xix-p1.4">18:23-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=24#Gen.xix-p34.1">18:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=25#Gen.xix-p27.2">18:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=25#Gen.xix-p28.1">18:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=26#Gen.xix-p24.1">18:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=27#Gen.xix-p31.1">18:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=30#Gen.xix-p32.1">18:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=31#Gen.xix-p31.2">18:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=32#Gen.xix-p32.2">18:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=33#Gen.xix-p36.1">18:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=1#Gen.xix-p14.5">19:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=1#Gen.xx-p1.3">19:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=3#Gen.xx-p3.2">19:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=4#Gen.xx-p6.1">19:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=4#Gen.xx-p1.4">19:4-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=6#Gen.xx-p7.6">19:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=7#Gen.xx-p7.7">19:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=8#Gen.xx-p7.8">19:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=9#Gen.xx-p7.9">19:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=10#Gen.xx-p8.1">19:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=11#Gen.xx-p8.2">19:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=11#Ex.xi-p15.13">19:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=12#Gen.xx-p12.1">19:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=12#Gen.xx-p1.5">19:12-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=13#Gen.xix-p14.1">19:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=13#Gen.xx-p11.1">19:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=14#Gen.xx-p13.1">19:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=15#Gen.xx-p15.2">19:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=16#Gen.xx-p16.1">19:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=17#Gen.xiii-p5.1">19:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=17#Gen.xx-p17.1">19:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=18#Gen.xx-p18.1">19:18-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=21#Gen.xx-p18.2">19:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=22#Gen.viii-p15.1">19:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=24#Gen.xx-p21.1">19:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=24#Gen.xx-p1.6">19:24-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=25#Gen.xx-p21.5">19:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=27#Gen.xx-p28.1">19:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=27#Gen.xx-p1.7">19:27-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=28#Gen.xx-p28.4">19:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=29#Gen.xx-p29.1">19:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=30#Gen.xx-p31.1">19:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=30#Gen.xx-p1.8">19:30-38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=31#Gen.xx-p33.1">19:31-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=33#Gen.xx-p34.1">19:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=1#Gen.xxi-p3.1">20:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=1#Gen.xxi-p1.1">20:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=1#Gen.xxvii-p8.1">20:1-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=3#Num.xxiii-p7.4">20:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=3#Gen.xxi-p1.2">20:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=3#Gen.xxi-p6.1">20:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=4#Gen.xxi-p7.4">20:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=4#Gen.xxi-p1.3">20:4-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=6#Gen.xxi-p7.1">20:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=6#Gen.xxi-p9.1">20:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=7#Gen.xxi-p1.4">20:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=7#Gen.xxi-p11.1">20:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=7#Gen.xxvii-p24.3">20:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=8#Gen.xxi-p14.1">20:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=8#Gen.xxi-p1.5">20:8-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=9#Gen.xxi-p16.1">20:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=10#Gen.xxi-p16.2">20:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=11#Gen.xxi-p18.1">20:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=11#Gen.xxi-p1.6">20:11-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=12#Gen.xii-p29.7">20:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=12#Gen.xiii-p31.1">20:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=12#Gen.xxi-p19.1">20:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=13#Gen.xxi-p20.1">20:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=14#Gen.xxi-p22.1">20:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=14#Gen.xxi-p1.7">20:14-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=16#Gen.iv-p19.2">20:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=16#Gen.xl-p10.4">20:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=16#Gen.xxi-p22.2">20:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=17#Num.xiii-p14.3">20:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=17#Gen.xxi-p1.8">20:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=17#Gen.xxi-p23.1">20:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=1#Gen.xxi-p20.2">21:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=1#Gen.xxii-p4.1">21:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=1#Gen.xxii-p1.1">21:1-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=2#Gen.xxii-p4.2">21:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=3#Gen.xxii-p6.1">21:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=4#Gen.xxii-p7.1">21:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=6#Gen.xxii-p9.1">21:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=7#Gen.xxii-p10.1">21:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=8#Gen.xxii-p11.1">21:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=9#Gen.xvi-p29.1">21:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=9#Gen.xxii-p6.3">21:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=9#Gen.xxii-p14.1">21:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=9#Gen.xxii-p1.2">21:9-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=10#Gen.xxii-p15.1">21:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=11#Gen.xxii-p16.1">21:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=12#Gen.xxii-p17.1">21:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=13#Gen.xxii-p17.6">21:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=14#Gen.xxii-p19.1">21:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=15#Num.xxii-p16.3">21:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=15#Gen.xxii-p21.1">21:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=17#Gen.xxii-p22.1">21:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=18#Gen.xxii-p22.3">21:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=19#Gen.xxii-p22.4">21:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=19#Ex.xviii-p6.3">21:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=20#Gen.xxii-p23.1">21:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=22#Gen.xxii-p27.1">21:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=23#Gen.xxii-p28.1">21:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=23#Gen.xxii-p1.3">21:23-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=24#Gen.xxii-p30.1">21:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=25#Gen.xxii-p31.1">21:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=26#Gen.xxii-p31.3">21:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=27#Gen.xxii-p32.1">21:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=30#Gen.xxii-p31.4">21:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=31#Gen.xxii-p33.1">21:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=31#Gen.xxvii-p12.5">21:31-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=33#Gen.xlvii-p4.2">21:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=33#Gen.xxii-p1.4">21:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=22&scrV=1#Gen.xxiii-p4.1">22:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=22&scrV=1#Gen.xxiii-p1.1">22:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=22&scrV=2#Gen.xxiii-p6.3">22:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=22&scrV=3#Gen.xxiii-p14.1">22:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=22&scrV=3#Gen.xxiii-p1.2">22:3-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=22&scrV=5#Gen.xxiii-p17.1">22:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=22&scrV=5#Gen.xxiii-p18.1">22:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=22&scrV=6#Gen.xxiii-p19.2">22:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=22&scrV=7#Gen.xxiii-p20.1">22:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=22&scrV=8#Gen.xxiii-p29.2">22:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=22&scrV=9#Gen.xxiii-p23.1">22:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=22&scrV=11#Gen.xxiii-p1.3">22:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=22&scrV=11#Gen.xxiii-p26.1">22:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=22&scrV=13#Gen.xxiii-p28.1">22:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=22&scrV=13#Gen.xxiii-p1.4">22:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=22&scrV=14#Gen.xxiii-p29.1">22:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=22&scrV=15#Gen.xxiii-p1.5">22:15-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=22&scrV=16#Gen.xxiii-p31.1">22:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=22&scrV=17#Gen.xxiii-p31.5">22:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=22&scrV=17#Gen.xxv-p27.10">22:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=22&scrV=17#Gen.xxvi-p12.6">22:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=22&scrV=18#Gen.xxiii-p31.2">22:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=22&scrV=20#Gen.xxiii-p1.6">22:20-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=22&scrV=20#Gen.xxv-p20.2">22:20-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=23&scrV=1#Gen.xxiv-p3.1">23:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=23&scrV=1#Gen.xxiv-p1.1">23:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=23&scrV=2#Num.xiv-p8.4">23:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=23&scrV=2#Gen.xxiv-p3.3">23:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=23&scrV=3#Gen.xxiv-p1.2">23:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=23&scrV=3#Gen.xxiv-p5.1">23:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=23&scrV=5#Gen.xxiv-p6.1">23:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=23&scrV=5#Gen.xxiv-p1.3">23:5-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=23&scrV=7#Gen.xxiv-p7.2">23:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=23&scrV=7#Gen.xxiv-p7.1">23:7-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=23&scrV=9#Gen.xxiv-p12.5">23:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=23&scrV=10#Gen.xxiv-p8.1">23:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=23&scrV=12#Gen.xxiv-p9.2">23:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=23&scrV=12#Gen.xxiv-p9.1">23:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=23&scrV=14#Gen.xxiv-p10.1">23:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=23&scrV=16#Gen.xxiv-p1.4">23:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=23&scrV=16#Gen.xxiv-p12.2">23:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=23&scrV=16#Gen.xxiv-p12.1">23:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=23&scrV=17#Gen.xxiv-p1.5">23:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=23&scrV=17#Gen.xxiv-p12.3">23:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=23&scrV=19#Gen.xxiv-p1.6">23:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=23&scrV=20#Gen.xxiv-p1.5">23:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=23&scrV=20#Gen.xxiv-p12.3">23:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=1#Gen.xxv-p4.2">24:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=1#Gen.xxv-p1.2">24:1-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=2#Gen.xxv-p5.1">24:2-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=5#Gen.xxv-p5.2">24:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=6#Gen.xxv-p4.3">24:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=7#Gen.xxv-p6.1">24:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=7#Gen.xxv-p25.2">24:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=8#Gen.xxv-p4.4">24:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=8#Gen.xxv-p5.3">24:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=10#Gen.xxv-p9.1">24:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=10#Gen.xxv-p1.3">24:10-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=12#Gen.xxv-p13.7">24:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=12#Gen.xxv-p11.1">24:12-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=14#Gen.xxv-p11.3">24:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=15#Gen.xxv-p12.2">24:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=15#Gen.xxv-p1.4">24:15-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=16#Gen.xxv-p12.4">24:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=21#Gen.xxv-p12.6">24:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=21#Gen.xxv-p13.5">24:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=22#Gen.xxv-p13.1">24:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=23#Gen.xxv-p12.7">24:23-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=26#Gen.xxv-p13.6">24:26-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=28#Gen.xxv-p16.6">24:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=29#Gen.xxv-p1.5">24:29-49</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=30#Gen.xxv-p16.1">24:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=31#Gen.xxv-p16.5">24:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=32#Gen.xxv-p16.7">24:32-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=33#Gen.xxv-p18.1">24:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=34#Gen.xxv-p20.1">24:34-36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=36#Gen.xxvi-p5.2">24:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=37#Gen.xxv-p21.1">24:37-38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=39#Gen.xxv-p21.4">24:39-41</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=40#Gen.xxv-p21.2">24:40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=40#Gen.xxv-p25.2">24:40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=42#Gen.xxv-p22.1">24:42-44</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=45#Gen.xxv-p22.2">24:45</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=46#Gen.xxv-p22.3">24:46-47</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=49#Gen.xxv-p23.1">24:49</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=50#Gen.xxxii-p13.3">24:50</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=50#Gen.xxv-p24.1">24:50</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=50#Gen.xxv-p1.6">24:50-60</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=52#Gen.xxv-p25.1">24:52</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=53#Gen.xxv-p16.2">24:53</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=53#Gen.xxv-p25.4">24:53</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=54#Gen.xxv-p27.1">24:54</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=55#Gen.xxv-p27.4">24:55</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=56#Gen.xxv-p27.2">24:56</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=57#Gen.xxv-p27.5">24:57</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=58#Gen.xxv-p27.6">24:58</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=59#Gen.xxv-p27.7">24:59</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=59#Gen.xxxvi-p10.2">24:59</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=60#Gen.xxxii-p17.2">24:60</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=60#Gen.xxv-p27.9">24:60</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=61#Gen.xxv-p27.8">24:61</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=61#Gen.xxv-p1.7">24:61-67</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=62#Gen.xxv-p30.1">24:62-63</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=64#Gen.xxv-p31.1">24:64</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=65#Gen.xxv-p31.2">24:65</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=67#Gen.xxv-p1.1">24:67</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=67#Gen.xxv-p32.1">24:67</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=67#Gen.xxvi-p12.3">24:67</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=1#Gen.xxvi-p1.1">25:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=2#Num.xxxii-p3.1">25:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=5#Gen.xxvi-p1.2">25:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=5#Gen.xxvi-p5.1">25:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=7#Gen.xxvi-p6.1">25:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=7#Gen.xxvi-p1.3">25:7-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=9#Gen.xxvi-p7.1">25:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=11#Gen.xxvi-p1.6">25:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=11#Gen.xxvi-p9.1">25:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=12#Gen.xxvi-p1.4">25:12-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=14#Gen.xxvi-p9.3">25:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=16#Gen.xxvi-p9.2">25:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=16#Gen.xxvi-p9.5">25:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=17#Gen.xxvi-p9.8">25:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=17#Gen.xxvi-p1.5">25:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=18#Gen.xvii-p25.7">25:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=19#Gen.xxvi-p1.7">25:19-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=20#Gen.xxvi-p12.1">25:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=22#Gen.xxvi-p13.1">25:22-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=23#Gen.xxvi-p16.1">25:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=23#Gen.xxvi-p17.1">25:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=25#Gen.xxvi-p18.1">25:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=25#Gen.xxvi-p26.3">25:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=26#Gen.xxvi-p12.2">25:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=26#Gen.xxvi-p19.1">25:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=27#Gen.xxvi-p20.1">25:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=27#Gen.xxvi-p1.8">25:27-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=28#Gen.xxvi-p21.1">25:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=28#Gen.xxviii-p6.2">25:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=29#Gen.xxvi-p26.2">25:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=29#Gen.xxvi-p26.1">25:29-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=29#Gen.xxvi-p1.9">25:29-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=31#Gen.xxvi-p24.1">25:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=32#Gen.xxvi-p27.1">25:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=33#Gen.xxvi-p24.2">25:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=34#Gen.xxvi-p28.1">25:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=1#Gen.xxvi-p27.2">26:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=1#Gen.xxvii-p1.1">26:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=1#Gen.xxvii-p3.1">26:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=2#Gen.xlvii-p4.4">26:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=2#Gen.xxvii-p4.1">26:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=2#Gen.xxvii-p1.2">26:2-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=3#Gen.xxvii-p4.3">26:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=3#Gen.xxvii-p4.4">26:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=5#Gen.xxvii-p4.5">26:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=6#Gen.xxxvii-p3.5">26:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=6#Gen.xxvii-p6.1">26:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=6#Gen.xxvii-p1.3">26:6-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=7#Gen.xxvii-p7.1">26:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=8#Gen.xxvii-p8.2">26:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=9#Gen.xxvii-p8.4">26:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=10#Gen.xxvii-p8.5">26:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=11#Gen.xxvii-p8.6">26:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=12#Gen.xxvii-p11.1">26:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=12#Gen.xxvii-p1.4">26:12-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=14#Gen.xxvii-p11.4">26:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=14#Gen.xxvii-p12.1">26:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=14#Gen.xxvii-p1.5">26:14-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=15#Gen.xxvii-p12.4">26:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=16#Gen.xxvii-p12.6">26:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=18#Gen.xxvii-p14.1">26:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=18#Gen.xxvii-p15.1">26:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=18#Gen.xxvii-p1.6">26:18-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=19#Gen.xxvii-p16.1">26:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=20#Gen.xxvii-p17.1">26:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=22#Gen.xxvii-p18.2">26:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=23#Gen.xxvii-p19.2">26:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=24#Gen.xxvii-p19.1">26:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=24#Gen.xxvii-p1.7">26:24-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=25#Gen.xlvii-p4.3">26:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=25#Gen.xxvii-p19.3">26:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=26#Gen.xxvii-p22.1">26:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=26#Gen.xxvii-p1.8">26:26-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=27#Gen.xxvii-p23.1">26:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=28#Gen.xxvii-p24.1">26:28-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=30#Gen.xxvii-p25.1">26:30-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=32#Gen.xxvii-p26.1">26:32-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=34#Gen.xxxvii-p7.1">26:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=34#Gen.xxvii-p1.9">26:34-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=1#Deu.xxxv-p8.3">27:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=1#Gen.xxviii-p4.1">27:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=1#Gen.xxviii-p1.2">27:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=2#Gen.xxviii-p5.1">27:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=3#Gen.x-p21.1">27:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=3#Gen.xxviii-p6.1">27:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=6#Gen.xxviii-p1.3">27:6-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=10#Gen.xxii-p17.5">27:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=12#Gen.xxviii-p10.1">27:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=13#Gen.xxviii-p10.6">27:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=16#Gen.xxviii-p10.5">27:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=16#Lev.viii-p3.6">27:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=18#Gen.xxviii-p1.4">27:18-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=19#Gen.xxviii-p12.2">27:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=20#Gen.xxviii-p12.4">27:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=22#Gen.xxxvi-p16.8">27:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=22#Gen.xxviii-p14.1">27:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=23#Gen.xxviii-p15.1">27:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=24#Gen.xxviii-p12.3">27:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=26#Gen.xxviii-p15.2">27:26-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=27#Gen.xxviii-p22.2">27:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=28#Gen.xxviii-p22.1">27:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=28#Gen.xxviii-p15.4">27:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=29#Lev.xxvi-p21.2">27:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=29#Gen.xxviii-p21.1">27:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=29#Gen.xxviii-p15.5">27:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=30#Gen.xxviii-p1.5">27:30-40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=31#Gen.xxviii-p17.2">27:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=33#Gen.xxviii-p17.5">27:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=34#Gen.xxviii-p17.3">27:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=34#Gen.xxviii-p19.1">27:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=36#Gen.xxviii-p17.12">27:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=36#Gen.xxviii-p19.2">27:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=38#Gen.xxviii-p17.4">27:38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=39#Gen.xxviii-p20.1">27:39-40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=40#Gen.xxviii-p24.2">27:40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=40#Gen.xxxvii-p5.3">27:40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=41#Gen.xxviii-p17.13">27:41</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=41#Gen.xxviii-p24.1">27:41</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=41#Gen.xxxvi-p16.10">27:41</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=41#Gen.xxviii-p1.6">27:41-46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=42#Gen.xxviii-p26.1">27:42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=45#Gen.v-p53.1">27:45</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=45#Gen.xxviii-p26.2">27:45</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=46#Gen.xxviii-p27.1">27:46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=1#Gen.xxix-p1.1">28:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=1#Gen.xxix-p4.1">28:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=3#Gen.xxix-p6.1">28:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=3#Gen.xviii-p7.2">28:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=3#Gen.xxxi-p1.7">28:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=3#Gen.xxix-p1.2">28:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=3#Gen.xxix-p5.1">28:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=3#Gen.xxix-p17.2">28:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=4#Gen.xxviii-p15.10">28:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=4#Gen.xxix-p7.1">28:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=5#Gen.xxix-p1.3">28:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=5#Gen.xxix-p8.1">28:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=6#Gen.xxix-p1.4">28:6-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=10#Gen.xxix-p1.3">28:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=11#Gen.xxix-p13.1">28:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=11#Gen.xxix-p1.5">28:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=12#Gen.xxix-p15.1">28:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=12#Gen.xxxiii-p3.2">28:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=13#Gen.xxix-p17.1">28:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=13#Gen.xxix-p1.6">28:13-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=14#Num.ii-p7.1">28:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=14#Num.xxiv-p10.4">28:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=15#Gen.xxix-p18.1">28:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=15#Gen.xxix-p24.3">28:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=16#Gen.xxix-p21.1">28:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=16#Gen.xxix-p1.7">28:16-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=17#Gen.xxix-p22.1">28:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=18#Gen.xxix-p23.1">28:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=19#Gen.xxix-p23.4">28:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=20#Gen.iv-p59.3">28:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=20#Gen.xxix-p1.8">28:20-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=20#Gen.xxix-p24.1">28:20-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=22#Lev.xxviii-p15.2">28:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=22#Gen.xxxvi-p3.2">28:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=1#Gen.xxx-p3.1">29:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=1#Gen.xxx-p1.1">29:1-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=2#Ex.iii-p22.1">29:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=2#Gen.xxx-p3.4">29:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=4#Gen.xxx-p3.6">29:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=7#Gen.xxx-p3.4">29:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=7#Gen.xxx-p3.8">29:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=8#Gen.xxx-p3.4">29:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=8#Gen.xxx-p3.9">29:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=9#Gen.xxx-p5.1">29:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=9#Gen.xxx-p8.2">29:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=10#Gen.xxx-p5.2">29:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=10#Gen.xxx-p7.2">29:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=11#Gen.xxx-p5.3">29:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=12#Gen.xxx-p5.4">29:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=14#Gen.xxx-p5.6">29:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=14#Gen.xxx-p7.1">29:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=15#Gen.xxx-p7.3">29:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=15#Gen.xxx-p1.2">29:15-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=20#Gen.xxx-p8.1">29:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=23#Gen.xxx-p9.1">29:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=25#Gen.xxx-p9.2">29:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=26#Gen.xxx-p10.1">29:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=27#Gen.xxx-p10.3">29:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=31#Deu.xxii-p15.2">29:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=31#Gen.xxx-p12.1">29:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=31#Gen.xxx-p1.3">29:31-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=32#Gen.xxx-p12.5">29:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=32#Gen.xxx-p12.8">29:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=34#Gen.xxx-p12.6">29:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=35#Gen.xxx-p12.9">29:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=35#Gen.l-p8.2">29:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=1#Gen.xxxi-p5.1">30:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=1#Gen.xxxi-p4.1">30:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=1#Gen.xxxi-p1.1">30:1-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=2#Gen.xvii-p7.2">30:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=2#Gen.xxxi-p6.1">30:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=3#Gen.xxxi-p8.1">30:3-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=6#Gen.xxxi-p8.2">30:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=8#Gen.xxxi-p8.3">30:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=9#Gen.xxxi-p9.1">30:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=9#Gen.xxxi-p1.2">30:9-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=11#Gen.xxxi-p9.3">30:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=13#Deu.xxxiv-p39.2">30:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=13#Gen.xxxi-p9.5">30:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=14#Gen.xxxi-p1.3">30:14-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=17#Gen.xxxi-p11.3">30:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=20#Gen.xxxi-p11.4">30:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=21#Gen.xxxi-p11.6">30:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=22#Gen.xxxi-p12.1">30:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=22#Gen.xxxi-p1.4">30:22-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=25#Gen.xxxi-p15.1">30:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=25#Gen.xxxi-p15.3">30:25-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=25#Gen.xxxi-p1.5">30:25-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=27#Gen.xl-p7.2">30:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=27#Gen.xxxi-p16.1">30:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=28#Gen.xxxi-p17.1">30:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=30#Gen.xxxi-p18.1">30:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=32#Gen.xxxi-p19.1">30:32-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=35#Gen.xxxii-p5.2">30:35-36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=35#Gen.xxxi-p1.6">30:35-43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=37#Gen.xxxi-p21.1">30:37-39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=40#Gen.xxxi-p21.3">30:40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=41#Gen.xxxi-p21.4">30:41-42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=43#Gen.xxxi-p21.5">30:43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=1#Gen.xxxii-p5.1">31:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=1#Gen.xxxii-p1.1">31:1-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=2#Gen.xxxii-p6.1">31:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=3#Gen.xxxii-p7.1">31:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=4#Gen.xxxii-p9.1">31:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=5#Gen.xxxii-p6.1">31:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=6#Gen.xxxii-p9.3">31:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=7#Gen.xxxii-p9.4">31:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=9#Gen.xxxii-p9.5">31:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=10#Gen.xxxii-p7.3">31:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=10#Gen.xxxii-p7.2">31:10-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=11#Gen.xxxii-p7.4">31:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=12#Gen.xxxi-p21.6">31:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=13#Gen.xxxii-p7.5">31:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=13#Gen.xxxii-p7.6">31:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=13#Gen.xxxii-p9.8">31:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=14#Gen.xxxii-p10.1">31:14-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=15#Gen.xxxii-p30.2">31:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=17#Gen.xxxii-p1.2">31:17-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=18#Gen.xxxii-p12.2">31:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=19#Gen.xxxii-p12.1">31:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=19#Gen.xxxii-p12.3">31:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=22#Gen.xxxii-p1.3">31:22-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=23#Gen.xxxii-p13.1">31:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=24#Num.xxiii-p7.5">31:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=24#Gen.xxxii-p13.2">31:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=25#Gen.xxxii-p15.1">31:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=26#Gen.xxxii-p17.3">31:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=26#Gen.xxxii-p1.4">31:26-42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=27#Gen.xxxii-p17.1">31:27-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=29#Gen.xxxii-p17.4">31:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=30#Gen.xxxii-p18.1">31:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=31#Gen.xxxii-p19.1">31:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=32#Gen.xxxii-p19.3">31:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=33#Gen.xxxii-p20.1">31:33-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=36#Gen.xxxii-p23.1">31:36-37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=38#Gen.xxxii-p25.1">31:38-40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=39#Gen.xxxii-p26.1">31:39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=40#Gen.xxix-p13.2">31:40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=40#Gen.xxxii-p25.2">31:40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=41#Gen.xxxii-p26.2">31:41</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=42#Gen.xxxii-p27.1">31:42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=43#Gen.xxxii-p30.1">31:43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=43#Gen.xxxii-p1.5">31:43-55</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=45#Gen.xxxii-p33.1">31:45</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=46#Gen.xxxii-p33.2">31:46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=46#Gen.xxxii-p33.4">31:46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=46#Deu.xxviii-p5.7">31:46-47</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=47#Gen.xxxii-p33.8">31:47-48</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=49#Gen.xxxii-p33.6">31:49</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=49#Gen.xxxii-p33.9">31:49</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=50#Gen.xxxii-p32.1">31:50</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=52#Gen.xxxii-p32.2">31:52</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=53#Gen.xxxii-p33.7">31:53</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=54#Gen.xxxii-p33.3">31:54</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=54#Gen.xxxii-p33.5">31:54</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=55#Gen.xxxii-p34.1">31:55</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=1#Gen.xxxiii-p3.1">32:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=1#Gen.xxxiii-p1.1">32:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=2#Gen.xxxiii-p3.5">32:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=3#Gen.xxxvii-p3.4">32:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=3#Gen.xxxiii-p1.2">32:3-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=4#Gen.xxxiii-p6.1">32:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=5#Gen.xxxiv-p11.2">32:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=5#Gen.xxxiv-p7.2">32:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=6#Gen.xxxiii-p7.1">32:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=7#Gen.xxxiii-p7.3">32:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=7#Ex.xv-p9.3">32:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=7#Gen.xxxiii-p8.1">32:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=7#Gen.xxxiii-p1.3">32:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=9#Gen.xxxiii-p13.1">32:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=9#Gen.xxxiii-p18.1">32:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=9#Gen.xxxiii-p1.4">32:9-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=10#Gen.xxxiii-p15.1">32:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=11#Gen.xxxiii-p11.1">32:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=11#Gen.xxxiii-p12.2">32:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=11#Gen.xxxiii-p17.1">32:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=12#Gen.xxxiii-p18.2">32:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=13#Gen.xxxiii-p21.1">32:13-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=13#Gen.xxxiii-p1.5">32:13-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=17#Gen.xxxiii-p22.1">32:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=18#Gen.xxxiii-p22.2">32:18-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=20#Gen.xxxiv-p14.2">32:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=24#Gen.xxxiii-p25.1">32:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=24#Gen.xxxiii-p1.6">32:24-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=25#Gen.xxxiii-p26.1">32:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=26#Gen.xxxiii-p26.7">32:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=27#Gen.xxxiii-p26.11">32:27-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=28#Gen.xxxvi-p11.5">32:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=29#Gen.xxxiii-p26.12">32:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=30#Gen.xxxiii-p26.14">32:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=30#Ex.xxxiv-p19.5">32:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=31#Gen.xxxiii-p26.16">32:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=31#Gen.xxxiii-p26.5">32:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=33&scrV=1#Gen.xxxiv-p3.1">33:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=33&scrV=1#Gen.xxxiv-p4.1">33:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=33&scrV=1#Gen.xxxiv-p1.2">33:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=33&scrV=3#Gen.xxxiv-p6.1">33:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=33&scrV=4#Gen.xxxiv-p7.1">33:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=33&scrV=5#Gen.xvii-p7.1">33:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=33&scrV=5#Gen.xxxiv-p1.3">33:5-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=33&scrV=5#Gen.xxxiv-p11.1">33:5-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=33&scrV=6#Gen.xxxiv-p11.5">33:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=33&scrV=8#Gen.xxxiv-p1.4">33:8-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=33&scrV=9#Gen.xxxiv-p13.1">33:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=33&scrV=10#Gen.xxxiv-p14.1">33:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=33&scrV=12#Gen.xxxiv-p15.1">33:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=33&scrV=12#Gen.xxxiv-p1.5">33:12-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=33&scrV=13#Gen.xxxiv-p15.2">33:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=33&scrV=15#Gen.xxxiv-p15.4">33:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=33&scrV=16#Gen.xxxiv-p17.1">33:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=33&scrV=16#Gen.xxxiv-p1.6">33:16-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=33&scrV=19#Gen.xxxiv-p17.3">33:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=33&scrV=19#Gen.xxxvi-p3.3">33:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=33&scrV=20#Gen.xxxiv-p17.4">33:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=33&scrV=20#Ex.vi-p4.2">33:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=34&scrV=1#Gen.xxxv-p3.1">34:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=34&scrV=1#Gen.xxxv-p1.1">34:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=34&scrV=1#Gen.xxxvi-p3.4">34:1-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=34&scrV=1#Gen.xxxi-p11.7">34:1-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=34&scrV=2#Gen.xxxv-p3.2">34:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=34&scrV=4#Gen.xxxv-p3.5">34:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=34&scrV=5#Gen.xxxv-p3.6">34:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=34&scrV=6#Gen.xxxv-p1.2">34:6-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=34&scrV=7#Deu.xxiii-p14.2">34:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=34&scrV=7#Gen.xxxv-p5.1">34:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=34&scrV=9#Gen.xxxv-p7.2">34:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=34&scrV=11#Gen.xxxv-p7.1">34:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=34&scrV=14#Gen.xxxv-p8.1">34:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=34&scrV=15#Gen.xxxv-p8.2">34:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=34&scrV=16#Gen.xxxv-p14.1">34:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=34&scrV=17#Gen.xxxv-p15.2">34:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=34&scrV=18#Gen.xxxv-p10.1">34:18-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=34&scrV=20#Gen.xxxv-p1.3">34:20-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=34&scrV=23#Gen.xxxv-p10.3">34:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=34&scrV=23#Gen.xxxv-p15.4">34:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=34&scrV=25#Gen.xxxv-p1.4">34:25-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=34&scrV=26#Gen.xxxv-p15.1">34:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=34&scrV=27#Gen.xxxv-p15.3">34:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=34&scrV=30#Gen.xxxv-p16.1">34:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=34&scrV=30#Gen.l-p6.2">34:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=1#Gen.xiv-p5.2">35:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=1#Gen.xxxvi-p3.1">35:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=1#Gen.xxxvi-p1.1">35:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=2#Lev.xv-p12.11">35:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=2#Gen.xxxvi-p4.1">35:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=3#Gen.xxxvi-p4.5">35:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=4#Gen.xxxvi-p5.1">35:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=5#Gen.xxxvi-p6.1">35:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=6#Gen.xxxvi-p1.2">35:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=7#Gen.xxix-p23.3">35:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=7#Gen.xxxvi-p9.1">35:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=7#Gen.xxxvi-p11.2">35:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=8#Gen.xxxvi-p1.5">35:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=8#Gen.xxxvi-p10.1">35:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=8#Gen.xxxvi-p11.3">35:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=9#Gen.xxxvi-p11.1">35:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=9#Gen.xxxvi-p1.3">35:9-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=10#Gen.xxxvi-p11.4">35:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=11#Gen.xxxvii-p9.2">35:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=11#Gen.xxxvi-p11.6">35:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=12#Gen.xxxvi-p11.7">35:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=13#Gen.xxxvi-p11.8">35:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=14#Gen.xxxvi-p12.1">35:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=14#Gen.xxxvi-p14.4">35:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=14#Gen.xxxvi-p1.4">35:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=15#Gen.xxxvi-p12.2">35:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=16#Gen.xxxvi-p1.6">35:16-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=17#Gen.xxxvi-p14.2">35:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=19#Gen.xlix-p5.9">35:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=21#Gen.xxxvi-p16.1">35:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=21#Gen.xxxvi-p16.2">35:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=22#Lev.xxi-p14.2">35:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=22#Gen.xxxvi-p16.3">35:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=22#Gen.xxxvi-p1.8">35:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=23#Gen.xxxvi-p1.9">35:23-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=27#Gen.xxxvi-p16.7">35:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=27#Gen.xxxvi-p1.7">35:27-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=29#Gen.xxxvi-p16.9">35:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=36&scrV=1#Gen.xxxviii-p3.1">36:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=36&scrV=1#Gen.xxxvii-p3.1">36:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=36&scrV=1#Gen.xxxvii-p1.1">36:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=36&scrV=6#Gen.xxxvii-p1.2">36:6-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=36&scrV=8#Gen.xxxvii-p3.2">36:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=36&scrV=8#Gen.xxxvii-p3.6">36:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=36&scrV=9#Gen.xxxvii-p1.3">36:9-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=36&scrV=15#Gen.xxxvii-p1.4">36:15-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=36&scrV=15#Gen.xxxvii-p5.2">36:15-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=36&scrV=20#Deu.iii-p10.4">36:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=36&scrV=20#Gen.xxxvii-p1.5">36:20-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=36&scrV=24#Gen.xxxvii-p7.4">36:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=36&scrV=29#Gen.xxxvii-p7.5">36:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=36&scrV=29#Gen.xxxvii-p9.3">36:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=36&scrV=31#Gen.xxxvii-p1.6">36:31-43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=36&scrV=43#Gen.xxxvii-p9.6">36:43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=1#Gen.xxxviii-p3.2">37:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=1#Gen.xxxviii-p1.1">37:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=2#Gen.xlviii-p21.2">37:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=2#Gen.xxxviii-p3.3">37:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=3#Gen.xxxviii-p3.4">37:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=3#Gen.xxxviii-p1.2">37:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=5#Gen.xxxviii-p1.3">37:5-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=6#Gen.xxxviii-p5.1">37:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=8#Gen.xlv-p7.2">37:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=8#Gen.xxxviii-p6.1">37:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=9#Gen.xxxviii-p5.1">37:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=9#Gen.xxxviii-p5.2">37:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=10#Gen.xliv-p12.3">37:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=10#Gen.xxxviii-p5.1">37:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=10#Gen.xxxviii-p7.1">37:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=12#Gen.xxxviii-p1.4">37:12-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=13#Gen.xxxviii-p9.1">37:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=18#Gen.xxxviii-p10.1">37:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=18#Gen.xxxviii-p1.5">37:18-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=19#Gen.xxxviii-p10.5">37:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=20#Gen.xxxviii-p10.3">37:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=20#Gen.xxxviii-p10.6">37:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=21#Gen.xxxviii-p11.1">37:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=23#Gen.xxxviii-p13.1">37:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=25#Gen.xliv-p6.2">37:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=25#Gen.xxxviii-p13.2">37:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=25#Gen.xxxviii-p13.6">37:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=25#Gen.xxxviii-p1.6">37:25-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=26#Gen.xxxviii-p13.9">37:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=29#Gen.xxxviii-p1.7">37:29-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=30#Gen.xxxviii-p13.11">37:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=32#Gen.xxxviii-p15.2">37:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=32#Gen.xxxix-p11.2">37:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=35#Gen.xlvii-p10.1">37:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=35#Gen.xxxviii-p15.3">37:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=35#Gen.xxxviii-p15.4">37:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=36#Gen.xxxviii-p1.8">37:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=36#Gen.xxxviii-p16.1">37:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=38&scrV=1#Gen.xxxix-p3.1">38:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=38&scrV=1#Gen.xxxix-p1.4">38:1-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=38&scrV=2#Gen.xxxix-p3.2">38:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=38&scrV=7#Gen.xxxix-p3.3">38:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=38&scrV=8#Deu.xxvi-p6.1">38:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=38&scrV=11#Gen.xxxix-p3.5">38:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=38&scrV=12#Gen.xxxix-p1.5">38:12-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=38&scrV=14#Gen.xxxix-p6.2">38:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=38&scrV=15#Gen.xxxix-p7.1">38:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=38&scrV=23#Gen.xxxix-p8.1">38:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=38&scrV=24#Gen.xxxix-p10.1">38:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=38&scrV=24#Gen.xxxix-p1.6">38:24-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=38&scrV=25#Gen.xxxix-p11.1">38:25-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=38&scrV=27#Gen.xxxix-p1.7">38:27-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=39&scrV=1#Gen.xl-p1.1">39:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=39&scrV=1#Gen.xl-p3.1">39:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=39&scrV=2#Gen.xl-p5.1">39:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=39&scrV=2#Gen.xl-p1.2">39:2-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=39&scrV=4#Gen.xl-p6.1">39:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=39&scrV=5#Gen.xl-p7.1">39:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=39&scrV=6#Gen.xl-p6.4">39:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=39&scrV=6#Gen.xl-p10.2">39:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=39&scrV=7#Gen.xl-p10.1">39:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=39&scrV=7#Gen.xl-p1.3">39:7-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=39&scrV=8#Gen.xl-p15.1">39:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=39&scrV=9#Gen.xl-p15.2">39:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=39&scrV=10#Gen.xl-p16.1">39:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=39&scrV=10#Gen.xl-p11.2">39:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=39&scrV=11#Gen.xl-p13.1">39:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=39&scrV=11#Gen.xx-p33.2">39:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=39&scrV=12#Gen.xl-p16.2">39:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=39&scrV=13#Gen.xl-p18.1">39:13-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=39&scrV=13#Gen.xl-p1.4">39:13-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=39&scrV=17#Gen.xl-p18.3">39:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=39&scrV=19#Gen.xl-p20.1">39:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=39&scrV=19#Gen.xl-p1.5">39:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=39&scrV=21#Gen.xl-p20.3">39:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=39&scrV=21#Gen.xl-p1.6">39:21-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=39&scrV=22#Gen.xl-p20.6">39:22-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=39&scrV=23#Gen.xxxi-p16.3">39:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=40&scrV=1#Gen.xli-p1.1">40:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=40&scrV=4#Gen.xli-p3.1">40:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=40&scrV=5#Gen.xli-p1.2">40:5-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=40&scrV=6#Gen.xli-p6.1">40:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=40&scrV=7#Gen.xli-p7.1">40:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=40&scrV=8#Gen.xli-p8.1">40:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=40&scrV=12#Gen.xli-p8.5">40:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=40&scrV=14#Gen.xli-p1.4">40:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=40&scrV=14#Gen.xli-p9.1">40:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=40&scrV=15#Gen.xli-p9.2">40:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=40&scrV=15#Gen.xlii-p5.2">40:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=40&scrV=18#Gen.xli-p8.6">40:18-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=40&scrV=20#Gen.xli-p1.3">40:20-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=40&scrV=23#Gen.xli-p1.5">40:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=40&scrV=23#Gen.xli-p11.5">40:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=1#Gen.xlii-p3.1">41:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=1#Gen.xlii-p1.1">41:1-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=8#Gen.xlii-p3.5">41:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=9#Gen.xlii-p5.1">41:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=9#Gen.xlii-p1.2">41:9-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=14#Gen.xlii-p5.4">41:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=14#Gen.xlii-p1.3">41:14-36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=15#Gen.xlii-p5.7">41:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=16#Gen.xlii-p5.8">41:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=29#Gen.xlii-p8.6">41:29-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=32#Gen.xlii-p8.1">41:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=33#Gen.xlii-p10.2">41:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=37#Gen.xlii-p11.8">41:37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=37#Gen.xlii-p1.4">41:37-45</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=38#Gen.xlii-p11.1">41:38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=39#Gen.xlii-p11.2">41:39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=40#Gen.xlii-p11.6">41:40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=41#Gen.xlii-p11.4">41:41</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=43#Gen.xlvii-p10.3">41:43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=44#Gen.xlii-p11.5">41:44</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=44#Gen.xlii-p11.7">41:44</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=45#Gen.xliii-p7.1">41:45-46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=46#Gen.xlii-p1.5">41:46-57</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=47#Gen.xlii-p14.1">41:47</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=48#Gen.xlii-p15.1">41:48-49</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=50#Gen.xlii-p13.1">41:50-52</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=52#Gen.l-p20.2">41:52</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=54#Gen.xlii-p14.2">41:54</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=54#Gen.xlii-p14.4">41:54</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=1#Gen.xliii-p4.1">42:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=1#Gen.xliii-p1.1">42:1-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=3#Gen.xliii-p5.1">42:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=6#Gen.xliii-p5.2">42:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=6#Gen.xxxviii-p6.4">42:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=7#Gen.xliii-p8.1">42:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=7#Gen.xliii-p1.2">42:7-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=8#Gen.xliii-p7.2">42:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=9#Gen.xliii-p7.3">42:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=9#Gen.xliii-p8.2">42:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=10#Gen.xliii-p9.1">42:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=13#Gen.xliii-p9.2">42:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=16#Gen.xliii-p8.3">42:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=17#Gen.xliii-p10.1">42:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=18#Gen.xliii-p11.1">42:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=18#Gen.xliii-p14.1">42:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=18#Ex.xix-p18.2">42:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=21#Gen.xliii-p13.1">42:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=21#Gen.xliv-p3.5">42:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=21#Gen.xxxviii-p13.4">42:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=21#Gen.xxxviii-p13.7">42:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=21#Gen.xliii-p1.3">42:21-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=22#Gen.xliii-p15.1">42:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=22#Gen.xlvi-p12.5">42:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=22#Gen.xxxviii-p13.5">42:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=22#Gen.l-p4.4">42:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=24#Gen.xliii-p16.1">42:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=24#Gen.xliii-p17.1">42:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=25#Gen.xliii-p1.4">42:25-38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=28#Gen.xliii-p18.2">42:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=35#Gen.xliii-p22.1">42:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=36#Gen.xliii-p22.2">42:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=37#Gen.xliii-p22.4">42:37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=38#Gen.xlvii-p10.1">42:38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=38#Gen.xliv-p5.3">42:38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=43&scrV=1#Gen.xliv-p3.1">43:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=43&scrV=1#Gen.xliv-p1.1">43:1-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=43&scrV=3#Gen.xliv-p3.3">43:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=43&scrV=5#Gen.xlv-p11.4">43:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=43&scrV=8#Gen.xliv-p3.4">43:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=43&scrV=11#Gen.xliv-p5.1">43:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=43&scrV=11#Gen.xliv-p6.1">43:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=43&scrV=14#Gen.xliv-p7.1">43:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=43&scrV=14#Gen.xviii-p7.2">43:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=43&scrV=15#Gen.xliv-p1.2">43:15-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=43&scrV=18#Gen.xliv-p10.2">43:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=43&scrV=23#Gen.xliv-p10.3">43:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=43&scrV=24#Gen.xliv-p10.4">43:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=43&scrV=26#Gen.xliv-p12.1">43:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=43&scrV=28#Gen.xliv-p12.2">43:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=43&scrV=29#Gen.xliv-p15.1">43:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=43&scrV=30#Gen.xliv-p15.2">43:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=43&scrV=32#Gen.xvi-p29.2">43:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=43&scrV=32#Gen.xliii-p20.1">43:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=43&scrV=32#Gen.li-p5.1">43:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=43&scrV=32#Lev.xii-p3.2">43:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=43&scrV=33#Gen.xliv-p18.1">43:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=43&scrV=34#Gen.xliv-p19.1">43:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=44&scrV=1#Gen.xlv-p1.1">44:1-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=44&scrV=5#Gen.xlv-p4.1">44:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=44&scrV=7#Gen.xlv-p5.1">44:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=44&scrV=8#Gen.xlv-p5.2">44:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=44&scrV=9#Gen.xlv-p5.3">44:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=44&scrV=16#Gen.xlv-p7.1">44:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=44&scrV=18#Gen.xlv-p1.2">44:18-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=44&scrV=20#Gen.xlv-p11.1">44:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=44&scrV=20#Gen.xlv-p11.5">44:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=44&scrV=21#Gen.xlv-p11.2">44:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=44&scrV=22#Gen.xlv-p11.6">44:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=44&scrV=22#Gen.xlv-p13.4">44:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=44&scrV=23#Gen.xlv-p11.3">44:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=44&scrV=26#Gen.xlv-p11.3">44:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=44&scrV=29#Gen.xlv-p11.7">44:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=44&scrV=30#Gen.xlv-p11.8">44:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=44&scrV=31#Gen.xlv-p11.9">44:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=44&scrV=33#Gen.xlv-p11.11">44:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=44&scrV=34#Gen.xlv-p11.10">44:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=1#Gen.xliv-p10.1">45:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=1#Gen.xlvi-p4.1">45:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=1#Gen.xlvi-p1.1">45:1-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=2#Gen.xlvi-p5.1">45:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=4#Gen.xlvi-p6.1">45:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=5#Gen.xlvi-p7.1">45:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=5#Gen.xlvi-p7.4">45:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=6#Gen.xlvi-p7.2">45:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=7#Gen.xlvi-p7.4">45:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=8#Gen.xlvi-p7.3">45:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=8#Gen.xlvi-p7.7">45:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=9#Gen.xlvi-p8.4">45:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=9#Gen.xlvi-p8.1">45:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=10#Gen.xlvi-p8.5">45:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=11#Gen.xlvi-p8.6">45:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=12#Gen.xlvi-p8.3">45:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=13#Gen.xlvi-p8.2">45:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=14#Gen.xlvi-p9.1">45:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=15#Gen.xlvi-p9.2">45:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=16#Gen.xlvi-p11.1">45:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=16#Gen.xlvi-p1.2">45:16-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=18#Gen.xlvi-p11.2">45:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=20#Gen.xlvi-p11.3">45:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=21#Gen.xlvi-p12.1">45:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=22#Gen.xlvi-p12.2">45:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=23#Gen.xlvi-p12.3">45:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=24#Gen.xlvi-p12.4">45:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=25#Gen.xlvi-p1.3">45:25-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=26#Gen.xlvi-p14.1">45:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=28#Gen.xlvi-p14.3">45:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=46&scrV=1#Gen.xlvii-p4.1">46:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=46&scrV=1#Gen.xlvii-p1.1">46:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=46&scrV=1#Ex.vii-p15.2">46:1-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=46&scrV=2#Gen.xlvii-p5.2">46:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=46&scrV=3#Gen.xlvii-p6.1">46:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=46&scrV=3#Gen.xxvii-p4.2">46:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=46&scrV=5#Gen.xlvii-p10.2">46:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=46&scrV=5#Gen.xlvii-p1.2">46:5-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=46&scrV=6#Gen.xlvii-p10.4">46:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=46&scrV=7#Gen.xlvii-p10.5">46:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=46&scrV=11#Ex.xix-p5.8">46:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=46&scrV=21#Num.ii-p10.9">46:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=46&scrV=21#Num.xxvii-p6.2">46:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=46&scrV=23#Num.ii-p10.7">46:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=46&scrV=26#Gen.xlvii-p10.8">46:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=46&scrV=27#Gen.xlvii-p10.9">46:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=46&scrV=27#Ex.ii-p3.3">46:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=46&scrV=28#Gen.xlvii-p13.1">46:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=46&scrV=28#Gen.xlvii-p1.3">46:28-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=46&scrV=30#Gen.xlvii-p15.1">46:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=46&scrV=31#Gen.xlvii-p16.1">46:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=46&scrV=32#Ex.xiii-p23.5">46:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=46&scrV=33#Gen.xlviii-p6.2">46:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=46&scrV=34#Gen.xxvi-p20.2">46:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=1#Gen.xlviii-p3.1">47:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=1#Gen.xlviii-p1.1">47:1-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=3#Gen.xlviii-p6.1">47:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=3#Gen.xxxvii-p5.4">47:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=4#Gen.xlviii-p6.3">47:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=5#Gen.xlviii-p7.1">47:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=7#Gen.xlviii-p9.1">47:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=7#Gen.xlviii-p12.1">47:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=8#Gen.xlviii-p10.1">47:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=9#Gen.xii-p25.4">47:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=9#Gen.xlviii-p11.1">47:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=10#Gen.xlviii-p12.2">47:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=11#Gen.xlviii-p13.1">47:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=11#Gen.xlviii-p1.2">47:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=12#Gen.xlviii-p13.2">47:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=13#Gen.xlviii-p16.1">47:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=13#Gen.xlviii-p1.4">47:13-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=14#Gen.xlviii-p17.1">47:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=15#Gen.xlviii-p16.2">47:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=17#Gen.xlviii-p17.2">47:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=19#Gen.xlviii-p16.2">47:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=21#Gen.xlviii-p18.2">47:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=22#Lev.xxvi-p14.13">47:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=22#Gen.xlviii-p19.1">47:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=25#Gen.xlviii-p18.3">47:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=26#Gen.xlviii-p18.1">47:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=27#Gen.xlviii-p21.1">47:27-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=27#Gen.xlviii-p1.3">47:27-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=29#Gen.xlviii-p21.3">47:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=29#Gen.xlviii-p21.5">47:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=31#Gen.xlviii-p21.5">47:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=1#Gen.xlix-p3.1">48:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=1#Gen.xlix-p1.1">48:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=2#Gen.xlix-p4.1">48:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=3#Gen.xviii-p7.2">48:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=3#Gen.xlix-p5.1">48:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=3#Gen.xlix-p10.1">48:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=3#Gen.xlix-p1.2">48:3-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=4#Gen.xlix-p5.2">48:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=5#Num.ii-p10.5">48:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=5#Gen.xlix-p5.4">48:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=6#Gen.xlix-p5.7">48:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=7#Gen.xlix-p5.8">48:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=8#Gen.xlix-p1.3">48:8-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=9#Gen.xlix-p9.4">48:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=10#Deu.xxxv-p8.4">48:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=10#Gen.xlix-p8.1">48:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=10#Gen.xlix-p9.1">48:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=11#Gen.xlix-p9.3">48:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=12#Gen.xlix-p12.1">48:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=14#Gen.xlix-p12.2">48:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=15#Gen.xlix-p10.3">48:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=15#Gen.xlix-p11.1">48:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=15#Gen.xlix-p10.2">48:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=16#Gen.xlix-p5.5">48:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=16#Gen.xlix-p10.4">48:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=17#Gen.xlix-p12.3">48:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=17#Gen.xlix-p1.4">48:17-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=19#Deu.xxxiv-p26.7">48:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=21#Gen.xlix-p13.1">48:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=21#Gen.li-p13.2">48:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=21#Gen.xlix-p1.5">48:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=22#Gen.xlix-p13.3">48:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=1#Deu.xxxiv-p3.3">49:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=1#Gen.x-p26.1">49:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=1#Gen.l-p3.2">49:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=1#Gen.l-p1.3">49:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=1#Deu.xxxiv-p22.1">49:1-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=2#Gen.l-p3.1">49:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=2#Gen.l-p3.3">49:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=3#Gen.v-p20.1">49:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=3#Gen.xxvi-p23.1">49:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=3#Gen.l-p4.2">49:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=3#Gen.l-p4.1">49:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=3#Gen.l-p1.4">49:3-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=4#Deu.xxxiv-p11.3">49:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=4#Gen.xxxvi-p16.5">49:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=4#Gen.l-p4.3">49:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=5#Gen.xii-p23.3">49:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=5#Gen.l-p6.1">49:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=5#Ex.iii-p3.1">49:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=7#Num.xxxvi-p5.3">49:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=7#Gen.xii-p23.3">49:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=8#Gen.xlv-p13.2">49:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=8#Gen.xxxix-p1.2">49:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=8#Gen.l-p8.1">49:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=9#Gen.l-p8.6">49:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=10#Deu.xxxiv-p12.6">49:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=10#Gen.xxviii-p15.8">49:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=10#Gen.l-p8.7">49:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=10#Gen.l-p14.2">49:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=11#Gen.l-p8.9">49:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=13#Deu.xxxiv-p29.3">49:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=13#Gen.l-p11.1">49:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=14#Deu.xxxiv-p29.4">49:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=14#Gen.l-p12.1">49:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=16#Gen.l-p13.1">49:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=17#Gen.iv-p35.8">49:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=18#Gen.l-p14.1">49:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=19#Gen.l-p15.1">49:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=20#Gen.l-p16.1">49:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=21#Deu.xxxiv-p38.2">49:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=21#Gen.l-p17.1">49:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=22#Num.ii-p10.6">49:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=22#Gen.l-p20.1">49:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=23#Gen.xlii-p11.9">49:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=23#Gen.l-p21.2">49:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=23#Gen.l-p21.1">49:23-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=24#Gen.l-p21.3">49:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=25#Gen.l-p22.1">49:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=26#Num.vii-p3.1">49:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=26#Gen.l-p22.3">49:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=27#Gen.l-p23.1">49:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=28#Gen.l-p25.1">49:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=29#Gen.xlvii-p8.1">49:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=29#Gen.l-p26.1">49:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=29#Gen.l-p1.5">49:29-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=30#Gen.l-p26.3">49:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=31#Gen.l-p26.2">49:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=32#Gen.xlvii-p8.1">49:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=32#Gen.l-p26.3">49:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=33#Gen.l-p1.6">49:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=33#Gen.l-p27.1">49:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=50&scrV=1#Gen.li-p3.1">50:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=50&scrV=1#Gen.li-p1.1">50:1-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=50&scrV=2#Gen.li-p3.2">50:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=50&scrV=3#Gen.li-p3.3">50:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=50&scrV=4#Gen.li-p3.4">50:4-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=50&scrV=5#Gen.li-p3.5">50:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=50&scrV=6#Gen.li-p3.6">50:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=50&scrV=7#Gen.li-p1.2">50:7-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=50&scrV=10#Gen.li-p5.3">50:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=50&scrV=11#Num.xxxiv-p7.12">50:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=50&scrV=15#Gen.li-p8.1">50:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=50&scrV=15#Gen.li-p1.3">50:15-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=50&scrV=16#Gen.li-p8.5">50:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=50&scrV=17#Gen.li-p8.3">50:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=50&scrV=17#Gen.li-p8.6">50:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=50&scrV=17#Gen.li-p9.1">50:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=50&scrV=18#Gen.li-p8.4">50:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=50&scrV=19#Gen.li-p9.2">50:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=50&scrV=20#Gen.li-p9.4">50:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=50&scrV=21#Gen.li-p9.7">50:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=50&scrV=22#Gen.li-p11.1">50:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=50&scrV=22#Gen.li-p1.4">50:22-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=50&scrV=23#Gen.li-p12.1">50:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=50&scrV=24#Gen.xlix-p13.2">50:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=50&scrV=24#Gen.li-p13.1">50:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=50&scrV=25#Gen.li-p13.4">50:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=50&scrV=25#Ex.xiv-p13.15">50:25-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=50&scrV=26#Gen.li-p14.1">50:26</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Exodus</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=1&scrV=1#Ex.ii-p1.1">1:1-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=1&scrV=1#Ex.i-p2.3">1:1-19:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=1&scrV=5#Ex.ii-p3.2">1:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=1&scrV=6#Ex.ii-p3.7">1:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=1&scrV=7#Ex.ii-p3.8">1:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=1&scrV=8#Ex.ii-p6.1">1:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=1&scrV=8#Ex.ii-p1.2">1:8-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=1&scrV=9#Deu.ii-p7.3">1:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=1&scrV=9#Ex.ii-p7.1">1:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=1&scrV=10#Ex.v-p6.2">1:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=1&scrV=11#Gen.xvi-p28.5">1:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=1&scrV=11#Ex.ii-p8.1">1:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=1&scrV=12#Ex.ii-p9.1">1:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=1&scrV=13#Gen.xvi-p28.2">1:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=1&scrV=13#Ex.ii-p8.1">1:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=1&scrV=14#Ex.ii-p8.1">1:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=1&scrV=15#Ex.ii-p12.1">1:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=1&scrV=15#Ex.ii-p1.3">1:15-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=1&scrV=17#Ex.ii-p12.4">1:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=1&scrV=18#Ex.ii-p12.6">1:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=1&scrV=19#Ex.ii-p12.7">1:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=1&scrV=20#Ex.ii-p12.8">1:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=1&scrV=21#Ex.ii-p12.9">1:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=1&scrV=22#Ex.ii-p13.1">1:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Ex.iii-p1.1">2:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=3#Ex.iii-p5.1">2:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=4#Num.xxi-p4.1">2:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=4#Ex.iii-p5.2">2:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=5#Ex.ii-p12.3">2:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=5#Ex.iii-p7.1">2:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=5#Ex.iii-p1.2">2:5-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=7#Ex.iii-p8.1">2:7-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=10#Ex.iii-p9.1">2:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=11#Ex.iii-p13.1">2:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=11#Ex.iii-p26.8">2:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=11#Ex.iii-p15.1">2:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=11#Ex.iii-p1.3">2:11-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=13#Ex.iii-p17.1">2:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=14#Ex.iii-p19.1">2:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=14#Ex.iii-p20.3">2:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=15#Ex.iii-p20.1">2:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=15#Ex.iii-p1.4">2:15-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=16#Ex.iii-p23.1">2:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=18#Num.xi-p8.2">2:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=19#Ex.iii-p24.1">2:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=20#Ex.iii-p24.2">2:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=21#Ex.iii-p24.3">2:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=22#Ex.iii-p24.4">2:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=23#Ex.iii-p26.1">2:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=23#Ex.iii-p26.2">2:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=23#Ex.iii-p1.5">2:23-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=24#Ex.iv-p10.7">2:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=24#Ex.iii-p26.6">2:24-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=1#Ex.iv-p4.1">3:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=1#Ex.iv-p1.1">3:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=2#Deu.xxxiv-p25.2">3:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=2#Gen.xvi-p39.2">3:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=2#Ex.iv-p5.1">3:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=3#Ex.iv-p6.1">3:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=4#Ex.iv-p8.1">3:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=5#Ex.iv-p13.1">3:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=6#Ex.iv-p1.2">3:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=6#Ex.iv-p10.1">3:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=6#Ex.iv-p26.2">3:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=7#Ex.iv-p14.1">3:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=7#Ex.iv-p14.2">3:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=7#Ex.iv-p14.3">3:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=7#Ex.iv-p1.3">3:7-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=8#Ex.iv-p15.1">3:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=9#Ex.iv-p14.1">3:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=9#Ex.iv-p14.4">3:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=9#Ex.iv-p14.5">3:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=10#Ex.iv-p1.4">3:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=10#Ex.iv-p16.1">3:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=11#Ex.iv-p19.1">3:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=11#Ex.iv-p1.6">3:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=12#Deu.xii-p17.7">3:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=12#Ex.iv-p20.1">3:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=12#Ex.v-p16.1">3:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=12#Ex.xiv-p13.6">3:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=13#Ex.iv-p21.1">3:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=13#Ex.iv-p1.7">3:13-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=14#Deu.xxxiii-p44.2">3:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=14#Ex.iv-p25.1">3:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=15#Ex.iv-p26.1">3:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=16#Ex.iv-p1.5">3:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=16#Ex.iv-p28.1">3:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=17#Ex.iv-p28.2">3:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=18#Ex.iv-p28.3">3:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=18#Ex.iv-p28.4">3:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=18#Ex.v-p4.2">3:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=18#Ex.v-p8.2">3:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=18#Ex.v-p31.2">3:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=19#Ex.iv-p28.5">3:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=19#Ex.iv-p1.8">3:19-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=20#Ex.iv-p28.6">3:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=20#Ex.vii-p3.1">3:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=21#Ex.iv-p28.7">3:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=1#Ex.v-p1.1">4:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=1#Ex.v-p4.1">4:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=1#Ex.v-p4.3">4:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=2#Ex.v-p6.1">4:2-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=2#Ex.v-p1.2">4:2-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=3#Ex.viii-p6.1">4:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=5#Ex.v-p6.3">4:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=6#Ex.v-p7.1">4:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=6#Ex.v-p1.3">4:6-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=9#Ex.v-p1.4">4:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=9#Ex.v-p8.1">4:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=10#Ex.v-p1.5">4:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=10#Ex.v-p12.1">4:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=11#Ex.v-p15.1">4:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=11#Ex.v-p1.7">4:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=12#Ex.v-p21.5">4:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=13#Ex.v-p1.6">4:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=13#Ex.v-p13.1">4:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=14#Ex.v-p14.1">4:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=14#Ex.v-p17.1">4:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=14#Ex.xxxiii-p12.10">4:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=14#Ex.v-p1.8">4:14-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=16#Ex.v-p17.2">4:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=17#Ex.v-p1.9">4:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=17#Ex.v-p18.1">4:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=18#Ex.v-p1.10">4:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=18#Ex.v-p20.1">4:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=19#Ex.v-p1.11">4:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=19#Ex.v-p21.1">4:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=19#Ex.v-p22.1">4:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=20#Ex.v-p1.12">4:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=20#Ex.v-p22.2">4:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=21#Ex.v-p21.3">4:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=21#Ex.v-p1.11">4:21-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=22#Ex.v-p21.4">4:22-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=23#Ex.xii-p6.1">4:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=24#Gen.xviii-p16.12">4:24-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=24#Ex.v-p1.13">4:24-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=24#Ex.v-p25.1">4:24-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=25#Ex.xix-p5.1">4:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=25#Gen.xxiii-p12.5">4:25-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=27#Ex.v-p1.14">4:27-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=27#Ex.v-p30.1">4:27-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=28#Ex.v-p30.2">4:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=29#Ex.v-p1.15">4:29-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=29#Ex.v-p31.1">4:29-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=31#Ex.v-p4.4">4:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=1#Ex.vi-p1.1">5:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=1#Ex.vi-p4.1">5:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=2#Ex.ii-p6.5">5:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=2#Ex.vi-p1.2">5:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=2#Ex.vi-p5.1">5:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=3#Ex.vi-p1.3">5:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=3#Ex.vi-p8.1">5:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=3#Ex.xx-p3.2">5:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=4#Ex.vi-p11.1">5:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=4#Ex.vi-p1.4">5:4-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=4#Ex.vi-p9.1">5:4-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=9#Ex.vi-p10.1">5:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=10#Ex.vi-p1.5">5:10-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=12#Ex.vi-p13.4">5:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=13#Ex.vi-p13.2">5:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=14#Ex.vi-p13.5">5:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=15#Ex.vi-p16.1">5:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=15#Ex.vi-p1.6">5:15-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=16#Ex.vi-p16.2">5:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=17#Ex.vi-p16.3">5:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=18#Ex.vi-p16.4">5:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=19#Ex.vi-p15.1">5:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=20#Ex.vi-p1.7">5:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=20#Ex.xiii-p18.3">5:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=21#Ex.vi-p17.1">5:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=22#Ex.vi-p17.2">5:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=22#Ex.vi-p1.8">5:22-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=22#Ex.vi-p17.4">5:22-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=1#Ex.vii-p1.1">6:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=1#Ex.vii-p3.2">6:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=2#Ex.vii-p5.1">6:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=2#Ex.vii-p1.2">6:2-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=3#Gen.iii-p6.1">6:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=3#Gen.xxix-p5.3">6:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=3#Gen.xviii-p7.1">6:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=3#Ex.viii-p3.3">6:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=4#Ex.vii-p6.1">6:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=5#Ex.vii-p7.1">6:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=6#Ex.vii-p8.2">6:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=6#Ex.vii-p8.1">6:6-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=7#Ex.vii-p9.1">6:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=8#Ex.vii-p8.3">6:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=9#Ex.vii-p1.3">6:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=9#Ex.vii-p9.2">6:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=10#Ex.vii-p1.4">6:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=11#Ex.vii-p11.1">6:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=12#Ex.vii-p1.5">6:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=12#Ex.vii-p12.1">6:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=13#Ex.vii-p1.6">6:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=13#Ex.vii-p13.1">6:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=13#Ex.vii-p16.1">6:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=14#Ex.vii-p1.7">6:14-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=15#Num.xxvii-p7.2">6:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=16#Ex.vii-p15.3">6:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=16#Deu.xxxv-p6.3">6:16-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=20#Ex.vii-p15.6">6:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=23#Ex.vii-p15.5">6:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=26#Ex.vii-p15.10">6:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=26#Ex.vii-p15.9">6:26-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=27#Ex.vii-p15.11">6:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=29#Ex.vii-p16.2">6:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=30#Ex.vii-p12.2">6:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=30#Ex.vii-p16.3">6:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=7&scrV=1#Num.xii-p26.5">7:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=7&scrV=1#Ex.viii-p3.1">7:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=7&scrV=1#Ex.xiv-p13.16">7:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=7&scrV=1#Ex.xxix-p4.3">7:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=7&scrV=1#Ex.viii-p1.1">7:1-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=7&scrV=4#Ex.viii-p3.2">7:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=7&scrV=6#Ex.viii-p4.1">7:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=7&scrV=7#Ex.viii-p4.4">7:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=7&scrV=8#Ex.viii-p1.2">7:8-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=7&scrV=10#Ex.viii-p6.2">7:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=7&scrV=10#Ex.xxxiii-p14.2">7:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=7&scrV=11#Ex.viii-p6.3">7:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=7&scrV=12#Gen.iv-p6.1">7:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=7&scrV=14#Ex.viii-p9.1">7:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=7&scrV=14#Ex.viii-p1.3">7:14-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=7&scrV=15#Ex.viii-p9.2">7:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=7&scrV=19#Ex.viii-p10.1">7:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=7&scrV=21#Ex.viii-p8.2">7:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=7&scrV=22#Ex.viii-p11.1">7:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=7&scrV=23#Ex.viii-p11.2">7:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=7&scrV=24#Ex.viii-p12.1">7:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=7&scrV=25#Ex.viii-p13.1">7:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=7&scrV=26#Ex.viii-p4.3">7:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=1#Ex.ix-p4.1">8:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=1#Ex.ix-p1.1">8:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=3#Ex.ix-p4.3">8:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=5#Ex.ix-p1.2">8:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=7#Ex.ix-p1.3">8:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=7#Ex.ix-p6.1">8:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=8#Ex.ix-p1.5">8:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=8#Ex.ix-p7.1">8:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=8#Ex.ix-p1.4">8:8-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=9#Ex.ix-p8.1">8:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=10#Ex.ix-p8.2">8:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=12#Ex.ix-p8.3">8:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=13#Ex.ix-p8.4">8:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=14#Ex.ix-p8.5">8:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=15#Ex.ix-p1.6">8:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=15#Ex.ix-p9.1">8:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=16#Ex.ix-p1.7">8:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=16#Ex.ix-p12.1">8:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=18#Ex.ix-p13.1">8:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=18#Ex.x-p11.2">8:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=18#Ex.ix-p1.8">8:18-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=19#Ex.ix-p1.9">8:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=19#Ex.ix-p13.2">8:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=19#Ex.ix-p14.1">8:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=20#Ex.ix-p17.1">8:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=20#Ex.ix-p1.10">8:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=22#Gen.xlviii-p16.4">8:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=22#Ex.ix-p1.11">8:22-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=22#Ex.ix-p18.1">8:22-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=23#Ex.ix-p18.3">8:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=24#Ex.ix-p1.12">8:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=24#Ex.ix-p19.1">8:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=25#Ex.ix-p21.1">8:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=25#Ex.ix-p1.13">8:25-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=26#Ex.ix-p21.2">8:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=27#Ex.ix-p21.3">8:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=28#Ex.ix-p22.1">8:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=29#Ex.ix-p22.2">8:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=30#Ex.ix-p23.1">8:30-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=31#Ex.ix-p1.14">8:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=32#Ex.ix-p1.15">8:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=32#Ex.ix-p23.2">8:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=1#Ex.x-p3.1">9:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=1#Ex.x-p1.1">9:1-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=2#Ex.x-p3.2">9:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=4#Gen.xlviii-p16.4">9:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=4#Ex.x-p3.3">9:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=5#Ex.x-p3.6">9:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=6#Ex.x-p4.1">9:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=6#Ex.x-p5.1">9:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=8#Ex.x-p9.1">9:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=8#Ex.x-p1.2">9:8-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=10#Ex.x-p9.1">9:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=11#Ex.x-p11.1">9:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=12#Ex.x-p12.1">9:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=12#Ex.x-p14.1">9:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=13#Ex.x-p14.2">9:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=13#Ex.x-p1.3">9:13-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=14#Ex.x-p14.3">9:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=16#Ex.x-p14.4">9:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=17#Ex.x-p14.7">9:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=18#Ex.x-p15.1">9:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=19#Ex.x-p15.2">9:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=20#Ex.x-p15.4">9:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=20#Gen.vii-p31.2">9:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=21#Ex.x-p15.6">9:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=22#Ex.vi-p4.3">9:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=22#Ex.x-p17.1">9:22-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=22#Ex.xi-p9.4">9:22-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=22#Ex.x-p1.4">9:22-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=23#Ex.x-p18.1">9:23-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=25#Ex.x-p18.3">9:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=26#Ex.x-p18.10">9:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=27#Ex.x-p19.1">9:27-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=27#Ex.x-p1.5">9:27-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=29#Ex.x-p19.5">9:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=30#Ex.x-p19.2">9:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=31#Ex.x-p18.4">9:31-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=33#Ex.x-p19.4">9:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=33#Ex.x-p19.6">9:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=34#Ex.x-p19.7">9:34-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=1#Ex.xi-p1.1">10:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=1#Ex.xi-p3.1">10:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=3#Ex.xi-p4.1">10:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=3#Ex.xi-p1.2">10:3-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=4#Ex.xi-p5.1">10:4-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=6#Ex.xi-p5.2">10:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=6#Ex.xi-p7.4">10:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=7#Ex.xi-p6.1">10:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=7#Ex.xi-p1.3">10:7-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=8#Ex.xi-p7.1">10:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=9#Ex.xi-p7.2">10:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=10#Ex.xi-p1.4">10:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=10#Ex.xi-p7.3">10:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=11#Ex.xi-p11.2">10:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=12#Ex.xi-p9.2">10:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=12#Ex.xi-p1.5">10:12-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=13#Ex.xi-p9.3">10:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=15#Ex.xi-p10.1">10:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=15#Ex.xi-p15.9">10:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=16#Ex.xi-p1.6">10:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=16#Ex.xi-p11.1">10:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=17#Gen.v-p36.1">10:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=18#Ex.xi-p12.1">10:18-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=18#Ex.xi-p1.7">10:18-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=20#Ex.xi-p13.1">10:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=21#Ex.xi-p15.7">10:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=21#Ex.xi-p1.8">10:21-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=23#Gen.xlviii-p16.4">10:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=23#Ex.xi-p15.3">10:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=23#Ex.xi-p15.11">10:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=23#Ex.xi-p15.14">10:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=24#Ex.xi-p16.1">10:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=26#Ex.xi-p16.2">10:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=26#Ex.xi-p1.9">10:26-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=28#Ex.xi-p16.4">10:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=28#Ex.xii-p1.1">10:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=29#Ex.xi-p16.5">10:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=11&scrV=1#Ex.xii-p3.1">11:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=11&scrV=1#Ex.xii-p1.2">11:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=11&scrV=2#Ex.xii-p3.2">11:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=11&scrV=3#Ex.xii-p1.3">11:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=11&scrV=3#Ex.xii-p4.1">11:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=11&scrV=4#Ex.xii-p6.4">11:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=11&scrV=4#Ex.xii-p6.2">11:4-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=11&scrV=4#Ex.xii-p1.4">11:4-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=11&scrV=5#Ex.xii-p6.3">11:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=11&scrV=7#Ex.xii-p6.5">11:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=11&scrV=7#Ex.xii-p6.11">11:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=11&scrV=8#Ex.xi-p16.6">11:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=11&scrV=8#Ex.xii-p6.6">11:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=11&scrV=9#Ex.xii-p1.5">11:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=11&scrV=9#Ex.xii-p6.12">11:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=11&scrV=10#Ex.xii-p1.6">11:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=11&scrV=10#Ex.xii-p6.14">11:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=1#Ex.xiii-p3.1">12:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=1#Ex.xiii-p1.1">12:1-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=2#Deu.xvii-p4.2">12:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=3#Ex.xiii-p3.3">12:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=3#Ex.xiii-p8.6">12:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=5#Ex.xiii-p8.3">12:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=5#Ex.xiii-p8.4">12:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=6#Ex.xiii-p4.1">12:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=6#Ex.xiii-p8.6">12:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=6#Ex.xiii-p8.7">12:6-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=7#Ex.xi-p15.15">12:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=7#Ex.xiii-p1.3">12:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=7#Ex.xiii-p6.1">12:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=7#Ex.xiii-p9.5">12:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=8#Ex.xiii-p10.3">12:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=8#Ex.xiii-p1.1">12:8-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=10#Ex.xiii-p10.2">12:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=11#Deu.xxx-p6.3">12:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=11#Ex.xiii-p5.1">12:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=11#Ex.xiii-p10.4">12:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=12#Ex.xiii-p6.2">12:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=13#Ex.xiii-p1.4">12:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=13#Ex.xxxv-p25.2">12:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=14#Ex.xiii-p1.5">12:14-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=14#Ex.xiii-p7.1">12:14-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=16#Ex.xiii-p11.2">12:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=17#Ex.xiii-p11.4">12:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=19#Ex.xiii-p11.3">12:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=21#Ex.xiii-p1.6">12:21-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=22#Deu.xvii-p4.4">12:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=22#Ex.xiii-p9.2">12:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=22#Ex.xiii-p14.1">12:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=23#Ex.xiii-p18.2">12:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=24#Ex.xiii-p1.7">12:24-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=25#Num.x-p4.1">12:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=26#Deu.xxxiii-p10.3">12:26-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=26#Ex.xiii-p15.1">12:26-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=27#Ex.xiii-p17.1">12:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=27#Ex.xiii-p18.1">12:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=28#Ex.xiii-p1.8">12:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=29#Ex.xiii-p1.9">12:29-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=29#Ex.xiii-p20.1">12:29-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=31#Ex.xi-p16.7">12:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=31#Ex.xiii-p21.1">12:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=31#Ex.xiii-p21.3">12:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=31#Ex.xiii-p1.10">12:31-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=32#Ex.xiii-p21.2">12:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=32#Ex.xiii-p21.4">12:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=33#Ex.xiii-p21.5">12:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=34#Ex.xiii-p1.11">12:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=34#Ex.xiii-p23.6">12:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=34#Deu.ix-p7.6">12:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=35#Gen.xvi-p31.1">12:35-36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=35#Ex.xiii-p1.12">12:35-36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=35#Ex.xiii-p21.6">12:35-36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=37#Ex.xiii-p23.1">12:37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=37#Ex.xiii-p1.13">12:37-38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=38#Lev.xxv-p9.1">12:38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=38#Ex.xiii-p23.2">12:38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=39#Ex.xiii-p1.14">12:39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=40#Ex.xiii-p1.15">12:40-42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=42#Ex.xiii-p23.9">12:42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=43#Ex.xiii-p26.2">12:43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=43#Ex.xiii-p1.16">12:43-49</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=44#Ex.xiii-p26.4">12:44</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=45#Ex.xiii-p26.2">12:45</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=46#Ex.xiii-p8.10">12:46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=46#Ex.xiii-p27.1">12:46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=47#Ex.xiii-p26.1">12:47</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=48#Ex.xiii-p26.2">12:48</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=48#Ex.xiii-p26.5">12:48</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=48#Num.x-p9.8">12:48-49</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=49#Ex.xiii-p26.6">12:49</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=50#Ex.xiii-p1.17">12:50-51</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=50#Ex.xiii-p28.1">12:50-51</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=1#Ex.xiv-p1.1">13:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=1#Ex.xxiii-p22.2">13:1-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=2#Num.iv-p14.2">13:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=2#Deu.xvi-p11.2">13:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=2#Ex.xiv-p4.1">13:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=3#Ex.xiv-p5.1">13:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=3#Ex.xiv-p11.2">13:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=3#Ex.xiv-p1.2">13:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=5#Ex.xiv-p1.3">13:5-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=5#Ex.xiv-p6.1">13:5-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=7#Ex.xiv-p6.2">13:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=8#Ex.xiv-p7.1">13:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=8#Ex.xiv-p1.4">13:8-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=9#Ex.xiv-p11.3">13:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=11#Ex.xiv-p10.2">13:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=11#Ex.xiv-p1.5">13:11-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=13#Ex.xiv-p4.2">13:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=13#Ex.xiv-p10.2">13:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=14#Ex.xiv-p11.2">13:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=14#Ex.xiv-p11.5">13:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=14#Ex.xiv-p1.6">13:14-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=14#Ex.xiv-p11.1">13:14-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=15#Deu.xvi-p11.2">13:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=16#Ex.xiv-p11.2">13:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=16#Ex.xiv-p11.5">13:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=17#Ex.xiv-p13.9">13:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=17#Ex.xiv-p1.7">13:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=17#Ex.xiv-p13.1">13:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=18#Num.iii-p3.1">13:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=18#Ex.xiv-p13.4">13:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=18#Ex.xiv-p13.12">13:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=19#Ex.xiv-p1.9">13:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=19#Ex.xiv-p13.13">13:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=20#Ex.xiv-p14.2">13:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=20#Ex.xv-p4.2">13:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=20#Ex.xiv-p1.8">13:20-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=21#Ex.xiv-p14.1">13:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=22#Ex.xiv-p15.1">13:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=1#Ex.xv-p4.1">14:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=1#Ex.xv-p1.2">14:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=3#Ex.xv-p4.3">14:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=4#Ex.xv-p4.4">14:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=5#Ex.xv-p5.1">14:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=5#Ex.xv-p1.3">14:5-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=6#Ex.xv-p7.2">14:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=8#Ex.xv-p7.3">14:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=9#Ex.xv-p7.4">14:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=10#Ex.xv-p9.1">14:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=10#Ex.xv-p14.2">14:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=10#Ex.xv-p1.4">14:10-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=11#Num.xv-p30.5">14:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=11#Ex.xv-p9.4">14:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=13#Ex.xv-p1.5">14:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=13#Ex.xv-p10.1">14:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=14#Ex.xvi-p3.1">14:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=15#Ex.xv-p14.1">14:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=15#Ex.xv-p1.6">14:15-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=16#Ex.xv-p16.2">14:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=16#Ex.xv-p16.1">14:16-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=17#Ex.xv-p16.4">14:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=17#Ex.xv-p7.1">14:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=19#Ex.xv-p1.7">14:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=19#Ex.xv-p17.1">14:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=21#Gen.ix-p5.4">14:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=21#Ex.xv-p20.1">14:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=22#Ex.xv-p1.9">14:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=22#Ex.xv-p21.1">14:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=23#Ex.xv-p23.1">14:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=23#Ex.xv-p1.10">14:23-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=24#Gen.xix-p14.3">14:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=24#Ex.xv-p23.4">14:24-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=26#Ex.xv-p1.11">14:26-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=27#Ex.xv-p23.9">14:27-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=29#Ex.xv-p1.9">14:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=29#Ex.xv-p21.2">14:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=29#Ex.xv-p23.8">14:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=30#Ex.xv-p25.1">14:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=30#Ex.xv-p1.12">14:30-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=31#Ex.xv-p1.8">14:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=31#Ex.xv-p26.1">14:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=31#Ex.xvi-p3.3">14:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=1#Ex.xvi-p7.1">15:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=1#Ex.xvi-p9.2">15:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=1#Ex.xvi-p1.1">15:1-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=1#Deu.xxxiii-p3.8">15:1-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=1#Num.xii-p5.2">15:1-17:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=2#Ex.xvi-p7.2">15:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=2#Ex.xvi-p11.1">15:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=3#Ex.xvi-p7.5">15:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=4#Ex.xvi-p9.3">15:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=5#Ex.xvi-p9.5">15:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=6#Ex.xvi-p9.7">15:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=7#Ex.xvi-p9.11">15:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=8#Ex.xvi-p9.1">15:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=8#Ex.xvi-p9.8">15:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=9#Gen.xxxii-p13.4">15:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=9#Ex.xvi-p9.12">15:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=10#Ex.xvi-p9.5">15:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=10#Ex.xvi-p9.9">15:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=11#Ex.xvi-p7.6">15:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=11#Deu.iv-p12.1">15:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=11#Lev.xii-p10.4">15:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=12#Ex.xvi-p9.6">15:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=12#Ex.xvi-p9.10">15:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=13#Ex.xvi-p10.1">15:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=13#Ex.xvi-p11.2">15:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=14#Num.xxv-p18.3">15:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=14#Deu.iii-p15.2">15:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=14#Ex.xvi-p11.3">15:14-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=15#Gen.xxxvii-p9.5">15:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=16#Num.xxv-p18.3">15:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=17#Ex.xvi-p11.8">15:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=18#Ex.xvi-p11.11">15:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=19#Ex.xvi-p9.4">15:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=19#Ex.xvi-p10.2">15:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=20#Num.xiii-p15.3">15:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=20#Num.xxi-p4.4">15:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=20#Ex.xvi-p1.2">15:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=20#Ex.xvi-p12.1">15:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=22#Ex.xvi-p1.3">15:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=22#Ex.xvi-p15.1">15:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=23#Ex.xvi-p16.1">15:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=23#Num.xv-p30.6">15:23-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=23#Ex.xvi-p1.4">15:23-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=24#Ex.xvi-p16.2">15:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=25#Ex.xvi-p16.3">15:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=25#Ex.xvi-p1.5">15:25-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=26#Ex.xvi-p16.4">15:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=27#Ex.xvi-p1.6">15:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=27#Ex.xvi-p17.1">15:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=1#Ex.xvii-p1.1">16:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=2#Num.xv-p30.7">16:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=2#Ex.xvii-p4.1">16:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=3#Gen.xiii-p29.1">16:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=3#Ex.xvii-p7.10">16:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=4#Ex.xvii-p6.2">16:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=4#Ex.xvii-p12.3">16:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=4#Ex.xvii-p1.2">16:4-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=5#Ex.xvii-p14.2">16:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=6#Ex.xvii-p7.9">16:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=7#Ex.xvii-p7.5">16:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=8#Ex.xvii-p7.6">16:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=9#Ex.xvii-p7.1">16:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=10#Ex.xvii-p7.2">16:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=10#Ex.xvii-p8.1">16:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=12#Ex.xvii-p6.1">16:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=12#Ex.xvii-p7.6">16:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=12#Ex.xvii-p7.12">16:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=13#Num.xii-p13.9">16:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=13#Ex.xvii-p1.3">16:13-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=14#Ex.xvii-p12.1">16:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=15#Num.xii-p13.6">16:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=16#Ex.xvii-p1.4">16:16-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=18#Gen.xlii-p8.5">16:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=19#Ex.xvii-p12.5">16:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=20#Lev.xx-p7.2">16:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=20#Ex.xvii-p14.7">16:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=21#Ex.xvii-p12.2">16:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=21#Ex.xvii-p12.10">16:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=22#Lev.xxv-p5.10">16:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=22#Ex.xvii-p14.3">16:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=22#Ex.xvii-p1.5">16:22-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=23#Num.xvi-p11.2">16:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=23#Ex.xxi-p14.4">16:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=23#Ex.xvii-p14.5">16:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=23#Ex.xxxii-p7.2">16:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=24#Ex.xvii-p14.6">16:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=25#Ex.xvii-p14.8">16:25-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=27#Ex.xvii-p14.9">16:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=27#Ex.xvii-p1.6">16:27-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=28#Ex.xvii-p14.10">16:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=28#Deu.ix-p5.1">16:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=29#Ex.xvii-p14.4">16:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=32#Ex.xvii-p16.2">16:32-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=32#Ex.xvii-p1.7">16:32-36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=35#Ex.xvii-p16.3">16:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=36#Lev.xxviii-p10.3">16:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=1#Ex.xviii-p1.1">17:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=1#Ex.xviii-p3.1">17:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=1#Num.xv-p30.8">17:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=1#Ex.xxxii-p4.2">17:1-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=2#Ex.xviii-p4.2">17:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=2#Ex.xviii-p5.1">17:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=2#Ex.xviii-p10.2">17:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=2#Ex.xviii-p1.2">17:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=3#Ex.xviii-p4.1">17:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=3#Ex.xviii-p4.4">17:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=4#Ex.xviii-p1.3">17:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=4#Ex.xviii-p4.5">17:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=4#Ex.xviii-p5.2">17:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=4#Ex.xix-p14.3">17:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=4#Deu.vi-p9.2">17:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=5#Ex.xviii-p1.4">17:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=5#Ex.xviii-p6.1">17:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=6#Num.xxi-p11.4">17:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=7#Num.xxi-p5.1">17:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=7#Deu.xxxiv-p15.2">17:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=7#Ex.xviii-p1.5">17:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=7#Ex.xviii-p4.7">17:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=7#Ex.xviii-p7.1">17:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=8#Ex.xviii-p10.1">17:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=8#Ex.xviii-p1.6">17:8-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=9#Ex.xviii-p12.1">17:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=9#Ex.xviii-p13.1">17:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=10#Deu.xxxii-p3.1">17:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=11#Ex.xviii-p13.5">17:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=12#Deu.xxxv-p3.3">17:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=12#Ex.xviii-p13.4">17:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=12#Ex.xviii-p13.6">17:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=13#Ex.xviii-p1.7">17:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=13#Ex.xviii-p14.1">17:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=14#Num.xxii-p15.7">17:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=14#Num.xxvi-p10.5">17:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=14#Gen.i-p4.1">17:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=14#Ex.xviii-p1.8">17:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=14#Ex.xviii-p15.3">17:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=14#Deu.xxvi-p11.2">17:14-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=15#Gen.xv-p20.5">17:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=15#Ex.xviii-p15.1">17:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=16#Ex.xviii-p1.8">17:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=16#Ex.xviii-p15.7">17:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=19#Ex.xviii-p6.9">17:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=25#Deu.xvii-p9.1">17:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=1#Ex.xix-p4.1">18:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=1#Ex.xix-p1.1">18:1-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=1#Num.xi-p8.1">18:1-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=3#Ex.xix-p5.7">18:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=4#Ex.xix-p5.9">18:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=5#Ex.xix-p5.5">18:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=7#Ex.xix-p1.2">18:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=7#Ex.xix-p7.1">18:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=8#Ex.xix-p8.1">18:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=8#Ex.xix-p1.3">18:8-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=9#Ex.xix-p9.1">18:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=9#Ex.xix-p9.2">18:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=10#Ex.xix-p9.4">18:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=11#Gen.xv-p20.6">18:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=11#Ex.x-p14.5">18:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=11#Ex.xiii-p6.4">18:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=11#Ex.xix-p9.5">18:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=12#Ex.xix-p1.4">18:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=12#Ex.xix-p3.2">18:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=12#Ex.xix-p10.1">18:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=13#Ex.xix-p3.3">18:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=13#Ex.xix-p14.1">18:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=13#Ex.xix-p1.5">18:13-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=14#Ex.xix-p14.2">18:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=14#Ex.xix-p16.1">18:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=15#Ex.xxii-p3.2">18:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=15#Ex.xix-p13.1">18:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=16#Ex.xix-p13.2">18:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=16#Ex.xix-p13.3">18:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=17#Ex.xix-p16.1">18:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=18#Ex.xix-p16.1">18:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=19#Ex.xix-p17.1">18:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=20#Ex.xix-p17.3">18:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=21#Ex.xix-p18.1">18:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=22#Lev.xxv-p11.2">18:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=22#Ex.xix-p17.5">18:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=23#Ex.xix-p3.5">18:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=23#Ex.xix-p18.4">18:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=24#Ex.xix-p19.1">18:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=24#Ex.xix-p1.6">18:24-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=25#Num.ii-p10.2">18:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=25#Num.xii-p18.2">18:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=27#Num.xi-p8.3">18:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=27#Ex.xix-p1.7">18:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=27#Ex.xix-p20.1">18:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=1#Ex.xx-p3.1">19:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=1#Ex.xx-p1.1">19:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=1#Deu.vi-p3.6">19:1-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=3#Ex.xx-p4.1">19:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=3#Ex.xx-p1.2">19:3-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=4#Deu.xxxiii-p19.2">19:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=4#Ex.xx-p4.3">19:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=5#Ex.xx-p4.7">19:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=5#Ex.xx-p4.10">19:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=6#Ex.xx-p4.14">19:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=6#Ex.xxix-p4.5">19:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=7#Ex.xx-p5.1">19:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=7#Ex.xx-p1.3">19:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=8#Ex.xx-p5.2">19:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=8#Ex.xx-p5.3">19:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=8#Ex.xxv-p6.1">19:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=9#Ex.xx-p1.4">19:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=9#Ex.xx-p7.1">19:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=9#Ex.xx-p7.6">19:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=10#Ex.xx-p9.1">19:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=10#Ex.xx-p9.4">19:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=10#Ex.xx-p1.5">19:10-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=11#Ex.xx-p7.5">19:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=11#Ex.xx-p9.3">19:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=12#Ex.xx-p10.1">19:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=13#Ex.xx-p11.1">19:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=14#Ex.xx-p9.5">19:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=14#Ex.xx-p1.6">19:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=15#Ex.xx-p9.7">19:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=16#Ex.xx-p15.1">19:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=16#Ex.xx-p16.1">19:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=16#Ex.xx-p18.1">19:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=16#Ex.xx-p1.7">19:16-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=17#Ex.xx-p17.1">19:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=18#Ex.xx-p14.1">19:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=18#Ex.xx-p15.2">19:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=19#Ex.xx-p16.2">19:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=19#Ex.xx-p19.1">19:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=20#Ex.xx-p14.2">19:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=20#Ex.xx-p19.3">19:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=21#Ex.xxi-p26.2">19:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=21#Ex.xx-p19.4">19:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=21#Deu.v-p11.6">19:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=21#Ex.xx-p1.8">19:21-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=22#Lev.xi-p10.1">19:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=22#Ex.xx-p19.7">19:22-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=23#Ex.xx-p19.5">19:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=24#Ex.xxxiii-p12.11">19:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=1#Ex.xxi-p3.1">20:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=1#Ex.xxi-p1.1">20:1-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=1#Deu.vi-p5.2">20:1-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=1#Ex.i-p2.4">20:1-40:38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=2#Ex.xxi-p4.1">20:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=3#Ex.xxi-p6.1">20:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=4#Ex.xxi-p8.1">20:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=5#Ex.xxi-p9.1">20:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=7#Ex.xxi-p10.1">20:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=8#Ex.xxi-p14.1">20:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=8#Deu.vi-p5.5">20:8-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=10#Ex.xxi-p14.2">20:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=13#Ex.xxi-p19.1">20:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=14#Ex.xxi-p20.1">20:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=15#Ex.xxi-p21.1">20:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=16#Ex.xxi-p22.1">20:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=17#Ex.xxi-p23.1">20:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=18#Ex.xxi-p26.1">20:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=18#Ex.xxi-p1.2">20:18-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=19#Deu.xxxiv-p7.1">20:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=19#Ex.xxi-p26.4">20:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=19#Ex.xxi-p27.2">20:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=20#Ex.xxi-p27.1">20:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=21#Ex.xxi-p28.1">20:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=22#Ex.xxi-p31.1">20:22-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=22#Ex.xxi-p1.3">20:22-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=23#Ex.xxxiii-p12.6">20:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=24#Ex.xxi-p37.1">20:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=24#Ex.xxvii-p8.7">20:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=24#Ex.xxxiii-p12.4">20:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=24#Lev.v-p3.1">20:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=24#Deu.xxix-p20.3">20:24-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=24#Ex.xxi-p35.1">20:24-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=26#Ex.xxi-p36.1">20:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=1#Ex.xxii-p3.1">21:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=2#Lev.xxvi-p20.1">21:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=2#Deu.xvi-p8.2">21:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=2#Ex.xxii-p4.1">21:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=2#Ex.xxii-p1.1">21:2-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=5#Ex.xxii-p4.2">21:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=6#Deu.xvi-p8.4">21:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=7#Ex.xxii-p1.2">21:7-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=7#Ex.xxii-p7.1">21:7-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=10#Lev.xix-p9.4">21:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=12#Ex.xxii-p9.1">21:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=12#Ex.xxii-p1.5">21:12-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=13#Num.xxxvi-p11.6">21:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=13#Deu.xx-p4.1">21:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=13#Ex.xxii-p9.4">21:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=14#Num.xxxvi-p11.3">21:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=14#Ex.xxii-p9.3">21:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=15#Deu.xxviii-p12.2">21:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=15#Ex.xxii-p1.3">21:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=15#Ex.xxii-p10.1">21:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=16#Ex.xxii-p1.6">21:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=16#Ex.xxii-p11.1">21:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=17#Deu.xxviii-p12.2">21:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=17#Ex.xxii-p1.4">21:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=17#Ex.xxii-p10.2">21:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=18#Ex.xxii-p1.7">21:18-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=18#Ex.xxii-p12.1">21:18-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=20#Ex.xxii-p13.1">21:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=20#Ex.xxii-p1.8">21:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=21#Ex.xxii-p13.2">21:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=22#Ex.xxii-p1.9">21:22-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=22#Ex.xxii-p16.1">21:22-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=24#Ex.xxii-p1.10">21:24-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=26#Ex.xxii-p1.11">21:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=26#Ex.xxii-p17.1">21:26-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=28#Gen.x-p12.1">21:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=28#Ex.xxii-p19.1">21:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=28#Gen.iv-p35.2">21:28-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=28#Ex.xxii-p1.12">21:28-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=29#Ex.xxii-p19.2">21:29-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=33#Ex.xxii-p1.13">21:33-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=33#Ex.xxii-p20.1">21:33-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=35#Ex.xxii-p20.3">21:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=35#Ex.xxii-p1.14">21:35-36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=36#Ex.xxii-p20.4">21:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=1#Ex.xxiii-p4.3">22:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=1#Ex.xxiii-p1.1">22:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=2#Ex.xxiii-p4.5">22:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=3#Ex.xxiii-p4.4">22:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=3#Ex.xxiii-p4.6">22:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=4#Ex.xxiii-p4.1">22:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=4#Lev.xxv-p14.6">22:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=5#Ex.xxiii-p1.2">22:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=5#Ex.xxiii-p5.1">22:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=6#Ex.xxiii-p1.3">22:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=6#Ex.xxiii-p6.1">22:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=7#Ex.xxiii-p1.4">22:7-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=7#Ex.xxiii-p9.1">22:7-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=11#Ex.xxiii-p9.3">22:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=14#Ex.xxiii-p1.5">22:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=14#Ex.xxiii-p10.1">22:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=16#Ex.xxiii-p1.7">22:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=16#Ex.xxiii-p12.1">22:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=18#Ex.xxiii-p1.9">22:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=18#Ex.xxiii-p13.1">22:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=19#Ex.xxiii-p1.8">22:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=19#Ex.xxiii-p14.1">22:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=20#Ex.xxiii-p1.10">22:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=20#Ex.xxiii-p15.1">22:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=21#Ex.xxiii-p17.1">22:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=21#Ex.xxiv-p5.8">22:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=21#Ex.xxiii-p1.12">22:21-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=22#Ex.xxiii-p18.1">22:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=23#Ex.xxiii-p18.2">22:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=24#Ex.xxiii-p18.3">22:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=25#Ex.xxiii-p1.6">22:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=25#Ex.xxiii-p20.1">22:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=26#Deu.xxv-p8.4">22:26-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=26#Ex.xxiii-p20.3">22:26-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=28#Ex.xxiii-p1.13">22:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=28#Ex.xxiii-p21.1">22:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=29#Ex.xxiii-p1.11">22:29-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=29#Ex.xxiii-p22.1">22:29-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=30#Lev.xxiii-p15.2">22:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=30#Deu.xvi-p11.3">22:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=30#Ex.xiv-p10.1">22:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=31#Ex.xxiii-p1.14">22:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=31#Ex.xxiii-p23.1">22:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=1#Ex.xxiv-p1.1">23:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=1#Ex.xxiv-p4.1">23:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=1#Ex.xxi-p30.1">23:1-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=2#Ex.xxiv-p5.1">23:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=2#Ex.xxiv-p1.2">23:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=3#Lev.xx-p15.2">23:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=3#Ex.xxiv-p5.2">23:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=4#Deu.xxiii-p3.1">23:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=4#Ex.xxiv-p1.3">23:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=4#Ex.xxiv-p6.1">23:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=5#Lev.xx-p17.6">23:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=6#Ex.xxiv-p5.4">23:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=6#Ex.xxiv-p1.2">23:6-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=7#Ex.xxiv-p5.5">23:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=8#Deu.xvii-p9.5">23:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=8#Ex.xxiv-p5.6">23:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=8#Ex.xxxiii-p11.3">23:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=9#Ex.xxiv-p1.4">23:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=9#Ex.xxiv-p5.7">23:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=10#Ex.xxiv-p1.5">23:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=10#Ex.xxiv-p8.1">23:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=12#Ex.xxiv-p9.1">23:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=12#Ex.xxxii-p7.3">23:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=13#Num.xxxiii-p14.6">23:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=13#Ex.xxiv-p10.1">23:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=14#Ex.xxiv-p1.6">23:14-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=14#Ex.xxiv-p11.1">23:14-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=15#Ex.xxiv-p11.4">23:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=15#Ex.xxxv-p25.3">23:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=16#Lev.xxiv-p10.2">23:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=16#Lev.xxiv-p20.1">23:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=16#Deu.xvii-p7.2">23:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=16#Ex.xxiv-p12.3">23:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=16#Ex.xxxv-p25.5">23:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=17#Ex.xxiv-p11.2">23:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=17#Ex.xxiv-p17.1">23:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=18#Ex.xxiv-p12.1">23:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=19#Ex.xxiv-p12.2">23:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=20#Ex.xxiv-p15.1">23:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=20#Ex.xxiv-p1.7">23:20-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=21#Gen.xxxiii-p24.3">23:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=21#Ex.xxiv-p15.3">23:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=22#Num.xxiii-p18.1">23:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=22#Ex.xxiv-p15.6">23:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=23#Ex.xxiv-p15.2">23:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=24#Deu.viii-p8.2">23:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=24#Ex.xxiv-p16.1">23:24-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=25#Ex.xxiv-p1.8">23:25-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=27#Ex.xvi-p11.7">23:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=27#Ex.xxiv-p1.9">23:27-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=29#Gen.viii-p32.5">23:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=29#Deu.viii-p19.12">23:29-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=29#Ex.xxiv-p17.3">23:29-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=30#Num.xiv-p14.3">23:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=31#Ex.xxiv-p17.4">23:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=32#Ex.xxiv-p1.10">23:32-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=32#Ex.xxiv-p17.5">23:32-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=1#Num.xii-p18.3">24:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=1#Ex.xxv-p3.1">24:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=1#Lev.xi-p12.2">24:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=1#Ex.xxv-p1.4">24:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=1#Deu.xxvii-p15.3">24:1-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=1#Deu.vi-p3.7">24:1-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=2#Ex.xxv-p3.2">24:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=3#Ex.xxv-p1.1">24:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=3#Ex.xxv-p5.1">24:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=3#Ex.xxv-p8.4">24:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=4#Deu.xxviii-p4.1">24:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=4#Ex.xxv-p8.1">24:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=4#Ex.xxv-p1.2">24:4-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=4#Deu.xxx-p11.1">24:4-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=5#Ex.xxv-p10.1">24:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=5#Ex.xxv-p1.3">24:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=6#Ex.xxv-p11.1">24:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=7#Ex.xxv-p8.2">24:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=7#Ex.xxv-p8.3">24:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=7#Ex.xxxiii-p12.7">24:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=8#Gen.xviii-p16.7">24:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=8#Ex.xxv-p1.3">24:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=8#Ex.xxv-p11.3">24:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=9#Ex.xxxiii-p12.11">24:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=9#Ex.xxv-p1.5">24:9-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=10#Ex.xxv-p13.2">24:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=11#Ex.xxv-p13.5">24:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=12#Ex.xxv-p16.1">24:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=12#Ex.xxv-p16.5">24:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=12#Ex.xxxii-p12.1">24:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=12#Ex.xxxii-p12.3">24:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=12#Ex.xxv-p1.6">24:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=13#Ex.xxv-p16.3">24:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=14#Ex.xxv-p1.7">24:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=14#Ex.xxv-p16.2">24:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=14#Ex.xxxii-p4.3">24:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=15#Ex.xxv-p16.4">24:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=15#Ex.xxv-p1.8">24:15-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=16#Ex.xxv-p17.1">24:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=16#Ex.xxv-p17.6">24:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=16#Ex.xli-p9.1">24:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=17#Ex.xxv-p17.2">24:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=18#Ex.xxv-p1.9">24:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=18#Ex.xxv-p17.3">24:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=25&scrV=1#Ex.xxvi-p10.1">25:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=25&scrV=1#Ex.xxvi-p1.1">25:1-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=25&scrV=1#Ex.xxxviii-p1.6">25:1-40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=25&scrV=3#Ex.xxvi-p12.1">25:3-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=25&scrV=8#Ex.xxvi-p4.1">25:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=25&scrV=9#Ex.xxvi-p13.1">25:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=25&scrV=10#Deu.xi-p4.4">25:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=25&scrV=10#Ex.xxvi-p16.1">25:10-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=25&scrV=10#Ex.xxvi-p1.2">25:10-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=25&scrV=17#Ex.xxvi-p17.1">25:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=25&scrV=18#Ex.xxvi-p18.1">25:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=25&scrV=21#Ex.xxvi-p17.1">25:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=25&scrV=22#Ex.xxvi-p18.7">25:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=25&scrV=22#Ex.xxix-p11.3">25:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=25&scrV=23#Ex.xxvi-p1.3">25:23-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=25&scrV=29#Ex.xxvi-p20.2">25:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=25&scrV=30#Lev.xxv-p5.1">25:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=25&scrV=30#Ex.xxvi-p20.3">25:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=25&scrV=31#Num.ix-p3.1">25:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=25&scrV=31#Ex.xxvi-p1.4">25:31-40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=25&scrV=37#Ex.xxvi-p22.4">25:37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=25&scrV=40#Ex.xxvi-p23.1">25:40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=26&scrV=1#Ex.xxvii-p4.1">26:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=26&scrV=1#Ex.xxvii-p1.1">26:1-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=26&scrV=6#Ex.xxvii-p4.4">26:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=26&scrV=7#Ex.xxvii-p6.1">26:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=26&scrV=7#Ex.xxvii-p1.2">26:7-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=26&scrV=14#Ex.xxvii-p1.3">26:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=26&scrV=14#Ex.xxvii-p6.2">26:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=26&scrV=15#Ex.xxvii-p1.4">26:15-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=26&scrV=24#Ex.xxvii-p8.2">26:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=26&scrV=26#Ex.xxvii-p8.3">26:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=26&scrV=29#Ex.xxvii-p8.4">26:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=26&scrV=31#Ex.xxvii-p10.1">26:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=26&scrV=31#Ex.xxvii-p1.5">26:31-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=26&scrV=33#Ex.xxvii-p10.1">26:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=26&scrV=36#Ex.xxvii-p1.6">26:36-37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=26&scrV=36#Ex.xxvii-p10.5">26:36-37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=27&scrV=1#Ex.xxviii-p3.1">27:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=27&scrV=1#Ex.xxviii-p3.3">27:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=27&scrV=1#Ex.xxviii-p1.1">27:1-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=27&scrV=2#Ex.xxviii-p3.2">27:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=27&scrV=3#Ex.xxviii-p3.4">27:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=27&scrV=4#Ex.xxviii-p3.5">27:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=27&scrV=6#Ex.xxviii-p3.6">27:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=27&scrV=8#Ex.xxviii-p3.7">27:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=27&scrV=9#Ex.xxviii-p1.2">27:9-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=27&scrV=9#Ex.xxxix-p10.1">27:9-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=27&scrV=16#Ex.xxviii-p6.1">27:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=27&scrV=20#Lev.xxv-p4.1">27:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=27&scrV=20#Ex.xxviii-p1.3">27:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=1#Ex.xxix-p1.1">28:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=1#Ex.xxix-p4.1">28:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=1#Lev.ix-p3.1">28:1-29:46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=2#Ex.xxix-p5.1">28:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=2#Ex.xxix-p1.2">28:2-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=3#Ex.xxix-p5.3">28:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=5#Ex.xxix-p5.2">28:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=6#Ex.xxix-p7.4">28:6-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=6#Ex.xxix-p1.3">28:6-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=9#Ex.xxix-p7.5">28:9-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=10#Ex.xxix-p10.2">28:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=12#Ex.xxix-p7.11">28:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=13#Ex.xxix-p9.2">28:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=15#Ex.xxix-p1.4">28:15-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=16#Ex.xxix-p9.1">28:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=17#Ex.xxix-p10.1">28:17-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=22#Ex.xxix-p9.2">28:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=28#Ex.xxix-p9.3">28:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=29#Ex.xxix-p10.1">28:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=29#Ex.xxix-p10.7">28:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=30#Ex.xxix-p1.5">28:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=30#Ex.xxix-p11.1">28:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=31#Ex.xxix-p1.6">28:31-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=31#Ex.xxix-p13.1">28:31-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=36#Ex.xxix-p13.4">28:36-37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=36#Ex.xxix-p1.7">28:36-39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=38#Ex.xxix-p13.5">28:38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=39#Ex.xxix-p13.9">28:39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=40#Ex.xxix-p15.1">28:40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=40#Ex.xxix-p1.8">28:40-43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=41#Ex.xxix-p15.4">28:41</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=42#Ex.xxix-p15.2">28:42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=43#Ex.xxix-p15.5">28:43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=1#Ex.xxx-p1.1">29:1-37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=1#Ex.xli-p3.11">29:1-46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=1#Lev.ix-p9.7">29:1-46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=4#Ex.xxx-p7.1">29:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=4#Ex.xxx-p9.1">29:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=5#Ex.xxx-p10.1">29:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=7#Ex.xxx-p11.1">29:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=8#Ex.xxx-p10.1">29:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=9#Ex.xxx-p5.2">29:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=9#Ex.xxx-p10.1">29:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=9#Ex.xxx-p17.3">29:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=10#Ex.xxx-p13.3">29:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=10#Ex.xxx-p13.1">29:10-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=14#Ex.xxx-p13.5">29:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=15#Ex.xxx-p14.1">29:15-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=20#Ex.xxx-p15.2">29:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=20#Ex.xxx-p15.1">29:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=21#Ex.xxx-p15.3">29:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=22#Ex.xxx-p5.3">29:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=22#Ex.xxx-p15.4">29:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=23#Ex.xxx-p15.5">29:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=24#Ex.xxx-p5.5">29:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=24#Ex.xxx-p15.6">29:24-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=26#Ex.xxx-p5.3">29:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=26#Ex.xxx-p6.1">29:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=26#Ex.xxx-p15.7">29:26-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=30#Ex.xxx-p16.2">29:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=31#Ex.xxx-p15.8">29:31-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=35#Ex.xxx-p16.1">29:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=36#Ex.xxx-p16.3">29:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=36#Ex.xxx-p18.1">29:36-37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=38#Num.xxix-p4.3">29:38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=38#Lev.iii-p3.1">29:38-39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=38#Ex.xxx-p1.2">29:38-41</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=38#Ex.xxx-p21.1">29:38-41</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=42#Ex.xxx-p1.3">29:42-46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=43#Ex.xxx-p22.1">29:43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=43#Ex.xxx-p22.2">29:43-44</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=43#Lev.xi-p10.2">29:43-44</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=45#Ex.xxx-p22.3">29:45-46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=1#Ex.xxxi-p3.1">30:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=1#Ex.xxxi-p1.1">30:1-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=1#Ex.xxxviii-p1.6">30:1-38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=6#Ex.xxvi-p16.2">30:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=6#Ex.xxxi-p3.4">30:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=7#Ex.xxxi-p3.5">30:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=8#Ex.xxxi-p4.5">30:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=9#Ex.xxxi-p3.6">30:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=9#Lev.xi-p3.6">30:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=10#Ex.xxxi-p3.7">30:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=10#Lev.xvii-p10.6">30:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=11#Num.xiii-p8.6">30:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=11#Ex.xxxi-p1.2">30:11-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=13#Lev.xxviii-p11.5">30:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=15#Ex.xxxi-p6.3">30:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=16#Ex.xxxi-p6.6">30:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=17#Ex.xxxi-p6.1">30:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=17#Ex.xxxi-p1.3">30:17-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=18#Ex.xxxi-p8.1">30:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=19#Ex.xxx-p9.4">30:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=19#Ex.xxxi-p8.3">30:19-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=22#Ex.xxxi-p6.1">30:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=22#Ex.xxxi-p1.4">30:22-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=22#Ex.xxxviii-p8.2">30:22-38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=23#Ex.xxxi-p10.1">30:23-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=25#Ex.xxxi-p10.2">30:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=25#Ex.xli-p3.8">30:25-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=26#Ex.xxxi-p10.3">30:26-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=30#Ex.xxx-p11.3">30:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=31#Ex.xxxi-p10.4">30:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=32#Ex.xxxi-p10.10">30:32-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=34#Ex.xxxi-p1.5">30:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=34#Ex.xxxi-p6.1">30:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=34#Ex.xxxi-p10.9">30:34-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=37#Ex.xxxi-p10.10">30:37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=38#Ex.xxxi-p10.10">30:38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=31&scrV=1#Ex.xxxii-p1.1">31:1-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=31&scrV=2#Ex.xxxii-p4.1">31:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=31&scrV=3#Ex.xxxii-p5.1">31:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=31&scrV=6#Ex.xxxii-p4.4">31:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=31&scrV=6#Ex.xxxii-p4.7">31:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=31&scrV=6#Ex.xxxii-p5.2">31:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=31&scrV=7#Ex.xxxii-p5.6">31:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=31&scrV=12#Ex.xxxii-p1.2">31:12-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=31&scrV=13#Ex.xxxii-p8.1">31:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=31&scrV=13#Ex.xxxii-p9.1">31:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=31&scrV=13#Ex.xxxii-p7.1">31:13-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=31&scrV=14#Num.xvi-p11.4">31:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=31&scrV=14#Ex.xxxii-p8.4">31:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=31&scrV=14#Ex.xxxii-p11.1">31:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=31&scrV=15#Ex.xxxii-p8.5">31:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=31&scrV=15#Ex.xxxii-p11.2">31:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=31&scrV=16#Ex.xxxii-p8.6">31:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=31&scrV=16#Ex.xxxii-p9.1">31:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=31&scrV=17#Gen.vii-p14.6">31:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=31&scrV=17#Ex.xxxii-p8.2">31:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=31&scrV=17#Ex.xxxii-p10.1">31:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=31&scrV=17#Lev.ii-p5.8">31:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=31&scrV=18#Ex.xxxii-p1.3">31:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=31&scrV=18#Ex.xxxii-p12.2">31:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=1#Ex.xxxiii-p4.1">32:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=1#Ex.xxxv-p5.3">32:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=1#Ex.xxxiii-p1.1">32:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=1#Num.xv-p30.9">32:1-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=2#Ex.xxxiii-p10.1">32:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=3#Ex.xxxiii-p11.1">32:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=4#Ex.xxxiii-p26.4">32:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=5#Ex.xxxiii-p12.2">32:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=5#Ex.xxxiii-p1.2">32:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=6#Deu.ix-p15.2">32:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=6#Ex.xxxiii-p12.3">32:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=7#Ex.xxxiii-p16.6">32:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=7#Ex.xxxiii-p38.2">32:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=7#Ex.xxxiii-p1.3">32:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=7#Ex.xxxiii-p14.1">32:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=9#Ex.xxxiii-p1.4">32:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=9#Ex.xxxiii-p15.1">32:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=10#Gen.xxxiii-p26.8">32:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=10#Ex.xxxiii-p38.9">32:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=11#Ex.xxxiii-p16.5">32:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=11#Ex.xxxiii-p1.5">32:11-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=11#Ex.xxxiii-p16.1">32:11-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=12#Ex.xxxiii-p16.4">32:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=12#Ex.xxxiii-p16.8">32:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=13#Gen.xx-p29.2">32:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=13#Ex.xxxiii-p16.12">32:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=14#Deu.iv-p13.2">32:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=14#Ex.xxxiii-p1.6">32:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=14#Ex.xxxiii-p17.1">32:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=14#Ex.xxxiv-p14.1">32:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=15#Ex.xxxiii-p19.1">32:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=15#Ex.xxxiii-p1.7">32:15-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=17#Ex.xxxiii-p20.1">32:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=19#Ex.xxxiii-p1.8">32:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=19#Ex.xxxiii-p21.2">32:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=20#Ex.xxxiii-p1.9">32:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=20#Ex.xxxiii-p21.7">32:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=21#Ex.xxxiii-p25.1">32:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=21#Ex.xxxiii-p1.10">32:21-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=22#Ex.xxxiii-p26.1">32:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=23#Ex.xxxiii-p26.2">32:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=24#Ex.xxxiii-p26.3">32:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=25#Ex.xxxiii-p28.1">32:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=25#Ex.xxxiii-p1.11">32:25-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=26#Num.ii-p14.1">32:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=26#Ex.xxxiii-p30.1">32:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=26#Deu.xxxiv-p17.1">32:26-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=27#Ex.xxxiii-p25.2">32:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=27#Ex.xxxiii-p30.5">32:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=28#Ex.xxxiii-p30.1">32:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=28#Ex.xxxiii-p31.1">32:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=30#Num.xv-p17.1">32:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=30#Ex.xxxiii-p34.1">32:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=30#Ex.xxxiii-p1.12">32:30-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=31#Ex.xxxiii-p38.1">32:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=32#Ex.xxxiii-p38.4">32:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=33#Ex.xxxiii-p39.1">32:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=33#Ex.xxxiii-p1.13">32:33-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=34#Ex.xxxiii-p39.2">32:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=35#Ex.xxxiii-p39.6">32:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=1#Ex.xxxiv-p3.3">33:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=1#Ex.xxxiv-p1.1">33:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=2#Num.xiv-p14.2">33:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=2#Ex.xxxiv-p3.4">33:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=3#Ex.xxxiv-p3.1">33:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=3#Ex.xxxv-p14.2">33:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=4#Ex.xxxiv-p1.2">33:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=4#Ex.xxxiv-p4.1">33:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=4#Ex.xxxiv-p4.2">33:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=5#Ex.xxxiv-p1.1">33:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=5#Ex.xxxiv-p3.1">33:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=5#Ex.xxxiv-p3.2">33:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=5#Ex.xxxiv-p3.6">33:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=5#Ex.xxxiv-p4.5">33:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=6#Ex.xxxiv-p1.2">33:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=6#Ex.xxxiv-p4.3">33:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=7#Ex.xxxiv-p6.1">33:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=7#Ex.xxxiv-p8.1">33:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=7#Ex.xli-p8.3">33:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=7#Ex.xxxiv-p1.3">33:7-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=8#Ex.xxxiv-p9.1">33:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=8#Ex.xxxiv-p10.1">33:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=9#Ex.xxxiv-p9.2">33:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=9#Ex.xxxiv-p11.1">33:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=9#Ex.xxxiv-p11.2">33:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=9#Ex.xxxiv-p11.4">33:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=10#Ex.xxxiv-p10.2">33:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=11#Ex.xxxiv-p11.3">33:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=12#Ex.iv-p8.3">33:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=12#Ex.xxxiv-p15.1">33:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=12#Ex.xxxiv-p1.4">33:12-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=13#Ex.xxxiv-p15.2">33:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=14#Ex.xxxiii-p39.3">33:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=14#Ex.xxxiv-p16.1">33:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=15#Ex.xxxiv-p15.3">33:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=16#Ex.xxxiv-p15.4">33:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=17#Ex.xxxiii-p39.3">33:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=17#Ex.xxxiv-p16.3">33:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=18#Ex.xxxiv-p18.1">33:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=18#Ex.xxxiv-p1.5">33:18-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=19#Ex.xxxiv-p19.7">33:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=20#Ex.xxxiv-p19.1">33:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=21#Ex.xxxiv-p19.10">33:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=22#Ex.xxxv-p8.2">33:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=23#Gen.xvii-p28.1">33:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=23#Ex.xxxiv-p19.3">33:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=23#Ex.xxxiv-p19.12">33:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=1#Ex.xxxv-p4.1">34:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=1#Ex.xxxv-p1.1">34:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=2#Ex.xxxv-p5.1">34:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=3#Ex.xxxv-p5.2">34:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=4#Ex.xxxv-p5.4">34:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=5#Ex.xxxv-p7.1">34:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=5#Ex.xxxv-p1.2">34:5-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=6#Num.xv-p24.2">34:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=6#Ex.xxxv-p8.1">34:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=8#Ex.xxxv-p13.1">34:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=9#Ex.xxxv-p14.1">34:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=10#Ex.xxxv-p17.1">34:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=10#Ex.xxxv-p1.3">34:10-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=12#Ex.xxxv-p4.4">34:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=12#Ex.xxxv-p20.1">34:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=13#Deu.viii-p8.2">34:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=13#Ex.xxxv-p20.3">34:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=14#Ex.xxxv-p19.1">34:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=14#Lev.xi-p10.2">34:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=15#Ex.xxxv-p20.2">34:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=17#Ex.xxxv-p19.3">34:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=18#Ex.xxxv-p25.1">34:18-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=21#Ex.xxxv-p23.1">34:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=22#Deu.xxvii-p3.3">34:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=22#Ex.xxxv-p25.4">34:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=23#Deu.xvii-p7.2">34:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=23#Ex.xxxv-p24.1">34:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=24#Gen.xxxvi-p6.2">34:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=24#Ex.xxxv-p24.2">34:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=25#Ex.xxxv-p25.6">34:25-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=27#Ex.xxxv-p26.2">34:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=28#Ex.xxxv-p28.1">34:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=28#Ex.xxxv-p30.1">34:28-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=29#Ex.iii-p4.4">34:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=29#Ex.xxxv-p31.1">34:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=29#Ex.xxxv-p33.1">34:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=29#Ex.xxxv-p1.4">34:29-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=30#Deu.xxxv-p8.5">34:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=30#Ex.xxxv-p33.2">34:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=32#Ex.xxxvi-p3.1">34:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=33#Ex.xxxv-p33.3">34:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=34#Ex.xxxv-p33.5">34:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=35#Ex.xxxv-p33.3">34:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=35&scrV=1#Ex.xxxvi-p4.1">35:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=35&scrV=1#Ex.xxxvi-p1.1">35:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=35&scrV=2#Ex.xxxvi-p6.1">35:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=35&scrV=4#Ex.xxxvi-p1.2">35:4-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=35&scrV=5#Ex.xxxvi-p8.1">35:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=35&scrV=5#Ex.xxxvi-p9.4">35:5-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=35&scrV=10#Ex.xxxvi-p9.1">35:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=35&scrV=10#Ex.xxxvi-p1.3">35:10-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=35&scrV=11#Ex.xxxvi-p9.5">35:11-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=35&scrV=20#Ex.xxxvi-p11.1">35:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=35&scrV=20#Ex.xxxvi-p1.4">35:20-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=35&scrV=21#Ex.xxxvi-p12.1">35:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=35&scrV=21#Ex.xxxvi-p12.2">35:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=35&scrV=22#Ex.xxxvi-p12.4">35:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=35&scrV=22#Ex.xxxvi-p12.6">35:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=35&scrV=25#Ex.xxxvi-p13.1">35:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=35&scrV=26#Ex.xxxvi-p13.2">35:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=35&scrV=27#Num.viii-p6.3">35:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=35&scrV=27#Ex.xxxvi-p12.9">35:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=35&scrV=29#Ex.xxxvi-p12.3">35:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=35&scrV=30#Ex.xxxvi-p15.1">35:30-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=35&scrV=30#Ex.xxxvi-p1.5">35:30-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=35&scrV=32#Ex.xxxvi-p15.3">35:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=35&scrV=34#Ex.xxxvi-p15.5">35:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=35&scrV=35#Ex.xxxvi-p15.4">35:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=36&scrV=1#Ex.xxxvii-p3.1">36:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=36&scrV=1#Ex.xxxvii-p1.1">36:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=36&scrV=2#Ex.xxxvii-p3.2">36:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=36&scrV=3#Ex.xxxvii-p3.3">36:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=36&scrV=3#Ex.xxxvii-p4.1">36:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=36&scrV=4#Ex.xxxvii-p4.2">36:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=36&scrV=5#Ex.xxxvii-p4.4">36:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=36&scrV=5#Ex.xxxvii-p1.2">36:5-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=36&scrV=6#Ex.xxxvii-p4.3">36:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=36&scrV=8#Ex.xxxvii-p1.3">36:8-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=36&scrV=14#Ex.xxxvii-p1.4">36:14-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=36&scrV=14#Ex.xxxvii-p8.1">36:14-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=36&scrV=20#Ex.xxxvii-p1.5">36:20-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=36&scrV=20#Ex.xxxvii-p8.4">36:20-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=36&scrV=31#Ex.xxxvii-p1.6">36:31-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=36&scrV=35#Ex.xxxvii-p1.7">36:35-36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=36&scrV=35#Ex.xxxvii-p10.1">36:35-36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=36&scrV=37#Ex.xxxvii-p1.8">36:37-38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=36&scrV=37#Ex.xxxvii-p10.2">36:37-38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=37&scrV=1#Deu.xi-p4.3">37:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=37&scrV=1#Ex.xxxviii-p1.1">37:1-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=37&scrV=10#Ex.xxxviii-p1.2">37:10-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=37&scrV=17#Ex.xxxviii-p6.1">37:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=37&scrV=17#Ex.xxxviii-p1.3">37:17-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=37&scrV=22#Ex.xxxviii-p6.1">37:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=37&scrV=25#Ex.xxxviii-p1.4">37:25-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=37&scrV=29#Ex.xxxviii-p1.5">37:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=37&scrV=29#Ex.xxxviii-p8.1">37:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=38&scrV=1#Ex.xxxix-p1.1">38:1-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=38&scrV=1#Ex.xxxix-p4.1">38:1-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=38&scrV=8#Ex.xxxix-p1.2">38:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=38&scrV=8#Ex.xxxix-p5.1">38:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=38&scrV=9#Ex.xxxix-p1.3">38:9-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=38&scrV=17#Num.ix-p3.2">38:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=38&scrV=21#Ex.xxxix-p12.1">38:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=38&scrV=21#Ex.xxxix-p1.4">38:21-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=38&scrV=22#Ex.xxxix-p12.2">38:22-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=38&scrV=25#Num.ii-p5.2">38:25-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=38&scrV=25#Ex.xxxix-p12.3">38:25-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=38&scrV=26#Num.ii-p12.1">38:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=38&scrV=27#Ex.xxxix-p12.4">38:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=39&scrV=1#Ex.xl-p3.1">39:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=39&scrV=1#Ex.xl-p1.1">39:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=39&scrV=5#Ex.xl-p3.3">39:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=39&scrV=6#Ex.xl-p1.2">39:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=39&scrV=7#Ex.xl-p3.3">39:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=39&scrV=8#Ex.xl-p1.3">39:8-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=39&scrV=21#Ex.xl-p3.3">39:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=39&scrV=22#Ex.xl-p1.4">39:22-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=39&scrV=26#Ex.xl-p3.3">39:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=39&scrV=27#Ex.xl-p1.5">39:27-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=39&scrV=29#Ex.xl-p3.3">39:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=39&scrV=30#Ex.xl-p1.6">39:30-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=39&scrV=31#Ex.xl-p3.3">39:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=39&scrV=32#Ex.xl-p6.1">39:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=39&scrV=32#Ex.xl-p1.7">39:32-43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=39&scrV=33#Ex.xl-p7.1">39:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=39&scrV=38#Lev.xi-p3.7">39:38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=39&scrV=42#Ex.xl-p6.1">39:42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=39&scrV=43#Ex.xl-p8.1">39:43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=40&scrV=1#Ex.xli-p1.1">40:1-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=40&scrV=2#Ex.xli-p3.2">40:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=40&scrV=2#Ex.xli-p3.4">40:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=40&scrV=3#Ex.xli-p3.5">40:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=40&scrV=4#Ex.xli-p3.6">40:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=40&scrV=6#Ex.xli-p3.7">40:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=40&scrV=9#Ex.xli-p1.2">40:9-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=40&scrV=9#Ex.xli-p3.9">40:9-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=40&scrV=12#Ex.xli-p1.3">40:12-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=40&scrV=12#Ex.xli-p3.10">40:12-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=40&scrV=16#Ex.xli-p1.4">40:16-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=40&scrV=17#Ex.xli-p9.2">40:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=40&scrV=21#Ex.xli-p6.1">40:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=40&scrV=23#Ex.xli-p6.3">40:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=40&scrV=25#Ex.xli-p6.4">40:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=40&scrV=27#Ex.xli-p6.5">40:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=40&scrV=29#Ex.xli-p6.6">40:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=40&scrV=34#Lev.x-p9.2">40:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=40&scrV=34#Ex.xli-p11.1">40:34-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=40&scrV=34#Ex.xli-p1.5">40:34-38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=40&scrV=35#Ex.xli-p11.2">40:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=40&scrV=36#Ex.xli-p10.4">40:36-37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=40&scrV=38#Ex.xli-p10.1">40:38</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Leviticus</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=1&scrV=1#Deu.i-p2.2">1:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=1&scrV=3#Lev.ii-p1.1">1:3-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=1&scrV=4#Lev.ii-p5.2">1:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=1&scrV=5#Lev.ii-p5.5">1:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=1&scrV=6#Lev.ii-p5.7">1:6-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=1&scrV=10#Lev.ii-p7.1">1:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=1&scrV=10#Lev.ii-p1.2">1:10-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=1&scrV=11#Lev.vii-p18.2">1:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=1&scrV=14#Lev.ii-p1.3">1:14-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=1&scrV=23#Lev.xviii-p5.9">1:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=1&scrV=25#Lev.xviii-p5.9">1:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Lev.iii-p1.1">2:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Lev.iii-p5.2">2:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Lev.iii-p5.4">2:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Num.xvi-p4.2">2:1-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=2&scrV=2#Lev.xxv-p5.5">2:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=2&scrV=2#Lev.iii-p5.7">2:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=2&scrV=2#Lev.vii-p14.2">2:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=2&scrV=2#Lev.iii-p1.5">2:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=2&scrV=3#Lev.iii-p5.11">2:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=2&scrV=4#Lev.iii-p1.2">2:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=2&scrV=4#Lev.iii-p5.3">2:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=2&scrV=4#Deu.xxiv-p18.2">2:4-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=2&scrV=5#Lev.iii-p1.3">2:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=2&scrV=7#Lev.iii-p1.4">2:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=2&scrV=8#Lev.iii-p5.6">2:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=2&scrV=8#Lev.iii-p1.6">2:8-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=2&scrV=9#Lev.iii-p5.7">2:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=2&scrV=9#Lev.iii-p9.8">2:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=2&scrV=9#Lev.vii-p14.2">2:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=2&scrV=10#Lev.iii-p5.11">2:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=2&scrV=11#Lev.iii-p7.1">2:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=2&scrV=11#Lev.viii-p8.2">2:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=2&scrV=11#Lev.iii-p1.7">2:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=2&scrV=12#Lev.iii-p9.2">2:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=2&scrV=13#Lev.iii-p1.8">2:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=2&scrV=13#Lev.iii-p8.1">2:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=2&scrV=14#Lev.iii-p1.9">2:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=2&scrV=14#Lev.iii-p9.5">2:14-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=2&scrV=16#Lev.iii-p9.7">2:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=3&scrV=1#Lev.iv-p4.1">3:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=3&scrV=1#Lev.iv-p1.1">3:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=3&scrV=2#Lev.iv-p5.1">3:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=3&scrV=3#Lev.iv-p5.3">3:3-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=3&scrV=6#Lev.iv-p1.2">3:6-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=3&scrV=9#Lev.iv-p7.1">3:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=3&scrV=11#Lev.iv-p7.3">3:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=3&scrV=12#Lev.iv-p1.3">3:12-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=3&scrV=16#Lev.iv-p7.3">3:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=3&scrV=16#Lev.iv-p7.5">3:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=3&scrV=17#Lev.iv-p7.6">3:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=3&scrV=17#Lev.viii-p11.1">3:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=3&scrV=17#Lev.xviii-p9.1">3:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=1#Lev.v-p1.1">4:1-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=2#Lev.v-p4.1">4:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=2#Lev.xi-p3.13">4:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=3#Lev.v-p5.1">4:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=3#Lev.v-p5.2">4:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=4#Lev.v-p5.6">4:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=5#Lev.v-p5.9">4:5-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=8#Lev.v-p5.10">4:8-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=11#Lev.v-p5.11">4:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=13#Num.xvi-p8.5">4:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=13#Lev.v-p1.2">4:13-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=14#Lev.v-p5.3">4:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=17#Lev.v-p7.2">4:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=20#Lev.v-p7.8">4:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=21#Num.xvi-p8.5">4:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=21#Lev.xi-p22.2">4:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=22#Lev.v-p9.1">4:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=22#Lev.v-p1.3">4:22-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=23#Lev.v-p5.4">4:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=23#Lev.v-p9.2">4:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=25#Lev.v-p9.3">4:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=26#Lev.v-p9.4">4:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=27#Lev.v-p11.1">4:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=27#Num.xvi-p8.11">4:27-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=27#Lev.v-p1.4">4:27-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=28#Lev.v-p5.4">4:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=31#Lev.v-p11.4">4:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=35#Lev.v-p11.4">4:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=5&scrV=1#Lev.vi-p1.1">5:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=5&scrV=1#Lev.vi-p3.2">5:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=5&scrV=2#Lev.vi-p1.2">5:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=5&scrV=2#Lev.vi-p3.5">5:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=5&scrV=3#Gen.xxi-p11.2">5:3-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=5&scrV=4#Lev.vi-p1.3">5:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=5&scrV=4#Lev.vi-p3.7">5:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=5&scrV=5#Lev.vi-p1.7">5:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=5&scrV=5#Lev.vi-p4.1">5:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=5&scrV=6#Lev.vi-p10.1">5:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=5&scrV=7#Lev.vi-p7.1">5:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=5&scrV=7#Lev.vi-p1.8">5:7-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=5&scrV=11#Lev.vi-p8.1">5:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=5&scrV=11#Lev.vi-p1.9">5:11-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=5&scrV=14#Lev.vi-p1.4">5:14-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=5&scrV=15#Deu.xxvii-p12.3">5:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=5&scrV=15#Lev.vi-p1.10">5:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=5&scrV=15#Lev.xxiii-p9.5">5:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=5&scrV=16#Lev.vi-p10.2">5:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=5&scrV=17#Lev.vi-p10.5">5:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=5&scrV=17#Lev.vi-p1.5">5:17-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=2#Lev.vii-p4.1">6:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=2#Lev.vi-p1.6">6:2-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=3#Lev.vii-p4.3">6:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=4#Num.vi-p6.4">6:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=4#Ex.xxiii-p4.2">6:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=4#Lev.vii-p5.1">6:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=5#Gen.xxi-p22.3">6:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=6#Lev.vii-p5.3">6:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=8#Lev.vii-p1.1">6:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=8#Lev.vii-p1.2">6:8-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=9#Lev.vii-p7.1">6:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=9#Lev.vii-p10.1">6:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=9#Lev.vii-p10.3">6:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=10#Lev.vii-p9.1">6:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=11#Lev.vii-p1.3">6:11-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=12#Lev.vii-p10.1">6:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=13#Lev.vii-p10.2">6:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=13#Lev.x-p12.1">6:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=15#Lev.vii-p14.1">6:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=16#Lev.vii-p15.1">6:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=17#Lev.vii-p14.3">6:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=18#Lev.vii-p15.2">6:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=18#Lev.vii-p15.3">6:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=19#Lev.vii-p1.4">6:19-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=20#Lev.vii-p16.2">6:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=23#Lev.vii-p16.1">6:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=24#Lev.vii-p1.5">6:24-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=25#Lev.vii-p18.1">6:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=26#Lev.vii-p18.4">6:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=27#Lev.vii-p18.6">6:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=28#Lev.vii-p18.7">6:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=29#Lev.vii-p18.3">6:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=30#Lev.vii-p18.8">6:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=30#Lev.xi-p21.2">6:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=1#Lev.viii-p1.1">7:1-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=6#Lev.viii-p3.1">7:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=6#Lev.viii-p3.3">7:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=7#Lev.viii-p3.2">7:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=8#Lev.viii-p3.4">7:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=8#Lev.viii-p1.2">7:8-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=9#Lev.viii-p3.7">7:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=10#Lev.viii-p3.8">7:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=11#Lev.viii-p1.3">7:11-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=11#Lev.iv-p5.4">7:11-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=12#Lev.viii-p8.1">7:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=15#Lev.xxiii-p17.2">7:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=15#Lev.iv-p3.1">7:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=16#Lev.viii-p6.3">7:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=16#Lev.viii-p9.1">7:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=16#Lev.viii-p9.2">7:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=16#Lev.xx-p7.3">7:16-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=17#Lev.viii-p9.3">7:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=18#Lev.viii-p9.4">7:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=18#Lev.viii-p9.7">7:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=19#Lev.viii-p10.1">7:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=20#Num.x-p6.3">7:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=20#Lev.viii-p10.6">7:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=20#Lev.viii-p10.3">7:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=21#Lev.viii-p10.7">7:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=22#Lev.viii-p6.2">7:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=22#Lev.viii-p1.4">7:22-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=23#Lev.viii-p11.2">7:23-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=24#Lev.viii-p11.3">7:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=26#Lev.xviii-p9.1">7:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=26#Lev.viii-p11.4">7:26-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=28#Lev.viii-p1.5">7:28-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=29#Lev.viii-p8.3">7:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=30#Lev.viii-p12.1">7:30-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=32#Deu.xix-p6.2">7:32-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=35#Lev.viii-p14.1">7:35-36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=35#Lev.viii-p1.6">7:35-38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=38#Lev.viii-p14.2">7:38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=1#Lev.ix-p1.1">8:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=1#Num.ix-p1.2">8:1-36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=1#Lev.i-p2.2">8:1-9:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=2#Lev.ix-p4.1">8:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=4#Lev.ix-p5.1">8:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=5#Lev.ix-p1.2">8:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=5#Lev.ix-p6.1">8:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=6#Lev.ix-p7.1">8:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=6#Lev.ix-p1.3">8:6-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=7#Lev.ix-p7.4">8:7-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=8#Ex.xxix-p11.2">8:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=10#Lev.ix-p7.6">8:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=10#Num.viii-p9.1">8:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=10#Lev.ix-p1.4">8:10-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=11#Lev.ix-p7.7">8:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=12#Lev.ix-p7.9">8:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=13#Lev.ix-p1.3">8:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=13#Lev.ix-p7.5">8:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=14#Lev.ix-p9.2">8:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=14#Lev.ix-p1.5">8:14-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=18#Lev.ix-p1.6">8:18-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=18#Lev.ix-p9.4">8:18-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=22#Lev.ix-p9.6">8:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=22#Lev.ix-p1.7">8:22-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=23#Lev.xv-p8.3">8:23-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=31#Lev.ix-p12.1">8:31-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=31#Lev.ix-p1.8">8:31-36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=33#Lev.ix-p13.1">8:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=34#Lev.ix-p13.4">8:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=35#Lev.ix-p13.6">8:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=35#Lev.xi-p10.2">8:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=36#Lev.ix-p13.8">8:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=9&scrV=1#Lev.x-p3.4">9:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=9&scrV=1#Lev.x-p1.1">9:1-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=9&scrV=2#Lev.x-p3.5">9:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=9&scrV=3#Lev.x-p3.6">9:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=9&scrV=4#Lev.x-p3.2">9:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=9&scrV=6#Lev.x-p3.3">9:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=9&scrV=7#Lev.x-p3.7">9:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=9&scrV=8#Lev.x-p5.1">9:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=9&scrV=8#Lev.xi-p3.3">9:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=9&scrV=8#Lev.x-p1.2">9:8-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=9&scrV=10#Lev.x-p5.3">9:10-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=9&scrV=15#Lev.xi-p3.3">9:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=9&scrV=15#Lev.xi-p21.1">9:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=9&scrV=15#Lev.x-p1.3">9:15-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=9&scrV=16#Lev.x-p5.5">9:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=9&scrV=17#Lev.x-p5.2">9:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=9&scrV=18#Lev.xi-p3.3">9:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=9&scrV=22#Lev.x-p5.6">9:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=9&scrV=23#Num.xvii-p20.2">9:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=9&scrV=23#Lev.x-p1.4">9:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=9&scrV=23#Lev.x-p7.1">9:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=9&scrV=23#Lev.x-p9.1">9:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=9&scrV=24#Lev.vii-p10.4">9:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=9&scrV=24#Lev.x-p1.5">9:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=9&scrV=24#Lev.x-p5.4">9:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=9&scrV=24#Lev.x-p10.1">9:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=9&scrV=24#Lev.xi-p4.2">9:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=1#Lev.xi-p3.1">10:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=1#Lev.xvii-p3.2">10:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=1#Lev.xi-p1.1">10:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=1#Lev.i-p2.3">10:1-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=2#Lev.xi-p4.1">10:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=2#Lev.xi-p14.3">10:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=3#Gen.xix-p23.4">10:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=3#Lev.xi-p1.2">10:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=3#Lev.xi-p9.1">10:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=3#Lev.xi-p22.4">10:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=3#Lev.xvii-p16.3">10:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=4#Num.iv-p10.8">10:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=4#Lev.xi-p12.1">10:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=4#Lev.xi-p1.3">10:4-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=5#Lev.xi-p5.2">10:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=6#Lev.xi-p14.6">10:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=7#Lev.xi-p14.1">10:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=7#Lev.xi-p14.7">10:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=8#Lev.xi-p3.11">10:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=8#Lev.xi-p17.1">10:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=8#Lev.xi-p1.4">10:8-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=9#Lev.xi-p3.4">10:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=9#Lev.xi-p17.2">10:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=10#Lev.xi-p17.8">10:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=10#Lev.xi-p20.2">10:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=10#Lev.xxii-p3.1">10:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=11#Lev.xi-p17.10">10:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=12#Lev.xi-p3.4">10:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=12#Lev.xi-p19.1">10:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=12#Lev.xvii-p16.3">10:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=12#Lev.xi-p20.3">10:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=12#Lev.xi-p20.1">10:12-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=12#Lev.xi-p1.5">10:12-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=13#Lev.xi-p20.4">10:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=16#Lev.xi-p21.4">10:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=16#Lev.xi-p22.1">10:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=17#Lev.xxiii-p8.4">10:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=17#Lev.vii-p18.5">10:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=17#Lev.xi-p21.3">10:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=18#Ex.xxx-p13.4">10:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=18#Lev.xi-p3.4">10:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=19#Lev.xi-p22.3">10:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=20#Lev.xi-p23.1">10:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=23#Lev.xi-p3.5">10:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=11&scrV=1#Lev.xii-p1.2">11:1-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=11&scrV=2#Deu.xv-p8.1">11:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=11&scrV=9#Lev.xii-p5.1">11:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=11&scrV=9#Lev.xii-p1.3">11:9-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=11&scrV=10#Lev.xii-p5.2">11:10-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=11&scrV=13#Lev.xii-p1.4">11:13-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=11&scrV=14#Lev.xii-p10.7">11:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=11&scrV=20#Lev.xii-p7.1">11:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=11&scrV=20#Lev.xii-p1.5">11:20-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=11&scrV=21#Lev.xii-p7.2">11:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=11&scrV=24#Lev.xii-p7.6">11:24-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=11&scrV=29#Lev.xii-p7.3">11:29-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=11&scrV=29#Lev.xii-p1.6">11:29-43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=11&scrV=32#Lev.xii-p7.8">11:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=11&scrV=33#Lev.xii-p7.9">11:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=11&scrV=35#Lev.xii-p7.11">11:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=11&scrV=36#Lev.xii-p7.12">11:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=11&scrV=39#Deu.xv-p8.8">11:39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=11&scrV=41#Lev.xii-p7.4">11:41-42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=11&scrV=43#Lev.xii-p9.5">11:43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=11&scrV=44#Lev.xii-p9.1">11:44</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=11&scrV=44#Lev.xii-p10.1">11:44</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=11&scrV=44#Lev.xii-p10.2">11:44</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=11&scrV=44#Lev.xii-p1.7">11:44-47</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=11&scrV=45#Lev.xii-p10.3">11:45</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=11&scrV=45#Lev.xii-p10.8">11:45</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=11&scrV=46#Lev.xii-p11.1">11:46-47</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=12&scrV=1#Lev.xiii-p1.1">12:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=12&scrV=2#Lev.xiii-p3.1">12:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=12&scrV=4#Lev.xiii-p3.2">12:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=12&scrV=5#Lev.xiii-p3.1">12:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=12&scrV=6#Lev.xiii-p5.1">12:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=12&scrV=6#Lev.xiii-p1.2">12:6-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=1#Lev.xiv-p1.1">13:1-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=1#Num.xiii-p12.2">13:1-59</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=3#Lev.xiv-p4.2">13:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=4#Lev.xiv-p4.1">13:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=4#Lev.xiv-p4.4">13:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=6#Lev.xiv-p3.3">13:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=6#Lev.xiv-p4.9">13:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=7#Lev.xiv-p4.5">13:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=10#Lev.xiv-p4.6">13:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=12#Lev.xiv-p4.7">13:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=14#Deu.xxv-p7.2">13:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=18#Lev.xiv-p6.1">13:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=18#Lev.xiv-p1.2">13:18-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=24#Lev.xiv-p6.2">13:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=24#Lev.xiv-p1.3">13:24-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=29#Lev.xiv-p1.4">13:29-37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=30#Lev.xiv-p6.3">13:30-37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=38#Lev.xiv-p1.5">13:38-39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=38#Lev.xiv-p9.1">13:38-41</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=40#Lev.xiv-p1.6">13:40-44</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=44#Lev.xiv-p10.1">13:44</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=45#Lev.xiv-p12.1">13:45</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=45#Lev.xiv-p1.7">13:45-46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=46#Lev.xiv-p13.1">13:46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=47#Lev.xiv-p1.8">13:47-59</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=52#Lev.xiv-p15.1">13:52</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=57#Lev.xiv-p15.1">13:57</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=58#Lev.xiv-p15.2">13:58</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=14&scrV=1#Lev.xv-p1.1">14:1-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=14&scrV=3#Lev.xv-p4.1">14:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=14&scrV=5#Lev.xv-p8.7">14:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=14&scrV=6#Num.xx-p8.2">14:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=14&scrV=6#Lev.xv-p5.3">14:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=14&scrV=8#Num.ix-p6.1">14:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=14&scrV=8#Lev.xv-p5.11">14:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=14&scrV=9#Lev.xv-p5.12">14:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=14&scrV=10#Lev.xv-p1.2">14:10-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=14&scrV=11#Lev.xv-p7.1">14:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=14&scrV=12#Lev.vi-p1.6">14:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=14&scrV=12#Lev.xv-p8.1">14:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=14&scrV=14#Lev.xv-p8.2">14:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=14&scrV=19#Lev.xv-p8.8">14:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=14&scrV=21#Lev.xv-p10.1">14:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=14&scrV=33#Lev.xv-p1.3">14:33-53</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=14&scrV=34#Lev.xv-p12.1">14:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=14&scrV=35#Lev.xv-p12.3">14:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=14&scrV=40#Lev.xv-p12.5">14:40-41</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=14&scrV=44#Lev.xv-p12.6">14:44-45</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=14&scrV=49#Lev.xv-p12.9">14:49</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=14&scrV=54#Lev.xv-p1.4">14:54-57</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=15&scrV=1#Lev.xvi-p1.1">15:1-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=15&scrV=2#Lev.xvi-p3.1">15:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=15&scrV=2#Lev.xvi-p3.4">15:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=15&scrV=4#Lev.xvi-p3.7">15:4-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=15&scrV=13#Lev.xvi-p3.8">15:13-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=15&scrV=16#Deu.xxiv-p11.1">15:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=15&scrV=17#Lev.xvi-p5.7">15:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=15&scrV=19#Lev.xvi-p5.1">15:19-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=15&scrV=19#Lev.xvi-p1.2">15:19-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=15&scrV=25#Lev.xvi-p5.2">15:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=15&scrV=26#Lev.xvi-p5.3">15:26-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=15&scrV=28#Lev.xvi-p5.4">15:28-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=15&scrV=31#Lev.xvi-p6.1">15:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=1#Lev.xvii-p3.1">16:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=1#Lev.xvii-p1.2">16:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=1#Num.xxx-p3.3">16:1-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=2#Num.v-p8.3">16:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=2#Lev.xvii-p4.1">16:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=3#Lev.xvii-p1.4">16:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=3#Lev.xvii-p5.1">16:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=4#Lev.xvii-p1.3">16:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=4#Lev.xvii-p6.1">16:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=5#Lev.xvii-p1.7">16:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=6#Lev.xvii-p8.2">16:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=6#Lev.xvii-p1.5">16:6-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=7#Lev.xvii-p8.3">16:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=7#Lev.xvii-p1.7">16:7-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=10#Lev.xvii-p1.10">16:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=10#Lev.xvii-p8.4">16:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=11#Lev.xvii-p8.5">16:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=12#Lev.xvii-p10.7">16:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=12#Lev.xvii-p1.6">16:12-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=14#Lev.xvii-p8.7">16:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=15#Lev.xvii-p10.1">16:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=15#Lev.xvii-p1.8">16:15-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=16#Lev.xvii-p10.2">16:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=16#Lev.xvii-p10.3">16:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=16#Lev.xvii-p20.8">16:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=17#Lev.xvii-p10.4">16:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=17#Lev.xvii-p20.3">16:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=18#Ex.xxxi-p3.8">16:18-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=18#Lev.xvii-p1.9">16:18-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=18#Lev.xvii-p10.5">16:18-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=20#Lev.xvii-p12.1">16:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=20#Lev.xvii-p1.11">16:20-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=21#Lev.v-p5.7">16:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=22#Lev.xvii-p12.2">16:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=23#Lev.xvii-p12.4">16:23-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=23#Lev.xvii-p1.13">16:23-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=25#Lev.xvii-p12.5">16:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=26#Lev.xvii-p1.12">16:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=27#Lev.xvii-p1.13">16:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=28#Lev.xvii-p1.13">16:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=29#Lev.xvii-p15.1">16:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=29#Lev.xvii-p17.1">16:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=29#Lev.xvii-p1.14">16:29-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=31#Lev.xvii-p16.1">16:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=33#Lev.xvii-p20.5">16:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=34#Lev.xvii-p17.1">16:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=17&scrV=1#Lev.xviii-p1.1">17:1-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=17&scrV=3#Deu.xiii-p13.4">17:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=17&scrV=3#Lev.xviii-p5.1">17:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=17&scrV=4#Lev.xviii-p5.6">17:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=17&scrV=5#Lev.xviii-p5.5">17:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=17&scrV=7#Lev.xviii-p4.2">17:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=17&scrV=7#Lev.xviii-p5.4">17:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=17&scrV=10#Lev.xviii-p9.5">17:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=17&scrV=10#Lev.xviii-p9.7">17:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=17&scrV=10#Lev.xviii-p1.2">17:10-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=17&scrV=11#Gen.x-p10.4">17:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=17&scrV=11#Lev.xviii-p9.9">17:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=17&scrV=12#Lev.xviii-p9.3">17:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=17&scrV=13#Lev.xviii-p10.1">17:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=17&scrV=14#Lev.xviii-p9.4">17:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=17&scrV=14#Lev.xviii-p9.8">17:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=17&scrV=15#Lev.xviii-p10.2">17:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=17&scrV=15#Lev.xviii-p10.4">17:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=1#Lev.xix-p3.1">18:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=1#Lev.xix-p1.1">18:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=1#Deu.xxiv-p5.2">18:1-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=3#Deu.xviii-p14.6">18:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=3#Lev.xix-p3.3">18:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=4#Lev.xix-p3.1">18:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=4#Lev.xix-p3.4">18:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=5#Lev.xix-p3.2">18:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=6#Lev.xix-p6.1">18:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=6#Lev.xix-p1.2">18:6-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=8#Deu.xxiii-p18.2">18:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=12#Ex.vii-p15.8">18:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=16#Lev.xix-p9.1">18:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=18#Gen.xxx-p10.4">18:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=18#Lev.xix-p9.3">18:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=19#Lev.xix-p11.1">18:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=19#Lev.xix-p1.3">18:19-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=20#Lev.xix-p11.2">18:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=21#Deu.xix-p10.2">18:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=21#Lev.xix-p3.2">18:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=21#Lev.xix-p12.1">18:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=22#Lev.xix-p13.1">18:22-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=24#Lev.xix-p14.1">18:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=24#Lev.xix-p14.5">18:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=24#Lev.xix-p1.4">18:24-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=25#Lev.xix-p14.4">18:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=25#Lev.xix-p14.7">18:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=25#Lev.xix-p14.8">18:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=27#Lev.xix-p14.5">18:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=28#Lev.xix-p14.11">18:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=28#Lev.xxi-p21.4">18:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=29#Lev.xix-p14.2">18:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=30#Lev.xix-p15.1">18:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=30#Gen.v-p19.1">18:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=30#Lev.xix-p3.1">18:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=2#Lev.xx-p1.6">19:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=2#Lev.xx-p3.1">19:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=2#Lev.xx-p4.1">19:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=3#Lev.xx-p1.13">19:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=3#Lev.xx-p1.14">19:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=3#Lev.xx-p5.1">19:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=3#Ex.xxi-p18.1">19:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=4#Lev.xx-p1.11">19:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=4#Lev.xx-p6.1">19:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=5#Lev.xx-p1.1">19:5-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=5#Lev.xx-p7.1">19:5-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=6#Lev.xxiii-p17.2">19:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=8#Lev.viii-p9.9">19:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=9#Lev.xxiv-p11.1">19:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=9#Lev.xx-p1.2">19:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=9#Lev.xx-p8.1">19:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=11#Lev.xx-p1.20">19:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=11#Lev.xx-p1.23">19:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=11#Lev.xx-p11.1">19:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=12#Lev.xx-p1.12">19:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=12#Lev.xx-p12.1">19:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=13#Lev.xx-p1.21">19:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=13#Lev.xx-p13.1">19:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=14#Lev.xx-p1.24">19:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=14#Lev.xx-p14.1">19:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=15#Lev.xx-p1.19">19:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=15#Lev.xx-p15.1">19:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=16#Lev.xx-p1.25">19:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=16#Lev.xx-p16.1">19:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=17#Lev.xx-p1.26">19:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=17#Lev.xx-p17.1">19:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=17#Lev.xx-p18.2">19:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=17#Gen.v-p28.1">19:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=17#Ex.xxxiii-p25.5">19:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=17#Lev.xx-p1.16">19:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=18#Lev.xx-p1.7">19:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=18#Lev.xx-p18.1">19:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=19#Lev.xx-p1.3">19:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=19#Lev.xx-p20.1">19:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=19#Deu.xxiii-p9.2">19:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=20#Lev.xx-p1.17">19:20-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=20#Lev.xx-p21.1">19:20-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=21#Lev.vi-p1.6">19:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=23#Lev.xx-p1.4">19:23-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=23#Lev.xx-p22.1">19:23-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=23#Deu.xxi-p8.3">19:23-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=26#Lev.xx-p1.9">19:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=26#Lev.xx-p25.2">19:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=26#Lev.xx-p1.5">19:26-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=26#Lev.xx-p23.1">19:26-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=27#Lev.xxii-p4.7">19:27-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=28#Lev.xx-p23.2">19:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=29#Lev.xx-p1.18">19:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=29#Lev.xx-p23.3">19:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=30#Lev.xx-p1.13">19:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=30#Lev.xx-p25.1">19:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=31#Lev.xx-p1.10">19:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=31#Num.xxiv-p7.3">19:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=32#Lev.xx-p1.15">19:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=32#Lev.xx-p27.1">19:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=32#Gen.xlviii-p10.2">19:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=33#Lev.xx-p1.8">19:33-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=33#Lev.xx-p28.1">19:33-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=35#Lev.xx-p29.1">19:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=35#Lev.xx-p1.22">19:35-36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=35#Deu.xxvi-p9.4">19:35-36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=36#Lev.xx-p29.2">19:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=37#Lev.xx-p1.27">19:37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=37#Lev.xx-p30.1">19:37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=1#Lev.xxi-p1.1">20:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=2#Lev.xxi-p3.1">20:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=2#Lev.xxi-p5.2">20:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=2#Lev.xxi-p5.1">20:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=3#Lev.xxi-p5.3">20:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=4#Lev.xxi-p5.5">20:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=6#Lev.xxi-p1.2">20:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=6#Lev.xxi-p7.1">20:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=7#Lev.xxi-p1.7">20:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=7#Lev.xxi-p8.1">20:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=8#Lev.xx-p4.3">20:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=9#Lev.xxi-p1.3">20:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=9#Lev.xxi-p6.1">20:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=9#Lev.xxv-p11.4">20:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=10#Lev.xxi-p1.4">20:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=10#Lev.xxi-p13.1">20:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=10#Num.vi-p10.7">20:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=10#Deu.xxiii-p15.2">20:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=11#Lev.xxi-p14.1">20:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=11#Deu.xxviii-p14.2">20:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=11#Lev.xxi-p1.5">20:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=12#Lev.xxi-p14.4">20:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=13#Lev.xxi-p1.6">20:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=13#Lev.xxi-p15.1">20:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=14#Lev.xxi-p1.5">20:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=14#Lev.xxi-p14.4">20:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=15#Lev.xxi-p1.6">20:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=15#Lev.xxi-p15.1">20:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=16#Lev.xxi-p1.6">20:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=16#Lev.xxi-p15.1">20:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=17#Lev.xxi-p1.5">20:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=17#Lev.xxi-p14.4">20:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=18#Lev.xxi-p1.6">20:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=18#Lev.xxi-p15.2">20:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=19#Lev.xxi-p1.5">20:19-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=19#Lev.xxi-p14.5">20:19-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=22#Lev.xxi-p20.1">20:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=22#Lev.xxi-p21.3">20:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=22#Lev.xxi-p1.7">20:22-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=23#Lev.xxi-p20.2">20:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=23#Lev.xxi-p21.2">20:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=24#Lev.xxi-p19.1">20:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=24#Lev.xxi-p19.4">20:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=24#Lev.xxi-p21.1">20:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=25#Lev.xxi-p20.3">20:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=25#Lev.xxi-p20.4">20:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=26#Lev.xxi-p19.2">20:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=26#Lev.xxi-p19.3">20:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=26#Lev.xxi-p19.5">20:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=27#Lev.xxi-p1.2">20:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=27#Lev.xxi-p17.1">20:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=21&scrV=1#Lev.xxii-p4.2">21:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=21&scrV=1#Lev.xxii-p1.2">21:1-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=21&scrV=4#Lev.xxii-p4.4">21:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=21&scrV=5#Lev.xxii-p4.5">21:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=21&scrV=6#Lev.xxii-p4.8">21:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=21&scrV=7#Lev.xxii-p5.1">21:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=21&scrV=7#Lev.xxii-p5.5">21:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=21&scrV=8#Lev.xxii-p5.4">21:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=21&scrV=9#Lev.xxii-p6.1">21:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=21&scrV=10#Lev.xxii-p8.1">21:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=21&scrV=10#Lev.xxii-p9.2">21:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=21&scrV=10#Ex.xxx-p11.4">21:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=21&scrV=10#Num.xix-p9.5">21:10-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=21&scrV=10#Lev.xxii-p1.3">21:10-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=21&scrV=11#Lev.xxii-p9.1">21:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=21&scrV=11#Lev.xxii-p9.4">21:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=21&scrV=11#Lev.xi-p14.2">21:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=21&scrV=12#Lev.xxii-p8.2">21:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=21&scrV=12#Lev.xxii-p9.5">21:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=21&scrV=13#Lev.xxii-p10.1">21:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=21&scrV=14#Deu.xxv-p3.2">21:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=21&scrV=15#Lev.xxii-p11.1">21:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=21&scrV=16#Lev.xxii-p1.4">21:16-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=21&scrV=17#Lev.xxii-p14.2">21:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=21&scrV=21#Lev.xxii-p14.2">21:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=21&scrV=22#Lev.xxii-p14.1">21:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=21&scrV=23#Lev.xxii-p14.2">21:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=1#Lev.xxiii-p1.1">22:1-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=2#Lev.xxiii-p5.1">22:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=2#Lev.xxiii-p5.4">22:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=3#Lev.xxiii-p4.3">22:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=4#Lev.xxiii-p4.1">22:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=6#Lev.xxiii-p4.2">22:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=9#Lev.xxiii-p4.5">22:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=10#Lev.xxiii-p8.1">22:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=10#Lev.xxiii-p9.1">22:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=10#Lev.xxiii-p1.2">22:10-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=11#Lev.xxiii-p9.2">22:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=12#Lev.xxiii-p9.3">22:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=14#Lev.xxiii-p9.4">22:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=14#Lev.xxiii-p1.3">22:14-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=14#Lev.vi-p10.3">22:14-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=15#Lev.xxiii-p8.2">22:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=16#Lev.xxiii-p8.3">22:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=17#Lev.xxiii-p1.4">22:17-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=20#Lev.xxiii-p14.5">22:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=22#Lev.xxiii-p14.1">22:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=23#Lev.xxiii-p14.3">22:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=24#Lev.xxiii-p14.2">22:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=25#Lev.xxiii-p14.6">22:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=26#Lev.xxiii-p15.1">22:26-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=26#Lev.xxiii-p1.5">22:26-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=27#Lev.xx-p22.2">22:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=28#Lev.xxiii-p16.1">22:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=29#Lev.xxiii-p17.1">22:29-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=29#Lev.xxiii-p1.6">22:29-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=31#Lev.xxiii-p17.3">22:31-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=2#Lev.xxiv-p3.1">23:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=3#Lev.xxiv-p1.1">23:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=3#Lev.xxiv-p4.1">23:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=4#Lev.xxiv-p6.2">23:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=4#Lev.xxiv-p1.2">23:4-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=5#Lev.xxiv-p7.1">23:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=6#Lev.xxiv-p7.2">23:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=7#Lev.xxiv-p4.2">23:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=7#Deu.xvii-p4.11">23:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=7#Lev.xxiv-p7.3">23:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=9#Lev.xxiv-p1.3">23:9-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=10#Num.xxix-p8.4">23:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=10#Deu.xvii-p5.2">23:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=10#Deu.xxvii-p3.2">23:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=11#Lev.xxiv-p8.1">23:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=11#Lev.xxiv-p8.2">23:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=12#Lev.xxiv-p8.3">23:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=12#Lev.xxiv-p8.5">23:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=14#Lev.xxiv-p8.9">23:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=15#Lev.xxiv-p1.4">23:15-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=17#Lev.xxiv-p10.3">23:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=17#Lev.iii-p9.3">23:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=18#Num.xxix-p8.6">23:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=18#Lev.xxiv-p10.5">23:18-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=21#Lev.xxiv-p10.6">23:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=22#Lev.xxiv-p11.2">23:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=23#Lev.xxiv-p1.5">23:23-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=23#Num.xi-p3.18">23:23-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=24#Num.xxx-p3.1">23:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=24#Lev.xxiv-p13.1">23:24-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=26#Lev.xxiv-p1.6">23:26-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=27#Lev.xxiv-p14.2">23:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=28#Lev.xxiv-p14.1">23:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=29#Lev.xxiv-p14.2">23:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=30#Lev.xxiv-p14.1">23:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=31#Lev.xxiv-p14.1">23:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=32#Lev.xxiv-p14.2">23:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=32#Lev.xxiv-p14.3">23:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=33#Lev.xxiv-p1.7">23:33-44</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=34#Lev.xxiv-p17.1">23:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=34#Num.xxx-p5.1">23:34-44</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=35#Lev.xxiv-p17.2">23:35-36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=37#Lev.xxiv-p23.1">23:37-38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=39#Lev.xxiv-p17.2">23:39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=39#Lev.xxiv-p20.2">23:39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=40#Lev.xxiv-p17.4">23:40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=40#Lev.xxiv-p17.9">23:40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=40#Deu.xxxii-p11.2">23:40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=42#Lev.xxiv-p17.4">23:42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=43#Lev.xxiv-p19.1">23:43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=44#Lev.xxiv-p24.1">23:44</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=24&scrV=1#Lev.xxv-p1.1">24:1-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=24&scrV=1#Lev.i-p2.4">24:1-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=24&scrV=2#Lev.xxv-p4.2">24:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=24&scrV=2#Lev.xxv-p4.3">24:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=24&scrV=3#Lev.xxv-p4.7">24:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=24&scrV=4#Lev.xxv-p4.4">24:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=24&scrV=5#Lev.xxv-p5.2">24:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=24&scrV=5#Ex.xxvi-p20.4">24:5-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=24&scrV=7#Lev.xxv-p5.4">24:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=24&scrV=8#Lev.xxv-p5.8">24:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=24&scrV=9#Lev.xxv-p5.7">24:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=24&scrV=10#Lev.xxv-p8.1">24:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=24&scrV=10#Lev.xxv-p1.2">24:10-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=24&scrV=11#Lev.xxv-p8.2">24:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=24&scrV=11#Lev.xxv-p10.1">24:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=24&scrV=11#Lev.xxv-p11.1">24:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=24&scrV=14#Lev.xxv-p12.1">24:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=24&scrV=15#Lev.xxv-p1.4">24:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=24&scrV=15#Lev.xxv-p13.1">24:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=24&scrV=17#Lev.xxv-p14.1">24:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=24&scrV=17#Lev.xxv-p1.5">24:17-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=24&scrV=18#Lev.xxv-p14.8">24:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=24&scrV=19#Lev.xxv-p14.5">24:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=24&scrV=21#Lev.xxv-p14.2">24:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=24&scrV=21#Lev.xxv-p14.8">24:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=24&scrV=23#Lev.xxv-p1.3">24:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=24&scrV=23#Lev.xxv-p15.1">24:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=1#Lev.xxvi-p1.1">25:1-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=4#Lev.xxvi-p3.1">25:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=5#Lev.xxvi-p7.1">25:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=5#Lev.xxvi-p3.2">25:5-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=8#Lev.xxiv-p13.2">25:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=8#Lev.xxvi-p6.1">25:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=8#Lev.xxvi-p1.3">25:8-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=8#Lev.xxvi-p5.1">25:8-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=9#Lev.xvii-p23.1">25:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=10#Lev.xxvi-p9.1">25:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=10#Lev.xxvi-p10.1">25:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=11#Lev.xxvi-p8.1">25:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=13#Lev.xxvi-p9.1">25:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=14#Lev.xxvi-p11.1">25:14-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=15#Lev.xxvi-p11.2">25:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=15#Lev.xxvi-p22.6">25:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=18#Lev.xxvi-p12.1">25:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=18#Lev.xxvi-p1.2">25:18-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=19#Lev.xxvi-p12.2">25:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=21#Lev.xxvi-p12.3">25:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=23#Lev.xxvi-p14.1">25:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=23#Lev.xxvi-p1.4">25:23-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=24#Lev.xxvi-p14.3">25:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=25#Lev.xxvi-p14.4">25:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=26#Lev.xxvi-p14.3">25:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=27#Lev.xxvi-p14.3">25:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=28#Lev.xxvi-p14.8">25:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=29#Lev.xxvi-p14.9">25:29-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=29#Lev.xxvi-p1.5">25:29-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=32#Lev.xxvi-p14.10">25:32-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=34#Lev.xxvi-p14.12">25:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=35#Lev.xxvi-p16.1">25:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=35#Lev.xxvi-p1.6">25:35-38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=36#Lev.xxvi-p17.1">25:36-37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=38#Lev.xxvi-p17.2">25:38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=39#Lev.xxvi-p20.2">25:39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=39#Lev.xxvi-p1.7">25:39-46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=41#Lev.xxvi-p20.10">25:41</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=42#Lev.xxvi-p20.3">25:42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=42#Lev.xxvi-p20.4">25:42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=43#Lev.xxvi-p20.7">25:43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=44#Lev.xxvi-p21.1">25:44</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=46#Lev.xxvi-p21.1">25:46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=47#Lev.xxvi-p1.8">25:47-55</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=48#Lev.xxvi-p22.7">25:48</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=48#Lev.xxvi-p22.3">25:48-49</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=50#Lev.xxvi-p22.5">25:50-52</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=53#Lev.xxvi-p22.1">25:53</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=54#Lev.xxvi-p22.2">25:54</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=1#Lev.xxvii-p3.2">26:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=1#Lev.xxvii-p1.1">26:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=1#Lev.xxvii-p3.1">26:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=1#Deu.xxix-p1.4">26:1-46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=2#Lev.xxvii-p3.3">26:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=3#Lev.xxvii-p1.2">26:3-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=4#Lev.xxvii-p4.2">26:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=5#Lev.xxvii-p4.3">26:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=5#Lev.xxvii-p4.9">26:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=5#Lev.xxvii-p4.11">26:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=6#Lev.xxvii-p4.12">26:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=6#Lev.xxvii-p4.19">26:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=6#Deu.viii-p19.14">26:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=7#Lev.xxvii-p4.17">26:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=9#Lev.xxvii-p4.20">26:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=9#Lev.xxvii-p4.22">26:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=9#Lev.xxvii-p4.28">26:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=10#Lev.xxvii-p4.8">26:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=11#Lev.xxvii-p4.23">26:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=11#Lev.xxvii-p4.25">26:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=12#Lev.xxvii-p4.26">26:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=12#Lev.xxvii-p4.29">26:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=13#Lev.xxvii-p4.30">26:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=14#Lev.xxvii-p8.1">26:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=14#Lev.xxvii-p1.3">26:14-39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=15#Lev.xxvii-p8.2">26:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=16#Lev.xxvii-p13.1">26:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=16#Lev.xxvii-p13.3">26:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=16#Deu.xxix-p15.6">26:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=17#Lev.xxvii-p11.1">26:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=17#Lev.xxvii-p13.9">26:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=17#Lev.xxvii-p14.3">26:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=18#Lev.xxvii-p9.1">26:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=18#Lev.xxvii-p11.4">26:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=19#Lev.xxvii-p13.5">26:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=19#Lev.xxvii-p13.11">26:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=20#Lev.xxvii-p13.6">26:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=21#Lev.xxvii-p9.1">26:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=21#Lev.xxvii-p9.2">26:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=21#Lev.xxvii-p11.5">26:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=22#Lev.xxvii-p13.13">26:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=23#Lev.xxvii-p9.2">26:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=24#Lev.xxvii-p11.2">26:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=24#Lev.xxvii-p11.6">26:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=25#Lev.xxvii-p13.2">26:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=25#Lev.xxvii-p13.12">26:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=26#Lev.xxvii-p13.7">26:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=27#Lev.xxvii-p9.1">26:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=27#Lev.xxvii-p9.2">26:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=28#Lev.xxvii-p11.2">26:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=28#Lev.xxvii-p11.7">26:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=29#Lev.xxvii-p13.8">26:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=30#Lev.xxvii-p11.10">26:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=30#Lev.xxvii-p13.22">26:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=31#Lev.xxvii-p14.1">26:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=32#Lev.xxvii-p13.18">26:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=33#Lev.xxvii-p13.16">26:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=34#Lev.xxvii-p13.17">26:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=34#Lev.xxvii-p13.19">26:34-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=36#Lev.xxvii-p14.4">26:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=37#Lev.xxvii-p14.6">26:37-38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=39#Lev.xxvii-p14.7">26:39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=40#Lev.xxvii-p17.1">26:40-41</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=40#Lev.xxvii-p1.4">26:40-46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=41#Lev.xxvii-p17.6">26:41</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=42#Lev.xxvii-p18.3">26:42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=42#Ex.iii-p26.7">26:42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=43#Lev.xxvii-p17.7">26:43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=43#Lev.xxvii-p18.1">26:43-44</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=45#Lev.xxvii-p18.4">26:45</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=45#Lev.xxvii-p18.7">26:45</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=46#Lev.xxvii-p19.1">26:46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=46#Lev.xxviii-p1.1">26:46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=2#Lev.xxviii-p4.1">27:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=2#Lev.xxviii-p1.2">27:2-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=3#Lev.xxviii-p4.4">27:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=5#Lev.xxviii-p4.6">27:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=6#Lev.xxviii-p4.7">27:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=7#Lev.xxviii-p4.8">27:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=8#Lev.xxviii-p4.10">27:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=8#Lev.xxviii-p8.4">27:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=9#Lev.xxviii-p5.1">27:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=9#Lev.xxviii-p1.3">27:9-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=11#Lev.xxviii-p13.3">27:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=11#Lev.xxviii-p5.4">27:11-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=14#Lev.xxviii-p8.1">27:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=15#Lev.xxviii-p8.3">27:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=15#Lev.xxviii-p1.4">27:15-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=16#Lev.xxviii-p10.1">27:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=16#Lev.xxviii-p10.4">27:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=17#Lev.xxviii-p10.5">27:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=18#Lev.xxviii-p10.6">27:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=19#Lev.xxviii-p10.7">27:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=20#Lev.xxviii-p10.8">27:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=22#Lev.xxviii-p11.1">27:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=24#Lev.xxviii-p11.1">27:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=25#Lev.xxviii-p11.4">27:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=26#Lev.xxviii-p13.1">27:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=26#Lev.xxviii-p1.5">27:26-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=27#Lev.xxviii-p13.2">27:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=28#Lev.xxviii-p14.1">27:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=28#Lev.xxviii-p1.6">27:28-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=29#Lev.xxviii-p14.2">27:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=30#Lev.xxviii-p15.3">27:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=30#Lev.xxviii-p1.7">27:30-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=31#Lev.xxviii-p15.7">27:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=32#Lev.xxviii-p15.3">27:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=33#Lev.xxviii-p15.6">27:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=34#Lev.xxviii-p16.1">27:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=33&scrV=36#Num.xxx-p5.2">33:36</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Numbers</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=1&scrV=1#Num.ii-p4.1">1:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=1&scrV=1#Num.ii-p9.1">1:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=1&scrV=1#Num.ii-p1.3">1:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=1&scrV=1#Num.i-p2.2">1:1-54</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=1&scrV=1#Num.xxvii-p5.1">1:1-54</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=1&scrV=1#Num.xxvii-p1.1">1:1-2:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=1&scrV=1#Num.i-p3.1">1:1-4:49</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=1&scrV=2#Num.ii-p5.1">1:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=1&scrV=3#Num.ii-p6.1">1:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=1&scrV=5#Num.iii-p5.3">1:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=1&scrV=5#Num.ii-p1.4">1:5-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=1&scrV=16#Num.ii-p6.2">1:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=1&scrV=17#Num.ii-p1.5">1:17-43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=1&scrV=18#Num.ii-p9.1">1:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=1&scrV=25#Num.ii-p10.1">1:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=1&scrV=27#Num.ii-p10.3">1:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=1&scrV=32#Gen.xlix-p12.4">1:32-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=1&scrV=35#Gen.xlix-p12.4">1:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=1&scrV=44#Num.ii-p1.6">1:44-46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=1&scrV=47#Num.ii-p1.7">1:47-54</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=1&scrV=49#Num.ii-p16.1">1:49</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=1&scrV=50#Num.ii-p15.3">1:50</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=1&scrV=50#Num.ii-p15.1">1:50-51</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=1&scrV=51#Num.iv-p3.3">1:51</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=1&scrV=53#Num.ii-p15.3">1:53</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Num.iii-p1.1">2:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=2&scrV=3#Num.iii-p1.2">2:3-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=2&scrV=10#Num.xxxiii-p11.3">2:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=2&scrV=10#Num.iii-p1.3">2:10-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=2&scrV=17#Num.iii-p1.6">2:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=2&scrV=17#Num.iii-p5.5">2:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=2&scrV=17#Num.xxxiii-p11.3">2:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=2&scrV=18#Gen.xlix-p12.4">2:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=2&scrV=18#Num.iii-p1.4">2:18-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=2&scrV=20#Gen.xlix-p12.4">2:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=2&scrV=25#Num.iii-p1.5">2:25-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=2&scrV=31#Num.iii-p5.8">2:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=2&scrV=32#Num.iii-p1.7">2:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=2&scrV=34#Num.iii-p5.9">2:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=1#Num.iv-p11.1">3:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=1#Num.iv-p1.1">3:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=3#Num.iv-p4.1">3:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=4#Num.iv-p4.2">3:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=4#Num.ix-p10.3">3:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=4#Lev.xi-p3.2">3:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=4#Lev.xi-p5.4">3:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=5#Num.iv-p1.3">3:5-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=6#Num.iv-p5.2">3:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=6#Num.ix-p5.1">3:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=7#Num.iv-p5.3">3:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=9#Num.iv-p5.1">3:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=10#Num.iv-p1.2">3:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=10#Num.iv-p3.1">3:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=11#Num.iv-p1.9">3:11-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=12#Num.iv-p5.5">3:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=13#Num.iv-p5.4">3:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=14#Num.iv-p1.4">3:14-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=15#Num.iv-p8.1">3:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=15#Num.ix-p5.1">3:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=17#Num.iv-p9.1">3:17-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=17#Num.iv-p1.6">3:17-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=23#Num.iv-p10.1">3:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=24#Num.iv-p10.6">3:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=25#Num.iv-p10.10">3:25-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=27#Num.iv-p1.7">3:27-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=29#Num.iv-p10.2">3:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=30#Num.iv-p10.7">3:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=30#Num.xvii-p3.2">3:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=31#Num.v-p8.1">3:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=31#Num.iv-p10.11">3:31-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=33#Num.iv-p1.8">3:33-39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=35#Num.iv-p10.3">3:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=35#Num.iv-p10.9">3:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=36#Num.iv-p10.12">3:36-37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=38#Num.iv-p10.4">3:38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=39#Num.iv-p1.5">3:39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=39#Num.iv-p12.1">3:39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=40#Num.iv-p1.10">3:40-45</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=42#Num.iv-p14.1">3:42-43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=43#Num.iv-p12.2">3:43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=46#Num.iv-p1.11">3:46-51</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=4&scrV=2#Num.v-p1.1">4:2-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=4&scrV=3#Num.ix-p12.2">4:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=4&scrV=5#Num.v-p8.2">4:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=4&scrV=6#Num.v-p8.6">4:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=4&scrV=6#Num.v-p8.10">4:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=4&scrV=8#Num.v-p8.10">4:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=4&scrV=10#Num.v-p8.11">4:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=4&scrV=11#Num.v-p8.10">4:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=4&scrV=12#Num.v-p8.11">4:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=4&scrV=13#Num.v-p8.4">4:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=4&scrV=14#Num.v-p8.10">4:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=4&scrV=15#Num.v-p10.3">4:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=4&scrV=16#Num.v-p9.1">4:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=4&scrV=16#Num.xxvii-p12.1">4:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=4&scrV=18#Num.v-p10.1">4:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=4&scrV=20#Num.v-p10.2">4:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=4&scrV=22#Num.v-p12.1">4:22-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=4&scrV=23#Num.ii-p16.2">4:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=4&scrV=24#Num.v-p1.2">4:24-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=4&scrV=27#Num.v-p12.2">4:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=4&scrV=28#Num.v-p12.3">4:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=4&scrV=28#Num.xxvii-p12.1">4:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=4&scrV=29#Num.v-p1.3">4:29-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=4&scrV=31#Num.v-p12.4">4:31-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=4&scrV=34#Num.v-p1.4">4:34-49</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=4&scrV=47#Num.iv-p8.2">4:47-48</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=5&scrV=1#Num.vi-p1.1">5:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=5&scrV=1#Num.i-p3.9">5:1-6:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=5&scrV=2#Num.vi-p3.1">5:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=5&scrV=4#Num.vi-p4.1">5:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=5&scrV=4#Num.vi-p12.15">5:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=5&scrV=5#Num.vi-p1.2">5:5-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=5&scrV=6#Num.vi-p6.1">5:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=5&scrV=7#Num.vi-p6.3">5:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=5&scrV=8#Lev.xxvi-p14.5">5:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=5&scrV=8#Num.vi-p6.2">5:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=5&scrV=8#Num.vi-p6.5">5:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=5&scrV=9#Num.vi-p1.3">5:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=5&scrV=9#Num.vi-p7.1">5:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=5&scrV=11#Num.vi-p1.4">5:11-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=5&scrV=12#Num.vi-p10.1">5:12-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=5&scrV=19#Num.vi-p12.4">5:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=5&scrV=19#Num.vi-p12.3">5:19-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=5&scrV=21#Num.vi-p12.5">5:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=5&scrV=23#Num.vi-p12.7">5:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=5&scrV=24#Num.vi-p12.12">5:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=5&scrV=25#Num.vi-p12.16">5:25-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=5&scrV=27#Num.vi-p12.17">5:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=5&scrV=28#Num.vi-p12.20">5:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=1#Num.vii-p1.1">6:1-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=2#Num.vii-p4.1">6:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=3#Num.vii-p6.1">6:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=5#Num.vii-p7.1">6:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=6#Num.vii-p8.1">6:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=8#Num.vii-p9.1">6:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=9#Num.vii-p7.4">6:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=9#Num.vii-p10.1">6:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=9#Num.vii-p10.2">6:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=9#Num.vii-p1.2">6:9-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=10#Num.vii-p10.3">6:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=12#Num.vii-p10.5">6:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=12#Lev.vi-p1.6">6:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=13#Num.vii-p11.3">6:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=13#Num.vii-p1.3">6:13-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=14#Num.vii-p11.4">6:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=14#Num.vii-p11.5">6:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=15#Num.vii-p11.7">6:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=16#Num.vii-p11.6">6:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=17#Num.vii-p11.7">6:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=18#Num.vii-p11.11">6:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=19#Num.vii-p11.8">6:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=21#Num.vii-p11.9">6:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=22#Num.vii-p1.4">6:22-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=23#Num.vii-p13.1">6:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=23#Deu.xxviii-p9.4">6:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=24#Num.vii-p14.5">6:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=24#Num.vii-p14.1">6:24-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=25#Num.vii-p14.7">6:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=25#Num.ix-p3.5">6:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=26#Num.vii-p14.8">6:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=27#Num.vii-p15.1">6:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=7&scrV=1#Num.viii-p4.1">7:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=7&scrV=1#Num.viii-p1.1">7:1-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=7&scrV=1#Num.x-p4.6">7:1-89</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=7&scrV=1#Num.i-p3.2">7:1-8:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=7&scrV=2#Num.viii-p5.1">7:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=7&scrV=3#Num.viii-p6.1">7:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=7&scrV=7#Num.viii-p7.1">7:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=7&scrV=8#Num.viii-p7.2">7:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=7&scrV=9#Num.viii-p7.5">7:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=7&scrV=10#Num.viii-p1.2">7:10-88</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=7&scrV=11#Num.viii-p14.1">7:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=7&scrV=12#Num.viii-p16.2">7:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=7&scrV=84#Num.viii-p18.1">7:84-88</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=7&scrV=89#Num.viii-p1.3">7:89</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=7&scrV=89#Num.viii-p19.1">7:89</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=8&scrV=1#Num.ix-p1.1">8:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=8&scrV=3#Num.ix-p3.3">8:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=8&scrV=5#Num.ix-p1.3">8:5-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=8&scrV=6#Num.ix-p5.2">8:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=8&scrV=9#Num.ix-p1.4">8:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=8&scrV=10#Num.ix-p7.1">8:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=8&scrV=10#Num.ix-p8.3">8:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=8&scrV=11#Num.ix-p9.1">8:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=8&scrV=11#Num.ix-p11.2">8:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=8&scrV=11#Num.ix-p1.5">8:11-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=8&scrV=12#Num.ix-p8.1">8:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=8&scrV=14#Num.ix-p10.1">8:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=8&scrV=15#Num.ix-p10.4">8:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=8&scrV=16#Num.ix-p10.2">8:16-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=8&scrV=19#Num.ix-p1.6">8:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=8&scrV=19#Num.ix-p8.2">8:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=8&scrV=19#Num.ix-p11.1">8:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=8&scrV=19#Num.ix-p11.3">8:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=8&scrV=20#Num.ix-p5.3">8:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=8&scrV=20#Num.ix-p1.7">8:20-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=8&scrV=23#Num.ix-p1.8">8:23-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=8&scrV=24#Num.v-p5.1">8:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=8&scrV=24#Num.ix-p12.1">8:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=8&scrV=25#Num.ix-p12.3">8:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=9&scrV=1#Num.x-p1.1">9:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=9&scrV=1#Num.i-p3.3">9:1-10:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=9&scrV=4#Num.x-p4.3">9:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=9&scrV=5#Num.x-p4.5">9:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=9&scrV=6#Num.x-p6.1">9:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=9&scrV=6#Num.x-p1.2">9:6-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=9&scrV=7#Num.x-p7.1">9:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=9&scrV=8#Num.x-p8.1">9:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=9&scrV=10#Num.x-p9.1">9:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=9&scrV=12#Num.x-p9.5">9:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=9&scrV=13#Num.x-p9.6">9:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=9&scrV=14#Num.x-p9.7">9:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=9&scrV=15#Num.x-p1.3">9:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=9&scrV=17#Num.x-p14.2">9:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=9&scrV=17#Num.x-p14.4">9:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=9&scrV=19#Ex.xli-p10.5">9:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=9&scrV=19#Num.x-p9.4">9:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=9&scrV=21#Num.x-p14.3">9:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=9&scrV=22#Num.x-p14.1">9:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=1#Num.xi-p1.1">10:1-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=2#Num.xi-p3.5">10:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=5#Num.xi-p3.10">10:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=5#Num.xi-p3.13">10:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=7#Num.xi-p3.11">10:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=8#Num.xi-p3.2">10:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=9#Num.xi-p3.15">10:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=10#Num.xi-p3.17">10:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=10#Num.xxix-p6.8">10:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=11#Num.ii-p9.2">10:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=11#Num.xi-p5.3">10:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=11#Ex.xix-p3.1">10:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=11#Ex.xxvi-p16.3">10:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=11#Num.xi-p1.2">10:11-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=13#Num.xi-p5.4">10:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=14#Num.xi-p6.1">10:14-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=17#Num.xi-p6.2">10:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=18#Num.xi-p6.4">10:18-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=21#Num.xi-p6.5">10:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=22#Num.xi-p6.6">10:22-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=25#Num.xi-p6.9">10:25-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=29#Num.xi-p8.4">10:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=29#Ex.xix-p3.1">10:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=29#Num.xi-p1.3">10:29-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=30#Num.xi-p8.7">10:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=31#Num.xi-p8.9">10:31-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=32#Num.xi-p8.10">10:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=33#Num.xi-p1.4">10:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=33#Num.xi-p10.1">10:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=35#Num.xi-p13.1">10:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=36#Num.xi-p14.1">10:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=1#Num.xii-p3.1">11:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=1#Num.xii-p1.1">11:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=1#Num.xv-p30.10">11:1-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=1#Num.i-p3.4">11:1-14:45</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=2#Num.xii-p6.1">11:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=3#Num.xii-p8.1">11:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=4#Num.xii-p12.1">11:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=4#Num.xii-p12.3">11:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=4#Ex.xiii-p23.4">11:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=4#Lev.xviii-p5.3">11:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=4#Num.xii-p1.2">11:4-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=5#Num.xii-p13.2">11:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=5#Ex.viii-p8.1">11:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=6#Num.xii-p13.3">11:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=7#Num.xii-p13.4">11:7-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=10#Num.xii-p1.3">11:10-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=12#Deu.ii-p21.5">11:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=13#Num.xii-p14.1">11:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=14#Num.xii-p14.3">11:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=15#Num.xii-p14.4">11:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=15#Ex.xxxiii-p38.10">11:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=16#Num.xii-p18.1">11:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=16#Num.xii-p1.4">11:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=17#Num.xii-p19.1">11:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=18#Num.xii-p20.1">11:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=18#Num.xii-p1.5">11:18-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=19#Num.xii-p21.1">11:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=21#Num.xii-p22.1">11:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=22#Lev.xviii-p5.3">11:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=22#Num.xxi-p11.8">11:22-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=23#Num.xii-p23.1">11:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=24#Num.xii-p26.1">11:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=24#Num.xii-p1.6">11:24-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=25#Num.xii-p26.2">11:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=26#Num.xii-p28.1">11:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=27#Num.xii-p30.1">11:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=28#Num.xii-p31.1">11:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=29#Num.xii-p32.1">11:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=29#Num.xvii-p7.2">11:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=30#Num.xii-p33.1">11:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=31#Num.xii-p35.2">11:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=31#Num.xii-p1.7">11:31-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=32#Num.xii-p35.3">11:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=33#Num.xii-p35.4">11:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=33#Num.xii-p1.8">11:33-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=34#Num.xii-p35.7">11:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=12&scrV=1#Num.xiii-p3.1">12:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=12&scrV=1#Num.xxi-p4.5">12:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=12&scrV=1#Num.xiii-p1.1">12:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=12&scrV=2#Num.xiii-p3.6">12:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=12&scrV=2#Num.xiii-p4.1">12:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=12&scrV=3#Num.xiii-p4.2">12:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=12&scrV=4#Num.xiii-p7.1">12:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=12&scrV=4#Num.xiii-p1.2">12:4-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=12&scrV=6#Num.xiii-p8.1">12:6-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=12&scrV=6#Ex.xix-p17.2">12:6-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=12&scrV=7#Num.xiii-p8.4">12:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=12&scrV=8#Num.viii-p19.1">12:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=12&scrV=8#Deu.xxxv-p14.1">12:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=12&scrV=8#Deu.v-p11.7">12:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=12&scrV=9#Num.xiii-p10.1">12:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=12&scrV=10#Num.xiii-p1.3">12:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=12&scrV=10#Num.xiii-p12.1">12:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=12&scrV=11#Num.xiii-p13.3">12:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=12&scrV=11#Num.xiii-p13.1">12:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=12&scrV=11#Num.xiii-p1.4">12:11-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=12&scrV=12#Num.xiii-p13.4">12:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=12&scrV=12#Ex.v-p7.2">12:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=12&scrV=13#Num.xiii-p14.1">12:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=12&scrV=13#Gen.xxi-p23.2">12:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=12&scrV=14#Num.xiii-p15.2">12:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=12&scrV=14#Num.xiii-p1.5">12:14-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=12&scrV=15#Num.xiii-p16.1">12:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=1#Num.xiv-p3.1">13:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=1#Num.xiv-p1.3">13:1-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=1#Deu.ii-p16.1">13:1-14:45</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=4#Num.xiv-p4.1">13:4-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=16#Num.xiv-p4.2">13:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=17#Num.xiv-p5.1">13:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=17#Num.xiv-p1.4">13:17-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=18#Num.xiv-p5.2">13:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=19#Num.xiv-p5.3">13:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=20#Num.xiv-p5.4">13:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=21#Num.xiv-p8.1">13:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=21#Num.xiv-p1.5">13:21-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=22#Num.xiv-p8.3">13:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=23#Num.xiv-p8.7">13:23-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=26#Num.xiv-p1.6">13:26-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=27#Num.xiv-p12.1">13:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=28#Num.xiv-p12.4">13:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=28#Num.xiv-p12.7">13:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=28#Num.xiv-p12.8">13:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=28#Deu.x-p4.3">13:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=29#Num.xiv-p13.1">13:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=29#Num.xv-p31.5">13:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=30#Num.xiv-p15.1">13:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=31#Num.xiv-p12.6">13:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=31#Num.xiv-p12.11">13:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=32#Num.xiv-p12.2">13:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=32#Num.xiv-p12.5">13:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=33#Num.xiv-p8.6">13:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=33#Num.xiv-p12.9">13:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=33#Deu.x-p4.3">13:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=33#Gen.vii-p11.1">13:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=1#Num.xv-p4.1">14:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=1#Num.xv-p5.2">14:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=1#Num.xv-p40.2">14:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=1#Deu.ii-p24.6">14:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=1#Num.xv-p1.1">14:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=1#Num.xvi-p1.1">14:1-45</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=2#Num.xv-p10.2">14:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=2#Num.xv-p18.2">14:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=2#Num.xv-p30.4">14:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=2#Num.xv-p5.1">14:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=3#Num.xv-p5.4">14:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=3#Num.xv-p6.1">14:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=3#Num.xv-p15.6">14:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=3#Num.xv-p34.2">14:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=4#Num.xv-p6.2">14:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=5#Num.xv-p10.1">14:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=5#Num.xvii-p6.2">14:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=5#Num.xv-p1.2">14:5-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=7#Num.xv-p12.1">14:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=7#Num.xv-p11.1">14:7-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=8#Num.xv-p14.1">14:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=9#Num.xv-p13.1">14:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=9#Num.xv-p14.3">14:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=9#Num.xv-p15.4">14:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=9#Num.xv-p40.3">14:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=10#Num.xv-p15.1">14:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=10#Num.xvii-p20.3">14:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=11#Num.xv-p18.1">14:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=11#Num.xv-p1.3">14:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=12#Num.xv-p19.1">14:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=13#Num.xv-p23.3">14:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=13#Num.xv-p23.1">14:13-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=13#Num.xv-p1.4">14:13-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=14#Num.xv-p23.2">14:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=14#Num.xv-p23.4">14:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=15#Num.xv-p24.4">14:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=16#Num.xv-p23.6">14:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=17#Num.xv-p24.1">14:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=19#Num.xv-p21.1">14:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=19#Num.xv-p25.1">14:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=19#Num.xv-p28.2">14:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=20#Num.xv-p28.1">14:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=20#Num.xv-p28.3">14:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=20#Num.xv-p27.1">14:20-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=20#Num.xv-p1.5">14:20-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=21#Num.xv-p29.1">14:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=22#Num.xv-p30.1">14:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=22#Ex.xv-p9.5">14:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=23#Num.xv-p31.1">14:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=23#Deu.iii-p11.3">14:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=24#Num.xv-p33.1">14:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=25#Num.xv-p31.4">14:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=26#Num.xv-p27.2">14:26-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=27#Num.xv-p30.1">14:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=27#Num.xv-p30.3">14:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=28#Num.xv-p31.6">14:28-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=29#Num.xxvii-p14.1">14:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=30#Num.xv-p31.2">14:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=30#Num.xv-p33.2">14:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=31#Num.xv-p34.1">14:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=32#Num.xv-p31.7">14:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=33#Num.xxi-p7.5">14:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=33#Num.xv-p31.8">14:33-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=34#Deu.ii-p3.2">14:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=35#Num.xv-p31.7">14:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=36#Num.xv-p40.1">14:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=36#Num.xv-p36.1">14:36-37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=36#Num.xv-p1.6">14:36-39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=37#Num.xiv-p12.3">14:37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=38#Num.xv-p39.1">14:38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=40#Num.xv-p42.1">14:40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=40#Gen.xxix-p10.1">14:40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=40#Num.xv-p1.7">14:40-45</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=41#Num.xv-p43.1">14:41-43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=44#Num.xv-p44.1">14:44</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=45#Num.xv-p45.1">14:45</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=1#Num.xvi-p1.4">15:1-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=2#Num.xvi-p4.1">15:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=3#Num.xvi-p4.3">15:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=3#Num.xvi-p4.5">15:3-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=4#Lev.iii-p3.2">15:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=6#Num.xvi-p4.6">15:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=7#Lev.iii-p3.2">15:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=8#Num.xvi-p4.7">15:8-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=9#Lev.iii-p3.2">15:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=10#Lev.iii-p3.2">15:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=13#Num.xvi-p1.5">15:13-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=13#Num.xvi-p5.1">15:13-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=17#Num.xvi-p1.6">15:17-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=18#Num.xvi-p6.1">15:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=20#Num.xvi-p6.2">15:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=22#Num.xvi-p8.1">15:22-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=22#Num.xvi-p1.7">15:22-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=24#Num.xvi-p8.2">15:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=24#Num.xvi-p8.6">15:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=24#Num.xvi-p8.8">15:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=25#Num.xvi-p8.3">15:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=25#Num.xvi-p8.4">15:25-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=27#Num.xvi-p8.10">15:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=28#Num.xvi-p8.12">15:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=29#Num.xvi-p8.15">15:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=30#Num.xvi-p10.1">15:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=30#Num.xvi-p10.3">15:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=30#Num.xvi-p10.5">15:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=30#Lev.v-p4.4">15:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=30#Lev.xi-p3.14">15:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=30#Num.xvi-p1.8">15:30-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=31#Num.xvi-p10.4">15:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=31#Num.xvi-p10.6">15:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=32#Num.xvi-p11.1">15:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=32#Num.xvi-p1.9">15:32-36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=33#Num.xvi-p11.3">15:33-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=35#Num.xvi-p11.5">15:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=36#Num.xvi-p11.6">15:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=37#Num.xvi-p1.10">15:37-41</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=38#Num.xvi-p13.1">15:38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=38#Deu.xxiii-p10.1">15:38-39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=1#Num.xvii-p3.3">16:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=1#Num.xvii-p1.1">16:1-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=1#Num.xvi-p1.2">16:1-50</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=1#Num.i-p3.5">16:1-17:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=2#Num.xvii-p3.4">16:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=3#Num.xvii-p1.2">16:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=3#Num.xvii-p4.1">16:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=4#Num.xvii-p6.1">16:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=4#Num.xvii-p1.3">16:4-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=5#Num.xvii-p7.1">16:5-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=6#Num.xvii-p19.2">16:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=7#Num.xvii-p9.1">16:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=8#Num.xvii-p9.2">16:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=9#Num.xvii-p11.1">16:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=11#Num.xvii-p13.1">16:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=12#Num.xvii-p15.1">16:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=12#Num.xvii-p24.3">16:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=12#Num.xvii-p1.4">16:12-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=13#Num.xvii-p15.2">16:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=14#Num.xvii-p15.3">16:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=14#Deu.xii-p16.2">16:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=15#Num.xvii-p16.1">16:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=16#Num.xvii-p19.1">16:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=16#Num.xvii-p1.5">16:16-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=18#Num.xvii-p19.3">16:18-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=19#Num.xvii-p19.4">16:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=19#Num.xvii-p20.1">16:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=21#Num.xvii-p20.4">16:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=22#Num.xvii-p21.1">16:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=22#Deu.xxii-p6.8">16:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=23#Num.xvii-p1.6">16:23-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=24#Num.xvii-p23.1">16:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=24#Num.xvii-p24.1">16:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=25#Num.xvii-p24.2">16:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=26#Num.xvii-p24.4">16:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=27#Num.xvii-p23.1">16:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=27#Num.xvii-p25.1">16:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=28#Num.xvii-p26.1">16:28-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=31#Num.xvii-p27.1">16:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=32#Num.xvii-p27.2">16:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=33#Num.xvii-p27.3">16:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=34#Num.xvii-p28.1">16:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=35#Num.xvii-p1.7">16:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=35#Num.xvii-p31.1">16:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=37#Num.xvii-p32.1">16:37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=37#Num.xvii-p1.8">16:37-40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=38#Num.xvii-p32.2">16:38-40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=41#Num.xvii-p34.1">16:41</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=41#Deu.xii-p4.9">16:41</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=41#Num.xvii-p1.9">16:41-43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=42#Num.xvii-p35.1">16:42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=43#Num.xvii-p35.3">16:43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=45#Num.xvii-p1.10">16:45</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=45#Num.xvii-p35.4">16:45</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=46#Num.xvii-p36.2">16:46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=46#Num.xvii-p1.11">16:46-50</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=49#Num.xvii-p37.1">16:49</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=17&scrV=1#Num.xviii-p1.1">17:1-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=17&scrV=5#Num.xviii-p3.2">17:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=17&scrV=5#Num.xviii-p3.4">17:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=17&scrV=7#Num.xviii-p4.1">17:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=17&scrV=8#Num.xviii-p1.2">17:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=17&scrV=8#Num.xviii-p6.1">17:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=17&scrV=10#Num.xviii-p1.3">17:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=17&scrV=10#Num.xviii-p10.1">17:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=17&scrV=12#Num.xviii-p1.4">17:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=17&scrV=12#Num.xviii-p11.1">17:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=17&scrV=13#Num.xx-p1.1">17:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=1#Num.xix-p6.1">18:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=1#Num.xix-p1.1">18:1-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=1#Num.i-p3.10">18:1-19:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=2#Num.xix-p7.1">18:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=2#Num.xix-p7.4">18:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=2#Num.xix-p7.3">18:2-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=4#Num.xix-p7.5">18:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=4#Num.xix-p7.7">18:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=5#Num.xix-p7.9">18:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=6#Num.xix-p7.6">18:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=7#Num.xix-p7.2">18:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=7#Num.xix-p7.8">18:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=8#Num.xix-p9.2">18:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=8#Num.xix-p9.7">18:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=8#Num.xix-p9.8">18:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=8#Num.xix-p1.2">18:8-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=9#Num.xix-p9.3">18:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=11#Num.xix-p9.4">18:11-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=12#Num.xix-p9.6">18:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=12#Deu.xxvii-p8.3">18:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=15#Num.iv-p8.3">18:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=16#Ex.xiv-p10.3">18:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=17#Deu.xvi-p11.4">18:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=17#Ex.xiv-p10.1">18:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=19#Num.xix-p9.9">18:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=20#Num.xix-p12.1">18:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=20#Num.xix-p1.3">18:20-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=21#Num.xix-p13.1">18:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=22#Num.xix-p12.5">18:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=23#Num.xix-p12.2">18:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=24#Num.xix-p12.3">18:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=24#Deu.xv-p11.1">18:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=25#Num.xix-p1.4">18:25-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=26#Num.xix-p13.2">18:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=28#Num.xix-p13.3">18:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=30#Num.xix-p13.4">18:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=31#Num.xix-p13.5">18:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=32#Num.xix-p13.6">18:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=19&scrV=1#Num.xx-p1.2">19:1-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=19&scrV=2#Num.xx-p4.1">19:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=19&scrV=4#Num.xx-p7.1">19:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=19&scrV=5#Num.xx-p8.1">19:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=19&scrV=7#Num.xx-p10.1">19:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=19&scrV=8#Num.xx-p5.1">19:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=19&scrV=8#Num.xx-p10.2">19:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=19&scrV=9#Num.xx-p9.1">19:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=19&scrV=10#Num.xx-p9.3">19:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=19&scrV=10#Num.xx-p10.3">19:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=19&scrV=11#Num.x-p6.2">19:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=19&scrV=11#Num.xx-p13.1">19:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=19&scrV=11#Num.xx-p1.3">19:11-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=19&scrV=12#Num.xx-p16.6">19:12-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=19&scrV=14#Lev.xxii-p4.1">19:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=19&scrV=14#Num.xx-p13.1">19:14-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=19&scrV=17#Num.xx-p1.4">19:17-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=19&scrV=18#Num.xx-p16.2">19:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=19&scrV=20#Num.xx-p16.7">19:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=19&scrV=21#Num.xx-p16.8">19:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=1#Num.xxi-p1.1">20:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=1#Num.xxi-p3.1">20:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=1#Num.xxi-p4.2">20:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=1#Num.i-p3.6">20:1-26:65</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=2#Num.xxi-p1.2">20:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=2#Num.xxi-p6.1">20:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=2#Num.xxi-p7.1">20:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=2#Deu.xxxiv-p15.3">20:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=3#Num.xxi-p7.2">20:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=3#Deu.xi-p5.2">20:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=3#Num.xxi-p1.3">20:3-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=4#Num.xxi-p7.4">20:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=6#Num.xxi-p8.1">20:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=6#Num.xxi-p9.3">20:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=6#Num.xxi-p1.4">20:6-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=8#Num.xxi-p9.4">20:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=8#Num.xxi-p9.7">20:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=8#Num.xxi-p9.9">20:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=9#Num.xxi-p9.5">20:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=10#Num.xxi-p1.5">20:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=10#Num.xxi-p10.1">20:10-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=11#Num.xxi-p9.8">20:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=12#Num.xxi-p11.1">20:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=12#Num.xxi-p11.2">20:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=12#Num.xxi-p13.4">20:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=12#Num.xxi-p1.6">20:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=13#Num.xxi-p5.2">20:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=13#Num.xxi-p13.1">20:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=14#Num.xxi-p1.7">20:14-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=14#Num.xxi-p16.1">20:14-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=16#Num.xxi-p16.2">20:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=16#Ex.iii-p26.5">20:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=17#Num.xxi-p16.4">20:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=18#Num.xxi-p17.1">20:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=18#Num.xxii-p19.2">20:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=18#Gen.xxxvii-p9.4">20:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=18#Num.xxi-p1.8">20:18-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=19#Num.xxi-p16.4">20:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=20#Num.xxi-p17.2">20:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=20#Num.xxii-p19.2">20:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=20#Deu.xxiv-p7.2">20:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=21#Deu.iii-p6.2">20:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=22#Num.xxi-p1.9">20:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=24#Num.xxi-p20.1">20:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=27#Num.xxi-p22.1">20:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=29#Num.xxi-p27.1">20:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=1#Num.xxii-p3.2">21:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=1#Num.xxii-p1.1">21:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=1#Gen.xxix-p24.2">21:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=2#Num.xxii-p3.3">21:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=3#Num.xxii-p3.4">21:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=4#Num.xxii-p5.1">21:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=4#Num.xxii-p1.2">21:4-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=5#Num.xxii-p6.1">21:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=5#Num.xxii-p7.3">21:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=6#Num.xxii-p7.1">21:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=7#Num.xxii-p8.1">21:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=7#Num.xxii-p9.2">21:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=8#Num.xxii-p9.1">21:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=10#Num.xxii-p14.1">21:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=10#Num.xxii-p16.2">21:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=10#Num.xxii-p1.3">21:10-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=13#Num.xxii-p15.4">21:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=13#Num.xxii-p15.1">21:13-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=14#Ex.xviii-p9.1">21:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=16#Num.xxii-p16.1">21:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=16#Num.xxii-p16.4">21:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=17#Num.xxii-p16.5">21:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=18#Num.xviii-p3.3">21:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=18#Num.xxii-p16.10">21:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=18#Num.xxiii-p3.1">21:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=18#Ex.xviii-p6.7">21:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=21#Num.xxii-p19.1">21:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=21#Num.xxii-p1.4">21:21-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=23#Num.xxii-p19.3">21:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=24#Num.xxii-p19.6">21:24-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=26#Num.xxii-p19.10">21:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=26#Num.xxii-p19.17">21:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=26#Num.xxii-p15.5">21:26-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=27#Num.xxii-p19.13">21:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=27#Num.xxii-p19.12">21:27-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=28#Num.xxii-p19.15">21:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=29#Num.xxii-p19.16">21:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=30#Num.xxii-p19.14">21:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=33#Num.xxii-p20.2">21:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=33#Num.xxii-p1.5">21:33-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=34#Num.xxii-p20.4">21:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=1#Num.xxiii-p1.2">22:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=2#Num.xxiii-p4.3">22:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=2#Num.xxiii-p4.1">22:2-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=3#Num.xxiii-p4.4">22:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=3#Num.xxiv-p10.2">22:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=3#Ex.xvi-p11.5">22:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=4#Num.xxiii-p4.5">22:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=4#Num.xxxii-p8.5">22:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=5#Num.xxiii-p6.1">22:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=5#Num.xxiii-p1.3">22:5-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=6#Num.xxiii-p6.2">22:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=6#Deu.iii-p12.2">22:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=7#Num.xxiii-p6.9">22:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=8#Num.xxiii-p7.1">22:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=9#Num.xxiii-p7.2">22:9-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=12#Num.xxiii-p7.3">22:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=13#Num.xxiii-p8.1">22:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=14#Num.xxiii-p8.2">22:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=15#Num.xxiii-p11.1">22:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=15#Num.xxiii-p1.4">22:15-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=16#Num.xxiii-p11.2">22:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=17#Num.xxiii-p11.3">22:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=18#Num.xxiii-p12.1">22:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=18#Num.xxiii-p12.2">22:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=19#Num.xxiii-p12.3">22:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=20#Num.xxiii-p13.1">22:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=21#Num.xxiii-p14.1">22:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=22#Num.xxiii-p17.1">22:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=22#Num.xxiii-p1.5">22:22-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=23#Num.xxiii-p18.4">22:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=23#Num.xxiii-p19.1">22:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=23#Num.xxiii-p19.5">22:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=23#Gen.iv-p67.1">22:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=24#Num.xxiii-p19.6">22:24-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=26#Num.xxiii-p19.7">22:26-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=28#Num.xxiii-p19.8">22:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=28#Num.xxiii-p19.11">22:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=29#Num.xxiii-p19.14">22:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=30#Num.xxiii-p19.15">22:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=31#Num.xxiii-p20.1">22:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=31#Gen.iv-p22.2">22:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=32#Num.xxiii-p20.2">22:32-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=34#Num.xxiii-p20.3">22:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=35#Num.xxiii-p20.4">22:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=36#Num.xxiii-p22.1">22:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=36#Num.xxiii-p1.6">22:36-41</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=37#Num.xxiii-p22.2">22:37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=38#Num.xxiii-p22.3">22:38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=38#Num.xxiv-p25.3">22:38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=40#Num.xxiii-p22.5">22:40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=41#Num.xxiv-p10.3">22:41</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=1#Num.xxiv-p1.1">23:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=3#Num.xxiv-p5.1">23:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=3#Num.xxiv-p5.2">23:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=4#Num.xxiv-p5.4">23:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=4#Num.xxiv-p1.2">23:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=5#Num.xxiv-p5.7">23:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=6#Num.xxiv-p6.1">23:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=7#Num.xxiv-p6.2">23:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=7#Num.xxiv-p7.1">23:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=7#Num.xxiv-p1.3">23:7-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=8#Num.xxiv-p7.2">23:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=8#Num.xxiv-p19.2">23:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=9#Num.xxiv-p9.1">23:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=9#Num.xxiv-p14.2">23:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=10#Num.xxiv-p10.1">23:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=11#Num.xxiv-p12.1">23:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=11#Num.xxiv-p1.4">23:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=12#Num.xxiv-p12.2">23:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=13#Num.xxiv-p14.1">23:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=13#Num.xxiv-p1.5">23:13-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=14#Num.xxiv-p14.3">23:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=16#Num.xxv-p4.5">23:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=16#Num.xxiv-p14.4">23:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=17#Num.xxiv-p15.1">23:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=18#Num.xxiv-p15.2">23:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=19#Num.xxiv-p19.1">23:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=20#Num.xxiv-p19.4">23:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=21#Num.xxiv-p20.1">23:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=22#Num.xxiv-p21.1">23:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=22#Num.xxv-p9.2">23:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=23#Num.xxiv-p22.1">23:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=24#Num.xxiv-p23.1">23:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=25#Num.xxiv-p25.1">23:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=26#Num.xxiv-p25.4">23:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=27#Num.xxiv-p26.1">23:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=27#Num.xxiv-p1.6">23:27-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=29#Num.xxiv-p26.3">23:29-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=1#Num.xxiv-p5.3">24:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=1#Num.xxv-p4.1">24:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=1#Num.xxv-p1.1">24:1-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=2#Num.xxv-p6.2">24:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=3#Num.xxiii-p19.2">24:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=3#Num.xxv-p4.3">24:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=3#Num.xxv-p16.1">24:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=3#Num.xxv-p4.7">24:3-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=4#Num.xxv-p4.8">24:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=5#Num.iii-p5.10">24:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=5#Num.xxv-p6.1">24:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=6#Num.xxv-p6.4">24:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=6#Num.xxv-p7.1">24:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=7#Num.xxv-p7.2">24:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=7#Num.xxv-p18.2">24:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=8#Num.xxiv-p21.2">24:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=8#Num.xxv-p9.1">24:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=9#Num.xxv-p10.1">24:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=9#Gen.xxviii-p15.11">24:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=9#Gen.xiii-p12.1">24:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=10#Num.xxv-p13.1">24:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=10#Num.xxv-p1.2">24:10-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=11#Num.xxv-p13.2">24:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=12#Num.xxv-p13.3">24:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=14#Num.xxv-p13.4">24:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=14#Num.xxv-p17.4">24:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=14#Num.xxv-p1.3">24:14-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=15#Num.xxv-p16.2">24:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=17#Num.xxv-p17.1">24:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=17#Num.xxv-p17.7">24:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=17#Gen.xxviii-p15.7">24:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=18#Num.xxv-p17.2">24:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=19#Gen.xxviii-p15.6">24:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=20#Num.xxv-p18.1">24:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=20#Ex.xviii-p9.2">24:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=21#Num.xxv-p18.4">24:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=22#Num.xxv-p18.5">24:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=23#Num.xxv-p20.1">24:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=24#Num.xxv-p19.1">24:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=50#Num.vii-p13.4">24:50-51</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=25&scrV=1#Num.xxxiv-p7.11">25:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=25&scrV=1#Num.xxvi-p1.1">25:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=25&scrV=3#Num.xxvi-p3.1">25:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=25&scrV=3#Num.xxvi-p4.3">25:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=25&scrV=4#Num.xxvi-p4.6">25:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=25&scrV=4#Num.xxvi-p1.2">25:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=25&scrV=5#Num.xxvi-p4.7">25:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=25&scrV=6#Num.xxvi-p1.4">25:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=25&scrV=7#Num.xxvi-p8.1">25:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=25&scrV=8#Num.xxvi-p1.4">25:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=25&scrV=8#Num.xxvi-p4.1">25:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=25&scrV=8#Num.xxvi-p7.1">25:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=25&scrV=8#Num.xxvi-p8.2">25:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=25&scrV=9#Num.xxvi-p1.3">25:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=25&scrV=9#Num.xxvi-p4.2">25:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=25&scrV=10#Num.xxvi-p1.5">25:10-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=25&scrV=11#Num.xxvi-p8.5">25:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=25&scrV=12#Lev.ix-p13.9">25:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=25&scrV=12#Num.xxvi-p8.6">25:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=25&scrV=13#Num.xxvi-p8.8">25:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=25&scrV=14#Num.xxvi-p1.4">25:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=25&scrV=14#Gen.l-p6.4">25:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=25&scrV=15#Num.xxvi-p1.4">25:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=25&scrV=15#Num.xxxii-p6.3">25:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=25&scrV=15#Num.xxxii-p8.7">25:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=25&scrV=16#Num.xxvi-p1.6">25:16-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=25&scrV=17#Num.xxvi-p10.1">25:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=25&scrV=18#Num.xxvi-p10.4">25:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=26&scrV=1#Num.xxxvii-p8.2">26:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=26&scrV=1#Num.xxvii-p1.2">26:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=26&scrV=1#Num.i-p2.3">26:1-65</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=26&scrV=5#Num.xxvii-p1.3">26:5-50</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=26&scrV=5#Gen.xlvii-p10.6">26:5-65</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=26&scrV=9#Num.xxvii-p8.2">26:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=26&scrV=9#Num.xxvii-p8.1">26:9-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=26&scrV=10#Num.xxvii-p8.3">26:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=26&scrV=11#Num.xxvii-p8.4">26:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=26&scrV=11#Deu.xxxiv-p17.2">26:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=26&scrV=42#Num.ii-p10.8">26:42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=26&scrV=42#Num.xxvii-p6.1">26:42-43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=26&scrV=47#Deu.xxxiv-p39.3">26:47</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=26&scrV=51#Num.xxvii-p1.4">26:51</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=26&scrV=52#Num.xxvii-p1.5">26:52-56</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=26&scrV=53#Num.xxviii-p5.2">26:53</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=26&scrV=54#Num.xxvii-p10.1">26:54</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=26&scrV=55#Num.xxvii-p10.2">26:55</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=26&scrV=57#Num.xxvii-p1.6">26:57-62</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=26&scrV=59#Ex.vii-p15.7">26:59</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=26&scrV=63#Num.xxvii-p1.7">26:63-65</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=26&scrV=64#Num.xxvii-p14.2">26:64-65</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=27&scrV=1#Num.xxviii-p1.1">27:1-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=27&scrV=1#Num.i-p3.13">27:1-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=27&scrV=2#Num.xxviii-p4.1">27:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=27&scrV=3#Num.xxviii-p6.1">27:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=27&scrV=4#Num.xxviii-p5.1">27:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=27&scrV=5#Num.xxviii-p7.1">27:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=27&scrV=7#Num.xxviii-p7.2">27:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=27&scrV=7#Num.xxxvii-p1.1">27:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=27&scrV=8#Num.xxviii-p7.3">27:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=27&scrV=9#Num.xxviii-p7.4">27:9-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=27&scrV=12#Num.xxviii-p9.2">27:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=27&scrV=12#Num.xxviii-p1.2">27:12-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=27&scrV=13#Num.xxviii-p9.3">27:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=27&scrV=13#Gen.xlix-p5.10">27:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=27&scrV=14#Num.xxi-p11.3">27:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=27&scrV=14#Num.xxviii-p9.1">27:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=27&scrV=15#Num.xxviii-p1.3">27:15-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=27&scrV=18#Num.xxviii-p13.1">27:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=27&scrV=18#Deu.xxxii-p4.5">27:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=27&scrV=18#Num.xxviii-p1.4">27:18-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=27&scrV=19#Num.xxviii-p13.3">27:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=27&scrV=20#Num.xxviii-p13.4">27:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=27&scrV=21#Num.xxviii-p13.5">27:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=27&scrV=21#Ex.xxix-p11.6">27:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=27&scrV=22#Num.xxviii-p14.1">27:22-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=27&scrV=33#Num.xxviii-p3.1">27:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=28&scrV=1#Num.xxix-p1.1">28:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=28&scrV=1#Num.i-p3.11">28:1-29:40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=28&scrV=2#Num.xxix-p3.1">28:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=28&scrV=3#Num.xxix-p4.1">28:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=28&scrV=3#Num.xxix-p1.2">28:3-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=28&scrV=6#Num.xxix-p4.2">28:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=28&scrV=7#Num.xxix-p4.4">28:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=28&scrV=9#Num.xxix-p1.3">28:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=28&scrV=9#Num.xxix-p6.1">28:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=28&scrV=10#Num.xxix-p6.3">28:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=28&scrV=11#Num.xxix-p1.4">28:11-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=28&scrV=11#Num.xxix-p6.5">28:11-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=28&scrV=15#Num.xxix-p6.6">28:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=28&scrV=16#Num.xxix-p1.5">28:16-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=28&scrV=17#Num.xxix-p8.1">28:17-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=28&scrV=18#Deu.xvii-p4.11">28:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=28&scrV=19#Deu.xvii-p4.8">28:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=28&scrV=26#Num.xxix-p8.3">28:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=28&scrV=26#Num.xxix-p1.6">28:26-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=28&scrV=27#Num.xxix-p8.7">28:27-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=29&scrV=1#Lev.xxiv-p13.3">29:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=29&scrV=1#Num.xxx-p1.1">29:1-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=29&scrV=2#Num.xxx-p3.2">29:2-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=29&scrV=7#Num.xxx-p1.2">29:7-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=29&scrV=8#Lev.xvii-p8.1">29:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=29&scrV=8#Num.xxx-p3.4">29:8-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=29&scrV=11#Num.xxx-p3.5">29:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=29&scrV=12#Deu.xvii-p6.2">29:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=29&scrV=12#Num.xxx-p1.3">29:12-38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=29&scrV=12#Lev.xxiv-p17.3">29:12-39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=29&scrV=39#Num.xxx-p5.5">29:39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=29&scrV=39#Num.xxx-p1.4">29:39-40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=30&scrV=1#Num.xxxi-p1.1">30:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=30&scrV=1#Num.i-p3.12">30:1-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=30&scrV=3#Num.vii-p4.5">30:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=30&scrV=3#Num.xxxi-p1.2">30:3-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=30&scrV=4#Num.xxxi-p7.1">30:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=30&scrV=6#Num.xxxi-p8.2">30:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=30&scrV=6#Num.xxxi-p8.6">30:6-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=30&scrV=6#Gen.iv-p43.2">30:6-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=30&scrV=6#Num.xxxi-p1.3">30:6-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=30&scrV=8#Num.xxxi-p8.3">30:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=30&scrV=9#Num.xxxi-p8.1">30:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=30&scrV=9#Num.xxxi-p8.4">30:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=30&scrV=10#Num.xxxi-p8.5">30:10-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=30&scrV=13#Num.xxxi-p4.1">30:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=30&scrV=15#Num.xxxi-p8.7">30:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=1#Num.xxxii-p1.1">31:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=1#Num.i-p3.7">31:1-32:42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=2#Num.xxvi-p10.6">31:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=2#Num.xxxii-p3.2">31:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=3#Num.xxxii-p4.1">31:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=3#Num.xxxii-p1.2">31:3-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=7#Num.xxxii-p8.3">31:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=7#Num.xxxii-p1.3">31:7-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=8#Ex.xv-p23.10">31:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=9#Num.xxxii-p8.9">31:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=9#Num.xxxii-p8.11">31:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=10#Num.xxxii-p8.10">31:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=11#Num.xxxii-p8.11">31:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=12#Num.xxxii-p8.11">31:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=13#Num.xxxii-p1.4">31:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=13#Num.xxxii-p11.1">31:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=14#Num.xxxii-p20.8">31:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=14#Num.xxxii-p1.5">31:14-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=15#Num.xxxii-p12.1">31:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=16#Num.xxv-p13.5">31:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=19#Num.xxxii-p14.1">31:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=19#Num.xxxii-p13.2">31:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=19#Num.xxxii-p1.6">31:19-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=21#Num.xxxii-p14.2">31:21-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=24#Num.xxxii-p13.2">31:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=25#Num.xxxii-p1.7">31:25-47</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=29#Num.xxxii-p18.1">31:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=30#Num.xxxii-p18.2">31:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=48#Num.xxxii-p6.1">31:48</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=48#Num.xxxii-p1.8">31:48-54</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=49#Num.xxxii-p20.1">31:49</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=50#Num.xxxii-p20.3">31:50</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=50#Num.xxxii-p20.7">31:50</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=50#Num.xxxii-p17.1">31:50-53</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=54#Num.xxxii-p20.9">31:54</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=1#Num.xxxiii-p4.1">32:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=1#Num.xxxiii-p1.1">32:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=1#Deu.iv-p7.1">32:1-42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=2#Num.xxxiii-p4.2">32:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=2#Deu.xxxiv-p35.2">32:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=5#Num.xxxiii-p6.1">32:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=6#Num.xxxiii-p7.1">32:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=6#Num.xxxiii-p1.2">32:6-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=8#Num.xxxiii-p7.2">32:8-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=14#Num.xxxiii-p7.3">32:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=16#Num.xxxiii-p10.1">32:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=16#Num.xxxiii-p1.3">32:16-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=17#Num.xxxiii-p11.1">32:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=18#Num.xxxiii-p10.2">32:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=19#Num.xxxiii-p10.3">32:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=20#Num.xxxiii-p11.2">32:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=20#Num.xxxiii-p1.4">32:20-42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=22#Num.xxxiii-p11.4">32:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=23#Num.xxxiii-p11.5">32:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=23#Gen.v-p19.2">32:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=25#Num.xxxiii-p4.2">32:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=25#Num.xxxiii-p12.1">32:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=27#Deu.xxxiv-p11.2">32:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=27#Deu.xxxiv-p35.5">32:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=28#Num.xxxiii-p14.1">32:28-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=31#Num.xxxiii-p4.2">32:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=31#Num.xxxiii-p14.2">32:31-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=33#Num.xxxiii-p14.3">32:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=38#Num.xxxiii-p14.5">32:38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=39#Num.xxxiii-p14.4">32:39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=33&scrV=1#Num.xxxiv-p6.1">33:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=33&scrV=1#Num.xxxiv-p1.1">33:1-49</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=33&scrV=1#Num.i-p3.8">33:1-56</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=33&scrV=2#Num.xxxiv-p4.1">33:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=33&scrV=3#Num.xxxiv-p6.2">33:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=33&scrV=4#Num.xxxiv-p6.4">33:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=33&scrV=4#Ex.xiii-p6.3">33:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=33&scrV=6#Num.xxxiv-p7.1">33:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=33&scrV=8#Num.xxxiv-p7.2">33:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=33&scrV=11#Num.xxxiv-p7.3">33:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=33&scrV=14#Num.xxxiv-p7.7">33:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=33&scrV=15#Num.xxxiv-p7.4">33:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=33&scrV=16#Num.xxxiv-p7.10">33:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=33&scrV=38#Num.xxxiv-p7.8">33:38-39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=33&scrV=40#Num.xxxiv-p7.9">33:40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=33&scrV=50#Num.xxxiv-p1.2">33:50-56</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=33&scrV=52#Num.xxxiv-p9.1">33:52</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=33&scrV=53#Num.xxxv-p4.2">33:53</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=33&scrV=53#Num.xxxiv-p9.2">33:53-54</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=33&scrV=55#Num.xxxiv-p9.3">33:55</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=33&scrV=56#Num.xxxiv-p9.4">33:56</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=34&scrV=1#Num.xxxv-p1.1">34:1-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=34&scrV=1#Num.i-p3.13">34:1-36:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=34&scrV=2#Gen.xvi-p43.3">34:2-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=34&scrV=3#Num.xiv-p8.2">34:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=34&scrV=3#Num.xxxv-p6.3">34:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=34&scrV=5#Num.xxxv-p6.2">34:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=34&scrV=6#Num.xxxv-p6.6">34:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=34&scrV=8#Num.xiv-p8.2">34:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=34&scrV=12#Num.xxxv-p6.4">34:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=34&scrV=12#Gen.xx-p21.6">34:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=34&scrV=13#Num.xviii-p3.1">34:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=34&scrV=14#Num.xxxv-p3.3">34:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=34&scrV=16#Num.xxxv-p1.2">34:16-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=34&scrV=17#Num.xxxv-p8.1">34:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=1#Num.xxxvi-p1.1">35:1-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=2#Num.xvi-p11.4">35:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=2#Num.xxxvi-p4.1">35:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=3#Num.xxxvi-p4.2">35:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=4#Lev.xxvi-p14.11">35:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=4#Num.xxxvi-p4.3">35:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=8#Num.xxxvi-p5.1">35:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=9#Num.xxxvi-p1.2">35:9-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=10#Deu.xx-p4.2">35:10-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=15#Num.xxxvi-p12.5">35:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=16#Num.xxxvi-p10.1">35:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=16#Num.xxxvi-p10.5">35:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=16#Num.xxxvi-p1.3">35:16-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=17#Num.xxxvi-p10.7">35:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=18#Num.xxxvi-p10.6">35:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=19#Num.xxxvi-p10.16">35:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=20#Num.xxxvi-p10.2">35:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=20#Num.xxxvi-p10.7">35:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=21#Num.xxxvi-p10.3">35:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=21#Num.xxxvi-p10.8">35:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=22#Num.xxxvi-p11.1">35:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=22#Num.xxxvi-p1.4">35:22-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=23#Num.xxxvi-p11.2">35:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=24#Num.xxxvi-p10.17">35:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=25#Num.xxxvi-p11.4">35:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=25#Num.xxxvi-p1.5">35:25-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=26#Num.xxxvi-p12.6">35:26-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=26#Num.xxxvi-p11.5">35:26-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=27#Num.xxxvi-p10.18">35:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=30#Num.xxxvi-p10.14">35:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=30#Deu.xviii-p6.3">35:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=30#Deu.xx-p12.2">35:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=31#Num.xxxvi-p10.12">35:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=33#Num.xxxvi-p10.11">35:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=36&scrV=1#Num.xxxvii-p1.2">36:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=36&scrV=1#Num.xxviii-p3.2">36:1-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=36&scrV=2#Num.xxxvii-p3.1">36:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=36&scrV=2#Num.xxxvii-p3.3">36:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=36&scrV=3#Num.xxxvii-p3.2">36:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=36&scrV=5#Num.xxxvii-p5.1">36:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=36&scrV=5#Num.xxxvii-p1.3">36:5-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=36&scrV=7#Num.xxxvii-p5.2">36:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=36&scrV=8#Num.xxxvii-p6.1">36:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=36&scrV=8#Num.xxxvii-p1.4">36:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=36&scrV=10#Num.xxxvii-p1.5">36:10-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=36&scrV=10#Num.xxxvii-p7.1">36:10-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=36&scrV=13#Num.xxxvii-p1.6">36:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=36&scrV=13#Num.xxxvii-p8.1">36:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=38&scrV=4#Ex.xvi-p7.7">38:4</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Deuteronomy</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=1#Deu.ii-p3.1">1:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=1#Deu.ii-p1.1">1:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=1#Deu.x-p9.23">1:1-46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=3#Deu.i-p3.6">1:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=3#Deu.ii-p4.1">1:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=3#Deu.ii-p1.2">1:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=5#Deu.ii-p1.1">1:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=5#Deu.ii-p3.1">1:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=6#Deu.ii-p4.2">1:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=6#Num.xi-p5.1">1:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=6#Deu.ii-p4.3">1:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=6#Deu.ii-p1.3">1:6-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=7#Deu.ii-p4.7">1:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=8#Deu.ii-p4.8">1:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=9#Ex.xix-p3.4">1:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=9#Deu.ii-p8.1">1:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=9#Deu.ii-p1.4">1:9-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=10#Deu.ii-p7.1">1:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=11#Deu.ii-p7.2">1:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=12#Deu.ii-p8.2">1:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=13#Deu.ii-p9.1">1:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=14#Deu.ii-p10.1">1:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=15#Deu.ii-p12.1">1:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=16#Ex.xxiv-p5.3">1:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=16#Deu.ii-p13.1">1:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=17#Lev.xxv-p11.3">1:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=19#Deu.ii-p17.1">1:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=19#Deu.ii-p1.5">1:19-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=20#Deu.ii-p18.1">1:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=20#Deu.ii-p19.3">1:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=22#Num.xiv-p3.2">1:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=22#Deu.ii-p19.2">1:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=24#Deu.ii-p20.1">1:24-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=26#Deu.ii-p22.1">1:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=27#Deu.ii-p22.2">1:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=28#Deu.ii-p20.2">1:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=29#Deu.ii-p21.1">1:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=29#Num.xv-p10.3">1:29-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=30#Deu.ii-p21.2">1:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=30#Deu.ii-p21.3">1:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=31#Deu.ii-p21.4">1:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=32#Deu.ii-p22.3">1:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=33#Deu.ii-p21.4">1:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=34#Deu.ii-p23.1">1:34-38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=34#Deu.ii-p1.6">1:34-46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=37#Deu.ii-p23.2">1:37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=38#Deu.ii-p23.3">1:38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=39#Deu.ii-p23.4">1:39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=41#Deu.ii-p24.1">1:41</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=42#Deu.ii-p24.2">1:42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=43#Deu.ii-p24.3">1:43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=44#Deu.ii-p24.4">1:44</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=45#Deu.ii-p24.5">1:45</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Deu.iii-p3.1">2:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Deu.iii-p1.1">2:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=4#Ex.xvi-p11.4">2:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=4#Num.xxii-p15.2">2:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=4#Deu.iii-p6.1">2:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=4#Deu.iii-p1.2">2:4-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=5#Gen.xxxvii-p3.3">2:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=6#Deu.iii-p7.1">2:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=7#Deu.iii-p7.2">2:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=8#Deu.iii-p9.1">2:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=8#Deu.iii-p11.1">2:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=9#Num.xxii-p15.3">2:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=9#Num.xxii-p19.9">2:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=9#Num.xxiii-p4.2">2:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=9#Deu.xxiv-p6.4">2:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=9#Deu.iii-p1.3">2:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=9#Deu.iii-p12.1">2:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=9#Deu.iii-p12.3">2:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=10#Deu.iii-p10.1">2:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=10#Deu.iii-p1.4">2:10-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=11#Deu.iii-p10.11">2:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=12#Gen.xxxvii-p7.3">2:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=12#Deu.iii-p10.2">2:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=13#Deu.iii-p11.2">2:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=13#Deu.iii-p1.5">2:13-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=14#Deu.iii-p11.4">2:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=15#Deu.iii-p11.5">2:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=16#Deu.iii-p11.6">2:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=17#Deu.iii-p1.6">2:17-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=19#Deu.xxiv-p6.4">2:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=19#Deu.iii-p12.3">2:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=20#Deu.iii-p10.5">2:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=21#Deu.iii-p10.11">2:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=22#Gen.xxxvii-p7.3">2:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=22#Deu.iii-p10.3">2:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=23#Deu.iii-p10.8">2:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=24#Deu.iii-p1.7">2:24-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=24#Deu.iii-p15.1">2:24-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=26#Deu.iii-p16.1">2:26-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=26#Deu.iii-p1.8">2:26-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=30#Num.xxii-p19.5">2:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=30#Deu.iii-p17.2">2:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=32#Deu.iii-p17.1">2:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=33#Deu.iii-p18.1">2:33-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=33#Deu.iii-p1.9">2:33-37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=34#Deu.iii-p18.3">2:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=35#Deu.iii-p18.4">2:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=36#Deu.iii-p18.5">2:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=3&scrV=1#Deu.iv-p4.4">3:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=3&scrV=1#Deu.iv-p1.1">3:1-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=3&scrV=2#Deu.iv-p4.6">3:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=3&scrV=3#Deu.iv-p4.2">3:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=3&scrV=4#Deu.iv-p5.1">3:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=3&scrV=5#Deu.iv-p4.3">3:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=3&scrV=7#Deu.iv-p5.2">3:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=3&scrV=8#Deu.iv-p5.4">3:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=3&scrV=10#Deu.iv-p5.3">3:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=3&scrV=11#Num.xxii-p20.1">3:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=3&scrV=11#Deu.iv-p4.1">3:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=3&scrV=12#Deu.iv-p1.2">3:12-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=3&scrV=14#Deu.iv-p7.2">3:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=3&scrV=15#Deu.iv-p7.3">3:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=3&scrV=18#Deu.iv-p1.3">3:18-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=3&scrV=18#Deu.iv-p7.4">3:18-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=3&scrV=21#Deu.iv-p1.4">3:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=3&scrV=21#Deu.iv-p9.1">3:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=3&scrV=23#Deu.iv-p1.5">3:23-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=3&scrV=24#Num.xxviii-p11.1">3:24-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=3&scrV=25#Deu.iv-p13.1">3:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=3&scrV=26#Deu.xxxv-p6.2">3:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=3&scrV=26#Deu.iv-p15.1">3:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=3&scrV=26#Deu.iv-p16.1">3:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=3&scrV=26#Deu.iv-p1.6">3:26-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=3&scrV=27#Deu.iv-p16.2">3:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=3&scrV=28#Deu.iv-p16.3">3:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=1#Deu.v-p4.1">4:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=1#Deu.v-p16.1">4:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=1#Deu.v-p22.1">4:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=1#Deu.v-p1.1">4:1-40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=1#Deu.vii-p1.1">4:1-40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=2#Deu.xiii-p16.6">4:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=2#Deu.v-p8.1">4:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=2#Deu.v-p9.1">4:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=2#Deu.v-p16.2">4:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=3#Deu.v-p21.1">4:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=5#Ex.xx-p19.6">4:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=5#Deu.v-p9.2">4:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=5#Deu.v-p16.3">4:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=6#Deu.v-p9.3">4:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=6#Deu.v-p17.1">4:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=7#Deu.v-p18.2">4:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=7#Lev.x-p13.1">4:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=7#Deu.v-p18.1">4:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=8#Deu.v-p18.6">4:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=9#Deu.v-p10.1">4:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=9#Deu.v-p12.1">4:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=10#Deu.v-p7.1">4:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=10#Deu.v-p12.2">4:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=10#Deu.v-p19.1">4:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=11#Deu.v-p19.2">4:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=12#Deu.v-p11.4">4:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=12#Deu.v-p19.5">4:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=13#Deu.v-p9.4">4:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=14#Deu.v-p9.2">4:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=15#Deu.v-p10.2">4:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=15#Deu.v-p11.5">4:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=15#Deu.v-p11.1">4:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=15#Deu.v-p11.2">4:15-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=19#Gen.ii-p28.1">4:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=19#Deu.v-p11.8">4:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=20#Gen.xvi-p38.1">4:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=20#Deu.v-p20.1">4:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=21#Deu.v-p21.2">4:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=23#Deu.v-p10.3">4:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=23#Deu.v-p13.1">4:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=24#Deu.v-p15.2">4:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=25#Deu.v-p23.2">4:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=25#Deu.v-p23.1">4:25-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=26#Deu.v-p23.3">4:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=27#Deu.v-p23.4">4:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=28#Deu.v-p20.2">4:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=28#Deu.v-p23.5">4:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=29#Deu.v-p23.7">4:29-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=31#Deu.v-p15.6">4:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=32#Deu.v-p19.10">4:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=32#Deu.v-p19.6">4:32-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=33#Deu.xxxiv-p6.1">4:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=33#Deu.xxxiv-p6.4">4:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=33#Ex.xx-p13.1">4:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=33#Deu.v-p19.9">4:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=34#Deu.v-p20.2">4:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=36#Deu.v-p19.4">4:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=36#Deu.v-p19.6">4:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=37#Ex.xvi-p7.4">4:37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=37#Deu.v-p20.2">4:37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=38#Deu.v-p20.3">4:38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=39#Deu.v-p15.1">4:39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=40#Deu.v-p9.5">4:40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=40#Deu.v-p22.2">4:40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=41#Deu.v-p1.2">4:41-43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=41#Deu.v-p26.1">4:41-43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=44#Deu.v-p26.2">4:44-46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=44#Deu.v-p1.3">4:44-49</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=47#Deu.v-p26.3">4:47</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=5&scrV=1#Deu.vi-p3.1">5:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=5&scrV=1#Deu.vi-p1.1">5:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=5&scrV=4#Deu.vi-p3.3">5:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=5&scrV=5#Deu.vi-p3.5">5:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=5&scrV=6#Deu.vi-p1.2">5:6-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=5&scrV=15#Deu.vi-p5.6">5:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=5&scrV=22#Deu.vi-p1.3">5:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=5&scrV=22#Deu.vi-p5.10">5:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=5&scrV=23#Deu.vi-p1.4">5:23-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=5&scrV=25#Deu.vi-p8.1">5:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=5&scrV=27#Deu.vi-p9.1">5:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=5&scrV=28#Deu.vi-p10.1">5:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=5&scrV=28#Deu.vi-p1.5">5:28-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=5&scrV=29#Deu.xxxiii-p36.2">5:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=5&scrV=29#Deu.vi-p10.2">5:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=5&scrV=31#Deu.vi-p10.3">5:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=5&scrV=32#Deu.vi-p1.6">5:32-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=5&scrV=32#Deu.vi-p11.1">5:32-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=1#Deu.vii-p3.1">6:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=1#Deu.vii-p3.3">6:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=1#Deu.vii-p1.2">6:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=2#Deu.vii-p3.4">6:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=2#Deu.vii-p3.6">6:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=2#Deu.vii-p7.1">6:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=3#Deu.vii-p3.5">6:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=3#Deu.vii-p3.7">6:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=4#Deu.vii-p1.3">6:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=4#Deu.vii-p5.1">6:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=5#Deu.vii-p1.4">6:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=6#Deu.xii-p12.2">6:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=6#Deu.vii-p8.1">6:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=6#Deu.vii-p1.5">6:6-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=7#Deu.xxxiii-p10.2">6:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=7#Deu.vii-p8.2">6:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=7#Deu.ix-p1.1">6:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=8#Deu.vii-p8.3">6:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=10#Deu.ix-p16.2">6:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=10#Deu.vii-p9.2">6:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=10#Deu.xxix-p15.19">6:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=10#Deu.vii-p9.1">6:10-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=10#Deu.vii-p1.6">6:10-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=11#Deu.vii-p9.3">6:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=12#Deu.vii-p9.4">6:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=13#Deu.vii-p1.8">6:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=13#Deu.vii-p10.1">6:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=14#Deu.vii-p10.4">6:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=14#Deu.vii-p1.7">6:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=15#Deu.vii-p10.5">6:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=16#Deu.vii-p10.6">6:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=16#Deu.vii-p1.8">6:16-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=17#Deu.vii-p12.1">6:17-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=20#Deu.vii-p14.1">6:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=20#Deu.vii-p1.9">6:20-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=21#Deu.vii-p15.1">6:21-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=24#Deu.vii-p15.2">6:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=1#Deu.viii-p5.1">7:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=1#Deu.viii-p4.1">7:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=2#Deu.xxi-p13.5">7:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=2#Deu.xxxii-p4.8">7:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=2#Deu.viii-p6.1">7:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=2#Lev.xii-p9.6">7:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=3#Deu.viii-p7.5">7:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=3#Gen.vii-p3.7">7:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=3#Deu.viii-p7.1">7:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=5#Deu.viii-p8.1">7:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=6#Deu.viii-p10.1">7:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=7#Ex.xx-p4.12">7:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=7#Deu.viii-p11.2">7:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=8#Deu.viii-p11.3">7:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=9#Deu.viii-p12.1">7:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=10#Deu.viii-p12.2">7:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=12#Deu.viii-p16.1">7:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=13#Deu.viii-p17.1">7:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=15#Deu.viii-p18.1">7:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=16#Deu.viii-p14.1">7:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=16#Deu.viii-p19.1">7:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=17#Deu.viii-p19.6">7:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=18#Deu.viii-p19.4">7:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=18#Deu.viii-p19.8">7:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=18#Deu.viii-p19.7">7:18-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=20#Deu.viii-p19.9">7:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=21#Deu.viii-p19.5">7:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=21#Deu.viii-p19.10">7:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=22#Deu.viii-p19.11">7:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=23#Deu.viii-p19.2">7:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=25#Deu.viii-p14.3">7:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=25#Deu.viii-p14.2">7:25-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=26#Deu.viii-p14.4">7:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=1#Deu.ix-p1.2">8:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=1#Deu.ix-p3.1">8:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=1#Deu.ix-p3.3">8:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=1#Deu.viii-p1.2">8:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=2#Num.xv-p31.9">8:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=2#Num.xxxiv-p4.2">8:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=2#Ex.xiv-p13.5">8:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=2#Deu.ix-p4.1">8:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=2#Deu.ix-p1.3">8:2-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=3#Deu.ix-p16.14">8:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=3#Ex.xvii-p7.8">8:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=3#Deu.ix-p7.1">8:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=3#Deu.viii-p1.3">8:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=4#Num.xii-p3.3">8:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=4#Deu.ix-p7.5">8:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=5#Deu.viii-p1.4">8:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=6#Deu.ix-p9.1">8:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=6#Deu.ix-p9.3">8:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=6#Deu.viii-p1.5">8:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=6#Deu.ix-p1.2">8:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=6#Deu.ix-p3.2">8:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=7#Deu.viii-p1.6">8:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=7#Deu.ix-p11.1">8:7-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=7#Deu.ix-p1.4">8:7-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=8#Lev.iii-p5.1">8:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=9#Deu.viii-p1.7">8:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=10#Deu.ix-p15.1">8:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=10#Deu.ix-p1.5">8:10-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=11#Deu.ix-p16.10">8:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=11#Deu.viii-p1.1">8:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=12#Deu.ix-p16.1">8:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=12#Deu.viii-p1.8">8:12-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=13#Deu.ix-p16.3">8:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=14#Deu.ix-p16.5">8:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=14#Deu.ix-p16.11">8:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=15#Num.xxii-p7.2">8:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=15#Deu.ix-p16.13">8:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=15#Gen.xvii-p20.1">8:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=15#Deu.ix-p1.3">8:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=16#Deu.ix-p16.15">8:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=16#Deu.viii-p1.2">8:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=16#Deu.ix-p1.3">8:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=16#Deu.ix-p7.3">8:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=17#Deu.ix-p16.6">8:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=17#Deu.ix-p1.5">8:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=17#Deu.viii-p1.9">8:17-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=18#Deu.ix-p16.16">8:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=18#Gen.xxxiv-p14.3">8:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=18#Deu.ix-p1.5">8:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=19#Deu.ix-p17.1">8:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=19#Deu.ix-p1.6">8:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=24#Deu.viii-p1.2">8:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=25#Deu.viii-p1.4">8:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=26#Deu.viii-p1.4">8:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=1#Deu.x-p3.1">9:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=1#Deu.x-p4.1">9:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=1#Deu.x-p1.2">9:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=2#Deu.x-p4.2">9:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=3#Deu.x-p5.1">9:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=4#Deu.x-p6.1">9:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=4#Deu.x-p7.1">9:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=4#Deu.x-p1.3">9:4-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=5#Deu.x-p6.2">9:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=5#Deu.x-p7.2">9:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=6#Deu.x-p6.3">9:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=7#Deu.x-p9.1">9:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=7#Deu.x-p9.3">9:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=7#Deu.x-p1.4">9:7-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=8#Deu.x-p9.5">9:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=8#Deu.x-p9.7">9:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=8#Deu.x-p1.5">9:8-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=12#Deu.x-p9.12">9:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=13#Deu.x-p9.8">9:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=14#Ex.xxxiii-p15.2">9:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=16#Deu.x-p9.6">9:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=17#Deu.x-p9.11">9:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=17#Ex.xxxiii-p21.4">9:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=17#Ex.xxxiii-p21.6">9:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=18#Deu.x-p9.14">9:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=19#Deu.x-p9.9">9:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=20#Num.xiii-p3.5">9:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=20#Deu.x-p9.13">9:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=20#Ex.xxxiii-p25.4">9:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=21#Deu.x-p9.21">9:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=21#Ex.xxv-p17.7">9:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=22#Deu.x-p9.22">9:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=22#Deu.x-p1.6">9:22-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=23#Deu.x-p9.24">9:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=24#Num.xxi-p11.6">9:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=24#Deu.x-p9.4">9:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=24#Deu.xi-p13.3">9:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=25#Deu.x-p1.7">9:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=25#Deu.x-p9.15">9:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=26#Deu.x-p9.18">9:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=27#Deu.x-p9.17">9:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=27#Deu.x-p9.19">9:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=28#Deu.x-p9.20">9:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=1#Deu.xi-p4.1">10:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=1#Deu.xi-p1.1">10:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=3#Deu.xi-p4.2">10:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=4#Deu.xi-p4.5">10:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=5#Deu.xi-p4.6">10:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=6#Num.xxi-p26.1">10:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=6#Deu.xi-p1.4">10:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=6#Deu.xi-p6.2">10:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=6#Deu.xi-p1.2">10:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=6#Deu.xi-p5.1">10:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=8#Deu.xxviii-p9.3">10:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=8#Deu.xi-p1.3">10:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=8#Deu.xi-p6.1">10:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=10#Deu.x-p9.16">10:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=10#Deu.xi-p1.5">10:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=10#Deu.xi-p7.1">10:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=12#Deu.xi-p9.1">10:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=12#Deu.xi-p11.1">10:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=12#Deu.xi-p11.5">10:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=12#Deu.xi-p1.6">10:12-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=13#Deu.xi-p11.6">10:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=14#Deu.xi-p15.3">10:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=15#Deu.xi-p16.4">10:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=16#Deu.xi-p13.1">10:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=17#Deu.xi-p15.1">10:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=17#Deu.xi-p15.2">10:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=18#Deu.xi-p12.2">10:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=18#Deu.xi-p16.1">10:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=19#Deu.xi-p12.1">10:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=20#Deu.xi-p11.2">10:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=20#Deu.xi-p11.4">10:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=20#Deu.xi-p11.7">10:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=20#Deu.xi-p11.8">10:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=20#Ex.xxi-p11.8">10:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=21#Deu.xi-p16.3">10:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=21#Deu.xi-p16.5">10:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=1#Deu.xii-p1.1">11:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=2#Deu.xii-p4.2">11:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=2#Deu.xii-p4.7">11:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=2#Deu.xii-p1.2">11:2-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=3#Deu.xii-p4.3">11:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=4#Deu.xii-p4.4">11:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=5#Deu.xii-p4.6">11:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=6#Deu.xii-p4.8">11:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=7#Deu.xii-p4.1">11:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=8#Deu.xii-p7.1">11:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=8#Deu.xii-p1.3">11:8-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=9#Deu.xii-p7.2">11:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=10#Lev.xxvii-p4.1">11:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=10#Gen.ii-p18.5">11:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=10#Deu.xii-p8.1">11:10-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=13#Deu.xii-p9.1">11:13-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=15#Deu.xii-p9.5">11:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=16#Deu.xii-p1.5">11:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=16#Deu.xii-p10.1">11:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=18#Deu.xii-p12.1">11:18-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=18#Deu.xii-p1.6">11:18-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=21#Deu.xii-p13.1">11:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=22#Deu.xii-p13.2">11:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=22#Deu.xii-p1.4">11:22-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=23#Deu.xii-p13.3">11:23-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=25#Deu.xii-p13.5">11:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=26#Deu.xii-p16.1">11:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=26#Deu.xii-p1.7">11:26-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=27#Deu.xii-p16.3">11:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=28#Deu.xii-p16.4">11:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=29#Deu.xiii-p9.2">11:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=29#Deu.xii-p17.1">11:29-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=29#Deu.xxviii-p8.1">11:29-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=30#Deu.xii-p17.5">11:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=31#Deu.xii-p17.6">11:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=32#Deu.xii-p17.8">11:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=1#Deu.xiii-p3.1">12:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=1#Deu.xiii-p1.1">12:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=1#Deu.xxviii-p5.10">12:1-26:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=2#Deu.xxxii-p4.8">12:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=2#Deu.xiii-p4.1">12:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=4#Deu.xiii-p5.1">12:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=4#Deu.xiii-p1.2">12:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=6#Deu.xiii-p10.1">12:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=6#Deu.xiii-p11.1">12:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=6#Deu.xiii-p1.3">12:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=7#Deu.xiii-p11.2">12:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=7#Deu.xiii-p11.5">12:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=7#Deu.xiii-p11.10">12:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=7#Lev.xi-p22.7">12:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=8#Deu.xiii-p15.1">12:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=8#Deu.xiii-p1.4">12:8-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=10#Deu.xiii-p9.1">12:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=11#Deu.xiii-p1.3">12:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=11#Deu.xiii-p10.2">12:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=12#Deu.xiii-p1.3">12:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=12#Deu.xiii-p11.3">12:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=12#Deu.xiii-p11.6">12:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=12#Deu.xiii-p11.8">12:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=12#Deu.xiii-p12.1">12:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=12#Deu.xiii-p12.4">12:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=13#Deu.xiii-p1.6">12:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=13#Deu.xiii-p13.1">12:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=14#Deu.xiii-p1.3">12:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=14#Deu.xiii-p10.3">12:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=15#Deu.xiii-p13.2">12:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=15#Deu.xiii-p13.5">12:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=15#Deu.xiii-p1.8">12:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=16#Deu.xiii-p13.6">12:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=17#Deu.xiii-p1.6">12:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=17#Deu.xiii-p13.1">12:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=18#Deu.xiii-p1.3">12:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=18#Deu.xiii-p1.6">12:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=18#Deu.xiii-p11.7">12:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=18#Deu.xiii-p12.2">12:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=18#Deu.xvi-p11.7">12:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=19#Deu.xiii-p1.7">12:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=19#Deu.xiii-p12.3">12:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=20#Deu.xiii-p13.3">12:20-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=20#Deu.xiii-p1.9">12:20-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=21#Lev.xviii-p5.2">12:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=22#Deu.xv-p8.4">12:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=23#Deu.xiii-p13.7">12:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=24#Deu.xiii-p13.8">12:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=25#Deu.xiii-p13.9">12:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=26#Deu.xiii-p1.3">12:26-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=27#Deu.xiii-p10.4">12:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=29#Deu.xiii-p1.5">12:29-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=29#Deu.xiii-p16.1">12:29-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=30#Lev.iii-p7.3">12:30-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=31#Deu.xiii-p16.3">12:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=32#Deu.xiii-p16.5">12:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=13&scrV=1#Deu.xiv-p3.1">13:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=13&scrV=1#Deu.ii-p19.1">13:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=13&scrV=1#Deu.xix-p19.8">13:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=13&scrV=1#Deu.xiv-p1.1">13:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=13&scrV=1#Deu.xviii-p4.1">13:1-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=13&scrV=3#Deu.xiv-p3.4">13:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=13&scrV=3#Deu.xiv-p5.1">13:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=13&scrV=3#Ex.viii-p6.5">13:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=13&scrV=4#Deu.xiv-p5.2">13:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=13&scrV=5#Deu.xiv-p6.1">13:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=13&scrV=5#Ex.xxxiii-p29.1">13:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=13&scrV=6#Deu.xiv-p9.1">13:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=13&scrV=6#Deu.xiv-p1.2">13:6-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=13&scrV=7#Deu.xiv-p9.2">13:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=13&scrV=8#Deu.xiv-p10.1">13:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=13&scrV=8#Gen.xxiii-p12.3">13:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=13&scrV=9#Deu.xiv-p10.3">13:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=13&scrV=9#Deu.xviii-p7.2">13:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=13&scrV=9#Ex.xxxiii-p30.2">13:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=13&scrV=10#Deu.xiv-p10.4">13:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=13&scrV=11#Deu.xiv-p10.5">13:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=13&scrV=12#Deu.xiv-p1.3">13:12-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=13&scrV=14#Deu.xiv-p14.1">13:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=13&scrV=15#Deu.xiv-p15.1">13:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=13&scrV=16#Deu.xiv-p15.2">13:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=13&scrV=17#Deu.xiv-p15.3">13:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=13&scrV=17#Deu.xiv-p15.4">13:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=14&scrV=1#Deu.xv-p4.3">14:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=14&scrV=1#Deu.xv-p6.1">14:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=14&scrV=1#Deu.xv-p6.4">14:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=14&scrV=1#Deu.xv-p1.1">14:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=14&scrV=2#Deu.xv-p4.1">14:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=14&scrV=2#Deu.xv-p4.4">14:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=14&scrV=3#Deu.xv-p1.2">14:3-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=14&scrV=4#Deu.xv-p8.2">14:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=14&scrV=4#Lev.xii-p3.4">14:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=14&scrV=5#Deu.xv-p8.3">14:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=14&scrV=9#Deu.xv-p8.6">14:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=14&scrV=11#Deu.xv-p8.7">14:11-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=14&scrV=21#Deu.xv-p9.1">14:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=14&scrV=22#Deu.xv-p12.1">14:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=14&scrV=22#Deu.xv-p1.3">14:22-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=14&scrV=23#Deu.xv-p14.1">14:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=14&scrV=23#Deu.xv-p14.3">14:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=14&scrV=24#Deu.xv-p14.2">14:24-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=14&scrV=27#Deu.xv-p14.5">14:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=14&scrV=28#Deu.xv-p15.1">14:28-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=14&scrV=28#Deu.xxvii-p11.1">14:28-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=1#Lev.xxvi-p3.3">15:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=1#Deu.xvi-p1.1">15:1-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=2#Deu.xvi-p3.3">15:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=2#Lev.xxvi-p8.2">15:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=3#Deu.xvi-p3.1">15:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=4#Deu.xvi-p3.2">15:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=4#Deu.xvi-p3.4">15:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=4#Deu.xvi-p3.6">15:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=4#Deu.xvi-p9.6">15:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=4#Deu.xvi-p3.5">15:4-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=6#Deu.xvi-p3.7">15:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=6#Deu.xvi-p3.9">15:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=6#Deu.xvi-p9.6">15:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=7#Deu.xvi-p4.1">15:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=7#Deu.xvi-p4.2">15:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=7#Deu.xvi-p4.4">15:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=7#Deu.xvi-p1.2">15:7-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=8#Deu.xvi-p4.7">15:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=9#Deu.xvi-p4.9">15:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=10#Deu.xvi-p5.1">15:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=10#Deu.xvi-p9.6">15:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=11#Deu.xvi-p4.3">15:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=11#Deu.xvi-p4.8">15:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=12#Deu.xvi-p8.1">15:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=12#Deu.xvi-p1.3">15:12-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=13#Deu.xvi-p9.1">15:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=15#Deu.xvi-p9.3">15:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=16#Deu.xvi-p8.3">15:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=17#Deu.xvi-p9.2">15:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=18#Deu.xvi-p9.4">15:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=19#Deu.xvi-p11.1">15:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=19#Deu.xvi-p11.5">15:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=19#Deu.xvi-p1.4">15:19-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=20#Deu.xvi-p11.6">15:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=21#Deu.xvi-p11.8">15:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=22#Deu.xvi-p11.9">15:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=23#Deu.xvi-p11.10">15:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=1#Deu.xvii-p4.1">16:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=1#Deu.xvii-p4.3">16:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=1#Deu.xvii-p1.1">16:1-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=2#Deu.xvii-p4.5">16:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=2#Deu.xvii-p4.9">16:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=3#Deu.xvii-p4.15">16:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=3#Deu.xvii-p4.13">16:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=5#Deu.xvii-p4.6">16:5-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=6#Deu.xvii-p4.9">16:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=7#Deu.xvii-p4.10">16:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=8#Deu.xvii-p4.13">16:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=9#Lev.xxiv-p10.1">16:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=9#Deu.xvii-p5.1">16:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=9#Deu.xvii-p1.2">16:9-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=10#Deu.xvii-p5.3">16:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=10#Deu.xxvii-p3.4">16:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=11#Deu.xvii-p5.4">16:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=12#Deu.xvii-p5.5">16:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=13#Deu.xvii-p1.3">16:13-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=13#Deu.xvii-p6.1">16:13-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=14#Deu.xvii-p6.3">16:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=15#Deu.xvii-p6.4">16:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=16#Deu.xvii-p1.4">16:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=16#Deu.xvii-p7.1">16:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=18#Deu.xviii-p9.1">16:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=18#Deu.xvii-p1.5">16:18-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=19#Deu.xvii-p9.4">16:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=20#Deu.xvii-p9.6">16:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=21#Deu.xvii-p1.6">16:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=21#Deu.xvii-p10.1">16:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=1#Deu.xviii-p1.1">17:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=1#Deu.xviii-p3.1">17:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=1#Deu.i-p2.6">17:1-19:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=2#Deu.xviii-p5.2">17:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=2#Deu.xviii-p1.2">17:2-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=3#Deu.xviii-p5.1">17:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=4#Deu.xviii-p5.3">17:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=4#Deu.xviii-p6.1">17:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=5#Deu.xviii-p7.1">17:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=6#Num.xxxvi-p10.15">17:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=6#Deu.xviii-p6.2">17:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=6#Deu.xx-p12.3">17:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=8#Deu.xviii-p9.2">17:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=8#Deu.xviii-p1.3">17:8-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=9#Deu.xviii-p9.3">17:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=9#Deu.xviii-p9.4">17:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=10#Deu.xviii-p9.5">17:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=11#Deu.xviii-p9.3">17:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=11#Deu.xviii-p9.6">17:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=12#Deu.xviii-p9.3">17:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=12#Deu.xx-p12.7">17:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=12#Deu.xviii-p9.7">17:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=14#Deu.xviii-p12.1">17:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=14#Deu.xviii-p1.4">17:14-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=16#Deu.xviii-p14.1">17:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=16#Deu.xxix-p29.2">17:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=17#Deu.xviii-p14.7">17:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=18#Deu.xviii-p16.1">17:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=19#Deu.xviii-p17.1">17:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=19#Deu.xviii-p18.1">17:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=18&scrV=1#Deu.xix-p4.1">18:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=18&scrV=1#Deu.xix-p1.1">18:1-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=18&scrV=2#Deu.xix-p4.2">18:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=18&scrV=3#Deu.xix-p6.1">18:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=18&scrV=4#Deu.xix-p6.3">18:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=18&scrV=5#Deu.xix-p6.4">18:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=18&scrV=6#Deu.xix-p7.1">18:6-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=18&scrV=9#Deu.xix-p9.1">18:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=18&scrV=9#Deu.xix-p1.2">18:9-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=18&scrV=10#Deu.xix-p10.1">18:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=18&scrV=10#Deu.xix-p10.3">18:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=18&scrV=12#Deu.xix-p11.1">18:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=18&scrV=13#Deu.xix-p11.2">18:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=18&scrV=15#Deu.xix-p16.2">18:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=18&scrV=15#Deu.xix-p18.1">18:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=18&scrV=15#Deu.xix-p1.3">18:15-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=18&scrV=16#Deu.xix-p17.1">18:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=18&scrV=18#Deu.xix-p16.1">18:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=18&scrV=18#Deu.xix-p16.5">18:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=18&scrV=19#Deu.xix-p1.4">18:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=18&scrV=19#Deu.xix-p18.2">18:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=18&scrV=20#Deu.xix-p1.5">18:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=18&scrV=20#Deu.xix-p19.1">18:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=18&scrV=20#Deu.xix-p19.2">18:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=18&scrV=21#Deu.xix-p19.5">18:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=18&scrV=21#Deu.xix-p1.6">18:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=18&scrV=22#Deu.xix-p19.6">18:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=19&scrV=1#Deu.xx-p5.1">19:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=19&scrV=1#Deu.xx-p1.1">19:1-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=19&scrV=4#Deu.xx-p6.1">19:4-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=19&scrV=7#Deu.xx-p5.1">19:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=19&scrV=8#Deu.xx-p7.1">19:8-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=19&scrV=10#Deu.xx-p7.2">19:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=19&scrV=11#Deu.xx-p8.1">19:11-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=19&scrV=11#Deu.xxii-p3.1">19:11-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=19&scrV=14#Deu.xx-p1.2">19:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=19&scrV=14#Deu.xx-p11.1">19:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=19&scrV=14#Deu.xxviii-p13.2">19:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=19&scrV=15#Num.xxxvi-p10.15">19:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=19&scrV=15#Deu.xx-p12.1">19:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=19&scrV=15#Deu.xx-p1.3">19:15-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=19&scrV=17#Deu.xx-p12.6">19:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=19&scrV=18#Deu.xx-p12.8">19:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=19&scrV=19#Deu.xx-p12.9">19:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=19&scrV=20#Deu.xx-p12.11">19:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=19&scrV=21#Deu.xx-p12.10">19:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=20&scrV=1#Deu.xxi-p5.1">20:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=20&scrV=1#Deu.xxi-p1.1">20:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=20&scrV=3#Deu.xxi-p6.1">20:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=20&scrV=3#Deu.xxi-p6.2">20:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=20&scrV=4#Deu.xxi-p6.3">20:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=20&scrV=5#Deu.xxi-p8.1">20:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=20&scrV=5#Lev.xv-p12.10">20:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=20&scrV=5#Deu.xxi-p1.2">20:5-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=20&scrV=6#Deu.xxi-p8.4">20:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=20&scrV=7#Deu.xxi-p8.5">20:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=20&scrV=8#Deu.xxi-p9.1">20:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=20&scrV=8#Deu.xxi-p1.3">20:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=20&scrV=9#Deu.xxi-p10.1">20:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=20&scrV=10#Num.xxxii-p8.1">20:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=20&scrV=10#Deu.xxi-p12.1">20:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=20&scrV=10#Deu.xxi-p13.1">20:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=20&scrV=10#Deu.xxi-p1.4">20:10-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=20&scrV=13#Deu.xxi-p13.4">20:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=20&scrV=13#Deu.xxi-p14.1">20:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=20&scrV=13#Deu.xxi-p14.2">20:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=20&scrV=14#Deu.xxi-p14.3">20:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=20&scrV=15#Deu.xxi-p15.1">20:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=20&scrV=16#Deu.xxi-p13.3">20:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=20&scrV=16#Deu.xxi-p15.2">20:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=20&scrV=16#Deu.xxi-p1.5">20:16-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=20&scrV=17#Deu.xxi-p15.3">20:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=20&scrV=18#Deu.xxi-p15.4">20:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=20&scrV=19#Deu.xxi-p1.6">20:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=20&scrV=19#Deu.xxi-p16.1">20:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=1#Deu.xxii-p4.1">21:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=1#Deu.xxii-p1.1">21:1-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=2#Deu.xxii-p6.1">21:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=3#Deu.xxii-p6.4">21:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=5#Num.vii-p13.2">21:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=5#Deu.xxii-p6.2">21:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=6#Deu.xxii-p6.5">21:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=8#Deu.xxii-p6.3">21:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=8#Deu.xxii-p6.9">21:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=10#Deu.xxii-p11.1">21:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=10#Deu.xxii-p1.2">21:10-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=12#Deu.xxii-p11.2">21:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=14#Deu.xxii-p12.1">21:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=15#Deu.xxii-p15.1">21:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=15#Gen.xxxi-p11.1">21:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=15#Lev.xix-p9.4">21:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=15#Deu.xxii-p1.3">21:15-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=16#Deu.xxii-p16.2">21:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=17#Gen.xlix-p12.7">21:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=18#Deu.xxii-p19.1">21:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=18#Deu.xxii-p1.4">21:18-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=19#Deu.xxii-p20.1">21:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=20#Deu.xxii-p19.2">21:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=21#Deu.xxii-p21.1">21:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=22#Deu.xxii-p22.1">21:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=22#Deu.xxii-p1.5">21:22-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=1#Deu.xxiii-p3.2">22:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=1#Deu.xxiii-p1.1">22:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=3#Deu.xxiii-p3.5">22:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=4#Deu.xxiii-p3.6">22:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=5#Deu.xxiii-p1.2">22:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=5#Deu.xxiii-p6.1">22:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=6#Lev.xxiii-p16.2">22:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=6#Deu.xxiii-p1.4">22:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=6#Deu.xxiii-p7.1">22:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=8#Deu.xxiii-p1.5">22:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=8#Deu.xxiii-p8.1">22:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=9#Deu.xxiii-p9.1">22:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=9#Deu.xxiii-p1.3">22:9-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=11#Deu.xxiii-p10.3">22:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=12#Deu.xxiii-p1.6">22:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=12#Deu.xxiii-p10.2">22:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=13#Deu.xxiii-p1.7">22:13-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=13#Deu.xxiii-p13.1">22:13-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=18#Deu.xxiii-p13.2">22:18-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=20#Deu.xxiii-p1.8">22:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=20#Deu.xxiii-p14.1">22:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=22#Deu.xxiii-p1.9">22:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=22#Deu.xxiii-p15.1">22:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=23#Deu.xxiii-p16.1">22:23-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=23#Ex.xxiii-p12.2">22:23-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=23#Deu.xxiii-p1.10">22:23-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=24#Deu.xxiii-p16.2">22:24-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=28#Deu.xxiii-p1.11">22:28-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=28#Deu.xxiii-p17.1">22:28-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=30#Deu.xxiii-p1.12">22:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=30#Deu.xxiii-p18.1">22:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=23&scrV=1#Deu.xxiv-p5.1">23:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=23&scrV=1#Deu.xxiv-p1.1">23:1-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=23&scrV=4#Deu.xxiv-p6.5">23:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=23&scrV=4#Deu.xxiv-p6.6">23:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=23&scrV=5#Num.xxiv-p4.1">23:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=23&scrV=5#Deu.xxiv-p5.5">23:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=23&scrV=5#Deu.xxiv-p6.7">23:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=23&scrV=6#Deu.xxiv-p6.3">23:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=23&scrV=7#Num.xxi-p17.3">23:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=23&scrV=7#Deu.xxiv-p7.1">23:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=23&scrV=9#Deu.xxiv-p10.1">23:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=23&scrV=9#Deu.xxiv-p1.2">23:9-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=23&scrV=10#Deu.xxiv-p11.2">23:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=23&scrV=12#Deu.xxiv-p12.1">23:12-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=23&scrV=15#Deu.xxiv-p1.3">23:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=23&scrV=15#Deu.xxiv-p15.1">23:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=23&scrV=17#Deu.xxiv-p1.4">23:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=23&scrV=17#Deu.xxiv-p16.1">23:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=23&scrV=19#Deu.xxiv-p1.5">23:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=23&scrV=19#Deu.xxiv-p17.1">23:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=23&scrV=21#Deu.xxiv-p1.6">23:21-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=23&scrV=21#Deu.xxiv-p18.1">23:21-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=23&scrV=23#Deu.xxiv-p1.7">23:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=23&scrV=24#Deu.xxiv-p19.1">23:24-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=23&scrV=25#Deu.xxiv-p1.7">23:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=1#Deu.xxiii-p13.3">24:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=1#Deu.xxv-p3.3">24:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=1#Deu.xxv-p1.1">24:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=2#Deu.xxv-p3.5">24:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=3#Deu.xxv-p3.6">24:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=5#Deu.xxi-p8.6">24:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=5#Deu.xxv-p1.2">24:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=5#Deu.xxv-p5.1">24:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=6#Deu.xxv-p1.3">24:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=6#Deu.xxv-p8.1">24:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=7#Deu.xxv-p1.4">24:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=7#Deu.xxv-p6.1">24:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=7#Deu.xxxii-p3.3">24:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=8#Lev.xv-p14.1">24:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=8#Num.xiii-p12.3">24:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=8#Deu.xxv-p1.5">24:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=8#Deu.xxv-p7.1">24:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=10#Deu.xxv-p8.2">24:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=10#Deu.xxv-p1.3">24:10-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=12#Deu.xxv-p8.3">24:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=14#Deu.xxv-p1.6">24:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=14#Deu.xxv-p10.1">24:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=16#Deu.xxv-p1.7">24:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=16#Deu.xxv-p11.1">24:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=17#Deu.xxv-p1.3">24:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=17#Deu.xxv-p11.4">24:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=17#Deu.xxv-p1.8">24:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=18#Deu.xxv-p10.2">24:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=19#Deu.xxv-p1.9">24:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=19#Deu.xxv-p12.1">24:19-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=25&scrV=1#Deu.xxvi-p1.1">25:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=25&scrV=1#Deu.xxvi-p3.1">25:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=25&scrV=3#Deu.xxvi-p3.6">25:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=25&scrV=4#Deu.xxvi-p1.2">25:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=25&scrV=4#Deu.xxvi-p4.1">25:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=25&scrV=5#Gen.xxxix-p3.4">25:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=25&scrV=5#Lev.xix-p9.2">25:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=25&scrV=5#Deu.xxvi-p6.2">25:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=25&scrV=5#Deu.xxvi-p1.3">25:5-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=25&scrV=7#Deu.xxvi-p6.4">25:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=25&scrV=8#Deu.xxvi-p6.5">25:8-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=25&scrV=11#Deu.xxvi-p1.4">25:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=25&scrV=11#Deu.xxvi-p7.1">25:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=25&scrV=13#Deu.xxvi-p9.1">25:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=25&scrV=13#Deu.xxvi-p1.5">25:13-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=25&scrV=15#Deu.xxvi-p9.3">25:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=25&scrV=16#Deu.xxvi-p9.5">25:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=25&scrV=17#Deu.xxvi-p11.1">25:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=25&scrV=17#Ex.xviii-p10.3">25:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=25&scrV=17#Deu.xxvi-p1.6">25:17-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=25&scrV=19#Deu.xxvi-p12.1">25:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=25&scrV=19#Deu.xxvi-p12.2">25:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=26&scrV=1#Deu.xxvii-p3.1">26:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=26&scrV=1#Deu.xxvii-p1.1">26:1-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=26&scrV=2#Lev.iii-p9.1">26:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=26&scrV=3#Deu.xxvii-p5.1">26:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=26&scrV=3#Deu.xxvii-p4.1">26:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=26&scrV=5#Deu.xxvii-p6.1">26:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=26&scrV=5#Gen.xxxiv-p17.2">26:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=26&scrV=6#Deu.xxvii-p6.2">26:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=26&scrV=7#Gen.xvii-p25.3">26:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=26&scrV=7#Deu.xxvii-p7.1">26:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=26&scrV=9#Deu.xxvii-p7.2">26:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=26&scrV=10#Deu.xxvii-p8.1">26:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=26&scrV=11#Deu.xxvii-p9.1">26:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=26&scrV=12#Deu.xxvii-p11.2">26:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=26&scrV=12#Deu.xxvii-p1.2">26:12-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=26&scrV=13#Deu.xxvii-p12.2">26:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=26&scrV=13#Deu.xxvii-p12.1">26:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=26&scrV=15#Deu.xxvii-p13.1">26:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=26&scrV=16#Deu.xxvii-p1.3">26:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=26&scrV=16#Deu.xxvii-p15.1">26:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=26&scrV=17#Deu.xxvii-p15.2">26:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=26&scrV=17#Deu.xxviii-p5.6">26:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=26&scrV=17#Deu.xxvii-p1.4">26:17-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=26&scrV=18#Deu.xxvii-p15.5">26:18-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=26&scrV=19#Deu.xxvii-p15.9">26:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=26&scrV=19#Deu.xxix-p7.16">26:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=1#Deu.xxviii-p3.1">27:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=1#Deu.xxviii-p1.1">27:1-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=1#Deu.i-p3.1">27:1-28:68</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=2#Deu.xxviii-p5.1">27:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=2#Deu.i-p2.7">27:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=3#Deu.xxviii-p5.4">27:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=3#Deu.xxviii-p5.11">27:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=4#Deu.xxviii-p5.2">27:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=4#Deu.xxviii-p5.9">27:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=5#Deu.xxviii-p6.2">27:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=6#Deu.xxviii-p6.4">27:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=7#Deu.xxviii-p6.5">27:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=8#Deu.xxviii-p5.5">27:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=9#Deu.xxviii-p3.2">27:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=9#Deu.xxviii-p3.3">27:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=11#Deu.xii-p17.2">27:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=11#Deu.xxviii-p1.2">27:11-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=12#Deu.xxviii-p8.2">27:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=12#Deu.xxviii-p9.1">27:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=15#Deu.xxviii-p11.1">27:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=15#Num.vi-p12.6">27:15-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=16#Deu.xxviii-p12.1">27:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=17#Deu.xxviii-p13.1">27:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=18#Deu.xxviii-p13.3">27:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=18#Gen.xxviii-p10.2">27:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=19#Deu.xxviii-p13.5">27:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=20#Deu.xxviii-p14.1">27:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=21#Deu.xxviii-p14.3">27:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=22#Deu.xxviii-p14.1">27:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=23#Deu.xxviii-p14.1">27:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=24#Deu.xxviii-p15.1">27:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=25#Deu.xxviii-p15.3">27:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=26#Deu.xxviii-p16.1">27:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=1#Deu.xxix-p7.15">28:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=1#Deu.xxix-p4.1">28:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=1#Deu.xxix-p1.1">28:1-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=1#Lev.xxvii-p1.5">28:1-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=2#Deu.xxix-p6.1">28:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=3#Num.vii-p14.2">28:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=3#Deu.xxix-p7.1">28:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=4#Deu.xxix-p7.3">28:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=4#Deu.xxix-p7.6">28:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=5#Deu.xxix-p7.9">28:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=6#Deu.xxix-p7.2">28:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=7#Deu.xxix-p7.20">28:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=8#Deu.xxix-p7.10">28:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=8#Deu.xxix-p7.12">28:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=9#Deu.xxix-p4.3">28:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=9#Deu.xxix-p9.1">28:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=10#Deu.xxix-p7.19">28:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=10#Deu.xxix-p9.3">28:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=11#Deu.xxix-p7.4">28:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=11#Deu.xxix-p7.6">28:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=12#Deu.xxix-p7.7">28:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=12#Deu.xxix-p7.13">28:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=12#Deu.xxix-p7.17">28:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=13#Deu.xxix-p4.2">28:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=13#Deu.xxix-p7.18">28:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=14#Deu.xxix-p4.4">28:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=15#Deu.xxix-p12.1">28:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=15#Deu.xxix-p14.1">28:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=15#Deu.xxix-p1.2">28:15-44</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=15#Gen.v-p32.1">28:15-68</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=16#Deu.xxix-p14.4">28:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=16#Ex.ix-p4.4">28:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=17#Deu.xxix-p14.8">28:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=19#Deu.xxix-p14.5">28:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=20#Deu.xxix-p12.2">28:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=20#Deu.xxix-p14.10">28:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=21#Deu.xxix-p15.4">28:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=22#Deu.xxix-p15.5">28:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=23#Deu.xxix-p15.8">28:23-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=25#Deu.xxix-p15.13">28:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=25#Deu.xxix-p15.21">28:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=26#Deu.xxix-p15.14">28:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=27#Deu.xxix-p15.3">28:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=27#Deu.xxix-p15.7">28:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=27#Ex.x-p10.1">28:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=28#Deu.xxix-p15.15">28:28-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=30#Deu.xxix-p15.18">28:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=31#Deu.xxix-p15.20">28:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=32#Deu.xxix-p15.18">28:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=34#Deu.xxix-p15.32">28:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=35#Deu.xxix-p15.2">28:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=36#Deu.xxix-p15.23">28:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=37#Deu.xxix-p15.31">28:37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=38#Deu.xxix-p15.9">28:38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=39#Deu.xxix-p15.10">28:39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=40#Deu.xxix-p15.11">28:40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=41#Deu.xxix-p15.22">28:41</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=42#Deu.xxix-p15.9">28:42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=43#Deu.xxix-p15.28">28:43-44</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=44#Deu.xxix-p17.2">28:44</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=45#Deu.xxix-p19.1">28:45-46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=45#Deu.xxix-p1.3">28:45-68</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=47#Deu.xxix-p20.1">28:47-48</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=49#Deu.xxix-p24.1">28:49-50</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=51#Deu.xxix-p25.1">28:51</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=52#Deu.xxix-p26.1">28:52</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=53#Deu.xxix-p26.2">28:53</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=54#Deu.xxix-p26.3">28:54-55</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=56#Deu.xxix-p26.4">28:56-57</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=57#Deu.xxix-p26.7">28:57</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=58#Deu.xxvi-p3.3">28:58-59</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=58#Deu.xxix-p21.1">28:58-59</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=59#Deu.xxix-p26.8">28:59</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=60#Deu.xxix-p26.9">28:60</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=60#Ex.xvi-p16.6">28:60</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=61#Deu.xxix-p26.10">28:61</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=62#Deu.xxix-p27.1">28:62</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=63#Deu.xxix-p27.3">28:63</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=64#Deu.xxix-p28.1">28:64</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=65#Deu.xxix-p28.2">28:65</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=65#Deu.xxix-p28.3">28:65</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=66#Deu.xxix-p28.4">28:66</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=67#Deu.xxix-p28.5">28:67</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=68#Num.xv-p6.5">28:68</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=68#Deu.xxix-p29.1">28:68</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=1#Deu.xxvii-p15.4">29:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=1#Deu.xxx-p1.1">29:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=1#Deu.xxx-p3.1">29:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=1#Deu.i-p3.2">29:1-30:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=2#Deu.xxx-p5.1">29:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=2#Deu.xxx-p12.2">29:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=2#Deu.xxx-p6.1">29:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=2#Deu.xxx-p1.2">29:2-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=4#Deu.xxx-p8.1">29:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=5#Deu.xxx-p6.2">29:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=7#Deu.xxx-p6.4">29:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=9#Deu.xxvi-p3.3">29:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=9#Deu.xxx-p1.3">29:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=9#Deu.xxx-p5.2">29:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=9#Deu.xxx-p9.1">29:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=10#Deu.xxx-p12.3">29:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=10#Deu.xxx-p1.5">29:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=11#Deu.xxx-p12.4">29:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=12#Deu.xxx-p12.1">29:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=12#Deu.xxx-p1.4">29:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=13#Deu.xxx-p13.1">29:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=14#Deu.xxx-p1.5">29:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=15#Deu.xxx-p1.5">29:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=15#Deu.xxx-p12.8">29:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=16#Deu.xxx-p1.6">29:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=16#Deu.xxx-p15.1">29:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=18#Deu.xxx-p18.1">29:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=18#Deu.xxx-p17.1">29:18-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=18#Deu.xxx-p1.7">29:18-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=19#Deu.xxx-p19.1">29:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=19#Gen.iv-p12.4">29:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=20#Deu.xxxi-p6.5">29:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=20#Deu.xxx-p20.2">29:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=22#Deu.xxx-p22.1">29:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=22#Deu.xxx-p23.1">29:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=23#Deu.xxx-p22.2">29:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=23#Gen.xx-p21.9">29:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=24#Deu.xxx-p23.2">29:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=25#Deu.xxx-p23.6">29:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=26#Deu.xxx-p23.7">29:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=27#Deu.xxx-p23.8">29:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=28#Deu.xxx-p23.9">29:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=29#Deu.xxx-p1.8">29:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=29#Deu.xxx-p24.2">29:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=1#Deu.xxix-p1.6">30:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=1#Deu.xxxi-p5.1">30:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=1#Deu.xxxi-p6.1">30:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=1#Deu.xxxi-p8.1">30:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=1#Deu.xxxi-p1.1">30:1-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=1#Deu.xxxi-p7.1">30:1-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=1#Deu.xxix-p1.5">30:1-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=2#Deu.xxxi-p5.5">30:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=2#Deu.xxxi-p5.7">30:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=2#Deu.xxxi-p5.10">30:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=2#Deu.xxxi-p5.12">30:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=3#Deu.xxxi-p6.4">30:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=3#Deu.xxxi-p6.7">30:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=4#Deu.xxxi-p6.2">30:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=4#Deu.xxxi-p6.8">30:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=5#Deu.xxxi-p6.11">30:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=5#Deu.xxxi-p6.12">30:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=5#Deu.xxxi-p6.14">30:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=6#Deu.xxxi-p5.11">30:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=6#Deu.xxxi-p6.18">30:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=7#Deu.xxxi-p6.16">30:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=8#Deu.xxxi-p5.8">30:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=8#Deu.xxxi-p5.13">30:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=8#Deu.xxxi-p6.20">30:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=9#Deu.xxxi-p6.13">30:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=9#Deu.xxxi-p6.15">30:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=10#Deu.xxxi-p5.6">30:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=10#Deu.xxxi-p5.9">30:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=11#Deu.xxxi-p11.1">30:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=11#Deu.xxxi-p11.6">30:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=11#Deu.xxxi-p1.2">30:11-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=12#Deu.xxxi-p11.2">30:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=13#Deu.xxxi-p11.3">30:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=14#Deu.xxxi-p11.4">30:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=15#Deu.xxxi-p1.3">30:15-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=16#Deu.xxxi-p15.1">30:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=17#Deu.xxxi-p15.2">30:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=19#Deu.xxxi-p16.1">30:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=19#Gen.iii-p17.4">30:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=20#Deu.xxxi-p17.1">30:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=1#Deu.xxxii-p1.1">31:1-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=1#Deu.i-p3.3">31:1-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=2#Deu.xxxii-p3.2">31:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=3#Deu.xxxii-p4.1">31:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=3#Deu.xxxii-p4.4">31:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=3#Deu.xxxii-p4.6">31:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=4#Deu.xxxii-p4.7">31:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=5#Deu.xxxii-p4.9">31:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=6#Deu.xxxii-p4.2">31:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=6#Deu.xxxii-p4.10">31:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=7#Deu.xxxii-p21.2">31:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=7#Deu.xxxii-p1.2">31:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=7#Deu.xxxii-p5.1">31:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=9#Deu.xxxii-p1.3">31:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=9#Deu.xxxii-p8.1">31:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=9#Deu.xxxii-p22.2">31:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=9#Deu.i-p2.8">31:9-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=10#Lev.xxvi-p3.4">31:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=10#Deu.xxxii-p1.4">31:10-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=11#Deu.xxxii-p12.1">31:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=11#Deu.xxxii-p13.1">31:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=12#Deu.xxxii-p12.2">31:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=12#Deu.xxxii-p14.1">31:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=13#Deu.xxxii-p14.2">31:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=14#Deu.xxxii-p16.1">31:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=14#Deu.xxxii-p21.1">31:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=14#Deu.xxxii-p1.5">31:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=15#Deu.xxxii-p17.1">31:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=16#Lev.xxvii-p12.1">31:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=16#Deu.xxxii-p18.1">31:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=16#Deu.xxxii-p23.6">31:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=16#Deu.xxxii-p1.6">31:16-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=17#Deu.xxxii-p18.5">31:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=17#Deu.xxxii-p18.6">31:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=18#Deu.xxxii-p18.2">31:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=18#Deu.xxxii-p18.7">31:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=19#Deu.xxxii-p19.1">31:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=19#Deu.xxxii-p1.7">31:19-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=20#Deu.xxxii-p18.3">31:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=21#Deu.xxxii-p18.6">31:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=21#Deu.xxxii-p19.3">31:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=22#Deu.xxxii-p1.8">31:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=22#Deu.xxxii-p23.1">31:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=22#Deu.xxxii-p23.3">31:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=23#Deu.xxxii-p1.2">31:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=23#Deu.xxxii-p21.3">31:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=24#Deu.xxxii-p22.1">31:24-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=24#Deu.xxxii-p1.3">31:24-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=26#Deu.xxxii-p9.1">31:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=27#Deu.xxxii-p23.5">31:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=28#Deu.xxxii-p23.4">31:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=28#Deu.xxxiii-p3.2">31:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=28#Deu.xxxii-p1.9">31:28-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=29#Lev.xxvii-p12.1">31:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=29#Deu.xxxii-p23.7">31:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=30#Deu.xxxii-p23.2">31:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=1#Deu.xxxiii-p1.1">32:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=1#Deu.xxxiii-p3.1">32:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=1#Deu.i-p3.4">32:1-52</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=2#Deu.xxxiii-p3.7">32:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=2#Gen.iii-p7.3">32:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=2#Ex.v-p12.3">32:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=3#Deu.xxxiii-p6.1">32:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=3#Deu.xxxiii-p4.1">32:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=3#Deu.xxxiii-p1.2">32:3-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=4#Deu.xxxiii-p6.2">32:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=5#Deu.xxxiii-p7.1">32:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=5#Deu.xxxiii-p7.4">32:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=6#Deu.xxxiii-p8.1">32:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=7#Deu.xxxiii-p10.1">32:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=7#Deu.xxxiii-p1.3">32:7-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=8#Num.iv-p14.3">32:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=8#Num.xxii-p19.11">32:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=8#Deu.xxxiii-p12.1">32:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=8#Gen.xi-p10.1">32:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=8#Ex.ii-p3.5">32:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=9#Deu.xxxiii-p14.1">32:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=10#Num.xxxiv-p7.5">32:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=10#Deu.xxxiii-p16.1">32:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=10#Ex.xiv-p13.7">32:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=10#Ex.xvii-p7.7">32:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=11#Gen.ii-p14.4">32:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=11#Ex.xiv-p13.11">32:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=11#Deu.xxxiii-p19.1">32:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=11#Ex.xx-p4.4">32:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=13#Deu.xxxiii-p20.1">32:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=13#Ex.xviii-p6.6">32:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=14#Num.xxii-p20.3">32:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=14#Deu.xxxiii-p20.2">32:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=15#Deu.xxxiii-p23.1">32:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=15#Deu.xxxiii-p28.1">32:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=16#Deu.xxxiii-p26.3">32:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=16#Deu.xxxiii-p25.1">32:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=18#Deu.xxxiii-p26.1">32:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=19#Deu.xxxiii-p29.1">32:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=19#Deu.xxxiii-p1.4">32:19-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=20#Deu.xxxiii-p17.3">32:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=20#Deu.xxxiii-p30.1">32:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=21#Deu.xxxiii-p31.1">32:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=22#Deu.xxxiii-p32.2">32:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=22#Deu.xxxiii-p32.1">32:22-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=23#Deu.xxxiii-p32.4">32:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=23#Ex.xvi-p7.7">32:23-39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=24#Deu.xxxiii-p32.8">32:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=24#Deu.xxxiii-p32.11">32:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=25#Deu.xxxiii-p32.9">32:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=26#Deu.xxxiii-p35.1">32:26-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=27#Num.xv-p23.7">32:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=28#Deu.xxxiii-p35.2">32:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=29#Deu.xxxiii-p36.1">32:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=30#Deu.xxxiii-p37.1">32:30-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=31#Num.xxiv-p22.2">32:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=32#Deu.xxxiii-p37.4">32:32-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=32#Deu.xxxiii-p37.9">32:32-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=34#Gen.xvi-p32.3">32:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=34#Deu.xxxiii-p39.1">32:34-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=36#Deu.xxxiii-p40.1">32:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=36#Gen.ix-p23.2">32:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=36#Gen.xviii-p3.1">32:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=36#Ex.vi-p13.6">32:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=36#Deu.xxxiii-p1.5">32:36-43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=37#Deu.xxxiii-p41.1">32:37-38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=39#Deu.xxxiii-p44.1">32:39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=40#Deu.xxxiii-p45.2">32:40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=40#Deu.xxxiii-p45.1">32:40-42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=41#Deu.xxxiii-p1.6">32:41-47</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=43#Deu.xxxiii-p46.1">32:43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=44#Num.xiv-p4.3">32:44</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=44#Deu.xxxiii-p48.1">32:44-45</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=47#Deu.xxxiii-p51.1">32:47</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=48#Deu.xxxiii-p52.2">32:48</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=48#Deu.xxxiii-p1.7">32:48-52</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=49#Deu.xxxiii-p52.5">32:49-50</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=49#Deu.xxxv-p3.1">32:49-50</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=50#Deu.xxxiii-p52.4">32:50</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=51#Num.xxi-p13.2">32:51</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=51#Deu.xxxiii-p52.3">32:51</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=1#Deu.xxxiv-p3.1">33:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=1#Num.xxvii-p7.3">33:1-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=1#Deu.i-p3.5">33:1-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=2#Deu.xxxiv-p5.1">33:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=2#Deu.xxxiv-p6.3">33:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=2#Deu.xxxiv-p6.6">33:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=2#Ex.xx-p14.3">33:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=2#Deu.xxxiv-p1.1">33:2-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=3#Ex.xx-p11.2">33:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=4#Deu.xxxiv-p7.4">33:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=5#Num.ii-p1.2">33:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=5#Gen.xxxvii-p9.1">33:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=6#Deu.xxxiv-p1.2">33:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=6#Deu.xxxiv-p11.1">33:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=7#Deu.xxxiv-p1.3">33:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=7#Deu.xxxiv-p12.1">33:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=8#Deu.xxxiv-p15.1">33:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=8#Lev.xxii-p9.3">33:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=8#Deu.xxxiv-p1.4">33:8-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=9#Ex.xix-p5.2">33:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=9#Ex.xxxiii-p30.7">33:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=9#Lev.xi-p11.3">33:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=9#Deu.xxxiv-p16.1">33:9-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=10#Num.xxxvi-p5.2">33:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=10#Deu.xxxiv-p18.1">33:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=10#ii-p7.6">33:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=10#Lev.xi-p17.11">33:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=11#Deu.xxxiv-p19.1">33:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=12#Deu.xxxiv-p21.1">33:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=13#Deu.xxxiv-p23.1">33:13-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=13#Deu.xxxiv-p1.6">33:13-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=14#Deu.xxxiv-p24.3">33:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=14#Gen.ii-p22.4">33:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=15#Deu.xxxiv-p24.4">33:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=16#Deu.xxxiv-p22.2">33:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=16#Deu.xxxiv-p24.6">33:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=16#Deu.xxxiv-p25.1">33:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=16#Deu.xxxiv-p32.4">33:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=17#Deu.xxxiv-p26.1">33:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=17#Deu.xxxiv-p26.8">33:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=18#Deu.xxxiv-p29.1">33:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=18#Deu.xxxiv-p1.7">33:18-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=19#Deu.xxxiv-p30.1">33:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=20#Deu.xxxiv-p34.1">33:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=20#Deu.xxxiv-p1.8">33:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=20#Deu.xxxiv-p33.1">33:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=21#Deu.xxxiv-p35.1">33:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=22#Deu.xxxiv-p1.9">33:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=22#Deu.xxxiv-p37.1">33:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=23#Deu.xxxiv-p1.10">33:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=23#Deu.xxxiv-p38.1">33:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=24#Deu.xxxiv-p1.11">33:24-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=24#Deu.xxxiv-p39.1">33:24-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=26#Deu.xxxiv-p42.1">33:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=26#Deu.xxxiv-p49.1">33:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=26#Deu.xxxiv-p1.12">33:26-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=27#Deu.xxxiv-p42.2">33:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=27#Deu.xxxiv-p44.1">33:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=28#Deu.xxxiv-p47.1">33:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=29#Deu.xxxiv-p43.1">33:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=29#Deu.xxxiv-p49.2">33:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=29#Ex.xii-p6.8">33:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=32#Deu.xxxiv-p6.2">33:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=33#Deu.xxxiv-p31.5">33:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=42#Deu.xxxiv-p1.5">33:42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=34&scrV=1#Deu.xxxv-p3.2">34:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=34&scrV=1#Deu.xxxv-p4.1">34:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=34&scrV=1#Deu.xxxv-p1.1">34:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=34&scrV=4#Deu.xxxiii-p6.5">34:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=34&scrV=5#Deu.xxxv-p6.1">34:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=34&scrV=5#Deu.xxxv-p1.2">34:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=34&scrV=6#Deu.xxxv-p7.1">34:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=34&scrV=7#Deu.xxxv-p1.3">34:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=34&scrV=7#Deu.xxxv-p8.1">34:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=34&scrV=8#Deu.xxxv-p1.4">34:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=34&scrV=8#Deu.xxxv-p9.1">34:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=34&scrV=9#Num.xxviii-p13.2">34:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=34&scrV=9#Deu.xxxv-p1.5">34:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=34&scrV=9#Deu.xxxv-p12.1">34:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=34&scrV=10#Num.xii-p19.2">34:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=34&scrV=10#Deu.xix-p14.2">34:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=34&scrV=10#Deu.xxxv-p1.6">34:10-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=34&scrV=10#Deu.xxxv-p13.1">34:10-12</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Joshua</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=1&scrV=12#Deu.xxxiv-p35.4">1:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=1&scrV=16#Deu.xxxiv-p35.4">1:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=2&scrV=9#Ex.xv-p19.1">2:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=2&scrV=9#Ex.xvi-p11.6">2:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=2&scrV=10#Num.xxv-p9.3">2:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=3&scrV=4#Num.iii-p3.7">3:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=4&scrV=1#Num.xxviii-p12.1">4:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=4&scrV=12#Deu.xxxiv-p35.6">4:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=4&scrV=13#Num.xxxiii-p12.2">4:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=4&scrV=19#Deu.i-p3.6">4:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=5&scrV=1#Ex.xvi-p11.6">5:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=5&scrV=2#Ex.xi-p15.18">5:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=5&scrV=10#Num.x-p4.2">5:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=5&scrV=11#Lev.xxiv-p8.4">5:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=6&scrV=2#Num.xxviii-p12.1">6:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=6&scrV=16#Ex.xv-p10.2">6:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=6&scrV=17#Lev.xxviii-p14.3">6:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=7&scrV=9#Deu.xxxiii-p35.4">7:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=7&scrV=10#Num.xxviii-p12.1">7:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=7&scrV=13#Num.xxvi-p8.3">7:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=7&scrV=20#Lev.vi-p4.3">7:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=8&scrV=34#Deu.xxxii-p13.2">8:34-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=9&scrV=23#Gen.x-p27.2">9:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=10&scrV=24#Deu.xxxiv-p51.1">10:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=11&scrV=20#Deu.xxi-p13.2">11:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=13&scrV=1#Gen.xxviii-p5.2">13:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=13&scrV=21#Num.xxxii-p8.6">13:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=14&scrV=9#Num.xiv-p8.5">14:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=14&scrV=12#Num.xiv-p8.5">14:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=14&scrV=13#Num.xiv-p8.5">14:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=17&scrV=3#Num.xxviii-p3.3">17:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=18&scrV=3#Gen.xii-p3.1">18:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=18&scrV=28#Deu.xxxiv-p21.3">18:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=19&scrV=9#Num.xxvii-p7.4">19:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=19&scrV=11#Gen.l-p11.2">19:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=21&scrV=1#Num.xxxvi-p6.1">21:1-45</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=22&scrV=7#Deu.xxxiv-p35.7">22:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=22&scrV=12#Lev.xviii-p6.1">22:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=24&scrV=2#Deu.xxxiii-p25.3">24:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=24&scrV=2#Gen.xii-p29.1">24:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=24&scrV=4#Gen.xxxvii-p3.3">24:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=24&scrV=12#Ex.xxiv-p17.2">24:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=24&scrV=14#Ex.ii-p8.2">24:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=24&scrV=15#Gen.xxxvi-p4.3">24:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=24&scrV=15#Ex.xxi-p14.5">24:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=24&scrV=15#Ex.xxxiii-p16.7">24:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=24&scrV=26#Deu.xxviii-p5.8">24:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=24&scrV=32#Gen.xlix-p13.4">24:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Josh&scrCh=24&scrV=32#Gen.li-p14.2">24:32</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Judges</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=1&scrV=2#Gen.l-p8.5">1:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=1&scrV=7#Gen.xxx-p9.3">1:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=1&scrV=7#Ex.xxii-p16.4">1:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=1&scrV=16#Num.xi-p9.1">1:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=1&scrV=16#Ex.xix-p20.3">1:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=1&scrV=28#Gen.x-p27.2">1:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=1&scrV=30#Gen.x-p27.2">1:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=1&scrV=33#Gen.x-p27.2">1:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=1&scrV=35#Gen.x-p27.2">1:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=2&scrV=11#Deu.xxxiii-p40.2">2:11-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=3&scrV=1#Deu.viii-p19.15">3:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=3&scrV=4#Deu.viii-p19.15">3:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=3&scrV=15#Gen.l-p23.2">3:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=3&scrV=20#Num.xxiv-p15.3">3:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=4&scrV=2#Deu.xxxiii-p31.3">4:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=5&scrV=1#Gen.xv-p20.5">5:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=5&scrV=5#Ex.xx-p15.4">5:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=5&scrV=10#Deu.xviii-p14.3">5:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=5&scrV=18#Deu.xxxiv-p29.2">5:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=6&scrV=3#Num.xxxii-p8.4">6:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=6&scrV=5#Gen.xxvi-p5.3">6:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=6&scrV=5#Lev.xxvii-p13.4">6:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=6&scrV=21#Gen.xvi-p40.1">6:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=6&scrV=21#Gen.xvii-p28.3">6:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=6&scrV=24#Ex.xxi-p34.1">6:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=6&scrV=26#Lev.xviii-p6.2">6:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=6&scrV=33#Gen.xxvi-p5.3">6:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=6&scrV=36#Gen.xvi-p20.3">6:36-40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=7&scrV=3#Deu.xxi-p9.2">7:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=7&scrV=7#Gen.xv-p10.1">7:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=7&scrV=13#Gen.xxxviii-p6.2">7:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=7&scrV=16#Gen.xv-p12.1">7:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=8&scrV=1#Deu.xxxiv-p26.4">8:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=9&scrV=8#Ex.iv-p19.2">9:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=9&scrV=23#Gen.xii-p19.3">9:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=10&scrV=14#Deu.xxxiii-p41.2">10:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=10&scrV=14#Deu.v-p23.6">10:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=10&scrV=16#Deu.xxxiii-p40.3">10:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=10&scrV=16#Gen.xliii-p16.3">10:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=10&scrV=16#Ex.xxxv-p10.1">10:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=11&scrV=1#Deu.xxiv-p5.3">11:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=11&scrV=15#Num.xxii-p15.6">11:15-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=11&scrV=20#Num.xxii-p19.4">11:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=11&scrV=23#Num.xxii-p19.8">11:23-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=12&scrV=1#Deu.xxxiv-p26.5">12:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=12&scrV=14#Deu.xviii-p14.3">12:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=13&scrV=4#Gen.xxi-p3.4">13:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=13&scrV=5#Num.vii-p4.2">13:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=13&scrV=17#Gen.xxxiii-p26.13">13:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=13&scrV=18#Ex.iv-p25.3">13:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=13&scrV=19#Ex.xxi-p34.2">13:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=13&scrV=19#Lev.xviii-p6.3">13:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=13&scrV=19#Gen.xvi-p40.2">13:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=13&scrV=21#Gen.xvii-p28.3">13:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=13&scrV=23#Gen.xvi-p40.5">13:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=13&scrV=24#Ex.iii-p4.5">13:24-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=13&scrV=25#Num.iii-p5.7">13:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=17&scrV=13#Gen.xxix-p10.3">17:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=18&scrV=24#Gen.xxxii-p20.2">18:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=18&scrV=27#Deu.xxxiv-p37.2">18:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=20&scrV=12#Num.xxxii-p8.2">20:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=20&scrV=14#Gen.l-p23.3">20:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=20&scrV=16#Gen.l-p23.2">20:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=20&scrV=27#Ex.xxix-p11.4">20:27-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Judg&scrCh=21&scrV=9#Lev.xxviii-p14.4">21:9-10</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Ruth</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ruth&scrCh=1&scrV=6#Gen.xiv-p3.2">1:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ruth&scrCh=2&scrV=12#Ex.xxvi-p18.9">2:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ruth&scrCh=3&scrV=9#Lev.xxvi-p14.5">3:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ruth&scrCh=4&scrV=6#Lev.xxvi-p14.6">4:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ruth&scrCh=4&scrV=7#Deu.xxvi-p6.6">4:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ruth&scrCh=4&scrV=11#Gen.xiii-p11.1">4:11</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">1 Samuel</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=1&scrV=5#Gen.xxx-p12.2">1:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=1&scrV=6#Gen.xvii-p12.2">1:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=1&scrV=7#Lev.xi-p22.6">1:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=1&scrV=10#Gen.xxxi-p5.3">1:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=1&scrV=11#Num.vii-p4.4">1:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=1&scrV=11#Gen.xxix-p24.2">1:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=1&scrV=18#Gen.xxxiv-p3.2">1:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=2&scrV=5#Num.xxvii-p6.3">2:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=2&scrV=8#Gen.xiii-p10.1">2:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=2&scrV=9#Deu.ix-p8.4">2:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=2&scrV=9#Ex.xi-p15.12">2:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=2&scrV=18#Ex.iii-p4.6">2:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=2&scrV=18#Ex.xxix-p7.2">2:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=2&scrV=29#Ex.v-p26.1">2:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=2&scrV=30#Gen.vi-p16.2">2:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=2&scrV=30#Gen.xviii-p8.1">2:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=2&scrV=35#Gen.vi-p16.2">2:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=3&scrV=14#Lev.v-p9.5">3:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=3&scrV=18#Gen.xxiii-p23.4">3:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=3&scrV=18#Lev.xi-p11.1">3:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=3&scrV=19#Deu.xix-p19.9">3:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=6&scrV=3#Ex.xiii-p21.7">6:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=6&scrV=6#Ex.xiii-p21.7">6:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=6&scrV=20#Lev.xi-p12.3">6:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=7&scrV=3#Deu.xxiv-p10.3">7:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=7&scrV=9#Lev.xviii-p6.4">7:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=7&scrV=10#Gen.xv-p20.5">7:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=7&scrV=12#Gen.xv-p20.5">7:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=7&scrV=17#Ex.xxi-p34.3">7:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=9&scrV=6#Deu.xix-p14.1">9:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=9&scrV=9#Num.xxv-p16.3">9:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=9&scrV=13#Lev.xviii-p6.4">9:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=9&scrV=24#Lev.viii-p12.2">9:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=10&scrV=2#Gen.xxxvi-p14.3">10:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=10&scrV=6#Num.xii-p26.4">10:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=10&scrV=11#Num.xii-p26.4">10:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=11&scrV=15#Lev.xviii-p6.4">11:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=12&scrV=12#Num.ii-p1.1">12:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=12&scrV=12#Deu.xxxiv-p9.1">12:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=12&scrV=23#Ex.x-p19.3">12:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=13&scrV=8#Ex.xxxiii-p8.2">13:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=13&scrV=8#Ex.xxv-p16.6">13:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=14&scrV=6#Num.xxxii-p5.1">14:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=14&scrV=6#Gen.xv-p13.2">14:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=14&scrV=12#Lev.xxvii-p4.18">14:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=14&scrV=27#Gen.iv-p22.1">14:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=14&scrV=32#Gen.x-p10.2">14:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=14&scrV=32#Lev.xviii-p10.3">14:32-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=15&scrV=1#Deu.xxvi-p12.3">15:1-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=15&scrV=1#Ex.xviii-p15.5">15:1-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=15&scrV=6#Num.xi-p9.1">15:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=15&scrV=6#Ex.xix-p20.2">15:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=15&scrV=27#Ex.xi-p5.3">15:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=15&scrV=30#Gen.xxiv-p9.3">15:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=16&scrV=6#Gen.v-p4.4">16:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=16&scrV=6#Gen.xxviii-p3.1">16:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=16&scrV=7#Gen.xlix-p12.6">16:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=17&scrV=37#Ex.iii-p4.7">17:37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=17&scrV=43#Num.xxiii-p6.8">17:43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=18&scrV=6#Ex.xvi-p12.2">18:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=19&scrV=23#Num.xxv-p4.2">19:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=21&scrV=6#Lev.xxiii-p10.1">21:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=22&scrV=18#Deu.xxxiv-p19.3">22:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=22&scrV=18#Ex.xxix-p7.1">22:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=23&scrV=6#Num.xxxii-p6.2">23:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=23&scrV=6#Ex.xxix-p11.5">23:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=24&scrV=13#Gen.xxx-p10.2">24:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=25&scrV=11#Gen.xxxii-p30.3">25:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=25&scrV=32#Gen.x-p29.6">25:32-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=25&scrV=32#Gen.xxi-p10.1">25:32-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=26&scrV=19#Deu.xxv-p6.3">26:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=26&scrV=21#Gen.xxxiv-p7.3">26:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=26&scrV=25#Gen.xxxiv-p7.3">26:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=30&scrV=1#Ex.xviii-p15.6">30:1-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=30&scrV=6#Num.xv-p15.5">30:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=30&scrV=16#Gen.viii-p33.4">30:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Sam&scrCh=30&scrV=24#Num.xxxii-p17.3">30:24-25</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">2 Samuel</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Sam&scrCh=1&scrV=1#Ex.xviii-p15.6">1:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Sam&scrCh=2&scrV=26#Deu.xxxiii-p37.13">2:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Sam&scrCh=3&scrV=29#Lev.xvi-p3.3">3:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Sam&scrCh=6&scrV=8#Lev.xi-p8.1">6:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Sam&scrCh=6&scrV=14#Ex.xxix-p7.3">6:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Sam&scrCh=7&scrV=18#Gen.xvii-p28.5">7:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Sam&scrCh=7&scrV=18#Gen.xix-p31.3">7:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Sam&scrCh=7&scrV=18#Gen.xxxiii-p26.15">7:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Sam&scrCh=7&scrV=18#Gen.xxii-p10.4">7:18-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Sam&scrCh=7&scrV=23#Deu.xxxiv-p43.2">7:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Sam&scrCh=8&scrV=2#Num.xxv-p17.3">8:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Sam&scrCh=8&scrV=11#Num.xxxii-p20.5">8:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Sam&scrCh=8&scrV=12#Ex.xviii-p15.6">8:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Sam&scrCh=13&scrV=12#Deu.xxiv-p16.2">13:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Sam&scrCh=13&scrV=12#Gen.xxxv-p5.2">13:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Sam&scrCh=13&scrV=15#Gen.xxxv-p3.4">13:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Sam&scrCh=13&scrV=22#Lev.xx-p17.2">13:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Sam&scrCh=13&scrV=31#Gen.xliii-p22.3">13:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Sam&scrCh=15&scrV=25#Gen.xliv-p8.1">15:25-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Sam&scrCh=19&scrV=24#Num.vii-p7.2">19:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Sam&scrCh=21&scrV=9#Deu.xxv-p11.3">21:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Sam&scrCh=21&scrV=14#Deu.xxv-p11.3">21:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Sam&scrCh=22&scrV=1#Ex.xvi-p3.2">22:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Sam&scrCh=23&scrV=1#Num.xxv-p4.4">23:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Sam&scrCh=23&scrV=16#Gen.x-p10.5">23:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Sam&scrCh=24&scrV=8#Num.ii-p9.3">24:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Sam&scrCh=24&scrV=15#Ex.xiii-p20.2">24:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Sam&scrCh=24&scrV=18#Lev.xviii-p6.5">24:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Sam&scrCh=24&scrV=24#Gen.xxiv-p9.7">24:24</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">1 Kings</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=1&scrV=50#Num.xxxvi-p12.3">1:50</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=2&scrV=28#Num.xxxvi-p12.3">2:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=3&scrV=27#Ex.iii-p8.2">3:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=4&scrV=20#Gen.xiv-p25.2">4:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=4&scrV=22#Num.xvi-p4.4">4:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=4&scrV=22#Lev.iv-p7.4">4:22-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=4&scrV=33#Lev.xv-p5.4">4:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=6&scrV=1#Ex.xxvii-p3.1">6:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=8&scrV=31#Lev.vi-p3.3">8:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=8&scrV=41#Lev.xxiii-p14.7">8:41-42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=8&scrV=56#Deu.xxvii-p5.2">8:56</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=9&scrV=8#Deu.xxx-p23.3">9:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=10&scrV=28#Deu.xviii-p14.5">10:28-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=11&scrV=1#Deu.xviii-p14.8">11:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=11&scrV=1#Gen.vii-p3.8">11:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=12&scrV=4#Deu.xviii-p14.9">12:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=12&scrV=33#Lev.xxiv-p6.1">12:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=13&scrV=6#Num.xiii-p14.2">13:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=15&scrV=15#Lev.xxviii-p8.2">15:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=17&scrV=1#Deu.xxix-p15.12">17:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=17&scrV=13#Num.xvi-p6.4">17:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=18&scrV=23#Lev.xviii-p6.6">18:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=18&scrV=27#Deu.v-p18.5">18:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=18&scrV=28#Deu.xv-p6.2">18:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=18&scrV=31#Deu.xxviii-p6.1">18:31-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=18&scrV=36#Gen.xvi-p24.1">18:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=18&scrV=36#Ex.iv-p26.4">18:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=18&scrV=38#Lev.x-p10.3">18:38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=18&scrV=43#Gen.ix-p8.3">18:43-44</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=20&scrV=5#Deu.xxix-p15.17">20:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=20&scrV=11#Gen.xxiii-p4.2">20:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=20&scrV=28#Num.xxiv-p26.2">20:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=20&scrV=31#Deu.xxiv-p15.2">20:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=21&scrV=3#Lev.xxvi-p14.2">21:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=21&scrV=3#Gen.xxvi-p27.3">21:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=21&scrV=9#Gen.xli-p11.3">21:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=21&scrV=29#Ex.ix-p22.3">21:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=22&scrV=6#Deu.xix-p19.4">22:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Kgs&scrCh=22&scrV=34#Deu.xxxiii-p32.7">22:34</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">2 Kings</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=1&scrV=39#Ex.xxxi-p10.5">1:39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=2&scrV=17#Gen.vi-p21.1">2:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=2&scrV=23#Lev.xiv-p9.2">2:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=2&scrV=24#Lev.xxvii-p13.14">2:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=2&scrV=24#Num.xxiii-p6.6">2:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=4&scrV=23#Num.xxix-p6.9">4:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=5&scrV=1#Lev.xiv-p3.1">5:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=5&scrV=10#Lev.xv-p5.7">5:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=5&scrV=12#Ex.xxxi-p8.4">5:12-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=5&scrV=23#Num.viii-p7.3">5:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=5&scrV=23#Gen.xxx-p10.6">5:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=5&scrV=23#Ex.xxxvi-p12.5">5:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=6&scrV=5#Ex.xxiii-p10.2">6:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=6&scrV=26#Gen.xlii-p15.2">6:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=6&scrV=28#Deu.xxix-p26.5">6:28-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=7&scrV=2#Deu.xxxv-p4.5">7:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=7&scrV=3#Lev.xiv-p13.3">7:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=7&scrV=4#Num.xv-p5.3">7:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=8&scrV=20#Gen.xxviii-p21.2">8:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=8&scrV=22#Gen.xxviii-p21.2">8:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=9&scrV=32#Ex.xxxiii-p30.3">9:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=12&scrV=14#Lev.xxviii-p4.3">12:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=14&scrV=6#Deu.xxv-p11.2">14:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=15&scrV=29#Num.xxxiii-p15.1">15:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=17&scrV=6#Deu.xxix-p15.24">17:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=17&scrV=24#Deu.xxix-p15.29">17:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=17&scrV=31#Deu.iii-p10.9">17:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=18&scrV=4#Num.xxii-p12.3">18:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=20&scrV=8#Gen.xvi-p20.3">20:8-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=20&scrV=19#Gen.xvi-p34.6">20:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=21&scrV=13#Gen.vii-p15.2">21:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=22&scrV=20#Gen.xvi-p33.2">22:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=22&scrV=20#Gen.viii-p12.1">22:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=23&scrV=6#Gen.xxiv-p12.4">23:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=24&scrV=3#Gen.x-p13.5">24:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=24&scrV=15#Deu.xxix-p15.25">24:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=24&scrV=15#Deu.xxix-p15.25">24:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=25&scrV=7#Deu.xxix-p15.25">25:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=25&scrV=12#ii-p8.4">25:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Kgs&scrCh=25&scrV=21#Deu.xxix-p15.25">25:21</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">1 Chronicles</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Chr&scrCh=1&scrV=35#Gen.xxxvii-p1.7">1:35-54</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Chr&scrCh=4&scrV=43#Deu.xxvi-p12.4">4:43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Chr&scrCh=5&scrV=1#Deu.xxxiv-p26.2">5:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Chr&scrCh=5&scrV=18#Gen.l-p15.3">5:18-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Chr&scrCh=5&scrV=19#Deu.xxxiv-p34.2">5:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Chr&scrCh=5&scrV=22#Deu.xxxiv-p34.2">5:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Chr&scrCh=7&scrV=2#Gen.xlvii-p10.7">7:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Chr&scrCh=9&scrV=30#Ex.xxxi-p10.6">9:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Chr&scrCh=10&scrV=13#Lev.xx-p26.1">10:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Chr&scrCh=12&scrV=8#Deu.xxxiv-p34.3">12:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Chr&scrCh=12&scrV=8#Gen.l-p15.2">12:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Chr&scrCh=12&scrV=32#Deu.xxxiv-p31.4">12:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Chr&scrCh=15&scrV=13#Num.viii-p7.6">15:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Chr&scrCh=17&scrV=24#Gen.xvi-p8.1">17:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Chr&scrCh=22&scrV=14#ii-p8.2">22:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Chr&scrCh=23&scrV=24#Num.v-p5.2">23:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Chr&scrCh=24&scrV=2#Lev.xi-p5.4">24:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Chr&scrCh=26&scrV=5#Gen.ii-p38.7">26:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Chr&scrCh=26&scrV=26#Num.xxxii-p20.6">26:26-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Chr&scrCh=28&scrV=3#Num.xxxii-p13.1">28:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Chr&scrCh=29&scrV=4#Deu.xviii-p14.11">29:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Chr&scrCh=29&scrV=14#Deu.xxvii-p8.2">29:14</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">2 Chronicles</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=1&scrV=7#Gen.xlvii-p5.1">1:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=2&scrV=14#Ex.xxxii-p4.6">2:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=3&scrV=1#Gen.xxiii-p28.2">3:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=5&scrV=12#Num.xi-p3.1">5:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=5&scrV=13#Lev.x-p7.3">5:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=6&scrV=1#Ex.xx-p7.2">6:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=6&scrV=5#Deu.xiii-p9.4">6:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=6&scrV=8#Lev.xxviii-p4.2">6:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=7&scrV=1#Gen.xvi-p40.3">7:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=7&scrV=1#Lev.x-p10.2">7:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=7&scrV=12#Deu.xiii-p9.3">7:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=9&scrV=26#Num.xxxv-p3.2">9:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=9&scrV=26#Gen.xvi-p43.4">9:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=12&scrV=8#Lev.xxvii-p13.10">12:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=12&scrV=8#Deu.xxix-p20.2">12:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=13&scrV=11#Lev.xxv-p5.3">13:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=13&scrV=12#Num.xi-p3.14">13:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=13&scrV=14#Deu.xxxiv-p12.2">13:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=16&scrV=9#Deu.xxxiii-p13.7">16:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=16&scrV=9#Ex.ix-p18.2">16:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=17&scrV=8#Deu.xxxiv-p18.3">17:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=19&scrV=5#Deu.xvii-p9.3">19:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=19&scrV=6#Lev.xxv-p11.5">19:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=19&scrV=8#Deu.xvii-p9.3">19:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=20&scrV=6#Ex.iv-p10.8">20:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=20&scrV=21#Gen.xv-p20.5">20:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=21&scrV=8#Gen.xxvi-p16.2">21:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=22&scrV=11#Lev.xxii-p11.2">22:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=24&scrV=22#Gen.v-p29.2">24:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=24&scrV=22#Gen.x-p13.1">24:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=25&scrV=16#Gen.xx-p7.12">25:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=25&scrV=16#Ex.xi-p7.5">25:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=26&scrV=16#Lev.xi-p3.8">26:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=26&scrV=21#Lev.xiv-p13.2">26:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=28&scrV=20#Deu.xxix-p15.16">28:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=28&scrV=22#Lev.xxvii-p9.3">28:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=29&scrV=17#Ex.xli-p3.3">29:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=29&scrV=21#Num.xvi-p8.7">29:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=29&scrV=27#Num.xi-p3.20">29:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=29&scrV=36#Ex.xl-p5.1">29:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=30&scrV=15#Num.x-p9.3">30:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=30&scrV=23#Num.xxx-p5.6">30:23-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=31&scrV=1#Deu.viii-p8.3">31:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=31&scrV=5#Lev.iii-p9.4">31:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=32&scrV=31#Gen.x-p21.2">32:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=34&scrV=3#Deu.viii-p8.4">34:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=34&scrV=7#Deu.viii-p8.4">34:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=34&scrV=14#Deu.xxxii-p22.3">34:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=34&scrV=30#Deu.xxxii-p13.3">34:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=35&scrV=17#Deu.xvii-p4.12">35:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=36&scrV=12#Ex.xi-p4.3">36:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=36&scrV=16#Gen.xx-p7.11">36:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=36&scrV=21#Lev.xxvii-p13.21">36:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Chr&scrCh=36&scrV=21#Ex.xxiv-p8.2">36:21</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Ezra</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezra&scrCh=2&scrV=63#Ex.xxix-p11.7">2:63</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezra&scrCh=3&scrV=8#Num.v-p5.3">3:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezra&scrCh=4&scrV=12#Ex.ii-p7.2">4:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezra&scrCh=6&scrV=9#Lev.xxiii-p14.8">6:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezra&scrCh=6&scrV=10#Gen.xlviii-p12.4">6:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezra&scrCh=7&scrV=20#Lev.iii-p8.3">7:20-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezra&scrCh=8&scrV=35#Num.xvi-p8.9">8:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezra&scrCh=9&scrV=1#Gen.vii-p3.9">9:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezra&scrCh=9&scrV=1#Lev.xxvii-p17.3">9:1-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezra&scrCh=9&scrV=1#Deu.viii-p7.3">9:1-10:44</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezra&scrCh=9&scrV=4#Ex.xxxiv-p8.2">9:4</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Nehemiah</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Neh&scrCh=1&scrV=9#Deu.xxxi-p6.3">1:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Neh&scrCh=5&scrV=5#Ex.xxiii-p20.2">5:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Neh&scrCh=5&scrV=7#Ex.xxiii-p20.2">5:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Neh&scrCh=5&scrV=8#Lev.xxvi-p22.4">5:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Neh&scrCh=5&scrV=15#Lev.xxvi-p11.4">5:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Neh&scrCh=5&scrV=15#Gen.xliii-p11.2">5:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Neh&scrCh=5&scrV=15#Ex.xix-p18.2">5:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Neh&scrCh=6&scrV=3#Lev.xi-p14.4">6:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Neh&scrCh=6&scrV=10#Deu.xxxiv-p21.5">6:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Neh&scrCh=8&scrV=3#Deu.xxxii-p13.4">8:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Neh&scrCh=8&scrV=7#Deu.xxxiv-p18.2">8:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Neh&scrCh=8&scrV=8#ii-p7.7">8:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Neh&scrCh=8&scrV=10#Lev.iv-p7.7">8:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Neh&scrCh=8&scrV=15#Lev.xxiv-p17.5">8:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Neh&scrCh=9&scrV=2#Lev.xxvii-p17.3">9:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Neh&scrCh=9&scrV=5#Gen.ii-p11.2">9:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Neh&scrCh=9&scrV=13#Deu.xxxiii-p17.2">9:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Neh&scrCh=9&scrV=17#Num.xv-p6.3">9:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Neh&scrCh=9&scrV=19#Num.x-p14.6">9:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Neh&scrCh=9&scrV=19#Ex.xiv-p15.2">9:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Neh&scrCh=9&scrV=20#Num.xxvii-p14.3">9:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Neh&scrCh=10&scrV=29#Deu.xxviii-p9.6">10:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Neh&scrCh=13&scrV=1#Deu.xxiv-p6.2">13:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Neh&scrCh=13&scrV=1#Deu.xxiv-p3.1">13:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Neh&scrCh=13&scrV=1#Deu.viii-p7.3">13:1-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Neh&scrCh=13&scrV=17#Num.xvi-p11.7">13:17</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Esther</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Esth&scrCh=1&scrV=4#Ex.xvii-p12.9">1:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Esth&scrCh=2&scrV=8#Gen.xiii-p33.1">2:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Esth&scrCh=3&scrV=8#Ex.ii-p7.2">3:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Esth&scrCh=4&scrV=11#Lev.xvii-p4.2">4:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Esth&scrCh=5&scrV=12#Ex.xv-p6.1">5:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Esth&scrCh=9&scrV=1#Gen.xxxii-p13.6">9:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Esth&scrCh=9&scrV=19#Lev.xxiv-p3.3">9:19</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Job</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=1&scrV=5#Gen.xviii-p21.3">1:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=1&scrV=5#Ex.xx-p9.2">1:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=1&scrV=5#Lev.v-p3.2">1:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=1&scrV=5#Lev.xviii-p4.1">1:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=1&scrV=21#Gen.iii-p9.4">1:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=2&scrV=10#Gen.xxxi-p6.3">2:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=3&scrV=11#Ex.ii-p12.2">3:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=3&scrV=20#Gen.v-p36.5">3:20-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=4&scrV=12#Deu.vi-p3.4">4:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=4&scrV=16#Ex.iv-p8.2">4:16-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=4&scrV=19#Gen.iii-p9.5">4:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=5&scrV=14#Gen.xx-p8.3">5:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=5&scrV=23#Lev.xxvii-p4.14">5:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=5&scrV=23#Gen.x-p12.2">5:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=5&scrV=26#Gen.xvi-p35.1">5:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=7&scrV=2#Deu.xxv-p10.5">7:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=7&scrV=2#Gen.ii-p16.12">7:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=7&scrV=4#Deu.xxix-p28.6">7:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=8&scrV=4#Lev.xi-p11.2">8:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=8&scrV=7#Ex.ii-p3.6">8:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=9&scrV=15#Gen.xlv-p13.1">9:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=9&scrV=18#Lev.xxvii-p4.16">9:18-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=9&scrV=23#Gen.xxiii-p21.1">9:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=10&scrV=9#Gen.iii-p9.6">10:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=10&scrV=22#Gen.ii-p14.5">10:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=10&scrV=22#Gen.xii-p29.6">10:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=11&scrV=10#Gen.vii-p24.2">11:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=11&scrV=10#Gen.xxxi-p6.5">11:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=11&scrV=16#Gen.xlii-p13.2">11:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=12&scrV=7#Gen.ii-p30.6">12:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=12&scrV=9#Gen.ii-p30.6">12:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=12&scrV=14#Gen.ix-p6.1">12:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=12&scrV=14#Gen.xxxi-p6.5">12:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=12&scrV=15#Gen.viii-p28.2">12:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=12&scrV=16#Num.xxxii-p3.3">12:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=12&scrV=16#Gen.xxviii-p10.3">12:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=12&scrV=23#Num.ii-p10.11">12:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=13&scrV=26#Gen.xliii-p14.2">13:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=14&scrV=1#Gen.iv-p39.7">14:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=14&scrV=1#Gen.xlviii-p11.5">14:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=14&scrV=13#Gen.ix-p3.8">14:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=15&scrV=20#Gen.v-p36.4">15:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=15&scrV=25#Num.xvi-p10.2">15:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=16&scrV=4#Lev.xx-p18.6">16:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=17&scrV=14#Gen.iii-p9.8">17:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=18&scrV=5#Ex.xi-p15.4">18:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=18&scrV=15#Gen.xx-p21.4">18:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=18&scrV=18#Gen.iv-p66.3">18:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=19&scrV=25#Lev.xxvi-p14.7">19:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=19&scrV=25#Num.xxv-p17.5">19:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=20&scrV=14#Deu.xxxiii-p37.14">20:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=20&scrV=27#Deu.xxxiii-p3.4">20:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=20&scrV=27#Gen.v-p29.5">20:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=20&scrV=27#Gen.viii-p17.3">20:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=21&scrV=7#Gen.xvi-p32.2">21:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=21&scrV=9#Deu.viii-p12.4">21:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=21&scrV=10#Ex.xxiv-p16.3">21:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=21&scrV=12#Gen.v-p48.1">21:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=21&scrV=19#Gen.xvi-p32.2">21:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=21&scrV=25#Gen.iv-p51.3">21:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=21&scrV=28#Deu.xxxiii-p39.5">21:28-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=21&scrV=32#Gen.xvi-p34.3">21:32-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=22&scrV=12#Gen.ii-p18.11">22:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=22&scrV=15#Gen.viii-p34.2">22:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=22&scrV=20#Gen.xiv-p22.1">22:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=22&scrV=23#Num.vi-p4.2">22:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=22&scrV=23#Lev.xv-p12.4">22:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=22&scrV=28#Gen.xxv-p12.1">22:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=23&scrV=3#Gen.xxxii-p20.3">23:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=23&scrV=4#Gen.xxxiii-p12.1">23:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=23&scrV=6#Gen.xxxiii-p26.2">23:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=23&scrV=16#Ex.xv-p16.5">23:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=24&scrV=1#Ex.vii-p3.4">24:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=24&scrV=15#Num.vi-p10.3">24:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=24&scrV=24#Num.xxii-p19.18">24:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=25&scrV=4#Gen.iv-p39.6">25:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=26&scrV=7#Gen.ii-p18.3">26:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=26&scrV=8#Gen.viii-p16.5">26:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=26&scrV=9#Num.v-p8.7">26:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=26&scrV=9#Ex.xx-p7.4">26:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=26&scrV=9#Ex.xxv-p13.6">26:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=26&scrV=9#Ex.xxxiv-p19.2">26:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=26&scrV=12#Ex.xv-p20.2">26:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=26&scrV=13#Gen.ii-p14.2">26:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=26&scrV=13#Gen.ii-p24.1">26:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=26&scrV=14#Ex.iv-p25.4">26:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=27&scrV=16#Ex.xiii-p21.9">27:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=27&scrV=20#Ex.xv-p23.7">27:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=27&scrV=22#Deu.xxix-p14.2">27:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=28&scrV=2#Deu.ix-p11.3">28:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=28&scrV=5#Deu.xxxiv-p24.7">28:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=28&scrV=5#Gen.iii-p9.7">28:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=28&scrV=25#Gen.viii-p28.8">28:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=28&scrV=28#Deu.v-p17.2">28:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=29&scrV=13#Deu.xvii-p6.5">29:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=30&scrV=1#Lev.xx-p27.3">30:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=30&scrV=12#Lev.xx-p27.3">30:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=31&scrV=1#Gen.xl-p10.3">31:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=31&scrV=1#Gen.xxi-p22.5">31:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=31&scrV=3#Num.xvii-p27.5">31:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=31&scrV=3#Gen.xx-p21.2">31:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=31&scrV=7#Gen.xxvi-p26.5">31:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=31&scrV=11#Lev.xxi-p13.2">31:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=31&scrV=13#Num.xxiii-p19.12">31:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=31&scrV=13#Deu.xxv-p10.3">31:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=31&scrV=13#Ex.xvii-p7.4">31:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=31&scrV=13#Lev.xxvi-p20.9">31:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=31&scrV=13#Ex.xxii-p13.4">31:13-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=31&scrV=15#Gen.xvii-p14.3">31:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=31&scrV=17#Gen.xix-p5.4">31:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=31&scrV=28#Ex.xxxiii-p30.2">31:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=31&scrV=33#Gen.iv-p23.1">31:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=31&scrV=33#Gen.xxxviii-p15.1">31:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=31&scrV=37#Gen.xix-p23.3">31:37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=31&scrV=39#Gen.xxiv-p9.5">31:39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=32&scrV=6#Lev.xx-p27.2">32:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=32&scrV=8#Gen.iii-p8.5">32:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=32&scrV=9#Num.ix-p12.5">32:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=32&scrV=14#Ex.iv-p8.2">32:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=33&scrV=4#Gen.iii-p8.4">33:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=33&scrV=6#Gen.iii-p8.3">33:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=33&scrV=6#Deu.v-p19.8">33:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=33&scrV=14#Ex.xxi-p3.2">33:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=33&scrV=15#Gen.xli-p5.1">33:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=33&scrV=15#Gen.xxxii-p13.5">33:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=33&scrV=23#Lev.xv-p4.2">33:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=33&scrV=23#Gen.xli-p8.2">33:23-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=34&scrV=10#Gen.xix-p29.2">34:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=34&scrV=19#Ex.xxxi-p6.4">34:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=34&scrV=19#Lev.v-p11.5">34:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=34&scrV=19#Ex.xiii-p20.4">34:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=35&scrV=6#Deu.xxxiii-p7.5">35:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=35&scrV=10#Gen.ii-p1.1">35:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=35&scrV=11#Gen.iii-p35.2">35:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=36&scrV=13#Ex.iii-p26.4">36:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=36&scrV=13#Ex.viii-p13.2">36:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=36&scrV=14#Lev.xv-p5.9">36:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=37&scrV=11#Gen.viii-p16.6">37:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=37&scrV=12#Gen.viii-p17.1">37:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=37&scrV=18#Gen.ii-p18.3">37:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=38&scrV=4#Gen.ii-p35.1">38:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=38&scrV=6#Lev.xxiv-p13.6">38:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=38&scrV=9#Gen.viii-p16.2">38:9-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=38&scrV=10#Gen.ii-p21.5">38:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=38&scrV=10#Gen.x-p16.2">38:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=38&scrV=19#Gen.ii-p16.2">38:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=38&scrV=22#Gen.ii-p18.8">38:22-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=38&scrV=22#Gen.viii-p16.4">38:22-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=38&scrV=22#Ex.x-p18.2">38:22-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=38&scrV=24#Gen.ii-p16.2">38:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=38&scrV=36#Ex.xxxii-p5.3">38:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=39&scrV=6#Gen.iv-p48.2">39:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=39&scrV=9#Num.xxv-p9.4">39:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=39&scrV=20#Num.xiv-p12.10">39:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=40&scrV=11#Gen.xii-p15.1">40:11-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=40&scrV=12#Ex.xv-p23.12">40:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=40&scrV=12#Ex.vii-p3.5">40:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=41&scrV=1#Gen.ii-p30.2">41:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=41&scrV=34#Ex.vi-p5.3">41:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Job&scrCh=42&scrV=8#Gen.xxi-p23.3">42:8-10</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Psalms</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=1&scrV=2#Deu.xviii-p17.2">1:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=1&scrV=2#ii-p7.1">1:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=1&scrV=2#Lev.ix-p13.7">1:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=1&scrV=3#Num.xviii-p10.2">1:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=1&scrV=3#Gen.iii-p18.3">1:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Ex.ii-p9.2">2:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Gen.xxxviii-p10.7">2:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=2&scrV=4#Ex.ii-p13.3">2:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=2&scrV=8#Lev.xxvi-p21.3">2:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=2&scrV=11#Ex.xx-p10.2">2:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=2&scrV=12#Gen.xxviii-p15.3">2:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=4&scrV=4#Ex.xxi-p27.3">4:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=4&scrV=6#Gen.xxviii-p19.4">4:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=4&scrV=7#Num.vii-p14.4">4:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=4&scrV=8#Lev.xxvii-p4.13">4:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=4&scrV=8#Num.xxv-p10.3">4:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=5&scrV=3#Gen.ix-p12.2">5:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=5&scrV=3#Gen.xx-p28.3">5:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=7&scrV=12#Deu.xxxiii-p45.4">7:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=7&scrV=12#Ex.ix-p4.2">7:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=7&scrV=12#Gen.x-p18.11">7:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=7&scrV=16#Ex.xxii-p16.6">7:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=8&scrV=3#Gen.ii-p18.4">8:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=8&scrV=3#Gen.ii-p25.9">8:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=9&scrV=15#Num.xvii-p27.6">9:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=10&scrV=4#Deu.ix-p16.9">10:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=10&scrV=8#Deu.xxviii-p15.2">10:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=10&scrV=17#Gen.xvii-p25.1">10:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=10&scrV=17#Gen.xxiii-p22.2">10:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=11&scrV=6#Gen.xx-p21.3">11:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=11&scrV=7#Gen.v-p9.4">11:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=11&scrV=8#Lev.xxvi-p7.3">11:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=12&scrV=4#Num.xxiv-p5.8">12:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=12&scrV=5#Ex.vii-p3.3">12:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=14&scrV=1#Gen.vii-p12.4">14:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=15&scrV=1#Ex.xxvii-p3.3">15:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=15&scrV=4#Gen.xv-p26.3">15:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=15&scrV=5#Deu.xxviii-p15.4">15:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=16&scrV=4#Lev.iv-p7.9">16:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=16&scrV=5#Gen.xviii-p7.5">16:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=16&scrV=10#Lev.viii-p9.10">16:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=16&scrV=15#Num.xii-p35.5">16:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=17&scrV=8#Ex.xiv-p15.7">17:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=17&scrV=14#Gen.v-p43.2">17:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=17&scrV=14#Gen.xxxvii-p5.5">17:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=18&scrV=7#Deu.xxxiv-p5.2">18:7-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=18&scrV=8#Deu.v-p19.3">18:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=18&scrV=11#Ex.xx-p7.3">18:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=18&scrV=12#Ex.x-p18.8">18:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=18&scrV=16#Gen.ix-p14.2">18:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=18&scrV=28#Num.ix-p3.4">18:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=18&scrV=33#Gen.l-p17.3">18:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=18&scrV=40#Gen.l-p8.3">18:40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=19&scrV=1#Deu.v-p19.7">19:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=19&scrV=1#Gen.ii-p27.1">19:1-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=19&scrV=10#Ex.xxxviii-p6.3">19:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=19&scrV=12#Num.xvi-p8.13">19:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=19&scrV=12#Lev.v-p11.3">19:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=20&scrV=1#Deu.xxxiv-p12.3">20:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=20&scrV=5#Ex.xviii-p15.2">20:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=20&scrV=7#Deu.xviii-p14.4">20:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=21&scrV=7#Deu.xxix-p14.3">21:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=21&scrV=8#Deu.xxxiii-p32.6">21:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=21&scrV=8#Gen.viii-p28.7">21:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=21&scrV=12#Deu.xxxiii-p32.6">21:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=21&scrV=12#Deu.viii-p12.3">21:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=22&scrV=4#Gen.xxxiii-p13.2">22:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=22&scrV=9#Gen.xxii-p11.5">22:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=22&scrV=9#Ex.iii-p7.3">22:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=22&scrV=12#Deu.xxxiv-p26.3">22:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=22&scrV=26#Lev.xxvii-p4.10">22:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=22&scrV=29#Gen.xlviii-p21.7">22:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=23&scrV=4#Deu.xxxv-p4.3">23:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=24&scrV=1#Gen.xv-p20.3">24:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=24&scrV=3#Ex.xxxi-p8.5">24:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=24&scrV=3#Lev.xvi-p7.1">24:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=25&scrV=11#Ex.xxxiii-p38.3">25:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=25&scrV=14#Gen.vii-p22.2">25:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=25&scrV=14#Gen.xix-p18.1">25:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=26&scrV=4#Ex.ix-p21.4">26:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=26&scrV=6#Lev.xxiii-p5.3">26:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=26&scrV=6#Deu.xxii-p6.6">26:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=26&scrV=6#Ex.ix-p21.4">26:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=26&scrV=6#Ex.xx-p9.6">26:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=26&scrV=6#Ex.xxxi-p8.8">26:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=27&scrV=4#Num.x-p12.1">27:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=27&scrV=4#Gen.xxxvi-p3.6">27:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=27&scrV=4#Ex.xvi-p11.9">27:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=27&scrV=4#Deu.xxxiv-p21.5">27:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=27&scrV=4#Ex.xli-p10.2">27:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=27&scrV=5#Num.xvii-p35.2">27:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=27&scrV=5#Ex.xxvii-p6.8">27:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=27&scrV=10#Ex.iii-p5.5">27:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=27&scrV=11#Gen.xxv-p11.6">27:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=27&scrV=13#Gen.xlvi-p14.2">27:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=28&scrV=4#Deu.xxiv-p6.8">28:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=28&scrV=26#Lev.xxvii-p11.3">28:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=30&scrV=1#Deu.xxi-p8.2">30:1-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=30&scrV=6#Gen.xxiii-p4.3">30:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=31&scrV=7#Gen.xvi-p7.2">31:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=31&scrV=20#Num.xvii-p35.2">31:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=31&scrV=22#Gen.xvii-p25.3">31:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=32&scrV=5#Num.xv-p28.4">32:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=32&scrV=5#Gen.xvii-p24.2">32:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=32&scrV=5#Lev.v-p5.8">32:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=32&scrV=6#Gen.viii-p35.3">32:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=32&scrV=7#Deu.xxxiv-p44.3">32:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=32&scrV=8#Gen.xxx-p5.5">32:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=32&scrV=8#Gen.xxv-p11.5">32:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=33&scrV=6#Gen.ii-p14.2">33:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=33&scrV=7#Gen.viii-p16.1">33:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=33&scrV=13#Gen.vii-p19.3">33:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=33&scrV=15#Num.xvii-p21.5">33:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=33&scrV=17#Deu.xviii-p14.4">33:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=34&scrV=7#Num.iv-p10.5">34:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=34&scrV=7#Gen.xxxiii-p3.4">34:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=34&scrV=7#Ex.xxvii-p4.2">34:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=34&scrV=10#Gen.xlviii-p16.6">34:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=35&scrV=13#Lev.xvii-p16.4">35:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=36&scrV=1#Gen.xxi-p18.2">36:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=36&scrV=6#Deu.xxxiii-p5.1">36:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=36&scrV=6#Gen.ii-p41.2">36:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=36&scrV=6#Ex.x-p3.5">36:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=36&scrV=8#Ex.xxvi-p20.7">36:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=37&scrV=6#Gen.xlii-p11.3">37:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=37&scrV=12#Gen.xvi-p30.2">37:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=37&scrV=16#Num.xxxv-p5.2">37:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=37&scrV=19#Gen.xlviii-p13.3">37:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=37&scrV=19#Gen.xxvii-p11.3">37:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=37&scrV=23#Num.x-p14.13">37:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=37&scrV=23#Ex.xli-p3.1">37:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=37&scrV=37#Gen.xvi-p34.5">37:37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=38&scrV=13#Lev.xx-p14.2">38:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=38&scrV=13#Num.xiii-p6.1">38:13-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=38&scrV=13#Gen.xiii-p12.2">38:13-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=39&scrV=1#Gen.xxxv-p3.7">39:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=39&scrV=2#Lev.xi-p22.5">39:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=39&scrV=3#Num.xii-p5.1">39:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=39&scrV=4#Gen.xlviii-p11.4">39:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=39&scrV=5#Gen.v-p4.8">39:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=40&scrV=6#Ex.xxii-p6.4">40:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=42&scrV=1#Num.x-p7.3">42:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=42&scrV=7#Gen.ii-p21.3">42:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=44&scrV=2#Deu.xxxiv-p46.1">44:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=44&scrV=3#Num.xv-p14.2">44:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=44&scrV=3#Deu.xxi-p14.4">44:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=44&scrV=20#Gen.xvii-p27.2">44:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=44&scrV=20#Ex.xxi-p6.2">44:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=44&scrV=25#Gen.iv-p35.5">44:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=44&scrV=25#Lev.xv-p5.8">44:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=45&scrV=2#Ex.v-p15.5">45:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=45&scrV=10#Gen.iii-p40.4">45:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=45&scrV=13#Ex.xxvii-p6.4">45:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=45&scrV=14#Ex.xxxvii-p6.2">45:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=46&scrV=1#Deu.v-p18.3">46:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=46&scrV=4#Gen.iii-p18.5">46:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=46&scrV=5#Num.iii-p3.6">46:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=46&scrV=5#Deu.v-p18.3">46:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=46&scrV=8#Gen.viii-p31.1">46:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=47&scrV=4#Num.iii-p3.3">47:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=47&scrV=4#Deu.xxxiv-p50.1">47:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=47&scrV=4#Gen.iii-p20.2">47:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=48&scrV=12#Gen.xiv-p24.7">48:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=48&scrV=14#Num.x-p14.10">48:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=49&scrV=6#Num.xxxvi-p10.13">49:6-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=49&scrV=6#Gen.xxvi-p27.4">49:6-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=49&scrV=14#Lev.xxvi-p21.6">49:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=49&scrV=14#Gen.xvi-p28.4">49:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=49&scrV=18#Deu.xvi-p4.11">49:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=49&scrV=18#Deu.xxxiv-p35.3">49:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=50&scrV=3#Deu.vi-p5.11">50:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=50&scrV=5#Gen.xvi-p40.4">50:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=50&scrV=5#Ex.xxv-p9.1">50:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=50&scrV=5#Lev.ix-p9.1">50:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=50&scrV=6#Deu.xxxiii-p3.5">50:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=50&scrV=9#Gen.xxiii-p7.1">50:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=50&scrV=20#Deu.xxiii-p13.4">50:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=50&scrV=20#Gen.v-p23.5">50:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=51&scrV=2#Lev.xv-p5.6">51:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=51&scrV=4#Lev.vi-p4.2">51:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=51&scrV=5#Gen.vi-p5.2">51:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=51&scrV=5#Lev.xiii-p3.4">51:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=51&scrV=6#Lev.xx-p11.2">51:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=51&scrV=9#Num.vi-p12.9">51:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=51&scrV=12#Ex.xxii-p5.2">51:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=51&scrV=17#Gen.xxiii-p22.3">51:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=53&scrV=5#Num.xxiii-p4.6">53:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=53&scrV=5#Gen.v-p36.4">53:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=55&scrV=6#Gen.ix-p12.4">55:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=55&scrV=9#Gen.xii-p19.4">55:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=55&scrV=15#Num.xvii-p27.7">55:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=56&scrV=8#Gen.xiii-p24.4">56:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=58&scrV=3#Gen.xxviii-p12.1">58:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=59&scrV=11#Gen.v-p37.2">59:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=60&scrV=6#Num.xxviii-p5.4">60:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=60&scrV=7#Gen.l-p8.4">60:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=62&scrV=10#Deu.xviii-p14.10">62:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=63&scrV=1#Ex.xvi-p15.2">63:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=64&scrV=7#Deu.xxxiii-p32.5">64:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=64&scrV=8#Lev.xxv-p13.2">64:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=64&scrV=8#Num.xxiv-p5.9">64:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=65&scrV=9#Deu.xii-p8.3">65:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=65&scrV=9#Deu.xxix-p7.8">65:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=65&scrV=9#Deu.xxxiv-p24.1">65:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=65&scrV=9#Gen.ii-p18.7">65:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=66&scrV=1#Ex.xvi-p7.10">66:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=66&scrV=6#Ex.xv-p22.1">66:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=66&scrV=13#Gen.xxix-p24.2">66:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=66&scrV=13#Gen.xxxvi-p3.7">66:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=66&scrV=18#Deu.xxiv-p10.2">66:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=67&scrV=6#Deu.xxvii-p13.3">67:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=68&scrV=1#Num.xi-p13.2">68:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=68&scrV=4#Deu.xi-p16.2">68:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=68&scrV=6#Gen.iv-p48.2">68:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=68&scrV=12#Num.xxxii-p17.2">68:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=68&scrV=17#Deu.xxxiv-p5.4">68:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=68&scrV=17#Ex.xxvi-p18.4">68:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=68&scrV=18#Num.xi-p13.4">68:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=68&scrV=18#Num.xvi-p1.3">68:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=69&scrV=2#Gen.ii-p21.3">69:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=69&scrV=2#Num.xvii-p27.8">69:2-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=69&scrV=9#Lev.xxv-p12.2">69:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=69&scrV=14#Gen.ii-p21.3">69:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=69&scrV=15#Gen.ii-p21.3">69:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=69&scrV=22#Gen.viii-p17.2">69:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=69&scrV=33#Gen.xl-p20.4">69:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=72&scrV=6#Deu.xxxiii-p3.13">72:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=72&scrV=10#Deu.ix-p11.2">72:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=72&scrV=14#Num.xxxii-p20.2">72:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=72&scrV=14#Deu.xx-p7.3">72:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=72&scrV=14#Ex.xv-p23.11">72:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=72&scrV=15#Deu.ix-p11.2">72:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=73&scrV=17#Gen.xxvi-p15.1">73:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=73&scrV=21#Lev.iii-p7.4">73:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=73&scrV=24#Num.x-p14.9">73:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=73&scrV=25#Gen.xviii-p7.5">73:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=74&scrV=14#Num.xv-p13.2">74:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=74&scrV=14#Ex.xv-p25.4">74:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=74&scrV=16#Gen.ii-p16.13">74:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=74&scrV=20#Lev.xxvii-p18.5">74:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=76&scrV=1#Num.xxxv-p5.1">76:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=76&scrV=2#Ex.xviii-p13.3">76:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=76&scrV=8#Num.xi-p13.3">76:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=76&scrV=10#Gen.xxxviii-p13.10">76:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=76&scrV=11#Num.iii-p3.10">76:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=77&scrV=11#Ex.xv-p22.2">77:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=77&scrV=16#Ex.xv-p22.2">77:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=77&scrV=19#Ex.xv-p22.2">77:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=78&scrV=3#Deu.xxxiii-p10.4">78:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=78&scrV=6#Deu.xxxiii-p10.4">78:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=78&scrV=7#Deu.xxxiii-p10.4">78:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=78&scrV=9#Deu.xxxiv-p26.6">78:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=78&scrV=12#Ex.xiii-p23.3">78:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=78&scrV=14#Ex.xiv-p15.2">78:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=78&scrV=14#Ex.xli-p10.5">78:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=78&scrV=15#Ex.xviii-p6.4">78:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=78&scrV=18#Num.xii-p13.10">78:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=78&scrV=18#Gen.ii-p42.5">78:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=78&scrV=19#Num.xii-p11.1">78:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=78&scrV=19#Num.xii-p13.8">78:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=78&scrV=19#Ex.xvii-p12.8">78:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=78&scrV=21#Num.xii-p5.3">78:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=78&scrV=26#Num.xii-p35.1">78:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=78&scrV=27#Ex.xvii-p11.1">78:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=78&scrV=30#Num.xii-p35.6">78:30-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=78&scrV=32#Num.xii-p35.8">78:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=78&scrV=34#Ex.ix-p9.2">78:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=78&scrV=38#Deu.xxvi-p3.4">78:38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=78&scrV=39#Gen.ix-p23.6">78:39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=78&scrV=45#Ex.ix-p19.2">78:45</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=78&scrV=47#Ex.x-p18.6">78:47-48</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=78&scrV=49#Gen.xx-p11.2">78:49</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=78&scrV=49#Ex.xi-p15.10">78:49</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=78&scrV=54#Deu.iv-p13.3">78:54</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=78&scrV=61#Num.xi-p6.8">78:61</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=78&scrV=71#Ex.iv-p16.2">78:71</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=79&scrV=9#Ex.xxxiii-p16.9">79:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=80&scrV=1#Num.ii-p7.2">80:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=80&scrV=1#Ex.xxvi-p18.6">80:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=80&scrV=2#Num.xi-p6.7">80:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=80&scrV=2#Gen.xlix-p12.5">80:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=80&scrV=4#Gen.xix-p32.3">80:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=80&scrV=8#Ex.xxxv-p17.3">80:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=80&scrV=19#Ex.iv-p26.3">80:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=81&scrV=3#Lev.xxiv-p13.4">81:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=81&scrV=3#Num.xi-p3.19">81:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=81&scrV=9#Deu.xxxiii-p19.3">81:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=81&scrV=14#Deu.xxxiii-p37.8">81:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=82&scrV=3#Num.xxviii-p4.2">82:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=83&scrV=3#Gen.xii-p23.3">83:3-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=83&scrV=4#Ex.xviii-p15.4">83:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=83&scrV=7#Ex.xviii-p15.4">83:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=83&scrV=8#Gen.xx-p36.1">83:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=83&scrV=15#Gen.xx-p21.8">83:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=83&scrV=16#Gen.iv-p62.1">83:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=84&scrV=2#Ex.xxviii-p6.3">84:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=84&scrV=6#Num.xxii-p16.11">84:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=84&scrV=6#Ex.xviii-p6.7">84:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=84&scrV=10#Ex.xxii-p6.6">84:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=84&scrV=10#Ex.xxviii-p6.3">84:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=86&scrV=8#Deu.iv-p12.2">86:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=86&scrV=16#Ex.xxii-p6.3">86:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=86&scrV=17#Gen.xxii-p27.2">86:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=87&scrV=5#Gen.xxxvii-p5.1">87:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=88&scrV=8#Lev.xiv-p12.2">88:8-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=89&scrV=6#Ex.xvi-p7.8">89:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=89&scrV=15#Lev.xxiv-p3.5">89:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=89&scrV=15#Lev.xxvi-p20.12">89:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=89&scrV=15#Num.xi-p3.7">89:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=89&scrV=15#Ex.xxix-p13.3">89:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=89&scrV=20#Gen.xxiii-p22.1">89:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=89&scrV=20#Deu.xxxiv-p12.5">89:20-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=89&scrV=37#Num.xxix-p6.4">89:37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=90&scrV=1#Deu.xxxiv-p44.5">90:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=90&scrV=1#Num.xv-p31.10">90:1-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=90&scrV=8#Deu.xxxiii-p39.3">90:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=90&scrV=10#Deu.xxxii-p3.4">90:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=90&scrV=10#Deu.xxxv-p8.2">90:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=90&scrV=10#Ex.vii-p15.4">90:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=90&scrV=11#Num.xvii-p27.4">90:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=90&scrV=12#Gen.vi-p10.2">90:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=90&scrV=12#Gen.xlviii-p11.3">90:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=91&scrV=1#Deu.xxxiv-p21.2">91:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=91&scrV=1#Deu.xxxiv-p44.4">91:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=91&scrV=1#Lev.xxvii-p4.15">91:1-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=91&scrV=5#Deu.xxix-p28.8">91:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=91&scrV=6#Ex.xiii-p20.3">91:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=91&scrV=6#Ex.x-p5.2">91:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=91&scrV=7#Num.xv-p39.2">91:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=91&scrV=7#Ex.xiii-p17.3">91:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=91&scrV=7#Gen.viii-p35.2">91:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=91&scrV=11#Gen.xxxiii-p3.6">91:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=91&scrV=13#Gen.iv-p35.9">91:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=92&scrV=4#Ex.xxi-p15.1">92:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=92&scrV=6#Num.xv-p23.5">92:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=92&scrV=12#Num.xviii-p7.1">92:12-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=92&scrV=15#Deu.xxxiii-p6.6">92:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=93&scrV=5#Lev.xii-p10.5">93:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=94&scrV=8#Deu.xxxiii-p36.3">94:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=94&scrV=9#Ex.v-p15.6">94:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=94&scrV=12#Deu.ix-p9.2">94:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=94&scrV=16#Ex.xxxiii-p30.4">94:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=95&scrV=5#Gen.ii-p21.6">95:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=95&scrV=7#Num.xiv-p1.1">95:7-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=95&scrV=10#Num.i-p3.14">95:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=95&scrV=10#Gen.vii-p14.4">95:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=95&scrV=11#Num.xv-p31.3">95:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=98&scrV=1#Ex.xxxv-p17.2">98:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=99&scrV=6#Ex.xxix-p4.2">99:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=99&scrV=6#Ex.xli-p6.2">99:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=99&scrV=8#Num.xxi-p12.2">99:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=100&scrV=4#Ex.xxviii-p6.4">100:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=101&scrV=6#Gen.xl-p6.2">101:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=101&scrV=8#Deu.xxii-p21.2">101:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=102&scrV=6#Lev.xii-p5.4">102:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=102&scrV=28#Gen.xxxiii-p18.4">102:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=103&scrV=1#Gen.xxviii-p6.3">103:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=103&scrV=3#Lev.xv-p8.5">103:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=103&scrV=7#Num.viii-p19.2">103:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=103&scrV=10#Num.xv-p28.5">103:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=103&scrV=12#Lev.xvii-p20.16">103:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=103&scrV=14#Gen.iv-p52.2">103:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=103&scrV=18#Lev.xix-p3.6">103:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=103&scrV=20#Gen.xxix-p15.2">103:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=104&scrV=3#Gen.ii-p18.3">104:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=104&scrV=6#Gen.ii-p21.4">104:6-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=104&scrV=7#Lev.xxiv-p13.5">104:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=104&scrV=9#Gen.iii-p24.1">104:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=104&scrV=9#Gen.viii-p16.2">104:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=104&scrV=13#Gen.ii-p18.7">104:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=104&scrV=13#Deu.xii-p9.4">104:13-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=104&scrV=14#Gen.ii-p42.4">104:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=104&scrV=14#Ex.xvii-p6.3">104:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=104&scrV=25#Gen.ii-p30.3">104:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=104&scrV=28#Ex.xvii-p12.4">104:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=104&scrV=29#Gen.iv-p52.1">104:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=104&scrV=31#Lev.ii-p5.9">104:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=104&scrV=33#Gen.vi-p18.1">104:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=105&scrV=2#Ex.xix-p8.2">105:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=105&scrV=12#Gen.xvi-p28.1">105:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=105&scrV=13#Gen.xiii-p38.6">105:13-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=105&scrV=14#Gen.xxi-p5.1">105:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=105&scrV=14#Gen.xxvii-p8.7">105:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=105&scrV=15#Gen.xlviii-p12.3">105:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=105&scrV=17#Gen.xlvi-p7.5">105:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=105&scrV=18#Gen.xl-p20.2">105:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=105&scrV=19#Gen.xlii-p3.2">105:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=105&scrV=22#Gen.xlii-p10.3">105:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=105&scrV=28#Ex.viii-p4.2">105:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=105&scrV=28#Ex.xi-p15.1">105:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=105&scrV=28#Ex.xi-p15.17">105:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=105&scrV=29#Ex.viii-p8.3">105:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=105&scrV=32#Ex.x-p18.7">105:32-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=105&scrV=34#Ex.xi-p9.5">105:34-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=105&scrV=39#Num.x-p14.5">105:39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=105&scrV=39#Ex.xli-p10.5">105:39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=105&scrV=44#Num.xxix-p3.4">105:44-45</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=106&scrV=7#Num.xv-p6.4">106:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=106&scrV=7#Ex.xvii-p4.2">106:7-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=106&scrV=9#Ex.xv-p19.2">106:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=106&scrV=12#Ex.xvi-p3.4">106:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=106&scrV=19#Ex.xxxiii-p12.1">106:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=106&scrV=19#Ex.xxxiii-p12.8">106:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=106&scrV=20#Ex.xxxiii-p11.4">106:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=106&scrV=23#Num.xvii-p21.2">106:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=106&scrV=23#Ex.xxxiii-p16.2">106:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=106&scrV=24#Num.xiv-p14.4">106:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=106&scrV=28#Num.xxvi-p3.6">106:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=106&scrV=29#Num.xxvi-p4.4">106:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=106&scrV=31#Num.xxvi-p8.4">106:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=106&scrV=32#Deu.iv-p15.2">106:32-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=106&scrV=33#Num.xxi-p11.5">106:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=106&scrV=35#Num.xxiv-p9.2">106:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=106&scrV=39#Deu.xxxiii-p29.2">106:39-40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=106&scrV=46#Gen.xl-p20.5">106:46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=106&scrV=46#Ex.xii-p4.2">106:46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=107&scrV=1#Lev.viii-p6.1">107:1-43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=107&scrV=4#Num.iii-p3.2">107:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=107&scrV=7#Num.x-p14.8">107:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=107&scrV=7#Num.xxxiv-p7.6">107:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=107&scrV=7#Deu.xxxiii-p17.1">107:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=107&scrV=7#Gen.xxv-p22.4">107:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=107&scrV=7#Ex.xiv-p13.8">107:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=107&scrV=34#Gen.xlii-p14.6">107:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=107&scrV=38#Num.ii-p10.10">107:38-39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=107&scrV=38#Deu.xxix-p27.2">107:38-39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=107&scrV=41#Num.ii-p10.10">107:41</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=107&scrV=41#Gen.xxxiv-p11.4">107:41</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=107&scrV=43#Gen.xix-p18.2">107:43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=108&scrV=1#Ex.xxv-p16.7">108:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=109&scrV=18#Num.vi-p12.10">109:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=110&scrV=2#Num.xxi-p9.6">110:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=110&scrV=3#Deu.xxi-p8.7">110:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=110&scrV=3#Gen.x-p30.5">110:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=110&scrV=3#Ex.xxxvi-p8.2">110:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=111&scrV=2#Ex.xix-p4.2">111:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=112&scrV=2#Gen.xxxiii-p18.4">112:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=112&scrV=9#Gen.xxxiv-p11.4">112:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=112&scrV=10#Ex.xv-p6.2">112:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=113&scrV=6#Gen.xii-p14.2">113:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=113&scrV=6#Ex.xxxv-p7.2">113:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=113&scrV=7#Ex.iii-p9.3">113:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=113&scrV=9#Gen.xxxi-p11.5">113:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=114&scrV=3#Ex.xv-p19.2">114:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=114&scrV=4#Ex.xx-p15.3">114:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=114&scrV=8#Ex.xviii-p6.5">114:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=115&scrV=16#Deu.xxxiii-p13.4">115:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=115&scrV=16#Gen.x-p6.3">115:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=116&scrV=7#Deu.xxxiv-p44.2">116:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=116&scrV=7#Gen.ix-p12.3">116:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=116&scrV=12#Deu.xi-p9.2">116:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=116&scrV=12#Lev.iv-p3.2">116:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=116&scrV=16#Ex.xxi-p4.3">116:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=116&scrV=16#Ex.xxii-p6.2">116:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=116&scrV=16#Ex.xvi-p16.5">116:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=119&scrV=0#Lev.xix-p3.5">119</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=119&scrV=6#Lev.xx-p30.2">119:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=119&scrV=6#Deu.xxxi-p5.15">119:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=119&scrV=30#Deu.xii-p12.4">119:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=119&scrV=49#Num.xv-p24.3">119:49</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=119&scrV=49#Gen.xxxiii-p18.3">119:49</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=119&scrV=59#Gen.ii-p46.4">119:59</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=119&scrV=60#Gen.xviii-p26.2">119:60</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=119&scrV=74#Gen.xxii-p9.4">119:74</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=119&scrV=89#Deu.xxxiii-p3.3">119:89-91</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=119&scrV=105#ii-p9.2">119:105</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=119&scrV=111#Deu.xxxiv-p8.2">119:111</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=119&scrV=115#Gen.xiii-p5.5">119:115</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=119&scrV=120#Deu.x-p9.10">119:120</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=119&scrV=120#Ex.xiii-p20.5">119:120</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=119&scrV=126#Deu.xxviii-p16.2">119:126</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=119&scrV=128#Deu.v-p18.7">119:128</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=119&scrV=130#Gen.ii-p1.2">119:130</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=120&scrV=5#Gen.xiv-p19.5">120:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=120&scrV=6#Gen.xxvii-p18.1">120:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=120&scrV=6#Gen.xxxiii-p7.2">120:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=120&scrV=7#Gen.xxvii-p17.2">120:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=121&scrV=2#Gen.ii-p11.1">121:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=121&scrV=4#Num.vii-p14.6">121:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=121&scrV=4#Ex.xiv-p15.5">121:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=121&scrV=6#Num.x-p13.1">121:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=121&scrV=8#Gen.xxix-p18.2">121:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=122&scrV=1#Num.xi-p3.8">122:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=122&scrV=1#Deu.xxxiv-p31.3">122:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=122&scrV=1#Gen.xii-p6.3">122:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=124&scrV=8#Gen.ii-p11.1">124:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=124&scrV=8#Ex.v-p15.2">124:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=125&scrV=2#Deu.xxxiv-p21.4">125:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=126&scrV=1#Gen.xlii-p5.6">126:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=126&scrV=1#Gen.xviii-p20.4">126:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=127&scrV=3#Gen.xxxi-p5.2">127:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=127&scrV=4#Deu.xxii-p16.1">127:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=127&scrV=4#Gen.xxxi-p9.4">127:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=128&scrV=2#Gen.xxxiv-p11.4">128:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=128&scrV=6#Gen.li-p12.2">128:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=128&scrV=6#Deu.iv-p7.6">128:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=131&scrV=15#Lev.xxvi-p12.4">131:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=132&scrV=9#Ex.xxix-p5.4">132:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=132&scrV=9#Ex.xxx-p10.2">132:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=132&scrV=14#Num.xi-p10.2">132:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=132&scrV=16#Ex.xxix-p5.4">132:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=133&scrV=1#Num.xxv-p6.3">133:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=133&scrV=2#Ex.xxx-p11.2">133:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=135&scrV=7#Gen.ix-p5.2">135:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=135&scrV=11#Deu.iv-p3.1">135:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=135&scrV=19#Lev.xvii-p8.6">135:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=136&scrV=9#Gen.ii-p27.4">136:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=136&scrV=13#Ex.xv-p19.2">136:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=136&scrV=19#Num.xxii-p18.1">136:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=136&scrV=19#Deu.iv-p3.1">136:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=136&scrV=25#Gen.ii-p41.1">136:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=136&scrV=25#Ex.xvii-p12.11">136:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=137&scrV=1#Gen.iii-p18.6">137:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=138&scrV=2#ii-p11.2">138:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=138&scrV=4#Num.viii-p10.1">138:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=138&scrV=7#Deu.xxxiii-p37.3">138:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=139&scrV=1#Gen.xvii-p27.1">139:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=139&scrV=1#Gen.ii-p46.1">139:1-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=139&scrV=7#Gen.iv-p24.4">139:7-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=139&scrV=14#Gen.iii-p8.2">139:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=139&scrV=15#Gen.iii-p9.3">139:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=139&scrV=15#Gen.iii-p9.10">139:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=139&scrV=21#Gen.iv-p38.2">139:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=141&scrV=2#Ex.xxxi-p4.3">141:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=141&scrV=5#Lev.xx-p17.4">141:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=141&scrV=5#Gen.xxxi-p6.2">141:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=141&scrV=6#Ex.xi-p11.3">141:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=142&scrV=2#Num.xii-p4.1">142:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=142&scrV=2#Gen.xvi-p11.2">142:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=142&scrV=3#Ex.v-p21.2">142:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=144&scrV=15#Gen.x-p29.3">144:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=145&scrV=10#Gen.ii-p38.6">145:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=145&scrV=11#Ex.xix-p8.3">145:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=146&scrV=7#Deu.xi-p16.2">146:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=146&scrV=7#Ex.xiii-p21.8">146:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=146&scrV=9#Lev.xx-p28.2">146:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=146&scrV=9#Deu.xi-p12.3">146:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=146&scrV=9#Deu.xi-p16.2">146:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=146&scrV=9#Ex.xxiii-p17.2">146:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=147&scrV=2#Ex.iii-p5.3">147:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=147&scrV=19#Deu.ii-p3.3">147:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=147&scrV=19#Deu.v-p18.8">147:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=147&scrV=19#Ex.xxxv-p30.2">147:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=147&scrV=20#Deu.xxxiv-p8.1">147:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=148&scrV=6#Gen.iii-p24.1">148:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=148&scrV=8#Gen.ix-p5.3">148:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=148&scrV=8#Ex.x-p17.2">148:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ps&scrCh=148&scrV=14#Ex.xx-p4.15">148:14</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Proverbs</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=1&scrV=9#Ex.xxxvi-p12.8">1:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=1&scrV=10#Deu.xiv-p10.2">1:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=1&scrV=11#Lev.xx-p16.3">1:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=1&scrV=17#Ex.xv-p23.2">1:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=1&scrV=23#Deu.xxxi-p6.21">1:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=1&scrV=24#Gen.viii-p33.5">1:24-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=1&scrV=28#Gen.xxviii-p17.14">1:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=1&scrV=32#Deu.xxxiii-p23.2">1:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=2&scrV=17#Lev.xxi-p13.3">2:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=2&scrV=17#Num.vi-p10.2">2:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=3&scrV=6#Num.x-p14.12">3:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=3&scrV=6#Gen.xxv-p11.2">3:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=3&scrV=9#Lev.xxiv-p8.8">3:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=3&scrV=9#Lev.xxviii-p15.4">3:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=3&scrV=10#Deu.xvi-p6.1">3:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=3&scrV=32#Gen.xix-p18.1">3:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=3&scrV=33#Deu.xxix-p14.6">3:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=3&scrV=33#Ex.xi-p15.16">3:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=4&scrV=1#Gen.l-p3.4">4:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=4&scrV=15#Gen.iv-p7.1">4:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=4&scrV=18#Gen.ix-p6.7">4:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=4&scrV=23#Lev.xvi-p3.5">4:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=5&scrV=11#Num.vi-p12.18">5:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=5&scrV=18#Gen.xxvii-p8.3">5:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=5&scrV=19#Gen.l-p17.2">5:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=6&scrV=6#Gen.xlii-p10.1">6:6-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=6&scrV=22#Gen.xviii-p5.3">6:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=6&scrV=23#Num.ix-p3.6">6:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=6&scrV=32#Gen.l-p4.5">6:32-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=6&scrV=34#Num.vi-p10.5">6:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=6&scrV=34#Ex.xxxv-p19.2">6:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=7&scrV=1#Deu.vii-p8.5">7:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=7&scrV=14#Deu.xxiv-p16.5">7:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=7&scrV=19#Num.vi-p10.4">7:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=7&scrV=19#Gen.xl-p18.2">7:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=7&scrV=23#Ex.xv-p23.3">7:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=7&scrV=26#Num.xxvi-p3.3">7:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=8&scrV=26#Gen.iv-p52.3">8:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=8&scrV=30#Gen.ii-p8.1">8:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=8&scrV=30#Ex.xxv-p13.4">8:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=8&scrV=31#Gen.ii-p36.1">8:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=8&scrV=36#Lev.v-p4.3">8:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=9&scrV=8#Gen.xxxviii-p3.5">9:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=9&scrV=12#Deu.xxxiii-p7.3">9:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=9&scrV=12#Gen.xiii-p5.2">9:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=9&scrV=17#Num.vi-p12.14">9:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=10&scrV=4#Deu.xv-p15.2">10:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=10&scrV=4#Deu.xxix-p7.14">10:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=10&scrV=22#Deu.xv-p15.2">10:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=10&scrV=22#Deu.xxix-p7.14">10:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=10&scrV=22#Gen.xiv-p4.3">10:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=11&scrV=1#Deu.xxvi-p9.6">11:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=11&scrV=13#Lev.xx-p16.2">11:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=11&scrV=26#Lev.xxvii-p4.6">11:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=11&scrV=26#Gen.xlii-p15.3">11:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=11&scrV=31#Deu.viii-p12.5">11:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=12&scrV=10#Gen.xxv-p16.8">12:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=13&scrV=15#Deu.ix-p8.3">13:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=13&scrV=20#Gen.xix-p17.2">13:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=13&scrV=22#Gen.xxxii-p9.7">13:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=13&scrV=22#Ex.xiii-p21.9">13:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=14&scrV=7#Gen.iv-p11.2">14:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=14&scrV=9#Gen.x-p22.3">14:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=14&scrV=28#Deu.viii-p11.1">14:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=14&scrV=34#Deu.xii-p13.6">14:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=15&scrV=1#Gen.xvii-p14.2">15:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=15&scrV=8#Deu.xiii-p16.4">15:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=15&scrV=8#Deu.xxiv-p16.4">15:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=15&scrV=8#Gen.v-p9.1">15:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=15&scrV=8#Gen.v-p9.5">15:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=15&scrV=8#Gen.xix-p32.4">15:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=15&scrV=8#Lev.viii-p9.8">15:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=15&scrV=8#Lev.xii-p9.8">15:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=15&scrV=30#Gen.ii-p16.10">15:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=15&scrV=32#Gen.iii-p10.2">15:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=16&scrV=7#Gen.xxxiv-p1.1">16:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=16&scrV=7#Gen.xxvii-p22.2">16:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=16&scrV=9#Ex.xiv-p13.3">16:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=16&scrV=31#Gen.xvi-p35.3">16:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=17&scrV=6#Gen.xlix-p9.2">17:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=17&scrV=8#Gen.xxv-p16.4">17:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=17&scrV=8#Gen.xxxiii-p21.2">17:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=17&scrV=15#Deu.xxvi-p3.2">17:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=17&scrV=17#Gen.xv-p14.1">17:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=18&scrV=10#Gen.vii-p31.3">18:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=18&scrV=10#Gen.xxxiii-p10.3">18:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=18&scrV=16#Gen.xxv-p16.3">18:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=18&scrV=16#Gen.xxxiii-p21.3">18:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=19&scrV=3#Num.xvii-p15.4">19:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=19&scrV=3#Gen.v-p12.2">19:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=19&scrV=14#Gen.xxv-p11.4">19:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=19&scrV=27#Gen.iv-p11.2">19:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=20&scrV=10#Deu.xxvi-p9.6">20:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=20&scrV=19#Lev.xx-p16.2">20:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=20&scrV=23#Deu.xxvi-p9.6">20:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=20&scrV=25#Lev.xxviii-p5.2">20:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=21&scrV=14#Gen.xliv-p6.3">21:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=21&scrV=14#Gen.xxxiii-p21.4">21:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=21&scrV=27#Num.xxiv-p3.2">21:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=21&scrV=30#Gen.xii-p22.1">21:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=22&scrV=2#Ex.xxxi-p6.5">22:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=22&scrV=7#Deu.xvi-p3.10">22:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=23&scrV=1#Num.xii-p13.7">23:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=23&scrV=1#Gen.xliv-p19.2">23:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=23&scrV=2#Lev.xii-p11.8">23:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=23&scrV=6#Gen.xxxii-p6.2">23:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=23&scrV=6#Gen.xix-p5.2">23:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=23&scrV=20#Gen.x-p10.3">23:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=23&scrV=31#Gen.iv-p19.1">23:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=23&scrV=31#Gen.xxvi-p26.6">23:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=23&scrV=32#Deu.xxxiii-p37.14">23:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=23&scrV=32#Gen.xxviii-p10.4">23:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=23&scrV=35#Deu.xxx-p19.3">23:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=23&scrV=35#Gen.x-p25.1">23:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=24&scrV=11#Lev.xx-p16.4">24:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=24&scrV=11#Ex.xxiv-p6.5">24:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=25&scrV=16#Lev.iii-p7.2">25:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=25&scrV=21#Ex.xxiv-p6.2">25:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=25&scrV=27#Lev.iii-p7.2">25:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=26&scrV=2#Num.xxiii-p6.7">26:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=26&scrV=2#Gen.xxviii-p10.7">26:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=27&scrV=4#Gen.xxxviii-p13.3">27:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=27&scrV=4#Gen.xxvii-p12.2">27:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=27&scrV=4#Gen.xxxii-p5.4">27:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=27&scrV=5#Lev.xx-p17.5">27:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=27&scrV=5#Gen.xxxi-p6.2">27:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=27&scrV=8#Gen.xxv-p27.3">27:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=27&scrV=18#Gen.xxv-p8.1">27:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=27&scrV=22#Num.xii-p13.1">27:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=27&scrV=23#Gen.iii-p21.1">27:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=27&scrV=23#Gen.xxx-p3.3">27:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=28&scrV=1#Lev.xxvii-p14.5">28:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=28&scrV=1#Num.xxv-p10.2">28:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=28&scrV=1#Gen.v-p36.4">28:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=28&scrV=13#Lev.v-p5.8">28:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=28&scrV=17#Deu.xx-p6.3">28:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=29&scrV=1#Gen.xx-p7.10">29:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=29&scrV=10#Gen.xxxviii-p10.4">29:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=29&scrV=16#Gen.vii-p3.2">29:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=29&scrV=21#Gen.xvii-p12.3">29:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=29&scrV=24#Lev.vi-p3.4">29:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=30&scrV=4#Num.xii-p23.3">30:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=30&scrV=4#Gen.ix-p5.1">30:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=30&scrV=4#Ex.iv-p25.3">30:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=30&scrV=9#Deu.vii-p9.5">30:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=30&scrV=17#Lev.xxi-p6.2">30:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=30&scrV=17#Ex.xxi-p18.3">30:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=30&scrV=21#Gen.xvii-p12.3">30:21-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=31&scrV=4#Deu.xxii-p19.3">31:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=31&scrV=5#Num.vii-p6.5">31:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=31&scrV=5#Deu.xxii-p19.4">31:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=31&scrV=5#Lev.xi-p3.12">31:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=31&scrV=8#Num.xxiii-p19.12">31:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=31&scrV=11#Num.vi-p10.9">31:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=31&scrV=11#Gen.xxxii-p9.2">31:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=31&scrV=13#Gen.xxv-p13.3">31:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=31&scrV=19#Ex.xxxvi-p13.6">31:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Prov&scrCh=31&scrV=26#Gen.xxx-p3.7">31:26</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Ecclesiastes</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=1&scrV=7#Gen.ii-p21.2">1:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=2&scrV=18#Gen.xvi-p11.4">2:18-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=2&scrV=21#Gen.xvi-p11.4">2:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=3&scrV=11#Deu.xxxiii-p13.6">3:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=3&scrV=11#Gen.ii-p25.5">3:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=3&scrV=11#Gen.xlvi-p7.6">3:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=3&scrV=14#Lev.xx-p20.3">3:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=3&scrV=14#Deu.xxxiii-p6.3">3:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=3&scrV=14#Gen.ii-p30.5">3:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=3&scrV=14#Gen.iii-p3.3">3:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=3&scrV=14#Deu.v-p8.2">3:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=3&scrV=15#Deu.xxii-p4.3">3:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=3&scrV=15#Gen.xii-p25.3">3:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=3&scrV=18#Gen.iv-p59.5">3:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=3&scrV=21#Deu.xxxv-p3.4">3:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=4&scrV=1#Gen.xli-p7.2">4:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=4&scrV=4#Gen.xxvii-p12.3">4:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=4&scrV=4#Gen.xxxii-p5.3">4:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=4&scrV=9#Ex.v-p17.3">4:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=4&scrV=9#Gen.iii-p33.1">4:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=4&scrV=13#Gen.xlii-p10.4">4:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=5&scrV=1#Lev.xx-p25.3">5:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=5&scrV=1#Ex.iv-p9.2">5:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=5&scrV=2#Ex.iv-p9.1">5:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=5&scrV=4#Lev.xxviii-p4.11">5:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=5&scrV=4#Deu.xxiv-p18.4">5:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=5&scrV=4#Gen.xxxvi-p3.5">5:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=5&scrV=4#Ex.xxi-p11.5">5:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=5&scrV=5#Num.xxxi-p4.3">5:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=5&scrV=6#Gen.xv-p28.2">5:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=5&scrV=6#Lev.vi-p3.6">5:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=5&scrV=7#Gen.xlii-p3.4">5:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=5&scrV=9#Gen.l-p16.2">5:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=5&scrV=11#Gen.xxvii-p11.5">5:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=5&scrV=19#Deu.xxxiv-p29.6">5:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=7&scrV=1#Ex.xxxi-p10.8">7:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=7&scrV=6#Gen.xix-p11.3">7:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=7&scrV=14#Gen.xlii-p14.5">7:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=7&scrV=14#Gen.xxv-p32.2">7:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=7&scrV=14#Gen.xlii-p8.4">7:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=7&scrV=17#Num.xxii-p3.1">7:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=7&scrV=21#Gen.xliii-p14.3">7:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=7&scrV=26#Num.xxvi-p3.4">7:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=7&scrV=29#Gen.ii-p37.2">7:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=8&scrV=6#Gen.xlviii-p16.3">8:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=8&scrV=10#Gen.v-p37.3">8:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=8&scrV=11#Gen.v-p50.5">8:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=8&scrV=11#Ex.ix-p9.2">8:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=8&scrV=12#Deu.vi-p5.8">8:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=8&scrV=15#Lev.viii-p9.6">8:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=9&scrV=1#Gen.xi-p10.2">9:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=9&scrV=1#Gen.v-p43.3">9:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=9&scrV=2#Gen.xv-p6.6">9:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=9&scrV=5#Ex.ii-p6.2">9:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=9&scrV=10#Gen.xxviii-p6.4">9:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=9&scrV=11#Deu.ix-p16.7">9:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=9&scrV=12#Deu.xx-p6.2">9:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=9&scrV=15#Ex.ii-p6.2">9:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=9&scrV=17#Gen.xxxii-p33.10">9:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=10&scrV=1#Deu.v-p17.3">10:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=10&scrV=4#Gen.xvii-p19.1">10:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=10&scrV=4#Gen.xxxiii-p6.2">10:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=10&scrV=7#Deu.xviii-p14.2">10:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=10&scrV=19#Ex.xxiv-p11.3">10:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=10&scrV=20#Ex.xxiii-p21.4">10:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=11&scrV=3#Deu.xvi-p4.5">11:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=11&scrV=5#ii-p4.3">11:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=11&scrV=7#Gen.ii-p16.9">11:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=12&scrV=3#Gen.xlix-p8.2">12:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=12&scrV=5#Num.xviii-p8.2">12:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=12&scrV=5#Gen.xlvii-p7.1">12:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=12&scrV=7#Gen.iii-p10.1">12:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eccl&scrCh=12&scrV=13#ii-p2.1">12:13</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Song of Solomon</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Song&scrCh=1&scrV=3#Lev.xxii-p10.4">1:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Song&scrCh=1&scrV=3#Ex.xxxi-p10.7">1:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Song&scrCh=1&scrV=5#Ex.xxvii-p6.5">1:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Song&scrCh=1&scrV=6#Num.xiii-p3.3">1:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Song&scrCh=2&scrV=11#Ex.xiii-p3.2">2:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Song&scrCh=3&scrV=4#Gen.xxxiii-p26.10">3:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Song&scrCh=4&scrV=15#Num.xxii-p16.8">4:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Song&scrCh=6&scrV=10#Num.iii-p3.5">6:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Song&scrCh=6&scrV=13#Gen.xxxiii-p3.7">6:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Song&scrCh=7&scrV=5#Gen.xxxiii-p26.9">7:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Song&scrCh=7&scrV=11#Ex.ix-p21.5">7:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Song&scrCh=7&scrV=13#Gen.xxxi-p11.2">7:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Song&scrCh=8&scrV=6#Num.vi-p10.6">8:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Song&scrCh=8&scrV=6#Ex.xxix-p10.10">8:6</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Isaiah</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=1&scrV=3#Num.xxiii-p19.3">1:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=1&scrV=3#Gen.viii-p9.2">1:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=1&scrV=5#Gen.xx-p6.2">1:5-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=1&scrV=11#Ex.xxi-p11.2">1:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=1&scrV=13#Lev.xxvii-p14.2">1:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=1&scrV=13#Gen.v-p9.2">1:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=1&scrV=13#Gen.v-p36.3">1:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=1&scrV=13#Ex.xxi-p11.2">1:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=1&scrV=13#Ex.xxxi-p4.8">1:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=1&scrV=15#Gen.v-p36.3">1:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=1&scrV=16#Gen.xxxvi-p4.2">1:16-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=1&scrV=16#Ex.xx-p9.6">1:16-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=1&scrV=16#Ex.xxx-p9.3">1:16-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=1&scrV=18#Ex.xvii-p7.3">1:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=1&scrV=24#Gen.vii-p24.3">1:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=1&scrV=24#Gen.ix-p3.4">1:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=1&scrV=24#Ex.xv-p16.6">1:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=1&scrV=24#Lev.xix-p14.9">1:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=2&scrV=2#Deu.xxxiv-p31.2">2:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=2&scrV=3#Gen.xii-p6.3">2:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=2&scrV=5#Gen.xii-p6.3">2:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=2&scrV=20#Gen.xxxvi-p5.4">2:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=2&scrV=20#Ex.xxxiii-p21.10">2:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=3&scrV=5#Lev.xx-p27.3">3:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=3&scrV=5#Gen.xlviii-p10.3">3:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=3&scrV=9#Gen.xiv-p19.2">3:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=3&scrV=9#Gen.xx-p7.4">3:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=3&scrV=18#Ex.xxxiv-p4.7">3:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=3&scrV=18#Lev.xiv-p15.5">3:18-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=4&scrV=2#Lev.xxiv-p8.7">4:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=4&scrV=3#Ex.xxxiii-p38.11">4:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=4&scrV=4#Lev.iv-p5.6">4:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=4&scrV=5#Ex.xli-p10.3">4:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=4&scrV=5#Num.v-p8.5">4:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=4&scrV=5#Ex.xiv-p15.6">4:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=4&scrV=6#Ex.xxxvii-p8.2">4:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=5&scrV=7#Deu.xxxiii-p37.12">5:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=5&scrV=8#Lev.xxvi-p9.2">5:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=5&scrV=8#Deu.iii-p6.3">5:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=6&scrV=3#Num.xv-p29.3">6:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=6&scrV=3#Ex.xvi-p7.9">6:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=6&scrV=5#Gen.xvi-p25.2">6:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=6&scrV=5#Ex.xxvii-p6.7">6:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=6&scrV=7#Ex.xxx-p14.2">6:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=6&scrV=7#Lev.ix-p9.3">6:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=6&scrV=9#Ex.v-p15.9">6:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=6&scrV=13#Gen.vi-p3.1">6:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=7&scrV=11#Gen.xvi-p20.3">7:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=7&scrV=13#Gen.xi-p6.3">7:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=7&scrV=18#Ex.ix-p17.2">7:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=8&scrV=8#Deu.xxxv-p4.6">8:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=8&scrV=9#Gen.xii-p22.1">8:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=8&scrV=12#Deu.xxi-p9.3">8:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=8&scrV=13#Lev.xi-p10.3">8:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=8&scrV=16#ii-p6.1">8:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=8&scrV=20#ii-p6.1">8:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=8&scrV=21#Gen.viii-p17.4">8:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=9&scrV=3#Gen.vii-p3.4">9:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=9&scrV=6#Ex.xxix-p7.9">9:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=10&scrV=1#Ex.vi-p13.1">10:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=10&scrV=3#Gen.viii-p33.7">10:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=10&scrV=5#Deu.xxxiii-p37.5">10:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=10&scrV=7#Deu.xxxiii-p13.8">10:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=10&scrV=7#Gen.xlvi-p7.8">10:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=10&scrV=7#Gen.li-p9.5">10:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=10&scrV=17#Ex.iv-p5.3">10:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=10&scrV=23#Ex.viii-p9.3">10:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=11&scrV=3#Num.xxii-p16.6">11:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=11&scrV=6#Ex.xxix-p7.7">11:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=11&scrV=6#Gen.viii-p22.1">11:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=11&scrV=10#Num.iii-p3.4">11:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=11&scrV=10#Num.xxii-p11.5">11:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=11&scrV=12#Num.iii-p3.4">11:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=11&scrV=15#Ex.xv-p19.4">11:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=12&scrV=2#Ex.xvi-p7.3">12:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=13&scrV=6#Gen.xviii-p7.3">13:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=13&scrV=19#Gen.xx-p21.10">13:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=14&scrV=14#Gen.iv-p14.2">14:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=14&scrV=14#Gen.xi-p5.3">14:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=14&scrV=29#Num.xxii-p7.4">14:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=14&scrV=29#Gen.iv-p6.2">14:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=16&scrV=4#Ex.iii-p5.4">16:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=16&scrV=12#Deu.xxxiii-p41.4">16:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=16&scrV=14#Deu.xvi-p9.5">16:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=17&scrV=10#Deu.xxxiii-p26.2">17:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=19&scrV=1#Num.xxxiv-p6.5">19:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=19&scrV=1#Ex.x-p4.4">19:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=19&scrV=10#Ex.viii-p8.4">19:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=19&scrV=25#Ex.iii-p10.1">19:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=19&scrV=25#Ex.xxxvi-p12.13">19:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=21&scrV=10#Ex.xxvi-p20.5">21:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=21&scrV=12#Gen.xlii-p14.3">21:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=22&scrV=21#Num.xxi-p24.1">22:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=23&scrV=7#Gen.v-p7.3">23:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=23&scrV=18#Deu.xxxiv-p32.6">23:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=23&scrV=18#Gen.v-p7.6">23:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=25&scrV=7#Num.v-p8.9">25:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=26&scrV=10#Ex.xvii-p6.4">26:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=26&scrV=11#Num.xxiii-p19.4">26:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=26&scrV=20#Gen.vii-p31.4">26:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=26&scrV=20#Gen.viii-p15.4">26:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=26&scrV=20#Ex.xiii-p14.2">26:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=26&scrV=21#Deu.xxii-p4.2">26:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=27&scrV=3#Num.x-p13.1">27:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=27&scrV=3#Ex.xiv-p15.5">27:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=27&scrV=4#Gen.iv-p24.2">27:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=27&scrV=4#Deu.v-p15.4">27:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=27&scrV=7#Gen.xix-p28.2">27:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=27&scrV=7#Ex.x-p3.4">27:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=27&scrV=11#Gen.vii-p15.3">27:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=27&scrV=13#Lev.xxiv-p13.7">27:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=27&scrV=13#Num.xi-p3.4">27:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=28&scrV=7#Num.vii-p6.6">28:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=28&scrV=7#Lev.xi-p17.7">28:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=28&scrV=10#Deu.i-p2.4">28:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=28&scrV=12#Ex.vii-p9.3">28:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=28&scrV=16#Gen.ix-p12.1">28:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=28&scrV=17#Gen.viii-p28.3">28:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=28&scrV=17#Ex.x-p15.3">28:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=28&scrV=17#Ex.xxxvii-p8.3">28:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=28&scrV=20#Gen.iv-p59.6">28:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=28&scrV=26#Gen.xxxi-p21.2">28:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=28&scrV=26#Ex.xxxii-p5.4">28:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=29&scrV=22#Gen.xvi-p18.3">29:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=29&scrV=24#Deu.xxxv-p9.2">29:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=30&scrV=7#Ex.xv-p10.3">30:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=30&scrV=17#Deu.xxxiii-p37.6">30:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=30&scrV=22#Gen.xxxvi-p5.3">30:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=30&scrV=22#Ex.xxxiii-p21.10">30:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=30&scrV=23#Lev.xi-p5.3">30:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=30&scrV=33#Deu.xxxiii-p32.3">30:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=31&scrV=9#Lev.vii-p10.5">31:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=32&scrV=8#Lev.xxviii-p3.1">32:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=33&scrV=1#Ex.xxii-p16.4">33:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=33&scrV=14#Ex.xxv-p17.4">33:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=33&scrV=15#Ex.xix-p18.3">33:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=33&scrV=16#Deu.xxxiv-p47.2">33:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=33&scrV=20#Lev.xxiv-p3.4">33:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=34&scrV=5#Deu.xxxiii-p45.5">34:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=34&scrV=11#Gen.ii-p13.2">34:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=34&scrV=11#Lev.xii-p5.5">34:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=34&scrV=13#Deu.viii-p19.13">34:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=34&scrV=16#Ex.ix-p5.2">34:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=35&scrV=8#Ex.xiii-p9.4">35:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=37&scrV=10#Deu.xxxiii-p41.5">37:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=37&scrV=11#Gen.vii-p11.2">37:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=37&scrV=23#Ex.vi-p5.2">37:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=37&scrV=24#Ex.xvi-p9.13">37:24-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=37&scrV=29#Num.xxiii-p22.4">37:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=38&scrV=17#Lev.xv-p8.6">38:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=38&scrV=17#Lev.xvii-p20.14">38:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=40&scrV=11#Gen.xxxiv-p15.3">40:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=40&scrV=11#Ex.xxix-p10.8">40:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=40&scrV=12#Num.xii-p23.2">40:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=40&scrV=13#Gen.iii-p38.5">40:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=40&scrV=15#Ex.xxi-p8.3">40:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=40&scrV=18#Ex.xxi-p8.3">40:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=40&scrV=28#Gen.xxii-p35.1">40:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=40&scrV=31#Ex.xx-p4.5">40:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=41&scrV=2#Gen.xiii-p15.3">41:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=41&scrV=2#Gen.xv-p15.3">41:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=41&scrV=4#Deu.xxxiii-p44.4">41:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=41&scrV=10#Deu.xxi-p5.2">41:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=41&scrV=14#Ex.ix-p12.2">41:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=41&scrV=17#Num.xxii-p16.9">41:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=41&scrV=23#Num.xv-p30.2">41:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=42&scrV=1#Ex.xxii-p6.5">42:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=42&scrV=4#Gen.xi-p3.3">42:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=42&scrV=4#Ex.xxii-p6.5">42:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=42&scrV=21#ii-p11.1">42:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=43&scrV=2#Ex.xxvii-p3.2">43:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=43&scrV=3#Deu.xii-p4.5">43:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=43&scrV=3#Ex.xxxv-p17.4">43:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=43&scrV=4#Deu.xxxiii-p8.2">43:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=43&scrV=4#Gen.xvi-p43.5">43:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=43&scrV=4#Ex.xx-p4.11">43:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=43&scrV=4#Ex.xxix-p10.4">43:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=43&scrV=10#Deu.xxxiii-p44.5">43:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=43&scrV=11#Deu.xxxiii-p44.4">43:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=43&scrV=13#Deu.xxxiii-p44.4">43:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=43&scrV=15#Deu.xxxiii-p44.4">43:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=43&scrV=20#Ex.xviii-p6.8">43:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=43&scrV=21#Ex.i-p2.2">43:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=43&scrV=23#Num.xxx-p5.3">43:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=43&scrV=23#Deu.xxxi-p11.8">43:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=43&scrV=24#Gen.vii-p14.2">43:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=43&scrV=25#Num.vi-p12.8">43:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=43&scrV=25#Deu.xxxiii-p44.4">43:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=44&scrV=26#Gen.vii-p23.2">44:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=45&scrV=4#Deu.xxxiii-p13.7">45:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=45&scrV=7#Deu.xxxiii-p44.6">45:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=45&scrV=7#Gen.ii-p13.5">45:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=45&scrV=7#Ex.xi-p12.2">45:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=45&scrV=7#Ex.xv-p17.3">45:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=45&scrV=13#Ex.xvi-p10.3">45:13-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=45&scrV=19#Gen.xxvi-p12.7">45:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=45&scrV=22#Num.xxii-p12.2">45:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=45&scrV=23#Deu.vii-p10.2">45:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=46&scrV=1#Deu.xxxiii-p41.7">46:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=46&scrV=1#Gen.xxxii-p12.4">46:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=46&scrV=1#Ex.xxxiii-p21.9">46:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=46&scrV=4#Deu.xxxiii-p44.4">46:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=46&scrV=6#Ex.xxxiii-p10.2">46:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=46&scrV=8#Deu.xxxi-p5.2">46:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=46&scrV=10#Gen.xli-p8.3">46:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=47&scrV=12#Deu.xxxiii-p41.6">47:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=47&scrV=12#Num.xxiv-p7.4">47:12-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=47&scrV=13#Num.xxiv-p25.2">47:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=48&scrV=8#Deu.xxxii-p18.4">48:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=48&scrV=8#Gen.ix-p23.5">48:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=48&scrV=10#Gen.xvi-p38.2">48:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=49&scrV=6#Deu.xxxi-p6.9">49:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=49&scrV=8#Ex.xxxv-p26.3">49:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=49&scrV=15#Gen.ix-p3.2">49:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=49&scrV=16#Deu.xii-p12.3">49:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=49&scrV=16#Ex.xxix-p10.9">49:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=49&scrV=23#Ex.iii-p10.2">49:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=50&scrV=4#Ex.v-p15.4">50:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=50&scrV=4#Deu.ii-p13.2">50:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=50&scrV=7#Gen.l-p21.4">50:7-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=50&scrV=11#Gen.iii-p15.1">50:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=50&scrV=11#Ex.xi-p15.5">50:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=51&scrV=1#Gen.vi-p4.3">51:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=51&scrV=2#Gen.xvi-p18.1">51:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=51&scrV=2#Gen.xxii-p17.3">51:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=51&scrV=9#Ex.xviii-p13.2">51:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=51&scrV=13#Gen.xiii-p38.2">51:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=51&scrV=20#Num.xviii-p11.2">51:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=51&scrV=22#Deu.xxxi-p6.17">51:22-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=51&scrV=22#Deu.xxxiii-p38.2">51:22-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=52&scrV=4#Ex.vi-p4.4">52:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=52&scrV=11#Ex.xxx-p9.2">52:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=52&scrV=12#Num.xxxiv-p6.3">52:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=52&scrV=12#Ex.xi-p15.19">52:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=52&scrV=15#Num.xx-p16.5">52:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=52&scrV=15#Lev.v-p7.3">52:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=53&scrV=2#Num.xviii-p9.2">53:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=53&scrV=6#Lev.xvii-p20.9">53:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=53&scrV=8#Ex.xxxiii-p38.13">53:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=53&scrV=10#Gen.xxiii-p23.2">53:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=53&scrV=10#Lev.vii-p5.4">53:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=53&scrV=11#Gen.iv-p55.1">53:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=54&scrV=1#Gen.xviii-p3.2">54:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=54&scrV=2#Ex.xxvii-p4.6">54:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=54&scrV=2#Ex.xxvii-p8.1">54:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=54&scrV=2#Ex.xxxix-p10.2">54:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=54&scrV=9#Gen.x-p16.1">54:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=54&scrV=10#Gen.viii-p28.5">54:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=54&scrV=10#Gen.l-p22.4">54:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=54&scrV=11#Gen.ix-p8.1">54:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=54&scrV=11#Gen.xii-p7.1">54:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=54&scrV=17#Num.xxiv-p25.5">54:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=55&scrV=1#Gen.xvi-p6.1">55:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=55&scrV=1#Gen.l-p8.14">55:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=55&scrV=9#Num.xv-p25.2">55:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=55&scrV=10#Deu.xxxiii-p3.10">55:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=55&scrV=10#Gen.ix-p6.2">55:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=56&scrV=2#Ex.xxxii-p8.3">56:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=56&scrV=3#Num.xvi-p5.2">56:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=56&scrV=3#Deu.xxiv-p5.4">56:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=56&scrV=3#Ex.xxxi-p4.9">56:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=56&scrV=6#Lev.xxiii-p14.8">56:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=56&scrV=6#Ex.xxi-p14.6">56:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=56&scrV=6#Ex.xiii-p26.7">56:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=56&scrV=12#Gen.xlii-p8.3">56:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=57&scrV=1#Gen.xvi-p33.3">57:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=57&scrV=1#Gen.viii-p15.3">57:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=57&scrV=10#Num.xxiv-p25.2">57:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=57&scrV=11#Gen.xix-p12.2">57:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=57&scrV=17#Num.xxiii-p20.5">57:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=57&scrV=17#Deu.xxxiii-p30.3">57:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=58&scrV=1#Num.xi-p3.3">58:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=58&scrV=6#Lev.xvii-p16.5">58:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=58&scrV=7#Gen.xxx-p5.7">58:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=58&scrV=8#Ex.xv-p21.3">58:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=58&scrV=9#Deu.v-p18.4">58:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=58&scrV=10#Deu.xvi-p6.2">58:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=58&scrV=13#Lev.xvii-p16.2">58:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=59&scrV=1#Gen.xix-p36.2">59:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=59&scrV=16#Gen.xix-p20.3">59:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=59&scrV=16#Ex.xxxiii-p16.3">59:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=59&scrV=17#Gen.xii-p19.2">59:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=59&scrV=18#Deu.xxxiii-p39.6">59:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=59&scrV=18#Ex.xxxiii-p23.1">59:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=60&scrV=5#Deu.xxxiv-p32.3">60:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=60&scrV=9#Ex.xxxvi-p12.12">60:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=60&scrV=14#Gen.xliii-p5.3">60:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=60&scrV=17#Ex.xxxix-p12.5">60:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=60&scrV=22#Gen.xlvii-p10.12">60:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=61&scrV=2#Lev.xxvi-p7.5">61:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=61&scrV=5#Lev.xxvi-p21.4">61:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=61&scrV=8#Gen.xxiii-p12.2">61:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=61&scrV=9#Deu.xxix-p7.5">61:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=61&scrV=10#Ex.xxix-p5.4">61:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=62&scrV=1#Gen.xvi-p39.1">62:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=62&scrV=2#Gen.xviii-p12.1">62:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=63&scrV=3#Lev.xvii-p20.4">63:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=63&scrV=8#Deu.xxxiii-p30.4">63:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=63&scrV=9#Gen.xxxiii-p24.2">63:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=63&scrV=9#Ex.xxxv-p10.1">63:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=63&scrV=10#Deu.xxxiii-p37.2">63:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=63&scrV=11#Gen.ix-p3.7">63:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=63&scrV=11#Gen.xx-p29.3">63:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=63&scrV=13#Ex.xv-p16.3">63:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=63&scrV=14#Num.x-p14.7">63:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=63&scrV=14#Num.xi-p14.2">63:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=64&scrV=1#Ex.iv-p15.2">64:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=64&scrV=6#Lev.xiv-p12.3">64:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=64&scrV=8#Gen.iii-p9.9">64:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=65&scrV=1#Gen.xvii-p28.7">65:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=65&scrV=4#Deu.xv-p8.5">65:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=65&scrV=4#Lev.xii-p3.5">65:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=65&scrV=8#Deu.xxiii-p7.4">65:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=65&scrV=8#Gen.iv-p48.5">65:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=65&scrV=13#Deu.xxix-p14.11">65:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=65&scrV=13#Gen.xlviii-p16.5">65:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=65&scrV=13#Gen.xxvii-p11.2">65:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=65&scrV=16#Gen.xxiii-p31.11">65:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=65&scrV=24#Gen.xxv-p12.3">65:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=66&scrV=3#Lev.xii-p9.7">66:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=66&scrV=3#Lev.xviii-p5.10">66:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=66&scrV=5#Num.xxiv-p5.6">66:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=66&scrV=8#Gen.xiii-p8.1">66:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=66&scrV=9#Gen.xvi-p18.2">66:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=66&scrV=10#Gen.xiv-p9.4">66:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=66&scrV=21#Num.ii-p15.2">66:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=66&scrV=21#Lev.ix-p14.2">66:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=66&scrV=23#Num.xxix-p6.10">66:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=66&scrV=24#Gen.xx-p24.1">66:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Isa&scrCh=66&scrV=24#Ex.xv-p25.3">66:24</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Jeremiah</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=2&scrV=6#Deu.ix-p16.12">2:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=2&scrV=13#Deu.xxxiii-p31.2">2:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=2&scrV=14#Ex.v-p21.6">2:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=2&scrV=18#Gen.xvii-p20.2">2:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=2&scrV=19#Num.vi-p12.13">2:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=2&scrV=21#Deu.xxxiii-p37.10">2:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=2&scrV=23#Gen.ii-p46.3">2:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=2&scrV=27#Deu.xv-p6.5">2:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=2&scrV=27#Deu.xxxiii-p30.2">2:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=2&scrV=27#Deu.xxxiii-p41.4">2:27-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=2&scrV=32#Gen.xxv-p13.2">2:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=3&scrV=1#Deu.xxv-p3.7">3:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=3&scrV=8#Deu.iv-p4.5">3:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=3&scrV=22#Deu.xxxi-p7.2">3:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=3&scrV=22#Gen.xxi-p3.3">3:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=3&scrV=23#Gen.viii-p28.1">3:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=4&scrV=23#Gen.ii-p13.4">4:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=5&scrV=1#Lev.xxi-p5.6">5:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=5&scrV=4#Lev.v-p11.2">5:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=5&scrV=31#Deu.xxxiii-p36.4">5:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=6&scrV=15#Gen.xx-p7.5">6:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=6&scrV=16#Deu.xxxiii-p25.2">6:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=6&scrV=16#Gen.iii-p4.2">6:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=6&scrV=16#Gen.v-p7.2">6:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=6&scrV=16#Gen.ix-p19.3">6:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=6&scrV=29#Lev.xxvii-p11.8">6:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=7&scrV=16#Gen.xix-p35.2">7:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=7&scrV=23#Ex.xx-p4.8">7:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=7&scrV=29#Num.vii-p7.5">7:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=8&scrV=12#Ex.xxxiii-p30.6">8:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=9&scrV=4#Lev.xx-p16.2">9:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=9&scrV=5#Gen.xxviii-p12.1">9:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=9&scrV=26#Lev.xxvii-p17.5">9:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=10&scrV=23#Ex.xiv-p13.2">10:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=11&scrV=4#Ex.xx-p4.9">11:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=11&scrV=7#Ex.xx-p4.9">11:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=11&scrV=14#Gen.xix-p35.2">11:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=11&scrV=15#Ex.xxvii-p3.5">11:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=12&scrV=1#Deu.xxxiii-p5.1">12:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=12&scrV=4#Ex.x-p4.3">12:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=12&scrV=9#Deu.xxxiv-p47.3">12:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=13&scrV=11#Deu.xxvii-p15.12">13:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=13&scrV=17#Gen.xliv-p15.3">13:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=14&scrV=1#Deu.xxix-p15.12">14:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=14&scrV=11#Gen.xix-p35.2">14:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=14&scrV=19#Lev.xxvii-p11.13">14:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=14&scrV=21#Ex.xxxiii-p16.10">14:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=15&scrV=10#Gen.xxvii-p17.3">15:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=15&scrV=19#Ex.xi-p16.3">15:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=15&scrV=19#Lev.xi-p17.9">15:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=17&scrV=1#Lev.v-p7.5">17:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=17&scrV=12#Num.iii-p3.8">17:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=17&scrV=12#Ex.xviii-p15.8">17:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=17&scrV=12#Ex.xxvi-p5.1">17:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=18&scrV=9#Gen.xiii-p8.2">18:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=18&scrV=17#Deu.xxxiii-p30.2">18:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=20&scrV=7#Ex.vi-p17.3">20:7-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=22&scrV=8#Deu.xxx-p23.3">22:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=22&scrV=15#Ex.xxxvii-p6.1">22:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=22&scrV=28#Gen.xviii-p12.3">22:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=23&scrV=6#Deu.xxxiv-p47.4">23:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=23&scrV=24#Gen.iv-p24.5">23:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=23&scrV=25#Deu.xix-p19.4">23:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=23&scrV=35#Num.xxiv-p14.5">23:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=24&scrV=5#Num.vi-p13.4">24:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=24&scrV=8#Num.vi-p13.4">24:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=24&scrV=9#Num.vi-p13.4">24:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=25&scrV=22#Gen.xi-p3.2">25:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=25&scrV=26#Deu.xxxiii-p38.1">25:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=28&scrV=8#Deu.xix-p19.7">28:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=29&scrV=11#Num.xv-p5.5">29:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=29&scrV=11#Gen.x-p3.3">29:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=30&scrV=7#Gen.xxxiii-p10.1">30:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=30&scrV=21#Gen.xix-p23.2">30:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=30&scrV=21#Ex.xxi-p28.2">30:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=31&scrV=18#Deu.xxxi-p6.6">31:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=31&scrV=20#Deu.xxxi-p6.6">31:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=31&scrV=20#Gen.xliii-p16.2">31:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=31&scrV=26#Gen.xxix-p20.2">31:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=31&scrV=35#Gen.ii-p27.5">31:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=33&scrV=8#Ex.xxxiii-p16.11">33:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=33&scrV=20#Gen.ix-p24.2">33:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=34&scrV=10#Ex.xv-p6.3">34:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=34&scrV=18#Gen.xvi-p21.2">34:18-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=35&scrV=6#Num.vii-p6.3">35:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=36&scrV=32#Deu.xxix-p17.1">36:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=42&scrV=6#Ex.xxv-p8.5">42:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=43&scrV=2#Ex.vi-p5.4">43:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=44&scrV=28#Gen.xii-p20.2">44:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=45&scrV=4#Gen.viii-p35.5">45:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=48&scrV=7#Deu.xxix-p15.27">48:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=49&scrV=16#Gen.viii-p28.6">49:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=49&scrV=17#Gen.xx-p21.11">49:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=50&scrV=5#Gen.xii-p6.3">50:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=50&scrV=20#Lev.xvii-p12.3">50:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=50&scrV=35#Deu.xxxiii-p45.6">50:35-37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=50&scrV=38#Ex.xxxiii-p9.2">50:38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=51&scrV=9#Lev.xv-p12.7">51:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=51&scrV=26#Lev.xv-p12.7">51:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jer&scrCh=52&scrV=16#Gen.v-p5.1">52:16</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Lamentations</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lam&scrCh=1&scrV=9#Deu.xxxiii-p36.5">1:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lam&scrCh=1&scrV=9#Lev.xvi-p5.6">1:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lam&scrCh=3&scrV=24#Num.xix-p12.4">3:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lam&scrCh=3&scrV=26#Gen.xlii-p5.3">3:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lam&scrCh=3&scrV=32#Deu.xxxiii-p44.7">3:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lam&scrCh=3&scrV=37#Deu.xxxiii-p44.6">3:37-38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lam&scrCh=3&scrV=39#Gen.v-p36.2">3:39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lam&scrCh=4&scrV=2#Ex.xxix-p10.6">4:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lam&scrCh=4&scrV=3#Gen.xxii-p10.3">4:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lam&scrCh=4&scrV=7#Num.vii-p4.7">4:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lam&scrCh=4&scrV=9#Gen.xlviii-p17.3">4:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lam&scrCh=4&scrV=9#Gen.xliv-p5.2">4:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lam&scrCh=4&scrV=10#Deu.xxix-p26.6">4:10</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Ezekiel</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=1&scrV=10#Ex.xxvi-p18.2">1:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=1&scrV=26#Gen.ii-p18.9">1:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=2&scrV=7#Ex.iv-p23.1">2:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=3&scrV=1#Ex.vii-p11.2">3:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=3&scrV=1#Lev.ix-p12.2">3:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=3&scrV=4#ii-p4.7">3:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=3&scrV=4#Ex.iv-p23.1">3:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=3&scrV=10#Ex.iv-p23.1">3:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=3&scrV=14#Ex.vi-p17.5">3:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=3&scrV=14#Ex.xii-p6.10">3:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=3&scrV=17#Gen.vii-p29.2">3:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=3&scrV=17#Ex.iv-p23.1">3:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=3&scrV=18#Gen.vii-p31.2">3:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=3&scrV=18#Gen.xx-p23.2">3:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=3&scrV=20#Gen.xx-p23.2">3:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=5&scrV=12#Deu.xxxiii-p35.3">5:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=5&scrV=13#Gen.ix-p3.3">5:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=6&scrV=9#Deu.xxxi-p5.4">6:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=6&scrV=9#Gen.vii-p14.3">6:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=7&scrV=16#Deu.xxxi-p5.4">7:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=9&scrV=4#Gen.xx-p18.3">9:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=10&scrV=4#Ex.xxxiv-p6.2">10:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=11&scrV=23#Ex.xxxiv-p6.2">11:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=13&scrV=6#Deu.xix-p19.4">13:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=13&scrV=9#Ex.xxxiii-p38.8">13:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=14&scrV=14#Gen.viii-p35.4">14:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=14&scrV=14#Gen.xx-p15.1">14:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=14&scrV=21#Lev.xxvii-p13.15">14:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=14&scrV=21#Deu.xxix-p15.1">14:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=14&scrV=21#Gen.x-p7.3">14:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=16&scrV=5#Ex.iii-p7.2">16:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=16&scrV=10#Ex.xxvii-p6.3">16:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=16&scrV=20#Ex.xxii-p6.1">16:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=16&scrV=20#Lev.xix-p12.2">16:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=16&scrV=48#Deu.xxxiii-p37.11">16:48</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=16&scrV=49#Num.xxxv-p6.5">16:49</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=16&scrV=49#Gen.xiv-p19.3">16:49</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=18&scrV=4#Num.xvii-p21.6">18:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=18&scrV=25#Gen.v-p14.2">18:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=20&scrV=6#Num.xi-p11.1">20:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=20&scrV=8#Ex.ii-p8.3">20:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=20&scrV=8#Ex.iii-p26.3">20:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=20&scrV=8#Ex.xxxiii-p11.2">20:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=20&scrV=40#Lev.xviii-p7.7">20:40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=22&scrV=9#Lev.xx-p16.2">22:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=23&scrV=48#Num.vi-p12.2">23:48</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=24&scrV=17#Lev.xxii-p4.3">24:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=24&scrV=21#Deu.xxxiv-p50.1">24:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=31&scrV=18#Ex.xv-p23.13">31:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=33&scrV=10#Lev.xxvii-p14.8">33:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=33&scrV=13#Num.vii-p10.6">33:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=34&scrV=16#Num.xi-p6.10">34:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=34&scrV=17#Ex.ix-p18.5">34:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=36&scrV=17#Lev.xvi-p5.5">36:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=36&scrV=32#Deu.x-p1.1">36:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=36&scrV=37#Ex.xxxiv-p8.3">36:37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=37&scrV=9#Gen.ii-p14.1">37:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=37&scrV=26#Num.x-p12.1">37:26-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=41&scrV=22#Ex.xxxi-p3.2">41:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=43&scrV=7#Ex.xli-p8.2">43:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=43&scrV=11#Ex.xxvi-p13.2">43:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=43&scrV=26#Lev.x-p3.1">43:26-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=44&scrV=21#Lev.xi-p17.3">44:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=44&scrV=22#Lev.xxii-p10.3">44:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=44&scrV=23#Deu.xxxiv-p18.6">44:23-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=44&scrV=30#Num.xvi-p6.5">44:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=44&scrV=30#Deu.xv-p15.3">44:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=45&scrV=11#Lev.xxviii-p10.2">45:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=45&scrV=12#Lev.xxviii-p11.6">45:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Ezek&scrCh=46&scrV=4#Num.xxix-p6.2">46:4-5</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Daniel</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=1&scrV=7#Gen.iii-p35.3">1:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=1&scrV=15#Gen.ii-p42.6">1:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=2&scrV=27#Gen.xlii-p3.7">2:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=2&scrV=30#Gen.xli-p8.4">2:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=2&scrV=34#Num.xxv-p21.1">2:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=2&scrV=34#Deu.xxviii-p6.3">2:34-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=2&scrV=44#Ex.viii-p6.7">2:44</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=3&scrV=6#Deu.xxix-p15.26">3:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=3&scrV=15#Deu.xxxiii-p41.5">3:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=3&scrV=19#Lev.xxvii-p11.9">3:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=4&scrV=7#Gen.xlii-p3.7">4:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=4&scrV=26#Gen.ii-p18.10">4:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=4&scrV=35#Gen.iii-p3.2">4:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=5&scrV=8#Gen.xlii-p3.7">5:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=5&scrV=19#Gen.xli-p11.4">5:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=5&scrV=22#Num.xxi-p7.6">5:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=5&scrV=22#Ex.xi-p4.2">5:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=6&scrV=4#Gen.xlii-p11.10">6:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=7&scrV=0#Gen.xxxi-p2.1">7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=7&scrV=25#Ex.ii-p13.2">7:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=8&scrV=5#Gen.xi-p6.2">8:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=8&scrV=9#Num.xxxv-p6.1">8:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=8&scrV=11#Ex.xxx-p21.2">8:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=8&scrV=17#Gen.xviii-p5.2">8:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=9&scrV=1#Lev.xxvii-p17.2">9:1-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=9&scrV=11#Deu.v-p23.8">9:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=9&scrV=11#Deu.xxx-p23.10">9:11-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=9&scrV=21#Gen.xvi-p24.1">9:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=9&scrV=26#Ex.xxxiii-p38.13">9:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=9&scrV=26#Lev.ii-p5.4">9:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=10&scrV=3#Ex.xxxiv-p4.6">10:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=10&scrV=7#Deu.xxxv-p14.2">10:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=10&scrV=9#Gen.xviii-p5.2">10:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=10&scrV=15#Gen.xviii-p5.2">10:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=10&scrV=19#Gen.l-p27.2">10:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=10&scrV=19#Ex.xxv-p13.7">10:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=10&scrV=21#Num.xxiii-p18.2">10:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=11&scrV=24#Num.xxxv-p3.1">11:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=11&scrV=32#Num.xxv-p17.9">11:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=12&scrV=1#Num.xxiii-p18.2">12:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=12&scrV=3#Gen.ii-p25.4">12:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=12&scrV=4#Gen.xxvii-p16.2">12:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=12&scrV=13#Ex.xxxiv-p16.2">12:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=15&scrV=0#Gen.xv-p7.1">15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=35&scrV=0#Ex.xxxvi-p14.2">35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Dan&scrCh=1700&scrV=0#Num.xxvii-p7.1">1700</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Hosea</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=2&scrV=2#Gen.xliv-p3.2">2:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=2&scrV=7#Deu.xxxiii-p41.3">2:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=2&scrV=8#Gen.xv-p6.4">2:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=2&scrV=9#Gen.ii-p22.3">2:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=2&scrV=9#Gen.iv-p59.4">2:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=2&scrV=9#Ex.x-p18.5">2:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=2&scrV=14#Gen.xvii-p17.2">2:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=2&scrV=14#Ex.ix-p21.5">2:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=2&scrV=17#Num.xxxiii-p14.7">2:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=2&scrV=21#Gen.ii-p22.5">2:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=2&scrV=23#Num.xxv-p7.3">2:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=3&scrV=5#Gen.xxix-p22.3">3:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=3&scrV=5#Ex.xxxiv-p19.8">3:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=4&scrV=5#Num.xxxii-p8.8">4:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=4&scrV=8#Lev.vii-p16.3">4:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=4&scrV=10#Lev.xxi-p14.6">4:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=4&scrV=14#Num.vi-p12.19">4:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=4&scrV=16#Deu.xxxiv-p25.4">4:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=4&scrV=17#Gen.vii-p6.2">4:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=6&scrV=1#Deu.xxxiii-p44.8">6:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=6&scrV=3#Deu.xii-p9.3">6:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=6&scrV=5#Ex.vii-p11.3">6:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=6&scrV=5#Ex.xxxv-p4.5">6:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=7&scrV=1#Ex.xxxiii-p21.3">7:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=7&scrV=5#Gen.xli-p11.1">7:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=7&scrV=9#Deu.xxix-p15.30">7:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=8&scrV=4#Deu.xviii-p12.2">8:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=8&scrV=6#Deu.v-p11.3">8:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=8&scrV=11#Num.xxiv-p3.1">8:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=8&scrV=12#Gen.i-p2.2">8:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=8&scrV=12#Deu.i-p2.3">8:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=9&scrV=4#Lev.xi-p22.8">9:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=9&scrV=13#Ex.iii-p4.2">9:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=10&scrV=4#Deu.xxx-p18.2">10:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=10&scrV=11#Deu.xxvi-p4.2">10:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=10&scrV=14#Deu.xxiii-p7.5">10:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=11&scrV=1#Gen.xxii-p11.5">11:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=11&scrV=8#Ex.xxxiv-p3.5">11:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=11&scrV=8#Lev.xxvii-p18.2">11:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=11&scrV=8#Gen.iv-p24.3">11:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=11&scrV=9#Num.xxi-p9.1">11:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=11&scrV=9#Num.xxi-p13.3">11:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=11&scrV=9#Ex.xxxv-p14.3">11:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=12&scrV=4#Gen.xxix-p23.5">12:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=12&scrV=4#Gen.xxxvi-p14.5">12:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=12&scrV=4#Gen.xxxiii-p24.1">12:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=12&scrV=4#Gen.xxxiii-p25.2">12:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=12&scrV=4#Gen.xxxiii-p26.3">12:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=12&scrV=8#Gen.xxvi-p19.2">12:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=12&scrV=12#Gen.xxx-p7.4">12:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=12&scrV=12#Gen.xxix-p3.1">12:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=13&scrV=9#Deu.xxxiii-p7.2">13:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=13&scrV=12#Deu.xxxiii-p39.4">13:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=14&scrV=2#Lev.iv-p5.2">14:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=14&scrV=3#Deu.xviii-p14.4">14:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=14&scrV=4#Deu.viii-p11.4">14:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=14&scrV=5#Deu.xii-p8.5">14:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=14&scrV=5#Num.xxv-p6.5">14:5-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=14&scrV=8#Gen.xxxvi-p5.2">14:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=14&scrV=8#Gen.xlvi-p5.2">14:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=14&scrV=9#Deu.xxxiii-p6.4">14:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hos&scrCh=14&scrV=9#Gen.xix-p18.2">14:9</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Joel</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Joel&scrCh=1&scrV=4#Deu.xxix-p15.12">1:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Joel&scrCh=1&scrV=9#Lev.iii-p4.1">1:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Joel&scrCh=1&scrV=15#Gen.xviii-p7.4">1:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Joel&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Num.xi-p3.12">2:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Joel&scrCh=2&scrV=2#Ex.ix-p5.1">2:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Joel&scrCh=2&scrV=11#Ex.xi-p9.1">2:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Joel&scrCh=2&scrV=14#Lev.iii-p4.2">2:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Joel&scrCh=2&scrV=15#Num.xi-p3.6">2:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Joel&scrCh=2&scrV=16#Lev.v-p7.1">2:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Joel&scrCh=2&scrV=28#Num.xiii-p8.2">2:28</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Amos</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Amos&scrCh=1&scrV=1#Gen.xxxi-p19.2">1:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Amos&scrCh=1&scrV=13#Deu.xxiii-p7.6">1:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Amos&scrCh=2&scrV=7#Gen.iv-p35.7">2:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Amos&scrCh=2&scrV=11#Num.vii-p4.6">2:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Amos&scrCh=2&scrV=12#Num.vii-p6.2">2:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Amos&scrCh=2&scrV=13#Gen.vii-p14.1">2:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Amos&scrCh=3&scrV=2#Lev.xxvii-p6.1">3:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Amos&scrCh=3&scrV=2#Num.xxi-p12.1">3:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Amos&scrCh=3&scrV=2#Deu.xxx-p23.5">3:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Amos&scrCh=3&scrV=3#Gen.vi-p16.1">3:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Amos&scrCh=3&scrV=7#Num.xv-p18.3">3:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Amos&scrCh=3&scrV=7#Gen.vii-p22.3">3:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Amos&scrCh=4&scrV=1#Deu.xxxiv-p26.3">4:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Amos&scrCh=4&scrV=6#Lev.xxvii-p9.4">4:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Amos&scrCh=4&scrV=7#Deu.xii-p9.2">4:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Amos&scrCh=4&scrV=7#Gen.iii-p7.2">4:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Amos&scrCh=4&scrV=12#Num.xii-p20.2">4:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Amos&scrCh=5&scrV=18#Num.xxi-p7.3">5:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Amos&scrCh=5&scrV=25#Num.xxix-p3.2">5:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Amos&scrCh=6&scrV=5#Ex.xxxi-p10.11">6:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Amos&scrCh=6&scrV=6#Gen.xli-p11.6">6:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Amos&scrCh=7&scrV=8#Ex.xiii-p17.2">7:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Amos&scrCh=8&scrV=2#Ex.xiii-p17.2">8:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Amos&scrCh=8&scrV=5#Num.xxix-p6.7">8:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Amos&scrCh=8&scrV=5#Deu.xxvi-p9.2">8:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Amos&scrCh=9&scrV=6#Gen.ii-p18.3">9:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Amos&scrCh=9&scrV=13#Lev.xxvii-p4.4">9:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Amos&scrCh=9&scrV=15#Deu.xxx-p23.11">9:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Amos&scrCh=24&scrV=6#Deu.xxxiv-p50.1">24:6</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Obadiah</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Obad&scrCh=1&scrV=3#Gen.viii-p28.6">1:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Obad&scrCh=1&scrV=12#Gen.x-p22.2">1:12</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Jonah</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jonah&scrCh=1&scrV=6#Gen.xiii-p37.1">1:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jonah&scrCh=1&scrV=9#Gen.ii-p21.6">1:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jonah&scrCh=1&scrV=14#Deu.xxii-p7.1">1:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jonah&scrCh=1&scrV=16#Gen.xxix-p24.2">1:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jonah&scrCh=2&scrV=8#Gen.iv-p24.6">2:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jonah&scrCh=4&scrV=11#Gen.ix-p3.9">4:11</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Micah</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mic&scrCh=2&scrV=13#Ex.xiv-p14.4">2:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mic&scrCh=4&scrV=3#Ex.xxvi-p10.2">4:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mic&scrCh=4&scrV=11#Deu.iii-p17.3">4:11-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mic&scrCh=4&scrV=12#Deu.xxxiii-p13.8">4:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mic&scrCh=4&scrV=13#Deu.xxxiv-p32.5">4:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mic&scrCh=5&scrV=7#Deu.xxxiii-p3.11">5:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mic&scrCh=5&scrV=7#Gen.ii-p18.6">5:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mic&scrCh=5&scrV=7#Gen.xxix-p20.1">5:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mic&scrCh=6&scrV=3#Deu.xxxi-p11.8">6:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mic&scrCh=6&scrV=3#Deu.xxxiii-p8.3">6:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mic&scrCh=6&scrV=4#Num.xiii-p3.2">6:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mic&scrCh=6&scrV=4#Num.xxi-p4.3">6:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mic&scrCh=6&scrV=4#Ex.xvi-p12.3">6:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mic&scrCh=6&scrV=5#Num.xxiii-p1.1">6:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mic&scrCh=6&scrV=6#Lev.ii-p3.1">6:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mic&scrCh=6&scrV=7#Lev.v-p4.2">6:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mic&scrCh=7&scrV=1#Deu.xxvii-p3.5">7:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mic&scrCh=7&scrV=17#Gen.iv-p35.6">7:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mic&scrCh=7&scrV=18#Gen.xv-p14.2">7:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mic&scrCh=7&scrV=19#Lev.xvii-p20.15">7:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mic&scrCh=7&scrV=20#Lev.xxvii-p18.6">7:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mic&scrCh=7&scrV=20#Ex.vii-p5.4">7:20</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Habakkuk</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hab&scrCh=1&scrV=11#Deu.xxxiii-p37.7">1:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hab&scrCh=1&scrV=12#Deu.xxxiv-p42.3">1:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hab&scrCh=1&scrV=16#Deu.ix-p16.8">1:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hab&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Gen.xvi-p21.3">2:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hab&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Gen.xx-p28.2">2:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hab&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Gen.xxxiv-p3.3">2:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hab&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Gen.xxv-p30.2">2:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hab&scrCh=2&scrV=2#Deu.xxviii-p5.3">2:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hab&scrCh=2&scrV=3#Gen.ix-p16.3">2:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hab&scrCh=2&scrV=3#Gen.xlii-p3.3">2:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hab&scrCh=2&scrV=3#Ex.ii-p3.10">2:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hab&scrCh=2&scrV=6#Gen.xiv-p4.2">2:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hab&scrCh=2&scrV=11#Num.xxiii-p19.10">2:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hab&scrCh=2&scrV=13#Gen.xxvi-p26.4">2:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hab&scrCh=2&scrV=13#Ex.xxii-p16.4">2:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hab&scrCh=2&scrV=15#Deu.xxx-p19.4">2:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hab&scrCh=2&scrV=15#Gen.x-p21.5">2:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hab&scrCh=2&scrV=18#Ex.xxi-p8.5">2:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hab&scrCh=3&scrV=2#Gen.ix-p3.6">3:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hab&scrCh=3&scrV=3#Deu.xxxiv-p5.2">3:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hab&scrCh=3&scrV=6#Deu.xxxiv-p24.5">3:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hab&scrCh=3&scrV=10#Ex.xx-p15.5">3:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hab&scrCh=3&scrV=17#Deu.xxxiv-p25.5">3:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hab&scrCh=3&scrV=17#Gen.xiii-p29.2">3:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hab&scrCh=7&scrV=21#Lev.ix-p13.11">7:21</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Zephaniah</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zeph&scrCh=2&scrV=3#Num.xiii-p4.3">2:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zeph&scrCh=2&scrV=3#Ex.xxxiii-p36.1">2:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zeph&scrCh=2&scrV=9#Gen.xx-p21.12">2:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zeph&scrCh=3&scrV=19#Deu.xxvii-p15.11">3:19-20</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Haggai</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hag&scrCh=1&scrV=4#Num.v-p12.6">1:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hag&scrCh=1&scrV=6#Deu.xxix-p7.11">1:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hag&scrCh=1&scrV=9#Lev.xxiv-p10.4">1:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hag&scrCh=1&scrV=9#Num.v-p12.6">1:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hag&scrCh=1&scrV=9#Num.xvi-p6.3">1:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hag&scrCh=1&scrV=9#Deu.xxix-p7.11">1:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hag&scrCh=1&scrV=9#Ex.xxvi-p20.6">1:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hag&scrCh=2&scrV=11#Deu.xxxiv-p18.5">2:11-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Hag&scrCh=2&scrV=12#Lev.viii-p10.2">2:12</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Zechariah</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=1&scrV=18#Num.xxiii-p18.3">1:18-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=2&scrV=5#Ex.xli-p9.3">2:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=3&scrV=3#Ex.xxix-p5.5">3:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=3&scrV=7#Gen.vi-p16.3">3:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=4&scrV=2#Lev.xxv-p4.8">4:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=4&scrV=2#Ex.xxxviii-p6.2">4:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=4&scrV=6#Ex.xiv-p11.4">4:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=4&scrV=7#Gen.ii-p47.1">4:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=4&scrV=10#Gen.ix-p6.6">4:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=4&scrV=11#Ex.xxviii-p8.1">4:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=5&scrV=4#Num.vi-p12.11">5:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=5&scrV=4#Lev.xv-p12.2">5:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=6&scrV=8#Gen.ix-p3.5">6:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=6&scrV=11#Num.xiv-p4.4">6:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=6&scrV=12#Num.xviii-p9.1">6:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=6&scrV=13#Ex.xxix-p13.10">6:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=8&scrV=21#Deu.xxxiv-p32.1">8:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=8&scrV=23#Num.xi-p8.6">8:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=8&scrV=23#Gen.xiii-p18.1">8:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=8&scrV=23#Gen.xiv-p9.3">8:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=8&scrV=23#Gen.xxii-p27.3">8:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=8&scrV=23#Gen.xxxv-p10.2">8:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=9&scrV=12#Lev.xxvii-p16.1">9:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=11&scrV=10#Ex.xxxiii-p21.5">11:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=11&scrV=14#Ex.xxxiii-p21.5">11:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=12&scrV=1#Num.xvii-p21.3">12:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=12&scrV=3#Ex.xi-p6.2">12:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=12&scrV=6#Gen.xvi-p39.3">12:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=12&scrV=6#Ex.xv-p23.5">12:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=12&scrV=10#Gen.vii-p14.5">12:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=12&scrV=12#Gen.ix-p16.5">12:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=13&scrV=1#Num.xx-p9.5">13:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=13&scrV=1#Ex.xxxi-p8.2">13:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=13&scrV=7#Gen.xxiii-p23.2">13:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=14&scrV=16#Lev.xxiv-p21.2">14:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=14&scrV=18#Deu.xii-p8.2">14:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=14&scrV=18#Gen.xlii-p7.1">14:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=14&scrV=18#Ex.viii-p8.6">14:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Zech&scrCh=14&scrV=20#Lev.xii-p7.10">14:20-21</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Malachi</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=1&scrV=6#Lev.xx-p5.2">1:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=1&scrV=7#Lev.iv-p7.8">1:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=1&scrV=8#Lev.xxiii-p14.9">1:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=1&scrV=8#Deu.xviii-p3.3">1:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=1&scrV=11#Deu.xiii-p9.5">1:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=1&scrV=11#Ex.xxxi-p3.3">1:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=1&scrV=11#Lev.xviii-p7.3">1:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=1&scrV=12#Ex.xxvi-p20.8">1:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=1&scrV=12#Lev.iv-p7.8">1:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=1&scrV=13#Lev.xxiii-p14.9">1:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=1&scrV=14#Lev.xxiii-p14.9">1:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=1&scrV=14#Lev.iii-p9.6">1:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Lev.xxii-p1.1">2:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=2&scrV=5#Num.xxvi-p8.7">2:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=2&scrV=5#Deu.xxxiv-p15.4">2:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=2&scrV=5#Lev.ix-p13.10">2:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=2&scrV=7#Num.x-p7.2">2:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=2&scrV=7#Deu.xxxi-p11.5">2:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=2&scrV=7#Deu.xxxiv-p18.4">2:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=2&scrV=10#Lev.xxvi-p16.2">2:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=2&scrV=13#Deu.xiii-p11.9">2:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=2&scrV=15#Lev.xxii-p5.3">2:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=2&scrV=15#Gen.iii-p40.5">2:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=2&scrV=15#Gen.ii-p38.2">2:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=2&scrV=15#Gen.v-p47.1">2:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=2&scrV=15#Gen.xxx-p10.7">2:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=3&scrV=6#Num.xv-p25.3">3:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=3&scrV=10#Lev.xxvii-p4.7">3:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=3&scrV=14#Lev.xi-p22.9">3:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=3&scrV=17#Gen.viii-p23.2">3:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=3&scrV=17#Ex.v-p21.7">3:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=3&scrV=17#Ex.xxix-p10.5">3:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=3&scrV=18#Ex.ix-p18.4">3:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mal&scrCh=4&scrV=4#Deu.xxxv-p15.1">4:4</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Matthew</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=1&scrV=1#Gen.i-p5.1">1:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=1&scrV=1#Gen.xii-p25.1">1:1-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=1&scrV=1#Gen.xii-p25.2">1:1-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=1&scrV=3#Gen.xx-p36.2">1:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=1&scrV=3#Gen.xxxix-p6.1">1:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=1&scrV=3#Gen.xxxix-p12.1">1:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=1&scrV=4#Num.iii-p5.4">1:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=1&scrV=5#Gen.xx-p36.2">1:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=2&scrV=2#Num.xxv-p17.6">2:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=2&scrV=13#Ex.iii-p4.9">2:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=3&scrV=6#Lev.xvii-p20.7">3:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=3&scrV=9#Gen.xvii-p31.3">3:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=3&scrV=17#Ex.xxi-p3.3">3:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=3&scrV=17#Ex.xx-p7.7">3:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=4&scrV=1#Gen.iv-p8.4">4:1-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=4&scrV=3#Deu.ix-p7.4">4:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=4&scrV=4#Lev.xxvi-p3.5">4:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=4&scrV=4#Ex.xvii-p16.6">4:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=4&scrV=4#Deu.i-p3.7">4:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=4&scrV=6#Gen.iv-p19.3">4:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=4&scrV=7#Deu.i-p3.7">4:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=4&scrV=7#Deu.vii-p10.7">4:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=4&scrV=10#Deu.i-p3.7">4:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=4&scrV=14#Deu.xxxiv-p31.1">4:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=5&scrV=3#Deu.xxviii-p9.5">5:3-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=5&scrV=6#Deu.ix-p7.2">5:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=5&scrV=14#Gen.ii-p25.10">5:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=5&scrV=14#Ex.xxvi-p22.6">5:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=5&scrV=15#Num.ix-p3.9">5:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=5&scrV=16#Gen.x-p29.5">5:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=5&scrV=17#Ex.xxxv-p26.1">5:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=5&scrV=19#Ex.xxxv-p4.2">5:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=5&scrV=21#Num.xxxvi-p10.4">5:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=5&scrV=21#Gen.v-p23.4">5:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=5&scrV=21#Gen.x-p13.3">5:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=5&scrV=22#Ex.xxi-p19.3">5:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=5&scrV=22#Gen.l-p6.3">5:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=5&scrV=23#Num.x-p9.2">5:23-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=5&scrV=28#Gen.iv-p19.1">5:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=5&scrV=28#Ex.xxi-p20.3">5:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=5&scrV=29#Gen.xiii-p5.4">5:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=5&scrV=29#Num.xxvi-p10.2">5:29-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=5&scrV=33#Ex.xxi-p11.4">5:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=5&scrV=33#Ex.xxi-p11.7">5:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=5&scrV=38#Ex.xxii-p16.2">5:38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=5&scrV=38#Lev.xxv-p14.7">5:38-39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=5&scrV=39#Ex.xxii-p16.3">5:39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=5&scrV=39#Gen.xiv-p15.5">5:39-40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=5&scrV=44#Num.xv-p20.1">5:44</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=5&scrV=44#Ex.xviii-p6.2">5:44-45</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=5&scrV=45#Gen.xv-p15.2">5:45</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=6&scrV=9#Deu.vi-p5.3">6:9-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=6&scrV=25#Ex.xvii-p12.6">6:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=6&scrV=25#Deu.ix-p8.1">6:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=6&scrV=25#Ex.xxiv-p8.3">6:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=6&scrV=26#Gen.ii-p43.2">6:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=6&scrV=33#Deu.xxix-p8.1">6:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=7&scrV=1#Gen.xxi-p18.3">7:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=7&scrV=6#Lev.xxiii-p11.1">7:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=7&scrV=12#Lev.xx-p18.5">7:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=7&scrV=22#Gen.viii-p33.6">7:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=7&scrV=22#Ex.ix-p7.2">7:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=7&scrV=24#Gen.vii-p31.5">7:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=8&scrV=2#Lev.xiv-p3.2">8:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=8&scrV=4#Lev.xv-p5.10">8:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=8&scrV=8#Gen.xxxiii-p15.2">8:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=8&scrV=10#Ex.xix-p9.3">8:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=8&scrV=21#Num.vii-p8.2">8:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=8&scrV=22#Gen.li-p3.7">8:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=8&scrV=25#Num.xi-p3.16">8:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=9&scrV=20#Num.xvi-p13.2">9:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=9&scrV=36#Num.xxviii-p11.2">9:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=9&scrV=38#Num.xxviii-p11.3">9:38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=10&scrV=11#Gen.xx-p3.1">10:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=10&scrV=15#Gen.xx-p21.15">10:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=10&scrV=16#Gen.xv-p12.2">10:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=10&scrV=19#Ex.v-p16.2">10:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=10&scrV=37#Ex.v-p26.2">10:37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=10&scrV=41#Gen.xix-p7.1">10:41</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=10&scrV=42#Gen.xxv-p12.5">10:42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=11&scrV=2#Gen.xvi-p20.4">11:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=11&scrV=12#Gen.xxviii-p17.11">11:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=11&scrV=25#Gen.xxv-p15.1">11:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=11&scrV=29#Num.xiii-p4.4">11:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=12&scrV=3#Lev.xxiii-p10.2">12:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=12&scrV=7#Lev.xxiii-p10.2">12:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=12&scrV=12#Deu.xxv-p6.2">12:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=12&scrV=28#Ex.xxx-p17.8">12:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=12&scrV=34#Lev.xvi-p3.6">12:34-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=12&scrV=47#Lev.xi-p14.5">12:47-48</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=12&scrV=48#Lev.xxii-p9.6">12:48</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=12&scrV=48#Deu.xxxiv-p17.4">12:48</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=12&scrV=50#Gen.xiii-p13.4">12:50</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=13&scrV=12#Gen.xix-p19.2">13:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=14&scrV=19#Deu.ix-p15.3">14:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=15&scrV=4#Lev.xxi-p6.3">15:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=15&scrV=4#Ex.xxi-p18.6">15:4-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=15&scrV=5#Num.xxxi-p7.2">15:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=15&scrV=7#Ex.xxi-p11.1">15:7-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=15&scrV=11#Lev.xii-p11.6">15:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=15&scrV=14#Deu.xxviii-p13.4">15:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=15&scrV=19#Gen.vii-p12.3">15:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=15&scrV=27#Gen.xxxiii-p15.3">15:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=16&scrV=2#Gen.ii-p25.6">16:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=16&scrV=18#Deu.xxxiv-p45.1">16:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=17&scrV=5#Deu.xix-p18.3">17:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=17&scrV=5#Ex.xxiv-p15.4">17:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=17&scrV=27#Ex.xxxi-p6.2">17:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=18&scrV=6#Num.xiii-p9.1">18:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=18&scrV=6#Gen.xiii-p38.5">18:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=18&scrV=15#Gen.xxii-p31.2">18:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=18&scrV=16#Deu.xviii-p6.4">18:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=19&scrV=3#Deu.xxv-p3.4">19:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=19&scrV=4#Gen.viii-p9.1">19:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=19&scrV=4#Gen.iii-p40.2">19:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=19&scrV=4#Gen.ii-p38.3">19:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=19&scrV=5#Gen.v-p47.1">19:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=19&scrV=5#Gen.xxx-p10.5">19:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=19&scrV=7#Deu.xxv-p3.1">19:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=19&scrV=8#Gen.viii-p9.1">19:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=19&scrV=17#Deu.xxxiii-p51.2">19:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=19&scrV=29#Gen.xiii-p26.1">19:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=19&scrV=29#Gen.xxiii-p31.6">19:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=19&scrV=29#Ex.xix-p5.3">19:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=20&scrV=8#Deu.xxv-p10.4">20:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=20&scrV=23#Num.xxxv-p8.2">20:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=20&scrV=23#Gen.xlviii-p3.2">20:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=20&scrV=26#Gen.ii-p27.2">20:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=20&scrV=27#Num.iii-p5.2">20:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=21&scrV=29#Ex.xxi-p18.5">21:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=21&scrV=45#Gen.xxxviii-p6.3">21:45</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=22&scrV=5#Ex.xxxi-p10.12">22:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=22&scrV=12#Ex.xxix-p15.6">22:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=22&scrV=24#Deu.xxvi-p6.3">22:24-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=22&scrV=31#Ex.iv-p10.4">22:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=22&scrV=39#Lev.xx-p18.3">22:39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=23&scrV=4#Gen.xv-p28.3">23:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=23&scrV=5#Deu.vii-p8.4">23:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=23&scrV=17#Lev.ix-p7.8">23:17-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=23&scrV=19#Ex.xxx-p18.2">23:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=23&scrV=32#Gen.xvi-p32.3">23:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=23&scrV=35#Deu.xxxiii-p39.2">23:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=23&scrV=35#Gen.v-p9.3">23:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=23&scrV=35#Gen.v-p23.1">23:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=23&scrV=35#Gen.v-p29.7">23:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=23&scrV=37#Num.xv-p15.2">23:37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=23&scrV=37#Gen.ii-p14.3">23:37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=23&scrV=37#Ex.xx-p4.6">23:37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=24&scrV=4#Deu.xxix-p22.1">24:4-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=24&scrV=14#Deu.xxxii-p19.2">24:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=24&scrV=14#Ex.xxvi-p16.5">24:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=24&scrV=15#Ex.xxi-p8.2">24:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=24&scrV=24#Deu.xxxii-p23.8">24:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=24&scrV=28#Deu.xxix-p24.2">24:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=24&scrV=31#Num.xi-p3.9">24:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=25&scrV=8#Gen.viii-p33.6">25:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=25&scrV=11#Gen.xxix-p10.2">25:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=25&scrV=21#Gen.xl-p6.3">25:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=25&scrV=29#Gen.xix-p19.2">25:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=25&scrV=31#Gen.xii-p23.4">25:31-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=25&scrV=32#Ex.ix-p18.5">25:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=25&scrV=37#Deu.xxix-p6.2">25:37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=26&scrV=6#Lev.xv-p8.4">26:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=26&scrV=13#Ex.xxxvi-p13.3">26:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=26&scrV=52#Ex.xxii-p16.4">26:52</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=26&scrV=63#Lev.vi-p3.1">26:63-64</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=26&scrV=75#Gen.xliv-p15.4">26:75</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=27&scrV=24#Deu.xxii-p6.7">27:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=27&scrV=51#Ex.xxvii-p10.4">27:51</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=28&scrV=19#Ex.xxxv-p26.4">28:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=28&scrV=20#Gen.xxix-p22.4">28:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=28&scrV=20#Deu.vii-p3.2">28:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=28&scrV=20#Ex.xxiv-p15.5">28:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=28&scrV=20#Ex.xxvi-p23.2">28:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Matt&scrCh=28&scrV=20#Ex.xxx-p22.4">28:20</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Mark</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mark&scrCh=1&scrV=44#Lev.xv-p8.10">1:44</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mark&scrCh=3&scrV=5#Ex.xii-p6.9">3:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mark&scrCh=6&scrV=21#Gen.xli-p11.2">6:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mark&scrCh=7&scrV=11#Lev.xxviii-p11.3">7:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mark&scrCh=7&scrV=11#Gen.xlvi-p8.7">7:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mark&scrCh=8&scrV=4#Num.xii-p22.2">8:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mark&scrCh=9&scrV=26#Ex.xv-p7.5">9:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mark&scrCh=9&scrV=38#Num.xii-p32.5">9:38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mark&scrCh=9&scrV=49#Lev.viii-p9.5">9:49</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mark&scrCh=9&scrV=49#Lev.iii-p8.4">9:49-50</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mark&scrCh=10&scrV=19#Ex.xxi-p20.2">10:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mark&scrCh=10&scrV=23#Gen.xiv-p4.4">10:23-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mark&scrCh=12&scrV=32#Deu.vii-p6.1">12:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mark&scrCh=12&scrV=33#Deu.vii-p7.2">12:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mark&scrCh=12&scrV=33#Lev.ii-p7.3">12:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mark&scrCh=12&scrV=34#Deu.ii-p18.2">12:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mark&scrCh=12&scrV=41#Num.viii-p17.2">12:41</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mark&scrCh=16&scrV=16#Deu.xxxi-p15.3">16:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mark&scrCh=16&scrV=16#Gen.iii-p17.3">16:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Mark&scrCh=16&scrV=18#Gen.iv-p35.10">16:18</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Luke</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=1&scrV=6#Deu.vii-p15.3">1:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=1&scrV=9#Lev.xi-p3.9">1:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=1&scrV=10#Ex.xxix-p13.2">1:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=1&scrV=10#Ex.xxxi-p4.4">1:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=1&scrV=15#Num.vii-p4.3">1:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=1&scrV=18#Gen.xix-p11.4">1:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=1&scrV=46#Gen.xxii-p9.2">1:46-47</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=1&scrV=51#Ex.viii-p3.4">1:51-52</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=1&scrV=58#Gen.xxii-p9.3">1:58</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=1&scrV=73#Gen.xxiii-p31.7">1:73-75</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=1&scrV=74#Gen.xxiii-p31.9">1:74</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=1&scrV=74#Ex.xxi-p4.2">1:74</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=1&scrV=74#Deu.xxxii-p11.1">1:74-75</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=1&scrV=74#Ex.xvi-p16.5">1:74-75</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=1&scrV=80#Gen.xxii-p11.2">1:80</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Gen.l-p8.8">2:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=2&scrV=8#Gen.xix-p8.4">2:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=2&scrV=8#Ex.iv-p4.2">2:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=2&scrV=22#Lev.xiii-p5.2">2:22-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=2&scrV=37#Ex.xxxix-p6.1">2:37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=2&scrV=40#Gen.xxii-p11.2">2:40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=2&scrV=46#Ex.xiii-p16.1">2:46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=2&scrV=51#Gen.xxxviii-p7.2">2:51</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=3&scrV=1#Gen.iv-p39.2">3:1-38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=3&scrV=21#Lev.x-p7.2">3:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=3&scrV=36#Gen.vi-p1.2">3:36-38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=6&scrV=35#Deu.xvi-p4.10">6:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=6&scrV=35#Deu.xxiv-p17.2">6:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=7&scrV=12#Gen.li-p5.2">7:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=7&scrV=27#Gen.xl-p11.1">7:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=7&scrV=29#Gen.xl-p11.1">7:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=7&scrV=46#Deu.xxxiv-p39.4">7:46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=8&scrV=16#Gen.ii-p25.3">8:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=9&scrV=29#Ex.xxxv-p32.1">9:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=9&scrV=46#Ex.iii-p18.1">9:46-50</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=9&scrV=52#Num.xxi-p16.3">9:52</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=10&scrV=1#Num.xii-p18.4">10:1-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=10&scrV=5#Num.vii-p15.2">10:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=10&scrV=18#Gen.iv-p39.10">10:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=10&scrV=21#Gen.xv-p20.7">10:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=10&scrV=40#Gen.xix-p11.2">10:40-41</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=11&scrV=2#Deu.vi-p5.4">11:2-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=11&scrV=5#Lev.xxv-p5.9">11:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=11&scrV=20#Num.xx-p7.2">11:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=11&scrV=44#Num.xx-p14.1">11:44</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=11&scrV=52#Gen.v-p12.3">11:52</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=12&scrV=4#Gen.xiii-p31.2">12:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=12&scrV=6#Deu.xxiii-p7.3">12:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=12&scrV=6#Gen.ix-p3.1">12:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=12&scrV=13#Num.xxviii-p5.3">12:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=12&scrV=15#Gen.xxiv-p10.2">12:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=12&scrV=17#Gen.xliii-p19.1">12:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=12&scrV=18#Lev.xxvii-p4.5">12:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=12&scrV=20#Gen.xvi-p34.2">12:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=12&scrV=47#Deu.xxvi-p3.5">12:47-48</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=12&scrV=49#Gen.xxvi-p14.2">12:49</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=12&scrV=51#Gen.xxvi-p14.2">12:51</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=13&scrV=9#Gen.xix-p35.1">13:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=13&scrV=9#Ex.xxxiii-p38.5">13:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=13&scrV=24#Gen.xxviii-p19.3">13:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=13&scrV=25#Gen.viii-p24.4">13:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=13&scrV=25#Gen.xxviii-p17.15">13:25-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=13&scrV=33#Deu.xix-p19.3">13:33-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=14&scrV=8#Num.iii-p5.1">14:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=14&scrV=14#Deu.xvi-p4.10">14:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=14&scrV=21#Ex.xviii-p5.3">14:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=14&scrV=26#Gen.xiii-p5.3">14:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=14&scrV=26#Gen.xxiii-p23.3">14:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=14&scrV=26#Gen.xxx-p12.3">14:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=15&scrV=17#Deu.xxxi-p5.3">15:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=15&scrV=20#Gen.xlvi-p5.2">15:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=15&scrV=22#Gen.iv-p59.1">15:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=15&scrV=28#Gen.v-p14.1">15:28-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=16&scrV=10#Gen.xxxii-p19.2">16:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=16&scrV=25#Gen.xxxvii-p9.7">16:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=16&scrV=25#Gen.xlii-p8.9">16:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=17&scrV=3#Lev.xx-p17.3">17:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=17&scrV=12#Lev.xiv-p12.4">17:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=17&scrV=14#Lev.xv-p5.10">17:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=17&scrV=26#Gen.viii-p33.3">17:26-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=17&scrV=27#Gen.vi-p12.1">17:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=17&scrV=31#Gen.xx-p24.2">17:31-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=17&scrV=32#Gen.xx-p23.1">17:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=18&scrV=1#Num.xxiv-p26.4">18:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=18&scrV=1#Gen.xxvi-p12.4">18:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=18&scrV=8#Ex.iv-p13.2">18:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=18&scrV=10#Gen.v-p7.7">18:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=18&scrV=11#Num.xxiv-p5.5">18:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=18&scrV=13#Gen.v-p12.1">18:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=18&scrV=13#Ex.xxxiv-p4.4">18:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=19&scrV=8#Lev.vii-p5.2">19:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=19&scrV=9#Deu.xxx-p12.5">19:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=19&scrV=9#Gen.xiii-p13.1">19:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=19&scrV=40#Num.xxiii-p19.10">19:40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=19&scrV=42#Ex.xxxiii-p38.6">19:42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=20&scrV=34#Gen.ii-p38.4">20:34-36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=20&scrV=37#Deu.xxxiv-p25.3">20:37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=20&scrV=37#Ex.iv-p10.3">20:37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=21&scrV=4#Lev.xxviii-p4.12">21:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=21&scrV=4#Deu.xvii-p7.5">21:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=21&scrV=15#Ex.v-p15.3">21:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=21&scrV=20#Ex.xxx-p17.7">21:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=21&scrV=34#Gen.x-p21.4">21:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=21&scrV=34#Lev.xi-p17.5">21:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=22&scrV=24#Ex.iii-p18.1">22:24-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=22&scrV=25#Gen.xi-p6.1">22:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=22&scrV=26#Gen.xiv-p14.1">22:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=22&scrV=28#Num.xi-p8.11">22:28-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=22&scrV=30#Ex.xxv-p13.8">22:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=22&scrV=30#Ex.xxvi-p20.9">22:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=22&scrV=35#Deu.ix-p8.2">22:35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=23&scrV=18#Ex.xiii-p8.9">23:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=23&scrV=29#Ex.iii-p4.1">23:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=24&scrV=31#Gen.xvii-p28.4">24:31-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=24&scrV=45#Ex.v-p15.7">24:45</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=24&scrV=50#Deu.xxxiv-p3.2">24:50</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Luke&scrCh=24&scrV=51#Gen.xv-p19.1">24:51</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">John</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=1&scrV=1#Deu.xix-p16.4">1:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=1&scrV=1#Gen.ii-p10.1">1:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=1&scrV=1#ii-p4.5">1:1-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=1&scrV=3#Gen.ii-p8.2">1:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=1&scrV=9#Gen.ii-p16.6">1:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=1&scrV=10#Gen.ii-p8.2">1:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=1&scrV=14#Lev.xxiv-p21.1">1:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=1&scrV=14#Deu.xix-p17.2">1:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=1&scrV=14#Ex.xli-p8.1">1:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=1&scrV=14#Ex.xli-p11.4">1:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=1&scrV=17#Deu.xxxii-p7.1">1:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=1&scrV=18#Gen.xlii-p11.11">1:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=1&scrV=18#Ex.xxix-p11.8">1:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=1&scrV=29#Ex.xiii-p8.2">1:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=1&scrV=29#Lev.xvii-p20.12">1:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=1&scrV=51#Gen.xxix-p15.3">1:51</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=3&scrV=2#Ex.v-p5.2">3:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=3&scrV=8#Num.xii-p29.1">3:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=3&scrV=14#Num.xxii-p9.3">3:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=3&scrV=21#Gen.ii-p16.1">3:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=3&scrV=26#Num.xii-p32.2">3:26-36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=3&scrV=29#Gen.xxv-p9.3">3:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=3&scrV=31#Gen.iv-p54.3">3:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=3&scrV=36#Deu.xix-p18.4">3:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=3&scrV=36#Deu.xxx-p20.3">3:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=3&scrV=36#Gen.xvi-p42.2">3:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=4&scrV=5#Gen.xlix-p13.5">4:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=4&scrV=14#Ex.xviii-p6.11">4:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=4&scrV=21#Lev.xviii-p7.1">4:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=4&scrV=23#Deu.xiii-p9.6">4:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=4&scrV=34#Gen.xxv-p18.2">4:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=5&scrV=4#Num.xxii-p11.1">5:4-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=5&scrV=14#Lev.xv-p7.3">5:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=5&scrV=17#Gen.iii-p3.4">5:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=5&scrV=36#Ex.v-p5.1">5:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=5&scrV=39#ii-p10.2">5:39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=5&scrV=46#Deu.xxxi-p12.2">5:46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=5&scrV=46#Ex.i-p2.5">5:46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=6&scrV=14#Deu.xix-p15.2">6:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=6&scrV=27#Gen.xlii-p8.8">6:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=6&scrV=32#Num.xii-p14.2">6:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=6&scrV=32#Ex.xvii-p7.11">6:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=6&scrV=38#Lev.ix-p9.8">6:38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=6&scrV=48#Gen.iii-p17.2">6:48</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=6&scrV=49#Gen.ii-p42.3">6:49</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=6&scrV=49#Ex.xvii-p16.5">6:49-51</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=6&scrV=53#Gen.iii-p17.2">6:53</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=6&scrV=53#Ex.xiii-p10.1">6:53-55</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=6&scrV=68#Gen.xvii-p20.3">6:68</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=7&scrV=5#Num.xiii-p3.4">7:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=7&scrV=16#Deu.xix-p16.6">7:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=7&scrV=17#Ex.xx-p7.9">7:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=7&scrV=32#Lev.xxvi-p20.11">7:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=7&scrV=37#Lev.xxiv-p17.8">7:37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=7&scrV=37#Num.xxx-p5.4">7:37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=7&scrV=38#Num.xxii-p16.7">7:38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=7&scrV=38#Ex.xviii-p6.11">7:38-39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=8&scrV=3#Lev.xxi-p13.4">8:3-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=8&scrV=6#Num.vi-p12.1">8:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=8&scrV=12#Deu.xix-p16.3">8:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=8&scrV=33#Deu.xii-p17.3">8:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=8&scrV=34#Deu.xxxiv-p7.2">8:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=8&scrV=41#Gen.xxxix-p1.3">8:41</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=8&scrV=53#Gen.xvi-p34.1">8:53</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=8&scrV=56#Gen.xvi-p13.3">8:56</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=8&scrV=56#Gen.xviii-p20.2">8:56</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=9&scrV=3#Ex.v-p15.8">9:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=9&scrV=4#Gen.ii-p25.8">9:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=9&scrV=5#Gen.ii-p16.6">9:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=9&scrV=24#Num.xxii-p11.3">9:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=9&scrV=36#Deu.xxxi-p12.4">9:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=10&scrV=3#Num.v-p12.5">10:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=10&scrV=11#Ex.xxxiii-p38.12">10:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=10&scrV=14#Gen.xxx-p3.5">10:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=10&scrV=18#Lev.ix-p9.8">10:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=10&scrV=28#Deu.xxxiv-p6.7">10:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=10&scrV=32#Deu.xxxiii-p8.3">10:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=10&scrV=32#Ex.xviii-p4.6">10:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=11&scrV=6#Gen.xviii-p3.1">11:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=11&scrV=9#Gen.ii-p25.7">11:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=11&scrV=15#Gen.xviii-p3.1">11:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=11&scrV=42#Deu.xxxiv-p12.4">11:42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=11&scrV=51#Gen.xxii-p17.4">11:51</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=11&scrV=51#Deu.xxxi-p6.10">11:51-52</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=11&scrV=52#Gen.l-p8.13">11:52</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=12&scrV=13#Lev.xxiv-p17.6">12:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=12&scrV=24#Gen.xxix-p6.3">12:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=12&scrV=24#Ex.ii-p3.9">12:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=12&scrV=28#Num.xv-p29.2">12:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=12&scrV=28#ii-p11.3">12:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=12&scrV=32#Gen.l-p8.12">12:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=12&scrV=33#Num.xxii-p11.4">12:33-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=12&scrV=37#Ex.xii-p6.13">12:37-38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=12&scrV=48#Deu.xix-p18.6">12:48</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=13&scrV=8#Ex.xxxi-p8.6">13:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=13&scrV=10#Lev.xxiii-p5.2">13:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=13&scrV=10#Ex.xxx-p9.5">13:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=13&scrV=10#Ex.xxxi-p8.6">13:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=14&scrV=21#Deu.viii-p17.3">14:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=14&scrV=22#Gen.v-p44.2">14:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=14&scrV=22#Gen.xvii-p28.6">14:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=14&scrV=26#ii-p7.2">14:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=14&scrV=26#Gen.xviii-p5.4">14:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=14&scrV=31#Lev.ix-p9.8">14:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=15&scrV=15#Ex.xxx-p15.9">15:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=15&scrV=16#Lev.xxvii-p4.21">15:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=15&scrV=16#Num.xviii-p8.1">15:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=16&scrV=4#Gen.xvi-p27.2">16:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=16&scrV=6#Gen.xxii-p22.5">16:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=16&scrV=13#ii-p7.5">16:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=16&scrV=21#Gen.iv-p44.1">16:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=16&scrV=32#Deu.xxxv-p4.2">16:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=16&scrV=32#Gen.xxix-p12.1">16:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=16&scrV=33#Gen.xxix-p3.2">16:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=17&scrV=1#Lev.xvii-p21.7">17:1-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=17&scrV=4#Lev.xvii-p21.5">17:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=17&scrV=11#Num.xi-p6.11">17:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=17&scrV=17#Lev.xx-p4.4">17:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=17&scrV=19#Ex.xxviii-p4.1">17:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=17&scrV=19#Ex.xxix-p13.7">17:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=17&scrV=19#Ex.xxx-p18.3">17:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=17&scrV=19#Lev.xvii-p20.2">17:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=17&scrV=24#Gen.xlvi-p8.9">17:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=17&scrV=24#Ex.xvi-p11.10">17:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=17&scrV=24#Ex.xxxi-p4.2">17:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=17&scrV=26#Deu.xxxiv-p7.3">17:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=18&scrV=13#Lev.xxiii-p14.11">18:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=18&scrV=24#Lev.xxiii-p14.11">18:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=19&scrV=17#Gen.xxiii-p19.1">19:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=19&scrV=31#Deu.xxii-p22.3">19:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=19&scrV=33#Ex.xiii-p8.11">19:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=19&scrV=34#Lev.xv-p5.1">19:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=19&scrV=36#Ex.xiii-p8.11">19:36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=John&scrCh=21&scrV=22#Deu.xxx-p24.3">21:22</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Acts</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=1&scrV=4#Lev.ix-p13.3">1:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=1&scrV=7#Deu.xxx-p24.3">1:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Lev.xxiv-p10.7">2:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Num.xxix-p8.5">2:1-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Gen.xii-p21.1">2:1-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=2&scrV=3#Ex.xx-p7.8">2:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=2&scrV=3#Lev.x-p12.2">2:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=2&scrV=23#Num.xx-p10.4">2:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=2&scrV=23#Gen.li-p9.6">2:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=2&scrV=24#Gen.iv-p55.2">2:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=2&scrV=38#Gen.xxix-p4.3">2:38-40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=2&scrV=40#Num.xii-p12.2">2:40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=2&scrV=40#Gen.xiii-p5.5">2:40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=2&scrV=44#Lev.xxvi-p3.7">2:44</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=2&scrV=47#Deu.xxxiv-p49.3">2:47</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=3&scrV=22#Deu.xix-p15.1">3:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=3&scrV=26#Num.vii-p13.3">3:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=4&scrV=12#Gen.xiii-p13.2">4:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=4&scrV=13#Ex.xxxv-p32.2">4:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=4&scrV=19#Ex.ii-p12.5">4:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=5&scrV=4#Lev.xxiii-p14.4">5:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=5&scrV=4#Num.xxxi-p4.2">5:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=5&scrV=13#Ex.xii-p4.3">5:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=5&scrV=17#Ex.xv-p6.1">5:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=5&scrV=29#Ex.ii-p12.5">5:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=5&scrV=33#Ex.xv-p6.1">5:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=6&scrV=1#Gen.vii-p3.3">6:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=6&scrV=3#Deu.ii-p9.2">6:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=6&scrV=4#Lev.ii-p3.3">6:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=6&scrV=6#Deu.ii-p9.2">6:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=7&scrV=2#Gen.xiii-p3.1">7:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=7&scrV=4#Gen.xii-p29.4">7:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=7&scrV=4#Gen.xiii-p3.2">7:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=7&scrV=5#Gen.xxiv-p5.2">7:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=7&scrV=8#Gen.xviii-p16.1">7:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=7&scrV=8#Ex.ii-p3.1">7:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=7&scrV=8#Deu.vi-p3.2">7:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=7&scrV=14#Gen.xlvii-p10.10">7:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=7&scrV=16#Ex.xiv-p13.14">7:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=7&scrV=20#Ex.iii-p4.3">7:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=7&scrV=22#Ex.iii-p9.2">7:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=7&scrV=22#Ex.v-p12.2">7:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=7&scrV=23#Ex.iii-p14.1">7:23-53</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=7&scrV=25#Ex.iii-p19.4">7:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=7&scrV=27#Ex.iii-p19.4">7:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=7&scrV=37#Deu.xix-p15.1">7:37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=7&scrV=38#Deu.xxxiii-p16.2">7:38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=7&scrV=39#Ex.xxxiii-p9.1">7:39-40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=7&scrV=41#Ex.xxxiii-p39.4">7:41-42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=7&scrV=42#Num.xxix-p3.3">7:42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=7&scrV=44#Ex.xxvi-p16.4">7:44</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=7&scrV=51#Ex.iii-p14.2">7:51</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=7&scrV=53#Deu.xxxiv-p5.5">7:53</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=7&scrV=53#Ex.xx-p14.4">7:53</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=8&scrV=2#Gen.li-p5.2">8:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=8&scrV=10#Num.xxiii-p6.4">8:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=8&scrV=31#ii-p7.8">8:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=9&scrV=5#Ex.iii-p19.3">9:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=9&scrV=21#Gen.xxxiv-p7.4">9:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=9&scrV=31#Gen.ix-p8.2">9:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=9&scrV=39#Ex.xxxvi-p13.7">9:39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=10&scrV=4#Lev.xxv-p5.6">10:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=10&scrV=15#Lev.xii-p11.2">10:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=10&scrV=34#Ex.xxxi-p6.4">10:34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=10&scrV=34#Num.x-p9.9">10:34-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=12&scrV=9#Gen.xlii-p5.5">12:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=12&scrV=12#Gen.xxv-p30.3">12:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=13&scrV=18#Deu.ii-p21.6">13:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=13&scrV=50#Ex.xxxix-p6.2">13:50</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=14&scrV=16#Deu.xix-p11.4">14:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=14&scrV=17#Deu.xii-p8.4">14:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=15&scrV=10#Lev.xxviii-p16.6">15:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=15&scrV=10#Deu.xxxi-p11.7">15:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=15&scrV=18#Deu.xxxiii-p13.5">15:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=15&scrV=18#Gen.ii-p46.2">15:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=15&scrV=21#Deu.xxxii-p10.1">15:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=15&scrV=29#Lev.xviii-p9.6">15:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=15&scrV=39#Gen.xiv-p22.2">15:39-40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=17&scrV=24#Gen.ii-p7.1">17:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=17&scrV=24#Gen.ii-p11.3">17:24-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=17&scrV=24#Gen.x-p6.4">17:24-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=17&scrV=26#Num.xxxv-p4.1">17:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=17&scrV=26#Deu.xxxiii-p13.3">17:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=17&scrV=26#Gen.ii-p38.5">17:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=18&scrV=18#Num.vii-p11.2">18:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=18&scrV=24#ii-p7.4">18:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=19&scrV=19#Deu.viii-p8.5">19:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=19&scrV=19#Ex.xxiv-p16.2">19:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=20&scrV=24#Deu.xxxiv-p17.3">20:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=21&scrV=13#Deu.xxxiv-p17.3">21:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=21&scrV=13#Deu.xxxv-p6.4">21:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=21&scrV=16#Gen.xvi-p35.2">21:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=21&scrV=24#Num.vii-p11.10">21:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=21&scrV=24#Num.vii-p4.8">21:24-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=21&scrV=27#Num.vii-p11.1">21:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=23&scrV=5#Ex.xxiii-p21.3">23:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=24&scrV=15#Ex.iv-p10.6">24:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Acts&scrCh=26&scrV=6#Ex.iv-p10.6">26:6-7</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Romans</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=1&scrV=16#Gen.x-p30.4">1:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=1&scrV=18#Gen.v-p31.1">1:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=1&scrV=23#Ex.xxxiii-p39.5">1:23-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=1&scrV=24#Lev.xix-p13.2">1:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=1&scrV=25#Ex.xxi-p8.4">1:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=1&scrV=26#Gen.xx-p7.2">1:26-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Gen.xxxix-p10.2">2:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=2&scrV=7#Deu.xxxi-p15.4">2:7-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=2&scrV=16#Num.vi-p13.1">2:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=2&scrV=21#Lev.v-p5.5">2:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=2&scrV=23#Lev.xxi-p5.4">2:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=2&scrV=29#Lev.xxvii-p17.4">2:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=2&scrV=29#Deu.xi-p13.2">2:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=2&scrV=29#Deu.xxvii-p15.10">2:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=2&scrV=29#Deu.xxxi-p6.19">2:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=3&scrV=4#Deu.xx-p12.5">3:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=3&scrV=5#Gen.xix-p27.3">3:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=3&scrV=5#Gen.xix-p29.1">3:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=3&scrV=15#Ex.ii-p11.1">3:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=3&scrV=19#Deu.x-p9.2">3:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=4&scrV=4#Gen.xvi-p13.5">4:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=4&scrV=6#Num.xxiii-p7.7">4:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=4&scrV=11#Gen.xviii-p16.3">4:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=4&scrV=16#Gen.xviii-p11.1">4:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=4&scrV=17#Gen.xviii-p12.5">4:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=4&scrV=19#Gen.xvi-p13.2">4:19-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=4&scrV=20#Gen.xviii-p20.3">4:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=5&scrV=1#Lev.xxvi-p7.4">5:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=5&scrV=11#Ex.xiii-p9.1">5:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=5&scrV=11#Ex.xxx-p15.10">5:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=5&scrV=11#Lev.xv-p8.9">5:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=5&scrV=11#Lev.xvii-p22.1">5:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=5&scrV=12#Gen.iv-p1.1">5:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=5&scrV=12#Gen.iv-p52.4">5:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=5&scrV=14#ii-p10.1">5:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=5&scrV=19#Gen.iv-p19.4">5:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=5&scrV=20#Lev.v-p3.4">5:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=6&scrV=6#Lev.v-p5.12">6:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=6&scrV=7#Lev.xv-p12.8">6:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=6&scrV=12#Lev.xxvi-p20.6">6:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=6&scrV=12#Deu.viii-p19.3">6:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=6&scrV=14#Deu.viii-p19.3">6:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=6&scrV=21#Gen.iv-p62.2">6:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=6&scrV=21#Lev.xvi-p3.2">6:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=6&scrV=22#Lev.xxvi-p20.6">6:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=7&scrV=1#ii-p5.7">7:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=7&scrV=1#Gen.iv-p54.1">7:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=7&scrV=4#Deu.xxxv-p7.2">7:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=7&scrV=7#Ex.xxi-p23.2">7:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=7&scrV=11#Gen.iv-p32.1">7:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=7&scrV=13#Gen.xl-p15.4">7:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=7&scrV=16#Deu.xxxi-p11.9">7:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=7&scrV=22#Lev.xiv-p4.3">7:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=7&scrV=25#Lev.xiv-p4.3">7:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=8&scrV=1#Num.xxxvi-p12.4">8:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=8&scrV=1#Ex.xiii-p9.7">8:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=8&scrV=3#Num.xii-p3.2">8:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=8&scrV=3#Num.xxii-p11.2">8:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=8&scrV=3#Deu.xxxv-p12.3">8:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=8&scrV=14#Num.x-p14.11">8:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=8&scrV=15#Deu.ii-p4.6">8:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=8&scrV=18#Gen.xiii-p6.1">8:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=8&scrV=20#Lev.xxvii-p13.20">8:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=8&scrV=20#Gen.v-p29.6">8:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=8&scrV=20#Gen.iv-p35.1">8:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=8&scrV=20#Ex.x-p4.2">8:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=8&scrV=20#Lev.xviii-p5.8">8:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=8&scrV=21#Gen.viii-p32.4">8:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=8&scrV=22#Num.xxiii-p19.13">8:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=8&scrV=22#Gen.v-p29.6">8:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=8&scrV=22#Ex.x-p4.2">8:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=8&scrV=26#Gen.xxxiii-p26.4">8:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=8&scrV=29#Ex.xiv-p4.4">8:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=8&scrV=37#Gen.l-p15.4">8:37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=8&scrV=39#Num.xxiv-p7.5">8:39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=9&scrV=4#Gen.xvi-p12.5">9:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=9&scrV=5#Gen.vi-p3.2">9:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=9&scrV=7#Gen.xxii-p17.2">9:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=9&scrV=8#Gen.xviii-p24.3">9:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=9&scrV=9#Gen.xix-p9.3">9:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=9&scrV=11#Gen.xxviii-p17.8">9:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=9&scrV=12#Gen.xxvi-p16.3">9:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=9&scrV=15#Ex.xxxiv-p19.9">9:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=9&scrV=16#Gen.xxviii-p17.7">9:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=9&scrV=17#Ex.x-p14.6">9:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=9&scrV=18#Gen.xviii-p24.3">9:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=9&scrV=31#Gen.xxviii-p17.9">9:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=9&scrV=32#Gen.xxviii-p17.10">9:32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=10&scrV=4#Lev.xxviii-p16.4">10:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=10&scrV=5#Lev.xix-p3.8">10:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=10&scrV=6#Deu.xxxi-p12.1">10:6-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=10&scrV=8#Deu.xx-p5.2">10:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=10&scrV=16#Ex.xii-p6.13">10:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=10&scrV=17#ii-p3.1">10:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=10&scrV=19#Deu.xxxiii-p31.4">10:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=11&scrV=1#Gen.l-p23.4">11:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=11&scrV=2#Num.xvii-p36.1">11:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=11&scrV=8#Ex.xii-p6.15">11:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=11&scrV=8#Gen.xx-p8.4">11:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=11&scrV=8#Deu.xxix-p28.7">11:8-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=11&scrV=10#Lev.xxvii-p4.31">11:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=11&scrV=11#Gen.x-p30.3">11:11-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=11&scrV=19#Lev.xix-p14.12">11:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=11&scrV=22#Gen.xx-p25.1">11:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=11&scrV=28#Lev.xxvii-p18.8">11:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=11&scrV=28#Deu.x-p7.3">11:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=11&scrV=29#Gen.vii-p14.7">11:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=11&scrV=33#Deu.xxx-p24.1">11:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=12&scrV=1#Gen.iii-p9.11">12:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=12&scrV=1#Ex.xxv-p11.2">12:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=12&scrV=1#Lev.xv-p7.2">12:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=12&scrV=7#Num.iv-p3.2">12:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=12&scrV=9#Deu.xiii-p4.2">12:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=12&scrV=19#Gen.li-p9.3">12:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=12&scrV=20#Ex.xviii-p6.2">12:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=13&scrV=1#Deu.xvii-p9.2">13:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=13&scrV=4#Gen.x-p13.4">13:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=13&scrV=4#Ex.xxii-p16.7">13:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=13&scrV=9#Lev.xx-p18.4">13:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=14&scrV=11#Deu.vii-p10.3">14:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=14&scrV=13#Lev.xx-p14.3">14:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=14&scrV=13#Ex.xxii-p20.2">14:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=14&scrV=14#Lev.xii-p11.5">14:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=14&scrV=22#Gen.xxxix-p10.2">14:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=15&scrV=4#ii-p5.1">15:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=15&scrV=6#Gen.xii-p21.2">15:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=15&scrV=10#Deu.xxxiii-p46.2">15:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=15&scrV=16#Ex.xxxvii-p3.5">15:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=16&scrV=3#Ex.xxxvi-p13.5">16:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=16&scrV=20#Deu.xxxiv-p51.2">16:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=16&scrV=20#Gen.iv-p39.12">16:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rom&scrCh=16&scrV=25#Deu.xxix-p9.2">16:25</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">1 Corinthians</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=1&scrV=12#Num.xii-p32.4">1:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=1&scrV=21#Gen.xxv-p15.2">1:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=1&scrV=26#Gen.xxvi-p18.2">1:26-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=1&scrV=30#Gen.iv-p18.3">1:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=2&scrV=3#ii-p8.1">2:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=2&scrV=9#Gen.xvi-p8.2">2:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=2&scrV=13#ii-p4.6">2:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=2&scrV=13#Gen.xlii-p3.6">2:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=3&scrV=1#Gen.iii-p13.1">3:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=3&scrV=12#Ex.xxv-p17.5">3:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=3&scrV=13#Deu.v-p15.4">3:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=3&scrV=16#Num.vi-p4.3">3:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=3&scrV=17#Num.vi-p13.2">3:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=3&scrV=17#Num.xxvi-p4.5">3:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=3&scrV=17#Lev.xix-p14.3">3:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=3&scrV=22#Gen.ii-p39.1">3:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=3&scrV=22#Gen.xxxiv-p14.4">3:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=5&scrV=1#Lev.xxi-p14.3">5:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=5&scrV=1#Deu.xxiii-p18.3">5:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=5&scrV=1#Gen.xxxvi-p16.4">5:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=5&scrV=1#Lev.xix-p5.1">5:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=5&scrV=2#Gen.x-p22.4">5:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=5&scrV=5#Lev.xxi-p14.3">5:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=5&scrV=7#Deu.xvii-p4.7">5:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=5&scrV=7#Deu.xvii-p4.14">5:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=5&scrV=7#Ex.xiii-p8.1">5:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=5&scrV=7#Ex.xiv-p6.3">5:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=5&scrV=7#Ex.xiii-p11.1">5:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=5&scrV=8#Num.vi-p5.1">5:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=5&scrV=8#Num.xxix-p8.2">5:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=5&scrV=12#Deu.xiv-p13.1">5:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=5&scrV=12#Lev.xv-p14.2">5:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=5&scrV=13#Num.vi-p5.1">5:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=5&scrV=13#Lev.xiv-p13.4">5:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=6&scrV=7#Ex.iii-p19.2">6:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=6&scrV=11#Num.xx-p16.1">6:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=6&scrV=13#Gen.xlii-p8.7">6:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=6&scrV=13#Lev.iii-p5.8">6:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=6&scrV=19#Gen.iii-p9.12">6:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=7&scrV=2#Gen.xxx-p10.8">7:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=7&scrV=5#Ex.xx-p9.8">7:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=7&scrV=15#Gen.xxxi-p9.2">7:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=7&scrV=16#Gen.viii-p24.2">7:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=7&scrV=16#Gen.xxxi-p6.4">7:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=7&scrV=21#Deu.xxx-p12.7">7:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=7&scrV=23#Lev.xxvi-p20.5">7:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=7&scrV=23#Ex.xxii-p5.1">7:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=7&scrV=24#Gen.xlvii-p16.2">7:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=7&scrV=24#Gen.x-p20.2">7:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=7&scrV=33#Gen.iii-p34.3">7:33-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=7&scrV=33#Gen.xxx-p12.7">7:33-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=8&scrV=4#Ex.xxxiii-p21.8">8:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=8&scrV=8#Lev.xii-p11.4">8:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=8&scrV=9#Lev.xx-p14.3">8:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=8&scrV=13#Gen.xv-p26.4">8:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=9&scrV=7#Gen.iii-p26.1">9:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=9&scrV=7#Gen.xv-p24.2">9:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=9&scrV=9#Deu.xxiii-p7.2">9:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=9&scrV=9#Gen.viii-p6.2">9:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=9&scrV=9#Deu.xxvi-p4.3">9:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=9&scrV=9#Ex.xxii-p18.1">9:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=9&scrV=10#Gen.iii-p26.1">9:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=9&scrV=11#Lev.xxviii-p15.5">9:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=9&scrV=11#Gen.xxi-p22.4">9:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=9&scrV=12#Gen.xv-p26.4">9:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=9&scrV=13#Lev.ix-p14.1">9:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=9&scrV=13#Num.xix-p9.1">9:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=9&scrV=19#Lev.xx-p18.7">9:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=10&scrV=1#Num.xii-p12.4">10:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=10&scrV=1#Ex.xv-p19.3">10:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=10&scrV=2#Ex.xiv-p15.3">10:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=10&scrV=2#Ex.xv-p26.2">10:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=10&scrV=3#Ex.xvii-p16.4">10:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=10&scrV=4#Ex.xviii-p6.10">10:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=10&scrV=4#Ex.xxxiv-p19.11">10:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=10&scrV=6#Num.xii-p13.11">10:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=10&scrV=7#Ex.xxxiii-p12.5">10:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=10&scrV=7#Ex.xxxiii-p31.2">10:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=10&scrV=9#Ex.xiv-p14.3">10:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=10&scrV=10#Num.xii-p8.2">10:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=10&scrV=11#ii-p5.3">10:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=10&scrV=12#Num.xii-p12.4">10:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=10&scrV=13#Num.viii-p7.4">10:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=10&scrV=13#Ex.xiv-p13.10">10:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=10&scrV=20#Num.xxvi-p3.5">10:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=10&scrV=21#Deu.xiv-p15.5">10:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=10&scrV=31#Lev.xii-p9.3">10:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=11&scrV=5#Num.vii-p7.3">11:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=11&scrV=5#Ex.xxix-p15.3">11:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=11&scrV=7#Gen.iii-p38.4">11:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=11&scrV=8#Gen.iii-p38.3">11:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=11&scrV=10#Gen.xxv-p31.4">11:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=11&scrV=10#Ex.xxvi-p18.4">11:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=11&scrV=10#Ex.xxix-p15.3">11:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=11&scrV=14#Deu.xxiii-p6.2">11:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=11&scrV=16#Gen.xiv-p14.2">11:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=11&scrV=19#Ex.viii-p6.5">11:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=11&scrV=23#Num.x-p4.4">11:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=11&scrV=23#Lev.xi-p20.5">11:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=12&scrV=2#Lev.xv-p5.5">12:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=12&scrV=4#Lev.xxv-p4.6">12:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=12&scrV=4#ii-p8.3">12:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=12&scrV=6#ii-p8.3">12:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=12&scrV=7#Ex.xxxvi-p9.3">12:7-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=12&scrV=11#Ex.xxxii-p5.5">12:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=12&scrV=17#Deu.xxxiv-p29.5">12:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=12&scrV=21#ii-p8.5">12:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=12&scrV=21#Gen.iii-p34.1">12:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=12&scrV=21#Ex.v-p17.5">12:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=12&scrV=21#Ex.xix-p17.6">12:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=12&scrV=23#Gen.xviii-p16.8">12:23-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=12&scrV=23#Lev.iv-p7.2">12:23-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=12&scrV=24#Gen.xxx-p12.4">12:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=12&scrV=24#Ex.xxxii-p4.5">12:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=12&scrV=28#Num.xii-p17.1">12:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=13&scrV=5#Num.vi-p10.8">13:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=13&scrV=12#Gen.xvii-p28.2">13:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=14&scrV=8#Lev.xxvi-p7.2">14:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=14&scrV=22#Ex.v-p6.4">14:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=14&scrV=24#Num.xii-p26.3">14:24-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=14&scrV=25#Deu.xxxii-p19.5">14:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=15&scrV=10#Gen.vii-p17.4">15:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=15&scrV=20#Lev.xxiv-p8.6">15:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=15&scrV=23#Num.viii-p16.1">15:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=15&scrV=24#Num.xxv-p17.8">15:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=15&scrV=29#Gen.v-p54.2">15:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=15&scrV=47#Gen.iii-p9.2">15:47</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=15&scrV=52#Gen.ii-p48.1">15:52</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=16&scrV=1#Gen.v-p7.5">16:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=16&scrV=2#Lev.xxviii-p11.2">16:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=16&scrV=2#Num.xxxii-p20.4">16:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=16&scrV=2#Deu.xvii-p7.3">16:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=16&scrV=2#Deu.xxxiv-p32.2">16:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=16&scrV=2#Gen.xxix-p24.5">16:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Cor&scrCh=16&scrV=2#Ex.xxxvi-p12.11">16:2</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">2 Corinthians</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=1&scrV=5#Gen.x-p18.8">1:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=1&scrV=12#Gen.vii-p17.6">1:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=2&scrV=6#Ex.xxxiii-p38.7">2:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=2&scrV=7#Num.xiii-p16.3">2:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=2&scrV=7#Lev.xv-p4.5">2:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=2&scrV=10#Num.xiii-p15.1">2:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=2&scrV=11#Gen.iv-p8.1">2:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=2&scrV=15#Lev.iii-p5.5">2:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=3&scrV=3#Ex.xxxii-p12.4">3:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=3&scrV=9#Gen.i-p3.2">3:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=3&scrV=10#Ex.xxvii-p8.6">3:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=3&scrV=13#Ex.xiii-p7.2">3:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=3&scrV=13#ii-p10.3">3:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=3&scrV=13#Gen.xvi-p25.3">3:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=3&scrV=13#Ex.xxxv-p33.4">3:13-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=3&scrV=16#Ex.xxxv-p33.6">3:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=3&scrV=18#ii-p10.3">3:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=3&scrV=18#Ex.xxvii-p10.2">3:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=3&scrV=18#Ex.xxxiv-p19.6">3:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=3&scrV=18#Ex.xxxv-p31.2">3:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=3&scrV=18#Lev.xvii-p4.6">3:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=4&scrV=4#Ex.viii-p6.6">4:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=4&scrV=6#Gen.ii-p16.7">4:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=4&scrV=6#Ex.xxvi-p22.5">4:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=4&scrV=8#Ex.xv-p9.2">4:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=4&scrV=17#Gen.xvi-p19.4">4:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=5&scrV=1#Num.v-p12.7">5:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=5&scrV=5#Lev.xxi-p10.1">5:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=5&scrV=9#Deu.xxxiv-p19.2">5:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=5&scrV=9#Gen.v-p8.1">5:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=5&scrV=9#Gen.vii-p17.2">5:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=5&scrV=9#Lev.ii-p5.1">5:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=5&scrV=20#Gen.xiv-p15.3">5:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=5&scrV=21#Num.xx-p10.5">5:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=5&scrV=21#Lev.xvii-p20.11">5:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=6&scrV=14#Deu.xxii-p11.3">6:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=6&scrV=14#Gen.ii-p16.11">6:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=6&scrV=14#Gen.vii-p3.6">6:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=6&scrV=14#Gen.xxix-p4.2">6:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=6&scrV=14#Ex.ix-p21.4">6:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=6&scrV=14#Deu.viii-p7.4">6:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=6&scrV=15#Deu.xiv-p13.3">6:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=6&scrV=17#Gen.xv-p6.7">6:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=6&scrV=17#Lev.xv-p14.3">6:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=7&scrV=1#Ex.xxx-p9.3">7:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=7&scrV=5#Deu.xxxiii-p32.10">7:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=7&scrV=5#Gen.xvi-p7.1">7:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=7&scrV=11#Num.xxvi-p10.3">7:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=7&scrV=11#Deu.xxii-p7.2">7:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=7&scrV=11#Ex.xxxvi-p12.14">7:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=8&scrV=3#Deu.xvii-p7.4">8:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=8&scrV=3#Ex.xxxvii-p4.5">8:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=8&scrV=12#Ex.xxxvi-p12.5">8:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=8&scrV=12#Lev.ii-p7.2">8:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=8&scrV=14#Deu.xvi-p3.8">8:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=9&scrV=2#Ex.xxvi-p11.1">9:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=9&scrV=7#Lev.xxviii-p5.3">9:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=9&scrV=7#Deu.xvi-p5.2">9:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=9&scrV=7#Deu.xxiv-p18.3">9:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=9&scrV=7#Gen.xxix-p24.5">9:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=9&scrV=7#Ex.xxvi-p11.2">9:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=10&scrV=10#Ex.v-p12.4">10:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=10&scrV=16#ii-p9.1">10:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=11&scrV=2#Lev.xxii-p10.2">11:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=11&scrV=2#Gen.xxv-p9.4">11:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=11&scrV=24#Deu.xxvi-p3.7">11:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=12&scrV=1#Num.xxv-p4.6">12:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=12&scrV=7#Gen.xxix-p22.2">12:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=12&scrV=9#Deu.xxxiv-p45.2">12:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=12&scrV=10#Gen.xxxiii-p26.6">12:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Cor&scrCh=13&scrV=14#Num.vii-p14.3">13:14</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Galatians</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=1&scrV=8#Deu.xiv-p3.2">1:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=1&scrV=15#Gen.xiii-p15.1">1:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=1&scrV=15#Gen.xxiii-p12.6">1:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=2&scrV=7#Gen.l-p8.11">2:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=2&scrV=16#Lev.xx-p20.4">2:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=3&scrV=1#Deu.xxxiii-p8.4">3:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=3&scrV=4#Num.vii-p10.7">3:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=3&scrV=6#Gen.xvi-p13.5">3:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=3&scrV=10#Deu.xxviii-p16.3">3:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=3&scrV=10#Gen.v-p31.2">3:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=3&scrV=12#Lev.xix-p3.9">3:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=3&scrV=13#Deu.xxii-p22.2">3:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=3&scrV=13#Gen.v-p31.2">3:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=3&scrV=13#Gen.iv-p55.4">3:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=3&scrV=14#Gen.xxix-p5.2">3:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=3&scrV=14#Gen.xviii-p16.10">3:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=3&scrV=14#Gen.xxiii-p31.8">3:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=3&scrV=16#Gen.xxiii-p31.10">3:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=3&scrV=17#Ex.xiii-p23.7">3:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=3&scrV=19#Lev.v-p3.3">3:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=3&scrV=21#Lev.xix-p3.10">3:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=3&scrV=28#Lev.xxviii-p4.5">3:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=3&scrV=28#Num.xxviii-p5.5">3:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=3&scrV=28#Lev.iv-p4.2">3:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=3&scrV=28#Lev.xiii-p3.3">3:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=4&scrV=1#Gen.xxv-p13.4">4:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=4&scrV=2#Lev.xii-p9.4">4:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=4&scrV=4#Gen.iv-p55.3">4:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=4&scrV=4#Gen.iv-p39.4">4:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=4&scrV=9#Ex.xx-p4.2">4:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=4&scrV=23#Gen.xvii-p31.1">4:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=4&scrV=24#Num.xi-p5.2">4:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=4&scrV=24#Gen.xxii-p22.6">4:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=4&scrV=24#Deu.ii-p4.5">4:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=4&scrV=25#Lev.xxvi-p21.7">4:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=4&scrV=25#Gen.xvii-p31.2">4:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=4&scrV=27#Gen.xxx-p10.9">4:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=4&scrV=27#Gen.xlix-p12.8">4:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=4&scrV=29#Gen.v-p23.3">4:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=4&scrV=29#Gen.xvi-p29.1">4:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=4&scrV=29#Gen.xxii-p14.2">4:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=4&scrV=30#Lev.xx-p21.2">4:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=4&scrV=30#Gen.xxii-p15.2">4:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=4&scrV=31#Deu.xxviii-p9.2">4:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=5&scrV=3#Gen.xviii-p16.5">5:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=5&scrV=14#Lev.xx-p18.4">5:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=5&scrV=17#Gen.xxvi-p14.3">5:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=6&scrV=1#Deu.xxiii-p3.4">6:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=6&scrV=1#Ex.xxxiii-p25.3">6:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=6&scrV=1#Lev.v-p4.5">6:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=6&scrV=6#Lev.xxviii-p15.5">6:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=6&scrV=6#Num.xxxvi-p6.2">6:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=6&scrV=7#Ex.xxi-p11.6">6:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=6&scrV=16#Deu.xxvii-p13.2">6:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=6&scrV=16#Deu.xxxiv-p43.3">6:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gal&scrCh=6&scrV=17#Gen.xxxiii-p26.17">6:17</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Ephesians</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=1&scrV=4#Deu.xv-p4.2">1:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=1&scrV=4#Deu.xxvii-p15.7">1:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=1&scrV=9#Deu.x-p7.4">1:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=1&scrV=10#Gen.xxix-p6.2">1:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=1&scrV=10#Gen.xxix-p15.5">1:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=1&scrV=11#Num.xxxv-p8.3">1:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=1&scrV=11#Deu.x-p7.4">1:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=1&scrV=11#Gen.x-p3.2">1:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=1&scrV=14#Gen.xviii-p15.6">1:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=2&scrV=6#Ex.xxix-p10.3">2:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=2&scrV=6#Lev.xvii-p4.5">2:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=2&scrV=14#Gen.x-p30.2">2:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=2&scrV=20#ii-p5.6">2:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=2&scrV=21#Ex.xxvii-p4.5">2:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=2&scrV=21#Ex.xxxvii-p3.6">2:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=3&scrV=9#Gen.ii-p8.2">3:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=3&scrV=11#Gen.x-p3.2">3:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=3&scrV=12#Ex.xxi-p28.3">3:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=3&scrV=15#Gen.xviii-p12.4">3:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=3&scrV=17#Ex.xli-p8.4">3:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=3&scrV=20#Gen.xxii-p10.4">3:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=4&scrV=8#Num.ix-p11.4">4:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=4&scrV=11#Num.ix-p11.4">4:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=4&scrV=12#Num.ix-p11.4">4:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=4&scrV=12#Ex.xxxvii-p3.6">4:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=4&scrV=16#Ex.xxvii-p4.5">4:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=4&scrV=17#Deu.xix-p11.3">4:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=4&scrV=20#Deu.xix-p11.3">4:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=4&scrV=24#Gen.ii-p37.1">4:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=5&scrV=2#Gen.ix-p22.1">5:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=5&scrV=2#Lev.ii-p5.10">5:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=5&scrV=6#Ex.vi-p5.3">5:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=5&scrV=11#Lev.xx-p17.7">5:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=5&scrV=24#Gen.xxv-p31.3">5:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=5&scrV=25#Gen.iii-p38.6">5:25-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=5&scrV=27#Ex.xxix-p7.10">5:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=5&scrV=28#Gen.iii-p40.6">5:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=5&scrV=33#Gen.xix-p10.4">5:33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=6&scrV=1#Ex.xxi-p18.4">6:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=6&scrV=3#Ex.xxi-p18.7">6:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=6&scrV=3#Deu.vi-p5.7">6:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=6&scrV=4#Gen.v-p7.4">6:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=6&scrV=9#Ex.xxii-p13.3">6:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=6&scrV=11#Gen.iv-p8.3">6:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=6&scrV=13#Ex.xxix-p15.7">6:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=6&scrV=14#Ex.xxix-p7.8">6:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=6&scrV=16#Num.xxii-p10.2">6:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Eph&scrCh=6&scrV=16#Deu.xxxiv-p50.2">6:16-17</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Philippians</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Phil&scrCh=1&scrV=12#Gen.xl-p20.7">1:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Phil&scrCh=1&scrV=13#Ex.xii-p4.4">1:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Phil&scrCh=1&scrV=16#Num.xii-p32.6">1:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Phil&scrCh=1&scrV=21#Gen.vi-p16.5">1:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Phil&scrCh=2&scrV=4#Gen.v-p28.1">2:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Phil&scrCh=2&scrV=4#Deu.iv-p7.5">2:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Phil&scrCh=2&scrV=4#Ex.xxiv-p6.4">2:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Phil&scrCh=2&scrV=14#Ex.vii-p13.2">2:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Phil&scrCh=2&scrV=15#Ex.xxvi-p22.3">2:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Phil&scrCh=2&scrV=17#Num.xxix-p4.5">2:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Phil&scrCh=2&scrV=20#Num.v-p14.1">2:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Phil&scrCh=2&scrV=21#Num.xxxiii-p4.4">2:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Phil&scrCh=3&scrV=1#Lev.xxi-p3.2">3:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Phil&scrCh=3&scrV=1#Deu.i-p2.5">3:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Phil&scrCh=3&scrV=1#Deu.vi-p5.1">3:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Phil&scrCh=3&scrV=1#Ex.xxxviii-p3.1">3:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Phil&scrCh=3&scrV=3#Lev.xxiv-p21.4">3:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Phil&scrCh=3&scrV=5#Gen.xi-p14.2">3:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Phil&scrCh=3&scrV=5#Gen.l-p23.4">3:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Phil&scrCh=3&scrV=9#Num.xxxvi-p12.2">3:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Phil&scrCh=3&scrV=13#Gen.xx-p25.2">3:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Phil&scrCh=3&scrV=19#Gen.v-p50.2">3:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Phil&scrCh=3&scrV=21#Gen.iii-p9.13">3:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Phil&scrCh=4&scrV=3#Num.ii-p7.4">4:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Phil&scrCh=4&scrV=3#Ex.xxxvi-p13.4">4:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Phil&scrCh=4&scrV=6#Gen.xviii-p21.2">4:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Phil&scrCh=4&scrV=18#Gen.xxxiv-p14.5">4:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Phil&scrCh=4&scrV=18#Lev.iii-p5.9">4:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Phil&scrCh=4&scrV=19#Gen.iii-p34.2">4:19</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Colossians</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Col&scrCh=1&scrV=12#Deu.xxxiii-p15.1">1:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Col&scrCh=1&scrV=12#Gen.xvi-p19.4">1:12-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Col&scrCh=1&scrV=16#Gen.ii-p8.2">1:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Col&scrCh=1&scrV=20#Gen.xxix-p15.4">1:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Col&scrCh=2&scrV=3#Gen.iv-p18.3">2:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Col&scrCh=2&scrV=5#Num.iii-p5.11">2:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Col&scrCh=2&scrV=11#Ex.xiii-p26.3">2:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Col&scrCh=2&scrV=11#Deu.xxxi-p6.19">2:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Col&scrCh=2&scrV=14#Deu.xxxv-p7.3">2:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Col&scrCh=2&scrV=15#Num.xxii-p11.6">2:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Col&scrCh=2&scrV=15#Gen.iv-p39.9">2:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Col&scrCh=2&scrV=18#Deu.xxx-p24.3">2:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Col&scrCh=2&scrV=19#Gen.xxii-p11.3">2:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Col&scrCh=2&scrV=21#Lev.xii-p11.3">2:21-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Col&scrCh=3&scrV=5#Lev.iv-p5.5">3:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Col&scrCh=3&scrV=9#Lev.xx-p11.3">3:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Col&scrCh=3&scrV=10#Gen.ii-p37.1">3:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Col&scrCh=3&scrV=11#Lev.xx-p21.3">3:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Col&scrCh=3&scrV=11#Deu.xxx-p12.6">3:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Col&scrCh=3&scrV=11#Gen.l-p13.2">3:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Col&scrCh=3&scrV=11#Lev.xiii-p3.3">3:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Col&scrCh=3&scrV=16#Deu.xxxiii-p3.9">3:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Col&scrCh=3&scrV=24#Gen.xxv-p8.2">3:24-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Col&scrCh=3&scrV=25#Gen.xxi-p11.3">3:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Col&scrCh=3&scrV=25#Ex.xxii-p16.5">3:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Col&scrCh=4&scrV=1#Lev.xxvi-p20.8">4:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Col&scrCh=4&scrV=6#Lev.iii-p8.5">4:6</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">1 Thessalonians</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Thess&scrCh=1&scrV=9#Ex.xxxiii-p12.9">1:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Thess&scrCh=2&scrV=12#Gen.xvi-p19.2">2:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Thess&scrCh=2&scrV=13#Ex.iv-p10.2">2:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Thess&scrCh=2&scrV=16#Gen.xxii-p15.3">2:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Thess&scrCh=4&scrV=6#Lev.xxvi-p11.3">4:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Thess&scrCh=4&scrV=6#Deu.xxvi-p9.7">4:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Thess&scrCh=4&scrV=6#Lev.vii-p5.5">4:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Thess&scrCh=4&scrV=13#Lev.xxii-p4.6">4:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Thess&scrCh=4&scrV=13#Deu.xv-p6.3">4:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Thess&scrCh=5&scrV=13#Lev.xxii-p5.6">5:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Thess&scrCh=5&scrV=22#Num.vii-p6.7">5:22</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">2 Thessalonians</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Thess&scrCh=1&scrV=9#Lev.xxiii-p4.4">1:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Thess&scrCh=1&scrV=9#Gen.v-p40.2">1:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Thess&scrCh=2&scrV=9#Deu.xiv-p3.3">2:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Thess&scrCh=2&scrV=13#Gen.xvi-p19.1">2:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Thess&scrCh=3&scrV=2#Ex.vi-p13.3">3:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Thess&scrCh=3&scrV=10#Num.xix-p13.7">3:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Thess&scrCh=3&scrV=10#Gen.iii-p21.1">3:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Thess&scrCh=3&scrV=15#Num.xiii-p16.2">3:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Thess&scrCh=3&scrV=15#Deu.xxvi-p3.8">3:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Thess&scrCh=3&scrV=15#Lev.xv-p4.4">3:15</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">1 Timothy</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=1&scrV=4#Gen.vi-p1.1">1:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=1&scrV=4#Ex.vii-p15.1">1:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=1&scrV=10#Ex.xxii-p11.2">1:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=1&scrV=12#Lev.ix-p9.5">1:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=1&scrV=13#Num.xvi-p8.14">1:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=1&scrV=18#Num.v-p7.2">1:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=2&scrV=5#Deu.xiii-p7.1">2:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=2&scrV=8#Lev.xviii-p7.2">2:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=2&scrV=9#Ex.xxxvi-p12.7">2:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=2&scrV=11#Deu.xxiii-p6.3">2:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=2&scrV=11#Gen.iv-p43.1">2:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=2&scrV=13#Gen.iii-p38.2">2:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=2&scrV=14#Gen.iv-p18.1">2:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=2&scrV=15#Gen.iv-p39.3">2:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=2&scrV=15#Lev.xiii-p5.3">2:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=3&scrV=1#Num.v-p7.1">3:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=3&scrV=3#Lev.xi-p17.4">3:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=3&scrV=5#Ex.xix-p5.6">3:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=3&scrV=6#Num.v-p5.4">3:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=3&scrV=10#Num.v-p5.5">3:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=3&scrV=11#Lev.xxii-p5.2">3:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=3&scrV=13#Num.ix-p12.4">3:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=3&scrV=15#Ex.iii-p4.8">3:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=4&scrV=1#Lev.xxv-p5.11">4:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=4&scrV=3#Lev.xii-p11.7">4:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=4&scrV=4#Deu.xv-p9.2">4:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=4&scrV=4#Gen.x-p8.3">4:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=4&scrV=5#Lev.xx-p22.3">4:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=4&scrV=5#Lev.xxv-p5.11">4:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=4&scrV=8#Gen.xiv-p4.5">4:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=4&scrV=8#Lev.xix-p3.7">4:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=4&scrV=12#Lev.xxii-p3.2">4:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=4&scrV=16#Lev.x-p3.9">4:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=5&scrV=4#Gen.xlvi-p8.8">5:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=5&scrV=8#Gen.xxxi-p18.2">5:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=5&scrV=17#Deu.xxvi-p4.4">5:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=5&scrV=22#Lev.xiv-p4.8">5:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=5&scrV=23#Num.vii-p6.4">5:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=5&scrV=24#Lev.xiv-p4.8">5:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=5&scrV=25#Lev.xiv-p4.8">5:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=6&scrV=1#Num.xv-p23.8">6:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=6&scrV=8#Gen.xxix-p24.4">6:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=6&scrV=9#Gen.xiv-p9.5">6:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=6&scrV=13#Ex.vii-p13.3">6:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=6&scrV=16#Gen.ii-p16.5">6:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Tim&scrCh=6&scrV=16#Ex.xxv-p13.3">6:16</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">2 Timothy</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Tim&scrCh=1&scrV=5#Num.iv-p8.4">1:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Tim&scrCh=1&scrV=13#Deu.xi-p4.7">1:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Tim&scrCh=2&scrV=3#Num.v-p7.3">2:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Tim&scrCh=2&scrV=3#Lev.ix-p13.2">2:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Tim&scrCh=2&scrV=12#Num.xi-p8.11">2:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Tim&scrCh=2&scrV=19#Num.ii-p7.3">2:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Tim&scrCh=2&scrV=19#Gen.x-p18.2">2:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Tim&scrCh=2&scrV=25#Ex.xxxiii-p36.2">2:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Tim&scrCh=3&scrV=8#Ex.viii-p6.4">3:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Tim&scrCh=3&scrV=9#Ex.x-p11.3">3:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Tim&scrCh=3&scrV=16#ii-p4.1">3:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Tim&scrCh=3&scrV=17#ii-p7.3">3:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Tim&scrCh=4&scrV=1#Ex.vii-p13.3">4:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Tim&scrCh=4&scrV=18#Gen.xlix-p10.5">4:18</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Titus</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Titus&scrCh=1&scrV=5#Num.viii-p6.2">1:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Titus&scrCh=1&scrV=15#Num.vi-p13.3">1:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Titus&scrCh=1&scrV=15#Deu.xxix-p14.9">1:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Titus&scrCh=1&scrV=15#Lev.xiv-p15.3">1:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Titus&scrCh=2&scrV=3#Lev.xxviii-p4.9">2:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Titus&scrCh=2&scrV=4#Ex.xx-p4.13">2:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Titus&scrCh=2&scrV=5#Gen.xxxv-p3.3">2:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Titus&scrCh=2&scrV=5#Gen.xix-p8.3">2:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Titus&scrCh=2&scrV=5#Gen.xxxix-p6.3">2:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Titus&scrCh=2&scrV=10#Gen.xxv-p8.1">2:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Titus&scrCh=2&scrV=14#Lev.xx-p4.4">2:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Titus&scrCh=2&scrV=14#Deu.xxvii-p15.8">2:14</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Philemon</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Phlm&scrCh=1&scrV=8#Gen.xiv-p15.2">1:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Phlm&scrCh=1&scrV=16#Ex.xxii-p5.3">1:16</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Hebrews</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=1&scrV=1#ii-p5.5">1:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=1&scrV=1#Num.xiii-p8.3">1:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=1&scrV=2#Deu.xix-p16.4">1:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=1&scrV=2#Gen.ii-p8.2">1:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=1&scrV=2#Ex.xxix-p11.8">1:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=1&scrV=2#Lev.ii-p3.2">1:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=1&scrV=14#Gen.xxxiii-p3.3">1:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=1&scrV=14#Gen.xxv-p6.2">1:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=2&scrV=2#Deu.xxxiv-p5.5">2:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=2&scrV=5#Gen.xvii-p16.1">2:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=2&scrV=10#Ex.xxx-p17.2">2:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=2&scrV=11#Gen.iv-p39.5">2:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=2&scrV=14#Deu.xviii-p12.3">2:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=2&scrV=14#Gen.iv-p39.5">2:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=2&scrV=14#Gen.iv-p39.8">2:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=2&scrV=17#Lev.xvii-p20.1">2:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=3&scrV=1#Num.xiii-p8.7">3:1-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=3&scrV=2#Num.xiii-p8.5">3:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=3&scrV=5#Num.xiii-p8.5">3:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=3&scrV=5#Ex.xxxviii-p3.2">3:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=3&scrV=5#Ex.xxxvi-p5.1">3:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=3&scrV=6#Num.xiii-p8.5">3:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=3&scrV=7#Num.xiv-p1.2">3:7-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=3&scrV=8#Num.xv-p18.4">3:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=3&scrV=12#Num.xv-p18.6">3:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=3&scrV=13#Gen.iv-p32.1">3:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=3&scrV=13#Lev.viii-p9.11">3:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=4&scrV=1#Num.i-p3.15">4:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=4&scrV=1#Gen.xx-p24.3">4:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=4&scrV=2#Lev.xxviii-p16.2">4:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=4&scrV=2#ii-p5.2">4:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=4&scrV=2#Ex.xiii-p7.2">4:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=4&scrV=8#Gen.xviii-p16.4">4:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=4&scrV=9#Gen.xviii-p15.4">4:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=4&scrV=9#Ex.xxxvi-p6.2">4:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=4&scrV=11#Lev.xix-p14.13">4:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=4&scrV=12#Deu.xxxii-p19.4">4:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=4&scrV=14#Ex.xxix-p13.8">4:14-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=4&scrV=16#Ex.xxvi-p18.8">4:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=4&scrV=16#Lev.xvii-p4.4">4:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=5&scrV=2#Lev.x-p3.8">5:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=5&scrV=4#Num.xvii-p4.2">5:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=5&scrV=4#Ex.xxix-p4.4">5:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=5&scrV=4#Ex.xxx-p5.1">5:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=5&scrV=9#Gen.vii-p29.7">5:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=5&scrV=13#Gen.xxii-p11.4">5:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=6&scrV=2#Lev.ii-p5.3">6:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=6&scrV=7#Deu.xxxiii-p3.12">6:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=6&scrV=8#Gen.iv-p54.2">6:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=6&scrV=10#Num.viii-p17.1">6:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=6&scrV=10#Gen.xxx-p8.3">6:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=6&scrV=10#Gen.xxxii-p9.6">6:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=6&scrV=10#Ex.ii-p6.3">6:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=6&scrV=10#Ex.xxxviii-p3.3">6:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=6&scrV=13#Gen.xxiii-p31.3">6:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=6&scrV=16#Ex.xxiii-p9.2">6:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=6&scrV=17#Gen.x-p18.1">6:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=6&scrV=17#Gen.xxiii-p31.4">6:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=6&scrV=17#Gen.xlii-p8.2">6:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=6&scrV=18#Num.xxiv-p19.3">6:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=6&scrV=18#Num.xxxvi-p12.1">6:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=6&scrV=18#Gen.xviii-p24.2">6:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=7&scrV=1#Gen.xv-p18.1">7:1-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=7&scrV=3#Gen.xv-p18.3">7:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=7&scrV=3#Gen.xv-p18.4">7:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=7&scrV=4#Gen.xv-p21.1">7:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=7&scrV=8#Gen.xv-p18.4">7:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=7&scrV=11#Lev.i-p2.5">7:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=7&scrV=13#Gen.xv-p18.5">7:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=7&scrV=14#Num.ii-p10.4">7:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=7&scrV=14#Gen.xlv-p13.3">7:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=7&scrV=14#Gen.xxxix-p1.1">7:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=7&scrV=19#Deu.xxxv-p12.2">7:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=7&scrV=23#Num.xxi-p20.2">7:23-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=7&scrV=26#Lev.xvii-p20.6">7:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=7&scrV=27#Ex.xxx-p13.2">7:27-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=7&scrV=28#Ex.xxx-p5.4">7:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=8&scrV=2#Ex.xxvi-p7.2">8:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=8&scrV=2#Lev.xviii-p7.4">8:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=8&scrV=10#Ex.xxvi-p16.7">8:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=8&scrV=10#Ex.xxxv-p4.3">8:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=8&scrV=12#Deu.xviii-p16.2">8:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=8&scrV=12#Lev.xvii-p20.13">8:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=8&scrV=13#Num.xi-p6.3">8:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=8&scrV=13#Num.xviii-p8.3">8:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=9&scrV=1#Ex.xxvi-p6.2">9:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=9&scrV=2#Ex.xxvi-p20.1">9:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=9&scrV=4#Num.xviii-p10.4">9:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=9&scrV=4#Ex.xvii-p16.1">9:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=9&scrV=5#Ex.xxvi-p18.3">9:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=9&scrV=6#Ex.xxvii-p10.6">9:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=9&scrV=7#Lev.xvii-p1.1">9:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=9&scrV=7#Lev.xvii-p21.1">9:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=9&scrV=8#Ex.xxvii-p10.3">9:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=9&scrV=9#Lev.xii-p1.1">9:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=9&scrV=10#Lev.xxviii-p16.5">9:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=9&scrV=10#Ex.xxvi-p6.1">9:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=9&scrV=11#Ex.xxvi-p7.3">9:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=9&scrV=11#Ex.xxxii-p5.7">9:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=9&scrV=12#Ex.xxv-p11.4">9:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=9&scrV=12#Ex.xxx-p17.1">9:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=9&scrV=12#Lev.xvii-p21.3">9:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=9&scrV=12#Lev.xvii-p21.6">9:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=9&scrV=13#Num.xx-p1.5">9:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=9&scrV=14#Lev.viii-p10.5">9:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=9&scrV=19#Ex.xxv-p11.5">9:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=9&scrV=22#Gen.xviii-p16.6">9:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=9&scrV=22#Lev.xviii-p9.10">9:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=9&scrV=23#Gen.iii-p13.2">9:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=9&scrV=23#Ex.xxvi-p20.1">9:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=9&scrV=24#Ex.xxvi-p7.1">9:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=9&scrV=24#Ex.xli-p11.3">9:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=9&scrV=26#Ex.xiii-p8.8">9:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=10&scrV=1#Num.v-p8.8">10:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=10&scrV=1#Gen.ii-p13.3">10:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=10&scrV=1#Ex.xxx-p16.4">10:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=10&scrV=1#Lev.ix-p13.5">10:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=10&scrV=1#Lev.xvii-p17.2">10:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=10&scrV=7#Gen.iv-p39.1">10:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=10&scrV=14#Lev.v-p7.4">10:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=10&scrV=19#Ex.xx-p10.3">10:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=10&scrV=19#Lev.xvii-p4.3">10:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=10&scrV=19#Lev.xvii-p21.8">10:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=10&scrV=20#Lev.xvii-p21.2">10:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=10&scrV=22#Num.xx-p16.4">10:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=10&scrV=22#Ex.xx-p9.6">10:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=10&scrV=22#Lev.ii-p5.6">10:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=10&scrV=22#Lev.ix-p7.3">10:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=10&scrV=25#Deu.xv-p14.4">10:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=10&scrV=25#Lev.xviii-p7.6">10:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=10&scrV=26#Deu.xx-p8.2">10:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=10&scrV=26#Lev.v-p4.4">10:26-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=10&scrV=27#Deu.v-p15.3">10:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=10&scrV=27#Num.xvii-p31.2">10:27-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=10&scrV=28#Lev.vi-p10.4">10:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=10&scrV=28#Deu.xviii-p9.8">10:28-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=10&scrV=29#Ex.xiii-p9.6">10:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=10&scrV=29#Lev.iv-p7.10">10:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=10&scrV=29#Lev.xviii-p9.11">10:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=10&scrV=30#Deu.xxxiii-p39.7">10:30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=10&scrV=38#Lev.xxvii-p4.24">10:38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=10&scrV=38#Lev.xxvii-p11.11">10:38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=2#Gen.xiii-p10.2">11:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=3#Gen.ii-p1.4">11:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=4#Gen.v-p10.1">11:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=4#Gen.xvi-p13.4">11:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=5#Gen.vi-p19.2">11:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=7#Gen.vii-p17.5">11:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=7#Gen.vii-p31.6">11:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=7#Ex.x-p15.5">11:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=8#Num.xi-p8.8">11:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=8#Gen.xiii-p15.2">11:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=8#Gen.xiii-p24.7">11:8-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=11#Gen.xix-p8.1">11:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=11#Gen.xix-p10.5">11:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=11#Gen.xxii-p4.3">11:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=13#Deu.xxxv-p4.4">11:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=13#Gen.xlviii-p11.2">11:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=13#Gen.xxix-p7.2">11:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=13#Gen.xxiv-p5.3">11:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=13#Gen.l-p14.3">11:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=14#Gen.xlviii-p21.4">11:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=14#Gen.xiv-p24.5">11:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=14#Gen.xliii-p4.2">11:14-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=15#Gen.xxv-p4.6">11:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=15#Gen.xiii-p30.1">11:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=16#Deu.xxviii-p3.5">11:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=16#Deu.xxxv-p4.7">11:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=16#Gen.x-p29.4">11:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=16#Gen.xiii-p26.2">11:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=16#Gen.xviii-p15.5">11:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=16#Ex.iv-p10.5">11:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=17#Gen.xxiii-p11.1">11:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=20#Gen.xxviii-p17.6">11:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=21#Gen.xlviii-p21.6">11:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=21#Gen.xlix-p5.3">11:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=21#Gen.xlix-p7.1">11:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=22#Gen.li-p13.5">11:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=23#Ex.iii-p4.10">11:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=24#Gen.xlix-p5.6">11:24-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=24#Ex.iii-p13.2">11:24-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=27#Ex.iii-p20.2">11:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=28#Ex.xiii-p1.2">11:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=11&scrV=29#Ex.xv-p1.1">11:29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=12&scrV=1#Gen.xxx-p3.2">12:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=12&scrV=2#Num.xxii-p12.1">12:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=12&scrV=9#Num.xiii-p15.4">12:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=12&scrV=9#Num.xvii-p21.4">12:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=12&scrV=9#Ex.xxi-p18.2">12:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=12&scrV=15#Num.vi-p5.2">12:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=12&scrV=15#Deu.xxx-p18.3">12:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=12&scrV=16#Gen.xxvi-p25.1">12:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=12&scrV=16#Gen.xxvii-p28.1">12:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=12&scrV=16#Gen.xxviii-p1.1">12:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=12&scrV=17#Num.xv-p40.4">12:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=12&scrV=17#Gen.xxviii-p17.1">12:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=12&scrV=18#Lev.xxviii-p16.3">12:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=12&scrV=18#Gen.xvi-p25.4">12:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=12&scrV=18#Ex.xxi-p25.1">12:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=12&scrV=18#Deu.ii-p4.4">12:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=12&scrV=19#Ex.xxi-p26.3">12:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=12&scrV=21#Ex.xx-p19.2">12:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=12&scrV=23#Gen.xvi-p34.4">12:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=12&scrV=23#Ex.xiv-p4.3">12:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=12&scrV=24#Num.xx-p16.3">12:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=12&scrV=24#Gen.v-p29.8">12:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=12&scrV=25#Deu.xix-p18.5">12:25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=12&scrV=28#Ex.xx-p10.2">12:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=12&scrV=28#Lev.x-p12.4">12:28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=12&scrV=28#Deu.v-p15.5">12:28-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=13&scrV=2#Gen.xix-p4.4">13:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=13&scrV=5#Deu.xxxii-p4.3">13:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=13&scrV=5#Gen.xxix-p18.3">13:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=13&scrV=10#Ex.xxviii-p4.2">13:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=13&scrV=10#Lev.xviii-p7.4">13:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=13&scrV=10#Lev.vii-p18.9">13:10-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=13&scrV=11#Lev.v-p5.13">13:11-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=13&scrV=12#Num.xx-p6.1">13:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=13&scrV=13#Lev.xxiv-p21.3">13:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=13&scrV=13#Ex.xiii-p10.5">13:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=13&scrV=14#Gen.xxxi-p15.2">13:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=13&scrV=16#Lev.iii-p5.10">13:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Heb&scrCh=13&scrV=18#Gen.xxxii-p24.1">13:18</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">James</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jas&scrCh=1&scrV=7#Gen.xxxi-p16.2">1:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jas&scrCh=1&scrV=7#Ex.xviii-p4.3">1:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jas&scrCh=1&scrV=14#Gen.iv-p32.2">1:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jas&scrCh=1&scrV=15#Gen.vii-p12.2">1:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jas&scrCh=1&scrV=17#Gen.ii-p16.4">1:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jas&scrCh=1&scrV=17#Ex.xxxvi-p15.2">1:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jas&scrCh=1&scrV=19#Gen.xxvi-p9.4">1:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jas&scrCh=1&scrV=20#Num.xii-p32.3">1:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jas&scrCh=1&scrV=20#Num.xxi-p11.7">1:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jas&scrCh=1&scrV=21#Ex.xxxv-p4.6">1:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jas&scrCh=1&scrV=23#Ex.xxxix-p8.1">1:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jas&scrCh=1&scrV=26#Ex.xxi-p11.3">1:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jas&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Num.viii-p15.1">2:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jas&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Lev.xv-p10.2">2:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jas&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Lev.xx-p15.3">2:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jas&scrCh=2&scrV=10#Deu.xxxi-p5.14">2:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jas&scrCh=2&scrV=10#Deu.vi-p5.9">2:10-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jas&scrCh=2&scrV=15#Deu.xvi-p4.6">2:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jas&scrCh=2&scrV=21#Gen.xix-p5.3">2:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jas&scrCh=2&scrV=26#Gen.xix-p5.3">2:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jas&scrCh=3&scrV=2#Ex.xxxi-p8.6">3:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jas&scrCh=3&scrV=9#Gen.ii-p37.3">3:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jas&scrCh=3&scrV=9#Gen.x-p13.6">3:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jas&scrCh=4&scrV=8#Ex.xxxi-p8.7">4:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jas&scrCh=4&scrV=11#Lev.vii-p4.2">4:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jas&scrCh=5&scrV=2#Ex.xvii-p12.7">5:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jas&scrCh=5&scrV=4#Lev.xx-p13.2">5:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jas&scrCh=5&scrV=4#Deu.xxv-p10.6">5:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jas&scrCh=5&scrV=14#Lev.xv-p4.3">5:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jas&scrCh=5&scrV=17#Ex.x-p19.8">5:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jas&scrCh=5&scrV=19#Deu.xxiii-p3.3">5:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jas&scrCh=5&scrV=19#Ex.xxiv-p6.3">5:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jas&scrCh=9&scrV=7#Gen.x-p7.4">9:7</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">1 Peter</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=1&scrV=2#Num.xx-p16.1">1:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=1&scrV=2#Deu.xxvii-p15.6">1:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=1&scrV=2#Lev.ii-p5.6">1:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=1&scrV=3#Gen.xvi-p19.3">1:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=1&scrV=5#Gen.viii-p24.3">1:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=1&scrV=6#Gen.xiii-p29.3">1:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=1&scrV=7#Gen.xxiii-p5.1">1:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=1&scrV=11#Deu.xix-p15.3">1:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=1&scrV=12#Ex.xxvi-p18.5">1:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=1&scrV=15#Lev.xx-p4.2">1:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=1&scrV=16#Lev.xii-p10.6">1:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=1&scrV=19#Lev.xxiii-p14.10">1:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=1&scrV=19#Deu.xviii-p3.2">1:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=1&scrV=19#Ex.xiii-p8.5">1:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=1&scrV=23#Gen.xix-p9.4">1:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=1&scrV=23#Gen.l-p22.2">1:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Lev.viii-p10.4">2:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=2&scrV=2#Gen.l-p22.2">2:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=2&scrV=5#Deu.xiii-p10.5">2:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=2&scrV=5#Ex.xxix-p13.6">2:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=2&scrV=5#Ex.xxx-p17.4">2:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=2&scrV=5#Ex.xxxvii-p3.4">2:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=2&scrV=5#Lev.ii-p5.11">2:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=2&scrV=5#Lev.xviii-p7.5">2:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=2&scrV=9#Ex.xx-p4.17">2:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=2&scrV=12#Ex.xxiii-p17.3">2:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=2&scrV=13#Ex.xix-p17.4">2:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=2&scrV=20#Gen.xvii-p14.4">2:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=2&scrV=24#Lev.xvii-p20.10">2:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=3&scrV=3#Gen.iv-p59.2">3:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=3&scrV=3#Ex.xxxvi-p12.7">3:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=3&scrV=4#Ex.xxvii-p6.6">3:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=3&scrV=4#Lev.xiv-p15.6">3:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=3&scrV=5#Gen.xxii-p10.2">3:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=3&scrV=6#Gen.xix-p10.3">3:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=3&scrV=7#Gen.xxvi-p12.5">3:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=3&scrV=7#Ex.xxii-p7.2">3:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=3&scrV=7#Ex.xix-p5.4">3:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=3&scrV=8#Ex.xxxv-p10.2">3:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=3&scrV=18#Gen.vii-p29.3">3:18-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=3&scrV=19#Gen.vii-p6.1">3:19-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=3&scrV=20#Gen.viii-p24.1">3:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=4&scrV=3#Deu.xxx-p19.2">4:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=4&scrV=7#Lev.xi-p17.6">4:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=4&scrV=8#Gen.x-p23.2">4:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=4&scrV=10#Ex.xxxvi-p9.2">4:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=4&scrV=17#Num.xxxii-p3.4">4:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=4&scrV=17#Deu.xxx-p23.4">4:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1Pet&scrCh=4&scrV=17#Deu.xxxiii-p38.3">4:17-18</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">2 Peter</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Pet&scrCh=1&scrV=4#Gen.xxii-p4.4">1:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Pet&scrCh=1&scrV=14#Num.v-p12.8">1:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Pet&scrCh=1&scrV=19#Num.ix-p3.7">1:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Pet&scrCh=1&scrV=19#Gen.i-p2.3">1:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Pet&scrCh=1&scrV=19#Ex.xxvi-p22.1">1:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Pet&scrCh=1&scrV=21#ii-p4.2">1:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Pet&scrCh=2&scrV=4#Gen.iv-p66.4">2:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Pet&scrCh=2&scrV=5#Gen.viii-p34.1">2:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Pet&scrCh=2&scrV=5#Num.xv-p38.1">2:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Pet&scrCh=2&scrV=6#Gen.xx-p21.14">2:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Pet&scrCh=2&scrV=6#Gen.xx-p1.1">2:6-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Pet&scrCh=2&scrV=7#Gen.xiv-p19.4">2:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Pet&scrCh=2&scrV=10#Num.xiii-p9.2">2:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Pet&scrCh=2&scrV=14#Gen.xxxix-p7.2">2:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Pet&scrCh=2&scrV=15#Num.xxiii-p6.10">2:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Pet&scrCh=2&scrV=16#Num.xxiii-p6.3">2:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Pet&scrCh=2&scrV=16#Num.xxiii-p19.9">2:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Pet&scrCh=2&scrV=20#Gen.xxv-p4.5">2:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Pet&scrCh=2&scrV=21#Deu.xiv-p13.2">2:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Pet&scrCh=3&scrV=1#Num.xvi-p13.3">3:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Pet&scrCh=3&scrV=4#Ex.xxxiii-p8.1">3:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Pet&scrCh=3&scrV=6#Gen.viii-p1.1">3:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Pet&scrCh=3&scrV=6#Gen.viii-p17.5">3:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Pet&scrCh=3&scrV=7#Gen.iv-p48.3">3:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=2Pet&scrCh=3&scrV=10#Gen.iv-p48.3">3:10</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">1 John</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=1&scrV=1#Num.v-p10.4">1:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=1&scrV=1#Gen.v-p7.1">1:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=1&scrV=3#Num.xi-p8.5">1:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=1&scrV=3#Gen.xxii-p27.4">1:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=1&scrV=3#Gen.xxvii-p24.2">1:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=1&scrV=5#Gen.ii-p16.3">1:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=1&scrV=7#Num.xx-p9.2">1:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Num.xviii-p10.3">2:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Ex.xxxi-p4.1">2:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Num.vii-p10.4">2:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Lev.v-p12.1">2:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=2&scrV=2#Num.xx-p9.4">2:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=2&scrV=16#Num.xxxiii-p4.3">2:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=2&scrV=17#Num.xii-p21.2">2:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=2&scrV=21#Gen.iv-p12.3">2:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=2&scrV=27#Gen.iv-p12.3">2:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=2&scrV=27#Ex.xxx-p17.6">2:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=2&scrV=27#Lev.ix-p7.10">2:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=3&scrV=2#Gen.xiii-p6.2">3:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=3&scrV=2#Ex.xxxiv-p19.4">3:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=3&scrV=7#Deu.vii-p15.3">3:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=3&scrV=9#Gen.xl-p15.3">3:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=3&scrV=12#Gen.v-p23.6">3:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=3&scrV=13#Gen.iv-p38.3">3:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=3&scrV=15#Num.xxxvi-p10.10">3:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=3&scrV=15#Deu.xx-p6.4">3:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=3&scrV=15#Gen.xxxviii-p10.2">3:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=3&scrV=16#Lev.xx-p18.8">3:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=3&scrV=21#Gen.xxi-p7.2">3:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=3&scrV=23#Deu.xxxi-p12.3">3:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=4&scrV=10#Deu.viii-p17.2">4:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=4&scrV=13#Lev.x-p12.3">4:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=4&scrV=20#Ex.ii-p6.6">4:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=5&scrV=3#Deu.xii-p3.1">5:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=5&scrV=4#Gen.xv-p25.1">5:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=5&scrV=6#Lev.xv-p5.2">5:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=5&scrV=7#Deu.xx-p12.4">5:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=5&scrV=10#Num.xv-p18.5">5:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=5&scrV=18#Gen.iv-p37.1">5:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=1John&scrCh=5&scrV=20#Gen.ii-p16.8">5:20</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">3 John</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=3John&scrCh=1&scrV=4#Num.iv-p4.3">1:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=3John&scrCh=1&scrV=6#Gen.xix-p15.1">1:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=3John&scrCh=1&scrV=6#Gen.xxxiv-p11.3">1:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=3John&scrCh=1&scrV=6#Lev.xii-p9.2">1:6</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Jude</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jude&scrCh=1&scrV=3#Gen.xiii-p13.3">1:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jude&scrCh=1&scrV=6#Gen.iv-p14.1">1:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jude&scrCh=1&scrV=7#Gen.xx-p7.3">1:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jude&scrCh=1&scrV=7#Gen.xx-p21.7">1:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jude&scrCh=1&scrV=7#Gen.xx-p21.13">1:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jude&scrCh=1&scrV=8#Ex.xxiii-p21.2">1:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jude&scrCh=1&scrV=9#Deu.xxxv-p7.4">1:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jude&scrCh=1&scrV=11#Num.xvii-p3.1">1:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jude&scrCh=1&scrV=11#Num.xvii-p18.2">1:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jude&scrCh=1&scrV=11#Num.xxiii-p14.2">1:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jude&scrCh=1&scrV=11#Gen.v-p23.2">1:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jude&scrCh=1&scrV=14#Deu.xxxiv-p5.3">1:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jude&scrCh=1&scrV=14#Gen.vi-p16.4">1:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jude&scrCh=1&scrV=15#Gen.vi-p21.2">1:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jude&scrCh=1&scrV=23#Gen.xx-p16.2">1:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Jude&scrCh=1&scrV=23#Lev.xiv-p15.4">1:23</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Revelation</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=1&scrV=5#Ex.xxx-p17.5">1:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=1&scrV=5#Lev.ix-p7.2">1:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=1&scrV=6#Ex.xx-p4.16">1:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=1&scrV=8#Deu.xxxiii-p44.3">1:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=1&scrV=8#Ex.iv-p25.2">1:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=1&scrV=13#Ex.xxix-p7.6">1:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=1&scrV=16#Deu.xxxiv-p6.5">1:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=1&scrV=17#Gen.xviii-p5.2">1:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Lev.xxvii-p4.27">2:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=2&scrV=2#Ex.xxxiii-p21.1">2:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=2&scrV=5#Ex.xxvii-p3.4">2:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=2&scrV=5#Ex.xxxv-p3.1">2:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=2&scrV=7#Gen.iii-p17.1">2:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=2&scrV=14#Num.xxv-p13.6">2:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=2&scrV=14#Num.xxvi-p3.2">2:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=2&scrV=14#Gen.iv-p5.2">2:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=2&scrV=17#Gen.xviii-p12.2">2:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=2&scrV=17#Ex.xvii-p16.7">2:17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=2&scrV=24#Deu.xiii-p16.2">2:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=2&scrV=24#Gen.iv-p8.2">2:24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=2&scrV=26#Lev.xxvi-p21.5">2:26-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=3&scrV=7#Gen.xxxi-p6.5">3:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=3&scrV=9#Num.xiii-p13.2">3:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=3&scrV=9#Gen.xliii-p5.3">3:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=3&scrV=9#Ex.xii-p6.7">3:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=3&scrV=16#Lev.xix-p14.10">3:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=3&scrV=16#Lev.xxvii-p11.12">3:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=3&scrV=17#Gen.xliii-p18.1">3:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=3&scrV=20#Deu.xiii-p11.4">3:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=3&scrV=20#Gen.v-p19.3">3:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=3&scrV=20#Lev.iii-p8.2">3:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=3&scrV=20#Lev.x-p11.1">3:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=4&scrV=3#Gen.x-p18.9">4:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=4&scrV=4#Num.iii-p3.9">4:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=4&scrV=4#Ex.xxv-p13.1">4:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=4&scrV=5#Lev.xxv-p4.5">4:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=4&scrV=5#Num.ix-p3.8">4:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=4&scrV=5#Ex.xxvi-p22.2">4:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=4&scrV=6#Num.iii-p5.6">4:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=4&scrV=6#Ex.xxv-p13.1">4:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=4&scrV=8#Num.iii-p5.6">4:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=4&scrV=11#Gen.ii-p11.4">4:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=5&scrV=5#Gen.l-p8.10">5:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=5&scrV=6#Lev.xvii-p21.4">5:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=5&scrV=8#Ex.xxxi-p4.6">5:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=5&scrV=8#Ex.xxv-p13.1">5:8-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=5&scrV=9#Ex.xxix-p11.9">5:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=5&scrV=11#Ex.xxvii-p4.3">5:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=6&scrV=7#Gen.viii-p31.2">6:7-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=6&scrV=8#Num.xxv-p20.2">6:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=6&scrV=10#Gen.v-p29.3">6:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=6&scrV=15#Ex.xv-p23.6">6:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=6&scrV=16#Gen.viii-p28.4">6:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=7&scrV=3#Gen.viii-p15.2">7:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=7&scrV=3#Gen.xx-p18.3">7:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=7&scrV=3#Ex.xiii-p9.3">7:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=7&scrV=4#Gen.xxxvi-p16.6">7:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=7&scrV=9#Lev.xxiv-p17.7">7:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=7&scrV=9#Num.ii-p12.2">7:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=7&scrV=9#Num.xxiv-p10.5">7:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=7&scrV=13#Ex.xl-p3.2">7:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=8&scrV=3#Ex.xxxi-p4.7">8:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=8&scrV=3#Lev.v-p7.7">8:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=8&scrV=5#Lev.xi-p3.10">8:5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=8&scrV=6#Ex.xx-p16.3">8:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=9&scrV=5#Gen.v-p36.6">9:5-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=9&scrV=13#Lev.v-p7.6">9:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=10&scrV=1#Gen.x-p18.10">10:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=10&scrV=1#Ex.xiv-p15.4">10:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=10&scrV=11#ii-p5.4">10:11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=11&scrV=3#Ex.v-p17.4">11:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=11&scrV=6#Deu.xxxiii-p52.1">11:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=11&scrV=6#Ex.x-p19.9">11:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=11&scrV=10#Num.xv-p15.3">11:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=11&scrV=10#Gen.xxxviii-p13.8">11:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=11&scrV=14#Ex.ix-p12.3">11:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=11&scrV=19#Deu.vi-p5.12">11:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=11&scrV=19#Ex.xxvi-p16.6">11:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=12&scrV=3#Num.xxii-p10.1">12:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=12&scrV=3#Ex.ii-p11.3">12:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=12&scrV=7#Gen.iv-p38.1">12:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=12&scrV=9#Gen.iv-p5.1">12:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=12&scrV=16#Ex.xxxvi-p12.10">12:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=13&scrV=8#Gen.i-p3.1">13:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=14&scrV=4#Lev.xxii-p10.5">14:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=14&scrV=6#Deu.xi-p11.3">14:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=14&scrV=6#Gen.ii-p48.2">14:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=14&scrV=7#Deu.xxxiv-p24.2">14:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=14&scrV=7#Ex.xxi-p5.1">14:7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=14&scrV=10#Lev.xi-p5.1">14:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=14&scrV=13#Ex.ii-p6.4">14:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=14&scrV=20#Deu.xxxiii-p45.7">14:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=15&scrV=2#Ex.xvi-p5.1">15:2-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=16&scrV=3#Ex.viii-p8.7">16:3-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=16&scrV=6#Ex.viii-p8.5">16:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=16&scrV=10#Ex.xi-p15.2">16:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=16&scrV=10#Ex.xi-p15.8">16:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=16&scrV=13#Ex.ix-p6.2">16:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=16&scrV=14#Deu.iii-p17.3">16:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=16&scrV=15#Ex.xxix-p15.8">16:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=16&scrV=16#Num.xxii-p3.5">16:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=16&scrV=21#Ex.x-p18.9">16:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=17&scrV=6#Ex.ii-p11.2">17:6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=18&scrV=4#Num.xvii-p24.5">18:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=18&scrV=4#Gen.xv-p6.8">18:4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=18&scrV=23#Ex.xi-p15.6">18:23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=19&scrV=1#Deu.xxxiii-p3.6">19:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=19&scrV=3#Gen.xx-p28.5">19:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=19&scrV=8#Ex.xxviii-p6.2">19:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=19&scrV=8#Ex.xl-p3.4">19:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=19&scrV=17#Ex.xv-p25.2">19:17-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=20&scrV=2#Gen.iv-p39.11">20:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=20&scrV=9#Gen.v-p42.1">20:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=20&scrV=10#Gen.iv-p39.13">20:10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=20&scrV=14#Ex.xv-p19.5">20:14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=21&scrV=9#Gen.xxv-p9.2">21:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=21&scrV=12#Gen.xxxvi-p16.6">21:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=21&scrV=12#Gen.l-p1.2">21:12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=21&scrV=18#Ex.xxvii-p8.5">21:18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=21&scrV=19#Gen.xii-p7.1">21:19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=21&scrV=27#Num.vi-p5.3">21:27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=22&scrV=1#Gen.iii-p18.4">22:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=22&scrV=2#Gen.iii-p17.1">22:2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=22&scrV=9#Gen.xxxiii-p10.2">22:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=22&scrV=9#Gen.xxv-p25.3">22:9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=22&scrV=13#Ex.vii-p5.3">22:13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=22&scrV=15#Deu.xxiv-p16.3">22:15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Rev&scrCh=22&scrV=18#Deu.v-p8.3">22:18-19</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Wisdom of Solomon</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Wis&scrCh=16&scrV=20#Num.xii-p13.5">16:20</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Prayer of Manasseh</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=PrMan&scrCh=1&scrV=24#Gen.iii-p37.3">1:24</a> </p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
</div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Index of Scripture Commentary" prev="viii.i" next="viii.iii" id="viii.ii">
|
|
<h2 id="viii.ii-p0.1">Index of Scripture Commentary</h2>
|
|
<insertIndex type="scripCom" id="viii.ii-p0.2"/>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<div class="Index">
|
|
<p class="bbook">Genesis</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=0#Gen.ii-p2.11">1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=1#Gen.ii-p2.12">1:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=3#Gen.ii-p14.6">1:3-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=6#Gen.ii-p16.14">1:6-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=9#Gen.ii-p18.12">1:9-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=14#Gen.ii-p22.6">1:14-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=20#Gen.ii-p28.2">1:20-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=24#Gen.ii-p30.7">1:24-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=26#Gen.ii-p32.1">1:26-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=29#Gen.ii-p39.2">1:29-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=1&scrV=31#Gen.ii-p43.3">1:31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=0#Gen.iii-p1.5">2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Gen.iii-p1.6">2:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=4#Gen.iii-p4.3">2:4-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=8#Gen.iii-p10.3">2:8-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=16#Gen.iii-p22.1">2:16-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=18#Gen.iii-p30.1">2:18-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=2&scrV=21#Gen.iii-p36.1">2:21-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=0#Gen.iv-p1.9">3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=1#Gen.iv-p1.10">3:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=6#Gen.iv-p15.1">3:6-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=9#Gen.iv-p24.7">3:9-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=11#Gen.iv-p28.2">3:11-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=14#Gen.iv-p32.3">3:14-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=16#Gen.iv-p39.14">3:16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=17#Gen.iv-p44.2">3:17-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=20#Gen.iv-p55.5">3:20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=21#Gen.iv-p57.1">3:21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=3&scrV=22#Gen.iv-p59.7">3:22-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=0#Gen.v-p1.15">4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=1#Gen.v-p1.16">4:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=3#Gen.v-p5.2">4:3-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=6#Gen.v-p12.4">4:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=8#Gen.v-p20.2">4:8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=9#Gen.v-p24.1">4:9-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=13#Gen.v-p33.1">4:13-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=16#Gen.v-p37.4">4:16-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=19#Gen.v-p44.4">4:19-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=23#Gen.v-p48.2">4:23-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=4&scrV=25#Gen.v-p51.1">4:25-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=5&scrV=0#Gen.vi-p1.12">5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=5&scrV=1#Gen.vi-p1.13">5:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=5&scrV=6#Gen.vi-p6.1">5:6-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=5&scrV=21#Gen.vi-p12.2">5:21-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=5&scrV=25#Gen.vi-p21.3">5:25-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=5&scrV=28#Gen.vi-p23.2">5:28-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=0#Gen.vii-p1.9">6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=1#Gen.vii-p1.10">6:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=3#Gen.vii-p3.10">6:3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=4#Gen.vii-p8.1">6:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=6#Gen.vii-p12.5">6:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=8#Gen.vii-p15.4">6:8-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=11#Gen.vii-p17.7">6:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=13#Gen.vii-p19.4">6:13-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=6&scrV=22#Gen.vii-p29.8">6:22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=0#Gen.viii-p1.14">7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=1#Gen.viii-p1.15">7:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=5#Gen.viii-p7.2">7:5-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=11#Gen.viii-p9.3">7:11-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=13#Gen.viii-p17.6">7:13-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=17#Gen.viii-p24.5">7:17-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=7&scrV=21#Gen.viii-p29.3">7:21-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=8&scrV=0#Gen.ix-p1.11">8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=8&scrV=1#Gen.ix-p1.12">8:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=8&scrV=4#Gen.ix-p6.8">8:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=8&scrV=6#Gen.ix-p8.4">8:6-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=8&scrV=13#Gen.ix-p12.5">8:13-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=8&scrV=15#Gen.ix-p14.4">8:15-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=8&scrV=20#Gen.ix-p17.1">8:20-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=0#Gen.x-p1.13">9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=1#Gen.x-p1.14">9:1-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=8#Gen.x-p13.7">9:8-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=12#Gen.x-p16.3">9:12-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=18#Gen.x-p18.12">9:18-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=24#Gen.x-p23.3">9:24-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=9&scrV=28#Gen.x-p30.7">9:28-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=10&scrV=0#Gen.xi-p1.7">10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=10&scrV=1#Gen.xi-p1.8">10:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=10&scrV=6#Gen.xi-p3.4">10:6-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=10&scrV=15#Gen.xi-p8.2">10:15-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=10&scrV=21#Gen.xi-p10.3">10:21-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=11&scrV=0#Gen.xii-p1.6">11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=11&scrV=1#Gen.xii-p1.7">11:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=11&scrV=5#Gen.xii-p11.2">11:5-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=11&scrV=10#Gen.xii-p23.5">11:10-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=11&scrV=27#Gen.xii-p25.5">11:27-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=0#Gen.xiii-p1.6">12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=1#Gen.xiii-p1.7">12:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=4#Gen.xiii-p13.5">12:4-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=6#Gen.xiii-p21.2">12:6-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=10#Gen.xiii-p27.2">12:10-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=12&scrV=14#Gen.xiii-p31.3">12:14-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=0#Gen.xiv-p1.9">13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=1#Gen.xiv-p1.10">13:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=5#Gen.xiv-p6.2">13:5-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=10#Gen.xiv-p15.6">13:10-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=13&scrV=14#Gen.xiv-p19.6">13:14-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=0#Gen.xv-p1.7">14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=1#Gen.xv-p1.8">14:1-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=13#Gen.xv-p6.9">14:13-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=17#Gen.xv-p15.4">14:17-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=14&scrV=21#Gen.xv-p21.2">14:21-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=0#Gen.xvi-p1.4">15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=1#Gen.xvi-p1.5">15:1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=2#Gen.xvi-p8.3">15:2-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=7#Gen.xvi-p13.7">15:7-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=12#Gen.xvi-p21.5">15:12-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=15&scrV=17#Gen.xvi-p35.4">15:17-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=16&scrV=0#Gen.xvii-p1.6">16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=16&scrV=1#Gen.xvii-p1.7">16:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=16&scrV=4#Gen.xvii-p9.1">16:4-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=16&scrV=7#Gen.xvii-p14.5">16:7-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=16&scrV=10#Gen.xvii-p22.2">16:10-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=16&scrV=15#Gen.xvii-p29.2">16:15-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=0#Gen.xviii-p1.14">17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=1#Gen.xviii-p1.15">17:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=4#Gen.xviii-p8.2">17:4-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=7#Gen.xviii-p12.6">17:7-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=15#Gen.xviii-p16.13">17:15-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=17&scrV=23#Gen.xviii-p24.4">17:23-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=0#Gen.xix-p1.5">18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=1#Gen.xix-p1.6">18:1-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=9#Gen.xix-p5.5">18:9-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=16#Gen.xix-p12.3">18:16-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=18&scrV=23#Gen.xix-p20.4">18:23-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=0#Gen.xx-p1.9">19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=1#Gen.xx-p1.10">19:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=4#Gen.xx-p3.3">19:4-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=12#Gen.xx-p8.5">19:12-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=15#Gen.xx-p13.2">19:15-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=24#Gen.xx-p14.2">19:24-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=26#Gen.xx-p21.16">19:26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=27#Gen.xx-p25.3">19:27-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=19&scrV=30#Gen.xx-p29.4">19:30-38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=0#Gen.xxi-p1.9">20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=1#Gen.xxi-p1.10">20:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=3#Gen.xxi-p3.5">20:3-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=8#Gen.xxi-p11.4">20:8-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=20&scrV=14#Gen.xxi-p20.3">20:14-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=0#Gen.xxii-p1.5">21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=1#Gen.xxii-p1.6">21:1-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=9#Gen.xxii-p11.6">21:9-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=14#Gen.xxii-p17.7">21:14-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=22#Gen.xxii-p23.3">21:22-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=21&scrV=33#Gen.xxii-p33.2">21:33-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=22&scrV=0#Gen.xxiii-p1.7">22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=22&scrV=1#Gen.xxiii-p1.8">22:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=22&scrV=3#Gen.xxiii-p9.1">22:3-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=22&scrV=11#Gen.xxiii-p23.5">22:11-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=22&scrV=15#Gen.xxiii-p29.3">22:15-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=22&scrV=20#Gen.xxiii-p31.12">22:20-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=23&scrV=0#Gen.xxiv-p1.7">23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=23&scrV=1#Gen.xxiv-p1.8">23:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=23&scrV=3#Gen.xxiv-p3.4">23:3-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=23&scrV=16#Gen.xxiv-p10.3">23:16-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=0#Gen.xxv-p1.8">24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=1#Gen.xxv-p1.9">24:1-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=10#Gen.xxv-p6.3">24:10-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=29#Gen.xxv-p13.8">24:29-53</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=54#Gen.xxv-p25.5">24:54-61</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=24&scrV=62#Gen.xxv-p27.11">24:62-67</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=0#Gen.xxvi-p1.10">25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=1#Gen.xxvi-p1.11">25:1-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=11#Gen.xxvi-p7.2">25:11-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=19#Gen.xxvi-p9.11">25:19-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=25&scrV=29#Gen.xxvi-p21.2">25:29-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=0#Gen.xxvii-p1.10">26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=1#Gen.xxvii-p1.11">26:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=6#Gen.xxvii-p4.6">26:6-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=12#Gen.xxvii-p8.8">26:12-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=26#Gen.xxvii-p19.4">26:26-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=26&scrV=34#Gen.xxvii-p26.2">26:34-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=0#Gen.xxviii-p1.7">27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=1#Gen.xxviii-p1.8">27:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=6#Gen.xxviii-p6.5">27:6-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=18#Gen.xxviii-p10.8">27:18-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=30#Gen.xxviii-p15.12">27:30-40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=27&scrV=41#Gen.xxviii-p22.3">27:41-46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=0#Gen.xxix-p1.9">28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=1#Gen.xxix-p1.10">28:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=6#Gen.xxix-p8.2">28:6-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=10#Gen.xxix-p10.4">28:10-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=28&scrV=16#Gen.xxix-p18.4">28:16-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=0#Gen.xxx-p1.4">29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=1#Gen.xxx-p1.5">29:1-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=9#Gen.xxx-p3.10">29:9-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=15#Gen.xxx-p5.8">29:15-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=29&scrV=31#Gen.xxx-p10.10">29:31-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=0#Gen.xxxi-p1.8">30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=1#Gen.xxxi-p1.9">30:1-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=14#Gen.xxxi-p9.6">30:14-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=25#Gen.xxxi-p12.2">30:25-36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=30&scrV=37#Gen.xxxi-p19.3">30:37-43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=0#Gen.xxxii-p1.6">31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=1#Gen.xxxii-p1.7">31:1-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=17#Gen.xxxii-p10.2">31:17-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=25#Gen.xxxii-p13.7">31:25-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=36#Gen.xxxii-p20.4">31:36-42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=31&scrV=43#Gen.xxxii-p27.2">31:43-55</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=0#Gen.xxxiii-p1.7">32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=1#Gen.xxxiii-p1.8">32:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=3#Gen.xxxiii-p3.8">32:3-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=9#Gen.xxxiii-p8.3">32:9-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=13#Gen.xxxiii-p18.5">32:13-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=32&scrV=24#Gen.xxxiii-p22.3">32:24-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=33&scrV=0#Gen.xxxiv-p1.7">33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=33&scrV=1#Gen.xxxiv-p1.8">33:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=33&scrV=5#Gen.xxxiv-p8.1">33:5-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=33&scrV=16#Gen.xxxiv-p15.5">33:16-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=34&scrV=0#Gen.xxxv-p1.5">34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=34&scrV=1#Gen.xxxv-p1.6">34:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=34&scrV=6#Gen.xxxv-p3.8">34:6-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=34&scrV=18#Gen.xxxv-p8.3">34:18-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=34&scrV=25#Gen.xxxv-p10.4">34:25-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=0#Gen.xxxvi-p1.10">35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=1#Gen.xxxvi-p1.11">35:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=6#Gen.xxxvi-p6.3">35:6-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=16#Gen.xxxvi-p12.3">35:16-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=35&scrV=21#Gen.xxxvi-p14.6">35:21-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=36&scrV=0#Gen.xxxvii-p1.8">36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=36&scrV=1#Gen.xxxvii-p1.9">36:1-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=36&scrV=9#Gen.xxxvii-p3.7">36:9-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=36&scrV=20#Gen.xxxvii-p5.6">36:20-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=36&scrV=31#Gen.xxxvii-p7.6">36:31-43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=0#Gen.xxxviii-p1.9">37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=1#Gen.xxxviii-p1.10">37:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=5#Gen.xxxviii-p3.6">37:5-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=12#Gen.xxxviii-p7.3">37:12-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=23#Gen.xxxviii-p11.2">37:23-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=37&scrV=31#Gen.xxxviii-p13.12">37:31-36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=38&scrV=0#Gen.xxxix-p1.8">38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=38&scrV=1#Gen.xxxix-p1.9">38:1-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=38&scrV=12#Gen.xxxix-p3.6">38:12-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=38&scrV=24#Gen.xxxix-p8.2">38:24-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=39&scrV=0#Gen.xl-p1.7">39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=39&scrV=1#Gen.xl-p1.8">39:1-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=39&scrV=7#Gen.xl-p7.3">39:7-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=39&scrV=13#Gen.xl-p16.3">39:13-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=39&scrV=19#Gen.xl-p18.4">39:19-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=40&scrV=0#Gen.xli-p1.6">40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=40&scrV=1#Gen.xli-p1.7">40:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=40&scrV=5#Gen.xli-p3.2">40:5-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=40&scrV=20#Gen.xli-p9.3">40:20-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=0#Gen.xlii-p1.6">41</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=1#Gen.xlii-p1.7">41:1-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=9#Gen.xlii-p3.8">41:9-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=17#Gen.xlii-p5.9">41:17-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=33#Gen.xlii-p8.10">41:33-45</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=41&scrV=46#Gen.xlii-p11.12">41:46-57</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=0#Gen.xliii-p1.5">42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=1#Gen.xliii-p1.6">42:1-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=7#Gen.xliii-p5.4">42:7-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=21#Gen.xliii-p11.3">42:21-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=42&scrV=29#Gen.xliii-p20.2">42:29-38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=43&scrV=0#Gen.xliv-p1.3">43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=43&scrV=1#Gen.xliv-p1.4">43:1-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=43&scrV=11#Gen.xliv-p3.6">43:11-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=43&scrV=15#Gen.xliv-p8.2">43:15-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=43&scrV=26#Gen.xliv-p10.5">43:26-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=44&scrV=0#Gen.xlv-p1.3">44</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=44&scrV=1#Gen.xlv-p1.4">44:1-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=44&scrV=18#Gen.xlv-p8.1">44:18-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=0#Gen.xlvi-p1.4">45</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=1#Gen.xlvi-p1.5">45:1-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=16#Gen.xlvi-p9.3">45:16-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=45&scrV=25#Gen.xlvi-p12.6">45:25-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=46&scrV=0#Gen.xlvii-p1.4">46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=46&scrV=1#Gen.xlvii-p1.5">46:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=46&scrV=5#Gen.xlvii-p8.2">46:5-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=46&scrV=28#Gen.xlvii-p10.13">46:28-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=0#Gen.xlviii-p1.5">47</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=1#Gen.xlviii-p1.6">47:1-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=13#Gen.xlviii-p13.4">47:13-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=47&scrV=27#Gen.xlviii-p19.2">47:27-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=0#Gen.xlix-p1.6">48</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=1#Gen.xlix-p1.7">48:1-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=48&scrV=8#Gen.xlix-p5.11">48:8-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=0#Gen.l-p1.7">49</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=1#Gen.l-p1.8">49:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=5#Gen.l-p4.6">49:5-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=8#Gen.l-p6.5">49:8-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=13#Gen.l-p8.15">49:13-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=22#Gen.l-p17.4">49:22-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=49&scrV=28#Gen.l-p23.5">49:28-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=50&scrV=0#Gen.li-p1.5">50</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=50&scrV=1#Gen.li-p1.6">50:1-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=50&scrV=7#Gen.li-p3.8">50:7-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=50&scrV=15#Gen.li-p5.4">50:15-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Gen&scrCh=50&scrV=22#Gen.li-p9.8">50:22-26</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Exodus</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=1&scrV=0#Ex.ii-p1.4">1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=1&scrV=0#Ex.ii-p9.3">1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=1&scrV=1#Ex.ii-p1.5">1:1-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=1&scrV=8#Ex.ii-p3.11">1:8-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=1&scrV=15#Ex.ii-p9.4">1:15-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=0#Ex.iii-p1.6">2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=0#Ex.iii-p10.3">2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=0#Ex.iii-p20.4">2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Ex.iii-p1.7">2:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=5#Ex.iii-p5.6">2:5-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=11#Ex.iii-p10.4">2:11-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=16#Ex.iii-p20.5">2:16-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=2&scrV=23#Ex.iii-p24.5">2:23-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=0#Ex.iv-p1.9">3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=0#Ex.iv-p16.3">3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=0#Ex.iv-p26.5">3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=1#Ex.iv-p1.10">3:1-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=7#Ex.iv-p11.1">3:7-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=11#Ex.iv-p16.4">3:11-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=3&scrV=16#Ex.iv-p26.6">3:16-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=0#Ex.v-p1.16">4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=0#Ex.v-p8.3">4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=0#Ex.v-p18.2">4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=1#Ex.v-p1.17">4:1-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=10#Ex.v-p8.4">4:10-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=18#Ex.v-p18.3">4:18-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=4&scrV=24#Ex.v-p22.3">4:24-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=0#Ex.vi-p1.9">5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=0#Ex.vi-p11.2">5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=0#Ex.vi-p13.7">5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=1#Ex.vi-p1.10">5:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=3#Ex.vi-p5.5">5:3-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=10#Ex.vi-p11.3">5:10-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=5&scrV=15#Ex.vi-p13.8">5:15-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=0#Ex.vii-p1.8">6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=0#Ex.vii-p9.4">6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=0#Ex.vii-p13.4">6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=1#Ex.vii-p1.9">6:1-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=10#Ex.vii-p9.5">6:10-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=6&scrV=14#Ex.vii-p13.5">6:14-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=7&scrV=0#Ex.viii-p1.4">7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=7&scrV=0#Ex.viii-p6.8">7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=7&scrV=1#Ex.viii-p1.5">7:1-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=7&scrV=8#Ex.viii-p4.5">7:8-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=7&scrV=14#Ex.viii-p6.9">7:14-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=0#Ex.ix-p1.16">8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=0#Ex.ix-p9.3">8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=1#Ex.ix-p1.17">8:1-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=16#Ex.ix-p9.4">8:16-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=8&scrV=20#Ex.ix-p14.2">8:20-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=0#Ex.x-p1.6">9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=0#Ex.x-p12.2">9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=1#Ex.x-p1.7">9:1-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=8#Ex.x-p5.3">9:8-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=13#Ex.x-p12.3">9:13-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=9&scrV=22#Ex.x-p15.7">9:22-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=0#Ex.xi-p1.10">10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=0#Ex.xi-p7.6">10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=1#Ex.xi-p1.11">10:1-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=12#Ex.xi-p7.7">10:12-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=10&scrV=21#Ex.xi-p13.2">10:21-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=11&scrV=0#Ex.xii-p1.7">11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=11&scrV=1#Ex.xii-p1.8">11:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=11&scrV=4#Ex.xii-p4.5">11:4-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=0#Ex.xiii-p1.18">12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=1#Ex.xiii-p1.19">12:1-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=21#Ex.xiii-p11.5">12:21-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=29#Ex.xiii-p18.4">12:29-36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=37#Ex.xiii-p21.10">12:37-42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=12&scrV=43#Ex.xiii-p23.10">12:43-51</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=0#Ex.xiv-p1.10">13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=0#Ex.xiv-p7.2">13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=0#Ex.xiv-p11.6">13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=1#Ex.xiv-p1.11">13:1-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=11#Ex.xiv-p7.3">13:11-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=13&scrV=17#Ex.xiv-p11.7">13:17-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=0#Ex.xv-p1.13">14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=0#Ex.xv-p7.6">14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=0#Ex.xv-p10.4">14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=1#Ex.xv-p1.14">14:1-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=10#Ex.xv-p7.7">14:10-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=15#Ex.xv-p10.5">14:15-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=14&scrV=21#Ex.xv-p17.6">14:21-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=0#Ex.xvi-p1.7">15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=1#Ex.xvi-p1.8">15:1-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=15&scrV=22#Ex.xvi-p12.4">15:22-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=0#Ex.xvii-p1.8">16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=0#Ex.xvii-p8.2">16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=1#Ex.xvii-p1.9">16:1-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=13#Ex.xvii-p8.3">16:13-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=22#Ex.xvii-p12.12">16:22-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=16&scrV=32#Ex.xvii-p14.11">16:32-36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=0#Ex.xviii-p1.9">17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=1#Ex.xviii-p1.10">17:1-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=17&scrV=8#Ex.xviii-p7.2">17:8-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=0#Ex.xix-p1.8">18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=0#Ex.xix-p10.2">18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=1#Ex.xix-p1.9">18:1-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=7#Ex.xix-p5.10">18:7-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=18&scrV=13#Ex.xix-p10.3">18:13-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=0#Ex.xx-p1.9">19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=0#Ex.xx-p11.3">19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=1#Ex.xx-p1.10">19:1-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=9#Ex.xx-p5.4">19:9-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=19&scrV=16#Ex.xx-p11.4">19:16-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=0#Ex.xxi-p1.4">20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=0#Ex.xxi-p15.2">20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=0#Ex.xxi-p23.3">20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=1#Ex.xxi-p1.5">20:1-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=12#Ex.xxi-p15.3">20:12-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=18#Ex.xxi-p23.4">20:18-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=20&scrV=22#Ex.xxi-p28.4">20:22-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=0#Ex.xxii-p1.15">21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=0#Ex.xxii-p7.3">21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=1#Ex.xxii-p1.16">21:1-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=12#Ex.xxii-p7.4">21:12-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=21&scrV=22#Ex.xxii-p13.5">21:22-36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=0#Ex.xxiii-p1.15">22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=0#Ex.xxiii-p10.3">22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=1#Ex.xxiii-p1.16">22:1-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=7#Ex.xxiii-p6.2">22:7-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=16#Ex.xxiii-p10.4">22:16-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=22&scrV=25#Ex.xxiii-p18.4">22:25-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=0#Ex.xxiv-p1.11">23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=0#Ex.xxiv-p6.8">23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=1#Ex.xxiv-p1.12">23:1-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=10#Ex.xxiv-p6.9">23:10-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=23&scrV=20#Ex.xxiv-p12.4">23:20-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=0#Ex.xxv-p1.10">24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=0#Ex.xxv-p13.9">24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=1#Ex.xxv-p1.11">24:1-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=9#Ex.xxv-p11.6">24:9-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=24&scrV=12#Ex.xxv-p13.10">24:12-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=25&scrV=0#Ex.xxvi-p1.5">25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=25&scrV=0#Ex.xxvi-p13.3">25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=25&scrV=1#Ex.xxvi-p1.6">25:1-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=25&scrV=10#Ex.xxvi-p13.4">25:10-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=25&scrV=23#Ex.xxvi-p18.10">25:23-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=25&scrV=31#Ex.xxvi-p20.10">25:31-40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=26&scrV=0#Ex.xxvii-p1.7">26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=26&scrV=0#Ex.xxvii-p6.9">26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=26&scrV=1#Ex.xxvii-p1.8">26:1-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=26&scrV=7#Ex.xxvii-p4.7">26:7-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=26&scrV=15#Ex.xxvii-p6.10">26:15-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=26&scrV=31#Ex.xxvii-p8.8">26:31-37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=27&scrV=0#Ex.xxviii-p1.4">27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=27&scrV=1#Ex.xxviii-p1.5">27:1-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=27&scrV=9#Ex.xxviii-p4.3">27:9-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=27&scrV=20#Ex.xxviii-p6.5">27:20-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=0#Ex.xxix-p1.9">28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=0#Ex.xxix-p7.12">28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=1#Ex.xxix-p1.10">28:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=6#Ex.xxix-p5.6">28:6-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=15#Ex.xxix-p7.13">28:15-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=31#Ex.xxix-p11.10">28:31-39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=28&scrV=40#Ex.xxix-p13.11">28:40-43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=0#Ex.xxx-p1.4">29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=1#Ex.xxx-p1.5">29:1-37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=29&scrV=38#Ex.xxx-p18.4">29:38-46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=0#Ex.xxxi-p1.6">30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=0#Ex.xxxi-p4.10">30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=0#Ex.xxxi-p6.7">30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=1#Ex.xxxi-p1.7">30:1-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=11#Ex.xxxi-p4.11">30:11-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=17#Ex.xxxi-p6.8">30:17-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=30&scrV=22#Ex.xxxi-p8.9">30:22-38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=31&scrV=0#Ex.xxxii-p1.4">31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=31&scrV=0#Ex.xxxii-p5.8">31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=31&scrV=1#Ex.xxxii-p1.5">31:1-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=31&scrV=12#Ex.xxxii-p5.9">31:12-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=0#Ex.xxxiii-p1.14">32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=0#Ex.xxxiii-p17.2">32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=1#Ex.xxxiii-p1.15">32:1-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=7#Ex.xxxiii-p12.12">32:7-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=15#Ex.xxxiii-p17.3">32:15-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=21#Ex.xxxiii-p21.11">32:21-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=32&scrV=30#Ex.xxxiii-p31.3">32:30-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=0#Ex.xxxiv-p1.6">33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=0#Ex.xxxiv-p11.5">33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=1#Ex.xxxiv-p1.7">33:1-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=7#Ex.xxxiv-p4.8">33:7-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=33&scrV=12#Ex.xxxiv-p11.6">33:12-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=0#Ex.xxxv-p1.5">34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=0#Ex.xxxv-p14.4">34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=0#Ex.xxxv-p20.4">34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=1#Ex.xxxv-p1.6">34:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=5#Ex.xxxv-p5.5">34:5-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=10#Ex.xxxv-p14.5">34:10-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=18#Ex.xxxv-p20.5">34:18-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=34&scrV=28#Ex.xxxv-p26.5">34:28-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=35&scrV=0#Ex.xxxvi-p1.6">35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=35&scrV=1#Ex.xxxvi-p1.7">35:1-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=35&scrV=20#Ex.xxxvi-p9.6">35:20-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=35&scrV=30#Ex.xxxvi-p13.8">35:30-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=36&scrV=0#Ex.xxxvii-p1.9">36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=36&scrV=0#Ex.xxxvii-p6.3">36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=36&scrV=1#Ex.xxxvii-p1.10">36:1-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=36&scrV=8#Ex.xxxvii-p4.6">36:8-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=36&scrV=14#Ex.xxxvii-p6.4">36:14-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=36&scrV=35#Ex.xxxvii-p8.5">36:35-38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=37&scrV=0#Ex.xxxviii-p1.7">37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=37&scrV=0#Ex.xxxviii-p4.1">37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=37&scrV=1#Ex.xxxviii-p1.8">37:1-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=37&scrV=10#Ex.xxxviii-p4.2">37:10-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=37&scrV=25#Ex.xxxviii-p6.4">37:25-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=38&scrV=0#Ex.xxxix-p1.5">38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=38&scrV=1#Ex.xxxix-p1.6">38:1-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=38&scrV=9#Ex.xxxix-p8.2">38:9-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=38&scrV=21#Ex.xxxix-p10.3">38:21-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=39&scrV=0#Ex.xl-p1.8">39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=39&scrV=1#Ex.xl-p1.9">39:1-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=39&scrV=32#Ex.xl-p3.5">39:32-43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=40&scrV=0#Ex.xli-p1.6">40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=40&scrV=0#Ex.xli-p3.12">40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=40&scrV=1#Ex.xli-p1.7">40:1-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=40&scrV=16#Ex.xli-p3.13">40:16-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Exod&scrCh=40&scrV=34#Ex.xli-p6.7">40:34-38</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Leviticus</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=1&scrV=0#Lev.ii-p1.4">1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=1&scrV=0#Lev.ii-p5.12">1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=1&scrV=1#Lev.ii-p1.5">1:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=1&scrV=3#Lev.ii-p3.4">1:3-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=1&scrV=10#Lev.ii-p5.13">1:10-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=2&scrV=0#Lev.iii-p1.10">2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=2&scrV=0#Lev.iii-p5.12">2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Lev.iii-p1.11">2:1-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=2&scrV=11#Lev.iii-p5.13">2:11-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=3&scrV=0#Lev.iv-p1.4">3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=3&scrV=1#Lev.iv-p1.5">3:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=3&scrV=6#Lev.iv-p5.7">3:6-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=0#Lev.v-p1.5">4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=0#Lev.v-p5.14">4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=1#Lev.v-p1.6">4:1-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=13#Lev.v-p5.15">4:13-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=22#Lev.v-p7.9">4:22-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=4&scrV=27#Lev.v-p9.6">4:27-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=5&scrV=0#Lev.vi-p1.11">5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=5&scrV=0#Lev.vi-p8.2">5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=5&scrV=1#Lev.vi-p1.12">5:1-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=5&scrV=7#Lev.vi-p4.4">5:7-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=5&scrV=14#Lev.vi-p8.3">5:14-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=0#Lev.vii-p1.6">6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=0#Lev.vii-p10.6">6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=1#Lev.vii-p1.7">6:1-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=8#Lev.vii-p5.6">6:8-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=14#Lev.vii-p10.7">6:14-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=6&scrV=24#Lev.vii-p16.4">6:24-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=0#Lev.viii-p1.7">7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=0#Lev.viii-p3.9">7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=1#Lev.viii-p1.8">7:1-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=11#Lev.viii-p3.10">7:11-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=7&scrV=35#Lev.viii-p12.3">7:35-38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=0#Lev.ix-p1.9">8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=0#Lev.ix-p7.11">8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=1#Lev.ix-p1.10">8:1-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=14#Lev.ix-p7.12">8:14-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=8&scrV=31#Lev.ix-p9.9">8:31-36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=9&scrV=0#Lev.x-p1.6">9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=9&scrV=1#Lev.x-p1.7">9:1-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=9&scrV=8#Lev.x-p3.10">9:8-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=9&scrV=23#Lev.x-p5.7">9:23-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=0#Lev.xi-p1.6">10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=0#Lev.xi-p17.12">10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=1#Lev.xi-p1.7">10:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=3#Lev.xi-p6.1">10:3-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=8#Lev.xi-p15.1">10:8-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=10&scrV=12#Lev.xi-p17.13">10:12-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=11&scrV=0#Lev.xii-p1.8">11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=11&scrV=1#Lev.xii-p1.9">11:1-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=11&scrV=9#Lev.xii-p3.6">11:9-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=11&scrV=20#Lev.xii-p5.6">11:20-42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=11&scrV=43#Lev.xii-p7.13">11:43-47</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=12&scrV=0#Lev.xiii-p1.3">12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=12&scrV=1#Lev.xiii-p1.4">12:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=12&scrV=6#Lev.xiii-p3.5">12:6-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=0#Lev.xiv-p1.9">13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=0#Lev.xiv-p4.10">13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=1#Lev.xiv-p1.10">13:1-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=18#Lev.xiv-p4.11">13:18-37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=38#Lev.xiv-p6.4">13:38-46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=13&scrV=47#Lev.xiv-p13.5">13:47-59</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=14&scrV=0#Lev.xv-p1.5">14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=14&scrV=0#Lev.xv-p5.13">14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=14&scrV=1#Lev.xv-p1.6">14:1-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=14&scrV=10#Lev.xv-p5.14">14:10-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=14&scrV=21#Lev.xv-p8.11">14:21-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=14&scrV=33#Lev.xv-p10.3">14:33-53</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=14&scrV=54#Lev.xv-p12.12">14:54-57</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=15&scrV=0#Lev.xvi-p1.3">15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=15&scrV=0#Lev.xvi-p3.9">15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=15&scrV=1#Lev.xvi-p1.4">15:1-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=15&scrV=19#Lev.xvi-p3.10">15:19-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=0#Lev.xvii-p1.15">16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=0#Lev.xvii-p8.8">16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=1#Lev.xvii-p1.16">16:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=5#Lev.xvii-p6.2">16:5-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=15#Lev.xvii-p8.9">16:15-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=20#Lev.xvii-p10.8">16:20-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=16&scrV=29#Lev.xvii-p12.6">16:29-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=17&scrV=0#Lev.xviii-p1.3">17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=17&scrV=0#Lev.xviii-p7.8">17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=17&scrV=1#Lev.xviii-p1.4">17:1-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=17&scrV=10#Lev.xviii-p7.9">17:10-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=0#Lev.xix-p1.5">18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=0#Lev.xix-p9.5">18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=1#Lev.xix-p1.6">18:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=6#Lev.xix-p3.11">18:6-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=18&scrV=19#Lev.xix-p9.6">18:19-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=0#Lev.xx-p1.28">19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=0#Lev.xx-p8.2">19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=0#Lev.xx-p18.9">19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=1#Lev.xx-p1.29">19:1-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=11#Lev.xx-p8.3">19:11-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=19#Lev.xx-p18.10">19:19-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=19&scrV=30#Lev.xx-p23.4">19:30-37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=0#Lev.xxi-p1.8">20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=0#Lev.xxi-p10.2">20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=1#Lev.xxi-p1.9">20:1-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=10#Lev.xxi-p10.3">20:10-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=20&scrV=22#Lev.xxi-p15.3">20:22-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=21&scrV=0#Lev.xxii-p1.5">21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=21&scrV=0#Lev.xxii-p6.2">21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=21&scrV=0#Lev.xxii-p11.3">21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=21&scrV=1#Lev.xxii-p1.6">21:1-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=21&scrV=10#Lev.xxii-p6.3">21:10-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=21&scrV=16#Lev.xxii-p11.4">21:16-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=0#Lev.xxiii-p1.7">22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=0#Lev.xxiii-p5.5">22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=0#Lev.xxiii-p11.2">22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=1#Lev.xxiii-p1.8">22:1-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=10#Lev.xxiii-p5.6">22:10-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=22&scrV=17#Lev.xxiii-p11.3">22:17-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=0#Lev.xxiv-p1.8">23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=0#Lev.xxiv-p8.10">23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=1#Lev.xxiv-p1.9">23:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=4#Lev.xxiv-p4.3">23:4-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=15#Lev.xxiv-p8.11">23:15-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=23#Lev.xxiv-p11.3">23:23-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=23&scrV=33#Lev.xxiv-p14.4">23:33-44</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=24&scrV=0#Lev.xxv-p1.6">24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=24&scrV=0#Lev.xxv-p5.12">24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=24&scrV=1#Lev.xxv-p1.7">24:1-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=24&scrV=10#Lev.xxv-p5.13">24:10-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=0#Lev.xxvi-p1.9">25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=1#Lev.xxvi-p1.10">25:1-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=8#Lev.xxvi-p3.8">25:8-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=23#Lev.xxvi-p12.5">25:23-38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=25&scrV=39#Lev.xxvi-p17.3">25:39-55</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=0#Lev.xxvii-p1.6">26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=0#Lev.xxvii-p4.32">26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=1#Lev.xxvii-p1.7">26:1-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=14#Lev.xxvii-p4.33">26:14-39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=26&scrV=40#Lev.xxvii-p14.9">26:40-46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=0#Lev.xxviii-p1.8">27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=0#Lev.xxviii-p5.5">27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=1#Lev.xxviii-p1.9">27:1-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=14#Lev.xxviii-p5.6">27:14-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Lev&scrCh=27&scrV=26#Lev.xxviii-p11.7">27:26-34</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Numbers</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=1&scrV=0#Num.ii-p1.8">1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=1&scrV=0#Num.ii-p7.5">1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=1&scrV=1#Num.ii-p1.9">1:1-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=1&scrV=17#Num.ii-p7.6">1:17-43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=1&scrV=44#Num.ii-p10.12">1:44-46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=1&scrV=47#Num.ii-p12.3">1:47-54</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=2&scrV=0#Num.iii-p1.8">2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Num.iii-p1.9">2:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=2&scrV=3#Num.iii-p3.11">2:3-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=0#Num.iv-p1.12">3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=0#Num.iv-p5.6">3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=1#Num.iv-p1.13">3:1-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=14#Num.iv-p5.7">3:14-39</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=3&scrV=40#Num.iv-p12.3">3:40-51</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=4&scrV=0#Num.v-p1.5">4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=4&scrV=1#Num.v-p1.6">4:1-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=4&scrV=21#Num.v-p10.5">4:21-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=4&scrV=34#Num.v-p12.9">4:34-49</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=5&scrV=0#Num.vi-p1.5">5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=5&scrV=0#Num.vi-p7.2">5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=5&scrV=1#Num.vi-p1.6">5:1-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=5&scrV=11#Num.vi-p7.3">5:11-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=0#Num.vii-p1.5">6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=1#Num.vii-p1.6">6:1-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=6&scrV=22#Num.vii-p11.12">6:22-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=7&scrV=0#Num.viii-p1.4">7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=7&scrV=0#Num.viii-p7.7">7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=7&scrV=1#Num.viii-p1.5">7:1-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=7&scrV=10#Num.viii-p7.8">7:10-89</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=8&scrV=0#Num.ix-p1.9">8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=8&scrV=1#Num.ix-p1.10">8:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=8&scrV=5#Num.ix-p3.10">8:5-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=9&scrV=0#Num.x-p1.4">9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=9&scrV=0#Num.x-p9.10">9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=9&scrV=1#Num.x-p1.5">9:1-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=9&scrV=15#Num.x-p9.11">9:15-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=0#Num.xi-p1.5">10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=0#Num.xi-p3.21">10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=1#Num.xi-p1.6">10:1-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=11#Num.xi-p3.22">10:11-28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=10&scrV=29#Num.xi-p6.12">10:29-36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=0#Num.xii-p1.9">11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=0#Num.xii-p14.5">11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=1#Num.xii-p1.10">11:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=4#Num.xii-p8.3">11:4-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=16#Num.xii-p14.6">11:16-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=24#Num.xii-p23.4">11:24-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=11&scrV=31#Num.xii-p33.2">11:31-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=12&scrV=0#Num.xiii-p1.6">12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=12&scrV=0#Num.xiii-p10.2">12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=12&scrV=1#Num.xiii-p1.7">12:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=12&scrV=4#Num.xiii-p4.5">12:4-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=12&scrV=10#Num.xiii-p10.3">12:10-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=0#Num.xiv-p1.7">13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=1#Num.xiv-p1.8">13:1-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=21#Num.xiv-p6.1">13:21-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=13&scrV=26#Num.xiv-p8.8">13:26-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=0#Num.xv-p1.8">14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=0#Num.xv-p15.7">14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=1#Num.xv-p1.9">14:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=5#Num.xv-p6.6">14:5-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=11#Num.xv-p15.8">14:11-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=20#Num.xv-p25.4">14:20-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=14&scrV=36#Num.xv-p34.3">14:36-45</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=0#Num.xvi-p1.11">15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=1#Num.xvi-p1.12">15:1-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=22#Num.xvi-p6.6">15:22-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=30#Num.xvi-p8.16">15:30-36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=15&scrV=37#Num.xvi-p11.8">15:37-41</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=0#Num.xvii-p1.12">16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=0#Num.xvii-p13.2">16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=1#Num.xvii-p1.13">16:1-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=12#Num.xvii-p13.3">16:12-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=23#Num.xvii-p21.8">16:23-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=35#Num.xvii-p28.2">16:35-40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=16&scrV=41#Num.xvii-p32.3">16:41-50</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=17&scrV=0#Num.xviii-p1.5">17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=17&scrV=1#Num.xviii-p1.6">17:1-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=17&scrV=8#Num.xviii-p4.2">17:8-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=0#Num.xix-p1.5">18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=1#Num.xix-p1.6">18:1-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=8#Num.xix-p7.10">18:8-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=18&scrV=20#Num.xix-p9.10">18:20-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=19&scrV=0#Num.xx-p1.6">19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=19&scrV=0#Num.xx-p10.6">19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=19&scrV=1#Num.xx-p1.7">19:1-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=19&scrV=11#Num.xx-p10.7">19:11-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=0#Num.xxi-p1.10">20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=0#Num.xxi-p13.5">20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=1#Num.xxi-p1.11">20:1-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=14#Num.xxi-p13.6">20:14-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=20&scrV=22#Num.xxi-p17.4">20:22-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=0#Num.xxii-p1.6">21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=0#Num.xxii-p12.4">21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=1#Num.xxii-p1.7">21:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=4#Num.xxii-p3.6">21:4-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=10#Num.xxii-p12.5">21:10-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=21&scrV=21#Num.xxii-p16.12">21:21-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=0#Num.xxiii-p1.7">22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=0#Num.xxiii-p8.3">22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=1#Num.xxiii-p1.8">22:1-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=15#Num.xxiii-p8.4">22:15-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=22#Num.xxiii-p14.3">22:22-35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=22&scrV=36#Num.xxiii-p20.6">22:36-41</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=0#Num.xxiv-p1.7">23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=0#Num.xxiv-p12.3">23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=1#Num.xxiv-p1.8">23:1-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=23&scrV=13#Num.xxiv-p12.4">23:13-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=0#Num.xxv-p1.4">24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=0#Num.xxv-p11.2">24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=0#Num.xxv-p13.7">24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=1#Num.xxv-p1.5">24:1-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=10#Num.xxv-p11.3">24:10-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=24&scrV=15#Num.xxv-p13.8">24:15-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=25&scrV=0#Num.xxvi-p1.7">25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=25&scrV=0#Num.xxvi-p8.9">25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=25&scrV=1#Num.xxvi-p1.8">25:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=25&scrV=6#Num.xxvi-p4.8">25:6-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=25&scrV=16#Num.xxvi-p8.10">25:16-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=26&scrV=0#Num.xxvii-p1.8">26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=26&scrV=1#Num.xxvii-p1.9">26:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=26&scrV=5#Num.xxvii-p3.1">26:5-51</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=26&scrV=52#Num.xxvii-p8.5">26:52-56</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=26&scrV=57#Num.xxvii-p10.3">26:57-62</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=26&scrV=63#Num.xxvii-p12.2">26:63-65</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=27&scrV=0#Num.xxviii-p1.5">27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=27&scrV=0#Num.xxviii-p7.5">27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=27&scrV=0#Num.xxviii-p9.4">27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=27&scrV=1#Num.xxviii-p1.6">27:1-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=27&scrV=12#Num.xxviii-p7.6">27:12-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=27&scrV=15#Num.xxviii-p9.5">27:15-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=28&scrV=0#Num.xxix-p1.8">28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=28&scrV=0#Num.xxix-p6.11">28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=28&scrV=1#Num.xxix-p1.9">28:1-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=28&scrV=9#Num.xxix-p4.6">28:9-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=28&scrV=16#Num.xxix-p6.12">28:16-31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=29&scrV=0#Num.xxx-p1.5">29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=29&scrV=0#Num.xxx-p3.6">29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=29&scrV=1#Num.xxx-p1.6">29:1-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=29&scrV=12#Num.xxx-p3.7">29:12-40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=30&scrV=0#Num.xxxi-p1.4">30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=30&scrV=1#Num.xxxi-p1.5">30:1-2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=30&scrV=3#Num.xxxi-p4.4">30:3-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=0#Num.xxxii-p1.9">31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=0#Num.xxxii-p8.12">31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=1#Num.xxxii-p1.10">31:1-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=7#Num.xxxii-p6.4">31:7-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=13#Num.xxxii-p8.13">31:13-24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=25#Num.xxxii-p14.3">31:25-47</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=31&scrV=48#Num.xxxii-p18.3">31:48-54</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=0#Num.xxxiii-p1.5">32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=0#Num.xxxiii-p7.4">32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=1#Num.xxxiii-p1.6">32:1-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=16#Num.xxxiii-p7.5">32:16-27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=32&scrV=28#Num.xxxiii-p12.3">32:28-42</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=33&scrV=0#Num.xxxiv-p1.3">33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=33&scrV=1#Num.xxxiv-p1.4">33:1-49</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=33&scrV=50#Num.xxxiv-p7.13">33:50-56</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=34&scrV=0#Num.xxxv-p1.3">34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=34&scrV=0#Num.xxxv-p6.7">34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=34&scrV=1#Num.xxxv-p1.4">34:1-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=34&scrV=16#Num.xxxv-p6.8">34:16-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=0#Num.xxxvi-p1.6">35</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=1#Num.xxxvi-p1.7">35:1-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=35&scrV=9#Num.xxxvi-p6.3">35:9-34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=36&scrV=0#Num.xxxvii-p1.7">36</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=36&scrV=1#Num.xxxvii-p1.8">36:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Num&scrCh=36&scrV=5#Num.xxxvii-p3.4">36:5-13</a> </p>
|
|
<p class="bbook">Deuteronomy</p>
|
|
<p class="bref">
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=0#Deu.ii-p1.7">1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=0#Deu.ii-p14.1">1</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=1#Deu.ii-p1.8">1:1-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=9#Deu.ii-p4.9">1:9-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=1&scrV=19#Deu.ii-p14.2">1:19-46</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=0#Deu.iii-p1.10">2</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=1#Deu.iii-p1.11">2:1-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=8#Deu.iii-p7.3">2:8-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=2&scrV=24#Deu.iii-p12.4">2:24-37</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=3&scrV=0#Deu.iv-p1.7">3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=3&scrV=0#Deu.iv-p5.5">3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=3&scrV=1#Deu.iv-p1.8">3:1-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=3&scrV=12#Deu.iv-p5.6">3:12-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=3&scrV=21#Deu.iv-p7.7">3:21-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=0#Deu.v-p1.4">4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=1#Deu.v-p1.5">4:1-40</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=4&scrV=41#Deu.v-p24.1">4:41-49</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=5&scrV=0#Deu.vi-p1.7">5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=5&scrV=1#Deu.vi-p1.8">5:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=5&scrV=6#Deu.vi-p3.8">5:6-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=5&scrV=23#Deu.vi-p5.13">5:23-33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=0#Deu.vii-p1.10">6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=0#Deu.vii-p10.8">6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=1#Deu.vii-p1.11">6:1-3</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=4#Deu.vii-p3.8">6:4-16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=6&scrV=17#Deu.vii-p10.9">6:17-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=0#Deu.viii-p1.10">7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=0#Deu.viii-p12.6">7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=1#Deu.viii-p1.11">7:1-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=7&scrV=12#Deu.viii-p12.7">7:12-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=0#Deu.ix-p1.7">8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=0#Deu.ix-p12.1">8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=1#Deu.ix-p1.8">8:1-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=8&scrV=10#Deu.ix-p12.2">8:10-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=0#Deu.x-p1.8">9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=1#Deu.x-p1.9">9:1-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=9&scrV=7#Deu.x-p7.5">9:7-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=0#Deu.xi-p1.7">10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=0#Deu.xi-p7.2">10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=1#Deu.xi-p1.8">10:1-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=10&scrV=12#Deu.xi-p7.3">10:12-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=0#Deu.xii-p1.8">11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=0#Deu.xii-p10.2">11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=1#Deu.xii-p1.9">11:1-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=8#Deu.xii-p4.10">11:8-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=18#Deu.xii-p10.3">11:18-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=11&scrV=26#Deu.xii-p13.7">11:26-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=0#Deu.xiii-p1.10">12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=1#Deu.xiii-p1.11">12:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=12&scrV=5#Deu.xiii-p5.2">12:5-32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=13&scrV=0#Deu.xiv-p10.6">13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=13&scrV=0#Deu.xiv-p1.4">13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=13&scrV=1#Deu.xiv-p1.5">13:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=13&scrV=6#Deu.xiv-p6.2">13:6-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=13&scrV=12#Deu.xiv-p10.7">13:12-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=14&scrV=0#Deu.xv-p1.4">14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=14&scrV=1#Deu.xv-p1.5">14:1-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=14&scrV=22#Deu.xv-p9.3">14:22-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=0#Deu.xvi-p6.3">15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=0#Deu.xvi-p9.7">15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=0#Deu.xvi-p1.5">15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=1#Deu.xvi-p1.6">15:1-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=12#Deu.xvi-p6.4">15:12-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=15&scrV=19#Deu.xvi-p9.8">15:19-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=0#Deu.xvii-p7.6">16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=0#Deu.xvii-p1.7">16</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=1#Deu.xvii-p1.8">16:1-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=16&scrV=18#Deu.xvii-p7.7">16:18-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=0#Deu.xviii-p9.9">17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=0#Deu.xviii-p1.5">17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=1#Deu.xviii-p1.6">17:1-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=8#Deu.xviii-p7.3">17:8-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=17&scrV=14#Deu.xviii-p9.10">17:14-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=18&scrV=0#Deu.xix-p11.5">18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=18&scrV=0#Deu.xix-p1.7">18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=18&scrV=1#Deu.xix-p1.8">18:1-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=18&scrV=9#Deu.xix-p7.2">18:9-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=18&scrV=15#Deu.xix-p11.6">18:15-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=19&scrV=0#Deu.xx-p1.4">19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=19&scrV=0#Deu.xx-p8.3">19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=19&scrV=1#Deu.xx-p1.5">19:1-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=19&scrV=14#Deu.xx-p8.4">19:14-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=20&scrV=0#Deu.xxi-p10.2">20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=20&scrV=0#Deu.xxi-p1.7">20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=20&scrV=1#Deu.xxi-p1.8">20:1-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=20&scrV=10#Deu.xxi-p10.3">20:10-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=0#Deu.xxii-p16.3">21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=0#Deu.xxii-p1.6">21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=0#Deu.xxii-p7.3">21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=0#Deu.xxii-p12.2">21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=1#Deu.xxii-p1.7">21:1-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=10#Deu.xxii-p7.4">21:10-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=15#Deu.xxii-p12.3">21:15-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=21&scrV=18#Deu.xxii-p16.4">21:18-23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=0#Deu.xxiii-p10.4">22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=0#Deu.xxiii-p1.13">22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=1#Deu.xxiii-p1.14">22:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=5#Deu.xxiii-p3.7">22:5-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=22&scrV=13#Deu.xxiii-p10.5">22:13-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=23&scrV=0#Deu.xxiv-p12.2">23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=23&scrV=0#Deu.xxiv-p1.8">23</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=23&scrV=1#Deu.xxiv-p1.9">23:1-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=23&scrV=9#Deu.xxiv-p7.3">23:9-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=23&scrV=15#Deu.xxiv-p12.3">23:15-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=0#Deu.xxv-p1.10">24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=0#Deu.xxv-p8.5">24</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=1#Deu.xxv-p1.11">24:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=5#Deu.xxv-p3.8">24:5-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=24&scrV=14#Deu.xxv-p8.6">24:14-22</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=25&scrV=0#Deu.xxvi-p1.7">25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=25&scrV=0#Deu.xxvi-p7.2">25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=25&scrV=1#Deu.xxvi-p1.8">25:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=25&scrV=5#Deu.xxvi-p4.5">25:5-12</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=25&scrV=13#Deu.xxvi-p7.3">25:13-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=26&scrV=0#Deu.xxvii-p9.2">26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=26&scrV=0#Deu.xxvii-p13.4">26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=26&scrV=0#Deu.xxvii-p1.5">26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=26&scrV=1#Deu.xxvii-p1.6">26:1-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=26&scrV=12#Deu.xxvii-p9.3">26:12-15</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=26&scrV=16#Deu.xxvii-p13.5">26:16-19</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=0#Deu.xxviii-p6.6">27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=0#Deu.xxviii-p1.3">27</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=1#Deu.xxviii-p1.4">27:1-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=27&scrV=11#Deu.xxviii-p6.7">27:11-26</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=0#Deu.xxix-p9.4">28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=0#Deu.xxix-p1.7">28</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=1#Deu.xxix-p1.8">28:1-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=15#Deu.xxix-p9.5">28:15-44</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=28&scrV=45#Deu.xxix-p15.33">28:45-68</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=0#Deu.xxx-p1.9">29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=0#Deu.xxx-p9.2">29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=1#Deu.xxx-p1.10">29:1-9</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=29&scrV=10#Deu.xxx-p9.3">29:10-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=0#Deu.xxxi-p1.4">30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=0#Deu.xxxi-p8.2">30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=0#Deu.xxxi-p12.5">30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=1#Deu.xxxi-p1.5">30:1-10</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=11#Deu.xxxi-p8.3">30:11-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=30&scrV=15#Deu.xxxi-p12.6">30:15-20</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=0#Deu.xxxii-p1.10">31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=0#Deu.xxxii-p14.3">31</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=1#Deu.xxxii-p1.11">31:1-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=9#Deu.xxxii-p5.2">31:9-13</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=14#Deu.xxxii-p14.4">31:14-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=31&scrV=22#Deu.xxxii-p19.6">31:22-30</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=0#Deu.xxxiii-p26.4">32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=0#Deu.xxxiii-p20.3">32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=0#Deu.xxxiii-p1.8">32</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=1#Deu.xxxiii-p1.9">32:1-6</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=7#Deu.xxxiii-p8.5">32:7-14</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=15#Deu.xxxiii-p20.4">32:15-18</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=19#Deu.xxxiii-p26.5">32:19-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=26#Deu.xxxiii-p32.12">32:26-38</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=39#Deu.xxxiii-p41.8">32:39-43</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=32&scrV=44#Deu.xxxiii-p46.3">32:44-52</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=0#Deu.xxxiv-p19.4">33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=0#Deu.xxxiv-p1.13">33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=0#Deu.xxxiv-p26.9">33</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=1#Deu.xxxiv-p1.14">33:1-5</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=6#Deu.xxxiv-p9.2">33:6-7</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=8#Deu.xxxiv-p12.7">33:8-11</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=12#Deu.xxxiv-p19.5">33:12-17</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=18#Deu.xxxiv-p26.10">33:18-21</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=22#Deu.xxxiv-p35.8">33:22-25</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=33&scrV=26#Deu.xxxiv-p39.5">33:26-29</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=34&scrV=0#Deu.xxxv-p1.7">34</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=34&scrV=1#Deu.xxxv-p1.8">34:1-4</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=34&scrV=5#Deu.xxxv-p4.8">34:5-8</a>  
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="?scrBook=Deut&scrCh=34&scrV=9#Deu.xxxv-p9.3">34:9-12</a> </p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
</div2>
|
|
|
|
<div2 title="Index of Pages of the Print Edition" prev="viii.ii" next="toc" id="viii.iii">
|
|
<h2 id="viii.iii-p0.1">Index of Pages of the Print Edition</h2>
|
|
<insertIndex type="pb" id="viii.iii-p0.2"/>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<div class="Index">
|
|
<p class="pages"><a class="TOC" href="#Gen.i-Page_1">1</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.ii-Page_2">2</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.ii-Page_3">3</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.ii-Page_4">4</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.ii-Page_5">5</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.ii-Page_6">6</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.ii-Page_7">7</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.ii-Page_8">8</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.ii-Page_9">9</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.ii-Page_10">10</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.ii-Page_11">11</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.ii-Page_12">12</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.iii-Page_12">12</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.iii-Page_13">13</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.iii-Page_14">14</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.iii-Page_16">16</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.iii-Page_17">17</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.iii-Page_18">18</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.iii-Page_19">19</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.iii-Page_20">20</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.iii-Page_21">21</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.iv-Page_21">21</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.iv-Page_22">22</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.iv-Page_23">23</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.iv-Page_24">24</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.iv-Page_25">25</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.iv-Page_26">26</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.iv-Page_27">27</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.iv-Page_28">28</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.iv-Page_29">29</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.iv-Page_30">30</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.iv-Page_31">31</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.iv-Page_32">32</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.iv-Page_33">33</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.iv-Page_34">34</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.iv-Page_35">35</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.iv-Page_36">36</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.v-Page_36">36</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.v-Page_37">37</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.v-Page_38">38</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.v-Page_39">39</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.v-Page_40">40</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.v-Page_41">41</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.v-Page_42">42</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.v-Page_43">43</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.v-Page_44">44</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.v-Page_45">45</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.v-Page_46">46</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.vi-Page_46">46</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.vi-Page_47">47</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.vi-Page_48">48</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.vi-Page_49">49</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.vi-Page_50">50</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.vi-Page_51">51</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.vii-Page_51">51</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.vii-Page_52">52</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.vii-Page_53">53</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.vii-Page_54">54</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.vii-Page_55">55</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.vii-Page_56">56</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.vii-Page_57">57</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.viii-Page_57">57</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.viii-Page_58">58</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.viii-Page_59">59</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.viii-Page_60">60</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.viii-Page_61">61</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.viii-Page_62">62</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.viii-Page_63">63</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.ix-Page_64">64</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.ix-Page_65">65</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.ix-Page_66">66</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.ix-Page_67">67</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.ix-Page_68">68</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.x-Page_68">68</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.x-Page_69">69</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.x-Page_70">70</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.x-Page_71">71</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.x-Page_72">72</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.x-Page_73">73</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.x-Page_74">74</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.x-Page_75">75</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xi-Page_75">75</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xi-Page_76">76</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xi-Page_77">77</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xi-Page_78">78</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xii-Page_78">78</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xii-Page_79">79</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xii-Page_80">80</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xii-Page_81">81</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xii-Page_82">82</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xii-Page_83">83</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xiii-Page_83">83</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xiii-Page_84">84</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xiii-Page_85">85</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xiii-Page_86">86</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xiii-Page_87">87</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xiii-Page_88">88</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xiii-Page_89">89</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xiv-Page_89">89</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xiv-Page_90">90</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xiv-Page_91">91</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xiv-Page_92">92</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xiv-Page_93">93</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xv-Page_94">94</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xv-Page_95">95</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xv-Page_96">96</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xv-Page_97">97</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xv-Page_98">98</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xv-Page_99">99</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xvi-Page_99">99</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xvi-Page_100">100</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xvi-Page_101">101</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xvi-Page_102">102</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xvi-Page_104">104</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xvii-Page_105">105</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xvii-Page_106">106</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xvii-Page_107">107</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xvii-Page_108">108</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xvii-Page_109">109</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xvii-Page_110">110</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xviii-Page_110">110</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xviii-Page_111">111</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xviii-Page_112">112</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xviii-Page_113">113</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xviii-Page_114">114</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xviii-Page_115">115</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xix-Page_115">115</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xix-Page_116">116</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xix-Page_117">117</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xix-Page_118">118</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xix-Page_119">119</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xix-Page_120">120</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xix-Page_121">121</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xx-Page_121">121</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xx-Page_122">122</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xx-Page_123">123</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xx-Page_124">124</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xx-Page_125">125</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xx-Page_127">127</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxi-Page_127">127</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxi-Page_128">128</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxi-Page_129">129</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxi-Page_130">130</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxi-Page_131">131</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxii-Page_131">131</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxii-Page_132">132</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxii-Page_133">133</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxii-Page_134">134</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxii-Page_135">135</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxii-Page_136">136</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxiii-Page_136">136</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxiii-Page_137">137</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxiii-Page_138">138</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxiii-Page_139">139</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxiii-Page_140">140</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxiii-Page_141">141</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxiv-Page_141">141</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxiv-Page_142">142</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxiv-Page_143">143</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxiv-Page_144">144</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxv-Page_144">144</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxv-Page_145">145</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxv-Page_146">146</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxv-Page_147">147</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxv-Page_148">148</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxv-Page_149">149</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxv-Page_150">150</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxv-Page_151">151</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxv-Page_152">152</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxvi-Page_152">152</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxvi-Page_153">153</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxvi-Page_154">154</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxvi-Page_155">155</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxvi-Page_156">156</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxvi-Page_157">157</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxvi-Page_158">158</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxvii-Page_158">158</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxvii-Page_159">159</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxvii-Page_160">160</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxvii-Page_161">161</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxvii-Page_162">162</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxviii-Page_162">162</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxviii-Page_163">163</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxviii-Page_164">164</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxviii-Page_165">165</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxviii-Page_166">166</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxviii-Page_167">167</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxviii-Page_168">168</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxviii-Page_169">169</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxix-Page_169">169</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxix-Page_170">170</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxix-Page_171">171</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxix-Page_172">172</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxix-Page_173">173</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxx-Page_174">174</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxx-Page_175">175</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxx-Page_176">176</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxx-Page_177">177</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxx-Page_178">178</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxi-Page_178">178</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxi-Page_179">179</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxi-Page_180">180</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxi-Page_181">181</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxi-Page_182">182</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxi-Page_183">183</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxii-Page_183">183</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxii-Page_184">184</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxii-Page_185">185</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxii-Page_186">186</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxii-Page_187">187</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxii-Page_188">188</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxii-Page_189">189</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxii-Page_190">190</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxii-Page_191">191</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxiii-Page_191">191</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxiii-Page_192">192</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxiii-Page_193">193</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxiii-Page_194">194</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxiii-Page_195">195</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxiii-Page_196">196</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxiii-Page_197">197</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxiv-Page_197">197</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxiv-Page_198">198</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxiv-Page_199">199</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxiv-Page_200">200</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxv-Page_200">200</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxv-Page_201">201</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxv-Page_202">202</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxv-Page_203">203</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxv-Page_204">204</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxvi-Page_204">204</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxvi-Page_205">205</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxvi-Page_206">206</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxvi-Page_208">208</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxvi-Page_209">209</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxvii-Page_209">209</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxvii-Page_210">210</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxvii-Page_211">211</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxvii-Page_212">212</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxviii-Page_212">212</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxviii-Page_213">213</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxviii-Page_214">214</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxviii-Page_215">215</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxviii-Page_216">216</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxviii-Page_217">217</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxix-Page_217">217</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxix-Page_218">218</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxix-Page_219">219</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xxxix-Page_220">220</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xl-Page_220">220</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xl-Page_221">221</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xl-Page_222">222</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xl-Page_223">223</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xl-Page_224">224</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xli-Page_224">224</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xli-Page_225">225</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xli-Page_226">226</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xli-Page_227">227</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xlii-Page_227">227</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xlii-Page_228">228</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xlii-Page_229">229</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xlii-Page_230">230</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xlii-Page_231">231</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xlii-Page_232">232</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xliii-Page_232">232</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xliii-Page_233">233</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xliii-Page_234">234</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xliii-Page_235">235</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xliii-Page_236">236</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xliv-Page_236">236</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xliv-Page_237">237</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xliv-Page_238">238</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xliv-Page_239">239</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xliv-Page_240">240</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xlv-Page_240">240</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xlv-Page_241">241</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xlv-Page_242">242</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xlv-Page_243">243</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xlvi-Page_243">243</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xlvi-Page_244">244</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xlvi-Page_245">245</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xlvi-Page_246">246</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xlvi-Page_247">247</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xlvii-Page_247">247</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xlvii-Page_248">248</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xlvii-Page_249">249</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xlvii-Page_250">250</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xlviii-Page_250">250</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xlviii-Page_251">251</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xlviii-Page_253">253</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xlviii-Page_254">254</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xlviii-Page_255">255</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xlix-Page_255">255</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xlix-Page_256">256</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xlix-Page_257">257</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.xlix-Page_258">258</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.l-Page_258">258</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.l-Page_259">259</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.l-Page_260">260</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.l-Page_261">261</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.l-Page_262">262</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.l-Page_263">263</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.l-Page_264">264</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.l-Page_265">265</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.li-Page_266">266</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.li-Page_267">267</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.li-Page_268">268</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Gen.li-Page_269">269</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Ex.i-Page_270">270</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Ex.ii-Page_270">270</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Ex.ii-Page_271">271</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Ex.ii-Page_272">272</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Ex.ii-Page_273">273</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Ex.ii-Page_274">274</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Lev.i-Page_448">448</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Num.i-Page_562">562</a> 
|
|
<a class="TOC" href="#Deu.i-Page_562">562</a> 
|
|
</p>
|
|
</div>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
</div2>
|
|
</div1>
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
</ThML.body>
|
|
</ThML>
|